Page 160 - Popular Deities of Chinese Buddhism (Illustrated) and Symbols

Tibetans, are likely to find it difficult to believe. However, two

basic testaments which proved his existence are:

1. e famous Samye Monastery which was built under his

directions.

2. Vajrayana or Tibetan Buddhism with all its body of teaching,

learning and realisations which are so rich and profound that

it is still converting and lifting the spiritual lives of not only

Tibetans but people all over the world.

e Precious Guru has so earned the love and veneration of the

Tibetans that they called him the ‘essence of all the Buddhas of

the past, present and future, the Mantra-holder’, and a host of

honorific titles. His miraculous birth on the pollen bed of a lotus

caused by the ray of light emanating from the Buddha Amita-

bha has caused Vajrayanists to call him the ‘Lotus-born Guru’.

History and legend has it that he was discovered and adopted

by the King of Uddiyana of northwest India. When he was old

enough, the king retired and handed his throne over to him. But

Padmasambhava had no desire to be a king, and like Gautama

Buddha some twelve centuries earlier, the lotus-born youth

traded his princely robes for an ascetic’s rags. He concentrated

fully on Tantric Buddhism, mastering all the secret doctrines

and mysterious powers associated with that aspect.

So begins the legend of Padmasambhava, the Great Tantric

Master, the eminent Indian Guru who spread the teachings of

the Buddha in the Himalayan lands rife with worship of spirits

 