Mahasiddha Biwawa

Lord of Miracles

The earliest recognized incarnation of Dorje Shugden was born in ancient India as the famous Mahasiddha Biwawa. Mahasiddhas are spiritual practitioners (yogis) who have achieved profound spiritual realization, and are characterized by their often unconventional and outrageous behaviour and teachings.

Biwawa is among the earliest lineage-holders of the Chakrasamvara Tantra, which he achieved by diligently practicing Tantra at night in Nalanda Monastery. After practicing for a very long time without any apparent results, Biwawa had a series of nightmares which he took to be a bad omen so he threw his mala in the latrine out of sheer frustration.

He was initially very disheartened but he later had a dream of the female Buddha Nairatmya, where the nightmares were revealed to be a sign of impending spiritual attainment. He recovered his mala, purified it with incense and resumed his practice.

As Biwawa performed his practices, mysterious women would appear. Eventually the female Buddha Nairatmya appeared and gave him initiation directly. In actuality, these women were divine Dakinis who came to partake of his Tsog offerings and Tantric rituals. However, many monks saw these Dakinis as ordinary women entering his quarters and Biwawa was expelled from the monastery. He freely excepted the blame and even called himself “Bira Wapa” or ‘Goitered Hero’.

After his expulsion, Biwawa roamed the land as a disheveled yogin. At one time, he parted a river with his miraculous powers which was witnessed by some monks. The monks realised that he was actually a Mahasiddha, so monastic officials came to apologize to him and request his return to the monastery.

However, Biwawa had already taken off his robes, so he continued on his way and eventually came upon the forest of a nearby kingdom. As soon as the king heard that he was a Buddhist yogi, he ordered his arrest. Then, after he ordered the guards to bind him with chains, they attempted to drown him, bury him and subject him to many other such tortures. However, Biwawa was not harmed in any way and remained unperturbed. Eventually, the king developed tremendous faith in him and became Buddhist along with his whole kingdom.

On the way to south India, Biwawa came across a river that he wanted to cross but the boatman requested for payment. He said he didn’t have any money so he stopped the river with his miraculous powers and crossed the river on his own. The boatman developed faith in him and became one of his greatest students. He was called Dombi Heruka.

Then, Biwawa came to another kingdom and entered a local tavern. He began to drink a lot of beer and wouldn’t stop drinking so the bartender demanded that he pay for his beer. At first he refused to pay but the bartender insisted. Biwawa held his hand aloft to the sky in a threatening mudra to stop the sun and said that he would pay for the beer only when the sun set. The sun stayed in the sky for days which created much chaos and distress among the people.

Subsequently, the King came and requested that he let the sun set and there was darkness for three days. By witnessing this display of Biwawa’s extraordinary powers, the people soon developed faith in him and the entire kingdom eventually entered the Buddhist path.

Along his travels, Biwawa arrived at a place in South India where the king kept five hundred dreadlocked yogis as ritual masters to slaughter tens of thousands of livestock for blood offerings to a statue of Ishvara. Biwawa went directly to the statue and as he pointed his finger at it, the statue broke into four parts, terrifying the king and his subjects.

Then, Biwawa magically restored the statue to its original state with an image of Avalokiteshvara on its head. One of the dreadlocked yogis developed strong faith in Biwawa, became his student and was known as the famous Mahasiddha Krishnapada.

People at that time developed intense faith easily after just seeing a display of miracles. Using this method to bring many people to Dharma and to spread the teachings, Biwawa tirelessly performed many miracles which instilled strong faith in people everywhere. In this lifetime, he had countless disciples, some of whom, became powerful Mahasiddhas themselves.