page_title: Urgyen Tsomo
section_title: Biography
hierarchical_section_title: Urgyen Tsomo / Biography
context_page_description: Urgyen Tsomo was a prominent Tibetan Buddhist female master who was known as the Great Dakini of Tsurphu. She was the consort of the Khakyab Dorje, 15th Karmapa Lama. She was considered by other masters to be the reincarnation of Yeshe Tsogyal, the wife of Padmasambhava of the 8th century, who spread Buddhism in Tibet.
  Her emanation has similarly been recognized in Mindrolling Jetsün Khandro Rinpoche.
context_section_description: Urgyen Tsomo was a young woman who lived with her family in the Tsurphu valley. According to a terma (a tradition of continuous revelation in Tibetan Buddhism), when the 15th Karmapa Lama fell sick during his old age, it was predicted that he would marry a particular person, a dakini (a type of spirit in Vajrayana Buddhism) in human form who would cure his disease and extend his life. The terma also indicated the location where such a woman would be found. Khakhyab Dorje, who had dreamed of the location where he would find such a girl, went in search of her. Urgyen Tsomo was identified in the Tsurpu village. She was formally requested to come to the Tsurpu Monastery of the 15th Karmapa Lama to become his consort and treat him for his sickness. Urgyen Tsomo served the 15th Karmapa Lama with devotion using her spiritual power, which is believed to have cured him of his sickness, extending his life for many more years.
  It is also said that Urgyen Tsomo was the reincarnation (emanation) of Yeshe Tsogyal, the wife of Padmasambhava of the 8th century, an Indian tantric master who established the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism in Tibet. Following the death of the Karmapa, Urgyen Tsomo moved to a retreat in the monastery with her sadhana and became a hermitess. Through continuous recitation of mantra, she achieved a "profound level of experience and realization". She became highly revered and was shown the same respect as would be given a lama. On special occasions, Urgyen Tsomo was given a seat of honuor on a throne which was "as high as Khyentse or Kongtrul". In 1959, she moved from Tibet along with the 16th Karmapa and settled down in a nunnery near the Karmapa's monastery in Sikkim, where she died after a few years. Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, who had met her in Tibet, called her a very special person, a great dakini.
caption: Khakyab Dorje, 15th Karmapa Lama who married Urgyen Tsomo
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