Nagas, dragons are powerful mythical beings both venerated and
feared in both East and West. They are believed to be guardians of
great treasures.
In Tibetan beliefs where tertons discovers termas when time is
ripe, eg. people are ready to accept. Termas are teachings for the
mind yet, they are believed to have being store in physical places.
What does that tells us?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terma_(religion)
Terma (Tibetan: གཏེར་མ་, Wylie: gter
ma; "hidden treasure")[1] are various forms of hidden
teachings that are key toVajrayana or Tibetan Buddhist and Bon religious traditions. The belief is that
these teachings were originallyesoterically hidden by various adepts such
as Padmasambhava and dakini such as Yeshe Tsogyal (consorts) during the 8th century, for future discovery at
auspicious times by other adepts, who are known as tertöns. As such, terma represent a tradition of continuous revelation in Vajrayana or Tibetan Buddhism.[1] Termas are a part
of tantricliterature.
Tradition holds that terma may be a physical object such as a text
or ritual implement that is buried in the ground (orearth), hidden in a rock or crystal, secreted in a herb, or a tree, hidden in a lake (or water), or hidden in the sky (space). Though a literal understanding of terma is
"hidden treasure", and sometimes refers to objects that are hidden
away, the teachings associated should be understood as being
'concealed within the mind of the guru', that is, the true place of
concealment is in the tertön's nature or essence of mind. If the concealed or
encoded teaching or object is a text, it is often written
in dakini script, a non-human type of code or writing that only a tertön can decipher.
Fremantle (2001: p. 19) states:
...termas are not always made public right away. The conditions may
not be right; people may not yet be ready for them; and further
instructions may need to be revealed to clarify their meaning.
Often, the tertön himself has to practice them for many
years.[2]
In this way, one may see the tradition of terma and terton as
analogous to that of inspiration and providing a legitimate
cultural forum to ensure continuation of tantric
tradition, and ensuring Tibetan Buddhism's and Bön's
continued relevancy in an evolving world.
The terma tradition is particularly prevalent in, and significant
to, the Nyingma lineage. Two of the most
famous tertönin the 20th century, Jigdral Yeshe Dorje (2nd Dudjom
Rinpoche) and Dilgo Khyentse, were Nyingmapa. Tertön are also
prevalent in Bön traditions and a few tertön have been Kagyupa.
Padmasambhava and his principal consorts and
disciples secreted away and hid religious texts, ritual objects andrelics etc., to secure and protect Buddhism
during the time of decline under Langdarma. Some of these terma have been
rediscovered and special terma lineages established
throughout Tibet as a result. Out of this activity
developed, especially within the Nyingma tradition, two ways of dharma transmission: the so-called "long oral
transmission" from teacher to student in unbroken disciplic
lineages, and the "short transmission" of terma. The foremost
revealers of these terma were the Five Terton Kings and the Eight
Lingpas. In the 19th century, some of the most famous were
theKhenkong Choksum referring
to Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, Jamgon Kongtrul and Orgyen Chokgyur Lingpa.
Terma have been relayed by nāga and the dakini - of the underworld and the heavens,
respectively - and have also been hidden by teachers such as the
great translator Longchenpa.
The central Mahayana figure Nagarjuna rediscovered the last part of the
"Prajnaparamita Sutra in one hundred thousand verses" in the
realm of nāga, where it had been kept since the time
of Gautama Buddha.
The terma tradition of rediscovering hidden teaching is not unique
to Tibet. It has antecedents in India and cultural resonances in Hindu Vaishnavism as well. The Vaishnava saint Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is said to have
rediscovered a fragment of the Brahma Samhita in a trance state of devotional ecstasy.
There is another occasion involving Chaitanya, who deposited his divine love (prema)
for great saint Narottama Dasa in the Padma River in Bangladesh. When Narottama Dasa turned twelve years of age, he
collected this treasure after a revelation in a dream.[3]
Fremantle (2001: p. 17) affirms that according to
tradition:
Termas are of two main kinds: earth treasures and intention, or
mind, treasures. A teaching concealed as an intention treasure
appears directly within the mind of the tertön in the form of
sounds or letters to fulfill the enlightened intention
of Padmakara. Earth treasures include not only texts, but
also sacred images, ritual instruments, and medicinal substances,
and are found in many places: temples, monuments, statues,
mountains, rocks, trees, lakes, and even the sky. In the case of
texts, they are not, as one might imagine, ordinary books that can
be read straightaway. Occasionally, full-length texts are found,
but they are usually fragmentary, sometimes consisting of only a
word or two, and they are encoded in symbolic script, which may
change mysteriously and often disappears completely once it has
been transcribed. They are simply the material supports that act as
a trigger to help the tertön reach the subtle level of mind where
the teaching has really been concealed. It is the tertön who
actually composes and writes down the resulting text, and so may be
considered its author.[4]
The earth-terma are physical objects — which may be either an
actual text, or physical objects that trigger a recollection of the
teaching. The mind-terma are constituted by space and are placed via guru-transmission, or realizations achieved
in meditation which connect the practitioner
directly with the essential content of the teaching in one
simultaneous experience. Once this has occurred, the tertön holds
the complete teaching in mind and is required byconvention to transcribe the terma twice
from memory (if of textual nature) in one
uninterrupted session. The transcriptions are then compared, and if
no discrepancy or inconsistency is evident the terma is sealed as
authentic. The tertön is required to realise the essence of the
terma prior to formal transmission.
In one sense, all terma may be considered mind-termas,[citation
needed] since the teaching associated is
always inserted in the essence of the mind of the
practitioner;[original
research?] in other words the terma is
always a direct transmission from the essence of the mind of the
vidyadhara towards the essence of the mind of the tertön. The terma
may also be held in the mind of the tertön and realised in a future
incarnation at a beneficent time. A vision of a syllable or symbol
may leaven the realisation of the latent terma in the mind
of the tertön. The process of hiding in the mind implies that the
practitioner is to gain realisation in that life. At the time of terma
concealment, a prophecy is generally made concerning the
circumstances in which the teaching will be re-accessed. Especially
in the case of an earth-terma, this usually includes a description
of locality, and may specify certain ritual tools or objects which are required to be
present, and the identities of any assistants and consorts who are
required to accompany or assist the tertön.
Though somewhat contentious, the kind of revealed teaching embodied
in the terma system is based in solidMahayana Buddhist traditions. The example
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