Dakini Teachings. Padmasambhava Guru Rinpoche

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      Copyright © 1999 Erik Hein Schmidt

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      Dakini Teachings: Padmasambhava’s Oral Instructions to Lady Tsogyal. From the revelations of Nyang Ral Nyima Özer, Sangye Lingpa and Dorje Lingpa.

      Translated from the Tibetan according to the teachings of Kyabje Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche by Erik Perna Kunsang (Erik Hein Schmidt). Edited by Marcia Binder Schmidt.

      TIBETAN TITLES:

      Jo mo la gdams pa’i skor, jo mo zhu lan, mnga’ bdag myang gi dmar khrid, bla ma dgongs ‘dus las mtsho rgyal zhu lan, rdo rje gling pa’i mar gyi yang zhun.

      ISBN 978–962–7341–94–9

      1. Dakini Teachings, Vol. I. 2. Eastern philosophy—Buddhism. 3.Vajrayana—Tibet. I. Title. II. Padmasambhava (8th Cent.). III. Ye shes mtsho rgyal (8th Cent.). IV. Myang ral nyi ma’i ‘od zer (1124–1182). V. Sangs rgyas gling pa (1340–1396). VI. rDo rje gling pa (1346–1405).

      COVER ART: Tibetan painting of Yeshe Tsogyal

      Courtesy of Kunzang Choling

       “Descend with the view while ascending with the conduct. It is most essential to practice these two as a unity.”

      —PADMASAMBHAVA

       Contents

Translator’s Preface

A Short Biography of Padmasambhava by JAMGON KONGTRUL THE FIRST

Introductory Teaching by VEN. TULKU URGYEN RINPOCHE

First of All

Taking Refuge

       Bodhicitta

       The Ten Foundations of Secret Mantra

       The Vajra Master and the Yidam Deity

       Vajrayana Mind Training

       The Crystal Garland of Faultless Practice

       The Refined Essence of Oral Instructions

       Glossary

Translator’s Preface

      Dakini Teachings is a collection of advice selected from several revealed “treasure teachings,” or terma. It contains Guru Rinpoche’s (Padmasambhava’s) oral instructions on Dharma practice given during his stay in Tibet in the ninth century. This advice was recorded by his chief disciple, the dakini Yeshe Tsogyal, the princess of Kharchen. According to Jamgon Kongtrul the First’s Lives of One Hundred Tertons,¹ Yeshe Tsogyal was a dakini and an emanation of the female buddha Lochana, the consort of Buddha Ratnasambhava, as well as of Vajra Yogini appearing in the form of a woman. She served Guru Rinpoche during his stay in Tibet and afterward practiced with tremendous perseverance so that she finally became equal to Guru Rinpoche himself. Her compassion is matchless and her blessings are unceasing.

      Yeshe Tsogyal wrote these oral instructions down in a secret code language called “dakini script” and concealed them as precious terma treasures to be revealed by tertons many centuries later. Guru Rinpoche himself predicted the arrival, names, and periods of the revealers. The teachings they would receive, in actuality or in visions, would be appropriate for the people in their own and in following generations. Almost every chapter in this book mentions that these teachings were given for the benefit of practitioners of future generations and includes the words: “May this meet with all worthy and destined people in the future!”

      Dakini Teachings is based on the revealed termas of the twelfth-century terton Nyang Ral Nyima Oser. The manuscripts that I have used were kept in the Royal Danish Library, having been brought back from a Mongolian monastery by an explorer of central Asia many decades ago. When His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse visited the library in 1976, he asked to be shown all the original handwritten manuscripts and decided to have photocopies made of six volumes of books that were unavailable at that time in India. Among these six was a collection of some of Nyang Ral’s termas called Jomo Shulen, “The Questions and Answers of the Lady” (Tsogyal). This volume was later reprinted in its original