The Treasury of Lives

The First Zhamar Drakpa Sengge (zhwa dmar 01 grags pa seng ge) was born in Pompo (spom po) in 1283. His father was named Takchupa (stag chu pa) and his mother was called Agoza (a rgod gza'). The family name was Dranggu (dbrang gu) of the Sha clan. He received novice vows at the age of thirteen with Lodro Drakpa (blo gros grags pa, d.u.) and received the name Drakpa Sengge. He spent two years with this teacher, and then studied magic for several years.

When he was seventeen Drakpa Sengge received śrāmaṇera (dge tshul), or provisional ordination from Lama Yeshe Sengge (bla ma ye shes seng ge, d.u.), a student of Gyapowa Lungpa (rgya pho ba lung pa, d.u.), who had been a disciple of the First Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa (karma pa 01 dus gsum mkhyen pa, 1110-1193). Yeshe Sengge gave him several initiations of Vajravārahī. Mastering tummo (gtum mo) he became known as Wanggu Repa (dbang gu ras pa).

Around the age of twenty-three Drakpa Sengge went briefly to Tsurpu Monastery (mtshur phu) where he received initiations in Guhyasamāja from Acarya Tsulrim (tshul rim), Kālacakra from Sonam Sengge (bsod nams seng ge), and Cakrasaṃvara and Hevajra from Umapa of Nampar (gnam par dbu ma pa, d.u.). He then left for Sangpu Monastery (gsang phu) where he received teachings on Prajñāpāramitā and logic (tshad ma) from Lachowa Jamyang Shakya Zhonnu (bla chos ba 'jam dbyang shAkya gzhon nu, d.u.) and Lobpon Lodro Tsungme (slob dpon blo gros mtshungs med, d.u.), remaining at that Kadam monastery for six years. During the time he resided at Sangpu, Drakpa Sengge first encountered his primary teacher, the Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje (karma pa 03 rang byung rdo rje, 1284-1339). He also received Zhije teachings from Gyadrak Choje (rgya brag chos rje, d.u.). Mastering the Prajñāpāramitāa, he became famous for his debating abilities and toured monasteries in U and Tsang giving teachings.

At the age of twenty-eight, at a place in Kongpo called at Kung (skungs) Drakpa Sengge again met the Third Karmapa. He arrived the year the Karmapa was building the monastery Dechen Teng (bde chen stengs). During the construction he received teachings on the Kabgye (bka' brgyad) and the Naro Chodruk (na ro chos brug), which he spent the winter practicing.

While practicing at Dechen Teng Drakpa Sengge had dreams about journeying to Oḍḍiyāna, which he related to the Karmapa. He accompanied the Karmapa to Nyemo (snye mo) and continued on into Tsang, intending to reach the Swat valley. At Jonang Monastery (jo nang dgon) he encountered a master in the Jonang Kālacakra tradition, Gyelwa Yeshe (rgyal ba ye shes, 1247-1320), who told him that the Buddhadharma had vanished from India. He then spent a year with this teacher, receiving from him his complete Kālacakra transmissions, and ultimately abandoning his aspiration to visit Oḍḍiyāna.

Drakpa Sengge deepened his connection to the Kagyu tradition with a pilgrimage in Kyirong (skyid rong) to sites associated with Milarepa, particularly the “Six Fortresses” (rdzong drug), a group of primary Milarepa meditation sites as well as Drakkar Taso (brag dkar rta so), Kuyuk Wenpa Dzong (khu byug dben pa rdzong) and Drakmar (brag dmar). Drakpa Sengge spent three years in Kyirong meditating in various caves and hermitages, and visiting the famous sandalwood image of the Buddha, the Pakpawati ('phags pa wa ti), the site of the Third Karmapa's birth before making his way back to the Karmapa at Dechen Teng.

Drakpa Sengge spent the next five years at Dechen Teng, taking final, bikkshu (dge long), ordination there from Zhonnu Jangchub (gzhon nu byang chub, d.u.) and Tashi Rinchen (bkra shis rin chen, d.u.). He declined the Karmapa's request to take the office of abbot of the monastery, instead leaving to settle at Pukmoche (phug mo che), in Powo, where he spent the next five years.

In 1333, at the age of fifty, Drakpa Sengge founded a hermitage at Nenang (gas nang) near Tsurpu, which later became the monastic seat of the Pawo (dpa' bo) incarnation line, the most famous of the line being Pawo Tsuklak Trengwa (dpa' bo gtsug lag 'phreng ba, 1504-1564/1566). This was done at the suggestion of the Karmapa, or alternately in response to a vision of Chugomma Samtengyen (chu sgom ma bsam gtan rgyan), a female disciple of the First Karmapa. After teaching there for some years he passed on to a disciple named Tonpa (ston pa), whom he had first initiated at Dewachen some years earlier. He moved down-slope from Nenang and built a hermitage for himself that he called Yanggon (yang dgon) or Yangwen (yang dben). After a year he was summoned by the Karmapa – who was then in Beijing) to reside at Dewachen, but, finding the later monastery unsuitable to his health, he returned to Nenang after a summer, although he continued to visit Dewachen over the last ten years of his life.

Over the course of his training and practice Drakpa Sengge experienced numerous visions of buddhas and previous masters, including Tara, Milarepa, and Gampopa. In 1348, at the age of sixty-six, he had a vision of Vajravārahī and continued to experience visions of the bardo until he passed away in 1349, at the age of sixty-seven. Following a later incarnation's receipt of a red hat, possibly from the Fifth Karmapa, Dezhin Shekpa (de bzhin gshegs pa, 1384-1415), Drakpa Sengge was posthoumously known as the First Zhamarpa.