FOUNDER OF THE MONASTERY Ani Choeten Zangmo was the granddaughter of the famous Bhutanese saint Pema Lingpa (1450-1521). According to the biography of the 6th Dalai Lama, Tshangyang Gyatso (17th century), Ani Choeten Zangmo is referred to as an incarnation of a celestial woman (dakini), who is strongly committed to the wellbeing of all sentient beings on earth. Ani Choeten Zangmo was the granddaughter of the famous Bhutanese saint Pema Lingpa (1450-1521). According to the biography of the 6th Dalai Lama, Tshangyang Gyatso (17th century), Ani Choeten Zangmo is referred to as an incarnation of a celestial woman (dakini), who is strongly committed to the wellbeing of all sentient beings on earth. From an early age she devoted herself to the practice of the Buddhist doctrine and resorted to a life of solitude in the caves of the Bumthang region in Central Bhutan. As a young girl, she was very charming and pretty. One of the brothers of the Ruler of Chokhor requested her to be his wife. She declined this proposal as she was not fond of routine life. The repeated intervention of the ruler on behalf of his brother created lots of disturbance to her practice and so she deemed him an enemy to Buddhist practices. She then left Bumthang for a less disruptive and a sacred place, taking with her a conch given by her grandfather, Terton Pema Lingpa. She was told that the conch would produce the finest sound upon reaching the finest place. For days she traveled until she reached a place where the conch produced a melodious sound. She named the place “Dra mi” which means “free of enemies”.
Posted on: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 10:32:23 +0000