A hand painted,
traditional Tibetan thangka painting that
features Guru Rinpoche seated on a lotus
thrown in the center of the main field. The
colors are subdued and the elegant detail of
his robes is done with paint containing real
gold. This is the work of a modern master in
Kathmandu. The painting is traditionally
mounted in silk brocade.
Guru Rinpoche, also
commonly known as Padmasambhava, is perhaps
the most important individual, historically
speaking, in Tibetan Buddhism. He is often
referred to as "the second Buddha", and his
appearance in the world was prophesized by
Shakyamuni Buddha. Padmasambhava means "the
lotus born" and is an allusion to his
miraculous appearance in the center of a
lotus blossom in the Dhyanakosha Lake.
Guru Rinpoche played the
key role in firmly establishing Vajrayana
Buddhism in Tibet, the Land of Snows. He led
the entire country to the Buddhist path,
including the followers and deities of the
pre-Buddhist, Bon religion. He had a great
number of disciples who achieved the
ultimate level of realization and
disappeared in the rainbow body, rather than
having a conventional death. Padmasambhava's
life story is filled with amazing events,
and he is known to have traveled throughout
the Himalayan region, often staying in a
particular location for years at a time in
meditative retreat. It is still possible to
visit the meditation caves where he is known
to have resided. Guru Rinpoche lived for an
amazingly long time - by some accounts at
least 1600 years, before he himself
vanished. During his lifetime he had two
very important consorts - female
practitioner partners, Mandarava and Yeshe
Tsogyal. Yeshe Tsogyal especially, is also
widely hailed for having played an important
role in propagating the Dharma in Tibet
Padmasambhava is
responsible for establishing some very
distinctive teaching methods within the fold
of Tibetan Buddhism. The Terma tradition,
for example, refers to the "hidden dharma
treasure" legacy. During his time on earth,
Guru Rinpoche hid a number of teachings,
which were to be discovered later by his
disciples in their future incarnations. The
teachings are discovered when the time is
right and this is still happening today. If
any of you were not familiar with the Terma
tradition or the modern day Tertons
(treasure revealers) who continue to
discover these hidden teachings, it would no
doubt be an interesting and worthy topic to
look into. Padmasambhava made this
well-known prophecy about the spread of
Tibetan Buddhism to the Americas:
When the iron bird flies and horses run on
wheels
The Tibetan people will be scattered like
ants across the world
And the Dharma will come to the land of the
red man
~ Om Ah Hung Vajra Guru Padma Siddhi Hung ~
