Rare & precious Zogchen Lineage

The lineage masters of Dzogpa Chenpo

Longchen Nyingthiks are:

(1) Dharmakaya Buddha Samanta Bhadra

Shakyamuni Buddha was fully enlightened from the very beginning, in the form of Dharmakaya Buddha. Therefore, Dharmakaya Buddha was the source of all the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and teachings. The Dharmakaya Buddha was the founder of Great Perfection. In the state of Dharmakaya, he gave his teachings to the five self-manifesting Buddhas of the Sambhogakaya Buddha, who are the same essence with the transmitted directly to their Wisdom Mind, without using words or any other indication. We call this the Lineage of transmission of the Wisdom Mind of the Buddha.

(2) Sambhogakaya Buddha Vajra Sattva

 In the state of Sambhogakaya, Sambhogakaya Buddha Vajrasattva transmitted all the empowerments and teachings to the Nirmanakaya Prake Vajra (Gharab Dorjee), the first human master, through the sign, light, and pronouncing a mantra. Here, they don’t teach through regular speech. This lineage is known as Symbol Lineage.

(3) Nirmanakaya Buddha Gharab Dorjee

 Nirmanakaya Buddha Gharab Dorjee was the emanation of Vajrasattva Buddha. Gharab Dorjee was fully enlightened from this birth and had no need to study or practice. Gharab Dorjee could debate and discuss about anything with the 500 great masters when he was only 7 years old. So no one could challenge through debates or spiritual power. He knew all the Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana teachings. In particular, he understood the meaning of six million four hundred thousands verses of the Dzogpa Chenpo (Great Perfection) teachings. From his advice, his student, a Dakini, compiled all his instructions into books. The master himself later became rainbow body and dissolved into the Dharmakaya state. According to the students experience, the master received “great light initiation” (the final initiation) from Sambhogakaya Buddha Vajrasattva and immediately became fully enlightened, the ultimate stage of Buddhahood, and started to teach humans. He was the first human master.

(4) Jam Pal Shes-Nyen

Jam Pal Shes-Nyen, the second human master of the Dzogpa Chenpo great perfection, was the emanation of bodhisattva Vajrapani. Born into a Brahmin family in a city west of Vajrasana, he mastered Philosophy, logic, Sanskrit, linguistic, and art while he was still a child. According to the prediction of Manjusri, he went to see his Dzogchen master at the cremation ground at Sitvana. There he studied for seventy-five years with Gharab Dorjee (Hasya Vajra) and received all the Dzogpa Chenpo teachings, initiations, and innermost secret pith-instructions. He divided the six million four hundred thousand verses of Dzogpa Chenpo into three sections: mind section, vast expanse section, and esoteric instruction section. Later he got enlightenment and dissolved into a mass of light (attained rainbow body). After that, he reappeared to his best student Sri Singha in a vision and gave him the final instruction and presented him with a box containing the six meditation experienc.

(5) Shri Singha

Great master Shri Singha was born in 289 B.C. in the country known as the Black Expanse, in western China. From age 15, he started studying Astrology, and many other things from master Hastibhala. Also, Shri Singha studied inner and outer tantra from the master Bhela Kriti for seven years in WuTai Mountain in China. Later, when he was in meditation retreat, Buddha Avalokiteshvara appeared and predicted him that if he wanted to get enlightenment within his lifetime, he should go to India and see his master. So he went to India and met great master Jampal She-Nyen and later Nirmanakaya Gharab Dorjee. He spent 25 years with them, and received all the initiations, teachings, and pith instructions of Great Perfection, the Dzogpachenpo. He practiced and became fully enlightened. Later, he became rainbow body and became one with Dharmakaya Buddha. He transmitted his lineage to the second Buddha Guru Padmasambhava, to Vimalamitra, Buddhaguhya, and to Tibetan master Vairotsana Raksita.

(6) Jnanasutra

Jnanasutra was born to a low caste family in Kamashila, eastern India. Jnanasutra became a scholar and traveled to Bodhgaya where he met Vimalamitra. Vajrasattva appeared to them both and instructed them to travel to the Bodhi Tree Temple in China to meet Shri Singha. Jnanasutra obeyed Vajrasattva's advice only after his friend Vimalamitra returned from China with glorious news of his meeting with their master.

When Jnanasutra arrived at the temple, a dakini instructed him to go to the Siljin charnel ground. He served his master for three years and then beseeched him for teachings. He stayed with the master receiving teachings and empowerments for many years. During this time Shri Singha often behaved in mysterious ways, wandering in charnel grounds, transforming into various forms, mingling with the dakinis and facing frightening beings without the slightest fear. Eventually Shri Singha told Jnanasutra that the texts of the teachings would appear when the time was right.

Seven days after his master left him to visit the King of the country of Li, Jnanamitra saw Shri Singha appear in the sky and knew that he had passed on. He received a casket containing the verses called the Seven Nails and instructions to extract the Nyingthik teachings from their hiding place at the Tashi Trigo Temple, and to meditate on them at the Bhasing charnel ground in India.

Jnanasutra returned to India with the texts and lived in the Bhasing charnel ground teaching the Nyingthik (Heart Essence) to dakas and dakinis. He also transmitted the teachings to his friend and disciple, Vimalamitra, and entrusted to him the texts of the entire oral tradition. At the end of his life his mortal body dissolved into a body of light.

(7) Vimalamitra

Vimalamitra was born in western India. While living in Bodhgaya, he met Jnanasutra. Vajrasattva appeared to them and pointed out that they had achieved nothing through five hundred rebirths as scholars. If they aspired to reach Buddhahood in this lifetime, they should go to China to find their master Shri Singha at the Bodhi Tree Temple.

Leaving his friend behind, Vimalamitra, highly motivated, immediately set out for China and found Shri Singha as Vajrasattva had predicted. Over twenty years he received instruction on the outer, inner and secret teaching of the oral lineage. Completely satisfied - although the master had not given him the texts - he returned to India.

Meeting Jnanasutra, Vimalamitra related what he had received and accomplished and Jnanasutra immediately decided to travel to China to meet Shri Singha. Years later, still intent on his meditations and doing tantric practice, Vimalamitra was visited by dakinis who instructed him to go to the Bhasing charnel ground if he wanted to receive deeper instructions.

At Bhasing, he met his old friend Jnanasutra and begged from him the instructions he had missed. Jmanasutra bestowed the empowerments, instructions and texts. Vimalamitra meditated on the teachings he received for ten years before Jnanasutra achieved the rainbow body and left him with his final legacy, a tiny jeweled casket containing the verses called Four Methods of Contemplation.

He instantly achieved realization equal to that of his master. He made three copies of the texts and concealed two in secret places and entrusted the third to the dakinis.

Later, Vimalamitra was invited to Tibet by the translators Kawa Peltsek and Chokro Lui Gyeltsen, emissaries of King Trisong Detsen, and he was welcomed as a great master. Yudra Nyingpo became his collaborator and they translated a variety of Dzogchen texts. He concealed the translated texts at Gekong in Chimpu.

After thirteen years in Tibet he departed for the Five Peaks in China and there attained the rainbow body. He vowed to send an incarnation to Tibet every century to carry out the work of maintaining and disseminating the Nyingthik teachings for as long as the Buddha Dharma exists.

(8) Padmasambhava

 Padmasambhava, the embodiment of Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya of the Buddha and Vidyadhara of all forms of enlightened knowledge, transmitted the innermost secret teachings of Vajrayana to Tibet. Through his teachings and empowerments, he established the basis of the Nyingma Kama and Terma transmission and consecrated the land of Tibet. He guided, taught, and protected whoever is devoted to the practice of Vajrayana. He manifested in the ten directions and in the three periods of times, showing different forms and teachings in different cultures to benefit living beings.

(9) Khandro Yeshi Tshogyal

Yeshi Tshogyal was Padmasambhava’s mystic consort and greatest disciple. She was the incarnation of Vajra Varahi and was instrumental in the transmission of essential teachings of the Nyingma tradition. She was also one of the three disciples who received the Vajrakila teaching from Padmasambhava. She practiced and accomplished these teachings. After Padmasambhava departed from Tibet, she continued the teachings and guided many hundreds of disciples.

(10) Kunkyen Longchen Rabjam (1308-1363)

Kunkyen Longchen Rabjam was the greatest Dzogchen master in the Nyingma tradition, and also the most brilliant and famous writer. He wrote about 270 works, of which only about 25 survived and among which where the “Seven Treasuries” (Longchen Zod Dun) and the “Three Trilogies”. He explained about 17 main tantras of Dzogchen teaching and 9 yanas. Also, longchenpa collected his own Terma and Dzogchen teachings of guru Padmasambhava and Vimalamitra, which is known as “Nyingtik Yabzhi”, i.e., Khandro Nyingtik of Padmasambhava, the Vima Nyingtik of Vimalamitra, the Lama Yangtik, the Khandro Yantik, and the Zabmo Yangtik of his own explanation of Dzogchen. So he was the greatest exponent if the Great Perfection. His “Seven Treasures” (m Dzod bDun) books are very famous and well known to this very day.

(11) Rigzin Jigme Lingpa (1729-1798)

 Jigme Lingpa was the combined emanation of Vimalamitra, King Trisong Detsen and Gyalse Lhaje. He received the complete Dzogchen Nyingtik teachings from Guru Rinpoche, Yeshi Tshogyal and Longchen Rabjam, through the state of pure vision. He saw Longchen Rabjam three times and received his blessings of body, speech, and mind. Thus he became inseparable from the Longchenpa and attained the realization of the Dzogchenpo. He write nine volumes of “Dharma treasures” (Terma), and became the founder of Longchen Nyingtik. His incarnation included Do-Kyen-Tse Yeshi Dorjee (1800-1866) as his body incarnation, Patrul Jigme Choyi Wangpo (1808-1887) as his speech incarnation, and Jamyang Kyentse Wangpo (1820-1892) as his mind incarnation.

(12) Jigme Gyalwai Nyugu (1765-1843)

 Jigme Gyalwai Nyugu was the illustrious disciple of Rigzin Jigme Lingpa. Rigzin Jigme Lingpa had three principal disciples, Jigme Gyalwai Nyugu, Jigme Trinlay Woeser and Jigme Kundrol. Among them, Jigme Gyalwai Nyugu was the main Dzogchen lineage holder. After spending a considerable time with his master in central Tibet, he returned to Kham. There he practiced and realized the actual nature of mind. He spent 21 years in the same place and gathered many thousands of disciples, the mains ones were Dza Patrul Rinpoche and Jamyang Kyentse Wangpo Rinpoche. Through those two great disciples, his lineage, the practicing lineage of the Pith-instruction of Dzogpa Chenpo, spread widely.

(13) Pa-trul Ogyen Jigme Choe-kyi Wangpo (1808-1887)

Patrul Rinpoche was the incarnation of Shanti Deva and the principle disciple of Jigme Gyalwai Nyu-gu. He received all the Nyingtik teachings, transmissions, and whispered pith instructions from his master. He also received other Dzogchen teachings from many other Lamas, including the first Dodrup Chen Rinpoche.

Patrul Rinpoche wrote many commentaries about Hinayana, Mahayana and Vajrayana. His book “Kunsang Lama’i Shelung” (The Words of My Perfect Teacher), the explanation of the Preliminary practice, is well known and widely used by the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism. He had many famous students through teaching and practice, including Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche., who wrote more than thirty volumes about Tibetan Buddhism philosophy. Among all the students, Lama Longtok was the best, to whom Patrul Rinpoche gave pith-instruction of Dzogpa Chenpo.

(14) Lungtok Tenpai Nyima (1829-1901)

 Lungtok Tenpai Nyima was the foremost disciple of Patrul Rinpoche for twenty five years. He received all the teachings, initiations and practical instruction of Longchen Nyingtik from his master, and practiced for many years. According to his prediction of his master, he started to teach Dzogchen in his fifties. Eventually, Lungtok had five great disciples, among them Khenpo Ngawang Palsang was the supreme one.

(15) Khenpo Ngawang Palsang (1879-1941)

 Khenchen Ngawang Palsang was the emanation of Vimalamitra. He received all the Dzogchen teachings, instructions, and initiations from Nyoshul Lungtok Tenpai Nyima. Since his childhood, he understood the original state of the mind, which is fresh, vast, luminous, and beyond thought, called “awareness” or “Rigpa”. Khenchen Ngawang Palsang wrote many books about the Dzogpa Chenpo, and was the greatest Dzogchen master at that time. He gave all the teachings, initiations, and Dzogchen instructions to Jadrel Sangye Dorjee Rinpoche, who was the emanation of Padmasambhava.

(16)   Trakya Palden Rinpoche,

Trahkya Lama Palden Yeshe Sangpo, was a great master born in the Aago family from Trahkya in Nyagrong, in the Kham region of Tibet. Immediately after his birth, he cultivated a deep sense of renunciation and could recite Mani, the six-syllable mantra of Lord Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara). Later, he entered a monastery in Nyarong and remained there as an ordinary monk.

At the monastery, he met Lama Yeshe Dorje, the disciple of the Nyakla, the rainbow-body- attained Lama Pema Dhudul. He then entered Phowa Khug monastery and studied the Dzogchen preliminary and main practices called Essence of the Clear Vajra Nature (Long-sal Dorje Nying-po) and The Stages of the Path according to the Kathog (a branch of the Nyingma lineage; pal Ka-thog pa’i lugs-kyi lam-rim). He also did the practice of controlling winds and channels, whereby they eventually became plaint and serviceable. In winter he managed with only a single loin cloth. He avoided meat and rich clothing. He continued his practice by subsisting on nonphysical spiritual food, which is quite unusual even for advanced meditators. Draped in white woolen or cotton robes, he wore a pair of conch ear-rings and a tuft of hair. Later he approached Khenchen Ngawang Pelsang and received Nyoshul Lungtog Tenpae Nyima’s oral transmissions on The Innermost Essence Teachings of Longchenpa (Long-chen nying-thig) and several other teachings. Causing all conceptualized mental elaboration to dissolve, he gained the wisdom directly cognizing emptiness.

(17)   Kyabje Pema Norbu Rinpoche

 Kyabje Pema Norbu Rinpoche, the holder of Namchoes, Treasure, Ratna Lingpa's treasure and Nyingtik treasure.

(18) Present Dzogchen master, Tulku Ogyen Gyurmed Wangyal Rinpoche

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