by Ian Baker
ngakpa (sngags pa; Skt: tantrika) A lay Tantric practitioner often distinguishable by his or her red and white robes, long hair, and bone or conch shell earrings.
nirvana (mya ngan [las] ’das [pa]) The cessation of everything samsaric such as ignorance and suffering, the liberation of an Arhat or a Buddha. Freedom from compulsions, including the innate tendency of the mind to grasp at inherent existence. Ultimately refers to a radical freedom from suffering and its underlying causes. The freedom from all negative mental states, afflictive emotions, and ignorance of the true nature of reality.
nyingma (rnying ma) “Ancient Ones”: one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The Nyingmas adhere to the original form of Tantric Buddhism brought to Tibet in the eighth century by Padmasambhava and others. The special teachings of the Nyingma are known as Dzogchen, or the Great Perfection.
obscurations (sgrib pa) The veils that obscure the direct perception of the nature of mind and phenomena and attributed to the effects of karma, disturbing emotions, habitual tendencies, and dualistic knowledge.
padmasambhava (pad ma ’ byung gnas) Literally, “originated from a lotus.” The eighth-century Tantric master—also known as guru Rinpoche, the precious teacher—who helped establish Buddhism in Tibet, the alleged author of the hidden scrolls describing beyul.
prana (rlung; Skt: prana). The winds or energy currents that pervade the psychophysical organism. In Tantra, mastery of this vital energy can transform the mind at its most subtle level. See also bindu, nadi.
rainbow body (’ja’ lus) The transformation of the bodily substance into multihued light. At the time of death of a practitioner who has reached the exhaustion of all grasping and fixation through the Dzogchen practice of togal, the five gross elements which form the physical body dissolve back into their essences—five-colored light. Sometimes only the hair and the nails are left behind.
renunciation The attitude of complete detachment from the experiences of samsara.
rigdzin (rig ’dzin; Skt: vidyadhara) Literally, “wisdom holder.” Realized master in the Tantric tradition.
rinpoche Literally, “precious.” A title used for highly learned or reincarnate lamas.
samantabhadra (Kun tu bzang po) Literally, “the All-Good, Ever-Excellent One”; the all-pervasive primordially enlightened Buddha, blue in color and naked, often depicted in union with Samantabhadri, who is white in color. This Buddha principle is considered the ultimate source of all the Tantras of Vajrayana Buddhism.
samsara (srid pa’i ’khor ba; Skt: samsara) Cyclic existence, vicious circle, or round of birth and death and rebirth within the six realms of existence, characterized by suffering, impermanence, and ignorance. The state of ordinary sentient beings fettered by ignorance and dualistic perception, karma, and disturbing emotions. The unenlightened state, characterized by a sense of incompletion and recurring frustration.
sang (sangs) Ritual offering of aromatic plants and wood such as cedar and juniper that are moistened to create a purifying smoke said to be pleasing to local deities and to clear obstructions.
shaman Term deriving from the Tungusic word saman referring to those individuals who cross into the supernatural world at will and deal with the forces that influence and determine ordinary life.
shinje chogyal (gshin rje chogyal ; Skt: yama) Buddhist Lord of Death who, on a popular level, confers judgment on the deceased and determines their future incarnation. As a support for meditation, Shinje embodies the energy of impermanence, the law of karma, and one’s inevitable mortality.
siddha (grub thob) “Accomplished One.” A term for enlightened masters in the Tantric tradition. Siddha has the connotation of one who, besides being realized on the absolute level, has mastery over the phenomenal world; Tantric master who attains direct realization outside the conventional course of study.
siddhi (dngos grub) Literally, “success,” “complete attainment”; there are eight common siddhis arising from the practice of yoga. Among these are clairvoyance, clairaudiance, the ability to fly through the air, the ability to read thoughts, and control of the body and external world, enabling one to transform both at will. The supreme siddhi is enlightenment.
stupa (mchod rten) A dome-shaped monument containing relics of the Buddha or Buddhist saints and built according to universal principles of harmony and order. Stupas are believed to radiate healing energy throughout all existence.
sublime According to the eighteenth-century philosopher Edmund Burke, “Whatever is fitted in any sort to excite the ideas of pain, and danger, that is to say whatever is in any sort terrible . . . is a source of the sublime; that is, it is productive of the strongest emotion which the mind is capable of feeling.”
subtle body The network of subtle nerves and energy channels which serves as a basis for realizing the fundamental mind of clear light.
sunyata (stong pa nyid ) Emptiness; a doctrine emphasized in Mahayana, which stresses that all conceptual frameworks are empty of any abiding reality. In Tantra, sunyata is equated with the feminine principle—the spacelike continuum of unconditioned potentiality.
sutra (mdo [sde]) Discourse or teaching by the Buddha; all esoteric teachings of Buddhism belonging to Hinayana and Mahayana, the causal teachings that regard the path as the cause of enlightenment, as opposed to the esoteric, Tantric teachings.
takin From the Mishmi. A blue-eyed horned ruminant of the eastern Himalayas distantly related to the Arctic musk ox, but closer in appearance to the African gnu.
tantra (rgyud ) Literally, in Sanskrit, “the continuum or thread of innate wisdom permeating all experience.” Tantra refers to esoteric Buddhist scriptures and oral teachings which offer specific methods and yogic practices for liberating the mind from samsaric existence.
terma (gterma) Concealed scrolls and related dharma treasures hidden by Padmasambhava and his consort Yeshe Tsogyal that inspire the quest for enlightenment. Terma can also refer to revelations that occur within the minds of highly realized adepts.
terton ( gter ston) A revealer of hidden dharma treasures, the location of which is often indicated by a dakini.
thangka A Tibetan painted scroll depicting one or more Buddhist deities or mandalas.
tigle (Skt: bindu) The essential fluids or drops which flow through the central channel, and sometimes appear as spheres of light.
tsalung (rtsa-rlung-thig-le) Meditation and yogic practices involving breath control and visualization of the body’s network of psychic energy channels, leading to the experience of Great Bliss. See also tummo, channels.
tsampa Roasted barley flour which, mixed with butter and tea, is the staple of the Tibetan diet.
tulku (sprul sku) Literally, “apparitional body.” The incarnation of a previously enlightened teacher who forestalls final liberation to continue to work for the benefit of sentient beings. In some cases, multiple incarnations are recognized representing the body, speech, mind, qualities, and activities of the previous teacher.
tummo ( gtum mo; Skt: chandali) A form of Tantric yoga which uses breath control and visualization to cultivate an inner psychic heat which burns through conceptual thought and reveals the clear light of the awakened mind.
vajra (dorje) “Diamond scepter”; Ritual implement representing bodhichitta, the indestructible mind of enlightenment, and the means by which to attain it. See Dorje.
vajra body (khams drug ldan pa’i rdo rje’i lus) Vajra body endowed with the six elements. The six outer elements are the five elements and the element of mental objects (chos khams). The six inner elements are flesh, blood, warmth, breath, vacuities, and the all-ground consciousness. The six secret elements are the nadis as the stable earth element, the
syllable HANG at the crown of the head as the liquid water element, the AH-stroke at the navel center as the warm fire element, the life-prana (srog gi rlung) as the moving wind element, the avadhuti central channel as the void space element, and the all-ground wisdom as the cognizant wisdom element.
vajrasattva (rdo rje sems dpa’ ) A Sambhogakaya Buddha associated with the purification of mental obscurations who embodies the enlightened qualities of all five Buddha families and the direct intuitive apprehension of ultimate truth.
vajrayana (rdo rje theg pa) Diamondlike, indestructible vehicle. A form of Buddhism associated with ritual practices and secret oral instructions based on the inner Tantras and believed to offer an accelerated path to enlightenment.
yangsang (yang gsang) An abbreviation of Chimé Yangsang Né, literally, “the innermost secret place of immortality”; a paradisiacal realm said to lie at the heart of Pemako and reachable only by those with faith and vision.
yoga (rnal ’byor) True path; the integration of learning into personal experience. In Sanskrit, yoga literally means union. Yoga thus refers to methods for achieving union with the state of enlightenment with emphasis on personal training as opposed to scholarly learning.
yogi/yogini (rnal ’byor pa) Tantric practitioner; usually connoting someone who has already attained some level of realization of the natural state of mind. One who follows yoga, or a true spiritual path.
Notes
EPIGRAPH
1 . F. M. Bailey, No Passport to Tibet (London: Rupert Hart-Davis, 1957).
PREFACE
1 . John Whitehead, Far Frontiers: People and Events in North-Eastern India 1857-1947 (London: British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia, 1989), pp. 149-75.
PART ONE: THE CALL OF HIDDEN-LANDS
1 Rigdzin Godemchen (rig’dzin rgod kyi ldem phrucan), “Knowledge Holder Endowed with Vulture Feathers” (1337-1408), spent months deciphering the symbolic texts and afterward embarked on a perilous journey for one of the paradisiacal valleys described in the scrolls. Guided by visions and prophetic dreams, he wandered for years through the jungles and ravines of what is now Sikkim in search of the inner reaches of Beyul Dremojung, the Hidden Land of Rice. Lacking conventional means, he tied letters to the necks of compliant vultures and dispatched them across the Himalayas with news of his progress. He kept a meticulous journal of his dreams and visions and was guided on his quest by a dakini, a female embodiment of enlightened vision. In one dream, she gathered up clouds as if they were strands of silk and revealed a tantalizing glimpse of his long-sought sanctuary, a lush valley encircled by sheer and shimmering peaks. But what he’d seen in his visions continued to elude him on the ground. He eventually returned to Tibet, having located the outer and inner reaches of the beyul, but not its coveted secret and innermost secret realms. For further details of Godemchen’s dream see Hamid Sardar-Afkhami, The Buddha’s Secret Gardens: End Times and Hidden-Lands in Tibetan Imagination (Dissertation, Harvard University, Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies, 2001), pp. 109-127.
2 . For more details regarding Lhatsun Namkha Jikme’s further opening of Sikkim see the manuscript History of Sikkim written in 1908 by their Highnesses the Maharajah of Sikkim, Sir Thutob Namgyal, 9 th Chogyal of Sikkim, and Maharani Yeshe Dolma. Copies of the manuscript may be found in the Oriental and Indian Office Collection, London, under reference MSS Eur E 78, and in the manuscript department library of the School of Oriental and African Studies (London University), ref: MS 380072.
3 . Five hundred years later a lama named Tulku Shakya Zangpo (1475-1530) followed the directives revealed by Rigdzin Godemchen and opened Yolmo’s outer nés, or sacred places. The hidden scrolls had indicated the hazards he would face on the way: A wall of snow. Below, hidden under thick forests that are difficult to cross, lies a rugged valley. The gods, demons, and protector spirits of this place are fierce. . . . The rock cliffs rise sheerly towards the sky, and the wild tsen deities are wrathful; there are numerous female poisoners, witches, and yetis with the faces of birds. . . . Carefully examine the cliffs, rivers, and forests. Place path markers in the dense forest. Bring axes and chisels to clear the way. When you are unable to proceed because of rain or mist; pray to Padmasambhava and invoke the protector deities. . . . (Quoted in Sardar-Afkhami, The Buddha’s Secret Gardens)
Yolmo was further opened in 1723 by a lama named Sorya Senge who was granted title to the land after curing a minister’s wife of plague and performing death-repelling rituals in the court of Bhaktapur in the Kathmandu valley.
4 . Chatral Rinpoche later explained three types of né, in terms of the three aspects of reality elucidated in Mahayana Buddhism: A Nirmanakaya né refers to a power place that is physically manifest within the landscape. Sambhogakaya nés such as the paradises of Padmasambhava or Amitabha lie in parallel visionary dimensions, while the Dharmakaya né—also known as chokyishingkam—is reality itself as perceived by a Buddha, or awakened being. Yangsang né is the self-secret dimension within the Nirmanakaya né—the inseparable union of its materiality and innate emptiness.
5 . Adapted from “Milarepa and the Pigeon,” in The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa, Volume One, translated by Garma C. C. Chang, pp. 88-9 . Further accounts of Milarepa’s experience in Yolmo are evoked in his poem “Song of the Yogi’s Joy.”
6 . Dakinis (T: Khandroma) are female spirits, apparitional manifestations of bliss and emptiness who remove obstacles on the spiritual path and provide insight into the nature of mind and reality. Dakinis represent the hidden essence of the phenomenal world as well as the practitioner’s own yogic body of subtle energies. Ultimately, they appear within a practitioner’s mindstream as empty, radiant awareness but dakinis can also appear as humans, adopting a variety of forms from crone to virgin to sexual consort. In their absolute form dakinis represent the unconstrained energies of enlightened mind, manifesting both internally and externally to guide practitioners to their goal. They are akin to Rainer Maria Rilke’s angels who “break you open, out of who you are.”
7 . Chatral Rinpoche had described the valley in a poem: The mountains rise like spiked weapons towards the sun.
The mountains that lie in shadow spread like flames. . . .
In this snow-encircled, broad sandy plain, Padmasambhava and
An assembly of realized beings,
Thinking of those in later generations,
Hid innumerable profound Dharma treasures . . .
All around and in every place, fragrances fill the air
Plantains and other edible plants
Bloom in abundance without being sown,
Amiable birds, water fowl and wood pigeons. . . .
Empty the mind of its weariness . . .
Inner understanding and virtues naturally increase,
Benefiting the activity of path, view, and meditation.
For the practitioners of rushen and nyen sachöd
There is no better place than this!
This strife-free hidden-land of Padmasambhava,
Is no different than the eight great charnel grounds of India.
Surrounded by moats of water and walls of earth and rock,
Graced perpetually by clouds, mist, and rain,
[the valley] is naturally sealed [from the outer world] . . .
If from among hundreds there are a few
Endeavoring to practice Dharma from their hearts,
I say, “Come to this place for the attainment of Buddahood in this life!”
Practitioners of the inner yogas remove obstructing conditions here . . .
May there be spontaneous and auspicious benefit for oneself and others.
8 . The essence of these preliminary practices was described in a seventeenth-centur
y work entitled Flight of the Garuda: “With the conviction that Samsara and Nirvana are of one taste . . . walk, sit, run and jump, talk and laugh, cry and sing. Alternately subdued and agitated, act like a madman. Finally abide in a state of peace and contentedness. . . . Practicing in this way . . . your realization [of mind] becomes as vast as the sky, your meditation naturally radiant and . . . without reference points, prejudice or attachment, your actions become spontaneous . . . and saintly, making no distinction between self and others. Detached from whatever you say, your speech becomes a melodious echo. Without desire for anything at all you are like a garuda soaring through space or like a fearless, intrepid lion . . . free from the beginning, like bright clouds in the sky. . . . See Keith Dowman, translator, The Flight of the Garuda. (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1994).