Dodrupchen Jigme Tenpe Nyima Series

• Advice for a Dying Practitioner | Dying & the Bardos

This short work, written for an unnamed disciple, contains general advice on how to prepare for the moment of death.

• On Seeing the Guru as a Buddha | Advice

In this brief text, Jigme Tenpe Nyima explains the most important reasons for regarding the teacher as a buddha, a central tenet of the Vajrayāna.

• On Sleep | Advice

On the basis of classical sources, Jigme Tenpe Nyima warns of the dangers of sleep and drowsiness; he also offers some practical suggestions for cutting down on sleep and enhancing diligence.

• On the Ignorance of the Learned | Advice

A candid, somewhat comical description of what it means to take a limited and superficial approach to scholarship, which Jigme Tenpe Nyima tells us is based on his own experience.

• Retreat Advice | Retreat & Solitude

A very short text on the best conduct and attitude to adopt when practising in meditative retreat.

• Three Ways of Bringing Sickness onto the Path | Sickness & Healing

In this very short text, Jigme Tenpe Nyima describes the best, middling and inferior ways of using pain and illness as part of the Mahāyāna path.

• Turning Suffering & Happiness Into Enlightenment | Mind Training (Lojong)

One of Jigme Tenpe Nyima's best known works—and indeed one the most famous Tibetan texts of recent times—this is a pithy and practical guide to integrating all experiences, good and bad, happy and sad, into the path to enlightenment. As the text itself puts it, this is “indispensable for leading a spiritual life, a most needed tool of the Noble Ones, and quite the most priceless teaching in the world.”

• A Guide to the Practice of Sang | Sang Offering

A brief explanation of the popular ritual of incense smoke offering—or sang—detailing the visualization and describing the benefits of the practice.

• A Simple Visualization for the Seven-Line Prayer | Guru Rinpoche Prayers

This short commentary on the most famous of all prayers to Guru Padmasambhava offers a simple visualization based on the very words of the Seven Lines.

• Garland of Night-Blooming Water Lilies: A Commentary on the Guru Siddhi Mantra | Mantra

This profound explanation of the individual syllables of Padmasambhava's famous Vajra-Guru Mantra is written in colloquial language that is concise and easy to understand. The text is explicitly aimed at 'town-dweller mantrins' who mistakenly confuse the fundamentals of Secret Mantra.

• On the Final Words of Orgyen Tendzin Norbu | Dzogchen

An explanation of the final words of the great Dzogchen master Orgyen Tendzin Norbu (1841–1900): "I am Guru Padmākara of Oḍḍiyāna, a buddha free from birth and death. Awakening mind is impartial and unbiased, beyond labels of the eight stages, the four pairs."

• Teaching on the Offering of Flowers | Offering

This unusual text, which the author playfully suggests was requested by a bouquet of flowers, discusses the qualities and benefits of floral offerings. The translation is by Tulku Thondup Rinpoche and Philip Richman.

• Advice for Hor Özer | Dzogchen

Answers to a series of questions on the distinction between ordinary mind (sem) and pure awareness (rigpa), the dissolution of dualistic perception, mindfulness in Dzogchen, the phases of dissolution at death, and how to practise Dzogchen meditation.

• Advice for Palseng | Dzogchen

This short text from Jigme Tenpe Nyima's Dzogchen corpus explains the distinction between the ordinary mind (sem) and pure awareness (rigpa), as well as the ways in which the Great Perfection is superior to other approaches.

• How to Count the Four Permutations of Actual and Basis | Dzogchen

A discussion of the term for main practice in Tibetan—dngos gzhi which translates literally as 'actual basis'. In response to a question, Jigme Tenpe Nyima clarifies the explanations of the four permutations of 'actual' and 'basis' from Longchenpa's Treasury of the Supreme Vehicle (theg mchog mdzod) and Jigme Lingpa's Yeshe Lama.

• Prayer to the Gurus of the Dzogchen Lineage | Lineage Prayers

Jigme Tenpe Nyima composed this prayer to the gurus of the Dzogchen lineage at the behest of Khenpo Damchö Özer (d. 1927?), one of the so-called 'four great khenpos of Dodrupchen Monastery'.

• Rain of Siddhis: A Prayer to the Lineage of Rigdzin Düpa | Lineage Prayers

A prayer to the various masters of the lineage of Vidyādhara Assembly (rig 'dzin 'dus pa), the inner guru sādhana from the Longchen Nyingtik cycle revealed by Jigme Lingpa.

• A Brief Ritual for Consecrating Representations of Enlightened Body, Speech and Mind | Consecration

The author wrote this short ritual liturgy for consecrating sacred imagery at the request of his brother, Dzamling Wangyal (1868–1907).

• Aspirations in Accordance with the Dharma | Aspiration Prayers

A series of aspirations to devote one's life to the Dharma—which, Dodrupchen Rinpoche says, is the only thing of any real value or meaning—to practice it with sincerity, and to accomplish it successfully.

• The Adamantine Magical Wheel—Invoking the profound pledge of the glorious Victor Padmākara to turn back the final war | Guru Rinpoche Prayers

This prayer of invocation, which was written by the Third Dodrupchen Rinpoche during a period of political unrest, calls upon Guru Padmasambhava to protect Tibetans from aggressors and the ravages of war. More recently, it was redistributed at the behest of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, who recognized its continued relevance amid the turmoil of the twentieth century.

• Words of the Vajra Queen: An Essential Daily Practice of the Vidyādharas’ Female Practice | Longchen Nyingtik

A simple, abbreviated version of the root Yumka Dechen Gyalmo sādhana, which is known as The Glorious Blissful Garland, arranged for daily practice.