Introduction

Translator’s Introduction

The Shangpa tradition takes its name from the area where a monastery was established (ca. 1021) by the Tibetan who is considered the founder, the “charioteer,” of the order. This was the great adept, or mahāsiddha, Khyungpo Naljor Tsultrim Gönpo (978–1127? or 1050–1140?), whose dates have not yet been satisfactorily resolved. In his Shangpa Dharma Directory, Kongtrul states:

The one carrying the name of Great Shangpa Master, Great Adept Khyungpo Naljor, attended innumerable learned and accomplished gurus of India and Tibet. In particular, in the south and west and all over India he received countless instructions from one hundred and fifty learned and accomplished gurus. Of those, there were thirteen specially exalted gurus, four root gurus, and the incomparable pair of ḍākinīs of timeless awareness. When he had all of their inestimable explanations and dharma practices, he established a seat at Zhangzhong Monastery in Shang in [Tsang] Yeru. Thus he became known by the name of the Great Lama Shangpa. The dharma cycles taught by him carry the name Shangpa Dharma, and the lineage of those who uphold them is also renowned as the Glorious Shangpa Precept Lineage (Shangpa Kagyu).

What that great adept Khyungpo Naljor received earlier and later in India and Tibet, and what he taught to his disciples— that entirety of innumerable dharma teachings—these days cannot be listed even by name. That guru had six capable spiritual heirs and eighty thousand [disciples who became] spiritual mentors, and more who established the theory and practice and spread the dharma. However, other than a few special vital points of the esoteric instructions on practice, we don’t see the [whole] precept tradition of the lineage. Only a very rough outline can be gleaned from the great adept Khyungpo’s own life story.

That biography and those of his successors seem indeed to be the earliest source and the bases of all later accounts. We learn that Khyungpo Naljor, “the yogin of the Garuda clan,” first trained in Bön and Nyingma traditions in Tibet. He is said to have mastered those teachings and even attracted hundreds of disciples. Still not satisfied, he ventured to Nepal and India with loads of gold and studied with many gurus. In particular, he went in search of a teacher who had heard the actual words from the Buddha. He was directed to a certain Niguma, who had met Buddha Vajradhara face to face and would often feast with a host of women in the charnel ground of Sosadvīpa. He went there to meet the ḍākinī in person, or in vision, and after passing the test of some scary experiences and verbal abuse, he received multiple times most of the instructions featured in the Shangpa tradition and wrote them down. Tāranātha writes:

The great accomplished master Khyungpo Neljor, who was endowed with five culminations, received many Sanskrit texts that were well known throughout the sublime land of India. In particular, in the evening of the fifteenth day of the month of Vaiśākha, as the pale moon rose, Nigumā conferred the great empowerment of the illusory body upon him in an emanational maṇḍala; and at dawn in a dream he received the Six Doctrines all at once. Later he received them from her twice in person, so that he actually received them on three occasions.

His other main female guru was Sukhasiddhi, who showed him special kindness, not nearly so fierce as the dark, bone-wearing Niguma. Some of her story is given later in this volume, in the context of empowerment. These two became his preeminent gurus and are considered the deep source of the tradition.

Khyungpo Naljor received many spiritual practices and classic text transmissions from other adepts of India, often in duplicate and triplicate form. The practice of Five Tantras all at once, a transmission received primarily from Vajrāsana, figures prominently in his life, as he was able to reach the culmination of each of these important tantras and manifest them in the five chakras of his body. His disciple Mokchokpa even saw him in the company of these deities, and so he earned the epithet “endowed with five culminations” (mthar thug lnga ldan).

In addition, he received many more teachings covering a wide range of topics. Kongtrul reports that as part of his training in India he learned everything in the three areas of exegesis (bshad pa), debate (rtsod pa), and accomplishment (sgrub pa). Unfortunately, only the latter endured: mainly the five cycles from Niguma, Sukhasiddhi, Vajrāsana, Maitrīpa, and Rāhula, along with miscellaneous esoteric instructions.

Due to that specialized concentration on those aspects of Khyungpo Naljor’s vast knowledge that did survive, the Shangpa tradition became a practice-makes-perfect lineage. Khyungpo returned to Tibet to disseminate the teachings, establishing his monastic seat at Zhangzhong Dorjeden in the Shang region of western Tsang. He is also said to have founded some one hundred and eight (of course) other monasteries over a three-year period. Clearly, in the early years the Shangpa was an independent tradition with its own lineage and set of teachings. That emphasis on meditation obviated the need to establish monastic colleges (bshad grwa) to propagate philosophical studies. Indeed, to this day the emphasis is on retreat facilities (sgrub grwa), perhaps more so than in any other tradition. For that and other reasons, those practice centers and the independence of the lineage diminished over time. The Shangpa Kagyu was partly subsumed under other more successful orders, especially the Kagyu, Jonang, and Gelukpa establishments. But it should be noted that in the common moniker Shangpa Kagyu, Kagyu literally means “precept (bka') lineage (brgyud)” and does not indicate that the Shangpa is somehow a subsect of the Marpa Kagyu, in the same sense that the four great and eight later Kagyu traditions that branched off from Gampopa’s disciples are so considered. Nevertheless, the Shangpa establishment has had many close ties and advocates within the Kagyu, particularly the Karma Kagyu, as well as “crossover” lamas who figure prominently in both, such as Jamgön Kongtrul himself.

The Five Golden Dharmas of the Glorious Shangpa (Shangs pa gser chos lnga) are at the heart of the tradition. They earned that name because of the enormous amount of gold that Khyungpo Naljor offered to receive them. These will be introduced individually in the following translations. Usually they are diagrammed in the mnemonic device of a living tree:

The roots are Niguma’s Six Dharmas (rtsa ba ni gu chos drug).

The trunk is Amulet Mahāmudrā (sdong po phyag chen ga’u ma).

The branches are the Three Integrations on the Path (yal kha lam khyer rnam gsum).

The flowers are the White and Red Khecarī (me tog mkha’ spyod dkar dmar).

The fruit is Immortal and Infallible (’bras bu ’chi med ’chugs med).

Shangpa Lineages

From the very start, the Shangpa lineage was marked as autonomous and somewhat exclusive on account of Ḍākinī Niguma’s command seal that Khyungpo Naljor restrict her teachings to a single disciple and that it continue in that one-to-one fashion until the seventh generation. Khyungpo Naljor is reputed to have had hundreds or perhaps thousands of disciples. His six main Tibetan disciples were Meu Tönpa, Yorpo Gyamoche, Ngultön Rinwang, Latöpa Könchok Kar, Zhangom Chöseng, and Mokchokpa Rinchen Tsöndru. Only the last of these received the complete esoteric precepts of Niguma. Mokchokpa founded the monastery of Mokchok, and it was here that the tulku lineage continued to propagate the Shangpa teachings until about 1940. In this sealed lineage, Niguma and Buddha Vajradhara are counted retroactively, creating the magnificent seven as follows:

1. Great Vajradhara

2. Niguma, Ḍākinī of Timeless Awareness

3. Khedrup Khyungpo Naljor (978/990/1050–1128/1140?)

4. Mokchokpa Rinchen Tsöndru (1110–1170)

5. Öntön Kyergangpa Chökyi Senge (1154–1217)

6. Nyentön Rigongpa Chökyi Sherap (1175–1255)

7. Sangye Tönpa Tsöndru Senge (1207–1278)

These became known as the Seven Jewels of the Glorious Shangpa. Some, such as Lochen Gyurme Dechen (1540–1615), a prominent lineage holder, have wondered what happened to Niguma’s own declared teacher Lavāpa of the East, or the importance of Atiśa Dīpaṃkara in the lineage. And the Sukhasiddhi lineage differs slightly, passing as it does from Vajradhara to the female buddha Nairātmya to Sukhasiddhi to Āryadeva before getting to Khyungpo Naljor. This would make Sangye Tönpa the ninth. Be that as it may, it is he who spread the teachings without restriction in the thirteenth century. “Then,” says Kongtrul, “the world of Jambudvīpa and its surrounding lands were filled with his adept disciples.” Tāranātha elaborates in the “Supplementary Historical Anecdotes” for the Jonang One Hundred and Eight Guidebooks, translated by Gyurme Dorje:

Drogon [Sangye] Tonpa had an inestimable number of disciples whom he favored with the oral instructions of Pacification, Severance, and those of Jowojé Atiśa, Nāropā, and so forth; and with the oral instructions of Maitrīpā, Rāhula, Vajrāsanapāda, and the others that constitute the sacred doctrines of the Shangpa. Although there were an infinite number who obtained from him a portion of the oral instructions of Nigumā and Sukhasiddhi, there were three on whom he bestowed the maturational empowerments and liberating path along with the ancillaries in their entirety—namely, the master Ayi Sengé, Khedrub Shangton, and Khedrub Zhonu Drub. Although there are an inestimable number of different lineage transmissions that derived from the last two, the symbolic meanings were never differentiated because they are contained in the Ḍākinī [Nigumā’s] Inventory [Clarifying the Six Doctrines]. Since they were without contrived views, they arrived at the summit of all lineages of attainment.

Khedrup Shangtön (1234–1309) founded the Jakchung Pal and the Jakpa Kagyupa. Khedrup Chöje Zhönu Drup (d. 1319) established Nyangme Samding and the Nyangme Samding transmission. These represent two major transmissions, often referred to in shorthand simply as “Jak-Sam” (’jag bsam). Jak became famous as the seat of the important Shangpa authors Jakchen Gyaltsen Bum (1261–1334) and his nephew Jakchen Jampa Pal (1310–1391). This last was one of the teachers of Je Tsongkhapa (1357–1419), whence the Shangpa teachings entered the Gelukpa school.

The succession in this long lineage continued from Sangye Tönpa and, beginning with Khedrup Shangtön, became known as the Later Seven Jewels:

1. Khedrup Tsangma Shangtön (1234–1309)

2. Khyungpo Tsultrim Gönpo (fl. 13th century)

3. Jadral Ritrö Rechen Sangye Senge (fl. 14th century)

4. Shangkarwa Rinchen Gyaltsen (1353–1434)

5. Nyame Kunlung Sangye Palzang (1398–1465)

6. Drupchen Namkha Gyaltsen (fl. 14th–15th centuries)

7. Gyagom Lekpa Gyaltsen (fl. 15th–16th centuries)

(And thence to Kunga Drolchok, 1507–1566)

The lineages continued unbroken, and it is said of the succession of Shangpa gurus that it consists exclusively of great adepts. Their stories can be found in the first volume of the eleven-volume Shangpa Texts (partially translated in Riggs, Like an Illusion), and in brief versions in volume 12 of this Treasury (partially translated in Zangpo, Timeless Rapture), as well as iterations in many Tibetan histories.

In general, there were twenty-five lineages upholding Niguma’s Six Dharmas diverging from these masters, which are known as the long lineages (ring brgyud). Twenty-four were consolidated into a single one by Jakchen Jampa Pal and Samdingpa Zhönu Drup. The twenty-fifth is the lineage that was held by the iron-bridge builder, the great adept Tangtong Gyalpo, who received this long lineage from Jangsem Jinpa Zangpo via Muchen Gyaltsen Palzang, a disciple of Tsangma Shangtön. Thus they all came to be subsumed under two transmissions. Tangtong Gyalpo also received profound instructions on the practices in visionary experiences of Ḍākinī Niguma herself. This is known as a short or direct lineage (nye brgyud). The lineage that has come down from Tangtong Gyalpo is known as the Iron Bridge tradition (lcags zam lugs) or Tang tradition (thang lugs) and figures prominently in the Shangpa tradition as a whole.

Similar circumstances were experienced by the great master at the Jonang Monastery, Venerable Kunga Drolchok (1507–1566), who reportedly received the transmissions of the twenty-five lines over one hundred times as well as receiving the direct transmission in visionary encounters with Niguma. In his formulation of one hundred and eight guidebooks of Jonang (jo nang khrid brgya), six of them relate directly to the Shangpa Kagyu, while the majority are of Sakya and Kagyu provenance. The name Jonang in this case reflects the setting in which the anthology was eventually composed and its later transmission through Kunga Drolchok’s reincarnation Tāranātha and the later Shangpa Kagyu succession. The details are extensively recorded in volume 18 of The Treasury and expertly translated by the late Gyurme Dorje as part of this series, so more comment here is not needed. Jonang Tāranātha, and hence his self-proclaimed reincarnation, Jamgön Kongtrul, are direct recipients of this line. Most of the contributions in volume 11 are by these two great masters, who displayed a special affinity with the Shangpa teachings.

These, then, are considered the main lineages of the Shangpa Kagyu. Though he is often neglected in the histories, perhaps more needs to be included concerning the prolific Bodong Chokle Namgyal (1376–1451), who also received direct transmission from the two ḍākinīs Niguma and Sukhasiddhi at the age of sixteen. In his Catalog of The Treasury of Precious Instructions, Jamgön Kongtrul relates this story and the specific succession that resulted. The texts concerning many of the traditional Shangpa practices can be found in Bodongpa’s massive Compendium of Suchness.

Two Shangpa Volumes in The Treasury

The volume translated here, volume 11, is the first of the two volumes containing the teachings and rituals of the Shangpa tradition, doubling the number contained in volume 8 of the original Palpung woodblock and Kundeling editions. Though the texts collected here are exemplary of the Shangpa practices, they still constitute only a fraction. Many more are contained in the eleven volumes edited by Kalu Rinpoche (called Shangpa Texts in this book) and in various other collections and miscellaneous texts. Nevertheless, the texts in these two volumes probably represent the most utilized in modern times. This is not necessarily because Kongtrul knew which ones would become popular, but simply because they are here in his collection, preserved and accessible.

In his catalog to the original edition of The Treasury, Kongtrul specifically mentioned that the Shangpa tradition was one of the precarious ones:

The continuity of the teaching of Shangpa, Pacification, Approach and Accomplishment of the Three Vajras, and some others are extremely rare and nearly going extinct.

That statement has echoed through the years into modern times, coming from gifted scholars such as Gene Smith (“the Shangs pa Bka’ brgyud pa has now almost vanished as an independent school”) and Matthew Kapstein in his article entitled “The Shangs-pa bKa’-brgyud: An Unknown Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.” This would have come as a big surprise to those seekers who met the Shangpa master Kyapje Kalu Rinpoche in the sixties and seventies and spent a lifetime practicing these very teachings. In any case, thanks to Jamgön Kongtrul and his successors, including both modern scholars and practitioners, things have changed. The texts in these two volumes have been in constant use to the present, both in Tibetan and in translation.

It should be noted that because The Treasury of Precious Instructions has gone through several iterations over time, the detailed catalog that Jamgön Kongtrul wrote to describe the logic of its contents no longer applies very well to the Shechen edition translated here. The expansion of the Shangpa corpus into two volumes means that roughly half of the main practices are absent from this first volume. Kongtrul’s original plan for each of the eight lineages was to present them in a threefold scheme: source texts, empowerments, and instructions. Except for the first of these, the Indian source texts with some of their original specific commentaries, the rest of the material has been divided up over two volumes in a way that is not particularly transparent. So it may be helpful to give a rough overview of the contents of both volumes (with sections created by the translator), which will also serve as a very brief survey of the main Shangpa practice traditions. Individual introductions will appear in each section.

Volume 11

The texts in the present translation focus on the Niguma lineage and major Shangpa tantric deity practices. The first section presents the source texts, such as the vajra lines (rdo rje tshig rkang) attributed to Niguma, that cover the earliest versions of the Five Golden Dharmas. Some are attributed to Niguma, and in others Khyungpo Naljor takes credit, but in all cases it was he who wrote them down, so deciding whom to credit is somewhat random. Other than Niguma and Khyungpo Naljor, the source texts on the practice of the celestial goddesses White and Red Khecarī are by Atiśa and Lama Rāhula, respectively, and the cryptic esoteric instruction on Immortal Body is attributed to Virūpa. These are followed by two ritual liturgies for the preliminaries and main practices of the Five Golden Dharmas added by Jamgön Kongtrul to facilitate their enactment.

The next section contains the preeminent yidam practice, that of the Five Tantras (rgyud sde lnga). Any account of Khyungpo Naljor, such as the one above by Tāranātha, describes him as the one who achieved the culmination of these five important tantras of the new dissemination (gsar ma) of Buddhism in Tibet—Cakrasaṃvara, Mahāmāya, Hevajra, Guhyasamāja, and Yamāntaka. These practices involve the full array of deities as they appeared in the separate source tantras. The section begins with three lineage supplications: Tāranātha’s supplication to the Indian gurus, Kongtrul’s supplement to the Tibetan lineage, and Karmapa Tekchok Dorje’s supplication to Kongtrul’s previous incarnations. Then there are the main texts: the liturgies and deity descriptions for the means of accomplishment (sadhāna), the empowerment (mandala), and Kongtrul’s commentary on them.

The next section covers the Five-Deity Cakrasaṃvara (bde mchog lha lnga)—Cakrasaṃvara and Vajravārāhī (counted as one) surrounded by the four ḍākinīs. It follows a similar pattern, presenting the ritual liturgies and descriptions for the practice and empowerment, accompanied by Tāranātha’s excellent commentary.

Next is, again, the Five Tantras’ Principal Deities (rgyud sde lnga gtso bsdus), but this time the practice involves only the principal deity couples rather than the full complement of deities in each of their mandalas. Again this involves the rituals of personal practice and of empowerment, including descriptions and liturgies. These two—the Five Tantras’ Deities in two versions and the Five-Deity Cakrasaṃvara—together constitute the tantric basis of the Shangpa tradition, and receiving one or both of their empowerments is considered essential for further practice.

The last section, nearly half the book, had nowhere else to go in this new arrangement and so ended up here. This comprises two texts by Losal Tenkyong (introduced in the beginning of that section) consisting of “permissions,” a type of empowerment, for almost all the Shangpa practices. The ten permissions (bka’ bcu) in the first text are two for the Five-Deity Cakrasaṃvara (although only one is presented), the Five Tantras’ Deities, the important Great Empowerment of Illusory Body, and the individual empowerments for the Six Dharmas. The second text of six subsequent permissions (bka’ phyi ma) covers the other four Golden Dharmas as well as some lesser-known Shangpa practices. Some of the actual practice texts relating to these empowerments will be found in volume 12.

Volume 12

There are some forty texts in this large volume that attempts to include everything else. It begins with the lengthy classic commentary by Tāranātha (Thang brdal ma) and its supplement (Ma mo’i lhan thabs) expounding the Six Dharmas of Niguma. After a short text on Niguma’s yogic exercises, there follow five brief texts comprising Tangtong Gyalpo’s versions of the Five Golden Dharmas, then Kongtrul’s own composition on how to practice all six dharmas in a single sitting. (Most of the foregoing have been previously translated by me in Four Tibetan Lineages.) There is Tāranātha’s commentary on Amulet Mahāmudrā, and then Kongtrul’s commentary on the White and Red Khecarī practices, followed by their source texts by Atiśa, Lochen Gyurme Dechen, and Lama Rāhula.

Ḍākinī Sukhasiddhi’s cycle of teachings is presented next, including her history, source texts, and liturgies, along with commentaries by various authors.

Two more supplications to the lineages from Niguma appear here, seemingly out of place. In fact, they were already out of place in the Kundeling printing, as attested by its editor.

The next section presents the important Shangpa practice of Four Deities Combined (lha bzhi dril grub). This involves (oneself as) Cakrasaṃvara with Vajradhara above one’s head, surrounded by Six-Armed Mahākāla, Vajrayoginī, Avalokiteśvara, and Green Tārā.

The next seven texts are an assortment of important rituals, supplications, and brief biographies of lineage holders. The beloved collection of spiritual songs (mgur mtsho) of the Shangpa masters is included here, previously translated by Ngawang Zangpo in the book Timeless Rapture.

The empowerment and torma rituals for the Five Ḍākinīs (mkha’ ’gro sde lnga) present another important Shangpa practice.

The rest of the volume, some two hundred pages, is taken up by eight texts devoted to the protector of the Shangpa Dharma, Six-Armed Mahākāla (phyag drug pa) and some of his retinue. All of these texts should require authentic transmission.

Acknowledgments

Kyapje Kalu Rinpoche was the initial inspiration for rendering Jamgön Kongtrul’s Treasury of Knowledge into English, and that inspiration is still at work here in The Treasury of Precious Instructions. I am most grateful that Rinpoche’s aspirations will reach fulfillment through the continual support of Eric Colombel and everyone at Tsadra Foundation. I am also deeply thankful for my fellow translators and all those who have gone before who advance the field and make the work that much easier. It is truly a group effort. In particular, for this volume, I received help with some difficult passages from Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen via the tedious medium of email and despite a pandemic that left us on opposite sides of the world. I would like to thank L. S. Summer for her constant support with Sanskrit and the creation of the index, and her friendship. Many thanks to Nikko Odiseos and the crew at Shambhala Publications, including editors Anna Johnson, John Golebiewski, and Tucker Foley. Last but not least, thanks to Tracy Davis, copy editor par excellence.