Gesar

The source of the transmission of the Buddha’s teachings traces back to the blessings of Abbot Shantarakshita, the great master Padmasambhava, and the Dharma king Trisong Detsen, known collectively as the Ken Lob Cho Sum. If Dharma King Trisong Detsen had not invited Abbot Shantarakshita to Tibet, the Sangha would not have been established. If Padmasambhava had not crossed the Himalayas, the powerful nonhuman forces, marayas, and lokapalas that had dominated the land since before the days of the first Tibetan king, would not have been converted. Without the powerful blessings of Padmasambhava, Tibetan culture would have remained wedded to shamanism, and even the name of the Three Jewels (Konchog Sum) would not have been heard.

If Tibet had not become a land of Dharma where outstanding spiritual guides appeared in every century, the influence of the Buddha’s teachings upon other civilizations of Asia would have been greatly reduced, for Tibetan lamas were widely respected by Chinese emperors, Mongol khans, and Manchu rulers.

Furthermore, the quality of Buddhist teachings available today would also be much more limited, due to the special nature of the transmission from the Aryadesha to Tibet in the days of the early Dharma Kings. The transmission was properly orchestrated by authentic masters guiding highly qualified disciples; it was comprehensive and holistic, based on intellectual, experiential, and linguistic training that was integrated with devotion and commitment to the Bodhisattva path. And it took place at a unique moment in the history of the Dharma.

During the seventh through ninth centuries, the era of Ngagyur Nyingma, the teachings of all Yanas were in full bloom across Aryadesha. The consequence of this historic timing was that the texts brought into the Land of Snow in this remarkable era included the teachings of all Three Turnings and all the Yanas. This fact sets this transmission aparpt from earlier transmissions to other parts of Asia.

This historical circumstance has been thoroughly documented. When King Trisong Detsen invited Vimalamitra to his kingdom, this great master was renowned as the head of some five hundred panditas in the land of Oddiyana, not to mention the masters at the great universities of the Aryadesha. By the eleventh century, when the famed teacher Atisha arrived in Tibet, this situation had changed completely. When Atisha heard that his own teacher, the great Serlingpa, had passed away, he lamented, saying that there was now no one left in India who truly knew how to distinguish Buddhist from non-Buddhist views.

Atisha also admired the libraries at Samye, the great monastery of central Tibet, which held remarkable texts that he had never seen in India. The unique conjunction of conditions makes the scriptures translated into Tibetan the most authentic and comprehensive collection of Buddhist teachings in the world.

A Glimpse of the Nine Yanas

The scope and structure of the teachings can be glimpsed in the Nine Yanas, which are set forth in the Nyingma tradition. These nine summarize the pathways of realization as the three Hetu Yanas (Shravaka, Pratyekabuddha, and Bodhisattva) and the six Phala Yanas (the Three Outer Tantras of Kriya, Carya, and Yoga and the Three Inner Tantras of Mahayoga, Anuyoga, and Atiyoga).

The Yoga Tantra, highest of the Outer Tantras, is further subdivided into Yoga and Anuttara Yoga, and the latter in turn is divided into the metaphorically named Father, Mother, and Neutral Tantras. These teachings include the Tantras of the Sarma schools devoted to Hevajra, Chakrasamvara, Kalachakra, and Guhyasamaja. For each one there are Root Tantras, Explanatory Tantras, Branch Tantras, and Guidance Tantras.

The Three Inner Tantras are the specialty of the Nyingma tradition. Mahayoga contains eighteen subsections, Anuyoga contains five, and Atiyoga has three major sections. Another method of categorization identifies Gyud (Mahayoga) emphasizing the continuity of Tantra, Lung (Anuyoga), emphasizing the scriptural teachings, and Man-ngag (Atiyoga), emphasizing special instructions or guidance. Each section has its ground, path, and results (zhi-lam-draybu) and its own view, practice, and conduct (tawa, gompa, and jodpa). The Inner Yoga teachings are transmitted in three ways: The Realization Transmission of the Buddhas, the Symbolic Transmission of the Vidyadharas (Knowledge Holders) and the Hearing Lineage of the Yogins.

The Precious Collections of Texts

The Buddha vachana, traditionally described as containing 84,000 teachings, can be organized in terms of the twelve angas, three trainings, three baskets, and two aspects of agama and adhigama. All are directly or indirectly the teachings of the Buddha, known as Dharma (Tibetan cho or chö). The time, place, and transmitter for the Tantras are manifestations of the Buddha as Nirmanakaya, Sambhogakaya, or Dharmakaya.

The Buddha vachana scriptures translated into Tibetan in the time of the early transmission were housed at Samye and in the royal libraries at Chimpu, Denkar, and Pangtang. Copies made by King Trisong Detsen included the ‘red edition’ of the Prajnaparamita Sutras, blessed with the king’s blood mixed into the ink; and the ‘blue edition’, prepared with ink blended with ashes of the king’s hair.

Collections of precious Dharma texts (the cho konchog) were gradually assembled at different monastic centers, such as Sakya, Zhalu, and Narthang, information available in the Kanjur karchags and colophons. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Chomden Rigpa Reldri (1227– 1305), Upa Losel (1270–1355), Buton Rinchen Drub, and Tsalpa Kunga Dorje Gewa Lodro (1309–1364) were instrumental in assembling the precious collections known as Kanjur (words of the Buddha) and Tanjur (commentaries of the great Indian masters).

Out of the sixty-four million Inner Tantric texts, there remain today hundreds of texts that gradually were gathered into the Nyingma Gyudbum, through the efforts of lineage holders such as Zurpoche, Ratna Lingpa, Jigme Lingpa, and Katok Gertse Mahapandita (1761–1829).

Terma texts (treasures hidden in the early era for discovery at later times, were discovered in hundreds of different locations. For centuries, they were widely dispersed, housed in the monasteries associated with their distinctive lineage holders. In the nineteenth century, a collection of major Terma teachings was assembled through the efforts of Kongtrul Lodro Taye and Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo into the Rinchen Terzod, a collection about a hundred volumes in size in most editions.

The 5,000 or more texts translated since the seventh century from Sanskrit and other ancient Dharma languages into Tibetan and preserved in the Kanjur and Tanjur, plus the hundreds of texts in the Kama collections found in the Nyingma school, comprise what I believe is the largest treasury of Buddhist scriptures in the world. This treasury is the heritage of the Tibetan people and the gift of Tibet to the rest of the world, an unparalleled offering of knowledge.