Dharma Lion Kyergangpa

Chapter 2       Wisdom Firing Set Prairie Ablaze

2.7. Dharma Lion Kyergangpa

In a deep autumn’s dusk, a lama heard the name of Mokchokpa. His hair instantly stood on end, and he cried, then promised firmly and fervently worshiped. Next spring, the lama finally came to guru Mokchokpa. As soon as they met, guru asked “At dusk last autumn when I was boiling tea, before the water boiled, there was one who worshiped me in fervour. Was that not you? I thought you would come the next day, or the day after. Why you did not come until now?” The lama thought “Mokchokpa truly has unimpeded wisdom. All my thoughts are known to him.” So he answered “Some things kept me busy, so I could not come soon. Now I come to beg guru for dharma transmission.” Mokchokpa said “The Shangpa lineage is strict in choosing people, but you are exceptional. I will transmit to you all of my teaching.” Saying that, he transmitted all dharma of Shangpa Kagyu to him. After the lama received the dharma, he meditated hard and achieved the Five Golden Dharma of Niguma in 6 months of retreat.

That lama was Kyergangpa.

Kyergangpa was also called Choky Senge, meaning Dharma Lion. He was born in the Duilonglangba area of Tibet in 1122 C.E. When he was young, he had wisdom and abhorred samsara, avoiding the world and one avoids hellfire and viewing wealth as dirt. His attachment was removed, and his only wish was to obtain liberation in this perfect human body. When he was 11, he became a monk under the seat of the great Living Buddha Yizunmalvwa, learning the Five Big Explanations. When he was 17, he received the sramanera discipline before the seat of Kanbu Jiangqiushengba. When he was 20, he received the bhiksu discipline before the seat of Kanbu Suoba. Later, he received the empowerments of the four tantra branches and visualization keys from the great Living Buddha Jiezunfenpuba, who had the transmission of Atisha. Jiezunfenpuba told him “Your root guru is the great enlightener of Shangpa Kagyu, Mokchokpa. You should refuge to him and receive his dharma lineage.”

After receiving the Shangpa dharma lineage, Kyergangpa meditated hard and retreated for 6 months, after which he attained the same enlightenment as his guru. Yidams and protectors frequently came to give predictions. One day, Sukhasiddhi appeared and instructed him to meditate in non- dependent wisdom and brightness. Through this, Kyergangpa reached superior enlightenment.

One day, Mokchokpa told Kyergangpa “In the future, you will have a temple with many disciples and 10 most superior disciples. When transmitting dharma, the Five Golden Dharma of Niguma should only be transmitted to one person, other dharma can be transmitted widely. Remember to often live in the mountains to meditate. In future, when you teach dharma to others, do not wear luxurious clothes, but wear rags. Your food should not be gourmet cuisine, any food that satisfies hunger will do. You should raise Bodhi-chitta before teaching dharma. After teaching, you should do dedication.” Kyergangpa made good written records and editings on all dharma transmitted by guru. He doubted very much and often thought he did not receive superior teaching. Because of his doubt, obstacles arose. He lived in a place called Kyergang for 13 years, so people called him Kyergangpa.

To sweep the troubles of his heart, Kyergangpa went to Zhikong to obtain teaching from guru Zhangpa, but to no avail. So he did retreat in Longbanghke. He vowed solemnly to either achieve Buddhahood or die through this retreat. One day 3 years later, there came a yogi who said that the guru Black Cadaver Forest asked him to send dharma to Kyergangpa, and transmitted the long living dharma to him, and stayed for 7 months. Through the strength of this teaching, all of Kyergangpa’s troubles disappeared. The yogi went to Lasa to worship and brought large amounts of treasure when he came back, and gave it all to Kyergangpa, saying “these treasures are useless to me, but I brought them here to send you dharma cause.” After saying that, he left. Using this fortune, Kyergangpa built the Rigong Temple.

Kyergangpa had over 10,000 disciples when he was alive. While performing empowerment, he travelled the world at the same time using god-foot ability. He went back and forth between the Buddha kingdoms and saw many dakini. In the Ezhiyana Dakini Realm, he received the horse-head bright king dharma. In addition, he also saw many great enlighteners. One day, Kyergangpa was struck by lightening, but was entirely unharmed. The protectors and gods actively protected him. If their were beings who did not keep their promise, they immediately destroyed them. Disciples with great cause all benefited from his dharma and countless disciples achieved.

In his seventy fifth year, guru Niguma came and directed that Rigongpa would inherit the legacy of Niguma. So Kyergangpa held the seating bed ceremony and asked Rigongpa to inherit the dharma seat. After the ceremony, Kyergangpa sat alone in a quiet room. All disciples saw rainbow lights filling the sky and Niguma leading the dakini in welcome, and Kyergangpa flew to the pure land in his flesh body.

The first seven jewel guru exhibited different secret meanings and gave different teachings according to their causes. As mentioned above, Lama Khyungpo asked Mochokpa to tirelessly read and learn to obtain upright opinion. Kyergangpa demonstrated “faith”. “Faith is the mother of merit”. In “faith, pledge and act”, faith comes first. Big Mercy Mantra can remove numerous sufferings and atone countless sins, but it cannot help people who do not have faith. This is true of all dharma. Trust is the first among tens of thousands of dharma. One day, Dakpo Lhaje asked Milaripa "when I can give empowerment and transmit dharma?” Milaripa answered “when you view guru as Buddha”. That is to say, when there is enough faith, disciples can attain the highest achievement. Kyergangpa received the highest superior teaching but doubted, so obstacles arose. Such things still happen. I have some brothers who doubt, or are too conceited, and view the superior highest teaching of Shangpa Kagyu as ordinary dharma. They do not meditate diligently, or run around seeking dharma king teachers from elsewhere. Quite a few of them have troubles. The real reason is lack of faith.

There is the following story: During the 19^th century, Jimeilinpa, an enlightener of Tibetan areas, said to his disciple Jimeiouze “you are a person of upper root, you can enlighten, but the only pity is that your life is too short”. Jimeiouze replied “my life’s aim is enlightenment, longevity does not matter to me”. Later, when guru said this to him for the third time, Jimeiouze realised there was more behind the words, so he asked "Master, is there a way to remove the trouble of being short lived?” Guru said “There is nothing I can do, but there is a great adept called Jiulijun in the Kang area who can remove the trouble of a short life. But do you have faith in him?” Faith formed in Jimeiouze as soon as he heard the name Jiulijun. He had often heard people speak of Julijun who spent 10 years in retreat and attained enlightenment, and who showed god magic on a number of occasions. Once, when crossing a river, Julijun breathed on some sand to bless it, and threw the sand into the river. The water then rose like walls and cleared a path to walk through. Jimeilinpa said “Since you have faith Julijun, you should go to see him. When you meet him, tell him I sent you to entreat an empowerment of long living. Remember, he is the only person who can solve the problem of your short-life. Whatever he tells you to do, you must not refuse.” Jimeiouze then fare-welled his guru and looked for Jiulijun. He walked over all the grasslands of the Kang area, but could not find Jiulijun. One day, he arrived in another place and met a woman, and asked “have you seen a person called Jiulijun?” The lady said “I do not know who Jiulijun is. But…” She pointed to a house nearby and said “There is a grandfather Jiu who lives there. Is he the person you are looking for?” Jimeiouze thanked her and entered the house. He saw an old man with white hair and beard, slovenly in the extreme, sitting on a broken box. Despite the old man’s comic appearance, Jimeiouze recognised him as Jiulijun, and his confidence greatly increased. He prostrated before him and asked for the long living empowerment. The old man asked “who are you?” Jimeiouze answered “I am the disciple of Jimeiqiulin. Please solve my short-life trouble and grant me the empowerment of longevity.” The old man laughed “Jimeiqiuling? He is well known, but cannot even solve such a tiny obstacle, what sort of guru is he? Braggart. Go, bring my piss bottle.” Though Jimeiouze was unhappy at hearing him sneering at guru, he brought the piss bottle nonetheless. He found the piss bottle very light, empty and much rusted, with many dirty things on it. Jiulijun faced the piss bottle and sat quietly for a while, then asked “what did your guru say?” Jimeiouze replied “He said, only you can remove my short-live trouble. He asked that you would grant me the empowerment of longevity.” Jiulijun again laughed at Jimeilinba, and then concentrated for a while. Things happened like this 3 times, then Jiulijun started shaking the piss bottle and became silent. Gradually there was sound. Jiulijun asked Jimeiouze to come and put the piss bottle on his head and asked him to open his mouth and drink the amber liquid from the lip of the piss bottle. Jimeiouze did not hesitate and opened his mouth and drank. It took a long while to drink everything in the piss bottle. He found a strange change in his body. Jiulijun picked up a group of dirty things from his body, spat onto it, and gave it to Jimeiouze to eat as a long-living pill. Then, he knocked his head several times with a dirty wood stick as empowerment, and said “Take your troubles and get lost! You can live 200 years now. Other things are not my concern.” After he returned, Jimeiouze told the events to guru, who laughed "Now, your short-life trouble is finally solved. That old man is the true manifestation of Master Padmasambhawa. He has transcended the two sided contradiction of purity and uncleanliness. As for his jibes, to me they are the best poems of praise.”

I told my wife “it was faith that gave Jimeiouze longevity. If he did not have faith, hundreds of piss bottles of ‘amrita’ would have had no effect.”

Over 10 years ago, a literary friend asked me “Do you think I can become a great writer?” I answered immediately “no!” He asked why. I said “Great writers never speak like that. People who do not trust even themselves cannot be great.” Indeed, up till today, he has had no successes. He not only failed to become a writer, but also eventually left the circle of literature.

I have never once had my fortune told. I trust myself firmly. Trust is the key to success or failure

I told my son “geniuses are those with confidence who set their goals and do what they should do everyday”.  

The secret to my success is “do not doubt oneself”. Do what you should do every day, then sleep in peace. I always tell my wife that I have the shortest life in the world, because one year or several passes in the blink of an eye. But I may be one of the longest living, because I never waste life. I can do more things than others in the same time unit. In my impression, I am always cutting my nails. I always feel that they grow incredibly fast, because ten days pass in an instant. Everything else can be ignored, but the nails always stick out and remind you that you have lived another long while.

People who have confidence do not strive for success. In the eyes of the confident, success is as natural as a man growing a beard. Though unasked for, it grows incredibly.

I raised great faith as soon as I met with the Five Golden Dharma of Niguma and exclaimed at it as dharma that is hard to meet even in thousands of years. I read many historical books and was familiar with the stories of the first seven jewel guru and ever diligently collected the teaching and activities of Shangpa Kagyu to do careful research. Also, I am one of the first disciples of Jianggong Living Buddha from the Han areas. Once I met guru, dakini and protectors showed god magic to me to check my bewildered heart and increase my faith. In addition, from ten years of closeness to guru, I could ascertain true nature from the smallest of things. Thus, I always sigh the lack of upright opinion when I see people who doubt because of lack of faith.

Enlighteners living in the world often give warnings to the misled. My understanding is that Kyergangpa raised the issue of “doubt” and had obstacles not because he did not have ultimate enlightenment, but like masters such as Milaripa, he used illusory games to play out deep empty superior truths to let people not be swayed on the path of faith.

Records of Kyergangpa’s doubt and obstacles are in the historical books of Han areas but are known to few within the religion. I cite this story in detail in order to warn the heart of today’s society with the events manifested by Kyergangpa. Trust takes first place in worldly of dharma, how much more important is it then for dharma beyond the world. Do not view treasure as stone simply because it was easily obtained. All guru in Shangpa Kagyu have been very merciful and kind, and do not treat disciples like Tilopa treated Naropa, who had to endure great and small deaths many times before the superior truth was transmitted. If ease of obtainment causes one to raise doubt and therefore face obstacles and live a life for nothing, it is worthy of pity.