Threefold kindness

Threefold kindness (Tib. བཀའ་དྲིན་གསུམ་ལྡན་, kadrin sumden, Wyl. bka' drin gsum ldan) of the root teacher:

In the Sutrayana

According to the Great Tibetan Dictionary:

1. Transmitting the vows (or precepts)
2. Giving oral transmissions
3. Granting instructions

According to Dungkar Lobzang Trinlé's Great Tibetan Dictionary:

1. Teaching the Dharma
2. Blessing the mind of the disciple
3. Sustaining the assembly through material support

In the Vajrayana

1. Conferring empowerment (སྔགས་ཀྱི་དབང་བསྐུར་, sngags kyi dbang bskur)
2. Explaining the tantras (རྒྱུད་བཤད་, rgyud bshad)
3. Granting pith instructions (མན་ངག་གནང་, man ngag gnang)

In addition, Dungkar's Great Dictionary says that the expression refers to the transmission of the three sets of vows, i.e.

1. Pratimoksha precepts
2. Bodhisattva vows
3. Tantric samayas