“For the teachings of the Buddha to flourish, there is no one greater to do that than Dezhin Shegpa, the [5th] Karmapa”–Je Tsongkhapa
“So if you wish to follow me,
Do not make Dharma lineages into ‘mine’ and ‘yours’,
Spreading Buddha’s teachings is enough.
Having warm affection for one’s ‘own side’
Do not think of flourishing for that one alone.
May the mind of non-sectarian bias for all the teachings
Be like an unbearable, blazing gust in the heart!”
–Excerpt from Song to Great Lineage Masters by 8th Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje (tr. Adele Tomlin, 2021)
Yesterday, the 17th Karmapa Facebook page published a Praise to Je Tsongkhapa in Tibetan said to be by the 8th Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje. I was surprised to see this, as the 17th Karmapa is still incognito (whereabouts unknown to the public), even after the surprise ‘photo-shoot’ meeting with the 14th Dalai Lama in Zurich, which sadly, totally disrupted and halted his long awaited Summer teachings. So why a Praise to Tsongkhapa? Have the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa’s activities these days really been reduced to occasional letters of praise, birthday wishes, and condolences for male tulku lamas published on Facebook? Let us hope not!
Then, I noticed that “Je Tsongkhapa Day” (the anniversary of his parinirvana) was commemorated in Lhasa, Tibet and other places on 25th December (Dakini and Christmas Day 2024). However, I looked for this particular Praise to Tsongkhapa in the 8th Karmapa’s Collected Works but could not find it at all. The FB post did not cite a textual source either, so if anyone knows which edition of the Collected Works it is in, please let me know.
The 8th Karmapa’s non-sectarian Praises to the Great Lineage Masters and Gelugpa sectarianism from 5th Dalai Lama onwards to the present
However, seeing this unsourced Praise reminded me of another Praises by the 8th Karmapa about the great masters of other main lineages, which I translated and wrote about before (see Song to Great Lineage Masters by 8th Karmapa here). This admiration and praise was mutual, Je Tsongkhapa (considered to be the founder of the Gelugpa lineage) had written a praise to the 5th Karmapa, Dezhin Shegpa, in a letter to him, which is preserved in the Collected Short Works of Je Tsongkhapa.
In this letter it says: “For the teachings of the Buddha to flourish, there is no one greater to do that than Dezhin Shegpa, the Karmapa”. Along with the letter, he sent a statue of Buddha Shakyamuni sitting in the seated position of Maitreya from Reting monastery. The Sixteenth Karmapa brought the statue with him when he fled Tibet and it is kept at Rumtek Monastery, Sikkim (for more on that, see here). Also, Rongton Sheja Kunrig (ShAkya rgyal mtshan) (1367-1449) the Sakya master, and other masters from other traditions also wrote letters saying the 5th Karmapa was like a Buddha returning to the world. Je Pawo Tsulag Trengwa reported that he had actually seen these letters.
These praises clearly show that Je Tsongkhapa (and the 8th Karmapa) were not sectarian and willing to write about the great qualities of other lineage masters.This disproves some Gelugpa narrative biased historians who have suggested that the 8th Karmapa and Karma Kagyu were somehow sectarian, as they also falsely suggested in relation to the Gelugpa-Mongolian invasion of Ladakh and their chasing and crushing of Drugpa Kagyu lamas (whom they falsely accused of sectarianism there), who fled to found the country now called Bhutan.
However, as I wrote about in a recent article, Gelugpa One-Way Sectarianism in Tibet and Exile, since the time of the Mongolian/Gelugpa violent invasion of Tibet in the 17th Century, and the imposition of the Mongolian institution of the 5th Dalai Lama (backdated for political reasons to a 1st Dalai Lama), I have not seen or read any Praises, Long-Life Aspirations, Commemorations etc. by the Dalai Lamas (including the current 14th) of other lineages and masters. Other than a recent one from the 14th Dalai lama called the Aspiration for the Flourishing of the Shentong View and Jonang, which I translated and included in the first edition of my book Tārānātha’s Commentary on the Heart Sutra).
The Dalai Lama’s Jonangpa praise is ironic indeed, considering the from the 5th Dalai Lama onwards, the Gelugpas singled out and brutally suppressed and censored the Jonang and Shentong view in particular for centuries. For example, it has recently been revealed that in a massive ‘stolen stash’ of books sealed and kept in the 5th Dalai Lama’s private library, there are over 200 texts by the Jonang and Shangpa Kagyu (and Kālacakra master) Jetsun Tāranātha, as well as many other great lineage masters (more on that in another article!).
Although the 17th Karmapa has been active in praising and commemorating the birthdays, parinirvanas of other lineage masters, such as his swift re-birth aspiration for the recent passing of the head of Jonang in Tibet, Jigme Dorje (translated by me here). The same cannot be said of the 14th Dalai Lama, nor of the other main lineage heads. So why is the Praise and commemorations one way only? The Gelugpas are clearly not following the example of Je Tsongkhapa in that respect, and many others.
Je Tsongkhapa Day: Why no commemoration of other great lineage masters and teachers in Lhasa, Tibet?
It was interesting to read about (and see photos and video of) the commemoration of Je Tsongkhapa Day in Lhasa, too. After all, in terms of a genuine and substantive spiritual, intellectual and textual legacy in Tibetan Buddhism, although he is important Je Tsongkhapa (1357-1419) is certainly not the earliest, or most outstanding or prolific by most accounts.
Tibetan masters and lineage holders (including women) whose legacy (intellectual and spiritual) in terms of Tibetan Buddhism and Vajrayana (prior to and around the time of Je Tsongkhapa (1357-1419) that is easily equal to (if not greater) than Tsongkhapa’s include:
- Yeshe Tsogyel (757 or 777 – 817) main consort of Guru Padmasambhava and realised lineage holder of Vajrakilaya and other important Vajrayana practices.
- Marpa Lotsawa (1012-1097) who made several arduous journeys overland to India, and was responsible for bringing (and translating) many important Vajrayana works from the Indian siddhas in India. See here.
- Machig Labdron (1055-1149) founder and lineage holder of Chod.
- Je Milarepa (1052-1135) direct student of Marpa, whose Songs and liberation-story inspire people globally even today. See here.
- Je Gampopa (1079-1153), student of the yogi Milarepa, whose Collected Works are one of the most important for the Kagyu lineages and for preserving and disseminating the Kagyu texts and works of Nāropa and others. For his collected works, see here.
- Phagmo Drupa Dorje Gyalpo [1110–1170], was one of the three main disciples of Gampopa Sonam Rinchen who established the Dagpo Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. Several of his students, such as Jigten Sumgon went on to found other important minor Kagyu lineages such as Drigung Kagyu.
- 1st Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa, (1110-1193), student of Je Gampopa, who was given the famed ‘black dakini hair crown’ for his remarkable powers and abilities. Founder of the Karma Kagyu lineage.
- Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyeltsen(1182 – 1251) known as a great scholar in Tibet, India, Mongolia and China and was proficient in the five great sciences of Buddhist philosophy, medicine, grammar, dialectics and sacred Sanskrit literature as well as the minor sciences of rhetoric, synonymies, poetry, music, dancing and astrology.
- 2nd Karmapa, Karma Pakshi (1204-1283) said to be the first recognised tulku in Tibet, child prodigy, with supramundane powers and originator and disseminator of the famed Mani mantra in Tibet.
- Ogyenpa Rinchen Pel (1229-1309) the founder of the tradition known as ‘Approach and Accomplishment of the Three Vajras’, one of the eight great chariots of the practice lineage. He was also one of the principal holders of the Kālacakra tantra lineages.
- Buton Rinchen Drub (1290-1364), an important teacher of the Prajñāpāramitā, and a key lineage holder of the Guhyasamāja and Kālacakra tantras.
- 3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje (1284-1339), one of the most important Tibetan Buddhist masters for his preservation and dissemination of Kālacakra, Chod, Nāropa’s Six Yogas, Tibetan astrological texts and more (see here).
- Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen (1292 – 1361) one of the most influential Buddhist masters in Tibetan history (and a contemporary of the 3rd Karmapa). He first became an important scholar of the Sakya tradition, but then moved to Jonang monastery and constructed a monumental stupa.
- Longchenpa (1308-1364) brilliant and prolific Nyingma master and scholar (see here).
- 5th Karmapa, Dezhin Shegpa (1384-1415) revered by Chinese Emperors and one of the most important figures for the preservation and dissemination of the Tibetan Kangyur, Yongle Edition.
- Go Lotsawa Zhonu Pel (1392-1481), Kagyu polymath and historian, author of the Blue Annals
- Ratna Lingpa (1403–78) a great treasure-revealer who compiled the first Nyingma Collected Works
- 8th Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje (1507-1554) author of one of the largest Collected Works of a Tibetan master in the Tibetan Buddhist canon, handwritten in one edition. Founder of many important shedras in Tibet, that were all destroyed (or stolen) by the Gelugpa/Mongolian military invasion.
- Jetsun Tāranātha (1575-1634), important Shangpa Kagyu and Jonang master and Sanskrit translator, who wrote a History of Buddhism in India and other great works on Kālacakra and other Vajrayana practices. For his collected works, see here.
This is just a selection of suitable candidates for a major commemorative day by Tibetans in Tibet and exile. It is tragically ironic indeed that in Lhasa, a huge commemoration is held for the Gelugpa founder, Je Tsongkhapa, while the Mongolian-imposed political dictators of the Dalai Lama/Ganden government is totally forbidden, and no photos of the Dalai Lama is allowed.
As I wrote here in the Mongolian-Gelug Shadow Over Tibet: Six Decades of failed US-Gelug policy, the Gelugpa power over Tibet is well and truly over, even though they still cling onto power and make the elderly 14th Dalai Lama travel around India and the world to maintain that lost power and influence. So although Tsongkhapa is an influential person, his huge commemoration in Lhasa is clearly a leftover legacy of Gelug/New Kadampa sectarianism.
As a sign of goodwill and respect, is it not time for other lineages and their great masters and legacies to be celebrated to the same extent as Je Tsongkhapa? Whose biggest “claim to fame” legacy is the compilation of Lam-Rim (Gradual Path) teachings, and texts on Prasangika Madhyamika view (which Zhentongpas rightly asserted were faulty in their reasoning and conclusions)? With all due respect to Je Tsongkhapa, Tibetan Buddhist intellectual and spiritual history and legacy is so much bigger, deeper and wider than Gelugpa scholarship and views.