# Samding Dorje Phagmo Deqinquzhen

Samding Dorje Phagmo Deqinquzhen (Chinese: 桑顶· 多吉帕姆· 德钦曲珍; born February 8, 1942, according to the Tibetan calendar) is the only living female Buddha in China to have the title of Great Khutuktu. She holds a high status in Tibetan Buddhism's history. The 12th Samding Dorje Phagmo Deqinquzhen is regarded in Tibetan Buddhism as the embodiment of the Buddha mother who gave birth to every Buddha.

## Birth

Deqingquzhen's father, Rendian Jiebu, is a manor housekeeper. Prophecies predicted that a living female Buddha would come to Rendian Jeb's family as early as before her birth. Deqingquzhen got a severe illness shortly after her birth. After begging the gods for help, she was sent to Lhasa Lun Nun Temple. That year, Sangding Monastery came to choose the living Buddha. She recognized the item used by the previous female living Buddha. Then, on February 8, 1947, an auspicious day according to the Tibetan calendar, Deqinquzhen was welcomed into the Samding Monastery by monks and other people dancing and singing Buddhist hymns. Then, the succession ceremony was held, and she formally became the 12th Doje Phagmo Living Buddha.

## Life

Deqinquzhen spent her childhood worshipping the Buddha, chanting sutras, and practicing Buddhism, and many eminent monks have tutored her. However, when the local government of Tibet staged a riot in March 1959, with the Samding Monastery at its center, the rioters intruded into the monastery many times, demanding firearms and food. The Living Buddha and several of her servants escaped from the Samding Monastery and hid on the island in the center of the Yamdrok Tso Lake, but they were found afterward. "Escorted" by the armed rioters, the living Buddha had to leave Tibet.
Deqinquzhen was first taken to Bhutan and then to India, and in August 1959, the 12th Dorje Palmo was assisted by a Chinese commercial organization in Kalimpong. She traveled to Pakistan through Afghanistan, Russia, and Mongolia before finally arriving in Beijing at the end of September, just before the National Day Ceremony, completing a six-month migration to a foreign country. When she was abroad, she claimed that she missed her homeland, Tibet, a lot.
In the 1980s, Sangding Monastery was rebuilt, and the Deqinquzhen resumed the annual Gangjasa puja. She eventually chose to stay in Lhasa and practice at home, and the yearly grand “Gangjasa” puja was the only chance for the disciples to see her. After leaving Sangding Monastery, Dechen Chögyam established his family and regained a secular life.

## Once-in-a-lifetime “alchemy” ritual

Living female Buddha Deqinquzhen completed her once-in-a-lifetime “alchemy” ceremony in 1994. Living Buddhas preside over the “Flower Dew Pill Ceremony," a common religious activity in Tibetan Buddhist temples. However, the female living Buddha only does it once in each lifetime. In 1994, the female living Buddha in the Sangdeng temple held a grand “flower dew pill alchemy” ceremony, finally completing her long-cherished wish for many years. There are tens of thousands of believers who came from faraway. Female living Buddha's “alchemy” ceremony lasted nearly half a month. People held the precious pills and offered khat to the female living Buddha, wishing her success.