2) Alchemy

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>From _Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism_ by Lama Anagarika Govinda

 

Part Two: 'MANI': The Path Of Unification And Of Inner Equality

 

2

GURU NAGARJUNA AND THE MYSTIC ALCHEMY

OF THE SIDDHAS

 

In the centre of the stories which deal with the mystic alchemy of the

Eighty-four Siddhas, stands the Guru Nagarjuna (Tibetan: hPhags-pa

klu-sgrub), who lived around the middle of the seventh century A.D. and

should not be confused with the founder of the Madhyamika philosophy, who

bore the same name but lived 500 years earlier. It was said of him that he

had changed an iron mountain into copper, and it was thought he would have

transformed it into gold, if the Bodhisattva Manjusri had not warned him

that gold would only cause greed and quarrel among men, instead of helping

them, as the Siddha had intended.

The justification of this warning, which from the Buddhist point of

view had deprived the material side of alchemy of its raison d'etre, very

soon became apparent. In the course of the Guru's experiments it happened

that even his iron begging-bowl turned into gold. One day, while he was

taking his meal, a thief passed by the open door of his hut and, seeing the

golden bowl, immediately decided to steal it. But Nagarjuna, reading the

mind of the thief, took the bowl and threw it out of the window. The thief

was so perplexed and ashamed that he entered the Guru's hut, bowed at his

feet and said:

'Venerable sir, why did you do this? I came here as a thief. Now that

you have thrown away what I desired and made a gift of what I intended to

steal, my desire has vanished and stealing has become senseless and

superfluous.'

The Guru, however, replied: 'Whatever I possess should be shared with

others. Eat and drink and take whatever you like, so that you need never

more steal.'

The thief was so deeply impressed by the magnanimity and kindliness of

the Guru, that he asked for his teachings. But Nagarjuna knew that, though

the other's mind was not yet ripe to understand his teachings, his devotion

was genuine. He therefore told him: 'Imagine all things you desire as horns

growing on your head (i.e., as unreal and useless).1 If you meditate in

this way, you will see a light like that of an emerald.'

 

[1 This phrase has its origin in the well-known Sanskrit metaphor of

'the horns of a hare', which is used to indicate unreality.]

 

With these words he poured a heap of jewels into a corner of the room,

made the pupil sit down before it, and left him to his meditation.

The former thief threw himself assiduously into the practice of

meditation, and as his faith was as great as his simplicity, he followed

the words of the Guru literally - and lo ! - horns began to grow on his

head!

At first he was elated at his success and filled with pride and

satisfaction. With the passage of time, however, he discovered with horror

that the horns continued to grow and finally became so cumbersome that he

could not move without knocking against the walls and the things around

him. The more he worried the worse it became. Thus his former pride and

elation turned into dejection, and when the Guru returned after twelve

years and asked the pupil how he was faring, he told the Master that he was

very unhappy.

But Nagarjuna laughed and said: 'Just as you have become unhappy

through the mere imagination of horns upon your head, in the same way all

living beings destroy their happiness by clinging to their false

imaginations and thinking them to be real. All forms of life and all

objects of desire are like clouds. But even birth, life and death can have

no power over those whose heart is pure and free from illusions. If you can

look upon all the possessions of the world as no less unreal, undesirable

and cumbersome than the imagined horns on your head, then you will be free

from the cycle of death and rebirth.'

Now the dust fell from the Chela's eyes, and as he saw the emptiness of

all things, his desires and false imaginations vanished - and with them the

horns on his head. He attained siddhi, the perfection of a saint, and later

became known as Guru Nagabodhi, successor of Nagarjuna.

Another Siddha, whose name is associated with Guru Nagarjuna, is the

Brahmin Vyali. Like Nagarjuna, he was an ardent alchemist who tried to find

the Elixir of Life (amrta). He spent his entire fortune in unsuccessful

experiments with all sorts of expensive chemicals, and finally became so

disgusted that he threw his formula book into the Ganges and left the place

of his fruitless work as a beggar.

But it happened that when he came to another city farther down the

Ganges, a courtesan, who was taking a bath in the river, picked up the book

and brought it to him. This revived his old passion, and he took up his

work again, while the courtesan supplied him with the means of livelihood.

But his experiments were as unsuccessful as before, until one day the

courtesan, while preparing his food, by chance dropped the juice of some

spice into the alchemist's mixture - and lo! - what the learned Brahmin had

not been able to achieve in fourteen years of hard work, had been

accomplished by the hands of an ignorant low-caste woman!

The symbolical character of the story is plain. The essence of life and

nature, the secret of immortality, cannot be found by dry intellectual work

and selfish desire, but only by the touch of undiluted life: in the

spontaneity of intuition.

The story then goes on to tell, not without humour, how the Brahmin,

who spiritually was apparently not prepared for this unexpected gift of

luck, fled with his treasure into solitude, because he did not like to

share it with anyone, or to let others know about his secret. He settled

down on the top of an inaccessible rock which rose up in the midst of a

terrible swamp.

There he sat with his Elixir of Life, a prisoner of his own selfishness

- not unlike Fafner, the giant of Nordic mythology, who became a dragon in

order to guard the treasure, for which he had slain his brother, after they

had won it from the gods!

But Nagarjuna, who was filled with the ideals of Bodhisattva, wanted

to acquire the knowledge of this precious elixir for the benefit of all who

were ripe for it. Through the exertion of his magic power he succeeded in

finding the hermit and in persuading him to part with the secret.

The details of this story, in which the elements of popular phantasy

and humour are mixed with mystic symbolism and reminiscences of historical

personalities, are of secondary importance. But it is significant that the

Tibetan manuscript,1 in which the story is preserved, mentions mercury

(dnul-chu) as one of the most important substances used in the experiments

of the Brahmin. This proves the connexion with the ancient alchemical

tradition of Egypt and Greece, which held that mercury was closely related

to the prima materia.

 

[1 Grub-thob brgyad-cu-rtsa-bzihi rnam-thar (bstan-hgyur; rgyud).]