“The lineage is not renowned
Yet it possesses the Dharma vision of ḍākinīs.
The forefather is not renowned
Yet Tilopa is the innate face of Buddha.
The guru is not renowned
Yet he possesses the Dharma vision of Nāropa.
I, myself, am not renowned
Yet I am the heart son of Nāropa.
The pith instructions are not renowned
Yet they are three wish-fulfilling gems.
The distinctive Dharma is not renowned
Yet they are the mixing and transference, absent in all others,
And the aural transmissions, absent in all others”
བརྒྱུད་པ་སྙན་པར་མི་སྒྲག་ཏུ། མཀའ་འགྲོ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྤྱན་ཅན་ཡིན། མེས་པོ་སྙན་པར་མི་སྒྲག་ཏུ། ཏེ་ལོ་སངས་རྒྱས་ཉག་ཅིག་ཡིན། བླ་མ་སྙན་པར་མི་སྒྲག་ཏུ། ནཱརོ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྤྱན་ཅན་ཡིན། ང་རང་སྙན་པར་མི་སྒྲག་ཏུ། ནཱ་རོ་ཐུགས་ཀྱི་བུ་ཅིག་ཡིན། གདམ་ངགས་སྙན་པར་མི་སྒྲག་ཏུ། ཡིད་བཞིན་ནོར་བུ་རྣམ་སུམ་ཡིན། ཁྱད་ཆོས་སྙན་པར་མི་སྒྲག་ཏུ། ཀུན་ལ་མེད་བའི་བསྲས་འཕོ་ཡིན། ཀུན་ལ་མེད་བའི་སྙན་རྒྱུད་ཡིན།
—–by Marpa Lotsawa (Excerpt from Marpa’s Life Story by Ngog Dode)[1]
Introduction
For the seventh and final week of the 49-day rituals for 9th Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche’s parinirvana, Thrangu Monastery in Namo Buddha announced that they will be performing, as .per the instructions of the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, the deity Hevajra practice:
“The Hevajra Tantra belongs to the highest yoga tantra, one of the thirteen tantras of Marpa Lotsawa. In accordance with the text, the monastics of Thrangu Monastery prepared the offerings and mandala of Hevajra at the main shrine hall. Last night, under the guidance of Dorje Lopon Lama Dawa Phurba, more than 15 monks worked till late to set up the mandala for the Hevjara puja. Beneath a picture of Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche sits an elaborate sand mandala of Hevajra. Nine vases and nine red tormas lie above the mandala. Surrounding these are a kapala and symbols representing the five Dhyani Buddhas. Outside of this are nine sets of incense and flowers. Below this top tier are nine sets of five offerings: flowers, incense, scented water, tormas, and butter lamps. On the lowest tier are the seven offerings.”
Thus, as another offering for 9th Thrangu Rinpoche’s parinirvana, I am re-publishing some of research from two articles, one originally published in July 2021 called ‘GOLDEN TEACHINGS OF KAGYU TANTRA’: Marpa the Translator and student Ngog, the Seven Ngog Mandalas, Thirteen Tantras of Marpa, Kongtrul’s ‘Treasury of Kagyu Mantras . The other article was published shortly after this focusing on the Drikung Kagyu teachings called Reviving Marpa’s Translation and Lineage: Hevajra Tantra, Marpa-Ngog Lineage, Six Bone Ornaments of Nāropa, Editions and contents of Marpa’s Collected Works and Drikung Kagyu. For more on the eight main Hevajra lineages, see here. There are also sections on this website dedicated to new research and translations on Hevajra here, and Marpa here.
As I spoke about here, as a Dharma translator, I feel a strong connection and devotion to Marpa Lotsawa (1012-1097) and practice his guru yoga. Recently, HH the 17th Karmapa, Orgyen Trinley Dorje, gave a brief introduction to the Marpa-Ngog tradition, see my article about that here. The first part of the research post covers the legacy of Kagyu translators and Tantras, in particular the seven Ngog Mandalas and Thirteen Tantras of Marpa, handed down from Marpa, which were subsequently compiled by Jamgon Kongtrul in the Treasury of Kagyu Mantras (Kagyu Ngag Dzo). For research and a translated outline of Marpa’s Collected Works, see here.
On a sidenote, concerning the Hevajra practice, a reader/supporter of this website told me that Bokar Rinpoche in his book Tara The Divine Feminine mentioned a story of Virupa who spent many years doing Chakrasamvara practice which did not bring him realisation. After changing yidam practice to
Hevajra, Virupa attained realisation very quickly. Bokar Rinpoche said that it is rare example of very strong connection with a particular yidam from previous lives.
The life and works of Marpa are inspiring indeed. His arduous and challenging journeys to India, no flights, hotels, luxury buses, internet, laptops etc. available then! Yet, he persevered despite it all and managed to get all the empowerments and transmissions from the Indian Mahasiddhas, such as Nāropa and bring that to Tibet. As Marpa says in the opening quote here, it is not about fame or followers but about the authenticity of the lineage and the teachings.
Music? Mantra for Marpa Lotsawa and Tibetan Chant: prayer by Milarepa to his Guru Marpa བླ་མ་དྲན་དྲུག་གི་མགུར།.
Written and compiled by Adele Tomlin, 17th July 2023.
Kagyu Lineages and Texts – Marpa’s Two Main Lineages: Practice and Explanation
In that teaching, the 17th Karmapa spoke about two main lineages that came from the great Kagyu forefather and translator, Marpa the Translator, Chokyi Lodro (1012-1097):
“We often say that there are two traditions that come from the great being Marpa the Translator, the lineage of practice (drubgyu) and the lineage of explanations (shegyu). The lineage of practice has been passed down without interruption from Milarepa and is what we now call the Dakpo Kagyu.
For the lineage of explanations, there are several lineages of explanation passed down from Meton, Tsurton, and Ngokpa, [these are the other main students of Marpa] but these days the lineage of explanations is in severe decline—the situation is difficult. Among the lineages of explanation, the ones for which there is still a transmission of the empowerments and reading transmissions are known as the “Seven Ngok Mandalas.”
Some assert that this distinction is meaningless in any case, because the lineage of Ngok has both Drubgyud and She-gyud and the lineage of Milarepa has both Drubgyu and She-gyu.
Ngogton Choku Dorje and the Seven Ngok Mandalas, the ‘three great donations/surrenders’
So what are the Seven Ngog Mandalas spoken about here and who is Ngog? Ngog Choku Dorje ( Rngog chos sku rdo rje, 1036 -1102? ) or Ngog Ton Choku Dorje ( rngog ston chos sku rdo rje) from the ancient Tibetan family Ngog (rngog) was one of the four main students of Marpa (1012-1097). When Marpa needed to find sponsors to return to India, he travelled the countryside giving dharma instruction in exchange for gold and other gifts. It was during this time that he is said to have met Ngog. He passed on to him his main practice, Hevajra Tantra, as part of a series of tantras that came to be known as the Seven Mandalas of Ngog. Ngog was also said to be the lama whom Milarepa once fled to when Marpa refused to give him teachings.
The Seven Mandalas of Ngok is particularly prominent among the Kagyu schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Considering the importance of them, it is surprising to find little written about them in English. Chapter Two of the PhD thesis, A Lineage in Time – The Viscisstudes of the Ngogpa Kagyu from the 11th through 19th Centuries (EPHE, 2017), by Dr. Cecile Ducher, goes into significant detail about the history, content and so on of the Ngog mandalas. See also Ducher (2019) The Treasury of Kagyu Mantra: A Nineteenth-Century Collection of Marpa’s Tantric Teachings. For the most extensive English-language analysis of the life of Ngog Choku Dorje, see Ducher (2017: Chapter 3).
It is interesting to note that Ngog received these transmissions from Marpa after ‘three great surrenders’ (donations). Ducher (2017: 88) writes:
“[Ngog] Chodor is known to have received Marpa’s commentarial lineage (bshad brgyud) and to have preserved all the precise tantric material Marpa obtained in India. In most biographies, this legacy is described as being made up of three cycles of teachings received as a consequence of three great “donations.” The first donation was made shortly after the first meeting, in-between Marpa’s two journeys to India. Marpa was then invited to gZhung and granted Chodor the transmissions of Hevajra, which became his main yidam and that of the Ngogpa lineage in general. The second donation occurred at the end of Marpa’s life. It was composed of books and everything that Chodor could bring to Lhodrag (lHo brag), and served as a support for the transmission of the Catuṣpīṭhatantra. The final cycle, that of the Mahāmāyātantra, was also received in Lhodrag , as a result of Chodor having offered to Marpa his entire herd, even an old, crippled goat.” [ii]
Ducher (2017:87) also considers how the expression ‘Seven Mandalas of Ngog’ came into existence and that it seems to have originated from Karma Trinlepa, after Go Lotsawa completed the Blue Annals in 1476:
“The printing and wide distribution of the Blue Annals (Deb ther sngon po) in the following years ensured the rapid adoption of the expression in later writings, and from that point onwards, the Ngog tradition is generally referred to as the rngog dkyil bdun, the “Seven Maṇḍalas of the Ngog.” Thus, as the exact expression Ngog Kyil Dun (rngog dkyil bdun) is not found in texts predating the Blue Annals , we can conclude that it was Karma Trinley (1456-1539) who coined the expression, although the concept of seven maṇḍalas existed beforehand.”
For more on the Drigung Kagyu and Marpa-Ngog lineage, see my August 2021 article here.
Importance of the Hevajra Tantra in the Marpa-Ngog lineage, meaning of name Hevajra and visualisation
In an online teaching in 2021, Chetsang Rinpoche spoke about the importance of Hevajra as a tantra in both the Kangyur and Tengyur:
“I cannot give extensive teachings online on the Hevajra Tantra as it should be between teacher and student. We know the appearance aspect of Hevajra. As for Hevajra in the many texts, the many collections of Kangyur and Tengyur, we can see how important the Hevajra tantra is. It is the first tantra that is considered in the Tantra collections, so there is a lot of Hevajra literature. For example, in the Dege Tengyur collection on the actual root tantra there are 38 commentaries, 89 texts that deal with the male aspect, and the female aspect, there are 18 texts. There are 10 texts that consider the explanatory tantras. On the aspect that deals with the subtle channels and winds and so on, there are 25 texts. That amounts to 180 texts on the tantra itself.
In Tibet, the two main lineages famous for upholding the Hevajra practice are Sakya and Kagyu lineages. One scholar, Tsarchen Sonam Gyamtso composed a work that explains the Hevajra tantra, he did research and put it very clearly as to how it is upheld these days. He begins with teaching traditions of accomplished Indian masters, including traditions that go back to Nāropa and Maitripa. These have the complete path, there are other traditions but they don’t have the complete path. The Sakya scholar says that in the Tibetan tradition, the only one that is complete is the one from Marpa that was passed onto Ngog from the Zhung area, this is the complete one. It’s path of liberation, generation stage, the six limbs, completion stage, the key instructions on merging and transference and they have the backbone of the explanations on root and explanatory tantra. It is the complete path that goes back to Nāropa. There are other lineages like Repa and Tralpa but these all lack a complete path.
The name for Hevajra in Tibetan is ‘Kye Dorje’ , so He and Vajra is like He! O!, like addressing someone. Vajra means emptiness, ‘O emptiness!’ This symbolizes it is the essence of the teachings of all the Buddhas, likewise the deity in union should be understood as the male aspect is method and the female aspect symbolizes wisdom. The union of method and wisdom. Accumulation of merit and wisdom. In terms of the practice path, the male aspect is clarity and awareness and female is emptiness etc. this embrace is thus the union of bliss and emptiness.”
Jamgon Kongtrul’s revival of the seven mandalas of Ngog tradition at the heart of his ‘Treasury of Kagyu Mantras’
The Treasury of Kagyu Mantras (Kagyu Ngak Dzo) is an anthology of Kangyu Tantric cycles compiled by Jamgon Kongtrul in the years 1853-1855 and is believed to be the first of his five collections. The heart of the Treasury of Kagyu Mantras consists of the Seven Mandalas of Ngok transmitted by Marpa to Ngok Choku Dorje. As Ducher (2019) writes:
“Kongtrul (Kong sprul) defines his work in the introductory title of the collection as the “golden teachings of the glorious Mar Ngog Kagyu (Mar rngog bka’ brgyud),” which, at his time, were “weak like a stream in winter.” True to his aim of reviving the tradition, Kongtrul compiled a three-volume collection which can be considered as the apotheosis of the Ngog (rNgog) tradition, gathering in an unprecedented way the seven maṇḍalas together with other representative transmissions of Marpa and of the highest yoga tantras in general.”
The seven maṇḍalas of Ngok consists of:
1) the nine-deity maṇḍala of Hevajra (dgyes rdor lha dgu);
2) the fifteen-deity maṇḍala of his consort Nairātmyā (bdag med ma lha mo bco lnga);
3) the forty-nine-deity maṇḍala of Vajrapañjara (rdo rje gur rigs bsdus lha zhe dgu);
4) the seventy-seven-deity maṇḍala of Yogāmbara, the male form of Catuṣpīṭha (gdan bzhi’am rnal ’byor nam mkha’lha mang);
5) the thirteen-deity maṇḍala of Jñāneśvarī, Jñānaḍākinī, the female form of Catuṣpīṭha (ye shes dbang phyug ma lha bcu gsum);
6) the five-deity maṇḍala of Mahāmāyā (sgyu ma chen mo lha lnga);
7) the fifty-three-deity maṇḍala of Nāmasaṃgīti of the gSang ldan Tradition (’jam dpal mtshan brjod gsang ldan lugs).
Ducher (2017: 87) writes:
“Ngog received the first six maṇḍalas as well as the protective deity Dusolma (Dud sol ma) from Marpa and the last, Nāmasaṃgīti, from two disciples of Smṛtijñānakīrti. Maṇḍalas 1 and 2 in the list are associated with the Hevajratantra, number 3 with the explanatory Vajrapañjaratantra, numbers 4 and 5 with the Catuṣpīṭhatantra, number 6 with the Mahāmāyātantra, and number 7 with the Nāmasaṃgīti. Practices of the perfection phase specifically associated with Hevajra, Catuṣpīṭha and Mahāmāyā were also transmitted in the Ngog lineage. Among these, the most representative was “merging and transference”(bsre ’pho), which is the name of the practice of the six doctrines (chos drug) according to the Hevajratantra. In addition to these cycles, Ngog also received from Marpa the transmission of the protective deity Dusolma , who became the guardian of his spiritual wealth and the symbol of the Ngog tradition.”
Transmission Lineages from Ngog Choku Dorje onwards
The 17th Karmapa then explained the lineages of the two main transmissions from Ngog Choku Dorje:
“There were two main transmissions of Ngok Choku Dorje’s lineage of explanations, the Ram and Ngok traditions. It is said that Kunkhyen Choku Oser wrote a text establishing that the Ram and Ngok traditions both have the same intent. Of these two, the Ram and Ngok, the Ngok tradition was passed down by Ngok Choku Dorje’s son Dode, and that split into two transmissions, the Tsangtsa and Gyaltsa transmissions. The Tsangtsa transmission was passed down to Treushing Rinpoche Jangchup Palwa, who it seems Lord Tsongkhapa respected highly and frequently praised as being learned and awakened in the tradition of Ngok. Jangchup Palwa’s students at that time included Jamyang Choje Tashi Palden, Taklung Ngawang Drakpa, Go Lotsawa Shonnu Pal, Panchen Jampa Lingpa, and many other learned students. He taught the Hevajra tantra from a manuscript called the Dorjema, and each time he taught it, he made a mark. It is said he made 182 marks.
At one point, the lineage of explanation of Vajra Catuhpitha was lost, so Lord Tsongkhapa told Jangchup Palwa that he absolutely must revive it. Jangchup Palwa went to see an old lama at Treushing Monastery named Loppon Tsulgon and received the transmission of the tantra of Vajra Catuhpitha from him. After that, he taught Vajra Catuhpitha many times.
In particular, Trimkhang Lotsawa Sonam Gyatso (khrims khang lo tsA ba bsod nams rgya mtsho, (1424-1482) received the empowerments of the Seven Ngok Mandalas and wrote complete new sadhana and mandala ritual texts for them. Later, he gave the empowerments of the Seven Ngok Mandalas to the Fourth Shamar Chennga Chodrak, on which occasion there were many miraculous signs, such as rainbows forming around the edges of the mandala. Panchen Sönam Drakpa wrote in his history of the Kadampa that Trimkhang Lotsawa’s most important activity was to spread the tradition of the Ngok mandalas.
Mahasattva Lodro Gyaltsen of Dema Tang also went to Shung and received from Jangchup Palwa many of the Ngok dharma teachings. According to his liberation story, he took Dhumangari as his dharma protector. Also, when Druk Gyalwang Choje went to Shung and met Jangchup Palwa, Jangchup Palwa said to him, “I have been waiting for you until now. Now I can return the dharma to its owner.” He then gave him all the empowerments and pith instructions of the Ngok Mandalas, including the minor teachings, entrusting the teachings to him.
Similarly, the two well-known masters of the Shennga Kagyu, Pakpa Lha and Shiwa Lha, went to Machen in Tsari, where they received the Seven Ngok Mandalas from Choje Tsangchenpa along with their auxiliary teachings. The biographies of many Tibetan masters describe how they received the teachings and empowerments of the Seven Ngok Mandalas. The Fifth Dalai Lama’s biography of Gonpo Sonam Chokden relates how he received the Seven Ngok Mandalas from Ngokton Jamyang Oser.
In later times, when the First Jamgon Kongtrul compiled the Seven Ngok Mandalas, he consulted old manuscripts including those by Trimkhang Lotsawa, Shamar Chennga Chodrak, Jetsun Taranatha, and Karma Chakme. Most of these texts are still extant, which is fortuitous.
These days we have been receiving many old manuscripts from Tibet, including many from the seats of the Ngok tradition. This includes many of the manuscripts I have mentioned, including the texts by Trimkhang Lotsawa. The transmissions of the empowerments of most of these were all transmitted in full to Situ Panchen Tsuglak Chokyi Nangwa (1700-1774). His reincarnation, Situ Pema Nyinche, also received the complete transmission, and it is said that the Gelukpa Amchok Geshe Tulku Konchok Tenpay Gyaltsen received them all. I think this will be beneficial for us in our research.”
The Thirteen Tantras of Marpa and Karma Kagyu
The 17th Karmapa also taught about how the First Jamgon Kongtrul compiled these seven mandalas with other tantras of Marpa to make thirteen Tantras [such as the Chakrasamvara, Vajravarahi, Guhyasamaja, Buddhakapala, and Vajrabhairava mandalas] into the Treasury of Kagyu Mantras. He said:
“The Treasury of Kagyu Mantras that Jamgon Kongtrul compiled primarily contains tantra, not sutra. Within the tantra, it is primarily the unexcelled tantra, and within that, it is primarily from the tradition of Marpa. This mainly contains the transmissions of the Marpa Tradition that have been passed down through the Kamtsang and Drikung Kagyu. Jamgon Kongtrul himself said that he took the tantras of Marpa to heart and just wished to prevent their transmission of ripening and liberation from being lost. As he said, it is important for all of us followers of Marpa the Translator to treasure this inheritance and practice it. The great masters of the past have said this, and I have also come to feel a degree of certainty in it myself.
Not long after I arrived in India, we held the Karma Kagyu Conference in Varanasi. At that time, each monastery was assigned one of the thirteen Marpa Tantras, and I suggested that they should hold pujas of these tantras annually. The monasteries have done as I suggested and consider each of these like their special deity. They have received the empowerments and transmissions from the Heart Sons, studied the ritual with Kyabje Vajradhara Tenga Rinpoche, and so on. In this way, they have taken great interest and have been practicing them to this day.
At the time of Situ Panchen, in Jangyul they compiled an index of the deities of the unexcelled tantra and painted twenty-seven thankas. I have received old thankas from this transmission of just about all of them. It seemed to me that the monasteries holding the pujas needed to see the thankas, so I was able to offer them to the monasteries. Also, a few years ago, I let them know that I would be able to provide some assistance for building retreat centers for the Marpa Tantras.”
A recent edition of Dharmachakra, the magazine published by New Zealand Karma Kagyu Trust, includes a letter from the 17th Karmapa concerning the Kagyu curriculum. He requested that Kagyu monasteries practice the Thirteen Tantras of Marpa. [Comment by Carl Djung. This letter was from 2002. I have seen copy of this letter, in English, around April-May 2017, but cannot find it again. 30th of August 2017]. The 17th Karmapa assigned the pujas as follows:
Bibliography
Cécile Ducher Building a Tradition The Lives of Mar-pa the Translator Cécile Ducher (Indus Verlag, 2017) see: https://epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/41307/1/Ducher_2017.pdf
Andrew Quintman, “Marpa Chokyi Lodro,” Treasury of Lives, http://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Marpa-Chokyi-Lodro/4354.
Adele Tomlin (2021) GOLDEN TEACHINGS OF KAGYU TANTRA: Marpa the Translator and student Ngog, the Seven Ngog Mandalas, Thirteen Tantras of Marpa, Kongtrul’s Treasury of Kagyu Mantras
Adele Tomlin (2021) THE EIGHT MAIN HEVAJRA LINEAGES AND ‘INNATE’ HEVAJRA OF SHANTIPA: Lineages, Texts and 2021 Teaching and Empowerment by 8th Garchen Rinpoche
Adele Tomlin (2020) The Treasury of Kagyu Mantras (Kagyu Ngag Dzo): Composition, Sources, Contents and Editions
Dakini Translations and Publications མཁའ་འགྲོ་མའི་ལོ་ཙཱ་བའི་འགྱུར་དང་འགྲེམས་སྤེལ། 