Kharagpa Dulwa O

Kharagpa Dulwa O (kha rag pa 'dul ba 'od) was born into the Kyi (kyi) clan in the region of Dra (grwa). His family was famed for its hereditary practice of many Nyingma tantras. After his half-brother died in a fire he went, in his grief, to join Tsal Gungtang (tshal gung thang), the monastery of Zhang Yudrakpa (zhang g.yu brag pa). He completed a three-year sealed retreat and obtained all the esoteric instructions. Although he was given a dharma name at his ordination ceremony, Ngodrub Lama (dngos grub bla ma), a name given to him later on by his teacher Lama Zhang is the one by which he would become best known: Dulwa O ('dul ba 'od). He was also known by the name Togden Nyagpo Sengge (rtogs ldan nyag po seng ge). His two younger brothers served as Lama Zhang's librarian and attendant. Dulwa O himself followed and faithfully served his teacher for twenty-seven years, compiling and transmitting Lama Zhang's “sealed teachings” known as the Kagyama (bka' rgya ma). Lama Zhang prophesied that Dulwa O would be beneficial to many sentient beings in a future life, while in the present life he would have only a select few suitable students that would come to him between the ages of fifty-nine and sixty-one. To them alone he was to confer the entirety of the esoteric instructions.

While Dulwa O performed sadhana practices at Kharag, a hermitage he founded in 1181 or 1193, he was disturbed by a snake-like naga spirit. He converted the naga, giving it the name Gawa O (dga' ba 'od) along with the vows of a layperson. An image of this protector was kept at Kharag Bondrug (kha rag bon drug). Later on at that same hermitage at Kharag, his nephew, named Sengge Tsondru (seng ge brtson 'grus) would found an actual monastery, eventually gathering there more than ten thousand monks.

Kharagpa displayed a number of miracles as signs of his accomplishments. These all involve the elements of fire and water. Once he was able with a single gesture to extinguish a forest fire. Another time in a thunderstorm he captured a bolt of lightning inside his cloak and then slammed the whole package up against the side of a cliff.

When Kharagpa died there were many signs of saintly death such as are noted with some frequency in Tibetan biographies. Two signs that emerged from Kharagpa's cremation fire were quite out of the ordinary. One was a victory banner and the other was an image of his yidam. Both were made entirely of the crystalline substance known as ringsel.

Sources

Roerich, George, trans. 1996. The Blue Annals. 2nd ed. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas, p. 715.

Per K. Sørensen, Guntram Hazod and Tsering Gyelpo. 2007. Rulers on the Celestial Plain. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences, pp. 119-22.

'Tshal pa kun dga' rdo rje. 1981. Deb ther dmar po. Beijing: Mi rigs dpe skrun khang, pp. 137-9.

Tshe dbang rgyal. 1994. Lho rong chos 'byung. Lhasa: Bod ljongs bod yig dpe rnying dpe skrun khang, pp. 201-2.

Dan Martin
August 2008