Mahasiddha Luipa

A wild dog with a nose anointed with honey

He greedily devours everything he sees;

Reveal the secret of the Blades of a madman attached to the world

And the mind, as well as its entire lineage, will be turned into ashes.

A responsible man, who holds the knowledge of the unborn reality,

It only needs one spark of Lama’s vision of pure light.

To destroy the illusion of the mind,

Like a rabid elephant

Who runs through the enemy ranks with a sword in the tube.

Legend

In distant times, in the beautiful kingdom of Sri Lanka, a young prince, became the heir to the throne of his father, a very feared and wealthy king. The astrologers of the royal court had calculated that the king’s second son would have to reign in order for the kingdom to prosper and the people to be pleased. As a result, the prince was forced to accept the rule of the kingdom, despite the fact that he felt nothing but contempt for wealth and power and secretly dreamed of escaping this status.

When he first tried to flee the palace, his brothers and courtiers caught him and put him in gilded chains. In the end, he managed to bribe the guards with gold and silver, fungiting in the middle of the night, having with him only a companion and being dressed in rags.

Before leaving for Ramevaram, where Rama reigned royally, he rewarded his accomplice to the fullest. The young king gave up his golden throne and his silk and satin bed, for a simple deer skin and a bed of ashes, practicing the methods that generate spiritual evolution and thus becoming a yogi.

He crossed India, first reaching Vajrasana, the place where Buddha Sakyamyni had reached enlightenment. Here he joined the welcoming Dakini who conveyed to him their feminine vision. After that he continued his journey, heading to Pataliputra, the residence of the king on the River Ganges. There he lived from begging and slept on a cremation ground.

One day, while begging in the bazaar, he stopped at a house of pleasures in the city, and here, karma offered him the chance to meet under the appearance of a courtesan, the worldly incarnation of a Dakini. This, panting deep in his mind, revealed the following: “The four psychic centers and their energies are quite pure, but there is still in your heart a dark stain of royal pride.” Saying this, Dakini poured into his bowl for alms, some spoiled food. He threw the food into a ditch, and went on. Dakini called out to him, angrily, “How do you think you will achieve enlightenment, if you are still concerned about the purity of your food?”

At that moment, the yogi felt his whole world collapse. He realized that his rational mind was still active on a certain subtle level, and that he still perceived certain things as more desirable than others, this being the main obstacle in the realization of his spiritual progress.

Following this awareness, the yogi decided to start a sadhana, for twelve years meant to destroy the templates of his discursive mind. Arriving on the bank of the River Ganges, his practice consisted in eating the bowels of the fish that the fishermen threw, thus transforming the impura food into the nectar of pure consciousness, by meditating on the fact that the nature of all things is vacuity.

This practice, which eventually brought him spiritual realization, was also the one that gave him the name of Luipa, which means: “He who eats the offal of fish.”

Spiritual Practice

This legend symbolically repeats certain elements from the initiatory path of Buddha Sakyamuni.

Luipa renounced the throne, and used a deer skin (krsnasara), as a meditation mat, like Buddha. Deer skin is the symbol of the one who gave up, of the ascetic, and in India the term “goat” also means “unborn”, symbolizing the primordial substance unmanifested, and being associated with initiation.

To achieve the liberation of samsara, the world of illusion, a radical method is required. In Luipa’s case, this was manifested by the intervention of a Dakini, in the apparent form of a light woman.

The indication given by her refers to the path of transcendence, a path that Luipa follows in his sadhana, on the bank of the Ganges, transforming and alchemizing, the bowels of fish into the heavenly nectar.

The effect of these methods is the attainment of the consciousness of perfect equality, which lies beyond pride, discirmination and prejudice, and which is realized in vacuity.

Historical landmarks

It is assumed that Luipa’s birthplace was Sri Lanka, which is Singhaladvipa’s correspondent, from the original text.

Luipa occupies the first place in the series of legends of the eighty-four masters, according to the narrator’s belief that he was the first guru (adi -guru) of the Mahamudra line, either in time or status.

Luipa’s spiritual line includes Kambala, Lalitavajra, Padmavajra and Anangavajra. which he initiated. (according to L. Frederic 1985 – Dictionnaire de la civilization indienne).