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Focus the mind on the indestructible bindu
And stabilize it with breathing practice.
Bring the immediate instant of self-existing awareness
To basic space beyond conceptual mind.
Through the illustrating example wisdom,
The real coemergent is realized,
And you accomplish Vajra Tara of the changeless three essences
Within this very lifetime.
These were the gradual instructions
On the concluding part of the Supreme Path.
Samaya. Seal, seal, seal. Dathim.
Thus, having received the blessing of Jetsün Tara, Chokgyur Lingpa wrote this down, as it flowed forth from the treasure mine of realization. Atiguhya.
Secret Mandala
1 From Padmasambhava, “The Instruction on the Threefold Excellence,” in Skillful Grace (Boudhanath: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 2006).
THE HEART OF THE TWO ACCOMPLISHMENTS THE HEART OF THE TWO ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Elucidating the Essential Instruction on the Threefold Excellence
According to the Mind Treasure
The Profound Essence of Tara
Jamgön Kongtrül
Homage to the guru, Noble Tara.
Wearing the armor of your amazing pledge,
Your immeasurable activities liberate all beings.
Greater than all victors and their heirs,
Noble Lady, protect me until enlightenment.
I shall present graded instructions,
Condensing the most vital essence of her profound, most quintessential realization
From the ocean of excellent tantras,
In a way that is complete and precise—the essence of all teachings,
Which brings supreme realization in a single lifetime.
I will start by briefly mentioning the historical background connected with this teaching. There are countless numbers of tantras and pith instructions connected to the Noble Lady Tara, mother of all victors of the directions and times, who are present throughout all the buddhafields. The ones that are present in our realm come through the emanation of Avalokiteshvara, by the name Padmasambhava, who gave concise, medium-length, and extensive instructions on Jetsün Tara to the king of the snowy land, Tibet, and to the close disciples. Most of all, for the sake of future times, he concealed many termas.
From among all of them, I will give these quintessential teachings, which have three aspects. The Heart Essence of Tara teachings were concealed in Shang Zabbu valley. They were the destined treasure of the lord guru, Pema Ösel Do-Ngak Lingpa (Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo), but due to the interplay of circumstances, he was unable to reveal them. Nevertheless, he revealed as mind treasures their root teaching, The Three Vajra Lines, and the amazing sadhana cycle of Chimey Phagma Nyingtik. He also revealed the subsidiary texts for the Barchey Künsel—the necessary sadhanas and activity liturgies and the most quintessential supreme teaching, The Profound Essence of Tara (Drölma Zabtik).
The great treasure revealer Chokgyur Dechen Lingpa, the undisputed and universally accepted incarnated tamer of beings, who appeared at the end of this dark age, went to one of the twenty-five sacred places of eastern Tibet, the place of the enlightened speech of qualities, the lower Dzamnang, the Lotus Crystal Cave. While staying there, at dawn one morning, Noble Tara appeared in person before him and said, “Lekso” (“Excellent”), three times in a row. Due to the blessings of that, these profound and complete teachings overflowed from within the expanse of his realization. Having established it in writing, he then gave this nectar for ripening and liberating to Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo in a lineage for just one person.
Having practiced this for more than three years, my omniscient lord guru, Pema Ösel Do-Ngak Lingpa, graciously bestowed it upon me.
The content of this instruction includes first the root empowerment; the outer, inner, and secret sadhanas; the supreme activities; and, finally, the cycle connected to the guardian of the teaching.
The supreme activities have two aspects, one of which is the exalted Ultimate Instruction on the Threefold Excellence, which actualizes in a single lifetime the state of the female Bhagavan.
The terma text says:
I bow at the feet of Arya Tara.
Here are her gradual pith instructions,
The oral instructions on the threefold excellence—
“Excellent, excellent, excellent”—