The Story of the First Masters: Jnanasutra

Series: The Lineage

Jñanasutra

Jñanasutra (Tib. ye shes mdo, Yeshe Do), “Primordial Knowledge of the Sutras,” plays an almost secondary role in the lineage of the first Dzogchen Vidyadharas. Yet, without him, Vimalamitra might never have received the tradition’s most secret cycle, the Nyingthik.

Born in Kamaru, in what is now eastern India [1], into an outcaste family (or a shudra-the servants- family, depending on the source), he must have had some seriously good karma and plenty of perseverance, because he became a highly learned Buddhist and joined the famous five hundred pandits who lived permanently at Bodhgaya.

He soon struck up a friendship with another pandit named Vimalamitra, and the two ended up spending most of their time together. One day, while walking in the forest west of Bodhgaya and debating particularly subtle points of the Buddha’s doctrine, Vajrasattva appeared to them in a vision and said:

O sons of noble family, for five hundred lifetimes you have been reborn as scholars, studying and practicing, yet you have still not attained the fruit, Enlightenement. And here you are, taking the same path again today! If you wish to realize the body of light in this very life, you must go to the charnel ground of Siljin, in China.

Deeply struck by this vision, the two friends discussed how they might get there. Vimalamitra was the more determined of the two, however, and he set off for China at once. There he met Sri Simha and begged him to transmit the teachings of the Great Perfection. For several years he received the outer, inner and secret instructions, but not the corresponding texts.

Satisfied, Vimalamitra returned to India, where he ran into his friend Jñanasutra in Gajé.

“So,” asked Jñanasutra, “did you meet a saint in Siljin?”

“A saint? No,” replied Vimalamitra. “But I did meet a Buddha!”

Jñanasutra hesitated no longer. Through the power of swift-walking [2], he covered a nine-month journey in a single day. On reaching the charnel ground of Siljin, he met Sri Simha, served him for three years, then made offerings and asked for the instructions of the Great Perfection.

And so, over a long period, he received the entire oral lineage. Finally satisfied, Jñanasutra was preparing to leave when Sri Simha asked him:

“Are you satisfied?”

“Yes!”

“But the teachings have not yet been entrusted to you!”

The pandit understood that there were deeper teachings, and requested to receive them.

“That requires receiving the empowerments,” the master replied.

Over several years, the master gave him the elaborate, unelaborate, very unelaborate and extremely unelaborate transmissions. With each one Jñanasutra put it into practice until the corresponding signs appeared. Then, for sixteen more years, he stayed with his master to perfect his knowledge and mastery of the mind.

One day, Sri Simha was invited to teach in Lithang. Seven days after his departure, Jñanasutra, who had stayed behind, heard a loud noise in the sky. Looking up, he saw his master within a great mass of light and realized he had attained the rainbow body. He offered prayers and supplications, and Sri Simha’s testament, The Seven Nails, fell into his hands.

But the apparition did not end there. His master’s voice rang out in the sky: “Retrieve the Nyingthik texts hidden in a pillar of the Tashi Trigo temple. Then go to the charnel ground of Bhasing.”

Jñanasutra did as he was told and began teaching the dakinis of the charnel ground, when Vimalamitra arrived. Jñanasutra conferred all the Dzogchen empowerments upon him and entrusted him with every text in his possession.

Some time later, as Jñanasutra attained the realization of the Great Perfection, and his body dissolved into a mass of light. While Vimalamitra wept and begged his master for his final, most crucial instructions, his testament burst forth from the light and landed in the pandit’s hands. It was The Four Methods of Contemplation.

Thus, Jñanasutra made it possible for the entire Dzogchen teaching to reach Vimalamitra, who would then carry it to the Land of Snows.

But that’s another story.