Sahaja-Kālacakra

Sahaja-Kālacakra; one-faced and two-armed form of Kālacakra. Kalachakra, Sahaja Heruka (Tibetan: du kyi kor lo, lhan chig drag tung.

English: the Wheel of Time, Blood-drinker) with Vajrasattva at the top center accompanied by four teachers and two further figures at the bottom. The painting appears to follow the Palpung Monastery style of painting and can be dated, based on the last two figures at the bottom of the composition, to sometime between 1770 and 1798.

Sanskrit: Kalachakra Tibetan: Du kyi kor lo

"...Sahaja Kalachakra ... with a body blue in colour, one face, two hands holding a vajra and bell, embracing the Mother. The left leg is white and bent pressing on white Ishvara and the right red and extended on the heart of the King of Desire. The hair is in a top-knot and a wishing gem and crescent moon adorn the head; [adorned with] vajra ornaments and wearing a lower garment of tiger skin. For each hand the thumb is yellow, forefinger white, middle finger red, ring-finger black, little finger green. For the garland of joints, the first is black, second red, and third white; with Vajrasattva as a crown; and standing in the middle of a five coloured mountain of fire. Embracing Visvamata, yellow in colour. She has one face, two hands, three eyes, holding a curved knife and skullcup; embracing the Father with the right leg bent, left extended. In union with the Father, naked, adorned with the five mudras, part of the hair hangs loose." (Written by Jamyang Kyentse Wangpo, 1820-1892).

At the top center is Vajrasattva, white in colour embracing the consort Vajragarvi, holding a vajra scepter in the right hand and a bell in the left cradled to the side. Seated at the immediate left side is an Indian teacher and below that is Taranata both wearing monastic robes. Seated on the viewer's right is Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen. Below that is Katog Tsewang Norbu (1698-1755), dark skinned and wearing a cap.

At the bottom left is the 8th Situ, Chokyi Jungne (1700-1774), depicted as a portrait created in old age, grey hair, wrinkles, wearing the typical red hat. (Note the cloud ornaments on the side of the hat - trailing to the back). The two hands are placed in the lap supporting a blue wish-fulfilling jewel.

At the right side is the teacher Dragpo Dorje Tsal (1740-1798), the 4th Dzigar incarnation , a student of the 8th Situ. He wears the robes of a monk, adorned with a lotus hat. The right hand upraised holds a golden vajra and the left extended to the side strikes downward with a kila (English: peg. Tib.: purba) decorated with a black scorpion. The left leg is stretched slightly forward assuming a wrathful gesture with the entire body imitating the posture of the deity Guru Dragpo - a meditational form of Padmasambhava.

 Rigdzin Tsewang Norbu b.1698 - d.1755

Katog Rigdzin Tsewang Norbu (kaH thog rigs 'dzin tshe dbang nor bu) was born in Sa-ngen Sowa (sa ngan bso ba), in Kham, into the Go clan. His father was Dupa Ati Gonpo (rdu pa a ti mgon po) and his mother was Goza Dorje Tso (sgo bza' rdo rje 'tsho). An uncle, Padma Dechen Lingpa (padma bde chen gling pa), a disciple of Katog lama Longsal Nyingpo (klong gsal snying po), declared him an incarnation of the Ta Lama Padma Norbu (ta bla ma padma nor bu). He also received teachings from a nephew of his previous incarnation, Kalzang Orgyen Tenzin (skal bzang o rgyan bstan 'dzin).

Tsewang Norbu experimented with treasure revelation in his youth, writing down a volume of treasure but burning them in displeasure. At twenty-one, however, he was satisfied with further revelations, and these are preserved in his collected works.

At the age of twenty-two Tsewang Norbu went to Katog for the first time, taking teachings from Longsal Nyingpo's son, Sonam Deutsen (bsod nams lde'u btsan). In the wake of the Dzungar invasion of Tibet there was influx into Kham of Nyingma lamas fleeing the destruction of Mindroling (smin grol gling), Dorje Drag (rdo rje brag) and other monasteries, and Tsewang Norbu was able to received teachings from many of them. He studied with the sons of the murdered Terdag Lingpa (gter bdag gling pa), Gyurme Rinchen Namgyal ('gyur med rin chen rnam rgyal) and Gyurme Pema Zangpo / Gyatso ('gyur med pad+ma bzang po / rgya mtsho). At twenty-four he returned to Katog, taking further teachings from Sonam Deutsen, who attempted to enthrone him as a regent of Katog, an appointment Tsewang Norbu declined, preferring to maintain his "vagabond" lifestyle.

The previous year Tsewang Norbu had traveled to Markham Wendzong (smar khams dben rdzong) to meet Zurmang Chetsang Sungrab Gyatso (zur mang che tshang gsung rab rgya mtsho), whom Tsewang Norbu came to consider his second root lama. Zurmang Chetsang gave his new disciple both Kagyu and Nyingma teachings, in keeping with the Karma Kagyu traditions of the region. Tsewang Norbu credited the Mahamudra practices he received with stabilizing his meditation.

In 1725 Tsewang Norbu went to Tibet, where he received an audience with the 12th Karmapa Jangchub Dorje (kar+ma pa 12 byang chub rdo rje) and the 8th Shamarpa Palchen Chokyi Dondrub (zhwa dmar 08 dpal chen chos kyi don grub). He also met the 3rd Trewo Lama Karma Tendzin Dargye (tre bo 03 kar+ma bstan 'dzin dar rgyas) who became his third root lama, and introduced him to the Jonang tradition.

Tsewang Norbu later received the entire Jonangpa tradition's teachings from Drubchen Kunzang Wangpo (grub chen kun bzang dbang po), and he is credited with bringing about a renaissance of the teachings, particularly of the Jonang shentong, or "other emptiness" view (gzhan stong). Tsewang Norbu had first attempted to meet with Kunzang Wangpo in 1726, while en route to Nepal, but was unable to do so. When he returned to Tibet the following year, the two met, and Tsewang Norbu received the extensive transmission at the hermitage Genden Khacho (dga' ldan mkha' chos) in Tsang, which was named Rulag Drepung (ru lag 'bras spung) prior to its forced conversion to Gelug. Tsewang Norbu transmitted the Jonang teachings to many Kagyu and Nyingma lamas, most importantly to the 8th Situ Panchen Chokyi Jungne (si tu paN chen 08 chos kyi 'byung gnas), who passed them to Jamgon Kongtrul ('jam mgon kong sprul).

In 1733 both the 12th Karmapa and the 8th Sharmapa died en route to China, and Tsewang Norbu became involved in the search for their replacements, attaining a heightened level of influence among the Kagyu community. He continued his involvement in Tibetan politics and Karma Kagyu religious affairs for the next several decades, serving as representative in Ladakh for the King of Tibet, Polhane (pho lha gnas), and successfully mediating the end of a conflict there.

Only in the 1750s did Tsewang Norbu return to his Nyingma roots and Katog monastery's affairs. He attempted, unsuccessfully, to install a new leader at the monastery, as he was critical of the treasure traditions that the monastery had adopted, and of its lax observance of the monastic code. Further, he condemned the transition from a meritocratic transition of leaders initially practiced to an uncle-nephew transition of the Drungpa lamas, who had taken over in the sixteenth century and controlled the monastery up through Tsewang Norbu's time. Tsewang Norbu considered the era of the thirteen Drung abbots to be the period of the monastery's decline. It should be noted that Longsal Nyingpo, to whose lineage Tsewang Norbu belonged, could be blamed for much of the alterations to the monastery that Tsewang Norbu decried. By focusing his criticism on the Drungpa lamas, it would seem Tsewang Norbu was seeking to avoid speaking ill of a lama who was close to his heart.

Tsewang Norbu also avoided criticizing Sonam Deutsen, even as he singled out that lama's reincarnation, Drime Shingkyong Gonpo (dri med zhing skyong mgon po), who had assumed abbacy of Katok in the mid eighteenth century and whom Tsewang Norbu blamed for the deteriorated state of the monastery's buildings. In his place, Tsewang Norbu attempted to install the young 10th Sharmapa, Chodrub Gyatso (chos grub rgya mtsho) in the abbacy of Katog. The plan was unsuccessful, despite the considerable effort Tsewang Norbu made in eliciting the aid of the 7th Dalai Lama, Polhane, and Situ Panchen.

Tsewang Norbu spent a considerable amount of time traveling in Western Tibet and Nepal, where he restored the famous Boudhanath and Swayambhunath stupas and collected ancient Buddhist manuscripts. He first visited in the 1720s, and made several trips thereafter, in the 1740s and again in the 1750s.

He passed away in Kyirong (skyid rong) in 1755.

Name Variants: Choying Rangdrol; Katog Rigdzin Tsewang Norbu; Pawo Dondrub Dorje; Tsewang Norbu

Sources:

Bradburn, Leslie, ed. 1995. Masters of the Nyingma Lineage. Cazadero: Dharma Publications, 1995.

Brag dkar rta so sprul sku Chos kyi dbang phyug. 1976. Tshe dbang nor bu'i zhabs kyi rnam thar brjod pa ngo mtshar dad pa'i rol mtsho. In Collected Works (Gsung 'bum) of Kah thog Tshe dbang nor bu, vol. 1, pp. 15-390. Dalhousie: Damchoe Sangpo.

Brag dkar rta so sprul sku Chos kyi dbang phyug. 1976. Tshe dbang nor bu'i zhabs kyi rnam thar mdor bsdus dad pa'i sa bon. In Collected Works (Gsung 'bum) of Kah thog Tshe dbang nor bu, vol. 1, pp. 391-406. Dalhousie: Damchoe Sangpo.

Ehrhard, Franz-Karl. 1989. "A Rennovation of Svayambhunath-Stupa in the 18th Century and its History." Ancient Nepal No. 114, October-November, pp. 1-8.

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Ronis, Jann. 2007. "Celibacy, Revelations, and Reincarnated Lamas: Contestation and Synthesis in the Growth of Monasticism at Katok Monastery from the 17th through 19th Centuries." PhD thesis, University of Virginia.

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Smith, Gene. 2001. Among Tibetan Texts. Boston: Wisdom Publications, pp 20-21.

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Ron Garry, August 2007