King Gesar of Ling
King Gesar’s story is an epic – perhaps the longest known - filled with mystical and magical deeds of one of Central Asia cultural heroes from the Kingdom of Ling, and continues to be sung and read in poetry and prose some 800 years after its origin.
King Gesar, the superhuman warrior ruler of the Kingdom of Ling, was sent from heaven to accomplish his mission of conquer the evil spirits and demons that enslaved humankind.
As a Buddhist teaching story, the example of King Gesar is also understood as a spiritual allegory. The "enemies" in the stories represent the emotional and psychological challenges that turn people's minds toward greed, aggression, and envy, and away from the true teachings of Buddhism. These enemies graphically represent the different manifestations of the untamed mind. The teaching is that genuine warriors are not aggressive, but that they subjugate negative emotions in order to put the concerns of others before their own. The ideal of warriorship that Gesar represents is that of a person who, by facing personal challenges with gentleness and intelligence, can attain spiritual realization.
The following song is a part of King Gesar’s teachings to the people of Ling:
"Dear friends, when a raindrop falls into a still pond,
It dissolves inseparably in its own nature,
And nothing has occurred.
But when the same raindrop falls into the same pond,
Ripples shine and dance on the water's skin.
From these two ways of seeing one thing
Come the true magic that raises and destroys kingdoms,
That increases joy or misery, brilliance or degradation."
art by 17th Gyalwa Karmapa Ogyen Trinlay Dorje
King Gesar’s story is an epic – perhaps the longest known - filled with mystical and magical deeds of one of Central Asia cultural heroes from the Kingdom of Ling, and continues to be sung and read in poetry and prose some 800 years after its origin.
King Gesar, the superhuman warrior ruler of the Kingdom of Ling, was sent from heaven to accomplish his mission of conquer the evil spirits and demons that enslaved humankind.
As a Buddhist teaching story, the example of King Gesar is also understood as a spiritual allegory. The "enemies" in the stories represent the emotional and psychological challenges that turn people's minds toward greed, aggression, and envy, and away from the true teachings of Buddhism. These enemies graphically represent the different manifestations of the untamed mind. The teaching is that genuine warriors are not aggressive, but that they subjugate negative emotions in order to put the concerns of others before their own. The ideal of warriorship that Gesar represents is that of a person who, by facing personal challenges with gentleness and intelligence, can attain spiritual realization.
The following song is a part of King Gesar’s teachings to the people of Ling:
"Dear friends, when a raindrop falls into a still pond,
It dissolves inseparably in its own nature,
And nothing has occurred.
But when the same raindrop falls into the same pond,
Ripples shine and dance on the water's skin.
From these two ways of seeing one thing
Come the true magic that raises and destroys kingdoms,
That increases joy or misery, brilliance or degradation."
art by 17th Gyalwa Karmapa Ogyen Trinlay Dorje
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