The Samding Dorje Phagmo () is the highest female incarnation in Tibet and the third highest-ranking person in the hierarchy after the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama. She was listed among the highest-ranking reincarnations at the time of the 5th Dalai Lama, recognized by the Tibetan government and acknowledged by the emperors of Qing China. In her first incarnation, as Chökyi Drönma (1422 CE–1455 CE), she was the student and consort of the famous polymath Thang Tong Gyalpo, who first identified her as an emanation of Vajravārāhī, and the consort of Bodong Panchen. The seat of the Samding Dorje Phagmo is at Samding Monastery, in Tibet.
History and background
The seat of the Samding Dorje Phagmo is at the Samding Monastery "Temple of Soaring Meditation." The Samding Monastery is associated with the Bodong school of Tibetan Buddhism. It was unique because half of the inhabitants were monks and the other half were nuns and its head was a woman.
The female tulku who was the abbess of Samding was traditionally a nirmāṇakāya emanation of Vajravārāhī. The lineage started in the fifteenth century with the princess of Gungthang, Chökyi Drönma (, 1422–1455). She became known as Samding Dorje Pagmo () and began a line of female tulkus, reincarnate lamas. She was a contemporary of the 1st Dalai Lama (1391–1474) and her teacher Bodong Panchen Chogley Namgyal also was one of his teachers. She manifested at Samding Monastery in order to tame Yamdrok Lake, a sacred lake as well as a dangerous flashpoint for massive flooding events in Tibet. However, her effects were more practical: as abbess of Samding, she stopped the invasion of the Dzungars, who were reportedly terrified of her great siddhi powers. When faced with her anger—reputedly by turning the 80 novice nuns under her care into furious wild sows—they left the goods and valuables they had plundered as offerings at the monastery and fled the region.
Charles Alfred Bell met the tulku in 1920 and took photographs of her, calling her by the Tibetan name for Vajravarahi, Dorje Pamo (which he translated as "Thunderbolt Sow"), in his book. The current incarnation, the 12th of this line, resides in Lhasa. where she is known as Female Living Buddha Dorje Palma by China.
Samding Monastery was destroyed after 1959 but is in the process of being restored.
Incarnation lineage
Samding Dorje Phagmo I, Chökyi Drönma (1422–1455) Samding Dorje Phagmo II, Kunga Zangmo (1459-1502) Samding Dorje Pakmo III, Nyendrak Zangmo (1503-1542) Samding Dorje Phagmo IV, Orgyen Tsomo (born 1543?) Samding Dorje Phagmo V, Yeshe Tsomo (17th century) Samding Dorje Phagmo VI, Dechen Trinle Tsomo (17th century) Samding Dorje Phagmo VII, Chödron Wangmo (died 1746) Samding Dorje Phagmo VIII, Kelzang Choden Wangmo (1746-1774) Samding Dorje Phagmo IX, Choying Dechen Tsomo (died 1843) Samding Dorje Phagmo X, Ngawang Kunzang Dechen Wangmo (born 1857) Samding Dorje Phagmo XI, Tubten Chöying Pelmo (born 1896) Samding Dorje Phagmo XII, Dechen Chökyi Dronma (born 1938?)
In premodern Tibet, the successive incarnations of Dorje Pakmo were treated with royal privilege and, along with the Dalai and Panchen Lamas, (and when they were in Tibet, the Chinese Ambans) were permitted to travel by palanquin or sedan chair. Unlike most other nuns, Dorje Pakmo was allowed to wear her hair long, but was never to sleep lying down – in the day she could sleep sitting up in a chair, but was expected at night to remain in a meditative position.
First Dorje Phagmo, Chökyi Drönma
The first Dorje Phagmo, Chökyi Drönma (1422–1455), was the daughter of Tri Lhawang Gyaltsen (1404-1464), the king of Mangyül Gungthang and a descendant of the ancient kings of Tibet. Gungthang was an independent kingdom in southwestern Tibet in the 15th century. As a princess, she was married to the prince of southern Lato (La stod lho) who was described as a supporter of Bon practices. After the death of her only child, a daughter, she renounced her family and royal status to become a Buddhist nun in about 1442CE. Chökyi Drönma was understood to be an incarnation of Machig Labdrön.