Sanggye Jungne

Sanggye Jungne (sangs rgyas 'byung gnas) was born in 1543, the water-hare year of the ninth sexagenary cycle in Tatak in Kongpo (kong po mtha' stag). His father, Lama Sanggye Dhondup (bla ma sangs ryas don grub) was the brother of Pakpa Sanggye, the Second Pakpa Lha ('phags pa lha 02 'phags pa sangs rgyas, 1507-1566). Because he served his uncle as secretary he was known by the name Wendrung (dbon drung) meaning "nephew-secretary." Pakpa Sanggye identified him as the reincarnation of his own master, the First Zhiwa Lha, Pelden Chogdrub (zhi ba lha 01 dpal ldan mchog grub, 1454-1523).

Sanggye Jungne learned reading and writing, and memorization of daily prayers and so forth from his father, who also gave him long-life empowerments and transmissions and empowerments on Hayagriva. His uncle, Pakpa Sanggye, gave him further tantric transmissions, empowerments, and instructions, including cycles that his family held as a hereditary tradition.

During an absence from his monasteries, Pakpa Sanggye appointed the still-young Sanggye Jungne as abbot in his stead, despite the presence of his disciple Choje Ngawang Sanggye Peljor, the First Chagra Tulku, (chos rje ngag dbang lcags rwa 01 sangs rgyas dpal 'byor, 1629-1703) and other prominent disciples and senior lamas. Pakpa Sanggye was said to have been regarded with the same respect given his uncle by everyone in the monastery. Pakpa Sanggye died in 1566, when Sanggye Jungne was twenty-four. He took full responsibility in building the silver reliquary for his uncle and made the arrangements for the nirvana-prayers.

Sanggye Jungne further received teachings from Phende Choje Shakya Gyeltsen (phan bde chos rje shA kya rgyal mtshan) and served as the abbot of Phende Monastery (a monastery founded by the First Pakpa Lha) as his successor for few years. While there he brought the incarnation of his uncle, the Third Pakpa Lha, Tongwa Donden ('phags pa lha 03 mthong ba don ldan, 1567-1604) to Phende. Shakya Gyeltsen, who had been a disciple of the Second Pakpa Lha, gave the tulku novice vows with Sanggye Jungne's assistence. Tongwa Donden was then enthroned as abbot, and Sanggye Jungne subsequently gave him transmissions, empowerments, and instructions.

In the meantime, representative of the king of Jang Satam (modern-day Lijiang, Yunnan), and also other leaders of the region who had been followers of the Second Pakpa Lha, arrived at Phende to invite the Third Pakpa Lha to Jang Satam. As the tulku was then too young, they agreed to invite Sanggye Jungne in his place. On his way to Jang, Sanggye Jungne gave teachings at various places and also mediated a dispute of two communities. He stayed for a while in Jang and thereafter travelled to a number of places in Kham and gave audience and blessings, teachings, and empowerments to his devotees.

Sanggye Jungne assisted the Third Pakpa Lha in establishing a Gelug monastery in Pomda, Tsawa Pomdha Monastery (tsha ba spo mda' dgon). The monastery was originally to have been dedicated jointly to the Gelug and Bon traditions, at the request of the local leader, Gonpo Sonam (mgon po bsod nams), but relations between the two sides proved too difficult, and conflicts arose. Biographies of Sanggye Jungne contain the accusation that hostile Bon forced plotted against his life; escaping an attack at his residence there Sanggye Jungne is said to have used his magical powers to force the Bonpo to surrender and confess their crimes. Pomda was destroyed less than a hundred years later by the Bonpo King of Beri during his attempted conquest of Kham, and subsequently rebuilt by the Fourth Pakpa Lha, Chokyi Gyelpo ('phags pa chos kyi rgyal po, 1605-1643).

In 1594, on the 10th day of the sixth month of the wood-horse year of the tenth sexagenary cycle, the Third Pakpa Lha was enthroned as the fourteenth abbot of Chamdo Jampel Ling Monastery. He was the first Pakpa Lha to sit on the throne that became the primary seat of the incarnation line. Sanggye Jungne participated in the ceremonies, and then travelled around Kham, giving teachings and empowerments at various places and reviewing the discipline codes of many monasteries. He also mediated some disputes of different parties and communities in the region, but unfortunately details are not available. He sent the collection of his offerings to the main Gelug monasteries in U and Tsang and then returned to Chamdo Jampel Ling and spent sometime with the Third Pakpa Lha. While the Third Pakpa Lha traveled in Powo (spo bo) to mediate a dispute, Sanggye Jungne served as acting abbot at the recommendation of the monastery's Board of Management.

After the death of Pakpa Lha Tongwa Donden in 1604, Sanggye Jungne was enthroned on the seat of Chamdo Jampel Ling, serving as the fifteenth abbot. He took charge of the arrangements for the funeral of his disciple and for constructing his reliquary. After about five years, after receiving word of the identification and confirmation of Tongwa Donden's reincarnation, Sanggye Jungne went to Tashi Cholung (bkra shis chos lung), a monastery in Nyanpo founded by the First Pakpa Lha, where the tulku, Chokyi Gyelpo, was residing. Offering him robes, tea, and other gifts, he gave him a long-life prayer and invited him to Chamdo. There he arranged the ceremony of enthronement to the abbot's seat, although Sanggye Jungne remained as acting abbot until his death ten years later. He gave Chokyi Gyelpo novice vows, teachings, empowerments, initiations, and instructions in both sutra and tantra in accordance with the Gelug tradition.

After serving as abbot for about seventeen years, at the age of seventy-eight, in 1620, the iron-monkey year of the tenth sexagenary cycle, Sanggye Jungne passed away at his residence in Chamdo Jampel Ling. Relics such as his intact heart and tongue were taken from the ashes of his cremation and placed in the one-storey-high golden statue of Maitreya that was built in his memory and installed in the middle of the monastery's central hall.

His reincarnation was said to have been born in Jang region ('jang khul) to the family of a nobleman who was disciple of his predecessor; the child lived for only three years and is not counted in the line of Zhiwa Lha incarnations. The Third Zhiwa Lha, Zhiwa Zangpo (zhi ba lha 03 zhi ba bzang po, 1625-1717) was born in Kongpo two years later.

Sources

Anonymous. 1986. Bod kyi lo rgyus rig gnas dpyad gzhi'i rgyu cha gdams bsgrigs. Beijing: Mi rigs dpe skrun khang. Vol. 9, pp 194-196.

Byams pa chos grags. N.d. Chab mdo byams pa gling gi gdan rabs. Chamdo: Chab mdo par 'debs bzo grwa par btab, pp. 264-270.

Samten Chhosphel
July 2010