4.2 KNOWING THE GREAT PERFECTION: BUDDHA IN ONE LIFETIME!
In The Three Incisive Precepts, Patrul Rinpoche says,
Vision is Longchen Rabjam, the All-Pervasive Matrix;
Meditation is Khyentse Wozer, Radiance of Wisdom and Love;
Action is Gyelwai Nyugu, the Aspiring Buddha.
In the experience of such vision, meditation, and action,
Without stress or strain, we attain buddha in this lifetime.Possessing the keys of view, meditation, and conduct, it is certain that if we do not
attain buddha within this lifetime, at the worst we will attain buddha within three
or seven more incarnations.
In the past, the great rigzin Garab Dorje, his disciple Jampel Shenyen, his
disciple Sri Singha, his disciples Padmasambhava, Yeshe Tsogyel, and others have
attained the rainbow body in Tibet, while many hundreds like Pang Mipham
Gonpo, Nyelam Jangchub Gyeltsen, Nyangben Tingdzin Zangpo, and others have
attained ordinary buddha. From those days until now, Direct Crossing in the great
perfection has produced a rainbow body and Cutting Through has vaporized the
body into invisible atoms. These manifestations have been seen in the past, will be
seen in the future, and are being seen in actuality in the present on the path of the
Heart-Essence of the Great Perfection.
In the tantra The Mirror of the Heart of Vajrasattva, it is said, “There are two
kinds of nirvana: immaculate buddha and manifest immaculate buddha.”
Immaculate buddha is the attainment of a body of light or a rainbow body without
leaving any trace. With the attainment of a manifest immaculate buddha,
phenomena of light, sound, relics, body, or earth tremor occur. The great and
famous Chetsun Senge Wangchuk, who gained the rainbow body, is an example of
the former, and the omniscient Longchen Rabjampa, whose death was attended by
many and various miraculous phenomena, is an example of the latter.
Let me speak briefly about the attainment of manifest immaculate buddha by
Longchenpa: one day, after having reached the age of fifty-six without a day of
sickness, while Gyelse Zopa was writing down whatever he spoke, Longchenpa
made a paper tube and spoke through it into Gyelse Zopa’s ear, saying, “Now I,
Pema Ledrel Tsel, will stay no longer. I will go to the place of great bliss and
deathlessness. The strength of my prayers, my life, and my karma is exhausted.”
In such a manner, he foresaw his own death. Then, in the twelfth month of that
year, at Samye Chimpu, he asked Acharya Kunga Pel and others first to make a
great offering of desirable objects to the triple gem and then to wait outside the
room. They begged him to let them stay inside, to which he acquiesced. “I am now
abandoning this apparitional body,” he told them. “You all sit in silent and fearless
meditation.” In the tantra The Union of Sun and Moon, it is said, “At that time obey
the instructions of the lama.” Like that, Longchenpa, while sitting with the fixed
gaze of the dharmakaya, was gathered into the matrix of alpha-purity and
spaciousness. At that time, just as with the passing away of Shakyamuni Buddha,
the virtuous gods could not bear their grief and shook the earth, and Longchenpa’s