DEDICATION : Three Tantras of the Great Perfection
Most especially Dezhung Rinpoche,
As well as to
All teachers and students
Of the Great Perfection
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First and foremost, I wish to thank my root teacher Dezhung Rinpoche for constantly bringing out the best in me and encouraging me to pursue a comprehension of every branch of Buddhist learning. It was he who introduced me to Dilgo Kyentse Rinpoche, and through his recommendations enabled me to receive full empowerments, transmissions, and permissions in the areas of Mahâ, Anu, and Ati Yogas. With the highest regard I wish to thank Dilgo Kyentse Rinpoche, Khetsun Zangpo Rinpoche, and Khenpo Palden Sherab for their kind instruction and encouragement in my effort to translate the literature of the rDzogs chen. There are many individuals, too many to name here, that have helped me over the years to become a qualified translator, in many ways. At this time I want to remember the
kindness of H.H. Sakya Trizin, Jigdral Sakya, Ngawang Kunga Trinlay Sakyapa, Luding Khen Rinpoche, Chopgye Trichen Rinpoche, Dhongthog Rinpoche, H.H. Karmapa Rangjung Rigpay Dorje, Kalu Rinpoche, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Geshe Ngawang Nornang, David Ruegg, Turrell Wylie, Gene Smith, Karen Lang, Anne MacDonald, Richard Solomon, Jack Hawley, David Jackson, Cyrus Stearns, Herbert Guenther, Eva Neumeier-Dargyay, Leslie Kawamura, Robert Thurman, Paul Nietupski, Lou Lancaster, David Snellgrove, Jean-Luc Achard, Steve Landsberg, Moke Mokotoff, Tsultrim Alione, Carolyn Klein, Rob Mayer, Jonathan Silk, David White, Mark Tatz, Steve Goodman, Kennard Lipman, and Karen Louise White. I want to thank Paul Hackett, specially, for proofing the manuscript and Diah Schur for recovering lost files without which this publication would not be possible. The many people who have contributed to my understanding and ability to do this work cannot be counted. I wish to thank everyone that has taken a kind interest in these translations, however slight, for your part in making this work a reality.
ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR
Christopher Wilkinson began his career in Buddhist literature at the age of fifteen, taking refuge vows from his guru Dezhung Rinpoche. In that same year he began formal study of Tibetan language at the University of Washington under Geshe Ngawang Nornang and Turrell Wylie. He became a Buddhist monk, for three years, at the age of eighteen, living in the home of Dezhung Rinpoche while he continued his studies at the University of Washington. He graduated in 1980 with a B.A. degree in Asian Languages and Literature and another B.A. degree in Comparative Religion (College Honors, Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa). After a two year tour of Buddhist pilgrimage sites throughout Asia he worked for five years in refugee resettlement in Seattle, Washington, then proceeded to the University of Calgary for an M.A. in Buddhist Studies where he wrote a groundbreaking thesis on the Yangti transmission of the Great Perfection tradition
titled “Clear Meaning: Studies on a Thirteenth Century rDzogchen Tantra.” He proceeded to work on a critical edition of the Sanskrit text of the 20,000 line Perfection of Wisdom in Berkeley, California, followed by an intensive study of Burmese language in Hawaii. In 1990 he began three years’ service as a visiting professor in English Literature in Sulawesi, Indonesia, exploring the remnants of the ancient Sri Vijaya Empire there. He worked as a research fellow for the Shelly and Donald Rubin Foundation for several years, playing a part in the early development of the famous Rubin Museum of Art. In the years that followed he became a Research Fellow at the Centre de Recherches sur les Civilisations de l'Asie Orientale, Collège de France, and taught at the University of Calgary as an Adjunct Professor for five years. He is currently completing his doctoral dissertation, a study of the Yoginitantra first translated into Tibetan during the Eighth century of our era, at the University of Leiden’s Institute for Area Studies.
