Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen

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Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen
Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen

Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen (Tibetan: ད??; Wylie: Dol-po-pa Shes-rab Rgyal-mtshan) (1292-1361), known simply as Dolpopa, the Tibetan Buddhist master known as "The Buddha from Dolpo," is often seen as the founder of the Jonangpa tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. However, the doctrinal origins of the Jonangpa tradition in Tibet can be traced to early 12th century master Yumo Mikyo Dorje, but they became much wider known with the help of Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen.

He was born in the Dolpo region of modern Nepal but in 1309, when he was seventeen, he ran away from home to seek Buddhist teachings, first in Mustang, and then in Tibet.[1]

Dolpopa became one of the most influential and original Tibetan teachers. Originally a monk of the Sakya order, he developed a teaching known as Shentong or Zhentong (gzhan song), which is closely tied to the Indian Yogacara school. He is considered to be one of the greatest exponents of the Kalachakra or "Wheel of Time" and a "consummate practitioner" of the Six Yogas:

"It is important to keep in mind that Dolpopa was a consummate practitioner of the Six-branch Yoga, the perfection-stage practices of the Kālacakra tantra, and although he based his doctrinal discussions upon scripture, in particular the Kālacakra-related cycles, his own experience in meditation was crucial to the formulation of his theories."[2]

In 1314, when he was twenty-two years old, Dolpopa received full monastic ordination from the famous abbot of Chölung Monastery, Sönam Trakpa (1273-1352), and made a vow at the time to never eat slaughtered meat again.[3]

In 1321, Dolpopa visited the monastery of Jonang for the first time. He then visited Tsurphu Monastery for the first time and had extensive discussions with Rangjung Dorje, the third Karmapa, about doctrinal issues. It appears that Rangjung Dorje almost certainly influenced the development of some of Dolpopa's theories, possibly including his Shentong method.[4] Other than this, he had studied almost completely under the Sakya tradition until he was thirty years old in 1322, and he had taught for most of the previous decade at the great Sakya Monastery.[5]

In 1327, after the death of his guru Yönden Gyantso, Dolpopa decided to fulfill a prayer he had made at the great stūpa at Trophu (Khro phu) to repay his master's kindness. "He also felt that the stūpa would become an object of worship for people who were not fortunate enough to engage in study, contemplation, and meditation, and therefore provide them with the opportunity to accumulate virtue."[6]

In 1329 a large stūpa was quickly built at upper Zangden (Bzang ldan), but it collapsed. In 1330 the foundations for a much larger stūpa were laid at a new site in lower Zangden. It was a massive undertaking and involved many workers and artisans. Support flowed in from around Tibet. It was finally consecrated in 1333 and was the largest stūpa temple (sku 'bum) in Tibet.[7]

After the construction of the stūpa, he spent many years studying and in meditation retreat. He became widely recognised as one of the great Buddhist masters of Tibet. Many offerings were sent to him including gold from Sakya Tishri Kunga Gyaltsen, and a golden mandala from Rangjung Dorje.[8]

The entire corpus of Dolpopa's writings, which include his controversial definition of the Buddhist concept of śūnyatā (usually translated as "emptiness" or "voidness") as being two-fold, including "emptiness of self-nature" applying only to relative truth, while absolute truth was characterised by "emptiness of other" (i.e. ultimate Reality is not empty of its own uncreated and deathless Truth, but only of what is impermanent and illusory), was completely suppressed by the dominant Gelukpa order for several hundred years, although it is sometimes claimed that this suppression was equally for political reasons as doctrinal.

Dolpopa retired from the leadership of Jonang Monastery in 1338, and appointed the translator (Lotsawa) Lödro Bal to succeed him. Lödro Bal remained in this role for seventeen years.[9]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Stearns (1999), p. 11.
  2. ^ Stearns (1999), p. 46.
  3. ^ Stearns (1999), pp. 15-16.
  4. ^ Stearns (1999), p. 17.
  5. ^ Stearns (1999), pp. 32, 61.
  6. ^ Stearns (1999), p. 20.
  7. ^ Stearns (1999), pp. 11, 20-21.
  8. ^ Stearns (1999), p. 28.
  9. ^ Stearns (1999), p. 28.

[edit] References

  • Hopkins, Jeffrey (2006). Mountain Doctrine: Tibet's Fundamental Treatise on Other-Emptiness and the Buddha Matrix - by: Dolpopa, Jeffrey Hopkins, Snow Lion Publications, Hardcover, 832 Pages. ISBN 1-55939-238-X
  • Stearns, Cyrus (1999). The Buddha from Dolpo: A Study of the Life and Thought of the Tibetan Master Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen. State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-7914-4191-1 (hc); ISBN 0-7914-4192-X (pbk).

[edit] External links