Dilgo Khyentse - Primordial Purity: Oral Instructions on the Three Words That Strike the Vital Point

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PRIMORDIAL PURITY

Oral Instructions on the Three Words

That Strike the Vital Point

DILGO KHYENTSE

TRANSLATED FROM THE TIBETAN BY

Ani Jinba Palmo

COMPILED AND EDITED BY

the Nalanda Translation Committee

SHAMBHALA Boulder 2016

Shambhala Publications, Inc.

4720 Walnut Street

Boulder, Colorado 80301

www.shambhala.com

1999 by Shechen Tennyi Dargyeling, Inc.

Dedication translated by the Nalanda Translation Committee,

1996 by the Nalanda Translation Committee.

The Special Teaching of Khepa Shri Gyalpo:Three Words Striking the Vital Point (tsik sum ne dek), the root text of the commentary by Patrul Rinpoche on the Three Words of Garap Dorje, was translated by Erik Pema Kunsang and used with special permission.

1990 by Erik Hein Schmidt.

Cover art by Robert Beer

Cover design by Gopa & Ted2, Inc.

Frontispiece of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche by Matthieu Ricard

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Rab-gsal-zla-ba, Dis-mgo Mkhyen-brtse, 19101991, author. | Palmo, Ani Jinba, translator. | Nalanda Translation Committee, editor.

Title: Primordial purity: oral instructions on the three words that strike the vital point / Dilgo Khyentse; Translated from the Tibetan by Ani Jinba Palmo; Compiled and edited by the Nalanda Translation Committee.

Description: First edition. | Boulder: Shambhala, 2016. | Includes index. |

Translated from Tibetan.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015047459 | eISBN 9780834840270 | ISBN 9781611803402 (pbk.: alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Rdzogs-chen.

Classification: LCC BQ7662.4 .R19 2016 | DDC 294.3/420423dc23

LC record available at

http://lccn.loc.gov/2015047459

This book contains diacritics and special characters. If you encounter difficulty displaying these characters, please set your e-reader device to publisher defaults (if available) or to an alternate font.

OM SVASTI

By the kindness of the infinite victorious ones and their descendents

And the blessings of the wondrous three roots,

May the unrivaled manifestation of the great treasure of wisdom and compassion [Khyentse], the exalted guru,

Who has emanated according to his intention,

The fearless holder of the teachings of the Uddiyana lord and of the sutras and tantras of the unbiased tradition,

Completely victorious in all directions,

Ever remain in the indestructible vajra realm,

And may your wish for peace and happiness be spontaneously accomplished without effort.

For the sake of auspiciousness, the precious, supreme tulku of the great Vajradhara, Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse, was kindly given a name by the supreme lord of the victorious ones, the refuge-protector, guide through samsara and nirvana [His Holiness the Dalai Lama], and offered an adornment of robes at the Maratika rock cave of long life. At that time, this was written and offered on the excellent eighth day of the waxing part of the eleventh month of the auspicious Wood Sow year [29 December 1995] with one-pointed aspiration by Vagindra Dharmamati, the bewildered monk called Sha[de-u] Trl[shik].

JAYANTU

DILGO KHYENTSE RINPOCHE came to North America three times during the course of his lifetime. On his third journey, in 1987, he presided over the cremation of the Vidyadhara Chgyam Trungpa Rinpoche and then offered a series of courses on the buddha dharma in three major Vajradhatu centers: Karme Chling in Vermont, Karma Dzong Boulder in Colorado, and Karma Dzong Halifax in Nova Scotia. In the vajrayana sections of these seminars, Khyentse Rinpoche presented the essentials of the practice of the higher yanas. At Karme Chling, he taught on ngndro practice, taking as his focus the preliminaries for his own terma, the Rangjung Pema Nyingthik. In Boulder, his main emphasis was the form aspect of vajrayana practice, supplemented by teaching on the bardos, and he focused on key points of sadhana practice, with reference to the sadhana of Vajrasattva in particular. These talks are published in Pure Appearance, (Shambhala Publications 2016).

In Halifax, Khyentse Rinpoche emphasized the formless aspect of vajrayana practice, focusing on the practice of trekch, cutting through to primordial purity. He based his teaching on the initial verses of Three Words That Strike the Vital Point, which is the posthumous instruction of Prahevajra, or Garap Dorje, to Manjushrimitratwo of the early atiyoga lineage holdersand on Patrul Rinpoches commentary. In these three talks, which were given on June 2527, 1987, and are presented in this work, Khyentse Rinpoche described the view, meditation, and action of dzogchen. We are honored to be able to present these essential mind instructions of Khyentse Rinpoche to the vajrayana sangha of Vajradhatu and beyond.

The oral interpreter for Khyentse Rinpoche talks was Taklung Tsetrul Pema Wangyal Rinpoche, who cautioned that, due to the length of Khyentse Rinpoches discourse and the subtlety of the subject matter, the instructions be retranslated prior to publication. We were fortunate that Ani Jinba Palmo, a long-time student of Khyentse Rinpoche experienced in translating for him, was willing to undertake the project. Working directly from tape and from a transcription of the Tibetan rendered by Lama Ugyen Shenpen, Ani Jinba retranslated the entirety of Khyentse Rinpoches lectures. She was able to consult with Jigme Khyentse Rinpoche, who clarified many of the difficult points in the material, and we are deeply grateful to both of these skilled and learned students of Khyentse Rinpoche. We also wish to thank Matthieu Ricard, Khyentse Rinpoches translator, who read through a portion of the initial draft and offered a number of valuable suggestions.

The production of Primordial Purity has been the responsibility of the Vajravairochana Translation Committee. Sherab Chdzin Kohn and Scott Wellenbach served as editors, working in consultation with Lama Ugyen Shenpen and Lama Chnam Wazi, while the copyediting and composition was handled by Larry Mermelstein, executing the design of Hazel Bercholz.

A translation of the root verses of the Three Words That Strike the Vital Point has been appended to this work. Following the pioneering work of Tulku Thondup, a number of translations of this text have appeared in print and circulated privately. Erik Pema Kunsangs translation, originally published in Crystal Cave, is included here with his kind permission, as it was the rendering followed most closely by Ani Jinba, though his wording of certain terms has been amended slightly. Erik has made a few revisions since this was first published, and we are pleased to include these here.

The longevity supplication that appears at the beginning of the book was written by Trlshik Rinpoche on the occasion of Khyentse Rinpoches tulku receiving a name and robes from His Holiness the Dalai Lama.