Sönam Déutsen

As an incarnation and grandson of Düdjom Lingpa and the only son of Tulku Drimé Özer, Sönam Déutsen was a rare and formidable practitioner who wielded power over birth and death. In service of the Düdjom Tersar lineage, Sönam Déutsen became one of the main teachers at the Düdjom stronghold of Dartsang Kalzang and was also a prolific tertön like his father and grandfather before him.

The only child of Tulku Drimé Özer

The wisdom realization of a master such as Düdjom Lingpa is limitless and unstoppable. Its nature is to re-manifest itself endlessly in whatever forms are needed to bring about the freedom of beings. This is how to understand the essence of Sönam Déutsen: the unfathomable wisdom of Düdjom Lingpa’s enlightened mind once again embodied in a human form. Through blood and spiritual lineage, Sönam Déutsen was both Düdjom Lingpa’s grandson and incarnation, respectively. Called back to the pristine and untamed natural landscapes populated with fierce bandits and uncompromising and realized Dharma practitioners of Serta, eastern Tibet, he entered the world in 1910.

His parents were strong Dharma practitioners. His father was Düdjom Lingpa’s fifth son, Tulku Drimé Özer (1881-1924), and his mother was Washul Tara Akyong Za (dates unknown), a younger sister of the powerful local chief Karma Tutop. His father’s only child, Sönam Déutsen was his true chödak, Dharma-holder and principal heir. Ultimately, their connection was timeless. Sönam Déutsen’s return to the world had been paved by healing and protection rituals performed by his father, who had sealed himself into retreat focused on the obstacle-averting power of the wisdom deity Dorjé Phurba (Skt. Vajrakilaya) before his son’s birth. Since an earlier incarnation of the great tertön Sangyé Lingpa had been taken away by unfortunate results of broken sacred commitments around this same time, Drimé Özer knew that practices to ensure the safety of his son were needed. He personally performed them. Then, as the moon was in her growing cycle, Akyong Za birthed Sönam Déutsen with ease, amidst numerous signs indicating his extraordinary heritage.

The mind incarnation of Düdjom Lingpa

Well before Sönam Déutsen’s birth, indications appeared that he would be an incarnation of his grandfather Düdjom Lingpa, who himself predicted this to Tulku Drimé Özer. It happened in 1903, the day before Düdjom Lingpa departed from the world of relative appearances. He was in his room at Dartsang Kalzang Monastery and told his son, Tulku Drimé Özer “We, father and son, will meet in the Dog Year (1910).” Couched as it was in a twilight language, this prophecy was nevertheless a clear pronouncement, seven years before the actual event, that Düdjom Lingpa intended to emanate as Tulku Tulku Drimé Özer’s son.

Before 1910, Tulku Drimé Özer himself received several prophecies from dakinis that he and his consort-wife would soon have a son. He also had a very clear prediction in the year 1910 itself. He was twenty-nine at the time. He had journeyed with his entourage to Drongkor and intended to go from there to see Gara Terchen Düdul Wangchuk Lingpa. Sadly, the opportunity for this meeting was lost. Gara Terchen had already departed for a pure land. When Drimé Özer heard this news, he was devastated. Late one evening after praying and crying in despair, he met the great Gara Tertön in a dream. The tertö said:

"Hero, you have more to do to benefit others in the world! The teachings of Buddha will spread from the north to the south. You haven’t finished taming your disciples, and my remaining disciples are also now depending on you. If you don’t let the interdependence of method and wisdom slip away, the auspiciousness of the master’s profound and secret teachings will shine like the dawning sun. From this sacred field of accrued merit, you must take for your glory the heart essence of Padma’s profound teachings. That Dharma will spread from the east."

He finished speaking and then filled Tulku Drimé Özer’s wooden bowl with different grains. On top of that he placed a mirror decorated with five silken streamers along with one scroll, and said, “This teaching is like the fruit of Padmasambhava’s profound heart essence. It’s to be shown only to a few fortunate disciples and not to others.” Drimé Özer replied,

“Rinpoche, why did you depart for the pure lands instead of remaining here with us in your resplendence? It would be excellent if your reincarnation were born within my family as a powerful being to uphold the profound treasures for the benefit of the teachings of the Buddha in general as well as for the happiness and well-being of sentient beings, and in particular, for the spread the teachings of Padmasambhava.”

The master responded, “In this land there aren’t any more of my own disciples who remain. They’ve all expired. This year, the young moon of Düdjom Lingpa is ready to shine in your family.”

He gave to Tulku Drimé Özer many prophesies about amazing things that were going to happen and treated him with great loving affection. Then, he disappeared. So, it came to be that Sönam Déutsen was born and then recognized as the mind emanation of Düdjom Lingpa.

A complete training in the Düdjom Tersar and Longchen Nyingtik lineages

Sönam Déutsen trained with some of the most illustrious teachers of his time. Foremost among them was his own father, Tulku Drimé Özer (1881-1924), with whom he studied and received empowerments and guidance on the Düdjom Tersar lineage for the first fourteen years of his life, until his father passed away in 1924. Also, during his teenage years, Sönam Déutsen received empowerments and guidance from Tertön Sogyal Lérab Lingpa (1856-1926). In addition, he received empowerments and guidance from Trülku Kunzang Pema Trinlé (the Fourth Chaktsa, 1890?–1950 or 1955?), a major line of incarnation of Katok Dorjé Den monastery. Trülku Kunzang Pema Trinlé was based in Gétsé Tralek Monastery. Finally, Sönam Déutsen received close training from his uncle, Trülku Dorjé Dradul, the eighth son Düdjom Lingpa, who became the main heir of Dartsang Kalzang after the passing of Tulku Drimé Özer in 1924.

His exalted teachers prepared Sönam Déutsen to fulfill his role as one of the main teachers in Dartsang Kalzang monastery, Düdjom Lingpa’s seat in Serta, Golok. Additionally, as befitting those who upheld the mantle of the Düdjom lineage, both by blood and by incarnation, Sönam Déutsen was in direct communication with numerous powerful protectors spread throughout the blessed lands where he lived and journeyed. His grandson, Chakung Jikmé Wangdrak (b. 1979) recounts the following story about his life,

"Once Sönam Déutsen traveled by horse with some students to Nyenpo Yutsé, the principal sacred mountain of southern Golok and a place considered to be the actual birthplace of the Golok tribes. It was here that many treasures were revealed in times past by important treasure revealers. Upon arrival, the group erected the large tents that would serve as their temporary dwellings. One student said to Sönam Déutsen, “I’ve heard about the great protectress of Nyenpo Yutsé who is said to be an exquisitely beautiful goddess. Would you be able to invite her here, so that I can see how she looks?” Sönam Déutsen replied, “Sure, I can do that.”
That night, Sönam Déutsen kept to himself in one of the two tents in the encampment while all his students stayed in the other. Out of sight of everyone, he invoked Nyenpo Yutsé using powerful practices to call upon the protector’s sacred oath. Suddenly, in the middle of the night, both tents started to move and shake. A massive gust of wind ripped through the students’ tent. The one who had made the request to Sönam Déutsen was in bed, and right before him appeared the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She was naked. She stood at the end of the tent, the light of the moon shining upon her. Petrified, he hid under his blanket, unable to speak or do anything. The woman stayed for a little while and left.
During the night, a light dusting of snow fell. When the group awoke in the morning, they saw little footprints outside the tent. At first, they looked like those of a regular human being, and then further on, turned into those of a vulture. They followed these prints all the way to the place where they vanished, indicating the site where the vulture alighted into the sky."

Chakung Jikmé Wangdrak also recounted the following story,

"Once in the wintertime, an extraordinary event occurred during the gutor practices. These are rituals that happen on the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth Tibetan lunar month, the second to last day of the year according to the Tibetan calendar. Commonly performed in monasteries and lay people's homes, they aim to purify negativity, remove inauspiciousness, and avert obstacles of the previous year. During these ceremonies, it’s traditional to offer the protectors deities “golden libations” or serkyem as well as offering cakes, tormas, as part of the request for the protectors to enact their enlightened activity.
On this occasion, Sönam Déutsen was with his students in Dartsang Kalsang monastery, in Serta (Golok), and they were offering the actual gutor. In the surrounding area was an evil-minded man that everyone believed was an emanation of a mara, a demonic being. It was rumored that he hated the lamas and always wanted to cause trouble for them. On this occasion, just when the lamas were taking the ritual effigy of the gutor outside to a specific place, the man appeared in front of them. He was carrying a gun. He said, “If you take another step with that torma, I’ll kill all of you.”
As the main Tulku of the monastery at the time, Sönam Déutsen was the vajra master presiding over the entire gutor ceremony. The monks and lamas were terrified as they looked down the shaft of the loaded gun. Sönam Déutsen came outside and diffused the situation by saying, “Ok, right now, there is danger. Just put the torma down. Don't go any further. It’s not the time to proceed. But it is the time for the wrathful liberation of this man. The time for that is now.” He put his hat down right by the torma. In front of everyone there, he warned the man with the gun, “In three days, if you don't witness a big display of activity, then I’m not a follower of the Düdjom Tersar lineage and you’ll be able to call me a liar and not the real Sönam Déutsen. If you believe I’m truly Sönam Déutsen, then in three days something big is going to happen. Watch out!”
The man took his gun and went home. He thought to himself, “If this lama truly is Sönam Déutsen, then that means he is an emanation of Guru Rinpoche. If that is the case, something may very well happen to me in three days. Well, I have no idea what that means.” One day passed. Then a second day passed. Nothing happened at all. On the night of the third day, the man suddenly became deathly ill. Seized with excruciating pain, he realized he was going to die. He thought, “I’m going to die. Sönam Déutsen is a very powerful lama. That lama said that if he indeed is Sönam Déutsen, an emanation of Guru Rinpoche, something is going to happen, and now it is. I’m going to die!!”
He didn’t feel terribly afraid. He reflected, “I’m not afraid because I heard that when treasure-revealers kill somebody, the person immediately becomes enlightened. So, I really have nothing to fear.” Then, witnessed by everyone around him, he went totally mad. He grabbed fire and ate it. He ran around naked and barefoot in the snow. He died very soon that. It was said that he was without fear because he knew the moment his consciousness separated from his body, he would go to the pure lands thanks to the power of the blessings of Sönam Déutsen."

A close connection with his cousin Dzongter Kunzang Nyima

Sönam Déutsen’s close family connections included his cousin, Dzongter Kunzang Nyima, (1904-1959) who was elder by just six years. Kunzang Nyima was a son of Khyentsé Tulku Dzamling Wangyal (1868/9-1907), the third son of Düdjom Lingpa and had been recognized as the speech incarnation of his grandfather Düdjom Lingpa.

Like his cousin Kunzang Nyima, as a grandson and emanation of Düdjom Lingpa, Sönam Déutsen had many students in and around Dartsang Kalzang in Serta, Golok. One of his sons, Gyalsé Shenpen Nyima (b.1954), recounts the following story:

When I was young, people used to say that among my father’s four sons I, Gyalsé Shenpen Nyima, looked a lot like my father. I was born in Golok, which is very far from Serta where my father lived. After he passed away suddenly in 1959, many of my father’s students in Dartsang were left behind. They had great faith and devotion in my father but were left without a lama once he was gone. Twenty years went by and then, likely in the 1980s as a young man, I was walking around the marketplace in Golok. An older student of my father, one who last seen him many years before, had traveled to Golok for some reason and we ran into each other in the market. We saw each other, and he started crying. In shock, he grabbed me, convinced that I was my father, Sönam Déutsen. He asked, “Where have you been all these years? Oh, my precious lama!” I told him that I was Gyalse Shenpen Nyima, a son of Sönam Déutsen but not my father, and he proclaimed, “There’s no doubt that you’re his son. You look exactly like him!”

Being ordered to become a ngakpa and to father children

As a person, Sönam Déutsen was monk-like in personality and demeanor. He was single-pointedly focused on Dharma practice and never desired to get married and raise a family. However, while maintaining celibacy, he was told by his uncle and lama Tulku Dorjé Dradül, “You must take a consort to propagate the bone lineage of your father and ancestors. Otherwise, it won’t continue.” The importance of an uninterrupted family lineage cannot be understated in the treasure-revealing communities of eastern Tibet, among which the Düdjom lineage is firmly rooted. It was therefore quite natural for Sönam Déutsen to be commanded as he was by Tulku Dorjé Dradul to take a proper consort and father a child with her so that the lineage would carry on.

However, it turned out that fulfilling this command was no easy task. Shortly after he agreed to his uncle’s request, he met a consort with whom he fathered many children. Sadly, all of them died in infancy. Some said that the union had obstacles, and these circumstances convinced Sönam Déutsen that he would have to seek other consorts to continue the family lineage. This he did. One of them was Yangchen Dronma (1913-1946), the daughter of the famed Dewé Dorjé, or Uza Khandro, the dakini from central Tibet. This came about because Déwé Dorjé was the main teacher of Dzongter Kunzang Nyima and was also close to Tulku Dorjé Dradul. Through these connections, Sönam Déutsen met Dewé Dorjé’s daughter Yangchen Drönma when she was young. She later became his consort and in 1946 birthed the first of his children to survive past infancy, Do Ngak Tenpé Nyima aka Doli Nyima (1946-1960). Tragedy accompanied this otherwise joyful event. Yangchen Drönma died during his childbirth.

In the years that followed Sönam Déutsen fathered additional sons with three different consorts: Tulku Tamdrin Wangyal (1952-2005), Tulku Padma Wangyal (1953-1990), and Gyalsé Shenphen Nyima (b.1954). They all became highly realized practitioners of the Düdjom Tersar lineage. Indeed, Tulku Padma Wangyal reportedly achieved the rainbow body upon his passing. Gyalse Shenphen Nyima himself fathered several Düdjom-lineage holders and practitioners, including Khandro Né'u Chung Lhamo, Tulku Lungrik Gyatso and Tulku Jikmé Wangdrak.

A tertön

As a tertön, Sönam Déutsen discovered more than five volumes of termas under the name Dorjé Drakpo Tsal. The contents of these volumes include a Vajrakilaya practice and a Guru Rinpoche practice containing separate rituals for each of the eight main emanations. Some volumes of his collected works have survived the long years of turbulence and are in the care of the descendants of Tulku Dorjé Dradul, especially Tulku Gönpa Kyab. In general, Sönam Déutsen’s treasure practices are reputed to bring swift and powerful results.

A magical departure

Sönam Déutsen’s close relationship with his cousin Dzongter Künsang Nyima was further evidenced by their simultaneous passing away, in 1959. An account of this comes from his son Tulku Tamdrin Wangyal (who was seven at that time), who reported,

Sönam Déutsen passed into parinirvana right on the verge of the cultural revolution as the first official and devastating invasion of Tibet in 1959 occurred. Right before that, he gave all his possessions away, offering them primarily to the lamas with whom he felt the most trust. He proclaimed, “Worldly activities have no essence!” as he gave away everything he had. He then met his cousin Künsang Nyima, and together they planned to leave the world on the same day. They issued a joint statement saying, “There is no point for us to stay on now, because the sole purpose of our existence is to benefit to the Dharma and sentient beings. It would be best for us to manifest again in the world at a time and place where we can best utilize our capacity to be of service.”

They both passed away on the tenth lunar day of the following month, the day dedicated to the practices of the second Buddha Guru Rinpoche. Dzongter Künsang Nyima departed first. He asked what day it was. When told it was the tenth day, Kunzang Nyima said, “Today is the day we planned to leave.” Then he died. Though the two cousins lived separately, their homes were not far from each other. A messenger came to inform Sönam Dé’u Tsen of his cousin’s passing, and at that moment he said, “I guess it’s my time then.” He passed the same day.

Complete power over birth and death

In Tibet, we often talk about having complete power over birth and death. Awakened masters have this kind of power. Ordinary beings can only control death by committing suicide through taking pills and so forth. Such is not considered authentic control. For most people, the time of natural death is outside of their control.

Sönam Déutsen left behind many students with great faith and devotion, bereft without their lama. Yet his lineage also gifted three sons Tulku Tamdrin Wangyal, Tulku Padma Wangyal and Gyalsé Shenphen Nyima— who upheld and preserved the Düdjom Tersar. They and their offspring contributed to its flourishing again in the second part of the 20th century and in the present times.

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