Drukchen, 4th (pad+ma dkar po)

Names

Tibetan: འབྲུག་ཆེན་པདྨ་དཀར་པོ་
Wylie:

• Pad+ma dkar po
• 'brug chen 04 pad+ma dkar po
• kun mkhyen padma dkar po
• ngag dbang nor bu, 'brug chen 04
• kun dga' rnam rgyal nor bu
• mi pham pad+ma dkar po phyogs las rnam par rgyal ba'i sde
• blo gsal dbang po

Other Transliterations in use:

• The Omniscient Padma Karpo
• 'brug chen IV kun mkhyen padma dkar po
• 'Brug chen IV Padma dkar po
• Padma dkar po, 'Brug chen
• Padma Karpo
• Padmakarpo

Dates

Born: 1527 kong po ral gsum/_kong po skyor. Ming mdzod: Mchims yul TBRC
Died: 1592

Other Biographical Information

1574 - byar gsang sngags chos gling - Founds monastery TBRC RID: P825

• List of writings at RyWiki: http://rywiki.tsadra.org/index.php/Pema_Karpo_Sungbum

Gene Smith Among Tibetan Texts, page 81:

C H A P T E R 6

Padma dkar po and His History of Buddhism

I. The Life and Times of Padma dkar po

PADMA DKAR PO was born in 1527 in Kong po in southern Tibet. He was ultimately recognized as the rebirth of 'Jam dbyangs chos kyi grags pa (1478-1523). The details of the political relationships within the 'Brug pa sect are extremely complicated. The general outline is, however, fairly clear and important in understanding why his famous history of Buddhism, the 'Brug pa Bka' brgyud pa school in particular, was written. Perhaps the most important development in Tibet during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries was the gradud acceptance of the priority of the rebirth (yang srid) lineage over f a m i l i d claims in the transmission of accumulated religious prestige and wealth. The previous pattern in Tibetan society was one of religious aristocracy passing both religious and secular power from father to son or from paternal uncle to nephew. The religious wars beginning around the thirteenth century produced a new class of administrators who were in origin ordinary monks. These monks readily abandoned their robes and vows in the political interest of their sects. Gradually, this class evolved into a new aristocracy, independent of their spiritud and tempord overlords in d l but name. As these lords became more powerful, they sought a share of the religious prestige. The complicated doctrine of incarnation (sprul sku) was adapted gradudly to that of the yang srid, or recognized rebirth. The 'Brug pa Bka' brgyud pa began with Gtsang pa Rgya ras Ye shes rdo rje (1161-1211) of the clan of Rgya. This great meditative ascetic founded, among others, the monasteries of G n am 'Brug Se ba Byang chub chos gling and Rwa lung in Gtsang. The small cloister of Gnam 'Brug was founded by Gtsang pa Rgya ras in 1189. Located in the upper part of the G n am vdley in Dbus, it was inhabited until 1950 by about twenty nuns and four to five monks. This monastery is also called Gnam phu 'Brug dgon. It is from this Avalokiteśvara.

It is upon his model that the Fifth Dalai Lama based the theory that the Dalai Lamas were incarnations of that bodhisattva. The 'Brug of Rwa lung were merely attempting to reinforce the holiness of their family lineage by adapting the idea of rebirth. The 217 years between the death of Gtsang pa Rgya ras and the birth of Rgyal dbang rje were conveniently explained by the theory that the rebirths had indeed occurred with in the 'Brug pa lineage but had never been recognized.

Unfortunately, there was no mde birth in the 'Brug lineage for a number of years after the death of Rgyal dbang rje. The family also suffered severe political and military defeats that damaged its prestige. The abbots and important monks eventually recognized the son of a prince of Bya in southern Tibet as the immediate rebirth of Rgyal dbang rje. The little incarnation was given the name of 'Jam dbyangs chos kyi grags pa. The 'Brug family ultimately recognized him as the rebirth of Rgyal dbang rje but politely refused to invest him with the religious holdings and property belonging to his previous rebirth. Eventually the princess of Bya built the monastery of Bkra shis mthong smon for the little lama. After the death of 'Jam dbyangs chos kyi grags pa, monks found the rebirth in the house of a minor aristocrat of Kong po, to the disappointment of both the families of Rwa lung and Bya. This child, the sprul sku Ngag dbang nor bu, was to be the great Padma dkar po. Padma dkar po was one of those rare renaissance men. The breadth of his scholarship and learning invites comparison with the Fifth D d d Lama. It was Padma dkar po who systematized the teaching of the 'Brug pa sect. It is no wonder that the 'Brug pa Bka' brgyud pa always refer to him as Kun mkhyen, the Omniscient, an epithet reserved for the greatest scholar of a sect. Padma dkar po was a shrewd and occasionally ruthless politician. His autobiography is one of the most important sources for the history of the sixteenth century. Padma dkar po was a monk and insisted on adherence to the vinaya rules for his monastic followers. H e dso held that in the administration of church affairs the claims of the rebirth and the monastic scholar took priority over those of the scion of a revered lineage. Although he preached often at both Rwa lung and Bkra shis mthong smon, the seats of his two immediate predecessors, he never exercised actud control over these monasteries and their estates. H e founded his monastery at Gsang sngags chos gling in Byar po, north of Mon Rta dbang, which became the seat o f the subsequent Rgyal dbang 'Brug pa incarnation. The Northern 'Brug pa recognize the following list of Rgyal dbang Brug chen incarnations:

• 1. Gtsang pa Rgya ras Ye shes rdo rje (1161-1211)
• 2. Rgyal ba'i dbang po Kun dpal 'byor (1428-76)
• 3. 'Jam dbyangs chos kyi grags pa (1478-1523)
• 4. Kun mkhyen Padma dkar po alias Ngag dbang nor bu (1527-92)
• 5. Dpag bsam dbang po (1593-1641)
• 6. Mi pham dbang po (1641-1717)
• 7. Bka' brgyud 'phrin las shing rta (1718-66)
• 8. Kun gzigs chos kyi snang ba (1768-1822)
• 9. 'Jigs med mi 'gyur dbang rgyal (1823-83)
• 10. 'Jigs med mi pham chos dbang (1884-1930)
• 10a. A dzom 'Brug pa 'Gro 'dul dpa' bo rdo rje (1885-1924?)
• 11. Bstan 'dzin Mkhyen rab Dge legs dbang po (1931-60)
• 12. 'Jigs med dbang gi rdo rje (1963-)

Padma dkar po died in 1592. The recognition of his rebirth was the subject of a bitter dispute; the majority of the monks advocated for the son of the prince o f 'Phyong rgyas, while the house of Rwa lung and their supporters laid claim on behdf of the heir of 'Brug. The long and heated struggle led to a decision by the Sde srid Gtsang pa in favor of the 'Phyongs rgyas candidate, Dpag bsam dbang po (1593-1641), and the flight to Bhutan in 1616 of the Rwa lung candidate, Zhabs drung Ngag dbang rnam rgyal (1594-1651)."

An fully enlightened Buddha is said to have the power to manifest in many forms in order to help the sentient beings. The emanation body of a buddha, as the third of the three bodies of a buddha, refers to the many forms in which a buddha can manifest and which are accessible to ordinary sentient beings. Buddhist scholars present four types of emanation bodies: emanation as supreme being, emanation as rebirth, emanation as artisan and emanation in diverse forms.

Vinaya refers to the corpus of Buddhist teachings on moral discipline and precepts and is one of the three canonical sets of teachings alongside Sūtra and Abhidharma. It also refers to the monastic tradition which has been passed down since the Buddha's time until our time.