Teacher: Orgyenpa Rinchen Pal
Karma Kagyu Main PageOrgyenpa Rinchen Pel (1229-1309 [BDRC P1448]).
Orgyenpa Rinchen Pel (o rgyan pa rin chen dpal) was born in 1229 or 1230 in Tsang, the son of Won Jopen (dbon jo 'phan) and his wife Duggema (dug ge ma), who gave him the name Sengge Pel (seng ge dpal). His clan was the Gyu (rgyus). In his youth he trained in the Nyingma teachings of Mamo and Vajrakīlaya, and the sarma tantric cycles of Hevajra, Cakrasaṃvara, and Vajrapāṇi. At the age of sixteen he traveled to Bodong E monastery to study foundational Indian commentaries such as the Abhidharmakośa and the Abhidharmasamuccaya, and gaining a reputation as a formidable scholar.
At Golungpu (go lung phu) Orgyenpa met the Drukpa Kagyu ('brug pa bka' brgyud) teacher Gotsangpa Gonpo Dorje (rgod tshang pa mgon po rdo rje, 1189-1258). He offered him a copper pot and a piece of brown sugar, and became his disciple. Gotsangpa gave him Mahāmudrā teachings, and at the age of twenty Orgyenpa took full ordination at Bodong E, receiving the name Rinchen Pel. Bodong Rintse (bo dong rin rtse), Zang Samlingpa (zang bsam gling pa, 1189-1260), and Sonam Ozer (bsod names 'od zer) performed the ceremony.
For the next twelve years Orgyenpa studied Kālacakra, mainly in the traditions of Dro Lotsāwa ('bro lo tsA ba) and Chak Lotsāwa (chag lo tsA ba), and the major Kagyu doctrines with Gotsangpa. When Orgyenpa made his intention to travel to Shambhala known to Gotsangpa, Gotsangpa told him that he lacked the karmic propensity to do so, and guided him towards Oḍḍiyāna instead. Gotsangpa himself had traveled in the region, making a pilgrimage to Jalandhara, in the Ladakh region.
Orgyenpa traveled to Oḍḍiyāna via Kailash and Ladakh, suffering several nasty encounters with marauding Mongolian horsemen and experiencing visions of Vajravārāhī. Arriving Kashmir he escaped an attempt by the king to murder him. Returning to Tibet he found his teacher had passed away, he quickly put together a group of pilgrims to Bodh Gaya. According to the Blue Annals, in India he attained miraculous healing powers.
Returning to Tibet, he travelled through U and Yoru (g.yo ru) curing disease and subjugating demons. He was summoned to Mongolia to appear before Qubilai, on whom he bestowed a Kālacakra initiation, returning to Tibet despite the entreaties of the Emperor. While on that journey he encountered Karma Pakshi (kar ma pak shi, 1204-1283), the Second Karmapa, and became a disciple.
Orgyenpa served as an important early teacher to the Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje (karma pa 03 rang byung rdo rje, 1284-1339), and is often credited with identifying him as the reincarnation of Karma Pakshi, and giving him his name.
Orgyenpa passed away at the age of eighty, leaving numerous disciples in the Drukpa and Karma Kagyu traditions, who spread the “approach and accomplishment of the three vajras,” (rdo rje gsum gyi bsnyen sgrub), better known as the Orgyen Nyendrub (o rgyan bsnyan sgrub).
Alexander Gardner is Director and Chief Editor of the Treasury of Lives. He completed his PhD in Buddhist Studies at the University of Michigan in 2007. He is the author of The Life of Jamgon Kongtrul The Great.
Published December 2009
Bibliography:
Roerich, George, trans. 1996.The Blue Annals. 2nd ed. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas.
Tucci, Giuseppe. 1971.Travels of Tibetan Pilgrims in the Swat Valley. In Opera Minora, Rome: Dott. Giovanni Bardi, vol 2, pp. 369-418.
