Asaṅga
From LabelingThoughts
Asaṅga (c.300 - 370 CE) was an Indian Buddhist master and scholar. He is the founder with his half brother Vasubandhu of the Yogacara tradition in Mahayana Buddhism. In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, it is held that he received the Yogacara teachings from Maitreya Buddha after a 12 year long solitary retreat.
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The female dog and the maggots
In one story about Asaṅga, he entered solitary retreat for six years with the aspiration to have a vision from Maitreya Buddha. After six years without a vision, he decided to try again and entered another six year long retreat. When that finished without a vision, he was distraught. Then walking along a road he encountered an injured dog with maggots infesting its wound. Instantly overcome with compassion, he sought to alleviate the suffering of the dog without injuring the maggots as well. He used his tongue to pick up the maggots, since using his fingers would have injured them. But when he reached down to remove the maggots with his tongue, instead Lord Maitreya appeared.
Further reading
Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche
Mipham, Sakyong (2000) 2000 Seminary Transcripts Book 1
- pages 38, 72
Mipham, Sakyong (2000) 2000 Seminary Transcripts Book 2
- pages 80, 103
Mipham, Sakyong (2002) Taming the Mind and Walking the Bodhisattava Path
- pages 116-117, 150
Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche
Trungpa, Chögyam (1975) 1975 Hinayana Mahayana Seminary Transcripts
- pages 80, 82
Trungpa, Chögyam (1976) 1976 Hinayana Mahayana Seminary Transcripts
- page 158
Other authors
Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche (2003) Ascertaining Certainty about the View
- pages 22, 112, 192, 193
