“In short, the three, Nag [Mahakala]-Gyal [Gyalwa Gyatso], Phag [Vajravarahi], and Guru, are inseparable, and are practiced as one essence of Amitayus.”
“Here, the essence of the three roots of the Karma Kagyu lineage is practiced. Furthermore, the practice of the unequalled Vajra Saraswati Amitayus, a ritual text for the activity of dispelling falsehoods/lies, is propagated. It includes a statement of origin and the actual ritual.”
“Altogether, this deity represents all the important Lamas, deities and dharma protect or Karma Kagyu lineage. Therefore, it is regarded as very sacred and unique because everything is encompassed within a single deity.”
“However, there seems to be a tradition of other schools criticizing the Kagyu tradition, saying that they are too strict with empowerments and transmissions. And there is some truth to that. For example, it is said that the Kamtsang Kagyu once had a hundred root tantras of the Tsurphu tradition and forty-two mandalas of Saraswati (Yangchen) , but nowadays, there is no conflict in the Bird Lineage, Kunrig in the Yoga Tantra, Gyalgyam in the Anuttara Tantra, and of the five sets of five of the Dusum Khyenpa Tukdam, only the five-deity Chakrasamvara and the five-deity Vajravarahi are practiced.”—the 17th Karmapa
Translator’s Introduction
Last month, the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje published a set of three important Karma Kagyu texts online related to the Three Roots Unified (རྩ་གསུམ་དྲིལ་སྒྲུབ tsa-wa sum dril drub) practice tradition said to have been revealed as a mind-treasure of Padmasambhava by the 3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje. It is the first time such research has been composed on this practice by the Karmapa since the time of the 8th Karmapa it seems.
In this new trilogy publication, the 17th Karmapa demonstrates his original scholarly research on this text and its importance to the Karma Kagyu lineage preservation. It comprises of three separate texts:
- རྩ་གསུམ་དྲིལ་སྒྲུབ་ཀྱི་ཕྲིན་གཞུང་། Three Roots Unified Official Text main sadhana and origin of the textual tradition
- རྩ་གསུམ་དྲིལ་སྒྲུབ་ཀྱི་བརྟན་བཞུགས། Three Roots Unified Long-Life Offering of Tenshuk
- རྩ་གསུམ་དྲིལ་སྒྲུབ་ཀྱི་བསུན་ཟློག ། Three Roots Unified to Send Off the Invitation to the Dakinis
The 17th Karmapa completed his revision of the main text by combining the writings of the former Karmapas, 4th Gyaltsab Rinpoche and 1st Jamgon Kongtrul, as well as writing several praises and necessary explanations by himself.
As my humble offering for the 17th Karmapa’s 41st birthday today, now generally celebrated on the first day of the fifth Lunar month, and for his long-life and activities in general , I gratefully offer this first english language translation (see below) of the 17th Karmapa’s detailed introduction on the origin ,history and importance of this tradition to the Karma Kagyu lineage from the first of the trilogy set. A downloadable pdf file of this translation is here: Tree of Immortal Nectar Three Roots Unified text by 17th Karmapa Introduction 2025. I plan to translate the Introduction to the second text, on the offering of Three Roots Unified Ten-Zhug (Remaining Stable) soon.
The practice is called the Three Roots Combined/Unified because there are several deities combined in it representing the three Vajryana roots of guru, yidam deity and protectors. The first main deity is Amitayus, red in colour, his first pair of hands holds the vase of long life. The second deity is represented by a white face on the right, Avalokiteshvara (Chenrezig), with its second pair of hands holds a rosary and red lotus, representing Red Avalokiteshvara. Its third pair of hands holds a curved knife and skull cup, representing Vajravarahi. Its face on the left is black representing the Dharma Protector, Mahakala. Altogether, this deity represents all the important Lamas, deities and dharma protectors of the Karma Kagyu lineage. It is a sacred and unique practice because everything is encompassed within a single deity.
History of Three Roots Unified
In the first text, called The Practice Manual of the Karma Kagyu Tradition Three Roots Unified: Tree of Immortal Nectar ཀར་ལུགས་རྩ་གསུམ་དྲིལ་སྒྲུབ་ཀྱི་ཕྲིན་ལས་བཀླག་ཆོག་ཏུ་བཀོད་པ་འཆི་མེད་བདུད་རྩིའི་ལྗོན་པ་) the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa talks about the origin and importance of the practice within the Karma Kagyu tradition from the 3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje to the 8th Karmapa onwards, and how it came to be “lost” when the Choje Lingpa version of it became more prevalent after the 8th Karmapa. The reason why it is so unique and important for the Karmapas and Karma Kagyu tradition is because:
“In this, the root of blessings is the Kagyu Lamas, the root of accomplishments is the Yidam deities, and the root of activities is the Dharma protectors. Since they are inseparable from Guru Padmasambhava and Karmapa in essence, and are practiced by combining them into the form of Amitayus, the early practitioners up to the eighth Karmapa. It is also well-known as the Abandoning Lies/Falsehoods Long-Life practice (ཚེ་སྒྲུབ་རྫུན་སྤངས་མ Tse-drub Pangma).”
The 17th Karmapa discusses how the practice became more well known in Tibet after the 8th Karmapa Mikyo Dorje composed a text about it, called Abandoning Falsehoods/Lies: Long-Life Practice due to what he saw were many texts on the practice that were false/incorrect. However, the 17th Karmapa also writes that there are textual sources that clearly show that the practice and tradition was present in Tibet before the 8th Karmapa’s work on it and its origin revelation from the mind-treasure of the 3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje and Guru Padmasambhava:
“The method for this is said to have originated from the mind treasure (དགོངས་གཏེར་) of the Dharma Lord, 3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje, according to the 8th Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje. Some texts also state that it was directly heard from Guru Padmasambhava himself. It is also said that Guru Padmasambhava concealed it as a treasure, and the Omniscient Rangjung Dorje extracted it from the treasure.
In some lineages, it is said that the great teacher Padmasambhava spoke to Khandro Yeshe Tsogyal, who then gave it to the 3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje himself. Some say it is a treasure of Padma Ledrel Tsal. In general, it is said that any treatise composed by 3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje was only created when the guru and yidam blessed his mindstream, and when the manifestations of his body, speech, and mind arose as the play of wisdom. Therefore, its blessing is greater than others.”
The 17th Karmapa also gives several citations from the 8th Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje including this one:
“In this, since the Bhagavan Amitayus is actually present and the colour of his body is red, it symbolises rāga and attachment/lust and is red. As it engages with colours, it is the nature of Padma Gharwang, so it is Guru Padmasambhava. As he holds a curved knife and a skull cup in his hands, it is Vajrayogini. As the right face is white and holds a lotus rosary, it is Avalokiteśvara Great Compassionate One Gyalwa Gyatso. The left face is black, Mahākāla, the primordial awareness-protector. The complete form unified is the Karmapa.”
I recently wrote about the origin of this practice tradition here, and received the empowerment for it, from HE 12th Gyaltsab Rinpoche in Bodh Gaya, February 2025 (see report of that here). According to a brief report (4th June 2025) on the 12th Gyaltsab Rinpoche FB page, by his translator Zichee Leethong, the 17th Karmapa completed these three texts, and then met the 12th Gyaltsab Rinpoche offered Tenshug and bestowed the oral transmission of these texts upon Rinpoche too.
For full translation of the Introduction to this first text by the 17th Karmapa, see below and also this pdf download here. I plan to translate the Introduction to the second text, on the offering of Three Roots Unified Ten-Zhug (Remaining Stable) soon. As the 17th Karmapa taught recently about the mass destruction of Karma Kagyu shedras in central Tibet, due to the Mongol-Gelug military violence that destroyed almost all of them, and the need to revive and preserve the unique traditions and practices of the Karma Kagyu as a result, which were suppressed and hindered by those Gelug sectarian forces in Tibet [my words!] for centuries, this new publication and activity by the 17th Karmapa is again a remarkable and original feat, especially considering the many challenges he has faced (and still is facing) since leaving Tibet in exile from various factions, as I wrote about here.
May it be of benefit to the root guru, 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje’s life-span, activities, to the Karma Kagyu, to Buddha Dharma and beings in general!
Music? Om Mani Padme Hum mantra with Dakini melody of 2nd Karmapa, and One and All I Want is You by U2.
Written, compiled and translated by Adele Tomlin, 26th June 2025.
“Tree of Immortal Nectar”: Practice Manual of the Karma Kagyu Tradition “Three Roots Unified”
Introduction by 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje
ཀར་ལུགས་རྩ་གསུམ་དྲིལ་སྒྲུབ་ཀྱི་ཕྲིན་ལས་བཀླག་ཆོག་ཏུ་བཀོད་པ་འཆི་མེད་བདུད་རྩིའི་ལྗོན་པ་
Translated by Adele Tomlin
༈ ན་མོ་གུ་རུ་ཀརྨ་ཀ །
བདེ་ལྡན་ཞིང་དུ་མགོན་པོ་ཚེ་མཐའ་ཡས། །
གྲུ་འཛིན་གནས་སུ་འཕགས་མཆོག་ཐུགས་རྗེའི་གཏེར། །
རྔ་ཡབ་གླིང་ན་པདྨ་ཐོད་འཕྲེང་རྩལ། །
སྐུ་གསུམ་དབྱེར་མེད་ཀརྨ་པ་དེས་སྐྱོངས། །
Namo Guru Karmapa!
In the blissful realm (Sukhavati), Amitayus (Tse-phagme) is the protector.
In the Potalaka realm, Avalokiteśvara is the treasure of supreme compassion.
In the Copper-Colored Mountain, Padmakara [Wrathful Guru Padmsambhava] is the skilful tantric master.
May the Karmapa inseparable from the three kayas, protect us!
Here, the essence of the three roots of the Karma Kagyu lineage is practiced. Furthermore, the practice of the unequaled Vajra Saraswati (Yangchen) Amitayus, it is to promote a ritual text for the activity of abandoning falsehoods/lies and includes a statement of origin and the actual ritual.
First, from the words of the 8th Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje:
“I prostrate to the sacred gurus. The history of this is as follows: When the son of the Victorious One, Rangjung Dorje himself, was absorbed in the non-dual wisdom, It became evident that you were none other than the embodiment of Gyalwa Gyatso, and you composed this sadhana. Later, when I practiced it, I dreamt that a moon, said to be that of Chandragomin, appeared in the sky. A light, redder than the sun, spread its radiance, and when it touched my tongue, it tasted like the bitterness of gentian. Then, someone resembling an acharya woman said, “Please offer incense this month”. It is said that immeasurable wonders occurred, such as the emanation of Samantabhadra’s incense as described in the Avatamsaka Sutra.” and bestowed blessings.
In this, the root of blessings is the Kagyu Lamas, the root of accomplishments is the Yidam deities, and the root of activities is the Dharma protectors. Since they are inseparable from Guru Padmasambhava and Karmapa in essence, and are practiced by combining them into the form of Amitayus, by former practitioners up to the eighth Karmapa. It is also well-known as the Abandoning Lies/Falsehoods Long-Life practice (ཚེ་སྒྲུབ་རྫུན་སྤངས་མ Tse-drub Pangma)).
The Five-Deity Gyalwa Gyatso and accomplishing the Three Roots Unified
Also, in this Karma Kamtsang tradition of the Practice Lineage, the primary method for accomplishing the Three Roots Mandala as one is through the practice cycle of Five Deity Gyalwa Gyatso. In the centre, the glorious Karmapa himself is visualized in the Sambhogakaya form as Avalokiteshvara Gyalwa Gyatso, surrounded by an ocean of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas from the ten directions.
To the right, he is visualized in a wrathful form to subdue the wicked, as the glorious Hayagriva, surrounded by an ocean of heroes. To the left, the wisdom aspect of emptiness appears as a goddess, Secret Awareness Dakini (Sangwa Yeshe Khandro), namely Vajravarahi (Dorje Phagmo), surrounded by an ocean of heroines. Below, in the form of a protector, the lama himself is visualized as Mahākāla, surrounded by an ocean of oath-bound protectors.
Above all of these, inseparable in essence from the root guru, is the form of Guru Padmasambhava, or Saraha, surrounded by a gathering of vidyadhara lineage holders, an ocean of accomplished ones. This is known as the Five Oceans.
There is also an extensive commentary on this written by Dorje Nyingpo[2]. According to the profound instructions, it should be understood that in this mandala of Five-Deity Gyalwa Gyatso, not only Gyalwa Gyatso but also Nag-gyal, Phag, those three are all complete within a single mandala.
If that is again condensed into one deity, it is gathered into what is known as the union of the three roots. As the 8th Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje said:
“In this, since the Bhagavan Amitayus is actually present and the colour of his body is red, it symbolises rāga and attachment/lust and is red. As it engages with colours, it is the nature of Padma Gharwang, so it is Guru Padmasambhava. As he holds a curved knife and a skull cup in his hands, it is Vajrayogini. As the right face is white and holds a lotus rosary, it is Avalokiteśvara Great Compassionate One Gyalwa Gyatso. The left face is black, Mahākāla, the primordial awareness-protector. The complete form unified is the Karmapa.”
In short, the three, Nag-Gyal, Phag, and Guru, are inseparable, and are practiced as the essence of Amitayus.
Mind-Treasure of 3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje: Guru Padmasambhava and Padma Ledrel Tsal
The method for this is said to have originated from the mind treasure (དགོངས་གཏེར་) of the Dharma Lord, 3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje, according to the 8th Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje. Some texts also state that it was directly heard from Guru Padmasambhava himself. It is also said that Guru Padmasambhava concealed it as a treasure, and the Omniscient Rangjung Dorje extracted it from the treasure. In some lineages, it is said that the great teacher Padmasambhava spoke to Khandro Yeshe Tsogyal, who then gave it to the 3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje himself. Some say it is a treasure of Padma Ledrel Tsal[3].
In general, it is said that any treatise composed by 3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje was only created when the guru and yidam blessed his mindstream, and when the manifestations of his body, speech, and mind arose as the creative display of primordial awareness (yeshe). So, its blessing is greater than others.
Presence of the tradition before the 8th Karmapa who spoke about the existence of many fake texts
Some scholars believe that this practice, known as the Unified Accomplishment (Dril-Drub) Sadhana became widespread in our tradition after the Eighth Je Karmapa composed the sadhana method. However, I wonder if it existed before that or not. In the Collected Works of the Fourth Zhamarpa, Chokyi Drakpa, in the section called In the lineage of hearing the Dharma at the feet of Jetsun Lotsawa Chenpo Sonam Gyatso (རྗེ་བཙུན་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་ཆེན་པོ་བསོད་ནམས་རྒྱ་མཚོའི་སྡེའི་ཞབས་ཀྱི་དྲུང་དུ་ཆོས་ཐོས་པའི་བརྒྱུད་རིས་) it is said that:
“The unique/uncommon lineage of Padmasambhava Amitayus’s practice is: Dharmakaya Amitabha, Sambhogakaya Avalokiteśvara, Nirmanakaya Padmasambhava, Dakini Yeshe Tsogyal, Sempa Rangjung Dorje, Nyamme Tokden Lodro (མཉམ་མེད་རྟོགས་ལྡན་བློ་གྲོ), Drinchen Ripa Kunga (དྲིན་ཆེན་རི་པ་ཀུན་དགའ), Rigzin Shakya Drakpa (རིག་འཛིན་ཤཱཀྱ་གྲགས་པ), Khenchen Kunga Gyaltsen (མཁན་ཆེན་ཀུན་དགའ་རྒྱལ་མཚན), Khedrup Sonam Gyatso (མཁས་གྲུབ་བསོད་ནམས་རྒྱ་མཚོ), Togden Lodro (རྟོགས་ལྡན་བློ་གྲོ), Drinchen Ripa Kunga (དྲིན་ཆེན་རི་པ་ཀུན་དགའ), Khenchen Shakya Drakpa (མཁན་ཆེན་ཤཱཀྱ་གྲགས་པ), Khenchen Kunga Gyaltsen (མཁན་ཆེན་ཀུན་དགའ་རྒྱལ་མཚན), and Lotsawa Sonam Gyatso (ལོ་ཆེན་བསོད་ནམས་རྒྱ་མཚོ).”[4]
Likewise, in the biography of the 16th Drikung Kyabgon, Kyabgon Kunga Rinchen, it says that this master received the instructions on the practice of the Union of the Three Kayas from Chokyi Drakpa, as well as the uncommon long-life practice of Padmasambhava Amitayus
Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche also said that the Karma Kamtsang tradition of the Three Roots Unified tradition’s generation and completion stage sequence as Ngodrup Palbar stated was arranged according to the tradition of the instruction manual transmitted from Lo Chen Sonam Gyatso to the Zhamarpa, Chokyi Drakpa. In dependence on that reasoning, it is certain that the Kagyu tradition Three Roots Union Practice lineage was present up to the 8th Karmapa. As the 8th Jetsun Karmapa himself said,
“The ancients called this Three Roots Unified , but this seems to have a great mixture of texts, all of which are artificial/fake, so blessings will not arise. I showed this instruction to a lama before, but it was also mistaken. Therefore, it is impossible to practice according to the explicit teaching.”
“འདི་ལ་རྩ་གསུམ་དྲིལ་སྒྲུབ་ཅེས་སྔོན་རབས་པ་རྣམས་ཟེར་ལ། འདི་ལ་ཡིག་ཆའི་བསྲེ་སླད་ཤིན་ཏུ་མང་བར་འདུག་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་བཟོས་མ་འབའ་ཞིག་ཡིན་པས་བྱིན་རླབས་མི་འབྱུང་། འདི་ཁོ་བོས་སྔར་བླ་མ་ཞིག་ལ་གདམས་པ་དེའང་འཁྲུལ་བཅས་སུ་བསྟན་སྟེ། དེ་དངོས་བསྟན་ལྟར་ཉམས་སུ་བླངས་མི་ཤེས་པའི་ཕྱིར་རོ། །”
Moreover, there is a text composed by Je 8th Karmapa himself, including empowerment, sadhana, and completion stage, called Incomparable Vajra Melody Amitayus Sadhana (མཚུངས་མེད་རྡོ་རྗེ་དབྱངས་ཅན་ཚེ་དཔག་མེད་དུ་སྒྲུབ་པ་), and a Three Roots Unified pith instruction in verse given to his nephew, Kunga. It should be examined whether that is the instruction containing errors, which the 8th Karmapa had shown to a guru previously.
The 4th Gyaltsab, Dragpa Dondrup (རྒྱལ་ཚབ་བཞི་པ་གྲགས་པ་དོན་གྲུབ་ 1550-1617), personally received this practice method from Je 8th Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje. Later, in the presence of the 5th Zhamarpa, Konchog Yenlag (ཞྭ་དམར་ལྔ་པ་དཀོན་མཆོག་ཡན་ལག་), he received the transmission of seeing the practice of the lineage more than once.
Based on these, and as per the instructions of the 9th Karmapa [Wangchug Dorje] (1556 – d.1601/1603) he also composed a text called: Incomparable Vajra Melodious Immortal Accomplishment Abandoning Lies, adorned with supplementary practices (མཚུངས་མེད་རྡོ་རྗེའི་དབྱངས་ཅན་ཚེ་དཔག་མེད་དུ་སྒྲུབ་པ་རྫུན་སྤོང་བ་ལྷན་ཐབས་ཀྱིས་བརྒྱན་པ་).
In addition, the 9th Je Karmapa, Wangchuk Dorje, supplemented it according to the Nyingma tradition, elaborating on the activities, empowerments, and so forth. This is known as the Incomparable Vajra Melodious One (Yangchen) Immortal Accomplishment of Amitayus Abandoning Falseness, the Three Roots Unified Practice, complete with generation and completion stage empowerments.
In addition, the accomplished Karma Chakme, who was a disciple of both the 10th Karmapa and the 6th Zhamarpa, composed various extensive and concise documents, such as the root text of the Essence of the Three Roots Practice were composed in verse form on the generation and completion stages. These are still available to be seen.
The Tradition of Choje Lingpa and the minor differences with the Karma Kagyu tradition
Later, the fifteenth generation of the lineage of Lhaje Nyichung (ལྷ་རྗེ་སྙི་ཆུང་), the brother of Gampopa, was recognized by 7th Zhamarpa, Yeshe Nyingpo (ཡེ་ཤེས་སྙིང་པོ), as the reincarnation of Rechung Phuk, Chime Wangpo (རས་ཆུང་ཕུག་གི་སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་འཆི་མེད་དབང་པོ), the great treasure revealer Choje Lingpa (གཏེར་ཆེན་ཆོས་རྗེ་གླིང་པ), also known as Dzamling Dorje, or Dewai Dorje. He revealed from the Powo Makong Lung, the lower Keutsang of Immortal Vajra in the cave of the immaculate rainbow of Dakini Gawai Tsal (Joyful Display), the Immortal Three Roots Unified. According to Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, that deity mantra is similar to the Karma Kagyu Three Roots Unified practice, and they became like a single river. In fact, in the Choje Lingpa Treasure’s new system, the main deity has three faces and six arms, and all the body colours and hand symbols are in accordance with the Karma Kagyu system, and the root mantra also seems to be mostly the same.
It is said that the only difference in the Choling Tersar is the Yum/Consort Sangwa Yeshe Mandarava, is red and clear, with a pig face on the crown, embraced by the one holding a curved knife and skull cup. The palace has two parts, inner and outer. The inner part is crescent-shaped with one door, and Tamdrin Marpo, with one face and two arms, sits as a doorkeeper. On the four outer lotus petals are the three protectors of the family and Padmasambhava. The outer palace is square with four doors, and it is said that the four gatekeepers and four Mamo goddesses are in standing posture. Whereas in the Karma Kagyu tradition, except for the empowerment, both the self-generation and front-generation are mainly solitary without Yum/Consort.
The way in which that same Choje- ling Tersar became popular in this direction of the Karma Kagyu Kamtsang is as follows. In Central Tibet, the All-Excellent Guide-book to U-Tsang (དབུས་གཙང་ལམ་ཡིག་ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོ), composed by Choje Lingpa himself, it says that in the Fire-Monkey year of the twelfth Rabjung, in the sixth Hor month, he arrived at Tsurphu Monastery, and on the sixth day of that month, he offered the empowerment and lung (oral transmission) of the Three Roots Unified to the 12th Gyalwang Karmapa, Jangchub Dorje.
According to what is stated, on the full moon day of the seventh month of that year, in Dechen Yangpachen, in the Silver Stupa Temple of the 5th Zhamar, the empowerment of the Three Roots Unified was offered to the Gyalwang Zhamarpa Nag and the Zhamarpa’s treasurer, etc. So, according to what is clear, I wonder if that was when it started to become widespread.
In brief, in later times, in this part of the Karma Kagyu, there was too much emphasis on the practice of the three roots of Choje Lingpa, so fewer and fewer people paid attention to this unique profound Dharma of the 3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje lineage.
Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye urges the preservation of the lineage
In brief, in later times, in this part of the Karma Kagyu, there was too much emphasis on the practice of the three roots of Choje Lingpa, so fewer and fewer people paid attention to this unique profound Dharma of the 3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje lineage. Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche had to say:
“ This lineage is very fragile, serve it with superior intention and dedication.” “འདིའི་རྒྱུན་ཤིན་ཏུ་ཕྲ་བས་ཞབས་ཏོག་ཏུ་དམིགས་པའི་ལྷག་བསམ་བློས་བླངས་ཏེ།”
Moreover, Jetsun himself newly composed two texts: the Empowerment ritual of Three Roots Unified of the Karma Kagyu lineage, The Ambrosial Ocean of Immortality (གསུམ་དྲིལ་སྒྲུབ་ཀྱི་ཕྲིན་ལས་དབང་ཆོག་དང་བཅས་པ་འཆི་མེད་བདུད་རྩིའི་ཆུ་གཏེར་)[5]. Also, there is a clear arrangement of the generation and completion stages of the Three Roots Unified of the Karma lineage Amitayus, Blazing Glory of Accomplishment (ཀར་ལུགས་ཚེ་དཔག་མེད་རྩ་གསུམ་དྲིལ་སྒྲུབ་ཀྱི་བསྐྱེད་རྫོགས་དམིགས་རིམ་གསལ་བར་བཀོད་པ་དངོས་གྲུབ་དཔལ་འབར་)[6]. Through the kindness of having installed them in the Great Treasury of Precious Termas (Rinchen Terdzo), this unbroken Dharma lineage has come about until now.
Colophon/Conclusion to Tree of Immortal Nectar: Three Roots Unified main text, by the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje
“In the vast space of naturally arising mind/space,
A joyful melodious moon has arisen.
The mandala of the three roots and longevity, a lotus garden,
Has fully blossomed, increasing the light of a perfect age.
From that, may the pure white virtuous accumulation,
With hundreds of thousands of nectar-like moonbeams swirling,
Liberate this vast earth from all misfortunes,
Such as disease, weapons, and famine.
And be freed from all unfavourable decline.
May the supreme holders of the precious teachings
Who uphold and spread them, be as firm as a vajra,
And may the communities of explanation and practice,
The heart-essence of the teachings, pervade the entire great earth of Jambudvipa.”
རང་བྱུང་ཐུགས་ཀྱི་ནམ་མཁའ་ཡངས་པ་ལ། ། དབྱངས་ཅན་དགའ་བའི་ཟླ་གཞོན་གསར་ཚེས་པས། ། རྩ་གསུམ་ཚེ་ཡི་དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་ཀུ་མུད་ཏ། ། ཡོངས་སུ་བཞད་པའི་རྫོགས་ལྡན་སྣང་བ་སྤར། ། དེ་ལས་འོངས་པའི་རབ་དཀར་དགེ་བའི་ཚོགས། ། ཟླ་བ་བདུད་རྩིའི་ཟེགས་མ་འབུམ་འཁྱིལ་བས། ། ཡངས་པའི་ས་འདི་ནད་མཚོན་མུ་གེ་སོགས། ། མི་མཐུན་རྒུད་པ་ཀུན་ལས་གྲོལ་བྱེད་ཤོག ། བསྟན་པ་རིན་ཆེན་འཛིན་ཅིང་སྤེལ་བ་ཡི། ། བསྟན་འཛིན་མཆོག་རྣམས་རྡོ་རྗེ་ལྟར་བརྟན་ཅིང་། ། བསྟན་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་བཤད་དང་སྒྲུབ་པའི་སྡེས། ། འཛམ་གླིང་ས་ཆེན་ཡོངས་སུ་ཁྱབ་གྱུར་ཅིག །
“Also, the Karma Kagyu tradition of the Three Roots Unified (Tsa Sum Dril-Drub), also known as Abandoning Falsity/Lies Long-Life (Tsedrup Dzunpangma), has been highly cherished by our previous lineage masters. It seems that in the past, the Gyalwang Karmapa father and heart-sons had a tradition of receiving a hundred long-life empowerments of this practice at the beginning of their empowerment teachings. Gyalwang Mikyo Dorje also said:
“If you obtain this empowerment, it is equivalent to receiving the empowerment and command transmission of all the deities and Dharma protectors of the four tantras. It is well-known that you are also permitted to practice according to the four tantras as appropriate.”
This is how the Ninth Karmapa quoted it, and the Ninth Je himself said later:
“As the Rigzin Chöje Lingpa’s terma, the immortal root three dril sadhana, and Lha Ngak became one, the Karma Kagyu tradition’s emphasis gradually weakened.”
In general, devotion to the lama, pure perception of dharma friends, compassion for sentient beings, impartiality towards philosophical views, and renunciation of samsara should be sincerely learned from the biographies of the previous lineage masters. If these qualities increase and improve, and one’s own pride and arrogance decrease, it is a genuine sign that the Dharma has entered one’s mind.
In particular, from the Kadampa forefathers’ teachings:
“Although there are many religions, hold to your own.
Do not be attached to your own system,
but also learn from others.
Avoid criticizing other systems.
Learn everything and integrate it into one.”
ཆོས་ལུགས་མང་ཡང་རང་ལུགས་བཟུང༌། །ལུགས་ལ་མ་ཞེན་གཞན་ལའང་སློབས། ། གཞན་ལུགས་དག་ལ་སྒྲོ་སྐུར་སྤོངས། །ཐམས་ཅད་སློབས་ལ་གཅིག་ཏུ་དྲིལ། །
As it is said, it is best to develop and restore the Dharma or lineage that has become one’s own destiny, and on top of that, to purify one’s perception of the non-sectarian teachings and to accomplish as much hearing, thinking, and meditation as possible on the infinite Dharma doors, one’s knowledge will increase and one’s understanding of Dharma will become stronger, and one will not accumulate the terrible karma of abandoning the Dharma, etc. There is no need to mention the great benefits of this.
Even if one does not have the fortune to practice the Victorious Teachings from all directions, one should still try to understand even a single word of the unique profound teachings of one’s own lineage. Whether it is needed for village rituals or feasts, one should cherish all the teachings of that lineage as ancestral heritage, and obtain as many empowerments, transmissions, and instructions as possible. It is certain that one’s own task is to try to engage in some hearing, contemplation, and meditation on these teachings.
However, there seems to be a tradition of other schools criticizing the Kagyu tradition, saying that they are too strict with empowerments and transmissions. And there is some truth to that. For example, it is said that the Kamtsang Kagyu once had a hundred root tantras of the Tsurphu tradition and forty-two mandalas of Saraswati (Yangchen) , but nowadays, there is no conflict in the Bird Lineage, Kunrig in the Yoga Tantra, Gyalgyam in the Anuttara Tantra. And out of the five sets of five of the Dusum Khyenpa Main Deity, only the five-deity Chakrasamvara and the five-deity Vajravarahi are practiced.
Thanks to the Kagyu Ngakdzö, the lineage of empowerment and rituals of some tantras, mainly the seven main Ngok mandalas, has not been interrupted, but most of the traditions have disappeared. Even the good old documents could not be preserved. Because they have not grasped the basics of their own school, they are new to other religions and lamas and associate with higher people. Because they have not grasped the basics of their own philosophical tenets/school, they quickly follow other religions and lamas and associate with higher people. Even worse, Choje Sakya Pandita stated:
“It is like beating a victory drum at killing one’s own father.”
Alas, by engaging in various kinds of distorted behaviors that are close to arising as prophecies, this situation, in which nothing is gained other than losing one’s own system in terms of accomplishment, is truly regrettable. If there are still some who possess the tenacity to uphold this lineage, then instead of abandoning the ancestral teachings, which our previous victorious ones cherished, as if they were stones on the road, it is crucial to cherish and practice them in a way that allows us to enjoy our own wealth. This is my exhortation.
Having unwavering faith in the glorious Dagpo Kagyu lineage, and purifying perceptions of all unbiased teachings, bearing the weight of the name of the glorious Karmapa, called Orgyen Trinley Dorje, it incorporate the very words of the ninth Karmapa, Je Wangchuk Dorje, and thus that is emphasized. Furthermore, the Three Roots Unified sadhana ritual texts composed by the eighth Karmapa, Je Mikyo Dorje, the fourth Gyaltsab Drakpa Dondrup, the scholar-adept Karma Chakme, and Jamgon Kongtrul Lama Lodro Thaye, as well as the immortal Three Roots Unified sadhana activity manual of Choje Lingpa, and the ritual of stable presence, etc., are also aligned.
Primarily, may this serve to support the activities of this Dharma practice, which have become extremely diminished in modern times. This was composed on the fifteenth day of the upper half of the tenth month of the Wood Male Dragon Year (October 17, 2024).
By this merit, may the lotus feet of all the sacred beings who uphold the teachings, wherever they may reside, remain firm for vast kalpas. May your activities increase like the waxing moon, and may we practitioners also have temporary longevity, freedom from illness, happiness, and perfect prosperity. May we perfect the qualities of the paths and grounds and easily attain the state of non-duality with matchless Vajradharma and Lord Amitayus. May it be virtuous! May it be virtuous!”
Endnotes
[1] See website article on the origin of the Three Roots or Abandoning Lies practice here (February 2025): https://dakinitranslations.com/2025/02/12/not-a-lie-the-three-roots-combined-origin-history-and-practice-of-the-three-roots-combined-karmapa/. For an article on the empowerment I received from HE 12th Gyaltsab Rinpoche, see here: https://dakinitranslations.com/2025/02/13/red-crown-ceremony-of-12th-gyaltsab-rinpoche-three-roots-comb.ined-empowerment-and-marme-light-offering-monlam-with-1000-armed-avalokiteshvara/.
[2] I think this is referring to Longsal Nyingpo (Tib. ཀློང་གསལ་སྙིང་པོ་, Wyl. klong gsal snying po) (1625-1692), also known as Longsal Dorje Nyingpo was a tertön whose terma teachings are known by his name. He was a disciple of Rigdzin Düddul Dorje. He was one of those responsible for restoring Katok Monastery, which, after four and a half centuries, had fallen into disrepair.
[3] This is referring to Pema Ledreltsal (Tib. པདྨ་ལས་འབྲེལ་རྩལ་, Wyl. pad+ma las ‘brel rtsal) (1248 or 1231/2-1307?)— said to be the immediate reincarnation of Princess Pema Sel to whom Guru Rinpoche had entrusted the transmission of the Khandro Nyingtik in the eighth century. Pema Ledreltsal withdrew the terma of Khandro Nyingtik from its place of concealment at the Daklha Tramo Drak rock in the province of Dakpo, but only partially decoded it during his life. He then transmitted these teachings to his main disciple Gyalsé Lekden and was also said to have transmitted them to the 3rd Karmapa as well. Pema Lédrel Tsal was reincarnated as the Omniscient Longchenpa, who received the whole cycle of Khandro Nyingtik from Gyalsé Lekden, and by so doing, ensured that the authentic lineage was kept alive. See the Treasury of Lives biography here: https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Pema-Ledrel-Tsel/10301
[4] “པདྨ་ཚེ་དཔག་ཏུ་མེད་པའི་ཚེ་སྒྲུབ་ཐུན་མོང་མ་ཡིན་པའི་བརྒྱུད་པ་ནི། ཆོས་སྐུ་སྣང་བ་མཐའ་ཡས། ལོངས་སྐུ་ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེན་པོ། སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་པདྨ་འབྱུང་གནས། མཁའ་འགྲོ་ཡེ་ཤེས་མཚོ་རྒྱལ། སེམས་དཔའ་རང་བྱུང་རྡོ་རྗེ། མཉམ་མེད་རྟོགས་ལྡན་བློ་གྲོས། དྲིན་ཆེན་རི་པ་ཀུན་དགའ། རིག་འཛིན་ཤཱཀྱ་གྲགས་པ། མཁན་ཆེན་ཀུན་དགའ་རྒྱལ་མཚན། མཁས་གྲུབ་བསོད་ནམས་རྒྱ་མཚོ། དེས་སོ། །” ཞེས་དང་། “སྐུ་གསུམ་དྲིལ་སྒྲུབ་ཏུ་གྲགས་པའི་ཁྲིད་རྒྱས་པར་ནོད་པའི་བརྒྱུད་པ་ནི། ཆོས་སྐུ་སྣང་བ་མཐའ་ཡས། ལོངས་སྐུ་ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེན་པོ། སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་པདྨ་འབྱུང་གནས། མཁའ་འགྲོ་ཡེ་ཤེས་འཚོ་རྒྱལ། སེམས་དཔའ་རང་བྱུང་རྡོ་རྗེ། མཁས་བཙུན་བསོད་ནམས་གྲགས་པ། རྟོགས་ལྡན་བློ་གྲོས་མཚན་ཅན། དྲིན་ཆེན་རི་པ་ཀུན་དགའ། མཁན་ཆེན་ཤཱཀྱ་གྲགས་པ། མཁན་ཆེན་ཀུན་དགའ་རྒྱལ་མཚན། ལོ་ཆེན་བསོད་ནམས་རྒྱ་མཚོའི་སྡེ། དེས་བདག་ལའོ། །” ཞེས་དང་།
[5] This text by 9th Karmapa and Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye can be read in a published edition of the Rinchen Terdzo. See: Karma pa 09 pa dbang phyug rdo rje, and ʼJam mgon kong sprul blo gros mthaʼ yas. “Kar lugs rtsa gsum dril sgrub kyi phrin las dbang chog dang bcas pa ʼchi med bdud rtsiʼi chu gter (kar lugs rtsa gsum dril sgrub phrin dbang).” Rin chen gter mdzod chen mo, edited by ʼJam mgon kong sprul blo gros mthaʼ yas, vol. 4, Shechen Publications, 2007–2008, pp. 497–522. Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC).
[6] This text is also contained in the Rinchen Terdzo of Jam mgon kong sprul blo gros mthaʼ yas. “Kar lugs tshe dpag med rtsa gsum dril sgrub kyi bskyed rdzogs dmigs rim gsal bar bkod pa dngos grub dpal ʼbar (kar lugs rtsa gsum dril sgub dmigs rim).” Rin chen gter mdzod chen mo, edited by ʼJam mgon kong sprul blo gros mthaʼ yas, vol. 4, Shechen Publications, 2007–2008, pp. 523–36. Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC), purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW1KG14_E9B80D. [BDRC bdr:MW1KG14_E9B80D]