Tropu Gyaltsa Rinchen Gon

A branch of the Nub (gnubs) clan, long famous for their Nyingma tantra teachings, lived in the Shab (shabs) Valley, not very far from Sakya Monastery in Tsang Province. Gyaltsa Rinchen Gonpo's (rgyal tsha rin chen mgon po) father belonged to the Nub clan, a family that claimed ancestory from the 8th century master Nub Namkhai Nyingpo (gnubs nam mkha'i snying po). His mother is simply called a ‘princess' (lha gcig). He had a much younger brother named Kunden Repa (kun ldan ras pa), born thirty years after him. (According to Tsewang Rgyal (tshe dbang rgyal) Kunden Repa was Gyeltsa's nephew, not brother.) Gyaltsa he was five, he learned reading and arithmetic. He is said to have began his education at the age of five, eventually training with a number of prominent masters, incuding Nur Nyima (gnur nyi ma, d.u.); Dropukpa (sgro phug pa, d.u.), the son of Zurchungpa (zur chung pa); and Belbo Pandita Samantrashri (bal po paNDi ta sa manta shrI, d.u.) and receiving instructions on the inner, outer, common and uncommon teachings.

When Gyaltsa was nineteen he relocated in Central Tibet, where he furthered his studies. He trained with Purang Lotsawa's (pu rangs lo tsA ba, d.u.) disciple Marchokyi Gyelpo (dmar chos kyi rgyal po, d.u), Lotsawa Chokyi Zangpo (lo tsA ba chos kyi bzang po, d.u), Meton Kunga Nyingpo (mes ston kun dga' snying po, d.u.), and Ngok Dode (rngog mdo sde, d.u.). He returned to Shab at age twenty-five.

Although asked to take a wife, he gradually gained his father's permission to remain single.

Overall Rinchen Gon is said to have had eighty-two teachers. While his teachers were mainly of Kagyu lineages, among them were some prominent representatives of the Nyingma, two of the direct disciples of Padampa in the Zhije lineage, as well as teachers of Cho. Rinchen Gon trained with Pakmodrupa Dorje Gyelpo (phag mo gru pa rdo rje rgyal po, 1110-1170), receiving from him instruction in Mahamudra. At Densa Til (gdan sa thil) he also trained with Dakpo Gomtsul Tsultrim Nyingpo (dwags sgom tshul khrims snying po, 1116-1169), Tsangpa Gyare Yeshe Dorje (gtsang pa rgya ras ye shes rdo rje, 1161-1211) and other disciples of Pakmodrupa. Rinchen Gon's nephew, Kunden Repa (kun ldan ras pa, 1148-1217), was another important disciple of Pakmodrupa.

Pakmodrupa should without doubt be considered his primary teacher, since it was under his guidance that Gyaltsa achieved a practical understanding of Mahamudra.

At the age of fifty-four Rinchen Gon took complete ordination with Khenpo Shangshidze (shang shi mdzes, d.u.). He then founded the monastery of Trophu Monastery (khro phu dgon) in the Shab Valley, in Tsang. His disciple Tropu Lotsawa Jampapel (khro phu lo tsA ba byams pa dpal b.1172/1173-1225/1236) was instrumental in establishing the Tropu Kagyu tradition.

Although Gyaltsa might have inherited some family wealth, it is said that he used to engage in trade and bartering of goods. In any case, his wealth enabled him to offer considerable patronage to the community at Pagmodru It is not clear if he was a monk at the time, and it was only much later in life that he took complete monastic vows. Perhaps he took all the vows simultaneously, which sometimes happens, especially when older men join the order. Soon afterwards he decided to form a small monastery where he could stay with only a few monks and suffer few distractions. He purchased a property in the area known as Tropu (khro phu) where he built a temple with residences for monks, twenty in number. At age sixty he became quite ill, bleeding through the nose until he nearly died, but he was healed by a vision of his teacher Pakmodrupa who descended through space riding on a lion. He died at age seventy-seven.

Although his accomplishments in the worldly sphere may appear modest, his nephew Tropu Lotsawa Jampa Pel (khro phu lo tsa ba byams pa dpal) would make the small monastery he founded in the Shab Valley famous throughout Tibet. Seeds planted with faith tend to grow.

Sources

Grags pa 'byung gnas. 1992. Gangs can mkhas grub rim byon ming mdzod. Lanzhou: Kan su'u mi rigs dpe skrun khang. Pp. 406-407.

Gtsug lag 'phreng ba. 1980. Chos 'byung mkhas pa'i dga' ston. New Delhi: Karmapae Chodhey Gyelwae Sungrab Partun Khang, vol. I, p. 857.6. ff.

Roerich, George, trans. 1996. The Blue Annals. 2nd ed. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas, pp. 705-7.

Tshe dbang rgyal. 1994. Lho rong chos 'byung. Lhasa: Bod ljongs bod yig dpe rnying dpe skrun khang, pp. 328-9.

Dan Martin
August 2008