Machig Labdron and the Foundations of Chod by Jerome Edou

Author:Jerome Edou
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Shambhala

3 Labdrön

Having heard about Machig, the governor of the district one day organized a great festival to which he invited Chökyi Dawa and Jomo Bumcham, requesting them to bring along their young daughter. He sent out a messenger who led the little girl and her parents, together with an entourage of twenty-two, into the presence of the ruler.

Upon their arrival he gave an excellent reception in honor of Machig, and then asked Bumcham to come and introduce her daughter to him. As she approached the governor, Bumcham became so shy that she couldn’t reply to any of his questions. Her voice started to tremble, so the child answered for her. The numerous paṇḍitas, geshés and courtiers were impressed by her self-assurance, and when they saw that she had three eyes, they understood she was no ordinary person.

“Do you also know how to read?” the ruler asked her. Dröntsé replied that, yes, she knew letters, and proceeded to recite in three different modes the Condensed Perfection of Wisdom [Skt. Sañcaya-gātha-prajñā-pāramitā-sūtra], a copy of which was lying there. All acknowledged her reading ability and her expertise in recitation. And when the paṇḍitas further inquired whether she also understood the meaning, she explained the passage she had just read. Now all were convinced that she was not just an ordinary being. “She is definitely an emanation of the wisdom ḍākinī,” they exclaimed.

The ruler next asked her to come nearer, as he wished to examine her. He attentively observed her and when he noticed the eye in her forehead, with the syllable A in its center, as well as the full range of other ḍākinī signs, he was most impressed and asked her, “What’s your name?”

She told him, “I am called Rinchen Drönmé [Precious Light] or Dröntsé, or also Adrön.”

“Since your name is Drönmé and since you took birth in Labchi, from now on we’ll call you Labdrön, the Shining Light of Lab! It will be most auspicious in the future.”

All those present, the paṇḍitas, monks and chief statesmen and a crowd of three hundred thousand inhabitants, agreed this was most excellent and henceforth she was known by all as Labdrön, the Shining Light of Lab. Everyone in the crowd wanted to see her with their own eyes and all were filled with joy, confidence and devotion for her.

Finally, the ruler had Labdrön dressed in new clothes and boots, keeping the old ones [as objects for worship]. To her parents he offered three horses and some thirty valuable presents. He urged all of them, parents and servants alike, to take good care of little Labdrön and not to let her go about just anywhere, so that she would not meet evil people who might have a negative influence on her.

“Please keep a close watch over her, for she will be of immense benefit to one and all in the Land of Snows,” he said.

Upon their return to Isomer, for a period of five years, mother and daughter daily studied and recited the Perfection of Wisdom in its extensive, medium and abbreviated versions while staying in the shrine room.

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