Yumka Dechen Gyalmo History

The History of the Female Practice of the Queen of Great Bliss

by Rigdzin Jigme Lingpa

Homage to the ḍākinī!

In the female water-snake year, 1773, I went on pilgrimage to Drakyi Yangdzong,[1] a remote, sacred place of the enlightened body. To make a connection with the place I performed thousands of feast-offerings, a fire-offering practice to the ḍākinīs, and other practices. On one occasion, when I arrived at Tsogyal Latso[2] near the large village of Yoru Drak,[3] I offered to the lake a bowl of ambrosia (amṛta), which liberates upon taste, together with a silken scarf. The bowl sank slowly, like a living being entering the water, while the end of the scarf remained fluttering above the surface, which amazed me. Then a pure state of consciousness arose spontaneously and my ordinary perception vanished. I drank some of the water, and, in the very instant that I touched it, a perfectly black bee, like an utpala flower, arose and hovered around. Three times it made a buzzing sound, like the sound of a sitar. This precipitated my ordinary perception dissolving into a state free from objective reference. From within the expanse where appearance, mind, and reality merge, a wisdom ḍākinī appeared. She was bright red and adorned with jewels and the six bone ornaments. She wore a garland of flowers, swaying to and fro. She then fully revealed to me a ritual of her own visualizations, which included all the essentials.

I, a ḍākinī, come from the dharmakāya expanse.
I have no thoughts of coming and going.
I, a girl, am mistress of the twenty-four sacred places.
I come from the emanated realm of Cāmara, the glorious mountain.
In the arrangement of my body the qualities of mantra are perfected.
I, a girl, am the mother of the victorious ones of the three times.
There are no Three Jewels but for those that arise from me.
If you accomplish me, the ḍākinī, you will accomplish the three kāyas.
For the benefit of beings to be tamed, I am in the south-western direction.

If auspicious interdependent circumstances are not disturbed,
I will nurture fortunate ones in the expanse of the six spheres with

As soon as she had said this, the inexhaustible, miraculous array of the ḍākinī's secret syllables merged non-dually with me and dissolved into the centre of my heart.

At that time the Lord of Dharma Drakpukpa,[4] who was beside me, earnestly paid his respects and asked: ‘What did you see in your vision?’ I had simply left the vision for what it was, but on account of his question, the auspicious interdependent circumstances were awakened. First, I protected the secret samaya for five days. Then, during the waning phase of the moon, the time when ḍākinīs gather, we performed a feast-gathering with plentiful offerings. In the palace of power of Yangdzong Düdra,[5] through the auspicious interdependent circumstances and profound connections, the seal was released.

| Translated by Han Kop, 2019, with the guidance of Tulku Dawa Zangpo of Dodrupchen Chorten Monastery, for the Longchen Nyingtik Project. Edited by Aaron Coote.

Bibliography

Tibetan Editions

'Jigs med gling pa. "Yum ka bde chen rgyal mo'i lo rgyus", in gSung 'bum/_'Jigs med gling pa/（sde dge par ma). 9 Vols. BDRC W27300. Gangtok, India: Pema Thinley for Dodrupchen Rinpoche, 1985. Vol. 7: 217–18.

___. "Yum ka bde chen rgyal mo'i lo rgyus", in gSung 'bum/_'Jigs med gling pa (a 'dzom par ma/ 'brug spa gro la bskyar par brgyab pa/). 14 Vols. BDRC W7477. A 'dzom chos sgar par khang, 1999?. Vol. 10: 251–52.

___. "Yum ka bde chen rgyal mo'i lo rgyus", in klong chen snying thig rtsa pod. 5 Vols. BDRC W1KG13585. Bodhnath, Kathmandu and Bodhgaya, Bihar: Shechen Publications, 1994. Vol. 1: 287–88.

Secondary Sources

Thondup, Tulku. The Queen of Great Bliss of Long-Chen Nying-Thig. Gangtok, Sikkim: Dodrup Chen Rinpoche, Deorali Choten Gonpa, 1983, revised 1992. Preface, pages i–iii.

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