The Flying Prophesy

Chapter 2      Wisdom Firing Set Prairie Ablaze

2.1. The Flying Prophesy

To write about Shangpa Kagyu, one should start with Khyungpo Naljor. The first preaching guru must be introduced before the superiority of the lineage can be known. “Superior” guru refers not to their bodies but to their superior teaching. To know the superior teaching, one must observe the origin of that teaching.

Since there are many translated names for Khyungpo Naljor, they will not be repeated here. All names are only symbols, no significance needs to be attached to them. The Huozi woman in my novel LIE YUAN embodies this opinion of mine. There is no name for her in the book, and when people asked for her name, she said:

“It’s just a name. Why so serious? Whatever the name is, it will be no more after a hundred years. Except for people who have great virtue, names disappear faster than the perishing of bodies.”

Therefore, the name can be translated in any way. It is the spirit that is more important than the name.

A Brief History of the Kagyu Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism (Religion Culture Publisher) by Cuoru Cilang talks about the historical origin of Shangpa Kagyu. In that book, Khyungpo Naljor is translated as “Qiong Bu Nan Jiao”, and Niguma as “Ni Gu Ma”.

“Kezhu Khyungpo Naljor acquired the essence of the two wisdom dakini, Niguma and Sukhasiddhi, who received teaching from Vajra Dhara, twelve superior gurus, four root gurus and others, the wisdom of 150 adepts in total. He acquired all dharma from the ultimate dharma treasury, THE FIVE POSESSING. It was this Kezhu Khyungpo Naljor that though first achieving in Bon and later in Nyingma, nevertheless went to India and received the profound teaching of exoteric and esoteric Buddhism because he had reached the stage of setting dedication and cultivating Bodhi. Because he formally meditated the five root tantra – ultimate Hevajra announcing strong fire, karma handprint ultimate Chakrasambhava, illusory body brightness ultimate Guhyasamaja, dream ultimate Mahamaya and career ultimate Yamantaka, as the five places in the body, he settled down in the achievement status and achieved the wisdom body in enlightenment. So he built a dharma place in the Xiongxiong area in Yeruxiang of Tibet. From then on, Shangpa guru and followers were known as Shangpa Kagyu.”

“Khyongpo Naljor enjoyed 150 years in this world. His rituals, which used unimaginable god magic to powerfully rotate the unlimited dharma wheel, can be summarized as the three steps of dharma cultivation: teaching, discussion and meditation. The steps of teaching are teaching sutra, tantra, and their explanations logically and accurately. In exoteric Buddhism, he taught the four great traditions accurately, in Vajrayana, he taught the four great tantra systems. The steps of discussion were primarily those widely agreed upon by former thinkers of reasoning, and used the four great reasons to determine the three natures and after dividing quality/quantity into present quality/quantity, comparative quality/quantity and trust/permission quality/quantity, to determine and answer questions, although it was also influenced by the rules of later reasoners, like those in 7 THEORIES OF REASEANING BRIGHTNESS 7.  The steps of meditation were to announce the cause level Paramita tradition and result level Vajrayana, integrating the shared and superior meditation keys of 37 dharma paths into tips. Therefore, as the founding guru in the snow region, his unlimited dharma and achievements are beyond imagination. Among these, only the last, the heart essence of the steps of meditation, is kept until today. This is also called the five dharma having the root of the golden dharma of the Two Dakini Ni and Joy. It is the five dharma of Niguma, Sukhasiddhi (Joy Achieved), Lord of the Vajra Seat, Matripa, Rahula, and many other keys.”

In history books of Buddhism, Khyungpo Naljor has always been recognized as the founding guru of Shangpa Kagyu. This is correct, because although teaching of Shangpa Kagyu originated from Niguma, Khyungpo Naljor started the building of the lineage and established its tradition, after which Shangpa Kagyu became prosperous in Tibetan areas. In Tibetan Buddhism, Khyungpo Naljor, like Milarepa, is a master of great repute.

When lama Khyungpo was living in this world, Buddhism was widely preached in Tibetan areas. High monks and great saints, such as Marpa, Milarepa and Reluoduojizha, clustered like stars, all of whom were great personages throughout the millennia. In the forest of great adepts, it was no small feat that Khyunpgo Naljor was able to be one of them, forming his own tradition and building merits that are uneroded through a thousand years.

Khyungpo Naljor was born in the Yongyong area of Tibet in 990 C.E., possessing four tigers in his fate: tiger year, tiger month, tiger day and tiger hour. According to Tibetan sayings, this birthday possessed great merits. The place where Khyungpo Naljor was born was called Qiong Bao Gou, his father was called Dajia and his mother was called Zhaxiji. His father’s caste was very noble and of royal blood.

When Khyungpo Naljor was born, it was as an egg-shaped ball of meat. All Buddha and Bodhisattva appeared and showered water to bathe him, and the egg was broken and the baby came out. According to Buddhism, most people born in an egg sac are manifested by Bodhisattva over the eighth stage. Jianggong Living Buddha was born in the shape of an egg, so too was the old monk Xuyuan of Han areas. There are many such unusual things in Buddhism, which are no cause for great alarm.

It is said that after Khyungpo Naljor was born, Amoga, the great saint of India, flew across the sky and the gave empowerment of longevity to Khyungpo Naljor, and said “This is no ordinary baby, all sentient beings will depend on him, great care should be taken that he is nurtured and brought up well.” After several years, Amoga flew there again, and said “After you grow up, you should go to India. After receiving the lineage of many great saints, you will benefit sentient beings. From now on, you should meditate the Five Golden Dharma of Niguma. The Mandala of the five Vajras will appear in your central nadi and five chakras (also translated as ‘wheels’). You will live in this world for 150 years.”

Khyungpo Naljor’s father was a very famous guru of Bon, and many people came to entreat dharma from him. Bon was commonly called the black religion, and in Mandarin was also called the “Bengbeng” religion. It is very similar to the shamanic religion in Han areas, worshiping ghosts, gods and natural things. THE ORIGIN OF BON states “the preaching of the black religion began in the Xiangxiong area of one of the three districts of Ali, formerly called Gugai”. The founding guru of this religion was called Bon Qinglaomiboyeqing. In Tibetan history, Bon used to have great power. During the time of Damazanpu, there was a Bon temple called Jiangyanggongque beside Qushui Bridge. This temple had up to thirty thousand people during its prime. When Buddhism entered, there was intense conflict with Bon: there is detailed documentary in the biography of Master Padmasambhawa. After Master Padmasambhawa victoriously subdued the ghosts, Buddhism had opportunity to triumph over Bon, and took root in Tibet. Bon activities can still be seen in many places. There is an incense assembly from the first to the fifteenth day of the fourth Tibetan month. The chief god of Bon is called Gundusangbu, and the foundational temple lies east of Qulangkang temple in Juemuzong of the Yuangongbu area in Tibet. The main branches of Bon include Wuben, Jiaben and Juben. Wuben is the original Bon teaching from ancient Tibet, and its practices are mainly worshiping gods, subduing ghosts, making people and cattle prosperous, predicting good and ill fortune, engaging auspiciousness and spurning evil. Jiaben absorbed other shamanic techniques from outside Tibet and emphasised shamanic ability. It is said that they could ride drums to wander in sky, cut iron with feathers and help spirit of the dead. Juben is modified Bon. In its early stage, one Luqun Banzhida collected and buried shamanic techniques underground then dug them out and claimed they were the classic methods of Bon. During Chisongdezhan, a Bon disciple called Jieweijiangqu retrieved Buddhist sutra he buried before and claimed them as the hidden treasure of Bon. Later on, after Langdama abolished Buddhism, a Bon disciple named Xingulujia fabricated hidden treasure, which became extremely widespread, by modifying many Buddhist sutra and changing the names and explaining the content under the name of Bon and then hiding them. So many popular Bon scriptures are actually modified Buddhist scriptures. The scripture of Bon was called The Five Treasuries: The Basic Treasury, The Gracious Treasury, The Pure Treasury, The Collective Treasury and The Conduct Treasury. In addition, disciples of Bon also study the three sutra and five central theories of Bon. The five theories of Bon are simply abbreviated Buddhist scriptures. Not long ago, the wood carved version of five central theories of Bon was found in Budala Palace. There were thirteen volumes. Some scholars think that it is a carved version from the Song dynasty, thus its long history can be seen. The great Jiangyanggongque of Bon historically gave great emphasis on research and gave rise to many scholars. Some of them have died for centuries, but are still honoured as Gexi by monks of the three great temples.

Khyungpo Naljor had innate talent, and knew the spelling of Sanskirt and Tibetan when he was ten years old. From thirteen years old, he had started to learn the scripture and teaching of Bon. A few years later, he had mastered all scriptures of Bon and all shamanic techniques, and became a well-known Bon dharma guru and many many people came to him to entreat for dharma.