The founding master of the Kathok Monastery, Dampa Desheg, was the actual Manjushri himself, not being in the least different from Manjushri.  He was also known as Sherab Sengge Pobpa Thaye.  Dampa Desheg was once the great Indian highly accomplished Arhat Bharadvaja and later became Shantideva.  He also emanated as Yeshe Tsogyal in Tibet and as the Nyak translator Yeshe Zhonnu as well as other emanations.  He was born in the Kham region, in a place called Di-dza Kang in Chuzhi Kangdrug (Six Rivers & Six Ridges).  His father was a yogi (a tantric practitioner) by the name of Changpa Paldrag.  His mother was Tsangmo Rinchen Gyan.  His father had four sons and one daughter.  His elder brother was the founder of the Phagdru Kagyu school, Phagmo Drubpa Dorje Gyalpo.  Dampa Desheg was the second son.

Dampa Desheg was born in 1122AD amidst many wonderful signs.  His father was very pleased and named him Gewa Phel (Increasing Virtue).  In his youth, he was an eloquent and resourceful boy with rosy lips and white teeth.  From his infancy, he possessed a spirit of renunciation and did not like wine or meat.  From his fifth year, his father taught him to read and write.  From his sixth year, he drew and sculptured Buddha images, learnt astrology, modern and ancient medical science, poetry and songs, worldly litigation and memorized the large Prajnaparamita sutra.  In the meanwhile, he also received the upasaka vows from Acharya Pal-dzin.

When he was nine years old, due to his strong revulsion for worldly affairs, he listened to the advice of his father and went to Ling, where he studied the Tripitaka of Vinaya, Sutras and Abhidharma at his brother’s monastery Palgyi Cho-nkhor.  There he received the Bodhisattva vows and his brother taught him the Dharma, inspiring him with exceedingly great joy.  This was followed by him receiving the Vajra Tummo and Cakrasamvara empowerments where many signs of accomplishments manifested.  He also received the Palden Lhamo transmission and although Dampa Desheg had never practiced this deity, he saw Palden Lhamo descending.

When Dampa Desheg was sixteen, he proceeded to Kam-po and studied the Dharma with Geshe Jampa Namdag.  He received many empowerments, transmissions and learnt how to teach the Dharma.  When he was nineteen, he went to Lhasa in Central Tibet and relied on Geshe Do-thog Thelpa Gyamtsen, Geshe Gya-mar-wa, receiving many kinds of teachings such as Kalachakra and was exposed to many ways of doing practice.

When Dampa Desheg was twenty-one, he went to Reting monastery where he met the Kadampa scholar Sengge Zangpo who taught him the Bodhipathapradīpa, the Perfections, Madhyamaka, Pramana and gave him many tantric empowerments and instructions.  Later, he went to see the Sakya Dharma Kings Sonam Tsemo and Kun-ga Legpa, from whom he received the Hevajra, Lamdre, Vajra Tent, Sakya Vajrakilaya and so forth. He received Yamataka empowerment from the various lineages of Sakya, oral transmissions and many teachings.

Dampa Desheg once went to the inner court of Maitreya in the Tushita heaven in his meditation and received many incomparably pure clarifications of his doubts.  He relied on various great translators for many empowerments and instructions: Cakrasamvara from the disciple of Rva Lotsawa Kam Lotsawa, Vajravarahi from Chog-ro Lotsawa, Thrul Yig (Miraculous Scripts) from Baro Lotsawa and so forth.  After receiving the empowerments, he practiced arduously in retreat.

When Dampa Desheg was twenty-four, he went to Phenyul Gyab and took ordination with Jangchub Sengge.  He was given the name Sherab Sengge (Prajna Lion).  He made great efforts to study the Nyingmapa teachings including the Dzogchen Generation and Completion Stages, practices related to prana (lung), nadi (tsa) and bindu (tigle) and all the transmissions and empowerments.  His realisation and knowledge became unimpeded like the Buddha!  Extrasensory perceptions manifested in a wonderous manner, and in every practice he engaged, the deity appeared.  All the accomplished masters in Tibet praised him as a great scholar and mahasiddha, his fame spread in the ten directions!

When he was twenty-five, he went to Mt Kailash and met with the disciple of Milarepa, Rechungpa.  He received the teachings on the Blue Cakrasamvara and the Bodiless Dakini.  Later he also met Repa Zhiwa Od and learnt the tummo practice from him.  He went to Narthang Buddhist college, the highest buddhist college in Tibet to receive the full Bhikshu vows from Khenchen Depa Nagkyi who was in the lineage of Lumey Sherlajyang.  From then on, he kept his vows like Upali (Nyewankor) of India.  He also received the Vidyadhara symbolic lineage of the Nyingmapas, the hidden treasure lineages, and, the kama and terma lineages. He also received the empowerments and all the teachings of the mind, oral transmission and foremost instructions section of the four root texts of the Illusory Web from Dzamton Drowa’i Gonpo who was the disciple of one of the Nyingma Zur masters, Zur Shakya Sengge (Sangdag Drophugpa).

When Dampa Desheg was twenty-nine, his teacher Dzamtonpa predicted that Dampa would accomplish the rainbow body if he practiced at the Kampo mountains, but that if he went to the Kathok holy site where Guru Padmasambhava practiced to teach and propagate the dharma, there would be more than a hundred-thousand disciples attaining rainbow body, His teacher also predicted that Dampa Desheg’s lineage would last for more than a thousand years!

Following that, Dampa Desheg made his way to Zang-ri Khar-mar where he learnt the Chod teachings from Tho-nyon, son of the Chod founding master Machig Labdron, and a ‘crazy’ accomplished yogi named Drubthob Nyonpa Thonden.  He also went to Dagpo, where he received Mahamudra (phyag chen lhan cig skyes sbyor, co-emergent union of mahamudra) teachings from Dagpo Lharje (Gampopa), the main disciple of Milarepa.  In Tsari, Dampa Desheg practiced in retreat for four months.

After he had attained accomplishment, Dampa Desheg returned to his teacher (Gampopa) and offered his realisation to his teacher.  When he recited the six syllables mantra, rainbow light shone from his mouth. After the teacher bestowed upon him the full set of Dharma robes and accoutrements, blessed objects and an offering scarf (khata), Dampa Desheg left to look for the Kathok mountains.  Dagpo Lharje also made a prophecy then that Dampa Desheg would choose the path of benefitting beings!

Dampa Desheg also met Karmapa Dusum Khyenpa on his way.  Their realisations were equal and Dampa Desheg also received teachings and initiations from Karmapa, becoming his excellent disciple.  By this time, Dampa Desheg had received teachings from more than a hundred teachers amongst the mahasiddhas and had perfected all stages of the path!

Between the age of thirty-three and thirty-five, Dampa Desheg went to the kingdom of Dali in Xi-Xia (Nan Chao) and the country of Ling. He taught the Dharma to the royalty.  Through the patronage of the royalty and his status as their master, Dampa caused some nine-hundred people to take ordination and gave them various initiations and transmissions from different schools.

At the age of thirty-six, Dampa Desheg returned to his home-town and the local mountain god came to welcome him and left after receiving some teachings from Dampa Desheg.  He searched for Kathok with his attendant Dorje Gyamtsen and reached the village Horpo at the foot of the Kathok mountains.  At Yungdrung Thangdar in Horpo, there was a Bonpo monastery, above which Palden Lhamo (rang byung rgyal mo, a form of Shri Devi) appeared and kindly indicated the direction of Kathok saying, “Son, go in that direction!”

Dampa Desheg followed the directions of Palden Lhamo and saw thirteen young boys herding cows.  He asked the boys, “Where is Kathok?”  The boys unanimously pointed at an opposite hill.  He continued on the way and discovered a huge rock with a natural syllable “Ah” and “Ka” in the forest.  The lion-like mountain had a turquoise lake.  Dampa Desheg walked to the practice cave of the great master Vairotsana.  Beside the  hermitage, water sprouted out spontaneously.

In Horpo village, the village chief Gelu admired Dampa Desheg’s practice very much but because most of the people ascribed to the Bon beliefs, there was no major following of Dampa Desheg.  Auspicious factors soon ripened and Gelu became a sponsor of Dampa Desheg, gradually, disciples increased like the waxing of the moon, their devotion to their teacher became stronger and stronger, they were willing to help Dampa Desheg establish a monastery and requested him to stay on in that area.

When the decision was made to build the monastery, the Bon mountain god Do Nyan who had hitherto received his offerings from the Bon worshippers was apprised of it and created obstacles to the construction by taking a human form at night.  At that time, Dampa Desheg was teaching the Cakrasamvara tantra.  The next morning, it was snowing heavily, Dampa Desheg and his attendants Dorje Gyamsten and Bhikshu Ding-po went out hunting down the mountain god and traced his footsteps to a large boulder.  Dampa Desheg drilled two holes into the boulder which happen to be the deity’s nostrils and tied it with a rope.  He asked his disciple to drag the boulder (with the mountain god in it) and while dragging, Dampa Desheg whipped the rock so that stripes after stripes of welts appeared on it.  The whipping went on until the rock was tugged to the side of a stream beside Kathok monastery.  The mountain god was in unbearable pain and could only surrender in the end by taking a vow to protect Kathok!  From then on, the huge boulder remains in that place, where the whipped welts are amazingly still visible today!

After that, Dampa Desheg’s disciples and listeners of his teachings multiplied by the day till there were more than a thousand followers.  They built the monastery in the day and listened to the teachings at night, practicing purification of negative karma while listening to the teachings through the hard work of building the monastery.  All the builders, stone-masons and craftsmen poured their heart and soul into the construction of the Kathok monastery day and night.

The monastery had a huge main hall with a garden and the Hall of Awakening Incense beside it.  In the main hall was a very large Buddha statue, wall paintings, other statues of Buddhas of the past, present and future as well as the eight Bodhisattvas, door gods, protectors and other such murals.  Treasured collections of Dharma objects include the hand-written scripts of Padmasambhava and Vimalamitra, the five Indian texts (“Illusory Display”) written on palm-leaves, the robes of the Mahasiddha Sangdag Drophugpa, Mahasiddha Zurpoche Shakya Jungne’s tooth, Lama Atisha’s Pandit hat, Nub Sangye Yeshe’s Vajrakilaya dagger, Buddha Shakyamuni’s body relic, Tengyur, hand-copied Kangyur and the large Prajnaparamita sutra written in gold ink and silver ink.  In all, there were more than a thousand three hundred tomes.

Kathok Monastery’s construction began in 1159 AD, lasted for two years and was completed in the year of the Dragon.

When Kathok monastery was consecrated, the clear bright sky suddenly revealed rainbows and the entire Kathok monastery was cloaked in halos of light.  There were exquisite music wafting through space and the sounds of Dharma instruments.  Many fresh colorful flowers showered down like rain, and many auspicious signs occurred that indicated the presence of the deities residing in Kathok.  Many people saw these marvelous and rare auspicious signs and were so exhilarated that it seemed they were transported beyond their bodies and minds.

More than four thousand monastics and vow-holders from various parts of Tibet, Dali and Li-Jiang etc, came and assembled to practise the Sutric Mahayana, Kalachakra, Cakrasamvara, Hevajra and so forth.

The Ling King (a descendant of King Gesar) invited Dampa Desheg to the country of Ling.  On this occasion, Dampa Desheg received the armor and helmet of Gyatsa – the minister of King Gesar.

Dampa Desheg became increasingly powerful and influential which led to discontent of the Bonpos.  In a cave at Gam, the Bonpos cast a curse at Dampa Desheg but the spell was turned back by Palden Lhamo which caused a huge boulder to crush the cave, killing the Bonpos.  Dampa Desheg drew a visva-vajra (crossed vajra) on the boulder with his finger and the rock remains to this day.  It is called the ‘rock that buried eight people’.

The headman of Horpo, Gelu, Xi-Xia’s King Tajin, Li-jiang’s King of Dali, King of Ling, Kongpo Kaleb, East Tsongkha, Gyalrong etc and the various local rulers venerated Dampa Desheg highly and were his sponsors.

When Dampa Desheg was forty, he established a college and retreat center.  He initiated the great practice of the “Very Secret Assemblage” (shin tu gsang ba ‘dus pa mdo) where there was an attendance of more than two thousand Bhikshus.  In the summer he concentrated on teaching the sutric and tantric scriptures and commentaries.  In the winter, he gave empowerments, transmissions and in the course of three years, Dampa Desheg taught a syllabus of how to peruse the sutras, debate on the scriptures, teach the scriptures, listen to the scriptures, logic and epistemology, craftsmanship, medicine, arithmatics, Vinaya, Prajnaparamita, Madhyamaka, Abhidharmakosabhasyam, Bodhisattvacharyāvatāra, Hevajra, Sakya’s Lamdre, Kagyu’s Six Yogas of Naropa, Mahamudra, Kalachakra and other tantras of the new schools.  He also taught the methods of practice, gave empowerments and transmissions of the Nyingmapa’s three teachings of Sutra (“Gathering Of Secret Intent”), Illusion (“Net Of Illusory Display (Mayajala): Glorious Essence Of Secret (Shri Guhyagarbha)” )  and Mind (“The Eighteen Mother & Child Scriptures”), and, Sem-de, Long-de and Men-ngag-de with all the various empowerments and transmissions.  He gave teachings adapted to the diverse capacities of beings.  In a single day, Dampa Desheg could transmit up to thirteen different teachings!

When Dampa Desheg’s root teacher Dzamtonpa attained the rainbow body at the age of 100, Dampa Desheg organized a major Dharma ceremony at Kathok monastery to commemorate his teacher.  By then, Dampa Desheg had disciples who were as numerous as the stars and amongst them two were outstandingly brilliant like the sun or moon, they were Tsangtonpa (the second lineage master Tsangton Dorje Gyamtsen) and Khenchen Drag-ye.

Disciples who attained the rainbow body were Acharya Bumton, Tsari lama Gon-gyal, Yonten Bum from Central Tibet, Jamyang Yonten of Me-nyag, Sherab the fully ordained monk of Ling.

Those who attained realization instantaneously when listening to the teachings include the three friends of Gyalmorong: Bhikshu Sherab Gyamtsen, Sherab Sengge (Dorje) and Sherab Pawo

Ten disciples attained the stage of supreme attribute (amongst the four stages of warmth, summit, acceptance and supreme attribute), while three disciples attained acceptance. There were more than a hundred great Acharyas and more than eighty thousand monastics.

The monastics of Kathok were unfettered by worldly concerns through the guidance of Dampa Desheg.  Their outer appearances were noble and dignified while internally they were fully of the supreme Bodhichitta and profound realizations.  The Sangha at Kathok in that period became the wellspring for the great wisdom and Mahasiddhas of the snowy land of Tibet!

Dampa Desheg taught countless students in his life.  The scriptures of Vinaya, Sutra and Abhidharma he propagated, compositions about his practice and view, practice texts, the accounts of his conduct and speech, his poetries and songs, and other writings for benefitting the minds of others are assorted and bountiful.  They are rich and vast, acclaimed by others and make up a total of nineteen volumes.  But due to impermanence and the evanescence of this world, nothing is left of these!

From his infancy, the auspicious Mahakala (Four-armed Mahakala) and the self-arisen Goddess (Palden Lhamo) have been by Dampa Desheg’s side to protect him.  Many mountain gods and earth deities have also complied with his orders and performed tasks for him.  He could see Manjushri, Avalokiteshvara, Mahāsthāmaprāpta (Vajrapani), Maitreya, Tara, Vajrakilaya, Cakrasamvara, Yamantaka and other Bodhisattvas and mandalas directly.  Dampa Desheg was able to meet directly the great Indian Mahasiddha Saraha (Nagarjuna’s teacher), Birwapa (Virupa), Indrabhuti, Bharadhaja and converse with them.  He often saw Sukhavati (pure realm of Amitabha) and the pure realm of Guru Rinpoche in his meditations and received the prophecies, teachings and predictions of both Amitabha Buddha and Guru Padmasambhava.

Dampa Desheg had the following external signs of accomplishment: his body did not cast any shadow; he had no obstructions in walking, standing, sitting or lying down, and could pass through walls, the external material world seemed to have no hold over him; his body often emitted the variegated colors of rainbow light which could be seen with our normal eyes.  Dampa Desheg could also carve the six syllables mantra (OM MANI PADME HUNG) on the hard rocks with merely his finger; when he was practicing, nectar naturally flowed from all the tormas used in his practice, the skies rained with fresh flowers and dharma music resounded in the space.  The sounds of the Amitabha epithet and mani mantra were often heard continuously out of thin air.  He was able to know with exactitude everything in the past, present and future.  These unique abilities were well known by many people and his story continues to be passed on today.

When Dampa Desheg was 70 years old, he transmitted the Bodhisattva vows and initiations to more than 70,000 devotees.  At that time, he passed his Pandita hat and old mantle to the holder of his mind transmission, Tsangton Dorje Gyamtsen, appointing him as the successor of the lineage.  Khenpo Ye-gyal was appointed as the main professor of the Buddhist college and Kongpo Buchungwa as the main teacher of the practice center.

When Dampa Desheg was 71, he gathered all the disciples and advised them: “Regardless of the height of your view, the Buddhadharma’s essence is contained in the Vinaya, therefore, pay close attention to all your speech and conduct, exercise utmost caution; the Buddhadharma’s crucial meaning is not found in the mastery over words and texts but in the comprehension and realization of the heart-essence of the definitive meaning; no matter what level of practice of the Hinayana, Mahayana or Vajrayana you are engaging in, nothing is more important that taming your own mind! You should put yourselves in a lowly position and learn humbly; you must all focus on practice diligently and regard Dharma practice as the only goal.  The reason for the continuous manifestation of rainbow body by the lineage Gurus is due to the merits of diligent practice!  If I had gone to the Kampo mountains to practice, ordinary beings will witness my attainment of rainbow body, however, due to the necessity of perpetuating the Buddhadharma and to pass the lineage to later generations, I have chosen the practice path of teaching the Dharma.  To me, there is utterly no difference between the two paths because I have already attained the eternal level of perfection.

Dampa Desheg further instructed repeatedly:

You must never forget Bodhichitta, never ever forget this, practice is to look back at your own nature, don’t seek externally!

During this time, Kathok Monastery held a huge feast-offering ceremony.  After the ceremony had concluded, the disciples knew that Dampa Desheg was nearing his parinirvana and repeatedly requested him to stay on, Dampa Desheg replied, “The causes and conditions for this body to truly benefit beings have been exhausted, I would be going to the pureland of Amitabha.  I pray that the Buddhadharma will continue to remain for a long time, flourish and be taught to many beings, and that the lineage holders will live long and benefit beings!”

Following this, he went to the Garden of Completely Pleasing Dharma, faced the western direction, placed his hands in the mudra of resting in the nature of mind and entered parinirvana!

This was on the fifteenth day of the fourth month in 1192 AD.  According to Tibetan Buddhism, this is also the day on which Buddha Shakyamuni entered his mother’s womb, attained enlightenment and entered parinirvana.

When Dampa Desheg entered parinirvana, instantly the earth quaked nine times in thunderous roars and a rainbow appeared, spanning from the western horizon to the place where Dampa Desheg had entered parinirvana.  It was just like a bridge of seven colors.  The clear sky began to snow and all the beings who witnessed these auspicious signs aroused unparalleled faith and planted the seeds for liberation from samsara.

Dampa Desheg’s disciple (the second Kathok lineage master), Tsangton Dorje Gyamtsen, led three hundred Bhikshus to conduct the cremation.  During the cremation, a huge red flower grew out from the side of the pyre.  After the cremation, Buddha figures manifested on the skull bone and an image of the Thousand Arms Thousand Eyes Avalokiteshvara appeared on the forehead bone, beside Avalokiteshvara was the Amogapasha bodhisattva, on his right is the five Dhyani Buddhas, in the four directions are the four door-guarding deities, at the crown is the Herukas of the ten sections, on the right side of the crown is Samantabhadra, on the left side are the sixteen deities of Koseng, on the interior is Manjushri, on the posterior is Vajrakilaya.  Behind the spine is Shakyamuni Buddha, Shariputra and Maudgalyayana.  Many Buddha images can be seen on the skull bone.  The Buddha images were extremely minute, identical to the original Buddha forms and somewhat akin to miniaturized carvings. This precious and amazing skull-bone relic is still preserved up till today.

After the cremation, a thousand relics manifested. The monastics created a stupa and hall to commemorate Dampa Desheg, preserve the holy traces of his activities and to celebrate his incredible accomplishment of Dzogchen.

Note:

(1)  Lu-med Sherlajyang is a Tibetan Buddhist scholar during the time of the Northern Sung dynasty.  He received precepts from Gongpa Raser and returned to Tibet.  He is the foremost of the ten youths of U-Tsang (who played a role in restoring the purity of precepts in a time of degeneration of discipline in Tibet)