Pomdrakpa said to Karma Pakshi when he was about ten years old, “Today the heroes [= all the enlightened ones] and the dakinis have appeared in the sky as countless as clouds. You will be blessed by the dakinis!” And a few hours later, “You are especially lucky! All Kagyü teachers, including Düsum Khyenpa, have manifested themselves. Now you should practice the teachings!”
Pomdrakpa
1170 - 1249
Pomdrakpa Sönam Dorje is the first in the lineage to find the letter with the instructions for Karmapa’s next rebirth and to confirm that the child was Karmapa. Pomdrakpa also established the tradition of giving all teachings and transmissions to the child, even if he (the child) had already attained enlightenment in his previous life, so as not to interrupt the transmission stream of the lineage.
Pomdrakpa, who, like his teacher before him, began his meditation practice as a young child, had many visions. When he was a teenager, he recognized his teacher Drogön Rechen through a vision of the Red Dakini. It is also said that Pomdrakpa had a special connection to wisdom buddha aspects, which often appeared to him during his meditation practice. He later became the next lineage holder when he saw his teacher, Drogön Rechen, as Buddha Shakyamuni surrounded by countless buddhas, which was an auspicious sign that he would be able to hold the lineage.
“Teaching the methods of accomplishing the limitless qualities of the stainless teachings of the supreme sages, propagating completely pure exposition and practice – Karmapa, may we fulfill your intention.”
Pomdrakpa was born in Dri Dampa Chöchuk in central Tibet. At the age of five, he could already read and began his education. When he was nine years old, he received the Mother Tantra transmission. At 14, he heard of the fame of the great master Drogön Rechen. On hearing his name, a special meditative experience arose in him, and he had a vision of Red Wisdom who prophesied that this was his teacher. He set off as quickly as possible to see Drogön Rechen: this happened within 10 days. When he met him, he took refuge, received the full monk ordination and was given the name Sönam Dorje. From that moment on, he followed Drogön Rechen as his root lama and received many initiations from him. His practice was characterized by devotion and diligence. Due to his special connection to the wisdom buddha aspects, he had many visions in which they appeared to him during his practice and the empowerments he received. He also had a vision of the 1st Karmapa, in which the latter gave him important instructions. He received the complete Kagyü transmission from Drogön Rechen and became the next lineage holder.
Beside Pomdrakpa, Drogön Rechen had a second gifted disciple with the name Lodrö Rinchen. Before he died, he told Pomdrakpa and Lodrö Rinchen, that they were both masters of the teachings and could therefore both hold the lineage. Drogön Rechen also predicted that Pomdrakpa's activities would spread, and the lineage would flourish and develop during the lifetime of his disciples and into the distant future. At this time, Pomdrakpa saw his teacher as Buddha Shakyamuni surrounded by countless buddhas. According to legend, this was the sign that he would become the next lineage holder.
Pomdrakpa Sönam Dorje's activities for the benefit of beings prospered as predicted and he passed on the lineage transmissions to his disciple, the 2nd Karmapa, Karma Pakshi, who had already been in his care as a child.
STORY
STORY
According to legend, Düsum Khyenpa, the 1st Karmapa, predicted before he had died that he would return to the conditioned world again and again for the benefit of beings until all beings will be liberated. He left a letter at his seat in Tsurphu in which he described his rebirth. However, the administrator of the monastery at the time ignored the letter. The letter was only found as a result of a vision of Pomdrakpa, who immediately recognized that the child, who was already in his care, was Karmapa. Although the young 2nd Karmapa, Karma Pakshi, had already attained enlightenment in his previous life, Pomdrakpa, who became his root lama, passed on all the teachings and transmissions to him in order to maintain the flow of the lineage. To this day, the young Karmapas are crowned and receive all the transmissions in this traditional way.
Key Transmissions
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
especially mother tantra transmissions
Additional Given Transmissions (an excerpt):
Jinasagara form of Loving Eyes
Additional Special Abilities:
After an empowerment into Red Wisdom (tib.: Dorje Phagmo, skt.: Vajravarahi) he started to have visions from countless buddha aspects such as visions of wisdom deities, 1st Karmapa, his teacher Drogön Rechen as Buddha Shakyamuni surrounded by countless buddhas
- 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
Foundation of the Tsurphu monastery (1189)
The 1st Karmapa gave the order to build the main seat for all future Karmapas around ten years before passing away.
Invasion of Turkic Muslims in Northeast India (1197-1206)
The Invasion of Turkic Muslims 1197 in Northeast India by Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalj led to the destruction of the famous Nalanda and other Buddhist universities. Persecution and systematic killing of monks in the area. De facto the end of Buddhism in India, besides a few isolated communities in Southern India and Kashmir.
Around 1200 Buddhism was wiped out at a large extent in India
After a couple of Muslim-invasions it was not possible anymore to travel to India for Buddhist studies, the Tibetan Buddhism started to develop independently. The full transmission within the Karma Kagyü Lineage still existed.
13th century
In our tradition the principle of succession through reincarnation was evolved. The 2nd Karmapa revealed himself as the rebirth of Düsum Khyenpa in the early 13th century (the lineage-holder Pomdrakpa had found the prediction-letter, which was in the hands of the Tsurphu abbott (who has forgotten about it); Shamar Tulku became a second lineage of rebirths during the 14th century. The tulku system in all other traditions appeared later.
1292 Marco Polo visited India around 1292-1294 during his return journey from China to Europe.
The Mongols under Genghis Khan appear on the borders of Tibet
The Tibetan princes decide to pay tribute to the Mongols in order to secure peace (for 20 years) .
Mongols conquered Tibet
1240: Mongol ruler Godan Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan invaded and conquered Tibet with 30.000 troops, looting monasteries and caused many victims.
1244 Godan Khan considered religion a tool to control people. He wrote a letter to Sakya Pandita dema nding him to travel to Mongolia. The lama understood he could not decline the “offer” and traveled to the curt of the Khan in Lanzhou (Gansu), where he arrived in 1247. He was accompanied by Phagpa Lama, his nephew. Godan obviously was personally impressed by the Sakya Pandita and became his student. The Khan died shortly after the Sakya Pandita. His cousin Kublai Khan followed him on the throne. Thus a special relationship is installed which secured the supremacy of the Sakya-School in Tibet, the troops returned and annexed Kha m and Amdo.
1247 Godan Khan bestows Sakya Pandita with the right to rule over the 13 Myriarchies (districts) of Tibet: reconstruction of (more or less) centralized rule over major parts of the country.
1254 Kublai Khan became a student of Chogyal Phagpa Rinpoche (1235 – 1280), the nephew of Sakya Pandita. Kublai made Phagpa the ruler or regent, ‘Desi’, of Tibet.
1281 Mongols controlled China completely under the Yuan Dynasty (1281-1368)
1287 A revolt of the Drikung Kagyüs with the support of Duwa Khan ended in 1290 when the Sakyas and Eastern Mongols burned down Drikung monastery and killed many people.
1322 Changchub Gyaltsen (1302-1364) was the founder of the Phagmodrupa dynasty in Tibet. He became the ruler of Central Tibet after overthrowing the Mongol-backed Sakya regime around 1354. He overthrew the weakening Sakya government, reorganized and reformed it: secular administration, like fiefdoms; improved, fairer tax-system; created agricultural farms; social reforms; art and sciences flourished; peace. Changchub Gyaltsen was an admirer of the Karmapas.
1357-1419 Tsongkhapa founded the Yellow Sect (Gelug) and in 1407 he founded the Ganden monastery. At the time of his death the new Gelug School had already remarkable influence around Lhasa.
1358-1430 Central Tibet came under control of the Phagmodrubpas (a Kagyü branch-line until 1432/35). The following decades were of relative stability. The Tibetans call this period of the Phagmodrupa-reign "an old woman who carries gold"; this means Tibet was so safe and civilized that an old woman could have carried a bag of gold unscathed from one end of Tibet to the other.
1368 When the Mongols' Yuan Empire fell to the Chinese Ming dynasty, Tibet reclaimed independence and refused to pay further tribute to the new Chinese Emperor. The Ming Dynasty lasted until 1688. Several emperors kept close bonds to prominent lamas, e.g. some of the Karmapas, and supported monasteries financially.
