As many of you will know who read my website and work, I have a particular connection an interest in the Jonang and Jetsun Tāranātha. My postgraduate degree and first book publication was of Tāranātha’s Commentary on the Heart Sutra. My second book publication was of the Chariot that Transports to the Four Kayas, an important text on the Dro Kālacakra practices, by Jonang master Bamda Geleg Gyatso, who was a real Ri-mey master in every sense of the word. For more on him and that book, see here.
In this short article, there is the English translation of the 17th Karmapa’s Aspiration and also an overview of the Jonangpa in Tibet, their suppression, censorship and forced conversion to Gelug by the Dalai Lamas/Gelugpa from 17th Century onwards, and some information about the life of HH Jigme Dorje Rinpoche and the main seat of the Jonang, Dzamthang Monastery in Amdo, Tibet. I had been planning to visit Dzamthang and meet Jigme Dorje Rinpoche in late 2019, but due to the covid lockdown and other reasons I was unable to go. Instead, I wrote here in 2020, about the advice Rinpoche gave on the Covid virus.
The 17th Karmapa wrote in the colophon of the new Aspiration Supplication how the Jonang are holders of the definitive meaning teachings (nge-don), which means the teachings on the final and ultimate meaning reality of the third Dharma wheel turning of the ultimate Buddha Nature:
“In this degenerate age, holders of the teachings of the definitive truth are without compare. May the unmistaken re-birth of the master of the teachings of the Victorious Jonang , the great vajra guide of the Dzamthang Monastery in Lower Amdo, Supreme Jigme Dorje, swiftly arise!
This Aspiration for the Flourishing of the Definitive Meaning Teachings as requested by the Head of the International Jonang Well-Being Association, was recited by the 17th Karmapa on 13th July 2023.”
It is with that intent and aspiration that I offer this new article and translation. May the Jonang teachings of Empty-of-Other, Kālacakra, Dolpopa, Taranatha and more flourish and prosper!
Music? Kālacakra mantra with music.
Written and translated by Adele Tomlin, 15th July 2023.
The Jonang lineage, practices and view
As I wrote about extensively in my Introduction to Tāranātha’s Commentary on the Heart Sutra, The Jonang (ཇོ་ནང་) lineage origins in Tibet can be traced to the early 12th century master Yumo Mikyo Dorje, a disciple of the Kashmiri scholar Somanatha who along with the Tibetan translator Dro Lotsawa Sherab Drak translated the root tantra of the Kalachakra practice along with the main commentary Stainless Light from Sanskrit into Tibetan and brought the Dro lineage of the Kalacakra Tantra into Tibet, for more on the Jonang and Dro Kālacakra, see here.
The Jonang school’s main practice is the Kālacakra tantra, and they are widely known for their defense of the philosophy known as Shentong (“empty of other”), said to have been systematically formulated as a view with specific terminology by Kunkhyen Dolpopa. For more on the Shentong view, see my short introduction here and also, this recent Dharma talk I did for Tricycle magazine.
The Jonang in Tibet and suppression and censorship by the Dalai Lamas/Gelug
The main seat of the Jonang in Tibet is Dzamthang monastery. Dzamtang is a monastic city in southern Amdo. It is the common name for the three adjoining Jonang monasteries of Tsangwa, Choje and Tsechu. Of these,Tsangwa is the main monastery of the Dzamtang area and the home institution of the Jonang order. The oldest monastery of the complex is Choje, which was established in 1425 by Rinchen Pel. D
In the 17th Century, after Jetsun Tāranātha’s Jonang Tagten Ling monastery was stolen and taken over by the Dalai Lamas/Gelug/Mongolian army (never to be returned), the Jonang had to move and re-established themselves in Golok, Nakhi and the Mongol areas of Kham and Amdo.
As a result of the suppression of Jonang, the writings of Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen and even those of Sakya proponents of Shentong (like Sakya Chokden) were sealed and banned from publication and study and that Jonang monastics were forcibly converted to the Gelug lineage. For more on the Gelug takeover and theft of monasteries and texts in Tibet, see also this recent teaching here by 17th Karmapa on the 8th Karmapa’s shedras and monasteries and how one of his best shedras was stolen and converted into the Gelug monastery, Ganden.
However, despite the censorship and confiscation of their monasteries, land, property, texts, and even the recognition of Jestun Tāranātha himself (see article about the Jetsun Khalka Dampa here) by the Dalai Lamas, they managed to survive and thrive despite that. They have continued practicing uninterrupted to this day.
An estimated 5,000 monks and nuns of the Jonang tradition practice today in these areas. However, their teachings were limited to these regions until the Ri-mey (non-sectarian) movement of the 19th century encouraged the study of non-Gelug traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. The Dzamthang Monastery and Tibetan community recently faced severe restrictions and a clampdown by the Chinese authorities there, it has also previously been the site of several self-immolation protests challenging Beijing’s rule in Tibetan areas.
Reasons for the Gelug suppression – philosophical, political and Mongolian power
It is indisputable that the Gelug school worked to suppress and censor the Jonang school and its distinct philosophy of Shentong (as they did with other lineages such as Kagyu and Nyingma). They seized and banned the teaching and publication of the Shentong texts. Modern historians have identified two other reasons which more likely led the Gelugpa to suppress the Jonangpa. First, the Jonangpa had political ties that were very vexing to the Gelugpa. The Jonang school, along with the Kagyu, were historical allies with the powerful house of Tsangpa. The Chinese emperors, with whom the Karmapas in particular had connections with (and their admiration and veneration) had previously offered to use their military power to takeover Tibet and give complete authority to the Karmapas, but they refused.
This was bad enough, but soon after the death of Taranatha, an even more ominous event occurred. Taranatha’s tulku was discovered to be a young boy named Zanabazar, the son of Tüsheet Khan, Prince of Central Khalkha. Tüsheet Khan and his son were of Borjigin lineage (the imperial clan of Genghis Khan and his successors), meaning they had the birth authority to become khagan. When the young boy was declared the spiritual leader of all of Mongolia, suddenly the Gelugpa were faced with the possibility of war with the former military superpower of Asia. While the Mongol Empire was long past its zenith, this was nonetheless a frightening prospect and the Dalai Lama sought the first possible moment of Mongol distraction to take control of the Jonang monasteries.
Whatever the reasons, the Gelug and the Dalai Lamas took over Tibet absoutely from then on with no democratic accountabiility to the people of Tibet. Moreover, they have not offered any apology or intention to return the stolen land, property and texts to the lineages, even now in exile.
The head of the Jonang lineage and of Dzamthang monastery – Jigme Dorje Rinpoche
The current and only supreme head of the Jonang lineage was HH Jigme Dorje Rinpoche who chose to pass into parinirvana on the Kálacakra New Year. It is said that when he was small boy, Jigme Dorje’s future teacher Lama Ngakgom Purtsa predicted that he would become a great Kalachakra master and upholder to the Jonang lineage. After dedicating his life to the practice of Highest Yoga Tantra, he was appointed to be the 43rd Vajra Master of Dzamthang Monastery. Since then he has taught thousands of students, guiding many to become highly realised masters in their own rights. In 2014, his peers voted him to become to head of the Jonang Tradition.
I wanted to visit Dzamthang and meet Jigme Dorje Rinpoche in 2019 but due to the lockdown and other reasons I was unable to go. Instead, I wrote here in 2020, about the advice Rinpoche gave on the Covid virus.
Here is a beautiful short video of Jigme Dorje Rinpoche taken at Dzamthang monastery in 2019 with the monks there. Here is an Instagram video made by Jonang teacher, Khentrul Rinpoche in May 2023 to commemorate Jigme Dorje’s passing at the Kālacakra temple for Bokar Rinpoche at Bokar Monastery.
The Karmapas and Jonang and the 17th Karmapa’s Aspiration Prayer for the Definitive Teachings
The Karmapas have a long history with the Jonang lineage and the Empty-of-Other/Shentong view starting it seems with the 3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje and Kunkhyen Dolpopa who are said to have met and discussed the view, which the 3rd Karmapa prophesised would be promoted and spread by Dolpopa.
The 17th Karmapa wrote in the colophon of the new Aspiration Supplication how the Jonang are holders of the definitive meaning teachings (nge-don), which means the teachings on the final and ultimate meaning reality of the third Dharma wheel turning of the ultimate Buddha Nature:
“In this degenerate age, holders of the teachings of the definitive truth are without compare. May the unmistaken re-birth of the controller of the teachings of the Victorious Jonang , the great vajra guide of the Dzamthang Monastery in Lower Amdo, Supreme Jigme Dorje, swiftly arise!
This Aspiration for the Flourishing of the Definitive Meaning Teachings as requested by the Head of the International Jonang Well-Being Association, was recited by the 17th Karmapa on 13th July 2023.”
Aspiration for the Swift Re-birth of Kyabgon Jigme Dorje Rinpoche
by 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje
ཇོ་ནང་སྐྱབས་མགོན་མཆོག་སྤྲུལ་འཇིགས་མེད་རྡོ་རྗེའི་མྱུར་འབྱོན་གསོལ་འདེབས།
ན་མོ་གུ་རུ།
Homage Guru!
བྱིན་རླབས་སྤྲིན་འཁྲིགས་བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་བླ་མ་དང་། །
དངོས་གྲུབ་ཆར་འབེབས་ཡི་དམ་ཞི་ཁྲོའི་ལྷ། །
ཕྲིན་ལས་གློག་འཁྱུགས་ཆོས་སྐྱོང་སྲུང་མ་སྟེ། །
རྩ་གསུམ་ལྷ་ཚོགས་རྣམས་ཀྱིས་བདེན་སྟོབས་སྩོལ། །
May the blessings of the clouds of Kagyu lamas
Downpour siddhis of wrathful and peaceful yidam deities,
The lightning enlightened activities of Dharma protectors, and
The assembled deities of the three roots bestow the power of truth!
མ་སྨད་སོ་ཐར་ཁྲིམས་ཀྱི་རྩ་བ་བརྟན། །
གཞན་ཕན་རྒྱལ་སྲས་སྤྱོད་པའི་ལོ་འདབ་རྒྱས། །
ཐེག་མཆོག་གསང་བ་སྔགས་ཀྱི་འབྲས་བུ་སྨིན། །
སུམ་ལྡན་རྡོ་རྗེ་འཛིན་པ་ཁྱོད་ལ་འདུད། །
To the firm root of the discipline of individual liberation ‘mother and child’,
The flourishing petals of the conduct of Bodhisattvas’ benefiting others,
The ripened fruit of the secret mantra of supreme vehicle, and
To the holder of the three vajras bow down!
གཉིས་སྣང་འཁྲུལ་པའི་བན་བུན་བྲལ་བ་ཡི། །
དོན་དམ་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཆེན་པོའི་རྒྱལ་ཁམས་སུ། །
གཅིག་ཏུ་ཞི་བར་མནལ་བའི་ཚུལ་སྤངས་ཏེ། །
རླབས་ཆེན་འགྲོ་བའི་དོན་དུ་བཞེངས་སུ་གསོལ། །
Separated from the hazy fog of confused dualistic appearances,
In the Victorious realm of great primordial awareness ultimate nature,
Having abandoned the way of sleeping peacefully alone,
May a tremendous wave of benefiting beings billow up.
གསང་ཆེན་རྒྱུད་སྡེ་རྒྱ་མཚོའི་སྙིང་པོའི་བཅུད། །
ཟབ་ལམ་རྡོ་རྗེའི་རྣལ་འབྱོར་ལ་བརྟེན་ནས། །
འགྱུར་མེད་བདེ་བ་མཆོག་གི་སར་རེག་པའི། །
རྣལ་འབྱོར་དབང་ཕྱུག་ཆེན་པོ་མྱུར་འབྱོན་གསོལ། །
The extracted essence of the oceans of great secret tantras,
In dependence on the profound path of the Vajra Yogas,
Touching the ground of the supreme, unchanging bliss,
O great powerful yogi, please swiftly come!
གློ་བུར་དྲི་མས་དག་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབྱིངས། །
རྟག་བརྟན་བདེན་གྲུབ་རྡོ་རྗེའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཆེ། །
གཞན་སྟོང་སེང་གེའི་ང་རོ་སྒྲོགས་པ་ལ། །
འཇིགས་བྲལ་གདོང་ལྔའི་དབང་པོ་མྱུར་འབྱོན་གསོལ། །
To the temporarily stained Dharma expanse of purity,
The great primordial awareness vajra of accomplished truth, eternal and everlasting,
To the one who proclaims the lion’s roar of Shentong,
Powerful, five faced fearless one, please swiftly come!
མདོར་ན་རྒྱལ་བསྟན་སྤྱི་དང་བྱེ་བྲག་གི །
རིང་ལུགས་དྲི་མེད་ཕྱོགས་བརྒྱར་སྤེལ་བ་དང་། །
མཐའ་ཡས་འགྲོ་རྣམས་རྗེས་སུ་བཟུང་བ་ལ། །
མཚུངས་པ་མེད་པའི་མགོན་དུ་མྱུར་འབྱོན་གསོལ། །
In brief, may the general and specific victor’s teachings,
Increase the long, stainless tradition in hundred-fold directions, and
The one who affectionately cares for infinite beings,
Incomparable Protector, please swiftly come!
དེ་ལྟར་དད་འདུན་གཡོ་བ་མེད་པ་ཡིས། །
རྩེ་གཅིག་གུས་པས་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས་ལགས་ན། །
དམིགས་མེད་བརྩེ་བའི་ཐུགས་རྗེས་རབ་དགོངས་ནས། །
སྤྲུལ་པའི་ཟླ་ཞལ་མྱུར་དུ་འཆར་བར་མཛོད། །
Like that, with unwavering faith and longing,
Single-pointedly with devotion make this supplication.
With the intent of ‘object-less’ compassionate love,
May the manifestation of the moon’s face swiftly arise!
སྙིགས་མའི་དུས་འདིར་ངེས་དོན་སྙིང་པོའི་བསྟན་པ་འཛིན་པ་ལ་མཚུངས་པ་མེད་པ། རྒྱལ་བ་ཇོ་ནང་པའི་བསྟན་པའི་མངའ་བདག །མདོ་སྨད་འཛམ་ཐང་དགོན་གྱི་རྡོ་རྗེ་སློབ་དཔོན་ཆེན་པོ། སྐྱབས་མཆོག་འཇིགས་མེད་རྡོ་རྗེ་མཆོག་དགོངས་པ་ཞི་དབྱིངས་སུ་གཤེགས་པ་ནི་སྙིང་པོའི་བསྟན་པའི་གོད་ཆག་ཞིག་ཏུ་གྱུར་མོད། སླར་ཡང་དམ་པའི་ཚུལ་དགུས་བརྒྱན་པའི་ཡང་སྲིད་འཁྲུལ་བྲལ་མྱུར་དུ་འབྱོན་པ་དང་། ངེས་དོན་གྱི་བསྟན་པ་རྒྱས་པའི་སྨོན་ལམ་ཞིག་དགོས་ཞེས་རྒྱལ་སྤྱིའི་ཇོ་ནང་འགྲོ་ཕན་ལྷན་ཚོགས་གཙོ་བོར་གྱུར་པའི་གཞིས་བྱེས་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་ཐུགས་བཞེད་ལྟར། ཀརྨ་པའི་མཚན་འཛིན་བཅུ་བདུན་པ། ཨོ་རྒྱན་ཕྲིན་ལས་རྡོ་རྗེར་འབོད་པས་སྤྱི་ལོ་ ༢༠༢༣ ཟླ་ ༧ ཚེས་ ༡༣ ལ་སྦྱར་བ་དགེའོ། །
In this degenerate age, holders of the teachings of the definitive truth are without compare. May the unmistaken re-birth of the master of the teachings of the Victorious Jonang , the great vajra guide of the Dzamthang Monastery in Lower Amdo, Supreme Jigme Dorje, swiftly arise!
This Aspiration for the Flourishing of the Definitive Meaning Teachings as requested by the Head of the International Jonang Well-Being Association, was recited by the 17th Karmapa on 13th July 2023.”
Translated and edited by Adele Tomlin, 15th July 2023.
Dakini Translations and Publications མཁའ་འགྲོ་མའི་ལོ་ཙཱ་བའི་འགྱུར་དང་འགྲེམས་སྤེལ། 