Chapter 11 - Another Kālacakra lineage

Again, according (to another) Lineage: the ācārya Kālacakrapāda, the Senior, was the son of a yoginī who took him with her to Śambhala. (There) a monk of an extremely beautiful appearance, blessed him, and he developed the ability of committing to memory a thousand ślokas every day. After that the boy heard the Mūla-Tantra, ^[1] the Sañcaya-Tantra^[2] and the commentary^[3] recited by the monk who was a manifestation of Avalokiteśvara. He committed these texts to memory and then proceeded to Madhyadeśa. This boy on being ordained, became known as tsi lu pa^[4] ; he was also known by the name of tshim bu ba.

When the ācārya tsi lu pa was residing (at the court) of the king of ka ta ka,^[5] he had three disciples, who made the request that the Tantra and the commentary might be wrìtten down in the form of a book. So he wrote it down, and the books were entrusted to the three disciples. One (of them) became a paṇḍita, another became an adept,^[6] but the third was unable to progress beyond the stage of an ordinary human being.

Then the troops of a foreign king invaded the country. They (the disciples) hid the Tantra and its commentaries^[7] in a pit, and fled away. After the war was over, they returned, and searched for the (hidden books). (They discovered) that the last paragraphs of the two lesser commentaries^[8] were missing. The disciples again requested him to write down (the missing portions), but he declined, saying: the dākinīs have hidden them, and therefore it is improper to write them now.

After tsi lu pa proceeded towards the East to Kusumpura (me tog khyim). Upāsakabodhi obtained the system from him. This disciple Bodhi used to say that If he does not understand the Kālacakra, the Doctrine, and especially the Guhyamantra (gSang sngags) cannot be understood by him. All the paṇḍitas having assembled, said: This is incorrect! Let us debate it! They conducted a debate at Vikramaśīla. The Master (Bodhi) asked them about the contradictions in the upper and lower sections of the different Tantras from the stand-point of the Kālacakra, but they did not dare (to debate on the subject). They all begged his forbearance, and asked the Master to instruct them in the Kālacakra, and in this manner the doctrine spread. The Master’s name became dus kyi 'khor lo ba.

Khams pa zhu lo obtained the system from his disciples Mañjukīrti and Abhayākara. Gnyan lo also obtained it. The bla ma 'gos obtained it from these two.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

not included in the Canon

[2]:

bsdus pa'i rgyud, Paramā-

dibuddhoddhṛta-Śrī-Kālacakra-nāma-Tantrarāja. Kg. rgyud 'bum, No. 362

[3]:

Vimalaprabhā

[4]:

Celuka

[5]:

Orissa

[6]:

sādhaka

[7]:

The Vimalaprabhā, the rdo rje snying 'grel, and the phyag rdor don 'grel.

[8]:

The rdo rje snying 'grel and the phyag rdor don 'grel.