Translation work by RYI students published
A team of RYI students
has just finished a translation of the history of the precious Boudha Stūpa and
it was published on the Lotsawa House website.
It is with great joy
that we announce that the full English translation of the History of the Jarung Kashor Stūpa,
otherwise known as the Boudhanath Stupa, is now available. Auspiciously, the
release of this translation coincides with the Tibetan Year of the Bird – the
same year in which, generations ago, the precious Jarung Kashor was first
completed and consecrated.
The story of this stupa
has been told in myriad ways, but one of the best loved and most authoritative
is the version first discovered by Khandro Lhatsün Ngönmo and later
rediscovered by Yolmowa Shakya Zangpo (15th century), on his
pilgrimage to Samye monastery in Tibet. Having deciphered the text, Shakya
Zangpo travelled to the Kathmandu valley in search of this unique and precious
stupa. Discovering upon arrival that it had been reduced to rubble, he
immediately commissioned its reconstruction and renovation.
The treasure text that
Shakya Zangpo retrieved from Samye is entitled Liberation Upon Hearing: The History of the Great
Jarung Kashor Stupa and it is one of the most treasured accounts of
the stupa’s history. It begins at the time of Samye’s completion, when Guru
Rinpoche is giving the empowerments of The
Guru’s Utterly Secret Heart Practice to the Tibetan King Trisong
Deutsen and his 25 foremost disciples. The king asks him to recount the full
story of how the Jarung Kashor stupa came to be. Guru Rinpoche accepts his
heartfelt request and relates the story, while Khandroma Yeshe Tsogyal serves
as scribe. From the mouth of the Lotus-Born Guru, the story then unfolds…
We learn of how a humble
poultry-woman first extracted a promise from the king and then built the stupa
together with her four sons...
We learn of how each was
reborn as prominent figures in the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet, including
Padmasambhava himself, who makes the following aspiration:
By
virtue of completing our mother’s stupa, out of you, my two elder brothers, one
will establish the Buddha’s teachings and the other will uphold them in the
borderland of ice and snow. When that happens, may I not be born from a womb
but be miraculously born upon the anthers of a lotus flower. I will cut the
cycle of birth and death and my lifespan will equal that of the sun and moon.
Having been born as one who can mightily tame gods, demons, and humans, may I
subdue all the malevolent spirits and demons in that very borderland and help
fulfil both of your wishes! May I be born as a powerful mantra master to
protect the entirety of the Buddha’s teachings!
We learn of the
inconceivable benefits to be gained from circumambulating the stupa and making
offerings before it...
And we finally receive a
series of prophecies concerning the stupa’s restoration, an event that took
place just recently, in the previous Year of the Fire Monkey...
* * *
To read this new English
translation of our beloved Boudhanath stupa’s history, with its full recounting
of the fantastic and essential events that led to the Dharma’s spread to Tibet,
please follow this link to Lotsawa House: http://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/ngakchang-shakya-zangpo/great-history-of-jarung-kashor-stupa
And if you are
interested to explore more texts on pilgrimage and sacred sites, check out: http://www.lotsawahouse.org/topics/pilgrimage/
Thank you,
With love,
Stefan Mang,
Studying at RYI in the
M.A. TTiP
Comments