From Sensible Scholar to Wandering Yogi

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Naropa, among the many most revered figures in Vajra­yana Buddhism, started as one among Nalanda’s foremost scholar–practitioners. Elizabeth Monson tells the story of his transformation from sensible pandita to fierce and wild yogi.

“Mahasiddha Naropa,” Kham Province, Japanese Tibet, nineteenth century Pigments on fabric Rubin Museum of Artwork. Beforehand from the Assortment of Navin Kumar, New York. C2005.20.4 (HAR 65496)

The Nice Mahasidda Naropa, Guardian of the Northern Gate of Nalanda College, lived throughout the tenth and eleventh centuries in northern India. The approximate dates he lived, and lots of particulars of his life story, may be present in legends and miracle tales, exalted descriptions of this nice scholar–practitioner, whose life exemplifies a big motion in Buddhist improvement across the flip of the millennium, because the practices of the Mahayana led to the emergence of the Vajrayana ethos and the non secular methods for full liberation related to it.

Naropa’s life story serves as a metaphor for this motion in Buddhist historical past. His instance reveals that full liberation requires not solely an entire understanding and absorption of the view of vacancy and compassion, but additionally the conclusion by means of direct expertise of the essence and readability of issues as they’re. On a wider historic degree, Naropa’s life stands as a paradigmatic instance of a motion that occurred in Indian Buddhism from institutional, scholastic, and philosophical beliefs to an emphasis on experiential, contemplative, and transformative skillful means, transmitted from trainer to scholar, all aimed toward a method of being that’s free, spontaneous, and in concord with the reality of how issues truly are—an embodied and absolutely current manifestation of actuality itself.

Though Naropa’s information, perception, and observe of probably the most profound Buddhist educating was exemplary, he had not but absolutely transcended the realm of the mind to find the huge openness and readability of his personal consciousness.

One key side of Naropa’s story is his departure from Nalanda College, on the prime of his profession, to hunt out and examine with the mysterious guru Tilopa. To grasp this radical shift in Naropa’s path, it’s useful to grasp a little bit of what the Vajrayana is and the way it works. Vajrayana, or tantra because it was extra generally identified in tenth-century India, is an orientation and set of highly effective practices that transfer the practitioner from fantasy to actuality, from delusion to reality. Tantra’s refined non secular applied sciences reveal a method of being and residing in deep concord with the reality of actuality, the reality of how issues truly are, not how we think about, hope, or concern them to be. Discovering this reality—and studying to abide inside it—will not be solely the objective of the tantric path, but additionally it’s the view the yogi embraces to journey that path and the perception that results in the conclusion of that objective: tantra begins with actuality; continues with actuality; and culminates with actuality.

Whereas examine, contemplation, and meditation observe lay the muse and develop the view for understanding liberation, it’s by means of direct expertise that tantric practices purify the blockages, obscurations, and reified patterns of thought and emotion that forestall us from accessing actuality as it’s. Tantra takes the practi­tioner past fixation on ideas and concepts, immersing her as an alternative within the experiential circulation of her personal being and inspiring her to let go of all discursive greedy to comprehend her personal interbeing with all that’s. That is key for Naropa. Though right now his information, perception, and observe of probably the most profound Buddhist teachings is exemplary, he has not absolutely transcended the realm of the mind to find the huge openness and readability of his personal consciousness, a sphere of vivid wakefulness in tune with the wants and struggling of all beings. To take this step, he should preserve the Mahayana view of compassion and vacancy, and bounce into the fireplace of his personal purification, the blazing bonfire of karmic cleaning required to interrupt him free from attachment, clinging, and ego fixation.

So, in a single transformative occasion, Naropa all of the sudden realizes what he wants for full liberation. He’s thrust out of the nice and cozy cocoon of monasticism, scholastic examine, debate, and observe into the wilderness of direct expertise—the progressive shedding of attachment and ego-fixation beneath the watchful and generally wrathful eyes of his tantric grasp, Tilopa.

The daybreak was gentle, the sky clear and open. A delicate breeze stirred the leaves of the traditional Amra bushes that encircled the ponds dotting Nalanda College’s expansive grounds. Naropa sat the place he at all times sat, simply exterior the gates of the northern entrance on an increase of grassy earth. It was early, the solar’s warmth nonetheless in abeyance, and his cup of morning tea despatched up fronds of steam into the comfortable air.

He had simply completed his morning ablutions. First, he washed himself within the waters of the lengthy azure pool that wound across the college buildings, reveling as he did so within the sensible colours of crimson Kanaka and blue lotus flowers floating on the water’s floor. He reveled additionally within the coolness of the water sliding over his pores and skin, sloughing off the darkness of the night time.

Completed along with his bathtub, he entered the shrine corridor simply contained in the northern gate. Rigorously, he eliminated the silken scarves and brocades that dressed the golden Buddha statues and rinsed their yellow arms and gleaming torsos. The Buddhas sat, luminous and silent, filling the room with a vivid presence that awed him. Naropa organized choices of flowers and lit the lamps and incense as he chanted prayers and supplications. A novice may have finished these duties, however Naropa beloved to do them himself. He beloved the simplicity of the ritual that required no thought, simply presence. As he completed, he bowed and sighed a little bit, making an attempt to not dwell on the nagging feeling of insufficiency and frustration that appeared to linger slightly below the floor of his ideas.

Exterior, on a low desk, stacks of manuscripts awaited his consideration. As standard, he meant to spend a few hours studying and finding out earlier than turning his consideration to analyzing the keen candidates to Nalanda, who would quickly collect close by. They got here every single day, generally alone, generally in teams, anticipation written throughout their faces like a international language he’d come to know intimately. It pained him, generally, to see that anticipation, that hope—which had propelled the possible scholar to this very gate—ultimately fade, as, confronted with the difficult questions he should ask them, the scholars realized what they have been going through. Solely a only a few have been able to accurately answering the questions and interesting within the rigorous debate he put them by means of. Solely a only a few would move beneath the towering gates and into the rarified world of examine and observe that was Nalanda College.

Naropa thought of his studying choices. He may return to the lengthy treatise he had lately begun on Panini’s Sanskrit grammar, a subject way more complicated than Naropa had ever imagined, or he would possibly refresh his reminiscence of treatises on Madhyamika expounded by the first-century sage Arya Nagarjuna. Most of those texts he knew by coronary heart, nevertheless it by no means ceased to amaze him how each time he reread them, he found extra that he had not understood. There was nonetheless pleasure in these recent discoveries of latest perception and understanding, and the practices of recognizing vacancy had modified his life. And but, he couldn’t assist feeling that one thing was lacking. He raised his gaze, adjusting the folds in his monk’s robes as he did so.

Already some potential college students had gathered, awaiting his consideration. He grunted to himself. They must wait. His morning examine time was sacred, ever since he had graduated from Nalanda’s rigorous curriculum, attained the title of Mahapandita, and brought up the distinguished posting because the guardian of the Northern Gate.

He flipped by means of folios in regards to the ideas of Buddhist philosophical debate and sighed. It was onerous to confess, however lately, over the previous few years, Naropa discovered himself dropping curiosity in his research. It was definitely not, he reminded himself, that he knew and understood the entire array of subjects taught at Nalanda, all the pieces from weaving and portray to metropolis planning, medication, astronomy, literature, logic, lexicography, debate, faith, the Vedas, Yogasastras, and, lastly, probably the most profound teachings in Buddhist philosophy, observe, and morality. He was extremely skilled, educated to probably the most exalted degree potential in his world. He had achieved the much-coveted place of Dwarapandita, Guardian of the Gate, and had, by all counts, absolutely succeeded in intellectually understanding and placing into observe all components included in Nalanda’s rigorous curriculum. He was forty-two years outdated and on the prime of his recreation. So, why did he really feel so stressed and impotent? Why did he really feel like he had reached a plateau from which he may ascend no additional?

“Focus your thoughts, Naropa,” he admonished himself. “You could have work to do!”

He turned his gaze again to the folio on Buddhist debate in entrance of him. However, after a second, he thrust it apart and rifled by means of the stack till he discovered the textual content he was on the lookout for, the Cakrasamvaratantra, an in depth exposition on the deity practices of the yab/yum Cakrasamvara/Vajrayogini. As he learn, his again to the rising solar, the outer world of sounds, smells, and sights light away and his consideration centered, razor-sharp and clear, on the phrases and the doorways they appeared to open in his thoughts. It was at all times this manner with him. When he studied, when he turned his thoughts to the Dharma, nothing else existed. The phrases burned into his consciousness, whilst that consciousness expanded, hinting at dimensions of expertise Naropa may nearly, however not fairly, style.

He by no means knew how lengthy he sat, absorbed within the textual content, when all of the sudden, the web page darkened and he may not learn the script. At first, he thought a cloud had coated the solar, however elevating his head, he noticed that the daylight was throughout him, pouring itself golden and heat over the grassy hillock upon which he sat. Turning his head, he noticed a darkish determine, silhouetted towards the intense mild of the solar, standing behind him. Pondering that one of many scholar–candidates had turn out to be impatient to start the doorway examination, he returned his gaze to his textual content, saying, as he did, “Go sit down; it’s not time for the exams but.”

His web page remained darkish. With rising irritation, Naropa once more appeared again. “What’s it?” he requested, gruffly. He hated being interrupted when he was finding out. The darkish determine loomed over him, silent and immobile. Naropa turned all the way in which round, making an attempt to see who was there. As he turned, he felt himself being pulled into the silence of the shadowy determine as if right into a vortex. All sounds ceased, his imaginative and prescient darkened, and he misplaced all sense of his physique. The gates and grounds of Nalanda vanished like an phantasm or a swiftly dissolving dream. Naropa’s coronary heart pounded as he strained his eyes, making an attempt to see who was standing in entrance of him. Abruptly, all the pieces shifted and once more, he discovered himself standing on the grass, the excessive partitions of Nalanda gleaming with the early mild, the sounds of the birds tinkling within the mild breeze that wafted over him.

In entrance of him stood a really outdated, very ugly girl. Her face was darkish blue in colour with a protruding brow. Her bloodshot eyes have been sunk deep of their sockets, and her wild crimson hair exploded from her head in tufts and strands. A big goiter hung trembling from her chin, which was coated with a yellow beard moist with spittle. As Naropa gazed at her with a mixture of horror and revulsion, her thick black tongue emerged from her mouth, licking her lips as she made sucking sounds that appeared to curdle the air round them. Her physique was bent, stooped, and twisted, with a big humpback as she rested her gnarled palms on a wood cane.

“What… who…,” he stammered, making an attempt to formulate a sentence, however the crone interrupted him.

Gesturing together with her cane towards the textual content he had been studying, she spoke in a deep, guttural tone, “What are you finding out?”
Naropa whipped his head round to look on the textual content, its folios fluttering a bit within the breeze, noticing, peripherally, that the group of scholar–candidates appeared to have vanished.

“Philosophy, bodhicitta, and epistemology,” he knowledgeable her, feeling a way of bewilderment, “however, who’re you?”
Ignoring his query, she peered at him intently by means of crimson eyes behind which he thought he may see flames blazing. “Do you perceive them?” she requested.

Naropa felt barely insulted. Didn’t she know he was the premier scholar of Nalanda College? However all he stated was, “Sure.”

“Do you perceive the phrases or their that means?”

Unnerved by the outdated girl’s depth, Naropa stated, “I perceive the phrases.”

Once more, with a suddenness that rocked Naropa again on his heels, the outstanding world dissolved. All he may understand was a multi-colored circulation of sunshine inside which the outdated girl simply lifted her cane over her head and commenced to bop wildly, her laughter crackling by means of the air like lightening. As she danced, her vivid hair elongated, sending up tendrils like crimson silk, and her type appeared to shift into the slim, elegant form of a younger girl, eyes blazing with fireplace, lithe type leaping by means of the air like a circus tumbler. Naropa watched with amazement, his pores and skin tingling, his physique full of power like an electrical present. Hoping to encourage her, he advised her, “However I additionally know the that means!”

Abruptly, all the pieces stopped and Naropa was blinded by warmth and a vivid crimson mild that penetrated all his senses. When he may see once more, the outdated hag was huddled in on herself, her physique emitting a pungent darkness that assailed him. She sobbed and muttered, clasping one hand to her chest and plunging her cane into the bottom with the opposite.

Stunned and anxious, Naropa cried, “Why did you snort after I stated I understood the phrases however wept after I stated I knew the that means?”

It appeared to take a couple of moments for his phrases to penetrate the crone’s consciousness, however after they did, she sobbed up at him, “As a result of when stated you knew the phrases, you spoke the reality, however while you, an important Mahapandita, stated you knew the that means, you lied!”

Naropa stared at her in shock. Nobody had ever referred to as him a liar, not in his whole life. A robust circulation of disagreeable power surged by means of him, however he caught himself, simply earlier than lashing out, desirous to deny the outdated girl’s stinging phrases whilst one thing inside him registered the reality of her assertion. In a flash of reduction, he thought, “That is it. She has hit the nail on the top. That is the explanation I really feel so uninspired, so blocked in my development towards liberation. I do perceive the phrases. I perceive so many phrases, however the that means? The expertise? I can really feel it, however I don’t know the way to actualize it, the way to observe it!”

The outdated girl stopped crying. Her bloodshot eyes peered at him with a peculiar depth as if she was listening to his ideas. Swallowing his satisfaction, he requested, “Who does know the that means?”

“My brother Tilopa,” she replied with a happy smack of her lips.

On the immediate she spoke the identify “Tilopa,” Naropa’s hair stood on finish and tears sprang from his eyes. He dropped to his knees as spontaneous devotion blazed up in him, engulfing him in a longing so deep he bowed his head, letting the tears circulation down throughout his cheeks. The power surging by means of him was so robust that his thoughts couldn’t grasp the depth of what was unfolding. He was speechless, inconsiderate, consumed in an power so highly effective he barely knew the way to keep current. For an indeterminate time, he knelt on the grass on the toes of the outdated girl, his face moist with the depth of the craving that flooded his whole being. Lastly, elevating his head, he met her blazing eyes. “Please,” he begged, “take me to your brother!”

He thought he glimpsed an expression of satisfaction flash throughout her face, however all she stated was, “Supplicate him. Observe. Go discover him your self.”

As she completed talking, the air round her started to flutter, to tremble, till it appeared to Naropa {that a} doorway opened, a channel of rainbow mild into which the outdated girl entered, her type shifting and altering. For a short second, she morphed once more into that important model of herself he had seen earlier, a vivid, blazing being of crimson fireplace; the flash of an upheld knife gleaming in her proper hand the place her cane had been; her physique clean and nubile, a determine of sunshine and fireplace, dancing into dissolution. Inside moments, she was gone, vanished, abandoning solely the acquainted panorama surrounding the Northern Gate of Nalanda College.

Naropa rose to his toes, surprised and silent, his face turned to the east. It was all he may do to not instantly begin strolling to seek out this particular person, this trainer, this Tilopa, who was the brother of a dakini, as a result of clearly, the outdated girl was not simply any outdated girl. Naropa acknowledged her now from his studying and observe of tantric texts as Vajrayogini, the Nice Mom of fireplace and compassion, the sky dancer of perception and love.

Simply the considered Tilopa’s identify despatched shivers of longing, anticipation, and pleasure by means of his veins, and he questioned at himself, he, who had dismissed the tales of the significance of the guru for actualizing the Buddhist teachings. Even understanding and training, as he had, so many tantras, and recognizing intellectually that the core of tantric observe is the transformation of each the practitioner and the universe of which he is part, Naropa by no means believed he himself would ever need or want such a trainer. He believed primarily within the energy of his formidable mind to penetrate the reality, the essence of the teachings, and within the drive of the view of compassion, his love for all beings, to allow him to dedicate his life to serving to those that got here his method. Now one thing inside him had irrevocably shifted. He knew, past any shadow of doubt, that true awakening required not solely the view he already possessed, but additionally the deep inside expertise of the character of actuality itself.

From this second on, Naropa’s life utterly modifications. He leaves Nalanda and units out to seek out Tilopa, the loopy mahasiddha, who places him by means of a sequence of brutal trials, each designed to take him deeper and deeper inside the layers of karmic encrustation which have stored him sure and trapped. In the end, Naropa’s devotion to his trainer collectively along with his dedication to a path of observe that explodes his ideas and concepts set him free. Right this moment, we would liken Naropa’s trials to the preliminary practices each Vajryana scholar should full earlier than stepping immediately into the mandala of actuality that may turn out to be the bottom for manifesting on this planet as a realized being.

Naropa’s life story echoes all the way down to us by means of the centuries as a transparent instruction that regardless of how a lot time we could spend in finding out and considering the Buddhist teachings, it’s by means of harnessing the energies of the physique and our feelings because the working floor for liberation that we discover precisely what we want for freedom. Freedom may be discovered solely in what is correct in entrance of us—our expertise in every current second. Whereas the precise trajectory by which the practices of the Vajrayana grew to become seen in Indian and Himalayan Buddhism could also be misplaced to the mists of historical past, Naropa’s determination to go away Nalanda and enterprise into the wilderness of his personal direct expertise beneath Tilopa’s tutelage stands as a pivotal second in Buddhist historical past—a landmark occasion that reconfigured the trail to enlightenment for a lot of generations of practitioners to return.

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