Yönten Dzö

Jikmé Lingpa

Yönten Dzö (Tib. ཡོན་ཏན་མཛོད་, Wyl. yon tan mdzod) — The Treasury of Precious Qualities, the famous treatise by Jikmé Lingpa, in which he expounds the entire Buddhist path, from the shravaka yana teachings up to the Great Perfection. It was written in the winter of 1779-80.

Outline

The text has thirteen chapters:

1. The Difficulty of Gaining the Freedoms and Advantages
2. Death and Impermanence
3. Karma: Cause and Effect
4. The Sufferings of Samsara
5. The Four Wheels, which are the initial entry point for supreme beings
6. Taking Refuge, the entrance to the Buddhist Path
7. The Entrance to the Actual Mahayana (cultivating the four immeasurables)
8. Arousing Bodhichitta
9. The Bodhisattva Trainings
10. The Pitaka of the Vidyadharas
11. The Nature of the Ground
12. The Extraordinary Path of the Natural Great Perfection
13. The Kayas and Wisdoms of the Ultimate Fruition

The first nine chapters comprise the sutra section of the causal vehicle, and the last four comprise the resultant vehicle section.

Text

• The Rain of Joy: The Treasury of Precious Qualities (yon tan rin po che'i mdzod dga' ba'i char)
  • English Translation: The last three chapters on Ground, Path and Fruition, in Nyoshul Khenpo, A Marvelous Garland of Rare Gems, Padma Publishing, 2005, pp. 566-89.
  • English Translation: Chapters 1-9 in Longchen Yeshe Dorje, Kangyur Rinpoche and Jigme Lingpa, Treasury of Precious Qualities: Book One (Shambhala, revised edition 2010), pages 15-104
  • French Translation: Chapitres 1-9 dans Le Trésor de précieuses qualités: avec le commentaire de Longchen Yeshe Dorjé Kangyour Rinpoché, Vol. I (Padmakara, 2009)
  • English Translation: Chapters 10-12 in Longchen Yeshe Dorje, Kangyur Rinpoche and Jigme Lingpa, Treasury of Precious Qualities: Book Two (Boston & London: Shambhala, 2020), pages 5-78

Commentaries

• Jikmé Lingpa himself:
  • The Chariot of the Two Truths: A Vast Commentary on the Treasury of Precious Qualities (Wyl. yon tan rin po che'i mdzod kyi rgya cher 'grel ba bden gnyis shing rta) - Jikmé Lingpa’s Collected Works, 1985 Dodrupchen Monastery edition in 9 volumes, Vol 1 (ka) pp.103-1023.
  • Colophon: It was requested by the 31st Sakya throne holder, Ngawang Künga Lodrö (ngag dbang kun dga' blo gros; 1729-1783)
  • The Chariot of Omniscience: A Vast Commentary on the Resultant Vehicle, from the Treasury of Precious Qualities (Wyl. yon tan rin po che'i mdzod las/ 'bras bu'i theg pa'i rgya cher 'grel rnam mkhyen shing rta) - Jikmé Lingpa’s Collected Works, 1985 Dodrupchen Monastery edition in 9 volumes, Vol 2 (kha) pp.1-879.
  • Colophon: It was requested by Latö Chöjé Drakpukpa (la stod chos rje brag phug pa) and written in Palden Pema Öling (dpal ldan pad+ma 'od gling)
• Dodrupchen Jikmé Trinlé Özer
  • The Precious Key (yon tan rin po che'i mdzod kyi sgo lcags 'byed byed bsdus 'grel rgya mtsho'i chu thigs rin chen lde mig)
  • Garland of Jewels (yon tan rin po che'i mdzod kyi 'grel pa rgya mtsho'i chu thigs nor bu'i phreng ba)
• Alak Sogpo Ngawang Tendar
  • A Golden Scalpel of Eloquence that Unravels the Vajra Knot of the Difficult Points of The Treasury of Precious Qualities (yon tan rin po che'i mdzod kyi dka' gnad rdo rje'i rgya mdud 'grol byed legs bshad gser gyi thur ma) * [1] and a new Shechen edition (2018) [2]. Khenpo Ngakchung notes in his autobiography that Khenpo Losal told him that although there was no extant transmission of guidance for this text, it was very important to understand. Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö said that this commentary opened his 'eye of wisdom'. Consequently, the text was regarded highly by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, who often used it. He said he had read each page hundred and eight times.
• Patrul Rinpoche’s outlines and brief studies on the Yönten Dzö, all from The Collected Works of Patrul Rinpoche, published in 8 volumes by si khron mi rigs dpar skrun khang, 2003.
  • Mirror of the Mind: Prologue to The Treasury of Precious Qualities (yon tan mdzod kyi 'chad thabs yid kyi me long), vol. 2, pp. 308-311.
    • English translation: Mirror of the Mind: Prologue to The Treasury of Precious Qualities, translated by Han Kop with the kind assistance of Khenpo Sonam Tsewang, 2021.
  • A Garland of Fresh Utpala Flowers: A Brief Synopsis of the Treasury of Precious Qualities, A Treatise of Pith Instructions (man ngag gi bstan bcos yon tan mdzod kyi bsdus don bsdus pa ut+pala gzhon nu'i phreng ba), vol. 2, pp. 311-312.
    • English translation: A Garland of Fresh Utpala Flowers: A Brief Synopsis of the Treasury of Precious Qualities, A Treatise of Pith Instructions, translated by Han Kop with the kind assistance of Khenpo Sonam Tsewang, 2021.
  • The General Meaning of The Treasury of Precious Qualities: A Middling Topical Outline Which is Neither too Vast nor too Condensed (yon tan mdzod kyi spyi don sa bcad rgyas bsdus 'tshams pa 'bring po ltar byas pa), vol. 2, pp. 313-343)
    • English translation: The General Meaning of The Treasury of Precious Qualities: A Middling Topical Outline Which is Neither too Vast nor too Condensed, translated by Justin Kirkwood, Ewam Buddhist Institute.
  • A Garland of Flowers: A Summary of The Treasury of Precious Qualities (yon tan mdzod kyi bsdus don 'byed 'grel me tog gi phreng ba), vol. 2, pp. 344-424.
  • The Illuminating Sun: An Explanation of the Difficult Points of The Treasury of Precious Qualities (yon tan rin po che'i mdzod kyi dka' 'grel nyin byed snang ba), vol. 4, pp. 25-172.
• Khenpo Yönga
  • Lamp of Moonlight and Rays of Sunlight: Commentaries on The Treasury of Precious Qualities' (ཡོན་ཏན་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་མཛོད་ཀྱི་འགྲེལ་པ་ཟླ་བའི་སྒྲོན་མེ་དང་ཉི་མའི་འོད་ཟེར་, Wyl. yon tan rin po che'i mdzod kyi 'grel pa zla ba'i sgron me dang nyi ma'i 'od zer). This two part commentary on the root text of the Treasury of Precious Qualities is based on the Structural Outline and the Explanation of Difficult Points by Patrul Rinpoche. Khenpo Yonga mentions that his lineage of the explanation of the Yonten Dzo is as follows: Jikme Lingpa, Dodrupchen Jikme Trinle Özer,Gyalsé Shenpen Tayé, Patrul Rinpoche, and finally his own teacher, Orgyen Tendzin Norbu.
    • Lamp of Moonlight: Illuminating the Two Truths (བདེན་གཉིས་གསལ་བྱེད་ཟླ་བའི་སྒྲོན་མེ།, bden gnyis gsal byed zla ba’i sgron me), [3].
    • Rays of Sunlight: Illuminating the Profound Meaning (ཟབ་དོན་སྣང་བྱེད་ཉི་མའི་འོད་ཟེར།, zab don snang byed nyi ma’i ‘od zer) [4]
• Tulku Tsultrim Zangpo
  • chos thams cad gzhung lam gcig tu ston pa yon tan rin po che'i mdzod dga' ba'i char zhes bya ba'i zin bris dka' 'grel gyi steng nas 'chad pa de nyid gsal byed
  • yon tan rin po che'i mdzod kyi rtsa mtshan sbrags mar bkod pa rin po che'i do shal
• Kangyur Rinpoche:
  • The Quintessence of the Three Paths: An Annotated Commentary on The Treasury of Precious Qualities (yon tan rin po che’i mdzod kyi mchan ‘grel thegs gsum bdud rtsi’i nying khu) 2782. The version edited and annotated by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche: 4520
    • English translation: Treasury of Precious Qualities: Book One, translated by Padmakara Translations, in Longchen Yeshe Dorje, Kangyur Rinpoche and Jigme Lingpa, revised edition Shambhala, 2010, and Treasury of Precious Qualities: Book Two, in Longchen Yeshe Dorje, Kangyur Rinpoche and Jigme Lingpa, Shambhala, 2013, ISBN 1611800455.
    • French translation: Le Trésor de précieuses qualités, Vol I (chapters 1-9), in Jigmé Lingpa, Padmakara éditions, 2010. ISBN 9782916915555

Oral Transmissions Given to the Rigpa Sangha

Ch. 10

• Khenchen Pema Sherab, Lerab Ling and online, 4 and 9 March 2021: root text
• Khenchen Pema Sherab, Lerab Ling and online, 21 & 22 February 2022: root text and The Quintessence of the Three Paths: An Annotated Commentary on The Treasury of Precious Qualities by Kangyur Rinpoche

Teachings Given to the Rigpa Sangha

• Steven Goodman, Rigpa San Francisco, 19 April 1998
• Khenchen Pema Sherab, Rigpa Shedra West, Lerab Ling:
  • September 2012: Chapters 1-2
  • 18-28 September 2013:
  • 17-25 May 2014:
  • 25 May-2 June 2015: continues with the section on Refuge which we began in 2014
  • 1-8 June 2016: section on The Precepts of Bodhichitta in Aspiration and Action
  • 20 June-2 July 2017: completing the first part of the text up to & including Chapter 9, the Sutra & Mahayana section
  • 5-14 June 2018: start of Ch. 10, The Vehicle of the Secret Mantra. Covered verses 1-37, skipped the kyerim and dzogrim sections (verses 38-90), and continued with verses 91-136 on the topic of samaya.
  • 19-26 June 2019: continuation of Ch. 10: end of samaya section (verses 137-154) & start of kyerim section (verses tbc)
  • January-March 2021: continuation of Ch. 10 with kyerim and dzogrim sections; end of Ch 10
  • 23 April-1 May 2022: Ch. 11-12
  • 30 March-9 April 2023: Ch. 13
• Lopön Tashi Tseten, Rigpa Shedra East, 2016: chapter 10