In dream interpretation as per the dreaming symbols suggested by Théun Mares, with which I largely concur, two can be seen as a symbol of destiny and indication of something either yet to come or in some cases something gone before. {This last comment about before is by way of a new found idea.}

Dragons are mythical beasts and are symbols of power in the universal sense or of magic. Here power is the flow of the universe its intent perhaps. It is big universal and significant.

Babies are the symbol for a new and powerful change in awareness. In this case I both see and am the babies of which there are two.

Lingpa has significance contextually in Tibet.

Gold is the symbol for the Nagal or spirit. Here is the sense of universal Nagal and well perhaps the nagal beings

Vajra dragons

“In Buddhism, the vajra or dorje is the symbol of the Vajrayana, one of the three major schools of Buddhism and most identified with Tibetan Buddhism. Vajrayana is translated as “Thunderbolt Way” or “Diamond Way” and can imply the thunderbolt experience of Buddhist enlightenment or bodhi. It also implies indestructibility, just as diamonds are harder than other gemstones.”

In the Toltec context these dreams are of portent, power and impact. I cannot un-have these dreams. What is unusual is the cross-over of subject with Tibetan or Vajrayana Buddhism. In this life I have only briefly crossed paths with this on the nirmanakaya level. Having had a Guru Rinpoche empowerment. Given its public nature it would have been Guru Rinpoche 101. I have however been chanting Vajrayana mantra sometimes in deep voice on and off for more than a decade. In principle for the uninitiated this would have been foolhardy.

I have approached with respect and caution.

The restless dragons of the dream are perhaps high technology entrepreneurship and Vajrayana Buddhism.

Dragon Lore is Toltec

Druk is Tibetan / Bhutanese.

There are numerous Tibetan themed dreams. There are others with books, letters and magical writing. I have long wondered on the notional similarity of Tibetan gterma or terma and Toltec time capsules.

Somehow the two streams are “coming together”

If you view these dreams taken together they seem to carry more weight.

In isolation it is easy to say, “it was just a dream”. As a dated grouping it is harder to write off..

At the moment we live a socially isolated life. I am out of contact and not easily contactable. The chances of banging in to someone by chance are very slim.

I’ll speculate that the level or detail in my dream recall surpasses that of most others.

It remains to be seen if anything materialises or simply stays in the dream…

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Two Golden Dragons – 29-12-2025

The dream starts with me in an indeterminate space where I am inquiring of a disembodied voice. I ask for advice on why I am having trouble sleeping. It says, “It is because of the dragons, the twin dragons you have inside of you, the restless dragons. They keep stirring.” I note what the voice is saying.

Then in full visual field I can see two spectacular highly ornate golden dragons, “Chinese” in character. Theye are Li dragons with no discernible legs, serpentine in appearance with fearsome heads. I know that these are Mu {moo phonetically} dragons. They are my dragons, in me. I remember “collecting” the first Chinese dragon two decades ago. These dragons “swim” inside me. They are a part of me. They are also Vajra dragons.

{I understand Li to be fire in the dream but note that it might refer to the longer word Loong on waking.}

The image of the dragons persists for a very long time on and off. They swirl. They face each other.

They then chase each other head to tail in an animated ying yang. They present over and over, in various shades of iridescent gold. They are present on the orange-yellow and red flag of Bhutan. They are druk and dragon, dragon druk. They are most definitely oriental and not western dragons. I feel them writhe in me like the opening sequence to “The Crying Freeman” film. Despite my real world handicap, I feel lithe, flexible and able. The dragons are on my skin and under it, in me. I am dragon like able.

I see the double Vajra dragons of Bhutan..

I can see people in a Himalayan street with long golden dragon “puppets” held aloft on sticks dancing through the streets in procession. The puppet dragons are blowing in the wind and harsh Tibetan style horns are playing. There is celebration. They are making the druk, the dragons dance. It is a dragon dance, festival.

The image of golden two dragons head chasing tail disembodied in space against a cloudy thunder sky replays, over and over. I see dragons against a summer sky. I see dragons against the stars in the firmament. These are the two golden dragons, nimble and fluid.

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Two Babies – Lingpa – Dream Snippet – 15-01-2026

He is looking down onto a roughly hewn crib in which are two babies swaddled in cloth and wrapped tightly up like an envelope. Their heads are also tightly wrapped. They have ruddy cheeks and dark eyes. The woman says to the man, “here are the babies, the twins”. I can see the man from the cot and the babies from the man.

He says that they are Lingpa, ling-pa. That he will take one to the monastery and one to be raised normally. I know in the dream as a baby that he is talking about me-us. I know that the dream is ago. I know that even if we are separated we are two sides of the same. We are connected intimately.

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The Future of the Dragon Dream 26-08-2025

Here is this morning’s dream had between 5 and 7 AM. It was sufficiently realistic that I just opened my email expectantly.

The dream opens with me sat on a sofa with a coffee on a glass coffee table in front. The furniture is ratan in build and the room tropical themed. There are batik hangings and a golden Thai style top-knot haired Buddha figurine. The walls are white washed and stone and there is a feel of castle and perhaps Scotland. I am somehow at home in these settings. I go over to a large dark wooden desk with a green “club” leather chair. I boot up the computer. In an email account I rarely use I scan the list of emails. One email stands out from the bunch. It has the subject line, “The Future of the Dragon”. I do not know the sender’s address.

I pause for a moment and then open the email sceptical of spam / phishing. The email opens without problem and it is addressed to me. The person would like to meet up to discuss the future of the dragon. I look to the bottom of the mail for a signature. The address is arranged in the form of a Thai Wat temple and originated from a dojo in the Malay-Singapore-Thai region with a Singapore head office. It has ‘phone numbers, email address and an Instagram account. The protagonist is called Cheng. I am unsure how to respond or when to respond. I look at the Instagram account and see a picture of a young Asian male in his mid-twenties. He is pictured in karate-gi with his pals. There are other pictures of him in the dojo, in nature and it all looks fine and above board. I note his appearance. He has at least a part Chinese to him. I resolve to wait a little before replying.

Next, I am driving South down Regents Street in London, near Hamleys. I am in my white Jeep style SUV. It is around Christmas time because the lights are on. Coming in the opposite direction, North, there is a stream of traffic which comes to a halt in front of me. A young man gets out and walks past me to see what is going on. It is Cheng. I call out his name. He stops and turns looking surprised. I say that he emailed me and that I recognised him from the photos. I say to remind him, “The future of the dragon.” It suddenly clicks. I gesture for him to get into my car which he does. I do a U-turn and gesture for his friends to follow me in their open top Jeep-Moke.

We drive off into one of the large semi-circles of grand housing next to a park. There is a pub nearby. I say that we should talk. He has suddenly gone all shy. I ask him if a beer would help. Yes, perhaps. We make our way to the pub and are soon joined by his friends which include his tiny sister. Chris turns up and I suggest that he gets us all a drink which he does.

I ask Cheng as an icebreaker about the style of karate he was training in and offer him my shoulder to punch. I ask was it non-contact and play punch him in the head or was it full contact. He says that is was a little heard of martial art specific to region but that is not what the dragon is about. He knows that I know this. I see through my contact with him a small wizened Asian man who is tiny and dressed in a Chinese “Tai Chi” outfit. He is Malay, Burmese or Singaporean. I understand him to be a master and that Cheng is by way of his contact. I have never met the master before but he is somehow familiar. I can feel him now as I type. I can recognise him.

Cheng’s sister calls her mother back home and explains that he has found me.

The dream ends.

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Dreaming Courses Dream – 14-08-2025

Here is this morning’s dream had between 4 and 6 AM. Again another one seemingly out of the blue.

The dream starts in a faculty office. Behind a large desk is a woman in her 40/50s. She is powerful and dressed in an expensive skirt and jacket suit with a royal blue shirt. She exudes wealth and she is very accustomed to getting her own way, obeyed even. She tells me that the faculty have agreed to my proposals for a course on dreaming and that I may go ahead with these courses on an experimental basis. She needs to be kept in the loop of developments. She thinks that I am fearful and subordinate to her. When I simply very relaxed and fluid. I know that she has other agendas which she is trying to forward and that there are politics going on behind the scene. She hands me a book of mounted photos like a book of material swatches used in fashion or decorating design. The book of “swatches” has covers and I cannot see the contents. She intimates that she wants these included in the courses.

Her office leads out onto a full or partial quadrangle with a covered ambulatory or walk way. It has a light reddish-brown brick. There are cobbles in the quad. It feels a little like Greenwich but also has a sense of Berkley CAL. There is a history and the word meridian is to mind. On the side wall of the ambulatory there is a small wooden display case with a lockable glass front. In this cabinet I will display course synopsis for the passing footfall of students.

I go into an open room with whitewashed walls and a dark red stone or painted concrete floor. I am met there by a younger woman who has been assigned as to help me and, to keep an eye on me. She asks me why I think that there are no definitive books on dream content. I say that by their very nature dreams are nebulous and not well suited to reductionist quasi-logical methods. Dreaming is dreaming and it has to be approached via dreaming and not structure. Sense-making can hinder dreaming significantly.

I open the book of swatches to show to her. Inside it are photos of some kind of Tibetan centre, out in the country. There are images of coloured prayer flags blowing in the wind. One of small stupa only a few metres high. There are western white participants and a very few Tibetans dressed monastically. I know the word Drukpa is associated. It is clear that a part of the agenda from the powerful woman relates to Tibetan dream practices. There is more agenda.

The young woman has a notion that in dreaming cultures there is always a myth and a mythos. That these grow up around the dreams and the reporting thereof. As a part or her research she would like to see if we can seed a myth and a mythos into those participating in the dreaming. Rather than that being an ancient hagiography she wants to seed an artificial mythos and see where it goes. She ushers me over to the back of the room where there is a museum style display case with a sloping horizontal glass covered display. Under this are full depth “admiralty” drawers containing specimens. She pulls out one draw and there packed in cotton wool nests are several rock specimens. She selects a grey and black speckled “agate” egg. The black is dark like obsidian

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She says that this will or could be the dream egg around which we start to create a dream mythos or myth. She is excited and I say that I am happy to explore this avenue but that it needs fleshed out. We can use the egg for the birth of the course, metaphorically.

The power woman, the principle, from before knocks and enters the room. She is wearing high heels which have been tricky on the cobbles. I show her two pages of A4 text which will serve as a flier for the course. This text will go into the cabinet. She asks what the syllabus will be and I say that the syllabus will be decided to a large extent by the attendees and mostly by dreams. She looks sceptical.

I usher her over to a tarpaulin. On which are several plants in black plastic pots tied to short bamboo supports. I say that these are going to go into the green house and that these will comment upon and be a part of the course. I ask if she would like to help us plant them. Yes. We load half the plants onto a flatbed trolley and head out of the quad-building to the university allotment where our greenhouse is. Together we all plant the plants. The principle comments that she found it very enjoyable and that it is the first time for a very long while that she has had dirt under her nails.

We go back to the quad room. The principle asks about a web presence or page. At her prompt I know that I have to send someone a link to the dream yoga blog as it currently stands. I will do this after I have written up and posted this dream.

The dream ends and I note with some surprise on my way back from the bathroom that its exactly 6:00 AM…

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Dragon Lore Dream 23-11-2024

This is a short but very intense dream from ~ 4 AM

I am with MF whom I knew as an undergraduate. We are sat in the front room of a British house in which I am living temporarily. He is sat on leather bound armchair. We have invited him over for dinner. We have eaten and are relaxing in front of an open fire.

I am lying on my stomach on the floor. My legs are bent at the knee and moving freely. I am reading my beat-up copy of “The Mists of Dragon Lore”. I can see the well-thumbed yellowed pages. I turn to the back of the book. Inside the hard cover is attached a vellum high quality cream envelope, the flap of which is sealed down with a fine bright red braided fabric. I slowly unwind the fabric and open the flap of the envelope.

With utmost care I pull out a card like piece of paper which is like artist’s paper. Embossed into the paper is an exquisitely drawn oriental dragon. It is in jet black ink and is something to behold. Next to it in fine black calligraphy is written in Kanji is “the famed black dragon”. I show the dragon to M he admires it and thinks it odd that such a print is stored in such a tatty old book.

In the dream I note that this is the very first black dragon I have encountered. I have seen many other colours.

With greatest care I return the artwork to its envelope and retie the seal.

The scene changes and I am now with M in a freight railway carriage. The carriage is empty of goods. M turns to me and says that the mullahs are talking about the coming of a new buddha. I ask if he is referring to the Islamic mullahs. Yes. I say that I know a little bit about Buddhism.

M gets out a prayer mat and places it in one corner of the carriage. He sits on it. Two young white boys, young teenagers, follow suit sitting next to him. Without a prayer mat, I sit next to the youngest boy. I put my hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

The scene changes again and I am no longer in the carriage nor bound by the rails. I can go wherever I want.

Dream ends.

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Tibetan Buddhist Search Committee Dream 29-04-23.

This dream was so out of the blue, unexpected.

The dream starts in the UK in England. I am hosting a personal development course in a country house with a large events room. We are sat in plenary in U-shape around the side of the high ceiling dance hall. It is ornate but now carpeted. A smartly dressed tall woman with a feint American accent and long blonde hair is speaking on a slightly raised wooden dais. She is using a long wooden pointer to point at a presentation she is making, which is running on a white screen.

It is time for a break before the final closing remarks and conference wrap up.

Everyone gets up for refreshments which are served in the antechamber. I walk through this into the back of the house which turns into a smaller building. This is where I have been living in the UK countryside. There is a wooden shed and outbuildings. I am checking on the content of these as we will be moving soon. Someone has started moving the items of furniture. I say to a woman there that she ought to have known better not to disturb my system. There is a symmetry to how I have fitted things in the shed. They only go in one way and must come out the reverse way. The passage to the shed is narrow and there is only one way to do this. I am slightly angry and the people are sheepish.

I return to the conference and it is over. Everyone has left, they are all people from my past in one sense. I have missed my chance to do the summing up and to thank the speaker. They have mostly left in embarrassment. The sense of embarrassment is strong and clear.

The speaker is now playing a video recording of semi-rural Tibet. The camera is running through the streets and I can see a large white and brown temple up on the hill. There are prayer flags and modern Tibetan people together with some more rustic “peasants”. I look at the woman and she has changed into an embroidered gold and red jacket over her novice nun robes. He hair is now short. I ask her about the video she says that it is of her people and that she has been working for them in making my acquaintance.

At this point a small party of people enter the room. They are all dressed in ceremonial Tibetan robes. These are very opulent. The embroidery is yellow, red, magenta, and saffron. It is ornate and slightly garish. There is a scent of incense accompanying them They are headed by a monk/abbot who is old and his right hand man who has jet black hair. In the entourage there is a western woman with a round yellow-red embroidered cap over her bald head. I recognise her as someone whom I have met in this lifetime. I go up to her and say, “I know you”. She winks, smiles and says that yes, I do and that she had been sent to observe me. Amongst them is a tall athletic Tibetan man who moves with grace, poise and style. I point my finger into his chest. I say to him, “you are warrior and fighter.” He laughs and says yes. We can spar later using traditional Tibetan weapons to see what I remember.

Now into the back of the room furniture is being carried in by hand. I know it to be of a ceremonial nature and this has been carried from afar. My eyes are drawn to a very ornate chest with meticulous cabinet work. It is made in the shape of a Welsh dresser with an upper cupboard. The wood is highly polished, perhaps walnut. The detail of the closures is in gold. It is a treasure and contained within it are relics. Although not visible to the naked eye, inscribed into the wood in “magic” lettering are some words in Tibetan script. The calligraphy is excellent and the downward strokes of the letters are longer and more artistic than is customary. They have been inscribed with flourish. There is a sense that the intense black calligraphy has been “burned” into the wood over the centuries and that only certain people can see it.

The carpet on the floor of the hall has been rolled back to reveal a parquet dance floor of some considerable sheen. Amongst the entourage I can hear gossiping. “It cannot be him; he is too coarse thickset and muscular.”

I hear this and whip off my shirt to reveal my muscular bare chest. I say that I will cooperate with whatever it is they must do. Take a look if you must. I am now wearing saffron yellow trousers, training pants, that are “elasticated” at the ankles. I start to do a forward splits on the floor to warm up. I say that given I am nearly sixty I am surprised that being that old I can still do that.

One of the woman in the entourage says to me that I am much older than that both in this lifetime and stretching way back. I am nearly 73 she says. I do the mental calculation that I must have been “born” in the early 1950s. She says, “we tried to wake you five years ago”. You have been “asleep” and we have been waiting.

I briefly wake up and then drift off.

I am at an oriental Temple scene with ponds and in an immaculate garden. At first pass I think Chinese and then know Japanese. There are people there with round black ceremonial hats and flowing Japanese robes. I am poured into the pond as very large and bright, shiny goldfish. I swim in the Temple ponds and in the dream, I know that my second Buddhist life was Japanese. These ponds are my home, where I swim.

I the return to the hall in the previous part of the dream and the warrior comes into the room carrying some odd looking Tibetan martial arts weapons. Which I recognise. Some of the monks are now seated and are reciting mantra whilst thumbing through their prayer beads.

I have a very strong visual image of two yellow-hat Tibetan monks in full colour sat on a rock up in the mountains playing their long Tibetan alpine horns. That image and the sound persists even now. I can “hear” the horns inside my mind. They are precursors to a ritual, setting the scene.

I get up and greet the cat. I take my medication and put the coffee on. I sit down and start typing.

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Tibetan Monk – Soil – Dragon Lore Dream 31-3-23

Sat next to me on my right at my table is a Tibetan Buddhist monk. He is a little younger than me and has very short cut jet black hair. The blackness is very jet. He is sun tanned and serious. He is concentrating on the lesson. He does not have any headgear. Next to him is a small rucksack which is blue-grey in colour and stands out against the colour of his robes.

The lesson draws to a close and the pupils start to leave.

He taps me on the shoulder and asks me to please wait as he has something for me. He puts his rucksack on the table in front of us. He gets out a smallish clear plastic bag and a tie for it. He lays it on the table. Then gingerly he gets out a bigger thicker plastic bag containing dry dusty soil. He handles it with care.

He asks me to hold the small plastic bag open. Which I do. He then unties a ribbon which is holding the other bag closed. He lifts the bag and pours a couple of teacups full of sand/soil into the smaller bag which I am holding. In doing so he spills a few grains of soil. He sweeps these up into his hand and adds them to my bag with utmost care. He closes the big bag with the ribbon and puts the bag tie on my bag.

He says that the bag contains Tibetan soil from a special place and that he has given it to me for my keeping. He says that this is my piece of Tibet and it is for me to look after it henceforth. I am by way of a custodian. He takes out a small cloth bag and gestures for me to put the plastic bag into it. Once I have done this, he seals the cloth bag with a ribbon and hands it back to me. I thank him and he thanks me. He utters something which I know to be a blessing in Tibetan, he bows his head. Together we exit the classroom. When we reach the corridor, we go our separate ways. I am holding the bag of soil in both hands.

Much later I am in another place. I am attending a Mind, Body, and Spirit event in a large hall. There are “hippie” stalls everywhere selling “wellness” merchandise, courses on various things, different societies, trinkets and with live demonstrations of various arts. At the back of the hall, I notice some tables selling books on spiritual and esoteric themes. I go over to peruse.

On one stall there are two younger people sat with a Tibetan Buddhist monk. He too is fairly young about 30. I can see various Buddhist texts including the Dhammapada and various Tibetan works translated into English. On top of one of the Buddhist books is “The Mists of Dragon Lore”. It looks incongruous on the pile. But I know that it has been specifically placed there as a kind of “bait” intended to attract my attention. I know in the dream that the Tibetans have been and are looking / searching for me. They wish to discuss amongst other things how Toltec cosmology compares with their own. I go over to the stall and gesture to the book on Dragon Lore. This piques the attention of the monk who comes over to see what is going on.

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Four Dragons – Wheel of Fortune – Dream 30-08-2016

Here is this morning’s dream, a birth-day dream…

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I am looking at an antique wooden wheel of fortune against a background wall. The wheel has stopped and it has a pointer facing East. At the four cardinal directions are arranged four dragons. They are small and intricate and somehow alive. Their nature is consistent with their name. The pointer faces the Fire dragon. In the dream I know that the dragons going N,E,S,W should be Earth, Wood, Water, Fire. Yet somehow the wheel has stopped with the Fire dragon in the East. I reach out and pluck the Fire dragon off the wall / wheel.. I put the dragon in my pocket.

“You may use the Fire dragon now. Although you were born a Wood dragon and your predilection is for the Water dragon, you may use the Fire dragon now. You own all the dragons…and can use them at will.”

Implicit is that the Blue Dragon, the Red Dragon and the Golden Dragon are also “mine” and available to me.

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Some Texts Attributed to Karma Lingpa

January 15, 2026January 15, 2026 ~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

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Excerpted from Bardo Thödol

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“As elsewhere noted, our manuscript is arranged as one work in two parts or books, with thirteen folios of texts of Bardo prayers as an appendix at the end. The Block—Print is arranged as two distinct books and lacks the appendix of prayers. But at the end of the first book of the Block—Print there comes a very important account of the origin of the Bardo Thödol, which is not contained in our manuscript, and this is given in translation in the following Section.

XIV. THE ORIGIN OF THE BARDO THÖDOL

Thus, from the Block—Print, and also from other Tibetan sources, we learn that the Bardo Thödol text originated, or, what is perhaps more correct, was first committed to writing in the time of Padma Sambhava, in the eighth century A. D.; was subsequently hidden away, and then, when the time came for it to be given to the world, was brought to light by Rigzin Karma Ling—pa. The Block—Print account is as follows:

‘This has been brought from the Hill of Gampodar (Tib. Gatnpo—dar), on the bank of the Serdan (Tib. Gser—ldan, meaning ‘Possessing Gold’ or ‘Golden’) River, by Rigzin Karma Ling—pa (Tib. Rigs—hdzin Kar—ma Gling—pa).

Rigzin, as herein given, is a personal title, and Karma Ling—pa the name of a place in Tibet meaning ‘Karma Land’. The translator has pointed out that Rigs is an erroneous spelling of Rig; for, if Rigs were correct, the name Rigzin would mean (Rigs + hZin). That Rig is intended—thus making the name mean Knowledge—Holder (Rig+ hdzin), a caste or class designation—was confirmed by a small section of a Bardo Thödol manuscript in the possession of the translator, in which Rigzin Karma Ling—pa is otherwise called Tertön (Tib. Gter—bston) , or ‘Taker—Out of Treasures’. The Bardo Thödol is, therefore, one of the Tibetan Lost Books recovered by Rigzin of Karma Ling—pa, who is held to be an emanation or incarnation of Padma Sambhava, the Founder of Lāmaism.

It was in the eighth century A. D. that Lāmaism, which we may define as Tantric Buddhism, took firm root in Tibet. A century earlier, under the first king to rule over a united Tibet, King Srong—Tsan—Gampo (who died in A.D. 650), Buddhism itself entered Tibet from two sources: from Nepal, the land of the Buddha’s ancestors, through the Tibetan King’s marriage with a daughter of the royal family of Nepal; and from China, through his marriage—in the year 641— with a princess of the Chinese Imperial Family. The King had been nurtured in the old Bön faith of Tibet, which, with its primitive doctrine of rebirth, was quite capable of serving as an approach to Buddhism ; and under the influence of his two Buddhist wives he accepted Buddhism, making it the state religion; but it made little headway in Tibet until a century later, when his powerful successor, ThI—Srong—Detsan, held the throne from A.D. 740 to 786. It was Thl—Srong—Detsan who invited Padma Sambhava (Tib. Pednia Jungue, i.e.’ The Lotus—Born’), better known to the Tibetans as Guru Rin—po—che, ‘The Precious Guru ’ to come to Tibet. The famous Guru was at that time a Professor of Yoga in the great Buddhist University of Nālanda, India, and far—famed for expert knowledge of the Occult Sciences. He was a native of Udyāna or Swat, in what is now a part of Afghanistan.

The Great Guru saw the wonderful opportunity which the King’s invitation offered, and promptly accepted the call, passing through Nepal and arriving at Saniye (Sam—yas) Tibet, in the year 747. It was to Samye that the King had invited him, in order to have exorcized the demons of the locality; for as soon as the walls of a monastery which the King was having erected there were raised they were overthrown by local earthquakes, which the demons opposing Buddhism were believed to have caused. When the Great Guru had driven out the demons, all the local earthquakes ceased, much to the wonder of the people; and he himself supervised the completion of the royal monastery, and established therein the first community of Tibetan Buddhist lāmas, in the year .749.

During his sojourn in Tibet at that time, and during subsequent visits, Padma Sambhava had many Tantric books translated into Tibetan out of Indian Sanskrit originals— some of which have been preserved in the monasteries of Tibet—and hidden away with appropriate mystic ceremonies in various secret places. He also endowed certain of his disciples with the yogic power of reincarnating at the proper time, as determined by astrology, in order to take them out, along with the treasures hidden away with them and the requisites needed for properly performing the rites described in the texts. This is the generally accepted tradition; but according to another tradition the Tertons are to be regarded as various incarnations of the Great Guru. According to a rough estimate, the religious texts already taken out by such Tertons, from century to century, would form an encyclopaedia of about sixty—five volumes of block—prints, each, on an average, consisting of about four hundred ordinary—sized folios

Our text, the Bardo Thödol being one of these recovered apocryphal books, should, therefore, be regarded as having been compiled (for the internal evidence suggests that it was a Tibetan compilation rather than a direct translation from some unknown Sanskrit original) during the first centuries of Lāmaism, either—as it purports to have been—in the time of Padma Sambhava or soon afterwards. Its present general use all over Tibet as a funeral ritual and its acceptance by the different sects, in varying versions, could not have been the outcome of a few generations; it testifies rather convincingly to its antiquity, bears out the pre—Buddhistic and at least partially Bön origin which we attribute to it, and suggests some validity in the claims made for the Tertöns.

We are well aware of the adverse criticisms passed by European critics on the Tertön tradition. There is not lacking, nevertheless, sound reason for suspecting that the European critics are not altogether right. Therefore, it seems to us that the only sound attitude to assume towards the problem is to keep an open mind until sufficient data accumulate to pronounce judgement. Though the Tertön claim be proven false, the fact that the Bardo Thödol is now accepted as a sacred book in Tibet and has for some considerable time been used by the lāmas for reading over the dead would, of course, not be affected; only the theory concerning the textual compilation of what, in its essentials, is apparently a prehistoric ritual would be subject to revision.

As for Padma Sambhava’s own sources, apart from such congenial traditional teachings as no doubt he incorporated in some of his Tibetan treatises, we are told, by oral tradition now current among the lāmas, that he had eight gurus in India, each representing one of the eight chief Tantric doctrines.

In a Tibetan block—print, which belonged to the translator, purporting to record the history, but much mixed with myth, of the Great Guru entitled Orgyan—Padmas—mzad—paJti—bkah—thang—bsdüd—pa (pronounced Ugyan Padtnay—zad—pai—ba—thang—du—pa) , meaning’ The Abridged Testament made by Ugyan Padma’ (or ‘by the Lotus-Born Ugyan’—Padma Sambhava), consisting of but seventeen folios, there is recorded on the twelfth folio, sixteenth section, the following passage, confirming the historical tradition touching the origin of the Bardo Thödol text:

Behold! the Sixteenth Section, showing the Eight Ling—pas, the Leaders of Religion, is thus:

‘The Eight Incarnations of the Great Bodhisattvas are:

Ugyan—ling—pa, in the centre;

Dorje—ling—pa, in the east;

Rinchen—ling—pa, in the south;

Padma—ling—pa, in the west;

Karma—ling—pa, in the north;

Samten—ling—pa

And Nyinda—ling,

And Shig—po—ling (or Terdag—ling).

These Eight Great Tertöns shall come; ‘Mine own incarnations alone are they.’

Padma Sambhava himself is herein represented as declaring that the Tertöns , or “Takers—out’” of the hidden books, are to be his own incarnations. According to this account, the Tertön of our own book, the Bardo Thödol , is the fifth, named after the place called Karma Land, thus confirming the Block—Print of the Bardo Th’ódol* and Karma Land is in the northern quarter of Tibet. We have been unable to ascertain the exact time in which this Tertön lived, although he is a popular figure in the traditional history of Tibet. The name Rigzin, given to him in the Block Print first above quoted, meaning ‘Knowledge—Holder’, refers to his character as a religious devotee or lāma; Karma ling—pa, as given in both accounts, refers also to an ancient Tibetan monastery of primitive Lāmaism in the Kams Province, northern Tibet.

According to our view, the best attitude to take touching the uncertain history and origin of the Bardo Thödol is that of a critical truth—seeker who recognizes the anthropological significance of the passing of time, and of the almost inevitable reshaping of ancient teachings handed down at first orally and then, after having crystallized, being recorded in writing. As in the case of the Egyptian Bardo Thödol, popularly known as ‘The Egyptian Book of the Dead’, so in ‘The Tibetan Book of the Dead’, there is, no doubt, the record of the belief of innumerable generations in a state of existence after death. No one scribe could have been its author and no one generation its creator; its history as a book, if completely known, could only be the history of its compilation and recording; and the question, Whether this compilation and recording were done within comparatively recent times, or in the time of Padma Sambhava or earlier? could not fundamentally affect the ancient teachings upon which it is based.

Although it is remarkably scientific in its essentials, there is no need to consider it as being accurate in all its details; for, undoubtedly, considerable corruption has crept into the text. In its broad outlines, however, it seems to convey a sublime truth, heretofore veiled to many students of religion, a philosophy as subtle as that of Plato, and a psychical science far in advance of that, still in its infancy, which forms the study of the Society for Psychical Research. And, as such, it deserves the serious attention of the Western World, now awakening to a New Age, freed, in large measure, from the incrustations of medievalism, and eager to garner wisdom from all the Sacred Books of mankind, be they of one Faith or of another.”

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From Lotsawa House web Site

Source: https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/karma-lingpa/benefits-vajra-guru-mantra

The Benefits of the Vajra Guru Mantra

And an Explanation of Its Syllables

A Treasure Text Revealed by Tulku Karma Lingpa

I prostrate to the Guru, the Yidam and the Ḍākinī.

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“At best, practitioners will attain the rainbow body; failing that, at the time of death, mother and child luminosities will meet; and at the very least, they will see me in the bardo and all their perceptions having been liberated into their essential nature, they will be reborn in Ngayab Ling and accomplish immeasurable benefit for sentient beings.”

Thus she spoke.

“Great Master, thank you for telling us about such infinite benefits and powers. You have been immensely kind. Although the explanation of the benefits and powers of the syllables of Guru Padma’s mantra is unfathomable, for the sake of sentient beings in the future, I humbly ask you to give us a brief description,” she asked.

Then the Great Master spoke thus:

“O, Noble Daughter, the Vajra Guru mantra is not only my essential mantra, it is the life-essence of the deities of the four classes of tantra, the nine vehicles, the 84,000 aspects of the Dharma, and so on. The heart essence of all the Buddhas of the three times, the lamas, deities, ḍākinīs, Dharma protectors, and the like is encompassed by this mantra. The reason for this is as follows. Listen well and hold this in your heart. Recite the mantra. Write it. Tell it to sentient beings in the future.