SAMANTHABHADRI’S CHILD OF THE ROOT OF BLISS: TAKING THE RESULT AS THE PATH IN SECRET MANTRA VAJARYANA. The three aspects of yidam deity practice, the three roots of Vajrayana practice, and the first two of the three inner tantras, Maha and Anu Yoga, and the three-fold mandala of Samanthabhadra

“The three inner tantras assert that both the essence and the nature are the deity. The first of these is the mahāyoga, which focuses on the creation stage.”

“This Anuyoga asserts that one must restrain the aspect of ordinary confused perception into the expanse by focusing on the points of the channels, winds and drops in one’s own body.”

“What is it that we mean when we say the yidam deity? Yi-dam means that we make a commitment, a dam-cha, in Tibetan a ‘yi=-dam’ a yidam we make a commitment with our mind.  The accomplishment or the siddhi, is that when we do the practice, we actually gain something and can attain the result. The root of attaining that result is the yidam deity and so the root of accomplishment is the yidam deity.”—Khenpo Gangshar in the Magic Key commentary

Here is an outline and overview of session 9 of Thrangu Rinpoche’s teaching on the Magic Key commentary by Nyingma and Dzogchen master, Khenpo Gangshar. Moving on from the Empty-of-Other (Zhentong) view Rinpoche guides us through the section of the commentary that covers the creation (or development) stage (kyerim) of the Secret Mantra Vajrayana, the outer and inner tantras, and the completion stage yogas of Maha and Anu Yoga. The final Ati yoga is covered in the last day 10, which will be my final post on this teaching. 

I have divided the Session 9 teaching up into these sections:

• The secret mantra Vajrayana – taking the result as the path
• The Three Outer Tantras
• The Three Inner Tantras – the creation stage and self-visualisation as the deity
• The first inner tantra – Mahāyoga and creation stage practice
• Three characteristics of the creation stage visualisation
• The Three Roots: the teacher, yidam deity and dharma protectors
• Second inner tantra: Anuyoga and completion stage
• Practice on the channels, winds and drops- the six yogas of Naropa

In this section of the teaching, Rinpoche guides us through the section of the commentary on the Vajrayana secret mantra from the lower to the higher inner tantras, up to an including Maha and Anuyoga.  About the Mahāyoga and self-visualisation/creation stage practice and taking the result as the path. Then,  the three roots of the lama/guru, the yidam deity and the meaning of the word ‘yidam’ with its notion of a commitment to the deity and practice, and the root of activities, the Dharma Protectors. 

The session concludes with the second inner tantra yoga, Anuyoga, with an explanation of the symbolism of Samantabhadra in union with Samantabhadri and the completion stage practises that focus on the inner winds, channels and drops.

May hearing and contemplating this teaching enable all beings to realise the eternally present fundamental bliss-emptiness buddha nature of the three mandalas!

Music? For the divine pride of the deity, 50ft Queenie by PJ Harvey, Bliss by Muse, and for the devotion Wanna Be Yours by Arctic Monkeys.

Transcribed and compiled by Adele Tomlin, 28th August 2023.

Magic Key commentary teaching by HE 9th Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche (session 9): excerpts from the teaching and transcript

The secret mantra Vajrayana – taking the result as the path

“

“As it says in the ‘Magic Key commentary text:

“The secret mantra Vajrayana is that which takes the result as the path.”

Here in the text this is primarily talking about how when we have the view of the Sutras this is taking the cause as the result. We do meditation in the Sutra tradition, we look for the essence of the dharma nature, we accumulate merit through doing that we do our practice. So practicing in that way is taking the cause of the vehicle of characteristics, which takes the cause as the path. But the secret mantra Vajrayana takes the result as the path. So, we meditate upon ourselves as the result, the body of the deity. We meditate upon the dharma nature. In this way we meditate upon the result of the path. 

So how is it that the secret mantra Vajrayana first appeared? In terms of the Tibetan scriptures there are what we call the Kangyur, the translated words of the buddha. In the Kangyur there are basically two sections, the first of these sections is the sutras and the second section is the tantras. Among the  secret Mantra, some of the tantras were taught by the  Buddha in his actual form, some were taught by emanations of the buddha there are various different manners in which they are taught. So each different sutra has its own different way that it was taught. All of these are explained within the tantras of the secret mantra Vajrayana. The meaning of these tantras was explained by the great practitioners and their Doha songs, their instructions and their explanations of these. In this way we still do the practice of the secret mantra of Vajrayana.”

The Three Outer Tantras

Rinpoche first explained the the three lower (outer) tantras:

“Here, as it says there are two different types of tantras:  the outer tantras and the inner tantras. When we say the outer tantras, these are considered the three lower tantras, these are the tantras in which we do not visualize our own body as the body of the deity, we do not look for the body of the deity within our own body, but rather we look outside of ourselves for the body of the deity. We think that the buddhas and the bodhisattvas appear as the embodiment of the wisdom deities, they appear in these forms in the pure realms. So, we visualize these pure forms of the buddhas and the bodhisattvas in the pure realms, we visualize them in front of us. They can all see us with their wisdom eyes. So, if we pray to them, if we make aspirations to them, then we can accomplish the dharma. In this way, we  visualize the deity as being outside of ourselves, we do not visualize our own body as being the body of the  deity. We make aspirations and make offerings and sing their praises and we request their blessings.

So, these are the practices of the three outer tantras, which are the action or the kriya tantra, the conduct or charya tantra, and the yoga tantra. Now among our sangha there are a few of these practices that we do but by and large we do not really do these practices of the three outer. The main practices that we do come from the inner tantras. So they’re the practices of the inner tantras and the practices of Mahamudra and Dzogchen.”  

The Three Inner Tantras -the first inner tantra, Mahāyoga and the creation stage (kye-rim)

Rinpoche then went on to explain about the practice of the first two of the three inner tantras:

“How is it that we do the meditation in the inner tantras. In the  inner tantras we do not look for the body of the deity outside of ourselves anyways  anywhere we look for we see our own body the inside we look internally at our own body is the  body of the deity. These are the three inner tantras so on are the Buddhism bodhisattvas the embodiment of the primordial awareness do they see us yes they do. But when we want to receive the blessings ourselves we do not look for them outside rather we realize that we have the buddha nature present within ourselves. As the buddha nature is present within ourselves if we think to ourselves “I am the body of the deity”  so if we think if we just think “I am the body of the deity” then because of that we’re also able to have the appearances of the pure realms and the pure bodies. So, in that way we visualize ourselves as the body of the deity, we do the self-visualization of ourselves as the deity.

We don’t think to ourselves “Oh I’m this poor person I live in samsara,  I’m really bad off, I’m such a terrible person.” We don’t think of ourselves like that rather  if we because if we keep on think of ourselves as being bad off and terrible people, we’re going to continue being bad and terrible people for a long time. So rather we think “Hey I’m pretty good, I’m the body of the deity, my body is the essence of the body of the deity.” Then if we think in that way then the wisdom is able to  occur appear within this. So, we visualize ourselves as the body of the deity and this is the teachings of the three inner tantras.  We don’t really practice the three  outer tantras so much. There are some brief descriptions in here but we’ll just put them aside for now.

In the text section on the three inner tantras, it says:

“The three inner tantras assert that both the essence and the nature are the deity. The first of these is the mahāyoga, the creation stage.”

So here we visualize ourselves as the body of the deity, whether this be the deities, the five buddhas of the five families, the five  female buddhas, the wrathful deities, or the peaceful deities. We visualize ourselves as being the essence of the  deity.

 The text then explains that:

“The seven ultimate riches are spontaneously present as the svabhavakakaya and that the energy and appearance of all relative phenomena abide as the essence of the deity fulfilling the three seeds. This divides them by their isolates, but their essences are not separate.”

In other words this  divides them by how we think of them, but the essence of them is  the same. So when we say this, when we are visualizing ourselves as the deity it’s something that we actually have from the very beginning, we have primordially been the deity, we have had this nature, this essence from the beginning. This is the nature of the dharma expanse, this is what we come to understand through the consequentialist school as being emptiness. This is what we come to understand through the Shentong the Empty-of-Other school, as being the aspect of clear  wisdom that is the essence of the buddha nature. So how is that with us? This is something that has been with us from the very beginning. From the very beginning we have been pure. We visualize ourselves as the nature of the deity that is pure  from the beginning and meditate upon that.

These are the practices of the three inner tantras: the mahāyoga tantra, the anuyoga tantra, and the atiyoga tantra. In the mahāyoga tantra [1], the main practice is the creation phase, the visualization. In the creation phase we visualize ourselves as  the  deity. So, what is the essence of our visualization? It is visualizing ourselves as the deity.”

Three characteristics of the creation stage visualisation

“When we are doing the visualizations of the creation stage, our visualization needs to be  clear, stable and pure. There are these three characteristics that we need. The first of them is clarity, the second of them is stable pride, and the third is  remembering purity. 

1. Clarity of the deity

So the first of these three characteristics is  this is the clarity of the visualization. We visualize ourselves and think I am the deity, we visualize ourselves, all the ornaments, all the robes, we visualize the body colour we visualize our the  articles that we are holding.  If we visualize ourselves as a peaceful deity as an antidote to  hatred, as an antidote to desire and ignorance and we visualize ourselves as wrathful deities as an antidote for  the  for hatred and anger and  jealousy. So we visualize ourselves in this way, we think ourselves as  this  pure form.  We think I am the body of the deity and we visualize all of the ornaments all the robes all the accoutrements of the deity, in the pure realm the palaces of the deity as clearly as we can. We visualize these mentally as clearly as we can. So that is the clarity, the clear aspect of the creation phase the first characteristic of the  visual of the creation stage (kyerim selwa).

2. Stable Pride of the deity

Then we come to the second characteristic this is called the stable pride  (ngagyel tenpa). Now generally the feeling we have we have is like “okay I’m not really the yidam deity, but I’m just thinking of myself as the yidam deity. I’m just thinking of myself as being this yidam deity.”  This is actually a conception that we have to  to get rid of, we have to discard that.  We have to think “I am the deity whom I’m meditating on,  I actually am the body of the deity, I actually am the mind of the deity”.  We should not think that “I’m meditating on myself as being something that I’m really not”, that’s not how we think. We need to meditate upon ourselves as we are, we are thinking of ourselves as we actually are. When we have that stable pride thinking “I really am the deity”, that belief and confidence, then that is what we call the stable pride.

 3. Purity of the deity

The third characteristic is the recollection of the purity (dagpa drenpa) and so when we’re visualizing ourselves as the deity and we think to ourselves “I actually am the deity” that is the stable pride. Then we’re visualizing ourselves we visualize our body colour, the ornaments, the articles we are holding and so forth and when we visualize these we don’t see these as being impure things, we don’t think “oh it’s made out of dirt, stone metal” or anything like that. We think of it as being clear and empty like a rainbow in the sky. So it is clear in that  there is the colour, there is the shape, but the essence of it is empty like a rainbow in the sky. It is the union of clarity and emptiness like a rainbow in the sky. We don’t think of it as being impure we think of it as being the  embodiment of as wisdom. When we have the real confidence in that that is called recalling the purity. So, these are the three characteristics of which our creation phase meditations should have.

 As it continues here in the text:

“This establishes the superior indivisible two truths as the great dharmakaya.”

So, we establish the superior, the indivisible two truths, the indivisibility of the relative and of the ultimate as the great dharmakaya. We establish it we internalize it so that:

“all that appears is taken as the path of the creation stage.”

So that everything that appears,  appears in the form of the body, speech, and mind of the buddha. We visualize everything that we meditate upon everything as the body, speech and mind of the buddha. It explains that:

“All impure perceptions of attributes must be purified.”

So ,all impure perceptions of attributes, this means all of our conceptions and all of our thoughts, this is what will purify all of those conceptions. So through doing this creation phase, we will then be able to attain the result.”

The Three Roots: the Teacher, Yidam deity and Dharma Protectors

“When we do the meditation on the creation phase, there are generally three types of objects on which we do these  meditations, and these are what we call the three roots: the root of blessings, the guru; the root of accomplishment, the yidam deity; and the root of activity, the dharma protectors.

1. Root of blessings (jinlab) – the lama/teacher/spiritual friend as superior to the Buddha

“So when we talk about the root of blessings well what are blessings? well when we when we think about blessings the word for blessing jin lab, means the power to change the mind. It’s the power to change mind so this is the power of the dharma it is the power of the dharma. Often we think of blessings and we think that there’s something we’re going to receive the blessings and then we’re going to start trembling, and we’re going to see all sorts of visions and miraculous appearances but that’s not really what we mean. Those aren’t the blessings of the dharma. Instead, the blessings of the dharma are when we naturally begin to have a more stable faith, when we begin to have more stable devotion, more stable belief in the dharma. Through that we are able to subdue a little bit the afflictions in our mind and then our mind becomes more tamed and peaceful. Then  because of this the visualizations, the pure, clear visualize  perceptions of the creation phase will grow stronger and stronger. So that is the power of the blessings. So we say the root of these blessings is the lama. Normally when we think about it we say “come on okay the blessings of the dharma they really come down to the buddha don’t they don’t really come down to the lama, the blessings of the dharma must come down to the buddha.”  When we think about that of course the blessings do come down to the buddha ultimately but in the secret mantra of Vajrayana we often say that the llama is equal to the buddha, or we say that the lama is superior to the buddha. What is the reason why we say this when we look at it in this way  how can that work out  we look at it carefully and we don’t see it like that  the buddha has all these magnificent qualities of body speech and mind, and we look at the llama and the llama he doesn’t have the 32 major marks, and he doesn’t have the 80 minor marks, he doesn’t have the 60 attributes of the speech, and all the qualities of the buddha’s mind and so how do how is it that we see this? The lama appears as a human and when the lama appears as a human sometimes we might see some faults we might not see any qualities there as as the as the human  since they’re human and so does this mean that we should say I’m not going to go there I’m not going to see any, I’m not going to see any faults where there are faults I’m going to see qualities where there aren’t any qualities? Really that’s not what we need to do. We don’t need to pretend that there are no faults if there are faults  and and we don’t need to pretend that there are qualities if there aren’t.

We don’t have to do that it’s not like we’re looking for in the llama we’re not looking for some sort of thing that’s the quality or the fault. We’re not looking for the llama as the thing, it’s the instructions that the lama can give us. So, we look  when we look at the lama straightforwardly we look clearly and honestly at the lama. How is the llama equal to it it’s not that the lama has all these great qualities of the buddha in terms of the qualities of the body or the speech, but it’s the instructions of the lama that are so important. It’s these instructions that the buddha taught with his own words and we can hear these instructions that the buddha taught from our lamas. When the lama gives us instructions, these are the instructions that the buddha gave and so in this way we receive these instructions from the lama and that is how the lama is equal to the Buddha.  So in that way, the lama is equal to the buddha [translator weeps here]. Then we say that the lama is even  superior to the buddha and does this mean that  the lama has greater qualities than the Buddhas? Well it doesn’t really mean that.”

Four types of spiritual friend

When we talk about a lama we talk about a spiritual friend. In the jewel ornament of liberation by Gampopa the are said to be four types of spiritual friend. There is the spiritual friend who is the samboga kaya, the enjoyment body; there is the supreme nirmanakaya, there is the spiritual friend who is the bodhisattva on the high levels, there and there is the bodhisattva who is an ordinary individual.

So of these four different types of spiritual friends, the one who has the most blessing and the most power, is the individual spiritual friend. Why is this? Well of course all those great beings have all the qualities, but even though they have those qualities we cannot actually meet them, but we can meet the lamas who are the ordinary individuals we can receive the instructions from them. Because we can receive these instructions they are far better than to us and far kinder to us. this is how the lama is better than the buddha, how the lama is even more kind to the buddha for us. So, when we say that the lama is superior to the buddha that is what we mean, so if we supplicate the lama with one pointed faith. we have great faith and devotion and if we do guru yoga for the lama then the lama really is this root of the blessings and so that is how we do this practice.

2. Root of accomplishments the yidam deity – meaning of yidam

“There is the root of accomplishment, which is the yidam deity. We say the root of accomplishment, or the root of siddhi. What is it that we mean when we say the yidam deity? Yi-dam means that we make a commitment, a dam-cha, in Tibetan a ‘yi=-dam’ a yidam we make a commitment with our mind.  The accomplishment or the siddhi, is that when we do the practice, we actually gain something and can attain the result. The root of attaining that result is the yidam deity and so the root of accomplishment is the yidam deity.

Now, when we do dharma practice of course we practice the dharma and so this is why often when we talk about the dharma, we say that we go for refuge to the dharma  as the path. It is the path that we practice, but the dharma is really vast. There are 84 000 different aggregates of the dharma, can we practice all of those?  We cannot. Do we need to practice all of those? We don’t need to. If we practice one dharma and we practice that one dharma as much as we can, that’s fine that is enough.

So we make the mental commitment to one yidam deity and we can we can practice that deity in the creation phase, we can do the development phase practices of that deity. So we make that mental commitment to one yidam deity or maybe to a few yidam deities we practice them. We meditate upon their creation and completion phases. When we do that, whether we visualize our do the self-visualization of ourselves as the deity, or we do a frontal visualization the deity in front, we meditate upon the deities in that form. Then through that we are  able to receive the  blessings of the deity ourselves. We are able to accomplish the great benefit for others and to  help bring peace and happiness to the world. So, we recite the mantra and we do the practice and through this we eventually come to  the ultimate result. Whether we actually come to the ultimate result now, or whether we gradually slowly go a little bit towards that and gradually eventually come to that ultimate result, that is the accomplishment of the ultimate result. We  do this practice of the yidam deity as the root of accomplishment and so in this way it is like  one aspect of the dharma.”

 3. The root of activities – Dharma protectors and Dakinis

“The third root is the root of activities the dharma protectors. In the secret mantra of Vajrayana we have these dharma protectors. In general, when we are practicing the dharma we have the companions who go down the path with us. In the general terms of refuge, this is the sangha, we go to refuge to the sangha as the jewel who are our companions on the path. When we are practicing the dharma these are the friends who help us when we have any obstacles they help us to dispel those obstacles, when we need to get more favourable conditions, they help assemble these  favourable conditions. They’re the people who give us advice they help us and in many ways. When we don’t know something, they help us learn that when we know something then they help us increase our knowledge. When we aren’t able to do any practice, they help us become able to do that. When we need to develop our practice, they help us develop the practice. So, this is the jewel of the  sangha. So the main sangha, the main actual thing are those companions that we actually have right now. This is the jewel of the sangha.

But it’s not just all those people that we see right now there are also all the buddhas and the bodhisattvas who can be companions to us. So if we have difficulties they can help dispel these difficulties they can help us assemble all the favourable  conditions. So, they can be our companions in this way. They can see us with their compassion. In this way we can  we can exhort them, we can ask them  for help, we can ask them “please  please to  get rid of any obstacles to help us accomplish things”. Sometimes these dharma protectors take wrathful forms they take a wrathful form as a way to subdue our hatred and anger. Or they might take peaceful forms as a way to subdue our desire or ignorance. So there are male dharma protectors, there are female dharma protectors. There are many different of these forms. So we then do the practice for them, and we give them  we exhort them to their activity, we make offerings, we offer them some little small offerings such as making a torma offering, or a Serkyem, which is a little tea offering or a golden oblation offering.  So, basically we’re asking them “please help me please help me get rid of these obstacles please help me get  get what I need to do my practice” and that’s how we exhort them. In that way, the Dharma Protectors are the root of activities. In this way these great bodhisattvas who are manifesting in these forms as dharma protectors can help us get rid of any obstacles and accomplish what we need and so in this way they are the root of activity the dharma.

So, when we practice the dharma of the secret mantra of Vajrayana, there is the creation stage and the completion stage practice. So, in the Maha yoga practices we primarily do the creation stage practices, does this mean that we don’t do completion phase practices? it doesn’t mean that. But what it means is that mainly we do you do a few completion stage practices but the main path is the creation phase the generation of pure appearance and pure perception  and to develop the wisdom of the creation phase.  That is the main focus of the Maha yoga primarily doing the creation phase.”

Second inner tantra: Anuyoga and the completion stage

Then there is the anuyoga, and in the text it says:

“The anuyoga is that which mainly emphasizes the completion stage” .

So, the anu yoga and the atiyoga the other two, primarily emphasize the completion stage. So does this mean that they don’t do the creation phase? It does not mean that, they do some creation phase practices but the main part of the practice is the completion stage (Dzog-rim) practice. So  the practices of the completion phase primarily have two different types there are those that have attributes and that have focus or reference points, and those that do not have attributes or reference. Here it says:

“The anuyoga which emphasizes the completion stage thoroughly establishes that from the very beginning all phenomena are distinct but awakened as the essence of the three mandalas. The mandala of the unborn expanse free of all elaborations  that has been primordially Samantabhadri as she is, the model of the perceiving object self-arisen wisdom, the nature of the spontaneously present Samanthabhadra. and the bodhicitta mandala of the indivisibility of these two, the child of the root of great bliss.”

Here we have the dharma expanse and wisdom we have these two. When these arise in the form of the pure deities we have Samanthabhadra and Samanthabhadri. So, Samanthabhadra is the male deity, Samanthabhadri is the female deity. So the empty dharma expanse arises in the form of Samanthabhadri, the primordial female deity, and the wisdom aspect appears as Samanthabhadra. Then the union of these two is the child, the root of great bliss. So this is the bodhicitta mandala of great bliss. So these are the three mandalas of Samanthabhadra, Samanthabhadri, and their union the child of bodhicitta of great bliss.

So how are these present? They have been very present from the very beginning, so from the outset, all phenomena are distinct but awakened as the essence of these three mandalas. This is not just something that comes out from the power of the creation phase. But the main practice is that we work with whatever occurs, which is taken as the path of the completion phase. As it says, whatever occurs, everything that happens, we use to take as practices of the completion phase.”

Practice on the channels, winds and drops- the six yogas of Nāropa

“These practices of the completion phase are the practices such as the six yogas of NAropa which emphasize the channels, winds and the drops or the essences. Here:

“This Anuyoga asserts that one must restrain the aspect of ordinary confused perception into the expanse by focusing on the points of the channels, winds and drops in one’s own body.”

So, we focus on the channels, winds and drops and we can do this through the exercises of the yogas such as the six yogas of Naropa. Or we can also do it in a simple way in an easy way we can do this through the seven points of Vairocana in our body. When we’re working with our body, we’re working with the channels and the winds within the body and so working with the channels when the drops. As it is said when the body is straight, the channels are straight, when the channels are straight, then the winds are straight and when the winds are straight then the mind also goes straight. So working with the seven points of Vairocana, the seven points of the posture is a way of working with the channels and winds within our body. But if we want to do the more extensive practices, then we do the various exercises in the yoga practices and we really emphasize and focus upon the points of the channels and winds and so forth.

 Yesterday, we mentioned how when Phagmodrupa went to the great Sakya master Kunga Nyingpa, and he told Phagmo Drupa that the root of samsara is the winds not having entered the central channel of the body. That is actually how it is, it really is like this. Because when you do the yogas and you bring the winds into the central channel of the body, then  it is a method to develop the excellent realization very quickly. 

When we do the practice of this, we often do a three-year retreat to retreat for three years and three moon phases we work with the channels and the winds. We do the meditations of the six yogas of Naropa, we do the visualization phases and if we can practice like that we can develop realization which should become very stable and very clear our practice can be become very good. This is a very  beneficial thing to do and a wonderful thing to do. Sometimes people think “well I really need to practice the dharma but I can’t do the three years I just can’t do that does that mean that I can’t practice the dharma at all?” It does not mean that at all. No matter how much dharma practice you do, whatever amount of dharma you practice is really helpful and really wonderful and very great. But there is this special tradition that we have  it’s a special tradition where we can actually get all the things we need to do the practice together, if you’re able to do that then it is important to do this. If the conditions don’t happen, if you’re not able to do that, then you can practice as much as you can. So, if you think “oh I can’t do any dharma practice if I don’t do the three-year retreat” is that how it is? It isn’t like that you should just do as much practice as you can there’s nothing wrong with that in in any way.  So in this way, this is how we do these practices of the completion phase of the Anu Yoga.

Next comes the Ati yoga which is without duality of creation and completion. That is enough for this morning’s session so now today is the last day so we’re going to do some meditation and you must have good faith and good devotion because today is the last session.”

Endnotes

[1] Mahāyoga (Sanskrit for “great yoga”) is the designation of the first of the three Inner Tantras according to the ninefold division of practice used by the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism.  Mahāyoga scriptures are further divided into two sections: the Sadhana section, consisting of practice texts for meditation on specific deities, and the Tantra section.  In introducing the mTshams brag Edition of the Collected Tantras of the Ancients rnying ma rgyud ‘bum, the textual tradition of the Mahāyoga-yana, the “Tibetan and Himalayan Library” states:

The Mahāyoga section of the Collected Tantras of the Ancients is the largest of the three. It is divided into two major sections: the Tantra Series (rgyud sde) and the Practice Series (sgrub sde). One of the seminal Tantras of the Ancients found in this section is the Secret Essence Tantra or gsang ba’i snying po’i rgyud, which has spawned not only a plethora of Indo-Tibetan commentaries but also a heated debate in Tibet over its authenticity.