Yon tan rin po che'i mdzod dga' ba'i char

ཡོན་ཏན་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་མཛོད་དགའ་བའི་ཆར།

Rain of Joy, Treasury of Precious Qualities

SOURCE TEXT

This is the root text of The Treasury of Precious Qualities, a famous treatise by Jikmé Lingpa, in which he expounds the entire Buddhist path, from the śrāvakayāna teachings up to the Great Perfection. The text has thirteen chapters:

The Difficulty of Gaining the Freedoms and Advantages
Death and Impermanence
Karma: Cause and Effect
The Sufferings of Samsara
The Four Wheels, which are the initial entry point for supreme beings
Taking Refuge, the entrance to the Buddhist Path
The Entrance to the Actual Mahayana (cultivating the four immeasurables)
Arousing Bodhichitta
The Bodhisattva Trainings
The Pitaka of the Vidyadharas
The Nature of the Ground
The Extraordinary Path of the Natural Great Perfection
The Kayas and Wisdoms of the Ultimate Fruition

The first nine chapters comprise the sūtra section, and the last four comprise the mantra section. You can download an English translation of the root text by the Padmakara Translation Group by clicking here.

Read the text:

Translations of This Text

Fletcher, Wulstan, and Helena Blankleder (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. Treasury of Precious Qualities: The Rain of Joy; Book One. By Jigme Lingpa ('jigs med gling pa). With The Quintessence of the Three Paths, a commentary by Longchen Yeshe Dorje, Kangyur Rinpoche (klong chen ye shes rdo rje, bka' 'gyur rin po che). Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2010.
Fletcher, Wulstan, and Helena Blankleder (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. Treasury of Precious Qualities: The Rain of Joy; Book Two: Vajrayana and the Great Perfection. By Jigme Lingpa ('jigs med gling pa). With The Quintessence of the Three Paths, a commentary by Longchen Yeshe Dorje, Kangyur Rinpoche (klong chen ye shes rdo rje, bka' 'gyur rin po che). Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2013.

Recensions of This Text

Yon tan rin po che'i mdzod dga' ba'i char. (Rain of Joy, Treasury of Precious Qualities). Recension information:
Tibetan	'Jigs med gling pa. ཡོན་ཏན་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་མཛོད་དགའ་བའི་ཆར།, (Yon tan rin po che'i mdzod dga' ba'i char). In Gsung 'bum/ 'jigs med gling pa (Sde dge par ma), Vol. 1: 1-102. Gangtok, Sikkim: Pema Thinley for Dodrupchen Rinpoche, 1985. In Yon tan rin po che'i mdzod dga' ba'i char. New Delhi: Shechen Publications, 2018.

Text Metadata

More on this item

Jigme Lingpa

Kurtis Schaeffer discusses Jikme Lingpa's view and attitude toward buddha-nature as found in his major philosophical work, the Treasury of Precious Qualities, and in various other writings. He shows how Jikme Lingpa maintained an antinomian approach to buddha-nature in the context of Great Perfection thought.

Schaeffer, Kurtis. "Notes from the Cave: 'Jigs med gling pa on Buddha-Nature." Paper presented at the University of Vienna Symposium, Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia, Vienna, Austria, July 2019. Video, 37:04. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x32COWVlJ38.

Schaeffer, Kurtis. "Notes from the Cave: 'Jigs med gling pa on Buddha-Nature." Paper presented at the University of Vienna Symposium, Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia, Vienna, Austria, July 2019. Video, 37:04. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x32COWVlJ38.;Kurtis Schaeffer at the 2019 Tathāgatagarbha Symposium;'jigs med gling pa;Dzogchen;Nyingma;Textual study;Yon tan rin po che'i mdzod dga' ba'i char;Kurtis Schaeffer;Notes from the Cave: 'Jigs med gling pa on Buddha-Nature

Book

The Treasury of Precious Qualities Called The Rain of Joy

Rigzin Jigme Lingpa (1730–1798) was one of the most important masters of the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. He and the great fourteenth century master Longchen Rabjam (1308–1363), with whom he was closely linked through visionary experience, are known as the "two omniscient masters, father and son." The root of the Khyentse lineage, Jigme Lingpa was a tertön, or discoverer of treasure teachings, and revealed the Longchen Nyingtik, one of the most important cycles of meditative practice in the Nyingma school. The Treasury of Precious Qualities is one of his universally respected scholarly compositions. (Source: Back Cover)

Fletcher, Wulstan, and Helena Blankleder (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Treasury of Precious Qualities Called The Rain of Joy. By Jigme Lingpa ('jigs med gling pa). New Delhi: Shechen Publications, 2018.

Fletcher, Wulstan, and Helena Blankleder (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Treasury of Precious Qualities Called The Rain of Joy. By Jigme Lingpa ('jigs med gling pa). New Delhi: Shechen Publications, 2018.;The Treasury of Precious Qualities Called The Rain of Joy;Yon tan rin po che'i mdzod dga' ba'i char;Jigme Lingpa;འཇིགས་མེད་གླིང་པ་;'jigs med gling pa;mkhyen brtse 'od zer;མཁྱེན་བརྩེ་འོད་ཟེར་; Wulstan Fletcher;Helena Blankleder;The Treasury of Precious Qualities Called The Rain of Joy

Book

Treasury of Precious Qualities: Book One (2010)

This book is a translation of the first part of Jigme Lingpa's Treasury of Precious Qualities, which in a slender volume of elegant verses sets out briefly but comprehensively the Buddhist path according to the Nyingma school. The concision of the root text and its use of elaborate poetic language, rich in metaphor, require extensive explanation, amply supplied here by the commentary of Kangyur Rinpoche. The present volume lays out the teachings of the sutras in gradual stages according to the traditional three levels, or scopes, of spiritual endeavor. It begins with essential teachings on impermanence, karma, and ethics. Then, from the Hinayana standpoint, it describes the essential Buddhist teachings of the four noble truths and the twelve links of dependent arising. Moving on, finally, to the Mahayana perspective, it expounds fully the teachings on bodhichitta and the path of the six paramitas, and gives an unusually detailed exposition of Buddhist vows. (Source: Shambhala Publications)

Fletcher, Wulstan, and Helena Blankleder (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. Treasury of Precious Qualities: The Rain of Joy; Book One. By Jigme Lingpa ('jigs med gling pa). With The Quintessence of the Three Paths, a commentary by Longchen Yeshe Dorje, Kangyur Rinpoche (klong chen ye shes rdo rje, bka' 'gyur rin po che). Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2010.

Fletcher, Wulstan, and Helena Blankleder (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. Treasury of Precious Qualities: The Rain of Joy;Book One. By Jigme Lingpa ('jigs med gling pa). With The Quintessence of the Three Paths, a commentary by Longchen Yeshe Dorje, Kangyur Rinpoche (klong chen ye shes rdo rje, bka' 'gyur rin po che). Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2010.;Treasury of Precious Qualities: Book One (2010);Dzogchen;'jigs med gling pa;Yon tan rin po che'i mdzod dga' ba'i char;Jigme Lingpa;འཇིགས་མེད་གླིང་པ་;'jigs med gling pa;mkhyen brtse 'od zer;མཁྱེན་བརྩེ་འོད་ཟེར་; Longchen Yeshe Dorje;ཀློང་ཆེན་ཡེ་ཤེས་རྡོ་རྗེ་;klong chen ye shes rdo rje;bka' 'gyur rin po che;བཀའ་འགྱུར་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་;Kangyur Rinpoche;Wulstan Fletcher;Helena Blankleder;Treasury of Precious Qualities: The Rain of Joy;Book One;'jigs med gling pa

Book

Treasury of Precious Qualities: Book Two

This second and concluding volume of Jigme Lingpa’s classic Treasury of Precious Qualities is presented together with a detailed commentary by Kangyur Rinpoche. Composed in the form of a lamrim, or presentation of the stages of the path, the first volume set out the teachings of the sutras. The present volume continues this same structure and is a general description of the tantra teachings followed by an exposition of the Great Perfection, which in the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism is regarded as the summit of all vehicles and the final stage of the path of spiritual training. The section on the tantras is a compendious presentation of all important issues: lineage, empowerment, the generation and perfection stages, and samaya. The section on the Great Perfection is arranged according to the classification of Ground, Path, and Result and gives an extremely clear introduction to the doctrinal background that underpins the practice of this unique system. (Source Accessed Nov 9, 2020)

Fletcher, Wulstan, and Helena Blankleder (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. Treasury of Precious Qualities: The Rain of Joy; Book Two: Vajrayana and the Great Perfection. By Jigme Lingpa ('jigs med gling pa). With The Quintessence of the Three Paths, a commentary by Longchen Yeshe Dorje, Kangyur Rinpoche (klong chen ye shes rdo rje, bka' 'gyur rin po che). Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2013.

Fletcher, Wulstan, and Helena Blankleder (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. Treasury of Precious Qualities: The Rain of Joy;Book Two: Vajrayana and the Great Perfection. By Jigme Lingpa ('jigs med gling pa). With The Quintessence of the Three Paths, a commentary by Longchen Yeshe Dorje, Kangyur Rinpoche (klong chen ye shes rdo rje, bka' 'gyur rin po che). Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2013.;Treasury of Precious Qualities: Book Two;Dzogchen;'jigs med gling pa;Yon tan rin po che'i mdzod dga' ba'i char;Jigme Lingpa;འཇིགས་མེད་གླིང་པ་;'jigs med gling pa;mkhyen brtse 'od zer;མཁྱེན་བརྩེ་འོད་ཟེར་; Longchen Yeshe Dorje;ཀློང་ཆེན་ཡེ་ཤེས་རྡོ་རྗེ་;klong chen ye shes rdo rje;bka' 'gyur rin po che;བཀའ་འགྱུར་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་;Kangyur Rinpoche;Wulstan Fletcher;Helena Blankleder;Treasury of Precious Qualities: The Rain of Joy. Book Two: Vajrayana and the Great Perfection;'jigs med gling pa;klong chen ye shes rdo rje

Email us to contribute

Site Guide

To top

Yon tan rin po che'i mdzod dga' ba'i char

Translations of This Text

Recensions of This Text

Text Metadata

Contents