Jigme Lingpa

Jigme Lingpa (T. 'jigs med gling pa འཇིགས་མེད་གླིང་པ་) (1730-1798).^[1] A Tibetan scholar-yogi, renowned as one of the premier treasure revealers (terton) in the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. He is regarded as a great visionary, who discovered the Longchen Nyingtik cycle of teachings and practice through a series of visions from the great fourteenth century master Longchenpa.

He is the author of the Yönten Dzö ("Treasury of Precious Qualities"), a comprehensive explanation of the tenets of the Buddhist path according to the Nyingma school.

He also published the compilation of Nyingma tantras known as the Nyingma Gyübum, and composed a catalogue to accompany it.

He is also known as ‘Khyentse Özer’, ‘Rays of Compassion and Wisdom’.

Revelation of the Longchen Nyingtik

According to traditional accounts, Jikme Lingpa discovered the Longchen Nyingtik cycle of teachings as "mind ter" at the age of twenty-eight.

Tulku Thondup writes:

In the evening of the twenty-fifth day of the tenth month of the Fire Ox year of the thirteenth Rabjung cycle (1757), Jikme Lingpa went to bed with an unbearable devotion to Guru Rinpoche in his heart; a stream of tears of sadness continuously wet his face because he was not in Guru Rinpoche’s presence, and unceasing words of prayers kept singing in his breath.

He remained in the depths of that meditation experience of clear luminosity for a long time. While being absorbed in that luminous clarity, he experienced flying a long distance through the sky while riding a white lion. He finally reached a circular path, which he thought to be the circumambulation path of Jarung Khashor, now known as Boudhanath Stupa, an important Buddhist monument of giant structure in Nepal.^[2]

In this vision, the wisdom dakinis gave Jikme Lingpa a casket containing five yellow scrolls and seven crystal beads. One of the scrolls contained the prophetic guide of Longchen Nyingtik, called Nechang Thukkyi Drombu. At the instruction of a dakini, he ate the yellow scrolls and crystal beads, and all the words and meaning of the Longchen Nyingtik terma were awakened in his mind.

According to traditional accounts, Jikme Lingpa kept the teachings secret for years, before revealing them to a small group of students.^[2]^[3]

Writings

Collected works

Jigme Lingpa produced nine volumes of written teachings and discovered terma texts.^[4] For a description of the nine volumes, see:

Catalogue of Jigme Lingpa's Collected Works, Lotsawa House
Jikme Lingpa's Collected Works, Rigpa Shedra Wiki

Selected texts

Jigme Lingpa's writings include the following works which have been translated into English:

Yönten Dzö ("Treasury of Precious Qualities")
A treatise on the tenets of the Buddhist path according to the Nyingma school.
Three commentaries on the foundational practices (ngondro) of the Longchen Nyingtik:^[5]^[6]
- Steps to Liberation - on mind training (lojong)
- How to Establish the Practice - on the common foundational practices
- Application of Mindfulness - on the uncommon foundational practices
Staircase to Akanishtha.
A commentary on development stage (kyerim) of deity yoga.
Yeshe Lama
A comprehensive practice manual on the Dzogchen teachings.
Lion's Roar for Cutting Through Errors and Deviations
A commentary on Dzogchen.
The Prayer of the Ground, Path & Fruition
The Prayer of the Ground, Path & Fruition, Lotsawa House

gzhi_lam_'bras_bu'i_smon_lam, Rangjung Yeshe Wiki
Training in the Pure Realms of the Three Kayas: An Aspiration and Supplication Prayer
Training in the Pure Realms, Lotsawa House

Various shorter texts

Lotsawa House publishes translations of a variety of Jigme Lingpa's shorter texts, including prayers, practice texts, practice instructions, etc.

Jigme Lingpa Series, Lotsawa House

Students

Jikme Lingpa's foremost disciples were known as the 'Four Jikmes'. They were

Dodrupchen Jikme Trinle Özer
Jikme Gyalwe Nyugu
Jikme Ngotsar
Jikme Kundrol Namgyal (Lopön Jikme Küntröl)

Incarnations

In his biography of Patrul Rinpoche, Khenpo Kunpal states that Jikme Lingpa had three incarnations:

Do Khyentse was the mind incarnation,
Patrul Rinpoche the speech incarnation, and
Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo the body incarnation.

Alternative names

Dzogchenpa Rangjung Dorjé (Wyl. rdzogs chen pa rang byung rdo rje)

Videos

Vimeo

Search for videos:

Search Vimeo for: Jigme Lingpa

Selected videos:

Kurtis Schaeffer on Jigme Lingpa

Description: Brief description of the life of Jigme Lingpa

Youtube