The Treasury of Lives

Little is known of Niṣkalaṅka's birth and life (he is also known as Niṣkalaṅkadeva and Śākaliṅgadeva). We can, however, garner some clues about him from his literary legacy: he is credited with translating several tantric texts with Chel Lotsāwa Chokyi Zangpo (dpyal lo tsA ba chos kyi bzang po) as well as authoring texts of his own.

He is referred to as Vajrāsana in some colophons[1] and by Third Tukwan Lobzang Chokyi Nyima (thu'u bkwan 03 blo bzang chos kyi nyi ma, 1737-1802) in his Crystal Mirror. [2] This appears to be title conferred to the abbots at Bodhgaya, so it is likely that Niṣkalaṅka held this role at some time. He is listed in several different tantric transmission lines, including Guhyasamāja, Yamāntaka, White Tārā and others. Among his translations in the Tengyur are a text and commentary on Yamāntaka and a sādhana of Cakrasaṃvara by Vajraghaṇṭa.

The best known of Niṣkalaṅka's compositions, which appears to be extant only in Tibetan translation, is entitled The Glorious Treatise on the Release from Bondage (*Śrībandhavimukta-śāstra). This text is comprised of fifty-seven verses presenting the Buddhist path. It focuses on the view of selflessness as the unity of dependent arising and emptiness, while exhorting the reader to meditatively integrate this wisdom to overcome the misery of saṃsāra.[3]

Despite the absence of the phrase "Mahāmudrā' (phyag rgya chen po) in the text, it is taken to be one of the important texts in the Tropu Kagyu lineage of that essential Kagyu teaching. It is, for example, included within Mahāmudrā compendiums such as The Treasury of Mahāmudrā Instructions.[4] In his Crystal Mirror, Tuken describes this text as presenting a view that generally "accords with the Mahāmudrā." He gives it as evidence that while the Tropu Kagyu lineage contained some unique ways of presenting things, in the end the view is "simply the Kagyu Mahāmudrā" view.[5]

The text contains many Mahāmudrā lines of argument about the baselessness of ordinary appearances and grasping. For example, in verse 50 we find a well-known Mahāmudrā metaphor of emptiness of the mind found even at the heart of deluded afflictions being "like the tracks of birds flying through the sky."[6] The next verse continues to demonstrate how an understanding of emptiness unravels the afflictions of attachment and anger:


In this [perceptual] domain so praised,
As like a dream, a sound, a rainbow,
To what is there to be attached?
Likewise, toward what is there anger and apprehension?[7]

This understanding is the "spiritual accomplishment" which "does the act of cutting" like "pulling up the root of a tree." By understanding the error in the root mistake of the wrong view of the self, “the wise deconstruct samsaric existence."[8]

The text was translated into Tibetan by the trio of Mitrayogin, Buddhaśrī (listed in the colophon as Buddhaśrībhadra), and Tropu Lotsāwa Jampa Pel (khro phu lo tsA ba byams pa dpal, 1172?-1236?), who is listed in the colophon as the "assistant translator" with his ordination name of Tsultrim Sherab. If Tropu Lotsāwa used this moniker only early in his translation career, and given that it was translated with both Mitrayogin and Buddhaśrī with whom he is said to have studied with in Nepal, it is probable that the text was translated in Nepal sometime between 1192-1198 or possibly between 1200-1203.

Evidence for dating Niṣkalaṅka to the twelfth century includes his association with Chel Lotsāwa Chokyi Zangpo. Buton's History of Buddhism reports that Chel Lotsawa studied with Niṣkalaṅka for ten years at Bodhgaya, translating the "cycles of the Samvara and Rakta-Yamāri."[9] Several colophons in the Tengyur attest to the pair as a translating team. Therefore, Chel Lotsāwa's date would be a good indicator to determine that of Niṣkalaṅka.[10]

The Dictionary of Names (Ming mdzod) reports that Chel Lotsāwa was born in the latter half of the twelfth century.[11] We further learn from Jamgon Kontrul's ('jam mgon kong sprul, 1813-1899) Treasury of Knowledge that Chel Lotsāwa received a special instruction lineage from Śākyaśrī[bhadra], a Kashmiri paṇḍit, last abbot of Nalānda, and teacher of Sakya Paṇḍita Kunga Gyeltsen (sa skya pan di ta kun dga' rgyal mtshan, 1182-1251).[12] Śākyaśrī visited Tibet in the beginning of the thirteenth century on invitation by Tropu Lotsāwa. It is also quite possible that Chel Lotsāwa received this transmission in Nepal or India, which would give a date in the latter half of the twelfth century at the earliest. So, from these multiple sources we can arrive at a date of approximately the late twelfth century as the most likely time when Chel Lotsāwa was working with Niṣkalaṅka translating texts into Tibetan.

The Blue Annals also contains a mention of Niṣkalaṅka as a teacher of Chak Drachom (chag dgra bcom, 1153-1216), which would place him squarely in the latter half of the twelfth century. This scholar-siddha-translator travelled to India and spent time at Bodhgaya, presumably where he studied with Niṣkalaṅka and also Śākyaśrī[bhadra], with whom he translated a version of The Ritual for Taking Up the Bodhisattva Vow (bodhisattvasaṃvaragrahaṇavidhi).[13] A story is recounted where Chak Drachom, while traveling back to Tibet with the aforementioned Chel Lotsāwa, was attacked by brigands, whom he froze still with a magical glance. The association between Chel Lotsawa, Niṣkalaṅka, and Drachom further confirms that Niṣkalaṅka lived in the twelfth century.[14]

Another supporting piece of evidence for that dating is the lineage list that puts Niṣkalaṅka directly before Mitrayogin, who lived in the latter half of the twelfth into the early thirteenth century.[15] Mitrayogin's association is further attested to by his translating Niṣkalaṅka's Śrībandhavimukta-śāstra with Tropu and Buddhaśrī in Nepal.

The only other text attributed to Niṣkalaṅka in the Tengyur is a sādhana for the Khasarpaṇi form of Avalokiteśvara,[16] further suggesting a connection with Mitrayogin, who was associated both with this form of the deity. While the colophons of some versions of this text do not list a Tibetan translator,[17] several sources attribute the translation to Drakpa Gyeltsen (grags pa rgyal mtshan, 1147-1216), which accords well with the proposed twelfth century dating for Niṣkalaṅka.[18]

According to the Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC), Niṣkalaṅka was also a direct disciple of Mahāvajrāsana. This might present some historical challenges if Mahāvajrāsana is taken to have been born in the tenth century.[19] Since the most compelling evidence suggests that Niṣkalaṅka lived in the twelfth century, a scenario in which he was a student of Mahāvajrāsana in the tenth or eleventh century would have to include some unusually long lives for one or the other of them. At least one source suggests that the Niṣkalaṅka lived 130 years,[20] which might help make sense of the discrepancy, but it would still require Mahāvajrāsana to have lived well into the eleventh century.

Pema Karpo (padma dkar po, 1527-1592) offers a solution to the above problem in his Scholars' Feast, where he lists Niṣkalaṅka as a student of Abhayākaragupta, who himself was a student of Mahāvajrāsana.[21] Abhayākaragupta himself is credited with authoring over twenty texts included in the Tengyur, including a tantric Vajrāvali commented on by such later Tibetan scholars as Buton, Tsongkapa, and others.[22]

Alongside Mitrayogin, Chel Lotsāwa, and Chak Drachom, another of Niṣkalaṅka’s important students was an Indian paṇḍita named Ravīndradeva.[23] Ravīndra worked with Tibetan scholars as a paṇḍita translating several texts and was an important lineage teacher in his own right. In particular, he taught and translated with Chak Lotsāwa Choje Pel (chag lo tsA ba chos rje pal, 1197-1264),[24] the nephew of the aforementioned Chak Drachom and one of the founding teachers of the "Chaklo" tradition. Chak Lotsāwa Choje Pel was hailed by Sakya Paṇḍita as "The most learned of the translators after Rinchen Zangpo."[25] After years of early study with his uncle, Choje Pel embarked on a trip to Nepal and India. According to his biography, Drachom directed him where to go in Nepal and it was there he met Ravīndradeva in 1226.[26] The biography depicts Ravīndradeva as a lay Buddhist who taught Choje Pel various subjects such as the Ārya tradition of Guhyasamāja and the Vajrāvali.[27] Ravīndra encouraged Choje Pel to follow through on his Tibetan student’s long-held dream to make a pilgrimage to Bodhgaya, even though it necessitated a dangerous journey. By then Northern India had been conquered by Muslim armies and Buddhists were not always safe. Choje Pel's other teachers (apparently including Sakya Paṇḍita and Tropu Lotsāwa) had advised against the trip.[28] Nevertheless, Ravīndra prophesied that "We father and son shall meet again!" and following his successful journey Choje Pel credited him with clairvoyance. Many of the transmissions Ravīndra passed to Choje Pel came from Niṣkalaṅka.[29]

There are some indications that Niṣkalaṅka may have had a connection to the Indian teacher Virūpa, a key lineage lama in the Sakya Lamdre tradition. One source referenced by Dan Martin suggests that Niṣkalaṅka translated several of his sādhanas.[30]  Additionally, a mind training text entitled "Glorious Virvapa's Mind Training" contains a transmission lineage at the end including Niṣkalaṅka (as well as Ravīndra and Chaklo Choje Pel). [31] If this "Virvapa" is the same as Virūpa, as Thupten Jinpa conjectures may be the case, [32] then this further connects the two. Some of the inconsistencies in the Tibetanization of Virūpa’s name make it difficult to conclusively determine, but hopefully future research will clarify the connection.