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== Preface and Acknowledgments == | == Preface and Acknowledgments == | ||
This book is the product of a lingering fascination with several topics that have remained largely unexplored by Western students of Tibetan religion and history. When I first began my own study of Tibetan literature in the early 1970s I occasionally came across brief references to an intriguing fourteenth-century figure known as Dolpopa, or the Buddha from Dolpo, and usually hostile descriptions of his unique vision of the nature of reality. The fact that his tradition had been effectively censured by the Tibetan government in the seventeenth century only served to pique my curiosity. My teacher, the late Dezhung Tulku Rinpoche, was at first somewhat reticent to speak about Dolpopa's theories, no doubt in large part due to my obvious lack of the necessary skills to engage in such a discussion. Rinpoche was a peerless example of the nonsectarian approach to realization, and as the years passed I was fortunate to learn from him an appreciation of the wide range of views contained in all the ancient traditions of Tibet, including that of Dolpopa's Zhentong lineage. I am deeply grateful for Dezhung Rinpoche's inspiring example. | |||
While living in Nepal in the 1980s I found a large volume of Dolpopa's miscellaneous writings for sale in the monastery of my teacher, the late Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, who had recently published it in Bhutan. This collection contained both of the texts that I have translated in the present work. I am particularly thankful to Khyentse Rinpoche for personally encouraging me to read Dolpopa's writings. | |||
During the following years in Nepal I continued to be nagged with curiosity about Dolpopa and his ideas, and returned periodically to | |||
Page x | |||
the volume of his writings. Then in 1988 my teacher Chogye Trichen Rinpoche begin teaching the Kalacakra* Six-branch Yoga of Dolpopa's tradition according to the instruction manual written by Jonang Taranatha* . During the next two years Rinpoche taught the Six-branch Yoga in Nepal, Borneo, and the United States, and as his interpreter I had the unique opportunity to study these teachings and have many conversations with him about their practice. I then began to delve more deeply into Taranatha's* other writings, which led me back to Dolpopa, his great predecessor. I am extremely indebted to Chogye Rinpoche for his exceptional kindness, and for sharing his profound insight into the practice of Buddhist tantra. | |||
After my return to the United States in 1991 I gradually began to concentrate on the study of Dolpopa's life and teachings. This became much more feasible with the 1992 publication of Dolpopa's voluminous Collected Works, which had been recovered from eastern Tibet by Professor Matthew Kapstein. In addition, Prof. Leonard van der Kuijp graciously made available to me copies of a number of extremely important rare manuscripts from his own collection, and carefully read through an earlier version of this book. Without access to the works recovered by Professors Kapstein and van der Kuijp a study of this type would have been impossible. I should also like to thank Dr. Jeffrey Schoening for his thoughtful reading of this work, and his many helpful comments and suggestions. The insightful suggestions and references from Mr. Hubert Decleer are also very much appreciated. I am likewise grateful to Professor Collett Cox, Professor Richard Salomon, and Dr. Dan Martin for their helpful readings of an earlier manuscript. Professor John Newman, Professor David Germano, and Dr. Franz-Karl Ehrhard were also very generous with their comments and references. I would also like to thank Khenpo Apey, Guru Lama, Mr. Kurtis Schaeffer, Ms. Marilyn Kennell, Mr. Jérôme Edou, and Mr. Jan-Ulrich Sobisch for providing copies of rare texts, directing me to references, or making editorial suggestions. I am also grateful to Professor David Jackson for his helpful comments and for locating photographs of an old image and painting of Dolpopa. Mr. Michael Henss, Mr. Ulrich von Schroeder, and Mr. Andy Quintman all deserve my thanks for kindly allowing their photographs to be used in this book. And finally, I must acknowledge that much of this work was written under the influence of the divine music of Franz | |||
Page xi | |||
List, Frank Zappa, Ludwig van Beethoven, Miles Davis, and Johann Sebastian Bach. | |||
This book is based on my Ph.D. dissertation entitled ''The Buddha from Dolpo and His Fourth Council" (University of Washington, 1996). However, many corrections, revisions, and additions have been made for the present work, most significantly the study and translation of Dolpopa's A General Commentary on the Doctrine , which was not included in the dissertation. | |||
In the main text of this book all Tibetan names have been phoneticized for the convenience of the reader, but in the annotations the correct Tibetan spellings have been retained. Both forms are listed in the Index. The phonetic rendering of Tibetan words is a problematic area. No great effort has been made here to establish a fixed phonetic system, since this would presuppose a standard pronunciation for terms whose actual pronunciation varies widely in different regions of Tibet. When a passage from an original Tibetan text has been translated from an unpublished manuscript the Tibetan has usually been reproduced in italicized transliteration in the annotations. No attempt has been made to "correct" the spellings found in the original texts. All Sanskrit terms are transliterated in the standard fashion. | |||
I hope that some of the charismatic force of Dolpopa's character may be glimpsed in the following description of his life and ideas, and that this initial attempt to present a small portion of his controversial and inspiring insights will contribute toward further investigations by others in the future. Since even Dolpopa's own Dharma heirs were said to have experienced difficulties in grasping the full range of their master's genius, I am certain the present work is far from perfect. But at least in the eyes of interested students of Buddhism, Dolpopa and his spiritual legacy may now begin to emerge from the long shadows of official Tibetan history. | |||
== Introduction == | == Introduction == | ||
Revision as of 13:37, 11 November 2005
List of Illustrations
Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen. Brass statue with silver and copper inlaid. 16.5 cm. Kept in the collection of the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, Tibet.(Photo by Ulrich yon Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures of Tibet , 2 Volumes. Hong Kong: Visual Dharma Publ., 2000.)
1.1 The Great Stupa* of Jonang. Built by Dolpopa during the years 1330 to 1333. Extensive damage repaired in recent years. (Photo by Andy Quintman)
2.1 Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen. Detail of a 15th century painting of the Kalacakra* mandala* . Henss Collection, Zurich. (Photo by Michael Henss)
Preface and Acknowledgments
This book is the product of a lingering fascination with several topics that have remained largely unexplored by Western students of Tibetan religion and history. When I first began my own study of Tibetan literature in the early 1970s I occasionally came across brief references to an intriguing fourteenth-century figure known as Dolpopa, or the Buddha from Dolpo, and usually hostile descriptions of his unique vision of the nature of reality. The fact that his tradition had been effectively censured by the Tibetan government in the seventeenth century only served to pique my curiosity. My teacher, the late Dezhung Tulku Rinpoche, was at first somewhat reticent to speak about Dolpopa's theories, no doubt in large part due to my obvious lack of the necessary skills to engage in such a discussion. Rinpoche was a peerless example of the nonsectarian approach to realization, and as the years passed I was fortunate to learn from him an appreciation of the wide range of views contained in all the ancient traditions of Tibet, including that of Dolpopa's Zhentong lineage. I am deeply grateful for Dezhung Rinpoche's inspiring example.
While living in Nepal in the 1980s I found a large volume of Dolpopa's miscellaneous writings for sale in the monastery of my teacher, the late Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, who had recently published it in Bhutan. This collection contained both of the texts that I have translated in the present work. I am particularly thankful to Khyentse Rinpoche for personally encouraging me to read Dolpopa's writings.
During the following years in Nepal I continued to be nagged with curiosity about Dolpopa and his ideas, and returned periodically to
Page x
the volume of his writings. Then in 1988 my teacher Chogye Trichen Rinpoche begin teaching the Kalacakra* Six-branch Yoga of Dolpopa's tradition according to the instruction manual written by Jonang Taranatha* . During the next two years Rinpoche taught the Six-branch Yoga in Nepal, Borneo, and the United States, and as his interpreter I had the unique opportunity to study these teachings and have many conversations with him about their practice. I then began to delve more deeply into Taranatha's* other writings, which led me back to Dolpopa, his great predecessor. I am extremely indebted to Chogye Rinpoche for his exceptional kindness, and for sharing his profound insight into the practice of Buddhist tantra.
After my return to the United States in 1991 I gradually began to concentrate on the study of Dolpopa's life and teachings. This became much more feasible with the 1992 publication of Dolpopa's voluminous Collected Works, which had been recovered from eastern Tibet by Professor Matthew Kapstein. In addition, Prof. Leonard van der Kuijp graciously made available to me copies of a number of extremely important rare manuscripts from his own collection, and carefully read through an earlier version of this book. Without access to the works recovered by Professors Kapstein and van der Kuijp a study of this type would have been impossible. I should also like to thank Dr. Jeffrey Schoening for his thoughtful reading of this work, and his many helpful comments and suggestions. The insightful suggestions and references from Mr. Hubert Decleer are also very much appreciated. I am likewise grateful to Professor Collett Cox, Professor Richard Salomon, and Dr. Dan Martin for their helpful readings of an earlier manuscript. Professor John Newman, Professor David Germano, and Dr. Franz-Karl Ehrhard were also very generous with their comments and references. I would also like to thank Khenpo Apey, Guru Lama, Mr. Kurtis Schaeffer, Ms. Marilyn Kennell, Mr. Jérôme Edou, and Mr. Jan-Ulrich Sobisch for providing copies of rare texts, directing me to references, or making editorial suggestions. I am also grateful to Professor David Jackson for his helpful comments and for locating photographs of an old image and painting of Dolpopa. Mr. Michael Henss, Mr. Ulrich von Schroeder, and Mr. Andy Quintman all deserve my thanks for kindly allowing their photographs to be used in this book. And finally, I must acknowledge that much of this work was written under the influence of the divine music of Franz
Page xi
List, Frank Zappa, Ludwig van Beethoven, Miles Davis, and Johann Sebastian Bach.
This book is based on my Ph.D. dissertation entitled The Buddha from Dolpo and His Fourth Council" (University of Washington, 1996). However, many corrections, revisions, and additions have been made for the present work, most significantly the study and translation of Dolpopa's A General Commentary on the Doctrine , which was not included in the dissertation.
In the main text of this book all Tibetan names have been phoneticized for the convenience of the reader, but in the annotations the correct Tibetan spellings have been retained. Both forms are listed in the Index. The phonetic rendering of Tibetan words is a problematic area. No great effort has been made here to establish a fixed phonetic system, since this would presuppose a standard pronunciation for terms whose actual pronunciation varies widely in different regions of Tibet. When a passage from an original Tibetan text has been translated from an unpublished manuscript the Tibetan has usually been reproduced in italicized transliteration in the annotations. No attempt has been made to "correct" the spellings found in the original texts. All Sanskrit terms are transliterated in the standard fashion.
I hope that some of the charismatic force of Dolpopa's character may be glimpsed in the following description of his life and ideas, and that this initial attempt to present a small portion of his controversial and inspiring insights will contribute toward further investigations by others in the future. Since even Dolpopa's own Dharma heirs were said to have experienced difficulties in grasping the full range of their master's genius, I am certain the present work is far from perfect. But at least in the eyes of interested students of Buddhism, Dolpopa and his spiritual legacy may now begin to emerge from the long shadows of official Tibetan history.
Introduction
1
Part One—The Life and Teachings of the Omniscient Dolpopa
9
Chapter One—The Life of the Buddha from Dolpo
11
Childhood and Early Education
12
Studies at the Great Monastery of Sakya
13
The Move to Jonang
16
Raising Mt. Meru and Revealing the Zhentong View
19
The Initial Reception of the Zhentong Teachings
23
The New Jonang Translation of the Kalacakra* Tantra and the Vimalaprabha*
24
Years of Retreat and Teaching
27
Invitation to China by the Yüan Emperor Toghon Temür
28
Changes in the Jonang Leadership and the Beginning of the Journey to Lhasa
30
Teachings in Central Tibet and the Return to Tsang
32
The Aborted Meeting with Budön Rinchen Drup
34
The Last Months at Jonang
36
Chapter Two—A Historical Survey of the Zhentong Tradition in Tibet
41
The Zhentong Tradition in Tibet before Dolpopa
42
Dolpopa and the Zhentong View
45
The Zhentong Tradition after Dolpopa
55
Chapter Three—The Doctrine of the Buddha from Dolpo
79
Emptiness of Self-Nature and Emptiness of Other
81
A Redefinition of Cittamatra* and Madhyamaka
86
Two Approaches to Enlightenment
98
Part Two—Texts in Translation
107
Introduction to the Translation of A General Commentary on the Doctrine
109
The Supplication Entitled A General Commentary on the Doctrine
113
Introduction to the Translation of The Fourth Council
123
The Great Calculation of the Doctrine Which Has the Significance of a Fourth Council
127
Notes
175
Bibliography
273
Index
293