More chronological conundrums in the Shangpa Kagyu*

Niguma, manuscript of shangs pa bka' brgyud pa'i chos skor

“The tradition of physical immortality practice apparently enters the Shangpa lineage early on by way of Nyentön Rigongpa Chökyi Sherap (1175–1255), the sixth in the restricted one-to-one lineage commanded by Niguma. According to his biography, he received the teachings on yogic exercises of immortality (’phrul ’khor; Skt: yantra) from a yogin who said that he had come from India and called himself Durtröpa, the “charnel ground dweller[1].” This is an epithet for the translator of the present text, Edawa. Nyentön’s successor, the seventh “jewel” Sangye Tönpa Tsöndru Senge (1207–1278), wrote down these yogic exercises in a work that draws heavily from Virūpa’s Amṛtasiddhi[2]. However, Jamgön Kongtrul lists no fewer than six Shangpa lineage holders who also authored works on this subject: Khyungpo, Mokchokpa, Kyergangpa, Sangye Tönpa, Chöje [Nyen]tönpa, and Gyaltsen Bum [1261-1334], placing it much earlier.[3]”

Shangpa Kagyu: The Tradition of Khyungpo Naljor, Part One: Essential Teachings of the Eight Practice Lineages of Tibet, Volume 11 (The Treasury of Precious Instructions), Sarah Harding

We can’t assume without analytical research that the Shangpa works on the Deathless (‘chi med) have indeed been authored by their first lineage holders, thereby placing them much earlier than the Amṛtasiddhi works, investigated by Kurtis Schaeffer, James Mallinson and Szántó Péter-Dániel. The Amṛtasiddhi and Amṛtasiddhimūla, The Earliest Texts of the Hathayoga Tradition (Institut français de Pondichéry, 2022) shows that these two works have been used by various Tibetan authors, to write their respective works. Both the Amṛtasiddhi and Amṛtasiddhimūla have been incorporated in Tibetan Tengyur collections, under the titles 'chi med bsgrub pa zhes bya ba and bdud rtsi grub pa'i rtsa ba zhes bya ba (D2285, P3133). The Amṛtasiddhimūla contains passages from the Amṛtasiddhi. The Amṛtasiddhimūla is of particular interest to the Shangpa lineage, because it has been used (almost entirely) to write the 'chi med grub pa zhes bya ba'i rtsa ba (Amārasiddhimūla, a back translation of the title into Sanskrit), ‘chi med (immortality) being a different Tibetan term to translate bdud rtsi (amṛta). This work has been translated and published by Sarah Harding in the above mentioned Shangpa Kagyu: The Tradition of Khyungpo Naljor, under the title “Attaining Immortality of the Body, Root Text”.

What James Mallinson and Szántó Péter-Dániel write about the Amṛtasiddhimūla is also mostly valid for this Shangpa version. The biggest difference being a passage of 37 verses that has been inserted between [4] and [6], replacing [5][4]. The Shangpa version is not part of a Tengyur collection, but has been included by Jamgön Kongtrül Lodrö Thayé in his gDams ngag mdzod (Damngak Dzö Volume 11[5]) as part of the “Vajra Lines of the Six Dharmas of Niguma, Ḍākinī of Timeless Awareness: The Roots of the Golden Dharmas of the Shangpa” (Ye shes kyi mkha' gro ni gu ma’i chos drug rdo rje'i tshig rkang). Here are the beginning and end (colophon) of the work :

'bras bu lus 'chi med kyi rtsa ba bzhugs so// rgya gar skad du/ a mA ra sid+d+hi mU la/ bod skad du/ 'chi med grub pa zhes bya ba'i rtsa ba/
[...]
'chi med grub pa zhes bya ba slob dpon chen po dpal bir wa mdzad pa rdzogs so// rgya gar gyi rnal 'byor pa chen po dpal dur khrod pa'i zhal snga nas dang*/ bod kyi lo tsA ba mar pa lo tsA bas te to' dur khrod du bsgyur ba'o/

The Shangpa “Amṛtasiddhimūla” is attributed to Virūpa. It was received orally from the great yogi “dpal dur khrod pa” and translated by the Tibetan translator Marpa Lotsawa in the Charnel ground of Teto. Since “dur khrod pa” means charnel ground dweller and many of the traveling yogis may have been charnel ground dwellers, several of them could have been designed by such a name. One specific Indian charnel ground dweller however is named in works on Amṛtasiddhi in the Tengyur collection: Eṇadeva[6].

Because of an “autobiography” attributed to Rigongpa/Nyentönpa (13th century[7]), Schaeffer wrote “Gnyan ston received teachings in the middle of the twelfth century on the yantras or symbolic tools of Amṛtasiddhi (‘chi med kyi ‘phrul ‘khor) from a master who had traveled to Tibet from western India, whose Indian master in turn was given the Tibetan name Dur khrod pa.” If Nyentönpa did indeed receive these teachings, it would have been in the middle of the thirteenth century. The same “autobiography” tells how these teachings were then passed onto Sangyé Tönpa, who is considered as the author of these yantra teachings and the first real propagator of the Shangpa teachings. Why is that? Because of one of the many tricks of a hagiographer. In this case a lineage restricted to a single holder (gcig brgyud) during several generations. It's only from the comfort of the future that a hagiographer can look back at the history of a lineage and come up with such an idea. Who can guarantee that by vowing to transmit teachings to one single person for seven generations, this person will effectively be able to pass it on successfully to the right person, and not die before a transmission, to mention only one possible obstacle ? We only need to look at the history of dynasties of kings and even high lamas. Many died young and before their time. 

“The Shangpa Kagyu lineage is often referred to as the ´secret lineage´ because Niguma instructed Khyungpo Naljor to transmit the teachings to only one student for the first seven generations (beginning with the Buddha Vajradhara and Niguma).” (The Shangpa Kagyu Lineage)

This makes Sangyé Tönpa (1207–1278) the seventh generation teacher. In my opinion the single transmission lineage is one way to explain gaps in the transmissions of a lineage. In this case, the storyline is that the Shangpa lineage already had these Amṛtasiddhi teachings, but could not spread them because of Niguma’s order. This saves the lineage line from interruptions. Khyungpo had access to the same realizations and blessings as Sangyé Tönpa, but could not yet spread the aural lineage teachings.

shangs pa bka' brgyud pa'i chos skor

Those who would like to date the first Haṭhayoga works even earlier could base themselves on the colophon of the Shangpa version of the Amṛtasiddhimūla (Amārasiddhimūla), where it is stated that it was translated by Marpa[8] (1012–1097) …

In spite of the recurrent error, and in fact the correct spelling "rma" does not appear anywhere as far as I know, but Jamgön Kongtrul attributes the translation of these teachings in the Shangpa Dharma Directory (Shangs chos dkar chag) to rMa lotsāwa, Rma ban chos ’bar (1044-1089). Still the 11th century.   

As for the Amṛtasiddhi, Schaeffer mentions in his article (2002) that the manuscript’s colophon gives a date which “may read 1159” and his reading has been confirmed by James Mallinson[9] (The Amṛtasiddhi: Haṭhayoga’s tantric Buddhist source text, 2016). This was confirmed again in The Amṛtasiddhi and Amṛtasiddhimūla, The Earliest Texts of the Hathayoga Tradition (Institut français de Pondichéry, 2022).

“The date of the Amrtasiddhimūla cannot be determined with certainty. Its relationship with the Amṛtasiddhi is similarly unclear (in no small part because of the poor quality of the translation). A thorough survey of the entire cycle may shed more light on their relationship, but is beyond the scope of this book; we present here what relevant information we have and our preliminary thoughts on it.”

The same goes for the Shangpa version, the Amārasiddhimūla, since it makes use of the Tibetan translation of the Amrtasiddhimūla.

*Chronological Conundrums in the Life of Khyung po rnal ’byor: Hagiography and Historical Time
Matthew T. Kapstein, University of Chicago & École Pratique des Hautes Études
JIATS, no. 1 (October 2005), THL #T1221, 14 pp.

Le cas Len Darma Lodreu 

***

[1] Note 7 Sarah Harding: Life Story of Lama Rigongpa, bLa ma ri gong pa’i rnam par thar pa, ST, vol. 1, pp. 313–14.

[2] Note 8 Sarah Harding: Sun That Illuminates the Practice of the Thirty-Two Yogic Exercises of Attaining Immortality, ST, vol. 7, pp. 267–97. Signed Viryasiṃha, a translation of his name brTson ’brus seng ge.
'chi med grub pa'i 'khrul 'khor sum cu rtsa gnyis kyi lag len

[3] Note 9 Sarah Harding: Shangpa Dharma Directory, ST, vol. 9, p. 59.
Shangpa Dharma Directory: A Key to Open the Door of the Vast and Profound Teachings. Shangs chos dkar chag zab rgyas chos kyi sgo ’byed lde mig. In Shangpa Texts. Vol. 9, pp. 43–70.

'chi med rdo rje'i tsheg rkang*/ khyung po/ rmog lcog pa/ skyer sgang pa/ sangs rgyas ston pa/ chos rje ston pa rnams kyis mdzad pa'i 'chi med kyi yig sna re/ 'chi med kyi khrid yig rgyal mtshan 'bum gyis mdzad pa/

[4] [5] By means of this, one should gradually block the three channels. This is the karmamudrā.

[5] Damngak Dzö Volume 11 (ད་) / Pages 1-27 / Folios 1a1 to 14a1

[6] “It is possible that the Dur khrod pa of Gnyan ston’s account is in fact the Indian yogin *Eṇadeva who translated a number of Amṛtasiddhi texts, for Eṇadeva is given the epithet Dur khrod pa in the colophons to two translations of works by Virūpa.” Kurtis Schaeffer, The Attainment of Immortality, From Nathas in India to Buddhists in Tibet.

[7] The dates mistakenly given by Kurtis Schaeffer in his article are those of Chennga Drakpa Jungne (spyan snga grags pa 'byung gnas).

See Gene Smith, Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, Among Tibetan Texts, History and Literature of the Himalayan Plateau, Wisdom Publications 2001, p. 283, note 126

“Dating the early Shangs pa masters is a complicated problem of which Tibetan historians were well aware. 'Gos Lo tsa ba speculated (Roerich [1949], p. 746, that Rmog lcog pa was a contemporary of Phag mo gru pa (1110-70), Skyer sgang pa of 'Bri gung 'Jig rten mgon po (1143-1217), Sangs rgyas Gnyan ston of Spyan snga (1175-1255), and Sangs rgyas ston pa of Yang dgon pa (1213-58).”

[8] Sometimes mang ba, dmar. Perhaps rMa lotsāwa, Rma ban chos ’bar (1044-1089)  could be another possibility ?

Update : In  Lady of Illusion, Sarah Harding mentions the source (p. 297, n. 2). "The Beryl Key Catalogue to Fully Open the Precious Treasury oft he Golden Dharmas of the Glorious Shangpa Kagyu/ Catalogue of Shangpa Teachings" dPal ldan shangs pa bka' brgyud kyi gser chos rin po che'i mdzod yongs su phye ba'i dkar chag bai ḍūrya'i lde'u mig/ Shangs chos dkar chag.

lus 'chi med kyi dbang gi rgya gzhung rgya skad can paN+Di ta e te pa dang rma lo tsA bas bsgyur ba/

lus 'chi med kyi rtsa ba 'chi med grub pa zhes bya ba dpal bir wa pas mdzad pa rgya skad can/ dpal dur khrod pa dang rma lo tsA bas te to'i dur khrod du bsgyur ba'o'i mtha' can 

'chi med grub pa'i 'grel pa rgya skad can rgya gar lho phyogs pa dur khrod pa ka ma rU pa'am e te pa'am rgya 'gres pa zhes kyang grags pa'i paN+Di ta dang rma lo tsA bas te to'i dur khrod du bsgyur ba/   

[9] "Schaeffer says that the manuscript’s colophon gives a date which “may read 1159” The reading is clear : ekāśītijute [°jute is Newar scribal dialect for Sanskrit °yute] śāke sahāsraike tu phālgune | kṛṣṇāṣṭamyām samāpto 'yam. kṛtvāmṛtasiddhir mayā || (f.37v). The eighth day of the dark fortnight of the lunar month of Phālguna in Śāka corresponds to March 2nd 1160 CE (according to the calculator at http://www.cc.kyotosu.ac.jp/ yanom/pancanga/).”