Rdo la gser zhun

rdo la gser zhun. "Gold Refined from Ore." A text by Manjushrimitra.

This text is a Dzogchen semde instruction.

Gregory Forgues states:

In the rDo la gser zhun, the audience of Mañjuśrīmitra seems to consist of Yogācāra-Mādhyamika panditas, which would correspond to the Tibetan accounts of his life. In fact, the philosophical background of the text seems to come straight from Śāntaraksita’s and Kamalaśīla’s works. Even the gold metaphor that gave its name to this work could have been familiar to these scholars, since it is found throughout Chapter 26 of the [Tattvasamgraha], in the vṛtti and the pañjikā on [Madhyamakālaṃkāra]-97, and in the [Bhavanakrama] II and III...

The rDo la gser zhun is a very important text insofar as it represents an attempt to communicate the great perfection (i.e., Dzogchen) to a group of people who were intellectually oriented. It consequently teaches a very direct way to practice for practitioners who were familiar with the Yogācāra-Mādhyamika method of practice.

Mipam Gyatso wrote a commentary on this text named Lamp that Illuminates Ultimate Reality.

Translations and commentary

• Manjushrimitra (2001). Primordial Experience: An Introduction to rDzogs-chen Meditation. Translated by Norbu, Namkhai; Lipman, Kennard. Shambhala Publications. 
• '“The Lamp Illuminating Reality,” a Word Commentary of “Refining Gold from Ore,”' in Radical Nonduality: Ju Mipham Namgyal Gyatso's Discourse On Reality. Translated by Gregory Forgues. Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde. 2024 PDF

Sources

• Gregory Forgues (2024). Radical Nonduality: Ju Mipham Namgyal Gyatso's Discourse On Reality. Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde. PDF