Jamyang Konchok Zangpo

Jamyang Konchok Zangpo ('jam dbyangs dkon mchog bzang po) was born in Drakmar (brag dmar) in western Tsang. After taking ordination at the age of nine, he studied the vehicle of the perfections, epistemology, abhidharma, the monastic code and so forth under masters such as the Jonang abbot Chopel Gonpo (mkhan chen chos dpal mgon po), Konchok Jangchup (dkon mchog byang chub), and Chokyi Lodro (chos kyi blo gros). He went for further scholastic examinations at the great monastery of Sakya (sa skya) and at other locations such as Nartang (snar thang), Tsetang (rtse thang), Sangpu (gsang phu), and Gungtang (gung thang), where he gained a great reputation as a formidable master of debate.

Jamyang Konchok Zangpo then traveled to Lhasa, where he saw the holy Jowo image of Shakyamuni Buddha in the Jokhang Temple to actually be the sublime nirmanakaya emanated body of the Buddha. When he offered prayers before the image, light rays shone from the heart of the Jowo, dissolved into him, and all his thoughts ceased. For a long time he remained in a blissful yet empty meditative concentration. He later said he had experienced the union of his mind with that of the Buddha and that this nonconceptual meditative concentration was identical to that of all the past, present, and future buddhas. When he sat in the presence of the image of the omnisicent Dharma lord Dolpopa (dol po pa shes rab rgyal mtshan) in the Jokhang Temple, he saw countless figures of Dolpopa emanate from the image's heart and fill all the Lhasa area. These figures then dissolved back into the heart of the image, and Dolpopa rolled his eyes up into the special gaze used in the six-branch yoga and taught many unwritten symbolic Dharma instructions. An infinite variety of inexpressible experience and realization arose in Jamyang Konchok Zangpo's mind, and uncontrollable physical, vocal, and mental experiences occurred. As a result, some uninformed people there said he had gone insane. At this point, a voice spoke to him from the sky:

All relative phenomena are just
appearances and sounds.

Absolute unchanging clear light
is the permanent refuge.

If you target the key points
of body and mind,
this will become directly clear.

Understand this, my son,
and experience it!

Jamyang Konchok Zangpo then went for further examinations at various other monasteries, where he received many gifts, all of which he donated to the beggars and the poor. When he was thirty years old, he took the vows of full monastic ordination at Pokhang (spos khang). He also received many sutra and tantra teachings from the Dharma lord Dolpopa's major disciple Tsalminpa (mtshal min pa bsod nams bzang po), the abbot Padma Zangpo (mkhan chen padma bzang po), and the Sakya master Jamyang Rinchen Gyeltsen ('jam dbyangs rin chen rgyal mtshan). In particular, from the great adept Kunga Lodro (grub chen kun dga' blo gros) he received the initiations, explanations of the tantric scriptures, and esoteric instructions of all the nondual tantras such as Kalacakra, the mother tantras such as Hevajra and Cakrasamvara, the father tantras such as Guhyasamaja, the yogatantras such as Vajradhatu, and also the transmission of the action tantra (kriyatantra) and performance tantra (caryatantra) systems. He received the teachings of the Shangpa (shangs pa) tradition such as the Six Dharmas of Niguma (ni gu chos drug) from Samding Rinpoche (bsam sdings rin po che), and various transmissions from other masters.

Jamyang Konchok Zangpo became the fourteenth holder of the monastic seat of Jonang Monastery and also held the monastic seats of other monasteries during his lifetime, such as Pelkhor Dechen (dpal 'khor bde chen) in Gyantse, Tsechen (rtse chen), and Samding (bsam sdings). During these years he gave a vast number of teachings, a few of which were the six-branch yoga of Kalacakra, the great Vimalaprabha commentary to the Kalacakra Tantra, the collected writings of the Sakya patriarchs (sa skya bka' 'bum), the collected writings of Dolpopa, the collected writings of Gyelsey Tokme (rgyal sras thogs med), the instructions of Mahamudra, the Six Dharmas of Niguma, Zhije, and the Cho teachings of Machik Labdron (ma gcig lab sgron).

At one point Konchok Zangpo went into a strict retreat for several years at Pelkhor Dechen (dpal 'khor sde chen) in Gyantse, with the door to his meditation cell sealed shut with only a small hole in it. At dawn one day in a Mouse Year (probably 1468), the Kalki emperors and the sixty protectors appeared to him, saying they had come from Shambhala, and urged him to teach the six-branch yoga of Kalacakra. Following this retreat he taught the profound path of the six-branch yoga to about three hundred people in Lhundrup Dechen (lhun grub bde chen) Monastery, and exceptional events occurred. The complete ten signs of clear light appeared to some people, some saw all the subtle channels in the body, some saw all the regions of Central Tibet, Tsang, and Kham from a state of clear light, some became free from the afflictions, some became disillusioned with samsara, and some thoroughly realized the distinctions between the two truths and became expert in regard to how the buddha-nature is permanent, stable, eternal, pure, self, and bliss. Jamyang Konchok Zangpo also gave many teachings such as the six-branch yoga and the great Vimalaprabha commentary to the Kalacakra Tantra to many thousands of people at Singshong (gsing gshongs).

Jamyang Konchok Zangpo had a number of major disciples, four of whom held the monastic seat of Jonang Monastery: Sonam Gyeltsen (bsod nams rgyal mtshan), Konchok Gyeltsen (dkon mchog rgyal mtshan), Namkha Chokyong (nam mkha' chos skyong), and Chokyong Gyeltsen (chos skyong rgyal mtshan). He was also a master of the Sakya Lamdre and was one of the main teachers of the great Sakya master Dakchen Lodro Gyeltsen (bdag chen blo gros gyal mtshan), who received these teachings from him. He was also one of the main teachers of the great translator of Zhalu, Chokyong Zangpo (zhwa lu lo tsA ba chos skyong bzang po), and was the teacher of the Gyantse ruler Rabten Kunzang (rab bstan kun bzang).

Sources

'Jam mgon a mes zhabs ngag dbang kun dga' bsod nams. 2000. Dpal dus kyi 'khor lo'i zab pa dang rgya che ba'i dam pa'i chos byung ba'i tshul legs par bshad pa ngo mtshar dad pa'i shing rta. In The Collected Works of A-mes-zhabs Ngag dbang kun dga' bsod nams, vol. 19: 1-532. Kathmandu: Sa skya rgyal yongs gsung rab slob gnyer khang, pp. 235–41.

Cyrus Stearns
August 2008