Guru Padmasambhava or Yungdrung Tongdrol. In the Bon Tradition he received Dzogchen Teaching from Jetapihritsa (believed to be one and the same as Garab Dorje) and his father Drenpa Namkha, whose transmissions came both directly from Kunto Zangbo (Samantabhadra) and from various masters who have achieved rainbow bodies.
Tsewang Rigzin. Together with Drenpa Namkha and Guru Rinpoche, they spread the essence of Dzogchen teaching.
Drenpa Namkha. He is also known as Chepung Drenpa Namkha as well as Lhachen Drenpa Namkha. He was believed to transmit Bon teachings to Vairocana, an eighth century Tibetan Buddhist monk.
The name Drenpa Namkha is not to be confused with Drenpa Namkha of a later period. The latter one is also called Drenpa Yeshe Dragpa.
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There is so much to be learned about these great masters. A large number of Tibetan texts have not been translated and thus are inaccessible to us. The problem we face today is that our knowledge comes mainly from limited sources. In addition, Tibetan lamas do not usually study and practice other traditions. Hence, many of them have limited knowledge concerning other traditions. This is why being a rimed or non-sectarian practitioner is extremely important. Besides, there are many confusing names. For example, there are two Drenpa Namkhas who are different persons. Garab Dorje and Jetapihritsa are believed to be the same person, though they have different names.
I can use my own name as an example. In Tibet I am called Kesang Dawa. In Thailand my name is Krisadawan. This is one and the same person with different labels. Suppose 100 years from now there's another person named Kesang Dawa and she is not the same person as I. We cannot say that the later Kesang Dawa and the present-day Kesang Dawa are one and the same. If we understand this fact, there is not so much confusion. The key is that we have to be broad-minded and do a lot of investigation before we come to a conclusion and make any assessment.
4 comments:
Very interesting about Drenpa Namkha. I wanted so much to learn more abot him. Lopon Rinpoce was not content that I "mix" different traditions (I first studied in Mahayana Institute and that later passed to Bon because Bon corrisponds more as I understand the life), and now I try to follow practices of Bon tradition so as I learned to do in Buddhism. But I rarely find answers to my questions. Even our Geshes when they come here, in Italy, don't understand what I'm asking about...
Thanks for sharing your experiences with me. I was born in a Theravada tradition. Later on I got a chance to practice Vajrayan Buddhism by doing ngondro in Longchen Nyingthig (Nyingmapa) and practicing a Tara sadhana in the Sakyapa lineage. And now I'm doing ngondro in Bonpo tradition and practicing many sadhanas in the New Bon lineage. There's no confusion as long as we know what we are doing. Learning many traditions broadens our perspectives. But once we go deeper, we will find ourself following one lineage in particular. Others are for certain purposes. I think that is the essence of being a rimed - we learn many traditions, respect many teachers but we go very deeply in our own lineage. Rimed is not a mix of putting here and there in our practice. It's following one own lineage and at the same time learning about others.
Thank you very much for your answer. This question is really very important for me.
Excuse me if I allow me to ask you more.
Have you anywhere in your blogs or sites a calendar of practices and feasts to follow this year? We are different persons that look for this information and cannot find it. Do Bon celebrate the month of Paranirvana di Buddha?
last week our class held a similar discussion about this subject and you point out something we haven't covered yet, appreciate that.
- Laura
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