Report April 2021

This month we published two new translations. We also added a new section on our website on the Longchen Nyingtik Ngöndro or preliminary practices. In this new section you can find complete overview of its texts and commentaries.

On dakini day we presented the third and longest in our series of texts related to 'empowerment' of the Yumka cycle: The Cascading Essence of Great Bliss: An Empowerment Ritual for the Female Practice of the Queen of Great Bliss, from the Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse. Jamgön Kongtrul compiled this empowerment text for Yumka Dechen Gyalmo on the basis of the original treasure revelation, 'Blessing and Empowerment for the Female Practice'. The result is "clear yet concise," as Kongtrul himself put it, and less elaborate than the later arrangement by Dodrupchen Jigme Tenpe Nyima.

Our second text for this month is An Aspiration for the Final Age, written by Jigme Lingpa himself. This prayer is short but, as is often the case with the eloquent Jigme Lingpa, difficult to decipher. Perhaps it is for that reason that Rigdzin Gargyi Wangchuk from Nyarong, a disciple of Patrul Rinpoche, Mipham Rinpoche and several other great masters of that age, wrote a commentary on it called ‘A Finger Pointing to the Faults of Evil Times: A Word by Word Commentary on An Aspiration for the Final Age'.

This series of aspirations for future rebirths is tailored, Jigme Lingpa says, to the sorrow-inducing nature of this final age of degeneration, or kaliyuga.

Statue of Jigme Lingpa

"Having gained the precious support of a human body,

Whether as a monastic or upholder of lay vows,

May I inherit the lineage of the bodhisattvas.

As soon as I’m reborn, may I meet a master who flawlessly

And authentically teaches the Mahāyāna path,

And by pleasing him or her in every way,

May I gain the wisdom of hearing, contemplation and meditation."