Report March 2022
This month we released two new translations in English and also aided in the publication of three new translations in German, which were for a large part translated based on our earlier versions in English.
Firstly there is The Lute of the Gandharvas: A Garland of Offerings of the Sixteen Vajra Goddesses, translated in beautiful poetry by Rigpa Translations. This offering prayer, a mind-treasure presented to Jigme Lingpa by the goddess Sarasvatī, abounds with Indian cultural references and features sixteen goddesses who offer symbolic gifts, including the sounds of various musical instruments.
On the anniversary of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo we were pleased to publish a short text written by the master himself, a Recitation Manual for the Natural Liberation of Suffering. These instructions on how to practise the Dukngal Rangdrol recitation in retreat are taken from a collection of the Khyentse Wangpo's notes on various practices and topics related to the Longchen Nyingtik cycle that are found grouped together in the Longchen Nyingtik Core Texts. Though very concise, they accord with Khenpo Pema Vajra's (1807–1884) longer commentary, An Ornament to the Vidyādharas’ Wisdom (forthcoming).
We also managed to make a few improvements on the translation of The Excellent Path to Perfect Liberation: A Guidance Practice (Nedren) for the Dukngal Rangdrol (Natural Liberation of Suffering) Practice of the Great Compassionate One, from the Longchen Nyingtik, a text written by the First Dodrupchen, Jigme Trinle Özer, which was then subsequently translated into German.
This month three texts of the Longchen Nyingtik were expertly translated into German by Sushma Baumgartner, Erika Bachhuber and Karin Behrendt. The Nedren that was just mentioned was translated as Der vorzügliche Pfad zu vollkommener Befreiung: Eine Praxis der Anleitung (Nedren) für die Dukngal Rangdrol-Praxis (Natürliche Befreiung des Leidens) des Großen Mitfühlenden, aus dem Longchen Nyingtik. They also translated the root sādhana of the Natural Liberation of Suffering, which can be found here: Die geheime Praxis des Großen Mitfühlenden, „Natürliche Befreiung des Leidens“, aus der Herz-Essenz der weiten Ausdehnung. Finally, our recent translation of the commentary on the Dukngal Rangdrol by Jigme Lingpa, The Loud Drum of Spring, was translated as the Die laute Trommel des Frühlings: Ein Kommentar zu den schwierigen Punkten des Rituals des Großen Mitfühlenden, „Natürliche Befreiung des Leidens".
Sadly, on the 15th of March it was the 49th day after the passing of the Fourth Dodrupchen, Tubten Trinlé Pal Zangpo (1927-2022). You can find our short notice about his passing in this blog, which includes several prayers for his swift rebirth.
Gyangkhang Rinpoche, Khenchen Namdrol Rinpoche and lamas and monks from Namdroling practicing in front of the kudung of Dodrupchen Rinpoche. Photo courtesy of Mauro de March.
ཐུབ་བསྟན་མཛེས་པའི་རྒྱན་གཅིག་ཀློང་ཆེན་པ། །
May the teaching of Longchenpa, sole ornament adorning the teachings of Buddha,
བཤད་སྒྲུབ་བསྟན་པའི་མངའ་བདག་འཇིགས་མེད་གླིང། །
Of Jigme Lingpa, master of teaching and practice,
མཚུངས་མེད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་པ་སྲིད་མཐའི་བར། །
And of the peerless guru, be maintained until the very end of samsara,
བཤད་སྒྲུབ་ཐོས་བསམ་སྒོམ་པས་འཛིན་གྱུར་ཅིག །
Through teaching and practice—hearing, contemplation and meditation.