Everlasting Rainbow Body

Lineage Of Wisdom Dakini

1.7. Everlasting Rainbow Body

The achievement of Niguma is very special, she did not experience the pains of body and soul like Milarepa, she did not experience several times of big or small death like Naropa, she did not have the hard time of looking for dharma as Marpa did. She achieved instantly, without hardship of diligence and braveness. Once her achievement was reached, she attained the highest Buddhahood. Her attainment is the most superior rainbow body in Tibetan Buddhism. Master Padmasambhawa, Founder Guru of Ningmapa, achieved the rainbow body. This body will never die. It has no creation and no end and appears like a rainbow.  The Tibetan King once passed his hand through the body of Master Padmasambhawa, and it was like touching the empty sky. In Shangpa Kagyu, there are some saints who departed far from worldly society, retreated for their whole lives, and achieved the rainbow body. The emphasis on meditation has led Shangpa Kagyu to have as many enlightened people as there are stars in the sky; the disregard for temporal success has meant it has not had the great influence obtained by other lineages. In history, Schools such as Sakya, Karma Kagyu and Gelugpa all wielded huge worldly power and often merged religion with politics. Lineages such as Nyingma and Kadampa also received extreme support from governing powers. Shangpa Kagyu is different, her development relied more on purely religious factors. During the initial founding of the lineage, Khyungpo Naljor had built 108 temples, and had a hundred thousand pupils. Afterwards, Shangpa Kagyu become widely distributed and very prosperous, but never matched the scale of the other lineages. One of major reasons was the emphasis on detachment and arduous meditation, and the little attention given to theory and writing. In the over thirty generations of gurus, though some did produce documents, these are mostly records of meditational experience. None were like Tsongkapa, famed for his writings. The same is true of Niguma, we have not seen her works acclaimed in the world.

I have asked some saints, all of whom have a deep cultivation of knowledge and exceptional revelations, why they do not commit to writing. They answered: all that needed to be said has already been said by Shakyamuni Buddha and we can just follow his direction. Now what is lacking are not books but people committed to practice. Finally I understood why generation after generation of Shangpa Kagyu gurus had few works known to the world. They are all enlightened people of accomplishment, they devote their life’s entirety to putting into practice what Buddha’s has taught. Whenever I think on that, I blush with shame.

The major teaching of Shangpa Kagyu is conducted by oral transmission. From the time of Niguma, there have been no written records and no advocation of studying classical theories. Yogis use all of their energies to do meditation of secret tantra. It is said that when you are enlightened, you will understand all the meanings of all sutra. We can see this from the story of Milarepa who focused his life’s energy into the attaining of enlightenment, after which he sung numerous spiritual songs. The context of his spiritual songs are all in agreement with Buddhist sutra.

There is a spiritual song transmitted by Niguma as part of the Five Golden Dharma, which we call the Blessing Sutra of Niguma. It is part of our required daily recitals and contains many essences of Buddhism. I even view it as the classic theory of Shangpa Kagyu. I will talk about it in detail further in the text.

The realm above Suosha Langhan Cadaver Forest, the manifested body of Guru Niguma, is same as the Ghanavyuha realm, with no arising and no end. Many enlightened persons have held offering there. According to documents, Marpa also sought dharma from Niguma, but we do not know if he received the “Five Golden Dharma of Niguma”. What I know is that the “Five Golden Dharma of Niguma” was the exclusive dharma of Shangpa Kagyu during the first seven generations and was passed on to only one person in each generation. Until the eighth generation, the “Five Golden Dharma of Niguma” was not allowed to be widely preached. Tsongkapa once learnt dharma from the monks of Kagyu, as documented in MASTER TSONGKAPA SECRET TRASMISSION TO KEDRUBJE annotated by Xiale Luosadantong. In many books circulated in the world, dharma transmitted by Niguma was often called the “Six Yogas of Niguma”. This name is not complete: the six yogas of Niguma are only the first part of attainment in the “Five Golden Dharma of Niguma”. This book will use the name of the “Five Golden Dharma of Niguma” as popularly used by Shangpa Kagyu lineage.