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Baso Chokyi Gyaltsen

The Origin and Lineage of these Instructions

The lineage of this instruction, known as the ‘Uncommon Whispered Lineage’, was transmitted from Buddha Vajradhara to Manjushri and from Manjushri directly to Je Tsongkhapa. From Je Tsongkhapa it has been passed down to the present Teachers through exactly the same lineage as the Mahamudra of the Virtuous Tradition. It has already been explained that there are two main Guru yogas related to Je Tsongkhapa: The Hundreds of Deities of the Joyful Land, or Ganden Lhagyema, and Offering to the Spiritual Guide, or Lama Chopa. Both of these were transmitted by Buddha Manjushri to Je Tsongkhapa in a special scripture which is known as the Kadam Emanation Scripture. This scripture also includes instructions on Vajrayana Mahamudra, as well as six sadhanas of Manjushri: Accomplishing Outer Manjushri, Accomplishing Inner Manjushri, Accomplishing Secret Manjushri, Accomplishing Manjushri’s Body Mandala, Accomplishing Wheel of Dharma Manjushri and Accomplishing Solitary Manjushri.

The Hundreds of Deities of the Joyful Land was passed by Je Tsongkhapa to his disciple, Je Sherab Senge. This great Lama lived and practised at a place called Se in Tibet, and he and his two principal disciples later became known as the ‘Segyupa Father and Sons’. The lineage of the practice of The Hundreds of Deities of the Joyful Land is known as the ‘Segyu Lineage’. More information on this lineage can be found in the book Heart Jewel, and a profound explanation of how to practise Vajrayana Mahamudra in conjunction with the Guru yoga of the Segyu lineage can be found in Mahamudra Tantra.

The lineage of Offering to the Spiritual Guide developed as follows. After Je Tsongkhapa passed away, his tradition was preserved and promoted by his two principal disciples, Khedrubje and Togden Jampel Gyatso. Khedrubje, who was an emanation of Vajrapani, became Je Tsongkhapa’s successor at Ganden Monastery. While he remained there, he gave extensive teachings to large numbers of disciples, just as his Spiritual Guide, Je Tsongkhapa, had done. He was particularly skilled at logic and debate and was able to answer all questions regarding Je Tsongkhapa’s teachings and to resolve misunderstandings concerning them. So sharp was his wisdom, and so incisive his reasoning, that he was compared to the great Indian Buddhist Master Dharmakirti, an emanation of Manjushri who revealed the essential instructions on logic and reasoning.

Je Tsongkhapa transmitted all the essential instructions on Vajrayana Mahamudra to Khedrubje, who practised them sincerely. Because he was charged with the great responsibility of ensuring that Je Tsongkhapa’s precious teachings continued to flourish, Khedrubje would often make requests for guidance and inspiration to Je Tsongkhapa after he had passed away. On five separate occasions Je Tsongkhapa appeared directly to Khedrubje, each time in a different form. On one occasion, when he was reflecting on the extraordinary kindness of Je Tsongkhapa, Khedrubje was so overcome with sadness at the loss of his Spiritual Guide that he began to weep. With his eyes filled with tears, he started to compose a praise to Je Tsongkhapa in which he expressed his deep yearning to see him again. As soon as he had finished composing the praise, Je Tsongkhapa appeared before him riding on an elephant, surrounded by an aura of light. Je Tsongkhapa asked Khedrubje why he was crying and Khedrubje replied that it was because he was thinking of Je Tsongkhapa’s kindness. He asked Je Tsongkhapa where he had been since he passed away and Je Tsongkhapa replied that he was abiding in a Pure Land in the north-east. They continued to talk for a long time before the vision of Je Tsongkhapa finally absorbed. At other times Je Tsongkhapa appeared to Khedrubje in other manifestations, such as Manjushri riding on a lion, and a Yogi riding on a tiger.

Whereas Khedrubje remained at Ganden emphasizing Je Tsongkhapa’s tradition of giving clear and unmistaken teachings, Togden Jampel Gyatso spent most of his life in isolated forests and mountain caves emphasizing Je Tsongkhapa’s tradition of meditation retreat. By practising sincerely the instructions on Vajrayana Mahamudra, he attained great enlightenment in three years. Although both Khedrubje and Togden Jampel Gyatso received the lineage of the Emanation Scripture from Je Tsongkhapa, it was Togden Jampel Gyatso who passed it on to others, and so it is he who is regarded as the next lineage Guru after Je Tsongkhapa.

Togden Jampel Gyatso passed the lineage of these instructions to Khedrubje’s younger brother, Baso Chokyi Gyaltsen. Baso Chokyi Gyaltsen spent his entire life practising these instructions and realized them fully. He transmitted them to Mahasiddha Dharmavajra, a great meditator who spent his whole life in retreat in mountain caves. At one time Mahasiddha Dharmavajra was in retreat in a cave high up on a mountain called Chumo Lhari, which is near Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in western Tibet. During one of his sessions Je Tsongkhapa appeared to him as a unification of three holy beings. His outer aspect was as Je Tsongkhapa wearing the three robes of a monk and a yellow Pandit’s hat, with his right hand in the mudra of expounding Dharma and his left hand in the mudra of meditative equipoise holding a jewelled bowl filled with nectars. At his heart was Buddha Shakyamuni, and at his heart was Conqueror Vajradhara. This aspect of Je Tsongkhapa is known in Tibetan as ‘je sempa sum tseg’, which means ‘Je Tsongkhapa, the Unification of Three Holy Beings’. He is also known as ‘Lama Losang Tubwang Dorjechang’. Here, ‘Lama’ means ‘Guru’, indicating that Je Tsongkhapa is our Spiritual Guide, ‘Losang’ is short for ‘Losang Dragpa’, which is Je Tsongkhapa’s ordained name, ‘Tubwang’ is short for ‘Shakya Tubwang’, which is the Tibetan name for Buddha Shakyamuni, and ‘Dorjechang’ is Tibetan for Vajradhara.

While appearing in this form, Je Tsongkhapa transmitted to Mahasiddha Dharmavajra the instructions on Offering to the Spiritual Guide, together with the instructions on Vajrayana Mahamudra and all the other essential instructions from the Emanation Scripture. By relying upon these precious instructions, Mahasiddha Dharmavajra attained enlightenment in three years. Later, when Mahasiddha Dharmavajra’s ordinary form passed away, many local people saw five-coloured rainbow lights pouring out of his cave and illuminating the whole mountain. When they went to his cave it was completely empty. Mahasiddha Dharmavajra had attained a rainbow body and his ordinary form had totally disappeared.

Since the time when Manjushri transmitted the Emanation Scripture to Je Tsongkhapa, thousands of practitioners within the Gelugpa Tradition have attained enlightenment by practising these instructions. Moreover, because these instructions have the uncommon close lineage they are extremely blessed, and those who practise them sincerely are able to attain enlightenment in three years with considerable ease, without having to undergo the kinds of hardship experienced by Milarepa.

Before he passed away, Mahasiddha Dharmavajra checked with his clairvoyance to see to whom he should pass on the lineage of these precious instructions. He saw that a Yogi called Losang Dondrub, who was in retreat hundreds of miles away at a place called Ensa, had a very special connection with Je Tsongkhapa, and that he was a suitable recipient for this lineage. Using his miracle powers he travelled in an instant the great distance to Losang Dondrub’s cave and manifested outside it in the aspect of an old beggar monk. In those days, a beggar would wait outside reciting scriptures, indicating that he was in need of charity. Accordingly, Mahasiddha Dharmavajra began to recite Je Tsongkhapa’s Praise to Dependent Relationship.

At that time Losang Dondrub was ill, but when he heard the beggar reciting this text by Je Tsongkhapa his mind became very happy and, despite his illness, he dragged himself to the door of his cave. Immediately on seeing the beggar his mind was filled with devotion and he felt sure that he must be a holy being. He invited the beggar into his cave and offered him tea. Upon questioning the beggar, he soon realized that he was indeed a great Yogi. He fell at Mahasiddha Dharmavajra’s feet and requested him to take him into his care and give him Dharma instructions. Mahasiddha Dharmavajra replied that to receive these instructions Losang Dondrub would have to travel to his own cave at Chumo Lhari, and then he disappeared. Losang Dondrub underwent great hardship in finding Mahasiddha Dharmavajra’s cave, but when he eventually arrived he immediately made tsog offerings and requested teachings. Mahasiddha Dharmavajra transmitted to him the full lineage of the instructions of the Emanation Scripture, including the instructions on Offering to the Spiritual Guide. Losang Dondrub then returned to his cave at Ensa and put these instructions into practice, finally attaining enlightenment in three years as his Teacher had done. After he attained enlightenment he wrote in one of his many songs:

My only good qualities are that first I made single-pointed requests to my Spiritual Guide, then I practised my sadhanas as soon as I received them, and finally I attained enlightenment in three years and three months.

Losang Dondrub later became known as Gyalwa Ensapa, named after the cave where he meditated. Although he was never officially given the title, Gyalwa Ensapa is considered to be the first Panchen Lama because Losang Chokyi Gyaltsen, who is recognized as the first Panchen Lama, was in fact an emanation of Gyalwa Ensapa.

When he was a young boy Gyalwa Ensapa received many visions of Buddha Shakyamuni. He also possessed natural clairvoyance and was able to know that people were about to visit his family even when they were still many days’ journey away. Later, when he ordained as a monk, he was able to recite the entire Perfection of Wisdom Sutra in Eight Thousand Lines from memory, both in Tibetan and in Sanskrit. His fellow monks, who had never heard Sanskrit spoken, thought that he was possessed by spirits!

Since his Spiritual Guide, Mahasiddha Dharmavajra, spent his entire life in retreat, it fell to Gyalwa Ensapa to pass the lineage of the Emanation Scripture to others. He passed the lineage to Khedrub Sangye Yeshe, the root Guru of Losang Chokyi Gyaltsen, the first Panchen Lama, and it was from Khedrub Sangye Yeshe that the first Panchen Lama received this precious lineage. Since Mahasiddha Dharmavajra and his two principal disciples, Gyalwa Ensapa and Khedrub Sangye Yeshe, became known as ‘Ensapa Father and Sons’, this lineage is called the ‘Ensa Lineage’. Later Kachen Yeshe Gyaltsen wrote a book containing biographies of all these lineage Gurus. Their stories are very inspiring and I hope that one day they will be translated from Tibetan for the benefit of western practitioners.

The first Panchen Lama, Losang Chokyi Gyaltsen, was a very wise and skilful protector of Je Tsongkhapa’s doctrine. Later he became the root Guru of the fifth Dalai Lama. Until the time of the first Panchen Lama, the lineage of the Emanation Scripture had been passed directly from Teacher to disciple without being written down, and only those with great good fortune even knew of its existence, let alone had the opportunity to practise the instructions. For this reason it became known as the ‘Ensa Whispered Lineage’. However, because times were becoming more and more impure, and because sentient beings had less and less merit, the Panchen Lama worried that this precious lineage might soon be lost altogether; and so to preserve it for future generations he decided to write it down. Accordingly, he wrote a text entitled The Main Path of the Conquerors, the Root Text of the Mahamudra. This contains all the essential instructions on Mahamudra from the Emanation Scripture.

To practise Mahamudra successfully it is first necessary to complete four preliminary practices, which are known as ‘the four great preliminary guides’. These are:

(1) The great guide of going for refuge and generating bodhichitta, the gateway to the Buddhadharma and the Mahayana

(2) The great guide of making mandala offerings, the gateway to accumulating a collection of merit

(3) The great guide of meditation and recitation of Vajrasattva, the gateway to purifying negativities and downfalls

(4) The great guide of Guru yoga, the gateway to receiving blessings

So that faithful disciples could practise the fourth great guide as a preliminary to the actual Mahamudra, the first Panchen Lama also compiled Offering to the Spiritual Guide based on the instructions from the Emanation Scripture. Since then, this practice has flourished in Tibet, Mongolia, China, and India; and now it is beginning to spread in the West. We should remember the great kindness of the first Panchen Lama in compiling this sadhana and try to practise it purely and sincerely.

Although Offering to the Spiritual Guide was compiled by the first Panchen Lama, it was not invented by him. In fact all the practices contained within the sadhana were taught by Buddha in his Sutra and Tantra teachings. So as to make this clear, the first Panchen Lama wrote at the beginning of the sadhana:

I shall prepare a throat ornament, a beautiful garland of flowers,

Taken from the lotus garden of holy instructions of Sutra and Tantra,

The sole supreme method for fortunate disciples

To accomplish every benefit and happiness.

The full title of the sadhana in Tibetan is Lama Chopai Choga, which means The Ritual for Offering to the Spiritual Guide. Even though it was first composed in Tibetan, the first Panchen Lama also gave the title in Sanskrit – Guru puja se kalpa – at the head of the text. This was the practice that was usually adopted when a text was translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan to show that the text had not been invented by the Tibetans but was an authentic scripture from India. It is not usual to give a Sanskrit title for a text originally composed in Tibetan. Thus, Je Tsongkhapa’s Great Exposition of the Stages of the Path, for example, has no Sanskrit title but is known in Tibetan simply as Lamrim Chenmo. Why then did the first Panchen Lama give a Sanskrit title to Offering to the Spiritual Guide? His purpose was to indicate that, even though he had compiled the sadhana, the practices contained within it originate from the Sutras and Tantras, and in particular from the Tantric teachings of Conqueror Vajradhara.

It is the tradition of both Atisha and Je Tsongkhapa to base all their teachings on the word of Buddha and never to teach anything that contradicts Buddha’s teachings. According to these two great Teachers, unless an instruction is referred to in either the Sutras or the Tantras it cannot be regarded as an authentic Buddhist teaching, even if it is a so-called ‘terma’, or ‘hidden treasure text’. Whenever they gave teachings or composed texts, both Atisha and Je Tsongkhapa quoted liberally from both the Sutras and the Tantras. In this way they showed their great respect for Buddha’s original teachings and emphasized the importance of being able to trace instructions back to them.

In Ornament for Mahayana Sutras, Maitreya says that throughout the entire universe there is no one wiser than Buddha. Buddha understands directly and simultaneously all objects of knowledge and realizes the true nature of all phenomena. If we have faith in Buddha we should practise only those instructions that do not contradict his teachings. If we follow instructions that contradict Buddha we will make no spiritual progress and our practice will cause the degeneration of the Buddhadharma in this world. Similarly, if we claim to be a Buddhist Teacher but give teachings that contradict Buddha we will be destroying Buddha’s doctrine. Therefore, if we consider ourselves to be Buddhists we should take great care to practise only those teachings that originally come from Buddha. We should be careful not to be influenced simply by the reputation of a particular Teacher or book, but should check to see whether or not they are authentic. Even if we are told that by hearing a particular teaching or by reading a particular book we will attain enlightenment quickly, we should still be cautious and examine its authenticity first.

If, as the first Panchen Lama says, all the instructions contained within Offering to the Spiritual Guide had already been taught by Buddha, why did he compile the sadhana at all? Why did he not simply refer us to Buddha’s original teachings? There are two reasons. First, Buddha’s Tantric teachings are very difficult to understand, and second, they are scattered throughout various texts with no clear indication as to the sequence in which they are to be practised. If we were to try to practise these instructions by relying upon the Sutras and Tantras alone, we would soon become discouraged and might even give up our Dharma practice altogether.

In compiling Offering to the Spiritual Guide, the first Panchen Lama has presented all the essential instructions in a way that is easy to understand, and he has arranged them in the sequence in which they are to be practised. He has included in one practice not only the great preliminary guide of Guru yoga combined with all the essential practices of generation stage and completion stage of Highest Yoga Tantra, but also the essential practices of Lamrim and Lojong. By practising Offering to the Spiritual Guide, therefore, we are able to practise all the stages of the path of Sutra and Tantra in one session.

In his autocommentary, the first Panchen Lama says that the various practices contained within Offering to the Spiritual Guide are like precious jewels that have been retrieved from an ocean bed. Even if we knew of the existence of jewels at the bottom of a vast ocean, without the help of a skilled navigator and a diver we would never be able to gain access to them. If we were to try to retrieve them on our own we would definitely find ourself in great danger. In the same way, without the first Panchen Lama’s help in gathering up and presenting these precious jewel-like instructions, if we were to try to find them amongst the vast ocean of the Sutras and Tantras and put them into practice on our own, we would soon find ourself in difficulty.

Since the first Panchen Lama compiled this precious sadhana it has been transmitted, together with the uncommon Vajrayana Mahamudra of the Virtuous Tradition and all the other essential practices of the Emanation Scripture, through an unbroken lineage to our present Teachers. From Panchen Chokyi Gyaltsen the lineage passed through Drubchen Gendun Gyaltsen and Drungpa Tsondru Gyaltsen to Konchog Gyaltsen, who transmitted it to the second Panchen Lama, Losang Yeshe. From him it passed through various Lamas such as Losang Namgyal and Kachen Yeshe Gyaltsen down to Dorjechang Trijang Rinpoche, who passed it on to our present Teachers. The entire close lineage of these instructions is given in the Prayers of Request to the Mahamudra Lineage Gurus, which can be found here. If we read this prayer we will see that there is a completely pure and unbroken lineage from Conqueror Vajradhara down to our present root Guru.

By contemplating the special qualities of Offering to the Spiritual Guide and the purity of the lineage of these instructions we should come to feel extremely fortunate at having met such a precious practice. We should think:

This practice of Offering to the Spiritual Guide contains all the essential practices of Sutra and Tantra, and the blessings of this lineage are still complete. If I now practise this Guru yoga sincerely I will be able to attain enlightenment in this very life, and become just like Gyalwa Ensapa. How lucky I am!