Chapter 22 - Dpang blo gros brtan pa

He was born in the year Fire-Male-Mouse (me pho byi ba 1276 A.D.) at south khyam of la stod. His mother having died early, he was brought up on sheep’s milk. In his childhood, the Dharmasvāmin byang gling pa and the mahāsiddha u rgyan pa looked after him, saying: he will become a great kalyāṇa-mitra!

At the age of 7, he was ordained by the mahā-upādhyāya gser khang pa and me ston 'dul 'dzin, and studied the Vinaya (Pratimokṣa-sūtra). At the age of 13, he made a new exposition of it. Then having heard of the fame of stag sde ba, he proceeded to tsha sna (% place or monaster? ZMR%), and obtained many Piṭakas of the Tantra and Sūtra classes from stag sde ba. He especially mastered the Kālacakra. When he reached the age of 19, stag sde ba died. He studied with the lo tsā ba mchog ldan the Ka-lā-pa^[1] and the Candra-pa.1339 He also studied the Kāvyādarśa (snyan sngags me long).^[2]

He learned the Prākṛta language from the a tsa ras (ācārya) whom he chanced to meet. From a time he became a great translator. On seven occasions he visited Nepāl. He translated and revised the translations of numerous texts of the Tantra and Sūtra classes. He also composed numerous commentaries on Logic (Pramāṇa), Abhidharma, and (other) branches of knowledge. In short, during his life-time there was no better scholar than he.

Later he proceeded to dbus and opened the mental eyes of numerous Piṭakadharas at ne'u thog, gung thang, stag lung, and other monasteries. The great descendants of dpal sa skya pa, such as 'jam pa'i dbyangs don yod rgyal mtshan, his brother and others showed him respect on other occasions, also when he was not preaching the Doctrine. He also acted for a short while as abbot of the monastery of bo dong ye. While the Dharmasvāmin bsod nams rgyal mtshan was listening to the recitation of the text of the permission (lung) of the Commentary of the Kālacakra-Tantra, he insisted that he should practise it in real earnest. He^[3] spent a long time at gnas po che (%) and preached his method of meditation, and his fame spread upwards as far as ya tse (mnga' ris), and downwards as far as China. Having completed his labours for the welfare of others, he passed away at the age of 67 in the year of Water-Male-Horse (chu pho rta 1342 A.D.).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Tg. sgra, No. 4282 1339 Tg.sgra, No. 4269

[2]:

Tg. sgra, No. 4301

[3]:

dpang blo gros brtan pa (ZMR)