Vaira Wisdom Deity Practice in Tibetan Buddhism
Kunkyen Tenpe Nyima & Shechen Gyaltsap IV
“As more and more people embrace the Tibetan Buddhist path with sincerity and dedication, priceless instructions like these by the great masters of the past take on a crucial importance. Only with such clear and practical guidance can we fully appreciate the depth of the extraordinary practices of the Vajrayana, and discover for ourselves their transformative power.”
—Sogyal Rinpoche, author of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying
Our compassionate Teacher, the perfectly enlightened Buddha, offered those in need of guidance an inconceivable number of Dharma teachings. These can all be condensed into the categories of sütra and tantra. The latter of these two, in turn, contains the ocean of tantras, statements, and oral instructions.
In India and Tibet the practice of this vajra vehicle of Secret Mantra flourished and the number of practitioners who gained liberation through these practices is truly beyond count. Today the legacy of these great beings is still with us in the form of an uninterrupted lineage of realized masters who uphold the teachings and practices of the vajra vehicle. In this way it is still in our hands to connect with this tradition and make enlightenment a living experience for us as well.
To accomplish this we must rely on living lineage masters and key scriptures that outline the practice and theory of tantra. I am therefore pleased to present translations of two important guidance manuals concerned with the practice of tantra. Both Kunkyen Tenpe Nyima and Shechen Gyaltsap were extraordinary teachers, and today their works are among the most cherished scriptures on the practice of the development stage. In
fact, although both texts focus predominandy on the development stage, the key points of the whole of tantric practice are all contained in these pithy instructions. I am therefore confident that sincere practitioners will find great inspiration and guidance in these precious texts.
Even though the message laid out in these translations is generally clear and ready to be applied, it is of utmost importance to first receive the guidance of a realized master of the lineage. Only by connecting with such a master and receiving empowerment, reading transmission, and oral instructions are we fully able to benefit from the tantric path. In fact, it is said that, without the blessing of a realized master, the practice of tantra is
likely to do more harm than good. Still, if practiced correctly, these teachings have the potential to transform your being into the state of complete awakening in a short time span and through only little hardship. Such is the power of the tantric path. I therefore sincerely request all readers to study these texts under the guidance of a genuine master of the lineage.
May the precious wisdom of the practice lineage spread and flourish throughout the world and may this publication be a positive circumstance for that. In this way, may all sentient beings quickly traverse the path of the four knowledge holders and awaken to the full and complete enlightenment of the four bodies and five wisdoms.
Translators___Introduction
Over the last forty years Buddhism has spread to all corners of the world. In this process, Tibetan Buddhism has often been represented in ways that play into our need to re-enchant an increasingly materialistic world with the magic, drama, and supernatural elements of a lost wisdom nurtured in isolation on the roof of the world. For this approach to Buddhism, the development stage, with its attention to colorful deities, magical
mantras, and exotic rituals, has become a popular form of practice. Deity practice is ripe with evocative and inspiring imagery that seems a perfect cure for our weariness and disenchantment with the ordinary world.
And these practices, which today are performed at numerous Dharma centers around the world, do undeniably help build communities and provide devotees with a ritual register and a sense of belonging. Still, in recent years, it has become clear to many Western practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism that the development stage is a much richer practice than what first meets the eye.
To fully appreciate the depth of development stage practice it is important to study the works of the lineage masters, in particular the texts that apply the often detailed and complicated tantric theory directly to practical experience in clear, concise, and practical statements. Recently we have been fortunate that an increasing number of such texts have been made available in translation. As these texts now become available to
the Western world, one may hope that they will provide a foundation through which the practice of the development stage in the West can develop and grow in a way that is suited to the Western mind, yet remain faithful to its Indian and Tibetan origins. If we are able to appreciate the richness and depth of the tradition beyond simply a superficial fascination with a curious cultural phenomenon, we may be better suited to
assimilate the crucial aspects of the tradition rather than latching on to the mere outer characteristics of such practices. Perhaps this could be one way to challenge our fondness for spiritual materialism that Chogyam Trungpa so kindly pointed out?
The translations found in this volume are of texts written in Tibet during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The authors, Kunkyen Tenpe Nyima and Shechen Gyaltsap, were masters who shined with their life examples on the very eve of a millennium of Buddhist practice in Tibet. Both masters inherited the full
tradition of Tantric Buddhism through the lineages of the famed wisdom teachers Jigme Lingpa, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, and Jamgon Kongtrul. As such, both texts represent a summary of more than a thousand
years of tantric practice that present the highest insights of the tradition in a simple yet inspiring format that is excellendy suited for the beginner as well as the advanced practitioner when traveling the path to the peak of human achievement.
At this point in time, when the vast majority of this incredibly precious Tibetan Buddhist culture is threatened with extinction, it seems that texts such as these are important to study. While we still have the precious fortune of sharing this world with genuine wisdom masters, who embody the very pinnacle of the Buddhist path, we must therefore strive to receive their blessings and guidance. Only then can we assimilate the wisdom
they brought with them as their gift to the world when they fled the Chinese occupation. We therefore hope that this publication may be able to, in a small way, assist this process. Kunkyen Tenpe Nyimaand The Compendium of Oral Instructions
The colophon of The Compendium of Oral Instructions1 informs us that, at the request of some of his devoted students, the author, Kunkyen Tenpe Nyima, gathered the instructions from the recitation manuals of various accomplished masters and from his own guru.
Although The Compendium is a practice manual on development stage widely used by followers of the Nyingma School, authorial attribution of this text has turned out to be a complex matter with several options and
opinions. Several masters by the name Tenpe Nyima flourished in nineteenth-century East Tibet and we have been unable to settle the matter definitively. However, based on advice by the late Gene Smith and colophonic information in one of the manuscripts, we have attributed this text to a certain Khartrul Kunkyen Tenpe Nyima (Mkhar sprul kun mkhyan bstan pa’i nyi ma, nineteenth cent.).
His brief biography is found in a collection of hagiographies of tantric practitioners from the far eastern province of Rebkong.2 The biography is concise and very little is said about the actual life of Tenpe Nyima. What we can glean from his hagiography is that he was a master from Rebkong who was regarded as the reincarnation of the eighth-century Indian scholar Santaraksita. Tenpe Nyima belonged to the Longchen Nyingthig
tradition that his father had transmitted to him. His father, Choying Thobden Dorje, was a close student of the first Dodrubchen, Jigme Trinley Oser, the heart son of Jigme Lingpa, and his association with this lineage was therefore obvious. Institutionally, Tenpe Nyima
was associated with Dzogchen Namgyal Ling, the monastery founded by his father. His date of birth is not mentioned, but his hagiography states that he was born shortly after his father founded Dzogchen Namgyal Ling in 1818.
From his father he received empowerments and instructions on the general sutras and tantras and, in particular, on the Longchen Nyingthig He also received in full the transmission of the volumes of scriptures composed by his father, such as the Treasury of Sutras and Tantras, and put them into practice. Eventually he attained realization, perfected his training, and was empowered as a Great Lord of the Dharma. Then, we are
told, in accordance with their individual potential, he established coundess disciples on the path of ripening and liberation through offering them mind training, advice, empowerments, guidance, and pointingout instructions. In this way, he engaged in activities of inconceivable kindness.
The Compendium is a guidance manual that describes the different types of ritual activities associated with the practice of the development stage, pertaining particularly to the Treasure lineage of the Nyingma School. This text explains the general structure of deity practice in the mahayoga tradition, without focusing on any particular sadhana. It belongs to a class of Tibetan literature called “notes” (zin bris), consisting of a series of
annotations, written down by the author for his own purpose based on the oral instructions of his guru and later compiled for the benefit of others. These texts are usually very practical in their intent. This is clearly the case for The Compendium of Oral Instructions, and in fact one recension of our text contains additional notes apparently added by a later unidentified author, but we have not translated those here. Tenpe Nyima’s text
explains extensively the different stages— preliminaries, visualization, recitation of the mantra, meditative absorption, and subsequent practices—that must be covered in deity yoga, emphasizing always their concrete application within the context of retreat practice.
The ritual activities explained in The Compendium follow a uniform structure that can be applied to any particular Nyingma sadhana. The unique features of this text are the detailed technical explanations and advice given by the author for each particular step of the practice. The structure of the text follows the usual sequence found in other revealed mahayoga sadhanas.
Each stage of deity practice, with its liturgies, visualizations, practice articles, and so forth, is thus described in exhaustive detail and is always accompanied by precise and useful practical advice. The clarity of its
explanations, its abundance of technical advice, and its emphasis resolutely placed on practical application make The Compendium of Oral Instructions an ideal companion for the practitioners of deity yoga, particularly in the context of a retreat.
Shechen Gyaltsap and Illuminating Jewel Mirror
Shechen Gyaltsap Pema Namgyal (1871-1926) was born in the middle of the exciting renaissance in Tibetan spiritual culture that took place during the latter half of the nineteenth century. At that time Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (1820-1892) and Jamgôn Kongtrul Lodrô Thaye (1813-1899) had begun promoting the nonsectarian movement through their extensive activities and oeuvres, while Patrul Chôkyi Wangpo
(1808-1887) and Ju Mipham (1846-1912) were spearheading a revival of practice and study within the Nyingma School. Each of these masters was, in turn, to act as a mentor to the young child who was prophetically identified as the reincarnation of Orgy en Rangjung Dorje (nineteenth cent.), the third regent of Shechen Monastery in eastern Tibet.
Educated in his early years largely by his uncle, Lama Kyiyang, and later by Troshul Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso, he eventually took monastic ordination under the famous preceptor of Dzogchen Monastery, Khenpo Pema Benza, who gave him the name Gyurme Pema Namgyal. His two primary teachers, though, were, above all, Khyentse and Kongtrul. Based on their instructions and empowerments, and by transmitting their major works
to him, they fostered him as a torchbearer of their spiritual insight. Moreover, they played a critical role in guiding him during a major turning point that occurred in his life at the age of twenty. At that time, during a
pilgrimage throughout all Tibet, he underwent a spiritual transformation whereby, to use Dilgo Khyentse’s words, the “knot of hope and fear snapped all by itself.” This led him to lose interest in worldly affairs, even institutional monasticism. Under the counsel of his two teachers, he then stepped aside from the everyday management of Shechen Monastery to live the life of a carefree vagabond.
Traveling to meet the great visionaries of his day, it seems he was a perpetual student. From Patrul he received teachings on The Way of the Bodhisattva during the course of which Patrul is said to have spontaneously waved his hand through a solid pillar. Journeying to Karmo Taktsang, he received from Mipham transmission and instruction on several of his major works, in particular his famous Abhidharma compendium, Gateway to Knowledge, and his commentary on the Eight Sâdhana Teachings. He also is said to have sought guidance, again and again, from Mipham on his inner realization until their minds became inseparable.
At the same time, however, it seems he lived his entire life in seclusion, engrossed in contemplation and meditation. His main personal deity was apparendy a form of Vajrakflaya known as “Innermost Razor of KTlaya,” which he practiced for at least three months each year. In the biography that Dilgo Khyentse composed about his teacher/' he recounts how miraculous signs appeared even the first time Shechen Gyaltsap practiced the Innermost Razor of Krlaya in retreat. The story goes that, while carrying out the recitation, one day a pack of “iron wolves” gathered around Shechen Gyaltsap’s retreat house, even on its roof, howling and trying to find a way in. Despite this terrifying turn of events, Shechen Gyaltsap simply
supplicated his master and performed the practice of “mingling their minds into one,” thereby pacifying the frightening development, although this subjugation took several days! Through the power of this he
displayed the signs of accomplishment in the practice after only one hundred days, although it was predicted to take three years. At this time he is also said to have left a footprint in solid rock, which another lama (named B archung) insistently prodded him to finally admit.
While living mostly as a hermit spending his time in meditation practice, he nonetheless somehow also found time to author an immense thirteen-volume corpus of texts spanning topics from grammar, astrology, and poetics to a wide range of treatises on Buddhist philosophy, ritual, and practice. Last, but not the least, he nurtured the next generation of budding luminaries, acting as teacher to the remarkable reincarnations of his
own teachers—Dzongsar Khyentse Chokyi Lodro (1893-1959), Shechen Kongtrul (1901-1960), and Dilgo Khyentse (1910-1991)—as well as many other highly regarded scholar-practitioners, such as Khenpo Kunpal (1872-1943) and Khenpo Nuden (nineteenth/twentieth cent.).
All of this he accomplished despite passing away at the young age of fifty-five. In the last year of his life, 1926, perhaps in foresight of his passing, he pitched a tent on the hillside above Shechen where he proceeded to
grant audiences to all of his students, monks, and patrons. There he stayed while performing ceremonies and giving his last counsel until one day, just before his passing, he was visited by the heir to Shechen, a weeping young Rabjam Tulku, to whom he bestowed an unspoken, symbolic final teaching by simply pointing to his heart.
Composed in the latter part of his life, it seems that Shechen Gyaltsap intended Illuminating Jewel Mirror* to be a general guidebook for development stage practitioners of any particular yidam deity. In that way it serves the purpose of tying together the features of all sadhanas, thus highlighting their universal functions and meaning.
Structurally, after enumerating in detail the prerequisites for engaging in sadhana practice, the text follows the standard framework of most sadhana manuals. Shechen Gyaltsap weaves in, however, another thread in the introductory discussions that he uses to string together all the manifold elements of this complex practice. This is the fourfold scheme of the “basis, object,
process, and result of purification.” In the introductory section he characterizes the first—the ground for the development stage transformations—as “true reality, suchness, or the essence of the bliss-gone.” The latter three aspects then serve as a refrain that repeats at every step as the basis for Shechen Gyaltsap’s commentary, presenting a rich portrait of the way in which the elaborate development stage visualizations transform
the various stages of birth, death, and rebirth into a set of corresponding events in the process of spiritual awakening. In part, these descriptions inform the student about how the seemingly esoteric images and themes of Tantric Buddhism have a deep foundation in Great Vehicle Buddhism. They also,
however, highlight the unique, paradoxical vision of the Vajra Vehicle, which states that we are actually already divine, enlightened beings. In this vision, the lavish and colorful worlds the practitioner “imagines” are actually more real than his or her ordinary experience, and serve as methods to lead him or her closer to the way things actually are.
About the Translations
It was Chôkyi Nyima Rinpoche who first suggested that we translate these precious texts, as he found them to be particularly relevant and helpful for practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism today.
A group consisting of Benjamin Collet-Cassart, Cortland Dahl, Catherine Dalton, Andreas Doctor, and James Gentry translated The Compendium. The individual manuscripts were then compiled, compared against the
Tibetan, and edited by Cortland Dahl. Zachary Beer translated Illuminating Jewel Mirror, while Andreas Doctor compared the translation against the Tibetan and edited the text. Graham Sunstein and Shenpen Lhamo also looked through the manuscript and offered helpful advice.
Along the way we received much help and guidance from a number of learned and realized masters. Chôkyi Nyima Rinpoche guided our translation work by giving instruction on the “enlightened mind” section of
Illuminating Jewel Mirror and offering numerous teachings on the general themes of the development stage and the importance of bringing the teachings into direct daily experience. Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche kindly took the time to clarify the meaning of the more complex development stage passages of Illuminating Jewel Mirror.
Khenpo Tashi Palden, or Kyabje Khenpo as he is also known by his students, gave the full reading transmission of The Compendium together with a brief commentary on the full text and elucidated some of the more vexing passages. Kyabje Khenpo himself received the transmission in his youth from the renowned master Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro (1893-1959), and later from both Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (1910-1991) and Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche (1920-1996).
Beyond these, many other teachers from Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery offered their wisdom and patience in helping to unravel the profound and often mysterious world of development stage practice for us. In particular, we would like to thank Lama Tenzin Sangpo, Tulku Jampal Dorje, Lama Tsultrim Sangpo,
Khenpo Sherab Dorje, Trokpa Tulku, Tulku Pasang Tsering, and Lama Kunga Sangpo for assisting with guidance on numerous complicated passages. We are therefore indebted to these kind teachers, without whom it would have been impossible to translate these texts.
We are also grateful to the Tsadra Foundation for generously sponsoring the translation of this book. The vision of Tsadra is truly remarkable and the foundation’s impact on the survival of Tibetan Buddhism is a source of continual joy for us. We also wish to thank Snow Lion for publishing this book and for their hard work in bringing the Buddhist classics to the West.
We sincerely apologize for any mistakes these translations may contain. They are exclusively our own due to our limited understanding of the profound nature of tantra. Lastly, we dedicate whatever goodness may result from this publication to the benefit of all sentient beings and to the long life of Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche and all other wisdom teachers.
1. Kun mkhyen bstan pa’i nyi ma, bsKyed rim gyi zin bris cho ga spyi’gros Itar bkodpa man ngag kun btus. Delhi: Chos Spyod Publications, 2000.
2. Reb kong sngags mang gi lo rgyus phyogs bsgrigs (Ye shes’od zer sgrol ma, 2004).
3. Dil mgo mkhyen brtse’gyur med theg mchog bstan pa’i rgyal mtshan, “Mkhas shing dngos grub brnyes pa’i rdo rje’i rig pa’dzin dbang’gyur’gyur med padma rnam rgyal dpal bzang po slob brgyud dang bcas pa’i rnam thar nyung ngur brjod pa ngo mtshar zla ba bdud rtsi’i’dzum phreng,” in The Collected Works of skyabs rje dil mgo mkhyen brtse rin po che, vol. 1 (ka). New Delhi: Shechen Publications, 1994.
4. Zhe chen rgyal tshab’gyur med padma rnam rgyal, bsKyed rim spyi’i rnam par bzhag pa nyung gsal go bder brjodpa rab gsal nor bu’i me long. New Delhi: Shechen Publications, 2004.
