Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo (born October 12, 1949; born Alyce Louise Zeoli) is a tulku within the Palyul lineage of the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. She gained international attention when she, a Western woman, was enthroned as a reincarnated lama. Since the mid-1980's she has served as spiritual director for Kunzang Odsal Palyul Changchub Choling, a Buddhist center in Poolesville, Maryland, which includes a large community of western monks and nuns. She also founded a center in Sedona, Arizona, U.S.A., and has small communities of students in California and Australia. Ahkon Lhamo has been described by her teachers, Tibetan lamas Penor Rinpoche, Gyatrul Rinpoche, as well as others such as Jigme Phuntsok, as a dakini or female wisdom being.

Biography

Early years Zeoli was born in Canarsie, Brooklyn on October 12, 1949, to a Jewish mother of Austrian-Jewish and Dutch-Jewish origins, whilst her father was an Italian-born émigré. She and her half-brothers and sisters were raised by her stepfather and mother, and alternately attended the Dutch Reform Church and the Catholic church. According to Jigme Phuntsok, she had naturally good qualities.

Based on a series of instructive dreams that started at age 19, Zeoli began a meditation practice, later identified as chod by Penor Rinpoche, culminating in a spiritual experience at age 30. She led classes at the Black Mountain Light Center in North Carolina and later formed a non-sectarian organization The Center for Discovery and New Life beginning with members from the Black Mountain Light Center. Her group quickly expanded, with the students practicing the meditation techniques Zeoli herself practiced from her dreams, and taking vows of compassion that Zeoli composed. The group began a 24-hour prayer vigil in the basement of her Kensington home in April, 1985.

Buddhism Meeting her root guru In 1984, on his first visit to the US, Penor Rinpoche visited Zeoli's center, staying with the Zeoli family. He announced that Zeoli had been teaching Mahayana Buddhism without any formal instruction and attributed it to practice accomplished in previous lifetimes. Penor Rinpoche then gave Ahkon Lhamo's students the traditional refuge and bodhisattva vows, which constitute formal entry into Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhism, respectively.

Thereafter Zeoli hosted Khenpo Palden Sherab and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal, Gyaltrul Rinpoche, and Chagdud Tulku as she and her students began traditional Buddhist preliminary practice, ngöndro. Beset by health problems, she made a trip in 1986 to Ashland, Oregon to visit Gyatrul Rinpoche, one of Penor Rinpoche's other hosts on his American tour the previous year. She formed a strong and immediate connection with Gyatrul Rinpoche, the incarnation of Palyul Monastery's founder, Rigdzin Kunzang Sherab (1636-1699). Gyatrul Rinpoche echoed the sentiment that the practices and teachings that Zeoli was giving were Buddhist and due to past lifetimes of practice, and at his encouragement, she visited Penor Rinpoche in India to receive teachings and according to Jigme Phuntso, accomplished the Dharma.

Transmissions At the age of 37, Ahkon Lhamo began the sequence of Buddhist practices that most tulkus begin very young. She was given the Nam Cho Ngöndro by Gyatrul Rinpoche in 1986, accumulating prostrations alongside her students. A year later, when she traveled to India, she received more teachings and the Three Roots from Penor Rinpoche at Namdroling monastery.

Then she received the Rinchen Terzod from Penor Rinpoche, Nam Cho Tsa Lung from Gyatrul Rinpoche, Nyingthik Yabshi and Ratna Lingpa from Yangthang Rinpoche, Jigme Phuntsok's Gurkukma Vajrakilaya and other terma, the Yeshe Lama from Orgyen Kusum Lingpa, and the Nam Cho cycle of empowerments from Penor Rinpoche, which were hosted at Kunzang Palyul Choling from 1988 through 1996. She traveled to receive the Kama transmission at Tashi Chöling in Ashland, Oregon, in 1988, and the Nam Cho a second time from Karma Kuchen in McDonough, New York, in 2018.

Buddhist temple In 1985, her center formed a corporation and purchased an antebellum-style mansion in Poolesville, Maryland where her temple was established, which Penor Rinpoche named Kunzang Palyul Choling. There she held a three-day retreat to instate the 24-hour prayer vigil at the new location.

24-hour Prayer vigil The 24-hour prayer vigil is the core of her teachings and the temple's activity. Participants maintain two-hour prayer shifts and the vigil is dedicated to the end of suffering. The Maryland vigil continues unbroken to the present day.

Stupas She had a 36' stupa built in 1988 which was consecrated by Penor Rinpoche during the Rinchen Terzod. encircling an 18' stupa were built in 1991 and consecrated by Khenchen Tsewang Gyatso. Penor Rinpoche gave Ahkon Lhamo a relic from Tulku Migyur Dorje to be housed in the Migyur Dorje Stupa, which was built and consecrated in 1996.

In 1996, in addition to the temple, prayer vigil, teachings and stupas, Ahkon Lhamo's vision for Kunzang Palyul Choling included a place for pilgrimage with a hospice, school for children, a monastery and an institute for higher education in the Buddha's teachings. The school, called Pema Choling, ran from 1992 to 1997.

Monastic community Like her predecessor, Ahkon Lhamo took lay vows, even as she built a monastic community for those who wished to take full ordination. In September 1988, toward the end of Penor Rinpoche’s conferral of the Rinchen Terdzod, 25 of Ahkon Lhamo's students underwent the traditional ordination ceremony to become monks and nuns, creating a large monastic community. Though some have since left their ordination or died, others have joined, and by 2008 the number of KPC's ordained had grown to 40.

Buddhist recognitions The Third Drubwang Padma Norbu ("Penor") Rinpoche, 11th Throneholder of Palyul Monastery, Supreme Head of the Nyingma tradition, officially recognized Ahkon Lhamo in 1987 as the tulku of Genyenma Ahkon Lhamo during her visit to his Namdroling Monastery in Bylakuppe, Karnataka, India.

Genyenma Ahkon Lhamo Zeoli was recognized and enthroned as Ahkon Lhamo. The first Genyenma Ahkon Lhamo, a meditator recognized as a wisdom dakini and the First Throneholder of Palyul Monastery (founded 1665). She was credited as being instrumental to the founding of Palyul (now one of the Nyingma's six main or "mother" monasteries ) and for leaving a relic that is important to Palyul. During the cremation of her body, her kapala (top half of the skull) is said to have flown three kilometers and come to rest at the foot of the teaching throne of her brother. Found to be miraculously embossed with the sacred syllable AH, the kapala became an important relic housed at Palyul monastery in Tibet. inspired by seeing the skull relic, he made prayers to find Ahkon Lhamo's incarnation. The relic remains at KPC and is displayed on auspicious days.

Mandarava emanation In 1994, Terton Orgyen Kusum Lingpa indicated in a long-life prayer he composed that Ahkon Lhamo was an emanation of Lhacham Mandarava, the Indian princess of Zahor and one of the consorts of Padmasambhava, a tantric master who helped establish the Buddha's teaching in Tibet. In 1996, she traveled to India and visited many of the places where Mandarava was known to have practiced. Inspired by these events, several of Ahkon Lhamo's students sought out and found a copy of Mandarava's middle-length spiritual biography, revealed as a terma in the 17th century by Samten Lingpa, at the U.S. Library of Congress. They then sponsored an English translation of the text, published as The Lives and Liberation of Princess Mandarava in 1998.

Expansion

Arizona, Australia, and Mongolia In the late 90's Ahkon Lhamo moved to Arizona with a number of students to start a second center, where she resided for the next decade. There she built a 36' Amitabha stupa in a Peace Park, which is now a local attraction for Sedona, Arizona. In 1999, Kunzang Palyul Choling (KPC) began a second 24-hour prayer vigil which continued until August 31, 2008.

Classical Buddhist teachings From 1996–2001, Ahkon Lhamo hosted the Migyur Dorje Institute of Higher Buddhist Studies (MDI). Under this program, taught by Khenchen Tsewang Gyatso, students received complete commentary teachings on classic Buddhist texts by Shantideva, Chandrakirti, Asanga, Ngari Panchen, and Mipham Rinpoche. This curriculum was supplemented by annual 30-day retreats teaching the traditional Nyingmapa sequence of the inner tantra: Ngondro, Tsa Lung, Trekchod, and Togyal.

Music Ahkon Lhamo had already begun composing music in the 1990's with her CD "Invocation," a prayer to Guru Rinpoche, the founder of Buddhism in Tibet. In Sedona, she experimented and combined mantra, Tibetan instruments, and popular musical styles on her albums "Revolution of Compassion," "Delog," and "Trilogy" as a form of passive outreach. She sang with Tex Gabriel, former lead guitarist for John Lennon, on her album "Ellinwood Ranch Blues."

Animal rescue When Hurricane Katrina stranded thousands of animals in New Orleans in 2005, she adopted a large number of dogs herself and founded Tara's Babies, an animal rescue organization. The target group was dogs on death row, so Tara's Babies continued to rescue dogs from shelters, specializing in fearful and other dogs other shelters rejected. Not long after, she founded the Garuda Aviary, which rescues abused and neglected parrots and educates the public about exotic birds.

Present day

Maryland renovations Ahkon Lhamo returned to attend to the aging temple in Maryland. The structure was decades old, and by 2013 it needed repairs and renovations to be in compliance with Montgomery County's Building Use and Occupancy Code. The shrine room, separate from the main building, remained open and housed all teachings and activities, and the prayer vigil. The organization raised $1 million for the building of the new temple as of February 18, 2019. The first phase of the renovations was complete as of 2023, and the Maryland vigil continues unbroken to the present day.

KPC Buddhist Relief During the COVID-19 pandemic, to address rising food insecurity, Ahkon Lhamo's efforts turned to the practical production of food for local charities: she began a flock of 90 chickens and donated eggs, and with a six-month start-up grant from Montgomery County, started a 2,400 square foot demonstration and production food garden. The garden continues through the Maxine and James Cable Memorial Food Garden Initiative and has produced hundreds of pounds of fresh vegetables a year, which are delivered to local area food banks and shelters. Additionally, the garden has donated starter plants to other local area shelters and churches to start their own gardens and hosted gardening education workdays so people can learn to grow their own food.

While her temple's sandwiches for the homeless program was forced to pause during the pandemic, Ahkon Lhamo personally packed large boxes of food for local charities such as UpCounty Hub, WUMCO, IROC, Poolesville Little Free Pantry, the First Baptist Church of Silver Spring, and Shepherd's Table. At her urging, KPC Buddhist Relief expanded to offer 1,000 pounds of food per day to these partners, and fulfilled the needs of refugees. Non-sectarian and multicultural, she and KPC Buddhist Relief assisted the United Sikhs to help Ukrainian refugees, aided refugees from Africa and elsewhere, and respond to local emergencies.

Publications and podcasts Jetsunma Ahkön Norbu Lhamo. Buddhism for Beginners podcast, Ahkön Norbu Lhamo. Jetsunma Ahkön Norbu Lhamo. The Practice of Generosity, publisher unknown, Ahkön Norbu Lhamo, 1991. Jetsunma Ahkön Norbu Lhamo. Stabilizing the Mind: A meditational technique to develop spaciousness in the mind. Palyul Press, 2005, Jetsunma Ahkön Norbu Lhamo. Vow of Love: Living an extraordinary life of compassion, Kunzang Odsal Palyul Changchub Choling, 2017. Jetsunma Ahkön Norbu Lhamo. Boundless Treasury of Blessings: A Collection of Prayers, Teachings and Poems. Kunzang Odsal Palyul Changchub Choling, 2018.

Discography