page_title: Ayu Khandro
section_title: Lhodrak, Jar and Pema Ling (1872)
hierarchical_section_title: Ayu Khandro / Pilgrimage to Central Tibet through Southern Tibet (1871–73) / Lhodrak, Jar and Pema Ling (1872)
caption_attribution_description: English: Guru Chowang (b.1212 - d.1270), Tibetan Terton
context_page_description: Ayu Khandro, also known as Dorje Paldrön, lived from 1839 to 1953. She was a practitioner, yogini, and terton of Tibetan Buddhism in Eastern Tibet. An accomplished Dzogchen meditator, she is renowned for her extensive pilgrimages throughout Tibet, long periods of dark retreat practice, the gongter of the practice of the yidam Senge Dongma, various forms of Chöd, and her lifelong dedication to spiritual practice.
  The information we have about Ayu Khandro comes from the oral commentary that she personally gave to Chogyal Namkhai Norbu in Dzongsa, 1951. He wrote her namthar, or spiritual biography, which was later published in Women of Wisdom by Tsultrim Allione.
  Ayu Khandro met, and was taught by, many great masters of her day; Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, Jamgon Kongtrul the First, Chokgyur Lingpa, Nyala Pema Dündul, Adzom Drukpa, Togden Rangrig and the ninth Tai Situpa, Pema Nyingche Wangpo.
  She led the life of a hidden yogini, spending a significant amount of her life in retreat or as a wandering chodma. She was recognised as an emanation of Vajrayogini.
context_section_description: Lhodrak is the heartland of the famous Kagyu patriarch Marpa Lotsawa and where the esteemed Tibetan yogi Milarepa performed his spiritual hardships before initiation. Guru Chowang was also born here in 1212. He was the teacher and consort of Jomo Memo, a female terton from whose teachings, the Khandro Sangdu, Ayu Khandro had received from Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo.
  South west of Lhodrak is the lake at Pema Ling which is next to the mountain Kula Kangri on the border of Bhutan. The lake was especially significant to Ayu Khandro as a place of pilgrimage as many accomplished meditators had lived and practiced there.
caption: Guru Chowang
exif: {}