{"id":66287,"date":"2026-01-28T07:00:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T06:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dzogchentoday.org\/?p=66287"},"modified":"2026-04-01T00:25:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T22:25:08","slug":"the-story-of-the-first-masters-manjushrimitra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dzogchentoday.org\/the-story-of-the-first-masters-manjushrimitra\/","title":{"rendered":"The Story of the First Masters: Manjushrimitra"},"content":{"rendered":"

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We continue the Stories of the First Dzogchen Masters with Manjushrimitra, who structured the verses of Dzogchen into three series.<\/p>\n

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Series: The Lineage<\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

Manjushrimitra<\/span><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

Manjshrimitra (tib : Jampel Shenyen) was born in the Magadha region, west of Bodhgaya, in what would much later become India. The son of the Brahmin “Good Teacher” and his wife “Luminous Lamp,” the boy showed a brilliant intellect and a deep interest in the doctrine of causes and effects popular in the region at the time\u2014namely Buddhism.<\/p>\n

What was his relationship with his father when the latter initiated him into the teachings of the Vedas? Did Manjushrimitra become versed in Brahmanic rituals before taking the vows of a Buddhist monk?<\/p>\n

No one knows. However we can reasonably assume that he studied both the Vedic and the Buddhist traditions in parallel with the four other traditional sciences [1]<\/strong><\/a>, since these constituted the essential knowledge that every son or daughter of a noble family had to master to assume their responsibilities.<\/p>\n

By the age of twenty, he became an expert in these five sciences and continues to study with the great pandits (scholars) of his time. It is said that he became the greatest of the five hundred greatest.<\/p>\n

It was then that the enlightened being Manjushri, the bodhisattva of superior knowledge, appeared to him in a vision and said:<\/p>\n

“Noble son! If you wish to become a perfectly awakened one in a single lifetime, go to Oddiyana, to meet Prahevajra!”<\/p>\n

Manjushrimitra had heard about the young boy and his teaching beyond the law of causes and effects. Without delay, he gathered six panditas and set out to engage him in a debate.<\/p>\n

As we now know<\/a>, the child emerged victorious from the debate. Recognizing his pride in wanting to publicly defeat the holder of the ultimate teachings of the Great Perfection, Manjushrimitra drew his dagger and prepared to cut off his tongue.<\/p>\n

The boy stopped him with a gesture and said: “If you wish to make amends, write a book gathering the teachings beyond the law of causes and effects instead.”<\/p>\n

While the other pandits returned to Bodhgaya, Manjushrimitra remained with his new master and received the six million four hundred thousand verses of the Dzogchen tradition. Prahevajra introduced him to the primordial nature of his own mind through symbols [2]<\/strong><\/a>, thus initiating the special transmission of the Vidyadhara\u2014the Lords of primordial evidence.<\/p>\n

After spending several decades with his master, when the latter rose into the sky in a mass of light and disappears, Manjushrimitra was filled with boundless sadness and devotion. He then received his master’s testament, the three aphorisms that target the crucial points<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The scholar continued his practice in the charnel grounds and structured the six million four hundred thousand verses of Dzogchen into three series, adapted to the three categories of beings:<\/p>\n