Report November 2021
This month we published two new translations. The first addition, The Wish-Fulfilling Jewel: The Outer Practice of Guru Yoga from the Heart-Essence of the Vast Expanse, is the outer guru yoga of the Longchen Nyingtik cycle, most of which was later incorporated into the preliminary or ngöndro practice compiled by the First Dodrupchen Jigme Trinle Özer.
Inspired by this text and to clarify this text’s role in the Longchen Nyingtik, we also wrote a blog on Treasure Texts and the Compilation of the Longchen Ningtik Ngöndro.
Our second text for this month is the Aspiration to Be Reborn in the Realm of Sukhāvatī, also by Jigme Lingpa. This prayer to be reborn in Sukhāvatī draws upon the Array of Amitābha Sūtra (amitābhavyūhasūtra, Toh 49) for its elaborate descriptions of the blissful realm. As with many of Jigme Lingpa's writings, the text is beautiful yet opaque in places, and the translation thus relies upon Rigdzin Gargyi Wangchuk's (1858–1930) commentary entitled Gateway to the Realm of Great Bliss.
The Longchen Nyingtik Project was able to reach out to Tulku Thondup Rinpoche, who has undoubtedly done more than anyone else to introduce the treasures of the Longchen Nyingtik tradition to readers of the English language. He kindly sent us the following message of support:
Image: website Tulku Thondup
"I am fully aware of the research and translation services that are offered by Adam [Pearcey from Lotsawa House] and other scholar associates. My heartfelt appreciation for their dedication and services. It fills my humble heart with great source of joy to see the preciousness of their products always there. However, due to age and health, I am unable to write much. With warmest greetings, Tulku Thondup"
(With thanks to Rinpoche's long-term student Philip Richman for facilitating this correspondence. )
This month on dakini day we remembered Lochen Chönyi Zangmo, who was one of the most revered holders of the Longchen Nyingtik in the last century. Chönyi Zangmo was born in Mandi, the birthplace of Mandarava near the banks of Tso Pema in Northern India. Her main teachers were Pema Gyatso, who was a student of the great Shabkar, and Chönyön Dharma Senge. She also received transmissions from Trulshik Dongak Lingpa.
After doing a three year retreat, during which she completed all the recitations of the Longchen Nyingtik cycle and realized the nature of mind, she sang her realization to her teacher in the following song:
It is resonating, but beyond the utterances of speech.
It is clear, but beyond description in words.
Because of the ease: in my mind, I gained natural confidence in it.
The experiences of bliss, clarity, and freedom from concepts are joyful.
All the fabrication of inviting (future experiences] or running after (past experiences] has dissolved.
Not just once, but again and again I am experiencing it.
I felt laughter: as it naturally arose in me.
I gained confidence that there is nothing to seek from somewhere else."
A vivid picture of her spiritual beauty, even into old age, is captured by the Tibetan scholar and writer Lobsang P. Lhalungpa. He visited Jetsün in the early 1940s at Shuksep Nunnery. He said:
"During my first two week visit, I met with Jetsun Lochen for several hours a day, sometimes in the company of her main disciples. She was an extraordinary woman, small in stature, with a serene face radiating compassion and sensitivity. Only her white hair betrayed her age... In her presence we felt an awesome power that permeated our whole stream of being... Her teachings and blessings have given me inner strength and inspiration ever since. To me she was the personification of the great woman teachers of Tibet."
Sources: Masters of Meditation and Miracles, pages 251-255, and Rigpa Wiki.