Introduction to the Abhiṣekas

This section contains nine texts, which are means for maturing, or empowering, students to be able to receive and practice the instructions that liberate (which are contained in the following section and remaining Marpa Kagyu volumes). In his Catalog, Jamgön Kongtrul states his intention for the Marpa Kagyu volumes to include one abhiṣeka text at this point:

The Abhiṣekas for Maturation. Here, in the Kagyu traditions, the primary means of maturation rely on some form of Saṃvara, male and female consorts. Although all [Kagyu traditions] are similar in emphasizing the system of Nāropa, these traditions contain many variations that are derived from the uncommon Aural Transmissions and the common traditions of each Kagyu school. Among those, here, the sādhana and maṇḍala [ritual] for the abhiṣeka of the five-deity Saṃvara in the Dakpo tradition composed by Tashi Namgyal is included as a general [representation].

The text specified, which may be, or be related to, the Source of Siddhis: The Ritual for the Five-Deity Saṃvara, was not included in the Kundeling printing of The Treasury of Precious Instructions (the printing that is said to reflect the original ten-volume Palpung printing). Instead, the Kundeling edition inserted three texts here, two by Jamgön Kongtrul and one by Kunga Namgyal, the fourth Trungpa. These are the first three of the nine texts in this section.

The remaining six texts are four written (or compiled) by Jamgön Kongtrul in his eighty-seventh year (the last year of his life), another also by Jamgön Kongtrul but not dated, and one composed by Tashi Özer. These are not mentioned in the Catalog and therefore would seem to have been added later to The Treasury. These six were placed at the end of the last Marpa Kagyu volume in the Kundeling edition but were moved into this volume in the Shechen printing (and arranged in a slightly different order). Thus, Jamgön Kongtrul’s original intention of providing one “sādhana and maṇḍala [ritual] for the abhiṣeka of the five-deity Saṃvara in the Dakpo tradition” as a general representation was expanded to nine texts.

Three Aural Transmission Lines from Milarepa

Eight of the nine texts reflect the three transmissions of the Saṃvara Aural Transmission by Milarepa’s students and one belongs to an Aural Transmission of Maitrīpa. As stated previously, the Saṃvara Aural Transmission passed from Vajradhara, to the Jñānaḍākinī Vajrayoginī, to Tilopa, Nāropa, Marpa, and Milarepa as a single transmission. Although it was said to be kept as a single transmission for thirteen generations, Milarepa received permission from the Jñānaḍākinī to share the teachings with some of his gifted students, which Jamgön Kongtrul recounts as follows:

When Milarepa achieved siddhi, the command seal of the Aural Transmission was slightly loosened and, in accordance with the directive given by Vajrayoginī, it is said that he bestowed certain parts on the eight repa brothers. However, these others simply went to the celestial realm and it is not clear what became of the continuity of that dharma. What he bestowed upon Rechung Dorje Drakpa is called the Rechung Aural Transmission and is the intermediate one. What he bestowed upon Dakpo Rinpoche is called the Dakpo Aural Transmission and is the extensive one. What he bestowed upon Ngomdzong Repa is called the Ngomdzong Aural Transmission and is considered the abbreviated one. These three have continued until now as unbroken streams of maturation and liberation along with instructions.

The three Aural Transmissions originating with Milarepa’s students are typically categorized as extensive, intermediate, and abbreviated, although there are different representations about which is which. First, in Jamgön Kongtrul’s works, we find inconsistent depictions. In the Catalog, he uses the following headings:

1. The Extensive Rechung Aural Transmission (rgyas pa ras chung snyan brgyud)

2. The Intermediate Ngamdzong Aural Transmission (’bring po ngam rdzong snyan brgyud)

3. The Abbreviated Dakpo Aural Transmission (bsdus pa dvags po snyan brgyud)

In this volume, there are the following statements:

The intermediate Aural Transmission is the Dakpo tradition.*

What [Milarepa] bestowed upon Rechung Dorje Drakpa is called the Rechung Aural Transmission and is the intermediate one. What he bestowed upon Dakpo Rinpoche is called the Dakpo Aural Transmission and is the extensive one. What he bestowed upon Ngomdzong Repa is called the Ngomdzong Aural Transmission and is considered the abbreviated one.†

It is well known that what Rechung Dorje Drakpa received is called the intermediate Aural Transmission, what the unequaled Dakpo Rinpoche received is the extensive Aural Transmission, and what Ngendzong Tönpa Jangchup Gyalpo received is the abbreviated Aural Transmission.‡

. . . [What will be given] comes from the intermediate [system of] the Aural Transmission Cakrasaṃvara, male and female consorts, the system of Jetsun Rechung Dorje Drakpa . . . §

[Milarepa] bestowed the intermediate Aural Transmission on his moonlike heart son Rechung Dorje Drakpa, the extensive Aural Transmission on the sunlike Dakpo Daö Zhönu, and the abbreviated Aural Transmission on Ngendzong Tönpa Bodhirāja.¶

Tashi Chöpal’s Record of Teachings Received uses the latter form of categorization and adds that the Dakpo Aural Transmission was later called the Karma Aural Transmission and, in his time, the Zurmang Aural Transmission.12 We might assume that the categorization of the Rechung Aural Transmission as intermediate, the Dakpo Aural Transmission as extensive, and the Ngomdzong Aural Transmission as abbreviated reflects Jamgön Kongtrul’s predominate view.

On the other hand, that categorization is not universally used, as evidenced by the Catalog reference above and other sources. In his Biography of Rechungpa, Götsang Repa recounts:

When the Ācārya [Milarepa] and his disciples were staying in Drö Puk, having been invited there by the people of Nyanang, Jetsun Vajrayoginī, the mother who produces all buddhas of the three times, appeared directly and spoke this verse:

Draw the Wish-Fulfilling Gems of the Aural Transmission

from the middle of the yogin’s citta. Place it on the head of Vajrakīrti.*

He will drink its light rays with delight.†

She also slightly loosened the command seal that the instructions of the Ḍākinī Aural Transmission remain as a single transmission. She gave a directive to [Milarepa] to teach his sunlike son, who was a suitable recipient, the abbreviated meaning transmission; to teach his moonlike son the words and meaning in their entirety, with nothing left out, in order that he hold the continuity of the river of the teachings; and to teach accurately a few starlike suitable recipients. Milarepa thought that at the appropriate time he would give Dakpo Rinpoche the abbreviated instructions by maturing him through [bestowing] the abhiṣeka of the maṇḍala of the guru’s body, speech, and mind primarily by using symbols. He bestowed upon Jetsun Ngendzong the intermediate approach, and he bestowed upon Jetsun Rechungpa the complete [teachings], including the seal of entrustment, with nothing left out.

We should also consider that the range of meanings that the terms extensive (rgyas pa) and abbreviated (bsdus pa) have. Extensive can mean lengthy, detailed, or complete; abbreviated can mean short, pithy, concise, or truncated. An extensive transmission is not necessarily more complete nor is an abbreviated one necessarily missing anything. Consider the account by Kunga Namgyal in the Earring of the Siddhas: A Great History of the Saṃvara Ḍākinī Aural Transmission:

Among the many students of Milarepa . . . there are three, earlier and later ones, who are holders of the transmission of the Aural Transmission instructions for which the command seal of the Ḍākinī was slightly loosened. First, when the great Jetsun was staying in Drö Puk in Nyanang, the Ḍākinī gave a directive:

Draw the gem of the Ḍākinī’s secret verses

from the middle of the yogin’s citta. Place it on the head of Vajrakīrti.

He will drink its light rays with delight.

Knowing the time had come [to act on] the directive, the Vajra Verses of the Aural Transmission were given as the extensive tradition of Rechungpa and as the intermediate tradition of Ngamdzong.

Then, when the Jetsun was eighty-two, the exalted Rechungpa said, “Now, precious guru, you are old. Who will hold our lineage? Do you have any instructions [still] to give?” The Jetsun said, “Ha ha!” and added, “Tilopa bestowed the complete instructions on Nāropa and prophesied [these would be given to] Marpa Lotsāwa. Nāropa gave all the instructions to Marpa and prophesied [these would be given to] me. Then, placing his walking stick on my heart, [Marpa] said, ‘I entrust this transmission to you,’ and gave a prophecy about who would hold this transmission. Tomorrow he will come. You all should not feel greatly superior.” He then sang the song of the eight kinds of wonderful happiness, [which includes the line,] “To attract nirmāṇakāyas as a retinue is wonderful—e ma ho!” He gave the actual root esoteric instructions to the exalted Dakpo, and these became renowned as the Gampo Aural Transmission or the Karma Aural Transmission.

In the context of The Treasury of Precious Instructions, where more texts are associated with the Rechung Aural Transmission (six in volume 7 and nine in volume 8) than are with the Ngamdzong Aural Transmission (two in volume 8) and the Dakpo Aural Transmission (one in volume 8), the headings used in the Catalog—“The Extensive Rechung Aural Transmission,” “The Intermediate Ngamdzong Aural Transmission,” and “The Abbreviated Dakpo Aural Transmission”—seem fitting.

One Aural Transmission from Maitrīpa

The one text not part of the Saṃvara Aural Transmission that Tilopa received, Arousing the Forces of Bliss and Heat, is an abhiṣeka text for Aural Transmission teachings belonging to Maitrīpa’s tradition, composed by Jamgön Kongtrul. This tradition has two transmission lineages: a long one from Vajradhara, Śavaripa, Maitrīpa, Tipupa Vimalamitra, Rechungpa, and so on, continuing on in the Drukpa Kagyu lineage; and a short one that was given directly from Rechungpa (1084–1161) to Jamyang Chökyi Drakpa, the third Drukchen (1478–1523).

The Drukpa Kagyu tradition and the Drukchen incarnation line have a special connection with Rechungpa that begins with the founder of the Drukpa Kagyu, Ling Repa (1128–88). Prior to becoming a student of Pakmo Drupa, Ling Repa was a student of Rechungpa’s students Khyung Tsangpa and Sumpa Repa. Ling Repa’s main student was Tsangpa Gyare (the first Drukchen and considered to be an incarnation of Nāropa), who, in addition to receiving teachings in Rechungpa’s tradition from Ling Repa, discovered teachings concealed by Rechungpa called the Six Cycles of Equalizing Tastes (Ro snyoms skor drug). The third Drukchen, Jamyang Chökyi Drakpa, had visions of Rechungpa and compiled the teachings he received in that direct transmission into the New Rechung Aural Transmission Collection. He also compiled the Saṃvara Aural Transmission Texts and wrote the Fire Cakra: The Skull-Cup Abhiṣeka from the Saṃvara Aural Transmission, which is clearly a basis for Jamgön Kongtrul’s Arousing the Forces of Bliss and Heat.

Overview of the Texts for Maturation

The texts in this section are grouped as follows.

Dakpo Aural Transmission

Cakrasaṃvara

Chapter 20, Net of Great Bliss: The Sādhana for the Dakpo Aural Transmission Tradition of the Glorious Cakrasaṃvara, is a sādhana of the sixty-fourdeity maṇḍala of Cakrasaṃvara. It was composed by Jamgön Kongtrul in his eighty-seventh year by combining “the root texts of the Five Cycles, the manuals, and customary procedures that are the extensive entrusted transmission of the tantras and esoteric instructions [bestowed] on Mase Lodrö Rinchen.”

Chapter 21, Saṃvara of Great Bliss: The Maṇḍala Ritual for the Dakpo Aural Transmission Tradition of the Glorious Cakrasaṃvara, is a maṇḍala ritual, or abhiṣeka text, for the sixty-four-deity maṇḍala of Cakrasaṃvara, associated with the Net of Great Bliss. It was composed by Jamgön Kongtrul in his eighty-seventh year based on the root texts and manuals of the Zurmang Aural Transmission.

Vajrayoginī

Chapter 22, Vase of Amṛta: The Rituals for the Manifest Maṇḍala and Abhiṣekas of the Extensive Yum Ka of the Aural Transmission Sahajā, is a maṇḍala ritual, or abhiṣeka text, for the thirty-seven-deity maṇḍala of Vajrayoginī, using the framework of the ministers, three types of actions, for the preparation; the queen, unchanging dharmatā, for the main practice; and the people, conducive activities, for the subsequent attainment. It was composed by Kunga Namgyal, the fourth Trungpa (1555–1629).

Maitrīpa Aural Transmission

Cakrasaṃvara

Chapter 23, Arousing the Forces of Bliss and Heat: Procedures for the Blessings of the Skull-Cup Abhiṣeka, the Fire Cakra, Bestowed through the Thirteen Saṃvara Deities in the Maitrīpa Tradition, is an abhiṣeka text for the thirteen-deity maṇḍala of Cakrasaṃvara, bestowed by means of a skull cup and fire cakra, belonging to the Drukpa Kagyu tradition with a long and short lineage. It was composed by Jamgön Kongtrul in the great palace of Dzongshö Deshek Dupa.

Rechung Aural Transmission

Cakrasaṃvara

Chapter 24, Bindu of Great Bliss-Wisdom: The Sādhana for the Rechung Tradition of the Glorious Cakrasaṃvara, is a sādhana of the sixty-two-deity maṇḍala of Cakrasaṃvara. It was composed by Jamgön Kongtrul in his eighty-seventh year using the Three Cycles of Gems of Tsangnyön Heruka as the root text.

Chapter 25, Bloom of Great Bliss: The Maṇḍala Ritual for the Rechung Tradition of the Glorious Cakrasaṃvara, is a maṇḍala ritual, or abhiṣeka text, for the sixty-two-deity maṇḍala of Cakrasaṃvara, associated with the Bindu of Great Bliss-Wisdom. It was composed by Jamgön Kongtrul in his eightyseventh year using the Three Cycles of Gems of Tsangnyön Heruka as the root text.

Vajrayoginī

Chapter 26, Chariot of Profound, Secret Great Bliss: The Sādhana and Abhiṣekas for the Profound Symbolic Abhiṣeka of the Sahajā in the Jetsun Vajrayoginī Aural Transmission, is a maṇḍala ritual, or abhiṣeka text, for the maṇḍala of Vajrayoginī, bestowed by means of symbols. It was composed by Khenchen Tashi Özer (1836–1910), a disciple of Jamgön Kongtrul.

Chapter 27, Excellent Padmarāga Vase: The Sādhana, Maṇḍala Ritual, and Abhiṣeka Rituals of the Sahajā, the Abbreviated Yum Ka from the Eight Common, Outer Maṇḍalas in the Rechung Tradition of the Saṃvara Aural Transmission, includes a sādhana, maṇḍala ritual, and abhiṣeka rituals for Vajrayoginī. It was composed by Jamgön Kongtrul in his eighty-seventh year on the basis of “the essence of the main texts of Tsangnyön Heruka, father and sons, [which serve] as the root manuals, and the essence of the teachings of the earlier transmissions, linking those with what is necessary for the means of maturation contained in the Yab Ka [texts] of the Rechung Aural Transmission tradition.”

Ngamdzong Aural Transmission

Cakrasaṃvara

Chapter 28, Bindu Pleasing to the Heruka: The Sādhana, Maṇḍala Ritual, and Abhiṣeka Rituals for the Abbreviated Ngamdzong Tradition of the Saṃvara Ḍākinī Aural Transmission, includes a sādhana, maṇḍala ritual, and abhiṣeka rituals for the thirty-seven-deity maṇḍala of Cakrasaṃvara. It was composed by Jamgön Kongtrul in his eighty-seventh year.

Translation Note

Readers should keep in mind that these texts are not meant for casual reading or unauthorized use. They are for stable and committed practitioners of these specific lineages and require authorization, explanation, and personal practice. During the explanation process, recipients learn the meaning and application of the practices. It is well known in these traditions that tantras are to be understood from the point of view of the six parameters and the four modes.* Therefore, no one should assume that the literal meaning of anything in the following texts is the intended meaning.

Many of the verses are drawn from the tantras or from sādhana or abhiṣeka texts by Indian masters. In fact, many verses appear in multiple texts in the Kangyur or Tengyur. It is beyond the scope of this project to identify all such instances, and when such information is provided, it is only as a preliminary identification.

Deities may be referred to by their names, by a title (such as Bhagavān or Bhagavatī), or a name that reflects a category, such as Jñānaḍākinī or Heruka. In most cases, Sanskrit titles have been used, but when the terms seem to have Tibetan origins, phoneticized Tibetan is employed, such as Jetsunma or Yum Ka. As for the terms yab ka (yab bka’) and yum ka (yum bka’), although the Tibetan word “ka” (bka’ ) generally is an honorific term meaning “word,” “speech,” “utterance,” and, in special cases, “command,” in this instance, it means that the main focus of the particular practice is the male (yab) or female (yum) deity. Since many practitioners of these traditions may be familiar with the Tibetan terms, phoneticized Tibetan is used.

As stated in the technical note, all mantras have been represented according to how they are found in the texts without modification or correction except as noted. When the Tibetan text uses phoneticized Sanskrit for a deity’s name, such as Lāma and Khaṇḍarohi (or Khaṇḍarohī or Khaṇḍarohe), that form is used. When the text has the deity’s name translated into Tibetan, as in Dumkyema (Dum skyes ma), the commonly attested form of the name is used, such as Khaṇḍarohā. An exception to this is that even though the Tibetan texts use phoneticized Sanskrit for the twenty-four sacred places, commonly attested forms of the place names are used in the translation. My style of translation for the sādhanas and abhiṣekas is influenced by and indebted to the exemplary and, for many of us, trendsetting translations of the Karma Kagyu Cakrasaṃvara and Vajrayoginī sādhanas by the Nalanda/Vajravairochana Translation Committee done under the direction of Vidyādhara Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.* Since a significant portion of Western Karma Kagyu practitioners who wish to recite the Cakrasaṃvara or Vajrayoginī sādhanas in English use their translations, their work is familiar to many and something of a standard in the Karma Kagyu sphere. I have adopted numerous of their conventions, the most obvious being the use of Sanskrit words such as ghaṇṭā and añjali, rather than “bell” and “folded hands.” On the other hand, I have not adopted all their conventions and some commonly chanted verses are translated slightly differently, sometimes to maintain consistency with my own translation style, sometimes because I consulted other commentaries, and sometimes simply because I wish to offer another translation perspective on the same verses. Nevertheless, my hope is that by maintaining a style that is in harmony with theirs, my translations will contribute toward a shared style of translation, at least in the realm of Karma Kagyu sādhanas, liturgies, and other types of practice materials.