Highest Wisdom: A Guidebook to the Stages of the Path of the Prime Guardian according to Longchen Nyingtig Great Completion

371 Pages·2010·2.26 MB·English

by  Tony Duff

Highest Wisdom
A GUIDEBOOK TO
THE STAGES OF THE PATH OF THE
PRIME GUARDIAN ACCORDING TO
LONGCHEN NYINGTIG GREAT
COMPLETION
BY TONY DUFF
PADMA KARPO TRANSLATION COMMITTEE

Highest Wisdom
A GUIDEBOOK TO
THE STAGES OF THE PATH OF THE
PRIME GUARDIAN ACCORDING TO
LONGCHEN NYINGTIG GREAT
COMPLETION
BY TONY DUFF
PADMA KARPO TRANSLATION COMMITTEE
This text is secret and should not be shown to those who have not
had the necessary introduction and instructions of the Nyingthig
system of Dzogchen meditation. If you have not had the necessary
instructions, reading this text can be harmful to your spiritual
health! Seal. Seal. Seal.
Copyright © 2010 Tony Duff. All rights reserved. No portion of
this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photography, recording, or by
any information storage or retrieval system or technologies now
known or later developed, without permission in writing from the
publisher.
First edition, October 10th 2010
ISBN: 978-9937-8386-0-3
Janson typeface with diacritical marks and
Tibetan Classic typeface
Designed and created by Tony Duff
Tibetan Computer Company
http://www.tibet.dk/tcc
Produced, Printed, and Published by
Padma Karpo Translation Committee
P.O. Box 4957
Kathmandu
NEPAL
Web-site and e-mail contact through:
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or search Padma Karpo Translation Committee on the web.
CONTENTS
Introduction ..................................... v
Topic Headings of the Text ..................... xxxix
“Highest Wisdom”, A Guidebook to The Stages of
Path of the Prime Guardian According to
Longchen Nyingtig Great Completion by Jigmey
Lingpa
Preface ..................................... 3
Part I ...................................... 11
Part II .................................... 127
Part III ................................... 177
List of Texts Cited .............................. 191
Glossary ........................................ 195
Supports for Study .............................. 221
Tibetan Text .................................... 225
Index ........................................... 309
iii

INTRODUCTION
This book is a translation of one of the key texts of the Longchen
Nyingthig system of Great Completion dharma.
GREAT COMPLETION
The Great Completion system of dharma came from a land called
Uççiyåïa, which is thought to have been in the Swat region of
Pakistan. The name of the system of dharma in the language of
Uççiyåïa was “mahåsaðdhi”. The name mahåsaðdhi means exactly
“the great juncture” and refers to the one all-encompassing space in
which all that there could be—whether enlightened or unenlight-
ened, whether belonging to nirvåïa or saîsåra—is present.
The Tibetans translated this name as “rdzogs pa chen po”. The
term “chen po” is the exact equivalent of “mahå” and means “great”
in English. The term “rdzogs pa” is not exactly equivalent to
“saðdhi” because its literal meaning is “a state of completion” rather
than “a juncture”. However, it was chosen in this case because one
of its meanings, “a situation in which everything is present”, does
match the meaning of “saðdhi”. In the terminology of the original
Tibetan translators, “chen po” is a literal translation and “rdzogs
pa” is a meaning translation.
v
vi THE GUIDEBOOK TO HIGHEST WISDOM
When this name is translated into English from the Uddiyanian
term, it comes out to “Great Juncture” in both literal and meaning
styles of translation. However, when translated from the Tibetan
term, it comes out to “Great Completion” in literal translation and
“Great Juncture” in meaning translation. Although the English
translation “Great Completion” is used these days because of
following the Tibetan wording literally, I think we should start
using “Great Juncture” because it both translates the term literally
and conveys the meaning intended. Nonetheless, for this book I
have continued to use “Great Completion” in order to avoid
confusion.
This exercise in arriving at a correct translation of the name is not
done merely as an exercise in translation. It is done to bring out the
great meaning embodied in the name. Great Completion refers to
an all-inclusive space that beings, including humans, could realize.
It is also used to refer to the system of instruction designed to bring
them to an all-inclusive realization of that space. When a being
does realize it, there is nothing more to be realized or done because
all is complete within that being’s space of realization and the work
of spiritual practice is complete. In a Buddhist way of talking, Great
Completion is the final realization in which that being has mani-
fested true and complete buddhahood.
Great Completion is often called “Great Perfection” in English but
that presents an incorrect understanding of the name. The final
space of realization is not a state of perfection but one that contains
both perfection and imperfection. The name should not connect us
to the idea of perfection but to the idea of the juncture of all things
perfect and imperfect, to the idea of a state of realization in which
all things are complete. There is also the problem that “Great
Perfection” feeds into the theistic habits of the West. It easily
misleads people into thinking of a godly state of perfection.
INTRODUCTION vii
I had the fortune to work for many years under the incomparable
vidyådhara Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche as a member of his trans-
lation committee. He was very alert to problems of translation and
the effects of theism, and did not accept “Great Perfection” for the
reasons given above. As a matter of interest, he preferred to use
another name for Great Completion, “mahåti”1, which is derived
from the practice aspect of the teaching. By doing so, he empha-
sized the practical aspect of the teaching while avoiding the various
problems that come with calling it “Great Perfection”.
You might ask what the “great” in the name means. It does not
mean that this is a “fantastic” or “wonderful” state of completion,
a meaning that comes to many people based on the slang use of
“great”. In the Buddhist tantras, this term is used to distinguish
something known by wisdom in direct perception from the same
thing known by dualistic mind as a concept. In other words, Great
Completion does not refer to the lesser state of completion under-
stood through the use of concept but to the great version of that,
the actual state of completion known through wisdom.
NYINGTHIG GREAT COMPLETION
The Great Completion teaching is the ultimate of all Buddhist
teachings. It has within it several, increasingly profound levels of
teaching, the most profound of which has an Indian name which
literally says “heart’s drop” but means “quintessential”. It was
translated into Tibetan as “nyingthig”2 which also literally says
1 Tib. shin tu rnal ’byor. Meaning, “the ultimate of yogic practices”. In
this book it is sometimes written as “maha ati” to make the pronuncia-
tion more obvious to Westerners.
2 Tib. snying gi thig le. The word “thig le” is also written in Tibetan as
“tig le” with no difference in meaning.