Extract: Having concluded his studies there, he left for Nalanda where the Dharma was firmly established.
There he received Bhikhu ordination from the abbot Dharmamitra alsoknown as Jayadeva of Nalanda University.
He was give the name Shri Dharmapala 护法.
He continued his study under the tutorship of his abbot who was very pleased with him and gave him many private teachings on Vajrayana 金刚乘 practices in general and on Chakrasamvara 胜乐金刚 Tantra in particular.
The abbot left instructions in his will that Shri Dharmapala should beappointed his successor, and asked the monastic officials to show equal respect and honour to his successor as they had Dharmapala was accordingly appointed abbot of Nalanda.
He supervised his predecessor's grand funeral ceremony and arranged to havethe entire remains of the abbot transformed into relics which he carefully distributed amongst the various kings, patrons and monks.
Dharmapala practised Chakrasamvara diligently every night according to the secret instructions he had received from his abbot.
His days were devoted to teaching and composition.
Although he gave teachings on both Theravadin and Mahayana texts, he devoted most of his own time and energy to the esoteric practices of Vajrayana. He continued to practice Chakrasamvara wholeheartedly year after year.
However, at the age of seventy despite so many years of faithful practice, Dharmapala was yet to experience any signs of spiritual attainment.
He also had to contend with all his old diseases which plagued his body and his mind.
He was saddened and frightened by the constant harm caused by Yakshas and evil-spirits.
To add to his general state of discouragement and frustration, he had been having the most frightful nightmares.
In one of these dreams he saw huge a fire burning at the lower end of a vallery and a flood rising from the upper end.
He saw hail-storms, glaciers, icicles and icebergs failing from the sky.
He saw his Guru, Yidam and spiritual friends hanging upside down, or with their faces torn apart, noses cut-off, eyes gouged out and dripping with blood.
Not surprisingly, Dharmapala interpreted these dreams as bad omens.
He concluded that he must lack the karmic connection to attain realization through the path of Vajrayana in that lifetime.
He decided to give up his Vajrayana practices completely.
Accordingly, on the night of the 22nd day of the four lunar month he relinquished his practice of Deity Yoga, and threw his prayer beads into the latrine.
These dreams were actually indications that Dharmapala was about to achieve a major spiritual realization through his Tantric practices.
But he had no way of knowing this at the time, so he completely misread the signs.
He was unaware that he had already perfected the Path of Accumulation, the Path of Preparation and was about to attain the Path of Seeing.
At that time his vital energy and his mind had merged in the ksa and ma syllables
below the Navel Cakra.
This had caused the symbolism which appeared so terrifying in his dreams.
He failed to recognise the signs of what was happening to him because his abbot had died before imparting the complete pith instructions.
These would have explained the drastic changes occurring in the subtle energy flows within his psychic body and clarified the dream experience.
Shri Dharmapala decided that from then on he would devote his entire time to teaching, writing and other duties for the Sangha (monastic community) instead of spending many hours a day on Deity Yoga meditation practice.
However, on that very night he dreamed that the
Goddess Nairatmya 无我母 (
Nairātmyā or Dagmema is a female buddha, the consort of Hevajra 喜金刚in the Hevajra-tantra. The name means "ego-less woman") appeared before him in the form of a beautiful blue woman wearing heavenly silk garments, and spoke to him thus:
"O noble son, it is not good that you should behave in this manner when you are about to attain the Siddhi. Although all the Buddhas have non-discriminatory compassion, I am the deity with whom you have strong Karmic affinity and I shall bless you to quickly attain Siddhi. Go and retrieve your prayer beads, wash them with scented water, confess your misdeeds and resume your practice properly."
Then she disappeared.
Dharmapala awoke feeling a mixture of regret and joy.
He followed her instructions, resuming his practice early that morning.
Subsequently the Mandala of the Nirmanakaya aspect of the Fifteen Goddess of Nairatmya appeared before him and gave him the four complete initiations.
He thereupon attained the
Path of Seeing of the First Bhumi.
He now realised the true significance of his dreams.
The rough dreams and visions of Yaksas were the interdependent manifestations of his mind and vital energies merging into the ksa and ma syllables below the navel Cakra.
This was caused by the untying the vein knots which brought about the First Merging of Elements and signs of the vital energies of Candali heat.
<Tummo (Tibetan: gtum-mo; Sanskrit: caṇḍālī) is a form of breathing, found in the Six Yogas of Naropa, Lamdre, Kalachakra and Anuyoga teachings of Tibetan Vajrayana.
The unconventional experiences which appeared to his conceptual mind resulted from the re-adaptation process between the veins and the mind.
As a sign of the intermediate Merging of Elements the Candali fire blazes upward and causes the Bodhicitta nectar to flow upward.
Such an interdependent manifestation of internal events would be experienced conceptually by the Yogi as a blazing fire from the bottom of the valley and a flood coming from the upper part of the valley.
The forceful circulation of subtle droplets in many minor veins was reflected in the dreams about hail-storms, and the icebergs falling from the sky.
The Third and Final Merging of the Elements revealed the bare face of flawless transcendental wisdom.
This has the effect of dissolving all attachment to ordinary appearances.
这有融化所有对于一般显示相的执着功效。
These interdependent manifestations were reflected in his dreams as the torn faces of his Guru and Yidams.
He came to realise that all those signs had been direct meditative experiences related to the three sequential mergings of the subtle elements within his body.
Through the timely appearance and guidance of Vajranairatmya, Shri Dharmapala had finally attained realization.
From then on, he reached a higher Bhumi each day until in the early morning of the 29th of the same month he attained the Sixth Bhumi.
He was now a great Bodhisattva dwelling on the Sixth Bhumi.
His receipt of the four complete initiations confirmed that the continuous flow of the empowerment had not ceased. 认证了传承加持并没有中断过。
The attainment of the six Bhumis was confirmation that the lineage of the blessings was unbroken.
His failure to recognise previous signs of attainment and his misinterpretation of these signs as bad omens confirmed that he had not received certain pith instructions.
This enabled him to realise that the order of the instructions was not wrong.
In consequence, Dharmapala's devotion to the teachings was restored and redoubled.
He became confident that he would definitely attain the realization of a Fully
Enlightened One, as did the Buddha.
In this way he was blessed with the Four Whispered Lineages, which came to be known as the 'Instruction of the Four Whispered Lineages'.
