The Nyingma (ancient) school of Tibetan or Vajrayana Buddhism was founded in the eighth century by the great enlightened Indian tantric master Padmasambhava, "the second Buddha," and is the oldest of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism (Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya, and Gelugpa). Its teachings, transmissions and lineage of enlightened masters have continued unbroken to this day.
May the Great tradition of Khenpo Shantarakshita, Lobpon Padmasambhava and Dharma King Trisong Detsen Increase and spread throughout the three realms of the World. May the appearance of the Three Jewels and the mindstream of beings remain inseparable, And bring sublime well-being throughout the three times.
The
Tradition of the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism
The Lineage of the Nyingma school
of Tibetan Buddhist teaching are classified into three different types:
The long trams- mission (Ring Gyu) of the extensive karma. The short
transmission (Nye Gyu) of the profound terma. And the extremely short
transmission of the pure Vision (Dag Nang) when teachings were directly
received by the masters in pure vision from gurus and the deities.
The
Dzogchen Nyingthig Lineage of the Long transmission (Kama)
According to the Nine Yanas of the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism, the highest teaching is known as the Great Perfection(Dzogpa Chenpo or Atiyoga),Which is the direct method for realizing the nature of the mind and for attaining Buddha hood in this very body. Thus the Dzogchen Nyingthig,as a teaching, fundamentally deals with expression of the doctrine of the Three Perfect Bodies(Kayas)of a Fully Awakened beings, and this tradition has been transmitted through the three lineages of spiritual transmission as follows: a) The
Wisdom mind lineage of the Buddha-this spiritual transmission
is from the primordial Buddha Samantabhadra(Kuntuzangpo)of Dharmakaya
to five self-manifesting Buddha's of the sambogkaya.In this Lineage,
the teacher transmits the teachings to the disciple, without using
words or any other indications, only with his all pervading Wisdom
mind.
b) The
Symbolic Lineage of the Awareness-Holders (Vidyadhara)-the
SambogakayaBuddha vajrasattva(Dorje Sempa)transmitted all empowerments
and teachings to the Nirmanakaya Prahevajra(Garab Dorjee),the first
human master. It was from Prahevajra that this transmission was passed
on to Manjushrimitra,shri Simha,jnanasura,Mahapandita Vimalamitra
and Guru Padmasambhava(Guru Rinpoche).Here ,an Awareness- Holder,
a being who has direct and pure vision of the nature of reality,
manifest to a receptive disciple and transmits the teachings by means
of pronouncing a mantra or showing a sign.
c) The
Oral Lineage of the Realized beings-here the complete verbal
empowerments and instruction are transmitted by words of mouth from
the masters to the disciple. This lineage of spiritual transmission
in Tibet initially spread through two traditions in the beginning
at the early part of the ninth century. One tradition originated from
Mahapandita Vimalamitra and is come to be known as the"Vima Nyingthig".The
other tradition originated from Guru Padmasambhava and is came to
be known as the "khandro Nyingthig". Then, it was later that both
these innermost Essence transmission meet in kunkhyen Longchen Rabjampa,
from whom the uninterrupted oral transmission of these teachings have
extended until the present day.
The
Short Transmission of the Terma Tradition.
The Terma Teachings are well known
to have six lineages, since they possess three special Lineages over
and above-mentioned Lineages. These
are the Lineage empowered by enlightened aspirations, the lineage of
prophetically declared spiritual succession, and the lineage of the
dakinis" seal of entrustment.A more detailed description of these
lineages can be found in Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche's The Fundamental and
History of the Nyingma School of the Tibetan Buddhism (With the English
translation by Gyurme Dorjee and Matthew Kapstein and published by Wisdom
Publication.
Thease Terme teachings were concealed mainly by Guru Rinpoche and his spiritual consort Yeshe Tsogyal,to be revealed at the time most appropriate for their discovery by prophesized "Treasure Revealers"(Tertons),Who are themselves incarnations of realized disciples of Guru Rinpoche .Guru Rinpoche first formulated the secret teachings by showing the method of attaining perfection(drub-t'ha) through the tantras,the method of attaining the core techniques(men-ngag)through perfection, and instruction on how to put these core techniques in to practice(lag-len),with the blessings(mon-lam),the authority of initiation(wang-kur),credentials of authority(te-gya),future prophecy(lung-ten),and so on, those secret teachings were then concealed in small boxes of terma. Furthermore Terma teachings(tercho)can be classified into three main types: 1) Lama-the
peaceful and wrathful sadhanas on Guru Rinpoche,usually divided up into
outer,inner,secret and innermost secret cycles;
2) Dzogchen-teachings
on Ati-yoga(DzogpaChenpo);and
3) Thugje
Chenpo(La Dzog Tuk Sum)-sadhanas of the great compassionate one,Avalokiteshvara.
These
Dharma Treasures (Terchos) are the teachings which possess the "warm
breath" of Guru Rinpoche himself. As there are no contaminations and
error in them, and so they are extremely powerful, they have almost
no obstructions for the practices, their accomplishments are easy to
attain, and their fruits are swiftly achieved.
The
Dzogchen Longchen Nyingthig Lineage of the Extremely Short Transmission
of pure Visions(Dag Nang)
It was in the eighteenth century
that the spiritual master Rigzin
Rangjung Dorjee Jigme Lingpa (Who was the combined emanation
of the Mahapandita Vimalamitra,King Tritsong Detsen and Gyelse Lharje,1729-1798),received
the complete Dzogchen Nyingthig teachings from Manjushrimitra,Humkara,Guru
Rinpoche,Yeshe Tsogyal,Vimalamitra and Longchen Rabjampa, through
the three lineages of Wisdom Mind, Symbolic and Oral transmissions,
in the state of pure visions.
In these Visions, he saw Longchen Rabjampa three times and received his blessings of body, speech and mind. Thus, he became inseparable from the spiritual Master and attained the realization of the Great Perfection .These Dharma Treasures (Terchos), which were collected into nine volumes, became his own Mind Terma and came to be known as the renowned "Longchen Nyingthig" lineage. His disciples were scattered in all different schools of Tibetan Buddhism. After his passing away,the "Longchen Nyingthig" lineage was propagated through his two main disciples: Jigmey Thinley Woser(the first Dodrup chen,1745-1821) and Jigmey Gyalwai Nyugu(1765-1843).His incarnation included:Do Khyentse Yeshe Dorjee (1800-1866),as his body incarnation;Patrul Jigmey Chokyi Wangpo(1800-1887),as his speech incarnation; and Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo(1820-1892),as his mind incarnation.Nowadays the 'Dzogchen Nyingthig" and the "Longchen Nyingthig" are known as earlier and Later Nyingthig traditions respectively.
Buddha
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