BULK RATE U.S. POSTAGE PAID ITHACA, NY 14851 Permit No. 746 Address correction requested SNOW LION ORDER FROM OUR TOLL FREE NUMBER NEWSLETTER & CATALOG 1-800-950-0313 WINTER 1993 SNOW LION PUBLICATIONS PO BOX 6483, ITHACA, NY 14851, (607)-273-8506 ISSN 1059-3691 VOLUME 8, NUMBER 1 Update from the New Book on Dzogchen: U.S. Tibet HEART DROPS OF Committee DHARMAKAYA Thanks to your efforts Tibet is Teachings on the Kunzang Nying-tig no longer shrouded in silence. A Tibet resolution was passed at the by Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen United Nations Subcommission on Human Rights. The US Con- The Teachings of the with the text a short history of the gress has recognized Tibet as an Progressive Great Perfection Bonpo from their own perspective, as well as biographies of Shardza occupied nation. At the Earth called the Heart Drops of Summit in Brazil, His Holiness Tashi Gyaltsen and Lopon Tenzin Dharmakaya Cod gsal rdzogs- the Dalai Lama held a very posi- Namdak, the Bonpo master tive meeting with Vice-President pa chen po'i lam-gyi rim-pa primarily responsible for this Al Gore. This summer the Senate khrid-yig kun-tu bzang-po'i translation. Foreign Relations Committee held snying-tig shes-bya-ba bzhugs) the first Senate hearing on Tibet which focused on China's illegal Translation and commentary by occupation and the Tibetans' Lopon Tenzin Namdak legitimate claims to independence. Introduction by Per Kvaerne On the campaign trail Clinton re- Edited by Richard Dixey Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, Director of Ligmincha. ferred a number of times to Chi- 180 pages na's human rights violations, Available April including the subjugation of $14.95 The Ligmincha Institute Tibet. CONTENTS Today there is hope for a new era Preface Ligmincha Institute, currently Buddha, who appeared in North- in our nation's foreign policy Introduction by Per Kvaerne based in Richmond, Virginia, is a ern India in the sixth century stance toward Tibet. There is a real Biographv of Shardza Tashi newly formed center for the study BCE, as the original founder of possibility that the executive Gyaltsen (1859-1933) of Tibetan religion and culture their tradition and as the source of branch of our government will Heart Drops of Dharmakaya: with a focus on the indigenous their Dharma. However, the Bon- share the sentiments of Congress The Text Bon religion of Tibet. Under the po Lamas, while accepting and incorporate that spirit in for- Book 1: Preliminary Practices mulating its policy towards Tibet. guidance of Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Shakyamuni as one Buddha Book 2: The Practice of Rinpoche, President and Director among many, look back to anoth- Government officials would not Trekcho The text presented here is in the of the Institute, a seven-year for- er historical figure, the Iranian care about Tibet if it wasn't for Book 3: The Practice of Togel style of personal instruction from mal program of study in Sutra, Prince Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche, you and many like you who form Book 4: Phowa and Bardo Shardza to his students. Such texts Tantra and Dzogchen is being as an earlier Buddha and as the the grassroots Tibet movement in Practices are called mengagde in the tradition planned. The activities of the In- source of their transmissions of this country. Grassroots pressure Appendix 1: The Rainbow changed government policies to- of Dzogchen, and this text is a stitute are divided into several Sutra, Tantra, and Dzogchen. Ac- Body condensate of a two-volume work "Centers" which are described cording to the Bon tradition, the wards South Africa. With your Appendix 2: A Short Historv of by Shardza of the same name. below. Buddha Tonpa Shenrab appeared help we can change governments' Bon The translation was carried out Bon is the name for the pre- in the country of Olmo Lung-ring, policies toward Tibet. Appendix 3: Biography of in August 1991 by Lopon Tenzin Buddhist religious culture and also known as Shambhala, locat- Today we need your support Lopon Tenzin Namdak Namdak in the course of teaching civilization of Tibet and other ed somewhere in ancient Tazig, more than ever. Our ability to Notes mobilize grassroots action for the text to a small group of West- parts of early Central Asia. Prac- the Iranian-speaking region of Bibliographic Essay ern students in his monastery in titioners of this ancient tradition Western Central Asia, some 18,000 Tibet is completely dependent Tibetan Text upon your continued support. the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal. are known as Bonpos. Although years ago. From Olmo Lung-ring As the rain fell around us, Lopon' they have been much persecuted in Tazig, the higher teachings of Your financial contributions are From the Preface by Richard spent some two hours every morn- in the past, today the Bonpos pos- Bon were brought to the country crucial right now as we work to Dixey: strengthen bipartisan support for ing translating and teaching from sess Lama-scholars, monasteries, of Zhang-zhung in Western Tibet, Tibet. The publication of this text is a the text, which was typed on a a canon of scriptures, and system the celebrated region centering During the next year, we will first for two reasons. It is the first portable word processor as he of philosophy and education in ev- around the sacred mountain of Mt need your support to help us pass time a text from the Bonpo tradi- taught it. It was also tape- ery way comparable to those of the Kailash. In his own day, Tonpa legislation for the establishment of tion has been published in its en- recorded, which enabled us to four schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Shenrab briefly visited Tibet prop- Radio Free Asia, place conditions tirety, demonstrating the vitality check that the typed text was ac- As with the Nyingmapa school, er, but there he taught only the on China's MFN status, and de- and importance of this tradition curate, and that no omissions oc- the higher teachings of the Bon shamanic practices of the four velop a more effective Toycott which has survived intact from curred from the Tibetan original. tradition, belonging to the Frui- Causal Ways of Bon because the campaign. very ancient times. Secondly it is The final version was then read tional Ways of Bon, are known as Tibetans were not ready for the the first time a complete text con- back to the Lopon, who checked Sutra, Tantra, and Dzogchen. higher teachings. At that time the What Else Are We Asking You cerning Dzogchen has been made it for a second time against the These higher spiritual teachings, Tibetans were still sorely op- To Do? available to a general Western au- Tibetan original. both exoteric and esoteric, are pressed by the spirits of sky, earth, —Contribute $25.00 or more. You dience, and gains from the fact As well as being an ac- known as Yungdrung Bon, the un- and underworld (Jha gnyan klu) will receive the USTC newsletter that it was actually written in mod- knowledged master of Dzogchen, changing and indestructible Dhar- who afflicted humanity with man- on a quarterly basis. ern times, almost certainly after Lopon Tenzin Namdak is a ma, which is taught by all the ifold ills and diseases. The sha- —Send a letter of congratulations 1930. Written by Shardza Tashi remarkable teacher with an ency- buddhas of the three times of past, manic teachings and practices were to President Bill Clinton. Thank Gyaltsen (1859-1933), a famous clopedic knowledge of Bonpo cul- present and future. But, in addi- therefore best suited to the condi- him for supporting the Tibetan Bonpo master who gave teachings ture and a lifetime's experience of tion, there exists an indigenous tions of the time. people and urge him to transform to students of other schools of teaching it to trainee monks, both system of shamanism and healing In a later age, in the era of the his concern into specific legislation Tibetan Buddhism as well as to in Tibet and India. Not only could belonging to the Causal Ways of first and the second kings of and policy. many students from the Bonpo he translate the text as he read it Bon that gives Bon its unique and Tibet, Nyatri Tsanpo and Mutri —Ask one friend to join the U.S. community, it belongs within an to us, but he was happy to answer original character. Tsanpo (eleventh century BCE), Tibet Committee. unbroken lineage that remains ac- any points of clarification or prob- H.H. the Dalai Lama and the the higher teachings of Sutra, Tan- Together we have already made tive right up to the present day. lems of interpretation as they arose Tibetan Government-in-Exile at tra, and Dzogchen were brought a difference. Your financial sup- Reappraisal of the Bonpo and during our sessions, and his an- Dharamsala, India have now to Tibet by certain Iranian and port is critical to helping us con- their role in the development of swers form almost another men- recognized Bon as the fifth among Zhangzhungpa sages. The latter tinue our work. Together we can Tibetan culture has been a feature gagde text alongside the original. the traditional religious schools of king was especially renowned as a SAVE TIBET. Thank you. of Western scholarship of the last These comments are to be found Tibet. The Lamas belonging to practitioner of the Tantra system Contact: U.S. TIBET COMMIT- twenty years, and we hope that in the copious footnotes that ac- the Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya and of Yung-drung Bon. Except for TEE, 241 E.