10   The Author of the Mandala Rite

Kay-drup-ge-lek-el-sang-o (mkhas grub dge legs dpal bzang po, 1385-1438), the author of the Kālachakra initiation rite translated in this book, was one of the two chief disciples of zong-ka-a (tsong kha pa, 1357-1419), the founder of the Ge-luk-a order of Tibetan Buddhism.¹²⁰ Kay-drup was born in Upper zang Province (tsang stod) to ra-hi-el-sang (bkra shis dpal bzang) and Bu-dren-gyel-mo (bu ’dren rgyal mo), as the eldest of three sons. His next younger brother, Ba-o-chö-yi-gyel-tsen (ba so chos kyi rgyal mtshan, 1402-1473) became a famous adept in the Ge-luk-a order.¹²¹

Kay-drup, before becoming zong-ka-a’s disciple, was a learned scholar of the a-ya-a order of Tibetan Buddhism. Ge-luk-as look on Kay-drup’s conversion as an important indication of the strength, cogency, and persuasiveness of zong-ka-a’s intellectual prowess and personality. Kay-drup wrote important works on logic and epistemology, on the views on emptiness in the Mind Only School, Autonomy School, and Middle Way School, and so forth as well as on the tantric systems of Hevajra and Guhyasamāja, and wrote prolifically on the Kālachakra system (see p.63).

Kay-drup’s Secret Biography (gsang ba’i rnam thar) written by Jay-zun Chö-yi-gyel-tsen (rje btsun chos kyi rgyal mtshan, 1469-1546) treats his life from a triple perspective:

1   Kay-drup actually had already attained Buddhahood, and since readers know that zong-ka-a was an incarnation of Mañjushrī, the god of wisdom, the whole drama of conversion is merely a divine display.

2   Kay-drup was a rebirth of Kulika Mañjushrīkīrti, the compiler of the Condensed Kālachakra Tantra who was the first ruler of Shambhala to be called “Kulika”, as well as of the famous Indian scholars Abhayākara, Rik-ay-ku-chuk the Greater (rig pa’i khu phyug che ba), and so forth. Kay-drup is thereby seen as carrying out, over a continuum of lives, an intense and altruistically motivated dedication to the furtherance of Buddha’s doctrine, especially that of Kālachakra, his very life being an exemplification of the giving of doctrine, the supreme form of giving. Kay-drup is thereby a model of altruistic and scholarly endeavor for ordinary religious practitioners.

3   Kay-drup, as a deeply saddened and distressed student after his teacher’s death, was a person subject to emotions that make him like the readers of the biography.

That Kay-drup was already a Buddha and thereby beyond actual development, nevermind conversion, does not lessen the impact of the human story; the biography functions on all three levels without one cancelling out another.

Let us cite important events in Kay-drup’s life story, as condensed from his Secret Biography by Ge-hay Thupten Gyatso, a scholar from the Go-mang College of Dre-ung Monastic University.122

A SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF KAY-DRUP-GE-LEK-EL-SANG

By Ge-hay Thupten Gyatso

Our glorious, excellent lama the Omniscient Kay-drup, renowned in the three levels – above, on, and below the ground – had been under the tutelage of the venerable Mañjushrī during many previous lifetimes over a great number of eons. Through Mañjushrī’s advice on the modes of the doctrine of the profound emptiness and the vast stages of clear realization – the latter being the hidden meaning of the Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras – Kay-drup traversed the five paths and ten Bodhisattva grounds and actualized the rank of Vajradhara [a Buddha], That this is so is established by scripture and reasoning and is clear, in implicit form, in his biography. However, let us speak a little here about his biography in accordance with the perspective of how common trainees perceive it.

Past Lives

While the Teacher Shākyamuni Buddha was dwelling in the world, this foremost lama was born as a novice, called Kamalashīla (padma’i ngang tshul), under the Superior Kāshyapa. He came to be familiar with all three scriptural collections – discipline, sets of discourses, and manifest knowledge – and was endowed with the courage of knowledge and release. For this reason, even in his life as Kay-drup, the foremost zong-ka-a appeared in a dream, speaking the Kāshyapa Chapter Sūtra (’os srung gi le’u, kāshyapaparivarta), whereupon Kay-drup generated special realization. The dream-appearance rekindled predispositions established from his earlier hearing the same teaching while a student of Kāshyapa.

Furthermore, the foremost Kay-drup earlier took rebirth as Mañjushrīkīrti, the compiler of the Condensed Kālachakra Tantra,123 and also as famous scholars and upholders of the three scriptural collections in India. When he took rebirth as the Indian scholar Abhayākara, he composed the Ocean of Means of Achievement (sgrub thabs rgya mtsho), and so forth, as directed by Mañjushrī. Among those many books was a work entitled Ornament to the Subduer’s Thought (thub pa’i dgongs rgyan, munimatālaṃkāra),¹²⁴ which is one of the twenty-one commentaries on Maitreya’s Ornament for Clear Realization (mngon par rtogs pa’i rgyan, abhisamayālaṃkāra) but also is a commentary on Buddha’s thought in general.

Morever, when this foremost lama took rebirth as the paṇḍiṭa Rik-ay-ku-chuk the Greater, he was under the care of the glorious Chandrakīrti, thereby coming to eradicate the bonds of extreme views. At a certain point, Chandrakīrti said, “In the future, the venerable Mañjushrī will take birth as a monk in an outlying area. You also should take birth there, achieve his word, and spread the teaching.” The outlying area is Tibet, and Mañjushrī took birth as zong-ka-a.125

Scholarship

Through the force of his having trained in the topics of knowledge over many lives and through the force of his being under the care of the venerable Mañjushrī, in this life also, even in his youth, his analytical intelligence was unimpeded with respect to the meaning of the three scriptural collections and the four tantra sets. Due to this, he became a great opener of a chariot-way at the head of all scholars. How was this manifested? When this foremost lama was sixteen years old, the great scholar Bo-dong-chok-lay-am-gyel (bo dong phyogs las rnam rgyal, 1376-1451) announced that he would refute the Treasury of Reasoning (rigs gter) of a-ya Paṇḍiṭa un-ga-gyel-tsen (sa skya paṇḍiṭa kun dga’ rgyal mtshan, 1182-1251),¹²⁶ and asked what a-ya-a could answer him. Everyone was discouraged and did not dare answer. At that point, the patron of the Jang-ngam-ring-a Monastery (byang ngam ring pa) called together all the scholars, saying, “Bo-dong-wa is refuting the venerable a-ya Paṇḍiṭa; therefore, who among you can pluck out the feathers of this bad bird? To whoever can I will give a great reward.”

All of the scholars gathered at Jang-ngam-ring-a Monastery. In the middle of their assembly a seat was made for Bo-dong-chok-lay-am-gyel, and the patron himself sat on the throne. With all of the scholars in front of him, Bo-dong systematically refuted a-ya Paṇḍiṭa’s Treasury of Reasoning; since none of the scholars could respond, it was decided after the first day that the text was fraught with self-contradiction. The patron then quizzed them on who could put up a defense, and the next day this great being Kay-drup, who was only sixteen years old, dispelled all of the faults imputed to a-ya Paṇḍiṭa and with stainless reasoning thoroughly refuted the tenets that Bo-dong-chok-lay-am-gyel himself posited. When Kay-drup made it so that he could not even answer, Bo-dong could only say that these were inner contradictions of the tenets of the Sūtra School (mdo sde pa, sautrāntika) that a-ya Paṇḍiṭa was explicating.

Kay-drup accomplished other such feats of scholarship in debate, defeating, for instance, the scholar ak-a (g.yag pa) in the assembly hall. Through having trained in the fields of knowledge over many lives, no scholar could compete with him.

Encountering zong-ka-a

When Kay-drup first met the foremost zong-ka-a, like the Bodhisattva Always-Crying (rtag tu ngu, sadāprarudita) when he saw Dharmodgata, from merely seeing zong-ka-a’s glorious form the hairs of his body powerlessly rose, tears of faith streamed from his eyes, and he spontaneously uttered words of praise. Due to former connection, as soon as they met, unparalleled firm faith was engendered.

That night while dreaming, he became sunk and confused in an omnipresent thick darkness for a long time; then from the east appeared a great wheel with hundreds of swords standing on end and with their handles turned to the center. At the tips of the swords were many hundred of suns, and in the center of the wheel in the midst of a rainbow was the venerable Mañjushrī, with orange body, holding a sword and a book, adorned with jewelled adornments, so youthful that looking knew no satisfaction. Happily, Mañjushrī came to Kay-drup and dissolved into him, whereupon a great sun dawned, immediately clearing away all darkness. The latticework of its radiance filled the entire world. That was his dream.

The next day when he met zong-ka-a, he reported his dream and asked what it meant. The foremost zong-ka-a answered, “You saw your lama and tutelary deity as undifferentiable. You are a jewel-like person who is a special, intended trainee of Mantra. Just as you saw me as the venerable Mañjushrī, so I am in fact, but persons of low intelligence see me as ordinary. You will bring great help to many trainees.”

Then, the foremost zong-ka-a asked, “Who is your tutelary deity?” Kay-drup replied, “Orange Mañjushrī and Raktayamāri.”

zong-ka-a continued, “In general whether you take Raktayamāri, Kṛṣhṇayamāri, or Bhairava as your tutelary deity, Mañjushrī looks after you since these three are increasing degrees of ferocity of Mañjushrī; however, since my transmission is looked after and blessed by Mañjushrī, you should take Bhairava as your tutelary deity [since the fiercest form is most effacacious]… There are many special purposes; others do not understand the importance of these.” Then, without having to be asked, zong-ka-a immediately conferred the initiation of Vajrabhairava. From that point on, Kay-drup performed the daily rite without break.

This lama in time became a foremost spiritual son of the venerable zong-ka-a.127 Through the force of his partaking continually of the ambrosia of zong-ka-a’s speech, he attained the rank of a great opener of a chariot-way, endowed with non-erroneous knowledge of the three scriptural collections and the four tantra sets. Through the force of his great compassion such that he had affection for all beings the way a mother does for her sole child, many fortunate trainees were filled with the ambrosia of his good explanations.

Also, in order that future trainees might understand that the body of the path leading to liberation and omniscience – the tracks of passage by the previous Conquerors – is as the foremost zong-ka-a indicated it, in general he made many commentaries on Buddha’s word and their commentaries and in particular wrote many treatises clarifying extremely dense diamond-like phraseology and very profound topics of expression in the word of zong-ka-a. He made these as plain as an olive set in your hand. His writings comprise the nine volumes of his Collected Works [that contain fifty-eight separate treatises].

In brief, without consideration for goods, service, or style, he, out of consideration solely for the teaching and sentient beings’ welfare, performed countless acts of explanation, debate, and composition concerning the Conqueror Buddha’s teachings. That is the main thrust of the biography of this great being; details can be known from his lengthy biography.

ADDENDUM

Ge-hay Thupten Gyatso’s condensation of Kay-drup’s Secret Biography goes on to describe in detail the five visions of zong-ka-a that appeared to Kay-drup after his teacher’s death, during periods of (1) tearful sadness about the level of trainees he was encountering, (2) tearful sadness from his inability to penetrate the meaning of difficult points in texts, (3) tearful mindfulness of the greatness of his teacher’s service to the world, (4) tearful wishfulness to be in his teacher’s presence given the fragility of zong-ka-a’s teaching remaining in the world, and (5) intense longing to rejoin his teacher. In these visions, Kay-drup continued to receive teachings from zong-ka-a, who appeared first in his own form riding an elephant, then on a golden throne, then in youthful form on a frightful white lion, then as a yogi on a frightful male tiger, and finally as a monk in the middle of white clouds. Jay-zun Chö-yi-gyel-tsen reports that later, at Kay-drup’s own death, certain of his disciples with pure karma had visions of his going to Shambhala.128