Chetsün Nyingtik

Chetsün Nyingtik (Tib. ལྕེ་བཙུན་སྙིང་ཐིག, Wyl. lce btsun snying thig) — among the “seven authoritative transmissions” 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, 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.

According to the secret biography of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo by Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé and a teaching of Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche, the empowerment of Chetsün Nyingtik was among a set of three empowerments, the first empowerments that Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo gave in his life at the age of 40 in Dagam Wangpuk to a group of eight students including the fourteenth Gyalwang Karmapa, Thekchok Dorje, the six-year old tenth Tai Situpa, Palpung Situ Pema Kunzang Chogyal and Jamgon Kongtrul. The three empowerments were the three main components of his own profound revelations: Tsokyé Nyingtik, a lama practice, Tukjé Chenpo Semnyi Ngalso, a practice of Avalokiteshvara, and the Dzogchen empowerment of Chetsün Nyingtik.

Later on, he imparted the transmission to a few others among his main disciples, such as Adzom Drukpa, Tertön Sogyal Lerab Lingpa, Jedrung Trinlé Jampa Jungné and Khenchen Tashi Özer. 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 from the Chime Phakme Nyingtik cycle 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.”

Texts

• Quintessence of the Pith Instructions Section of the Great Perfection, the Third Section of the Five Spaces of the King of All Pith Instructions, the Great Chetsün’s Profound Essence of Vimalamitra, (rdzogs pa chen po man ngag sde'i bcud phur: man ngag thams cad kyi rgyal po klong lnga'i yi ge dum bu gsum pa: lce btsun chen po'i bi ma la'i zab tig) (1-32)
  • English Translation: Quintessence of the Pith Instructions Section of the Great Perfection, the Third Section of the Five Spaces of the King of All Pith Instructions, the Great Chetsün’s Profound Essence of Vimalamitra

• Lineage Prayer for the Great Chetsün’s Profound Essence of Vimalamitra, by Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé (lce btsun chen po'i bi ma la'i zab tig gi brgyud pa'i gsol 'debs) (33-34)
  • English Translation: Lineage Prayer for the Great Chetsün’s Profound Essence of Vimalamitra, in Chetsun Nyingtig Liturgy, Third Edition, Light of Berotsana, (2017) (45-48)
  • Colophon: Written by Lodrö Thayé in a place of solitude. May virtue and well-being increase!

• The Great Chetsun’s Profound Essence of Vimalamitra’s preliminary recitations arranged like a flowing river, Perfect Secret Wisdom, by Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé (lce btsun chen po'i bi ma la'i zab tig gi sngon 'gro'i ngag 'don chu 'babs su bkod pa ye shes gsang rdzogs) (35-46)
  • English Translation: The Great Chetsun’s Profound Essence of Vimalamitra’s preliminary recitations arranged like a flowing river, Perfect Secret Wisdom, in Chetsun Nyingtig Liturgy, Third Edition, Light of Berotsana, (2017) (3-44)
  • Colophon: Thus, Ödsal Trulpa’i Dorje compiled this, Perfect Secret Wisdom, according to the commentary distilling the essence, entitled Perfect Secret Bindu, for the sole purpose of recitation practice. Some elaborations have been included here. May this virtue be cause for all who connect to this to breathe the breath of freedom in the original ground of Buddha Samantabhadra!

• The Excellent Path of Wisdom: An Arrangement of the Preliminary Practices of Chetsün’s Heart Essence, by Adzom Drukpa Drodul Pawo Dorje (lce btsun snying thig gi sngon 'gro'i ngag 'don ye shes lam bzang) (47-94)

• Lineage Prayer of the Great Chetsun’s Profound Essence of Vimalamitra: Rain Showers of the Two Siddhis, by Adzom Drukpa Drodul Pawo Dorje (lce btsun chen po'i bi ma'i zab tig gi brgyud 'debs grub gnyis char 'bebs) (95-97), including the supplements ?previously 2 entries with different authors?
  • English Translation: Lineage Prayer of the Great Chetsun’s Profound Essence of Vimalamitra: Rain Showers of the Two Siddhis, in Chetsun Nyingtig Liturgy, Third Edition, Light of Berotsana, (2017) (49-54)
  • Colophon: This supplication was written by the Mantrayāna practitioner Vidyādhara Natsok Rangdrol [Adzom Drugpa], based upon whatever came to mind. May virtue prevail!

• An Arrangement of the Enlightened Activity Sādhana of the Genuine Secret, The Excellent Path of Wisdom, by Adzom Drukpa Drodul Pawo Dorje (gsang ba don gyi phrin las khrigs su bsdebs pa ye shes lam bzang) (99-115)
  • English Translation: An Arrangement of the Enlightened Activity Sādhana of the Genuine Secret, The Excellent Path of Wisdom, in Chetsun Nyingtig Liturgy, Third Edition, Light of Berotsana, (2017) (55-101)
  • Colophon: Hence, the Great Tertön Vajra Holder [Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo] authorized me as the guardian of these teachings and bestowed upon me the crown ornament of names, Rigdzin Natsok Rangdrol [Adzom Drugpa]. He gave his vajra command, saying, “You are responsible for compiling the commentary, additional practices, and this sādhana.” According to his wish, I composed this, and once again, he [the guru] made corrections and additions. I completed this while supplicating the guru in my meditation hut, located at the foot of a mountain resembling an auspicious coiling white conch. By this virtue, may those who enter this path with faith and devotion perfect the four visions in their lifetime and spontaneously accomplish the benefit of self and others. May virtue prevail!

• Illumination of Wisdom: A Concise Practice of the Four Parts of Confession and Four Parts of Fulfilment, by Adzom Drukpa Drodul Pawo Dorje (ru zung bzhi'i skong bshags mdor bsdus bya tshul ye shes rab snang) (117-130)

• A Yearning Song of Faith: A Fulfillment Practice of the Close Lineage, from the Great Chetsün’s Profound Essence of Vimalamitra, by Adzom Drukpa Drodul Pawo Dorje (lce btsun chen po'i bi ma la'i zab tig gi nye brgyud skong ba dad pa'i gdung dbyangs) (131-134)

• The Spontaneous Song of the Ḍākinī: A Secret, Ultimate Practice of Fulfilment and Confession, by Adzom Drukpa Drodul Pawo Dorje (gsang ba don phrin gyi skong bshags mkha' 'gro'i tol glu) (134-136)

• The admission called the Lament of Rudra, from the eleventh chapter of the tantra, Stainless King of Confession, (rdo rje sems dpa' gsang ba dri med kyi rgyud las ru tra'i smre bshags) (137-141)
  • English Translation: The admission called the Lament of Rudra, from the eleventh chapter of the tantra, Stainless King of Confession, in Chetsun Nyingtig Liturgy, Third Edition, Light of Berotsana, (2017) (9-21)

• Gaṇacakra Feast Offering, by Adzom Drukpa Drodul Pawo Dorje (tshogs mchod) (143-149)

• Infinite Enlightened Activity: A Daily Torma Offering to the Dharma Protectors of Chetsün’s Heart Essence, by Adzom Drukpa Drodul Pawo Dorje (lce btsun snying tig gi bka' srung rgyun gtor phrin las thogs med) (151-155)

Empowerment Texts

• The Supreme Elixir For Making Gold: A Clear Arrangement of the Liberating Empowerment for the Great Chetsün’s Profound Essence of Vimalamitra, by Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé (lce btsun chen po'i bi ma la'i snying thig gi smin byed lag len gsal bar bkod pa gser 'gyur rtsi mchog) (157-178)

• Consecrating the Vase, A Supplement for Chetsün’s Heart Essence , (lce btsun snying tig gi kha skong bum pa sgrub pa) (179)

• A Concise Maṇḍala Offering, (maN+Dal bsdus pa) (181)

• Gentle Rain of Amṛta: An Empowerment Ritual for Chetsün’s Heart Essence of the Great Perfection, by Adzom Drukpa Drodul Pawo Dorje (rdzogs pa chen po lce btsun snying tig gi dbang chog bdud rtsi'i gru char) (183-246)

Commentaries

• The Perfect Secret Bindu: A Commentary Summarizing the Heart Essence, for the Quintessence of the Pith Instructions Section of the Great Perfection, the Great Chetsün’s Profound Essence of Vimalamitra, by Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé (rdzogs pa chen po man ngag sde'i bcud phur lce btsun chen po bi ma la'i zab tig gi khrid yig snying po'i bcud dril thig le gsang rdzogs) (274-327)
  • English Translation: Light of Berotsana

• Words of the Vidyādhara, A Commentary on the Preliminary Practices of Chetsün’s Heart Essence of the Great Perfection, by Adzom Drukpa Drodul Pawo Dorje (rdzogs pa chen po lce btsun snying tig gi sngon 'gro'i khrid yig rig 'dzin zhal lung) (329-458), written in the water dragon year of 1892.

• Wisdom Bindu: A Commentary Summarizing the Heart Essence, Arranged like a Flowing River, on the Quintessence of the Pith Instructions Section of the Great Perfection, the Third Section of the Five Spaces of the King of All Pith Instructions, the Great Chetsün’s Profound Essence of Vimalamitra, by Tertön Sogyal (rdzogs pa chen po man ngag sde'i bcud phur man ngag thams cad kyi rgyal po klong lnga'i yi ge dum bu gsum pa lce btsun chen po'i bi ma la'i zab tig gi bshad khrid chu 'babs su bkod pa snying po'i bcud dril ye shes thig le) (459-611)
  • English translation: The Vital Essence of Primordial Consciousness: An Essential Synthesis, Fluidly Presented as a Commentary, of Practical Guidance on the Great Chetsun’s Profound Quintessence from Vimalamitra, the Three Units of Letters on the Five Expanses, the Sovereign of All Pith Instructions, a Vessel of the Vital Essence Taken from among the Classes of Pith Instructions on the Great Perfection, in B. Alan Wallace, Open Mind: View and Meditation in the Lineage of Lerab Lingpa, Wisdom Publications (2018).
  • English translation: title, in Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye, Khenchen Namdrol Rinpoche, translated by Lama Chonam & Sangye Khandro, Heart Essence of Chetsun, Volume Two: Lerab Lingpa and Khenchen Namdrol Rinpoche Commentary, Berotsana Publications (2022).

• Profound Instructions Based on the Words of my Glorious Teacher, unadulterated notes written down based on whatever I could remember, by Khenchen Tashi Özer (zab khrid dpal ldan bla ma'i zhal lung bslad med yid la gang zin gyi zin tho) (613-671)

ཟབ་ཁྲིད་དཔལ་ལྡན་བླ་མའི་ཞལ་ལུང་བསླད་མེད་ཡིད་ལ་གང་ཟིན་གྱི་ཟིན་ཐོ་, zab khrid dpal ldan bla ma'i zhal lung bslad med yid la gang zin gyi zin tho

• Wisdom Ornament of my Teacher, A Guide for Chetsün’s Heart Essence of the Great Perfection, by Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö (rdzogs pa chen po lce btsun snying thig las khrid kyi zin bris bla ma'i dgongs rgyan) (673-712), written down by Minling Khenchen in the water monkey year of 1932. Another edition can be found in his collected works:

ལྕེ་བཙུན་སྙིང་ཐིག་ཁྲིད་ཀྱི་ཟིན་བྲིས་, lce btsun snying thig khrid kyi zin bris

• Notes on How to do Retreat on the Great Chetsün’s Profound Essence of Vimalamitra, by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (lce btsun chen po'i bi ma'i zab tig gi smin khrid nyams len byed pa'i skabs) (713-714)

• The Excellent Path Of the Heart of Wisdom: A Special Commentary on the Innermost Secret Unsurpassed Cycle of the Great Perfection of Luminosity in General, by Adzom Drukpa Drodul Pawo Dorje ('od gsal rdzogs pa chen po yang gsang bla na med pa spyi'i khyad par gyi khrid yig lam bzang ye shes snying po) (715-938)

• Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (from his collected works)

རྫོགས་པ་ཆེན་པོ་མན་ངག་སྡེའི་བཅུད་ཕུར༔ མན་ངག་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ་ཀློང་ལྔའི་ཡི་གེ་དུམ་བུ་གསུམ་པ༔ ལྕེ་བཙུན་ཆེན་པོའི་བི་མ་ལའི་ཟབ་ཏིག༔, rdzogs pa chen po man ngag sde'i bcud phur man ngag thams cad kyi rgyal po klong lde'i yi ge dum bu gsum pa lce btsun chen po bi ma'i zab tig gi bshad khrid chu 'babs su bkod pa snying po'i bcud dril ye shes thig le'i dgongs don ji ltar rtogs pa zhib mor bshad pa kun bzang dgongs rgyan

Transmissions Given to the Rigpa Sangha

• Kyabjé Trulshik Rinpoche, Lerab Ling:
  • 4 December 2005, empowerment
• P Rinpoche, Lerab Ling:
  • 7 August 2014, empowerment
• Khenchen Namdrol Rinpoche, Lerab Ling
  • 3 September 2017, empowerment
  • 4 September 2017, oral transmission of Jamgön Kongtrul's commentary
  • 5-16 September 2017, teaching on Terton Sogyal's commentary (lung was received during the teaching)
• Khenchen Namdrol Rinpoche, online, 24 October 2020, oral transmission of Jamgön Kongtrul's commentary up to and including guru yoga
• Lama Yönten, online, 21 November 2020, oral transmission of Jamgön Kongtrul's commentary up to and including guru yoga
• Lama Yönten, online, 20 March 2021, oral transmission of Jamgön Kongtrul's commentary up to and including guru yoga
• Khenchen Namdrol Rinpoche, Lerab Ling
  • 18 June 2022, empowerment
  • 18-19 June 2022, oral transmission of Jamgön Kongtrul's commentary
  • 9-10 July 2022, onsite & online, oral transmission of Terton Sogyal's commentary
  • 1-31 July 2022, teaching on the main part of Jamgön Kongtrul's commentary (lung was received during the teaching)
• Lama Yönten, online, 28 February 2024, oral transmission of Jamgön Kongtrul's commentary up to and including guru yoga
• Khenchen Namdrol Rinpoche, online, 5 May 2024, oral transmission of the main part of Jamgön Kongtrul's commentary only (not the preliminary section)

Further Reading

• Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche, Heart Essence of Chetsun: Voice of the Lion (restricted), Dharma Samudra (2007)