Teacher: Vanaratna Biography
Vanaratna PageVanaratna was born in 1384 [1384-1468. BDRC P207] in eastern Bengal. According to the sketch of his life in the Blue Annals by Go Lotsāwa Zhonnu Pel ('gos lo tsA ba gzhon nu dpal, 1392-1481), the name of his birthplace was Sadhagara, and he was born the son of a king named Udayakīrti and a queen named Kumārī. Go Lotsāwa also composed a full-length biography, up through the end of the second of Vanaratna's three journeys to Tibet. Another disciple, Trimkhang Lotsāwa Sonam Gyatso (khrims khang lo tsā ba bsod nams rgya mtsho), a man whose family controlled the Trimkhang Temple (khrims khang gling) at Samye (bsam yas), would serve as a translator during Vanaratna's third journey, and composed a continuation of the biography. Both Go Lotsāwa and Trimkhang Lotsāwa collaborated on translations preserved in the Tengyur; the latter under the name Sonam Gyatso De or simply Gyatso De. After Vanaratna's death Sonam Gyatso would have multiple visions of the master in sexual union with a consort.
At age eight, at a monastery called Mahācaitya, Vanaratna received novice vows from Buddhaghoṣa, acting as upādhyāya and Sujataratna, who served as ācārya. These two masters served as his teachers, and ordained him at the age of twenty. Buddhaghoṣa gave him the tantric initiation of Vajrayoginī at age thirteen, the Kālacakra when he was fifteen, and would later appear to him in visions in Nepal and continue his transmissions. From them he studied various grammatical systems as well as central Mahāyāna scriptures such as the Bodhicaryāvatāra and the Bodhisatttvabhūmi.
With Buddhism in decline on the Indian subcontinent, soon after ordination he went to the island of Laṅkā (modern Sri Lanka) for six years to study from Buddhist masters there, including one named Dharmakīrti, from whom he received instructions on the Vinaya.
On leaving the island he traveled across southern India, meeting Buddhist masters and receiving teachings, and practicing the Six-branch Yoga of the Kālacakra tradition. The Blue Annals records a verse of praise that a master in Kaliṅga named Narāditya (mi'i nyi ma) composed in Vanaratna's honor, suggesting that his religious accomplishments were already remarkable:
Great sthavira Vanaratna, Who has realized the freedom from worldly attachment Having cleansed the turbid defilement produced of the world, O beings! Follow on him with devotion, in order to pacify saṃsāra.1
At a stūpa known as the Śrī Dhānyakaṭaka-mahācaitya Vanaratna studied with a master named Nāgabodhi. According to legend, it was here that Vanaratna had a vision of the Mahāsiddha Śabarapāda, also known as Śavaripa, who gave him a transmission of the Six Branch Yoga teaching of the Kālacakra.2
Later, in a village near Bodh Gaya (rdo rje gdan) named Kapasiā, he read an extensive version of the Kalāpasūtra, a grammatical treatise by Śarvavarman, with a non-Buddhist scholar named Harihara.3
Aside from studying with these masters, Go Lotsāwa tells us that Vanaratna engaged in extensive Kālacakra meditation, following that tantra's proscription to spend three years, three fortnights, and three days in dedicated retreat. This time frame, which is the foundation of all modern three-year retreats, is based on the calculation of how many moments of pure consciousness the average human being experiences in a lifetime.
At the end of eleven years on the subcontinent he came to a monastery named Uruvāsa where he met a yogin named Virūpakṣa and his disciple Pādhala. According to legend, at the monastery a stone statue of Avalokiteśvara spoke to him, saying "Go to Tibet. After attending on a king, you will benefit many." (One source at least records that it was a statue of Tārā that made the prophecy.4) He thus made his way to Nepal, the customary staging point for a Tibetan expedition, where he spent five years. During that time he received the bodhisattva vows from a paṇḍita Śīlasāgara.
Vanaratna entered Tibet in 1426 for the first and least successful of his three journeys there. Tibet was then under the rule of the Pakmodru family, which was in its final decades of power. The Pakmodru center of power was in Tsetang, but they had a major fortress in Gyelkhartse (rgyal mkhar rtse) (contemporary Gyantse). On his way to Sakya, Vanaratna met the great Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo (ngor chen kun dga' bzang po, 1382-1456) either at Sengge Dzong or Sakya Monastery (sa skya dgon). He traveled on to Lhasa with permission of Rabten Kunzang Pakpa (rab brtan kun bzang 'phags pa, 1389-1442), the ruler of Gyantse and the founder of Pelkhor Chode (dpal 'khor chos sde).
Although he then made his way to Densatil (gdan sa mthil), the symbolic birthplace of the Pakmodru regime, due to the lack of a translator Vanaratna was unable to meet Drakpa Gyeltsen (grags pa rgyal mtshan, 1374–1432), the fifth head of the Pakmodru who had been a significant patron of Tsongkhapa (tsong kha pa, 1357-1419). Back at Gyantse after a tour of the Yarlung valley, Vanaratna met the famous Sakya master Rongton Sheja Kunrik (rong ston shes bya kun rig, 1367-1449), to whom he taught the Kalāpasūtra. Rongton assigned a translator named Jampel Yeshe ('jam dpal ye shes) to assist them. Jampel Yeshe would go on to collaborate with Vanaratna on multiple translations preserved in the Tibetan Tengyur.
Unable to connect with the Pakmodru regime, Vanaratna decided to return to Nepal. The Blue Annals has him at this point receiving Kālacakra and Cakrasaṃvara transmissions from Buddhagoṣa and a Śrī Shawari Wangchuk (shrI sha ba ri dbang phyug) at the Śāntapurī Vihāra at Swayambhūnath. This was the second Kālacakra transmission Vanaratna received; its lineage is traced in the Blue Annals as follows: Avalokiteśvara, Ācārya Anupamarakṣita, Śrīdharanandana, Bhāskaradeva, Sūryaśrījñāna, Dharmākaraśānti, Ratnarakṣita, Narendrabhodhi, Muktipakṣa, Śākyarakṣita, Sujata, Buddhagoṣa.5
Despite his inability to forge a relationship with the Pakmodru, still the premier power in central Tibet, his brief time in Gyantse had an impact on the Rabten Kunzang Pakpa, who invited him back to Tibet. A king of Gungtang named Lhawang Gyeltsen (lha dbang rgyal mtshang, 1406-1464) had also invited him, but this request went unfulfilled until 1436. Vanaratna thus entered Tibet for the second time in 1433, arriving first in Gyantse where he met his translator, Jampel Yeshe.
The year before Vanaratna arrived in Tibet for the second time the Pakmodru ruler Drakpa Gyeltsen had passed away, and his nephew Drakpa Jungne (grags pa 'byung gnas, 1414-1446) had ascended the throne following a power struggle with his own father, Chesa Sanggye Gyeltsen (che sa sangs rgyas rgyal mtshan, 1389-1457), Drakpa Gyeltsen's younger brother. This event is considered by historians as the beginning of the decline of the Pakmodru regime.6 On his way to Lhasa for the second time, Vanaratna was welcomed by the lords of the family that would ultimately replace the Pakmodru dynasty: the Rinpung family based in Shigatse at the Samdrubtse Fortress (bsam grub rtse rdzong).
After again worshipping the famous statue of Śākyamuni Buddha at the Lhasa Jokhang (jo khang) he continued south to a small temple on Sinpo Ri (srin po ri), a ridge on the confluence of the Yarlung and Kyichu Rivers. The twelfth-century Indian paṇḍita Vibhūticandra had erected a famous statue of Cakrasaṃvara there, on the advice of Śākyaśrībhadra (1127-1225).7 Here Vanaratna met Rongton for a second time and gave him further transmissions. While there he received an invitation from Drakpa Jungne, and so he made his way down river to the Nedong Palace (sne'u gdong pho brang), seat of the Pakmodru, in Tsetang at the mouth of the Yarlung Valley. Vanaratna bestowed on the ruler the Cakrasaṃvara initiation according to the Luipa system and then, according to Go Lotsāwa, the two went together to Gongkar and then on to Sinpori where Vanaratna gave Drakpa Jungne another tantric transmission, this time the deity Acala. According to Go Lotsāwa Vanaratna perceived the famous statue to be alive.8
Despite Drakpa Jungne's plea that he remain in Tibet, Vanaratna decided to go south into what is now Bhutan in search of medicinal plants. Ehrhard notes that his journey through Yamdrok and Lhodrak were sponsored by the Rinpung family and Rabten Kunzang Pakpa, rather than by the ruler of Pakmodru, whose power in Tsang was rapidly declining. Although his sojourn in Bhutan was brief, he is said to have experienced a vision of Padmasambhava. On his return he first went to Tsang and met Rongton at Dzongkar (rdzong dkar), where Rongton's disciple Jamchen Rabjampa Sanggye Pel (byams chen rab 'byams pa sangs rgyas 'phe1412-1485) would establish Dreyul Kyemotsel ('bras yul skyed mo tshal) a few years later under Rinpung patronage. On learning Vanaratna was back in Tibet, Drakpa Jungne urged him to return to Nedong in Pakmodru territory.
Back in Tsetang in 1435, Vanaratna gave extensive teachings on the Six-branch Yoga of the Kālacakra tradition to a large group of disciples, which included Go Lotsāwa, Nartang Khenchen Sonam Chokdrub (snar thang mkhan chen bsod nams mchog grub, 1399-1452), and Sharpa Yeshe Gyatso (shar pa ye shes rgya mtsho, 1404-1473) from Zhalu Monastery (zha lu dgon). After a brief tour of Samye and Chimphu, Vanaratna continued his teachings, transmitting among other things Abhayākaragupta's Vajrāvalī cycle. By the end of these teachings Drakpa Jungne accepted—and perhaps encouraged—a comparison of himself and Vanaratna with Qubilai Khan and Pakpa Lodro Gyeltsen ('phags pa blo gros rgyal mtshan, 1235-1280), the men who, according to Tibetan history, established the "patron-priest" model of dual political and religious rule of Tibet at the start of the Yuan Dynasty.
Once again, despite the pleas of his patron, in 1436 Vanaratna decided to return to Nepal. He made a tour of Tsang on his way, accepting the patronage of several families who were then casting off Pakmodru authority. The first was the Nakartse family (sna dkar rtse) in Yardrok. Ehrhard identifies one of the brothers of the family as Drung Namkha Zangpo (drung nam mkha' bzang po), the man who urged Go Lotsāwa to compose Vanaratna's biography and presented him with a copy of the Kālacakratantra and its commentary, the Vimalaprabhā as encouragement.9 Moving northwest to Gyantse, Vanaratna consecrated the great stūpa there that Rabten Kunzang Pakpa had recently completed, and the murals for which Vanaratna was instrumental in planning. While there he met Tangtong Gyelpo (thang stong rgyal po, 1385-1464), the Sakya master and famous ironworker.10
He went next to North Lato and was welcomed by the rulers, brothers named Jangdak Namgyel Drakzang (byang bdag rnam rgyal grags bzang, 1395-1475), who was a Kālacakra authority, and Konchok Lekpai Gyeltsen (dkon mchog legs pa'i rgyal mtshan). Finally, Vanaratna traveled to Gungtang in Ngari to fulfil the invitation of the king Lhawang Gyeltsen, arriving the year his son Tri Namgyel De (khri rnam rgyal lde, 1422-1502) ascended the throne at Dzongkar. On his way south to Nepal through Kyirong Vanaratna stopped at the famous white sandalwood statue of Avalokiteśvara.
Vanaratna remained in Nepal for close to twenty years, residing first at the Tham Vihāra in Kathmandu, the same monastery where Atiśa and Vibhūticandra had resided, and then at the Govicandra temple in Patan, known today as Pintu Vahi. It was here he composed his famous praise of the Mahāsiddha Śabarapāda, Śrīsavaripādastotraratna, which is translated in Mathes 2008. He was well respected among both the Newari Buddhists and the Hindus, and served to mediate between them, even teaching to non-Buddhist princes of Bhaktapur to recite a praise to Mahākaruṇika, Lokeśvarastotraratnamāla, that he had composed.11 At one point he attempted to go to Bodh Gaya to erect a statue of Buddhaghoṣa. As told in the Blue Annals, he learned that thieves, anticipating that he would be carrying Tibetan gold, were waiting to ambush him, and so he canceled his trip. He sent a man in his place, and instead sponsored a statue of Vajradhara in Nepal, considering his master Buddhaghoṣa to be an emanation of Vajradhara.
Drakpa Jungne sent yet another invitation to return to Tibet, but passed away shortly thereafter. His successor was his younger brother, Kunga Lekpa (kun dga' legs pa, 1433-1483), ascended the throne in 1448. He was too young to have met Vanaratna, but by the time he was enthroned he had read Zhonnu Pel's account of Vanaratna's first two visits, and was inspired to invite him for a third. Go Lotsāwa was involved in drafting the invitation in 1452, and was part of the mission to Nepal to deliver it. According to Trimkhang Sonam Gyatso, the nobility of Nepal refused to allow Vanaratna to leave, and were only convinced after accepting the Tibetans' gold and a promise that the master would return within two years. The journey began in 1453 and ended when Vanaratna returned to Nepal in 1454. During those two short years he not only ministered to the young Pakmodru ruler, but he visited numerous additional petty kingdoms, most of which were then actively separating themselves from Pakmodru control.
Vanaratna entered Tibet via Chubar (chu bar) and first stopped over in Lato Lho (la stod lho), the ruler of which, Lhopa Situ (lho pa si tu), had aided the mission on its way down. Vanaratna performed a long-life empowerment at the Drotak Fortress (gros stag rdzong). He went north to Lhato Jang and was welcomed by the ruler, Namgyel Drakzang (rnam rgyal grags bzang), at his seat, Ngamring Chode (ngam ring chos sde). The great Sakya scholar Lotsāwa Sherab Rinchen (lo tsA ba shes rab rin chen) arrived to assist with translation. From there he traveled to Bodong (bo dong), Senggetse (seng ge rtse), Samdrubtse, and Dringgang ('bring sgang) in Shang, and then on to Ralo Monastery (ra lo dgon) in Rongchen. Apparently, there was some military activity in the region that prevented him from going to Tsetang, so he stayed for some time with the Kadam scholar Sonam Nampar Gyelwa (bsod nams rnam par rgyal ba, 1401-1475) at Jampa Ling (byams pa gling) in Dranang.
Eventually Kunga Lekpa was able to bring Vanaratna to Neudong, where he received from him a Cakrasaṃvara transmission. At nearby Densatil Vanaratna gave further transmissions despite the activity of an army nearby, and back at Neudong he gave Kālacakra and Six-branch Yoga teachings.
According to Ehrhard, Vanaratna next went north to Lhasa to once again worship at the Jokhang, and then was invited to Nalendra (na len dra dgon) by Dakpo Tashi Namgyel (dvags po bkra shis rnam rgyal, 1399-1458), although this connection deserves further investigation. He returned to Tsetang via Samye.
In mid 1454 Vanaratna left the Pakmodru seat and returned to Nepal by the same route he had taken before, visiting again the seats of the Tsang rulers, in Gongkar, Nakartse, and Yamdrok, and meeting Sonam Nampar Gyelwa again. It was at this point that Sonam Gyatso took over as translator, succeeding Sherab Rinchen. The Rinpung brothers again provided the means for his travels, and for several months he stayed at Rong Jamchen Monastery (rong byams chen dgon) and taught the twenty-six-year old Second Drukchen, Kunga Peljor ('brug chen 02 kun dga' dpal 'byor 1428-1476) of nearby Ralung Monastery. According to Ehrhard the instruction Vanaratna gave to Kunga Peljor ensured that his teaching lineage would survive intact in the Drukpa Kagyu tradition.12 While there he consecrated a recently-constructed statue of Cakrasaṃvara. The Rinpung chief Norbu Zangpo (nor bu bzang po) brought him to Samdrubtse and from there he departed Tibet via Namring, Bodong, and Sengge Tse, entering Nepal at Dolakha.
Vanaratna died at the age of eighty-five, in 1468, having given a great feast to beggars and announcing: "I shall now hold the feast of going to the Tuṣita Heaven." He was cremated at the Rāmādoli grounds near Swayambhūnath. His reincarnation was identified and enthroned at Govicandra by his Nepali disciples.13
Some twenty-three texts are preserved in Tibetan translation in the Tengyur, the majority of which are tantric liturgies, while five devotional praises: those to the Mahāsiddha Śabarapāda, Mahākaruṇika, Ganapati, and two to Śākyamuṇi Buddha. According to Punya Prasad Parajuli, three of Vanaratna's tantric compositions are also extant in Sanskrit.14
Alexander Gardner, December 2019.
Bibliography
Ehrhard, Franz-Karl. 2002. Life and Travels of Lo-chen bSod-nams rgya-mtsho (Lumbini International Research Institute Monograph Series 3). Lumbini: Lumbini International Research Institute.
Ehrhard, Franz-Kark. 2004. "Spiritual Relationships between Rulers and Preceptors: The Three Journeys of Vanaratna (1384-1468) to Tibet." In The Relationship Between Religion and State (chos srid zung 'brel) in Traditional Tibet. Christopher Cupper, editor. Lumbini: Lumbini International Research Institute, 245-266.
Gos Lotsāwa Zhonnu Pel. Mkhas pa chen po dpal ldan nags kyi rin chen gyi rnam thar. W23938 and W8LS37367
Hori, Shin'ichiro. 2008. "In the Wake of a Buddhist Monk in 15th-Century Eastern India: The Manuscripts of Sanskrit Grammatical Texts Originally Owned by Vanaratna." in Bulletin of the International Institute for Buddhist Studies (BIIBS), vol. 1, pp. 145-60.
Isaacson, Harunaga. 2008. "Himalayan Encounter: The Teaching Lineage of the Marmopadeśa Studies in the Vanaratna Codex 1." Manuscript Cultures, vol. 1, pp. 2-6.
David P. Jackson. 2016. A Revolutionary Artist of Tibet: Khyentse Chenmo of Gonkar. New York: Rubin Museum of Art.
'Jam mgon kong sprul yon tan rgya mtsho. 1973. Phyogs med ris med kyi bstan pa la ’dun shing dge sbying gi gzugs brnyan ’chang ba blo gros mtha’ yas kyi sde’i byung ba brjod pa nor bu sna tshogs mdog can. Bir: Tibetan Khampa Industrial Society. TBRC W20880. See also TBRC W23723.
Mathes, Klaus-Dieter. 2008. "The Śrī-Śabarapādastotraratna of Vanaratna." In Bauddhasāhityastabakāvalī: Essays and Studies on Buddhist Sanskrit Literature Dedicated to Claus Vogel by Colleagues, Students, and Friends. Dimitrov von Dragomir, Michael Hahn, and Roland Steiner, editors. Marburg: Indica et Tibetica 36, pp. 245-268.
Punya Prasad Parajuli. 2014. "Vanaratna and His Activities in Nepal in Fifteenth-Century Nepal." In Himalayan Passages: Tibetan and Newari Studies in Honor of Hubert Decleer. Andrew Quintman and Benjamin Bogin, editors. Boston: Wisdom, pp. 289-300.
Roerich, George, trans. 1996. The Blue Annals. 2nd ed. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas.
Shastri, Lobsang. 2000. "Activities of Indian Panditas in Tibet from the 14th to the 17th Century." In Tibet, Past and Present, Tibetan Studies, Vol I, pp. 129-145, Proceedings of the Ninth IATS Conference. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.
Trimkang Lotsawa Sonam Gyatso. Chos kyi rje paṇ chen nags kyi rin po che’i zhal snga nas kyi rnam par thar pa. W1CZ1887 and W1CZ1056.
