"The practice of Vajrakilaya blazes at the heart of the ancient
Vajrayana traditions of Tibet. The wrathful heruka Vajrakilaya is the
yidam deity who embodies the enlightened activity of all the buddhas,
manifesting in an intensely wrathful yet compassionate form in order to
subjugate the delusion and negativity that can arise as obstacles to
the practice of Dharma. In fact, the practice of Vajrakilaya is famous
in the Tibetan Buddhist world as the most powerful for removing
obstacles, destroying the forces hostile to compassion, and purifying
the spiritual pollution so prevalent in this age."--Sogyal Rinpoche
The
Dark Red Amulet presents the Vajrayana practice of Vajrakilaya
according to the oral transmission lineage of the great
seventeenth-century treasure-revealer Tsasum Lingpa. Vajrakilaya
embodies the enlightened activity of all the buddhas that subjugates
delusion and negativity in order to clear obstacles to spiritual
practice. The essential purpose of Vajrakilaya practice is to "discover
the absolute vajra nature that will transform every duality hindrance
into clear wisdom and compassion."
In this text, the renowned
scholars and meditation masters Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and
KhenpoTsewang Dongyal Rinpoche present the history of this lineage and
the miraculous story of how Tsasum Lingpa revealed this terma teaching.
Their line-by-line commentary on the short and condensed sadhanas
provides an invaluable guide for practitioners to combine the skillful
means of compassion and wisdom that are the foundation of Tibetan
Buddhism.
Ven. Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Ven. Khenpo
Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche are co-founders and co-directors of
Padmasambhava Center, based at Padma Samye Ling in upstate New York
http://www.padmasambhava.org/
When
he was nearly eighteen, Tsasum Lingpa dreamt that Guru Padmasambhava
and Yeshe Tsogyal told him that he would have begun to reveal terma
teachings at around age fifteen, or even thirteen, but due to many
obstacles and hindrances he was prevented from revealing them. They
said, "Now you are approaching age eighteen, and if you are unable to
reveal terma teachings within three years, all your missions of this
life and future lifetimes could be jeopardized! Therefore, you have to
be prepared and determined to carry on and change your life."
Guru
Padmasambhava and Yeshe Tsogyal gave him many empowerments and
teachings in this dream. They took him by the hand and pointed to a
large storehouse filled with countless jewels and precious objects and
said, "There are many treasures inside, choose one!" A lady appeared
(who was actually a dakini), and they told him, "She will be your
companion. You and she will undertake many beneficial activities. Today
you must select the terma keys you would like to take from among these
treasures." He asked, "How can I choose?" and the lady told him,
"Choose the keys!" Tsasum Lingpa and the lady in the dream went into
the storehouse, and he took a blue key made of sapphire. She told him
to take another one, and he took a red key made of ruby. The lady took
a white key made of silver.
When they returned, Yeshe Tsogyal
smiled and looked at Guru Padma sambhava and said, "Our son chose the
right keys!" Then Tsasum Lingpa asked, "What are these keys? What is
their purpose?" They said, "The sapphire key is the key of all the
oceanlike tantra teachings, the ruby key is the key of the voice of the
Buddha's teaching, and the silver key is the key related to the
skillful means of visualization, the creation-stage practice. These
three keys symbolize the three kayas of the ultimate nature. If you had
chosen the yellow key, you would have become very wealthy and powerful
as a universal king, but you would have had many obstacles and
distractions. If you had chosen the green key, it would have benefited
yourself, but not others.
Therefore, the keys you have chosen
are good. Please keep them well protected." Then Guru Padmasambhava and
Yeshe Tsogyal gave Tsasum Lingpa three small rolls of paper in red,
white, and blue colors, telling him, "Keep these symbols of the three
kayas close to you."
Guru Padmasambhava handed a dorje and
drilbu (bell) to Tsasum Lingpa and said,"Keep these with you as well,"
and so he kept them with a lot of respect and prayed. He had been
wearing multicolored thread on his ring finger, and he untied the
thread and wrapped it around the three rolled papers that he received
so that he could wear the three rolled papers on his ring finger. Then
Guru Padmasambhava said, "Son, near the right side of the glacier
mountain of Jowo Zegyal there is a mountain called Ahmye Mutri, where
you will see a rock that looks as though it is jumping up in the sky.
In that rocky place, you will find special instructions about that ruby
key that you took, which you must reveal before the fifteenth day of
this month. You must go there very quickly—if you delay, you could miss
that opportunity. Soon, after one year, I will send you another message
with another invitation, but in the meantime, after you reveal this,
you must travel far and wide, don't stay in one place." Tsasum Lingpa
then bowed with great respect to Guru Rinpoche.
At that moment
wisdom dakini Yeshe Tsogyal changed into an ordinary lady's form. She
gave him other instructions and teachings, and then other ladies, some
wrathful, some peaceful and beautiful, gave him numerous instructions
and took him to wondrous places in this dream.
And at the end
Yeshe Tsogyal said, "Now you go back and we will return to Udiyana, and
soon we will meet again." In his dream Tsasum Lingpa asked,"If you
don't accompany me, then who will accompany me?" Yeshe Tsogyal told
him, "Don't worry, you will have soon an assistant. There is a place
called Tashu, and there is an emanation of the wisdom dakini from Tashu
who has all the characteristics of the Ratna family. This dakini will
await your arrival at the place where you are going due to your
aspirations—your bodhichitta commitment. Later we will also come and
help you." She and another dakini then flew up in the sky, and then
Tsasum Lingpa woke up. He looked around and saw that the sun was
already on the mountain's peak.