NAMO GURAVE
At the temple of Somapuri in the west, the lord of yogins, Tilopa, requested iron chains for his feet and practiced for twelve years. Thus, he attained the ordinary siddhi of witnessing the yidam deity. Having mastered the gross level of the āyatanas and elements, he intended to enter into the action, but because the guru and the preceptor had not given their permission, it would not have been right to break their command. But when he showed the miracle of transferring the consciousness of a fish into space, all knew that he had attained siddhi. They decided to let him go wherever he pleased, and so he went to look for the Ācārya Nāgārjuna in the region of southern India.
In the south, in a great charnel ground called Terrifying Laughter, there was a shrine of the god Maheśvara, where many Buddhist and non-Buddhist ḍākinīs assembled by turns on their holy days. While they were preparing a gaṇacakra, Tilopa visited the Ācārya Mātaṅgī, who practiced yogic discipline and lived in a grass hut. Tilopa asked him, “Do you know of the guru Nāgārjuna?”
“The guru has gone to expound the dharma to the king of the gandharvas. He sent me to accept you, a noble person, as my student,” Mātaṅgī replied.
Without hesitation, Tilopa offered him a maṇḍala, taking him as his guru. At that time, Mātaṅgī performed the abhiṣeka of Śrī Guhyasamāja and gave him the oral instructions. Then, he instructed him, “The suchness of mind is like this. Meditate constantly on suchness without wandering.” Thus, Tilopa’s family arrogance was broken.
Mātaṅgī then gave him permission to enter the action in order to actualize path realization. He said, “You, a noble person, should go on a distant journey eastward from here to the region of Bengal. There is a great city called Harikīla in Sahor. That country was once blessed by an incarnate king called Rāja Udmakemara. There, accomplishment is naturally facilitated and so one travels the path quickly. In the midst of that city is a marketplace called Pañcapaṇa, rich in the delights of the five senses. There is a prostitute there called Ḍārima who has many servants and followers. Serve her and train yourself in path realization. In no time at all, you will attain the supreme siddhi of mahāmudrā, and you will liberate many beings.” Thus, he prophesied.
The lord of yogins practiced according to his guru’s command. By night, he assisted the prostitute by escorting men in and out, and by day, he did the work of beating sesame seeds. In this way, he actualized the realization of suchness, things as they are. When he had attained the supreme siddhi of mahāmudrā, the people of the city saw him in various ways. Some saw a blazing bonfire surrounded by fourteen lamps. Some saw a bhikṣu sitting in meditation in the midst of a mass of light. Others saw a yogin adorned with charnel ground ornaments and with many girls circumambulating and prostrating to him.
The people went and told Ḍārima. She saw Tilopa in the sky in front of her, sitting as a king reveling in the midst of a mass of light. With his right hand, he was dropping a pestle, crushing sesame seeds. Ḍārima repented and her mind was tormented. She prostrated, circumambulated, and prepared a maṇḍala for him. Then she received his feet on the top of her head and supplicated, “O jetsün, please forgive the evil deeds that I accumulated, not recognizing you as a siddha. From today on, please accept me.”
The yogin said, “Since you did not know me as a holy person when you gave me work, there is no fault; and by means of this work, I practiced the path. Now, this coemergent wisdom, the innate unborn nature of all dharmas, has arisen in my being. May this enter into your heart too.” So saying, he merely placed a flower on the crown of her head, and at that very moment she was liberated, obtained the vision of the path of blessings, and became a yoginī.
At that point, the king heard that Ḍārima had been liberated by an incarnate yogin. Riding on his elephant, he went to see, together with a large retinue. Both the yogin and Ḍārima were sitting at the crossroads of the marketplace, having risen into the sky to the height of seven plantain trees. Tilopa then sang this vajra dohā in the resonant and harmonious voice of Mahābrahmā.
Sesame oil is the essence.
Although the ignorant know that it is in the sesame seed,
They do not understand the way of cause, effect, and becoming,
And therefore are not able to extract the essence, the sesame oil.
Although innate coemergent wisdom
Abides in the heart of all beings,
If it is not shown by the guru, it cannot be realized.
Just like sesame oil that remains in the seed, it does not appear.
One removes the husk by beating the sesame,
And the sesame oil, the essence appears.
In the same way, the guru shows the truth of tathātā,
And all phenomena become indivisible in one essence.
Kye ho!
The far-reaching, unfathomable meaning
Is apparent at this very moment. O how wondrous!
“Thus, in absolute truth, there is no path to be practiced, no difference between what is to be abandoned and the antidote, and nothing abandoned or realized in fruition. However, in relative truth, all dharmas depend on cause and effect. This is illustrated by the example of sesame seed and sesame oil. If by the combination of mortar, pestle, and a man’s hands the beating and extracting are not done, one cannot obtain the oil. If you ask why, it is because everything is produced not by one cause and not by one condition, but rather through the collective force of coincidence. In the same way, although the dharmakāya pervades all sentient beings, if the guru does not show it and the path realization is not practiced, the fruition is not actualized. Therefore, since in relative truth all dharmas depend on the coincidence of cause and effect, the realization that actualizes the wisdom of suchness has been expressed in terms of beating sesame seeds.”
At that time, by just hearing the sound of tathātā, all the people assembled there were liberated from the bondage of the kleśas. They saw the wisdom of suchness and attained the siddhi of the celestial realm. At that time, the country of Sahor was emptied. Thus, it is famed.