Katok (Kathok) in Baiyu, about 17 km south of Horpo at about 4,000 m, is the oldest of the 'six mother monasteries' of the Nyingma school and a stronghold of the Anuyoga and the Kama (oral) lineages (Wikipedia).
Its founder Dampa Deshek was also counted a disciple of the first Karmapa (Wikipedia, Dusum Khyenpa) and the younger brother of Phagmo Drupa, the Kagyu master of Densa Thil, so Katok is tied to central Tibet's Kagyu by blood and teaching as well as to the Nyingma. The Cultural Revolution's reckoning of over 300 branch monasteries (about 150 now: Rigpa Wiki) belongs to later centuries; how many branches stood in 1200 is not known. Katok in 1200 is a young house, forty-one years old, whose founder has been dead eight years; who leads it is not known.
It has a teaching tradition, a reputation and local patrons, and is not a political power beyond its valley.
Who he is
- Title
- Throne-holder (khri pa) of Katok, the Nyingma house founded in 1159
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- Katok Dampa Deshek was the younger brother of Phagmo Drupa Dorje Gyalpo (Wikipedia, Rigpa Wiki)
- Confidence
- low
Founder Katok Dampa Deshek, 1122-1192 (dates from Wikipedia's Phagmo Drupa article); Katok was founded in 1159 (Wikipedia, Rigpa Wiki). Wikipedia's Kathok article names the third abbot, Jampa Bum (1179-1252), whose 26-year tenure ended in 1252, so he takes the throne about 1226 and is 21 in 1200; it gives no name and no dates for the first and second abbots. If the first is Dampa Deshek, who died in 1192, then the second abbot sat on 1 January 1200, or the throne was between holders; his name and dates are not known to me.
The Treasury of Lives biographies of Dampa Deshek and Jampa Bum were refused to our fetch.
What it holds
- The monastery and its valley lands at Baiyu
- Its patrons' gifts (the patrons are not named)
- Small branch houses in the Dege country (not named for 1200)
How it was acquired
Founded by Dampa Deshek in 1159.
Allies and rivals
The Dege valley chiefs (patrons, unnamed); the Karma Kagyu of Karma Gon and Pamphuk (Dampa Deshek was a disciple of Dusum Khyenpa); Densa Thil and the Phagmodru Kagyu in central Tibet (his brother's house).
How things stand that morning
A well-established young Nyingma house in the Dege valley. Throne-holder not known.
Wealth
Gifts of the valley chiefs and the villages round it; no estates documented. No figures.
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- about 1226 to 1252Jampa Bum (1179-1252) holds the throne for 26 years, ending 1252 (Wikipedia, Kathok Monastery).Depends on: His survival to 1226 and no rival succession. Stopped by: His death or a different succession.
Places of note
- Katok monastery: The house, on the hill above Horpo.
Where the sources disagree
- Wikipedia's Kathok article says Jampa Bum (1179-1252) was the third abbot with a 26-year tenure ending 1252. We could not read the Treasury of Lives biography to check it, and neither Wikipedia nor Rigpa Wiki names the first two throne-holders' successors or dates (Rigpa Wiki lists only incarnation lines).
Evidence: Founder, date, place and school from two sources that agree; the throne in 1200 is not documented.
On the map: The house is drawn in the religious record Katok.
Primary sources for Tibet (centre)
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- History of Buddhism in India and Tibet, Buton Rinchen Drub (Bu ston Rin chen grub) (1322). Optional background. Read online
- The Blue Annals, Go Lotsawa Zhonnu Pal ('Gos lo tsa ba gZhon nu dpal) (1476 to 1478). The fullest Tibetan account of who mattered around 1200, written three centuries later from earlier biographies and lineage records, many now lost. Read online
- The collected works of Lama Zhang, and the early Kagyu lives, Lama Zhang (Zhang Yudrakpa Tsondru Drakpa) and his disciples; the biographers of Drigung, Taklung and Phagmodru (the 1160s to the early 13th century). The nearest contemporary witnesses to the lords of central Tibet in 1200. Read online
- The Sakya genealogy, and the works of the Sakya hierarch of 1200, Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen (Grags pa rgyal mtshan) and Sakya Pandita; the genealogy by Ngawang Kunga Sonam (the hierarchs' writings about 1170 to 1250; the genealogy 1629). Sakya in 1200 was ruled by Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen, the third of the five founders, with his nephew Kunga Gyaltsen (later Sakya Pandita, born 1182) under his teaching. Read online
- History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
- Indo-Tibetica (the temples and inscriptions of western Tibet), with the Royal Genealogy of Ngari, Giuseppe Tucci (editor and translator); the genealogy by Ngawang Drakpa (Ngag dbang grags pa) (the inscriptions and temple records of the 11th to 15th centuries; Indo-Tibetica published 1932 to 1941; the genealogy about 1497). Guge, Purang and Ladakh in 1200 are among the least documented kingdoms in the atlas. Read online
Sources and studies
- Wikipedia, Kathok Monastery (read this session)
- Rigpa Wiki, Katok Monastery (read this session)
- Wikipedia, Phagmo Drupa Dorje Gyalpo (read this session)
- Wikipedia, Dusum Khyenpa (read this session)
- Treasury of Lives (treasuryoflives.org), Tibetan biographies: recalled, and as cited in the OMNIA txi_REPORT; the site refused the fetch, so not read
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.