The Venerated Mahasiddha Sri Naropa (vegetarian) and His Incredible Journey to Enlightenment, Part 2 of 2

Having overcome the 12 minor hardships to find His Master Tilopa (vegetarian), Naropa was finally able to meet the enlightened Master. He was initiated by His Master in a cave at Pashupatinath Temple, a Hindu shrine on the River Bagmati bank, where Mahasiddha Sri Tilopa transmitted to Him the unbroken lineage of the Vajrayana tradition. Naropa then received the four empowerments in Vajrayana Buddhism: the vase empowerment, the speech-secret empowerment, the wisdom-awareness empowerment, and the word empowerment.

Naropa stayed in the forest to practice with His Master, Mahasiddha Sri Tilopa (vegetarian). Through the next four hardships, devotedly following His Master’s instructions, Naropa suffered much, physically. He was burned, beaten, nearly drowned, and pierced with sharpened bamboo. Each time, Master Tilopa would tell Naropa it was no problem and heal His injured body.

The great Guru Tilopa further gave Mahasiddha Sri Naropa instructions about Mahamudra through a song known as “The Ganges Mahamudra.” Some of the stanzas are as follows: “Mahamudra cannot be taught, Naropa, But Your devotion to Your Teacher and the hardships You’ve met Have made You patient in suffering and also wise: Take this to heart, my worthy student.”

After spending 12 years with His great Master studying the Dharma and undergoing the 12 major hardships, Master Naropa’s ego and pride were entirely eliminated, and He achieved complete enlightenment.

During a lecture given in 1990 in Taiwan, also known as Formosa, our Most Beloved Supreme Master Ching Hai (vegan) explained: “However, because of the training by Tilopa, Naropa later became a very famous enlightened Master, and was very benevolent. Naropa treated His disciples very nicely afterwards. It’s also because of the training He had received that He was not burnt when later someone tried to burn Him. Understand? Somebody burned Him with fire, but He didn’t die.”

Mahasiddha Sri Naropa is known for collating “The Six Dharmas of Naropa,” a series of advanced Tibetan Buddhist tantric meditation practices meant to assist one in achieving Buddhahood more quickly. Naropa would pass on these ancient and sacred teachings to His foremost disciple, His Holiness Marpa Lotsawa (vegetarian), or Marpa the Translator, a venerated enlightened Master and founder of the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.