The Path of Compassion: A Biography of Hor shul Khenpo Gelek Palsang Rinpoche — Part One: An Introduction to the Lineage of the Nyingma Tradition — Atiyoga

The secret instructions of Dzogchen began in the celestial realm. The buddhas summoned Vajrasattva and caused a wheel studded with diamonds to shine and rise from Vajrasattva’s heart. The buddhas entrusted Vajrasattva, saying: “The enlightened intent of nondual wisdom, primordial awareness unaltered and uncontrived, is called the wondrous path of the Middle Way. Bestow it upon the gathered retinue.” Vajrasattva then vowed: “The great expanse of Vajrasattva cannot be taught in words. Even I find its meaning difficult to express. Yet so that those without realization may realize, they will be liberated through the yoga of clear knowing.”

Thus, before the buddhas of the five families, he authenticated the essential teaching of natural, effortless luminosity—the meaning of Atiyoga, which transcends cause and effect. Because he had received the primordial essential meaning of the buddhas, he bestowed the royal symbolic-lineage empowerment upon Semlhag Chen, son of Deva Sangjiong, atop the Palace of Complete Victory in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. The many scriptures, tantras, and pith instructions were all transmitted to him in an instant. From then on he became the foremost heart-son of the buddhas and prayed: “The essence of the wondrous Buddhadharma has spread through the three celestial realms. May an emanated heart-son appear again and transmit it in the center of Jambudvīpa.” The essence of this exceptional teaching then spread throughout the three sacred realms.

The human lineage then proceeded as follows. In the ḍākinī garden of Oḍḍiyāna in western India, King Uparāja and Queen Ālokā had a daughter named Metok Sal, a bhikṣuṇī of pure discipline who lived with five hundred bhikṣuṇīs. Vajrapāṇi emanated as a king of geese, condensed Semlhag Chen’s sublime mind into a syllable, and caused the light of the syllable hūṃ to dissolve into her heart. Although there was no sign of pregnancy, one year later a nine-pronged vajra blazed forth from the bhikṣuṇī’s heart and immediately transformed into a young child endowed with the thirty-two major and eighty minor marks. He held a vajra in his right hand and a royal staff in his left, while reciting the words “the great expanse of Vajrasattva” and so forth. Vajrapāṇi named him Garab Dorje, “Vajra of Supreme Bliss.” Because everyone delighted in seeing him, he was also called Jiba Dugu, “Joyful Vajra”; because he smiled, he was also called Shepa Dorje, “Delighted Vajra.” When he later governed the kingdom, Vajrapāṇi personally bestowed upon him the vase empowerment of royal authority and the pith instructions of the twenty thousand sections of the nine realms. Garab Dorje perfected them in an instant, became lord of the sacred teaching, and entrusted the vowed protectors with guarding the Dharma.

Garab Dorje transmitted them to Mañjuśrīmitra. Upon seeing a single symbolic gesture, Mañjuśrīmitra immediately realized, became a holder of the teaching, mastered all the tantras and pith instructions, and instructed the vowed Dharma protectors to safeguard the teaching. He transmitted them in turn to Śrī Siṃha, who likewise perfected realization. The great master Padmasambhava, Jñānasūtra, and Vimalamitra received the lineage in the same manner and, through the symbolic lineage, instantly attained realization and became vidyādharas.