Chokgyur Dechen Lingpa

Chokgyur Dechen Lingpa

Chokgyur Dechen Shikpo Lingpa (Tib. མཆོག་གྱུར་བདེ་ཆེན་ཞིག་པོ་གླིང་པ་, Wyl. Mchog gyur bde chen zhig po gling pa) (1829-1870) — a great tertön and emanation of Prince Murub Tsenpo. He was a contemporary of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and Jamgön Kongtrul, and, like Khyentse Wangpo, was entrusted with the seven special transmissions. His terma revelations, the Chokling Tersar, include the Tukdrup Barché Kunsel and the Three Classes of the Great Perfection.

Life

Chokgyur Lingpa was born in Sangyal (Tib. Gsang rgyal; Eng. Secret Victory), at the base of the sacred mountain Namkhadzö (Tib. nam mkha’ mdzod, Eng. Sky Treasury) in Nangchen, on the tenth day of the sixth month of the female earth ox year (August 9, 1829). Chokgyur Lingpa is said to be the last reincarnation of Prince Murub Tsenpo, second son of the Dharma king Trisong Detsen. He is considered within his lineage as the last of the hundred and eight major terchen, great treasure revealers (Tib. Gter chen), who were prophesied to appear in Tibet. One of the most prolific 19th century treasure revealers, his revelations, the Chokling Tersar, together with their ancillary materials span over 40 volumes, and include the three types of practices which qualify a treasure revealer as a great treasure revealer: Guru, Great Perfection, and Avalokiteshvara practices (Tib. Bla, Rdzog, Thugs). Chokgyur Lingpa was moreover holder of the seven transmissions, as predicted in his treasure cycle, the the Three Classes of the Great Perfection:

The unbroken Oral Lineage from the scriptures,

Profound Actual Treasures and Mind Treasures,

Rediscovered and Recollected Treasures,

Pure Visions and Whispered Lineages —

The river of these seven transmissions

Flows as the fortune of the King and his son,

Doing great honour to the teachings in these degenerate times.

Vast and profound, it will spread further than sunlight.

The King and son mentioned here are Trisong Detsen and Murub Tsenpo, who were respectively reincarnated as Jamyang Khyentsé Wangpo and Chokgyur Lingpa. Indeed, throughout his activity as a treasure revealer, Chokgyur Lingpa was closely associated with the two spearhead figures of the non-sectarian Rimé movement that flourished in Kham in the 19th century, namely Jamyang Khyentsé Wangpo and Jamgön Kongtrül Lodrö Thayé, who participated in many of his Treasure discoveries and writings. These three masters were all related as teacher and disciple, each of them regarding the other two as their own guru.

Chokgyur Lingpa passed away in 1870, and had thus ascended from anonymity to great renown as a treasure revealer in his short life-span of 41 years. After his passing, Jamgön Kongtrül had a vision in which he saw Chokgyur Lingpa as the bodhisattva Padma Nyingpo, Lotus Essence (Tib. Pad+ma snying po) in his own newly-created pure-land Padma Khebpé Shyingkham, the Lotus-Covered Realm (Tib. Pad+ma khebs pa’i zhing khams). The lineage of his revelations, the Chokling Tersar, has continued to be transmitted by the many great masters who were his lineage holders and by both his family line and line of reincarnation. The Chokling Tersar is still widely revered and practiced today in various monasteries in India, Tibet, and Nepal.

Revelations

• Seven Profound Cycles (zab pa skor bdun)

The Three Seats of Chokgyur Lingpa

• Mind Seat: named Mindröl Norbu Ling, situated at Neten
• Body Seat: Karma Gön
• Speech Seat: Kela Monastery near Riwoche

Further Reading

• Andreas Doctor, Tibetan Treasure Literature: Revelation, Tradition and Accomplishment in Visionary Buddhism, Ithaca: Snow Lion, 2005.
• Dudjom Rinpoche, The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism, Its Fundamentals and History, trans. and ed. Gyurme Dorje (Boston: Wisdom, 1991), vol.1 pp.841-848.
• Nyoshul Khenpo, A Marvelous Garland of Rare Gems: Biographies of Masters of Awareness in the Dzogchen Lineage (Junction City: Padma Publications, 2005), pages 431-435.
• Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, Blazing Splendor: The Memoirs of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche (Boudhanath, Hong Kong, Esby: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 2005), Ch. 5, 'My Great Grandfather, The Treasure Revealer'.
• Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche, The Life of Chokgyur Lingpa, Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 2000 (see External Links below).

Internal Links

• Lamrim Yeshe Nyingpo
• Chokling Incarnation Line
• Prayer to Chokgyur Dechen Lingpa

External Links

• Choggyur Lingpa Outline page at Himalayan Art
• The Life of Chokgyur Lingpa, by Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche, Rangjung Yeshe Publications. Download as PDF
• TBRC profile
• Biography at Treasury of Lives
• Chokgyur Dechen Lingpa translations on Lotsawa House