The warrior monk

We were on a trip to visit the statue of Guru Padmasambhav built on the hill of Namchi, Sikkim. The place called the Samdruptse, is among the most popular tourist destinations of Sikkim. The highest Buddhist statue,whose foundation stone was laid by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The Jeep was running through the road with picturesque landscapes. A bright Sunny morning, the Sun was gently providing his father like presence with warmth, even the tea leaves of the garden in the slopes of the hills were also reflecting the Sunlight.

The statue of Guru Padmasambhav at Namchi

The place, away from the hustles of everyday life, with an ideal environment to meditate. Guru Padmasabbhav in his attire of a fearless warrior, with weapons of Bajra(thunderbolt), trident and snakes, reminded me two particular Hindu God. Several similarities have been noticed between the Hinduism and the Buddhism. It may be mentioned that Lord Buddha , considered as one of the ten incarnations of the Lord Vishnu in Hinduism. The energetic eyes of Guru padmasambhav, were like erupting the fire and his vision seem to have fixed intensely on some object far away. The stainless blue sky in the backdrop added more glare with fierce on the 135 ft. high statue . A saint with fiery eyes, was very unusual in the religion of Love and compassion i.e. Buddhism. The calm and meditating posture of Lord Buddha could not be found.

Guru Padmasambhav with his trident,Namchi,Sikkim

More than thousand years ago, it was the story of that period, when India had a glorious history of enlightenment with civilization and Indian traders established their trade relations with many countries.The routes of trade were through the sea, as well as through the Himalayan region.With the expansion of trade, many religious teachers from India with the enlightened flames of rich Indian culture also started travelling to many countries to propagate their religious teaching.That time Buddhism was propagated with great acceptance among different nations of the world.Several Historical research and Archaeological excavations have proved that Buddhism was accepted in many countries, before their existing religion.
In the eighth century A.D., Padmasambhav the Indian Buddhist monk visited the Tibet with the mission to propagate the Buddhism.The King of the Tibet had his queens,who were follower of Buddhism. So, under the Royal influence, the Buddhism was propagated and accepted by the common people with overwhelming success. The exponent of martial art, founded the Lamaism or the priests in Tibetan Buddhism. He introduced the vajrayana Buddhism, or the tantric way or the way of ritualistic practices of achieving the Nirvana. There are several distinct sects of Buddhism.Guru Padmasambhav was the follower of the Mahayana Buddhism, though he felt that the Nirvana could be attained in single birth. Padmasambhav was a scholar of the Sanskrit literature; he translated many Sanskrit religious sutras into the Tibetan language. The fierce eyes of the Guru Padmasambhav might be due to the social hurdles he overcame to establish his religious belief of Buddhism in Tibet. “If you want peace prepare for war.”

The Lamas:Tibetan Buddhists monks

The Lamas of Tibet brought their ritualistic culture and practices of Buddhism in India.In Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet he is considered as next to Gautama Buddha. The fierce eyes of Guru Padmasambhav is still memorably engrossed in my mind; it opened a facet of the Buddhism before my eyes. I discovered my own god in his form.