Shrisimha

Master Shrisimha (dPal Gyi Seng Ge) was born in a city called Shokyam on Sosha Island in China. His father was Gewe Denpa (Virtous One) and his mother was Nangwa Salwa Raptu Khyenma (Clear and Wise One). At the age of fifteen, he went to the Bodhi Tree of China and studied with master Haribhala for three years, and he became well versed in the five subjects. Then, while he was traveling westward by camel toward the city called Suvarnavipa (Golden Island), in the sky he beheld the pure vision of Avalokitshvara, who said, “O fortunate son of good family, if you really wish to attain the result, there is a city in India named Sosavipa: go there.” Shrisimha was pleased with the prophecy, but he thought to himself, “Still I ought to learn the complete outer and inner tantras first, so that it will be easier for me to understand the extraordinary teachings.”

So he went to the Five Peaks (Wu t’ai shan) sacred to Manjushri, and there he studied the complete outer and inne tantras with master  Bhelakirti for seven years. He took ordination as a monk (bhikshu) and maintained the discipline for thirty years. Again Avalokiteshvara repeated his prophetic advice. Thereupon Shrisimha thought, “It will be better to travel to Sosadvipa miraculously so that there won’t be any obstructions on the way”. So he attained a sadhana for three years and attained power. Then he went like the wind, about two feet from the ground. He reached Sosadvipa and met Mañjuśrīmitra. There he received teachings for twenty-five years and practiced them.

According to Khandro Nyingthig and other sources, Shrisimha also went to Shitavana and received Nyingthig teachings from Prahevajra directly, and later he transmitted them to Guru Padmasambhava and Vairochana.

The master Mañjuśrīmitra attained nirvana and his mortal body disappeared at the top of the stupa in a charnel ground in the center of Sosadvipa. The atmosphere was full of music and the sky was radiant with lights. Shrisimha uttered a prayer of lamentation, saying,

Alas, alack, alas! O Vast Expanse!
If the light of the Vajra Master is obscured,
Who will dispel the darkness of the world?

Suddenly, Manjushrimitra appeared in the sky and, stretching out his right hand, placed in Shrisimha’s palm a jeweled casket the size of a fingernail. In it Shrisimha found the testament of Mañjuśrīmitra, Gom-nyam Trukpa (The Six Experiences of Meditation), written on a leaf of five precious metlas with the ink of a hundred precious substances.

Shrisimha gained total confidence in his realization and understood the extraordinary tantras, both words and meaning, without any errors. He withdrew the texts that had been concealed at Bodhgaya by Mañjuśrīmitra and returned to China.

In China he arranged the Me-ngagde teachings into four cycles (sKor): Outer, Inner, Esoteric and Innermost Esoteric. He designated the first three cycles as the “elaborate teachings” and concealed them in the balcony of the temple near the Bodhi Tree in China. The Innermost Esoteric teachings, the Nyingthig, he kept with him without separation, but then, as instructed by a dakini, he concealed them in a pillar of Tashi Trigo (Auspicious Myriad Gate) temple and entrusted them to Ekajati. Then, enjoying esoteric excercises, he stayed at Siljin (Provider of Coolness) charnel ground in China as the master of the hosts of dakas and dakinis.

He conferred the oral transmissions of the Outer, Inner, and Esoteric cycles of Me-ngagde on Vimalamitra. He conferred the oral tranmission of the four cycles of Me-ngagde with their texts on Jnanasutra. He also conferred on him the teachings and empowerments of Me-ngagde known as elaborate empowerment, simple empowerment, very simple empowerment, and umost simple empowerment.

Then Shrisimha dissolved in radiant body, and his testament, Zerwu Dunpa (The Seven Nails), descended into the hands of Jnanasutra. It includes these lines:

Homage to the perfection of primordial wisdom, [the union of] clarity and emptiness.
The awareness wisdom, which pervades all and appears in all,
Is open and impartial.
For nailing [the awareness] on the changeless ground,
By putting the seven great nails on the narrow path of samsara and nirvana.
Changeless great bliss arises in my mind. . .
[a] Strike the nail of unhindered wisdom of clarity at the juncture of samsara and nirvana [in order to unite them as oneness].
[b] Strike the nail of self-appearing light at the juncture of mind and objects.
[c] Strike the nail of natural-pure essence at the juncture of mind and matter.
[d] Strike the nail of freedom from views at the juncture of nil and eternity.
[e] Strike the nail of awareness, which is beyond phenomena, at the juncture of phenomena and the nature of phenomena.
[f] Strike the nail of totally liberated five-doors [sense faculties] at the juncture of exitement and torpor.
[g] Strike the nail of primordially perfect Dharmakaya at the juncture of appearances and emptiness.

This biography is from Masters of Meditation and Miracles.