From the Introduction

The text translated in these pages is the life story of one of the founders of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and without a doubt one of the most extraordinary women in the history of world religion. She lived during the heroic age of the Tibetan kings whose empire, then at the peak of its strength, extended far to the east into present-day China and to the north and west into the remote regions of Central Asia, and dominated the entire Himalayan region to the south. Her life unfolded at a crucial moment in the history of her country when the rich and fully developed Buddhist tradition of the sutras and the tantras was being introduced from India and propagated under royal patronage. It was a time of great events and powerful personalities.

Lady of the Lotus-Born is by any standards a masterpiece of literature. Its colorful and lively narrative, the lyrical beauty of its poetry, the profundity of its doctrinal teaching, and its absorbing historical and cultural interest are perfectly balanced and arranged with artistry and finesse. As such, it is easily accessible, and even readers who know little of Tibet or the Buddhist path will be intrigued and charmed by it. The storyline indeed is so well handled and the characterization so vivid and convincing that at times it is not difficult to overlook the fact that this is a text of great antiquity. In point of fact, the life of Yeshe Tsogyal has a peculiar modernity of its own, although not in the ordinary sense of the word. The reason for saying this is that, however exotic and remote certain aspects of the text may appear to the majority of modern readers, Lady of the Lotus-Born belongs to a spiritual and cultural tradition that is still vibrantly alive. It expresses ideas and values that for practitioners of the Buddhist path remain living issues of great relevance.

In contrast with the history of Europe and America, the pace of political and social change in Tibet was, until the upheavals of the second half of the twentieth century, extremely slow, allowing the study and practice of Buddhism to proceed steadily, undisturbed by extraneous circumstances and in an atmosphere of almost perfect stability. This gave rise to a cultural continuity that the West has never known, and it may be said without exaggeration that in Tibet virtually the entire range of Buddhist doctrines, as they were extant in medieval India, have been completely and perfectly preserved until the present time. The Tibetan Buddhist tradition embodies to this day teachings and practices that were current and assiduously pursued at a time long before the cultures and even the languages of the modern West existed. So seamless is the tradition of Tibetan Buddhism that if one were to take a lama writing or commenting on a scripture at the end of the twentieth century and place him alongside one of his forebears of the tenth, one would discover a similarity of thought, expression, and attitude that renders them virtual contemporaries.

It is thus that Lady of the Lotus-Born has a timeless relevance. However mysterious certain parts of it may seem to the unfamiliar reader, the world described in its pages is still instantly recognizable to twentieth-century Tibetans. And to Tibetan Buddhist practitioners, the story of Yeshe Tsogyal's life and the teachings contained therein are still as pertinent and topical as they were in the eighth century. The same instructions given by Guru Rinpoche to Yeshe Tsogyal, and by Yeshe Tsogyal to her own disciples, are imparted by Tibetan lamas to this day. The same meditation and yogas are still practiced and their extraordinary results are still attained, even now in the twentieth century.

Lady of the Lotus-Born belongs to the class of Tibetan literature known as namthar. It is a "tale of liberation," an account of spiritual endeavor and achievement. It is primarily addressed to Buddhist practitioners as an instruction and encouragement for the long and arduous path of inner transformation, holding up to their devotion an image of sublime attainment. Aside from being a good story, therefore, this text has a profoundly doctrinal content. It is a description of the tantric path and contains many references to the key points of the practice. These references are not for the most part explicit and are frequently couched in the allusive language of poetry and song, the sense of which will be clear only to those well versed in tantric doctrine.

That Lady of the Lotus-Born should in this way contain a "secret" component is, traditionally speaking, quite normal. For reasons that the text itself will make clear, the full instructions for the practices referred to are necessarily bestowed only in private by qualified masters and to disciples who have given evidence of their commitment to the teachings and are properly prepared for their reception and implementation.

Nevertheless, the presence of esoteric elements does not by any means render the text unintelligible for the general reader. On the contrary, it is in large measure intended for the edification and delight of everyone. With this in mind, it seems appropriate to discuss some of the broader issues apparent in the book and thus introduce a religious and cultural environment that some readers might find unfamiliar.

Prehistory, Birth, and Early Life
Given that the historical existence of Yeshe Tsogyal is beyond question, and in view of the extraordinary realism and humanity with which her character emerges in the course of the text, modern readers are likely to find the "mythological," almost fairy-tale account of her birth and early years rather perplexing. To be sure, the miraculous circumstances seem to parallel the extraordinary events attending the nativities of the heroic figures of other religions and cultures. All the marvelous accompaniments are there: the shooting star, the strange and prophetic dreams, the mysterious messengers, the painless birth, the appearance of celestial beings and other wonderful portents. And when the child is born, she is of supernatural beauty and precocity. The approach of modern scholarship, from its essentially materialistic standpoint, is to dismiss such events as apocryphal and legendary. In the present case, before jumping to such hasty conclusions, it is important to remember that from a doctrinal point of view, the elements described in the early pages of Lady of the Lotus-Born are heavy with meaning. And it is worth remembering that, as a matter of fact, in the discovery of tulkus or incarnate lamas, which continues to be a highly important feature of Tibetan culture, miraculous omens are expected and taken seriously.

Yeshe Tsogyal was, as the text makes plain, a key figure in the introduction and consolidation of the Buddhist teachings in Tibet. She was the disciple and assistant of Padmasambhava, the Lotus-Born Guru, the Indian master invited by the king Trisong Detsen to subdue by tantric means the hostile forces that were hindering the propagation of the Doctrine. So closely was she involved in this work that the story of her life is practically coterminous with the foundation of Buddhism in her country, specifically the teachings of the tantras. Her appearance in the world is therefore not presented as something haphazard, the chance birth of an ordinary being; it is an event of great and far-reaching significance. Yeshe Tsogyal is the predestined assistant of Guru Rinpoche (as Padmasambhava is often called); indeed, she is the indispensable condition for the establishment of the Buddhist teachings. It is for this reason that the first figure to appear in Lady of the Lotus-Born is not Yeshe Tsogyal herself, but Guru Rinpoche. "That I might propagate the teachings of the Secret Mantra," he reflects, "the time has come for an incarnation of goddess Sarasvati to appear." And it is as if he literally calls Tsogyal into existence. For without her, as he later explains to the king, the results of his labors would be meager and slow.

In the account of Yeshe Tsogyal's preexistence and her descent to earth, two distinct but interpenetrating ideas may be discerned. To begin with, in view of Buddhist teachings on reincarnation, the notion that she should have "preexisted" is not in itself extraordinary. Moreover, it is normal in Buddhist tradition for the biographies of important persons to begin with references to a line of previous and distinguished incarnations. The obvious purpose of this is to inform the readers that they are in the presence of a great and noble being. More important is the fact that such details underline the fundamental doctrine of karma, whereby character, talents, inclinations, and circumstances, as these manifest in the course of a single life, helping or hindering in the spiritual quest, are all attributable to previous causes. The facts of encountering the Dharma, meeting a teacher, and having an inclination to practice his instructions and the possibility of doing so are all regarded as the fruits of merit, the positive "energy" amassed through virtuous deeds in the past. Consequently, as the preliminary to her encounter with the great Guru and the gaining of a life situation in which his teachings would be implemented to great effect, we read that Tsogyal had "accumulated merit and purified defilements for numbered and unnumbered ages, sending forth great waves of goodness for all that lives." From this point of view, Tsogyal's life is to be seen as the final stage in a long karmic sequence. It was the point at which, as Guru Rinpoche himself said, lingering obstacles were exhausted and dispelled, and the vast deposit of meritorious potential burst into flower.

This essentially evolutionary idea is combined with another fundamental notion of Mahayana Buddhism. Not only is Tsogyal said to have amassed immense reserves of merit, she is referred to as a Nirmanakaya, an already enlightened being who "came down to earth" in order to set forth the path of Dharma by word and example. Her appearance in eighth century Tibet was, according to this perspective, but one example of the "dancing transmutation of her form" so delightful to the Buddhas of the three times. Not only does she teach through the great unfolding of her wisdom, her life itself is seen as a kind of didactic drama, demonstrating the possibility of inner development and the attainment of the final fruit.

An essential feature of the Nirmanakaya, the perceptible form of an enlightened being, is that while issuing from a transmundane source, it appears perfectly according to the needs of beings and within the range and expectancies implicit in their perceptions. The Nirmanakaya is fully accessible at the level at which it manifests; its primary function is to communicate and to teach. If addressed to humans, it will appear in perfectly human terms and within a network of authentic human relationships, thereby enabling ordinary mortals to enter into genuine contact with it and to progress beyond their limitations. Traditionally, therefore, the idea of Tsogyal's being a Nirmanakaya is not understood as in any way attenuating her humanity or the reality of the weaknesses and obstacles that she must struggle against and surmount.

Another important point to bear in mind is that, according to Buddhist teaching, Buddhahood is not a samsaric event. It transcends the world and cannot be located within the spatial and temporal continuum of unenlightened existence. As Guru Rinpoche says to the king, it is "uncaused, unwrought." It is outside time and the chronological sequence of past, present and future. It is therefore highly meaningful to describe Yeshe Tsogyal as being enlightened even before she engages in the practices that "give rise" to her attainment. Moreover, according to the Nyingma, the most ancient school of Tibetan Buddhism, the Tathagatagarbha, or Buddha-nature, is considered not as a mere potential, but as the true nature of the mind endowed with all the qualities of wisdom. Present in every sentient being, though veiled by adventitious defilement, it is already perfect and fully accomplished. From this perspective, the preliminary chapters of Lady of the Lotus-Born may be read as a description of Tsogyal's essential dignity. Her progress towards enlightenment is not so much the "gaining" of something not yet possessed but the disclosure of an already innate perfection. What at the end of the book shines forth in the person of Tsogyal is, however obscured, equally present and equally perfect in every living being.