Advice to Jigme Tenpe Nyima

Translator's Introduction

Jigme Tenpe Nyima was born in 1865 as the first son of the great treasure-revealer Dudjom Lingpa (1835–1904) and was soon recognized by the Fourth Dzogchen Rinpoche, Mingyur Namkhe Dorje (1793–1870), as the Third Dodrupchen incarnation. While there is no record of this recognition being contested, there are references in the biographies to an alternative identification. The biographer Delek Rabgye, for example, records that Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo believed Jigme Tenpe Nyima to be an incarnation of Gungtang Tenpe Drönme (1762–1823), an important Gelukpa scholar from Labrang Monastery. Akong Khenchen Lobzang Dorje (1893–1983) refers to this dual recognition in The Maṇḍala of the Sun, his extensive four-volume commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra:

Once, when Jigme Tenpe Nyima was in discussion with his guru, Jamgön Mipham Rinpoche, the two of them used a divining mirror to determine Jigme Tenpe Nyima’s previous incarnation. The mirror showed a lama wearing a yellow cloak with a black fold and a yellow preceptor’s hat. In the sky above his head was the word gung and below his throne, tang.[1] At this, Mipham said, “I thought you were a rebirth of Lama Dodrup Rinpoche, but it seems you might be an incarnation of Gungtang.” Staring into Jigme Tenpe Nyima’s face, Mipham told him, “Well, whoever you are, while you are in this physical form, you must do all that you can for the teaching and practice of the Ancient Translation school.”

Shortly after his enthronement, Jigme Tenpe Nyima traveled to Dzogchen Monastery, where he began his studies with Khenpo Pema Vajra. The biographies report that he struggled at first to understand the teachings he received. If so, he must have quickly overcome any difficulty, because in 1873, when aged just eight, he gave the annual winter lecture on the Bodhicaryāvatāra at Dzagyel Monastery. Afterward, Patrul Rinpoche declared that for Jigme Tenpe Nyima to have taught like that at such a young age was proof that “the period in which the Dharma of transmission will remain has not yet come to an end.”

In the following years Jigme Tenpe Nyima studied with many illustrious teachers, including Patrul Rinpoche, Jamgön Mipham, the Fourth Dzogchen Rinpoche, Mingyur Namkhe Dorje, Gyarong Namtrul Kunzang Tekchok Dorje, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Taye, and Tertön Sogyal Lerab Lingpa. In addition, he is said to have studied the five major scriptures recognized in the Geluk tradition, as well as the debate manuals of Jamyang Shepa (1648–1721/2), with Mipham’s infamous debating opponent, Alak Dongak Gyatso.

Through these studies, Jigme Tenpe Nyima developed a reputation for the depth of his knowledge—as is evident from the autobiography of Khenpo Ngawang Palzang, which records how, on one occasion, Mipham praised both Jigme Tenpe Nyima and Tertön Sogyal as the most learned scholars in the Nyingma tradition after Nyoshul Lungtok (1829–1901). This erudition is also apparent in his own writings, which include subtle clarifications of the most difficult points of texts such as the Bodhicaryāvatāra, as well as two commentaries on the Guhyagarbha Tantra that are notorious for their difficulty.

At twenty-two, Jigme Tenpe Nyima stayed for a while with Mipham at Dzongsar Monastery. When he finally took his leave, Mipham handed him a scroll and instructed him to read it a later date. When the time came to open it, Jigme Tenpe Nyima found that the scroll contained the verses of advice translated below. Halfway through is the statement: “If the blazing fire is not extinguished by the wind, at thirty-five, hindrances will clear and you’ll uphold your own lineage tradition.” This was puzzling to Jigme Tenpe Nyima at first, because he felt he was already following the authentic Nyingma tradition of Longchen Rabjam and Jigme Lingpa. Still, the biographies tell us that at the predicted age he did indeed recognize the significance of Mipham’s comments:

Later, when he was thirty-five, one day, unprovoked by any cause or condition, he thought that he must study the Eight Commands: Great Assembly of the Bliss-Gone (Kagye Deshek Düchen), and he read it through entirely. This acted as a catalyst through which he realized that in the past his understanding had been influenced by the New Tradition and was not based purely on his own tradition of the Ancient Translations. He saw that there were many crucial distinctions he had not previously understood, and he felt a desire, a hundred times stronger than any he had known before, to study the texts of the Nyingma tradition. Then, from the age of about forty, it was as if the New and the Ancient reversed their positions of above and below, and he practiced only his own Nyingma tradition.[2]

Mipham was apparently satisfied with this conversion—or perhaps it is better to call it a reaffirmation—as we learn from a conversation he had with Duktsa Tulku of Dipuk, recorded in the biography written by Sönam Nyima. In a curious analogy, Mipham compares Jigme Tenpe Nyima’s temporary lapse from Nyingma orthodoxy to the straying of a dog:

Duktsa Tulku told Lama Mipham he had thought of going to see Dodrup Tulku but had decided against it. Dodrup Tulku, he said, was considered a Gelukpa, which would mean his approach diverged from their Sakya and Nyingma positions. To this, Mipham said, “That is certainly not so. A watchdog might stray from its owner, and even forget him or her for a while, but as soon as they are reunited, the dog will recognize its master and never wander off again. Just so, Dodrup Tulku was slightly influenced by the Sarma for a time, but now he is a real Nyingmapa, I swear, and it would be good for you to visit him.”[3]

The advice Mipham gave Jigme Tenpe Nyima in the scroll is a mixture of the practical and the prophetic. As is so often the case with such texts, some parts are unclear. Yet amid the more cryptic references, there are unambiguous instructions on such topics as the dangers of intellectualism (“Let go of all reliance upon tired intellectual speculation. . . . Don’t settle for confused philosophical notions of what is or is not”), the real meaning of Mañjuśrī (“By resting in nonthought, you’ll truly meet Mañjuśrī”), and how genuine wisdom makes teaching, writing, and other beneficial activity effortless and spontaneous. What was once a personal instruction is therefore much more than simply an obscure historical document.