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 collection of Nyang Ral’s termas called Nyang-gyi Martri, “The Direct Instructions of Nyang.” Jamgon Kongtrul had found this text important 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 R’al 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 of Trisong 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.
The following short biographical notes about the life of Nyang Ral Nyima Oser (1124–1192) are extracted from The Lives of One Hundred Tertons.
Nyang Ral is considered the first of the five terton kings prophesied by Guru Rinpoche. He was a reincarnation of Trisong Deutsen, the king who initially invited Guru Rinpoche to Tibet and who was also known as Tsangpa Lhai Metok (Divine Flower of Brahma).
He was born in the area of Lhodrak, the son of the Nyingma lama Nyangton Chokyi Khorlo, in the year of the Male Wood Dragon.2
At the age of eight he had visions of Buddha Shakyamuni, Avalokiteshvara, and Guru Rinpoche. His experience blazed forth for a whole month.
One evening he saw Guru Rinpoche riding a white horse carried by the four classes of dakinis and received the four empowerments by drinking nectar from Guru Rinpoche’s vase. Upon receiving the empowerments he had the experience of the sky breaking open and the earth and mountains trembling, and he started to act in various strange ways to such an extent that everyone thought he had gone insane.
His father then gave him the empowerment of Hayagriva, and after practicing in retreat he had a vision of the deity and his phurba dagger emitted the neigh of a horse and he left imprints of his hands and feet in solid rock.
In accordance with a prediction from the dakinis, he went to Mawo Choqi Draktsa, where he was given the name Nyima Oser (Beam of Sunlight) by the wisdom dakinis. After this he was renowned under that name.
Guru Rinpoche appeared to Nyang Ral Nyima Oser in person and gave him the lists of termas he was to reveal. Accordingly, he revealed many volumes of terma teachings, among which the best known is the Kagye Desheg Dupa, a cycle of teachings focusing on the eight heruka sadhanas, and his revealed biography of Guru Rinpoche, known as Sanglingma.
He later married Jobum, an emanation of Yeshe Tsogyal, and had two sons, Drogon Namkha O and Namkha Pal, who both became lineage holders.
During his life he maintained a balance between practicing in retreat and teaching others. His activity stretched to the corners of the world and had a tremendous impact on the continuation of the Dharma.
In the year of the Male Wood Mouse he passed away at the age of sixty-nine, accompanied by many wonderful signs.
I, Jamgon Kongtrul, personally gathered all the transmissions for Nyang Ral’s terma teachings, had the wood blocks carved for the nine volumes of Kagye Desheg Dupa, and performed its group sadhana many times. In that way I was able to offer my humble service to these teachings.
Here is some information describing how Nyima Oser received the actual terma from which the Dakini Teachings is taken, extracted from his biography called The Clear Mirror, which is found in the second volume of Kagye Desheg Dupa.
Later, when I stayed in retreat practicing guru sadhana at the Pear Crystal Cave of Pama Gong, one evening a white girl appeared and said she was Yeshe Tsogyal. She wore a blue dress with an apron and a shirt of white silk and said, “Yogi, what do you want?”
“I want nothing but the Dharma!” I replied.
“Then I will give you that,” she said, and she handed me a casket with the scriptures of prophecies of the dakinis as well as the 108 cycles of questions and answers.
Then she said, “Son, come with me to the Sitavana charnel ground! Acharya Padma and the eight great vidyadharas as well as numerous other worthy yogis are holding a great Dharma assembly. We, the dakinis, are holding a great feast gathering, so come!”
We went there and I saw the great charnel ground; it was intimidating and frightening and impossible for unworthy people to approach. In the center sat a yogi with light brown skin on a huge throne made out of precious stones. He said, “Isn’t that my son, Tsangpa Lhai Metok? Has wandering in samsara been a strain for you?” He told me then to sit down on a heap of human bones. I sat down.
In front of him there was a big mandala adorned with numerous ornaments encircled by a latticework of light rays. In the eight directions around it I saw that the eight vidyadharas of India and Tibet sat with smiling faces. I was overjoyed.
Then the same girl asked me, “Son, do you want to enjoy a feast gathering or the wheel of Dharma?” In reply I said, “Please turn the wheel of Dharma for me.” Immediately, I was given the preliminary steps for initiation into this great mandala, after which I went to the mandala’s eight directions, where each of the masters conferred upon me the extensive empowerments for each of the eight teachings and entrusted me with the lineage.
The yogi in the center, who said he was Padmasambhava, also known as Padmakara, gave me the great empowerment of the Assemblage of the Peaceful and Wrathful Sugatas. He also gave me the books and taught me the melodies for the chanting.
All the vidyadharas then simultaneously gave the empowerment for learning and retaining, the empowerment for meditating and practicing, the empowerment for explaining and teaching, the empowerment for taming beings through the activities, the empowerment for the all-encompassing command of a vajra king, and the Dzogchen empowerment for the expression of awareness.
Having received all these empowerments in their entirety, I was given a white conch and told to return home. The very moment I heard that, the whole scenery of the charnel ground and all the masters vanished just like vapor disappearing from a mirror. When I regained my senses, I found that I was back in my meditation hut.
The second terma that I used for comparison for clearing up the spelling mistakes and omissions when preparing Dakini Teachings was revealed by Sangye Lingpa (1340–1396). He took birth in Kongpo, the southeastern province of Tibet, in the year of the Male Iron Dragon, the same year that the fourth karmapa, Rolpey Dorje, was born. Sangye Lingpa is regarded as an incarnation of Yeshe Rolpa Tsal, the second son of King Trisong Deutsen. In 1364 he revealed the Lama Gongdue cycle of teachings, his most important terma. Sangye Lingpa is also counted among the five terton kings. In recent times these two great masters were reborn as Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and Terchen Chokgyur Lingpa.
Lastly, Dakini Teachings finishes with a chapter by the terton Guru Dorje Lingpa containing the last words of Padmasambhava. Dorje Lingpa (1346–1405) was one of five major revealers of hidden treasures in Tibet renowned as the five terton kings.
I would like to thank everyone who contributed to the preparation of this book, especially His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse and Ven. Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche for the directions and blessings. Marcia Binder Schmidt for rechecking the translation and overseeing the work at all stages, Mim Coulstock for editing, and Phinjo Sherpa for word-processing assistance.
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