#mahasiddha

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Thangtong Gyalpo (1361-1485 CE), or "The King of the Empty Plain," was a Buddhist Mahasiddha, a Chöd master, yogi, physician, blacksmith, architect, and pioneering civil engineer. In addition, he is believed to be the most widely traveled person in Tibetan history. He's also known by the names Chakzampa, the "Iron Bridge Builder," and Tsondru Zangpo, "Excellent Persistence." Many people believe he was an emanation of both Padmasambhava (known as "Guru Rinpoche" among Tibetan Buddhists) and Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen, the foremost master of shentong and a major proponent of the Jonang tradition. Aside from his architectural feats of building 58 iron chain suspension bridges (several of which are still in use today) and erecting several large stupas across Tibet and Bhutan, he is known for founding the Iron Chain lineage of the Shangpa Kagyu tradition. Furthermore, he is known for developing Lhamo or Tibetan theater in the 14th century and establishing song and dance troupes to raise money needed to build bridges. Performers would tell stories, recite mantras, and perform song and dance as a means to both teach and subdue demons for the sake of building Tangtong Gyalpo's bridges. Lastly, Tangtong Gyalpo was known for his ability to eradicate disease. His famous prayer commonly known as "Thangtong Gyalpo's Refuge Prayer" is said to be helpful for averting adverse circumstances and transforming difficulty.

Hello friend! I love these questions.

Who would you be without your insecurities, anxieties, tensions, traumas, and confusion?

You would have the freedom to be more yourself than ever before.

With enlightenment comes the revelation that you are not, nor have you ever been, an individual self. Like a wave learning it has never been separate from the ocean. But so long as that wave appears in that form, it will still have characteristics unique to that particular wave.

If your likes, dislikes, personality, body language, or even your dreams were in part shaped by your traumas and self-based illusions, then those things will in fact change during your path and practice. This is quite common, actually. And at times it may leave you feeling a bit dull and directionless. But with patience and continued practice, you will discover life anew.

Plainness or dullness is often how the thinking mind will imagine something like enlightenment. In reality, a more appropriate description would be vividness and lucidity.

As for the difference between awakening and enlightenment, that depends on who is creating those definitions. Some people may use the terms interchangeably while others may have more specific definitions. Within Pemako, my present lineage of practice and teachings, we do make a distinction between them.

Awakening is also called stream-entry. A crack forms in the central, core sense of "I" and you have your first taste or direct insight into the fact that your individual sense of self is not who or what you actually are. This is when spirituality changes from being philosophical or inspiring to being very, very real. You can read more about it here.

Enlightenment is when the illusion of individual self as well as all of its traumatic traces in the body, mind, and energy system are fully eradicated and the natural state of fundamental awareness is known without the slightest obscuration.

Within Pemako, an enlightened human is referred to as a mahasiddha, which is like another term for a buddha.

All of this is limited by language, but I think you get the idea :)

"All meditation must begin with arousing deep compassion. Whatever one does must emerge from an attitude of love and benefitting others."

--Milarepa

When we look at unconditional love and compassion we talking on what lead straight a head to realizing our true nature.

That love without conditions is essential for practitioners to develop bodhichitta is compose by unconditional love and compassion, Milarepa quote seeing no difference between him and others.

How do we develop this very important aspects of the practice?

The view : first we need develop the right view it’s means understand that every simgle beings are same as us, suffer like we suffer, hsve joy as we have joy and most important from the same nature of us.

Unconditional love: usually our love got conditions we trade it like better to be like this or like that. Unconditional love is way different is love without conditions we love even our enemies because we recognise they are same as us.

Compassion is recognized that in suffering we are also the same when one suffer lost or one suffer that recognized that and give kindness to everyone.

10th century, the movement of mahasiddhas is coming to its end. Arrow has been released.

Goddess Kurukulle 

Bihar, India

Black Stone