Longchen Nyingtik Prophetic Guide

Casket of Enlightened Mind, the Prophetic Guide for the Heart-Essence of the Vast Expanse

revealed by Jigme Lingpa

Homage to the vast expanse of Samantabhadra!

On the second storey of the temple emanated from Akaniṣṭha,
The Blazing Turquoise Chamber,
The heart disciples—the King, the subject and the friend—[1]
Were shown this casket containing a hidden manual of most vital direct instructions
For the profound cycle of the Heart Essence.
When the signs of the self-arisen ḍākinī of the three kāyas were revealed,
The disciples presented a maṇḍala of gold and turquoise,
And, without a second thought, offered their body, speech and mind.

“Lord Guru, knower of the three times—
Now, during this excellent age, we are fortunate.
Yet in the future, in the final five-hundred-year age,
Beings will be swept away by waves of suffering.

“At that time, we—the king, the subject and the friend—
Will have attained liberation through your compassion, venerable master.
Yet, for the benefit of disciples,
We will emanate again and again.
With our reins we will lead competent and pure disciples
To a better state.
Omniscient Guru, we request you to reveal to us
Who are gathered here now
The character of places where the teachings will appear,
And the circumstances in which they will be taught.”

Thus with ardent devotion they made the request.
The master placed his right hand on Vairotsana,
His left hand on the Lady’s head,
And touched heads with the Dharma King. Then Padmasambhava said:

“Fortunate ones—king, subject and friend, listen!
In the future, during the final five hundred years,
The causes of the waning of beings’ merit
Will be the destruction and desecration of representations of the Three Jewels;
Dharma practitioners will be reviled and evil persons praised;
In particular, savage demons such as the Nine Brothers
Will enter the hearts of beings, causing them to commit the worst acts;
They will also enter the hearts of great beings, posing as gurus and deceiving their disciples;
As lords […][2] they steal the happiness of beings;
Posing as monks, they will destroy those who teach the Dharma.

“At that time, there will be an emanation of the demon Namthil.
He will come from the East[3] and will go West.
He will teach the Dharma to the government of Central Tibet.[4]
Everyone with meagre merit
Will fall for him, wishing to follow his teachings.
Monkeys will steal the fire and si spirits will cause problems. [5]
The feathers upon birds’ heads will burn in the sky.
Dogs will carry the mamo’s bags of pestilence.
Boars will dig up the soil and devastate fields.
Mice will deceive people and steal their minds.
Bulls will scrape their horns on stones.
In the Tiger Year, a lake of poison will boil.
Wearing a leopard skin, […] three
[…] these are the signs the guru showed –

“At that time, when those signs are present, someone with unbiased compassion,
Who is an emanation of mine,
Just as it is said in the hidden writings of secret prophecies,
Will take responsibility for the welfare of the teachings and beings.
At that time, you—the King, the subject, the friend,
Vimalamitra and Gyalse Lharje,[6]
Because of your aspirations and compassion, will meet an emanation of a bodhisattva
Called Rangjung Dorje Pema Wang,
Whose secret name is Garwang Jigme Lingpa.
His realization and liberation will be simultaneous, and he will be the keeper of mind treasures.

“As a sign that he is held in the compassionate care of the Noble Ones,
The palm of his right hand will be marked by the eye of a lotus.
Because he is a vidyādhara of the mighty Speech Family,
His thumb will be marked by the life-force syllable hya (ཧྱ).
As a sign that he soars within the vast expanse of realization,
His teeth will be marked by the unborn syllable a (ཨ).
He will have great compassion and be quick witted.
He will have great insight and little grasping.
Although the true intent of his mind is hidden, his words are powerful and his intelligence profound.
His conduct will be diverse and he will display various deeds.
With his fearless yogic conduct,
Undaunted, his splendour overpowers perception.
Through his wisdom mind, he will reveal actual treasures
Or mind treasures.
Either in reality or in dreams
He will have visions in which I grant him the ultimate empowerment.
I will confer the blessing of my wisdom mind upon him.
I—the Lotus Born—and that vidyādhara,
Are of one mind and one voice.
Within the depth of his realization, the intent of all the vehicles will be evident.

“The vidyādharas, heroes and ḍākinīs
Will encourage him three times.
At that time, endowed with the dhāraṇī of unfailing memory
And the crucial key of the six nails,
He will reveal the treasures of the clear expanse of wisdom.
Symbols, signs and heart treasures will gather into a casket.
When he meditates on me, Padma, on the crown of his head,
The sign of the inexhaustible sky treasury
Will be released and transform into the secret signs of the ḍākinīs.
And any fabrications and alterations will be eliminated.
For seven years he will keep it concealed in a casket.
On the tenth day of the Monkey month in the Monkey year,
He will meet with me in actuality,
And I will remove obstacles and grant him my blessings.

“At that time, you who are gathered here now
Will be among his pure disciples.
In various places of India, Tibet or Central Tibet,
Some of you will manifest as great beings, teachers and chieftains;
Some will take the form of yogis, carefree destroyers of illusion;
And some will take the form of commoners and ordinary people.
Unceasingly you will display various kinds of conduct.
All of you will have birthmarks.
Under the influence of karma you will be devoted.
And in particular, through the power of their current aspirations,
Namkhe Nyingpo, Nyang Ben Tingdzin Zangpo, Gyalwa Chokyang
And the emanation of Lhase, will open the gateways to the Dharma.

“At that time, they will spread the spiritual instructions secretly.
Although now the minds of the King
And his heirs are pure like the sky,
The queen, through seduction and deceit,
And evil ministers skilled in deception,
Will repeatedly derail the profound, auspicious interdependent circumstances
For the great being Padmasambhava
And the emanated translators, scholars and sublime beings.
Later, when the time has come to benefit beings,
Various adverse conditions will arise.
In particular, there will be various emanations
Who follow the demonic ministers and samaya-breaking si spirits,
Disregarding the kindness of the guru and the samayas.

“The demonic, monkey-headed Queen Margyen[7]
Will first be friendly and respectful.
But then she will jettison her samayas,
And finally, disputes and scandals will abound.
Without protection from the Protectress of Mantra,
Even a lifespan of a hundred years will be reduced to days.

“At present, the five with fortunate karma,
The queen Lady Gyalmo Tsün of Pho-gyong[8]
And Dhātviśvarī, the ḍākinī Ekajaṭī,
Will increase goodness, both spiritual and secular.

“Those called Vajra Ratna Dharma Wang
And Śrī Āyurjñāna
Will be devoted, compassionate and generous.
They will have birthmarks on the places of the five families.
In Central Tibet, north and south, upper and lower,
Both male and female students will gradually emerge.
They will practice and uphold this Dharma.

“At 37, Jigme Lingpa will have an obstacle year and various obstacles will arise.
When he is 40 and three-fifths,
He might go to a pure realm.[9]
He should make offerings at the three temples,[10]
At places of accomplishment he should make fire offerings, feast-offerings and fulfilment offerings,
And apply himself to the rejuvenation practices[11] of bliss-emptiness
With the wisdom ḍākinīs of the five families.
He should be very careful about samaya corruption and defilement through quarrel.

“At that time, whatever happens, good or bad,
Without conforming to the view and conduct of others,
He should focus his mind on me, Padmasambhava,
Train in perceiving all phenomena as dreams,
And generate the yogic discipline of the wisdom of luminosity.
He should trample on pride and uncertainty,
Roam in dangerous places, perform fire and feast offerings,
Rites of fulfilment and confession, and fulfil the wishes of the deities.
If he does so, I promise that obstacles will be averted.
If interdependent circumstances and samayas are harmonious,
It is possible that he might live to the age of fifty.

“Therefore, before long, his longevity will depend
On the fortune and merit of his disciples.
Yet even if impairments of samaya and wrong views are rife,
His fame will still spread through the entire country,
Just as hands cannot block out the rising of the sun.
At the end of times, his light will shine even more brilliantly.
During the final era of the Teachings, his teachings will spread widely.

“Even the minds of prophesied great beings
Can be affected by vile demons.
Students abandon samayas for the sake of food and wealth.
Publicly, their fabricated devotion may appear to blaze,
Yet behind people’s backs, they beat the drum of wrong views.
This, then, is like a jewel among ordinary stones.[12]
When the hosts of mother ḍākinīs despair,
They will lead you, Jigme Lingpa, onto the path of iridescent light
To the next world, and there will be no way to prevent this.

“Birth and death are a mere illusion or dream.
Without entertaining doubts or hesitation,
Come to the Copper-Coloured Mountain at Cāmaradvīpa!
Let us celebrate the meeting of father and son meeting!
Samaya!”

Thus Padmasambhava spoke. Yeshe Tsogyal, with her unfailing memory,
Supported by the bodhicitta of the dharmakāya,
Wrote down the symbolic texts on self-arisen yellow scrolls
Of five-coloured light.
Storing them in the treasure casket of the heart of luminosity,
She conferred aspirational empowerments and sealed them.
When the time had come for her aspirations to bear fruit,
The wisdom ḍākinī of all-encompassing space
Gave Jigme Lingpa the symbolic texts of the Longchen Nyingtik
As a conducive circumstance for his habitual tendencies to awaken.
If the right causes and conditions should fail to coalesce,
It may still be revealed, but obstacles will abound.
Encouraged by the scriptures of the deciphered symbols,
And having pleased the hosts of ḍākinīs with feast-offerings,
The texts will transform into invincible vajra-melodies.
Samaya!
Sealed, sealed, sealed!
Seal of secrecy.

Garwang Jigme Lingpa copied this text, a vital prophetic guide which is like a wish-fulfilling jewel and should not be shown to others, from the secret, symbolic texts of the ḍākinīs.

| Translated by Han Kop, reviewed by Matthias Staber and edited by Barry Cohen, 2024, for the Longchen Nyingtik Project. With thanks to Lama Sherab Tharchin from Dodrupchen, Lama Pema Wangchen from Mindroling and Khenpo Sonam Tsewang from Namdroling.

Bibliography

Tibetan Editions

'Jigs med gling pa mkhyen brtse 'od zer. "gnad byang thugs kyi sgrom bu" In gsung 'bum/_'jigs med gling pa/ sde dge par ma. BDRC W27300. Gangtok, Sikkim: Pema Thinley for Dodrupchen Rinpoche, 1985. Vol. 7: 71 – 78.

Secondary Sources

Goodman, Steven D. "Rig-'dzin 'Jigs-med gling-pa and the Klong-Chen sNyingThig", in Davidson, Ronald M. and Goodman, Steven D. (eds), Tibetan Buddhism: Reason and Revelation. New York: SUNY Press, 1992. pp.133–207.

Gyatso, Janet. Apparitions of the Self: The Secret Autobiographies of a Tibetan Visionary (A Translation and Study of Jigme Lingpa’s Dancing Moon in the Water and Dakki’s Grand Secret Talk). Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1999

McClellan, Joseph. "Margyel Dongkar," Treasury of Lives, accessed November 03, 2024, https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Margyel-Dongkar/13853.

Version: 1.0-20241103