Dromtonpa Gyalwai Jungne, 1004(?

)-1064, ('brom ston rgyal ba'i 'byung gnas) was

born in Tolung (stod lung) in 1004 or 1005, into the Drom ('brom) clan. His father
was Kushen Yagsherpen (sku gshen yag gsher 'phen) and his mother was Ku'oza
Lanchigma (khu 'od bza' lan gcig ma). He was given the name Chopel (chos 'phel).

As a youth he studied reading and writing for four years with Geshe Yungcho (dge
bshes g.yung chos mgon). He took lay vows with Nanam Dorje Wangchug (sna nam
rdo rje dbang phyug, 976-1060), who gave him the name Gyalwai Jungne. At the
age of nineteen he studied Madhyamaka, rituals, and Nyingma tantra with a lama
with the title Drumkyi Khenbu Chenpo Setsun (grum gyi mkhan bu chen po se
btsun). With Pandita Smriti (paNDita smri ti) he studied Sanskrit and grammar. He
never ordained, but apparently left home after a dispute with his step-mother.

In 1042, at the age of thirty eight, he went to Purang (spu hrangs) to meet Atisha
Dipamkara and became his chief Tibetan disciple. Alternately, the two met in Panyul
('phan yul).

Dromtonpa has come down in history as both an enforcer of Second Propagation

ethical standards and a holder of Atisha's tantric lineage. According to the Blue
Annals, Dromton was charged with expelling tantric practitioners from Atisha's
audience, this despite the fact that at Samye Chimpu (bsam yas 'chims phu) Atisha
gave Dromton initiation into tantric systems, including the Doha tradition of Bengal.
The Blue Annals credits him with revising the translations of both sutra and tantras,
including the Ashtasahastrika Prajnaparamita, and the Jnanasiddhi Tantra.

Following Atisha's death in 1054, Dromton took many of Atisha's disciples and
returned to Tolung. While there he was invited by a number of local lords to Reting
(rwa sgreng), where, in 1057, at the age of fifty-four, he constructed a monastery,
primarily under the patronage of Trangka / Pangka Berchung ('phrang kha / phang
kha ber chung). Despite remaining a layman, he was renowned for his teachings on
monastic precepts.

Dromton's three chief disciples were Potowa Rinchen Sal Chogle Namgyal (po to ba
rin chen gsal phyogs las rnam rgyal, 1027-1105), Puchungwa Shonnu Gyaltsen (phu
chung ba gzhon nu rgyal mtshan, 1031-1106) and Chennga Tsultrim Bar (spyan
snga tshul khrims 'bar, 1038-1103).

Dromtonpa died at Reting in 1064 at the age of sixty.