Padmasambhava, Founder of Tibetan Buddhism
In the Tibetan tradition, Padmasambhava is regarded as the tantric master who permanently established Buddhism in Tibet and founded numerous protective rites. Padmasambhava (“the one born from the lotus”), most often called Guru Rinpoche or Padmakara in Tibetan, is regarded as the central founder of Tibetan Vajrayāna Buddhism.
The tradition associates him with the transmission of Indian Tantra to Tibet in the late 8th century. In the oldest Tibetan school, the Nyingma, he is venerated as the “second Buddha”. In terms of religious history, his historical tangibility is contested, and the transmitted image is heavily overlaid with legend.
Table of Contents
Historical Background
The few contemporary sources mention an Indian or Oddiyana-born tantric teacher who was invited to Tibet during the reign of King Trisong Detsen (ruled ca. 755 to 797).
In current scholarship, Oddiyana is most often identified with the Swat Valley in present-day Pakistan or with Odisha in eastern India. The king needed a tantric practitioner because the Indian monastic teacher Shantarakshita had met resistance from the local spirits during the construction of the first Tibetan monastery, Samye.
Padmasambhava is said to have subdued these spirits and integrated them into the Buddhist system as protective deities.
The founding of Samye is traditionally dated to 779. David Snellgrove and Hugh Richardson (“A Cultural History of Tibet”, London 1968) consider this historical core plausible, while attributing the numerous mythological embellishments to a later formation of legend.
The most detailed sources, the Padma Thang Yig (Padma Chronicle) and the Pema Kathang, have been transmitted as “treasure texts” (terma) of the school of treasure finders (tertön). They were “revealed” above all in the 14th century by Orgyen Lingpa and in the 17th century by further treasure finders.
The historical reliability of these texts is limited, but their religious impact was enormous. In “Apparitions of the Self” (Princeton 1998), Janet Gyatso examined the terma tradition as a distinct form of religious authorization, in which visions, concealment and rediscovery take on canonical functions.
The Lotus Birth
According to the traditional narrative, Padmasambhava was not born of a mother but appeared as an eight-year-old child upon a lotus blossom in the middle of Lake Dhanakosha in the land of Oddiyana. King Indrabhuti, who was childless and at that moment searching for gemstones, found the child and adopted him as his son.
This narrative contrasts strikingly with the human birth of Shakyamuni and underscores the extraordinary status of the figure. From the perspective of religious studies, the motif is to be read as a typical element of tantric hagiography, which places the “supernatural” origin of the teacher above biographical factuality.
Eight Manifestations
The tradition counts eight principal manifestations of Padmasambhava, which embody his various activities in different phases of life or situations of enlightenment.
They include Guru Padma Gyalpo (the royal one), Guru Loden Chokse (the wholly knowing one), Guru Pema Jungne (the lotus-born one), Guru Padmasambhava (peaceful manifestation), Guru Shakya Senge (Lion of the Shakya, in monastic form), Guru Senge Dradok (Thundering Lion, in dispute with heretics), Guru Nyima Ozer (Sunbeam, as a yogi in cemeteries), Guru Dorje Drolö (wrathful form on a flying tigress).
These eight form a systematized canon that orders the mythological diversity of the Padmasambhava biography.
The Five Consorts
An important role in the Padmasambhava tradition is played by his five “wisdom consorts” (yum). The best known are Yeshe Tsogyal, a Tibetan queen regarded as his principal disciple and consort, and Mandarava, an Indian princess. Yeshe Tsogyal is the author or compiler of numerous terma texts that were later discovered.
Her biography (“Lady of the Lotus-Born”) was set down in its present-day form only in the 17th century. Scholarship debates whether she was a historical person or a religious personification.
In “Women in Tibet” (Bloomington 2005), Janet Gyatso argues for a nuanced reading that classifies Yeshe Tsogyal as historically probable but heavily shaped by literary tradition.
The Treasure Texts (terma)
During his stay in Tibet, Padmasambhava is said to have hidden numerous teaching texts intended for future ages. These “treasures” (terma) can be divided into material (ter) and mental (gongter) ones. The material ones are concealed in caves, rocks, statues or watercourses and are rediscovered in predetermined lifetimes by predestined treasure finders (tertön).
The mental ones are imprinted in a special “state of mind” that can be beheld directly. This conception allowed later generations to legitimize new teaching texts as deriving directly from Padmasambhava, without any text-critical verification being possible.
From the perspective of religious studies, the terma tradition is an example of an “open” religious textual tradition, which stands in contrast to the canonically closed Indian Tantra tradition.
Teaching and Vajrayāna Practice
The doctrinal content attributed to the Padmasambhava tradition comprises above all the “Great Perfection” (Dzogchen), the transmission branch regarded as the highest system of teaching in the Nyingma school. In addition, several higher yoga tantras belong to the Padmasambhava corpus, such as the Vajrakilaya Tantra.
The practical form is “Guru Yoga” (Lama Yoga), in which the disciples visualize Padmasambhava as the embodiment of all Buddhas, bodhisattvas and teachers. The seven-syllable root mantra “om ah hum vajra guru padma siddhi hum” is widespread throughout Nyingma practice and also in the non-Nyingma schools of Tibet.
Spread Beyond Tibet
Padmasambhava is venerated equally in the Tibetan-influenced regions of Bhutan, Sikkim, Ladakh and the Mongolian plateau. In Bhutan he is the central religious figure; the monastery of Taktsang (“Tiger’s Nest”) on the steep slope of the Paro Valley marks, according to tradition, the place where he meditated on a tigress.
His eighth passing in the “Copper-Colored Mountain” (Zangdok Palri) is regarded as a pure land that exists in parallel to Amitabha’s Sukhavati and is considered the rebirth destination of practitioners at the end of life.
Discussion in Religious Studies
The question of how much of the transmitted image goes back to a historical person cannot be conclusively answered. In several works (“The Padmasambhava Cycle”, Oxford 2013), Robert Mayer and Cathy Cantwell have shown that the spread of the Padmasambhava cult was closely intertwined with political upheavals in Tibet.
In phases when central authority was weakened, the importance of Padmasambhava grew, since as a translocal patron of Tibet he could provide an identity beyond dynastic structures. This function helps to explain why the Padmasambhava tradition expanded so greatly precisely during the “dark centuries” after the collapse of the Yarlung empire in the 9th century.
Sources and Further Reading
Primary sources: Padma Thang Yig (Padma Chronicle), attributed to Orgyen Lingpa; Pema Kathang; Bardo Thödol (Tibetan Book of the Dead, which in its colophon is traced back to Padmasambhava); Vajrakilaya Tantra.
Secondary literature: David Snellgrove and Hugh Richardson, “A Cultural History of Tibet”, London 1968; David Snellgrove, “Indo-Tibetan Buddhism”, London 1987; Janet Gyatso, “Apparitions of the Self”, Princeton 1998; Cathy Cantwell and Robert Mayer, “The Padmasambhava Cycle”, Oxford 2013; Robert Buswell and Donald Lopez, “Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism”, Princeton 2014; Klaus-Josef Notz, “Buddhismus”, Stuttgart 2002.
Samye and the "Three Jewels"
The monastery of Samye, about 50 kilometers southeast of Lhasa, is the first Tibetan monastery and is traditionally regarded as the work of Padmasambhava, Shantarakshita and King Trisong Detsen.
This trio (“three jewels”, ston pa gsum) is canonical in Tibetan religious memory; it represents the union of tantric magic (Padmasambhava), monastic discipline (Shantarakshita) and royal power (Trisong Detsen).
The monastery is designed after the model of the Indian monastery Odantapuri; its ground plan forms a mandala with the Mount Meru temple at the center, four main chapels in the cardinal directions and an enclosing wall with 108 stupas.
It has been restored several times after multiple destructions, most recently during the uprising of 1959. The famous “Council of Samye” (792 to 794) decided between the Indian and Chinese forms of Buddhism in favor of the Indian, which set the long-term orientation of Tibetan Buddhism toward the Indian Tantra tradition.
The Transmission Lineages
The Padmasambhava teaching lineages (man ngag) are divided into three main branches. The “long lineage” (ring brgyud) runs from Padmasambhava through the historical principal disciples down to the present by way of unbroken oral transmission.
The “short lineage” (nye brgyud) runs through the treasure finders (tertön), who establish direct contact with Padmasambhava in visions and thereby shorten the path of transmission.
The “pure vision lineage” (dag snang brgyud), in which teachers receive direct instructions on the basis of pure perception.
This three-part structure is a characteristic Tibetan construction that integrates visions, treasure discoveries and oral transmission into one system. The Karma Kagyu, the Sakya, the Gelug and above all the Nyingma school each maintain their own Padmasambhava lineages.
The Twenty Sad-Mahasiddhas
Padmasambhava is said to have been the teacher of twenty “Mahasiddhas”, that is, highly realized tantric yogis. These are usually divided into two groups, the “outer” ones (disciples in Tibet) and the “inner” ones (fellow disciples in India).
The former include Yeshe Tsogyal, Vairochana, Nyak Jnanakumara, Drogmi Palgi Yeshe and other historically documented Tibetan yogis of the 8th and 9th centuries.
This group is relatively well attested in religious history; the texts of the Dunhuang cache (8th to 10th century), which come from the caves of Dunhuang, confirm some of these names. Janet Gyatso and Sam van Schaik have analyzed the relationship between the Dunhuang finds and the later Tibetan hagiography in several studies.
Padmasambhava and the Bardo Thödol
The “Tibetan Book of the Dead” (Bardo Thödol), attributed to Padmasambhava in its colophon, is one of the best-known works of Tibetan religious literature in the West.
According to traditional understanding, it was composed by Padmasambhava, hidden by Yeshe Tsogyal and rediscovered as a terma by Karma Lingpa in the 14th century. From the perspective of religious studies, the attribution to Padmasambhava is uncertain; the text in its present-day form is a compilation of the late 14th century.
It describes the phases that consciousness passes through after death and gives instructions on how the dying person or the relatives can support the journey of consciousness through the intermediate states (bardo).
The first English translation by Walter Yeeling Evans-Wentz (Oxford 1927) had a considerable influence on Western spirituality, but is no longer current philologically. A modern and reliable English edition was presented by Robert Thurman in 1994.
The Wrathful Form Dorje Drolö
One of the eight principal manifestations of Padmasambhava, Guru Dorje Drolö, has received particular attention in modern Tibetan religiosity. This wrathful form shows Padmasambhava riding on a flying, pregnant tigress, with dark-red skin color, three eyes and a thunderbolt phurba as a weapon.
The iconographic basis stems from the tradition that Padmasambhava founded the monastery of Paro Taktsang (“Tiger’s Nest”) in Bhutan in this form, built on a steep rock face above the Paro Valley.
The veneration of Dorje Drolö is especially widespread in Bhutan and in the eastern Tibetan provinces. It embodies the transformative power with which Padmasambhava converts hostile forces into protective guardians.
The Padma bka' thang as Principal Source
The “Padma bka’ thang” (Book of the Words of Padmasambhava) is the most detailed hagiography of the master.
It was discovered by Orgyan Lingpa in the 14th century as a Terma (hidden treasure text) and contains 108 chapters describing the birth, teaching activity, miraculous deeds and departure of Padmasambhava. The research of Anne-Marie Blondeau and Matthew Kapstein has examined the textual layering of this source.
While older layers go back to the 11th to 12th century, many miracle narratives are additions of the later Terma lineages.
The parallel source “Pema Kathang Yiges Cinma” (Seven Chapters) of Sangye Lingpa (14th c.) offers an alternative narrative layer. Both texts are still recited liturgically in the western Himalayas and in Sikkim today, especially during the Tsechu festivals in Bhutan.
The Eight Manifestations in Detail
The eight forms of appearance of Padmasambhava (gu ru mtshan brgyad) are: Guru Tsokye Dorje (born in the lotus), Guru Shakya Senge (in monastic form), Guru Padmasambhava (in the palace of Indrabhuti), Guru Padmakara (in the practice phase), Guru Dorje Drolo (wrathful form), Guru Nyima Özer (in Buddhist radiance), Guru Senge Dradok (lion’s voice) and Guru Loden Choksey (the life-giving one).
Each manifestation belongs to a teaching phase and a focus of practice. This eightfold structure was codified in the 12th century and is standardized in Tibetan temple murals.
It corresponds, not by chance, to the eight great bodhisattvas of the Mahayana. Roger Jackson has interpreted this structural analogy as a deliberate inculturation of the Indian bodhisattva scheme into the Tibetan guru doctrine.
Yeshe Tsogyal as Scribe and Co-Teacher
Yeshe Tsogyal (about 757 to 817), the spiritual companion and principal disciple of Padmasambhava, is regarded as the scribe of the most important Terma texts.
She is said to have written down all of Padmasambhava’s teachings by means of her power of recollection and to have hidden some of them in rocks, lakes and in the mind-stream of his future rebirths.
In “Apparitions of the Self” (Princeton 1998), Janet Gyatso has analyzed Yeshe Tsogyal’s function as a model for the later class of Tertön women.
Her hagiography “Mkha’ ‘gro ye shes mtsho rgyal gyi rnam thar” was revealed as a Terma by Taksham Nuden Dorje and is one of the few detailed biographies of women in Tibetan religious literature. It combines biographical elements with visionary theology and thereby occupies a special position in the literary history of Tibet.
The Terma Tradition and the Question of Its Authenticity
The Terma tradition, the central pillar of the Nyingma school, rests on the assumption that Padmasambhava and Yeshe Tsogyal hid teachings that are rediscovered at later points in time by predestined “treasure discoverers” (Tertön).
This tradition produced an independent layer of Buddhist literature from the 11th century into the 20th century. The question of authenticity is discussed both within the tradition and in modern scholarship.
In “Apparitions of the Self”, Janet Gyatso has argued that the Terma texts are to be distinguished into “earth Terma” (sa gter, material finds) and “mind-Terma” (dgongs gter, visionary revelations). Both categories require different philological and religious-studies methods.
In “Tibetan Renaissance” (New York 2005), Ronald Davidson has placed the Terma tradition in the broader context of Tibetan identity formation, which began in the 11th century after the collapse of the Yarlung empire.
Padmasambhava and the Bardo Teachings
A central pillar of the Padmasambhava tradition is the teaching of the bardo, the intermediate state between death and rebirth.
The “Bardo Thödol” (Liberation through Hearing in the Intermediate State, known in the West as the “Tibetan Book of the Dead”) is transmitted as a Terma of Padmasambhava, discovered by Karma Lingpa in the 14th century. The text describes six bardo phases in which consciousness has the possibility of taking the final steps toward liberation.
In “The Hidden History of the Tibetan Book of the Dead” (Oxford 2003), Bryan Cuevas reconstructed the textual history in detail and showed that the work became known in the West only through Walter Y. Evans-Wentz (1927) and the translation by Kazi Dawa Samdup that supported him.
This Western reception has led to its own tradition of bardo interpretation, which is not always compatible with traditional practice.
The Five Tertön Kings
The Tibetan tradition knows five “Tertön kings” (gter ston rgyal po lnga), regarded as the most important treasure discoverers: Nyangrel Nyima Özer (1124 to 1192), Guru Chöwang (1212 to 1270), Dorje Lingpa (1346 to 1405), Padma Lingpa (1450 to 1521) and Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (1820 to 1892).
Together they rediscovered thousands of texts and practice traditions.
The counting varies in the sources, and some schools add further names such as Sangye Lingpa, Ratna Lingpa or Orgyen Lingpa. This Tertön lineage understands itself not as an apostolic succession but as a sequence of predestined rediscoverers whose karma had been oriented toward this function since the time of Padmasambhava.
Frequently Asked Questions
Was Padmasambhava a historical person? The historical core is plausible: an Indian or Central Asian tantric teacher who came to Tibet in the late 8th century. The elaborated biography, however, is heavily overlaid with legend and not historically verifiable in most of its details.
What are terma? “Treasures”, teaching texts or objects that Padmasambhava is said by tradition to have hidden and that are later rediscovered by predestined treasure finders (tertön). They form an important part of the Nyingma teaching tradition.
What does the mantra of Padmasambhava mean? “Om ah hum vajra guru padma siddhi hum” means, roughly, “om ah hum, diamond teacher lotus, grant realization, hum”. It is one of the most important mantras in Tibetan Buddhism and is recited in Guru Yoga practice.
Where does Padmasambhava live today according to tradition? In the pure world of the “Copper-Colored Mountain” (Zangdok Palri), which exists in parallel to the human world. Practitioners hope to be reborn there at the end of life.
