Tsarchen Losal Gyatso: Lineage Holder of Vajrayogini’s Tantra (2024)

Tsarchen Losal Gyatso (1502 – 1566 CE) was a famous master and the founder of the Tsarpa lineage of the Sakya tradition centred at Dar Drangmoche Monastery in the central Tsang province of Tibet.

The great Tsarchen Losal Gyatso is the 21st lineage holder of the Vajrayogini tantric tradition stemming from the Mahasiddha Naropa himself. In fact, by engaging in Vajrayogini as his main practice, Tsarchen Losal Gyatso gained high realisations and went on to have several important visionary experiences associated with her. Due to his high realisations, Tsarchen also beheld pure visions of Padmasambhava, Vajrayogini, Chakrasamvara, Kalachakra, Yamantaka, other tantric deities and masters.

Although a fully ordained monk, Tsarchen Losal Gyatso did not live in a monastery. He spent his life as an itinerant monk, travelling from place to place with his disciples performing great deeds, giving many teachings and benefiting all whom he encountered. In his autobiography, Celebration of the Cuckoo, he writes,

“If I resorted to the nectar of being a wandering ascetic myself, a great change would most likely occur in the essence of mind within.”

As a young monk, an illness drove the youthful 17-year-old Tsarchen Losal Gyatso in search of the great meditator and healer, Lord Kunpang Doringpa. At the time he suffered from an inflammatory illness that affected his leg. During his search, he received a series of prophetic dreams from his Dharma protector that his illness would linger on for a few more years before he would be healed. Therefore, he returned to his monastery of Tashi Lhunpo, where he followed the monastic curriculum. He had been ordained by His Holiness the 1st Dalai Lama Gendun Drub and entered Tashi Lhunpo, a monastery founded by the Dalai Lama himself. Later, Tashi Lhunpo monastery was offered to the 4th Panchen Lama by the 5th Dalai Lama and became the main seat of the Panchen Lama line of incarnations.

Early one morning, he was in the monastery courtyard where there was a well, when he chanced upon the curious sight of a lady with shimmering eyebrows and facial hair. “Lord Doringpa requires your presence at Khau immediately,” she said and added, “This is his gift for you.” She then passed to him a small Tibetan pecha manuscript wrapped in cloth before vanishing. The manuscript contained instructions on the three forms of Kechari or Vajrayogini.

It was not long before a sealed letter from the master Doringpa arrived, containing a letter of invitation, “It would be good for you to receive the ripening and liberating oral instructions of Vajrayana. Please come to me.” Upon reading the master’s letter, Tsarchen was overcome with great devotion. He made immediate preparations to travel to the master’s hermitage of Khau Drakzong, near Sakya Monastery.

Tsarchen Losel Gyatso arrived at the hermitage and was granted audience with the master Doringpa. It was there that he recounted his strange meeting with the lady at Tashi Lhunpo and showed Doringpa the Vajrayogini text as proof of his encounter. In response, the master just laughed and exclaimed, “Oh my! Looks like Kechari went to fetch you. This book contains the Vajrayogini cycle of teachings. Please place it on the book shelves for now.” When Tsarchen was about to place the text, he saw that in the middle of the pile of books was an empty space that was about the size of the Vajrayogini text in his hands. He slipped the book back into place and it fit perfectly. He realised the book was originally from this shelf and felt great faith arise in him. It was apparent that Vajrayogini had appeared to him in order to lead him to this great teacher.

Tsarchen remained with Doringpa at his retreat hermitage for the next six years. While there he received teachings and rare transmissions from the Sakya tradition and also the complete cycle of the Shangpa Kagyu teachings. This is because Doringpa was also a disciple of the famous Shangpa yogin Tangtong Gyalpo (1361 – 1485). Lord Doringpa taught Tsarchen the entire Lamdre teachings (or the Path and the Result), the 13 Golden Dharmas of Sakya, the secret transmissions of various Dharma protectors, and many other profound teachings. What is notable is that the main teachings Tsarchen received were given personally and in private, while on walks and while they had tea together.

It was clear that Tsarchen was being groomed to be Doringpa’s successor and the master of a special lineage of teachings called Lobshé or Explication for Disciples. Of the time spent with his master, he wrote, “After meeting the great venerable lord Doringpa and receiving this Precious Teaching, I’ve had a deeply rooted certainty, with no yearning or hunger for any other master and oral instruction for achieving enlightenment.”

Lord Doringpa entered clear light in 1524 and soon after Tsarchen entered the service of the patriarch of the Khon family, Dakchen Ngagi Wangchuk as an attendant and traveled to the central province of U. He served as an attendant for around eight years and during this period, Tsarchen studied with 63 masters of all traditions. Not only did he receive teachings, he also engaged in extended retreats while traveling through the central regions of U and Tsang.

He once said that,

“Basically, there are no mantras of the new and old traditions of secret mantra that I have not recited according to the specifics of propitiation. Of them, the mantra of the protector (Mahakala) has the greatest power. As I recite the mantra, fire is actually blazing around my mala.”

Then in 1534, he became the abbot of Tupten Gepel Monastery in upper Mangkar, the valley of his birth. It was at this monastery that he gave various teachings, entered retreat, and composed important written works, including the biography of his master Kunpang Doringpa at the request of dakinis that entered his dreams.

In 1539, Tsarchen travelled eastward with several mendicant monks into U province. This would be his third journey to the province and he would remain there for two years. The vivid autobiographical account in Song of the Road describes a period of rest on his journey that began at his hermitage of Tupten Gepel in Tsang and ended at Kyetsal Monastery on the southern border of U.

The Fifth Dalai Lama (1617–82) praises Tsarchen’s written work by saying it is composed of “superb words and meaning, blazing with the light of majestic blessings,” and eloquently says it is, “Styled in finely alternating verse and prose, were Sarasvati to have manifested in his throat and spoken, what more could she have said than that?”

A year or so before he departed for U, Tsarchen entered into a retreat meditating on Saraswati, the goddess of fine arts. While he was in retreat, a rain of white flowers fell, he heard the melodious strumming of Saraswati’s lute, and finally beheld her face and received a word of prophecy. Saraswati had bestowed on him an incredible gift of extraordinary eloquence. Thereafter, whatever he wrote naturally came forth as poetry. Tsarchen’s journal can be read as a mixture of prose and verse poetry of such beauty and sophistication that its meaning is simply lost in translation.

On his travels throughout Tibet, Tsarchen rode on horseback because of his bad leg while his students walked on foot, and they carried small white tents on their backs that they used to sleep in while they travelled. Even though he was only 38 years old at the time, Tsarchen was already proficient in the tantric systems of the Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu and Shangpa traditions. During the trip, he gave various Sakya and Nyingma initiations and transmissions to others, and although he was incredibly learned himself and held numerous lineages, he continued to seek many other teachings.

While travelling north of the Mangkar region, one of Tsarchen’s first stops was the great hermitage of Jonang, where his group pitched their little tents near the huge stupa that Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen (1292–1361) had completed in 1333. This stupa is known as the great Stupa that Liberates Upon Sight and nearby was a temple dedicated to the practice of the Six-Branch Yoga (completion stage) of Kalachakra. Tsarchen was filled with awe when he witnessed the strict meditation practice of the ordained monks and nuns there, and vowed to lead a similar lifestyle. During his stay, many came up to Tsarchen, seeking a Dharma connection as well as teachings.

Tsarchen went on to visit his teacher Ratnabhadra at the nearby Chumolung Monastery. This eccentric master specialised in the Nyingma transmission of the Northern Treasures, especially the wrathful Hayagriva practice which was one of Tsarchen’s favorites. Tsarchen called this master Ratnabhadra “a sublime adept for whom all confusion had vanished”. In fact, Ratnabhadra was the Sanskrit translation of this master’s Tibetan name, Konchok Sangpo. He was renowned to have had actualised the power of mantra and was able to command the Dharma protectors to do his bidding.

Upon meeting the master, he requested the initiation of the nine wrathful yidams, Pema Wangchen Yangsang Tropa, a longevity initiation, and protector initiations including that of Rahula. During the initiation, Tsarchen received the special Hayagriva transmissions from Ratnabhadra and at the time the master also manifested the mandala of the nine deities. While taking the Dharma protectors by the hand, the master introduced them to Tsarchen in the manner of introducing one person to another, and the master assigned them to do his bidding.

Early the next morning, Tsarchen along with his students requested and received the Guru Yoga of Padmasambhava. While the master was delivering his explanations, he seemed to be driven by impulsive behavior. At times he scolded and other times he acted affectionately towards the monks. They all felt deep faith arise in them and praised him to be without the eight worldly concerns.

After Chumolong, Tsarchen’s party travelled to Bodong where Gorumpa Kunga Lekpa (1477 – 1544) had been invited to stay. Gorumpa was one of Tsarchen’s teachers and had been the throne holder of the Jonang tradition for 12 years. He retired from the position in 1527, and was an accomplished master of the Sakya Lamdre set of teachings and other rare lineages. Tsarchen regarded him as the greatest Sakya master of the time and his most important teacher since the passing of Lord Doringpa. While visiting Ngakchang Kunga Rinchen (1517 – 84) at Geding, Tsarchen was so impressed with the abilities of the young throne holder of Sakya that tears welled up in his eyes.

After Bodong, the party moved on to Tropu. They found a place to stay at the great assembly hall there. The following account along with the incident at Tashi Lhunpo (related at the beginning of this article) are the two most famous events surrounding Vajrayogini in the one-thousand-year history of the Sakya tradition.

While at Tropu, Tsarchen went to perform circumambulations around a Vajravarahi temple called the Face-Viewing Temple. He saw a young woman who said she was sick and was squatting along the circumambulation path. As he continued to perform circumambulations, he noticed that the woman began to grow fangs and they were growing longer and longer. Tsarchen wondered if it was all a hallucination or if the woman was trying to scare him with her fake fangs. Eventually, the bright white fangs grew to an incredible handspan in length. A bloody eye had also formed in the centre of her forehead. Then she suddenly stood up as he approached and he immediately thought that she was a demoness or witch.

Therefore, he meditated on his yidam and chased her while wielding his mala. She fled the circumambulation path and hid in a family home to the south of the temple and shut the door behind her. At this point, he thought of returning to his circumambulation route but he hesitated. He circled the house and caught a glimpse of tangled hair similar to the woman’s hair. Suddenly, he heard a very strong and melodious female voice call out…

As she spoke, Tsarchen felt his fear vanish and he felt pure awareness arise in him. He felt the strange shaky sensations of being transient and weightless. He did not know what to do and he thought, “This appearance is clear, but I cannot find a point of reference. Should I scream and run?” At this point, he could not tell if he was experiencing an obstacle or an attainment. Thus, he decided not to relate this strange incident to his companions.

That evening, he was able to sustain that sensation even while performing elaborate practices such as the dedication of ritual torma cakes back at the assembly hall. Later, he visited the great Maitreya statue, the great stupa, the self-arisen Vaishravaṇa image and other precious objects. During this time, he made prostrations, offerings, and prayers with deep conviction. The next day, several of Dagchen Rinpoche’s young attendants and lay officials from Geding also came to visit Tropu and decided to have audience with Tsarchen. In honour of their guests, Tsarchen’s attendants brewed and served fine tea. Then everyone went to visit the Face-Viewing Temple. The temple itself had a bronze image of the two-faced Vajravarahi enshrined within. It was there that Tsarchen noticed a crystal-like rod that seemed to extend from Vajravarahi’s sow face to the ceiling.

Then he asked, “What’s this?” while he attempted to touch the rod. He realised that the rod was made of light when he was unable to touch it. The steward mistakenly thought he was pointing at the statue and replied that it was the sow face of Vajravarahi. He realised that the rest of his companions were unable to see this spectacle and so he kept quiet about it. He touched his head to that image and made prayers. It was obvious that the Queen of Kechara particularly favoured Tsarchen. Even his teacher Doringpa had said, “Exceptional omens appear to me every time I perform the blessing of Kechari for the Dharma lord (Tsarchen). If you make the effort, there’s the risk she may lead you to Kechara.”

While passing by the enchanting Lhamo Lhatso Lake of the goddess Palden Lhamo Makzorma, a light-hearted incident occurred. Tsarchen was mistaken by a passerby to be Silnönpa, the former monarch of the powerful Rinpung dynasty in disguise as an ordained monk. The Rinpung family was a major political force during this period in Tibet. Tsarchen’s party moved on and crossed a high mountain pass, which led them to the ancient temples of Chumik Ringmo that contained many precious images and relics. However, Tsarchen felt great sadness to see the ruined condition of the place. They then arrived at Ngor Monastery, a major Sakya centre where they pitched their tents in the grassland just outside the monastery. While at this monastery, Tsarchen bestowed the initiation of the Dharma protector Mahakala on the temple rooftop.

Then the group travelled to Shalu Monastery, the great seat of the Omniscient Buton Rinchen Drub. While visiting the monastery, another mysterious woman appeared and disappeared near Tsarchen. During this visit, he paid homage to the sacred sites, and gave and received several initiations. He was offered some tea, which brought him great joy, as it would sustain his group while they were on the road. He would return 16 years later and be enthroned as the abbot of Shalu Monastery.

During the next few stops on their travels, Tsarchen received teachings and bestowed a series of initiations to a local chieftain and in another incident, he chastised his niece for requesting Nyingma terma teachings because they were popular and profitable. While in the upper region of the Nyang Valley, his group paid a visit to Gyantse along with its great stupa and monasteries. They pitched their tents behind the fortress but their campsite was ruined by a storm.

At this point, Tsarchen had planned to travel to Ralung Monastery and visit one of his teachers Drukpa Ngawang Choyal (1465 – 1540), the head of the Drukpa Kaygu tradition. But he had to change his plans as the monks were in a rush and the horse that he rode was exhausted. So, they traveled north while crossing a mountain pass and arrived at Shambhar Monastery in Rong.

The region of Rong is the ancient homeland of the Dharma protector practice of Takshon, a special form of Mahakala that rides on a tiger and is also a special protector of Tsarchen’s family line. The attained master at Shambhar actually beheld an incredible vision of Takshon before. Therefore, Tsarchen requested the complete cycle of teachings on this practice from him and requested to have audience of the sacred ritual dagger of Rongpa Takshon. Just before leaving the monastery, Tsarchen also beheld the wrathful vision of the protector, which he considered to be an omen for the accomplishment of certain deeds of this protector.

After crossing the Tsangpo River, they found themselves in the domain of the Rinpung dynasty in U. While in this region, Tsarchen immediately appreciated the benefits of the local authorities levying taxes which were then offered to visiting lamas. However, these exact same rules would later annoy him. He soon arrived at the massive Sakya monastery of Kyetsal and they pitched their tents nearby. Tsarchen entered the monastery and enjoyed conversations with the master Dragkar Rabjampa (d. 1541), and bestowed numerous tantric transmissions to the monks of Kyetsal.

He soon learned that the Rinpung monarch, Ngawang Namgyal had extended an invitation to the Karmapa Mikyo Dorje, the head of the Karma Kagyu tradition. In fact, the ruler had already levied tax on all his subjects in order to welcome the Karmapa with great pomp and ceremony. People were excited but they were also in despair at the astronomical cost involved. Unfortunately, the teachers and monks of Kyetsal Monastery were forced to pay taxes as well because the Rinpung ruler happened to be their patron and they did not wish to offend him. Tsarchen was greatly disturbed by all of this, as he would never pay such a tax.

People were outraged with the Karmapa’s encampment that consisted of hundreds of large tents which did not impress Tsarchen, who was a renunciate yogin living in a small tent. In the end, he did not even meet the Karmapa but had some harsh words to say about Mikyo Dorje. He was mostly critical of his political involvement and dismissive of his writings as well. He felt that he was trying to compete with the great Sakya and Gaden masters. In fact, such criticism by various masters of another master is not unusual and quite common in the Tibetan literary tradition.

Nevertheless, in his writings, Tsarchen stressed that he was only critical of certain activities of the Karmapa Mikyo Dorje. In the very same text he reiterated his sincere faith in the Karmapa and the Kagyu teachings, which he had previously received from Karma Trinlepa (1456 – 1539), one of the main teachers of the Karmapa. Another possibility is that the Karmapa’s apparent hostility towards the Nyingma tradition may also have been an unspoken reason for Tsarchen’s criticism. This event would be the last entry in his travel journal.

After two years, in early 1541, Tsarchen returned to Tsang. From then on, he retraced the steps of his previous journey and again, he met up with his teachers Gorumpa and Ratnabhadra at Bodong and Mount Lalung, and then made his way to the hermitage of Jonang. This time around, one of Lord Doringpa’s main disciples, Jetsun Kunga Drolchok, was now the Jonang throne holder. Tsarchen purposefully did not send word of his impending arrival and yet Kunga Drolchok knew without being told. He even had everyone go outside and line up by the side of the main road to welcome the master.

However, Tsarchen rode a mule up the rocks to the monastery from a different and unexpected route. When everyone realised that he was approaching from a different direction, they rushed over to greet him with khatas. It was evident that the two masters were playing with each other. Kunga Drolchok arranged to welcome the master without prior knowledge of his impending arrival and Tsarchen in turn decided to appear from a different direction that was thought to be an impossible route. From there, Tsarchen returned back to his monastery of Tupten Gepel in the upper Mangkar Valley.

The final 25 years of the great Tsarchen’s life were filled with visionary dreams and pure visions of teachers, past lineage masters, and various deities. He spent most of his time in retreat, visited other teachers and proliferated the essential tantric systems of the Sakya, Nyingma and Shangpa Kagyu traditions to his disciples. This was especially true of his closest disciples and heirs to his lineage, Jamyang Khyentse Wangchuk (1524 – 68) and Mangto Ludrup Gyatso (1523 – 96). These two principle disciples would be the first to put down in words the special instructions that Tsarchen had received from Doringpa and other masters, thereby preserving the great oral tradition of Lobshé or the Explication for Disciples.

In the 1550s, Tsarchen had a vision of three celestial ladies appearing in the sky while holding arrows adorned with silks in their hands. They descended from the sky on an unusually tall ladder and they told him, “We have come to invite you.” Fortunately, he declined their invitation because his parents were still living. So, the women climbed back up the ladder and disappeared. Lord Doringpa had many years ago predicted to Tsarchen that Vajrayogini might soon take him to her paradise of Kechara and he had advised him to engage in longevity practices to extend his life and be of further benefit to the lineage.

After receiving auspicious dreams and visions of his master, Lord Doringpa, and Dorje Rabtenma, the protectress of Shalu, Tsarchen ascended the throne of Buton Rinchen Drup (1290 – 1364) in 1555 and became the 13th abbot of Shalu Monastery. He retired four years later and returned to his homeland in the Mangkar Valley. It was then that his disciple Jamyang Khyentse Wangchuk ascended the Shalu throne and became the succeeding abbot.

Then in 1564, a war broke out between the rulers of the Dar and Donga regions. Coincidentally, the ruler of Dar, Rinchen Palsang, was Tsarchen’s main patron, and two of the Sakya throne holder Ngakchang Kunga Rinchen’s wives were sisters of the ruler of Donga. The army from Donga invaded Dar and ransacked the temple, destroying the sacred images of the Dharma protectors at Tsarchen’s birthplace of Mushong. The Donga army returned the following year and completely surrounded the fortress of the ruler of Dar where Tsarchen was residing at the time. According to the great Fifth Dalai Lama’s account, Tsarchen was able to drive the army away on the basis of his tantric rituals.

Two years after that incident, one of Tsarchen’s main disciples Bokharwa Maitri Dondrup Gyaltsen (1514 – 75) came to have audience with his master while bearing offerings and he ended up receiving teachings. Tsarchen’s parting words to him were, “I also have some enemies that must be subdued. But I’m old and that won’t happen. So you disciples must subdue my enemies. The most potent enemies are the five poisons that cast us into saṃsara. So these are to be subdued. Yet if the five poisons were utterly destroyed, there would be no causes for the five types of primordial awareness. That too won’t happen.”

In the fall of 1566, Lord Doringpa suddenly manifested to Tsarchen while he was in meditative concentration. He said to Tsarchen, “Dharma lord, come up,” while gesturing again and again. This vision heralded Tsarchen’s great passing into the paradise of the dakinis, Kechara Paradise. It was said that he actualised the 13th level of a vajra holder in the paradise of Kechara. At the time of his passing, the sky was a luminous dark blue and the area was filled with rainbows so brilliant they looked like they were painted with a paintbrush. A gentle rain of flowers fell all over the earth, filling the air with an ethereal fragrance. For a master who has gained control of death and rebirth, the process of death is nothing but an experience of moving from one residence to another.

Tsarchen’s sacred body was adorned in fine brocade robes, anointed with saffron, and enshrined in a jeweled casket full of salt. A stream of offerings continued to arrive for the next 15 years, until the sacred remains were enshrined in a gold and silver stupa in 1581. For many years after Tsarchen’s death, he continued to appear to his disciples in dreams and visions, teaching Dharma, giving prophecies, and offering encouragement on their spiritual journeys.

The existing biographical information on Tsarchen is within the biography composed by the Fifth Dalai Lama and Tsarchen’s own travel journal entitled Celebration of the Cuckoo, which is a travelogue spanning the travels between Tupten Gepel in Tsang and Kyetsal Monastery at the border of U.

The legacy of Tsarchen Losal Gyatso in the Sakya and the other traditions are especially profound. All of the main Sakya tantric teachings, and the rare oral transmissions such as Lobshé or Explication for Disciples, have been passed down from Tsarchen to all his major Dharma heirs. The Vajrayogini tantric lineage from Tsarchen has since been disseminated within the Sakya and Gelug traditions. The incredible life story contained in his travel journal continues to inspire generations of practitioners, especially those of the Vajrayogini lineage.

Reference

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