Chetsün Nyingtik
Chetsün Nyingtik (Tib. ལྕེ་བཙུན་སྙིང་ཐིག་, Wyl. lce btsun snying thig) — among the “seven authoritative transmissions” (Tib. བཀའ་བབས་བདུན་, ka bab dün) of the great Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (1820-1892), the profound cycle of teachings known as Chetsün Nyingtik belong to the category of ‘recollection’ or ‘reminiscence’ (Tib. རྗེས་དྲན་, jé dren). When Jamyang Khyentse was twenty-four years old, he visited the sacred place of Uyuk in the Tsang province of Central Tibet. His perception of ordinary phenomena vanished into an experience of pure luminosity and he clearly remembered Chetsün Senge Wangchuk (11th Century) attaining the rainbow body in that very place. Before achieving the rainbow body, Senge Wangchuk had, for a whole month, experienced a vision of Vimalamitra, in which he bestowed upon him the quintessence of his teachings, the Vima Nyingtik.
Following this reminiscence, Khyentse Wangpo, who was an emanation of both Vimalamitra and Senge Wangchuk[1], put into writing the root text of the Chetsün Nyingtik, the ‘Heart Essence of Chetsün’. He practised these teachings and kept them secret for many years. Then, when he was thirty-eight years old, the protectress Ekadzati requested him to disclose these teachings and impart them to others. Khyentse Wangpo first gave a ‘one-to-one’ transmission to Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thayé.
Later on, he imparted the transmission to a few others among his main disciples, such as Adzom Drukpa (1842-1924), Tertön Sogyal Lerab Lingpa (1856-1926) and Khenchen Tashi Özer (1836-1910). Following this, his main Dharma heir, Jamgön Kongtrul the Great, wrote a series of texts for practising the cycle.
According to Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, among the teachings revealed by Khyentse Wangpo which relate to Dzogpachenpo, the Chetsün Nyingtik represents the profound aspect, while the Bimé Lhadrup represents the vast aspect.
Lerab Lingpa wrote a famous commentary on the Chetsün Nyingtik. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche said that after Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo gave the teachings on Chetsün Nyingtik to a few close disciples on one occasion, he asked them what other teachings they would like to receive. They all requested that the Chetsün Nyingtik teachings be given once again, and this time, after every session, Lerab Lingpa put them into writing. At the end, he presented his notes to Khyentse Wangpo, who looked over them and said, “This is exactly what I said, with nothing missing and nothing added.”[2]
Tibetan Text
Commentaries
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- Tertön Sogyal, (this commentary is translated by Lama Chökyi Nyima, s.b., The Sphere of Timeless Awareness)
The Empowerment of Chetsün Nyingtik
The empowerment was given to the Rigpa Sangha on the following occasion:
- Kyabjé Trulshik Rinpoche, Lerab Ling, Sunday 4th December 2005
Notes
- ↑ Khyentse Wangpo was also an emanation of the dakini Palgyi Lodroma to whom the Chetsün Nyingtik terma was entrusted by Senge Wangchuk (information provided by Tenzin Senge)
- ↑ Based on Matthieu Ricard’s Introduction to the Chetsün Nyingtik Chökor, Tib. ལྕེ་བཙུན་སྙིང་ཐིག་གི་ཆོས་སྐོར་, Wyl. lce btsun snying thig gi chos skor, Shechen Publications, Delhi, 2004.