“Homage to the Great Lotsawa, Dharmamatye
Master of all reality, union of emptiness and compassion
Great Bliss Vajra Joy [Hevajra] of the three secrets, who
Manifested directly as a great translator
Inseparable from the all-pervading sign of Padma , I bow down!
ན་མོ་གུ་རུ་མ་ཧཱ་ལོཙཱ་དྷ་རྨ་མ་ཏྱཻ།
སྟོང་ཉིད་སྙིང་རྗེ་ཟུང་འཇུག་དངོས་ཀུན་བདག།
བདེ་ཆེན་དགྱེས་པ་རྡོ་རྗེའི་གསང་བ་གསུམ།
དངོས་སུ་སྣང་བ་ལོཙཱ་ཆེན་པོ་དང་།
དཡེར་མེད་ཁྱབ་བདག་པདྨའི་མཚན་ལ་འདུད།”
–Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye, Marpa Guru Yoga (tr. A. Tomlin)
Today for the double “auspicious” date of the fifteenth day (full moon) of the first lunar month is Chotrul Duchen (ཆོ་འཕྲུལ་དུས་ཆེན་) commemorating the final day of the fifteen days of the Buddha Shakyamuni’s miracles, that commence on the first day of the new lunar year. ).
It is also the commemoration day of the passing of the great Tibetan Marpa Lotsawa (1012–1097) one of the greatest Tibetan Buddhist masters and translators who brought many Vajrayāna teachings, including Mahāmudrā and the Six Yogas of Nāropa, from India to Tibet, forming the basis of the Kagyu lineage., my own personal hero and inspiration, as I spoke about here (one of my first videos), when I first created the Dakini Translations website and activities as its sole female founder and author.
Auspicious events in the morning: tummo white sheet monks and offerings at the retreat centre and finally reading and seeing 8th Tai Situ, Chokyi Jungney’s Collected Works
The full moon day started auspiciously with a private and lone visit to the retreat centre of the Palpung Sherab Ling monks (who had recently finished their three-year retreat) and to the main shrine room there to make some offerings. Early that morning the monk retreatants had done a traditional kora of the monastery dressed in white sheets to demonstrate their accomplishment of tummo (inner heat) whereby they use the inner heat of their bodies to dry off wet sheets in freezing cold temperatures. It is a struggle sometimes to get out of bed at 5 when its very cold without a heater switched on and clothes, but imagine walking around in a thin white sheet?! Interestingly, the tummo practice is found in the Hevajra Tantra and six yogas of Naropa, both of which came from India into Tibet via the kindness of the great Marpa Lotsawa (who is also commemorated today). It is also considered a mundane siddhi (and not something to be used as entertainment or for profit or popularity etc).
When I arrived at the retreat centre, I offered the newly created “pure vision” red hat White Tara image. A monk who was there, who had just finished the retreat, asked me about the images and I explained their origin. He then explained he wanted to do a short meditation for around ten minutes and if I was willing to also wait and meditate while he did so. I agreed. When the blissful and profound meditation finished in such a pure and auspicious place, the the monk then placed the framed image on the throne of the retreat master. More on that in a future post!
Also, I finally got to see and read some of the volumes from 8th Tai Situpa, Chokyi Jungney’s Collected Works. I had already been to the library a few times to ask about it, and up until then had been unable to see it and read some of it. One would think such a Collected Works would be easy to read and access at such a place, right? Not at all. If I had not been persistent in my request with the librarian monk from Kham there, it would not have happened. More on this in a future post too!
Cho-trul Duchen (Day of Miraculous Manifestations) and the meaning of mundane and supreme accomplishments (siddhis)
Today is also Chotrul Duchen (Great Day of Miraculous Manifestations), the 15th full moon day of the 1st lunar month. It is celebrated, in particular, by Tibetan and Himalayan region Buddhists as the final day of the fifteen days of the Buddha Shakyamuni’s miracles, that commence on the 1st day of the new lunar year. It celebrates the fifteen days on which, in order to increase the merit and the devotion of future disciples, Buddha displayed a different amazing power (siddhi) each day. Even though Buddha would often scold his monks if they displayed extraordinary powers, he sometimes resorted to displays of amazing power to prove a point, or to instill faith. For my previous article about the fifteen miracles , see here. [1]
Worldly and Supreme Siddhis/Powers
I also published a short Facebook reel today about the common/mundane Siddhis (ཐུན་མོང་གི་དངོས་གྲུབ་, thun mong gi ngos grub): and supreme Siddhi (མཆོག་གི་དངོས་གྲུབ་, chog gi ngos grub). The mundane powers are powers such as clairvoyance, seeing into the future and past, being able to re-direct one’s consciousness with clarity into the next life, being able to enter other realms and manifest many bodies, speak many different languages and be two places at the same time and so on.
However, the supreme siddhi/ accomplishment is full awakening/Buddhahood. The Buddha Nature (Tathatagarbha) qualities are infinite but include omniscience (tham-che Khyenpa), supreme joy, supreme bliss, supreme compassion and so on. These are not temporary, conditioned mental states, and are achieved by completely purifying one’s mind from the cognitive and afflictive obscurations (she-drib and nyon-drib).
Realizing emptiness/selflessness is considered to be a first bhumi (out of ten bhumi levels) on the path to awakening. These days, some people (rather comically) openly declare that they are awakened and Mahasiddhas, but they are unable to reveal or demonstrate any of the mundane/ordinary siddhis, never mind the supreme ones.
A quick way to examine whether a teacher has such siddhis or not, is to ask them “what is on my mind right now?” “What did I do yesterday?”. Or tell you something about your past that would be difficult for anyone to know. However, that in itself is not evidence of a qualified teacher, because one of the most difficult accomplishments in Buddhism is to generate genuine wish to emerge from samsara/renunciation and also genuine love and compassion for all beings, as if they were your only child. And as many great masters, including Je Tāranatha have said, one of the most essential qualities for a qualified teacher (and practitioner).
Buddha also taught that even if one accomplishes full awakening or the lower Arhat level, one should not tell people they have publicly. The reason being that if people think negatively about it, and doubt its truth, that will create negative karma for them. Worse than that, if one is not enlightened and tells people one is, that is a huge fault that will lead to a negative result of suffering for you (and possibly mislead others).
Marpa Lotsawa (1012–1097) who risked his life and possessions to bring the Dharma teachings from India to Tibet
Today, is also the anniversary of the great Tibetan yogi and translator, Marpa Lotsawa, a man who was seen as ordinary layperson (and grumpy and bad-tempered) by many. It’s no wonder he might have been like that though, when you read his life-stories, including two recent ones published in Tibet, by Pawo Tsuglag Trengwa. The trials, tribulations, sabotage, jealousy and more he faced on his three arduous journeys to India from Tibet to bring back the teachings are amazing and inspirational indeed.
A few years ago, I spoke about how Marpa was the main inspiration for my first founding Dakini Translations in 2018, as a sole female author and founder, despite many challenges, objections, obstacles, naysayers and people trying to defame and sabotage it, even to this day! And for the record, it is only me doing it even now.
In January 2002, after the completion of the 2001 Kagyu Monlam, the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje presided over a conference with all Karma Kamtsang monasteries. At that conference, he called on all Kamtsang Monasteries to focus their attention on reviving the cycle of the Thirteen Tantras of the Great Marpa Lotsawa, which tantras are central to the Kagyu monastic practice.
There is a specific section of the website dedicated to my original research and translations on Marpa, see here. Topics include a Guru Yoga to Marpa composed by Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye the First.
A couple of days ago, I also bought this stunning artwork (see photo above) from Palpung Sherab Ling monastery, India, with Marpa surrounded by Tibetan yogi practitioners, doing trulkhor/yogic postures. It was the last one available at the shop. This is the first artwork of Marpa Lotsawa I have bought (other than the one I commissioned personally before here).
Endnotes
[1] Buddha’s miraculous powers on the fifteen days:
- On the first day, the Buddha pressed his tooth-stick in the ground, and it immediately turned into a beautiful tree full of flowers and ripe fruit.
- On the second day, he emanated two mountains of jewels.
- On the third day, he created a jeweled lake.
- On the fourth day, voices came from the lake explaining all aspects of the Dharma.
- On the fifth day, the Buddha radiated golden light from his face. This filled the entire world, purifying the afflictions of sentient beings.
- On the sixth day, he gave people the ability to read each others’ thoughts.
- On the seventh day, he transformed his Sakya clan benefactors into world-rulers.
- On the eighth day, the Buddha pressed down on his throne with the fingers of his right hand. At that moment, Vajrapani appeared from brandishing a flaming vajra at the six non-believing teachers. Members of Vajrapani’s retinue scattered the heretics and smashed the thrones of their teachers. The heretics fled in fear. At that point, the Buddha radiated eighty-four thousand rainbow-colored light rays. At the tip of each light ray sat a buddha on a lotus throne. And each of these was surrounded by attendants. Onlookers saw these buddhas teaching the Dharma, and many were liberated by just this sight.
Because of this display, the ninety thousand followers renounced their former teachers, adopted the Buddhist Dharma, joined the monkhood, and later became arhats. Then, for seven more days Buddha Śākyamuni performed more miracles for the entire gathering and gave them teachings.
- On the ninth day the king of gods, Brahma, made offerings to Buddha. The Buddha expanded his body until it reached up to the highest heaven. Then, he emitted light rays into all directions while he taught the Dharma.
- On the tenth day, the four great kings who protect the Dharma invited Buddha to speak. This time, the Buddha expanded his body until it reached the height of samsara. And once again, he emanated light rays which then expounded the Dharma.
- On the eleventh day, the great patron Anāthapiṇḍada made offerings to the meditating Buddha. The Buddha concealed his physical body, but radiated a golden light, and projected his voice so that all could hear.
- On the twelfth day, Buddha entered into a meditation on great love, and golden light radiated from his body, extending throughout the worlds. These rays of light purified the three poisons from the onlookers and they gave rise to great compassion.
- On the thirteenth day the Buddha, while seated on the lion throne, emitted two rays of light from his navel. These light rays rose fifteen meters, and one each point was a lotus, and on each lotus, a buddha. From the navel of each buddha extended two rays of light and upon each point or these sat a buddha, teaching the Dharma while seated on a lotus throne. These buddhas filled all the world systems.
- On the fourteenth day, a king offered flowers to the Buddha. The Buddha transformed these flowers into chariots made of precious jewels. Then, the Buddha taught the Dharma to all beings as a doctor healed the sick.
- On the fifteenth, final day of the spring celebration, King Bimbisara made offerings to the Buddha. The Buddha asked King Bimbisara to bring vessels for food and these spontaneously filled with foods of a hundred different tastes. When the assembly ate, their bodies and minds were completely satisfied. Buddha then asked, “Why do we experience such immeasurable suffering in the world?” By his blessing, all beings, including demons, realized that they themselves had caused their own misery by their mistaken actions. When they realized this, the assembly all developed great faith.