tangtong gyalpo

Thangtong Gyalpo, is also known as Chakzampa, the "Iron Bridge Maker", Tsöndrü Zangpo "Excellent Persistence", and the King of the Empty Plain. He was also known by a variation of this name, Madman of the Empty Valley. He was a great Buddhist adept, a Chöd master, yogi, physician, blacksmith, architect, and a pioneering civil engineer. He is considered a mind emanation of Padmasambhava and a reincarnation of Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen. He founded the Iron Chain lineage of the Shangpa Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, and he recognized the first Samding Dorje Phagmo, Chökyi Drönma (1422–1455), the female incarnation lineage of Vajravārāhī.