Homage to the spiritual teachers!
THE REALIZED SIDDHA Sumpa Lotsāwa traveled to India and undertook extensive study of most of the secret mantra systems. Just before his return to Tibet, he brought his leftover gold to offer to the great enlightenment monument at Bodhgaya. As he was circumambulating this stupa, two women, one reddish and the other bluish, were circumambulating the stupa as well; at times they hovered above in the sky, and at other times they appeared to be walking on the ground.
The bluish woman then said to the reddish one, “Last night I felt mentally restless; I felt like going somewhere. I hope this is not some premonition about my death, for I am terrified of dying.” Exclaiming this, she asked her companion four questions. To this, the reddish woman, casting side glances at Lotsāwa, responded to her companion as follows:
1. If you have a sense of abandonment, O lady, everything you do will bring happiness. Your mind suffers because it lacks this quality of abandonment.
2. If your mind rests where it is placed, O lady, it will be okay even if you travel elsewhere. Your mind suffers because it cannot rest where it is placed.
3. If your mind is turned to Dharma, O lady, you can die with ease. Your mind suffers because it is not usually turned to Dharma.
4. If you have recognized your mind as unborn, O lady, there will be no death. Your mind suffers because you have failed to recognize your mind as unborn.
She was said to have responded to her companion with these four statements. At that point it is said that Lotsāwa overcame his sadness, the practices he had learned in the past became effective, and extraordinary realizations arose in his mind.
The following is the introduction to this practice:
It is taught that if you have a sense of acceptance, you will be content with whatever material resources you have commensurate with the [karmic potential] you have stored for yourself. You will not envy others’ prosperity, and you will ensure that your immediate circumstances, whether happy or painful, will not burden your heart. You need to recognize the nature of your own mind, guard your own place, and attain freedom on the basis of blessings from your spiritual teachers and on the basis of applying special meditation techniques. The fusion of your mind with Dharma is this very lucid awareness of yours; it is vital that you recognize its true nature. To realize the mind as unborn is to realize its origination and to cease its death. The realization where you no longer differentiate between the actual meditation session and periods between sessions as concerns the cognition of mind as free of origination, cessation, and abiding—this realization has no death.
The lineage of this teaching is that the most holy Vajravārāhī and two Tārās revealed it to Sumpa Lotsāwa, he to Sakya Paṇḍita, he to the great siddha Tsotrangwa, he to Khedrup Chöjé, he to Ritrö Rechen, he to Prajñābodhi, he to Dönshakpa Buddharatna, he to Kīrtiśīla, he to Chöjé Gyalwa Sangpo, he to Chöjé Sönam Rinchen, and he to [me,] Könchok Bang.