October 10th 2025

I think all of you gathered here today have faith and devotion to Guru Rinpoche. I’m not sure whether it’s total trust, complete confidence, but at least you have some level of devotion towards him. Therefore, I think it may be of some benefit if I talk a little about Guru Rinpoche and this sacred place, Yangleshö.

During this, our present kalpa, it is said that one thousand and two buddhas will appear and reach the state of enlightenment. Who said this? It was none other than the Buddha Shakyamuni who, in the Sutra of the Good Aeon, recounted the names of all those buddhas, who their parents were, which master they received dharma teachings from, and how long they lived. Of those one thousand and two buddhas, Buddha Shakyamuni is the fourth. Preceding him were the buddhas Krakucchanda, Kanakamuni and Kasyapa. We are now living in the time when the teachings of the fourth buddha, Buddha Shakyamuni, are present in our world. 

As Patrul Rinpoche said, the entire teaching of the Buddha can be summarized in these four lines:

Commit not a single unwholesome action, 
Cultivate a wealth of virtue, 
Tame completely this mind of ours—
This is the teaching of the buddhas. 

These four lines encapsulate the entire teaching of the Buddha. Provided there is one person who is still able to explain these lines, the ‘dharma of explanation’ can be said to be present in our world. Basically, what this means is that we should abandon negative actions and adopt positive ones. If we adopt positive actions we can attain perfect enlightenment. If we commit negative actions, on the other hand, the result will be rebirth in the three lower realms where we won’t be able to gain a higher rebirth nor follow the path that leads to liberation. If there is someone who can contemplate these four lines, the ‘dharma of realization’ is also said to be present. 

These two aspects, the ‘dharma of explanation’ (teachings) and the ‘dharma of realization’ (practice), are still very much present in our world today. This is what we mean when we say that the teachings of the Buddha Shakyamuni are still present in our world. Nowadays, however, it’s difficult to find highly learned and realized beings who, like the great masters of the past in India, Tibet and other places, were able to perform miracles, possess unimpeded knowledge of all that there is to know, and read the mind of others. It’s difficult to meet beings like that in our world today. Basically, we have been born in a time when the teachings of the Buddha barely remain. Nonetheless, this is still a sign that we have great merit.

We have all had the tremendous merit to be born in a country where the teachings of the Buddha are still very much present, such as Tibet, Bhutan, Sikkim, and even here in Nepal, where the dharma still flourishes somewhat. This is our great good fortune. It’s really an excellent circumstance which is said to be the result of great merit. Who said this? Our teacher, Buddha Shakyamuni.

I don’t need to say too much about Buddha Shakyamuni since everybody knows who he is. Indeed, it’s not just Buddhists who know about the Buddha Shakyamuni—the followers of other religions, too, even though they have their own teacher or god that they follow, also know about and have great respect for him.

The Buddha lived for eighty years until, at Kushinagar, he passed into parinirvana. At that time he prophesied to his disciple, Ananda: 

Ananda, do not feel dejected. Twelve years after I pass into parinirvana, 
a being even greater than myself will be born on the Lake Danakosha. 

This is the prophecy that he gave and for this reason, Guru Rinpoche is said to be even greater than the Buddha himself—at least, this is what we Nyingmapas say. And we have valid explanations for why we say this. One such reason is the fact that the Buddha was unable to tame certain beings; these beings could only be tamed by the teachings of the secret mantra vajrayana and the one who turned the wheel of the teachings of secret mantra vajrayana was Guru Rinpoche. He wouldn’t have been able to do this if he was born normally, from a womb, therefore he was born miraculously in the heart of a lotus flower on the Lake Danakosha. 

There are different accounts of his birth: some say that Guru Rinpoche was born eight years after the Buddha passed into parinirvana, others twenty-four years. There are a few different versions. Since we are Nyingmapas, we follow the Kathangs (biographies of Guru Rinpoche) as our scriptural authority. They state that the Buddha said: 

Ten minus two years later,
On an island of the Danakosha Lake,
A being greater than me will come.

This means that Guru Rinpoche was born eight years after the Buddha passed into parinirvana. Of course, we accept the Kathangs as being valid sources.

The south-western milky lake of Danakosha is located in present day Pakistan and it was here, upon a blossoming lotus flower, that Guru Rinpoche was miraculously born. He was not born of parents, a mother and father, but was self-arising, instantaneously, like a streak of lightning. Amitabha, who resides in the pure land of Sukhavati, emanated from his heart a red hrih syllable of bodhichitta which descended upon the pistil of a blossoming red lotus flower with enormous leaves and petals, floating on the waters of Lake Danakosha. Guru Rinpoche was born as the syllable transformed into the Lotus-born Guru. 

There are many accounts of the life of Guru Rinpoche which can be found in both the kama and terma traditions. In the termas, for example, Guru Rinpoche himself said that for the sake of future practitioners with pure samaya, he wrote and concealed no less than 10,900 biographies.[1]For the sake of future people with pure samaya,
I wrote and concealed ten thousand nine hundred biographies.
Quotation from Orgyen Lingpa. padma bka’ thang, Beijing: Mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1996, page 3.

These biographies are accounts of the life of a buddha; we cannot say with any definite certainty, this is exactly what that buddha did and what they did not do. For example, if you look into the lives of some of the great masters of the past, they were able to manifest themselves in twenty-five different emanations at the same time, in order to help sentient beings. Chandraprabha Kumara, Gampopa’s past life as a bodhisattva, for example, appeared to some people giving teachings, to others practicing meditation, and to others still doing something entirely different. So one person could see the master appearing simultaneously in twenty or thirty different ways, doing different things. 

Those with pure karma were, of course, able to perceive this; but even those with impure karma could also perceive it. They were all non-deceptive, correct perceptions for each person. Therefore, we cannot say that there is just one version that is true and all the others are wrong. In actual fact, all of them are true.

When we look into the biographies of Guru Rinpoche, who was the embodiment of the enlightened activity of all the buddhas, and read about all his different activities, we cannot say, “This is the right version, this one is incorrect.” We cannot make that kind of distinction. 

What we can say with certainty is that he was a guru who reached the state of enlightenment by following the path of secret mantra vajrayana. In order to reach complete enlightenment by following the path of secret mantra vajrayana, one needs to perfect the five paths and ten bhumis. In Vajrayana terms, these are equivalent to the four levels of a vidyadhara: the vidyadhara of full maturation, the vidyadhara with power over life, the mahamudra vidyadhara and the spontaneously accomplished vidyadhara. If you don't progress through those four levels, you cannot reach enlightenment through the path of secret mantra vajrayana. 

This brings us to the main point that I wanted to talk about today, which is this sacred place of Yangleshö. If you look into the different textual sources, some say that Yangleshö lies on the border between India and Nepal, while others say it lies between Nepal and Tibet. In any case, what all the texts agree upon is the place where Guru Rinpoche attained the state of mahamudra vidyadhara and reached enlightenment—Yangleshö in Nepal. There is no doubt about this—they all place the event at the same place. Every account of his life, whether from the terma or kama tradition, agrees on this.

This is also what is stated in the texts that were found in the caves of Dunhuang, in the Gansu province of western China. These texts are more than a thousand years old and clearly state that Guru Rinpoche accomplished the practice of Vajrakilaya and attained the mahamudra level of vidyadhara realization, the full state of enlightenment, at the sacred cave of Yangleshö. The texts found in those caves were perfectly preserved because of the desert climate and absence of any humidity. They haven’t been altered in any way for more than a thousand years and are undisputedly authentic. Some of those texts have now found their way into museums and libraries in France and other countries where they are being preserved and translated.

The important point here is that all of those sources, every single one, clearly states that the place where Guru Rinpoche attained the level of mahamudra vidydhara and reached enlightenment is this very place we find ourselves today, Yangleshö.

The place where the Buddha reached enlightenment is Bodhgaya in India and this sacred site was lost to us for around 800 years. We didn't know where it was until the English colonialists excavated the area and revealed it. It turned out to be the genuine seat of the Buddha’s enlightenment that we can now visit today. The place where Guru Rinpoche reached enlightenment, conversely, has always been known about and preserved in our tradition. All the texts agree on this point and recount the story of how he attained enlightenment here. 

When Guru Rinpoche started to practise at Yangleshö, he faced many obstacles. There were many years of drought, famine and starvation, which led to the deaths of a great many people. At some point, Guru Rinpoche came to the clear realisation that he should practise Vajrakilaya in order to remove these obstacles.

Guru Rinpoche sent several messengers to the glorious seat of Nalanda to acquire the teachings of Vajrakilaya, since they were practicing this deity there to avert obstacles. In response, they sent him the volumes of the Vajrakilaya tantras such as the Vidyottama Tantra (‘The 100,000 Sections of Unexcelled Knowledge’). Some sources say he received just one volume of text, others the load carried by one person, and others still, the loads carried by six people. In any case, at Yangleshö, he then practised Vajrakumara, the deity of the phurba of accomplishment, whose mantra is om vajra kili kilaya hung p’et. The instructions on how to practise the generation and completion phases of the deity, the root teachings, are found in the Vidyottama Tantra, the essence of which is the root tantra that we recite each day.[2]See Boord, Martin. “Fragment of the Vajrakīla Root Tantra.” In A Bolt of Lightning from the Blue—The Vast Commentary on Vajrakila That Clearly Defines the Essential Points. Edition Khordong, 2002, pages 79-90. This is the Indian text that was sent from the glorious seat of Nalanda to Guru Rinpoche while he was in Nepal.

Here again, there are different versions of this story. According to some accounts, Guru Rinpoche went in person to Nalanda with two companions to request the tantras from Prabhahasti and then returned to Nepal to practise it. Some sources say he practised for seven days, or three months, or even three years. In any case, he practised Vajrakilaya and as a result, became indivisible with the yidam deity, Vajrakilaya. Hence, he composed many sadhanas in which Guru Rinpoche and Vajrakilaya are indivisible. 

In actual fact, Guru Rinpoche was originally supposed to practise Yangdak Heruka to attain the mahamudra vidyadhara level, but in order for him to be able to practise this properly, he first had to remove obstacles through the practice of Vajrakilaya. That is why you find many sadhanas that combine Yangdak and Vajrakilaya together. 

In any case, he practised Vajrakilaya at Yangleshö and bound under oath the four Bhumipati goddesses and the other protectresses, individually taming each of these twelve phurba protectresses. According to the Dunhuang texts, one evening, four girls arrived at his cave, intent on making obstacles for him. Through dza hum bam ho and the hook mudra and the other mudras, Guru Rinpoche summoned them into his hat and imprisoned them there.

When he opened his hat the following morning, the four girls were still there. He asked them who they were; they replied that they were the protectresses of Vajrakilaya. They were the four shvanamas, four mahadevis, and the four bhumipatis—the twelve protectresses of the phurba. One by one, he bound them under oath as well as the four purusa brothers, and the other protectors of Vajrakilaya, instating them as protectors of the phurba. This is the sacred place where this happened.

It’s the place where nine vajra peaks rise up, which makes it an extremely sacred place. Counting from here upwards, there are nine vajras that ascend. At least that’s what the lamas say— personally, I don't know. It is also said that “the path of the sun and moon are far apart, which makes it a supreme place of practice”, which means that the sun and moon rise in the east and there is no obstacle to block their course until they set in the west. River’s flow here continuously and they also say this place lies on the uninterrupted path from Bodhgaya to Lhasa. That’s to say, it’s easy to go from here to Bodhgaya and to Tibet, both. This means that the roads also are without interruptions or blockages.

What’s certain is that Guru Rinpoche consecrated this sacred place through the power of deity, mantra, mudra and samadhi, transforming it into the three mandalas of Vajrakilaya.[3]The mandala of the main deity, Vajrakumara in union with Datvishvari; the mandala of the ten wrathful ones; and the mandala of the supreme sons. Once a place has been consecrated in this way, the blessing doesn’t go away, it doesn’t dissipate. It remains there. We cannot see this because of our impure karma and the dense obscurations that veil us. But if those obscurations are even somewhat purified, we will be able to hear the sound of the wind, water and all the elements, as the natural sound of the Vajrakilaya mantra. Likewise, we will see in all the surrounding mountains, rocks and trees, the mantra and the form of the deities naturally appearing there. In an environment such as this, where we perceive everything purely, our mind will rest in the natural state free from all conceptual elaboration and become one with Vajrakilaya. Such places are indeed very sacred.

Nowadays, all we can do is come to places like this and receive their blessings. We cannot actually bless a place ourselves. A lama like myself, for example, cannot do that. For that, you need to have a high realisation. So all we can do is receive blessings from these places and that’s why we go on pilgrimage. In the past, great beings such as Guru Rinpoche or the great abbot Vimalamitra, were able to bless a place merely by meditating on its inherent primordial purity. That’s how they were able to consecrate it. Unfortunately, we are nowhere near that level and that’s why, in this day and age, all we can do is receive blessings from sacred places that have already been consecrated. 

‘Pharping’ is the name of this place, and many people consider that ‘Yangleshö’, the actual place of accomplishment, is the lower cave where Chatral Rinpoche’s monastery is located. The Hindus call it Shesh Narayan Pokhari and consider it the sacred place of a naga. But the way that we determine the location is based on the biography of Guru Rinpoche that was revealed by Chokgyur Lingpa, “The Wish-fulfilling Tree”, which states that he accomplished the practice of the Great Glorious One, Yangdak Heruka in the upper cave: 

In the upper practice cave of Yangleshö, 
In order to attain the siddhi of the Mahamudra, 
I performed the practice of glorious Yangdak Heruka.[4]The Wish-Fulfilling Tree: The Life Story of the Master of Uḍḍiyāna

This means that the distinction between an upper and a lower cave is made. In the upper he “performed the practice of the glorious Yangdak Heruka”, which is the cave behind me. According to Chokling Rinpoche, when he came here, he found a large cave even higher up than here. In any case, this upper cave where we are now is the one we determine as being the place where Guru Rinpoche attained the mahamudra level of vidyadhara. All the Nepalis call it the Asura Cave, which means secret cave.

The Sixteenth Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, came here, and Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche also came here many times. He wouldn't sit inside the cave, he would just go briefly inside and then sit outside, in front of the entrance. The reason is that inside the cave, with all the butter lamps that were lit and incense that was burning, he didn't feel well. So he’d sit outside where he could be in the fresh air and see the sky. I've also come here many times—we used to put the mandala inside the cave, close it with a curtain, and then sit outside, with all the monks, in front of the entrance. We held many drupchens here. Later, once they’d built the temple, we started to do drupchens in there. 

The first time we came here to practise a drupchen, when we came to the ritual for receiving the siddhis related to the four activities, we arranged the siddhi tormas on the mandala. These tormas, specifically the pacifying and enriching ones, started to drip with so much düdtsi, it overflowed from the plates. I brought this düdtsi to Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, who was in Bhutan at the time of the drupchen, and asked him once he’d returned to Nepal to verify whether it was genuine. He said yes, it definitely was. This shows just how extraordinarily blessed and sacred this place is. 

You've all arrived here for the drupchen that we will practice on this occasion, so you're all extraordinarily fortunate. When we come to a sacred place like this we need to receive its blessings, and for that to happen, we need to pray, to invoke. Otherwise, nothing will happen. If you remain in some kind of dumb state and just sit around here all day, you’re no different from the birds that hover around here and have no chance of actualizing anything like pure perception. If you’re like that, your impure perceptions will just remain impure. You won’t receive any of the blessings and siddhis of this place, just like the birds who remain as birds. We human beings have a special quality: we know how to pray, we know how to differentiate between what we should adopt what we should abandon. If we pray to Guru Rinpoche, not just mouthing the words, but from the bottom of our hearts, with complete trust, then it's impossible for us not to receive his blessings. One of the Lotus Born Guru’s qualities is that he will never fail us.

So we're going to stay here for seven days to do a drupchen. Whether you're happy to be here or not, you're here, so make the most of it! Do the practice without letting your mind or eyes be distracted, and whenever you have a break, you should meditate. Meditate on Vajrakilaya, recite the Vajrakilaya mantra, and let whatever arises in your mind be liberated the moment it arises. I say this, but most of you here have no idea what I’m talking about. Therefore, just simply pray—pray to Guru Rinpoche and Vajrakilaya, as being indivisible. We pray in order to accomplish the two siddhis, ordinary and supreme, and to eliminate obstacles. If you do that, you'll derive great benefit from being here. 

Personally speaking, I think I have quite impure perception. I first came here in 1958, with my father, and have been coming back ever since. The population of the town has continuously grown since then and more and more buildings have mushroomed. Actually, the blessing of a sacred place should normally increase, but I have the feeling the opposite is happening.

The first time I came here, there were no buildings whatsoever. There were just the footprints, nothing else. The place was really pregnant with blessings. I went to the cave and practised with my father—we did the Tukdrup Trinlé Nyingpo and offered a tsok, and a lot of nectar seeped out from the cave. Now we don't see a single drop of nectar. A lot of people come here but I think many of them have impure samayas. Of course, some people come here full of devotion, but I’m sure others come out of mere curiosity. So because of these circumstances, I think the blessings have waned. 

All of us gathered here on this occasion, who have genuine devotion for Guru Rinpoche, should pray to him, for as he himself said,

For all men and women with faith in me, I, Padmasambhava, 
Have never departed - I sleep beside their door.
For me there is no such thing as death, 
Before each person with faith, there is a Padmasambhava.

You will receive his blessings, without fail. Therefore we should all pray to Guru Rinpoche. There's a few important secret points I should also tell you, but I'm not going to as I don’t think you’ll understand them. Furthermore, many of you are sitting here with your recorders out and whatever I say will doubtless end up being spread everywhere. Therefore, that’s all I’m going to say today.