In 2017, The Treasury of Lives received an Ashoka Grant from the Khyentse Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 2001 by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche to support all traditions of Buddhist study and practice. Khyentse Foundation's support enabled the publication of ten biographies of Buddhist women from the Tibetan cultural region. In 2018, ten peer-reviewed biographies were added to the site.
In 2025, through an Ashoka Grant, 12 peer reviewed biographies of translators were published.
There are 22 biographies Sponsored by Khyentse Foundation
b.early 8th cent. - d.mid 8th cent.
TBRC P7695
One of the best known and beloved female figures in Tibetan Buddhism, Yeshe Tsogyel is believed to have been the wife of the Tibetan emperor Tri Songdetsen and to have served as the main consort of Padmasambhava, playing a vital role in the concealment of treasure literature. There is no evidence that a person named Yeshe Tsogyel lived in Tibet, although this does not rule out the possibility that an aristocrat named Kharchen Za did exist and served as the basis for the Yeshe Tsogyel legends.
b.early 13th cent. - d.late 13th cent.
TBRC P1046
Shongton Dorje Gyeltsen was a pioneering translator of kāvya literature in Tibet during the thirteenth century. His works, including the foundational text of the genre, the Kāvyādarśa, have been widely studied and prompted hundreds of commentaries.
b.early 17th cent. - d.late 17th cent.
TBRC P1AG112
Dawo Wangmo was a master of the teachings of Terton Dorje Tokme, whom she served as a consort.
b.late 19th cent. - d.mid 20th cent.
TBRC P6572
Chonyi Wangmo was a female Taklung Kagyu master active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. She is one of three women collectively known as the "Three Jetsunma."
b.1907 - d.1973?
TBRC P1AG113
Yangchen Lhamo was the first Director of the Department of Gynecology and Pediatrics at the Lhasa Mentsikhang, as well as the first female professor there. The daughter of the Seventh Riwoche Jedrung, she continued working at the Mentsikhang at least until the advent of the Cultural Revolution.
3baf.jpg)
b.1923 - d.1979
TBRC P210
Tamdrin Lhamo was twentieth-century female Nyingma master from Nyarong. Her father was the treasure revealer Nyakla Jangchub Dorje.
b.1853/1865 - d.1951
TBRC P183
Jetsun Rigdzin Choying Zangmo was a famous itinerant female Buddhist adept active in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Born to pilgrims in northern India, she traveled extensively during the first half of her life, visiting sites all across central, western, and southern Tibet, as well as Nepal. Her root guru was Pema Gyatso, who had been a student of Zhabkar Tsokdruk Randrol. She taught Chod extensively and came to be considered an emanation of Machik Labdron. During the second half of her long life she resided at Shukseb Monastery, ultimately taking control of the institution and transforming it into a nunnery.
b.early 19th cent. - d.late 19th cent.
TBRC P1AG114
Kunzang Chokyi Drolma was a female adept from the Ngawa region of Amdo who was active in the nineteenth century. Known for her songs, she was praised by local communities and religious leaders. Though little is known of her life, a short passage in a major history of the Jonang tradition attests to her local renown.
b.late 19th cent. - d.mid 20th cent.
TBRC P1AG116
Metokma was a nineteenth century nun in Terdrom, the nunnery associated with Drigung Til. She was known as a skilled healer capable of curing illnesses and removing spiritual obstacles. She is said to have mastered the process of "extracting the essence" which enabled her to abide for long periods without eating, and to have gained heightened sensory awareness. She died sometime during the cultural revolution.
b.1787 - d.early 19th cent.
TBRC P1TD46
Tamdrin Wangmo was a princess of the Derge kingdom, a principality in Kham. She was the only daughter of the sixteenth Derge King Sawang Zangpo and Queen Tsewang Lhamo. Her older brother Tsewang Dorje Rigdzin, the seventeenth King of Derge, wrote the royal chronicle entitled A Genealogy of the Kings of Derge. Tamdrin Wangmo became a nun. There is very little information about her in the historical record but enough to suggest that she helped her brother rule the kingdom.
b.11th cent. - d.12th cent.
TBRC P1KG10329
According to legend, Nangsa Wobum was a Tibetan woman from the eleventh or twelfth century. Married to a prince of Rinang, she later left her family life to be ordained as a nun. One of the most famous deloks -- a person who returned from the dead to teach the living -- Nangsa has become a heroine of classic Tibetan opera.
13th cent.
TBRC P1052
Shong Lodro Tenpa was a thirteenth-century translator. He studied Sanskrit in Kathmandu, where he translated three texts. Under the patronage of Pakpa Lodro Gyeltsen, he continued translating at Sakya Monastery. He spent time at the Yuan summer capital of Shangdu. He was the younger brother and disciple of the translator Shongton Dorje Gyeltsen. Nine of his translations are included in the Tibetan canon.
b.1055
TBRC P5651
Patsab Lotsāwa Nyima Drak was a major translator of Indian Mahāyāna and tantric scriptures, including foundational works by Nāgārjuna and Candrakīrti. His translations focused mainly on Madhyamaka, but he also worked on texts on Abhidharma, Pramāṇa, Jataka, and tantric teachings. He is traditionally credited with introducing the Prāsaṅgika school of Madhyamaka to Tibet. He spent twenty-three years translating in India, primarily at the Ratnagupta Temple in Pravarapura, modern-day Srinagar, with his teacher Mahāsumati, and he revised many of his texts in Lhasa after returning to Tibet. Twenty-six of his translations are included in the Tengyur.
b.1352 - d.1405
TBRC P10MS19659
Lochen Drakpa Gyaltsen was an abbot of Bodong E and the founder of the monasteries of Shelkar Chode in Dingri and Dzongkar Chode in Kyirong. The nephew of the translator Jangchub Tsemo, he was the uncle of Bodong Paṇchen Chokle Namgyel. He gave teachings to numerous prominent lamas, including Tsongkhapa.
b.1197 - d.1264
TBRC P1025
Chak Lotsāwa Choje Pel, known also by the Sanskrit version of his name, Dharmaśvamin, was the last Tibetan translator to visit and study at Nālandā Monastery in India, primarily under Rāhulaśrībhadra, before its destruction. He attained considerable fame during his lifetime, with roughly thirty translations and revisions included in the Tibetan canon. He is also remembered for a correspondence with Sakya Paṇḍita on various points of doctrine.
b.1154 - d.1217
TBRC P4440
Chak Drachompa studied Sanskrit in Bodhgaya in the twelfth century. He interpreted for the Indian paṇḍitas Buddhaśrī and Śākyaśrībhadra when they visited central Tibet and also translated their works into Tibetan. He is credited with four texts in the Tengyur.
b.1040 - d.1113
TBRC P3731
Bari Lotsāwa Rinchen Drak was the second throne holder of Sakya Monastery, one of the few throne holders who was not a member of the Khon family. He is credited with translating and transmitting a collection of liturgies known as the One Hundred Sādhanas of Bari, or Bari Gyatsa. He was a student in India of Amoghavajra, with whom he translated. Known as a master of ritual, he was selected by the Khon family to be the teacher of Sachen Kunga Nyingpo, the first of the five founding fathers of the Sakya school and his successor as throne holder
b.1203 - d.1282
TBRC P1244
Galo Namgyel Dorje was a thirteenth-century tantric teacher known for the Dro and Ra traditions of Kālachakra and Yamāntaka.
b.1107 - d.1190
TBRC P3849
Tengpa Lotsāwa was a twelfth-century translator who made three trips to India. He studied under Tsami Lotsāwa Sanggye Drak and numerous Indian paṇḍitas, chief among them being Alaṅkadeva. He is credited with at least five translations in the Tibetan canon, and is said to have brought over 300 sūtras to Tibet by oral transmission.
b.1320? - d.1404
TBRC P1333
Taklung Lotsāwa Śākya Zangpo was a fourteenth-century Taklung Kagyu monk. He was a student of many of the most prominent translators of his day, including Pang Lotsāwa and Jangchub Tsemo. He was known by the title of translator, but no translations credited to him survive.
11th cent.
TBRC P2614
Nyen Darma Drak was known for spending twelve years in Magadha, India. He was responsible for bringing the paṇḍita Dhirapāla and the worship of the dharma protector Mahākāla to Tibet. Over a dozen of his translations are preserved in the Tibetan canon.
b.1161? - d.1229
TBRC P3939
Chel Lotsāwa Chokyi Zangpo was a member of the Chel family, which controlled several monasteries in Tsang and was known for producing multiple translators. He traveled to India as a layperson and became a monk at Nālandā Monastery under Śākyaśrībhadra, whom he met again in Tibet. He produced at least eleven translations that are preserved in the Tengyur.
The TBRC RID number refers to the unique ID assigned by the Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center (TBRC.org) to each historical figure in their database of Tibetan literature.