Timeless Rapture: Inspired Verse from the Shangpa Masters

TANGTONG GYALPO
Amere half-century separates the death of Tsangma Shangtön
and the birth of Tangtong Gyalpo, but much changed in Tibet’s
spiritual landscape during that time. Despite politics’ intrusion into spiritual
life, the thirteenth century hosted an astounding group of masters
whose writings we still treasure. Among them we find Sakya Pandita (1182–
1251), Orgyen Rinchen-pal (1230–1309), Dolpo Sangyé (1292–1361),
Rangjung Dorjé (1284–1339), and Longchenpa soon thereafter (1308–1363).
Two notable Indian masters visited Tibet for a short time at the beginning
of that period, Shakyashri (1204–1214) and Mitra-yogi (1198–1199). At
the end of the thirteenth century, one innovation was to signal another
major change in Tibet’s religion: in 1288, Orgyen Rinchen-pal recognized
Rangjung Dorjé as the reincarnation of his teacher (Karma Pakshi, the
second Karmapa), and enthroned him, the first such recognition of a tulku,
a reincarnate master.
The Shangpa tradition as well had not remained static during this
period. Now that many teachers were endowed with the full lineage
instructions, the lineage had spread more widely than ever before and grew
into several distinct lines of transmission. One of these reached Tangtong
Gyalpo through a relatively obscure lama called Jinpa Zangpo. His teacher,
Namka Naljor, had another student whose fame is worldwide—Tsongkapa
(1357–1419), founder of the Gélugpa order. These two masters of the
Shangpa teachings, Tangtong Gyalpo (1361–1485 or 1385–1464) 45 and
Tsongka-pa, had an enduring impact on the Tibetan world.
Tangtong Gyalpo (also known as Tsöndru Zangpo) studied with five
hundred lamas and is acclaimed as a master of both the Nyingma and
Sakya lineages, besides our own. From a worldly perspective, he was a
visionary, since “visionary experience” is our term for his frequent meetings
with nonhuman buddhas, bodhisattvas, and dakinis. Yet Tangtong
Gyalpo’s life story is replete with such encounters, and a reader gets the
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