When Tilopa returned to his kingdom to look
after his people he found his country in a state of crisis
and engaged in a war with another powerful state in India.
Because Tilopa was king, his subjects feared that they would
be unable to defeat their enemy as Tilopa seemed so small,
weak, and powerless. Tilopa made a public pronouncement in
which he told his people that they need not fear; he knew
of a way the enemy could be defeated without bloodshed.
Tilopa went out to defend his country. The army marching
against his kingdom was great in number and intent upon victory.
Alone, Tilopa approached the forest where the army was encamped.
When the soldiers saw him approach, they prepared to charge;
Tilopa instantly transformed all the trees in the forest into
soldiers ready to follow his command. When Tilopa ordered,
"Look at the enemy!" all the trees that were transformed into
soldiers gazed at the enemy. When Tilopa ordered, "Charge!"
they all ran toward the enemy. Since there were uncountable
trees, the trees were transformed into uncountable soldiers
whose numbers were so frightening that the enemy fled the
country without a battle. In this way, Tilopa's prediction
to his people, that he could defeat the enemy without bloodshed,
came to pass.
Next, Tilopa went to the northern part of the country to practice
the Dharma. There he obtained teachings from the dakinis and
went to meditate in a cave. After making a commitment to meditate
there for twelve years, he chained both his legs together
so he would not be able to come out of the cave. In this way
he meditated for twelve years.
After twelve years passed, the chains that were tied around
Tilopa's legs broke of themselves; he had achieved some realization
as a result of his diligent meditation but had not yet accomplished
the ultimate realization of Vajradhara. He wished to go out
and wander and lead the simple life of a siddha.
However, the dakinis were hesitant to let Tilopa leave his
cave and his practice. As it was not proper for him to disobey,
he thought he would try to influence them by demonstrating
his realization. He picked up a fish in his hand and transferred
its consciousness out of its body. The dakinis witnessing
this saw that he was a highly realized being and gave him
permission to wander as a simple siddha, just as he wished.
His goal was to travel to the eastern part of Bengal and find
When Tilopa was abiding in a certain cave, Nagarjuna sent
the dakini Matongha to give him teachings. When Matongha appeared,
Tilopa inquired about Nagarjuna and was told that Nagarjuna
was not in the human realm at that time but was giving teachings
in the god realm. Matongha also told Tilopa that Nagarjuna
knew Tilopa would be in this particular cave and had sent
her to give him teachings.
As Nagarjuna requested, Tilopa received teachings from Matongha.
During this time, Matongha noticed that because Tilopa had
been king and of royal caste, his mind possessed a strong
pride that hindered his progress, and she told him that his
arrogance must be removed. Tilopa was given instructions to
go to a certain village to seek out a woman there who was
a prostitute and to work for her. The woman worked during
the day making oil out of sesame seed and worked at night
as a prostitute. As he was instructed, he worked for the woman
during the day by pounding sesame seed, and during the night
by soliciting her customers. In this way Tilopa lived as the
One day as Tilopa was pounding sesame seeds in the village,
he realized ultimate buddhahood, the Vajradhara aspect of
enlightenment. As a sign of his achieving complete realization,
Tilopa levitated to the height of seven royal palm trees while
still holding a mortar and pestle in his hands and continuing
to grind sesame seeds. The news that Tilopa hovered in the
air at the height of seven royal palm trees quickly spread
through the village.
When the prostitute who employed Tilopa heard that someone
was levitating very high in the sky, she hastened to see who
it was. To her surprise she discovered that it was her employee
in the sky, and that he was still working for her, even as
he hovered, by continuing to grind sesame seeds with a mortar
and pestle. She felt ashamed to have given such work to a
highly realized being, and with great regret, she confessed
this to Tilopa and requested him to accept her as his student.
As she mentally made this request, Tilopa threw a flower down
to her from the sky. The flower hit her on the head, instantaneously
causing her to reach complete realization. She then levitated
to the same height as Tilopa.
So once again, the news went out and quickly spread among
a great number of people. When the news reached the king,
he went out himself to witness the blessed event along with
all his people. With everyone assembled below, Tilopa sang
a song of the Dharma, using the example of the sesame seed
in his teaching. In his song, Tilopa explained that although
a sesame seed contains oil, it cannot produce oil by itself;
without the hard work of grinding the seed, the oil cannot
be extracted. So although buddha nature is within every living
being, without the hard work of practicing the Dharma, there
is no way to realize our inherent buddha nature.
As Tilopa sang this song, the king and all his people immediately
understood his teaching and came to complete realization.
At the instant of their enlightenment, the village appeared
to be momentarily empty of all its inhabitants.
After that day, Tilopa became very famous. His great renown
came about not only because of his profound realization, but
also because, as he sang in many of his songs, he had no human
guru. This was to show that he had received his transmission
directly from the Vajradhara aspect of enlightenment.
This teaching on the Life of Tilopa
was given by Khenpo
Karthar Rinpoche at KTD, Woodstock, NY, March 25-30,
1986. It was translated by Chojor
Radha, and edited by Tina Armond.