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Tilopa (
Prakrit The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usu ...
;
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
: Talika or Tilopadā; 988–1069) was an Indian Buddhist monk in the tantric Kagyu lineage of
Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...
. He lived along the
Ganges River The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...
, with wild ladies as a tantric practitioner and
mahasiddha Mahasiddha ( Sanskrit: ''mahāsiddha'' "great adept; ) is a term for someone who embodies and cultivates the "siddhi of perfection". A siddha is an individual who, through the practice of sādhanā, attains the realization of siddhis, psychic ...
. He practiced Anuttarayoga Tantra, a set of spiritual practices intended to accelerate the process of attaining
Buddhahood In Buddhism, Buddha (; Pali, Sanskrit: 𑀩𑀼𑀤𑁆𑀥, बुद्ध), "awakened one", is a title for those who are awake, and have attained nirvana and Buddhahood through their own efforts and insight, without a teacher to point out ...
. He became a holder of all the tantric lineages, possibly the only person in his day to do so. As well as the way of insight, and
Mahamudra Mahāmudrā (Sanskrit: महामुद्रा, , contraction of ) literally means "great seal" or "great imprint" and refers to the fact that "all phenomena inevitably are stamped by the fact of wisdom and emptiness inseparable". Mahāmudr ...
he learned and passed on the Way of Methods, today known as the 6 Yogas of Naropa, and guru yoga. Naropa is considered his main student.


Life

Tilopa was born into the priestly
caste Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...
– according to some sources, a royal family – but he adopted the
monastic life Christian monasticism is the devotional practice of Christians who live ascetic and typically cloistered lives that are dedicated to Christian worship. It began to develop early in the history of the Christian Church, modeled upon scriptural ex ...
upon receiving orders from a dakini (female buddha whose activity is to inspire practitioners) who told him to adopt a mendicant and
itinerant An itinerant is a person who travels habitually. Itinerant may refer to: *"Travellers" or itinerant groups in Europe * Itinerant preacher, also known as itinerant minister *Travelling salespeople, see door-to-door, hawker, and peddler *Travelli ...
existence. From the beginning, she made it clear to Tilopa that his real parents were not the persons who had raised him, but instead were primordial wisdom and universal voidness. Advised by the dakini, Tilopa gradually took up a monk's life, taking the monastic vows and becoming an erudite scholar. The frequent visits of his dakini teacher continued to guide his spiritual path and close the gap to enlightenment. He was born in either Chativavo (
Chittagong Chittagong ( /ˈtʃɪt əˌɡɒŋ/ ''chit-uh-gong''; ctg, চিটাং; bn, চিটাগং), officially Chattogram ( bn, চট্টগ্রাম), is the second-largest city in Bangladesh after Dhaka and third largest city in B ...
) or Jagora in
Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
, India. He began to travel throughout India, receiving teachings from many gurus: * from Saryapa he learned of
inner heat In Tibetan Buddhism, ''tummo'' (; sa, चण्डाली, caṇḍālī) is the fierce goddess of heat and passion. Tummo is found in the Mahasiddha Krishnacarya and the ''Hevajra Tantra'' texts. Tummo is also a tantric practice for inner ...
(Sanskrit: ''caṇḍalī'', Tib. ''tummo'', inner heat); * from
Nagarjuna Nāgārjuna . 150 – c. 250 CE (disputed)was an Indian Mahāyāna Buddhist thinker, scholar-saint and philosopher. He is widely considered one of the most important Buddhist philosophers.Garfield, Jay L. (1995), ''The Fundamental Wisdom of ...
he received the radiant light (Sanskrit: ''
prabashvara Prabhashvara is the color of the aura of Gautama Buddha.The Buddhist Channel (D.C. Ranatunga, Sunday Times), April 29, 20/ref> The actual spectrum of his aura consists of five colors: Pāli: * ''nīla'' ( sapphire blue) * ''pīta'' (golden yell ...
'') and
illusory body Illusory body is term for one of the Six Yogas of Naropa, also called ''luminosity''. In his commentary, Pema Karpo says that the clear light is experienced briefly by all human beings at the very first moment of death, by advanced yogic practitio ...
(Sanskrit: ''maya deha'', Tib. ''gyulu'') teachings ('' Cakrasaṃvara Tantra''), Lagusamvara tantra, or Heruka
Abhidharma The Abhidharma are ancient (third century BCE and later) Buddhist texts which contain detailed scholastic presentations of doctrinal material appearing in the Buddhist ''sutras''. It also refers to the scholastic method itself as well as the f ...
; * from
Lawapa Lawapa or Lavapa () was a figure in Tibetan Buddhism who flourished in the 10th century. He was also known as Kambala and Kambalapada (Sanskrit: ). Lawapa, was a mahasiddha, or accomplished yogi, who travelled to Tsari. Lawapa was a progenitor of ...
, the
dream yoga Dream yoga or ''milam'' (; sa, स्वप्नदर्शन, ''svapnadarśana'')—the Yoga of the Dream State—is a suite of advanced tantric sadhana of the entwined Mantrayana lineages of Dzogchen (Nyingmapa, Ngagpa, Mahasiddha, Kagyu ...
; * from Sukhasiddhi, the teachings on life, death, and the
bardo In some schools of Buddhism, ''bardo'' ( xct, བར་དོ་ Wylie: ''bar do'') or ''antarābhava'' (Sanskrit, Chinese and Japanese: 中有, romanized in Chinese as ''zhōng yǒu'' and in Japanese as ''chū'u'') is an intermediate, transitio ...
(between life states, and consciousness transference) (
phowa ''Phowa'' (, ) is a tantric practice found in both Hinduism and Buddhism. It may be described as "transference of consciousness at the time of death", "mindstream transference", "the practice of conscious dying", or "enlightenment without medita ...
); * from
Indrabhuti Indrabhuti (alternatively King Ja) is a name attributed to a number of individuals that have become conflated in Vajrayana Buddhism. One Indrabhuti, considered a Mahasiddha, was a disciple of Lawapa. Identities of the king Samten Karmay attempt ...
, he learned of
wisdom Wisdom, sapience, or sagacity is the ability to contemplate and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense and insight. Wisdom is associated with attributes such as unbiased judgment, compassion, experiential self-knowledge, ...
(''prajña''); * and from
Matangi Matangi ( sa, मातङ्गी, ) is a Hindu goddess. She is one of the Mahavidyas, ten Tantric goddesses and an aspect of the Hindu Divine Mother. She is considered to be the Tantric form of Saraswati, the goddess of music and learning. ...
, the resurrection of the dead body. As advised by Matangi, Tilopa started to work at a brothel in Bengal for a prostitute called Dharima as her solicitor and bouncer. During the day, he was grinding sesame seeds for his living.Kagyu Lineage History: Tilopa
During a meditation, he received a vision of
Vajradhara Vajradhara (Sanskrit: वज्रधर. (Also, the name of Indra, because 'Vajra' means diamond, as well as the thunderbolt, anything hard more generally) Tibetan: རྡོ་རྗེ་འཆང། rdo rje 'chang (Dorje Chang); zh, t=金 ...
and, according to legend, the entirety of
mahamudra Mahāmudrā (Sanskrit: महामुद्रा, , contraction of ) literally means "great seal" or "great imprint" and refers to the fact that "all phenomena inevitably are stamped by the fact of wisdom and emptiness inseparable". Mahāmudr ...
was directly transmitted to Tilopa. After receiving the transmission, Tilopa meditated in two caves, and bound himself with heavy chains to hold the correct meditation posture. He practiced for many years and then met the mind of all buddhas in the form of Diamond Holder
Vajradhara Vajradhara (Sanskrit: वज्रधर. (Also, the name of Indra, because 'Vajra' means diamond, as well as the thunderbolt, anything hard more generally) Tibetan: རྡོ་རྗེ་འཆང། rdo rje 'chang (Dorje Chang); zh, t=金 ...
. He is considered the grandfather of today's Kagyu Lineage. Naropa, his most important student, became his successor and carried and passed on the teachings. At
Pashupatinath Temple Pashupatinath Temple ( ne, श्री पशुपतिनाथ मन्दिर) is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva, and is located in Kathmandu, Nepal. This temple was classified as a World Heritage Site in 1979. This "extensi ...
premise, greatest
Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
shrine of
Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
, there are two caves where Tilopa attained Siddhi and initiated his disciple Naropa.


Teachings


Six Precepts or Words of Advice

Tilopa gave Naropa a teaching called the Six Words of Advice, the original
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
or
Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
of which is not extant; the text has reached us in
Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
an translation. In Tibetan, the teaching is called ''gnad kyi gzer drug'' – literally, "six nails of key points" – the aptness of which title becomes clear if one considers the meaning of the English idiomatic expression, "to hit the nail on the head." According to
Ken McLeod Ken McLeod (born 1948) is a senior Western translator, author, and teacher of Tibetan Buddhism. He received traditional training mainly in the Shangpa Kagyu lineage through a long association with his principal teacher, Kalu Rinpoche, whom he met ...
, the text contains exactly six words; the two English translations given in the following table are both attributed to him.
Watts-Wayman translation An earlier translation circa 1957 by
Alan Watts Alan Wilson Watts (6 January 1915 – 16 November 1973) was an English writer, speaker and self-styled "philosophical entertainer", known for interpreting and popularising Japanese, Chinese and Indian traditions of Buddhist, Taoist, and Hindu ...
and Dr.
Alex Wayman Alex Wayman (January 11, 1921 – September 22, 2004) was a Tibetologist and Indologist and worked as a professor of Sanskrit at Columbia University. He was of Jewish background.Amanda Porterfield, ''The Transformation of American Religion : The Sto ...
rendered Tilopa's "Six Precepts" as
:No thought, no reflection, no analysis, :No cultivation, no intention; :Let it settle itself. In a footnote, Watts cited a Tibetan source text at partial variance with McLeod's in sequence and syntax, namely:
:''Mi-mno, mi-bsam, mi-dpyad-ching,'' :''Mi-bsgom, mi-sems, rang-babs-bzhag.'' Based on an "elucidation" provided by Wayman, Watts explained that
:''Mi-mno'' is approximately equivalent to the Zen terms ''wu-hsin'' (無心) or ''wu-nien'' (無念), "no-mind" or "no thought." ''Bsam'' is the equivalent of the Sanskrit ''cintana'', i.e., discursive thinking about what has been heard, and ''dpyad'' of ''mimamsa'', or "philosophical analysis." ''Bsgom'' is probably ''bhavana'' or the Chinese ''hsiu'' (修), "to cultivate," "to practice," or "intense concentration." ''Sems'' is ''cetana'' or ''szu'' (思), with the sense of intention or volition. ''Rang-babs-bzhag'' is literally "self-settle-establish," and "self-settle" would seem to be an almost exact equivalent of the Taoist ''tzu-jan'' (自然,
pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...
: zì rán), "self-so", "spontaneous", or "natural". Watts had studied Chinese, and Wayman was a Tibetologist and professor of Sanskrit associated with UCLA and later Columbia University.


Mahamudra instructions

Tilopa also gave
mahamudra Mahāmudrā (Sanskrit: महामुद्रा, , contraction of ) literally means "great seal" or "great imprint" and refers to the fact that "all phenomena inevitably are stamped by the fact of wisdom and emptiness inseparable". Mahāmudr ...
instruction to Naropa by means of the song known as "The Ganges Mahamudra," one stanza of which reads: :The fool in his ignorance, disdaining Mahamudra, :Knows nothing but struggle in the flood of samsara. :Have compassion for those who suffer constant anxiety! :Sick of unrelenting pain and desiring release, adhere to a master, :For when his blessing touches your heart, the mind is liberated.Keith Dowman / Tilopa's Instruction to Naropa
/ref>


Attachment and enjoyment

One of the most famous and important statements attributed to Tilopa is: "The problem is not enjoyment; the problem is attachment."


See also

* Erdne Ombadykow, as ''Telo Tulku Rinpoche'', supposed reincarnation of Tilopa *
History of Tibet While the Tibetan plateau has been inhabited since pre-historic times, most of Tibet's history went unrecorded until the introduction of Tibetan Buddhism around the 6th century. Tibetan texts refer to the kingdom of Zhangzhung (c. 500 BCE – 62 ...


References


Bibliography

* * *


External links


An English translation of "The Ganges Mahamudra"


{{Authority control 10th-century Buddhists 11th-century Buddhists Bodhisattvas Indian scholars of Buddhism History of Tibet Kagyu lamas Mahasiddhas 988 births 1069 deaths Indian Buddhist monks Buddhist yogis 10th-century Indian monks 11th-century Indian monks History of Tibetan Buddhism