Longchenpa

Name and Birth

The master's full name was Longchen Rabjam, meaning "the vast expanse of space." His given name was Dorje Gyaltsen; the name he received upon taking the novice (śrāmaṇera) vows was Tsültrim Lodrö, and his secret name was Drimé Özer, meaning "Stainless Light." Later generations venerate him together as the Omniscient Dharma King, "the Second Buddha" who followed Padmasambhava. In the Water Dragon year of the fifth sexagenary cycle (1308), the master was born in the region of Trakuda Trowolung in Tsang. His father was Tenpa Sung, a yogin of the Lo clan; his mother was Drogsa Sönam Gyen, a descendant of the family of Dromtönpa. His mother dreamed of a great lion whose forehead emitted sunlight illuminating the three realms, which dissolved into her, and so she conceived. At the time of his birth, the dharma-protectress Magön appeared and proclaimed, "I shall protect him," then vanished — already a sign of his extraordinary destiny.

A Rare Early Brilliance

The master was endowed with deep roots of virtue from the outset: at five he could read and write, recall his former lives, and commit to memory all that he saw; by nine he could recite the entire Prajñāpāramitā in Twenty Thousand Lines and the Eight Thousand Lines. He lost his mother around the age of nine and his father at eleven, yet his compassion and wisdom matured early and he never turned back. At twelve he took ordination at Samye, the monastery founded by Guru Padmasambhava, receiving the novice vows under the dharma name Tsültrim Lodrö; by fourteen he could compose commentaries on the Vinaya, and his renown spread swiftly. At nineteen he entered the Kadampa college of Sangphu Neutok, where over six years he mastered the teachings of all the old and new schools — pramāṇa (logic), Cittamātra (Mind Only), Madhyamaka, and grammar — comprehending all the inner and outer fields of knowledge without needing to rely on a teacher for each one. Especially skilled in the sutra and tantra divisions, he earned the celebrated title "Samye Lungmangwa" (the Greatly Learned One), and his fame spread throughout the Land of Snows. Thereafter he relied upon the Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje, receiving the teachings of the Kālacakra and the Six Yogas of Nāropa.

Relying on the Root Guru

Weary of the strife over name and gain within the monasteries, the master gave up the teaching seat and withdrew into the mountains for retreat. Following a prophecy from his yidam Tārā, he journeyed far to the valley of Yartö Gyamo to rely upon Kumārāja (Rigdzin Kumārāza), the great vidyādhara of the Dzogchen transmission of that time, recognizing him as an emanation of Vimalamitra. He followed his teacher in austere practice at places such as the snow mountain of Shawo for about two years, subsisting on only a little tsampa and mercury pills, enduring hunger and cold while his resolve for the path grew ever firmer. Serving in this way, the master received in full the empowerments, tantras, and pith instructions of the Mind Section (semde), the Space Section (longde), and the Pith Instruction Section (mengakde) of Dzogchen, obtaining the complete transmission of the heart-essence (Nyingtik) teachings. He then spent three years in retreat at Samye Chimphu and elsewhere, attaining pure visions of his yidam and the appearance of dharma-protectors before him. Practicing for long periods in the region of Kangri Tökar (the White Skull Snow Mountain), he reached the Dzogchen state of "the full measure of awareness" (rigpa tselang) and was granted leave to teach and liberate beings.

Spreading the Heart-Essence

The master was in truth the holder of the transmission of the Khandro Nyingtik (Heart-Essence of the Ḍākinīs), revealed by his own previous incarnation, Pema Ledreltsel. Although he was the rebirth of the treasure-revealer, he nonetheless, in accordance with the proper conventions of the teaching, formally received its transmission from the practitioner Gyalsé Lekpa, thus honoring both the treasure (terma) and the oral (kama) lineages. At thirty-two, he bestowed the empowerment of the Vima Nyingtik upon an assembly at Nyiphu Shuksep, and auspicious signs appeared in abundance. At thirty-three, at Samye Chimphu, he transmitted the Khandro Nyingtik for the first time to eight worthy disciples; the protectress Ekajaṭī appeared and gave a prophecy, flowers fell from the sky, and five-colored auspicious light shone forth. Thereafter the master took Orgyen Dzong at Kangri Tökar as his principal seat, teaching disciples by day and receiving pith instructions directly from the ḍākinīs by night. In a pure vision, the dark-skinned oath-bound protectress appeared and presented him with the text of the Khandro Nyingtik, enjoining him to propagate it at Chimphu. The master then gathered together the Vima Nyingtik and the Khandro Nyingtik and composed two commentaries, the Lama Yangtik and the Khandro Yangtik, joining them into the Nyingtik Yabzhi (the Fourfold Heart-Essence). He further composed the Seven Treasuries — the Treasury of Wish-Fulfilling Jewels, the Treasury of Pith Instructions, the Treasury of the Dharmadhātu, the Treasury of Philosophical Tenets, the Treasury of the Supreme Vehicle, the Treasury of Word and Meaning, and the Treasury of the Nature of Reality — along with the Three Cycles of Rest (the Rest in the Nature of Mind, the Rest in Meditation, and the Rest in Illusion) and the treatises of the Three Cycles of Natural Liberation. Through the essential points of trekchö (cutting through) and tögal (direct crossing), he systematized the profound and far-reaching view of Dzogchen in both its sutra and tantra aspects. Over his lifetime he composed more than two hundred and fifty works, laying the doctrinal foundation of Dzogchen in the Land of Snows. The "Longchen Nyingtik" later revealed by Jigme Lingpa was established upon the master's name and the blessing of his pure vision; thus the master is in truth the source of the entire Longchen Nyingtik lineage.

Founding Monasteries in Bhutan

At around the age of forty-two, owing to the political conflict between the Sakya and Phagdru, the master — being on good terms with the leader of Drikung — fell under suspicion of the times, and so withdrew to Bumthang in Bhutan. During this period the master relinquished the bhikṣu vows, took a consort, founded Tharpaling (the Isle of Liberation) and eight other dharma centers, widely propagated the teachings, concealed treasures (terma), and had a son, Tülku Drakpa Özer. It is said that there, through miraculous power, he caused springs to gush forth from the rocks and left the imprints of his hands and feet upon stone, drawing in and ripening countless beings. The extraordinary auspicious connection of the ancestral seat of Tharpaling was established upon this foundation. Later, at the request of disciples such as Khedrup Chöpa, the master reconciled with Phagdru Changchub Gyaltsen and returned to Tibet.

Passing into Nirvana at Chimphu

In his later years the master once again resided at Kangri Tökar, accepting lineage-holders such as his disciple Khedrup Chöpa Lhundrup and his son and heir Tülku Drakpa Özer, and leading countless worthy disciples to attain the signs of warmth in realization, even to the rainbow-light dharmakāya. In accordance with an earlier prophecy that "this treasure lies hidden at Samye Chimphu," the master himself chose Chimphu as the place of his passing, saying, "To die in this place is better than to be born in another," and he then orally bestowed his final testament, the Stainless Light (Drimé Özer / Zhalchem Drimé Özer), displaying the great joy of deathlessness. Born in a Water Dragon year and passing in a Wood Dragon year, on the eighteenth day of the twelfth Tibetan month, the master went to the charnel ground of Samye Chimphu, entered meditative absorption in the posture of the dharmakāya, and passed into nirvana as his mind dissolved into the primordial expanse of the dharmadhātu, at the age of fifty-six. During the twenty-five days of cremation, rainbow light pervaded the sky, flowers fell in a shower, and a wondrous fragrance filled the air; his heart, tongue, eyes, and skull could not be consumed by the fire, and innumerable relics of five colors emerged, signifying his perfect realization of the five wisdoms and five bodies.