Biography of Pema Ledrel Tsal

Biography of Pema Ledrel Tsal

by Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thayé

The eight dangers will emerge like the antlers of a stag,
Merit will fade and savages will threaten the heartland.
These are the signs that this treasure of Dakpo Lhanglha
Should not be left any longer but should be revealed.
The royal daughter will then appear as Rinchen Tsuldor.

Thus, the tertön Rinchen Tsuldor, or, to use his secret name, Pema Ledrel Tsal, was the last of five pure rebirths of Princess Pema Sal. He was born to descendants of Nyang Nyima Özer in Nyenrong Dritang at the border of Do[1] and Tibet in the female Iron Hare year.

When he grew up and took ordination in Loro, he received the name Tsultrim Dorje, by which he became widely known. During his sixteenth year, he met an elderly monk, an emanation of the Guru,[2] who entrusted him with a scroll containing a treasure inventory. In his twenty-first year, he received the inventory and prophecy from the scrolls that Tertön Rinchen Lingpa had extracted from Koro Drak in Dritang. In accordance with these texts, during his twenty-third year, he extracted the profound, sublime Dharma cycle of the Great Perfection’s Heart-Essence of the Ḍākinīs (Khandro Nyingtik)[3] from Tramo Drak in the Dang valley, Dakpo. At the same time, he also extracted other cycles, including The Wheel-like Universal Embodiment of the Guru, Vajrapāṇi Who Tames All Haughty Spirits, The Three-Deity Subjugative Hayagrīva, The Mouth-Sealing Practice of Yamakiṁkara, and other cycles related to wrathful mantras and protectors of the teachings, especially Za Rāhula and Zhingkyong.

On his return journey, he stayed in the home of a mantra practitioner (ngakpa) of the Shotserma valley in upper Nyal. Thereafter, he was accompanied by the ngakpa’s son Gyalse Lekpa Gyaltsen.

The master was disappointed by the meagre faith and devotion of the people of his homeland, so he travelled with four disciples to Central Tibet. While staying at Samye Chimphu, he received a prophecy from Vajravārāhī, in accordance with which he went to Lhasa, where he met the Gyalwang Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje. As the ḍākinīs had indicated in prophecies made to the Karmapa too, the latter received the empowerment and oral transmission for the Heart-Essence by means of the terma scrolls.

In time, Pema Ledrel Tsal deciphered the terma teachings and conferred all the empowerments and transmissions on Gyalse Lekpa and Tulku Rinchen Lingpa.

In his twenty-fifth year, Pema Ledrel Tsal died as result of external factors while in Nyal Gyadro Latsé, near a place called Jarmé Chingkar. Everyone who attended his cremation witnessed a blue woman dressed in bone ornaments emerge from the crown of his head and fly into the sky. Forms of Vārāhī appeared in his bone relics, and countless ringsel emerged. For a week, the whole valley was filled with rainbow light. Such signs inspired faith in everyone present.

As some prophecies had indicated, the master did not work to benefit beings directly within his own lifetime. Yet, since the task of bringing benefit remained incomplete, he returned immediately as the omniscient Drimé Özer and spread the teachings extensively.

The omniscient Rangjung Dorje received the transmission of the Heart-Essence once again from Gyalse Lekpa. He in turn then taught it widely, entrusting the teachings to four main disciples, including Yungtön Dorje Pal. In this way, the tradition spread throughout central, western and eastern Tibet, and as far as China and Mongolia, where it survives to this day, thus fulfilling the prophecy from the root Word-Transcending tantra:

A bodhisattva abiding on the bhūmis
Will spread this as far as the ocean.

I myself received the universally renowned empowerments and instructions for this great tertön’s essential profound treasure, Dzogchen Khandro Nyingtik, which is one of the two Heart-Essences, in its two distinct lineages, one from Gyalwang Rangjung Dorje and one from the omniscient Longchenpa. I also received the empowerments and transmissions for the Three-Deity Subjugative Hayagrīva and Vajrapāṇi Who Tames All Haughty Spirits.

| Translated by Adam Pearcey with the generous support of the Tsadra Foundation, 2025.

Bibliography

Tibetan Editions

Kong sprul blo gros mtha' yas. "zab mo'i gter dang gter ston grub thob ji ltar byon pa'i lo rgyus mdor bsdus bkod pa rin chen bai DUr+Ya'i phreng ba" In Rin chen gter mdzod chen mo/. New Delhi: Shechen Publications, 2007–2008. Vol. 1: 453–455

Kong sprul blo gros mtha' yas. "zab mo'i gter dang gter ston grub thob ji ltar byon pa'i lo rgyus mdor bsdus bkod pa rin chen bai DUr+Ya'i phreng ba" In Rin chen gter mdzod chen mo/. Paro: Ngodrup and Sherab Drimay, 1976–1980. Vol 1: 411–414

Secondary Sources

Arguillère, Stéphane. "Gyelse Lekpa," Treasury of Lives, accessed January 29, 2025, http://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Gyelse-Lekpa/10298.

Garry, Ron. "Pema Ledrel Tsel," Treasury of Lives, accessed January 29, 2025, http://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Pema-Ledrel-Tsel/10301.

Nyoshul Khenpo. A Marvelous Garland of Rare Gems. Translated by Richard Barron. Junction City, California: Padma Publication, 2005.

Version: 1.0-20250129