Superconscious Conception in Tibet
I dreamed that a radiant blue light, the size of a sesame seed, entered my womb and filled my body with light. The light flowed out through every pore of my body. The luminosity filled the ten directions of the universe, dispelling the darkness of the world. In due time, I birthed the Second Dalai Lama.
-- Kunga Palmo
Mothers of inner world geniuses of Tibet report mystical conceptions.
Lady Yeshe Tsogyel
Mother of Lady Yeshe Tsogyel:
I had a vision while my husband and I were love-making. A golden bee, coming out of the west, its hum sounding like a sweet stream of lute music, vanished into my husband's fontanelle.
Meanwhile my husband saw a vision of me and an eight-year-old girl holding a lute and singing, sacred syllables. The young girl approached my husband and vanished. Other portents followed: earthquake, brilliant light, thunder roll, and a long whining hum.
Visions paraded through my husband's dreams all night long. He saw himself holding an eight-petalled lotus radiating every corner of the microcosmic universes. In a second dream, a coral stupa emerged from the crown of his head. Hordes of people came to see the stupa. They gathered from China, Jang, Hor, Kham, Tibet, Mongolia, Bhutan, and Nepal. The people explained that they had come on a pilgrimage to give respect to the stupa, some to beg for it as a gift, some to carry it off by stealth, and others to take it by force.
We gave birth to a daughter, Yeshe Tsogyel, the most famous enlightened woman of Tibet.
Naropa [1016-1100]
Queen Srimati (mother of Naropa):
My husband, the Buddhist king Santivarman, was born with excellent character and a discriminating awareness light shone from his body at times. We fasted and performed acts of atonement, renounced evil and devoted ourselves to benevolent works. Yet in spite of our attempts to birth a male heir, we had one daughter.
Our spiritual advisor Yasomati cognized the cause of our failure. He told us:
"Take refuge in the Triple Gem, and because of the infallibility of the Most Sublime you should develop an enlightened attitude, say your prayers and make lavish offerings to the Guru who is the Most Sublime, to the tutelary deity, the Dakas [illumination and transcending awareness]. Do this with genuine devotion and you will achieve what you desire."
We thereby commanded the construction of temples where we practiced devotion and reverence.
One night I experienced in a dream the radiant vision of the indivisibility of nothingness and bliss, which revealed our whole country in a brilliant light. The dream delighted my husband. He told me: "A sentient being has taken temporary residence in your womb. It will through the mercy of the Most Sublime become a superior being."
Nine months later, I delivered a baby boy, Naropa. The voice of thunder resounded in the sky, the earth trembled and we saw an omen of rays of light. The body of our baby bore all major and minor auspicious marks of a Buddha.
From childhood, Naropa displayed a clear mind and great wisdom. We feared that our line might die out if he were to follow Buddha's footsteps. We attempted to keep him from learning how to read and write. Our son nevertheless did so in secret and became a scholar by eleven. He went to study in Kashmir, the main seat of Buddhist learning.
It took Naropa twelve years of devotion and service to Guru Tilopa to attain the overwhelming experience of the Real.
Kalu Rinpoche (1905-1989)
Drolkar Chung Chung (mother of Kalu Rinpoche):
My husband Karma Lekshe Drayang had become famous at an early age for learning the five sciences: crafts, language, logic, healing and Dharma. He had celestial visions. The mention of his lamas' names caused the hair on his body to rise and tears to come to his eyes, indications of his faith and devotion.
I was equally devoted to spiritual transformation. In addition to the five 100,000 preliminary practices, I completed 100 million recitations of the Vajra Guru mantra, 200 million recitations of Om Mani Padme Hum, 100 million Amitabha mantras and 100 million Vajrasattva mantras.
Shortly after our marriage, we had undertaken a retreat and had seen little of each other during this period. On the night of the elaborate tenth-day vajra feast, our noble lama, Jamgon Kongtrul, appeared in our dreams. He said, "I need a place to stay," and then he merged with us. We also dreamed that Orgyen Rinpoche [Padmasambhava] and his consort came from the Copper-Colored Mountain along with a throng of warrior and dakinis. Thus our son approached my womb and was conceived amidst all this auspiciousness.
I glowed with joy and good health throughout pregnancy. I enjoyed wonderful dreams of good portent. Rainbows pervaded the sky on the day of our son's birth.
From early childhood, Kalu Rinpoche displayed spiritual tendencies and showed that he was the incarnation of Jamgon Kongtrol. The monastery asked that we place him under their care, however my husband replied:
"If my son is who you say he is, then he will naturally exhibit all of the qualities an activities of the great Jamgon Kongtrul. So it is not necessary for him at this time to leave home and be placed on a throne."
Our son began his studies in the monastery at thirteen. At twenty-five, he departed for an twelve-year retreat in the desolate mountains of Kham. He neither sought nor needed earthly company. He wandered free and unattached, without possessions, taking shelter wherever he found it.
I was determined to bring him home. When I tracked him down, I pleaded, "How thin you are. Please return home." Rinpoche replied, "I am perfectly healthy and will continue the retreat." I threatened to take back the food and supplies I had brought. Rinpoche refused to return and said, "Fine. Please offer the food to the animals and insects who need nourishment and blessings." I relented and left the food anyway. Rinpoche offered it to the lesser sentient beings.
During Kalu Rinpoche's twelve-year retreat, he lived in isolated places with little food. Some places were inaccessible in winter. Finally, his master summoned him back to the world and he was recognized him as an incarnation of Jamgon Kongtrul by the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa (Rangjung Rikpay Dorje).
Rinpoche went on to establish retreat centers and monasteries in Asia, Europe and North America. He made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the holy sites of the Judeo-Christian tradition and met Pope Paul II. Rinpoche died on May 10, 1989. A little over a year later, his reincarnation was born and later recognized by Tai Situpa and the Fourteenth Dalai Lama.
Prahevajra, aka Garab Dorje (715 BC)
Mother of Prahevajra:
My parents, King Uparaja and Queen Prabhavati, ruled the country of Oddiyana [Pakistan]. A Buddhist temple stood on the shore of Lake Dhanakosa, meaning the treasury of riches. Another 1608 smaller shrines surrounded this central temple.
Buddhist masters taught me the Dharma as I grew up and I took the vows of a mendicant nun. Together with my maid Sukha, I retired to an island of golden sands in the middle of Lake Dhanakosa. There I lived in a humble grass hut and meditated and practiced Yoga Tantra.
One night an immaculately appearing man with a white complexion came to me in a dream. He descended from the sky bearing a crystal vase, decorated with five syllables symbolizing the five Buddhas (Om Ah, Hum, Svaha). The figure consecrated me with the vase initiation (bum dbang) to purify my body of all obscurations. He placed the vase, emanating beams of light, on my crown three times. He then dissolved into a ray of light and entered my body, whereupon I peered into the three worlds and saw everything clearly. The glorious white male figure was no doubt Vajrasattva.
I became terrified when I became pregnant. I feared that my father and the kingdom would learn of my condition.
Ten months later, I gave birth to a baby boy. Frightened and ashamed, I flung my infant into a pit filled with ashes outside my hut, crying, "This fatherless boy can be nothing other than an evil spirit!"
My maid who had assisted the birth cautioned me, "Auspicious signs mark the child's body. Perhaps he is the incarnation of an enlightened Bodhisattva." I would hear none of this. At that moment, we heard wondrous sounds and witnessed rainbow rays of light everywhere.
My conscience bothered me for three days. Finally I searched for the infant in the ash pit. The child was unharmed and healthy. I recognized my son as a Bodhisattva. I carried the child into the hut, bathed him, and wrapped him in white silk. The gods showered praise and proclaimed:
"O Protector, Teacher, Blessed One,
The lord of the world, who reveals the true nature,
Be our powerful protector.
Vajra of the Sky, we pray to you."
My son showed many special signs that he was not an ordinary child. At age 7 he entered into a philosophical debate with 500 scholars and defeated all of them, without ever having studied himself. Afterwards he instructed the sages in Atiyoga, the truth he had realized before birth. Without studying, the boy knew all of the sacred Sutras and Tantras of the Buddha, as well as countless verses of Dzogchen teachings. Everyone accepted Prahevajra (Garab Dorje) as an enlightened emanation of Vajrasattva and the first teacher of Dzogchen (The Great Perfection).
Prahevajra lived in a grass hut on Mount Suryaprakasha and Mount Malaya. He attained Buddhahood. Vajrasattva appeared to him in a brilliant sphere of rainbow light and blessed him with 6,400,000 secret instructions of the tantras of Dzogchen.
Prahevajra converted people to the Dharma and inspired multitudes. One disciple, a scholar named Manjushrimitra, had already mastered the five sciences and possessed knowledge of the sacred scriptures when he received a divine inspiration to study under Prahevajra.
Prahevajra's life ended as mystically as it began. He realized the Rainbow Body of light. His mortal body dissolved into immaculate space, amid wondrous signs of earth tremors, a great mass of rainbow light, and various sounds. He transformed his body into pure radiant energy and vanished like a rainbow in the sky. His physical body shrunk away to nothing, leaving behind only nails and hair. This method takes an adept beyond the cycle of transmigration, and one can choose to reappear in a light body whenever one chooses in order to help and teach sentient beings.
Manjushrimitra was overcome with grief and despair and he fell to the ground in a swoon. When he regained his senses, he lamented, "O alas alas! O vast expanse! If the lamp of our teacher has gone out, by whom will the darkness of the world be dispelled?"
Instantly, Prahevajra appeared from the midst of a mass of light in the sky. A thunderclap sounded and a golden casket the size of a thumb nail descended from this light in the sky. The casket circumambulated Manjushrimitra three times before falling into his right hand. The vision of Prahevajra then dissolved back into the sky.
That casket contained Prahevajra's testament, "Three Phrases which strike the Essential Point," written with ink of lapis lazuli on the surface of five precious substances. Merely by reading the testament, Manjushrimitra attained a realization equal to that of Prahevajra.
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Around the time of my son's conception, I dreamed that the Sun was placed on a lion's head and illuminated the whole world. My son became one of Tibet's greatest scholars and sages. He wrote 250 treatises on history, ethical instructions and spiritual teachings.
-- Mother of Kunkhyen Longchen Rabjam (1308-1363)
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