14. Gendun Chopel’s India, from Grains of Gold, Gendun Chopel

Grains of Gold consists of seventeen chapters, with much of it devoted to history. There are chapters on the Gupta Dynasty, the Pāla Dynasty, and a chapter called “From 1,600 Years after the Passing of the Buddha to the Present.” The final chapter, entitled simply “Conclusion,” is devoted to the political and religious landscape of India during his years there. It includes discussions on a range of topics, including his extended thoughts on the question of “Buddhism and Science.” The chapter is presented here in its entirety.¹⁷⁷

About one thousand nine hundred fifty-nine years after the Teacher passed away [1415], the Europeans began crossing the oceans, demarcating great distances. In particular, the people of Portugal, a small country located in a remote corner of the western foreign lands, became emboldened. By crossing the distant ocean, they discovered many lands, such as Africa. Before long they even controlled the maritime routes of India, and in the one thousand nine hundred forty-third year after the passing of the Buddha [or 1399; in fact, 1498 CE], a ship captain named Waliko [Vasco da Gama] arrived at the coast called Calicut.

Generally, the intelligence of the Europeans in every kind of worldly pursuit is superior to ours in a thousand ways. Because they were accomplished in the ability to easily spin the heads of those peoples of the East and the South, who, honest but naive, had no knowledge of anything other than their own lands, they came to many countries, large and small, together with their armies. Their hearts filled only with self-interest, in their sexual behavior their lust was even greater than that of a donkey. They were sponsored by kings and ministers for whom the happiness of others counted less than a turnip trampled on the ground; it was they who sent out great armies of bandits, calling them “traders.” The weak peoples who earned their livelihood in the forests of the small countries, who became terrified when hearing even the braying of donkeys, were caught like sheep and taken to the [Westerners’] own countries. With feet and hands shackled in irons and given only enough food to wet their mouths, they were made to perform hard and terrible labor until they died. It is said that due to this severe hardship, even the young ones were unable to last more than five years. Young women were captured and, to arouse the lust of the gathered customers, were displayed naked in the middle of the marketplace and sold. Thus, they treated the bodies of humans like cattle. If thoughtful people were to hear what they did, their hearts would bleed. It is in this way that the foundations were laid for all the wonders of the world, such as railroads stretching from coast to coast and multistoried buildings whose peaks cannot be seen from below. From Africa alone the people thus captured [for slavery] were more than one million; they filled great boats with the incapable ones and abandoned them at sea. The things the Europeans did like this cannot be counted.

During the reign of the Mughal king Shah Jahan, Hindu and Muslim orphans were captured and taken into slavery by the Portuguese. Because two servants of his queen [Mum] Taz were also captured, the king became angry. He destroyed the cities that had been built by them and took three thousand people prisoner. In addition, he went to the small Portuguese villages with his armies; those who refused to change their religion immediately were fed alive to the crocodiles.

The religion of Jesus is strict in the way that it carries out everything that its scriptures say about the appropriate way to punish those who believe in false religions. They have laws prohibiting the birth of any new children. If someone has the great courage to give birth to a child, they forcibly seize the people from the Hindu and Muslim temples and perform their own baptism ritual and so forth. They did such things as place children inside a brass vessel and make people count the beads. They told them that, once they had renounced their old faith and joined theirs, they must destroy the lineage of those who believe in false religions. Thus, they alienated everyone wherever they went. Still, these others, forsaking shame, traveled to distant places and talked about how their kingdom would be filled with compassion because of the Christian religion. How pathetic. Some scholars from Christian countries say that nothing has spread sexual perversion, killing, lies, and malicious speech like the religion of Jesus. In my opinion, when it comes to putting the empty [words of their] scriptures into practice, the Dutch and especially the English are not like that at all. They go abroad with deceit, and as long as the power and money they need for themselves is not interfered with, whatever religion someone chooses to practice is fine with them. They are unbothered by thinking about anything. Indeed, because they are certain to punish those who forcibly convert people to the religion of Jesus, in most places the people began helping them.

The kings Shah Jahan and Jahangir very much liked the Dutch. The English first established the East India Trading Company in the region of Madras. The city of Calcutta was newly built by Job Charnock, two thousand two hundred thirty-seven years after the Teacher passed away [1693; in fact, 1690], about two hundred fifty years before now. A young Muslim king named Daulah was enthroned in Bengal about sixty years later. He did not think about anything other than drinking and fornicating. Due to a minor disagreement, he plundered the factories of the foreigners who lived there. He captured all the women and children who were there. In each place, he gathered one hundred forty-six people and forced them into a dungeon less than three arm spans [across], where they remained for an entire day in the terrible heat of the summer. At sunrise all but a few had suffocated and died. Hearing about that, the English army captain named Clive arrived with an army of three thousand and waged a battle on the banks of the Bhāgīrathī River, defeating the Indian side. They caught the fleeing Daulah and beheaded him. After the death of that king, they installed the Muslim king Mir Jafar. However, all the authority of the new king, apart from his title, was taken away by the foreigners. Every year they had to gather 264,000 gold coins. Then, from that point on, when the Hindu and Muslim kings, such as the kings of Mahārāṣṭra and Malayalam, fought with each other, the foreigners would ally themselves on the side of whatever income would be greater [for them] in the future. In each region they acquired, they would establish a nominal ruler. Their extraordinary desire, arrogance, and so forth remained utterly unaffected. In fact, they held authority over all the income of the entire region.

At the time of Paṇchen Lobzang Yeshé [1738–1780], a messenger of the foreigners named Bogle arrived in Tsang from Bhutan and stayed for a long time. He received great gifts from the supreme Paṇchen. It seems that there is an extensive account of how he met this Paṇchen. Because this Paṇchen’s mother was a close relative of the king of Ladakh, the Paṇchen knew the Indian language very well and took great delight in Indian culture. At that time, at Shigatsé around one hundred sādhus and thirty Muslim priests were paid salaries from his monastic household and permanently resided there. It is said that he would come out on the balcony of his private quarters and converse with them each day. Two or three of the sādhus were even lay officials [in the Paṇchen’s establishment]. The foreigners, in order to please the Tibetans, erected a Buddhist temple on the banks of the Ganges River and provided land, which remains like a mission to this day. In order to cause a permanent rift between the Chinese and the Tibetans, the foreigners wrote a history about this Paṇchen that strongly denigrated the Qianlong emperor, but I shall not go into this here.

Because it is extremely difficult for a single kingdom to be ruled by two kings, finally, during the reign of the English queen Victoria, she was proclaimed the empress of India. It has been eighty-one years up to this present Rabbit Year [1939] that the entire authority was held by the foreigners. She reigned for a period of sixty years. Some credulous Tibetans say things like this [Victoria] is an emanation of Tārā. I think that it would be amazing if she was even familiar with the name of Tārā. Then, the throne was held by her son Edward VII for only ten years, and then there was George V. He even came to India once and was crowned the emperor in the capital of Delhi. He died during the spring of this past Rat Year [1936]. Now there is a new king called George VI in their capital, and it appears that this is a period when his land is suffering from a great war. A governor was sent to India as a viceroy, and they made it the custom for each to remain for five or six years.

They introduced the new aspects of modern times, such as railroads, schools, and factories. Their law is only good for the educated and for wealthy families. If one has money and education, anything is permitted. As for the lowly, their small livelihoods that provide the necessities for life are sucked like blood from all their orifices. Such a bountiful land as India today appears to be filled with poor people who resemble hungry ghosts.

During the time of Governor Bentinck [governor-general from 1828 to 1835], because they [the British] forcibly prohibited the religious practice of wives being burned with the corpse of their husband, they ruled with great kindness. It is said that before, in Bengal alone, each year almost seven hundred women were killed [in that way]. As for the numbers in the rest of India, there is no need to say anything. However, [Hindus] say that in the end it was the women who were harmed because their great path, going to heaven like a soaring arrow, was blocked. This cannot be true.

One amazing thing is that, even during this recent period when the foreigners’ traditions were becoming established in India, there emerged a new religion. Its teacher, named Ramakrishna, was born in the two thousand three hundred eightieth year after the Buddha’s passing [1836] in a place called Kamala in Bengal, as the son of a mother named Candradevī. Since his youth he saw saṃsāra as without essence. When he was twenty-four years old, in accordance with local custom, he married a five-year-old girl named Śāntadevī. Later she also became a renunciant, becoming a wondrous yoginī. Having respected all women as if they were his mother since his youth, Ramakrishna took Mahākālī as his tutelary deity. He went to the temple of Kālī known as Dakṣiṇeśvar, near Calcutta, and lived there his entire life in the manner of a true renunciant. He had no possessions, not even a sack of sesame seeds. He went before the image of Kālī and sat every day, crying out, “Mother! Why don’t you appear to me?” Eventually, he thought, “If I don’t see her face, I will kill myself.” And just as he held a sword to his heart, he saw Kālī’s body filling the sky. From then on there arose in him a great uncontrived compassion for all beings. Having been cared for by a yoginī name Bhairavīsūryā [Bhairavī Brāhmaṇī], he trained without exception in the sixty-four tantras of secret mantra. That woman became his first master. Then he heard instructions on Vedānta from a Brahmin called Totāpurī and experienced direct realization of the truth of Brahman. Once, when he heard a Buddhist tantra from an ascetic woman, he had a vision of the Buddha, who dissolved into him. When studying the Koran from a Muslim known as a Sufi, he actually saw Allah, who dissolved into his body. In general, he saw everything in a manner of bliss alone; a hymn composed by a disciple says, “Each and every man he saw as Nārāyaṇa; / Each and every woman he saw as Pārvatī.”

Even in the way that Ramakrishna led students, with respect to the six-branched yoga that is difficult to achieve and the wisdom [ellipsis in text]. It occurred to his mind that at first glance all these religions seem to be in disagreement with each other; however, just as all rivers flow into the ocean or just as one enters a great city by a hundred [different] roads, so the final place where they all converge is one. The Brahmins know it as Brahman, the Muslims as Allah, and the Buddhists as the Buddha. The profound realization arose in him that “this object of refuge—known to the Brahmins as Brahman, to the Muslims as Allah, and to the Buddhists as the Buddha—is, in reality, the great expanse called the self, which pervades the inanimate and animate world; apart from this, nothing else exists.” He taught this earnestly to others.

It was natural that the majority of people were pleased by this teaching; before long, countless followers gathered and [his community] evolved into a great separate religious order. Within a short time it pervaded the entire land of India. Even in the lands on the other side of the ocean like America, they have built monasteries of this tradition. All the principal disciples, numbering more than ten, such as Vivekananda and Abhedananda, became very famous throughout the land. Of all the students who personally knew that guru, Abhedananda was the latest. He died on the seventh day of the ninth month of this Rabbit Year [1939]. His students wear saffron robes and yellow hats and care for the sick and the orphans, and they earnestly seek to stop sectarianism among the different religions. They revere all—the Buddha, Rāma, Allah, and so on. Because they do not offend any of the religions, today is a period in which their teachings are flourishing like the lambs of a rich man. In general, when there are many scholars upholding different religious traditions, they regard each other as enemies, even on subtle philosophical points. Once these scholars are no more, and after their subtle and refined reasoning has disappeared, all boundaries will become mixed into a single taste, giving rise to something that is easy for anyone to follow. This seems to be an unsurpassed quality of fools.

Another new religious tradition similar to this one arose. Its founder was a Russian woman named Blavatsky [Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society]. I think that she was some kind of incredible self-made yoginī. In any case, she was someone who had attained magical powers. When she was a child, she was blessed in a dream by two Tibetan lamas named Mura [Morya] and Gutumé [Khoot Hoomi]. Then she began experiencing a kind of vision, until in the end she actually met them, like one person talking to another. They instructed her in everything, matters both subtle and coarse. When I carefully read her extensive stories about them, sometimes it reminds me of Guhyapati [Vajrapāṇi] who appeared to Lekyi Dorje, and at times I think it resembles the demon king that appeared to the venerable Gö Lotsāwa. As to making an unequivocal judgment about this, I have no idea.

She continually wrote letters to these [Tibetan masters]. It is said that a great many people actually saw their letters of response fall in front of her out of empty space, and some say that sometimes these letters are in lañca and Tibetan script written on birch bark. However, I have not seen this myself. In any case, her miracles convinced all the foreigners. Some wondered whether they were magical tricks, but I think it would be a difficult task to deceive the Europeans, citizens of technologically advanced countries who are very familiar with everything. One of her distinguishing features is a large scar under one of her breasts, which no one knows how she got and from which blood sometimes drips when it is uncovered. She would summon things she needed just by looking at them; she could light a lamp or blow it out with thought alone; by looking at another person’s body they would freeze; what sounded like the tune of a silver bell constantly rang in empty space.

When she needed to send something like a letter or clothing to another place, she would burn it in a fire in front of her, turning them into ashes, and it would arrive at the very place and could actually be received. Most of the things she needed, she would take out of a tree, water, or thin air, [people say]. Among all those things, people say that what are most amazing are her replication of thoughts, sending of letters, and hearing the responses. When she came to India, the foreigners did not like her and said all these things were just magic. They sent soldiers, but no matter how much they investigated, they could not expose her as a fraud. In any case, that there are today truth seekers in all the Western countries who admire the Buddha, lining up one after another like the stars in the sky, is due primarily to the new system of this woman. Even among the Sinhalese monks, whose minds are narrower than the eye of a needle, today there are many who praise her. [Anagārika] Dharmapāla, the restorer of the holy site of Ṛṣipatana [Sarnath], is also said to have initially become interested in the Buddha through her. Because she expounded her religion in conjunction with the views of modern science, it captivated the minds of all the Westerners. In particular, she not only demonstrated miraculous powers to Europeans who do not believe in supernatural miracles, but she related the transformation of matter through miraculous powers to scientific principles. That mode of explanation seemed to impress everyone. However, if it were explained to us [Tibetans], who are not familiar with the assertions of science, it would only confuse us. To explain something easy to understand, for example, the way in which present consciousness takes rebirth, those who are angry [take birth as] a snake [ellipsis in text].

Now I shall offer a sincere discussion for those honest and farsighted dharma friends who are members of my religion. The system of the new reasoning “science” is spreading and increasing in all directions. In the great countries, after baseless accusations by so many, both learned and foolish, who say, “It is not true,” they all have become exhausted and had to keep silent. In the end, even the Indian Brahmins, who value the defense of their scriptures more than their lives, have had to powerlessly accept it.

These assertions of the new reasoning are not established just through one person arguing with another. For example, a telescope constructed by new machines sees something thousands of miles away as if it were in the palm of one’s hand, and similarly, a glass instrument that perceives what is close by makes even the smallest particles appear the size of a mountain; it is like being able to analyze its many parts, actually seeing everything. Thus, apart from closing their eyes, they [the opponents of science] have found no other way to persist. At first, even those who adhered to the Christian religion in the European lands joined forces with the king, casting out the proponents of the new reasoning [science], using whatever means to stop them, imprisoning them, burning them alive, and so forth. In the end, when the light of the sun could not be concealed with their hands, they were forced to place their religion within the new system, even though it did not fit, and had to admit that it was utterly false. As the glorious Dharmakīrti said, “Those who are mistaken about the truth cannot be changed, no matter how one tries, because their minds are prejudiced.”¹⁷⁸ The rejection of reason is a most despicable act.

Even so, when we Tibetans hear the mere mention of the new system, we look wide-eyed and say, “Oh! He is a heretic!” Acting in this way, some, like those Mongolians from the Urga region [i.e., Communists], eventually come to impulsively believe in the new reasoning and lose all faith in the Buddha, becoming non-Buddhists. Thus, whether one either stubbornly says, “No!” to the new reasoning or believes in it and utterly rejects the teaching of Buddhism, both are prejudice; because it is simply recalcitrance, this will not take you far.

No matter what aspect is set forth in this religion taught by our Teacher [the Buddha], whether it be the nature of reality, how to progress on the path, or the good qualities of the fruition, there is absolutely no need to feel embarrassed in the face of the system of science. Furthermore, for any essential point [in Buddhism], science can serve as a foundation. Among the Westerners, many scholars of science have acquired a faith in the Buddha and become Buddhists; some have even become monks.

One of them said, “First, I followed the system of the ancient religion of Jesus. Later, I learned science well and a new understanding was born. Then I thought that all the religions in this world are just assertions rooted in a lie, requiring that one rely only on the letter. One day, I saw a stanza of the Dhammapada translated into a European language and thought, ‘Oh! The only one who follows the path of reason is the Buddha. Not only did he climb the ladder of science, but having left that [ladder] behind, he traveled even further beyond,’ and conviction was born.”

These days, the famous monk Trailokajñāna [Nyanatiloka] who lives in Sri Lanka, said that in the future the religion of the Buddha will be the religion of science, that is, a religion of reason, and other religions will be religions of faith. Another Buddhist paṇḍita says, “Having mastered scientific reasoning, I came to especially respect the Buddha. The religion of my teacher works hand in hand with scientific reasoning; when one side tires, the other still is able to leap over [to assist]. If other religions join hands with science, they collapse, either immediately or after a few steps.”

For example, the followers of the new reasoning [science] say that in the second moment immediately after any object comes into existence, it ceases or dissolves. These collections of disparate things disperse like lightning. Consequently, the first moment of a pot does not persist to the second moment, and even the perception of a shape does not exist objectively apart from unexpressed habit or the power of mind. Moreover, when examined as above, even colors are merely the ways a wave of the most subtle particles moves. For example, regarding waves of light, there is no difference of color whatsoever to be seen in the particles themselves that are the basis for that color; it is simply that eight hundred wavelengths in the blink of an eye appear as red and four hundred appear as yellow, and so on. Furthermore, they have invented another apparatus for seeing things that move too quickly to be seen, like drops of falling water. Something that lasts for one blink of an eye can be easily viewed over the duration of six blinks of an eye. More than ten years have passed since they made a viewing apparatus that is not obstructed [in seeing] things behind a wall or inside of a body. All of this is certain. They have also made a machine by which what is said in India can be heard in China in the following moment. Because they are able to show in China a film of something that exists in India, all people can be convinced. The final proof that all things run on waves of electricity is seeing it with one’s own eyes.

Many great scholars of science made limitless praises of the Buddha, saying that two thousand years ago, when there were no such machines, the Buddha explained that all compounded things disintegrate in each moment and he taught that things do not remain even for a brief instant, and now we have actually seen this using machines. The statement by Dharmakīrti that “continuity and collection do not exist ultimately” can be understood in various ways, but in the end one can put one’s finger on the main point. Similarly, because white exists, black can appear to the eye; there is no single truly white thing that can exist separately in the world. Some people say that this was first understood fifty years ago. However, our Nāgārjuna and others understood precisely that in ancient times. They also say that all these external appearances are projections of the mind; they do not appear outside. Whatever we see, it is seeing merely those aspects or reflections that the senses can handle; it is impossible to see the thing nakedly. Because these things are not even mentioned in other [religions] like Christianity, scientific reasoning is considered to be something that did not exist previously. However, for us, these [ideas] are familiar from long ago. Furthermore, the formation of the body’s channels and drops that is actually visible is amazingly similar to the explanations in the yoganiruttara tantras.

Yet, to be excessively proud and continually assert that even the smallest details of all the explanations in our scriptures are unmistaken seems attractive only temporarily; it is pointless stubbornness. Nothing will come from your being angry with me. If I could remain silent, I could control the peace of my own ears; other than that, there is no benefit. For example, the followers of the new reasoning assert that trees are alive. Furthermore, in ancient times the Jains claimed that trees are sentient because they fold their leaves at night. [The Buddhist] could say, “Well then, it must follow for you that a piece of leather is sentient because if it comes near a fire, it withers.” However, there are flowers named sundew and venus [fly-traps] that, as soon as an insect lands on them, grab it, suck its blood, hollow out the body, and discard it on the ground. Every sundew kills more than two hundred insects every day, and the bodies just keep piling up. Similarly, in another continent, there are many trees that suck blood when they catch humans or animals. This is evident to everyone. Since these are easy to understand, I have explained them, but recently a Bengali scholar in India [Jagadish Chandra Bose] invented an electronic machine that actually recognizes the presence of life. If such a flower were brought before us, would we dare contest its existence? Would we say it is the nature of the plant? Even those who assert that insects and so forth are alive must at some point show various proofs for the existence of life. Would we describe the plant as a trifling hell? However, all types of those flowers are just like that. Look at the illustration I have drawn.¹⁷⁹ The Sinhalese scientists who are Buddhists say the Teacher had this in mind when he prohibited [monks from] cutting plants. But that explanation is [only] temporarily convincing.

Only fifty years ago a great debate took place between a Christian and a Buddhist in Sri Lanka. On that occasion a monk called Guṇaratna [in fact, Guṇānanda] annihilated the opponents and admitted many thousands who had converted to Christianity back to Buddhism. Even then, none of the [Sinhalese] could deny the new reasoning like we [Tibetans] do. Whenever very foolish people of the Tibetan race hear talk about science, they say that it is the religion of Christianity. In countries that have no familiarity [with Christianity], even the Christians themselves shamelessly pretend that this is true. What could be more annoying than this?

A great desire arose in me to write a separate book on the advantages of thinking about this new reasoning, but because of the great difficulty involved and because it would disillusion everyone, I decided it would be pointless and set the task aside. Please do not think that I am a dullard, believing immediately in whatever others say. I too am rather sharp-witted. In matters related to the [Buddha’s] teaching, neither have I found disciples to whom I can expound the dharma nor have conditions been suitable for me to establish a monastery; I am not capable of those great deeds. My concern for the dharma is not less than yours. For that reason, do not dismiss my statements with only the wish to attack me. If one does not want the tree trunk of the [Buddha’s] teaching and these roots of our Buddhist knowledge to be completely uprooted, one must be farsighted.

Having become an open-minded person who sees what is central and what is marginal, you should strive to ensure the survival of the teaching [Buddhism] so that it remains together with the ways of the new reasoning. Otherwise, if, fearing complaints by others, one is simply intransigent, then one may temporarily gain great profit and many friends. As it says on the pillar of Emperor Xuande at Drotsang, “Like the light rays of the sun and moon in the vastness of space, may the teachings of the Buddha and my reign remain together for tens of thousands of years.” Please pray that the two, this modern reasoning of science and the ancient teaching of the Buddha, may abide together for ten thousand years.

When one’s happiness is small, one still wants more, and the mind is tormented. Yet, when there is more, there is too much, and [the mind] is tormented because it cannot bear it. This is the nature of all things. When too much water is poured, flowers wilt. When one has a strong itch, it feels good [to scratch] even to the point of cutting the flesh. If that is the extent of one’s hopes, in many cases, one can feel happy for an instant and remain in that state for a little while without the mind engaged in any act. However, subject and object cannot remain in such a state of equilibrium for a long time. Although the strings of a bow may stay tight at first, if they are left alone the strings become loose. So for the strings of a bow to remain constantly tight they must be reset again and again whenever the strings become too lax. Similarly, the happiness of mind becomes afflicted by suffering, and one needs to regain the happiness that one had before. Now, feeling satisfied from eating is pleasurable, but for this one needs to have been hungry for a long while. The melody made by a stringed instrument does not last long. There needs to be a stable [basis for joy] that is devoid of strings, and for this, the mind must have no object.

It is said that, while being free from the stains of conceit, Gandhi had an inner courage that could drill even through Mount Meru. However, nothing about his having magical powers, talk that is widespread throughout central Tibet, can be heard in India, especially in Vardhana. He lived by ahiṃsādharma, the dharma of relinquishing violence, as the system of political governance. There are some even more famous than Gandhi, such as the one known as Pandit Nehru. They work for the sake of the Indian people without hypocrisy. Below them, there are not a few empty-headed leaders who have found some meaningless title and lead the people into darkness. In the legal systems of the foreign nations, not being in conflict with the aspirations of the general populace is valued, so everyone has genuine freedom to speak out and act on their own views, and no one fears being prosecuted and executed merely for saying that the government’s actions are wrong. Thus, they have a great many opportunities to act in whatever way they wish. As a consequence, today, apart from the central government of India, each of the regional governments has been entrusted to Indians. In more than seven regions, a government of the people has already been set up and they maintain authority over the land.

Because of the power of our own prejudices, I was not keen to discuss the origins of the Muslims and their histories. However, after the gradual demise of the [Buddha’s] teaching, we had no familiarity with what had happened in India [from then] up to the present. In particular, nothing of the history of India of the past seven hundred years seemed to have been heard in Tibet. Therefore, I strongly motivated myself and wrote about it. In any case, the histories and chronologies prepared [by the Muslims] have extremely reliable sources. In contrast, when it comes to the histories of the upholders of the Buddhist teachings, it is as if they have utterly vanished in India. The little that is known seems to have come from Tibet and China. For example, even the fact that [Atiśa] Dīpaṃkara Śrījñāna went to Tibet was heard [of in India] from the Tibetans. Because there are treatises by Śāntarakṣita, his existence is known, but knowledge of him is limited to his name alone. The fact that he went to Tibet was repeated by some Indian merchants [who had heard it] from Tibetans. Furthermore, the various fragmentary accounts of Nāgārjuna and others that exist do not differ, even in the slightest, from those known to us from earlier times. If they were to be written down, it would just be repetition, so I have left those aside. Therefore Buddhism, while living in the midst of its Hindu adversaries, also came to be destroyed by the Turks in every possible way. Even things concerning [Buddhist] tantra are, for the most part, mixed with Hindu systems. As for others, since they were practiced in extreme secrecy, it is difficult to actually discern what their specific religious affiliations and lineages were. Even today some great adepts are alive and, although they may be individuals who have attained wondrous special powers, if even their place of birth remains unknown, what need is there to speak of what their religious tradition might be and so forth?

Atiśa is said to have remarked, “When I came [to Tibet], in eastern India every day another adept would emerge.” Not only were the practices of Buddhist tantra very widespread throughout Bengal and Kāmarūpa [Assam] in the past, even today there exist many [who engage in such practices]. One can see those who actually pour the five nectars into the five skulls and partake of them and those who walk around naked adorned with bones and so on. Yet who can determine whether they have realization or are all simply crazy? Similarly, I have heard that in Oḍiviśa [Orissa] among ordinary householders there are Buddhist māntrikas with practices like those of our system, such as the four empowerments. There are also māntrikas who practice the sexual path with caṇḍālī [low-caste] women in places such as central India; whether these are Buddhists or not, I do not know. Similarly, I have heard very clearly about those known as the Kāpālikas who celebrate ritual feasts¹⁸⁰ at midnight; the women pile their clothes in the center and dance naked. Then the yogis pick up one of the clothes and engage in sex with whomever it belonged to, without making any distinction about whether or not she is an appropriate sexual partner. Many people believe they are Buddhist māntrikas. It is said that they take Mahābhairava, the “great terrifier,” as their tutelary deity, but I do not know whether this is Śiva or our own Vajrabhairava. There is even a story about how inside the wall of the Viṣṇu Sun temple in Kaliṅga there remains hidden a great stone image of the Buddha touching the earth; some people claim to have seen it. There are those who say that, in general, Jagannātha, the “protector of transmigrators,” is, in fact, an epithet for the Buddha.

The teacher of the foremost Tāranātha, Buddhaguptanātha, described how he went to the region of Haribhaṅga in this very same area and met with teachers and adepts. Perhaps they were of the same [practice] lineage. In any case, it is not clear that there is a large group of Buddhists in Oḍiviśa up to the present time. There do not appear to be any [left today], as if Buddhism is hidden. They are known as the Mahimādharmin, the “followers of the religious tradition of supreme greatness.” They revere the mahāsiddha Gorakṣa. The king of Kaliṅga named Mukundadeva, who appears in some of our historical works, was considered to be a patron of this religious tradition. It is said that all the people who live around the forest in the region of Mayurbhanj, “peacock land,” adhere to this religion, and there seem to be smaller groups elsewhere as well. In terms of their outer appearance, they praise the twelve learned qualities,¹⁸¹ such as eating at only one spot,¹⁸² the names of which no longer exist today in other regions of India. They go for refuge to the Buddha and respect him just as we do. Stating that at the end of the Kaliyuga it is more profound for the followers of the Buddha to rely on disguise, they also practice the vows of the Vaiṣṇavites. This appears to be a consequence of their oppression by Hindu kings in the past. They have the two categories of [practitioners]—laypeople and renunciants—but not those of novices and fully ordained monks. They do not drool [with envy] when they hear about there being actual monastic members in other places. Some of their more prominent texts include the Secret Songs (Chautisa), the Śatruñjasaṃhitā, Anaṅgisaṃhita, Nirguṇamāhātmya, and so on. There also seem to be many “unwritten teachings” (alekhadharma). There appear to be numerous texts such as these.

To say a little more about them here, more than fifty human years ago, the venerable Buddha[guptanātha] himself actually came to the blue-sloped mountain of Oḍiviśa. He cared for Govinda and predicted that he would go to Kapilasa. They say he stayed there for twelve years, after which he disappeared. This much I have felt compelled to say. In addition to my disparagement, if you were also to disparage these dharma brothers and sisters, I fear that it would not be good. This is all I shall say [here].

One event that occurred not very long ago [in 1875] is this. Bhimabhoi, whose actual name was Guptadāsa, was born as a low-caste person in the town of Granadihs in this same region. He was born blind but by praying fervently to the Buddha, at the age of twenty-five, his eyes opened. Because he also acquired the ability to perform miracles, most of the common people of the more affluent towns became his disciples. He proclaimed, “There in the temple of Jagannātha is a Buddha image hidden in the form of Viṣṇu; now is the time to reveal it.” And he led all of his disciples to it like an army. The king of Puri became fearful and said, “They are coming to burn the Jagannātha and establish a new religion,” and called out his troops for battle. When his side was nearing victory, Guptadāsa said, “This is not good; for us to kill many people is contrary to the Buddhadharma. Now, let us be content with those who have already died for the sake of the dharma. It appears that the Buddha himself still wishes to remain in the image of Viṣṇu. Therefore, even if we were to liberate the temple again, it would be pointless.” Saying this, he withdrew the army. It is said that the king captured many people and turned them over to the British, who executed them. This master was considered by them to be a very important leader. They say that in the not-too-distant future, at the end of the Kaliyuga, the Buddha himself will once again return to the region of Oḍiviśa Samyavakṛta [?] and they sing numerous prophecies with melancholy tunes.

In particular, in Nepal, for example, it is said that there are unbroken traditions of Guhyasamāja stemming from Phamthingpa [brothers] and so on of the past, as well as of Vajrayoginī and Cakrasaṃvara and so forth from the tradition of Maitrīpa. It appears that from time to time a couple of hundred people will gather for an initiation, ritual feasts, and so forth. One also sees some Nepalese who wrap a cloth around their knobby knees who are called vajrācāryas. In one sense, even when Lang Darma caused the dharma to disappear in Tibet, the laypeople ensured that the secret mantra did not decline and survived. In the same manner, in India as well, there has been no cause for the complete destruction of the secret mantra teachings. Therefore it is certain that there is still the practice, inconspicuously, of the majority of the instructions of the earlier tantras. In the commentary on the dohās by Advayavajra, for example, he explains that in the east there are tīrthika Salitisas [?] whose system is similar to that of a Buddhist school. Furthermore, there are siddhas and mahāsiddhas. Similarly, the followers of the songs of Kaliṅga of the tīrthika mahāsiddha Mahādevadāsa use a religious vocabulary similar to that of the Buddhists, with such phrases as “empty person,” “empty form,” “empty body,” and so forth. Because it is said that there are many tīrthikas who were followers of Dhombipa, it is possible that many of them are from that lineage. Also, in one of the recollections of his past lives, the venerable Tāranātha says there were many who held the lineage of Omkaranātha, the disciple of Gorakṣa, combining his tradition with that of the tīrthikas. This appears to be the great sect known as the Nāthas that still exists in central India. They wear large earrings made of glass and rhinoceros hide and sing the dohā of that mahāsiddha, singing such lines as, “Gorakṣa is the protector of cows. He protects the cowherds too.” In Nirhida [?] there is an excellent temple without an image that is said to be the remnants of the abode of that mahāsiddha. The city is known as Gorakṣapur [Gorakhpur]. Among the lineage of his students, a mixture of Buddhists and non-Buddhists, was Mahendranātha, reputed even to be an emanation of Avalokiteśvara. They expound their view and meditation using such Buddhist vocabulary as “empty” (śūnya), “innate” (sahaja), “natural cloth” (ekanija), and “single taste” (samarasa). In the tīrthika tantras, there are many texts such as the Kṛṣṇalīlā, the Purāṇas, the Tantrābhidhāna, the Royal Tantra of Daṇḍābhidhāna [?], the Mahānirvāṇa Tantra, Brahmasaṃhitā, and the Kulacūḍamāṇi Tantra. In eastern Bengal there is still a little Buddhist region called Caityagrāma, “town of the stūpas”; what is left today is known as Chittagong. It is said that in the forest known as Sunajhari, on the slope of the mountain there, there are siddhas as well.

Once, I was wandering one evening in the forest when I saw a naked woman with many different pieces of bone tied to her body. Following her, I arrived at a cave. Hiding myself, as I looked I saw male and female yogis sitting face to face and engaged in meditation, touching each other’s thighs, kissing, embracing each other, and performing many rites. People say that sometimes they laugh so loud, “Ha ha,” that you think the rocks in the cave might crack. They are said to be yogis who practice the path of desire. People say that they were Buddhists because in that region there actually was an unbroken tradition of instruction in Buddhist tantra. I saw this quite recently, actually this very year. Even among the monks of Chittagong, there are those who say that the disappearance of the Vajrayāna was not that long ago. More than fifty years earlier, some monks wore the red hat of a paṇḍita and, preparing a maṇḍala, would perform a fire sacrifice. There are people who now are old who used to hear about these things from some older people. There were many rites for the dead and the sick, such as ablution empowerments. Then, due to its proximity to Burma, the monks went there and received ordination and listened to the Sthavira Piṭaka. On their return, they said, “Our dharma is not pure,” and it appears that they converted everyone to the śrāvaka tradition. The monk known as Buddhadāha, who died in the current Rabbit Year [1939], was famed for his great learning in tantra; as to whether he engaged in the practices or believed in them, I do not know.

The transmissions of texts and empowerments that survived in this region until later times include some cycles of teachings of Vajrayoginī and that of Saṃvara, and of Avalokiteśvara according to the mahāyoga system. The religious sect known as Sāhajiya is said to be followers of the mahāsiddhas Kṛṣṇācārya and Luipa. In some regions of Rāḍhā, there is the custom of worshipping at the beginning of the fourth month, during which there is the custom of offering a goat to Luipa. Some of the songs written by these two masters in Sanskrit and Bengali, as well as some of their instructions, survive to this day. Sāhajiya refers to those whose primary practices are the path of the avadhūti [central channel], the path of caṇḍālī, and the path of ḍombī. For those who have attained siddhis, such terms as “one who has found ḍaumim [?]” are used. There is also a sect called the Dharmayogi; it is said to be Buddhists who became Hindus. Those who spread secret mantra widely in Bengal in the later period are said to have been Brahmānanda, Tripurānanda, Pūrṇānanda, and Kṛṣṇānanda. People say that a little more than three hundred years have passed since they died.

If one were to meet a Hindu who belongs to the Advaita school these days, it is true that someone like me would be reluctant to differentiate between the non-Buddhist and Buddhist views. I wonder how my [fellow Tibetan] scholars would respond. Would they say, “This is not your view, it is a copy of ours.” Or would they say, “Well then, because you are satisfied with just that, you should meditate on it.” Or, “That is ours; it is not appropriate for you to meditate on it.” Or would they say, “Those who meditate on the mere elimination of true existence, which is a nonaffirming negation, are Buddhist while meditation on the absence of conceptual elaboration is common to both Buddhists and non-Buddhists”? This would be consonant with the position of Jamyang Gawai Lodrö (1429–1503). Or just as the latter-day Tibetans insist that, in the case of the Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna in general and between sūtra and tantra in particular, there is no superiority and inferiority or difference with regard to the view [of no self], I wonder if they might not say that Buddhists and non-Buddhists are not differentiated in terms of their view but are differentiated in terms of their conduct. In this way, I would like to tease you.

Nevertheless, if you wish to serve an Indian master whom you can call “My lama, the great paṇḍita,” even now, if you go to either eastern Bengal or Oḍiviśa, I guarantee that you will meet with one. However, due to the power of the great doubts stirred up by those present-day people who are cunning and deceitful, first there will be no small measure of tests for the student. Thus, unless you have one-fourth of the perseverance of the venerable Marpa, you will surely not receive the teaching. Then, on returning to Tibet, because it is certain that you will be slandered by being called a tīrthika, you will need one-fourth of the power of the great lama Ra Lotsāwa. If this seems too fraught with hardship, it is better to abandon it. But if your realizations are ready to burst out simply by eating soup, then if you go to what today have been identified without the slightest doubt to be one of the twenty-four places, such as Kaliṅga, Kāmarūpa, Oḍḍiyāna, Kulutā, or Sindhu, many field-born and mantra-born yoginīs will surely be there. Certainly, there would be something like soup that you can drink; nevertheless, other than the soup just going into your belly, it would be difficult for it to go into your mind. Here I say:

Pulling the thread of my life—precious and cherished—across a sword’s sharp blade,

When this collection of bones—its thread of hope for gain and honor snapped—is scattered,

Then may the forms of these letters, a pile of much learning amassed through hardship,

Herein is the formation of the land of India in general; how names are given to [countries]; the mountains of the north and some critical analysis concerning them; what the famous regions of the past were like; concerning men, women, food, drink, and possessions; identification of various species of trees and fruits and how to recognize them; examples of writings in Indian scripts in various regions from ancient times to the present, concerning the elimination of doubts about Indian texts, the method of reading, types of script, et cetera; a brief history from the Buddha to the present, concerning the pivotal events; concerning Sri Lanka; concerning the conditions and customs of Tibetans in ancient times; a very brief religious history of Burma and Siam. All together, this is a medium-sized book of a little more than four hundred pages. I have [now] completed the actual book. With minor necessary modifications through omissions and additions, I shall send the revised version to you [an unidentified Nyingma lama] immediately. In the course of telling true stories, there are many instances where I take the opposite position of some excellent and undisputed scholars.

Therefore, it is very important to read this with an open mind. In any case, if you were to be a supporter of this book, there is no greater kindness you can grant me. The mind of a discerning master like you is not swayed by those who carry thorny sticks in their hands to protect ideas born of seeing only [what lies in] their own palms. So I earnestly beseech you to look at this [work] before [others do]. If you explain something difficult with ease to Tibetans, you lose the luster of a scholar. If, in contrast, you utter whatever incredible lies you are capable of and, at the same time, make a path through a deep dark cave so that the lies of other people can also come out, you are granted the title of scholar. I would love to be a learned scholar, but this time, I would rather be honest. In any case, I am entrusting this little book of mine to you, beseeching your kindness to be its lord of refuge in any way you can so that it does not die as soon as it is born. It is very important that any spelling errors be corrected as much as possible, that the words be corrected without damaging the meaning, and the like. I beseech you from my heart not to forget this.

All humans born in this world are given, through their past karma, a task that is suited for them. This [book] seems to be the humble task entrusted to me. Thus, wandering through the realms, I have expended my human life on learning. Its fruit has taken the form of a book. Apart from that, I think that it would be difficult for me to either hope or succeed in benefiting others in this life through such things as teaching the dharma. On your side, the tradition of the Buddhist teachings of the earlier translation remains [fragile] like butter on hot sand. Still, in some way, my heart feels warmed knowing that someone like you remains its glorious protector. Today I have completed the conclusion and am sending it to you with this. If any part of my work is lost, please attach this conclusion to whatever part you may receive so that my hardships can be brought to light. I ask that whatever spelling errors there might be in the body of the text be corrected. Since there is no contradiction in changing the words as long as the meaning remains unaffected, please bring it into accord with the proper [literary] standard. This was sent by Gendun Chopel while he was staying at Aluvihāra in Sri Lanka.

CHAPTER 14

Gendun Chopel’s India, from Grains of Gold