Garab Dorje

Manifested Birth in Oddiyana

The master appeared upon the shore of Lake Dhanakośa in Oddiyana, the sacred land of Dzogchen (in the region of the Swat Valley in present-day Pakistan), as a rare manifestation born without a father. His mother was the daughter of the king of Oddiyana, a bhikṣuṇī who had renounced worldly life and taken ordination. One night in a dream she beheld a white celestial being holding a crystal vase, upon which were inscribed the sacred syllables "Oṃ," "Āḥ," and "Hūṃ"; he set the vase upon the crown of her head, and upon waking she found herself with child. At the time of his birth, auspicious signs appeared in abundance. He was an emanation manifested from the enlightened intention of the saṃbhogakāya Vajrasattva, who, in accordance with the charge of the buddhas before him, took birth in the human world to open the beginning of the oral, ear-whispered transmission of Dzogchen.

Radiant Light from the Ash Pit

When the holy infant was newly born, his mother the bhikṣuṇī, having conceived without a father, feared this to be inauspicious and so abandoned him in an ash pit within a charnel ground. Yet when she returned to look after three days, she found the infant entirely unharmed: within the ash pit light blazed forth, celestial music filled the air, and a wondrous fragrance pervaded all around, so that all who saw were astonished at the marvel. His mother then understood that this child was no ordinary being; with reverence she took him back and raised him to adulthood. This episode of his birth has, since ancient times, been held in high regard by the lineage, for it reveals the profound meaning that the luminosity of intrinsic awareness is complete in and of itself, needing no external conditions, and that even amid dust and defilement it remains undefiled and indestructible.

Debate at the Royal Court

When the master was but seven years old, he was already able, without recourse to study, to expound the most profound teachings of the buddhas exactly as they are. At that time, in the royal court of Oddiyana, he debated with five hundred paṇḍitas on the view of Dzogchen that transcends cause, effect, and karmic force. As the exchange went back and forth, his reasoning was deep and subtle, and all the great scholars were won over in their hearts, none able to stand against him. The assembly then together bestowed upon him the honorific title "Prajñābhava," meaning "born of wisdom," to proclaim that his primordial wisdom was innate by nature and not acquired through accumulated learning. In later times the foremost disciple of the Dzogchen lineage, the master Mañjuśrīmitra, also came to revere his virtue through this very connection.

Receiving the Tantras in Full

Thereafter, the master abode in solitude in the still places of Mount Meru and the Malaya mountains, and in a single instant, before the saṃbhogakāya Vajrasattva, he received in full the empowerments, pith instructions, and entrustment of the entire body of Dzogchen Atiyoga tantras; intrinsic awareness dawned within him, and he beheld the primordial nature in its entirety. After this he compiled the teachings he had received into written form, transmitting the six million four hundred thousand verses of the Dzogchen teachings, and bringing forth root heart-essence tantras such as the Seventeen Tantras. These teachings were not the personal composition of the master himself, but the mind-direct transmission of the dharmakāya, bestowed by the saṃbhogakāya Vajrasattva and compiled by the master to spread throughout the human world, so that the secret intention of the primordial dharmakāya became words that could be heard and practiced, blessing the vidyādharas of later generations.

Spreading the Teaching of the Rainbow Body

His realization now complete, the master remained in the world to spread the teaching, turning the great Dzogchen wheel of dharma widely for the ocean-like assembly of ḍākinīs in the charnel grounds, expounding the ultimate key instructions of trekchö (cutting through) and tögal (direct leap), so as to lead practitioners to attain the rainbow-light dharmakāya in this very life and body. The lineage records that, of those who relied upon the master and practiced, countless ḍākinīs attained the accomplishment of the rainbow body, their luminosity filling all, a flourishing event indeed. The master received from above the "transmission of the enlightened intention of the buddhas" of Samantabhadra and the "symbolic transmission of the vidyādharas" of Vajrasattva, and opened below the "ear-whispered transmission of individuals" in the human world—truly the pivot by which all the Dzogchen teachings spread through this world, and the first master of the close oral, ear-whispered transmission.

The Three Statements That Strike the Vital Point

His work of teaching now complete, the master displayed his parinirvana at the sacred site of the river's source. At the moment of his passing, his physical body transformed into rainbow light and dissolved into space; the earth quaked, rainbow light filled the ten directions, and wondrous sounds pervaded the sky, manifesting every kind of auspicious sign of perfect accomplishment. At that time his foremost disciple, the master Mañjuśrīmitra, cried out in grief and lamentation; out of compassion the master extended his right arm forth from within the rainbow light and bestowed a small crystal casket, within which was held his final charge—the "Three Statements That Strike the Vital Point"—letting it fall into Mañjuśrīmitra's palm. These three statements are: "Directly introducing the face of awareness," "Deciding upon one thing alone," and "Gaining confidence in liberation." They gather the view, meditation, and conduct of Dzogchen within three lines, and so became the root framework of the heart-essence transmission for all later generations. The master Mañjuśrīmitra relied upon and served the master for seventy-five years, receiving his teachings in full, and afterward transmitted them onward to Śrī Siṃha, Jñānasūtra, Vimalamitra, and Guru Padmasambhava, in an unbroken succession continuing to this very day.