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BY TONY DUFF
(jantyoya Teaclies
Tssence :Jvlaliantucfra
INTERVIEWS WITH HIS HEART
DISCIPLES, DUSUM KHYENPA
AND OTHERS
BY TONY DUFF
PADMA KARPO TRANSLATIONS
Copyright© 2011 Tony Duff. All rights reserved. No portion
of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photography, recording, or
by any information storage or retrieval system or technologies
now known or later developed, without permission in writing
from the publisher.
First edition, November, 2011
ISBN: paper book 978-9937-572-08-8
ISBN: e-book 978-9937-572-09-5
Janson typeface with diacritical marks
Designed and created by Tony Duff
Tibetan Computer Company
http:// www.pktc.org/tcc
Thangka images of Gampopa,Dusum Khyenpa,and
Lord Phagmo Drupa © Shelly and Donald Rubin Museum,
· Himalayan Art Project, with permission.
Produced, Printed, and Published by
Padma Karpo Translation Committee
P.O. Box 4957
Kathmandu
NEPAL
Committee members for t:liis book: translation and composition,
Lama Tony Duff; editorial, Tom Anderson.
Web-site and e-mail contact through:
http:// www.pktc.org/pktc
or search Padma Karpo Translation Committee on the web.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION • • • • • • • • • . . • • • • • • • • • • • • • . • • . . • • • • • . • • v
1. Points oflnterest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v
2. About the Teacher, Gampopa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . vii
3. About the Teaching, Mahamudra . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
4. About the Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviii
5. Interview Text: Lord Dvagpo's Personal Advice
and Lord Gomtshul's Interviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxii
6. Interview Text: DuSum Khyenpa's Interviews . . . . . JOtili
7. Interview Text; Phagmo Drupe's Interviews . . . . . • . xxv
8. Interview Text: Yogin Choyung's Interview . . . . . . . xxxiv
9. Other Points ..... ·. ......................... xxxiv
THE FouR DHARMAS IN BRIEF BY GAMPOPA • • • • • • • • • • • . • 1
PRECious GARLAND OF THE SuPREME PATH BY GAMPOPA 7
LoRD DvAGPo's PERSONAL ADviCE AND LoRD
GoMTSHUL's INTERVIEWS • • • . • • • . • • • • . • •.. • • . • • • . 19
DusuM KHYENPA's INTERVIEWS • • • • • . . • • . • . . . • . • . • . . 53
LoRD PHAGMO DRUPA's INTERVIEWS . • • • • . • . • • • . • • • • 195
YoGIN CHoYUNG's INTERVIEW • • • . • • • . . • • • . • • • • • • . • . 239
iii
iv CONTENTS
GLOSSARY ......................................... 249
SUPPORTS FOR STDUY • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 281
INDEX • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . • • 287
INTRODUCTION
This book focusses on the way that the most essential teaching of
Maharnudra1, called Essence Mahamudra, was transmitted in the
very early days of the Kagyu lineage in Tibet. It introduces the
subject by presenting two small texts which contain hallmark
teachings of Gampopa in relation to the Kagyu teaching ofMaha
mudra. It then presents records of personal· interviews and teaching
sessions given by the early Kagyu lineage holder Gampopa to four
of his outstanding disciples.
I. Points of Interest
There are many styles of teaching used in Buddhism. In traditions
that emphasize practice, the interview in which the disciple comes
to the teacher and presents his doubts or the state of his practice is
important-the teacher uses the opportunity to take the disciple
further in an atmosphere of personal contact with the .t eacher,
something which is of prime importance within Buddhism. Re-
1 Skt. maharnudra, Tib. phyag rgya chen po: Mahamudra is the name
of a set of ultimate teachings on reality and also of·the reality itself.
The name and the teaching are explained at length in the book
Gampopa's Mahamudra: The Five-Part Mahamudra of the Kagyus by
Tony Duff, published by Padma Karpo Translation Committee, 2008,
ISB~:978-9937-2-0607-5.
v
vi GAMPOPA TEACI IES ESSENCE MAHAMUDRA
cords of these sessions can be very important for later practitioners·
because of the very practical nature of the instruction contained in
them. That is very true here-the interview texts presented are full
of the blessings of the early Kagyu masters and their particular way
of presenting Essence Mahamudra. The result is a book with a
unique quality, one that fits with a practitioner's mind.
In terms of time, these interviews are records of the very early
Tibetan practitioners of the Kagyu lineage. They are very impor
tant to present-day practitioners because they clearly reveal the
mode of teaching Mahamudra that was present in the early Kagyu,
very shortly after it had come from India. They also contain a
wealth of firsthand information about noted people of the time told
by the people themselves.
In terms of the place, the Kagyu teachings came from India into
Southern Central Tibet via Marpa the Translator who lived in that
region. His main disciples,
including Milarepa, were
from that region and spent
their lives there. Milarepa's
main disciple, G.lmpopa, who
is the source of the teachings
in this book, also was from
Central Tibet and estab
lished his teaching and re
treat centre at Dvag Lha
Gampo, some distance south
of Lhasa. Thus, this book
contains historical informa-
Figure 1. Marpa the Translator tion about the early spread of
Kagyu dharma as it ()ccurred in the Central Tibetan region.
Histories of the Kagyu lineage from the time it arose in ancient
India to G.lmpopa can be read in the books Gampopa'~ Mahmmulm
INTRODUCTION vii
mentioned above and Drokchen Padma Karpo's Collected Works on
Mahamudrtl.
In terms of the dharma presented,.these interviews are mainly con
cerned with the teaching of what has come to be known as Essence
Mahamudra. There are many important points in connection with
this. For example, the style of the teaching at that time is clearly
evident in the interviews. And, the content of the interviews shows
that Essence Mahamudra was very much the heart of the Kagyu
teaching before the many Kagyu sub-sects developed. This latter
point is particularly important because it shows that, although some
sub-schools, such as the Drukpa Kagyu, do not explicitly teach
Essence Mahamudra, it was a core teaching of the Kagyu lineage
when it came from India.
In terms of the disciples whose interviews are presented here, this
book is about four of the eighteen disciples who were foremost
among Gampopa's disciples. Two of them, Lord Gomtshul and
Yogin Choyung, might not be known to Westerners, but the other
two, Dusum Khyenpa, the first Karmapa, and Phagmo Drupa, the
source of many of the Kagyu sub-schools, will be known to many.
The interviews of all four disciples are packed with both historical
information and dharma teaching.
2. About the Teacher, Gampopa
Gampopa lived from 1079-1153 C.E. He was hom in Central
Tibet in the district called Nyal3• At the age of seven, his parents
sent him .to study medicine, which he did for twenty and a half
years. He studied with doctors from Indian, Nepalese, Chinese,
and Tibetan traditions and by all accounts· became a very expert
2 A book by Tony Duff, published by Padma Karpo Translation
Committee, 2011, ISBN: 978-9973-572-01-9.
3 Tib. gnyal.
viii GAMPOPA TEACHES ESSENCE MAHAMUDRA
doctor. After that, he gave his whole attention to Buddhism for the
rest of his life but, because of his skills as a. doctor, was always
known as "Lhaje" which is a highly honorific title for a doctor.
Later in his life, he moved to
the area called Dvagpo4, so
was called Dvagpopa, the
tur--=-- Man from Dvagpo, and then
was also called Dvagpo Lha
je, the Doctor of Dvagpo.
Dvagpo is near the Gampo
Hills because of which he was
also known as Gampopa, the
Man of Gampo. Nowadays,
this name Gampopa is the
name by which he is most
Figure 2. Lord Gainpopa well known amongst non-·
Tibetans. However, Tibet
ans mostly refer to him as Dvagpopa or Dvagpo Rinpoche and
usually very affectionate.ly.
In his early teens, Gampopa heard a great deal ofNyingma dharma
fi:om the Nyingma teacher "Barey". After that, he heard the
Kadampa teachings called "Stages of the Path", which are the
essential teachings of the Kadampa, initially from Geshe Yontan
Drag.
Gampopa married when he was sixteen. At the age of twenty-five,
his wife and son both died from a contagious disease. This affected
him profoundly and he resolved to give up worldly pursuits in
favour of Buddhist practice.
At twenty-six, he took full monk's ordination from the Kadampa
Geshe Lodan Sherab and was given the name Sonam Rinchcn.
This name too is found commonly in Tibetan literature. <) n his
4 Tib. dvags po.
