The Six Lamps

Secret Dzogchen Instructions of the Bön Tradition

Jean-Luc Achard

• Publisher: Wisdom Publications
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781614293804
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Buddhism

Esteemed Tibetologist Jean-Luc Achard contextualizes and provides a clear translation of highly secret precepts on Dzogchen practice unlike anything published. The Instructions on the Six Lamps is a profound and important work from the Bön Dzogchen tradition and is one of the root texts of the Zhangzhung Nyengyü (Oral Transmission of Zhangzhung) series of orally transmitted teachings. Considered to be the central work of the inner cycle of these teachings, it expertly details the principles of the natural state and its visionary marvels. The root text describes highly secret precepts ofDzogchen (Great Perfection) practice—the teachings of Trekchö and Thögel—as revealed by Tapihritsa to Gyerpung Nangzher Löpo. The teachings in this text represent oral instructions transmitted by a single master to a single disciple in the mode known as "single transmission."It is through such a practice that one can see the clear light of one's own mind before achieving complete buddhahood. In this respect, the text contains a complete teaching of Dzogchen, from beginning to end.

PART ONE

INSTRUCTIONS ON THE SIX LAMPS

Extracted from the Oral Transmission of the Great Perfection in Zhangzhung

Preface

Homage to Kuntuzangpo, the omniscient Self-Awareness!

While the great Gyerpung Nangzher Löpo was residing

West of Drajé, in the solitude of his rock cave of Drak Shawadong,

The Emanation Body of the Lord Tapihritsa came (to him)

And, having subdued (Gyerpung’s) arrogant pride,

Revealed to him the abiding mode of Awareness.

Being set free from the chains of all fetters (hindering him),

(Gyerpung) was propelled on the plain of Equality (of the Base)

And was made to take hold of the natural state of Awareness.

Then, after five years had elapsed,

While Gyerpung Chenpo was living in solitude on the island of the (Darok) Lake,

In the afternoon of the fifteenth day of the first summer month,

Gyerpung was remaining in contemplation,

When he saw in the sky before him

The Emanation Body of the Lord Tapihritsa,

In an immaculate Body, (pure) like the color of white crystal,

In a self-arisen Body devoid of adornments,

Abiding naked in a Body free from obscurations.

Having generated faith and devotion (for the master),

(Gyerpung) circumambulated and prostrated before him,

After which the Lord told him:

O Fortunate Son of Noble Clan!

You who are endowed with the karmic training of previous lifetimes,

Listen and be attentive to the revelation of the real meaning!

In order to guide the fortunate ones of future generations on a path without error,

I shall reveal to you the three parts⁵⁷ of my profound heart advice.

If he⁵⁸ does not know the ultimate teaching of the 84,000 doors of Bön,

The innermost quintessence of the teachings of the Great Perfection,

The Precepts of the Nine Blissful Ones of the Contemplative Transmission,

The Oral Transmission of the Twenty-Four Masters,

The so-called “Six Essential Points of the Pure and Perfect Mind,”

Then, the master who reveals these precepts

Will be like (someone) displaying objects to a blind person.

(Therefore), if he lacks these Precepts,

Even if he explains numerous Tantras and Agamas (pertaining to) the Great Perfection, (his explanations will be)

Like a body without heart or like sockets without eyes.

Whatever may be his explanations of the 84,000 doors of Bön,

They will exhaust themselves in the vague formulation of the conventional meaning

And none of them will enable one to directly reach to the heart (of the principle).⁵⁹

It is for this reason, O Son of Noble Clan, that these instructions

Are called “the Mirror in which one identifies the Universal Base,”

“The Lamp that brings forth the hidden secret of Wisdom,”

“The Precept laying Awareness bare in its nakedness,”

“The instruction that pierces and cuts through delusion,”

“The heart advice that directly points out the natural state.”

They shall be revealed in:

The Lamp of the Abiding Base, being the key point for identifying the Universal Base and the way its Essence abides;

The Lamp of the Flesh-Heart, being the key point of the inner arising of Self-Awareness and of the Base on which it abides;

The Lamp of the White and Smooth Channel, being the key point of Transparent Wisdom and of the path through which it shoots up;

The Water Lamp of the Far-Reaching Lasso, being the key point of the naked vision of Awareness and of the door to which it arises;

The Lamp of Direct Introductions to the Pure Realms, being the key point of the decisive certainty regarding the Three Bodies and the manner to practice the Path; and

The Lamp of the Moment of the Bardo, being the key point of the manner in which saṃsāra and nirvāṇa separate and of the frontier that is reached between delusion and realization.

O Son of Noble Clan! Don’t even utter a single word of these instructions

To egoist people without faith and corrupted with wrong views,

To distracted people who are uncertain and despise humbleness,

Nor to vulgar and childish people of inferior Vehicles.

Reveal them to people who aspire to Perfect Purity and deeply fear births and deaths,

To those who have faith, are weariless, and “carry” the master on their head,⁶⁰

To those who have renounced mundane activities and practice the profound meaning (of the teachings),

To those who are perfect chalices for such instructions!

Having spoken this way, (Tapihritsa) instructed him in the precepts of the six kinds of Lamps,

In the six essential points of the Pure and Perfect Mind.

May they not decline until the end of time and may they bring benefits to sentient beings!

Samaya!

_______________

57.The text literally says: “three words” (tshig gsum). Here Dru Gyelwa Yungdrung (and incidentally Yongdzin Rinpoche, who follows the same explanation) describes these three “parts” as referring to the inner, secret, and innermost secret sections of the Zhangzhung Nyengyü. We can see in the later historical literature (for instance, in the biography of Lunggom Tokmé, one of Yangtön Sherab Gyeltsen’s main disciples) that the expression “the three parts of the secret heart advice” (gsang ba’i snying gtam tshig gsum — the same as the zab mo’i snying gtam tshig gsum of the present text, with the exception of the adjective profound instead of secret) definitely refers to the inner, secret, and innermost secret sections of the Zhangzhung Nyengyü. One should note that in this context Uri Sögyel does not make any reference to the last three sections of the collection but rather considers the reference as being general, and he reads it as pointing to the transmission of the oral instructions on the naked seeing of Awareness (rig pa gcer mthong gi gdams ngag, O...