Khetsun Yonten Gyatso

Yonten Gyatso (yon tan rgya mtsho) was born in a family that practiced the Nyingma tradition in the Dok (mdog) region of Tsang. He first studied at Dar (mdar) monastery, where he became an expert in abhidharma and epistemology. Then he visited various other places and received teachings from many masters of secret mantra. In particular, when he went to the great monastery of Sakya (sa skya), Yonten Gyatso became a major disciple and the main assistant teacher for the Sakya master Sharpa Jamyang Chenpo (shar pa 'jam dbyangs rin chen rgyal mtshan), who was the Zhitok (bzhi thog) throne-holder of Sakya monastery for eighteen years beginning in 1287. From Jamyang Chenpo he received many teachings such as the Tantra Trilogy of Hevajra and the related oral instructions, and the Mahayana treatises of the Pramanavartika (Tshad ma rnam 'grel), Abhisamayalamkara (Mngon rtogs rgyan), and Bodhisattvacaryavatara. From Jamyang Chenpo's elder brother, the Kalacakra expert Dukorwa Yeshe Rinchen (dus 'khor ba ye shes rin chen), Yonten Gyatso received teachings such as the Kalacakra Tantra, the Hevajra Tantra, and the Abhisamayalamkara. He was also required to go as Yeshe Rinchen's attendent to the imperial court of Kubilai Khan in China.

Yonten Gyatso returned to Sakya from China four years later and resumed his studies with Sharpa Jamyang Chenpo, receiving many transmissions such as the Kalacakra Tantra and its great commentary, the Vimalaprabha. Then Jamyang Chenpo insisted that Yonten Gyatso had become very learned and should now focus on the most profound practice of meditation. For this purpose, he urged him to travel to Jonang monastery and receive such teachings from the great Kunpang Tukje Tsondru (kun spangs thugs rje brtson grus). In 1290, when he was thirty years old, Yonten Gyatso arrived at Jonang and received a huge number of transmissions from Kunpang, including the great Kalacakra initiation and the transmission of the Bodhisattva Trilogy and the related oral instructions. In particular, he received many different traditions of the oral instructions of the six-branch yoga of Kalacakra. When he practiced the meditation of the dark retreat, all ten signs of clear light dawned in twenty-one days. When he practiced the daytime meditation, very intense physical experiences occurred for seven days. When these experiences passed, Yonten Gyatso remained in a state of great equanimity and possessed unimpeded clairvoyance. He remained at Jonang for the next thirty-eight years, focusing primarily on the practice of the six-branch yoga. In general, he is said to have received and mastered all the teachings available in Tibet and was especially renowned for his moral integrity.

Yonten Gyatso first respected and relied on the master Kunpang just as explained in the tantric scriptures. After Kunpang passed away and his disciple Jangsem Gyelwa Yeshe (byang sems rgyal ba ye shes) ascended to the monastic seat, Yonten Gyatso respected and relied on Gyelwa Yeshe as he had Kunpang. He was first the friend, then the disciple, and finally the successor to Gyelwa Yeshe on the monastic seat of Jonang. He accomplished great benefit for the practice lineage and held the monastic seat for more than seven years. In 1326 he appointed the Dharma lord Dolpopa Sherab Gyeltsen (dol po pa shes rab rgyal mtshan) as his successor.

Sources

Taranatha. 1983.  Dpal dus kyi 'khor lo'i chos bskor gyi byung khungs nyer mkho, In The Collected Works of Jo-nang rje-btsun TAranAtha, vol. 2: pp. 1–43. Leh: Smanrtsis Shesrig Dpemdzod, 1983, pp. 23–24.

Dol po pa shes rab rgyal mtshan. 1992. Bla ma yon tan rgya mtsho'i rnam thar dngos grub 'byung gnas. In The 'Dzam-thang Edition of the Collected Works (Gsung-'bum) of Kun-mkhyen Dol-po-pa Shes-rab rgyal-mtshan, vol. 7, pt.1: pp. 279-386. Delhi: Shedrup Books.

'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.

Cyrus Stearns
August 2008