This was confirmed in her own lifetime by Indian Brahmins and others, and Machig Labdron's creation of the Chöd lineage is not doubted by its modern practitioners.

Apart from the name Machig Labdrön used here, the following spellings and transliterations are also found, all referring to the same person: One of Machig Labdrön's teachers, Sönam Lama, gave her the tantric name of Dorje Wangchuma (Wylie: rdo rje dbang phyug ma), which means "Diamond Independent Goddess.

"[11] Buddhists believe this pattern of reincarnations and emanations continued into the life just before her birth as Machig Labdrön and that in the lifetime before, she was the Indian yogi, Mönlam Drub.

According to tradition, it was Mönlam Drub's mindstream which entered the womb of Bum Cham "Great Noble Woman", who lived in the area of Labchi Eli Gangwar in Tibet, which caused the birth of Machig Labdron.

According to one version of Machig Labdron's biography, Machig Labdron's mother experienced auspicious dreams of dakinis shortly after conception, dreams which contained the vase and the conch of the Ashtamangala: When consciousness entered the womb of the mother on the fifteenth day, she dreamt that four white dakinis carrying four white vases poured water on her head and afterwards she felt purified.

Directly before the birth, Machig Labdron instructed her mother on preparations for her swaddling, and Bum Chan also felt the sounds of the reciting syllables "ah" and "ha ri ni sa".

[5] Machig Labdron's birth in 1055, on the 15th day of the third Tibetan lunar month, was accompanied by auspicious music, rainbow lights, reciting syllables, and with an open third eye.

At thirteen years of age, she began studying Buddhism with Geshe Aton alongside her sister, previously ordained as the nun Tontso Rinchen Bum.

[13] With her realizations, Machig Labdron began to cut attachments to places and started to travel and live spontaneously as a yogini, while eating what she found, sleeping wherever, and wearing clothes of a beggar.

Later, Sonam Lama also conferred tantra, the Five Deities of Varahi, Secret Yoga Mantra, and transmissions which empower explanation, composition, and debate.

Sonam Lama gave Machig Labdron the name of Queen of Vajra Space (rdo rje dbyings phyug ma)[14] to match her level of accomplishment.

[5] But before, Machig Labdron met and received teachings from well-known Indian yogi Padampa Sanggye, also known as Dampa Sangye,[13] a reincarnation of Padmasambhava, as foretold.

The Buddha referred to her by the name "Dronma", and Manjushri wrote, "...She will wander through towns, villages, and valleys, Charnel grounds and hermitages, And her teachings will spread".

[16] Machig Labdron and Topa Bhadra met during her recitations and became spiritual consorts, while the prophesies that the union would lead to great benefit for beings were actualized.

As a tantra practitioner while developing the Chöd tradition, Machig Labdron practiced with Dampa Sangye as her guru and reincarnation of Padmasambhava, which led to further profound realizations.

[5] Machig Labdron's son Drupse became the monk Tonyon Samdrup (thod-smyon bsam-grub), one of her main successors and a propagator of the Chod lineage.

Tonyon Samdrup was known as the "Snowman of Shampogang" and began the tradition of black hat-wearing Chod practitioners named "Gangpa".

[citation needed] Machig Labdron was eventually able to bring him to the Dharma and became his teacher: "You may think that Gods are the ones who give you benefits, and Demons cause damage; but it may be the other way round.

[20] Machig Labdron then returned to living as a renunciate at the age of 37, shaved her head and moved to a cave at Zangri Kangmar in the Copper Mountain.

"[21][14] At the age of 42, Topa Bhadra brought her younger son, Drupse, and her daughter, Drup Chungma, to the Red House before leaving for India.

Machig Labdron cured Drupse from an illness before he became the monk named Tonyon Samdrup, and the main lineage holder of Chod.

In addition, a delegation was sent to South India to find the body of her previous incarnation as Mönlam Drub, and to witness the making of śarīra relics as Machig Labdron instructed.

[25] One source says, "Word of the widespread practice of Mahāmudra Chö in Tibet and Nepal was first viewed in India with great scepticism.

A delegation of āchāryas was sent from Bodh Gayā to Tibet to test Machig Labrön and her teaching resulted in the acceptance of Mahāmudrā Chö as a valid and authentic Mahāyāna tradition.

[28][29] According to the information given by the website of the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje, Jomo Menmo was born as a "karmic emanation" of Yeshe Tsogyal.

[30] The first Samding Dorje Phagmo, Chökyi Drönma (1422–1455), a female tulku lineage of Vajravārāhī, was understood to be an emanation of Machig Labdrön.

[33] Shuksheb Jetsun reinvigorated the Shuksep gompa (Wylie: shug gseb dgon) of the Kagyü thirty miles from Lhasa on the slopes of Mount Gangri Thökar.

Khandro Sonam was the wife of Phajo Drugom Zhipo of Tibet, who were crucial in the establishment of the Drukpa Lineage of Kagyü in Bhutan.

Khandro Sonam Peldron is known to have achieved the supreme enlightenment called Zha lue Phochen and is known to have flown to the heavenly Dali I abode from near Tango monastery in Thimphu.

[37]According to Anila Rinchen at Kagyu Ling in Burgundy, France, the Tibetan term for "demon" could be translated as "neurosis".