Tare Lhamo

Tare Lhamo, courtesy of Jnanasukha.org

Tare Lhamo (Tib. ཏ་རེ་ལྷ་མོ་ནམ་མཁའི་བུ་མོ་, Wyl. ta re lha mo nam mkha'i bu mo) or Tare Dechen Gyalmo (1938-2003) was one of the most active contemporary women tertöns and masters of Tibet. Born as the daughter of Apang Tertön, a miraculous son of Dudjom Lingpa, she was recognized as a reincarnation of several key figures including Tra Gelong Tsultrim Dargyé, a master from Golok, and Sera Khandro, the consort of Tulku Trimé Özer, a son of Dudjom Lingpa.

With her husband Namtrul Rinpoche she played a vital role of inspiration and protection during the Cultural Revolution, and of revival of the practice of Dharma in Tibet since the 1980’s. Her collection of termas with Namtrul Rinpoche is in twelve volumes. She was the first to recognise Dudjom Sangye Pema Zhepa Rinpoche as an incarnation of Dudjom Rinpoche.

Birth & Recognition

Daughter of Apang Tertön

Khandro Tare Lhamo was born in 1938 in Golok, in Eastern Tibet, in a place called Bökyi Youmolung. Her father was Apang Tertön, a miraculous son of Dudjom Lingpa, and her mother was Tongpöndza Damtsik Drölma (dam tshig sgrol ma), a daughter of a local chieftain who had been recognized as a speech incarnation of Yeshe Tsogyal. It is said that at the time of her birth, there were several indications that she was a tulku, such as no pain for her mother during her birth, rainbows and fragrant scents in the air.

Incarnation of Tra Gelong Tsultrim Dargyé

Khandro Tare Lhamo was soon recognized as the incarnation of Tra Gelong Tsultrim Dargyé (khra dge slong tshul khrims dar rgyas) (1866-1937), who was an accomplished scholar from Golok and an emanation of Naropa.

According to Tulku Pema Osel Thaye

Tra Gelong Tsultrim Dargyé had granted the empowerment of Khechari (mkha’ spyod ma, wrathful form of Vajrayogini) to Tongpöndza Damtsik Drölma, the future mother of Khandro Tare Lhamo and the wife of Apang Tertön, and had given her a bell. Tra Gelong Tsultrim Dargyé had prophesized that he was going to be reborn in her family. Just before passing away, Tra Gelong Tsultrim Dargyé had granted to Alo Gowa, one of his main disciples, all his rituals objects (such as his prayers book, damaru and bell) while saying “In the year of the earth tiger, you will go to Apang Tertön. This is where I will be reborn.”

Oral stories recount that as soon as she was able to speak, Khandro Tare Lhamo requested that Tra Gelong Tsultrim Dargyé’s precious objects would be given back to her, after having been able to precisely describe each of them.

Incarnation of Sera Khandro

After the event related to Tra Gelong Tsultrim Dargyé, Sera Khandro had given to the future mother of Khandro Tare Lhamo, Tongpöndza Damtsik Drölma, a red protection cord while saying to her: “Keep it safe and one day, when it will has disappear, I will come back to your house”.

Apang Tertön himself had prophesized that ‘A sublime being will be born in our family. He will be a combined emanation of Tra Gelong Tsultrim Dargyé and of Sera Khandro—Khandro Yeshe Tsogyal herself. Incarnation of the two in essence, she will accomplish great benefits for sentient beings to a scale even greater than our own sons”.

Incarnation of Yeshe Tsogyal

When she was one year old, Khandro Tare Lhamo travelled to Lhasa in Central Tibet with her father and mother. There, they met several realized lamas including Dudjom Rinpoche who immediately recognized her as an emanation of Khandro Yeshe Tsogyal..

It is said that in the Jokhang Temple, these masters offered many prayers so that her activity would greatly flourish the Dharma. Dudjom Rinpoche took the baby in his arm and in front of the Jowo Yeshin Norbu statue, made a strong aspiration that she would bring vast benefits to beings.

Dudjom Rinpoche wrote the following prayer: ‘Emanation of Yeshe Tsogyal and Vajravarahi, mother of all the Victorious Ones / The dakinis from Kham who hold the name of Sukha / Will manifest again as Tare, born from mantras. / Her activity will cover India, Tibet and China. / She will then bring all those connected to her to the pure realms of Khechara.

Khandro Tare Lhamo was also recognized as an emanation of several others deities or masters, including Vajravarahi, Machik Labdrön, Nechung Yuyi Drolma (ne’u chung g yu yi sgrol ma) and Lushul Khenpo Könchok Drönme.

Training

Her father, her first teacher

Back to Golok after the family pilgrimage, Khandro Tare Lhamo was trained by her father, and received many wang, lung and tri.

When she was able to speak, her father asked Khandro Tare Lhamo: “Will you be a nun or a householder?” Her answer was “In fact, I will be both.”

As a child, Khandro Tare Lhamo was invited by Alo Gowa to train as a nun at the monastery of Tra Gelong Tsultrim Dangye. However, she refused and decided to remain as a householder and continued to live with her family. Apang Tertön commented: ‘Her karma is like that, towards a householder life. There is nothing you can do’. When she was 7 years old, she received from her father Apang Tertön the whole transmission of the Nyingtik Yabshyi and the whole transmission of her father’s cycles of termas. When she was only 9 years old, her father passed away. Khandro Tare Lhamo sold all the jewels she owned and used the money to sponsor the building of a stupa to hold the remains of her father. After that, she continued to live with her mother.

Later, and until the age of 14, she stayed at the Shukjung Monastery.

It is said that since very young, she had visions of Guru Rinpoche.

Receiving teachings from Rigdzin Nuden Dorje

Khandro Tare Lhamo received teachings from Rigdzin Nuden Dorje.

Receiving teachings from the two Dodrupchen Rinpoches

When she was twelve, Khandro Tare Lhamo was able to serve and receive empowerments and teachings from two incarnations of the Dodrupchen Jikme Tenpe Nyima: Dodrupchen Rigdzin Tenpé Gyaltsen and Dodrupchen Rinpoche (aka Dodrupchen Tubten Trinlé Pal Zang). One day, when she was watching the ritual dances at Dodrupchen Monastery, Dodrupchen Rigdzin Tenpé Gyaltsen suddenly took a mask of Neou Choung and showed it to Khandro Tare Lhamo while saying to her: “You are his emanation!” .

Receiving teachings from Dzongter Kunzang Nyima

Khandro Tare Lhamo travelled within Golok with her mother and received from Dzongter Kunzang Nyima, the grandson and speech incarnation of Dudjom Lingpa, all his personal termas cycle sas well as those of Dudjom Lingpa. Dzongter Kunzang Nyima appointed her as the chödak of his Yeshe Tsogyal cycle .

First marriage with a direct descendent of Dudjom Lingpa

When she was 19 years old, in 1957, and as was advised to her, Khandro Tare Lhamo joined the encampment of Dzongter Kunzang Nyima and took as husband one of his son, Tulku Mingyur Dorje (mi 'gyur rdo rje, 1934-1959). By marrying one of his great grandson, Khandro Tare Lhamo became directely linked with the bone lineage of Dudjom Lingpa. Tulku Mingyur Dorje and Khandro Tare Lhamo had a son, Wangchuk Dorje, nicknamed Tulku Ngaro. Khandro Tare Lhamo also received teachings from Tulku Dorje Dradül, a son of Dudjom Lingpa, and from Gara Gyalse Pema Tsewang (1927-?), the first husband of Sera Khandro.

Activity

Revealing her first terma at 18 years old

Around the age of 18, around the year 1956, Khandro Tare Lhamo left with her mother to Dodrupchen Monastery. According to Tulku Orgyen Zangpo Rinpoche :

On their way, while they were walking, they were attacked by a pack of wild dogs. They were just two women by themselves in the middle of nowhere and didn’t know how to protect themselves. All they could do was picking up some stones and throwing them at dogs. In the panic and confusion that ensures, Khandro Tare Lhamo wasn’t sure what was happening, but they did get away from the dogs. Later that night, when Khandro went to bed, she took off her jacket and discovered some stones inside with the mantric syllable of Yeshe Tsogyal — a red BAM. So right away, her mother once again understood that Khandro Tare Lhamo was an emanation of Yeshe Tsogyal. She told her daughter, ‘This stone is very important and you must wear it next to your body’. She put the stone inside a gau [a locket] and Khandro Tare Lhamo began to wear this gau all the time. This rock was actually a terma. And based on the principle of interdependence, through her connection with this special treasure rock, her life changed. Her consciousness and realization expanded. She began having visionary experiences. She acquired extrasensory powers and great compassion swelled within her heart. All of these transformative experiences came from her connection with this very special rock.

Since then, Khandro Tare Lhamo began to discover termas, often in the form of caskets orned with syllables and mantras.

Just after the discovery of this terma stone, Dodrupchen Rigdzin Tenpé Gyaltsen asked her: ‘Did you extract, from the site of Dzong, a terma which should have been mine?” Khandro Tare Lhamo answered: “Is it the locket wear now by my mother which I discovered on the rock Kyabchen Thang?”. “Oh yes, it is this one!” answered Dodrupchen Rigdzin Tenpé Gyaltsen, who, based on this, revealed the Khandro Gongdu cycle. .

Protecting and benefiting people during the Cultural Revolution

During the years of the Cultural Revolution when people where starving to death, she was able to feed people through her activities. For example, ‘If she had just a little bit of food, she was able to multiply it and give it to lots of people. Or, even without multiplying it, is someone ate it, he or she would be completely satisfied. Khandro Tare Lhamo served as a resource for her local community through divinations and rituals secretly performed late at night, and through stories of her miracles that provided a beacon of hope during a devasting chapter of Tibetan history.

Khandro Tare Lhamo was deemed a "black hat" and subjected to manual labor by the forces of the Cultural Revolution. During this period, Khandro Tare Lhamo lost her first husband Tulku Mingyur Dorje and her three brothers (Gyurme Dorje (1928-1960’s), Wangchen Nyima (1931-1960’s) and Tubten Chokyi Nyima (1939-1960’s): all of them died in prison. According to oral lineage stories, ‘Khandro Tare Lhamo was spared imprisonment, perhaps because she was a woman, though she did endure beatings. On one harrowing occasion, officials placed her bare chest on a hot wood-burning stove. According to the old woman who told me this story, Khandro Tare Lhamo reflected on the far greater sufferings of beings in the hell realms, and as a result she had no burn marks afterward.’ Following the famines that accompanied the Great Leap Forward (1958-60), she lost her only son, who died before reaching the age of ten.

Another example of her miraculous activity is the following story:

Once, a big piece of rock, big as a tent made of yak hair, broke out of the mountain and went down, breaking and smashing everything under its way. While seeing it, people who were crossing the mountain sought to flee, but Khandro Tare Lhamo pointed her finger in the threatening mudra, and the piece rock stopped immediately its course. Everyone was marvelled by this feature.

Revealing long life termas to protect the life of many masters

In 1978, Khandro Tare Lhamo revealed and transcribed a long life practice, the tshe bsgrup rdo rje’i rgya mdud can, in order to prolong the life of Khenpo Lobsang Dorje and other masters including:

• Chogtrul Rinpoche Rigdzin Sang-ngag Lingpa
• Dodrupchen Tubten Trinlé Pal Zang
• Gartrul Rinpoche
• Getse Khenpo Wangchen
• Khen Yeshe
• Khenpo Chöthun
• Khenpo Jikme Phuntsok
• Khenpo Munsel
• Lama Rigzin Nyima
• Peyul Karma Chagme
• Shougjoung Lama Tsedzi
• Tokpa Wangchung Dampa Lama Garchö
• Tsophou Dorlo

Revealing termas and teaching with her prophesized consort Namtrul Rinpoche

According to oral stories, Khandro Tare Lhamo received many prophecies in dream that she had to meet Namtrul Rinpoche, a reincarnate lama who had a monastery called Nyenlung. Meeting her destined consort, Namtrul Rinpoche, was a major step in Khandro Tare Lhamo’s life. When Khandro Tare Lhamo began to write to Namtrul Rinpoche, she precisely explain and foretold that through their meeting many treasures could be revealed.

According to Holly Gayley:

In 1978, Khandro Tare Lhamo initiated a correspondence and courtship with Namtrul Rinpoche, a lama six years her junior. Via secret messenger, she exchanged love letters with Namtrul Rinpoche over the course of two years, during which time they met only once. Their love letters—perhaps unique in Tibetan literature—combine personal expressions of affection with prophetic statements of their joint destiny.

In 1980, Khandro Tare Lhamo fled her homeland against the wishes of her relatives and in contravention of state restrictions on travel to join Namtrul Rinpoche in Serta. Following a policy of "reform and opening" which allowed for religious expression once more, in the 1980s Khandro Tare Lhamo and Namtrul Rinpoche began traveling and teaching as a couple as part of the Buddhist revival in Tibet.

In 1978, Namtrul Rinpoche transcribed the thog srung ‘jigs med go cha and offered it to Khandro Tare Lhamo to protect her. According to Tulku Pema Osel Thayé ‘One night, whil Khandro Tare Lhamo was lying sleeping, a violent hail suddenly fell down. When the thunder stroke, the bed and all the furniture were burnt to ashes. A part from her clothing who had went through thunder, water and fire, the body of Khandro Tare Lhamo was untouched’.

During the 1980’s, Khandro Tare Lhamo began a joint activity with her consort Namtrul Rinpoche, revealing and spreading termas cycle — those of the Dudjom Tersar, her own cycles of termas, and the termas cycles of her father Apang Termas which she transmitted to more than 50 monasteries— granting teachings, empowerments, to thousands of people across the country.

According to Tulku Orgyen Zangpo Rinpoche:

Khandro Tare Lhamo would write some symbolic script on a piece of paper, and Namtrul Rinpoche would understand it and transcribe it. They travelled around, teaching, giving empowerments and gathering disciples together. This husband and wife team was really beautiful: she was a tertön, her husband was a tulku, and they worked together. She would revealed a terma and he would transcribe it for their disciples.

The collected terma volumes of Khandro Tare Lhamo and Namtrul Rinpoche is in twelve volumes and includes:

• Khandro Ting Od Barma, ‘Dakini Blue Blazing Light’
• Phagmo Tuktik, “Heart Essence of Vajravarahi’
• a practice of Tröma Nakmo
• a practice of Sarasvati
• a practice of Mandarava
• bdud ‘dul drag mo ‘sgrub, Dudul Dragmo, a practice of Senge Dongma
• thugs chen phyag na pad dkar, a practice of the white Avalokiteshvara
• a practice of Gesar, the sater being a nine- spokes vajra, made of the five precious metals,
• a practice of the ‘Nine half-moons and nine abysses zla gam klong dgu’I chos skor
• o rgyan chen po’I sgrub pa thig le gsang rdzogs, a Guru Rinpoche sadhana
• mkha ‘ gro mthing ‘od ‘bar ma’I od gsal rang ngo sprod pa’I man ngag kun bzang thugs kyi thigle (Heart essence of Samantabhadra, mengak to recognize ones own clear light according to the Luminous Indigo Dakini.)
• a sadhana of Hayagriva, dbang chen rta mchog rol ba’I sgrub skor

According to Tulku Orgyen Zangpo Rinpoche, another kind of terma she revealed was one which had to do with tying knots with string in order to fulfil a wish or accomplish an activity:

Actually, she had a hundred different types of knots which she would use for different purposes. Each type of knot would produce a particular benefit, for example long life, or if you were sick or had obstacle or if you wanted a son or daughter. All these kinds of activities. This was surely a very unique and special terma of Khandro Tare Lhamo.

In 1988, when she was 50 years old, she had a dream in which she saw the monastery of Pel Nyenloung Thekchen Chökhor as a pure buddhas field. In this dream, a young princess appeared and, flying together, she was able to travel to dakinis pure realms and receive teachings directly from Yeshe Tsogyal.

Establishing close relations with Khenpo Jikme Phuntsok

In 1980, Khandro Tare Lhamo and Namtrul Rinpoche received from Khenpo Jikme Phuntsok the transmission of the whole termas cycle of Apang Tertön (which Khandro Tare Lhamo had already received as a child directly from her own father). Khenpo Jikme Phuntsok encouraged them to teach and propagate widely these teachings.

In 1986, Khenpo Jikme Phuntsok recognized them both of them as tertöns and bestowed to them the transmission of the whole terma cycles of his predecessor Lerab Lingpa (including the Guru Terjung Gyalpo (gu ru gter ‘byung rgyal po)) and the Kalachakra empowerment. At the end of the ceremony, Khenpo Jikme Phuntsok proclaimed:

In the past, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo recognized and consecrated Chokgyur Dechen Lingpa as an authentic tertön. Today, in the same manner, I have crowned you too as authentic regents of Guru Rinpoche. From now, you must revealed many termas.

Following this, Khandro Tare Lhamo and Namtrul Rinpoche established in their monastery the practice of ‘Phurba Yangsang Tröpa’ (Wyl. phur ba yang gsang khros pa’i dgu sgrup), ‘The nine sadhanas of the wrathful Vajrakilaya nyingtik’, a major Vajrakilaya practice revealed by Tertön Sogyal.

When they met the Panchen Lama, he told them:’ You have never been separated in many of your past lives. Both of you must grant empowerments and teachings as much as possible.”.

In 1987, Khandro Tare Lhamo and Namtrul Rinpoche joined Khenpo Jikme Phuntsok and his entourage of approximately 10,000 on a historic pilgrimage to Wutai Shan, the sacred mountain of Manjushri in Shanxi province. There, they revelead a Sarasvati sadhana.

Receiving empowerment of the Dudjom Tersar cycle from Dola Tulku Jigme Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche, a son of Dudjom Rinpoche

In 1990, Khandro Tare Lhamo and Namtrul Rinpoche received from Dola Tulku Jigme Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche —a direct son of Dudjom Rinpoche who stayed in Tibet— all the empowerments of the Dudjom Tersar lineage cycles of Dudjom Rinpoche. Dola Tulku Jigme Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche authorized them to teach and propagate these teachings, and acknowledge them as his true spiritual heirs. Few years later, Khandro Tare Lhamo was the first to recognise Dudjom Sangye Pema Zhepa Rinpoche, a son of Dola Tulku Jigme Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche, as an incarnation of Dudjom Rinpoche. She wrote a letter to Chadral Rinpoche who confirmed this.

Family

The lineage of Khandro Tare Lhamo and Namtrul Rinpoche has passed to Namtrul Rinpoche's son, Tulku Laksam (sprul sku lhag bsam), who is now the head of Nyenlung Monastery and the lineage holder for their terma teachings and those of Apang Tertön. Today, the reliquary for Khandro Tare Lhamo and Namtrul Rinpoche stand side by side in a shrine room within the family compound at Nyenlung.

Disciples

Among her disciples are:

• Choktrul Lobsang Norbu
• Do Khyentse Rinpoche (b.1960)
• Dodrak Rigdziun Chenpo
• Dudjom Sangye Pema Zhepa Rinpoche
• Khenpo Munsel
• Namtrul Rinpoche
• Tulku Orgyen Zangpo Rinpoche

Final Years

Khandro Tare Lhamo passed away in 2003. For her whole life, she was healthy and strong, and there was no indication that she was about to die. But then, according to Tulku Orgyen Zangpo Rinpoche

In her dreams, she started to experience a discomfort in her mind that maybe something like that [dying] was about to happen. Together with Namtrul Rinpoche, she went to see Khenpo Jikme Phuntsok to ask about these indications. They all agreed that indications were undeniable. They decided to send her for medical testing in hospital, but it didn’t help. And then, when they did prayers to prolong life, there was no signs that this was going to succeed. So then the lamas definitely knew that the dakinis would soon be coming to take her away, that she would be soon be passing away.

Khandro Tare Lhamo then dressed herself in some very beautiful robes and ornamented her hair for a special occasion. She brought her disciples together and gave them her heart advice and told them to practice well. They all wholeheartedly beseeched her to be quickly reborn. This was the last meeting. Shortly after this, she laid down on her side in the proper dying position and passed away.

As soon as Khandro Tare Lhamo passed away, her skin colour turned white. She glowed and was beautiful. Her body became fragrant. These were signs of her realization. Her students took her holy body or kundung to Nyenlung Monastery. And there, for a lot of time, her body was displayed. […].

Before the cremation, according to the practice of Dzogchen, the holdy remains of her bod began to shrink. Finally, her body was the length from your fingerprints to your elbow. And actually, it was placed on a plate and then the plate was offered up for the cremation. During the cremation ceremony, there were still more signs that she had attained the realization of a Dzogchen master, such as rainbows in the sky and flowers raining down. All of this was for the benefit of her students to actually see her signs of realization.

Incarnation

Jetsunma Kunga Trinley Palter Sakya, courtesy of Tcheulang.org

Born on January 2nd, 2007 as a granddaughter of Sakya Trizin, Jetsunma Kunga Trinley Palter Sakya was recognized by His Holiness the Dalai Lama as an incarnation of Tare Lhamo.

Further Reading

• Holly Gayley, Love Letters from Golok: A Tantric Couple in Modern Tibet (Columbia University Press, 2017)
• Holly Gayley, Inseparable Across Lifetimes: The Lives and Love Letters of Namtrul Rinpoche and Khandro Tare Lhamo (Shambhala Publications, 2019)
• Tulkou Péma Osel Thayé, Hagiographies de Taré Lhamo et Namtrul Rinpoché, « Nuées d’offrandes pour réjouir les dakinis et vidyadharas », translated by Jean-Francois Bulliard (Editions Yogi Ling, 2005)
• ‘Life of Khandro Tare Lhamo’, interview of Tulku Orgyen Zangpo Rinpoche, by produced by Jnanasukha for Rolmo, see jnanasukha.org
• ’Spiraling Vine of Faith’, the namthar of Khandro Tare Lhamo

Internal Links

• Dudjom Lingpa Family Lineage

External Links

• TBRC profile
• Biography at Treasury of Lives, by Holly Gayley
• Tulku Orgyen Zangpo Rinpoche speaks about the life of Khandro Tare Lhamo on YouTube