A Free Article from The Shamanism Magazine You may share this article in any non-commercial way but reference to www.SacredHoop.org must be made if it is reprinted anywhere. (Please contact us via email - found on our website - if you wish to republish it in another publication) Sacred Hoop is an independent magazine about Shamanism and Animistic Spirituality. It is based in West Wales, and has been published four times a year since 1993. To get a very special low-cost subscription to Sacred Hoop - please visit : www.SacredHoop.org/offer.html We hope you enjoy reading the article. Nicholas Breeze Wood (editor) hether seen from a Buddhist or shamanic Wviewpoint, is a being who is able to manipulate reality and the beings who dwell in it in a very magical way, and there is no doubt that the teachings left by him have great power. He is an extremely important figure in Tibetan , being the tantric Buddha, and sometimes is reffered to as Padmakara or Guru . As the ‘First Shaman’ he provides a role model for practitioners and the many legends that surround him link back to the pre-historic shamanic world of the Himalayas. These legends were recorded by his Tibetan consort Yeshe Tsogyal after he came to Tibet in the 9th century, and his birth was predicted by the Buddha, who, before he died, said that one even greater than himself would be born in a lotus flower to teach the ways of .

PADMASAMBHAVA’S LIFE Guru Rinpoche’s story began at the ‘Ocean of Milk’ or Lake Danakosha in the Land of Odiyana on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, where according to legend, in the reign of king Indrabodhi, he appeared miraculously in a beautiful red lotus blossom, as an eight-year-old child holding a dorje (see picture) and a lotus. He immediately began giving teachings to those around. Indrabodhi the king did not have a son, but had been doing ceremonies and spiritual practices for some time in order to gain one. On the day of a full moon, he opened the doors to his three thousand treasuries and gave all the treasure to the poor and needy until it was gone. But still the poor kept coming, even though he had no more to give. The poor who had not received treasure told the king that if he did not give treasure to them, then all the giving he had done in the past would be meaningless. When the king heard this he decided to get endless treasure to give away, and so he travelled to Lake Danakosha to seek a wish-fulfiling jewel held by Charumati, the Shaman of the Glorious daughter of Naga the serpent spirit. After he had found the jewel, the king came Copper-Coloured upon the miraculous child in the lotus. The king was so delighted at finding the son he had prayed for, that he took the boy home, made him Mountain a prince and named him Padmasambhava, which means ‘The Lotus born one’. The prince grew up and married princess Padmasambhava, or Guru Rinpoche is considered Prabhadhari, but in time realised he would not be to be the tantric Buddha who first brought able to teach and empower people, or bring them to Buddhism to Tibet, but to many shamans in the enlightenment if he remained a prince. So he asked King Indrabodhi’s permission to leave the court. Himalayas he is considered to be the ‘first shaman’. NICHOLAS BREEZE WOOD Top: a gilded bronze statue of Guru Rinpoche.

In the complexities of Tibetan he can quite easily identified by the way he sits and by what he holds. A katvanga (tantric staff) sits in the crook of his left arm, while his left hand holds a kapala (a bowl made from the top of a human skull). His right hand holds a dorje or vajra (diamond thunderbolt), and his hat sprouts three eagle feathers.

S 12 H WINTER 2005 His request was refused. So in he travelled over gradually taught Tsogyal all of his Below Left: order to escape, Padmasambhava the whole country, spiritual teachings and rituals, and the Katvanga, deliberately let the trident he was when she had achieved spiritual or tantric staff carrying fall and kill the son and and is said not to have maturity, she began to travel on which Guru wife of one of the ministers of the left ‘even the space her own, gathering followers. Rinpoche carries court. This liberated them from the of a horse-hoof’ where Padmasambhava remained in has a mixture of Buddhist, negative karma they were carrying, he didn’t walk. As he Tibet for some years, during which but because of this ‘crime’, time he travelled over the whole shamanic and Padmasambhava was banished. travelled, he blessed country, and is said not to have left Hindu symbols upon it He travelled to Bodhgaya, the all the mountains, ‘even the space of a horse-hoof’ place of the Buddha’s lakes and caves in the where he didn’t walk. As he The top part of the staff begins enlightenment, as well as many land as places where travelled, he blessed all the other sacred places, in order to mountains, lakes and caves in the with a double inspire others with the Buddha’s it was possible to land as places where it was dorje which is in effect four teachings. As he travelled he gain sacred power possible to gain sacred power. He stylised eagle received teachings from many founded the Nyingma tradition of claw wands great Buddhist scholars. different lands where he , the oldest which face the He then took princess conquered spirits and demons, school of Buddhism in Tibet. four directions, Mandarava, the daughter of the before eventually coming to Tibet. He also gave many predictions above this are king of Zahor, as his spiritual for the future, and concealed three human partner. The king was outraged, ARRIVAL IN TIBET countless hidden secret teachings heads, a freshly and one day, while begging, In Tibet, the King, Trisong Deutsen and magical objects, or . He severed head, Padmasambhava was arrested, had a longing to spread the hid these terma to prevent the a decomposing and burned alive. But teachings of the Buddha, so he teachings from being destroyed in head and a Padmasambhava showed his invited a great teacher from India, the desperate times to come. skull. These represent power by transforming the blazing Khenpo to teach there. For each of these hidden amongst many pyre into a cool lake, in the centre As soon as the people of Tibet treasures Padmasambhava other things, of which he sat on a lotus flower. heard the Buddhist teachings, predicted the time of their finding, the three This so impressed the king that they wanted to make a great the person who would find them, worlds and the he allowed his daughter to go temple. However, the old and the person who would keep three times with Padmasambhava, and spirits of Tibet interfered, the teaching or object. (past, present together they went to the and stopped the temple Some of these terma are actual and future) mountain cave of Maratika from being built. So the physical objects and texts (sa- At the very tip in Nepal. According to king sent messengers to gter), others are teachings that of the staff is legend, it was here that they invite the renowned come through visions (dag-snang), generally found performed rituals to make master Padmasambhava or the voices of invisible beings a trident, the themselves immortal. to come to Tibet to help (snyan-rgyud). Others are ‘mind symbol of Shiva, When they had achieved them. treasures’ (dgongs-gter), but on some immortality, they went to The king and channelled directly through divine katvangas (such convert the people of Padmasambhava met in inspiration and automatic writing. as the one here) Padmasambhava’s home in the year 809 C.E. at the Perhaps the most famous terma there is an extra dorje Odiyana to Buddhism. Again Tamarisk Forest in central text written by Padmasambhava is whilst begging, he was Tibet, at a place called the Thodol, widely known as Below: An Native recognised as the banished Red Rock. Here the ‘Tibetan Book of the Dead’. American eagle’s prince, and was once more Padmasambhava Padmasambhava bound all of foot bundle and a burned in a huge pyre of performed a ceremony the spirits in Tibet under oath to dorje to show sandalwood. to bring all the gods, serve the Buddhist teachings, and the similarity between them Yet again he quenched spirits and demons of the entrusted them to guard the the flames, and both he and land under his command. terma treasures. He Mandarava appeared He then laid the also left physical unharmed on a lotus flower foundation for the great signs of himself at in the centre of a lake. temple of Samye and many places to This time they each wore employed all the gods inspire future a garland of skulls to and demons who had generations, such as symbolise the spiritual earlier stopped the imprints of his body, goal of freedom from the building, to help him. hand prints and cycle of death and . In gratitude the king footprints. He was allowed to gave Padmasambhava a When Padmasambhava decided remain in Odiyana for girl to be his attendant it was time to leave Tibet, the thirteen years as the king's and spiritual partner in people tried to stop him, teacher, and converted rituals. She was called but to no avail. And so the country to Tsogyal and was in he left, riding on Buddhism. After this her early teens and a lion, time there are many already a follower of accompanied by legends of his Buddhism. lots of spirits making travels and his visits to Padmasambhava offerings.

S H WINTER 2005 13 Below: a He went to other lands to Tsogyal - the title ‘Yeshe’ means spirits, whereas a pawo will Kgakpa during teach, and eventually reached the primordial wisdom. become possessed by the spirits a ceremony summit of the Glorious Copper- themselves. in a Tibetan coloured Mountain on the mythical BECOMING THE GURU cave. He is continent of Chamara, where he is Tantric practitioners who follow his SPIRIT FLIGHT OF THE PAWO playing a said to live still, full of compassion teachings today, seek to associate Most pawo see themselves as double sided for all beings. themselves closely with him - in Buddhists, even if their shamanic chod drum Tsogyal remained in Tibet and effect, to become Guru Rinpoche. techniques are far older. The pawo and bell, continued to teach and to gather This is done in a variety of ways, are characterised by their and blowing disciples around her. She is the easiest being the recitation of shamanic spirit flight or journey. a human thigh considered to be a (sky- his : After entering into an altered bone trumpet dancer), which is a female deity state of consciousness or trance called a OM AH HUNG BENZRA who represents the feminine brought about through drumming kangling GURU PEMA HUNG. principle of wisdom. Because of and chanting, the pawo’s namshe this she became known as Yeshe The practitioners can also (consciousness) comes out of their visualise themselves as Guru physical body through the top of THE VAJRA 7 LINE PRAYER Rinpoche in the centre of a their skull, and goes into one of , (a circular sacred map of the three melong (mirrors) Hung!* creation) imagining the whole of arranged on their altar. Orgyen yul-kyi nup-chang tsham, the ordinary reality world around These three melong represent Pema kesar dong-po la, them as the magical ‘pure land’ of gateways to three other worlds of Ya-tshen ch'og-ki ngodrup nyey, Padmasambhava. spirits; the lha (celestial spirits), the Pema jugne zhey-su trag, This helps them to see beyond tsen (earth and mountain spirits), Khortu khadro mangpo kor. the illusory nature of this world, and the lu (subterranean water Khyed-kyi jeysu dag-drub kyee, and gain access to the spiritual spirits). These three types of spirits Chin-kyee lab-ch'ir shegsu sol, power and understanding that correspond to the three shamanic Guru pema siddhi hung. comes from the realisation of the worlds of sky, earth, and underworld. *(a sacred sound or mantra to invoke greater reality. This spirit flight, like any the essence of Guru Rinpoche) They can also sing power songs shamanic journey, gives a pawo that summon Padmasambhava, direct access to the three worlds, Hung! often these are accompanied by The ngakpa however, performs In the northwest of Odiyana drumming on the double-headed ceremonies which can be seen as Born on the flower of a lotus: chod drum. The most famous of ‘phone calls’ to these other worlds, Endowed with the most these songs is The Vajra Seven rather than actual visits to them. marvellous attainment; Line Prayer, which is the most When the pawo is acting as an Renowned as the Lotus-Born; sacred and important prayer in the oracle, at the moment when their Surrounded by many spirits, Nyingma tradition. There are many namshe leaves their physical body, I practice, following your lead. melodies to this song, and many their guardian spirit, or another spirit Please come to bestow blessings. practitioners repeat it hundreds of being (also called pawo), enters the Padmasambhava, Master, thousands of times, singing or now vacant body and speaks Sacred power please speaking it during all their waking through it, answering questions. bestow to me. hours, making it their main prayer, life, and contemplation. THE FIRST SHAMAN Because Buddhism became so TANTRIC SHAMANS dominant in Tibet, the older The practices associated with shamanic folk traditions have, over Padmasambhava are used by the the centuries, blended with the tantric practitioners of Tibet. There more dominant Buddhist traditions. are three classes of practitioner: Because of this blending, the ngakpa (tantric magician), the Padmasambhava - the Buddhist pawo or lhapa, (more like a teacher - has been assimilated into shaman or oracle), and the these older, more shamanic (who takes a priestly role and is traditions as the ‘first shaman’. usually a monk). From whichever viewpoint, Ngakpas perform healings, Buddhist or shamanic. As the ‘First exorcise spirits and psychopomp Shaman’ he provides a role model the dead, using their ability to and link back to the pre-Buddhist perform ceremony, their mastery of shamanic world, and as a Buddhist , (sounds or spells of teacher, he brings magical power) and their ability to perspectives into the intellectual command spirits. and spiritual powerhouse that is They have a considerable Tibetan Buddhism. shamanic role, as do the pawo. The main difference between them however is that a ngakpa will perform ceremony to contact the

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