Great Treasury of Merit. Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

gave extensive teachings to large numbers of disciples, just as his Spiritual Guide, Je Tsongkhapa, had done. He was particularly skilled at logic and debate and was able to answer all questions regarding Je Tsongkhapa’s teachings and to resolve misunderstandings concerning them. So sharp was his wisdom, and so incisive his reasoning, that he was compared to the great Indian Buddhist Master Dharmakirti, an emanation of Manjushri who revealed the essential instructions on logic and reasoning.

      Je Tsongkhapa transmitted all the essential instructions on Vajrayana Mahamudra to Khedrubje, who practised them sincerely. Because he was charged with the great responsibility of ensuring that Je Tsongkhapa’s precious teachings continued to flourish, Khedrubje would often make requests for guidance and inspiration to Je Tsongkhapa after he had passed away. On five separate occasions Je Tsongkhapa appeared directly to Khedrubje, each time in a different form. On one occasion, when he was reflecting on the extraordinary kindness of Je Tsongkhapa, Khedrubje was so overcome with sadness at the loss of his Spiritual Guide that he began to weep. With his eyes filled with tears, he started to compose a praise to Je Tsongkhapa in which he expressed his deep yearning to see him again. As soon as he had finished composing the praise, Je Tsongkhapa appeared before him riding on an elephant, surrounded by an aura of light. Je Tsongkhapa asked Khedrubje why he was crying and Khedrubje replied that it was because he was thinking of Je Tsongkhapa’s kindness. He asked Je Tsongkhapa where he had been since he passed away and Je Tsongkhapa replied that he was abiding in a Pure Land in the north-east. They continued to talk for a long time before the vision of Je Tsongkhapa finally absorbed. At other times Je Tsongkhapa appeared to Khedrubje in other manifestations, such as Manjushri riding on a lion, and a Yogi riding on a tiger.

      Whereas Khedrubje remained at Ganden emphasizing Je Tsongkhapa’s tradition of giving clear and unmistaken teachings, Togden Jampel Gyatso spent most of his life in isolated forests and mountain caves emphasizing Je Tsongkhapa’s tradition of meditation retreat. By practising sincerely the instructions on Vajrayana Mahamudra, he attained great enlightenment in three years. Although both Khedrubje and Togden Jampel Gyatso received the lineage of the Emanation Scripture from Je Tsongkhapa, it was Togden Jampel Gyatso who passed it on to others, and so it is he who is regarded as the next lineage Guru after Je Tsongkhapa.

      Togden Jampel Gyatso passed the lineage of these instructions to Khedrubje’s younger brother, Baso Chokyi Gyaltsen. Baso Chokyi Gyaltsen spent his entire life practising these instructions and realized them fully. He transmitted them to Mahasiddha Dharmavajra, a great meditator who spent his whole life in retreat in mountain caves. At one time Mahasiddha Dharmavajra was in retreat in a cave high up on a mountain called Chumo Lhari, which is near Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in western Tibet. During one of his sessions Je Tsongkhapa appeared to him as a unification of three holy beings. His outer aspect was as Je Tsongkhapa wearing the three robes of a monk and a yellow Pandit’s hat, with his right hand in the mudra of expounding Dharma and his left hand in the mudra of meditative equipoise holding a jewelled bowl filled with nectars. At his heart was Buddha Shakyamuni, and at his heart was Conqueror Vajradhara. This aspect of Je Tsongkhapa is known in Tibetan as ‘je sempa sum tseg’, which means ‘Je Tsongkhapa, the Unification of Three Holy Beings’. He is also known as ‘Lama Losang Tubwang Dorjechang’. Here, ‘Lama’ means ‘Guru’, indicating that Je Tsongkhapa is our Spiritual Guide, ‘Losang’ is short for ‘Losang Dragpa’, which is Je Tsongkhapa’s ordained name, ‘Tubwang’ is short for ‘Shakya Tubwang’, which is the Tibetan name for Buddha Shakyamuni, and ‘Dorjechang’ is Tibetan for Vajradhara.

      While appearing in this form, Je Tsongkhapa transmitted to Mahasiddha Dharmavajra the instructions on Offering to the Spiritual Guide, together with the instructions on Vajrayana Mahamudra and all the other essential instructions from the Emanation Scripture. By relying upon these precious instructions, Mahasiddha Dharmavajra attained enlightenment in three years. Later, when Mahasiddha Dharmavajra’s ordinary form passed away, many local people saw five-coloured rainbow lights pouring out of his cave and illuminating the whole mountain. When they went to his cave it was completely empty. Mahasiddha Dharmavajra had attained a rainbow body and his ordinary form had totally disappeared.

      Since the time when Manjushri transmitted the Emanation Scripture to Je Tsongkhapa, thousands of practitioners within the Gelugpa Tradition have attained enlightenment by practising these instructions. Moreover, because these instructions have the uncommon close lineage they are extremely blessed, and those who practise them sincerely are able to attain enlightenment in three years with considerable ease, without having to undergo the kinds of hardship experienced by Milarepa.

      Before he passed away, Mahasiddha Dharmavajra checked with his clairvoyance to see to whom he should pass on the lineage of these precious instructions. He saw that a Yogi called Losang Dondrub, who was in retreat hundreds of miles away at a place called Ensa, had a very special connection with Je Tsongkhapa, and that he was a suitable recipient for this lineage. Using his miracle powers he travelled in an instant the great distance to Losang Dondrub’s cave and manifested outside it in the aspect of an old beggar monk. In those days, a beggar would wait outside reciting scriptures, indicating that he was in need of charity. Accordingly, Mahasiddha Dharmavajra began to recite Je Tsongkhapa’s Praise to Dependent Relationship.

      At that time Losang Dondrub was ill, but when he heard the beggar reciting this text by Je Tsongkhapa his mind became very happy and, despite his illness, he dragged himself to the door of his cave. Immediately on seeing the beggar his mind was filled with devotion and he felt sure that he must be a holy being. He invited the beggar into his cave and offered him tea. Upon questioning the beggar, he soon realized that he was indeed a great Yogi. He fell at Mahasiddha Dharmavajra’s feet and requested him to take him into his care and give him Dharma instructions. Mahasiddha Dharmavajra replied that to receive these instructions Losang Dondrub would have to travel to his own cave at Chumo Lhari, and then he disappeared. Losang Dondrub underwent great hardship in finding Mahasiddha Dharmavajra’s cave, but when he eventually arrived he immediately made tsog offerings and requested teachings. Mahasiddha Dharmavajra transmitted to him the full lineage of the instructions of the Emanation Scripture, including the instructions on Offering to the Spiritual Guide. Losang Dondrub then returned to his cave at Ensa and put these instructions into practice, finally attaining enlightenment in three years as his Teacher had done. After he attained enlightenment he wrote in one of his many songs:

      My only good qualities are that first I made single-pointed requests to my Spiritual Guide, then I practised my sadhanas as soon as I received them, and finally I attained enlightenment in three years and three months.

      Losang Dondrub later became known as Gyalwa Ensapa, named after the cave where he meditated. Although he was never officially given the title, Gyalwa Ensapa is considered to be the first Panchen Lama because Losang Chokyi Gyaltsen, who is recognized as the first Panchen Lama, was in fact an emanation of Gyalwa Ensapa.

      When he was a young boy Gyalwa Ensapa received many visions of Buddha Shakyamuni. He also possessed natural clairvoyance and was able to know that people were about to visit his family even when they were still many days’ journey away. Later, when he ordained as a monk, he was able to recite the entire Perfection of Wisdom Sutra in Eight Thousand Lines from memory, both in Tibetan and in Sanskrit. His fellow monks, who had never heard Sanskrit spoken, thought that he was possessed by spirits!

      Since his Spiritual Guide, Mahasiddha Dharmavajra, spent his entire life in retreat, it fell to Gyalwa Ensapa to pass the lineage of the Emanation Scripture to others. He passed the lineage to Khedrub Sangye Yeshe, the root Guru of Losang Chokyi Gyaltsen, the first Panchen Lama, and it was from Khedrub Sangye Yeshe that the first Panchen Lama received this precious lineage. Since Mahasiddha Dharmavajra and his two principal disciples, Gyalwa Ensapa and Khedrub Sangye Yeshe, became known as ‘Ensapa Father and Sons’, this lineage is called the ‘Ensa Lineage’. Later Kachen Yeshe Gyaltsen wrote a book containing biographies of all these lineage Gurus. Their stories are very inspiring and I hope that one day they will be translated from Tibetan for the benefit of western practitioners.

      The first Panchen Lama, Losang Chokyi Gyaltsen, was a very wise and skilful protector of Je Tsongkhapa’s doctrine. Later he became the root Guru of the fifth Dalai Lama. Until the time of the first Panchen Lama, the lineage of the Emanation Scripture had been passed directly