Table Of ContentDakini Teachings
PADMASAMBHAVA'S
ORAL INSTRUCTIONS TO
LADY TSOGYAL
Recorded and concealed by YESHE TSOGYAL
Revealed by NYANG RAL NYIMA OSER
and SANGYE LINGPA
'Ji-anslated by ERIK PEMA KUNSANG
SHAMBHALA
Boston & Shaftesbury
1990
Shambhala Publications, Inc.
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© 1990 by Erik Hein Schmidt
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9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 I
First Edition
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
Distributed in the United States by Random House
and in Canada by Random House of Canada Ltd.
Distributed in the United Kingdom by Element Books Ltd.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Dota
Nan-ral Ni-ma-'od-zer, 1124-1182.
IJo mo Ia gdams pa'i chos skor. English!
Dakini teachings: Padmasambhava's oral instructions to Lady Tsogyal
/revealed by Nyang Ral Nyimey Oser and Sangye Linpa; recorded and concealed
by Yeshe Tsogyal; translated by Erik Perna Kunsang.-lst ed.
p. em.
Translation of: Jo mo Ia gdams pa'i chos skor.
ISBN 0-87773-546-8 (alk. paper)
l. Spiritual life (Buddhism)-Riiin-ma-pa authors-Early works to 1800.
2. Riiin-ma-pa (Sect)-Early works to 1800. I. Padma Sambhava, ca. 717-ca. 762.
II. Sans-rgyas-glin-pa, Gter-ston, 1340-1396. Ill. Ye-ses-mtsho-rgyal,
8th cent. IV. Kunsang, Erik Perna. V. Title.
HQ7662.6.N36 1990 89-43403
294 .3' 4448----dc20 CIP
"Descend with the view while ascending with the conduct.
It is most essential to practice these two as a unity."
-PADMASAMBHAVA
Contents
Translator's Preface 1x
A Short Biography of Padmasambhava
by JAMGON KONGTRUL THE FIRST xv
Introductory Teaching by VEN. TULKU URGYEN RINPOCHE xxv
First of All
Taking Refuge 10
Bodhicitta 29
The Ten Foundations of Secret Mantra 59
The Vajra Master and the Yidam Deity 101
Vajrayana Mind Training 113
The Crystal Garland of Faultless Practice 135
The Refined Essence of Oral Instructions 153
Glossary 159
Translator's Preface
Dakini Teachings is a collection of advice selected from several
revealed "treasure teachings," or (terma). It contains Guru Rinpoche's
(Padmasambhava's) oral instructions on Dharma practice given dur
ing his stay in Tibet in the ninth century. This advice was recorded
by his chief disciple, the dakini Yeshe Tsogyal, the princess of
Kharchen. According to Jamgon Kongtrul the First's Lives of One
Hundred Tertons, 1 Yes he Tsogyal was a dakini and an emanation of
the female buddha Lochana, the consort of Buddha Ratnasambhava,
as well as of Vajra Yogini appearing in the form of a woman. She
served Guru Rinpoche during his stay in Tibet and afterward
practiced with tremendous perseverance so that she finally became
equal to Guru Rinpoche himself. Her compassion is matchless and
her blessings are unceasing.
Yeshe Tsogyal wrote these oral instructions down in a secret code
language called "dakini script" and concealed them as precious terma
treasures to be revealed by tertons many centuries later. Guru
Rinpoche himself predicted the arrival, names, and periods of the
revealers. The teachings they would receive, in actuality or in visions,
would be appropriate for the people in their own and in following
generations. Almost every chapter in this book mentions that these
teachings were given for the benefit of practitioners of future gener
ations and includes the words: "May this meet with all worthy and
destined people in the future!"
Dakini Teachings is based on the revealed termas of the twelfth-
I. Also called The Precious Garland of Lapis Lazuli.
x 7i·anslator's Preface %
century terton Nyang Ral Nyima Oser. The manuscripts that I have
used were kept in the Royal Danish Library, having been brought
back from a Mongolian monastery by an explorer of central Asia
many decades ago. When His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse visited the
library in 1976, he asked to be shown all the original handwritten
manuscripts and decided to have photocopies made of six volumes of
books that were unavailable at that time in India. Among these six
was a collection of some of Nyang Ral's termas called fomo Shulen,
"The Questions and Answers of the Lady" (Tsogyal). This volume
was later reprinted in its original form by Sherab Drimey, His
Holiness Dilgo Khyentse's printer in New Delhi. When later I
presented Ven. Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche with the book, he expressed
great delight in reading it and gave me much encouragement in
preparing this translation. He also pointed out another similar collec
tion of Nyang Ral's termas called Nyang-gyi Martt·i, "The Direct
Instructions of Nyang." Jamgon Kongtrul had found this text impor
tant enough to include in the sixtieth volume of the Rinchen Terdzo.
In comparing these two manuscripts, I found that both contained
invaluable advice by Padmasambhava that was sometimes identical
and sometimes totally different. They were obviously from two
entirely different sources, the first of which had not been available to
Jamgon Kongtrul when preparing the Rinchen Terdzo.
It is now about eight hundred years since Nyang Ral Nyima Oser
lived, and over these many years quite a few omissions and spelling
mistakes crept in each time the manuscripts were hand copied. Even
the mistakes were not the same in the two versions. Therefore I relied
on a third collection of termas by the fourteenth-century master
Sangye Lingpa. Parts of this collection were almost identical in
wording with the terma of Nyang Ral Nyima Oser. The reason for
the duplication is that both masters, in their former lives, were
present when Guru Rinpoche gave the teaching. Nyang Ral Nyima
Oser was the reincarnation of King Trisong Deutsen, and Sangye
Lingpa was the reincarnation ofTrisong Deutsen's second son, Murub
Tseypo. There was enough material in these three collections to fill
four additional books of English translation, so I selected what
seemed to be most appropriate for the present day and age.
