Chapter : The Hagiographical Tradition 07 ka, 234 receiving full ordination at once Having requested many S ecret Mantra empowerments from Bia ma Mar yul ba2 35 and Byang chub sems dpa' , I practiced meditation and a good experience of tranquility 236 arose A flickering vision23 e merged like a rainbow A state of non-thought238 appeared, wherein [the differ ence between] day and night was not recognized When I checked for how long it had gone on, [I s aw that] it had continued uninten-uptedly for thirteen day s S ince then, I have [always] been good when it came to meditation Thinking I should read about the conduct of bodhisattvas with the [various] Bka ' dgams pa Dge bshes-s in Central Tibet23 in the north, I listened to [teachings on] the stages of the path240 of perfection24 from Dge bshes Snyug rum pa and Rgya Yon bdag 242 Since [this is how B sod nams rin chen] 243 learned about the [bodh isattva] perfections and internalized them, he [often] said that the fact that he had [culti233 Ms DK.A and its derivatives add the interlinear note, " in the monkey year" (spre 'u lo la) , i e , the wood-monkey year (sprel lo) of 1 04 The Western age 25 agrees with B sod nams rin chen's birth in 079 The same age for B sod nams rin chen's monasteric ordination was given in the first 'autobiographical' nan-ative 134 In ms DK.a, the toponym is given as rang ka In ms DK.A, it is spelled Dbrong ka 235 Bia ma Mar yul ba, i e , Mar yul Bio ldan shes rab (dates unknown) The spelling is according DK.A; ms DK.a gives his name as Bia ma Mang yul ba 23 'Tranquility' (zhi gnas, *§amatha) 23 "A flickering vision" (snang ba ban bun) The word 'vision' could also be interpreted to mean to ms 'perceptions' or 'appearances' in general, i e , " flickering perceptions emerged like rainbows " 238 'Non-thought' (mi rtog pa , *n irvikalpa) 23 Central Tibet (Dbu ru) 240 " Stages of the path" (lam rims or lam rim) 24 The "path of perfe ction" (pha rol tu phyin pa 'i lam, "paramitiimarga) Judging from B sod nams rin chen's manner of classifying the Buddhist teachings in other works in the Dags po 'i bka ' 'bum, it is evident that he uses the expression "the path of perfection" to signify the Common Maha yana teachings in general while distinguishing these from the teachings of the " Secret Mantra Vehicle" (gsang sngags kyi theg pa, *guhyamantrayiina) 242 Literally, " in the presence of Dge bshes Snyug rum pa and Rgya Yon bdag" (dge bshes snyug rum pa dang/ rgya yon bdag gnyis kyi spyan sngarl) For these two Dge bshes-s, see footnotes 66 and 67 243 Tibetan language usually omits personal pronouns and the subject o f sentences, leaving these implicit, unless they are needed for clarifying the meaning The subject is often implied merely by the form of the verb, where there is a choice between regular and honorific forms , and honorific forms cannot be used with reference to oneself In the present segment, the personal pronoun "I" (nga) was explicit in the first sentence, "To begin with, when I reached the age of s ixteen " The first person pronoun (nga rang) occun-ed again in the sentence, " S ince then, I have [always] been good when it came to meditation " In all other sentences, the subj ect "I" was implicit in Tibetan, though justified to insert into the English translation given the overall flow of the narrative and the author's choice of verbal form s However, in the present sentence which has no explicit subj ect, the narrative breaks away from this flow, because it uses an honorific verb and other honorific words to speak about B sod nams rin chen It also quotes a statement that seems to have been spoken by Bsod 08 Chapter : The Hagiographical Tradition vated] the resolve for Awakening (bodhicitta) was [due to] the kindnes s of these two [teachers] Later [I] heard the name Bia m a M i l a and felt faith [in him] 244 I requested the Dge bshes's permission [to leave] and then traveled for forty days to reach [my destination in] Gtsang province 245 At the age of thirty one, 246 I met Bia ma Mid la 247 When I presented him with my former meditation experience, he said, "That [experience] of yours is medita tion, but it is not the path of the Buddhists " 248 [Later on] , there was a period when I could not meditate properly due to in tense lethargy, and he s aid, " You should practice breathing exercises " 249 When I had practiced breathing exercises for a year, all the qualities of the winds 25 arose perfectly, and he said to me, " I think from now on there will be no difficulty for you to bring about bliss-heat and meditative concentration " When I had stayed thirteen months with the Bia ma, 25 I went down 252 A t that time, [Bia ma Mi la] placed a large gtor ma 253 on my head and gave me an em- nams rin chen himself, which does not appear to be a quotation from one of his teachers Thereby, the author, who is not B s od nams rin chen, reveals himself, stepping away from the 'autobiographical' character of the narrative 244 Ms DK.A strengthens the sentence by saying " [my] mind became exceedingly faithful " 245 The duration o f his travel from Central Tibet to Gtsang i n the present story i s much shorter than the four months the j ourney was said to have taken in the first 'autobiographical' narrative, where B sod nams rin chen was delayed by the illness of his companion 'Gong ston It is in general notable that 'Gong ston, who figured prominently in the first narrative, is entirely absent in the present story 246 Ms DK.A and its derivatives add the interlinear note, "the ox year" (glang lo), i e , the earth ox year (sa glang) corresponding to 1 09 CE This year agrees with B sod nams rin chen's birth-year of 079 and his Western age of 247 Ms D K a u s e s the spelling M i l a in the preceding sentence and Mid l a in the present sentence Ms DK.A and its derivatives consistently use Mi la 248 Ms DK.A changes the sentence to : " but it is not the path for becoming a buddha " 249 Cf fn The second 'autobiographical' narrative here echoes the wording o f the first narra tive, or vice versa 250 'Winds' (rlung, *vayu) refer to the inner breath or energies of Tibetan yoga, which are said to circulate in an internal bodily system of psychic channels (rtsa, *nadi) 25 Literally, " in the presence of the Ela ma " The number of thirteen months that B sod nams rin chen is said to have stayed with Mi la ras pa agrees with the thirteen months mentioned in the first narrative 252 That is to say, he went down from the mountain pass where Mi la lived Ms DK.A and its deri vatives add the interlinear note, "in the tiger year" (stag lo la), " i e , the iron-tiger year (lcags stag) corresponding to 1 CE 253 A gtor ma ( *bali) is a ritual figure usually made out of dough, which is used for making ritual offerings to deities , protectors , and various mundane spirits, or it is used as a symbolic ritualistic representation of a Tantric deity The latter seems to be the case here, since the gtor ma is used for bestowing a Tantric empowerment Chapter : The Hagiographical Tradition 09 powerment to the tjakin!s and Dhanna protectors 54 At the end of it, he said, "It seems you will bring much benefit to sentient beings " When I asked him how that might be, he said: "When you first arrived here, there appeared a special sign indi cating that there would be [much] benefit for sentient beings I dreamt that while you were staying here, you and I competed in a foot race Since you came in first, it seems to indicate that you will bring about bigger benefit for sentient beings than I will Also, once I dreamt that I threw a boulder larger than a tent to another land, but when you struck it with both your hands it turned into a pile of dust [The dream] shows that since your bodily strength is better than mine, there will be no difficulty for your abilities and you will have no fe ar of outer thing s " After going down, I studied the instructions o f Dfp amkarasrfj fi an a255 i n great detail with Dge bshes Sgre pa, Dge bshes Lcags ri ba, 57 and Dge bshes Bya yul ba n 258 The monks then asked, "Please tell us the way in which [realization] was born in your mind " [Bsod nams rin chen said] , "The meditative experience o f resting [inwardly] would occur whenever I meditated on bliss, presence, and non-thought, 60 but it would not be there when I did not meditate The experience261 of one-pointed ness 262 also arose, although it differed during the four types of daily activities 26 A lucid state of being fully present264 would appear whenever the meditative focus was applied I was able to lead my meditation into a state, where I would think, "This is it ! " Sometimes when cognition was without moisture, 265 I would have to ask my self whether there actually ever was anything to be developed 266 S ometimes [the 254 p ak in !s (mkha ' 'gro) and Dharma protectors (chos skyong, *dharmapiila) are female and male guardian deities of the B uddhist Tantric teachings 255 I.e , the Bka ' gdams teachings from Atifa 25 Dge bshes Sgre pa (dates unknown) Cf fn 96 See SHERPA (2004 : 64) 257 Dge bshes Lcags ri ba (dates unknown) SHERPA (ibid.) suggests his full name to be Lcags ri gong kha ba Byang chub dpal 258 Dge bshes Bya yul ba Gzhon nu 'od ( 075- 1 8) (SHERPA, 2004: 64) 25 When the text here mentions " the monks" (gra pa rnams), the sentence is quite similar to the parallel passage in the first narrative, where Dge bshes S gre pa poses a question to B sod nams rin chen before he begins to tell about his inner experiences Notably, Dge bshes S gre pa was j ust mentioned in the present narrative, not as posing a question but as being one of the dge bshes-s with whom B sod nams rin chen studied after having stayed with Mi la ras pa 260 'Bliss' (bde ba, *sukha) , 'presence' (gsal ba, *vyakta), and 'non-thought' (mi rtog pa, *n irvi- kalpa) The terms will be clarified in further detail below in the book's third p art 26 'Experience' , i e , 'meditative experience' (nyams, *anubhiiva) 262 'One-pointedness' (rtse gcig, *ekiigratii) 26 "The four types of daily activities" (spyod lam, *!ryiipatha) These are traditionally listed as moving, walking, sitting, and lying down ( Yogiiciirabhum i, Sriivakablnim i D403 l l a6f ) 264 "A lucid state of being fully present" (gsal sing ba) 265 The expression " cognition without moisture" (shes pa rlan dang bra/ nas) may be difficult to understand and i s , to be sure, not frequent in Buddhist literature Yet, generally speaking, metaphors 10 Chapter : The Hagiographical Tradition feeling] also arose that nothing had been developed [to begin with] Sometimes no [feeling] arose of anything having been developed 68 Since reali-zation had not [yet] been achieved, I had only a trifling sense of inner certainty S ince the root is the mind, it is like the moon on the first day of the lunar month Being the beginning of knowledge,27 the first step of the path had been discerned Later, knowledge emerged truly In my case, I had a good dream and not long thereafter the self-nature of knowledge was seen vividly, like meeting a person I knew from before When cognition itself turned into the meditation, there was no obj ect of meditation and no one meditating The mind, being without support, emerged as both present and empty 27 I felt from the very beginning of this , that there was a moment of recognition All phenomena turned into an outer shell Yet, as soon as thoughts272 arose, I felt unpleasant, and I felt it would be better if such conceptuality 273 were not there When there was no conceptuality, the presence and emptiness became uninterrupted and I felt, "That's it ! " These [experiences] appeared in Se ba valley in Gnyal 21 Having moved to upper B ag rong, 275 realization was born [in me] B efore I felt bad whenever thoughts arose and good when thoughts did not arise At upper Bag rong, thoughts themselves emerged as presence 27 Hence, whenever thoughts arose, it was like light shining into light of moisture are well-known in mystical literature of all world religions and seem to relate to com mon nuances of mystical experience 66 " Anything to be developed" (bsgom, *bhiivayitavya), or " anything to be meditated upon ," or " anything to be cultivated " "Nothing had been developed" (ma bsgoms, *abhiivanii or *abhiivita) , or "nothing had been meditated upon , " or "nothing had been cultivated " 68 " Anything having been developed" (bsgoms, *bhiivanii or *bhiivita), or "anything having been meditated upon , " or " anything having been cultivated " Or, "like the new moon " The meaning is that while these these unstable meditative experi ences are not full Awakening, they equally pertain to the nature of the mind, just like the new moon is also the moon even though it does not yet shines as brightly as the full moon 27 " Knowledge" (ye shes, *jiiiina), or "wisdom " 27 'Present' (gsal, *vyakta) and 'empty' (stong, *siinya) 272 'Thoughts' (mam rtog, *vikalpa) 273 'Conceptuality' (rtog pa, *vikalpa) 274 e , in B sod nams rin chen's home valley, where he went to perform meditation retreats after his journeys to central and southern Tibet 275 Upper B ag rong (bag rong phu) The spelling of the toponym is according to ms DK.a Ms DK.A and its derivatives give the toponym as Dbrong phu The syllable rong in Bag rong means " a ravine o r narrow gorge " 27 'Presence' (gsal ba, *vyakta), sometimes translated into English as 'clarity', 'lucidity', or 'vivid ness' While the Tibetan term gsal ba literally means 'clear' or 'clarity', the S anskrit term vyakta literally means 'before the eyes', i e , to be lucidly present and exceedingly mindful of everything The translation 'presence' or 'present' is an attempt to capture that sense The term is often contrasted with the semi-opposite, 'empty' (stong pa, *siinya) , i e , 'present' yet 'empty' Chapter : The Hagiographical Tradition 111 I had the thought that neither death nor non-death exists for yogis of the Secret Mantra [tradition] and that the visions of the interim also not arise 77 The vene rable Bla ma2 has said: " One [who] rests in the stream of presence will not see the city of the interim " I think this [is what] happened to me When one is not hm1 by thoughts and remains in presence, one is not vulnerable to anything When the stream of presence is stable, it arises in presence and emptiness [inseparable] like the flow of a river Later when I had moved to Byar rkog, 79 [my experience] was free from any perceiver of presence and there was not the slightest need for performing any men tal operation The mind as such became dharmakaya Thereafter I moved to Zangs lung 280 and in the year that passed28 I recognized the manner in which the three kayas emerge " So spoke [Bsod nams rin chen ] I_thi The second 'autobiographical' narrative begins by telling about B sod nams rin chen's early Buddhist education in his home region of Gnyal, differing slightly from the first narrative with regard to the names of the teachers listed and the teachings received It also leaves out any mention of B sod nams rin chen's companion 'Gong ston, who figured so prominently in the first narrative Providing fe wer details, it then recounts B sod nams rin chen's study with the Bka ' gdams teachers Snyug rum pa and Rgya Yon bdag in Central Tibet In its third part, it describes his apprenticeship under the yogi Mi la ras pa Bla ma Mi la's reaction to B sod nams rin chen's former meditation practice differs considerably from the first narrative, since Mi la here rejects his Bka ' gdams practice, saying it was unsuccess ful In general, the present narrative does not emphasize B sod nams rin chen's Bka ' gdams ties in the same positive vein as seen in the first narrative 277 "The visions of the interim" (bar 'i snang ba), i e , the experiences that a normal person i s said to encounter in the afterlife between death and rebirth (bar do, *antarabhava) 78 "The venerable Bla ma" (bla ma rje btsun) is not identified in the text but the phrase here seems to refer to one of B sod nams rin chen's teachers, probably Mi la ras pa who is often referred to "venerable" (rje btsun) 279 The toponym's spelling is according t o m s DK.a M s DK.A spell s i t Byar lkog 280 The spel ling i s according to ms DK.a Ms DK.A and its derivatives spell thi s toponym Zang as lung Zangs lung, meaning "Copper valley, " is located near Mt Dags Iha sgam po and is mentioned in later descriptions or guides to this hermitage as a retreat place found near the hermitage 28 From the Tibetan text ( 'da ' ba 'i lo la), it is not clear whether one or more years are meant SHERPA (2004: 74) has suggested that the phrase 'da ' ba 'i lo la, "in the year that passed , " alternatively could be taken as meaning " in the year of [the Bla ma's] passing" , thereby becoming an argument for accepting 1 23 as the year in which Mi la ras pa passed away DUFF (20 1 :95) interprets the same phrase as meaning " in his year of passage" , taking it as refe rring to 1 when Bsod nams rin chen died Neither of these interpretations has been adopted here ... Chapter : The Hagiographical Tradition vated] the resolve for Awakening (bodhicitta) was [due to] the kindnes s of these two [teachers] Later [I] heard the name Bia m a M i l a and felt faith... meant SHERPA (2 004: 74) has suggested that the phrase 'da ' ba 'i lo la, "in the year that passed , " alternatively could be taken as meaning " in the year of [the Bla ma's] passing" , thereby becoming... Chapter : The Hagiographical Tradition 111 I had the thought that neither death nor non-death exists for yogis of the Secret Mantra [tradition] and that the visions of the interim also not arise