Understanding and experiencing emptiness

The wish-fulfilling jewel of the noble teachings of Master Gampopa

The Jewel of Liberation is a Lamrim text for gradually perfecting the entire path to enlightenment. The author is the great Gampopa (1079-1153), disciple of Milarepa and founder of the Kagyü schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The jewelery of liberation fuses the basic teachings of the Kadampa and Mahamudra teachings. Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen Rinpoche is a “Gampopa expert” and will explain the wisdom chapter here.

The life of Gampopa

Gampopa (1079-1135) from Nyal, in eastern Tibet, was the son of a doctor and became a doctor himself. He married in his early twenties and fathered two children. Some years later, an epidemic took their lives. His wife became ill with the same illness and did not respond to his services. She implored him when she died, not to remarry, but to become a monk.

After her death, Gampopa became a novice in the Kadampa tradition. By working with many masters, he achieved a high degree of competence in theory and practice. But one day he heard a conversation about a yogi named Milarepa. He felt a wave of devotion in answer and understood that this must be his true teacher, and went in search of him.

Gampopa was commissioned by Milarepa with the complete Kagyü transmission. In Dagpo, in the south-east of Tibet, he founded the hermitage of Daglha Gampo, where he attracted many disciples to emerge from the four “great” kagyu branches. These branches spread Gampopa’s Dharma system of the two rivers Mahamudra and Kadam throughout Tibet. (Karmapa.org)