THE LIFE OF MARPA THE TRANSLATOR SEEING ACCOMPLISHES ALL Tsang Nyon Heruka Translated from the Tibetan by the Nalanda Translation Committee under the direction of Chogyam Trungpa 0 PRA)NA PRESS BOULDER 1982 Nalanda Translation Committee CHOGYA M TRUNGPA, DIRECTOR lAMA UGYEN SHENPEN LoPPON LODR6 DORJE HOLM LARRY MERMELSTEIN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR CATHRYN STEIN ABATO MARK NOWAKOWSKI DAVID Cox REGINALD A. RAY JR. DANA DUDLEY jOHN ROCKWEll, TONY DUFF SUSAN SCHULTZ CHRISTINE KEYSER ROBERT VOGLER SHERAP CHODZIN KOHN IVES WALDO DEREK KOLLEENY ScOTT WELLENBACH ROBIN KORNMAN GERRY WIENER }UD LEVINSON PRA}NA PRESS Great Eastern Book Company P.O. Box 271 Boulder, Colorado 80306 © 1982 by Chogyam Trungpa 9 8 7 6 ~ 4 3 2 First Edition All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. An Imprint of Shambhala Publications, Inc. UBRARY OF CoNGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBUCATION DATA Gtsatl-Smyon He-ru-ka, 14 ~2-1 ~07. The life of Marpa the translator. (Biographies of the Ngeton lineage series) Translation of: Mar-pa-rnam-thar. I. Mar·pa Chos·kyi-blo-gros. 1012-1097. 2. Bka'-rgyud-pa lamas-China-Tibet-Biography. 1. Nalanda Translation Commiuee. II. Title. lll. Series BQ7679.9.M377G7713 1982 294.3'923'0924 (B) 82·1.H83 ISBN 0-8777 3-763·0 (pbk.) CONTENTS Acknowledgments IX Preface XIV Maps XVI Introduction XlX SEEING ACCOMPIJSHES All: THE LIFE OF MARFA 1HE TRANSLATOR PROLOGUE 1 CHAPTER I MARFA TAKES BIRTH AND LATER MEETS WlTI-1 TilE HOLY DHARMA. 5 CHAPTER II MARFA TRAVELS TO INDIA THREE TJMI!5 AND UNDERGOES HARDSHIPS FOR TilE SAKE OF TilE DHARMA. RECEIVING TilE HOLY DHARMA FROM P~.QITAS AND SIDDHA GURUS, HE BRINGS IT BACK TO llBET. 7 Marpa 's First journey to India 7 Marpa 's Second journey to India 49 Marpa 's Third journey to India 71 CHAPTER ill THE PRACflCE OF 1HE ORAL INSfRUCflONS IS BORN IN MARPA'S HEART. 146 CHAPTER IV THROUGH MANIFESTING HIS REAUZATION, MARFA BENEFITS SENTIENT BEINGS AND TilE TEACHINGS. 156 CHAPTER V AFTER TEACHING 1HE VIEW AND WORKING FOR 1HE BENEFIT OF SENTIENT BEINGS, MARPA DISSOLVES INTO DHARMADHATU. 199 v Contents v1 AUTHOR'S COLOPHON 204 TRANSLATOR'S COLOPHON 205 Pronunciation Guide 207 List of Translations by Marpa Lots4wa 209 Glossary 211 Index 260 ILLUSTRATIONS Front cover Marpa the Translator. Detail from a thangka painted by Karshu Gonpo Dorje, from a series of lineage thangkas at Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim, India. Photograph used by the gracious permission of the late His Holiness the Sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa, Rangjung Rikpe Dorje. Page 57 Dagmema, the wife of Marpa. Detail from the above thangka by Karshu Gonpo Dorje. Page 71 Kalacakra Monogram. The stylized monogram of the Kalacakra manua, known as the All Powerful Ten, consisting of the syllables HA K-~ MALA VA RA YA-~. Page 86 Hevajra, the principal yidam of Marpa. Detail from the above thangka by Karshu Gonpo Dorje. Page 107 Vajrav4rahl Shnne at Phamthing. This shrine building houses a large Vajravarahi statue, which is said to have been located here since the time of Marpa. Phamthing is presently known as Parpheng, Nepal. Photograph cour tesy of Timothy and Elizabeth Olmsted. Page 157 Marpa the Translator. This is the entire above mentioned thangka by Karshu Gonpo Dorje. Marpa's principal yidam, Hevajra in consort Vll V111 Illustrations with Nair:ltmya., is in the upper right. Directly above Marpa is the Sekhar, built by Milarepa, and above that is Marpa 's dharma center of Trowo valley. On Marpa's left is his wife Dagmema, and below her is his student Ngokton. To the left, below, are Marpa's stu dents Meton and Tsunon (bottom). Below, in the middle, is the protecuess Vetali. Page 268 Veta{f, an important maha.ka.li (protector of the dharma) of the Kagyil lineage since the time of Na.ropa and Marpa. Detail from the above thangka by Karshu Gonpo Dorje. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Life ofM arpa the Translator is the first translation to appear in the Biographies of the Ngeton Lineage Series. Ngeton (T: nges don; S: nitartha) means "direct, true, or ultimate meaning." In the Tibetan tradition, it refers specifically to the highest level of teach ings given by Sakyamuni Buddha during his lifetime, in his vari ous forms as teacher of hinayana, mahayana, and vajrayana Bud dhism. Thus the teachers of the ngeton lineage are understood to be those Tibetan masters who practiced, studied, realized, and taught these ultimate teachings of the Buddha, thereby causing the buddhadharma to flourish. The great eleventh-century Ti betan teacher, Marpa of Lhotrak, was just such a master, and embodied this ideal in his life in a direct, practical, and un usually complete way. Moreover, he did so through his efforts to "translate" (in both literal and figurative senses) the authentic buddhadharma from India to Tibet. Since this series seeks to funher just that same end, rendering the buddhadharma from Tibetan into the Western idiom, it is panicularly appropriate that The Life of Marpa is the fust biography of the present senes. In accordance with the longstanding Buddhist tradition of trans lation, this work has been produced by a collaborative effon. Within the Nalanda Translation Committee, a core group of translators prepares a first draft, which is then carefully reviewed with Lama Ugyen Shenpen, who is a native of East Tibet and well studied in the English language and all facets of Tibetan Bud dhism. Having thus prepared a second working draft, this is pre sented to the director, Vajracarya the Venerable Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche, and with him we repeat the meticulous read ing of the entire text. The Vajracarya's accomplishment in both Tibetan and English coupled with his own realization sparks a 1X Acknowledgments X delightful feast of language and meaning. The text is then re worked a number of times by the core group and other members of the committee-revising, editing, and polishing the English. Research into technical matters continues, and many portions of the translation are often scrutinized again by the Vajracarya. Following the early directives of the Buddha, we strive to trans late into a modern idiom that is both accurate and useful for prac titioner and scholar alike. Rather than straining often inadequate and approximate English phraseology for key Buddhist terminol ogy and concepts, we commonly render these in the ancient lingua franca of Buddhist culture, classical Sanskrit. While this demands more from particularly the nonscholarly reader, we feel that only in this way is the precision, accuracy, and brilliance of the teachings left uncompromised. Others may criticize that the Sanskrit does not fully encompass the range of meanings of the Tibetan term; this is often true. However, we try to remedy this potential shoncoming by appending a glos sary of such terms, indicating something of the rich and varied meanings given to these words by the living Buddhist tradition of Tibet. Much of the glossary to this volume was originally com piled for The Rain of Wisdom; this has been adapted to accord with the terminology found in this biography. In preparing this translation of The life ofM arpa the Translator: Seeing Accomplishes All (T: sgra-bsgyur mar-pa lo-tsa'i rnam thar mthong-ba don-yod) two complete editions were used: a mod ern handwritten text (Varanasi: E. Kalsang, 1970) and a repro duction of a late nineteenth-century Tengyeling (T: bstan-rgyas gling) edition entitled Bktz'-brgyud-pa Hagiographies, compiled and edited by Khams-sprul Don-brgyud nyi-ma, Vol. 1 (Tashi jong, India: Sungrab Nyamso Gyunphel Parkhang, Tibetan Craft Community, 1972). In addition, two partial editions were consulted: sections of the Kagyii Gurtso (T: bktz'-brgyud mgur