Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Amy Miller introduces four foundational Indian Buddhist masters and their contributions to the tradition. She begins with Nāgārjuna, who revived Prajñāpāramitā teachings on wisdom in the first century and received direct visions from Mañjuśrī. Candrakīrti, his seventh-century student, further clarified these teachings. The heart of the talk is Master Asaṇga’s twelve-year retreat seeking direct encounter with his teacher Maitreya, illustrated through three powerful signs of perseverance: an eagle wearing stone smooth with its wings, water droplets carving rock, and finally the maggot-infested dog that transforms into Maitreya himself, teaching the ultimate lesson of compassion. Miller explains how Asaṇga brought the bodhicitta or compassion lineage, while later Master Atisha synthesized teachings into the Lamrim—a graduated path of philosophical study and meditation designed to transform one’s life into greater happiness and peace.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1.22 The Indian Masters – Copy.mp3
UUID: de0d91cb-551f-45a9-9c31-baf615fbecd2
Teacher: Amy Miller
Collection: Nutshell no details (Amy Miller)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Words: ~1,290
And then some of the teachers, some of the masters in India before the Buddhism, spread began shortly after the Buddha’s time in the first century came master Nāgārjuna. And he basically revived and clarified the Prajñāpāramitā teachings, the teachings on wisdom. It was said that he had direct visions and teachings from the Buddha of infinite wisdom, Mañjuśrī. Candrakīrti came along in the seventh century, was a student of Nāgārjuna who further clarified his teachings. It was also before this Master Asaṇga in the fourth century, who along with Nāgārjuna were said to blaze the path for the Mahāyāna.
Master Asaṇga had wonderful experiences of long retreat, earnestly trying to meet his main teacher, Maitreya. So there’s a wonderful story of the relationship between Maitreya and his disciple, Asaṇga. Asaṇga was desperate to directly meet his guru, his teacher. So guru is a Sanskrit word that in its essence means spiritual teacher. It’s a word often in Western countries we are not familiar or comfortable with, but it’s basically one who turns your mind to goodness, to manifesting virtue, virtuous mind states, healthy behavior.
And he was desperate to see Maitreya directly. And he had instructions and meditated in a cave for many years. The entire scope of his retreat went on for about twelve years. And every three years, he would give up from utter frustration. Very, very difficult to do retreat and spend long periods of time alone with your mind.
So after the first three years, he said, enough. I’ve had it. It’s too much. And he walked out of the cave, not planning to return, to go back to town. And he looked up, and there was an eagle flying around a very high area of caves.
There was a high cliff. And he noticed that every time the eagle flew into its nest, one of its wings would lightly brush the side of the cave, the side of the stone wall, and it would wear away a little bit of the wall. Like, he could see over the years where the stone had been worn away. So he took this as a lesson. That if that continual flying in of that area wears that very hard stone away again and again and again, but it is worn away, then if I continue in my practice, I must be able to wear away the negative patterns and make some progress.
So he went back into his cave for another three years. And another three years went by, phenomenally difficult. And once again, too hard, he gave up. I’m finished. Walked outside of the cave, very tired, sat down, and he looked to one side, and there was a drop of water dripping slowly that had made an indentation in the rock below it.
Just one little drop of water. He watched it and he watched it and he thought, if that little drop over the course of time can make that pattern in the rock, then with repeated effort in my practice and my meditation, I must be able to create some healthy patterns. So he had these signs. After twelve years, he left retreat, left the cave, decided to go into the village, and was walking down the road when there on the side of the road was a dog. And the dog kept turning around, turning its head around and snarling at something near its back.
And when he got closer, he saw that the whole back of the dog was infested with maggots that were eating away at the dog’s flesh. And he was absolutely consumed with compassion for the dog, very moved to do something to relieve the dog’s suffering. So he decided he would take the maggots off the dog. And then he realized he needed to put the maggots on something else so they wouldn’t die. So he cut a piece of his flesh to move the maggots from the dog to this piece of flesh.
And as he tried to pick up the maggots, they were so small, he was afraid he would harm them. So he realized he couldn’t really do it by picking them up with his fingers. So then he realized that what he would have to do, which is pretty unimaginable for us to think of doing this, he realized he would have to bend down and stick out his tongue and let the maggots crawl onto his tongue and move them that way by their own initiative so he wouldn’t crush them by moving them on his own. Can you imagine? These are the ancient masters.
This is who brings us and synthesizes the Buddhist teachings. It can be an incredible inspiration for us. Or perhaps some people are just revolted. So as he bent down and stuck out his tongue at the dog, he closed his eyes and he waited a few minutes and nothing was happening. He didn’t feel anything with the maggots and he opened his eyes and there in front of him was his magnificent teacher, Maitreya, transformed from the maggot infested dog.
So he had gotten his last lesson, this lesson on vast, great compassion. And at that moment, his karma being immensely purified was able to see Maitreya himself directly. And Asaṇga basically broke down and said, where have you been? Twelve years I worked and waited for you. Twelve years I sat in that leaky, drippy cave freezing, and you never came.
And Maitreya looked at his incredible disciple and said, I was there with you the whole time. I was the eagle brushing the rock. I was the drop of water dripping. I never left your side. I’m the maggot infested dog.
So Asaṇga was delighted and immediately hoisted his teacher onto his shoulder so his feet would not touch the dusty earth and wanted to celebrate with the people in the village. He carried him into the village, but because the people’s karma was not as pure as Asaṇga’s, they couldn’t see Maitreya. Most of them saw a maggot infested dog on Asaṇga’s shoulder. And apparently there was one old woman in the village who was able to see Maitreya’s feet only. So the villagers thought he was crazy carting around this maggot infested dog.
So this is a summary of some of the beautiful teachings that he brought us. So Maitreya took him to his pure land, basically like his heaven. And he taught him five treatises of Maitreya. One of them is called the ornament of clear realization that Asaṇga wrote down and brought back to teach us that, one of the fundamental teachings in the Tibetan tradition. And later in the tenth century, eleventh century, master Atisha was born around nine eighty two AD.
And he had a famous teacher from Indonesia, master Serlingpa. And Atisha brought us a text he wrote called A Lamp for the Path. And this course will be based on those teachings, A Lamp for the Path. It was later further synthesized into something called the Lamrim. Lam means path, and rim is stages or steps.
So the Lamrim is a gradual progression through a variety of topics of the philosophy that you would meditate on to have a realization that would subsequently change your life into something better so you can be happier and more peaceful. So to further explain a little bit more, master Nāgārjuna is often associated with the wisdom and emptiness lineage. Master Asaṇga brings us the method and bodhicitta lineage, compassion. The bodhicitta is a Sanskrit word. Bodhi means enlightenment.
Chitta is mind. So it’s basically the mind of enlightenment or the altruistic intention, wishing to benefit all others before myself.