Timeless Rapture: Inspired Verse from the Shangpa Masters

SANGYÉ NYENTÖN
This lineage holder also sports an impressive portfolio of
names. He is usually called Sangyé Nyentön (Buddha Teacher of
the Nyen Clan), although this amounts to a family name and profession.
He is sometimes referred to as Rigong-pa, the place of his main residence,
much in the same way that Kyergang-pa and Mokchok-pa are commonly
known by their meditation sites. Finally, this teacher had a nickname that
alluded to his lifestyle, Bépé Naljor (hidden adept), and a purely Buddhist
name, Chökyi Shérab, the name he used the least. It would seem from the
evidence of the Shangpa masters that some Tibetans were slow to use their
religious names (which most Buddhist Tibetans do now), preferring their
family names or residence names.
Sangyé Nyentön received a Shangpa-style confirmation from his master:
his practice surpassed that of his teacher. It is clear from his and other
biographies that such comments reflect an appreciation for each young
student’s quality of meditation and its reflection in lucid dreams and
visions. The masters never based their evaluation on outer calculations,
such as the quantity of prayers or mantras recited.
Another theme of the Shangpa lineage continues in the life of Sangyé
Nyentön—lack of concern for the lineage’s institutions. Kyungpo Naljor
had been a founder, an initiator on many levels; Rinchen Tsöndru was a
meditator and a lay person. Chökyi Sengé was a more social individual
who integrated his monastic responsibilities with his meditation. Nevertheless,
he guided his sole spiritual heir to a lifestyle much different from
his own. Before Sangyé Nyentön met his teacher, he had taken full monastic
ordination and had done what neither Rinchen Tsöndru or Chökyi
Sengé had ever managed—he completed a traditional Buddhist education.
That could have marked a turning point in the lineage, from meditation
cushions only to a full-service Buddhist monastery, such as so many
other schools were busily establishing. To this point, the Shangpa lamas
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