The Tantric Path of Indestructible Wakefulness

by Chogyam Trungpa

  Künga Gyaltsen was well received by Adro Shelu-bum and became his teacher, and Adro Shelu-bum offered his fort and his castle to Künga Gyaltsen as a monastery. Without very much interest, Künga Gyaltsen, the first Trungpa, accepted the gift of the castle, but he did not remain there; he just continued his travels.

  THE SECOND TRUNGPA: KÜNGA SANGPO

  The second Trungpa, Künga Sangpo (b. 1464), lived during the fifteenth century. He was also a traveler. There are very few stories about him, but after the first Trungpa’s death, the second Trungpa was discovered by the Karmapa, as usually happens. Künga Sangpo was discovered as an incarnation of the first Trungpa. But he created no monastery, no establishment. He just became a student of a student of Trung Ma-se.

  THE THIRD TRUNGPA: KÜNGA ÖSER

  The third Trungpa, Künga Öser, lived during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

  The Surmang Encampment

  During the time of the third Trungpa, Künga Öser, something important happened: Künga Öser established a set location for the Surmang monasteries, which had previously not been located in one place. Before this, going back to the time of Trung Ma-se, the monks usually camped around. As far as Tibetan monasticism goes, the age of encampment extended from the fourteenth century into the late sixteenth century. These monastic camps were constantly moving. It was a much more grandiose level than nomads, and much more powerful than military camps. The Surmang encampment was called Surmang Garchen, which means “Surmang, the great camp.”

  In those days the monks traveled in caravans, covering great distances throughout eastern Tibet. Their libraries were on pack mules; the shrine was a large tent; and the monks’ and the abbot’s quarters were tents as well. In Künga Öser’s group, there were about 140 people. The pattern of the culture was to travel in the highlands during the summer when the highlands were not too cold, and to travel in the lowlands in winter when the climate there was relatively reasonable.

  The monks set up temporary monasteries in each place they camped. Their practices were conducted in the camps, and student newcomers could be instructed there. As local students began to join the camp and become accepted as novices, the camps became larger. That was the pattern in Tibet for quite a long time. Tsurphu, the Karmapas’ monastery, was itself conducted in that same fashion. It was called the “great camp of Karmapa.” So for several centuries, in most of Tibet the Tibetan monastic system was not in permanent dwelling places, but in tents.

  The Story of the Skull Cup

  Finally, at the end of Künga Öser’s life, the Karmapa had a sudden insight. He sent an invitation to Künga Öser to come and visit him. So Künga Öser took a journey to Central Tibet, which usually took about six months. When he arrived, the Karmapa told him of the prophecy of the mahasiddha Dombipa.

  Dombipa was a great tantric master who lived in India during the fifteenth century. One evening at the end of his life, as he was drinking out of his skull cup, he decided to transplant his tantric teachings somewhere other than India. He prophesied that in about ten lifetimes, he would go wherever his skull cup landed. Then he threw his skull cup into the air, and it flew across India and landed on a particular hill at what would become Surmang.

  The Karmapa told Künga Öser that Künga Öser was the incarnation of Dombipa, and that he should establish a permanent monastery on that site. The place where the skull cup landed happened to be the location of the castle of Adro Shelu-Bum, and since then it has been called Dütsi Tel. Dütsi means amrita, and tel means “hill”; so Dütsi Tel means “hill of amrita” or “hill of blessed liquor.” Apart from that story about how the third Trungpa, Künga Öser, received instructions to establish a permanent monastic residence, nothing very much is known about him.5

  THE FOURTH TRUNGPA: KÜNGA NAMGYAL

  The fourth Trungpa, Künga Namgyal (1567–1629), lived during the sixteenth century.

  Chö Practice

  Künga Namgyal was well-known as a teacher throughout the Kagyü tradition. He was the only person who actually received what is called the shi-je tradition, one of the contemplative schools of Tibetan Buddhism associated with the teachings of chö. Künga Namgyal composed texts for the practice of chö that have remained the most important such texts in the Karma Kagyü tradition. This practice is sometimes known as the Surmang chö. He also established something like 108 retreat centers, supposedly in haunted places.

  The basic philosophy of chö is that, instead of asking for protection from the mahakalas (wrathful deities) or your guru, you offer up your negativities and your security. You ask the enemies or the demons, whoever they are, to consume you. Chö practice usually takes place in the evening or at night. For many people, chö practice is very revealing, particularly in dealing with death and with life’s sickness and chaos. This practice is actually something that the contemplative tradition extracted from the Prajnaparamita Sutras. There is a touch of tantric outrageousness as well; you are stepping on your problems, stepping on your threats.

  Leaving the Monastery with a White Yak

  During the time of Künga Namgyal, the monastic setup became the central focus of society, much more so than in the past. At that point, the principality or kingdom around Surmang began to hand over both the administrative and spiritual duties to the Trungpas. The Chinese emperor acknowledged Künga Namgyal as an important political leader, and formalized that acknowledgment by presenting ceremonial seals of all kinds. In his youth, Künga Namgyal was horrified by his political role, unlike the Trungpas who came after him. In fact, at the age of twenty-four, Künga Namgyal actually left his monastery and handed over the political administrative duties to his brother, who became an important and powerful local ruler.

  Having bestowed the rulership of his monastery on his brother, Künga Namgyal rejected any services from the monastery and decided to travel around the country by himself. He had a domesticated white yak without any horns so that it wouldn’t be temperamental, and with a ring through its nose so the yak could be led wherever Künga Namgyal wanted. In the treasury of our monastery we used to have that ring, a wooden loop, as well as the thighbone trumpet that he used in chö practice to call the haunting evil spirits to eat him up.

  The Nedo Kagyü Subsect

  Künga Namgyal was also one of the great teachers of the subsect of the Kagyü tradition called the Nedo Kagyü, which is not included in the four great and the eight lesser schools of the Kagyü lineage.6 This subsect developed based on the idea of the pure land. Like the pure land tradition in Japan, it placed enormous emphasis on the worship of Amitabha.

  Six Years in Retreat

  After traveling for several years around the countryside, Künga Namgyal found a cave in a valley just north of Dütsi Tel and meditated in it for six years. The cave was apparently very primitive and had a lot of leaks. It is said that sometimes Künga Namgyal’s body was completely soaked in water up to his waist. According to the stories, he sat so still that birds made nests in his hair, which is not quite believable. He moved so little that he became part of the architectural design of that particular cave, like a tree.

  Being an important person, Künga Namgyal had one attendant who was always there with him, but he distrusted anybody who came to see him from the political administration of Surmang. Going to see him was terrible because he was so nasty to visitors.

  After practicing for six years, Künga Namgyal collapsed and lost consciousness. When he recovered from his collapse, he suddenly woke into a different frame of mind altogether. Some people thought he was completely crazy, and other people thought he had attained enlightenment. Seemingly, according to the favorable stories, he attained enlightenment on the spot. He behaved entirely differently after his collapse; he was more fearless and powerful.

  A Great Scholar of Mahamudra

  One of the outstanding aspects of the fourth Trungpa, Künga Namgyal, is that he was a great scholar. He wrote a three-volume commentary on mahamudra, each volume containing about a thousand
pages. At that time, nobody in the Kagyü lineage had ever written a commentary on mahamudra, except for a few manuals on visualization and other topics. But this particular commentary on mahamudra was straightforward; nothing else like it had ever been written. According to the stories, one of the Karmapas was very shocked that Künga Namgyal could say so many things about mahamudra. He said that Künga Namgyal’s skull must be bursting since he had so much to say about mahamudra.

  The example set by Künga Namgyal became one of the landmarks of the Trungpa lineage. His work led to the line of the Trungpas becoming more powerful. In addition to all the practice he did, he was also very scholarly and learned. He composed something like twenty volumes of writings. He wrote about the history and social science of the Tibetan tradition of that time, and he wrote commentaries on all kinds of books. He was also a great musician; he composed a lot of monastic music and developed various chants. But above all, he was a great contemplative person.

  THE FIFTH TRUNGPA: TENPA NAMGYAL

  The fifth Trungpa, Tenpa Namgyal (1633–1712), lived during the seventeenth century. He was born into a noble family and was trained as a teacher. He became the ruler of his principality as well as a powerful spiritual leader. Tenpa Namgyal was known as an expert on Buddhist philosophy, and he also promoted the contemplative disciplines existing in the Surmang tradition. In those days, Surmang was very much a contemplative community, and the monasteries there were almost like retreat centers. There was very little need to set up any extra contemplative discipline.

  Photo 8. A seal given to the fifth Trungpa, Tenpa Namgyal, by the Chinese emperor, brought from Tibet by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.

  An Imperial Teacher

  Tenpa Namgyal continued the process of transforming the traditional tent-culture approach into a well-established, permanent setup. His court, as well as the fort of Adro Shelu-bum, was incorporated into the monastery. Tenpa Namgyal received what is known as hutoktu, a Mongolian title for a spiritual teacher, which is an honorary degree or post as the teacher to the emperor of China. After this appointment, his political power grew much larger.

  At Surmang, we had the official seals that were presented to Tenpa Namgyal at that time. I was able to rescue them and bring them with me from Tibet. These seals, presented by the Chinese emperor to Tenpa Namgyal as an imperial teacher, are quite impressive.

  Surmang Province was one of twenty-five provinces in the kingdom of Nangchen. The king of Nangchen was the ultimate power in that area, and Tenpa Namgyal, being an imperial teacher, also had a great deal of power over that kingdom. He was well respected, and he had a particular talent for dealing with the local rulers.

  At that time, the Kagyü lineage was going through a transformation. The Kagyüpas were beginning to realize that in order to have higher spiritual participation in the country, they also had to have higher political participation as well. That process of combining the two was natural in Tibet. So the Kagyüpas became politically active. In this case, the Kagyü statesman, Tenpa Namgyal, had the inspiration and vision needed by the people of that locality. As the leader, he was taking an active role in the spiritual welfare of the people, as well as taking care of their psychological and economic welfare. That is what was known as a politician in those days.

  Political Problems and Imprisonment

  Because of Tenpa Namgyal’s approach to dealing with the economy of the local villages and families, the Surmang Province became very powerful and wealthy. The economy was built on timber and salt exports, and there were many talented businesspeople and statesmen of all kinds. Consequently, Tenpa Namgyal became both a very affluent person and a very enlightened person.

  At that time, Surmang was in Nangchen, an entirely separate kingdom, both politically and economically, from the Central Tibetan Government. But the Central Government, which usually had nothing much to do with the region of Surmang, was quite shocked by Surmang’s affluence. One of the main Surmang monasteries had a gold roof and a gigantic shrine room painted in gold leaf. In the shrine room, there was an image of the Buddha drawn in vermillion paint over the gold. The Central Government said that this was illegal, and that no monastery, no one in Tibet at all, was allowed to make such an ostentatious display of their wealth without receiving permission. So troops were sent out to invade and ransack Dütsi Tel and Namgyal-tse monasteries.

  After the invasion, Tenpa Namgyal was imprisoned with a number of others for five years in Chamdo, the district capital. When he and his regent, many abbots, and other monks were imprisoned, the kingdoms in that area did not lend him any support. The local government was afraid of possible warfare with Central Tibet, so they did not help Tenpa Namgyal and his friends and colleagues.

  Making Rain

  From the first year of Tenpa Namgyal’s imprisonment, there were constant droughts and mishaps with the harvests in that province. By the end of the fourth year, everybody was getting very confused and concerned about a possible famine taking place. And in the fifth year, famine actually did take place in that area. People were starving. They did not have grain to eat, and they had nowhere for their cows to graze. The whole country became completely dry. Supposedly, this was the first time in history that a famine had occurred in this area.

  One of the cabinet ministers of the province said, “Maybe we should ask the Trungpa people to do something about this. Maybe we should ask them to create rain.” Some people said, “Well, they are just a bunch of schmucks in prison, so what can they do?” But others said, “We have heard that they are very powerful. Maybe it is because we imprisoned them that this chain reaction happened.” All kinds of discussions took place.

  Finally, they decided to approach Tenpa Namgyal and his colleagues. However, the prisoners had achieved immense discipline in their practice at that point, and they did not want to be disturbed. They were having a great time in prison. Tenpa Namgyal had been able to finish three hundred million recitations of the Avalokiteshvara mantra.7 His friend, Chetsang Sung-rap Gyatso Rinpoche,8 who was also in prison, was painting thangkas. He had completed something like one hundred beautiful thangka scrolls. We actually had these in our monastery; they were beautifully painted. Another prisoner, Garwang Rinpoche, had written several volumes of commentary on mahamudra experience. So they were having a great time, and they did not particularly want to be disturbed.

  Then somehow, in the late summer of that year, this request from the government came: “You should make rain for us. Otherwise, we are going to keep you in prison much longer, and you might be executed.”

  So Tenpa Namgyal said, “Yes, sure. I could create rain for you.” He asked to be taken to a local spring, saying, “I could go there and do a little something, if it helps.” They took Tenpa Namgyal to the spring. He washed his mala in the water and sat there for a while, and after that he went back to jail. Supposedly a lot of smoke arose, a sort of cloudy mist came out of the fountain and created clouds in the sky, and there was fantastic rainfall.

  The local people were very excited to finally have rainfall after five years. Everybody rejoiced and wanted to find out what had happened. And when they heard that it was Tenpa Namgyal who made it rain, everybody unanimously demanded that he be freed from his imprisonment. He was not particularly happy about that; prison was his retreat place. But he was given a pardon, and he had to leave his retreat. The government returned all his privileges and his monastery.

  So Tenpa Namgyal, the fifth Trungpa, was victorious, and he was still respected by the Chinese emperor as an imperial teacher. There were no further highlights to his story, and he passed away peacefully.

  1. In this chapter and the next, Trungpa Rinpoche is introducing his students to his own personal spiritual lineage and tradition, as well as giving an example of how the Tibetan tülku system works.

  2. There is now a twelfth Trungpa Tülku. Trungpa Rinpoche passed away in 1987, and four years later, His Eminence Tai Situ Rinpoche recognized a two-year-old Tibetan boy, Chökyi Senge Rinpoche, as the
twelfth Trungpa Tülku. The twelfth Trungpa is presently engaged in the traditional intensive study and training needed for his position as the current lineage holder.

  3. Anuttarayoga, or mahamudra, refers to the highest teachings of the New Translation school of Tibetan Buddhism. For more on anuttarayoga, see part 11, “The Tantric Journey: Mahamudra.” The six yogas of Naropa are a set of advanced tantric practices attributed to Naropa that include the yogas of: inner heat, illusory body, dream, luminosity, transference of consciousness, and the intermediate state.

  4. According to Trungpa Rinpoche: “The first Trungpa, Künga Gyaltsen, was one of Trung Ma-se’s disciples who received this transmission. As the eleventh Trungpa Tülku, I received the Vajrayogini transmission from Rölpa Dorje, the regent abbot of Surmang and one of my main tutors.” See The Collected Works of Chögyam Trungpa, ed. Carolyn Gimian, vol. 3 (Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2004), 426–427.

  5. The story of the skull cup and the founding of Surmang has many variations. In one story, the founding of Surmang is attributed to the first Trungpa, who is said to have thrown a cup of beer into the air, based on a dream in which he was acknowledged as an incarnation of Dombipa. For variations, see Chögyam Trungpa, The Mishap Lineage: Transforming Confusion into Wisdom (Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2009), 31n2.