Images of Tibet in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Volume II

tudes thmatiques 22

Images of Tibet in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Volume II

Edited by Monica ESPOSITO

cole franaise dExtrme-Orient

2008

Images of Tibet in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Textes runis et prsents par Monica Esposito, Paris : cole franaise dExtrme-Orient, collection tudes thmatiques , 22, vol. II, 2008. 428 p. ; 27,5 18,5 cm. Notes en bas de page. Index. Illustrations. Rsums en anglais et en franais. ISBN : 9782855396743 ISSN : 1269-8067 Mots-cls : Reception of Buddhism, Tibet, Japan, China, West, Sino-Tibetan relations, Orientalism, Tibetology, Esoteric Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhist Art, Anthropology of Religion, History of Ideas

Ralisation : KOBAYASHI Tsuneyoshi

2008, cole franaise dExtrme-Orient. 22, avenue du Prsident Wilson, 75116 Paris, France http://www.efeo.fr/

VOLUME I

CONTENTS
x xiii xxi xxii

List of illustrations Introduction by Monica ESPOSITO Conventions Map of Tibet

WEST

5-60

Urs APP The Tibet of the Philosophers: Kant, Hegel, and Schopenhauer Isrun ENGELHARDT The Nazis of Tibet: A Twentieth Century Myth Elena DE ROSSI FILIBECK Tibet: The Ancient Island of Giuseppe Tucci Lionel OBADIA Esprit(s) du Tibet Le bouddhisme tibtain en France : topographies paradoxales, territorialisation et conomie de limaginaire tibtophile Hartmut WALRAVENS Some Notes on Early Tibetan Studies in Europe Donald S. LOPEZ, Jr. Tibetology in the United States of America: A Brief History

63-96

99-111

113-147

149-176

179-198

JAPAN 203-222

OKUYAMA Naoji The Tibet Fever among Japanese Buddhists of the Meiji Era
translated by Rolf Giebel

225-242

ONODA Shunz The Meiji Suppression of Buddhism and Its Impact on the Spirit of Exploration and Academism of Buddhist Monks
translated by Monica Esposito

245-262

FUKUDA Yichi The Philosophical Reception of Tibetan Buddhism in Japan

translated by Rolf Giebel

CHINA Part 1 267-300

SHEN Weirong & WANG Liping Background Books and a Books Background: Images of Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism in Chinese Literature Gray TUTTLE Tibet as the Source of Messianic Teachings to Save Republican China Ester BIANCHI Protecting Beijing: The Tibetan Image of YamntakaVajrabhairava in Late Imperial and Republican China Franoise WANG-TOUTAIN Comment Asaga rencontra Maitreya : contact entre bouddhisme chinois et tibtain au XXe sicle CHEN Bing The Tantric Revival and Its Reception in Modern China
translated by Monica Esposito

303-327

329-356

359-385

387-427

VOLUME II

CONTENTS
CHINA 433-471

Part 2

LUO Tongbing The Reformist Monk Taixu and the Controversy about Exoteric and Esoteric Buddhism in Republican China Monica ESPOSITO rDzogs chen in China: From Chan to Tibetan Tantrism in Fahai Lamas (1920-1991) Footsteps Henry C. H. SHIU Tibetan Buddhism in Hong Kong: The Polarity of Two Trends of Practice YAO Lixiang The Development and Evolution of Tibetan Buddhism in Taiwan
translated by Liu Jingguo

473-548

551-577

579-609

611-681

CHEN Qingying and WANG Xiangyun Tibetology in China: A Survey

TIBET 687-704

Erberto LO BUE Tibetan Aesthetics versus Western Aesthetics in the Appreciation of Religious Art Karnina KOLLMAR-PAULENZ Uncivilized Nomads and Buddhist Clerics: Tibetan Images of the Mongols in the 19th and 20th Centuries

707-724

727-745

Patricia BERGER Reincarnation in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction: The Career of the Narthang Panchen Lama Portraits Antonio TERRONE Tibetan Buddhism beyond the Monastery: Revelation and Identity in rNying ma Communities of Present-day Kham Sabina RAGAINI Life and Teachings of Tashi Dorje: A Dzogchen Tulku in 20th Century Kham Matthew T. KAPSTEIN Tibetan Tibetology? Sketches of an Emerging Discipline Index of Proper Names List of Contributors

747-779

781-796

799-815

817-856 858-859

rDzogs chen in China: From Chan to Tibetan Tantrism in Fahai Lamas (1920-1991) footsteps In Southeast China, on the slopes of the Southern Celestial-Eye Mountains (Nan TianmushanZhejiang), there is a Chinese monastery founded by a Sino-Tibetan master known as Fahai Lama (1920-1991). After having received Chan Buddhist teachings from the monk Huiding, Fahai Lama was initiated by the sprul sku Gangs dkar rin po che (1893-1957) into the bKa brgyud and rNying ma traditions. In 1961, he withdrew into a cave located in the Southern Celestial-Eye Mountains where he devoted himself to rDzogs chen (Great Perfection) practices. This extraordinary contact point for modern Sino-Tibetan Buddhism provides the setting for our presentation and comparison of some religious practices and views of rDzogs chen and Chinese Buddhism. These data are presented on the basis of Chinese texts and manuscripts belonging to Fahai Lama. They concern mostly oral teachings about Tibetan Great Perfection conferred on Fahai Lama by Gangs dkar rin po che. The manuscripts presented here for the first time, are a precious tool for showing how rDzogs chen texts were translated and interpreted during the 1930s and 40s in China and how Tibetan rDzogs chen views and practices were perceived by the Chinese. Finally, this contribution provides the first annotated list of Sino-Tibetan rDzogs chen texts and manuscripts.

Le rDzogs chen en Chine : du Chan au Tantrisme tibtain sur les traces de Lama Fahai (1920-1991) Sur le versant sud des montagnes de lil Cleste (Nan Tianmushan), au sud-est de la Chine (Linan, Zhejiang), se trouve un monastre fond par un matre sino-tibtain connu sous le nom de Lama Fahai (1920-1991). Aprs avoir reu les enseignements du bouddhisme Chan dun moine nomm Huiding, Lama Fahai fut initi par le sprul sku Gangs dkar rin po che (1893-1957) aux traditions bKa brgyud et rNying ma. En 1961, il se retira dans une grotte sur les flancs du Nan Tianmushan pour se consacrer la pratique tibtaine du rDzogs chen ou de la Grande Perfection. Ce sanctuaire, dans lequel une rencontre extraordinaire entre le bouddhisme chinois et tibtain eut lieu vers la fin du XXe sicle, constitue le cadre de cette tude pour prsenter et comparer les points de vue et les pratiques de ces deux grandes traditions religieuses. Cette prsentation se fonde, en grande partie, sur des manuscrits recueillant les enseignements oraux donns par Gangs dkar rin po che Lama Fahai. Ces manuscrits sont un outil prcieux pour montrer comment les textes du rDzogs chen furent transmis pour la premire fois en Chine pendant les annes 1930 et 1940, et comment ils furent perus et interprts par les chinois vers la fin du sicle dernier. Cette tude se termine en dressant pour la premire fois une liste annote douvrages et de manuscrits rDzogs chen traduits du tibtain en chinois.

RDZOGS CHEN IN CHINA

IN FAHAI LAMAS (1920-1991) FOOTSTEPS FROM CHAN TO TIBETAN TANTRISM

Monica ESPOSITO*
t was a beautiful November day in 1988. One of my friends and I decided to take a bus at 9:00 a.m. from Hangzhou to Linan (Zhejiang province). We arrived at the Linan bus station after two hours and intended to continue to Yuhuangping where there was reported to be a Buddhist monastery of a so-called Fahai Lama . After a short interrogation at the office of the Peoples government (Renmin Zhengfu ), a policeman drove us to the house of the only declared Buddhist believer in Linan at that time: the wife of the Chinese medicine maker. She was delighted to meet Westerners who seemed to be Buddhist devotees. She appeared even more captivated by the strong and muscular body of my Italian friend. Turning to him, she said: You must be hungry, arent you? Lets have lunch first. We will go buy some food for the temple later. After the vegetarian lunch, which was hardly enjoyed by my well-built friend, we went to the market to buy some fruit, vegetables, and heavy bags of potatoes. I was wondering how we could reach the monastery with all this stuff. When I saw my new Chinese friendMiss Yangbuy some big pumpkins, I thought that a tractor was certainly waiting for us. But the look on the face of my friend, loaded with two huge bags on his back, seemed to indicate that he had no such hope. We began our ascent from the village of Guifangqiao around 3:30 in the afternoon. Miss Yang and I were talking in a friendly way, carrying some light bags of fruit and vegetables. My friend, under the weight of the huge bags of potatoes and pumpkins, followed some steps behind us. As we were climbing Miss Yang told me how some years ago she had met the lama, that her husband and sons disapproved of her visits to the lamas temple, and that they disliked the small Buddhist altar she had erected in the corner of the terrace at their house. But above all they did not like her religious beliefs. She turned proudly to me saying she did not feel ashamed, but people in Linan viewed unfavorably the establishment of this monastery of young nuns with an elderly lama who was said to have come from Tibet.
* I am grateful to Urs App, Anne-Marie Blondeau, Shen Weirong, Donatella Rossi, and Phyllis Brooks for their comments and suggestions.

Images of Tibet in the 19 th and 20 th Centuries Paris, EFEO, coll. tudes thmatiques (22.2), 2008, p. 473-548

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Some of them even insinuated that the lama was teaching sexual techniques and practicing them with his young nuns. After having said this to me she whispered in my ear: I think it is a bit strange: Fahai Lama is very different from the monks I usually meet on my pilgrimages. He likes joking and often makes sexual jokes. He has magical powers he can also cure diseases! Turning back to her normal voice she added, What matters is that there is finally a Buddhist temple in our vicinity where I can go whenever I like to make offerings. She gave a cheerful look at my friend who was breathing heavily under his load. After a short rest, we continued the second part of our climb. The closer we got, the more my curiosity about such a secluded place inhabited by a lama, maybe Tibetan, and his young nuns was growing. One and a half hours later we finally reached the gentle peak of the Southern Celestial-Eye Mountains (Nan Tianmushan ). The lama was standing in the late afternoon light waiting for us. With a smile he invited us to enter the hall of the monastery under construction. Shortly afterwards, much to his regret, my Italian friend was relegated to a small building site at the foot of the monastery where some workers and male disciples of the lama were lodging. Soon I found myself seated in cross-legged on the lamas bed, wrapped in a mosquito net and listening to his teachings. I was not at all certain that I was understanding what the lama was telling me. For a moment my thoughts focused on the small knot of flesh at the crown of his head wondering if it was a sign of his practical attainment or an ordinary cyst. The room was rather dark. There was only a small table with a bench and the bed where I was sitting. After a while a nun came in and left some small bowls with rice and vegetables on a simple table. After the meal, the lama took his leave of me and I ended up in the hall where Miss Yang was busily chatting with the young nuns. She introduced me to them and said, Everything is ready. We are going to receive the initiation tonight. That is what happened and that very night I decided to extend my sojourn at Fahai Lamas monastery. The present article is based on my field research and on materials and interviews collected between 1988-1991 and 1994-1996. On the basis of these data, I will discuss the reception of Tibetan Buddhism at this Chinese monastery through the story of its founder Fahai Lama who represents, as far as I know, a unique example of integration and accommodation of the most esoteric Tibetan teachings of rDzogs chen or Great Perfection (Ch. Dayuanman ) in a Chinese monastic setting. The presentation includes the foundation story of Fahai Lamas nunnery and a description of its daily life as well as Fahai Lamas views on Chan and Tantrism with a special focus on his rDzogs chen or Great Perfection transmission.1
A first draft of parts of this article, in particular the biography of Fahai Lama and his teachings on thod rgal, were presented in A Sino-Tibetan Tradition in China in the Southern Celestial-Eye Mountains: A First Comparison between Great Perfection (rDzogs chen) and Taoist Techniques of Light (paper presented at the Conference on Tantra and Daoism: The Globalization of Religion and Its Experience, Boston University, April 19-22, 2002). See also Monica Esposito, Una tradizione di rDzogs-chen in Cina. Una nota sul Monastero delle Montagne dellOcchio Celeste, Asiatica Venetiana 3 (1998): 221-224.
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A Short Biography of Fahai Lama

Very little is known about that lama whom I met standing in his red garments in the late afternoon light [Fig. 1]. Even the origin of his name, Fahai Lama, remains a mystery. He has not written about his life but in November 1984 he dictated some information to one of his disciples.2 All biographical data we have stem from conversations with his disciples. After his death such information was collected and published in a free booklet (printed in two thousand copies) entitled Mianhuai Fahai shangshi or In Memory of Guru Fahai. According to this booklet, Fahai Lama (1920-1991) was born in Qinghai (Tib. A mdo) into a very poor family, probably from a Tibetan mother and a Chinese father. According to some of his disciples his father was a Chinese translator of Tibetan.3 At age six he was sent to the dGe lugs pa (Ch. huangjiao ) monastery at Taersi (Tib. sKu bum) to guard sheep. When he was nine years old he took the novitiate vows under the guidance of Anjia huofo (Tib. Am skya sprul sku?).4 Around the age of thirteen he left Taersi and took the road for the south-east along with a Chinese Fig. 1: Fahai Lama at Qianfo chansi. monk called Xindao (i.e., Li Anxiang (Photo offered by Fahai Lama to the author, August 1991) , 1905-1968).5 Once he arrived in Fujian
This is a manuscript on the life of Huiding , Fahai Lamas Chan master (see note 6), and titled Xiandai gaoseng Huiding fashi chengjiu zhuan [Biography of the realized master Huiding, a contemporary eminent monk]. It was recorded by Xiaoyin at the dictation of Fahai Lama on November, 6, 1984. In the summer of 1991, during my last sojourn at the monastery when I asked Fahai Lama to tell me more about his life, he gave me a copy of this manuscript. The last chapter on the views of Fahai Lama on Chan and Tantrism is reproduced in Appendix 1 and partially translated in the sections below. My thanks to Rev. Folian for sharing with me the majority of Fahai Lamas manuscripts and documents. See also Appendix 2. 3 Shangshi Fahai Lama shengping jianshu [Rsum on the life of the Guru Fahai Lama], recorded by Foci jushi on the oral transmission of Dong Jingbiao , in Mianhuai Fahai shangshi [In memory of Guru Fahai] (Hong Kong, 1995): 16-17, here 16; and Jingang shangshi Fahai Lama shengqian [Life of the Tantric Guru Fahai Lama], orally transmitted by the monk Folai , revised by the monk Fodao , recorded by Folian , in Mianhuai Fahai shangshi, 18-20, here 18. 4 The name of this master is only recorded by Fori (i.e., Chen Bing ), Mianhuai Fahai shangshi [In memory of Guru Fahai], in Mianhuai Fahai shangshi, 6-15. This article was previously published in the review Fayin 103 (1993.3): 11-16 and available at http://www.plm. org.hk/qikan/fayin/gindex.htm. See also the contribution by Chen Bing on pp. 406-407. 5 The name of the monk who brought Fahai Lama to China was originally given in Fori
2

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he went to Gushan and joined its Buddhist Institute (Foxueyuan ) where he met the Chan master Huiding , a disciple of the famous master Xuyun (1840-1959).6 Huiding gave him the Dharma name ( faming ) Miaokong and appointed him as one of his assistant secretaries [Fig. 2].7 He was then responsible for recording Huidings commentaries on Buddhist sutras, and at the age of nineteen he followed his master to Jiangxi to spread the Dharma.8 Some years later Fahai became abbot of the Yuantongsi (in the Nanhai xinggong of Nanchang , Jiangxi province) and, with the help of lay devotees he established in Nanchang a Buddhist Association with Huiding as president and himself as vicepresident. Both of them were in charge of a review called Juewu .9 It was around that time that the bKa brgyud (Ch. baijiao ) sprul sku (Ch. huofo ) Gangs dkar rin po che (1893-1957; see Fig. 3), known in Chinese as Gongga Shangshi or Gongga Hutukutu (Khutukhtu) , came to Nanchang to lecture on Tibetan Buddhism.10 Fahai felt a profound affinity with this Tibetan master, and after
(i.e., Chen Bing, Mianhuai Fahai shangshi, 10) as Daoxing . According to Chen Bing the name Daoxing is a mistake for Xindao; see the contribution by Chen Bing on p. 407 note 79. Chen Bing also recalls that Fahai told him that he left Taersi because he was not satisfied with dGe lug pas interests (cravings) and decided to search for another path of liberation elsewhere (see Fori, Mianhuai Fahai shangshi, 10). 6 Huiding was born in the Anle prefecture (Hubei ). When he was 7 years old, he became monk. At 14 years old, he was ordained by Jingyue at the Zhanghuasi of Yichang (Hubei). Later, he went to Jiangxi at the Gaomingsi . Afterwards he reached Fujian and, at the Yongquansi of Gushan, he received Chan teachings from Xuyun (Xiandai gaoseng Huiding fashi chengjiiu zhuan, 1-27). For a biography on Xuyun see Charles Luk and Richard Hunn, Empty Cloud, the Autobiography of the Chinese Zen Master Xuyun (Longmead: Element Books 1988). According to some disciples Fahai Lama, after having realized Chans three barriers (on this term see note 143), received the seal ( yinzheng ) from Huiding and Xuyun (see Fori, Mianhuai Fahai shangshi, 10). He withdrew for three years with his master Huiding at Gushan, and before leaving Fujian he devoted himself to the seven meditation practices (dachanqi ) at Mount Xuefeng . See Shangshi Fahai Lama shengping jianshu, 16. 7 Shangshi Fahai Lama shengping jianshu, 16. On the transmission of the Dharma names see Holmes Welch, Dharma scroll and the successions of abbots in Chinese monasteries, Toung pao 50 (1963): 93-149, here 136-140, and The Practice of Chinese Buddhism (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1967): 279-281. According to Fori (Mianhuai Fahai shangshi, 10), the Dharma name Miaokong belongs to the Yunmen tradition and corresponds to the same generation of masters like Foyuan and Jinghui . 8 See Shangshi Fahai Lama shengping jianshu, 16. 9 Shangshi Fahai Lama shengping jianshu, 16-17 10 Gangs dkar rin po che, Karma bshad sprul chos kyi seng ge, the fifth incarnation of the sprul sku from Bo Gangs dkar monastery [Fig. 4] was a famous Tibetan master who often came to China for transmitting Tibetan teachings. According to the biography written by his disciple Mi nyag mgon po (Bo Gangs dkar sprul skui rnam thar dad pai pad dkar, Beijing: Mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1997), Gangs dkar rin po che came to China three times. The first time, from 1936 to 1939, he visited many places, and it seems that he passed through Nanchang before returning to his monastery in 1939. The second time was in 1946-49, and the third time in 1953-55. More on this master in Carmen Meinert, Gangs dkar rin po che between Tibet and China, in Buddhism Between Tibet and China, ed. Matthew T. Kapstein (Boston: Wisdom Publications 2008). The

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Fig. 2: Miaokong, the young Fahai Lama. (Photo offered by Fahai Lama to the author, November 1988)

Fig. 3: Gangs dkar rin po che. (Source: Yangdui , Hong Kong/ Taibei: Tantrayana Publications, 19811985, vol. 3)

a while he left Nanchang in order to visit his monastery11 on Mount Gangs dkar in the region of Mi nyag (todays Liuba district of Xikang [Tib. Khams]; see
contemporary Tibetan master, Namkhai Norbu (b. 1938) met him when he was invited to China in 1954. He heard from Gangs dkar rin po che many explanations on the sixfold yogas of Nropa, Mahmudr, the dKon mchog spyi dus, as well as Tibetan medicine; see Namkhai Norbu, The Cycle of Day and Night, trans. & ed. John M. Reynolds (New York: Station Hill Press, 1987): 95100, here 98. It is worthy of attention that Namkhai Norbu gives for Gangs dkar rin po che the dates 1903-1956. On the works transmitted by Gangs dkar rin po che in China, see Appendix 2. For a biography on Gangs dkar rin po che see also the contribution by Chen Bing on p. 400, and Chen Jifu , et al. Fujiao guangjue chanshi Xikang Gongka hutuketu benzhuan (extracts of which are available at http://fo.usard.com/Gongge.html and http://www.nuona.com/nuona/Article_Show.asp?ArticleID=187). See also note 11. 11 According to Shangshi Fahai Lama shengping jianshu (p. 16), Fahai Lama was 29 years old when he went to see Gangs dkar rin po che. According to Jingang shangshi Fahai Lama (p. 18), he was 26 years old. Fori [Chen Bing] (Mianhuai Fahai shangshi, 10) originally mentioned that it was in the 40s that Fahai Lama went to see Gangs dkar rin po che, but in his contribution to this volume (p. 337 and note 81) he asked me to revise it to 1949. This date is supported by the Chinese biography on Gangs dkar rin po che by Wang Desheng (available at http://nanshi.shixiu.net/download/). According to the biography of Huiding (Xiandai gaoseng Huiding fashi, 27; Appendix 1, [1]), Fahai said that he was at that time more or less twenty years old ( ) . Thus I follow the dates that seem in agreement with Fahai Lamas own record as well as with the life of Gangs dkar rin po che who visited China for the first time during 1936-39 (and Nanchang in 1939). See also note 10. The date 1949 may refer to the second time Fahai Lama was said to go to see Gangs dkar rin po che (see below).

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Fig. 4: Gangs dkar monastery, Mi nyag region [Khams]. (Photo by M. Esposito, September 1994)

Fig. 4).12 Fahai was introduced by Gangs dkar rin po che to bKa brgyud and rNying ma (Ch. hongjiao ) esoteric practices before withdrawing into a cave on Mount Gangs dkar.13 Very little is known about the time he spent there. In an interview I conducted in 1994 with Mi nyag mgon po, a disciple of Gangs dkar rin po che and author of his biography, he told me that he had some memories of a Chinese monk called Miaokong (i.e., Fahai Lama).14 The fact that Mi nyag mgon po remembered him under the name of Miaokong indicates that at that time he was not yet known as Fahai Lama. It is difficult to know when, how, and from whom he received this name. What is interesting is that the choice of such a name seems to point to an harmonizaIn September 1994 when Jean-Luc Achard and I visited Gangs dkar monastery in the framework of a research mission supported by CNRS European project, we realized that there were in reality two monasteries named Gangs dkar: the more ancient is located east at the summit of Mount Gangs dkar (7,556 meters) while the second one, at its foot, named in Chinese Gonggasi , was built during the Ming (1368-1643); see Zhou Xiyin et al. (eds.), Zangchuan fojiao siyuan ziliao xuanbian [Selected materials of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries] (Chengdu: Sichuansheng minzu shiwu weiyuanhui, 1989): 29. The monastery at the foot [Fig. 4] was the official center of Gangs dkar rin po ches tradition. It is in its lha khang that the mummy of Gangs dkar rin po che is still kept. According to Mi nyag mgon po, the site at the summit of Mount Gangs dkar was abandoned at the beginning of the 20th century. It was mainly used for spiritual retreats but it also served for festivals and dance performances at least until 1950. 13 Fori (Mianhuai Fahai shangshi, 12) tells that Fahai Lama used to speak freely of his past faults and delusions. Once he told him that when he was in a cave on Mount Gangs dkar, while everybody was taking only two meals for a day and did not fall asleep in the night, he was the only one who was taking three meals for a day and fall asleep in the night. 14 I am indebted to Heather Stoddard for having introduced me to Mi nyag mgon po and for her help in translating parts of this interview. See also the previous notes 10 and 12.
12

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tion of Chan and Tantrism since, as is well known, Fahai was traditionally regarded as one of the leading disciples of the Sixth Chan Patriarch Huineng,15 and Lama (Tib. bla ma, Skt. guru) stands for the spiritual master, the holder of a Tantric lineage who has the authority to transmit and initiate into the esoteric tradition of the tantra. According to Mi nyag mgon po, Miaokong did not talk a lot and was very devoted to practice. He took notes on everything Gangs dkar rin po che said. As he could not speak Tibetan, people translated for him. However, he could talk to and understand Gangs dkar rin po che because the latter could speak Chinese. For practice, Gangs dkar rin po che taught him in Chinese. He transmitted to him the Mahmudr; the yoga of the channels, energies and luminous spheres (Tib. rtsa rlung thig le); and rDzogs chen along with the transmission of the Ye shes bla ma.16 It is unknown how long Fahai Lama was able to stay at the monastery because in the seventh month of 1950 the Chinese occupying army arrived. Mi nyag mgon po was no longer there at that time and he did not know when Fahai Lama left. According to some Fahai Lamas disciples, Fahai Lama stayed at Gangs dkar around five years (from 1940s to 1945) before going to Shanghai where he worked at a medical institute located in the area of Ningbeilu and Henan zhonglu . This was the time when Chinese traditional medicine and the so-called qigong (practice/manipulation of breath-vital energy) began to be promoted by the government; Fahai Lama was known there as an expert in both qigong and acupuncture. Under the guise of a physician he could transmit Buddhist teachings during the fondation years of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC).17 At the beginning of the 50s Fahai Lama decided to return to Khams. But after arriving in Chengdu he learned that the Tibetan region had been occupied by the Red Army and that Gangs dkar rin po che had been indicted and put under house arrest. He was thus obliged to make his way back to Shanghai.18 In 1961 he withdrew into the Southern
John McRae, The Ox-Head School of Chinese Chan Buddhism: From Early Chan to the Golden Age, in Studies in Chan and Hua-yen, eds. Robert M. Gimello and Peter N. Gregory (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1983): 169-252, here 189-191. 16 More on this transmission below. For the Ye shes bla ma see also note 52 and Appendix 2, texts n 2, 15 and 18. 17 Jingang shangshi Fahai Lama shengqian, 19. Fahai Lamas medical ability seems also to have been improved thanks to therapeutic methods he received from his Tibetan master Gangs dkar rin po che (see note 10). For a presentation of qigong and its link with Chinese traditional medicine and Chinese government see David Palmer, La fivre du qigong (Paris: ditions de lcole des Hautes tudes en Sciences Sociales, 2005, now also available in English as Qigong Fever: Body Science and Utopia in China, New York: Columbia University Press, 2007), and below. It seems that when Fahai Lama withdrew to the Southern Celestial-Eye Mountains he used to cure local people and was known as doctor La (La yisheng ). See Fori, Mianhuai Fahai shangshi, 10. 18 Shangshi Fahai Lama shengping jiangshu, 16. One may assume that this refers to a short visit Fahai Lama made in 1949 with a group of Chinese monks as described by Wang Desheng (see note 11). Mi nyag mgon po in his interview seems to remember this visit as he added that Chinese monks including Miaokong (i.e., Fahai Lama) could not stay longer than 1950. At that time Gangs dkar rin po che was put under house arrest. For a concise description of events in Tibet during the Chinese Communist invasion see Melvyn C. Goldstein and
15

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Fig. 5: Qianfo chansi , the Thousand Buddhas Monastery. (Photo by M. Esposito, January 1989)

Celestial-Eye Mountains (Nan tianmushan ).19 During a long retreat that lasted until the end of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), Fahai practiced in a cave on the mountain-peak named Taijidong (Great Ultimate cave) that had earlier been occupied by the Daoist Yang Yuanhe .20 During this time his Chan master Huiding was with him. It was in front of this cave that Fahai eventually decided to establish his own monastery [Fig. 5 and Figs. 6-7].

The Foundation of Qianfo chansi, the Thousand Buddhas Monastery

Fahai recalled that one day during his long retreat when he was absorbed in meditation, he had a vision of Vajrayogin (Tib. rDo rje rnal byor ma)21 who revealed to him that the Southern Celestial-Eye Mountains (Nan Tianmushan) were a sanctuary
M. Kapstein (eds.), Buddhism in Contemporary Tibet (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), in particular the Introduction by Goldstein, 1-14. 19 Xiandai gaoseng Huiding fashi, 27; see Appendix 1. In the Shangshi Fahai Lama shengping jianshu (p. 16), it is said that in 1958 Fahai Lama withdrew into the Southern CelestialEye Mountains (Nan Tianmushan), and that in 1964 he decided to settle there. 20 On the connection between Fahai Lama, the Daoist Yang Yuanhe, and the qigong, see Monica Esposito, Il qigong, la nuova scuola taoista delle cinque respirazioni (Padua: Muzzio, 1995): 70-71, and 138 note 3. 21 Vajrayogin is associated with the cycle of Hevajra and is the doublet of Vajravrh (Ch. Jingang haimu , Tib. rDor je phag mo). She has red and yellow forms. For an iconographic description of both, see Therse Malmann, Introduction liconographie du tantrisme bouddhique (Paris: Librairie dAmerique et dOrient A. Maisonneuve, 1975): 431-433. For a Chinese representation see below p. 525, Fig. 20.

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Fig. 6: Taijidong , the Great Ultimate cave. (Photo by M. Esposito, April 1996)

Fig. 7: Fahai Lama and his disciples in front of Taijidong. (Source: Mianhuai Fahai shangshi )

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empowered by her and thus particularly propitious for Great Perfection practices.22 For that reason Fahai Lama told his disciples, he mainly devoted himself to rDzogs chen during his retreat there. Furthermore he learned from Vajrayogins revelation that the site of Southern Celestial-Eye Mountains was an ideal place for womens practices related to the development of Great Perfection visions.23 When the Chinese government changed its religious affairs policy and allowed the rebuilding of temples and monasteries, the Southern Celestial-Eye Mountain range was, in spite of its Daoist background, officially recognized as a Buddhist sanctuary.24 From 1976 on, this site began to be visited by Buddhist lay devotees and monks who had heard about Fahai Lamas achievements. Since the majority of visitors happened to be nuns, Fahai Lama decided to build a nunnery in accordance with Vajrayogins prophecy and thus to transmit his teachings particularly to women. Hence, the Qianfo chansi or Thousand Buddhas Monastery was established as the first center of Sino-Tibetan practices for nuns, though Fahai Lama also planned to erect monastic buildings for monks at a later time. In fact he planned to build a large monastic community for thousands of nuns and monks with a Meditation Hall (chantang ), a Buddha Recitation Hall (nianfo tang ) and a Tantric Shrine (mizong dian ) in order to practice the three traditions of Chan, Pure Land, and Tantrism together. He also wished to provide hospitality and support for old retired people. 25 Unfortunately this big project could not be achieved. In 1991, after Fahai Lamas death, the community of nuns dispersed. The monastery is nowadays guarded by an old monk and some lay devotees who take care of the commemorative stupa built to preserve Fahai Lamas relics and hope for tourism to pick up. How did Fahai Lama organize life in his Sino-Tibetan monastery? What kind of Tibetan Tantric teachings was he conveying? How were these teachings harmonized with Chinese Buddhism?

Daily Life at the Thousand Buddhas Monastery

During my stay at Fahai Lamas monastery the nuns woke up at 3:30 in the morning. At 4:00 the morning chanting service (zaoke ) began. A very light breakfast consisting of rice congee and pickles was served in the main hall on the
Shangshi Fahai Lama shengping jianshu, 16. On these practices, see below. 24 From 1979 there was a change in government policy towards religion and on this new wave of liberation Chinese monasteries began to be restored. For a study on a Chinese monastery of dGe lugs tradition in Sichuan and the life of a nun called Longlian (1909-2006), who also passed through Chinese Cultural Revolution, see Ester Bianchi, The Iron Statue Monastery (Florence: Leo S. Olschki, 2001). 25 See Fori, Mianhuai Fahai shangshi, 10-11. It seems that this refers to the project of establishing a qigong sanatorium for old retired cadres ( ganbu). The Chinese government via Linan local authorities was involved in this project which took shape during the 80s and 90s within the so-called qigong fever outbreak. See also below; more on this phenomenon in D. Palmers La fivre du qigong.
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ground floor which was used as combined refectory, place of transmission of teachings and study, service hall, etc. After this first meal of the day, every nun was free to return to her room and dedicate herself to daily tasks until 9:00 a.m. The majority of nuns practiced koutou or prostrations on wooden boards in a relatively large common room at the second floor [Fig. 8]. Others sat in meditation or practiced the sixfold yoga of Nropa (Ch. liu chengjiu fa , Tib. N ro chos drug; see Fig. 9). In the main hall on the ground floor a small group of nuns gathered to practice the so-called Vajra-boxing ( jingang quan ), a simple qigong exercise. In a standing position with the feet open in line with the shoulders, they concentrated on the cinnabar field (dantian ) below the navel before raising their hands to chest height. Waving their hands forward, backward, left, and right, they visualized the heart as an opening lotus. Others in the same hall were studying or copying sacred texts. At 9:00 a.m. the recitation of texts began in the main hall, and after that, Fahai Lama taught Buddhist sutras (i.e., xianjiao or exoteric teachings) until lunch time, i.e., 11:30. After the vegetarian meal, the nuns were again free if they were not assigned to menial work that day. The afternoon was often dedicated to the study of the texts and to copying manuscripts that the lama had transmitted. Around 4:00 p.m., a second session of reciting sacred scriptures began, followed by the evening chanting service (wanke ) at 5:00. A frugal meal composed mainly of plain rice took place at 6:00 p.m. After that the nuns had a little free time before assembling in the main hall to listen to Fahai Lamas esoteric teachings

Fig. 8: Nuns practicing koutou at Qianfo chansi. (Photo by M. Esposito, August 1989)

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Fig. 9: Rev. Folian practicing the sixfold yoga of Nropa at Qianfo chansi. (Photo by M. Esposito, August 1989)

known under the generic appellation of mizong .26 These consisted of initiation ceremonies, Tantric empowerments and transmissions on Vajrayogin, commentaries on the sixfold yoga of Nropa, on Mahmudr (Ch. Dashouyin ), and finally on rDzogs chen or Great Perfection (Ch. Dayuanman ). These teachings were often scheduled between 9:00 and 11:00 p.m. but sometimes they could last until midnight. Their duration was completely dependent on Fahai Lamas disposition that day. [Fig. 10] The monastic life was thus apparently following the rules of a normal Chinese Buddhist monastery, but with two exceptions. Firstly, a strong emphasis was given to psycho-physiological practices like yoga, qigong, and koutou. Secondly, Buddhist teachings were clearly divided into xianjiao or exoteric teachings, which were taught during the day (often including Fahai Lamas favorite sutras: Lotus Sutra and Flower Adornment Sutra [Avatasaka-stra]), and mijiao or esoteric teachings taught at night. These so-called esoteric teachings mainly involved, as mentioned above, Tibetan Tantric teachings. For nuns, monks and lays devotees at Qianfo chansi, Tantrism
Chinese masters refer to all kinds of Tibetan practices under the appellation of mizong. This term refers both to Tantric or esoteric Buddhist teachings of the Far-East and to the specific Esoteric Teaching (mijiao) which was flourishing at the Tang court in a climate far from Tibetan influence. See Michel Strickmann, Mantras et mandarins (Paris: Gallimard, 1996): 32, 70, and Tachikawa Musashi and Yoritomi Motohiro (eds.), Chgoku mikky [Chinese esoteric Buddhism] (Tokyo: Shunkansha, 1999). See also the contributions by Chen Bing and Luo Tongbing. For a critical view on this term, see the Appendix 1 entitled On Esoteric Buddhism, in Robert Sharf, Coming to Terms with Chinese Buddhism (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2002): 263-278.
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Fig. 10: Fahai Lamas teaching session at Qianfo chansi. (Photo by M. Esposito, November 1988)

was synonymous with Tibetan esoteric practices. Generally mizong referred to practices focusing on visualization, on the circulation of qi and its subtle channels like, for instance, the yoga of Nropa, the koutou, but also the qigong exercise of the Vajraboxing.27 At the summit a more complex and esoteric system, known to them as Dayuanman (rDzogs chen), was taught by Fahai Lama only on special occasions and was regarded as the core of his Tibetan Tantric tradition. Before presenting Fahai Lamas transmission of rDzogs chen, which was unique to Qianfo chansi, it is important to discuss how Fahai Lama sought to reconcile Tantrism and the esoteric teachings he received from his Tibetan master Gangs dkar rin po che with Chan and Mahayana Buddhism in general, and how he explained this to his Chinese community. Being first of all a disciple of the Chinese Chan master Huiding, the challenge of harmonizing Chan and Tantrism was part of his experience. The only written trace of Fahai Lamas view of this problem is in a fragmentary biography dedicated to his master Huiding and entitled Xiandai gaoseng Huiding fashi chengjiu zhuan (Biography of the realized master Huiding, a
It seems that this view of amalgamating Tibetan Buddhism under the generic term of mizong view which is still very common in todays China and Taiwanwas not shared by all Chinese Buddhist masters. According to Franoise Wang-Toutain (Quand les matres chinois sveillent au bouddhisme tibtain, Bulletin de lcole franaise dExtrme-Orient 87.2, 2000: 707-727, here 725), when Qing Buddhist masters like Dayong, Fazun, Nenghai and their friends began to show interest in Tibetan Buddhism (in particular dGe lugs pa), they regarded it not only from the point of view of esoteric practices but also as a philosophical system which had conserved the original Indian teaching. On these dGe lugs pa Chinese masters see also the contributions by Franoise Wang-Toutain, Chen Bing, Luo Tongbing, and Onoda Shunz.
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contemporary eminent monk). It was recorded by his disciple Xiaoyin at the dictation of Fahai Lama on November, 6, 1984. As Chinese Buddhist master of 20th-century China, Fahai Lama explains in very simple words what, according to him, the essence of Tantric teachings consists of. Due to its importance, I summarize in the following sections the content of this document in form of a free translation of some of its passages related to this topic and included in its last chapter 5. The original Chinese manuscript has been reproduced in Appendix 1. Paragraphs numbers have been inserted in square brackets to facilitate orientation in the original Chinese text.28

How to Reconcile Chan with Tantrism29

Let us go back [1] to 1961 when Fahai Lama, already back in China from the Tibetan regions, withdrew to Yuhuangping, into the Great Ultimate cave (Taijidong) of the Southern Celestial-Eye Mountains (Nan Tianmushan) with his Chan master Huiding. One day Fahai Lama, knowing that his master Huiding could not yet understand why, after having received Chan teachings from him, he still wanted to go to Tibet and study Tantrism with Gangs dkar rin po che, said to Huiding: Why did you, after Chan realization, want to listen to Huayan teachings? 30 Huiding did not answer but for Fahai Lama it was clear that Huiding did not regard mizong as a Buddhist teaching worth studying. Huiding was familiar with the path of accumulation of merits in Mahayana Buddhism but he knew little about the esoteric path. For that reason Fahai Lama tried to explain to him that, though Chan and Tantrism were different in their views and practices, both were worthy of study. [2] Chan focuses on mind: the mind is the Buddha and there is no Buddha beyond the mind. This is why Chan is defined as enlightening the mind to see your original nature (mingxin jianxing ), and seeing your nature to become Buddha ( jianxing chengfo ). By contrast, the esoteric path emphasizes the importance of the body as the medium to realize the truth and can be thus defined by becoming Buddha in this body ( jishen chengfo ).31 If Mahayana-ordained monks and nuns can devote themselves to practice only once they cut off the source of delusion and Chan meditation can be seen like the means to cut off such sourceslike removing a stone which does not allow the grass to growTantrism make use of delusions and see them as the marvelous activity of nirvana. The body is the abode of all truth and it is there that the mind resides too. To understand this, one has to know and experience the body and its psycho-physiological structure.
Xiandai gaoseng Huiding fashi, 27-36. On this material see also note 2 and Appendix 1. For this section see Appendix 1, [1-8]. 30 This refers to an episode in the life of Huiding. He was asked by master Xuyun why after having obtained the enlightenment he still wanted to listen to the Huayan jing or Flower Adornment Sutra (Avatasaka-stra). Huiding answered Xuyun that the reason was that one should continue to study Buddhism (Xiandai gaoseng Huiding fashi, 19-20). 31 The core of the esoteric path is in fact underlined by this expression that forms the title of the important work by Kkai , the Sokushin-jbutsu-gi . See the annotated translation of this work by Hisao Inagaki, Kkais Principle of Attaining Buddhahood with the Present Body (Kyoto: Ryukoku University, 1975).
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Fahai Lama introduced his master Huiding to [4] the system of the seventytwo thousand channels,32 [5] the circulation of prana or qi in Chinese, and [6] the role of white and red bindu (Ch. mingdian , luminous spheres).33 If Chan via its meditation works on the mind to cut off the source of delusion, [8] Tantrism via its yogic techniques works on channels, prana, and bindu (Ch. mai , qi , mingdian , Tib. rtsa, rlung, thig le) because they are the source of delusion as vehicles of consciousness. [5] Channels, prana, and bindu make possible everything from the movement of the limbs to the movement of the mind.34 [7] Tranquil and agitated minds are manifestations of these three. Channels, prana and bindu are at the source of human suffering in this world and of the manifestation of samsara with its six realms; but at the same time, if they are cultivated they produce bodhicitta, the enlightened mind. They are the source of delusion and the source of liberation. [4] Among the channels, the most important is the central channelCh. zhongmai ) that runs from the genitals to the crown of the head. Parallel to it there are the left (Ch. zuomai ) and right channels (Ch. youmai ) which wrap around it creating constrictions. At these points of constriction there is also a network of smaller channels that prevent the prana or qi from circulating smoothly. It is then important to open the channels and make the qi circulate smoothly without obstructions because in [8] Tantrism one has to cultivate both the path of no interruption (Ch. wujian dao , Tib. bar chad med [pai] lam) and the path of liberation (Ch. jietuo dao , Tib. rnam grol lam).35 This was the first explanation of Tantrism that Fahai Lama conveyed to his master Huiding but it did not seem to produce any effects on him nor stimulate any curiosity in him.

32 In general, Hindu and Buddhist tantras agree as to the total number of the channels, i.e., seventy-two thousand, but there are also other systems and numbers. See for instance, S.B. Dasgupta, An Introduction to Tantric Buddhism (Calcutta: University of Calcutta, 1950): 169-174, and Tara Michal, Nadi, in Dictionnaire de lsotrisme, ed. Jean Servier (Paris: Presse Universitaire de France, 1998): 907-911. 33 The red bindu refer to blood and belong to the right channel; they have the function of heating the body. The white bindu consist of saliva and body fluids; they reside in the left channel and have the function of producing spiritual bliss. When they enter the central channel they can bring perfection (chengjiu ). See Xiandai gaoseng Huiding fashi, 28, Appendix 1, [6]. 34 The text goes into more detail explaining the five basic breaths (wugen benqi ) and the five motility breaths (wuzhi fenqi ). See Xiandai gaoseng Huiding fashi, 28-29, Appendix 1. The aim of Fahai Lama was to make Huiding understand the Tantric concept of body-mind in general terms (Xiandai gaoseng Huiding fashi, 28, Appendix 1, [5]). A specific system of visionary anatomy will be presented below in the context of the Great Perfection or rDzogs chen transmission. 35 See Xiandai gaoseng Huiding fashi, 29, Appendix 1, [8]. The path of liberation ( jietuo dao) is one of the graduated paths of practice which appears in various Yogcra texts. By following upon the instantaneous or uninterrupted path (wujian dao) one gains, after the path of initiation of practices, the determination to destroy the afflictions and one is instantly liberated from the latter; see Charles Muller (ed.), Digital Dictionary of Buddhism, at http://www.buddhism-dict.net.

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From Mantra Recitation to Tantric Initiation36

[9] Master Huiding, who had for decades never changed his Chan affiliation, did not show much understanding of Tantrism and thought that Tantrism was just something related to the recitation of mantras. [10] Fahai Lama told Huiding that Tantrism consisted of something more than reciting mantras and included a variety of principles and doctrines. Having heard this, Huiding asked Fahai Lama to explain them to him. Fahai Lama felt quite uncomfortable about such a request. How could it be possible that Huiding, who had a full understanding of Chan, still did not know that esoteric teachings, as the innermost spiritual experience beyond verbalization and conceptualization could not be explained; and could be transmitted only via initiation? When Fahai told Huiding this, the latter reacted by saying: Please forgive me. Go ahead with your Tantric studies and I with my Chan practice. We still have many things to do together. [11] Although Huiding was apparently satisfied with this, Fahai Lama felt that Huiding still had doubts; he could not yet understand why his own disciple Fahai Lama continued to study Tantrism and why he continued to pursue something that was not orthodox. At the same time, Huiding probably also felt a kind of pity for his disciple who, after having realized Chan, abandoned it to study Tantrism. In contrast, from Fahai Lamas viewpoint, there was no contradiction in his choice: it was clear to him that both Chan and Tantrism were necessary, and he felt that the moment was nigh to make Huiding understand it once and for all. [12] Two days later Fahai knocked at the door of Huiding with a new strategy in mind. Do you want to listen to Tantrist teachings or not?he asked Huiding. It does not matter if I want or not because I should be initiated in order to listen; or can you explain it to me simply?Huiding replied. This time Fahai said straightforwardly: As I am your disciple, thanks to making offerings [to the protectors], I can explain some Tantric principles to you. This is one of the precepts of Tantrism. Delighted to hear this, Huiding urged Fahai Lama to do what he proposed. [13] Thus Fahai Lama transmitted to Huiding the method of the recitation and visualization of the sixteen syllable mantra of Vairocana. He told Huiding how to make the syllables circulate in the body from the navel, the point where the three important channels join, and then up to the chest, the throat and the space between the eyes. And to repeat this 1,000 times. Huiding practiced it for seven days and very soon experienced the forgetting of subject and object, the emptiness of the body: all sounds and all things around him became the sound of Vairocanas mantra. [14] Astonished by such quick results he went to see Fahai Lama and said to him: Do you have something else to teach me? This time Fahai Lama felt embarrassed and unprepared and said to him: I transmitted to you a little by making offerings, but I cannot continue without initiation.
This section summarizes the content of Xiandai gaoseng Huiding fashi, 29-32, Appendix 1, [9-17].
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To Fahai Lamas surprise Huiding spontaneously answered: Please confer the initiation to me. 37 [17] That evening, in the guise of Gangs dkar rin po che, Fahai Lama conferred the initiation onto his Chan master Huiding. From that time on he transmitted Tantric teachings to his master Huiding every day.

Entering the Path of Liberation: Tantric Commitments, the Three Powers and their Resonance38
[18] First of all, in order to obtain realization, one has to observe Tantric commitments, which can be summarized simply as: 1. After the initiation, one has to practice according to the received teachings; 2. One must not break ones commitments (samaya) and must believe in ones own guru;39 if one has doubts, one has to repent and clarify them; 3. One has to realize ones nature and understand what Tantrism and its esoteric teachings mean, what the practices are, and that one can realize them. This third point is the most important. [20] Huiding practiced every day according to these precepts in the hall of Qianfo chansi that was being built while he received Fahai Lamas Tantric teachings. After having experimented the so-called path of no interruption (wujian dao), Huiding was taught about the path of liberation ( jietuo dao). When one enters this path one comes to be in resonance with three kinds of powers: the power of the innate nature of the universe ( fajie zixing li ), the mysterious and majestic power of the divine mantras (mimi shenzhou weishen li ), and the empowerment of all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas (zhufo pusa de jiabei li ). [21] The power of the innate nature of the universe is the power of the spontaneous nature of Samantabhadra which is present in everybody, though some realize this and others not. In ordinary beings who do not recognize this their consciousness is obscured as in a dream. In this state one is under the power of doubts, ignorance, attachment, and anger that in turn give birth to delusion, suffering, confusion, and evil actions. In contrast, those who realize the power of this nature are no longer confused and can use the supreme, perfect wisdom of emptiness, the perfection of insight (boruo boluomixin ), and the mind of cognition-insight (zhihui xin ) to transform delusion into enlightenment. The cognition-zhi has the function of observing; and insight-hui has the function of making decisions. Thus the power of cognition-insight can clearly distinguish good from evil, cut off the evil and cultivate the good, transform the contaminated and corrupted seeds into uncontaminated and luminous seeds, and transform the ordinary into the saintly.
This episode may recall the agreement of the Buddhist reformist monk Taixu (18901947) to be initiated by the Panchen Lama as a sign of recognizing Tantrism as a self-standing teaching with its own rules and precepts. On this see the contribution by Luo Tongbing in this volume (p. 456). 38 For this section, see Xiandai gaoseng Huiding fashi, 32-36, Appendix 1, [18-28]. 39 The initiation or guanding includes the transmission of Tantric commitments or precepts (Skt. samaya ila, Ch. sanmeiye jie ). On the content of these esoteric precepts in Kkais tradition, see Ryichi Ab, The Weaving of Mantra (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999): 43-44, 53-55.
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[22] The mysterious and majestic power of the divine mantras is the power of transforming discursiveness into wisdom. Heretics can recite mantras; but even though mantras belong to the power of the innate nature of the universe, they do not have the power of transforming discursiveness into wisdom. On the contrary, when Buddhist disciples recite the mantras received by their gurus, wisdom condenses into light, and through daily recitation, they can cut off all karmic traces of evil and attain enlightenment.40 [23] The empowerment of all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas is the power of compassion. Buddhas and Bodhisattvas empower all beings with an enlightened view and wisdom so that when they recite mantras via the yoga practice they can receive an immmensurable empowerment and be in resonance ( ganying li ) with all their activities of body, mind, and speech. With the support of all Bodhisattvas, the mysterious and majestic power can manifest itself and can change into the power of the innate nature of the universe. [24] By the actualization of these three powers the so-called phenomenon of Buddha entering me and I entering Buddha (Ch. ruwo woru , Jap. nyga gany) manifests.41 The three secrets (Ch. sanmi , i.e., body, speech, and mind) of the Tathgata enter me and my three activities (sanye ) of body, speech and mind enter the Tathgata. The experience of such correspondence can be experienced by the practice of visualization of radiant letters of different colors according to the corresponding chakras or wheels. [25] After this explanation, Fahai Lama finally transmitted to Huiding the method of visualization and recitation of the four seed-syllables (Skt. bjas) in the four wheels related to the four elements. [26] He continued explaining Tantrism to Huiding for a whole month. Huiding practiced every day what Fahai Lama transmitted to him; he opened the channels and experienced different states in the four wheels (navel, chest, throat, and space between the eyes). The luminous and colored syllables circulated fast and without interruption in the wheels while his body was no more there, except for the sound of his recitation. [27] After having realized the meaning of this esoteric path Huiding continued to progress in his practice. Then he experienced a brand-new state: He had just entered in absorption when he heard a very clear whoosh! The sound was disIt is interesting to compare Fahai Lamas explanations with Taixus view about the power of mantras described by Luo Tongbing in this volume (pp. 446-448). 41 According to Yoshito S. Hakeda (Kkai Major Works, New York: Columbia University Press, 1972, 98), this is the essence of Kkais esoteric Buddhist meditation which consists in imitating. This imitation is technically called the practice of entering self into Self so that the Self enters into the self (nyga gany). The self is the individual existence and the Self, Mahvairocana. The climax is reached when the subject, while performing the acts of imitating, loses the awareness that he is imitatingthe subject is transformed into the object, and the separation between the subject and object disappears. See also the opinion by Minoru Kiyota (Shingon Buddhism: Theory and Practice, Los Angeles: Buddhist Book International, 1978, 136-137) who regards it as the symbolical interpretation of the Mahayana theory of nirvana and samsara systematized by Kkai in the theory of instant BuddhahoodI-in-Buddha and Buddha-in-me.
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tinct and wonderful. At the same time a bright moon appeared in front of his chest. The white light pierced him and at the same time the sound grew faint. The rays changed into a strand that reached his pupils and went up to the Tuita heavens (doushuo tian ) and the inner palace of Maitreya. From that time on, whenever he meditated he visited Maitreya, offered homage to him, and sent offerings of food and perfumes in the form of a beautiful goddess (tiannu ). [28] Such visionary states lasted one month until the entire body of Huiding was permeated with divine nectar (Ch. ganlu shui , Skt. amta), a result of his having received the initiation from all the assemblies of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in this pure land. After that, Fahai transmitted the sdhana of the White Tr and, finally, the Great Perfection (rDzogs chen) teachings to Huiding.

The Chinese rDzogs chen Transmission of Fahai Lama

The biography of Huiding stops just when rDzogs chen teachings begin. The passages translated above are a simple presentation of Fahai Lamas views on esoteric teachings. As we know, even today the definition of Tantrism and its teachings is still a source of disagreement not only among Buddhists but also among scholars.42 Against the widespread opinion among Chinese Buddhists that Tantrism (including Tibetan Tantric Buddhism) is a heretical path, Fahai Lama explained via well-known formulas that it is a vehicle of enlightenment at the same level as Chan, and that it has its own doctrine and precepts. In reviewing the few doctrinal points he presented to his master Huiding, Fahai Lama relied on Japanese esoteric Buddhist terminology mixed with his own interpretation of Tibetan esoteric teachings.43 In contrast with Chan, Fahai Lamas emphasis lies on the body (the system of channels, prana or qi circulation) and techniques related to visualization, divine blessings, communion with deities, recitation of mantras, etc. While summarizing esoteric precepts for Huiding, Fahai Lama explained that understanding the nature of mind and the meaning of esoteric teachings and their practice is the most important thing in the transmission of Tantric commitments. Understanding is not just reasoning and analyzing, but
The difficulty the Chinese Buddhist community had in accepting Tantrism after a wave of Tibet enchantment is well testified, for instance, in the life of the monk Taixu and the changes in his views on esoteric Buddhism, and in particular on Tibetan Buddhism, during his career as a Buddhist reformer; see the contribution by Luo Tongbing in this volume. Today China is still dealing with this problem, a problem which has clear connotations of Tibetan and Chinese identity; see the contribution by Chen Bing in the first volume, in particular the section titled Difficulties and Problems of the Reception of Tantrism in the PRC. More on how Tibetan Buddhism is today perceived and assimilated in Taiwan and Hong Kong can be found in the contributions by Yao Lixiang and Henry Shiu in this volume. See also the negative view on Tibetan Buddhism by Japanese scholars like Yamaguchi and Matsumoto as described by Fukuda Yichi in the first volume. 43 On the problem of reliance on Japanese esoteric Buddhist terminology in the earlier Chinese translations of Tibetan Buddhist texts, see also Gray Tuttle, Translating Buddhism from Tibetan to Chinese in early 20th Century China (1931-1951), in Buddhism Between Tibet and China, ed. M. Kapstein (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2008).
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requires transmission. Tantric initiation stands at the center: the confrontation of the innate nature of Samantabhadra and its resulting power of resonancethe experience of non-duality which animates visionary activity. It is only after such a full experience that the Chan master Huiding, having been regenerated by the blissful visions of his Maitreya, is seen as ready to receive rDzogs chen instruction. According to Fahai Lama the transmission of rDzogs chen forms the core of the highest and ultimate Tantric vehicle. On the other hand, in his attempt at reconciling Tantrism and Chan, he also claimed that the supreme esoteric rDzogs chen can be aligned with the overcoming of the last barrier in Chan.44 Realizing non-duality is at the center of both Chan and Tantrism, but their practice and achievements are different and depend on the disposition and nature of every disciple. The opportunity to study both traditions was unique to Fahai Lama and his Chinese community, but this was not possible without compromises and adjustments. A clear difficulty for Fahai Lama was to teach his nuns Tibetan doctrines that seemed far beyond the poor Chinese Buddhist education they received before entering Qianfo chansi. Tibet was still remote and exotic for those disciples who could write and read only in Chinese. It was a real challenge for Fahai Lama to elaborate, under the political and religious pressure of the Chinese government and official Buddhist associations, a non-sectarian discourse integrating Tibetan and Chinese teachings and to render Tibetan concepts and practices views more accessible to Chinese understanding.45 This involved for him the practical necessity of translating and explaining texts of an unfamiliar tradition with terms and vocabulary familiar to the Chinese. One cannot ignore that rDzogs chen was a brand-new discovery in early 20th-century China; rDzogs chen texts were translated for the first time from Tibetan into Chinese during the 1930s and 1940s. As we are going to see, terminology was not yet established and often varies depending on the particular translator. This reminds us of a similar process in
44 On the meaning of the last barrier in Chan see below, note 143. On the comparison between Chan and rDzogs chen see below. See also the contribution by Chen Bing in the first volume (p. 413). It is interesting to notice that there are different views on the relation between Chan and rDzogs chen in Tibetan studies. See for instance the view of Kenneth K. Tanaka and Raymond E. Robertson (A Chan Texts from Tun-huang: Implications for Chan Influence on Tibetan Buddhism, in Tibetan Buddhism Reason and Revelation, eds. Steven D. Goodman and Ronald M. Davidson, Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992, 5778) supported by Jean-Luc Achard (Lessence perle du secret, Turnout: Brpols, 1999, 62-64), and the view of Samten G. Karmay (The Great Perfection (rDzogs chen): A Philosophical and Meditative Teaching of Tibetan Buddhism, Leiden: Brill, 1988) supported by David Germano (Architecture and Absence in the Secret Tantric History of the Great Perfection (rdzogs chen), Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 17.2, 1994: 203-335, here 216217). With regard to rDzogs chen and Tantrism, Germano emphasizes in his study the strong relation of rDzogs chen with the Tantric tradition while Achard tries to dissociate rDzogs chen from the Tantric vehicles. 45 On other accommodating views about Tibetan doctrines and Chinese culture see the contributions by Chen Bing and Wang-Toutain in the first volume. It is interesting to notice how the reformist monk Taixu tried to assimilate Tibetan Buddhist teachings in his dream of reforming Chinese Buddhism, as shown in the contribution of Luo Tongbing in this volume and below.

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China when the first Buddhist sutras were translated; but in Fahai Lamas case the difficulties were smaller as the scope was limited to the rDzogs chen tradition.46 rDzogs chen is a Tibetan term corresponding to the Sanskrit Mahsandhi and is usually translated as Great Perfection. In Chinese it has been translated as Dayuanman . This expression refers to the teaching, which is seen as complete and perfect in itself, but more particularly it characterizes the individuals inherent Buddhanature, which is synonymous with the nature of the mind. It is the primordial state of the individual, pure from the beginning and spontaneously self-perfected. In the following, I will outline Fahai Lamas rDzogs chen explanations as recorded in his Chinese manuscripts, which are here presented and translated for the first time.47 Although they are rather technical, these Chinese materials allow a preliminary survey of Chinese Great Perfection terminology. As they are the fruit of oral communications they are a precious tool for showing how such Tibetan teachings were understood and portrayed in recent times in China proper.48 Since such materials have never been presented in English, I will include a fair amount here (pp. 496-519). Readers less interested in the specific content of Fahai Lamas teachings in his transmitted texts, can turn to the final section (pp. 519-526). I have chosen to discuss terminological issues mostly in the notes in order to leave more space to the presentation and content description of these new materials. A more strict comparison between Tibetan rDzogs chen texts and Chinese translations still needs to be done and this presentation is only a first step. The transmission of Fahai Lama focuses on yang ti ( yangdi). Yang ti is the Tibetan term for one of the three divisions of the Great Perfection Section of Esoteric Precepts or Section of Secret Instructions (Tib. man ngag sde, Ch. koujue bu ), i.e., A ti (Ch. adi /), sPyi ti (Ch. jiedi ) and Yang ti.49 This subdivision is
46 On the role played by Chinese translations of Tibetan works see also Tuttle, Translating Buddhism from Tibetan to Chinese in early 20th Century China. 47 See the list of Chinese rDzogs chen texts in Appendix 2. 48 For the assimilation of dGe lugs teachings in China see F. Wang-Toutain, Quand les matres chinois sveillent au bouddhisme tibtain; E. Bianchi, The Iron Statue Monastery and her study titled The Chinese lama Nenghai (1886-1967), Doctrinal Tradition and Teaching Strategies of a Gelukpa Master in Republican China, in Buddhism Between Tibet and China, ed. M. Kapstein (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2008). 49 For a historical study on the Great Perfection in Tibet see Samten Karmay, The Great Perfection (rDzogs chen). On the systematization of the Great Perfection into three sections (sems sde, klong sde and man ngag sde) and the history of their transmission see George Roerich, The Blue Annals (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1979): 167-203; Eva Dargyay, The Rise of Esoteric Buddhism in Tibet (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1979): 16-59; and Tulku Thondup, Buddha Mind (Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, 1989): 47-88. On the different classification systems of the Section of Esoteric Precepts see J.-L. Achard, Lessence perle du secret, 54-61 and 55, note 6. See also D. Germano, The Funerary Transformation of the Great Perfection (Rdzogs chen), Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 1 (2005): 1-54. For a clear presentation of the rDzog chen view and its teachings by a contemporaneous master see the works by Namkhai Norbu and in particular The Crystal and the Way of Light: Sutra, Tantra, and Dzogchen, ed. John Shane (New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986). For a presentation of the Great Perfection view in Bon po tradition see Donatella Rossi, The Philosophical View of the Great Perfection in the Tibetan Bon

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also used in the cycle of transmissions conferred by Gangs dkar rin po che and then adopted by Fahai Lama. The Tibetan term yang ti is translated in different ways into Chinese: yangdi or yangdui (following the Tibetan phonetics), xinsui (lit. the marrow of heart, the innermost heart), or xinzhongxin (the heart of the heart/quintessence). At the same time yang ti is often confused in Chinese with the term snying thig (Ch. ningdi , ningti , or xinyao , heart essence, quintessence) and yang tig.50 The oral Yang ti transmission that Fahai Lama received from Gangs dkar rin po che is mainly based on three Tibetan texts: (1) Ye shes bla ma by Jigs med gling pa (1729/30-1798) included in his Klong chen snying thig; (2) the Yang ti transmission according to Gangs dkar rin po ches oral instructions (among which figures that of the Yang ti nag po); and (3) the Karma snying thig by the third Karma pa Rang byung rdo rje (1284-1334) included in the Bi ma snying thig.51 This transmission has been recorded in the Dayuanman guanding jianglu quanji (Complete collection of the explicative commentaries on Great Perfection initiations) with some explications in Fahai Lamas own hand under the title Dayuanman guanReligion (Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, 1999) and for its practices see Lopon Tenzin Namdak, Heart Drops of Dharmakaya Dzogchen Practice of the Bn Tradition (Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, 1993). 50 More on the history and content of the snying thig system in D. Germano, Architecture and Absence in the Secret Tantric History of the Great Perfection (rdzogs chen), 267-ff; and Herbert Guenther, Meditation Differently, Phenomenological-psychological Aspects of Tibetan Buddhist (Mahmudr and sNying-thig) Practices from Original Tibetan Sources (Delhi: Motilal Barnasidass, 1992). For a brief introduction to this system see also the contribution by Antonio Terrone in this volume, especially on p. 772 note 54. 51 On the Klong chen snying thig see Steven Goodman, The Klong-Chen snying-thig: An Eighteenth Century Tibetan Revelation (PhD diss., University of Saskatchewan, 1983), and Rigdzin Jigs-med gling-pa and the kLong-Chen sNying-thig, in Tibetan Buddhism: Reasons and Revelation, eds. S. Goodman and R. Davidson (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1992): 133-146. See also Sam van Schaik, Approaching the Great Perfection: Simultaneous and Gradual Approaches to Dzogchen Practice in Jigme Lingpas Longchen Nyingtig (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2004). On the structure of the Bi ma snying thig see Achard, Lessence perle, 94-96. According to Achard (Lessence perle, 65 note 13) the Kar ma snying thig has been included in the Bi ma snying thig under the title Nyams len lag khrigs mai khrid ngo mtshar can. See also Qiu Ling (ed.), Zangmi dayuanman xinsui tanao [Exploration of the quintessence of the Tibetan Tantric Great Perfection] (Beijing: Meitan gongye, 1993): 12-13. As for the transmission of the Yang ti nag po, Fahai Lama received the transmission from Gangs dkar rin po che according to the Tibetan text rDzogs chen yang ti nag po gser gyi gcig pai khrid yig mdor bsdud pa od gsal lam jug by Kong sprul Yon tan rgya mtsho (1813-1899), a standard exegesis of the cycle revealed by Dung mtsho ras pa under the Chinese title Dayuanman zuisheng xinzhongxin yindao leyao [Instructions on the quintessential teachings of the Great Perfection yang ti], as well as from rDzogs pa chen po yang ti nag po mun khrid bklags pas don grub by Kun bzang nges don dbang po (fl. 1798), under the Chinese title Dayuanman fajie xinzhongxin heiguan yindao wei du jike chengjiu shiye [Instructions on the retreat in darkness of yang ti in the domain of the Great Perfection, the simple reading of which allows accomplishment of ones pursuit], among which figures Dung mtsho ras pass Yang ti nag poi shog dril skor gsum. See also Dayuanman zuisheng xinzhongxin yangdui kemu [Yang ti instructions on the quintessential teachings of the Great Perfection], and Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangyi [Commentary on the Great Perfection yang ti]. More on these texts in Appendix 2.

rDzogs chen in China ding yiji quanji Fahai Lama (Complete collection of expli-

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cative notes on Great Perfection initiations by Fahai Lama) [Fig. 11]. This text, from now on abbreviated as Dayuanman guanding, is one of the main sources in this article for the presentation of Fahai Lamas transmission of rDzogs chen. As this text constantly refers to the Ye shes bla ma under the abbreviated Chinese title of Shenghui or Victorious Wisdom (for Dayuanman shenghui benjue xinyao xiuzheng cidi ), I will use the Chinese translation of this well-known Tibetan text for additional explanations, along with other related Chinese translations and recorded notes on tape and video.52 According to the traditional man ngag sde (Ch. koubu ) division adopted in Fig. 11: Dayuanman guanding yiji quanji rDzogs chen, the Great Perfection practicFahai lama [Complete collection of the exes are divided into:53 plicative commentaries on Great (1) The extraordinary or special preliPerfection initiations]. (Photo by minaries (Ch. bugong jiaxing , tebie M. Esposito, April 1996) jiaxing , jiaxing or qianxing , Tib. khyad par gyi sngon gro or simply sngon gro)54 better known under the Tibetan expression khor das ru shan dbye ba or Disjunction of samsara and nirvana (Ch. xiuxian liao lunhui niepan );55 and
52 It is not a surprise that the Ye shes bla ma, one of the most favored works among present day practitioners, is also highly esteemed by the Chinese. As far as I know there are at least two Chinese translations of this text: Dayuanman guangda xinyao benjue cidi (Wu Jialiang ed., Dayuanman , Taibei: Zhengjian xuehui, 1987, 368-487), and Dayuanman shenghui benjue xinyao xiuzheng cidi , abbr. Dayuan shenghui (Fahai Lamas manuscript also found in Wu Jialiang ed., Dayuanman, 542-672). See Appendix 2 below. For a short presentation of the structure of the Ye shes bla ma see S. van Schaik, Approaching the Great Perfection: Simultaneous and Gradual Approaches to Dzogchen Practice in Jigme Lingpas Longchen Nyingtig, 311-312. Rev. Folian, the closest disciple of Fahai Lama, recorded Fahai Lamas teachings and gave them to me at the end of the rDzogs chen instruction sessions while I recorded some teachings on my video-camera. 53 See Tulku Thondup, Buddha Mind, 67-76. 54 According to the order and the terminology given in Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangyi, and Dayuanman guanding, two texts that were transmitted by Gangs dkar rin po che to Fahai Lama. For other terminologies and explanations of preliminaries and their terminology see Appendix 2 (n 14-15), and note 55. 55 The Chinese term jiaxing translates both the Tibetan sbyor ba (yoga, union, practice, application) and sbyor lam (Ch. jiaxing dao , path of union or accumulation). It is used here for sngon gro (preliminaries). In the Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangyi, the expression

496 (2) khregs chod or Instantaneous Breakthrough or Cut off ( 3) thod rgal or Instantaneous Transcending or Going Beyond

Monica Esposito

Leaving aside the preliminaries, I will now focus on the explanations given by Fahai Lama on khregs chod and thod rgal. Before beginning these instructions, Fahai Lama handed to his disciples the Chinese translation of dGa rab rdo rjes testament Tshig gsum gnad brdeg or Three lines that hit on the key points (Ch. Jisong niede ) to be studied and copied down.56 After that, he gave a general introduction to khregs chod by comparing it with Chan for the emphasis given to the confrontation with the nature of mindthe original face, and to thod rgal by putting it in relation with the practices on qi.

The Instantaneous Breakthrough View

Fahai Lamas instructions on khregs chod begin with an explanation of the meaning of the Tibetan word, which is rendered in Chinese texts as dunduan , liduan , or more often left in Chinese phonetics as qieque , cheque , zhique . According to the Dayuanman guanding (13b), Fahai Lama explains:
The meaning of qieque [khregs chod ] is instantaneous cut-off (dunduan ) also called desire for enlightenment. For those who have realized it, the body returns to emptiness, becoming invisible.

For Fahai Lama the abyssal space of the body-mind characterizes khregs chod while the experience of the transformation of the flesh-body into rainbow light as described in the same text (13b) refers to thod rgal:
The meaning of tuoga [thod rgal ] is instantaneous transcending (dunchao ). For those who have realized it, the flesh body is transformed into rainbow light, becoming an indestructible diamond body.
extraordinary preliminaries (bugong jiaxing ) refers to (a) the cultivation and actualization of samsara and nirvana; (b) Main Practice (Ch. zhengxing , Tib. dngos gzhi ) which includes khregs chod and thod rgal. In Dayuanman guanding the expression of special preliminaries (tebie jiaxing ) refers to: (a) the preliminaries of cultivation and realization of samsara and nirvana (xiu xianliao shengsi niepan jiaxing ); (b) the cultivation of body, speech, and mind according to the instruction of the luminous essence of the nature of mind ( yi zixin mingti yindao xiu shen kou yi jiaxing ); (c) the method of cultivating ease (xiu anxi fa ). For the expression qianxing , which is closer to the Tibetan term sngon gro, and for other texts transmitted by Gangs dkar rin po che, see also Qiu Ling (ed.), Zangmi dayuanman, 131-161; and Yogi Chen, The Essential Teachings of the Adi Buddha Part I & 2, Chenian Booklets no. 85 (http://yogichen.org/chenian/bk84.html) & 85 (http://yogichen.org/chenian/bk85.html). For the preliminary practices and their related texts see Appendix 2 (n 14-15). 56 On this text see Appendix 2 (n 3).

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In order to introduce the meaning of khregs chod and thod rgal in the context of the Great Perfection, Fahai Lama on the basis of the Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangyi (Commentary on the Great Perfection yang ti, 11a) says:
The quintessence of the Great Perfection lies in its view [Ch. jian, Tib. lta ba] and meditation [Ch. xiu, Tib. sgom pa].57 In its specific terminology, primordially purity [Ch. benjing, Tib. ka dag] khregs chod is the view, spontaneously accomplishment [Ch. renyun, Tib. lhun grub] thod rgal is the meditation.

Leaving for later the meditative path of thod rgal, Fahai Lama emphasizes the importance of understanding first of all the view of khregs chod and its Chinese rendering as dunduan or liduan . While the term dun in dunduan (or li in liduan for like , liji ) sudden, instantaneous has already been well explored and often contrasted with the term jian gradual,58 the term duan to break, to cut off, deserves our attention:59
It is like cutting down a tree; once its root is cut, there is no more need to prune its branches.
60

After this cutting of the source of all delusions, the immensity of the space of mind opens up. The opening up of this instantaneous breakthrough view points directly to the experience of the nature of mind which, in the words of Gangs dkar rin po che, is:
Tranquil like water without waves and firm like a mountain, the mind is naturally at ease in a broad and calm space where not even the tiniest deluded thought arises. If the practicioner does not think of past or future merits or demerits whatsoever, he will achieve the realization.
61
57 The Chinese term xiu translates the various meaning of sgom pa as practice, training, cultivation (in meditation). 58 Paul Demiville, Le miroir spirituel, Sinologica, 1.2 (1947): 112-137. For an interesting study of this term in Chinese and Western sources see Urs App, Dun: A Chinese Concept as a Key to Mysticism in East and West, The Eastern Buddhist 26. 2 (1993): 31-72. 59 In Chinese translation the meaning of the Tibetan term khregs (old spelling for mkhregs pa) hard, solid, stiff does not seem to be taken in consideration. Instead, one finds the emphasis on the instant, the instant of a thought, the immediacy (Tib. khregs gir as thad kar straightforwardly, directly, with immediacy) in which the act of cutting through (Tib. chod, Ch. duan) takes place. For an analysis of this term in Tibetan sources and Western translations see D. Germano, Poetic thought, the intelligent Universe, and the mystery of self: The Tantric synthesis of rDzogs Chen in fourteenth century Tibet (PhD diss., The University of Wisconsin, 1992): 842-844. 60 Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangyi in Fahai Lamas manuscript, 63b. See also a slightly modified version of this passage quoted in Qiu Ling (ed.), Zangmi dayuanman, 60. 61 Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangyi in Fahai Lamas manuscript, 63a-b. See also Qiu Ling (ed.), Zangmi dayuanman, 60.

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This instantaneous breakthrough view has the power to confront the practitioner with the nature of mind, i.e., Samantabhadras wisdom which is beyond grasping, controlling, or following any thoughts; it is the power of leaving everything as it is. Gangs dkar rin po che explains that the thoughts which arise in the mind are merely like the reflections in a mirror, while the mirror itself having the capacity of reflecting is like the nature of mind:
Every thought is essential (the awareness-mirror of the luminous essence of the mind [i.e., rig pa]) because in its genuine essence thought is nothing other than meditation (the twin streams of amatha and vipayan). If the practitioner during his meditation reflects every thought as a mirror, he cannot be distracted even for an instant. The wisdom of original awareness [Ch. benjue zhihui, Tib. rig pai ye shes, lit. wisdom of rig pa] is primordially complete without need of grasping; it is spontaneously luminous and all-pervading. There is nothing which can be obtained through contemplation, can be brought through practice and can be seen through conceptualization and discrimination. That is the wisdom of Samantabhadra62 which is originally pure; that is the quintessence of cheque practice [khregs chod ].
63

The Confrontation with the Clear Essence of Mind

Fahai Lama emphasizes that seeing the reality just as it is is like seeing a crystal clear sky, its limitless spatiality. This can be possible by removing the dark layers of obscuration and being confronted with the nature of mind, which is beyond time and conditioned existence. The function of the guru or lama is to introduce his disciples to the nature of mind. According to the words of his master Gangs dkar rin po che:
To perceive this nature which in its essence is non-duality of clarity and emptiness [Ch. mingkong buer, Tib. stong gsal dbyer med ] is my original mind, subject-object at once, without past, present of future and without space, dimension, shape or color; just as with the empty sky all phenomena appear spontaneously due to the skys nature of emptiness.
64

Gangs dkar rin po che explains in his instructions on the Yang ti nag po (Dayuanman zuisheng xinzhongxin yindao leyao):
62 On the role played by Samantabhadra in rDzogs chen see M. Kapstein, Samantabhadra and Rudra: Innate Enlightenment and Radical Evil in Tibetan Rnying-ma-pa Buddhism, in Discourse and Practice, eds. Frank E. Reynolds and David Tracy (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992): 51-82. 63 Qiu Ling (ed.), Zangmi dayuanman, 60. 64 Qiu Ling (ed.), Zangmi dayuanman, 61.

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The perfection of dharmakya, ultimate thusness, tathgatagarbha, [] the unique sphere [Ch. weiyi mingdian, Tib. thig le nyag gcig], dharmakya, wisdom, empty nature, [] originally awakened wisdom, primordially purity, etc.: so many names but they all refer to the dharmakya free from the games of the discursive mind. Being luminous like a mirror and without attachment characterizes the sambhogakya. Manifesting everything and being originally without cessation is called nirmanakya. This is so because essence [Ch. benti, Tib. ngo bo], nature [Ch. zixing, Tib. rang bzhin], and energy [Ch. beixin, Tib. thugs rje, lit. compassion]65 are without differentiation. In one instant one can recognize the original face (benmian) 66 of mind and penetrate everything in samsara and nirvana.
[] [] 67

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This points to an important difference between the view of rDzogs chen and the view of other Buddhist vehicles. The three bodies here mentioned are fully manifest from the very beginning as the essence, nature and energy of the mind, although man fails to recognize this due to accumulated obscuring layers of emotion and discursiviness. In order to remove these concealing factors and be confronted with the nature of mindthe aim of the instantaneous breakthrough view 68 Fahai Lama introduces four key-points to his disciples. These four key-points are presented according to the instructions given by Gangs dkar rin po che on the basis of the Ye shes bla ma.69 These are four modes of imperturbable rest or calm abiding (Ch. sizhong anzhu , Tib. cog bzhag bzhi)70 which teach how to leave things as they are without trying to modify and correct the arising thoughts. They apply to:
65 On these key terms of essence, nature, and energy in rDzogs chen referring to the triune nature of the basis or ground (Tib. gzhi, Ch. genben ), see Namkhai Norbu, The Cycle of Day and Night, 67-68 and below note 93. It is interesting to note that the Chinese term beixin (lit. compassion) can be replaced by the term qi (Tib. rlung) in order to focus on its dynamic aspect of energy. This aspect is normally characterized in rDzogs chen texts as all-pervading (Ch. pubian , Tib. kun khyab). 66 On this term, abbreviation for benlai mianmu , and indicating the nature of mind see below. 67 Qiu Ling (ed.), Zangmi dayuanman, 62. 68 As it is said in Dayuanman guanding on p. 65b: 69 This is based on the commentary given by Gangs dkar rin po che on the quotation of the Tantra of the Clear Lamp (Tib. sGron ma snang byed, Ch. Mingdeng ji ). See the Chinese translation of the Ye shes bla ma under the title Dayuan shenghui (Fahai Lamas manuscript, 30a), and Tulku Thondup, Buddha Mind, 70-71. 70 In Chinese texts, there are various expressions for referring to Tibetan cog bzhag bzhi: sizhong anzhu , sizhong xiang , siliang , and sixiang yaoze . The closest to the Tibetan meaning is sizhong anzhu (Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangshou lu [Recorded instructions on the Great Perfection yang ti ], in Qiu Ling ed., Zangmi dayuanman, 146). One also finds general terms like sizhong xiang (four aspects/four kinds of aspects for Tibetan rnam pa bzhi; see Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangyi, 18b), siliang (four measures; see Dayuan shenghui, 30), sixiang yaoze (four important regulations; see Dayuanman guanding, 72b).

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1. view (Ch. jian , Tib. lta ba): to be stable like the king of a mountain (Ch. ru shanwang anzhu , Tib. ri bo cog bzhag);71 2. meditation (Ch. ding or xiu , Tib. sgom pa): to be calm like an ocean without waves (Ch. ru dahai anzhu , Tib. rgya mtsho cog bzhag);72 3. conduct (Ch. xing , Tib. spyod pa): to follow the oral precepts [for the body, speech, and mind] leaving everything as it is (Ch. koujue shang anzhu , Tib. man ngag cog bzhag).73 Body, speech and mind are clear and pure like the sky, and they remain spontaneously accomplished and imperturbable in relation to allmanifest or sensory appearances (Ch. renyun zai faxing zhong anzhu , or zai faxing shang anzhu , Tib. snang ba cog bzhag);74 4. fruit or fruition (Ch. guo or zheng , Tib. bras bu): the presence of the mind in an unmodified and uncorrected state (Ch. wuzhengzhi anzhu , Tib. ma bcos cog bzhag),75 also called the spontaneous accomplished rest of awareness (Ch. zixin renyun er anzhu, , Tib. rig pai cog bzhag)76 in which wisdom manifests itself as unity of clarity and emptiness (Ch. mingkong buer zhi zhihui , Tib. gsal stong gi ye shes).77
In some Chinese texts there is reference to a king or lord which is not found in the Tibetan expression ri bo (mountain) cog bzhag. See, for instance, the Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangshou lu (Qiu Ling ed., Zangmi dayuanman): 146. Following Dayuan shenghui, Dayuanman guanding on p. 72b uses the expression jianliang rushan (the measure of the view like a mountain) but adds in its explanations that one should have a high and broad, wide open, and naturally straightforward distant view without limits like the king or lord of Mount Sumeru (). The Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangyi, 18b: qixiang rushan buneng dongyao (its aspect [i.e., the view aspect] is like an immobile mountain). 72 Dayuan shenghui, 30, Dayuanman guanding, 73a, Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangyi, 19a, and Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangshou lu (Qiu Ling ed., Zangmi dayuanman): 146. 73 See Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangshou lu (Qiu Ling ed., Zangmi dayuanman): 146. Following the Dayuan shenghui on p. 31 (the measure for the code of conduct is to be in accord with the oral instructions of the spontaneous accomplishment of body, speech, and mind ), the Dayuanman guanding comments by saying that for the conduct one does not have to abandon in any instant the oral instructions of the guru and keep the sa. maya vow commitments 74 These explanations are based on the passage of the Dayuanman guanding which on p. 73a goes as follows: Cutting off all attachments makes the three doorsbody, speech, and mindpermanently pure and clear like the sky; they rest spontaneously accomplished in the middle of all-manifest phenomena . For the expression zai faxing shang anzhu (calm abiding or imperturbable rest in the all-manifest phenomena), see Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangshou lu (Qiu Ling ed., Zangmi dayuanman): 146. See also Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangyi, 19a, which simply says: Its [i.e., the conduct] aspect is to be clear and pure like the sky . 75 Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangshou lu (Qiu Ling ed., Zangmi dayuanman): 146. 76 Dayuanman guanding, 73a. Here the expression zixin (mind itself or mind as such; Tib. sems nyid ) stands for the nature of mind (Tib. sems kyi rang bzhin) in its luminous and natural aspect as zixin mingti (luminous essence of mind as such/nature of mind). An expression close to rig pa, and more precisely to the Tibetan expression rig pa nang gsal (the inner luminosity of the awareness or rig pa), cf. also note 81. 77 Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangshou lu (Qiu Ling ed., Zangmi dayuanman): 146-147. See also Dayuanman guanding, 73a-74a, and Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangyi, 19a.
71

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According to the Yang ti instructions as explained by Fahai Lama, this is applied to three kinds of rest (Ch. sanzhong anzhu , Tib. cog bzhag gsum) of body, eyes, and mind:
Immobile and tranquil like Mount Sumeru the body should rest in the vajra lotus position; like an ocean without waves the eyes should remain fixed on the sky; and the mind should rest at ease and without moving, freed from the discrimination and delusion of past, present, and future, and without any correction or modification.
78

According to the oral instructions that Gangs dkar rin po che transmitted to Fahai Lama there are two supplementary methods for khregs chod: 1) The transmission of the impermanent A (Ch. wusheng azi koujue ), referring to the practice of the Five seals (Tib. gzer lnga),79 and 2) the practice of the Three skies (Ch. san xukong, Tib. nam mkha gsum) based on the oral transmission of the Karma pa.80 The practice of three skies consists of looking at the sky with the mind focused on the eyes and the eyes on the sky in such a way that the three skies are all united letting the luminous essence of mind (Ch. mingti , Tib. rig pa nang gsal ) manifest itself.81 The three skies are: 1. the secret sky (Ch. mi xukong , Tib. gsang bai nam mkha ), i.e., the mind; 2. the internal sky (Ch. nei xukong , Tib. nang gi nam mkha ), i.e., the Crystal Duct (see below pp. 509-511); 3. the external sky (Ch. wai xukong , Tib. phyii nam mkha ), i.e., the clear sky (Ch. wuyun qingkong , Tib. nam mkha stong pa).
Dayuanman guanding, 74a. See also Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangshou lu (Qiu Ling ed., Zangmi dayuanman): 149-150. 79 This practice consists in breathing in by conducting the breath down to the navel, retaining it, and expiring while visualizing the syllable A in the heart of blue color for the element space; two syllables A of green color in the head for the element wind; three syllables A of white color in the heart for the element water; four syllables A of red color in the throat for the element fire; and five syllables A of yellow color in the navel for the element earth. The aim is to transform the five elements into the five wisdoms (Ch. wuzhi , Tib. ye shes lnga) that are the five aspects of primordial awareness. This method is explained in detail and supplementary oral instructions are given in order to avoid mistakes in its practice. See Dayuanman guanding, 74a-76b, Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangyi, 14b-17b. See also Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangshou lu (Qiu Ling, ed., Zangmi dayuanman): 147-148. 80 It is worthy of note that Gangs dkar rin po che also received bKa brgyud teachings directly from the fifteenth Karma pa mKha khyab rdo rje (1871-1922), including Vajrayogin, the sixfold yoga of Nropa, and Mahmudra. More on this in C. Meinert, Gangs dkar rin po che between Tibet and China. 81 Dayuanman guanding, 76b-77a, Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangyi, 17b-18b, Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangshou lu (Qiu Ling ed., Zangmi dayuanman): 149-150. On the practice of the three skies see Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, Space, in Quintessential Dzogchen, trans. & eds. Erik Pema Kunsang and Marcia Binder Schmidt (Boudhanath: Ranjung Yeshe Publications, 2006): 190-196. On the term rig pa nang gsal see also note 76.
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Unlike the practice of fixating on an object of meditation, the practitioner has to integrate his attention into the space of the sky. After focusing his attention on the eyes and on a point in space, he relaxes and allows his awareness to integrate with the sky. Both khregs chod and thod rgal methods emphasize the immediate access to the essence of mind: the former concentrates on its emptiness and spatiality and the latter on its luminosity or power of radiance. In contrast with khregs chod, in the explanations given to thod rgal, one finds descriptions of a complex visionary system of channels, lamps, and a gradually unfolding series of luminous visions. In the following sections devoted to thod rgal I will summarize on the basis of Fahai Lamas instructions, the visionary anatomy on which thod rgal is based. Through it, the Great Perfection practitioner appears to be able to see the luminous essence of reality manifest in front of his eyes and experience, via the path of four visions, the dissolution of matter into light. The goal of such practice is the final dissolution of the body aggregates into the so-called rainbow body. This progressive dissolution is illustrated by a number of drawings which, in the following sections, are mainly reproduced from The Collected Rediscovered Teachings (gter ma) of Gter-chen Mchog-gyur-gli-pa. Only few original Chinese drawings from Fahai Lamas manuscripts can be reproduced.82

The Immediate Path of Going Beyond

The meaning of thod rgal is rendered in Chinese texts by the expression dunchao where chao means to transcend, go beyond, leap over, and dun immediate, sudden. The term chao is often found in Chan and Daoist alchemical literature in expressions like chaofan (transcending the ordinary), chaofan yuesheng (transcending the ordinary and going beyond the holy), chaofan rusheng (transcending the ordinary and entering the holy).83 According to Dayuanman guanding (78b), Fahai Lama explains:
The Collected Rediscovered Teachings (gter ma) of Gter-chen Mchog-gyur-gli-pa. Reproduced from a set of the Rtsi-rke blockprints and unpublished manuscripts from the library of the late Mchog-gli sprul-sku, vol. 30 (New Delhi, 1977). I am indebted to David Germano for having sent me a copy of this. In the section below I will also reproduce some drawings found in Chinese texts. Unfortunately, the original drawings included in the Chinese manuscripts I received from Fahai Lama were accidentally destroyed by J.-L. Achard with print and notes materials related to Chinese rDzogs chen. This happened in 1998 when I was in Japan after having placed these materials in Achards temporary custody. Thanks to the help of Rev. Folian, I was able to recuperate some of the manuscripts with their drawings but only in their Xerox form. On these manuscripts see Appendix 2. 83 For the expressions chaofan, chaofan yuesheng, and chaofan rusheng, see Zengaku daijiten [Comprehensive dictionary of Zen studies] (Tokyo: Taishkan Shoten, 1985): 868a, s.v. Chanyi qinggui , chap. 8 and 3. In Daoist alchemy the expression chaofan rusheng is found, for instance, in the Song Daoist Encyclopedia Yunji qiqian (72.1b/7, 72.8b/8 in http://www.zinbun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~dokisha/sakuin.html). See also the Dadan zhizhi (cf. Hu Fuchen ed., Zhonghua daojiao dacidian [Comprehensive dictionary of Chinese Daoism], Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue, 1995, 1263), a Yuan work attributed to Qiu Chuji (1148-1227), a key-figure of Quanzhen Daoism. Qiu was later
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The meaning of tuoga [Tib. thod rgal ] is instantaneous going beyond as it allows the immediate liberation of man from the turning wheel [of transmigration, Ch. lunhui ] and transcending the ordinary and entering the holy (chaofan rusheng). It is the supreme method (wushang famen) for ordinary persons to achieve buddhahood in the present body ( jishen chengfo).

503

While the goal of this ultimate method is here qualified with the well-known Tantric or esoteric Buddhist (mizong) formula of jishen chengfo (achieving buddhahood in the present body),84 the specific term for it thod rgalis original. Its meaning (instantaneous going beyond) takes shape within what may be referred as a progression beyond duality trend: it defines itself by affirming superiority not only with regard to other Tantric vehiclesMahyoga, Anuyogabut also inside the very section man ngag sde to which it belongs.85 It seems to echo the movement upward (xiangshang ) or going beyond that has also been seen at the core of Chan teachings through denial, rejection and negation of normative Mahayana Buddhist doctrines and practices.86 In the context of thod rgal the movement of going beyond duality takes place within normative Tantric vehicles and their teachings. It is not only characterized by the new expression thod rgal (translated into Chinese as dunchao ) referring to an ultimate and immediate going beyond or crossing an insuperable peak (chaoding wushang ),87 but also and above all by an ultimate
recognized as Founding Patriarch of the Longmen tradition to which the Daoist Yang Yuanhe, the occupant of the Taijidong before Fahai Lama, belongs. The expression is also used in Daoist Longmen texts for characterizing the goal of the inner alchemical path (neidan ). Along the same line, the Daoist canon of the Qing dynasty entitled Daozang jiyao [Essentials of the Daoist Canon] (Taibei: Xinwenfeng, 1982, vol. 1, 11) characterizes the inner alchemical path as being capable of transcending the ordinary and entering the holy (neidan keyi chaofan rusheng). 84 On this terms see also note 31. 85 See the discussion concerning the superiority of thod rgal over khregs chod as presented in the Ye shes bla ma (the Seven Superiorities of thod rgal over khregs chod according to the Chinese translation Dayuan shenghui; Fahai Lamas manuscript, 32-33). It is also important to note that rDzogs chen is presented as a distinct vehicle, the Atiyoga (Tib. rdzogs pa chen po shin tu rnal byor) or vehicle of the supreme yoga after Mahyoga (Tib. rnal byor chen po) and Anuyoga (Tib. rjes su rnal byor), and seen as the pinnacle of all other Tantric vehicles and traditions. See Tulku Thondup, Buddha Mind, 89-122, and S. van Schaik, Approaching the Great Perfection, 3-19. 86 Iriya Yoshitaka , Unmon no zensono kj to iu koto [The Chan of Yunmen: its so-called movement upward], in Iriya Yoshitaka, Jiko to chetsu [Self and transcendence] (Tokyo: Iwanami shoten, 1986): 78-86 quoted in Urs App, Facets of the Life and Teaching of Chan master Yunmen Wenyan (PhD diss., Temple University, 1989): 166. In Mahayana thought the theme of ascent is contrasted with that of descent; see Gadjin M. Nagao (Mdhyamika and Yogcra, Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991, 201-207) who sees going beyond as a characteristic of Mahayana in general. For its application in Chan, see U. App, Master Yunmen (New York: Kodansha, 1994): 89 note 1, 157 note 1, and 190 note 5. 87 This expression is used in Dayuan shenghui (Fahai Lamas manuscript, 12; Wu Jialiang ed., Dayuanman, 554) where it is said: The meaning of thod rgal is to cross a peak, it points

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visionary experience which is seen as the pinnacle of all other Tantric vehicles.88 According to the Dayuanman guanding (78b), Fahai Lama explains:
This method mainly consists of contemplating the light (kanguang). Its purpose is to make the Lamp of originally awakened Wisdom [Ch. benjue zhiguang] inherent in mind as such [Ch. zixin, Tib. sems nyid ]89 manifest in space thanks to the support of five other kinds of lamps [Ch. guangming, Tib. sgron ma]90 in order to see ones own original face [benzi mianmu, i.e., the nature of mind] and round out the merits of the Fruit [ guode, i.e., the merits of nirvana]91 of the Three Bodies. This is what one can attain by following this method of cultivation. This [method] can rectify [the erroneous view of regarding] the heart-mind (xin) [as separate from] wisdom (zhihui ), making them converge into one in order to let the primordial unity of the essence (ti ) of heart-mind and wisdom appear in its originally accomplished light (cheng jiu benming).92 In their essence (tixing) they are also originally one with breath-vital energy (qi ) as they are all manifestations of Reality [Ch. faxing, Tib. chos nyid ].93 However, as the ordinary person is subject to conceptualization, they (heart-mind and wisdom) cannot be one but are split into two. The heart-mind and wisdom cannot appear [as they are]
that its method is incomparable, the crossing of an insuperable peak . 88 See note 85. 89 On this term see note 76. 90 See the discussion of the lamps below. The text refers to two systems of four and six lamps; see also below note 118. 91 The term guode indicates the four transcendental realities in nirvana, i.e., eternity, bliss, autonomy and purity, the four pramit of knowledge presented in the Nirva-stra; see William E. Soothill and Lewis Hodous, A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd, 1937): 264 and 349. 92 The term benming or yuanming (original light) refers to the original light or potential enlightenment that is reputedly in all beings, and is synonym with benjue (original enlightenment/primordial or innate awareness; see note 95). See W. E. Soothill and L. Hodous, A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms, 189. The term benming is here coupled with chengjiu, which in Chinese translations of Tibetan rDzogs chen texts corresponds to the Tibetan term grub pa (accomplished); see Dayuanman san zijietuo lun [Trilogy of the natural freedom in the Great Perfection] (Jilong: Dazang wenhua, 1995): 288. This is the Chinese translation by Fahu of Klong chen rab byamss Rang grol skor sum; see Appendix 2 (n 30). More on the translation of benjue as rig pa in Fang Lixiu , Dayuanman fa (Taibei: Huiju, 2003): 94-98. 93 The Chinese term faxing stands for chos nyid, the real condition of existence from which all phenomena (Ch. fa, Tib. chos) arise. It translates the Sanskrit word dharmat. Dharma (Tib. chos, Ch. fa) means whatever exist and t (Tib. nyid, Ch. xing) means in its own condition. All things which arise have their own condition or nature (rang-bzhin). This level of manifestation of the energy of all phenomena is called the Dharmat. See Namkhai Norbu, The Cycle of Day and Night, 68. The Chinese passage seems to refer to the threefold way of experimenting the unity of the basis or ground (Ch. genben , Tib. gzhi ) as essence (Ch. ti or tixing , Tib. ngo bo), nature (Ch. xing or zixing , Tib. rang bzhin) and energy (Ch. dabei or beixin , Tib. thugs rje). Since in Chinese translations these three terms can be found in their long or abbreviated form, the choice of translation is sometimes difficult. See also note 65.

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to unfold their great efficacy (dayong).94 The method of tuoga [thod rgal ] can make ordinary persons understand the cause of the transmigration in the six realms since it thoroughly understand the inherent principle.

505

Although Chinese terminology for translating Tibetan concepts is clearly inherited from Chinese Buddhism, one can discern some key terms specific to the rDzogs chen system. The term benjue (original enlightenment), for instance, in the expression benjue zhiguang , is one of the Chinese terms for translating the Tibetan term rig pa or its quality of self-existing/innate (rang byung) awareness;95 it is borrowed from the sixth century Chinese apocryphon Dasheng qixin lun (Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana, T. 1666 & 1667), and other texts.96 In rDzogs
94 The term dayong , great efficacy, great functioning or marvelous function was adopted in Buddhist texts to refer to the skillful means at the disposal of buddhas and bodhisattvas. It is originally a term used in Zhuangzi, referring to the Great Use of useless things, such as gnarled trees and crippled people. It is commonly found in Chan records referring to the liberating powers of skilful means possessed by the greatly enlightened masters whose every small action is guided by attunement to the essence (ti ). See R. Sharf, Coming to Terms with Chinese Buddhism, 207-208; and C. Muller (ed.), Digital Dictionary of Buddhism. 95 The Tibetan term rig pa (awareness) is translated in Chinese in different ways. On this, see notes 76, 92, 96, 125. For its meaning of self-existing wisdom or innate awareness (rang byung ye shes) or lamp of self-existing wisdom (shes rab rang byung gi sgron ma) see also Achard, Lessence perle du secret, 113, 140, 142, and note 97 below. 96 The Dasheng qixin lun is a text attributed to Avagoa but in reality a Chinese apocryphon. It is also one of the major sources on which Shingon is based (Kiyota, Shingon Buddhism Theory and Practice, 65). See also Renwang jing (T. 245, 246, vol. 8, 825-834), and Jingang sanmei jing (T. 273, vol. 9, 365-373), two Chinese apocryphal texts quoted by Paul L. Swanson, Zen is not Buddhism Recent Japanese critiques of Buddha-nature, Numen 40 (1993): 115-149, here 117. The term benjue (original enlightenment) is contrasted with the term shijue (initial awakening). The former is the enlightenment as ones Buddha-nature found amidst defilement, while the latter is the enlightenment realized when the defilement is removed. Nagao, Mdhyamika and Yogcra, 251 note 16. Suzuki in his translation of the Dasheng qixin lun talks of enlightenment a priori and enlightenment a posteriori. (Daisetsu Suzuki and Dwight Goddard, The Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana and its Commentary, The Principle and Practice of Mahayana Buddhism, Taipei: SMC Publishing Inc, 1990): 62. The existence of an original enlightenment implies that there is non-enlightenment: beings are inherently enlightened but they fail to recognize it. This is illustrated in the Jingang sanmei jing or Vajrasamdhi-stra parable of the deluded man who carries gold coins in his hand without knowing (see the translation of this passage in Robert Buswell, The Formation of Chan ideology in China and Korea, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989): 207. A revised version of this parable is often quoted in explanations on the rDzogs chen view; see for example, Tenzin Wangyal, Wonders of the Natural MindThe Essence of Dzogchen in the Native Bon Tradition of Tibet (New York: Station Hill, 1993). This idea of original or inherent enlightenment had a

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chen texts it is coupled with zhihui (wisdom; Tib. shes rab). Being regarded as innate source of light, it is in Chinese technically referred to as Lamp of originally awakened Wisdom (Ch. benjue zhiguang , Tib. shes rab rang byung gi sgron ma), or more literally Wisdom-Lamp of Original Enlightnement. It is associated with the flesh-heart or physical heart, its original sanctuary.97 As innate luminosity, this lamp with the support of five (or three) other lamps, has the power to show ones original face and round off the nirvanic merits of the Three Bodies. Although in this Chinese translation one finds terms connected with Chan like ones own original face, the great efficacy or marvelous function (dayong ), or with the notion of Fruit ( guode ) stemming from Nirva Stras four pramit of knowledge, it is important to remark that these same terms come to have a specific meaning in rDzogs chen texts. Such meanings cannot be separated from the visionary experience to which they refer. As we are going to see, the interplay of mirroring lamps, rainbows, and luminous spheres, which all constitute the subtle warp of ones original body with its luminous vessels, are the marvelous function for breaking through the ordinary flesh-body. Going back to the source, to the instant when matter is not yet solidified by the erroneous grasping of subject-object, forms the core of thod rgal visionary practices whose fruit reveals itself thanks to this irreversible return to the innate luminous source.98 This ultimate going back signifies the dissolution of the ordinary bodys aggregates into light and the liberation of the fleshly body into the radiancy of the so-called rainbow body (Ch. hongshen , Tib. ja lus). This constitutes the ultimate fruit in rDzogs chen. But how does this dissolution of matter into rainbow light take place, and what are the methods capable of producing such a feat?

The Phantasmagoric World of Duality: Qi and Deluded Mind

The initial method of thod rgal consists in pacifying and harmonizing mind and qi (Ch. qixin antiao zhi fa ) in order to attain perfect immobility. This is the condition for the manifestation of the original body beyond duality, the appearance of its innate luminous essence under the form of luminous channels, spheres, lamps, etc. The term used here for translating Tibetan rlung is qi. This term, very
great influence on the development of East Asian Buddhism. In China, for instance, it played a role in the Huayan, Chan and Tiantai traditions while in Japan it became an almost universal assumption in the Buddhist tradition under the name of Hongaku shis ; see P. Swanson, Zen is not Buddhism, and Jacqueline I. Stone, Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1999). 97 The problem noted for the triune terms (notes 65 and 93) also applies to the term zhi because it can be the abbreviated form for zhihui or insight (shes rab) or simply indicate zhi , i.e., knowledge or wisdom ( ye shes). Benjue zhi ( guang) () thus stands for both shes rab rang byung (gyi sgron ma) and rang byung ye shes. On the meaning of these terms see Samten Karmay, The Great Perfection, 107 note 4, and 115-116 note 42, and Achard, Lessence perle, 113 and 116-117. 98 On the notion of fruit in rDzogs chen texts see Achard, Lessence perle, 142-155.

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familiar to the Chinese, includes a variety of meanings like air, breath, vital energy, pneuma, etc. When Fahai Lama was transmitting these teachings at Qianfo chansi, China was experiencing a revival of all sorts of psycho-physiologic techniques welcomed by Chinese authorities under the term of qigong , practice or manipulation of qi. Within this frame Fahai Lama, who was already known as an expert of Chinese medicine and qigong, felt quite free to teach Tibetan esoteric practices under the label of practices on qi. 99 In these texts, as Fahai Lama explains, qi has a more specific meaning: the chaotic circulation of qi or breath-vital energy can create the phantasmagoric world of solidified matter and simultaneously, once harmonized, be the vehicle for breaking through the real world of light. To quote the Dayuanman guanding (78b):
The reason ordinary beings transmigrate in the six realms is that genuine mind (zhenxin) is being enticed ( yinyou) by qi and becomes deluded mind (wangxin).

However, qi is not responsible for this seduction: its chaotic flow spontaneously arises from the separation of One into Two and happens every time man fails to recognize the inherent unity of the genuine mind (zhenxin).100 From this fundamental misunderstanding, the phantasmagoric-solidified world appears. It is created from the chaotic progress of the crippled genuine mind (zhenxin ru bozou zhe ) and the breath-vital energy (qi ) of the body that is like a blind untamed horse (shen zhong zhi qi ru mang liema ).101 The genuine mind thus appears as deluded, erring like a crippled man (wangxin ru wuzou zhi ren ); and breath-vital energy, being no more harmonized, moves like a loose horse (qi ru machi ) and is transformed in the karmic energy of the turning wheel of transmigrations.102 How does this take place?
Breath-vital energy (qi ) originally dwells in the lungs; the deluded mind is like a crippled man, and the breath-vital energy is like a blind horse. From the heart to the lungs there is a connecting vessel (maiguan), thin like a wheat stalk. In its empty center resides breath-vital energy. This means that the so-called breath-vital energy is what dwells in this center. From this vessel (maiguan) additional and countless fine vessels branch off. They pervade the lungs and all the doors of perceptions which are body, eyes, ears, nose, and tongue; they flow in the whole body. When the deluded mind (wangxin)
More on this below. It is interesting to compare the division taking place on the basis of the genuine mind (zhenxin) itself, to the creative division of the world. In Daoist cosmology, this division constitutes the fundamental background of Daoist alchemy; see Isabelle Robinet, Un, deux, trois: Les diffrentes modalits de lUn et sa dynamique, Cahiers dExtrme-Asie 8 (1995): 175-220. 101 This is a famous quotation from Ye shes bla ma presented in the Chinese translation, Dayuan shenghui (Fahai Lamas manuscript, 33). 102 I have summirized it on the basis of the explanations given by Fahai Lama in Dayuanman guanding, 78b-79b.
100 99

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is attracted by [the chaotic flow of] breath-vital energy, it moves along with it. In turn, [the chaotic flow of] breath-vital energy is only emitted (suoshi) by the deluded mind; both of them rely on each other, and through the vessels they flee in disorder throughout the body. The place the mind (xin) aims at is where breath-vital energy rushes: it keeps running to the six organs (liugen) that relate to the six objects (liuchen), and the six delusions (liu fannao) and three poisonsdesire, anger, ignorancearise. This is the reason why there is transmigration in the six realms (lunhui liudao) and samsara without any chance of escaping. This is the reason why ordinary persons plunge into the six realms.
103

This passage explains why duality arises, and its continuation describes how to transcend it by understanding thoroughly the origin and cause of this delusion, and by recognizing the luminous essence of mind. The key lies in the term dingzhu which means to fix the abode of the deluded mind (wangxin). I am not going to dwell on these thod rgal techniques, but it is important to note that, as Fahai Lama explains, the notion of immobility (an immobility without effort) is applied, for example, to the body posture, to the way of breathing (leaving the mouth slightly open), to the gaze with fixed eyes, etc.104 This kind of fixation is also alluded to by the Chinese term ding s meaning of nail (a kind of pinning down), which is literally applied to all the doors of communication between the inner (microcosmos) and outer body (macrocosmos) in the thod rgal practical precepts.105 According to the Dayuanman guanding (79a), Fahai Lama explains:
Ordinary persons become buddhas by being able to let the genuine mind (zhenxin) not move and peacefully rest (anzhu) inside the flesh-heart (routuan xin) without being diverted by the breath-vital energy and without giving rise to any deluded thoughts. As the genuine mind can stay unmoved, the Lamp of originally awakened Wisdom (zhihui guangming), which is originally inside the genuine mind, can become manifest. As a result of this, the realm of the Three Bodies (sanshen zhi jing jie) appears. The application of tuoga [thod rgal ] practice according to its precepts (xiuchi)106 begins the cultiDayuanman guanding, 79a. The term dingzhu means guding de zhuchu ; see Hanyu dacidian [Large dictionary of Chinese language] 12 vols. (Shanghai: Hanyu dacidian, 1993): vol. 3, 1362. 105 On this notion see also Lopon Tenzin Namdak, Heart Drops of Dharmakaya, 86-90 and 108-110. 106 I refer to the first meaning of xiuchi as chijie xiuxing . This expression includes the meaning of xiushen shoudao (cultivate ones moral character and hold to the Path), or baoyang (take care of ones health); see Hanyu dacidian, vol. 1, 1374.
104 103

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vation from the breath-vital energy in the heart of the basis [Ch. genben, Tib. gzhi ].107 Applying oneself hard on the breath-vital energy in the heart, one is able to fix the abode (dingzhu) of the deluded mind and prevent the deluded breath-vital energy from moving in disorder while leading back to the genuine mind ( fangui yu zhenxin). This causes the Lamp of Wisdom (zhiguang), which is originally inside the genuine mind, to follow the correct track (zheng gui ) along the breath-vital energy vessel (qimai ), and to clearly manifest. This is what makes tuoga [thod rgal ] unsurpassed (shusheng).

509

Visionary Anatomy: Looking through the Crystal Duct

Having understood that the dualistic world solidified in our flesh-body is a creation of the deluded mind (wangxin) and originates from the amalgamation of breath-vital energy and genuine mind, the question remains: where does the genuine mind dwell and how can it show itself? Quoting the Jinzhu jing or Tantra of the Golden Pearls (Tib. gSer phreng), Fahai Lama on the basis of the Dayuanman guanding (82b) explains thus:
From the Jewel Palace of the Heart (xin baogong) to the Ocean of the Eyes [ yanhai, i.e., the pupils] there is a connecting vessel which is called in Tibetan Kati. It is opalescent, transparent, and soft. Empty in its interior (neikong), it is not engendered by the mothers red blood and the fathers white semen ( fumu hongbai jingxue), which some people call sun and moon. It is great wisdom (da zhihui ), the dharmakya ( fashen) that freely traverses it (tong yu ci): this is the principle on which the tuoga [thod rgal ] method is based.

Fahai Lama then explains this passage as follows (Dayuanman guanding, 83a):
From the heart to the eyes there is a connecting vessel-path (maidao). It is the most secret duct ( ji mimi guan) like crystal whose name is Kati. This is why it was pointed out before that this is the principle on which tuoga [thod rgal ] is based.

107

On this term, see notes 65 and 93.

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This Crystal Duct is a vessel-path linking the heart to the eyes and is qualified as li , a principle absolutely free from any error since it is not soiled by the fathers semen and the mothers menstrual blood (i.e., the coarse body developed from the embryo).108 This principle expresses itself through a fourfold dynamic incorporated in the so-called Vessel of the Far-reaching Water Lamp (Ch. yuantong shui guang , Tib. rgyang zhags chui sgron ma) in which the breath-vital energy of wisdom (Ch. zhiqi , Tib. ye shes kyi rlung) circulates.109 From the point of view of the incorporation of this dynamic, the Far-reaching Water Lamp is
a vessel that from the navel wheel passes through the heart and opens into the eyes. From the back of the brain it divides into two branches which look like wild ox horns (below the brain it becomes a single root).
[] ( 110 )

The smooth and luminous tip of this horn-like branch is the pupil; it is like the light on the surface of clear water allowing light to move and reflecting objects; this is why it is called Vessel of the Far-reaching Water Lamp . 111 It is at the same time a synonym of the Crystal Duct, the principle which links the four following vessels (Ch. qimai ): (1) KatiThe Great Golden Vessel (Ch. gadijiadi da jinmai , Tib. ka ti gser gyi rtsa chen) located inside the central channel and linking this channel to the center of the heart; (2) The White Silk Thread Vessel (Ch. baisixian mai , Tib. dar dkar skud pa) enclosed in the Kati Vessel and going through the Brahm Cavity (Ch. fanxue , Tib. tshang bu). This is the path for the practice of transferring consciousness (Ch. powa , kaiding fa , Tib. pho ba); (3) The Subtly Coiled Vessel (Ch. xixuan mai , Tib. phra la dril ba) located inside the four wheels of navel, heart, throat, and sinciput; (4) The Crystal Duct Vessel (Ch. jingguan mai , Tib. shel sbug can), a synonym of the Vessel of the Far-reaching Water Lamp, is the channel which links the heart to the eyes and supports the manifestations of countless luminous spheres and bright strands (Ch. wushu mingdian lianxi guangming ).112
The term li (principle) cannot be understood without its coupled term zhi (wisdom), a fundamental notion that stands at the basis of Chinese esoteric path as well; see Yoritomi Motohiro , Chgoku mikky no shis teki tokushitsu [Characteristics in the thought of Chinese Tantrism], in Chgoku mikky, eds. Tachikawa Musashi and Yoritomi Motohiro, 113-140. 109 On this lamp see D. Germano, Poetic Thought, 104-105, and J.-L. Achard, Lessence perle, 140-142. Its name alludes to the eye which is fluid in nature; like a lasso, it reaches out to things far away; and like a lamp, it illuminates, see Karma Chagm, Naked Awareness (with commentary by Gyatrul Rinpoche, trans. Alan Wallace, Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, 2000): 165. 110 Dayuanman guanding, 82b-83a. It explains the passage of the Ye shes bla ma; see Dayuan shenghui, (Fahai Lamas manuscript, 34-35). 111 Dayuanman guanding, 83a. 112 Here the Chinese expression lianxi guangming refers to jingang lian , vajra or ad108

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These four vessels can be seen as a fourfold path developed from the wheel of the heart in which the breath-vital energy of wisdom dwells and from which it can reach the eye, the door of its manifestation. Known as luminous subtle vessels (Ch. guangming fengmai or guangming mai , Tib. od rtsa),113 these four channels form part of a specific system. In the Great Perfection texts they are added to the already adopted Tantric system of four wheels or chakras (Ch. silun , Tib. khor lo bzhi) and three channels or nadi (Ch. sanmai , Tib. rtsa gsum). As Fahai Lama emphasizes, in the Great Perfection system of luminous vessels, only the central channel comes to play an important role in connection with the wheel of the heart. Furthermore, it is important to mention that Dayuanman guanding also presents an eightfold path of channels which can be regarded as a supplementary eight branches of the central channel.

The Lamps, Source and Expression of the Luminous Vision of Wisdom

The Vessel of the Far-reaching Water Lamp, synonym of the Crystal Duct, is regarded as the principle of incorporation of the four vessels and at the same time as the principle of the lamps itselfthe eyesthe source of vision.114 This power is released through the support of other supplementary lamps and, in this sense, represents the principle of released dynamism, that is, the door through which the breath-vital energy of wisdom appears as pure light. Following the Dayuanman guanding, Fahai Lama explains that while the ordinary view coming from the element water is unable to see the realm of the Three Bodies, the view released by the Vessel of the Far-reaching Water Lamp can see it. This realm appears in the form of four kinds of auspicious lamps which, according to their order of manifestation in the front of the practitioners eyes, are: (1) The Far-reaching Water Lamp (Ch. yuantong shuiguang , Tib. rgyang zhangs chui sgron ma):
(it is in the center of the eyes, i.e., the pupils, where the all-pervading four elements are born); it is the door through which one can see far into empty space by joining the Lamp of the White and Soft Vessel [Ch. bairuo maiguang, Tib. dkar jam rtsai sgron ma] with the Vessel of Wisdom.
amantine strands (Tib. rdo rje lu gu rgyud; see below Fig. 14-16). Chinese texts present some differences with Tibetan sources; cf. Achard, Lessence perle, 131. 113 The system of four vessels is well explained in the fifth chapter of the Chinese translation of Klong chen pas Tshig don mdzod entitled Juyi baozang lun [The treasury of words and meanings] (Fahai Lamas manuscript, 49b-65a). For a study on these four luminous vessels on the basis of Tibetan sources, see Germano, Poetic thought, 90-94, and Achard, Lessence perle, 129-131. For a study based on Chinese translations see Qiu Ling (ed.), Zangmi dayuanman, 68-70. 114 For studies on the lamps based on Tibetan sources see H. Guenther, Meditation Differently (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1992): 73-94; Lopon Tenzin Namdak, Heart Drops of Dharmakaya, 191-94; Jamgn Kongtrul Lodr Tay, Myriad Worlds (New York: Snow Lion Publications, 1995): 216-219; Germano, Poetic thought, 95-108; Achard, Lessence perle, 140-142; and Karma Chagm, Naked Awareness, 160-178.

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() ( ) 115

It is also said that:

The Far-reaching Water Lamp is the Lamp of the White and Soft Vessel which, passing through the doors of both eyes, projects itself (shexiang) to the limit of space. Because it gets in touch with the external world and sees far away into the sky, it is the main gate of exit and entry(churu zhi menhu)116 of the Lamp of Wisdom (zhihui guang).
117

In this sense, the Far-reaching Water Lamp includes a threefold meaning referring to (a) the eyes, organs of vision; (b) the Vessel linking the heart to the eyes (here mentioned under the name of the Lamp of the White and Soft Vessel [Ch. bairou guang, Tib. dkar jam rtsai sgron ma]); (c) the Lamp of Wisdom (Ch. zhihui guang, Tib. shes rab [rang byung] gi sgron ma) as the door (or as path in the form of the Vessel of Wisdom) through which the breath-vital energy of wisdom appears as pure light.118 (2) The Lamp of the Absolute Space of the non-duality of amatha and vipayan (dinghui wuer zhi faxing guang ),119 also called the Lamp of Pure Space (Ch. jie qingjing guang , Tib. dag pa dyings kyi sgron ma or dbyings rnam dag gi sgron ma).
Dayuanman guanding, 81b. The expression yuanjian can indicate the capacity to see far in space but also to foresee, having a foresight or vision of the sky as it appears in its pristine purity. 116 In the well-known Secret of the Golden Flower, a fundamental alchemical text in the Daoist Longmen tradition, the same expression is used for indicating the Celestial Eye (tianmu), or Celestial Heart, the main gate of exit and entry where the three luminous ones [sun, moon and polar star] converge. See M. Esposito, Longmen Taoism in Qing China, Journal of Chinese Religions 29 (2001): 191-231, here 206-207. 117 Qiu Ling (ed.), Zangmi dayuanman, 72. 118 In the explanations given by Fahai Lama, the system of the four lamps and six lamps are combined together according to the instructions found in the Dayuanman guanding (79a84a). These explanations are based on the Ye shes bla ma and on chap. 6 of the Tshig don mdzod. Although the Dayuanman guanding mentions five lamps, it lists six lamps (Tib. sgron ma drug). As mentioned above, two supplementary lampsthe Lamp of the Flesh-Heart (Ch. routuan xin guang, Tib. tsitta shai sgron ma) and the White and Soft Vessel Lamp (Ch. bairou mai guang, Tib. dkar jam rtsai sgron ma) are examined as discrete parts of the all-encompassing Far-reaching Water Lamp. It is thus important to note that the Far-reaching Water Lamp has the role of mediator between the incorporation of the lamps associated with the Vessel (i.e., the Lamp of the Flesh-Heart, the Lamp of the White and Soft Vessel, and the Far-reaching Water Lamp as the connecting door of this Vessel itself), and the Lamps associated with Space. It is the intermediary between the microcosmic cavities and the macrocosmic hollow where the luminous essence of Wisdom (i.e., the Lamp of originally awakened Self-existing Wisdom) appears as pure light supported by the Lamp of Pure Space and the Lamp of the Empty Luminous Spheres. For a Chinese presentation of the system of six lamps see Qiu Ling (ed.), Zangmi dayuanman, 71-74. 119 The Chinese term faxing stands for dharmat (Tib. chos nyid ) the essential nature of phenomena, which is emptiness also known as the absolute space; see Karma Chagm,
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Fig. 12: The Lamp of the Pure Space. (Source: Dayuanman guanding )

It is what is seen in the exterior field [of vision] (waijing): the blue lamp of the cloudless clear sky, which is the domain of support [of luminous visions] (according to the oral comment it is the domain of support where the Lamp of originally awakened Wisdom [Ch. benjue zhiguang, Tib. shes rab rang byung gi sgron ma] appears).
120

As we can see in Fig. 12, the visions developed through thod rgal practice have a circle as their frame, a kind of luminous halo marking the field of vision.121 Fahai Lama in the Dayuanman guanding (81b) draws a picture on its form and adds that it cannot be seen by the ordinary eye.122 On this lamp it is also said that:
The Lamp of Pure Space develops after the Far-reaching Water Lamp has come in contact with the external world (waijie) as the domain which allows the manifestation of the Lamp of Wisdom. Like a cloudless bright sky, it is supported by the emptiness of the heart-mind through which the Lamp of originally awakened Wisdom appears.
123

(3) The Lamp of Empty Spheres (Ch. yuankong guang ) which appears like the eye of a peacock feather (ru kongqueling yan ) is also called the Lamp of Luminous Empty Spheres (Ch. mingdian kongguang , Tib. thig le stong pai sgron ma). It represents the luminous manifestation of wisdom in its spherical and
Naked Awareness, 300 and previous note 93. 120 Dayuanman guanding, 81b. 121 See also the explanations by Lopon Tenzin Namdak, Heart Drops of Dharmakaya, 91 and note 19, and Karma Chagm, Naked Awareness, 158. 122 On the distinction between the normal or ordinary channel of the eye and the vessel of the eye which is opened thanks to thod rgal methods, see Lopon Tenzin Namdak, Heart Drops of Dharmakaya, 85 note 13. 123 Qiu Ling (ed.), Zangmi dayuanman, 72.

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five-colored form. In fact, Fahai Lama on the basis of the Dayuanman guanding (81b) explains that this lamp is the Lamp of originally awakened Wisdom which appears inside the Lamp of Pure Space . It is also said that it appears like the concentric ripples arising from casting a stone into water [Fig. 13].124

Fig. 13: The Lamp of Empty Spheres. (Source: The Collected Rediscovered Teachings)

(4) The Lamp of originally awakened Wisdom (Ch. benjue zhiguang or benjue zhihui zhi guang , Tib. shes rab rang byung gi sgron ma), represents the luminous essence, i.e., rig pa (mingti ).125 It is regarded as the original essence ( yuanti ) of the Lamp of the Empty Luminous Spheres, which is hidden in the flesh-heart and endowed with the three qualities of emptiness, brightness, and energy. 126 Thanks to the support of the Lamp of the Empty Luminous Spheres, the Lamp of originally awakened Wisdom progressively manifests itself in four stages of visions.127 Regarding the definition of the Lamp of originally awakened Wisdom Fahai Lama explains as follows (Dayuanman guanding, 81b-82a):
The Lamp of originally awakened Wisdom (benjue zhiguang) is endowed with three special qualities: primordially empty essence (tixing), bright nature (zixing), and all-pervading energy (dabei ). Empty essence(tixing kong) means that it is primordially empty like the body of a lamp. Bright nature (zixing ming) means that it is luminous like the radiance of a lamp. All-pervading energy (dabei pubian) means that it is like the light of the lamp illuminating all around.128 It is empty in its essence (ti ), bright in its aspect (xiang), and energetic in its action ( yong).129
Qiu Ling (ed.), Zangmi dayuanman, 72. See also below in the context of the first vision. As mentioned above (note 76), the Chinese term mingti is another expression for rig pa but, unlike benjue or zhihui, it puts stress on the visionary experience of being confronted to the luminous essence of the mind, its power of radiance. 126 Qiu Ling (ed.), Zangmi dayuanman, 72. 127 Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangyi, 42b-43a, and Dayuanman xinzhongxin jianglu (Qiu Ling ed., Zangmi dayuanman): 153. 128 The Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangyi, 20b, gives the same passage but with important modifications that go as follows: Bright nature (zixing ming) means that it is visible in the domain of manifestation like the light of a lamp. All-pervading energy (dabei pubian) means that it has the effect of sending out the clear light of Five-fold wisdom in the heart. It is like under
125 124

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Thanks to these four lamps, reality appears in its visionary aspect as a circular or mandalic form which is the realm of the Three Bodies. In fact, these lamps are said to produce visions of mandalas and the forms of divinities.130 Fahai Lama adds according to the Dayuanman guanding (83a-b):
All animate beings have these four lamps without any defect. Although the power of sight of eyes uses little energy, it has nonetheless a great capacity of seeing objects from the smallest to the biggest dimension. This is due to the fact that it uses the efficacious power of breath-vital energy (qi). [] After being cultivated, it can be transformed into the energy of the clear light ( guangming zhi qi ). Thus, it can make every domain formed by the four elements appear. Yet the whole world is sublimated into the domain of the Lamp of the Empty Spheres and appears from inside to outside. This is why these four kinds of lamps can be seen. After having seen these four lamps, one must resorb them and become one into the dharmat ( faxing).131
[]

The Four Visions

Thanks to thod rgal practices which require specific postures with appropriate gazes while contemplating the light of sun, moon, or lamps, the luminous essence of wisdom is said to appear in front of the eyes of the practitioner.132 At the beginning, colored vapors will manifest, some more luminous, some more transparent or without colors, and they will increase in form and structure in the following four stages of visions (xianxian ):133
the light of a lamp that one can distinguish what one is doing. It is also said that it is empty in its essence (ti ), bright in its aspect (xiang), and energetic in its action ( yong)
. This passage is given in the explanation of the system of the six lamps and is related to the first Lamp of the Flesh-Heart (Ch. routuan xinguang , Tib. tsitta shai

sgron ma). 129 For the meaning of compassion as energy in Great Perfection texts, see above note 65, and Achard, Lessence perle, 104-105, 111 note 41, 42. 130 Lopon Tenzin Namdak, Heart Drops of Dharmakaya, 91 131 This is based on the quotation of the Chinese translation of the Ye shes bla ma (cf. Dayuan shenghui, Fahai Lamas manuscript, 35, and Wu Jialiang, ed., Dayuanman, 589). 132 On these precepts of practice see Lopon Tenzin Namdak, Heart Drops of Dharmakaya, 86-90. 133 The presentation of the four visions is mainly based on Dayuanman guanding, 90b92b; Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangyi, 44b-45a; and Qiu Ling (ed.), Zangmi dayuanman, 75-83.

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(1) The Vision of Self-Manifesting Reality (Ch. xianjian faxing xianxian , Tib. chos nyid mngon sum gyi snang ba).134 This vision appears in the blue halo of the Lamp of Pure Space like a rainbow light or like the eye of a peacock feather (i.e., the Lamp of Empty Luminous Spheres of five colors). At the beginning it is as small as a fish eye, but with practice it increases to the size of a thumb or an index finger. Its form resembles the concentric ripples arising when one casts a pebble into a pool, small and large. They are often composed of three circles that merge into one. They tend to exhibit the pattern of threads, fine-meshed nets (xianwen ), luminous spheres or sparkles (Ch. mingdian , Tib. thig le), and adamantine strands (Ch. jingang lian , Tib. rdo rje lu gu rgyud ). The latter are the most important because they represent the direct experience of the nature of mind in terms of luminous essence (Ch. mingti, Tib. rig pa), strands which link to the manifested appearance of the nature of mind (cilian ji xi zixin zhi xianxiang ).135 They are like two or four knots tied into a horses tail (mawei jiejie ), like a string of pearls, like a garland of flowers, etc. [Figs. 14-16]. The vision of adamantine strands characterizes this first vision, the first manifestation of Reality. (2) The Vision of Increased Experiences (Ch. jueshou zengchang xianxian , 136 Tib. nyams snang gong phel gyi snang ba).137 It appears under the form of fivecolored luminous spheres which are horizontally and vertically distributed, every one containing different forms like lotus flowers, tassel-shaped ornaments ( yingluo ), precious pagodas (baota ), conches, spear-points, and so on [Fig. 17]. Their form undergoes infinite changes and progressively increases to the size of a bowl or a mirror, wheel or shield. These visions shoot straight upward from the eyebrow within luminous spheres (Ch. mingdian, Tib. thig le) or outside them and also go to the side, and sometimes even appear as a triangle. 138
It is important to note that the Chinese term for vision is xianxian , literally manifestation, what appears or reveals (xian) just in front (xian), which is the Chinese translation of the Tibetan term snang ba. For its Tibetan meaning see H. Guenther, Meditation Differently, 73-74 and 79. For other studies based on Tibetan sources, see H. Guenther, Meditation Differently, 73-94; Lopon Tenzin Namdak, Heart Drops of Dharmakaya, Achard, Lessence perle, 121-129 and Karma Chagm, Naked Awareness, 160-178. 134 In the Chinese translation of the Ye shes bla ma this vision is translated as faxing mingwu (Dayuan shenghui, in Fahai Lamas manuscript, 46, and Wu Jialiang ed., Dayuanman, 608). 135 Dayuanman guanding, 91a. On the meaning of the adamantine strands see also Achard, Lessence perle, 111-112, 172-173, and Karma Chagm Naked Awareness, 160-161. 136 The Chinese Buddhist term jueshou meaning perception, apprehension, experience, stands for the Tibetan term nyams snang, experiences (and displays), visionary/meditative experiences, experiential vision. 137 In the Chinese translation of the Ye shes bla ma this vision is translated as wujing rijin (Dayuan shenghui, in Fahai Lamas manuscript, 46, and Wu Jialiang ed., Dayuanman, 608). 138 In Bon po Great Perfection they are described as: All the stars and planets are shining brightly on his breast (Lopon Tenzin Namdak, Heart Drops of Dharmakaya, 98). For instance, according to the Zhang zhung snyang rgyud: When the visions come as a semicircle and white you should gaze upward and as hard as possible. When the colours are above and to the right and red you should look down. When the visions come in square shapes yellow in colour,

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Fig. 14: Adamantine strands. (Source: Dayuanman guanding )

Fig. 15: Adamantine strands like a string of pearls. (Source: The Collected Rediscovered Teachings)

Fig. 16: Adamantine strands like knots tied into a horses tail. (Source: The Collected Rediscovered Teachings)

Fig. 17: The Vision of Increased Experiences. (Source: The Collected Rediscovered Teachings)

the gaze is to the right. When they are round and green then look to the left. If the shapes are triangular and the colors are blue the eyes should gaze straight ahead. See Lopon Tenzin Namdak, Heart Drops of Dharmakaya, 98.

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As one practices, the visions take on certain structures, and at the center of the luminous spheres various images of divinities may appear. At first, only a headdress or bust may appear, or only a hand or a foot; but later, the whole figure manifests [Fig. 18]. While at the outset a certain divinity may appear without consort and without ornaments, with practice it will become more elaborate and appear with a consort. The manifestation of forms of deities characterizes this second vision.

Fig. 18: The manifestation of forms of deities. (Source: The Collected Rediscovered Teachings)

(3) The Vision of Reaching Culmination of the Luminous Essence [i.e., rig pa; awareness] (Ch. mingti jinyi xianxian , Tib. rig pa tshad phebs kyi snang ba).139 In this stage everything that appears is luminous and pervaded with rainbow light. The luminous spheres merge into a single sphere at whose center five luminous spheres appear. Inside them, the five Buddha families (wufang fo ) appear in complete form and in union with their consorts. At this stage one also sees pure lands, Buddhas palaces, nets of adamantine strands, precious and encircled mandalas, etc. The manifestation of the Buddhas palaces, pure lands, and the five families with their consort characterize this third vision. At this stage, the practitioner does not need the exterior support of the light of the sun, moon, or lamps anymore because the manifestations appear at any moment and under any condition.140 All that is seen is of rainbow light color. It is also stressed that at this stage the practitioner develops extraordinary powers or siddhi.141 As Fahai Lama explains, the manifestation of these powers that is comparable to the thaumaturgical powers of Daoist immortals and Buddhas is a natural result, the fruit of a natural process which does not imply any research or effort by the practitioner.
In the Chinese translation of the Ye shes bla ma this vision is translated as zixin jinzhi (Dayuan shenghui, in Fahai Lamas manuscript, 46, and in Wu Jialiang, ed., Dayuanman, Lopon Tenzin Namdak, in Heart Drops of Dharmakaya (101-102) quotes that the visions mix with the external vision. All the normal visions in life are seen as the Buddha realms and the five Buddha families. You can see coming from your chest the five-coloured rays connecting you to these divinities. 141 These thaumaturgical powers are not so different from those mentioned in Indian Tantric literature (see David Gordon White, The Alchemical Body, Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1996) and Chinese texts concerning the power of the Immortals or Transcendent beings; see below. 608).
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(4) The Vision of Exhausting Reality (Ch. qiongjin faxing xianxian , Tib. chos nyid zad pai snang ba).142 The preceding visions of the luminous dynamism of wisdom come to an end. The luminous spheres of Buddhas, their palaces, pure lands and so on merge down into the nature of mind. This absorption is compared with the image of the black moon which, though it does not appear in the sky, still is there. This dissolution of all phenomena characterizes this last vision: as all visions come to an end, they merge back into Reality or dharmat, and the body dissolves into rainbow light.

Reception of rDzogs chen and Qigong Fever in the Peoples Republic of China
In his explanations, Fahai Lama liked to compare this last vision to breaking through the ultimate barrier of Chan, the solid barrier (laoguan ) which cannot be overcome without abandoning discursive thought.143 But what is stricking in the analysis of Chinese sources and in Fahai Lamas explanations is the peculiarity of these practices, their terminology, and the results that differ from what is described in Chan or Buddhist Mahayana texts in general. From Fahai Lamas viewpoint Chan and rDzogs chen are united on the basis of the ultimate experience of breaking through duality, while the irreversible secret manifestations (buzhuan mimi xianxiang ) of thod rgal practice are put in relation with the attainments described in Daoist texts dealing with the search for immortality. According to the Chinese translation of the Ye shes bla ma (Dayuanman shenghui, 56), Fahai Lama presents these attainments as follows:
The body is light like cotton, its skin color is replenished, the face is without wrinkles, the hair is not white or getting longer, and the finger and toe nails do not grow anymore. In the body there appears the image of the five Buddha families, some in form of their emblems (samaya) or mantra-syllables. The apperance of some becomes youthful, their white hairs return to black color, their missing teeth grow again, and so on, and the body is light and calm without any disease. [] As the mind is constantly in a state of meditative concentration (chanding), clothing and food are not necessary anymore, every sance of meditative concentration will last months or years and the flow of breathvital energy (qi) will be under your control.

In the Chinese translation of the Ye shes bla ma this vision is translated as zhufa jinru faxing (Dayuan shenghui, in Fahai Lamas manuscript, 46, and Wu Jialiang ed., Dayuanman, 608). 143 The three barriers (sanguan) in Chan represent three strategic passes corresponding to three stages of practice: initial, intermediary and ultimate. In the initial barrier one sees ones nature being confronted with the nature of mind. In the intermediary barrier one gets liberated from attachment to the nature of existence and non existence. In the ultimate barrier one is capable of reaching the non duality of absorption (amatha) and contemplation (vipayan), the domain without any hindrance of being and non-being . See Foguangshan dictionary (electronic version): 4813. On the meaning of laoguan , see Zengaku daijiten, 1311d.

142

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[] 144

This colorful description by Fahai Lama recalls the Chinese portrayals of Immortals whose skin is pure like ice and snow, who do not partake of the five grains but inhale wind and drink dew.145 When he said this, Fahai Lama surely remembered that he himself had been interested in Daoist techniques of immortality while living in the Taijidong, the cave in the Southern Celestial-Eye Mountains previously inhabited by the Daoist Yang Yuanhe.146 During his life, Fahai Lama also had the opportunity of studying Daoist techniques, and he was interested to see how these techniques were similar to Tantric methods and their results with regard to the body, qi circulation, and its manipulation. According to Fahai Lama this was also comparable with modern qigong practices whose purpose matches the description given in the above passage from the Ye shes bla ma: As the mind is constantly in a state of meditative concentration, the flow of breath-vital energy (qi) will be under your control. Furthermore, Daoism and its techniques of immortality that are comparable to modern qigong practices also have another positive side: they can be seen as skillful means leading to Buddhist conversions. According to Fahai Lama, some of his own disciples joined him after being initiated into Daoist techniques. Even famous Buddhist monks like Taixu (1890-1947) confessed that they entered the sangha longing for the supernatural powers of the immortals and Buddhas without sharply differentiating between Daoist and Buddhist attainments.147 When Fahai Lama in his monastery harmonized Chinese and Tibetan Buddhism and explained the common points shared by rDzogs chen and Chan, Tantrism and Chan, and Tantrism, qigong, and Daoist techniques of immortality, a lively debate was taking place outside the monasteries about the role of religion and its esoteric techniques in modern Chinese society. Buddhism, Tantrism, Daoism, Neo-confucianism, and all sorts of esoteric and religious traditions were presented by the areligious Chinese communist government and by famous scientists like Qian Xuesen as expression of a larger Chinese tradition of qi culture.148 During the 1980s and 90s, Chinese qi culture and its results that were to some extent similar to the traditional
See also Dayuan shenghui (Wu Jialiang ed., Dayuanman): 627. This expression qi keren yi yunyong as Fahai Lama explains here below, echoes the art of controlling or manipulating the qi, common to Daoism, Tantrism and the techniques of modern qigong. 145 Quotation from the Daoist classic of Zhuangzi (chap. 1). 146 See note 20. 147 Yinshun , Taixu dashi nianpu [Chronological biography of the venerable master Taixu] (Taibei, 1973): 24, quoted in Don Pittman, Toward a Modern Chinese Buddhism, 65-66. For Taixus discourse on qigong, Daoism, and its techniques of immortality that are to some degree comparable to Fahai Lamas approach, see the contribution by Luo Tongbing on p. 458. On the basis of evidence from the early Gaoseng zhuan collections one can argue that such a lack of differentiation had not been unusual since the early days of Buddhism in China. 148 On the discourse of Qian Xuesen about the defense of the qigong and its scientific propaganda see D. Palmer, La fivre du qigong, 121-124.
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Daoist image of immortals and their feats became part of a pseudoscientific discourse on qigong. Extracted from its philosophical and religious background, qi techniques were regarded as the basis of a new Chinese science. Scientific measurements of qi, via sophisticated instruments and machinery, were carried in various institutions, hospitals, and famous universities like Qinghua in Beijing. Regarded as qigong masters, Tibetan lamas and many other religious specialists including Fahai Lama demonstrated their abilities in front of scientific teams. In 1988 Fahai Lama, who was already known since the 50s as an expert of Chinese acupuncture and qigong, was invited as a master of qigong to the capital. 149 From February 26 to March 1, Fahai Lama and Tibetan lamas along with hundreds of admirers of Tibetan Tantric practices (mostly Gangs dkar rin po ches disciples) gathered at the Badachu Hotel (Badachu fandian ) in Beijing to take part in the founding symposium of the Tibetan Tantric Qigong Society of the Chinese Qigong Research Association (Zhongguo Qigong Yanjiuhui Zangmi Qigonghui ). On this occasion more than thirty contributions reportedly focused on the so-called Tibetan Tantric Qigong (Zangmi Qigong ), presenting it as worthy of study and research not only because it has a precise doctrine and rigorous practical stages but because of its undeniable meaning for the development of latent abilities (qianneng) in the body and the exploration of the secret of psychosomatic science. 150 Fahai Lama was invited to present his esoteric teachings as one of the multiple facets of qigong practice whose results were discussed in Chinese official press, reviews, scientific journals, and books. At the time so-called paranormal or latent abilities (teyi gongneng , qianneng ) gathered a great deal of media attention.151 Through the amalgamation of traditional and modern esoteric techThe life of Fahai Lama reflects the various phases of the development of qigong in PRC. During the 40s and 50s when qigong began to be systematized within therapeutic institutions as a branch of Chinese traditional medicine with governmental support, Fahai Lama found a way to make his living in Shanghai and continue to transmit his religious teachings under the guise of a physician and qigong therapist (see above p. 479). At that time different traditional methods of breathing, meditation and gymnastics began to be assimilated in the socalled qigong. Qigong and Chinese traditional medicine and acupuncture all were seen as focusing on qigong preventive methods for curing diseases. For the phase of the 1980s and 90s and the involvement of Fahai Lama see here below. For a study of the different phases of qigong from 1949 to 1999 see the study by D. Palmer, La fivre du qigong.
See Zangmi qigong yanjiuhui diyijie xueshu jiaoliuhui zai Jing zhaokai [The first academic ex150 149

change of the Association of Research of the Tibetan Tantric Qigong held in Bejing] Qigong 9 (1988.5): 237. My thanks to Luo Tongbing for sending me a copy of this page. On the meaning of qianneng see note 151. 151 I refer to the so-called teyi gongneng (paranormal abilities) or qianneng (latent abilities such as clairvoyance, levitation, X-ray vision, etc.) as powers which were believed to be granted thanks to qigong practice. For more on this and the government scientific support for their development, see the number 27.1 of Chinese Sociology & Anthropology edited in 1994 by Zhu Xiaoyang and Benjamin Penny. It is entirely devoted to The Qigong Boom (in particular pp. 35-47). See also M. Esposito, Il qigong, 46-49, 149-154, and D. Palmer, La fivre du qigong, 115-157.

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niques with a variety of breathing gymnastic and meditative exercises new forms of qigong came to be practiced by millions of Chinese not only in public parks but also in work units.152 During this explosive expansion of the practice of qigong after the 1980s, known as qigong fever (qigong re ), Tibetan Buddhism experienced a revival.153 Under the label of qigong, Chinese religious practices and various cults came again to the surface and benefited from an apparent freedom in the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). Publication of religious texts was once again allowed, and a great number of secret and sacred texts were published in PRC and Taiwan under the cover of qigong.154 Religious teachings and esoteric techniques that were apparently forgotten inside the recently reopened monasteries became an object of study and public discussion and were put at the disposal of Chinese masses as benefits of science. Monasteries including Fahai Lamas Qianfo chansi, became official sites of pilgrimage for qigong masters in search of powerful techniques. During this wave of Chinese scientific promotion of qigong, the doctrinal and religious context of these techniques was secondary. As we have seen, inside the Qianfo chansi monastery Tibetan Tantric teachings were assimilated within qi techniques under the generic heading of mizong. Fahai Lamas efforts were mostly directed towards harmonizing Tibetan doctrines and beliefs with Chinese Buddhism
M. Esposito, Il qigong, and D. Palmer, La fivre du qigong. See also Nancy N. Chen, Urban spaces and experiences of qigong, in Urban Spaces in Contemporary China, eds. Deborah S. Davis, Richard Kraus, Barry Naughton, and Elizabeth J. Perry (Cambridge: Woodrow Wilson Center Press/Cambridge University Press, 1995): 347-361, here 349. 153 According to Chinese government estimations in 1990, the number of qigong practitioners was about five percent of the total population (about 60 million persons); more recent estimates raises the number to nearly two hundred million. See Elizabeth J. Perry and Ellen V. Fuller, Chinas Long March to Democracy, World Policy Journal (Fall 1991): 663-685, quoted in Nancy N. Chen, Urban spaces and experiences of qigong, 347. As Chen Bing emphasizes in his article in the first volume on p. 410, the qigong fever phenomenon formed a bridge to the earlier enthusiasm for Tibetan Buddhism. 154 Apart from Tibetan texts on rDzogs chen and Tibetan Tantric techniques edited by Qiu Ling (see Appendix 2 and Chen Bings article in the first volume), the Tibetan work attributed to Marpa on the sixfold yoga of Nropa translated by Yu Wangzhi and Wan Guo was published under the title Zangchuan mizong qigong: Naluoba liuchengjiu fa : [Tibetan Tantric Qigong: The sixfold yoga of Nropa] (Taibei: Baitong tushu, 1998). See also Selected Works on Ancient Tibetan Qigong, eight articles by Tibetan authors, edited by Duoshi (December 1990), quoted by Heather Stoddard, Tibetan Publications and National Identity, in Resistance and Reform in Tibet, eds. Robert Barnett and Shirin Akiner (Bloomington: Indiana University, 1994): 121-156, here 148. A collection of Tantric techniques was published by Zangmi Qigong Kexue Yanjiuhui Zangmi Qigong Yanjiuhui [Qigong of Tibetan Tantra Research Institute of the China Qigong Science Institute] (ed.), Zangmi qigong [Qigong Deep-breathing Exercises of Tibetan Tantra] (Beijing: Qiushi Publishing House, 1989) including: A General Account of Buddhist Qigong, The Origin and Development of Qigong of Tibetan Tantra, Studies on Qigong of Tibetan Tantra, and Practicing Methods of Qigong of Tibetan Tantra. In the same vein, Tibetan tantras were also republished in Tibet like Bairozana, Qigong of Tibetan Tantra, annotated by Nam-mkha i norbu (Beijing: Nationalities Publishing House, 1993). See the website of China Tibet Information Center at http://www.tibetinfor.com.cn/english/zt/bibliotheca/..%5Cbibliotheca/20040200452 195449.htm.
152

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or Chinese traditions in general. Although, as noticed above, Fahai Lama presents Tantrism as a teaching at the same level as Chan, from the viewpoints of doctrine and practical organization of his monastery, Chinese Buddhism remains at the center. Thus it is not surprising that Fahai Lama compared Tibetan rDzogs chen with Chinese Chan and Daoism and that other Tibetan lamas ended up calling Chan great Tantrism (da mizong ) or asserting that there is no difference between the merit one gets from reciting the name of Amitbha and that from reciting Tantric mantras.155 These efforts to develop a non-sectarian rhetoric of assimilation between esoteric and exoteric traditions and between Tibetan and Chinese Buddhism should be seen in the perspective of the 19th-20th century movement of Tantric revival for establishing a Chinese esoteric tradition or a Chinese Tantrism. 156 Fahai Lamas transmission was clearly part of this trend, as was his dream to build a Meditation Hall, a Buddha Recitation Hall, and a Tantric Shrine for practicing Chan, Pure Land and Tantrism together. Although his strategy differed from that of the Chinese monk Taixus dream of reforming Chinese Buddhism, Fahai Lama ended up similarly combining Tibetan Tantrism with qigong and the Daoist study of immortality.157 Confronted with Chinese followers but also with official Chinese Buddhist associations, Fahai Lama, like many other Tibetan or Chinese masters, had to find a legitimate space for his religious discourse within the limits allowed by the Chinese government and its office of religious affairs. At time one legitimate area in PRC was certainly qigong. The project of building a qigong sanatorium for retired cadres in Fahai Lamas triune religious complex should be also regarded in this light.158 It is difficult to know at which level religious experts were involved in qigong propaganda and how conscious they were about the use of their religious beliefs to fan the flames of the qigong fever. The results of such a religious and political strategy and its abrupt stop with the Falun Gong persecution still await study. From Fahai Lamas side, what can be observed is that his Tibetan identity was so much sinicized that he had forgotten how to speak Tibetan anymore. His qigong expertise certainly had its effects on his practical life. Compared to leaders in other monastic institutions in China in his time, Fahai Lama was quite free to organize his activities,
This association between Chan, Pure Land, and Tantrism stems back to Nor lha rin po che (1865-1936), a well-known Tibetan lama associated with Gangs dkar rin po che, and quoted by Chen Bing in the first volume ( Jingang shangshi Nuona hutuketu fayu kaishi lu [Notes on Dharma instructions given by the Tantric Guru Nor lha Khutukhtu], Part. 2, available at http://www.jingtu.org/dd/zsfj/nazs/nafyks2.htm). More on this can be found in the section The Sinicization of Esoteric Buddhism and the Emergence of Chinese Tantrism in Chen Bings contribution in the first volume. 156 On this issue see the contributions by Chen Bing and Luo Tongbing. See also the studies by H. Welch, The Buddhist Revival in China (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1968): 160-179, and Gotelind Mller, Buddhismus und Moderne: Ouyang Jingwu, Taixu und das Ringen um ein zeitgemsses Selbstverstndnis im chinesischen Buddhismus des frhen 20. Jahrhunderts (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1993): 122-129. 157 On Taixus view, see the contribution by Luo Tongbing in this volume, especially pp. 459-460. 158 On this project, see above note 25.
155

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to receive offerings, and even to lodge foreigners, things that were still forbidden in China in the middle of the 1980s. From the viewpoint of the common people, however, Fahai Lamas monastery (although recognized by Chinese government as a qigong site of pilgrimage and part of the official Qigong Tantric Association) still seemed somewhat suspicious. Chinese Buddhist monks and nuns with their shaved heads were regarded as aliens by people indoctrinated during the Cultural Revolution; but Tibetan lamas seemed even stranger. The effort to assimilate Tantrism in the public space of Chinese qigong therapy and to recognize Tibetan Tantric methods as part of the official Chinese Qigong associations had only limited effects on the Linan community. As the promotion of qigong practice took place, critical factions inside and outside the government were also active in emphasizing the negative side effects due to the qigong practice.159 As we can imagine, sexual ghosts and black magic were associated with Tibetan qigong.160 While Fahai Lamas Chan master Huiding in the 1950s regarded Tantrism as a heretical technique of magical mantras, the Linan community in the middle of the 1980s was projecting its sexual ghosts and black magic on Fahai Lamas monastery. The words of Miss Yang softly whispered in my ears while climbing the Southern Celestial-Eye Mountains are part of these historical Tibetan side effects. I still remember her concerned face when she put me on guard against the monastery we were visiting because sex and magical powers supposedly haunted the lama and his nuns. As far as I observed during my stay at Fahai Lamas monastery, the sexual techniques that Fahai Lama supposedly practiced with his nuns were limited to the visualization of a less dressed deity as Vajrayogin instead of the long-robed Guanyin [Figs. 19-20]. To judge by appearances the long-robed Guanyin was still the most common object of veneration among the nuns at Qianfo chansi. Dressed in ordinary Chinese Buddhist monastic robes these nuns performed the daily chores and morning and evening services common to all Chinese Buddhist monasteries. The buildings of Qianfo chansi, its main hall with its statues and wall paintings, and its religious objects were all thoroughly Chinese in style. What differentiated the Qianfo chansi from other Chinese monasteries was the great emphasis that Fahai Lama in his

159 More on this in the third part of Palmers La fivre du qigong titled The political crisis. Along with the promotion of qigong by the state as a unique Chinese tradition, the formation of new social networks led by charismatic qigong leaders presented a latent danger. Categories of official versus false qigong were then created, and boundaries of normality were established via the creation of a medical disorder called qigong deviation. In this way practitioners devoted to superstitious activities could be taken into custody and the surveillance of public parks could be strengthened for health reasons. See Nancy N. Chen, Urban spaces and experiences of qigong, 359. See also a similar dynamic presented in Chen Bings contribution (vol. 1, p. 421), in which the highest number of negative side effects are inevitably attributed to the practice of Tibetan Buddhism. 160 On the negative image of Tibetan Buddhism and lamas in Chinese history and their sexualization as well as mystification, see the contribution by Shen Weirong and Wang Liping in this volume. See also the debates arising today in the PRC in a similar context of establishing boundaries between the normality of Chinese Buddhism and the deviation of Tibetan Buddhism in the contribution by Chen Bing.

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Tibetan-style robe put on the study of esoteric traditions and practices that were welcomed because they apparently matched the governmental qigong standards. Apart from that the nuns occasionally enjoyed in their monastic space secret initiation ceremonies and the unique rDzogs chen transmissions by their lama after sunset.

Fig. 19: Guanyin. (Picture given to the author by Rev. Folian at Qianfo chansi, January 1989)

Fig. 20: Vajrayogin. (Picture given to the author by Rev. Folian at Qianfo chansi, January 1989)

,.
In the eyes of Fahai Lamas community, rDzogs chen represented the pinnacle of all Tibetan Tantric vehicles. At the same time this did not prevent Fahai Lamas community from regarding rDzogs chen teachings as one of the multifaceted expressions of the PRCs Tantric Qigong and from comparing its visions and its ultimate fruitthe rainbow bodywith one of the many achievements obtained through the development of latent abilities via qigong practice.161 If such rhetoric was accepted, at least apparently, in Fahai Lamas monastery, how did the general public react to it? How were the publications of this kind of esoteric Tibetan tradition seen by the general public?

161 The result of this assimilation can be also seen in Western publications that reproduce this Chinese rhetoric. See for instance Virginia Newton, Healing Energy: Master Zi Sheng Wang & Tibetan Buddhist Qigong (San Francisco: China Books and Periodicals, 2000).

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In 1996 I had the opportunity to put this question to Wu Jialiang , the Taiwanese editor of the Dayuanman (i.e., rDzogs chen) collection in Chinese.162 He told me that when, during the 80s and 90s, rDzogs chen texts were sold in Chinese bookstores as qigong books they were regarded by the general public as rather complex and difficult to understand and were used in the narrow context of therapeutic qigong techniques. Though they were presented as healing techniques using yoga or qigong they were too far removed from the range of Chinese comprehension to be widely used. The Taiwanese felt more inclined to devotional practices rather than the study and practice of such overly technical teachings.163 In fact, the rDzogs chen materials that I presented here for the first time according to Fahai Lamas transmission belong to the specific section known as man ngag sde (Ch. koubu ). This section is very technical because it focuses, as its name indicates, on oral instructions traditionally reserved to very few initiates. To my knowledge it was this kind of teaching, by and large related to Gangs dkar rin po ches transmission, that was translated into Chinese during the 1930s and 40s. As I showed in this contribution, Chinese materials reveal a terminological and doctrinal richness that is in dire need of being studied. Their use of metaphors and terminology from different traditions mirrors, to some extent, the first Chinese translations of Indian Buddhist texts. Yet the history of Chinese rDzogs chen translations is not yet written and the results of this assimilation and terminological adaptation is still ongoing in the new PRC empire. Thanks to the recorded transmissions of Gangs dkar rin po che, Fahai Lama, and other Tibetan and Chinese figures of the last century, the study of rDzogs chen in China has become possible. The so-called qigong fever phenomenon has also contributed, for better or worse, by leading to the first publication of Chinese esoteric scriptures on rDzogs chen in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. It is on this wave of qigong fervor that, on an autumn day of 1988 I found myself riding to Linan in the company of my well-built Italian friend, a fan of martial arts, in search of the monastery of a certain Fahai Lama whose name will remain forever a mystery.

On this collection and its content, see Appendix 2. This inclination from the side of Taiwanese people to devotional practices and initiation ceremonies instead of individual practices is confirmed by the study by Yao Lixiang in this volume. See also a similar attitude in the reception of Tibetan Buddhism in Hong Kong by Henry Shiu in this volume.
163

162

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Appendix 1
XIANDAI GAOSENG HUIDING FASHI CHENGJIU ZHUAN

[Biography of the realized master Huiding, a contemporary eminent monk]*

* Recorded by Xiaoyin according to the oral explanations given by Fahai Lama on November, 6, 1984. My thanks to Ikehira Noriko for having checked and revised my Chinese transcription and translation.

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[1] ? [2] [3] ? [4] [5] ; [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [?], [11] ? [12] ? [13]

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[14] [15] ? [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24]

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[25] Skt. bija (Skt. bjas),

(Skt. bjas), (Skt. bjas), (Skt. bjas),

[26] [27] , [28] [? ] [? ]

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Appendix 2
RDZOGS CHEN LITERATURE IN CHINESE*

This Appendix contains the first presentation of Chinese materials on rDzogs chen. It is divided into two parts: A. Manuscript materials in possession of Fahai Lama; B. Printed materials mainly published in Wu Jialiang (ed.), Dayuanman [The Great Perfection], 2 vols. (Taibei: Zhengjian xuehui, 1987),1 Qiu Ling (ed.), Zangmi dayuanman xinsui tanao [Exploration of the quintessence of the Tibetan Tantric Great Perfection] (Beijing: Meitan gongye, 1993), and Qiu Ling (ed.), Zangmi dayuanman fa xuanji [Selected works on the Tibetan Tantric Great Perfection] (Beijing: Beijing gongye daxue, 1993). This list cannot be regarded as exhaustive; but I hope it will open the path to further research in this domain. The presentation of the texts described in this Appendix is based on the following model:
x. Number attributed to the text followed by the title in pinyin, Chinese characters, and translated title according to Chinese in brackets. Tibetan title Transliteration of the Tibetan title whenever it exists or has been identified. Author Name and dates of the authors whenever they are known. Name and dates of the author of the Chinese commented and transmitted version, followed by the author/translator of the Chinese version whenever they are known. Collection bibliographical references to the text, either in printed or manuscript form. References Studies in Western languages and Chinese including translations, partial or complete, and presentations of the texts in question. * A preliminary draft was made in the framework of the Italo-French European Project entitled Dottrine e applicazioni nel buddismo tibetano e cinese: ricerche sulla terminologia dottrinale e tecnica degli scritti rDzogs-chen (Grande Perfezione), in vista di unanalisi ermeneutica necessaria alla comprensione delloggetto della ricerca. Thanks to the collaboration with Jean-Luc Achard and the agreement of Alfredo Cadonna and Anne-Marie Blondeau, this project opened the way to the first collaboration between the University Ca Foscari of Venice (Italy) and the cole Pratique des Hautes tudes (Paris). Under the guidance of Anne-Marie Blondeau it was integrated in the research project of CNRS-URA 1229 (Langues et cultures de laire tibtaine) before being directed by Anne Chayet. It was interrupted in 1998. On this project see Monica Esposito, Journey to the Temple of Celestial-Eye, in The Spirit of Enterprise, the 1993 Rolex Awards, ed. David W. Reed (Bern: Buri, 1993): 275-277, and Una tradizione di rDzogschen in Cina. Una Nota sul Monastero delle Montagne dellOcchio Celeste, Asiatica Venetiana 3 (1998): 221-224. I am grateful to the late Fahai Lama and his disciple Rev. Folian for their transmission of manuscript materials and teachings on rDzogs chen. I am also indebted to JeanLuc Achard for his help in identifying some of these manuscripts, and to Anne-Marie Blondeau, Donatella Rossi, Stphane Arguillre, and Okuyama Naoji for their comments and suggestions. 1 The edition in two volumes whose full title is DayuanmanPuxianwang rulai dayuanman xinyao zongji [The Great PerfectionAnthology of the quintessential rDzogs chen teachings of Samantabhadra], was among the materials accidentally destroyed by Jean-Luc Achard (see p. 502 note 82). The edition I used for Part B of this Appendix includes only one volume and is stored at the Taiwan National Library (Guojia tushuguan ). For a few more texts included in the two-volume edition see also note 15 below.

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A. MANUSCRIPTS OF FAHAI LAMA

1. Juyi baozang lun [The treasury of words and meanings]

Tibetan title Tshig don mdzod Author Klong chen rab byams (Dri med od zer, Ch. Wugou guang , 1308-1364). The name of the translator is not mentioned. Collection Fahai Lamas manuscript into two volumes (1.1a-82b; 2.83a-189a). References David Germano, Poetic thought, the intelligent Universe, and the mystery of self: The Tantric synthesis of rDzogs Chen in fourteenth century Tibet (PhD diss., The University of Wisconsin, 1992).

This text is divided into two parts (shang, xia) and, according to the Tibetan structure, includes eleven Adamantine chapters. It was regarded by Fahai Lama as his spiritual testament. In the manuscript there is no mention of the translator. A printed edition titled Ciyi baozang lun [The treasury of words and meanings] has been published in 1998 (Taibei: Xilinyuan liaoyi wenhua) with the explanations and commentaries of Jigs med Kun bzang tshe phrin rin po che (Ch. Jimei gunsang dianzhen renboqie ).2 2. Dayuanman shenghui benjue xinyao xiuzheng cidi [The victorious wisdom of the Great Perfection: Graduated stages on the Heart Essence cultivation and realization of the primordial awareness], abbr. Dayuan shenghui or Shenghui
Tibetan title rDzogs pa chen po klong chen snying thig gi gdod mai mgon poi lam gyi rim pai khrid yig ye shes bla ma Author Jigs med gling pa (mKhyen brtse od zer, Ch. Zhibei guang zunzhe , 1729/30-1798). Translated into Chinese and commented by the Sa skya Khutukhtu Kun bzang tshe phrin (Ch. Jingang shangshi Sajia Hutuketu Gensang zecheng ). Collection Fahai Lamas manuscript, 1-100. Also in Wu Jialiang (ed.), Dayuanman (Taibei: Zhengjian xuehui, 1987): 542-672, see below B no 15 & 18. References Steven Goodman, The Klong-Chen snying-thig: An Eighteenth Century Tibetan Revelation (PhD diss., University of Saskatchewan, 1983); Steven Goodman, Rig-dzin Jigs-med gling-pa and the kLong-Chen sNying-thig, in Tibetan Buddhism: Reasons and Revelation, eds. Steven Goodman and Ronald Davidson (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1992): 133-146; Tulku Thondup, The Tantric Tradition of the Nyingmapa (Marion, MA: Buddhayana, 1984); Sam van Schaik, Approaching the Great Perfection: Simultaneous and Gradual Approaches to Dzogchen Practice in Jigme Lingpas Longchen Nyingtig (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2004).

On this text see below B no 15 & 18.

2 I did not have access to this printed translation and ignore if it corresponds to that of Fahai Lama. I assume that the Chinese characters used in Taiwan for transliterating the name of the Tibetan master refer to the more common Chinese characters used in PRC for the Sa skya Khutukhtu Kun bzang tshe phrin (Ch. Sajia Hutuketu Gensang zecheng ). More on this master and his transmission below.

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3. Chuiji san yaojue shengfa jie [Explanations on the supreme method of striking the essence in three secret stanzas]
Tibetan title mKhas pa shr rgyal po khyad chos grel pa Author dPal sprul rin po che (O rgyan Jigs med chos kyi dbang po, Ch. Dashan jiegong dezhu dashi , 1808-1887). Transmitted by Gangs dkar rin po che (1893-1957). Translated by Ven. Mankong , and revised by Zhang Miaoding . Collection Fahai Lamas manuscript, 1-33. Cf. Fang Lixiu , Dayuanman fa (Taibei: Huiju, 2003): 399-402. References Jean-Luc Achard, Les testaments de Vajradhara et des porteurs-de-science (Paris: Les deux Ocans, 1995); Peltrul Rinpoche, Le Docte et Glorieux Roi, trans. Jean-Luc Achard (Paris: Les deux Ocans, 1997); Chkyi Nyima Rinpoche, Three Words, in Quintessential Dzogchen, trans. & eds. Erik Pema Kunsang and Marcia Binder Schmidt (Boudhanath: Ranjung Yeshe Publications, 2006): 185-189; Fang Lixiu , Dayuanman fa.

The root-text of this commentary on the dGa rab rdo rjes testament Tshig gsum gnad brdeg (Ch. Jisong niede ) [Three lines that hit on the key points] by dPal sprul rin po che has been published by Fang Lixiu, Dayuanman fa (399-402), with other materials including a copy of the Tibetan text (347-352). The Tibetan text has been translated from Tibetan into French by Jean-Luc Achard (Les testaments de Vajradhara et des porteurs-de-science). Fahai Lamas manuscript is based on the translation made by Ven. Mankong who was one of the main translators of Gangs dkar rin po che. This manuscript was given to Fahai Lamas disciples as the first text of rDzogs chen at the beginning of rDzogs chen instructions at Qianfo chansi (Nan Tianmushan, Zhejiang). 4. Dayuanman zuisheng xinzhongxin yangdui kemu [Yang ti instructions on the quintessential teachings of the Great Perfection]
Tibetan title rDzogs chen yang ti nag po gser gyi bru gcig pai khrid yig mdor bsdus pa od gsal lam jug Author Collection References Kong sprul Yon tan rgya mtsho (1813-1899). Transmitted by Gangs dkar rin po che (1893-1957). Fahai Lamas manuscript. Wu Jialiang (ed.), Dayuanman (Taibei: Zhengjian xuehui, 1987); see below B no 23. Dayuanman zuisheng xinzhongxin yindao leyao [Instructions on the quintessential teachings of the Great Perfection yang ti ] (Qiu Ling ed., Zangmi dayuanman xinsui tanao , Beijing: Meitan gongye, 1993): 23, 98-161.

On this text see below A no 5-6, and B no 23, 28. 5. Dayuanman xinzhongxin zhouye yujia [Great Perfection yang ti yoga of day and night]
Tibetan title Author Transmitted by Gangs dkar rin po che (1893-1957). Collection Fahai Lamas manuscript, 1a-18b. References

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This text is based on the oral transmissions by Gangs dkar rin po che on the basis of Kong sprul Yon tan rgya mtshos rDzogs chen yang ti nag po gser gyi bru gcig pai khrid yig mdor bsdus pa od gsal lam jug. See also A no 4 & 6, and below B no 23, 28. 6. Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangyi [Commentary on the Great Perfection yang ti]
Tibetan title Author Transmitted by Gangs dkar rin po che (1893-1957). Collection Fahai Lamas manuscript, 1a-92a. See also below B no 23 & 28. References Dayuanman fajie xinzhongxin heiguan yindao fa [Instructions on the retreat in darkness of yang ti in the domain of the Great Perfection] (Qiu Ling ed., Zangmi dayuanman xinsui tanao , Beijing: Meitan gongye, 1993): 27, 162-172.

This text is based on the oral explanations given by Gangs dkar rin po che on the so-called Atiyoga (A ti yo ga), i.e., rDzogs chen, among which figure his teachings on the rDzogs chen yang ti nag po by Dung mtsho ras pa (Ch. Congzun luohai , 15th cent.). See below B no 23 & 28. 7. Dayuanman guanding jianglu quanji [Complete collection of recorded explanations on Great Perfection initiations]
Tibetan title Author Transmitted by Gangs dkar rin po che (1893-1957), edited by Fahai Lama (1920-1991) under the title Dayuanman guanding yiji quanji Fahai Lama [Complete collection of explicative notes on Great Perfection initiations by Fahai Lama]. See Fig. 11 on p. 495. Collection Fahai Lamas manuscript. Cf. Wu Jialiang (ed.), Dayuanman (see B no 18-19, 23 & 28). References Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangshou lu [Recorded instructions on the Great Perfection yang ti ] (Qiu Ling ed., Zangmi dayuanman xinsui tanao , Beijing: Meitan gongye, 1993): 23-24, 131-161; Yogi Chen, The Essential Teaching of Adi-Buddha: Part I & II, Chenian Booklets no 84 (http://yogichen.org/cw/cw32/bk084.html) & 85 (http://yogichen.org/cw/cw32/bk085.html).

This text is based on the oral Yang ti transmission of Gangs dkar rin po che, which is mainly based on three Tibetan texts: (1) Ye shes bla ma by Jigs med gling pa (1729/30-1791) included in his Klong chen snying thig (see here no 2, and below B no 15 & 18); (2) the so-called yang ti transmission according to Gangs dkar rin po ches oral instructions including the transmission on the Yang ti nag po (see here no 4-6, and below B no 19, 23, 28); and (3) the Karma snying thig by the third Karma pa Rang byung rdo rje (1284-1334); see B no 23.

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8. Dayuanman de yiyi he neirong [Content and significance of the Great Perfection]

Tibetan Title Author Commented and revised by Vajrcarya Guru Ciwei (Ch. Jingang Asheli Ciwei Shangshi ). Recorded by Guo Yuanxing (19201989). Collection Wu Jialiang (ed.), Dayuanman (Taibei: Zhengjian xuehui, 1987): 1-34 References

This first text of the Dayuanman collection edited by Wu Jialiang is a Chinese composition based on Tibetan materials which are quoted at the end among which figure three works by Klong chen rab byams (Dri med od zer, Ch. Wugou guang , 1308-1363): the Chos dbyings mdzod (Ch. Fajie zanglun [The treasury of the Dharma Realm]), Theg mchog mdzod (Ch. Shengcheng zanglun [The treasury of the supreme vehicle]), Grub mtha mdzod (Ch. Zongpai zanglun [The treasury of spiritual traditions]). The works by Sum pa mkhan po Ye shes dpal byor (Ch. Songba ), and Amoghavajra (Ch. Bukong ) are also quoted. The text itself is divided into three parts: 1. Transmission of rDzogs chen teachings in the rNying ma pa tradition according to the scheme of the nine vehicles and presentation of rDzogs chen as divided into Mind Series (sems sde), Space Series (klong sde), and Precepts Series (man ngag sde); 2. Contents and theory of the Precepts Series, and particularly of the snying thig and the history of its transmission; 3. Diffusion of rDzogs chen in Tibet. 9. Puxianwang rulai qidao nengxian ziran zhi genben yuanwen [The root stanzas of the aspiration of Samantabhadra for the manifestation of natural wisdom]
Tibetan Title Kun tu bzang po smon lam stobs po che Author For the gter ma version, Rig dzin rGod ldem (1337-1408/9). The name of the Chinese translator is not mentioned. Collection Wu Jialiang (ed.), Dayuanman (Taibei: Zhengjian xuehui, 1987): 35-38. References The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, Penetrating Wisdom: The Aspiration of Samantabhadra (Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, 2006); Lama Yeshe Gyamtso & The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche (trans.), The Aspiration of Samantabhadra (http:// www.nalandabodhi.org/samantabhadra.html); Bhakha Tulku and Steven Goodman (trans.), The Prayer of Kuntuzangpo, in Quintessential Dzogchen, trans. & eds. Erik Pema Kunsang and Marcia Binder Schmidt (Boudhanath: Ranjung Yeshe Publications, 2006): 79-84.

This text, which is largely known throughout the Tibetan Buddhist world, exists in two Chinese translations (no 9 & 10), based on the Tibetan text Kun tu bzang po smon lam stobs po che extracted from a larger tantra whose full title is rDzogs pa chen po

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kun tu bzang po dgongs pa zang thal du bstan pai bshad rgyud. This explanatory tantra comments on the root text of the dGongs pa zang thal cycle. See also below text no 10. 10. Puxianwang rulai dali yuansong [The prayer of the powerful aspiration of Samantabhadra]
Tibetan Title Kun tu bzang po smon lam stobs po che Author Transmitted by Nor lha Khutukhtu (1865-1936) (Ch. Nuona Hutuketu ). Translated into Chinese by Lianhua Zhengjue (i.e., Wu Jialiang) Collection Wu Jialiang (ed.), Dayuanman (Taibei: Zhengjian xuehui, 1987): 39-42. References The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, Penetrating Wisdom: The Aspiration of Samantabhadra (Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, 2006); Lama Yeshe Gyamtso & The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche (trans.), The Aspiration of Samantabhadra (http:// www.nalandabodhi.org/samantabhadra.html); Bhakha Tulku and Steven Goodman (trans.), The Prayer of Kuntuzangpo, in Quintessential Dzogchen, trans. & eds. Erik Pema Kunsang and Marcia Binder Schmidt (Boudhanath: Ranjung Yeshe Publications, 2006): 79-84.

This is a Chinese translation of the commentary by Nor lha Khutukhtu on the Tibetan text (also see no 9 & 11). 11. Adaerma rulai wushang yuanman dali yuan shesong koushou mijue [Secret instructions on the oral transmission of the prayer according to the powerful aspiration of absorption of the paramount perfection of Samantabhadra]
Tibetan Title Author Transmitted by Nor lha Khutukhtu [mGar ra bla ma] Phrin las rgya mtsho (1865-1936) (Ch. Puyou fashi Nuona Hutuketu Bukong hai ). Collection Wu Jialiang (ed.), Dayuanman (Taibei: Zhengjian xuehui, 1987): 43-73. References The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, Penetrating Wisdom: The Aspiration of Samantabhadra (Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, 2006); Lama Yeshe Gyamtso & The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche (transl), The Aspiration of Samantabhadra (http:// www.nalandabodhi.org/samantabhadra.html); Bhakha Tulku and Steven Goodman (trans.), The Prayer of Kuntuzangpo, in Quintessential Dzogchen, trans. & eds. Erik Pema Kunsang and Marcia Binder Schmidt (Boudhanath: Ranjung Yeshe Publications, 2006): 79-84.

This text is a detailed commentary of the Aspiration of Samantabhadra, explained by Nor lha Khutukhtu under the Chinese title Puyou fashi (also mentioned in Chinese sources as Puyou chanshi ), Universal Protector Master, a title Nor lha received from the Nanjings central government when in 1930 he was appointed member of the Commission for Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs.3 The Chi3 For a short presentation on Nor lha rin po che see the contribution by Chen Bing in the first volume on pp. 399-400.

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nese style of this text suggests that it is a translation from Tibetan. It uses a traditional pattern consisting in first quoting the root-stanzas of the text, then summarizing their true meaning, and finally describing the main practices to be conducted according to the hidden content of the verses. Thus the whole original prayer can be divided into eight or nine parts, depending on the inclusion of the first preliminary paragraphs in this list. All practices refer to methods of Tantric visualization. 12. Dayuanman zhihui jueding benlai qingjing jietuo jian [The view of freedom and primordial purity determining the wisdom of the Great Perfection]
Tibetan Title Ye shes rang grol (?) Author Attr. Padmasambhava. The name of the Chinese translator is not mentioned. Collection Wu Jialiang (ed.), Dayuanman (Taibei: Zhengjian xuehui, 1987): 75-82. References Lianshi Dayuanman jiaoshou gouti [Sizing Padmasambhavas transmission of the Great Perfection] (Qiu Ling ed., Zangmi dayuanman xinsui tanao , Beijing: Meitan gongye, 1993): 28-29, and 173-235.

The Chinese title is followed by the abbreviated title in Chinese Sanskrit phonetics Zhana amage nama , Tibetan phonetics Yixi langzhuo , i.e., Ye shes rang grol, and Chinese translation as Zhihui faer jietuo [Natural freedom of wisdom]. The text is divided into 280 verses of seven characters. It is allegedly the transmission given by Padmasambhava to Ye shes mtsho rgyal. In the two volume-edition of Wu Jialiang there is the same text followed by a commentary of Chen Jianmin (better known as Yogi Chen, 1906-1987; see below note 15). 13. Dachengdao qingjing jimie chanding guangming dayuanman fayao shilun [The pure great chariot, commentary to restingat-ease through the luminous meditation according to the principles of the Great Perfection]
Tibetan Title rDzogs pa chen po bSam gtan ngal gsoi grel pa shing rta rnam dag Author Klong chen rab byams (Ch. Longqing ranjiang ba , 1308-1364). Collection Wu Jialiang (ed.), Dayuanman (Taibei: Zhengjian xuehui, 1987): 84-162. References Herbert V. Guenther, Kindly Bent to Ease Us (Berkeley: Dharma Publication, 1976); Tulku Thondup, Buddha Mind (Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, 1989): 156-157; Qiu Ling (ed.), Zangmi dayuanman xinsui tanao (Beijing: Meitan gongye, 1993): 28.

There is no mention of the master who transmitted this Tibetan text in China nor of its translator but this translation was probably based on the transmission given by the Sa skya Kun bzang tshe phrin.4 This text has also been translated into
See also the contribution by Chen Bing in the first volume on p. 401. For the translation in Chinese by Liu Liqian of the rDzogs chen sgyu ma ngal gsoi grel pa shing rta bzang po as Dayuanman xuhuan xiuxi miaoche shu see the Appendix of Henry Shiu in this volume on p. 570.
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Chinese as Dayuanman chanding xiuxi qingjing jie (see Qiu Ling , ed., Zangmi dayuanman xinsui tanao , Beijing: Meitan gongye, 1993, 28). 14. Dayuanman guangda xinyao qianxing cidi fa [Gradual instructions on the preliminaries to the Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse of the Great Perfection]
Tibetan title rDzogs pa chen po klong chen snying thig gi sngon gro Author Jigs med gling pa (1729/30-1798). Transmitted and commented by the 19th Klong chen snying thig Vajra Guru Sa skya Khutukhtu Kun bzang tshe phrin rin po che (Ch. Longqqing lingti pai di shijiu dai Jingang shangshi Sajia Gensang zecheng renboqing ). Collection Wu Jialiang (ed.), Dayuanman (Taibei: Zhengjian xuehui, 1987): 163-368. References Steven Goodman, The Klong-Chen snying-thig: An Eighteenth Century Tibetan Revelation (PhD diss., University of Saskatchewan, 1983): 130-133; Patrul Rinpoche, The words of my perfect teacher, translated by the Padmakara Translation Group, with a foreword by the Dalai Lama and Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 1998); Tulku Thondup (trans.), The Dzog-chen Preliminary Practice of the Innermost Essence, ed. Brian C. Beresford (Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1989); Khetsun Sangpo, Tantric Practice in Nying-ma, trans. & ed. Jeffrey Hopkins, co-ed. Anne C. Klein (Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, 1996);5 Sam van Schaik, Approaching the Great Perfection: Simultaneous and Gradual Approaches to Dzogchen Practice in Jigme Lingpas Longchen Nyingtig (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2004): 94-96; Qiu Ling (ed.), Zangmi dayuanman xinsui tanao (Beijing: Meitan gongye, 1993): 19-22, 24-25.

This Chinese version of the preliminary instructions to the Klong chen snying thig has been transmitted by the Sa skya sprul sku Kun bzang tshe phrin, a disciple of Gangs dkar rin po che (1893-1957) heading the Sa skya monastery Khams gsum grwa, which is located next to Gangs dkar rin po ches own monastery.6 The Chinese text includes the instructions on the ordinary preliminaries (Tib. thun mong sngon gro, Ch. waigong jiaxing , or gong jiaxing ) based on the rDzogs pa chen po klong chen snying thig gi thun mong gi sngon gro khrid kyi lag len las debs lugs and its

A first translation based on the transmission given by Khetsun Sangpo (mKhas btsun bzang po, b. 1921) on dPal sprul rin po ches Kun bzang bla mai zhal lung was done by Jeffrey Hopkins in 1982. This version was also translated into Chinese as Geizun sanbo renboqie [mKhas btsun bzang po rin po che], Dayuanman Longqin xinsui xiuxing fa [Great Perfection preliminaries to the Klong chen snying thig] (Taibei, Xindianshi: Om Ah Hung , 1998). See also Bachu renpoqie [dPal sprul rin po che], Xinzhi shijiao (Zhonghe: Shuixing wenhua, 2003), which is another translation of dPal sprul rin po ches Kun bzang bla mai zhal lung, according to the transmission of Anzhang zhuba huofo (A dzom brug pa sprul sku, 1842-1924), translated and annotated by Zhuoge duojie (mDzod dge rdo rje). 6 On this monastery and its location see above pp. 403-404 [Fig. 4] and note 12.

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six main sections, and the extraordinary preliminaries (Tib. thun mong ma yin pai sngon gro, Ch. bugong nei jiaxing or bugong jiaxing ) according to the rDzogs pa chen po klong chen snying thig gi thun mong ma yin pai sngon groi khrid yig dran pa nyer gzhag. These explanations are based on the later commentary of dPal sprul rin po che (Ch. Bazu renboqing , alias Jigs med chos kyi dbang po, 1808-1887)s Kun bzang bla mai zhal lung; see Patrul Rinpoche, The words of my perfect teacher, and Khetsun Sangpo, Tantric Practice in Nying-ma.7 15. Dayuanman guangda xinyao benjue dao cidi [Gradual path to the primordial awareness according to the Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse of the Great Perfection]
Tibetan title: rDzogs pa chen po klong chen snying thig gi gdod mai mgon poi lam gyi rim pai khrid yig ye shes bla ma Author: 13th Klong chen snying thig master [Jigs med gling pa] mKhyen brtse od zer (Ch. Longqqing lingtipai dishisan dai Zhibei guang zunzhe ). Transmitted and explained by Kun bzang tshe phrin rin po che (Ch. Gensang zecheng renboqing ). Collection Wu Jialiang (ed.), Dayuanman (Taibei: Zhengjian xuehui, 1987): 368-487. Cf. B no 18 & A no 2. References Sam van Schaik, Approaching the Great Perfection: Simultaneous and Gradual Approaches to Dzogchen Practice in Jigme Lingpas Longchen Nyingtig (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2004): 313-317; Qiu Ling (ed.), Zangmi dayuanman xinsui tanao (Beijing: Meitan gongye, 1993): 19-22, 24-25.

Jigs med gling pas Ye shes bla ma is one of the favored works among present day practioners. There are at least two Chinese translations (no 15 & 18). This text contains the teachings of Kun bzang tshe phrin rin po che on the Ye shes bla mas preliminaries (Tib. sngon gro, Ch. jiaxing ), the main practice (Tib. dngos gzhi, Ch. zhengxing ) of khregs chod (Ch. quque ) and thod rgal (Ch. tuoga ),8 and the bar do (Ch. zhongyin ) instructions for the disciples of mediocre (Tib. dbang po bring, Ch. zhonggen ) and inferior capacities (Tib. dbang po tha ma, Ch. xiagen ). It also includes the translation of the colophon.

There are also two other Chinese translations: 1) Dayuanman guangda xinyao qianxing cidi jiangyi [Graduated explanations on the preliminaries to the Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse of the Great Perfection], translated by Yanding et al., in the collection Zangmi xiufa midian [Secret compendium of Tibetan Tantric practices], 5 vols. (Beijing: Huaxia, 1995): vol. 4 (it has also been published in Zhongguo shaoshu minzu guji jicheng , Chengdu: Sichuan minzu, 2002); 2) Dayuanman Lonqin xinti qianxing daowen [Instructions on the Great Perfection preliminaries to the Klong chen snying thig], by Genzao and translated by Guo Yuanxing (Taibei: Micheng, 1981). There is also a compilation by Xu Qinting entitled Dayuanman Longchen xinsui [rDzogs chen klong chen snying thig] (Zhongli: Shenghuan tushu, 1998). As I could not consult it I ignore its content. 8 For other transliterations of these two terms and their meaning see above pp. 496-497 and 502-504.

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16. Dayuanman guangda xinyao qianxing niansong nengxian bianzhi miaodao yigui [Recitation of the preliminaries to the Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse of the Great Perfection, illuminating the auspicious path of omniscience]
Tibetan title: rDzogs pa chen po klong chen snying thig gi sngon groi ngag don rnam mkhyen lam bzang gsal byed Author: Jigs med gling pa (1729/30-1798). Transmitted by Kun bzang tshe phrin rin po che (Ch. Gensang zecheng renboqing ). Translated and edited by Yanding fashi . Collection Wu Jialiang (ed.), Dayuanman (Taibei: Zhengjian xuehui, 1987): 488-515. References Tulku Thondup, The Dzog-chen preliminary practice of the innermost essence: The Long-chen nying-thig ngon-dro with original Tibetan root text, composed by Jig-me ling-pa (1729-1798), translated with commentary by Tulku Thondup, edited by Brian C. Beresford (Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works & Archives, 1989, first published 1982); Khetsun Sangpo, Tantric Practice in Nying-ma, trans. & ed. Jeffrey Hopkins, co-ed. Anne C. Klein (Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, 1996): 197-214; Qiu Ling (ed.), Zangmi dayuanman xinsui tanao (Beijing: Meitan gongye, 1993): 26.

The Tibetan text has been translated and commented by Tulku Thondub. There also is a translation by Jeffrey Hopkins according to Khetsun Sangpos explanations. The Chinese text translated here and edited by Yanding fashi is based on the explanations given by the Sa skya sprul sku Kun bzang tshe phrin. It exists two other Chinese translations: 1) Dayuanman shenhui xinsui qianxing niansong yigui xianshi bianzhi miaodao , translated by Ven. Ruji in the Nyingmapa Series (Hong Kong: Vajrayana Buddhism Association);9 2) Dayuanman Longqing ningti bianzhi miaodao qianxing niansong yigui [Prayer of the preliminary practice the excellent path of omniscience of Dzog-pa chen-po Long Chen Nying-Thig ] facing Chinese and Tibetan text (Gaoxiong: Gaoxiongshi Ningma Longning Jiucheng Foxuehui, 2003). 17. Dayuanman guangda xinyao zongshe chiming neixiu fa yigui [Liturgical commentary of the inner sadhana of the Vidyadhara assemblage to the Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse of the Great Perfection]
Tibetan title Klong chen snying thig nang sgrub rig dzin dus pa Author Jigs med gling pa (1729/30-1798). Collection Wu Jialiang (ed.), Dayuanman (Taibei: Zhengjian xuehui, 1987): 516-541. References Sam van Schaik, Approaching the Great Perfection: Simultaneous and Gradual Approaches to Dzogchen Practice in Jigme Lingpas Longchen Nyingtig (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2004): 94-96.

Although no person in charge of tranmission or translation is mentioned, this explanation on the graduated set of guruyoga texts seems to belong to the Sa skya
9

See the Appendix to the contribution by Henry Shiu in this volume on p. 574.

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sprul sku Kun bzang tshe phrin rin po che. It seems to be the work of the translator and editor Yanding fashi. 18. Dayuanman shenghui benjue xinyao xiuzheng cidi [The victorious wisdom of the Great Perfection: Graduated cultivation and realization of the Heart Essence of the primordial awareness], abbr. Dayuan shenghui [The victorious wisdom of the Great Perfection]
Tibetan title rDzogs pa chen po klong chen snying thig gi gdod mai mgon poi lam gyi rim pai khrid yig ye shes bla ma Author 13th Klong chen snying thig Patriarch [Jigs med gling pa] mKhyen brtse od zer (Ch. Longqqing lingtipai dishisan dai zu Zhibei guang zunzhe ). Transmitted and explained by the 19th Klong chen snying thig Vajraguru Sa skya Kun bzang tshe phrin (Ch. Longqqing lingtipai dishijiu dai Jingang shangshi Sajia Gensang zecheng ). Translated by Liu Liqian (1910-?).10 Collection Wu Jialiang (ed.), Dayuanman (Taibei: Zhengjian xuehui, 1987): 542-672. Also in the manuscript version by Fahai Lama (A no 2) References Steven Goodman, The Klong-Chen snying-thig: An Eighteenth Century Tibetan Revelation (PhD diss., University of Saskatchewan, 1983), Steven Goodman, Rig-dzin Jigs-med gling-pa and the kLong-Chen sNying-thig, in Tibetan Buddhism: Reasons and Revelation, eds. Steven Goodman and Ronald Davidson (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1992): 133-146; Tulku Thondup, The Tantric Tradition of the Nyingmapa (Marion, MA: Buddhayana, 1984); Sam van Schaik, Approaching the Great Perfection: Simultaneous and Gradual Approaches to Dzogchen Practice in Jigme Lingpas Longchen Nyingtig (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2004); Qiu Ling (ed.), Zangmi dayuanman xinsui tanao (Beijing: Meitan gongye, 1993): 19-21, 25, and Qiu Ling (ed.), Zangmi dayuanman fa xuanji (Beijing: Beijing gongye daxue, 1993): 108-129.

This text seems to be a closer translation of the Tibetan Ye shes bla ma explained by the 19th Klong chen snying thig master, Kun bzang tshe phrin rin po che, than the previous text (no 15). It begins with a short history of the three highest vehicles (Mahyoga, Anuyoga, Atiyoga) and ends with the Atiyoga lineages of transmission. The same text is found in the manuscript of Fahai Lama (A no 2). 19. Dayuanman guanding ji xiuchi fangfa jiangjie jilu [Recorded explanations on the methods of practice and initiations of the Great Perfection]
Tibetan title Author Orally transmitted by Gangs dkar rin po che, Karma bshad sprul chos kyi seng ge (1893-1957) (Ch. Fujiao Guangjue Chanshi Gongga Hutuketu Fashizi The name of the translator is not indicated in Wu Jialiangs edition. Conversely, the name Liu Liqian appears in Dayuan shenghui published by Miaojixiang , 1977, and republished as Dayuan shenghui benjue xinyao xiuzheng cidi in Liu Liqian zangxue zhuyi wenji , vol. 11 (Beijing: Minzu, 2000). See also Dayuan shenghui benjue xinyao xiuzheng cidi (Chengdu: Sichuan minzu, 2002).
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). Translated into Chinese by Hu Yalong . Recorded transmission by Ciwei Jingang Shangshi . Wu Jialiang (ed.), Dayuanman (Taibei: Zhengjian xuehui, 1987): 673-745. Cf. Fahai Lamas manuscript (A no 7). Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangshou lu [Recorded instructions on the Great Perfection yang ti] (Qiu Ling ed., Zangmi dayuanman xinsui tanao , Beijing: Meitan gongye, 1993): 23-24, 131-161; Yogi Chen, The Essential Teaching of Adi-Buddha: Part I & II, Chenian Booklets no 84 (http://yogichen.org/cw/cw32/bk084.html) & 85 (http://yogichen.org/cw/ cw32/bk085.html).

Collection References

This text is based on the transmission given in 1948 by Gangs dkar rin po che at the Nuona Jingshe of Nanjing. Under the Chinese title Fujiao Guangjue Chanshi (given to him by the republican government in 1947) Gangs dkar rin po che conferred rDzogs chen teachings to his Chinese disciples for four days. The first day included a general presentation of the snying thig transmissions of the Bi ma snying thig, Kar ma snying thig, mKha gro snying thig, Klong chen snying thig and a short presentation of the first of four initiations (Ch. si guanding , Tib. dbang bzhi). The second day was devoted to the explanations of the other three initiations, ending with the Initiation to the Dynamism of Awareness (Tib. rig pai rtsal dbang) that is mentioned in Chinese as rDzogs chen initiation (Dayuanman guanding ). The third day began with the practice of the preliminaries, ordinary and extraordinary. The fourth day focused on the practice of khregs chod with the gzer lnga and the practice of the three skies of Karma pa, and thod rgal.11 The practice of thod rgal is divided into two parts: the yoga of the day (bai yujia ) and the yoga of the night (hei yujia ). See also A no 7, and B no 20 & 23. 20. Dayuanman guanding ji xiuchi fangfa jiangjie jilu [Recorded explanations on the Great Perfection methods of practice and initiations]. Also titled Kunming Miaogaosi dayuanman fa guanding [Great Perfection initiations at the Miaogao monastery of Kunming]
Tibetan title Author Transmitted by Gangs dkar rin po che, Karma bshad sprul chos kyi seng ge (1893-1957) (Ch. Jingang Shangshi Fujiao Guangjue Chanshi Gongga Hutuketu ). Recorded by Jianfu .12 Collection Wu Jialiang (ed.), Dayuanman (Taibei: Zhengjian xuehui, 1987): 746-802. Cf. Fahai Lamas manuscript (A no 7) References Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangshou lu [Recorded instructions on the Great Perfection yang ti ] (Qiu Ling ed., Zangmi dayuanman xinsui tanao Beijing: Meitan gongye, 1993): 23-24, 131-161; Yogi Chen, The Essential Teaching of Adi-Buddha: Part I & II, Chenian Booklets no 84 (http://yogichen.org/cw/cw32/bk084.html) & 85 (http://yogichen.org/cw/cw32/bk085.html). On this see above pp. 501-502. This is also confirmed in Huang Yingjie , Minguo mizong nianjian [Yearbook of esoteric Buddhism in republican China] (Taibei: Quanfo wenhua, 1992): 138 note 516.
12 11

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This text is the Chinese transcription of the oral transmissions given in Tibetan by Gangs dkar rin po che in 1948 at the Miaogaosi of Kunming (Yunnan). The content is very close to the text above (no 19), but the instructions on the main practice (Ch. zhengxing , Tib. dngos gzhi ), i.e., khregs chod and thod rgal, which is addressed to the disciples of superior capacities, is here presented according to 1. Ye shes bla ma (Ch. Dayuan shenghui ); 2. the Yang ti (Ch. Yangdi ; see no 23); and 3. the Oral Instructions of Karma pa (Ch. koujue ; see no 23). The first encounter between Gangs dkar rin po ches tradition and the Western world was certainly the English summary (based on the Chinese version) of this transmission published by Yogi Chen (1906-1987) in his Chenian Booklets n 84 & 85 under the title The Essential Teachings of Adi-Buddha (Part 1 and 2). 21. Dayuanman xinzhi yuantong wuai yaomen [Essential methods on the perfectly penetrating and unobstructed wisdom-mind according to the Great Perfection]
Tibetan title Author Orally transmitted by Wu Runjiang (1906-1979). Collection Wu Jialiang (ed.) Dayuanman, 803-820. References

As the Chinese titles of Wu Runjiang show in the heading of the text: Xikang Nuona Hutuketu fasi Da Chiming Jingang shangshi Lianhua Jingangzang zunzhe Banzhida , i.e., Mh-vidydhara Vajraguru Honorable Padmavajragarbha Pa ita, Heir of Nor lha Khutukhtu from Khams, Wu Runjiang presents himself as disciple of Nor lha Khutukhtu (1865-1936).13 Wu Runjiangs teaching focus on the confrontation to the nature of mind, its power of emitting light thanks to techniques of visualization, recitation and absorption.

As the sixth patriarch of Nor lha rin po ches lineage, Wu Runjiang (1906 1979) established the Wujindeng Xuehui (Association of the Endless Lamp) and published the journal Wujindeng [Endless Lamp], which has recently been taken over by Guru Huang Zhengnan . In 1960, as one of the first Chinese to teach Tibetan Tantrism, Wu was invited to the United States and Canada to transmit his teachings. His disciples in New York established the Nuona Ashram (Nuona Jingshe ). See the contribution by Yao Lixiang in this volume, and Chen Bing and Deng Zimei , Ershi shiji Zhongguo fojiao [Chinese Buddhism in the 20th century] (Taibei: Xiandai Chan, 2003): 439. Among Wu Runjiangs disciples in Taiwan are Qian Zhimin , his wife Huang Huihua , and Liang Naichong , a professor at the Institute of Research in Physics of the University of Qinghua in Taiwan . He gathered a group of scientists for the study of Buddhism and established the Yuanjue Wenjiao Jijinhui (Foundation for Culture and Education of Perfect Illumination) and published the periodical Foxue yu kexue (Buddhism and Science). My thanks to Chen Bing for this information.

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22. Dayuanman zuisheng bao zongji jianxiu yigui [Liturgical explanations on the simplified meditation according to the sublime treasury of the Great Perfection]
Tibetan title Author Transmitted by Gangs dkar rin po che (18931957) (Ch. Fujiao Guangjue Chanshi Gongga Shangshi ). Collection Wu Jialiang (ed.), Dayuanman (Taibei: Zhengjian xuehui, 1987): 821-833. References

This teaching consists in the sdhana-based ritual of visualization and recitation of O h, in the recitation of the mantra of Padmasambhava (Ch. Lianhua zhou ) combined with the visualization of his wrathful form (Ch. fennu Lianshizhe , Tib. Guru Drag po), and his ki (Ch. Lianshi shizi kongxing , Tib. Seng ge gdong can ma). 23. Dayuanman zuisheng xinzhongxin yindao leyao [Instructions on the quintessential teachings of the rDzogs chen yang ti]. Original title: Yi heiwu shang jinzi xianchu dayuanman zuisheng xinzhongxin yindao leyao ming quru guangming dao [Entering the path of the clear lightEssential instructions on the golden syllable of the Black Quintessence ( yang ti nag po) of the Great Perfection]
Tibetan title rDzogs chen yang ti nag po gser gyi gcig pai khrid yig mdor bsdus pa od gsal lam jug Author Kong sprul Yon tan rgya mtsho (alias Jam mgon Kong sprul blo gros mtha yas, 1813-1899). Transmitted by Gangs dkar rin po che (18931957) (Ch. Jingang shangshi Gongga ). Collection Wu Jialiang (ed.), Dayuanman (Taibei: Zhengjian xuehui, 1987): 834-921. Manuscript by Fahai Lama (A no 4). References Dayuanman zuisheng xinzhongxin yindao leyao [Instructions on the quintessential teachings of the Great Perfection yang ti ] (Qiu Ling ed., Zangmi dayuanman xinsui tanao , Beijing: Meitan gongye, 1993): 23, 62, 98-130, and Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangshou lu [Recorded instructions on the Great Perfection yang ti ] (Qiu Ling ed., Zangmi dayuanman xinsui tanao , Beijing: Meitan gongye, 1993): 23-24, 131-161; Yogi Chen, The Essential Teaching of Adi-Buddha: Part I & II, Chenian Booklets no 84 (http://yogichen.org/cw/cw32/bk084.html) & 85 (http://yogichen.org/cw/ cw32/bk085.html).

This text was first transmitted at Shashi (todays Jingzhou , Hubei) in 1938 by Gangs dkar rin po che, and then in Chongqing and Chengdu (Sichuan), according to the Tibetan text written by one of the foremost figures of the ris med movement at dPal spungs monastery (Ch. Babangsi ), Kong sprul Yon tan rgya mtsho (mentioned at the end of the Chinese text with his Bodhisattva vow name Padma gar dbang Blo gros mtha yas, Ch. Lianhua youxi zizai zhihui wubian dashi ). Compiled for his Rin chen gter mdzod, Kong spruls text is a standard exegesis of the cycle revealed by Dung mtsho ras pa (Ch. Dongcuo reba

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, also called Congzun luohai , 15th cent.). The Chinese text is also known under its abbreviated title Quru guangming dao jinzi jing or simply Yangdui or Yangdi (Chinese phonetic for yang ti).14 In the manuscript version

of Fahai Lama (A no 4) it is titled Dayuanman zuisheng xinzhongxin yangdui kemu. Like Fahai Lamas manuscript version, this text in Wu Jialiangs edition has in addition the oral instructions of the third Karma pa Rang byung rdo rje (Ch. Rangjiang diji , 1284-1339), which includes the practice of the three skies (Ch. Yangdi san xukong xiangying ), and the Song of the Great Perfection from the Kar ma snying thig (Ch. Kama ningti dayuanman she song ). 24. Dayuanman pushi yaomen [The Great Perfection method of spreading (salvation)]
Tibetan title Author Orally transmitted by Wu Runjiang (1906-1979). Collection Wu Jialiang (ed.), Dayuanman (Taibei: Zhengjian xuehui, 1987): 922-956. References

The text contains an annotated transmission of the purificatory practice of the six realms in the Nor lha Khutukhtus tradition offering a detailed explanation on the visualisation of its six syllables. The adept in accord with the aspiration of Samantabhadra devotes her/his practice to saving all beings from the six life forms and the three realms of samsara. 25. Dayuanman pushi yaomen [Great Perfection Heart Essence of the highest revered one)
Tibetan title Author Orally transmitted by Gangs dkar rin po che (1893-1957) (Ch. Jingang shangshi Gongga ). Collection Wu Jialiang (ed.), Dayuanman (Taibei: Zhengjian xuehui, 1987): 957-962. References

This is an explanation based on a Tibetan version of the guruyoga practice along with a visualized recitation of 100 characters and respective mantras.

14 A text simply titled Yangdui has also been published in the collection Jingangcheng quanji , vol. 3 (Taibei: Misheng, 1985); see the Appendix by Henry Shiu in this volume on p. 570. It has been translated by Lau Yui-chi (Liu Ruizhi , 1914-1997). It corresponds to the text with the same original title Yi heiwu shang jinzi xianchu dayuanman zuisheng xinzhongxin yindao leyao ming quru guangming dao . My thanks to Henry Shiu for having sent me a copy of this text. The same text has been also published in Wu Xinru , Dayuanman jingcui (Zhongguo zangxue chubanshe, 2005 (http://big5.phoenixtv.com:82/gate/big5/www. phoenixtv.com/phoenixtv/ 72343471507111936/20050610/565202.shtml).

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26. Xiu Puxianwang rulai lunhui niepan zijietuo zuigao fangbian [Practicing Samantabhadras highest method of samsara and nirvana self-liberation]
Tibetan title Author Transmitted by Gangs dkar rin po che. Recorded by Chen Jianmin (i.e., Yogi Chen, 1906-1987). Collection Wu Jialiang (ed.), Dayuanman (Taibei: Zhengjian xuehui, 1987): 963-968. References Yogi Chen, Adi-Buddha Samadhi, Chennian Booklets, 117 (http://yogichen. org/chenian/bk117.html)

It is an explanation about the visualization of Samantabhadra and Samantabhadr in their blue and white form respectively. The meaning of their different postures and emblems is given according to the traditional qualities belonging to the nature of mind. Natural state is symbolized by the syllable A in their hearts encircled by the five colored lights. 27. Nuona Jingang shangshi koushou jingang song qifen [Distinctive explanations of the prayer of Vajrasattva in the oral transmission of the Vajra Master Nor lha]
Tibetan title Author Published on the basis of Ouyang Hanbings manuscript. Collection Wu Jialiang (ed.), Dayuanman (Taibei: Zhengjian xuehui, 1987): 969-979. References

This text explains Vajrasattva meditation in the tradition of Nor lha rin po che as divided into 10 items: 1. Hommage; 2. Extraordinary meaning of Vajrasattava recitation; 3. Refuge; 4. Developing bodhicitta; 5. The nature of mind; 6. The syllable h; 7. Vajrasattva; 8. All characteristics; 9. Visualization of the syllable and breath; 10. The immensity of the mind-space . It includes a postface dated 1956. 28. Dayuanman fajie xinzhongxin heiguan yindao weidu jike chengjiu shiye [Instructions on the retreat in darkness of yang ti in the domain of the Great Perfection, the simple reading of which allows accomplishment of ones pursuit]
Tibetan title rDzogs pa chen po Yang ti nag po mun khrid bklags pas don grub Author Kun bzang nges don dbang po (fl. 1798). Transmitted by Gangs dkar rin po che (1893-1957) (Ch. Jingang shangshi Gongga ). Recorded by Chen Jianmin (i.e., Yogi Chen, 1906-1987). Collection Wu Jialiang (ed.), Dayuanman (Taibei: Zhengjian xuehui, 1987): 979-995. Cf. Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangyi (Part Hei yujia, 72a-90b in Fahai Lamas manuscript, A no 6). References Dayuanman fajie xinzhongxin heiguan yindao fa [Instructions on the retreat in darkness of yang ti in the domain of the Great Perfection] (Qiu Ling ed., Zangmi dayuanman xinsui tanao , Beijing: Meitan gongye, 1993): 27, 162-172; and Qiu Ling (ed.), Zangmi dayuanman fa xuanji (Beijing: Beijing gongye daxue, 1993): 154-156.

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According to Qiu Ling (Zangmi dayuanman xinsui, 27 and 162), Gangs dkar rin po che transmitted the method of the retreat in a dark-chamber to Chen Jianmin (i.e., Yogi Chen) in 1937 when he was in Lushan (Jiangxi). Yogi Chen is said to be the only Chinese holder of the Yang ti nag po transmission. He wrote down Gangs dkar rin po ches teachings and composed his Chinese version recorded in Qiu Ling (Zangmi dayuanman xinsui, 162-169), which is less complete than the text reproduced here in Wu Jialiangs edition. The latter seems to be a closer translation of the Tibetan text. It includes an appendix (pp. 993-995) entitled Dayuanman xinzhongxin heiguan guanxiang cidi [Stages of visualization for the dark-retreat of the yang ti of the Great Perfection] whose title seems to correspond to Dung mtsho ras pas rDzogs pa chen po yang ti nag poi ngo sprod dmigs pai rim pa char sgo; but in reality it refers to his Yang ti nag poi shog dril skor gsum presented in Chinese as Sanjuan jing [The three scrolls], or according to Chinese Tibetan spelling Suzou gesong (Shog dril skor gsum). Parts of the same text are also found in the Chinese manuscript of Fahai Lama entitled Dayuanman xinzhongxin jiangyi under the part Hei Yujia (72a-90b, A no 6), which resumes Gangs dkar rin po ches teachings on the retreat in darkness (mun mtshams). It is also included in Qiu Ling (Zangmi dayuanman xinsui, 170-172 and Zangmi dayuanman fa, 156-160). Both versions recorded in Qiu Ling give more practical details and are close to the manuscript version of Fahai Lama (A no 6).
29. Dayuanman fajie xinzhongxin heiguan yindao jiushi [Nine explanations on the instructions for the retreat in darkness of yang ti in the Tibetan title Author Chen Jianmin (i.e, Yogi Chen, 1906-1987) Collection Wu Jialiang (ed.), Dayuanman (Taibei: Zhengjian xuehui, 1987): 996-1015.15 The one volume of Wu Jialiangs edition kept at the Taiwan National Library ends with two texts related to Vajrasattva recitation and mandala offering, respectively titled Dayuanman shiwan zhou jingang huikai fajue [Oral instruction of ten thousand time recitation of the method of the diamond armor of the Great Perfection], attributed to rDo rje gling pa (Ch. Duojie linba , 1346-1405), and transmitted by Gangs dkar rin po che (pp. 1016-1022), and Dayuanman jiao shenshen xinyao sanbao zongji Lianshi hui hongfa [Mandala offering to Master Padmasambhava according to the Three Jewels of the deepest quintessence of the Great Perfection teachings] (pp. 1023-1033), which may correspond to the Tibetan text rDzogs pa chen po yang zab dkon mchog spyi dus by Ja tshon snying po (1585-1656). The second volume of Wu Jialiangs edition includes more texts, among which the Dayuanman xuhuan xiuxi miaoche shu (i.e., Klong chen pas rDzogs pa chen po sgyu ma ngal gsoi grel pa shing rta bzang po), transmitted by Kun bzang tshe phrin (vol. 2, 1033-1050); the Xiaodasheng xiukong ji misheng dashouyin, dayuanman, chanzong bianwei [The cultivation of nyat in Hinayana and Mahayana and their slight differences with Chan and the Tantric vehicles of Mahmudr and rDzogs chen] by Chen Jianmin (vol. 2, 1051-1070), which has been translated in Yogi Chen, Chennian Booklet (old no 57), and C.M. Chen, Buddhist Meditation, Systematic and Practical (Kalimpong: Mani Printing, 1967. It is also partially available at http://yogichen.org/efiles/bmtoc.html). See also Chen Jianmin
15

domain of the Great Perfection]

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References

Monica Esposito
Qiu Ling (ed.), Zangmi dayuanman xinsui tanao (Beijing: Meitan gongye, 1993): 27; Dayuanman fajie xinzhongxin heiguan yindao jiushi [Nine explanations on the instructions for the retreat in darkness of yang ti in the domain of the Great Perfection] (Qiu Ling ed., Zangmi dayuanman fa xuanji , Beijing: Beijing gongye daxue, 1993): 161-170.

This text was written by Chen Jianmin, alias Yogi Chen, after he practiced the retreat in darkness in India in 1956. It is divided in nine explanations summing up Yogi Chens personal experience according to Gangs dkar rin po ches transmission. 30. Dayuanman san zijietuo lun [Trilogy of natural freedom of the Great Perfection]
Tibetan title rDzogs pa chen po Rang grol skor gsum Author Klong chen rab byams (Ch. Longqin raojiang ba zushi ). Translated by Fahu . Collection Dayuanman san zijietuo lun (Qilong: Dazang wenhua, 1995). References Tulku Thondup, Buddha Mind (Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, 1989): 157, 316-354, 355-374; Herbert Guenther, The Natural Freedom of Mind (in Crystal Mirror 4, ed. Tarthang Tulku, Berkeley: Dharma Publication, 1975): 113-146.

This features Chinese and Tibetan texts. The Chinese text is an annotated translation by Fahu . It includes the 1. Sems nyid rang grol (Ch. Dayuanman xinxing zijietuo ); 2. Chos nyid rang grol (Ch. Dayuanman faxing zijietuo ); 3. mNyam nyid rang grol (Ch. Dayuanman pingdengxing zijietuo ). It also presents a short introduction to the meaning and contents of rDzogs chen with a traditional explanation of the nine vehicles.

, Qugongzhai quanji [Collected Works of the Bent-Arm Studio], 6 vols. (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue, 2002): vol. 1. Finally, the Lianshi dayuanman jiaoshou gouti [Sizing Padmasambhavas transmission of the Great Perfection] (vol. 2, 1071-1079). The latter is a commentary on the Ye shes rang grol by Yogi Chen. On this text, see also Qiu Ling (ed.), Zangmi dayuanman xinsui, 28-29, 173-235 (B no 12).