The Rise of Shangpa Kagyu

Chapter 2       Wisdom Firing Set Prairie Ablaze

2.4. The Rise of Shangpa Kagyu

After Khyungpo Naljor returned to Tibet, he met the venerable Atisha, who transmitted the teaching of Guhyasamaja to Khyungpo Naljor. Khyungpo Naljor corrected and filled in the missing parts of the sutra he brought according to the Sanskrit sutra of the venerable. At the same time, he invited the great translators Renqinsangbo and Damaluozhu to translate the sutra from Sanskirt to Tibetan.

Because he had offered his entire fortune to gurus in India, for a while, Khyungpo Naljor was very poor. When he lived hidden in Tibet’s Pengyin to meditate secretly, he sometimes did not even have food to eat. He wanted to please six-armed Mahakala for assistance, but he did not even have the flour to make the offering food. Without any other choice, he spoke about this with Mahakala face to face. Next morning, local people heard of his great name and made generous offering. They sent rice and flour, or cattle and horses or silver. Less than a month later, he had a following of over 2000 disciples, and the living place became crowded. One night during concentrated meditation, he saw Niguma, who directed “you should go to the Xiong area of Tibet.” Thus guru and disciples prepared to move.

Several days before moving, an Indian suddenly came, claiming illness and wanting to see guru for cure. Khyungpo Naljor checked his pulse and said "the blood should be released”. The patient said “I’m afraid of the pain”. After saying that, he flew into sky, while waving his arm, blood flowed out, and he came down to the ground again for treatment. Khyungpo Naljor said “too much blood was lost, ghee should be put on and burnt with fire”. The person did not obey, and flew into the sky again. Ghee and fire appeared in the sky, and was adhered or burnt. Clouds of daka and dakini made offering to him. Khyungpo Naljor thus worshiped him and asked for dharma.

This patient is no ordinary person but the great enlightener Master Rahula, who had attained the deathless achievement. Master Rahula agreed to Khyungpo Naljor’s request and gave him the empowerment of the Five Models Overhead Dharma of Chakrasambhava. In this dharma, one imagines themselves as Chakrasambhava, with five Yidams overhead: Vajra Dhara in the centre, Six-armed Mahakala at the front, Red Dakini on the right, Green Tara on the left and four-armed Chenrezig at the back.

A month later, Master Ahuoya wanted to go back to India, and disciples of Khyungpo Naljor asked him for empowerment and dharma transmission. Master Ahuoya said “your guru is the same as me”. Then Khyungpo Naljor gave empowerment to the disciples. During empowerment, to increase the faith of the disciples, guru showed god magic: without carrying vajra, he placed the bell and vajra directly onto empty space, and the amrita treasure bottle flew around by itself. Disciples then believed the words of Master Ahuoya, and understood that guru had achieved the highest merits.

Before he left, Rahula Master invited Khyungpo Naljor to do retreat in India to achieve the everlasting rainbow body in the future. Khyungpo Naljor Guru said “my parents are still in this world, I have no heart to leave too far from them, these many disciples need me as well”. Guru again asked Rahula Master to stay for ten more days, and then the Master flew to India.

Khyungpo Naljor and his many disciples went to the Xiang area in Namu county of Tibet and built the Xiangxiong Temple. Xiangxiong Temple is magnificently architectured with a capacious sutra room, and is a very good place for spiritual cultivation. However, there were many difficulties when it was first built. The local people had no faith and were not happy about this, and frequently created hindrances. Guru selected another place, but the local people still did not allow a temple to be built. To let living beings believe, guru manifested infinite angry bodies with weapons in their hands. Thus the local people realized that Khyungpo Naljor was a great enlightener and their trust increased dramatically. They worked together and built Xiangxiong Temple in three years. The temple is spacious and can hold thirty thousand people. Guru also built three hundred retreat rooms nearby to provide convenience for people who would do retreat and concentrate on meditation.

Because Khyungpo Naljor achieved the Money God dharma of White Six-armed Mahakala, under the close protection of Yidams, money came like floods. With this of money, Khyungpo Naljor and his disciples built 108 temples, and from then on Shangpa Kagyu become prosperous.

One day, Khyungpo Naljor suddenly appeared a little sick. Due to this cause, he did retreat to concentrate upon the meditation of Six-armed Mahakala, and saw Yidam on the seventh day of retreat. He continued to do retreat and saw Hevajra on the eighth day that month and saw Manjushri on the fifteenth. Khyungpo Naljor was good at medicine, and often treated local people near Xiangxiong Temple. After he saw the Yidams, guru no longer took pulses or used herbal medicine. Whenever there were patients, he simply entered concentration briefly and the patient would be cured.

Through the blessing of Yidam, the wealth of all temples in Shangpa Kagyu greatly increased, and disciples of Khyungpo Naljor increased to over 50000 people. Hassles come with numbers, disciples flaunted their prowess of oratory and often talked idly, but did not want to meditate hard. Guru became unhappy and the feeling of detachment arose in his heart. He thought Master Rahula’s invitation and prepared to go to India. Just when he was about to leave, Green Tara appeared and said “do not, do not, you should raise the heart of great benevolence to those disciples”. To regulate the students guru used the god ability and shrunk inside a treasure bottle where he entered concentration for 7 days. When disciples could not find guru, they cried together loud enough to shake the mountains, and repented. Then the guru came out from the treasure bottle and taught dharma to the disciples for 7 days.

One day, when the disciples were playing on the grass, a heavenly lady suddenly came. She was extremely beautiful, sometimes dancing and sometimes singing. All disciples were charmed by her beauty, and raised the heart of desire, losing the heart of meditation. The lady did not disappear until night. Next morning, all disciples gathered on the grass, think that the lady would come again. All raised their heads and stared with wide eyes. Suddenly, they saw countless furious Yidams coming together, reciting the mantra of vanquishing evil in voices that shook the sky, holding numerous weapons, and wanting to kill all of them. The disciples blanched and prostrated on the ground knocking, kow-towing and repenting together. Thus they kept their lives. After all Yidams disappeared into the emptiness, the disciples went to guru and asked the cause. Guru laughed “the heavenly lady and Yidams were all manifested by me.” Then the disciples understood that meaningless talk was useless. When they talked exaggeratedly, they seemed to be able to swallow the sky and earth. However, when various phenomena appeared, their innate natures were muddied. From then on, all disciples joyfully competed in meditational diligence and no longer took pride in oration as before.

I have read related materials about Khyungpo Naljor. Every time I read this section, many sighs arise. I have met meditators, most of whom take Buddhism as worldly knowledge, practicing talk in place of mediation. Although they understand in theory, their conduct is no different to that of ordinary people. They talk a lot, but whenever anything happens, their nature is drowned by greed and they are as miserly as vulgar mortals. There are others who know Buddhism that emphasises meditation, that it is difficult to posses a human body and receive Buddhist dharma. Some, like the disciples of Khyungpo Naljor even met with benevolent guru and exceptional dharma. However, they could not raise the heart of detachment and fill their lives with vulgar things, always promising themselves to do hard meditation in future, as if death were their obedient servant

The ancient saints had said “meditation is the deed of great personages and beyond the ability of kings and ministers”. It is so. Among my Buddhist brothers, there are quite a few who yearned toward good deeds ever since they knew things and determined to meditate hard. To date, they still feel the ego frequently sitting on their hearts. The temporal self and the self yearning towards truth frequently clash, sometimes you win, sometimes he wins, and the intensity of conflict is like a war. The war last longer than the two great wars, so long as life persists, it too will continue. They know the nature of transience and can see through delusion, and also know the difficulty of receiving upright dharma. Moreover they understand that the Five Golden Dharma of Niguma is dharma that is hard to meet even once in a thousand years. However, they cannot give up everything like ancient big saints and concentrate on meditation.

I have several brothers who are very kind, have great faith and who have also received the pure gold-like Five Golden Dharma of Niguma. Unfortunately, they have duties in this temporal world and work hard on these every day, consuming heart and spirit, and enjoy them at the expense of all else. One even pledged to protect dharma for me when I achieve in the future. However, several months after saying that, he died of cerebral haemorrhage. When he died, he couldn’t even speak, let alone protect dharma. Several others had the same end as him — their bodies dying before the future came. Though meeting upright dharma, it served only to create good cause rather than having any determining function on their salvation.

I have said: even Shakyamuni Buddha cannot beat me into hell if I do not go to hell; if I want to go hell, even Shakyamuni Buddha cannot release me. Many people do not understand and think that I boast. However they do not know that heaven and hell are both one’s own creations. Becoming a Buddha or master is determined by your own actions, and this cannot be replaced by others. Even gurus like Khyungpo Naljor cannot bless disciples who do no meditation into great adepts. Guru and Buddha are only guides. You must walk the road yourself.

Currently, preaching masters are not few, and disciples who have kind hearts are many. However, most are like the early disciples of Khyungpo Naljor, practicing much talk and little meditation. Their mouths open like floodgates, but they have zero concentration. When phenomena appear, they became nervous, their hearts are always swayed by outside things and their priorities are inverted. Many people’s lives have been wasted like this.

On another day, a home-based Buddhist named Gengjuejia came to see Khyungpo Naljor. He offered 500 fine horses and one thousand liang each of gold and silver, and hoped guru could show a little god ability to him. Then guru displayed various god abilities, passing through rocks like emptiness, eating solid stone, then rising into sky again, sleeping on the colourful swirls, or sitting on the cloud’s edge, or turning one body into many, or merging many bodies into one, showing all kind of marvels. Gengjuejia begged guru for secret dharma, in order to have the same achievement as the guru. Guru taught him Mahamudra and Illusory Achievement Dharma. The Buddhist went home and meditated hard for 11 months, and achieved the magic of guru.

On the eighth day of a certain month that year, Khyungpo Naljor entered the great Samādhi offering, and many gurus from India came to accept the offering and predicted "You will have 180,000 disciples, with 6 major disciples. You will live for 150 years in this world and then enter the land of ultimate bliss, becoming a Buddha candidate.”

After the offering, there were more and more disciples, both monks and home-based Buddhists. But because there were too many people, many disciples could not see guru face to face. To satisfy disciples, guru asked disciples to set up 108 seats on the grassy area in front of the temple. Guru manifested 108 bodies with flesh and spirit like a real person to sit on these seats and receive worship from disciples. There were a thousand disciples around each seat, and there were over 10,000 people in total. A certain disciple did not have strong faith. Guru knew this and asked him to specifically meditate the preliminary practice of the perfection stage of the Five Golden Dharma of Niguma, visulization of the character “A”, for seven days, in order to atone for his guilt. After seven days, the disciple came to see guru, who was manifested as Chakrasambhava, with picture-like three nadis and five chakras (wheels). There was the Mandala of Guhyasamaja in his top wheel, the mandala of Mahamaya in his throat wheel, the mandala of Hevajra Mandala in his heart wheel, the mandala of Chakrasambhava in his navel wheel, and the mandala of Yamantaka in his secret wheel. The disciple cried with gratitude and had much stronger trust.

Because there were more and more disciples and conflicts sometimes happened, guru frequently told disciples to be united. Disciples agreed in word but had not thought of regret or correction, still flaunting verbal prowess and raising issues. Guru then flew into the sky for 7 days. During the 7 days, heavenly ladies made offerings to him and the disciples only could repent on the ground. Khyungpo Naljor saw that the disciples were sincerely penitent and taught them THE Five ThEORIES OF MAITREYA in the sky, and many disciples achieved.

According to Shangpa Kagyu, brothers in the same lineage will attain Buddahood in the same Mandala in future. Working together with united hearts, achievement is swift, inciting conflict only consumes mental and physical strength and has no benefit for salvation. In the discipline of exoteric Buddhism, inciting conflict between fellow monks was one of the Five Guilts for the hell of uninterrupted suffering. It is as serious as killing parents and arhat and shedding the blood of Buddha. Buddhists have to check each other.

At the age of 147, Amita Buddha appeared before Khyungpo Naljor and told him “you will live in this world for 150 years, and you have 3 years left.” Guru knew this, but still gave his body over to dharma, and more and more disciples came. Besides home-based Buddhists, there were over 80,000 monk disciples alone, and received the envy of a temple of monks in Kadampa. One day, taking the opportunity when many lamas of Shangpa Kagyu were away, Kadampa monks came to attack Xiangxiong Temple. Disciples became extremely scared, and told guru. Guru said “do not be afraid”. Then, entering concentration, he manifested countless bodies appearing like soldiers with all kinds of weapons and killing the invaders. The invaders felt that they were seriously hurt and had died. However, it was only the effect of Illusory Magic. After waking up, they came to know the enlightening status of guru and gave up Kadampa and took refuge to Guru Khyungpo Naljor.

That year, there was no rain and no harvest, and people were very hungry. Unable to survive, many moved to other places and starved to death. People first asked the great saints of Kadampa for rain, but it did not rain. Then people came to beg Guru Khyungpo Naljor. The guru had mercy towards the people and agreed to do magic. Though it was late for sowing, the people listened to guru and sowed seeds in the earth. The next day it rained. The seeds instantly budded, formed tassels, developed seeds and ripened for harvest. Thus the famine was solved. From then on, Shangpa Kagyu had great reputation, and countless people came to do refuge.

One thing should be mentioned here. The story above is historical fact and not fiction. There is also no intention to undermine Kadampa. In truth, all dharma are equal, and all are transmitted by Shakyamuni Buddha. The only difference is their suitability to different cases, and there is no difference in status. The body of elephant is like a wall, its nose like a rope, its ears like fans, these are all feelings of blind men sizing up the elephant, but are not the real nature of elephant. There are many people in history who had strong ego attachment and often undermined other traditions, but they are pitiful and laughed at by the magnanimous. In the history of Tibetan Buddhism, there have been many glorious great saints in all lineages. Atisha of Kadampa is a giant of enlightenment unrivalled for a thousand years. However, there have been conflicts between lineages in Buddhist history. There have been conflicts and tragedies as the result of differences in theory and conflicts of interest. This bad habit is contrary to the principle of Buddhism.

At the same time, truly knowledgeable people should overcome the boundary of lineage and have big hearts. A learned person should not only treat lineages within Buddhism kindly but also treat other religions kindly. In the Introduction of ReligioUS Studies, Max Muller said “In my eyes, the people who use comparative religious study to undermine Christianity and elevate other religions are dangerous allies with those who elevate Christianity by undermining other religions. Science does not need branches.” He believed that theology should be based upon truly scientific comparison of human religions that is without bias. All religions are equal and should not be undermined or elevated

Khyungpo Naljor often travelled between Buddha kingdoms, listening to Buddhist dharma and subduing nonhumans like mountain gods and night ghosts. There was an evil god who brutally slaughtered people. Guru killed him using ice stone and lightening, and the mountain fell as a result, and all of his relatives took refuge to guru and became dharma protectors.

Guru Khyungpo Naljor went to India and Nepal to receive the sramanera discipline. Not until he was old and had over 100000 disciples did he receive the bhiksu discipline under Langritangwa Rinpoche who had pure discipline and deep knowledge and was famous for the teaching of The Eight Prays of Culturing Hearts.

The six most famous disciples of Khyungpo Naljor are Mokchokpa Rinchen Tsöndru, Maidun, Gongqukan, Jiamuqie, Xionggong and Edun, as listed in A Brief Hisotry of THE KAGYU LINEAGE OF Tibetan Buddhism (Religion Culture Publisher) by Zuoru Cilang:

“……the great adept Khyungpo Naljor had five early disciples and one late disciple who were the heads of the 180,000 kind knowledges etc. The 5 early disciples are stainless-wisdom-stem Mawudunpa, benefiting-heart-branch Qiaobojiamoqi, mercy-leaf Oudunrenwang, philanthropy-flower Laduigongqianka and bright-treasure Xianggongqueseng. The late disciple was illusory-body-dream-strange-matured-fruit Mokchokpa Rinchen Tsöndru. The essence of secret language and single transmission of Vajra Dhara was received only by Mokchokpa. From him it was transmitted in turn to Kyergangpa Chökyi Senge, Rigongpa Sangye Nyentön and Sangye Tönpa. As predicted by Vajra Dhara and wisdom dakini, the secret of single transmission was explained by the single-transmitted seventh jewel dharma lord, Sangye Tönpa. The earth and the 8 small continents were filled with achieved disciples, including the 3 major achievers, Tsangma Shangton, Samding zhonnu-drub and Jiaqin Jianzanban who were both able and kind and acted as the main stream of lineage, and recorded the teaching to written text.  The disciple of Shangton’s disciple Qiongbu Chugong (the name means: discipline depended on) etc are honoured as the latter seven jewels, and were a rare dharma tradition. There are countless disciple transmissions from the two branches of Jia and Sam. In addition, from Selinba Zhaxiban (Blessing), the disciple taught by the dharma lord Tonpa himself, originated the generation lineage of Laduileshou Temple processing 10 kinds of superior things. The generation lineage is the first whose benefiting career and pursuing Buddhism were predicted by Avalokitesvara Boddittsava’s 88 kinds of transformations. Gradually successors of dharma seat of Laduiba Gongjiaka and countless branches came out from the disciples.”

Mokchokpa Rinchen Tsöndru is the most exceptional of Khyungpo Naljor’s disciples. In 1139 C.E. when Guru Khyungpo Naljor was 150 years old, he got all disciples together and held the great Sitting Bed Ceremony for Mokchokpa, and passed all secret dharma, temples and disciples to Mokchokpa.

After the end of the Sitting Bed Ceremony, Khyungpo Naljor told disciples “now you will see what kind of achievements you can get by meditating the Five Golden Dharma of Niguma”. Saying that, guru flew high into the sky and showed the ultimate achievements: the body of guru was exactly the same as Guhyasamaja, the word of guru was exactly the same as Mahamaya, the will of guru was exactly the same as Hevajra, the merits of guru were exactly the same as Chakrasambhava and the career of guru was exactly the same as Yamantaka. His whole body was alight, and numerous Buddhas, Buddhasavas, Vajra Yidams, daka and dakini appeared in the light. They all entered the three wheels of the disciples as white, red, and blue light, from guru’s top wheel, throat wheel, and heart wheel to the three wheels of the disciplines, to bless their body, word and will. Then, a rainbow road extended to beneath guru’s feet from the Buddha kingdom in the void. The sky filled with the music of heaven, celestial flowers fell, exotic fragrance wafted in the air and Guru Khyungpo Naljor flew into the dakini Buddha kingdom without changing from his flesh body and escorted by the company of dakini.

There is another saying about what happened when Guru Khyungpo Naljor entered nirvana in some materials in Han areas: After guru held the Sitting Bed Ceremony for Mokchokpa, he got disciples to sit together on the empty ground in front of the temple and said “The Six Dharma of Niguma are superior beyond compare, and you can reach Buddhahood by choosing and meditating any single one of them. If you do not have the opportunity to concentrate on meditation, as long as you have firm trust, you can be reborn in Buddha kingdom by praying, do not doubt this.” Then the guru transmitted all dharma to the disciples. As he transmitted each dharma, he manifested as the image of the achievement of that dharma. When teaching Mahakala, he became Mahakala, when teaching the Five Golden Dharma of Niguma he appeared as the five Vajra bodies. Finally, when he taught the Powa (vpho ba) dharma of the wisdom window in the six dharma, his skull flew out and guru gave up his flesh body and appeared in the sky surrounded by rainbows as the wisdom rainbow body, and it rained with flowers. Guru stayed in the emptiness for 7 days to receive offering from the disciples. Before going to the Buddha kingdom, guru told disciples not to burn his body. If they followed the guru’s word, the dharma lineage of Shangpa Kagyu would be everlasting, if they did not, it would affect the dharma opportunities of Shangpa Kagyu. Because there were too many disciples, there was no consensus. Also, all wanted to burn the body of the guru to share the Sheli. Despite of the order of the guru, they arbitrarily proceeded with cremation. The fire appeared as seven colours, illuminating the sky and numerous Shelis appeared in the holy image of Chakrasambhava. Disciples built a tower to make offering. There was continuous offering from celestial ladies for 7 days.

When reading the historical material as recorded in Han areas, at the section of Guru Khyungpo Naljor entering nirvana, I cried with bristled hair. Thus I vowed solemnly to take the resurrection of Shangpa Kagyu as my duty. This ending is not as mysterious as the saying of flight to the pure land in the flesh body that is stated inside the religion, but it is more instructive. In the stories of Buddhism, there have always been disciples who did not listen to guru, leading to their demise. For example, Ruoqiongpa, the moon-like disciple of Milaripa, meditated for his whole like, but had to endure rebirth for 3 more times and could not become Buddha in one life for no other reason than that he disobeyed guru 3 times. For another example, Reluoduojizha, the first transmitting guru of the Re Lineage of Yamantaka, who did not obey his guru’s order by relaxing the transmission criteria had to be reborn to meditate again even though he attained great achievement in his life.

In diamond Buddhism, guru is the source of all blessing, all happiness and kindness come from the blessing of guru. There is no dharma without guru and no achievement without dharma. According to scriptures of esoteric Buddhism “Mediating the mantra of Yidam 100,000 times is not as good as sincerely praying to guru 3 times. Meditating the visualization of the perfection stage is not as good as only having guru in the heart.” It also states “The merits of being close to and serving guru for half a day exceed that of giving and offering before all Buddhas for an entire age”.

It must be known that all Buddhas relied on guru to attain Buddhahood. Without guru, it is hard to hear even the word “Buddha”, never mind salvation. If you can take refuge in guru appropriately, merits of fortune and wisdom quickly be perfected, and countless negative karma will rapidly disappear. If you do not respect guru and defame guru, it is equal to defaming all Buddha. Diamond Vajra Essence Sutra states “if you defame guru, you will have no food or sleep for a thousands ages, learning Vajrayana is also learning Vajra hell.”