Yeshe Tsogyel

Yeshe Tsogyel (9th century) was a Tibetan princess who became an enlightened yogini. Yeshe means “primordial wisdom” and Tsogyel means “queen of the ocean-like quality of the mind”. She was the tantric consort of Tibet’s great guru, Padmasambhava, who was also called Guru Rinpoche.

Relic and Source

Yeshe Tsogyel's relic (writing on banana leaf)

These relics came from Tibet and were added to the collection in 2002. They are fragments of two letters written by Yeshe Tsogyel to Padmasambhava. They are written in Tibetan script on banana leaf and paper.
From the tiny fragments of the script written on banana leaf, three words can be deciphered: “awareness”, “investigation” and “transcend”.

The larger, paper fragment contains a teaching about mudra (symbolic hand gestures). It states that a mudra has the power to communicate how one can achieve the body, speech and mind of a buddha. On the reverse side of the letter it speaks about the eight types of mental afflictions and refers to the deity, Vishnu.