The Legend of the Great Stupa

Extracted from 'The Legend of the Great Stupa and The Life Story of the Lotus Born Guru'.

In an age gone by, countless years ago, the Bodhisattva Mahasattva, Lord Avalokiteshivara, vowed at the feet of his Guru, the Buddha Amitabha. He vowed that he will liberate all beings from the miseries of Samsara. Having delivered innumerable beings from sorrow with the thought that all beings had been released without exception, he climbed to the top of the Potala Palace. Looking over the six realms, he saw many beings still languishing in the lower worlds like flies on a refuse heap. He realized that it was not possible to deliver all beings from the sufferings of Samsara. He wept and wiping two teardrops from his eyes with his forefinger, he prayed that these two tears might assist beings of the future to overcome their sorrow.

As fulfillment of the prayer, the two teardrops were transformed into the two daughters of King Indra in the Heavens of the Thirty-three Gods. The daughters were Goddess Purna (Complete) and Goddess Apurna (Incomplete). Once, Apurna stole some flowers and hence violated the law of the Heavens. As punishment, she was banished into the human world, in the country of Nepal, the district of Maguta to a poultry man Ansu and his wife Purna. She was named the poultry woman Shamvara. Shamvara had affairs with four different men all of low caste and bore a son with each of them. The 1st son was born of a stableman, the 2nd of a swineherd, and the 3rd of a dog keeper and the 4th of a poultry man. She accumulated wealth from her business and brought her sons up well and raised them as educated householders.

Shamvara then thought since she was able to raise her sons as respectable householders from her wealth, and with her store of wealth now, all men should benefit from it. She then made a vow to build a Great Stupa, a receptacle for the Mind of all the Buddhas and a field of merits for all beings and a reliquary for the indestructible remains of the Tathagatas. She went on to seek permission from the king to build the Stupa. The king gave permission for her to build the Stupa. Thereafter, Shamvara and her four sons began the construction of the Great Stupa. They only had an ass and an ox to assist them. Resentment from the people of Nepal soon started to arise because a poor poultry woman had put them to shame with her superior achievement. They went to the king to try and stop the construction of the Great Stupa but they did not succeed. Others also tried to obstruct the progress of the construction, but were also unsuccessful. So the Great Stupa became known as "Jarungkhasor" which means "permission once given cannot be taken back". The construction went on for four years without interruption until the Stupa was completed up to its neck.

By this time, the poor poultry woman had discovered that she was dying. She called for her four sons and their servant. She related her wish of completing the Great Stupa as a field for the accumulation of merits by both mundane and supramundane beings. She ordered them to help her fulfill her only wish. She further instructed for the indestructible remains of the Tathagatas to be placed within the Stupa and for it to be consecrated in great honor and with reverence. Those were her last words. She attained Buddhahood through her generosity in constructing the Great Stupa and was called Damtshig Lhamo Pramoha. Her four sons continued the mission to complete the construction of the Great Stupa. They worked for three more years before the Great Stupa was fully completed.; seven years in all before the indestructible remains of the Tathagata Kashyapa (the Buddha of the previous age) was sealed in the central pillar within the Stupa.

After elaborate offerings, Bodhisattvas appeared throughout the skies in front of the Stupa. All of the Buddhas and Bodhisattavas of the ten directions surrounded by innumerable Arhats, the five lineages of Tathagatas, the Three Protecting Lords Manjushri, Avalokiteshvara, and Vajrapani, and the innumerable wrathful and peaceful deities beyond conception appeared, honouring the occasion with their most auspicious presence. The earth shook thrice, diffusing from the bodies of Tathagatas, the boundless light of divine wisdom eclipsed the sun and irradiated the night for five consecutive days.

When fantastic miracles were performed and wonderful sights were seen, the vast assembly of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas addressed the benefactors and devotees with one voice and said that through the pure mind which created the wish to construct this Great Stupa, the supreme receptacle of the Dharmakya which is inseparable from the Mind of all the Victorious Ones of the past, present and future, through this benefaction, whatever prayers offered will be granted in perfection.

Following which, the eldest son prayed for the icebound and barbarous kingdom to the north where mountains are snow-covered and the valleys are flooded, be prophesied that the floods will subside, and that the Doctrine of the Buddhas will be diffused throughout the land after the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshivara, Lord of the Universe, has come to train the inhabitants in the lore of the Tathagata Shakyamuni. Then, the second son prayed for when his brother was reborn as a king and protector in the icebound land of savages, and when the Precious Doctrine of the Buddhas was established, he be reborn as a bhikshu who will become a great Arhat in order to ordain spiritual aspirants as members of the Sangha. The third son prayed that he be reborn not from a woman's womb but from the pollen bed of a lotus, destroying the succession of life and death, and to live as long as the sun and moon subduing and training gods, demons, and men alike and subjugating all the vicious natives of that barbarous country and also be reborn as a tantric yogin, a Mantradhara, to guard the Buddha's Doctrine that his brothers will established and when people will follow through. The youngest son offered his prayer that when all three brothers have been reborn in the icebound land of savages, one to establish the Doctrine, one to keep it steadfast, and one to guard it, he be reborn as the minister who will coordinate their activities.

All the Buddhas of the ten directions and all the Bodhisattvas then dissolved in a single flash of light that varnished into the Great Stupa after the four sons had offered their prayers. Thereafter the Stupa becomes known throughout the world as the "Unity of Buddhas".

Just then, a bloodsucking insect settled on one of the son's neck and stung him, causing intolerable pain. This led him killing the insect, but with boundless compassion, he prayed that the insect be reborn as a prince practicing Dharma when he was reborn as a religious king. The ass that had carried building material to the Stupa overheard these payers and thought that he too should offer a prayer, however, lacking the capacity and nothing whatever arose as a prayer in his mind, he became angry and arose bad thoughts. He prayed that he be reborn as a minister with a malicious tongue that will render ineffective whatever actions the king performs when the eldest son is reborn as king. The servant of the four sons, understanding the ass's thoughts, offered his prayer that when the ass is reborn as a wicked minister, he will be reborn as a wise and religious minister to overcome and repulse the ass's deceitful machinations. The ox also wished to pray but found itself to be unable to. He too became angry and prayed that when the sons were reborn and have established the Doctrine, let him be reborn as the king's great grandson to suppress and destroy the Doctrine. A crow perched nearby created a perfect thought and prayed that when the ox was reborn; let it be reborn as a Great Bodhisattva who will assassinate that evil king.

In this way at this time, innumerable prayers were offered to benefit all beings, and all these boundless prayers were granted. Shamvara's eldest son was reborn as King Trisong Detsen, the second son was reborn as the Abbot and Bodhisattva Shantarakshita, the third son was reborn as a tantric yogin, the abbot of Orgyen, the Lotus-Born Guru and the youngest son was reborn as a religious minister Bami Trisher of Yarlung. The blood-sucking insect for which rebirth as a prince had been supplicated is the princess Padmasal. The misguided ass took rebirth as the evil Mashang Tromba. The servant reborn as a religious minister to subdue the heretical faction: Go Padma Gungsten. The deluded ox was reborn as an irreligious king who would suppress the Doctrine has the name of an ox Lang. The crow was reborn as the assassin of that wicked king, the prince Murug Tsanpo. But it was later that the ox's reincarnation suppressed the Buddha's Doctrine and after that the crow was reborn as the Bodhisattva Lhalung Palgi Dorje. And Palgi Dorhe killed the king.

The real perfection of this Great Stupa is indestructible and incorruptible. It is inseparable from the Dharmakaya of all the Buddhas. But the phenomenal structure of the Great Stupa is perishable. It is a transitory form in a changing world, and it may be partially damaged by the four elements. When this happens, the damage will be repaired by the incarnations the Lords of the Three Families - Manjushri, Avalokiteshvara and the Vajrapani and the Wrathful Bhrikutis and Tara Devi.

As the Kaliyuga progresses towards the final conflagration, the life expectancy of man will decrease to fifty years, the Doctrine of Shakyamuni will be subjected to degeneration, and these conditions will prevail, portending ruin. Instances whereby thieves will own the wealth and cattle, monks will become householders while priests and spiritual leaders will turn to robbery, there will be disorder become chaos and hence turning into panic that will rages like wildfire. Corrupt and selfish man will be leaders and many more. These are the portents of the destruction of the Great Stupa.

At the end of the era of degeneration, when the duration of man's life has shrunk to fifty years, there will be one hundred and one inauspicious omens. At the height of this darkness, Padma Gungtsan, the Lord of Go, will be reincarnated as Zangdok Palri. He will remove the defiling veils from the mind and clear all obstacles from the path. The Great Stupa will be restored according to this prophecy. All living creatures engaged in the restoration of the Great Stupa will be reborn with the body of a human-god, a pure vessel for the nectar of Dharma. After three reawakenings, Buddhahood will be attained in the Western Buddha field of Sukhavati: The Pure land of Supreme Bliss. Anyone who has placed trust, found joy in the nature of the Great Stupa, shown devotion and rejoices with the Bodhisattvas, after seven rebirths will sit as the head of the Vidyadharas in the Infinite Palace of Lotus Light of Palri. Whoever envisions the great restoration or hears its vibrations, imagines it, or feels it has all traces of unknowing action, the stains of sixty thousand great aeons of ignorance will be removed from the mind. All people engaged with the restoration, with or without understanding, trust or devotion received a part of their supreme realization and spiritual power. Arriving at the end of the human experience will live in the reality of the Vidyaharas at the feet of the Orgyen Rinpoche himself.

The Benefits of Offering and Prayers to the Wish-Fulfilling Gem

The Great Stupa can grant any supplication and fulfill every aspiration immediately and effortlessly, for it is the Wish-Fulfilling Gem. The benefits and favors received by any living creature whom with a pure heart prostrates before the Great Stupa, circumbulates it, and adores it are inconceivable and incalculable beyond expression of the Buddhas of the past, present and future, for these stones were laid in order to bring inconceivable joy to humanity. As this Great Stupa is the supreme receptacle of the Mind of the Buddhas of the past, present, and future, so it is the plane of adoration of both mundane and supramundane beings. Whatever supplications is made and whatever prayer is offered, all wishes will be granted to both men and gods, and even supreme realization and spiritual power may be obtained.

This Great Stupa, Jarungkhashor, the precious Wish-Fulfilling Gems, grants all manner of happiness:

• - Whoever offers prayers finds immediate fulfillment of wishes for both self and others.
• - Whoever offers flowers to the Great Stupa obtains ease and contentment, prosperity, and health.
• - Whoever offers incense achieves pure and ethical action.
• - Whoever offers lamps has the darkness of unknowing illuminated.
• - Whoever offers a mandala to the Great Stupa attains perfect merit and wisdom as fruit of both temporal and ultimate spiritual training.
• - Whoever offers the precious wheel to the Great Stupa turns the Wheel of Dharma.
• - Whoever gives a coat of whitewash to the Stupa acquires a fair and lustrous complexion, happiness, prosperity, and health, attaining predominance over men, gods and demons.
• - Whoever cleans dust and dirt from the Great Stupa attains a beautiful body and fine complexion.
• - Whoever repairs or restores the Great Stupa has the seed and root of unknowing eradicated.
• - Whoever makes a great vow becomes a knowledge holder of Mahamudra, the great seal.
• - Whoever protects this Great Stupa from damage is saved from the fear of an untimely death.
• - Whoever hears the vibration of the Great Stupa visualizes the nature of the Great Stupa is freed from madness, hysteria, and delirium and is reborn into the stream of concentration.

** Any being that maliciously damages this Great Stupa suffers in countless ways in this existence and successive lives. He or she shall suffer the excruciating agony of the Avici Hell, without possibility of escape or means of expiation.

Extracted from The Legend of the Great Stupa and The Life Story of the Lotus Born Guru.

 

Devotees responses on the World Peace Grand Prayer

There are a number of pieces by devotees who attended the events in Nepal already on the site:

Heartfelt congratulations to Rinpoche from the Vision Group

Our Wish Fulfilling Trip to Nepal - by Lizzie Woon

Pilgrimage in Nepal - by Amelia Choon

My Trip to Nepal - by Rendi

From Singapore with Love - by Michelle Chua

Gratitude to Rinpoche

Images from the World Peace Grand Prayer

There are a number of pages devoted to images from the Events on the site:

1st Anniversary Celebrations of Kirtipur Institute

Smoke Puja at Nagajana Hilltop

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