Shamarpa, 4th

Shamarpa, 4th on the DRL

Classical Tibetan Authors

ཆོས་གྲགས་ཡེ་ཤེས་

Wylie	chos grags ye shes
English Phonetics	Fourth Shamarpa Chodrak Yeshe

Wikipedia Commons

Other names

• ཆོས་ཀྱི་གྲགས་པ་ཡེ་ཤེས་
• ཞྭ་དམར་བཞི་པ་ཆོས་གྲགས་ཡེ་ཤེས་
• སྤྱན་སྔ་བ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་གྲགས་པ་ཡེ་ཤེས་དཔལ་བཟང་
• ཆོས་ཀྱི་གྲགས་པ་ཡེ་ཤེས་དཔལ་བཟང་པོ་

• chos kyi grags pa ye shes
• zhwa dmar bzhi pa chos grags ye shes
• spyan snga ba chos kyi grags pa ye shes dpal bzang
• chos kyi grags pa ye shes dpal bzang po

Alternate names

• Shamarpa, 4th

Dates

Birth:	1453
Death:	1524

Tibetan calendar dates

Dates of birth

Day
Month
Gender	Female
Element	Water
Animal	Bird
Rab Jyung	8

Dates of passing

Day
Month
Gender
Element
Animal
Rab Jyung

About

Religious Affiliation

Karma Kagyu

Is emanation of

Third Shamarpa Chopel Yeshe

Has following emanations

Fifth Shamarpa Könchok Yenlak

Teachers

Karmapa, 7th · 'gos lo tsA ba gzhon nu dpal · khrims khang lo tsA ba bsod nams rgya mtsho · byang chub rgya mtsho · Goshir Gyaltsab, 1st

Students

Pawo Rinpoche, 2nd · mi nyag pa rdo rje seng+ge · kun dga' rin chen · rdo rje gdan pa kun dga' rnam rgyal · rin chen phun tshogs chos kyi rgyal po

Other Biographical info:

Links

BDRC Link

https://www.tbrc.org/#!rid=P317

Treasury of Lives Link

https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/The-Fourth-Zhamar,-chos-grags-ye-shes/P317

Wiki Pages

• Shamarpa, 4th on the DRL
• Shamarpa, 4th on the LIB
• Shamarpa, 4th on the DNZ
• Shamarpa, 4th on the BNW

Buddha Nature Project

Person description or short bio

The following biography is a traditional account of the life of the Fourth Shamarpa Chodrak Yeshe as written on Sharmapa.org.

The 4th Shamarpa was born in Kangmar in the Treshö province of Kham, eastern Tibet. Wonderous signs were ablaze at his birth, which were variously interpreted by the local monastic communities, according to their own anticipation. Some were of the mind that it could only be the long awaited Karmapa Incarnate, while others were more inclined towards the Shamarpa Incarnate or that of a Mahasiddhi. Seven months had passed, speculations abound; conclusions, there were none. The infant Rinpoche was invited formally to Tara Kangmar Monastery, where a collection of books was laid before him to select. He took none but works by the Karmapa. The indecisive took this to be unmistakably an indication of the Karmapa’s return. Thus the solemn matter of identification was settled arbitrarily on a simple test. From then on, the Shamarpa remained in the monastery. The 6th Karmapa Tongwa Dönden was born the year after. When he was four years of age, he embarked on an extensive Dharma tour through Tibet. In due course, he arrived at the Lhündrup Gön Monastery in the south, not far from Dra-Kangmar, where, all the while, the disciples of the Shamarpa were anxiously waiting for their Guru’s return, without avail. They came to the Karmapa, labourously recalling the passing of their Guru, whose last word was “Dra-Kangmar”, they said. It was to be the name of the place of his next rebirth. The Karmapa reassured them that their Guru had indeed taken rebirth, but in distant Tre-Kangmar. Tre and Dra, an understandable confusion of words for his griefing followers, in time of stress. His now jubilant disciples, planned on an instant return of their Guru to his long awaited monasteries. The Karmapa told them it was not to be so. As the Karmapa, he must himself invite him, in full ceremonial honours, as befitting the return of the Shamarpa.

By the time the Dharma tour had reached the province of Treshö the Karmapa was seven years old. He set up camp near Kangmar, remaining in retreat, while he sent his gifted attendant-monk, to invite the Shamarpa. This learned monk, a man of exceptional realizations was none other than Paljor Döndrup, the 1st Gyaltsab Rinpoche, who was to become a Guru to the Shamarpa. When the Karmapa and the Shamarpa met, it was the renewal of a very close tie, stretching far beyond history. In terms of human relationship, it was to be compared to the joyful reunion of father and son. The Karmapa gave the young Shamarpa the name of Chöji Drakpa Yeshe Pal Zangpo. Returning the Red Crown, he enthroned him.

They had been successively each others Guru up to then. The Karmapa proposed that from then on, they were to propagate the Dharma together, each in a different region of the country, with the Shamarpa remaining in the Kongpo area in the south while the Karmapa himself proceeding towards eastern Kham.

Some years later, they were together again, at Treshö Kangmar. The Shamarpa arrived laden with offerings for the Karmapa; the Karmapa readily imparted to him the Mahamudra, the Six Teachings of Naropa and the numerous instructions of the Kagyü Lineage.

The Shamarpa became renowned as a great scholar and also for being unsparing on himself in practice, whether it was on the teachings received from the Karmapa, from Gyaltsap Rinpoche or from any of the great lamas and scholars, thus setting a challenging example of relentless perseverance.

The 4th Shamarpa went as far as to Bhutan to propagate the Dharma. In southern Bhutan, there remains to this day a monastery built by the Shamarpa. It stands sturdy and almost untouched by the passing years. Apart from it being a shining testamony to the craftsmanship of the period, it is indelibly a mark of his enduring blessings.

In central Tibet, where, at the insistence of the people, he became king for eleven years, ruling the country strictly in accordance with Buddhist principles. However, his first priority was Dharma. As he studied, so he taught and meditated, never neglecting his monastic obligations, thus fully accomplishing the three-fold task of a Holder of the Buddha’s Teachings. (Source Accessed Mar 4, 2020)

Expand to see this person's philosophical positions on Buddha-nature.

Is Buddha-nature considered definitive or provisional?
Position:	Definitive
Notes:	Draszczyk, "A Eulogy of Mind’s Connate Qualities," 2015, p.115
All beings have Buddha-nature
Position:	Yes
If "Qualified", explain:
Notes:
Which Wheel Turning
Position:	Third Turning
Notes:	Draszczyk, "A Eulogy of Mind’s Connate Qualities," 2015, p. 115
Yogācāra vs Madhyamaka
Position:
Notes:
Zhentong vs Rangtong
Position:	Zhentong
Notes:	Affirms that the mind's true nature is not empty of its own qualities, but he does not use the term zhentong. Draszczyk, "A Eulogy of Mind’s Connate Qualities," 2015, p.115
Promotes how many vehicles?
Position:
Notes:
Analytic vs Meditative Tradition
Position:
Notes:
What is Buddha-nature?
Position:	Tathāgatagarbha as the Emptiness That is an Implicative Negation (with enlightened qualities)
Notes:	Draszczyk, "A Eulogy of Mind’s Connate Qualities," 2015, p. 115
Svātantrika (རང་རྒྱུད་) vs Prāsaṅgika (ཐལ་འགྱུར་པ་)
Position:
Notes:
Causal nature of the vajrapāda
Position:

The Kagyu school traces its origin to the eleventh-century translator Marpa, who studied in India with Nāropa. Marpa's student Milarepa trained Gampopa, who founded the first monastery of the Kagyu order. As many as twelve subtraditions grew out from there, the best known being the Karma Kagyu, the Drikung, and the Drukpa.

testing test term

The Kagyu school traces its origin to the eleventh-century translator Marpa, who studied in India with Nāropa. Marpa's student Milarepa trained Gampopa, who founded the first monastery of the Kagyu order. As many as twelve subtraditions grew out from there, the best known being the Karma Kagyu, the Drikung, and the Drukpa.

Refers to something that is taught for a specific reason, rather than because it is entirely true.

Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana).

Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.

The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature.

The state of being empty of self, which references the lack of inherent existence in relative phenomena.

The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature.

Tsen Khawoche's "meditative tradition" of exegesis of the Uttaratantra; it is one of two major Tibetan traditions of exegesis, both stemming from students of Sajjana.

The qualities or attributes of an enlightened being.