Analysis of the Profound

Analysis of the Profound

by Longchen Rabjam

Homage to glorious Ratnasambhava!

With the solar and lunar circles of wisdom light
You illumine the four-continent world of great bliss
And reveal the path to all—originally awakened
Primordial protector, to you I pay homage.

From the vast secret teaching of the Ḍākinīs’ Heart-Essence,
Here I shall offer a precise analysis of profound key points.

The explanation of the perfect teachings of the dharmakāya has two parts: 1) generating confidence by means of the lineage of gurus, and 2) gaining practical experience by means of the pith instructions.

I. Lineage

The first refers to the lineages of the blissful three kāyas.

II. Pith Instructions

Secondly, once one has received the empowerment for bringing the immature to maturity, there are the instructions that bring about liberation. These are divided into three: 1) instructions for those of superior diligence, which bring awakening in the same lifetime, 2) instructions for those of intermediate capacity, which bring liberation in the bardos, and 3) instructions for those of inferior capacity, which assure a rebirth in natural nirmāṇakāya purelands.

1. Superior Capacity

This has three parts: 1) the preliminaries, which bring natural rest, 2) the main part, the introduction, and 3) the conclusion, how to take this into experience.

1. Preliminaries

The first includes how to practice the three sets of preliminaries and, through them, rest in a state of equality. The first has physical, vocal and mental aspects. The second involves resting the body, speech and mind without applying any effort, rather like a waterwheel for which the water supply has been cut off.

2. Main Part: Introduction

This has two parts: Trekchö and Tögal.

1. Trekchö

The ground of Trekchö is a state of non-grasping toward whatever arises, free from any concern for remedies. In this, stillness arises as the ornament of mind, movement arises as mind’s play, and freedom from duality involves resting in equanimity.

The first means that within your own mind, which is primordially free from projection and absorption, temporary mental engagement subsides, as when the ocean’s waves are becalmed. The second means that as the wave-like play of diverse thought arises from the uncontrived ocean of mind itself, it is freed by itself. The third means that, since there is no dichotomy of movement and stillness, you abide in the great state that is free of any basis for rejecting or cultivating, hope or fear.

2. Tögal

The pristine meditation of Tögal, which purifies the corporeal into a body of light, involves the opening of the secret gateway of the tathāgatas from the maṇḍala of the spontaneously perfect body. Then, in the outer expanse, the space of utter purity, there arises the lamp of the primordial wisdom of the inner expanse, whereby appearances and mind are liberated into clear light, which is beheld as symbolic forms as if by the senses.

3. Conclusion: Taking into Experience

The conclusion, taking into experience, includes the establishment of a foundation through the three postures, demonstration of the key points through the three types of gaze, and a demonstration of how the four visions arise.

Three Postures

The first involves the demonstration of the lion, elephant and sage (Skt. ṛṣi) postures as foundations for the three kāyas.

Three Types of Gaze

The second involves revealing the key points of the three doors of manifestation by means of the dharmakāya, sambhogakāya and nirmāṇakāya. The three doors of manifestation are the manifestation door of the essential dharmakāya, empty and without identification, the manifestation door of the natural sambhogakāya, spontaneously clear five-coloured light, and the manifestation door of the compassionate nirmāṇakāya, which appears to expand, radiate and return.

Four Visions

The manifestation of the four visions indicates one’s progress on the four paths. Seeing the threefold bindu in the vision of the direct experience of dharmatā corresponds to the perfection of the three stages of the path of accumulation. Through the vision of vast space and awareness in the vision of increased experience, dreams are liberated into clear light, which is how the four stages of the path of joining arise. In the vision of awareness reaching full measure, the visions of kāyas and wisdoms indicate the development of twelve sets of one hundred qualities on the non-conceptual path of seeing. In the vision of the exhaustion of dharmatā, since there is nothing to meditate on beside the phenomena that have been seen already, the nine elements of outer and inner material phenomena, together with thoughts—greater, middling and lesser—disappear. This, therefore, demonstrates how the nine stages of the path of meditation are traversed.

2. Intermediate Capacity

This includes 1) the means of gaining liberation in primordial purity, in the peaceful dharmakāya experience of the first bardo, 2) the means of gaining liberation in spontaneous presence in the second bardo of the spontaneous sambhogakāya, and 3) the means of gaining liberation in non-dual wisdom in the spontaneous nirmāṇakāya experience.

3. Inferior Capacity

This includes 1) the means of seeing the appearances of the natural nirmāṇakāya, 2) the means of purifying afflictive tendencies within that, and 3) the means of gaining liberation within primordial wisdom during the visions of the wrathful. When gaining liberation in such ways, on the ultimate path of no-more-learning, you gain the threefold awareness of awakening as a buddha and, with kāyas and wisdoms inseparable, act naturally and spontaneously for beings’ benefit.

Thus, Drimé Özer has properly set out
On a side of precious paper
At Orgyen Dzong in Gangri Thökar,
The essential divisions of profound meaning,
So that the vast points of the Heart-Essence
May be readily understood.
Through this virtue, may beings be freed.

Analysis of the Profound, composed by the yogin of the Heart-Essence of the Ḍākinīs, Pema Ledrel Tsal, during autumn when flowers and fruit are ripening, is hereby complete. May it prove virtuous and auspicious!

| Translated by Adam Pearcey with the generous support of the Tsadra Foundation, 2024.

Bibliography

Tibetan Edition Used

klong chen rab 'byams pa dri med 'od zer. "zab mo rab 'byed" In snying thig ya bzhi. 13 vols. Delhi: Sherab Gyaltsen Lama, 1975. Vol. 7: 316–320 (2.5 folios)

Version: 1.0-20241010