Drukpa Kunley – “eccentric lighting” or “wise fool”

Buddha Drukpa Kunley was one of the greatest saints of Tibet,

known as the “mad sage” or “eccentric lighting”,

due to his unconventional behavior and obscene humor by which he managed ” to free people from dogmatic and limiting religious thought”.

“What I do is not my way of being, but it is the way I pass on my teaching.”

“Carefree letting go, huge compassion, total lack of inhibition, clever use of shock therapy, tears, and laughter are the specific characteristics of the Divine Madman.”

His Masters

Naljorpa Drupka Kunley comes from a high-ranking family with an ancient spiritual tradition.

He was an extremely precocious child, remembering his previous lives perfectly.

He mastered the practice of meditation very well, did breathing exercises and his only concern was yoga.

It was received in order of the monks by JEKYENEr BARPA of ZRALU.

Monk SONAM CHORPA taught him tantric Buddhism and the secret knowledge of mantras,

while from GYALWONG JE, he learned the complete doctrine of the DRUPKA tradition.

He had several masters from whom he assimilated the secret treasure of initiation.

By synthesizing the meaning of all the oral teachings he received, he discovered the key to complete realization:

“Be aware and master your mind!”

Drucka Kunley achieved mastery on his spiritual path at the age of 25.

He had a perfect ability to change shape, predict the future and easily materialize whatever he wanted.

There are several writings of the miracles he performed.

Here is one of them, in which he is sought to pay a tribute and here’s how he behaves in a way that is characteristic of him:

A messenger brought Kunley to the castle.

“You’re the madman named Drupka Kunley, aren’t you?” the boss jubilated.

“You, man from Ralung!

Have you forgotten that each of us is in the habit of paying YANDROK NANGKARTSE a yak and nine sheep as a fee,

and that you also have to pay the tax for a sheep and wool to TSE CHEN?

For you, there is no proof that you have paid your tax.

Instead of thanking me for leaving you alone until now, you killed and ate my deer at Galden Monastery, and you advise people only to the evil.

You will have to pay me tomorrow for the meat from a hundred animals as a tax.

“You will be paid according to the account of your virtues and vices by YAMA,

The God of Death, who impartially reflects the karma of all beings in the six realms in his clear mirror,” the Lama told him.

“Anyway, if you say you want to have meat tomorrow, leave your doors open in the morning.”

After he left, people were amazed at how he would be able to perform such a task.

“Precisely he will steal animals,” they told themselves.

“It doesn’t matter how he does it, as long as I get the meat,” the leader said.

Leave the gates open tomorrow morning.”

When the sun appeared the next day from behind the mountains of the East,

a great tear and cursing were heard approaching from the direction of the Gyangtse Valley,

and the Lama was seen driving before him a hundred and ten deer from Galden.

“Here’s your meat tax!” the Lama shouted to the chief.

“Take it if you want.

I won’t be able to give it to you tomorrow, but today you can have as many animals as there are in Tibet.

If you don’t want them, I will send them to Paradise.

This is the order of the God of Death.”

“Drupka Kunley, madman!

You are either an incarnate devil, or you are the emanation of a BUDDHA.

To gather deer in the flock like sheep is indeed a miracle, but I don’t get the meat tax in live animals anyway.

I need their bodies,” the boss told him.

“That’s not a problem,” Lama said, and began to cut off the heads of the deer.

After he killed them, he started skinning them, stacking the bloody cadraves into a pile.

The ruler was frightened. “Enough! That’s enough!” he shouted.

“Mad Drupka Kunley, I made a big mistake!

In the future, neither you nor the descendants of the Drupka clan will have to pay the TSANG meat tax.

Take the meat from here and sell it in the market and release the spirits of these animals!

“Yesterday you told us that you need the meat tax, so I drove these animals here.

Now you tell me you don’t want them. in this case, the animals may return to Galden.”

He snapped his fingers and shouted, “Go home!”

The corpses stood up, each found a skin and a head, although some small animals took large heads, and some large animals took small heads and fled back to Galden.

Even today, strange species of deer with mismatched heads can still be seen around Galden.

The leader, his officers, and servants were filled with deep devotion, and their faces were bathed in tears.

They knelt before the Lama, palms clasped together in prayer.

The leader said:

Kunga Legpa, a unique refuge for beings!
Southern clouds high in mid-summer
They are ignorant of the sunrise and sunset;
We worship at the feet of Drupka Kunley, Lord of All Beings.

He followed the tantric path of some masters with exceptional achievements: Milarepa, Marpa, Naropa, Tilopa.

Although his master, Milarepa, was a celibate, Drukpa Kunley revealed through poetry, song, dance, humor and lovemaking that the true nature of the manifested world – Samsara, is essentially the same as transcendence – Nirvana.

He did not choose to give up or deny life, but on the contrary,

he saw life itself as a spiritual path, using desire, emotion and sexuality to awaken spiritually and reach the ultimate realization.

His life was imbued with the sacred, with the authentic, being free from any limitation, as a result he did not manifest a rigid behavior, influenced by social conventions. That’s why people can perceive it as eccentric or lunatic.

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It is a living example of freedom, truth and love, reminding at all times that man is a divine being. Such a being is also known as AVADHUTA, which means:

A – Immutable – Akshara

Will – Excellent – Varenya

Dhu – the one who shakes the shackles of the world

HUTA – “You’re there” – TAT TWAM ASI

A realized being feels life as a Divine Creation or the Divine Game (LILA).

As the “mad sage” is described in SIDDHA-SIDDHANTA-PADDHATI, one of the earliest hatha-yogic texts:

The one that constantly rotates completely right in its center
And who looks at the world with unwavering calm
He is called an AVADHUTA

The one that constantly rotates completely right in its center
And who looks at the world with unwavering calm
He is called an AVADHUTA

He who is firmly established in His own Light,
What is the lustre of the nature of the Shining One, the one who rejoices
In the world through the game – he is called an AVADHUTA

The one who sometimes rejoices, and sometimes gives up,
Sometimes he is naked or demon-like, sometimes he is a king
And sometimes he has chosen behaviors
He is called an AVADHUTA.

He was known as “the saint of 5000 women” or “the saint of fertility”.

Drukpa Kunley pointed out that celibacy was not necessary to be enlightened.

He had a deep understanding of existence, by relating to the being of the opposite sex as to a divine being and by the miracle of experiencing amorous interaction as a grace, through which we can know the true spiritual freedom.

Legend linked to the cult of fertility and the symbol of lingam

This legend tells of how Drukpa Kunley defeated a demon and made him a follower.

Legend has it that a demon named Loro Duem terrified the locals by controlling both sides of the mountains of Dochula Pass and no one managed to defeat him. So people asked Lama Drucka to help them escape the demon.

It is said that in order to fight the demon, Lama Drucka turned into a grey dog and fled to the top of a mountain.

He pursued the demon he caught and with which he merged into a love affair, as a result of which the demon accepted him as his master and became his disciple. This is where the Chimi Lhakhang Temple is today, known for its power to confer fertility. After this event, the village of Punakha began to worship the motif of the penis as a divine protective symbol and began the practice of painting it on the walls of the temple.

The way of the “divine fool” or “divine wisdom”

This path of “divine fool” or “divine wisdom” addresses unconventional methods to teach people to view all things as sacred. It encompasses actions that may seem bizarre or “crazy”, but are, in fact, part of the practitioner’s discipline towards his own liberation, as well as towards the liberation of others.

It’s a hard way, but also the fastest way to spiritual realization. Therefore, it is essential that the disciple has an unwavering trust in his Master, to whom he is totally abandoned, to be willing to step out of his comfort zone and to accept with detachment the confrontation with unpredictable and unusual situations.

The philosophy of this path is revealed to us in “The Divine Fool”, the biography of the great master, one of the most important books of introduction to the highest teaching of tantrism.