Rangjung Dorje

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The 3rd Karmapa
Tibetan name
Tibetan script :
རང་ འབྱུང་ རྡོ་ རྗེ་
Wylie transliteration :
rank 'byung rdo rje
Chinese name
Simplified :
让 炯 多 杰

Rangjung Dorje ( Tib . : rang byung rdo rje ; * 1284 in Tsang ; † 1339 ) was the third Karmapa of the Karma Kagyü School of Tibetan Buddhism . He was born one year after the death of his predecessor Karma Pakshi .

biography

Rangjung Dorje was the son of a family of Nyingma practitioners. He declared at the age of three that he was the Karmapa. At the age of five he was brought to Orgyenpa Rinchen Pel (Tib .: o rgyan pa rin chen dpal ; 1230–1312), the then highest lama of the Karma-Kagyu, to whom this encounter had already appeared in a dream. He gave him the black vajra crown and the possessions of his predecessor. Rangjung Dorje grew up in Tshurphu and received the teachings of the Kagyu and the Nyingma. At the age of 18 (1301) he received the novice vows. After a retreat at the foot of Mount Everest , he expanded his studies in a monastery of the Kadampas and received full ordination .

At the age of 35 (1318) he received teachings on Kalachakra tantra. He introduced a revised version of the Tshurphu calendar (see also Tibetan calendar ) and also studied Tibetan medicine , which is partly related to Tibetan astrology.

Longchenpa students and teachers

Karmapa Rangjung Dorje was, in addition to his great importance as lineage holder of the Karma Kagyu school, a “ treasure finder ” of the teachings hidden by Guru Rinpoche and his closest disciples in the 9th century. He was also a student of the Nyingma master Rigdzin Kumaradza Shönnu Gyelpo (Tib .: rig 'dzin ku ma ra dza gzhon nu rgyal po ; 1266-1343) and later met the Nyingma scholar Longchenpa , who gave him some Dzogchen teachings from the Nyingma School submitted. In return, Rangjung Dorje transferred important tantras of the “ New Translations ” to Longchenpa. The Dzogchen transmission from this time is known in the Kagyu school as "Karma-Nyingthig" (Tib .: kar ma snying thig ; heart essence of the karma school). Due to the concentration on the transmission of the Mahamudra (Great Seal), which is typical of the Karma Kagyu school , the transmission of Dzogchen teachings is granted more cautiously than in the Nyingma schools.

Political activity

In political terms, the Karmapa Rangjung Dorje stayed at the Mongol court in November 1332 for the consecration of the then Crown Prince El Tegüs (second son Toqa Timur ) . In the summer of 1337 he received the title of "Abhiseka State Teacher" and a jade seal when he returned to court. At the same time, in the face of the drought, he carried out rain rituals (somewhat overzealous, there were devastating rains in 1337) and prophesied an earthquake, which actually occurred the following month (September 1337). He also had an iron bridge built over a border river called Sog-chu (Su-shui) in 1328.

The 3rd Gyalwa Karmapa founded many monasteries in China and Tibet.

Rangjung Dorje died in China at the age of 55.

line

Among his students were Khedrub Dragpa Sengge (the 1st Shamarpa ), Yagde Penchen (tib .: g.yag sde pan chen ; 1299–1378; Sakya ), Yungtön Dorje Pelba (tib .: g.yung ston rdo rje dpal ba ; 1284–1365) and many others. Yungtön Dorje Pelba became the next main lineage holder of the Karma Kagyu.

See also

literature

  • Herbert Franke : Marginalia on the visits of the Karma-pa hierarchs in China during the late Yuan period . In: Peter M. Kuhfus (Ed.): China. Dimensions of history. Festschrift for Tilemann Grimm on the occasion of his retirement . Attempo-Verlag, Tübingen 1990, ISBN 3-89308-123-2 , pp. 99-120.
  • From the clarity of the mind. Three Buddhist texts by Karmapa Rangjung Dorje, Marpa Verlag, Vienna, 1995
  • Lama Ole Nydahl The Great Seal. A commentary on a Mahamudra text by the 3rd Karmapa, Knaur Verlag, 2006

Web links