Chapter 1c - The Zur Geneology (xiii): Rta ston jo yes

Rta ston jo yes proceeded at the age of twelve to bla ma dmar ston 'jam, and obtained (the initiation) into the Saṃvara system and the phyag na rdo rje bdud rtsi thigs pa.^[1] For two years he repeated the long dhāraṇī (of Vajrapāṇi). Together with his father he obtained on 101 occasions the initiation into the Saṃvara system. In all he obtained 116 initiations, including those which he obtained later.

For two years he heard the Māyā (sgyu 'phrul) system from kha rag ston snying. From bla ma rtsags and se dur lung pa he obtained the precepts and the basic text of the skor method of the "Great Perfection."

At the age of sixteen, he preached the rdo rje sems dpa' nam mkha' che.^[2] At the end of his sixteenth year, he proceeded towards Lower ngams sod.

From his father’s disciple, the Venerable hags, he heard the method of sgang of the Mahāmudrā (phyag rgya chen po) system. From the bla ma zangs ri rgya ras he heard the systems of ras chung pa of lo ro, the Hevajra system according to the method of mes (mes ston tshon po), the 'jam dpal gsang ldan,^[3] the system of Saṃvara^[4] according to the method of lU yi pa, the sādhana of mtsho skyes rdo rje,^[5] the "Path and Fruit" (lam 'bras) doctrine according to the method of zha ma,^[6] and the three cycles of zhi byed. He held in high esteem the method of skam.

Further, he obtained the system of the Dharmapāla drag sang, etc. And listened to all the wisdom of bla ma zhags ri pa, in the manner of a vase filled to the brim.

From the bla ma rlung phyag dum he heard the basic text of the method of rlung of the Mahāmudrā (phyag rgya chen po), the class of short precepts (stong thun gdams ngag gi skor), and the class called the "Blessing of (Vajra) vārahī" (phag mo byin rlabs).

In this manner he heard the complete exposition of the (system) known as the three classes of the Dohā,^[7] and the gtor rgyud chen po.

He also studied innumerable rites of the Guardians of the Doctrine, headed by mgon po stag zhon.

From the siddha mal byed tshang pa he obtained the rite (of propitiation) of the goddess ka ki ni. In this manner, he pursued his studies in Lower ngams shod, and spent there more than seven years. At twenty-four, he went away.

Then, the ācārya jo sras, aged nineteen, having come down from gtsang, they agreed on the date, and both brothers held their coming of age ceremony (che 'don). After finishing the ceremony of welcome, he proceeded to gtsang. Jo yes heard the Cycle of Vajrakīla from nang ston jo ‘khyams. He stayed at chu bo ri, and practiced meditation.

Then he proceeded to zhig po. At first he did not intend to ask him for an exposition of the Doctrine. Thinking to himself: "In the matter of religion, I am more learned (than he). Also in the domain of precepts I am greater than he, but his fame is great, and because he is the teacher of my younger brother, I should go and see him, and make offerings to him."

He went to meet him, and made offerings to him. He met zhig po bdud rtsi residing at the hermitage of 'ug skad. On the mere seeing of his face, a feeling of devotion was produced in him of its own.

Next day, when he was about to leave, he said (to zhig po): "I shall come again into your presence, filled with esteem, accept me as your disciple."

The teacher (zhig po) said: "Have you faith?" and he answered "I have faith." "Well then, because of your past deeds, stay here from now on. The nature of this Phenomenal World is transient, and there is no certainty as to the Future."

But jo yes replied: "Because I did not intend staying here, I did not bring provisions along." zhig po said "No one brings provisions when coming here. Why should you alone require special provisions?" Thus he remained in the presence of the teacher, and heard the exposition of the Doctrine.

Among the classes of Tantras, he heard the three sections of the "Mother and Son" (ma bu sum bskor) of the kun byed rgyal po,^[8] the ten sūtras of the bshad rgyud (bshad rgyud mdo bcu), the four sections of the bshad rgyud of the 'khor ba rtsad gcod kyi rgyud,^[9] the mūla and vṛtti of the rgyan chos, together with precepts, the profound basic text (zab pa gzhung) on the method of exposition of the eighteen mūlas (rtsa ba bcwo brgyad kyi bshad srol la zab pa gzhung), the "Revelation of the Hidden" and the exposition of precepts and meditative practice (gab pa mngon du phyung ste man ngag sgom sdebs su bshad pa), its sgom 'grel snying gi nyi ma drug, also the snying rig pa’i nyi ma drug, the "Oral Tradition" (snyan brgyud) together with the system (chos skor) of sgro ba nag po, the sgom yig chen mo, the rig nyi, the mig sgron, the gdar sha, and the gzer bu.

Among the class of "Oral Precepts" (gdams pa snyan brgyud): he earnestly practiced the precepts of the skor method, those of the method of rong and those of the method of khams, together with explanatory notes.

Having met zhig po, he drank profusely from the immaculate stream of his teaching. He realised the teacher’s mind, obtained his blessing and attained simultaneously insight and emancipation.

"Though a Dharma-kāya was present in me, I did not recognize it. From eternity the nature of illusion is inconceivable. By reason of the awakening of my former deeds and through accumulated merit, I had the opportunity of meeting a perfect teacher, and of studying a little the profound Tantric teachings. All my doubts concerning the nature of the Mind were removed in the presence of zhig po who bestowed on me profound precepts handed down through four Spiritual Lineages, and which reflected the essence of the mind of this precious and matchless teacher," said he.

In general, this person from the very beginning was distinguished from others by his wisdom and his Spiritual Lineage, and by the accumulations of former experiences. Having met since his youth many learned teachers, he was endowed with an extraordinary wealth of knowledge and mastered the meaning of all the Tantras and precepts. Having secured the blessing of ancient venerable (teachers), he perceived all external objects as belonging to the sphere of the Absolute (chos nyid, dharmatā), and did not pay attention to worldly eulogy and slander, and carried on (his work) without any pretensions. Throughout all his life he felt devotion towards his teacher present in himself, and never grew tired of laboring in the interests of his teacher and of serving his teacher’s monastery. He was endowed with an awakened thought of great compassion, and without thinking about his personal salvation, laboured for the welfare of living beings by the exercise of proper benign and stern acts. Whatever action he performed, he was a king of yogins (rtogs ldan), similar to a mountain, and was never separated from the understanding of the Ultimate Essence (chos nyid kyi rtogs pa).

In general, this rta ston jo yes was born in the year Water-Female-Sheep (chu mo lug—1163 A.D.). At the age of twenty-five, he met zhig po. When he was thirty-seven, zhig po died. Till that time, they have stayed together, as teacher and disciple, for eleven years, without parting for even a day.

He attended (on his teacher) for seven years, and gladdened his teacher with three kinds of joy. Their minds were united, and on three occasions, the teacher blessed him, saying: "O you who did what the teacher liked! May all your thoughts be fulfilled!"

In general, one could not find a teacher, in whose interest he did not labor. In particular he disposed of all his landed property and renounced worldly possessions, and on four occasions held religious assemblies in honour of zhig po. He presented (zhig po) with a total of seventy-four good horses.

He also wrote down all the precepts and advice (received from his teacher), and was thus of great benefit to later followers.

In this manner his desire to study the Doctrine was fulfilled, and he thought: "I shall proceed to a country of forests and mountain valleys unseen and unheard of by men. Should I be unable to obtain miraculous powers (siddhi), I shall not leave behind me any traces of my going there and dying there."He used to copy books in the form of short notes only.

During the life-time of zhig po, the latter did not permit him to go away. After that, he felt unable to go against the advice of dbon seng ge rgyal and the ācārya sprul sku, and used to say: "Continuous work on behalf of the monastery did not permit me to give it up. Therefore in my old age, I have become such an old father, with wife and son,"

His sins were removed, for having labored on behalf of his teacher. He developed his mind concentration, and used to say: "(this life) was more profitable, than to stay at hermitages." Later he studied with the teacher brag dkar mo ba of po dong, the rin po che gsal ba sgron ma'i rgyud,^[10] and the 'phags lam bkod pa'i rgyud.^[11] He also obtained minute precepts.

If we would count all the teachers, from whom he had heard the Doctrine, we would find sixteen. There were thirteen teachers under whom he had studied in earnest. Among them there were six mūla gurus (rtsa ba'i bla ma), and among these three of special benefit to him, but the greatest and matchless among them was zhig po rin po che. Then his father, dmar ston ‘jam, kha rag pa, father and son, se dur lung pa, bla ma rtsags, the Venerable hags, zangs ri rgya ras, rlung, father and son, zhar chos pa (the assistant zhar), lho pa lto ‘ber, mal byed tshang pa, nang ston jo ‘khyams, zhig po bdud rtsi, rma bya byang brtson and brag dkar mo ba.

Now, the manner in which he attained the perfection of mind following (the instructions) of zhig po: when he was erecting the image of Avalokiteśvara of thang skya, and for eighteen months was engaged in the work of melting copper at zhung mkhar, a yogic insight (rtogs pa) was born in him.

At the time of preaching the "Accumulation of Oral Tradition" (snyan bgyud spungs pa) at glag pa lam, he suddenly obtained blessing, and an extraordinary sensation of perceiving all visual objects as belonging to the sphere of the Ultimate Essence was born in him.

When king pho brags took away the horse which belonged to the ācārya sprul sku, and while he was propitiating the Religious Protector (dharmapāla) on the rock snang gsal of rdor thas phu, he had a vision of Mahākāla.

When he was making a begging round of the five villages of stod khung in stod lungs, on the night of the offering of the 29th, he saw in his dream zhig po coming towards (him), and bestowing precepts on him. His grief (21b) vanished by itself. From that time onwards, he did not experience ordinary grief even for a brief moment.

In order to work for the benefit of the monastery and zhig po, he visited many kingdoms, and laboured extensively for the welfare of living beings.

For six years he attended on the two shAkya lords of lha sa, and passed away on the 19th day of the month Bhādrapada (ston zla ra ba, 15th Aug—15th Sept.) of the year Iron-Male-Tiger (lcags pho stag—1230 A.D.) at the age of sixty-eight. Many relics were left behind (after his cremation).

The mahā-siddha, u rgyan pa was born in this Iron-Tiger year (lcags stag—1230 A.D.). This year is the 61st year, if counted from the year of the passing of Śrī phag mo gru pa.

There was a very learned disciple of sangs rgyas dbon ston, named rta ston gzi brjid. He composed an extensive commentary on the gsang snying. I have written (the story of the Lineage) as it appears in the account of the Lineage composed by him. Prior to him, the teachers of the Lineage were said to have been learned in the Māyā (sgyu 'phrul) and the "Mental" Class (sems phyogs). He was famous as a scholar, learned in all treatises belonging to the Māyā (sgyu 'phrul) system and the "Mental" Class (sems phyogs). They belonged to the Lineages of these two systems. Xiii. Alternate source for lineage history from sgro sbug pa to g. Yung ston pa

In the khog dbub of g. Yung ston pa^[12] the list of disciples of sgro sbug pa differs slightly from the one given above. Gtsang pa byi ston and sgong dri ngas pa nye ston chos kyi seng ge,^[13] disciples of sgro sbug pa, taught to gtsang nag 'od 'bar. From the latter the Doctrine was heard by mes ston mgon po. Bla ma sro heard it from him. From pa shI shAk 'od and rta nag bdud rtsi.

The reason for calling him pa shI:^[14] the title was given him by command of the Emperor se chen in order to make him equal in title to the Imperial Preceptors,^[15] after he had extracted the "water of life" (tshe chu), hidden by the ācārya pad+ma, from the rock rdo rje tshe brtan, and sent it by envoy (gser yig pa) to the Emperor.

Zur byams pa seng ge heard the Doctrine from the latter. From his youth, he was endowed with a powerful mind, and knowledge. In particular he was learned in the system of Māyā (sgyu 'phrul). He died at the age of twenty-seven. G. Yung ston pa and bsam grub rdo rje heard (22a) the Doctrine from him.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Tg. rgyud, No. 2170?

[2]:

rnying ma’i rgyud 'bum, vol. II/kha/; rnying ma'i dkar chag, fol. 228a

[3]:

Tg. rgyud, No. 2593, 2594

[4]:

Tg. rgyud, No. 1427—Ś rī Bhagavadabhisa Māyānāma

[5]:

Ś rīhevajrasādhana, Tg, rgyud, No. 1218; also known as the sgrub thabs mtsho skyes

[6]:

The basic text of the lam 'bras system is the lam 'bras bu dang bcas pa'i rtsa ba rdo rje’i tshig rkang, Tg. rgyud, No. 2284

[7]:

Tg. rgyud, No. 2263 and ff.

[8]:

chos thams cad rdzogs pa chen po byang chub kyi sems kun byed rgyal po, Kg. rnying rgyud, No. 828

[9]:

'khor ba rtsad gcod kyi rgyud ba bshad rgyud sde bzhi, rnying ma'i rgyud 'bum, vol. VII /ja/; rnying ma'i dkar chag, fol. 230b

[10]:

rnying rgyud dkar chag, fol. 230b

[11]:

rnying rgyud dkar chag, fol. 229b

[12]:

a disciple of bu ston

[13]:

p. 188.19-189.1 of the Chengdu edition reads: sgong drings pa nye ston chos kyi seng ge—JDG

[14]:

[15]:

gong ma’i bla ma; the Tibetan expression translates the Chinese Ti-shih