ཡུ་མོ་མི་བསྐྱོད་རྡོ་རྗེ། Yumo Mikyo Dorje
Yumo Mikyo Dorje was born in the first half of the eleventh century in Lato (la stod), near Mt. Kailash. His father was named Trompa (khrom pa), and belonged to the Ngam (rngam) clan. It is said that his family were nomads, and that at some point they all took ordination from a master named Zhontsun (gzhon btsun).
In his youth he studied with Seton Drachendzin (se ston sgra chen 'dzin) of Donmo Ri (don mo ri), and Benton Topaga (ban ston thos pa dga'). These two began calling him Yumo (yu mo), which seems to simply be a nickname. Yumo's official ordination name was Depa Gyelpo (dad pa rgyal po); later when he became involved with Tantra, he would be given a "secret name," Mikyo Dorje (mi bskyod rdo rje).
One of Yumo's first teachers was Pege Tong (spas ge mthong), who taught him Madhyamaka and Pramāṇa. His most important early teacher would be Lama Sok Chenpo (bla ma sog chen po), a renowned teacher of Vinaya and a student of Purangpa (spu rangs pa). Yumo's association with Sok Chenpo would later convince his main Kālacakra teacher that he was a suitable candidate for tantric teachings.
When Yumo's interests turned to Tantra, he was drawn to the Kālacakra, a tradition that was just entering Tibet. His biographies say that he was filled with inspiration simply by hearing the name of the Vajragarbha Commentary, a treatise that offers a Kālacakra interpretation of the Hevajra Tantra.
When he acquired the text, he became determined to find a master who could explain it to him. At that point, a friend told him about the Kashmiri paṇḍit Somanātha (zla ba'i mgon po), who was visiting Tibet at the time, and residing in the region of U. Somanātha is now known as one of the most important figures to transmit, translate, and teach Kālacakra materials in Tibet.
Yumo traveled to U, where he first stayed with a teacher named Khampa Tiuwa (khams pa lti'u ba). With him, Yumo studied Śāntideva's Śikṣāsamuccaya. At this time, he learned that Somanātha was staying at Karchung Gyaide (dkar chung rgya'i sde), and set out to meet him.
Yumo first met a disciple of Somanātha named Sumpa Dorje Zhonnu (sum pa rdo rje gzhon nu), who helped Yumo by requesting teachings on his behalf. Yumo, however, would never receive teachings directly from the Kashmiri paṇḍit. Yumo's biographies suggest that Somanātha was more interested in Yumo as a potential porter. In the biography written by Gyelwa Yeshe (rgyal ba ye shes, 1247-1320), for instance, Somanātha points at some golden lamps and cases of musk, and says to Yumo,
Carry these to Nepal! If you accomplish this, next year I will return to Tibet and at that time I will give you the doctrine.
When another disciple, Gompa Tsuldrak (sgom pa tshul grags), heard that Yumo had agreed, he warned Yumo that he would likely never be taught directly by Somanātha – whether he performed the service or not. This same biography has Gompa Tsuldrak saying,
You will not get the doctrine from the paṇḍita. Through this [trip], you would just be performing penance – you won't get any doctrine.... But there is someone who has obtained all of the lama's doctrines without exception. This is my great lama, who is dwelling at Norzang (nor bzangs).
This lama was Drogon Namla Tsek (sgro ston gnam la brtsegs), a disciple of Somanātha and the figure who would become Yumo's main tantric teacher. Assisted by Tonpa Gyelwa O (ston pa rgyal ba 'od), Gompa Wangso (sgom pa dbang bsod), and Gompa Tsuldrak (sgom pa tshul grags), Yumo approached Drogon Namla Tsek with an offering of gold, a conch shell, and a skull cup. In Gyelwa Yéshé's version, Namla Tsek says to Yumo,
Through these [[[offerings]]] you have become close to me, making an auspicious connection. The vinaya-holder Sok Chenpo teaches the doctrine to all the venerable ones who do not yet know how to eat a meal [properly], and who do not yet know how to wear the clothes [of a monk]. He has acted like your father. Because you are held in his heart, you have one good quality. Come!
At the time, Namla Tsek was seventy-two years old; it is said that he gave Yumo the full set of twelve Kālacakra empowerments, along with all of his oral instructions on the practice of tantra. Gyelwa Yeshe's history suggests that protector deities punished Namla Tsek for spreading the secret teachings, though they allowed him to live long enough to complete Yumo's instruction.
Yumo later settled in Uyuk, in Tsang. It is said that he taught and wrote extensively, and gained the power to display magical feats.
His extant compositions are four treatises collectively called the Cycle of the Four Radiant Lamps (gsal sgron skor bzhi); these discuss esoteric matters related to the Six Limbed Yoga, the suite of completion stage yogas in the Kālacakra tradition. In particular, the Lamps speculate about the nature of the Great Seal – a luminous consort said to appear to practitioners in visionary experience – and in this context Yumo explores innovative ideas about emptiness.
Though he was not identified with any organized school or sect, Yumo's writings would eventually resonate with the Jonang tradition, and it seems that his Lamps were taught in the fourteenth century by Dolpopa Sherab Gyeltsen (dol po pa shes rab rgyal mtshan, 1292-1381). The Jonang tradition would ultimately place Yumo as a key link in the Tibetan Kālacakra lineage; Tāranātha would cite him as an advocate of their distinctive position of "other-emptiness" (gzhan stong) in a tantric context.
Yumo passed away at the age of eighty. His primary disciple was Dharmeśvara Chokyi Wangchuk (d+har+me shwa ra chos kyi dbang phyug).
Chris Hatchell teaches religious studies at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. His research interests are in Kālacakra, Dzogchen, and the Bon tradition
b.1038? - d.1117?
BDRC P2589
AUTHOR
Chris Hatchell
TRADITION
TEACHERS
gnam la brtsegs
STUDENTS
d+har+me shwa ra
hab jo sras
HISTORICAL PERIOD
11th Century
12th Century
Name variants: Depa Gyelpo; Mikyo Dorje; Yumowa Mikyo Dorje
Wylie: yu mo mi bskyod rdo rje
Hatchell, Chris. 2014. Naked Seeing: The Great Perfection, the Wheel of Time, and Visionary Buddhism in 11th Century Tibet. New York: Oxford University Press.
Hatchell, Chris. 2016. "Materials on the Life of Yumo Mikyo Dorjé: Two Translations and a Discussion of Sources."
Rgyal ba ye shes. 2004. Dpal ldan dus kyi 'khor lo jo nang pa'i lugs kyi bla ma bsgyud pa'i rnam thar. Beijing: Mi rigs dpe skrun khang. TBRC W27321.
Roerich, George and Gendün Chöpel (trans), The Blue Annals (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1996, reprint).
Stearns, Cyrus. 1999. The Buddha from Dolpo: A Study of the Life and Thought of the Tibetan Master Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsan. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Tāranātha. 1982. Dpal dus kyi 'khor lo'i chos bskor kyi byung khungs nyer mkho. In The collected works of jo-nan rje-btsun Tāranātha, vol. 2. Leh: C. Namgyal & Tsewang Taru. TBRC W22277.
