Wylie:Gcod kyi skong ba rnams bzhugs pa'i dbu phyogs
An important function of vajrayāna ritual is to ensure that whatever offerings have been made will serve the purpose of fulfilling obligations as well as accumulating merit. This is the practice of kangwa (bskang ba), translated variously as fulfillment, renewal, amendment, appeasement, and so forth. The pledges or commitments or covenants (dam tshig) that are thereby fulfilled involve two levels: Secret Mantra practitioners have a special relationship with the buddhas, deities, ḍākinīs, and other holy beings who will bless and protect them as long as the practitioner keeps up his or her practice. The second level concerns the various worldly protectors, ground masters, and local spirits who pledged themselves to the dharma, usually under pressure during the time of Guru Padmasambhava, but who must be regularly appeased with offerings to remind them of that commitment. In both cases, the ritual also serves to emend any breaches or deficiencies in the mutual agreement, and thus it may also contain a confession of mistakes.
This text contains three rituals that utilize the offering of one’s own body as a communal feast to renew those commitments. After the initial setup visualization, the first is “Mother Transformation” by Chökyi Drakpa of Tsalkar (mTshal dkar Chos kyi grags pa). This very common name might be the fourth Zhamar incarnation (1453–1524/5), but the Tsalkar designation is not identified. The title might suggest that it is a variation of a previous “mother” text. The text calls on the usual lineage gurus up through Karmapa Rangjung Dorje and continues with yet another line of masters coming through the Zurmang line. Then it focuses on the divine beings, such as the ḍākinīs of the charnel grounds, the buddhas of the ten directions, and the protectors, before going on to the local spirits.
The second text, “Gem Treasury,” is attributed to Guru Dharmakīrti. This is the Sanskrit for the Tibetan name Chökyi Drakpa and could well indicate the author of the previous text. “Gem Treasury” is said to be an amendment of a composition by Situ Norbu Sampel (Si tu Nor bu bsam ’phel). Though this has been suggested as another name for the sixth Situ, Mipam Trinle Rapten (Mi pham phrin las rab brtan, 1658–1682), his dates do not line up with the statement in the colophon that it had been requested by Ratnashrī, or Palden Rinchen in Tibetan, the author of the third fulfillment liturgy and named here in the Zurmang lineage after [Rupa] Wangchuk Dorje, who is only two gurus after Rangjung Dorje (1284–1339). The lineage prayer ends with the fourth Trungpa, Kunga Namgyal (1567–1629).
The third text is called simply “Fulfillment Ritual” and is attributed to the adept of Runda, Palden Rinchen (Ru mda grub thob dPal ldan rin chen). His Sanskrit name, Ratnashrī, appears in many other Zurmang lineage prayers, and a brief account of his life can be found in the Collected Histories of the Glorious Zurmang Kagyu.[1] This liturgy itself does not contain a lineage prayer but calls on the deities and ḍākinīs and then includes an extensive confession. It ends with a long list of the actual items that fulfill the pledges.
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Information about Unicode Tibetan and the digitization of this text
As the only available unicode Tibetan text at the time, Nitartha International's version of the Paro Edition of the gdams ngag mdzod is provided here. However, note that it has not been thoroughly edited and that there may also be mistakes introduced through the conversion process. Eventually we will provide a fully edited version of the entire Shechen Edition, entered and edited multiple times by Pulahari Monastery in Nepal, but as of fall 2017 that project has not been finished. Note that the folio numbers that appear throughout were added by Nitartha Input Center at the time of input.
Provided by Nitartha International Document Input Center. Many thanks to Lama Tenam and Gerry Wiener for help with fonts and conversion.
