Eight Manifestations of Guru Rinpoche
[[Image:8_Manifestations.jpg|frame|Guru Tsokyé Dorje encircled by the Eight Manifestations of Guru Rinpoche. Image part of the personal collection of Sogyal Rinpoche;
painted by Salga. ©Tertön Sogyal Trust)]
The Eight Manifestations of Guru Rinpoche (Tib. གུ་རུ་མཚན་བརྒྱད་, guru tsen gyé; Wyl. gu ru mtshan brgyad) are the eight principal forms assumed by Guru Rinpoche at different points in his life:
- Guru Tsokyé Dorje (birth), Tib. གུ་རུ་མཚོ་སྐྱེས་རྡོ་རྗེ་, Wyl. gu ru mtsho skyes rdo rje
- Guru Shakya Sengé (ordination), Tib. གུ་རུ་ཤཱཀྱ་སེང་གེ་, Wyl. gu ru shAkya seng ge
- Guru Nyima Özer (subjugating demonic spirits), Tib. གུ་རུ་ཉི་མ་འོད་ཟེར་, Wyl. gu ru nyi ma 'od zer
- Guru Padmasambhava (establishing Buddhism in Tibet), Tib. གུ་རུ་པདྨ་འབྱུང་གནས་, Guru Pema Jungné, Wyl. gu ru pad+ma 'byung gnas
- Guru Loden Choksé (mastery of the teachings), Tib. གུ་རུ་བློ་ལྡན་མཆོག་སྲེད་, Wyl. gu ru blo ldan mchog sred
- Guru Pema Gyalpo (kingship), Tib. གུ་རུ་པདྨ་རྒྱལ་པོ་, gu ru padma rgyal po
- Guru Sengé Dradrok subjugation of non-buddhists), Tib. གུ་རུ་སེང་གེ་སྒྲ་སྒྲོག་, Wyl. gu ru seng ge sgra sgrog
- Guru Dorje Drolö (concealing terma, (binding spirits under oath), Tib. གུ་རུ་རྡོ་རྗེ་གྲོ་ལོད་, Wyl. gu ru rdo rje gro lod
The Eight Manifestations of Padmasambhava do not depict different Padmasambhavas, but reflect his ability to appear according to different needs and demands. In fact, they are called in Tibetan Guru Tsen Gyé, the eight ‘names’ of the Guru; each manifestation demonstrates a different principle that unveils the innermost nature of mind. As Guru Rinpoche said: “Mind itself is Padmasambhava; there is no practice or meditation apart from that.”[1]
Alternative Names & Lists
Other lists include:
- Orgyen Dorje Chang (Skt. Guru Vajradhara)
- Guru Padmakara
- Guru Pema Tötreng Tsal
Pema Kathang
In the Pema Kathang revealed by Orgyen Lingpa the eight manifestations are mentioned in chapter 19:
- Guru Shakya Sengé (east)
- Guru Pema Gyalpo (south)
- Guru Padmasambhava (west)
- Guru Dorje Drolö (north)
- Guru Nyima Özer (southeast)
- Guru Padmakara (southwest)
- Guru Sengé Dradrok (northwest)
- Guru Loden Choksé (northeast)
Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo
In his praise of the eight manifestations entitled A Garland of Youthful Utpalas (ut+pal gzhon nu'i do shal)[2], Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo lists the eight as:
- GuruTsokyé Dorje
- Guru Loden Choksé
- Guru Pema Gyalpo
- Guru Shakya Sengé
- Guru Nyima Özer
- Guru Sengé Dradrok
- Guru Dorje Drolö
- Guru Padmakara
Dungkar Lobzang Trinlé
In his Great Dictionary (p.500), Dungkar Lobzang Trinlé lists them as follows:
- Guru Tsokyé Dorje
- Guru Dorje Drakpo Tsal
- Guru Shakya Sengé
- Guru Loden Choksé
- Guru Pema Tötreng Tsal
- Guru Pema Gyalpo
- Guru Nyima Özer
- GuruSengé Dradrok
Tukdrup Yang Nying Kundü
In the empowerment of Tukdrup Yang Nying Kundü, Guru Rinpoche and his Eight Manifestations appear as:
- the master Padma Thötreng,
- the vidyadhara Padmajungné,
- the bhikshu Padmasambhava,
- the scholar Loden Choksé,
- the majestic and overpowering Padma Gyalpo,
- the yogin Nyima Özer,
- the bhagavan Shakya Sengé,
- the great wrathful Senge Dradok and
- the crazy Dorje Drolö.[3]
Gallery
Sets of thangkas of the Eight Manifestations include a central image of Guru Pema Jungné.
Guru Tsokyé Dorje
Shakya Sengé
Nyima Özer
Padmasambhava
Loden Choksé
Pema Gyalpo
Sengé Dradok
Dorje Drolö
Footnotes
- ↑ Adapted from Dzogchen & Padmasambhava
- ↑ Collected Works, Vol. ka, pages 132-4
- ↑ Dalai Lama, Dzogchen, page 230.
