This auspicious, wish-granting stupa is a tamer of maras, meaningful to behold. May it be virtuous!
--- Chatral Rinpoche
Location
THE GREAT WORLD PEACE STUPA
As for the holy place where the excellent construction of this supreme sacred representation occurred and the need for such construction, it is said:
The profound key point for benefitting the teachings and beings,
General and specific, is the exhortation of time.
The compassionate will toss a spark
At a black garment with a white collar.
As such, the supreme, omniscient Protector of the World, who is the sublimely noble Avalokitesvara in human form, lovingly accepted Khenpo Tenzin Özer as his disciple and compassionately blessed, empowered, and gave him with his seal of entrustment. Then, he told Khenpo that in order to benefit the Dharma and beings in the world at large, and specifically to benefit the Dharma and beings in red-faced Tibet, as well as to ensure that beings such as him, who are holders of the teachings, have full lives and flourishing Dharma activities, Khenpo needed to build a Great World Peace Stupa, Naturally Liberating Upon Seeing, Sole Ornament of the Boundless Three Planes of Existence. Holding this profound command upon the crown of his head, Khenpo recalled the prophecy in the Embodiment of the Master’s Realization (dgongs ’dus) that states:
In the snowy land of Tibet,
In rest areas, prominent geographical junctures,
Mountains, rivers, vast plains, and valley intersections,
Wherever you like, if you look carefully,
You will find temples, stupas, and stone pillars,
And multi-storied buildings of great variety,
Inside of which are statues of the Lord of the Teachings, Buddha Shakyamuni,
The Medicine Buddha, and the Ten Wrathful Ones,
Frescoes and reliefs,
Casts and molds of every sort,
Used to suppress the eight classes of demons and evil spirits.
Also, it says in the Earth Ritual for Dharma Expansion from Rigdzin Düdül Dorje’s Innermost Secret Heart-Essence of the Dakini:
Moreover, in every part of Tibet,
In every vital spot, mountaintop and face,
If shrines to enlightened body, speech, and mind,
Are consecrated, through the rituals of accomplishment, aversion, suppression, burning, and expulsion,
The great enemies who again seek to defeat and seize Tibet,
The foreign armies at the four ports of entry, will be forever vanquished, have no doubt!
The sun of happiness will rise over the land of Tibet.
And:
At the nose of the black snake rushing down from the right-facing slope of the mountains,
Build Enlightenment Stupas of the Protectors of the Three Families.
Inspired by the infallible prophecies spoken by numerous great beings—learned and accomplished vidyadharas endowed with unobscured clairvoyance of the past, present, and future, Khenpo chose an extremely wonderful and auspicious place to build the Great World Peace Stupa. It is home to the incarnation line of Chaktsa Rinpoche, a Buddhist master of Dralak Monastery and the fifth golden throne-holder of the eastern Victorious Kathok Monastery, who was an emanation of Nubchen Sangye Yeshe, himself inseparable from the glorious Second Buddha of Oddiyana; the incarnation lines of the eight great masters of Dralak Monastery, such as the supreme protector Getse Tulku, Gyurme Tsewang Chokdrup; the incarnation line of Pema Ledrel Tsal, aka Khenchen Ngakgi Wangpo, who was a magical wisdom emanation of Mahapandita Vimalamitra; the abbot line of the clairvoyant vajra-holder Khenchen Münsel Rinpoche, who was a magical emanation of the great adept Vairotsana, inseparable from Omniscient Longchenpa; the abbot lines of Dralak Khenchen Trime Özer, Khenchen Tupten Norbu, and others; as well as numerous other learned and accomplished great beings, such as the Central Tibetan Dakini Dewey Dorje (Sera Khandro), who was a manifestation of Dakini Yeshe Tsogyal. It is here that these great beings have turned the wheel of the holy Dharma, granting empowerments, transmissions, oral instructions, and guidance on Sutra, Mantra, and the auxiliary sciences, and brought their disciples to maturation. In short, this great monastic center has been graced by their presence and consecrated by their blessings.
This extremely beautiful and auspicious place fits the description given in the fifth chapter of Traktung Galpo’s Examining Substances and Sites:
Search for a sublimely perfect place,
A site of supreme wisdom and concentration,
A place of auspicious great purity,
Beautiful, joyous, and delightful:
That is a supreme place.
Also, it says in the Secret General Tantra (gsang ba spyi rgyud):
Even terrain, clean and shiny,
Completely free of the flaw of sorrow,
Flowing down to the east and north,
Such a place is most auspicious of all.
The supreme site Khenpo chose is just as these passages describe. On an outer, ordinary, geographic and geomantic level, it is situated in Tibet, the Land of Snows, Sal Trees, and Medicinal Herbs, in the Lower Amdo region, in the Dayul Garden of Abundance. On the right side flows the long, placid Dalung River, and on the left side is the blue Drachu River. The land is beautiful and auspicious. A long range of lofty mountain peaks towers behind, and on the central peak, prayer flags adorn the life stone, sang throne, and dwelling place of the local protector deity, Nyenchen Tanglha. There is a path to circumambulate the virtuous deity for blessings and prosperity. The mountain slopes are arrayed with beautiful, naturally-appearing images like Dharma conchs. To the right and left of the mountain are two auspicious sacred valleys, and from these valleys flow the two rivers. According to oral accounts of many great beings of the past, the crystal clear, divine, blue water that flows gently down these rivers is endowed with the eight qualities of excellent water. The triple confluence of these two rivers with the Dra River in front offers an auspicious metaphor for the merging of the three lineages into one.
The mountain in front resembles a heap of precious jewels. During the three summer months, red and white wildflowers bloom on its slopes, their myriad petals like a thousand-colored brush. Their stunning natural beauty enchants the eye. Youthful honeybees hover and whiz about, while cuckoos, grey-winged blackbirds, and myriad other birds sound their melodious calls over the spacious meadows that stretch out before them. This beautiful place has all the geomantic signs of auspiciousness, including the four earthly guardians—the white tiger of the east, the turquoise dragon of the south, the red phoenix of the west, and the yellow turtle of the north, as well as the four lungta deities, the magic rope of the sky, the tethering stake of the earth, and the three-tiered seat. As it is said:
Earth for houses, earth for fields, the virtues of earth,
Drinking water, irrigation water, the virtues of water,
Wild pastures, highland pastures, the virtues of grass,
Wood for houses, wood for fires, the virtues of wood,
Stone for houses, stone for milling, the virtues of stone.
The ten virtues of earth, alluded to in this verse, are perfectly complete, and the geomantic features are excellent.
On an inner, extraordinary level, of the four kinds of great power-places related to enlightened body, speech, mind, qualities, and activities, this sublime power-place is related to both enlightened qualities and activities. This place, which is identical to the actual glorious Kalachakra mandala, is home to Dralak Shedrup Do-ngak Ling, “Dralak Center of Study and Practice of Sutra and Mantra,” also known as Tupten Shedrup Gatsel Ling, “Happy Garden Center of Buddhist Study and Practice.” It is clearly prophesied in the power-place prophecies of Sera Khandro, who was a manifestation of Yeshe Tsogyal:
Supreme support of enlightened qualities, glorious Kalachakra stupa,
Enlightened activities that tame beings, happy garden of study and practice.
This symbolic prophecy clearly speaks of both the Kalachakra Stupa and the Enlightenment Stupa that were built here long ago by Kathok Getse Mahapandita. Likewise, there are descriptions of the great power-places that exist to the north and east of here, and others as well. Not far from here, in the east of the Land of Snows, in the Zolmo Gang mountain range, in the direction of Dayul, which is one of the twenty-five great power-places, is Drakkar Dorje Lhunpo, and nearby is:
The supreme place of enlightened body is Tosum Jangchup Jong.
This great power-place, which is identical to great, glorious Yangleshöd, there is a naturally-arisen image of the sublime deity Vajrakumara, visible even now. It is described in the same symbolic prophecy:
In northern Jambudvipa, in the mountains of the Land of Snows,
Amid the snowy ranges in eastern Zolmo Gang,
Dayul, one of the twenty-five great power-places,
Nearby Drakkar Dorje Lhunpo is
The supreme place of enlightened body, Tosum Jangchup Jong.
Blessed as a power-place of Kila activity,
It is identical to great glorious Yangleshöd.
This reveals that the Red Boulder Tosum Jangchup Jong is a great power-place of enlightened body, and likewise, the remote Tsanglung Secret Cave hermitage is a supreme power-place of enlightened speech. The same prophecy continues:
The supreme place of speech, Tsanglung Sangpuk Mountain,
Is equal to the glorious mountain of Samye Chimphu.
Through the aspects of enlightened body, speech, mind, qualities, and activities,
It is filled with naturally-appearing emblems of enlightened body.
Outwardly, it is the buddhafield of the Glorious Copper-Colored Mountain,
Inwardly, it is the place of Avalokitesvara, embodiment of all the sugatas,
Secretly, it is the Array of Turquoise Leaves buddhafield,
Innermost secretly, it is the Akanishta Great Bliss pure realm.
Furthermore, the remote power-place of Mighty Hayagriva’s enlightened speech is Sangshur Cave, to the east of Dralag Monastery. The prophecy continues:
Connected with this is the power-place of Hayagriva,
The sacred place of Mighty Hayagriva’s speech is Lotus Cave,
The secret cave of Hayagriva says HAYA GRIVA HRI,
HRI MA HA RI NI SA and the three seed-syllables,
The shapes of a curved blade, skull cup, staff, and sword,
Katvanga, vajra, and kila hand implements,
Self-arisen deity forms appear on the light and dark sides of the valley,
Noble elder monks throughout the valley,
Mountains of the Four Guardian Kings, forests, and waterfalls,
Buddhas and their heirs, vidyadhara masters,
Whose unobstructed blessings, bodhichitta, and dependent arising
Cause the blessings of the triple-lineage masters to billow like clouds,
Divine gifts of yidam deities and dakinis to shower down like rain,
Activity of the dakinis of the three worlds to flash like lightning,
And Dharma protectors and treasure guardians to work swiftly like servants.
Similarly, the supreme power-place of enlightened mind is Drira Senge Dzong. This is mentioned, as well, in the same prophecy:
The sacred place of enlightened mind is Dripuk Senge Dzong.
As this describes, the power-places in the region of Dayul, which have self-arisen deity forms and seed-syllables that can be seen by anyone, are very special great power-places of enlightened body, speech, mind, qualities, and activities. This is not mere exaggeration or contrivance; such descriptions clearly appear in all the pilgrimage guides. Therefore, it is certain that any efforts made to protect and restore this place, and any sacred representations of enlightened body, speech, and mind built here will bring vast benefit to everyone, locally and universally.
Moreover, as I have mentioned above, numerous accomplished vidyadharas have set foot here and blessed this great monastic seat, which is one of four main branch monasteries of the eastern Victorious Kathok Monastery, the sole ornament of the glorious Early Translation Nyingma School. Da Dralak Monastery, known as Shedrup Do-ngak Ling, “Center of the Study and Practice of Sutra and Mantra,” whose history spans some seven hundred years, is a universally-renowned major monastery. This concludes my brief description of the special place where the Great World Peace Stupa was built.
On high, majestic mountains, auspicious symbols shine,
Clusters of flowers adorn spacious meadows,
Four limpid rivers, turquoise dragons, unite as mother and child,
Dagyud Dralak is truly a joyous pure realm.
Virtuous guardians, dispel outer and inner obstacles!
Three Jewels, deities, and masters, grant your blessings and fortune!
May the saffron-clad sangha expand like a summer lake,
And may Dralak Do-ngak Shedrup Monastery flourish!
