Source Text
When the king had regained his senses, Guru Rinpoché spoke: “Listen, your majesty.
In general, all worldly pursuits are like dreams. The mark of composite things is that they are like magical illusions. Your kingdom itself is like last night’s dream. Your wealth and subjects are like dew drops on a blade of grass. This fleeting life is like bubbles upon water. All composite things will perish. All meetings end in parting. All composite things are like this. There is not one thing that is stable and lasting. Don’t cling to the impermanent as if it were permanent. Train in the nonarising nature of dharmakaya.
In the experience of yogins who do not perceive things dualistically, the fact that things manifest without truly existing is so amazing they burst into laughter. —LONGCHENPAa
As soon as he could speak Dorjé Gyaltsen would describe things with amazing clarity, as though recalling previous lifetimes. When he was still quite young his family moved to a place close to Khamsum Metokdrol in the area of Samyé Monastery. Blessed as he was with very powerful faith, compassion, and intelligence, by the age of five Dorjé Gyaltsen knew how to read and write as soon as the texts were shown to him, without any study at all. At the age of seven, Dorjé Gyaltsen began studying with his father, receiving the empowerments, explanatory commentaries, pith instructions, and traditional practice methods for the Eight Commands cycle entitled The Gathering of Sugatas, and cycles focusing on Hayagriva, Vajrakila, and The Peaceful and Wrathful Forms of Guru Rinpoché. In addition, his father, Lopön Tenpa Sung, trained him in medicine, astrology, and other fields of learning. At Tsongdu in Drachi Valley, when he was nine, he memorized and understood the meaning of all the words in the sutras the Prajnaparamita in Twenty-five Thousand Lines and the Prajnaparamita in Eight Thousand Lines by reciting these texts aloud one hundred times each.
It was at this time that his mother, Dromza Sönam Gyen, died. Just three years later, when Longchenpa had reached the age of twelve,7 his father, Tenpa Sung, died.
Now an orphan, the young Dorjé Gyaltsen went to the great monastery at nearby Samyé and requested ordination as a novice monk, which he received from the abbot, Samdrup Rinchen, and the preceptor, Kunga Özer. He was given the name Tsultrim Lodrö.8
- HIS EARLY TEACHERS AND TRAINING
Although sensory appearances do not exist, they manifest in all their variety. Although emptiness does not exist, it extends infinitely, reaching everywhere. —LONGCHENPAa
He received all the teachings and transmissions of both the old and new tantras of the various lineages that were taught in Tibet at that time. His fame as a supreme scholar resounded like a great drum in all directions; his degree of learning was undisputed and unparalleled, and he was conferred the title “Longchen Rabjampa” (Infinitely Great Learned One Who Is Like the Vast Expanse of Space).8 Henceforth he was known by this title.9 He also became known as “Samyé Lungmangpa” (Samyé’s Recipient of Many Transmissions).
With the great Sakya master Lama Dampa Sönam Gyaltsen13 Longchenpa studied the Great Awakening of Motivation as well as all of the instructions of The Three Continua.
AI Summary
The Life of Longchenpa by Jampa Mackenzie Stewart presents key insights from the Dzogchen tradition. The 10 passages above capture the essential teachings.
Core Themes:
- [To be expanded]
Key Passages: Highlights 1, 3, and 10 are particularly representative.
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