Timeless Rapture: Inspired Verse from the Shangpa Masters

348 Timeless Rapture
treasures, pure vision treasures, and direct oral instruction treasures.
In relation to the Shangpa lineage, the names of three of Kyentsé’s many
past lives are now familiar to us: Tangtong Gyalpo, Jamyang Kyentsé
Wangchuk, and Taranata. 54 When Kyentsé was twenty-four, he visited
Zhang-zhung Monastery, which housed a statue of its founder, Kyungpo
Naljor. Above the statue, he saw an umbrella of blue light in which many
empty forms of the tantric deities vividly appeared. They dissolved into the
statue, which then spoke symbolic words to Kyentsé: “Evam-maya-ho!”
Light from the statue’s heart flowed to Kyentsé and awakened his karmic
connection with the Shangpa teachings. As Kongtrul recounts the story (in
The Biography of Jamyang Kyentsé Wangpo, p. 83a), this seems to have been
the crucial moment in Kyentsé’s relationship with the Shangpa instructions,
although at the age of fifteen, he met Tangtong Gyalpo in a dream
and then immediately upon waking. On that occasion, he received a significant
treasure transmission and instruction in Niguma’s Six Doctrines
and Great Seal Amulet Box. (Ibid., pp. 83a, 112b)
Kyentsé seems to have had an unlimited number of visions. One that
unites three names from this collection arose within his experience of clear
light. He saw a place that he thought was like India, wide and even, with
grass, trees, and lakes embellished with many white and red flowers, a
delightful and attractive environment. There, Kyentsé was joined by four
of his friends and masters, each astride a different animal, each in the guise
of a Héruka, a tantric practitioner. Kyentsé himself rode a golden tortoise;
Losal Tenkyong, a white lioness; Gyalsé Zhenpen Tayé (b. 1800), an ashwhite
elephant; Chokgyur Déchen Lingpa (1829–1870), a fierce tigress;
and Jamgon Kongtrul, a turquoise dragon. The many spiritual heroes and
dakinis who surrounded them wore silk, jewels, and bone ornaments and
carried various sacred objects. They sang and danced together for a long
time in intense happiness. Kongtrul remarks that since the animals upon
which the lamas rode were related to their respective qualities and activities,
he found the vision very meaningful. He captured the vision in a
painting and offered it to Kyentsé, who was delighted, consecrated it, and
displayed it close by over a long period. 55
Finally, we note with interest Kongtrul’s selection of songs for Kyentsé.
The first, a song that describes Tangtong Gyalpo’s inner state, is related to
the Shangpa tradition by the subject alone, not by the content. The second,
a song related to the experiences of the Six Doctrines and Great Seal,