Tingrian Couplets in the Meditation Manual

Padampa in Saspola Cave, Ladakh
Photo by Rob Linrothe

Here you will find on offer translations of six Tingrian Couplets. They were preserved in a 15th-century Nyingma & Kagyü meditation manual composed by Khedrup Yeshé Gyeltsen. Those interested in Tibeto-logical details can read all the way to the end of the blog if they like. 

The Tingri Gyatsa, or Tingri Hundred is a widely renowned monument of Tibetan literature, always attributed to the authorship of Padampa Sangye, the south Indian meditation master who died in Tibet in 1105 or 1117 CE. Like Kabir’s Dohas, it’s all in two-line verse form. Each couplet ought to end with a vocative, “[oh my] Tingrians!” And I should add, the word “my” is not intended as an expression of ownership, but one of affectionate concern. Now you know what a Tingrian Couplet is, and you are welcome to read a few samples just below.

I realize these couple of verses may not be enough for everyone, so with those less easily satisfied people in mind I’d like to offer a complete English translation (Tibetan text also supplied) of one version of the Tingri Hundred:

Tap here

If you feel you could use some introduction and discussion, go back to our blog of December 2008, the one with the title “The Tingri Hundred”:

Tap here

• 1 •

Dampa said,

Delusions are not there in the base, they arise incidentally.

Comprehending this characteristic is enough, my Tingrians.

• 2 •

Lord Dampa Gyagar said,

If you are unable to renounce sangsaric dharmas,

even knowing all the scriptures is of no help.

• 3 & 4 •

By Dampa:

When your own aims are not fulfilled you do the aims of others no good.

First of all, do your practices, my Tingrians.

Forming easy relations with delusive appearances, you mix with them.

Bring understanding in their wake, my Tingrians.

• 5 •

If there is something you are attached to, that same thing also binds you.

There is no need for it whatsoever, my Tingrians.

• 6 •

By Padampa Gyagar:

Of all the virtues, rejoicing in others’ success is the best.

Don’t be envious of others my Tingrians.

§   §   §

Bibliographical affairs

I made use of one particularly fine cursive manuscript version of a previously unstudied (and needless to say untranslated) text by a teacher of Katok Monastery named Khedrup Yeshé Gyeltsen. I want to give him the dates 1395 to 1458 CE simply because that’s what I find in Cuevas’ book and Ehrhard’s essay, both listed below. However, Chatral Rinpoche’s history of Katok Monastery gives him a birthdate of 1455, sixty years later, so there is room for discussion. For the time being we can at least be satisfied that he lived in the 15th century. He exists in the BDRC database (see no. P10291), but no dates were there when I looked earlier today. 

I would say that there is nothing remotely comparable to his meditation manual, but that isn’t quite true. It reminds you overall of a much better known anthology of quotations about meditation, the one by Takpo Tashi Namgyal. The latter, written a century later, is entirely a Kagyü work. It scarcely quotes from works of Nyingmapas and Zhijepas, whereas this meditation manual from Katok Monastery explicitly states in its opening words that it encompasses “Zhi Rdzogs Phyag.”  That means Zhijé, Dzogchen and Mahâmudrâ.  We don’t often see them in a triad like this.*

(*Indeed, searching through the 15 million pages of the BUDA database in less than half a minute turns up only three positive matches, and wouldn’t you know, all three of them appear to share the same authorship with the meditation manual.)

Folio 1 verso of the meditation manual.
Notice the phrase zhi rdzogs phyag gsum in the middle of line 3.

• Another difference is that the meditation manual starts out with a lengthy section covering the normal topics of preliminary practices, or sngon-'gro, that we are accustomed to finding in Path Stage, tenrim (bstan-rim) and lamrim (lam-rim) texts. These topics include contemplations on impermanence, the rareness of human rebirth, and so on. I think you probably know about these things already.

• As far as Zhijé materials are concerned, the meditation manual embraces a lot more than just the few Tingrian couplets we’ve  included in this weblog. Most remarkably, it has an entire section near the end, running from folios 523 through 550, filled with material from the Kunga questions-and-answers texts (I haven’t identified which one yet, but you can be sure I will be looking into this sometime soon).

Chatral Rinpoche (Bya-bral Sangs-rgyas-rdo-rje, 1913-2015), Dpal Kaḥ-thog-pa’i Chos-’byung Rin-chen Phreng-ba, Snga-’gyur Bstan-pa’i ’Byung-gnas Kaḥ-thog Rdo-rje-gdan (n.d.), in 221 pages, composed between 1985 and 1988. TBRC no. W3CN3398. 

The biographical sketch of Khedrup Yeshé Gyaltsen is found at pp. 53-55. Here we find his Dzogchen and Marpa Kagyü (that means Smar-pa Bka'-brgyud, not Mar-pa Bka'-brgyud) studies emphasized, with no mention of Zhijé. We do find mention of his composition of our meditation manual, on p. 54, with the title Phyag-rgya-chen-po'i Khrid-gzhung Snying-po Don-gyi Man-ngag Rgya-mtsho'i Gter-mdzod. It’s intriguing to know that he spent much of his later life in meditation retreats in regions of far eastern Tibet, in the neighborhoods of the holy mountain Kawa Karpo, and even in ’Jang, or present-day north Yunnan. He may have even visited Shangrila, made virtually real only recently.

Bryan Cuevas, The Hidden History of the Tibetan Book of the Dead, Oxford University Press (Oxford 2003), p. 144.

Franz Karl Ehrhard, “Kaḥ thog pa Bsod nams rgyal mtshan (1466-1540) and His Activities in Sikkim and Bhutan,” Bulletin of Tibetology, vol. 39, no. 2 (November 2003), pp. 9 26. At p. 9 please note the dates of our author. The same date for him, along with an alias Bu-’bor Ye-shes-rgyal-mtshan, may be found in Cuevas’ book.

Matthew T. Kapstein, ed., Tibetan Manuscripts and Early Printed Books, Cornell University Press (Ithaca 2024), in 2 vols. 

I urge you, order this exceptionally interesting and beautiful book, then look at vol. 1, p. 131. Figure 4.7 shows the title page, in color, of a different manuscript of the meditation manual than the one I used. It labels as its source The British Library Board, Or.15292, dating the manuscript to ca. 16th century.  To see it in black-and-white, see TBRC no. W1CZ892. Its title-page title is Rdzogs-pa-chen-po Snying-po Don-gyis Gter-mdzod. This manuscript has quite a few very well executed miniature paintings, but seeing them in TBRC’s poorly scanned microfilm is more than a little sad.

The label says it’s Garab Dorje

Khedrup Yeshé Gyaltsen (Mkhas-grub Ye-shes-rgyal-mtshan), Mkhas-grub Dznyâ-na-ke-tus* mdzad-pa'i Man-ngag Rgya-mtsho, a cursive manuscript in 587 folios.  TBRC no. WA3CN2867.  

This is the only version I’ve made use of here (I supply the original folio numbers, not those “image numbers” that are no more than accidental byproducts of the scanning process), even though there are at least three and maybe four other versions of it that are possible to locate at BUDA website. Their titles are different, so best of luck finding them. One advantage of the version I used is that it marked the persons or texts it quotes from with red letters most of the time. That made it easier for me to find the quotations I did find.

(*Technically Sanskrit ketu ought to be tog,  ‘pinnacle,’ in Tibetan. However, dhvaja-ketu (rgyal-mtshan-gyi tog, ‘pinnacle of the victory banner’) is such a common phrase, you could see how the two parts could get confounded. That’s how Dznyâ-na-ke-tu can be a Tibskritic form of Ye-shes-rgyal-mtshan. Is it clear? Putting the names of respected Tibetan teachers into Sanskritic form isn’t just a game they play. It shows respect.)

Takpo Tashi Namgyal (Dwags-po Bkra-shis-rnam-rgyal, 1513-1596?), Mahāmudrā: The Quintessence of Mind and Meditation, translated by Lobsang P. Lhalungpa, Shambhala (Boston 1986). A fresh translation by Elizabeth Callahan was published not long ago. 

The problem of the author’s identity has been addressed and solved by Matthew Kapstein and David Jackson, and I believe them, but there is no way you can make me go into all that discussion right now.

 

—

Try going to the website of Katok Monastery at this address, and then look for "Yeshe Gyamtsen." The title of the work we used here can be found there, listed among the thirteen primary sources for teachings at Katog. Its title is given in English as “Ocean of Mahamudra Core Instructions.” This is interesting, as other versions of the title lead you to think it would be exclusively devoted to Dzogchen.

Afterword

From my Tibeto-logical research perspective, I was very excited to find these few quotations of Tingrian couplets. Why? First of all, just because I’ve found so little evidence for them between the 13th and 17th centuries. I always assumed or felt fairly sure they would have been known to many throughout that time, but even just a little more evidence is nice to see. Another matter: If you put the various versions side by side and compare them (as I have done, in a document that isn’t quite in good enough shape to share), you can see that over the centuries significant transformations took place. Some verses are made to yield quite different messages, and this is not always due to accidental misreadings of the manuscript by careless scribes. Sometimes motivated changes are the only explanations with feet on them. Our Tingrian Couplet no. 1 already supplies a good example.

I believe I have good enough reasons to support me if I say that the only Tingrian couplets Padampa actually composed was a set I call the Tingri Thirteen (or should that be Tingri Twelve?). These couplets were pronounced by Padampa as part of his last will and testament shortly before his death in 1105 or 1117. I’ve been meaning to put up a translation of it, but it needs more polishing. 

A much longer set was pronounced by his disciple Kunga shortly before his own death seven years later on. Both versions (for short I call them versions A and B) are 100% exclusive to the Zhijé Collection, or so I had thought until today. To my amazement, our meditation manual preserves two lines from the introductory verses to Kunga’s 118 Tringrian couplets (so it is not technically a Tingrian couplet, but nonetheless...). It also quotes two couplets (nos. 3&4, above) that have parallels only in B, which tells us our 15th-century author had the Kunga version available to him. I can’t imagine how. (See now the added Postscript below.)

I would understand if you were to voice loud objections, criticizing the existing broad acceptance of all hundred or so Tingrian couplets as being by Padampa himself, when here we find the larger set is indeed spoken by Kunga. The introduction to Kunga’s set clarifies this. He is reading from something he had written down previously, and he insists that it does represent the essence of Padampa’s teachings. As I understand it, they were written after the model of the Tingri Thirteen as a homage, incorporating Padampa’s ideas and perhaps quite a few of his exact words, but, yes, written by Kunga.

Let me quote from my draft translation of the most relevant passage:

Standing before the yogis gathered here in glorious Tingri,

All people of stainless insight,

Great Sons happily abiding together. 

It isn't right for me to be giving this kind of muddled speech,

I who am like a firefly in the presence of the sun.

Still, these are the basic essentials of the teachings that came from Dampa,

So with affectionate thoughts I have set them down in writing.

Later on we will not meet, so listen as I read them to you now.

The intertextual connectedness between all the different versions is a subject I’ve been thinking over for a long time, but we can say that connections between A and the later versions C through F are quite few. Connections between B and the later versions are more evident and numerous, yet fully identical couplets are rare. Looking only at the later versions C through F, we can identify two recensions I believe are basic ones. I’ve called them the monkey and rhino recensions in an earlier blog. But as I said before, these critical reflections of mine about authorship have no bearing whatsoever on the Buddhist truth and/or spiritual authority of the texts themselves. The Tingrian couplets are great Tibetan poetry. Together they are a monument to the Tibetan language, a source of wisdom and inspiration regardless of your ideas about religions, and a trigger for reflection on life and its [mis]guided aims, no matter who wrote which one when. 

I know I should end on an uplifting note, but somehow I’m inclined to do nothing of the sort. These poetic lines from the meditation manual that follow are not Tingrian couplets, as you can see, and neither could they be verified in any other source at my disposal as yet. It’s about disenchantment with religion. You can find them on folio 511 recto, line 3:

de yang pha dam pa rgya gar kyis /

dang po dad pa skyes pas gnam du dil dil mchong /

bar du dad pa yal ba ri kha (~re kha) rjes kyis gang /

tha ma dad pa log pas 'khor ba'i rting rdo btags / ces gsungs so //

Padampa Gyagar had something to say about that:

When faith first arose, you leapt freely into the sky. 

In the meantime faith dissolved, and you were full of erased sketches.

In the end faith was reversed, and sangsara’s anchor was tied fast.

Keep the faith, my friends, no matter what.

Philological scratchpad

Tingrian Couplet One (22r.2)

dam pas /

'khrul pa gzhi la med de glo bur byung /

mtshan nyid go bas chog go ding ri pa /

Dampa said,

“Delusions are not there in the base, they arise incidentally.

Comprehending this characteristic is enough, my Tingrians.”

Our new source for this verse certainly supports the readings of version B over C.  The second line of Version C reads quite differently, and yields a meaning that is less radically formulated* even while it introduces the potentially problematic concept of a ‘creator’ for delusion,** saying: “Look at the characteristics of its creator, my Tingrians” or “Inspect it for the marks of its maker”?

(*A reader of centuries gone by may have had problems with the idea that just comprehending the incidental character of delusion would be in itself sufficient for Enlightenment. These qualms may have lead them to imagine ways to improve it. **I don’t expect it to make sense very quickly, but Buddhists don’t award creator status to Brahma the way most other Indian religions do, although they do credit him with the narcissistic idea that he was the creator, as it was his belief that world-creation happened because of his wish. Brahma, as a creator figure, does supply Buddhists with a myth of origins for delusion itself.)

-C12- (compare B51 and D37)

'khrul pa gzhi la med de glo bur gyur ||

byed mkhan mtshan nyid ltos shig ding ri ba ||

-B51- (compare C12 and D37)

'khrul pa gzhi la myed de blo bur byung /

mtshan nyid go bas chog go ding ri ba /

•

Tingrian Couplet Two (215r.1)

rje dam pa rgya gar gyis 

'khor ba'i chos la mi 'byung ma nus na / 

sde snod ma lus shes kyang phan mi thogs / ces gsung /

Lord Dampa Gyagar said,

“If you are unable to renounce sangsaric dharmas,

even knowing all the scriptures is of no help.”

These two lines belong uniquely — to my utter amazement — to the Kunga version (version B) at the end of the introductory section that immediately precedes the first couplet, with Kunga doing the speaking:

skyid kyang 'gro dgos rin chen gling gi myi /

bstan yul ma yin 'jig rten brang ba'i sa /

'khor ba'i chos la yid 'byung ma nus na /

sde snod ma lus shes kyang phan mi thogs /

dam pa'i gdams pa yin no ding ri ba /

Even if he’s contented there, 

the man in the jewel island still has to go.

This world is no permanent abode.  

It’s nothing more than a travellers’ lodge.

If you are unable to renounce sangsaric dharmas,

even knowing all the scriptures would be no help.

This is the teaching of Dampa, my Tingrians.

•

Tingrian Couplets Three and Four (388r.1)

• Note: I quote the larger context here starting at folio 388 recto, line 1, but only the couplets are translated.

dam pas /

bdud kyi 'jug pa dang po bya ba yin / rang lu (~chu) nang du 'jugs nas gzhan skal par thon par gar 'ongs skabs 'dir rang gis 'phel ba chad / gzhan la phan mi 'dog pas gzabs 'tshal / yang bsgrubs pa'i dus su gzhan don byar mi rung / dge sbyor 'phel ba chad do rang bzhin pa (~sa?) / 

rang don ma 'grubs gzhan don mi 'byung bas / 

thog mar bsgrub pa gyis cig ding ri pa / 

'khrul pa'i snang ba 'brel sla sru ba yin /  

go ba rjes la skyol cig ding ri pa /  

By Dampa,

“When your own aims are not fulfilled you do the aims of others no good.

First of all, do your practices, my Tingrians.

“Forming easy relations with delusive appearances, you mix with them.

Bring understanding in their wake, my Tingrians.”

For comparison (both verses are only found in B):

-B93-

rang don ma bsgrubs gzhan don myi 'ong pas /

thog mar bsgrub pa gyis cig ding ri ba /

-B94-

'khrul pa'i snang ba 'dris par sla ba yin /

go ca rjes la khol cig ding ri ba /

It's easy to get entangled in delusive apparitions.

Keep armour on your backs, my Tingrians.

The written similarity, particularly in a cursive manuscript, between go-ba, understanding, and go-ca (=go-cha, both spellings are found in Dunhuang texts), armor or military equipment is a problem, admittedly, although I believe the reading go-ba carries more weight, has more immediate cogency.

•

Tingrian Couplet Five (389v.5)

gang la zhen pa yod na de yang 'ching /

cis kyang dgos pa med do ring ring pa [~ding ri ba] / ces gsungs /

If there is something you are attached to, that same thing also binds you.

There is no need for it whatsoever, my Tingrians.

It is odd that this couplet doesn’t seem to exist in versions B or D, while the segment “de yang ’ching” finds no collaboration in any of the previously recorded versions. Still, I believe our new version is preferable.

For comparison:

-C16- (compare E14 and F14)

gang la zhen pa byung na de yang thongs ||

cis kyang dgos pa med do ding ri ba ||

-E14- (compare C16)

gang la zhen pa yong pa de blos thongs //

cis kyang dgos pa med do X  [3v]

 

Note:  Correct yong-pa to yod-pa.

•

Tingrian Couplet Six (467v.5)

pha dam pa rgya gar kyis /

dge ba'i nang nas rjes su yi rang mchog /

gzhan la 'phrag dog ma byed ding ri pa / ces gsungs pas /

By Padampa Gyagar:

“Of all the virtues, rejoicing in others’ success is the best.

Don’t be envious of others my Tingrians.”

For comparison:

-B88-

dge ba'i nang nas rjes su yi rang mchog /

gzhan la phrag dog ma byed ding ri ba /

• • •

Postscript (July 20, 2024)

This dark and unclear detail, clipped from a Shakyamuni Buddha thangka belonging to the Giuseppe Tucci collection, can be better seen of you go here:

https://asiasociety.org/new-york/exhibitions/unknown-tibet-tucci-expeditions-and-buddhist-painting

Once you are there, scroll down to the second painting. One thing I see significant about this is that Padampa is on the Kagyü side of the painting, balanced off by Gelugpa monks on the other side. If this is indeed as it says a 15th-century painting, it makes even more sense to find Padampa on a thangka likely made in an emerging Gandenpa/Gelugpa context. And we are reminded that the First Dalai Lama (1391-1475) had a family background of Zhijé practitioners.

To analyze what you see here a little more, the white blanket being the only clothing loosely wrapped around the lowest part of the body, and the ankles-crossed/knees-up seating posture are both fairly secure diagnostic features of Padampa. The fact that he has ornaments on his otherwise unclothed torso and arms is frequent (its correctness is historically questionable if we rely on the earliest sources), but along with the flowers in his hair this might seem to point to (or indicate conflation with) the iconography of Virûpa. Still, I have no doubt it is Padampa who is depicted here.

The same painting also features in a 5-minute Asia Society video. I will try to embed it here, although if the embedding is unsuccessful you will see a jumble of letters and numbers that lead nowhere:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EVocNP7zgQw?si=rI7SRwl5VrFmk6AC" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

If you do not see the video here just above, scroll down to the end of this blog because it might be "embedded" there. If not, go to YouTube and use their search facility to search for the following title, using the quote marks around it:  

 

“A Closer Look at Tibetan Thangkas”

I just wanted to tag on this bit of artistic evidence that helps us to argue for popular knowledge of Padampa in the 15th century, as if any such argument were needed.

Perhaps yet more persuasive would be more literary sources quoting from “his” Tingrian Couplets. I do know of some.

Most relevent here and now is one couplet quoted in the 15th-century Sakya teacher Müchen Könchog Gyaltsen's (1388-1469) Supplement to the Oral Tradition, as contained in Thupten Jinpa, tr., Mind Training: The Great Collection, Wisdom (Boston 2006), at p. 483: 

The master Dampa states: 

“Contemplating the sufferings of samsara pierces my heart; 

People of Dingri, laugh not at these matters.”  

The Tibetan for it reads: 

rje dam pa'i zhal nas | 

'khor ba'i sdug bsngal bsam na snying rlung ldang || 

'di la gad mo mi bro d[i]ng ra ba ||

 

With nothing to say about the translation already given, except to say that it’s a great one, I still try my hand at it:

“At thought of the bad points* of sangsara my heart pressure rises.

Nothing to laugh and dance about here, my Tingrians.”

(*I follow the text of B108 by reading nyes-dmigs in place of sdug-bsngal.) 

What impresses me almost as much as its very serious message with so much confirming evidence in today’s world, is that this couplet is uniquely found in Kunga’s set (version B), number 108 of his 118 couplets. This does make the meditation manual’s  use of the Kunga set not quite unique, only nearly unique.