Library: Member Essays

Monastic Buddhism in the Medieval Period and the 84 Mahasiddhas

The Medieval Period and Rise of Scholasticism

Reform Movements: Tantric Yogis and Forest Monks

The Vidyadhara in India, Burma and Tibet

Milarepa and the Yogins of Tibet

The Kagyu Monastics

The Medieval Period and Rise of Scholasticism

About a century before the dawn of the Christian era, nomad tribes from interior Asia, known

as Shakas or Scythians, led by the powerful warlord Moga, invaded and conquered the

north-west corner of India. One of these Shakas named Azes appears to have inaugurated

the Vikrama Era in 58 BC. After him came Azilises, and then around 5 AD, King Azes II.

Not long after 19 AD the power of the warrior Shakas was broken by the Parthians under

Gondophares.1 And then another Asian tribe who called themselves the Kushans, were

driven westward into the lands of the Shakas and Parthians by the Chinese. Upheaval

followed upheaval. Around 78 AD2 the Kushan king Kanishka finally consolidated much of

Afghanistan and much of the northern region of India, including Kashmir, under his

dominion. He established what might be called a "pax Kushana", in part by subduing local

regions under feudal rule. Kanishka adopted and promoted Buddhism throughout his

empire.

In brief, we may state that the period from the Buddha up to the era of Kanishka, a period of

630 years, covers the most important phase of initial development in Buddhism. During this

period the foundations of Buddhist teaching and practice were laid down: the formation of

the Eighteen Orders, the fixing of the Vinaya in its present editions, and the setting down of

the metaphysical doctrine (Abhidharma) in written form.

Between the time of Kanishka up until the dawn of what we are calling the Medieval Period

three great intellectual movements appear to take place in Buddhism.

First of all, there was the southern saint whose impact on Buddhist thought would be

enormous: Arya-Nagarjuna, author of the profound philosophical treatise,Mulamadhyamaka-

karika. This Nagarjuna was a contemporary of the first century emperor Satavahana, who

ruled over a large portion of southern India.

The next event of great importance was the gradual emergence into the light of day of what

are known as the Mahayana-sutras (or vaipulya-sutra). The Tibetan historian Taranatha tells

us that the first to hear of these sutras was the second century King Laksasva. He built

several monasteries and temples on Mount Abu, a mountain largely settled by Parsee

followers of Zarathustra from Iran—a mountain which today stands in Rajastan close to the

border of Gujarat. Mount Abu supports a 1200 metre high plateau with a beautiful sacred

lake in its centre. King Laksavara invited teachers and monks of the Mahayana tradition to

reside in the monasteries that he established there.

Taranatha records that after the establishment of a centre on Mount Abu, there appeared

many teachers of the Mahayana who received inspiration from celestial Bodhisattvas, such

as Manjusri, Avalokitesvara, Guhyapati, Maitreya and Vajrapani. Once that the Mahayana

sutras had been brought into the world, their dispersal was rapid. In 67 AD Kasyapa Matanga

and Dharmaraksa set forth from Gandhara (northwest India) on the silk route to China,

carrying with them on the back of a white horse a gold statue of the Buddha and the

Mahayana sutra of 42 sections. Somewhere in the wastes of Tokharistan they met agents of

the Chinese Emperor Mingti, who claimed that the Emperor had had a dream of a golden

man, radiant as the sun, travelling on a white horse toward China. Kasyapa and

Dharmaraksa were consequently escorted to the Han capital, Loyang. There they were

introduced to the Emperor himself, to whom they explained the Mahayana way of

compassion and wisdom, and the White Horse Temple (Ch. Pai-ma-ssu) was erected in

Loyang for their use. Thus, carried like seeds, the Mahayana quickly flowered in the Dharma-

garden of the east.

The third great spiritual movement to arise in the Buddhist world was the Yogacara,

inaugurated by Asanga and Vasubandhu (290-370 AD), as a corrective against the rise of

scholasticism that was then replacing the contemplative tradition in India.

Davidson categorizes the birth of the Medieval Period in Indian history with the final demise

of the Imperial Guptas around 550 AD and the death of King Harsha in 647. This period in

history, approximately from c. 500 AD to 1200 AD, he describes as

"messy and confusing… It is the period of rise of cultural forms that British and continental

authors loved to hate and that some Indians acknowledge with chagrin: tantrism, bhakti,

excessively sophisticated poetry, sati, the solidification of the caste system, and the

rapacious appropriation of tribal lands, to mention a few."3

It was also a period marked by the decline of women's rights, the advent ofkamasutra and

pornography in Indian culture, and in Buddhism, an eclipse of the earlier meditative

tradition. In many cases we find that women's Orders of nuns disappear during this time, as

their right to have independent lives are gradually curtailed. With the decline of meditation,

scholasticism becomes the main Buddhist activity to take its place.

The great University of Nalanda was founded by King Kumaragupta who reigned c. 415-455

AD. When Fa-Hien visited Nalanda in the fourth century it was a rather desolate little place

called Nala, chiefly remembered for being the village where Shariputra was born and where

his remains were laid to rest in a Stupa. But after its inauguration by Kumaragupta, building

continued through the next five successive reigns, to be finally completed by King

Yasodharma in 535 AD. Nalanda became the leading light for scholastic Buddhism. By the

time that Rahulabhadra, ordained in the Mula-sarvastivada Order (see Early Buddhist

Monastic Tradition & Today), became an abbot at Nalanda, the place had grown into a full

scale University, with a large faculty. Rahulabhadra, the teacher of Nagarjuna II (author of

theMahaprajnaparamita-sastra, a commentary on the Prajnaparamita-sutra in 25,000slokas),

was a contemporary of the Madhyamaka scholars Kamalagarbha and Ghanasala.

The Chinese monk I-ching has left us with a detailed report of life at Nalanda around 671 AD,

at the time of his trip to India. According to his report, Nan-hai chi-kuei nei-fa chuan,

Nalanda was a giant University supporting many thousands of students and scholars at state

expense.

I-ching mentions the different Buddhist monastic Orders existing in his time: the

Mahasanghika, Theravada, Mula-Sarvastivada and so forth. He says that some members of

these Orders practiced a Hinayana form of Buddhism; others adhered to the Mahayana.

There were evidently, for example, Mahayana practitioners who were monks of the

Theravada Order, or conversely, Sarvastivada who kept strictly to the Hinayana. In contrast,

nowadays it is generally said that the Theravada entirely eschews the Mahayana, but in

earlier times this was evidently not the case.

A concise description of these two Ways (ayana) of Buddhism, which thrived during the

medieval period, has been given by Prof. Conze, who said as follows:

"The adherents of the Mahayana and Hinayana both practice the same Vinaya, recognize

the same five categories of faults, are attached to the same four Truths. Those who worship

the Bodhisattvas and who read the Mahayana-sutras get the name of Mahayanists; those

who do not are Hinayanists."4

During the Medieval Period monastic life became far more regulated. Just as feudalism, first

introduced by the foreign Kushans some centuries earlier, replaced earlier democratic

systems in Indian politics, so too it made formidable inroads into religion. "Scholasticism" is

a word used to describe the style of learning and education dominant prior to the rise of

humanism in Europe; however, it is also a term eminently suitable to describe the early

medieval period in Indian Buddhism. Scholasticism (from the Latin schola, or school) implies

an exhaustive and detailed study of a given set of "authorized" texts embodying the

transmitted knowledge of a particular school of thought. In support of the philosophical

position of the school to which a particular student might belong, the student would first

undertake a long, painstaking, closely supervised reading of the approved authorities. He

would then be trained to engage in the art of disputatio, i.e., the standard forms of debate

that adhered to an established logic system, to prove the overall veracity of the text that he

was trained in. Graduates became expert upholders of the view maintained by their

respective schools. Loyalty to a given school of thought was not so much based on a

personal search for understanding and Truth; rather, it was a feudal obligation to one's

school or lineage.

Students of a particular school were often connected to their given school through clan and

family ties. This principle often had economic foundations. Royal patronage of a monastery

meant that the intellectual and professional abilities of members of the monastic

establishment were at the service of the king.

The traditional support of monastics by local donation changed during the medieval age into

a system of feudal taxation. Large monasteries and universities became the owners (by

royal decree) of villages and districts, from which they could draw support at demand. One

benefit of this system was that the great monastic universities, such as Nalanda,

Vikramasila, Odantapuri, and so forth, might be attended without cost to either the students

or faculty, i.e., the universities and monasteries were maintained at state expense. But the

downside was the fact that the burden of this expense rested on the backs of the people,

the villagers themselves, who had no say in the matter. Another evil was the dependency of

the monasteries to the royal whim.

Conceptual changes also arose. While in earlier Buddhism the ideal was embodied in the

Arhat, the saint, the ascetic, the enlightened one (bodhisattva), or in other words the man or

woman who attained realization through spiritual practice and meditation, during the

Medieval Period the ideal person became the savant, the most brilliant scholar. The clerics

and the favoured monastic priests (purohit) that served the royal court, were intellectuals

recognized for the infinite amount of literary knowledge they had succeeded in memorizing.

The greatest scholars (pandits) were they who could demonstrate their erudition in public

contests of debate.

Through disputation against every foe, the scholar was expected to uphold the position of

his (and it was usually a "he" since womens' position sank to an all-time low) own school.

The scholar who conceded a major public debate was more than often made to join the

winning school. Since this could result in far more than loss of face—indeed, more than likely

in a loss of one's social position and university professorship, and therefore a loss of salary—

failure could pose a major disaster. The promotion of scholarly learning and memorization of

minuscule detail was therefore pushed to extreme limits.

In the Pancaka Nipata of the Anguttaranikaya there is a prediction by the Buddha regarding

the decline of the Buddhist contemplative life:

"In the future, Bhikshus will put forth no effort to attain the unattained, to master the un-

mastered, to realize the unrealized, since those who come after, falling into wrong views,

will become indulgent, lazy and degenerate. Thus, Bhikshus, from corrupt Dharma comes

corrupt discipline, from corrupt discipline comes corrupt Dharma."

Reform Movements: Tantric yogis and Forest monks

The ideal of the Enlightened one did not disappear, even though the culture-hero of the age

was epitomized by the great Pandit.

Whenever the meditation tradition dies out amongst a Buddhist population, certain

individuals eventually come forth to revive it. This has happened over and over in Buddhism.

However, a return to meditation was not always possible within monasteries were the

contemplative tradition was superceded by rigid adherence to rules and ritual. Quite apart

from encouraging scholastic pursuits, monasteries in the Medieval Period focused on

keeping the vows and the routine of living a pure life as a monk, with the consequence that

actual meditation practice was put on the back burner. Since this resulted in no one

attaining interior spiritual experience, the word went out that saints (aryas) were a

phenomena of the past.

As the Medieval Period deepened, monastic life continued to become more and more

stagnant.

Around 700 AD numbers of monks started "dropping out" of the monasteries, and to a very

large degree, dropping out of society altogether. Often adopting low-caste employment as a

means of support, these monastically trained and often very learned "drop outs", took to the

life of Yogis and Yoginis in pursuit of inner wisdom. These mystics were frequently referred

to as siddhas or adepts, practitioners of Tantric Buddhism, and they were noted for

performing saintly miracles.

Besides the meditation manuals expounding Yogacara doctrine, the secret lore of the

siddhas was encapsulated in a number of unique mystical scriptures known as the Tantras.

The story goes that the first of these secret treatises to appear in the world were brought to

this planet by non-terrestrial beings.

The historical transmission is very briefly related as follows: The esoteric teachings, the

Secret Tantra, originally came from the primordial Buddha-Mind itself and reached the

human world in three successive levels of transmission or stages, each a step-down from the

former. These are known as the mind-transmission of the Buddhas, the symbolic

transmission of the extra-terrestrial Vidyadharas, and the oral transmission of the (human)

sages.

The intermediary in this transmission of information occurred in the communication of

wisdom through non-verbal symbol-bits (Tib: brDa), passed—so it was said—from celestial

Insight-holders (vidyadhara) to Bodhisattva-masters on the physical plane, whose minds had

become fully ripened to receive the truth. The Insight-holders indicate the knowledge

through symbol, whereat the ascended masters comprehend the perfect meaning and

translate it into conceptual thought. It was the latter who then expressed it in human

language.

It is said that the Tantra was brought to this world through two channels of symbolic

transmission: first, transmission to a further level of extra-terrestrial insight-holders, and

secondly, transmission through extra-terrestrial insight-holders to certain terrestrial (human)

insight-holders.

In the old Tibetan text, the sPyi-mDo dGongs-'Dus, it is said:

"On the summit of Mount Dragshul Chan,

to the Bodhisattva friend in human form,

the sacred essence of the Knowledge,

as revealed under the directive of the Vajra-holder,

was transmitted from the solar-systems (cakravala)

of the Shining-ones."

The Bodhisattva friend mentioned in this account was a great master of our world named

Vimalakirti, who is said to have received what are called the "sixty-four fundamental

tantras" from four extra-terrestrial beings, the deva Dragden Chogkyong, the naga Jogpa,

the yaksha Karda Dong, and the raksha Lodro Thubten. (It is interesting to speculate from

the fact that the word tantra means "thread", that what is being said here is that Vimalakirti,

the human sage, received from four non-human beings an awakening of the 64 threads of

selectively encoded data that lie locked in the human gene bank. There are exactly 64 DNA

codons in the genetic repository of the human body, just as there are 64 squares in the

game of chess, sixty-four symbol-bits that, when triggered, release the full compliment of

human knowledge into consciousness. The four beings are in one sense earlier archetypes

for the four lineage streams that the Mahasiddha Tilopa incorporated into his oral

transmission, now known as the Kagyu.) This legendary transmission is said to mark the

historical origin of the Tantric tradition—the origin of the "golden rosary of knowledge" that,

when later translated into human thought and written down, was intended to reveal the way

whereby men and women can awaken their full potential as evolving creatures on this

planet, in what (in the ancient Buddhist scriptures) is called our Saha solar-system, or Saha-

cakravala.

The written tantra-texts as we possess them are frequently incomplete, and it is said that

they are but the fragmentary redactions of earlier root texts (mula-tantra) now lost. These

transmitted redactions are the sacred treatises that taught the science of the first Buddhist

(and Hindu) siddhas and great yogins of the past.

There is a well-known group of siddhas, both male and female, who because of the lengthy

commentaries on the tantras, the practical meditation manuals, the spiritual poetry, and the

other religious writings that they authored, are remembered in history as the 84

Mahasiddhas, the eighty-four Great Adepts. While some of these adepts retained their

monastic vows, we find that many did not. This was because of the fact, explained above,

that during the late medieval period monastic life had actually become contrary to the path

of Enlightenment. The eighty-four Great Adepts were the founders of various lineages of

spiritual practice.

An example of the Mahasiddha may well be demonstrated by the life of the Nepalese siddha

Maitripa.5 Born near Kapilavastu, in southern Nepal, Maitripa received a thorough Brahmin

education up to the age of eighteen. He then joined Vikramasila monastery and came under

the influence of the Mahapandita ("great scholar")Naropa, from whom he studied the logic

systems of Dignaga and Dharmakirti, the Madhyamaka philosophy of Nagarjuna, and then,

for two years, the epistemological hermeneutics of the Prajnaparamita-sutras. He then met

Ratnakarasanti, from whom he began to gain an understanding of Yogacara mental-theory.

Finally, at the age of 21, he received the Bhikshu-ordination according to the Sammitiya

Order and was given the name Bhikshu Maitrigupta. He was unmatched in his erudition.

Naropa was one of the greatest scholars in India at the time. However, one day while he was

resting beneath the outspread branches of a tree, reading a particularly profound

philosophical text, an old lady who was a yogini came up to him. She asked him if he could

understand the words of the text that he was reading and he said yes, he could. At this she

showed great happiness. But when he also answered in the affirmative to the question as to

whether he understood the meaning of the text, she showed great distress. In this way she

shocked Naropa into the realization that all his vaunted knowledge was simply intellectual;

he did not have an experiential, mystical comprehension of the Buddha's path. He was like

someone who knew everything about the makeup, molecular structure and dietary aspects

of ice-cream, but had never actually tasted ice-cream, and therefore had no actual

experience of what ice-cream really was. In this sense, his knowledge of Dharma, was purely

speculative and intellectual. He had no actual experience of the Enlightened state. He

merely possessed book-knowledge.

"Who does know the meaning?" he asked. The old yogini told Naropa to seek out her

brother, the homeless yogi Tilopa. This resulted in Naropa abandoning his life of scholarship

altogether, in search of experiential Truth. Naropa became a disciple of the Mahasiddha

Tilopa.

Naropa's discipleship under Tilopa would have occurred sometime after the period when

Maitrigupta was studying at Vikramasila, since during that period Naropa was obviously still

very much a professor at that University. Perhaps it was Naropa's example of leaving the

university and monastic life that influenced Maitrigupta.

At any rate, in his 28th year Maitrigupta underwent a distinct revulsion for scholastic

learning, very similar to that ascribed to Naropa. The historian Pema Karpo reports that a

young girl of sixteen years and great beauty appeared to Maitrigupta. "Do not stay here,"

she reportedly said. "In the East, in the temple of Khasarpana, there is Avalokitesvara. Go

and receive teaching from him." She then disappeared.6

Maitrigupta travelled in stages to Khasarpana. There he remained for one year, praying

assiduously, but nevertheless not finding the master that he sought. Again in a dream he

received a message, this time by a white male figure, who told him to travel to south India,

to Sri Parvata, a site famous as a place of worship to Avalokitesvara.

The journey to Sri Parvata was not an easy one, however while there, he learned about the

Mahasiddha Savari. Matrigupta travelled from place to place, trying to locate the Savari. For

a while he settled at Vaktapad where he recited Tara's mantra a hundred thousand times.

After that he became convinced that he should pursue his search in the Manda Range of the

eastern Vindhya Hills. This involved a fifteen day trek to the Vikrama Peak. On the twelfth

day he reached the limits of his endurance and collapsed. Despondent over his failure, and

now at the age of 30, he felt like committing suicide. Just at that critical moment, the Guru

Savari appeared.7

Savari means one who belongs to the Sabara tribe, an untouchable people even lower than

the Dombis and Candalas, who lived by hunting wild game in the Vindhya forest. Savaripa

was a famous yogi of that tribe, a disciple of Saraha, who lived with two women consorts.

When Maitrigupta first came across the Guru, he found him sitting on the ground, while his

two consorts were picking lice from his hair. Maitrigupta, still an orthodox Bhikshu and from

a high Brahmin caste, was momentarily shaken in his faith by this scene.

Maitrigupta's first thought was to return to his monastery. Then he considered, "If I go back

now, I would lose face in front of all the monks and scholars there. Maybe I should have

killed myself after all." Savari, seeing the perplexity on Matrigupta's face, asked him what

was wrong.

"I have deserted my life of scholarship, forgotten all the doctrines, and now, finding nothing,

contemplate suicide," Maitri-gupta answered.

Savari, using the Madhyamaka-philosophical language that Maitrigupta knew so well, then

said, "Tell me: Where does one find this 'forgetting of all doctrines,' when in the first place

all is non-originated? Where does one find this 'forgetting all doctrines,' when in the first

place all is non-ceasing? If the entire threefold Universe has always been'"liberated from the

beginning,' as your philosophy says, then right now your innate Buddha-nature must be

present, however much it might seem obscured by ignorance."

At these words, sudden realization dawned on Maitrigupta. The actions and appearance of

the Guru he then saw as a sign pointing out the Unoriginated Nature of all things. He

therefore gained unequivocal faith in Savari, whom he recognized as a real embodiment of

the compassionate Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara in person.

After that Maitrigupta received secret Tantric Empowerment from Savari, and was given the

name Advayapada, the one who abides (pada) beyond duality (dvaya). He then went and

meditated in the forest as a yogi for twelve years.

Although his proper tantric name was Advayapada, he is perhaps better known in Kagyu

history as Maitripa, one of the teachers of the Tibetan sage Marpa of Lhodrak.

It is said that by virtue of instruction, meditation and subsequent advice, there gradually

developed in Advayapada an intuitive comprehension of Reality just as it is. He received a

full experiential understanding of the knowledge of all the 64 tantras. Thus he became a

human Vidyadhara.

Having completed the path and come to know the intrinsic nature of mind, Advayapada's

initial impulse was to continue to live in the forest for the rest of his life. Mahasiddha Savari,

however, pointed his finger at his disciple and admonished him, "What do you expect to

accomplish without helping others? You have a fine intellect and education, therefore go and

teach people the reality of the way that things are." In this manner Savari disposed of his

pupil's illusions and sent him forth to pursue a career of writing and teaching.

The Mahasiddha Advayapada (Maitripa) returned to Bihar, middle India, were he proceeded

to instruct large numbers of disciples. He is said to have composed some famous philosophic

works at Sri Parvata and elsewhere. He became a leading exponent of Mahamudra, and

under the name Maitripa is the author of a fundamental Mahamudra-treatise of the Kagyu

school. (See Master Maitripa's Concise Summary of Mahamudra.)

Maitripa was somewhat younger than the great Naropa, and began to earn considerable

fame just as the latter came to the end of his life. In the eastern portion of India he founded

a hermitage near the Mountain of Fire Cremation Ground, and he dwelt there, teaching

disciples and writing treatises on yoga. He acquired four leading disciples, seven middling

disciples, and ten minor disciples. The four leading disciples were named Sahajavajra, Rama,

Sunyatasamadhi, and Vajrapani.

When his time came to die, he said to the latter, "Vajrapani, go and gather all the disciples."

It is said that he then made extensive Offerings and gave his last Meditation Instructions. He

passed away at the age of 75.

One characteristic of the historical Eighty-four Mahasiddhas is that they are equally

recognized by Buddhists and by Hindus. Apparently they were so universal in thought and

practice, that they became recognized saints in both religious traditions.

The Vidyadhara in India, Burma and Tibet

The aim of the siddha in Buddhism was to attain the state of a Vidyadhara. This term needs

some explanation. Vidyadhara (Tibet: Rig-dzin), literally translated, means "Insight-holder"

or "Knowledge-holder". But the term has a wealth of meaning in tantric lore. A Vidyadhara is

one who possesses the "knowledge of reality" whereby he or she acquires power over the

physical world—he (she) stands in a privileged position vis-à-vis the Universe and can pass

at will through the dimensions. Through specialized higher knowledge the Vidyadhara is able

to manipulate the framework of nature.

In other words, the Vidyadhara is a master not only in terms of seeing into the mind, but

wields control over the concrete field of existence – he or she can transit through space and

time, and has an influence on human destiny.

In Burma, the existence of the Vidyadhara has not been forgotten. Indeed, the Shwedagon

Pagoda is, to quote one author, "generally believed to be a favourite haunt of Weizzers,

hermits endowed with magical powers and semi-divine beings who have come to do

obeisance to it in order to gain eternal merit for their well-being in future lives."8 Here the

term "Weizzer" (variously spelt, Waizzar, Weisar, etc.), is short for "Weizzer-Dho". This is the

Burmese equivalent of the Sanskrit Vidyadhara.

Interestingly enough, this term also has a well-known English equivalent: Wizard. Modern

Western man no longer believes in his Wizards, and treats them as fairy tales out of the

past. Nevertheless, in old celtic lore, a "Wizard" was a wise man, a holder of wisdom, who

could look into the past and future. Merlin, the advisor of the legendary king Arthur, was

such a wizard.

A Wizard or Weizzer is a person possessed of the special knowledge whereby the

fundamental ground of space and time can be subtly influenced by a mind to conform to

certain desired results.

The Burmese master Bodaw Aung Min Gaung was a Weizzer, and his disciple U Tila Wunta is

one at the present time.

The Burmese say that among Weizzars there are two kinds: Lawki Weizzars and Lawkuttara

Weizzars. The former are Wizards who have acquired mastery over the physical world; they

know the secret mantras, pentacles and talismans, by which world-events can be affected. A

Sei Weizzar is a type of Lawki-wizard who uses his psychic powers for healing the sick. In

Burma someone who has accomplished the transmutation of matter through alchemical

science is also a Weizzar of the Lawki type. When Namgyal Rinpoche resided in Burma as a

young monk he spent considerable time observing and studying with the Weizzar-alchemists

who, in the old days, would often visit U Tila Wunta's monastery in Rangoon. Weizzars are

also believed to be able to know who a person was in their previous lifetimes, and are able

to observe the reincarnation of someone who has died. Lawki wizards are siddhas who can

consciously and wilfully work miracles, as and when they choose.

Lawkuttara Weizzars, on the other hand, are more than

ordinary this-worldly wizards; they are enlightened

wizards, or in other words, wisdom-masters who have

seen the foundations of Reality. They are saints who

have realized the transcendental. The true Vidyadhara is

a lawkuttara insight-holder.

This leads us to the Forest Monks of Burma. Forest

Monks are often closely related to the Vidyadhara

tradition, since they too have left the city and village

monasteries to go out into the wilderness. Dissatisfied with the absence of a meditation

practice amongst their fellows, the Forest Monk Tradition came into being as a reform

movement. Like the Mahasiddhas of former times in India, the Forest tradition has now

grown very strong wherever it manages to thrive in Burma, Thailand and Ceylon, supported

by monks and nuns who want to live a spiritual life of meditation.

Milarepa and the Yogins of Tibet

Then there is the Tibetan yogin (male or female), particularly characterized by the most

famous yogi of all, Milarepa.

Milarepa never became a monk. His inspiration came directly out of the Buddhist tradition of

the 84 Mahasiddhas of India. He was a young man who, to revenge harm done to his

mother, at first turned to sorcery. It is said that through sorcery he succeeded in killing his

mother's enemies. This success, however, led to a deep sense of remorse, which only Lama

Marpa could remove by causing Milarepa to perform acts of severe penance.

After tremendous suffering and hardship, Milarepa was freed of his remorse. Lama Marpa

then instructed Milarepa in the secret practice of Candali (Tib: gTum-mo, otherwise known

as Kundalini). This tantric practice, inherited from the Siddhas of ancient India, involved a

number of spiritual exercises that work directly on the nerves and psychic energies of the

body and mind. By raising Candali to the fontanelle, the yogin is rapidly absorbed into the

trance of Samadhi. With the right instruction and guidance, this can be the so called "fast

track" to Enlightenment. It is a way, however, not without certain psychophysical dangers,

which must be carefully navigated.

Having received instruction in the Candali-practice, Milarepa then spent years as a yogi

wandering from place to place in the Himalayan mountains, living in caves, while practicing

meditation.

The lifestyle of the yogi and yogini, exemplified by Milarepa, has since then been copied by

innumerable Tibetans for many generations. Young men or women, following a Lama, have

again and again taken to mountains or out into nature, and there sought Enlightenment by

full immersion into the spiritual life.

Milarepa's sole costume was a thin white cotton robe. Nevertheless he lived and travelled

through some of the harshest terrain known to man, in the dead of winter. Only his supreme

mastery of mind and body made it possible for him to survive under such conditions. In this

regard, he was exceptional, and other yogins have taken somewhat easier routes.

Milarepa stands at the headwaters of the present Kagyu monastic tradition. He was not a

monk himself, but his influence on Kagyu monastic life is tremendous. Once that monks and

nuns realized that the Buddha originally intended for them to dedicate themselves to

meditation, and a meditation tradition was revived in the monasteries, those who in earlier

ages left monasticism so as to seek the experience of the siddhas in the forest, now

streamed back again to those monasteries where meditation was being practiced. Kagyu

monasteries in Tibet became famous as centres were real Enlightenment could be won, as in

the Buddha's age.

The Kagyu Monastics

So now, in a sense, we come full circle. The Kagyu monastic tradition began withDagpo

Lhaje Gampopa, a direct disciple of Milarepa. Gampopa was born in 1074 AD, the second of

three brothers. At the age of twenty-two he married a beautiful women with whom he was

very much in love. From their union there came a son and daughter. Gampopa's profession

was that of a physician, and he was very good in that field – in fact, one of the best.

Although a very good medical doctor, both his son and daughter succumbed to an outbreak

of the plague. Some time afterwards his wife was discovered to have cancer, and after

suffering a long illness, she too died, leaving him utterly bereft. While his wife was dying,

she had said to Gampopa, "Happiness is not to be found in this world. After my death, dear

husband, please take to the spiritual life for both our sakes."

The death of his children and wife caused Gampopa to develop a very strong sense of

renunciation. He received ordination as a Khadampa monk from the Upadhyaya Loden

Sherab of Mangyul, assisted by the two Acaryas, Sherab Nyingpo and Changchub Sempah.

He was given the name Sonam Rinchen. He was 26 years old.

It is said that Gampopa was very diligent in keeping his monastic vows. He developed

meditation according to the instructions of Kamalashila (see On Kamalashila's

Bhavanakrama) and the school of Atisha. He attained the ability to dwell in the trance of

Samadhi for hours at a time, enjoying states of interior calm, bliss and clarity. However, this

in and of itself did not result in the Enlightenment that he was seeking. He felt that he

needed to find a teacher of the Secret Tantric Way, and it was that quest which eventually

caused him to become a disciple of the white robed Yogi, Milarepa.

Gampopa first met Milarepa at Tashi Gang, where he made offerings of tea, gold, and other

things, prostrating himself to the master many times. Joining his hands at the heart, he said,

"I came from a long distance, enduring many hardships, a seeker of the precious Secret

Doctrine of the Tantra. Please accept me as a disciple."

To test him, and knowing that Gampopa was a monk whose vows precluded the drinking of

alcohol, Milarepa offered him a drink from his kapala. At first Gampopa hesitated, but then

he accepted the bowl and drank its whole contents. Milarepa considered that an auspicious

sign, demonstrating that Gampopa was truly ready and sufficiently amenable to receive the

secret teachings.

Milarepa clarified all of Gampopa's doubts and questions. "You, teacher-physician,

henceforth put aside your study of philosophical views," he said. "Instead, dedicate yourself

to contemplative practice!" Thus speaking, Milarepa gave him all the complete

empowerments, the full teaching on the practice of Candali (kundalini), the pith-instruction

(upadesha) in Mahamudra, even the Balim-empowerment of the Dakinis and Dharmapalas.

Then he sent him to the east, to the mountain called Gampo, and told him to devote himself

to meditation in the wilderness.

"Generally speaking, you are going to be an excellent meditator," explained Milarepa. "Cut

off attachment to family and friends, and sever involvement in all of life's activities. Become

a son of the mountains. Bring all Dharma into a single practice…. Adhere to the Lama, even

when you realize the mind as the Buddha. If you simply follow these instructions with

diligence, then certainly you shall attain realization." With these words of encouragement

the monk Gampopa was directed to pursue the highest path of spirituality. And it was in this

way that he quickly won through to Enlightenment.

Gampopa introduced monasticism back into the yogin tradition of the Kagyu.9 Thus

meditation and the way of the Mahasiddhas was again brought back into the monasteries

and spread throughout the whole of Tibet. This melding together again of the yogin's

contemplative path with the way of the monk, returned Buddhism to the practice of the

Buddha himself. Ever since then the Kagyu has existed as a shining beacon to all seekers of

Truth. It stands today as an unexcelled example of what can be accomplished in the spiritual

domain by men and women intent on winning full realization.

Footnotes

1 The Acta Thomae, or apocryphal Acts of Thomas, records Thomas, the brother of Jesus, in attendance to the Buddhist court of Gondophores, but the text can hardly be taken as authoritive without further evidence. It does appear, however, that it was during Gondophore's reign that Apollonius of Tyana came to Takshasila and was converted to Buddhism by masters of one of the Himalayan schools.

2 A.A. MacDonell, India's Past, Oxford 1927.

3 Ronald M. Davidson, Indian Esoteric Buddhism, Columbia University Press, NY 2002.

4 Conze, Buddhism, Its Essence and Development, Oxford 1960.

5 A Sanskrit MS. Biography of Advayavajra exists in the Kaiser Library, Katrhmandu, Nepal. Another Sanskrit biography as evidently been published by Bihar Rastrabhasa Parished, Patna, Nepal, 1957.

6 Padma dKar-po, Brug-pa'i Chos-"byung, published by Lokesh Chandra, New Delhi, International Academy of Indian Culture, 1968.

7 The same occurred in the life of the modern spiritual master Namgyal Rinpoche. It was just when Rinpoche had reached rock bottom in his search for meaning in life, and was about to commit suicide, that he met his Guru U Tilla Wunta.

8 Myanmar Digest, The Shwedagon Pagoda

9 For a more complete outline of Gampopa's life, see Khenpo Konchog Gyaltsen's translation of theJewel Ornament of Liberation by Gampopa, Snow Lion Publications, Ithaca, New York 1998.