Category Archives: Biography

The Unknown Source of the Hidden Lands: A Note about Tshe brtan rgyal mtshan’s dates

Stéphane Arguillère (IFRAE / Inalco)

sPrul sku Tshe brtan rgyal mtshan (also known as gTer ston Chos kyi blo gros) is a treasure revealer who has been placed in either the 12th or the 13th century. His dating is important, since he is the first known figure to be associated with hidden lands (sbas yul). He was once regarded as a very important gter ston, sometimes counted as one of the five “gTer ston Kings”, as well as among the five emanations of Padmasambhava. According to The Prophecy of O rgyan gling pa quoted by the Fifth Dalai Lama (Thob yig 1970-71: vol. 3, f°11b):

sKu sprul nyi ma ‘od zer yin ༔ 
gSung sprul chos kyi dbang phyug yin ༔ 
Thugs sprul rgod kyi ldem phru yin ༔
Yon tan o rgyan gling pa yin ༔ 
‘Phrin las tshe brtan rgyal mtshan yin ༔ 
‘Di lnga padma ‘byung gnas dngos ༔ 

gter ma of his on the hidden land, the sBas yul padma tshal gyi gnas yig kun tu gsal ba’i me long, which seems to be the oldest text we have about the sbas yul theme (in its “classical”, complete, form), is available : the sBas yul padma tshal gyi gnas yig kun tu gsal ba’i me long (Tshe brtan rgyal mtshan, sPrul sku —, 1983). However, in the absence of a colophon allowing to date the text, the various dates included in this document cannot be interpreted without deciding when he actually lived.

As remarked by Jean-Luc Achard (email to the FCHNT team, 2025/01/23), Gu ru bKra shis (Chos ’byung, 1990, p. 596) places Tshe brtan rgyal mtshan in the fouth rab ’byung (1207–1266), which in any case excludes the 12th century. He is the last figure named for this sexagenary cycle, but this should maybe not be over-interpreted.

However, Gu ru bKra shis places his biography (pp. 403–404) between that of Padma las ’brel rtsal (1290–1319) and that of Rin chen gling pa (1289–1368), which can be interpreted as an indication of the generation to which he belonged, according to the series of prophecies Gu ru bKra shis is following.

More importantly, a detailed account of his revelations can be found in the Fifth Dalai Lama’s Record of Teachings Received (gSan yig 1970-71: vol. 3, f°55b–63b). It is unfortunately short on biographical information, but conclusions can be drawn from lineage accounts, especially f°62b: sprul sku tshe brtan rgyal mtshan nam chos kyi blo gros| tsa ri ba śan tiṃ pha la| zur pa śākya ‘byung gnas|, etc.

Zur Śākya ‘byung gnas is, in context, obviously Zur haṃ Śākya ‘byung gnas, and this is confirmed by gTer bdag gling pa’s Thob yig (1998: vol. 2, p. 54) which calls him “Zur Śākya ‘byung gnas phyi ma.” This important figure remains difficult to date, but was definitely active in the middle of the 14th century, as he was (Dudjom Rinpoche 1991: pp. 671-672) a disciple of sGrol ma ba bSam grub rdo rje (1295–1376) and g.Yung ston pa rDo rje dpal (1284–1365), and was a master to sGrol ma ba’s son Sangs rgyas rin chen (1350–1431).

The previous figure in the lineage, “Śan tiṃ pha,” would remain obscure if we had not already met him (Arguillère 2024: p. 123 & 125) as a disciple of Rin chen gling pa (1289–1368) and, precisely, a master of Zur haṃ Śākya ‘byung gnas. This proves that both gter stons were active, at some point, in the same time and region.

What is more, further in the Fifth Dalai Lama’s Record of Teachings Received (vol. 4, f°. 137a), Tshe brtan rgyal mtshan seems strangely to appear as a disciple of rGya Zhang khrom—which must allude to some mystical connection with this very early figure—and, much more meaningfully, as a master of Rin chen gling pa—but the passage is not quite clear:

gTer ston nas | sangs rgyas bla ma| sangs rgyas mgar| rdor ’bum chos grags|  lha btsun sngon mo| se ston ring mo| rdo rje ’od ‘bar| rgya zhang khrom| tshe brtan rgyal mtshan| rin chen gling pa| badzra ma ti rnams kyi gter byung lo rgyus|…

This passage, however, is difficult to interpret, for example because rDo rje ’od ’bar is the personal name of rGya Zhang khrom, and it is not clear why the two names appear in this order. However, even if the precise meaning and status of this passage is unclear, the main element remains that Tshe brtan rgyal mtshan had one disciple in common, which implies that their lives overlapped to some extent: if Tshe brtan rgyal mtshan was both a master of Rin chen gling pa and of someone Rin chen gling pa was old enough to teach, he was definitely still active in the first decades of the 14th century, as Rin chen gling pa found his first gter ma around 1311 and does not seem to have taught much before 1321.

This connection Rin chen gling pa makes great sense, in any case, in the very likely hypothesis in which Rin chen gling pa was rGod ldem’s rDzogs chen master: we would then have a continuous human chain leading from Tshe brtan rgyal mtshan’s text on the sbas yul to Rig ’dzin rGod ldem through Rin chen gling pa.

Later sources mostly repeat these pieced of information found in the Fifth Dalai Lama’s gSan yig. However, in a passage1 in Kong sprul’s background materials for his Rin chen gter mdzod (Rin chen gter gyi mdzod chen por ji ltar bzhugs pa’i dkar chag dang smin grol rgyab brten dang bcas pa’i brgyud yig dngos grub sgo brgya ‘byed pa’i lde’u mig), we discover another lineage from Tshe brtan rgyal mtshan:

brgyud pa bla ma sku gsum| mtsho rgyal| mchog dbyangs| gter ston chos kyi blo gros| chos kyi seng ge| rdo rje rin chen| bla ma sher tshul| chos nyid shes rab|, etc.

However, since I have not been able so far to recognize Chos kyi seng ge or rDo rje rin chen, this does not lead us anywhere in the present state of our research.

Be that as it may, this implies that Tshe brtan rgyal mtshan was still alive in the first half of the 14th century.

If we now return to the sBas yul padma tshal gyi gnas yig kun tu gsal ba’i me long supposing that Tshe brtan rgyal mtshan was born in the fouth rab ’byung but active in the fifth — that he lived sometime between 1250 and 1350—the dates for opening the sbas yul in this text (p. 96)—between chu mo yos and byi—can be interpreted as either 1303–1312 or 1363–1372. The text lacks a colophon indicating when it was discovered. It should however be inquired whether this text, possibly transmitted to rGod ldem by Rin chen gling pa, may have influenced his departure in search of the sbas yul soon after the Zang zang lha brag discovery.

Bibliography

Arguillère 2024: Arguillère Stéphane, “A King of Dharma forgotten on the Jewel Island: Was Me ban Chos rgyal Rin chen gling pa Rig ’dzin rGod ldem’s rDzogs chen master? (How half of the mKha’ ’gro snying thig got included in the dGongs pa zang thal)”, Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines, no. 68, Janvier 2024, pp. 69-147.

Dudjom Rinpoche, Jikdrel Yeshe Dorje. 1991. The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: Its Fundamentals & History. Translated and edited by Gyurme Dorje and Matthew Kapstein. Somerville: Wisdom Publications.

gTer bdag gling pa ’Gyur med rdo rje. 1998. Zab pa dang rgya che ba’i dam pa’i chos kyi thob yig rin chen ’byung gnas. In gTer bdag gling pa ’gyur med rdo rje’i gsung ’bum (vol. 1-14): vol. 1-3. Dehra Dun: D. G. Khochhen Tulku.

Gu ru bKra shis. 1990. bsTan pa’i snying po gsang chen snga ’gyur nges don zab mo’i chos kyi byung ba gsal bar byed pa’i legs bshad mkhas pa dga’ byed ngo mtshar gtam
gyi rol mtsho
. Beijing: mTsho sngon mi rigs par khang / Krung go’i bod kyi shes rigs dpe skrun khang.

Kon sprul Blo gros mtha’ yas. 2007-2016. Rin chen gter gyi mdzod chen por ji ltar bzhugs pa’i dkar chag dang smin grol rgyab brten dang bcas pa’i brgyud yig dngos grub sgo brgya ‘byed pa’i lde’u mig. In Rin chen gter mdzod chen mo (The Great Treasury of Rediscovered Teachings) Volume 2, pp. 1-524. New Delhi: Shechen Publications.

Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho (5th Dalai Lama). 1970–1971. Thob yig gaṅga’i chu rgyun, vol. 1-4, Delhi: Nechung & Lakhar.

Tshe brtan rgyal mtshan, sPrul sku —, 1983. sBas yul padma tshal gyi gnas yig kun tu gsal ba’i me long. In sPrul sku tshe brtan rgyal mtshan, and Brag dkar rta so sprul sku chos kyi dbang phyug. Phur pa drag sngags kyi smad las dgra bgegs sgrol baʼi rim pa drag po zor gyi man ngag rno myur las kyi mtshon cha, pp. 81-120. Gangtok: Bla-ma Zla-ba and Sherab Gyaltsen.

  1. I have used the Tsadra digitalized searchable text (https://rtz.tsadra.org/index.php/Terdzo-KHA-001#tab=null), which unfortunately does not give page-references. The passage is easily found. ↩︎

The Life of Gönpo Wangyal (1845-1915)

Thanks to Dr. Martin Boord and David Cowey for the kind revision of the version of this text that is about to be printed in the introduction of our translation of Tülku Tsullo’s practice manual for the Direct Revelation.

Gönpo Wangyal: vignette from the 16-volume edition of the Complete Works of Tülku Tsullo: vol. 5.

Gönpo Wangyal (mGon po dbang rgyal, 1845-1915) was a Nyingma master, active in the Golok area. He was the nephew and successor of Terchen Nüden Dorje of Khordong (‘khor gdong gter chen Nus ldan rdo rje). He was the head of the Khordong monastery for many years and did much to make it a stronghold, in the Golok area, of both the Jangter and the revelations of his uncle Terchen Nüden Dorje. He was himself a tertön who mostly had revelations connected to the practice of Chöd (gcod).

Here is a short summary of Gönpo Wangyal’s biography by Tülku Tsullo (sprul sku tshul khrims bzang po, 2014: vol. 8 p. 1-110). I also used a shorter one (30 p.) in the History of the Jangter (Byang gter chos ’byung) by Chöying of Khordong (Byang gter phyogs bsgrigs : vol. 62, p. 757-787).

Tsullo’s biography starts with a summary of Gönpo Wangyal’s previous lives in India and Tibet. He was regarded as an emanation of Buddhas’s disciple Ananda, of Atsara Sale (Yeshe Tsogyal’s legendary male consort), Phadampa Sangye, Drapa Ngönshe, and, as for his Jangter connections, of Legdenje (Legs ldan rje) and Yölmo Tülku Tendzin Norbu (Yol mo sprul sku btTsan ‘dzin nor bu), etc.

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Summary of the biography of Khordong Choktrül Gyurmé Dorjé (1887-1967)

Khordong Choktrül Gyurmé Dorjé

There is a 10 pages biography of him in the large Jangter Chöjung by Khenpo Chöying.

He was born in 1887 and died in 1967. He was regarded as an emanation of Gyalwa Chok Yang. The texts gathers prophecies about him as usual. It is Tertön Sogyal who said to Tülku Tsullo: «Your brother is the [predestined] master of a mind-treasure…». He was the son of Gönpo Wangyal who told him that he had a special connection with Hayagriva, so he put him to practice Tamdrin Drekpa Wangdü (one of the two Jangter cycles of this deity) and then a horse neighing from above his head was heard in Khordong […] There are prophecies about him in the termas of Nüden Dorje. [….] He was the younger brother of Tülku Tsullo, so, the son of Gönpo Wangyal and Khordong Terchen’s daughter.

In 1896, together with his brother Tsullo, he received from Gönpo Wangyal the instructions from the Jangter Lung Phagmo Zabgya, the Kadak [Rangjung Rangshar] and the Gongpa Zangthal “with the manual composed by Ado Könchok Gyaltsen” (this perplexing indication means the Kathok tradition that was, it seems, preserved in Shukjung Monastery).

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