Wylie:Zab khrid brgya dang brgyad kyi yi ge
After completing the ordinary and extraordinary preliminaries outlined in the previous two chapters, practitioners may then undertake the main practices contained in the One Hundred and Eight Guidebooks, which constitute by far the longest chapter of the book. These practices, collated by Kunga Drolchok, represent all eight authoritative lineages promulgated in Tibet—Nyingma, Kadam, Sakya, Kagyu, Severance & Pacification, Six-branch Yoga, Shangpa Kagyu, and the Ritual Service and Attainment of Orgyanpa; and they derive from both the sūtra and tantra traditions, the latter emphasizing the generation stage (bskyed rim) and perfection stage (rdzogs rim) of meditation, along with instruction on the great seal (phyag rgya chen po) and the great perfection (rdzogs pa chen po). The compiler advises, in his concluding verses, that these main practices are to be undertaken distinctly and individually in their own terms, without being intermingled. The intricate relationships between the guidebooks are set aside for discussion in a later chapter.
These One Hundred and Eight Guidebooks are for the most part written in the terse, shorthand style of a memorandum (zin bris), for which reason, in this translation, it has often been necessary to add phrases or entire sentences in square brackets to elucidate the meaning. Such insertions derive from primary sources and related texts, found elsewhere in Jamgon Kongtrul’s Treasury of Oral Instructions, or in the Collected Works of their original authors. In the introductory note to each guidebook I have indicated, wherever possible, its primary source and antecedents in Sanskrit or Tibetan literature. There are also some cases where the primary source is no longer extant outwith this anthology, and others where reference is made to later commentaries by Tāranātha or Jamyang Khyentsé Wangpo. Readers will note that the order in which these guidebooks are presented corresponds for the most part to Chapter Nine of the Tibetan text, but there are a small number of exceptions where this sequence is at variance with that of the earlier historical chapters. Most notably, the Six-branch Yoga (no. 40) has been moved in the Tibetan text to no. 90, perhaps in consideration of its content, but for the sake of consistency I have followed the ordering clearly stated in the earlier chapters.