“Jetsun Mingyur Paldron ( Rje btsun Mi ‘gyur dpal sgron , 1699– 1769) is famed as a member of the Jetsunma institution of female practitioners in the Mindroling ( Smin gro gling ) tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.” (Bhutia 2014)

Jetsun Mingyur Paldron was the daughter of Terdag Lingpa, the founder of the Mindroling tradition. After the death of her father, Jetsun Mingyur Paldron ensured the continuation of the Mindroling tradition after her father died in 1714, helped rebuild the Mindroling Monastery after it was destroyed by Mongol invasion in 1718, and solidified the prestige of the Monastery (Bhutia 2014).

Jetsun Mingyur Paldron has been described as an extraordinary teacher and mentor (Bhutia 2014; “History,” Mindrolling).  From the age of 14, she proved impressive in her practice of both old and new traditions she contributed to. She also survived extreme situations including fleeing to Sikkim disguised as a layperson after Mongols invaded Mindroling followed by pursuit by the Mongols, before arriving in Sikkim where she was given royal protection (Bhutia 2014).

Mindroling now has a prominent line of female scholars known as Jetsunmas who are exceptional Buddhist women who practice at the Monastery.

Below is an image of Sikkim and Mindroling on Google Earth in addition to a video which can be found here showing their immediate surroundings and the distance between the two. This provides some spatial context to Jetsun Mingyur Paldron’s biography, described above.

 

Note: I originally intended to also map a complete spatial biography of Jetsun Mingyur Paldron. Unfortunately, the only complete biography or biography with enough spatial information regarding her life is in Tibetan and there are no English translations (I inadvertently checked out the biography from the library only to realize the entire thing was written in Tibetan). Because of this, I was unable to map a spatial biography, but still decided to show the spatial location of Mindroling and Sikkim, the only physical spaces mentioned in information about her online and in books (see Bibliography). I still wanted to write about Jetsun Mingyur Paldron as an “emminent Buddhist woman,” as Karma Lekshe Tsomo titles her book which contains Kalzang Dorjee Bhutia’s essay about Jetsun Mingyur Paldron.