Category: History of Buddhism

A Work Telling the Life and Liberation Story of the Great Master Padmākara.

Part 15  The Master did not complete the pith instructions. The intended fire offering to secure the king’s lineage and increase his power was left unfinished. Nor did the Master complete the necessary third binding under of oath of the gods and nāgas. The Master could foresee the future, however, and therefore he taught his students many wrathful mantras and likewise hid them, and many profound teachings, in clay pots. His miraculously emanated forms concealed one hundred and eight great treasures of wealth and Dharma. Finally, he said: In this and all the lives to comeMay I and my ever-generous benefactors,Enjoy the fruits of Mahāyoga practiceIn Akaniṣṭha, the sublime and perfect realm. The Master gave advice to each and every student and then suddenly departed, taking the Rulak road. Leading a horse, he was escorted by two loyal ministers, Loté Gunagong and Shang Nyangtang, as far as Mangyul. Even then, however, a few ministers conspired, “That tantrika has great power. If we do not kill him now, he will surely cast a curse on Tibet.” Secretly, they sent eighteen fierce assassins on horseback in pursuit of the Master. As the Master arrived in Mangyul-Gungthang, he warned his escorts, “In the morning, we will encounter harm-doers.” The following day, when they reached the precipitous path at Dongbab, the eighteen assassins, weapons in hand, were about to strike when the Master suddenly made a mudrā and they froze—motionless as clay statues and unable to utter a single word. The Master went only that far with his escort. When the escort was about to return from that mountain pass, the Master said: Tibet’s evil hordes of demons, rākṣasas, gods, and nāgas needed to be tamed three times, but one round remains undone. Had I completed the task, the king would have a long life, the kingdom would become great, the king’s lineage would become ever more powerful and the Dharma would remain for a long time. I will remember what has been left undone. One cycle of teaching will be completed and then

A Work Telling the Life and Liberation Story of the Great Master Padmākara.

Part 4 The Master’s spiritual consort for his meditation on this maṇḍala, the yoginī called Śīlatvā, took up the second kīla-dagger, that of wrathful Amṛtakuṇḍali. She hurled it into the lake in Baṅgala, turning the nāga and its retinue into ashes. After seven days and seven nights, the lake dried up and all the heretical schools were overcome. The Master’s retreat attendant, a yogin from Kāmarūpa called Ratnaśīla, took up the third small kīla-dagger. With it he struck the crystal boulder in Rājagṛha, which immediately fell to pieces. This too greatly benefited the Buddhists. Śīlatvā and Ratnaśīla also had reached the vidyādhara stage, and, although they have disappeared, if they wished they could reappear in emanation bodies. The Master stayed a little longer in Trimala and crafted a sandalwood image of Noble Avalokiteśvara. In Vikramaśīla he built a small Tārā temple. Then he went again to glorious Uḍḍiyāna, gathered together the fortunate, and they built a temple there. During that time, near Uḍḍiyāna in a land called Kaccha, there was a highly respected Buddhist community. Even the king held the lay vows and was a paṇḍita. The Turkish king of Pāgada in the land of Molatāna had attacked Kaccha with his army and destroyed a few of its monastic colleges, yet more were facing imminent destruction. As the invading army, swimming and in boats, approached along the river Nīli, the Master awaited them on the bank. With a wrathful stare he raised his forefinger in the threatening mudrā. This caused the entire Turkish army—seven large ships, about five hundred small wooden boats and those swimming—to sink to the bottom of the river. All were killed. For many generations there was no further harm from Turks in that land. A Work Telling the Life and Liberation Story of the Great Master Padmākara.His ordination name was Padmākara, ‘the Lotus Born’. The secret name he received upon initiation into the maṇḍala was Padmasambhava, ‘the Lotus Born’.[26] In earlier times, people of Uḍḍiyāna called him Kamalakuliśa or Padmavajra, because on his forehead was a figure

Rinpoche talks on Tāranātha

When I walk on snow-laden paths of hills my each footprint appear clear, deep and distinct which I can trace my path back without effort. But after a while due to wind and fresh snowfall all traces of my footsteps are wiped out in the snow. The residue is what sticks to my imagination. It is the same with the study of history. Every episode in it howsoever realistic, does fade with the sweep of time and occurrences of new events. Surviving evidences largely depend on interpretation of the historian whose reason emanates from intellect and as such has the glaring weakness of limitations of one’s mind which are conditioned by the present environment. The general attitudes and outward expressions of men of our time cannot be similar to those of the primitive society or even of the preceding generations. Thus, the logic of today recalling the events of the past times with indecisive evidences must surely be inaccurate in many ways.་The line of demarcation between history and legend is too thin to observe while writing; the two overlap each other unconsciously and unknowingly. Faith and reason overpower each other throughout one’s life, which results in contrad iction, but the conflict never ceases in any sphere. As such, it is difficult to say if the author of a book of history is free from the influence of his faith in analysing the past. I know many such persons who do not accept in their writings many episodes as historical in order to exhibit their rational mind and modern scholarship. But in the core of their hearts they believe the episodes in toto and do respect them. Such proclivities in authors are nothing short of dishonesty. As we focus our vision on the historical perspective of our time interspersed with strong socio-economic bias of the historian for recording past events to suit their political ideologies, we can sense the real flaw in the cross currents of historical literature and that takes us into a land of phantasy. In this situation I

A Brief History of The Lineage of Jonangpa.

For the purpose of different levels of three disciples, Buddha Shakyamuni turned the wheel of Dharma three times. The first was the wheel on the four noble truths; the second was the wheel on the absence of characteristics and the third was the wheel on doctrine of good differentiations. The lineage holders of the practice lineage of the definitive meaning of Madhyamika <intermediate > that was belonged to the last turning the wheel of Dharma and later spread into Tibet are called Jonangpas. Madhyamika, one of the three famous traditions in the land of snow, the Great Perfection, Mahamudra and Madhyamika, is consisted of Empty of Self and Empty of Other. The latter, the great Madhyamika of the ultimate definitive meaning, the tenet that reveals the true existence of primordial wisdom that sees all phenomena, encompassed by imputed and relative subject and object, are not truly existed and to see the non-dual of the two perfect establishments has been coming down in two lineages, sutra lineage and Tantra lineage. First, our historical Buddha, the fully enlightened one turned the wheel of Dharma three times because of the disposition and interest of different disciples. The lineage of the great Other Empty Madhyamika <Uma Shandong Chenmo> of the ultimate definitive meaning that was imparted in the last turning of the wheel, came down from Buddha the fully enlightened one and then through Lord Maitreya, the glorious Arya Nagarjuna, Arya Asanga and his brother and others, then it came down successively to Mahasidha Shavaripa, the great Maitriopa, Ghawa Drapa, Khachewa Jongney Shiwa and Brahmin Sajana These masters illuminated the Great Other Empty Madhyamika <Uma Shandong Chenmo>of the ultimate definitive meaning in India, the land of Aryas. In the land of snow, some translators and Panditas < great scholars> translated these teachings into Tibetan. The ones who upheld this tenet purely are Gzi Lotsawa Gawe Dorje, Tsanrig Kawoche Drimed Shereb, Latodpa Tarma Tsondu, Tolpa Nyan Yeshi Chungnay, Jatod brother Chang Chup Kyab, Shonu Chang Chup, Kyitonpa MolamTsutrim, Jomden Rigpe Raldri and Kyiton Jamyang. In this way it came