A sacred space for everyone
KHEN LOB CHO SUM RING LUK CHE
May the great tradition of the Abbot Shantarakshita, the Master Padmasambhava, and the Dharma King Trisong Detsun
DZAM LING SA SUM KHYAN PAR PEL
Increase and spread throughout the three realms of this world.
DRO GYUD CHOG SUM NANG WA DANG
May the appearance of the Three Jewels and the mindstreams of beings
MI DRAL DU SUM GE LEK SHOG
Remain inseparable and bring sublime well-being throughout the three times.
Composed by Kyabje Dudjom Yeshe Dorje
The following is a series of tweets given by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo on the importance of lineage:
Wisdom and Compassion are the two eyes of Mahayana. Wisdom is pure awareness of empty nature. Not book learning. Compassion is Boddhicitta. Boddhicitta is primordial fundamental uncontrived nature’s pristine display. To attain wisdom meditate on emptiness – the sublime view. To give rise to Boddhicitta, accomplish View, leading to the understanding that all beings are same in nature, and struggle to be happy. Ordinary human kindness will suffice in this life but the Great Boddhicitta accomplishment benefits every future life.
Wisdom is not taught in school. That is knowledge. Wisdom cannot come from books, only knowledge. Wisdom comes with the mind ripening at Guru’s feet. Neither ordinary kindness nor book knowledge bring Supreme Buddhahood- Liberation. Only Wisdom View and Boddhicitta’s nectar can. Ordinary thoughts and concepts from ordinary people are just that. Primordial Wisdom is more rare and precious than any jewel. When you find yourself lost in blah blah blah let it go like vanishing dew. Come back to Wisdom and Boddhicitta- pray, meditate. This is the method and the way of uncountable Buddhas and Bodhisattvas before you from practices handed down through Lineage. All empowerment passed through lineage can be traced back to the blessing of Guru Padmasambava and Consort in an unbroken chain of mastery.
Empowerment without lineage is not traceable to original source. Never take empowerment without tracing through Lineage. If not traceable from Guru to student through out the centuries it is likely tainted by broken Samaya or is totally made up. Taking impure empowerment is like drinking poison and will destroy your path and progress. Every pure Lama gives lineage of empowerment.
Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo. All rights reserved
Langdro Lotsawa returned to Trushul in Lhodrak,
You revealed the profound treasury of the four Kharchu Communions
Amongst your twenty-five treasures, your activity touching us all:
Homage to Chogyel Ratna Lingpa.
Ratna Lingpa 1403-1478/79. A reincarnation of Könchok Jungney of Langdro, he was born August 2nd 1403 to Dode Tar and his mother Sitar Men. At a very young age this great emanated master began having visions of Guru Pedma Jungnay and at the age of 27 received his first inventory cache directly from the great Guru himself. By 30 he extracted his first treasure cache and went on to discover 25 cycles of hidden treasures.
Of the many writings attributed to Terton Ratna Lingpa, the most well-known is the Nyingma Gyüdbum – A collection of scriptures belonging to the Three Inner Tantras, gathered by Ratna Lingpa and re-edited by Jigme Lingpa. Others include Dzepa Chuchig – The Eleven Deeds of Padmasambhava, and Sangye Lakchang – Placing Enlightenment in the Palm of the Hand.
Within Palyul, Terton Ratna Lingpa’s most practiced terma is that of Phurpa Yangsang Lame -The Most Secret and Unsurpassable Dagger. This is more commonly known as Ratna Lingpa Phurba (Vajrakilaya). Others include: Tukdrub Yangdü; Tukdrub Yangnying Dupa; Tsasum Drebu Dontri – Essential Instructions for the Accomplishment of the Three Roots; Yidam Tsasum Drildrub; Tsedrub Sangwa Dupa, and others.
Reference: Wikipedia
Tibetan Buddhism has four main traditions:
Nyingma “the Ancient Ones” This is the oldest, the original order founded by Padmasambhava andSantaraksita. Whereas other schools categorize their teachings into the three vehicles: The Foundation Vehicle, Mahayana and Vajrayana, the Nyingma tradition classifies them into nine vehicles, among the highest of which is known as Atiyoga or Dzogchen “Great Perfection”. Hidden treasures (terma) are of particular significance to this tradition.
Kagyu “Lineage of the (Buddha’s) Word” This is an oral tradition, which is very much concerned with the experiential dimension of meditation. Its most famous exponent was Milarepa, an 11th century mystic. It contains one major and one minor subsect. The first, the Dagpo Kagyu, encompasses those Kagyu schools that trace back to the Indian master Naropa via Marpa, Milarepa and Gampopa, and consists of four major sub-sects: the Karma Kagyu, headed by a Karmapa, the Tsalpa Kagyu, the Barom Kagyu, and Pagtru Kagyu. There are a further eight minor sub-sects, all of which trace their root to Pagtru Kagyu and the most notable of which are the Drikung Kagyu and the Drukpa Kagyu. The once-obscure Shangpa Kagyu, which was famously represented by the 20th century teacher Kalu Rinpoche, traces its history back to the Indian master Naropa via Niguma, Sukhasiddhi and Kyungpo Neljor.
Sakya “Grey Earth” This school very much represents the scholarly tradition. Headed by the Sakya Trizin, this tradition was founded by Khon Konchog Gyalpo, a disciple of the great translator Drokmi Lotsawa and traces its lineage to the Indian master Virupa. A renowned exponent, Sakya Pandita 1182–1251CE was the great grandson of Khon Konchog Gyalpo.
Gelug “Way of Virtue” Originally a reformist movement, this tradition is particularly known for its emphasis on logic and debate. Its spiritual head is the Ganden Tripa and its temporal one the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama is regarded as the embodiment of the Bodhisattva of Compassion. Successive Dalai Lamas ruled Tibet from the mid-17th to mid-20th centuries. The order was founded in the 14th to 15th century byJe Tsongkhapa, renowned for both his scholasticism and his virtue.
Within these, Kunzang Palyul Choling is Nyingma
There are six “Mother” Nyingma Monasteries:
Within these monastic traditions, Kunzang Palyul Choling is Palyul.
Palyul Monastery — one of the Six “Mother” Nyingma Monasteries. It was founded in either 1632 or 1665 by Rigdzin Kunzang Sherab, a disciple of Terton Migyur Dorje, and Karma Chagmed. The monastery specializes in kama practices, the termas of Ratna Lingpa and Tulku Migyur Dorje (1645-67). The current head of Palyul Monastery is the Fifth Karma Kuchen.
The inspired masters who contributed to the teachings practiced within Palyul
To date, Palyul has had 12 throne-holders in its history. According to His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, while Nyingma is generally practiced as a Ngagpa tradition, within Palyul it has never been true. The Lineage Holders of Palyul have always been fully-ordained.
Important “elder statesmen” of Palyul, contemporaries and close senior students of His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, are:
It is because of these pure Lineage teachers that we continue to have a pure unbroken stream of wisdom to guide us today to reveal our own enlightenment.
Sources include Wikipedia, Rigpa Wiki, and most of all Pathgate.org, who gave us permission to use their thangka images and biographies
The following is a brief synopsis of the Nyingma lineage and some key terms:
“Nyingma” means “Ancient Ones” and is sometimes referred to as the Ancient Translation School. It is the oldest of the four remaining Buddhist lineages in Tibet, the others being Kagyu, Sakya and Gelugpa. There are different lineages because of different historical transmissions of the Dharma from India to Tibet. The Nyingma transmissions of the 8th and 9th c. came primarily through Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche), Vimalamitra, and Shantarakshita (Khenpo Bodhisattva). Two characteristics distinguish the Nyingma from the other lineages: dividing the path into nine vehicles (the highest vehicle, Dzogchen, or the Great Perfection, is also unique to Nyingma), and the revelatory teachings of terma.
Terms to Know
Hinayana: The “lesser vehicle” compromising the overt teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha on ethics, concentration and meditation which produce the result of an Arhat or “enemy destroyer” (one who has overcome the enemies of hatred, greed, and ignorance)
Mahayana: The “greater vehicle,” or path of the bodhisattvas. This path comprises teachings both given by Shakyamuni Buddha both overtly and in more secret ways, which were later revealed by Nagarjuna and Asaga. Motivated by the compassionate intention to lead all sentient beings out of samsara, the bodhisattva follows a more profound set of ethics, concentration, and meditation according to the teachings on the six perfections: generosity, ethics, patience, perseverance, concentration, and meditation. This path leads ultimately to liberation as a fully enlightened Buddha.
Vajrayana: The “indestructible vehicle.” Sometimes called the path of secret mantra or the tantrayana. This is a path of meditation and yogic techniques designed to radically accelerate the time it takes to purify the mind of obscurations and karmic defilements. Those who accomplish this path are called siddhas – it also leads swiftly to the state of Buddhahood.
Tantra: Essentially the same as Vajrayana, but listed separately to remove some confusion. In the Western spiritual marketplace, tantra is sold as a method for achieving spiritual bliss through sexual union. Though such teachings exist in the anuyoga canon of the Nyingma, they are very rarely practiced, and require a yogi and yogini who have completely transcended ordinary desire, received the permission and proper transmissions from a qualified lama, and are for the purpose of subtle purification, not ordinary blissful feelings. Anything else is a corruption, and spiritually pointless.
The word tantra means “continuity” and refers to the continuous uninterrupted perfection inherent in all phenomena. It therefore refers to those teachings that take such a view as the basis for practice. Tantra is also used as a word for the actual text in which such teachings are written.
Kama: The orally transmitted teachings of sutra and tantra translated at the time of Padmasambhava and Vimalamitra.
Terma: Literally means “treasure.” It refers to the teachings and sacred objects hidden by Guru Rinpoche and his consort Yeshe Tsogyal to be discovered at the appropriate time for their beneficial use. They include both physical and non-physical treasures (“sa-ter,” or earth treasures, and “gong-ter,” or mind treasures).
Terton: Means “treasure revealer,” or one who discovers terma. All tertons are the prophesied incarnations of one of Guru Rinpoche’s 25 heart disciples. Tertons have been revealing terma from the 10th c. to the present day.
Mahayoga: The “generation stage” of practice. This is the first level of inner tantra corresponding to the seventh of the nine Nyingma vehicles.
Anuyoga: The “completion stage” of practice. This is the second level of inner tantra, corresponding to the eighth of the nine Nyingma vehicles.
Atiyoga: The “great perfection stage” of practice, also known as Dzogchen (a contraction of dzogpa chenpo). This is the ninth of the nine Nyingma vehicles, which itself has three divisions. The third is called “mengagde,” or esoteric instructions. This is divided into two practice methods: trekchod and togyal.
Important Names
Padmasambhava: This means “the lotus-born.” He is also known as Guru Rinpoche. He was the emanation of Shakyamuni Buddha appearing for the purpose of propagating the Vajrayana teachings. Dwelling in India for 1,000 years, he went to Tibet at the invitation of King Trisong Deutsen, tamed all the negative non-physical forces, established the first monastery (Samye Ling), extensively taught a select few disciples, and left hidden spiritual teachings and objects (terma) for the benefit of future generations.
Trisong Deutsen: King of Tibet in the 8th and 9th c. who had unified the country. Wishing to establish the Dharma in Tibet, he invited many great masters from India, chief among them being Padmasambhava, Vimalamitra, and Shantarakshita. He sponsored the translation of the entire Buddhist canon from Sanskrit to Tibetan, thus ensuring its safety.
Vimalamitra: Invited by Trisong Deutsen specifically to bring the inner tantra teachings, in particular Dzogchen. This body of teachings is known as the Vima Nyingthig, or “heart essence of Vimalamitra.”
Shantarakshita: Abbot of Nalanda, the greatest Buddhist University in India, invited by King Trisong Deutsen to establish Tibet’s first monastery. When he could not accomplish this, he was the one who recommended inviting Padmashambhava. He established the hinayana and Mahayana teachings, giving profound guidance to the first Tibetan monks, as well as the general lay population.
Yeshe Tsogyal: Daughter of Trisong Deutsen, a wisdom Dakini who was given to Padmasambhava by the king. She became Padmasambhava’s chief consort and closest disciple. Having perfect recall, she recorded all his teachings and helped conceal them as terma for future generations.
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