11. The Khams Tradition of Kah-thog

Vairocana translated master Sūryaprabhāsiṃha’s Extensive Commentary the Secret Nucleus (Śrīguhyagarbhatattvaviniścayavyākhyānaṭīkā. P. 21719) at the Byams-chen temple of 'O-rdu in Khams and he expounded it there. It was Kah-thog-pa Dam-pa bDe-gshegs, however, who originally made the teaching of the Ancient Translation School well-known in that region.

Kah-thog-pa Dam-pa bDe-gshegs (1122-1192):

A maternal cousin of Phag-mo-gru-pa and a native of Bu-'bur-sgang in mDo-khams, Kah-thog-pa studied the Guhyagarbha. the Mental Class, and so on, under 'Dzam-ston 'Gro-ba'i mGon-po, a student of Zur sGro-phug-pa. Dalai Lama V also states in his Record of 163 Teachings Received (Inga-pa chen-po'i gsan-yig) that Kah-thog-pa met sGro-phug-pa in person. Kah-thog-pa also studied the exegesis of the Illuminating Lamp (khoe-gzhune gsal-sgron. P. 4739) under dPal-gyi dBang-phyug of La-stod. In 1159, at Kah-• thog, on a site which resembled the letter KA, he founded the temple of Kah-thog. There, to students from A-mdo, Tsha-ba-rong, Mustang, and Mon, he skillfully revealed the Great Perfection and the Guhyagarbhatantra (T. 832), Including all its major and minor Indian and Tibetan commentaries and texts, all according to the Zur tradition. In addition, he expounded the Magical Net of Mañjuśrī (Mam-doal sgyu-'phrul drva-ba. NGB. Vol. 15, T. 360) and other tantras. In this way, he laid the foundation for the teaching of the secret mantras in the province of mDo-khams.

The Khams lineage beginning from Kah-thog-pa continued through:

- gTsang-ston-pa;
- Byams-pa 'bum;
- sPyan-snga Mang-phu-ba bSod-nams 'Bum-pa;
- dBu-'od Ye-shes 'Bum;
- Byang-chub dPal-ba;
- bSod-nams bZang-po;
- Kun-dga' 'Bum-pa;
- dBang-phyug dPal-ba;
- bLo-gros 'Bum-pa;
- bLo-gros Seng-ge;
- Byang-chub bLo-gros;
- Byang-chub Seng-ge;
- Byang-chub rGyal-mtshan;
- mKhas-grub Ye-shes rGyal-mtshan.

At Kah-thog, the “distant lineage” of the mdo-sgyu-sems-gsum was propagated during the fourteenth-sixteenth centuries, in i.e., the period between the greatness of 'Ug-pa-lung and the rise of the later monastic centres in Central Tibet.

mKhas-grub Ye-shes rGyal-mtshan:

Ye-shes rGyal-mtshan, the learned and accomplished master of Bu-'bor, was a student of Byang-chub rGyal-mtshan and Bra'o Chos-'bum. He reclarified the root-text and commentaries of the Guhyagarbhatantra In Khams.

His compositions included:

- a Commentary on the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities (zhi-khro'i 'grel-pa);
- a commentary, outline and synopsis of the Secret Nucleus (gsang-ba'i snying-po-la 'grel-pa / sa-bcad / bsdus-don);
- a Commentary and Annotations the Array of the Path of the Magical Net (lam rnam-bkod-la ti-ka-dang mchan-bu);
- Annotations the sPar-khab Commentary and the Innermost Point (spar-khab-dang thugs-thig-la mchan-bu);
- a Commentary on the Clarification of Commitments entitled the Clear Mirror (dam-tshig gsal-bkra-la 'grel-pa gsal-ba'i me-long);
- the Text on the Means for Assuming the Mudrās Of the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities (zhi-khro'i phyag-rgya bcings-thabs-kyi yi-ge);
- the Commentary on Dam-pa Rin-po-che's General Exposition of the Vehicles (dam-pa rin-po-che'i theg-pa-spyi-bcing-gi 'grel-pa);
- and the Detailed Exposition of the Feast-offering (tshogs-kyi 'khor-lo'i rnam-bshad).^[1]

Among Ye-shes rGyal-mtshan's students, Kha-ba dKar-po-ba Nam-mkha' rGya-mtsho also composed commentaries on the Guhyagarbha and the Array of the Path of the Magical Net (lam rnam-bkod).^[2]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The commentaries by Ye-shes rGyal-mtshan are not presently available. For more details of his life, see NSTB, Book 2, Pt. 5. PP. 443-445.

[2]:

The texts are not presently available. On the lineages of Kah-thog monastery in general, see H. Elmer and P. Tsering, "Abte und Lehrer von Kah-thog...”; and”A List of Abbots of Kah-thog Monastery...”; also NSTB, Book 2, Pt. 5. PP' 430451.