8th Karmapa Mikyö Dorje

1507 - 1554

Mikyö Dorje revealed himself directly at his birth. Nevertheless, there was another child whose family claimed that he was the reincarnation of the 7th Karmapa. Although this family had a lot of influence, it quickly became clear to everyone who the real Karmapa must be. 

The 8th Karmapa was one of the most brilliant philosophers of Tibetan Buddhism and in addition, unmatched in his devotion to his root teacher, Sangye Nyenpa Tashi Paljor. He developed a guru yoga meditation practice in his honor. We also owe the mantra “Karmapa Chenno” and the Mahakala Puja (which we use in the Diamond Way to invoke our protectors) to the 8th Karmapa.

 

At his birth in Nagam Chu province, in eastern Tibet, the Karmapa, Mikyö Dorje, is said to have opened his eyes and said, “Karmapa.” His father sought out Situ Tashi Paljor to request advice about his remarkable son. He was told the child was likely the Karmapa reincarnation and was instructed to care for and raise him with that in mind. At the same time, an influential family, both politically connected and wealthy from Amdo, brought forward their son’s claim to be the Karmapa. Gyaltsab Tashi Namgyal was asked to investigate the claims about this second child. Meanwhile, the first child had been taken to Lho Rong, in Riwo Che province, where several of the previous Karmapa’s disciples had gathered. Once the future Karmapa was asked to confirm that he was the rightful incarnation, the young boy Mikyö Dorje answered, “Sometimes I’m Padmasambhava, sometimes Saraha, now I’m Karmapa.” All who heard were convinced that this was the reincarnation of their teacher. When the boy fell seriously ill, his supporters had difficulty to provide food, clothes or medicines for him - out of poverty. The young boy lamented how hard it is to be an incarnation. The only meaningful solution to this obstacle would be to find a reliable, realized guru.

 

And so began a trying period, as the two factions persisted in supporting their chosen candidates. Finally, Gyaltsab arranged for the two children to meet and be tested. Following tradition, each was asked to select the possessions of the previous Karmapa from a random assortment of objects, also to recognize specific thangkas. When asked to explain their dharma view, the boy from Amdo was insecure and crying while Mikyö Dorje answered firmly and clearly. Despite political pressure and a tense, sometimes even hostile situation, witnessed by approximately 3,000 people, Mikyö Dorje was confirmed as the authentic 8th Karmapa.

Mikyö Dorje also proved able to choose the correct objects – his rival could not. Thus, it was Mikyö Dorje who was proclaimed Karmapa. He was enthroned in the year 1513. That same year, he gave guru yoga explanations for the first time, one year later he gave the gum lung for the Loving Eyes meditation in front of 10,000 people. In one of Mikyö Dorje’s first writings, he praises the Karmapa’s main teacher Sangye Nyenpa as being Lama Zhang outwardly, the 1st Karmapa inwardly, secretly the Great Seal, and on the level of suchness, Great Bliss. Thus, Lama Zhang became his secret yidam. The 8th Karmapa’s education began when he was eight years old. His first teachers were Situ and (mainly) Gyaltsab Rinpoches. After the latter’s sudden death, he received the entire range of Kagyü teachings, including the Maharudra, from Sangye Nyenpa. Later, after his root lama’s passing, he rounded off his studies with a range of accomplished masters. One of his teachers was Karma Thinleypa, with whom he stayed in all, for three years, studying the treatises of Maitreya, Dignaga and Dharmakirti as well as the principal texts of Nagarjuna and Chandrakirti. He also studied tantras such as the Hevajra tantra and other Indian works on the Mahayana and Vajrayana approaches to Buddhism. After his intellectual studies, Mikyö Dorje devoted more of his time to meditation. The way Mikyö Dorje taught, depended very much on the abilities of his students and also on his first root lama’s wish to transmit the Mahamudra to only those who were highly capable. His teachings mainly encompassed the topics of Abhidharma, Pramaṇa, Prajnaparamita, and Madhyamaka and the trainings of the Vinaya. In addition, he taught the instructions on the view of Madhyamaka and explanations of the treatises of Maitreya, and the scholastic corpus of Nagarjuna was also included.

Karmapa built on this immense knowledge and wrote a large number of substantial philosophical treatises and important texts on Mahamudra and founded several monastic colleges. In honor of his teacher, Sangye Nyenpa Tashi Paljor, he composed the spiritual practice called the Guru Yoga of the Four Sessions (tib.: tun shi lame naljor) where he introduced „Karmapa Chenno“ as a mantra for the first time, in 1523, after having dreamt of Dorje Rinchen and Sakya Pandita, who sang „Karmapa Chenno.“ Additionally, he composed the Mahakala puja, requiring the monks to perform this practice daily after sundown, only devoting oneself thereafter to meditation. Expressing his wide-ranging mind, he ventured into the fields of poetry, painting and sculpture and was an example of austerity and simplicity. As a master of Mahamudra, he lived in the realization that whatever arises is self-liberated.

He selected as the next lineage holder the 5th Shamarpa, Könchog Yenlag, whose incarnation he had recognized, and to whom he had passed on the Kagyü transmission, stating that the Karmapa and Shamarpa incarnations are inseparable, and of the same mind stream.

 

STORY

As a five-year-old Karmapa said, “Sometimes I am Guru Rinpoche, sometimes Saraha and sometimes I am Karmapa. I’ve got my emanations. In Tsang there are 16, and west of Tibet there is a chieftain who is my emanation as well.”

“The Dharma teaching ‘thoughts are the Truth-State and phenomena are in one’s own mind’ is highly appreciated by the Kagyüs and has been declared as unsurpassable authentic Dharma. People who are karmically favored therefore should focus completely to implement this Dharma teaching into practice.”

“I feel blessed by the 1st Karmapa and Lama Zhang. It’s the blessing of Lama Zhang that brought me to my philosophical views.”

“I am unborn and yet show birth, I do not abide and yet show abiding, there is no death and yet I show dying; and again, though there is no birth, I show [re]birth.“

 

When Karmapa was almost three months old he met a hermit lama, who had been a student of the 7th Karmapa. The latter presented him a bell and a double drum. The little boy was very happy and immediately started to play with them. The lama asked Karmapa which kind of teachings he had passed on to him in his last life. The boy answered, “I’ve given the Great Seal and the Six Teachings of Naropa to you!”

 

 In an assembly hall in the palace of Leh (Ladakh) a huge python was hiding itself away and could not be chased away. Several times it was discussed how to get rid of the snake, but no solution was found. One of the lamas suggested to ask Karmapa for help. A delegation, carrying dried plums, apricots and wheat as a gift, was sent to meet Karmapa in Kongpo. Karmapa wrote a letter with the content “Oh python, it is my personal directive that you return to your own place in the lake without causing any further trouble!”

Karmapa gave the order that this letter should be read aloud from a window of the hall. Karmapa’s advice was followed; and while the snake heard the content of the letter it began to shake so intensely that the walls of the palace almost collapsed. Slowly it twisted itself free, crawled out of the assembly hall to a nearby lake and disappeared into the water.

 

The 2nd Gyaltsab Rinpoche wanted to test whether the six-year-old boy was the real incarnation of the 7th Karmapa. He prepared two envelopes, one with a text ‘Words of Truth”, the other with an empty sheet of paper. A messenger wanted to hand over the envelopes to Mikyö Dorje, but he only took the one with the profound teaching.

 

As happened with many Karmapas, Mikyö Dorje was accompanied by many of his devoted students during his travels. The following situation, demonstrated by historians, is unique:

The King of Jyang (Yünnan /China) had heard about the teachings of the young Karmapa and invited him to his country. The king ordered that four generals and 10,000 soldiers should take care of him during the long journey. In May 1516, Karmapa and his travel-group arrived at the border where the king was waiting. The king was carried on a sedan and was accompanied by his brother and his uncle who were both riding on elephants, as well as a splendid convoy with many colorful horses. When the king prostrated in front of the young Karmapa, the elephants tore off their ropes and bowed down three times and raised their trunks. At the same moment there was a loud thunder in the sky. In the end, Karmapa’s “travel-group” consisted out of more than 10,000 people!

 

 

One day in Tsurphu, Karmapa carved a small statue out of marble for himself. On an extra piece of marble, he left an imprint from his palm of one hand while squeezing it. When he blessed the statue, Karmapa asked it in the presence of many lamas whether it resembles him. All the attendees were stunned when the statue answered, “Of course!” 

Key Transmissions

Received Transmissions (an excerpt)

As for all future lineage holders the following four are the core transmissions of the Kagyü and later the Karma Kagyü Lineage:

  • Mahamudra
  • Six Teachings of Naropa (including Father, Mother and Non-Dual Tantras)
  • Path of Insight > Shinay/Lhaktong
  • Secret Path > Guru Yoga
  • As a 3-month-old: 6 Teachings of Naropa
  • As a 7-year-old: visions from Guru Rinpoche, Buddha, Shariputra, Dakini, Shawaripa
  • higher teachings of Tilopa and Naropa
  • Five Treasures of Maitreya
  • Abhidharma comments by Asangha and Vasubandhu
  • six main texts by Nagarjuna
  • commentary to Chandrakirti’s Madhyamakavatara
  • Hevajra Tantra
  • Buddha of Highest Bliss
  • Kalachakra
  • Logics by Dignaga and Dharmakirti (seven volumes about Tsema)
  • Dharmakirti’s philosophy (seven volumes of Tsema)
  • complete Kagyü and Nyingma transmission

  • Mikyö Dorje wrote in his autobiography Namto Mountain, in order to express his unshakeable devotion to his root lama Sangye Nyenpa,

    „Then I touched the feet of Sangye Nyenpa, mahasiddha, the nirmanakaya of Jowo Smrtijnanakirti, I took the novice vows, he gave me the empowerments and blessings of the tantras, including the Trisamayavyuha, the blessings and empowerments of the Carya tantras, including Vajrapani; the blessings and empowerments of the Yoga tantras, including Vajra Dhatvesvari; the blessings and empowerments of the Anuttarayoga tantras, including Kalachakra; and in particular, the blessings of Dzogchen tantras. In brief, he gave me all the empowerments of the Nyingma and Sarma transmissions. I received many instructions of what are known as the Nine Profound Cycles of Instructions and so forth. I held him to be our highest object for accumulation and purification, and day and night, always holding him in my mind, I took the four empowerments through the vajra yoga, never missing a day.“

 

Additional Given Transmissions (an excerpt)

  • Among many others, he wrote commentaries on …
  • Vinaya Sutra > Nyima Kyilkor ~ 1,500 pages
  • Prajnaparamita > Jetsün Ngaso ~ 1,800 pages
  • Abhidharma > Drubde Chedjo ~ 3,000 pages
  • Madhyamaka > Dag Gyü Drubpa ~ 1,000 pages
  • Many volumes about the Great Seal > Chagchen Korla ~ 2,000 pages
  • Chagchen Drithung ~ 800 pages
  • Guru Yoga: Meditation on the 8th Karmapa (to mainly develop his quality of the unshakable/indestructible/solid/non-artificial devotion to the root-lama) + the Four Sessions Guru Yoga
  • Mahakala Puja (an excerpt of which is our daily invocation after the evening meditation)
     

Additional Special Abilities

  • Astrology
  • Studies of linguistics, Sanskrit grammar, poetry, painting, sculpturing

  • Key-instructions how to conquer death
  • Fundamental Verses of the Middle Way (Mūlamādhyamakakārikā or Madhyamaka)
  • Mahamudra-Transmission in meditation/in a vision from Ratnamati in Southern India (where Ratnamati had lived)
  • Tripitaka-texts (Triple Basket)
  • Seventy Verses on Emptiness (Shunyatasapati)
  • Two Truths Doctrine - about relative and absolute level (= level with delusion and level without delusion)“
  • Six Collections on Reasoning (text)
  • Root Verses on the Middle Way, called "Discriminating Awareness"
  • Precious Garland
  • Refutation of Objections
  • Seventy Verses on Emptiness
  • Sutra Called “Finely Woven”
  • Sixty Verses of Reasoning
  • Collections of Praises (text)
  • Praise to the Sphere of Reality
  • Praise to the Deepest Truth
  • Praise to the Supramundane (Buddha)
  • Collections of Didactic Explanations (text)
  • A Commentary on (the Two) Bodhichittas
  • Selected text-collection of Sutras
  • Letter to a Friend
  • all Mahakali and Mahakala-Tantras
  • Guyhasamaja-Tantras

Historical events at this time

1470s The Gelugpas had already the force and authority in Lhasa. In many other parts of Central Tibet the Karma Kagyü Lineage was influential. The Rinpung-ruler Dönyo Dorje who had controlled wide parts of Central Tibet since 1479 was a follower of the Karmapas and a close student to the 4th Shamarpa Chökyi Dragpa. Shakabpa p. 87: “The administrative officer who supported the Gelugpa Lineage refused the permission. The monastery was finally erected outside of Lhasa. Monks of the neighboring Gelugpa monasteries raided it one night and tore it down. A Karmapa-lama, Chödrag Gyamtso, was almost killed and escaped to Lhasa”.

1487 Gendün Gyatso (1475 – 1542) became the 2nd Dalai Lama posthumously. 

 

1487 – 1499 The 4th Shamarpa took the role of a king until the deceased king Gong-ma Kunga Legpa’s son could take over. Shamar Rinpoche relegated all worldly matters and remained a spiritual advisor. Many termas (terlungs) were found in which it was predicted that the Yellow Sect (= Gelug) would invite Mongolian warlords to destroy the dharma. Although many tertöns were Nyingmas they often asked Karmapa to confirm the authenticity of the termas.

Early 16th century

The 8th Karmapa’s spiritual activity and knowledge was unparalleled. He helped to heal the rift between the Gelugpas and Kagyüpas. At the same time his influence brought forward a relativ ely peaceful time. The Kagyü lineage became the most powerful sect in Tibet.

Sönam Gyatso became the 3rd Dalai Lama

1546 Sönam Gyatso became the 3rd Dalai Lama. 

 

1578 Sönam Gyatso proselytized the Mongol ruler Altan Khan who became Buddhist. The khan conferred Sönam Gyatso the honoray title Dalai Lama – originally in Mongolian “Tale Lama”. Thus, the Mongols became the patrons of the Gelugpas (there were tribes, hich had aleady become Buddhists before that time).

1601 Enthronement of the 4th Dalai Lama Yöntan Gyatso (1589 – 1617). He was Mongolian (a grandson of Altan Khan. He had left Mongolia in 1601 and arrived in Lhasa in 1602.

1605 Sönam Chopal, the head of the Gelug administration, the duke of Lhasa and some Monogolian troops a ttacked the Tsang government – and lost. Afterwards the Tsang Desi wanted to peacefully unify Tibet where politics and religion should smoothly co-exist (the Tsang Desi’s family had the 8th, 9th 10th Karmapa and the 5th and 6th Shamarpa as their personal gurus).

1605 The 6th Shamarpa wrote a poem on a scarf as a gift for the 4th Dalai Lama. Shamarpa only received a very rude reply from the Gelug administration because of a probably deliberate misinterpretation.

1606 The 4th Dalai Lama’s administration thwarted a meeting between Dalai Lama and Shamarpa although they were in the same region.

1618 Troops from Tsang conquer the Gelug monasteries of Drepung and Sera. As a consequence, an army of Koshot Mongols invaded Tibet in 1620/21.

1622 Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso, the 5th Dalai Lama (1617 – 1682) enthroned.

Dalai Lama’s administration persuades the Mongols to conquer Tibet (1639-1642)

De facto there was civil war. Karma Tenkyong Wangpo who ruled in parts of Tsang was Kagyü. Although the 10th Karmapa strongly advised him not to prepare for war, he attacked Gelugpas in Central Tibet. He even wanted to ask the Mongolian Chogtu-tribe for support but they eventually joined the troops of Gushri Khan, military leader of the Koshot Mongols. When Gushri's troops started to attack Bönpos, Nyingmas and Kagyüs, there actualy happened attemps of mediation. The young Dalai didn't want that something happened to the 10th Karmapa. Sönam Chöpel, Dalai Lama's main advisor, urged the Mongols that they finally attacked Tsurphu and created a bloodshed. Karmapa escaped and only returned to Tsurphu as an old man. Gushri Khan abolished the old Tibetan political system and passed on the worldly power over Tibet to the 5th Dalai Lama. Many Kagyü and Nyingma monasteries were converted into Gelug monasteries. Later the Gelug administration requested the Mongols that the 10th Karmapa should be killed; together with his secretary Küntu Zangpo they escaped to Yünnan/China where he stayed in exile for ~ 28 years (he was also in Northern Burma).

During the lifetime of the 10th Karmapa the political situation in Tibet became completely unstable. First local rulers formed various alliances and followed different ideas and people (such as warlords, Buddhist leaders etc.), then manipulation, treason, assassinations and local wars kept on destabilizing Tibet even more. Dalai Lama’s administration called in the Mongolian emperor Gushri Khan and his army for support – first the Dalai Lama was not amused by this solo action of his leading administrator but he didn’t stop him – who conquered Tibet between 1639 and 1642, and as a result established the 5th Dalai Lama as the supreme authority in Tibet. All former stable political structures were demolished, including the separation of worldly and religious life, and the Dalai Lama himself and his administration even wanted to rule and influence the Sakyapas, Nyingmapas and Kagyüpas. A lot of Kagyü monastaries were transformed into Gelug places. Many times, Mongolian warlords were called in by Gelug-representatives to enforce the claim to rule both over worldly and spiritual matters.

Several wrong accusations referring the 6th Shamar Rinpoche Chökyi Wangchug and the 10th Karmapa led to the fact, that in 1644 Karmapa had to escape in a miraculous manner only with his secretary Küntu Zangpo. They went into exile to Yünnan/China, mainly Lijiang, where he lived and worked until almost 1672. This south-western Chinese region had a lot of Kagyü supporters since the time of the 8th Karmapa. In the same year Karmapa, upon Gyaltsab Rinpoche’s persuasiveness and his familial connections, was able to return to Tibet where he was invited by the Dalai Lama in Lhasa to pacify the tensions between the Buddhist schools in Tibet.

1679 The Central Tibetan Ganden Phodrang government wanted to incorporate Ladakh into Tibet after it had thrown out the Gelugpas and claimed a kind of independence. With the assistance of the Kashmiri Mughals (Muslims), the Tibetan-Mongolian army was defeated in 1684. However, Ladakh, came under the influence of Kashmir. In 2019, finally, Ladakh was administratively disconnected from Jammu and Kashmir and became an Indian Union Territory.

1697 Tsangyang Gyatso, the 6th Dalai Lama (1683 – 1706) was enthroned. He had an unorthodox lifestyle (alcohol and women) an d became famous because of his love-songs and poetry. Actually, the 5th Dalai Lama's death has been kept secret for many years until the Potala-palace was completed in 1694. That's why the 6th Dalai Lama became 'official' only in 1697 when he was already a juvenile. At that point, as a boy in puberty, it was already too late for a strict education in a monastery.

1706 The Mongol Lhasang Khan dismissed the Dalai Lama as being illegitimate. He was deported to China; on the way there he died under mysterious circumstances after having been taken prisoner.

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