A GOLDEN SWAN IN TURBULENT WATERS THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE TENTH KARMAPA CHOYING OORJE SHAMAR RINPOCHE A GOLDEN SWAN IN TURBULENT WATERS A GOLDEN SWAN IN TURBULENT WATERS THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE TENTH KARMAPA CHOYING DORJE • SHAMAR RINPOCHE G'Bird ofParadise Press ~Lexington, Virginia Copyright © Shamar Rinpoche, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, me chanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permis sion from the publisher or author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review or for the private use of readers. ISBN 978-0-9881762-0-1 Publisher Bird of Paradise Press 1223 N. Lee Highway, #250 Lexington, VA 24450 www.birdofparadisepress.org Front Cover Sculpture of the Tenth Karmapa, believed to be a self-portrait Tibet, 17'h century Cast copper alloy Height: 5 718 in. (15 em) Collection of Alan Chen ((~Ji!!li), Taipei, Taiwan Photograph courtesy of Rubin Museum of Art Back Cover Photograph of Shamar Rinpoche by Karine LePajolec. Book Cover Designed by Carol Gerhardt. • TABLE OF CONTENTS • Introduction vii Acknowledgements xi List of Historical Figures xm Maps xvii Part I Political Times oft he Tenth Karmapa Choying Dorje 1 1 Tibet under the Sakya, Phagdru and Tsang Rule 3 2 Early Signs of a Rupture 13 3 A Potential Reconciliation Thwarted 17 4 The Alliance of Kyisho Depa and Gelug Administrators 23 5 The Tsang Unification and Reform Strategy 27 6 Tibet United 33 7 The Mongol Invasion, 1639-1642 39 8 Aftermath of the War 45 Part II Examples oft he Tenth Karmapa Choying Dorje's Artwork 53 Part III Biography of the Tenth Karmapa Choying Dorje 71 Note to the Reader 73 9 Birth 75 10 Early Childhood 79 11 Custody Imposed 83 12 Life in Moon River 89 13 Recognized and Enthroned 93 14 Enthronement and Afterward 95 v 15 Early Travels 99 16 Travels in Central Tibet 103 17 Teachings at Tsurphu 107 18 Dharma Transmission in Pa Nam and Pilgrimage near Lho Drag 111 19 Duke Kurabpa in Trouble 117 20 Taking the Vinaya Vows 123 21 Learning the Ways of a Bodhisattva 129 22 Visits to the Seats of Kagyu Sects and to the Tsang Capital 135 23 Pilgrimage to Mount Kailash 139 W UAP~ 25 Death of the Shamarpa 151 26 In Memorium 163 27 Pilgrimage en Route to Kham 167 28 Activities in Kongpo and Lhasa before the Mongol Invasion 171 29 Wartime 177 30 Karmapa Attacked 183 31 Flight to Safety 185 32 Exile in Lijiang 187 33 Recognition of the Seventh Shamarpa 193 34 From Golok to Lijiang (1650-1658) 197 35 Free of Politics 205 36 Lineage Teachings Transmitted 209 37 Peaceful Passing 217 Afterword 227 Glossary 231 List ofTibetan Words 241 List of Chinese Terms 261 Bibliography 263 vi • INTRODUCTION • My early education studying Buddhist texts and learning about the his tory of the Karma Kagyu sect piqued my interest in 17'h-century Tibetan history and the life of the Tenth Karmapa. How did a rather innocent bodhisattva cope with the turmoil of his day? How did this somewhat ec centric figure view the epochal changes and dramatic events of his lifetime - invasions by Mongol warlords, a nearly successful unification of Tibet under a secular ruler, the emergence of a powerful Dalai Lama (the Fifth) in whose hands political and religious powers were integrated after they had been separate for almost four centuries, and the widespread suppres sion of the Kama Kagyu sect? Not until the past three years have I been able to explore closely the life of the Tenth Karmapa. With the exception of a Ph.D. thesis completed a few years ago, 1 I discovered that no book-length study about him has been published. Further, no one has written a major study of the Tenth Karmapa and his times for the benefit of a general audience and modern practitioners ofTibetan Buddhism. My goal in writing this book is to enable readers to directly experi ence the Tenth Karmapa's life through his own writings as well as those of his contemporaries, notably the Fifth Dalai Lama, and his 18'h-century biographer. I also strive to explain for readers the complicated history of the Karmapa's times. As the Fourteenth Shamarpa and a lineage holder in the Karma Ka gyu sect ofTibetan Buddhism, I have received some of the main teachings and transmissions (those still extant) that the two primary figures in this book - the Tenth Karmapa and his guru the Sixth Shamarpa - received 1 Mengele (2005). This work has not been available to me. vii A GOLDEN SWAN IN TURBULENT WATERS and in turn transmitted to other lineage holders several hundred years ago. I draw upon this special knowledge and experience to provide notes and comments on the many original texts I have translated. I trust this will make 17th_ and 18'h-century writings more accessible to 21 ..- century readers and will enrich their appreciation and understanding of the Tenth Karmapa. This book is divided into three parts. The first surveys Tibetan history from the 13'h through the 17'h centuries. It provides the context for the biography of the Tenth Karmapa in the second section. My main sources for this section are the English and especially the more detailed Tibetan version of Tsepon W. D. Shakabpa's Tibet: A Political History. Shakabpa was Tibet's Secretary of Finance from 1930 to 1950 and the current Dalai Lama's official in New Delhi until1966. Even though an English transla tion ofShakabpa's Tibetan text became available in English in 2010 under the title One Hundred 7housand Moons (see bibliography at the end of this book), my quotes from Shakabpa are my own translation. Part II gathers ten examples of the Tenth Karmapa's artworks - thangkas, sculptures, and carvings. Among the illustrations are some of Karmapa's artistic creations that are in my possession. They have never been published before. My biography of the Tenth Karmapa found in Part III is not a tradi tional one in which the author researches all available resources and then creates a critical synthesis describing the subject's life. Rather, this "biogra phy" is a compilation of translated passages from original sources stitched together in chronological order. In extensive annotations in footnotes and headnotes, I provide explanations and interpretations of the texts. True to his multifaceted artistic talents, the Tenth Karmapa composed a number of texts and countless poems. Out of this legacy, three books survive as well as a few other scattered minor works. The books are filled with many poems and graced with very flowery language. The 17'h-century woodblock edition of these works has been reprinted in a two-volume col lection. (References can be found in the bibliography.) One of these books (7he Drum of Dharma: Autobiography of a Bodhisattva) is Karmapa's life story, but it is not particularly useful as a historical record since it is packed with allegories, accounts of dreams, poems, and other literary reflections that are difficult to interpret. The same can be said for 7he Story ofM y Trip, Song of a Bird of Paradise Along Its journey, another autobiography that was written at the request of his attendant-friend Kuntu Zangpo in 1651. Karmapa does have some autobiographical writings that recount the first 25 years (1604-1630) of his life story. He buries these passages within a biography of his guru the Sixth Shamarpa (7he Bountiful Cow: Biography viii