Trichen Ngawang Chokden was born in a remote village called Le Lak Karmo of Chatsen Tso district, Amdo province in Tibet. His father’s name was Chakdor Tashi; mother, Pochok. He was born in the wooden snake year of the Tibetan calendar, corresponding to the western year 1677. Since the time of his birth, he was totally different from other children, abandoning all signs of behaving ordinarily like others; acting as if he was in meditation or reciting mantras, he would spend most of his time like that. As he heard people reciting Sutras such as the King of Concentration and the Great Liberation Sutra, he was able to memorise simply by hearing them just once. Seeing leading a family life as the source of much misery and delusion, and the life of ordination as the basis for all exalted qualities, time and again, he persuaded his parents to let him become a monk. His parents decided to support him in his zealous spiritual quest and admitted him at Jakyung Monastery [Choje Dhondrup Rinchen’s monastery, the first monastery for Tsongkhapa] where he offered his first pieces of hair to its abbot Venerable Ngawang Tsultrim and received his ordination from the same. He was given the monastic name Ngawang Chokden. He then received his sramana vows of novice from the same abbot and ever since maintained his vows with absolute diligence. On top of memorising the texts of monastic prayers, he also memorised the root texts of the four main treatises [Pragyaparimita, Madhyamika, Pramanavartika and Abdhidharma Koshakarika].
He persevered in the basic art of monastic debate and was able to adopt its skills almost effortlessly.  Around that time, due to the ripening of his past imprints, he never felt attracted to the pleasures of this life; the experience of renunciation as well as viewing all phenomena as illusory — devoid of any independent existence — was spontaneous in him.
At the age of fifteen, following his long aspiration to study in U-Tsang and thus continue the legacy of Tsongkhapa, he sought permission from the abbot of Jakyung Monastery and his parents, and with their consent and assistance, he travelled to U-Tsang in Central Tibet and got admission at Sera Thekchen Monastic University of Tibet. His college was Sera Jey Monastery. As he was of noble origin with a good familial background, everyone encouraged him to take the position of Choeze [a special monastic status with considerable privilege]. However, thinking that his status might be detrimental to his study, he preferred to remain a simple monk like the majority of the monk students. With Lama Gyaltsen Dhondup as his tutor, he first studied Pramanavartika [epistemology] and later; Pragyaparimita. With Jetsun Choeki Gyaltsen’s commentary as the main basis for his study, he studied other major Indian and Tibetan commentaries of Pragyaparimita [Perfection of Wisdom-Treatise]. He memorised the four supplementary texts, and passed the oral recitation test, recited in the midst of the monastic congregation by standing up, smoothly and with success. Finishing his study on Pragyaparimita at the age of nineteen, at twenty, he took his public debate examination at Sangphu Monastery. He then studied Madhyamika, and memorised the whole text of Jetsun Choeki Gyaltsen’s commentary on Madhyamika. With his diligence and enthusiasm, he was soon able to master all the works on Madhyamika by Arya Nagarjuna and his chief disciples, as well as commentaries on them by Tsongkhapa and his principle disciples. In this way, he established his legacy as one of the top scholars at the time. For three years, he studied Abhidharma and Vinaya, and mastered these two treatises. At the age of twenty five, at the ‘Great Prayer Festival’ of Lhasa, he stood for his examination on the four difficult treatises.
After his final examination, aspiring to put all he had studied into practice so that he could experientially realise and validate all those treatises as excellent instructions, he went to practise as a hermit under Je Drupkhangpa Gelek Gyatso whose hermitage was on the hilltop that lies at the backdrop of Sera Monastery. He received extensive instructions on Tsongkhapa’s Graduated Steps of Path to Enlightenment, the only path ventured on by all the Buddhas of the three times, and endeavoured in this practice with much diligence and tenacity. His Lama Je Drupkhangpa was extremely pleased with his student, prophesying that persevering in this path of Lamrim at such a young age and continuing it to full completion will definitely bear great fruits of attainment, thereby bringing great benefits for the Dharma and sentient beings. Realising every single word of what he studied in the past as supreme instructions to tame one’s mind, he looked up to Je Drupkhangpa as his principle master, revering him with the deepest respect that equaled to what Atisha accorded to his master Dharmamati Survarnadvipa. Thus, as he revered Je Drupkhangpa as an incomparable master for him, the moment Je Drupkhangpa’s name was mentioned, he would respectfully fold his hands, his eyes moistened with tears of respect and gratitude. He applied into practice the instructions on Lamrim that he had received from Je Drupkhangpa. Remembering all of the instructions word by word and practising with great determination and diligence, he complemented his practice with offerings of prostrations and mandalas. When making offerings, as he was deprived of material comfort and facility, he cleaned empty pots and filled them with offerings, and thus followed the legacy of austerity and diligence that his master Je Drupkhangpa had set forth.
For long, he had aspired to receive his bhikshu ordination from the omniscient Panchen Lama Jetsun Lobsang Yeshi, the emanation of Buddha Amitabha in human form. Struggling through all odds, even carrying his own loads by himself without displaying any sign of being a great scholar, he travelled all the way on foot to Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, to the west of Lhasa. When he received an audience with the omniscient Panchen Lama, he experienced the kind of joy experienced by those who attain the first Arya ground, his heart was filled with the kind of uncontrived and spontaneous faith one would have when coming across a Buddha in real life. Having well received the bhikshu vows, he maintained all the major and minor commitments with utmost tenacity and became like a great victory-banner upholding the supremacy of the Buddha Dharma.               Â
With a strong aspiration to study and excel in the practice of Tantra, he entered Gyumed Tantric College. By accepting Choje Gedun Phuntsok as his master and properly pleasing the former with words and actions, he received teachings on the four interwoven commentaries of Guhyasamaja, the king of Tantra, and also received practical instructions on its rituals and mandala constructions. By receiving instructions on the commentaries of the Mother Tantra Chakrasamvara and Vajra Bairava, and becoming well versed in their rituals and other practices, he became learned in the teachings of Tantrayana. At the age of twenty seven, during the summer semester, he requested Choeje Gedun Phuntsok to grant him the instructions as enshrined in the Khedrup Je’s Chronology of Instructions and received all ranges of teachings and instructions on the two stages of path. Gyudchen [honorific for a Tantric practitioner] Gedun Phuntsok had all the lineages of the ear whispered traditions of Vensapa, as well as the lineage of Sedgyud and the lineage of Gyumed Tantric College. Therefore, Trichen Ngawang Chokden received not just the oral transmissions of these lineages, but direct instructions on all of them. Thus, he gained confidence in the two stages of Tantrayana. He also received empowerments, Lamrim commentaries, commentaries on the two stages of Tantrayana, and many empowerments from Kunkyen Jamyang Shepa Dorji. He received many empowerments, transmissions and instructions from various other masters. At the fervent request of his parents, he went to Domed [Amdo] and lived there for four years. At the age of thirty three, he returned to U-Tsang, and received instructions on the generation and the completion stage of Guhyasamaja, Chakrasamvara and Vajra Bairava together with the oral transmission of the eight volumes of Tsongkhapa’s works from Trichen Gedun Phunstok.
At the age of thirty four, he was appointed the abbot of Thoding Monastery, the seat of Lotsawa [translator] Rinchen Sangpo. He actively worked hard on the construction of statues of different kinds, publication of scriptures, construction of stupas, and so forth. He also taught extensively, restoring the monastic tradition of education that existed in the past, and thus contributed to the revival of Buddha Dharma in the three regions of Toed Ngari as if the real Lotsawa Rinchen Sangpo had returned once more. For seven years in the region of Ngari, he contributed extensively towards the revival and preservation of the Buddha Dharma. On his way back [from Western Tibet] to Central Tibet, he went on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash. Seeing hand prints and foot prints left by many past masters of the Kagyu tradition, in order to uphold the greatness of Tsongkhapa’s tradition, he also left a foot print on a rock there. He then went to Mangyul Kyidrong, and in the presence of the statue of Jowo Wati Sangpo, he made extensive offerings and prayers. From Rabjampa Lithang Lama Soepa Choekor who lived in the hermitage of Phucadrak in Kyidrong, he received many teachings. On the way, he also came across Pema Kuepa region and visited the Pema Choeding Monastery there. While he was there, he also went through the writings of Bodong Jigdrel and was extremely pleased with them. He then visited Tashi Lhunpo Monastery where he made offerings of around thirty horses and many others to the omniscient Panchen Rinpoche. From Panchen Rinpoche, he received many teachings such as teachings on Atisha’s Lamp of Path to Enlightement and many others. As he reached Central Tibet, he received the Hundred Empowerments of Mitripa from the great yogi Jamphel Gyatso and many other empowerments. From Trichen Gedun Phuntsok, he received many profound teachings such as the oral transmission of the Root–Text of Chakrasamvara in conjunction with Tsongkhapa’s commentary Illumination of All the Hidden Meanings and many others.
As Jestun Sherab Senge was instructed by Tsongkhapa to establish a Tantric college in order to preserve his Tantric teachings, he founded Gyumed Monastery where the pure tradition of Tsongkhapa’s Tantric teachings and all the rituals associated with Guhyasamaja, Chakrasamavara and Vajra Bairava continued without degeneration for a long time. However, as the teachings and rituals associated with Chakrasamvara were delicate, and due to the influence of degenerate-time, its practice came to be discontinued in the monastery. With genuine aspiration to revive them, he fervently offered prayers to Tsongkhapa for a long time. He sought assistance of the two protectors, Mahakala and Dharma Raja, bound to oath by Tsongkhapa, and sent some bright scholars to Wen Monastery, the seat of the great yogi Wensapa and his chief disciples, from where they learnt all the traditional rituals and practices of Chakrasamvara with perfection: Thus, they established the same impeccable tradition of Chakrasamvara as practised by the great yogi Wensapa and his chief disciples. While invigorating the study of the Four Interwoven Commentaries of Guhyasamaja, he established the study of the Root Text of Chakrasamvara in conjunction with Tsongkhapa’s commentary Illumination of All the Hidden Meanings. The monks were also made to memorise Jetsun Sherab Senge’s commentary to the Guhyasamaja Tantra. During his tenure as the abbot, he taught the self-generation stage of the Chakrasamvara and Guhyasamaja, and gave indepth teachings on Tsongkhapa’s the Lamp Illuminating the Five Stages, as well as the Great Treatise on the Self–Generation and Completion Stage of Vajra Bairava. During every spring semester, he gave experiential teachings on the self-generation and the completion stages of Guhyasamaja. To several genuine aspirants, he gave teachings on the Eight Great Commentaries. As such, by proliferating the teachings of Tantra he contributed immensely to the Buddha Dharma and sentient beings: Thus, his kindness towards the Buddha Dharma in general, and particularly towards Tantrayana remains beyond comparison. He further received many teachings of Sutra and Tantra from Venerable Lama Lobsang Jinpa and Drupwang Dhonyoe Khedrup of Loseling Monastery. For ten years from the ‘Fire-Pig Year’ until the ‘Fire-Monkey Year’ of the traditional Tibetan calendar, he served his position as the abbot of Gyumed Tantric College, and made great contributions spiritually and materially. The revival of the Chakrasamvara tradition — through the induction of the tradition of study on this Tantra by first receiving the concerned teachings despite many odds, and then establishing the Drupchoe practice of Chakrasamvara — is one of his most important achievements that ensured the long sustenance of the teachings of Chakrasamvara.
While still serving as the abbot of Gyumed Tantric College, he was requested to serve as the vajra master for the omniscient Gyalwa Kelsang Gyatso to support the latter’s study and practice of Tantrayana. Leaving Gyumed Tantric College, he went to Garthar where, by performing the ritual appeasing the vajra master in the beginning in accordance with the tradition of Gyumed Tantric College, he taught the Four Interwoven Commentaries of Guhyasamaja and Jetsun Sherab Senge’s commentary of Guhyasamaja on a daily basis. While daily classes on these two texts were conducted, he also occasionally offered the 7th Dalai Lama many initiations, empowerments, and oral transmissions. In winter, a stringent study schedule was observed, and from then until spring, he conducted daily classes and taught the root texts in conjunction with their respective commentaries, often comparing the different interpretations and ascertaining and affirming the position of Tsongkhapa and his spiritual heirs: Thus, the interpretation by means of ‘six dimensions and four means’ were explicitly explained in great depth. His Holiness the 7th Dalai Lama was also someone with strong altruism for the revival, preservation and proliferation of the Buddha Dharma in its entirety, and particularly the teachings of Tantrayana. With such great altruism, no matter how much his vajra master taught him, his zeal and enthusiasm never stopped, and his aspiration for more could not be quenched even by the water of the ocean. Trichen Ngawang Chokden’s activities of serving the education of the Dalai Lama as well as his own study, contemplation and meditation bore great results, just like the rising tide of ocean in the summer and the waxing of the moon. For two years, he contemplated on the quintessential points of the Four Interwoven Commentaries and was able to become prolific in them.
After arriving from China, Changkya Rinpoche, after completing his important tasks at Garthar, requested teachings of Sutras and Tantras from His Holiness the 7th Dalai Lama and Trichen Ngawang Chokden. Trichen Ngawang Chokden offered him teachings on the Four Interwoven Commentaries, the Lamp Illuminating the Five Stages, the Eight Great Commentaries and many other teachings with profound and extensive explanation. He then lived at Potala Palace for a while and offered numerous teachings to His Holiness the 7th Dalai Lama. At the request of the Dalai Lama, he ascended the throne of the Gaden Tripa. By serving as the hierarchal head of the Geluk tradition, he continued the legacy of Tsongkhapa for seven years. After retiring from his post, he again went to live in Potala and offered various teachings to His Holiness and many other aspirants. At the age of seventy, he gathered hundreds of gold coins and offered gold paintings to the most prominent statues in Tibet.
To put his legacy in gist, propitiating his spiritual masters properly, he first studied wide ranges of teachings of Sutra and Tantra. Supported by valid modes of reasoning, he developed full confidence and conviction in all ranges of teachings and mastered wide ranges of philosophical views. Having developed genuine renunciation, he snubbed the essenceless worldly pleasure. With his mental stream completely moistened by Bodhichitta, all his activities of the three doors [body, mind, and speech] were totally dedicated to others. Seeing all internal and external dependently-existent objects as like the mirage or the reflection of the moon in the water, he excelled in the perfection of primordial realisation and skillful means. Having mastered the yogic practices of the two stages of Tantra, and the concentrative practice of the union of bliss and emptiness, he attracted all the dakinis, and controlled all the Dharma protectors and bound them to his service. He was someone who had fulfilled his special commitments to uphold the Buddha’s teachings, and particularly the lineage of Tsongkhapa even during the degenerate time. As far as his perseverance with practice is concerned, he meditated at Mount Kailash, Kampo Nenang, Drakar Taso, Shakdrak Gangri, Riwo Geden, Phabongkha, and many other secluded places. Except when he was busy with commitments, from the time he went to Ngari to serve as the abbot of Thoding Monastery until he decided to leave his present body for the benefit of others, he would dedicate three or four months every year for intensive meditational retreat. On a daily basis, he would receive the four empowerments based on the ear whispered tradition of Guru Yoga, conduct the Lamrim visualization based on the Easy Path by Panchen Palden Yeshi, do the extensive self-generation and completion stage practice of Vajra Akshobya Guhyasamaja Tantra, the body mandala of Dilpuwa’s Chakrasamwara, and the thirteen deities of Vajra Bairava. He would also do the multiple ritual feast offerings of Mahakala and other wisdom-eyed protectors: Thus, his practice included both the wisdom and method that complement one another. During his breaks, he always engaged in prostrations and mandala offering practices, associating them with the practice of Bodhichitta. As for the mantra recitation, he recited the root-mantras of the deities and their retinue in whose mandala he received their empowerments. Apart from these, he also recited the mantra of Vajra Bairava five hundred times, and practised the vajra repetition and ‘the vase-like yogic practice’ of channelising the subtle wind energy.
As for the teachings he gave, since his first visit to Ngari province, with the exception of one or two years, he always taught either an abbreviated or an extended version of the Lamrim teaching. He probably taught Lamrim Chenmo or Tsongkhapa’s Graduated Steps of Path to Enlightenment publicly for more than ten times at the least. With the Four Interwoven Commentaries as the basis, he gave teachings on Guhyasamaja, teaching the text twenty six times. Based on the Illumination of All Hidden Meanings, and its root text, he also gave many explanatory teachings on Chakrasamvara. In this way, he gave numerous teachings on the classical Buddhist treatises such as those mentioned above. For twenty four years, he served as the tutor of His Holiness the 7th Dalai Lama, who in turn considered him as the incomparable one among his many teachers. At the age of seventy five, by offering Pelkor Choede to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, he requested him to be given the Radreng Hermitage where he could spend the remaining part of his life. Taking his word and physical condition as signs of his wish to depart from this life, His Holiness requested him not to think of leaving his body soon, and in order for him to live longer, offerings were made at all important sacred sites. Further offerings were made to the congregations of the three seats requesting them for prayers. Requests were made to different hermitages asking them to perform life lengthening practices for Trichen Rinpoche. Doctors were given special responsibility to see to his good health. However, Trichen Rinpoche insisted that he be given permission so that he could go to Radreng and die there. His Holiness the ‘Omniscient One’ paid visits to Trichen Rinpoche’s chamber and requested him to live longer, offering him Radreng and requesting him to keep Pelkor Choede as well, but to continue living at Potala. With tears in his eyes, His Holiness made fervent requests with bounteous offerings as part of his mandala offering. To this, Trichen Ngawang Chokden replied:
‘I am glad to have come across Tsongkhapa’s tradition from childhood, and am happy with the way my study was completed. I had also done a great deal of meditation and contemplation, and had many signs and visions. Now that I have finished offering you all the teachings of Sutra and Tantra that I have, I am mentally at ease. I only request you, the ‘Omniscient One’, to always lead me in my successive lifetimes. Other than that, I have nothing more to say.’
Saying thus, he did not wither from his wish to leave his body. In the morning of leaving for Jang Radreng, His Holiness went to see Trichen Ngawang Chokden in the latter’s chamber. They exchanged many talks on wide ranges of spiritual matters, and there were every signs of sadness in both of them due to the separation. The emotions at that time were inexpressible, with both the master and son unable to stop their tears. Both of them touched their heads as a gesture of respect and for receiving one another’s blessing. Trichen Rinpoche offered his most previous object, a statue of Vajrayogini that he never separated himself from, to His Holiness and requested thus:
‘May Your Holiness live long; May your divine activities reach far and wide; May you also lead me in all my successive lifetimes until enlightenment. This is the only prayer and request that this old monk has: May you hold me with compassion.’
His Holiness also accepted the requests that were made to him. His Holiness then walked together with Trichen Rinpoche as he was leaving for Radreng. Before bidding him farewell, His Holiness pressed his head against Trichen Rinpoche’s chest, praying for long as tears rolled down his cheeks. Trichen Ngawang Chokden gave much valuable advice to the inner circle of secretaries and attendants of His Holiness before bidding them farewell. From the gate of Potala, Trichen Rinpoche was lifted in a palanquin and escorted to Radreng.                 Â
At Radreng, on the seventh day of the eighth traditional Tibetan month, he instructed his attendants to prepare a high throne for him and sat on it. In the morning of the eighth day, facing towards Potala Palace with hands folded in supplication, he took the relic pills and the consecrated water that was specially prepared for him by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Before dusk, as light showers rained outside, he sat with the seven-fold vajra posture of Vairochana, with legs crossed, hands in meditative posture and the back erect, and in this manner he actualised the phenomenal truth body of absolute emptiness, with the successive dissolution of the three kinds of emptiness. Abandoning the casket of ordinary human body, he actualised the wisdom body adorned with the seven aspects of the union. Millions of heroes, dakas, and dakinis of infinite worlds offered inconceivable clouds of offerings of excellent and exquisite qualities, and invited him to the land of Tushita at the feet of the undefeatable Buddha Maitreya. Â
[Extracted from the biographies of Lamrim lineage masters, composed by Yongzin Pandita Kachen Yeshi Gyalsten, the tutor to the 8th Dalai Lama, Jamphel Gyatso.]
