The Book of Kadam by Thupten Jinpa

Author:Thupten Jinpa
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wisdom Publications

I. Presentation of the Defects of Cyclic Existence Preceded by a Preface Outlining the Early Origins [of the Teachings]

Once, when the conqueror and his son were staying at their residence in Yerpa, a multitude, including many exceptional individuals such as Sangphuwa—an emanation of Mañjūśrī—and many others aspiring for liberation, gathered in their presence to listen to the teachings. As described in The Book [of Kadam],383 the skies were also filled with teachers and the buddhas and their children. It is even said that many celestial beings of the Śūddhavākā realm showered down various offerings from above and sang melodious songs proclaiming, “The Buddha’s teaching is being disseminated in the snowy mountains!” At that time, the gathered assembly, dancing with such excitement that their feet barely touched the ground, made supplications by shouting aloud, “Lord Avalokiteśvara!” Atiśa responded to them, saying, “Since this realm is Avalokiteśvara’s field, make supplications to Drom and appeal to him to grant you his attention.”

Drom replied, “Taking my teacher and the wise ones as my witnesses, [234] today I shall expound an instruction that can melt your heart into drops.” Saying this, Drom gave a detailed teaching in accordance with The Book, beginning with death and impermanence and continuing up to the cause and effect of karma, [including] the sufferings of the six types of beings, their causes, and so forth. [Hearing] this [teaching], even the great beings such as Sangphuwa and others, though able to withstand harm from others and from their own pain, felt extreme fear. Their eyes filled with tears and, shouting lamentations, they bowed at Drom’s feet with intense devotion, making the following fervent plea: “Pray save us and others from such sufferings!” Ordinary people also exclaimed, “Alas! If even the great beings express such things, then what can we do?” Out of an unbearable sense of sorrow, everyone, both young and old, chanted the following plea:

Bless us father, O compassionate one;

Sustain us with your heart, O compassionate one!

In particular, there was one Kawa Shākya Wangchuk384—a physical emanation of the arhat Kālika—who had been an ordained monk in this Land of Snows for over sixty years, and who, at eighty-two, had a pale [aged] face. He too felt steadfast devotion for Drom and asked, “How is it that someone like you, a lord of the tenth ground, a member of the Drom lineage from the north, assumes the form of only a celibate lay upāsaka practitioner in this imperfect region of snowy mountains? Alas! My age and physical state have reached such a stage that there is a danger that I might die soon. Even though we have such a lord as you, how blind and deaf we have been, clinging to our own individual partisan instructions and failing see or hear such a clear ocean of instructions as this? What should I do now? Pray bless my inferior body and speech. Pray tame my inferior mental continuum. This instruction, so vast and complete, pierces my heart!” Making such exclamations, he looked into Drom’s face and wept.

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