Pema Lingpa_ALL 0709 7/7/09 12:18 PM Page i The Life and Revelations of Pema Lingpa Pema Lingpa_ALL 0709 7/7/09 12:18 PM Page ii Pema Lingpa_ALL 0709 7/7/09 12:18 PM Page iii The Life and Revelations of Pema Lingpa ሓ Translated by Sarah Harding Snow Lion Publications ithaca, new york ✦ boulder, colorado Pema Lingpa_ALL 0709 7/7/09 12:18 PM Page iv Snow Lion Publications P.O. Box 6483 Ithaca, NY 14851 USA (607) 273-8519 www.snowlionpub.com Copyright © 2003 Sarah Harding All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced by any means without prior written permission from the publisher. Printed in Canada on acid-free recycled paper. isbn 1-55939-194-4 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pema Lingpa_ALL 0709 7/7/09 12:18 PM Page v Contents Foreword by Gangteng Tulku Rinpoche vii Translator’s Preface ix Introduction by Holly Gayley 1 1. Flowers of Faith: A Short Clarification of the Story of the Incarnations of Pema Lingpa by the Eighth Sungtrul Rinpoche 29 2. Refined Gold: The Dialogue of Princess Pemasal and the Guru, from Lama Jewel Ocean 51 3. The Dialogue of Princess Trompa Gyen and the Guru, from Lama Jewel Ocean 87 4. The Dialogue of Master Namkhai Nyingpo and Princess Dorje Tso, from Lama Jewel Ocean 99 5. The Heart of the Matter: The Guru’s Red Instructions to Mutik Tsenpo, from Lama Jewel Ocean 115 6. A Strand of Jewels: The History and Summary of Lama Jewel Ocean 121 Appendix A: Incarnations of the Pema Lingpa Tradition 137 Appendix B: Contents of Pema Lingpa’s Collection of Treasures 142 Notes 145 Bibliography 175 Pema Lingpa_ALL 0709 7/7/09 12:18 PM Page vi Pema Lingpa_ALL 0709 7/7/09 12:18 PM Page vii Foreword by Gangteng Tulku Rinpoche his book is an important introduction to Buddhism and to the Tteachings of Guru Padmasambhava. In particular, it includes selections from the treasures revealed by the great Bhutanese master Pema Lingpa. The history and dialogue with Princess Pemasal is the crux – that is where Guru Rinpoche gave a series of prophecies about the princess’s future lives, which eventually led to Pema Lingpa’s birth. This will be of benefit to anyone interested in the Dharma and those practicing in the Peling tradition. These dialogues with female disciples offer inspiration to women practic- ing the Dharma today. People might think that women did not have the same opportunities or capacities for refining their beings and attaining enlighten- ment. These selections show that it makes absolutely no difference whether you are female or male; it is the practitioner’s faith and diligence that deter- mine spiritual progress. I chose Lama Jewel Ocean to be translated first, because it contains impor- tant instructions for the spiritual path. These teachings concern Guru Pad- masambhava and provide the foundation for later practices. Along with the Dzogchen and Great Compassion cycles, Lama Jewel Ocean is one of the most important in the Peling tradition. It is studied and practiced first because of the importance of the guru’s blessing. In order to translate these selections from Lama Jewel Ocean, I invited Sarah Harding, Kalu Rinpoche’s student, to Bhutan for a year. It is difficult Pema Lingpa_ALL 0709 7/7/09 12:18 PM Page viii viii The Life and Revelations of Pema Lingpa to translate the Dharma, especially Vajrayana material. If someone has not practiced Vajrayana, the translation will not go well. I specifically asked Sarah Harding because she has completed extensive Vajrayana practice in a three- year retreat. His Majesty Jigmi Singye Wangchuck of Bhutan approved this project in order to share the Bhutanese tradition of Pema Lingpa. The translation of the history and teachings of this tradition into English will benefit not only West- erners but also the people of Bhutan and other places where knowledge of English is common. Since Pema Lingpa is so intertwined with Bhutanese culture, this book is also a way of preserving the cultural heritage of the Bhutanese people. May these profound teachings of the Dharma contribute to peace and hap- piness on earth. Pema Lingpa_ALL 0709 7/7/09 12:18 PM Page ix Translator’s Preface rgyen Pema Lingpa was a Buddhist saint who lived in Bhutan Oin the fifteenth century. He is a well-respected, prominent figure in the history of the Vajrayana tradition that dominates the Himalayan region, but it is especially in the small kingdom of Bhutan that he is loved as a folk hero and spiritual master, a source of national pride and inspiration. The sto- ries still abound around the innumerable holy sites where he displayed spir- itual wonders, and the drama of his extraordinary life is constantly reenacted in school plays and performances by monks throughout Bhutan. The teach- ings and religious practices are maintained in good health through his current incarnations, such as Gangteng Tulku Rinpoche. This living tradition is the link to deep spiritual roots, to the time when the great master Padmasamb- hava came to Bhutan and Tibet to tame the wild forces, bring the soothing wisdom of the Buddha’s teachings, and leave behind an enduring legacy. The great Guru Rinpoche is said to have visited Bhutan three times, spreading the doctrine throughout the land and bestowing blessings that are still felt today. In particular, many of these spiritually ripening teachings were hidden in spe- cial power places throughout Bhutan and Tibet, to be revealed at the opti- mum time to be of maximum benefit for sentient beings in the future. It was Pema Lingpa who was destined to reveal many of these treasures. The tradition of hiding treasures (terma)1 is said to have originated with Padmasambhava in the eighth century, although it certainly had precedents in the legends of early Buddhism in India. Holy objects or scrolls of spiritual instructions were hidden in caves or cliffs, or sometimes the meaning of the teachings themselves was hidden in the very mindstreams of special disciples. The places and circumstances of their discovery are recorded in the form of prophecy in ancient texts attributed to Padmasambhava. The person who was the prophesied or destined revealer of a particular treasure is called the tertön, the treasure-revealer. The collected literature attributed to this special class of Buddhist saints constitutes an enormous section of Tibetan scripture. It is the special domain of the Nyingma school, although not exclusively so. The terma Pema Lingpa_ALL 0709 7/7/09 12:18 PM Page x x The Life and Revelations of Pema Lingpa tradition as a whole maintains the ever-important connection to the ancient teachings while at the same time ensuring that they are alive and current. In this sense, it is very much in keeping with the spirit of Buddhism, the ancient wisdom spoken by the Buddha over twenty-five hundred years ago that is constantly adapting and ultimately pragmatic. Pema Lingpa is recognized as the fourth of Five Tertön Kings,2 who are among the one hundred major and one thousand minor treasure-revealers. He discovered treasures throughout Bhutan and north of its current borders, but his activity mainly centered around Bumthang and the Tang Valley where he was born. His life was in many ways characteristic of a tertön. His visions and illuminations began at an early age and launched him into the strenuous career of a treasure-revealer. A crowd of onlookers always witnessed the dis- covery of his treasures, but he nevertheless had his detractors and the usual problems with patronage. In hindsight, however, both his family lineage and his spiritual legacy have maintained a position of prominence in Bhutan itself and in the Vajrayana tradition as a whole. The Pema Lingpa lineage is thus one of the main streams of the terma tradition still maintained and practiced today. The texts translated here, with the exception of the biography “Flowers of Faith,” are all taken from a single treasure collection discovered by Pema Lingpa called Lama Jewel Ocean (Lama Norbu Gyatso). This was discovered in Mendo Cliff in Lhodrak, southern Tibet, when Pema Lingpa was almost fifty. The story of its origins, beginning way back with the life of Padmasambhava, constitutes the last chapter, “A Strand of Jewels.” The other four selections were chosen by Gangteng Tulku Rinpoche for this first collection of transla- tions. They are all “dialogues,” literally question-and-answer sessions (zhu len), that various practitioners had with Padmasambhava or with a disciple close to him. They convey not only the contents of the philosophy and prac- tice, but also a sense of the people involved and their relationships to each other. The guru-disciple relationship is paramount in the practice of Vajrayana Buddhism. The real heart of the spiritual path is transmitted in the private and sacred space created within that relationship. We as readers are privy to a whiff of this atmosphere in these dialogues, and we benefit immensely from the answers that were granted so many centuries ago to ques- tions that we might still hope to ask. Three of these dialogues were with women, illustrious practitioners who were contemporaries of Padmasambhava. These are of special interest in being a window into the past position and attitude of women during the time of Padmasambhava and/or Pema Lingpa. The discovered treasures most often Pema Lingpa_ALL 0709 7/7/09 12:18 PM Page xi Translator’s Preface xi need to be “translated” from the secret or encoded script of the dakinis3 into the idiom of the time.