Chapter 3c - Lineages belonging to rong zom

The Lineage of this Holy Man: rong ban dpal gyi rin po che; his son rong ban rin chen tshul khrims; the latter’s son rong zom chos kyi bzang po and sgom chen chos 'phags. The sons of chos bzang: gzi brjid ‘bar and 'bum 'bar. The sons of gzi brjid ‘bar: ston dar and ston skyabs. Ston dar’s son ston seng. His son—jo sras ra pe. His son— ‘bum dpal. The son of ston skyabs—jo sras 'od zer. His son—the ācārya 'bum bstan. The sons of rong pa 'bum ‘bar—chos kyi rgyal mtshan, jo rtsegs, jo bzang and others. The son of chos kyi rgyal mtshan—ru Ānandavajra. Rong pa kun dga’. His son—the ācārya me dpung. The latter’s sons chos kyi bshes gnyen and chos bzhad. The son of rong pa jo bzang—the ācārya jo bkra. The latter’s sons dar bzang and rdo rje brtan. The son of dar bzang—the ācārya gser 'od. The son of jo brtan—nyi seng. His sons—‘od zer 'bum and 'bum rgod. Rong’s son—chos 'phags. The ācārya ston gyung. His son—jo sras lhas spungs. The latter’s son—the ācārya dar ma brtan, who was a great scholar in the Maitreya Doctrine.^[1] His son—the ācārya sra brtan rdo rje.

As stated above, this rong zom from his very birth was endowed with an excellent natural wisdom and a virtuous natural conduct. All contemporary scholars were filled with veneration towards him, for he was unobscured in the worldly and spiritual sciences, in the Sanskrit language and many other dialects. He also established the meaning of technical terms in Tibetan, paying proper attention to the different shades of meaning. He further mastered the different treatises, Sūtras and Tantras, and even composed treatises on secular subjects, such as agriculture, cattle-raising, and dairy-farming. He (30a) also penetrated the abodes and modes of action of most of the Tibetan gods and demons. His excellent theories differed from all (other doctrines). In this Snowland of Tibet no one appeared similar to him in learning.

He was the holder of numerous secret precepts belonging to the Lineages of past teachers. He thus heard the secret precepts of the ācārya pad+ma transmitted through the Spiritual Lineage of sna nam rdo rje bdud 'joms and mkhar chen dpal gyi dbang phyug, dom a tsa ra dpal me tog sgro, rdo rje gzhon nu, zhang zhung yon tan grags, rong ban yon tan rin chen and so on, till rong ban rin chen tshul khrims.

Further, the (Lineage) which originated with bai ro tsa na: g. Yu sgra snying po, who taught it to bla chen po dgongs pa gsal. The latter to grum shing gla can. The latter to grum 'shing glag can. The latter to snubs dpa' brtan. The latter to ya zi bon ston. The latter to rong zom. This is one of the Lineages of the "Mind" Class (sems sde).

At Idan glong thang sgron ma there appeared an ascetic named a ro ye shes 'byung gnas, who possessed the secret precepts of the seventh link in the chain of the Indian Lineage, as well as those of the seventh link of the Chinese Lineage of hwa shang (ho shang). He preached the system to cog ro zangs dkar mdzod khur and to ya zi bon ston. These two taught it to rong zom. This (Lineage) is called the " (Lineage) of the 'Great Perfection' (rdzogs chen) according to the khams method.

Again, bi ma la taught the Doctrine to myang ting 'dzin bzang po, as well as bestowed the secret precepts on rma rin chen mchog and gnyags dz+nyA na ku mA ra. These two transmitted them gradually to rong zom chos bzang through khu byang chub ‘od and khyung po dbyig ‘od.

Though the dates of birth and death of this great man are, as stated above, not to be found, it is said that Atīśa on his arrival in Tibet met him. Therefore he should be regarded as being almost a contemporary of 'gos lo tsā ba (rta nag khug pa lhas btsas), of the coming to Tibet of the latter’s teacher nag po dam tshig rdo rje, of go rub lo tsA ba, of mar pa do pa and of yang khyed bla ma. It is also stated that when ma cig zha ma’s brother rje ‘khon bubs (30b) was thirteen, he came to him as student.

The Chapter containing the story of rong zom chos kyi bzang po.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

i.e. The five treatises of Maitreya revealed by Ārya Asaṅga.