T HE T SADRA F OUNDATION S ERIES
published by Snow Lion, an imprint of Shambhala Publications Tsadra Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that contributes to the ongoing development of wisdom and compassion in Western minds by advancing the combined study and practice of Tibetan Buddhism. Taking its inspiration from the nineteenth-century nonsectarian Tibetan Buddhist scholar and meditation master Jamgn Kongtrul Lodr Taye, Tsadra Foundation is named after his hermitage in eastern Tibet, Tsadra Rinchen Drak. The Foundations various program areas reflect his values of excellence in both scholarship and contemplative practice, and the recognition of their mutual complementarity. Tsadra Foundation envisions a flourishing community of Western contemplatives and scholar-practitioners who are fully trained in the traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. It is our conviction that, grounded in wisdom and compassion, these individuals will actively enrich the world through their openness and excellence. This publication is a part of Tsadras Foundations Translation Program, which aims to make authentic and authoritative texts from the Tibetan traditions available in English.
The Foundation is honored to present the work of its fellows and grantees, individuals of confirmed contemplative and intellectual integrity; however their views do not necessarily reflect those of the Foundation. Tsadra Foundation is delighted to collaborate with Shambhala Publications in making these important texts available in the English language.
Snow Lion An imprint of Shambhala Publications, Inc. 4720 Walnut Street Boulder, Colorado 80301 www.shambhala.com 2016 by Tsadra Foundation Cover art: Thangka The Zhije and Chd Practice Lineages of Tibetan Buddhism. Nepal, 20th century. Collection Rigpe Dorje Archive.
Photo: Rafael Ortet, 2009. Jamgon Kongtrul Labrang, Pullahari, Nepal. Cover design by Tsadra Foundation 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. L IBRARY OF C ONGRESS C ATALOGING-IN -P UBLICATION D ATA Names: Kong-sprul Blo-gros-mtha-yas, 18131899, author. | Harding, Sarah, 1951 translator.
Title: Chd: The Sacred Teachings on Severance / compiled by Jamgn Kongtrul Lodr Taye; translated by Sarah Harding. Description: Boulder: Snow Lion, 2016 | Series: The Treasury of Precious Instructions: Essential Teachings of the Eight Practice Lineages of Tibet; volume 14 | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Translated from Tibetan. Identifiers: LCCN 2016011239 | eISBN 9780834840560 | ISBN 9781611803723 (hardback: alk. paper) | Subjects: LCSH: Spiritual lifeTantric Buddhism. | BISAC: RELIGION / Buddhism / Tibetan. | RELIGION / Buddhism / Sacred Writings. | RELIGION / Buddhism / Sacred Writings.
Classification: LCC BQ8938 .K6513 2016 | DDC 294.3/420423dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016011239 v4.1
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I N HIS VAST work
The Treasury of Precious Instructions (
gDams ngag rin po chei mdzod), Jamgn Kongtrul Lodr Taye, that most eminent of Tibetan Buddhist masters, collected together all the empowerments, instructions and practices of the eight great chariots of the practice lineages. Not only that, but he himself received the complete transmissions for all the practices, accomplished them including the retreats, and preserved them in his own mindstream. He then passed on the transmissions to his own students and all who requested them.
The Treasury of Precious Instructions exemplifies how Jamgn Kongtrul Lodr Tayes whole life was dedicated to teaching and spreading the dharma, whether it be sutra or mantra,
kama or
terma, old or new translation school, free of sectarian bias.
Without his supreme efforts, many traditions of Tibetan Buddhism would have been lost. The teachings of the Buddha have now spread throughout the Western world, and there is a growing need for major texts to be translated into English so that Western dharma students and scholars have access to these essential teachings. I was, therefore, delighted to hear that having successfully published a translation in ten volumes of Jamgn Kongtrul Lodr Tayes Treasury of Knowledge (shes bya kun khyab mdzod), the Tsadra Foundation has embarked on a second major project, the translation of The Treasury of Precious Instructions, and I would like to express my gratitude to them. May their work be of benefit to countless sentient beings. His Holiness the Seventeenth Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje Bodhgaya February 21, 2016
T HE T REASURY OF P RECIOUS I NSTRUCTIONS (
gDams ngag rin po chei mdzod) is the fourth of the so-called five great treasuries compiled or composed by Jamgn Kongtrul Lodr Taye (18131900), who also signed as Karma Ngawang Ynten Gyatso in some of the texts herein. Kongtrul was one of the greatest Buddhist masters of Tibet.
His accomplishments were so vast and varied that it is impossible to do them justice here. The reader is referred to an excellent short biography in the introduction to the first translated volume of another of his great works, The Treasury of Knowledge, or the lengthy Autobiography of Jamgn Kongtrul. Even if his achievements had consisted solely of his literary output represented in these five treasuries, it would be difficult to comprehend his level of scholarship. Unlike The Treasury of Knowledge