Dakini Teachings RANGJUNG YESHE BOOKS ♦ WWW.RANGJUNG.COM PADMASAMBHAVA ♦ Treasures from Juniper Ridge ♦ Advice from the Lotus-Born ♦ Dakini Teachings PADMASAMBHAVA AND JAMGÖN KONGTRÜL ♦ The Light of Wisdom, Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3, Vol. 4, & Vol. 5 YESHE TSOGYAL ♦ The Lotus-Born DAKPO TASHI NAMGYAL ♦ Clarifying the Natural State TSELE NATSOK RANGDRÖL ♦ Mirror of Mindfulness ♦ Empowerment ♦ Heart Lamp CHOKGYUR LINGPA ♦ Ocean of Amrita ♦ The Great Gate ♦ Skillful Grace ♦ Great Accomplishment TRAKTUNG DUDJOM LINGPA ♦ A Clear Mirror JAMGÖN MIPHAM RINPOCHE ♦ Gateway to Knowledge, Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3, & Vol. 4 TULKU URGYEN RINPOCHE ♦ Blazing Splendor ♦ Rainbow Painting ♦ As It Is, Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 ♦ Vajra Speech ♦ Repeating the Words of the Buddha ADEU RINPOCHE ♦ Freedom in Bondage KHENCHEN THRANGU RINPOCHE ♦ King of Samadhi CHÖKYI NYIMA RINPOCHE ♦ Present Fresh Wakefulness TULKU THONDUP ♦ Enlightened Living ORGYEN TOBGYAL RINPOCHE ♦ Life & Teachings of Chokgyur Lingpa DZIGAR KONGTRÜL RINPOCHE ♦ Uncommon Happiness TSOKNYI RINPOCHE ♦ Fearless Simplicity ♦ Carefree Dignity DZOGCHEN TRILOGY COMPILED BY MARCIA BINDER SCHMIDT ♦ Dzogchen Primer ♦ Dzogchen Essentials ♦ Quintessential Dzogchen ERIK PEMA KUNSANG ♦ Wellsprings of the Great Perfection ♦ A Tibetan Buddhist Companion ♦ The Rangjung Yeshe Tibetan-English Dictionary of Buddhist Culture & Perfect Clarity MARCIA DECHEN WANGMO ♦ Confessions of a Gypsy Yogini RANGJUNG YESHE PUBLICATIONS 125 Robinson Road, flat 6A Hong Kong Address letters to: Rangjung Yeshe Publications P.O. Box 1200, Kathmandu, Nepal www.rangjumg.com Copyright © 1999 Erik Hein Schmidt 5 7 9 8 6 4 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. Special discount is given for classroom use. Write to the above address. Distributed to the book trade by Publishers Group West PUBLICATION DATA: Dakini Teachings: Padmasambhava’s Oral Instructions to Lady Tsogyal. From the revelations of Nyang Ral Nyima Özer, Sangye Lingpa and Dorje Lingpa. Translated from the Tibetan according to the teachings of Kyabje Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche by Erik Perna Kunsang (Erik Hein Schmidt). Edited by Marcia Binder Schmidt. TIBETAN TITLES: Jo mo la gdams pa’i skor, jo mo zhu lan, mnga’ bdag myang gi dmar khrid, bla ma dgongs ‘dus las mtsho rgyal zhu lan, rdo rje gling pa’i mar gyi yang zhun. ISBN 978–962–7341–94–9 1. Dakini Teachings, Vol. I. 2. Eastern philosophy—Buddhism. 3.Vajrayana—Tibet. I. Title. II. Padmasambhava (8th Cent.). III. Ye shes mtsho rgyal (8th Cent.). IV. Myang ral nyi ma’i ‘od zer (1124– 1182). V. Sangs rgyas gling pa (1340–1396). VI. rDo rje gling pa (1346–1405). COVER ART: Tibetan painting of Yeshe Tsogyal Courtesy of Kunzang Choling “Descend with the view while ascending with the conduct. It is most essential to practice these two as a unity.” —PADMASAMBHAVA Contents Translator’s Preface A Short Biography of Padmasambhava by JAMGON KONGTRUL THE FIRST Introductory Teaching by VEN. TULKU URGYEN RINPOCHE First of All Taking Refuge Bodhicitta The Ten Foundations of Secret Mantra The Vajra Master and the Yidam Deity Vajrayana Mind Training The Crystal Garland of Faultless Practice The Refined Essence of Oral Instructions Glossary Translator’s Preface Dakini Teachings is a collection of advice selected from several revealed “treasure teachings,” or terma. It contains Guru Rinpoche’s (Padmasambhava’s) oral instructions on Dharma practice given during his stay in Tibet in the ninth century. This advice was recorded by his chief disciple, the dakini Yeshe Tsogyal, the princess of Kharchen. According to Jamgon Kongtrul the First’s Lives of One Hundred Tertons,1 Yeshe Tsogyal was a dakini and an emanation of the female buddha Lochana, the consort of Buddha Ratnasambhava, as well as of Vajra Yogini appearing in the form of a woman. She served Guru Rinpoche during his stay in Tibet and afterward practiced with tremendous perseverance so that she finally became equal to Guru Rinpoche himself. Her compassion is matchless and her blessings are unceasing. Yeshe Tsogyal wrote these oral instructions down in a secret code language called “dakini script” and concealed them as precious terma treasures to be revealed by tertons many centuries later. Guru Rinpoche himself predicted the arrival, names, and periods of the revealers. The teachings they would receive, in actuality or in visions, would be appropriate for the people in their own and in following generations. Almost every chapter in this book mentions that these teachings were given for the benefit of practitioners of future generations and includes the words: “May this meet with all worthy and destined people in the future!” Dakini Teachings is based on the revealed termas of the twelfth-century terton Nyang Ral Nyima Oser. The manuscripts that I have used were kept in the Royal Danish Library, having been brought back from a Mongolian monastery by an explorer of central Asia many decades ago. When His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse visited the library in 1976, he asked to be shown all the original handwritten manuscripts and decided to have photocopies made of six volumes of books that were unavailable at that time in India. Among these six was a collection of some of Nyang Ral’s termas called Jomo Shulen, “The Questions and Answers of the Lady” (Tsogyal). This volume was later reprinted in its original form by Sherab Drimey, His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse’s printer in New Delhi. When later I presented Ven. Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche with the book, he expressed great delight in reading it and gave me much encouragement in preparing this translation. He also pointed out another similar collection of Nyang Ral’s termas called Nyang-gyi Martri, “The Direct Instructions of Nyang.” Jamgon Kongtrul had found this text important enough to include in the sixtieth volume of the Rinchen Terdzo. In comparing these two manuscripts, I found that both contained invaluable advice by Padmasambhava that was sometimes identical and sometimes totally different. They were obviously from two entirely different sources, the first of which had not been available to Jamgon Kongtrul when preparing the Rinchen Terdzo. It is now about eight hundred years since Nyang R’al Nyima Oser lived, and over these many years quite a few omissions and spelling mistakes crept in each time the manuscripts were hand copied. Even the mistakes were not the same in the two versions. Therefore I relied on a third collection of termas by the fourteenth-century master Sangye Lingpa. Parts of this collection were almost identical in wording with the terma of Nyang Ral Nyima Oser. The reason for the duplication is that both masters, in their former lives, were present when Guru Rinpoche gave the teaching. Nyang Ral Nyima Oser was the reincarnation of King Trisong Deutsen, and Sangye Lingpa was the reincarnation of Trisong Deutsen’s second son, Murub Tseypo. There was enough material in these three collections to fill four additional books of English translation, so I selected what seemed to be most appropriate for the present day and age. The following short biographical notes about the life of Nyang Ral Nyima Oser (1124–1192) are extracted from The Lives of One Hundred Tertons. Nyang Ral is considered the first of the five terton kings prophesied by Guru Rinpoche. He was a reincarnation of Trisong Deutsen, the king who initially invited Guru Rinpoche to Tibet and who was also known as Tsangpa Lhai Metok (Divine Flower of Brahma). He was born in the area of Lhodrak, the son of the Nyingma lama Nyangton Chokyi Khorlo, in the year of the Male Wood Dragon.2 At the age of eight he had visions of Buddha Shakyamuni, Avalokiteshvara, and Guru Rinpoche. His experience blazed forth for a whole month. One evening he saw Guru Rinpoche riding a white horse carried by the four classes of dakinis and received the four empowerments by drinking nectar from Guru Rinpoche’s vase. Upon receiving the empowerments he had the experience of the sky breaking open and the earth and mountains trembling, and he started to act in various strange ways to such an extent that everyone thought he had gone insane. His father then gave him the empowerment of Hayagriva, and after practicing in retreat he had a vision of the deity and his phurba dagger emitted the neigh of a horse and he left imprints of his hands and feet in solid rock. In accordance with a prediction from the dakinis, he went to Mawo Choqi Draktsa, where he was given the name Nyima Oser (Beam of Sunlight) by the wisdom dakinis. After this he was renowned under that name. Guru Rinpoche appeared to Nyang Ral Nyima Oser in person and gave him the lists of termas he was to reveal. Accordingly, he revealed many volumes of terma teachings, among which the best known is the Kagye Desheg Dupa, a cycle of teachings focusing on the eight heruka sadhanas, and his revealed biography of Guru Rinpoche, known as Sanglingma. He later married Jobum, an emanation of Yeshe Tsogyal, and had two sons, Drogon Namkha O and Namkha Pal, who both became lineage holders. During his life he maintained a balance between practicing in retreat and teaching others. His activity stretched to the corners of the world and had a tremendous impact on the continuation of the Dharma. In the year of the Male Wood Mouse he passed away at the age of sixty-nine, accompanied by many wonderful signs. I, Jamgon Kongtrul, personally gathered all the transmissions for Nyang Ral’s terma teachings, had the wood blocks carved for the nine volumes of Kagye Desheg Dupa, and performed its group sadhana many times. In that way I was able to offer my humble service to these teachings. Here is some information describing how Nyima Oser received the actual terma from which the Dakini Teachings is taken, extracted from his biography called The Clear Mirror, which is found in the second volume of Kagye Desheg Dupa.