“The source for the Tibetan word ‘lama’ seems to be the Sanskrit word ‘guru’. There are many different explanations we can give of the word ‘guru’, one that we often say is ‘heaviness’. Heavy normally means, a heavy thing/object, here it means someone who is ‘heavy’ with great qualities. That is what guru should mean. Just being given the name of a guru does not help, the guru has to have all the authentic qualities and characteristics of a guru.”
“The most important way to follow the guru depends on your motivation. In Chinese, there is a saying (差之毫厘 缪之千里), that if you are mistaken in the beginning by even just a centimetre, at the end you may be mistaken by many kilometres. So, from the beginning, if our motivation is a little bit mistaken, then at the end we will make many mistakes in the way we follow the guru.”
“Whatever vehicle, the Mahayana or Vajrayana, in all the vehicles, the way to follow the guru is important. In particular, in the Secret Mantra Vajrayana, all of the common and uncommon siddhis depend on the guru. So it is very important to have an unmistaken way of following the guru. It is like the foundation of our practice of the Dharma. For this reason, when all the great beings of the past entered the practice of Secret Mantra, the foundation for this, when they began their initial training is the Fifty Verses on the Guru and the fourteen root downfalls of samaya.”
–17th Karmapa (Fifty Verses on the Guru, Day One)
Yesterday, the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje started his annual online teaching for the Arya Kshema nun’s event in Bodh Gaya on the Fifty Verses on the Guru (Skt: Gurupancashika) a very important Vajrayana text on the crucial relationship between a qualified guru and a qualified student.
The 17th Karmapa first explained the title of the text, fifty verses on how to follow an authentic guru, and the meaning of ‘guru’, a Sanskrit word which means ‘heavy/weighty’, in terms of heavy with qualities and how motivation was the most importance factor in following a guru correctly. Choosing a guru based on how famous, well-known, handsome they might be were examples of incorrect motivation.
He then explained why he was giving the teaching on how to relate to a Vajrayana secret mantra teacher. Although it was predominantly for the nuns (and monastics listening) as the teaching was also being given to Chinese and international students, the Karmapa wanted to make it clear that he was not teaching it to tell everyone they have to treat him like a guru, and how great he is etc. but that it was normal to teach such guidelines in the Tibetan Buddhist monastic tradition. In addition, the Karmapa explained how some teachers might give strange and incorrect teachings on how to follow a guru, and that was another reason he wanted to teach it, in order that people in the future may not be misled by such teachers who misuse the teaching to gather followers, wealth and power.
This was followed by an very brief introduction to the history, editions and translations of the root text. This will be expanded upon in the following days. Interestingly, the Karmapa mentioned a Chinese translation of it by a Chinese translator in the 11th Century during the Song dynasty, which may have been done earlier than the well-known one by the Tibetan Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo. As for the Tibetan translations of it, there is on by the Indian master and Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo, also one by Chag Lotsawa, which is not so well-known (for reasons which are not clear). Even more interesting, the 17th Karmapa mentioned a Sanskrit commentary on the root text called Difficult Points of Serving A Guru translated by Lotsawa Go Zhonu Pel (which is also in the Tengyur), which the 17th Karmapa said that Je Tsongkhapa does not appear to have read when he wrote his commentary on the root text in Tibet. The Karmapa then briefly explained other Tibetan commentaries on the Verses, the earliest one being by Jetsun Dragpa Gyaltsen (1147 -1216) called Elucidation of the Fifty Verses of the Guru. There is also a commentary by the 7th Karmapa, Chodrag Gyatso. He added that most later commentaries on it seem to have come from Gelugpa.
The 17th Karmapa then took the five points in Jetsun Dragpa Gyeltsan’s Commentary as a basis for teaching the text by considering his first point, the author of the root text. Most people say that Master Ashvagosha authored the text, and that the name of another Indian master Vabila, is the same person. The 17th Karmapa explained that he thinks they may in fact be different people because their life-stories are different. He then explained an interesting tale from the life-story of Vabilaya about how he caused an earthquake out of anger and after supplicating a Tara statue on an island inhabited by one-legged people, she told him in a dream to study and write about Vajrayāna texts as penance and purification. This is how his text the Fifty Verses came about, so it is said.
the Karmapa then finished the teaching, explaining how there had been many obstacles to starting the teaching, including getting a cold and not being able to rest to recover properly and he had been wondering if he would be able to give the teaching. However, today it began and that ‘just by beginning we have accomplished half of our purpose’.
As this is the first major Tibetan commentary on the Fifty Verses on the Guru since the time of Je Tsongkhapa and 7th Karmapa, and by a major lineage head, 17th Gyalwang Karmapa it is a notable and outstanding accomplishment indeed. How fortunate we all are to be listening to Tibetan Buddhist history and commentary in the making! Dedicated to the long -life and activities of the supreme ‘heavyweight’ guru of my life (and all lifetimes) Gyalwang Karmapa.
Music? For the ‘heavy’ authentic guru ‘weighty’ with qualities, I Want You by the Beatles.
Transcribed and compiled by Adele Tomlin, 4th February 2024.
Fifty Verses on the Guru – 17th Gyalwang Karmapa (Day One)
Transcript
Some people suggested we do the seven points of mind training, others said Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, some said maybe Jewel Ornament of Precious Liberation by Gampopa. Others suggested Precious Supreme Garland. Among them my own personal opinion, was to have teachings on the Fifty Verses on the Guru, and we decided that.
The Title – a text of Fifty Verses on how to follow a Vajrayāna Guru
The Fifty Verses on the Guru (Lama Ngachupa) title is self-explanatory in terms of the meaning. There is a text called the Elucidation of the Fifty Verses on the Guru by Jetsun Dragpa Gyeltsen and when he explains the meaning of the title, he says it is called that because there are fifty stanzas on the methods for pleasing/serving the guru. So the title of this text actually teaches the meaning. When we say Fifty Verses on the Guru it means how to follow the guru, and in particular, how we should do it in relation to the secret mantra. It is about the connection that should be made between a master and disciple in the secret mantra, in terms of the secret mantra tantra lineages and empowerment, transmission and oral instructions and so on. In particular, how a student who has entered the Vajrayana should follow the guru and the methods they should use to please the guru. This is taught in the Fifty Verses.
The meaning of the word ‘guru’ and the importance of one’s motivation
In Tibet, the word ‘lama’ has become well-known. If we ask where did this label ‘lama’ originate? From the Sanskrit word ‘guru’. When Tibetans translated the meaning of the word ‘guru’, it became the word ‘lama’. So, the origin of the word ‘lama’ seems to be the Sanskrit word ‘guru’. There are many different explanations we can give of the word ‘guru’, one that we often say is ‘heaviness’. Heavy normally means, when you have a heavy thing/object, here it means someone who is ‘heavy’ with great qualities. That is what guru should mean. In summary, just being given the name of guru is not beneficial, the guru must have all the qualities and characteristics of a guru. Whether it is in the sutras or the tantras, it is taught like this in all of them.
In order to follow a guru, we have to examine if the guru is authentic or not. It is important to make that examination. Then, once you have found an authentic guru, it is important to follow them properly in your thoughts and actions. The most important way to follow the guru depends on your motivation. In Chinese, there is a saying (差之毫厘 缪之千里) that if you are mistaken in the beginning by even just a centimetre, at the end, you may be mistaken by many kilometres. So, at the beginning, if the motivation is even a little bit off/mistaken, then at the end we will make a lot of mistakes in the way we rely on the guru. So whether we are searching for, or following a guru, at all times the most important thing is our motivation.
Many people think it might be best if they find a really famous guru. They have this as their motivation when they search for one. Others see the guru has many students and they think that is a guru and must be better because they have many followers. So they judge whether a lama is good or bad depending on whether they have many students or not. Others, if they look at them and they seem impressive and have power, they think they are better and that is another way people get attached to them. So in all of these cases, their motivation for looking for a guru is not correct. They do not have a pure motivation of wanting to practice the Dharma. Instead, they have various mixed motivations, good and bad. So, in the end, when they rely on the guru, difficulties arise.
Because of this, many people say they never meet good gurus and only meet bad ones. From one perspective, you cannot always blame other people, it can happen because your motivation is mistaken. Maybe you were looking for someone well-known, or good looking, and even if it is not that strong a motivation, the kind of guru you will find if it is because the guru is famous, you will always go along with well-known teachers, because you think you might meet a famous teacher. Even if you don’t have a lot of attachment to that, then just the influence of that desire you will naturally end up following and going to see famous gurus. This is mainly because of one’s motivation. One cannot say this is categorically bad but the power of the motivation does have an influence, so it is important to be very careful. If we need to meet a good lama and not a bad one, then we need to be very careful about our motivation. If it slightly faulty, we might think it does not matter, but it is important, we have to be very careful and assiduous.
Sometimes, when following a guru and practising the Dharma, I wonder if we can do that as carefully and assiduously as we do in our lives. For example, if we buy a thing today that is only worth one dollar, then we think ‘oh it is not very expensive, or worth much’ so we do not worry about it. We think it is easy to buy and so we buy it with our eyes closed. But today, if we have to buy something that will cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, if we have to buy a thing like that, then we have to think a bit. We look at it from all sides, and see if it is high quality and think about it a lot. Finally, only after doing that we buy it. But we do not just buy it immediately with our eyes closed. The reason is because it is very expensive, we have to give lots of money for it, the more we have to do that, the more careful we are buying it. We spend more time and care on the purchase. When practising the Dharma and following a guru, if we talk about it from a larger perspective and we are talking about the rest of this life and our future lives, there is nothing more significant than that in terms of the future. That is what is taught in the Dharma, but really in terms of the actual mental effort we put into it, how important do we really think about it, if we really examine that, then one does not have as much interest in it as we think. We speak about it easily, and we say it is the most important, and there is nothing more important, but if we look at it, it is doubtful whether we have that same level of interest and actual care in dealing with it. The way of serving/pleasing a guru is the most important and significant thing in our lives. If we ignore it and think it is not important then it will not go well, if we try to put a lot of care into it and work hard then it will go well. So if we approach it carefully, then it will work out properly.
Today, the topic of our Spring Teachings is the Fifty verses on the Guru, so the reason I chose this is as I said, the way to follow a guru, the spiritual friend is extremely important. in the Buddha’s teachings. Whatever vehicle, the Mahayana or Vajrayāna, in all the vehicles, the way to follow the guru is important. In particular, in the Secret Mantra Vajrayāna, all of the common and uncommon siddhis depend on the guru. So it is very important to have an unmistaken way of following the guru. It is like the foundation of our practice of the Dharma. For this reason, when all the great beings of the past entered the practice of Secret Mantra, the foundation of this, when they began their initial training, the began with the Fifty verses on the Guru and the fourteen root downfalls of samaya. That is why it is important to know how to follow a guru properly and in particular, in the secret mantra Vajrayāna. If we do not explain this properly, in general these Fifty Verses on the Guru.
Incorrect explanations of how to follow a guru with wrong motivation
A few years ago I spent a few months teaching this to a few people and gave instructions on it. The reason for doing this is maybe we Tibetans are better sometimes because we have the good environment and have the tradition and customs. However, if we had something different from that, and we practice secret mantra and study it, like among the Chinese and foreigners and we teach the Fifty Verses on the Guru, if we do not know how to teach the way to follow the guru, there is a real danger in misunderstanding. Some people intentionally give incorrect explanations and they say that you must follow the guru and do whatever the guru says, and they use it as a method to gather students and gain control over them and give wrong and incomplete instructions. And give very strange instructions. For this reason, I feel a little bit uncomfortable teaching about a topic on the Fifty Verses on the Guru, for such a large group, especially over the internet. Therefore, I have not taught it up until now. The reason I am teaching it now is because are the nuns who have come to the Spring teachings, as well as the monastics in the monasteries and nunneries.
The main students for this teaching am thinking about. That is important for you to understand. If I say the intended students, it is a big term, but it is for the monks and nuns from the monasteries, the other reason is I gave much of a complete and proper explanation, so I will try to do this, and because of making these efforts, there are also Chinese and foreign students all around the world with faith and devotion, if they say it was an improper and impartial explanation, then when other people do give improper or wrong explanations, they will not be influenced or deceived by that, so I think there will be some benefit to that. In any case, in particular for today, when I speak about this, sometimes I am not comfortable. One reason is I have been given the name of a guru, so when I teach the 50 verses of the guru, I am saying you should treat me like this and pay respect to me like this. You should think of me as really significant. There is a danger it can seem like that when teaching it.
I do not have that motivation when I am teaching. I do not think I am the guru, and you have to see me as important and significant. I am going to explain whatever is in the text. So there is some discomfort for me, and the reason is because I usually do not teach about these topics. Sometimes even when it is not so comfortable you have to teach it. For Tibetans, there is no question about it being comfortable or not, because it is a custom. For all the international followers, they might look at it like that, and that I am saying I am important and you have to follow me. So I thought I should clarify that at the outset. That is the reason we are speaking about the Fifty Verses on the Guru.
Editions and Translations: Chinese and Tibetan
There are Sanskrit texts and Chinese and Tibetan translations. I will speak about the Sanskrit manuscripts later.
Chinese translation – Song Dynasty era
First, I thought it would be best to speak about the Chinese translation. There is an old translation of it in the Taishō Tripiṭaka (大正新脩大藏經). The translation [事師法五十頌 ] has the catalogue number of T32: 1687 in the Taishō Tripiṭaka [See Chinese text here.] The author is listed as Master Ashvagosha. The translator is listed as Rizhen (‘famous son’), there were several masters, but it was led by him. This Buddhist master was alive during the Song dynasty in Chinese history, so in the 6th year of the reign of the Emperor Renzong [Emperor Renzong of Song ( 宋仁宗 1010 – 1063), personal name Zhao Zhen, was the fourth emperor of the Northern Song dynasty of China], which was in 1046, he came to the capital of Beijing at that time. His homeland was central India and he became a master there.
Later, in 1046, he went to which was the capital of China at that time, Pingliang (平凉) . The Emperor gave him the title the Shu Fan Dazhu master. If we translate that into Tibet, it does not mean much, so it is better to call him Shu Fanda master. He translated the Compendium of Training (Lab0du) by Shantideva, as well as the Sutra teaching of the ten non-paths and non -virtues, and other texts. He translated several texts, among them the Fifty Verses was one he translated. There was also master came from Japan and he was very close to Rizhen. In any case, the Chinese translation of the Fifty Verses was translated during the Song Dynasty and might even have been translated a little earlier than the Tibetan translation by Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo. So the translation was from the Sanskrit into Chinese. That is a brief history of the Chinese translation.
Tibetan Translations – Chag Lotsawa and Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo
As for the Tibetan translation of this, we have several different editions of the Tengyur. The most important one of these is the Derge Tengyur, the text is in Volume I of the Tantras, catalogue number TOH it is called D37: 21. In the Derge Tengyur the author of the Fifty verses is listed as Master Ashvagosha and the translators as the Indian scholar, Padma Karavarma and Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo, who translated, discussed and finalised it.
Later, it says there was a translation by Chag Lotsawa. It could have been Chaglo Rinchen Choje Pel (ཆག་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་ཆོས་རྗེ་དཔལ་,(1197-1263/4), or another Chaglo with that name. It is not clear who it was but there is a different translation by Chaglo, that is mentioned in Je Tsongkhapa’s commentary on it. So, in Tibet, there are at least two different translations of the root text, Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo and Chag Lotsawa. It is possible that text is extant but I have never seen a copy of it.
Translation of a Sanskrit commentary on the Root Text by Go Lotsawa Zhonu Pal
Likewise, in Tibetan, we have not just the root text of the Fifty Verses of the Guru but also have the Sanskrit commentary on the Fifty Verses, which was translated into Tibetan by Go Lotsawa Zhonu Pal. This is an Indian commentary translated by Go Lotsawa Zhonu Pel and this is called the commentary on the Difficult Points of Serving the Guru. This is also in the Tengyur, there is the Fifty Verses and after that there is the commentary on the Difficult Points.
Who was the author of the commentary? Some say it was an Indian scholar, which some say was the Pandita Naki Rinchen. This is probably not quite right. If we look at the colophon in the Commentary:
“The commentary was completed with some bits of Sanskrit gained from the kindness of the great scholar Pel Nagki Rinchen from the east of India, Go Zhonu Pel translated it at the glorious guru’s retreat place above the temple.”
So, the commentary on the Fifty Verses what these words say is that the translator on the Fifty Verses learned the Sanskrit from the Indian master, Nagki Rinchen. it does not say he actually wrote it.
Also, there is a story of Go Lotsawa’s life by the 4th Zhamar, Chenga Chokyi Dragpa, he was a direct disciple of Go Lotsawa Zhonu Pel, and he wrote a life story of him called the Supreme Tree of the Precious Qualities. What he said is that the Commentary has no colophon, and that this commentary is written by an anonymous author. So this commentary the Difficult Points has a slightly different root text, it is a little bit different than Rinchen Zangpo’s translation of the root text. If we look at this, there are probably two different manuscripts of the Sanskrit, as there are different places where it does not match the translations by Rinchen Zangpo. In any case, this Indian commentary translated by Go Lotsawa Zhonu Pel, was not read by Je Tsongkhapa before he wrote his commentary on the Fifty Verses. If you look at the two together it seems clear.
There was also a commentary by Tsarchen Losal Gyatso. In his Commentary on the Fifty Verses, it seems he had not read this Indian commentary either. Generally, when Je Tsongkhapa was 59 years old, in the Autumn of 1415, Wang Dragpa Gyeltsen invited Je Tsongkhapa and two hundred disciples to Ungar Trashi Dolkar monastery. When they were staying there, Go Lotsawa Zhonu Pel met Je Tsongkhapa for the first time. At that time, Go Lotsawa Zhonu Pel received many Dharma teachings from Je Tsongkhapa and among them were Fifty Verses on the Guru, and the explanation of the root downfalls. Not only did he study them with Je Tsongkhapa, he also studied it several times with others, as is clear in the biography of Go Lotsawa Zhonu Pel by the 4th Zhamarpa. When I look at this, I think probably he translated this commentary after he had already studied the Fifty Verses with Je Tsongkhapa. So I have a slight doubt about this.
Other Tibetan commentaries on the Fifty Verses
Now if you wonder what the most well-known Tibetan commentaries on the Fifty Verses, I was unable to make a list of all of them, but in general, among the Tibetan ones, the earliest was the one by Jetsun Dragpa Gyaltsen, Elucidation of the Fifty Verses of the Guru. This is probably the oldest of the extant commentaries. There is also a summary on the Verses by Drogon Chophag called The Concise Meaning of the Fifty Verses (Lama Nga-chupa Du-don), which is also among the oldest Tibetan commentaries. There is also a commentary by the son of Marpa Lotsawa’s direct disciple, Ngog Choku Dorje. It is said that there is a commentary on the Fifty Verses by him, but I have not seen it yet. In Tibet, one of the most well-known commentaries is Je Tsongkhapa’s very well-known one called Fulfilling All the Student’s Wishes: An Explanation on the Fifty Verses on the Guru (Lobmai Rewa KunKong). After that, in terms of the Karma Kamtsang, there was the 7th Karmapa, Chodrag Gyatso’s Annotations on the Fifty Verses on the Guru (Lama Nga-Chupai Chenden).
Likewise, there is Tsarchen Losal Gyatso (ཚར་ཆེན་བློ་གསལ་རྒྱ་མཚོ (1502-1566) who among the the three of Sa, Ngor, Tsar sub-sects of Sakya, was the founder of the Tsar tradition, wrote a commentary on it called Opening the Gateway to Precious Accomplishment: A Commentary on the Fifty Verses of the Guru. Likewise, it is said there was a commentary by the Mahasiddha, Lingje Repa but I have not seen that. There are many other commentaries, most of them are from the Gelugpa tradition it seems. That is how that is.
In Jetsun Dragpa Gyaltsen’s Elucidations of the Guru the text is taught by five general points. This is good and easy to understand I think. There are five general points he teaches the text with:
1) Who is the author of the text?
2) What Tantra is it based on? (As it is the Secret Mantra)
3) What was the purpose for writing it?
4) What is the time this text should be taught?
5) The summary of the text.
The Author of the Text? – Master Ashvagosha or Master Vabila
So, the first point is the author of the text, so basically who wrote the Fifty Verses? This is kind of complicated, there are several explanations of the author. The most common say it is the Master Ashvagosha, and the other one by the Master Vabilaya. Some people say Master Ashvagosha himself is Vabila. They have different names but are the same person. However, I think it probably better to say they are different people.
The reason for this is that, Master Vabila, their life-stories are a little different. Some Japanese scholars say that the Fifty Verses text was written at the end of the spread of the teachings, particularly after the teachings on the Unexcelled Yoga Tantra had spread. As for Master Ashvagosha, some say he was from 2nd Century, some say in the 5th or 6th Century, in any case, he was from an earlier period. So for this reason, if you look at the meaning taught in the Fifty Verses, it must have been a text after the Secret Mantra teachings had spread. The reason for this is if you look in the Fifty Verses 49th Stanza, it says:
“Make them a receptive vessel by giving the mantras and so forth. Make them recite and memorise the 14 root downfalls.”
So here because he is teaching the 14 root downfalls of samaya, it must have been after the secret mantra had been spread. So it is difficult to say it would have been written by Master Ashvagosha.
The Indian Master, Vabilaya – the one-legged people, causing an earthquake and Tara’s advice to him to purify the action
As I mentioned before Jetsun Dragpa Gyeltsen wrote the earliest commentary on this, and he was one of the Five Sakya forefathers. When he speaks about the author he says it was Vabilaya, from the caste of King Chandra. There was a moon and sun caste, he was in the moon caste. He gave up hi royal power and went to Nalanda to go forth as a monastic. His gurus were Thuthari and Suddhana. He became a great Pandita at that time, but was not given the title of that. it has to be given by a King. Because he was not given the actual title, he left Nalanda and went to the Eastern part of India to Bengal, it is said. According to a different account of Master Bhaveva’s life, it says that at first he was a non-Buddhist scholar and then later converted to be a Buddhist scholar, in any case there are different explanations, oif the first half of his life. The first is he went forth as a Buddhist monastic, and the second is that he was he converted to Buddhism. In any case, he went too Bengal, so he went from central India to East Bengal. Near Bengal, there is a place called Tara of the Land. A statue made out of sand. When he was making offerings to it, it was in Jambudvipa (now called India) and it was an island near that called Chuta. This is what we call the continent of Jambudvipa. This was called the land of Chuta. The people there only had one leg, and when they had to walk, two people had to walk together, to the people had to walk together and use a machine to walk together.
So while he thought he had to make offerings to this statue of Tara by Chandragomin, on the way there, the people from the land of Chuta who only had one leg came in ships and arrived at the same place as he did. When they saw a person with two legs, there were really amazed as they had never seen a person with two legs before, so they abducted him and they took him away. So the island of Chuta, I do not know if it is real or not, a land where people only have one leg is kind of strange. I don’t know if you have seen it, but it is mentioned in the Fine Elucidations of the Sakya Tradition. It says, if you do a ritual you have to do it properly, then if you go to Chuta then if you have two legs they consider them not to be human. As people have only one leg they see someone with two legs as not human. So this land of Chuta is meant to be amazing. In any case, the people of Chuta helped him to go to the Tara statue and he spent some time practising there. This was probably a place where Dharma had not spread and he thought there is no point staying there and I need to go back to my homeland and I can benefit sentient beings. This is what he intended to do but they would not let him go, the people from Chuta had helped him get there but he could not go back. So as he was near the Tara statue, he prayed to Tara. One night he had a dream, in which he received a prophecy from Tara who said to him in the dream, think about where you want to go in your mind, think about that, then with that impulse, then lie down with our head pointing in the direction you want to go. So he thought about the land and had that motivation, and he laid down with his pillow pointing in the direction where he wanted to go and the next morning when he woke up he had arrived. When he woke up he was there. He had already reached his destination. It seems that he had arrived in Nalanda which is in central India. So when he got there had been a lot of changes there, all the older scholars had mostly passed away and when he was there, he had some new students who had all become panditas. So when this happened, he did not have an opportunity to benefit other people because his friends from before had mostly passed away. The new monks had all become panditas, there was probably no one there he really knew, so he though I cannot really benefit anyone else and he was a bit depressed about it but he was also annoyed about it. He had some anger over it.
So, to explain it simply, he used a mantra to cause an earthquake and did a ritual to do that, and he created and earthquake. When he did this, the building he was staying in collapsed and of course all the other residences were destroyed. In the past, the people from Chuta who had helped him get to the Tara statue, so many people and animals dies in the earthquake. So there was a lot of destruction because of him. Then one night, Tara came in a dream and made another prophecy. but he did not realise he had killed so many people on Chuta but he had killed many people and animals and destroyed houses. So Tara said to him in the dream, in the past you were supposed to be a great Mahayana practitioner the work should be benefiting other sentient beings, but instead you have harmed a huge amount of sentient beings. For that reason, you have the wrong of giving up on sentient beings and so you need to confess. This was the instruction she gave him. So he thought that was not good and need to confess, but who and where should I make the confession. He thought he would go to the five peak mountain in Wu Taishan in China and confess to Manjushri. He thought maybe it would be best to make the confession there. Tara said to him,
“if you go to Wu Taishan in China that will not help. What you should do is engage in mantra practice. You have done a huge wrong. Unless you engage in mantra practice you will not be able to purify. You should do something for the benefit for new people who are entering Vajrayana. You should recite two texts, one is the Fifty Verses on the Guru and also the Root Downfalls of the Samaya. You have to write commentaries on texts of the Vajrayana.”
So, the Indian master read the Fifty Verses and root downfalls and wrote commentaries on Secret Mantra empowerments, Asutakara Tantra, the Abhibhodivirochana, the Union of the Buddhas, the Four Seats of Vajradakini and the Chakrasamvara Tantras. This is what it says. This master Babila was also called by a different name, the Three Deities. He was called the three deities because he had three main yidam deities. One was Chakrasamvara, the other Tara was a special deity for removing external obstacles, and Acara was a special deity for removing inner obstacles. So, basically these were his main deities, and that was why he was called ‘three deities’.
Also, there was a master called Manjushri Kitar who was a great Indian master, who wrote a text on the Root Downfalls of Samaya. The text by the 3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje on the Great Ocean of Samaya is based on the text my Manjukiriti as it said. In any case, the Manjusrhi Kirti and Master Vabila, were both well-known as being very learned. In any case, Master Babila was one of the more well-known of Indian masters. he was the individual who was the author of the what is taught in Jetsun Dragpa Gyeltsan’s Commentary. So when we look at his story and the life story of Ashvagosha, they are a little bit different, so I think that it is better to say they are two individuals, not one, for many different reasons. I can say more about this later.
Overcoming obstacles to teaching
Better to leave it there for today. it is good we have just begun. Sometimes it is difficult to start teachings and there are obstacles. The other day I caught a cold, and have still not completely recovered. Before that I was extremely busy and before that I had a cold, and did not have time to rest and because of that it took a long time to get over it. Because of that, I was wondering if I would be able to give the teaching, but today I think it is alright and so began the teachings. Just by beginning we have accomplished half of our purpose. Next, we have another ten days of teachings or so, and I think we will not have so many obstacles for the teachings now.