Shri Singha was a principal disciple and dharma-son of Manjushrimitra in the Dzogchen

Dzogchen

According to Tibetan Buddhism and Bön, Dzogchen is the natural, primordial state or natural condition of the mind, and a body of teachings and meditation practices aimed at realizing that condition. Dzogchen, or "Great Perfection", is a central teaching of the Nyingma school also practiced by...

 lineage.

Vajranatha (2007) contextualises Sri Singha in relation to the Nyingma

Nyingma

The Nyingma tradition is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism . "Nyingma" literally means "ancient," and is often referred to as Nga'gyur or the "old school" because it is founded on the first translations of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Tibetan, in the eighth century...

, Manjushrimitra, Tantra

Tantra

Tantra , anglicised tantricism or tantrism or tantram, is the name scholars give to an inter-religious spiritual movement that arose in medieval India, expressed in scriptures ....

, Brahman

Brahman

In Hinduism, Brahman is the one supreme, universal Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe. Brahman is sometimes referred to as the Absolute or Godhead which is the Divine Ground of all being...

, Garab Dorje

Garab Dorje

Garab Dorje was the semi-historical first human teacher of the Ati Yoga or Great Perfection teachings according to Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Prior to Prahevajra, the Nyingma hold that the Dzogchen teachings had been expounded only in celestial realms and the 'pure lands' of the Buddhas,...

, Uddiyana, Vimalamitra

Vimalamitra

Vimalamitra ), an 8th century Indian adept, is key to the history of Tibetan Buddhist Dzogchen practice. He lived equally in China, Oddiyana and Tibet, but was known as the "Sage of Kashmir". According to tradition, he was born in Western India and travelled to China to become a disciple of Shri...

, Samye

Samye

The Samye Monastery or Samye Gompa is the first Buddhist monastery built in Tibet, was most probably first constructed between 775 and 779 CE under the patronage of King Trisong Detsen of Tibet who sought to revitalize Buddhism, which had declined since its introduction by King Songtsen Gampo in...

 and Yogachara:

According to the Nyingmapa tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dzogchen masters Manjushrimitra and Shrisimha were already active in the Tantric milieu in India independently. However, Manushrimitra, a learned scholar of Brahman origin, was evidently an adherent of the Yogachara school before his becoming a disciple of the mysterious Prahevajra or Garab Dorje (dga'-rab rdo-rje) from the country of Uddiyana (Eastern Afghanistan). It should also be recalled that his disciple Shrisimha was said to have born and resided for sometime in China (more likely Chinese Central Asia, or, more precisely, Burma, as Chogyal Namkhai Norbu

Chogyal Namkhai Norbu

Chögyal Namkhai Norbu is a Dzogchen teacher who was born in Derge, Kham district on 8 December 1938. When he was two years old, Namkhai Norbu was recognized as the 'mindstream emanation', a tulku, of the great Dzogchen teacher, Adzom Drugpa , at five he was also recognized as a mindstream...

 told in a talk he had June 15, 2010) before coming to India. And that the latter's disciple Vimalamitra visited China (or Central Asia) before and after he came to Tibet and transmitted the Dzogchen teachings to his disciples at Samye Monastery.

Early life

Shri Singha was born in the Chinese city of Shokyam in Khotan

Khotan

Hotan , or Hetian , also spelled Khotan, is the seat of the Hotan Prefecture in Xinjiang, China. It was previously known in Chinese as 于窴/於窴 and to 19th-century European explorers as Ilchi....

 and first studied there with Chinese masters. Dharma Dictionary holds that Shri Singha studied for seven years with the Chinese Master Bhelakirti on the eastern side of Wu Tai Shan Mountain, from whom he learnt the Outer Tantras

Outer Tantras

The Outer Tantras are the second three divisions in the ninefold division of practice according to the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. This system divides the whole of the Buddhist path into three divisions of three and is in contrast to the division of the Sarma, or New Translation schools ...

 and the Inner Tantras

Inner Tantras

The Inner Tantras are the final three divisions in the ninefold division of practice according to the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. They comprise the Mahayoga, Anuyoga and Atiyoga...

. It should be mentioned here that the Dharma Fellowship (2009) drawing on the work of Lalou

Marcelle Lalou

Marcelle Lalou was a 20th-century French Tibetologist. Her major contribution to Tibetology was the cataloging of the entire Pelliot collection of Old Tibetan manuscripts from Dunhuang at the Bibliothèque Nationale...

 (1890–1967) considers the 'Five Peaked Mountain' which Kunsang (2006) and others have attributed to Mount Wutai differently to a mysterious 7th-century Himalayan country known as Suvarnadwipa (Sanskrit) and as Zhang-zhung in Tibet:

"The Five Peaks referred to in the life of Sri Simha is specifically said to have been in the country of Suvarnadwipa, which we know consisted of Western Tibet, in the region of Gu-ge. The Five Peak Mountain of Suvarnadwipa is in fact at the source of the river Gyanima, or Ganima, near the present day community of Gyanima Cakra. Fortunately we can locate the sacred mountain in question in the itinerary of the travels of Go-tseng-pa (c. 1240 AD), entitled rGyal.ba. rGod.ts'ang.pa. gNon.po. rDo-rje'i. rnam.thar.mt'ong. ba. don. ldan. nor.bu'i. phreng.ba., where he clearly describes passing by the Five Peaks of Suvarnadwipa in proximity to the sacred site of Tirthapuri. Tirthapuri is on the north side of the Sutlej to the west of Kailash and the sacred mountain referred to by Go-tsang-pa is on the south. Tirthapuri is therefore undoubtedly the location of the place where Sri Simha studied Tantra with the low-caste master Belakirti. What is more, Tirthapuri, where three great valleys converge, is well known as one of the 24 holy tantric sites of India."

Son of King 'Accomplisher' and his wife queen Nantakā, their son 'Splendid Lion' Prapata was disciple of Buddha-gupta, who was disciple of Deva-rāja, who was disciple of Mañjuśrī-bhadra, who was disciple of Dhahuna, who was disciple of Nagarjuna

Nagarjuna

Nāgārjuna was an important Buddhist teacher and philosopher. Along with his disciple Āryadeva, he is credited with founding the Mādhyamaka school of Mahāyāna Buddhism...

.

Achievements

brought the Secret Mantra teachings from beneath the Vajra Throne in Bodhgaya to the 'Tree of Enlightenment' in China, where he concealed them in a pillar of the 'Auspicious Ten Thousand Gates Temple'.

conferred the Eighteen Dzogchen Tantras (Tibetan: rdzogs chen rgyud bco brgyad) upon Padmasambhava

Padmasambhava

Padmasambhava ; Mongolian ловон Бадмажунай, lovon Badmajunai, , Means The Lotus-Born, was a sage guru from Oddiyāna who is said to have transmitted Vajrayana Buddhism to Bhutan and Tibet and neighbouring countries in the 8th century...

. The eighteen are The Penetrating Sound Tantra (Tibetan: sgra thal ‘gyur), to which was appended the Seventeen Tantas of Innermost Luminosity (Tibetan: yang gsang 'od gsal gyi rgyud bcu bdun).

Kunsang (2006: p.334) in rendering the instructions of Sri Singha to Padmasambhava

Padmasambhava

Padmasambhava ; Mongolian ловон Бадмажунай, lovon Badmajunai, , Means The Lotus-Born, was a sage guru from Oddiyāna who is said to have transmitted Vajrayana Buddhism to Bhutan and Tibet and neighbouring countries in the 8th century...

 mentions: 'phenomena' (Sanskrit: dharmas), 'development' (Tibetan: Kye-rim), completion (Tibetan: Dzog-rim) and Great Perfection, 'three realms' (Sanskrit: Triloka) and the 'six abodes' (Sanskrit: Bhavacakra

Bhavacakra

The bhavacakra is a symbolic representation of samsara found on the outside walls of Tibetan Buddhist temples and monasteries in the Indo-Tibet region...

) and Dharma

Dharma

Dharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...

, Samsara

Samsara

thumb|right|200px|Traditional Tibetan painting or [[Thanka]] showing the [[wheel of life]] and realms of saṃsāraSaṅsāra or Saṃsāra , , literally meaning "continuous flow", is the cycle of birth, life, death, rebirth or reincarnation within Hinduism, Buddhism, Bön, Jainism, Sikhism, and other...

, Nirvana

Nirvana

Nirvāṇa ; ) is a central concept in Indian religions. In sramanic thought, it is the state of being free from suffering. In Hindu philosophy, it is the union with the Supreme being through moksha...

 and sentient beings

Sentient beings (Buddhism)

Sentient beings is a technical term in Buddhist discourse. Broadly speaking, it denotes beings with consciousness or sentience or, in some contexts, life itself. Specifically, it denotes the presence of the five aggregates, or skandhas...

:

In general, all phenomena belonging to samsara and nirvana are, from the very beginning, spontaneously perfected as the essence of awakened mind. However, because of failing to realize and not knowing this to be just how it is, sentient beings circle among the three realms and continue to wander among the six abodes. In order to guide them, it is generally said that an inconceivable number of doorways to the Dharma belonging to the various vehicles have been taught, but these can all be contained within development, completion and the Great Perfection.

Kunsang (2006: p.334) in rendering the continued instructions of Sri Singha to Padmasambhava

Padmasambhava

Padmasambhava ; Mongolian ловон Бадмажунай, lovon Badmajunai, , Means The Lotus-Born, was a sage guru from Oddiyāna who is said to have transmitted Vajrayana Buddhism to Bhutan and Tibet and neighbouring countries in the 8th century...

 makes reference to nirmanakaya, sambhogakaya

Sambhogakaya

The Sambhogakāya is the second mode or aspect of the Trikaya. Sambhogakaya has also been translated as the "deity dimension", "body of bliss" or "astral body". Sambhogakaya refers to the luminous form of clear light the Buddhist practitioner attains upon the reaching the highest dimensions of...

 and dharmakaya

Dharmakaya

The Dharmakāya is a central idea in Mahayana Buddhism forming part of the Trikaya doctrine that was possibly first expounded in the Aṣṭasāhasrikā prajñā-pāramitā , composed in the 1st century BCE...

 and outlines:

...there are the three sections of the philosophical vehicles belonging to nirmanakaya, the three sections of Kriya and Yoga belonging to sam-bhogakaya, and the three aspects of development, completion and the Great Perfection belonging to dharmakaya. Among these, I shall explain to you the Ati Yoga of Instructions, distilling its quintessence, which is the Innermost Vajra Essence of the Unexcelled Fruition. So listen, Padmasambhava.

'Philosophical vehicles' (Tibetan: rgyu'i theg pa) in the abovementioned quotation denotes Theravada

Theravada

Theravada ; literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...

 and Mahayana

Mahayana

Mahāyāna is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice...

 as different from Vajrayana

Vajrayana

Vajrayāna Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayāna, Mantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Vehicle...

.

Shri Singha Monastic University

The Shri Singha Monastic University, founded by Gyalse Shenpen Thaye, is a Nyingmapa university in in Eastern Tibet. In the tradition, it is held that a manifestation of Sri Singha marked the spot for the location of the university, hence its name. Do Khyentse Yeshe Dorje consecrated the site laying the 'foundation stone' with his phurba

Phurba

The kīla is a three-sided peg, stake, knife, or nail like ritual implement traditionally associated with Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Bön, and Indian Vedic traditions. The kīla is associated with the meditational deity The kīla (Sanskrit Devanagari: कील; IAST: kīla; , pronunciation between pur-ba and...

. The original University was destroyed by the Chinese in the "destruction which took place throughout Tibet and China beginning in the late 1950s". The University began to be restored in 1980; the process continues today.

External links

• Early treasure masters of the Great Perfection
• Shri Singha at RangjungYesheWiki