Jomo Menmo

Jomo Menmo (jo mo sman mo) was born in southern Tibet, near a meditation cave of Padmasambhava's called Zarmolung (gzar mo lung) in Eyul (e yul). Her father was a tantrika of the Dak (dwags) clan named Dorje Gyelpo (rdo rje rgyal po) and her mother was Pema Peldzom (pad+ma dpal 'dzom). Her parents named her Pema Tsokyi (padma mtsho skyid). Although her father was a man of some means, when she was five her mother died and her father remarried, after which Pema Tsokyi was sent to tend animals.

According to her hagiography, when Pema Tsokyi was thirteen, while watching her cattle one afternoon in a high pasture named Ezarmolung (e gzar mo lung), near a Padmasambhava cave named Khyungchen Dingwaidrag (khyung chen lding ba'i brag), she fell asleep and had a short dream. In it a melodious voice called to her and woke her up. The entrance of a cave then opened before her, and, inside, she saw a group of terrifying dakini in the midst of a charnal ground. The leader of the group was Vajravarahi, who spoke to her, saying: "Enter, daughter of a good family!" The deity then extracted a small book from the rock behind her and placed it on the girl's head, conveying the full empowerment and the realization it taught. Holding the book in her hand she said: "This book contains the instructions of the Gathering of all the Dakini's Secrets (mkha' 'gro gsang ba kun 'dus). If you practice it in utmost secrecy, you will obtain the supreme accomplishment." Pema Tsokyi was then transformed into a fully realized yogini, and the dakinis vanished.

Pema Tsokyi found few people willing to believe the authenticity of her visions and the new teachings she was advocating, and she soon earned the nicknamed "Jomo Menmo," meaning "the girl possessed by a menmo spirit." She left her valley and went to Layak Pangdrong (la yag spang grong) in western Lodrak. There she encountered Guru Chowang (gu ru chos dbang, 1212 - d.1270), the great Nyingma treasure revealer.

Claiming that Jomo Menmo had been prophesied by Padmasambhava as one of five women who were destined as his partners in sexual yoga, Guru Chowang took her as a consort, his "secret seal of action" (gsang ba'i las rgya). Through their practice it is said that the psychic knots of his subtle body were unraveled and he was able to decode his recent revelation, the Kabgye Sangwa Yongdzog (bka' brgyad gsang ba yong rdzogs).

Jomo Menmo remained with Guru Chowang for a brief period, during which he gave her essential instruction on maturation and liberation (smin grol). Guru Chowang then advised her, saying:

"The time has not yet come for you to propagate the profound treasure, the Khandro Lekbam (mkha' 'gro'i glegs bam) that you received during your previous incarnation as Yeshe Tsogyel; better that you should practice it yourself in utmost secrecy. Roam the regions of U and Tsang, and benefit beings, employing a secret method of establishing all you meet in great bliss. Ultimately you will attain the accomplishment of the dakini without relinquishing your body."

Jomo Menmo then set out with two female companions, making her way to Dingri in Lato, practicing the "secret method of benefiting beings" (sbas tshul gyi 'gro don) until she reached the age of thirty-six. One of the many men she is said to have benefitted through the practice of sexual yoga was the important early Kagyu master Pema Dorje, commonly known as Ling Repa, or Lingje Repa (pad+ma rdo rje; gling ras pa; gling rje ras pa, 1128-1188). Given the conflict in dates, this would not have been possible. It does, however, indicate the importance the tradition has placed on her legend and the attempts made to elevate her status and contribution.

According to the hagiography written by Jamgon Kongtrul, on the tenth day of the seventh month, Jomo Menmo and her two companions performed a feast offering on the summit of Drak Lhari (sbrags lha ri) in U. All three then ascended into the sky and flew to Padmasambhava's pure land, Zangdok Pelri (zangs mdog dpal ri).

In the nineteenth century Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo claimed to rediscover Jomo Menmo's treasures, based on his identification as the reincarnation of Guru Chowang. Jamgon Kongtrul thus included the Gathering of all the Dakini's Secrets in the Rinchen Terdzod (rin chen gter mdzod), for which composed his hagiography of her.

Sources

Dudjom Rinpoche. The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism. Translated by Gyurme Dorje and Matthew Kapstein. Boston: Wisdom, 2002, pp. 771-774.

'Jam mgon kong sprul blo gros mtha' yas. 2007. Gter ston brgya rtsa. In Rin chen gter mdzod chen mo, vol. 1, pp. 404-696. New Delhi: Shechen, p. 538-543.

Alexander Gardner
August 2010