Dzogrim
Among the revelations of the Longchen Nyingtik one can find as well the practices for the second and third empowerments that are concerned with the perfection phase. As it in says in the literature of the Treasury of Precious Qualities: “in the perfection stage that uses visual forms, primordial wisdom must be generated by mastering the channels, winds, and essence-drops.”
During his first three year retreat, Jigme Lingpa himself brought the practices of the channels and wind-energies, which he refers to as ‘the vajra path’, to perfection by practicing them intensely. He writes in his short auto-biography:
“Through the blessing of the Three Roots
And the direct cause of the vajra path
I opened the treasury of all the qualities of complete purification.
My body was set ablaze, the ḍākinīs granted signs,
And I found the treasure of discriminating awareness,
Just as the mighty victor Padma had prophesied.”
It is said that during Jigme Lingpa's time the Nyingtik tsalung practices flourished and were widespread, and Tibet was filled with cotton-clad yogis practicing it. Yet later these practices of the channels and wind-energies belonging to the Longchen Nyingtik declined, and the only lineage holder left was Patrul Rinpoche.[1] Patrul Rinpoche was famed for his mastery of the tsalung practices of the Longchen Nyingtik and practiced the five fundamental movements of the trulkhor yogic exercises right up to his passing away:
“According to his attendant, on the 17th of the fourth lunar month of the Male Fire Pig Year (1887), Patrul took a little food, recited the Tantra of Immaculate Confession, and did a few prostrations. He performed the fivefold yogic exercises. He also did an exercise to increase the free flow of wisdom prana through the channels at the heart chakra. On the 18th, in early morning he ate some curd and drank a little tea. At sunrise, he took off his clothes, sat upright in a meditative pose, crossed his legs in the vajra posture, and rested his two hands upon his knees.When Khenpo Kunpel dressed him again, Patrul said nothing. At one point, Sönam Tsering recounted, Patrul gazed straight into space and snapped the fingers of both hands. He rested his hands under his robe in the mudra of equanimity. Then Patrul entered in the infinite, luminous space beyond birth and death, pure from the very beginning.”
In his auto-biography, Khenpo Ngakchung describes the experiences he had while, following the instructions of his teacher Nyoshul Lungtok, he did a hundred day retreat:
“Through prolonged familiarization with the energies, I gradually perfected the signs of entry, abiding, and absorption, and I was able to hold the energies in whatever way I wished. When I then meditated on yogic inner heat, the force of the blissful warmth in my body and the melting of the white vital nuclei caused an experience of bliss and emptiness to arise in my mind. All external sensations, hot or cold, stimulated the warmth and bliss. Then, after only a brief period of familiarizing myself with the subtle vital nuclei, all thoughts and mental states ceased. But this was not like being enveloped in the darkness of deep sleep, for the initial perceptible object of that nonconceptual mind was lucid emptiness, and then even that vanished. The state that followed was unidentifiable, such that I could no longer even say, “This is the empty mind.” I was able to sustain this for a whole practice session.”
At another occasion, Khenpo Ngakchung had the following vision:
“At one point during that period, I had the recurring thought, “If only this Longchen Nyingtik practice of the channels and energies had a detailed oral tradition, then the fundamental pith instructions of the three inner tantra classes would be complete. What can be done?” One night, I dreamed of the valley of Chimpu, which resembled a lotus in full bloom. At its center, Rigdzin Jigme Lingpa, dressed in the white garb of a yogin, bestowed the Path of the Wish-Fulfilling jewel: A Scroll of the Whispered Lineage, along with the practice of yogic inner heat and the esoteric yogic exercises ( ‘khrul ‘khor). This vision occurred continuously for several days, but because I did not receive the practical instructions in a useful form, I chose not to propagate them. ”
Fortunately for us, it seems later in his life the right circumstances did come together. On one occasion during a retreat, he was practicing the breathing of the three vajra syllables at night, and experienced extraordinary signs that all the wind-energies entered and remained in the central channel. He writes:
“During that time, I had a vision of the Dharma King Vyakaranavajra. He combined the Array of the Path of the Magical Net with Padmasambhava’s Wish-Fulfilling Gem: Scrolls of the Whispered Lineage of the Great Perfection’s Longchen Nyingtik, which he bestowed, along with nineteen fine vajras and bells, and he then appointed me as a “Lord of the Buddhist Teachings.” Based on this experience, I composed two manuals: an Explanation of Yogic Inner Heat and a Manual on Yogic Exercises, both according to the Nyingtik.”
To this day these two texts have been preserved, yet they are closely guarded and are considered to have the seal of secrecy.
In more recent times, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche also practiced the Longchen Nyingtik tsalung during certain of his extensive retreats. Orgyan Tobgyal Rinpoche tells us:
“While staying in a cave, Khyentse Rinpoche practiced the yoga of the subtle channels and energies from the Heart Essence. By doing the inner heat practice known as tummo he obtained a lot of inner warmth. Although the climate there was very cold, he wore only a white cloth, day and night; his seat was a bearskin. Outside the cave there was thick ice, but inside the cave it was warm.”
A young Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Although it goes without saying that for all tantric practices one needs to receive the appropriate empowerments (wang), scriptural transmissions (lung) and explanations (tri), this is even more so for the practices of the second and third empowerments, since if these practices are done incorrectly, they can cause serious harm.
Tantric text warning
Readers are reminded that according to Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition there are restrictions and commitments concerning tantra. Practitioners who are not sure if they should read translations in this section are advised to consult the authorities of their lineage. The responsibility for reading these texts or for sharing them with others—and hence the consequences—lies in the hands of readers.
The Secret Empowerment
Jigme Lingpa, Wish-Fulfilling Jewel: The Scroll of the Aural Lineage for the Praṇa-Based Perfection Stage of Bliss and Emptiness, from the Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse (ཀློང་ཆེན་ཉིང་གི་ཏིག་ལེ་ལས་བདེ་སྟོང་རླུང་གི་རྫོགས་རིམ་སྙན་རྒྱུད་ཤོག་དྲིལ་ཡིད་བཞིན་ནོར་བུ་)
English translation: The Scroll of the Aural Lineage of Empty Exaltation and Wind in the Stage of Completion. The Wish-fulfilling Jewel. Translated by the Light of Berotsana Translation Group (2003) (restricted publication).
Jigme Lingpa, A Manual of Oral Instructions on the Bliss-emptiness and Wind Perfection Phase, from the Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse (ཀློང་ཆེན་ཉིང་གི་ཏིག་ལེ་ལས། བདེ་སྟོང་རླུང་རྫོགས་ཞལ་ཤེས་)
English translation: The Explanation of Empty Exaltation and Wind in the Stage of Completion, translated by the Light of Berotsana Translation Group (2003) (restricted publication).
Jigme Lingpa, Notations on the Blazing and Dripping of Fierce Inner Heat, from the Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse (ཀློང་ཆེན་ཉིང་གི་ཏིག་ལེ་ལས་། གཏུམ་མོའི་འབར་འཛག་ཡིག་ཆུང་)
English translation: Notes on Blazing and Dripping Through the Power of the Fierce Wisdom, translated by the Light of Berotsana Translation Group (2003) (restricted publication).
The Third Empowerment
Jigme Lingpa, The Concealed Meaning of the Hearing Lineage Wish-fulfilling Jewel Scroll: The Path of Method called Buddhahood Without Meditation (སྙན་རྒྱུད་ཤོག་དྲིལ་ཡིད་བཞིན་ནོར་བུའི་སྦས་དོན་ཐབས་ལམ་མ་བསྒོམས་སངས་རྒྱས་)
Jigme Lingpa, Clarifying the Concealed Meaning of the Vidyādhara's Yogic Exercises, from the Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse (ཀློང་ཆེན་ཉིང་གི་ཏིག་ལེ་ལས་རིག་འཛིན་འཁྲུལ་འཁོར་སྦས་དོན་གསལ་བ་)
English translation: The Illumination of the Hidden Meaning of the Wheels of Technique of the Holders of Awareness, translated by the Light of Berotsana Translation Group (2003) (restricted publication).
Jigme Lingpa, The Vajra Verses: A Prayer of the Fierce Inner Heat, from the Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse (ཀློང་ཆེན་ཉིང་གི་ཏིག་ལེ་ལས།་གཏུམ་མོའི་གསོལ་འདེབས་རྡོ་རྗེའི་ཚིག་རྐང་)
Arrangements & Liturgies (chok-trik, ཆོག་ཁྲིགས)
Drodul Pawo Dorje (Adzom Drukpa), The Heart of the Swift Path, The Main Visualization for the Secret Path of the Vidyādharas, A Liturgy for Wish-Fulfilling Jewel: The Scroll of the Aural Lineage for the Praṇa-Based Perfection Stage of Bliss and Emptiness
བདེ་སྟོང་རླུང་གི་རྫོགས་རིམ་སྙན་བརྒྱུད་ཤོག་དྲིལ་ཡིད་བཞིན་ནོར་བུའི་ངག་འདོན་རྩ་བསྐྱེད་རིག་འཛིན་གསང་ལམ་འཁྲིགས་སུ་སྡེབ་པ། (འགྲོ་འདུལ་དཔའ་བོ་རྡོ་རྗེ)
Commentaries
Doshul Özer Taye, A Guide to the Pith Instructions of the Wish-Fulfilling Jewel: The Scroll of the Aural Lineage for the Praṇa-Based Perfection Stage of Bliss and Emptiness བདེ་སྟོང་རླུང་གི་རྫོགས་རིམ་སྙན་རྒྱུད་ཡིད་བཞིན་ནོར་བུ་ཤོག་དྲིལ་དུ་གདབ་པའི་མན་ངག་སྐོར་རེ་ཞིག་བར་དུ་ཟིན་བྲིས་སུ་བཀོད་པ། (མདོ་ཤུལ་འོད་ཟེར་མཐའ་ཡས)
Jigme Trinle Özer, Practical Instructions that Elucidate the Inner Fire Practice of the Heart-Essence of the Vast Expanse ཀློང་ཆེན་སྙིང་ཐིག་གི་གཏུམ་མོའི་གདམས་པ་ལག་ལེན་ལ་འདེབས་ཚུལ། (འཇིགས་མེད་ཕྲིན་ལས་འོད་ཟེར)
Shenpen Tayé, Revealing the Secrets: Visualizations that Enhance the Inner Fire Practice of the Heart-Essence of the Vast Expanse ཀློང་ཆེན་སྙིང་ཐིག་གི་གཏུམ་མོའི་མེའི་བོགས་དབྱུང་གི་དམིགས་པ་གབ་པ་མངོན་ཕྱུང་། (གཞན་ཕན་མཐའ་ཡས)
Do Khyentse, བདེ་སྟོང་རླུང་གི་རྫོགས་རིམ་སྙན་བརྒྱུད་ཡིད་བཞིན་ནོར་བུའི་ཤོག་དྲིལ་དུ་གབ་པའི་མན་ངག་སྐོར་རེ་ཞིག་བར་དུ་ཟིན་བྲིས་སུ་བཀོད་པ་རྗེ་བླ་མའི་ཐུགས་ཀྱི་ཐིག་ལེ་དཔའ་བོ་མཁའ་འགྲོའི་སྙིང་མཛོད་གསང་རྒྱ་ཅན
Do Khyentse, རྗེ་བླ་མའི་ཐུགས་ཀྱི་ཐིག་ལེ་དཔའ་བོ་མཁའ་འགྲོའི་སྙིང་མཛོད་གསང་རྒྱ་ཅན་གྱི་དངོས་གཞི་གཏུམ་མོའི་སྐོར
Künkhyen Ngakgi Wangpo, Practical Instructions from the Lineage of Vidyādharas for the Yogic Exercises of Trulkhor that Remove Obstacles to the Praṇa-Based Perfection Stage of Bliss and Emptiness of the Heart-Essence of the Vast Expanse ཀློང་ཆེན་སྙིང་གི་ཐིག་ལེའི་བདེ་སྟོང་རླུང་གི་རྫོགས་རིམ་གེགས་སེལ་གྱི་འཁྲུལ་འཁོར་རིག་འཛིན་བརྒྱུད་པའི་ཕྱག་བཞེས། (ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ངག་གི་དབང་བོ)
Künkhyen Ngakgi Wangpo, Words of the Omniscient One, Oral Instructions on the Praṇa-Based Perfection Stage of Bliss and Emptiness of the Heart-Essence of the Vast Expanse ཀློང་ཆེན་སྙིང་གི་ཐིག་ལེ་ལས་བདེ་སྟོང་རླུང་གི་རྫོགས་རིམ་གྱི་ཞལ་ཤེས་ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཞལ་ལུང་། (ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ངག་གི་དབང་པོ)
Adzom Gyalse Gyurme Dorje, Notes on the Heart-Essence Practices of the Channels and Wind-Energies སྙིང་ཐིག་རྩ་རླུང་ཟིན་བྲིས། (རྒྱལ་སྲས་འགྱུར་མེད་རྡོ་རྗེ)
English translation: Notes on the Heart-Essence Practices of the Channels and Wind-Energies
Namkha Gyatso (Aka Drubwang Tadral Dorje Rinpoche, a disciple of the 1st Dodrupchen), Illuminating the Hidden Meaning, A Word-by-Word Commentary on the Hidden Meaning of the Path of Skillful Means of the Heart-Essence of the Vast Expanse ཀློང་སྙིང་ལས་ཐབས་ལམ་སྦས་དོན་འབྲུ་འགྲེལ་གབ་དོན་གྱི་མངོན་གསལ། (ནམ་མཁའ་རྒྱ་མཚོ)
Namkha Gyatso, Words of the Guru, Instructions that Remove Doubts About the Wish-Fulfilling Jewel: The Scroll of the Aural Lineage of the Cycle of the Vajra Matrix of Pith Instructions ཞལ་གདམས་རྡོ་རྗེའི་དྲྭ་མིག་སྐོར་སྙན་བརྒྱུད་ཤོག་དྲིལ་ཡིད་བཞིན་ནོར་བུའི་དོགས་བསལ་བླ་མའི་ཞལ་ལུང་། (ནམ་མཁའ་རྒྱ་མཚོ)
Ngakchang Gönpo Tseten, Bearing the Seal of Secrecy, A Guide to the Hidden Cycle of Pith Instructions of the Wish-Fulfilling Jewel: The Scroll of the Aural Lineage for the Praṇa-Based Perfection Stage of Bliss and Emptiness བདེ་སྟོང་རླུང་གི་རྫོགས་རིམ་སྙན་བརྒྱུད་ཤོག་དྲིལ་ཡིད་བཞིན་ནོར་བུའི་མན་ངག་གབ་པའི་སྐོར་ཟིན་བྲིས་སུ་བཀོད་པའི་གསང་རྒྱ་ཅན། (སྔགས་འཆང་མགོན་པོ་ཚེ་བརྟན)
Khaleg Tulku (Muksang Tulku Pema Kunzang Rangdrol), Words of the Holy Beings, A Guide to the Yogic Exercises of Trulkhor and the Channels and Wind-Energies of the Heart-Essence སྙིང་ཐིག་རྩ་རླུང་འཕྲུལ་འཁོར་ཟིན་བྲིས་དམ་པའི་ཞལ་ལུང་། (ཁ་ལེགས་སྤྲུལ་སྐུ)
Tulku Tubzang, A Guide to the Liturgy of the Praṇa-Based Perfection Stage of Bliss and Emptiness and the Perfection Stage of Inner Fire from the Heart-Essence of the Vast Expanse ཀློང་ཆེན་སྙིང་ཐིག་གི་བདེ་སྟོང་རླུང་གི་རྫོགས་རིམ་དང་གཏུམ་མོའི་རྫོགས་རིམ་བཅས་ཀྱི་ངག་འདོན་ཟིན་བྲིས། (སྤྲུལ་ཐུབ་བཟང)
Footnotes
[1] Ani Jinba Palmo, Brilliant Moon: The Autobiography of Dilgo Khyentse (Shambhala, 2008), page 304, note 19.