Blazing Splendor - Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche

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like the first sliver of the rising sun illuminating the morning sky. The Dharma was beginning its spread throughout the land.

      After another five generations King Trisong Deutsen made a great vow to fully establish Buddhism throughout Tibet, and this was like the sun finally rising high in the sky. During his reign, he invited 108 great masters to Tibet from their native countries, mainly India. In those days, spiritual guides, teachers, and masters were called panditas, learned scholars. Those who received the teachings and translated them into Tibetan were called lotsawas, translators.

2. Trisong Deutsen—the great Dharma king

      The first important master invited to Tibet during this period was the renowned Khenpo Bodhisattva, also known as Shantarakshita. The king had grand plans to build a group of temples in Central Tibet, the complex that today is known as Samye. But a powerful naga spirit loathed the bodhisattva, saying, “If these Indians start bringing Buddhism here, we will suffer. Let’s all gang up and make trouble.” All the eight classes of spirits agreed to try their best to stop Buddhism from spreading in Tibet by preventing the construction of Samye. Whatever was built during the daytime the gods and demons of the land destroyed that night.

      Now, Shantarakshita was a great bodhisattva with a tremendously loving and peaceful heart. But because of his peaceful nature, he was unable to subjugate the local spirits around Samye. It seemed Shantarakshita was going to fail in his mission so the king became increasingly depressed by the lack of progress.

      “I’m only a bodhisattva,” Shantarakshita told him. “I can’t handle all the powerful spirits of this region. But don’t despair; there is a way. In India lives a being who is exceptional in every way. He was not even born from a human womb; his name is Padmasambhava, the Lotus-Born. Any gods or demons who oppose the true teachings become terror-stricken and powerless simply from hearing his name. Invite him to Tibet, and our problems will end.”

      “How can we invite him?” the king asked.

3. Samye—the castle of the early Dharmas 4. Chimphu—a view from the caves above Samye

      The Indian bodhisattva replied, “We three share a vow from our former lives, when Your Majesty, Padmasambhava, and I were brothers who helped erect the great stupa in Boudha, Nepal.7 Since we vowed at that time to spread Buddhism to the north, the Lotus-Born master will certainly accept our invitation; we need only ask him to come.”

5. Padmasambhava—the Lotus-Born master

      Padmasambhava possessed tremendous power, enough to subjugate all evil forces. Being the single embodiment of the activity of the buddhas, he was able to convert disciples in the dark country of Tibet as well as subjugate all the hostile forces. Because of his mystical proficiency, the temple complex of Samye was finally erected.

      Other legendary masters who helped establish the Dharma in Tibet included Vimalamitra, who was said to have attained the extraordinary “vajra body of great transformation,” beyond the reach of birth and death. There was the Tibetan translator Vairotsana, himself an emanation of a buddha. All together, 108 panditas arrived in Tibet.8

      A great number of Tibetans were educated as translators during this period, so that the entire body of the Buddhist teachings, including numerous sadhana practices detailing entire spiritual paths, were translated into Tibetan and accurately codified.

      During the reign of Trisong Deutsen, auspicious conditions occurred in Tibet. The king himself was an emanation of the great bodhisattva Manjushri, and some of his ministers were said to be divine emanations, as were the masters and panditas invited to Tibet and even the translators of that time. Due to these incredibly positive circumstances, the king was able to fulfill his vow of establishing Buddhism in Tibet.

      The teachings from that remarkable period are now known as the Nyingma, or the Old School of the Early Translations, as opposed to the teachings imported from India during subsequent centuries, which are called the Sarma, or the New Schools of the Later Translations.

      But all did not go smoothly. A while after King Trisong Deutsen’s death, there was a period of religious persecution, in which the evil oppressor Langdarma, who had become king, almost succeeded in eradicating Buddhism. But a subsequent revival saw the beginning of the Sarma schools, introduced chiefly by the great translators Rinchen Zangpo and Marpa. These two—and many other great teachers—journeyed all the way to India, received instructions from the Buddhist masters there, and brought them back to Tibet. One of the kings of this early period, a great religious ruler named Ralpachen, a grandson of Trisong Deutsen, also invited many masters to Tibet.

      Now, at that time there were two Sanghas, consisting of the congregation of ordained monks, recognized by their shaven heads and Dharma robes, and the congregation of ngakpas, tantric practitioners distinguished by their long braided hair, white skirts and striped shawls. As a sign of his deep appreciation for these two congregations, the king would spread his two very long braids out upon the ground, and allow the revered practitioners to tread on and sit upon his own hair. He would even take pebbles from under their feet and place them on the crown of his head to show respect. The royal patronage, in conjunction with the king’s great reverence for the teachings, created the circumstances for Buddhism to firmly take root and flourish in Tibet.

      Finally, the Dharma was fully established throughout the country. Over the centuries, through the support of such devoted kings and the efforts of all these masters and translators, eight distinct lineages of teachings translated from their sources in India came to flourish in Tibet.9 These eight schools are all, without a single exception, the teachings of the Buddha. Each taught without any conflict both the Sutra system, which includes Hinayana and Mahayana, and the system of Tantra which is Vajrayana.10

      During these two periods of the first flourishing of Dharma in Tibet, masters and disciples—and even the disciples’ disciples—attained a profound level of realization. Some displayed extraordinary signs of their accomplishment, such as soaring like flocks of birds through the sky. Wherever they took flight and wherever they landed, they left footprints in solid rock. This is not just a legend from the past; these imprints are visible even today, so you can go and look for yourself.

      Such was the country where I was born.

       Gampopa and the Early Barom Masters

      As I mentioned, according to the Tibetan tradition of storytelling, a person should not simply appear out of nowhere. The tale should begin with the person’s origins. We describe origins in two ways: family tree and spiritual lineage. So I will begin in the proper way, by telling you a bit about my family, who were often known by the lofty—and somewhat exaggerated—title “divine bloodline of Tsangsar.” Our clan was for many centuries the rulers of two kingdoms: Tsangsar and Nangchen. According to oral history, our bloodline traces back to India. The story goes that a celestial being from the Brahma realm descended to earth to produce a child with a tigress in the Forest of Black

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