His meeting with Niguma came about in this fashion. After he had
received teachings from many great Siddhas, Khyungpo Naljor again
searched for highly realized teachers from whom he could receive
more advanced instruction. The most realized teachers he
encountered told him that one with his qualities should seek the
great Bodhisattva who was not separate from Dorje Chang in her
realization and in the profound teachings she could skillfully
transmit.
Khyungpo Naljor asked where he could meet such an enlightened being
and was told that her presence could manifest anywhere to highly
purified beings. Unfortunate beings, those still caught in
emotional afflictions, would find it very difficult to encounter
her at all, since she had dissolved her physical form, attained the
rainbow body, and achieved the level of Dorje Chang. Every now and
again, however, she would visit the most sacred cremation grounds
and, leading a host of dakinis, would preside over great ritual
offering feasts (ganacakras). There someone might have an
opportunity of seeing the great Niguma.
As soon as Khyungpo Naljor heard the name of the great dakini, he
felt such devotion, like an electric shock, that tears swelled up
in his eyes. Immediately he set out to find her at the great
charnel ground called Sosaling. As he traveled, he continuously
made supplications to the Three Jewels. When he reached the
cemetery, he saw above him in space at the height of seven banana
trees, a female deity bluish in appearance, who wore elaborate bone
ornaments and held a trident and a skull. As he gazed at her, he
sometimes saw one deity, and sometimes many; some were in
meditation posture, and some were dancing or making graceful
gestures. He felt sure that this was the great Bodhisattva Niguma,
and began to make reverent prostrations to her, sincerely imploring
her for transmission of the teachings.
On the day of the full moon, Niguma gave Khyungpo Naljor the
empowerment and transmission of the teachings of the profound Dream
Practice. In the middle of this, she said to him: "Son from Tibet,
arise!"
Suddenly Khyungpo Naljor found himself in midair at the height of
three banana trees. Looking up towards Niguma, he saw that the
great being was on top of a golden mountain, surrounded by a vast
retinue of dakinis. Down the four sides of the mountain, rivers
fell. Khyungpo Naljor wondered out loud if this amazing mountain
was truly there or whether he was witnessing a miraculous
performance by the dakini.
Niguma answered, "When the ocean of samsara is turned over, when
all attachment and ego-clinging are totally uprooted, then every
place and every thing is covered with gold, forming a golden field
of non-attachment. The actual nature of samsara, this phenomenal
world, is like a play of dreams and illusion. When you have
realized experientially that the play of the phenomenal world is
nothing but a dream, or is like the illusion created by some
magician, then you have gone beyond the ocean of samsara. This
requires the greatest devotion to your Lama. Understand this. Now
you must leave here. Go and grasp your dream.”
Khyungpo Naljor understood her instructions and entered the dream
as he had been taught. In the dream state he was given full
empowerment for the Five Golden Dharmas of Niguma. Three times in
the dream he received the empowerments, including those of the Six
Yogas of Niguma. At the end, Niguma told him this: "In this land
there have been no other beings except yourself who received the
total transmission of these doctrines three times in one
dream.”
On the following day, Niguma once again gave him three times the
complete transmissions, with the detailed explanations of these
doctrines; this time the transmission took place in the waking
state. One commitment she asked him to keep was this: only he and
another Mahasiddha, by the name of Lavapa, had the transmission
into the six doctrines of Niguma; the teachings should be kept
secret until seven generations had passed in an unbroken line of
transmission from one Lama to one chosen disciple in each
generation. After the seventh generation, it would be appropriate
to give these teachings more widely for the benefit of all
beings.