Nyamme Śākya Yeshe

Nyamme Śākya Yeshe, born in 1147, was the last of three children to a family with a tradition of Nyingma mantra practices named Dre (sgrad). His elder brother was Lobpon Jotsun (slob dpon jo btsun), and his elder sister was Chammo Sherbum (lcam mo sher 'bum). His birthplace was in the area of Yamdrok Lake (yar 'brog mtsho). Śākya Dorje (shAkya rdo rje) was the name given to him as a child. From age nine he studied with his father Sanggye Namkha (sangs rgyas nam mkha'). Padmasambhava.

When he was eleven Śākya Dorje heard of the fame of Lama Zhang Yudrakpa Trondru Drakpa (zhang g.yu brag pa brtson 'grus grags pa, 1123-1193) and went with his elder brother to meet him at Ronggi Tsogo (rong gi mtsho mgo).

Lama Zhang is said to have prophesied about him, "This one will hold my headquarters." He was immediately adopted as one of Lama Zhang's 'heart sons' and took his complete ordination at age nineteen. Although Lama Zhang was his most important teacher, he also studied with a long list of masters of various traditions, including Ngok Dode Pel (rngog mdo sde dpal).

At age forty, in 1186, he was appointed the head of the Tselpa tradition, six years before Lama Zhang's death. He was responsible for building a number of the structures that stood at Tsel Gungtang (mtshal gung thang). After his teacher's death he continued as abbot for another fifteen years, dying at the age of sixty-one.

Nyamme Śākya Yeshe was responsible for the compilation of the collections of Lama Zhang's discourses that are found in the collected works (bka' 'bum). He completed the building of the memorial stupas that held the relics of Lama Zhang, named the Kumbum Chenmo (sku 'bum chen mo) and Dungten Tongdrol Chenmo (gdung rten mthong grol chen mo).

Among his disciples one of the most notable was Tsangpa Dungkhurwa Wangchuk Tashi (gtsang pa dung khur ba dbang phyug bkra shis), who may have been the very first to introduce the Mongols to Buddhism.

Sources

Roerich, George, trans. 1996. The Blue Annals. 2nd ed. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas, pp. 408, 715-6.

Sørensen, Per K., Guntram Hazod, and Tsering Gyelpo. 2007. Rulers on the Celestial Plain. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences, pp. 94-7.

'Tshal pa kun dga' rdo rje. 1981. Deb ther dmar po. Beijing: Mi rigs dpe skrun khang, pp. 129-30.

Grags pa 'byung gnas. 1992. Gangs can mkhas grub rim byon ming mdzod. Lanzhou: Kan su'u mi rigs dpe skrun khang, pp. 688-90.

Dan Martin
August 2008