The Five Adoptive Mothers of gTértön Aro Yeshé

gTértön Aro Yeshé was incarnation of ‘a-Shül Pema Legden (‘a shul pa dMa legs lDan / འ་ཤུལ་པདྨ་ལེཙས་ལྡན་) and the previous incarnation of Ngak’chang Rinpoche.

Khyungchen Aro Lingma (khyung chen A ro gLing ma / ཁྱུང་ཆེན་ཨ་རོ་གླིང་མ་ / 1886–1923) appointed a group of her foremost female disciples to be the Five Adoptive Yogini Mothers (rDo rJe gSos ’debs ma lNga / རྡོ་རྣེ་གསིས་འདབས་མ་ལྔ་) of her son, gTértön Aro Yeshé.

She gave them each responsibility for imparting certain bodies of knowledge him as he grew up.

The Five Adoptive Yogini Mothers were:

❶ Khandro Ja’gyür ’ö-Zér Nyima (mKha’ ’gro ’ja’ ’gyur ’od gZer nyi ma / མཁའ་འགྲོ་འཇའ་འགྱུར་འོད་ཟེར་ཉི་མ་)

❷ Khandro Chö-ying Nyima ’ö-Zér (mKha’ ’gro chos dByings nyi ma ’od gZer / མཁའ་འགྲོ་ཆོས་དབྱིངས་ཉི་མ་འོད་གཟེར་)

❸ Khandro Rig’dzin Gong-tsal Takmo (mKha’ ’gro rig ’dzin dGongs rTsal sTag mo / མཁའ་འགྲོ་རིག་འཛིན་དགོངས་རྩལ་སྟག་མོ་)

❹ Khandro Tsé-wang Gyür’mèd Pema (mKha’ ’gro tshe dBang ‘gyur ’med pad ma / མཁའ་འགྲོ་ཚེ་དབང་འགྱུར་འམེད་པདྨ་)

❺ Khandro Shardröl Rinchen Wangmo (mKha’ ’gro shar shar grol rin chen dBang mo / མཁའ་འགྲོ་ཤར་གྲོལ་རིན་ཆེན་དབང་མོ་)

❶ Khandro Ja’gyür ’ö-Zér Nyima

Khandro Ja’gyür ’ö-Zér Nyima had been known as a délog (’das log་/ འདས་ལོག་) one who has died and returned to life with vivid memories of the death process. She had, as a result, developed mediumistic powers and performed soothsaying activities. She was known at that time as Délog Drölma Kyi’dzom (’das log grol ma sKyid ’dzom / འདས་ལོག་གྲོལ་མ་སྐྱིད་འཛོམ་). When she met Aro Lingma, she was advised to abjure such practises and involvements as they would prove to become great obstacles. Such was Khandro Ja’gyür ’ö-Zér Nyima’s devotion to Aro Lingma that she was able to relinquish all attachment to her past experiences and engage completely in the Dzogchen practises outlined for her by Aro Lingma. She became a strong practitioner of Wrathful Black Ögyen Jampalyang and Black Ögyen Chenrézigs yab-yum and as a result became the epitome of incisive gentleness. Khandro Ja’gyür ’ö-Zér Nyima was the mother of A-yé Khandro and A-shé Khandro. Khyungchen Aro Lingma gave her detailed advice to on the future education of her daughters — as they would be active in communicating the Aro gTér with Aro Yeshé. She taught Aro Yeshé how to read and write — and play tantric ritual instruments. She also taught him the functions of view in relation to Tsi Yangwa’i (rTsis yang ba’i / རྩི་ཡང་བའི་) inner astrology. This teaching was a dam ngag (gDam ngag / གདམ་ངག་) of Jomo Chhi’mèd Pema which she had received as a transmission from Aro Lingma. She was a woman with a strange whimsical sense of humour. She made up comical songs to make Aro Yeshé laugh. She was a significant influence in terms of his inherent tendencies to approaching the phenomenal world in an energetic yet oblique manner. Once on a pilgrimage she taught Aro Yeshé how to ride a horse. Aro Lingma had told her that it would be important for Aro Yeshé to learn to ride horses at some point even if he had little opportunity at the Aro Gar.

❷ Khandro Chö-ying Nyim ’ö-Zér’s Sang-yab was Ngakpa Pema Rig’dzin.

She is depicted holding a whip across her knees – the Pamo’i Dorje Chu-srin Chag (dPa mo’i rDo rJe chu srin lÇag / དཔ་མོའི་རྡོ་རྗེ་ཆུ་སྲིན་ལྕག་) The Heroine’s Vajra Crocodile Whip. She wears a mélong at her heart centre. Khandro Chö-ying Nyima ’ö-Zer was the daughter of a Tibetan father and Chinese mother. Her father was an astrologer who was tenuously connected to various wealthy families. Khandro Chö-ying Nyima ’ö-Zer was brought up in Amdo where she became the consort of a wealthy Sakya Lama called Rinchen Gyaltsen Rinpoche. As he was relatively elderly, she became a widow quite early in life. She had no children – neither did she have brothers or sisters; so as both her parents had died her future was decided by the Lama’s relatives who deemed that she was not entitled to any kind of living annuity from his estate. Rather than accepting poor lodgings and becoming little more than a family servant, she decided to leave the district and live as a wondering practitioner. As the consort of Rinchen Gyaltsen Rinpoche she had received many empowerments and details of practice. She was a devout woman who had plunged herself into practice partially as the result of her disappointment in not being able to have children. On her travels she met various Lamas and wandering practitioners – one of was Ngakpa Dawa Ngödrüp who she eventually married. She became a strong practitioner of Tsogyel Tröllö and the Tsogyel manifestations of Drölma.

She is depicted, holding a sword and wearing a mélong at her hear centre.

❸ Khandro Rig’dzin Gong -tsal Takmo. Her birth name was Rin’dzin Pema.

She become a nun after her husband and child were killed by a red bear in the wilds of Golok. Her husband (name unknown) was a trader who went to China ad brought good back into Tibet. She had travelled with him on several occasions because she was a strong, hardy woman with a good eye for merchandise. Her son had joined his father as a trader and therefore she had little desire to remain at home in U-Tsang. After her husband and son were mauled by the bear she was left for dead. Her severe chest wounds left the travelling party to assume that she would not survive and they decided to abandon her with meagre shelter and provisions. After some days she was found and brought back to health by a party of travelling practitioners one of whom was well versed in herbal medicine. The party remained with her until her recovery, and as she recovered, they instructed her in the practice of gÇod. Once she was able to walk again they travelled slowly North into Golok where they introduced her to several Lamas. She was ordained by the Golok Lama, Rig’dzin Jig’mèd (details unknown) who gave her the name Pema Rig’dzin. At his advice she took up the life of a mendicant gÇodma and wandered in Kham and Golok practising either by herself or with others, until she met with Aro Lingma and her company travelling out of Southern Golok.

On the advice of the four year old Aro Yeshé, she grew her hair and adopted gö-kar-chang-lo dress. Her name then became Ngakma Rig’dzin Pema, and later (on becoming one of the five mothers) Khandro Rig’dzin Gong-tsal Takmo. She was called ‘Takmo’ or tigress by the young Aro Yeshé as a pet name because of her facial hair, but she adopted the name because of her great fondness for Aro Yeshé and because Aro Lingma thought it appropriate for her to do so. Khandro Rig’dzin Takmo gave Aro Yeshé a pet marmot as a pet after he came out of retreat at the age of nine, because she was concerned that he would miss his mother. Khandro Rig’dzin Takmo took care of him most in terms of cooking and washing his clothes She taught him the vajra melodies of the mantras which were particular to Aro Lingma. Khandro Rig’dzin Takmo never took a consort but grew her hair and lived as a Ngakma. She was exemplary in her singing yogic songs and had a sweet powerful voice. She had considerable power as a healer, and was a strong practitioner of Dorje Phurba, Ga-phong Dongma, Seng-gé Dongma, and the trinity of subjugation – Chana Dorje, rTam-drin, and Khyung.

When she is depicted, she is shown holding a bat in her lap – with her hands on the ends of the bat’s wings. She wears a mélong at her heart centre.

❹ Khandro Tséwang Gyür'mèd Pema

She is depicted as a woman in her thirties holding a skull bowl and a spear with three snake chö’phens. She wears a mélong at her heart centre.

❺ Khandro Shardröl Rinchen Wangmo

She was an unusually tall woman. She held a family tradition concerning birds which she had received from her mother. Her mother, A-shong Rig’dzin Gyalmo was a yogini who had lived most of her life in the mountains of Kham. Her husband Phüntsog Tobden was a wealthy farmer who had three wives. The three women were sisters, and when the youngest decided to devote her life to practice, he provided for her. She had studied and practised with the Lama (name and details not known) of her mother Dri’mèd Rinchen Zangmo who had lived her life as a householder practitioner who periodically invited Lamas to reside in her home. As the youngest daughter she spent more time with her mother than the other tow girls and developed a greater interest in practice thereby.

Khandro Shardröl Rinchen Wangmo did not see a great deal of her mother when she was a young child as she was brought up by her father’s other two wives. She would however go up into the mountains to spend some of each summer with her mother and at these times she learnt a great deal about practice. As a child she learnt to play instruments, as her father retained various attendants, one of whom provided music at social occasions. She left home permanently to live in the mountains as her mother’s attendant and disciple when she was thirteen, and remained with her until her death. She taught Aro Yeshé how to play flute and dramyen and many practices of envisionment. She had experience of rTsa rLung exercises and was quite proficient at Trül-khor. She took particular interest in plaiting Aro Yeshé’s hair, and he gave her the prediction that this would give her causes for skill in language in her next life. She was a strong practitioner of Dorje Tröllö and Takdong Pawo. Her husband was called Namgyal Dorje and she met him in the party of Aro Lingma travelling down to Southern Tibet.

She is depicted as a muscular middle aged woman holding a dramyen and wearing a mélong at her heart centre.

Illustration by David Herrerias