Reviews

Reviewer: Gaby Hollmann from Munich, Germany

Wish to thank most precious Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, the Jamgon Kongtrul Labrang in Pullahari, Nepal, and wonderful Yeshe Gyamtso for one of the most invaluable translations ever made available in the West. Am deeply moved just holding this book in my hands. Thank you.

Reviewer: Nona Howard from Woodstock, New York, United States

The book is a "lotus" in it self.

Translator's Introduction

The two biographies translated here are treasures revealed by Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Taye (1813–1899), the renowned master of the traditions of accomplishment and learning. “Treasures,” called terma in Tibetan, are teachings and other material concealed for the benefit of the future, and designed to be discovered and revealed by the rebirth of either the writer of the treasure or one of his or her disciples. Jamgön Lodrö Taye was an emanation of the translator Vairochana, the subject of the second of the two biographies. Vairochana was a disciple of Guru Padmasambhava, the subject of the first biography.

There are many types of treasure, but the most common varieties are physically concealed treasure and mentally concealed treasure. Physically concealed treasure can include earth treasure, lake treasure, sky treasure, and more. Sometimes, for the sake of simplicity, they are all collectively called “earth treasure.” When used in this wider sense, earth treasure includes any treasure that is physically concealed and discovered. Mentally concealed treasure is what is called “thought treasure.” It is concealed in the mind of the disciple, and arises from his or her mind when the time of its revelation is at hand.

The two treasures translated here are not specifically identified as either thought treasure or earth treasure; Jamgön Lodrö Taye simply writes that they were “received as siddhi.” Since he revealed both thought and earth treasure, this enigmatic remark could refer to either. In any case, both biographies identify themselves as having been written by the great teacher Yeshe Tsogyal, a key figure in the transmission of treasure. She, like Vairochana, was a principal disciple of Guru Rinpoche. In particular, almost all the teachings of Guru Rinpoche concealed as treasure were presented to her as well as to the disciple whose rebirth would reveal them in the future. In many cases, she wrote down the treasures, and it was also often Yeshe Tsogyal who concealed them. In some cases, she herself emanated the treasure revealer (called tertön in Tibetan), but even when the tertön has been the emanation of another disciple, the treasure is regarded as having been passed down by her.

Both biographies are partially written in the first person, the narrator being the subject, and partially in the third person. Both end with colophons identifying the final writer as Yeshe Tsogyal. The implication is that she edited and composed the final text of the biographies, incorporating material either spoken or written by the subjects themselves. The texts were concealed in the form of symbol script, decoded by the tertön. Although there have been treasures in which much of the text was written in Tibetan script, it is apparently more common for the original text to be written in “dakinis' symbol script,” which can only be deciphered by someone who has already received the lineage of prophetic entrustment. This is usually the tertön, who received that lineage in his or her previous life as Guru Rinpoche's disciple. Sometimes it is another master associated with the tertön. In either case the text must be transcribed into Tibetan before it can be read by others.

In that way, each of these biographies is the work of three individuals. The biography of Guru Rinpoche was written by Guru Rinpoche and Yeshe Tsogyal, and revealed and deciphered by Jamgön Lodrö Taye; the biography of Vairochana was written by Vairochana and Yeshe Tsogyal, and revealed and deciphered by Jamgön Lodrö Taye.

The purpose of these biographies is to inspire the reader. We are encouraged to vividly imagine the deeds of Guru Rinpoche and Vairochana, both so that we appreciate those deeds and so that we understand something of what such beings are. These are the stories of people utterly unlike us in one sense and identical to us in another. We are not emanations of Amitabha or the buddha Vairochana, and can scarcely imagine living in charnel grounds or gaining the siddhi of invisibility. Nevertheless, all of the qualities demonstrated by Guru Rinpoche and Vairochana are said by them to exist within us right now.

This apparent dichotomy is resolved when we consider the Buddhist understanding of the difference between our nature (our potential) and our present state (our limitations). According to Guru Rinpoche and Vairochana, we are in no way inferior to them in nature and are therefore potentially capable of doing everything they have done. However, because we have as yet not freed our potential from the limitations imposed on it by ignorance, our present state is very different from their present state.

This twofold outlook is necessary for these biographies to be fully appreciated. If we were incapable of achieving what these beings have achieved, there would be little point in studying their deeds. At the same time, seeing how extraordinary that achievement is can remind us that we have not yet realized our full potential. Therefore these stories are both uplifting and humbling.

Readers who wish to read a longer biography of Guru Rinpoche may choose among the many accounts of his deeds that have been translated into English. Those who wish to read a longer account of Vairochana's deeds should read The Great Image, translated by Ani Jinba Palmo, and published by Shambhala Publications.

Yeshe Gyamtso