ON THE HISTORY AND PSYCHOLOGY OF THE 'DAS-LOGpurpose of the necessity of examining the essence of the Mahamudra.
Now you too exhort the people of the world to virtue and take my
message of the interval between life and death! The reason is this: In a
former life you met Rdo-rje-phag-mo. Because you obtained all her ini-
tiations and oral precepts the breath of the t/.iikil:zl has not disappeared
for seven human generations. Since you have the ability to work for the
purpose of beings you have been put in the world as a guide on the path
of liberation ... You were born in a previous life as a clairvoyent ele-
phant in India. After that birth, you were reborn a woman in Lho-brag
Kho-thing. From the time you were small your parents took you and
you did obeisances and circumambulations at various temples. You
offered butter lamps and food, and said many prayers. Then Sna-n-g-
rste-ba, a prophet holding the lineage of Padmasambhava came, and
you asked for his compassion. The prophet gave you many vows such
as the dam-rdzas myong-grol and the gu-ru 'i byang-sems dkar-dmar.
He prayed for a long time, saying, may you be one who is able to show
the bodhisattva path in later life, and be able to admonish all beings to
give up their ignorance and do virtue ... " Because of the ability of his
power, which perfects, having been born later of good caste and with a
clear mind, you will be one of the eight classes of Avalokita's incarna-
tions, a gate to kindness and compassion for all beings, one who never
ceases to say the six syllables, and one, being immovable in your
enlightened mind, who is inseparable from protecting tutelary deities.
Then because of the benefits of the power of your previous prayers and
virtues, you will return to your body in the human realm and you shall
perfectly achieve working for the benefit of beings ... "In Byang-chub-sengge's case, his guide is 'Jig-rten-dbang-phyug himself, in the
form of an eight-year-old boy, who requests the 'das-log's return to the living,
telling the Dharmaraja that Byang-chub-sengge is part of his retinue (X A: 242).
The 'das-log is then treated to a lengthy message by the Dharmariija to enjoin
mankind to change its ways, containing lists of do's and don't's.
Bya-bral Kun-dga'-rang-grol (IX B: f. 35b ff.)
Also, give this message to famous lamas! A holy lama is one who pro-
tects beings. He spins the wheel of the holy dharma without wandering
in sarilsara. Try to be a perfect leader of beings. Don't be a lama only in
form. Be perfectly pure and meaningful. Augment the Buddha's doc-
trine without contention. Those who prepare themselves to assemble
many beings as their disciples (for fame and profit) plant for themselves
and others the seeds of suffering in hell. Such lamas as the first kind
need not be ashamed before me.
Give this message to the great men that protect the earth! EnforceIll