Jetsün Mingyur Paldrön
Jetsün Mingyur Paldrön (Wyl. rje btsun mi 'gyur dpal sgron) (1699-1769) — the daughter of Minling Terchen Gyurme Dorje (aka Terdak Lingpa) and Puntsok Paldzom, an emanation of Vajravarahi. She was born in the female Earth Hare year on the 25th day of the tenth month in Mindroling Monastery. She received many transmissions from her father and her uncle, Lochen Dharmashri.
Terdak Lingpa passed into parinirvana in 1714. In 1717, the Dzingar Mongols invaded Tibet and began destroying monasteries. Being in Central Tibet, Mindroling was an easy target of this as well as other invasions. The Mongols razed the monastery and killed Lochen Dharmashri and Pema Gyurme Gyatso, Terdak Lingpa's eldest son. The younger son, Gyalsé Drinchen Rinchen Namgyal, managed to escape into Kham. Jetsün Mingyur Paldrön also escaped to Sikkim where she lived for two years teaching and giving empowerments and transmissions at Pemayangtse and elsewhere.
After the Mongols left Tibet, Jetsün Mingyur Paldrön, who was then twenty years of age, and her younger brother Drinchen Rinchen Namgyal, returned to Mindroling. They found it in ruins. Together, with their courageous and tireless efforts, they re-built the monastery and re-established the sangha. At the age of thirty-three, Jetsün Mingyur Paldrön gave the empowerments, oral transmissions and explanations of the collected works of Terdak Lingpa and the Nyingtik Yabshyi to over 270 disciples and thus insured the continuance of these precious transmissions.
She also established the Samten Tse nunnery a short distance from the Mindroling Monastery. It was there that she spent most of the remainder of her life, practising, teaching and composing texts and inspiring many to follow the path she embodied. She passed into parinirvana at the age of 70 in 1769.
Further Reading
The principal biography of Jetsün Mingyur Paldrön was translated by the late Ani Marilyn Silverstone and completed by Michal Abrams. It has not yet been published.
