Padmasambhava
The eighth century was a period of active Buddhist expansion, as monastic traditions moved across Central and South Asia into new linguistic and cultural territories. It was within this broader current of religious transmission that Padmasambhava took his place as a Buddhist monk.
Born in 717 in Oddiyana, Padmasambhava worked in the Tibetan language. His use of Tibetan as a medium of religious life points to his engagement with the Himalayan world during a period when Buddhism was finding footing in that region. As a monk, he operated within a structured religious vocation, and the combination of his origins in Oddiyana and his Tibetan-language work marks him as someone whose life crossed significant geographical ground. He died in 762, meaning his life spanned roughly four and a half decades.
The biographical record that can be verified for Padmasambhava is spare. What remains confirmed is that he was a male Buddhist monk, born in Oddiyana, who worked in the Tibetan language and lived during the first half of the eighth century. This is a period for which documentary evidence about individual religious figures is often limited, and Padmasambhava is no exception. The relative thinness of the verifiable record is itself a feature of the historical moment — a time when the written documentation of individual lives was far less systematic than it would later become.
What the evidence does establish is a concrete, if brief, outline: a Buddhist monk from Oddiyana, working in the Tibetan language, who lived from 717 to 762. These anchoring facts — his religious identity, his place of birth, his working language, and the dates that bracket his life — are what the historical record holds with confidence.
Quotes by Padmasambhava
Padmasambhava's insights on:
Agitation due to circumstances occurs when because of an external incident, you follow a thought, and your mind becomes agitated and scatters into a disturbing emotion. When that happens, keep the attitude of “There is no need to do anything!” Train in loving kindness and compassion, disenchantment, means and knowledge, and devotion. Following that, persevere in the practice as at the time of the view. That will clear it.
There is no difference between buddhas and sentient beings other than their scope of mind. What is called mind, consciousness, or awareness, is of a single identity. The mind of a sentient being is limited. The mind of a buddha is all-pervasive. So develop a scope of mind that is like the sky, which has no limit to the east, west, north, or south. – Shri Singha
The guru said: If you want to genuinely practice the Dharma, do what is virtuous, even the most minute deed. Renounce what is evil, even the tiniest deed. The largest ocean is made from drops of water; even Mount Sumeru and the four continents are made of tiny atoms. (p. 30)
![When your body is in seclusion your mind will be also. Give up idle gossip and speak less. If you hurt another's feelings, both of you create negative karma […] don't allow yourself to feel attached or hostile. Maintain a peaceful frame of mind. Give up angry and harsh words; instead speak with a smiling face.](https://lakl0ama8n6qbptj.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/quotes/quote-522632.png)
When your body is in seclusion your mind will be also. Give up idle gossip and speak less. If you hurt another's feelings, both of you create negative karma […] don't allow yourself to feel attached or hostile. Maintain a peaceful frame of mind. Give up angry and harsh words; instead speak with a smiling face.
When you hear pleasant or unpleasant words, understand them to be an empty resounding, like an echo. When you encounter severe misfortune and misery, understand it to be a temporary occurrence, a deluded experience. Recognize that the innate nature is never apart from you... (p. 29)
When you hear pleasant or unpleasant words, understand them to be an empty resounding, like an echo. When you encounter severe misfonune and misery, understand it to be a temporary occurrence, a deluded experience. Recognize that the innate nature is never apart from you.
It is entirely possible that you will feel attachment to or aversion for certain sense objects. Give that up. When you feel attachment towards something attractive or aversion towards something repulsive, understand that to be your mind's delusion, nothing but a magical illusion.
Do like this if you want to practice the true Dharma! Keep your master's oral instructions in mind. Don't conceptualize your experience, as it just makes you attached or angry. Day and night, look into your mind. If your stream of mind contains any nonvirtue, renounce it from the core of your heart and pursue virtue. (p. 29)
„The Great Perfection I learned from my naturally aware mind.I have realized that all phenomena are like dreams, like magic.