The Buddhist adept Virupa

Virupa was a ninth century Indian yogi destined to become the spiritual source for the meditation lineage that would rule Tibet under the Mongols as the Glorious Sakya (dpal ldan sa skya). In his story we are told that Virupa had long struggled with frustration despite years of dedicated meditation. Although he had diligently sought to realize Vajrayogini, his efforts had not yielded the spiritual breakthrough he yearned for. One day, in a fit of despair, he threw his mala beads into a latrine, symbolizing his disillusionment with his path. To his surprise, the mighty goddess Vajrayogini herself appeared before him, telling him that enlightenment had been near, he just gave up too soon! She told him to retrieve his beads from the latrine. In doing so, he would be ready to attain the wisdom he sought.

Virupa, with no hesitation, entered the latrine and retrieved the beads, an act that symbolized his willingness to let go of ego and expectation. He completed his meditations right then and was immediately liberated from everything. He then resigned from his prestigious post as the abbot of Nalanda Monastery and in a decidedly non-monastic act of both defiance and joy, he put flowers in his hair and set out over the plains of North India as an independent teacher. It did not take long for free-spirited Virupa to find a tavern. Once inside he asked the bartender to keep ’em coming until the sun went down, at which time he’d pay. But the game was rigged. Virupa was using his magical power (siddhi) to freeze the sun in its tracks. All he needed was the simple gesture you see in this masterwork Ming-dynasty sculpture— raising his two left fingers. But the earth was baking as a result of too much sun. A terrified local king offered to pay Virupa’s bar tab if he’d just let the sun go. Virupa did so and continued on his way as an independent transmitter of Tantra teachings. Here the reality-twisting magic of the unconventional Tantra path takes on full mythic garb as Tibet’s wildest ex-professor.