Padma Sambhav was a renowned and highly learned tantric saint of Northern India. In the middle of the eight century the Tibetan King Thi-Sron Detsan sent to India inviting the learned guru to come to Tibet. Padma Sambhav was renowned for his knowledge of tantras and of their efficacious application. He remained 50 years in Tibet founding monasteries and teaching the tantra doctrine. His said to to have subdued all the malignant gods in the Tibetsparing only those that became converted to Buddhism and that promised to be defenders (Dharmapala) of the doctrine. Padma Sambhav. in his turn, promised to enroll them in the Mahayana Pantheon. He claimed to have received from the dakini the books from which he acquired his miraculous power. At the end of 50 years Padma Sambhav disappeared miraculously. Padma Sambhav is represented seated on a lotus asana with the legs locked, the hand holding the vajra and the left. lying in his lap, the patra. He holds his special symbol, the Khatvanga pressed against his breast with the left arm. Padmasambhava The Lotus Born, is said to have transmitted Tantric Buddhism to Bhutan and Tibet in the 8th century. In those lands he is better known as Guru Rinpoche ("Precious Master") or Lopon Rinpoche, where followers of the Nyingma school regard him as the second Buddha. He said: "My father is the intrinsic awareness, Samantabhadra. My mother is the ultimate sphere of reality, Samantrabhadri. I belong to the caste of non-duality of the sphere and awareness. My name is the Glorious Lotus Born. I am from the unborn sphere of all phenomena. I consume concepts of duality as my diet. I act in the way of the Buddhas of the three times." He was born into a monarchic Brahmin family. His Pureland Paradise is Zangdok Palri (the Copper-coloured Mountain). He is further considered an emanation of Buddha Amitabha and traditionally even venerated as "a second Buddha". According to tradition, Padmasambhava was incarnated as an eight-year-old child appearing in a lotus blossom floating in Lake Dhanakosha, in the kingdom of Uddiyana, traditionally identified with the Swat Valley of Ancient India in present-day Pakistan.[6] His special nature was recognized by the local king who married him to one of his daughters, Mandarava. She and Padmasambhava's other main consort, Yeshe Tsogyal, developed into realised practitioners. Many thangkas and paintings show Padmasambhava in between them. His fame became known to Trisong Detsen, the 38th king of the Yarlung dynasty, and the first Emperor of Tibet (742–797), whose kingdom was beset by evil mountain deities. The king invited Padmasambhava to Tibet where he used his tantric powers to subdue the evil deities he encountered along the way, eventually receiving the Emperor's wife, identified with the dakini Yeshe Tsogyal, as a consort. This was in accordance with the tantric principle of not eliminating negative forces but redirecting them to fuel the journey toward spiritual awakening. In Tibet he founded the first monastery in the country, Samye Gompa,[7] initiated the first monks, and introduced the people to the practice of Tantric Buddhism. Padmasambhava had five major female tantric companions, the so-called 'Five Wisdon Dakinis' (Wylie: Ye-shes mKha-'gro lnga) or 'Five Consorts.' In Padmasambhava's biography - they are described as the five women "who had access to the master's heart", and practiced secret sexual tantric rites which are considered to have exorcised the previous demons of Tibet and converted them into protectors of the country.'[7] They were: Mandarava of Zahor - the emanation of Vajravarahi's Body; Belwong Kalasiddhi of (North-West) India - the emanation of Vajravarahi's Quality, Belmo Sakya Devi of Nepal; the emanation of Vajravarahi's Mind, Yeshe Tsogyal of Tibet; the emanation of Vajravarahi's Speech and Mangala or Tashi Kyedren of "the Himalayas" - the emanation of Vajravarahi's Activity admasambhava's ability to memorize and comprehend esoteric texts in a single hearing established his reputation as a master above all others. Knowing that the life force of the wife and son of an evil minister was about to end, he constructed an accident which resulted in their death. As a result, Padmasambhava was banished from the court and exiled in a charnel ground. Transiting various heavens and hells, he developed the power to transcend the cycle of birth and death, accomplishing the so-called great transference, otherwise known as Nirvana. In Bhutan he is associated with the famous Paro Taktsang or "Tiger's Nest" monastery built on a sheer cliff wall about 500m above the floor of Paro valley. He flew there from Tibet on the back of Yeshe Tsogyal, whom he transformed into a flying tigress for the purpose of the trip. Later he travelled to Bumthang district to subdue a powerful deity offended by a local king. Padmasambhava's body imprint can be found in the wall of a cave at nearby Kurje Lhakhang temple. Padmasambhava also hid a number of religious treasures (termas) in lakes, caves, fields and forests of the Himalayan region to be found and interpreted by future tertöns or spiritual treasure-finders.[10] According to Tibetan tradition, the Bardo Thodol (commonly referred to as the Tibetan Book of the Dead) was among these hidden treasures, subsequently discovered by a Tibetan terton, Karma Lingpa. Tantric cycles related to Padmasambhava are not just practiced by the Nyingma, they even gave rise to a new offshoot of Bön which emerged in the 14th century called the New Bön. Prominent figures of the Sarma (new translation) schools such as the Karmapas and Sakya lineage heads have practiced these cycles and taught them. Some of the greatest tertons revealing teachings related to Padmasambhava have been from the Kagyu or Sakya lineages. The hidden lake temple of the Dalai Lamas behind the Potala called Lukhang is dedicated to Dzogchen teachings and has murals depicting the eight manifestations of Padmasambhava.[11] Padmasambhava established Vajrayana Buddhism and the highest forms of Dzogchen (Mengagde) in Tibet and transformed the entire nation. On Padmasambhava's consort practice with Princess Sakya Devi from Nepal it is said: "In a state of intense bliss, Padmasambhava and Sakyadevi realized the infinite reality of the Primordial Buddha Mind, the All-Beneficent Lord (Samantabhadra), whose absolute love is the unimpeded dynamo of existence. Experiencing the succession of the four stages of ecstasy, their mutual state of consciousness increased from height to height. And thus, meditating on Supreme Vajrastwa Heruka as the translucent image of compassionate wrathful (energized) activity, they together acquired the mahamudra of Divinity and attained complete Great Enlightenment."[12] Also, The Bramze'i skor (The Cycle of the Brahmin) is a group of Rnying ma tantras of the Atiyoga class which were introduced into Tibet by Padmasambhava and Vimalamitra. The "brahmin" referred to is apparently Bram za Bde mchong snying po, who received the lineage from Dga' rab rdo rje and passed it to Srisimha