Three yanas of powerful transformative methods

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Three yanas of powerful transformative methods (Tib. དབང་སྒྱུར་ཐབས་ཀྱི་ཐེག་པ་གསུམ་, wangyur tab kyi tekpa sum, Wyl. dbang sgyur thabs kyi theg pa gsum) — within the classification of nine yanas, these are the three yanas based on the three inner tantras of the Nyingma school:

You might wonder why these are called ‘vehicles of powerful transformative methods.’ It is because they include powerful methods for transforming all phenomena into great purity and equalness.[1]

Dudjom Rinpoche explains that:

All three inner tantras are mutually pervasive, incorporating aspects of one another. A certain practice is classified as Maha-, Anu- or Atiyoga in reference to what is emphasized or is foremost in it. The prominent feature of a Mahayoga practice is the development stage, that of Anuyoga is the completion stage, while that of Atiyoga is the cultivation of the realization of the void sphere of all things. Each of these practices, however, has development (Maha), completion (Anu) and Dzogchen (Ati) stages.[2]

References

  1. A Brief Presentation of the Nine Yanas by Alak Zenkar Rinpoche
  2. An Introduction to Dzogchen: The Four-Themed Precious Garland, by Longchen Rabjampa, Dudjom Rinpoche & Beru Khyentse Rinpoche, trans. Alexander Berzin (Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1979), p. 34.

Further Reading

  • Tulku Thondup, Masters of Meditation and Miracles, edited by Harold Talbott (Boston: Shambhala, 1996), Part One, 'Lineages of Three Major Nyingma Inner Tantras'.