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King of the Empty Plain

Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2012 11:52 pm
by kirtu
At long last, I have a copy of Cyrus Stearn's essay on and translation of Tangtong Gyalpo's biography, King of the Empty Plain, The Tibetan Iron Bridge Builder Tangtong Gyalpo. Eagerly pouring through it as time permits ...... :twothumbsup:

Kirt

Re: King of the Empty Plain

Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2012 3:31 pm
by Nicholas Weeks
Great book, I have been dipping into for months - so many adventures he had! A wonderful bodhisattva!

Re: King of the Empty Plain

Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2018 6:58 pm
by Nicholas Weeks
Reading it again now - from pp. 310-11:
Homage to you, Mahākarunika,
who compassionately loves
countless living beings,
who has assumed the role
of a mighty spiritual son of the conquerors
on the tenth spiritual level,
and who shows the path
of liberation to all embodied beings.

If absolutely all the sufferings
of the lower realms are removed
by remembering just your name,
why, O compassionate one,
would you not specially
see a person who single-mindedly
offers prayers?

Sublime deity,
I pray that you quickly
protect living beings who are
experiencing inescapable suffering,
bound by the tight iron chains
of subject and object
in the horrible dungeon
of the terrifying three worlds.

om mani padme hum

Re: King of the Empty Plain

Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2018 6:58 pm
by Nicholas Weeks
This noble Mahasiddha faced much hostility, although most regretted it later.
He arrived in Dartsedo. Ten men of the same clan in that region had
joined together and were killing one man. The great adept said, “If an
equal number of men fight, the difference in their courage can be known.
It doesn’t take courage for ten men to kill one.”

When he saved the man’s life, they said, “Tibetan renunciant,
your idea to save a criminal who can’t take care of himself is a mistake.”

They attacked the great adept and that man with their swords, but he
made the man disappear. The great adept sat in midair. When he pointed
down at them, the ten men helplessly dropped the weapons from their hands.
From page 315.

Re: King of the Empty Plain

Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:01 am
by Nicholas Weeks
Then the great adept went to Amdar Shong and was given fine offerings
and honors. He gave the entrustment of pure awareness for Avalokiteshvara
in the market. He told the parents of three mute children in the rows of
the initiation, “Bring your three sons here!”

When they arrived before him, he pointed the index finger of his left
hand at the three mutes. With his right hand he threw leftovers from his
meal at the three of them. The demon binding their speech fled far away.
The three mutes were able to say, “The mountain at the root of our tongues,
which seemed not to fit into our mouths, has been cleared away.”
Page 324

Re: King of the Empty Plain

Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2018 12:51 am
by Nicholas Weeks
Listen, my son, learned and venerable Delek Pal!

Obscured before by the darkness of ignorance, thoughts to practice Dharma were mixed with the eight worldly concerns.

To achieve the aims of future lives, trust in these thoughts of practice.

Completely drop the aims of this life!
Serenely release attachment to the eight worldly concerns!
Totally part from fixation and vanity!
Chop off ties to those near and far!
Tear out the stake of existence, clinging to a self!
Relax thoughts of hope and fear!
Cut the craving for both food and clothing!
Don’t be ambitious, be humble!
Willingly accept the sufferings of renunciation!
Throw away desire, hatred, and rivalry!
Banish evil thoughts of deception and deceit!
Leave greed and hypocrisy alone!
Strictly guard the three vows and the sacred commitments!
Dig out pride, conceit, and anger!
Even though abused by everyone, cultivate patience!
Let ordinary enemies go!
Tame the hatred inside your own mindstream!
Reject greedy thoughts of hoarding!
Rely on love and compassion in your mindstream!
Establish this mind of yours as a witness to all the Dharma of the gods and the Dharma of men.
If your aims are not achieved this time, although hoped for later, hope will be gone.
Relax in the genuine nature!
Cut away the ground or root of confusion!
Watch your own mind without distraction!
Hold fast with mindfulness that never forgets!
If your very essence isn’t recognized, you can apply this relentlessly, but just remain afflicted.
If clear light isn’t apprehended during sleep, you may have been introduced to the nature of mind, but it wasn’t very beneficial.
If clear light isn’t apprehended during the intermediate state, the torment and suffering is hideous.
If self-control of your own mind isn’t gained, you can meditate for an aeon, but you’ll just get tired.
After one thought has ceased and the next hasn’t arisen—open space!
A lucid yet nonconceptual state, an unsupported place without ground or root, this fresh awareness of the present is your own mind, the dharmakaya reality body free from conceptual elaboration.
Everything that appears is your own mind.
Your own mind free from conceptual elaboration is the dharmakaya reality body.
So thoughts are the dynamic energy of the dharmakaya reality body.
Unceasing in appearance, yet established as empty.
Whatever arises, whatever appears, apprehend it with mindfulness!
Relax and let go!
If your very essence has been recognized, repeatedly prolong that.
Uncontrived, undistracted, rest in the natural state!
Free from coming and going, and from arising, ceasing, and remaining—this is Mahamudra.
To carry it on the path without distraction is crucial.
Effortless ease is crucial.
Practice like that!
I circulate through the country without destination.
A yogin free of attachment, and the sun orbiting the four continents, both have no time to pause in leisure!

At those words, Geshé Delek Pal and many other spiritual friends upholding the traditions of explication and practice shed tears, prostrated, placed the great adept’s feet upon their heads, and again offered boundless goods.

Re: King of the Empty Plain

Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2023 6:49 pm
by jamesrigzin
Fantastic stories.

Especially for those who are intruiged by the "deliberate conduct" of mahasiddhas.

https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?tit ... te_conduct

:yinyang: