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To conclude, I shall relate one more of these curious tests, the story being rather amusing.
Master and disciple were strolling in the streets when they happened to meet a wedding
procession accompanying a bride to her husband's house.
" I desire that woman," said Tilopa to Naropa. " Go, bring her to me."
He had scarcely finished speaking before Naropa joined the cortège.
Seeing that he was a Brahmin, the men of the wedding party allowed him to approach the
bride, thinking that he meant to bless her. But when they saw that he took her in his arms
and intended to carry her away, they seized on everything they could find the
palanquin's sticks, the torches that lighted the way of the procession and other implements
to belabour poor Naropa. So soundly was he cudgelled that he fainted and was left for
dead on the spot.
Tilopa had not waited for the end of the performance to pass quietly on his way.
When he came to his senses again and had painfully dragged himself along until he
overtook his whimsical guru, the latter, as welcome, asked him once more the usual
question, "Do you not regret . . . " And, as usual also, Naropa protested that a thousand
deaths seemed to him but a trifle to purchase the privilege of being his disciple.
At last, Naropa got the reward of his long tribulations. But not in the form of regular
teaching and initiation.
If we trust the tradition, Tilopa seems to have used,
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on that occasion, a queer method somewhat akin to that patronized by the Chinese
WITH MYSTICS AND MAGICIANS IN TIBET: CHAPTER V: DISIPLES OF YORE AND THEIR CONTEMPORARY EMULATORS
teachers of the Ts'an sect. There is no doubt that, though left apparently untaught, Naropa
had been able to grasp a number of points in the "Short Path's doctrine," during his lively
period of probation. However, the manner of his full enlightening is related as follows:
Naropa was seated near a fire in the open with his master. Quite unexpectedly, the latter
took off one of his shoes and soundly slapped the disciple's face with it. Naropa saw all
the stars of heaven, and at the same time the inner meaning of the " Short Path's doctrine "
flashed into his mind.
Naropa, had later on, a large number of disciples, and, according to the tradition, was a
most kind master, sparing his pupils the painful ordeals which he had himself so bitterly
experienced.
Already advanced in age, he left the monastery of which he was a reputed doctor and,
retiring in solitude, devoted twelve consecutive years to uninterrupted contemplation. He
is said to have finally reached " the excellent success"
(Mchog gi dnos grub.)
that is to say Buddhahood.
Naropa is especially known in Tibet as the spiritual teacher of the Lama Marpa, who was
himself the master of the famous ascetic poet Milarespa whose religious songs are most
popular all over Tibet.
If Naropa showed himself a mild spiritual father, such was not the case with Marpa, who
tortured the poor Milarespa for years, commanding him to build a house unaided and then
ordering him several times to pull it down when nearly finished, and rebuild it again.
Milarespa was to dig out the stones alone and to carry them on his back. The repeated
rubbing of these hard loads caused sores which became infected on account of the earth
and dirt that entered them. Marpa pretended to ignore the martyrdom which his disciple
endured. When, at last, yielding to the supplications of his wife Dagmedma,
(Marpa, who lived before the reform of Tsong Khapa, was a married lama.)
the lama condescended to
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look at the bleeding back of Milarespa, he coldly advised him to place a piece of felt on it
with holes to isolate the sores. This is a process commonly used in Tibet for the sore backs
of pack animals.
The house built by Milarespa still exists in Lhobrag Southern Tibet.
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Tibetans do not entertain the least doubt regarding the complete authenticity of such
stories. If we cannot vie in faith with them, we must, however, beware of considering all
traditional account of the novice naljorpas' exertions as mere fictions. It would be also an
error to believe that such facts belong to a remote past and cannot occur again nowadays.
The Tibetan mind has not changed since the time of Marpa. In the house of many lamas I
have recognized the very picture of his home and customs, as they are depicted in Tibetan
literature, while Marpa himself appeared to me personified by the master of the house.
The young monk in quest of a spiritual guide has also remained the image of his
predecessors. If not quite equal in zeal to Naropa and Milarespa, who have been, in all
times, exceptional characters, he is still ready to bear uncommon hardship, make a number
of sacrifices and see many prodigies. And so the fantastic adventures of yore are lived
over again every day at the four corners of the " Land of Snows."
However barbarous the physical ordeals with which the hermits think useful to test the
quality of their disciples may appear, these are, nevertheless, the lightest part of the
training. The really dreadful trial is the purely mental one.
This begins when the first idea arises in the candidate for initiation of begging the
guidance of a mystic anchorite. So many things are rumoured about these gomchens, their
life is so mysterious, their appearance and the rare words they utter are so exceedingly
strange that, for Tibetans already inclined to superstitious terror, they seem a thousand
times more to be feared than gods and demons. Indeed, they must be so, for they are
credited with the power of enslaving gods and demons. Lost travellers or hunters have
more than once related
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that while wandering across solitary hills they have had a glimpse of inhuman beings
attending on some of these hermits.
To betake oneself to such a master, to put one's present life and one's fate hereafter in his
hands is a hazardous step. It is easy to imagine the hesitations, the conflicting feelings,
and the anguish which prey on the mind of the aspirant to secret lore.
The long distances which the candidate generally has to travel through desert regions to
reach the hermitage of the master whom he has chosen, the wild majesty of the site in
which such hermitages are generally situated, all these again contribute to deeply impress
the young monk.
Psychic training undertaken in such a disposition, in such surroundings, and under such a
master cannot help being fantastic. Around the disciple abandoned to prolonged solitary
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