From my friends at Jnanasukha on this Dakini Day:
The Nyingma Dzogchen lineage began in India with the masters Garab Dorje, Manjusrimitra, and Sri Singha.
Born as an upper class Brahmin west of Bodhgaya and renowned as the most eminent of five hundred panditas and the greatest monk-scholar of Nalanda, Manjushrimitra or Friend of Manjushri is regarded as an incarnation of Manjushri Bodhisattva.
In a vision of Manjushri, he was instructed to go to the Sitavana charnel ground and meet Garab Dorje if he wished to attain enlightenment during his lifetime. This message did not particularly please him because he was already very accomplished in classical Madhyamaka and Garab Dorje was merely a vagabond saint living with a consort! Nevertheless with great pomp and a splendid entourage, Manjushrimitra set out for Sitavana, fully expecting to defeat Garab Dorje in debate. However it turned out to be quite a simple matter for Garab Dorje to prove to him how shallow purely intellectual knowledge is in the face of the direct experience of enlightenment. This most learned scholar had come like a general to do battle, only to fall, conquered before the invincible insight of a vagabond! When Manushrimitra begged Garab Dorje to become his disciple, his entourage of Nalanda scholars abandoned him flat out.
Garab Dorje began Manjusrimitra's re-education by instructing him as follows: "The nature of your own mind-essence is, from the very beginning, none other than buddha. This mind, in and of itself, is birthless and deathless. It is simply like the sky. If the intrinsic truth of the nonduality of all phenomena is understood in its totality, and if this view is merely sustained in faith, without making any kind of effort, then that is how one should practice meditation."
Manjushrimitra stayed with Garab Dorje for seventy-five years during which time the aging guru and disciple traveled about, bringing blessings and wisdom to innumerable beings. When Garab Dorje attained enlightenment, Manjushrimitra beheld him in the sky in a mass of light. Then with the sound of a thunderclap, a tiny golden casket descended from the light into the palm of his hand. Within it he found "The Three Words That Penetrate the Essence" written on a leaf, whereupon his realization became equal to Garab Dorje's.
Thereafter, at the Sosaling charnel ground, Manjishrimitra redacted the 6,400,000 verses of Garab Dorje’s teachings into three categories: Mind, Space, and Pith Instructions. He recorded the oral transmissions he had received and concealed them in a boulder marked with a crossed vajra. Then he married and settled into a very simple life, transmitting everything to Sri Singha.
The Nyingma Dzogchen lineage began in India with the masters Garab Dorje, Manjusrimitra, and Sri Singha.
Born as an upper class Brahmin west of Bodhgaya and renowned as the most eminent of five hundred panditas and the greatest monk-scholar of Nalanda, Manjushrimitra or Friend of Manjushri is regarded as an incarnation of Manjushri Bodhisattva.
In a vision of Manjushri, he was instructed to go to the Sitavana charnel ground and meet Garab Dorje if he wished to attain enlightenment during his lifetime. This message did not particularly please him because he was already very accomplished in classical Madhyamaka and Garab Dorje was merely a vagabond saint living with a consort! Nevertheless with great pomp and a splendid entourage, Manjushrimitra set out for Sitavana, fully expecting to defeat Garab Dorje in debate. However it turned out to be quite a simple matter for Garab Dorje to prove to him how shallow purely intellectual knowledge is in the face of the direct experience of enlightenment. This most learned scholar had come like a general to do battle, only to fall, conquered before the invincible insight of a vagabond! When Manushrimitra begged Garab Dorje to become his disciple, his entourage of Nalanda scholars abandoned him flat out.
Garab Dorje began Manjusrimitra's re-education by instructing him as follows: "The nature of your own mind-essence is, from the very beginning, none other than buddha. This mind, in and of itself, is birthless and deathless. It is simply like the sky. If the intrinsic truth of the nonduality of all phenomena is understood in its totality, and if this view is merely sustained in faith, without making any kind of effort, then that is how one should practice meditation."
Manjushrimitra stayed with Garab Dorje for seventy-five years during which time the aging guru and disciple traveled about, bringing blessings and wisdom to innumerable beings. When Garab Dorje attained enlightenment, Manjushrimitra beheld him in the sky in a mass of light. Then with the sound of a thunderclap, a tiny golden casket descended from the light into the palm of his hand. Within it he found "The Three Words That Penetrate the Essence" written on a leaf, whereupon his realization became equal to Garab Dorje's.
Thereafter, at the Sosaling charnel ground, Manjishrimitra redacted the 6,400,000 verses of Garab Dorje’s teachings into three categories: Mind, Space, and Pith Instructions. He recorded the oral transmissions he had received and concealed them in a boulder marked with a crossed vajra. Then he married and settled into a very simple life, transmitting everything to Sri Singha.
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Tibetan Buddhism
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