The wrathful deity Vajrakilaya

The wrathful deity Vajrakilaya embodies the enlightened activity of all the Buddhas in order to subjugate delusion and negativity that can arise as obstacles to spiritual practice. This book presents a line-by-line description of this tantric practice according to the oral transmission lineage of the great seventeenth-century terton, or treasure revealer, Tsasum Lingpa, and describes the history of its oral transmission lineage. It conveys the essential meaning of the Vajrakilaya teachings and provides an invaluable guide for Tibetan Buddhist practitioners to "discover the absolute vajra nature that will transform every duality hindrance into clear wisdom and compassion."

"This is an extraordinary Vajrakilaya teaching and quite rare within the terma tradition. During the twentieth-century upheaval in Tibet, almost all of Tsasum Lingpa's works were in danger of being lost forever. Together, the Khenpo Rinpoches have dedicated much of their lives to the preservation of the wondrous spiritual system envisioned by this "crazy wisdom" terton. Revealed to the Western world for the first time, the Dark Red Amulet is a one-of-a-kind gem in every sense of the word." Mikel Dunham, author of Buddha's Warriors.


This book is a commentary based on a terma text discovered by Tsasum Lingpa in the seventeenth century in Tibet. The root text is a sadhana practice combining Yangdak Heruka and Dorje Phurba (Vajrakllaya), a sadhana of “Yang-Phur~’ From this larger volume, medium, short, and condensed versions have been translated with the help of many of our students. The entire volume is entitled The Dark Red Amulet of Unsur¬passable Yang-Phur. The short sadhana is “The Coemergent Union of the Vajra Hero’ and the condensed sadhana is “The Practice of the HUNG of the Powerful Black Phurba.”

The line-by-line commentary in this book follows the short and con¬densed versions and was compiled from Vajrakilaya teachings given during the early 1990s in Estes Park, Colorado (August 1990), Denver, Colorado (June 1991 and September 1992), the Zuni River Valley, New Mexico (July 1991), and West Palm Beach, Florida (October 1991).

For the sections of the practice text to be chanted aloud, two lines of Tibetan are included with each line of English, of which the second is a transcription of pronunciation that is similar to the Khampa dialect.
This book begins with three introductory prayers. The first supplica¬tion, composed by Guru Padmasambhava, is part of the Northern Terma discovered by Rigdzin Gödem. The second and third prayers were written in Tibetan by Khenchen Palden Sherab and translated into English by Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal. With regard to the dedication prayers at the end of the book, the first prayer was written by a master of the Kama lineage, the second was written by Lady Yeshe Tsogyal, and the third was spoken by Buddha Shakyamuni in his Mahayana biography, Lalitavistara. We would like to express our gratitude to all our students who trans¬lated the sadhanas, transcribed and edited the commentary, and con¬tributed to the completion of this book. Special thanks go to editors Ann Helm, Steve Harris, and Elizabeth Gongde, to Nancy Roberts for coordi¬nating the publication, and to the artists whose work is reproduced herein.

Introduction

Tsasum Lingpa was one of the great tertöns in the history of the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism. He lived during one of the very crucial times in Tibetan history when there were many disturbances faced by practition¬ers and much political turmoil in Tibet. Tsasum Lingpa was also one of the leading examples of tertöns who revealed terma teachings from objects and different locations—he discovered many personal ritual objects that belonged to Guru Padmasambhava, Yeshe Tsogyal, and King Trisong Deutsen, and other great yogis and yoginis of the eighth century.

Tsasum Lingpa is renowned as a crazy wisdom tertön. Guru Padma¬sambhava and Yeshe Tsogyal had predicted, “Suddenly tertöns will manifest and discover termas randomly like clouds in the sky benefiting others in very targeted ways.” Tsasurn Lingpa began to reveal terma teachings around the age of eighteen, and continued revealing terma into his early forties.

According to the Great Jamgon Kongtrul, “Tsasum Lingpa’s lifespan seems to have been about forty-four years long. After he passed away, his followers maintained and spread his terma teachings well, When he died, he emanated three reincarnations. His body emanation was Rongmyon Orgyen Rigdzin, who presided as head of Trimzig Monastery. His speech emanation, Kunzang Norbu, was born around Gawalung area, but there were no further speech incarnations after him. His mind emanation, Rigdzin Mijig Dorje, was born in the Chungpo area. Both his body and mind incarnations continue up to the present time.”

Tsasum Lingpis teachings were very strongly established in the Doshul region of eastern Tibet. The largest monastery of his lineage is Gochen Monastery There are also many other small monasteries where his teach¬ings are practiced and followed, thus keeping Tsasum Lingpa’s lineage alive and well. His teachings are also well maintained in the Puwo region of southern Tibet, where Tsasum Lingpa himself founded the DudS Ngagpa Ling Monastery and in the Drongpa region of Nangchen.

However, due to the difficult situations and circumstances in Tibet during the twentieth century the Tsasum Lingpa lineage teachings have nearly disappeared. Many other Tibetan Buddhist lineages have also been shaken. My brother, Venerable Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche, along with my father, Lama Chimed Namgyal, and myself may have been the only people who brought and kept these lineage teachings outside of Tibet until the late 1970s. In the early l980s the Chinese government’s policies in Tibet began to become a little more open, so that other teachers upholding Tsasum Lingpa’s lineage, such as Tuilcu Sang-ngag Rinpoche, were able to leave Tibet and preserve and spread the teachings of Tsasum Lingpa. Cur¬rently, in the Chungpo region of Tibet the mind incarnation of Tsasum Lingpa, commonly known as Nanchag Tulku, along with many others, is actively establishing monasteries and spreading these teachings once again in the Chungpo, Doshul, and other regions. Due to the kind efforts of many supporters, Khenchen Palden Sherab and I published these lineage teachings in India, distributing the texts to devotees in India, Tibet, and throughout the Himalayan region. At that time, the Library of Congress included these texts as a part of their Asian collection, distributing them to about twenty universities throughout the United States.

This very short life story of Tsasum Lingpa according to the Great Khyentse has been added to ornament this new publication. The Great
Khyentse, who embodies the wisdom, compassion, and activities of all Buddhist masters, was appointed and entrusted by Guru Padmasambhava as his regent to reestablish and restrengthen many lost and weakened Tibetan Buddhist teachings, along with the Great Kongtrul.

At this time we are extremely delighted to be able to publish these teachings of Vajrakilaya, based on the oral instruction lineage according to the termas of Tsasum Lingpa, in English. We hope that many more publi¬ cations of this great hidden tertön will soon be available. This book on Vajrakilaya is not solely a teaching by Tsasum Lingpa; in our commentary, we are trying to convey the essential meaning of the general and particular Vajrakilaya teachings within the entire scope of all of the nine yanas. There¬fore, we hope that this will support all practitioners of Buddhism, and Vajrayana practitioners in particular. May they all discover the absolute vajra nature that will transform every duality hindrance into clear wisdom and compassion.