Phagmo Drupa Dorje Gyalpo

CHINA, Sichuan, Garnze; Song dynasty

Phagmo Drupa Dorje Gyalpo was born in the southern Kham Tibetan region of western Sichuan and is regarded as the founding patriarch of the Phagmo Drupa school. He showed proficiency in calligraphy, painting, and reading at a young age, and by the age of nine, he renounced and received his Dharma name, Dorje Gyalpo. He went to Gyamar Monastery in Tolung when he was 19 and received his full monastic vows when he turned 25. By the time he reached middle age, he was well-versed in the teachings of the Kadam, Sakya, and Nyingma schools.
At age 42, Dorje Gyalpo went to Gampo and became one of the three main disciples of Gampopa, a disciple of Milarepa and the founder of the Drukpa Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. He was also a disciple of Sachen Kunga Nyingpo, one of the founders of the Sakya school. When Gampopa passed away the following year, he returned to Kham and established the Phugma Drupa Kagyu school, naming the school after its location. The school combined teachings of the Kagyu, Kadam, Sakya, and Nyingma schools.
Dorje Gyalpo later designed, planned, and built Densatil Monastery in Phagmo Drupa where he subsequently propagated the Dharma and nurtured monastics. His other accomplishments include the written work, Jeweled Ladder, in addition to numerous other treatises. A Self-Portrait sculpture is kept at Drukgyel Monastery in Sichuan.