Chokyi Gyelpo

Nyernyipa Dzamling Chokyi Gyelpo (nyer gnyis pa 'dzam gling chos kyi rgyal po) was born in 1335 in Drigung Shume Jonma ('bri gung gzhu smad 'jon ma). His father was Kunga Gyeltsen (kun dga' rgyal mtshan) and his mother was Urpa Darjom (dbur pa dar 'jom). When he was eight years old he was given preliminary ordination at Drigung by the tenth abbot of Drigung, Dorje Gyelpo ('bri gung gdan rabs 10 rdo rje rgyal po, 1283-1351), who gave him the name Dzamling Chokyi Gyelpo. The next year Duldzin Rinchen Gyeltsen ('dul 'dzin rin chen rgyal mtshan, d.u.) and Chogowa Zhonnu Pelnyi (chos sgo ba gzhon nu dpal gnyis, d.u.) gave him novice vows (dge tshul gyi sdom pa).

At the age of eleven Chokyi Gyelpo received the teachings of Kagyu lineage from Dorje Gyelpo, remaining at Drigung and training in the dharma and monastic administration until the age of seventeen, when he was made abbot of the monastery. At twenty he completed his ordination with Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyeltsen (sa skya paN Di ta kun dga' rgyal mtshan, 1182-1251), receiving from him teachings on the Vinaya. He also trained in sutra and tantra with a number of Sakya lamas, including Yade Panchen (g.yag sde paN chen, 1299-1378).

Chokyi Gyelpo traveled briefly, at the age of twenty-nine, going to the Dakpo and Kongpo regions to spread the Drigung teachings. Otherwise he was a prolific publisher, producing editions of the Kangyu and Tengyur and the writings of the Kagyu lineage masters. He produced a Kangyur between 1354 and 1363, employing hundreds of scribes. Later, in 1389 he had a Tengyur and a collection of biographies of the Kagyu hierarchs written.

Chokyi Gyelpo served as abbot of Drigung until the age of sixty-one, going into retreat in 1395 until his death in 1407. He was

Among his main disciples were Lachi Namkha Gyeltsen (la phyi nam mkha' rgyal mtshan, 1372-1437), Mangom Wozer Sengge (sman sgom 'od zer seng ge), Sabzang Pakpa Zhonnu Lodro (sa bzang 'phags pa gzhon nu blo gros, 1358-1412/1424), Drigung Lotsawa Manikashri ('bri gung lo tsA ba Ma Ni ka shrI, 1289-1363), and Tsongkhapa Lobzang Drakpa (tsong kha pa blo bzang grags pa, 1357-1419).

Sources

Bstan ’dzin pad+ma’i rgyal mtshan. 1977. ’Bri gung gdan rabs chos kyi byung tshul gser gyi phreng ba. Bir: D.Tsondu Senghe, pp. 189.1 ff.

Grags pa ’byung gnas. 1992. Gangs can mkhas grub rim byon ming mdzod. Lanzhou: Kan su’u mi rigs dpe skrun khang, pp 1214-1216

Khenpo Konchog Gyeltsen. 2006. The Great Kagyu Masters: The Golden Lineage Treasury. Ithaca: Snow Lion, p. 270.

Kun dga’ rin chen. 1972. Miscellaneous Writings (Bka’ ’bum Thor bu) of ’Bri gung Chos rje Kun dga’ rin chen, reproduced from rare manuscripts from library of Tokden Rimpoche of Gangon. Leh: S.W. Tashigangpa, pp. 125-143.

Roerich, George, trans. 1996. The Blue Annals. 2nd ed. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas, p. 610.

Schaeffer, Kurtis R. 2004. “A Letter to the Editors of the Buddhist Canon in Fourteenth-Century Tibet: The ‘Yig mkhan rnams la gdams pa’ of Bu ston Rin chen grub. Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 124, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun.), pp. 265-281.

Alexander Gardner
December 2009