Buddhagupta-nātha

བུད་དྷ་གུཔ་ཏ་ནཱ་ཐ།

The life of the sixteenth century Indian tantric master Buddhaguptanātha was recorded in extensive detail by his Tibetan disciple, Tāranātha (tA ra nA tha, 1575-1634), who wrote his biography around the year 1601. Tāranātha's work is almost entirely devoted to his journeys across South and Southeast Asia and the many miraculous events that he experienced. Tāranātha presents the narrative as a faithful account of the events as told him by Buddhagupta himself.

According to Tāranātha's biography, Buddhagupta was born the youngest of eight sons of a rich merchant in the great city of Indra-liṅga. As a youth he attended on Thirtinātha, a master of rasayāna – chulen (bcud len) in Tibetan – an alchemical practice designed to extend life. With his father's permission, he joined that teacher's community of yogins, receiving the name Buddhagupta. Other teachers included Devanāra and Dipanātha, under whom he studied grammar and other topics, and Brahmanātha and Kṛiṣṇanātha.

Tāranātha explains that all the above-listed teachers were followers of the Nāthapanthi, a Buddhist school of tantra that survived the collapse of monastic Buddhism in India. Yet Tāranātha also acknowledges that not all the teachings Buddhagupta received and practiced during his extensive travels could be classified as Buddhist. Indeed, he reports that Buddhagupta told him that "until he finally received the Hevajra at Dramiladvīpa, it was as if he had not obtained any Buddhist oral instructions that were substantial and meaningful (at all), whether of tantras or related commentaries, so he told me."

Buddhagupta eventually went off on his own, into mountain retreats where he mastered chulen and received visions of Vajrayoginī. The biography narrates numerous visits to holy sites in India, including Oḍḍiyāna and the sites associated with the Indian Mahāsiddhas central to the later Tibetan Buddhist traditions. Buddhagupta described both an inner and an outer Oḍḍiyāna. The outer may well include the Swat valley, whereas the inner region around the "capital" Dhumastira, which he situates near Ghazni, must have been a rather small place. He describes the four main accesses to the central region and how there are three great lakes, in all likelihood the famous Band-i-Amir lakes west of Bamian. These lakes are the most likely candidates since he goes on to describe a road between the southern and eastern lakes that leads to Balkh which is situated not far west of Mazar-i-Sharif, but rather a great distance from the Swat valley.

For sixteen years he practiced in "an empty Śiva-temple" in southern India, and then visited a Hevajra temple built by Padmavajra, with an image known to make vow-breakers vomit blood upon seeing its face.

He then took a sea voyage to the islands off the Indian coast, receiving Cakrasaṃvara and Hevajra initiations from a master named Sumati. He resided on Sri Lanka for five years, and then went on to Jamigiri, an island on which Nāgārjuna is said to have resided and constructed a temple, and experienced a vision of that master. He continued to the island of Mount Potalaka, the earthy residence of Avalokiteśvara. After additional visits to Buddhist islands he returned to Sri Lanka and heard the name of Śāntigupta. That teacher gave him teachings and empowerments, as did his female disciple, Dīnakara. Buddhagupta then went north of pilgrimage.

Moving further north, Buddhagupta then entered Tibet from Assam, visiting Samye (bsam yas) and Lhasa. Continuing slowly towards Tsang, he eventually met with the young Tāranātha and stayed at his Mahābodhi hermitage. Tāranātha, proficient in the languages of India, requested transmissions of teaching he characterized as heretofore unknown in Tibet.

Tāranātha's description of the teacher is worth quoting in full:

The signs and marks of his accomplishment as a yogin were plainly visible to ordinary eyes. Half the day he remained [in a state] whereby he cut off the flow of his breath, and at practically all times he stayed naked. Not only did he not experience any harm from this, but his immediate entourage, within a two meter radius, could feel an intense heat, by means of which he was able to protect others from the

cold. By cutting off the flow of his breath through mouth and nostrils, he was able to make appear to his eyes and ears whatever he wanted. Also, his feet did not sink on water. He was standing about two fingers above the ground and his bodily splendor would touch every object and remain there for a long time. He possessed the power of seeing others' secret designs, in a supernatural way knowing others'

minds. His body was light: he would jump down from (a height of) two or three stories, and like a skin that had been flung down, he landed gently like a feather. He would climb up a steep mountain as if it were flat land. Poison, quicksilver and the like were unable to harm his body. As his mind was abiding in steady loving kindness, dogs and even ferocious carnivores would lick his body and in other ways show

their affection. Ravens, little birds and so forth would alight on his lap or onto the tips of his fingers. They didn’t flee when he patted them, but remained where they were, obviously happy. At the time of bestowing an empowerment, he was able to make the wisdom actually descend. In the presence of worthy candidates he would show miraculous occurrences of various kinds, such as radiating light into the maṇḍala. He stood in no need

for the food of humans. He lived on foods offered to him by non-human beings. When he was engaged in one-pointed deity yoga, the appearances of the present were really cut off and he was one endowed with the wisdom of at all times viewing everything outer and inner as devoid of any basis and as self-liberated. We with the scope similar to that of mayflies, how could we possibly evaluate the limit of his outstanding qualities of body, speech and mind?

Tāranātha listed the teachings he requested from Buddhagupta, reporting that he listened carefully and wrote down everything the master said. These include: the empowerment in the Tārāyoginī, the oral instructions on its Generation and Completion Processes, together with the blessings and a commentary on her tantras; the Guhyasamāja in the Jñānapāda style; Akṣobhya as the Sixteen Deities; the empowerment for the Mahāmudrā of mind;

the Blessings of the Drop of (the Goddess of) Spring (i.e. the Vasantatilaka); the Great Questions on the Six instruction Lineages, the Dohas of Jalandhāra and (the accompanying) oral instructions; the oral instructions on the Mahāmudrā of mind and its scriptural commentary; the oral instructions on the Four Syllables; the blessings for the Self-Blessing and the scriptural commentary; the Heart Essence of the Four Mudras; the Oral Instructions of Kusali and

its Six Branches on the Perfection Process for Hevajra; the Rain of Wisdom; the Single Lamp; the Single Recollection; the Oral Instruction on the Mahāmāya; Entering the Kong clan (?) of Vārāhī according to the technique of Jālandhara; the oral instruction on Vārāhī the Hunter; the Multi-colored Vārāhī; the Three Yoginī, White, Red and Blue; the Goose-Vajra Nairātmya; Vajravārāhī the Joyful Chatter; the Perfection Process of Acalā, composed by Atiśa; the Set of Four, by the supremely Resplendent Ḍombipa; and the two sets of means of realization on the Great Black One, Mahākāla

Buddhaguptanātha returned to India after perhaps three months in Tibet, and Tāranātha concludes his biography with reports that he heard that Buddhagupta was then reunited with Śāntigupta, and then continued to travel across the subcontinent.

Sherab Drime is an ordained monk and lama of the Karma Kagyu and Shangpa Kagyu traditions of German origin. An interpreter and translator for 30 years, he worked closely for the late Kyabje Tenga Rinpoche of Benchen monastery and now spends most of his time in solitary retreat in Yolmo.

Source

https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Buddhagupta-natha/6412