63Khumbaripa

Kumbharipa was a potter in Jomanasri. One day, when he thought he could no longer bear to continue his work, a yogin passed by, begging for food. Kumbharipa shared his humble means and opened up to the yogin, saying he could not stand even another minute at the potter’s wheel. Gazing at the potter’s wheel, the yogin gave it a spin and said, “Don’t you understand that all beings on the wheel of rebirth never find a moment of true happiness? From time before time there has only been suffering. Don’t get trapped in your own little misery. All human joys and pleasures are but fleeting shadows.”

Upon listening to the yogin, he begged for a sadhana, whereupon the yogin gave him initiation and instructed him in creative and fulfillment meditation with this verse:

From the soil of unknowing and ignorance
Comes the clay of passion and thought
To be turned on the wheel of greed and grasping
Fashion six pots from the six realms
Of samsaric ignorance and delusion,
Then fire the pots in the flame of pure awareness.

The potter understood his guru’s guidance, and meditated for only 6 months before all the defilements of his mind were erased. As he sat in meditation, the wheel spun by itself, and pots sprang from it. When people heard he had the power of the Buddhas, they sat at his feet, ready for instruction. After many years of service, he was assumed into the Paradise of the Dakinis.

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