Guru Rinpoche Day
Beloved Friends Near and Far,
I
hope you and your loved ones have been happy and healthy. I am at the
moment in a small Malaysian city of Batu Pahat leading a Mahamudra
retreat. And all is well here!
For
today’s Guru Rinpoche Day, I thought of extracting few pith
instructions by Padmasambhava to his close student, Trisong Detsen and a
brief overview of how it all started.
How Padmakara came to the Snowy Land of Tibet.
It
all started with Samye! The Great Lopon, Padmasambhava came to Tibet on
the invitation of the Great King, Trisong Detsen under the guidance of
the Great Abbot, Shantarakshita to built the first ever Buddhist
monastery of the country.
When
King Trisong Detsen, the thirty-eighth king of Tibet, was twenty-one
years of age he formed a strong aspiration to spread the sacred
teachings of the Dharma. He invited the Great Abbot; Shantarakshita from
India who helped laid the foundation of the great temple. Whatever was
build during the day was dismantled at night by the local spirits
creating much obstacle which eventually lead the Abbot to make the
prediction to invite the great master Padmasambhava to come to Tibet.
At
the Tamarisk Forest at Red Rock, Padmakara met the king of Tibet and
then proceeded to the top of Mount Hepori to bring the gods and demons
of the country under his command. He laid the foundation for Samye and
saw it through to completion, employing also the gods and demons who had
earlier hindered the building. In five years the work was completed for
the temple complex of Glorious Samye, the Unchanging and Spontaneously
Accomplished Temple.
After
the completion Samye, the King requested empowerment and instruction
from Padmakara. At Chimphu, the hermitage above Samye, the great master
gave profound teachings to many destined students headed by the king and
his sons and the twenty-five disciples.
Guru
Rinpoche remained in Tibet for 55 years and six months; 48 years while
the king was alive and seven years and six months afterwards. He arrived
when the king was 21 (810 A.D.). The king passed away at the age of 69.
Padmakara stayed for a few years after that before leaving for Ngayab
Ling by liberating the king of the Rakshasas and assuming his form at
the Glorious Copper Colored Mountain of Glory.
Below is an excerpt of the extraordinary teachings given by the Master to the King.
Guru Rinpoche said this to Trisong Detsen:
To
condense all into a single sentence: the view is to be free from
convictions, meditation is to not place the mind on anything, experience
is to be free from savoring the taste and fruition is beyond
attainment. The Buddhas of the three times have not taught, are not
teaching, and will not teach it to be any other than this!
(Advice from the Lotus Born pg. 38)
Guru Rinpoche to the King:
The
awakened mind of bodhichitta is not created through causes nor
destroyed through circumstances. It is not made by ingenious Buddhas
nor manufactured by clever sentient beings. It is originally present in
you as your natural possession. When you recognize it through your
master's oral instructions, since mind is the forefather of the Buddhas,
it is like the analogy of recognizing someone you already know.
(Advice from the Lotus Born pg. 38)
King: What does it mean to 'clear away the faults of conviction'?
Guru
Rinpoche: Even though you have realized that your mind is the Buddha,
don't forsake your master! Even though you have realized appearances to
be mind, don't interrupt conditioned roots of virtue! Even though you
don't hope for Buddhahood, honor the sublime Three Jewels! Even though
you don't fear samsara, avoid even the minutest misdeed! Even though
you have gained the unchanging confidence of your innate nature, don't
belittle any spiritual teaching! Even though you experience the
qualities of samadhi, higher perceptions and the like, give up conceit
and pretentiousness! Even though you have realized that samsara and
nirvana are nondual, don't cease to have compassion for sentient beings!
(Advice from the Lotus Born pg. 39)
King: What does it mean to 'gain certainty'?
Guru
Rinpoche: Gain certainty in the fact that since the very beginning
your own mind is the awakened state of Buddhahood. Gain certainty in
the fact that all phenomena are the magical display of your mind. Gain
certainty in the fact that the fruition is present in yourself and is
not to be sought elsewhere. Gain certainty in the fact that your master
is the Buddha is person. Gain certainty in the fact that the nature of
view and meditation is the realization of the Buddhas. Practice by
means of such confidence.
(Advice from the Lotus Born pg. 39)
Sarva Mangalam,
Phakchok Rinpoche
