Jamgon Kongtrul - Jonang: The One Hundred and Eight Teaching Manuals: The Treasury of Precious Instructions: Essential Teachings of the Eight Practice Lineages of Tibet - Volume 18

T HE T REASURY OF P RECIOUS I NSTRUCTIONS : E SSENTIAL T EACHINGS OF THE E IGHT P RACTICE L INEAGES OF T IBET

Volume 18: Jonang

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 Tsadra 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.

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Boulder, Colorado 80301

www.shambhala.com

2020 by Tsadra Foundation

Cover art: Thangka The Jonang Practice Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Collection Eric Colombel. Photo: Rafael Ortet, 2018. Eric Colombel, New York. Interior design: Gopa and Ted2, Inc.

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Snow Lion is distributed worldwide by Penguin Random House, Inc., and its subsidiaries.

L IBRARY OF C ONGRESS C ATALOGING - IN -P UBLICATION D ATA

Names: Kong-sprul Blo-gros-mtha-yas, 18131899, author. | Gyurme Dorje, translator.

Title: Jonang: the one hundred and eight teaching manuals / compiled by Jamgn

Kongtrul Lodr Taye; translated by Gyurme Dorje.

Description: First edition. | Boulder, Colorado: Snow Lion, an imprint of Shambhala

Publications, Inc., 2021. | Series: The treasury of precious instructions: essential teachings of the eight practice lineages of Tibet; volume 18 | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019052967 | ISBN 9781559394956 (hardback)

eISBN 9780834843158

Subjects: LCSH : Spiritual lifeTantric Buddhism. | Tantric BuddhismTibet RegionDoctrines.

Classification: LCC BQ 8938 . K 6513 2021 | DDC 294.3/923dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019052967

a_prh_5.6.0_c0_r1

C ONTENTS

D ETAILED C ONTENTS OF C HAPTER 9 : T HE O NE H UNDRED AND E IGHT G UIDEBOOKS

F OREWORD

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 RANSLATORS I NTRODUCTION

T HE LIFE of Jamgn Kongtrul (18131899), extraordinary compiler and author of The Treasury of Precious Instructions, is well known from various sources.

In 1842, Situ Pema Nyinj granted Kongtrul permission to leave the monastery and enter into a three-year solitary retreat at Tsadra Rinchen Drak, revered as one of the twenty-five foremost power places in Kham, specifically associated with the mind aspect of Padmasambhavas enlightened attributes (yon tan gyi thugs). At Tsadra, on a concealed ridge, high above Palpung Monastery, Kongtrul founded the hermitage of Kunzang Dechen Oseling. It was here that he completed his prodigious writings, passed long periods in isolated meditation, and first liaised with his closest associatesJamyang Khyents Wangpo of Dzongsar (18201892), Chogyur Dechen Lingpa of Nangchen (18291870), and othersto establish the dynamic and all-embracing nonsectarian (ris med) tradition of eastern Tibet. Together they sought to preserve and integrate the diverse lineages of Tibetan Buddhism, large and small, without fear of persecution, in an age of increasing strife. Receptive to Padmasambhavas spiritual revelations, they also mapped out the twenty-five ancient sacred sites of eastern Tibet, which had been imbued with his blessings.

While Kongtrul uniquely juxtaposed the realizations of Tibets diverse spiritual traditions, Buddhist and Bon, he had a special affinity with the Jonangpa and Shangpa Kagyu teachings maintained in the lineage of Trantha (15751634). His writings display a particular penchant for the views and expositions of this multitalented renaissance figure and later scholars who empathized with his approachNyingma masters such as Rigdzin Tsewang Norbu (16981755) and Gyurm Tsewang Chokdrub (17611829) of Katok, and Sarma masters including the aforementioned Situ Chokyi Jungn of Palpung.