Kunpang Chodrak Pelsang

Kunpang Chodrak Pelsang (kun spangs chos grags dpal bzang) was born in Ralung (ra lung). His father was the Newar sculptor Ratnamati, who had been invited from Nepel to create art in the Nyangto (nyang stod) region of Tsang (gtsang). From the age of five Chodrak Pelsang learned the art of sculpture from his father and became expert in calligraphy, the casting of metals, and blacksmithing. At seven years of age he received lay vows from the master Jangchup Ozer (byang chub 'od zer) and memorized the Five Treatises of Maitreya (byams chos lnga). He traveled to Gungtang (gung thang) monastery the next year, where he received the vows of a novice monk from the abbot Dondrub Pel (don grub dpal). He stayed at Gungtang until he was twelve years old, studying and becoming expert in the literature of the vehicle of the perfections, epistemology, and abhidharma.

Chodrak Pelsang then moved to the great monastery of Sakya (sa skya), where he studied epistemology, the Bodhisattvacaryavatara, and abhidharma under the master Jamyang Chokyi Gyeltsen ('jam dbyangs chos kyi rgyal mtshan). He became quite famous there when he taught epistemology to a large audience of scholars. Up until the age of twenty-one he traveled around Central Tibet and Tsang studying at different monasteries. He received many teachings from the great Buton Rinchen Drup (bu ston rin chen grub) at Zhalu (zha lu) monastery and from Tarpa Lotsawa Nyima Gyeltsen (thar pa lo tsA ba nyi ma rgyal mtshan) at Sangpu Nyetok (gsang phu ne'u thog). At the age of twenty-three he went to Jonang monastery for the first time and received full ordination from the master Yonten Gyatso (yon tan rgya mtsho), from whom he also received the Kalacakra initiation, the transmission of the great Vimalaprabha commentary, many instructions, and gained special experience in meditation.

At the age of twenty-five Chodrak Pelsang received a number of teachings from the Dharma lord Dzumpa (chos rje 'dzum pa) at Dzum Cholung ('dzum chos lung). There he also met the omnisicent Dolpopa for the first time and during Dharma discussions came to feel like a small pool in the presence of the ocean. He begged Dolpopa for Dharma teachings, saying that he had never met anyone as learned in all his travels, but Dolpopa refused, noting that he was a wandering mendicant and not suitable to be his teacher. Finally, after further begging from Chodrak Pelsang, Dolpopa agreed to teach him the Kalacakra in detail, and they traveled in secret to the cave hermitage of Kyiphuk (skyid phug) near Jonang. Chodrak Pelsang stayed constantly with Dolpopa for twelve years, first receiving the Vimalaprabha commentary on the Kalacakra Tantra for an entire year, and gradually obtaining the transmission of everything Dolpopa himself had received.

When Dolpopa built the great stupa at Jonang from 1330 to 1333, Chodrak Pelsang was the person in charge of all the inner and outer work. At the completion of this massive project, he renounced all mundane activities and mostly stayed in meditation retreat. Then the master Tonpa Yeshe Pel (ston pa ye shes dpal) offered him the monastery of Chusang (chu bzang) near Sakya, where he took up residence, first teaching epistemology for three years and then the Vimalaprabha. After inviting Dolpopa to consecrate the shrines at Chusang, Chodrak Pelsang went into strict retreat, during which he had visions of Amitabha and his paradise. During retreat he achieved many extraordinary attainments, such as directly beholding the blazing and dripping of the seminal drops in the channels and cakras of his body, clearly seeing the colors of the five vital winds, experiencing exceptional bliss, and gaining various types of stable clairvoyance and magical abilities.

Chodrak Pelsang also traveled to China as Dolpopa's representative, where he demonstrated his paranormal abilities to the Yuan emperor and his court and taught dharma to the emperor for seven months. He told the story of Dolpopa's life to the emperor, who then asked to be given a Buddhakapela (sangs rgyas thod pa) image that had manifested in Dolpopa's bones after his cremation. Chodrak Pelsang returned to Central Tibet and Tsang and taught the Vimalaprabha and many other topics in various places before finally arriving at his monastery of Chusang.

When he was eighty-one years old, Chodrak Pelsang was invited to teach at the monastery of Pelteng (dpal steng). He predicted that it would be dangerous for him to go, but accepted the invitation for the benefit of sentient beings. On the road to Pelteng, Chodrak Pelsang was attacked and murdered by an evil warlord named Jangpa Siddhi (byang pa sid d+hi), who stabbed him to death. His body was taken back to Chusang and cremated in a ceremony attended by Dolpopa's disciples Mati Panchen (ma ti paN chen) and Chokle Namgyel (phyogs las rnam rgyal), and many other teachers. Many miracles occurred during and after the ceremony, and wonderful relics manifested in his bones after the cremation.

Sources

Gyal ba jo bzang dpal bzang po. 1992. Chos kyi rje kun mkhyen chen po yab sras bco lnga'i rnam thar nye bar bsdus pa ngo mtshar rab gsal. In The 'Dzam-thang Edition of the Collected Works (Gsung-'bum) of Kun-mkhyen Dol-po-pa Shes-rab rgyal-mtshan, Delhi: Shedrup Books, vol. 1: 559–629, pp. 566–73. The same work has also been published in Byang sems rgyal ba ye shes. 2004. Dpal ldan dus kyi 'khor lo jo nang pa'i lugs kyi bla ma brgyud pa'i rnam thar. Beijing: Mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2004, 143–209.

Ngag dbang blo gros grags pa. 1992. Dpal ldan jo nang pa'i chos 'byung rgyal ba'i chos tshul gsal byed zla ba'i sgron me. Koko Nor: Krung go'i bod kyi shes rig dpe skrun khang, pp. 32–33.

Cyrus Stearns
August 2008