Yeshe Tsogyal - Đôi nét về tác giả

Yeshe Tsogyal

Yeshe Tsogyal is the preeminent lady of Tibetan Buddhism. While most—if not all—of what we know about her life is highly mythologized, she is revered by Tibetans as a foremost disciple and consort of Padmasambhava, the eighth-century tantric master credited with a seminal role in establishing Buddhism in Tibet. Yeshe Tsogyal is also celebrated for transcribing Padmasambhava’s teachings and concealing them as treasures across the Tibetan and Himalayan landscape, to be revealed by successive tertöns, or “treasure revealers,” during times of strife.

In her well-known namthar, or story of “complete liberation,” which was revealed by the seventeenth-century tertön Taksham Nuden Dorje (available in English translations by Keith Dowman and the Padmakara Translation Group), Yeshe Tsogyal is portrayed as a gutsy woman striving for enlightenment. She faces various trials while practicing meditation in mountain solitudes: scorn from villagers, torment by demons, starvation, and even rape. Through these trials, she is shown transforming adversity into fuel for her practice and gaining realization. Moreover, in her namthar, one finds the striking statement by Padmasambhava that a woman with strong determination has a greater potential for attaining enlightenment than a man. In this way, Yeshe Tsogyal serves as an important example of a woman who traversed the Buddhist path.

However, if we think of Yeshe Tsogyal primarily as an ancestor who demonstrates that enlightenment is possible in female form, we grossly underestimate her significance for Tibetans. Moreover, we run into the problem (as with so many female figures in Buddhist literature) of establishing her historicity.

For Tibetans, Yeshe Tsogyal is not just a figure from the distant past; she remains an active and enduring presence. In the outer frame of her namthar, we see her portrayed as a timeless being—an emanation of Sarasvati—who took human form in Tibet for the sake of propagating the dharma. And at the end of her tale, before dissolving into space, Yeshe Tsogyal promises to continue to respond to the prayers of devotees, to appear to adepts in visions, and to continue to send forth emanations.

But her story does not end there. Over the centuries, Yeshe Tsogyal has remained accessible to ordinary Tibetans through numerous liturgies that supplicate her. In addition, her potent blessings are understood to remain in the places she practiced as well as the objects she touched (strands of hair, articles of clothing, ritual implements, etc.), considered to be relics of contact. To spiritual virtuosos, both male and female, Yeshe Tsogyal also appears in visions, posing riddles, offering encouragement, or expounding on the contents of a treasure teaching.

What’s more, Yeshe Tsogyal’s presence continues in the lives of historical women who are regarded to be her emanations. Indeed, exceptional women in the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism are often identified as an emanation of Yeshe Tsogyal and sometimes referred to as “Yeshe Tsogyal in person.” Her emanations include the few female tertön known to us, such as Jomo Menmo (thirteenth century) and Sera Khandro (early twentieth century), as well as Mingyur Paldrön, the daughter and successor of the famed seventeenth-century tertön Terdak Lingpa, founder of Mindroling Monastery outside of Lhasa.

Bà Tsogyal tước hiệu Kharchen đã theo học với Đức Phật Ứng Hoá Thân Liên Hoa Sinh đến từ xứ Oddiyama, từ năm tám tuổi, đi theo Ngài như bóng theo hình.

Khi Đạo Sư sắp rời Tây Tạng để về xứ la sát, tôi, Bà Kharchen, đã dâng một mandala vàng và lam ngọc và chuyển một bánh xe cung thỉnh Đạo Sư và Hội Thượng Phật, khẩn cầu : Thưa Đại Đạo Sư ! Ngài sắp rời đây để về thuần thục các la sát. Tôi bị bỏ lại đây ở Tây Tạng. Mặc dầu tôi đã theo học Ngài suốt thời gian dài, thưa Ngài, người đàn bà già này vẫn không tin chắc vào năng lực của mình vào lúc chết. Thế nên tôi tha thiết xin Ngài từ bi ban cho tôi một chỉ giáo đúc kết tất cả các giáo pháp thành một giáo pháp vắn tắt và dễ thiền quán.

Đại Đạo Sư phúc đáp : Hành giả có tâm tín thành và đức hạnh, hãy lắng nghe tôi.

Mặc dầu có nhiều điểm tinh yếu sâu sắc của thân, hãy an trú không dính mắc gì hết và thư giãn sao cho thư thái, thanh thản. Tất cả đều gồm đủ trong chính trạng thái đó.

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