~ Padmasambhava and the Nyingma Lineage ~

Mingyur Rinpoche

Guru Rinpoche brought the Dzogchen teachings to Tibet, as well as Vimalamitra. Vimalamitra was also Shri Singha's student. They each brought Dzogchen teachings to Tibet in different forms. And Guru Rinpoche had another student called “Vairotsana.” Vairotsana was a translator. He translated a lot of texts from Sanskrit to Tibetan. Guru Rinpoche sent him to India to also learn the general buddhadharma and Dzogchen. Vairotsana also learned a lot of Dzogchen. Vairotsana, Guru Rinpoche, and Vimalamitra — the three of them brought all the Dzogchen teachings from India to Tibet. And from there, the Dzogchen teachings continued until now as the unbroken lineage that came to Tibet.

Mainly, Guru Rinpoche taught this to twenty-five students who were his main disciples. One of them was Vairotsana, and Vairotsana also continued to teach other students. And then Vimalamitra taught Dzogchen to Nyang Tingdzin Zangpo. Nyang Tingdzin Zangpo was a meditator who was very good at shamatha meditation. He did not know anything about vipashyana but was a very good shamatha meditator. He was one of the first teachers of the Tibetan king. later, he became Vimalamitra's student, and from there, Vimalamitra's Dzogchen teaching also continued.

But in general, in Dzogchen, Guru Rinpoche, or Padmasambhava, is a really important lineage holder, especially in Tibet. Guru Rinpoche taught Dzogchen to many students in Tibet. And also, Guru Rinpoche put a lot of all these Dzogchen teachings into treasure form. Treasure is another lineage. There were twenty-five main disciples, another 108 disciples, and then thousands of disciples more of Guru Rinpoche. Guru Rinpoche taught all these Dzogchen teachings to them, and then sealed it for some of them in their mindstreams. And some of them put it in dakini script and sealed it in a copper or bronze tube. They sealed them and put them in rocks, in many different places. Many of

1 | DZOGCHEN | THE DZOGCHEN LINEAGE ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ them were done by dakini Yeshe Tsogyal, a female Dzogchen lineage holder in Tibet, also. She put them in various parts of Tibet.

These are still continuing to be revealed. It is not finished yet. There are more than a thousand of those treasure forms of Dzogchen. Still, nowadays, some of my friends and teachers reveal treasures from time to time.

In India, the Dzogchen teachings were not public. They were secret and passed down from teacher to student, and also, first they had to examine if the student was ready or not. Otherwise, there is some danger that, if the student is not ready, eventually it will hurt the student. So the lineage is very carefully passed down from teacher to student. Nobody even knew from the outside who the Dzogchen practitioners were.

But in Tibet, this Dzogchen lineage became public. Guru Rinpoche taught the Dzogchen lineage in public, and especially during that time, Guru Rinpoche saw that these teachings could be available for everybody and that a lot of people were ready to receive these teachings.

And normally, what we call "degeneration time" means when we have more conceptual mind — negative emotions, the view, and especially the monkey mind, this "blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada" — when all this conceptual mind becomes stronger, there is more readiness within people to receive Dzogchen teachings. Dzogchen teachings are really relevant, especially for the degeneration time.

In ancient times in India, in those lineages, the mind lineage and the symbolic lineage, when the student was ready, they would right away get the main teaching. But when the Dzogchen teachings came to Tibet, it basically became an oral lineage of humans. You have to teach it, explain it, and students have to practice it step by step. So until now, the Dzogchen teachings we have received in Tibet and then around the world have been in an oral lineage style. If you try to teach it by symbolic lineage, then people may think, "Oh, this person is crazy." [Mingyur Rinpoche laughs.] And then the student does not get anything, and it also may be misunderstood.

2 | DZOGCHEN | THE DZOGCHEN LINEAGE ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ When I teach the Path of Liberation, it is based on the oral lineage of Mahamudra, but Dzogchen is also there, it is also based on the oral lineage of Dzogchen. But of course, with the oral lineage, from time to time, when the student is ready, then through the teacher's gaze, gesture, or words, the student also gets the symbolic lineage. And then the student practices again and again, and realization comes. The lineage is really transferred; the transmission of the mind lineage comes together with that.

This is how the Dzogchen lineage came from India to Tibet and is still living now. Right now, for us, they are in Tibet, and outside Tibet. It went from India to Tibet, and then from Tibet to India, Nepal, and all over the world now. Therefore, you can receive these Dzogchen teachings nowadays.

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