Parting from the Four Attachments

Sachen Kunga Nyingpo

Parting from the Four Attachments (Tib. ཞེན་པ་བཞི་བྲལ་, shyenpa shyidral, Wyl. zhen pa bzhi bral) — a short teaching spoken by Manjushri to the Sakya patriarch Sachen Kunga Nyingpo.

The Teaching

When he was twelve years old, the great Sakyapa lama spent six months in strict retreat doing the practice of Arya Manjushri, and as a result, on one occasion he had a direct vision of the deity. The glorious Manjughosha, orange in colour, was surrounded by a mass of brilliant light and seated resplendently upon a jewelled throne. He was displaying the mudra of teaching the Dharma, and was flanked on either side by two bodhisattvas. He spoke the following words:

“If you are attached to this life, you are not a true spiritual practitioner. If you are attached to samsara, you do not have renunciation. If you are attached to your own self-interest, you have no bodhichitta. If there is grasping, you do not have the View.”

༈ ཚེ་འདི་ལ་ཞེན་ན་ཆོས་པ་མིན། འཁོར་བ་ལ་ཞེན་ན་ངེས་འབྱུང་མིན། རང་དོན་ལ་ཞེན་ན་བྱང་སེམས་མིན། འཛིན་པ་འབྱུང་ན་ལྟ་བ་མིན།

Reflecting on the meaning of this statement, Kunga Nyingpo realized that this mind training of ‘parting from the four attachments’ incorporates all the practices of the path of the transcendent perfections, and he felt an extraordinary confidence in all the teachings of the Dharma. Samāptamithi.

Alternative Translation

If you cling to this life, you are not a practitioner;

If you cling to the three realms, that is not renunciation;

If you cling to self-interest, you are not a bodhisattva;

If grasping arises, it is not the view.

Alternative Tibetan

༈ ཚེ་འདི་ལ་ཞེན་ན་ཆོས་པ་མིན།

ཁམས་གསུམ་ལ་ཞེན་ན་ངེས་འབྱུང་མིན།

བདག་དོན་ལ་ཞེན་ན་བྱང་སེམས་མིན།

འཛིན་པ་བྱུང་ན་ལྟ་བ་མིན།

Tibetan text

• ཞེན་པ་བཞི་བྲལ་གྱི་གདམས་པ།, zhen pa bzhi bral gyi gdams pa/

Tibetan Commentaries

• Jetsün Drakpa Gyaltsen’s (1147-1216) Parting from the Four Attachments
• Sakya Pandita’s (1182-1251) Instruction on Parting from the Four Attachments
• Nubpa Rigdzin Drak’s (thirteenth century) Parting from the Four Attachments
• Goram Sönam Senge (1429-1489), A Key to the Profound Essential Points: A Meditation Guide to Parting from the Four Attachments
• Kunga Lekpé Rinchen (fifteenth century), A Concise Guide to Parting from the Four Attachments
• Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (1820-1892), Nectar of the Heart—An Experiential Song of Parting from the Four Attachments

Teachings Given to the Rigpa Sangha

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• Kyabjé Trulshik Rinpoche, Rigpa London, June (?) 1987
• His Holiness Sakya Trizin, Rigpa London, May 1995
• Pewar Rinpoche, Lerab Ling, Tuesday 15 May 2007
• Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche, Lerab Ling, 21 June 2008
• His Holiness Sakya Trizin, Lerab Ling, 1 & 2 August 2014

Further Reading/Modern Commentaries

• Chogye Trichen Rinpoche, Parting from the Four Attachments (Ithaca: Snow Lion, 2003)
• His Holiness Sakya Trizin, Parting from the Four Attachments (Shangshung Institute publications)
• Sachen Kunga Nyingpo, Lojong Shenpa Shidrel, The Mind-training of Parting from the Four Attachments, with commentary by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche (Siddhartha’s Intent, 2012)
• Mind Training, The Great Collection, translated by Thupten Jinpa for the Institute of Tibetan Classics, Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-440-7, pages 517-566.

External Links

• A series of translations of commentaries on Parting from the Four Attachments are available at Lotsawa House.
• A Teaching on Sachen Kunga Nyingpo’s Parting from the Four Attachments by His Holiness Sakya Trizin