Tilopa (Prakrit;Sanskrit:Talika orTilopadā) was a Buddhisttantric[1]mahasiddha[2] who lived in northeast India[1][3]: x [4]: 1 around the 10th century -- perhaps from 988 to 1069[3]: 4 [1] though from 928 to 1009 is also suggested[4]: 127 .The information of his life comes from spiritual biographies orhagiographies[4]: xv where actual biographical details are few[1] and the texts concentrate on spiritual growth of an individual[5]: vii [3]: 3 . The earliest of these hagiographies was composed during the 11th century[5]: vii .
Tilopa practised theCakrasaṃvara Tantra[3]: 6 [5]: 43 , a set of spiritual practices intended to accelerate the process of attainingBuddhahood. He became a holder of all the tantric lineages, possibly the only person in his day to do so[citation needed]. In addition to the way of insight andMahamudra[6], Tilopa learned and passed on the Way of Methods (today known as theSix Yogas of Naropa) and guru yoga.[7]Naropa is considered his main student[3]: 35 , though hishagiographies mention by name two other disciples as well[3]: 34 .
The historical documentation of Tilopa's life doesn't exist or is not known[3]: xii . The first biography or hagiography of Tilopa was written in the 11th century, and another major biography was written during the 14th century[3]: xiii ; however, others followed in e.g. 16th century[3]: xiii . The account below is a synopsis of biography in Chos-Kyi Blo-GrosThe Life of the Mahasiddha Tilopa[5].The one thing most accounts agree is that he was born in northeast India into the Brahmincaste, i.e. in what nowadays isBangladesh orEastern India[1][5]: 28,64-65 [8]: 41, 72 [3]: x [4]: 131 .After his birth a soothsayer profesied to his mother that he'd be either abuddha,deva,nāga oryaksha[5]: 28 .Later his mother had a vision of several ugly women, telling Tilopa's her to make him a buffalo herder and also learn scriptures[5]: 29 [4]: 133 -- the latter might mean taking monastic vows[1][9]: 12 instead of just learning to meditate.His mother adhered to advice given, and having grown up, Tilopa encountered the same women in another vision while herding buffaloes -- this time they revealed Tilopa's spiritual pedigree and exhorted the boy to go to a cemetery of Salavihara[5]: 30 or Salabheraha[4]: 134 .
In the cemetery Tilopa encountered a teacher called Cāryapa, and a teacher calledLawapa[5]: 30 or Kambalapā[4]: 144 who both gave him spiritual instructions. In the cemetery he was taught by an ascetic named Mātangīpa too[5]: 31 [4]: 142-3 .
Later he encounted aḍākinī named Subhagini[5]: 67 or Matongha[10] in the temple where his uncle was an abbot and taught[5]: 31, 67 .Subhagini asked whether or not he understood the text ofSatasāhasrikā[5]: 31 .Having received a negative answer she further explicated the text to him, and told him to meditate[5]: 31 .However, Tilopa's uncle had forbidden him from meditating[5]: 31 .So, the ḍākinī then urged him to fasten the text Satasāhasrikā with a rope, toss it out of the temple door in water, and act like a madman[5]: 31-32 .The act didn't go unnoticed: Though the text did not suffer damage, he was remonstrated and beaten[5]: 32 .Some time after that, Subhagini told him go East to the market place of Pañcapana, find a prostitute called Bharima[5]: 32 or Dharima[10], and follow her as a servant[1][5]: 32 .
Tilopa did what Subhagini told him to do, went to Pañcapana, found Brahima, and worked as a pimp for her at nights while also working as a sesame seed trasher during the day[1][5]: 32 .Later, while trashing sesame seeds, he attained the perfection close to thegreat seal or mahamudra[5]: 32 .At the same time people around the city had flaming visions of him or visions of his bone ornaments blazing[5]: 32-3 ;the people came and asked him to teach them[5]: 32-3 , and the king of the country too came to pay his respects[5]: 33 .
From several teachers Tilopa received teachings:
FromVajradhara -- by direct transmission -- instructions[1] or the entirety ofmahamudra[12].
Tilopa gaveNaropa a teaching called the Six Words of Advice[13]. The original text does not survive, but a Tibetan translation has been preserved[13].
In Tibetan, the teaching is calledgnad kyi gzer drug[14] – literally, "six nails of key points"; the aptness of the title becomes clear if one considers the meaning of the English idiomatic expression, "to hit the nail on the head."
The six precepts have been translated in several rather different ways. Three are presented below.
Ken McLeod's translation[15][16][17] together with original Tibetan:
| Literal translation | Explanatory translation | Original Tibetan | Tibetan (Wylie transliteration) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Don't recall | Let go of what has passed | མི་མནོ་ | mi mno |
| 2 | Don't imagine | Let go of what may come | མི་བསམ | mi bsam |
| 3 | Don't think | Let go of what is happening now | མི་སེམས | mi sems |
| 4 | Don't examine | Don't try to figure anything out | མི་དཔྱོད་ | mi dpyod |
| 5 | Don't control | Don't try to make anything happen | མི་སྒོམ་ | mi sgom |
| 6 | Rest | Relax, right now, and rest | རང་སར་བཞག་ | rang sar bzhag |
Another translation by Khenpo Konchog Gyaltsen Rinpoche renders the original Tibetan in English as[9]: 247
An earlier translation circa 1957 byAlan Watts and Dr.Alex Wayman rendered Tilopa's "Six Precepts" as
In a footnote, Watts cited a Tibetan source text at partial variance with McLeod's in sequence and syntax, namely:
Based on an "elucidation" provided by Wayman, Watts explained that
Tilopa also gavemahamudra instruction toNaropa by means of the song known as "The Ganges Mahamudra,"[3]: 58 one stanza of which reads:
Tilopa also gave instructions concerning pleasure: "The problem is not enjoyment; the problem is attachment."[13][citation needed]
| Preceded by | Kagyu school | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
.svg)
