Buddhism in India

[p. 2] This section outlines the following three topics: (1) the appearance of the Buddha in this
world, (2) the formation of the system of his precious teachings, and (3) the rise of the masters
who cherished those teachings.
The Buddhas appearance in this world
World systems are formed through the aspiration prayers of a Buddha or the karmic deeds of
sentient beings. Of these two, our world system was formed due to the aspiration prayers of a
Buddha. Long ago, during the great aeon Zinpa and in the space where our world is, there was a
king called Tsibkyi Muchud who ruled over four continents and 84,000 provinces and had 1000
sons and a Brahmin advisor called Gyatshoi Dul. The advisor had 1000 Brahmin disciples
including his eighty sons, the eldest of whom was Gyatshoi Nyingpo. Gyatshoi Nyingpo attained
enlightenment and became known as the Tathagata Rinchen Nyingpo. The Tathagata
miraculously created myriads of worlds and for seven years made the king and his entourage
choose the worlds where they would each like to attain Buddhahood. The Brahmin advisor and
his 999 disciples chose this world of ours. Moreover, the Brahmin advisor, who was to become
our Buddha, chose the age of five degenerates, which others abandoned. For this reason, he has
excelled all other Buddhas in showing affection for the spiritually impoverished beings. As each
of them will be attaining Buddhahood in this aeon, there will be a thousand Buddhas appearing
in this world.
[p. 3]
During the aeon Zepar Nangwa, there was a Buddha known as Yonten Thaye Rinchen Natsho
Kodpai Gyalpo and a universal monarch called Yulkhor Srung who had 700,000 queens and one
thousand sons. In this period, two boys called Choeki Llodey and Choesem were also born
miraculously on the lap of the two queens Mamedma and Pemedma. The king venerated the
Buddha and his disciples with all kinds of offerings for an entire period of ten million years. He
then thought to himself: As all of my children have entered the path of enlightenment, who
would make it first to Buddhahood? Wishing to find this out, he wrote down their names and
put them in athe vase made of precious jewels. After making offerings in front of the vase, he
took out the names in the presence of his sons. The first name to come out was that of Nampar
Dagpai Lodro. The earth shook with a thunderous sound and he was prophesied to become the
Buddha Khorwa Jig [the first Buddha of the fortunate aeon].
The second to come out was Nampar Gyalwa, who was to become Buddha Serthub then Wangpo
Zhiwa to become Buddha Odsung, Donthamcad Drubpa as our teacher [Buddha Shakyamuni],
Karagchen as the Buddha Maitreya and so on until Lothaye Drag as the Buddha Moepa.
Choesem was prophesied to become Lagna Dorji, the guardian of their secret doctrine, and

Choelo to be the great Brahma Tsugphudcan, who would beseech them to turn the Wheel of
Dharma. Their father, the king, was to become the Buddha Marmezed.
When this aeon began and there was the formation of oceans, a thousand golden lotuses
appeared. [p. 4] The gods took this as a sign of the appearance of a thousand Buddhas in this
world system. They named the aeon Kalpa Zangpo or Fortunate Aeon and the world Mijed Jigten
or World of Endurance. In the phase of the long beginning1 when human life span was 40,000
years, the Buddha Khorwa Jig (Krakucchanda) came to this world. The Buddha Serthub
(Kanakamuni) came when human life span was 30,000, the Buddha Odszung (Kashyapa) when
life span was 20,000 and Shakya Thubpa (akyamuni) when it was 100 years. Jampa (Maitreya)
will come at the descending phase of intermediate aeon when human life span again reaches
80,000. The others are to come in the same fashion as Abhidharmakoa states:

In the declining phase,

Until [human life span reaches] hundred years, they (Buddhas) will come.2

As for the life of our teacher Buddha akyamuni, who appeared when human life span
becamewas a hundred years, there are several versions as to how he initially generated the
altruistic mind, then accumulated countless merits for three countless aeons and finally attained
perfect enlightenment. These differences are due to the varying experiences of those
lowerinferior, intermediatemiddling, and advanced levels of understandingsuperior kinds of
beings to be tamed. I will present the story here in accordance with the perception of inferior
commoners such as the ravakas (auditors).
Long ago, when our teacher only possessed the inclination for Mah y na, he was born as a giant
cartman ion the burning iron ground in the hell realm due to the force of his karma. At that time,
his partner, who was very weak, could not pull the cart and was repeatedly beaten by the hell
guard with a goad. Out of intense empathy for his partner, he said,: Please do not beat him. I
1

The Buddhist cosmology talks about four stages of the formation, existence, destruction
and absence of world systems, each lasting the same duration. The stage of existence
begins with the long beginning which starts with a human life span of 10 54 years and
gradually decreases at the rate of two years every hundred years. When the life span
reaches a minimum of 10 years, the process reverses taking it back up 80,000 years and
then drops again until it is 10 years. This cycle beginning with the rise from 10 years and
ending with a drop to 10 years is known as an intermediate aeon. After 18 such cycles, the
life span climbs back to 1054 years gradually during a period known as the long end. These
18 cycles and the long beginning and end are equal in duration. After the long end, the
world system begins the process of destruction, which takes the same time scale as
existence. After complete destruction, the world remains absent with nothing but empty
space where the world system used to be.
2

Abhidharmakosha, chapter III/..

will pull his share as well. The hell guard got infuriated by this, struck him with the goad. He
died instantly and was reborn as a god [owing to the power of his empathy].
When he was born as the king Rabsel, he heard the name of a Buddha from his mahout whichand
generated the thought of enlightenment. Then he cultivated the mind of enlightenment before the
Buddha kya Thubpa Chenpo and thus began his accumulation of merits for three countless
eons, the duration which he took to become a Buddha. By the time he worshiped Tathagata
Rinchen Tsugtor, he finished the first of the three countless aeons and attained the first
Bodhisattva stage.
[page no. 5]
Then he attained the seventh stage by end of the second countless aeon. After this, he was born
as a Brahmin boy called Trin. He studied the Vedas from an esteemed Brahmin master. In order
to find fees for the master, he went to the cities of central India and arrived at the market place of
Pemochen, the palace city of the king Drathul.
At that time, the Buddha Marme Zad came to this world and the son of the Brahmin Marmei
Dagpo watched him sitting with the gods in the sky offering him flowers, music and melodious
songs. Trin asked the Brhamin boy: What are you doing here? He replied: Dont you know
that the Buddha Marme Zad is here? he replied. Trin was instantly awe struck. Alas, it is very
rare for a Buddha to appear in the world. I will offer these five hundred silver coins to the
Buddha and pay my master later on, he thought to himself.
Then he made the Brahmin girl Zanglendan sell him five blue lotus flowers promising to be her
husband in all of their successive rebirths. He threw the flowers to the Buddha as offering, spread
his spotted antelope skin and entreated the Buddha: May the all-seeing Tathagata Marme Zad
see my pure intent and may he place his feet on this antelope skin. He laid out his golden tresses
as a mat and entreated with a strong resolve: If the all-seeing Marme Zad do not place his feet
here and prophesy my future, I shall let my body dry up right here. The Buddha placed his feet
on Trins tresses and declared, Oh monks!
[page no. 6]
Do not place your feet on the hair of this boy because he is the object of worship even for the
gods. He will become in the future the [Buddha] Sakyamuni. Thus being prophesied, Trin was
overcome with joy and he rose about the height of seven palm trees above the ground and also
actualized hundreds and thousands of states of samadhi. In this way, he attained the eighth
ground.
It was thus said [by kyamuni]:
For throwing five blue lotus flowers as offering,
And spreading my own tresses as a mat for the Buddha Marme Zad,

I attained the confidence in the non-arising dharma

And I was prophesied to become the King of kyas.
Thus, by the time he worshiped the Buddha Nampar Zig, he completed the three countless aeons
and perfected the ten Bodhisattva stages. It is said [in the ]:
The Buddhas Nampar Zig, Marme Zead and Rinchen Tsugtor
Appeared at the end of each countless [aeon].
kya Thubchen was the first [Buddha our Buddha encountered].
The auditors assert that all of these happened while the Buddha was on the Path of the
Accumulation. They acclaim the teacher (the Buddha) and the rhino-like solitary realizers reach
enlightenment in thirty-four instances after attaining the Heat level on the Path of Preparation as
per the following statement:
The Teacher (the Buddha) and the rhino (-like solitary realizers)
Achieve all stages in one session of samadhi.
As for the calculation of the three aeons, it is stated in The Compendium of Vehicles:
Through righteousness and the power of aspirations,
Through the stability of the mind and proceeding for better-that strives for better
A Bodhisattva sets on [his career forpath through]
The Three countless aeons.
It is also said in The Cloud of Jewels:
Whenever the Bodhisattva
[page no. 7]
engages in equality of [all] phenomena, from then on one must calculate the number of aeons,
not from the time when he initially generated the mind of enlightenment.

Whenever righteousness, [that is to say] the powerful foundation of virtues, the power of the
aspirations, the stability of the mind, [i.e. its] irreversibility and the proceeding for better [which
means to] become discontent with meagre qualities, when these begin to arise, from then on until
the attainment of Buddhahood, one must calculate the three countless aeons. One must also
classify accumulations which a Bodhisattva must accumulate into the accumulations of merit and
wisdom or the six perfections. Our teacher has attained Buddhahood swiftly. Some take thirty-

two countless aeons and others take innumerable countless aeons depending on when they
realize their aspirations, like Ma juri and Samantabhadra.
Beginning with the emergence of the power of righteousness founded on virtues, the power of
aspirations, and the stability of the mind - irreversible, ever striving, and unsatisfied with
mediocrity, until the attainment of Buddhahood constitute the three countless aeons.
One must also classify accumulations which a Bodhisattva must accumulate into merit and
wisdom or the six perfections. Our teacher has attained Buddhahood swiftly. Some take thirtytwo countless aeons and others take innumerable countless aeons depending on when they
realize their aspirations, like Ma juri and Samantabhadra
Finally, as for the manner in which he attained Buddhahood, it is stated in The Supreme Tantra:
Taking rebirth in the higher realms,
Transmigrating from the Tushita heaven,
Entering the mothers womb and taking birth,
Becoming skilled in the field of arts,
Enjoying the retinue of his consorts,
Renouncing the world and undergoing penance,
Reaching the seat of enlightenment,
Destroying the host of Maras and attaining perfect enlightenment,
Turning the wheel of dharma,
And entering the nirvana; these are the acts [of the Buddha].
The first act takes after our Buddha, who are was born as Dampa Togkarpo, was installed as the
regent of the heavenly realm of Gadan by the Buddha Odsrung when Odsrung left Gadan.
Dampa Togkarpo taught dharma to the gods in Gadan and towards the end of his regency, due to
the power of his merits and the blessings of the Buddhas, he heard from the musical instruments
of the gods verses such as the following:
[page no. 8]
O you with vast merits, possessor of virtues and realizer of mindfulness,
Who holds unlimited intelligence and shine with wisdom
Who has matchless power and is protean in artistic skills,
Please remember the prophecy of the Buddha Marme Zad.
Inspired by such exhortation, he placed his jewel crown on Maphampa (Maitreya), whom he
appointed regent and announced, O friends! I will go to the continent of Zambuling to attain
Buddhahood. Maitreya will give you teachings. The celestial followers entreated: This is not
the right time to go there as the Zambuling world is corrupted by the eighteen kinds of heretical
doctrines. To this, he replied: Like the rays of the sun over other rays, I can outshine them.
Having said thus, in accordance with the Vedic tradition of the Brahmins, he descended from
heaven in the form of an elephant and entered into his mothers womb through her right rib cage

after the winter has passed, on the 15th day of the Saga (Vaishaka) month, the last month of the
spring, coinciding with the constellation Gyal and when his mother was observing a purificatory
fast.
Hence it is stated in the verses [by his mother Mayadevi]:
I felt a supreme elephant
Finely wrapped in golden trappings,
And bearing a red crown, an ash-white colour and six tusks
With a hue like that of a conch shell, snow or silver enter me.
As it entered me, my body and mind
Were enraptured by a magnificent bliss,
Which has never been heard, seen or felt before.
It was like being in a deep meditative absorption.
[page no. 9]
Following this, he remained for twelve months in his mothers womb, which is the natural palace
called the Array of Jewels enjoyed by the Sons of the Buddhas, and helped mature thirty-six
hundred billion celestial and human beings.

A vinaya text, The Holy Treatise, states that when the householder Gonmed Zebyin
(Anathapindika) asked the Buddha which month he was born, the Buddha said: Househoder, I
was born in the third month of spring.
As stated, the Buddha was born on the 15th day of the Saga month, at Lumbini grove from the rib
cage of his mother without giving any pain to his mother. Using a fine Kashi cloth, he was
received by the Tshangpa (Brahma) and Jajin (Indra) and bathed by the Lu (naga).
He took seven steps each towards each direction and uttered the lions roar.3 At that time, there
were thirty-two omens of auspiciousness such as all directions being filled with light of a golden
radiance, the birth of four kings in the four great countries; the birth of five hundred noble
persons, eight hundred girls including Drakzinma (Yaodara), five hundred attendants including
Dunpa (Channa), ten thousand stallions including the Ngagden (Kanthaka), ten thousand mares,
3

The lions roar refers to the Buddhas claim immediately after his birth that he is the
supreme in the world. In Buddhist literature, the Buddhas speech is often figuratively called
the lions roar.

ten thousand cattle, a pipal tree at the center of the continent, five hundred pleasure groves and
five hundred treasures. As all wishes of the King were fulfilled, the prince was named
Donthamched Drupa (Sarvasiddhartha*).
The astrologers predicted that if the child remained as a householder he would become a
universal monarch who is victorious in all directions, and if he became a homeless renunciate, he
would attain the Buddhahood.
[page no. 10]
His mother passed away seven days after he was born and he was brought up by his aunt Kyegui
Dagmo (Mahaprajapati) and thirty-two nurses. As he grew up he was given four names;
[Siddhartha as we have seen above and] kya Thubpa (kyamuni) for humbling the
pretentious kyas when he visited Serchaizhi (Kapilavastu), Lhaiyang Lha (god of gods) for
being saluted by Nodjin kya Phel, the god of kyas and other gods and Langpoche Tongthub
(Subjugator of a thousand elephants). He joined the school to learn from Kungi Shenyen, Sidrub,
his uncle Lharche and many others writing, arithmetic, arts, sports and such other fields of
learning pursued in the world. In all these fields, he excelled his teachers. Although he was asked
to marry, he initially turned down the proposals but with persistent request, he accepted with the
following thought:
From within a muddy swamp, the lotus flower blooms magnificently.
Within a multitude of the subjects does the king get honoured.
The Buddhas in the past have risen from within their harem of queens,
And have attained the ultimate peace.
Thinking thus, he sought Yashodara, the daughter of kya Lagnabecon. She was placed as the
prize in a competition to win her hand. At the age of seventeen, displaying matchless skills of
sportsmanship, he defeated all opponents and won Yashodara. He received Yasodhara and also
Bedma and Ridagkye, the three chief queens, who were accompanied by 60,000 beautiful
maidens and lived a life full of fun and luxury until the age of twenty-nine.
As it is natural for the Buddhas of the ten directions to exhort [a Buddha-to-be on the path to
enlightenment], at that point, he heard the following exhortation from the sounds of the musical
instruments.
Thinking, I shall quench those tormented by thirst with nectar,
Having attained the immortal sorrowless state of the Buddha,
[page no.11]
Recollect the supreme words of your past aspirations,
And renounce this city as quickly as possible!

After he heard this, he saw old age, illness, death and a monk in the four directions and showed
his unhappiness with the worldly life. He skillfully sought permission from his father to become
a renunciate and assisted by the gods, he arrived mounted on his horse, Khanthaka, to the banks
of Yiyong Den river in Pongbyed region, which lay twelve leagues to the east of Kapilavastu. He
returned the horse and his royal clothes with Channa. He said:
Until I have arrived at the undying sacred state of enlightenment,
The holy land of immortality where there is no old age and death,
I shall not stand, sit, sleep or walk,
Toward the city of Kapilavastu.
Having thus resolved, he cut his own hair, put on saffron robes and became a self-ordained
monk.
Under the rationalist teachers Gyutsal Shekyibu Ringphur and Rengjedkyibu Lhagchyod, who
were renowned for their meditation instructions, he perfected the absorptive meditation of
Nothing Whatsoever and Peak of Existence.
But he criticized [their methods] saying that they cannot bring about liberation [from samsara].
Then, accompanied by the five followers, he went to the banks of Neranjana river and started to
fast. Entering into the meditative state called Pervading Space he practiced austerity for six
years. As his body turned dark and thin, he came to be known as the dark mendicant.
The Tathagatas then woke him up by snapping their fingers. Abandoning his unshakeable
meditation,
[page no. 12]
he accepted the nectar of milk porridge offered by the Brahmin girl Legkema, and his body
revived gleaming like a polished bar of gold.
According to the tantras, the Buddha, at this point left behind his corporeal body and ascended to
the magnificent mansion of Akanishtha heaven in his wisdom form. There he received the
empowerment of the Vajra Sphere from the Tathagatas, who have gathered there like a heap of
sesame seeds, and then attained full enlightenment. He then re-entered his [corporeal] emanation
body and performed the act of attaining enlightenment again. Thus the Tantra says:
The real Buddha got enlightened over there;
Only an emanation became enlightened here.
Furthermore, the Lankavatara Sutra states:
In the desire and formless realms,
A Buddha will not reach Buddhahood,

But in Akanistha of the form realms,

You, one who is free from desire will attain Buddhahood!
This distinction (of where the Buddha become enlightened) is a doctrinal distinction between the
Mahyna and Hinayna.
Eventually, on the full moon day of the Saga month, the Bodhisattva proceeded towards the
Bodhi tree of Ashvatatha at spiritual sanctuary Dorje Denthe central spot of enlightenment
located at Magadha. The great naga Nagpo saw through his clairvoyance that the Bodhisattva
was soon going to become the Buddha. On his way, the Bodhisattva asked the grass-seller Tashi:
O Tashi please give me some grass quickly,
Today these grasses will be of great benefit.
I will defeat the Maras and its armies,
And achieve the supreme tranquil enlightenment.
He collected a bunch of grass which was like feather from a peacocks neck and upon arriving at
Dorje Den, where one thousand pipal trees and one thousand lion-thrones sprung from the earth,
[page no. 13]
he went around the first three thrones and he took his seat on the fourth one. The five followers
thought the Bodhisattva failed in the practice of penance and abandoned him. They went to Deer
Park4 in the region of Kashi. The Bodhisattva sat on the grass seat and made this resolve:
On this seat, whether my body dries up,
Or my skin and bones disintegrate,
Until I achieve the enlightenment hard to attain in many aoens,
I shall not move from this seat.
In the evening of that day, he thought that it is not proper for him to attain Buddhahood without
defeating the host of Maras and thus sent forth from between his eyes rays of light across the
three-fold thousand world systems in order to destroy the assembly of Maras. The rays gave out
the sound of the following verse:
The being who has practiced purity for many aeons,
The son of the Sudhodana has given up his kingdom.
Having pursued with strong desire the remedial nectar
He has come to [Bodhi] tree. Watch out today!
The evil force had thirty-two bad dreams. It mobilized tens of trillions of diabolic forces as said
in the following verse.
4

The full name for this place as given in the text is drang srong lhung ba ri dags kyi nags,
the forest of deer where ascetics have fallen. The last part is in reference to story of how
the physical remains of some solitary realizers have fallen on this grove after they have
attained nirv a.

The Mara took the forms of all kinds

Of wrathful and vile figures in the world
Such as the bodies of goblins, trolls, reptilian beasts
Demons, flesh eating spirits and hungry ghosts.5
They roared to create fear:
With chains of mountain ranges crushing in from all quarters,
With showers of rocks and weapons pouring down from the sky,
And with the indestructible flaming scepter,
Let us pulverize the Son of the akyas to dust.
[page no. 14]
However, the Bodhisattva being was without a slight sense of fear.
The King of akyas has realized the law of interdependence,
The natural state of non-substantiality.
As he possesses a mind which is like the space,
No armies of deceptive forces can diminish him.
As the Bodhisattva was full of loving-kindness, the weapons flung against him were also
transformed into rain of flowers.
Again, the evil one challenged:
For the continuous sacrifices I have done in the past,
I have you as the witness.
But as you do not have a witness to this [act of working for enlightenment]
You loss although you make the claim [to enlightenment].
In this manner, the Mara rejected that the Buddha practiced the path leading to enlightenment.
Then the Bodhisattva touched the earth with his right hand and declared:
The earth is the witness for all beings.
She is impartial to both the mobile and immobile.
She is my witness and she does not lie.
O earth, you be my witness to this [act of working for enlightenment].
When the Bodhisattva said this, the earth shook and the goddess of earth showed half of her body
above the ground and said:

These are different forms of non-human spirits. They are yaka, kumbhanda, mahoraga, raka,
pica and preta in Sanskrit and gnod sbyin, grul bum, lto phye, srin po, sha za and yi dags in Tibetan. These
generally fall within the preta group.

O great being! That is so. I have clearly witnessed this fact but the Blessed One is the witness for
everyone in the world.
As soon as they heard this, they retreated as stated in the lines:
Like a pack of wolves in the forest hearing a lions roar
And crows scurrying when a stone is thrown at them,
They escaped in terror, their hearts nearly shattered.
The diabolic lord of desire (the Mara) entered into the state of grief.
[proof-reading resumed from here 25/07/10]

At that time, the gods of the Pure Places6 rebuked the Eevil one in sixteen different ways and the
tree gods praised the Bodhisattva in sixteen different ways. In this manner, he was victorious in
the battle against the evil forces and thus got the title, The Victor. By midnight, the Bodhisattva
actualized the fourth stage of meditative concentration and abiding in the final phase of the
fourth concentration, he investigated the nature of dependent origination both in successive and
reverse orders and attained the three kinds of knowledge.7 In the last hour of the night, when it
was about time to beatring the waking[rising] belldrum, he attained perfect Buddhahood through
the instantaneous wisdom.
He then rose up in the air to the height of seven palm trees and exclaimed: I have ended the
continuity of my existence. The Buddhas of the ten directions paid tributesgave him presents
and praisedcongratulated him thus, saying: YJust as we have achieved enlightenment, you have
become fully enlightened just as we have, and become one of us like butter in any state is of the
same essence. [You are like us] just as butter is like extract of butter. The eight classes of spirits
in large groups also worshipped the Buddha. with massive offerings.
The Buddha consists of the three [enlightened] bodies and enlightened activities and from the
moment of becoming the Buddha, the enlightened body, speech and mind manifests as many as
there are sentient beings. This is known as the inexhaustible wheel of ornaments of the
enlightened body, speech and mind or as the inconceivable secret.Buddhahood consists of the
three [enlightened] bodies and enlightened activities. It is also known as the inexhaustible wheel
of ornaments of the enlightened body, speech and mind or as the inconceivable secret. From the
moment of enlightenment, Buddhahood comprises as many enlightened bodies and speech as
sentient beings and enlightened mind which knows all of them.
[page no.16]
6

The Pure Places are five highest levels of existence in the form realm.

1) The formation of the system of his precious teachings

During the first week after he attained enlightenment, he relished the bliss of enlightenment
continuedingto sit in the crossed-legged position appreciating the bliss of enlightenment and
thinking: Here, I have conquerederadicated suffering. This is a natural phenomenon as it is
said [in the sutra]:
The Buddhas, who are in possession of the ten powers,
Will not abandon the crossed-legged position
For seven days atin the centre of the Eearth (=Vajr sana)
Where they have fulfilled their aspirations and have become empowered.
The second week after his enlightenment, the Buddha spent gazing at the Bodhi Tree (pipal), the
third week, he walked until the ocean and the fourth week, he traversed the three-fold thousand
world systems. In fifth week, he went to the place of the naga Tangzung and in the sixth week, at
the foot of the Nigradha tree and said to the wandering mendicants:
Happy is the onehe, who hears and sees the Ddharma,
Happy is the one, who likes solitude,
Happy is the one, who subdues
All egos whatsoever.(all forms of self-righteousness?)
In the seventh week after his enlightenment, the merchant brothers, Gagon and Zangpo, offered
him food under the Drolgyu tree Drolgyu. He took the food in a stone bowl which was formed
from the bowls offered by the kings of the four cardinal directions. At this occasion, the Buddha
spoke the following verses of auspiciousness.
Through the auspices of the gods that, which fulfils all wishes,
And makes all directions auspicious,
May you enjoy peace and happinessbecome happy and peaceful.
They were both prophesied to become Buddhas in the future. Then, the Buddha thought:
I have achieved the profound, tranquil, unfabricated and luminous,
Unconditioned dharma, which is like an ambrosia.
(Profound, tranquil, unfabricated, luminous, and unconditioned
A dharma like an ambrosia have I achieved.)
As no one can understand this even if I teach it,
I think I shall dwell in the forest without speaking a word of it.
[page no.17]
As I am the one with boundless compassion for all sentient beings,

I shall not resist any requests for the teachingsif I am asked by others [to teach].
Since all beings are devoted to the Brahma,
Upon his requestI shall I turn the wheel [of Ddharma.] if he makes the request.
This emanation of the Buddha sent forth rays and this was noticed by the Brahma. , who
Aaccompanied by sixty-eight hundred thousand gods from the Brahma world with their palms
folded, he entreated the Buddha with their hands folded:
Having accomplished the Mmandala of the supreme, great gnosis, wisdom,
You emanatehave sent forth rays of light in all ten directions
And these rRays of wisdomgnosis havethat makesde the humanity blossom like lotuses blossom.
Why is it then that the lord of speech today remaintains silencet?
To their When they supplication, ed with verses such as this, the Buddha only granted gave his
consent through his silence and they left.
As the Buddha became preoccupied in small activities, The Lord Indra was prompted to
supplicate as in the follows:ing verses as the Buddha became preoccupied in small activities.
Just like tThe full moon like being released from the Rahula (eclipse)
Your mind has been thoroughly liberated.
O the victoriouscomprehensive Conqueror of the battle, please rise up,
And please illuminate the darkness of the world with the light of wisdom
But the Buddha still remained in silence, to which the lord Brahma requested in the following
lines.
You have become the achiever after a thorough search,
O the Able One, please teach us the Dharmayour teachings.
Following this request, the Tteacher spoke,
O Brahma, I having abandoneddestroyed all rigiditythe rigid [ignorance]
That which I have realized with austeritygreat hardship;,
That this Dharma, one cannotwill not be realized easily
Entrapped in the When one is wrapped up with thecycle of desire of cyclic existence.
[page no.18]
The Brahma requested, Since the world consists of re are beings withof inferior, mediocre and
sharp facultiesy in this world, please grant upon us the teachings that suit according to the faculty
of mediocre beings.
O the Brahma, I shall grant the teachings briefly,
So that people will not speak ill of eek criticisms toward the excellent Dharma.

Having So forth were the verses with which the Buddha agreeconsented to grant the teachings
and . As the Buddha pondered over the first recipient of his teachings, he wished to start with his
former master Lhagchyod (skt??) but it was found that he passed away just one week ago. TAnd
then the lord wanted to start with Ringphur, (skt??) but hewho also happened to have passed
away just three days agobefore. So, he decided to grant the teachings for the first time to the
group of five who accompanied the lord earlier. So the lord headed from Magadha to Seldhen
(Kashi), while passing through places of Rigaya, ?? toward the north, Tenge ??, Chandala and the
city of Khalojur (???) to the north, after which hHe arrived at the banks of River Ganges. There a
boatman asked hHim for theboat fare but the Lord flew away toward the place where the group
of five lived saying, I do not have a boat fare toward the place where the group of five lived.
At that time, the five seeing the Lord approaching from afar, and said, LookSee that mendicant
Gautama who is relaxed, eats a lot, and violated the Samadhi practice is coming back! TSo they
vowed and made a conditionagreed amongst themselves that nobody will receive him, stand up
in reverencespect, or pick up his robes and alms bowl but just let him sit on the empty cushion if
he wisheds. However, Kaudrinya did not accept it mentally. WBut when the Lord arrived there,
they group of five could not withstand bear the charismatic radiance of reverence that emanated
from the Lord, and they all found themselves willingly breakingoke their conditions they had
agreed upon. while some of tTheym rushedwent on to receive the lord, some laid the cushion,
and some arranged the water to wash the Buddhas feet. Having done this, they expressed
howsaid it is so fortunate ithat you it was have come here and entreated the Buddha to be seated
on the cushion. The teacher now having seatedtaking up the seat,
[page no.19]
in order the group of five to be impressed, made lots of conversation in order to please the five.
The five enquired, O the venerable Gautama, if your faculty has become so clear and totally
free of obscurationsun-wrapped its cover, did you experience any manifest difference with the
actualization of true wisdomthe gnosis? The lord commanded, You should not address the
Tathagata as just a venerable for. Yyou couldwill remainbecome unhappy for a very long time. I
have obtained the nectar;. I am enlightened; and. And I am the omniscient Buddha. He asked,
Didnt you all enact a rule just before my arrival[before my coming] like this? The five
repented, fell at the Buddhas feet and pleaded absolution.offered an apology Having and as they
become confident of the noble path, all of them became the fully ordained monks. Since all of
them were dressed like laymen, up in a manner of householder, the teacher commanded them to
precept of wearing themonastic robes worn lower-garment in a circular way.
It is Here, mostly claimeds that the Five Disciples became the fully ordained monks when they
attained the path of seeing. However, in the Sutra of the Turning of Wheel Jarolpa (but [inferring
from] the statements in the Extensive Sport Sutra) and others [records of the events of the first
turning of the teaching], in which the Buddha refers the Five Disciples as monks, well before the
attainment of the path of seeing. , the claim is incorrect. Hence, at the time when they became

fully ordained monks, they may have just achieved confidence inof the path of seeing but not the
actualizedation of it. ????
On the Fourth Day of the Month of Shadha (4th Day of the 6th Month), Lord Buddha considered
the venue for place where the turning of the Wheel of Dharma. Wheel should take place and
hHe realized aving found that the Deer Park Forest was the place used by the three former
Buddhas to turn the Dharma Wheel. T, there in that place, appeared one hundreda thousand
thrones. The Lord circumambulated the first three thrones and took up his seat on the fourth
throne in cross-legged posture. The Five Disciples, the eight great classes/groups of eight,
Bodhisattvas of the ten directions all assembled in the manner that not even a space of a single
hairs breadth on the Great Thousand World Systems wasere left out by the gathering.
[page no.20]
ImmediatelyThen, Lord Brahma bowed down atouching the feet of the Buddhahagavan and
offered the golden wheel with one thousand spokes,made from the gold extracted from the
Dzambu river, ornate andwhich was ornamented fully, and so brilliant that it could even dim
the sunlight rays, that which was also accepted by the three former conquerors (Buddhas?), and
requesteding to set in motion pin the Wheel of Dharma Wheel. At the same time, twoa pair of
Ruru, skt?? golden deers of golden colour came out of the forest and knelt down staring onepointedly at the tip of the golden wheel. The Buddha then observed the silence of the exalted
beings in the morning;, narrated inspirational allegories atin the mid- day;, and in the afternoon,
calleding upon the Five Disciples and, the Lord turned the wheel of Dharma Wheel in twelve
aspects by repeating [the Four Noble Truths] three times each. In this Great Thousand World
System it is known that there are ten million-millionbillion and ninety four hundred thousand
synonyms of the Four Noble Truths and each one of them resounded at the same time the Lord
granted the teachings for the first time.
At that time in Varanasi, the gods exclaimed, O friends, the Lord Bhagavan is turning the
Dharma Wheel in twelve aspects reciting repetition of the Four Noble Truths three times, and
teaching in ways a Dharma Wheel that has been never before taught by any teacher. T as it is
being taught, the family of the gods will increase while the classes of Asuras will decrease. At
the first recitation of the four noble truths, Kaudrinaya achieved the Dharma Eyes free from the
dusts of ignorance. The while the second recitation made him an Arhat, and . Hence there came
about the Rare Three Jewels/Triple Gem. HisBut his remaining four friends attained the
Dharma Eyes only at the second recitation and they attained Arhat-hood at the third recitation.
Eighty thousand gods saw the truth of realization.. The Gezang, skt?? erected a Vihara. T. The
close five close disciples including the Dragpa, skt?? and others, fifty sons of the village chiefs,
Katayana and his five hundred followersretinues, all took monastic vowsup the renouncers life.
[page no.21]

Then the teacher headed to Magadha where the Zangdes group of sixty boys became monks. At
rriving upon Tengyes,??? the three long- haired Kashayapa brothers including their one thousand
retinues become monks. Shariputra and Maudgalyana withincluding their five hundred
followersretinues also became the fully ordained monks and achieved the Arhathood.
Half of the disciples including the two Supreme Pair of Attendants and their five hundred
retinues who were sent out to visit for the country visit with the otherand half that of the disciples
includeding the long- haired Kashayapa and his followersretinues, altogether constituted 250,000
monks were known to be the strength of the first assembly the Buddhas disciples.
Even though tThis turning of the Dharma Wheel was mainly aimed at emphasized on the path
ofor the mediocre beings but nonetheless, the path ofor the lesserinferior beings was also
included naturally. TIn other words, this is even known as the way of the true nature of such-ness
of the Nnoble truths. The householder Ananthapindada (mGonMed zas sByin), a householder
offered the Jetavana groves (rGyal Byad tshel). Six years after the Buddhas enlightenment, the
Buddha meeting of his father, King Suddhana took place. For the followingduration of thirteen
years, the tradition of the Buddha teachings prospered, and did not face any corruptions and at
that time, only the brief version of the Pratimoksha Sutra (mThar pai mDo) was recited.
At the sacred places of Rajgir and Vulture Peak (Bya rGod Phung poi Ri) in Rajgir (rGyal poi
Khab), amidstto an assembly of the Four Groups of Disciples, particularly along with a huge
gathering of the Bodhisattvas, the Bhagavan Buddha satpread a cushion on the Llions throne
with and the gestures of turning the Dharma Wheel having displayed first, sat in cross-legged
and posture,a straightened his back, and manifestly maintaininged the mindfulness. And then
through the three kinds of miracles, he taught the Prajnaparamita Sutra that which was virtuous
in the beginning, virtuous in the middle, and virtuous in the end, in one hundred thousand verses
to those who preferred the prose and elaborate version;; the Sutras in twenty-five thousand
verses, in eighty one thousand verses, and
[page no.22]
the wisdom in ten thousand verses to those who were inclined to a less did not prefer the
elaborate version; and for those who understood by the mere mention of the outlines and
preferred a short version, the sutra in eight thousand verses which condensed the entire
meanings. of the sutra to those who understood by the mere mention of the outlines and preferred
shorter versionT; and to those who preferred versesstanzas, the Compendium of the Precious
Qualities which condensed the entire meanings of the Hundred Thousand Verses, was taught.
This is the explanation given by theaccording to Arya Haribhadra while another version from the
Tibetan historian Buton claims that for those who preferred elaborate explanation, the Buddha
taught the Prajnaparmita Sutra in Hundred Million Verses and in One Hundred Thousand Verses.
When this teaching was given by Lord Buddha, the sons of the gods remarked, O alas, we
arehave witnessingnoticed the second turning of the Dharma Wheel of Dharma in the

Zambudvipa;. and And this is the reason why it is knownclaimed as the second turning of the
Dharma Wheel. As all the causal vehicles are condensed summed up in these teachings, it was
pronounced hence known as representative of the path to enlightenment or reaching across to the
other side (manner of the Paramitas), the path of the great beings. As for the time of this event, in
agreement with the assertion of the School of Elders (Sthavira), the Buddha taught these
teachings sixteen years following his enlightenment.
????In the Samadhinirmocana Sutra: In the Unraveling of the Thought Sutra of the Third
Turning of the Dharma Wheel, there are teachings in regard to the profound meaning [of the
emptiness,] but that too should be classified under the Second Turning of the Dharma Wheel.
Also, I did not see any reasonability with assertions of the several Even though many Indian and
Tibetan scholars have who commented ons thesuch teachings [ after the Second turning of the
Wheel of Dharma Wheel] to be Chittramata/the Yogacara (Mind only School) scriptures, it is
logically inconsistent. for the reason that (the Unraveling of the Thought Sutra) and Irreversible
Dharma Wheel Sutra, which explains the three methods of purification of the Buddha Nature and
That which[what is claimed to beas the Yogacara scripturesSutra] exactly corresponds to the
third one of the three methods of purification of the Buddha Nature explained in the Irreversible
Dharma Wheel Sutra. This [profound] meaning, when the Madyamaka School postulates
turning-down all views, is described as because of that (profound meaning) the subject to be
tamed by this (Madyamaka School) has to enter into all the vehicles. The implied meaning of
this statement should be understood as; for the sake of profound meaning whichever vehicle
one might enter into but eventually, at the end one must enter into this (vehicle of Madyamaka
School) since it is impossible to attain Buddha without entering into this school. And also, the
statement that all sentient beings will attain the Buddhahood, will become baseless if that is not
the case of the statement. ???
[page no.23]
For the turning of the first and second Dharma Wheel of Dharma, some claim that first wheel
took seven years and while the second wheel took twenty-seven or thirty-one years, but this
assertion is unfoundedreasonable because such teachings classified asthat belonginged to both
the first and second wheelperiods were spreadfound right from the beginning of the teachings
until the Buddhas Mahaparnirvana.
As for the Third Turning of the Dharma Wheel which was on the Vajrayana teachings, was
scatteredtaught shatteringly atacross various times, and locations such as the Oddiayana and
other places.so forth. However, all Vajrayana teachings were given in a single as for the locale of
the turning of the Vajrayana vehicle at one time period was at the glorious Kalacakara Mandala
of the Rice Mound Temple (Drepung Palden Gyukar gyi Kilkhor).
As for the timing of The time of the Vajrayana teachings, even though it is believed which is
asserted to have occurred taken place during the final years of the Buddha, after enlightenment is

incorrect as there is an inconsistency with the scriptural statements quoted bellow. This is what
the The King of Bestowing Pith Instruction (gDams Ngag Bogs pai rGyalpo) Sutra says,
The trio of vehicles which bring about liberation,
Has definitively been taught by the Bhagavan,
Yet, what reason for you did not teach the ultimate vehicle,
Which conducts the cause and effects spontaneously,
And does not need to seek the Buddha from other sources?
The three vehicles of liberation
Has been taught by the triumphant one
The spontaneous application of cause and effect
That does not require to seek Buddha from without
Why did you not teach this ultimate vehicle?
In response to tThis question was asked by Manjushri, to the Lord Buddha and the Lord replied,
Having thoroughly turned the Dharma Wheel
Of the Cause to those who opted for the causal teachings,
A shorter way to Buddhahood, the Vajrayana,
Will appear at the time in future.
A teaching for those who believed in cause,
I have set the excellent wheel in motion;
Vajrayana, a route to liberation that is shorter
Will appear at a time in the future.
Hence, it is incorrect that the Vajrayana teachings took place towards the last days of Buddhas
life in this world. During that time, it was not just Kalacakara but also all other tantric esoteric
Secret Mantras were teachings were taught. The Root Kalacakara Tantras states,
Similar to the event of Prajnaparamita Sutra teachings,
At the Vultures Peak by the Buddha,
At the Glorious Rice Mound Pagoda,
The entire teachings of the Secret Mantra were taught.
Just as the Buddha at the Vultures Peak (Bya rGod phung po ri)
Taught the Prajnaparamita teachings;
At the Glorious Rice Mound, (dPal lden bras spungs)
He taught the essence of esoteric tantric teachings.
AThe Commentary of Manjushrinama Sangita (mTshen brJod) authored by the Acharya Nyima
Pal Yeshe, skt?? explains this verse as followsthis:
[page no.24)

Here, at the great Stupa of the Conqueror, the Glorious Rice Mound, as those who desired to
definitely hearing the various teachings of the Tantras entreated the Bhagavan Buddha
Shakyasingha., Oon the 15th Day of the First Month, emanating the primordial Buddha in the
Mandala of the glorious Kalacakara atop the Mandala of the Lord of Enlightened Speechthe
sphere of realityon that very day, Lord Buddha conferred the empowerment of the entire Secret
Mantra in the various forms, both elaborate and condensed, to the gods and others., the Buddha
conferred empowerment and the entire Secret Mantra teachings were unfolded in manner of
elaborate and condensed teachings.
The Menlung Guru personally visited the place of Gglorious Rice Mound (dPal lden bras
spungs)Pagoda, and according to his writings sent to Tibet, the Rice Mound was inPagoda was
built at the southern region of the Land of Aryas (phags pai yul/ India). Dduring the time of the
Buddha Kanakamuni (gSer thub),. During that time, anone ascetic who had mastery over
supernatural powers brought down a rain of miraculously rained un-husked paddyrice over this
place. At this location, the gods including the eight classes builtinstalled the foundation of the
Pagoda while top portion was completed by the humans who had achieved the power of
miracles; a. And the surrounding wall was constructed by the King Vala Maitri during the
Buddha Shakyamunis era.
This version is endorsed by authentic. Also, as the scholar Budol agrees this version, and is this
must be the version that is accepted generally.
Furthermore, in the commentary of the writings of Abhaya and Cama/ Tsama by the Tengpa
Lotsawa Tshulthrim Jungne and the Goed (rGwa?) Lotsawa Zhonu Pal, it is narrated as in the
following paragraphs. The fully enlightened Buddha Vajradhara (rDo rJe chang),
hInitially having first taught the entire teachings of the Mahayana by the fully enlightened
Buddha Vajradhara in the Akanishtha pure land (Wog-min), intended to reveal the teachings of
the Secret Mantra to the sentient beings of the three realms,
[page no.25]
and foresaweeing that if the teachings were taught to the chiefs of the three realms,; the Brahma,
Shiva and Indra that it would result in the condition the teachings to flourishing in all the realms.
,In order to achieve this, [the Buddha Vajradhara chose to be ] took a rebirthborn as the son of
King Sudhodhana, then became a renounce worldly pleasuresr, undergo went through penance,
and manifested the achieveing of enlightenment. Following enlightenmentthis, to those with
inferior faculty, he taught the Shravakayana and Prateyaka Buddhayana (nyen rang gyi thegpa) to
those with inferior faculty; to the beings of mediocre faculties he taught the wisdom perfections
and the profound Sutras (phar chyin dang mdo sde zabmo) to the beings of mediocre faculties;
and for the purpose of fulfillment of those with maturing the beings of sharp faculties, he
travelledjourneyed toward the southern region of Rice Mound Pagoda. There, for in order the
Great Four Gods and others capable of being to become a proper vessels for receiving the

teachings, the Mandala of the Lord of Enlightened Speechthe sphere of reality was
constructed as inseparabley one in essence with the Mandala of the Vajra Sphere of Reality; and
the Great Four Gods, the Shambhala King and his retinues, and othersso forth, who were
fortunate enough were granted the empowerment along with the entire teachings of the Secret
Mantra of the Mahayana. That time, the Great Lord Shiva (dBang phyug chenpo), who hadout of
his eight sons, offered his youngest son,; the Great Black one (Nagpo chenpo), as a token of
gratitudeas remuneration for granting the empowerment.
The Victorious One (Buddha) n having received the empoweredment, the Great Black one and
was entrusted him with the teachings. Previously, who was earlier a non-Buddhist, he was now
pronounced but later became the Buddhist Great Black one who achieved the transcendental
realization. After the event of empowerment was over, the Mandala was left open without
closing, and whoever saw the Mandala wasere able to attain liberation. The Great Four Gods
were envious of this and they had the divine craftsmanarchitect Vishakarma to construct a stupa
made from variousa mix of precious jewels and only an opening in the form of a door was left.it
was sealed with a gate.
[page no.25]
Even after this, anyone who saw it attained liberation. ItThis was preserved with further
concealedment and this was known as the Choe-zang Trin-gi Yang-dzong, the Innermost Fortress
of the Sublime Dharma Clouds. EHere, even today, if one could circumambulate for seven
consecutive days, one can achieve the spiritual attainment. As a symbol of empowerment
received by the Great four GodsToday, at about a hailing distance from this shrine in , across the
four directions, one can seenotice the images of the Great Four Gods -, with the Brahma in the
east, Shiva to the south, Krishna/Vishnu? (khyab jug) to the west, and the six-faced Kartika
(gZhonu gDong drug) to the north, . These images were sculptured by the divine craftsman,
Vishwakarma. Even architect at the command of these gods and today, non-Buddhists people
still continue making huge offerings at thisese sites. This region got its name, the Rice Mound
during the reign of King Serdog (, skt??) era because of a Prateyaka Buddha who caused a rain
of unhusked rice grains here.from the sky.
This statement is reasonably noblecorrect in thatas it is consistentconforms with the following
quotation from the Stainless Light Tantra/Sutra??.(dri med od)
.from that on having turned the Wheel of Dharmaaught by teaching the three vehicles by
turning the Dharma Wheel, on the Full Moon Day of the 12th Month, inat the place of Shri
Dhanaya Katraka, [the lord Buddha]??? emanated the aspect of the primordial Buddha as the
Lord of Enlightened Speech Mandala of the Sphere of Reality in its sixteen parts/pairs??? of
characteristic aspects, with and the Kalacakara ??? Mandala perfectly divided into its sixteen
pairs ??? of aspects on its top was perfectly adorned with the primordial Buddha.

The Constellation of Stars Mandala (so called Kalacakara Mandala (???Stars and constellations)
Mandala got its name from its shrine which was square in shape and had six pillars each inat the
four directions; a. And this Mandala of the Stars and Constellations was also taught
simultaneously at that time. Among the recipient of this teaching was, the master of the ten
stages of the Bodhisattvas, Vajrapani (phyag na rdo rje), who was born to the goddess of the sun
rays, Vijaya (rnam par rgyal ma), as the Chandra Bhadra (zla ba bzang po) in, at the Kalapa city
of the Shambhala.
[page no.27]
And Chandra Bhadra, the Vajrapanis emanation of Vajrapani, entreated to the Tathagata in order
for the entire the sentient beings to achieve both the mundane and supramundane spiritual
attainments, entreated to the Tathagata. TEven the Tathagata, foresaw the residents beings of the
Shambhala and 960 million other cities, located to the north of river Sita, and other 960 million
cities to bearingthe perfect fortune; and without leaving none of the Vajrayana terms unrevealed,
completely revealed the twelve thousand primordial Buddhas through the supreme Vajra terms of
great clarity.
The time when this teaching took place, the Lord BuddhaTeacher was in hHis seventy-ninth
year, and by then the [Shambala] King hads ruled his country for ninety-nine years.
Seven years after theHis enlightenment, Lord Buddhathe lord ascended the Heaven of Thirtythree Gods to performed the deeds for His mother, at the Heaven of Thirty-three Gods and
descended back at the Jetavana Grooves from the heaven (gSal lden). At Vaishali (mNyan yod)
duepending upon to the six non-Buddhist scholars, the Teacher demonstrated the great miracles,
and finally displayed the deed of entering into the Mahaparinirvana. , ????which was because
Annanda failed to request the teacher to live eternally when Buddha repeatedly proclaimed as
follows:as his ears were obstructed by the devil and could not hear to the lords declaration even
when it was repeated thrice by the lord. The Buddhas declaration was, O Annanda, anything is
possible. For those whosoever may wish to meditate for a long time relying upon the Four Legs
of Miracles, it is possible to livedwell for an eon or even more. SAnd since the Tathagata has
meditated with the Four Legs of Miracles for several times if the Tagathata intends, He can
remain for an eon or even more. Even when the Lord repeated this thrice, Ananda could not
hear anything and he remained silent as hiAnnandas ears were obstructed by the devils., could
not hear anything and he remained silent without a word.???
[page no.28]
ButSo the wicked devil supplicated the Lord to pass away and the Lord agreed to attain the
Mahaparinirvana after three months. The Lord then blessed the provisions for
livelihoodsustaining [another three months] and gave up on the means to lengthen his life span.
Immediately, the earth shook, fell down fiery shooting meteoroids shot down, and burned some
regions.

Then the Lord proceeded to the Brizjis Aloe-tree grooves and having indicated the impending
displayedMahaparinirvana through ant earthquake, is an indication for entering into the
Mahaparinirvana without long, he commanded instructed to engage into the Sutras, observe the
Vinaya, and adopt them as the Dharmas if they do not contradict the true nature of realitytruth,
and not to adopt if otherwise. The blacksmith son, Chandra, a blacksmiths son beseeched the
Lordsupplicated to delay the Mahaparinirvana by until the next three months, and accordingly
the Lord proceeded toward the Kushinagar. After convertingAnd taming Ghandharva Pramodya
(dri za rab dga) and always-wandering mendicant Prabhadra??? (kun tu rgyu rab bzang) were,
the last disciples to be convertedtamedwhen by in hHis actual form, the Buddha said, O monks,
if you have doubts about the Rare Trio of Supreme Jewels and the Four Noble Truths, please get
them clarified now. Then the Lord took off his upper robes and said, O monks, it is extremely
difficult to have the audience of the Tathagata, so behold the Tathagatalook at me. And said, O
monks, pPlease do not saypeak anything for sometime for this is the disintegratingbreakingnature of all the compounded or conditioned phenomena, and this is the final words of the
Tathagata. Having thus said, the Tathagata entered into the meditative absorptions of the four
concentrations [of the form realm], the four concentrations of the formless realm, and having
successively and in reverse orderly entered into the meditative equipoise of cessation remaining
in equinamity. Consequently, hhe rose back to entered into the four concentrations of the form
realms and from the point of Final End of the Concentration hefinally went beyond the
sufferings of samsara or enteredpassed away into the Mahaparinirvana.
Immediately after this, the earth shook, meteors came crashing down on earth and razinged parts
of the earth,area and the divine musiccymbals re sounded. which was observed by the
Mahakashyapa (od sung chenpo) noticed this and who knew that the Teacher has passed away,
and exhortedinsisted the Sangha to rush to see the body of the Tathagata before it
degeneratedcayed.
[page no.29]
The people of Malla dressed the body of the lord in the royal costume of the universal monarch
and wished to cremate but the fire would not startcatch up. The disciple Aniruddha (ma gags pa)
understoodforesaw that it was because the Mahakashyapa has not yet arrived, made it to the
funeral and as soon as he mentionedwas done saying about this to the others, the Kashyapa
arrived. Then Kashyapa opened the coffin, uncovered the cloths and cotton,-woods and made
prostrations toseeing the undecayed body of the Tathagata, he made prostrations. Then the allknowinger Kaudrinaya, Chunda (sKul Byed), Kashyapa of Ten Powers, and the Mahakashyapa
four of them piled morextra cotton wood leaves and wrapped the body up with five hundred pairs
of cloths, inserted the body inside anthe iron box, filled it up with grain oil, (sesame???) and
piled up all kinds of aromatic woods upon whichand the fire started of its own. FollowingTo
thiswhich the, Ananda exclaimed,
The Perfect Liberator, who possessed the precious body,

With the power of great miracle, left for the world of purity,
The enlightened body of the Buddha which was coveredwrapped up by with five hundred pairs of
cloths,
And wrapped bywith as many thousands of Dharma robes,
By its own brilliance, the holy remainsbody
SoWhich was well- wrapped was thoroughly crematedburnt down;.
But for At that time, there werthe two holy robes which did not burn;,
There was y were anthe inner layer and an outer layer robes.
And also,
Of the eight Dre-measures of relics of the omniscientbody of the one endowed with the [allknowing] eyes (Buddha),
Seven were received as the objects of worship by the Jambudvipa beings,
OnThe one Dre-measure of relics of the Supreme Being,
Was received foras the object of worship by the Naga King of the city of Dra-drog,( skt??)
Of the four canine teeth relics of the Supreme Beings,
The first one was received as the object of worship by the Heaven of Thirty Gods,
The second one went to Yid-wong,( skt???) city of the Tshig-dzin,( skt???)
The third one went to the kingdom of the King Kalingapingka,
And the fourth canine tooth of the Supreme Being,
BecameWas received as the object of worship by the Naga King of the city of Dra-drog.
[page no.30]
Also as explained in detail (From the Great Treasury of Detailed Exposition?),;
At the place of the turning ofthe Dharma Wheel, and Vaishali,
The white earth place, abode of the gods,
Jipa-sod, (skt??)?, and Kaushambi,
Drog and the Chorten Ri,
The city of bamboos, and Drar-ce,
And at the city of Kapilavastu,
In all these places, the Able One
Of Supreme Rebirth, dwelled aone year each.
TLived twenty-three years at Koshala,
Four years at the forest of medicines,
Two years at the place of Bburning Ccave,
Five years at the city of Rajgir,
Six years of hardship and asceticismgoing through penance,
Twenty-nine years in the royal palace of Kapilavastu,
ThusIn this way, at the age of eighty, the Conquerorthe conqueror,
The Ssupreme Holy Masterand holly Able One entered into the Mahaparinirvana.
And also,

According to the Indian version s for the accountoccurrence of the Mahaparinirvana, according
to the Indian version, it is stated to have taken place oin the mid-night of the full moon day of the
Vishakha Month, the Fourth Month in spring.

2) Mentioning a just a little of all who dearly cherished His Teachings (?)
Thirdly, to as for the mentioning a just a little of all who dearly cherished the Teachings of
Buddha, we will look at it will be explained under three sub-divisions of a) how the manner of
collection by the compiler put together the collection, b) the successive trustees of the teachings,
and c) how Mahayana flourished and spread, thus explaining it in three parts.
a) The Manner of Collection by the Compilers of the Buddhas Teachings
Firstly, a little before the Mahaparinirvana of the Buddha, Shariputra along with a retinue of
80,000 Arhats and Maudgalyaputra along with a retinue of 70,000 Arhats passed into Nirvana.
This was followed by the Buddhas Mahaparinirvana along with 81,000 Arhats, and many others
who passed away. In order to prevent any derision from the gods who were capable of living for
eons that the Buddhas teachings looked as if reduced to a mere smoke since the monks
empowered to pass on the teachings of the Buddha have passed away, and Tripitaka teachings
will no longer be heard, Mahakashyapa asked the Arhat Purna (Gang po) to gather the Sangha.
b) The gods who lived for eons alleged, Little before the Mahaparinirvana of the Lord
Teacher, Shariputra along with a retinue of 80,000 Arhats and Maudgalyaputra along with a
retinue of 70,000 Arhats passed away into Nirvana. And then followed the Teachers
Mahaparinirvana at which time, 81,000 Arhats and many others passed away, and since even
those living monks have passed away the successive teachings of the Buddha have been
reduced to just a mere smoke and therefore, teachings of the Tripitaka are no longer heard.
[page no.31]
The Mahakashyapa, to dispel such allegations, appointed the Arhat Purna to convene the Sangha
and Purna while watching throughengaged in the final meditative concentration, ???? of ruand
rang the bell, and except for the Arhat Gavampati (ba lang bdag), all the monks gathered. So he
went to call him but as he came to know that the Buddha has passed away, he too passed away
into Nirvana.
Then the Mahakashyapa (od srungs chen po) addressed the gathering,
O venerable monks, please listen,
Just like heim (Gavampati) who passed away asin the manner of the exalted one (Buddha),
Rest of you should not pass into the ultimate cessation,
Instead as for performing of the needful activities as you can,
The intelligent ones (empowered) shall assemble and proceed and assemble.

Like the great Gavampati, the supreme being,

Who had already become the object of virtuous activity,
You shall not contemplate think in similar ways to him,
And forbeing intent of the purpose ofall the sentient beings, let us conferand we shall convene
and discuss our thoughts.
Thus, having established this as a code of conduct/ rule, Hence, in this way it was enacted as the
law and [Mahakashyapa] said, If we discuss the mode of Dharma here, overcrowding it will
become distraction with overcrowded the monks. S, so, let us go to Magadha. AvertingNot
allowingthe other monks to the council, he appointed Ananda (kun dga bo) was appointed as the
water-steward who guided the Sangha through the country side. Mahakashyapa went directly to
Rajgir where King Ajatashatru (ma skyes dgra?) saw him and fainted and fell off from the back
of an elephant upon seeing him as he was reminded ofcollected the Teacher (Buddha?). but
Mahakashyapa saved him and asked had the king not to promise that he will not repeat itsuch in
future; a. And said, We wish to conduct the convention on the Dharma, here inat this heavenlye
landplace of Your Majesty! To this, the King replied, That is very noble, and I will provide the
entire provisions., the King said.
Their sustenance being sponsored by the King, they convened at the cave of Nayagrodha and
took up the vows to conduct the summer retreat there. KnowForeseeing that Ananda could be
disciplinedtamed through harsh criticismtreatment, the Mahakashyapa pointed out rebuked and
declaring his faultsgrave mistakes, and he was expelled him from the gathering.
[page no.32]
Ananda left for the city of Briji where he expounded thegranted Tteachings assisted by athe sSon
of Briji. This boy, who gaugging his teachersthe preceptors mind, and said,
If the Gautama, not spending the time carelessly,carefully avoiding waste of time
And Rreliantying up on a the densethick forest trees, attained Buddhahood;,
If youWhy not you keep that in the mind and be in meditatione,
It will not be f you do without taking long, before you achievewill obtain the cessation.
Because of this suggestion from the Son of Briji, just within one session of meditation from
morning till evening, he was able to purifyied the mental obscurations. O, and over the midnight
session, he washed his legs outside the Vihara and returned inside where as he just laied down on
his right ribs, and before his head could touch the pillow, he attained the Arhathood., Tand then
he returned to the Cave of Nayagrodha.
For the sake of forgetful monks of the future, Mahakashyapa discussed about verses in the
morning session and prose in the evening. The collection of the Sutra section was discussed at
the first and Mahakashyapa asked if Annanda was interested. He was then assignppointed all the
collector of Sutras section through using the procedure of twice repeating the activity. Nine-

hundred and ninety-nine Arhats spread their Nam-jar robes over the lions-throne , sat Ananda
on it, and thusen the entreated Mahakashyapa: entreated,
O Venerable (Annanda) please teach us
Whatever those supreme teachings were
Taught by the Conqueror,
The Teacher who cared for the benefit of the world!
The Annanda, then recollected the enlightened qualities of the Teacher, faceding toward the
Vajrasana, folded his palmshands together, and spoke in an all pervasive voiceloudly, just as it is
mentioned in the Pith Instruction of the Perfection Condensation of the Dharma,: went on
speaking as in the following.
[page no.33]
Thus have I heard oOnce upon a time, when I heard in these words, the Lord Bhagavan lived in
the Deer Park forest of Varanasi. There the Lord Bhagavan taught in these words to the five
monks. O monks, theat Dharma that you have not heard is the exalted truth of suffering and so
forth as they were being consolidatedcollected into the cannon of teachings. T, the all-knowinger
Kaudrinya exclaimed, We have directly perceived or I personally heard this aspect of the
Dharma, and it has dried up the ocean of my blood and tears, crossed the mountain of my bones,
closed the door of the unfortunate migration, opened the door of the emancipation, and as this
was explained to us, I and 80,000 gods obtained the Dharma eyes. This isEven todaywhat I heard
todayexactly the same. Having explained this, he said, Alas, all of them dont have no any
difference in being impermanent, and got down from his seat. Likewise, all the others gotetting
down from their seats and said, As we all saw the Tteacher actually granting us these teachings,
yet owing to the power of impermanence, even the Lord Bhagavan has become a story now.
Then the Arhats using their clairvoyance sought for the confirmation, O Ananda, is that the
transmission you [you received from the Buddha]? Ananda replied, Yes, that is the
transmission I received. Is this And do you all have the transmission that you receivedlike he
has stated? The other Arhats confirmed, Yes, that is it. Mahakashyapa then summarized this
as, collecting the first Sutra, and recognizedthought this tois th be Dharma as no one disputed it,
of them disagreed and askedenquired Ananda where the Ssecond Sutra was taught. Ananda
answered thus:, In these wordsuntil .if asked what is the exalted truth of suffering, it is the
suffering of birth and so forth.
[page no.34]
When asked For the enquiry over where the Tthird Sutra was taught, Ananda replicited, I in
these words, .untilO monks, ones form is not the self and recited so forth. Then the
Arhats numberingwhose total strength was one short of five hundred, with based upon the
[Anandas recitation] as the root textmain body of scripture, collected the Tteachings in various

sections. , such as tThose which contained the teachings about (psycho-physical) aggregates
were put under, they collected them as the aggregates section; those that related to under
sensory-spheres under the sesory-sphere section which mentioned about the sensory spheres;
under the section of narratives teachings which discussedmentioned about the law of
interdependent origination and the realization of the exalted truth were classified as belonging to
declarations/ main topics of discussion/ background narratives; those that contained more about
the listeners, as the teachings for the Shravakas; for those which contained more about the
listeners, those which stated more about the Buddhas, as the teachings of the Buddha which
stated more about the Buddhas; as the branch of the path for those which stated about the section
of enlightenment as the section on the Path; those which contained extensive narrations under the
section of extensive narratives for those which contained extensive narrations; those which were
taught in verses under the section of perfect names which were taught in verses; those which
contained long transmissions under the section of lengthy transmissions for those which
contained long transmissions; those which contained moderate length of transmissions under the
medium section for those which contained moderate length of transmissions; and for those which
were in single verses as the section emanatinggiven off from one transmission for those which
were in single verses.
Then the Mahakashyapa enquired, Have we acquired Is that all that we have as the
transmission?, Since we have acquired it, or there is nothing more than transmission apart from
this.? Having saidasked thius, he got down from theis throne and sat on the groundfloor. Then
the Arhat Upali (nye bar khor) was encouraged through the formal system of asking twice and
was appointed as the collector of the teachings related to Vinaya-discipline. section, through the
formal system of asking twice to agree to the deed Hand having placed Upali on the throne, he
was askedenquired, Where did the Lord Bhagavan enact the Ffirst Pprecept? He replied, At
Varanasi. Upon being askedAnd for whose purpose was it enacted, as the precept? he
answered that iIt was for the Five Disciples, when the Lord ordered them to put on the lowerrobes in a circular way, and so forth. thus it was enacted as the rule, replied the Upali.
Then the Arhats using their clairvoyance sought confirmation, and recognized this to be Dharma
as no one disputed it, and askedThen the Arhats using their clairvoyanceuntil
Mahakashyapa, collecting the first Vinaya, thought this is the Dharma as none of them disagreed
and enquired Upali where the second precept was enacted. Upali answered, It took place in
Varanasi when the Lord commanded the Five Disciples to put on the Dharma-robes in a
coileding way. When askedOn being enquired forabout the third precept, he replied, It
begantook place at the village of Kalandraka when the Lord pointed out enacted the precept to
restrain the sexual misconduct as one of the defeating acts to Sudinna (bzang sbyin), one of the
four defeats, followed by the inclusion of
[page no.35]

defeating acts, remainders, the indefinite, downfalls to be abandoned, transgressions,

confessions, various vows, pacifying conflicts, subsequent precepts, renunciation, ordination,
absolution, retreat rules, subtle precepts, discourse, to until the Buddha said, Faith should be
like this. Thus, having put together the Vinaya (dul ba) section, Upali got down from the
throne.
then successive precepts of the four defeats, the remainder section, the indefinite, downfall if not
abandoned, downfall, individual confession, diverse precepts, the pacifier of disputes,
subsequent precepts, permission of abandonment???, renunciation, nurturing virtues and
purifying sins, censure of immoral actions, subtle precepts, subject of narratives, and until when
the Buddha mentioned, A faith should be like this. Thus, having collected the Vinaya section,
the Upali got down from the throne.
Then, Mahakashyapa said, I shallalone will put togethercollect the so- called Mamo-teachings
on my own. And having fulfilledgone through the proceedings of asking twice to agree the
deed, he said, The kind of Mamo is the kind that which thoroughly clarifies the characteristics
of the knowable phenomena. Thus, it was carried out through , such as these; the four mindful
establishments, and following close-recollections and so on, and so forth were the collections
conducted in the proceedings similar to the earlier collections. The Gods exclaimedsky
resounded, The collection of the Buddha Dharma into the three baskets of teachings by the five
hundred Arhats has caused the prosperity of the gods andwhile subdued the anti-gods. Thus, the
collection came to known as the The Complete Collection by the Five Hundred Arhats.
The Mahakashyapa composed the following lines as they convention concluded: convention.
Ah, the speech of the one endowed with the ten powers is boundless
This is a collection of the Teachings for the benefit of sentient beings
Where bad intelligence can create darkness in the world and waste
This is the wisdom that will clear the blurred vision, the perfect light
Alas, the boundless speeches of the one bearing the ten powers (Buddha)
In order to benefit the sentient beings, as all of them have been gathered into these
collections???
Where upon in the world, there are squandered people who minds are darkened by ill-wisdom,
As this will remove the shroud of the wisdom and will endow the illumination perfectly.
As for the Mahayana teachings, on the mountain of Vimalasvabhava in Rajgir, along with the
assembly of one million Boddhisattvas, the Samantabhadra, Manjushri, Vajrapanithe lord of
secrets, Maitreya and others collected the Mahayana teachings. The Mantra teachings were
mainly collected by the Vajrapani. This event was known as the First Buddhist Council and this
was the only convention which collected the scattered teachings of the Buddha.
[page no.36]

Eighty years/Hundred and ten years (?) after the demise of the Teacher, the monks of Vaishali
(yangs pa chan) introducedspread/???, the following the ten transgressionsinappropriate
fundaments.:
Exclamations of alas, celebrating Arhats, and deliberate practice of agriculture;
Sipping cure from a pot of ale, misuse of sacred salt, and eating on the road;
Offerings with two fingers, stirred curd and milk beverage, and using a new mat;
And begging for gold or silver perfectly summarize the middle vows.
Ah La La, rejoice, conduct,
Tag pa ???, salt, path,
Appropriate with two fingers, stirring, mattress,
And collecting silver and gold, perfectly sums up the middling vows.
Following this, the Elder Kirti (gnas brtan grags pa) convened 700 disciples of Ananda such as
Thams cad dod/Sarva Abhinandati?? who were all Arhats. including Abhinand??? Starting with
the senior ones and addressed these fundaments to the gathering from starting from the senior
ones. WThen without mentioning the names of monks who spread them, he scolded severely O
venerable monks, do you think these transgressionsfundamentsof Ah La La and so forth are
appropriate? We must discard themThese fundaments must be given up by us, and
deliberated on them ing the fundaments elaborately. H, he then came out and raung the bell to
assemble the monks of Vaishali. AHere at thise gathering, in the order of Elder Kirti starting
from the elder ones first, he addressed them as singled out, O the Mmonks of Vaishali, and
deliberated on the ten transgressionsfundaments in detailthoroughly. As the gathering declared in
unison, We will These are the fundaments we must abandon these transgressions, declared the
gathering in unison. Hence, this event was known as the Perfect Declaration of the Seven
Hundred Arhats. Though this event was known as the Second Collection of the Buddhas
Teachings (second Buddhist council), but it was onlymerely about clearing the transgression of
some precepts.
ARight after the demise of the King Dharma Ashoka, in order to correct those who were carried
away with the ordinary, corrupted and moderate words of the scriptures, the Arhats gradually
compilied the se and thosedifferent texts scripturesinto ones, such as the Sutra of
Compilationied in the Vast/ Extensive Language. of Vast Length, in order to correct those who
were carried away with the ordinary, corrupted and moderate words of the scripturesS, and such
things kept on occurring until the appearance of the eighteen different schools.
[page no.37]
Then followed the disputes over whether the eighteen schools were the Buddhas teachings or
not and this kept the Sangha divided and fighting against each other for sixty-three years. In

order to pacify the disputes, with King Kanishka as the patron, five hundred Arhats including
Purnika, five hundred Bodhisattvas including Basumitra, and 61,000 ordinary scholars or,
Paunditas convened and established the eighteen schools as the teachings of the Buddha for the
reason that each of those schools taught moral disciplines and observed the Vinaya, taught the
special mind (higher thoughts?) and engaged into the Sutras, taught the special wisdom
concordant to the Nirvana that does not contradictwhich was not against the true nature of
Dharma; for the reason that all of their views were sealed by the three seals such as of all
phenomena are selfless and so forth;, for the reason that they are ultimately rooted in the
Buddhadharma it is the finally implied meaning that it mattered;, and for the reason that all of
them were classified by Arhats; and, they have occurred through the blessings of the Buddha.
And also forom the reason which is stated in the Narration of the King Titi-iis Dream Sutra: as
follows,
O! the Great King, seeing eighteen people pulling apart the cloth in your dream, indicates that
Shakya Munisthe Buddha Dharma will be split into eighteen aspects and theose liberatedtorn
pieces of cloths will not beget divided. Thus the prophecy has been achieved.
The Sarvastivadain(Existence of Everything/ thams cad yod par smra ba) School got its name for
its acceptance of the trio of aggregates, sensory spheres and elements andor the three times of
past, present and future as existing with substantial entity. NamedCalled in the language of
Sanskrit, it is said to bewas named for the reason that it became the foundation basis of all the
successive schools that emergednce of the schools. ThroughDepending upon the preceptor
Rahulabhadra??? (sgra gcan dzin bzang po), who hailed from athe royal caste and famed for his
veneration/observation of the precepts, emerged the school of the elders whose emblems were
Utpala flower, jewel, andor tree leaf,
[page no.38]
wornbored on their 9th to 25th layer of the Namjar robes.????(worn on the 25th to 29th patches of
Namjar robes)
The Mahasanghikas School (Phal chen pa/Majority of the Sangha Group) got its name as their
group had the majority of monks from amongst the divided Sangha. The preceptor of this group
was Mahakashyapa who hailed from the Brahmin caste and was famed for the [twelve] ascetic
practices (the most excellent Mahakasyapa, a Brahmin by birth, well-trained and practicing the
virtues). Their medium was the locally spoken language. Their conch emblem was bored one
their 7th to 25th layer of Namthren-robes.??? (the conch was their emblem placed in between the
25th to 7th layers/ patches? Of namthren robes)??
The Mahasammitaya School (Mang bkur ba/the School Respected by the Multitudes) got its
name as it taught according to the tradition revered by the common citizens. The preceptor was
Upali (nye bar khor?) who hailed from the ordinary caste and upheld the famed for the
upholding of the Vinaya principles. Their medium of instruction was a corrupted offshoot of

Sanskrit called Ava Bhramsha. The emblem of this school was aflower Sotsika,skt??? flower
bored on their 5th to 21st layer (?) of the Namjar-robes.
The Sthavira School (gnas brtan pa/the School of the Elders) got its name as they claimed to
belong to the group who were all exalted elders. Katayana was the preceptor who hailed from the
warrior caste supremely famed for taming the rural subjects (The learned aristocrat and most
excellent conqueror of the uncivilized/ primitive called Katayana was their preceptor). They
spoke the language in between Sanskrit and ordinary tongue (they used an intermediary language
linking Sanskrit and the local?). Their emblem was known to be similar to that of the
Mahasammitaya School.
Thus, All these eighteen schools advocated major differences in the views, just as described in
the following quote:ation.
Totally because of the differences in the views,
All of these schools got divided,
But none of them have a different teacher [other than Buddha].
(Different and unique views
Caused them to be distinct
There is no different Teacher
The Arhat Dul-lha states,
The eastern, western, and Kashmiri,
The proponents of transcendental world,
And the proponents of permanence (?)imputations,
areThese five groups of the Sangha groups ofbelonged to the Mahasanghika School.
The Purvashailas and Uttarashailas;
The Haimavatas and Lokottaravadins;
And those called Prajnaptivadins;
all belonged to the Mulasarvastivada School.
The Mahaviharavadins; the Jetavaniyas;
And the Abhaya girivadins are the Sthavira. School.
[page no.39]
The Kauru kullikas, ;the Aavantakas;
And the Vatsiputriyas are the Sammitaya School.
And all of them owing to the three-fold factors
Of particular places, views, and teachers,
Became They got split up into eighteen different groups of schools.
According to Lodre Khenpos,skt?? aAssertion, there are six sub-schools within the
Mahasanghika school, four within the Mulasaravstivada, five within the Sammitaya, and three
sub-schools within the Sthavira School.

Hence, it would be a totally confused assertion if anyone explains the third council outside than
these narratives. ????/ Hence, the explanation of the Third Council using any other classification
would be utter digression. (?)
According to the Minor Precepts of the Vinaya scripture, Also, as for the third council, according
to the Minor Precepts of the Vinaya scripture, King Kanishka was presaged to appear four
hundred years after the Mahaparinirvana, and it was during the reign of this king that the Tthird
Ccouncil took place. Hence, the third council might have taken place around 500 years after the
Mahaparinirvana. This is the reason why the Fortunate Era Sutra states that the sublime Dharma
will exist for 500 years in its original form and another 500 years in the Dharma-like form. Thus
the existence of the Dharma for 1000 years was based on this notion. The intended for this point
that Dharma existed without divisionssplitting for 500 years after the Mahaparinirvana, and
doubts and uncertainties crept in as it was explained in different forms, proclaiming as the
command of following this because of many proponents of the teachings, mostly got confused
and it was a mere collection of teachings as the Command of the Buddha, any teachings that
served which agreed the common interest and objectives of the proponents. How the reality of
the baskets of teachings of the Shravakas was in the time of Vasubhandu could be even deduced
from his writings such as this line, Because the foundation of the sublime council was
corrupted.
From the Stainless Light Sutra, it is stated the collectors wrote down the teachings of the three
vehicles in black and white and it can beis assumedable that the collected teachings were
documented in writing even during the Ffirst Ccouncil/ Convention (?). Y yet with time mistakes
crept iname over the time, and hence it was realized that is deemed that in the successive
councils could not make any references to the documents of the Ffirst Ccouncil could not be
reliable. Due to shortcomings in this, some reason that it was a fault of reciting out of memory
and not documenting in writing, and hence, the Tthird Ccouncil was recorded in writing.
[page no. 40]
c) How Mahayana flourished and spread
There are two explanations of how the Mahayana flourished: 1) a causal explanation of how it
flourished, and 2) a resultant explanation of how it flourished.
1) Causal Mahayana
Of the two Great founding chariots of the Mahayana tradition, the first one is prophesized in
the Lankavatara Sutra:
In the Land of the Palms of the Southern region,,
An illustrious monk of great renown,
Known by the name of 'Naga'(klu)

Will destroy the positions of existence and non-existence,

And proclaim my spiritual approach to the world
As the unsurpassed Great Vehicle.
He will attain the ground of extreme joy,
And depart to the Land of Bliss (bde ba chan).
Also, the Root Tantra of Manjushri (jam dpal rtsa-rgyud) prophesied:
After I, the Tathagatas parinirvana,
When four hundred years have passed,
A monk known as Naga will appear.
To the Dharma, he will be devoted and beneficial.
Having achieved the ground of extreme joy,
He will live for six hundred odd years.
The knowledge of rma bya chen mo (Mahamayuri?)
This great being will even achieve this;
The meanings of various treatises, and,
The emptiness of objects, he will understand.
After giving up his body,
He will be reborn in the Sukhavati (bde ba chan).
And thereafter gradually Buddhahood,
Surely and that alone most appropriately will be his.p.49
In these verses, the one that is prophesized as the champion of the tradition of Middle View
School (Madhyamaka/ dbu ma) that is profound and free from extremes, is Nagarjuna (klu
sgrub).
Four hundred years after the Teachers demise, in the southern region of Bedarbha, there was
a very powerful man of high Brahmin caste, whose wealth was even comparable to that of a
king, but he lacked an heir. He was instructed by a deity in his dream that he make feast
offerings to 100 Brahmins which he followed. In ten months time, a healthy baby boy was
born. The child was named Nagarjuna (klu sgrub) as this name was heard reverberating from
the sky. When the child was shown to an astrologer, it was predicted that although the child
bore noble marks, yet the child would die after seven days. On asking the astrologer if there
is a way to save the child, the astrologer said, If feast offerings are made to 100 Brahmins,
the child would live for seven months; if feast offerings are made to 100 monks, the child
would live for seven years, but there is no way to save the child beyond that. When the
childs seventh year approached, the parents thinking that they would not be able to bear the
sons impending death, dispatched the child along with anh entourage to a distant place.
Eventually they reached at the door of abbot Rahulabhadra (sgra chan dzin), at Nalandra
University, where he recited the Vedic verses. He was summoned in by the abbot and upon
the abbots inquiry, he narrated his whole story.
Can you become an ordained monk? asked the abbot. Yes, I can, the boy replied and
after that he received the (novice) ordination. Goddess Mahamayuri was bestowed on him as
his Yidam deity and as he recited the long-life dharani (gzungs) and relied upon the holy
globules of the seven-time Brahmin, he obtained the blessings of immortality and thereafter

he lived for 600 years. He received full ordination from the same abbot. He was cared for/
accepted as a disciple by Arya Manjushri (phags pa jam dpal dbyangs) , he became
proficient in every field of knowledge.
p.50
Then, his preceptor wishing to enter into a twelve year retreat, the treasury of the Sangha was
entrusted to him. At this time, as a consequence of failing to provide adequate sustenance to
Shri Birvapa, the entire region suffered terrible famine. This disaster claimed many lives yet
the Sanghas of Nalanda were spared as Nagarjuna, with his expertise in alchemy, produced
lots of gold which were then sold to buy provisions for the monastery.
Finally, the retreat of his abbot was over and seeing many rotten dead bodies, the abbot
inquired what disaster has struck them. When he narrated the story, the abbot asked: What
about my Sangha? are they alright? When Nagarjuna explained how they have been saved,
the Abbot responded, You shouldnt have done like that. I had this kind of solution. You
could have extracted inexhaustible quantity of milk by milking the cow painted on the wall.
You have sustained the Sangha through perverted means and hence you must purify your sins
by constructing 108 temples and 10 million stupas. Thus he was commanded.
Many claim that Nagarjuna was then stripped off his title Acharya. However, this claim is
untenable as it contradicts the fact that soon after the Abbot (Rahulabhadra) was succeeded
by the adept ascetic Saraha. Saraha entrusted Nalanda to the Acharya (Nagarjuna), who
protected the teaching for a very long time.
Around that time, Acharya (Nagarjuna) subdued Gelong Dejed, who composed a 1200,000
versed text called Ornament of Awareness (rig-pai rgyan) criticizing both Buddhist and nonBuddhist views. He constructed 108 temples and entrusted them to 108 dharma protectors.
Once while teaching, the Acharya had a vision of two boys and as he kept his eyes on them to
find out where they went, he saw them enter into the ground. When the Acharya inquired,
they said, We are Nagas. Then bring me the clay of the Nagas, the Acharya commanded.
The two Nagas promised to bring it; and they appraised this matter to the Naga King, Jogpo.
The Naga King then invited Nagarjuna as a physician to cure him from an illness.
p.51
The Acharya foreseeing a very special purpose, departed for the land of Nagas. There after
healing the Naga King Jogpo from illness, he was offered the volumes of Prajnaparamita
(perfection of wisdom/ shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa) sutras as a gift of gratitude. When
the Acharya was asked to return in future, he accepted the offer but he said that it will be
after completing the construction of 10 million stupas. As a collateral for the Acharyas
return, the Nagas retained the last section of the Prajnaparamita in 100,000 verses.
On his return, using the clay of the nagas, the Acharya constructed almost all the 10 million
stupas but he left [some of clay soil] intently so that nagas would be spared from spells.
He even constructed walls embossed with crossed Vajras around the Vajrasana (rdo rje ldan,
the place of Buddhas enlightenment). The Sawambhunath (phags pa shing kun) stupa of
Nepal is considered one of the 10 million stupas said to have been constructed by the

Acharya. The people of Nepal even claim that the Acharya departed to the world of Nagas
from there.
As a matter of fact, the Acharya first established the cause that leads to obtaining the gnosis
of the Tathagata by generating, for the first time, the Boddhicitta which is a great compassion
ornamented with the gnosis of non-duality. Finally, he achieved the faultless realization of
the prajnaparamita, and became accomplished in all that can be overcome through the
mastery of the five sciences. . According to the Sutra Tradition, in his very life time,
Nagarjuna obtained the Eighth Ground.
In particular, the perfection of wisdom which is like a golden ball hidden in the darkness, was
revealed so clearly in his Collection of Stories, Collection on Reasoning, Collection of
Praises and Collections on Reality. Acharya Nagajuna entrusted the institution of Nalanda to
his best disciple, Sakyamitra (shakya bshes gnyen), and left for the Glorious Mountain (dpal
gyi ri). There he took in Arya Deva and others as his disciples.
p.52
During his final years, the son of the King King Udayibhadra (bde spyod bzang po) called
Zhonu Nueden, was given a seamless outfit by his mother, to which the prince exclaimed,
Oh I would need that when I rule the kingdom. But the mother replied, There will be no
time for you to rule the kingdom. Your father and Acharya Nagarjuna practiced the longevity
sadhana, and extracted the elixir of immortality together and hence their life forces are one.
The prince then went to see Nagarjuna and begged the Acharya to grant his head. The
Acharya granted it to him saying, Yes, you can cut off my head. But the sword would not
cut the Acharyas throat. At this, the Acharya said, I have the karmic consequence of cutting
kusa grass and thereby causing death to a living being, so use it to slit my throat. When the
Acharya was beheaded, the head spoke thus:I will go the pure land of Sukhavati and come
back into this body again.
The prince carried the Acharyas head with him but it was snatched away by a female Yaksha
(gnod sbyin mo) and it was thrown away to distance of one league. It is said that both the
head and the body of the Acharya would not decay but would keep getting closer to each
other with every passing year, and finally, he will start serving the Teaching and sentient
beings once his body and head joins together. Progressively, he will become a Buddha known
as Tathagata Yeshe Jungne Od (de-bzhin gshegs-pa ye-she byung-gnas od), in the Buddha
field called Extreme Brilliance (rab-tu dang-bai od).
Sakyamitra protected the teaching for a very long time. He entrusted the teaching to his most
outstanding student called Devakara. Devakara, who also met Nagarjuna and became learned
in all sciences was entrusted with the teaching by these two masters. Abhaya recalls that
when Devakara was studying and teaching at Nalanda, he defeated many heretic scholars in
debates, and everyone hailed him as the Victorious One (rgyal wa).
p.53
Devakara having attained some common magical powers8, knew how to pitch a canopy in
midair without using any support, and possessed the power to invalidate the arguments of the
heretic scholars just by tossing a damaru into the air. This feat made him arrogant and
8

A spiritual power that is achievable both by non-buddhist and Buddhist adepts.

violated his Gurus command. He handed over the charge of Nalanda to Zagzed De and he
departed for ascetic practice. On the way, he begged for some fruits at an orchard that
belonged to a mother and her daughter, who were heretic yoginis. The daughter said, You
seem to be a powerful yogi, so you should bring down the fruits, and I shall offer them to
you. The Master with his Samadhi/ meditative concentration and gaze, brought down the
fruits on the ground. But the girl put the fruits back on the tree with her gaze; and her mother
exclaimed, Do not be like that. Pluck the fruits and offer them to the yogi. The master was
embarrassed and he said, Now, I dont want them. The girl said, You are so arrogant. I
shall kill you within three days by applying my tantric spell. Guard yourself as powerfully as
you can. The master was alarmed and remained in Samadhi but nothing happened even after
three days. Thinking that she was unsuccessful, as he stood up to resume on his way to
assuming ascetic practice, blood oozed out like seminal fluid and he was taken ill. When his
disciples inquired for a cure, he said that ocean or sea-water foams could cure him. One of
his students, who had accomplished the power of walking at supernatural speed, fetched the
ocean-foam. When this student was on his way back, the girl knew that if the master gets to
consume it, he will recover and understood that her life would be at risk after that. She went
to see the two disciples on their way and asked them where they were going, to which they
told her the entire story. She said, Both of you are so faithful and devoted to the master. But
what is the use of it when it is already three days since your master passed away. Then they
threw away the foam and returned.
p.54
Upon their arrival, the master inquired if they brought the cure. The students narrated the
incident. Then the master instructed, As a consequence of violating the Gurus command, I
will die now, but come back in seven days to this body by the means of phowa-drong-jug
(spiritual transferring of consciousness from one body to another) after apologising to the
Guru. So protect this body until then. The heretic yogini understood it to be harmful for her
if the master were to return through drong-jug. So, she spread the news of the presence of a
dead body in the middle of the city during the day, and at night she transformed herself to a
wolf and ran through the city scratching every door. This frightened the city and the Ratsa
(Raja, a local king?) ordered his guards to search for the body and eventually they found the
masters dead body. Even though the disciples appealed that their master will return through
the means of drong-jug, and that his body be spared until then,they did not pay any heed. The
body was transported to the cemetery where wolves devoured it. Seven days after this, at the
place where the body was initially, there appeared a circle of rainbow and as it found no
place to enter into, a sound, like that of a flute was heard saying, Due to the obstruction by
the heretic yogini, I could not achieve the supreme attainment. In future generation, I will be
reborn at Dra Jelar of Magadha and achieve the supreme attainment. Having said this, the
rainbow disappeared. This masters later emanation was Maitrepa.
This Barwai Tsowo, or the Protector of Possessor of Ascetic Conducts, or the Jayadeva/ the
Victorious One, served as the preceptor of the Great Elder Palden Chokyong and Shantideva.
The Arya Acharya (Nagarjuna) didnt die as he accomplished the Extraction of Life
Essence, but Sakyamaitri passed away.
Arya Deva

In the garden of the King of Singala, there was a lake filled with lotuses that opened during
the day and closed their petals during the night. But one lotus never opened its bud and the
gardener apprised the king. The king instructed the gardener to take extra care and to observe
it every day.
p.55
When it was seven days old, the lotus bud opened and there was an extremely beautiful child,
about eight years old, fresh and covered with drew drops. Seeing it as improper to touch it
with the bare hands that came out of a womb, the child was picked up wrapped in a pantsalilinen. On the way to the palace, the child asked where Arya Nagarjuna was living.They
answered that he is still living in this world but not in this country. He was adopted by the
king as his son and was protected for a very long time and became very famous.
After persistent persuasion, his parents allowed him to receive monastic ordination from
Nagarjuna. He traveled to Shriparvata (dpal-gyi ri - glorious mountain) and became an
ordained monk. He worshipped the Lord of Speech, Manjushri, and as a result, became an
erudite scholar of both Buddhist and non-Buddhist philosophies. At this time, in southern
India, a boy called Mati Citra was born to a Brahmin named Varya Mavyitakraya. The boy
listened to whatever his mother said even when he was very young. As he served his mother
like a slave, he was called Ma-khol (mothers slave). He learned the entire system of
pacifying heretics (mu-stegs zhi-bai lugs). He traveled to the western region of India, where
he planted himself in front of a statue of the great Shiva (dbang chugs chen po) and resolved
not to rise until Shiva bestowed him the boon that would enable him to defeat every debater.
He laid down in a pond by the statue, and recited the Maha Shivas mantra for seven days.
On the morning of the eighth day, he saw Shivas face, and he was asked, What is the boon
that you seek? I seek the boon to be all-victorious in debates, he replied. I will bless you
so that no person born from a womb could defeat you, but it will be extremely difficult for
you to defeat someone who is spontaneously born, said the Shiva.
p.56
Then Shiva invoked Brahma beside him and commanded, When he debates, you manifest as
a parrot pundit and assist him. He then invoked Krishna and commanded, When he
debates, you manifest as a drawing chalk/ alabaster pundit and help him; and invoked
Umadevi and commanded, When he debates, you manifest as his sister pundit and assist
him.Similarly, I shall enter his body and make him win the debates. Thus, Shiva agreed to
support him.
Following this, with the exception of those in the southern and eastern regions who followed
his non-violent heretic tradition, he defeated all his Buddhist and non-Buddhist opponents
and converted them to his tradition. He went to see his mother who was a Buddhist and saw
her making a mandala offering to the goddess Tara. He asked his mother, Where are the rest
who practice like this? Thinking that the pundits who lived in Maghada would be able to
tame her son, she said, Buddhists in the east and west of India are just about the numbers of
hairs on a white horses mane, but in the central land and other regions, they are about the
number of hairs on a horses body.

He then said to himself, I must defeat them;and stopped to wash his feet halfway and
headed toward the direction of Nalanda. When he reached a crossroad nearby Nalanda, he
saw a girl eating fruit under a tree, and asked her for the way to Nalanda. She said, You,
stupid and uncivilized who do not know the human language, it is called Nalanda, and
showed him the way. At this, he felt his body hair rise. That girl was an emanation of the
goddess Tara. He followed the directions and arrived at the glorious Nalanda known as
Gyunter (continuously giving) in Tibetan. There were 14 huge temples with 84 courtyards,
adorned with numerous highly blessed objects and shrines of veneration, five hundred
pundits/ scholars, and several birwa (birb)? Who lived there, but none could dare debate with
him. (surrounded by many Bilwa-fruit trees).
p.57
He went each day and hit pundits on their heads with his cane and asked, Oh monks, where
did these heads come from? He straddled a threshold and asked, Will I go inside or
outside? Trapping little birds in his palms, he asked, Will it die or not? But no one dared
answer him.
The monks discreetly discussed the matter and learnt that Nagajurna who lived in Shriparvata
only could overturn the debate. But as this place was too far away and very difficult to reach,
all felt disconsolate. One night, a giant black man appeared in the abbots dream and said, A
tirthika (mu-stegs pa) has stuck a teakwood ritual pegapplied with 100,000 times of Earth
Essence Mantra (sai snying po) spellover my crown and suppressed my power. Take that
out, recite Chakrasamvara and Mahakala mantra (mchog dang dgonpoI snying po) as many
times as possible, and perform ablution on [my statue]. Then, when a raven flies out from my
heart, tie an invitation letter around its neck. It will fly to Shriparvata and deliver the message
to Nagarjuna. The master will come.
The abbot did exactly as he was instructed and everything occurred perfectly as in the dream.
He then wrote thus on a palm leaf:
Alas! For no fault of ours, a destroyer is here to trouble us.
There is none powerful as you; swiftly lead the sinking chariot.
All fatigued by agonzing times, we petition the leaders,
The gods and humans of this historic place, is your responsibility.
Please accept to shoulder it!
The abbot tied this message around the ravens neck, and it flew away and perched on the
Acharyas torma stand and crowed which attracted the attention of the Archarya.
p.58
Aryadeva opened and read the note, and he understood that Nalanda was being challenged to
a debate by a Tirthika debater; and they were being requested to quash it. When the Acharya
said, I shall go; Aryadeva appealed, But if I can defeat him, let me go. Its just tiresome
for you.
Then they debated with Acharya defending the non-Buddhist views while Aryadeva argued
for Buddhism. Aryadeva won the debate and said, Take your dreadful Tirthika teachings
away, and hurled his shoe at the Acharya. When he came to his senses, he repented his

action and appealed the Acharya to punish him, the Acharya said, Nothing bad will happen.
He persisted for atonement by any means; and the Acharya said, On your way, there are
100,000 proponents of Tirthika Zhiwar Mrawai De. Overcome them and convert them to
Buddhism.
On his way, Arya Deva was approached by a tree goddess who begged for his eyes, and he
gave away one of his eyes. There, following the Acharyas command, he tamed the Tirthika
Zhiwar Mrawai De proponents through debate and converted them to Buddhism.
Upon arrival in Nalanda he stuffed his robes inside the begging bowl and hid it inside a
bundle of firewood. He smeared his body with ashes, disguised as firewood seller, and went
inside the temple along with the cowherds. At the gate, the Tirthika master would not let
outsiders in and insiders out. When Arya Deva said, Im just a firewood seller and if you
dont let me in, I will die of hunger; he was let in. Once inside, he wielded his begging bowl
and robe, and exclaimed, Acharya Nagarjuna did not come, but Acharya Arya Deva is
here! All those in Nalanda were overjoyed and accorded him a grand reception with a
procession of canopy holders, hoisters of victory banners, and all kinds of music.
p.59
The following morning, he was offered one Zho9 of water for bathing and an ounce of butter
for massaging his body. But he returned three Dres of water and half an ounce of butter,
saying that he would be careful not to misuse the provisions of the Sangha, and the others
realized that he was a greatly skilled Bodhisattva.
The Acharya was seated in the last row, when the Tirthika master came in and acted same as
the previous days. Acharya seized his hand and said, This head was grown on the neck when
it was born.(The head was born when it was born??)
Then he said, Here is a one-eyed man, who was not here before. The Acharya replied:
Indra has a thousand eyes, yet he cannot see thatness;
Shiva has three eyes, yet he will not see thatness;
Even if Brahma sees the Universe, he cannot see thatness.
But the one-eyed Arya Deva, sees all that is
Thatness of the three realms, without exception.
Then he stood over the threshold and questioned the Archaya as usual. It depends upon your
wish, answered the Acharya. At this, he declared, You and I shall debate. The loser shall
give up his views!
At the venue of debate, pulpits for the challenging and defending debaters and witnesses
were set up. Some oil, a cat, a nude cook, and rotten hide were collected as part of the
preparation. The moderators consisted of a king, and three pundits/ scholars each from the
Buddhist and non-Buddhist groups. A huge crowd was also assembled for complimenting the
winner and denouncing the loser.
9

A unit of liquid measurement. A Zho of water, which is four times of Dre is like saying a
bucket of water, while Dre of water is like saying quarter or half bucket full of water.

During the debate, the Tirthika master transformed his drawing chalk into a pundit and said,
Give me a response to this! The Acharya smeared ground brick mixed with oil on it and no
images appeared. Then he took out a parrot, but the Acharya came up with a cat that slit its
neck. At this, he said, You committed a sin. I have a great meditation master in
Shriparvata to purify sins, the Acharya replied. How will your sin be purified when the
purification is done by someone over there? he questioned.
p.60
Then how can a sin be committed by me when it is the cat who killed the parrot? the
Acharya questioned, and he had no answer. Then he displayed his sister, but as the nude cook
chased her, and she ran away being embarrassed.
Not able to compete with the Acharya in debate, he invoked the great Shiva but Shiva would
not possess him. In defeat, he gazed upward and saw a rotten hide hung under the canopy. As
he removed it, Shiva possessed him and they resumed the debate. At first, everyone
understood what they debated; about mid-way through it, only few people could understand;
and finally, no one understood even though the Acharya had won as what they debated on
was never heard before.
Then he manifested himself as the thousand-eyed Indra but the Acharya took the form of the
thousand-eyed and thousand-armed Avalokiteshvara and suppressed him. He discharged fire
from his mouth but the Acharya discharged water from under his feet and doused it. At this,
the Acharya was praised as the victor. He alleged, The witnesses are on your side; let us go
near the cowherds of the Zhiwar Mrawai Tirthikas. He thought that they would support him
but the Acharya controlled the minds of cowherds with a melody of flute, and even they
adjudged the Acharya as the winner. Then he fled into the sky but the Acharya chased him
and cautioned him, Dont you dare run any farther from there! There is something called
razor wind, it will cut your body into pieces. But how do you know that it exists? he
asked. Just cut your tresses off and throw away there, the Acharya instructed. He followed
this to find his tresses shredded into tiny particles. Scared by this, he descended; otherwise he
wished to go up to the realm of Brahma. He and his followers were arrested by the king and
locked up in the pinnacle tower.
p.61
He even wished to kill himself. He unfastened the strap of a volume and saw the narration of
the great benefits of the Ten Indestructible Letters. Just as he thought that it is not possible to
accrue that much benefits, an indestructible statue emerged and said, You still dont believe
in the true Dharma? and slapped hard on his face and knocked him unconscious. When he
regained his senses, he opened the volume and read it in order, he came across the sutra that
prophesied Makhol (Ma khol lung bstan pai mdo) and recognized his destiny. He developed
great faith in the Buddhas teaching and entreated the Acharya to ordain him. The Acharya
took him to his master Nagarjuna, who ordained him as a monk.
There, since he was already great scholar of the non-buddhist logics and linguistics, he
understood most of the Buddhist teachings with ease and became a great erudite scholar.
It was prophesied in his dream that he will be blessed by a dakini that lives at the entry point
of the city of Bangala in the east. When he reached there, he found a dying old lady gasping

for breath. When he prostrated and circumambulated her, she gave him her feces and urine.
As he consumed them, she started bouncing and transformed into the cat-faced dakini. All the
lice and nits on her body turned into skeletal ornaments. As he was blessed by this dakini, he
realized the entire outer and inner vehicles of teachings at once, and he became known by
many names, such as Bhabila, Acharya Vira (slop dpon dpa bo), Ashavagosha (rta-dbyangs),
and many others.
Besides Arya Devas Four Hundred Verses, he composed many texts that contained the
excellent teachings of Nagarjuna and Arya Deva and spread the Buddha Dharma.
p.62
Jayadevas (rgyal-wai lha) student, the great pundit Shantideva (zhi-wai lha), was known
for his seven episodes of wonders stated thus:
[1] Pleasing the supreme deity; [2] at Nalanda
His perfect display; [3] refuted the accusations;
[4] Those with strange views, and [5] destitute,
[6] The king, and [7] the Tirthikas were all subdued.
Thus, in the first instance, Shantideva was born in Saurastra (yul-khor bzang-po), a southern
province, as the son of King Kalyanavarnam (dge-bai go cha). He was named Shantivarnam
(zhi-bai go cha). During his youth, he learnt many sciences and arts, and in particular, he
propitiated and beheld the vision of Tikshna-Manjushri (jam dpal rnon po). Upon demise of
his father, on the night before he was to be enthroned as the king, he dreamt of venerable
Manjushri sitting on the throne meant for him, and saying:
My only son, this is my seat,
And I am your spiritual guide.
For me and you to share the same seat,
That is, at all times, is improper.
Realizing that he cannot rule the kingdom, he fled to Nalanda where he was ordained as a
monk by Jayadeva, the chief of the five hundred pundits, and was given the name
Shantideva.
[Second episode]: At Nalanda, as far as his internal conduct was concerned, he received
teachings from Manjushri, performed meditations, and composed profound treatises.
Nonetheless, with regard to his external conduct, apart from his activities of eating, sleeping,
and defecation, nobody knew anything about him. He was nicknamed Bhusuku, the one
who just knew about the above three acts.
p.63
The other monks scrutinized his external conduct and discussed it saying that the activities of
monks are the three wheels (of conduct), but as he does not abide by any of them, it is not
proper that he enjoys the food that devotees offer to the Sangha; and therefore, he must be
expelled. Then, thinking that if they took turns in (public) recitals of the Sutras, he would run

away when his turn came, they urged him to recite the Sutras. When he accepted to do so, all
became skeptical.
The next day, he pressed down his hand on a very tall throne which was set up for him in the
center of many people, and mounted it. He, then asked, Should I recite something never
heard before or something you have heard before?He was requested to recite something not
yet heard, and he delivered Entering into the Bodhisattvas Way of Life (byang chub
sempai spyod pa la jug pa). When he reached the line beginning: When neither an entity
nor a non-entity he ascended higher and higher up into the sky until finally his body
became invisible, and he completed the teaching with the sound of his voice.
When those who had attained perfect recall put together what they could remember, there
came up at the least three versions. One version claimed seven hundred stanzas, one a
thousand stanzas, and yet another more than a thousand stanzas. This disagreement led to
doubts. Moreover, they did not understand the following verses:
The compendium of instructions (Shiksha-samuccaya),
Read it over and again.
Alternatively, sometimes summarized as
The compendium of sutras (Sutra-samuccaya) should be read.
Therefore, when they heard that the master was dwelling in the South at the Shridakshina
Stupa (mchod rten dpal yon cen), two monks were dispatched to invite him. Upon seeing the
master, they reported the situation. The master said that both the Shikshasamuccaya and the
Sutra-samuccya, written in the fine script of the pundits, are in between the rafters of his
room at Nalanda. He specified that to be the Bodhisattva-Carya-Avatara (spyod jug) with the
complete one thousand stanzas. He also gave them the explanations and spiritual instructions
of accomplishment of those texts.
[Third episode]: Then the master headed toward east where he opposed and subdued a
rebellion.
[Fourth episode]: Towards the west of Magadha but not very far away from it, when the
master was living among a hundred people who held strange views; at some point there was a
great famine and the lack of food or drink caused misery, and
p.64
they appealed, If there is someone who can help us rise out of this, we will appoint him our
teacher and respect his teachings.
The master collected just his begging bowl full of rice gruel and satisfied all of them with the
power of his blessing. This caused them to turn away from their strange views and convert
them to Buddhism.
[Fifth Episode]: The master also provided sustenance and gave teachings to about one
thousand beggars who were starving and on the verge of death, and thus put them at ease.

[Sixth episode]: The King of Arivishana kingdom in the East was threatened by Malatsa. This
was a rebellion by faction of people who didnt have enough food. They surrounded the King
and threatened to assassinate him if they were not given food. In order to guard the King, the
master worked as a bodyguard. As a symbol of lord Manjushri, the master just carried a
wooden sword which was noticed by one of his compatriots who appealed to the king thus,
This man is an imposter. Please investigate his weapon.
The king became furious and commanded the master, Draw out your sword! The master
replied, It would be wrong to do so as this would injure your majesty. The king said, It
doesnt matter if it causes harm. Definitely draw it!
The master replied, In that case, please cover one eye with your hand, and watch with the
other. Then as he drew the sword, its radiance blinded the uncovered eye of the king. The
king begged for mercy, took refuge in the master, and converted to Buddhism.
[Seventh episode]: Then he went towards the south of Shriparvata and took up Uccus ma
conduct whereby you live like a beggar, naked, and lived on the turbid leftovers from washed
dishes. When Kacalaha, the woman-servant of king Kharivihara, threw out the dishwater, it
splashed on the master and she noticed that it boiled.
p.65
At that time, a tirthika teacher called Shankaradeva appealed to the king and said, The day
after tomorrow, I am going to paint a mandala of Maheshvara (dbang pyhug chen po) in the
sky. If the Buddhists cannot destroy it, all Buddhist representations and scriptures will be
burned and they must convert to the doctrine of the non-Buddhist Tirthikas. When the king
summoned together the Buddhist Sangha and informed them of this, no one was able to claim
that he could destroy the mandala.
The king was devastated. However, when the woman-servant informed him of what she had
recently seen, he commanded to find him. They looked for him in all directions, and found
the master seated under a tree. When they explained the situation to him, he replied, I can do
it. Prepare vase-full of water, two pieces of cloth, and people. Preparations were made
accordingly.
On the evening of the following day, Shankaradeva drew a mandala outline in the sky and
left. An atmosphere of uncertainty prevailed. The next morning, he drew the whole mandala
and was just completing the Eastern gate, when the master, by merely resting in Samadhi
caused a huge windstorm to arise, carrying the mandala away without a trace. Even the trees
and towns were on the brink of being swept away, and the people who lived there were put to
flight. The Tirthika teacher was also completely dispersed, and a great darkness fell in all
directions.
Then, from the point between the eyes of the master, a light emerged showing a way for the
king and the queen to escape. As they were stripped of their clothes and covered with dust,
they were cleansed with water, wrapped in new clothes, warmed with fire, and thus
comforted. Following this, the Tirthikas temples were demolished, and many Tirthika
followers were converted to Buddhism; and the country came to be known as the country
where Tirthikas were defeated, even today.

p.66
All these masters were claimed as the proponents of the Middle View School of the Original
Scriptures (gzhung phyi-moi dbu-ma pa). A commentary to the Root Wisdom (rtsa-ba shesrab), an explicit commentary on the original Prajnaparamita Sutra (Yum shes rab kyi pha rol
tu phyin ma), the exposition of transcendental wisdom, was composed by the great Acharya
Buddhapalita (slob-dpon sangs-rgyas bskyangs) just as he heard it from Nagarjuna. Quite
long after this, a great erudite scholar, Bhavavevika (legs-ldan byed), an expert logician
professed the teaching.
Thinking that it would not be distorting the meaning of the Middle View School, after
reading Buddhapalitas commentary, he criticized it and wrote his own commentary to the
Root Wisdom called the Lamp of Wisdom (shes-rab sgron-me).
Some earlier scholars of Tibet claim that the masters, Buddhapalita and Bhavaviveka, came face
to face and debated, but Buddhapalita could not defeat Bhavavevika. When he passed away, he
made a wish to be able to defeat Bhavaviveka in his next life and he was reborn as Chandrakirti
(zla-ba grags-pa). It is said that this time when they debated, Chandrakirti won and Bhavavevika
became his student. This is totally incorrect because Chandrakirti in his Clear Words (tshig-gsal)
says:
I saw Buddhapalitas commentary, and then Bavavevikas excellent expositions,
Which were passed down from one to another, and obtained through my investigations;
I have put these together and explained them thoroughly to please those endowed with great
minds.
The lineage of the Autonomist School of Middle View School (Madhaymaka Svatantrika) is
as follows: The Buddha, Manjushri, Rahula, Nagarjuna, Buddhapalita, Devasharma,
Bhavavevika, Chenrezig Tulzhug, Sangye Yeshe, Yeshe Nyingpo, Shantarakshita,
Kamalashila, Lodoe Chenpo, Mipham Shenyen, Jaya Ananda, and Patshab Nyima Drag.
The lineage of the Consequentialist School of Middle View School (Madhaymaka
Prasangika) is as follows: Nagarjuna, Arya Deva, Chandrakirti, venerable Deva Chandra,
Gyalrig Jampal Dragpa, Rinche Dorje of Kashmir, Dramze Sadzana, Jowo Hasumati, and
Patshab Nyima Drag.
Chandrakirti was the student of Arya Deva toward the end of the latters life. As Arya Deva
lived for a very long time protecting the teaching, it is possible that Chandrakirti personally
met him. Furthermore, the Interwoven Praises to the Tathagata (de-bzhin gshegs-pa-la spelmar bstod-pa) by Ashvagosha (gzhen dpa bo) and Dignaga (phyogs glang) clearly
establishes that Chandrakirti was a contemporary of Arya Deva.
As Chandrakirti mentions in his Entering into the Middle View (jug-pa rang-grel) that
Vasubandhu (dbyig gnyen), Dignaga (chogs glang), Shree Dharmapala?(pal ldan chos
skyong), and others came before him, we know that they came before Chandrakirti.
Some claim that Chandrakirti was born 400 years after Nagarjuna and lived for 400 years,
but this claim exceeds by 200 years. The Kadampa tradition holds that Nagarjunas student
Chandrakirti lived for 400 years. Then his student Rigpai Khujug lived for 300 years, and his

student was Jowo (Atisha). However, this latter assertion too is faulty as it is falling short by
200 years.
Therefore, Chandrakirtis teacher was Arya Deva but as he beheld Nagarjuna in his pure
vision, as in the Guhyasamaja tradition of the Aryas (sang-dus phags-lugs-pa),
Chandrakirti is Nagarjunas student as well. Likewise, Bhavavevika received his ordination
from Nagarjuna, and hence, the former explanation (lineage of the Autonomist School) is the
true one.
Some of the assertions in the Budhapalitas commentary were refuted in the Lamp of
Wisdom and those assertions were defended by Chandrakirti as valid. Just because
Chandrakirti declared that the syllogism of the autonomist was invalid, it was labeled as the
debate between autonomist and consequentialist schools of the Middle View School. This is
where the two schools diverged. Otherwise, there is a huge generation gap between these two
masters, and it is understood that, this is why Chandrakirti wrote it [Bhavavevikas
expositions and Buddhapalitas commentary] came to him after having passed down from
one person to another.
Furthermore, the claim that there are huge differences between the autonomist and
consequentialist schools are only a fault of ones own way of establishing the autonomous
standpoint. Except for the difference of self, negation, and assertion at the conventional level
between these two schools, there is no disagreement at the ultimate level.
Therefore, there is a form of acceptance at a conventional level that classifies the
consequentialist school as jig-ten grags-sde spyod-pa; the teacher of the autonomist school,
Bhavavevika, as mdo-sde spyod-pa; and Yeshe Nyingpo, Bodhistava (Shantarakshita), and
others as rnal byor spyod pa (Yogacharya).
Bhavavevika who was a great scholar of all Buddhist and non-Buddhist philosophical
schools, is attributed to have authored the root and auto commentary of the Essence of
Middle View School (dbu-ma snying-po). And in the Precious Lamp of Middle View School
(dbu-ma rin-chen sgron-me) it is claimed, Also, I composed the Blazing Sophistry (rtog-ge
bar-ba). This author was actually the second Bhavavevika, who was the teacher of Jowo Je
(Atisha). If these texts were authored by the first Bhavavevika, they should have been drawn
as the root of autonomist school, and hence as they are not reckoned as the root, it is still
viable to investigate.
Palbe was the student of [Bhavavevika] and his student was Yeshe Nyingpo who wrote the
text of Two Truths (bden-gnyis). Yeshe Nyingpos student was Shantarakshita. He was the
teacher of King Trisong Deutsen of Tibet. This was the master the king addressed in his text
of Pure Logic of the Oder (bka yang-dag pai tshad-ma), The great monk of Zahor, born in
the province of Khasarana, dubbed Acharya Bodhisattva by Dharmashanti Ghosha Loka.
Shantaraishita was famed for his mastery in all Buddhist teachings, for maintaining pure
moral ethics, for possessing wisdom, and for striving on [the dharma path] with undefeatable
perseverance. He authored the Ornament of Middle View School (dbu-ma rgyan-grel). His
student Kamalashila wrote the Vision of the Middle View School (dbu-ma snang-ba). These
are currently existing three texts of the autonomist school.
p.69
Chandrakirti (zla-ba grags-pa) was born in Samana, a place in the south India. Arya Deva
was his master. He became a great erudite scholar in every field of knowledge by relying

upon the teachings of Nagarjuna and his spiritual son Arya Deva. He was blessed by
Manjushri for five hundred generations. He possessed the power to extract milk from a cow
drawn on the wall, and even the pillar moved about without obstruction when he waved his
hand to it. He authored many texts, such as, the Madhymakavatara and its auto commentary,
Clear Words (tshig-gsal), and so forth. Chandragomi found that Chandrakirtis writing Sutra
of Grammar, the Total Purity, excelled by far than that of his after reading it and disposed
his work in a well. During a rebellion by barbarians, Chandrakirti whacked a lion made of
stone and it multiplied to one hundred thousand [real] lions. He became renowned as the
destroyer of rebellion army.
Chandragomi who hailed from Bangala, eastern India and was cared for by the Bhagavan
Tara, went to debate with Chandrakirti. Chandrakirti inquired about his identity through a
messenger and came to know him as Chandragomi. And when he asked about what things he
knew, Chandragomi answered, I know the three texts of [Sanskrit] Grammar Panipa,
Manjushrinamasangiti, and the Praise in 50 Verses. Chandrakirti realized that he was great
erudite scholar and had all the monks receive him through a ceremonial procession. During
this, Chandragomi thought, Im just an Upasika, so it is not proper for me to take the main
seat on the chariot. He then placed a statue of Manjushri on the main seat and he sat behind
it. On the way, when he composed some verses of praises to Manjushri, the statue just looked
back at him exclaiming, Do I really have those qualities. This statue came to be known as
the Twisted-necked Manjushri.
p.70
Thereupon these two masters met and started the debate. Chandrakirti being sharper
Chandragomi answered him only the next day after seeking a help from Avalokiteshvara
during the night. Feeling suspicious Chandrakirti discreetly followed him and saw that
Avalokiteshvara was guiding him. At this, he pleaded, Oh the Arya, please be impartial.
The statue of the Avalokiteshvara just couldnt retract his hand which was pointed at
Chandragomi and it still exists today known as the Avalokiteshvara with pointed finger.
In the Madhyamakavataras auto commentary, it is mentioned that Galay Jigme wrote the
Root Wisdoms (rtsa-shes) commentary and Chenrezig Tulzhug wrote the Extensive
Commentary to the Lamp of Wisdom (shes-rab sgron-mei Trik-chen). However, the Clear
Words (tshig-gsal) states, Although
Thogmed (Asanga) and Phagpa Senge (Haribhadra) advocated the Illusory Middle View
School. The former commented on the manifest implications of the Prajnaparamita, which
helped to clear all misconceptions about the view and generated the most advanced wisdom.
This way Arya Asanga spread the teachings of the Mahayana Abhidharma. The latter,
revealed the hidden meanings of the illusory stages of the path, which causes the manifest
realization to develop further and generated the most advanced Samadhi. This way Arya
Singha spread the teachings of the Mahayanay Sutras. Since, in reality, both the view and
conduct compliments each other, it is necessary for one to know how to advocate these two
commentaries without contradiction.
p.71

In his extensive commentary of the Unraveling of the Thought Sutra (dgongs-pa

nges-par grel-pai mdo), the Indian Acharya Dzogsel quotes the prophecy
mentioned in the Manjushri Root Tantra (jam-dpal rtsa-rgyud):

Nine hundred years

After my passing away into Nirvana,
A bhikshu known as Asanga
Well learned in the Shastras,
Will reveal thoroughly in many aspects
The definitive and provisional meanings of the Sutras.
Like me, the teacher, knower of the world,
He will become an author of texts.
Logical defense of his assertions
Will be called Sala-tree-like messenger??.
By the power of his mantra spell
A wholesome state of mind will be generated.
For the sake of the Buddhas teachings to last long,
He will condense the ultimate meanings of the Sutras.
He will live for 150 years,
And after he dies, he will leave for the land of Devas.
When he lives in the places of Samsara,
He will experience durable bliss
And this great being will gradually
Obtain the Buddhahood.
Thus, in these verses, Asanga was prophesized.
Although Buton claims that he did not find the first two lines of this
prophecy in the Manjushri Root Tantra, yet since scriptural sources are
bound to bear some minor omissions of words, this statement is
authentic.
As for [the biography of] Arya Asanga, thus prophesized as the great
charioteer who commented on the teachings of extensive conduct:
Abhidharma teachings were destroyed for three times by enemies in
India.
p.72
The first incident took place when an old Tirthika woman heard,
Pulverize! when a bell in the Buddhist temple was rung. She thought it
is necessary to investigate whether such utterance could bring harm to
them or not and as she did, she discovered an inscription on the bell
saying: As we ring this bell of the Three Jewels worshiped by the Devas,
Nagas, and Yakshas, may it pulverize the brains of the Tirthikas into
pieces! Upon seeing it she waged a war and caused the destruction.

The teaching has just managed to revive a little bit when the King of
Magadha dispatched a piece of unstitched cloth as souvenir to the King of
Tazig. When the king opened the souvenir, he saw a foot-print-like
impression in the middle of the cloth and he took it for as evil spell. Hence
he waged a war and caused the destruction.
Thereafter, when the teaching has just managed to revive a little bit, a
Thirtika beggar, went for begging in a Buddhist temple. Someone
splashed dish water on him. It made him so angry that he propitiated the
sun-god and committed an arson that razed the whole temple down and
the teachings perished.
At that time, a Brahmin lady called Salwai Tshulthrim reflected, The root
of the Buddhas teachings is the Abhidharma but it was eclipsed by its
enemies for three times. Henceforth, neither do I see anyone who is
capable of reviving this teaching nor can I revive it as Im just a woman.
Instead I will give birth to a son and have my son revive the teachings.
Thinking thus she conceived after uniting with a man from the royal caste
and gave birth to Asanga and gave birth to Vasubhandu after uniting with
a man from the Brahmin caste. As soon as these kids were born, to
sharpen their intelligence, an AH syllable was inscribed on their tongues
using a giwang tool. When they grew up, they inquired her about their
fathers profession but she told to them, You were not born to inherit the
fathers profession, just study and spread the Abhidharma teachings.
Following this, the younger brother Vasubhandu was dispatched to
Duezang of Kashmir, and where as the elder brother Asanga thought, I
will propitiate the Maitreya and spread the Mahayana Abhidharma, and
left for the mountain cave of Rijakang (ri bya-rkang).
There Asanga propitiated Maitreya for three years and as he saw no signs
of success he was so frustrated and left the cave.
p.73
On his way, he saw an old man who was rubbing an iron bar with the
leaves of cotton plant. He asked, What are you doing? The old man
replied, Im making a needle. How will you make a needle out of such a
hard iron using such soft cotton, he asked again. The old man replied:
For a courageous person, if he does
There is nothing he cant accomplish!
Even if it is difficult as long as will is not deserted,
Even mountains will be pulverized into dust particles!
He thought that his practice was too short and went on to propitiate for
three more years. However, he saw no signs of success and left the place.
But after seeing an erosion of a cliff caused by water drops, he returned to
his cave and propitiated Maitreya for another three years. Yet again,

seeing no signs of success he left the cave. But on the way he saw a cliff
being worn out by the fluttering of a pigeons feather. Again, he
propitiated for three years and yet after spending a total of 12 years in
propitiating Maitreya, he did not see any signs of success. Being utterly
frustrated as he walked out of the cave he saw a female dog whose lower
part of the body was rotten and infested by worms while the upper part
still barked and fed on a piece of food. Seeing this he felt extraordinary
empathy and thought, If I remove the worms, they will die and if I leave it
like it, the dog will die. So I shall cut a piece of flesh from my body and let
the worms to feed on it.Then he went to the city of Achandra from where
he hired a golden blade keeping his walking staff as mortgage. Then he
cut a piece of flesh from his body but he feared that if he removed the
worms with hands they might die and he decided to pick them with his
tongue. As he bent down with his eyes closed his tongue did not touch the
dog but saw the most venerable Maitreya dwelling brilliantly before him.
Then he nagged,
Oh my protector, my only father,
There was no result even if I strove with hundreds of hardship,
Why today the army of ocean, the rain clouds,
When burnt already by misery and thirst, is falling?
Even when I propitiated you thus far, yet I did not see any signs of
success, Oh Lord, your compassion has been too less on me.
The most venerable lord said,
Even when the King of the gods causes a rainfall,
p.74
Like a seed not fit for growth does not sprout,
Even though the Buddhas have appeared
Yet due to lack of fortune, they wont get the boon!
I have come to you since from the beginning but being obscured by your
own obscurations you did not see me. Today, because you generated a
very strong compassion, it purified your obscurations and hence you saw
me. If you do not believe me, you just carry me on your shoulder and
display me to others.
Then Asanga went into the crowd and displayed the lord but there was no
one who could behold the lord. Hence he believed the lord. The lord
inquired, What do you want? He replied, I want to spread the teachings
of Mahayana. Then hold on to my robe, the lord instructed. Holding on
the lords robe he ascended to the Tushita heaven. There according to the
heavens reckoning, it is said that he lived for either 50 or 53 human
years. But in the annotation of the text, Bhumis Section (sa-sde), it is

mentioned that he lived for 6 months and received the teachings. Upon
his return to the human world, he composed the Five Treatises on Bhumis,
such as the Great Bhumi of the Yogachara (rnal-byor spyod-pai sa-chen
po), etc., the Two Types of Vows (sdom-pa rnam-pa gnyis), etc., that
analyzed the Mahayanas Tripitaka.
The Acharya achieved the state of Samadhi called Stream of Dharma,
and it is mentioned at beginning of the commentary on the Bhumis
Section as thus:
Homage to Asanga who in order for benefiting the entire world,
Fetched the dharma nectar through the power of his dharma stream
Samadhi,
Which was poured on to him from the vase (mouth) of Mapham
(Maitreya),
And drank (listen) by collecting it in his cupped hands!
The Short Commentarys (grel chung)? statement is quoted the Clear
Words (tshig-gsal), Although Acharya Asanga obtained the Third Bhumi
(Light Maker), yet in order to tame Vasubhandu, he gave teachings of the
Mind Only school.
p.75
It is said that Asanga obtained the dharma stream Samadhi when he
beheld Lord Maitreya and progressed into the Third Bhumi thereafter.
Ever since his childhood, Vasubhandu, Asangas younger brother, as he
aspired to spread the Abhidharma teachings, went to see the great
Acharya Duezang in Kashmir. There he studied all sciences in general and
in particular, he studied the Abhidharma text: Specified Exposition (byebrag-tu bshad-pa) or the Treasury of Abhidharma, which was written by
Arhat Gupta (nyer-sbas) and other Arhats. He mastered these Abhidharma
teachings without any difficulty and he headed toward India. ?On the way,
his possession a statue of Yaksha that protected the dice-divination of
Kashmir, was seized and was stopped thrice from leaving.? However, they
could not stop him as he had no wealth and the Dharma he learnt was
inseparable from his mind. Then he went to Nalandra. There he heard that
his brother has written many books and responded saying:
Alas, Asanga meditated for 12 years in the forest
To accomplish Samadhi.
Yet he did not accomplish Samadhi
But composed texts that would make enough load for an elephant!
Thus, he indirectly criticized the Mahayana and the practitioners of it. This
was heard by Asanga, and he knew that this criticism would lead to

undesirable conclusions. Hence, in order to clarify it, he had two of his

students to memorize the Ten Stages Sutra (mdo-sde sa-bcu pa) and the
Inexhaustible Wisdom Sutra (blo-gros mi zad-pa) and instructed them to
chant the Sutras to Vasubhandu in the evening and in morning. As the
monks carried out the chanting as they were told to, Vasubhandu
remarked in the evening, Looks like Mahayana has noble a cause but
distorted in results. But in the morning he remarked, Both the cause and
results of Mahayana are noble and I have committed the sin of criticism.
This is all because of this tongue and I must cut it off. He searched for
knife and during this the two monks said, We do not seek you to cut off
your tongue. Your brother Asanga has the method to purify your sins and
letslets go there. Listening to these monks, he went to see his brother.
p.76
There he received many teachings from his brother and once when they
were having a conversation Vasubhandu questioned his brother, Why am
I extremely sharp while you are not as sharp as me yet you became
nobler than me? You had a great instinctive wisdom since you have
been a Pundit for five hundred generations but as I was not like you, I had
to ask and seek answer from one tutelary deity, his brother replied.
Please show him to me, he appealed. His brother said, I will seek
permission from the Lord, and asked the lord. The lord Maitreya
responded, Since he is an ordinary person and also criticized the
Mahayana, he has left no fortune to see me in this life. In order to purify
his obscuration, he must compose many commentaries on Mahayana
Sutras. Recite the dharani of goddess Tsugtor Namgyalma. Follow these
and he will see me in the next life.
Hearing this he gained deeper faith in his brother and remarked,
My brother is similar to a Naga King,
Im like a bird thirsting for rain.
Even though the Naga King caused a rainfall,
Yet the water didnt sip in through my neck!
Following the advice of the Maitreya, he composed the
Abhidharmakoshakarika (mdzod-kyi tshig-leur bcad-pa) and sent to his
former master Acharya Duezang. There the Acharyas students
complained that he has indirectly taunted their philosophical school as he
used the words: zer, grag, and lo. But the Acharya was so pleased that he
brushed aside the critics by saying, Since he is proficient in composing
treatises, such words are simply used as ornaments. Vasubhandu also
wrote an auto commentary to Abhidharmakosha but this time advocated
the standpoints of Sautrantikas. Acharya Vasubhandu served Nalanda as
its chief abbot for sometime even after his brother Asanga passed away
and protected the teachings.

He memorized all the entire 99 sets of 100,000 teachings of the lord

Buddha and for 12 days he chanted them by dipping himself in a pool of
sesame oil. He became so popular that he was even dubbed the second
Buddha after Buddha Sakyamuni.
p.77
Later, after he finished writing his auto commentary on the
Abhidharmakosha, he sent it to his former master Duezang. The master
was so displeased that he declared, I will defeat him through scripture
and reasoning, and have him erase personally what he has written.
Having said this, accompanied by an entourage of so many monks that
the radiance of their saffron robes even reflected into sky, set out towards
Nalanda. Vasubhandu heard about this and said, Acharya Duezang is
proficient in the philosophical tenet of Vaibhashika and it would be difficult
to defend. And moreover, even if he is defeated there is no purpose to be
fulfilled. I will go to see the self-appeared stupa of Nepal. Then he
entrusted Nalanda to Palden Choekyong and left for Nepal. Acharya
Duezang arrived at Nalanda after this and the Acharya passed away at
the age of 300 years. In Nepal, when Vasubhandu reached the age of 200
years, saw a monk called Hadu who was not abiding by the monastic rules
and holding a vase of alcohol. He felt very sad that he recited the dharani
of Tsugtor Namgyal in reverse order and as result he passed away. A stupa
containing his relics was also built.
The great Acharya Vasubhandu had four outstanding students. Of which,
Loten was the student who excelled even his master Vasubhandu in the
Abhidharma teachings. When Acharya Vasubhandu was chanting the 99
sets of 100,000 teachings, while immersing himself in a pool of sesame
oil, at the Bhagavihara, there was one pigeon who listened regularly to
Acharyas chanting. The bird died but it was reborn as son of a family who
belonged to the Shudra caste. As soon as he was born, he inquired,
Where is my Acharya, the teacher?
p.78
On asking, Who is your teacher? he replied, Vasubhandu. Upon inquiry
a businessman who was heading toward Magadha told to his father that
the master was still living. His father sent him to Acharya Vasubhandu
when he grew up a little bit. The Acharya taught him right from the basics
of writing to the entire sciences until he became an erudite scholar. When
he was still a young boy, he thought, I will offer the first part of these
pulses to the Tara statue of Nalanda and eat the rest after that. But when
he offered the pulses rolled away and he offered again but again it rolled
away. Then he thought, It is not appropriate for me to eat it before Arya
[Tara] part takes it, hence, he offered until his pulses were finished. But
again the pulses rolled away and he cried. At these, the Arya Tara
displayed her real form and said, You do not have to cry, I will bless you.
Just go home. Thereafter, he gained an unobstructed knowledge.
Following this incident, the statue became known as Tara of Pulses.

He possessed many Sutras, such as the Stack of Jewels Sutra, etc., in his
memory and wrote the commentary on Abhidharmakosha and many
others. His student was Gangwa Pel. Gangwa Pels students were Gyalpoi
Se (Jinaputra), Jinamitra of Kashmir, Shree Lendra Bodhi, and others.
[Of the four outstanding students of Vasubhandu] Palden Chokyi Langpo
(Dignaga) was the student who excelled him in logics. He belonged to the
Brahmin caste and received monastic ordination from his preceptor
Gyalwai Wangpo who was an abbot of the school of Neymabupai De
(Vatsiputriyas). He thoroughly studied all the sciences of language that
included Sanskrit Grammar and so forth. When he sought for meditation
instruction, his preceptor said, Meditate on the inexpressible self that is
not apart from the reality of aggregates. He could not discover the self
even though he meditated and thought, May be it is obstructed either
from inside or outside! Then he kindled four butter lamps and placed
them at the four directions, bared his body naked, and with his eyes
widely opened, he searched for the self in all the ten directions, yet he
could not obtain the self.
p.79
This kind of his conduct was seen by his friend and it was reported to the
preceptor. His preceptor inquired, Why are you doing like this? In order
to find the self, he replied. You are criticizing the tenet of my
philosophy, please go away, the preceptor rebuked. Then he thought, I
can criticize him through reasoning but it is not worth, and he left for
Nalanda. There relying upon Vasubhandu, he became a proficient scholar
of the three vehicles. In particular, he became an erudite scholar of
Yogachara and logics. He composed 108 fragments of treatises and after
Vasubhandus demise; he dwelled in the Riwo Bigjed Mountains intending
to collect all his fragmented works into one. On the surface of the cave
using a chalk he wrote:
Having become the truth, and who wishes to benefit the migrators,
The teacher, the thus gone protector, to you having paid homage
I, for the sake of establishing the truth, the extracts
Of all my fragmented texts will be collected herein as one!
Just after writing this, so many extraordinary omens, such as the
earthquake, rainbows, and thunderous sound which terrified all Tirthika
proponents and shook like trees, appeared. At this time, a Tirthika
teacher, Thupgyal Nakpo, who lived nearby, investigated using his limited
clairvoyance. Then he knew that it was due to the power of this master
and searched for further clues why such omens occurred. He foresaw that
a great treatise is going to appear from there and that will ruin the
teachings of the Thirthikas. Hence, when the Acharya left for alms round,

he sneaked in and wiped off the writing. He wiped it again for the second
time.
p.80
And during the third time, the Acharya wrote a note at the end of this
verse saying, Whoever it may be the eraser of the verse I have written, if
you are doing it for fun, please do not erase, it has a great purpose. And if
you are doing out of jealousy, as this verse is in my memory, there is no
way you can erase it. If you think it is mistaken in its words and meaning,
please show your form, I will debate. Again omens occurred like before
and the Tirthika teacher came to erase it but as he saw the note that I
will debate, he waited without erasing it. Immediately after the Acharya
arrived back from alms round, placing the abandonment of their religion
as the bet, they debated. The Tirthika teacher was defeated and the
Acharya said, Now you should convert into Buddhist. This angered the
Tirthika teacher and he blew out fire flames from his mouth and burned
the entire provisions of the Acharya. Even Acharya was almost burnt to
death. [The events that followed] are mentioned in the Definite Certainty
of Valid Cognitions commentary (tshad-mav rnam-nges tikka):
Being frustrated of the Samsara and diverting from doing deeds for the
sake sentient beings, he (the Acharya) wished to obtain liberation for
himself only. In that instant, Manjushri appeared and consoled, Oh Son,
like the ignoble persons, your mind is quivering and getting controlled by
others. While still bearing the mind (of helping others), why do you have
to run into neutral state? Then the Acharya replied, Oh Bhagavan, as
Samsara is full of unbearable sufferings I cannot rely on it. Ignoble beings
are admired and conducts are deceptive. Even when Im seeing you, yet
Im not blessed. So what shall I do? In reply Manjushri said, Oh Son,
until you obtain the ground of realization, I shall be your spiritual guide,
and disappeared.
Thereafter, the Acharya composed the Compendium of Valid Cognition
(tshad-ma kun-btus) and when it was circulated among scholars, many of
them did not understand as it contained words of deep meanings.
p.81
Though some factions did understand yet as they were carried away by
jealousy, they disposed the text by tying it to a dogs tail. Critics
condemned, Chogkyi Langpo is an elephant of darkness. And he has
collected the extracts of all darkness.
The Acharya then defeated many Tirthika proponents by writing an auto
commentary to his text. Hence, it is remarked in the text of Definite
Certainty of Valid Cognition:
The one, who was cared for by Arya [Manjushri], possessed the glory and
perfect wisdom,

Wrote with words so deep and as dull mundane mentality could not
understand it clearly,
If, due to this ignorance, this world glorifier upon close reliance, is
condemned even a bit
Will only generate severe consequences, thus, out of love, I will deliberate
that school herein!
Wangchuk De was the student of this Acharya. He also wrote a
commentary on the Acharyas works. And his student was Shree
Dharmakirti (dpal chos-kyi grags-pa). Dharmakirti was born to his father
Gyalwang Tsugi Norbu, a non-Buddhist Brahmin, in southern India. He
thoroughly learnt Sanskrit Grammar at a very tender age. Though his
maternal uncle who was the follower of Tirthika teacher Zhonu Malen and
was a non-Buddhist Brahmin yet he dressed up with robes of a Buddhist
monk. This made his uncle to utter many abusive-spells on him and
expelled him. In his mind he thought, I shall make sure that I defeat all
the Tirthika proponents, and he became a Buddhist monk where he
started his learning. Particularly, when he received the teachings of Valid
Cognition from Acharya Wangchuk De [for the first time], his realization
equaled to that of his master. When he received the teachings for the
second time, his realization equaled to that of Chogkyi Langpo. When he
asked the teachings for the third time, the Acharya said, Dignaga did not
have a student like me, and I do not have a student like you. Even the
tradition of teaching this text once does not exist, yet I have taught you
twice.
p.82
It is also not worthwhile to keep teaching this text alone. For being a
Pundit I have other obligation as well, so prepare a piece of cloth and oil. I
will teach you in the night.
When he received the teachings, after preparing just as he was told to, he
obtained further understanding of the inference (bras-bu rgyui khyadpar-gyi rjes-dpag). He then recapped the former teachings and this
impressed the Acharya extremely. And then the Acharya granted him a
permission saying, Use my mistakes as the topic of refutation and write a
commentary on the Compendium of Valid Cognition.
In order to understand the secret codes of sophistry of Samkhyas (grangscan paenumerator), he disguised himself as the servant to his maternal
uncles wife and impressed her with his service. Then he told to her, I
want to ask this kind of question [to your husband] regarding the key
points of his philosophical tenet. Then she suggested, I will ask while I
make love with him, just make sure that you retain them in your mind.
Then a string was tied to her leg and he hid himself under the bed. At
difficult points he pulled the string and had her ask again. In this way, he
thoroughly understood their secrets of sophistry. He escaped from there

and as he understood the sophistry tricks of their tenet, he knew that he

can defeat them in debate.
At that time, he announced, If there is any erudite Tirthika scholar, I will
debate. Many of them fled to other provinces. And those who dared to
debate him; he defeated them with the dharma and after having
converted them to Buddhism, he declared:
If Dharmakirtis
Sun of speech sets,
The Dharmas will either sleep or die.
Only then will non-Dharmas arise!
Some Tibetan scholars claim, around that time, Dharmakirti arrived before
the king Metog Kuntu Gaypa. When the king asked him, Who is the best
current scholar? he replied:
Chogkyi Langpo is the one full of wisdom,
Beautiful poetry comes from Pawo (Avashagosha),
p.83
Skilled in prosody, a perfect orator, is Chandragomi,
Whose flower is bloomed fully and endowed with possessions,
And the victor from all sides, who is it, if not me?
Then the king inquired, Are you Dharmakirti? Yes, Im also known as
this, he replied.
Although it is said as this, yet while considering the question of the king,
Who is the best current scholar? and the answer which is mentioning
the names of the former Acharyas, looks out of context. Hence, this verse
was not said by Acharya Dharmakirti. However, this was the very king
under whose patronage Dharmakirti composed the Seven Treatises on
Valid Cognition (tshad-ma sde-bdun) that analyzed and deliberated the
detailed meanings of the Compendium of Valid Cognition.
Acharya Dharmakirti was the adept of the Chakrasamvara (khor-lo sdompa) who reached to the great pure land, Khecara, in his very life time. It is
prophesized in the Root Tantra of Manjushri (jam-dpal rtsa-rgyud) as:
The observer of vows, bearing a name with the letter Dha
Will become so popular in the southern region [of India].
He, after having reversed all other opposing proponents,
Will also accomplish the mantra of the Chakrasamvara.
His works reached into the University of Vikaramshila but most of the
scholars there could not understand the Acharyas Seven-fold treatises.

But again a few of those who could understand, carried away by jealousy,
tied his texts to dogs tails. When those dogs ran through everywhere, the
Acharya, took it as sign that his treatises will spread widely. This prompted
the Acharya to insert the following verse, at beginning of his text:
Complete Commentary of Valid Cognition (tshad-ma rnam-grel):
Most people are attached to ordinary writings and as they lack the power
of wisdom, for fine explanations
Not only do they not pursue but out of stains of jealousy they are
completely overwhelmed with anger.
Hence, I do not have any intention that this can be of help to others,
But to generate an interest to train my mind into these fine explanations
for a long time, I took a joy to compose this.
Since he defeated both the Buddhist and non-Buddhist opponents he was
respected by all academics as their crown jewel. He composed an auto
commentary to the first chapter of Complete Commentary of Valid
Cognition and for the rest, he had it commented by Lhawang Lo. When
Lhawang Lo submitted the first version of his commentary, the Acharya
washed away the whole contents using water. Then Lhawang Lo wrote the
second but the Acharya disposed it in a fire. When the third version was
presented Lhawang Lo wrote the following verse:
p.84
Probably because I lack the fortune,
And as time, also, does not stand still,
For the sake of my practice, in brief,
A commentary on the difficult points was written herein!
Acharya accepted the third version by saying, Although your
commentary did not reveal the definitive meanings that I have explained
through connective and the implicative words, nonetheless, your
commentary did reveal the meanings that I have explained directly.
Realizing that his unmistaken reasoning was not understood by others, it
is said that the Acharya inserted a verse in the final part of his text
Complete Commentary of Valid Cognition, as thus:
Even whose wisdom is not at all little could not understand the profound
reality,
And also, not even by those who are extremely industrious saw the
reality,
There will be no one who appear equal to me that can again uphold the
fine explanations of my text,
Likewise, all rivers emptying into ocean, all my fine explanations will
disappear with my body.

Acharya Dharmakirtis student was Lhawang Lo. His student was Sakya
Lo. Sakya Los student was Odkyi Lo alias Gyalwang Lo.
The claim that Dzamari Choedraks student Gyengi Purs student was
Lung Lang; Lung Langs student was Dul-lha; and Dul-lhas student was
Chechog, is a great mistake. It is because Dul-lha lived before while
Gyengi Pur appeared later. But how? It is very obvious because Dul-lhas
commentary on Drops of Reasoning [of Valid Cognition] (tshad-ma rigsthig) was translated by [Kawa] Paltseg during the earlier spread of
Buddhism in Tibet. But Gyengi Pur whose real name is Sherab Jungne
Bepa, lived as the chief protector of the University Vikaramshila, and this
was around the beginning of the later spread of Buddhism in Tibet.
Hence, Gyengi Purs immediate student was Nyima Bepa of Kashmir. The
latters student was Dzamari alias Yamari. This is evident because Nyima
Bepa commented on Gyengi Purs work, while Nyima Bepas work was
commented by Dzamari. Brahmin Shamkar Nanda was said to have been
the student of Dharmakirti. Choejung Jin and Gesungs student was
Chechog. It is admissible that Choejung Jin was Gyengi Purs student.
p.85
Of the four outstanding students of Vasubhandu, Yonten Od (Gunaprabha)
was the student who excelled him in Vinaya teachings. He was born to a
Brahmin family in Magadha. Some says that he met with Nyerbe
(Upagupta) while some says that he met with Legthong (Sudarshana),
however, this lacks chronological agreement.
Legthong taught to his student Chir Mi Wong, and the latter taught to Loe
Mibep. And then Yonten Od became Loe Mibebs student. This an excellent
claim made by the earlier proponents of the Vinaya tradition. Moreover,
this venerable monk, relying upon Vasubhandu, became very proficient in
the entire tenet systems of one and others. His faculty of wisdom was
bloomed fully by the nectar of Vinaya teachings of the Sugata. He
industriously put into practice the sublime teachings of the Tathagata and
he was revered as the crown jewel among all those who upheld the
Vinaya tradition of the Zhi Thamced Yodpar Mrawai De
(Mulasarvastivadin). He became royal spiritual advisor to King Shri
Harsha who recognized him as the supreme of all Pundits. He wrote the
Root of the Vinaya Sutras (dul-ba mdo rtsa-ba) and the 101 Activities (las
brgya rtsa-gcig pa). He lived for 400 years and protected the teachings of
the Buddha.
As for Shakya Od (Shakyaprabha), it is stated in the text, Endowed with
Light (od-ldan):
After listening to Sonam Dragpa, my preceptor,
the renowned one, the pride of Magadha,

And based on his exegetical trilogy,

I composed this manual on the Vinaya ritual.
Furthermore it is stated:
So that the news may reach to my teachers who are residing far way,
And to the truly pure one, Zhiwai Od, and expecting that they will
Recollect and bless me, I wrote this commentary Clear Meanings.
p.86
Deducting from this Buton says Shakya Od was the student of Sonam
Dragpa and the great Acharya Zhiwai Od but not Gunaprabhas. But the
Ancient Annotation (gna mchan) says Zhiwai Od was the student of
Gunaprabha.
Zhiwai Ods student was Shakya Shenyen and he was the one reckoned
among the three erudite scholars of Yoga Tantra but not the Shakya
Shenyen who established the residential place of Nagarjuna. Shakya Od
wrote the root and auto commentary of the Vinaya in Three Hundred
Verses (dul-ba sum-brgya pa). Yonten Ods student Choekyi Shenyen
wrote the Extensive Commentary of Vinaya (dul-ba rgya-cher grel-pa).
And he is the same person who wrote Short Commentary of Vinayas
(dul-ba grel-chung) commentary Clear Words (tshig-gsal). Shakya Ods
student was Sengei Dongcen (Simhamukha) and his student was Jinamitra
of Kashmir.
Of the four outstanding students of Vasubhandu, Phagpa Namdrol De was
the student who excelled him in Pranjnaparamita (wisdom perfection)
teachings. He was the owner of many huge temples and he belonged to
the Arya Kurukulis group. He was the grandson of Acharya Sangye Bang
and relying upon Acharya Vasubhandu; he became a great erudite
scholar, and obtained the ground of extreme joy (the first bhumi). Hence,
he listened to the teachings directly from the Buddha and composed the
commentary on the Ornament of Manifest Realization (mngon-rtogs
rgyan), that revealed the meaning of Prajnaparamita, while attaching it
with the Pranjnaparamita Sutra in 25,000 Verses called the Vision of
Prajnaparamita in 20,000 Verses (nyi-khri snang-ba). Even his student,
venerable Namdrol De, wrote a commentary [to the same text (Ornament
of Manifest Realization)]. His student was the noble Namnang Dzod and
his student was Haribhadra (Senge Zangpo).
As for the biography of Senge Zangpo, long time ago, there was a tree
god who lived inside a huge tree in the jungle of Khadiraka trees in
eastern India. A cowherd who lived in the region passed away and he was
survived by his beautiful wife. When she went to herd the cattle, the tree
god copulated with her and fathered their son, who came to be known as
Gopala.

p.87
Gopalas father, the tree god, gave him a precious jewel and due to the
powerful qualities of the jewel, he gained sovereignty over almost the
whole of the earth. He supported the monks of Nalanda and others
wholeheartedly and became the patron of the Buddha Dharma.
His queen, who was of weaker power wishing to bring him, the king, under
her control, sought a remedy from a Brahmin ascetic. The Brahmin
fetched a potion from mount Kailash and dispatched it to her through her
maid. But the maid slipped over the steps and the potion fell into the
river. Gradually, the potion was washed away into the ocean and it was
taken by the Naga King. After consuming the potion, the Naga King,
gained control over the whole ocean. Then the Naga King disguised
himself as King [Gopala] and copulated with the queen. When she
conceived, the Naga King gave her a ring, and in the due time she
delivered a son. King Gopala was very angry but when she displayed the
ring of the sons father, the king saw a Naga inscription on it. Then the
child was named Devapala and brought up the child with loving care.
When Devapala became the king, he wished to construct the most
magnificent temple and consulted adepts of geomancy. The adepts
advised the king, Collect pieces of cloths from the houses of mendicants
and Brahmins and make them as wick; butter from the houses of kings
and businessmen; and a Kongbu-vessel from the shrine of ascetics. Then
light the lamp, place it before the Yidam deity, and make supplications. If
you do this, by the emanation power of the Dharmapala (the teaching
protector), the lamp will be transformed. And just construct the temple on
it.
When the king did everything just as he was told to, a raven flew past and
converted the Kongbu-vessel into a sea. The king was disheartened but in
the night, the Naga King, in form of five-headed snake appeared and
consoled, Since Im your father, I will dry up the sea and let you
construct the temple. You just keep making huge feast offering on every
seventh day. As the king performed everything as he was told to, by the
third week (on the 21st day), the whole sea dried up.
p.88
On this, the king constructed the so called Vikaramshila or Nampar Nonpai
Tshulthrim-kyi Tsuglagkhang temple. It consisted of 16 great temples and
700 cottages that housed 700 Pundits.
King Gopala had four sons, of which one was a King, a Pundit, a Siddha
and an evil King. Because he was so materialistic the King gave the
precious jewel to the fourth son. The fourth son had a son called Mahibala
who has obtained confident faith in the Prajnaparamita teachings due the
power of his past aspirations. He stole the jewel from his father and

offered it to a Prajnaparamita professing monk. His father, the king, came

to know about this and decapitated the monk saying, The jewel is owned
by the King. You are a monk who is supposed to be content with little
things, but you are not the one like this. This monk is claimed as Lawapa,
the one who composed the Prajnaparamita in 900 Verses (sher-phyin dgubrgya pa).
Immediately after his death, the monk, just as he had aspired for,
reincarnated as the son of his former student, the then prince who offered
him the jewel. He became king Dharmapala and naturally developed
confident faith in the Prajnaparamita. After searching everywhere for a
person who taught Prajnaparamita he run into Acharya Senge Zangpo.
The Acharya was a monk who hailed from the royal caste, and learned
both in Buddhist and non-Buddhist philosophical tenets. Specifically, he
possessed vast experience of the meanings of the Prajnaparamita.
Acharya Senge Zangpo received the Maitreya Sadhana from his preceptor
Namnang Dzod and as he practiced it, he dreamed a charming monk
bearing safflower complexion who foretold him that he go to Kasarpani,
eastern India. Accordingly, the next day, he went there and observed
fasting for three days. While he was investigating his dreams, he dreamt
of many gods with half of their bodies emerged from the thick clouds in
the sky above before dawn and making offerings consisting of various
offering substances.
p.89
He asked, What is happening? We are making offerings to the most
venerable Lord Maitreya who is granting the teachings of the
Prajnaparamita in Eight Thousand Verses (sher-phyin brgyad stong-pa),
he was told. As he kept watching at it for a long time, he saw the golden
complexioned most venerable Lord Maitreya, wearing a stupa-topped
crown, and with his right hand displayed in Dharma-giving gesture. After
making prostrations and offerings, he petitioned the lord, There are
many disagreeing commentaries to this treatise (Ornament of Manifest
Realization) written by you, so which commentary should I accept?
Thoroughly investigate the entire commentaries and integrate those
most admissible ones into one text, the lord thus assigned him.
The following day he traveled from east to west searching for someone
who could sponsor the project of writing a treatise [on Prajnaparamita].
On the way, he met with King Choekyongs (Dharmapala) messenger who
was sent to invite him after the king learnt that Acharya Senge Zangpo
was the best scholar among Prajnaparamita proponents. The messenger
invited him to the palace and there he composed the Condensed
Meanings of the Prajnaparamita in 20,000 Verses in Eight Chapters (nyikhrii bsdus-don le-brgyad ma) in keeping the Arya [Maitreyas]
commentary [Prajanaparamitathe Ornament of Manifest Realization];

the Extensive Commentary on Prajnaparamita in 8000 Verses (brgydstong grel chen); the Commentary of Ornament of Manifest Realization:
Clear Meanings (grel-pa don-gsal); the commentary on the Condensed
Sutra [of Prajnaparamita]: Easy to Understand (sdud-grel rtogs sla-ba);
and many others.
This fact is further confirmed in the colophon of the Acharyas Extensive
Commentary on 8000 Verses as thus: This text was composed at the
temple of Trik-duk (tsha-ba gsum-gyi tsug-lag khangthe temple of three
hots) through the glorious [king] Choekyongs patronage.
The following story tells us why the temple was named this way. That
region in India had lots of Tirthikas and one Yogi, who was blessed by Tara,
aspired to demolish the bases of the Tirthikas and petitioned Tara. You
should seek that help from King Mahipala, Tara prophesized for him. As
he sought the help from the King, the king mobilized all his troops.
p.90
A black man who was waiting on their way said, Im the protector
Mahakala. Supplicate to the temple of Buddha Kashyapa which exists
beneath that heap of sand. And while destroying the Tirthika bases, order
all the troops to beat the victory drums (cymbals) altogether, I will help
you all, and disappeared. They found the temple as they excavated
through the sand heap pointed at by the black man. Eventually, all
Tirthika teachings declined while the Buddhist teaching flourished further,
and this success was credited for executing things as guided by the black
man.
Acharya Senge Zangpos student was the most venerable Sangye Yeshe
and his student was Gunamitra. During the times of these masters,
Prajnaparamita teachings spread so extensively. These narrations I have
done so far are merely in keeping with the stories that are usually taught
and listened to in Tibet. On the other hand, although inconceivable
numbers of scholars who mastered both the philosophical tenets of self
and others and thoroughly protected the Buddhas teachings have
appeared, yet it is a mere possibility that if there were any who initially
did not rely upon the two great charioteers (Nagarjuna and Asanga). But
later, some permissible lineages did appear through adepts who beheld
the vision of the Yidam-deities. Hence, the transmission lineage of
[Prajnaparamita] exists as either with the lineages that were passed down
from these two charioteers or without theirs.
In the Sutra Requested by the Dawai Nyingpo (zla-bai snying-pos zhuspai mdo), the Buddha prophesized that during the 3rd set of the 4 sets of
500 years, many Acharyas who would guide sentient beings and liberate

them would appear. But to interpret this prediction as the beginning of the
declination period of the Buddhas teachings is unacceptable.
p.91
In the teaching about how to fully conduct the Prajnaparamita, it is said,
First, it will spread in the Central Land (Magadha) and then spread toward
the South [India]. After that it will spread in the North and further north,
and finally, it will come back to the Central Land. Only then, it is known
that disappearance of the Buddhas teachings will occur.
Second Chapter
Khotan (li-yul) and China (rgya-nag)
Advent of Buddhism in Khotan
During the time of the Lord Buddha Sakyamuni this region of Khotan was a
sea and it was drained by Shariputtra using his mendicants walking staff.
The so called Gomasalagandha shrine that bore the stupa and footprints of
the four former Buddhas10, and the mountain containing bell-metals (li)
blessed by these four Buddhas as the material for making statues, are the
hallmarks of this region.
Some 200 years after the Buddha Sakyamunis demise, there was a king in
China who had 99 sons and as he still wanted more sons, sought a boon from
Namthoese, the lord of wealth. Lord Namthoese picked up king Asokas
grandson who was just born and delivered to the king. The boy feeling
hungry looked down on the ground and a breast appeared. As the boy
suckled the milk from that breast and became known Salanu (suckling milk
from the earth). When the boy grew up the Chinese King (his foster father)
dispatched him to Khotan, the source of the river Sita, along with an
entourage of troops. Today this region falls within Hor and Sogdian countries.
Under his patronage many monks from the Central Land (Magadha, India)
were invited, and the Buddhist teachings flourished through many
generations of kings.
p.92
The Spread of Buddhism in China
About 20 years after King Tsiu Wam, the fourth king of the Tsiu dynastys
rule of China, golden light rays that filled the entire quarters appeared. He
summoned all his astrologers and had them study the significance of the
omen. They reported to the king that a golden son has been born to one of
the great western kings and the rays were emitted from that son. Will his
10

1) Krakucchanda (khor ba jig), 2) Kanakamuni (gser thub), 3) Kashyapa (od-srung), and

4) Shakyamuni (sha kya thub-pa)

teachings reach here during my reign? the king inquired. It will not happen
during your reign but after these numbers of kings, in about these years,
months, and days, four persons wearing these kinds of costumes, bearing
the teachings [of the golden son] will arrive, replied the astrologers.
Mesmerized by this, the king engraved this prediction on the stone plaque
inside a temple. After a long time, the temple and the stone plaque
collapsed.
During the period of Hanaminti, following the reign of the 48th King, two
realized Pundits with two attendants from India, dubbed Zuhala, who taught
Hinayana teachings arrived. The king commissioned his men to investigate
their unusual costumes but no one knew anything about their costumes
except one old woman who said, In this region there were a temple and a
stone plaque bearing inscriptions about this. Erect the fallen stone plaque
and read it. When they read it, it happened that except for a difference of 7
days, everything matched with what was mentioned in the on the stone
plaque. Then a temple in the land of Honam Durwa was built, and their
Dharma teachings were translated. Since then on until today the Buddha
dharma has flourished in China.
p.93
One time, King Dungtsing and Sengtsing from the Hiu Tsing dynasty ruled
China. The latter sent his men to fetch the Jowo and Tsenden (sandalwood)
Jowo (statues depicting 8/12?-year old Buddha Sakyamuni) from India. But he
passed away when the statues were still on the way. Then his prime minister
became the king. The military commander who was transporting the two
statues owned Sitshon and 24 Tsiu Khar?, and ruled a separate kingdom.
The descendents of king Chingsangs (the prime minister who became the
king) invited the two statues, relics, and Pundits, and worshiped them.
Chingsang dynasty ended thereafter and it was taken over by a father and a
son called Suiyang Diyi who both ruled the country as kings. Their kingdom
was annexed by Thangkau Dzung. This king, the first of the Thang dynasty
ruled the kingdom for 9 years. The period is reckoned as the year of Earth
Male Tiger, which corresponded to 1566th Buddha Era. Thereafter until the
year of Fire Male Dog, which was during the time of Tshalpa Kunga Dorje, it is
said that 700 years have passed. This is known to have been found in the
Chinese records of letters, and was published by Lama Rinchen Dragpa in his
Chinese to Tibetan translation works.
The King [Thangkuau Dzung] was succeded by his son, Thangthai Dzung. In
the ninth year of his rule King Thangthai Dzung interacted with King
Songtsen Gampo [of Tibet] and they honored each other by exchanging gifts.
It is claimed that princess Kong Jo was the daughter of this king. The
translator Thangzam Tshang lived during this period and he translated many
Dharma texts. By the time of this translator, 200 Chinese translators have

appeared. Thang was his family name, Zam meant three, and Tshang
signified the baskets, and hence, this translator was adept of the Tripitaka.
It is claimed that he was the student of the Indian master Vasubhandu.
p.94
Chapter 3
Spread of the Resultant Vehicle
This has two sections: 1) the spread of Mantrayana in the World of
Dzambudvipa, and 2) the spread of this teaching in Tibet.
Spread of Mantrayana in the World of Dzambudvipa
At that time (the great eon Dzinpa??), in the entire world of Metog-gi Zhii
Nyingpo Gyen-kodpa the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Samantabhadra, aspiring
to demonstrate the former conducts of the Blessed One, Buddha Vairocana,
deliberately assumed the form of Nodjin Dulwai Wangpo (the lord of Yaksha
tamers). He then exposed his manifestation in the land of the great Yaskha
chief Drog-nay, in Adakavati realm of Dzambudvipa, an epicenter of the
universe, and protected the Buddhas teachings.
On the other hand, when he was introduced into the Dorje Ing-ki Kilkhor
(indestructible mandala of the ultimate sphere of reality) by the Blessed One
(Buddha), and attained the Buddhahood, other pernicious beings, such as
the Maha Shiva, etc., still refused to relinquish sins even though they were
pacified by the entire Tathagatas. Hence, the Tathagatas exclusively blessed
him and assigned the task to subdue them. Thus he was also called the Lord
of Secrets of all Tathagatas. On that occasion, a scepter (Vajra) jointly
created by the Tathagatas, was placed on his hand and there after he was
dubbed Chagna Dorje (Vajrapani), or Dorje Dzinpa (scepter bearer).
Then Vajrapani using the Tathagatas Samaya (commitment) Vajra hook,
summoned the Lord of the Three Worlds, the Maha Shiva, and all other
powerful inhabitants of the world who were surrounded by their entourage, in
a way that none of them were left behind, to the peak of Mount Sumeru.
p.95
As they all arrived there, they toured around the celestial mansion (khang-bu
brtsegs-pa) made of vajra, jewels, and precious metals, and took their seats.
At that time, Vajrapani while pointing his vajra stared at the assembled
retinue and announced, Oh friends, please embrace the teachings of the
Tathagatas and also listen to my orders! This made the whole gathering
extremely furious and the Shiva retorted, When I am the lord, creator,

destroyer, progenitor, the lord of the Three Worlds, and the great god of the
gods, why should I listen to your command, you who is just a Yaksha?
They refused thus to budge but Vajrapani appealed, At the least, just do as
per what the Buddhas have ordered. Yet Maha Shiva [would not listen] and
instead he used his power to bless so that the Three Worlds and their skies
would be suppressed by the wrath of the Great Wrathful One, and charged,
Even you should listen to my order, and accept my samaya! Then as
Vajrapani uttered HUNG the entire lords of the Three Worlds collapsed with
their face down on the ground and while moaning they sought refuge in the
Blessed One, the Buddha. Maha Shiva as he collapsed became unconscious
and eventually he passed away. Vajrapani recued the rest and installed them
as executives of the command. Maha Shiva came back to life but he could
not stand up however he attempted to. Then he sought refuge in the Blessed
One, the Buddha, who replied, Seek refuge in him (Vajrapani) only, we
cannot rescue you.
p.96
Following this, Vajrapani called Maha Shiva by his name and dictated, Will
you not listen to my order now? Hearing these words from the Vajra Sattva
Maha Shiva felt so agitated and angry. Even though he laid flat on the ground
yet he displayed a terrifying form and retorted, I would rather die than
listening to your orders! This made Vajrapani extremely furious and
squashed Maha Shiva under his left foot and Umadevi under his right foot.
Immediately after this Maha Shiva revealed his original form and hit his 1000
faces with his 1000 hands. Outside the celestial mansion a sound, My king,
the ruler of the Three Worlds, has been subdued by the Great Being
(Vajrapani) resounded. Finally, as the Blessed One, Vajrapani, touched Maha
Shiva with the sole of his feet, the latter attained Samadhis of all the
Tathagatas, dharanis, and experienced the bliss of total emancipation. Maha
Shiva handed over his body to Vajrapani and he reincarnated as the
Tathagata Thalwai Wangpoi Yang (thal-bai dbang-poi dbyangs) in the world
of Thalwe Khebpa (thal-bas khebs-pa: enveloped by ashes), which is located
below Dzambudvipa after crossing several worldsequal to the sand specks
of the river-banks of 30 river Ganges.
There through his various emanations, received the Tantra teachings,
collected them, and taught them to others. However, as in the case here,
there is an inquiry made [to the Buddha] in the Maha Yoga Tantra called
Secret Tara (gsang-bai sgrol-ma zhes bya-bai rnal-byor chen-poi rgyud) as,
Who is the knower and teacher of the great secret tantra? The Buddha
proclaimed, In the sacred place of the glorious Dorje Chenpo, in Oddiayana,
King Indrabhuti knows, teaches, and spreads it to the sentient beings.
p.97

As for this case, when the Blessed One was living in Varanasi king Indrabhuti
ruled the kingdom of Oddiayana. This kingdom was located some 500
Yojanas (league: approx. 4.5miles/yojana) away to the west of Varanasi.
While the king was on the terrace of his magnificent mansion made of seven
types of jewels, he saw the Shravaka (auditors) Sangha flying to the west in
the morning and returning to the east in the evening. The king inquired
about this to his minister Dawa Zangpo who said, I do not know about this
but I will find it out from others. When the minister questioned some
intelligent ministes and the residents of the city, some one told to him, They
are diciples of prince Sidharta, the son of King Suddhodana, who lives 500
leagues from here to the East, in the city of Varanasi, giving teachings after
obtaining Buddhahood. Eventually, as the king heard the name of the
Buddha he developed a strong devotion and thought, When even his
disciples can possess this much supernatural power, certainly he (the
Buddha) must be possessing great supernatural power and compassion. The
king knelt on the ground facing toward the East, and while holding flowers in
his arms folded together uttered, Oh the Omniscient One of great
compassion, the possessor of miraculous feet including your retinue, please
come here for the lunch tomorrow. Thus as the king petitioned, the Buddha
including his retinue arrived there the next day.
p.98
There the king made an extensive offerings and requested, Please tells us
the method so that I and others are released from the sufferings of
Samsara. Although the Blessed One knew the kings potential yet he
pretended not to and instructed the king, Get yourself ordained by
renouncing your home and become homeless, then there is a method!
Again the king appealed, But for a lustful people like me and others, it is not
possible to renounce the five desireables, so please tell us the method of
attaining liberation without having to renounce them.
The Blessed One retracted his appearance as the desire-free renunciate and
assumed the form of Chakravartin (universal monarch). Then the Buddha
emanated Buddha Askhobhyas Mandala of Guhyasamaja [Tantra], consisting
32 deities, and empowered the king and his retinue, granted the teachings,
and entrusted the Tantra. Having realized the meanings of the Tantra, the
king built a celestial mansion [like that of the mandala] using the seven
types of precious jewels. The king sat himself in the place of the chief diety
of the mandala, put his consort and children in the places of the four
Buddhas, his ministers in the place of male and female Bodhisattvas, and his
messengers in the places of wrathtful deities and set out to practice the
most elaborate and extensive conducts of the path that rely upon afflicted
emotions to reach the Buddhahood. Eventually, the king along with his
retinue accomplished the mandala and transformed their corporal bodies

into rainbow bodies just like a snake leaves behind its dead skin and they
traversed one Buddhafield to another Buddhafield in order to obtain the nomore-learning non-duality completely (ultimate realization). This made the
kingdom of Oddiayana empty of its people. Follwing this the water body of
the sea that existed in the southern region increased and filled the whole
kingdom and it became inhibited by several nagas.
p.99
Then Vajrapani wrote down the Guhyasamja Tantra and many others on the
golden sheets using melted lapis lazuli. After this he [empowered] the nagas
of that seawhich brought spiritual maturation to all the nagas there; gave
explainations of the Tantras; and entrusted the Tantra volumes to them. Most
of the nagas there turned into human beings and they settled by the seaside
which developed to a city over the time. With the practice of the Tantric
methods, most of them obtained the common and supreme attainments. All
of their sons and daughters became Yogis and dakinis respectively.
Thereafter this place became known as the Glorious Land of Dakinis of
Oddiayana, and it is still popular today. But rest of the nagas not able to bear
the stench of the humans, left for other purer seas. In due time, the sea dried
up and a well furnished temple of the wrathful deities appeared of its own in
the place. Even the volumes of the Tantra were found inside the treasury of
the temple.
Not very long after this, Vajrapanis emanation called Drangsong Ugjin (an
asectic who brings relief) dwelled there in order to teach the Tantra of
Precious Pith Instruction of the Co-emergent [Wisdom] (lhan-cig skyes-pai
rin-po chei man-ngag-gi rgyud) to the fortunate ones of that region. During
this time, the kingdoms king Thong-na Gas extremely beautiful daughter
Rolpamo, who was so respectful, tamed, and peaceful, accompanied by 500
maides went out to collect flowers to celebrate the birth of her younger
brother. Her maids upon seeing the ascetic became so scared and all of them
fled shouting, There is a Yaksha here. But when Rolpamo saw him she
thought, This is Ogen Dorje Chog Chenpos sacred place, hence no obstacle
making or seeking-chance-to-cause-harm spirits can survive here.
p.100
It must be a Bodhisattva who has revealed his emanation for taking care of
the fortunate ones here. She then took her maids together and went to see
the ascetic. Upon reaching before the ascetic, they felt so delighted and a
hair-raising devotion. As they bowed down, the asectic said, I am a Yaksha
but a noble one. The ascetic placed his hand on Rolpamos head and twice
inquired, Do you recollect me? Do you recollect me? Then she recognized
the ascetic as the Lord of Secrets, the Acharya Sangwai Dagpo, who was
formerly empowered with the secret mandala by the Tathagatas. After the

blessing Rolpamo along with her maids, obtained the supreme attainment of
Mahamudra manifestly. Rolpamo was named Sumati (Lodoe Zangmo-noble
wisdom). She was the naga-turned-yogini master of Saraha and most texts
from Kashmir refer to her as Kalzangmo (she who is fontunate).
Some time later, [Dakini Sumati] foreseeing the potential to obtain the
supreme attainment in a single body and a life in king Pawo Dorje, the then
ruler of that country, accompanined by her 500 maids while assuming the
looks of a begger went to the kings palace to beg. Fragrant smell filled the
whole palace when they arrived and the fragrance vanished as they left. The
king sensed the signs and thought, It is well known that the princess, the
king [Thong-na Gas] daughter along with her 500 maids, who observe the
conducts of a yogini, pay visits to this land of Oddiayana in order to take
care of the fortunates ones, and certainly it must be them!
p.101
The king called them back and they gestured that they will return in the
night and not during the day. Assembling there during the night, they made a
grand feast offering and [Dakini Sumati] granted pith instructions to the king.
After this, the king obtained the great supreme attainment.
It is known that King Pawo Dorje passed on the teachings to his minister
Damtshig Dorje and the latter passed it on to wood-seller Pemai Dorje. He
passed it on to wine-seller Lhencig Kepai Dorje, who then passed on to
weaver Gawai Dorje. Gawai Dorje gave the teachings to the Brahmin lady
Dorje, and she gave the teachings to barber Drupai Dorje. The barber gave it
to Yogi Kundro Dorje and he passed on to Yogi Thugki Dorje. Thugki Dorje
gave it to the princess Palgi Lodoe Ma. She was also known as Gelongma
Mapelma. Both of them (Thugki Dorje and the princess) gave the teachings
to the adept Lvawapa. King Pawo Dorje was teacher to even Acharya
Aryadeva.
Furthermore, Pundit Dudtsi Gawai Jungne, a great polymath of all sciences
appeared in the country of Zahor in eastern India. When he (Pundit) was
giving the Tantra teaching, one female student sometimes laughed and
sometime cried. Seeing this the Pundit recognized that the girl was a Dakini.
He arranged the offerings of studying the a dakini after the sun set and
made supplications. This woke up the girl from her sleep, and being
frightened she exclaimed, Oh Lord, are you mad? When the Pundit
explained his inquiry she said that she was not a dakini. But why did you do
like that when I was teaching the Tantra? asked the Pundit. And the girl
replied, I laughed and cried when you said it is the meaning of the Tantra
when it was not, and when it was explained pervertedly. I know that you
are a dakini, please care for me, the Pundit bowed to her. I do not have
enough power to care for you. My brother Pema Vajra lives in Oddiayana, just

go to him, and your purposes will be accomplished. Having said this the girl
disappeared.