Book Contents

Foreward by the Seventh Yongey Mingyur Dorje

Translator’s Introduction
“The Life of Mingyur Dorje Drakpo Nuden Tsal”
Lives of the Hundred Treasure Revealers
by Jamgon Köngtrul Lodrö Taye

Chariot of the Fortunate: Part One
The Life of the First Yongey Mingyur Dorje
by Je Tukyi Dorje

Chariot of the Fortunate: Part Two
The Life of the First Yongey Mingyur Dorje
by Surmang Tendzin Rinpoche

Notes

Tibetan Text

Acknowledgements

Resources

Book Excerpts

During his twenty-fifth year, the Year of the Snake, while he was living at Dzodzi Monastery, he performed the accomplishment of the protector Bernakchen. Early one morning—but not while asleep; in actual waking experience—he saw the mahasiddha Karma Pakshi. Seated above Karma Pakshi's head he saw Guru Rinpoche. On Karma Pakshi's right he saw Hayagriva; on his left, Vajravarahi. Behind them he saw Rechungpa and in front of them the protector Bernakchen accompanied by the Mother and the Smith. The mahasiddha Karma Pakshi said to him:

"KYE HO! Inexpressible, self-aware wisdom
Enters the land of craving when the radiance of appearances
Becomes the ground of bewilderment. Awareness-display follows that.
The chain of solidification, fixation on reality, and habit ensues.
The illusions of various appearances can arise as anything.
Whatever arises, pleasure or pain, is the appearance of an object without reality.
Look at it nakedly. Rest in naked self-awareness.
Appearances are the symbolic guru. In the absence of craving,
Whatever objects appear are self-liberated. E MA HO!
This is how to view the mind itself, the ground.
This is the symbolic guru of appearances.
This is how to meditate on the mind's nature.
Then, how to train one's conduct on the path:

"KYE HO! When unlimited variety appears
A mentality of bewilderment, dualism, and hope and fear arises.
Look in this way at the very face of whichever of the five poisons arises:
Look at this bewilderment arisen from kleshas;
These three poisons; this craving for pleasure,
For food, wealth, possessions, position, and companions.
Through the inactivity that is the absence of solidification, hope, and fear,
Rest in the vast, spacious expanse beyond the intellect,
The state in which, in the absence of craving, whatever arises is self-liberated.
Seeing it nakedly with undistracted awareness is the path.
This is how to train the mind on the path.
SAMAYA!

"KYE HO! Do not crave whatever arises from the ebb and flow
Of self-arisen self-awareness. In the absence of the elaboration of craving and fixation,
In a state beyond elaboration, cultivate experience and appearance.
Apparent objects are empty; emptiness is a spacious expanse.
In its midst abides inexpressible wisdom beyond the intellect,
Naked seeing without distraction or bewilderment.
It is without substance yet produces variety.
Its ebb and flow are functions of awareness-display, the fundamental path.
The path of liberation-upon-arising is the unreality of whatever functions occur.
If the meaning of this is realized, you will become a buddha in one life.
SAMAYA!"

Karma Pakshi bestowed these and other instructions. In reliance upon these, the great treasure-revealer discovered within a boulder beneath his home the scroll of instructions on the retrieval of the treasure. The marks of his chisel can still be clearly seen on the boulder, which remains in place underneath the house of the Yongey family.

One day he said to his friend Lharje Zilu, "Today all China, Tibet, and Mongolia are assembled. Let us go!"

The two of them went to the shore of the lake atop Dzodzi Hill. When they had arrived, the great treasure revealer said, "You wait here. I'm going into the lake to have a little talk with China, Tibet, and Mongolia. No matter how long I'm gone, wait here."

Then he entered the lake and remained under its surface for most of the day. When he finally emerged he was carrying a rectangular blue treasure chest, which he concealed in his home. Over time he secretly transcribed its contents. No one knew of its existence, even Jawo Rapten and his other servants, until the great treasure revealer later bestowed it on its destined inheritor, Drukpa Lodrö Zangpo, who lived near the Dzachu River. When the treasure revealer's uncle, Yongey Lama, subsequently heard of its existence he scolded his nephew for concealing it from him.

The manner in which he retrieved his third treasure, Life-Sadhana of Conjunct Means and Discernment, from Chijam in Dzatö was as follows:

In Chamdo the treasure revealer performed the necessary preparations for retrieving treasure, such as renaming himself, appealing to the spirits of the treasure site, and so forth. Then he traveled to Dzatö Chijam by way of Karma Monastery, Trichi, Dogam, and Kyodrak. The Upasaka of Chijam produced a gloom so intense that one could hardly tell the sky from the earth. The lord treasure revealer set up his tent near the treasure site and remained there. He sent his companions away. The first excavation turned out to be in an incorrect location and had to be abandoned. Then, having determined the true location, he excavated for seven months. The rock he dug through was in several layers. Some consisted of natural, solid rock; others were composed of piled walls of rock. During the seven-month period of excavation, as long as no one came to the site the work went well. Whenever visitors appeared, and especially whenever people came with offerings, either the chisels broke or they failed to penetrate the rock.

The lord treasure revealer rang a bell when he was ready for his tea and meals to be brought to him; if his attendants appeared either before he rang or too long afterward, they invariably saw bizarre things. On more than one such occasion, his attendants saw white and black serpents drinking water from the offering bowls. One day an attendant saw an enormous serpent, its head lying in the treasure revealer's tent and its tail in the Dzachu River.

When the Upasaka transformed himself into a brown yak and reversed the Dzachu River's current, the treasure revealer said to his companions, "Pray well, all of you!"

As they were able to see what was occurring, they prayed as well as they could.

After retrieving the treasure chest, the treasure revealer returned along the route by which he had traveled, staying for three days in Damchengak. He opened the treasure chest in Karyak.

When Kunga Namgyal, Heruka himself,
Had enjoyed the dance of a feast offering's various delights
In the mandala of Dakinijalasamvara
He placed you, the supreme one, on the ground of training.

From the cloud of Sonam Gyamtso in the sky of great bliss resounded
The supreme and long tradition of the glorious drum of summer.
A glistening rain of dharma descended,
Ripening the seeds of the four bodies within worthy beings.

All the images of the victors and their children
Made through the skill of your fingers
Make the craft of Vishvakarmin
Look like the play of children.

The essence churned from the ocean of the definitive secret,
These wish-fulfilling jewels, these mind-sadhanas of the three roots,
Restore our loss through the five degenerations
And fulfill the wishes of the fortunate who seek siddhi.

When these wondrous, excellent, supreme, profound treasures,
Having abided like a river's current and a mountain of vajra rock,
Were liberated from their seal of invisibility
They were worshiped by virtuous devas and nagas.

Therefore it is natural that malicious beings,
Unable to bear this, would look for an opportunity to cause harm.
You quenched all the fires of their spite with the water of love
And received the spontaneous homage of all beings.