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A Lineage History of Vajrayoga and Tantric Zhentong from the Jonang Kālacakra Practice Tradition

Michael R. Sheehy

 

According to Tibetan tradition, a year after his awakening, encompassed by constellations during the full moon night of spring, on a vajra lion-throne in a cavern that was expanded to miraculously enormous proportions within the Śrī Dhānyakaṭaka Stūpa in South India, Śākyamuni Buddha displayed the Wondrous Lunar Mansion maṇḍala, emanated as the resplendent Kālacakra deity, and revealed the Kālacakratantra or Wheel of Time Continuum to King Sucandra of Śambhala and an astronomic assembly of both human and nonhuman beings.¹ This legendary account and its subsequent impact on the life of Vajrayāna Buddhism has reverberated indefinitely throughout the historical consciousness of the Kālacakra traditions, remaining a resonating force within the memories of today’s Kālacakra masters.

In narrating their history—oral and written, collective and personal, experienced and imagined—the tantric Buddhist traditions, as all living traditions, bring what is most valued and remembered about their past into the present. As the Kālacakra traditions communicate their histories, they recount a genealogical line from their apical ancestor, the historical Buddha himself in the fifth century BC, on to the kings and kalkī of the mythically impressive yet geographically elusive domain of Śambhala, down through their ancient Indian ancestors, on to the reception and elaboration of the tantra by their later Tibetan successors, up to now.²

A History of Vajrayoga and Tantric Zhentong

As the last great tantra to appear from the Vajrayāna scene in India, the Kālacakratantra had an ineffable effect on shaping tantric Buddhist thought and practice in Tibet. Seeking to define autonomy during the new translation period, emerging Tibetan traditions identified themselves with different aspects of Indic Buddhist praxis and assimilated distinct bodies of yogic knowledge from the tantras, as these texts made their way into the Tibetan language. With numerous streams of transmission, and a great deal of cross-fertilization among them from the eleventh century onwards, whispered instructions on the Kālacakra’s sixfold vajrayoga completion stage practices and the oral histories of their inheritors began to be recorded in Tibet during the thirteenth century.

Although there was a variety of Kālacakra traditions that came from India into Tibet from the eleventh through the thirteenth centuries, including the transmission lines (brgyud rim) from Lotsāwa Gyijo Dawè Ödzer, Ma Gewè Lodrö, Azha Jakarteg, Kyungpo Chöton, Rwa Chörab, and Tsami Sangyè Drak, the Jonang have inherited and sustained the Dro tradition (’bro lugs) as transmitted sequentially from Dro Lotsāwa and the Kashmiri paṇḍita Somanātha.³ The Dro tradition along with the lineal descent from Rwa Lotsāwa known as the “Rwa tradition” (rwa lugs) constitute the two major existing lines of Kālacakra transmission up to the present.⁴

Since the Tibetan yogi Kunpang Thukje Tsöndru’s (1243-1313) synthesis of seventeen different transmission lineages of the Kālacakra sixfold vajrayoga, the Jonang have largely identified themselves with this distinctive tantric system.⁵ From its ancient antecedents up to its contemporary exemplars, the Jonang tradition specializes in this unique tantra, its gnoseological and cosmological thought, and the complex ritual life associated with this esoteric Buddhist literature. In particular, the Jonang Kālacakra tradition places emphasis on its inheritance of the path of vajrayoga (rdo rje’i rnal ’byor)—the Kālacakra completion process (Skt. sampannakrama, Tib. rdzogs rim) yoga that is composed of six ancillary phases (Skt. ṣaḍaṅgayoga, Tib. sbyor ba yan lag drug)—and the tantric zhentong (sngags gi gzhan stong) view of mind and reality according to the meditative system of the Great Madhyamaka.⁶

What follows is a brief history of the transmission lineage according to the Jonang Dro Kālacakra practice tradition of vajrayoga and tantric zhentong. This article is based upon my translation of excerpts from the Tibetan text, Lamp of the Moon: A History of the Jonang Tradition by the modern Jonang scholar from Dzamthang Tsangwa Monastery, Khenpo Ngawang Lodrö Drakpa (1920-75).⁷ With few exceptions, Khenpo Lodrak’s abbreviated accounts of the early lineage masters repeat almost verbatim from the accounts recorded by the seventeenth-century Jonang lineage-holder and Buddhist historian Jetsun Tāranātha (1575-1635) in his History of the Kālacakratantra.⁸ Recounting the hagiographies of these siddhas— the tantric yogins and yoginīs who have animated this lineage—these chroniclers of their tradition narrate to us the generations of descent as they are received by living Jonang Kālacakra masters.

Origins of the Kālacakratantra

As this story continues, King Sucandra returned to Śambhala after his sojourn to the Śrī Dhānyakaṭaka Stūpa in South India. While in Śambhala, it is said that he wrote down the original verses taught by the Buddha, entitled the Paramādibuddhatantra, and began teaching the tantra throughout the kingdom. This root tantra was then transmitted on through the line of six successors to Kalkī Yaśas, an emanation of Mañjuśri who composed the condensed version of the tantra, entitled the Laghukālacakra-tantra-rāja, or the Royal Abridged Wheel of Time Continuum.⁹ Kalkī Yaśas’ son, Kalkī Puṇḍarīka, later wrote the Vimalaprabhā, or Stainless Light, explanatory commentary on the abbreviated tantra.

From Kalkī Yaśas onwards, the disparate social castes of Śambhala are said to have been united by initiation into the Kālacakratantra, and the successive inheritors of the kingdom of Śambhala were given the title “kalkī” to signify their single caste or tantric lineage.¹⁰ According to tradition, the eleventh emperor in this regal line was Kalkī Aja, the kalkī who traveled to India in order to transmit the tantra back to its native land.¹¹

Then, circa the early eleventh century AD, as a young man named Jamyang Dorje was walking along a path in India, he had a vision of his meditation deity Mañjuśri.¹² The bodhisattva prophesized for him to travel northward, and as Jamyang Dorje proceeded along his path to the north, he encountered the kalkī Aja. The kalkī then apparently bestowed the Kālacakra empowerment upon him, initiating him as the first Indian master in this line of esoteric transmission.

After six months meditating on the profound sixfold vajrayoga of the Kālacakra completion process, Jamyang Dorje is said to have transported to Śambhala via his supernatural powers. In the kingdom, the tradition maintains, he met Kalkī Aja in person and received further instructions on the Kālacakratantra, the Trilogy of Commentaries by Bodhisattvas, and several other unexcelled yoga tantras.¹³ Memorizing most of these texts and carrying a few selected volumes with him, Jamyang Dorje is said to have returned to India where he became known as “Kālacakrapāda the Elder.”

While in India, before dissolving his physical body into rainbow light (’ja’ lus), the tradition continues, Kālacakrapāda the Elder passed the tantra and its commentary on to his disciple, the learned Śrībhadra, or “Kālacakrapāda the Younger.”¹⁴ An accomplished adept, Kālacakrapāda the Younger was known for his unhindered supernormal talent for clairvoyance, and it was during his time that the Kālacakra became popularized in India.

Kālacakrapāda the Younger’s son was Bodhibhadra, proprietor of the Nālendra estate, who was also known as “Nālendrapa.”¹⁵ Though he was renowned for performing each of the four kinds of karmic activity, Nālendrapa’s accomplishments are attributed to his yogic practice of mobilizing his vital winds (Skt. prāṇayoga, Tib. rlung gi rnal ’byor).¹⁶

At this time in Kashmir, Nālendrapa’s primary disciple, the young and intelligent scholar Somanātha, was receiving his brahmin education. Later, Somanātha traveled to Central India where he received the Kālacakratantra from Nālendrapa. After meditating upon the profound meaning of the Kālacakra and associated unexcelled tantras, Somanātha is said to have perfected the yoga of retaining his life force (srog ’dzin) and was able to paralyze menacing thieves by merely pointing his finger at them. The Kashmiri paṇḍita Somanātha eventually traveled to Tibet on three occasions and taught on many topics, including Candrakīrti’s Radiant Lamp, Nāgārjuna’s Six Collections of Reasoning, and Asaṅga’s Five Treatises on the Stages—however, he is most celebrated for transmitting the Kālacakra.¹⁷

Tibetan Forefathers of the Jonang

Signifying the reception of the tantra in Tibet, and the historical convergence of Indian and Tibetan Kālacakra scholarship, Dro Lotsāwa Sherab Drakpa translated the tantra and its commentary, the Vimalaprabhā, into Tibetan with Paṇḍita Somanātha in the late eleventh century.¹⁸ Dro Lotsāwa, along with his fellow disciples Lama Lhajè Gompa and Lama Droton Namseg all inherited the complete empowerment and textual authorizations, and each was given extensive guidance instructions on the sixfold vajrayoga of the Kālacakra completion process from their root teacher, Paṇḍita Somanātha.¹⁹

The mahāsiddha Yumo Mikyö Dorje (b. 1027) was also the recipient of related instructions on the practice of vajrayoga from Paṇḍita Somanātha, and for a period of five years he stayed in the Khong region of southern Tibet where he received the entire tantric transmissions and instructions from Lama Droton Namseg.²⁰ Later, Yumowa resided in the region of Üyug where he composed several texts on Kālacakra practice, many of which are considered by the tradition to be among the earliest Tibetan works to articulate a tantric zhentong view.²¹

Yumowa’s son Dharmeśvara was considered a prodigy who, by the time he had reached the age of twenty, had memorized all of the guidance instructions possessed by the mahāsiddhas, the great tantric adepts. Following this line of ancestry, Dharmeśvara’s three children each inherited the tantric tradition of their grandfather, father, and the lineage masters who had preceded them. Dharmeśvara’s eldest son, Namkha Ödzer, was learned in both sūtra and tantra, and was the author of numerous works including the Garland of Radiance.²² His sister, Machik Tulku Jobum, is known to have retained every word of the Vimalaprabhā commentary on the Kālacakratantra, and after meditating on her father’s instructions on the sixfold vajrayoga, she is said to have perfected the ten signs of inner radiance in a day.²³ After practicing for seven more days, she then is said to have dissolved the vital winds into her central channel and was able to accomplish extraordinarily beneficial feats. Machik Tulku Jobum’s brother, Semo Chewa Namkha Gyaltsen, was renowned as an adept whose intellectual brilliance and depth of meditative experience were attributed to his extensive practice of the vajrayoga path. He received the Vimalaprabhā from Namkha Ödzer, and both the Commentary That Briefly Teaches the Empowerment along with the Lotus Endowed commentary that elucidates the difficult points in the Kālachakratantra from his sister.²⁴ During the latter period of his life, he established Semochè Monastery in the Ölung region of Central Tibet.

In accord with a prophetic utterance from Mañjuśri, Jamyang Sarma Sherab Ödzer received the Kālachakra empowerment from Semo Chewa.²⁵ A dedicated student and teacher, it is said, Jamyang Sarma remained in an ever-increasing state of learning and teaching throughout his life. Then, from the time of Jamyang Sarma onwards, the precepts and personal instructions on the Kālacakra completion stage practices in the Dro lineage are considered to have been kept extremely strict.

Jamyang Sarma’s primary disciple was Kunkhyen Chöku Ödzer (1214-92) whom he entrusted with the entire instructions and empowerment of the tantra. In fact, the history of the tradition conveys that while the pristine wisdom (Skt. jñāna, Tib. ye shes) empowerment of the Kālacakra was being bestowed by Jamyang Sarma, Chöku Ödzer perceived his vajra master as a wisdom deity, and in just half a day, pristine wisdom infused his mind indefinitely. Chöku Ödzer was also famous for being able to recite every syllable of the Guhyasamājatantra in Sanskrit, and it is said that every time he fell asleep, he would sink into an altered state of clear light where he would be performing tantric visualizations and recitations while simultaneously teaching other people.²⁶

Early Jonang Lineage Masters

Up until this point, from the early eleventh to the late thirteenth century, the Dro Kālacakra tradition had passed through generations of succession in a lineal current parallel to the other major and minor transmission lines that were simultaneously codefining the transplantation of this distinct tantric system into Tibet. Relayed from guru to disciple, across cultures and bloodline relations, this transmission lineage that had come to be identified with its first Tibetan inheritor—the translator Dro Lotsāwa Sherab Drakpa—would soon be linked with another tradition altogether.

Having received the Rwa tradition at an early age, and the empowerment, textual authorizations, and oral explanations according to the Dro tradition from his master Chöku Ödzer, Kunpang Thukje Tsöndru came to be a central figure in the Tibetan assimilation of the Kālacakra transmissions.²⁷ Trained as a ritual master for Jamyang Sarma’s monastic seat at Kyang Dur and a prodigy of the Sakya and Ngar monastic complexes in Central Tibet, Kunpang-pa collected, practiced, and integrated seventeen variant instruction lineages of the Kālacakra’s sixfold vajrayoga.²⁸

While in the meditation cave of Sè Karchung, Kunpang-pa thought to condense the essence of the Kālacakratantra, and as he invoked the masters of the lineage, it is said that each of the kalkī of Śambhala appeared at once within the cave to instruct him. Soon afterwards, the principal female protector deity of Jomonang, Jomo Nagmen Gyalmo, visited Kunpang-pa at Sè Karchung cave and requested that he come to the valley of Jomonang to reside. Three years later, Kunpang-pa arrived in the place called “Jomonang” in South Central Tibet, and since his arrival, the tradition of meditation practice and philosophical thinking that flourished in that site has been known as “Jonang.”²⁹

Fulfilling a prophecy, Kunpang-pa settled in Khachö Dedan, the “Bliss-Infused Enjoyment of Space” meditation cave at Jonang where, it is maintained, he had a vision of the Kālacakra deity, composed a complete root text and commentary on the essential tantra, and put into writing the oral transmission lineage (snyan brgyud) of the guidance instructions on the sixfold vajrayoga practices. During this time in retreat at Jonang, Kunpang-pa emphasized through his writings that the sixfold vajrayoga was the supreme method for actualizing the coalescence of bliss and emptiness as described within the Great Madhyamaka tantric zhentong tradition, and that this was the main point of meditation practice.³⁰ These literary works composed by Kunpang Thukje Tsöndru were among the earliest extensive instruction manuals (khrid yig) on the sixfold vajrayoga of the Kālacakra in Tibet, and were the texts that initiated the newfound Jonang tradition’s scholastic and contemplative commitment to this tantra.³¹ Throughout his lifetime, Kunpang-pa taught the Vimalaprabhā commentary on the tantra, and he taught the essential Kālacakratantra twice a year while living at Jonang.

From the time they met, Changsem Gyalwa Yeshe (1257-1320) is said to have had incredible confidence in his teacher Kunpang-pa. He learned many of the sūtras and tantras from him, and when Changsem Chenpo was guided in the practice of the sixfold vajrayoga by Kunpang-pa, radical experiences of realization are said to have arisen within him. At the request of his master, Changsem Chenpo traveled to Kunpang-pa’s residence at Jonang, where his teacher then asked him to maintain the ever-increasing activities of the meditation retreat hermitages of Jonang and to assume the role of his lineage heir (brgyud ’dzin).

After eight years of overseeing the monastic seat at Jonang, Changsem Chenpo appointed another one of Kunpang-pa’s main disciples, Khetsun Yöntan Gyatso (1260-1327), as his own heir to Jonang. Along with Changsem Chenpo, Yöntan Gyatso received guidance instructions on the profound path of vajrayoga and explanations on the tantras from Kunpang Thukje Tsöndru while residing at Jonang. For seven years, from 1320 to the fall of 1326, Yöntan Gyatso facilitated the activities at Jonang until he entrusted leadership to his own disciple, the fourth successor to the throne at Jonang.

Dolpopa and His Dharma Heirs

In 1322, a year after his initial visit to Jonang, Kunkhyen Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen (1292-1361) returned from pilgrimage in Central Tibet to request the full empowerment and transmissions of the Dro Kālacakra tradition along with the oral instructions on the sixfold vajrayoga completion stage practices from the throne-holder of Jonang, Yöntan Gyatso.³² By this time, Dolpopa had already spent a decade studying at Sakya Monastery and had toured the most prestigious monastic complexes of Central Tibet, learning both sūtra and tantra from some of the greatest masters of his time. In particular, he had received the empowerment and transmissions of the Rwa Kālacakra tradition, extensive teachings on the sixfold vajrayoga and the Vimalaprabhā, as well as transmission for sūtra zhentong from his primary Sakya teacher, Kyiton Jamyang Drakpa Gyaltsen.³³

Having had a dream the night before Dolpopa’s arrival in which Kalkī Puṇḍarika of Śambhala raised a victory-banner at Jonang, Khetsun Yöntan Gyatso proceeded to bestow on Dolpopa the entirety of tantric initiations and instructions on the esoteric completion stage yogas.³⁴ Yöntan Gyatso then encouraged the young yogi to enter into a solitary retreat at Khachö Dedan cave where Kunpang-pa had lived years before. Dolpopa asked his teacher Yöntan Gyatso to guide him through the practice of each yoga carefully, and Dolpopa gradually progressed through the yoga of withdrawal (Skt. pratyāhāra, Tib. so sor sdud pa), the yoga of meditative concentration (dhyāna, bsam gtan) and the yoga of harnessing one’s life force (Skt. prāṇāyāma, Tib. srog rtsol), mastering these first three of the sixfold vajrayoga.³⁵ At this time, while staying in Khachö Dedan meditation cave at Jonang, Dolpopa began to turn his intellectual understanding of the sixfold vajrayoga into experiences born from meditation, and as a result he had his first realizations of zhentong.

Enthroned the year before Yöntan Gyatso’s passing, Dolpopa assumed leadership at Jonang in 1326. From 1330 to 1333, while constructing the Great Stūpa of Jonang—the largest physical embodiment of enlightenment in Tibet—Dolpopa began formulating his realizations and meditative experiences. Built to replicate the stūpa of the Wondrous Lunar Mansion as described within the Vimalaprabhā, the Great Stūpa of Jonang served as an inspiration for Dolpopa’s syncretization of the Kālacakratantra with his realization of zhentong, as derived from his vajrayoga practice. Dolpopa’s contemplative understandings coalesced, and he began to systematize his elucidations on zhentong within the cosmological context of the tantra as presented in the Vimalaprabhā.³⁶ These teachings eventually crystallized in his masterpiece, Mountain Dharma: Ocean of Definitive Meaning where Dolpopa clarifies how his codifications are definitive in meaning (Skt. nītārtha, Tib. nges don), in contrast to teachings that remain provisional in meaning (Skt. neyārtha, Tib. drang don).³⁷

Then in 1334, Dolpopa requested his disciples Lotsāwa Lodrö Pal (1299-1353) and Sazang Mati Panchen (1294-1376) to prepare a new translation of the Kālacakratantra along with its commentary, the Vimalaprabhā.³⁸ Serving as the textual basis for Dolpopa’s teachings, these Jonang translations were conducted under the care of Dolpopa himself in order to explicate the texts’ hidden definitive meaning. Dolpopa then composed a topical outline (sa bcad) along with his own commentary in the form of annotations (mchan ’grel) on the Vimalaprabhā that emphasized zhentong as a view implicit within the tantra and its commentary.

To complement Dolpopa’s annotations and to elaborate on crucial points within the tantra and Vimalaprabhā that his teacher did not emphasize, one of Dolpopa’s closest disciples, Choglè Namgyal (1306-86), composed his own annotated commentary.³⁹ Choglè initially had traveled to Jonang as a young man with the wish to examine the zhentong system as it was being taught by Dolpopa. When he arrived at Jonang, Choglè met Dolpopa circumambulating the Great Stupa and asked the master if he would teach zhentong. For the next seven days, Dolpopa instructed Choglè Namgyal on zhentong in his private residence. Choglè later returned to Jonang where he received the Kālacakra empowerment and transmissions on the sixfold vajrayoga from Dolpopa, and from that time onwards he lived in retreat at Jonang or at Kunpang-pa’s Sè Karchung cave when he was not presiding as a ritual master in Ngamring.⁴⁰ In 1354, with the passing of the abbot Lotsāwa Lodrö Pal, Dolpopa appointed Choglè as the throne-holder of Jonang.⁴¹

Another one of Dolpopa’s fourteen major disciples, Nyawon Kunga Pal (1285-1379), met his teacher Dolpopa on numerous occasions as a child at Sakya.⁴² He then went on to study the sūtras and tantras closely with Dolpopa, mastering the Buddhist sciences of psychology and phenomenology and receiving the entirety of the Dro Kālacakra transmissions. Nyawon also remained close to Choglè Namgyal throughout his lifetime and sought council from Choglè regarding his most extraordinary experiences in meditation.

Later Jonang Lineage Masters

Nyawon Kunga Pal’s disciple and successor in this tantric transmission lineage was the mahāsiddha Kunga Lodrö.⁴³ Considered an incarnation of Dolpopa’s contemporary, the great Tibetan Kālacakra master Butön Rinchen Drup (1290-1364), Kunga Lodrö received elaborate explanations on the Kālacakra from Nyawon in addition to his studies on the Prajñāpāramitā literature. Kunga Lodrö then went on to instruct Jamyang Konchog Zangpo in the profound meaning of the tantra and its associated contemplative techniques. His heir, Namkha Chökyong, was known for his deep comprehension of zhentong and for his dedicated practice of the sixfold vajrayoga.⁴⁴ The lineage then passed on to Namkha Palzang, who was trained as a youth in what was known as the “northern Kālacakra tradition.” Then, it is said that once he heard the guidance instructions on the sixfold vajrayoga according to the Jonang tradition from Namkha Chökyong, experiences of realization immediately arose within him.⁴⁵

Continuing on from Namkha Palzang, this tradition was transferred to Lochen Ratnabhadra. An adept rich in meditative experiences, Ratnabhadra composed several instruction manuals on the sixfold vajrayoga completion stage practices. The direct recipient of this transmission from Ratnabhadra was the enigmatic figure Kunga Dolchok (1507-66).⁴⁶ A major holder of the three main tantric practice lineages of the Sakya Lamdrè, the six teachings of Niguma according to the Shangpa Kagyü, and the vajrayoga path of the Kālacakra as sustained by the Jonang, Kung Dolchok was one of the early contributors to a pluralistic orientation (ris med) regarding the diversity of Tibetan religious and intellectual traditions.⁴⁷

This lineage then passed on through Losal Gyatso Dejè and Khadrup Namtsö until it was inherited by Jetsun Tāranātha, a successor to Kunga Dolchok’s reincarnation line and the last great abbot of the Jonang in U-Tsang, Central Tibet.⁴⁸ As the throne-holder at Jonang as well as a lineage-holder of the Kadam, Zhalu, Sakya, Shangpa Kagyü, and Kamtsang Kagyü, Tāranātha was a foremost expert on the tantras of the new translation traditions (gsar bsgyur).⁴⁹ He received the Kālacakra transmissions according to the Dro tradition from his teacher Kunga Palzang at Jonang, and then he received the full empowerment, textual authorizations, and explanations on the sixfold vajrayoga according to the Jonang, as well as the transmissions according to Butön’s Zhalu Kālacakra tradition, from Kunga Dolchok’s disciple Kenchen Lunrig Gyatso.⁵⁰

Tāranātha is said to have had frequent visions of Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen and to have visited Śambhala during his dreamtime where he would meet with the kalkī Śrīpāla.⁵¹ Inspired by these visionary experiences, Tāranātha was one of the most prolific authors on zhentong and the Kālacakra, second only to Dolpopa. Among his collected writings, thirty-two works are solely dedicated to various topics concerning the Kālacakra. These works range from his History of the Kālacakratantra to precise directions on how to prepare for a tantric feast (tshogs mchod), clarifications on tantric precepts (sdom pa), methods for meditation practice (sgrub thabs), and ritual techniques (cho ga) for performing the Kālacakra empowerment and associated ceremonies. Eleven of these works are dedicated to explaining the path of vajrayoga through precise introductions (ngo sprod), guidance instructions (man ngag), and responses to critical inquiries (dri lan). Included in his works on the Kālacakra are his texts Meaningful to Behold and its supplement (lhan thabs), which remain the standard Jonang instruction manuals for intensive meditation retreat on the sixfold vajrayoga.⁵²

In 1615, Tāranātha established Takten Damchö Ling Monastery on the lip of Jomonang Valley, about an hour’s walk from the Great Stūpa. Takten Damchö Ling was then the center of Jonang activity with a large Buddhist studies college, meditation retreat facilities, a printing press, and sixteen temples. At that time, there were thousands of yogis and scholars who lived in the vicinity of Takten Damchö Ling Monastery and the mountain hermitages (ri khrod) that surround the stūpa. Then, in the year 1650, fifteen years after Tāranātha’s passing, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lozang Gyatso (1617-82), backed by the Mongol army, forcefully prohibited the Jonang study curriculum throughout Central and western Tibet and instituted a Geluk study center (bshad grwa) at Takten Damchö Ling.⁵³ By 1658, Takten Damchö Ling was officially converted into a Geluk monastery, sequestering the Jonang.

The Jonang in Amdo

In accord with a prophecy ascribed to Kunkhyen Dolpopa, one of Choglè Namgyal’s disciples, Ratnaśrī (1350-1435), established Chöjè Monastery in the Dzamthang region of Amdo in the year 1425.⁵⁴ Here, under the imperial patronage of the Ming Court of China and outside the political and military influence of the central Tibetan government in Lhasa, the Jonang had already begun to make their home in the vast countryside of the far northeastern domain of Tibet.

For 225 years prior to their persecution in Central Tibet, the transmission lineages of zhentong and the Kālacakra according to the Jonang continued without interruption far from headquarters at Takten Damchö Ling. During these formative years, from the mid-fifteenth to the late seventeenth century, the Jonang in Amdo were busy building new monasteries, meditation retreat facilities, and institutes for Buddhist learning, all in constant exchange with their contemporaries in U-Tsang.

In fact, Tāranātha’s close disciple Lodrö Namgyal (1618-83) traveled to Dzamthang from Takten Damchö Ling, where he lived and taught for twelve years. Before his departure from Takten Damchö Ling, Lodrö Namgyal received instructions on the sixfold vajrayoga from Tāranātha as well as the full Kālacakra transmissions from Tāranātha’s disciple and successor to the throne, Kunga Rinchen Gyatso.⁵⁵ Then in 1658, the year that Takten Damchö Ling was officially converted, Lodrö Namgyal bestowed the full Kālacakra empowerment and explanations of the tantra during the inauguration ceremony of Tsangwa Monastery in Dzamthang—the central seat of the Jonang today.⁵⁶

Lodrö Namgyal’s nephew, disciple, and successor to the throne at Dzamthang Tsangwa Monastery was Ngawang Thinley (1657-1723). Raised in the care of his paternal uncle, Ngawang Thinley received the Kālacakra transmissions along with in-depth explanations of the generation and completion stages of tantric practice from him. Born in U-Tsang, Ngawang Thinley spent much of his life traveling back and forth between Central and eastern Tibet, and it was not until the time of his disciple Ngawang Tenzin Namgyal (1691-1738) that the throne-holders at Tsangwa Monastery were native to Amdo.

By the eighteenth century the Jonang had consolidated their monastic complexes in and around the Dzamthang, Golok, Gyarong, and Ngawa regions. The great monastery of Tsangwa in Dzamthang had begun to branch out into its affiliate monasteries (dgon lag), and independent monasteries such as Droggi, Swe, and Yarthang had established themselves and their own distinct lines of esoteric transmission for the sixfold vajrayoga. The Jonang had survived, and their vital teachings on zhentong and the Kālacakra were thriving.

Following Ngawang Tenzin Namgyal, there were six Kālacakra lineage heirs in the line of the vajra masters at Dzamthang Tsangwa Monastery before Ngawang Chöpel Gyatso’s and Ngawang Chökyi Phakpa’s primary disciple, Bamda Thubtan Gelek Gyatso (1844-1904).⁵⁷ Born in “Bamda,” close to Tsangwa Monastery in the Dzamthang Valley, Bamda Lama was recognized as a prodigy and educated within his own Jonang tradition at Dzamthang until he was a young man.⁵⁸ Bamda later traveled to the Derge district of Kham in eastern Tibet where he found himself immersed in the midst of the Rimè eclecticism and studied closely with Jamgön Kongtrul (1813-99) and Dzogchen Patrul Rinpoche (1808-87).

Returning to Dzamthang, Bamda received extensive training in the Jonang Kālacakra tantric system. In particular, he studied intensively both Choglè Namgyal’s and Lochen Ratnabhadra’s manuals on the sixfold vajrayoga, the details concerning the specific yogic techniques and postures (’khrul ’khor), and the entire cycle of ancillary practices involved in the completion process. His comprehension and depth of experience in these complex subjects are clearly reflected in his own writings, the most famous being his text, The Stages of Meditation.⁵⁹

As one of the most widely recognized Kālacakra masters from the Jonang tradition—overshadowed only by Dolpopa and Tāranātha—Bamda’s tantric and nontantric writings continue to serve as core sources for the contemporary Jonang scholastic and meditation practice curriculums. Among his most prominent disciples was Tsoknyi Gyatso (1880-1940), an expert on Kālacakra symbolism and the maṇḍala, whose influence on the previous generation of Jonang Kālacakra adepts is felt through to today’s exemplars.⁶⁰

Tradition, Transmission, and Transition

By recounting the lives of its masters, the tantric Buddhist traditions in general and the Jonang Kālacakra practice tradition in particular, suggest that something more than remembrance is brought from the past into the present: that there is esoteric transmission occurring. As these narratives draw from the larger genre of Tibetan historiography, we can concede that the survival of these traditions is due to their own self-preservation of passing memories through the generations. Yet, the question lingers: “Is there something about the nature of the Buddhist tantric traditions that is amenable to more than remembering—is there also the reexperiencing?” With this in mind, we may wish to consider to what extent tantric knowledge is living, and to what extent tantric practices keep this knowledge alive?

As participants or as mere bystanders in this multigenerational happening, we are invited to wonder how these tantric adepts made their transitions in order to keep this tantric knowledge vibrant; how they maneuvered through the cultures, among the languages, and between the interfaces of their time; how these yogis and yoginīs transferred their spiritual authority, navigated their life-worlds, represented their identities, and transmitted their private experiences; how these masters—at once historic and surreal—have become legends; how these mystical figures of the past have been imagined, and how imagining them defines us?

(Endnotes)

1. For encouraging and informing my studies of the Jonang, I would like to thank my teacher Khenpo Kunga Sherab Saljè Rinpoche, Jigmè Dorje Rinpoche, Tulku Kunga Zangpo, Steven Goodman, Gene Smith, and, in particular, Cyrus Stearns for making helpful suggestions to this article.

2. For a record, Tā ra nā tha, Dpal and Dus; Ruegg (1971), 3.

3. Tā ra nā tha, Rdo rje, 145-54.

4. Roerich (1976), 755-56.

5. These seventeen six-fold vajrayoga traditions are from: (1) Lotsāwa Gyi jo Zla ba’i ’Od zer; (2) Lotsāwa Rma dge ba’i Blo gros; (3) Khrom Lotsāwa Padma ’Od zer; (4) Bla ma Nag po Mngon shes can; (5) Kha che PaN chen Zla ba Dgon po [Kashmiri paṇḍita Somanātha]; (6) Rwa Lotsāwa Chos rab; (7) Tsa mi Lotsāwa Sangs rgyas Grags; (8) Amoghavajra to Ras chung Rdo rje Grags pa; (9-11) Rga lo and Tsa mi; (12-13) Kashmiri paṇḍita Śākyaśrī; (14-15) Paṇḍita Vibhūticandra; (16) Paṇḍita Nyi dbang Srung ba to Chags Lotsāwa Chos rje Dpal; (17) Man lung Gu ru, Tā ra nā tha, Rdo rje, 146-47.

6. Buddhist tantric traditions generally define authentic transmission (brgyud) according to: (1) textual authorization (lung); (2) empowerment (dbang); (3) instruction (khrid). “Tantric zhentong” (esoteric extrinsic emptiness) here refers to a view or contemplative understanding that is associated with the practice of the sixfold yoga (sbyor drug) completion process of the Kālacakra, in accord with Buddhist tantric literature and the Kālacakratantra in particular. The Great Madhyamaka system of sūtra zhentong (mdo’i gzhan stong) was transmitted in a parallel continuum until Dol po pa’s synthesis of the sūtra and tantra systems. For a record of the sūtra zhentong lineage, Tā ra nā tha, Zab mo. The sixfold vajrayoga of the Kālacakra completion stage are: (1) withdrawal (Skt. pratyāhāra, Tib. so sor sdud pa); (2) meditative concentration (Skt. dhyāna, Tib. bsam gtan); (3) harnessing life force (Skt. prāṇāyāma, Tib. srog rtsol); (4) retention (Skt. dhāraṇā, Tib. ’dzin pa); (5) recollection (Skt. anusmṛti, Tib. rjes dran); (6) meditative absorption (Skt. samādhi, Tib. ting nge ’dzin). On the sixfold yoga, Stearns (1999), 99-100; Grönbold (1996), 19-33; Newman (2000), 587-94; Henning’s article in this volume.

7. Ngag dbang (1992); Kapstein (1993), 1-12. My translation of the Jo nang Chos ’byung is in progress.

8. Tā ra nā tha, Dpal; Fendell (1997); Templeman (1981).

9. Transmission in Śambhala: (1) Dharma King Sucandra (Chos rgyal Zla ba Bzang po); (2) Dharma King Sureśvara [Deveśvara] (Chos rgyal Lha dbang); (3) Dharma King Tejī (Chos rgyal Gzi brjid can); (4) Dharma King Somadaṭṭa (Chos rgyal Zla bas byin); (5) Dharma King Sureśvara (Chos rgyal Lha’i dbang phyug); (6) Dharma King Viśvamurti (Chos rgyal Sna tshogs gzugs); (7) Dharma King Surśāna (Chos rgyal Lha’i dbang ldan). The eighth successor in this line was Yaśas, the first kalkī (rigs ldan) of Śambhala.

10. For more on the term “kalkī,” Wallace (2001), 115-16.

11. The transmission lineage in Śambhala continues: (8) Kalkī Yaśas (Rigs ldan Grags pa); (9) Kalkī Puṇḍarika (Rigs ldan Padma dkar po); (10) Kalkī Bhadra (Rigs ldan Bzang po); (11) Kalkī Vijaya (Rigs ldan Rnam rgyal); (12) Kalkī Sumitra (Rigs ldan Bshes gnyen Bzang po); (13) Kalkī Raktapāṇi (Rigs ldan Phyag dmar); (14) Kalkī Viṣṇugupta (Rigs ldan Khyab ’jug Sbas pa); (15) Kalkī Sūryakīrti (Rigs ldan Nyi ma Grags pa); (16) Kalkī Subhadra (Rigs ldan Shin tu Bzang po); (17) Kalkī Samudravijaya (Rigs ldan Rgya mtsho Rnam rgyal); (18) Kalkī Aja (Rigs ldan Rgyal dka’).

12. Ngag dbang (1992), 17.

13. The Sems ’grel skor gsum (Trilogy of Commentaries) are: (1) Vimalaprabhā commentary on the Kālacakratantra by Kalkī Puṇḍarīka; (2) Hevajrapiṇḍārthaṭīkā commentary on the Hevajratantra by Vajragarbha; (3) Lakṣābhidhanād-uddhṛta-laghutantra-piṇḍārthavivaraṇa commentary on the Cakrasaṃvaratantra by Vajrapāṇi.

14. Ngag dbang (1992), 17.

15. Newman suggests Kālacakrapāda and Nālendrapa to be the same figure, the famed Nāropa of Nālandā, Newman (1985), 70-71; Fendell (1997), 5-6 and 44, n. 144; Roerich (1976), 758.

16. Four activities (las bzhi): (1) pacification (zhi); (2) enrichment (rgyas); (3) subjugation (dbang); (4) wrath (drag).

17. Candrakirti’s Radiant Lamp (Skt. Pradīpodyotana, Tib. Sgron gsal), Nāgārjuna’s Six Collections of Reasoning (Rigs tshogs drug): (1) Root Treatise on Wisdom (Skt. Prajñāmūla, Tib. Rtsa ba shes rab); (2) Elegantly Woven Scripture (Skt. Vaidalya-sūtra, Tib. Zhib mo rnam ’thag); (3) Reversing the Roots of the Mind (Skt. Vigrahavyāvartanī, Tib. Rtsad ldog); (4) Seventy Stanzas on Emptiness (Skt. Śūnyatāśaptati, Tib. Stong nyid bdun cu pa); (5) Sixty Stanzas on Reasoning (Skt. Yukiṣaṣtikā, Tib. Rigs pa drug cu ba); (6) Precious Garland (Skt. Ratnāvalī, Tib. Rin chen phreng ba), and Asaṅga’s Five Treatises on the Stages (Sa sde lnga): (1) Stages of Yogic Practice (Skt. Yogācārya-bhūmi, Tib. Rnal ’byor spyod pa’i sa); (2) Compendium of Ascertainments (Skt. Nirṇaya-saṃgraha, Tib. Gtan la phab pa’i bsdu ba); (3) Compendium of Grounds (Skt. Vastu-saṃgraha, Tib. Gzhi bsdu ba); (4) Compendium of Enumerations (Skt. Paryāya-saṃgraha, Tib. Rnam grangs bsdu ba); (5) Compendium of Detailed Explanations (Skt. Vivaraṇasaṃgraha, Tib. Rnam par bshad pa’i bsdu ba).

18. Davidson (2005), 281.

19. Ngag dbang (1992), 17-18. Bla ma Sgro ston Gnam brtsegs received instructions on the sixfold vajrayoga from Bla ma Lha rje Sgo pa first, then later from Somanātha, Byang sems (2004), 29-30.

20. Mkhan po Blo grags writes that Yu mo ba was born during the first year of the sixty-year Tibetan calendar cycle (rab byung dang po’i dus su byon), Ngag dbang (1992), 18; Stearns (1999), 199-200, n. 10.

21. Mkhan po Blo grags writes, “[Yu mo ba] formulated the system of tantric zhentong,” Ngag dbang (1992), 18. At present, we have access to a limited number of Yu mo ba’s surviving works and are therefore unable to make an accurate assessment of his views. Among these surviving works are his Gsal sgron skor bzhi (Fourfold Cycle of Illuminated Lamps) which do not mention the term, “gzhan stong.” However, these four short texts present ideas resembling those of Dol po pa’s. With this in mind, I would like to suggest that a distinction be made between the employment of the actual technical term, “gzhan stong,” and the articulation of sentiments reflecting a view that can be characterized as “gzhan stong,” for there are surely a range of nuanced understandings for both the term and its intended meaning that deserve further investigation, Yu mo ba (1983); Stearns (1999), 43-5 and 199-200, n. 10; Ruegg (1963), 80.

22. ’Od zer phreng ba.

23. Ngag dbang (1992), 18.

24. Dbang mdor bstan bka’ [dka’] ‘grel padma can; these are the Sekkodeśa (Dbang mdor bstan) and Padmini (Padma can) commentaries, listed in the Kālacakra section of the Bka’ ’gyur and Bstan ’gyur.

25. Ngag dbang (1992), 18.

26. Ngag dbang (1992), 18.

27. Mkhan po Blo grags writes, “From his [Kun mkhyen Chos sku ’Od zer’s] disciple Kun spangs Thugs rje Brtson ’grus, up until the great Jonang master [Dol po pa Shes rab Rgyal mtshan], transmission of the view and practice of the great secret tantric Zhentong Madhyamaka flowed like the course of a river,” Ngag dbang (1992), 18.

28. Ngag dbang (1992), 21; Stearns (1996), 147-48, n. 71.

29. The place Jomonang (jo mo nang) or Jonang (jo nang) is generally referred to as “Richö Chenmo” (Ri khrod Chen mo), or “The Great Mountain Hermitage.” This is a valley with extensive meditation caves (sgrub phug) and mountain hermitages (ri khrod) that serve as residences (gzims khang) for yogis. This was the monastic seat of the Jonang (jo nang gi gdan sa) from the time of Kun spangs pa. See also, Ruegg (1963), 90-91.

30. Ngag dbang (1992), 22.

31. Mkhan po Blo grags writes, “These were the earliest extensive instruction manuals on the sixfold yoga in Tibet,” Ngag dbang (1992), 21. On Kun spangs pa’s writings, Kun spangs, Dpal; Stearns (1996), 147-49.

32. Mkhan po Blo grags writes, “The cycle of the Kālacakra teachings from the time of the kalkī of Śambhala, on through the dissemination of these systems in the noble land of India, until the great Jonang master of these teachings [Dol po pa Shes rab Rgyal mtshan] appeared in this world—did nothing more than repeat the sayings of the Rwa and Dro lineages without clarifying our own tradition. Nevertheless, during the latter period of his life, Dol po pa engaged in the intended meaning of the tantra and its commentary, the consummation of our [Jonang] tradition,” Ngag dbang (1992), 97.

33. Skyi ston ’Jam dbyangs studied the Kālacakra under Rong pa Shes rab Seng ge (1251-1315) and is listed by Tāranātha as Dol po pa’s primary teacher for sūtra zhentong, Tā ra nā tha, Zab mo, 6; Stearns (1999), 13-14; Roerich (1976), 756.

34. Dol po pa was considered by his contemporaries to have been an emanation of Kalkī Puṇḍarika, Ngag dbang (1992), 541-42; Stearns (1999), 17 and 180, n. 32.

35. Stearns (1999), 18.

36. Kapstein (2000), 106-16; Stearns (1999), 79-81.

37. Dol po pa, Ri chos; Hopkins (2006), 5-8.

38. Stearns (1999), 24-27.

39. Ngag dbang (1992), 37-38; Phyogs las, Jo nang. This text was recently acquired by the Jonang Foundation. Phyogs las Rnam rgyal’s commentary in the form of annotations (mchan ’grel) places less emphasis on zhentong than Dol po pa’s work. Another one of Dol po pa’s primary disciples, Sa bzang Ma ti Pan chen, wrote an interlinear commentary to reconcile the differences in these two works.

40. Phyogs las Rnam rgyal studied with Bu ston Rin chen Grup, Ngag dbang (1992), 37; Ruegg (1963), 76.

41. Dol po pa appointed Lotsāwa Blo gros Dpal as his successor to Jonang—he served as the throne-holder for seventeen years, and Phyogs las Rnam rgyal then served for six years.

42. Ngag dbang (1992), 38. Nya dbon Kun dga’ Dpal also studied with the Kālacakra master Bu ston Rin chen Grup. Nya dbon Kun dga’ Dpal and Phyogs las Rnam rgyal were teachers to Tsong kha pa Blo bzang Grags pa (1357-1419), founder of the Dge lugs tradition.

43. Ngag dbang (1992), 39.

44. Nam mkha’ Chos skyong also taught Sgo rum Kun dga’ Legs pa (1477-1544), who held the throne at Jonang and was a teacher of Nam mkha’ Dpal bzang, Stearns (1999), 64 and 208, n. 80.

45. Mkhan po Blo grags writes, “He [Nam mkha’ Dpal bzang] became learned in what was referred to as ‘the northern Kālacakra tradition’ (dus ’khor byang lugs) as it was taught by Shangs ston, a disciple of the great master from Lhun sdings. However, at an earlier time, because he had received the guidance instructions (man ngag) on the sixfold yoga according to the Jonang tradition from Rgyal ba Nam mkha’ [Nam mkha’ Chos skyong], incredible experiences and realizations were born within him,” Ngag dbang (1992), 40. Fendell identifies the great master (bdag chen) as Bdag chen Rnam rgyal Grags pa, Fendell (1997), 72, n. 253.

46. Mkhan po Blo grags writes, “In particular, he [Kun dga’ Grol mchog] received the complete teaching cycle of the Kālacakra transmissions as it came from Nam mkha’ Dpal bzang via Lochen Ratnabhadra,” Ngag dbang (1992), 50.

47. The six teachings of Niguma (ni gu chos drug) as transmitted through the Shangs pa Bka’ brgyud are held within the Jonang to the present day. Jonang authors including Tāranātha and ’Ba’ mda’ Dge legs have composed works on these teachings. Smith (2001), 55-56 provides a list of this transmission lineage. Kun dga’ Grol mchog’s eclecticism is best exemplified within his work, Jo nang khrid brgya, or Grol mchog khrid brgya (The One-Hundred-and-Eight Instructions), a compilation of essential Tibetan Buddhist teachings. This text was included by Kong sprul in the last volume of his Gdams ngag Mdzod.

48. Another figure in the lineage at this point is Mkhan chen Lung rigs Rgya mtsho who received the empowerment, oral transmissions, and guidance instructions on the Kālacakratantra from Kun dga’ Grol mchog, Ngag dbang (1992), 41.

49. Ngag dbang (1992), 55.

50. Mkhan po Blo grags writes, “Mkhan chen Lung rigs Rgya mtsho bestowed [upon Tāranātha] the empowerment, explanation of the tantra, and guidance instructions on the sixfold yoga, comprising the transmission of ultimate blessings—and by putting these into practice, [Tāranātha] had heightened experiences and realizations. These were the instructions according to the Jonang tradition (jo lugs) as it came from Kun dga’ Grol mchog, and then the instructions according to Bu ston’s tradition (bu lugs) were given to him quickly,” Ngag dbang (1992), 55.

51. Ngag dbang (1992), 56.

52. Tā ra nā tha, Zab lam and Rdo rje.

53. Stearns (1999), 70-71; Fendell (1997), 27-30.

54. Ngag dbang (1992), 61-62.

55. Ngag dbang (1992), 67-68. Kun dga’ Rin chen Rgya mtsho’s disciple ’Brog dge Kun dga’ Dpal bzang was also a disciple of Blo gros Rnam rgyal, and he established Jonang ’Brog dge Monastery in Ngawa, Ngag dbang (1992), 521-53.

56. Ngag dbang (1992), 68; Jo nang mdza’ mthun (2005), 53.

57. These successors at ’Dzam thang Gtsang ba Monastery were: Mkas btsun Dar rgyas, Kun bzang ’Phrin las Rnam rgyal, Nus ldan Lhun grub Rgya mtsho, Dkon mchog ’Jigs med Rnam rgyal, Ngag dbang Chos ’phel, Ngag dbang Chos kyi ’Phags pa, Ngag dbang (1992), 75-76.

58. Ngag dbang (1992), 412-24; Kapstein (2001), 306-13.

59. ’Ba’ mda’, Dpal.

60. Tshogs gnyis Rgya mtsho passed the Kālacakra lineage on to Mkhan po Ngag dbang Blo gros Grags pa; his disciple was Ngag dbang Yon tan Bzang po (1928-2002).

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