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In 1607 Tāranātha completed this supplement to the historical anecdotes contained in the previous chapter. These cover the thirty-three remaining guidebooks, commencing from The Six Meditations of Vajravārāhī and concluding with The Nature of Mind: The Wish-fulfilling Gem. At the end of the chapter Tāranātha explains that he was encouraged to do so by his teacher Lhawang Drakpa, who himself had been a disciple of Kunga Drolchok. +
In the penultimate chapter, Kunga Drolchok begins by enumerating the One Hundred and Eight Guidebooks in verse, intimating how he personally assimilated their meaning in his practice. In the second part, he names the one hundred and eight protector deities for which he received empowerment, headed by the diverse aspects of Mahākāla, and at the end of that section he subsumes them all in twenty-seven classes. In the third and final part, he lists more than one hundred empowerments that he received often multiple times according to the diverse classes of tantra, individually naming the teachers who conferred them. +
Although Kunga Drolchok had remarked that guidance should be given according to the individual guidebooks after the empowerments of Hevajra and so forth, had been conferred, in later times only the chanting of the scriptural transmission survived. For this reason, Katok Tsewang Norbu during the eighteenth century introduced the so-called “empowerment of the book” which transfers the blessings of the anthology—the actual volume containing the One Hundred and Eight Guidebooks. The liturgical arrangement for this empowerment ceremony, which is the subject of this final chapter, was composed by Losal Tenkyong of Zhalu during the nineteenth century. +
In this chapter, Kunga Drolchok explores the classifications of the One Hundred and Eight Guidebooks, according to the primary distinction between sūtras, tantras and their integration. By his own calculation, there are altogether “twenty-five ordinary instructions, twenty-five instructions common to all traditions, twenty-five pertaining to the Sakya tradition, and thirty-three instructions pertaining to the Kagyu lineage.” +
Having presented the historical background in the foregoing chapters, in the second part of this book, Kunga Drolchok focuses on the actual experiential cultivation of the One Hundred and Eight Guidebooks. The ordinary and extraordinary preliminary practices, briefly presented in Chapter Seven and Chapter Eight respectively are the prerequisites for those wishing to pursue any of the main practices that are compiled in the long Chapter Nine. Among them, Chapter Seven outlines the preliminary approaches suitable for individuals of lowest, average and superior capacity. The endnotes here refer to the detailed and succinct explanation of these topics found in Patrul Rinpoche’s The Words of My Perfect Teacher. As before, the chapter is introduced by auspicious verses and concludes with a signature quatrain. +
The more advanced visualizations of the extraordinary preliminaries outlined here are practiced in the contexts of taking refuge, setting the mind on enlightenment, ritual purification, and offering the body maṇḍala. These finally enable the practitioner to settle into the physical posture appropriate for calm abiding, and thence to undertake the main practices of the One Hundred and Eight Guidebooks that follow in the next chapter. +
In this personal statement Kunga Drolchok describes how he was inspired by Sangyé Pel to seek out the respective lineage holders of the One Hundred and Eight Guidebooks. Over thirty-one years, starting from young age of seven through to his thirty-eighth year, he assiduously acquired these diverse teachings and here he presents his achievement in the well-established format of a “record of teachings received” (thob yig, bsan yig). The names of the teachers from whom he obtained each lineage are documented here, including his own root guru, Kunga Chogdrub, to whom he respectfully refers not by name, but by the epithet “venerable hidden buddha” (rje sbas pa’i sangs rgyas).
Kunga Drolchok also provides a wealth of information concerning the names of the Tibetan authors and redactors of these guidebooks, where they are known, and, in cases where the authorship is unclear, he remarks that they derive from unspecified ancient writings. There is evidence of an incisive critical faculty in the way in which he occasionally differentiates between multiple strands of a given lineage, indicating which are to be included in the anthology and which are not. Further information on these primary sources, their antecedents, and so forth, can be found in the bibliography and also in the intial note to each of one hundred and eight actual guidebooks in Chapter Nine.
The chapter begins with a “signature” quatrain, in which the four syllables of Kunga Drolchok’s own name are embedded within the lines of verse, and it ends with a poetic dedication of merit, and a colophon. +
''The Eight Special Appendices'' is very different in style from the other two sets. More like a guide, it is the only one that seems to present a progressive practice rather than a loose collection of topics. The first four sections are divided into subcategories that contain not only descriptions but actual liturgy to be used in the practice, as well as citations from the source teachings, inevitably the Perfection of Wisdom sutras. Indeed, this text is the only one attributed to Machik Lapdrön or any early source in which one can recognize the implementation of the practice of Severance as we have come to know it. The fact that there is only this one brings up interesting questions on the development of the Severance practice and the relationship of later liturgical texts with the “original” teachings by Machik Lapdrön and the other early masters in the lineage. +
L
<center>'''''Introduction to the Egg Trilogy'''''</center>
The “Egg Trilogy” is one part of a series of compendia of the sayings and songs of the great adepts of India known as the mahāsiddhas; the collection and importation of which are attributed to Dampa Sangye. Studies of these by Kurtis Schaeffer reveal that there are seventeen in all.'"`UNIQ--ref-00000209-QINU`"' Eleven can be found in the Tibetan Tengyur, where they constitute the majority of such anthologies. Most of them, with only one exception, are also found in the five-volume ''Zhije Collection'', which also contains the six others, including our Silver, Golden, and Crystal Eggs.
The Egg Trilogy falls under the set of Pacification teachings known as Stainless (''dri med''). Each of the Eggs contains short sayings of fifty-four or fifty-five great adepts who were Dampa’s personal teachers and are included as a set in the lineage histories of the later transmission. They are known as the “common” or popular (''mthun mong'') male and female gurus, not because they were ordinary but rather because those gurus were held in common by many other disciples and were not unique to Dampa Sangye. Indeed, many of them are quite famous and can be seen to overlap with another set known as the eighty-four adepts (grub thob brgyad bcu bzhi). This group is also found in the Tengyur and many other places and has become the more official, standard list.'"`UNIQ--ref-0000020A-QINU`"' But it is good to remember that there were just really a lot of great saints in India and the book is never closed. Dampa was extremely lucky.
Pa Dampa’s fifty-four or -five teachers are divided into five groups by Gö Lotsāwa in ''The Blue Annals'''"`UNIQ--ref-0000020B-QINU`"' and other places, such as in ''Distilled Elixir'' in this volume. They are as follows: eleven gurus who taught defining characteristics and Sanskrit grammar, eleven gurus who taught the movements of vital winds in the father tantras, eleven gurus who taught bliss experiences in the mother tantras, eleven gurus who taught symbols of mahāmudrā, and ten gurus who introduced pure awareness. Thus, the story continues, Dampa Sangye received all the instructions of the outer vehicle of characteristics and the inner father and mother tantras and practiced them. Unfortunately, the lists of names in these sources and in all the anthologies vary quite a bit, with no two being identical. This uncertainty is compounded by unreliable back-translations into their Sanskrit names as well as by ubiquitous scribal errors. So to attempt a definitive list here would just be aggravating.'"`UNIQ--ref-0000020C-QINU`"' However, loosely speaking, the order of gurus in the three texts presented here more or less follows those five nominal group divisions.
That is the classification according to names. According to content, it would be difficult to precisely identify how each terse dictum fits into the above five categories. Nevertheless, one can see a rough pattern, with philosophical subjects appearing in the beginning, vital winds mentioned often in the next set, and so forth. In particular, and only in the ''Treasury'' editions, ''The Pure Silver Egg'' is divided into five sets named according to the traditional five paths (''lam lnga'') of Mahayana Buddhism. However, these five paths are presented in a unique and distinctive way in Pacification, as will become clear in the later texts in this volume. The five-path division here was apparently added by Kongtrul or Khyentse or an editor, and it may even have been an attempt to correlate the five sets of gurus with the five paths. The divisions don’t exactly correspond to the list of names, but they are close enough. So that is helpful.
It would be another matter entirely to find these actual sayings within the recorded works of those named adepts. Until someone undertakes that kind of research, we will have to be content to say that those great spiritual adepts probably did (or would) say something akin to what is recorded here.
A note on word choices: In texts such as these that have been copied since ancient times, the many editions have innumerable variations. While this is by no means a critical edition of the Eggs, I have included many of the variations in the notes in an effort to help find the meaning. But I have committed the terrible translator crime of choosing in some cases to override the Treasury version if other variations made more sense, were more common, or seemed more original. Finally, this edition of ''The Treasury of Precious Instructions'' luckily contains an interlinear note to support my translation of sgong (also ''sgo nga'') as “egg.” It states that it means “a summary of the source scripture’s meaning” (''gzhung gi don bsdus pa'o''). This is the common word for “egg,” and pastoral allegories are everywhere to be found in the literature of Tibet. But perhaps it just does not carry a particularly spiritual ring to our modern ears, so far from the farm.
'''Notes'''
'"`UNIQ--references-0000020D-QINU`"'
<center>'''''Introduction to the Egg Trilogy'''''</center>
The “Egg Trilogy” is one part of a series of compendia of the sayings and songs of the great adepts of India known as the mahāsiddhas; the collection and importation of which are attributed to Dampa Sangye. Studies of these by Kurtis Schaeffer reveal that there are seventeen in all.'"`UNIQ--ref-0000021B-QINU`"' Eleven can be found in the Tibetan Tengyur, where they constitute the majority of such anthologies. Most of them, with only one exception, are also found in the five-volume ''Zhije Collection'', which also contains the six others, including our Silver, Golden, and Crystal Eggs.
The Egg Trilogy falls under the set of Pacification teachings known as Stainless (''dri med''). Each of the Eggs contains short sayings of fifty-four or fifty-five great adepts who were Dampa’s personal teachers and are included as a set in the lineage histories of the later transmission. They are known as the “common” or popular (''mthun mong'') male and female gurus, not because they were ordinary but rather because those gurus were held in common by many other disciples and were not unique to Dampa Sangye. Indeed, many of them are quite famous and can be seen to overlap with another set known as the eighty-four adepts (grub thob brgyad bcu bzhi). This group is also found in the Tengyur and many other places and has become the more official, standard list.'"`UNIQ--ref-0000021C-QINU`"' But it is good to remember that there were just really a lot of great saints in India and the book is never closed. Dampa was extremely lucky.
Pa Dampa’s fifty-four or -five teachers are divided into five groups by Gö Lotsāwa in ''The Blue Annals'''"`UNIQ--ref-0000021D-QINU`"' and other places, such as in ''Distilled Elixir'' in this volume. They are as follows: eleven gurus who taught defining characteristics and Sanskrit grammar, eleven gurus who taught the movements of vital winds in the father tantras, eleven gurus who taught bliss experiences in the mother tantras, eleven gurus who taught symbols of mahāmudrā, and ten gurus who introduced pure awareness. Thus, the story continues, Dampa Sangye received all the instructions of the outer vehicle of characteristics and the inner father and mother tantras and practiced them. Unfortunately, the lists of names in these sources and in all the anthologies vary quite a bit, with no two being identical. This uncertainty is compounded by unreliable back-translations into their Sanskrit names as well as by ubiquitous scribal errors. So to attempt a definitive list here would just be aggravating.'"`UNIQ--ref-0000021E-QINU`"' However, loosely speaking, the order of gurus in the three texts presented here more or less follows those five nominal group divisions.
That is the classification according to names. According to content, it would be difficult to precisely identify how each terse dictum fits into the above five categories. Nevertheless, one can see a rough pattern, with philosophical subjects appearing in the beginning, vital winds mentioned often in the next set, and so forth. In particular, and only in the ''Treasury'' editions, ''The Pure Silver Egg'' is divided into five sets named according to the traditional five paths (''lam lnga'') of Mahayana Buddhism. However, these five paths are presented in a unique and distinctive way in Pacification, as will become clear in the later texts in this volume. The five-path division here was apparently added by Kongtrul or Khyentse or an editor, and it may even have been an attempt to correlate the five sets of gurus with the five paths. The divisions don’t exactly correspond to the list of names, but they are close enough. So that is helpful.
It would be another matter entirely to find these actual sayings within the recorded works of those named adepts. Until someone undertakes that kind of research, we will have to be content to say that those great spiritual adepts probably did (or would) say something akin to what is recorded here.
A note on word choices: In texts such as these that have been copied since ancient times, the many editions have innumerable variations. While this is by no means a critical edition of the Eggs, I have included many of the variations in the notes in an effort to help find the meaning. But I have committed the terrible translator crime of choosing in some cases to override the Treasury version if other variations made more sense, were more common, or seemed more original. Finally, this edition of ''The Treasury of Precious Instructions'' luckily contains an interlinear note to support my translation of sgong (also ''sgo nga'') as “egg.” It states that it means “a summary of the source scripture’s meaning” (''gzhung gi don bsdus pa'o''). This is the common word for “egg,” and pastoral allegories are everywhere to be found in the literature of Tibet. But perhaps it just does not carry a particularly spiritual ring to our modern ears, so far from the farm.
'''Notes'''
'"`UNIQ--references-0000021F-QINU`"'
<center>'''''Introduction to the Egg Trilogy'''''</center>
The “Egg Trilogy” is one part of a series of compendia of the sayings and songs of the great adepts of India known as the mahāsiddhas; the collection and importation of which are attributed to Dampa Sangye. Studies of these by Kurtis Schaeffer reveal that there are seventeen in all.'"`UNIQ--ref-000002C1-QINU`"' Eleven can be found in the Tibetan Tengyur, where they constitute the majority of such anthologies. Most of them, with only one exception, are also found in the five-volume ''Zhije Collection'', which also contains the six others, including our Silver, Golden, and Crystal Eggs.
The Egg Trilogy falls under the set of Pacification teachings known as Stainless (''dri med''). Each of the Eggs contains short sayings of fifty-four or fifty-five great adepts who were Dampa’s personal teachers and are included as a set in the lineage histories of the later transmission. They are known as the “common” or popular (''mthun mong'') male and female gurus, not because they were ordinary but rather because those gurus were held in common by many other disciples and were not unique to Dampa Sangye. Indeed, many of them are quite famous and can be seen to overlap with another set known as the eighty-four adepts (grub thob brgyad bcu bzhi). This group is also found in the Tengyur and many other places and has become the more official, standard list.'"`UNIQ--ref-000002C2-QINU`"' But it is good to remember that there were just really a lot of great saints in India and the book is never closed. Dampa was extremely lucky.
Pa Dampa’s fifty-four or -five teachers are divided into five groups by Gö Lotsāwa in ''The Blue Annals'''"`UNIQ--ref-000002C3-QINU`"' and other places, such as in ''Distilled Elixir'' in this volume. They are as follows: eleven gurus who taught defining characteristics and Sanskrit grammar, eleven gurus who taught the movements of vital winds in the father tantras, eleven gurus who taught bliss experiences in the mother tantras, eleven gurus who taught symbols of mahāmudrā, and ten gurus who introduced pure awareness. Thus, the story continues, Dampa Sangye received all the instructions of the outer vehicle of characteristics and the inner father and mother tantras and practiced them. Unfortunately, the lists of names in these sources and in all the anthologies vary quite a bit, with no two being identical. This uncertainty is compounded by unreliable back-translations into their Sanskrit names as well as by ubiquitous scribal errors. So to attempt a definitive list here would just be aggravating.'"`UNIQ--ref-000002C4-QINU`"' However, loosely speaking, the order of gurus in the three texts presented here more or less follows those five nominal group divisions.
That is the classification according to names. According to content, it would be difficult to precisely identify how each terse dictum fits into the above five categories. Nevertheless, one can see a rough pattern, with philosophical subjects appearing in the beginning, vital winds mentioned often in the next set, and so forth. In particular, and only in the ''Treasury'' editions, ''The Pure Silver Egg'' is divided into five sets named according to the traditional five paths (''lam lnga'') of Mahayana Buddhism. However, these five paths are presented in a unique and distinctive way in Pacification, as will become clear in the later texts in this volume. The five-path division here was apparently added by Kongtrul or Khyentse or an editor, and it may even have been an attempt to correlate the five sets of gurus with the five paths. The divisions don’t exactly correspond to the list of names, but they are close enough. So that is helpful.
It would be another matter entirely to find these actual sayings within the recorded works of those named adepts. Until someone undertakes that kind of research, we will have to be content to say that those great spiritual adepts probably did (or would) say something akin to what is recorded here.
A note on word choices: In texts such as these that have been copied since ancient times, the many editions have innumerable variations. While this is by no means a critical edition of the Eggs, I have included many of the variations in the notes in an effort to help find the meaning. But I have committed the terrible translator crime of choosing in some cases to override the Treasury version if other variations made more sense, were more common, or seemed more original. Finally, this edition of ''The Treasury of Precious Instructions'' luckily contains an interlinear note to support my translation of sgong (also ''sgo nga'') as “egg.” It states that it means “a summary of the source scripture’s meaning” (''gzhung gi don bsdus pa'o''). This is the common word for “egg,” and pastoral allegories are everywhere to be found in the literature of Tibet. But perhaps it just does not carry a particularly spiritual ring to our modern ears, so far from the farm.
'''Notes'''
'"`UNIQ--references-000002C5-QINU`"'
This is [[Jamgön Kongtrul]]’s well-known and probably most useful instruction on the daily practice of Severance, written at the behest of [[Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo]]. It has been translated several times, with the title rendered variously as “Grove of Delights,” “[[Garden of All Joy]],” “Garden of Pleasures,” and so forth. It is also the basis of many oral commentaries by great contemporary masters such as Venerable [[Tenga Rinpoche]], [[Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche]], and so on. Perhaps because it is so loved by practitioners, I have chosen “beloved” as the translation of kunga (''kun dga’''), which is in fact the short form of ''kungyi gawa'' (''kun gyis dga’ ba''), “loved by all.” Indeed, the text is concise and yet thoroughly informative; one might almost call it user-friendly. Each stage is laid out clearly, particularly the famous “feasts” or distributions of the body to the guests. By [[Kongtrul]]’s time, many variations on the body-offering visualizations had developed. In this text, [[Kongtrul]] recommends a method to practice all of them by pairing up white (peaceful) and red (wrathful) visualizations and doing a few pairs at a time, thus cycling through all of them in a few evenings. (Nighttime is the recommended time for a daily practice.) These coupled sets and the rest of the commentary here have informed practitioners in their daily practice of Severance and provided the necessary references for its implementation. +
M
Mkhas grub chen po nA ro tA pas rnal 'byor gyi dbang phyug mar pa lo tsA la gdams pa'i chos drug dril ba rdo rje'i mgur +
During Marpa’s third trip to India, Nāropa sang this song to him
during a ganacakra celebrating Marpa’s recovery from an illness.
Although Marpa had recovered physically, he was, as Nāropa remarks in the
song, still feeling sad. In this song, Nāropa summarizes the instructions on
the six dharmas—caṇḍālī, illusory forms, dreams, luminosity, transference,
and entering a body—and adds two final sets of instruction: on the bardos
and the path.
This song is found in the biographies of Marpa Lotsāwa by Tsangnyön
Heruka, Khachö Wangpo, and Pawo Tsuklak Trengwa.'"`UNIQ--ref-000000F6-QINU`"' It also serves as
a basis for commentaries on the six dharmas by the first Paṇchen Lama,
Lopsang Chökyi Gyaltsen, and one of his students, the first Rongpo Drupchen, Shar Kalden Gyatso, both seventeenth-century Geluk teachers.'"`UNIQ--ref-000000F7-QINU`"'
''Transmission lineage received by Jamgön Kongtrul''. Vajradhara to Jñānaḍākinī,
Vajrapāṇi, Tilopa, and then the same as previously stated for the Ganges
Mahāmudrā.'"`UNIQ--ref-000000F8-QINU`"' +
Mnga' bdag mar pa lo tsA bas dpal sa ra ha las gsan pa'i phyag rgya chen po yid la mi byed pa snying po don gyi gdams ngag yi ge bzhi pa'i don rdo rje'i mgur du bzhengs pa +
This song, also known as the ''Marpa’s Root Song about Nonattention'','"`UNIQ--ref-00000147-QINU`"' is one of the—if not the—most famous songs by Marpa Lotsāwa. It is found in many of his biographies, including the well-known one by Tsangnyön Heruka. It is in the collection called the ''Ocean of Kagyu Songs'' (also
known as the ''Rain of Wisdom'') and in the Twenty-Five Songs of Marpa, a
song anthology compiled by the sixteenth Drikung throne-holder, Kunga
Rinchen (1475–1527). It is also one of eight songs that Marpa sang for which
there is a named melody, a group Tsangnyön Heruka called the eight great
songs. The melody for this song is called the “outstretched wings of a soaring
garuda.”'"`UNIQ--ref-00000148-QINU`"'
Marpa followed the Indian tradition of singing about meditative experiences and realizations, but he often added autobiographical elements, as is the case here. Marpa sang this song in response to a request from the Lokya
prince of Gyerpu in Tsang, where he had been invited to teach following his
return from his first trip to India. The rest of the story is told in the song.
''Transmission lineage received by Jamgön Kongtrul''. Marpa to Milarepa, and
then the same as previously stated for the Ganges Mahāmudrā.'"`UNIQ--ref-00000149-QINU`"' +
N
The Instruction for ''Straightening the Crooked'' begins by recounting
Kṛṣṇācārya’s encounter with a yogin named Kṛṣṇa Acyuta, while on the
way with his retinue to Bengal. Acyuta taught Kṛṣṇācārya a method called
“straightening the crooked” that relies on a forceful method of prāṇāyāma.
The instruction here, as indicated by the title, is for straightening out the
nāḍīs, vāyus, and bindus. It is of note that Acyuta claims his guru is Śiva and
that Śiva’s guru is Vajradhara. We have no other details of the life of Acyuta. +
P
''Transmission lineage received by Jamgön Kongtrul''. Rangjung
Dorje to Yung Tönpa, Rolpai Dorje, Khachö Wangpo, Dezhin
Shekpa, Drung Mase Lodrö Rinchen, Chöpal Yeshe, Lodrö Drakpa, Jatang
Lodrö Gyatso, Döndrup Tashi, Lekshe Drayang, Lodrö Namgyal, Sangye
Rinchen, Drung Rinpoche Kunga Namgyal, Garwang Karma Tenkyong,
Sönam Gyurme, Könchok Tenzin, Drupgyu Tenpa Namgyal, Sungrap
Gyatso, Chökyi Jungne, Gelek Rapgye, Drung Gyurme Tenpal, Tenzin
Gelek Nyima, and Jamgön Kongtrul.'"`UNIQ--ref-00000577-QINU`"' +
This text is an outline in which the first word or words of each verse
or group of verses are connected to a topical heading.'"`UNIQ--ref-00000077-QINU`"' The words in
parentheses after the headings are these first words that begin each line in
Tibetan—as stated above, because of the linguistic differences between
Tibetan and English, it was not possible to have the English verses begin
with the same words. The line numbers of the ''Ganges Mahāmudrā'' have
been added in parentheses for each heading.
''Transmission lineage received by Jamgön Kongtrul''. Rangjung Dorje to Yung
Tönpa, Rolpai Dorje, Khachö Wangpo, Dezhin Shekpa, Drung Mase
Lodrö Rinchen, Chöpal Yeshe, Lodrö Drakpa, Jatang Lodrö Gyatso, Döndrup Tashi, Lekshe Drayang, Lodrö Namgyal, Sangye Rinchen, Drung
Rinpoche Kunga Namgyal, Garwang Karma Tenkyong, Sönam Gyurme,
Könchok Tenzin, Drupgyu Tenpa Namgyal, Sungrap Gyatso, Chökyi
Jungne, Gelek Rapgye, Drung Gyurme Tenpal, Tenzin Gelek Nyima, and
Jamgön Kongtrul.'"`UNIQ--ref-00000078-QINU`"' +
These “instructions” (''gdams pa'') on Severance [[Mahāmudrā]] are actually meant to be performed as an authorization ritual (''rjes gnang''), as is evident in the format and stated clearly in the opening verses and colophon. An authorization is similar to an empowerment (''dbang''), though usually less complex. So in fact these are instructions on conferring the authorization, including the actual liturgies to be recited and sometimes repeated by the disciples. Perhaps this confusion is why the text was moved from its original position in the empowerment section of the Palpung blocks to the instruction section of the Shechen printing. In [[Kongtrul]]’s catalog, the text is indicated by the statement “torma empowerment of the [[Zurmang]] tradition.” The empowerment or blessing in this case is conferred physically using a torma (ritual sculpted dough), rather than the various other implements of initiation.
The phrase “opening the sky door” (''nam mkha’ sgo ’byed'') is distinctive to the Severance tradition and refers specifically to the practice of separating consciousness from the body and sending it out the cranial aperture, a kind of transference (''’pho ba''). However, it has become a more generalized designation for a whole cycle of Severance teachings, including an enumeration of a set of ten instructions called sky-door openings. [[Khamnyön]]’s ''Religious History of Pacification and Severance'' reports that [[Machik]] received the empowerment originally from [[Kyo Sakya Yeshe]] during the transmissions of a teaching called the ''Six Pieces'''"`UNIQ--ref-0000065C-QINU`"' and attained liberation after receiving only four of the six instructions.'"`UNIQ--ref-0000065D-QINU`"' [[Khamnyön]]’s biography of [[Dampa Sangye]] recounts that the initiation was given by Dampa to four disciples and the instructions to [[Kyo Sakya Yeshe]], who conferred it on [[Sönam Lama]], who then passed it to [[Machik]].'"`UNIQ--ref-0000065E-QINU`"' In any case, the term “opening the sky door” is most commonly associated with the empowerment ritual that is required before commencing the practice.
The author, [[Rinchen Senge]] ([[Rin chen seng ge]]), signs with the Sanskrit name [[Ratnasiṃha]]. It is difficult to identify this person with certainty, other than that he was active during or after the time of [[Rangjung Dorje]] (1284–
1339), who is specifically mentioned in the colophon. It seems likely that he is the great preceptor of [[Tropu]] ([[Kagyu]]) Monastery ([[Khro phu mkhan chen Rin chen Seng ge]], 13th c.), the ordination preceptor of [[Butön Rinchendrup]] (1290–1364) and also of [[Zurmang Khenchen Pema Namgyal]].'"`UNIQ--ref-0000065F-QINU`"'
Note that empowerment rituals often require the recitation of stories and instructions, and even section headings.
Phyag rgya chen po sems nyid ngal gso’i khrid kyi nyams glu dran pas snying gi gdung sel zla ba’i zil dngar +
This song of experience was composed by Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo’s teacher in the lineage of Resting in the Nature of Mind, Rinchen Losal Tenkyong (b. 1804). It testifies to the fact that some eight hundred years after Mitrayogin gave this teaching to Tropu Lotsawa, the lineage was still very much alive and the teachings were still being practiced. Rich in metaphor, with an unusual twelve-syllable meter and other poetic devices, it sadly loses much of its impact in English translation. +
Buddhist writers have always laid great emphasis on scriptural authority by quoting extensively from the sutras and tantras. In this way they can authenticate their work and demonstrate that their explanations have not simply been made up but are based on original sources. In this text, the omniscient Butön correlates the different verses of ''Resting in the Nature of Mind'' with passages from ''The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines'' on the one hand and a selection of tantras on the other. +