Insight Editions · No. 376
The Leyjang Commentaries
Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche on the Kunzang Tuktig Peaceful and Wrathful Sadhana
Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
A study guide to Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche's line-by-line commentaries (1982 and 1989) on the Leyjang, the daily sadhana of the hundred peaceful and wrathful deities from Chokgyur Lingpa's Kunzang Tuktig, with his teaching on the Zurgyen mending and apology. Every section in order, with mandala diagrams, deity tables and practice notes.
A study guide to Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche's oral commentaries on the Kunzang Tuktig Leyjang (Nagi Gompa, 1982 and 1989; translated by Erik Pema Kunsang, Rangjung Yeshe Translations, 1996) and his teaching on the Leyjang and Zurgyen texts (compiled by Marcia and Erik Pema Kunsang). Shared free for personal reading; not for sale and not endorsed by the publishers. Please read the original teachings, and practise only with the empowerment.
CORE CLAIM
The hundred peaceful and wrathful deities are already present in one's body and mind. The Leyjang sadhana does not create them; it brings to mind what is already there, on the ground of recognizing mind essence.
SCOPE
Two oral commentaries given at Nagi Gompa, in 1982 (line by line) and 1989 (lineage prayer, symbolism, practice advice), plus Rinpoche's short teaching on the Zurgyen mending and apology. Fifteen sections of sadhana, in order.
KEY FIGURES
Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche; Chokgyur Lingpa, the revealer; Padmasambhava and Yeshe Tsogyal; Samten Gyatso and Tersey Tulku; Karma Khenpo; Samantabhadra and Chemchok Heruka.
BEST FOR
Practitioners who have received the Kunzang Tuktig empowerment, students of development stage who want the meaning behind the liturgy, and readers curious about the bardo deities of the Tibetan Book of the Dead tradition.
The Sadhana on One Page
The Leyjang, "The Manifest Essence," is the activity practice of Kunzang Tuktig, the Heart Essence of Samantabhadra, revealed by Chokgyur Lingpa. It is only a few pages long, yet Rinpoche says it holds the full meaning of the great peaceful and wrathful cycles. These commentaries walk through it from refuge to the verses of auspiciousness.
The Argument in Brief
- A Dzogchen sadhana with faces and arms. Kunzang Tuktig is the Maha aspect of Ati Yoga: the view is Dzogchen, the method uses deities and mandalas.
- Fifteen sections. Preparation, main part and conclusion, five points each, as in every sadhana.
- Nothing is imported. The deities are the pure nature of aggregates, elements and consciousnesses. Pure perception is recognizing things as they are, not painting gold on wood.
- The view carries it. Without the view of Trekcho, there is no space in which a clear development stage can unfold.
- Dissolve and re-emerge. The deities melt into space to cut eternalism and reappear to cut nihilism.
- The Zurgyen completes the day. Its mending and apology repair samaya; morning sadhana plus afternoon Zurgyen make a full daily practice.
Map of the Commentaries
| No. | Chapter | Payload |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Terma and Its Place | Sutra and tantra; Maha aspect of Ati; Refined Gold |
| 2 | The Lineage Supplication | Ground, path, fruition; four visions; pure perception |
| 3 | Title, Practitioner, Materials | Qualifications; three mandalas; four kinds of offering |
| 4 | Refuge and Bodhichitta | Absolute refuge in the three kayas |
| 5 | Obstructers and Protection | "Obstructing forces are conceptual thoughts" |
| 6 | Consecrating the Offerings | Fire, wind and water dissolve concreteness |
| 7 | The Three Samadhis and the Palace | Suchness, illumination, seed; the two-storey stupa |
| 8 | The Forty-Two Peaceful Ones | Samantabhadra, five families, bodhisattvas, munis |
| 9 | The Fifty-Eight Wrathful Ones | Chemchok Heruka and the transformations |
| 10 | Invocation, Offering, Praise | Samaya being and wisdom being |
| 11 | Recitation | Sights as deity, sounds as mantra, thoughts as awareness |
| 12 | Dissolution to Auspiciousness | Cutting the two extremes; threefold purity |
| 13 | The Zurgyen | Activity recitation, apology and mending, feast |
| 14 | Practising Without a Shrine | Tunes, insertions, Trekcho and Togal |
The Terma and Its Place
The 1989 teaching opens by placing Kunzang Tuktig on the map of Buddhist paths. Rinpoche's point is that a short text can be complete: Ati contains Anu and Maha "in a way that is shorter and more concise," the way refined gold is gold with nothing added.
Long Path, Short Path
The Sutra path is "the extensive teachings": the five paths and ten bhumis, uniting compassion (means) with emptiness (knowledge). Tantra is the short path. It also unites means and knowledge, but here means is development stage and knowledge is completion stage.
- Maha Yoga. Enlightenment through the three mandalas: an outer, visualized structure.
- Anu Yoga. Practice based on the vajra body, the body mandala.
- Ati Yoga. Not an external mandala but the thatness mandala of buddha nature, the nature of mind.
- Nine yogas. Each of the three has its own Maha, Anu and Ati aspect. Kunzang Tuktig is the Maha aspect of Ati.
How the Teachings Came
Before reaching humans, Dzogchen flourished in three divine abodes: Akanishtha, Tushita and Indra's palace on Mount Sumeru. It passed from Samantabhadra's mind to the five buddhas, then by symbolic transmission to the vidyadharas and the masters of India. Counted in detail, Dzogchen has 6,400,000 sections; condensed, it has three: mind, space and instruction. Kunzang Tuktig belongs to the Instruction Section.
Complete, Not Partial
Rinpoche stresses that this terma was revealed in its entirety; unlike some termas, nothing is missing. The colophon calls it "a complete sadhana condensed from all the tantras... simple to apply, concise and complete." He adds that this small text holds the whole meaning of the Karling Shitro, Karma Lingpa's famous cycle with its "Great Effort" and "Smaller Effort" versions.
At the head of the text are four letters of dakini script. Chokgyur Lingpa soaked the parchment in amrita and gazed at it; each letter became "as vast as a valley" with the whole teaching inside. In 1989 Rinpoche compares the script to a magical city or hologram that stays until the tertön has written everything down; a spelling mistake stays visible until corrected. "They look like a BAM, a HAYE and a NYA," he jokes in 1982. "I'm just joking."
The Lineage Supplication
Chokgyur Lingpa's own lineage prayer comes first, and Rinpoche says it contains the meaning of everything he has just explained. Each verse pairs a master with a stage of realization.
The Masters and What We Ask For
| Verse | Object of supplication | Blessing requested |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Samantabhadra and Vajradhara, Akanishtha | Ground tantra |
| 2 | Sambhogakaya and symbolic vidyadharas | Path tantra |
| 3 | The thousand buddhas of this kalpa | Fruition tantra |
| 4 | Vajrasattva, embodiment of five families | The view of Trekcho |
| 5 | Garab Dorje, first human vidyadhara | Inseparable space and awareness |
| 6 | Manjushrimitra | Increased experience |
| 7 | Shri Singha, Cool Grove | Awareness reaching fullness |
| 8 | Padmakara, Lotus Light | Exhaustion of dharmata |
| 9 | Tsogyal, Trisong Deutsen, the princes | Ripening and liberation |
| 10 | Chokgyur Lingpa | Keeping samaya |
| 11 | The terma cave, Yubaldrak | The profound meaning |
Samantabhadra and Vajradhara are "not two different buddhas": one is cause, the other result, differing only in adornments, as Amitabha and Amitayus do not differ. Garab Dorje is foremost in spreading Dzogchen in our world, which does not mean Shakyamuni's teaching was lacking. "Space means absence of constructs. Awareness means cognizing this space." Their inseparability is the root of the teachings.
Pure Perception Without Pretending
The five elements are by nature the five female buddhas; the five aggregates are the five male buddhas. Impurity only seems to exist because of confusion. "We never have to superimpose some purity upon an impure world, like imagining that a piece of wood is made of pure gold. That would be unreliable and, sooner or later, one would lose faith. But Vajrayana teaching is based on fact."
"Impartial" pure perception also covers every Buddhist school: the four schools and the eight practice lineages. "There's no such thing as good teachings or bad teachings." Differences lie only in the courage and capacity of those who practise.
A Very Short Lineage
Rinpoche names three kinds of root guru: one who turns the mind to Dharma, one who explains the four mind changings, and one who empowers, explains the tantras and points out mind essence. His own line is only three links from the revealer: Chokgyur Lingpa, his son Tsewang Norbu, Samten Gyatso, then Rinpoche, who "is merely pretending to give empowerments." Because the lineage is extremely short, faith receives its blessing directly.
Title, Practitioner and Materials
Before the liturgy proper come the title and some small print that is "not to be recited aloud, but to be understood." It sets out who should practise and what is needed, and Rinpoche shows that the requirements are modest.
What the Title Says
"General" means the deities of appearance and existence, which abide in the ground, are manifested in the ground, "slightly fabricated by conceptual mind." The particular practice is Trekcho and Togal. So the Leyjang reaches the deities through a sadhana, not through direct meditation instructions. "Leyjang" itself means "The Manual for Accomplishing the Activities."
The Practitioner
Three things matter: faith in the teaching, having received the empowerments, and keeping the samayas pure. Then: sit on a comfortable seat in a quiet, solitary place.
- Best mandala. The mandala of the perfect view. Middling: the mandala of experience. Lowest: the mandala of symbols.
- Symbol mandalas, ranked. Coloured sand, then painted cloth, then heaps: 42 on one plate for the peaceful, 58 for the wrathful.
- Supports. Body: an image of Guru Rinpoche or Samantabhadra. Speech: the scripture. Mind: a stupa, or vajra and bell, or a natural crystal.
- 1989 list. The four empowerment articles, vase, kapala, round mirror, crystal, plus a Vajrasattva image with seven offerings.
Four Kinds of Offering
The outer offerings are old Indian hospitality: drinking water, foot-washing water ("it was very hot in India"), flowers for the eyes, incense for the nose, lamp, perfume, food and music. The inner offerings are the five sense pleasures plus amrita, rakta and torma, which purify the three poisons. The secret offering is bliss: the union and liberation offerings called gana and tana. The fourth is the thatness offering of great emptiness.
| Inner substance | Poison purified | Nature |
|---|---|---|
| Torma | Stupidity | Flesh |
| Rakta | Passion | Blood |
| Amrita | Aggression | The white element |
Every ritual needs preparation, main part and conclusion. Rinpoche's example is building an aeroplane: first gather the materials, and the conclusion is that it flies. Skipping a stage leaves something that does not get off the ground.
Refuge and Bodhichitta
The first two preliminaries are in the Dzogchen style. Refuge is not in external protectors but in the three kayas of one's own nature, and bodhichitta resolves to realize the dharmakaya of self-existing awareness.
The Absolute Refuge
The verse reads: in the empty essence, dharmakaya; in the cognizant nature, sambhogakaya; in the manifold capacity, nirmanakaya, I take refuge until enlightenment. The emptiness here "is by nature not blank nothingness like void space"; it is empty cognizance. The manifold capacity is the ability to tame beings by suitable means.
- Outer. Buddha, Dharma, Sangha.
- Inner. Lama, Yidam, Dakini.
- Secret. Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya, Nirmanakaya.
- Here. The outer and inner are included in the secret, so Kunzang Tuktig's refuge is called ultimate or absolute.
Rinpoche voices the meaning: "When finally you, the object of refuge, and I, the refuge taker, have become inseparable, then there is no need for the protector and the protected. We have become one. Until then, I will ask you for refuge."
The Dzogchen Resolve
HO is a call, "like yelling 'Hey!'" For all beings as far as the sky pervades, through the teaching of the Great Perfection (the mind, space and instruction sections, Trekcho and Togal) "I will realize the dharmakaya of self-existing awareness." Everyone has this awareness, but it is obscured by threefold ignorance; the resolve is to clear it away.
HUNG and the View
Before the gektor comes HUNG, "the nature of the life-force mind." To utter it here means first remaining in the state of the view, so that what follows is done from awareness rather than from effort. This is the pattern of the whole sadhana: each step opens with recognition, then adds the relative form.
Obstructers and the Protection Circle
The third and fourth preliminaries deal with obstructing forces, and Rinpoche gives them a thoroughly inward reading: the obstructers are one's own dualistic thoughts, and the wrathful king who expels them is self-existing awareness.
Where Obstructers Come From
"From beginningless time," not recognizing the tathagatagarbha is ignorance. From it comes dualistic fixation on "I" and "that", and these are the obstructers. Rinpoche quotes the saying: "Obstructing forces are conceptual thoughts. Obstructing forces come from one's mind." They "don't originate outside of oneself."
No spirit can trouble an enlightened being because conceptual thinking has been totally purified. Trying to harm them "is like trying to take hold of space." In the same way, when we realize the absence of thought, interference ends.
The wrathful king "will crush you" into nonthought. That means the nonconceptual state of ignorance is destroyed in the nonconceptual space of awareness. The three HUNGs are body, speech and mind, or outer, inner and secret interference; UCATAYA PHAT: "You cannot remain here, even on as much space as a tip of a hair."
Locking the Door
"Just as in the example of finding a thief in your house: first you scare him out, and then you lock the door." The lock is the protection circle. Since appearance and existence are the body, speech and mind of the deities, "there is not even the term obstructing forces." The development-stage version is a dense vajra plaster of vajras, jewels, lotuses and crossed vajras, with small wrathful ones turning (male clockwise, female counterclockwise) so that "even the wind at the end of the kalpa has no chance to enter."
Consecrating the Offerings
The fifth preliminary purifies the offerings, and with them the habit of treating things as solid. Afterwards the whole universe is an offering cloud, and the practitioner has become a clean vessel.
Fire, Wind and Water
RAM burns the impurities, YAM blows them away, KHAM washes them away. These are not ordinary elements but wisdom fire, wind and water, created by awareness itself. What they purify is fixation on concreteness: "water being water, food being food, flowers being flowers."
The Offering Cloud
The world and beings become an offering cloud of Samantabhadra, the bodhisattva famous for emanating limitless offerings, "not the buddha Samantabhadra." Space is a vast skull cup in which the five meats and nectars, by nature the five male and female buddhas, melt into light; the blessings of body, speech and mind dissolve into it. Rakta becomes a swirling ocean of bliss; torma becomes an ocean of sense pleasures.
The three results of the preparation are that obstructers are pacified, the mind-stream is purified, and one becomes a suitable vessel for the siddhis: "like a vessel which has been properly cleaned so that a precious liquid will remain pure when poured into it."
Rinpoche relaxes the elaborate visualization: "Just practising like that is all right (laughs). It is all right if one does not do it as in Maha Yoga; this is an Ati Shitro." Recognize the meaning of each line rather than building every detail. The preparations are the limbs; the main part is the heart.
The Three Samadhis and the Palace
The main part begins with the three samadhis, the framework every Nyingma sadhana is built on. Here, Rinpoche says, they are not imagined but recognized: the view of Trekcho and natural compassion arise as one, as a single syllable in space.
Why the View Comes First
"Just as without space the four elements have no place to appear," without the view of Trekcho "there's no possibility for a pure, clear development stage to unfold. The very basis for the rupakaya's manifestation is the dharmakaya." If one has not yet recognized the view, one may imagine that everything dissolves into emptiness, as with the shunyata mantra in other sadhanas, and then cultivate compassion: "Nyingje! Poor ones!"
Building the Palace
The seed syllable sends out the elements in order: E for dark blue space "without top, bottom or middle," YAM for the crossed vajra of wind, RAM for fire, KHAM for water, LAM for earth, SUM for Mount Meru and BHRUM for the palace. In 1989 Rinpoche adds that the AH then descends like a shooting star into the palace and becomes the central figure.
- Shape. Like the stupas around Nepal: square below, round bulb above. Transparent inside and out; four gates, eight pillars.
- Upper storey. The forty-two peaceful ones.
- Lower storey. The fifty-eight wrathful ones. Once the peaceful deities are visualized, they rise to the top, leaving the ground floor free.
- Size. None. The Tibetan word means "immeasurable palace."
The thrones rest on lions, elephants, horses, peacocks and garudas. These are "not just to be impressive." Each animal stands for a quality realized and also carries its own poison, so being borne up by it means the flaw has been transmuted.
The Forty-Two Peaceful Ones
The 1982 commentary names every peaceful deity, colour and position. The 1989 talk adds what each group stands for, and points out that the mandala holds all three kayas.
Who Sits Where
| Group | Deities | Purified basis (1989) |
|---|---|---|
| Centre | Samantabhadra and consort, blue, in equanimity | Dharmakaya |
| Five families | Vairochana (white, wheel), Akshobhya (blue, vajra), Ratnasambhava (yellow, jewel), Amitabha (red, lotus), Amoghasiddhi (green, crossed vajra), each with consort | The five aggregates; consorts are the five elements |
| Inner bodhisattvas | Kshitigarbha and Lasya, Akashagarbha and Mala, Avalokiteshvara and Gita, Vajrapani and Nirti | The eight consciousnesses |
| Outer bodhisattvas | Maitreya and Pushpa, Nivarana Vishkambhin and Dhupa, Samantabhadra and Aloka, Manjushri and Gandha | Their objects |
| Six munis | Standing on single lotuses, dressed as monks | Nirmanakaya |
| Gatekeepers | Four wrathful kings with consorts | Touch; concepts of permanence, annihilation, characteristics, ego |
The bodhisattvas sit on the rim of a four-spoked wheel and in the corners of a square whose points face the cardinal directions. All have the thirty-two marks and eighty signs, wear silks, jewels and bone ornaments, and radiate light in six colours.
The Three Kayas in One Mandala
- Dharmakaya. Samantabhadra and consort.
- Sambhogakaya. The five male and female buddhas and the eight pairs of bodhisattvas.
- Nirmanakaya. The six munis, one for each class of being: Indra for gods, Thagzang for asuras, Shakyamuni for humans, Sengrab for animals, Khala Me'bar for pretas, Dharmaraja for hells.
The six munis are "free from attachment," which means without consort, and they are standing because they are benefiting beings. The gatekeepers' consorts are the four times: past, present, future and the unfixed time.
The Fifty-Eight Wrathful Ones
In the lower storey every peaceful figure reappears in wrathful form. Rinpoche explains this as transformation, not addition: the same nature, appearing fierce for those who need it.
Chemchok Heruka
In place of the wheel there is a huge diamond rock with carved facets. On it stands Chemchok Heruka, the wrathful Samantabhadra, dark blue with right face white and left face red, holding vajras in three right hands and blood-filled skulls in three left, embracing Krotishvari and trampling Rudra. Around him are Buddha, Vajra, Ratna, Padma and Karma Heruka with consorts, the wrathful forms of the five buddhas.
Rinpoche glosses the Sanskrit: he is drinking, ru is blood, ka is kapala, the skull. "Heruka therefore means 'You who are drinking blood from skull cups'," the same as the Tibetan trak-tung. They blaze in twenty modes of wrath: nine dance moods, the ten glorious ornaments from Rudra's subjugation, and the charnel-ground attire.
The Outer Circles
- Eight wrathful ladies. Female bodies, human heads, standing on corpses.
- Eight tramen. Goddesses with animal heads: pig, tiger, leopard and others.
- Four female gatekeepers. Goat, lion, pig and snake heads; they summon, bind, chain and intoxicate with hook, lasso, shackles and bell.
- Twenty-eight Ishvaris. In the outer yard, seven to a side in white, yellow, red and green.
The wrathful palace is meant to be terrifying: banners, corpses, lakes of blood. Rinpoche warns against literal readings: the animal heads are symbols of qualities, and have nothing to do with the impure world of animals. Note also that the two talks differ on details, for example Buddha Heruka is maroon in 1982 and white in 1989. Oral commentary is not a canonical iconography; check against the text and your teacher.
Why Visualize What You Will Meet at Death
"Right now we already possess these deities. Their natures are present within the mandala of one's body." At death, the vision of the peaceful and wrathful ones is "exactly what manifests from oneself... If they weren't already present, they could not appear at that time." Around them all, vidyadharas, buddhas, bodhisattvas, dakas, dakinis and protectors fill the world "like a full sesame pod."
Invocation, Offering and Praise
With the deities visualized, Rinpoche turns to the next three of the five main points: inviting the wisdom beings, offering, and praising. His readings of the Sanskrit are often warm and funny.
Samaya Being and Wisdom Being
The deity one visualizes as oneself is the samaya being; the deity invited from dharmadhatu is the wisdom being. "Yourself as the samaya being is like a crystal or mirror and the wisdom being is like when it is hit by the sunlight." The Zurgyen teaching says they merge "just like water dissolving into water."
"By the power of your samaya, please come" means: "We have a great samaya, don't we? There is no way you can avoid coming; so please come!" E HAYA HI is "come quickly." ATI PU HO: "Now you have arrived, that is most kind of you, namaste!" And PRATICCHA HO is the deities answering, "Oh, namaste!"
| Syllable | Immeasurable | Implement |
|---|---|---|
| JAH | Compassion | Iron hook |
| HUNG | Loving kindness | Lasso |
| BAM | Sympathetic joy | Chain |
| HO | Impartiality | Bell |
KA VA CI abbreviates kaya, vaka and citta: "Take seat as the wisdom vajras of body, speech and mind!" Seed syllables at forehead, throat and heart, and a crown of the five families, are called "empowering the deities with deities."
Offering to Oneself
Offering goddesses stream from one's own heart, turn and make offerings to oneself as the deity. The deities feel no hunger or thirst; the food offering is made to purify our habit of feeling hungry and thirsty. Outer, inner, secret and thatness offerings each have a line of Sanskrit; the thatness offering, MAHA SHUNYATA JNANA PUJA HO, is the samadhi of great emptiness.
Praise
The peaceful ones are praised for perfect form, vajra speech ("the king of all expression... not like an ordinary voice, interrupted and impermanent") and vajra mind, "not like our ordinary flow of thoughts... totally fickle and without stability." The wrathful ones are praised because, "though unstirred from the essence," they appear fierce for those to be tamed, skilled in means.
Recitation: Deity, Mantra and Samadhi
The body aspect is complete; now comes speech. Rinpoche teaches the recitation as a way of carrying the whole of experience onto the path: sights, sounds and thoughts are each recognized as the mandala.
"As far as space pervades, it is pervaded by sentient beings. As far as sentient beings pervade, they are pervaded by karma and kleshas. As far as karma and kleshas pervade, the self-existing wakefulness also pervades." This is the all-pervading mandala, "not a product of one's imagination." Everything is perfect "in the continuum of one taste."
The Mantras and the Count
- Peaceful. OM BODHICITTA MAHASUKHA JNANADHATU AH, for the forty-two.
- Wrathful. OM RULU RULU HUNG BHYO HUNG, for the fifty-eight blazing herukas.
- How much. "Reciting according to ability, maintain the realization." The absolute minimum is 108; more only adds benefit.
- What it does. The activities "free those who have not been freed," a phrase Rinpoche extends to people "in all the different religions or beliefs."
One Taste
The Zurgyen teaching unpacks the line "everything is perfect in the continuity of one taste." Duma, everything, is the endless variety of appearances. They "appear in inconceivably different ways," yet in essence they are identical, the unity of basic space and original wakefulness, ying and yeshe. The mandala is threefold: all sights are the mandala of body, all sounds the mandala of speech, all mental activity the mandala of mind. Keeping this in mind is what makes the mantra more than counting.
Rinpoche notes that this threefold carrying into the path is "not present in the lower vehicles, even in Mahayana." It is the distinctive mark of the Vajrayana approach.
Dissolution to Auspiciousness
The five concluding sections reverse the opening: forms born from the space of dharmakaya return to it, then reappear. Rinpoche's main lesson here is the seal of threefold purity that should close every practice.
Dissolving and Re-emerging
The triple HUNG dissolves body, speech and mind. Forms that were "already like rainbow light" melt like rainbows into space; the deity "has no physical form, intestines or inner organs." Mantra vanishes "like thunder in the sky." One rests in unborn awareness, "unimpeded openness," the mind of Samantabhadra.
With A A A one re-emerges "just like an electric light which was switched off is now turned back on," as a single figure of Samantabhadra. "Inseparable" means appearance and emptiness, sound and emptiness, awareness and emptiness.
- Dissolution cuts eternalism, the belief that things are permanent.
- Emergence cuts nihilism, the idea that "there are no past and future lives, no cause and effect of karma, that everything is just empty."
- All views in the world "can be condensed into these two, and we need to be free from these."
Dedication, Aspiration, Auspiciousness
The universe is five-coloured light; beings are the five male and female buddhas. One aspires to exhaust the two obscurations and awaken as Vajradhara, the unity of the two kayas. The closing verse wishes the auspiciousness of the empty essence, cognizant nature, manifold capacity and their inseparability.
The completion stage itself is described as resting in unborn awareness, unfabricated: the deity has "no physical form, intestines or inner organs," the mantra fades like thunder that has vanished, and what remains is Samantabhadra's unimpeded realization. Dedication then shares that merit with all beings, so the session ends where it began, in the view.
Every practice should be sealed with threefold purity: free of subject, object and action. Rinpoche is blunt: "realistically, unless one has recognized mind essence, there is no way that one can really do that," since whatever one imagines involves a doer, an object and an act. Even Anu Yoga works within those three spheres. Reciting the words of purity is not the same as resting in it.
The Zurgyen: Mending and Apology
The Zurgyen, "Side-Ornament," is inserted after the recitation. Rinpoche tells its history, explains its parts, and calls it the "louse-sized" sadhana: everything an elephant has, a louse has too.
Terma Should Go With Terma
The Kunzang Tuktig has three termas: the Leyjang sadhana, the empowerment texts and the guidance manual Dontri. In Chokgyur Lingpa's time, mending was done with his long terma Moonlight of Compassion. Karma Khenpo, a chief disciple and "emanation of Shantarakshita," later wrote one for Kunzang Tuktig. Samten Gyatso felt that "terma should go together with terma" and asked his younger brother Tersey Tulku to arrange a concise mending from Padmasambhava's own words, written at Radza Dzong-Go, where Rinpoche lived when young.
Activity Recitation
Recitation has three aspects: approach, accomplishment and activity. The Leyjang mantras cover the first two; the Zurgyen supplies the third. Light goes to "the object to be benefited," normally all sentient beings. Alongside the four activities is a fifth, overturning the depths of the lower worlds, with Vajrasattva's mantra, with appendages for hells, hungry ghosts and animals.
For empowerment or name-burning for the dead, a vase is consecrated. Masters with enough samadhi complete self, front and vase visualizations "in a single instant, as automatically as a reflection appearing in a clear mirror." Others follow the liturgy: a hundred-petalled lotus at the heart, mantra flowing along the dharani cord to the conch and vase. The vajra is dharmakaya, the conch's reflection sambhogakaya, the water nirmanakaya.
Apology and Mending
Apology (shagpa) purifies breaches of samaya; mending (kangwa) exhausts the causes of samsara. The apology has four parts: homage for body, Vajrasattva and the Lamenting Apology for speech, the Apology of the Expanse of the View for mind, and one for all three together.
| Mending substance | Symbolizes |
|---|---|
| Amrita | Aggression |
| Rakta | Desire |
| Torma | Stupidity |
| Butter lamp | Self-existing wakefulness |
The final Ultimate Mending of Dharmata gives the meaning of union and liberation: perceptions and emptiness are primordially indivisible, and ignorance is "killed" the moment rigpa is recognized. "Marigpa dies. That's the primordial liberation." The lamp aspiration follows: the lamp is rigpa, the darkness marigpa.
Do the main sadhana in the morning and the Zurgyen in the late afternoon. Together they are a complete daily practice of the peaceful and wrathful deities, and "after one year, you will have practised the totality... 360 times. An excellent target!"
Feast and Protectors
Tsok means gathering, a great heap of merit. Edibles stand for means, drinks for knowledge. Then come the deliverance offering, the residual offering, and the protector prayer Inexhaustible Garland of Lightning for Ekajati, Rahula and Vajrasadhu. Afterwards one returns to the Leyjang to dissolve and re-emerge, since everything arises from, abides in and dissolves into the sphere of the three kayas.
Practising Without a Shrine
The 1989 talk ends with practical advice: how to chant, what to insert, whether tunes and instruments matter, and what to do if you have no shrine at all. It closes on the relation of this sadhana to Trekcho and Togal.
How to Chant
"You just start at the beginning and go all the way through to the end. There's nothing that needs to be inserted or taken out." Use the Spontaneous Tune of the Yogi ("whatever tune you feel like") or Chokgyur Lingpa's Dzogchen tune. The tune is not there "to entice fickle-minded people," but if you have no gift for song, chant it straight; it is not indispensable.
- Before the lineage prayer. The Seven Line Supplication.
- After recitation. Apology and Mending, the protector petition A-Doma, then the feast; then back to dissolution.
- After at least 108 mantras. Ali-kali three times; the Ye Dharma mantra to stabilize blessings; offering and praise; the hundred-syllable mantra three times.
- Tools. A vajra and bell, "the complete manifestation of all the mandalas."
The Shrine You Always Have
"We don't need to despair if we don't have a real shrine." The special quality of this teaching is that the deities are within one's own mind and body. All sense experience can be mental offering. "The empty and cognizant qualities of the nature of mind are, by themselves, the nature of Samantabhadra and consort... One never lacks the shrine."
The Kunzang Dongyi Trinley, the ultimate sadhana, is simply to chant while remaining in rigpa; then all aspects are complete. "If emptiness is all right, everything is all right. If emptiness is not all right, nothing is all right."
Trekcho and Togal Later
Rinpoche will not pass on Trekcho and Togal like a reading transmission; they need the foundation of the preliminaries and yidam practice. Yet "Trekchö is something you already have received. It's simply the practice of recognizing and resting in mind essence." Togal is the source from which deities manifest. "If one does not cut through, one will not be able to cross directly"; without Trekcho, only "a short crossing."
Master Takeaways
Across two talks and the Zurgyen teaching, one idea recurs: the sadhana works because what it describes is already true. The liturgy is a structured way of recognizing the three kayas in sights, sounds and thoughts.
Twenty Takeaways
- Kunzang Tuktig is the Maha aspect of Ati: Dzogchen view, deity method.
- Concise is complete. Refined gold lacks nothing.
- Every sadhana has three parts, here fifteen sections.
- The prerequisites are faith, empowerment and pure samaya.
- Refuge is in the three kayas, until refuge and refuge-taker merge.
- Obstructers are thoughts; the expeller is awareness.
- Consecration dissolves concreteness, not dirt.
- The view comes first, as space comes before the elements.
- Ati style is light: "a slight little development stage."
- Each symbol has a meaning: aggregates, elements, consciousnesses.
- Pure perception is fact, not gold paint on wood.
- The deities are already present and will appear at death.
- Samaya being and wisdom being merge like water in water.
- Offerings purify our habits, not the deities' needs.
- Recitation carries sights, sounds and thoughts onto the path.
- Dissolve against eternalism, re-emerge against nihilism.
- Threefold purity needs recognition, not just words.
- The Zurgyen repairs samaya and adds the activity recitation.
- Morning sadhana, afternoon Zurgyen: 360 times a year.
- No shrine is needed; rigpa is the ultimate sadhana.
Frameworks in the Text
| Framework | Content | Chapter |
|---|---|---|
| Three inner yogas | Outer, body, thatness mandala | 1 |
| Lineage stages | Ground, path, fruition; four visions | 2 |
| Four offerings | Outer, inner, secret, thatness | 3 |
| Nine refuges | Outer, inner, secret | 4 |
| Gektor | Give, command, dispel, lock | 5 |
| Three samadhis | Suchness, illumination, seed | 7 |
| Kayas as figures | Samantabhadra; buddhas and bodhisattvas; munis | 8 |
| Threefold carrying | Deity, mantra, awareness | 11 |
| Two extremes | Eternalism and nihilism | 12 |
| Fourfold apology and mending | Body, speech, mind, all; four substances | 13 |
Who's Who
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Samantabhadra | Primordial buddha; centre of the peaceful mandala |
| Chemchok Heruka | Wrathful Samantabhadra; centre of the wrathful mandala |
| Padmasambhava | Composed and concealed the terma |
| Yeshe Tsogyal | Wrote it down and hid it |
| Chokgyur Lingpa | Revealed it at Yubaldrak, Namkhadzo, Dokham |
| Tsewang Norbu | Chokgyur Lingpa's son, lineage holder |
| Samten Gyatso | Rinpoche's uncle and root guru |
| Tersey Tulku | Arranged the Zurgyen |
| Karma Khenpo | Disciple of Chokgyur Lingpa; wrote an earlier mending and a commentary |
| Dilgo Khyentse | Wrote a commentary on the guidance manual |
These are transcribed oral teachings: tape changes leave gaps, Rinpoche sometimes hedges ("I believe"), and the 1982 and 1989 versions disagree on small points of colour and syllable. They also assume an empowered practitioner with the liturgy in hand. Read as a study aid, they are clear and humane, with a constant return to the view. Read as a substitute for empowerment and personal instruction, which Rinpoche insists on, they would be misused.