Yearly reports

Below you will find all our yearly reports, from 2020 up to the present.

Report of the Year 2024: Accomplishments and Goals

As the year comes to an end, we rejoice in what we have accomplished and look forward to the future. This year we published 25 new translations, the Longchen Nyingtik Project became a registered charity in the Netherlands, and much more.

Charity Status

Becoming a registered charity was a big step for us, but this status offers numerous benefits and will significantly support our goal of translating the Longchen Nyingtik texts into English and other languages, as well as advancing the teaching and practice of these texts.

Lights of Dharma Grant for Retreat Guide

This year we received a grant from the Light of Dharma Trust to translate The Way of the Vidyādharas of the Past, Instructions on the Stages of the Practice of Approach and Accomplishment of the Guru, Yidam Deity and Ḍākinī of the Heart-Essence of the Vast Expanse, written by the Fourth Dodrupchen, Tubten Trinlé Pal Zangpo. This text is a detailed, practical guide to meditating in retreat on each of the major sādhanas of the Longchen Nyingtik, with advice on how to prepare the location, set up a shrine, chant the liturgy and play a bell and drum. Although this text is absolutely no substitute for receiving instructions on how to do retreat from a qualified teacher, these detailed instructions will be of enormous benefit for everyone, whether novice or expert, who wishes to do retreat on the sādhanas of the Longchen Nyingtik. We have so far published the first chapter on the sādhana of Rigdzin Düpa (Gathering of Vidyādharas) and the remaining two chapters are scheduled to be in the first months of 2025.

More New Translations

Another major text this year is the Prophetic Guide for the Heart-Essence of the Vast Expanse. It was revealed during Jigme Lingpa's initial vision of the Longchen Nyingtik in which he flew to the Boudha stūpa in Nepal. The text recounts the history of Padmasambhava's entrustment of the treasure to the destined disciples, who would later emanate as Jigme Lingpa and his students, to reveal and propagate the Longchen Nyingtik. It also refers to key events in Jigme Lingpa's life and the physical and psychological attributes that identify him as the treasure revealer.

“On the second storey of the temple emanated from Akaniṣṭha,
The Blazing Turquoise Chamber,
The heart disciples—the King, the subject and the friend—
Were shown this casket containing a hidden manual of most vital direct instructions
For the profound cycle of the Heart Essence.
When the signs of the self-arisen ḍākinī of the three kāyas were revealed,
The disciples presented a maṇḍala of gold and turquoise,
And, without a second thought, offered their body, speech and mind.”

Other major new texts are the Longchen Nyingtik Vajrakīlaya practice Overpowering the Forces of Māra; Jigme Lingpa’s word-by-word commentary on the Ultimate Inexpressible Confession practice, popularly known as Yeshe Kuchokma, called A Commentary on the Fourth Chapter of the Immaculate Confession Tantra; and the Fire Offering for the Peaceful Vidyādhara Practice. We have also published all the supplementary texts needed for the rituals of the Longchen Nyingtik.

Website Updates

We are constantly updating and improving the website with new pages. This year we added pages for the Supplementary Texts of the Longchen Nyingtik, a page detailing all the various editions of the Longchen Nyingtik Core Texts and a page for Vajrasattva: Cultivating the Pure Realm of Manifest Joy.

The Empowerment Manual and Other Plans for 2025

This year we started our research and translation of the complete empowerment manual written by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche for the entire cycle of the Longchen Nyingtik, A Feast that Delights the Fortunate Ones and Reveals the Nectar of the Profound and Secret: A Garland of Liturgies for Bestowing the General and Specific Empowerments of the Three Roots of the Great Perfection Heart-Essence of the Vast Expanse, which consists of thirteen chapters filling more than three hundred pages. One of our main aims for 2025 is to translate the entire manual. You can read about the fascinating history of this text in our blog. Thus far, we have translated Chapter 2 on Rigdzin Düpa.

We also plan to finalize one of the largest commentaries of the Longchen Nyingtik cycle, namely the Ratik commentary on the Yumka Dechen Gyalmo practice written by Ratön Ngawang Tendzin Dorje.

Besides these major texts, we are currently working on plenty of other smaller texts, such as texts related to the Sealed Quintessence (Tikle Gyachen), the Inner Yumka practice, the recitation manual for the Gathering of Awesome Ones, and several arrangements of the Longchen Nyingtik Vajrakīlaya practice. In relation to the latter, we will also start work on texts of Jigme Lingpa's Tantra System Vajrakīlaya (Gyüluk Phurba).

Please support us through Patreon or Paypal and best wishes for the new year!

For a full list of our new translations for 2024, see our blogpost Report of the Year 2024: Accomplishments and Goals.

Report of the Year 2023

As 2023 comes to an end it is time to give a brief overview of our work this year. This year we have published 21 new translations and made many improvements to the website.

Highlights of the year

One of our favourite new publications this year is the first ever translation into English of a concise auto-biography of Jigme Lingpa: Adornment of Dohā: A Factual Account of the Life and Liberation of the Dzogchenpa Rangjung Dorje. This outer autobiography in verse was likely composed in 1786 at the request of the Sakya throne-holder, Jamgön Wangdü Nyingpo (1763–1809). Another one of our favourites for this year is the Survey of the Fourfold Heart-Essence (Nyingtik Yabzhi) and the Heart-Essence of the Vast Expanse (Longchen Nyingtik), by Dezhung Rinpoche and Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

We have published another one of the main sadhanas of the Longchen Nyingtik: Siṃhamukhā, Lion-Faced Ḍākinī, The Secret Female Practice, and completed the Sealed Quintessence or Tikle Gyachen with the publication of the feast offering written by Khyentse Wangpo: Music Sprung from Clouds of Merit.

Finally, we have published several texts for the Longchen Nyingtik phowa, that include two liturgies (one by the Fourth Dodrupchen Rinpoche, A Liturgy for Transference: Enlightenment Without Meditation, and one arrangement by Adzom Drukpa), Jigme Lingpa’s Transferring the Consciousness of the Deceased and Khyentse Wangpo’s Supplementary Instructions for the Transference Practice.

Also, we added several new pages on our website that provide an introduction and complete overview of each of the sadhanas and major genres of the Longchen Nyingtik: Transference (phowa), Palchen Dupa, Sealed Quintessence (Tikle Gyachen), Yumka Dechen Gyalmo, Siṃhamukhā, Perfection stage (dzogrim)

Behind the scenes

We are working on two major texts at the moment. Firstly, we continue our work on the Ratik commentary on Yumka Dechen Gyalmo, Illuminating the Meaning of Tantra, A Commentary on the Practice Text of the Ḍākinī Queen of Great Bliss, written by Ratön Ngawang Tendzin Dorje (a direct disciple of Jigme Lingpa). We hope to finish revising this text somewhere in the following year. Secondly, we are pleased that recently we received a Light of Dharma Grant from the Terton Sogyal Foundation to translate a fundamental text by the late Fourth Dodrupchen Rinpoche, The Way of the Realized Vidyādharas: Instructions on the Stages of the Practice of the Approach and Accomplishment of the Guru, Yidam Deity and Ḍākinī of the Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse. This text, unique in its kind, is basically a running order on how to practise in retreat all the sadhanas of the Longchen Nyingtik. The text also includes practical advice such as how to set up one’s shrine, chöpöning, and how to play the bell. It spells out very precisely the running order of each retreat session during the preliminary day, the approach and accomplishment phases, receiving the siddhis, and so on.

We need your help!

Are you a practitioner of or aspire to practice the Longchen Nyingtik? We need your help to continue our translations and effort to publish the entire cycle of the Longchen Nyingtik into English, available for free online! Support us here. If everyone supports us with just a few euros a month, we’ll have enough funds to continue our work.

Report of the year 2022 and future plans

As 2022 comes to an end it is time to give a brief overview of our work this year. We have published 19 new translations in English, many of them never published before, three in German and one in Portugese (the latter were all based on our English translations).

Highlights of the year

At the start of the year we published the second most important commentary on the Yumka practice, the Guide to Yumka written by Jigme Tenpe Nyima. This is our longest publication to date. We translated three of the four existing commentaries on the Dukngal Rangdrol practice: by Jigme Lingpa, by Khyentse Wangpo and the long commentary by Khenpo Pema Vajra. With these commentaries we have paved the way for people to undertake closed recitation retreats on the Dukngal Rangdrol. We have also finished translating all the practice texts for this cycle. Six texts of the Takhyung Barwa cycle were translated this year, including the root text and two arrangements. In addition we translated the root sadhana of the Tikle Gyachen. Lastly we want to bring attention to the excellent introduction on how to practice the Longchen Nyingtik by Dola Jigme Kalzang (a complete overview and links to all the texts can be found below).

Additions to the website

This year we have started adding pages for each of the sadhanas of the Longchen Nyingtik that present a complete overview of each cycle. So far we have created pages for Rigdzin Düpa, Dukngal Rangdrol and Takhyung Barwa. We also wrote a few extensive articles on our blog about The History and Texts of The Sealed Quintessence (Tikle Gyachen), An Analysis of a Collection of Dukngal Rangdrol Rituals and The Passing of the Dodrupchen Rinpoche and Prayers for his Swift Rebirth.

Behind the scenes

Behind the scenes we have been working hard on a translation of the Ratik commentary on the Yumka Dechen Gyalmo sadhana with the support of the Khyentse Foundation Ashoka grant which was granted to us last year. The Ratik, whose full title is Illuminating the Meaning of Tantra, A Commentary on the Practice Text of the Ḍākinī Queen of Great Bliss, was written by Ratön Ngawang Tendzin Dorje (a direct disciple of Jigme Lingpa) making it the first commentary written on Yumka by an author other than Jigme Lingpa himself. It is also the longest commentary on Yumka, counting 220 pages in Tibetan. We have just finished the first draft of the entire text!

How we continue

It goes without saying that we will avidly continue to publish newly translated texts every month. In the near future you can look forward to texts of the Tikle Gyachen, Takhyung Barwa and Palchen Düpa cycles, and also texts related to the Longchen Nyingtik transference practice (phowa). From January onwards some of our team will be traveling once again to Chorten Gompa, Dodrupchen monastery, in Sikkim to continue our study of the Longchen Nyingtik and attend the Palchen Düpa drupchen that will be held this year before Losar.

Report of the Year 2021

In 2021 we published 22 texts, of which 12 texts were revealed or composed by the great tertön Jigme Lingpa himself, and the rest by Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and others. Some of our major publications for this year included Getse Mahapandita’s catalogue of Jigme Lingpa’s collected works, the Precise Discernment of Dharmas: A Catalogue of the Complete Collected Works of the Omniscient King of Dharma, Rigdzin Jigme Lingpa and Jigme Lingpa’s Skull Fragments: The Root Tantra of the Vidyādharas and The Words of the Awesome Ones: A General Overview of the Three Yogas.

In December, upon request we published a concise practice of the peaceful and wrathful deities by the First Dodrupchen Jigme Trinle Özer, Highway of the Great Yoga: A Daily Practice for the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities of the Self-Liberated Wisdom Mind. This short daily practice takes the famous treasure revelations of the tertön Karma Lingpa as its basis and is widely used within the Longchen Nyingtik tradition.

Our last text for this year was a very special and profound one: The Words of the Awesome Ones: A General Overview of the Three Yogas, from the Heart-Essence of the Vast Expanse, by Jigme Lingpa. This fundamental text contains a dense and terse summary of the view of the three inner tantras of Mahāyoga, Anuyoga and Atiyoga. It explains the approach, close approach, accomplishment and great accomplishment phases, elucidates important terms such as the three objects, the three enemies, and the three ravines, and it shows how each of the inner tantras defeats the four demons. In recent times, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche has written a commentary on the Palchen Düpa, in which he quotes and explains large sections of the Words of the Awesome Ones. In the tradition of Dodrupchen monastery, it is taught to those who do strict retreat, but only to those who have the capacity. Which brings us, once again, to our tantric text warning: Vajrayāna Buddhism places restrictions on the reading and practice of certain texts, which are intended only for those who have received the requisite empowerments, transmissions and instructions. If you are unsure as to whether you are entitled to read or practice a particular text please consult a qualified lineage-holder.

On our blog we highlighted an interview with Kilung Rinpche that the people of Wisdom had with Kilung Rinpoche in 2018. He talks about Jigme Lingpa, the revelation of the Longchen Nyingtik, Jigme Ngotsar and the founding of Kilung Monastery, his special yidam deity of Vajrakilaya, the style of meditation particular to these Dzogchen teachings and their relevance for the modern age, the Longchen Nyingtik Ngondro, and many other things.

In a blog on the stupa at Yangleshö with relics of Jigme Lingpa we published some new pictures of this holy site. The stupa depicted contains many relics, including a finger bone of the Omniscient Jigme Lingpa. Looking for books to read on the Longchen Nyingtik, or a practising Sangha? Check out our resource page.

Report of the Year 2020

This year, since the start of the project less than six months ago, we have published over 40 texts of the Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse or Longchen Nyingtik cycle, including new translations of the three main root sadhanas, namely Rigdzin Düpa, Palchen Düpa and Yumka Dechen Gyalmo, and the inner guru practice of Dukngal Rangdrol. We published 6 texts of the Rigdzin Düpa cycle, 5 of the Palchen Düpa cycle, 11 of the Yumka Dechen Gyalmo cycle and 6 of the Dukngal Rangdrol cycle. A complete list of translated texts can be found here.

In the last month of December we have published a new translation of Rigdzin Düpa or The Assembly of Vidyādharas, The Inner Practice from the Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse, normally the first sadhana one starts with when embarking on the practices of the Longchen Nyingtik cycle.

For the new year, several new translations are in the planning, such as three different empowerment texts for the Yumka Dechen Gyalmo, Dodrupchen Jigme Tenpe Nyima’s Guide to Yumka called A Lamp Illuminating the Excellent Path of Great Bliss, and Khenpo Pema Vajra’s commentary on Dukngal Rangdrol. We also hope to acquire funding for some major commentaries, namely Ratön Ngawang Tendzin Dorje’s Illuminating the Meaning of Tantra, A Commentary on the Practice Text of the Ḍākinī Queen of Great Bliss and Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche’s commentary on Palchen Düpa, The Illuminating Jewel.

With gratitude and a happy new year to all our translators, editors, readers & supporters.