The Story of Sukhasiddhi

The life story of Sukhasiddhi is very wonderful. When she was about sixty
years old, or maybe sixty-five, she experienced a great deal of suffering.
Due to that, she engaged in the practice of vajrayana and attained a state
where she appeared like a sixteen-year-old girl. Her story is that she and her
family were very poor and they got to the point where they only had one
container of rice left. So, her husband and son went out to look for food.
They went all over, searching, begging for food. Though they went through
a great deal of difficulties, they were unable to find any food. Thinking that
they had one container of rice left, they went back home to eat it. However,
while they were gone, Sukhasiddhi, out of great compassion, had given the
food to a beggar. When her husband and son came back, they were very
hungry and expecting to eat the last container of rice, but they found that
there was no rice left, that she had given it away to a beggar. They were very
upset and very angry with her, saying that though they were all experiencing
a great deal of suffering, a great deal of problems, she had given their last
food away. They were so upset with her that they threw her out of the house.
Then she became very upset and cried about her husband and son throwing
her out of her home. Leaving her town, she gave rise to a very strong
renunciation for samsara, and based upon this very strong renunciation and
good fortune, she was able to meet with a siddha from whom she received
oral instructions. She meditated upon them and realized mahamudra, the
supreme siddhi. Her mind was liberated within this state of luminosity, and
her body became an empty form like a rainbow. She looked like a sixteen-
year-old girl. She unified luminosity and the illusory body. It is said that even
at this time she resides in India and can be found in various places there. So it
is on the basis of having a lot of suffering and difficulties that one is able to
practice the dharma very well. In order to meditate upon mahamudra, one
needs to have problems and difficulties. If one doesn't have problems, but is
just happy, one won't meditate and will just be distracted.

Therefore, it is said that when one is meditating upon mahamudra, it is very
good if one has a lot of suffering. Within the true nature, or essence, of
mahamudra, there is no time, and therefore one does not need to think about
needing a long time for these practices. It is enough just to realize the true
nature of one's present mind, mahamudra.

-From Mahamudra Shamatha and Vipashyana, Rocky Mountain
Shambhala Center, 1991, p.195. Translated by Elizabeth Callahan.