The History and Texts of The Sealed Quintessence (Tikle Gyachen)
Longchenpa, courtesy of Dodrupchen Monastery
As part of the Longchen Nyingtik cycle of treasure teachings, Jigme Lingpa revealed the innermost secret guru practice of the Sealed Quintessence or Tikle Gyachen after a series of visions of the omniscient Longchenpa in Nyang's Flower Cave (Metok Phug) at Chimpu in Central Tibet, during his second three year retreat.[1] The Sealed Quintessence is considered an indispensable preliminary to Dzogchen practice.
Jigme Lingpa’s account of his revelations of the Longchen Nyingtik, Dancing Moon in the Water, says the following about the revelation of the Sealed Quintessence:
“Then, in the vajra cave of Akaniṣṭha
At glorious Chimphu,
I took a vow to practice for three years.
While living like a beggar
In the illusory phenomena of a dream
I saw a bird resembling a parrot
Construct an exquisite maṇḍala.
Immediately upon completing the maṇḍala
He recited the bodhicitta section of the ritual, which was as follows:
“Within the pristine state, naturally radiant and unconstrained,
There are no buddhas nor sentient beings,
No existence nor non-existence—
Within this great natural liberation, I generate bodhicitta.”
That moment I woke up from the dream
The Innermost Secret Guru Practice
Vividly appeared in my mind. [2]”
Samye Chimphu (courtesy of Matthew Akester)
The Sealed Quintessence is intimately linked with the Dzogchen teachings of the Longchen Nyingik. The autobiography of Khenpo Ngakchung relates a few amazing stories of how he received instructions from Nyoshul Lungtok to practice the Sealed Quintessence, and his subsequent visions. (Please note that, although we are giving a few quotations here, one needs to receive the reading transmission and permission from one’s teacher before reading the autobiography of Khenpo Ngakchung)
“Then Lungtok Rinpoche said, “Now the guidance of the main practice, Trekchö, is complete. You should undertake the recitation practice of the Guru Sadhana Sealed with a Vital Nucleus for one hundred days, because this is the secret guru sadhana and the sadhana associated with Yeshe Lama. Each day you should recite about ten thousand mantras, primarily meditating in accordance with the threefold motionlessness. Your retreat does not need to be strict; come see me every few days and carefully resolve your uncertainties about the key points of the main practice,” he instructed.
I entered retreat, and after three weeks I had a visionary experience in which the Great Omniscient One appeared in the sky, as vividly as if he were there in person. Loving-kindness, compassion, and bodhichitta arose within my cognitive experience, seemingly innate in my mental consciousness, and inseparable from me even at night when I was sleeping. “When you give Great Perfection guidance, at best your students should have received the empowerments for the Four Nyingtik Mother-and-Child Cycles. If not, they should at least have received an empowerment for the Guru Sadhana Sealed with a Vital Nucleus. Otherwise, it is not appropriate to teach them. ”
Thus Nyoshul Lungtok tells us that one needs to receive either the Nyingtik Yabshyi or the Sealed Quintessence before receiving Dzogchen instructions. Again, Khenpo Ngakchung tells us about visions while practising the Sealed Quintessnce:
“While I was reciting the mantra of Rigdzin Jigme Lingpa’s Guru Sadhana Sealed with a Vital Nucleus, I beheld the form of the Great Omniscient Longchenpa, who said, “If you were to compose a treatise elucidating the key points of the philosophy of the Great Perfection, that would fulfill the prophecy that you will benefit as many beings as there are grains of sand in a stupa. There is therefore a need for a text that extracts the key points of the Great Perfection.”
Khenpo Ngakchung
Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (1820-1892)
Jigme Lingpa himself only revealed the activity manual (lejang) and his incarnations and successors of the Khyentse lineage revealed and composed many additional texts.
Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, who was considered the mind incarnation of Jigme Lingpa, revealed the feast-offering at the age of 16 (1835) in a remote cave. Then at the age of 20 (1849), while on pilgrimage, he revealed several other texts such as the empowerment, instructions on making pills that liberated on taste and a spontaneous song of the ḍākinīs. Then at Pema Öling [3] he wrote down the lineage prayer and the recitation manual. Later on, the 15th Karmapa Khakhyap Dorje build on the empowerment by arranging an empowerment manual called Sphere of Great Bliss.
Finally, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche composed two texts. First there is a confession and fulfilment combined with a self-initiation, composed in the Kyerchu temple at Paro, Bhutan, following the instructions of Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö. Then he arranged a far more elaborate empowerment manual called A Beautiful Ornament that Illuminates Wisdom, that includes (as is usual for empowerment manuals) a history of the Sealed Quintessence.
Texts of the Sealed Quintessence
Jigme Lingpa
Life-force Cakra of the Vidyādharas, Shechen Monastery
The Sealed Quintessence: The Innermost Secret Guru Practice, from the Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse (klong chen snying gi thig le las / yang gsang bla ma'i sgrub pa thig le'i rgya can)
A Glorious Bangle: A Life-force Cakra of the Vidyādhara Conquerors Which Liberates by Wearing, from the Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse (klong chen snying gi thig le las/ rgyal ba rig 'dzin gyi srog 'khor dpal kyi gdu bu/ btags grol)
Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo
The Shower of Blessings: A Prayer to the Lineage of The Sealed Quintessence, the Innermost Secret Guru Practice (yang gsang bla ma'i sgrub pa thig le'i rgya can gyi brgyud 'debs sbyin rlabs char 'bebs), revealed at Pema Öling
A Symphony of Clouds of Merit: The Concluding Practice of the Feast-Offering for The Sealed Quintessence, the Innermost Secret Guru Practice (yang gsang bla ma'i sgrub pa thig le'i rgya can gyi rjes chog tshogs kyi mchod pa bsod nams sprin gyi rol mo), revealed at the age of 16 in a remote cave.
The Ḍākinīs Spontaneous Song of Fulfilment and Confession to the Vidyādharas of the Vajra Heart of Luminosity (od gsal rdo rje snying po'i rig 'dzin brgyud pa'i skong bshags DA ki'i thol glu), revealed at Gangri Thökar in the Vilamba year (this must be the Earth Dog year of 1938).
Bestower of Supreme Wisdom: The Ripening Empowerment for the Innermost Secret Guru Practice, the Sealed Quintessence (yang gsang bla ma'i sgrub pa thig le'i rgya can gyi smin byed ye shes mchog sbyin), revealed at Gangri Thökar
A Practice for Pills That Liberate on Taste, from the Innermost Secret Guru Practice, the Sealed Quintessence (yang gsang bla ma'i sgrub pa thig le'i rgya can las/ myong grol ril bu'i sgrub thabs), revealed at Gangri Thökar
Khyentse Wangpo, The Chariot of the Two Kinds of Siddhis: A Recitation Manual for the Innermost Secret Guru Practice, the Sealed Quintessence (yang gsang bla ma'i sgrub pa thig le'i rgya can gyi bsnyen yig grub gnyis shing rta), revealed at Pema Öling during a luminous vision.
15th Karmapa Khakhyap Dorje
The Sphere of Great Bliss: A Concise Arrangement for The Bestower of Supreme Wisdom, The Ripening Empowerment for the Innermost Secret Guru Practice, the Sealed Quintessence of the Heart-Essence of the Vast Expanse (klong chen snying thig gi bla sgrub thig le'i rgya can gyi smin byed ye shes mchog sbyin gyi mtshams sbyor nyung ngur bkod pa bde chen thig le)
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
The Ornament of Apparent Luminosity: The Stages of the Confession and Fulfilment Combined with the Self-initiation for the Innermost Secret Guru Practice of Luminosity, the Sealed Quintessence, from the Great Perfection Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse (rdzogs pa chen po klong chen snying gi thig le'i yang gsang bla ma'i sgrub pa 'od gsal thig le'i rgya can gyi bshags skong dang bdag 'jug gi rim pa 'od gsal snang ba'i rgyan), composed following the instructions of Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö in the Kyerchu temple at Paro, Bhutan.
A Beautiful Ornament that Illuminates Wisdom: The Bestower of Supreme Wisdom, The Ripening Empowerment for the Innermost Secret Guru Practice, the Sealed, Luminous Quintessence of the Heart-Essence of the Vast Expanse (klong chen snying gi thig le'i yang gsang bla ma'i sgrub pa 'od gsal thig le'i rgya can gyi smin byed ye shes mchog sbyin bklags chog tu bkod pa ye shes gsal ba'i mdzes rgyan)
Footnotes
[1] See Janet Gyatso, Apparitions of the Self, page 176.
[2] Translation my own, but see Janet Gyatso, Apparitions of the Self, page 42.
[3] Pema Öling must refer to the hermitage above Shechen monastery. See The Life of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, by Jamgön Kongtrul and translated by Matthew Akester, page 57.