{"id":14,"date":"2021-11-21T15:14:19","date_gmt":"2021-11-21T15:14:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/druponkarmajnana.com\/index.php\/about\/"},"modified":"2024-09-07T11:56:17","modified_gmt":"2024-09-07T10:56:17","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/druponkarmajnana.com\/index.php\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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A Brief Biography of Drup\u00f6n Lama Karma Jnana<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Drupo\u0308n Karma Jnana, also known as Tsampa Karma (\u201cRetreatant Karma\u201d) or Drub-la Karma\u00a0Yeshe Tharchin, was born in 1953 in the Tashi Yangtse region of eastern Bhutan, near the site of\u00a0<\/span>Pemaling, a hidden land sacred to Padmasambhava. He began his formal education in Tibetan\u00a0<\/span>language and Buddhadharma at an early age, under the tutelage of his father, Lama S\u00f6nam\u00a0<\/span>Wangchuk. By the time he was thirteen, he was already serving as a scribe in a royally\u00a0<\/span>commissioned project to prepare an edition of the Kangyur in golden ink in Thimpu, the capital\u00a0<\/span>of Bhutan, far to the west of where he was born.\u00a0<\/span>Later he returned to the region of his birth and began intensive training at Long-Nying\u00a0<\/span>Ch\u00f6ling Monastery, practicing the five sets of 100,000 accumulations of the Longchen Nyingtik\u00a0<\/span>preliminaries and learning various aspects of ritual performance. By about 1979, the twenty-six-<\/span>year-old Tsampa Karma had been introduced to the extraordinary Tibetan yogi who would\u00a0<\/span>become his root guru: Lama Naljorpa S\u00f6nam Druktop (1934\u20131994). By this time Lama Naljorpa\u00a0<\/span>was already an accomplished master of Maha\u0304mudra\u0304 and Dzokchen, having spent nine years of\u00a0<\/span>intensive study and retreat under the tutelage of masters from all four traditions of Tibetan\u00a0<\/span>Buddhism (after he escaped to India in 1961), followed by nine years of retreat in various sacred\u00a0<\/span>places throughout Bhutan. Lama Naljorpa\u2019s root guru was Tokden So\u0308nam Cho\u0308lek, who had been\u00a0<\/span>principal tutor to the Eighth Khamtrul Rinpoche\u0301, Do\u0308ngyu Nyima.\u00a0<\/span>Upon meeting Lama Naljorpa, Tsampa Karma became one of his closest disciples, following\u00a0<\/span>a strict regimen of instruction and retreat practice for about the next three years in the Durong\u00a0<\/span>Charnel Ground in the region of Tashi Yangtse. With a few other young disciples, Tsampa Karma\u00a0<\/span>received transmission and instruction in several forms of Cho\u0308d practice, in the yogic conduct of\u00a0<\/span>equal taste, and in the Six Yogas of Na\u0304ropa in the Drikung Kagyu\u0308 lineage. He completed two\u00a0<\/span>three-month mantra retreats focused on Avalokites\u0301vara and Amita\u0304yus, respectively, as well as a\u00a0<\/span>seven-month retreat on the Rikdzin Du\u0308pa (a Nyingma guru yoga sa\u0304dhana of the Longchen\u00a0<\/span>Nyingtik) and a 100-day retreat on the four revolutions in outlook.\u00a0<\/span>He received extensive transmissions in the stages of the path of the Maha\u0304ya\u0304na, including\u00a0<\/span>(among others) S\u0301a\u0304ntideva\u2019s Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life, Patrul Rinpoche\u0301\u2019s Words of My\u00a0<\/span>Perfect Teacher, Sakya Pan\u0323d\u0323ita\u2019s Ascertaining the Three Sets of Vows, the Thirty-seven Practices\u00a0<\/span>of a Bodhisattva, the Profound Instructions on the View of the Middle Way, Sachen Ku\u0308nga\u00a0<\/span>Nyingpo\u2019s Parting from Four Types of Clinging, and Du\u0308djom Rinpoche\u0301\u2019s Extracting the Vital\u00a0<\/span>Essence of Accomplishment: Concise and Clear Advice for Practice in a Mountain Retreat.\u00a0<\/span>Lama Karma quotes frequently from the Hundred\u00a0<\/span>Thousand Songs of Milarepa, the Three Phrases That Strike the Crucial Points, and the\u00a0<\/span>Gangama Instructions on Maha\u0304mudra\u0304 by the Maha\u0304siddha Tilopa, all of which he learned at that\u00a0<\/span>time.<\/span><\/p>

During this period in the Durong Charnel Ground, Tsampa Karma and his fellow retreatants\u00a0also received detailed instructions from Lama Naljorpa on the \u201cnine methods for stilling the\u00a0<\/span>mind\u201d\u2014or the nine attentional states\u2014that culminate in the achievement of s\u0301amatha, and they\u00a0<\/span>were instructed to put these into practice in short periods of retreat right away. Yet when Tsampa\u00a0<\/span>Karma expressed to Lama Naljorpa his yearning and intention to actually achieve s\u0301amatha, Lama\u00a0<\/span>Naljorpa was delighted and began to take him through a strict regimen designed precisely as\u00a0<\/span>preparation for this path.\u00a0<\/span>As we see in the account translated below, Tsampa Karma was first guided through a practice\u00a0<\/span>to purify the body, speech, and mind, and only after passing a test with respect to his proficiency\u00a0<\/span>in that practice was he granted instructions on how to investigate whether the mind truly has any\u00a0<\/span>origin, location, or destination. It was only after several months of this investigation that his guru\u00a0<\/span>taught him how to identify \u201cthe triad of stillness, movement, and awareness\u201d (which is a practice\u00a0<\/span>very similar to \u201ctaking the mind as the path\u201d as taught by Du\u0308djom Lingpa). Following this, Lama\u00a0<\/span>Naljorpa introduced Tsampa Karma to the actual nature of mind, so that he was ready to engage\u00a0<\/span>in the core practice of s\u0301amatha without a sign, not simply as it is held in common with the\u00a0<\/span>Su\u0304traya\u0304na, but as it is embedded deeply within the context of the teachings of Maha\u0304mudra\u0304 and\u00a0<\/span>Dzokchen. Thus, such practice of s\u0301amatha without a sign prepares one for the requisite stability\u00a0<\/span>of meditation to sustain the view of cutting through.\u00a0<\/span>Tsampa Karma then entered a period of six or seven months in extremely strict retreat\u00a0<\/span>within a \u201csealed hut,\u201d that is, he only emerged in the middle of the night to fetch water, when he\u00a0<\/span>would not see anyone else.\u00a0<\/span>This retreat also took place at the Durong Charnel Ground.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>As Drupo\u0308n Lama Karma explained, this sealed retreat was followed by about five years\u00a0<\/span>during which his challenge was to integrate in his\u00a0 conduct the meditative equipoise he had\u00a0<\/span>attained in a strict, sealed retreat. In the first year following those six months, he completed\u00a0<\/span>another six-month retreat focused on the Seven-Line Supplication to Guru Rinpoche\u0301, and many\u00a0<\/span>months focused solely\u00a0 on the Dzokchen practices of cutting through and the direct crossing over.<\/span><\/p>

Then Lama Naljorpa asked Tsampa Karma to serve as the scribe for the renowned treasure\u00a0revealer, Pegyal Lingpa\u00a0 (1924\u20131988), who was transmitting the Kusum Gongdu\u0308 at Senge\u0301 Dzong\u00a0<\/span>in response to profound supplications and offerings made by Lama Naljorpa. Tsampa Karma\u00a0<\/span>spent these years of active Dharma service (c. 1984\u20131988) in a constant practice of mindfulness\u00a0<\/span>but not in strict, closed retreat. He commented at the time that he was sad not to be in formal\u00a0<\/span>retreat, but Lama Naljorpa replied that it was indeed a kind of retreat since he was not engaged in\u00a0<\/span>mundane activities.\u00a0<\/span>Even while Terto\u0308n Pegyal Lingpa was still alive, Lama Karma was the one to bestow the oral\u00a0<\/span>transmission of Pegyal Lingpa\u2019s Kusum Gongdu\u0308 treasure to an assembly of tulkus, lamas, and\u00a0<\/span>practitioners, while Pegyal Lingpa granted the actual empowerments, soon before he passed\u00a0<\/span>away in 1988. Following\u00a0 his juncture, Lama Karma gradually became Drupo\u0308n Lama Karma\u00a0<\/span>(\u201cRetreat Master\u201d), completing two 3-year retreats at Lama Naljorpa\u2019s former seat in Phurpa\u00a0<\/span>Ling (near Dechen Phodrang, outside of Thimpu) and then guiding a 3-year retreat at Pema\u00a0<\/span>Yangdzong Monastery in Paro, Bhutan, where Drup-la continues to serve as retreat master. In all,\u00a0<\/span>he spent more than eighteen years devoted to a life of retreat.\u00a0<\/span>Drupo\u0308n Lama Karma has also received extensive teachings and transmissions from the great\u00a0<\/span>Kagyu\u0308 and Nyingma lamas of the late-twentieth and early twenty-first century, including\u00a0<\/span>Du\u0308djom Rinpoche\u0301, both the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Karmapas, and Dilgo Kyentse Rinpoche\u0301.\u00a0<\/span>Drupo\u0308n Lama Karma\u2019s wife and spiritual partner is Khandro Tsering Dr\u00f6lkar. He currently lives\u00a0<\/span>with his family near Paro, Bhutan, guiding disciples in retreat both in Bhutan and around the\u00a0<\/span>world.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Excerpted from B. Alan Wallace and Eva Natanya, \u015aamatha and Vipa\u015byan\u0101: An Anthology of Pith Instructions (New York: Wisdom, forthcoming).<\/i><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Biography of Lama Naljorpa<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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For Those who are interested in reading a short biography of Lama Karma’s root guru, Lama Naljorpa, composed by Tulku Sang-ngag Rinpoche, you can do so by clicking the button below.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDownload Lama Naljorpa's Biography<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Drupon Lama Karma at his retreat place in Bhutan with some of his close disciples.<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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A Brief Biography of Drup\u00f6n Lama Karma Jnana Drupo\u0308n Karma Jnana, also known as Tsampa Karma (\u201cRetreatant Karma\u201d) or Drub-la Karma\u00a0Yeshe Tharchin, was born in 1953 in the Tashi Yangtse region of eastern Bhutan, near the site of\u00a0Pemaling, a hidden land sacred to Padmasambhava. He began his formal education in Tibetan\u00a0language and Buddhadharma at an …<\/p>\n

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