Khachöd Tsering Palmo, known as Khandroma to her friends and students, was born in 1963 in Northern India. The name ‘Khachöd’ means ‘Sky-Dancer’ (related to the Sanskrit ‘Khecarī’) and ‘Khandroma’ is the Tibetan equivalent of ‘Ḍākinī’.
At the age of two, Khandroma was given to the TCV Tibetan refugees’ orphanage in Dharamsala. Times were difficult and Khandroma, being on her own, experienced much hardship and joy. She would regularly skip school to roam the forests for food and to collect firewood for the retreat monks. After being kicked out from the orphanage at age 17, Khandroma lived in New Delhi for a few years, before eventually emigrating to the United States.
It was there, in 1992, that Khandroma met her first principal teacher, the Tertön and genuine crazy wisdom master, Kyabje Orgyen Kusum Lingpa. With him, Khandroma traveled widely in the USA and Asia, assisting, translating and raising money for the construction of a second Boudhanath stupa in Amdo, Tibet. During this time Khandroma received many profound empowerments from Kyabje Orgyen Kusum Lingpa, in particular the tri, the oral commentary, on Jigme Lingpa’s Yeshe Lama.
In 1996 Kyabje Orgyen Kusum Lingpa instructed Khandroma to meet Kyabje Trulshik Rinpoche, who would become her principal root lama. Khandroma requested and sponsored many profound empowerments from Kyabje Trulshik Rinpoche and, in accordance with the advice of her gurus, entered lifetime retreat. Following in the footsteps of the lineage masters, Khandroma’s retreat would be interspersed by pilgrimages to the holy sites of India, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka.
Khandroma is recognized as the tulku of the Tibetan Dharma King Trisong Detsen’s third Queen, Chamsar Akar Salé Dronma (better known as Queen Droza Changchub Drolma), a direct disciple of Guru Padmasambhava.
As prophesied by her teachers, at the age of fifty-five Khandroma began to turn the wheel of Dharma and teach the path of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the three times, in particular the sacred and most profound teaching of Dzogpa Chenpo.
Fulfilling a final wish of the late Kyabje Trulshik Rinpoche, in recognition of her realization and attainment, Khandroma was enthroned in her root guru’s monastery in Swayambunath, Nepal, in April 2015.