The Feature of the Expert, Glorious King: Also Known as "The Three Lines That Strike the Key Points and Auto-Commentary by Patrul Rinpoche

68 Pages·2011·0.32 MB·English

by  Patrul Rinpoche

THE FEATURE OF THE EXPERT,
GLORIOUS KING:
“THREE LINES THAT HIT
THE KEY POINTS”
ROOT TEXT AND COMMENTARY
BY PATRUL RINPOCHE
TRANSLATED BY TONY DUFF
PADMA KARPO TRANSLATION COMMITTEE

THE FEATURE OF THE EXPERT,
GLORIOUS KING:
“THREE LINES THAT HIT
THE KEY POINTS”
ROOT TEXT AND COMMENTARY
BY PATRUL RINPOCHE
TRANSLATED 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 Thorough Cut 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.
For enquiries regarding permission to reproduce this book or any
portion of it, or to obtain further books, please write to the given address
or contact the author via internet and e-mail.
Copyright © 2007 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, May 1998.
Janson typeface with diacritical marks and
Tibetan Chogyal typeface
courtesy of Tibetan Computer Company
Produced, Printed, and Published by
Padma Karpo Translation Committee
P.O. Box 4957
Kathmandu
NEPAL
Web-site and e-mail contact through:
http://www.tibet.dk/pktc
Or search Padma Karpo Translation Committee on the web.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Translator’s Introduction ............................. vii
Patrul Rinpoche’s Root Text in English .................. i
Patrul Rinpoche’s Commentary in English ................ 5
Glossary .............................................. 25
Tibetan Text ........................................... 37
Index .................................................. 51
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TRANSLATOR’S INTRODUCTION
The root text and commentary to it translated here are key texts in the Dzogchen
tradition of the practice of “The Thorough Cut” (Trekchö). The root text
was written by the great master Patrul Rinpoche who then wrote his own small
commentary to it. The two are very popular amongst Dzogchen practitioners
these days for the practice of The Thorough Cut.
This text is regarded as a difficult text to translate. Firstly it is a Dzogchen
text with the unique terminology of that tradition. Secondly, it is very full
of meaning and importantly, it is full of meaning not only at the level of the
words but also in how the words are put together (the syntactic level). Thirdly,
there is a strong poetic quality throughout which is wonderful to read in the
original but hard to get into English, and made harder by the first and second
difficulties.
There are a few translations of this text now available in English. They capture
the meaning of the words for the most part but tend to lose of the literalness
of the text with concomitant loss of the several layers of meaning contained
in the arrangement of the words and phrases, i.e., they lose much of the syntactic
meaning. In doing so, the poetic quality of the original has not usually been
well captured. This translation attempts not only to be correct in presenting
the basic meaning of the words—to the extent that English currently can convey
the rich vocabulary of Dzogchen—but also attempts to capture the further
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viii TRANSLATOR’S INTRODUCTION
levels of meaning present in the original by translating the original as literally
as possible. With that as the ground, I have enjoyed bringing out the poetic
sense of the original and my editors report with satisfaction that this seems
to have happened without loss of the original meaning at all levels.
This text and translation has a very pure lineage. The commentary makes
the lineage down to the author, Patrul Rinpoche, clear. From there, the lineage
for this translation came down to the great masters Tulku Ugyen Rinpoche
and H.H. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche who were the root gurus of my own guru,
Tsoknyi Rinpoche III. He heard this text and explanations of it many times
from them as did his brother, Ven. Mingyur Rinpoche. Having translared
Tsoknyi Rinpoche’s instructions many times over a period of several years,
I was asked by Bruce Blake of the U.S.A. about the text just prior to an eight
day retreat on The Thorough Cut with Tsoknyi Rinpoche and seventy students
from around the world; this created an auspicious connection and the translation
flowed easily and smoothly. The whole translation was checked from top to
bottom several times and importantly, any disparities between the draft and
other translations into English were carefully checked to ensure a final, correct
translation. Additionally, I received further instruction on the subject from
the Ven. Mingyur Rinpoche prior to completing the translation and also have
heard other sets of instructions from other great masters on the text.
A glossary has been provided for terms that otherwise might not be obvious.
However, this text, like most Tibetan texts, is not intended to be understood
simply by reading the words. This needs to be said because, in the West espec-
ially, in modern times when there is a strong emphasis on education of the
rational mind, there is a strong cultural habit of thinking that one should be
able to pick up a book and read it and comprehend it. That is not the case
here. This text can only function as a support for the oral instructions from
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TRANSLATOR’S INTRODUCTION ix
a qualified teacher with a lineage. Therefore, I have not made an attempt to
write a commentary myself or even add copious notes to the text. The translation
is faithful enough to the original that any Tibetan teacher who is qualified
could teach the text using this as a basis and hence provide the necessary mean-
ixings for the students.
The Tibetan text is also provided to assist those seriously studying the text.
You might find that our Illuminator Tibetan-English Dictionary will be of
considerable help in understanding the Tibetan terms. You will find a great
deal of Great Completion vocabulary and explanation in the dictionary. You
will find the dictionary and other texts of interest on our web-site at
http://www.tibet.dk/pktc.htm.
My best wishes to all of you.
May you preserve the state!
Tony Duff
Padma Karpo Translation Committee
21st June, 2008
Swayambunath, NEPAL
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