When Sachen was ready to receive the Lamdre (lam ‘bras) teachings, which would become the core of the Sakya tradition, he sought out Zhangton Chobar (1053-1135), a former student of Se Karchungba, also known as Seton Kunrik (se ston kun rig, 1029-1116). When Sachen went to ask for the teachings, he found Zhangton Chobar with matted hair, half clothed in a goatskin cloak, idly chatting with villagers and spinning thread from wool. Sachen prostrated to him, tried to make an elaborate offering, and asked him for the Lamdre teachings. Zhangton Chobar claimed to know nothing about new Tantra teachings such as Lamdre, and said he only had some modest knowledge of Dzogchen, which he assumed Sachen would disapprove of. However, when Zhangton realized Sachen was the son of Khon Konchok Gyelpo, he admitted that he held the Lamdre teachings after all. Since he had never taught the Lamdre before he said he needed some time to reflect and asked Sachen to return the following spring. Sachen did so and over the course of the next eight years Zhangton Chobar transmitted the Lamdre to Sachen in two parts, each requiring four years of instruction. When the teachings were complete, Shangton advised Sachen not to teach Lamdre for eighteen years, after which time he could teach and write about it freely. Sachen followed this advice and over the course of the next eighteen years he meditated intensively on the sequential transmission he received from Zhangton Chobar. At the age of forty-six he had a vision in which Virūpa bestowed a direct transmission of the Lamdre. In 1141 he began teaching and writing on both the sequential and direct transmissions of the Lamdre. His first disciple was Jangchub Sempa Aseng an important lama from Kham, followed by Sachen’s own sons Sonam Tsemo (1142-1182) and Drakpa Gyeltsen (1147-1216). Sachen had many prominent students, including Pakmodrupa (1110-1170). His eleven closest disciples are remembered for having either continued Sachen’s oral Lamdre teachings, for writing commentaries on his writings, or for becoming great teachers. His sons Sonam Tsemo and Drakpa Gyeltsen, who followed Sachen as the next Sakya throne holders and patriarchs, were two of his closest disciples. He had two other sons as well. The eldest son, Kungabar, died in his early twenties while returning from a period of study in India. The youngest son, Pelchen Wopo never held the throne but went on to father Sakya Paṇḍita Kunga Gyeltsen (1182-1251), the important scholar and fourth Sakya patriarch. Sachen had two consorts, sisters from a noble family in Tsamo-rong. The elder sister, Machik Wodron was the mother of Sonam Tsemo, Drakpa Gyeltsen and Pelchen Opo. The younger sister had four sons by Sachen. Sachen was purportedly the first to write down the previously oral Dorje Tsig Kang or Vajra Verses, a foundational teaching of the Lamdre tradition that is attributed to Virupa and was transmitted to Tibet by Shakya Yeshe. Many other written texts are also attributed to Sachen. The most important are eleven commentaries on the Dorje Tsig Kang. These teachings were apparently created for specific disciples – eight men and three women. The commentary called Nyagma or Explication of the Treatise for Nyag, written for Nyak Wangchuk Gyeltsen is arguably the most lastingly significant of these works and was later annotated by Sachen’s son Drakpa Gyeltsen. The Dorje Tsig kang, Sachen’s commentary, and Drakpa Gyeltsen’s annotations form the theoretical and practical basis for the Lamdre teachings. Later in life, as the result of an attempted poisoning while he was in Gungtang, Sachen went into a coma. When he awoke he suffered from complete memory loss, forgetting all the teachings he had received. He was able to find lamas to replace all the teachings except the Lamdre, for which there was no living teacher nor written text available to him at the time. He went into retreat and reported that he remembered some of the lost teachings and then in a dream Zhangton Chobar transmitted the remainder. When he woke up he had completely recovered his memory. Sachen died at the age of sixty-seven, in 1158 at the monastery of Kyabo Kadang in Jang.

Source: https://treasuryoflives.org

Author: Professor Dominique Townsend.