Geshe Langri Tangpa ...

Bodhisattva Langri Tangpa was born in central Tibet in the eleventh century AD. His actual name was Dorje Senge, but he became known as Langri Tangpa after Lang Tang, the area in which he lived. He was a disciple of Geshe Potowa, who was one of the principal disciples of the Indian Buddhist Master Atisha, the founder of Kadampa Buddhism in Tibet. 

Geshe Potowa was renowned throughout Tibet as a great scholar who showed an immaculate example to other practitioners, emphasizing the practice of bodhichitta, the altruistic mind of enlightenment. He wrote many profound scriptures of Kadampa Buddhism, and in particular a text called The Scripture of Examples in which he used everyday experiences to illustrate the meaning of Dharma. In this text he recounted a story about a thief who had broken into a house, found a barrel of chang, or Tibetan beer, and proceeded to get drunk. The family was woken by his singing: ’How happy I am to be drinking from the mouth of the barrel of chang, but how much more wonderful it would be if I were drinking from the bottom of the barrel!’ Geshe Potowa used the thief’s song as a parable, changing the words to: ’How happy we are to be practicing Dharma from the mouth, but how much more wonderful it would be if we were practicing it from the bottom of our hearts!’ There was a saying in Tibet that Geshe Potowa’s disciples were as numerous as stars in the sky, and that his two principal disciples, Geshe Langri Tangpa and Geshe Sharawa, were like the sun and the moon. 

Bodhisattva Langri Tangpa was widely respected throughout Tibet as a holy person, and was recognized by many great meditators as an emanation of Buddha Amitabha. Although others regarded him as special, he always behaved in a humble manner and viewed others as important and worthy of respect. Completely indifferent to wealth, status, and other worldly attainments, for many years he was very poor, living almost like a beggar. Inwardly, however, he was engaged in the practice known as ’accepting defeat and offering the victory to others’ – happily accepting whatever difficulties and adverse conditions he encountered, and offering his happiness and good conditions to others. His willing acceptance of poverty and hardship was a good example to other spiritual practitioners.

Bodhisattva Langri Tangpa’s demeanor was very different from that of most people. We tend to be overly concerned that others like us, and so make a great effort to present a cheerful aspect, no matter how we feel inside. Langri Tangpa was the opposite. He maintained such a stern, unsmiling expression that he was nicknamed ’Grim Face’. His assistant once said to him: ’People are calling you ”Grim Face”. When they come to receive blessings from you, it would be good if you could smile sometimes and speak gently to them.’ Langri Tangpa replied: ’What you say is true, but I find it difficult to find anything in samsara to smile about. Whenever I see someone I think of their suffering, and instead of laughing I feel like crying.’ It was due to his deep compassion for all living beings that Langri Tangpa found it difficult to smile. It is important not to misunderstand this. Langri Tangpa was not unhappy; his compassion and other spiritual realizations protected him from ever feeling depressed and caused him to experience great joy. However, he saw clearly that there is no true happiness in samsara, and that confusing worldly pleasure with real happiness serves only to bind us more tightly to samsara. His stern manner challenged people to confront their actual samsaric situation and to enter into spiritual paths. 

Langri Tangpa rarely laughed, and when he did it was so unusual that his assistant made a note of it. On one occasion Langri Tangpa was meditating in a cave on a hillside overlooking a river. It was mid-winter and the river was completely iced over. A traveling potter was crossing the river, but, laden with pots, he kept slipping over and breaking them. As the potter knew that Langri Tangpa was somewhere up on the hillside, whenever he slipped he would call out ’0 Langri Tangpa, Grim Face! ’, in much the same way as people in the West say ’0 God!’ or ’0 Jesus!’ in similar situations. Langri Tangpa heard him and thought it was so funny that he started laughing. 

On another occasion, after Langri Tangpa had been offered a large piece of turquoise he saw a mouse trying to steal it from his meditation table. Unable to move the stone, the mouse went away and returned with four other mice. The first mouse, which was the smallest, lay on its back, and the other mice pushed the turquoise onto its stomach. They each took one of its legs, and, pushing and pulling, managed to drag the turquoise to their mouse hole. However, when they got there they found that the stone was too large to fit through the hole, and so they had to leave it behind. Langri Tangpa found this so amusing that he laughed out loud. 

Despite his stern appearance, through his actions people gradually came to understand that Bodhisattva Langri Tangpa’s real nature was very special. Recognizing him to be a holy being, they made many offerings to him, but as soon as anyone gave him anything he would immediately offer it to his Spiritual Guide, Geshe Potowa, and to the community of Geshe Potowa’s disciples. Just before Geshe Potowa passed away, Langri Tangpa made two promises in front of him: to give away all his possessions, and not to remain in any one place for long. From then on, whenever he traveled to a new place he would give away any possessions he had accumulated and move on empty-handed. By happily accepting poverty and continuously practicing generosity, Langri Tangpa accumulated a vast amount of merit. As a result of all this merit, later in his life he received so many offerings that he was able to establish a large monastery, support two thousand monks, and help many poor people. Without engaging in any business activities or making any effort to acquire wealth he nevertheless became rich simply through accumulating merit. Every month he would give away all he owned, but the next month he would be given even more! Although Langri Tangpa’s generosity initially made him poor, the merit he accumulated through his practice of giving later made him very wealthy.

Langri Tangpa was also a great scholar and practitioner. His main practices were exchanging self with others, accepting defeat and offering the victory, and bodhichitta – all of which are explained in this book. By teaching these practices to others he led many thousands of disciples to enlightenment. Even the area of Lang Tang in which he lived was blessed by his presence, such that the local people became peaceful and friendly and the animals and birds lived in harmony. He also had a special power to cure sickness and pacify obstacles, and on one occasion was able to protect the lives of many people by causing dangerous floods to recede. 

Langri Tangpa practiced accepting defeat and offering the victory to others all the time, both in meditation and in daily life. Once a young woman living nearby had a child who became seriously ill. She had already lost her first child and, fearing that this child might die too, she consulted a Lama who told her that the way to save her daughter was to give her to Geshe Langri Tangpa. ’But how can a monk look after a baby?’, she asked. The Lama replied: ’Geshe Langri Tangpa is a Bodhisattva. His nature is to accept all hardship and give all good conditions to others, and so he will definitely agree to look after your child.’ 

The woman went to Langri Tangpa with her baby, but found him sitting on a throne teaching a large audience. Still not really believing that he would accept the baby, yet convinced that if she did not give her to him the baby would surely die, she strode up to him and placed the baby in his lap, saying: ’Here is your baby. I cannot feed her. You look after her.’ To the surprise of his disciples, Langri Tangpa accepted the child. Although some people assumed that he really was the father and began to develop doubts about him, Langri Tangpa was unconcerned. Tenderly wrapping the child in his yellow robe, he carried on with the discourse. When he had finished he took the child home, fed her, and blessed her. He cared for her for two years, and through his blessings she was completely cured. After two years the mother returned to see if her daughter was well. When she saw how healthy the child was, she asked Langri Tangpa if she could have her daughter back, and the kind Geshe immediately complied. From this and many other examples of his selfless behavior everyone came to understand that Langri Tangpa was a very special, holy person. 

It was not only in that life that Langri Tangpa worked extensively to benefit living beings and spread Buddhadharma in Tibet; he had done the same in many previous incarnations and continued to do so in subsequent lives. In a previous life, as the translator Gowa Pagtse, he had traveled to India, learnt Sanskrit, and translated many Buddhist texts into Tibetan. Later he reincarnated as Je Tsongkhapa’s principal disciple Khädrubje, as Gyalwa Ensäpa, and as the first and second Panchen Lamas. 

When I was in Lhasa I met my Spiritual Father, Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, for the first time, and just seeing him reminded me of Bodhisattva Langri Tangpa. I felt great devotion towards him and often thought that he must be an emanation of Langri Tangpa. A senior monk later gave me a small book that listed the names of Trijang Rinpoche’s previous incarnations, and among these was the name ’Geshe Langri Tangpa’. I was so happy to find my previous belief confirmed! 

Because Langri Tangpa is Buddha Amitabha, and a Buddha’s compassion is unlimited, there are definitely emanations of Langri Tangpa throughout the world even though we do not recognize them. We can be certain that his emanations are working in the West to benefit living beings and to spread Buddhadharma. The only reason we do not recognize them is that our minds are clouded by ignorance. 

Through sincerely practicing the instructions on training the mind, Bodhisattva Langri Tangpa found ultimate happiness and helped many others to do the same. He then explained the essence of his experience of Dharma in Eight Verses of Training the Mind. Based on this text, later Kadampa Lamas such as Geshe Chekhawa spread the study and practice of Kadam Lojong, or training the mind, throughout Tibet. We should consider ourself very fortunate to have met such precious teachings.

(from 'Eight Steps to Happiness', by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso)

© Geshe Kelsang Gyatso and New Kadampa Tradition 2001