Career
She was the consort of the Khakyab Dorje, 15th Karmapa Lama. Her emanation has similarly been recognized in Mindrolling Jetun Khandro Rinpoche. Urgyen Tsomo was a young woman who lived with her family in the Tsurphu valley.
The terma also indicated the location where such a woman would be foundation
Khakhyab Dorje, who had dreamed of the location where he would find such a girl, went in search of her. Urgyen Tsomo was identified in the Tsurpu village.
She was formally requested to come to the Tsurpu Monastery of the 15th Karmapa Lama to become his consort and treat him for his sickness. Urgyen Tsomo served the 15th Karmapa Lama with devotion using her spiritual power, which is believed to have cured him of his sickness, extending his life for many more years.
Following the death of the Karmapa, Urgyen Tsomo moved to a retreat in the monastery with her sadhana and became a hermitess.
She became highly revered and was shown the same respect as would be given a lama. On special occasions, Urgyen Tsomo was given a seat of honour on a throne which was "as high as Khyentse or Kongtrul". In 1959, she moved from Tibet along with the 16th Karmapa and settled down in a nunnery near the Karmapa"s monastery in Sikkim, where she died after a few years.
Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, who had met her in Tibet, called her a very special person, a great dakini.
Before her death, Urgyen Tsomo told her students that she would be reborn in the northeastern part of India. This prophecy was fulfilled when her emanation was identified as Khandro Rinpoche, found in Kalimpong in India.
The 16th Karamapa in Sikkim had also identified her when she was 10 months old as the reincarnation of Khandro Urgyen Tsomo or the Great Dakini of Tsurphu.