Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. This laymen's realization was said to have equaled that of the Buddha and yet, unlike the Buddha, "He engaged in all sorts of businesses, yet had no interest in profit or possessions. To train living beings, he would appear at crossroads and on street corners, and to protect them he participated in government. ...To develop children, he visited all the schools. To demonstrate the evils of desire, he even entered the brothels. To establish drunkards in correct mindfulness, he entered all the cabarets."
2. A prolific mass murderer, this fellow is said to have worn a garland of severed fingers and to have eradicated whole towns-that is, until he ran into the Buddha.
3. These two were masterful courtesan as their songs of realization in the Therigatha testify.
4. This most famous fellow was said to have been born from a lotus and, later on, was transformed into the syllable HUM by his guru who then ate and expelled him-a rather unusual ordination methinks. Anyway, he later went to Tibet... riding on a pregnant tigress (of course).
5. This wild man had a proclivity for drink and abusing his students.
6. According to tradition, this saint-king and his 'untouchable' consort are said to have immolated themselves when his subjects refused to forgo their mores and follow his transgressive example. They are often depicted as riding upon a tiger.
7. This yogini's image was tarnished after she transgressed her vows. However, she is now known for her seminal role in a meditation wherein one visualizes oneself being dismembered and devoured by demons in a charnel ground.
8. This preeminent disciple of the Buddha tells the following story.
"Coming down from my dwelling place,
I entered the city for alms,
stood courteously next to a leper
eating his meal."
"He, with his rotting hand,
tossed me a morsel of food,
and as the morsel was dropping,
a finger fell off
right there."
"Sitting next to a wall,
I ate that morsel of food,
and neither while eating it,
nor having eaten,
did I feel
any disgust."
In the East, there's another famous story about him and a flower...
9. Legend has it that this siddha and Kagyu guru started out as the preeminent scholar of the university at Nalanda until an encounter with a decrepit old woman. A later account describes him as "quite corpulent... being carried by four men and chewing betel-leaf."
10. This fellow is beloved as one of Tibet's greatest poets and yogis. He is often depicted as a green/grey due to his ascetic diet of nettle soup. In his meeting with this Tibetan murderer turned saint-songwriter, Machig Labdron's consort Padampa Sangye is reported to have said, "You are like a lunatic who neglects to cover up the place that should be covered." Our character responded-in song, per usual.
"Men say, [am I not] mad
I also think it may be so.
Now listen to my madness...."
Source: Author
gti mug pa
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor
trammgr before going online.
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