The Second Throneholder

The Second Throne Holder
Pedma Lhundrub Gyatso
(1660 – 1727)

Pedma Lhundrub Gyatso was born in the province of Do Kham in a place known as Seng-gang in the eleven rabjung year of the Iron Rat (1660). His birth was prophesied in Terton Duddul Lingpa’s Vajrakilaya Terma as the reincarnation of Sogpo Lhapal, one of the twenty-five disciples of Guru Rinpoche.

From the age of eight, Lhundrub Gyatso started receiving all the Nam Chö empowerments, transmissions and secret instructions from Vidyahara Migyur Dorje [who lived at Mugsang Monastery]. At age sixteen, he went to the Palyul Monastery to receive more profound instructions on personal attainment from his uncle, the Vidyadhara Kunzang Sherab. By the time he was twenty-five, he came into direct experience with the true nature of mind. Under the continued guidance of his uncle, Kunzang Sherab, who transmitted to him the Secret Oral Transmission lineage, Lhundrub Gyatso advanced his accomplishment with great enthusiastic perseverance. He took on the responsibility of transmitting the sutra and tantra at the Palyul Monastery after Kunzang Sherab dissolved his body into the pure realm of ultimate truth at the age of sixty-four. When Lhundrub Gyatso was fifty-four years old, he became the second Throne Holder of the Palyul Lineage. Under his charge, propagation of Buddha’s Doctrine flourished in all directions.

At the age of sixty-eight, on the tenth day of Saga Dawa in the year of the Fire Sheep (1727), Pema Lhundrub Gyatso entered into a state of meditative equipoise. Then his body dissolved into the sphere of clear light while loud thunder reverberated and streaks of lightning lit up the sky. During his cremation, rainbows like treasure vases and wish-granting trees appeared in the sky and the images of deities could be seen clearly in the smoke. Many precious bone relics were found in the ashes.

Reference: Pathgate Institute of Buddhist Studies