| Menngagde Wylie: man ngag sde |
In Tibetan Buddhism and Bön, Menngagde (Wylie: man ngag sde, Tib. མན་ངག་སྡེ; THDL phonetics: men-ngak-dé) [1], (Sanskrit: upadeshavarga), is the name of one of three scriptural and lineage divisions within Dzogchen, (Skt. Atiyoga, Great Perfection) teachings. Dzogchen is itself the pinnacle of the ninefold division of practice according to the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. Menngagde focuses on the practices in which one engages after gaining confidence in knowledge of the state of wisdom (Tib.rigpa), emphasizing the inseparability of space and mind from the very beginning (dbyer-med). It is this inseparability that fundamentally characterizes the Dzogchen view. Menngagde is also variously glossed as "Secret oral instruction division", "Secret oral instruction series," "Secret oral school", or "Quintessential Instructions Series", or "The Category of Direct Transmission".
Contents |
For general purposes, Menngagde may also be known as Nyingthik.[2] Germano & Gyatso (2000: p. 240) note a similarity of practice between Chan-like formless meditations and Nyingthik/Menngagde:
"...the Seminal Heart or Nyingthik (snying thig) form of the Great Perfection (rdzogs-chen) movement, ...a syncretic Tantric tradition consisting of Chan-like practices of formless meditation combined with exercises that cultivated spontaneous visions of buddhas."[3]
Traditionally, Mañjushrīmītra (Tib. 'jam dpal bshes gnyen) is said to have classified all the Dzogchen teachings transmitted by his teacher Prahevajra (Tib. Garab Dorje) into three series: Semde (Wylie: sems sde), Longde (Wylie: klong sde), and Menngagde.[4] Mañjushrīmītra’s student Shri simha re-edited the oral instruction class/cycle, and in this form the teaching was transmitted to Jñānasūtra and Vimalamitra. Vimalamitra is said to have taken the Menngagde teachings to Tibet in the 8th Century.
The Glossary for Rangjung Yeshe books (2004) described Menngagde as:
The third of the Three Sections of Dzogchen, as arranged by Manjushrimitra. In Tibet three lineages are represented: through Padmasambhava and Vairotsana who both received transmission from Shri Singha, and through Vimalamitra who received transmission partly from Shri Singha and partly from Jnanasutra. The two former lineages were continued only as termas while Vimalamitra's was passed on both as terma and as oral transmission. In the following millennium, innumerable termas have been revealed containing the precious instructions of these three great masters. The most important of these terma treasures are included in the Rinchen Terdzo, a collection of termas by Jamgon Kongtrul covering the Three Inner Tantras and in Nyingtig Yabzhi.[5]
The available Menngagde texts are all terma, attributed to Padmasambhava's lineage of the Heart's Drop (sNying-thig) cycle of teachings and practice.[6]
The three series do not represent different schools of Dzogchen practice as much as different approaches. As is common throughout much Buddhist literature, Tibetan Buddhism in particular, the divisions are sometimes said to represent gradations in the faculties of the students for whom the practices are appropriate; practitioners of low, middling, and high faculties, respectively.
The distinguishing features of Menngagde are the practices of Lhündrub Tögal and Kadag Trekchö. Tsoknyi Rinpoche explains:
Within the instruction section there are two aspects: kadag trekchö, the cutting through of primordial purity, and lhündrub tögal, the direct crossing of spontaneous presence.[7]
Another feature of the Menngagde is the sadhana of the "Seven Mind Trainings" (Lojong dön dünma, Wylie: blo-sbyong don-bdun-ma) Capriles (2003: p. 103) identifies the sadhana of the 'Seven Lojong' (Wylie: blo-sbyong don-bdun-ma). As Buddhist scholar Elias Capriles, notes,
In the cycle of Dzogchen Nyingthik teachings, there is a series of successive reflections called “the seven mind trainings” or seven lojong, the effect of which is similar to the one attributed to the “four reflections:” that of causing one’s mind to become integrated with the meaning of the teaching.[8]
Menngagde itself is sometimes said to have been further divided by Sri Singha into four categories, called the "Four Cycles of Nyingtig" (Wylie: snying thig skor bzhi). They are the:
Variations of the name of the fourth section include the Secret Heart Essence (gsang ba snying thig), the Most Secret Unexcelled Nyingtig (yang gsang bla na med pa snying tig), the Innermost Unexcelled Cycle of Nyingtig (yang gsang bla na med pa'i snying thig skor), the Most Secret and Unexcelled Great Perfection (yang gsang bla na med pa rdzogs pa chen po), the Most Secret Heart Essence (yang gsang snying thig), the Most Secret Unsurpassable Cycle (yang gsang bla na med pa'i sde) and the Vajra Heart Essence.
This fourth section of Menngagde is said to contain Seventeen Tantras, although there are eighteen when the Ngagsung Tromay Tantra (focused on protective rites of Ekajati) is added; and nineteen including the Longsel Barwey Tantra (Tantra of the Blazing Space of Luminosity).[4]