Finding Rest in the Nature of Mind

Finding Rest in the Nature of Mind (T. sems nyid ngal gso སེམས་ཉིད་ངལ་གསོ་; pronounced: Semnyi Ngalso) is the first volume of Longchenpa’s Trilogy of Rest, a work within the Dzogchen tradition that covers both sutra and tantra. It is a profound and comprehensive presentation of the Buddhist view and path that combines a scholastic expository method with direct pith instructions designed for serious practitioners. It can be considered to be a lamrim text in the Nyingma lineage, presenting the entire scope of the Buddhist view combined with pith instructions for pointing out the nature of one’s mind.

Khandro Rinpoche says: “In his stunningly poetic exposition, the Trilogy of Rest, Gyalwa Longchenpa illumines the great path to enlightenment with unsurpassable depth and detail. Volume 1 of the trilogy, Finding Rest in the Nature of the Mind, sets us upon that path, grounding us from our very first steps through to the profound—showing the most profound to be grounded in unshakable simplicity. Brilliantly clarifying the complexities we create to come to this realization, Longchenpa easily and clearly reveals the concordance of the journey’s various stages.”

Title variations

Tibetan title:

• sems nyid ngal gso སེམས་ཉིད་ངལ་གསོ་; pronounced: Semnyi Ngalso

Sanskrit title:

• Mahāsaṃdhi cittatva* viśrānta nāma: [A Teaching] named Reposing (viśrānta) in the Suchness of Mind in the Great Perfection

The title of this collection has been translated into English as:

• Finding Rest in the Nature of Mind (Padmakara Translation Group)
• Finding Comfort and Ease in the Nature of Mind (Rangjung Yeshe, Rigpa translations)
• Relaxation of the Suchness of Mind (Tsepak Rigdzin)

Root Text

• Finding Rest in the Nature of Mind, A Teaching of the Great Perfection ( རྫོགས་པ་ཆེན་པོ་སེམས་ཉིད་ངལ་གསོ་, rdzogs pa chen po sems nyid ngal gso)
  • English translation: H.V. Guenther, Kindly Bent to Ease Us, Part 1: Mind, Dharma Publishing, 1975
  • English translation: Longchenpa, Finding Rest in the Nature of the Mind, translated by the Padmakara Translation Group (Shambhala, 2017)

Auto-commentary, summary and meditation instructions

In addition to the root text, Longchenpa also wrote an autocommentary, a summary, and meditation manual based on the root text. These texts are:

• Great Chariot - the main commentary
  • English translation: Longchen Rapjampa, The Great Chariot: A Treatise on the Great Perfection, translated by Ives Waldo and edited by Connie Miller, Library of Tibetan Classics, Wisdom, forthcoming. Draft version
• White Lotus Garland: A Summary of the Great Chariot
  • Tibetan text: རྫོགས་པ་ཆེན་པོ་སེམས་ཉིད་ངལ་གསོའི་འགྲེལ་པ་ཤིང་རྟ་ཆེན་པོའི་བསྡུས་དོན་གྱི་གནས་རྒྱ་ཆེར་དབྱེ་བ་པདྨ་དཀར་པོའི་ཕྲེང་བ་, rdzogs pa chen po sems nyid ngal gso'i 'grel pa shing rta chen po'i bsdus don gyi gnas rgya cher dbye ba pad+ma dkar po'i phreng ba
• Guided Meditative Instructions called The Excellent Path to Enlightenment
  • Tibetan text: རྫོགས་པ་ཆེན་པོ་སེམས་ཉིད་ངལ་གསོའི་གནས་གསུམ་དགེ་བ་གསུམ་གྱི་དོན་ཁྲིད་བྱང་ཆུབ་ལམ་བཟང་, rdzogs pa chen po sems nyid ngal gso'i gnas gsum dge ba gsum gyi don khrid byang chub lam bzang
  • English translations:
    • 'Twenty-Seven Courses of Training in Dzogpa Chenpo' (partial translation) in Longchen Rabjam, The Practice of Dzogchen, translated by Tulku Thondup, Snow Lion, 2nd edition 1996, pages 303-315.
    • Longchen Rabjam Drime Oser, The Excellent Path To Enlightenment (contains the sutra sections, the tantra sections are published privately), trans. Khenpo Gawang Rinpoche and Gerry Wiener (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014). Book page at Garchen Store

Further reading

• Finding Rest in the Nature of the Mind , Bodhicitta: A Tsadra Foundation Project