Jigme Lingpa - The Gathering of Vidyadharas: Text and Commentaries on the Rigdzin Düpa

This volume enshrines a number of sacred treatises on Rigdzin Dpa, the Gathering of Vidyadharas. They reveal the profound views, powerful meditations, sacred conduct, and ultimate goals of the Vajrayana teachings of Tibetan Buddhism.

The Rigdzin Dpa is one of the important tantric sadhanasincluding both meditation and ritual manualsthat integrates the heart essences of both the inner yogas and Dzogchen. It is one of the three rootsthe three main tantric sadhanasof the Longchen Nyingtik tradition.

The Rigdzin Dpa was initially transmitted by Guru Padmasambhava to King Trisong Detsen, Khandro Yeshe Tsogyal, and Lochen Vairochana in Tibet at Samy Monastery in the ninth century. Guru Rinpoche then concealed it as a tera mystically concealed treasurethrough his enlightened power. In 1760, Rigdzin Jigme Lingpa (17291798), an incarnation of King Trisong Detsen, and a most renowned author, ter revealer, and fully accomplished adept, discovered the Rigdzin Dpa as a ter teaching.

Jigme Lingpa writes that this text is entitled Rigdzin Dpa, the Gathering of Vidyadharas, because all the deities of the six yogas and the vidyadharasfully accomplished adeptsof India and Tibet are present in it as guests.

Two important commentaries on the Rigdzin Dpa are offered in this volume. (1) The Words of the Vidyadhara is a detailed commentary of the Rigdzin Dpa written by Kyala Khenpo, Chemchok Thonduptsal (18931957). Since the Rigdzin Dpa was first discovered as a ter, its sacred instructions were passed down through an unbroken master-disciple oral-transmission lineage. The Words of the Vidyadhara became the first detailed instructions on the Rigdzin Dpa in written form.

Kyala Khenpo was one of the four main khenpos of the renowned Dodrupchen Monastery in Golok, eastern Tibet. From the ages of six through eighteen, I had the privilege of having him as my teacher and parent without separation. Although I havent got a trace of his extraordinary qualities in me, the inspirations that I enjoyed from his amazing life and love still sustain me through the power of blessed memories. What I saw outwardly of him was an utmost humble and ascetic monk. He never ate food after lunch, was never seen sleeping lying down, never accepted any offerings of faith (kor) for his own use, was always as easy to be with as a child, and as fully caring for many as a parent. Despite being a brilliant scholar of both sutras and tantras and one of the four main khenpos of a renowned monastic institution, he never showed any ego. He remained in strict seclusion doing meditations on the Rigdzin Dpa and other liturgies for over nine years. Many witnessed his mystical attainments. But far from boasting about them, he kept his accomplishments strictly private. With smiles of true joy and eyes of heartfelt love, he kept sharing the teachings of what he enjoyed most until the last hours of his lifea true, living bodhisattva. The Words of the Vidyadhara was one of his Tibetan writings that escaped with me from Tibet and is now in your hands in its English incarnation.

(2) The Light of the Sun and the Moon is a shorter and less dense commentary of the Rigdzin Dpa, written by Tulku Tenpe Wangchuk (19382014) of Khangsar Monastery in Golok. He was a learned author, a ter discoverer, and a great propagator of Dharma. Since the doors for teaching Dharma reopened in Tibet in the early 1980s, he became one of those dynamic teachers who dedicated his life to resurrecting the pure Dharma of learning and realization widely and deeply for over three decades.

The view and meditation of the Rigdzin Dpa are centered on training in the development (kyerim) and the perfection (dzogrim) stages integrated with the Great Perfection (Dzogchen). The steps are as follows:

After being introduced to the true nature of our own mind, we dissolve all our concepts into that great primordial nature that is the sky-like awareness (rigpa), free from fixation.

From this openness nature, like the sun and its rays, we let the mandala of Rigdzin Dpa arise as the natural radiance (