Dudjom Tersar

Dudjom Rinpoche's seal

Dudjom Tersar (Tib. བདུད་འཇོམས་གཏེར་གསར་, Wyl. bdud 'joms gter gsar), 'The New Treasures of Dudjom', is the combined collection of termas revealed by Dudjom Lingpa (1835-1904) and Dudjom Rinpoche (1904-1987).

Along with the Longchen Nyingtik, the Dudjom Tersar has become among the most widespread and practised terma cycles among Nyingmapas, both monastic and lay practitioners.

Among its vast scope of practices, the Chö of the Tröma Nakmo cycle is being especially and widely practised by the Dudjom Tersar practitioners.

During the time of Dudjom Lingpa, the Dudjom Tersar lineage was spread mainly within the Golok (Amdo) and the Kham regions of Tibet. Later, during the first part of the 20th century, Dudjom Rinpoche spread it in Khorlo Dratsang, in Pemakö where he was born, and later in Lama Ling, his seat in the Southern part of Tibet. From 1959 onward, Dudjom Rinpoche propagated the Dudjom Tersar first in India and all the regions and kingdoms of the Himalayas (Bhutan, Sikhim, etc.), then in Europe, in the USA, and in Eastern Asia.

Origins

Literal Meaning

The name Dudjom Tersar means ‘The New Treasures of Dudjom’, in the sense of the recent lineage, as opposed to older lineages of termas.

Predictions

It was predicted by Urgyen Dechen Lingpa that: "In the future in Tibet, on the east of the Nine-Peaked Mountain, in the sacred buddhafield of the self-originated Vajravarahi, there will be an emanation of Drogben, of royal lineage, named Jnana. His beneficial activities are in accord with the Vajrayana although he conducts himself differently, unexpectedly, as a little boy with astonishing intelligence. He will either discover new Terma or preserve the old Terma. Whoever has connections with him will be taken to Ngayab Ling (Zangdok Palri)."

Two Tertöns: Dudjom Lingpa and Dudjom Rinpoche

The tantras, practices and other texts of the Dudjom Tersar were discovered as termas by two masters: Dudjom Lingpa and by Dudjom Rinpoche.

Dudjom Lingpa’s Termas

In 1858, at the age of 23, Dudjom Lingpa migrated from his native home of the Lower Ser Valley to the Mar Valley, close to Mardo Tashi Chöling Monastery. He stayed there for a long time under the patronage of the Gili family, and so he became popularly known as the ‘Gili Tertön’.

Then, in 1860, at the age of 25, Dudjom Lingpa revealed from among the rocks of Ba-ter of the Mar Valley his khajang, his “prophetic guide" which had all the instructions on how and when he should discover and reveal his own termas cycles. In the same year, with the guidance from the khajang, Dudjom Lingpa started to discover and reveal his own major gongter from Ngala Tak-tse of the Ser Valley.

Over the time, Dudjom Lingpa was to able to discover altogether twenty volumes of termas, Gongter and Sater.

Dudjom Rinpoche’s Termas

Born in 1904, it was said by a senior student of Dudjom Lingpa that Dudjom Rinpoche began to reveal termas from the age of 8. Later, Dudjom Rinpoche went to a secret place called Kenpa Jong (or Phuntsok Gatsel), and, practising the ‘Dudjom Namchak Pudri’, a Vajrakilaya sadhana discovered by Dudjom Lingpa, he revealed his own cycle of terma of Vajrakilaya, the Pudri Rekpung. While he was practising a Dorje Drolö practice from Rigdzin Düddul Dorje, Dudjom Rinpoche discovered his own Dudjom Dorje Drolö as agongter. Dudjom Rinpoche also revealed the Tsokye Tuktik, and the Khandro Tuktik.

Characteristics

Recent Termas

According to Lama Tharchin Rinpoche:

“The Dudjom Tersar lineage is fresh, vivid, direct, and with no loss of meaning, words or blessing. These teachings, coming from Guru Rinpoche to Dudjom Rinpoche, and then to us, is a direct short lineage. Therefore, because this lineage is uncontaminated and knows no degeneration by broken samayas, the blessing and attainments are immediate”.

Concise, Direct and Precise Texts

Another characteristic of the Dudjom Tersar is that its texts and practices being concise, direct and very precise, they are well suited to a modern and contemporary world and life-style.

Special Practices

Among the vast scope of the Dudjom Tersar lineage, three practices are particularly widespread:

• Dudjom Vajrakilaya, ‘The Razor That Destroys at a Touch’ aka Pudri Rekpung
• Dudjom Tröma Nakmo, ‘The Wrathful Black Dakini’
• Dudjom Guru Dorje Drolö, ‘The Wrathful Guru as the Subduer of Demons’

Fruition Signs

During the time of Dudjom Lingpa, oral lineage stories—and prophecies included in the his biography—recount that “Through the practice of Tröma Nakmo, thirteen of Dudjom Lingpa’s disciples attained rainbow body, and one thousand reached the level of Vidyadhara”.

During the 20th century, several direct students of Dudjom Rinpoche are reported to have achieve the rainbow body, among them are Khenpo Achö and Jigme Chöying Norbu.

Stages of Practice

The Dudjom Tersar lineage forms a whole system and a complete path in itself. It includes:

• Ngöndro, with three main practices, the very brief Dudjom Tersar Ngöndro, the Khandro Tuktik Ngöndro and the Tröma Nakmo Ngöndro.
• Kyerim, with sadhanas on Guru Rinpoche, Guru Dorje Drolö, Vajrakilaya, Yeshe Tsogyal, Senge Dongma, …
• Dzogrim, with detailed instructions manuals on tsa-lung
• Dzogchen, with the practices of Trekchö—on which the main instruction text is the Nang Jang—and Tögal.

Traditionally, a student trains in a series of three sadhanas known as the Three Roots, following the order of Lama, Yidam and then Khandro practise. But according to oral instructions from Dudjom Rinpoche, in order to remove obstacles on the path, to gather favorable circumstances and to accomplish all his aspirations, the practitioner of the Dudjom Tersar begins by the Yidam practice of Vajrakilaya, then the Lama practice, and then the Khandro practice.

Main Cycles, Practices and Texts

Fourty-five volumes

The Dudjom Tersar encompasses five tantras and many sadhanas, accompanied by instructions, commentaries and supplementary texts, and fills more than forty five volumes of which:

• 20 volumes for the Dudjom Lingpa Terdzö
• 25 volumes for the Dudjom Rinpoche Sumbum

In English translation and regular paper format, each of these volumes would be between 700 and 800 pages. The total texts of the Dudjom Tersar would therefore amount to approximately 35,000 pages.

Dudjom Lingpa Four Major Cycles

The Dudjom Tersar lineage includes four major cycles of Dudjom Lingpa, the first three being gongter, and the last one sater:

1. The Maha-Ati Yoga Zabchö Gongpa Rangdrol cycle ('The Gathered Peaceful Deities’ Naturally Liberated Wisdom Mind'), with practices of Chenrezik
2. The Daknang Yeshe Drawa cycle ('The Wisdom Net of Pure Visions'), which contains Chö practices based on Tröma Nakmo
3. The Chönyi Namkhai Longdzö cycle ('The Vast Space Treasury of the Nature of Reality’), which also contains Chö practices based on Tröma Nakmo
4. The Zabsang Khandro Nyingtik cycle (‘The Profound Doctrine of the heart Essence of the Dakinis’), which contains the Namchak Pudri Vajrakilaya practice.

Dudjom Rinpoche Four Major Cycles

The Dudjom Tersar includes four major cycles of Dudjom Rinpoche, which are all gongter:

1. The Tsokye Tuktik cycle, for the practices on the outer, inner, secret and innermost secret sadhanas of the lama;
2. The Pudri Rekpung cycle, ('The Razor That Destroys at a Touch'), a Vajrakilaya practice of the yidam;
3. The Khandro Tuktik cycle, ('The Profound Path of the Dakini’s Heart Essence'), for the practices on the outer, inner, secret and innermost secret sadhanas of the khandro; and
4. The Dorje Drolö cycle, which includes Dudjom Traktung Pema Sokdrub, and Düddul Wangdrak Dorje Drolö

Five Dzogchen Treatises

Düdjom Lingpa’s terdzöd includes a collection of five dzogchen treatises, two of which are tantras received in pure visions (Sharp Vajra and Vajra Essence), one which is not titled a tantra but recounts those same pure visions (of Kuntuzangpo as the primordial teacher in question and answer format with a retinue of bodhisattvas as his own emanations), one which recounts other visionary experiences of Düdjom Lingpa (Nangjang), and one of which is more autobiographical in nature (the pithy text, Mud and Feathers, which includes accounts of pure visions and of his enlightenment experience). All five, along with two commentaries, are available in English translation.

1. The Sharp Vajra of Conscious Awareness Tantra (Tib. དག་སྣང་ཡེ་ཤེས་དྲྭ་བ་ལས་ཀ་དག་ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་མོའི་དབྱིངས་ལྷུན་གྲུབ་རྫོགས་པ་ཆེན་པའི་མཛོད་ཤེས་རིག་རྡོ་རྗེ་རྣོན་པའི་རྒྱུད་གསང་ཆེན་སངགས་ཀྱི་ཡང་བཅུད།, Wylie: dag snang ye shes drwa ba las/ ka dag kun tu bzang mo'i dbyings/ lhun grub rdzogs pa chen po'i mdzod/ shes rig rdo rje rnon po'i rgyud gsang chen sngags kyi yang bcud/) Found in Volume 17 of the terdzö,[1] Sherik Dorje Nӧnpo Gyü This is the Root Tantra, in highly condensed verse form. Düdjom Lingpa’s terdzö includes a commentary to the Sharp Vajra Tantra by his heart son, Pema Tashi, entitled Essence of Clear Meaning: A Short Commentary on the “Sharp Vajra of Conscious Awareness Tantra.” ཤེས་རིག་རྡོ་རྗེ་རྣོན་པོ་རྒྱུད་ཀྱི་འགྲེལ་ཆུང་དོན་གསལ་སྙིང་པོ་ (shes rig rdo rje rnon po'i rgyud kyi 'grel chung don gsal snying po). Found in Volume 17 of the terdzö, [2]
2. The Vajra Essence: From the Matrix of Pure Appearances and Primordial Consciousness, a Tantra on the Self-Originating Nature of Existence. (Tib. དག་སྣང་ཡེ་ཤེས་དྲྭ་བ་ལས་གནས་ལུགས་རང་བྱུང་གི་རྒྱུད་རྡོ་རྗེའི་སྙིང་པོ།, Wylie: Dag snang ye shes drva pa las gnas lugs rang byung gi rgyud rdo rje’i snying po.) It is popularly known in Tibetan as Neluk Rangjung and is found in volume 17 of the terdzö, [3] This is the most elaborate of the five, spanning some five hundred pages in Tibetan.
3. The Enlightened View of Samantabhadra (Tib. ཀ་དག་རྫོགས་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་ཀློང་མཛོད་ཟབ་མོ། མ་བཅོས་རྫོགས་ལྡན་རང་བྱུང་གི་སངས་རྒྱས། ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོའི་དགོངས་པ་ལག་པའི་མཐིལ་བཀྲམ་ནས་ལྷག་གེར་བསྟན་པ། དགོངས་བརྡ་སྙན་བརྒྱུད་ཆིག་རྫོགས་ཀྱི་མན་ངག་བཀའ་རྒྱ་མ།, Wylie: Ka dag rdzogs pa chen po'i klong mdzod zab mo; ma bcos rdzogs ldan rang byung gi sangs rgyas; kun tu bzang po'i dgongs pa lag pa'i mthil du bkram nas lhag ger bstan pa; dgongs brda snyan brgyud chig rdzogs kyi man ngag bka' rgya ma.). The Kunzang Gongpa is found in Volume 17 of the terdzö, [4]
4. Buddhahood Without Meditation (Tib. རང་བཞིན་རྫོགས་པ་ཆེན་པའི་རང་ཞལ་མངོན་དུ་བྱེད་པའི་གདམས་པ་མ་བསྒོམས་སངས་རྒྱས།, Wylie. rang bzhin rdzogs pa chen po’i rang zhal mngon du byed pa’i gdams pa ma bsgom sangs rgyas.) Popularly known as Nang Jang Refining Appearances (Tib. སྣང་བྱང་, Wylie: snang byang). Found in Volume 16 of the terdzö, [5] Düdjom Lingpa’s terdzö includes a commentary to the nanjang by Sera Khandro entitled Garland for the Delight of the Fortunate: A Supremely Clear Elucidation of Words and Their Meaning, an Explication of the Oral Transmission of the Glorious Guru, as Notes on the Nature of Reality, the Great Perfection, “Buddhahood Without Meditation.” རང་བཞིན་རྫོགས་པ་ཆེན་པོ་མ་བསྒོམ་སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ཟིན་བྲི་དཔལ་ལྡན་བླ་མའི་ཞལ་རྒྱུན་ནག་འགྲོས་སུ་བཀོད་པ་ཚིག་དོན་རབ་གསལ་སྐལ་ལྡན་དགྱེས་པའི་མགུལ་རྒྱན། rang bzhin rdzogs pa chen po ma bsgom sangs rgyas kyi zin bris dpal ldan bla ma'i zhal rgyun nag 'gros su bkod pa tshig don rab gsal skal ldan dgyes pa'i mgul rgyan. Found in Volume 21 of the terdzö, [6]
5. The Foolish Dharma of an Idiot Clother in Mud and Feathers (Tib. རྨོངས་པའི་བླུན་ཆོས་འདག་གོས་བྱ་སྤུ་ཅན།, Wylie: rmongs pa'i blun chos 'dag gos bya spu can.) The Mongpé Lün Chö Dak Göja Puchen is found in Volume 16 of the terdzö, [7]

Sadhanas

According to oral instructions from lineage holders, the lama, yidam and khandro of the Dudjom Tersar are practised as follows:

1. Lama

a. outer: Orgyen Menla Dütsi Bum Zang

b. inner: Lama Orgyen Khandro Norlha

c. secret: Tsokye Tuktik, (Lake-Born Vajra) a mind treasure of Dudjom Rinpoche based on Guru Rinpoche

d. innermost secret: Dudjom Traktung Pema Sokdrub, a Dorje Drolö mind treasure of Dudjom Rinpoche

2. Yidam

a. Pudri Rekpung, a mind treasure of Dudjom Rinpoche

b. Namchak Pudri, an earth treasure of Dudjom Lingpa, from the Zabsang Khandro Nyingtik cycle

3. Khandro

a. outer: Khandro Tuktik, a mind treasure of Dudjom Rinpoche based on Yeshe Tsogyal

b. inner: Kurukulle

c. secret: Senge Dongma, with practice such as the Daki Gyepe Gegyang

d. innermost secret: Tröma Nakmo (The Wrathful Black Mother), a mind treasure from the Chönyi Namkhai Longdzö cycle of Dudjom Lingpa

Chime Soktik is the main longevity practice based on Amitayus in the Dudjom Tersar lineage. This practice was revealed by Surmang Namkhai Dorje for Dudjom Rinpoche's long life.

Dechen Namrol is a Guru Rinpoche practice, similar to the Rigdzin Düpa.

Tukdrub Terkha Dündü is a Guru Rinpoche guru yoga practice which combines seven lineages of terma.

Prayers

Both Dudjom Lingpa and Dudjom Rinpoche have written many prayers which have a distinguished quality of clarity and profoundness. Among the most famous and used are:

• The Prayer of Calling the Guru from Afar, An Unending Spontaneously Arising Song
• Heart Nectar of the Saints

Instructions

The collected works of Dudjom Lingpa and Dudjom Rinpoche includes several either short instructions texts, or full manual of practices. Among the most famous and used are:

• Kunzang Gonpa, 'The Enlightened View of Samantabhadra’
• Mongpé Lün Chö Dak Göja Puchen, 'The Foolish Dharma of an Idiot Clothed in Mud and Feathers’
• Nang Jang, the most used instruction on the practice of Trekchö
• Richö, The Alchemy of the Siddhas
• Saraha Nyingtik Zabmo, the root commentary on the Chö practice of Tröma Nakmo

Songs of Realization

Both Dudjom Lingpa and Dudjom Rinpoche wrote many songs of realization.

Empowerments

A structure of the main empowerments of the Dudjom Tersar lineage is the following:

Dudjom Lingpa

1. Lama Rigdzin Düpa (peaceful guru Padmasambhava), Dechen Namrol
2. Lama Dragpo Dechen Gyalpo (wrathful guru)
3. Lama Wangdrag Dorje Drolö (mighty wrathful guru)
4. Jampal Sangdü (Manjushri)
5. Jampal Shinje (Yamantaka)
6. Desheg Zhingdrub (Amitayus)
7. Thugje Chenpo (Avalokiteshvara)
8. Yangthrö Mahakala (Tamdrin Yangtrö Nagpo)
9. Ta Chag Khyung Sum (Hayagriva, Vajrapani, Garuda)
10. Dorje Sempa (Vajrasattva)
11. Lama Shitro (100 peaceful & wrathful deities)
12. Chagna Dorje (Vajrapani)
13. Thugdrub Sangwa Gyachän (Phurba Namchak Pudri; Vajrakilaya)
14. Desheg Sangdü (Kagyé)
15. Thugdrub Yeshe Nyima (Vajrayogini)
16. Khandro Sengdong (Simhamukha), Daki Gyepe Gegyang
17. Jetsün Drölma (Green Tara)
18. Khandro Yeshe Tsogyal
19. Tröma Nakmo
20. Dorje Phagmo
21. Amritakundali
22. Nagaraksha (Yamantaka)
23. Mawe Senge (Manjushri red)

Dudjom Jigdral Yeshe Dorje

1. Tsokye Tuktik (lotus-born guru)
2. Dudjom Traktung Pema Sokdrub, Dorje Drolö Pema Sogthig (Dorje Drolö’s heart essence)
3. Phurba Pudri Rekpung (Vajrakilaya)
4. Khandro Tuktik (the Dakini’s heart essence)
5. Sengdong Marmo (dark red Simhamukha)
6. Guru Loden Choksé (Guru Padmasambhava, intelligence aspect)
7. Chime Soktik (Guru Rinpoche longlife aspect)
8. Chemchok Heruka (main deity of the Kagye mandala)
9. Shitro Nagso (100 peaceful & wrathful deities)
10. Padma Sangthig (longlife aspect)
11. Dorje Drolö, Düddul Wangdrak Dorje Drolö

Lineage Masters

The lineage masters of the Dudjom Tersar are numerous, and include:

• Direct Students of Dudjom Lingpa,
• Dudjom Lingpa Family Lineage, who had 8 sons and 4 daughters
• Students of Dudjom Rinpoche
• Students of Dzongter Kunzang Nyima

During the 20th century, some of the most active Dudjom Tersar lineage holders includes:

• Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche
• Chatral Sangye Dorje
• Dungse Garab Rinpoche
• Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
• Gyatrul Rinpoche
• Lama Tharchin Rinpoche
• Shenphen Dawa Rinpoche
• Sogyal Rinpoche
• Thinley Norbu Rinpoche
• Trulshik Rinpoche

Places of Activity

The Dudjom Tersar Places of Activity are located now in many different parts of the world.

Predictions

During the time of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé, Dudjom Lingpa was invited by his two famous contemporaries to include his new terma cycles into the Rinchen Terdzö, the "Precious Treasury of Terma" they were assembling. Oral lineage recounts that when asked, Dudjom Lingpa politely declined their kind offer by answering that "Wherever the Rinchen Terdzö will be spread, it will be the same with my Tersar".

In the same manner, when Dudjom Rinpoche was eight years old, he began to study Shantideva's Bodhicharyavatara with his teacher Ling Lama Chöjor Gyatso. When they had completed the first chapter, his teacher presented him with a conch shell and asked him to blow it towards each of the four directions. The sound it made to the East and to the North was quite short, in the South it was long, and in the West longer still. This was to be an indication of where his work in later times would be most effective.

Dudjom Lingpa’s time in Golok (Amdo) and Kham

During the time of Dudjom Lingpa, the Dudjom Tersar lineage was spread mainly within the Golok (Amdo) and the Kham regions of Tibet.

Spreading of the lineage within Tibet by Dudjom Lingpa’s direct disciples

Later, senior direct students of Dudjom Lingpa propagated the Dudjom Tersar lineage within Tibet, like Degyal Rinpoche establishing the Namkha Khyung Dzong in Western Tibet, Sera Khandro in Awo Sera Monastery.

Dudjom Rinpoche’s activity in Tibet, from 1904 to 1959

Later, during the first part of the 20th century, Dudjom Rinpoche spread it in Khorlo Dratsang in Pemakö where he was born, and later in Lama Ling, his seat in the Southern part of Tibet.

Dudjom Rinpoche’s activity in exile in India, Buthan, Europe, and the USA

From 1959 onward, Dudjom Rinpoche propagated the Dudjom Tersar first in India and all the regions and kingdoms of the Himalayas (Buthan, Sikhim, …), then in Europe, in the USA, and in Eastern Asia.

Today, the Dudjom Tersar Places of Activity are spread over Tibet, India, Nepal, Buthan, France, USA, … Among them, are the following:

• Mardo Tashi Chöling Monastery in Amdo, Tibet
• Deden Tashi Chöling, in Pemakö, India
• Namkha Khyung Dzong (Nepal)
• Kunzang Gatsal, and all the centers in Buthan, in the USA, under the direction of Dungse Garab Rinpoche
• Yeshe Nyingpo, in the USA

Internal Links

• Dudjom Tersar Ngöndro
• Dudjom Incarnation Line
• Dudjom Lingpa Family Lineage
• Dudjom Rinpoche Family Lineage
• Kunzang Gongpa
• Mongpé Lün Chö Dak Göja Puchen
• Nang Jang
• Neluk Rangjung
• Sherik Dorje Nӧnpo Gyü
• Students of Dudjom Lingpa
• Students of Dudjom Rinpoche
• Dudjom Tersar Places of Activity
• Thirteen of Dudjom Lingpa's disciples who attained rainbow body

External Links

• Collected Works of Dudjom Lingpa
• Collected Works of Dudjom Rinpoche