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712 Pages·2001·3.26 MB·English
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THE LIFE OF SHABKAR The Autobiography qf a Tibetan Yogin The Kurg of Wash-granting Jewels 17wt Fu!fiils the Hopes of All Fortunate Disciples 'Who Seek Liberation The detailed narration of the life and liberation of the great vajra-holder Shabkar Tsogdruk Rangdrol, refuge and protector for all sentient beings of this dark age with a Foreword by His Holiness the X!Vth Dalai Lama Translated from the Tibetan by Matthieu Ricard, Jakob Leschly, Erik Schmidt, Marilyn Silverstone, and Lodro Palmo Edited by Constance Wilkinson with Michal Abrams, and other members of the PADMAKARA TRANSlATION GROUP Snow Lion Publications Ithaca, NY USA Snow Lion Publications 605 West State Street P. 0. Box 6483 Ithaca, NY 14851 (607) 273-8519 www.snowlionpub.com Copyright© 2001 Matthieu Ricard All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced by any means without prior written permission from the publisher. Printed in Canada on acid-free, recycled paper. Cover photo: J. Biancamaria The cover illustration is a watercolor on silk painted by the eighth Dugu Choeyal Gyantso Rinpoche for this publication. The artist is a renowned Tibetan lama and yogin whose work combines traditional style with a free, expressive manner. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Shabkar Tsogdruk Rangdrol, 1781-1851 The life ofShabkar: the autobiography of a Tibetan yogin I translated from Tibetan by Matthieu Ricard [et al.] edited by Constance Wilkinson (poetry), with Michal Abrams [et al.] p. em. ISBN 1-55939-154-5 1. Shabkar Tsogdruk Rangdrol, 1781-1851. 2. Lamas-China-Tibet-Biography. 3. Yogins-China-Tibet Biography. I. Ricard, Matthieu. II. Wilkinson, Constance. III. Abrams, Michal. Contents Foreword, His Holiness the XIV Dalai lAma vii Preface, Matthew Kapstein ix Acknowledgments xi Translator's Introduction, Mattkieu Ricard xiii A Celebration ofShabkar, H. H. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche xxxi The Life Story Introduction 3 1 Early Tears 15 2 Renouncing the World 2 7 3 Meeting kfy Teacher 39 4 Retreat at the Hermit's Cave 49 5 Meditation at T zgress Fort 65 6 At The Heart of the Lalce 95 7 'Meditation at Mount Machen 155 The life ofS lw.hkar VI 8 At White Rock Mo~ Fortress 179 9 Pilgrimage to Central Tzbet 205 10 The Ravines ofTsari 243 11 At Mount Kailash 275 12 Pilgrimage to Nepal 349 13 Meditation at IApchi 395 14 Return to Central Tibet 447 15 Return to Dorney 485 Conclusion 541 ~ Appendices 1 Introduction to the teachings dealt with in the biography 547 2 Shabkar's spiritual teachers 557 3 Chogyal Ngakyi Wangpo's ancestry 565 4 Kunzang Dechen Gyalpo and the Wish-fo!filling Gem, Ho;yagriva and Varahi 569 5 Shabkar's writings 577 6 Shabkar's disciples 589 List of Abbreviations 593 Glossary of Enumerations 595 Bibliography 607 Maps 617 Table of Songs, Letters, Teachings, and Major Events 625 Indexes General index 633 2 Index of persons, deities, and sacred images 655 3 Index of places 679 4 Index of Tibetan works 693 Foreword By His Holiness the X!Vth Dalai Lama The vast religious literature of Tibet can be Shabkar Tsogdruk Rangdrol, is also to be pub divided into two kinds of books: those dealing lished in English. Regarded by many as the with Buddhist teaching in a technical, analytical greatest yogi after Milarepa to gain enlighten way, intended for those who have trained in logic ment in one lifetime, he also lived the life of a and philosophy, and those which contain advice. wandering mendicant teaching by means ofs piri The latter category consists ofw orks which present tual songs. Shabkar is particularly celebrated for the Dharma in a way that is accessible to people the absolute purity of his approach to his lama without special training. It includes, on the one and his personal practice, which freed him from hand, books which deal with the Stages of the the snare of sectarianism. He is also affection Path, Mind Training, and so forth, and, on the ately remembered for the kindness of his gently other, books of an inspirational nature contain teasing humor. ing the lives ofg reat practitioners, spiritual songs, This work will undoubtedly make a great and so forth. The special quality of these books contribution to the growing store of Tibetan lies in their universal appeal. The life ofM ilarepa literature translated into English, providing a and his Hwulred Tlwusand Songs, for example, are source of inspiration to Buddhist practitioners treasured in almost every Tibetan household and and general readers alike. I am glad of this also would often be the only additional book that opportunity to express my gratitude and admira meditators took into retreat with them. tion to Matthieu Ricard and other friends who I am, therefore, delighted to know that the have labored long under expert guidance to pro life-story of another more recent great practitioner, duce it. Vll Preface The autobiography of Shabkar Tsogdruk in exposing all hypocrisy-these are the qualities Rangdrol is one of the classics of Tibetan Bud that suffuse his work, overriding the niceties of dhist literature and may be counted among the literary style alone. spiritual classics ofhumankind. Like St. Francis, The gentle and kind personality illuminat Jalal-ud-din Rumi, Sri Ramakrishna, or the ing these pages should not, however, be regarded Hasidim, Shabkar exemplifies through his life as an airy proponent of love and light, a New and legacy the excellence ofa particular religious Age prophet before his time. Shabkar's lightness tradition, while transcending particularity and disguises, to some extent, the intense moral rigor touching the divine in all. of the ascetical ethos he propounded: Shabkar In Shabkar's life and songs, we receive a was an effective apostle of vegetarianism among privileged and intimate view of the world of the carnivores, of teetotalism among the lush, of Buddhist adept, a world ofi ntense self-discipline, renunciation among the worldly. He wins our but also of humor, vision and joy. It is owing to respect and sympathy not because we always these qualities, and the simple yet elegant form concur with, much less adhere to, the standard in which they are here expressed, that Shabkar's upon which he insists, but because his insistence work has come to be especially beloved among takes the form not of the moralist's harangue but the people of his native province of Amdo, in of the songster's jest, and of teaching through his northeastern Tibet, who fmd in these pages a own good example. For above all, Shabkar prac companion offering continual wisdom, solace, ticed what he preached. and the courage needed to face the trials of life. In addition to its religious and literary value, The mixed prose and verse in which the autobiography ofShabkar presents an excep Shabkar's autobiography is written is in some tional record of many dimensions of Tibetan life respects reminiscent oft he campu style ofc lassical during the early part of the nineteenth century. Sanskrit poetry, which influenced Tibetan litera The author's remarks on pilgrimages, on the ture primarily through the]atokamala ofA ryasura, donation and redistribution ofw ealth in connec a work with which Shabkar was certainly famil tion with religious affairs, on brigands and thieves, iar. Shabkar, however, is no mere imitator of and occasionally on politics, all contribute to our Sanskrit ~a; it is his eschewal, in fact, ofliterary understanding of and receptiveness to a now artifice, in favor of the clear and rich idiom of vanished world. colloquial speech, folk song and traditional folk In offering to us the present translation, the oratory, that lends his writing much ofi ts distinc Padmakara Translation Group, inspired by H.H. tive flavor. Shabkar's wit and playfulness, his the late Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, and headed magnificent flights ofi magination, his persistence for this work by Gelong Konchog Tendzin IX X ~Life ofS hah/car (Matthieu Ricard), has magnificently contrib of specialization: religion, history, anthropology, uted to our knowledge of Tibetan Buddhism. literature, etc. . · Their achievement is a highly accurate, but at The SUNY Series in Buddhist Studies is the same time pleasant and readable, rendering pleased to present this unparalleled addition to of a work the many difficulties of which might the body of Buddhist literature now available in well have frustrated the effort. The background English translation. material they have assembled here, represented in the notes and appendices, by itself represents a MAITHEW KAPsTEIN major contribution to Tibetan Studies that will Series Editor be welcomed by scholars in many differing areas Acknowledgments This work was translated and edited by the We would like to thank all those who made Padmakara Translation Group under the guid valuable contributions during the various stages ance of: H.H. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Tulku of the translation, editing, and proofreading of Urgyen Rinpoche, Dza Trulshik Rinpoche, this work: Anijinba Palmo (E. Dejong), Ani Samten Taklung Tsetrul Perna Wangyal Rinpoche, (Casandra Calo), Ronald Bamstone, Shelagh Byron, Dagpo Tulku, Dugu Tulku Choegyal Rinpoche, David Christensen, the late Terry Clifford, Wulstan Alak Zenkar Rinpoche (Thubden Nyima), Tulku Fletcher, Michael Friedman, Shirin Gale, Gelong Thondup Rinpoche, Senge Trakpa Rinpoche, Tsultrim Gyatso, Janis Joculvar, Dolores Katz, Khetsun Sangpo Rinpoche, Shangpa Tulku, and S. Lhamo, Hetty MacLise, Tim Olmsted, Nur Tulku Sangnak Tendzin. Richard, and Pam Ross. Special thanks are due to Professor Matthew Kapstein (Columbia University, USA) for his invaluable help, and to Dr. Franz-Karl Ehrhard Translators (Kathmandu, Nepal) and Toni Huber (Univer Matthieu Ricard (Konchog Tendzin),Jakob sity of Canterbury, New Zealand), whose sug Leschly (Tashi Chapel), Erik Schmidt gestions brought about significant improvements (Perna Kunzang), Marilyn Silverstone during the final stages of preparation; to Chris (Bhikshuni Ngawang Chadron), and Gianniotis for his long-term technical guidance; Linda Talbot (Lodro Palma) and to Vivian Kurz and Bernadine Dawes for Editor their dedicated and careful attention to all the Constance Wilkinson matters related to the publication of this work. Assistant editors We also thank all those who were kind Michal Abrams (Perna Yeshe),Jeffrey Miller enough to make maps and other useful informa (Surya Das), Daniel Staffier,John Canti, tion available to us: Katia Buffetrille (Paris, Dana Chubb, Wyatt Benner,Jody Vernon, France), Keith Dowman (Chabahil, Kathman and Maggie Westhaver du), Mike Farmer, Peter Kessler (Rikon, Swit Illustrations: ze~land), Bradley Rowe (Exeter, U.K.), Cyrus The eighth Dugu Choegyal Steams (Bodhnath, Kathmandu), and Tashi Gyamtso Rinpoche Tshering (Library of Tibetan Works and Ar Raphaele Demandre chives, Dharamsala, India). Xl

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Regarded by many as the greatest yogi after Milarepa to gain enlightenment in one lifetime...a source of inspiration to Buddhist practitioners and general readers alike.--The Dalai Lama
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