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Dorje Lingpa
An extensive biography of Dorje Lingpa exists in English has been published by scholar Samten Karmay in his article, "Dorje Lingpa and His Rediscovery of the "Gold Needle" in Bhutan:" (Bhutan Studies Journal Volume 2 No. 2, 2000). Karmay writes:
"Dorje Lingpa [1346-1405] was born...in the district of Dra, south of the Tsangpo river in Lhokha, Central Tibet. He lost his mother, Karmogyen, at the age of 3 and father, Sonam Gyaltshen, at 7. He was brought up by an aunt. His childhood name was Ogyen Zangpo. At the age of 8 he was symbolically ordained as a novice at Lharikha. At 13 he rediscovered for the first time hidden manuscripts from the ancient temple of Tradrug. Among the manuscripts he found there were the khachang "guides" that indicated the existence of manuscripts concealed in other places.
At 15, he disclosed a large number of manuscripts at Namchagdrag amongst which he found the text Tawa Longyang. It became the basis of his Dzogchen teachings in later life. In this work he held some radical views on the main Dzogchen theories that aroused a good deal of interest amongst his followers as well as eliciting severe criticisms from the Gelugpa dialecticians (Karmay 1988: 186)." In his book, The Great Perfection, Karmay writes, "...while Longchenpa's scholastic approach was aiming at re-structuring and organising the Dzogchen philosophy, Dorje Lingpa was still producing new materials which gave a further dimension to the doctrine. The Tawa Longyang is perhaps the best example among [his terma texts]. (p. 217)" "From the same place he also revealed the Lama Kadu amongst other ritual cycles. The Lama Kadu is the ritual component of the annual festivals in several places in Bhutan today.
In 1362 he became known as Dorje Lingpa at the age of 17, and is said to have revealed more manuscripts in four volumes that contained texts on such subjects as medicine, the Bon religion, astrology and the do rituals, [but these have subsequently been lost over time]. He continued to engage in similar ventures in various places before he made his first visit to Bhutan. His rediscovery of hidden manuscripts of texts were so numerous that Sogdogpa Lodro Gyaltshen describes them as "the mad treasures"(ternyon) and most of these Dorje Lingpa claims to have already achieved before the age of twenty - incredible as it may sound."
In 1369 aged 24, Dorje Lingpa was staying in the hermitage of Chuwori in Yarto, Central Tibet. In this place he claimed to have obtained a "guide" to the "concealed manuscripts" by Vairocana. In a dream a monk gave him a flat bell (shang) and a thunderbolt (dorje) pointing with his finger toward the south and said "O! your wealth portion (norkal) and your would-be converts are down there, that way!"
Vairocana was an eighth century Tibetan Buddhist monk believed to have practised Buddhism and Bon, the flat bell being a symbol of the Bon religion and vajra that of tantric Buddhism. Dorje Lingpa believed himself to be an embodiment of the monk and took the dream as an indication for finding hidden manuscripts in Tagtshang Sengge Samdrub in Paro. He therefore set out on a pilgrimage with the hope of divulging hidden manuscripts. On the way he stopped in various places such as Ralung and Phagri in Dromo from where he entered Monyul. When he saw Paro Chagkhar from a distance he was moved by its sight. He composed a song expressing that although he now found himself in a country that he did not know he felt very happy about everything that he could see.
In 1370, Dorje Lingpa stopped at Paro Tagtshang and revealed for the first time a certain number of hidden manuscripts that contained religious texts of Buddhist tantras and Bonpo Dzogchen meditation..."
"In 1371, Dorje Lingpa performed what is known as the "public revelation" (tromter) in at least two places: at Ugyen Yiblung Dekyiling, accompanied by three hundred people, and at Pungthang Dewa Dhenpo (Punakha). He seems to be the first among the Nyingmapa terton to initiate this tradition. It consisted in disclosing manuscripts and other sacred objects from a hidden place with the public witnessing the action of disclosure.
When he was at Punakha he was again asked to give religious instructions by a group of nuns and on this occasion he composed a eulogy to the place as being pleasant and appropriate for practising Buddhism.
In 1374 he set out to go to Bumthang and tried to cross over two high passes covered with snow, but he suffered from snow-blindness and was obliged to retreat. He finally arrived at Bumthang. In the same year he revealed more hidden manuscripts from the cave Nganlung situated near the lake Durtsho nagmo located in the Upper Chokhor, Bumthang.
Bumthang became the main seat of his activities in Bhutan. There is an old house reputed to have been his residence. In 1999, it was occupied by the Chagkhar Lama, a Nyingmapa adept.
Dorje Lingpa spent less than three years in Bumthang. Towards the end of 1376, in which year he returned to Tibet, he went into retreat at Yangdzong Shelgyi Dragphug (probably today Shebrag in Tang, Bumthang) for seven days in the second month of the year. In the fifth month, he gave teachings on Dzogchen based on the Tawa Longyang. One night he had a dream of a woman who appeared to be in Lhasa. She gave him long religious instructions and the next morning he wrote them down. During the seventh month of the same year he again gave teachings on Dzogchen and this seems to have been the last teaching he delivered in Bumthang. In the eighth month he returned to Tibet taking the ancient route of Monla karchung from Bumthang to Lhodrag. On the way he stopped in a place called Kampotshol where again he wrote down a dream he had there. He arrived in Lhodrag in 1376."
The Songs of Dorje Lingpa
"There are no real detailed accounts of Dorje Lingpa's life. No "biography" of the namthar genre exists except a sketch account called namthar included in the collected works.
Apart from the bulk of the ritual texts of terma origin, which make up the whole of the collected works, Dorje Lingpa wrote a number of songs in verse. In this enterprise he seemed to have formed a habit of writing down as soon as the daybreak began what he could remember of religious instructions and prophecies that he believed to have received from the sages in his dreams during the night. There are other types of songs containing didactic verses. A certain number of these songs are dated. I call them simply song, but in fact they are mostly what is known as gur, "mystical utterance", a connotation of the term that developed later in the Tibetan religious tradition. They are improvisations and often given on the spur of the moment when one of the faithful asked for them.
Not long after his return to Tibet, he is said to have paid a visit to Choje Barawa, a friend of his, in Shang. This is probably Barawa Gyaltshen Pelzang (1310-1391) who is known to have made visits to Bhutan on two occasions. There is an interesting story that tells how Dorje Lingpa was received by a conventional establishment after his roving about in such a country as Mšnyul in the fourteenth century.
When Dorje Lingpa arrived at the Shang valley in Tibet, Barawa came to meet him bringing a pot of chang, a carcass of mutton and a roll of white nambu cloth as gifts. He said to Dorje Lingpa: "our country Shang is a place where Buddhism flourishes. You have been for too long in Lhomon, "the unlit land". Your clothes are worn out. Tomorrow morning when you come up, the monks and nuns will pay you their respects. You must dress yourself properly. Otherwise our people will be shocked. I request you and your entourage all to come well dressed." Barawa went home. The next morning a procession came along with the chief ladies wearing tiger and leopard masks led by Lamas and learned monks. Thereupon, Dorje Lingpa said: "All the Samsaric and Nirvanic elements are much alike, but men of religion here have taken the notion of acceptance and rejection as their main religion. Today I shall sing a song. Each man must hold the hands of a woman in chain fashion!" He led the Lamas by holding the hands of Lama Tongdenpa with his right hand and the hands of the chief lady wearing a mask with his left hand. The lap parts of their dresses were trussed up on their right and left hand sides and they began to dance. He started to sing a song called "Brewing the year's crop of chang ale":
Say that Dorje Lingpa, the chief of impostors, has come to this land.
Say that all the (barley), the provision to last all the year round is now being used for brewing the chang.
Say that those who have faith in him are performing the sacrificial cake rite.
Say that those who gather here are singing and dancing joyously.
Say that those who regard him as heretical are vexed (by his presence).
This song suggests that Dorje Lingpa's behaviour must have looked scandalous especially since his friend Barawa warned him to be decent, but there is no record of what happened after the public meeting between the two. However, Barawa himself is known to have made visits to Bhutan so that they must have had a common interest in the meeting.
Dorje Lingpa has tried different poetic styles which witnesses to his being a fine writer. In a short poetic verse he gives instructions to himself in a self-deprecating tone:
You say you are a hermit, but you are busier than anybody else;
You say you don't need much, but you use more things than anybody else;
You say you don't want to take root anywhere, but you have more hermitages than anybody else;
You say you have no enemies, but you are despised by more than anybody else....
The author again writes verses in six syllables on much the same theme as the previous poem, but this time he was suffering from an illness which inspired him to write a long poem. Here are five lines from it:
You,
small minded naive one,
from beginninglessness
until now
however much you suffer
it never seems to be enough!...
The texts of the songs are found in the collected works, Vols. 18 and 19 in ume scripts, each in a different hand. They are reproductions of a manuscript set preserved at Ogyen Choling. These are beautifully executed manuscripts in the ancient style, common among the Dunhuang documents. The words, for instance, ending in a vowel have often the 'a as suffix, (e.g. bsngo'a). Another characteristic is the shad in the form of two dots one on the top of the other often found in Dunhuang manuscripts. They are called tershe and this is invariably maintained throughout of the two volumes although the texts of the songs are not, properly speaking, of the terma revelation.
These poetic writings certainly raise the status of Dorje Lingpa as a literary figure, a fact that so far has not been recognized. The dominant theme in his songs is of course the melancholic Buddhist detachment from the worldly life, but within this they often echo the socio-economic problems of the real life in the society."
How He Passed From This World
According to Dudjom Rinpoche's History of the Nyingma School, Dorje Lingpa completed his service to beings in his sixtieth year. He then delivered his testament called The Great Prophetic Declaration, and accompanied by wondrous omens, he passed away at Traklong.
"His corpse remained [uncorrupted] for three years, during which time it sometimes continued to benefit beings by speaking and reciting four-line dedications of merit. When Dorje Lingpa's remains were finally offered on the funeral pyre many divine images and relics appeared. With a roar of the flames, his right foot flew from the crematorium to his spiritual son Tashi Jungne, and his left foot to Thokme Gyagarwa as their share of the remains. The relics from these multiplied many times, and it appears that they lasted until later times." (p. 792)