Lochen Chönyi Zangmo

Jetsün Chönyi Zangmo

Lochen Chönyi Zangmo (chos byid bzang mo) (1853 or 1865-1950/1951) was revered as one of the last century's best known woman teachers and as an exemplary practitioner of Chö. Many extraordinary stories are told of Jetsün Lochen and her remarkable abilities, such as the time on retreat when she left her body and 'died' for a period of three weeks and visited the Copper Coloured Mountain Paradise of Guru Padmasambhava. A vivid picture of her spiritual beauty, even into old age, is captured by the Tibetan scholar and writer Lobsang P. Lhalungpa. He visited Jetsün in the early 1940s at Shuksep Nunnery. He said:

"During my first two week visit, I met with Jetsun Lochen for several hours a day, sometimes in the company of her main disciples. She was an extraordinary woman, small in stature, with a serene face radiating compassion and sensitivity. Only her white hair betrayed her age...In her presence we felt an awesome power that permeated our whole stream of being.

Her teachings and blessings have given me inner strength and inspiration ever since. To me she was the personification of the great woman teachers of Tibet."

Biography

Chönyi Zangmo was born in Mandi, the birthplace of Mandarava near the banks of Tso Pema in Northern India. Her main teachers were Pema Gyatso, who was a student of the great Shabkar, and Chönyön Dharma Senge. She also received transmissions from Trulshik Dongak Lingpa. She gave the empowerments of Nyingtik Yabshyi to Trulshik Rinpoche.

Further Reading

• Tulku Thondup, Masters of Meditation and Miracles, edited by Harold Talbott, Boston: Shambhala, 1996