Bodhisattvacharyavatara

by Andreas Kretschmar | 246,740 words

The English translation of the Bodhisattvacharyavatara (“entering the conduct of the bodhisattvas”), a Sanskrit text with Tibetan commentary. This book explains the bodhisattva concept and gives guidance to the Buddhist practitioner following the Mahāyāna path towards the attainment of enlightenment. The text was written in Sanskrit by Shantideva ...

Interview With Khenpo Ape

Khenpo Ape Yönten Zangpo[1] is a leading scholar of the Sakya School. His primary places of study were the shedra at Serjong Monastery[2] and later the shedra at Dzongsar, both located in the Derge district of East Tibet.

At the age of nine Khenpo Ape become a monk at Serjong Monastery, where a year later he received his first teachings on the Bodhisattva-caryāvatāra from Gapa Khenpo Jamgyal,[3] also known as Khenpo Jamyang Gyaltshen.[4]

Khenpo Jamgyal, an eminent practitioner of the Bodhisattva-caryāvatāra, was renowned as a great bodhisattva and was a famous upholder of the vinaya tradition.[5] He was a student of Loter Wangpo[6] as well as Khenpo Zhenga.[7] Khenpo Jamgyal knew the Bodhisattva-caryāvatāra root text by heart and always taught from memory. He died when Khenpo Ape was fourteen or fifteen years old. Gapa Khenpo Jamgyal gained great renown when he served as the third main khenpo at Dzongsar Shedra.

For nine years, from the age of 14 to 23, at Serjong Shedra, Khenpo Ape studied ‘the thirteen great textbooks of Indian origin’[8] based on Khenpo Zhenga’s annotation commentaries, which he said are for the most part based on the Indian commentaries.[9] To teach and study all ‘thirteen great textbooks’, including the secondary textbooks and commentaries, required five years. When Khenpo Ape attended the Serjong Shedra, between thirty and forty monks were studying there. It was a custom at Serjom Shedra to begin this five-year course with a commentary on the Bodhisattva-caryāvatāra.

Serjong Shedra was founded by Khenpo Ape’s teacher, Gapa Khenpo Jamgyal Rinpoche. Khenpo Jamyang Drime[10] served as the shedra’s first khenpo. Followed by Khenpo Kedrup Senge[11] and Khenpo Jamyang Gelek.[12] Khenpo Ape studied with these great masters for seven years. During his last two years at the shedra he studied with Dragyab Lodro Gyaltshen,[13] who later became the fifth khenpo at Dzongsar Shedra. After his nine years of intensive study at Serjong Shedra, Khenpo Ape went to the shedra at Dzongsar Monastery, where he was able to continue his studies under Khenpo Dragyab Lodro for another year. At that time, ninety to one hundred monks were studying at Dzongsar Shedra.

In addition, Khenpo Ape had the chance to study with Minyak Damchö[14] at Dzongsar, before Minyak Damchö was appointed as Dzongsar Shedra’s eighth khenpo; with Khenchen Dosib Thubten Gyaltsen,[15] who served as the seventh khenpo; and with Dezhung Chöphel,[16] who served as Dzongsar Shedra’s fourth khenpo. Thus, before leaving Tibet at the age of thirty-four, Khenpo Ape was able to study with five masters who served as the main khenpo at Dzongsar Shedra: Gapa Khenpo Jamgyal, Dragyab Lodro, Minyak Damchö, Khenchen Dosib Thubten Gyaltsen and Dezhung Chöphel.

Khenpo Ape received teachings on the Bodhisattva-caryāvatāra from many of the eminent khenpos mentioned above. Two of Khenpo Ape’s teachers wrote commentaries on the Bodhisattva-caryāvatāra; Drayab Lodro wrote a commentary on the wisdom chapter,[17] and Dezhung Chöphel[18] wrote an annotation commentary[19] on the same chapter, which has unfortunately been lost.

Another major teacher of Khenpo Ape was Dezhung Tulku Ajam Rinpoche,[20] also known as Dezhung Tulku Jamyang Kunga Tenpe Gyaltshen[21] (1885-1952). At the age of 28, Ajam Rinpoche studied the thirteen great textbooks of Indian origin under Khenpo Zhenga at Śrī Siṃha Shedra for a period of six years. Ajam Rinpoche reports about Khenpo Zhenga’s teaching style:

“I first studied the Bodhisattva-caryāvatāra during the spring. When we gathered for the teaching session in the morning, the snow had fallen about one cubit high during the night.

When the session was over, the snow had melted. During that period Khenpo Zhenga taught in great detail two pages of his annotation commentary, giving an amazing discourse according to Paltrül Rinpoche’s oral explanation lineage, teaching every word of the Bodhisattva-caryāvatāra according to the relative bodhicitta, ultimate bodhicitta and their unity.”[22]

This narration indicates that Khenpo Zhenga probably taught the Bodhisattva-caryāvatāra for five or six hours, from nine in the morning until two or three in the afternoon, based on his annotation commentary. Beside the fact that Khenpo Zhenga taught in a very elaborate way, we also learn that he explained every word according to the relative and ultimate bodhicitta as well as in regard to the unity of both. Khenpo Zhenga is also reported to have taught the Bodhisattva-caryāvatāra from memory.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Serjong Khenpo Ape’s [gser ljong mkhan po a pad] actual name is Khenpo Yöntan Zangpo [mkhan po yon tan bzang po].

[2]:

gser ljongs dgon pa

[3]:

ga pa mkhan po ’jam rgyal

[4]:

mkhan po ’jam dbyangs rgyal mtshan

[5]:

’dul ba ’dzin pa

[6]:

blo gter dbang po

[7]:

mkhan po gzhan dga’

[8]:

gzhung chen bcu gsum

[9]:

rgya ’grel

[10]:

mkhan po ’jam dbyangs dri med

[11]:

mkhan po mkhas grub seng ge

[12]:

mkhan po ’jam dbyangs dge legs

[13]:

brag g.yab blo gros rgyal mtshan

[14]:

mi nyag dam chos

[15]:

mdo srib thub bstan rgyal mtshan

[16]:

sde gzhung chos ’phel

[17]:

shes rab le’u’i ’grel pa

[18]:

chos ’phel

[19]:

mchan ’grel

[20]:

sde gzhung sprul sku a ’jam rin po che

[21]:

sde bzhung sprul sku ’jam dbyangs kun dga’ bstan pa’i rgyal mtshan

[22]:

See ’jam rgyal rnam thar, pages 63-65.

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