Gar Dampa Chodingpa

Gar Dampa Chodingpa was born in the middle of the spring of 1180 in Kham, at a place called Medor (me 'dor). His father was a member of the Gar (mgar) clan named Pelgyi Tsemo (dpal gyi rtse mo), a yogi in a long line of tantric practitioners. His mother was Gema Tar (dge ma thar). He had three brothers and two sisters. As a very young child with the name Sonam Bum (bsod nams 'bum) he received training from his father in the Vajrabhairava lineage of his ancestors. When he was eleven his father and mother were both slain, and he accompanied his eldest brother Tsugtor Bum (gtsug tor 'bum) to the presence of a relative named Sanggye Naljor (sangs rgyas rnal 'byor), who granted further Vajrabhairava teachings. At age fifteen, while he was receiving an empowerment from Tonopa (ston 'od pa), he first heard the name of the Silent One of Kyura (skyu ra gsung bcad pa), or Jigten Gonpo Rinchen Pel ('jig rten mgon po rin chen dpal, 1143-1217), and he knew right away that this would be his teacher.

It was a very long and difficult trip to U in those days, so he was fortunate to have two travel companions who supported him. Once they had arrived at Drigung, he worked hard at carrying water and clearing the ashes from fireplaces, but Jigten Gonpo provided him with food and clothing, and he was very soon made a servant in the Lama's residence. He took ordination along with the name Zhonnu Dorje (gzhon nu rdo rje), but soon after Jigten Gonpo asked him what name they had given him and after hearing what it was commented, “But you are an old man, so what is this name Young Vajra? You are Shakya Pel (shAkya dpal).” Hearing this name immediately touched off memories of his previous lives.

Dampa Chodingpa soon became a famous teacher. He had so much success gathering students he felt the need to escape from their troubling demands. At one point he, together with two other masters, opened up the holy land of Tsari (tswa ri) for both meditating hermits and pilgrimages, a tradition continued into modern times. This is the main reason for his fame among Tibetans even today. He paid a brief visit to the Nepal Valley where he conducted a tsog (tshogs) offering at the cemetery of Ramadoli. He also went to the kingdom of the Tanguts shortly before it would be utterly wiped off the map by Mongol invaders.

Upon his arrival back in Drigung Dampa Chodingpa was accompanied by five hundred followers and made an offering to Jigten Gonpo of a vajra made of gold and a crystal rosary, as well as offerings to the general assembly of monks. Later, in around 1115, he founded the monastery named Choding at Lungsho (klung shod), but so many disciples gathered there he feared it would come to rival Drigung Monastery itself, so he traveled by way of Yarto (yar stod), across Dakpo (dwags po) to Powo (spo bo).

Dampa Chodingpa disappeared into the Pure Land in 1240, his sixty-first year. Just sixty-three days before his death he had started building the walls of Rinchen Ling (rin chen gling) Monastery in the Pu area of Powo. His passing was said to be accompanied by earthquakes, incense smells, braided clusters of rainbows and rainfalls of flowers. Despite his departure, both Choding and Rinchen Ling flourished as centers for his continuing lineage, held by his nephew Orgyenpa (o rgyan pa) among others.

Sources

Roerich, George, trans. 1996. The Blue Annals. 2nd ed. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas, pp. 602-3.

Huber, Toni. 1999. The Cult of Pure Crystal Mountain. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

van der Kuijp, Leonard W.J. 1988. “Two Early Sources for the History of the House of Sde-dge.” Journal of the Tibet Society, vol. 8, pp. 1-20.

Bstan 'dzin padma'i rgyal mtshan. 1977. 'Bri gung gdan rabs chos kyi byung tshul gser gyi phreng ba. Bir: D. Tsondu Senghe, pp. 101-4.

Dan Martin
August 2008