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

This exceptional Dharma has three classes of lineage: the distant lineage of the Sūtra Section, the close lineage of treasures, and the profound lineage of pure visions. The treasure class consists of Dharma teachings that the great master Padmasambhava, ḍākinī Yeshe Tsogyal, the great translator Vairotsana, and other great beings concealed in snow mountains, rocks, oceans, lakes, and other places before the aspirations and circumstances of beings had ripened. They entrusted them to ḍākinīs and Dharma protectors for safekeeping and left them for beings with karmic affinity in the future. When circumstances ripened, great beings such as the one hundred treasure revealers Lama Dudul Sangye, Master Nyang Nyima Özer, Guru Chökyi Wangchuk, and Rigdzin Jigme Lingpa brought them forth and committed them to writing. Great beings who received profound blessings furthered the inscription of the lineage, as in Jamgön Kongtrul Rinpoche’s compilation of the Great Treasury of Precious Treasures, the Ten Profound Dharmas revealed by the eastern treasure revealer Chokgyur Lingpa, and the Compendium of All Sūtras revealed by Dudul Sogyal.

The profound lineage of pure visions consists of Dharma teachings received by fortunate disciples after directly beholding their yidam deities, such as the Fifth Dalai Lama’s Pure Vision Dharma of the Twenty-Five Seals and Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo’s Heart Essence of the Accomplished Masters.

The Sūtra Section is the pure great Dharma transmitted through an unbroken oral lineage extending from the dharmakāya Samantabhadra Buddha down to the present root guru. It is the foundational great Dharma. According to a generally accepted saying in Tibetan Buddhism, the Sūtra Section is the body and the treasure class is its adornment. Just as this says, practicing both together is most exceptional.

The three inner tantric yogas comprise Mahāyoga of the Tantra Section, Anuyoga of the Sūtra Section, and the Atiyoga of Dzogchen. Classified by their principal content, the Mahāyoga Tantra Section contains general tantras such as Vajrasattva’s Great Magical Net and the cycles of “Body, Speech, Mind, Qualities, and Activities.” The Anuyoga Sūtra Section contains the Sūtra of the Great Gathering According to the Ninefold Sequence. Atiyoga has three major classes: outwardly, the Mind Section’s Eighteen Mother and Child Tantras; inwardly, the Space Section’s Vajra Bridge of the Dharmadhātu; and secretly, the nineteen tantras of the Pith Instruction Section—the Seventeen Tantras, the Tantra of the Sunlight of the Wheel of Luminosity, and the Tantra of the Wrathful Mother Who Guards the Secret Dharma.

In terms of practice, the Sūtra Section may further be divided into the Sūtra, Illusory, and Mind sections. These tantras can in turn be summarized into two classes: the practice class—the Eight Great Herukas, five general tantras, and ten branch tantras—and the tantra class, the eighteen great Dundra.

For the benefit of the vast community of Dharma friends, masters came to transmit the teachings of the noble ones, especially the precious ripening and liberating meanings of the Sūtra, Illusory, and Mind sections. Up to the present day, the lineage of teaching and practice has never been broken in the slightest; its qualities are immeasurable.