The Life and Liberation of Padmasambhava

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There are many stories explaining how Guru Padmasambhava was born. Some say that he instantly appeared on the peak of Meteorite Mountain, in Sri Lanka. Others teach that he came through his mother's womb, but most accounts refer to a miraculous birth, explaining that he spontaneously appeared in the center of a lotus. These stories are not contradictory because highly realized beings abide in the expanse of great equanimity with perfect understanding and can do anything. Everything is flexible, anything is possible. Enlightened beings can appear in any way they want or need to. [2] Guru' Heart Practices: Texts for Dispeller of Obstacles. Revealed by Chokgyur Lingpa and Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo. Ed. and comp. Marcia Dechen Wangmo [Marcia Binder Schmidt]. Tr. Erik Pema Kunsang (Erik Hein Schmidt), Hong Kong: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 2014. Kongtrul, Jamgön (2019). Following in Your Footsteps: The Lotus-Born Guru in Nepal. Translated by Neten Chokling Rinpoche& Lhasey Lotsawa Translations. Rangjung Yeshe Publishing. Mandelbaum, Arthur (August 2007). "Kharchen Pelgyi Wangchuk". The Treasury of Lives: Biographies of Himalayan Religious Masters . Retrieved 19 August 2013. Huntington, John; Bangdel, Dina (2004). The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art. Chicago: Serindia Publications. ISBN 978-1932476019.

Tm: Evans-Wentz, Walter Y., ed. Tibet's Great Yogi Milarepa. 2nd ed. London: Oxford University Press, 1969. ⍽▢⍽ The book gives splendid insight into Tibetan Buddhism long ago through a remarkable and well written life story. Milarepa (c. 1052 – c. 1135), one of Tibet's most famous yogis and poets, showed how extreme poverty in a cave may not be total deprivation, thanks to steadfast perseverance through long years and hardships. He found he had been stripped of a great many magnificent illusions thereby. His best known disciples are probably Rechung and Gampopa.

Institution

One of the earliest chronicle sources for Padmasambhava as a historical figure is the Testament of Ba ( Dba' bzhed, c. 9th–12th centuries), which records the founding of Samye Monastery under the reign of King Trisong Detsen (r. 755–797/804). [16]. [4] Other early manuscripts from Dunhuang also mention a tantric master associated with kilaya rituals named Padmasambhava who tames demons, though they do not associate this figure with Trisong Detsen. [17] [4] Wang, S. A. (1975). "Can Man Go Beyond Ethics?: The System of Padmasambhava". The Journal of Religious Ethics. 3 (1): 141–155. JSTOR 40017721.

It was during this time, in two different episodes, that Mandarava led at least 800 women, including her entire personal retinue, to the path of the Dharma. In the first incident, Mandarava gave teachings to a group of 300 noble women. Based on these teachings, this group of women all took the Bodhisattva vows, began serious meditation practice, and together built a temple where they could practice. [14] On another occasion, Mandarava interceded to end a war and then offered teachings to a group of 500 women who would have been affected by the war. They too took up serious spiritual practice as a result of Mandarava's dharma teachings. [15] Buswell, Robert E.; Lopez, Donald S. Jr., eds. (2013). The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-1-4008-4805-8. Belwong Kalasiddhi of northwest India, who was the emanation of Vajravarahi's Quality (Tibetan: yon-tan; Sanskrit: gūna); Mandarava is said to have attained full enlightenment in the company of Padmasambhava in the Maratika Cave in Nepal. [6] She is considered to have been a fully realized spiritual adept, yogini, and spiritual teacher. Orgyen Padma (2004). The Condensed Chronicle. Translated by Tony Duff. Padma Karpo Translation Committee.

The eight manifestations of Padmasambhava belong to the tradition of Terma, the Revealed Treasures (Tib.: ter ma), [2] [note 3] and are described and enumerated as follows: [ citation needed] Padmasambhava had five main female tantric consorts, beginning in India before his time in Tibet and then in Tibet as well. When seen from an outer, or perhaps even historical or mythological perspective, these five women from across South Asia were known as the Five Consorts. That the women come from very different geographic regions is understood as a mandala, a support for Padmasambhava in spreading the dharma throughout the region. Hagiographies of Padmasambhava such as The Copper Palace, depict Padmasambhava being born as an eight-year-old child appearing in a lotus blossom floating in Lake Dhanakosha surrounded by a host of dakinis, in the kingdom of Oddiyana. [4] [25] [note 1] Harvey, Peter (1995). An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices. Cambridge University Press. Garry, Ron (August 2007). "Nyak Jñānakumara". The Treasury of Lives: Biographies of Himalayan Religious Masters . Retrieved 10 August 2013.

Cantwell, Cathy; Mayer, Rob (2013). "Representations of Padmasambhava in early post-Imperial Tibet". In Cüppers, Christoph; Mayer, Robert; Walter, Michael (eds.). Tibet after Empire: Culture, Society and Religion between 850–1000. LIRI Seminar Proceedings Series. pp.19–50. ISBN 978-9937-553-05-6 . Retrieved 26 December 2022.Tsogyal, Yeshe. The Lotus-Born: The Life Story of Padmasambhava. Tr. Erik Perna Kunsang. Boston, MA: Shambhala, 1999. ⍽▢⍽Traditional accounts: The yogi Padmasambhava grew up an adopted prince, was banished, burned at the stake, and continued unscathed for a long, long time. Tibetans tell he subjugated demons and taught the Buddha's teachings in their country. In modern Tibetan Buddhism, Padmasambhava is considered to be a Buddha that was foretold by Buddha Shakyamuni. [2] According to traditional hagiographies, his students include the great female masters Yeshe Tsogyal and Mandarava. [5] The contemporary Nyingma school considers Padmasambhava to be a founding figure. [12] [4] The Nyingma school also traditionally holds that its Dzogchen lineage has its origins in Garab Dorje through a direct transmission to Padmasambhava. [13] Mandarava is usually depicted in a standing pose, yet there are some depictions of her seated (in meditative postures), and occasional depictions of Mandarava in an energetic dance, with her right leg raised, denoting her enlightened activity and dakini nature. The iconography of Mandarava in her sambhogakaya form often depicts her with white skin with a tinge of red and wearing regal bodhisattva ornamentation. In this form, in her right hand she often holds the dadar (or arrow) a teaching tool and ritual implement which is a powerful polyvalent symbol of Dzogchen, disciplic succession, lineage and transmission.

Kongtrul, Jamgon (1999). "A Short Biography of Padmasambhava". Dakini Teachings. Translated by Erik Pema Kunsang. Rangjung Yeshe Publishing. Karchen Za, Khandro Yeshe Tsogyal the princess of Karchen ( Tibetan: མཁར་ཆེན་བཟའ་མཚོ་རྒྱལ, Wylie: mkhar chen bza' mtsho rgyal) Evidence shows that Padmasambhava's tantric teachings were being taught in Tibet during the 10th century. Recent evidence suggests that Padmasambhava already figured in spiritual hagiography and ritual, and was already seen as the enlightened source of tantric scriptures up to 200 years before Nyangrel Nyima Özer (1136–1204), [22] the primary source of the traditional hagiography of Padmasambhava. Blondeau, A.M. 1980. "Analysis of the biographies of Padmasambhava according to Tibetan tradition: classification of sources." In Tibetan Studies in Honour of Hugh Richardson, pp. 45-52. Michael Aris and Aung San Suu Kyi, eds. Warminster: Aris and Philips. Dowman, Keith (1984). Sky Dancer: The Secret Life and Songs of the Lady Yeshe Tsogyel. Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul. ISBN 0-7100-9576-7.The life of Padmasambhava is widely depicted in the Cham dances which are masked and costumed dances associated with religious festivals in the Tibetan Buddhist world. [50] In Bhutan, the dances are performed during the annual religious festivals or tshechu. Kazi, Jigme N. (2020). Sons of Sikkim: The Rise and Fall of the Namgyal Dynasty of Sikkim. Notion Press. ISBN 978-1-64805-981-0. Mandarava realized her calling to spread the Dharma with Padmasambhava, thereby fulfilling the prediction of her birth that she was a dakini. Thus, at 16 years of age, Mandarava became the first of Padmasambhava's five historical spiritual consorts and together they practiced at Maratika (known as Haleshi in the local dialect), the Cave of Bringing Death to an End. Maratika Cave, and later Maratika Monastery, is located in Khotang District of Nepal. [19] Both Mandarava and Padmasambhava achieved the unified vajra body on the vidyadhara level of mastery and realised some of the practices of long life or longevity that were concealed in the Maratika Cave as terma by ' Dakini Sangwa' (Wylie: mKha' 'gro gSang ba), the terma constituted the teachings of Buddha Amitabha and they were elementally encoded as terma at the behest of Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. Later, while Padmasambhava continued to spread the teachings throughout the Himalayan region, Mandarava remained in India.