The Treasury of Lives

Machik Rema Darma Jangchub is an important female saint of the Tropu Kagyu (khro phu bka' brgyud) tradition, and possibly of the Chod, or Severance, tradition as well. Little is known about her life. She studied under the yogi Kunden Repa (kun ldan ras pa, 1148–1217), a student of Pakmodrupa (phag mo gru pa) and under Kunden Repa's elder brother Gyeltsa Rinchen Gon (rgyal tsha rin chen mgon, 1118–1195), the founder of Tropu Monastery (khro phu dgon). Kunden Repa, however, is considered her main teacher.

The alternate names given in sources, assuming they all point to the same person, might be understood as reflecting an archaic term for woman (rema) which was later corrected to "rima," or perhaps to her place of birth, a location containing the syllable "reb," although no such place has yet been identified, with Rebkong in Amdo being unlikely.

The Lhorong History (lho rong chos byung) states that she received all of Kunden Repa's special instructions, gave herself over to practice "single-pointedly," and obtained a high level of realization and magical powers. The Lhorong History makes a point of stating that, "All the scholars were in agreement that she was a great yogini who had directly realized emptiness."

That said, questions about the validity of her realizations seem to have plagued her, as they do many female adepts. The Blue Annals states that when Machik first started meditating, she "attained many fine forms of equipoise, but later developed incomparably fierce heart-wind [disease]" that was cured in reliance on special instructions given to her late in life by Chegom Sherab Dorje (lce sgom pa shes rab rdo rje, b. circa 1130).

The famous Sakya scholar Amnye Zhab Ngawang Kunga Sonam (a myes zhabs ngag dbang kun dga' bsod nams, 1597–1659) also relates this story:

When Machik Rima had generated a special realization, she went to ask Geshe Donpa (dge bshes don pa, d.u.) from Woyuk to ask him about it. He said, "It appears to be the mischief of a Gyelgong (rgyal 'gong) spirit. Recite the 8000 Line Perfection of Wisdom [to counteract it]." She didn't believe him, and paid little attention to his advice.

Taktsang Lotsāwa (stag tshang lo tsA ba, 1405–1477), who also mentions this incident, takes it as an illustration of why one should never speak of one's realizations to someone whose level of spiritual accomplishment does not match one's own. On the one hand, the story implicitly praises Machik's tenacity, her unshakeable belief in her own realization; on the other hand, it suggests that she erred by consulting someone less spiritually accomplished than she was.

Around 1130 or 1131, Machik had an insight that a boy, an emanation or reincarnation "of a precious holy being"—or of Padampa Sanggye (pha da pa sangs rgyas, d. 1117) (the Tibetan can be read in both ways)—had been born to a fisherman named Lugkye (lug skyes) in the lower part of the Dze Valley ('dzad mda'). The infant was brought to her to have its palate softened with butter, a typical Tibetan practice. This act and Machik's later removal of the boy’s obstacles (gegs bsal ba) is said to have secured his spiritual success later in life. The child in fact grew up to become the famed Chegom Sherab Dorje, an important master of both the Kadampa and Kagyu schools. Some sources state that Machik raised Chegompa herself.

Paṇchen Zangpo Tashi (paṇ chen bzang po bkra shis, 1410–1478) mentions Machik Rema as a lineage holder in a practice known as "Blessings to Open the Doors of Space" (byin rlabs nam mkha' sgo 'byed), a form of Chod. The Blue Annals also mentions that a certain Machik Sanggye Rema (ma gcig sangs rgyas re ma), a practitioner of Chod, met and received teachings from Mitrayogi when he visited Tibet in 1198, and that she subsequently passed on his teachings. But it is unlikely that this is our Machik, for if Machik Rema identified Chegompa as an infant in 1130, it means that she was likely born before 1110 and would have been close to or over ninety years old when Mitrayogi visited Tibet.

Any writings or spiritual instructions that Machik Rema may have left behind have been lost, but one of her sayings is preserved in the writings of Zhabkar and Bodong Paṇchen: "I have always felt sad when someone dies, but the entire process of my own death feels like I'm being freed from under the weight of a giant mountain. I die feeling joyful—my mind glad, comfortable, happy and relaxed." Although we do not know for sure, these may have been Machik Rima’s final words.

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