Yeshe Tsogyel

Yeshe Tsogyel was a Tibetan Princess who lived during the 9th century and became a yogini (female meditation master). Yeshe means "primordial wisdom" and Tsogyel means "queen of the ocean-like quality of the mind".

Guru Padmasambhava was the founder of Buddhism in Tibet and is the source of the Terma tradition of the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Yeshe Tsogyel was Padmasambhava's tantric consort. She transcribed Padmasambhava's many esoteric teachings onto paper scrolls and concealed them in different places. These hidden Dharma treasures, destined for rediscovery at the correct time, are known as terma.

These relics are fragments of two letters written by Yeshe Tsogyel to Padmasambhava.

Relic and Source

The letters are written in Tibetan script. One is written on paper and the smaller one is written on banana leaf. They came from Tibet.

The paper letter contains a teaching about mudra (hand positions used in meditation). It states that a mudra have the power to communicate (non-verbally) how one can achieve the body, speech and mind of the Buddha. On the reverse side of the letter it speaks about the eight types of mental afflictions and refers to the deity, Vishnu.

From the tiny fragments of the script written on banana leaf three words can be deciphered - "awareness", "investigation" and "transcend."