'One of the two characteristic dakinis, who were the real presence of Yeshe Tsogyal, compiler of the most secret transmitted precepts, the first is well known to have been the great emanational treasure-finder Jomo Menmo. In the prophetic text of her own treasure, the 'Gathering of All the Secrets of the Dakinis' it says:
At sometime the dakinis will entrust this doctrine
To a girl of enlightened family,
blessed by the dakinis, and born in a monkey year.
Her conduct will be secret, her name Jomo.
By realizing its blessing she will be naturally liberated.
But at that time it will not much benefit others.
Still, all her associates will be conveyed to the level of supreme bliss,
And will obtain enlightenment, not leaving a trace of their bodies.
Thus, it was clearly prophesied that she would be truly liberated.
She emanated forth, like a blossoming lotus, in 1248, near the Gurue's meditation cave at Zarmolung in Eyul, the birthplace of awareness. Her father was a mantrin of a Takpo family named Dorje Gyelpo, and her mother, Pema Peldzom, was descended from the dakinis. Her parents named her Pema Tshokyi. Because her father was a landowner who had not fallen into the extremes of either wealth or poverty, the infant girl was nursed tenderly, but her mother died when she was in her fifth year and her father remarried. Then, she was sent to graze cattle and forced to do all sorts of menial chores. So, she experienced a little hardship.
During this period, when she was in her thirteenth year, she was grazing cattle during the springtime near the Secret Cave of Supreme Bliss, one of Guru Padmasambhava's places of attainment, at Khyungcen Dingwei Trak in Zarmolung in E. She had dozed off there for a short while when a melodious voice coming from the rock roused her from sleep. She saw the entrance of the secret cave open abruptly and her mood changed. Entering the cave without hesitation, she came upon a group of dakinis in the midst of a terrifying charnel ground. The leader of the host actually appeared as Vajravarahi, and inspired her, saying, "Welcome! girl of our enlightened family." Vajravarahi took a small volume from the rock behind her and laid it on the crown of Jomo's head, thus conferring on her the entire maturation [of it's empowerment] and libeartion [of its guidance] all at once. Then she entrusted her with the book, saying, "This contains the instructions of the 'Gathering of All the Secrets of the Dakinis.' If you experientially cultivate it in utmost secrecy, you will obtain the supreme accomplishment." Receiving this prophetic declaration, the girl became a great, native yogini, who knew all things to be naturally liberated. When they had enjoyed the feast offerings, the emanated mandala became invisible and the dakinis departed for their own domain.
The nectar of the Vajra Queen's blessing matured in Jomo's mind, and at all times, day and night, she spontaneously poured forth many doctrinal expressions. Some people had faith in her, because of the songs and dances of indestructible reality and her unimpeded telepathic statements. But the majority gave her the nickname Jomo Menmo, saying, "Having fallen asleep on the mountainside, she has been possessed by a Menmo spirit." For this reason, she bacame distressed and decided to leave her own country and travel about with no fixed destination.
She went to Layak Pangdrong in west Lhodrak. Just by meeting Guru Chokyi Wangchuk there co-emergent, pristine cognition was effortlessly born within her. The precious Chowang, too, realized that she was one of the five characteristic consorts of Guru Padmasambhava, and took her as his secret seal of action. She unravelled the knots of his energy channels, whereby he realized all the symbols and meanings of the 'Great Esoteric Instructional Tantra of the Eight Transmitted Precepts, the Consummation of Secrets,' which he had not been able to establish previously; and he translated it into Tibetan. Consequently their union, which was one of mutual advantage, came to be unsurpassedly beneficial.
Having stayed there for only a short period of time, Jomo Menmo received all sorts of essential [teachings on] maturation, liberation, and the instructions. Finally, the great treasure-revealer said to her, "It seems that your profound doctrine, the 'Dakini' volume, is the most wonderful essence of the meditative commitment of your previous life as the dakini Yeshe Tsogyal. But now is not the time to propagate it on behalf of living creatures. Experientially cultivate it in utmost secrecy. Wander throughout the provinces of Central Tibet and Tsang, and benefit living creatures in a secret manner, which will convey all your associates to the level of supreme bliss. In the end you will attain the accomplishment of the sky-farers, without relinquishing your body."
Obeying his earnest admonition Jomo Menmo, accompanied by two worthy yoginis, travelled to all the districts and sub-districts as far as Tingri in Lato. Once, she met Lingje Repa and, relying on symbolic means, opened the energy channel of his discriminative awareness, whereby an all-surpassing realization was born within him. In this way, he became famous all the way to the River Ganges for his lofty realization.
So it was that in the end, having spontaneously benefitted living creatures in a secret manner, Jomo Menmo, then in her thirty-sixth year, went to the summit of Trak Lhari in Central Tibet. It was Wednesday 4 August 1283. The mistress and her two servants performed a feast offering and then the three of them flew off into the sky, like the king of birds, garuda. Without relinquishing their bodies they rose higher and higher in the expanse of space and journeyed unimpededly to the assembly of dakinis on the glorious Copper-Coloured Mountain of Orgyen. When this occurred, they were actually seen by the local cowherds, who, on arrival there, ate some of the scattered offerings, and so became naturally absorbed in contemplation.
This great secret, which is so amazing, renowned as the 'Gathering of All the Secrets of the Dakinis,' remained in the possession of the dakinis for some time, and was beyond the reach and range of ordinary persons. The time to train beings by means of it came later in this age of strife, when, by the power of compassion and enlightened aspirations, the transmission of its words and meaning fell to the emanational treasure-finder, the great awareness-holder, Pema Osel Do-nga Lingpa (Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo). This is because, first and foremost, during his past life as the precious Chowang, Jomo Menmo had been his secret friend, and also because he was blessed by the dakinis of pristine congnition. By the great, magical display of his recollection he established the text, which is preserved in the 'Great Store (Treasury) of Precious Treasure.'
- From Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche's History of the Close Lineages of the Treasures in his "The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism"
...When Jomo Menmo decided to take her leave of Guru Chö-wang, he advised her that the time was not right to divulge the gTérma cycle she had received from Yeshé Tsogyel. He said that it would be better if her gTérma benefited people at a future time. He advised her, instead, to travel throughout Tibet benefiting people in a secret manner. To ‘benefit people in a secret manner’ is an activity that is particular to women, and does not involve any kind of describable method. Secret activity can comprise any human possibility, and can be utterly unobservable to anyone unless they are open to that style of transmission and teaching. An enlightened woman can simply appear to live in the style of an ordinary person with no outer sign of accomplishment, wisdom, or even knowledge. Such a woman is of profound influence merely in the ways in which her everyday life causes the innate enlightenment of others to sparkle through the fabrications of their dualistic conditioning.'
- From the blog: http://chatteringmind.blogspot.de/