Jamyang Chokyi Wangpo, who passed away at Dzogchen Monastery (rdzogs chen dgon), is said to have predicted to the Fifth Dzogchen Drubwang, Tubten Chokyi Dorje (rdzogs chen 05 thub bstan chos kyi rdo rje, 1872-1935) that he would be reborn as his sister's son. A year and a half after Chokyi Wangchuk's birth, the Fifth Dzogchen Drubwang sent a party of monks to examine the child, who determined that he was indeed the reincarnation of his uncle. When the child was three Jamyang Loter Wangpo ('jam dbyang blo gter dbang po, 1847-1914), the same lama who had identified his previous incarnation, gave him the name Khyentse Chokyi Wangchuk.
He was enthroned at Dzongsar Monastery (rdzong sar dgon) in 1913 in a grand ceremony. There he was trained primarily by Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro ('jam dbyangs mkhyen brtse chos kyi blo gros, 1893-1959), who was known as the "activity" incarnation of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo. Following the early death of Jamyang Chokyi Wangpo, the Third Katok Situ, Chokyi Gyatso (kaH thog si tu 03 chos kyi rgya mtsho, 1880-1923/5), who was the nephew of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, had sent the charismatic Chokyi Lodro to Dzongsar to assume responsibility for the financial support of the monastery. Until that transfer Chokyi Lodro had been based at Katok Monastery (kaH thog dgon) and had been known as "Katok Khyentse." Chokyi Lodro is said to have embraced the young Chokyi Wangchuk and transmitted to him a wide array of teachings.
Similar to his previous incarnation, at the age of thirteen, in 1922, the water-dog year, Chokyi Wangchuk went to Adzom Gar (a 'dzom sgar) to receive teachings from Adzom Drukpa Pawo Dorje (a 'dzom 'brug pa 'gro 'dul dpa' bo rdo rje, 1842-1924). Two years later, in 1924, Chokyi Wangchuk, again following his previous incarnation's path, began a retreat at Pema Shelpuk (pad+ma shel phug), the hermitage cave of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo. According to Namkhai Norbu, over a period of three years Chokyi Wangchuk had five visions of Padmasambhava, receiving a pure-vision treasure a cycle known as The Mind Essence of the Guru (gu ru thugs thig).
Following his retreat, in 1927, he requested permission from Chokyi Lodro to return to the cave for several more years. Although Chokyi Lodro had hoped the young man would relieve him of the leadership of Dzongsar, he gave his consent and remained at the monastery while Chokyi Wangchuk once again entered retreat at Pema Shelpuk. Either before sealing himself inside the cave, or while he was in residence there, Chokyi Wangchuk went to Gagu Hermitage (gwa gu), up the valley from Dzongsar, and received the Lamdre Lobshe transmission from Khenpo Jamyang Gyeltsen (mkhan po 'jam dbyangs rgyal mtshan, 1870-1940). Jamyang Gyeltsen, known as Jamgyel Rinpoche, taught Dezhung Rinpoche (sde gzhung 02 kun dga' bstan pa'i nyi ma, 1906-1987) at Gagu for two years, from 1925 to 1927, and so it is possible that Chokyi Wangchuk may have met the great Sakya scholar there.
Khyentse Chokyi Lodro summoned Chokyi Wangchuk out of retreat once more in 1929, when infighting over control of Dzongsar reached an untenable level. According to Namkhai Norbu, the administrator of Chokyi Lodro's labrang—his administrative organization—a man named Zhingkyong (zhing skyong), and Chokyi Wanchuck's own labrang's administrator, Ngadrak (ngag drags), were unable to resolve the issue of which Khyentse incarnation was in charge of the monastery. Both men appear to have advocated for their own employer to the detriment of the monastery, fomenting conflict among the community. Two prominent men were called in to mediate the dispute: Khenpo Jamyang Gyeltsen, who by then was serving as abbot of Kamshe College (khams byed), and the powerful minister Jago Tobden (bya rgod stobs ldan, 1898-1960). The decision they made was that Khyentse Chokyi Wangchuk would move his seat to Derge Gonchen and that Chokyi Lodro would remain at Dzongsar. Chokyi Wangchuk was permitted to take with him certain items that had belonged to his previous incarnation. According to Namkhai Norbu, although members of Chokyi Wangchuk's labrang were bitter about their departure from Dzongsar, Chokyi Wangchuk himself was not, and never considered Chokyi Lodro to be the cause of his leaving.
While their administrators and patrons debated the future of the monastery and the duties of the two Khyentse incarnations, Chokyi Wangchuk returned to Pema Shelpuk. His father and Ngadrak took it upon themselves to begin construction of a residence at Gonchen. According to Namkhai Norbu, Chokyi Wangchuk was forced to leave the cave when he was poisoned. His life was saved by the ministrations of Chokyi Lodro, but the culprit was never identified, and his managers determined that he could no longer safely reside in Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo's retreat hermitage.
At Gonchen, Chokyi Wangchuk recovered from his attack in the residence of one of the abbots, Samten Lodro (bsam gtan blo gros, 1868-1931). After several months he moved to a hermitage in Makhok (ma khog) and received teachings from a Ngor lama named Drakra Tashi Gyatso (brag ra bkra shis rgya mtsho). He then went to Dzogchen Monastery to receive teachings from Kunga Pelden (kun dga' dpal ldan, 1878-1944/1950) and Khenpo Zhenga (mkhan po gzhan dga', 1871-1927), who taught him his curriculum of thirteen classical scriptures and Guhyagarbha. He remained at Dzogchen for close to a decade.
At the age of thirty, in 1939, Chokyi Wangchuk returned to Gonchen and took up his role as preceptor to the Derge king, Tsewang Dudul (tshe dbang bdud 'dul, 1916-1942). He taught mainly the Chetsun Nyingtik (lce btsun snying thig), one of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo's main Dzogchen revelations. He also accepted ten Chinese men as disciples. The monks and lamas of Gonchen expected Chokyi Wangchuk to reside continuously at the monastery and to contribute to its financial development through the celebration of rituals and ceremonies and by taking alms tours through the realm. Chokyi Wangchuk, however, declined to accept the duties. Although he agreed to make the monastery his seat, he kept a low profile, teaching his disciples and the king but otherwise remaining in retreat. According to Namkhai Norbu, opposition to Chokyi Wangchuk grew in Derge, primarily among the worshippers of Dorje Shugden (rdo rje shugs ldan), who maintained a small temple to the west of the palace and monastery not far from the Tangtong Gyelpo (thang stong rgyal po, 1361-1485) temple.
In 1941 Chokyi Wangchuk went north to Amdo, and on his return visited Lhadrang Monastery (lha 'brang), a Nyingma monastery not far from Derge that was a subsidiary of Katok. He exchanged teachings with the lama of the monastery, Dungtrul Drime (gdung sprul dri med), the husband of his younger sister, Tenzin Pelmo (bstan 'dzin dpal mo).
The following year he went on pilgrimage to central Tibet. At Reting (rwa sgreng) the former regent, the Fifth Reting, Tubten Jampel Yeshe Gyeltsen ('jam dpal ye shes bstan pa'i rgyal mtshan, 1911-1947), welcomed him and received from him the transmission of the Longchen Nyingtik (klong chen snying thig). While circumambulating Lhasa, at the foot of Chakpori (lcags po ri) he had a vision of a young woman who offered him a skull cup full of barley beer and gave him instructions on Vajrayoginī, which he later taught as a mind treasure. At Yamalung (g.ya' ma lung), while practicing in front of the statue of Padmasambhava, there was a flash of light after which he called to an attendant to bring him paper on which he wrote down twelve letter-like symbols. He then dictated to his disciples Tokden Jamten (rtogs ldan byams bstan) and Kunzang (kun bzang) a treasure of more than eighty pages titled Zhiwa Yongdu (zhi ba yongs 'dus). Although Namkhai Norbu was able to receive the transmission for this treasure in 1953, the texts were all lost in the Communist invasion of Tibet. Namkhai Norbu narrates additional treasure revelations that occurred at the Drakmar Keutsang (brag dmar ke'u tshang) at Chimpu (mchims phu) and at Yarlung Sheldrak (yar klungs shel brag). This and other treasure activity earned him the treasure name of Humchen Heka Lingpa (hum chen he ka gling pa).
Chokyi Wangchuk visited Dorje Drak (rdo rje brag), Mindroling (smin grol gling), Ngor Evaṃ Choden (ngor e waM chos ldan), and Sakya (sa skya), among other monasteries. At Ngor he received full ordination and the name Jikdrel Tubpai Tencho Chokyi Gyatso ('jigs bral thub pa'i bstan chos chos kyi rgya mtsho) from the Sixty-fourth Ngor Khenchen, Dampa Ngawang Lodro Zhenpen Nyingpo (mkhan chen dam pa ngag dbang blo gros gzhan phan snying po, 1876-1953). He was there when, in 1942, he received word that the king of Derge had passed away.
He arrived in Derge at the start of 1944 and donated large amounts of the offerings he had received while in central Tibet, thus mollifying many of his detractors at the monastery. From then on, he was known as Gonchen Khyentse. Yet only several weeks later he left again, this time to the Detsen Hermitage (bde mtshan ri khrod), where he entered a retreat for over a year. He next went to Gyawo Hermitage (rgya bo ri khrod) where Kunga Pelden was in retreat. The cave complex there was fairly small, so in 1945 the two lamas together moved to Galengteng (sga glen steng) and constructed a residence. According to Namkhai Norbu, Ngadrak, who had continued to administer Chokyi Wangchuk's estate since leaving Dzongsar, appears to have attempted to elevate Chokyi Wangchuk's authority at Galenteng. Namkhai Norbu states that Chokyi Wangchuk was "saddened" by the administrator's actions. In response to which Chokyi Wangchuk sent him to his home region of Drayab, where he passed away the following year.
Dungtrul Drime, his brother-in-law who was the lama of Lhadrang Monastery, had earlier offered Chokyi Wangchuk the monastery as his seat, and henceforth he based himself not at Gonchen but at the two smaller monasteries, Galenteng and Lhadrang, moving from one monastery to the other to give teachings and enter retreat.
According to Namkhai Norbu, in early 1947 Chokyi Wangchuk had a vision which contained a prophecy that on the tenth day of the monkey month of the fire-pig year, or June 28, 1947, he would reveal a Vajrapāṇi treasure at a site near Galenteng named Lhalung Peldo (lha lung dpal rdo). The monastery's name is derived from the famous eighth-century monk Lhalung Pelgyi Dorje (lha lung dpal gyi rdo rje) who is said to have stayed there after fleeing Tibet. Accordingly, on the sixth day of the monkey month, June 24, accompanied by Kunga Pelden and a group of about fifty disciples and local people, Chokyi Wangpo led a four-day ceremony of the Combined Sādhana of the Three Roots (rtsa gsum dril grub), a rediscovered treasure of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo. Chokyi Wangpo had another vision at dawn of the tenth day indicating where to locate the treasure, and on the following day, he scaled a ladder and marked the proper spot with an ax, instructing his disciple Tashi Dondrub (bkra shis don grub) to excavate. A small statue of Vajrapāṇi emerged from within the rock, surrounded by fine sand. Chokyi Wangpo replaced it with a treasure vase, and the group returned to the monastery. On examining the statue they noted it had been damaged by the pickaxe, which they took to be a sign of impending turbulence. The remaining sections of the Vajrapāṇi treasure cycle would emerge at various points in the future; Namkhai Norbu himself revealed a part in 1953, and he brought the Vajrapāṇi statue out of Tibet in 1959. In July 1951, Chokyi Wangpo revealed yet another treasure in the Lhalung valley above Galenteng and again in the presence of several dozen witnesses, including Namkhai Norbu. This time a young disciple named Kelzang Tsering (skal bzang tshe ring) was given the task of excavating the rock where Chokyi Wangpo had marked it with a pickaxe.
In 1950 Chokyi Wangpo traveled north again, this time to Jyekundo for several months. On arriving there he was invited to meet with Khangsar Khenchen Ngawang Yonten Gyatso (khang gsar mkhan chen ngag dbang yon tan rgya mtsho, 1902-1963), also known as Drukpa Khenpo Ngawang Lodro ('brug pa mkhan po ngag dbang blo gro). This lama had served as the Sixty-ninth Ngor Khenchen from 1933 to 1936 where he led the effort to end the worship of Shugden at Ngor and other monasteries before giving up his vows and returning to his homeland to practice as a yogi. The Khenchen gave Chokyi Wangchuk and Namkhai Norbu, who was then traveling with his uncle, the Kālacakra initiation in the Zhalu tradition. From town they went to find a teacher named Nalung Drubchen Sanggye Zangpo (na lung grub chen sangs rgyas bzang po), or Nalung Nyonpa (na lung smyon pa), the mad yogi of Nalung who lived in a cave with the woman for whom he left the monkhood. Chokyi Wangchuk exchanged teachings with several other lamas before returning to his monasteries. On the way he stopped over at Gonchen to cure his younger brother, Ngawang Lodro of an illness brought on by supernatural causes. Ngawang Lodro was in charge of the Shugden rites, and it seems he had improperly taken a vase from the temple. On replacing the vase, which had shattered spontaneously during Chokyi Wangchuk's ministrations, the illness ceased.
In the spring of 1952 Chokyi Wangchuk began renovations at Galenteng's main temple. He summoned his nephew, Namkhai Norbu, to assist. Namkhai Norbu tells the story of the construction crew finding a vulture with a kīla dagger in its back. Chokyi Wangpo asked for the bird to be brought to him, and had it placed in a courtyard for the night with a bowl of milk. Upon drinking, the vulture flapped its wings three times and flew away, leaving behind the nine-inch long kīla dagger on the ground.
In early 1956 Namkhai Norbu went to urge Chokyi Wangchuk to leave Tibet with him. His uncle declined, citing his age and his great girth, and also the fact that he wished to avoid finding himself in the same location as Chokyi Lodro for fear that his presence would stir up old animosities. Chokyi Lodro had left Dzongsar the year before and would settle in Sikkim in 1958. Chokyi Wangchuk sent Namkhai Norbu away with his blessing and the statue of Vajrapāṇi, which he had revealed as treasure.
During the initial years of the violent resistance to the Communist takeover of Derge, Chokyi Wangchuk remained in retreat at Shublung Hermitage (shub kung ri khrod). In 1957, however, he was forced to return to Galenteng, and the following year he was brought to Khorlomdo, a village north of Derge, to stand accused of being a member of the ruling class. He escaped in April 1958, and fled north alongside the Sixth Shechen Rabjam, Gyurme Tenpai Nyima ('gyur med bstan pa'i nyi ma, 1910-1960), and the Second Drukpa Kuchen, Tubten Shedrub Gyatso ('brug ba sku chen 02 thub bstan bshad sgrub, 1906-1960). They and their encampment avoided the Chinese for a short period but were all eventually captured.
On receiving news that the Sixth Dzogchen Rinpoche, Jikdrel Jangchub Dorje (rdzogs chen grub dbang 06 o rgyan 'jigs bral byang chub rdo rje, 1935-1959) had died in the attack on Dzogchen on Feb 8, 1959, Chokyi Wangchuk paused in a forest and performed rites. On the evening of the fourth day of the ceremony, March 13, 1959, he was surrounded by Chinese and Tibetan Communists and brought to Derge to be imprisoned, where Shechen Rabjam and Drukpa Kuchen were also incarcerated. Namkhai Norbu's sister, Jamyang Chodron, was also imprisoned there, and she passed a message between the three on Chokyi Wangchuk's behalf: "existence arises from the symbol." On March 13, 1960, one year from the day he was captured, Chokyi Wangchuk passed away in meditation. Drukpa Kuchen and Shechen Rabjam likewise passed away the same day. Namkhai Norbu believed that the three lamas chose their death to avoid the torture and execution that so many of their fellow lamas were then suffering.
Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche recognized the reincarnation of his uncle Jamyang Chokyi Wangchuk as the person of his own son, Yeshe, born on July 3, 1970. The Forty-first Sakya Tridzin, Ngawang Kunga Tekchen Pelbar (sa skya khri chen 41 ngag dbang kun dga' theg chen dpal 'bar, b.1945), confirmed the identification and gave the boy the name Jamyang Chokyi Nyima ('jam dbangs chos kyi nyi ma).
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དཔྱད་གཞིའི་ཡིག་ཆ་ཁག།
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