Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche - Siddhas of Ga: Remembered by Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche

Brief accounts of the lives of siddhas of Ga whom my guru actually met or whose stories he heard from trustworthy sources, set forth here as medicine to restore faith.

NAMO GURU!

You utterly renounced all the stains of the two veils,

The darkness that ruins the world.

You fully realized the greatest wisdom,

The knowledge of what there is and how things are.

Buddha, you perfectly crossed the turbulent river

Of the three levels of existence.

I bow at your feet, our teacher, for you show all beings,

Humans and devas, the path to freedom.

With powerful wisdom you saw your own face, self-awareness.

With loving compassion you brought holy dharma to Tibet.

With might you tamed vicious, aggressive devas and rakshasas.

I bow to you, Lake-Born Vajra, the single protector of all Tibetans.

Your teaching of all sutras and tantras was unhindered.

Your debating overcame all opposition.

Your compositions are superior to all other explanations of the victors intentions.

I bow to Sakya Pandita, Majushri in person.

The fame of your scholarship filled all of Tibet.

Your nobility opened a hundred doors to the vinaya.

Your benevolent deeds led us to call you a second victor.

I bow to the buddha called Lobzang Drakpa.

You upheld the lineage of the victors words.

You fostered the lotus garden of disciples

With the instructions of the Kadampas and Mahamudra.

You brought the Samadhirajasutra to Tibet.

I bow to Gampopa, Chandraprabhakumara.

By properly practicing with unflagging diligence

The dharma of tradition and realization taught by our peerless teacher,

The blessings of your unbroken lineages have entered your hearts.

Who could fail to respect you, impartial great beings?

In hidden valleys and isolated, pleasant retreats

You cultivated the hidden meaning of dharmata.

Hidden yogis, I prostrate at your toes

With unhidden faith and devotion from my heart.

The best path for the achievement of unity in one life

Is reliance on the blessing of realized gurus.

As that requires diligent study of their lives,

I will write briefly here of their lives for the good of myself and others.

In that way I have cast flowers of words in veneration of holy beings and as a promise.

Our teacher, the peerless Siddhartha, generated bodhichitta in the presence of the peerless Mahashakyamuni. Starting then, he undertook countless greater and lesser austerities. Finally, he eradicated the stains that are the two obscurations and achieved manifest awakening at Vajrasana in India. In accordance with the faculties of different disciples he gradually turned the three dharmachakras, enabling innumerable devas, humans, and others to achieve the perfect renunciation and realization of the three vehicles. Eventually, through the kindness of the abbot Shantarakshita, the master Padmasambhava, the dharma king Trisong Detsen, and others, the dharma of peace spread north from Vajrasana in India to Tibet. This opening of the gate of dharma led to the appearance of the Eight Great Chariots of the Accomplishment Lineage and others. The well-known four great traditions, the Sakya, Geluk, Kagyu, and Nyingma, became widespread. The holders of their teachings became ubiquitous.

However, due to various adverse circumstances the lives of those holy beings, and especially the lives of hidden yogis and yoginis, are not that well-known. Therefore, I will now set forth with benevolence and devotion a few stories about holy beings of various traditions that I have heard from my kind guru Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche.