Letter Sent from Derge Lhundrup Teng

The Messenger of Authentic Reasoning

A Letter Initiating the Occasion for Debate Sent from Derge Lhundrup Teng, a Great Center of the Two Traditions, to the Scholars of the Region

by Amdo Geshe Jampal Rolwe Lodrö

Like the brilliant sun, you thoroughly illuminate the Sage’s teachings,
Splendid wisdom of the victorious buddhas of past, present, and future, together with their heirs;
O Mañjuśrī guru, you who reveal the path in its entirety,
Grant me the auspiciousness of showering down a rain of virtuous signs!

The perfect Buddha independently revealed the excellent path of profound interdependence that is without delusion;
Sacred Dharma, profound and vast—the supreme vehicle’s truths of cessation and path—protects us from existence and quiescence;
And the saṅgha of the noble assembly, companions in accomplishment, has all the qualities of knowledge and liberation.
In these three authentic sources of refuge, beyond deception, I take refuge until attaining great awakening!

Embellishing the universally luminous space of the Buddha’s teachings
With myriad, weblike rays of the light of scripture and reasoning,
You are the sun and moon in the lineage of the profound and vast gradual path.
To this line of successive teachers I bow down in homage!

Thoroughly intoxicated with realization, having insatiably imbibed
The essential nectar of the Early Translations’ three classes and nine spaces,
You never tire of upholding the precious supreme vehicle.
May you, foremost among the learned and accomplished, be victorious!

Every aspect of the five sciences is perfectly complete
In this, the divine path of realizing the absence of constructs,
The Sakya tradition with its light of well-spoken nectar.
May it remain as an ornament for the locks of Śambhu!

Marpa’s ultimate intent, the genuine face of reality,
The unaltered natural state is the meaning of Mahāmudrā;
This great path of the lineage of wholly accomplished siddhas
I praise as the very route the buddhas of the three times take.

Within the nature of uncommon bliss and emptiness,
Karma and kleśas are transformed through the alchemy of realizing the nature of emptiness.
May this vajra yoga, in which the actual Kālacakra of union is brought about directly,
Reign supreme!

Gathering all the finest parts, with nothing omitted,
The scalpel of the well said clears the mind’s eye in immature disciples;
Distilling the essence of an ocean of sūtras and tantras, from Kārikas to Guhyasamāja,[1]
The well said, arranged in jewel garlands, can adorn all those whose intelligence is clear.

Blazing in splendour to dispel the darkness of confusion
And uproot the malady of sectarian prejudice,
These fine explanations are like the king of wish-granting jewels,
The sweet fame of the noble-minded Lobzang Drakpa,[2] skilled in bringing a gentle rain of light.

He wears a diadem upon his locks and has a single eye in his forehead,
The quintessence of the Buddha’s teaching is like his heart.
Upon the ground of righteous impartiality is the mountain of intellect,
And at its peak, upon snowy mounds of scripture and reasoning,
Are the descendants of this learned and physically strong five-faced lord, the king of lions,[3]
Who towers above others, bears a turquoise mane of analysis based on the four modes of applied reasoning,
And subdues the foxes of wrong view through the clear roar of realizing the point of meditation.
Who would dare to dance and play upon the sharp claws of scripture and reasoning?

Untainted by the mental stains of the eight vehicles
And beyond all the speculations of lesser realization and rituals,
I have realized the very face of the spontaneously present three kāyas,
The ultimate destination of all paths of sūtra and mantra.

Let the immature who have pledged themselves
To the tradition of the omniscient one,
The tantras of the Ancient Translations and vision of Padmākara and Vimalamitra,
Take care to avoid vague settling, vacant emptiness, or ordinary mental clarity!

If there are some who disagree with most scholars,
Whose minds are impartial and intellects powerful,
Let them not whisper and gossip away in secret
But come here and debate directly in my presence!

All that’s done with attachment and aversion brings ruin upon ourselves and others.
The single gateway to peaceful and impartial engagement
Appears through knowledge of the authentic word and treatises.
Who dares cross the bounds of reason that the pioneering scholars have set?

The real meaning of the three collections[4] and four classes of tantra[5]
Is complete within the tradition of the three visions[6] and three continua.[7]
I take as my thesis the indivisibility of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa,
In which all knowable things are clear and there is no clinging to extremes even in name.

Without relying on an understanding of sūtra or mantra,
Saying “not clinging to anything, neither existence nor nonexistence,”
And directly contradicting the glorious Sakya tradition—
Be careful, you who presume to call yourselves Sakyapa!

Not accepting that phenomena are empty of their own essence
And have their own unique characteristics,
While denying direct perception—such a system of thought
Is worse than even the Cārvāka, so how could it be Buddhist?[8]

That the maṇḍala of the genuine, coemergent nature represents eternalism,
And the absence of true nature in the Muni’s realization represents nihilism—
To persist in such assertions while claiming to follow Candrakīrti’s tradition
Is like shamelessly running about unclothed: a source of hilarity for others!

Entities are obstructing; what is permanent can produce an effect;
And an effect can be present in a cause: examine such claims,
Which you hold to be the assertions of the omniscient Sakyapa,
And weigh them against the excellent sayings of the Five Patriarchs![9]

The genuine nature that is freed from the cocoon of confusion,
Through the guru’s instruction and outer and inner skill-in-means,
Which all those who are learned and accomplished know to be
The essence of clear light Mahāmudrā—this I accept.

While unclear as to what distinguishes contrived and uncontrived,
To assert that all knowing and perception is fabricated,
And shamelessly claim that remaining in a dull state of mind
Is the Kagyü way—take care to avoid such statements!

Core advice on the meaning of the Father and Mother tantras,
Distinguishing views that bring mental activity to cessation—
This, I know, is complete herein, and therefore
All those with critical intelligence, please explain at length!

In mind’s actual condition, karma and kleśas are indeed “other-empty,”
And this is not the same as one thing being empty of itself:
Such is my assertion, based on both the intent and literal message
Of the sūtras teaching the buddha nature.

Not simply repeating the earlier sayings of Sakya and Geluk,
Some invalidate what is lower with higher forms of reasoning.
If so, let it not develop further and lead to harsh words
But extend the chain of scripture and reasoning, a cause of joy!

Transgressing the boundaries set by the founders of tradition
And spurred on by confidently propounding nonsense,
To support your own position while refuting the positions of others,
Without even the slightest mastery of the signs of negation or proof,
And failing to rely upon the logical works of the Six Ornaments—
Even while not claiming that this represents a lineage tradition,
To explain the scriptures while thinking that you are
Following the great pioneers is something to be celebrated.
And yet, without realizing the natural state of your own mind,
Even if you were to offer a great many independent explanations,
The learned must investigate and examine them
Asking how they relate to the two major philosophical traditions.[10]

The ultimate Secret Mantra path, the Great Perfection,
The essence of Highest Yoga Tantra, Mahāmudrā,
The indivisibility of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa, the path of clarity and emptiness without grasping,[11]
And the profound path of Vajra Yoga—these ultimate practices
Are the union of the Profound View and great secret Vajrayāna.
This is the fundamental point of the teachings in Jamgön Tsongkhapa’s lineage,
Bliss and emptiness indivisible, a single taste in essence—
This is my thesis, indestructibly inscribed.

Those at the summit of learning who wish to dispute this
Should exercise caution, just as ordinary snow lions,
Even as they shake their thick manes of merit,
Take care to avoid the teeth and claws of eight-legged Śarabha.

Even if I do not explain in a biased way, saying this is not
The meaning of the scriptural tradition accepted by the wise,
My stable thesis is that this does not accord with the fundamental point
Of the three major commentaries of glorious Candrakīrti.[12]

In the ocean of tantra, sealed with the six limits and four modes,[13]
The churning stick of infinite instructions on theory and practice
Produces the essence, the sun of what is well spoken,
Renowned as an adornment in the sky of Buddha’s teachings.

Nevertheless, the fresh winds of sophistry
Bring a cloud canopy to the scriptural tradition,
And for the childish clambering upon the platform of concealing words,
Actual liberation appears like an illusion.

Just as the illusory lion and illusory elephant
May become illusory brothers,
I take delight in the illusory creation of these few echoes.
Let all who seek illusory liberation look here!

I offer the following message, ushered in with these verses, to the great beings who uphold the teachings in this great region:

It is renowned and well established here, in the Land of Snow Mountains, that all the precious teachings of the victorious Buddha are not contradictory. I myself have had the good fortune to receive the sustenance of ripening and liberating instructions of the Ancient and New schools of Secret Mantra from several noble instructors, who practice according to the Dharma. As it says in “Praise of One More Eminent Than the Gods,”

I do not cling to Buddha’s position,
Nor do I despise Kapila and the rest.
I simply accept whatever is revealed
By one who speaks words of reason.[14]

As this indicates, we must apply our minds sincerely to a thorough examination of the three domains of evaluation, using the three forms of valid cognition related to direct perception and inference. The outcome of such investigation will be that, without slipping into sectarian bias or prejudice, we will realize how all forms of Buddhist teaching are equally effective as means of attaining omniscience. Moreover, any difference in terminology between earlier and later traditions of explanation will be seen simply as reflecting variations in practice, while ultimately pointing toward the same destination. Inspired by this kind of confidence, we will feel great reverence for all authentic holders of the teachings and their excellent explanations.

These days, there are many who cause sectarian division in the precious teachings of the Victorious One, and many who refute the precious teachings of the noble Dharma king, the great Tsongkhapa, in particular. As a result, students who rely on me for teachings, both permanent residents and occasional visitors to this place, have persistently pleaded with me, burning my ears by saying, “Nowadays the precious teachings of the Victorious One are at a low ebb, without the slightest trace of true exposition, debate, or composition. In particular, people take as definitive the comments in the polemical texts of Gorampa, Shākya Chokden, and Taktsang Lotsāwa, which assert that the scriptural works of Tsongkhapa, the Dharma king of the three realms, are entirely at fault. The scholars of this region declare that there has not been the slightest response on the subject of the Secret Mantra, while earlier and later replies to objections on the sūtras merely listed one or two faults, without really proving meaningful. Thus, you must answer them.” In response, I hereby dispatch this letter inviting debate, in the manner described in the sacred Dharma of the Vinaya. Through this, may any honest scholars who wish to repair the teachings make themselves known to me whenever there is any conflict and a desire to refute the excellent explanations of the great Jamgön, the king of Dharma, Tsongkhapa. Jampal Rolwe Lodrö sends this in all directions. May it prove auspicious!

| Translated by Adam Pearcey, 2018. First published on Lotsawa House, 2025.

Bibliography

Tibetan Edition

’Jam dpal rol ba’i blo gros. “Lugs gnyis kyi mdun sa chen po sde dge lhun grub steng nas phyogs kyi mkhas pa rnams la spring ba rtsod pa’i skabs rnam par dbye ba’i yi ge yang dag rigs pa’i pho nya” In A mdo dge bshes ’jam dpal rol ba’i blo gros kyi gsung 'bum. 2 vols. Chengdu: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2004. Vol. 1, 119–126.

Secondary Sources

Pearcey, Adam. A Greater Perfection? Scholasticism, Comparativism and Issues of Sectarian Identity in Early 20th Century Writings on rDzogs-chen. Unpublished PhD thesis. SOAS, University of London. 2018.

______. Beyond the Ordinary Mind: Dzogchen, Rimé, and the Path of Perfect Wisdom. Boulder: Snow Lion, 2018.

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