At Nairafijana, then, he became absorbed
In the contemplation of nothing at all,387
When the sugatas of the ten directions
Obstructed his impulsive desire,
And bestowed the profound, clear, non-dual teaching That is perfectly pure like the sky.
In the contemplation of nothing at all,387
When the sugatas of the ten directions
Obstructed his impulsive desire,
And bestowed the profound, clear, non-dual teaching That is perfectly pure like the sky.
Dudjom Rinpoche - Fundamentals and History of the Nyingmapa
monastic establishments final' collapse of the dynasty and The ensuing chaos culmmat.
e m t e
the end of the d d' ted Tibetan monks did manage
Despite the ? ards. hlPs a . eW : age. Also, married yogins, th t
to keep their. alIve and had suffered less in the persecu- who lived wnhm the commuld Yf Buddhist learning and lore. By the tions, preserved all they 0 . n ascendant phase once more:
mid-tenth century BuddhIsm ,,:as m a to travel to Nepal and India
Tibetans in search of the doctnne began d by the eastward spread of . . d perhaps encourage .
for mstructlons, an , . d ' . India Indian BuddhIst masters
Islam and. the young disciples, who
began to Journey TIbet to ortive of their spiritual endeavours. lived in commumtles largely supp . or boundary one
In the related thus fa: special
that it is crucIal to be aware of m or Os hool of Tibetan Buddhism, . A . ent Translatlon c
of the Nymgma nCl. b'ect-matter of the present book. the history of. whIch of the imperial period, On the one sIde there IS t e u hen Tibet was at the
transmitted and redacted royal Buddhism itself was eak of its political and mIlItary a. '1' t' On the other side
r' f
finding its own refuge In, and fundamentally inhosPlt-
P
at its zenith as the re 19IOn 0
of the boundary we a po ltlCa. y. at the same time a refuge
an ASIan Clvllsa Ion.
. . - 11 disunified and weakened Tibet
an enlightened doctrine tenuously eXlstmg m a
able world. . ome of their roots back
While all schools of h themselves by their . . d h Nymgmapa lstmguls .
to the earlIer peno , t e 1 t unadulterated teachlllg . h 1 epresent the comp e e -
assertIOn that t eya one r c. - k't and the other accomP V· 1 'tra;)antaraSla en
of Padmasambhava, lma a m I , . fKingTrhisong Dets lished masters of India who, to Tibetan disciples transmitted the whole theIr Yeshe Tshogyel and the king
of such remarkable calIbre e been transmitted within the himself. The Buddhist teachmgs ,:"hlch by Dudjom Rinpoche,
Nyingma school are In10
: 1(bstan-pa'i rnam-gzhag) which
in his Fundamentals ofthe Nymgma c 00 constitutes the first part of this volume.
,
Translators'Introduction 395
396 History
the Tibetan schools can boast of such figures. In the pages of the present history we will encounter the likes of Rongzompa, Longcenpa, Terdak Lingpa and others who exemplified Nyingma ideals while affirming the common ground shared by all Buddhist traditions.
None the less, the Nyingmapa did suffer in the temporal sphere owing to their determined aloofness from the political scene. The distant lineage of the transmitted precepts (ring-brgyud bka'-ma), which was traced back in a direct succession to the ancient period,
grew increasingly fragile with each new This state of affairs, however, had been foreseen by the anCIent masters: Pad- masambhava, in particular, had responded by filling the land of Tibet with spiritual treasures which awaited rediscovery by individuals of
appropriate vision. So it was that as the distant lineage waned there arose a close lineage of rediscovered spiritual treasures (nye-brgyud gter- ma) to meet the needs of a new age. Since this proved to be a medium for maintaining the continuity and blessing of the ancIent translations, most practising Nyingmapa at the present time adhere to
meditative cycles which were revealed in this way. Moreover, from the seventeenth century onwards major Nyingmapa monasteries were founded and restored to preserve the vast array of such treasures as well as all that survived of the distant lineage, thereby guaranteeing
the ongoing vitality of the tradition. .
Thus there are now two methods of transmission through whIch the
Nyingma teachings have been handed down. The lineage oft. he transmitted precepts (ring-brgyud bka'-ma) has synthesIsed the major texts and teaching cycles of Mahayoga, Anuyoga and Atiyoga under the heading Trio of the Sutra, Magical Net and Mental Class (mdo-sgyu-
sems-gsum). These are respectively the Anuyoga Sutra which Gathers All Intentions, the Mahayoga Tantra of the Magical Net, and the Class of Atiyoga. In addition, the close lineage of treasures or covered teachings (nye-brgyud gter-ma) has transmitted the doctrmes known as the Trio of the Guru, Great Perfection and the Great Compas-
sionate One (bla-rdzogs-thugs gsum) , which synthesise the teaching cycles s
relating to Guru Padmasambhava (bla), the Great Perfection (rdzog ) and the Great Compassionate One, Avalokitesvara (thugs).
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE TEXT
The History is divided into eight parts. The first of these is a
ings of par excellence, and here the beginnings of their lmeages are surveyed: the lineage of the intention of the PrImordIal Buddha, Samantabhadra, the symbolic transmission of the holders, and the aural transmission of individual human bemgs.
P. art Three an account of the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet dUrIng the reIgns of Songtsen Trhisong Detsen, and Trhi Relpacen and along with an account o. f the of tradition through to the restora- tIon of monastIc BuddhIsm m Central Tibet during the late tenth and early eleventh centuries.
Part Four treats the introduction into Tibet of the three inner classes of but deals primarily with the lives of the masters of the Great PerfectIOn, from Vairocana (circa eighth century) through to Longcenpa (1308-63).
. In Part Five subject-matter is the previously mentioned distant lmeage of which was maintained at an early date Jnanakumara (czrca late eighth century), Nup Sangye Yeshe (mid-nmth and the masters of the Zur family (eleventh century The lmeage was continued by the Rong tradition in Central and the Kham tradition in the Sino-Tibetan border regions until the of Terdak Lingpa (1646-1714), and descended to the present
Author m an unbroken line.
Six outlines the history of the close lineage of the rediscovered
an account of their meaning and purpose along WIth bnef bIOgraphIes of the most important treasure-finders down to Mipham Rinpoche (1846-1912).
Seven considers the polemical attacks which have been launched agamst the Nyingma tradition in the past and summarises the responses to t. hese in order to introduce the reader precisely to the view that the Nymgmapa have traditionally held.
The eighth and final part provides a chronology for the book as a whole and an account of the prophecies concerning the future develop- ment of Buddhism.
· . I d· haslS- accountoftheoriginsanddevelopment hismm n la,emp ·tS
NYinWhich of history of the peculiarly p teachmgs m TIbet. The histoncal traditions of the Great perfectlOn, considered in Part Four, were redacted in much of their d:es. ent form as early as the fourteenth century by Longcenpa and his
ISClples. Those of th. e distant lineage of transmitted precepts, abridged
d
ing the life of Sakyamuni Buddha, the patrIarchs . of the teaChIng, I
preservation, and the expansion of the greater vehIcle. _ Part Two describes the origins of the three inner classes of tantra the Mahayoga, Anuyoga and Atiyoga. These are the characteristic teach-
THE LITERARY TRADITION OF THE HISTORY It will b f h
th . e seen rom t e above that the central parts are the fourth to comprise some three-quarters of the work as a whole
Translators'Introduction 397
398 History
in Part Five, were fairly well established by the time Golo Zhonupel composed his Blue Annals (1478) and reached the form in which they are found here in the works of such seventeenth-century authors as Rikdzin Pema Trhinle and Locen DharmasrI. Finally, the contents of Part Six were established by a succession of masters, the most recent being Jamgon Kongtrtil Lodro Thaye (1813-99), There were therefore three major historical traditions connected with the lineages of the Nyingma school in Tibet, and these have been masterfully anthologised by Dudjom Rinpoche in this work.
The similarities at certain junctures between this and earlier histories have been noted by a number of contemporary scholars: Parts One to Five, for example, often correspond to the second part of Gyurme Tshewang Chokdrup's Catalogue ofthe Collected Tantras, and Part Seven to the third part of the latter, which similarly borrows from earlier works, It is important to recognise that Tibet was free from the concepts of ownership of the written word which form the bases for our copyright laws, and so Tibetan authors borrowed from one another with perfect freedom, the guiding principle being that the insights of enlightened masters of the past are always worthy of repetition, The works upon which Dudjom Rinpoche has drawn have, in accordance with tradition, been listed in a special section at the end of the book (pp, 965-6),
As the foregoing remarks suggest, the Tibetan historian acts very much as a compiler or anthologist of material that has been handed down by his or her tradition, It would be wrong, however, to see in Tibetan religious historiography merely an uncritical repetition of old stories; for its canons are most certainly not those of modern western historiography, and any attempt to judge the former in terms of the latter will always lead to the conclusion that Tibetan historiography is defective in the manner of its pre-Renaissance counterpart in the West,
As we read the biographies found in Dudjom Rinpoche's History, however, another observation forces itself upon us: many of these stories, which certainly do treat of historical figures, their studies, meditations, and actions on behalf of the Buddhist religion, function as allegorical accounts of the specific spiritual traditions in which they are written, Nyak }fHinakumara (pp, 601-5), for example, appears motivated in his practice by a search for vengeance, but "his intention turned to reality itself and he was completely unable to perform the [wrathful] rite", Rikdzin Terdak Lingpa (pp, 825-34) lives different stages of his life according to the different stages of esoteric empower- ment. The examples could be multiplied indefinitely, Viewed with sufficient sensitivity to the tradition it becomes clear that the spiritual paths taught abstractly in doctrinal texts are here mapped concretely through the lives of individuals, These accounts thus tell us as much ofTibetan religious beliefs, values and insights as can any other available sources, History, as understood in the contemporary West, is here
Introduction 399 clearly subservient to a spiritual end b t h'
appreciating these biographies as s ' u t not prevent our guidance for those who pursue th 10 InspIratIOn and practical equally as a record of their spIntua path outlined in them, and
The historian, too, can find a wealth f d '
ground, education and teaching careers of ata the back- well as information on the ma'or 0 ,many Nymgma masters as text should therefore be retreat centres, The
on which it is written, abandonin receptIVIty, to the many levels
should or should not be,
g ngId preconceptIOns of what history
The hard facts given in the Histor
reproduced with fid l't h y - names, places, titles and dates - are
elYtotesourcesup h'h' ,
have endeavoured to identif on w IC It IS The
lIterary works concerned and t 'd y the persons, locatIOns and
their researches This materI'al ,0 provI, e the reader with the results of , IS occaSIOnally gi ' h N '
umeTwo,butthereadershould 1 £ venmt e otesmVol- tions, Bibliography and indexe re er to ,the Glossary of Enumera-
the work with endless e aVOl? e? the to fill
required, Accordingly the ' :v ere speCIalIsed studIes are in fact , , annotatIOns we have 'd d '
pnmarily to clarify obscurities and bl ,provI e are mtended rare lexical items, and to direct the ems m the text, to point out treat specific topics in detail. eader to secondary sources which
We have also endeavoured to conv 11 T'b
calendar, Here some difficulties ,ert a 1, etan dates to the western
aware, The Tibetans only fixed thanse 0 f the reader should be cycle to begin in 1027 th ' e use of theIr characteristic sixty-year
7'
1 antra into the Tib
1027 Tibetan ch
where errors do a relatIvely straightforward matter, and readily corrected For t na occur th,ey may, for the most part, be
tIns
e for the whole period following
' eyeargIVenforthetra l' f h
e Kalacakra
often utilised onl'y a twhelPenod precedmg 1027, however, the Tibetans eve-year cycle wh' h '
the calculation of 1 f" IC was not well suIted for
thirteenth century ong sPdans 0 tIme, When Tibetan historians of the , onwar s attempted t h
Imperial period int th ' 0, convert t e records of the
errors arose and e sIxtr-year reckonmg many discrepancies and
them 1 IS not a ways a simple task to detect and correct
Arabic and othPerorcahry have made admirable use of Chinese
rOllICesmb' , I'h ' though many difficulties do r,mgmg Ig t to bear on the problem,
lators then h b
remam, The Course adopted by the trans-
SUggested by recent scholarsh' . ' or s cQnsent.
0 prOVI e the alternative dates
t? Iehave the traditional dates for the pre-I027
Period as aars
egIVenmt etext andt 'd
errors in dating h Ip the Notes. the post-1027 period
\\lIth the Auth ' ave een corrected In the body of the text
atIOn 0 t
400 History
In addition, the precise chronological tables drawn up by Dieter Schuh in Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Tibetischen Kalenderrechnung have permitted us to give exact calculations of dates following 1027 which include the day and month. A word of caution is in order, however, because Schuh has provided us with the calculations not of one, but of four calendrical systems, and as he himself has noted it is essential that one exercise discretion in deciding, in any given case, which system is to be used. The four systems are Phakpa, originating in the thirteenth century; Tshurpu, from the early fourteenth century; old Phukpa, from 1447 onwards; and new Phukpa, which became the official system of the Tibetan government in 1696. Our procedure has been to follow old Phukpa for the period from 1447 until 1695 and new Phukpa for the period which follows unless there are very strong reasons for preferring one of the other systems. For the period from
1027 until 1446 the choice of Phakpa or Tshurpu must be made on a case by case basis, and in some instances neither one seems quite right. When this problem occurs old Phukpa has been used even though it is anachronistic to do so, the maximum error possible being seldom more than one month. Future research may eventually resolve these difficulties.
The formal title of this volume is A Clearly Elucidated History of the Precious Teachings o f the Vehicle o f Indestructible Reality according to the Earliest ofAll Teachings ofthe Conqueror in the Land ofSnows, the Ancient Translation School, entitled Thunder from the Great Conquering Battle- Drum o f Devendra (gangs-ljongs rgyal-bstan yongs-rdzogs-kyi phyi-mo snga- 'gyur rdo-rje theg-pa'i bstan-pa rin-po-che ji-ltar byung-ba'i tshul dag-cing gsal-bar brjod-pa lha-dbang gYul-Ias rgyal-ba'i rnga-bo-che'i sgra-dbyangs). Devendra is said to be the form taken by the Buddha when dwelling among the gods. His drum not only ensures divine victory, but rouses the gods from the slumber of complacency and reveals to them the impermanence of even their celestial condition.
The text was composed in 1962 by His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche, Jikdrel Yeshe Dorje, the late head of the Nyingma school, after his arrival in India as a refugee. It was intended, as the Author clearly states, to give stability to the Nyingma tradition during that particular crisis situation. It has now seen many editions, the present translation following the third, which comprises four hundred and twenty-three Tibetan folios (eight hundred and forty-six pages) and occupies the first volume in theAuthor's Collected Works (Kalimpong, 1979).
The Text
A Elucidated of the Precious Teachings of the VehIcle of Indes. tructlble Reality according to the Earliest of
GYURME DORJE & MA TTHEW KAPSTEIN
. .
nCIent TranslatIon School, entitled Thunder from
:. gyal-bstan phyi-mo snga-'gyur rdo- rye theg-pa 1 bstan-pa byung-ba'i tshul dag-cing gsal-bar bryod-pa lha-dbang gYul-las rgyal-ba'i
rnga-bo-che'i sgra-dbyangs
All TeachIngs of the Conqueror in the Land ofS
hA t e
nows, the Great Conquering Battle-Drum of Devendra
Verses of Invocation
[2. 1-10. 6] Always frolicking in pristine cognition, The pure, unchanging, peaceful expanse,
Where there is no trace of elaboration,
May the unequalled Guru conquer the world!
The sun of all-knowing pristine cognition alone
Is never obscured by elaborations:
May he protect us, for he sheds a thousand rays of spiritual and
temporal well-being
On the illusory city of the world, which arises dependent on causes. 363
Cool, soothing camphor and nectar do not compare
With this gift that cures delusion's unbearable fever,
The panacea that destroys the plague ofthe world:
May that jewel oftrue doctrine, transmitted and realised,364 be our
victorious crown!
I praise, above all, the supreme community,365
The banner of the teaching,
Supported by a golden shaft of superior aspiration,
Flying the exquisite cloth of the three correct trainings,
And beautified by the jewelled peak ofexegesis and attainmclu.
Primordially pure, just what naturally is, the supreme body of reality, the all-embracing nucleus - this is the essence, awareness and emptiness, Samantabhadra;
Ceaseless transformation, pristine cognition's expressive play, arisen as a billowing, magical net - this is his natural expression, bliss and emptiness, Vajrasattva;
Loving compassion, teaching each in accord with his needs at appropriate times, with an unqualified intention - this is his spirituality, appearance and emptiness,Vajradhara;
404 History
.
. I b In devotIOn
t ow 0
the gurus ofthe six lineages - intentional, symbohc, h. 1 ho are
Verses ofInvocation 405
369 Whoisitthatwouldleaveyourfeet,evenonbecomingenlightened?
Body complete with major and minor marks, released from a lotus bud in Sindhu Lake, containing the seed-syllable HRII:I, the pristine
cognition that is the knowledge and love of the Lord ofSukhavatI Field:370
You are neither born, nor do you die, while saIpsara exists, but by the dance, the indestructible discipline ofgreat bliss,
You cut off, or take into your following, all conscious beings within the three spheres.
This being the unobstructed expression ofyour power, you can be compared with yourself alone in this world.
Although all the conquerors equally love living beings, only you,
Skull-garlanded Master, 371 have been so kind as to protect the afflicted Tibetans; so I revere you with all my heart.
You were the sole spiritual son of the 5akya King, 372 0 heroic Lord of Secrets,373 who strictly maintained his vows, and was renowned as
the great Bodhisattva.
Endowed with unlimited brilliance, retention, and mastery of the ten
powers, you wilfully lived for nine hundred years to illuminate the Land of Snows.
You planted well the banner of the teaching as the ornament ofCentral Tibet, and gave birth to a line ofthe Conqueror's family
that had no precedent.
Thinking ofyou, who had the meritorious fortune to become the first venerated priest in Tibet, I bow down in faith, time
and time again.
In the Cold Land that was obscured by darkest ignorance, you, whose sceptre is discernment's sword,374 assumed a kingly guise,
AndlitanewtheilluminatinglampoftheConqueror'sprecious
teaching, so that this frontier land achieved even greater fortune than India.
If the mass of such wondrous grace were given form, the vast universe Would be too small a vessel!
Knowing that here and now whatever enjoyment is found in this
storehouse ofprofoundly significant, wish-granting gems is thus due to your power alone, lord Trhisong, I have faith.
A hundred times I praise the Tibetan translators and Indian scholars, Who flawlessly translated, revised and established
The immaCUlate scriptures ofthe Conqueror, and the commentaries on their intention,
ural and the rest - the teachers of the supreme ve lC e, w
a , b d· 366 inseparable from these three buddha- 0 les.
You embody everything, always delighting: in an authentic and secret reat mandala endowed with supreme . .
g rna;" disci lesyourespondappropnately,appeanng10a bef! e wild ones, and before the peaceful and paSSIOnate
as is fit· d l"k AndfroU-:thelimitlessunionofyourforms 1 ; the
In the dark Land ofSnows
beyond the pale.
great thunder-clouds, you bring a satIsfymg an ertl e sower 0
. ,
mi ht warrior, glorious Heruka, favour me WIth
o g! ant that I accomplish the indestructible realIty ofyour body, speech, and mind.
There is nothing at all, animate or inanimate, that is not in t7-ed seal of this beauty, emptiness; there is no buddha who as not re Ie
on you. . h who lust after form IntheguiseofapassionateloveryouentIcet ose . bl. '
·h t367 two accomp1IS men s.
for it is said that the pristine cognition ofunchangmg, supreme may be known by this means. 1. h
ISS
Y ou are a messenger to those who desire supreme accomp IS and the sole mistress of my circle, for I have good fortune,
t m e n ,
oVajra Queen! h BeforeyouIbow,intherealisationofco-emergence,t ecomm
on
savourofall.
Embrace me tightly in the alluring play 0
love!
fb i. great
dletusmake ISS, an
I give obeisant worship to the host of India's great scholars"
h. ng
The agents of the Conqueror, who reve. aled s AndequalledtheConquerorhimself,hkeNagafjuna,Asang ,
others, .
Who commented on [the Buddha's] intentIon, an
philosophy's limits.
d . ed at arnv
T o the numberless host of accomplished I bow:
T o Saraha, Luipa, Ghal). tapada an. d the rest,. Who arrived at the indestructible level, by the mdestructIble p So that they equalled V ajradhara's intentIon.
o Lord ofthe World,368 renowned as Songtsen Gampo, You were the lord who ushered in the very first dawn ofthe
Conqueror's teaching
ath
,
406 History
And so opened for the Land of Snows a hundred doors of spiritual and temporal well-being.
I give my heart's faith to the host ofsupreme, accomplished masters, awareness-holders,
Who maintain the indestructible lineage ofsupreme transformation,375 Delighting in whatever appears in the ma1). qala ofsupreme bliss, Intoxicated by the nectar of esoteric instructions, distilled from the
intention of the three lineages.
Moreover, in devotion I here praise
All who appear as agents ofour Guide, the Conqueror,
Who glorify the teaching and living beings without bias
By their liberating careers oflearning, dignity and accomplishment.
Oakinls and protectors ofthe transmitted doctrine, bearers of secrets! Not wishing to divulge this profound history,
Please understand that the teaching now nears final rest,
And with joyful smile grant your consent.
In this most degenerate age the sun ofthe Conqueror's teaching is almost concealed by gathering black storm-clouds of disorder;
And the extraordinary tradition ofthe supremely secret vehicle, to which even accomplished persons take recourse, has virtually disappeared.
At the present time there are few who have mastered the lives ofthose who attained realisation, and those few rarely repeat the account.
For that reason I will endeavour to set this forth, so that some small part of the ancient tales, might be kept from disappearing.
Th 0 . .
Part One
e
ngzn of the Precious Teaching of the Conqueror in this World
Introduction
(10. 6-12. 3] It is my pleasure to relate briefly here, in pure and clear language, how the precious doctrine of the vehicle of indestructible reality - the unsurpassed, most secret nucleus of the entire teaching of our Teacher, the Sugata - originated and developed in the world at large and especially in the Land of Snows. So at the outset I must explain how, generally speaking, the precious teaching ofthe Conqueror came into the world.
The world systems of the universe, which are like vessels, supports created by the oceanic extent of the buddhas' compassion and the deeds of sentient beings, are spread throughout the infinite reaches of space. Therein, the place enjoyed by the buddha-body of perfect rapture, Vairocana the Great Glacial Lake, is the Buddha-field whose Foundation and Centre are Adorned with Flowers. Within each pore of the conqueror [Vairocana] residing there, there appear oceanic systems, numerous as grains of dust. Upon the lotuses which float in the perfumed oceans in the palms of his hands, there are twenty-five world systems situated one above the other. And here, in the thir- teenth among them, the world of Patient Endurance,376 there is a great trichiliocosm consisting of one billion worlds, each with four continents.
Of the four continents, each one of which has two subcontinents, the one to the south is Jambudvlpa, the Rose-Apple Continent, so called owing to the presence of the Jambu or rose-apple tree. 377 Its country is Magadha, where there is the self-originated Indestruct- Ible Seat, Vajrasana. Here one thousand supreme emanational bodies will come forth one after the other, as ifforming a rosary, attain buddha- hood and turn the wheel of the doctrine. Thus, they make of this Auspicious Aeon378 an illuminated world. At the present time, the light of the precious teaching of the Fourth Guide379 spreads throughout the World.
How this came to pass may be considered in four parts: (1) the Coming ofour Teacher, the Buddha; (2) the collection ofhis transmitted
410 History: Origin ofthe Precious Teaching . . nd 4
. line of patriarchs of the teachmg, a precepts by (3)
the preservatlon of the teaChIng an
(Mahayana).
1 The Coming of Buddha) Teacher of the Doctrine
. () d the expansion of the greater vehIcle
[12. 4-13. 3] Concerning this topic, the different philosophical systems hold many conflicting opinions, for they were conceived in accord with the varied intellectual capacities of those who required instruction.
THE OPINION OF THE ADHERENTS OF THE LESSER VEHICLE
Among these, the pious attendants of the school380 main- tained that after developing a supremely enlightened attitude our Teacher gathered, for three "countless" aeons,381 the provisions [of merit and pristine cognition] such as may be gathered on the path of provisions. 382 Then, as prince Siddhartha, an ordinary individual who, in this his final birth, was still bound [to things mundane], he attained, on the basis of [his prior completion of] the greater path of provisions, the connecting path and the paths of insight, meditation, and no-more- learning during a single sitting at Vajrasana; and thus he realised bud- dhahood. So it says in the Treasury o/the Abhidhanna (Ch. 6, v. 24ab):
In the last stage of meditation
The buddha and the self-centred buddha (pratyekabuddha) Obtain total enlightenment seated in one position. 383
Thus, they claim that the buddhahood of the Teacher is like [the enlightenment of] the self-centred buddha, who is sharp-witted and enjoys solitude. Though they consider the Bodhisattva in his last birth to have been an ordinary individual, they refer to his previous births as having been "in accord with liberation";384 and they say [Treasury of the Abhidhanna, Ch. 4, v. lIS]:
Though they are not sublime,
Parents, invalids, teachers of religion, And the Bodhisattva in his last rebirth Are said to be worthy beyond measure.
412 History: Origin ofthe Precious Teaching
THE ORDINARY OPINION OF THE GREATER VEHICLE AND OF THE TANTRAS
[13. 3-16. 2] According to the usual opinion of the greater vehicle, how- ever, after developing an enlightened attitude and gathering the provi- sions for three "countless" aeons, the holy Svetaketu, a son of the gods and a bodhisattva of the tenth level385 who was bound to take birth once more, was born as the prince Siddhartha. He was a bodhisattva of the tenth level in his final birth, and he attained buddhahood in this world. In the Sutra ofthe Array ofAttributes gUlJavyuhasutra, T 59) it says:
From the time I first developed the unsurpassed enlightened attitude I gathered the provisions with great effort for a period of three "countless" aeons. Then, gazing upon the blind, unguided creatures of this age when life endures for one hundred years, I attained buddhahood here in Jambu- dvlpa, and turned the inconceivable wheel of the doctrine . . .
While some works concerning the way of secret mantra are in general agreement with this description, they maintain, in particular, that when Siddhartha dwelt on the bank of the Nairafijana River absorbed in fixed contemplation, he was roused and summoned by the tathagatas. Leaving his conventional body behind, the body of his pristine cognition jour- neyed to the heaven,386 where he received empowerment from all the tathagatas. Thus, he attained buddhahood by means of the five awakenings, and only afterwards did he demonstrate the attainment of enlightenment at Vajrasana. Just so, the master Buddhajfianapada [in the Point of Liberation] says:
Though Sakyamuni gathered merit for three countless aeons,
He still did not realise this truth.
At Nairafijana, then, he became absorbed
In the contemplation of nothing at all,387
When the sugatas of the ten directions
Obstructed his impulsive desire,
And bestowed the profound, clear, non-dual teaching That is perfectly pure like the sky.
At midnight he meditated on just what is,
As have all the previous conquerors,
And at dawn's first light he gained perfect realisation. Then, in order to teach living beings,
He dwelt at the Point of Enlightenment389
And vanquished the great host of Mara.
T o t a k e s e n t i e n t b e i n g s i n t o h i s f o l d
He then turned the wheel of the doctrine.
The ComingofBuddha 41 the master Aryadeva [in the L a m '
388
duct) Caryamelapakapradipa) T 1803] says: Awakening is twofold:
It is held to be outer and inner. Aryadeva thus maintains that the outer
buddhahood by way of des' I
, Ire essness and th ' ,
attamment of the body of I ' e mner awakenmg is the Coa escence whi h
body of reality, which is inner rad' " c comes about When the the four kinds of desire, lance, IS made manifest by means of
According to the special view of the '
attaining buddhahood in the Ak ' h Ggreater vehIcle, however, after
amst a- hanavyuh I h
reveal the attainment of buddh h "d ' a rea m t e buddhas
- a00 mthePurAbd390
rasana, successively, In the ,{, h e 0 e and at Vaj-
'a OJ t e Bounteous Array it says'
perfect buddhas attain enlightenment ey 0 not perform the buddhas' deeds
desire until they have attained
'
a ood m the supreme realm of Aka ' h Bth ' , msta,
u avmg Journeyed to the Gh Th b
-h " anavyu arealm
e uddhas create ten million emanations' ' always absorbed in yoga they delight ' WIth each one of those emanations
Just as the moon shines on all I d' Th 'h' an s.
WIt. m their domains they come forth to teach one m accord with his or her needs
A.
nd the Sutra o fthe Descent to Lanka(Ch. 10, vv. 38ab; 39cd) says:
Abandoning even the Pure Abode,
The perfect Buddha attained buddhahood
In the pleasant realm, And an emanatIOn attained bUddhahood h
I ere. n short, all who are said to 'b d
and form do so only to sh
TI-IE SPECIAL POS
. ITION OF THE NYINGMA TRADITION
[16. 3-18 2] H
i . ere, [our tradition favour] h
s essence ofdefinitive's t e,unsurpassedteachingthat enlightenment to which our Teacher
cognition that I'S' . . ' m the ongmal expanse, or ground gl ' IntUItIvely aw h b ' thnnmgless time. In the radiant 1 are as. een free throughout be-
f r e a t s t a t e i n w h i c h t h e b o d i e s [ t h e i n
e from both conjunction and d' . . pnstme cogllltlOn are ISJunctlOn, hIS mtention being of the
3 'P whzch Subsumes Con-
"
awakemng IS the attainment of
dhahood in the realms of desire
h attam u
oW,t ewaytothosewhorequireinstruction.
'
414 History: Origin ofthe Precious Teaching
The Coming ofBuddha 41S
same savour as that of all the buddhas of the three times. Without de- parting from this the Tathagata appears, for the sake of sentient beings, as the inconceivable play of the emanational body. Thus, he trains those who require instruction as befits them individually, through infinite en- lightened activity which establishes them in the three degrees of en-
lightenment. It says in the Tantra of the Array of Wish-granting Gems (yid-bzhin rin-po-che bkod-pa'i rgyud):
The Buddha who preceded all,
Vajradhara, Conqueror, Most Secret,
Frolics in worlds beyond concept.
At all times, without number, before and after,
He benefits the world in various ways,
In uncountable peaceful and wrathful forms, As a hunter, a whore, or some other.
Now in this Auspicious Aeon
He will become the Thousand Guides;
And thus will he in various ways Benefit countless beings.
Also, it says in the Root Tantra ofthe Secret Nucleus (Ch. 3, vv. 1-2):
The Six Sages Embodying Awareness,392 who are said to be the "blessing of great spirituality", issue forth from the in- destructible body, speech and mind of the tathagatas. After issuing forth, each one of these great sages, transcendent
lords, acts on behalf of the five classes of beings, by means of the four kinds of instructions, in each of the infinite great trichiliocosms in the ten directions of the six worlds, those ofthe lateral [cardinal points], zenith and nadir, which [exist] owing to the force of the [world-forming] deeds [of those
beings].
This is not only said in the tantra texts of the secret mantra, but the
profounder sutras are in agreement. The Lotus Sutra (Ch. 1S, v. 1) says:
Ten billion aeons, an inconceivable number, And even that does not measure those past Since I attained supreme enlightenment. Thus, I am always teaching the doctrine.
And the Sutra of the Meeting of Father and Son says:
Great warrior, learned in skilful means,
You have been the Conqueror in one billion aeons
In order to mature sentient beings,
And though you have revealed yourself thus as the Buddha,
Even today, my Guide,
You reveal yourself as manifold buddhas.
THE BODY OF EMANA TION
[18. 2-20. 2] Analysing the body of emanation, which responds to the natures ofthose requiring instruction, the Ornament ofthe Sutras ofthe Greater Vehicle (Ch. 9, vv. 63-4) says:
The countless emanations of the buddhas
Are held to be the body of emanation.
They have perfectly accomplished both goals393 And abide in every form,
Constantly demonstrating artistry and birth, Great enlightenment and also nirval)a;
The buddhas' body of emanation
Is the great means to liberation.
Thus, appearing in various guises, in the animate and inanimate worlds, [the forms of the body of emanation] are countless. None the less, if they be three are said to be foremost, namely, those of. of bIrth, and of supreme emanation. 394 Concerning the way In whIch the deeds ofthe great and supreme bodies ofemanation are performed, the Root Tantra ofthe Magical Net (sgyu-'phrul rtsa-rgyud) says that they benefit beings by four kinds of instruction:
They. instruct by means of the great merits of the body, WhICh reveals the activities from conception until the attainment of nirvana.
They. instruct by of knowledge conveyed in speech, whIch reveals the limitless mass of the doctrine.
They instruct by means of direct perception of mind; for they benefit the world by intuiting directly all that is intelli- gible by means ofthe six supernormal cognitive powers.
They instruct by means ofinconceivable miraculous abilities the enlightened attributes and activities which reveal ' inconceivable emanations of body, speech, and mind, as befits each and everyone who requires instruction.
Among those deeds which "instruct by means of the great merits of
the body" it is impossible to enumerate exactly, or otherwise to qualify,
the deeds of the Teacher's emanational body. It is a topic beyond
In thesutras of the greater vehicle, too, all manner of
quantItIes are mentioned which contradict one another and do not lend themselvet . . b . .
s 0 summansatIon, ut here we are pnmanly concerned with twe. lve de. eds which Buddha performed here in Jambudvlpa. V; thIS, the Treatzse on the Supreme Continuum of the Greater
ehzcle (Ch. 2, vv. S3cd-S6) says:
Not departing from the body of reality, Through the diverse nature of his emanations
416
History: Origin ofthe Precious Teaching
THE
LIFE OF SAKY AMUNI
He reveals these deeds to impure realms For the duration of the world's existence: He is actually born [among the gods], And he descends from the realm, Enters the womb and takes birth, Becomes proficient in the arts,
Enjoys the company of his consorts,
Renounces the world, practices asceticism, Reaches the Point of Enlightenment, Vanquishes Mara's host, attains
Perfect enlightenment, [and turns] the wheel ofthe
doctrine.
He then demonstrates [final] nirva1)a.
395
lauded him with songs of praise, and Brahma and Indra made him comfortable with the robes they offered.
[20. 2-40. 6] Our teacher appeared in the beautiful, divine heaven as the son of the gods, the holy Svetaketu. He taught the doctrine to the gods and dwelt among them. Once, the courtyard [of the heavenly palace] spontaneously resounded with the music of verses inspiring him to fulfil the prophecies of Dlpaqlkara Buddha. The holy Svetaketu then sat on the finest throne in the exalted mansion of the doctrine and, in order to demonstrate the act of taking birth in Jambudvlpa, made five special considerations of continent, family, father, mother, and time. Then he consoled the gods, saying, "Having been born from the womb of MayadevI in Jambudvlpa, I will reveal the profound nectar [of the doctrine]. I will overcome eighteen sophists and establish many beings in liberation. " . .
Then in the form of a young, ash-gray elephant, as descnbed m the Veda ofthe Brahmans,theBodhisattvaenteredthewombofhismother MayadevI while she was observing a purificatory fast (po$adha). 396 He transformed the womb into a celestial palace, beautiful to behold, free from the propensities of mundane existence, fit to be enjoyed by sons of the conquerors, and there he taught the doctrine of the punfi- cation of the birthplace to many hundreds of billions gods and. He spent ten full months there to illustrate the certam succeSSIOn the ten [bodhisattva] levels. . f
When the time came for the LumbinI Grove to receive the ment 0
side. Then, as a son of the royal family is anointed, or as an
that he had awakened to the family of enlightenment and was ldent d
to all the buddhas such as Aksobhyavajra, a host of deities
, . . 397·Idtles in the sky and they bathed hIm eagerly, all at once. CelesHa el
Sdkyamuni
As soon as he was born, the Bodhisattva took seven steps in each of the four directions, in order to show that he was about to embark upon the path of the four immeasurables. It is said that lotus blossoms offered by the gods sprung from his footprints and shone brilliantly. At the same time, the flowers in the LumbinI Grove bloomed spontaneously. In addition, five hundred Sakya princes, including Nanda, were born,
as well as eight hundred maidens, including Yasodhara, five hundred
including Chandaka, and five hundred excellent riding horses,
lncluding Ka1)thaka. The whole earth trembled and a brilliant light
shone . everywhere. Four minor kings boasted that these were signs heraldmg the birth of their own sons.
Furthermore, the Bodhi Tree appeared in the centre of the continent alo . hfi ' ng wIt lve hundred gardens and five hundred treasures so that
all f K· '" ,
h· 0 mg . )uddhodana's desires were fulfilled. Therefore he named
son Sarvarthasiddha, "All Aims Accomplished". 398 The oracles pre- dIcted that he would become a universal monarch conquering the four qUarters if he were to remain a householder, but that if he were to
the world his body enlightened in twenty ways and lustrous " . h' ng t
polished golden doorbolt, emerged painlessly from hIS mot. er
.
The Coming ofBuddha 417
418 History: Origin ofthe Precious Teaching
hOIder in favour of homelessness, he would renounce the life of a h d away seven days after he was
The Coming o fBuddha 419
b ddha H1S mot er passe . 1 d become a u . . h trusted to thirty-two nurses, mc u _
I would delight in the sense objects, Which are exceedingly pleasurable.
born. The Bodh1sattva was t en . .
·- . h aised h1m m mfancy.
ing Mahiipra)apall, w 0 r h a1ace during which time he studied and
Afterwards he hved m t e p c ' . t ce writing and mathematics I I teredmanyarts'lormsan , h
comp ete y mas . 'K r . arman and others, and elep ant- under [the tutelage of] ordered three Sakya families, riding under 1S daughters to be his consorts.
Thus, having been disgusted by the reality of suffering, by which the most excellent succumb to impermanence; and accompanied by the suffering of change, embraced by the all-pervading conditions of
mundane existence, and pursued by the suffering of pain itself, he vowed to renounce the world. 399
At that time King SUddhodana's retinue feared that the prince might become a monk. Therefore, they had the outskirts of the city vigilantly patrolled by the watchmen and gatekeepers, so that he could not go
anywhere. On the final night he bowed to his father and, guided by
his solemn vow, removed the obstacle posed by the [previous] lack of
parental consent. Riding upon KaI). fhaka the prince galloped through
the sky with the assistance of the four guardian kings. Then, near the 400
including that of Dat:l9. apal). 1f, to gf:1 '1'
h . d "LordI glrlS 0 our am11es
. th me m archery or m tea .
no one dares W1 h' bTt he rang the bell to announce a
Butt eysal , . h '
His father was ashamed, but t pnnce sa '. h rts "
With this assertion of 1S a 11 petuous Sakya youths, all of contest of skills with the Then Devadatta, in a very whom departed . for the outs :hich had been brought from VaisalI jealous mood, killed an . elepha . h tsingle powerful blow of his palm.
Sacred Stiipa
was not a monk. He then exchanged his linen dress for the saffron robe.
as an offering to the pnnce, W1t.
tside the gates T o match the
Nanda threw the elephant. forc1b y ? tUh ut leaving chariot, seized h fb th theBodh1sattva,W1 0 11 .
In VaisaLI and Rajagrha, under Ara<;iakaJama and Udraka, two soph- ists who were celebrated for their instructions, he studied the contem- plations of nothing at all and of the pinnacle of existence,401 and he attained states as high as those of his masters. But knowing that those
contemplations and practices were not the path to liberation from the evils of mundane existence, he persevered in ascetic contemplation for six years with five noble companions on the banks ofthe wide Nairafijana
River. DUring each of the first two years he ate a single grain of rice. During each of the next two years he drank a single drop of water. And during the last two years he took nothing whatsoever.
Then the gods called to him in verse. The conquerors of the ten
directions and their spiritual sons aroused him from the lower path and
urged him to the Point of Enlightenment. Then, to remove his exhaus-
tion, he enjoyed a little solid food, at which his five companions went off to VaraI). asI in disillusionment.
He himself then set off for Vajrasana in Magadha. On the way a brahman girl, Sujata, served him with the honeyed cream of five hundred cows. Instantly his body became lustrous as a polished golden
doorbolt, and he made Sujata's merit inexhaustible. While on the road he received a handful of grass, as soft as a peacock's throat, from the grass-cutter Svastika, and with it he proceeded towards the Indestruct-
ible Seat. At the Bodhi Tree in the centre of Vajrasana, self-originated
through the blessing of all the buddhas, he spread out the grass mat
and, sitting upon it with his legs crossed, made this vow [Sutra of Extensive Play, Ch. 19, v. 57]:
Let this body of mine dry up.
Let this heap of skin and bones decay.
belong only to skilled athletes. " 1
id "Inthethreeworldreams
. . d hurled it over seven wa s mto
strengt 0 0 : .
the elephant's tail with . h1S b1g admiration praised him.
the countryside. For th1S the g d ierce seven palm trees, seven iron
The contestants then compete f to Ph ther with a single arrow. De-
walls and seven cauldrons, a tedrt e °but prince's arrow pierced . d three Nanda p1erce fi1ve,
vadatta p1erce , . r hted a fountain ofwater sprang themall. Onthespotwhereh1Sarro,:". a19f urewater]andwascalledthe
forth, of youthful prowess,
"Arrow-born Well. Slmilar y, m s 1 h l'de river and in all the . . . inglikeswansont ew ,
elephant-ndmg, SW1mm Id te with the Bodhisattva.
sixty-four crafts, no athlete cou compe times trains people by follow-
The master among world-knowersbsomde the misdeeds which result . Th s inordertoa an on d'
ing convention. u , . d . ty thousand worthy la 1es, from sensual dependence he SlX ho were free from the five
namely, Gopa, and virtues _ together with defects of womank1nd and posse d W'th them he enjoyed
· . of twenty thousan. 1
their respect1ve '11 But even such enjoymen
t
the sensual pleasures as 1f they were 1 usHory. from mundane exist-
· £ unciation 1S turn h introduced h1m to per ect ren h ' d of cymbals awakened t e
ence to the doctrine began when t e souIn .
. c ers ForconsoatlOn
he went all around the
of
power of h1S lormer pray ' . 0 . h d k his chanoteer.
. ng the four omens
n see1 d city with C an. a a as d h h' heart felt utterly distresse ,an
d
birth old age, slckness and eat
he said [Buddhacarita, Ch. 4, v. 86]:
1S
Old age, sickness, and - If those three did not eXlst,
l
he cut off his hair and thus shed the evidence that he
' , O. . Mgin O f the Precious Teaching 420 HlStOry,,· 'J
I will not move from this 'Til the enlightenment, hard ,to
many aeons, be attaIned,
After so , ' , he composed himself in the
Then in the evemng tWlhght h d all the domains of Mara, M- 'shostHecurne '1M-
1 I pa ace
"But the perfect rea lsatlOn " 'f n) and you have on y , , (of merit and pnstme cogm 10 ,
able prOVIsIOns , "
lived the happy, joyful,life ,? f a ephemeral offering you
The Bodhisattva rephed, By J leted the twO prOVIsIOns fd ' 402AsIhavecomp
lord of the realm 0 eSlre, I ot become a buddha? " , during limitless can ers and reproached him, saymg
The lord of raIsed two (Sutra of ExtenSLVe Play, Ch. 21, v. )
, to the ephemeral offering I made here, You bear wItneSS
But you have no witness yourself. I Without a witness you have already ost,
mind the insubstantiality [of all things]. Thus, without even a thought
of anger or arrogance, the Bodhisattva remained absorbed in the con-
templation of great loving kindness,403 and, indeed, the swords and
missiles hurled by Mara fell as a shower of flowers, and the harsh noises
and battle-cries became songs of praise. In this way, the poisonous tree
of desire was felled. The flowers of the Five-arrowed One wilted. The
rocky mountain of pride crumbled. Martial spirit collapsed. The
crocodile banner was lowered, and the chariot of Smara beat a hasty
404
retreat. Thus, the deceitful one and his army were scattered in utter
confusion.
Mara then made his seven daughters attempt to seduce the
Bodhisattva with the deceits of lust, having transformed them into
seven beauties. They tried to ensnare him in the noose of a seductress'
thirty-two wiles, with PUJ). garlka's coquetry, Menaka's dangling
necklace, tightly-bound girdle, Kesamisra's tinkling
40S
But they stood not a chance of moving even the tips of the Bodhisattva's hair.
the end of the d d' ted Tibetan monks did manage
Despite the ? ards. hlPs a . eW : age. Also, married yogins, th t
to keep their. alIve and had suffered less in the persecu- who lived wnhm the commuld Yf Buddhist learning and lore. By the tions, preserved all they 0 . n ascendant phase once more:
mid-tenth century BuddhIsm ,,:as m a to travel to Nepal and India
Tibetans in search of the doctnne began d by the eastward spread of . . d perhaps encourage .
for mstructlons, an , . d ' . India Indian BuddhIst masters
Islam and. the young disciples, who
began to Journey TIbet to ortive of their spiritual endeavours. lived in commumtles largely supp . or boundary one
In the related thus fa: special
that it is crucIal to be aware of m or Os hool of Tibetan Buddhism, . A . ent Translatlon c
of the Nymgma nCl. b'ect-matter of the present book. the history of. whIch of the imperial period, On the one sIde there IS t e u hen Tibet was at the
transmitted and redacted royal Buddhism itself was eak of its political and mIlItary a. '1' t' On the other side
r' f
finding its own refuge In, and fundamentally inhosPlt-
P
at its zenith as the re 19IOn 0
of the boundary we a po ltlCa. y. at the same time a refuge
an ASIan Clvllsa Ion.
. . - 11 disunified and weakened Tibet
an enlightened doctrine tenuously eXlstmg m a
able world. . ome of their roots back
While all schools of h themselves by their . . d h Nymgmapa lstmguls .
to the earlIer peno , t e 1 t unadulterated teachlllg . h 1 epresent the comp e e -
assertIOn that t eya one r c. - k't and the other accomP V· 1 'tra;)antaraSla en
of Padmasambhava, lma a m I , . fKingTrhisong Dets lished masters of India who, to Tibetan disciples transmitted the whole theIr Yeshe Tshogyel and the king
of such remarkable calIbre e been transmitted within the himself. The Buddhist teachmgs ,:"hlch by Dudjom Rinpoche,
Nyingma school are In10
: 1(bstan-pa'i rnam-gzhag) which
in his Fundamentals ofthe Nymgma c 00 constitutes the first part of this volume.
,
Translators'Introduction 395
396 History
the Tibetan schools can boast of such figures. In the pages of the present history we will encounter the likes of Rongzompa, Longcenpa, Terdak Lingpa and others who exemplified Nyingma ideals while affirming the common ground shared by all Buddhist traditions.
None the less, the Nyingmapa did suffer in the temporal sphere owing to their determined aloofness from the political scene. The distant lineage of the transmitted precepts (ring-brgyud bka'-ma), which was traced back in a direct succession to the ancient period,
grew increasingly fragile with each new This state of affairs, however, had been foreseen by the anCIent masters: Pad- masambhava, in particular, had responded by filling the land of Tibet with spiritual treasures which awaited rediscovery by individuals of
appropriate vision. So it was that as the distant lineage waned there arose a close lineage of rediscovered spiritual treasures (nye-brgyud gter- ma) to meet the needs of a new age. Since this proved to be a medium for maintaining the continuity and blessing of the ancIent translations, most practising Nyingmapa at the present time adhere to
meditative cycles which were revealed in this way. Moreover, from the seventeenth century onwards major Nyingmapa monasteries were founded and restored to preserve the vast array of such treasures as well as all that survived of the distant lineage, thereby guaranteeing
the ongoing vitality of the tradition. .
Thus there are now two methods of transmission through whIch the
Nyingma teachings have been handed down. The lineage oft. he transmitted precepts (ring-brgyud bka'-ma) has synthesIsed the major texts and teaching cycles of Mahayoga, Anuyoga and Atiyoga under the heading Trio of the Sutra, Magical Net and Mental Class (mdo-sgyu-
sems-gsum). These are respectively the Anuyoga Sutra which Gathers All Intentions, the Mahayoga Tantra of the Magical Net, and the Class of Atiyoga. In addition, the close lineage of treasures or covered teachings (nye-brgyud gter-ma) has transmitted the doctrmes known as the Trio of the Guru, Great Perfection and the Great Compas-
sionate One (bla-rdzogs-thugs gsum) , which synthesise the teaching cycles s
relating to Guru Padmasambhava (bla), the Great Perfection (rdzog ) and the Great Compassionate One, Avalokitesvara (thugs).
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE TEXT
The History is divided into eight parts. The first of these is a
ings of par excellence, and here the beginnings of their lmeages are surveyed: the lineage of the intention of the PrImordIal Buddha, Samantabhadra, the symbolic transmission of the holders, and the aural transmission of individual human bemgs.
P. art Three an account of the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet dUrIng the reIgns of Songtsen Trhisong Detsen, and Trhi Relpacen and along with an account o. f the of tradition through to the restora- tIon of monastIc BuddhIsm m Central Tibet during the late tenth and early eleventh centuries.
Part Four treats the introduction into Tibet of the three inner classes of but deals primarily with the lives of the masters of the Great PerfectIOn, from Vairocana (circa eighth century) through to Longcenpa (1308-63).
. In Part Five subject-matter is the previously mentioned distant lmeage of which was maintained at an early date Jnanakumara (czrca late eighth century), Nup Sangye Yeshe (mid-nmth and the masters of the Zur family (eleventh century The lmeage was continued by the Rong tradition in Central and the Kham tradition in the Sino-Tibetan border regions until the of Terdak Lingpa (1646-1714), and descended to the present
Author m an unbroken line.
Six outlines the history of the close lineage of the rediscovered
an account of their meaning and purpose along WIth bnef bIOgraphIes of the most important treasure-finders down to Mipham Rinpoche (1846-1912).
Seven considers the polemical attacks which have been launched agamst the Nyingma tradition in the past and summarises the responses to t. hese in order to introduce the reader precisely to the view that the Nymgmapa have traditionally held.
The eighth and final part provides a chronology for the book as a whole and an account of the prophecies concerning the future develop- ment of Buddhism.
· . I d· haslS- accountoftheoriginsanddevelopment hismm n la,emp ·tS
NYinWhich of history of the peculiarly p teachmgs m TIbet. The histoncal traditions of the Great perfectlOn, considered in Part Four, were redacted in much of their d:es. ent form as early as the fourteenth century by Longcenpa and his
ISClples. Those of th. e distant lineage of transmitted precepts, abridged
d
ing the life of Sakyamuni Buddha, the patrIarchs . of the teaChIng, I
preservation, and the expansion of the greater vehIcle. _ Part Two describes the origins of the three inner classes of tantra the Mahayoga, Anuyoga and Atiyoga. These are the characteristic teach-
THE LITERARY TRADITION OF THE HISTORY It will b f h
th . e seen rom t e above that the central parts are the fourth to comprise some three-quarters of the work as a whole
Translators'Introduction 397
398 History
in Part Five, were fairly well established by the time Golo Zhonupel composed his Blue Annals (1478) and reached the form in which they are found here in the works of such seventeenth-century authors as Rikdzin Pema Trhinle and Locen DharmasrI. Finally, the contents of Part Six were established by a succession of masters, the most recent being Jamgon Kongtrtil Lodro Thaye (1813-99), There were therefore three major historical traditions connected with the lineages of the Nyingma school in Tibet, and these have been masterfully anthologised by Dudjom Rinpoche in this work.
The similarities at certain junctures between this and earlier histories have been noted by a number of contemporary scholars: Parts One to Five, for example, often correspond to the second part of Gyurme Tshewang Chokdrup's Catalogue ofthe Collected Tantras, and Part Seven to the third part of the latter, which similarly borrows from earlier works, It is important to recognise that Tibet was free from the concepts of ownership of the written word which form the bases for our copyright laws, and so Tibetan authors borrowed from one another with perfect freedom, the guiding principle being that the insights of enlightened masters of the past are always worthy of repetition, The works upon which Dudjom Rinpoche has drawn have, in accordance with tradition, been listed in a special section at the end of the book (pp, 965-6),
As the foregoing remarks suggest, the Tibetan historian acts very much as a compiler or anthologist of material that has been handed down by his or her tradition, It would be wrong, however, to see in Tibetan religious historiography merely an uncritical repetition of old stories; for its canons are most certainly not those of modern western historiography, and any attempt to judge the former in terms of the latter will always lead to the conclusion that Tibetan historiography is defective in the manner of its pre-Renaissance counterpart in the West,
As we read the biographies found in Dudjom Rinpoche's History, however, another observation forces itself upon us: many of these stories, which certainly do treat of historical figures, their studies, meditations, and actions on behalf of the Buddhist religion, function as allegorical accounts of the specific spiritual traditions in which they are written, Nyak }fHinakumara (pp, 601-5), for example, appears motivated in his practice by a search for vengeance, but "his intention turned to reality itself and he was completely unable to perform the [wrathful] rite", Rikdzin Terdak Lingpa (pp, 825-34) lives different stages of his life according to the different stages of esoteric empower- ment. The examples could be multiplied indefinitely, Viewed with sufficient sensitivity to the tradition it becomes clear that the spiritual paths taught abstractly in doctrinal texts are here mapped concretely through the lives of individuals, These accounts thus tell us as much ofTibetan religious beliefs, values and insights as can any other available sources, History, as understood in the contemporary West, is here
Introduction 399 clearly subservient to a spiritual end b t h'
appreciating these biographies as s ' u t not prevent our guidance for those who pursue th 10 InspIratIOn and practical equally as a record of their spIntua path outlined in them, and
The historian, too, can find a wealth f d '
ground, education and teaching careers of ata the back- well as information on the ma'or 0 ,many Nymgma masters as text should therefore be retreat centres, The
on which it is written, abandonin receptIVIty, to the many levels
should or should not be,
g ngId preconceptIOns of what history
The hard facts given in the Histor
reproduced with fid l't h y - names, places, titles and dates - are
elYtotesourcesup h'h' ,
have endeavoured to identif on w IC It IS The
lIterary works concerned and t 'd y the persons, locatIOns and
their researches This materI'al ,0 provI, e the reader with the results of , IS occaSIOnally gi ' h N '
umeTwo,butthereadershould 1 £ venmt e otesmVol- tions, Bibliography and indexe re er to ,the Glossary of Enumera-
the work with endless e aVOl? e? the to fill
required, Accordingly the ' :v ere speCIalIsed studIes are in fact , , annotatIOns we have 'd d '
pnmarily to clarify obscurities and bl ,provI e are mtended rare lexical items, and to direct the ems m the text, to point out treat specific topics in detail. eader to secondary sources which
We have also endeavoured to conv 11 T'b
calendar, Here some difficulties ,ert a 1, etan dates to the western
aware, The Tibetans only fixed thanse 0 f the reader should be cycle to begin in 1027 th ' e use of theIr characteristic sixty-year
7'
1 antra into the Tib
1027 Tibetan ch
where errors do a relatIvely straightforward matter, and readily corrected For t na occur th,ey may, for the most part, be
tIns
e for the whole period following
' eyeargIVenforthetra l' f h
e Kalacakra
often utilised onl'y a twhelPenod precedmg 1027, however, the Tibetans eve-year cycle wh' h '
the calculation of 1 f" IC was not well suIted for
thirteenth century ong sPdans 0 tIme, When Tibetan historians of the , onwar s attempted t h
Imperial period int th ' 0, convert t e records of the
errors arose and e sIxtr-year reckonmg many discrepancies and
them 1 IS not a ways a simple task to detect and correct
Arabic and othPerorcahry have made admirable use of Chinese
rOllICesmb' , I'h ' though many difficulties do r,mgmg Ig t to bear on the problem,
lators then h b
remam, The Course adopted by the trans-
SUggested by recent scholarsh' . ' or s cQnsent.
0 prOVI e the alternative dates
t? Iehave the traditional dates for the pre-I027
Period as aars
egIVenmt etext andt 'd
errors in dating h Ip the Notes. the post-1027 period
\\lIth the Auth ' ave een corrected In the body of the text
atIOn 0 t
400 History
In addition, the precise chronological tables drawn up by Dieter Schuh in Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Tibetischen Kalenderrechnung have permitted us to give exact calculations of dates following 1027 which include the day and month. A word of caution is in order, however, because Schuh has provided us with the calculations not of one, but of four calendrical systems, and as he himself has noted it is essential that one exercise discretion in deciding, in any given case, which system is to be used. The four systems are Phakpa, originating in the thirteenth century; Tshurpu, from the early fourteenth century; old Phukpa, from 1447 onwards; and new Phukpa, which became the official system of the Tibetan government in 1696. Our procedure has been to follow old Phukpa for the period from 1447 until 1695 and new Phukpa for the period which follows unless there are very strong reasons for preferring one of the other systems. For the period from
1027 until 1446 the choice of Phakpa or Tshurpu must be made on a case by case basis, and in some instances neither one seems quite right. When this problem occurs old Phukpa has been used even though it is anachronistic to do so, the maximum error possible being seldom more than one month. Future research may eventually resolve these difficulties.
The formal title of this volume is A Clearly Elucidated History of the Precious Teachings o f the Vehicle o f Indestructible Reality according to the Earliest ofAll Teachings ofthe Conqueror in the Land ofSnows, the Ancient Translation School, entitled Thunder from the Great Conquering Battle- Drum o f Devendra (gangs-ljongs rgyal-bstan yongs-rdzogs-kyi phyi-mo snga- 'gyur rdo-rje theg-pa'i bstan-pa rin-po-che ji-ltar byung-ba'i tshul dag-cing gsal-bar brjod-pa lha-dbang gYul-Ias rgyal-ba'i rnga-bo-che'i sgra-dbyangs). Devendra is said to be the form taken by the Buddha when dwelling among the gods. His drum not only ensures divine victory, but rouses the gods from the slumber of complacency and reveals to them the impermanence of even their celestial condition.
The text was composed in 1962 by His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche, Jikdrel Yeshe Dorje, the late head of the Nyingma school, after his arrival in India as a refugee. It was intended, as the Author clearly states, to give stability to the Nyingma tradition during that particular crisis situation. It has now seen many editions, the present translation following the third, which comprises four hundred and twenty-three Tibetan folios (eight hundred and forty-six pages) and occupies the first volume in theAuthor's Collected Works (Kalimpong, 1979).
The Text
A Elucidated of the Precious Teachings of the VehIcle of Indes. tructlble Reality according to the Earliest of
GYURME DORJE & MA TTHEW KAPSTEIN
. .
nCIent TranslatIon School, entitled Thunder from
:. gyal-bstan phyi-mo snga-'gyur rdo- rye theg-pa 1 bstan-pa byung-ba'i tshul dag-cing gsal-bar bryod-pa lha-dbang gYul-las rgyal-ba'i
rnga-bo-che'i sgra-dbyangs
All TeachIngs of the Conqueror in the Land ofS
hA t e
nows, the Great Conquering Battle-Drum of Devendra
Verses of Invocation
[2. 1-10. 6] Always frolicking in pristine cognition, The pure, unchanging, peaceful expanse,
Where there is no trace of elaboration,
May the unequalled Guru conquer the world!
The sun of all-knowing pristine cognition alone
Is never obscured by elaborations:
May he protect us, for he sheds a thousand rays of spiritual and
temporal well-being
On the illusory city of the world, which arises dependent on causes. 363
Cool, soothing camphor and nectar do not compare
With this gift that cures delusion's unbearable fever,
The panacea that destroys the plague ofthe world:
May that jewel oftrue doctrine, transmitted and realised,364 be our
victorious crown!
I praise, above all, the supreme community,365
The banner of the teaching,
Supported by a golden shaft of superior aspiration,
Flying the exquisite cloth of the three correct trainings,
And beautified by the jewelled peak ofexegesis and attainmclu.
Primordially pure, just what naturally is, the supreme body of reality, the all-embracing nucleus - this is the essence, awareness and emptiness, Samantabhadra;
Ceaseless transformation, pristine cognition's expressive play, arisen as a billowing, magical net - this is his natural expression, bliss and emptiness, Vajrasattva;
Loving compassion, teaching each in accord with his needs at appropriate times, with an unqualified intention - this is his spirituality, appearance and emptiness,Vajradhara;
404 History
.
. I b In devotIOn
t ow 0
the gurus ofthe six lineages - intentional, symbohc, h. 1 ho are
Verses ofInvocation 405
369 Whoisitthatwouldleaveyourfeet,evenonbecomingenlightened?
Body complete with major and minor marks, released from a lotus bud in Sindhu Lake, containing the seed-syllable HRII:I, the pristine
cognition that is the knowledge and love of the Lord ofSukhavatI Field:370
You are neither born, nor do you die, while saIpsara exists, but by the dance, the indestructible discipline ofgreat bliss,
You cut off, or take into your following, all conscious beings within the three spheres.
This being the unobstructed expression ofyour power, you can be compared with yourself alone in this world.
Although all the conquerors equally love living beings, only you,
Skull-garlanded Master, 371 have been so kind as to protect the afflicted Tibetans; so I revere you with all my heart.
You were the sole spiritual son of the 5akya King, 372 0 heroic Lord of Secrets,373 who strictly maintained his vows, and was renowned as
the great Bodhisattva.
Endowed with unlimited brilliance, retention, and mastery of the ten
powers, you wilfully lived for nine hundred years to illuminate the Land of Snows.
You planted well the banner of the teaching as the ornament ofCentral Tibet, and gave birth to a line ofthe Conqueror's family
that had no precedent.
Thinking ofyou, who had the meritorious fortune to become the first venerated priest in Tibet, I bow down in faith, time
and time again.
In the Cold Land that was obscured by darkest ignorance, you, whose sceptre is discernment's sword,374 assumed a kingly guise,
AndlitanewtheilluminatinglampoftheConqueror'sprecious
teaching, so that this frontier land achieved even greater fortune than India.
If the mass of such wondrous grace were given form, the vast universe Would be too small a vessel!
Knowing that here and now whatever enjoyment is found in this
storehouse ofprofoundly significant, wish-granting gems is thus due to your power alone, lord Trhisong, I have faith.
A hundred times I praise the Tibetan translators and Indian scholars, Who flawlessly translated, revised and established
The immaCUlate scriptures ofthe Conqueror, and the commentaries on their intention,
ural and the rest - the teachers of the supreme ve lC e, w
a , b d· 366 inseparable from these three buddha- 0 les.
You embody everything, always delighting: in an authentic and secret reat mandala endowed with supreme . .
g rna;" disci lesyourespondappropnately,appeanng10a bef! e wild ones, and before the peaceful and paSSIOnate
as is fit· d l"k AndfroU-:thelimitlessunionofyourforms 1 ; the
In the dark Land ofSnows
beyond the pale.
great thunder-clouds, you bring a satIsfymg an ertl e sower 0
. ,
mi ht warrior, glorious Heruka, favour me WIth
o g! ant that I accomplish the indestructible realIty ofyour body, speech, and mind.
There is nothing at all, animate or inanimate, that is not in t7-ed seal of this beauty, emptiness; there is no buddha who as not re Ie
on you. . h who lust after form IntheguiseofapassionateloveryouentIcet ose . bl. '
·h t367 two accomp1IS men s.
for it is said that the pristine cognition ofunchangmg, supreme may be known by this means. 1. h
ISS
Y ou are a messenger to those who desire supreme accomp IS and the sole mistress of my circle, for I have good fortune,
t m e n ,
oVajra Queen! h BeforeyouIbow,intherealisationofco-emergence,t ecomm
on
savourofall.
Embrace me tightly in the alluring play 0
love!
fb i. great
dletusmake ISS, an
I give obeisant worship to the host of India's great scholars"
h. ng
The agents of the Conqueror, who reve. aled s AndequalledtheConquerorhimself,hkeNagafjuna,Asang ,
others, .
Who commented on [the Buddha's] intentIon, an
philosophy's limits.
d . ed at arnv
T o the numberless host of accomplished I bow:
T o Saraha, Luipa, Ghal). tapada an. d the rest,. Who arrived at the indestructible level, by the mdestructIble p So that they equalled V ajradhara's intentIon.
o Lord ofthe World,368 renowned as Songtsen Gampo, You were the lord who ushered in the very first dawn ofthe
Conqueror's teaching
ath
,
406 History
And so opened for the Land of Snows a hundred doors of spiritual and temporal well-being.
I give my heart's faith to the host ofsupreme, accomplished masters, awareness-holders,
Who maintain the indestructible lineage ofsupreme transformation,375 Delighting in whatever appears in the ma1). qala ofsupreme bliss, Intoxicated by the nectar of esoteric instructions, distilled from the
intention of the three lineages.
Moreover, in devotion I here praise
All who appear as agents ofour Guide, the Conqueror,
Who glorify the teaching and living beings without bias
By their liberating careers oflearning, dignity and accomplishment.
Oakinls and protectors ofthe transmitted doctrine, bearers of secrets! Not wishing to divulge this profound history,
Please understand that the teaching now nears final rest,
And with joyful smile grant your consent.
In this most degenerate age the sun ofthe Conqueror's teaching is almost concealed by gathering black storm-clouds of disorder;
And the extraordinary tradition ofthe supremely secret vehicle, to which even accomplished persons take recourse, has virtually disappeared.
At the present time there are few who have mastered the lives ofthose who attained realisation, and those few rarely repeat the account.
For that reason I will endeavour to set this forth, so that some small part of the ancient tales, might be kept from disappearing.
Th 0 . .
Part One
e
ngzn of the Precious Teaching of the Conqueror in this World
Introduction
(10. 6-12. 3] It is my pleasure to relate briefly here, in pure and clear language, how the precious doctrine of the vehicle of indestructible reality - the unsurpassed, most secret nucleus of the entire teaching of our Teacher, the Sugata - originated and developed in the world at large and especially in the Land of Snows. So at the outset I must explain how, generally speaking, the precious teaching ofthe Conqueror came into the world.
The world systems of the universe, which are like vessels, supports created by the oceanic extent of the buddhas' compassion and the deeds of sentient beings, are spread throughout the infinite reaches of space. Therein, the place enjoyed by the buddha-body of perfect rapture, Vairocana the Great Glacial Lake, is the Buddha-field whose Foundation and Centre are Adorned with Flowers. Within each pore of the conqueror [Vairocana] residing there, there appear oceanic systems, numerous as grains of dust. Upon the lotuses which float in the perfumed oceans in the palms of his hands, there are twenty-five world systems situated one above the other. And here, in the thir- teenth among them, the world of Patient Endurance,376 there is a great trichiliocosm consisting of one billion worlds, each with four continents.
Of the four continents, each one of which has two subcontinents, the one to the south is Jambudvlpa, the Rose-Apple Continent, so called owing to the presence of the Jambu or rose-apple tree. 377 Its country is Magadha, where there is the self-originated Indestruct- Ible Seat, Vajrasana. Here one thousand supreme emanational bodies will come forth one after the other, as ifforming a rosary, attain buddha- hood and turn the wheel of the doctrine. Thus, they make of this Auspicious Aeon378 an illuminated world. At the present time, the light of the precious teaching of the Fourth Guide379 spreads throughout the World.
How this came to pass may be considered in four parts: (1) the Coming ofour Teacher, the Buddha; (2) the collection ofhis transmitted
410 History: Origin ofthe Precious Teaching . . nd 4
. line of patriarchs of the teachmg, a precepts by (3)
the preservatlon of the teaChIng an
(Mahayana).
1 The Coming of Buddha) Teacher of the Doctrine
. () d the expansion of the greater vehIcle
[12. 4-13. 3] Concerning this topic, the different philosophical systems hold many conflicting opinions, for they were conceived in accord with the varied intellectual capacities of those who required instruction.
THE OPINION OF THE ADHERENTS OF THE LESSER VEHICLE
Among these, the pious attendants of the school380 main- tained that after developing a supremely enlightened attitude our Teacher gathered, for three "countless" aeons,381 the provisions [of merit and pristine cognition] such as may be gathered on the path of provisions. 382 Then, as prince Siddhartha, an ordinary individual who, in this his final birth, was still bound [to things mundane], he attained, on the basis of [his prior completion of] the greater path of provisions, the connecting path and the paths of insight, meditation, and no-more- learning during a single sitting at Vajrasana; and thus he realised bud- dhahood. So it says in the Treasury o/the Abhidhanna (Ch. 6, v. 24ab):
In the last stage of meditation
The buddha and the self-centred buddha (pratyekabuddha) Obtain total enlightenment seated in one position. 383
Thus, they claim that the buddhahood of the Teacher is like [the enlightenment of] the self-centred buddha, who is sharp-witted and enjoys solitude. Though they consider the Bodhisattva in his last birth to have been an ordinary individual, they refer to his previous births as having been "in accord with liberation";384 and they say [Treasury of the Abhidhanna, Ch. 4, v. lIS]:
Though they are not sublime,
Parents, invalids, teachers of religion, And the Bodhisattva in his last rebirth Are said to be worthy beyond measure.
412 History: Origin ofthe Precious Teaching
THE ORDINARY OPINION OF THE GREATER VEHICLE AND OF THE TANTRAS
[13. 3-16. 2] According to the usual opinion of the greater vehicle, how- ever, after developing an enlightened attitude and gathering the provi- sions for three "countless" aeons, the holy Svetaketu, a son of the gods and a bodhisattva of the tenth level385 who was bound to take birth once more, was born as the prince Siddhartha. He was a bodhisattva of the tenth level in his final birth, and he attained buddhahood in this world. In the Sutra ofthe Array ofAttributes gUlJavyuhasutra, T 59) it says:
From the time I first developed the unsurpassed enlightened attitude I gathered the provisions with great effort for a period of three "countless" aeons. Then, gazing upon the blind, unguided creatures of this age when life endures for one hundred years, I attained buddhahood here in Jambu- dvlpa, and turned the inconceivable wheel of the doctrine . . .
While some works concerning the way of secret mantra are in general agreement with this description, they maintain, in particular, that when Siddhartha dwelt on the bank of the Nairafijana River absorbed in fixed contemplation, he was roused and summoned by the tathagatas. Leaving his conventional body behind, the body of his pristine cognition jour- neyed to the heaven,386 where he received empowerment from all the tathagatas. Thus, he attained buddhahood by means of the five awakenings, and only afterwards did he demonstrate the attainment of enlightenment at Vajrasana. Just so, the master Buddhajfianapada [in the Point of Liberation] says:
Though Sakyamuni gathered merit for three countless aeons,
He still did not realise this truth.
At Nairafijana, then, he became absorbed
In the contemplation of nothing at all,387
When the sugatas of the ten directions
Obstructed his impulsive desire,
And bestowed the profound, clear, non-dual teaching That is perfectly pure like the sky.
At midnight he meditated on just what is,
As have all the previous conquerors,
And at dawn's first light he gained perfect realisation. Then, in order to teach living beings,
He dwelt at the Point of Enlightenment389
And vanquished the great host of Mara.
T o t a k e s e n t i e n t b e i n g s i n t o h i s f o l d
He then turned the wheel of the doctrine.
The ComingofBuddha 41 the master Aryadeva [in the L a m '
388
duct) Caryamelapakapradipa) T 1803] says: Awakening is twofold:
It is held to be outer and inner. Aryadeva thus maintains that the outer
buddhahood by way of des' I
, Ire essness and th ' ,
attamment of the body of I ' e mner awakenmg is the Coa escence whi h
body of reality, which is inner rad' " c comes about When the the four kinds of desire, lance, IS made manifest by means of
According to the special view of the '
attaining buddhahood in the Ak ' h Ggreater vehIcle, however, after
amst a- hanavyuh I h
reveal the attainment of buddh h "d ' a rea m t e buddhas
- a00 mthePurAbd390
rasana, successively, In the ,{, h e 0 e and at Vaj-
'a OJ t e Bounteous Array it says'
perfect buddhas attain enlightenment ey 0 not perform the buddhas' deeds
desire until they have attained
'
a ood m the supreme realm of Aka ' h Bth ' , msta,
u avmg Journeyed to the Gh Th b
-h " anavyu arealm
e uddhas create ten million emanations' ' always absorbed in yoga they delight ' WIth each one of those emanations
Just as the moon shines on all I d' Th 'h' an s.
WIt. m their domains they come forth to teach one m accord with his or her needs
A.
nd the Sutra o fthe Descent to Lanka(Ch. 10, vv. 38ab; 39cd) says:
Abandoning even the Pure Abode,
The perfect Buddha attained buddhahood
In the pleasant realm, And an emanatIOn attained bUddhahood h
I ere. n short, all who are said to 'b d
and form do so only to sh
TI-IE SPECIAL POS
. ITION OF THE NYINGMA TRADITION
[16. 3-18 2] H
i . ere, [our tradition favour] h
s essence ofdefinitive's t e,unsurpassedteachingthat enlightenment to which our Teacher
cognition that I'S' . . ' m the ongmal expanse, or ground gl ' IntUItIvely aw h b ' thnnmgless time. In the radiant 1 are as. een free throughout be-
f r e a t s t a t e i n w h i c h t h e b o d i e s [ t h e i n
e from both conjunction and d' . . pnstme cogllltlOn are ISJunctlOn, hIS mtention being of the
3 'P whzch Subsumes Con-
"
awakemng IS the attainment of
dhahood in the realms of desire
h attam u
oW,t ewaytothosewhorequireinstruction.
'
414 History: Origin ofthe Precious Teaching
The Coming ofBuddha 41S
same savour as that of all the buddhas of the three times. Without de- parting from this the Tathagata appears, for the sake of sentient beings, as the inconceivable play of the emanational body. Thus, he trains those who require instruction as befits them individually, through infinite en- lightened activity which establishes them in the three degrees of en-
lightenment. It says in the Tantra of the Array of Wish-granting Gems (yid-bzhin rin-po-che bkod-pa'i rgyud):
The Buddha who preceded all,
Vajradhara, Conqueror, Most Secret,
Frolics in worlds beyond concept.
At all times, without number, before and after,
He benefits the world in various ways,
In uncountable peaceful and wrathful forms, As a hunter, a whore, or some other.
Now in this Auspicious Aeon
He will become the Thousand Guides;
And thus will he in various ways Benefit countless beings.
Also, it says in the Root Tantra ofthe Secret Nucleus (Ch. 3, vv. 1-2):
The Six Sages Embodying Awareness,392 who are said to be the "blessing of great spirituality", issue forth from the in- destructible body, speech and mind of the tathagatas. After issuing forth, each one of these great sages, transcendent
lords, acts on behalf of the five classes of beings, by means of the four kinds of instructions, in each of the infinite great trichiliocosms in the ten directions of the six worlds, those ofthe lateral [cardinal points], zenith and nadir, which [exist] owing to the force of the [world-forming] deeds [of those
beings].
This is not only said in the tantra texts of the secret mantra, but the
profounder sutras are in agreement. The Lotus Sutra (Ch. 1S, v. 1) says:
Ten billion aeons, an inconceivable number, And even that does not measure those past Since I attained supreme enlightenment. Thus, I am always teaching the doctrine.
And the Sutra of the Meeting of Father and Son says:
Great warrior, learned in skilful means,
You have been the Conqueror in one billion aeons
In order to mature sentient beings,
And though you have revealed yourself thus as the Buddha,
Even today, my Guide,
You reveal yourself as manifold buddhas.
THE BODY OF EMANA TION
[18. 2-20. 2] Analysing the body of emanation, which responds to the natures ofthose requiring instruction, the Ornament ofthe Sutras ofthe Greater Vehicle (Ch. 9, vv. 63-4) says:
The countless emanations of the buddhas
Are held to be the body of emanation.
They have perfectly accomplished both goals393 And abide in every form,
Constantly demonstrating artistry and birth, Great enlightenment and also nirval)a;
The buddhas' body of emanation
Is the great means to liberation.
Thus, appearing in various guises, in the animate and inanimate worlds, [the forms of the body of emanation] are countless. None the less, if they be three are said to be foremost, namely, those of. of bIrth, and of supreme emanation. 394 Concerning the way In whIch the deeds ofthe great and supreme bodies ofemanation are performed, the Root Tantra ofthe Magical Net (sgyu-'phrul rtsa-rgyud) says that they benefit beings by four kinds of instruction:
They. instruct by means of the great merits of the body, WhICh reveals the activities from conception until the attainment of nirvana.
They. instruct by of knowledge conveyed in speech, whIch reveals the limitless mass of the doctrine.
They instruct by means of direct perception of mind; for they benefit the world by intuiting directly all that is intelli- gible by means ofthe six supernormal cognitive powers.
They instruct by means ofinconceivable miraculous abilities the enlightened attributes and activities which reveal ' inconceivable emanations of body, speech, and mind, as befits each and everyone who requires instruction.
Among those deeds which "instruct by means of the great merits of
the body" it is impossible to enumerate exactly, or otherwise to qualify,
the deeds of the Teacher's emanational body. It is a topic beyond
In thesutras of the greater vehicle, too, all manner of
quantItIes are mentioned which contradict one another and do not lend themselvet . . b . .
s 0 summansatIon, ut here we are pnmanly concerned with twe. lve de. eds which Buddha performed here in Jambudvlpa. V; thIS, the Treatzse on the Supreme Continuum of the Greater
ehzcle (Ch. 2, vv. S3cd-S6) says:
Not departing from the body of reality, Through the diverse nature of his emanations
416
History: Origin ofthe Precious Teaching
THE
LIFE OF SAKY AMUNI
He reveals these deeds to impure realms For the duration of the world's existence: He is actually born [among the gods], And he descends from the realm, Enters the womb and takes birth, Becomes proficient in the arts,
Enjoys the company of his consorts,
Renounces the world, practices asceticism, Reaches the Point of Enlightenment, Vanquishes Mara's host, attains
Perfect enlightenment, [and turns] the wheel ofthe
doctrine.
He then demonstrates [final] nirva1)a.
395
lauded him with songs of praise, and Brahma and Indra made him comfortable with the robes they offered.
[20. 2-40. 6] Our teacher appeared in the beautiful, divine heaven as the son of the gods, the holy Svetaketu. He taught the doctrine to the gods and dwelt among them. Once, the courtyard [of the heavenly palace] spontaneously resounded with the music of verses inspiring him to fulfil the prophecies of Dlpaqlkara Buddha. The holy Svetaketu then sat on the finest throne in the exalted mansion of the doctrine and, in order to demonstrate the act of taking birth in Jambudvlpa, made five special considerations of continent, family, father, mother, and time. Then he consoled the gods, saying, "Having been born from the womb of MayadevI in Jambudvlpa, I will reveal the profound nectar [of the doctrine]. I will overcome eighteen sophists and establish many beings in liberation. " . .
Then in the form of a young, ash-gray elephant, as descnbed m the Veda ofthe Brahmans,theBodhisattvaenteredthewombofhismother MayadevI while she was observing a purificatory fast (po$adha). 396 He transformed the womb into a celestial palace, beautiful to behold, free from the propensities of mundane existence, fit to be enjoyed by sons of the conquerors, and there he taught the doctrine of the punfi- cation of the birthplace to many hundreds of billions gods and. He spent ten full months there to illustrate the certam succeSSIOn the ten [bodhisattva] levels. . f
When the time came for the LumbinI Grove to receive the ment 0
side. Then, as a son of the royal family is anointed, or as an
that he had awakened to the family of enlightenment and was ldent d
to all the buddhas such as Aksobhyavajra, a host of deities
, . . 397·Idtles in the sky and they bathed hIm eagerly, all at once. CelesHa el
Sdkyamuni
As soon as he was born, the Bodhisattva took seven steps in each of the four directions, in order to show that he was about to embark upon the path of the four immeasurables. It is said that lotus blossoms offered by the gods sprung from his footprints and shone brilliantly. At the same time, the flowers in the LumbinI Grove bloomed spontaneously. In addition, five hundred Sakya princes, including Nanda, were born,
as well as eight hundred maidens, including Yasodhara, five hundred
including Chandaka, and five hundred excellent riding horses,
lncluding Ka1)thaka. The whole earth trembled and a brilliant light
shone . everywhere. Four minor kings boasted that these were signs heraldmg the birth of their own sons.
Furthermore, the Bodhi Tree appeared in the centre of the continent alo . hfi ' ng wIt lve hundred gardens and five hundred treasures so that
all f K· '" ,
h· 0 mg . )uddhodana's desires were fulfilled. Therefore he named
son Sarvarthasiddha, "All Aims Accomplished". 398 The oracles pre- dIcted that he would become a universal monarch conquering the four qUarters if he were to remain a householder, but that if he were to
the world his body enlightened in twenty ways and lustrous " . h' ng t
polished golden doorbolt, emerged painlessly from hIS mot. er
.
The Coming ofBuddha 417
418 History: Origin ofthe Precious Teaching
hOIder in favour of homelessness, he would renounce the life of a h d away seven days after he was
The Coming o fBuddha 419
b ddha H1S mot er passe . 1 d become a u . . h trusted to thirty-two nurses, mc u _
I would delight in the sense objects, Which are exceedingly pleasurable.
born. The Bodh1sattva was t en . .
·- . h aised h1m m mfancy.
ing Mahiipra)apall, w 0 r h a1ace during which time he studied and
Afterwards he hved m t e p c ' . t ce writing and mathematics I I teredmanyarts'lormsan , h
comp ete y mas . 'K r . arman and others, and elep ant- under [the tutelage of] ordered three Sakya families, riding under 1S daughters to be his consorts.
Thus, having been disgusted by the reality of suffering, by which the most excellent succumb to impermanence; and accompanied by the suffering of change, embraced by the all-pervading conditions of
mundane existence, and pursued by the suffering of pain itself, he vowed to renounce the world. 399
At that time King SUddhodana's retinue feared that the prince might become a monk. Therefore, they had the outskirts of the city vigilantly patrolled by the watchmen and gatekeepers, so that he could not go
anywhere. On the final night he bowed to his father and, guided by
his solemn vow, removed the obstacle posed by the [previous] lack of
parental consent. Riding upon KaI). fhaka the prince galloped through
the sky with the assistance of the four guardian kings. Then, near the 400
including that of Dat:l9. apal). 1f, to gf:1 '1'
h . d "LordI glrlS 0 our am11es
. th me m archery or m tea .
no one dares W1 h' bTt he rang the bell to announce a
Butt eysal , . h '
His father was ashamed, but t pnnce sa '. h rts "
With this assertion of 1S a 11 petuous Sakya youths, all of contest of skills with the Then Devadatta, in a very whom departed . for the outs :hich had been brought from VaisalI jealous mood, killed an . elepha . h tsingle powerful blow of his palm.
Sacred Stiipa
was not a monk. He then exchanged his linen dress for the saffron robe.
as an offering to the pnnce, W1t.
tside the gates T o match the
Nanda threw the elephant. forc1b y ? tUh ut leaving chariot, seized h fb th theBodh1sattva,W1 0 11 .
In VaisaLI and Rajagrha, under Ara<;iakaJama and Udraka, two soph- ists who were celebrated for their instructions, he studied the contem- plations of nothing at all and of the pinnacle of existence,401 and he attained states as high as those of his masters. But knowing that those
contemplations and practices were not the path to liberation from the evils of mundane existence, he persevered in ascetic contemplation for six years with five noble companions on the banks ofthe wide Nairafijana
River. DUring each of the first two years he ate a single grain of rice. During each of the next two years he drank a single drop of water. And during the last two years he took nothing whatsoever.
Then the gods called to him in verse. The conquerors of the ten
directions and their spiritual sons aroused him from the lower path and
urged him to the Point of Enlightenment. Then, to remove his exhaus-
tion, he enjoyed a little solid food, at which his five companions went off to VaraI). asI in disillusionment.
He himself then set off for Vajrasana in Magadha. On the way a brahman girl, Sujata, served him with the honeyed cream of five hundred cows. Instantly his body became lustrous as a polished golden
doorbolt, and he made Sujata's merit inexhaustible. While on the road he received a handful of grass, as soft as a peacock's throat, from the grass-cutter Svastika, and with it he proceeded towards the Indestruct-
ible Seat. At the Bodhi Tree in the centre of Vajrasana, self-originated
through the blessing of all the buddhas, he spread out the grass mat
and, sitting upon it with his legs crossed, made this vow [Sutra of Extensive Play, Ch. 19, v. 57]:
Let this body of mine dry up.
Let this heap of skin and bones decay.
belong only to skilled athletes. " 1
id "Inthethreeworldreams
. . d hurled it over seven wa s mto
strengt 0 0 : .
the elephant's tail with . h1S b1g admiration praised him.
the countryside. For th1S the g d ierce seven palm trees, seven iron
The contestants then compete f to Ph ther with a single arrow. De-
walls and seven cauldrons, a tedrt e °but prince's arrow pierced . d three Nanda p1erce fi1ve,
vadatta p1erce , . r hted a fountain ofwater sprang themall. Onthespotwhereh1Sarro,:". a19f urewater]andwascalledthe
forth, of youthful prowess,
"Arrow-born Well. Slmilar y, m s 1 h l'de river and in all the . . . inglikeswansont ew ,
elephant-ndmg, SW1mm Id te with the Bodhisattva.
sixty-four crafts, no athlete cou compe times trains people by follow-
The master among world-knowersbsomde the misdeeds which result . Th s inordertoa an on d'
ing convention. u , . d . ty thousand worthy la 1es, from sensual dependence he SlX ho were free from the five
namely, Gopa, and virtues _ together with defects of womank1nd and posse d W'th them he enjoyed
· . of twenty thousan. 1
their respect1ve '11 But even such enjoymen
t
the sensual pleasures as 1f they were 1 usHory. from mundane exist-
· £ unciation 1S turn h introduced h1m to per ect ren h ' d of cymbals awakened t e
ence to the doctrine began when t e souIn .
. c ers ForconsoatlOn
he went all around the
of
power of h1S lormer pray ' . 0 . h d k his chanoteer.
. ng the four omens
n see1 d city with C an. a a as d h h' heart felt utterly distresse ,an
d
birth old age, slckness and eat
he said [Buddhacarita, Ch. 4, v. 86]:
1S
Old age, sickness, and - If those three did not eXlst,
l
he cut off his hair and thus shed the evidence that he
' , O. . Mgin O f the Precious Teaching 420 HlStOry,,· 'J
I will not move from this 'Til the enlightenment, hard ,to
many aeons, be attaIned,
After so , ' , he composed himself in the
Then in the evemng tWlhght h d all the domains of Mara, M- 'shostHecurne '1M-
1 I pa ace
"But the perfect rea lsatlOn " 'f n) and you have on y , , (of merit and pnstme cogm 10 ,
able prOVIsIOns , "
lived the happy, joyful,life ,? f a ephemeral offering you
The Bodhisattva rephed, By J leted the twO prOVIsIOns fd ' 402AsIhavecomp
lord of the realm 0 eSlre, I ot become a buddha? " , during limitless can ers and reproached him, saymg
The lord of raIsed two (Sutra of ExtenSLVe Play, Ch. 21, v. )
, to the ephemeral offering I made here, You bear wItneSS
But you have no witness yourself. I Without a witness you have already ost,
mind the insubstantiality [of all things]. Thus, without even a thought
of anger or arrogance, the Bodhisattva remained absorbed in the con-
templation of great loving kindness,403 and, indeed, the swords and
missiles hurled by Mara fell as a shower of flowers, and the harsh noises
and battle-cries became songs of praise. In this way, the poisonous tree
of desire was felled. The flowers of the Five-arrowed One wilted. The
rocky mountain of pride crumbled. Martial spirit collapsed. The
crocodile banner was lowered, and the chariot of Smara beat a hasty
404
retreat. Thus, the deceitful one and his army were scattered in utter
confusion.
Mara then made his seven daughters attempt to seduce the
Bodhisattva with the deceits of lust, having transformed them into
seven beauties. They tried to ensnare him in the noose of a seductress'
thirty-two wiles, with PUJ). garlka's coquetry, Menaka's dangling
necklace, tightly-bound girdle, Kesamisra's tinkling
40S
But they stood not a chance of moving even the tips of the Bodhisattva's hair.
