Niguma, The Secret One

Niguma was one of the legendary 11th-century female Indian yoginis and is reported to have been born in 1016 AD. However, there are few historical sources about her or her student, the Shangpa Kagyu master Khyungpo Naljor, who transmitted teachings in Tibet. It is said he only met her in several visions 150 years after her lifetime. The only reliable sources of information on Niguma are from the biographies of the Indian scholar and accomplisher (Sanskrit: Mahasiddha, Tibetan: Drubchen) Naropa (956-1040), with whom she kept close contact. Tibetan sources describe Niguma with the words Cham Mo, which means both sister and wife.

In Naropa’s life story, as translated by Herbert V. Guenther, Niguma was Naropa’s wife. Guenther described Naropa as the son of a respected royal family with an extraordinary education in both spiritual and worldly fields. At the age of eighteen, he was already considered a scholar, and he wanted to become a monk. However, his parents insisted that he should marry and continue the family line. To avoid this without appearing rebellious, Naropa demanded a number of impossible conditions a potential candidate had to meet: She was to be sixteen years old, very beautiful, intelligent, free from prejudice, clean, the daughter of a Brahmin, and in addition be called Niguma. Finally, she had to be open to the teachings of the Great Way and have blonde hair. He assured his parents he would agree to marry as soon as they had found such a bride.

His parents were totally desperate, faced with this hopeless situation. Nevertheless, out of devotion to Naropa‘s father, a very loyal minister started on a journey together with a friend to find this special bride. After they had been traveling in vain for more than a year, one day they had a special encounter at a well in Bengal; just then a Brahmin‘s daughter came to the same well.

Her blonde hair was tied up in a knot and she looked around with wide eyes. When she saw nobody to draw water with a rope for her, she did the job herself without the slightest hesitation. Then the minister addressed her and asked for some water. The girl was deeply touched by how tired and exhausted they both looked and fulfilled their wish with great pleasure. She paid meticulous attention to handing them a clean drinking bowl. This showed the minister that she had a very compassionate nature and a natural sense of cleanliness, so he asked about her parents, her name, her age, and to what caste she belonged.

She answered, “My father is the Brahmin Tisya. My mother is the Brahmin Nigu and my brother is the Brahmin Nagu. I am called Niguma. I am sixteen years old and belong to the Brahmin caste.”

The minister could hardly believe that all these details corresponded to Naropa‘s demands. So he asked her if she had ever heard of Naropa, King Santivarman’s son, and if she could imagine marrying him. She said he would have to ask her father about it and she would follow her father‘s wishes. Her parents subsequently agreed to the marriage.

Naropa was quite astonished since the impossible conditions he dictated seemed to him a rather secure way of avoiding marriage. The couple was married for eight years and Niguma was eager to learn from Naropa and practiced the Great Way. After being married for eight years, Naropa’s previous aspiration to be free from samsaric life awoke again and he decided to get a divorce in order to be able to enter a monastery. It is said that Niguma offered to take all the blame for the failed marriage by saying she had made so many mistakes that he could no longer endure being married to her. The couple’s parents negotiated the matter and decided to dissolve the marriage.

After that, Naropa built an impressive career at the famous monastic university of Nalanda, where he was even granted the position of gatekeeper, an enormous responsibility. However, he later renounced this respected position to become a disciple of the yogi Tilopa (988-1069). Having suffered twelve greater and twenty-four smaller disasters in the course of his spiritual development, after twelve years, Naropa finally became enlightened.

While there is no clear description as to how Niguma attained enlightenment, one source states that she practiced together with her teacher, the great accomplisher Lavapa¹, and became enlightened in only one week!

There may still be original Tibetan texts which could offer further details when translated to a Western language, however, at present only fragments are available. All available sources, such as those authored by Taranatha (born c.1575), who is especially known for his work History of Buddhism in India and a standard text on Green Tara, clearly states that she received neither the teachings on working with enlightened energy nor those on working with the mind from a human teacher, but from Diamond Holder (Sanskrit: Vajradhara, Tibetan: Dorje Chang) in a vision. Since Buddha Shakyamuni often appeared in the form of Diamond Holder to his disciples when giving tantric teachings, Diamond Holder is considered to be inseparable from him. Thus, Niguma received teachings directly from Buddha‘s mind and since she was able to open up so deeply, she did not have to practice for many years.

After her enlightenment, Niguma took the form of a wisdom dakini. Since then, she has been dwelling in the enlightened awareness of the Joy State (Sanskrit: Sambhogakaya, Tibetan: Long Ku) of Buddhahood and can no longer be perceived by normal beings. However, she never ceased to exist. Historically, Niguma is mentioned only very rarely after her divorce and she is said to have remained a devoted disciple of the great master Naropa. The Buddhist scriptures preserve some of Niguma’s oral instructions, such as the empowerment of the Buddha Oh Diamond (Sanskrit: Hevajra, Tibetan: Kye Dorje), in whose direct lineage of transmission she appears together with Sukhasiddhi. Other known teachings by Niguma deal with the steps on the Path of Magical Illusion (Sanskrit: Mayadhanacrama). These are explanations for very advanced meditations on insight into the illusory nature of all things. Niguma even considered Buddhahood itself an illusion, the highest illusion of all, but still an illusion.

In biographies of the translator Marpa (1012-1097), who became a disciple of Naropa, Niguma is mentioned as Marpa’s tutor who helped him work on and write down various texts. Also, Naropa sent Marpa to Niguma to learn from her as one of his many teachers. Naropa, however, gave no hint as to the relation between him and Niguma.

“On the shore of a poisonous lake in the south, at the cremation grounds of Sosadvipa, there lives the [dark-skinned] Wisdom Dakini, who adorns herself with bone ornaments. Whoever encounters her is liberated. Meet her and ask her for the teaching on the Cathuhpitha Tantra.”

Marpa met Niguma there, where she was dwelling in a grass hut. After he had presented her with a gold mandala, he asked her for the teaching. Very happily she gave him the full empowerment and the oral transmission of the Cathuhpitha Tantra. Moreover, Niguma instructed him on the Developing Stage (Sanskrit: Utpatti, Tibetan: Kyerim) and the Completion Stage (Sanskrit: Sampannakrama, Tibetan: Dzogrim) of meditation. On his later journeys, Marpa frequently returned to Niguma to receive further teachings, and one time, he stayed with her for a whole month.

All further encounters with the enlightened Niguma took place in the form of visions, experienced by her later lineage holders Khyungpo Naljor, Sangye Tonpa, Kunga Drolchok, and Taranatha in Tibet. In addition, the famous lama and engineer Thangtong Gyalpo, who built numerous suspension bridges with solid metal chains in old Tibet, had three visions of her. The first time, she appeared from a cloud, descended to earth, gave him empowerments and many teachings, and held a vajra celebration with him after she answered his many questions. Some years later, she appeared again, this time as a singing fifteen-year-old shepherdess who sadly told Thangtong Gyalpo how hard it was to benefit beings as a girl. She had shown herself at various places in central and western Tibet to give teachings to happy people, but he was the only one who had recognized her.

At the end of Thangtong Gyalpo’s life, one of his disciples who had received the traditional Shangpa teachings from him had gained clairvoyant control over his dreams. This disciple discovered that Thangtong Gyalpo knew many more visualizations and asked him why he had not passed these on. Thangtong Gyalpo answered that they had been given to him directly by the dakini and she had expressly forbidden him to pass them on. Like many other Shangpa masters, Thangtong Gyalpo respected Niguma‘s wish to keep her teachings secret.

The later founder of the Shangpa Kagyu tradition, Khyungpo Naljor, studied with 150 such teachers, and one of the most famous among them was Niguma. According to Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye, Kyungpo Naljor was one of the most highly realized masters Tibet has ever produced. Khyungpo Naljor met Niguma about 150 years after her official lifetime in a wild vision. Despite his already substantial knowledge, he still wished for more advanced teachings and asked all the highly realized Indian masters he knew for them. He longed for teachings as they were given by Buddha himself.

Their response was that he could only receive these from a dakini like the great Niguma. And where could he find her? Well, she could show up anywhere, but for beings constantly confused by their own emotions, it was very hard, if not impossible, to encounter her at all. Niguma had dissolved her normal, physical body into rainbow light and regarding her spiritual state, she was inseparable from Diamond Holder himself. But it might be possible to encounter her at one of the cremation grounds, where she instructed a number of dakinis and presided over a large ritual offering festival (Sanskrit: Ganacakra, Tibetan: Tsog Kyi Khorlo).

When Khyungpo Naljor heard about Niguma, he knew instantly that he had to find her. Just hearing her name touched him so deeply that his eyes filled with tears and he began to tremble. Without hesitation, he started on his way to a cemetery named Sosaling, although he could not be sure whether he really would find Niguma there. While traveling, he constantly made wishes to the Three Jewels: to Buddha, to his teachings, and to the community of realized practitioners.

When he arrived at Sosaling, Khyungpo Naljor had a vision: high above, he saw a female light and energy form of a bluish color. She was wearing bone ornaments, held a trident in one hand and a skull cup in the other. While he was looking at her, sometimes there seemed to be only one dakini, sometimes many. Some were sitting in meditation posture and others were dancing very gracefully. He didn’t have the slightest doubt; this had to be the great bodhisattva Niguma! He started prostrating to her and entreated her to transmit her teachings. But she answered him with scathing mockery, “Beware! I am a flesh-eating dakini, and I have a large retinue of other dakinis. Run away before they come and devour you! Run before it is too late!”

Khyungpo Naljor was not intimidated; however, he pressed on and asked for teachings, so she started to demand gold from him. Fortunately, this posed no problem as he had 500 gold pieces, which he offered her without hesitation. An offering of this kind was quite common in those days. In return, teachers took responsibility for their disciples’ living expenses once they had been accepted.

Niguma, however, just took the gold and threw it away into the bushes. Obviously, she had no attachment to conditioned things such as gold, and Khyungpo Naljor took this as confirmation that he had indeed found the real accomplisher, Niguma. An evil, flesh-eating dakini would certainly have at least kept part of the gold for herself. So he felt even more assured and continued to ask for the teachings.

With flaming eyes, Niguma looked in all directions, and suddenly, she was surrounded by a large gathering of dakinis. They were doing all kinds of things: Some built palaces, others mandalas, some prepared Dharma teachings and others the evening’s festival. Eventually, when the full moon rose, Niguma gave the empowerment and transmission of the Dream Yoga teachings (Tibetan: Milam) to Khyungpo Naljor. In the middle of the ceremony, she said, “Son of Tibet, rise!” and he found himself hovering in the air. When he looked up to Niguma, she was sitting on top of a golden mountain, surrounded by a large retinue of dakinis. Waterfalls were flowing down the four sides of the mountain. Khyungpo Naljor wondered whether what he saw was real or if he was just witnessing the magical play of the dakinis.

Niguma gave him teachings and explained, “When the ocean of conditioned existence has run dry and any attachment to external phenomena or one’s ego has been abandoned, then everything experienced will become golden fields of non-attachment. The present nature of samsara, the world of phenomena, is like a play of dreams and magically produced illusory pictures. If you really experience that the world of phenomena is nothing but a dream, comparable to the pictures a magician may produce, then you have overcome the ocean of samsara. To do so you must be extremely devoted to your teacher. Understand this! Now you have to leave. Go and take hold of your dreams!”

Khyungpo Naljor understood her teachings and in his dreams he received the Five Golden Doctrines of Niguma and three empowerments including the Six Teachings of Niguma. After this, Niguma told Khyungpo Naljor that apart from him nobody had received the entire transmission of these teachings three times in a dream. On the next day, Niguma granted Khyungpo Naljor the complete transmission with detailed explanations while he was awake. She made him promise to keep the transmission of the Six Teachings of Niguma secret together with only one other great accomplisher by the name of Lavapa. After that time, for five generations, the transmission was to be given by only one teacher at a time to one very special disciple in an unbroken lineage of transmission. After these five generations, it would be appropriate to spread the teachings further for the benefit of all beings.

One can only guess why Niguma wished for such secrecy. Perhaps she wanted to prevent her teachings from becoming a school and, subsequently, an institution. Khyungpo Naljor was not by any means the only one Niguma asked for such secrecy. Thangtong Gyalpo had been instructed likewise. Therefore, it is no surprise that the Shangpa lineage has never grown very large and that only those practitioners that can encounter it are seriously setting off on a path towards enlightenment.

In essence, there is no difference between the Six Teachings of Naropa (Tibetan: Naro Cho Druk) and the Six Teachings of Niguma. It is said only that Niguma’s teachings are physically less strenuous. The main difference is the transmission line itself; the Six Teachings of Naropa have been transmitted through Marpa and his lineage holders within the Karma Kagyu School.

The Five Golden Doctrines of the Shangpa Kagyu are often illustrated in the form of a tree. The roots are the Six Practices of Niguma:

Inner Heat (Tibetan: Tumo)
Illusory Body (Tibetan: Gyulu)
Dream Yoga which removes spiritual darkness
(Tibetan: Milam)
Clear Light Yoga (Tibetan: Osel)
Transference of Consciousness (Tibetan: Phowa)
Intermediate State (Tibetan: Bardo)

The trunk is The Great Seal of the Amulet Box (Sanskrit: Mahamudra, Tibetan: Chagchen, Chagya Chenpo). The branches are the three methods of how to integrate the understanding of all phenomena the practitioner has gained through meditation into their everyday life. The blossoms are the Meditations on the White and the Red Dakini. The fruit is the realization that one’s own mind is indestructible and infallible.

These teachings go back to both Niguma and Sukhasiddhi. They have never been rewritten or changed in the slightest and are considered as fine and pure as gold. Since Niguma and Sukhasiddhi transmitted their knowledge to Khyungpo Naljor, they are considered the Mothers of the Shangpa Kagyu. Moreover, Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye considers them to be incarnations of the two main wives of Guru Rinpoche, Mandarava and Yeshe Tsogyal.

Niguma reached enlightenment in only one week and was doubtlessly one of the most successful practitioners ever. Still, her history can only be told with the help of other masters’ biographies and not by the usual means of chronologically arranged information. The reason that the information is missing may be that in Niguma’s day in medieval India it was just not customary to write a woman‘s biography. On the other hand, she also left the physically perceptible, material world at the time of her enlightenment. Therefore, she never was in the position of a Guru with many disciples who would have told her story. Or perhaps she was just a wild yogini who did not want anybody to make too much of a fuss about her.

Sources

Guenther, Herbert V., The Life and Teaching of Naropa, Shambhala South Asia Editions, Boston (Massachusetts) 1999.
Kongtrul, Jamgon, Retreat Manual, Snow Lion Publications, Ithaca (New York) 1994.
Kongtrul, Jamgon, Timeless Rapture: Inspired Verse from the Shangpa Masters, Tsadra Foundation, Snow Lion Publications, Ithaca (New York) 2003.
Riggs, Nicole, Like an Illusion: Lives of the Shangpa Kagyu Masters, Dharma Cloud Press, Eugene (Oregon) 2001.
Shaw, Miranda, Passionate Enlightenment, Princeton University Press Paperbacks, Princeton (New Jersey) 1994.
Trungpa, Chogyam, The Life of Marpa the Translator: Seeing Accomplishes All, Shambhala Publications, Boston (Massachusetts) & London 1995.