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I pay homage to my Guru Buddha Shakyamuni!
I pay homage to the wisdom warrior Manjushri!
I pay homage to all the loving lineage masters!
The unsurpassed, deep, profound, subtle, wonderful Dharma
In hundreds of thousands of millions of eons, is difficult to encounter,
I now see and hear it, receive and uphold it,
And I vow to fathom the Tathagata's true and actual meaning.
In order to benefit all sentient beings, \\please resolve on the attainment of the precious and supreme Bodhicitta.
Next, I will explain the meaning of the vajra words of the Seven-Line Prayers.
The reason I’m imparting\\this practice to you
is because many Dharma practitioners in China
mostly students of Sutrayana, \\and a few who study Vajrayana
are still unfamiliar with Padmasambhava’s life
and strangers to the profound teachings\\of Vajrayana.
So this time, by introducing the Seven-Line Prayer to you,
you can have a further understanding of Vajrayana’s extraordinary qualities.
If these teachings contradict Buddha Dharma,\\or common truths of the world
then there’s no need for us to emphasize them.
If it is indeed fallacious,\\and we insist on telling people that it’s the truth,
then that’s a lie.
But we would never do that,
and we never will.
In the past, for many reasons,\\ a lot of people were strangers of Vajrayana.
In Tibetan Buddhism, many instances of enlightenment,\\of rainbow bodies, and so on
were considered impossible by people.\\They think they’re just tales and nothing more.
In reality, this notion and behavior are wrong.
Indeed, Tantric Buddhism has\\many kinds of pith instructions,
and they are meant for practitioners with\\conviction to put them into practice.
When they do, they will experience a \\sensation, a state or attain enlightenment. This is bound to happen.
Therefore, I would really want to introduce the\\stories of lineage masters
as recorded in its history.
Most practitioners nowadays are quite devoted.
But without the guidance of a spiritual teacher,\\you will still remain ignorant of many things.
If this is the case, it is very easy\\to be guided towards the wrong direction.
Sometimes, people even start slandering\\this sacred teaching.
So when we practice the Dharma,
or when reading the biographies of\\the great masters of Buddhism
we will start to understand\\how Tibetan Buddhism has so many wonderful pith instructions.
For example, I remember the story of a nun called Manmo.
She is a female enlightened\\being as recorded in the terma tradition of Tibet.
This is a very famous story.
She followed Guru Chokyi Wangchuk\\as her spiritual teacher
and because of this she awakened \\her potential as a terton, and later revealed many mind treasures.
When she was 36 years old,
she did a simple sacred feast offering\\with two female attendants.
Then she left this world for Padmasambhava’s glorious field in her physical body.
All three of them directly left for Padmasambhava’s buddhafield.
Many local herdsmen witnessed\\what happened.
They came to where they offered the feast,
and ate the food from the feast offerings.
This is a very typical story in history.
There are similar stories in Chinese Buddhist tradition.
The first Bhiksuni of China is called\\Bhiksuni Jingjian.
I once quoted this story in\\my Concise Biographies of Rainbow Body Achievements in Tantrayana
which was published in Luoyang Buddhism,\\as early as 1997.
Master Longlian also mentioned it\\in Commentary to the Heart Sutra.
There is a book called Biography of a Bhiksuni,\\which contained the story of her enlightenment.
At first, there was no lineage continuation\\for the precepts of Bhiksuni.
Later, they received the Bhiksuni precepts\\from the monks.
When she was ordained,\\the whole precepts hall was filled with a wonderful scent.
Later, there were many wonderful signs\\for the ordination.
Later, she kept on practicing diligently.
In her biographies, it is said that\\she practiced the most profound Tantric practice.
When she was 70, and was about to\\pass away,
a beautiful rainbow appeared in the sky\\one day,
and stepping on the rainbow was\\what appeared to be a celestial woman,
holding a flower in one hand,\\ she came to get Bhiksuni Jingjian.
Bhiksuni Jingjian told everybody
I am about to go to a pure realm now
you should be diligent in \\practicing true Dharma.
After this, she followed the celestial\\woman towards the pure realm. 00:07:17:13 00:07:20:05 She did not leave her physical body behind her.
This is the great rainbow body\\of Tantrayana.
The rainbow body is a kind of achievement that doesn’t leave a single nail or a single hair behind.
So, when we study Buddha Dharma,
we should be aware that\\there are many pith instructions out there in the world.
A couple days ago, some female students asked me
what are some examples of female\\ practitioners attaining enlightenment?
In the past, I have told some \\in different situations.
Whether you are a male \\or a female practitioner,
if you have strong conviction towards\\your spiritual teacher, the three jewels, and the wonderful Dharma,
you can all go to the pure land\\in your physical form.
Such instances and stories are numerous.
So I think nowadays, it’s very important\\ for people to understand Buddhism.
Nowadays, some people even slander\\Tantrayana
sometimes they even slander Padmasambhava and tantras
and cannot accept the Eight Great Sadhana Teachings of Nyingma tradition.
On one hand, this is understandable.
This is because they have never followed\\a very good spiritual teacher. 00:08:41:08 00:08:45:15 And because of various conditions of the past,
when it comes to the extraordinary quality of Tibetan Tantrayana,\\its pith instructions, the origin of its lineage masters.
they know next to nothing.\\And when that is the case,
human beings are prone to increasing ignorance,\\ and are particularly easy to be influenced by their surroundings.
If you follow an unqualified spiritual teacher,\\you are even more likely to slander Tantrayana.
This can happen very easily.
So through learning about Padmasambhava’s merits\\and his practice,
in this lifetime,
even if you are not very successful\\in practicing some of the profound practices of Tantrayana,
don’t ever slander or insult some of the profound views,
deeds and practices with your vicious words.
Otherwise, you will suffer some\\horrible consequences, maybe within this very life.
And in future lives, birth after birth\\you will find yourself in the three evil realms without a chance for liberation.
This is most certainly going to happen.
So through this teaching, those of you here
must understand some of the merits\\of Padmasambhava.
As for me, personally, I have always\\been particularly drawn to Padmasambhava even since my childhood.
Such devotion, whether during my time of herding yaks,\\or when I was a student, or after my ordination,
throughout my whole life, this devotion has\\never changed over the past 30 to 40 years.
When it comes to Padmasambhava, I have never\\ had the slightest distrust or wrongful view.
But I found out that some\\Dharma practitioners around us,
out of ignorance, slandered Tantrayana at the beginning.
Some other people showed conviction\\in appearance,
But later, through various reasons,\\eventually abandoned Tantrayana.
They turn their back against the\\practice of Padmasambhava, even slander.
These are very horrible actions.
I hope you don’t stray off to the\\path of ignorance.
Today we will continue with\\the explanation of the seven-line prayer practice.
The terton Dechenpa
said in his secret prophecy that
I, Padmasambhava, will assume the wrathful form,\\and my twenty-five disciples will be an army…
This is a prophecy.
Padmasambhava said, in the future, I will assume a wrathful form.
According to the annals of history, \\the wrathful form that is mentioned here
is Rudrachakrin, a ruler of Shambhala.
Some historical records say it’s 200 years\\from now, some say 300 years from now.
Anyhow, in a few hundred years’ time,
when the tirthikas occupying the outlying\\territories of the human world are about to destroy Buddha Dharma,
the army of Kalachakra will all come to the\\human realm, to places like India and Tibet,
and they will subdue all that hold\\wrongful views.
This is also recorded in historical records\\related to Kalachakra.
Those who come into contact with Kalachakra,\\or the practice of Padmasambhava
will be liberated in the future.
When that time comes, many spiritual masters,
like Mipham Rinpoche will be born as Senkepu
His Holiness Jigme Phuntsok said in a prophecy that he will\\be born as Karma Dorje,
and all his present-day disciples\\will become the soldiers of his future army,
and this army
is not actually an army in its ordinary sense,
this army will not pitilessly harm\\sentient beings.
When that time comes, through miraculous transformations,
they will conquer every army of the mara,\\ evil spirits and tirthikas.
With compassion, they will transfer their consciousness, and they will confer teachings to them according to their capacities.
How privileged it will be if we can\\be born at that time!
Many great masters are very keen\\on making aspirations to be born then.
In 1986, when His Holiness Jigme Phuntsok gave
the Kalachakra empowerment,
His Holiness said, this Kalachakra empowerment needs an emblem.
After careful consideration,\\ the red garuda was chosen to be the emblem.
It’s the same one that we\\wear around our necks all the time.
I think the origination for this\\was like this.
Maybe some old practitioners might have heard of\\Tulku Ditsha.
Tulku Ditsha offered a thangka of\\the garuda to His Holiness Jigme Phuntsok.
This thangka is a very auspicious origination.
His Holiness said, when he was Dzéchen Khok
Dakini Tarey Lhamo offered him\\a silver coin
On one side of this coin\\was the sign of a sun rising above the snow mountains,
his signifies that the renaissance of\\Buddha Dharma has come.
So at the time of the Kalachakra\\empowerment, Ditsha Rinpoche offered the thangka of Garuda,
and this happened to be the emblem\\of the empowerment that His Holiness was searching for.
Garuda as an emblem is very auspicious.
At that time, we made a picture of\\Garuda in black and white.
then we prepared one copy for each person.
It was made by a Chinese person\\who was staying here temporarily to shoot photos.
His Holiness Jigme Phuntsok said, he and Yiping Rinpoche
were haggling over the price of the picture with him all morning,
after quite a while of negotiating,\\they finally brought down the price to 50 cents a piece.
He wanted 1 yuan at first,\\but they managed to talk him into 50 cents.
We were asked to each buy one\\as emblem of the empowerment.
In the future, the garuda will\\be the emblem for the army of Kalachakra.
From then on, His Holiness Jigme Phuntsok \\made garuda widely known.
For the benefit of many Dharma practitioners,
I inserted an image of the red garuda\\in many books,
I think this is a symbol of a\\ very good causal origination.
First of all, His Holiness Jigme Phuntsok\\said that this is a very special origination.
It is the token for us to become\\a future mara-destroying army of Kalachakra.
that we want to make such an aspiration.
Another reason is, as we have mentioned before
one of the 1003 sons of the Wheel Turning King\\made an aspiration,
that when his thousand brothers become Buddhas,
should there be any obstacle,\\he will be the one to remove it.
He made such an aspiration at that time,\\and that’s how he became a garuda.
In Tibetan Buddhism, when it comes to the practice\\of garuda, there are many liturgies.
Dechen Lingpa’s treasure text contained\\a sadhana of black garuda.
There are practices of colorful garuda,\\and red garuda.
His Holiness Jigme Phuntsok said, generally, we practice the red garuda.
Red garuda is actually easier to visualize.
In the treasure text, there is a simple visualization practice.
First, visualize an egg emanating five-colored lights.\\On the egg, there is a symbolic Tibetan letter: Chom
I should write it down. No pen here.
This pen is too small.
Is there a marker?
The letter Chom looks like this.\\Maybe you can’t see it clearly.
Can people at the back see it?
It’s fine, I can write it down later.
The letter Chom instantaneously turns into a red garuda
holding a viper with its beak.
Both wings are the color of burning fire.
The garuda emits a self-resonating sound of mantra\\and inflames vicious dragons with its wisdom fire.
Visualize this while reciting the mantra of garuda.
Om Chom Ga Ru Dra Tsa Leh Tsa Leh Hum Phat.
In fact, this mantra is very important\\for many people.
Now in this time of degeneration,
sometimes, vicious dragons create great harm and danger to us.
Where was I?
Anyway, I was talking about the symbol of garuda
as a causal origination. We can wear the garuda’s image from now on. 00:21:15:17 00:21:20:11 It destroys all maras, vicious dragons and some local deities
all evil spirits and obstacles. It is quite meritorious.
So back to where we were, the legion of Kalachakra can subdue all evil spirits in the world.
It is said that in the future, when the legion conquers all savages of the outlying territories
it will annihilate all savages.
Then they will promulgate Vajrayana, especially the practice of Kalachakra.
They will spread the Dharma in the entire Jambudvipa, in particular the practice of Kalachakra.
It also prophesied that in this cool land,
holders of the old and new translations are mostly emanations of Padmasambhava
Treasure revealer Dechen Lingpa also prophesied that
in this cool land, meaning the Land of Snow,
all new translations like Gelugpa, Gadampa, etc.
and old translations like Nyingma tradition,
the holders of new and old translations
are mostly emanations of Padmasambhava.
I think many of you already have some knowledge regarding this.
Some think that I am a student of Nyingma tradition, I shouldn’t follow the Gelug tradition.
Or I am a Gelugpa, I don’t study the teachings of Sakya tradition.
Or I am a Sakyapa, I don’t study the teachings of Kagyu tradition.
They seem to think that all these different traditions are
completely incompatible and contradictory. Such opinions
are actually very distorted.
Indeed, in Tibetan Buddhism,\\many great masters, the holders of Dharma
have repeatedly told us that
the founders of each tradition
are manifestations of Buddhas or Bodhisattvas.
The teachings of these traditions that they each have founded
regarding generating bodhicitta, accumulating merits, and attaining the two kayas, and so on,
are not contradictory. Concerning this issue,
many terchens, erudite scholars and enlightened beings of Nyingma tradition
have left numerous theorization in their teachings.
Of course, as a Nyingmapa myself,
I think it is rather difficult to argue a point with nothing but the reference within our own tradition.
In the past, His Holiness Jigme Phuntsok often quoted
the teachings of some great masters of Gelug tradition in order to demonstrate a point.
First of all, we should know that Padmasambhava of the ancient translations
Atisha and Je Tsongkhapa of the new translations
the three of them are the founders of three schools, and they are different manifestations of the same person.
How do we prove that?
Gelug tradition’s fourth Pachen Lobsang Chokyi Gyaltsen said
“The siddha Padmasambhava of great wisdom\Will manifest himself as the Glorious Atisha,
then again as Lobsang Drakpa\I have no other object of refuge.”
It means to say that the great siddha Padmasambhava of the ancient translations
introduced Buddha Dharma, and laid solid foundation for Sutrayana and Vajrayana.
During the new translation period, Atisha Dipamkara, also known as Atisha, promulgated the Dharma.
The next wave of promulgating the Dharma was by another emanation of his, Lobsang Drakpa.
Lobsang Drakpa is Tsongkhapa’s common Tibetan name.
In the prayers of Gelug tradition, the name Lobsang Drakpa is used.
He is Tsongkhapa.
Aside from you three, I have no other field of refuge.
He made his point very clearly here.
that the three are of the same entity.
Also, the second Dalai Lama,\\Gedun Gyatso expressed the exact same view:
“Siddha Rigdzin Padmasambhava; Atisha, the head ornament of five hundred ones;
Buddha Vajradhara Tsongkhapa, the dance of various manifestations, to you, I pray.”
This means that although
the accomplished one, Rigdzin Padmasambhava and the head ornament of five hundred ones
this means Atisha was honored by five hundred panditas.
and Je Tsongkhapa is Tibet’s true Vajradhara.
The three of them assumed different physical forms in appearance,
some spreading Buddha Dharma within the Nyingma tradition, some in the Gelug tradition.
Although their physical appearances are different, they are all manifestations of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
Patrul Rinpoche said,
Je Tsongkhapa, the Venerable Longchenpa, and Sakya Pandita
are all manifestations of Manjushri.
One Manjushri manifested into these three figures.
So people usually call them the Three Manjushris of the Land of Snow.
If the different lineages are completely contradictory,
Manjushri won’t assume such manifestations,
hence the opinion of the two prominent figures as previously mentioned.
I once read a book called the History of Gelugpa written by Setsang Lobsang Paldan
It was used as a text book by the Buddhist Academy of Beijing.
The quotes I used just now
was used in a historical context as well, with commentary.
Once there was a local official, and a master of Buddhism,
he was a very prominent figure in the Gelug tradition.
He said, Atisha and Dhakpowa
(Dhakpowa is the spiritual successor of Milarepa,)
and Je Tsongkhapa
all three of them are manifestations of Padmasambhava.
Therefore, we should know that these great masters
of Kagyu and Gelug lineages have the same secret meaning.
So, are Sakyapa masters no different from Nyingmapa masters?
Padmasambhava said in a brief biography that
“When the time comes, at a place called Sakya,\\born to the father Manjushri and mother Tara
is my emanation whose name is Kunga Gyeltsen
He will rebuild my hall.”
This is a rough translation from what I can remember of the Tibetan version.
I used to read this Concise Biography of Padmasambhava every day.
This means, at an upper place, a place called Sakya,
to a father whose name is Manjushri, Jampal, and a mother called Drolma(Tara),
a child will be born.
This child’s name is Kunga Gyeltsen
Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyeltsen is the author of Sakya Pandita's Treasury of Good Advice
He, said Padmasambhava, is my emanation.
This very precise prophecy was made many years before the birth of Kunga Gyeltsen.
He will build my halls.
Some architectures of Padmasambhava of the old translation school
were reconstructed or repaired.
I see certain adherents of Sakya tradition here
They seem very happy, smiling and all.
Therefore Sakya Pandita is also a manifestation of Padmasambhava.
In Tibet, there is man called Taranatha of Jonang lineage.
It is said in his biography that he is a manifestation of the Venerable Longchenpa.
So it is like I said,
the great masters’ secret meanings are not contradictory.
Whichever lineage you learn, there’s nothing wrong with it.
Do not in any case start slandering another lineage
from the standpoint of your own lineage.
This problem isn’t so serious as it used to be. A few people within the Gelug tradition
who weren’t so well-informed
used to slander the Nyingma tradition.
But later, some true holders of Buddha Dharma, real Buddhist masters
know that eventually there is no contradiction between different traditions,
so in the same spirit, all sects of Buddhism in the world,
be it Tibetan Buddhism, Buddhism of south-eastern or eastern Asia
all these sects are different paths.
It is necessary to have different paths.
If there are no different lineage, and Buddhism is a large homogeneous system,
because human beings distinguish between self and others
so he probably won’t particularly treasure or protect it.
If we have our own tradition,
then actually it makes quite sense for our mental continuums.
For example, we all have faith to Buddha himself,
but if your spiritual teacher personally and directly confers a teaching to you,
you will feel a great sense of gratitude towards your spiritual teacher.
This in itself is a causal origination to some degree.
So as it is said here
most Tibetan masters are manifestations of Padmasambhava.
and most well-learned scholars and enlightened ones
personally saw Padmasambhava and received his blessings and teachings.
Things like this are countless.
If you go through the biographies of masters of Gelug, Sakya
Jonang, and Kagyu lineages,
before I went to Mount Wutai, I went through many biographies
in fact, many accomplished beings have personally seen Padmasambhava.
not to mention those of the Nyingma tradition.
Many accomplished ones of Nyingma tradition, even ordinary practitioners
said to have dreamed of Padmasambhava, received his blessings and empowerments.
A while ago.....never mind.
In fact, I also had a very auspicious experience in my dream.
But this is “samaya”.
As for other spiritual teachers, by the way,
for example, there was a spiritual teacher called Palden Gyatso.
He is an extraordinary tulku. His Holiness Jigme Phuntsok also
asked him about certain things.
Some say His Holiness Jigme Phuntsok might even have received teachings from him.
I’m not familiar with the specifics.
When I first came to this place, Lama Palden Gyatso
had a small house at the “Dharma Wheel” district of the Institute.
This tulku reached high attainments.
During the Cultural Revolution, Buddhism was practically wiped out of Tibet.
We couldn’t see anyone studying the Dharma or reciting mantras during that time.
If someone found out while you’re doing so, it might be dangerous
such was the policy of that period.
Once I heard this story,
and I was told by many people, it really happened.
This tulku had a dream one night
this happened almost twenty years ago, so my memory is a little hazy.
he dreamed about circumambulating a holy mountain
while he was going uphill on a mountain that looked very like the mountain in our Larung valley,
he could even see clearly the trees and shrubs,
when he reached the top of the mountain, suddenly a thunder exploded
and he suddenly felt a sensation of enlightenment.
Slowly he was nearing the front of the mountain,
all of a sudden, that mountain turned into Padmasambhava.
Padmasambhava manifested himself in a very wrathful form,
lights radiated from him and the entire Land of Snow glowed
the light reached the whole of Tibet and other places.
He woke up the next morning and drew conclusion from this sign of accomplishment and various sceneries of his dream
that there seemed to be hope for the renaissance of Buddha Dharma.
That day, Khenpo Depel happened to write a Prayer for the Prosperity of Buddha Dharma.
Its content is very similar to Aspiration to the Prosperity of the Teachings.
Their contents are roughly the same.
Later we asked Khenpo Depel to write a commentary, which he did.
That day, he happened to receive this copy.
During that period, Khenpo Depel usually stayed out of sight, he was very afraid.
But he wrote down this aspiration that came from his heart, and sent it to him.
It just so happened that tulku Pelden Gyatso received this aspiration at that fortunate timing. He said to many people
this might be a causal origination for the renaissance of Buddha Dharma.
When I first came to Larung, I said to Tulku I was from Domang monastery,
he said to me
your Khenpo Depel is remarkable.
Don’t think that he is just an ordinary Khenpo. He is truly remarkable.
A chubby old practitioner who had achieved very good accomplishment said
these are all truthful stories.
The blessings of Padmasambhava will reach the hearts of many people
whether they are famous or not. They will receive causal originations of many aspects.
I still remember that when Jigme Gyalwai Nyugu, a disciple of Jigme Lingpa
heard that Lama Jigme Rigdzin of Kathog monastery
came to confer the empowerment of Padmasambhava
he also went to attend the empowerment. He was very young at that time.
He received a secret name of empowerment
called Yeshe Rigdzin, which means wisdom vidyadhara.
He grew a strong conviction towards Padmasambhava.
When he came back to go on with his life as a sheep herdsman,
he came to a very large rocky mountain one day.
On this mountain, there is a cave where Padmasambhava used to practice the Dharma.
So facing this holy mountain
he started to fiercely pray to Padmasambhava
Before long, the entire mountain turned into a very majestic Padmasambhava
who was holding a vajra with the threatening gesture.
He appeared very clearly in front of him.
He could not help but start praying with
the Seven-Line Prayer and Vajra Guru mantra with great devotion.
After praying for a while, Padmasambhava suddenly disappeared.
Although he was very young at that time,
he seemed to have already grasped the fact that when it comes to the teachings of different
sects and traditions, there’s nothing but the essence of the mind.
Instantaneously, he completely understood its nature.
Later, when he was around 40, he told the story in his Dohas(songs)
about how he personally met Padmasambhava when he was young and so on.
These are very nice Dohas.
From then on, his activity of promulgating the Dharma and benefiting sentient beings went very smoothly.
In the biographies of great beings, we can find
many instances of receiving blessings or teachings.
We don’t have to be very famous or very accomplished,
as long as we pray single-mindedly,
we will all receive the extraordinary blessings of Padmasambhava.
Such instances can be found in
their biographies.
In the future, when Maitreya attain Buddha-hood in this world
Padmasambhava will manifest himself as Dondro, which means benefiting sentient beings.
Dondro will come and promulgate Vajrayana Dharma extensively. Bodhisattva Dondro will tame sentient beings.
Also, in this fortunate kalpa,
for each of the thousand Buddhas, Padmasambhava will come.
Of course, it is said in certain sastras that
Vajrayana will prosper during the time of Shakyamuni and the time of two other Buddhas.
It will not prosper at any other time.
These two statements are not contradictory.
Because what is said in the sastras means that Vajrayana will be extensively promulgated during the teachings of these three Buddhas,
just like how Vajrayana is prosperous now.
And for other Buddhas of the fortunate kalpa, until there is no more samsara,
Padmasambhava will spread Vajrayana with different displays.
But Vajrayana will not be as prosperous then.
It is explained from this perspective.
As long as there are sentient beings
he will always abide in his immortal vajra wisdom body,
and as long as time exists, he will display different forms of manifestations to benefit sentient beings.
So we must understand who Padmasambhava really is.
Nowadays, some scholars and people think that Padmasambhava
is an ordinary Tibetan yogi with hair.
They oversimplified matters.
Sometimes, when I saw some famous Dharma teachers, scholars and post doctorate students
introduce Tibetan Buddhism,
I really don’t feel like responding.
I just smile, put my book down,
and besides that, I don’t feel like arguing at all.
Therefore we should know
that the actions of Padmasambhava is beyond the stretch of our imagination.
In the teachings of every Buddha of the fortunate kalpa
Padmasambhava will benefit sentient beings with his emanations.
As he himself has said in his vajra words:
“Renowned am I as Padma the self-manifest, Emanated from the heart of Buddha Amitabha, boundless light,
I, Padmasambhava, am the heart of Buddha Amitabha.
“The sheen of high Avalokita's speech.”
the light of the speech of Avalokiteshvara.
Among the manifestations of body, speech and mind, this is the manifestation of speech.
“The brother of the dakinis and king of dakas,”
Padmasambhava is the brothers of all dakinis
“I am the action of the Buddhas of the triple time. Great Samantabhadra, peerless Vajradhara, Both am I, ”
“Mighty and compassionate, appearing in my emanated forms. Strong are my activities, assisting beings as their needs require.”
“I am their wishing jewel, fulfillment of their hopes.”
As the action of Buddhas of past, present and future, and as the peerless King Samantabhadra,
Padmasambhava benefit sentient beings with great compassion,
appearing in different forms in front of different sentient beings,
in order to satisfy the wishes of all sentient beings. Padmasambhava also said:
“For beings who are strong in their devoted faith, I am swifter in compassion than all other Buddhas.”
“Until the three worlds of samsara are all void of beings, Padmasambhava's compassion will not be exhausted.”
In front of sentient beings with strong faith, Padmasambhava’s blessing and compassion
can be swifter than other Buddhas.
Therefore, in Parinirvana Sutra
when Buddha was nearing nirvana,
with the exception of Mahakasyapa and Nanda
everyone else, like Cunda, Ananda and Maudgalyayana
and thousands of holy and ordinary beings
burst into tears when Buddha announced
that he was entering nirvana.
Buddha told them: “In the future, in the stainless ocean
a man that is better than me will be born.”
So a man better than the Buddha will be born, according to Buddha himself.
“Don’t weep.”
So you shouldn’t weep.
This was stated very clearly in the Parinirvana Sutra.
So we must know.
Of course, from the perspective of either compassion or wisdom,
Buddha and Padmasambhava are no different. Padmasambhava can’t be superior than Shakyamuni Buddha.
But if sentient beings of the degenerate time encounter different kinds of evil spirits or heretics
when that time comes, if you pray to Padmasambhava,
then Padmasambhava’s activities are swifter than Buddha.
Of course, maybe this statement isn’t accepted by certain Sutrayana practitioners or individuals.
There’s nothing to disagree on.
For example, in Pure Land Buddhism, when it comes to rebirth in the Pure Land,
Amitabha’s activities are swifter than other Buddhas.
If this makes sense,
then so does praying to Padmasambhava.
I really think
in the time of degeneration, to attain perfect achievement through your practice
is quite difficult.
In this age, if you want to rely on the power of your own mind
to avoid karmic hindrances
is not realistic.
But if we rely on the fierce blessings of Padmasambhava
to dissolve into our heart
then our practice can advance without a hitch.
So for every one of us, it is particularly important
to entreat Padmasambhava at any moment and anywhere.
So, you should give this a careful thought.
The compassion of Padmasambhava will never be exhausted.
Padmasambhava will come to those who devotes faith towards him,
He will bestow blessings, empowerments, and siddhis upon him.
Now, we will explain the verses of the Seven-Line Prayer.
Mipham Rinpoche gave a very clear literal commentary.
I will read it out to you, and you will have an understanding of
how, as one of his many incredible activities,
Padmasambhava temporarily came to this land and displayed his manifestations.
Next, how Padmasambhava came to this land called Jambudvipa in a manifestation form
is explained in the following text.
The prayer begins with the utterance of the syllable Hum, which is the self-arisen seed-syllable of the mind of all the Buddhas.
The self-arisen seed-syllable of the mind is the letter Hum in Tibetan
as an origination of the start.
Jambudvipa, this world of ours located to the south of the cosmic mountain Meru, numbers six main provinces
Of these, the westernmost region is the country of the vidyadharas. This is Uddiyana, or Orgyen, the dakinis’ land.
“In Orgyen’s land, upon its northwest rim,”
Orgyen is a land in the western region of Jambudvipa, it’s a land of the vidyadharas, upon its northwestern rim,
there lies a stretch of water replete with eightfold excellence and free from every imperfection.
you can think of it as a very large lake
This is Lake Dhanakosha.
It is a symbol of emptiness endowed with supreme qualities, the queen of the ultimate expanse.
From the perspective of the profound completion stage, this symbol
is a luminous symbol of the consort.
That is to say, a symbol of the queen of emptiness, of the ultimate expanse.
This lake is perfect in every way, as is obvious even to the perceptions of ordinary people.
It is filled with lotus flowers, the largest of which, growing in the center,
is a lotus of exquisite beauty in both its petals and pistil-cup.
From this flower’s stem grow other lotuses, thus making five in all.
Each is of a different color, corresponding to the five enlightened lineages and symbolizing the five wisdoms.
The lotus in the middle is red to indicate the Lotus lineage.
We know that Padmasambhava is the mind emanation of Amitabha
the red one in the middle, the middle of the red lotus family
the merits of innumerable Buddhas of the triple time
the three secret blessings of their body, speech and mind
is concentrated into the image of a letter Hri
The never-ending knot, the precious and immaculate treasury of the heart of Buddha Amitabha,
is filled with the syllable Hri, shining with beams of five-colored light.
It dissolves into the heart-center of Amitabha.
This is the origination of the letter Hri.
With five-colored light, it dissolves into the heart-center of Amitabha.
When the moment arrives for Guru Rinpoche to work for the benefit of beings,
countless Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions scatter flowers,
while the dakas and dakinis, together with the protectors and guardians of the buddhafields, perform the vajra dance and chant the vajra song.
Then, in order to bring joy and relief to beings of the three dimensions of existence,
the syllable Hri
descends onto the pistil-cup of the central red lotus
and transforms into the king of vidyadharas,
the great and fearless Guru.
So the letter Hri on the pistil-cup turns into the body of Padmasambhava.
who is without a peer in the three worlds and who is noble, with many extraordinary qualities of greatness.
How is he without a peer?
He surpasses everything with his body, speech, mind, merit and activities,
Through his immense merit, his very body is a source of benefit for beings;
Generally, Buddhas have these qualities.
During the first lessons of Bodhicaryavatara, I said
when Buddha give a teaching, his body, mind and speech have the following merits:
He benefits sentient beings with the body of immense merit, with docile speech
with the enlightened mind
and with incredible miraculous powers to guide sentient beings towards liberation from samsara.
The body, speech, mind, merit, activity of Padmasambhava and how he benefits sentient beings
is just like the twelve deeds of Buddha Shakyamuni.
How does it start?
He revealed himself in self-arisen, immaculate form, adorned with the major and minor marks of Buddhahood.
This is how the letter Hri turned into Padmasambhava.
He was empowered as the son of King Indrabhuti but later renounced the kingdom
and embraced the life of a yogi practicing in the eight charnel grounds,
where he trained in the boundless teachings of the outer and inner vehicles.
The story of his life and deeds is beyond imagining.
He displayed an illusory array of eight manifestations.
In eight different places.
Padmasambhava appeared in eight different manifestations.
With invincible strength, he annihilated demons, rakshasas, and evil spirits, and brought beneath his power the proud and haughty spirits of the world.
He placed many beings on the path of the Great Secret that brings them to maturity and bestows liberation.
Padmasambhava is the object of the most
marvelous praises in the whole of the three worlds.
And as we read of the wondrous, prodigious life of the Lord, the second Buddha,
which is described in the trustworthy scriptures of the kahma and terma transmissions, we are inspired with faith in him.
The life of the second Buddha was recorded in the kahma and terma texts. This means
Padmasambhava uses kahma and terma to impart teachings.
Kahma is a biography written by a great being.
The other is terma.
We must generate faith towards
the second Buddha by
relying on these scriptural authorities.
If you spend some time to read the biographies of Padmasambhava
afterwards, you will have
a new understanding towards Padmasambhava and his activities.
Moreover, not only does this great being possess the common accomplishments,
but he is also perfectly and primordially enlightened:
Supreme mastery he has found,
the state of union of the great Vajradhara.
And as the Lotus-Born he is renowned in the endless array of infinite buddhafields.
From the perspective of the ultimate truth,
he is not a simple, ordinary human being.
We recognize him, together with his retinue,
as the personification of the Three Refuges, the ultimate, undeceiving protection,
to whom we can pray with utter confidence.
First it talks about
Padmasambhava’s the place of birth, lake Dhanakosha.
then how he was born, the condition of his birth.
Now I will briefly talk about
the activities of Padmasambhava’s life.
So if the Dharma practitioners here present
have confidence in Vajrayana,
then you must have confidence in Padmasambhava.
If you have a deep understanding towards Padmasambhava, and if you have confidence towards him,
then the future Garab Dorje
Sri Singha, Vimalamitra, Jnanasutra of the Dzongchen lineage
all these accomplished ones are manifestations of Padmasambhava.
Or we can understand it as different forms of Padmasambhava.
We can also comprehend teachings like Dzongchen, Grand Net of Illusion, treasure texts
and biographies and manifestations of many
spiritual teachers of other traditions much easier.
If you don’t have a good understanding of Padmasambhava,
you probably can’t accept Vajrayana.
And if you can’t accept Vajrayana, you probably can’t accept Sutrayana that easily.
We took refuge in Buddha Dharma, and Buddha Dharma can be divided into Sutrayana and Vajrayana.
If we take away Vajrayana and regard Sutrayana alone, does Sutrayana by itself consist a complete Buddha Dharma?
No, it’s not complete.
So if you accept only a part of Buddha Dharma, and abandon the rest,
it’s very hard to say whether you can gain rebirth in a pure land or attain liberation from the cyclic existence.
So now that we have a clear understanding about the object of our prayer,
what is Padmasambhava really like?
Of course, I didn’t have time to read more biographies this time.
There are many biographies written by great masters, if you have the time, you should read them.
There are many interesting stories in there.
I remember when I was reading the biography of Longchenpa,
there were stories about how Padmasambhava took Longchenpa under his care,
And the life story of Jigme Lingpa, as you all know,
Jigme Lingpa composed many treatises, many of them contained small prints which said:
Written by the Yogi Longchen Rabjam under the care of Orgyen Padmasambhava.
So many Vajrayana masters were accepted by Padmasambhava.
I hope the practitioners of Sutrayana shouldn’t have too much distinguishing thoughts.
Such distinguishing thoughts will really create obstacles for your liberation.
So, if you accept Amitabha Buddha,
but not the emanation of Amitabha,
then you’re not being sensible.
So we should have confidence in all sects
and single-mindedly pray to whoever we have the strongest conviction
be it Avalokiteshvara, Padmasambhava or Manjushri.
You can pray to any Buddha-figure. That’s OK.
Nobody compels you to practice a particular Buddha-figure and bans you from the rest
You should recite and practice the Buddha-figure
to whom you have the strongest conviction.
If you do so, your mental continuum will change.
I think it is important for a practitioner to receive from the bottom of his heart
the blessings of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
Once a person is inspired by such blessing
he can change himself and others.
If a person hasn’t received blessings, nor has he any merits,
but he has a theoretical command of the knowledge of Buddhism, or behaves superficially like a Buddhist,
if this is the case, then in the long term, he can’t change himself, nor can he change others.
Nowadays, such scholars are well-spoken,
anything can come out of their mouths.
But the state of their minds remain that of ordinary people
without any improvement.
So no matter how eloquent you are,
when you leave this world, your body is still going to be disposed-of.
Apart from that, your mind will be addled with
negative emotions, roaming about in the intermediate state.
So this human body is very hard to obtain.
Within the short span of our lives, we must diligently practice,
and entreat these Buddha-figures,
and these wisdom Buddha-figures will most certainly bestow their blessings upon us
so that our mental continuums can change.
For example, when I came to Larung,
I didn’t know much about Buddhism, nor that many deities or spiritual teachers.
But later on, I gained more knowledge, and I spent some energy in actual practice.
When I left the Institute, it was just like some spiritual teachers used to say:
“Sit down as an ordinary person,
stand up as an accomplished one, a practitioner.”
Maybe this cannot be accomplished in one seating.
But when you first entered the Institute, or the Bodhi Association,
maybe you were an ordinary being with very strong mental afflictions.
But when you leave after staying here for a while,
when you go back to the world, you will find yourself different.
This is why so many of us take great pains to provide you with convenience.
I hope we don’t deceive others, or ourselves.
If each of us truly devotes ourselves into practicing Dharma, we will receive extraordinary blessing and sensation.
OK, that’s it for today.