the later spread of buddhism in tibet 363
Mar-pa was dissatis ed with the teaching methods of this master. The
Deb-ther sngon-po explains that ’Brog-mi charged large fees for his instruc-
tions that Mar-pa was unable to afford. He then decided to go to India
on his own account to search for a suitable teacher^46 and nally met
Nropa, a tantric siddha who bestowed on him the teachings that later
became the fundamentals of bKa’-brgyud-pa doctrine. Nropa himself
is an extremely interesting gure. The story of his “mystical odyssey” is
frequently retold in Tibetan literature.^47 Mar-pa travelled to India and
Nepal several times to meet Nropa and other siddhas. When he nally
settled in Central Tibet, he had gathered numerous tantric teaching
traditions, including instructions on anuttarayoga tantras—like the Hevajra,
the Cakrasavara and the Guhyasamja—as well as the Mahmudra, the
practice of the “Great Seal”. The latter is a tantric teaching based on
the so-called “direct introduction (of the mind) to (its) own nature”
(ngo sprod pa), particularly associated (though not exclusive) to the
bKa’-brgyud-pa tradition. After his settlement Mar-pa led the life of a
householder and became renowned for his eccentric teaching methods
and his harsh character. In addition to the mother of his children he
is said to have had not less than eight other wives who served him as
tantric partners. Apparently Mar-pa became quite wealthy because of
the fees he charged from his many disciples.
The story goes that before Mar-pa honoured his devoted student
Mi-la-ras-pa with the transmission of his teachings, he treated him with
disrespect and assigned him many hardships and drudgery for several
years. Tradition interprets his hard times with Mar-pa as a process of
spiritual puri cation that became necessary, since Mi-la-ras-pa was a
student of black magic in his youth and had killed many people when
he cast an evil spell on his aunt and uncle who had cast his family
into poverty. Finally he was accepted by Mar-pa, who initiated him in
the complete transmissions of the lineage. Subsequently Mi-la-ras-pa
decided to practice in solitude and lived in a mountain cave for many
years until he became enlightened and started to accept disciples. The
rest of his life he spent as a wandering and teaching yogin. His special
characteristic is the woollen cloth that he used as his only garment;
(^46) Blue Annals, p. 208.
(^47) Already in 1933 a German translation of the N-ro-pa’i rnam-thar was published.
This translation by A. Grünwedel, who regarded Nropa as the main representative of
late Indian Buddhist “necromancy” and “witchcraft”, is very poor. The interested reader
is better advised to turn to H. Guenther’s English translation (Guenther 1963).