Venerable Jigme Lingpa

Coming into the World

The master was named Rigdzin Jigme Lingpa, which in Tibetan means "Fearless Land," and was also known as Khyentse Özer, rendered in Chinese as "Light of Wisdom and Compassion." In the Iron Dog year (1730), he was born in the Chongye valley of southern Tibet—the sacred site where the tombs of the ancient Tibetan kings lie. Later generations universally recognized him as the holder and incarnation of the enlightened-mind lineage of the all-knowing Longchenpa, and as the manifestation of the union of compassion and wisdom of the Dharma King Trisong Detsen and the venerable Vimalamitra (Bimala Mitra). From a young age he took ordination and trained at Palri Monastery in Chongye, relying on masters such as Neten Kunzang Özer, and received extensively the empowerments and pith instructions of Nyingma treasures and tantras such as the Lama Gongdü. The roots of virtue from his past lives showed forth early, and upon hearing the meaning of both sutra and tantra he could retain it at once.

Retreat at Chimphu

The master gave rise to an intense weariness with the sufferings of samsara, and so he practiced in seclusion for many years in the caves of Chimphu above Samye Monastery. Renouncing all worldly ties, he single-pointedly practiced the most essential teachings, completing long retreats one after another. During this time, in the luminous experience of the dawn light, he beheld in the space before him Padmasambhava and other deities, and received the empowerment-blessing of the symbolic meaning. Most extraordinarily, three times within visions of pure, luminous perception he beheld the all-knowing Longchenpa in person: at the first he received the blessing of his enlightened form, at the second the transmission of his speech, and at the third the heart-essence of his enlightened mind—and thus he perfectly received the enlightened-mind lineage of Longchenpa's Dzogchen. These three encounters in pure visionary perception were the very root cause by which the Longchen Nyingtik could be revealed anew.

The Revelation of the Mind Treasure

In his twenty-eighth year, within the profound meditative absorption of retreat, the wisdom dakini appeared before him and offered a Dharma treasure bearing sacred scrolls and crystal beads. Following the symbolic indication, the master received and swallowed it, and in that instant the entire meaning of the Dzogchen heart-essence transmitted by Longchenpa dawned vividly in his mind, manifesting wholly without remainder. This was a "mind treasure"—not a material treasure dug from earth or rock, but the profound secret intention that Padmasambhava had long ago concealed within the continuum of mind, to be opened when conditions were ripe. In sequence the master revealed from this the entire cycle of the Longchen Nyingtik, transmitting one by one such tantric and ritual texts as the Treasury of Space and the Profound Meaning of the Vast Expanse of the Great Perfection, the Section of Pith Instructions on the Heart-Essence, which were gathered into one of the most complete and most essential systems of Dzogchen practice.

Transmission of the Dharma System

After three years of retreat, when the teachings had ripened to full maturity, the master publicly transmitted the Longchen Nyingtik lineage for the first time on the tenth day of the Monkey month in the Wood Monkey year, at a great ganachakra feast, bestowing empowerment and pith instructions upon fifteen worthy disciples. It is said that when this gathering was convened, Padmasambhava came together with vira-yogins and dakinis filling the sky like clouds, granting blessings and dispelling obstacles, so that this profound teaching could be transmitted under favorable conditions. The master later established a place of retreat and seclusion at Tsering Jong in Chongye as the seat of his Dharma activity, widely gathering those who sought the teachings from the four directions. In his later years, under the patronage of the royal house of Derge, he presided over the editing, printing, and compilation of the twenty-eight volumes of the Nyingma Gyübum (Hundred Thousand Tantras of the Nyingma), so that the transmission of the Old Translation tantras could be completely preserved and circulated; later generations regarded this great undertaking as a foundation of the Rimé movement. The royal house of Derge also wrote to him again and again, respectfully requesting authoritative definitive editions of the Treasury of Qualities, the Vajrakīlaya teachings, the Longchen Nyingtik, and the master's own autobiography—evidence that even during his lifetime his writings already held unshakable authority.

The Heart of His Writings

The master united in himself the treasure-revealer, the great accomplished master, and the great scholar, and his writings were vast and rich. His Longchen Nyingtik contains the preliminary practices, the guru yoga, and the practices for accomplishing the yidam deities—ritual texts such as the Khandro Nyingtik relating to Yeshe Tsogyal and the Great Accomplishment of the wrathful Padmasambhava—together with the pith instructions of the preliminary and main practices, the generation and completion stages, and trekchö (cutting through) and tögal (direct crossing). Lacking nothing, it became the basis upon which Patrul Rinpoche's later Words of My Perfect Teacher (Kunzang Lama'i Shelung) rests. He also composed the Treasury of Qualities (also called the Treatise of the Rain of Joy) together with his own commentary, gathering the essence of the graded path of sutra and tantra into a single work, which became a touchstone of Nyingma scriptural teaching. The master's autobiography in verse and his collected works are also widely transmitted. Everything he established is pure in wording and meaning and complete in the signs of realization, and to this day it remains the very root upon which the Nyingma, Palyul, and other lineages daily rely.

Heart-Sons and Wide Transmission

The master's Dharma connections were vast, and his heart-sons were numerous. Among them, four Dharma heirs, the first Dodrupchen Jigme Trinle Özer, Jigme Gyalwe Nyugu, Jigme Ngotsar, and Lopön Jigme Kündrol of Bhutan, became known as the Four Great Jigme Heart-Sons and spread the Longchen Nyingtik throughout Tibet and Bhutan. Through Jigme Gyalwe Nyugu, the lineage passed to Patrul Rinpoche, who became one of its most important inheritors. In the Earth Horse year (1798), the master passed into peace at his Dharma seat of Tsering Jong at the age of sixty-nine, accompanied by auspicious signs. After his parinirvana, incarnations of his body, speech, and mind appeared in the world, including Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and Patrul Rinpoche. These great masters became central figures of the nineteenth-century Rimé movement and carried the Longchen Nyingtik heart-essence stream throughout the Land of Snows, where it remains undiminished to this day.