The Great Perfection Namchö Sky Dharma
NAMCHÖ · 虛空法
"Namchö" means the Sky Dharma, the Dharma of space, so named because its teachings arose spontaneously, as if from the open sky.
Source of the Treasure
The Namchö Sky Dharma is a treasure (terma) revealed by the great seventeenth-century tertön Mingyur Dorje (Changeless Vajra). The master was a dual emanation of the great translator Vairotsana and Shubu Palgyi Senge. From childhood he could recall his past lives and behold the buddhas face to face, and from the age of twelve the supreme deities of the three roots appeared to him in succession and bestowed their teachings upon him.
His oral teachings were recorded and compiled by the great siddha Karma Chagmé Rinpoche into more than ten volumes of scripture transmitted to this day.
The Life and Deeds of the Master Mingyur Dorje
At the age of five the master was invited to Pari Tsé Monastery, where he beheld Amitābha Buddha and Padmasambhava, possessing the clairvoyant powers to recall his past two hundred lives and to know the minds of others. He once entered a three-year retreat to practice his yidam deity, and the signs of accomplishment were witnessed in common by the local people; in the region of Nangchen he opened the doors to many sacred sites, such as "Tsadra Drak" and "Khandro Bumdzong."
Taking Muksang as the seat of his Dharma activity, the master twice bestowed the empowerments, oral transmissions, and experiential guidance of the "Sky Dharma" (Namchö) upon more than two thousand disciples, including the lineage-holding Dharma master Kunzang Sherab. At the age of twenty-four he gathered in his physical form and passed into parinirvāṇa, and twenty-five emanations of him are recorded.
Treasured by Palyul
The Namchö Sky Dharma is renowned for its complete liturgies and swift blessings, and together with the Longchen Nyingtik it forms one of the two heart-essence Dharma systems treasured by the Palyul lineage; both are transmitted at Namdroling Monastery and at this centre.