“Pakistan’s much touted claim of Swat being the birthplace of Padmasambhava is based on few western sources of the late-nineteenth and early twentieth century who erroneously identified Padmasambhava’s birth in Swat. Few western scholars claimed Swat to be the mythical Oḍḍiyāna, without much deliberation. Such mistaken views need proper correction.”
” In the Yoga Tantra, Guhyasamaja Tantra whose practice Padmasaṃbhava preached, the name of the place Oḍḍiyāna appears frequently. In the Yōgīni Tantra like Cakrasamvara and Hevajra, there is appearance of Oḍḍiyāna as one of the four foremost Pīṭhas( great sacred site). There were several autobiographical narratives on journey to Oḍḍiyāna during this period. “
“I have worked for several years to finally find that Oḍḍiyāna is the synonym of Java in the tantric literature and it is not some unknown hidden land of Ḍākinīs. Since, sailing to Java required navigation skill guided by the sky, term Oḍḍiyāna became a popular epithet for the place.” –Niraj Kumar (2023)
For Guru Padmasambhava Day today, I am delighted (despite still recovering from a heavy flu) to be able share the revelation and pilgrimage visit to the famed Buddhist location of Oḍḍiyāna, home and birthplace of Guru Padmasambhava, of Yeshe Tsogyel’s young male consort, Atsara Sale, and place of many renowned dakinis and worship of Buddhist goddesses. According to recent scholarly research by Niraj Kumar in his Kalacakra Tantra (Vol.1), the land of Oḍḍiyāna is not in Swat Valley, Pakistan, as some Anglo and European scholars suggested decades ago (and many unquestioningly now accept) but in central Java, Indonesia. Moreover, the lake upon which Guru Rinpoche was famously discovered by King Indrabhuti has been identified as Lake Rawa Pening, in the centre of Java.
Stunned and fascinated by this new research, I decided last year, while I was in Thailand, that I had to visit the lake, so when HE 12th Gyaltsab Rinpoche announced he would be leading the Indonesian Kagyu Monlam in Borobodur, Java this May 2024, I decided it was the perfect time to go, to also get the precious teachings and empowerments from Rinpoche and visit one of the wonders of the world, Borobudur temple. Also, while I was in Sri Lanka recently for a month-long pilgrimage, one of my preferred cafes in the sacred city of Kandy (for coffee, price, quietness and location), was called Java. As a Vajrayana practitioner, I took this also as a sign that I should visit there! Kumar himself responded that he had not visited the place when I asked him.
I had never visited Indonesia before, but also knew that it had particular significance in the Buddhist world for its connection to great Indian masters and siddhas such as Je Atisha, ancient Buddhist temple ruins and the famed Borobudur in Java (considered one of the seven wonders of the world and a UNESCO heritage site). For more on my trip to Borobudur see here, and for the ancient Tārā temple, see here.
In this article below (which I wrote much of while on a train traveling through the stunning landscape of Java to the capital city Jakarta, a fitting way for a pilgrim writing about pilgrim’s tales), I share the historical and textual background research by Kumar on locating Oḍḍiyāna, my personal experience of visiting the natural Lake Rawa Pening and some photos I took there. In addition, I personally noted that Indonesians use the term ‘la’ as an honorific politeness, in the way Tibetans do. I had always wondered why and how Tibetans had got this term, so perhaps it was Padmasambhava’s influence and the other Javanese siddhas and artists etc who visited India and Tibet.
The lake was magical and mystical indeed, surrounded by gorgeous mountains with floating islands of vegetation, a paradise (before the advent of climate change and extreme heat). I was accompanied by two females (a young woman in her twenties who told me she was a great fan of my work, and her ten year old niece) who kindly offered for free their car and driver for the ‘adventure’ treasure-hunt trip as I described it to them, and whose driver was like a Buddha in terms of his patience at being asked to go here and there to help us locate places.
We took a boat to the centre of the lake and I started weeping uncontrollably at not only being in such a significant and stunning location there, but in gratitude to 17th Gyalwang Karmapa and 12th Gyaltsab Rinpoche, for helping me finally get there. It felt as if they were on the boat with me smiling on. We three generations of females on the boat recited the seven-line prayer to Guru Padmasabhva and his mantra . The heart chakra opened as something long hidden appeared to have been revealed, as if Guru Rinpoche appeared on the lake at that moment. Looking at photos I had taken while there afterwards, two ‘yogic eyes’ and a castle-like cloud and meditator appeared above the mountains, which I have shared here. The following day, I uncover another sacred place connected to Guru Padmasambhava in the region, more on that in the next article!
As a result of this visit, and Kumar’s research, I also had the spontaneous idea to launch a new Guru Padmasambhava Oḍḍiyāna Lake Project initiative, in collaboration with local Indonesian Buddhist sponsors to build a Guru Padmasambhava statue for pilgrims to visit at the lakeside, with an inscription dedicated to Padmasambhava and the background of the lake, and also to Niraj Kumar for his contribution in revealing the location and significance of the lake and location of Oḍḍiyāna. In that respect, it is also a project to build spiritual friendship with India and Indonesia. For more on how to support the project, see here.
Dedicating the merit to raising awareness and re-establishing of Guru Padsambhava’s birthplace, land of dakinis and goddesses, Oḍḍiyāna, in central Java, Indonesia, and to the flourishing and preservation of the Buddha Dharma there and all of South-East Asia!
Music? Guru Padmasambhava mantra by Deva Premal, Seven-Line Prayer to Guru Padmasambhava chanted by 17th Karmapa, and Overjoyed by Stevie Wonder.
Written and compiled by Adele Tomlin, 18th May 2024.
The maritime pilgrimage and traders’ routes south-east in the Indian ocean
As can be seen in this map diagram below, in 8th-9th century India and China, people travelled south, to places like Malaysia and Java, via boat. As I mentioned in the previous Tārā temple article (which is located in Java), one of the reasons said to have inspired the building of that temple, which was frequented by the Indian Buddhist master, Je Atisha, was an unusual astronomical event of the ‘disappearance’ of the guiding Pole Star in the night sky, an event that would have cause challenge and worry to seafarers at that time. The Goddess Tārā was then associated with safety and protection when travelling by sea. It is well-known that Atisha travelled there to get teachings from yogis and siddhas and spent years in Indonesia.
However, what is less-known is that Java is also the region of the famed location of Oḍḍiyāna, the birthplace of Guru Padmasambhava, which as Kumar explains is of central importance in Buddhist Vajrayana and tantric practice:
“In the Yoga Tantra, Guhyasamaja Tantra whose practice Padmasaṃbhava preached, the name of the place Oḍḍiyāna appears frequently. In the Yōgīni Tantra like Cakrasamvara and Hevajra, there is appearance of Oḍḍiyāna as one of the four foremost Pīṭhas( great sacred site). There were several autobiographical narratives on journey to Oḍḍiyāna during this period. One Buddhajñānapāda mentions how while seeking the authentic scriptures of the Guhyasamaja Tantra, he landed up in Oḍḍiyāna and studied under Vilasavajra. Indrabhuti another authority on Yōgīni Tantra, and composer of texts like Sahajsiddhi & Jñānasiddhi mentions how these Yōgīni Tantras were also derived from the land of Oḍḍiyāna.”
The name Oḍḍiyāna (vehicle of the stars) and the Copper-Coloured Mountain pure land in Java
In his Introduction to the Kālacakra Tantra, Vol: 1, Niraj Kumar analyses common renderings of the meaning and rendering of the term, and asserts that Oḍḍiyāna means ‘vehicle of the stars’ :
“Now Oḍḍiyāna can be seen as a corruption of the term, Uḍuyāna(उडुयान). A scribe might have erred in copying Uḍuyāna (उडुयान) as Uḍḍiyāna (उड्ड्यान) as both appears similar. Uḍuyāna would mean the vehicle of stars. This would clearly indicate the path of navigation. This would hint at knowledge of astronomy, navigation skill as a new path. Just like Hinayāna and Mahayāna, this would imply that Oḍḍiyāna is a newer vehicle which can be used for deliverance from the worldly affliction…Sky-goer Ḍākinīs are especially associated with Uḍḍiyāna. This affirms that the name has been derived from the idea of a stellar path in sky. “
In terms of its connection to the famed Copper-Coloured Mountain (Zangdok Palri) where Guru Padmasambhava is said to reside, Kumar explains the linguistic and geographical connection to Java:
Uḍu has association with mineral copper, too. Uḍumbaram (उडुम्बरम्) is copper. We know how in the fabulous biographies of Padmasaṃbhava of Oḍḍiyāna, it is often mentioned that his pālace is in the region of Copper- coloured mountain. Between Java and Sumatra, there is the famous prominent Krakatoa islands ( crab shaped) with three peaks, one also known locally as Rakta( Red Blood). It has been an active volcano and the sky is often copper-coloured in the region. A navigator passing from Suvarṇabhumi to Java would identify it as the copper-coloured mountain.Thus, Uḍu as copper would capture this aspect of the travels to the famed island of Java too. Uḍupam (उडुपम्) , another derivative term from Uḍu, has meaning of raft and floats. This again indicates the association of the term with navigation. As a whole, one can sum up association of Uḍu with the navigation with the aid of star path and wind towards the copper island. I have worked for several years to finally find that Oḍḍiyāna is the synonym of Java in the tantric literature and it is not some unknown hidden land of Ḍākinīs. Since, sailing to Java required navigation skill guided by the sky, term Oḍḍiyāna became a popular epithet for the place.”
The Java-Pushpa red flower in tantrik texts associated with Mārici and the Yogini Tantras
Kumar further elaborates that plants and flowers also reveal much about Oḍḍiyāna’s location:
“There are several pointers . Let us take the earliest historically located Indian reference from the text of the Sadhnamala.There is Oḍḍiyāna Marichi sadhana. Marichi is again the fierce goddess that guides the path of the sun in the sky. The colour of the goddess is red. We know how the red colour eventually got associated with the left-handed Shakta cults in Eastern India. Hibiscus flower( China rose) is known as Java-pushpa( जावा पुष्प ). It is also known in Sanskṛta as the Odra-pushpa(ओड्रपुष्प ), Odra-akhya(ओड्राख्या). In Hindi, it is known as Udahula( उडहूल) , a corruption of term Odra-phula( ओड्र फूल ). This flower was introduced in the Shakta worship during the second half of the first millennium when the contact with maritime Asia during Srivijaya and Śailendra dynasty was strengthened. There is no mention of this flower in worship or ritual either in the Vedas or the great epics or the other ancient ritual texts. The name appears only in the tantrik texts which were composed only during later period when maritime Southeast Asia was Indianized.It is also known as the flower of Goddess,Devī puṣpa (देवी पुष्प), clearly indicating its association with the rise of YōgīniTantras.”
Ogyenpa’s ‘Guide to Oddiyana’ (Ogyenpa Lam Yig)
Kumar then takes the reader through a brief history of mention of Oḍḍiyāna in different historical works or travelogues in Sanskrit, Chinese and Tibetan. According to Kumar, Oḍḍiyāna finds earliest mention in the records of Chinese Buddhist pilgrim to India, Faxian (c. 337 – c. 422). Later, Xuanzang (b.602–d.664) visited India from 629–641 CE and did mention about his stay in Oḍḍiyāna.
Then there is the mention of Oḍḍiyāna in the travelogue of Orgyenpa Rinchen Pal (b.1230-d. 1309). Orgyenpa was a Drukpa master, who also served the court of the great Mongol emperor, Kublai Khan. He was the first Buddhist teacher to have recognized for the first time any reincarnation in Tibetan history, that of the Second Karmapa, Karma Pakshi. Orgyenpa further taught the third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje, and was an extremely significant lineage holder of both Drugpa and Karma Kagyu. Kumar (2022) that the location of Oḍḍiyāna and the spreading of the Kālacakra Tantra are inter-related:
“In the 13th century, Orgyen Rinchen Pal( 1229-1309 AD) who also taught Kālacakra Tantra to the Third Karmapa , popularized his journey to Oḍḍiyāna for the sake of further learning of the Kālacakra teaching. This journey was supposedly made during a period of six years from early 1253 to early 1259. The biographies mention that his teacher Rin chen rtse mo at Bodong E monastery was said to have proceeded to Śambhala at the age of fifty-one.
Brenda W Li who has done work on several biographies of Orgyenpa reveals how in one of the long biographies, it is mentioned that his another Guru, Gotsangpa (rGod tshang pa) predicted that Orgyenpa had no karmic connection with Śaṃbhālā but rather, with U rgyan i.e Oḍḍiyāna. Initially, he did set for Śaṃbhālā, but changed the plan midway for Oḍḍiyāna. When he arrived in Jalandhar in western India, he changed the track towards Oḍḍiyāna. The Blue Annals mentions that “he obtained permission to go to Oḍḍiyāna from Gotsangpa”.
“Orgyenpa mentions how he was guided by dakinis in dream to visit Oddiyana. His travel itinerary, ‘A Guide to Uddiyana’ (Tib. O rgyan lam yig), became popular among Tibetan adepts. As per his itinerary, Orgyanpa went to Jalandhar in the company of some Indian yogins, sometimes in 1255 AD. Only few years ago, in 1241, Mongol army had sacked Lahore. Orgyenpa mention about four gates of Oddiyana, one of which few commentators identify as Peshawar, Orgyenpa mentions in his travelogue about the center of Uddiyana:
“After half a day we reached Dhumathala. This is the heart of Uḍḍiyāna, the land of miraculous power. When we saw that place our cries were beyond counting. Before it there dwells a self-born [image] of the goddess Maṅgaladevī made of sandal-wood.”
Many scholars have tried to fit Mangaladevi with Mingora in Swat, while many have tried to locate in western coast of India, in as far place as Mangalore.”
Chinese sources and evidence: Faxian’s account and the ‘gift of camphor’
Niraj Kumar goes through the various textual sources that mention Oḍḍiyāna, Sanskrit, Chinese and Tibetan. In terms of Chinese sources, he writes about the travelogues of the renowned Chinese Buddhist pilgrim, Faxian (Fa-Hsien, Fa Hien) who walked all the way to India between 399 and 414 CE. Faxian was over 60 when he left Chang’an on his long, dangerous journey through Gobi desert, Kazakhstan entering India via Kashmir. Then walking down all the way to Mathura, Pataliputra (Patna) and Madhya Pradesh region. He later left on ship back to China. Kumar writes that:
“In Chinese language the sign for Oddiyana is Wū cháng(烏萇). The earliest reference of the place is found in Faxian’s travelogue. Faxian (b. 340 –d. 420 AD) travelled to India along with few monks, Huijing, Dazheng, Huiying, Huiwei and others in the year 399 AD. He collected the Vinaya texts and returned back in 414 AD while Daozheng decided to stay foot in the land of Buddha. Faxian composed Foguo ji(Notes on the Country of Buddha) . “
Kumar then goes into lengthy textual detail (from the Indian and Chinese texts found in the Tengyur) about why Oḍḍiyāna cannot be in the Swat Valley, Pakistan. One of the things I like about Kumar’s work, is unlike many academy scholars, he also refers to plants, trees, and unusual astronomical events/dates to support his assertions, other than just textual accounts and analysis.
For example, the presence of camphor in the Java region. Camphor comes from the camphor laurel tree (Cinnamomum camphora) which produces a solid substance in the form of white and slightly transparent wax with a distinctive and strong aroma. For centuries, camphor has been used as a component of incense, medicine, beauty and rituals and has long been listed in the journal of world explorers. It is called camphor because this commodity comes from Barus, one of the areas in Central Tapanuli, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Ptolemaeus in his work Geography recorded that there is a fragrance originating from five islands called “Barousai”. Kumar remarks that:
“the Tang annals record that Uddiyana sent gift of camphor with an embassy to the Emperor of China in 642 CE. In 683 Ta-ch’in followed a Chinese imperial envoy to the maritime region and obtained ‘chalk of Barus,’ the Indonesian word for ‘camphor.’ According to Tang chronicle, in the year 642 AD, Uddiyana , offered camphor to the Chinese Emperor (Ts’e-fu yüan-kuei. 宋本冊府元龜,TFYK, 970, ii 399a… The event has also been cited by Indian government in an official document. (https://www.eoibeijing.gov.in/pdf/file1.pdf ). But, obviously assuming Oddiyana in Swat is erroneous. Camphor is a sub-tropical tree and found across Indonesia, Malay peninsula, South India. This is not a product of Swat valley.”
The Song Dynasty translators, Yeshe Tsogyel’s Javanese consort, and a Javanese temple at Nalanda
In addition, Kumar points to the presence of Javanese people, such as the young, male consort of Yeshe Tsogyel, Atsara Sale and also Dharma translators, such as the prolific and renowned translator, the monk Dānapāla [1] in the Song Dynasty court who had studied Javanese:
“We again find that Shubhakarsimha((637-735 AD) who is credited with translating Mahavairocana Tantra into Chinese in 724 AD, stayed in Oddiyana during 714-715 AD. Shubhakarsimha, Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra took to maritime route to the Tang court in Changan through Canton. This further confirms that even though Budgam was named as Wū Cháng guó by Faxian, by now, the geography was translocated unto a maritime place of southeast Asia lying between eastern coast of India and Guangzhou( Canton) in China.”
“It is from here that Padmasambhava emerged soon after propagation of esoteric Buddhism by Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra. Padmasambhava when he came to India, was followed by other Javanese people like Atsara Sale with whom Yeshe Tsogyal, Tibetan consort of Padmasambhava, was predicted to indulge in tantric practises in Nepal, after rebirth. Soon after Padmasambhava’s disappearance, we also find construction of Javanese monastery in Nalanda for whose maintenance Javanese King, Balaputradeva made donations and the Nalanda copper plate inscription is a testimony to that.”
Kumar (2022) continues:
Zanning (b.919-d.1001), the Song Dynasty historian mentions that no Buddhist texts were translated for 160 years after the Kapisa monk Prajna’s translation work in 811 CE. Thereafter, a native of Oddiyana, Danapala arrived in Song court, he was a Vajrayana monk. He arrived in Song capital in 980 CE along with his brother, Devasantika. Impressed by his skill, Emperor Song Taizong built a new translation bureau in 982 CE, called the “Institute for the Translation of Sutras” on the western side of the Taiping Xingguo Monastery. He is also credited for having brought a holy relic sarira, a Buddha bone to China (Dingzhen Buddha Bone kept at Dabao’en Temple in the Nanjing City).
Danapala translated over 100 sutras, sastras and stotras, and influenced Chinese understanding of Vajrayana Buddhism. Dānapāla is noted to have studied various forms of scripts prevalent in the five regions of India, and having learned the scripts of Srivijaya and Java.”
Je Tāranātha’s Indian guru, Buddhagupta Nātha’s account of Oddiyana
Kumar (2022) then moves into the 16th-17th centuries for further evidence, and finds Oḍḍiyāna again connected to Kālacakra and Java as mentioned by Je Tāranātha’s Indian guru, Buddhagupta Nātha:
“Oḍḍiyāna often finds mention in The Blue Annals. The Blue Annals was composed in the year 1476 by Go Lotsawa Zhonnnu Pel (1392-1481), a disciple of Vanaratna, who was the last Indian Pandita to have taught Kālacakra Tantra to Tibetans during his three visits to Tibet in late 15th century. In the Blue Annals, Oḍḍiyāna is a sought after place of learning for Tibetan tantric practitioners. Sangye Yeshe and many others are claimed to have visited the place physically; while Drakpa Senge and many others visited the mythical place in dreams or visions. Sri Dipamkara Atisa(b.982-d. 1054 CE) was said to have had tantric feasts with ḍākinīs of Oḍḍiyāna .
Buddhagupta Natha(b.1514-d.1610), the guru of Jonang historian, Taranatha( b.1575-d.1635) wrote an account of Indian Buddhist shrines. This account was translated from Tibetan into English by L.A. Waddell and published in Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1893.
Buddhagupta Natha, born in Deccan, travelled across Asia. He mentions about oceanic voyage to reach Potala, then Java-dvipa, Bana-dvipa formerly visited by Guru Padmasambhava and he claimed to have sailed to Ceylon and Konkan coast where he saw the self-arisen image of Manjushri. In this travelogue, his visit to Western Uroyan country which “Mohammedans called Ghazani”, has been mentioned.”
Identifying Lake Rawa Pening, Java as Guru Padmasambhava’s abode and the place where King Indrabhuti discovered him
“Hūṃ! In the north-west of the land of Oḍḍiyāṇa,
In the heart of a lotus flower”
The famous seven-line prayer to Guru Padmasambhava mentions his being arisen on a lotus in the North-West of Oḍḍiyāṇa. Kumar (2022) explains:
“From Oḍḍiyāna, if an observer faces the Indian Ocean, the Indian Ocean is in east, Java sea on the west, Suvarṇadvīpa (Sumatra) on south and Bali on north. Lake Rawa Pening, near Ambarawa in Semarang province bordering Java Sea is in the north-west of Oḍḍiyāna and confirms the assertions made in these cryptic biographies. “
Moreover:
“The lake is located in the volcanic Ambarawa Basin and presently covers a surface area of 25.0 to 26.7 sq km. Like floating islands found in Loktak lake in Manipur, Lake Rawa Pening has floating islands. Three is overabundance of aquatic plants specifically the Eceng gondok (E. Crassipes) that take root within the large amount of peat under the lakes surface( it is a volcanic basin) causing floating islands to appear. These floating islands are locally known as warungs. Further decomposed vegetation keeps accumulating upon which even other plants grow. Lake Rawa Pening also has abundance of lotus. It is not improbable for an eight year young adventurous boy sailing atop such a floating island full of lotus in such a beautiful lake. The lake, as per hagiographies of Padmasaṃbhava, was known as Dhanyakosha (treasure of paddy). A lake full of weeds would be characterized as such.
I saw many of these ‘weed’-like islands floating on the lake when visiting there.
As for King Indrabhuti of Oḍḍiyāṇa discovering the young boy, adopting him and making him a crown prince:
“Indrabhuti was sailing across the sea while in search of the jewel cintāmaṇi (चिन्तामणि), and then came to the lake and is said to have discovered Padmasaṃbhava. Since Lake Rawa Pening is connected to the shallow Java sea through the sailable river Tuntang, it is not unlikely that Indrabhuti who was venturing into Java sea came to this beautiful lake.
Interesting literary evidence is the local legend about the formation of the lake. This again concerns the story of a young little boy who pulled out a stick from the ground and water sprouted forming the the lake. The boy is sailing on the lake on a floating “lessung”, a wooden mortar for pounding rice. We know how Padmasaṃbhava is famed for creating lake magically from the ground recapitulating this local legend about the Lake Rawa Pening.”
The fact that Yeshe Tsogyel’s younger male consort also came from this region is more evidence of Padmasambhava hailing from Java, Kumar suggests:
“Yeshe Tsogyal, her Tibetan consort was advised by Padmasaṃbhava to take another consort based in Nepal, Atsara Sale. As per the biography of Yeshe Tsogyal, he was originally from Serling Suvarṇadvīpa i.e. Sumatra. Some biographies mention that Atsara Sahle was a Javanese. That also hints that when Padmasaṃbhava came to India from Java, he was not alone. There were streams of visitors coming from Central Java when the Śailendra dynasty came into power in Java during the first half of the 8th century.”
For more on Tsogyel and her consort, Sale see here.
Thus having identified this area of Java as Oḍḍiyāṇa, and more specifically Lake Rawa Pening as the place where Guru Padmasambhava’s home and birthplace, I decided I had to visit it!
Visiting Lake Rawa Pening, Java
Lake Rawa Pening (literally meaning ‘Clear Swamp’, from the Javanese Bening) is a lake in the Ambarawa Basin in Central Java, Indonesia. It is a major source of power, irrigation, and flood control, and is used for fishing. Due partly to the high numbers of aquatic plants, it may dry out by 2021. It covers a total area of 2,500 to 2,670 hectares (25.0 to 26.7 km2; 9.7 to 10.3 sq mi). It is shallow and swamplike, with muddy banks. Rawa Pening is estimated to have been formed between 18,000 and 13,500 BC after a period of increased precipitation. It reached its largest size from 11,000 to 9,000 BC but shrank until it reached its current size around 6,000 BC.
To protect Rawa Pening, the local government has enacted a green belt policy. Several establishments, such as the tourist attraction Kampoeng Rawa, were controversial owing to their construction within this belt.
From Borobudur, it takes about one and a half hours by road to get to the Lake. Amazingly, karma had it that I would meet a young Indonesian woman who kindly offered her family car and driver to visit there (and she brought along her 10 year old niece) with us. Not only did she offer this freely without payment but also paid for my lunch, drinks and boat ticket, a real Guru Rinpoche blessing if ever there was one! Having a young child with us made the trip more ‘fun’ and adventurous, and it was great to see them both grinning from ear to ear on the boat into the centre of the lake.
Endnotes
[1] According to various sources: “Dānapāla was an Indian Buddhist monk and prolific translator of Sanskrit Buddhist sutras during the Song dynasty in China. A native of Oddiyana, he was a Vajrayana monk at Oddiyana’s Vaijayanta Saṁghārama before arriving with his brother Devaśāntika in the Song dynasty capital Bianjing (now called Kaifeng) in 980 CE….The important Vajrayana root text Sarvatathāgata Tattvasaṃgraha Tantra was originally translated by Amoghavajra into Chinese during the 8th century CE, but it was an incomplete translation. Dānapāla was part of the team of translators who re-translated the entire Sarvatathāgata Tattvasaṃgraha Tantra. Dānapāla’s contribution included the 1st and 14th-16th out of 18 sections. He also translated other Vajrayana sutras such as Māyopamasamādhi Sutra among others. Dānapāla also translated many non-Vajrayana texts such as the Nāgārjuna’s Yuktiṣaṣṭikā, Mahāyānaviṃsaka, Dignāga’s Prajñāpāramitāpiṇḍārthaḥ as well as a version of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, the Heart Sutra entitled ‘The Holy Mother of [All] Buddhas Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra’ and the Candropama Sūtra the Sanskrit version of Saṃyutta Nikāya 16.3.”
E Ma Ho…”Revealing’ has been a swirl around in my mind since i last read your pilgrimpost. so it truly is and and it becomes more personal, loosening up and following the signs, revealing your true Being. Bravo!
i would say get well soon, but as we may suspect for the VajraBUdh, the illness is a gift of purity, a little welcome shift in our perception to reveal the path to follow.
Happi trails Buddri
Kor du Khandro mang pai kor…..
Thank you! Yes have been following and seeing signs and symbols for a long time now….especially when travelling 🙂
You said “Indonesians use the term ‘la’ as an honorific politeness, in the way Tibetans do”. As an Indonesian I’m honestly saying that its not true. Its actually “lah” not “la”. And it serves to put pressure of previous word, express an order/request (example: go home lah).
Ok thank you for the clarification.