Finding Comfort and Ease in the Nature of Mind

Finding Comfort and Ease in the Nature of Mind (Tib. སེམས་ཉིད་ངལ་གསོ་, Semnyi Ngalso, Wyl. sems nyid ngal gso) is the first volume of Longchenpa’s Trilogy of Finding Comfort and Ease, a work within the Dzogchen tradition that covers both sutra and tantra. It is a profound and comprehensive presentation of the Buddhist view and path that combines a scholastic expository method with direct pith instructions designed for serious practitioners. It can be considered to be a lamrim text in the Nyingma lineage, presenting the entire scope of the Buddhist view combined with pith instructions for pointing out the nature of one’s mind.

Jetsün Khandro Rinpoche says: “In his stunningly poetic exposition, the Trilogy of Rest, Gyalwa Longchenpa illumines the great path to enlightenment with unsurpassable depth and detail. Volume 1 of the trilogy, Finding Rest in the Nature of the Mind, sets us upon that path, grounding us from our very first steps through to the profound—showing the most profound to be grounded in unshakable simplicity. Brilliantly clarifying the complexities we create to come to this realization, Longchenpa easily and clearly reveals the concordance of the journey’s various stages.”

Root Text

• Finding Rest in the Nature of Mind, A Teaching of the Great Perfection ( རྫོགས་པ་ཆེན་པོ་སེམས་ཉིད་ངལ་གསོ་, rdzogs pa chen po sems nyid ngal gso)
  • English translation: H.V. Guenther, Kindly Bent to Ease Us, Part 1: Mind, Dharma Publishing, 1975
  • English translation: Longchenpa, Finding Rest in the Nature of the Mind: Trilogy of Rest, Volumes 1,2 and 3, translated by the Padmakara Translation Group (Boston & London: Shambhala, 2017 and 2020)

Commentaries

There are three commentaries on the text by Longchenpa himself.

• A large commentary called the Great Chariot. ( རྫོགས་པ་ཆེན་པོ་སེམས་ཉིད་ངལ་གསོའི་འགྲེལ་པ་ཤིང་རྟ་ཆེན་པོ་, rdzogs pa chen po sems nyid ngal gso'i 'grel pa shing rta chen po)
  • English translation: Longchen Rapjampa, The Great Chariot: A Treatise on the Great Perfection, translated by Ives Waldo and edited by Connie Miller, Library of Tibetan Classics, Wisdom, forthcoming
• White Lotus Garland: A Summary of the Great Chariot ( རྫོགས་པ་ཆེན་པོ་སེམས་ཉིད་ངལ་གསོའི་འགྲེལ་པ་ཤིང་རྟ་ཆེན་པོའི་བསྡུས་དོན་གྱི་གནས་རྒྱ་ཆེར་དབྱེ་བ་པདྨ་དཀར་པོའི་ཕྲེང་བ་, rdzogs pa chen po sems nyid ngal gso'i 'grel pa shing rta chen po'i bsdus don gyi gnas rgya cher dbye ba pad+ma dkar po'i phreng ba)
• Guided Meditative Instructions called The Excellent Path to Enlightenment ( རྫོགས་པ་ཆེན་པོ་སེམས་ཉིད་ངལ་གསོའི་གནས་གསུམ་དགེ་བ་གསུམ་གྱི་དོན་ཁྲིད་བྱང་ཆུབ་ལམ་བཟང་, rdzogs pa chen po sems nyid ngal gso'i gnas gsum dge ba gsum gyi don khrid byang chub lam bzang)
  • English Translation: 'Twenty-Seven Courses of Training in Dzogpa Chenpo' (partial translation) in Longchen Rabjam, The Practice of Dzogchen, translated by Tulku Thondup, Snow Lion, 2nd edition 1996, pages 303-315.
  • English translation: Longchen Rabjam Drime Oser, The Excellent Path To Enlightenment (contains the sutra sections, the tantra sections are published privately), trans. Khenpo Gawang Rinpoche and Gerry Wiener (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014).

Oral Teachings Given to the Rigpa Sangha

• Khenpo Gyatso, Rigpa Shedra East, Pharping, Nepal, 2014
• Khenpo Tashi Tseten, Rigpa Shedra East, Pharping, Nepal, January-February 2020 (first half of the sutra part of the text)
• Khenpo Tashi Tseten, Rigpa Shedra online, January-April 2021 (the second half of the sutra part of the text, covering Following a spiritual teacher, Taking refuge, The Four Immeasurables and Cultivating Bodhicitta.) More information here