Sun, 22 Jun 2008
Monk to Dragon
During the Spring Retreat Khenpo Choephel taught on the sixth chapter of Gong Chik. The Gong Chik is a collection of sayings of Jigten Sumgon, the founder of the Drikung Kagyu school of Buddhism. I only caught part of Khenpo's teaching, but he told stories about two monks who were able to transform themselves into nagas. Unfortunately, they weren't able to transform themselves back. So kids, don't try this at home. In case you were wondering, a naga is a snake-like creature that lives in bodies of water, more or less equivalent to Chinese dragons. In Western esoteric terms, they would be water elementals.
a monk at one of the Karmapa's monasteries in Eastern Tibet was able to take the form of a naga without leaving this life. The first monk lived during the life of a previous Buddha, when the lifespan was 20,000 years. That Buddha was surrounded by a retinue of thousands of arhats and bodhisattvas, all practicing meditation. A naga was caught by a garuda and carried off into the sky. He saw the monks and nuns meditating and thought how peaceful they looked. A feeling of faith arose in him and he was reborn as the son of a brahmin. When he grew up he was ordained and achieved arhatship under that Buddha. As he had clairvoyance, he could recall the circumstances of his previous life. He went to the naga who were his parents during his previous life, taught them the dharma and explained how he had achieved his current birth as a result of his faith. They were delighted and asked him to return every day for food. The other monks asked him where he went every day for food and he told them. Another monk accompanied him when he went to visit his parents by holding onto the hem of his robe as he travelled by his psychic powers. The nagas made seats for both and offered nectar to the arhat, but ordinary food to the other monk as he could not digest the nectar. The monk thought the arhat was receiving better food than he and cursed the arhat. He vowed that he be reborn as a naga to replace the arhat who was receiving these offerings. He was able to accomplish this through the power of truth and instantaneously became a huge naga. Also through the power of his vow, the two other nagas contracted a disease. The two nagas requested the arhat to heal them. He upbraided the previous monk, saying he should not have done this. The monk felt regret, but he could not restore himself to his previous form.
The second story is about a student of Palden Lhamo who was in retreat. Instead of practicing meditation, he practiced transforming himself into a naga. The servant who brought him food saw him in this form, got scared, and told his teacher. The teacher visited him and criticized him for wasting his time in retreat. The naga became sad and cried, but remained in that form.
