Changling Rinpoche

Source: Lotus Speech

Changling Tulku Rinpoche

In 1985, Khabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and Khabje Penor Rinpoche recognized Changling Rinpoche as the main tulku of Changchub Ling Monastery in the Tsang region of Central Tibet.

The news came to Rinpoche's family in Kalimpong via a letter written by their Holinesses. Rinpoche's grandmother, being surprised by the news, took it upon herself to look into the situation. She traced the source to an old yogi, Lama Trakden, a student of the previous Changling Lingpa.

Lama Trakden had gone to see Khyentse Rinpoche who was giving teachings in Mysore at Penor Rinpoche's monastery and requested him to recognize the tulku of his root teacher. This is how it came about that both Khyentse Rinpoche and Penor Rinpoche made the recognition together.

As an 11 year old boy, Rinpoche entered Shechen Monastery and was enthroned by Khyentse Rinpoche and ordained by Trulshik Rinpoche.

For the first year Rinpoche learned how to read and write Tibetan. The following year Shechen opened its philosophical college and Khyentse Rinpoche put Changling Tulku into the program when he was twelve, an age considerably younger than usual.

When Rinpoche was fifteen, his root teacher Khyentse Rinpoche passed away. At age sixteen Rinpoche began to give teachings to others students in college. At eighteen Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche, abbot of Shechen Monastery, sent Changling Rinpoche to complete his studies of the Heart Sutra under the tutelage of the great scholars (khenpos) of Penor Rinpoche's college in Mysore. At twenty Rinpoche took full monk's ordination with Trulshik Rinpoche. Rinpoche graduated with a khenpo's degree at the age of twenty one.

Currently Changling Tulku is in charge of a section of the Shechen Monastery called dratsang, which literally means the collection of monks. He is responsible for writing commentaries on the works of His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

In 1998, during the annual Nyingmapa Aspiration Prayer Festival in Bodhgaya the teachers who are responsible for the continuity of the Northern Treasures tradition voted Changling Rinpoche to be the next head of their lineage.

Since the passing of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Rinpoche's main tutors are Khabjes Trulshik Rinpoche, Dodrupchen Rinpoche, Penor Rinpoche, Taklung Tsetrul Rinpoche and Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche.

Rinpoche teaches the senior students at Shechen College and those in a traditional three-year retreat. Rinpoche protects the integrity of the ritual tradition of Shechen and teaches ritual and Nyingma tantra to senior students. Rinpoche began to teach worldwide beginning in 2002 in Australia, 2004 in North America and 2005 in Europe.

Previous Changling Incarnations

Since the fifteenth century, the line of Changling Rinpoches have practiced and maintained the Northern Treasures lineage of Buddhist teachings. The Northern Treasures were the last teachings given by Padmasambhava before he left Tibet. After giving them, he hid them for a future generation.

In the late 14th century C.E., Tulku Zangpo Drakpa found the famous Prayer in Seven Chapters. This he gave to Rigdzin Godem for whom they were the key to finding the main body of teachings. Later branches were recovered by Tennyi Lingpa (15th c.) and Garwang Dorje (17th c). Among its many famous teachings is the Gonpa Sangtal, one of the most sublime works on The Great Perfection among Padmasambhava's vast teachings.

Dudjom Rinpoche wrote in his History of the Nyingma School that as the Northern Treasures were given to help the king and his descendants they subsequently served all Tibetans like a faithful minister.

Decades ago, when the Chinese sought to occupy Tibet, many fled their homeland. These precious Treasures were dispersed and dwindled.

Until now, the Northern Treasures Buddhist Fellowship is a newly created nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and practice of the treasures. The texts are being collected and translated. The oral teachings are being gathered, preserved and offered as courses.

Brief History of the Changling Lineage

There are two main Kagyu lineages: the Marpa and Shangpa Kagyu. In the Marpa Kagyu, there exist two lineages: the Dagpo Kagyu from Gampopa and the Rechung Kagyu from Rechungpa.

Rechungpa purposely took rebirth to collect the life stories and songs of Milarepa and restore the teachings of the formless dakinis. As Marpa could only translate two of the eight chapters of the eight dharmas of these teachings, he told Milarepa that one of Milarepa' disciples would gather these teachings. Later, Milarepa said to Rechungpa that since he had a prophecy from his master that one of his students would go to India, he, Rechungpa, should go to India and get the rest of the formless dakini teachings.

Rechungpa went to India and met Tipupa who was none other than Marpa's first son Dharma Dode who was intended to be the blood lineage holder of Marpa's oral instructions. Dharma Dode was given the exceptional and secret phowa empowerment and pith instructions to transfer consciousness into the recently expired body of an ordinary human being. Dharma Dode was wounded in, and later died from, an horrific riding accident. As Dharma Dode lay dying, Marpa gave him the pith instructions on the exceptional transference of consciousness.

No appropriate recently deceased human corpse could be found, so Dharma Dode transferred his consciousness into a newly deceased pigeon with the direct pith instructions from Marpa. Marpa's other students present saw many miraculous signs and all saw Dharma Dode in the form Hevajra. Marpa sent the pigeon to India to a charnel ground where the recently deceased body of a 16-year-old boy was to be burned. Dharma Dode transferred his consciousness from the pigeon into the boy's dead body and that boy appeared to come to life again. "Tipu" means pigeon. This phowa lineage was thus temporarily lost as the lineage could only be given once orally from guru to student and it had already been given the once to Dharma Dode.

Tipupa became a student of Naropa and Maitripa and received all of the formless dakini teachings from them. When Rechungpa came to India, Naropa had already gone to Khechara, so Rechungpa received the rest of the formless dakini teachings from Tipupa, brought them back to Tibet and gave them to Milarepa. This formless dakini lineage is thus Naro, Tipupa, Rechungpa and Milarepa. The Rechung Kagyu is mainly based on the formless dakini teaching and the teaching Rechungpa received from Naropa.

Tsang Nyon Heruka was from Rechungpa's lineage of students and is known as an emanation of Rechungpa. Tsang Nyon Heruka was the Kagyu master who collected Milarepa's life story. Tsang Nyon Heruka's second purpose was to restore the teachings of the formless dakini. This is a strict teaching lineage - the lineage holders do not give general public teachings, but teach only a few select students.

Tsang Nyon Heruka had many students, but his heart student was Gotsang Repa Natsok Rangdrol. Gotsang Repa in turn had many students - of his two main students, one was Gothukpa Sangye Dorje. He is regarded as the incarnation of Tsang Nyon Heruka, and was the first Changling Rinpoche, who Tibetans from Tsang called 'Lama Rechungpa'. This first Changling Rinpoche and the first Dalai Lama were contemporaries. Some subsequent Changling incarnations died at a very young age. There have been fifteen incarnations altogether.

The Changling tulkus are regarded as the lineage holders of the Rechung Kagyu. The eleventh and twelfth Changling Rinpoches engaged more in the Nyingma Northern Treasure practices and established the Northern Treasure tradition in Changling monastery.

The previous Changling Rinpoche wrote many commentaries on the Rechung Kagyu teachings - even the renowned Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo came to his monastery to receive the Rechung Kagyu lineage from him. The fourteenth Changling Rinpoche became more involved in the Nyingma and thus had two types of students: Kagyu and Nyingma. The fourteenth Changling incarnation died at around 50 years of age, and did not come to India.

When the fourteenth Changling Rinpoche passed away, there were two incarnations. One is the present Changling Rinpoche at Shechen Monastery in Nepal, and the other is still in Tibet. There is still a Kagyu group and a Nyingma group of students: the current Changling Rinpoche was brought up by the Nyingma group.

In Tibet there were two main seats of the Rechungpa lineage. One was Rechung Phug and the other was Changling. Changling is in the Shigatze district, between Shigatze and Sakya. Sakya Ngor monastery and Changling monastery are separated by one big mountain. The Kagyu practiced in this lineage is the Rechung Kagyu tradition. This has not yet been taught in any western country.

The Rechungpa practice extends from the preliminary practices to mahamudra. The ultimate teachings of mahamudra are the formless dakini teaching. Milarepa gave teachings to everyone equally, but his closest heart son was Rechungpa and so Milarepa wrote teachings from the development to the completion stage for him only. These teachings were given not by singing, but by Milarepa composing them himself.

Because of this, we have Milarepa's extremely direct explanation from Milarepa himself – an explanation not passed from master to student, but rather the exact view of Milarepa himself. This has not yet been translated since no one practices it in the West - these teachings exist just in Tibetan.