Longde (Dzogchen)

Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia is now 14 years old

Our Encyclopedia recently received a wonderful opportunity for a major renewal on its 14th birthday . After many years of growing our Encyclopedia had become bit slow and sometimes even decided not to answer when people knocked on the door.

A very big thank you and blessings to Dmytro Rudiy (rudiy.nl) for his great work in upgrading the server, website and all of the infrastructure and helping make TBE fast and reliable again for everyone!

We kindly ask our readers to help us cover the cost of this important upgrade and also help with the ongoing costs of keeping the Encyclopedia alive and freely available.
or card
Every little donation helps and every one is deeply appreciated. 🙏🙏🙏
OM AH HUM VAJRA GURU PADMA SIDDHI HUM 🙏🙏🙏
May blessings shower down on all of yous 🙏🙏🙏

Longde (Wylie: kLong-sde; Sanskrit: Abhyantaravarga) is the name of one of three scriptural divisions within Atiyoga, also known as Dzogchen

(Wylie: rDzogs-chen) or the Great Perfection which is itself the pinnacle of the ninefold division of practice according to the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism.

The name Longde is translated as 'Space Division' or 'Space Series' of Dzogchen and emphasises the emptiness (strong-pa) or spaciousness (klong) aspect of the Natural State.

Penor Rinpoche states that due to the different approaches of various Dzogchen lineages, three sub-schools have developed of which longde is one.

The other two divisions or schools are Semde (Mind Series) and Menngagde (Oral Instruction Series).

Penor Rinpoche refers to Longde as the Centredness School and is attributed to Longde Dorje Zampa, Shrisimha and Vairotsana's lineage.

Background

These three divisions were introduced by the Buddhist scholar Manjushrimitra.

As Great Perfection texts, the texts of all three divisions are concerned with the basic primordial state;

the nature of mind-itself (which is contrasted with normal conscious mind).

They are related to the 'Three Statements' (Tshig-gsum gnad-brdeg) of Garab Dorje (Wylie: dGa'-rab rdo-rje).

It is important to note that the three series do not represent different schools of Dzogchen practice as much as different approaches to the same goal, that being the basic, natural, and primordial state.

As is common throughout much Buddhist literature, Tibetan Buddhism in particular, gradations in the faculties of practitioners are also ascribed to the three divisions, they being seen as appropriate for practitioners of low, middling, and high faculties, respectively.