Table Of ContentThe Life of Gampopa
The Incomparable Dharma Lord of Tibet
To Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, kind root lama; Khenpo Konchog Gyaltsen
Rinpoche, spiritual friend and master; and to Adam Mackenzie Stewart and
Gabriel Drews Stewart, my beloved sons.
The Life of Gampopa
The Incomparable Dharma Lord of Tibet
J
by amp a Mackenzie Stewart
Snow Lion Publications
Ithaca, New York USA
Snow Lion Publications
P.O. Box 6483
Ithaca, New York 14851 USA
Copyright© 1995 Jampa Mackenzie Stewart
FirstEdition USA 1995
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any
means without prior written permission from the publisher.
ISBN 1-55939-038-7
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Stewart, Jampa Mackenzie, 1951-
The life of Gampopa: the incomparable Dharma Lord of Tibet I by Jampa
Mackenzie Stewart.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-55939-038-7
1. Sgam-po-pa, 1079-1153. 2. Bka' -rgyud-pa lamas-China-Tibet-Biogra
phy. I. Title.
BQ7950.S437S74 1994
294.3'923'092-dc20
[B] 94-39646
CIP
Contents
Preface 7
Introduction by Lobsang P. Lhalungpa 13
1. The Prophecies 17
2. Gampopa the Layman 22
3. Gampopa the Monk 26
4. The Call of the Guru 29
5. The Three Beggars 33
6. In Search of Milarepa 38
7. Arrival 43
8. Meeting the Guru 45
9. Initiations and Instructions 51
10. Tummo Retreat 56
11. Gampopa's Magnificent Dream 60
12. Bardo Teachings 69
13. Dreams, Songs; and Empowerment 72
14. Final Instructions and Farewell 78
15. The Death of Milarepa 85
16. Daklha Gampo 90
17. The Three Yogis of Kham 92
18. Stories of the Master Gampopa 102
19. The Parinirvana of Gampopa 110
Epilogue 113
Colophon 116
The History of the Kagyupa Order by Lobsang P. Lhalungpa 117
The Mahamudra: Gampopa's System of Meditation 141
by Ja mp a Mackenzie Stewart
Notes 151
Glossary 161
Bibliography 183
Index 186
Preface
Biographies of saints are written to inspire us. They depict the struggles
and ultimate victory of people who have traveled the path before us.
Good biographies give us role models for our own spiritual work,
and incite us to greater efforts than would the mere words of a disser
tation or sermon. They show us that it is the practical application of
the practice-the actions of such saints-that are the teachings, and
not just their words.
Several years ago my root lama, Venerable Khenpo Karthar
Rinpoche, gave a teaching on the lives of the Kagyu forefathers, at
Karma Triyana Dharmachakra in Woodstock, New York. This was
the first time that I had heard the story of Gampopa' s life. I was
greatly moved by the fascinating tale of this yogi-monk who inher
ited the robe and bowl of the great Milarepa, and who gathered around
him an unprecedented 51,600 monks and over 500 yogi disciples.
These included the first Karmapa and the renowned Phagrno Drupa.
Since Gampopa was the father of all the Kagyupa lineages, known
as the Four Great and Eight Younger Lineages (which are described in
the appendix by Lobsang Lhalungpa), I felt that his story deserved a
wider audience.
Over the last century biographies of other forefathers in the Kagyu
lineage have been translated and published: Naropa, Marpa, the
Karma pas, and recently, Tilopa. It therefore seemed strange to me that
a complete biography of Gampopa had not been published in English,
and even more strange because Gampopa' s writings were some of the
earliest works to be translated from the Tibetan.
Walter Yeeling Evans-Wentz and Lama Kazi Dawa Samdup trans
lated Gampopa's Supreme Path: The Rosary of Precious Gems in Tibetan
8 The Life of Gampopa
Yoga and Secret Doctrines, one of the first Tibetan Buddhist teachings
offered in English as serious yogic practice for personal transforma
tion. However, this was a short work, well hidden in the midst of the
more exciting and exotic practices of the Six Yogas ofNaropa, the Chad
practice, and the Yoga of the Great Symbol (the Four Yo gas of Mahamudrti.)
Although I spent many hours perusing that book, it was years later
that I discovered in a casual conversation that The Rosary of Precious
Gems was written by the great Gampopa.
Similarly, a short yet excellent biography of Gampopa is presented
by Garma C. C. Chang in Volume II of The Hundred Thousand Songs of
Milarepa. Yet, as Milarepa himself is the focal point of that book,
Gampopa's life story is naturally eclipsed by the stories of his guru.
The work by which Gampopa' s name is perhaps best known in the
West is Herbert V. Guenther's translation of Gampopa's great work,
The Jewel Ornament of Liberation. Therein Gampopa presents a brilliant
outline of the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (Lam Rim) in the
traditional Kadampa fashion, combined with the Mahamudra lineage
view inherited from his guru, Milarepa. However, in this. work the
translator provides only one scant page of details on the life of
Gampopa.
Other partial accounts of Gampopa's life story have been trans
lated into English, to which I am greatly indebted in preparing my
own rendering. Venerable Khenpo Konchog Gyaltsen Rinpoche in
cluded a brief but excellent biography ofGampopa in his book, Prayer
Flags: The Spiritual Songs of Lord Jigten Sumgon. He also included a longer
biography in his work, The Great Kagyu Masters: The Golden Lineage
Treasury (edited by Victoria Huckenpahler), from which I drew much
valuable material, in particular the miraculous stories included in chap
ter eighteen of this book. The Rain of Wisdom, translated by the Nalanda
Translation Committee under the direction of the late Chogyam
Trungpa Rinpoche, included "The Life and Songs of Lord Gampopa"
and "Lord Gampopa's Song of Response to the Three Men of Kham"
among the songs of the great Kagyu lineage masters. As before,
Gamp op a's story lies hidden among many others in each of these ver
sions. A very short segment on Gampopa's life also appears in the
recent work, A Garland of Gold: The Early Kagyu Masters in India and
Tibet by Jampa Thaye. I also found two short stories about Gampopa
in Tantric Practice in Nyingma by Khetsun Sangpo Rinbochay, trans
lated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, a commentary on Paltrul
