Chapter 11 - Drigung Chojay lineage (ii): 'bri khung pa

The Dharmasvāmin ‘bri khung pa, to whom shrI phag mo gru pa had prophesied only after making him sit in a yogic posture:

"You will become a good ascetic! You will be the best among ascetics!"

His native place was called ldan stod gtson du. His father belonged to the clan of 'brug rgyal skyu ra, and was called rdo rje and practised the yoga of the Blessed Yamāntaka, having among his ancestors an unbroken line of siddhas of the rnying ma pa sect. His mother was a secret yoginī (sbas pa'i rnal 'byor ma) named btsun ma. The Dharmasvāmin was born in the year Water Female Hog (chu mo phag 1143 A.D.).

From his childhood he had mastered most of his father’s doctrines. A great famine having occured in those places, he proceeded towards the South and there obtained provisions in return for the promise of reciting sacred texts (in the houses) of rich people (klog dom blang ba, to promise to read a sacred text in return for provisions, etc.). With money obtained from the recital of sacred texts, he maintained himself and his retinue. At the age of 9 he became the Teacher of others. Now and again he meditated and preached the Doctrine.

About that time he heard of the fame of dpal phag mo gru pa, and a matchless faith was born in him. When the moon rose, he thought, "how happy is the Moon, being able to look down on my Teacher." Having taken with him some provisions he reached phag mo gru and offered to phag mo gru pa some tea and a horse.

Phag mo gru pa accepted the tea, but said about the horse:

"I do not accept animals as presents!"

Having boiled tea, about 80 senior disciples (dbu che) gathered, and partook of this tea. He observed the face of ‘gro mgon to grow brighter, and he felt somewhat proud.

This was perceived by ‘gro mgon who said to him:

"You, upāsaka, are very proud of yourself! I had laboured for your sake during many cosmic periods."

Because he used to salute every monk present there, he became known as the "Pious upāsaka." After listening to numerous precepts, a great wisdom realizing the essence of all the Elements of Phenomenal Existence was born in him. Thirty-two months after his coming to ‘gro mgon, ‘gro mgon passed away. He spent some time meditating in the e chung cave.

He suddenly fell seriously ill with leprosy, and thought that he should go to a rocky valley, and there make his dead body invisible. When he was about to go, he took leave, and prostrated himself before an image of Avalokiteśvara which he had kept as his tutelary deity. His body having grown weak, he rested his head on the ground. At first he recollected all his own sufferings, then those of the other living beings, and an unbearable compassion, similar to a steady stream, was produced in him. The whole night his bedding was drenched by his tears. Then he saw the nāga and his retinue leaving his body. At the same time he felt himself completely cured of his disease.

He used to tell others:

"Within three days and the forenoon of the fourth day, my evil karma had become purified by itself."

After that he realized all the doctrines on Cause and Effect, and Śrī Heruka showed his face to him. He obtained the stage equal to that of the Buddha himself. His fame spread suddenly, and other people began to invite him to preside over festivals.

Once the daughter of thod pa bsam grub, named nam mkha' rgyan, ran naked into his presence and he thought: "I, being an upāsaka, was contaminated by her. Now I must take up ordination!" At the same time, by the strength of (his) compassion he cured lepers.

At the age of 35, he took up the noviciate and the final monastic vows simultaneously in the presence of zhang sum thog pa, acting as upādhyāya, the ācārya tsi lung pa as karma-ācārya and gnyal ba 'dul 'dzin as Secret Preceptor. He studied the Pratimokṣa-sūtra with gnyal ba 'dul 'dzin at khyung kha lung, and became a very learned man. For about three years he succeeded his Teacher, and at the age of 37, in the year Earth Female Hog (sa mo phag 1179 A.D.) he went to ‘bri khung. In the same year, he gathered about one hundred new monks. On one occasion he made preparations to go to Kailāsa, and the gnyan thang lha god arranged a great reception for him, which was seen by all the 24 teachers and disciples, except one.

He had a large size vision of Ānanda and received instructions from him. After his return to ‘bri khung, he gathered round himself numerous priests, and filled the valleys and mountains from Oḍḍīyāna and Jālandhara (Kaṅgrā) to Wu t’ai shan, with his disciples whom he made understand the Essence of Nature with the help of hidden instructions. The number of his disciples who had gathered on the day of the "Brown Sugar" festival held by gnyos was 55,525.

Some of the great kalyāṇa-mitras of Tibet held the theory that the Buddha had preached both the "direct" (nīta-artha) and the "indirect" (neya-artha) interpretation (of sacred texts), but that the "indirect" interpretation, intentionally preached by the Buddha for the benefit of others, was an impediment to right knowledge, though they did not (openly) declare it to be fallacious. On the other hand, the Dharmasvāmin held the opinion that in the words of the Buddha, not even a single letter could be regarded as contradictory to reason. This was not characteristic of our Teacher only, but was peculiar to all the Buddhas. Thus he maintained that the thought of all the Buddhas was directed towards one object^[1]. In respect of the āgama-dharma, he used to preach all the texts belonging to the Tantra and Prajñāpāramitā classes, and thus his preaching was characterized by an absence of partiality. His mind did not move away even for a single moment^[2] from the combined state of the two forms of Enlightenment. The Dharmasvāmin having discovered that the Monastic Congregation (dge 'dun) was the root of the Doctrine, and that the precious moral precepts were the root of the Congregation, did not transgress even the minutest rules of the Vinaya. He never knew the smell of either meat or wine. All his disciples also kept the moral precepts, even those who stayed in seclusion did not abandon this rule. His fame encompassed the entire Jambudvīpa.

At first dus gsum mkhyen pa, who had come to ‘bri khung, told him who possessed the deeds of a Buddha, that "you are the great ācārya Nāgārjuna."

Later, when he had reached the age of 60, an arhat from Ceylon^[3]. The younger brother of the kha che paN chen, while residing in Kāśmira, heard of the existence of a famous arhat in Ceylon. He journeyed to the island to verify the story, and faith having been born in him,^[4] he spent some months with the arhat in the town of Ratnacuḍa-māni. He told the arhat that his elder brother was about to start for Tibet and sent him four (lotus) flowers through the younger brother of the kha che paN chen, having sealed them in a box and having blessed them in order that they might not fade away on the way till they had reached the person to whom they were addressed.

The arhat said:

"Convey one (flower) to the Bodhisattva rin chen dpal, an incarnation of the ācārya Nāgārjuna, residing in the country called ‘bri. Convey one (flower) to the Bodhisattva named Bhāgīrathi (skal ldan shing rta) in the vihāra called Ratnakūṭi. Convey one flower to a dvibhāṣin,^[5] who was erecting a great image of Maitreya (khro phu'i byams chen), and one of the flowers should be kept on the chest of the image."

Thus the arhat recognized the ‘bri khung Dharmasvāmin to be an incarnation of Nāgārjuna.

While the kha che paN chen was residing at klas mo che, a khams pa monk of ‘bri khung asked the paN chen to give him a religious robe (chos gos). An attendant told him that there was no other religious robe, except the one paN chen was wearing, and therefore did not give it to him. But the khams pa seized the robe (cīvara) of the paN chen.

The attendant then pushed him, and he fell on the ground, and hit his nose which bled. The paN chen when meditating used to see the Venerable One (Tārā) without any hindrance, but after that occurrence, the goddess did not show herself to him for seven days. He did not know^[6] the reason, and made a general confession (spyi bshags), and offered prayers. Then, after seven days, (the Tārā) appeared again, but was seen turning her back on him.

He asked the goddess: "O Āryā! What sin have I committed?" and the goddess replied: "You and your attendant have committed a transgression against a disciple of the ācārya Nāgārjuna."

He said: "I can't remember any such person."

The goddess said: "Is not the priest whose nose bled yesterday, he?"—"Now, now can I expiate my fault?"

The goddess again said to him,

"You should give away to other priests religious robes equal in number to your years. This will remove the sin."

Later, when the paN chen came to dbus, and took up residence on the srin po ri, he was invited by the inmates of tshur phu, ’bri khung and rgya ma. Paṇḍita Vibhūticandra (the head of the nine junior Paṇḍits /paN chung/) said:

"these followers of the Mahāmudrā (by phyag rgya ba he meant a follower of the ‘bri khung pas) are great liars. It is better for us to visit the seat of the dka' gdams pas."

The paN chen became amazed, and said:

"Bhūti, Bhūti, don't say so! There is no error in a Buddha! ‘bri khung pa is (a Buddha, because) he is the ācārya Nāgārjuna! You have amassed a great karma! Now go into his presence, and confess your sin! Ask for (instruction) in the Doctrine."

Vibhūti did accordingly.

Then the paN chen implored the Venerable One (Tārā):

"Will this purify the sin of Vibhūti?"

(The Tārā) said:

"If he were to erect on this spot a temple dedicated to Saṃvara, it would purify (his^[7] sins).”

Accordingly Vibhūti built a temple there.

The "Great Soul" (the Dharmasvāmin of ‘bri khung) showed signs of passing away in the year Fire Female Ox (me mo glang 1217 A.D.) at the age of 75. In the same year rgyal ba brten ne also died, and snye mdo, the All-knowing, was born. One who was present at the time of his (Dharmasvāmin’s) death, asked him: "Now, Precious Dharmasvāmin, where are you going?" "I am not going anywhere! I will stay in the Minds of you, disciples!"was the reply. Formerly, having gone to tsa ri g. Yu mtsho, he saw (in his vision) a wonderful sgo mangs caitya. He built a wooden caitya at first, corresponding to his vision, and then built another one out of precious substances. After his death, his chief disciples erected a large sgo mangs caitya.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

R: this theory is known as ‘bri khung dgongs gcig, "One thought theory of ‘bri khung"

[2]:

R: bodhicitta, kun rdzobs byang chub kyi sems characterized by a feeling of compassion towards living beings who are assumed to be real; don dam byang chub kyi sems, is the understanding of the Absolute accompanied by a feeling of compassion towards all living beings who are assumed to be illusory. The present day Tibetan bla mas wrongly consider the first form to be an artificial bodhicitta, and the second form to represent a true bodhicitta.

[3]:

R: The story about this arhat is related in the "Life" or rnam thar of Śākyaśribhadra composed by the khro phu lo tsA ba. In it the arhat is called Guṇaratna

[4]:

R: Possibly the 'last' arhat.

[5]:

R: "knowing two languages"—the khro phu lo tsA ba byams pa dpal who invited the kha che paṇ chen Śākyasri to Tibet

[6]:

R: means a confession of transgression of the three vows /the Bodhisattva, the Praṭimoksa and Tantric vows/.

[7]:

R: This Temple still exists on the srin po ri.