Dulnagpa Palden Zangpo — also known as Düldzin Palden Zangpo, “the vinaya-holder” — was a foremost disciple of Jetsün Sherab Sengge, founder of the Segyu tantric lineage. A bodhisattva and master of monastic discipline, he stood beside his guru as the two together founded Segyu Gaden Phodrang. When Sherab Sengge departed for Ganden Namgyal Ling, he entrusted Dulnagpa with the monastery’s original main seat — and so Dulnagpa became the founding abbot who upheld and carried forward the seat of Segyu Gaden Phodrang. The account below draws on the traditional biography (namthar) of Jetsün Sherab Sengge, in which Dulnagpa appears as a principal heart-disciple and co-founder.
Dulnagpa Palden Zangpo — Founding Abbot of Segyu Gaden Phodrang
A foremost disciple and vinaya-holder
Dulnagpa Palden Zangpo is remembered as a bodhisattva and a holder of the Vinaya — the master’s epithet Düldzin (“vinaya-holder”) reflecting his command of the monastic discipline. Among the great disciples who upheld the enlightened resolve and activity of Jetsün Sherab Sengge — himself the close disciple of Je Tsongkhapa entrusted with the teaching of the Vajrayāna — Dulnagpa was a principal one, entering fully into the working circle of activities of the tantric college that his guru established.
Co-founder of Segyu Gaden Phodrang
Dulnagpa took the fulfilment of his guru’s command — the word of the great spiritual friend, root of all happiness and goodness — as the very heart of his meditative practice. When the favourable conditions for the activity of the Dharma to rise ever higher came genuinely together, master and disciple, united as one, founded Segyu Gaden Phodrang. There the sacred volume of “The Four Interwoven Annotations on the Guhyasamāja” — bestowed upon Sherab Sengge by Je Tsongkhapa himself — was installed as the inner sacred support, and the exposition and study of the tantras were established.
Holder of the original main seat
Having furthered this seat together with its sacred supports, Jetsün Sherab Sengge finally entrusted the original main seat of the monastery to Dulnagpa Palden Zangpo and himself proceeded to Ganden Namgyal Ling. In this way Dulnagpa became the founding holder of the principal seat of Segyu Gaden Phodrang, charged with preserving and carrying forward all that his guru had established.
Among the heart-disciples of the lineage
Dulnagpa Palden Zangpo is counted among the foremost heart-disciples of Jetsün Sherab Sengge — a company that included Je Gendün Drub (the First Dalai Lama), Phagö Yönten Gyatso, Dorjechang Jinpa Pal, and many other learned and accomplished masters through whom the Segyu tantric lineage was carried into the generations that followed.
This account is drawn from the references to Dulnagpa Palden Zangpo within the traditional biography (namthar) of Jetsün Sherab Sengge, founder of the Segyu lineage. Where the lineage records preserve further detail of his life, this page will be expanded.