Four Seasons at Chubu Monastery: Spring in the Jeweled Land
Created between 1992 and 1994, this silk thangka made its initial appearance at Chubu Monastery in May 1994 དཔལ་གྱི་སྟོད་ལུང་མཚུར་ཕུ། འོག་མིན་ཐུགས་ཀྱི་གནས་མཆོག། མ་དང་མཁའ་འགྲོ་རྒྱ་མཚོ། སྤྲིན་ལྟར་འདུས་པའི་གནས་ཡིན། "Auspicious Tölung Chubu, the jeweled land of pure meaning, The ocean of dakini mothers gathers like clouds in this place." —Teaching given by the 16th Karmapa, Rigpe Dorje ( ཀརྨ་པ་རིག་པའི་རྡོ་རྗེ་ ； 1924–1981) in 1961 (Iron Ox Year of the Tibetan calendar) Chubu Monastery-Spring དཔྱིད་དུས་གསུམ་གྱི་རྣམ་པ་འདི་ལྟ་སྟེ། དུས་མཐུན་བསིལ་གཡབ་རྗེས་མཐུན་རླུང་བཅས་ཞིང་། ལྗོན་སོགས་ལོ་འདབ་གསེར་བུ་རབ་ཏུ་འཁྲུངས། སིལ་སྙན་ཚོགས་རྣམས་སྒྲ་སྙན་རྒྱུན་དུ་འཁྲོལ། སྤྲིན་དཀར་ཞི་བ་མེ་ཏོག་ཆར་ལྟར་འབབ། མཐོ་ཁྱད་ལྷུན་མཛེས་ལྡན་པའི་རི་བོ་དང་། བདེ་གནས་སྤང་ཚོགས་སྔོ་ལྡུམ་རྒྱས་པར་བྱེད། How to Describe the Scenes of Spring?
Gentle waves of wind arrive in time, while fresh buds appear along each limb. Endless song flows from lutes and cymbals, as silent clouds release their blooms from above. Solemn and grand, the lofty peaks stand still, while fragrant grasses fill the joyful fields.
Written by the 3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje (1284–1339), *In Praise of Chubu* (མཚུར་ཕུའི་བསྟོད་པ་ལ་བཞུགས་སོ།) contains the piece "Returning to the Old Land at Eighty, the Elder's Remembrance Remains Unchanged." In that text, by the time Dusum Khyenpa (1110–1193) came back to Ü-Tsang, every member of the "Gampo Uncle-Nephew" (སྒམ་པོ་ཁུ་དབོན་) who had earlier given him extensive instructions and teachings had already passed away. Different historical sources describe the "Gampo Uncle-Nephew" in divergent ways.
Gompo Tsultrim Nyingpo (1116–1169) and Gomchung Sherab Jungne (1130–1173) were Gampopa’s nephews and, in turn, held the second and third throne positions at Daklha Gampo Monastery, which Gampopa had founded in 1121. The latter is occasionally left out of the "Uncle-Nephew" title. Meanwhile, Gampopa (1079–1153) continues to hold undisputed status as Dusum Khenpa’s revered master and source of Dharma. "My legs are afflicted, making distant travel difficult.
Dusum Khyenpa set out for Kham after receiving Gampopa's instruction that his Dharma-spreading activities there would meet with success. Carrying this prophecy in his heart, the determined practitioner traveled onward, fortified by the blessing of the Black Crown fashioned from dakinis' hair. Prior to departing the Ü-Tsang region entirely, he made a temporary halt in the Chubu Valley, although sources disagree about how long he remained there.
Though Dusum Khyenpa is often credited with founding Chubu Monastery in 1189 (Earth Bird Year), his ties to Chubu actually began earlier—"his aspirations fulfilled, the master crafted a sacred site like a lotus." During the monastery's construction, the dwelling (དུས་མཁྱེན་གཟིམ་ཆུང་།) and meditation cave (དུས་མཁྱེན་ཕུག་) that Dusum Khyenpa had previously used were preserved and honored as the first sacred relics of the site; they can still be visited on pilgrimage today.
Chubu Monastery’s layout during that period remained unassuming, featuring just a main hall, a scripture treasury, a stupa, and a few monastic quarters for basic purposes—and building work even persisted beyond Dusum Khyenpa’s parinirvana.
At the age of eighty-four, Dusum Khenpa ended his life amid the vast grounds of Chubu Monastery. As for the monastery’s origins, oral tradition suggests they might stem from Gompo Tsultrim Nyingpo’s directive: "You must return—a monastery must be built in Ü-Tsang." It is also recounted that "Teacher and disciples lived and practiced together, transmitting teachings orally.
During internal conflicts at Daklha Gampo Monastery, or when fires and earthquakes struck Lhasa, both monastics and laypeople saw Chubu Monastery and its valley as a natural haven. This young monastery, unlike the others he founded, was granted the status of an ancestral seat through its distinctive geographical setting and the master's worldly reputation.
Dusum Khyenpa's words—'This monastery has greatly benefited me'—seemed to point toward a future in which the monastery's dharma throne would never be empty, just like the sacred mountains surrounding it. That future was rooted in the First Karmapa's extraordinary guidance and legendary life, which even led him to be called the 'sole sovereign,' and which caused people to see Chubu Monastery as a blessed land where 'peaceful and wrathful practices could harmoniously coexist.
Despite such prophecies, however, it was only after more than ninety years that the Karmapa lineage was formally established.
Chubu Monastery was destined to earn the title of "the foundation upon which future political and religious traditions were built." Along its paths, pilgrims in earlier times could frequently be heard praising the monastery's natural surroundings in song, with many variations of such chants existing. "The rear mountain shaped like Avalokiteshvara is called the Mountain of Great Compassion, a realm of secret majesty; the lushly forested front mountain resembles the blood ocean abode of the Protector; the central mountain in the form of Maitreya is named the Mountain of Great Kindness, the pure land of Tushita.
Traveling with fellow pilgrims in 1248, a dark-skinned monk with a goat beard, a yogi's bearing, and a resonant voice spoke of his plan to expand Chubu Monastery. As the trinity of mountains and the river came into view, his words blessed the landscape, exposing its hidden pure realm to those with prepared hearts. Still, this "wonderworker" did not go straight to the monastery to worship.
Instead, it was only after people discovered him—inside a cave echoing with sublime Dharma melodies—that his earlier wanderings among the three mountains, with no companions but snow lions and cuckoos, became known. During the six years that followed, this monk, already renowned throughout Kham, realized his grand vow by expanding Chubu Monastery’s scale in its first phase; even skeptics eventually viewed it with reverence. Across Eurasia in that same period, however, winds of change stirred frequent conflict.
Serving as cultural advisor and spiritual teacher to Möngke and Ariq Böke, the monastery’s throne-holder quickly amassed a vast following thanks to the Mongols’ tolerant religious policies. When invited far into Mongol territory, he made the declaration: *"Though I depart from here, wait—I shall return."* Nonetheless, later reports of his time in Han lands and Mongolia vary sharply. His intricate legacy emerged from wild stories of supernatural abilities and politically driven court scheming, concocted through sectarian disputes.
Despite the tensions, Khubilai still conferred on him the title "Pakshi" (meaning roughly "Master"). After his return to Chubu Monastery, Karma Pakshi (1204–1283) threw himself into the second phase of its expansion, focusing on the Central Assembly Hall (ཚོགས་ཆེན་འདུ་ཁང་ཆེ་མོ་) as the main undertaking. Funds for the hall came from donations gathered from monastic and lay supporters in the Han, Mongol, and Tibetan areas—among them seven loads of gold offered by the Yuan imperial family and backing from Drogön Chögyal Phagpa.
Karma Pakshi, who pioneered Tibet’s *Six-Syllable Mantra* tradition and was later revered as an emanation of Avalokiteshvara, constructed an Avalokiteshvara Chapel, a Cross-Shaped Chapel, and numerous meditation cells, allowing lay devotees and wandering ascetics to reside within the monastery. During this same era, the centerpiece "Buddha Adorning the World with Light," the reliquary stupa of the 1st Karmapa, the *Kangyur* written in gold and silver ink, and the Maitreya throne all became masterworks.
Calling himself "a wanderer who only chose Chubu as a permanent home due to extraordinary resolve," he made that declaration openly. Then, upon his parinirvana, the monastery’s throne passed to his disciple Orgyenpa (ཨོ་རྒྱན་པ་; 1229–1309). Orgyenpa’s life, in turn, was no less legendary than Karma Pakshi’s.
Within Tibetan philosophical frameworks, Orgyenpa is honored as the founding patriarch of both the Nyendrup tradition (བསྙེན་སྒྲུབ་, the practice of commitment and accomplishment) and the mercury purification methods used in Tibetan medicine. Prior to his passing, the 2nd Karmapa addressed Orgyenpa and his followers with these final instructions: "I am the sage-yogi Rangjung Dorje. Like the sun rising anew over the eastern mountains, I will return for sentient beings." Additionally, Karma Pakshi offered his own prophecy: "In the distant Lhatö, the heir of the Black Crown will surely appear.
Rangjung Dorje" (རང་བྱུང་རྡོ་རྗེ་) was a pen name frequently used by the 2nd Karmapa during his lifetime, and it would soon become renowned throughout Tibet. He also gave the instruction: "Until his arrival, you shall oversee both spiritual and temporal affairs." Five years later, in 1288 (the Earth Bird Year of the Tibetan calendar), a potter and his wife made a pilgrimage to Chubu Monastery, bringing their four-year-old son. As a ritual bell rang, the child sat calmly upon the dharma throne, and the gaze of everyone present fell upon the potter's son.
The translation of this article comes from SuolangWangqing's blog. After a young child responded, "Who are you?" "I am the Karmapa!" that dialogue became the starting point of Tibet’s reincarnation system, and the child was recognized as the 3rd Karmapa (1284–1339). During the fifty-six years that followed, he carried out remarkable works and brought Chubu Monastery into its golden age.