REMEMBERING THE ‘CROWN JEWEL OF ALL KAGYU’, JE GAMPOPA : An overview of research and translations on Je Gampopa and online commemoration with 17th Gyalwang Karmapa

མཆོག་བྱིན་རླབས་དངོས་གྲུབ་དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་ནས༎  རྗེ་སྒམ་པོ་པ་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས༎
From the mandala of supreme blessings and siddhi, Lord Gampopa, I supplicate!
–Excerpt from 15th Karmapa’s Praise to the Dagpo Kagyu lineage

Today, the full moon day, is also the parinirvana of one of the most important lineage forefathers of the Kagyu lineages, Je Gampopa, the ‘Crown Jewel of all Kagyu’. As an offering for this special day, I re-publish here a supplication to the Dagpo Kagyu by the 15th Karmapa, Khakyab Dorje and all links to the research and translations I have done on Je Gampopa, listed in the dedicated website section here.

Today, the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa announced that he will be leading the online ritual and supplications for the Je Gampopa Parinirvana Day from 6pm (IST), GMT – 12:30 pm. He also released a short verse of praise with artwork, which I have translated below).

The website includes research and translations on Gampopa’s HRIH-arisen Vajravarahi and English language translation of the outline of his remarkable collected works. In addition, full transcriptions of the 17th Karmapa’s teachings in 2021 on the Four Dharmas of Gampopa and supplication to Je Gampopa by the 15th Karmapa.

Music? Jewel in the Crown by Mike Oldfield and Gampopa’s Doha by the Palpung Sherab Ling monastery.

The Dagpo Kagyu

The Dagpo Kagyu (དྭགས་པོ་བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་) are called such because they originate from Gampopa (1079-1153), who was also known as Dagpo Lhaje (དྭགས་པོ་ལྷ་རྗེ་) “the Physician from Dagpo” and Nyamed Dakpo Rinpoche “Incomparable Precious One from Dagpo”. All the lineages of the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism surviving today, including the Drikung Kagyu, the Drukpa Lineage and the Karma Kagyu, are branches of the Dagpo Kagyu.

The term Dagpo Kagyu is sometimes used to refer specifically to the lineage of Gampopa’s own monastery of Dagla Gampo. This lineage passed from Gampopa to his own nephew Dagpo Gomtsul. Dagpo Tashi Namgyal (1511-1587) was an important lama in this lineage.

New Praise to Gampopa by 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje

“Completely perfected the sections of Sutra, Tantra, Theory and Practice,
Three places brimming with luminous nectar of the definitive meaning,
Great master of billions of constellations of accomplished lineages,
Remembering the incomparable, Dawo Zhonu (Brilliant Moon Young One, Gampopa).”
མདོ་སྔགས་བཤད་སྒྲུབ་ཆ་ཤས་ཡོངས་སུ་རྫོགས༎
ངེས་དོན་བདུད་རྩིའི་འོད་ས་གསུམ་འགེངས༎
གྲུབ་རིགས་རྒྱུ་སྐར་བྱེ་བའི་མངའ་བདག་ཆེ༎
མཉམ་མེད་འོད་གཞོན་ནུ་རྗེས་སུ་དྲན༎

Supplication to Dagpo Kagyu and Je Gampopa by 15th Karmapa

In 2021, I translated and published a supplication to Je Gampopa by the 15th Karmapa, Khakyab Dorje. In this supplication to the Dagpo lineage masters, which the 15^th Karmapa composed at Tshurpu Monastery, it recites the places and names of some of the main Dagpo teachers including Saraha [Great Bhramin], Marpa the Translator, Milarepa [the laughing Vajra], Je Gampopa, the 1^st Karmapa [the bald Khampa] and Karma Pakshi, 2^nd Karmapa, Thegchog Dorje [6^th Karmapa], Vajravarahi and Mahakala. It was composed at Tshurphu in the iron-dragon year (1880), on the third day of the month of 100-thousand accumulations [Saga Dawa] [1].

རྗེ་བླ་མ་རྣམས་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ༎  དཔལ་དྭགས་པོ་བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས༎

pal dagpo kagyü la solwa deb// jé lama nam la chaktsal lo

Bow down to the Lord Gurus!  Glorious Dagpo Kagyu, I supplicate!

དཔལ་ཆེན་གྱི་རི་ཡི་རྩེ་མོ་ནས༎ མཁས་པ་བྲམ་ཟེ་ཆེན་པོ་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས༎

khepa dramzé chenpo la solwa deb// palchen gyi ri yi tsemo né     

From the peak of the spectacular, great mountain, wise Saraha [Great Brahmin], I supplicate!

ལྷོ་གྲོ་ལུང་གི་གཞལ་ཡས་ནས༎  མར་པ་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས༎

 marpa lotsawa la solwa deb//lho dro lung gi shyalyé né            

From the incomparable palace of the southern Drolung, Marpa Lotsawa, I supplicate!

བདེ་ཆེན་གྱི་སྲིད་པའི་རོལ་པ་ནས༎  དབང་ཕྱུག་བཞད་པ་རྡོ་རྗེ་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས༎         

dechen gyi sipé rolpa né// wangchuk zhepa dorjé la solwa deb//

From the playful display of cosmic, great bliss, powerful ‘Laughing Vajra’ [Milarepa], I supplicate!

མཆོག་བྱིན་རླབས་དངོས་གྲུབ་དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་ནས༎  རྗེ་སྒམ་པོ་པ་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས༎

chog jinlab ngödrub kyilkhor né // jé gampopa la solwa deb//

From the mandala of supreme blessings and siddhi, Lord Gampopa, I supplicate!

ཤར་ཏྲེ་ཤོད་གངས་ཀྱི་ར་བ་ནས༎   གྲུབ་ཐོབ་ཁམས་པ་དབུ་སེ་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས༎

shar tré shö gang kyi rawa né/   drubthob khampa usé la solwa deb//

From the Eastern, Tresho Gangirawa, the bald, Khampa siddha [1^st Karmapa], I supplicate!

སྣང་སྲིད་དབང་སྡུད་ཀྱི་གཞལ་ཡས་ནས༎   གྲུབ་ཆེན་ཀརྨ་པཀྴི་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས༎

nangsi wangdü kyi shyalyé né// drubchen karma pakshi la solwa deb//

From the palace of the condensed power of appearance-existence, mahasiddha Karma Pakshi [2^nd Karmapa], I supplicate!

ཆོས་དབྱིངས་སྐྱེ་མེད་ཀྱི་ཀློང་ཡངས་ནས༎   རྗེ་ཐེགས་མཆོག་རྡོ་རྗེ་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས༎

chöying kyemé kyi long yang né//  jé thek chok dorjé la solwa deb//

From the expanse of birthless, dharmadhātu, Lord Thegchog Dorje [6^th Karmapa], I supplicate!

གཉིས་མེད་ཆོས་འབྱུང་གི་གཞལ་ཡས་ནས༎   ཡུམ་རྡོ་རྗེ་ཕག་པོ་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས༎

nyimé chöjung gi shyalyé né// yum dorjé pakpo la solwa deb//

From the non-dual Dharmodaya , mother Vajravarahi [Dorje Phagmo] I supplicate!

གཏུམ་དྲག་གི་མེ་རླུང་འཁྲུགས་པ་ནས༎   མ་ཧཱ་ཀཱ་ལ་ལྕམ་དྲལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས༎

tumdrak gi mé lung trukpa né//   mahakala chamdral solwa deb//

From the raging fiery winds of intense heat, Mahākāla and retinue, I supplicate!

དེ་ལྟར་དུ་གསོལ་བ་བཏབ་པའི་མཐུས༎   བདག་སོགས་ལ་བསོད་ནམས་རབ་འཕེལ་ཞིང་༎

detar du solwa tabpé tü//  dak sok la sönam rab phel zhing//

By the power of supplicating like this, may the merit of myself and others, totally flourish!

སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་བསྟན་པ་དར་ཞིང་རྒྱས༎   སེམས་ཅན་ལ་བདེ་སྐྱིད་འཕེལ་བ་དང་༎

sangye kyi tenpa dar shying gyé //  semchen la dekyi phelwa dang//

May the Buddha’s teachings increase and spread, and the blissful happiness of sentient beings grow!

རང་བཞིན་དག་པ་ཡི་ཆོས་སྐུའི་སེམས༎      རྣམ་རྟོག་ཀུན་བདེ་ཆེན་དབྱིངས་སུ་ཞུགས༎

rangzhin dakpa yi chökü sem//  namtok kün dechen ying su zhuk//

The mind, naturally pure Dharmakaya, the expanse of great bliss in which all concepts remain!

ཐར་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་ལམ་མཆོག་ཏུ་གནས༎   བདེ་ཆེན་གྱི་དངོས་གྲུབ་བདག་ལ་སྩོལ༎

tarpa chenpö lam chok tu né //  dechen gyi ngödrub dak la tsol//

Abiding on the supreme path of great liberation, please bestow on me the great bliss of siddhis!

གཞན་ཡང་ཕྱི་ནང་དང་གསང་བ་ཡི༎    བར་ཆད་མ་ལུས་ཞི་བར་མཛོད༎

zhenyang chi nang dang sangwa yi // barché malü zhiwar dzö

Moreover, please pacify, without exception, the outer, inner and secret obstacles!

ཆོས་དང་བཀྲ་ཤིས་འཕེལ་བ་དང་༎   འདོད་པ་ཐམས་ཅས་འགྲུབ་པར་མཛོད༎

chö dang tashi phelwa dang//  döpa tham ché drubpar dzö//

May the Dharma and auspiciousness flourish and may all wishes be accomplished.

ཅེས་པའང་མཁའ་ཁྱབ་རྡོ་རྗེ་ཡིས༎  ལྕགས་འབྲུག་ལོར་འབུམ་འགྱུར་ཟླ་བ་ཡི་ཚེས་གསུམ་ལ་མཚུར་གྱི་གདན་ས་ནས༎ སྤྲུལ་པའི་སྐུས་མགུར་དུ་བླངས་པ་དགེ༎

 In the iron-dragon year (1880), on the third day of the month of 100-thousand accumulations [Saga Dawa], from the seat of Tshurphu, the manifested form of this song was taken up by [15^th Karmapa] Khakhyab Dorje. Virtue!

Translated and edited by Adele Tomlin, 12th January 2021.

Overview of research and translations on Je Gampopa

General articles

CONCISE LIBERATION-STORY OF JE GAMPOPA BY 17th GYALWANG KARMAPA (Summer Teaching, 2022): Influential doctor, Kadampa Masters, Milarepa’s Dream and Unifying Sutra and Tantra

‘NAKEDLY SEEING THE DHARMAKAYA’ FULL MOON OFFERINGS FOR JE GAMPOPA DAY: Je Gampopa Guru Yoga by Jamgon Kongtrul and other Guru Yoga/Praises Texts; and the Paranirvana of Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje and live online puja today led by 17th Gyalwang Karmapa

UNIVERSE-BLAZING GODDESS, ‘HRIH-ARISEN’ VAJRAYOGINI BY JE GAMPOPA: NEW TRANSLATIONS ‘PRAISES TO VARAHI’  AND SHORT ‘FIVE-DEITY VAJRAYOGINI SADHANA’ IN JE GAMPOPA’S COLLECTED WORKS

THE COLLECTED WORKS OF JE GAMPOPA: ‘RAW’ INSTRUCTIONS (MAR TRI)’, DHARMA GATHERINGS (TSHOG CHO), JEWEL ORNAMENTS AND PEARL GARLANDS. NEW PUBLISHED COMPILATION OF EXTANT EDITIONS AND TRANSLATED ENGLISH OUTLINE OF GAMPOPA’S COLLECTED WORKS

‘SIMULTANEOUSLY-ARISEN’, LIKE SUN AND SUNLIGHT: Dagpo Gampopa on the meaning of ‘simultaneously-arisen’, ‘white panacea’ and Dzogchen in the context of Mahāmudrā

Four Dharmas of Gampopa by 17th Karmapa (January 2021 Teachings)

Here are the full edited transcripts of the 17th Karmapa’s teachings in January 2021, from Day 1-8  (based on both the original Tibetan AND English translation). Footnotes and information about the source texts and people HH mentioned are included. The video links for the teachings are here.

‘Confusion dawning as primordial awareness’: the fourth Dharma, Chinese Zen and the debate on gradual vs instant awakening. ‘Four Dharmas of Gampopa’ by 17th Karmapa (Part VIII: Session II)

‘Dismantling Artificial Boundaries’: Concepts of nations, ‘self’ and ‘other’; developing great love and compassion and ‘without borders’ ultimate nature. ‘Four Dharmas of Gampopa’ by 17th Karmapa (Part VIII)

Suffering is ‘ready and waiting to happen’: The three types of suffering, being a Dharma practitioner and ‘Dharma going on the Path’. ‘Four Dharmas of Gampopa’ by 17th Karmapa (Day VII)

‘Dharma is not ‘one size fits all’: The importance of individual levels, the infallibility of karma and seeing others’ good qualities: ‘Four Dharmas of Gampopa’ by 17th Karmapa (Part VI)

‘May Dharma go along with Dharma’: The difference between ‘real Dharma’ and ‘pretend Dharma’: ‘Four Dharmas’ of Gampopa by 17th Karmapa (Part V)

‘The Crown Jewel of Kagyu’: Gampopa’s Collected Works, Last Testament and Textual Sources : ‘Four Dharmas’ of Gampopa by 17th Karmapa (Part IV)

When Gampopa met Milarepa: A tale of beggars, buttocks and bliss. ‘Four Dharmas’ of Gampopa by 17th Karmapa (Part III)

The Doctor of Dagpo (Dagpo Lhaje) whose family tragedy led to monkhood: ”Four Dharmas’ of Gampopa’ by 17th Karmapa (Part II)

‘All Buddhists can be called ‘Kagyupa”: the ‘Four Dharmas’ of Gampopa by 17th Karmapa (Part I)

Supplications

NEW TRANSLATION: ‘Supplication to Dagpo Kagyu’ by 15th Karmapa

Endnotes

[1] Dwags po bka’ brgyud gsol ‘debs/ In Karma pa sku phreng rim byon gyi gsung ‘bum phyogs bsgrigs/ 52-53, Volume 95, TBRC W3PD1288.