Karma Gon heads

Who he is

Title

Head of Karma Gon, for the Karma Kagyu

Since

not known

Born

not known

Family

not known

Confidence

low

Dusum Khyenpa (1110-1193), born in Kham, founded Pamphuk at Litang at 60 (about 1170), Karma Gon at 76 (about 1185: Wikipedia, Dusum Khyenpa; the Karma Gon article says 1147 in its infobox and adds that some sources give 1184 and credit Chodzin Gemphel), and made Tsurphu in central Tibet his main seat at 80, about 1189, where he died in 1193. Wikipedia's Karma Gon article names Yehse Nyingpo and Ringowa Ratnabhadra as early heads, without dates. Who held Karma Gon on 1 January 1200 is not known.

Drogon Rechen (1148-1218, recalled), his main disciple, heads the order at Tsurphu: that is the Tibet-centre sheet's record.

Overlord

The Karma Kagyu's head at Tsurphu is the order's centre, but the houses are not subject to it in any way our sources show.

What it holds

• Karma Gon monastery and its valley lands
• Pamphuk monastery and a share of the Litang plain's gifts
• A teaching line that reaches the Xia court (the unnamed disciple)

How it was acquired

Founded by Dusum Khyenpa about 1185 (Karma Gon) and about 1170 (Pamphuk).

Allies and rivals

Tsurphu (the order's centre; tic); Taklung and Drukpa houses (fellow disciples' foundations); the Drikung and Phagmodru (the Kagyu quarrel, tic); the Xia court (the disciple titled Supreme Teacher).

How things stand that morning

The house is young (about 15 years) and its first master is dead; the head is not known. The order's weight is shifting to Tsurphu in central Tibet.

Wealth

The gifts of Chamdo and Lhatog patrons; no estates documented. No figures.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. 1204The second Karmapa, Karma Pakshi, is born (TIB_BRIEF).Depends on: An ordinary birth; the brief gives the year only, and we know no source for the place. Stopped by: The death of the mother or child, or a player's act that changes the Karma Kagyu's standing in Kham.

Places of note

• Karma Gon: East bank of the Dzachu.
• Pamphuk, Litang: Dusum Khyenpa's earlier foundation; site not pinned.

Where the sources disagree

• Wikipedia's Karma Gon page gives 1147 in the infobox and says some sources give 1184; the page on Dusum Khyenpa gives 1185 (at age 76). We use about 1185. A founding in 1147 would be 38 years earlier than 1185.
• Wikipedia's Karma Gon page does not mention Lhatog or Chamdo town; the Dusum Khyenpa page says 'Chamdo, Kham'.

Evidence: Founding dates differ between Wikipedia pages; no head of Karma Gon is named for 1200.

On the map: The house is drawn in the religious record Karma Gon.

Primary sources for Tibet (centre)

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• History of Buddhism in India and Tibet, Buton Rinchen Drub (Bu ston Rin chen grub) (1322). Optional background. Read online
• The Blue Annals, Go Lotsawa Zhonnu Pal ('Gos lo tsa ba gZhon nu dpal) (1476 to 1478). The fullest Tibetan account of who mattered around 1200, written three centuries later from earlier biographies and lineage records, many now lost. Read online
• The collected works of Lama Zhang, and the early Kagyu lives, Lama Zhang (Zhang Yudrakpa Tsondru Drakpa) and his disciples; the biographers of Drigung, Taklung and Phagmodru (the 1160s to the early 13th century). The nearest contemporary witnesses to the lords of central Tibet in 1200. Read online
• The Sakya genealogy, and the works of the Sakya hierarch of 1200, Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen (Grags pa rgyal mtshan) and Sakya Pandita; the genealogy by Ngawang Kunga Sonam (the hierarchs' writings about 1170 to 1250; the genealogy 1629). Sakya in 1200 was ruled by Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen, the third of the five founders, with his nephew Kunga Gyaltsen (later Sakya Pandita, born 1182) under his teaching. Read online
• History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
• Indo-Tibetica (the temples and inscriptions of western Tibet), with the Royal Genealogy of Ngari, Giuseppe Tucci (editor and translator); the genealogy by Ngawang Drakpa (Ngag dbang grags pa) (the inscriptions and temple records of the 11th to 15th centuries; Indo-Tibetica published 1932 to 1941; the genealogy about 1497). Guge, Purang and Ladakh in 1200 are among the least documented kingdoms in the atlas. Read online