NEW TRANSLATION: ‘Supplication to Dagpo Kagyu’ by 15th Karmapa and new website section on Gampopa

Introduction

Recently, HH 17^th Karmapa gave an eight day teaching on the Four Dharmas of Gampopa. Edited transcripts of the complete teachings are now available on this website (based on the original Tibetan and English translation). See links here:

‘Confusion dawning as primordial awareness’: the fourth Dharma, Chinese Zen and the debate on gradual vs instant awakening. ‘Four Dharmas of Gampopa’ by 17th Karmapa (Day 8: Part II)

‘Dismantling Artificial Boundaries’: Concepts of nations, ‘self’ and ‘other’; developing great love and compassion and ‘without borders’ ultimate nature. ‘Four Dharmas of Gampopa’ by 17th Karmapa (Day 8)

Suffering is ‘ready and waiting to happen’: The three types of suffering, being a Dharma practitioner and ‘Dharma going on the Path’. ‘Four Dharmas of Gampopa’ by 17th Karmapa (Day VII)

‘Dharma is not ‘one size fits all’: The importance of individual levels, the infallibility of karma and seeing others’ good qualities: ‘Four Dharmas of Gampopa’ by 17th Karmapa (Part VI)

‘May Dharma go along with Dharma’: The difference between ‘real Dharma’ and ‘pretend Dharma’: ‘Four Dharmas’ of Gampopa by 17th Karmapa (Part V)

‘The Crown Jewel of Kagyu’: Gampopa’s Collected Works, Last Testament and Textual Sources : ‘Four Dharmas’ of Gampopa by 17th Karmapa (Part IV)

When Gampopa met Milarepa: A tale of beggars, buttocks and bliss. ‘Four Dharmas’ of Gampopa by 17th Karmapa (Part III)

The Doctor of Dagpo (Dagpo Lhaje) whose family tragedy led to monkhood: ”Four Dharmas’ of Gampopa’ by 17th Karmapa (Part II)

‘All Buddhists can be called ‘Kagyupa”: the ‘Four Dharmas’ of Gampopa by 17th Karmapa (Part I)

I will soon be compiling all into a single document (.pdf) and make available for free download.

As another offering to this Dharma activity on the life and works of Je Gampopa, here I translate and publish for the first time, a Supplication to the Dagpo Kagyu by the 15^th Karmapa, Khakyab Dorje[i]. This will be followed shortly by a translation of a Supplication to Gampopa by the 7^th Karmapa. In addition, there is a new section of this website dedicated to Gampopa and his works and other Kagyu lineages founded by his students (other than Karma Kagyu, for which there is already the section on the Karmapas).

The Dagpo Kagyu

The Dagpo Kagyu (dwags po bka’ brgyud) are called such because they originate from Gampopa (1079-1153), who was also known as Dagpo Lhaje (dwags po lha rje) “the Physician from Dagpo” and Nyamed Dakpo Rinpoche “Incomparable Precious One from Dagpo”. All the lineages of the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism surviving today, including the Drikung Kagyu, the Drukpa Lineage and the Karma Kagyu, are branches of the Dagpo Kagyu.

The term Dagpo Kagyu is sometimes used to refer specifically to the lineage of Gampopa’s own monastery of Dagla Gampo. This lineage passed from Gampopa to his own nephew Dagpo Gomtsul. Dagpo Tashi Namgyal (1511-1587) was an important lama in this lineage[ii] (see Bibliography below).

Dagpo Tashi Namgyal

‘Four Primary and Eight Secondary’ lineages

In terms of the students of Gampopa who went on to found the so-called ‘Four Primary and Eight Secondary’ lineages of the Dagpo Kagyu School, there are:

The four primary sub-schools of the Dagpo Kagyu

• Tshalpa Kagyu founded by Zhang Yudrakpa Tsöndru Drakpa, whose main teacher was Wangom Tsultrim Nyingpo, a student of Gampopa.. He is also the founder of Gungthang monastery and had many learned students.

Lama Zhang, founder of Tsalpa Kagyu

• Karma Kagyu or Karma Kamtsang founded by the first Karmapa, Düsum Khyenpa.

Je Gampopa with student, 1st Karmapa

• Barom (‘Ba’ Rom) Kagyu founded by Barompa Darma Wangchug, a student of Gampopa. He was also the founder of Barom monastery in the northern Latö region of Tibet and the name of the tradition came from this.

Barom Kagyu lineage refuge tree

• Phagdru (phag mo gru pa) Kagyu founded by Phagmo Drupa Dorje Gyalpo (phag mo gru pa rdo rje rgyal po, 1110–1170)[iii], who was one of the main students of Gampopa and is especially known for his realization and transmission of the Mahamudra lineage. He also founded a monastery in the Phakmo area, which was later called Densa Thil. Many additional schools of Kagyu lineage grew from Phakmo Trupa’s disciples (see below).

Phagmo Drupa (1110-1170)

The eight secondary sub-schools of the Dagpo Kagyu

The eight secondary lineages (zung bzhi ya brgyad or chung brgyad) of the Dagpo Kagyu all stem from the Phagdru Kagyu tradition and were founded by senior disciples of Phagmo Drupa Dorje Gyalpo, or their immediate successors.

Jigten Gonpo (1143-1217)

• Drigung Kagyu founded by Drigung Kyobpa Jikten Gönpo Rinchen Päl (1143-1217).
• Lingre Kagyu founded by Lingrepa Pema Dorje (1128-1188).

• Martsang (smar tshang) Kagyu founded by Marpa Drupthob Sherab Yeshe who established Sho Monastery (ཤོ་དགོན) in E. Tibet. His Holiness the twelfth Gangri Karma Rinpoche has begun the task of reviving Martsang Kagyu . In early 2009, he founded a Martsang Kagyu Dharma Center in Taiwan, and in the same year, held a commemoration to mark the 843rd anniversary of the founding of the Martsang Kagyu as well as establishing Martsang Kagyu International to organize and promote all Martsang Kagyu events and teachings.
• Shugseb Kagyu founded by Gyergom Tsultrim Sengge (1144-1204).

Taklung Thangpa Tashi

• Taklung  (stag lung)  Kagyu founded by Taklung Tangpa Tashi Pal (1142-1210). Taklung Shapdrung Rinpoche, is presently heads the lineage, along with Taklung Matul Rinpoche and Tsatrul Rinpoche.
• Trophu Kagyu tradition was developed by their nephew, Thropu Lotsawa. (khro phu) Kagyu was founded by Rinpoche Gyatsa, nephew and a student of Phakmo Trupa, and his disciple Trophu Lotsawa Champa Pal (1173-1225). Trophu Lotsawa founded the Trophu monastery and institute in the Tsang region of central Tibet and the name of the lineage derives from this.
• Yabzang  (g.y’a bzang) Kagyu was founded by Zarawa Kalden Yeshe Senge (? – 1207 d.), a student of Phakmo Trupa, and his disciple Yasang Chöje Chökyi Mönlam (1169-1233). Yasang Chöje founded the Yasang or Yamsang (g.yam bzang) monastery in 1206 C.E. and the name of the lineage came from that. founded by Zarawa Kelden Yeshe Sengge (1168?-1207).
• Yelpa  (yel pa) Kagyu was established by Yelpa Yeshe Tsek (1134-1194).

The Drukpa Kagyu Lineage

The Drukpa  (‘brug pa) Kagyu was founded by Drupchen Lingrepa Pema Dorje (1128-1188), a student of Phagmo Trupa, and his disciple Chöje Tsangpa Gyare Yeshe Dorje, (1161-1211). They founded the first seat of this lineage, Namdruk Monastery in central Tibet. Later, Kunkhyen Pema Karpo (1527-1592) founded the Druk Sang-ngak Chöling in southern Tibet, which became the main seat of this lineage. Kapgön Drukchen Rinpoche, who lives in Darjeeling, India, is the present head of the lineage. This lineage, adopted as the state religion of the Kingdom Of Bhutan, originally was brought there by the great Drukpa Kagyu master Shaptrung Ngakwang Namgyal and flourished in Bhutan throughout the centuries. His Holiness Je Khenpo of Bhutan and the present King of Bhutan Jigme Senge Wangchuk are the head of Drukpa Kagyu in Bhutan.

The Zurmang Kagyu lineage

The Zurmang Kagyu originated from Trung Mase, a student of the 5^th Karmapa, Dezhin Shegpa. As it explains on the Zurmang Kagyu website: “The great Jamgon Kongtrol in his Treasury of Knowledge explains:

The Zurmang tradition began with Mase Tokden Lodro Rinchen (b. 1386), also known as Trung Mase, who was a student of the fifth Karmapa Dezhin Shekpa (1384-1415). He received the transmission of the Chakrasṃvara Hearing Lineage. The succession of the incarnations of his students that have held the seat of the dharma lineage constitute the Zurmang Kagyu.

15^th Karmapa’s Supplication to Dagpo Kagyu

In this supplication to the Dagpo lineage masters, which the 15^th Karmapa composed at Tshurpu Monastery, it recites the places and names of some of the main Dagpo teachers including Saraha [Great Bhramin], Marpa the Translator, Milarepa [the laughing Vajra], Je Gampopa, the 1^st Karmapa [the bald Khampa] and Karma Pakshi, 2^nd Karmapa, Thegchog Dorje [6^th Karmapa], Vajravarahi and Mahakala. It was composed at Tshurphu

རྗེ་བླ་མ་རྣམས་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ༎                             དཔལ་དྭགས་པོ་བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས༎

 jé lama nam la chaktsal lo                             pal dagpo kagyü la solwa deb

Bow down to the Lord Gurus!                       Glorious Dagpo Kagyu, I supplicate!

དཔལ་ཆེན་གྱི་རི་ཡི་རྩེ་མོ་ནས༎                               མཁས་པ་བྲམ་ཟེ་ཆེན་པོ་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས༎

palchen gyi ri yi tsemo né                                khepa dramzé chenpo la solwa deb

From the peak of the spectacular, great mountain, wise Saraha [Great Brahmin], I supplicate!

ལྷོ་གྲོ་ལུང་གི་གཞལ་ཡས་ནས༎                                མར་པ་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས༎

lho dro lung gi shyalyé né                               marpa lotsawa la solwa deb

From the incomparable palace of the southern Drolung, Marpa Lotsawa, I supplicate!

བདེ་ཆེན་གྱི་སྲིད་པའི་རོལ་པ་ནས༎                           དབང་ཕྱུག་བཞད་པ་རྡོ་རྗེ་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས༎

dechen gyi sipé rolpa né                                  wangchuk zhepa dorjé la solwa deb

From the playful display of cosmic, great bliss, powerful ‘Laughing Vajra’ [Milarepa], I supplicate!

མཆོག་བྱིན་རླབས་དངོས་གྲུབ་དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་ནས༎               རྗེ་སྒམ་པོ་པ་ལ གསོལ་བ་འདེབས༎

chog jinlab ngödrub kyilkhor né                     jé gampopa la solwa deb

From the mandala of supreme blessings and siddhi, Lord Gampopa, I supplicate!

ཤར་ཏྲེ་ཤོད་གངས་ཀྱི་ར་བ་ནས༎                             གྲུབ་ཐོབ་ཁམས་པ་དབུ་སེ་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས༎

shar tré shö gang kyi rawa né                         drubthob khampa usé la solwa deb

From the Eastern, Tresho Gangirawa, the bald, Khampa siddha [1^st Karmapa], I supplicate!

སྣང་སྲིད་དབང་སྡུད་ཀྱི་གཞལ་ཡས་ནས༎                      གྲུབ་ཆེན་ཀརྨ་པཀྴི་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས༎

nangsi wangdü kyi shyalyé né                         drubchen karma pakshi la solwa deb

From the palace of the condensed power of appearance-existence, mahasiddha Karma Pakshi [2^nd Karmapa], I supplicate!

ཆོས་དབྱིངས་སྐྱེ་མེད་ཀྱི་ཀློང་ཡངས་ནས༎                      རྗེ་ཐེགས་མཆོག་རྡོ་རྗེ་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས༎

chöying kyemé kyi long yang né                      jé thek chok dorjé la solwa deb

From the expanse of birthless, dharmadhātu, Lord Thegchog Dorje [6^th Karmapa], I supplicate!

གཉིས་མེད་ཆོས་འབྱུང་གི་གཞལ་ཡས་ནས༎                    ཡུམ་རྡོ་རྗེ་ཕག་པོ་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས༎

nyimé chöjung gi shyalyé né               yum dorjé pakpo la solwa deb

From the non-dual Dharmodaya , mother Vajravarahi [Dorje Phagmo] I supplicate!

གཏུམ་དྲག་གི་མེ་རླུང་འཁྲུགས་པ་ནས༎                        མ་ཧཱ་ཀཱ་ལ་ལྕམ་དྲལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས༎

tumdrak gi mé lung trukpa né                         mahakala chamdral solwa deb

From the raging fiery winds of intense heat, Mahākāla and retinue, I supplicate!

དེ་ལྟར་དུ་གསོལ་བ་བཏབ་པའི་མཐུས༎                        བདག་སོགས་ལ་བསོད་ནམས་རབ་འཕེལ་ཞིང་༎

detar du solwa tabpé tü                                   dak sok la sönam rab phel zhing

By the power of supplicating like this, may the merit of myself and others, totally flourish!

སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་བསྟན་པ་དར་ཞིང་རྒྱས༎                        སེམས་ཅན་ལ་བདེ་སྐྱིད་འཕེལ་བ་དང་༎

sangye kyi tenpa dar shying gyé                      semchen la dekyi phelwa dang

May the Buddha’s teachings increase and spread, and the blissful happiness of sentient beings grow!

རང་བཞིན་དག་པ་ཡི་ཆོས་སྐུའི་སེམས༎                        རྣམ་རྟོག་ཀུན་བདེ་ཆེན་དབྱིངས་སུ་ཞུགས༎

rangzhin dakpa yi chökü sem                        namtok kün dechen ying su zhuk

The mind, naturally pure Dharmakaya, the expanse of great bliss in which all concepts remain!

ཐར་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་ལམ་མཆོག་ཏུ་གནས༎                        བདེ་ཆེན་གྱི་དངོས་གྲུབ་བདག་ལ་སྩོལ༎

tarpa chenpö lam chok tu né                           dechen gyi ngödrub dak la tsol

Abiding on the supreme path of great liberation, please bestow on me the great bliss of siddhis!

གཞན་ཡང་ཕྱི་ནང་དང་གསང་བ་ཡི༎                          བར་ཆད་མ་ལུས་ཞི་བར་མཛོད༎

zhenyang chi nang dang sangwa yi                barché malü zhiwar dzö

Moreover, please pacify, without exception, the outer, inner and secret obstacles!

ཆོས་དང་བཀྲ་ཤིས་འཕེལ་བ་དང་༎                           འདོད་པ་ཐམས་ཅས་འགྲུབ་པར་མཛོད༎

chö dang tashi phelwa dang                           döpa tham ché drubpar dzö

May the Dharma and auspiciousness flourish and may all wishes be accomplished.

ཅེས་པའང་མཁའ་ཁྱབ་རྡོ་རྗེ་ཡིས༎  ལྕགས་འབྲུག་ལོར་འབུམ་འགྱུར་ཟླ་བ་ཡི་ཚེས་གསུམ་ལ་མཚུར་གྱི་གདན་ས་ནས༎ སྤྲུལ་པའི་སྐུས་མགུར་དུ་བླངས་པ་དགེ༎

 In the iron-dragon year (1880), on the third day of the month of 100-thousand accumulations [Saga Dawa], from the seat of Tshurphu, the manifested form of this song was taken up by [15^th Karmapa] Khakhyab Dorje. Virtue!

Translated and edited by Adele Tomlin, 12th January 2021.

Bibliography

 “The rise of Changchub Gyaltsen and the Phagmo Drupa Period″ in Bulletin of Tibetology, 1981 Gangtok: Namgyal Institute of Tibetology [1]

Berzin, Alexandra A Survey of Tibetan History: 4 The Pagmodru, Rinpung, and Tsangpa Hegemonies

Dakpo Tashi Namgyal; Elizabeth Callahan (translator) (2019). Moonbeams of Mahamudra (Tsadra) (1st ed.). Snow Lion.

Dakpo Tashi Namgyal; Traleg Kyabgon (translator) (2016). Moonbeams of Mahamudra: The Classic Meditation Manual (1st ed.). Australia: Shogam Publications.

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[i] Dwags po bka’ brgyud gsol ‘debs/ In Karma pa sku phreng rim byon gyi gsung ‘bum phyogs bsgrigs/ 52-53, Volume 95, TBRC W3PD1288.

[ii] Dakpo Tashi Namgyal (Dakpo Paṇchen Tashi Namgyel, dwags po paN chen bkra shis rnam rgyal) (1511, 1512, or 1513–1587) was a lineage holder of the Dagpo Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He was also trained in the Sakya lineage,  and “was renowned as both a scholar and yogi. Later in life he served as chief abbot of the Kagyu Daklha Gampo Monastery in southern Tibet. His “most famous works” were two Mahamudra texts, Moonlight of Mahamudra and Clarifying the Natural State.[1] He was one of the teachers of Mikyö Dorje, the 8th Karmapa Lama.

[iii] Phagmo Drupa Dorje Gyalpo (phag mo gru pa rdo rje rgyal po) [1110-1170], was one of the three main disciples of Gampopa Sonam Rinchen who established the Dagpo Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism; and a disciple of Sachen Kunga Nyingpo [1092-1158] one of the founders of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. He was the elder brother of Kathog Dampa Deshek [1122-1192], who founded Kathog monastery and the Kathog branch of the Nyingma school.