The Core Texts

The Longchen Nyingtik treasures and compositions originally consisted of two volumes of texts revealed or written by Jigme Lingpa himself.

Later, other texts crucial to the practice of the Longchen Nyingtik, such as arrangements for the practice, supplementary practices, and commentaries, were composed by other great masters, such as the First Dodrupchen Jikme Trinle Özer and Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo.

In recent times, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche also composed many arrangements for the practices, empowerment manuals, and commentaries that illuminate the meaning of the practices. He then gathered all these texts together—the writings from his predecessors as well as his own compositions—thus adding an extra two volumes to the original Core Texts.

These texts were published in five volumes (the original two volumes of treasures were spread out over three volumes, thus making five in total) in Nepal by Shechen Monastery in the 1990’s, as a collection called the Core Texts of the Heart Essence or Nyingtik Tsapö. However, not all the texts were available to Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, and so several other important and rare texts have resurfaced in the meantime. Recently, a new ten-volume edition of the Core Texts has been published in Tibet.

Besides these Core Texts, there are a few other texts of great importance for the Longchen Nyingtik tradition, such as Jigme Lingpa’s Commentary on the Lama Gongdü, which is a large commentary considered the basis for all the rituals of the Longchen Nyingtik.

Continue reading about the sādhanas of the Longchen Nyingtik.