The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism

Book

Written by a great modern Nyingma master, Dudjom Rinpoche’s The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism covers in detail and depth both the fundamental teachings and the history of Tibetan Buddhism’s oldest school. This, the first English translation of His Holiness’ masterwork, constitutes the most complete work of its type in the West.

An absolute treasure for students of the tradition, it is also an indispensable reference for anyone with an interest in Buddhism. The book includes chronologies and glossaries that elucidate Buddhist doctrine, and it provides fascinating insights into the Buddhist history of Tibet. Two treatises form the present volume, namely the Fundamentals of the Nyingma School and the History of the Nyingma School. Among the most widely read of all His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche’s works, these treatises were composed during the years immediately following his arrival in India as a refugee. His intention in writing them was to preserve the precise structure of the Nyingma philosophical view within its own historical and cultural context. (Source: Wisdom Publications)

Citation	Dorje, Gyurme, and Matthew Kapstein, trans. and ed. The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: Its Fundamentals and History. By Dudjom Rinpoche, Jikdrel Yeshe Dorje (bdud 'joms 'jigs bral ye shes rdo rje). Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1991.

Dudjom Rinpoche on Great Madhyamaka

Book Excerpt

SECTION ONE: THE TRANSLATIONS

List of Illustrationsxv
Foreword by Shenpen Dawa Rinpochexxv
Preface to the Second Editionxxxii
Credits for Illustrations and Mapsxxxiii
Technical Notexxxv
Guide to Pronunciationxxxvii
Abbreviations for Section Onexli

BOOK ONE: FUNDAMENTALS OF THE NYINGMA SCHOOL OF TIBETAN BUDDHISM

Detailed Contents of Book One3
Translator’s Introduction11

THE TEXT

Verses of Invocation45
Introduction47

PART ONE: DOCTRINES OF SAṂSĀRA AND NIRVĀNA

1 The Essence and Defmition of Dharma51
2 Doctrines of Saṃsāra54
3 Doctrines of Nirvāṇa70
4 Transmitted Precepts73
5 Treatises88
6 Quantitative Treatises97
7 Treatises of Inner Science108

PART TWO: THE NATURE OF THE TEACHER ENDOWED WITH THE BUDDHA-BODIES

Introduction113
1 Samantabhadra, the Buddha-body of Reality115
2 Vajradhara, the Emanation of Samantabhadra120
3 The Two Buddha-bodies of Form123
4 The Five Buddha-bodies and Five Pristine Cognitions139
5 Distinctive Attributes of the Buddha-bodies and Pristine Cognitions 144

PART THREE: CAUSAL VEHICLES OF DIALECTICS

Introduction151
1 The Three Promulgations of the Doctrinal Wheel153
2 The Lesser Vehicle156
3 The Greater Vehicle160
4 The Superiority of Great Madhyamaka to Mind Only178
5 The Provisional and Definitive Meaning of the Transmitted Precepts187
6 The Enlightened or Buddha Family191
7 The Two Truths According to Great Madhyamaka206
8 Key to the Appraisal of Causal Vehicle Texts217
9 A Recapitulation of the Causal Vehicles223

PART FOUR: RESULTANT VEHICLES OF SECRET MANTRA

Introduction241
1 The Superiority of Secret Mantra243
2 The Essence and Defmition of Secret Mantra257
3 The Three Continua of Ground, Path and Result263
4 The Four Tantrapiṭaka268
5 Mahāyoga275
6 Anuyoga284
7 Key to the Appraisal of Secret Mantra Texts290
8 The Superiority of Atiyoga, the Great Perfection294
9 The Definition of Atiyoga311
10 The Divisions of Atiyoga319
11 A Recapitulation of the Resultant Vehicles346

CONCLUSION

1 Concluding Remarks375
2 Dedicatory Verses376
3 Colophon378

BOOK TWO: HISTORY OF THE NYINGMA SCHOOL OF TIBETAN BUDDHISM

Detailed Contents of Book Two383
Translators’ Introduction393

THE TEXT

Verses of Invocation403

PART ONE: THE ORIGIN OF THE PRECIOUS TEACHING OF THE CONQUEROR IN THIS WORLD

Introduction409
1 The Coming of Buddha, Teacher of the Doctrine411
2 The Collecting of Transmitted Precepts by Councils428
3 The Patriarchs of the Teaching432
4 The Preservation of the Teaching and Spread of the Greater Vehicle440

PART TWO: THE RISE OF THE PRECIOUS TEACHING OF SECRET
MANTRA

Introduction445
1 The Turning of the Secret Mantra Wheel447
2 The Collecting of Transmitted Precepts by Different Compilers451
3 The Emergence of this Teaching in the Human World452
4 The Lineage of Mahāyoga, the Class of Tantras458
5 The Lineage of Mahāyoga, the Class of Means for Attainment475
6 The Lineage of Anuyoga, the Perfection Stage485
7 The Lineage of Atiyoga, the Great Perfection490
8 Concluding Remarks502

PART THREE: THE ORIGIN OF THE CONQUEROR’S TEACHING IN TIBET

Introduction507
1 The Three Ancestral Religious Kings510
2 The Decline and Expansion of the Doctrine during the Intermediate Period523
3 The Revival and Later Expansion of the Teaching524

PART FOUR: THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE THREE INNER CLASSES OF TANTRA IN TIBET

Introduction531
1 Mahāyoga and Anuyoga533
2 The Mental and Spatial Classes of Atiyoga538
3 The Esoteric Instructional Class of Atiyoga, the Innermost Spirituality 554
4 Longcen Rapjampa575

PART FIVE: THE DISTANT LINEAGE OF TRANSMITTED PRECEPTS

Introduction599
1 The Lineage of Nyak601
2 The Lineage of Nup607
3 The Lineage of the Zur Family617
4 Biographies of the Rong Tradition650
5 Dotokpa’s Lineage of the Zur Tradition685
6 Biographies of the Kham Tradition688
7 Miscellaneous Lineages of the Zur and Kham Traditions700
8 Rongzom Chöki Zangpo703
9 The Traditions of Vajrakīla710
10 The Lineages of the Empowerment of the Sūtra which Gathers All
Intentions717
11 Later Lineages of the Transmitted Precepts733

PART SIX: THE CLOSE LINEAGES OF THE TREASURES

1 The Nature, Purpose and Kinds of Treasure743
2 Biographies of the Treasure-finders750
3 Sangye Lama751
4 Trapa Ngönshe753
5 Nyang-rel Nyima Özer755
6 Guru Chöki Wangcuk760
7 Como Menmo771
8 Orygen Lingpa775
9 Ngödrup Gyeltsen or Rikdzin Gödemcen780
10 Sangye Lingpa784
11 Dorje Lingpa789
12 Ratna Lingpa793
13 Pema Lingpa796
14 Karma Lingpa800
15 Thangtong Gyelpo802
16 Ngari Pancen Pema Wangyel805
17 Rikdzin Jatsön Nyingpo809
18 Rikdzin Düdül Dorje813
19 Lhatsün Namka Jikme818
20 The Fifth Dalai Lama821
21 Rikdzin Terdak Lingpa, the Great Treasure-finder of Mindröling825
22 Jikme Lingpa835
23 Chogyur Decen Lingpa841
24 Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo849
25 Jamgön Kongtrül Lodrö Thaye859
26 Mipham Jamyang Namgyel Gyamtso869
Conclusion881

PART SEVEN: A RECTIFICATION OF MISCONCEPTIONS CONCERNING THE NYINGMA SCHOOL

1 General Reply to Criticisms of the Nyingmapa Tantras887
2 On the View of the Great Perfection896
3 Response to Critics of the Sūtra which Gathers All Intentions911
4 Response to Critics of the Root Tantra of the Secret Nucleus914
5 The Continuity of the Nyingmapa Tradition and its Impact on the
Other Schools918
6 On the Validity of the Treasures927
7 The Shortcomings of Refutation and Proof929
8 On The Prophecies Found in the Treasures934
9 The Relationship between the Nyingmapa and Pönpo Traditions936
10 On the "Bad Luck of the Nyingmapa"938

PART EIGHT: THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE DOCTRINE

1 Duration of the Doctrine943
2 A Chronology of the Buddha’s Life946
3 From the Buddha’s Final Nirvāṇa until the Beginning of the First Tibetan
Sexagenary Cycle948
4 From the Beginning of the First Sexagenary Cycle to the Present951
5 Some Prophecies960

CLOSING STATEMENTS

1 Primary Sources965
2 Concluding Benedictions967
3 Colophon972

SECTION TWO: REFERENCE MATERIAL

Contentsv
Introductionvii
Guide to Pronunciationxi
Abbreviations for Section Twoxv

NOTES

1 Fundamentals3
2 History27

GLOSSARY OF ENUMERATIONS

Introduction103
Glossary of Enumerations105

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Introduction191

Part One: Works Cited by the Author

Works Cited by the Author199

Part Two: Works Referred to by the Translators

1 Indic Texts293
2 Tibetan Texts297
3 Secondary Literature301
4 Addenda to the Bibliography316

ARTIFACTS AND MATERIAL TREASURES

Introduction320
Artifacts and Material Treasures321

INDEX OF TECHNICAL TERMS

Introduction331
Index of Technical Terms333

INDEX OF PERSONAL NAMES

Introduction391
Index of Personal Names393

INDEX OF LOCATIONS

Introduction453
Index of Locations455

MAPS

Introduction489
1 Buddhist India and Adjacent Regions490
2 North-Central India492
3 Tibet494
4 Western Tibet and Nepal496
5 North-Central Tibet498
6 South-Central Tibet and Bhutan500
7 North-West Kham502
8 South-West Kham506
9 Amdo508
10 North-East Kham510
11 South-East Kham512

The work on philosophical doctrines, entitled Fundamentals of the Nyingma School, presents a comprehensive account of traditional philosophical views, both secular and religious, non-Buddhist and Buddhist. It also includes an extended discussion of the validity of the esoteric scriptures and the special (tantra) distinctions of the Nyingma. In the second translated work, entitled History of the Nyingma School, Dudjom Rinpoche directly addresses the legacy of criticism of the Nyingma tradition in a special section entitled "A Rectification of Misconceptions Concerning the Nyingma School." He responds to various charges against the authenticity of the Nyingma tradition and provides a discussion of the “Great Perfection” (dzogchen) view. He also explores the continuity of the Nyingmapa tradition and its impact on the other schools, the shortcomings of logical argumentation, prophecies found in the treasure tradition, and the relationship between the Nyingmapa and the "pre-Buddhist" tradition of the Bonpo.

Dudjom Rinpoche, (bdud 'joms 'jigs bral ye shes rdo rje). rnying ma'i bstan pa'i rnam gzhag. In gsung 'bum 'jigs bral ye shes rdo rje, Vol. 2: 37 - 465. kalimpong: dupjung lama, 1979-1985.
_______. bdud 'joms chos 'byung. In gsung 'bum 'jigs bral ye shes rdo rje, Vol. 1: 7 - 852. kalimpong: dupjung lama, 1979-1985.
TBRC W1KG3718-Bdud 'joms chos 'byung.pdf