Chapter 1 - Shri System (v): Zhan ston

His disciple was zhan ston. He was a native of srug gan pa. His birth was accompanied by a strong thunder, {(3b); R1012} lightning and earth tremours.

They (the family) had an enemy who remarked:

Such things were taking place that I became afraid!

Because of this the child became known as Enemy’s Terror (dgra ‘jigs). At the age of seven, he learned writing. He was ordained by sru pa. He was a very strict (monk). At_.the age of 23, after studying the Seven treatises on Logic^[1] at Sa skya, he went on a round of monastic colleges to conduct philosophical debates, and became famous as a learned man.

After that he studied the Five Treatises of Maitreya (byams chos lna), the Five Stages^[2] , the Abhidharmakośa, and the Abhidharmasamuccaya (mnyon pa gong ‘og).

After that he proceeded to the residence of the kalyāṇamitra zhing mo che pa, who asked him to become an abbot, and to labour for the Doctrine. He then became abbot and great was the benefit for the Doctrine. He used to preach the Vinaya āgama by heart and gathered (round him) about 500 monks.

He held the Bhaiśajyaguru and the Tārā as the chief objects of his mental concentration, but on advice of a Bodhisattva that this doctrine of Avalokiteśvara (the rite of fasting) was beneficial for this “Dark Age”^[3] and that he should practise it, he practised it and had a vision of the Tārā. About midnight he saw a vision of Bhaiśajyaguru, and at Dawn he had a vision of the one thousand armed and one thousand eyed Avalokiteśvara. They initiated him, and uttered prophecies. Then he requested Śru pa to allow him too go to a solitary place, but the latter told him: You should occupy the chair for three years more! and presented him with a crystal image of Avalokiteśvara.

Then after the lapse of three years, he entrusted the chair to the kalyanamitra byang yes and proceeded to the upper part of the valley, towards a rocky mountain called rin chen spungs pa, and there practiced fasting for three months without being seen by any one. For seven months he performed nightly the rite of gcod. In the morning he used to fly over to the Western mountains, and there stay in the sru, in the evening he flew back to the slope of the rock of sru. He blocked the river of sru for half a day with his walking staff and performed (other) miracles, similar to those mentioned above. At the hour of death he said: My heart will remain unburnt. Send it to ga’ rong. My tongue will (also) remain behind. Send it to don mo ri%^[4] . He died at the age of 61. After his cremation, a full measure (bre) or relics was recovered (from the ashes). He bestowed the Doctrine on the mahi upādhyāya rtsi ‘dul ba thugs rje byangs chub.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

tshad ma sde bdun: The Pramannavartikakārikā (Tg. Tshad ma, No. 4210), the Pramānnavini Ścaya (Tg. Tshad ma, No. 4211), the Nyāyabindu (Tg. Tshad ma, No. 4212), the Hetubindu) (Tg. Tshad ma, No. 4213), the Sambandha pariik Śāprakarana (Tg. Tshad ma, No. 4214), the Vādanyāya (Tg. Tshad ma, No. 4218), and the Santānāntarasiddhi (Tg. Tshad ma. No. 4219). {R}

[2]:

(Sa sde lnga, the Bodhisattvabhūmi, Tg. Sems tsam, Nos, 4035-37; 4038-4042). {R}

[3]:

Kali yuga {R}

[4]:

name of a well known monastery {R}