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08/10/2020
❤️🙏 Padmasambhava 🙏❤️
THE INNER WAY OF TAKING REFUGE
"The nirmanakaya master Padmakara was asked by Lady Tsogyal, the princess of Kharchen: To which inner objects does one take refuge? What kind of person takes refuge? Through which manner or method does one take refuge? Which particular attitude and what duration of time does it entail? What particular circumstance is required? What is the purpose and what are the qualities?
The master replied: Regarding the objects of refuge, you should take refuge in the guru, yidam, and dakini.
The person who takes refuge should be someone who has entered the gate of Secret Mantra.
The manner or method is to take refuge with devoted and respectful body, speech, and mind.
Regarding the particular attitude of taking refuge, you should take refuge by perceiving the guru as a buddha, not abandoning the yidam even at the cost of your life, and continuously making offerings to the dakini.
Regarding the duration of time, you should take refuge from the time of having generated bodhicitta in the empowerment ceremony until attaining the state of a vajra holder.
Regarding the circumstance, you should take refuge by feeling devotion to the Secret Mantra.
As for the purpose or virtues of taking refuge, it has the purpose of making you a suitable vessel for the Secret Mantra and for receiving extraordinary blessings.
Lady Tsogyal asked the master: Concerning the inner way of taking refuge, which trainings does one need to practice?
The master replied: There are eight trainings. First there are the three special trainings.
1. Having taken refuge in the guru, you should not feel ill will toward him or even the intention to deride him.
2. Having taken refuge in the yidam, you should not interrupt the meditation of the yidam’s form or its recitation.
3. Having taken refuge in the dakini, you should not break the periodical offering days.
The five general trainings are the following.
1. Consecrate as nectar, the first part of whatever you eat or drink. Offer it visualizing the guru above your head. Offer it, visualizing the yidam in your heart center and the dakini in your navel center. You should train in partaking of food in this way.
2. In whichever direction you go, supplicate the guru, yidam, and dakini. Visualize the guru above the crown of your head. Visualize yourself as the yidam and visualize the dakini and the Dharma protectors as your escorts. This is the training in walking.
3. Even at the cost of your life or limb, you should train in regarding the guru to be as dear as your heart, the yidam as dear as your eyes, and the dakini as dear as your body.
4. No matter what happens, such as sickness, difficulty or ease, joy or sorrow, you should train in supplicating the guru, making offerings to the yidam, and giving feasts and torma to the dakini. Other than that, you should not pursue other means such as soothsaying and shamanistic rituals.
5. Recollecting the virtues of the guru, yidam, and dakini, you should take refuge again and again. By taking refuge in the guru, obstacles are cleared away. By taking refuge in the yidam, the body of mahamudra3 will be attained. By taking refuge in the dakini, you will receive the siddhis.
Lady Tsogyal asked Master Padma: With which virtues is the inner way of taking refuge endowed?
Master Padma replied: By taking refuge in the guru, you are protected from the fetters of conceptual mind. The hindrances of ignorance and stupidity are cleared away. The accumulation of insight and awareness is perfected, and you will receive the accomplishment of spontaneous realization.
By taking refuge in the yidam, you are protected from ordinary perception, the accumualtion of self-existing wisdom will be gathered, and the accomplishment of mahamudra will be attained.
By taking refuge in the dakini, you will be protected from obstacles and evil spirits. The impediment of the poverty of hungry ghosts is cleared away, the accumulation of detachment and freedom from clinging will be perfected, and the accomplishment of the sambhogakaya of great bliss will be attained.
Lady Tsogyal asked Master Padma: What is the actual practice of the inner way of taking refuge?
The master replied: You should first arouse the aspiration toward unexcelled enlightenment. Then visualize the guru, yidam, and dakini upon seats of sun, moon, and lotus in the sky before you and say three times:
Root of the lineage, lord guru,
Originator of the siddhis, yidam deity,
Bestower of excellent blessings, dakini,
I pay homage to the three roots.
Following that, focus your mind undistractedly upon the guru, yidam, and dakini and repeatedly say:
I take refuge in the guru, yidam, and dakini.
Then supplicate as follows:
All gurus, yidams, and dakinis, please bestow upon me the blessings of your body, speech, and mind!
Please confer the empowerments upon me! Please grant me the supreme and common siddhis! Please extend your kindness to me, your devoted child!
Following that, dissolve the guru into the top of your head, the yidam into your heart center, and the dakini into your navel center.
Lady Tsogyal asked the master: What is the method of taking the inner refuge vow?
The master replied: The ceremony of first taking the refuge vow is as follows. It is important to have received empowerment. Obtaining the empowerment itself is the receiving of refuge. If you do take refuge without receiving empowerment, then make prostrations to and circumambulate the guru, present him with flowers, and say:
Master, please listen to me. Assembly of yidam deities, gathering of mandala deities, dakinis, and retinue, please listen to me. From this very moment until attaining the supreme vidyadhara level of mahamudra,
I, ______, take refuge in the root of the lineage, all the sublime and holy gurus.
I take refuge in the source of accomplishment, all the assemblies of yidam deities.
I take refuge in the bestowers of excellent blessings, all the dakinis.
The refuge vow is obtained after repeating this three times.
That was the ceremony of taking the vow. I have explained the inner way of taking refuge.
THE SECRET WAY OF TAKING REFUGE
Lady Tsogyal, the Princess of Kharchen, asked the master: Concerning the secret way of taking refuge, in what object does one take refuge? What type of person takes refuge? Through which manner or method does one take refuge? With what particular attitude does one take refuge? For what duration of time does one take refuge? By which circumstance does one take refuge? What purpose or virtue is entailed?
The master replied: As to the objects of the secret way of taking refuge, you should take refuge in the view, meditation, and action.
The type of person who takes this refuge should be someone of the highest faculties who desires to attain enlightenment.
As to the manner or method, you should take refuge by means of the view, meditation, action, and fruition. That is to say, you take refuge with the view possessing confidence, the meditation possessing experience, and the action possessing equal taste.
As to the particular attitude, the view free from craving means not to desire either to attain buddhahood or to cast away samsara. The meditation free from fixation on concreteness and without falling into partiality cannot be described by any ordinary words. The conduct free from accepting and rejecting is devoid of falling into any category whatsoever.
The duration of time is to take refuge until attaining enlightenment.
The circumstance is to take refuge without desiring further rebirth.
The purpose or virtue is to attain complete enlightenment within this very lifetime.
Lady Tsogyal asked: Concerning the secret way of taking refuge, in which trainings does one need to practice?
Master Padma replied: First there are the three special trainings:
1. Concerning the view possessing realization: You should train in gaining the confidence that there is no buddhahood elsewhere to achieve, since all sentient beings and buddhas have the same basis. You should train in gaining the confidence that appearance and emptiness are inseparable, through realizing that appearances and mind are without difference.
2. Concerning training in the meditation possessing experience: Do not place your mind facing outward, do not concentrate it inward, but train in letting it rest naturally, freely, and free from reference point.
3. As to the action: Train in uninterrupted experience. Although at all times of walking, moving around, lying down, and sitting there is nothing to be meditated upon, train in not being distracted for even an instant.
The following are the seven general trainings.
1. Do not abandon your master even though you realize your mind to be the buddha.
2. Do not interrupt conditioned roots of virtue even though you realize appearances to be mind.
3. Shun even the most subtle evil deed, even though you have no fear for the hells.
4. Do not denigrate any of the teachings, even though you do not entertain any hope for enlightenment.
5. Do not be conceited or boastful even though you realize superior samadhis.
6. Do not cease feeling compassion for sentient beings, even though you understand self and other to be nondual.
7. Train by practicing in retreat places, even though you realize samsara and nirvana to be nondual.
Lady Tsogyal asked the nirmanakaya master: Concerning the secret way of taking refuge, in what manner does it protect and with what virtues is it endowed?
Master Padma replied: Having taken refuge in the view, you are protected from both eternalism and nihilism. The hindrances of wrong views and fixation are cleared away, the accumulation of the luminous dharmata is perfected, and the unceasing siddhis of body, speech, and mind will be attained.
Having taken refuge in the meditation, the view will also protect the meditation. The obstacles of deep clinging and habitual tendencies are cleared away, the accumulation of nondual unity gathered, and the siddhis of confidence and primordial liberation will be attained.
Having taken refuge in the action, you are protected from perverted conduct and the view of nihilism. The obstacles of hypocrisy and foolishness are cleared away, the accumulation of nonattachment during bustle is perfected, and the siddhi of turning whatever is experienced into realization will be attained.
Lady Tsogyal asked Master Padma: What is the actual practice of the secret way of taking refuge?
The master replied: The view, in natural ease, should be free from craving and devoid of partiality and extremes.
The meditation should be free from fixating on concreteness and reference points. It cannot be expressed by any ordinary words whatsoever.
That is to say, do not place your mind facing outward, do not concentrate it inward, rest in naturalness free from reference point.
Rest undistractedly in the state of unceasing experience at the time of walking, moving around, lying, or sitting.
The feelings of fulfillment or exhilaration, feeling void, blissful, or clear, are all temporary experiences. They should never be regarded as marvelous.
When states of mind that are agitated, obscured, or drowsy occur, use these experiences as training. Whatever occurs, such as these, do not regard them as defects.
Lady Tsogyal asked: What is the method of taking the vow of the secret way of taking refuge?
The master replied: Prostrating to and circumambulating the master, present him with flowers. The disciple should assume the cross-legged posture and with compassion take the vow of cultivating bodhicitta for the benefit of self and others.
Then, placing the gaze firmly in the sky and without moving the eyeballs, rest your awareness—vivid, awake, bright, and all-pervasive—free from fixation on perceiver or the perceived. That itself is the view possessing confidence, the meditation possessing experience, and the action possessing companionship! Thus it should be pointed out. Meditate then as mentioned above.
This was the explanation of the secret way of taking refuge.
The nirmanakaya master Padma said: This was my oral instruction in which the outer, inner, and secret teachings, the higher and lower views, and the vehicles of mantra and philosophy4 are condensed into a single root within the outer, inner, and secret way of taking refuge.
When you apply it accordingly, you will turn toward Dharma practice, your Dharma practice will become the path, and your path will ripen into fruition. Princess of Kharchen, you should understand this to be so. This completes the teachings on practicing the taking of refuge as one’s path.
SAMAYA. SEAL, SEAL, SEAL.”
♦️
~ from Dakini Teachings: A Collection of Padmasambhava's Advice to the Dakini Yeshe Tsogyal
translated by Erik Pema Kunsang
"The words of advice collected in this book are part of the ancient tradition of religious texts known as terma (treasures) – works that were hidden in secret places during the first spread of Buddhism in Tibet, in the ninth century, to be rediscovered by qualified persons (tertons) and newly expounded to future generations. According to legend, Padmasambhava’s oral teachings to his chief disciple – Yeshe Tsogyal, Princess of Kharchen – were recorded in coded language called dakini script and concealed for centuries.
The selections in Dakini Teachings are timely advice — short, direct instructions relating to the three levels of Buddhist practice: Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana. The main emphasis of Padmasambhava’s teaching is that spiritual knowledge must be personalized and not remain as mere theory.
The book includes an introductory discourse by Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and a short biography of Padmasambhava by Jamgon Kongtrul the First."
http://www.rangjung.com/book_title/dakini-teachings-2/
♦️
Image thanks to The Heart of Buddhism - To be a kind person. ❤️🙏
https://www.facebook.com/The.Heart.of.Buddhism.To.be.a.kind.person/
28/09/2020
📿M AI T R E Y A THE F U T U R E B U D D H A📿
📿 Maitreya is recognized by both and Buddhism as one who will be a Buddha in a future time. He is thought to be the fifth and last Buddha of the current world age (kalpa). Unlike his antecedent, however, Maitreya is understood in a more millennial light, as he is predicted to be a “world-ruler,” uniting those over whom he has dominion.📿
📿 According to some Buddhist traditions, the period of the Law is divided into three stages: a first period of 500 years, of the turning the Wheel of the Law; a second period of 1,000 years, of the deterioration of the Law, and a third period of 3,000 years (called Mappo in Japan) during which no one practises the Law. After this, Buddhism having disappeared, a new will appear who will again turn the Wheel of the Law. This future Buddha is still in the Tusita heaven, in the state of a Bodhisattva. Gautama Buddha himself will enthrone him as his successor. 📿
📿 Maitreya is first mentioned in the Cakkavatti Sutta of the Pali (Digha Nikaya 26). The sutta describes a future time in which the dharma is entirely lost, at which time will appear to teach it as it had been taught before. Until that time, he will dwell as a bodhisattva in the Deva Realm.📿
📿 The name or Metteyya is derived from the word maitrī (Sanskrit) or mettā (Pāli) meaning "loving-kindness," which is in turn derived from the noun mitra (Pāli: mitta) ("friend"). He is now living his last existence as a Bodhisattva. In anticipation of his imminent arrival, he is sometimes considered as a Buddha and given the title of Tathagata.📿
Text source: BuddhaLand
Compiled: oddiyāna
28/09/2020
🍂💐📿When you hear pleasant or unpleasant words, understand them to be an empty resounding, like an echo. When you encounter severe misfonune and misery, understand it to be a temporary occurrence, a deluded experience. Recognize that the innate nature is never apart from you.🍂💐📿
~Guru Padmasambhava,
From the book: Advice from the Lotus-Born: A Collection of Padmasambhava's Advice to the Dakini Yeshe Tsogyal.
Compiled: Oddiyāna
27/09/2020
📿💫Homage to Dorje Neljorma(the VajraYogini).
💫📿Varjayogini is a Ta***ic Buddhist female Buddha and a ḍākiṇī. Vajrayoginī's essence is "great passion" (maharaga), a transcendent passion that is free of selfishness and illusion — she intensely works for the well-being of others and for the destruction of ego clinging. She is seen as being ideally suited for people with strong passions, providing the way to transform those passions into enlightened virtues.
📿💫Her naked body represents the transformation of passion and sexual energy into compassion. Her name translates as the "space dancer of Naropa", relating to her lineage descending from the 11th. century mahasiddha Naropa. She is considered the queen of the dakini paradise where beings have miraculous powers, like levitation and flight. 💫📿
📿💫Vajrayogini an Anuttarayoga Ta**ra iṣṭadevatā (meditation deity) and her practice includes methods for preventing ordinary death, intermediate state (bardo) and rebirth (by transforming them into paths to enlightenment), and for transforming all mundane daily experiences into higher spiritual paths. Practices associated with her are Chöd and the Six Yogas of Naropa.📿💫
💫📿Vajrayoginī is often described with the epithet sarvabuddhaḍākiṇī, meaning "the ḍākiṇī (who is the Essence) of all the Buddhas📿💫
27/09/2020
📿📿📿M A L A S I N B U D D H I S M📿📿📿
someone requested us to share about the malas and it's meaning, please correct me if there is a mistake.
1.How are malas used?
📿 Malas are used to help focus one’s awareness and concentration during spiritual practice. Long malas, as opposed to the shorter wrist malas, have 108 beads. Out of that 42 resembles the peaceful deities,58 wrathful deities and 8 Great Bhodhisttavas. The summit or head bead is called the guru bead or a sumeru.📿
📿In Tibetan Buddhism, one mala constitutes 100 recitations of a mantra. There are 8 additional recitations done to ensure proper concentration.📿
📿It's said that the Guru THRENGWA, the main one should be of three or five resembling three three Kayas or five Kayas📿
2. What is the meaning of a guru bead?
📿The guru bead represents the relationship between the student and the guru or spiritual teacher. To use the mala, you start counting from the bead next to the guru bead. When you reach the guru bead again, it signifies the end of one round in the cycle of mantras.
Once you have completed a full circuit of the mala and reached the guru bead again, you reverse direction by flipping your mala. Then you continue again in reverse order (*Most people believe that you do not cross over the guru bead as a sign of respect towards one’s spiritual teachers)📿
3. How do you hold and use a mala?
📿The mala is held with gentleness and respect, generally in the left hand. To use your mala, hold it with your left hand and begin to recite from the guru bead, clockwise around the mala, using your thumb to move the beads. Count one bead for each recitation of the mantra. The first bead is held between the index finger and thumb, and with each recitation of the mantra move your thumb to pull another bead in place over the index finger.📿
4. How to care for your mala
📿Malas are sacred objects believed to be charged with the energy of the deity. They should be treated with great reverence.
📿As with all sacred objects, such as books and other spiritual instruments, one should keep malas off the ground. If your mala accidentally lands on the ground, you should touch it to the crown of your head and recite the sacred syllables Om Ah Hum, three times.
The mala should not be worn while bathing, or allowed to get wet, as this may weaken the cord on which the mala beads are strung. It is best to remove your mala before going to sleep so that you do not accidentally stress the cord and break it.📿
Source: white ritual book
Compiled: Oddiyāna
11/08/2020
share this content Share this article on facebook Share this article on twitter Share this article on linkedin UNWTO, ONCE Foundation and ENAT Call for The Reopening of Tourism Destinations to Cater for the Needs of People With Disabilities All Regions 3 Aug 20 The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)...
01/08/2020
🍂🙏The story of how Jetsun Milarepa followed Marpa of Lhodrak🍂🙏
🍂🙏In the region of Ngari Gungthang, there lived a rich man by the name of Mila Sherab Gyaltsen. This man had a son and a daughter, and it was the son, whose name was Mila Thopa-ga, "Mila Joy to Hear," who was to become Jetsun Milarepa. When the two children were still small, their father died. Their uncle, whose name was Yungdrung Gyaltsen, appropriated all their wealth and possessions. The two children and their mother, left with neither food nor money, were forced to undergo many hardships. Mila learned the arts of casting spells and making hailstorms from the magicians Yungton Throgyal of Tsang and Lharje Nupchung, and brought about the death of his uncle's son and daughter-in-law together with thirty-three other people by making the house collapse. When all the local people turned angrily against him, he caused such a hailstorm that the hail lay on, the ground as deep as three courses of a clay wall (about 3 meters).
Afterwards, repenting his misdeeds, he decided to practise Dharma. Taking the advice of Lama Yungton, he went to see an adept of the Great Perfection by the name of Rongton Lhaga, and asked him for instruction.
"The Dharma I teach," the Lama replied, "is the Great Perfection. Its root is the conquest of the beginning, its summit the conquest of attainment and its fruit; the conquest of yoga. If one meditates on it during the day, one can become Buddha that same day; if one meditates on it during the night, one can become Buddha that very night. Fortunate beings whose past actions have created suitable conditions do not even need to meditate; they will be liberated simply by hearing it. Since it is a Dharma for those of eminently superior faculties, I will teach it to you.”
After receiving the empowerments and instructions, Mila thought to himself, "It took me two weeks to obtain the main signs of success at casting spells. Seven days were enough for making hail. Now here is teaching even easier than spells and hail-if you meditate by day you become a Buddha that day; if you meditate by night you become a Buddha that night-and if your past actions have created suitable conditions, you don't even need to meditate at all! Seeing how I met this teaching, I obviously must be one of the ones with good past actions."
So he stayed in bed without meditating, and thus the practitioner and the teaching parted company.
“It is true what you told me," the lama said to him after a few days. “You really are a great sinner, and I have praised my teaching a little too highly. So now I will not guide you. You should go to the hermitage of Trowolung in Lhodrak, where there is a direct disciple of the Indian siddha Naropa himself. He is that most excellent of teachers, the king of translators, Marpa. He is a siddha of the New Mantra Tradition, and is without rival throughout the three worlds. Since you and he have a link stemming from actions in former lives, go and see him!"
The sound of Marpa the Translator's name alone was enough to suffuse Mila's mind with inexpressible joy. He was charged with such bliss that every pore on his body tingled, and immense devotion swept over him, filling his eyes with tears. He set off, wondering when he would meet his teacher face to face. Now, Marpa and his wife had both had many extraordinary dreams, and Marpa knew that Jetsun Mila was on his way. He went down the valley to await his arrival, pretending to be just ploughing a field. Mila first met Marpa's son, Tarma Dode, who was tending the cattle. Continuing a little further, he saw Marpa, who was ploughing. The moment Mila caught sight of him, he experienced tremendous, inexpressible joy and bliss; for an instant, all his ordinary thoughts stopped. Nonetheless, he did not realize that this was the lama in person, and explained to him that he had come to meet Marpa.
“I’ll introduce you to him myself," Marpa answered him. "Plough this field for me." Leaving him a jug of beer, he went off. Mita, draining the jug to the last drop, set to work. When he had finished, the lama's son came to call him and they set off together.
When Mila was brought into the lama's presence, he placed the soles of Marpa's feet upon the crown of his head and cried out, "Oh, Master! I am a great sinner from the west! I offer you my body, speech and mind. Please feed and clothe me and teach me the Dharma. Give me the way to become Buddha in this life!"
"It's not my fault that you reckon you're such a bad man," Marpa replied."I didn't ask you to pile up evil deeds on my account! What is all this wrong you have done?" Mila told him the whole story in detail.
"Very well," Marpa acquiesced, "in any case, to offer your body, speech and mind is a good thing. As to food, clothing and Dharma, however, you cannot have all three. Either I give you food and clothing and you look for Dharma elsewhere, or you get your Dharma from me and look for the rest somewhere else. Make up your mind. And if it's the Dharma you choose, whether or not you attain Buddhahood in this lifetime will depend on your own perseverance.”
"If that is the case," said Mila, "since I came for the Dharma, I will look for provisions and clothing elsewhere.”
He stayed a few days and went out begging through the whole of upper and lower Lhodrak, which brought him twenty-one measures of barley. He used fourteen of them to buy a four-handled copper pot. Placing six measures in a sack, he went back to offer that and the pot to Marpa. When he set the barley down, it made the room shake. Marpa got up.
"You're a strong little monk, aren't you?" he said."Are you trying to kill us all by making the house fall down with your bare hands? Get that sack of barley out of here!" He gave the sack a kick, and Mila had to take it outside. Later on he gave Marpa the empty pot.
One day Marpa said to him: "The men of Yamdrok Taklung and Lingpa are attacking many of my faithful disciples who come to visit me from U and Tsang, and stealing their provisions and offerings. Bring hailstorms down on them! Since that is a kind of Dharma too, I will give you the instructions afterwards."
Mila caused devastating hailstorms to fall on both these regions and then went to ask for the teachings.
“You think I'm going to give you the teachings I brought back from India at such great cost in exchange for three or four hailstones? If you really want the Dharma, cast a spell on the hill-folk of Lhodrak. They attack my disciples from Nyaloro and are always treating me with downright contempt. When there is a sign that your spell has worked, I shall give you Naropa's oral instructions, which lead to Buddhahood in a single lifetime and body."
When the signs of the success of the evil spell appeared, Mila asked for the Dharma.
"Huh! Is it perhaps to pay honour to your accumulation of evil deeds that you are claiming to want these oral instructions that I had to search for, never considering the risk to my own body and life-these instructions still warm with the breath of the dakinis? I suppose you must be joking, but I find this a bit too much. Anyone else but me would kill you! Now, bring those hill people back to life and return to the people of Yamdrok their harvest. You'll get the teachings if you do-otherwise, don't hang around me anymore!"
Mila, utterly shattered by these reprimands, sat and wept bitter tears. The next morning, Marpa came to see him. "I was a bit rough with you last night," he said."Don't be sad. I will' give you the instructions little by little. Just be patient! Since you're a good worker, I'd like you to build me a house to give to Tarma Dode. When you've finished, I'll give you the instructions, and provide you with food and clothing as well.”
"But what will I do if I die in the meantime, without the Dharma?” Mila asked. “I’ll take the responsibility of making sure that doesn't happen," Marpa said. "My teachings are not just idle boasting, and since you obviously have extraordinary perseverance, when you put my instructions into practice we will see if you can attain Buddhahood in a single lifetime." After further encouragement in the same vein, he had Mila build three houses one after the other: a circular one at the foot of the eastern hill, a semicircular one in the west and a triangular one in the north. But each time, as soon as the house was half finished, Marpa would berate Mila furiously, and make him demolish whatever he had built and take all the earth and stones he had used back to where he had found them. An open sore appeared on Mila's back, but he thought, "If I show it to the Master, he will only scold me again. I could show it to his wife but that would just be making a fuss." So, weeping, but not showing his wounds, he implored Marpa's wife to help him request the teachings.
She asked Marpa to teach him, and Marpa replied, "Give him a good meal and bring him here!" He gave Mila the transmission and vows of refuge.
"All this," he said, "is what is called the basic Dharma. If you want the extraordinary instructions of the Secret Mantrayana, the sort of thing you'll to have to go through is this... "and he recounted a brief version of the life and trials of Naropa. "It'll be difficult for you to do the same," he concluded.
At these words Mila felt such intense devotion that his tears flowed freely, and with fierce determination he vowed to do whatever his teacher asked of him. A few days later, Marpa went for a walk and took Mila with him as his attendant. He went south-east and, coming to a favorably situated piece of ground, he said, "Make me a grey, square tower here, nine storeys’ high. With a pinnacle on top, making ten. You won't have to take this building down, and when you've finished I'll give you the instructions. I'll also give you provisions when you go into retreat to practise.”
Mila had already dug the foundations and started building when three of his teacher's more advanced pupils came by. For fun, they rolled up a huge stone for him and Mila incorporated it in the foundations. When he had finished the first• two storeys, Marpa came to see him and asked him where the stone in question had come from. Mila told him what had happened. "My disciples practising the yoga of the two phases shouldn't be your servants!" Marpa yelled. "Get that stone out of there and put it back where it came from!"
Mila demolished the whole tower, starting from the top. He pulled out the big foundation stone and took it back to where it had come from. Then Marpa told him, "Now bring it here again and put it back in. " So Mila hauled it back to the site and put it in just as before. He went on building until he had finished the seventh storey, by which time he had an open sore on his hip.
"Now leave off building that tower," Marpa said, "and instead build me a temple, with a twelve-pillared hall and a raised sanctuary.”
So Mila built the temple, and by the time he had finished, a sore had broken out on his lower back.
At that time, Meton Tsonpo of Tsangrong asked Marpa for the empowerment of Samvara, and Tsurton Wange of Dol asked for the empowerment of Guhyasamaja. On both occasions, Mila, hoping that his building work had earned him the right to empowerment, took his place in the assembly, but all he received from Marpa were blows and rebukes and he was thrown out both times. His back was now one huge sore with blood and pus running from three places. Nevertheless, he continued working, carrying the baskets of earth in front of him instead.
When Ngokton Chodor of Shung came to ask for the Hevajra empowerment, Marpa's wife gave Mila a large turquoise from her own personal inheritance. Using it as his offering for the empowerment, Mila placed himself among row of candidates but, as before, the teacher scolded him and gave him a thrashing, and he did not receive the empowerment. This time he felt that there was no further doubt: he would never receive any teachings. He wandered off in no particular direction.
A family in Lhodrak Khok hired him to read the Transcendent Wisdom in Eight Thousand Verses. He came to the story of Sadaprarudita, and that made him think. He realized that, for the sake of the Dharma, he must accept all hardships and please his teacher by doing whatever he ordered.
So he returned, but again Marpa only welcomed him with abuse and blows. Mila was so desperate that Marpa's wife sent him to Lama Ngokpa, who gave him some instructions. But when he meditated nothing came of it, since he had not received his teacher's consent. Marpa ordered him to go back with Lama Ngokpa, and then to return. One day, during a feast offering, Marpa severely reprimanded Lama Ngokpa and some other disciples and was about to start beating them. Mila thought to himself, "With my evil karma, not only do l myself suffer because of my heavy faults and dense obscurations, but now I am also bringing difficulties on Lama Ngokpa and my Guru's consort. Since I am just piling up more and more harmful actions without receiving any teaching, it would be best if I did away with myself."
He prepared to commit su***de. Lama Ngokpa was trying to stop him when Marpa calmed down and summoned them both. He accepted Mila as a disciple, gave him much good advice and named him Mila Dorje Gyaltsen, "Mila Adamantine Victory Banner."As he gave him the empowerment of Samvara; he made the mandala of its sixty-two deities clearly appear. Mila then received the secret name of Shepa Dorje, "Adamantine Laughter," and Marpa conferred all the empowerments and instructions on him just like the contents of one pot being poured into another. Afterwards, Mila practised in the hardest of conditions, and attained all the common and supreme accomplishments.
The trials that Milarepa had to undergo before receiving the teachings from Marpa, as well as being a purification of past Karma, an accumulation of merit and a psychological preparation, also had a bearing on the future of his lineage, each detail having a symbolic significance which, by the principle of interdependence would affect Milarepa’s own future and that of his disciples🍂🙏
~His Holiness Patrul Rinpoche from the text Words of My Perfect Teacher.
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