Timeless Rapture: Inspired Verse from the Shangpa Masters

THE PATH NOT TAKEN
BY THE SHANGPA LINEAGE
From the stories of Shangpa masters to this point, it is clear that
they spurned any form of worldly ambition for themselves and for
their lineage of teachings. With Kunga Drolchok and Taranata, both of
whom met Niguma in visions, the lineage became associated with the
Jonang monasteries and their patrons, the royal family of Tsang, then
rulers of Tibet. Both these masters’ spiritual lives far exceeded the bounds
of the Shangpa lineage—within Taranata’s Collected Works, for example,
we find his first texts on Shangpa meditations in volume eleven. Those
few works are of vital importance to us still; they number among the core
textbooks in Shangpa meditation training, yet they represent a small fraction
of Taranata’s literary output. In reflecting on his own life, Taranata
attributed his lifelong inspiration to repeated encouragement and guidance
in visions of Guru Rinpoché and Dolpo Sangyé. Nevertheless, for
the Shangpa lineage, the fact that Niguma had appeared to these Jonang
masters was sufficient evidence that the principal lineage passed through
them.
The Jonang monasteries’ fate, obliteration from the map of Tibetan
institutions, meant that the Shangpa transmission was again homeless, a
guest in other schools’ monasteries and retreat centers. This was not a new
experience for the lineage, but the fact that none of Taranata’s books could
be reprinted was undoubtedly a hardship. Further, for many in Tibet,
Taranata’s name had become associated primarily with corruption and was
the focus of official state censorship of the most stringent kind. The
Shangpa lineage entered a period of marginal existence, although its lineage
holders during this dark period include such illuminated masters as the
Nyingma lama Rikzin Tséwang Norbu (1698–1755) and his disciple, the
seventh Drukchen Rinpoché, head of the Drukpa Kargyu school, Kagyu
Trinlé Shingta (1718–1766). I have not seen accounts of these masters’
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