Thangtong Gyalpo () (1385 CE–1464 CE or 1361 CE–1485 CEBarbara Gerke. Long Lives and Untimely Deaths: Life-span Concepts and Longevity Practices in the Darjeeling Hills, India. (2011). Brill Academic Publishers. P. 230. ), is also known as Chakzampa, the "Iron Bridge Maker" (), Tsöndrü Zangpo "Excellent Persistence" (), and the King of the Empty Plain.Sarah Harding. Niguma, Lady of Illusion. Snow Lion Publications. 2010. p. 265, n. 84 He was also known by a variation of this name, Madman of the Empty Valley. He was a great Buddhist adept, a Chöd master, yogi, physician, blacksmith, architect, and a pioneering civil engineer. He is considered a mind emanation of Padmasambhava and a reincarnation of Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen. He founded the Iron Chain lineage of the Shangpa Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, and he recognized the first Samding Dorje Phagmo, Chökyi Drönma (1422–1455), the female incarnation lineage of Vajravārāhī.
Thangtong Gyalpo is said to have built 58 iron chain suspension bridges around Tibet and Bhutan, several of which are still in use today. He also designed and built several large stupas of unusual design including the great Kumbum at Chung Riwoche, Tibet; established Gonchen Monastery in Derge; and is considered to be the father of a style of Tibetan opera called Lhamo. Associated with the Shangpa Kagyu, Nyingma and Sakya traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, and with the tradition of "mad yogis" known as nyönpa, Thang Tong Gyalpo is also known as a sorcerer character in the popular Tibetan story of Gesar. In addition, he is believed to be the most widely traveled person in Tibetan history.
Biography Thangtong Gyalpo was born at Ölpa Lhartse in upper Tsang (modern Ngamring County) in 1385 CE (wood ox year, sixth cycle).
Thangtong Gyalpo is best known for his founding of lhamo or Tibetan opera as well as the numerous iron suspension bridges he built to ease travel and pilgrimage though the Himalayas. He established a song and dance troupe of seven sisters to raise the money needed to build these bridges.Tibet. (2005) 6th Edition, p. 26. Bradley Mayhew and Michael Kohn. Lonely Planet. .
Thangtong Gyalpo also founded Gonchen Monastery, a large Sakya vihara and printing centre in the town of Derge, Kham (modern Sichuan, China).Tibet. (2005) 6th Edition, p. 256. Bradley Mayhew and Michael Kohn. Lonely Planet. .
Thangtong Gyalpo opened the route through the land of the Kongpo aborigines (the Lhoba people), where he obtained iron for his bridges and rights of passage for Tibetan pilgrims to visit the holy places in Tsari to the southeast of Dakpo near the Indian border.Tibetan Civilization, pp. 79–80. R. A. Stein. (1972) Stanford University Press. Cloth ; Paper .
He is also considered to be the patron saint of theatre and became known as "the madman of the empty land" (). Plays traditionally have an altar erected in the middle of the stage surrounded by trees, where the "god of drama", Thangtong Gyalpo, is worshiped as an elderly man with a white beard.Tibetan Civilization, pp. 276–277. R. A. Stein. (1972) Stanford University Press. Cloth ; Paper .
He is said to have made 108 iron-chain suspension bridges (though another account says 58 suspension bridges and 118 ferry-crossings), the most celebrated being the one over the Yarlung Tsanpo near modern Chüshül. He is often shown in murals with long white hair and holding some chain links from his bridges.
One of his iron chain suspension bridges, Chushul Chakzam, about from Lhasa on the Yarlung Tsangpo River still existed in 1948, though it was in need of repairs and no longer used, the crossing being made by ferry. The old bridge was destroyed when a new one was opened about a hundred metres west of it. The old bridge was described as being of ancient design: "two thick chains are tied to heavy wooden beams underneath the pillars, from the top of which are suspended 12-foot (4 m) ropes hung from the chains and support wooden boards a yard (1 m) long and a foot (30 cm) broad, allowing passage for one man. The bridge is a hundred paces long."
At the south end of the Tsangpo bridge was Thangtong Gyalpo's main gompa founded in 1444, Chaksam Chuwo Ri () and he lived in the Chaksam Labrang, the main building of the complex which included the assembly hall. The gompa had a hundred monks supported by the toll on the bridge. There was also a large stupa known as "Tangtong's Kumbum" at the southern end of the bridge which contained his relics, and a chapel at the top contained an image of him. The gompa was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. Dowman reports that "all evidence of its existence has now vanished".The Power-Places of Central Tibet: The Pilgrim's Guide, pp. 136–137. Keith Dowman. (1988) Routledge & Kegan Paul, London & New York. .
Teachers and students
Teachers Thang Tong Gyalpo is said to have studied with over 500 teachers in Tibet, India, and Nepal.Cyrus Stearns. King of the Empty Plain: The Tibetan Iron Bridge Builder Tangtong Gyalpo. (2007). Snow Lion Publications. p. 18. Part of the impetus for his intensive travel throughout the region was to meet and study with various Vajrayana tulkus, teachers, lineage holders, and yogis and yoginis.
The Dakini Niguma One of Thang Tong Gyalpo's most important teachers was the great dakini Niguma.Sarah Harding. Niguma, Lady of Illusion. Snow Lion Publications. 2010. pp. 10. who visited him in visions three times over a period of years.Cyrus Stearns. King of the Empty Plain: The Tibetan Iron Bridge Builder Tangtong Gyalpo. (2007). Snow Lion Publications. Pp. 18-19.
Thang Tong Gyalpo had other notable teachers as well who also offered him direct teachings of Niguma's spiritual practices. He
The first vision of Niguma After receiving teachings from Jangsem Jinpa Sangpo, Thang Tong Gyalpo went into retreat and was visited in vision by Niguma. Niguma gave him "direct transmission" of the Six Yogas of Niguma.Sarah Harding. Niguma, Lady of Illusion. Snow Lion Publications. 2010. p. 136.
The second vision of Niguma The second visionary visit of Niguma to Thang Tong Gyalpo was a few years later.
The third vision of Niguma Thang Tong's spiritual instructions from Niguma only were recorded many years later, in 1458. This was the same year of his third vision of Niguma. . . . he finally received, in a third vision, permission to write down what Niguma had previously given him. This event occurred at Riwoché, and the instructions were recorded by Tangtong's disciple Lodrö Gyaltsen, through whom the major lineage was subsequently transmitted. These instructions, known as the Collection of the Essentials (Snying po kun ’dus), and a group of related teachings, have been passed down as the Tangtong Tradition (Thang lugs) of the Shangpa Kagyu lineage, and are among the few texts actually signed by the great adept.Cyrus Stearns. King of the Empty Plain: The Tibetan Iron Bridge Builder Tangtong Gyalpo. (2007). Snow Lion Publications. p. 19.
Machig Labdrön Thang Tong Gyalpo was also a Chöd practitioner.
Students Chökyi Drönma, the Samding Dorje Phagmo, (1422–1455) was one of Thang Tong Gyalpo's students and his main consort.Cyrus Stearns. King of the Empty Plain: The Tibetan Iron Bridge Builder Tangtong Gyalpo. (2007). Snow Lion Publications. p. 4. He is said to have recognized her as the incarnation of Vajravārāhī and to have associated her with this deity's prophecies, and later to have identified her reincarnation.Hildegard Diemberger. When a Woman Becomes a Religious Dynasty: The Sanding Dorje Phagmo of Tibet. (2007). Columbia University Press. Pp. 46-47. .
Lineage founding Thang Tong Gyalpo began a spiritual lineage called the Thangluk () or Chakzam "Iron Chain" () lineage, inside of the Shangpa Kagyu school. What are known as the Collection of the Essentials (Snying po kun ’dus), along with a collection of related teachings, came to Thang Tong Gyalpo in visions from the great wisdom dakini Niguma. Thang Tong Gyalpo combined the Shangpa and Jangter "Northern Treasures" () teachings and traditions.Chakzampa Thangtong Gyalpo - Architect, Philosopher and Iron Chain Bridge Builder by Manfred Gerner. Thimphu: Center for Bhutan Studies 2007.
Incarnation lineage There is an incarnation line for Chakzampa Thang Tong Gyalpo, in Bhutan, that continues on into contemporary times. The current incarnation was born on the 16th of November, in 1973.Manfred Gerner. Thangtong Gyalpo: Architect, Philosopher and Iron Chain Bridge Builder. (2007). Thimphu: The Center for Bhutan Studies.
Surviving prayers, spiritual practices, and empowerments The teachings that are alive today are associated with the Shangpa Kagyu lineage, accessed 11 May 2016 the "Northern Treasures" tradition, and within the cycles of Mahamudra Chöd.
Sādhanā and prayers Thang Tong Gyalpo is known for writing an Avalokiteśvara sādhanā entitled For the Benefit of All Beings as Vast as the Skies, which is practiced in dharma centers today. In 2013 and in 2014, spiritual retreats were held at Rangjung Yeshe Gomde in Europe focused on this sadhana.
Other texts written by Thang Tong Gyalpo, and translated into English, can be found at Lotsawa House. They include a prayer for dispelling famine, a refuge practice to Thang Tong Gyalpo, and a prayer for pacifying the fear of disease. Contemporary social media has included postings containing prayers to Thang Tong Gyalpo to relieve suffering from earthquakes natural disasters as well.https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1723936874507377.1073741840.1693760104191721&type=3 accessed 11 May 2016
Empowerments Sakya Trizin gave the Vajrayana empowerment of Thang Tong Gyalpo's long life practice, called (or ), at Lerab Ling in southern France in 2011.
Thang Tong Gyalpo in Bhutan
In 1433, Drubthob Thangtong Gyalpo and his disciples traveled to Pagri in the Chumbi Valley of Tibet, and from there to Paro Taktsang in Bhutan. According to his biography, while performing rituals of Vajrakilaya there, he had a vision of the assembly of the Eight Classes of Heruka () meditational deities with Vajrakumara as the central figure.
It is said that a nine-headed nāga spirit, who was the guardian of the sacred place of Paro Taktsang, declared "your religious inheritance was concealed here by Guru Rinpoche, please make your discovery and reveal it". There upon Drubchen Thangtong Gyalpo extracted a sacred scroll ten body lengths long from the cliff of Taktsang.
The line of mountains where Taktsang is located is shaped like a black snake with its head in the middle of the Paro valley. On the nose of this snake the Drubthob constructed Jangtsa Dumtseg Lhakhang, a stupa-shaped temple and pronounced that all diseases caused by evil spirits residing under the ground were suppressed and that the valley would be free from leprosy.
Arriving at a place called Phurdo, he saw a five-coloured rainbow upon which were seated
Buddha Amitabha, Avalokitesvara and Padmasambhava and declared that the place was as sacred as Potala mountain. At Tamchogang, at the foot of the Phurdo mountains, he established Tamchog Lhakhang temple and made sacred representations of the Buddha's body, speech and mind. This temple, which located opposite the road from Paro about before Chudzom, is still maintained by the descendants of Drubtob Thang Tong Gyalpo.