RIDING THE STALLION-HORSE MIND IN A CLOUD-FREE SKY: Five-fold Mahāmudrā in the Drigung Kagyu tradition: ‘Song of Realization’ by Jigten Sumgon and ‘Supplication’ by Rigdzin Chokyi Dragpa and 8th Garchen Rinpoche teachings 2022
བྱམས་དང་སྙིང་རྗེ་རྟ་ཕོ་ལ། ། གཞན་ཕན་གྱི་དཀྱུས་ཐོག་མ་བཅད་ན། །
ཁྲོམ་ལྷ་མིའི་འོར་ཆེ་མི་འབྱུང་བས། ། སེམས་སྔོན་འགྲོ་འདི་ལ་ནན་གཏན་མཛོད། །
On the stallion-horse of love and compassion,
If stamina in the race of benefiting others is not present,
The applaud of multitudes of gods and humans will not arise.
Thus, earnestly strive for this preliminary mind!
Verse from Song of Realization of Five-Fold Mahāmudrā by Jigten Sumgon
Today, as an offering and aid for the teachings being given for the first time by 8th Garchen Rinpoche on the Five-fold Mahāmudrā Supplication text by the 1st Drikung Chungtsang, Chokyi Dragpa, I offer an introduction and new publication/translation of two important Drikung Kagyu texts, that Rinpoche is using to teach.
In particular, I offer a new translation of the Jigten Sumgon Song of Realisation of Five-Fold Mahāmudrā, which Rinpoche is citing often in these teachings. I have made both these texts available as one file together with the English, Tibetan and phonetics. They can be downloaded with this Introduction as a single .pdf here: Five-Fold Mahamudra – Jigten Sumgon and Chokyi Dragpa.
As so many of you have contacted me to say how valuable and beneficial you find the transcripts, I am currently transcribing Garchen Rinpoche’s teachings (which continue until 9th January), and will post them here shortly. First, here is a brief overview of the five-fold mahāmudrā (phyag rgya chen po lnga ldan) Drigung Kagyu tradition.
Kagyu Mahāmudrā lineages and the Five-fold Mahāmudrā tradition of Drigung Kagyu
There are several Kagyu mahāmudrā lineages. Khedrup Gelek Pelzang, 1st Panchen Lama (Lobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen (1570–1662), identified a number of mahāmudrā lineages, according to their main practices for achieving mahāmudrā.
In his book, The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of Mahamudra, on the First Panchen Lama’s root text and auto-commentary, the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, categorises the Kagyu mahāmudrā practice lineages [1]. One of these lineages he identifies as, the Drikung Kagyu “Having Five” (lnga ldan) tradition, founded by Jigten Sumgon, whose main practice is known as the five-limb mahāmudrā consisting of:
refuge and bodhicitta,
mahāmudrā, and
Jigten Sumgon’s Song of the Realisation of Five-fold Mahāmudrā
One of the main Drigung Kagyu texts on this practice is called Song of the Realisation of the Five-fold Mahāmudrā [2]by Drikung Kagyu founder, Jigten Sumgon ((1143–1217)). This text can be found in his Collected Works [3].
I offer a new translation of this text, with both the Tibetan and phonetics added (see below). I have kept my translation succinct and as close as possible to the original Tibetan, keeping its repetitive, fluid structure in the verses . In these pithy verses, Sumgon uses visual and poetic metaphors to describe the five branches of Mahāmudrā and what happens if one lacks these limbs:
A stallion’s stamina in a race – the altruistic mind wanting to benefit others/bodhicitta.
Holding one’s body as the King of deity forms – deity yoga.
Sun shining on a snow mountain – devotion for the guru.
Cloud-free sky/space – non-conceptual nature of mind.
Polished wish-fulfilling jewel – the final dedication.
Chokyi Dragpa’s Five-fold Mahāmudrā Supplication
The second main text, which Garchen Rinpoche is teaching on, is called the Five-limb Mahāmudrā Supplication Prayer (phyag rgya chen po lnga ldan gyi gsol ‘debs)[4]by the First Drigung Chungtsang, Chokyi Drakpa, aka Drikung Rigdzin Chökyi Drakpa ( ‘bri gung rig ‘dzin chos kyi grags pa, 1595-1659)—the youngest son of the 2
1st throne holder of the Drikung Kagyü lineage, Chögyal Rinchen Phuntsok (1547-1602) [5]. Rigdzin Chokyi Dragpa was also a teacher to the 5th Dalai Lama. He wrote several works on the five-fold mahāmudrā which I
have collated for scholarly reference here below, it is not a definitive or final list. I have reproduced Ina Bieler’s translation below, but added the original Tibetan and phonetics too.
May this overview and introduction to the five-fold mahāmudrā of Drigung Kagyu be of benefit!
Music? For cloud-free skies…. I Can See Clearly Now the Rain has Gone by Jimmy Cliff and From Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell.
Written and translated by Adele Tomlin, 8th January 2022.
Song of Realisation of Five-fold Mahāmudrā By Jigten Sumgon
ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ་ལྔ་ལྡན་རྟོགས་པའི་མགུར །
དཔལ་ཕག་མོ་གྲུ་པའི་ཞབས་ལ་འདུད། །
PAL PAKMO DRUPÉ SHYAB LA DÜ
I bow at the feet of glorious Phagmo Drupa[6]!
བྱམས་དང་སྙིང་རྗེ་རྟ་ཕོ་ལ། ། གཞན་ཕན་གྱི་དཀྱུས་ཐོག་མ་བཅད་ན། །
JAM DANG NYINGJÉ TA PO LA/ ZHENPEN GYI KYÜ TOKMA CHÉ NA/
ཁྲོམ་ལྷ་མིའི་འོར་ཆེ་མི་འབྱུང་བས། ། སེམས་སྔོན་འགྲོ་འདི་ལ་ནན་གཏན་མཛོད། །
TROM LHAMI OR CHÉ MINJUNG WÉ/ SEM NGÖNDRO DI LA NEN TEN DZÖ/
On the stallion-horse[7] of love and compassion
If the stamina in the race of benefiting others is not there[8]
The applaud[9] of multitudes[10] of gods and humans will not arise.
Thus, earnestly strive for this preliminary mind![11]
རང་ལུས་ལྷ་སྐུའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་ལ། ། གཞི་འགྱུར་མེད་ཀྱི་བརྟན་ས་མ་ཟིན་ན། །
RANG LÜ LHA KÜ GYALPO LA/ ZHI GYURMÉ KYI TENSA MA ZIN NA/
མ་མཁའ་འགྲོའི་འཁོར་འབངས་མི་འདུ་བས། ། ལུས་ཡི་དམ་གྱི་ལྷ་ལ་ནན་ཏན་མཛོད། །
MA KHANDRÖ’I KHOR WANG MI DUWÉ/ LÜ YIDAM GYI LHA LA NENTEN DZÖ/
In one’s body, the king of deity forms,
If the stable support of the unchanging base is not held,
Mother dakinis, retinue and subjects will not gather[12].
Thus, earnestly strive for the yidam deity body!
བླ་མ་སྐུ་བཞིའི་གངས་རི་ལ། ། མོས་གུས་ཀྱི་ཉི་མ་མ་ཤར་ན། །
LAMA KU ZHI GANGRI LA/ MÖGÜ KYI NYIMA MA SHAR NA/
བྱིན་རླབས་ཀྱི་ཆུ་རྒྱུན་མི་འབྱུང་བས། ། སེམས་མོས་གུས་འདི་ལ་ནན་ཏན་མཛོད། །
JINLAB KYI CHU GYÜN MI JUNG WÉ/ SEM MÖGÜ DI LA NENTEN DZÖ/
On the snow-mountain of the four kāyas[13] guru,
If the sun of devotion does not shine,
The stream of blessings will not flow forth.
Thus, earnestly strive for the devoted, longing mind!
སེམས་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ནམ་མཁའ་ཡངས་པ་ལ། ། རྣམ་རྟོག་གི་སྤྲིན་ཚོགས་མ་དེངས་ན། །
SEMNYI KYI NAMKHA YANGPA LA/ NAMTOK GI TRIN TSOK MA DENG NA/
མཁྱེན་གཉིས་ཀྱི་གཟའ་སྐར་མི་བཀྲ་བས། ། སེམས་མི་རྟོག་འདི་ལ་ནན་ཏན་མཛོད། །
KHYEN NYI KYI ZAKAR MI TRAWÉ/ SEM MI TOK DI LA NENTEN DZÖ/
In the vast, sky-space of mind-itself,[14]
If amassed clouds of thoughts have not dispersed,
The planets and stars of two-fold knowledge[15] lack sparkle.
Thus, earnestly strive for this non-conceptual mind!
ཚོགས་གཉིས་ཡིད་བཞིན་ནོར་བུ་ལ། ། སྨོན་ལམ་གྱིས་བྱི་དོར་མ་བྱས་ན། །
TSOK NYI YISHYIN NORBU LA/ MÖNLAM GYI JIDOR MA JÉ NA/
དགོས་འདོད་ཀྱི་འབྲས་བུ་མི་འབྱུང་བས། ། རྗེས་བསྔོ་བ་འདི་ལ་ནན་ཏན་མཛོད། །
GÖDÖ KYI DREBU MINJUNG BÉ JÉ/ NGOWA DI LA NENTEN DZÖ/
As for the two accumulations[16], the wish-fulfilling gem,
If it is not polished with aspirations,
The necessary and desired results will not happen.
Thus, earnestly strive for this final dedication!
ཅེས་ཕྱག་ཆེན་ལྔ་ལྡན་གྱི་རྟོགས་མགུར་བྱ་བ་སྐྱོབ་པ་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་མཛད། ༈
The Song of Realization of Five-Fold Mahamudra was composed by the protector [[[Jigten Sumgon]]] himself.
Translated, compiled and edited by Adele Tomlin, January 8th 2021.
Fivefold Mahamudra Supplication Prayer by Rigdzin Chokyi Dragpa གང་གི་བྱམས་དང་སྙིང་རྗེའི་ཆུ་གཏེར་ལས། ། ལེགས་འཁྲུངས་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་ཀྱི་རང་གཟུགས་ཀྱི། །
GANG GI JAM DANG NYINGJÉ CHUTER LÉ/ LEK TRUNG CHANGCHUB SEM KYI RANG ZUK KYI/
སྐལ་བཟང་འགྲོ་ལ་ཕན་བདེའི་ལམ་སྟེར་བ། ། བླ་མ་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས། །
KALZANG DRO LA PENDÉ LAM TERWA/ LAMA CHANGCHUB SEM LA SOLWA DEB/
The embodiment of bodhicitta, which arises from a sea of loving-kindness and compassion, bestows the way to benefit and happiness to everyone endowed with fortune: I pray to the guru—bodhicitta!
འཁོར་འདས་ཀུན་གྱི་བྱེད་པོ་རྡོ་རྗེ་འཛིན། ། གདོད་ནས་ཡོངས་གྲུབ་ཡི་དམ་དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་ལྷ། །
KHORDÉ KÜN GYI JEPO DORJÉ DZIN/ DÖNÉ YONGDRUB YIDAM KYILKHOR LHA/
ཐ་མལ་གདུལ་བྱའི་སྣང་ངོར་འདིར་སྟོན་པ། ། བླ་མ་ལྷག་པའི་ལྷ་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས། །
TAMAL DULJÉ NANG NGOR DIR TÖNPA/ LAMA LHAKPÉ LHA LA SOLWA DEB/
Vajra-holder, originator of samsara and nirvana, primordially perfected yidam, deity of the mandala appearing before ordinary beings to be tamed: I pray to the guru—the exalted deity!
ཟབ་ཞི་སྤྲོས་བྲལ་མངོན་སངས་རྒྱས་པའི་ཐུགས། ། བརྗོད་མེད་དོན་དམ་དམ་ཆོས་རྡོ་རྗེའི་གསུང༌། །
ZAB ZHI TRÖDRAL NGÖN SANGYÉ PÉ TUK/ JÖMÉ DÖNDAM DAMCHÖ DORJÉ SUNG/
བསམ་པའི་རང་གཟུགས་ཐེག་ཆེན་དགེ་འདུན་སྐུ། ། དཀོན་མཆོག་ཀུན་འདུས་བླ་མར་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས། །
SAMPÉ RANG ZUK TEKCHEN GENDÜN KU/ KÖNCHOK KÜNDÜ LAMAR SOLWA DEB/
Profound tranquility, devoid of all conceptual elaborations, is the true nature of the Buddha’s mind. Inexpressible and ultimate is the holy Dharma’s vajra speech. The Mahayana mind is manifested in the Sangha’s form. I pray to the guru— the embodiment of all the Precious Ones!
སྐྱེ་མེད་གསལ་སྟོང་མཐའ་བྲལ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྐུ། ། འགག་མེད་རང་མདངས་རང་ཤར་ལོངས་སྤྱོད་རྫོགས། །
KYEMÉ SALTONG TADRAL CHÖ KYI KU/ GAKMÉ RANG DANG RANGSHAR LONGCHÖ DZOK
གནས་མེད་ཤར་གྲོལ་འཛིན་བྲལ་སྤྲུལ་པའི་སྐུ། ། བླ་མ་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེ་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས། །
NEMÉ SHARDROL DZINDRAL TRULPÉ KU/ LAMA CHAKGYA CHÉ LA SOLWA DEB/
The dharmakaya is unborn, empty clarity without extremes. The sambhogakaya is unstoppable, intrinsic luminosity arising of itself. The nirmanakaya is without abiding, freed upon arising, and devoid of grasping: I pray to the guru—mahamudra!
ཞིང་མཆོག་བླ་མ་སངས་རྒྱས་རང་སེམས་དངོས། ། བསམ་པ་རྣམ་དག་གཟུང་འཛིན་བྲལ་བའི་བློས། །
ZHING CHOK LAMA SANGYE RANGSEM NGÖ/ SAMPA NAMDAK ZUNGDZIN DRALWÉ LÖ/
དངོས་པོ་རྣམ་དག་རིགས་ཁམས་ཡོད་པའི་དགེས༑ ༑ བདག་མེད་རྣམ་མཁྱེན་ཐོབ་ཕྱིར་བསྔོ་བར་བགྱི། །
NGÖPO NAMDAK RIK KHAM YÖPÉ GÉ/ DAKMÉ NAMKHYEN TOB CHIR NGOWAR GYI/
The Buddha, the guru, and the highest pure realm are all my own mind. Aspiring with perfect purity and intelligence devoid of dualistic thought, I dedicate the perfectly pure virtue inherent within buddha nature toward perfect knowledge of the truth of selflessness.
རང་སེམས་གདོད་ནས་གྲུབ་པའི་བླ་མ་ནི། ། སེམས་ཀྱི་རྡོ་རྗེ་རྩ་བའི་བླ་མར་ཤར༑ ༑
RANGSEM DÖNÉ DRUBPÉ LAMA NI/ SEM KYI DORJÉ TSAWÉ LAMAR SHAR/
སེམས་དང་དེར་སྣང་དབྱེར་མེད་ཞེན་འཛིན་བྲལ། ། བླ་མའི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས། །
SEM DANG DER NANG YERMÉ ZHEN DZINDRAL/ LAMÉ NGOWO NYI LA SOLWA DEB/
The root guru appears to be the vajra of the mind—the guru who exists primordially within my mind. I pray to the guru’s deepest essence: the mind that is intrinsically one with its perceptions and is unattached and without grasping!
དེ་ལྟར་གསོལ་བཏབ་མོས་གུས་བདེན་སྟོབས་ཀྱིས། ། འདི་ནས་བཟུང་སྟེ་བྱང་ཆུབ་མ་ཐོབ་བར། །
DETAR SOLTAB MÖGÜ DEN TOB KYI/ DI NÉ ZUNG TÉ CHANGCHUB MATOB BAR/
དལ་འབྱོར་ལུས་ཐོབ་སངས་རྒྱས་བསྟན་ལ་ཞུགས། །
DALJOR LÜ TOB SANGYE TEN LA ZHUK/
By the truthful power of this devoted prayer, may I gain a human body that is free and fortunate, and from now until awakening, may I enter the Buddha’s teachings!
བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་བླ་མས་རྗེས་སུ་འཛིན་པ་དང༌། ། བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་གཉིས་ཡི་དམ་འཁོར་ལོ་སྡོམ། །
KAGYÜ LAMÉ JESU DZINPA DANG/ CHANGCHUB SEM NYI YIDAM KHORLO DOM/
བཀའ་དྲིན་སུམ་ལྡན་རྩ་བའི་བླ་མ་དང༌། ། ཆོས་ཀུན་སྙིང་པོ་ངེས་དོན་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེ། །
KADRIN SUMDEN TSAWÉ LAMA DANG/ CHÖ KÜN NYINGPO NGEDÖN CHAKGYA CHÉ/
རྫོགས་བྱེད་ཡོངས་དག་བསྔོ་བས་རྒྱས་འདེབས་སོགས། ། འཁྲུལ་མེད་ལམ་གྱི་རྩ་བ་ཆོས་ལྔ་པོ། །
DZOK JÉ YONG DAK NGOWÉ GYENDEB SOK/ TRULMÉ LAM GYI TSAWA CHÖ NGAPO/
ནམ་ཡང་འབྲལ་བ་མེད་པར་ལེགས་བསྟེན་ནས། ། འགྲོ་ཀུན་དོན་སླད་སངས་རྒྱས་མྱུར་ཐོབ་ཤོག །
NAMYANG DRALWA MEPAR LEK TEN NÉ/ DRO KÜN DÖN LÉ SANGYE NYUR TOB SHOK/
May gurus of the oral lineage look after me and keep me in the presence of these five roots of the Dharma, belonging to the unmistaken path: the twofold bodhicitta; the yidam Chakrasamvara; the root guru of threefold kindness; the mahamudra of definitive meaning, the heart essence of the teachings; and the seal of perfectly pure dedication! May I soon attain awakening for the benefit of all beings!
དེའི་ཚེ་རྒྱུན་ཆད་མེད་པའི་ཕྲིན་ལས་ཀྱིས། ། མཁའ་ཁྱབ་འགྲོ་ལ་རིས་མེད་ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཡིས། །
DÉ TSÉ GYÜNCHÉ MEPÉ TRINLÉ KYI/ KHAKHYAB DRO LA RIMÉ TUKJÉ YI/
དྲང་དོན་ཐེག་པའི་མགོ་སྐོར་རྒྱང་བསྲིངས་ཏེ། ། ངེས་དོན་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོའི་ལམ་བསྟན་ནས། །
DRANGDÖN TEKPÉ GO KOR GYANG SING TÉ/ NGEDÖN CHAKGYA CHENPÖ LAMTEN NÉ/
རྡོ་རྗེ་འཆང་དབང་སྩོལ་ལ་གེགས་མེད་ཤོག
DORJÉ CHANG WANG TSOL LA GEKMÉ SHOK/
At that time, having left behind the illusive doctrines of expedient meaning, may I always undertake compassionate activities that show the final path of mahamudra equally to every being in the universe, assisting them in reaching the great might of Vajradhara without hindrance!
སྐྱེ་བ་ཀུན་ཏུ་ཡང་དག་བླ་མ་དང༌། ། འབྲལ་མེད་ཆོས་ཀྱི་དཔལ་ལ་ལོངས་སྤྱོད་ཅིང༌༑ ༑
KYEWA KÜNTU YANGDAK LAMA DANG/ DRALMÉ CHÖ KYI PAL LA LONGCHÖ CHING/
ས་དང་ལམ་གྱི་ཡོན་ཏན་རབ་རྫོགས་ནས། ། རྡོ་རྗེ་འཆང་གི་གོ་འཕང་མྱུར་ཐོབ་ཤོག
SA DANG LAM GYI YÖNTEN RABDZOK NÉ/ DORJÉ CHANG GI GOPANG NYUR TOB SHOK/
Let me never be apart from authentic gurus in all my future lives! May I experience the greatness of the Dharma, and having fully accomplished the qualities of the bhumis and paths, may I swiftly attain the state of Vajradhara!
།ཅེས་མངོན་པར་མཐོ་བའི་གོ་འཕང་མཆོག་ལ་གནས་པ་ལྕམ་ཞབས་དྲུང་གི་བཀས་བསྐུལ་ངོར། འབྲི་གུང་པ་རིག་འཛིན་ཆོས་ཀྱི་གྲགས་པས། རྗེ་ཕག་མོ་གྲུ་པ་དང་མགོན་པོ་འབྲི་གུང་པ་ཡབ་སྲས་ཀྱི་བཞེད་པའི་སྙིང་པོ། ངེས་དོན་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ་ལྔ་ལྡན་གྱི་ལམ་རིམ་མདོར་བསྡུས་ཏེ། ངེས་པ་དོན་གྱི་སྙིང་པོ་གསོལ་འདེབས་ཀྱི་ཚུལ་དུ་བྲིས་ཏེ་ཕུལ་བ་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་སྨན་པར་གྱུར་ཅིག། །།སརྦ་མངྒ་ལཾ།།
To honor the request of Icam zhabs drung, who abides in the highest, most sublime state, the Drikung Vidyadhara Chökyi Dragpa condensed the true heart essence of the fivefold gradual path of the mahamudra of
definitive meaning, which is the heart essence of the father, Master Pagmodrupa, and his son, Lord Drikungpa’s teaching tradition, into this supplication as a gift for the benefit of all beings. Sarva Mangalam.
Translated by Ina Bieler and edited by Ilana Cohen in 2021. Tibetan and phonetics added in by Adele Tomlin.
Further Reading/Sources
Gyatso, Tenzin; Alexander Berzin (1997). The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of Mahamudra. New York: Snow Lion Publications.
Roberts, Peter Alan, Mahamudra and Related Instructions: Core Teachings of the Kagyu Schools (Library of Tibetan Classics) 2011.
Ulrich Timme Kragh, Tibetan yoga and mysticism : a textual study of the yogas of Nāropa and Mahāmudrā meditation in the medieval tradition of Dags po 2015
Mathes, Klaus-Dieter, A Fine Blend of Mahamudra and Madhyamaka: Maitripa’s Collection of Texts on Non-Conceptual Realization (Amanasikara), (Sitzungsberichte Der Philosophisch-Historischen Klasse), 2016.
“Blending the Sūtras with the Tantras: The Influence of Maitrīpa and his Circle on thermation of Sūtra Mahāmudrā in the Kagyu Schools” by Klaus-Dieter Mathes in Tibetan Buddhist Literature and Praxis : Studies in its Formative Period, 900-1400, PIATS 2003: Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the Tenth seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies. Oxford: 2003.
Jackson, Roger, “The dGe ldan-bKa’ brgyud Tradition of Mahamudra How Much dGe ldan? How Much bKa’ brgyud?” in Newland, Guy, Changing Minds: Contributions to the Study of Buddhism and Tibet in Honor of Jeffrey Hopkins 2001
Works by Rigdzin Chokyi Dragpa on Five-fold Mahāmudrā in Volume 13 of his Collected Works
Five-fold Mahāmudrā: Empowerment of the Torma and Wish-fulfilling Jewel (phyag rgya chen po lnga ldan gyi gtor dbang yid bzhin nor bu/ page 9- 30).
Five-fold Mahāmudrā Supplication (phyag rgya chen po lnga ldan gyi gsol ‘debs/ page 31- 34).
Five-fold Mahāmudrā Instructions of the Pith Instructions and Vajra Words (phyag rgya chen po lnga ldan gyi khrid kyi man ngag rdo rje’i tshig rkang / page 35-54).
Five-fold Mahāmudrā Daily Practice : Unmistaken Essence (phyag rgya chen po lnga ldan gyi nyams len rgyun ‘khyer ‘khrul med snying po/ page 55- 78 .
Five-fold Mahāmudrā Recitation Blazing Splendour of Blessings (phyag rgya chen po lnga ldan gyi ngag ‘don byin rlabs dpal ‘bar/ page 79- 94).
Five-fold Mahāmudrā Condensed Arrangement of Practices (phyag rgya chen po lnga ldan gyi nyams len mdor bsdus ngag bsgrigs/ page 95 -102).
ENDNOTES
[1] 1) The Karma Kagyu “Simultaneously Arising as Merged” tradition – This is the tradition introduced by Gampopa with a main practice of the Six Yogas of Naropa.
2) The Shangpa Kagyu “Amulet Box” tradition – This tradition came from Khyungpo Naljor and its main practice is the Six yogas of Niguma.
3) The Drukpa lineage “Six Spheres of Equal Taste” tradition – Tsangpa Gyare founded this tradition which encompasses a range of practices, including the Six Yogas of Naropa.
4) The Dagpo Kagyu “Four Syllables” tradition – This is the tradition that derives from Maitripa. The four syllables are a-ma-na-si which make up the Sanskrit word meaning ‘not to take to mind’ and passed through the Dagpo Kagyu branches, i.e. any that descend from the teachings of Tilopa rather than those of Niguma, which in practice means all but the Shangpa Kagyu.
See: Gyatso, Tenzin; Alexander Berzin (1997). The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of Mahamudra. New York: Snow Lion Publications. pp. 262–271.
[2] "phyag rgya chen po lnga ldan rtogs pa'i mgur/." In Collected Works of Jigten Sumgon (gsung 'bum/_'jig rten mgon po). TBRC W23743. 10: 104 - 110. Delhi: Drikung Kagyu Ratna Shri Sungrab Nyamso Khang, 2001. [3] This text has been translated into English before by Jan-Ulrich Sobisch, see here:
https://drikungdharmasurya.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Jigten-Sumgons-Song-of-the-Realisation-of-the-Five-Limbs-of-Mahāmudrā.pdf. After reading this, I have translated these short verses differently (and more succinctly), sticking closer to the original word-order and repetition in the verses of the original Tibetan.
[4] This text is publicly available in English, expertly translated by Ina Bieler. As there is no Tibetan with it, I have reproduced it with the Tibetan included.
[5] See TBRC P2666. “Since Lord Jigten Sumgon founded the Drikung Kagyu Order of Tibetan Buddhism, who was regarded as a second Nagrajuna, belonged to one of the highest Tibetan clans, the Kyura family, known as the Miu Dhondruk clan. With the end of the Kyura family, the elder of two brothers Konchok (1590-1654), who
came to be known as the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang, and his younger brother, Kunkyen Rigzin Chokyi Drakpa (1595-164), They took up the leadership of the Drikung Kagyu Order.” For a blog post on him by Jan-Ulrich Sobisch, see here: https://dgongs1.com/tag/rigdzin-chokyi-dragpa/
[6] Phagmo Drupa (1110 – 1170) was a student of Je Gampopa and a teacher of Je Jigten Sumgon. For bio see: https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Pakmodrupa/TBRC_P127.
[7] The Tibetan indicates a male horse, rta pho.
[8] Here the Tibetan term ‘dkyus thog’ means the stamina a horse has when running a race.
[9] The Tibetan here is ‘or che means ‘appreciation’, ‘acknowledgement’, ‘thanks’ or ‘renown’ etc. In his 2022 teachings, Garchen Rinpoche refers to it as meaning some kind of positive ‘renown’ or appreciation.
[10] The Tibetan khrom here can mean ‘market’ but it can also mean ‘multitudes’.
[11] Here Jigten Sumgon refers to ‘preliminary mind’ (sems sngon ‘gro) which here means the mind of wanting to benefit others, i.e the first limb of bodhicitta.
[12] In his teaching, 8th Garchen Rinpoche refers to these words as being able to bring the dakinis under your power and gather in front of you.
[13] The four kāyas are the guru/enlightened Buddha (sku bzhi):1) dharmakāya; chos sku. 2) saṃbhogakāya; longs sku. 3) nirmāṇakāya; sprul sku. 4) svabhāvikakāya; ngo bo nyid sku.
[14] The Tibetan term, sems nyid refers to the ‘nature of mind’.
[15] In Tibetan the term, ‘two-fold knowledge’ – mkhyen gnyis, refers to 1) knowledge of ultimate reality as it is (gnas lugs ji lta ba mkhyen pa}. 2) knowledge of the extent of knowable phenomena (shes bya ji rnyed pa mkhyen pa).
[16] The two accumulations here refers to accumulation of merit and of wisdom, both necessary to attain full awakening.
Source
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