Khenpo Sodargye
There was an old monk in Xinlong with a submissive character who was frequently bullied by others. Later, he recited the Mahakala mantra 700 million times and on his deathbed, he made an evil aspiration, "In this life, I have been bullied by everyone. May I be reborn in my next life as someone with great power over people."
After he died, he was reborn as the tyrant Gonpo Namgyal in the Xinlong region (who lived around the 18th or 19th century). Throughout his life, this tyrant murdered many monastics and laypeople. Sometimes, Gonpo Namgyal would let little children drink their fill of milk and then throw them down from a nine-story building. After the children's bodies were smashed, the white milk would splash all over the ground. Seeing such a terrible sight, he would clap his hands in joy. He often killed people for amusement using various methods. This story of cause and effect was recounted by HH Dodrupchen Rinpoche.
Some biographies state that Gonpo Namgyal once forced Dodrupchen Rinpoche to promise that when he (Gonpo) died, Rinpoche would perform deliverance for his spirit, threatening to kill Rinpoche if he did not agree. HH Dodrupchen Rinpoche had no choice but to agree.
Later, when Gonpo Namgyal died, HH was in the Qinghai area. Upon hearing the news, he immediately rushed back to Xinlong. Rinpoche said: "Because I made a promise, I have no choice but to perform deliverance for Gonpo Namgyal. However, his karmic burden is too heavy; I can only prevent him from falling into hell this time, he will still be continuously reborn in the hell realms in future lives."
After seeing this case-study, we must remember that as a Buddhist practitioner, especially a Mahayana practitioner, you must not make a wrong or negative dedication of your merits!
(Note: The proper way of dedication is towards the attainment of Buddhahood for the benefit of all beings. Any other way of dedication could lead to unintended results as shown in this case.)
In the text “Cautionary Histories that Edifies The Mind in Virtue”, it is said that there was once a general Wu who forged a sword and went to a temple to make a vow: "May I use this sword to kill a thousand men." That very night, he dreamed of the temple deity who said: "A person must not make evil vows. I will protect you so that you do not die by the hands of others." Later, he was defeated in battle and committed suicide by slitting his own throat with that sword. This was a karmic result of the evil vow he had made before.
In the past, there was a high-ranking official Wador in the eastern Tibetan region. He had a feud for many years with Jamyang Shepa of the Gemang area. The two fought endlessly and in the end, Jamyang Shepa could not defeat Wador. However, after Wador died, his blind son Walong continued to wage battles against Jamyang Shepa. Finally, Walong was defeated.
Later on, Walong recited the Mani mantra 200 million times. On his deathbed, he made an evil vow with this merit. As a result, after he died, he was reborn as an evil demon that wreaked havoc in the Gemang area, doing many wicked things that harmed humans and livestock.
The “Great Tang Dynasty Records on the Western Regions” records that there was once a sage in the kingdom of Magadha who had attained the five spiritual penetrations through meditation. The local king revered him deeply and invited him to the royal palace every day to receive offerings. Each time the sage would fly to the palace and the king would personally carry him in his arms to the throne.
One day, the king had to go out on business, so he instructed a palace maiden, "Today, when the sage comes to receive offerings, you must attend to him just as I do." At noon, when the sage came to the palace, the maiden carried him to the throne as the king did in the past.
Due to his physical contact with a woman, the sage gave rise to a mind of desire and lost his powers instantly. Previously, he would fly back after eating, but now he could no longer fly. Feeling very embarrassed, he gave an excuse, "I heard that the people of this country have always wanted to see me. Today, I am willing to make a karmic connection with these people. I will walk back so that the masses may receive blessings."
The palace maiden believed his words, so she notified the people to sweep the streets and see the sage off respectfully. Thus, the sage walked back to his place of solitary retreat. Later, during his practice, there were many birds chirping and chattering in the forest that it was too noisy for him to enter into meditative absorption. So, he went to the riverside to practice, but the fishes in the river also made noises.
The sage got extremely annoyed and made an evil vow, "May I become a giant flying beast in the future, with a body three thousand li wide and two wings each spanning one thousand five hundred li, consuming all the birds in the forest and the fishes in the rivers."
After aspiring in this way, he resumed his practice and soon accomplished meditative absorption. After his death, he was reborn in the heavenly realms, with a lifespan lasting eighty thousand kalpas. After his heavenly lifespan ended, he turned into the flying beast that slaughtered fishes and birds.
During his practice, this sage made an evil vow because of the disturbance around him. Therefore, fellow practitioners should be careful. When someone disturbs you during your meditation or chanting, do not get angry and think, "This person is truly annoying. In the future, I will turn into a demon and eat them."
Creating merits on one hand while having evil thoughts or aspirations on the other hand will lead to truly terrifying consequences. Therefore, I hope that everyone will do their utmost to control their minds, engaging in virtuous thoughts/aspirations and putting a stop to evil ones.
(Note: Even a momentary thought can become a powerful aspiration.)
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HH 4th Kyabje Dodrupchen Rinpoche's last instruction before he passed into parinirvana:
We hear many stories of famous Lamas and spiritual leaders, many with big names. Geshes who have culminated their scholarship on the five great texts, the Buddha's canon and the great Indian treatises; big-named Lamas with names of "Khenpo," "Lama," and "Tulku," who have failed to tame their own minds, and therefore have become the servants of their emotional poisons, making heinous negative karma. They lead themselves and others to ruin.
To give you some examples, during Jetsun Milarepa's time, there was a Geshe named Geshe Tsagphuwa, who was so jealous of Jetsun Milarepa that he offered Milarepa yogurt laced with poison. Or the Geshe who accompanied Dragyur Marpa Lotsawa from India to Tibet, and became so jealous of Marpa Lotsawa that while the two were on a boat, he threw all of Marpa Lotsawa's sacred texts which Marpa had brought from India into the river. There was also the Geshe who led the Chinese army into Tibet, and then the Geshe who, when he was in debate with another Geshe, stuck a metal rod into the ear of his debate opponent. When we think of such things, it is truly horrifying and saddening. And there are countless more cases like the ones I mentioned.
Similarly, there are retreatants who stay many years on retreat, meditating on deity yoga development and completion stages, but whose minds are still not imbued with renunciation or bodhichitta, and their minds are turned in the opposite direction from the authentic path. They are bound up by their attachments and clinging, and they fall into the trap of thinking the deity exists as a real entity from its own side. So they end up turning into ghosts and king demons of broken samaya. There are many stories of these things happening as well.
For example, in my home country there are different demonic entities which are known as the Nyigyal demon, Dzigyal demon, Lug-gyal demon, and so forth. All of these demons were once retreatants and Lamas who turned into ghosts and demons. There are many demons, like (here, Rinpoche named a spirit), who were once big-name Lamas and hermits who spent many years on retreat. But because they did not tame their own minds, they went down the wrong path and ultimately became reborn as ghosts and demons who have taken the life-breath of many sentient beings. The root cause of all of this is not taming one's own mind. That's what it comes down to.
So I ask the teachers to please only teach the Lojong, the mind-training, mind-taming practices that tame the mindstream. Focus your teachings on the mind-training practices and teach in such a way that tears helplessly fall from your students’ eyes. Without mind-training, they will not become good Dharma practitioners. If you teach mind-training well and people practice mind-training, they will become good practitioners.
