Part V: Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo transmissions: ‘Luminous Heart Essence of the Three Roots’ (Tsa Sum Osel Nyingtig) – Dakini script, lineage and significance

As Part V of a series of short posts on the recent Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo transmissions given by HE Schechen Rabjam Rinpoche in India, 2020, here is a more detailed explanation and information about the origin, lineage and significance of the treasure text, Luminous Essence of the Three Roots (Tsa Sum Osel Nyingtig), revealed by Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo. This was the main empowerment text used during the transmissions given in 2020.

Much of this post is based on an edited transcript I produced,  taken from an unpublished oral explanation by Changling Rinpoche (1977-present) (a student of HH Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche) given during the transmissions. The section of the teaching he gave on the mandalas and deities of the outer, inner, secret and innermost secret guru sadhana practices, White Varahi, Vajrakilaya, the protectors and so on  can be read only by those who have received the Luminous Essence of the Three Roots empowerments and transmission. Please contact me if you wish to read the transcript of that and I will send it to you.

Written and compiled by Adele Tomlin, 14th February 2020.

Jigme Lingpa and the Dakini Script that was not written down

”The Luminous Essence of the Three Roots, is related to Jigme Lingpa (1730-1785). He received five dakini scrolls, but the fifth scroll he didn’t transcribe, only doing four. Those four are the Longchen Nyingtig.”

In the Treasury of Lives bio it states about Jigme Lingpa and this treasure revelation that:

”When he was twenty-eight, Jigme Lingpa entered a three-year retreat at Pelri, basing his practice on a number of popular treasure cycles such as the Droltik Gongpa Rangdrol (grol tig dgongs pa rang grol) of Drodul Lingpa. During this retreat he experienced numerous visions of deities, most famously one, on a winter night in 1757, in which he found himself at the great Jarung Kashor (bya rung kha shor) stupa in Boudhanath, Nepal. There a wisdom ḍākinī bestowed on him the Longchen Nyingtik (klong chen snying thig) treasure cycle, a revelation later classified as “mind treasure (dgongs gter). He is said to have kept the revelations secret for seven years, despite the urging of his associates.

In his autobiography Jigme Lingpa described the process of his vision of the Longchen Nyingtik and of receiving the Longchen Nyingtik in remarkable detail. He relates how he opened the small box the ḍākinī gave him, finding inside five scrolls of yellow paper. Overcome by the smell of camphor, his initial doubt over not being able to understand the letters cleared away when the writing suddenly became legible to him. Checking to be sure that the treasure was indeed meant for him, he memorized the first text, a sādhāna concerning Avalokiteśvara and then the second, when first Rahula, the treasure protector arrived to congratulate him, and then the ḍākinī again to chastize him for being too eager to broadcast the revelation. She demands that he eat the texts, which he does, swallowing them whole so as not to destroy them.”

”The fifth dakini scroll that Jigme Lingpa did not write down, is Luminous Essence of the Three Roots. This is in Jigme Lingpa’s biography. There were two incarnations of Jigme Lingpa and Khyentse Wangpo is one of them, that’s how he was able to reveal the treasure but when he did, it was only permissible to be transferred to one person as student. The person who got it from Khyentse Wangpo was Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye, it was sealed as secret and only to be transmitted to one student from the teacher. In the Rinchen Terdzo, Jamgon Kongtrul mentions this precious teaching treasure, and that it prophesises in three generations it can then be given more publicly. So Jamgon Kongtrul stated in the Rinchen Terdzo that after three generations the seal of secrecy could be broken.”

Lineage  – from one student to many

”So, Khyentse Wangpo transmitted it to one person, Khatok Situ Chokyi Gyatso, who then gave it to one person, Jamyang Chokyi Lodro. That was three generations, then when Chokyi Lodro gave it to HH Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, he said this has been sealed for three generations but now that has passed, you can give it to many students, and whatever edition or commentary needs to be done or written then you must do it. So, Chokyi Lodro gave the authority and permission to Dilgo Khyentse to do that. Dilgo Khyentse gave it to more than one student, I don’t know where he first gave it, but he has given it several times. In Bhutan, twice, once in France and in Nepal and in Bodh Gaya, at the end of 1990. That was the last big public teaching, then in 1991 he passed away.”

Significance

”How important is the Luminous Essence of the Three Roots? Khyentse Wangpo has many treasures but Luminous Essence is like a unique definition of him. Chokling has, so for Khyentse Wangpo it is this and there is also the Chime Pagme Nyingtig, the White Tara.  What is Luminous Essence of the Three Roots? Even the title itself is clear. The practice is the three roots, the guru, yidam, dakini/dharmapala. Its all about Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava), so even the yidam is a manifestation of Guru Rinpoche. It is clearly mentioned by Khyentse Wangpo in his empowerment text that the root of the outer guru sadhana is the root of the root of the Luminous Essence of the Three Roots. So it is only the outer guru sadhana that contains the complete mandala of all the entire individual mandalas.”

For the edited transcript of the explanation of the deities and mandalas contained in the Luminous Essence of the Three Roots, please contact me here.

Three daily sadhana texts – Outer Guru, White Varahi and Wrathful Guru

I have also compiled the Tibetan script and phonetics for the three short daily sadhana texts from Luminous Essence of the Three Roots (that HE Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche suggested to practice) and combined them together with my own English translation, for those who like to read the Tibetan script (these were not provided at the empowerment event). These can also be requested from me here for download to those who have the requisite empowerment.