A Brief History of the Jamme Tulkus of The Drukpa Kagyu Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism and Their Practice Centre

This text contains a brief history of the lines of re-incarnate beings Jamme Tulku and Jamme Lhachog Tulku who are two of the great tulkus of the Drukpa Kagyu tradition. A short history of the monastery they established centuries ago in Tibet, called Jamme Gonpa is included. The following is translated from Tibetan text provided by Jamme Tulku.

1. Jamme Tulku

The current incarnation of Jamme Tulku is called “Choseng Rinpoche”. The source of this line of tulkus is mentioned in the text The Crystalline Lapis of Births written by Mipham Jamphel Pawo and the fifth Dokhampa, Khamtrul Rinpoche. It says:

“In the expanse of space which is profound, peaceful, and free of elaboration Thousands of rays of utterly pure compassion Appeared in all of the worlds as the god of gods To the supreme wonder, Avalokiteshvara, I pay homage.”

which means that this supreme tulku is an actual manifestation of Avalokiteshvara. He appeared in Narotapa’s presence as the yogin Tsilupa; he appeared in Milarepa’s presence as Seban repa; he took birth in the Aryan land of India as Humkara; and he took birth as the great being Dondrub wangchuk. In all of those cases his births worked great benefit for sentient beings.

After that, he appeared as the great disciple of Khampa Karma Tenphel in the form of the Bodhisattva Karma Dugthog. He attended Karma Tenphel and, by following the three ways that please the guru, became his supreme, heart disciple. He manifested the two stages and obtained the level of supreme unification then, in accordance with the command and prophecy given him, in order to benefit beings, he went to Nangchen in East Tibet. There, because of his manifest signs of accomplishment, the king of Nangchen took him as his guru and provided him with land to build a monastery. He founded a monastery called “Sa Dangpo Jamme Gon” and so became well-known as “Jamme Choseng”.

Following that were his second incarnation “Mipham tenpa’i gyaltshan”; third incarnation, “Padkar drup gyu tendzin”; fourth incarnation, “Mipham kuntu zangpo”; fifth incarnation,

“Ngawang chokyi gyatso”; sixth incarnation, “Chokyi senge”; and the seventh incarnation, “Kunzang chokyi senge”.

The eighth, current incarnation who was named “Karma Tenzin Thrinley Kunkhyab” by the Glorious, sixteenth Karmapa, “Thutob Chokyi Gyatso” by Thutob chokyi Gyatso, “Ngawang Thutob Chokyi Gyaltsan”, and so on by others. He was enthroned and proclaimed as a supreme tulku at a gathering of all tulkus in Nangchen earlier this century. He offered a tuft of his hair to the Khampa Dongyu Nyima at which time he was named “Jigmey chokyi senge dongyu tenpa yarphel”. He obtained all of the profound and vast empowerments, reading transmissions, and instructions from that lord and also obtained the entire empowerment and reading transmission of the New Treasures from the third Chokling. He also obtained Khachodma and the bodhisattva vows from Khyentse Chokyi Lodro. Then, in that long period of bad times, he was imprisoned by the Communist Chinese for twenty-two years. Following his release, he obtained the entire empowerments and reading transmissions of

the Kagyu Ngagdzod from Byangtana and the Rinchen Terdzod from Jagon, and the bodhisattva vows and phowa from Situ. Especially, through the kindness of Adeu Rinpoche he obtained from top to bottom the five cycles of sadhanas, the cycle of protectors of the teaching in relation to Mahakala, the four dharmas of Thralgo, the ocean of sadhanas, and so on. Moreover, he obtained many empowerments and reading transmissions of the earlier and later schools from various Rimey gurus. Not only did he hear these and contemplate them but he practised them in retreat for about five years. Now that he has such extensive experience in the scriptures and practice of the Buddhist teachings, he is able to assist beings. Accordingly, these days, in order to keep all of the regular and special practices supported at all of the appropriate times and in order to rebuild his monastery and develop it further he is approaching the faithful sponsors and patrons of the dharma and, maintaining in mind the pure thought of enlightenment is requesting the assistance that he needs to carry forward the tradition of enlightenment.

The source of this line of tulkus is mentioned in the text Certain Secret. It says:

“E MA HO From the one primordially pure, great bliss, wisdom Stoppageless spontaneity is an illusory arrangement— The lord of secrets, great glory Hayagriva The master of compassion holding wisdom, and so on...”

which means that this supreme tulku is one of the lords of the three families and a manifestation of Hayagriva. He manifested for the purpose of beings in the country of Sahor as the Dharma King Tsuglag dzinpa; in the presence of the Guru as Acharya sale; as Gyalwa jangchub; Rigdzin Jatson nyingpo; Warrior King Gesar; Tagsham nuda dorje; and so on. In all of those cases his births worked great benefit for sentient beings.

After that, he appeared as the great disciple of Khampa Karma Tenphel in the form of Karma Lhachog. He was a supreme practitioner who mingled his mind so that it become one with his guru’s mind and thus manifested the level of supreme unification. Due to this and in accordance with the command and prophecy given him for his further training, he went to that place of practice, Nangchen. There, the king of Nangchen took him as his guru and provided him with land. He founded a monastery called “Sa Dangpo Jamme Gon” and so became well-known as “Jamme Lhachog”.

Following that were his second incarnation “Ngawang tendzin namgyal”; third incarnation, “Ngawang dongyud palden rabsel”; and fourth incarnation, “Kunzang chogdrup gyatso”. His fifth incarnation, “Ngawang chopal gyatso” also known as “Dharmashri” is one of the main figures in the Drukpa Kagyu tradition. He composed new arrangements and handbooks for the practice of all of the tantra sections of both earlier and later schools and his compositions were published in his collected works which totalled approximately forty volumes. Because of his expertise and accomplishment he was also known as “Jamme Pandita” and the second Padma Karpo. Following that were the sixth incarnation, “Kunzang jigmey tenpa’i nyinje and the current, seventh incarnation, who was named “Lhatrul nyima kunkhyab thrinley drodul palzangpo”. He was enthroned in Nangchen at a gathering of all the tulkus. He obtained the empowerments, reading transmissions, and instructions from Rimey gurus. He did five sets of the “four hundred thousand” preliminary practices and also went to Lhasa where he did prostrations before the Jowo statue.

Especially, from Adeu Rinpoche he obtained the five cycles of sadhanas, the cycle of protectors of the teaching in relation to Mahakala, the four dharmas of Thralgo, the ocean of sadhanas, and so on. Having heard and contemplated those he stayed in retreat practising them for a total of more than seven years. Now that he has such extensive experience in the scriptures and practice of the Buddhist teachings, he is able to assist beings. Accordingly, in order to benefit beings, especially the sick, he has become skilled in medicinal diagnosis and in the use of mantra to cure illness. This great, holy being who benefits beings in order to keep all of the regular and special practices supported at all of the appropriate times and in order to help the Yelpa tradition and to rebuild his monastery and develop it further is approaching the faithful sponsors and patrons of the dharma and, maintaining in mind the pure thought of enlightenment is requesting the assistance that he needs to carry forward the tradition of enlightenment.

A Short History of Jamme Gonpa

The monastery Jamme Gonpa was established in the year 1300 in Nangchen, Eastern Tibet by three tulkus who were personal disciples of Karma Tenphel—Lhathog gyalsay, Karma Dugthog, and Karma Lhachog. Karma Dugthog, because of fame of of learning and unrivalled realization of practice, was taken by the great dharma king of Nangchen—who is Avalokiteshvara in human form—for his guru. Throughout their successive incarnations, Karma Dugthog and the other two tulkus with equal determination and enthusiasm carried forward the tradition of the ultimate meaning, the Drukpa Kagyu, in its entirety. They cared for the main monastery and its many, smaller branches and kept them flourishing for a long time. However, in this 20th-century, the shells and bombs of modern technology shook everything and the whole area, including Jamme Gonpa, was totally destroyed.

Following that, the eighth incarnation of Karma Dugthog known as Choseng Rinpoche together with Lhachog Rinpoche accepted responsibility for the teaching of the dharma and now have nicely re-established the monastery with a little over 100 sangha and the practice center, too. However, they still have not been able to obtain either the enlightened body, speech, and mind representations for the monastery nor the sponsorship and support necessary to sustain the 13 yogins in the practice centre.

In addition to needing to obtain those things, they also have a plan—in order to ensure that the Buddhist teaching remains and grows—to establish a school and a hospital. In particular, they wish to re-establish the ancient seat of the Yelpa tradition, which is one of the four great and eight lesser Kagyu traditions. The seat of the Yelpa tradition has disappeared now so they plan to re-establish it the way to it was before and then in future, they plan to establish a monastery so that the teachings can remain without interruption and to open a new practice center so that the profound realization of the practice tradition can continue without waning.

Translated by Lotsawa Tony Duff, 20th April, 2000.