Essential Summary
Essential Summary
by Longchen Rabjam
Homage to glorious Samantabhadra!
Homage to those who have manifested realization
In the pure, unsullied and luminous space of the ground—
All those of the mind-direct lineage of the conquerors,
Vidyādharas’ sign lineage and aural lineage of individuals,
Together with the hosts of glorious protector gurus.
A summary of the luminous essence, spontaneously present from the first,
I shall now explain according to my understanding. Please listen well!
Original luminosity, primordially pure and spontaneously present,
With its essence, nature and core of compassionate responsiveness,
Is naturally free from restriction, partiality and limitation;
It is not concrete but a space that provides a basis for arising.
To recognize natural self manifestations that arise as the expression of resonance
From the spontaneous, indeterminate universal ground manifesting within the basis,
Through the emergence of spontaneous luminescence, like light in a crystal,
Without pursuing external objects, and to cut through the movement directly,
Without wavering from the ground, as if retaining light within the crystal,
Is liberation within the ground—Samantabhadra, the Ever Excellent.
Through the nature of the threefold ignorance of such reality,
Light becomes the basis of delusion concerning objects and body.
Compassion’s expressive awareness is confused for the conceptual mind,
And the individual experiences of the six classes and three realms dawn.
During this phase of delusion, the essence of the sugatas pervades beings,
Concealed within the shell of body, speech, mind and habitual patterns.
Light too dwells within the core of the heart, the youthful vase body,
As the three qualities of essence, nature and compassionate responsiveness.
The essence abides as the kāya, the mode of the empty dharmakāya;
The nature is spontaneous luminosity, together with its glow,
And responsive awareness brings about the arising as nirmāṇakāya.
This is what it means for kāyas and wisdoms to transcend union and separation.
Anyone who seeks to put this into practice should,
By adopting the key points of the gazes, or modes of viewing,
Abide by the meaning of self-manifest luminosity within the space of awareness.
Through direct perception, increase, reaching full measure and exhaustion,
The prāṇa-mind should be emptied, as if drawing light back into a crystal.
Within the state of primordial purity, visionary appearances transcend sorrow.
The ground itself matures as the fruit, the three types of pristine wisdom,
Utterly pure as dharmakāya, sambhogakāya and nirmāṇakāya.
Since they are one in dharmakāya, both sambhogakāya and nirmāṇakāya are aspects of the ground’s manifestation.
In its subtlety and profound clarity, spontaneous compassionate responsiveness
Is like a crystal sphere that is, in and of itself, immaculate.
As ground manifestations become fruitional manifestations therefrom,
Sambhogakāya and nirmāṇakāya appear outwardly to the realms of beings to be trained
And spontaneously accomplish the infinite deeds of the buddhas.
This represents the vision of the ultimate meaning.
Through its virtue, may all beings attain complete awakening.
The Essential Summary, composed by the yogin Natsok Rangdrol on the slopes of Gangri Tökar, is hereby complete. May it prove virtuous! Virtuous! Virtuous!
| Translated by Adam Pearcey with the generous support of the Tsadra Foundation, 2026.
Bibliography
Tibetan Edition
klong chen rab 'byams. "snying po don bsdus" In snying thig ya bzhi. 13 vols. Delhi: Sherab Gyaltsen Lama, 1975. Vol. 12: 288–290 (1.5 folios)
Version: 1.0-20260309
