Master Chödzin Phoma Gagen

In her early years, Master Chödzin Phoma Gagen was a renowned local female entrepreneur who had accumulated abundant wealth. However, due to the turbulent times, her family fell into turmoil – poverty, separation, and most poignantly, being forced out of the homeland.

For a true follower of Buddha and his teachings, the ups and downs of life are the greatest blessings in disguise. Thanks to the compassion of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, they revealed the impermanence of life in the most heartbreaking ways, guiding her back home.

At the moment she began exploring Buddhism, she came into a moment of sudden realization: each step she ever took served the purpose of leading her back to the right path, and all the afflictions endured pointed to the right path that leads to liberation from suffering - a path taught by the Budda 2,600 years ago, a path pointed out by the accomplished Siddha Marpa Chöying Dorje Rinpoche, and a path guided by her Root Lama, Tashi Choephel Rinpoche.

In the year of 2015, Master Phoma took refuge in the Tuptin Monastery of Tibetan Buddhism, with Chöying Dorje Rinpoche as the tantric Vajra Master and Sakyamuni Buddha as the ultimate refuge, and she was bestowed the Dharma name “Palden Lhamo,” which shares a remarkably similar karmic origin with Palden Lhamo, the principal protectress of Buddhism.

Talking about the female Dharmapala, Palden Lhamo safeguards not only the Vajrayana of Tantra, but also Buddhism in its entirety, maintaining a notably close relationship with the Fourth Teacher of the one thousand Buddhas, Sakyamuni Buddha himself. As recorded in both the Ādittapariyāya Sutta, commonly known as the Fire Sermon, and the Ancient Sutta:

“At the Dharma Assembly of Kassapa Buddha, Sakyamuni Buddha and Dharmapala Palden Lhamo listened to the Dharma teachings along with 20,000 disciples. Kassapa Buddha prophesied the future enlightenment of Sakyamuni and that Palden Lhamo would protect and ensure the flourishing of the Dharma. The Dharmapala swore a solemn vow in front of both Kassapa Buddha and Sakyamuni that she would protect the Dharma of the Fourth Teacher Sakyamuni Buddha forever and guarantee that the practitioners would follow the right path.”

Therefore, from the advent of Sakyamuni, till the first turning of the Dharma wheel, and till the present day, the Dharma protector has employed the methods of pacifying, enriching, magnetizing, and subjugating to promote the Dharma and defend many practitioners from obstruction.

Tantra worships the dependent origination as part of its core. Both Palden Lhamos share the same Dharma name as well as the role of protecting Dharma. This origination being the Base, along with the good aspirations and blessings from many Siddhas as the Path, Palden Lhamo shares abundant similarities with the Dharmapala in terms of prophecies, vows, and actions, which is “the Fruit.”

Firstly, due to the same Dharma name, there is an incident of affinity in the Vajra prophecy. In the last century, the accomplished Patriarch Nhangon once declared to Marpa Chöying Dorje Rinpoche, “I will send the Dharmapala Palden Lhamo, today and in the future, to safeguard your promotion of Dharma of Wisdom and Method, to purify the lineage and undertake many matters to benefit sentient beings.” When Palden Lhamo came to the knowledge of this prophecy and realized her karmic relationship with it, she held an unyielding sense of mission and vowed, just like the Dharmapala to protect Sakyamuni, to strive for excellence in all the non-sectarian beneficial matters for the great accomplished Marpa Chöying Dorje Rinpoche, both internally and externally.

When it comes down to real actions, Palden Lhamo matured her vows. Under the guidance of the right knowledge and the right view, she accepted many believers for Rinpoche’s Dharma lineage and Vajrayana, guiding those who crave the road of liberation, pointing the way for those who endeavor to benefit others, unveiling the Buddha nature for those who want to realize it. She serves as the messenger between the secular heart and the enlightened nature and thus planted the seeds of Dakini of the Three Roots - the Lama, the Yidam, and the Dakini.

In 2022, Palden Lhamo returned to the Tuptin Monastery. After years of thorough practice of the common and uncommon preliminaries as well as the undertakings of the outer, inner, and secret matters for the lineage, this is the first time that Palden Lhamo ever made her return to the seat temple.

In the year 2023, Palden Lhamo received the tantric teachings of the Great Compassionate Avalokitesvara and the Black Wrathful Dakini from her Root Lama Tashi Choephel Rinpoche, among other eminent Rinpoche and Lamas. Since then, she has become deeply immersed in Dharma, setting an example for contemporary female practitioners, and vowed to “attain enlightenment in the female form” while taking on the responsibility of liberating sentient beings lost in the ocean of suffering, just like Avalokitesvara.

On April 13, 2024, with many good causes matured, Tashi Choephel Rinpoche, the Abbot of the Tuptin Monastery and the throneholder of the lineage, descended to the Padma Vihara in Dali, where Rinpoche professed the rituals and teachings of the common and uncommon lineage teachings of the esoteric and exoteric Buddhism and the Hinayana, Mahayana and Vajrayana, such as Water Offering, Ngöndro - Buddha in the Palm of your Hand, The Mantra for the Akshobhya Buddha, and the pith instructions on the Practice of the Nature of Mind. Rinpoche also recognized Palden Lhamo as the female inheritor of the Tuptin Monastery’s tantric lineage and bequeathed the new Dharma name, Chödzin Phoma Gagen. “Chödzin” signifies the lineage inheritance, while “Phoma” means the Sacred Mother. In the Ge Tantra, the uncommon notes to the Hevajra Tantra, “Phoma” is said to be the “mother who is away from the unwholesome stains.”

In the tantras, the significance of the female Buddha (such as Tara), the female deity (as opposed to the male deity), spiritual consort, and Vajra yogini is beyond description. They are equivalent to the indispensable Dakini of the Three Roots and of the Inner Three Jewels, and all of them are the foundation of activities for all Buddhas and practitioners, representing the enlightened female energy. They guide the practitioners not to derail from the right path and reveal the innate and consummate Buddha nature for sentient beings of various roots and inclinations. While the practitioners are dedicated to a certain practice, they will manifest expedient means to help unveil the bodhi path of the Tathagata Store. The Mahasiddha Phowaba, Sachen Kunga Nyingpo, Marpa the Translator, and Milarepa all ever benefited from the guidance of Dakini.

Chödzin Phoma Gagen rides the wishes of all sentient beings back to the Samsara, and since the beginning of her Dharma promotion, she made a vow, “May all sentient beings lost in Samsara abide in the innate, vast luminosity.”

Master Phoma passionately believes in the everlasting continuum of Buddhism, and asserts that young people and educated individuals should learn Buddhism. She knows that all sentient beings who ever experience the impermanence and injustice of fate will gain ultimate wisdom from Buddhism. Regardless of gender, age, nationality, or race, all will lead an accomplished way of life in the secular world and beyond!

Master Phoma conducts Dharma promotion in Southern China. Currently, Master Phoma has four viharas with disciples from around the globe, primarily from China, the United States of America, Singapore, and Portugal.

On July 10th of the same year, Tashi Choephel Rinpoche formally conferred the Five Buddha Crown on Chödzin Phoma Gagen at the Tuptin Monastery, dressing her in the Yogini’s cassock and conducting many extraordinary rituals. The conferment of the Five Buddha Crown in Buddhism, particularly in Tantra, symbolizes that the yogi has the permission to practice most of the methods of Father Tantra, Mother Tantra, and Non-Dual Tantra, and also means, to some extent, the Five Buddha Families and the Five Wisdoms that can transform the Five Poisons and the Five Skandhas to purity.