A Discussion of Lineage Lists in General

By Lama Drugpa Yeshe Thrinley Odzer, Drugmar Rinpoche IX

Concerning Vajradharma: I have no idea who he is. There have been a number of them and it is not an uncommon name among monks/Lamas. I personally know three Tibetans named Dorje Chhos which is the Tibetan translation. One is a Karma Kargyu, one is a Nyingmapa, and a Gelugpa friend I had was named Tindzin Dorje Chhos. One thing we have to keep in mind, is that though important historical figures are included in lineages, also very unimportant people sometimes fill a gap.

In 1959 and subsequently many high Lamas were killed and the lineage was brought out by single monks who were not great high Lamas at all and were recorded historically nowhere else. But in four instances I know of they were the only survivors who held the respective lineages. The Red Chinese occupation of Tibet was not an isolated instance. During the many wars and Mongol invasions over a period of 1000 years in Tibet, we know of many lineages being lost, some being saved by students who were not actually Lamas but in such extreme circumstances were given extraordinary permission to do so. I am sure over the 1000 year period that the Dharma was in Japan and, considering all the revolutions and civil wars and fightings between the Daimyos and samarai, that many lineages were lost and others just hung by the thread of one or two monks.

I look at our Drugpa Lineage Prayer, which from the time of Guru Rinpoche until now, has over 300 names including mine in it several times, and I know who only a few of the Lamas are other than the 37 incarnations of Drukchen Chenpo, and I only know the history of the very important ones. I have also seen about 20 variations of the prayer, because while at one monastery Dorke "X" held the lineage and at another monastery five miles away Yeshe "Y" held it also, so when the lineage prayer is recited at the first monastery Dorje "X" would be mentioned, while five miles away at Monastery B, Yeshe "Y" would be mentioned, and both would be totally valid.

This also goes for names which appear to be missing in one prayer, but present in the other. I will give you an example:

You are presently a holder of the Rei Kei lineage and the Medicine Buddha empowerment. You received it from me. You also have students. They have received it from you. After this summer when you are giving actual WANGs you will be officially in the Drugpa Kargyu lineage and those students who have received it from you will look to you as their Lama, and you will be in the future in that branch of Medicine Buddha's lineage prayer, but you are not the only students of course who have received the empowerments from me.

So in the future, say 100 years from now, a lineage prayer might go like this: "...from Drugpa Dorje Lingpa, to the greatly accomplished Drugpa Yeshe Thrinley Odzer, to the noble and accomplished householders Kevin and Elizabeth M----s, to student X..", while another might go like this:

"from Drugpa Dorje Lingpa, to the wrathful emanation of Vajrakilaya Drugpa Jangchub Chhos (another one of my names from the one that Dudjom gave me when I received the Kilaya empowerment), to the powerful emanation of Glorious Goddess Palden Lamo Norbu Zongmo (Mil's name), and so...."

There are cases when both student and Lama receive an empowerment at the same time. An example of this would be when Khun Chab Si Chu Rinpoche, who had never received the Karma Mahakala empowerment, and I both received it in Bhutan from Paro Rinpoche. Since I had not received it from Tsien Tsei, if I passed it on it would be "from Paro Rinpoche, to Drugpa Yeshe, to ..." whatever student I passed it on to. And Tsein Tsei's name would not be mentioned. In turn when one of Tsein Tsei's students passed it on, my name would not be mentioned, and so on.

Every monastery in Bhutan, Tibet, Sikkim, Ladakh, and Nepal has its own lineage prayer. Many Lamas, of course, are mentioned in all the prayers, particularly at the beginning of the list. However, as the list branches down, monks of those particular monasteries whose Abbots held the lineage are the ones who are mentioned.

For instance the Mahamudra transmission which I hold in most Drugpa prayers goes like this:

"...Tilopa, Naropa, Marpa, Milarepa, Gampopa, Ling Repa, Pagma Dru, Shangpa Gyaere and then Drugpa Yeshe Dorje (my first incarnation with the title of Drugmar Rinpoche) ..." On the other hand in the prayers that are not associated with Ralung Monastery (my monastery) or its daughter houses, my name is not mentioned, but "... Rinchen Dorje Pal..." is mentioned in Bhutan, who was another student of Shangpa Gyaere, who gave the teaching. In monasteries other than Ralung and the daughter houses, when one of my previous incarnations gave the teaching there, I would be mentioned, but so would Rinchen Dorje Pal, perhaps because he gave the teaching there also.

So in one prayer written at the same monastery, my name might be mentioned, in another prayer from the same monastery written by a different monk who had received empowerment from Rinchen Dorje Pal, his name would be mentioned to the exclusion of mine.

Now a third monk received the empowerment from us both, so he might list the names chronologically in the order he received the empowerments, or if I impressed him he might put my name first; if Rinchen Dorje Pal formed a connection with the monk, he might put Rinchen's name first. Or if he didn't particularly like me and thought I was rough and difficult, he might leave me out completely, since he had gotten it from Rinchen Dorje Pal anyway.

The usual method for doing this, however, when two lineage Lamas give an empowerment at a monastery at the same time or even 10 years apart, the lineage prayer usually reads "...from Lama X, to..." (the emanent lineage holders who had received the transmission) "...Drugpa Yeshe Dorje and Rinchen Dorje Pal..." The rule of thumb, however, is to list the higher Lama first, but of course, it is the writer of the prayer who decides who the higher Lama is, in his opinion.

Now here is something to confuse you even more: Sometimes a practice is so popular that it is practiced in the Nyingma, Drugpa Kargyu, Karma Kargyu, and even perhaps Sakya, and over the centuries the sadhanas may have changed considerably due to the proclivities of the lineages who are practicing it. This would be particularly true of Medicine Buddha or Padmasambhava.

This occurred in Portland a few years ago when the Khenpos were visiting from New York. In the Nyingmapa they are lineage holders of the Pema Lingpa Padmasambhava transmission, yet when I showed them our Drugpa Kargyu texts (which the Drikung Kargyu also use) and asked them to give transmission to my students as a courtesy to them, they couldn't because they had received the transmission and a rather different sadhana in a different lineage transmission over a 400 year period.

It turned out that Dorje Dragdzen, 5th in line from Pema Lingpa, had written our sadhana, where on the other hand, Rigdzin Chhosgyal Lingpa, also 5th in line from Pema Lingpa, had written theirs. Therefore, their whole lineage descent and even their sadhana was different, even though the teaching was from exactly the same terma and terma finder.

Why is this? It is very simple; contrary to popular belief of students in the West, when a terma teaching is found it does not contain organized sadhanas, word and letter perfect, but the TEACHING and the VISUALIZATIONS that those sadhanas are based on.

Nyingma and Kargyu sadhanas are different in form and organization; therefore, for instance, if a high Nyingma Lama and a high Kargyu Lama were, at exactly the same time to receive transmission of a revealed treasure teaching (terma) from the revealer (terton) they would receive the essential teaching. Then they would go home and prepare a sadhana according to their lineage's customary format and usage. Then they would teach it to their students. Although containing the essence of the transmission they received internally, the external forms of the practice, such as the sadhana, the shape of the tormas offered, the mudras used, would conform each to his own tradition, and would appear quite different, while remaining the same in essence.

For example, generally speaking, Druga Kargyu and Drikung Kargyu generally follow the same tradition in torma making. However, the Karma Kargyu, Shangpa Kargyu, and a few Nyingmapa, follow Lodru Thaye's tradition (which he collected from many sources and somewhat standardized). None of the sources however, were Drikung or Drugpa. Therefore, where our Medicine Buddha torma is tall, slender, and elegant, his on the other hand are short, fat, and spherical.

And so on...

I hope that this little dissertation has clarified some things for you about transmissions and lineage prayers. If these concepts cause you some frustration, don't be too upset because it is something that every one of us encounters at some time or another, so we just have to smile, take a deep breath and say, "Little things like this don't bother me any more".

In all seriousness, the nature of Vajrayana Buddhism necessitates divergence, and we should realize that it is all the wisdom of the dance of Samsara and Nirvana, and it doesn't really matter who is in one lineage prayer and who is in another. And it really doesn't matter if the prayers differ considerably, because yogis and monks, abbots and teachers taught many people, and the teachers may have varied the essence of the teaching, giving part of the teaching to some, a different part to others, and the totality of the teaching to an honoured few.

This does not indicate confusion of the lineage, or a break in the lineage, it simply indicates that for each individual the Dharma manifests according to that student's needs and inclinations. I believe our Rei Kei lineage prayer is accurate for the Tantra and totally valid. In the future we may come across other lineage prayers of the same Tantra, with other names here and there, and they also will be equally valid.

Lineages because of their nature sometimes branch, and because of the nature of the teaching and teacher, and may somewhere down the line, coalesce again. This is only natural.

If you study the great Mahamudra lineage transmission in the Karma Kargyu, you see that it has three distinct branchings which then coalesce and are gathered together in the 16th Karmapa. This tradition after coalescence was transmitted to the Shamar Tulku Rinpoche in its entirety and has thus been returned to Thaye Dorje, the young 17th Karmapa, by his Heart Son Shamar Rinpoche. And so the lineage moves on from past to future, but it is known by Karma Kargyu scholars that the 15th Karmapa was initiated into only one of the three branches.

I have received teaching in all three branches; from Karmapa himself in the Lodru Thaye branch, from Shamar Rinpoche in the Shamar branch, and from Jamgyon Kongtrul (Karmapa's heart son) in his branch. They had the same essence, but are somewhat different in outward teaching manner.

I have also heard Mahamudra of course from my Drugpa teachers, and hold that lineage. I have also heard it from the lips of Kalu Rinpoche in the Shangpa tradition, and from Tharchen Dragpa, who was a Dagpo Kargyu; his interpretation and methodology was very different and startling; his insights though different were exceedingly deep and penetrating, yet it was the same Mahamudra which Marpa taught to Milarepa, and Milarepa to Gampopa.

Rather than allowing this to confuse me, I simply followed the simile of a stained glass window in many colours. The light shining through is the same light originating from the glorious sun, the Source of Light; it is transformed and shaded by the different segments of glass, yet when I look up at the window I see the strikingly beautiful totality of the picture that is portrayed by the window. Yet when I look to the cathedral floor I see the many colored patches of light.

So it is with the lineage. Each holder, past, present and future, adds his own color and tint due to his abilities, proclivities, and personality. Yet it is the same light that was radiated by the originator of the teaching, and viewed together and not separately, it forms the glorious depiction that was made by the hand of the original artist, the founder of the lineage.

We can carry this simile further and look at the whole of the Buddha Dharma, from Theravadan to Vajrayana and Dzogchen, and the way that it manifests differently in such divergent places as Indonesia, Ceylon, Bhutan, Tibet, Thailand and Southeast Asia, China, Japan, and now of course the West.

We must remember that the light is that which emanates from the heart of Sakyamuni, Padmasambhava, Amitabha, Medicine Buddha ... and all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. And that light, whether Mahamudra, Dzogchen, the Path and the Fruits, or whatever diverse forms the teaching takes, is still nevertheless the Clear Light Essence of Wisdom. And it is for the benefit of the world and all sentient beings.