176. The Second Karmapa, Karma Pakshi. Free Brocade / Free Shipping.

The Second Karmapa, Karma Pakshi The Second Karmapa, Karma Pakshi, was born in Sato Kiletsak, in the Derge region of Khams. His father was Gawang Tsurtsa Prangta and his mother was Sengzang Mangki. They were a noble family of yoga practitioners believed to be descended from King Tri Songdetsen. Karma Pakshi is remembered as a remarkable child, able to read and write from the age of five or six, and was said to have the knowledge of an enlightened being. Through his extensive studies, by the age of ten he had learned the Buddhist canon. At the age of eleven, he took initiation as Chokyi Lama; some sources have his ordination name as Chodzin, while other sources have that as the name he was given at birth. He received lineage transmissions from Lama Pomdrakpa Sonam Dorje.Lama Pomdrakpa soon recognized the young man as the incarnation of the First Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa . Although Pomdrakpa had not received teachings from the First Karmapa, he was a disciple of the Karmapa's student, Sanggye Rechenpa Peldrak. In addition to giving him teachings, Pomdrakpa also directed his disciple to go into meditation retreat. Among his other important teachers were two Nyingma lamas from Katok Monastery in southern Derge: Jampa Bum, Katok's third abbot; and Mangpuwa Sonam Bum, its fourth abbot. While spending much of his early life in retreat, during the second part of his life, Karma Pakshi moved frequently due to local conflicts and wars. He traveled throughout Tibet, mainly in the border regions between eastern Tibet and China. He was active in restoring monasteries established by the First Karmapa as well as building new ones. In 1247, he traveled to Tsurpu Monastery in Tolung, north of Lhasa, where he remained for several years. It is important to note that at this time he was not yet identified as the reincarnation of Dusum Khyenpa. Karma Pakshi had developed a substantial reputation as a worker of miracles, and while residing at Tsurpu, he received an invitation from Khubilai Khan. At this point, Khubilai was simply a nephew of the Mongol head, Ogodei, son of Ghengis, and the younger brother of the Khaghan, the head of the Mongolian Empire. Rapid successions following Ghengis Khan's death in 1227 had left numerous factions of the family vying for power. In the same year he sent for Karma Pakshi, Khubilai had taken the two heirs of the Sakya Khon family, Chogyel Pakpa Lodro Gyeltsen and Channa Dorje from the camp of Ododei's son, Koden, who likely had died that same year. Upon Ododei’s death in 1241, his other son, Guyug, was made Khaghan; upon Guyug’s death, the Khanate passed to Khubilai’s elder brother, Mongke. The Second Karmapa met Khubilai at Rongyul Serto, which Hugh Richardson speculated was near Dartsedo, and stayed with him less than five years before traveling around the Sino-Tibetan border regions, attracting large crowds wherever he went. Although he refused Khubilai’s request to return to his court, in 1255 or 1256 he accepted an invitation from Mongke and went to the palace of Sira Ordo, near Karakorum. It was not an unreasonable move on Karma Pakshi's part; Khubilai at his point had no obvious claim to the throne, making Mongke a far more appealing donor. Chogyel Pakpa remained with Khubilai, and when Mongke died several years later, he was thus in position to rise in power with his sponsor when Khubilai conquered China and initiated the Yuan Dynasty. On his journey to meet with Mongke, Karma Pakshi established the Trulnang Tulpa'i Lhakhang. While at Mongke’s court, he grew to appreciate the Mongol principle of religious tolerance. He also participated in interreligious and philosophical dialogues and debates with other Buddhist communities, as well as Daoists, Confucianists and Nestorian Christians. It was in Mongolia that he earned his title, Pakshi, Mongolian for "teacher". When Khubilai succeeded in taking control of the Mongolian Empire, he accused Karma Pakshi of siding with his rival; Khubilai exiled him and put some of his followers to death. Traditional sources suggest that this situation was a result of Khubilai’s disappointment in Karma Pakshi’s refusal to remain at his court or to return when invited back; it is also thought that it was Karma Pakshi’s skill in magic that protected him and the Kagyu tradition from greater difficulties. Although he was later reconciled with his former sponsor, the Kagyu never attained the level of influence that the Sakya enjoyed. Karma Pakshi left Mongolia in 1264, and, eight years later, returned to Tsurpu. He is credited with building a temple to house large image of Śākyamuni, which was said to have originally come from Nālandā and was carried off during a Mongolian raid. Karma Pakshi was an author of both exoteric and esoteric texts; however, few works have survived. As Matthew Kapstein has pointed out, he often wrote under the pen name “Rangjung Dorje,” which is also the name of the Third Karmapa; this has led to considerable confusion, as well as possible contemporary misattributions of his work to that of the Third Karmapa. Aside from his autobiographies, the Limitless Ocean Cycle is perhaps the key extant work of Karma Pakshi, one that Kapstein describes as "an elaborate systematization of the Kathok tradition of teaching." His most renowned students were Orgyenpa Rinchen Pel, who later identified his reincarnation; Tashi Drakpa, sometimes considered a pre-incarnation of the Zhamar line of incarnations; the First Gangkar Lama, Drakpai Pel and Dengom, who built the Lhakhang Chenmo at Tsurpu. The Blue Annals mentions Jamyang Semgyelwa Yeshe , who became a student of Karma Pakshi’s against his father’s will; Karma Pakshi not only taught him, but also provided for his mundane necessities. Karma Pakshi passed away in at Tsurpu in 1283; his student Orgyenpa succeeded him as abbot, and later found and educated Rangjung Dorje, who was likely the first man to bear in his lifetime the identity of the Karmapa reincarnation line. Size: Size without Brocade: 15 inches by 20 inches Shipping: We ship within 2 business day. DHL Shipping: 5 to 8 business days with tracking number. Insurance against loss. We do wholesale too. Our one and only priority in this business is to provide "Hassle free Customer Satisfaction". 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