Shangpa Rinpoche's Biography 尊贵的香巴上师简介

The First Shangpa Rinpoche 第一世香巴上师

The first Shangpa Rinpoche was well-known in Tibet and Nepal due to his selfless love and compassion to everyone. His name was Losang Chophel but people addressed him as Shangpa Rinpoche so it became his name. This name is derived from his birth place, “Shang”, which is in central Tibet. It was the birth place of many great masters in the past, most notably, Khedrup Khyungpo Naljor, the Shangpa Kagyu lineage founder was born there and established his lineage there.

Shangpa Rinpoche was born in the year 1879. His parents' names are not known but their family name is called Trungkhang. He is the second son amongst three sons. His elder brother is Lhagyal and the nickname of his younger brother is Aku Chungchung. During his childhood, he already had great interest towards visiting Buddhist temples and paying respect towards Buddhist statues. He was also very compassionate in nature. When people used sticks or stones to hit domestic animals, he cried as if he himself had been beaten. At a very tender age he wished to become a monk. His parents found it difficult to object as he was so insistent and they brought him to a nearby monastery called Dechen Monastery; which is a Gelugpa monastery under the Tashi Lhunpo administration. He started to learn everything that a monk needed to learn, such as reading and writing; memorizing texts; rituals and eventually philosophy teachings. These studies continued until he was 24 years old. Due to his diligence and wisdom and especially his strict observance of Vinaya vows, everybody addressed him as Shangpa Gelong (Bhikshu).

He was recommended to further his studies at a bigger institute where he could obtain a Geshe Degree. But he started to think that it may not be meaningful for him to become famous. Instead, he thought how nice it would be if he could find a good spiritual master who would guide him in the example of Milarepa so that he could accomplish inner realization.



So one night, he quietly escaped from his monastery and went all the way to Tsurphu where His Holiness the 15th Karmapa, Khakhyab Dorje resided. His Holiness the 15th Karmapa became his root Guru and he received from him and other Gurus empowerments and instructions of many Kagyu and Nyingma practices, such as Rinchen Terdzo empowerments and instructions in the methods of practices. He spent many years receiving teachings and practicing at Tsurphu. He then went to west Tibet, visited Mount Kailash and did a retreat there.

From Tibet, he moved to Dolpo in Nepal where he met a great meditator called Gomchen Trinle Chophel. He received many special instructions and empowerments from him and in return he also offered many Kagyudpa teachings and empowerments to his master Gomchen Trinle Chophel. They both exchanged their knowledge and realizations with each other.

He then went to search for the right place for his long retreat and eventually started his long retreat at Serphuk cave in Dolpo near Tichu Rong. He spent 12 years in retreat in that cave and did many high practices, including completing Konchog Chidu's Four Foundations 12 times in order to firmly establish the basis of practice.

During his retreat, he went through a lot of hardship without much help from others as no one knew him at that time. The nearest village was located below the mountain where the cave was and half a day’s walking distance away. During winter, the whole mountain was covered with snow and the cave is completely inaccessible. It was very dangerous to travel when snow falls. Initially, food was the main problem. Even just to get enough food for one meal a day was difficult, he had to depend very much on whatever food stuff he had brought along with him and so he decided to do Nyungne Fasting during which time he had only one meal in two days. Even so, he finally ran out of food and ended up just boiling hot water for drinking during meal times. He did not put too much effort in acquiring food and other necessities as he only wanted to practice diligently because life is impermanent.

His way of practice emulates that of great Kagyu masters; one becomes a son of the mountain and has mist as clothing. One totally lets go attachment towards food, clothing and fame and aim to attain enlightenment within a single life time for the benefit of all sentient beings.

After a long time, he became so weak that he couldn’t even do simple work and practice well. So one day he thought that he must find food in order to practice well and he set out for the village. He couldn’t get any alms because the people in that village had left to attend a funeral ceremony. He felt very disappointed and thought that he should not wait for the villagers to get back as it would be dark by then. He therefore started to walk back to the cave. Suddenly, he saw some turnips left in the sun to dry. He thought over many times whether he should take some or not. He thought that if he did take it, it would be like stealing. But, if he didn’t take it, he might die of hunger without completing his practice. So, finally, he took 10 pieces and quickly went back to the cave. He tried to take one piece a day. So, for 10 days, he managed to survive and he could practice well.

After he finished the turnip, he was not sure what to do; whether to go back to the village to get food or stay in the cave. Going to the village was a great effort and the struggle to get food and moving around may distract him from his motivation, so he decided not to go and prepared himself mentally to accept whatever happened. After a few days, a dog came to the cave and was very friendly towards him. He was very happy and quickly wrote a letter mentioning that there was a hermit in a cave needing food, and would someone please bring some alms to the cave. He tied the letter around the neck of the dog and bade farewell to it. The dog went straight to the village.

The next day, some villagers came with Tsampa (Barley powder) and other food stuff. They noticed he was skinny and weak yet he very pleasantly greeted them and thanked them for the offerings. He, in return, gave them blessings and also advised them to practice Dharma. So, these were the first disciples; the ones who took time to send food to him. With the food, he could practice without any obstacles for a long time. At one time, there was a big snowfall for many days and nobody could reach the cave. It took months for the snow to melt and people thought that the hermit must surely have died from starvation. They therefore lit lamps at their own houses and dedicated merits to him.

He was however not dead. When the food supply ran out, he still managed to practice for one week by drinking boiled water. One fine morning, when he finished his regular morning water torma offering, he went out as usual to throw out the water and heard some crows making a loud noise. He went out of the cave to find out what happened and to his surprise, he saw that a dead deer was lying there. At first, he was happy and quickly got his knife out to cut the meat into pieces. But then he checked his motivation in time, and then realized that he was very cruel and had totally no compassion towards sentient beings. He then did not touch the deer, but just recited Mantras and prayers and went back into the cave. At the end of his first session of practice, he went out again to see what had happened to the dead deer. By that time, the deer was almost half eaten by crows. He collected whatever leftover meat there was and ate a little bit every day to last him for a month.

Despite great hardship, he successfully completed a 12 year retreat at that cave.

After his long retreat, he wanted to meet his master Gomchen Trinle Chophel again but unfortunately he had already passed away. Later on, he met another Yogi named Sertha Rinpoche and received many Nyingma practices from him. He spent a period of time meditating at Dolpo, in a cave called Trekyam Phuk, where his master Gomchen Trinle Chophel had also meditated in before. He then started to realize the ultimate essence of the Dzogchen (Great perfection) and Chagchen (Mahamudra) practice and finally recognized mind nature completely.

He mentioned to his close disciple that when realization took place, the grasping of the dualistic conceptual mind becomes totally dismantled. The dualistic conceptual mind melts into the state of total freedom like the way ice completely melts into water.

Since then, Shangpa Rinpoche started to move around in order to benefit people in as many places as possible. He did not establish his own residence in any place during his life time but always moved from place to place to fulfill the needs of others. He started to become known to people in many areas and they received teachings and initiations from him.

He started to rebuild old temples in Dolpo and Tichu Rong and also gave teachings and empowerments to the people there tirelessly. Whatever offerings he received, he used for the restoration of temples or for providing food for the poor. He did not try to save anything for his own use. Shangpa Rinpoche’s nature was so compassionate that whenever the poor people came to see him, he simply gave whatever he had.

One day, it was snowing outside and it was the coldest month in that year. A poor man who visited Shangpa Rinpoche did not have much clothing on and was shivering due to the cold. Shangpa Rinpoche blessed him and they had a conversation. Shangpa Rinpoche then asked him if he was feeling cold. The poor man answered, “Yes”. Immediately, Shangpa Rinpoche took off his upper jacket which was made of wool and offered it to the man, together with some coins for purchasing food. Shangpa Rinpoche then continued to meet other visitors although he was not wearing warm clothes. Although he felt cold himself, he was very happy that he had relieved someone from feeling cold.

His attendants sometimes tried to save the money that people offered to him for future use. Shangpa Rinpoche however tried to hide the money offered to him and give the money to the poor. There are so many people I have met who told me how often he gave them money and food without the knowledge of his attendants.

The devotion that people had towards him was very great. Everywhere he went, there were large gatherings of people who wanted to receive teachings and blessings from him. Lots of poor people and beggars started to follow him wherever he went as he always distributed food to them and took care of their needs. His disciples told me that at one time, over a hundred beggars was following him and he was very happy about that. He even encouraged them to follow him, as these people not only received food they needed, but also received many teachings and empowerments which made their lives become meaningful.

He also set free animals that were meant to be slaughtered. He bought many of them and gave them to his trusted disciples for them to take care of. Often, people would offer animals to him. They were all set free and well taken care of by his disciples. One old disciple mentioned that at one time, almost ten thousand animals in Tibet and Nepal were spared the fate of being killed. There are many places in Tichu Rong, Nepal, where people practiced the sacrificing animals to deities. Every year, hundreds of animals are slaughtered and their blood is offered at the local Deity shrines. Shangpa Rinpoche taught Buddhism and promised the people that there wouldn’t be any harmful effect if they stopped sacrificing animals. He told them that if they prayed to Buddha they could overcome every obstacle and eventually more and more villages of that region started to trust him and listened to his advice. And, so, such practice stopped since then until today.

He rebuilt many historical temples that were ruined and about to collapse. He raised funds and contributed whatever he had to rebuild the temples. He not only paid for the cost of rebuilding but was actively involved in the building process, motivating the workers to work harder. He not only rebuilt the structure of each of these temples, but also provided everything that a temple needs; such as ritual instruments, text books and cooking utensils. Each time, people thought that he would use the temple as his own residence since he had put in so much effort. At the end, however, he handed over the temple and everything in it to the villagers and a resident Lama to take care of it. He himself would travel to another place without a single coin in his possession.

His mission to rebuild temples continued after he left Dolpo and moved on to western Tibet. While Shangpa Rinpoche was at Western Tibet, he met my father who was a well-known artist. Shangpa Rinpoche requested him to paint drawings at the temples that he was rebuilding. My father served him for 3 years.

My mother still remembers that when Shangpa Rinpoche came to her village, which was called Phenchi, hundreds of people from all over west Tibet gathered to receive his teachings and empowerment. She still recalls that before or after the teachings, people flock to him to get his blessings. The crowd was so big that she could hardly get near him and only managed to receive his blessings once in a while. Shangpa Rinpoche stayed a month to give teachings and empowerments. She said that she was extremely happy that time as she was just a little girl and managed to receive so many teachings and blessings in a short period. She mentioned this to me with tears in her eyes.

Many of his rebuilt temples can still be seen at Mustang and Dolpo as well as nearby regions but most of the temples rebuilt in Tibet were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. He also built stupas at a lot of different places where people felt that there were negative forces. He blessed the land and built the stupas so that eventually the land became peaceful.

He composed some texts for rituals and also gave advice to his disciples. However, as there was no photocopying or printing services and methods of voice and image recording back then, many of the texts and teachings have disappeared. Perhaps some of these may still be with old disciples from the mountainous regions of Nepal and Tibet.

In the later part of his life, he visited central Tibet in order to meet with HH the 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje. HH the 16th Karmapa was very young at that time and he requested Shangpa Rinpoche to perform longevity pujas for him. Shangpa Rinpoche therefore stayed a week in retreat and offered longevity prayers to Karmapa. Later on, Karmapa was happy to receive the blessed substances from the longevity pujas for tasting. Some of the monks at Tsurphu gossiped over why Karmapa receive blessings from such a clumsy pilgrim. This was later told to me by one of the old Lamas of Tsurphu, called Lama Choying, during my visit to Rumtek in 1980.

From there he visited his hometown of Shang and met his relatives and the Lamas of the temple where he first entered into monkhood. The people in his hometown mentioned that he came with a big group of people; mainly monks and nuns but there were also many beggars. People of his hometown were very happy that he had become a great practitioner and he started to give many teachings and empowerments to them. He also told them about how he struggled for the Dharma and about the noble masters that he had met etc.

He was invited to the temple where he was first ordained and he offered many things, one of which is food and distributed money to every monk. The people there still vividly remember that he offered a beautiful pair of trumpets (Tib: Gyaling) and a pair of cymbals. While he was at his family home for a few days, his niece Karma Tseyang insisted to become a nun and become his follower. Shangpa Rinpoche finally ordained her and she joined his entourage. Subsequently, another niece call Tsognyi was also ordained by him and also joined his entourage. I met Ani Tsognyi at Dolpo when I was just 3 years old. The first time she met me, she was overwrought with emotion and cried a lot. She offered to me whatever she had. Later on, she was overly concerned for my well-being and constantly scolded my mum for spoiling me. She often disciplined me for every minor mistake I made. I was very playful as I was only 3 years old then. It was a rather hard time for both me and my mum when she was around. Eventually she left to practice somewhere else and I did not hear from her ever since.

In this way, the 1st Shangpa Rinpoche has many monks and nuns who follow him wherever he travels and he also constantly trained them to be good practitioners. Even now, some of them are still living in the remote areas of Tibet and Nepal and practicing.

He ordered many sets of Kangyur text printed from wood blocks and distributed them to temples which he had restored. During those times, the Kangyur text was very difficult to obtain in western Tibet as text printed from wood block was available only in central Tibet and eastern Tibet where there were workshops for printing from wood blocks. Once printing was done, transportation for the text had to be arranged and transportation was very costly and slow. It took almost a month for the text to reach western Tibet. After the text had been distributed, one of the temples which has received the texts, Goshar Gompa, was requested by Ganjo Gompa to lend them their set of new Kangyur texts. Ganjo Gompa said that their texts were too old and they were not able to read the texts. So Goshar Gompa lent their Kangyur texts to Ganjo Gompa. However Ganjo Gompa refused to give the texts back even after they had finished reading the texts. The relationship between both Temples worsened due to this. The village head and other people tried to resolve the issue but the monks from both Temples quarrelled and did not listen to the mediators.

Finally, Shangpa Rinpoche called the monks from both sides in front of him and as usual, they argued for their rights to own the Kangyur texts. Shangpa Rinpoche told them that as Sangha members, they should not argue over this matter as such behaviour is against the Buddha's teaching. He said that he would happily offer to Ganjo Gompa a totally new set of Kangyur texts from Lhasa using the best paper. They then agreed to return the Kangyur texts to Goshar Gompa. After several months, the new Kangyur texts arrived and Shangpa Rinpoche offered this set of texts to Ganjo Gompa. The monks from Ganjo Gompa were very happy and they requested him to give them initiations and teachings. They also invited Goshar Gompa's monks for meals together and they did a Lama Chodpa Tsog offering according to the Gelugpa tradition, headed by Shangpa Rinpoche.

The 1st Shangpa Rinpoche later on returned to Nepal and after that, he went to Mustang and gave teachings to the Mustang King who became a good disciple of his. The Mustang King followed him to many places; receiving teachings and also practicing. He mastered the practice of Chod under Shangpa Rinpoche’s guidance.

Shangpa Rinpoche then rebuilt the Kutsab Ternga Monastery at Jomsom. This was a very old temple that has five treasures which represent Guru Rinpoche. It was said that one great Lama who wished to build a temple to enshrine the five treasures did a prayer to the protectors. A crow came and took one plate of his Torma offering. He then followed the crow where it flew. The crow finally dropped the plate at that place near Jomsom. The lama then decided to build the temple there. When Shangpa Rinpoche visited the temple, it was already in a very bad shape. Certain parts had already collapsed. He then decide to build an entirely new temple there. He had to stay almost two years there in order to complete the whole temple. When everything was completed, he performed many grand pujas and made Mendrup pills as well. He handed over the whole temple to the village and some monks were ordained by him.

He then moved to Mukinath. The people at Muktinath said that the bronze pipes from which 100 spring waters flowed, with an animal head design at the mouths, were fixed by Shangpa Rinpoche. At Muktinath some people offered a small piece of land to him. He built a small temple where he stayed for a while. Later on, he asked a monk, who was also a Tibetan physician, to stay there and he himself left for Manang.

At Manang he visited Milarepa's cave. At the same time, he went to a few villages in Manang to give the people there initiations and teachings. Lama Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche was born in Manang. He still remembers that he was a small boy when Shangpa Rinpoche visited Manang. One day, he found a Buddhist text flying in the sky and he managed to retrieve it. When his parents saw this incident happening, they quickly brought their son to see Shangpa Rinpoche for a blessing. They also asked him what is the significance of their son finding this text. Shangpa Rinpoche did not mention anything about the text but he kept it. He told the parents that their son must be ordained as monk, otherwise, he will face a big obstacle. So his parents took him to Rumtek and he became a monk there under His Holiness the 16th Karmapa. Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche mentioned this story to me and he also said that due to the guidance from Shangpa Rinpoche, he became a monk and a practitioner without facing any obstacles.

The author of a book on a pilgrimage through the Himalayas, Professor David Snellgrove, met Shangpa Rinpoche for the first time at Kagbeni in Mustang. This was when he was on the way to upper Mustang. Shangpa Rinpoche told him that he will meet him again next time. After Shangpa Rinpoche's return to Manang, the professor met him for the second time. Professor Snellgrove is the only person who managed to take a photo of the 1st Shangpa Rinpoche so that we are able to see how he looks like today. In his book, he mentioned that when he went to see Lama of Shang Pi Gompa, Shangpa Rinpoche gave him a few coins and asked him to have a drink of chang. He was very surprised that this Lama did not expect anything from him but gave money to him. I thanked him for having taken a wonderful photo of 1st Shangpa Rinpoche, which he passed to me himself, during his visit to Nepal 8 years ago. At that time, he still looked very fit and active. He told me that he had retired and was staying in an island in Indonesia. Since then, I did not meet him again.

Shangpa Rinpoche then went on pilgrimage to some holy places. A Tibetan man who acted as his interpreter, mentioned that, when Shangpa Rinpoche was at Pokhara airport and saw an aeroplane landing for the first time, he was very scared and asked the interpreter, "There is such a loud noise coming from the plane, is it going to explode?" The interpreter explained that it was normal for an aeroplane to be noisy. So, Shangpa Rinpoche took the plane to Kathmandu and visited all the holy places there.

After that, with some of his disciples, he travelled to India. At that time, HH Dalai Lama and HH Karmapa, along with many high Lamas were specially invited by the Indian government for the 2500th anniversary of Buddha’s birth. He made lots of lamp and tsog offerings to all the holy places and then, due to the heat of India, he started to feel unwell. His entourage then went back to Nepal and, from there, back to west Tibet.

After Shangpa Rinpoche returned to Goshar Gompa at western Tibet, he asked my father to draw a Thangka of the 8 manifestations of Guru Rinpoche. He told my father this might be his Kyetag (Mark of rebirth). Usually when someone has died, Tibetan people would draw a Kyetag or purchase a statue to dedicate to the deceased. When the Thangka was finished and offered Shangpa Rinpoche, he wanted to give my father presents but my father did not accept. However Shangpa Rinpoche insisted and so my father accepted one piece of gold from Shangpa Rinpoche. By that time, Shangpa Rinpoche was very ill and my father had been drawing the thangka without much rest. While my father was there, Shangpa Rinpoche gave many important teachings to him as well as to the many monks and lay people individually. His main teaching was about developing loving kindness and compassion and the practice of Chenrezig with the recitation of the 6 syllables.

When his condition continued to worsen, all the monks and my father offered Khata and offerings to request him not to pass away but remain. He told them that this time he could not continue to stay. However, his mission was only partially completed so they did not have to worry as he would come back again to see them. Till then, they must practice well and develop Bodhichitta constantly. Because this human life is very precious, they should not waste it and make full use of it to liberate oneself and others from Samsara.

My father was very sad that Shangpa Rinpoche was certainly going to pass away. He came back home and told this sad news to my mother. Both my father and mother cried the whole night. Shangpa Rinpoche passed away on a full moon day, in the early morning, in the year 1957. When he passed away, there was a little bit of snowfall only at the place where he had entered into Samadhi. The Tibetans believe that this sign is actually a rain of flowers showered by the dakinis, welcoming one to a pure realm. One old disciple called Gelong Namkha told us that when Shangpa Rinpoche passed away and entered into the Thugdam (Samadhi), the sky was filled with rainbows and also clouds shaped like all the 8 auspicious signs. His body remained in Samadhi for a week. It was the 8th lunar Tibetan month and usually the weather was very cold. During that week however, the weather turned warm and a special kind of yellow flower, which was rare in that region, bloomed nearby. After he passed away, his body was preserved at Goshar Gompa until 1960.

Some disciples went to see HH Karmapa to ask His Holiness whether Shangpa Rinpoche has taken rebirth and how to find him if he has. HH then asked them to do a big puja for his reincarnation. He also said that his body should be brought back to Nepal for a proper cremation, which would be good for the reincarnation.

So the disciples went back and followed all the instructions of His Holiness. Eventually His Holiness sent a letter which stated my parents' names and my zodiac animal for them to find the reincarnation of the 1st Shangpa Rinpoche.