Zarawa Kalden Yeshe Sengge

Zarawa Kalden Yeshe Sengge (zwa ra ba skal ldan ye shes seng ge) liked to tell the story of a previous rebirth when he had been a boy named Tsolpa (tshol pa) in Kham. A yogi came up from Nepel and gave the boy a Chakrasamvara initiation. The yogi also gave him his wife and his black servant. The wife was kidnapped, and fearing for his own life Tsolpa hid inside a grain bin. The black servant, who had the sign of the sword on his hand, said, “No reason to fear, I can kill them,” and so he did. Zarawa liked to explain that the yogi was Chakrasamvara, the wife Vajravarahi, and the black servant Mahakala.

Kalden Yeshe Sengge worn in Mongar (mon 'gar), in the Brahmaputra River valley not very far from Pakmodrupa's seat, Densatil (gdan sa mthil). When he was young he worked as a goatherd. Once he gazed out from the hilltop as the goats were grazing and caught a glimpse of the mountain behind Pakmodrupa's monastery in the distance, which induced a spontaneous state of meditation. Another time he overheard two hermits discussing meditation and thought to himself, ‘Well, if that is what meditation is then it's something I can surely do.' So he went to visit Pakmodrupa. Pakmodrupa told him that although he had the results of meditation practices in his previous lives, he had committed a transgression against his vows that would explain why, in this life, he could only sleep with his face downwards. Pakmodrupa introduced him to the true nature of mind and he had exceptional realization. At Drarab (gra rabs) he newly founded Zara (zwa ra) Monastery. He drew scenes from his previous lives on the walls of his monastic cell. He was also responsible for erecting a large dwelling at Pagmodru.

For later generations, Zarawa's greatest importance was that he stood at the head of the Yabzang Kagyu lineage. His disciple Yabzangpa Choje Chokyi Monlam (g.ya' bzang pa chos rje chos kyi smon lam) was a greater organizer and writer, so the founding of the tradition is often credited to him rather than Zarawa. Chokyi Monlam took the Kagyu teachings of Zarawa and systematized them, supplementing them with teachings on Zhije and Cho that would characterize the Yabzang Kagyu lineage from his time onward.

Sources

Roerich, George, trans. 1996. The Blue Annals. 2nd ed. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas, pp. 652-3.

Grags pa 'byung gnas. 1992. Gangs can mkhas grub rim byon ming mdzod. Lanzhou: Kan su'u mi rigs dpe skrun khang, pp. 1536-7.

Dan Martin
August 2008