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45-399: In 816 AD, during the reign of King Sadnalegs , literary Tibetan underwent a thorough reform aimed at standardizing the language and vocabulary of the translations being made from Sanskrit , which was one of the main influences for literary standards in what is now called Classical Tibetan. Nominalizing suffixes — pa or ba and ma — are required by the noun or adjective that

90-422: A Buddhist nun in about 1442CE. Chökyi Drönma was understood to be an incarnation of Machig Labdrön . She rapidly became famous as a dynamic and inspirational follower, possibly a tantric consort ( Wylie : phyag rgya ma ) of three of the outstanding religious tantric masters of the era. She was also recognised as a master in her own right and as the spiritual heir of her main teacher. She contributed to some of

135-656: A classical Tibetan threefold model: as a royal princess she was called Queen of the Jewel (Konchog Gyalmo), her 'outer' name; when she took her vows she became known as Lamp of the Doctrine (Chokyi Dronma), her 'inner' name; as a divine incarnation she was called Thunderbolt Female Pig (Dorje Phagmo), her 'secret' name. The Wylie transliteration of her name is given by Diemberger as Chos kyi sgron me . The princess's three main names seem to refer to three distinct modes of manifesting herself in different contexts: Konchog Gyalmo (Queen of

180-464: 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

225-620: A meeting with delegates and vassals from all over the kingdom and drew up a document pledging support for Buddhism which was signed by all who attended. An inscribed pillar with an account of this pledge was erected in front of the Karchung which still exists and has been translated into English. In 816, he also standardized the literary Tibetan language used in translating the Buddhist scriptures from India, resulting in its transformation into Classical Tibetan . Although Tibetan forces were fighting

270-489: A number of historical events. It is of importance in dating Sadnalegs' reign as it states that warfare with China began when he took power. The Tang Annals report that the Chinese and Tibetans were fighting continuously between 799 and 803 CE, so it seems likely that Sadnalegs came to the throne c. 800–804 CE. Samding Dorje Phagmo Samding Dorje Phagmo The Samding Dorje Phagmo ( Wylie : བསམ་སྡིང་རྡོ་རྗེ་ཕག་མོ )

315-410: A present in i changes to u in the other stems ( 'dzin , bzung , gzung , zung 'to take'). Additionally, the stems of verbs are also distinguished by the addition of various prefixes and suffixes, thus sgrub (present), bsgrubs (past), bsgrub (future), ' sgrubs (imperative). Though the final -s suffix, when used, is quite regular for the past and imperative,

360-473: A specific honorific verb stem does not exist, the same effect is brought about by compounding a standard verbal stem with an appropriate general honorific stem such as mdzad . Sadnalegs Samding Dorje Phagmo Tridé Songtsen ( Tibetan : ཁྲི་ལྡེ་སྲོང་བཙན , Wylie : Khri lde srong btsan ), better known by his nickname Sénalek Jingyön ( Tibetan : སད་ན་ལེགས་མཇིང་ཡོན་ ) or Sadnalegs ( Tibetan : སད་ན་ལེགས , Wylie : sad na legs ) for short,

405-589: A true incarnation and served as a vice president of the Buddhist Association of China in 1956 while he was president, and Choekyi Gyaltsen, 10th Panchen Lama also as vice president. She went to Lhasa in 1958 and received the empowerment of Yamantaka from the Dalai Lama and the empowerment of Vajrayogini from the Dalai Lama's tutor, Trijang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso . Dechen Chökyi Drönma has been trained in

450-409: Is Dechen Chökyi Drönma, who was born in 1938 or 1942 (?). The twelfth Samding Dorje Phagmo was very young at the time of the Chinese occupation , and her exact date of birth is contested. Some sources claim she was born a year before the death of the previous incarnation (and therefore cannot be the true reincarnation). However, Dechen Chökyi Drönma was recognised by the present 14th Dalai Lama as

495-476: Is a lady who stems from the royal lineage of the Gods of Clear Light ('Od gsal lha) who is devoted to spiritual liberation and to the benefit of all living beings. Her outer name is Lady Queen of the Jewel (bDag mo dKon mchog rgyal mo); her inner name is Female Teacher Lamp of the Doctrine (sLob dpon ma Chos kyi sgron ma); her secret name is Vajravarahi (rDo rje phag mo). Her residence is undefined. According to Diemberger

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540-686: Is currently a member of the monastic community of the Thangthong Dewachen Nunnery at Zilingkha in Thimphu , which follows the Nyingma and the Shangpa Kagyu tradition." One of the distinctive features of the Samding Dorje Phagmo's iconography is a black hat. This hat can be seen in both ancient and modern mural paintings as well as in photographs of the later reincarnations. This black hat

585-508: Is not clear when Trisong Detsen died, or for how long Muné Tsenpo reigned. It is said that Muné Tsenpo was poisoned by his mother, who was jealous of his beautiful wife. Whatever the case, both the Old Book of Tang and the Tibetan sources agree that, since Muné Tsenpo had no heirs, power passed to his younger brother, Sadnalegs, who was on the throne by 804 CE. The other brother, Mutik Tsenpo,

630-516: Is required of her that she never take her rest lying down; in the daytime she may recline on cushions or in a chair, but during the night she sits in the position prescribed for meditation. [...] In 1716, when the Jungar invaders of Tibet came to Nangartse, their chief sent word to Samding to the Dorjo Phagmo to appear before him, that he might see if she really had, as reported, a pig's head. A mild answer

675-554: 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

720-651: Is to be singled out; The plural is denoted, when required, by adding the morpheme -rnams ; when the collective nature of the plurality is stressed the morpheme -dag is instead used. These two morphemes combine readily (e.g. rnams-dag ' a group with several members ' , and dag-rnams ' several groups ' ). The classical written language has ten cases . Case markers are affixed to entire noun phrases, not to individual words (i.e. Gruppenflexion ). Traditional Tibetan grammarians do not distinguish case markers in this manner, but rather distribute these case morphemes (excluding -dang and -bas ) into

765-470: The Blue Annals give 814). He had five sons, the first became a monk, the last two died in childhood. When Sadnaleg died, Langdarma was bypassed as he was anti-Buddhist and hot tempered and the royal power was given to Ralpacan . An impressive stone pillar with an inscription commemorating Sadnalegs stand in the burial ground of the Tibetan kings near 'Phyong-rgas . It is partially illegible but confirms

810-402: The dakinis heaven ( khecara ), her true home. She left her skull with special features as the wish-fulfilling gem of the great meditation center of Tsagong . The great siddha [Thang Tong Gyalpo] had said earlier, 'A skull with special features will come to this sacred place, together with a mountain dweller from Ngari', and thus the prophecy had come true, greatly enhancing the devotion of

855-641: The Kongpo people." As part of her relationship with Thang Tong Gyalpo , Chökyi Drönma received the complete teachings of the Heart Practice ( thugs sgrub ) of treasure teachings from Trasang ( bkra bzang gter kha ), as well as Chöd (teachings of Machig Labdrön and Mahāmudrā instructions from him. Chökyi Drönma was known by a variety of names during her lifetime. Diemberger writes: Three names in particular frame her [the Dorje Phagmo's] identity according to

900-511: The 12th of this line, resides in Lhasa . where she is known as Female Living Buddha Dorje Palma by China . The present incarnation [i.e. in 1882] of the divine Dorje Phagmo is a lady of twenty-six, Nag-wang rinchen kunzag wangmo by name. She wears her hair long; her face is agreeable, her manner dignified, and somewhat resembling those of the Lhacham, though she is much less prepossessing than she. It

945-755: The Bodongpa tradition and remains the head of the Samding Monastery . She simultaneously holds the post of a high government cadre in the Tibet Autonomous Region . She has, as a result, been accused by many of "collaborating" with the Chinese. According to Diemberger there also is a Dorje Phagmo line in Bhutan : [She] was recognized by the Sakya Lama Rikey Jatrel, considered an incarnation of Thangtong Gyalpo (1385–1464 or 1361–1485). The Dorje Phagmo

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990-513: The Chinese between 799 and 803, with battles in Yanzhou (鹽州, present day Yanchi County , Ningxia ), Lingzhou (麟州, Zoigê County , Sichuan ), Weizhou (維州, Li County , Sichuan), Yazhou (雅州, Ya'an , Sichuan) and Suizhou (巂州, Xichang , Sichuan), envoys began travelling regularly from 804 onwards between Lhasa and China, although no formal treaty was signed. When Emperor Dezong died in 805, Ralpacan sent gifts of gold, silver, cloth, oxen and horses for

1035-515: 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. The first Dorje Phagmo, Chökyi Drönma (1422–1455),

1080-524: The Jewel), her birth name; Chokyi Dronma (Lamp of the Dharma), the name she was given when she was ordained as a novice; and Dorje Phagmo ( Vajravārāhī ), the name attributed to her when she was revealed as an emanation of this deity. In an introductory letter written by Thang Tong Gyalpo before Chökyi Drönma departed from Northern Lato in 1454, he presented her with the following letter describing her names: Now there

1125-472: The Tibetan grammarians, influenced by Sanskrit grammatical terminology, call the "present" ( lta-da ), "past" ( 'das-pa ), "future" ( ma-'ongs-pa ), and "imperative" ( skul-tshigs ), although the precise semantics of these stems is still controversial. The so-called future stem is not a true future, but conveys the sense of necessity or obligation. The majority of Tibetan verbs fall into one of two categories, those that express implicitly or explicitly

1170-408: The classical language and in the modern dialects. Verbs are negated by two prepositional particles: mi and ma . Mi is used with present and future stems. The particle ma is used with the past stem; prohibitions do not employ the imperative stem, rather the present stem is negated with ma . There is also a negative stative verb med ' there is not, there does not exist ' ,

1215-421: The counterpart to the stative verb yod ' there is, there exists ' . As with nouns, Tibetan also has a complex system of honorific and polite verbal forms. Thus, many verbs for everyday actions have a completely different form to express the superior status, whether actual or out of courtesy, of the agent of the action, thus lta ' see ' , hon. gzigs ; byed ' do ' , hon. mdzad . Where

1260-623: The eight cases of Sanskrit . There are personal, demonstrative, interrogative and reflexive pronouns , as well as an indefinite article , which is plainly related to the numeral for "one." As an example of the pronominal system of classical Tibetan, the Milarepa rnam thar , exhibits the following personal pronouns. Like in French , the plural ( ཁྱེད་ khyed ) can be used as a polite singular. Verbs do not inflect for person or number. Morphologically there are up to four separate stem forms, which

1305-607: The funeral. The Tibetan army continued to attack the Arabs to the west and, according to al-Ya'qubi , they besieged Samarkand , the capital of Transoxiana at the time. Finally, the Tibetan governor of Turkestan presented a statue made of gold and precious stones to the Arab Caliph al-Ma'mun (r. 813–833). This statue was later sent to the Ka'ba in Mecca . Sadnalegs probably died in 815 (though

1350-679: The girl in whom she had reincarnated and thus initiated a line of female incarnations that became the first and most famous in Tibet." Chökyi Drönma was a leading figure in the Tibetan Bodongpa tradition which gradually waned under Gelugpa rule, but is being gradually restored today. She died at the Manmogang Monastery in Tsari to the southeast of Dakpo, near the Indian border, in 1455. Diemberger also says: [T]he Venerable Lady passed away into

1395-574: 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,

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1440-488: The involvement of an agent, marked in a sentence by the instrumental particle ( kyis , etc.) and those that express an action that does not involve an agent. Tibetan grammarians refer to these categories as tha-dad-pa and tha-mi-dad-pa respectively. Although these two categories often seem to overlap with the English grammatical concepts of transitive and intransitive, most modern writers on Tibetan grammar have adopted

1485-409: The ministers let him sit on a seat and put many precious ornaments on his head. His body couldn't carry such a weight, so he tilted his neck and wobbled, which was considered very dignified. Finally he inherited the throne, and thus got a nickname, Sénalek Jingyön, which meant "The crooked neck [child] who had been examined and [recognized as] the proper [emperor]". As he was quite young when he came to

1530-508: The most significant works of art, architecture, and engineering of her time and had seminal influence in the development of printing. Furthermore, she expressed a particular commitment toward women, promoting their education, establishing nunneries, and even creating religious dances that included roles for them. Chökyi Drönma died at the age of thirty-three, leaving a tangible mark on history not only through her own deeds but even more through what happened after her death: her disciples searched for

1575-445: The pigs disappeared to become venerable-looking lamas and nuns, with the saintly Dorje Phagmo at their head. Filled with astonishment and veneration for the sacred character of the lady abbess, the chief made immense presents to her lamasery. Samding Monastery was destroyed after 1959 but is in the process of being restored. In premodern Tibet, the successive incarnations of Dorje Pakmo were treated with royal privilege and, along with

1620-577: The second Dorje Phagmo was Kunga Sangmo (wylie: Kun dga' bzang mo) (1459–1502). The ninth Dorje Phagmo -Choying Dechen Tshomo-, for example, became a renowned spiritual master not only for Samding but also for the Nyingma tradition, discovered some terma and died at Samye . Her skull is still preserved and worshipped as a holy relic in the Nyingmapa monastery on the island of Yumbudo in Yamdrok Tso Lake. The current (12th) Samding Dorje Pakmo Trülku

1665-407: The specific prefixes to be used with any given verb are less predictable; while there is a clear pattern of b- for a past stem and g- for a future stem, this usage is not consistent. Only a limited number of verbs are capable of four changes; some cannot assume more than three, some two, and many only one. This relative deficiency is made up by the addition of auxiliaries or suffixes both in

1710-456: The terms "voluntary" and "involuntary", based on native Tibetan descriptions. Most involuntary verbs lack an imperative stem. Many verbs exhibit stem ablaut among the four stem forms, thus a or e in the present tends to become o in the imperative byed , byas , bya , byos ('to do'), an e in the present changes to a in the past and future ( len , blangs , blang , longs 'to take'); in some verbs

1755-408: The throne, Sadnalegs was assisted by four experienced ministers, two of whom were also Buddhist monks. They followed the policies of the previous kings. Sadnalegs had four wives from different Tibetan clans. Indian scholars were invited to Samye Monastery to help translate Buddhist texts. Sadnaleg had the temple of Skar-cung (Karchung) built near Lhasa. Due to opposition to Buddhism, the king called

1800-453: Was apparently not considered for office as he had previously murdered a senior minister and had been banished to Lhodak Kharchu near the Bhutanese border. Then the powerful Buddhist monk Nyang Tingngezin proposed to install Tridé Songtsen as the new emperor. He was so young that most of ministers doubted about his ability to be the emperor. In order to test the majesty of the young prince,

1845-464: Was returned to him; but, incensed at her refusing to obey his summons, he tore down the walls of the monastery of Samding, and broke into the sanctuary. He found it deserted, not a human being in it, only eighty pigs and as many sows grunting in the congregation hall under the lead of a big sow, and he dared not sack a place belonging to pigs. When the Jungars had given up all idea of sacking Samding, suddenly

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1890-445: 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

1935-478: 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. 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

1980-428: Was the youngest son of King Trisong Detsen of Tibet (reigned c. 800–815 CE – though various accounts give the beginning of his reign as 797 or 804 CE). Trisong Detsen retired to live at Zungkar and handed power to his second son, Muné Tsenpo , in 797. From this point there is much confusion in the various historical sources. It seems there was a struggle for the succession after the death of Trisong Detsen. It

2025-454: 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 ( Wylie : chos kyi sgron me , 1422–1455). She became known as Samding Dorje Pagmo ( Wylie : bsam lding rdo rje phag mo ) and began

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