THE VISIONARY LINEAGES OF JAM YANG KHYENTSE W ANGPO

D i a n a C o u s e n s ( M e l b o u r n e )

The present article is a commentary on an extract from “The Wondrous Garden of Udumbara, A Brief Liberation Story Of Jam- yang Khyentse Wangpo” , by Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche.1

Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo2 was bom in 1820. At the age of 21 he was fully ordained as a monk in the Rnying ma pa tradition at the monastery of Smin grol gling. However, he was identified with other schools such as the Sa skya pa, and is most particularly remembered as a gter ston ‘treasure discoverer’, and as a compiler of diverse lineages into a new set of canons with the assistance of Jamgon Kongtrul.3 This work was one of the main activities of the nineteenth century Ris med movement of Eastern Tibet. In this paper I shall describe how Khyentse Wangpo obtained certain lineages through visionary means. Many causes and conditions are required for these experiences to take place and the particular quality that is em­phasised in this narrative is place, as these experiences came about while Khyentse Wangpo was on pilgrimage throughout Tibet.

C a n o n s

One of the most famous of the collections that Khyentse Wangpo and Jamgon Kongtrul compiled is the Rin chert gter mdzod (chert mo), “Precious Collection of Treasures” . In establishing a canon they appropriated the model of orthodoxy that had been established by Bu

1 Rje btsun bla ma thams cad mkhyen cing gzigs ba 'jam dbyangs mkhyen brtse'i dbang po kun dga' bstan pa'i rgyal mtshan dpal bzang po'i rnam tliar mdor bsdus pa ngo mtshar u dumb ra'i dga' tshal, ff.79b-84b. The translation was accomplished by a team o f three: Diana Cousens, Lama Chocdak Yuthok and David Templeman. I take responsibility for all errors in translation.

2 'Jam dbyangs Mkhyen brtse'i dbang po (1820-92).3 'Jam mgon Kong sprul (1813-99).

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ston in the fourteenth century with the compilation of the Bka' 'gyur and Bstan 'gyur.

While the texts in the Bka ' 'gyur and Bstan 'gyur preserved a par­ticular set of texts of mostly traceable Indian provenance those in­cluded in the Rin chen gter rndzod rely on other methods of authentication. While it is not disputed that many texts within the Bka ' 'gyur and Bstan 'gyur rely on the power of inspiration and revelation for their authenticity, all these revelations happened in India. When we come to the treasure finders (gter ston), they claim their antecedents in persons such as Nágárjuna, whose Prajñá- páramita texts came from the ‘realm of the N agas\ and Asañga, whose “Five Works of Maitreya”4 were received in a context that could well be described as ‘pure vision’ (dag snang).

Authentic text for the treasure discoverer derived from the enlightened experience, an experience not limited by time and place. It was not important that it happened in a foreign country in an alien language a long time ago. Treasure texts are continually coming to light, and there is no sense that the last prophet is dead.

The Rin chen Gter mdzod was updated in the twentieth century by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, who became the head of the Rnying ma school after the passing of Dudjom Rinpoche in 1987. The Rin chen Gter mdzod is not a closed canon, and the possibility of the inclusion of new scripture is always present.

The authority of the treasure discoverer is obtained from their inner life, their experience of blessings, initiatory dreams, and so on. Ideally, in his past life a treasure discoverer was a disciple of Guru Rinpoche, or was predicted by him in an available prophetic text.5 This complex web of relationships and experiences stand in contrast to the methods used for the creation of the orthodox canon.

N o n - c a n o n i c a l T e a c h i n g s

There are the three kinds of non-canonical teachings characteristic of the Rnying ma pa school but also found elsewhere and these are dag snang ‘pure vision’, bka ' ma ‘oral transmission’ (also called snyan

4 Tib. Rje btsun byams pa chos Inga.5 Tulku Thondup Rinpoche, Hidden Teachings o f Tibet, An Explanation o f the

Terma Tradition o f the Nyingma School o f Buddhism, edited by Harold Talbot, Wisdom Publications, London, 1986, pp.65-68.

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brgyud), and gter ma. Dag snang is not gter ma unless the vision is concealed in the nature of mind of the disciple and later discovered through an awakening (dgongs gter). Here I am concerned with dag snang.

S e c r e t L if e

In this world of the treasure tradition that is competing for orthodoxy and authority of a different kind, we come to the details of the life of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo. The principal forms of life story in Tibetan history are the outer, inner and secret versions. I will present an extract from Jamyang Khyentse’s secret life, the gsang ba'i rnam thar, which is the story that is concerned with mystical experiences, dreams, and visions, compiled by his companion, Jamgon Kongtrul. The title of the biography is “The Wondrous Garden of Udumbara”.6

Khyentse Wangpo combined the roles of treasure finder and visionary. In his rnam thar pure vision experiences are described as occurring in meditative states, dream states and waking states, which are the three possible conditions of consciousness in which pure vision can occur. There are many experiences recorded in this biography, but the principal focus here will be on his receiving of the eight lineages through visionary means. These lineages are categorised as short lineages, or nye brgyud. Long lineages, ring brgyud, are handed down in successive generations. It is important that there is no gap in the transmission.

S h o r t L i n e a g e

The importance of nye brgyud is in its directness. What is communi­cated is not only the words but the experience. It is also a means of dealing with the problem of change over time. In general, lineages have three elements: dbang ‘initiation’, lung ‘transmission*, and khrid ‘instruction’. The initiation and instruction are always likely to be added to, changed a little bit, adapted over time, and the transmis­sion will be dependent upon the manuscript version that is available.

The short lineage takes the visionary directly to the founder of the lineage and is particularly potent as a source of grace and blessing. It

6 The udumbara is a mythical giant lotus that blooms only once every 500 years.

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may be a way of renewing a lineage that was lost, of deepening the understanding of a lineage received in a conventional manner, or even a method of creating a connection before receiving a lineage in a conventional fashion. One experience described in this narrative is of pure vision as preparation. In a vision in a dream, Khyentse Wangpo saw the Third Karmapa, Rje Rang byung Rdo rje (1284- 1339), who gave him a blessing by touching his head with a book. After that, Khyentse received the same cycle of teachings from the Fourteenth Karmapa, Theg mchog Rdo rje (1797-1867), in person.

There are examples of short lineage experience in the orthodoxies of the new schools. The transmission of Lam 'bras, or Hevajratantra, is the result of nye brgyud. The Mahasiddha Virupa in India practis­ed the Cakrasamvaratantra but did not understand the bizarre dreams he was having and decided that his practice was not fruitful. He decided to give up, and then received a pure vision experience in a dream of Vajra Nairatmya, which awakened him to the meaning of the Hevajratantra. This then became his central practice, and the Hevajratantra is, of course, a canonical text.

T h e G a t h e r i n g o f L i n e a g e s

One of the principal activities of the Ris med movement was the compilation of texts, the seeking of treasures, and the preservation of lineages by Khyentse Wangpo and Jamgon Kongtrul. This came about in a society that knew sectarianism and religious wars and was in some sense a defence against the widespread codification of scholastic manuals implemented by the Dge lugs pa and their in­creasing influence.7

When we look at the eight lineages that Khyentse received through visionary means, it is clear that these are not based on

7 Traditionally long distances, mountains and inadequate transport had ensured a high degree of isolation between the different provinces of Tibet. Dbus in the middle and Khams in the east had quite different centres of power. However, the Lhasa government was increasing its influence. In 1848 the Lhasa army won a victory in battle for the House of Sde dge. This was seen as an opportunity by local Dge lugs pa factions to settle scores with rival sects, and they wanted Dpal spungs monastery to be destroyed and prominent lamas such as Kongtrul purged. Fortunately this was averted by KongtruTs medical talents. E. Gene Smith, “Introduction” , in Kongtrul's Encyclopaedia o f Indo-Tibetan Culture, Parts 1-3, edited by Lokesh Chandra, pp. 1— 87, IAIC, New Delhi, 1970.

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conventional notions of Sa skya, Dge lugs, Rnying ma, Bka' brgyud, etc. Any one school may practice any of these lineages, though certain schools are more famous for some rather than others. For example, the Sa skya school is most famous for its practice of lam 'bras, the Dge lugs is famous for its practice of the Kalacakratantra and the Bka' gdams pa lineage.8 These eight lineages are a particular category set amongst Tibetan lineages. Other lineages exist, but this narrative concerns these eight, which are:

1. Rnying ma2. Bka' gdams pa3. Lam 4bras according to Virupa4. Mar pa Bka’ brgyud5. Mkhas grub Khyung po Rnal byor, including Shangs pa Bka' brgyud6. Zhi byecl of Pha dam pa Sangs rgyas and Gcod of Ma gcig Lab sgron7. Kalacakra8. Mahdsidda O rgyan pa (1230-1309)—Bka' brgyud

F irst V isio ns

Chronologically, the First vision recorded in the rnam thar occurs when Khyentse Wangpo was only 15, and was of the Mahasiddha, Thang stong Rgyal po.9 This is a vision in a dream state. He heard the six teachings of Niguma, the famous yogini reputed to be the sister of Naropa, and also Mahamudra teachings.

8 In an account of the lives of six Dge lugs pa Mahasiddhas, Janice D. Willis writes: “These siddhas are shown studying the manuals of Lamdre (lam 'bras) and Taknyi (brtag gnyis), two systems associated mainly with the Sakya tradition. The First Panchcn not only observed for a time the KagyU practice of wearing only a cotton covering but, on another occasion, made the practice of ‘taking only es­sences’ his main meditative endeavour. AH six siddhas received instructions on the oral tradition of Chod (gcod), and, because they were Mahamudra siddhas, they of course received full instruction in Naropa’s Six Yogas. Thus, like the great Tsong- khapa, these arc examples of the unbiased and truly non-sectarian character and spirit with which the lamas of old approached the Buddha’s teachings”. Janice D. Willis, Enlightened Beings, Life Stories from the Ganden Oral Tradition, Wisdom Publications, Boston, 1995 pp.!3f..

9 Thang stong Rgyal po (1385-1464 or 1361-1485).

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At ihe age of 15, in the Wood Horse Year, while at his family resi­dence at Ston sor, he had a vision in a dream of the Mahasiddha Thang stong Rgyal po, who bestowed blessings on him and he heard the explanation of the six teachings of Niguma, as well as the Fivefold generation and completion stages10 connected with them, known as the Mahdniudra Ga’u ma.

However, a more vivid description and a more significant initiaticdream occurred at the age of 16.11

At the age of 16, in the Wood Sheep Year, he dreamt that he reached a lovely grove in India with lush medicinal trees, which was introduced to him as the Ke’u tsang Rin dgu12 of Bodhgaya. It appeared to him as a blazing assembly hall and had the architectural structure of a stupa with nine storeys and a golden pavilion. He was led inside by a lady and progressively taken up from one storey to the next. He saw many panditas and siddhas in the lower storeys holding books in their hands, amongst who were many images, but he did not inspect them care­fully. As he reached the eighth storey he saw Acarya ManjuSrlmitra13 in the attire of a pandita, surrounded to the left and right with many walls of scriptures. To him he showed great reverence and made supplication. In response to his request, Khyentse took a volume from Manjufrlmitra’s left side, which he discovered was the Prajnaparam- itdsatpcayagdtha (“Verse Summation of the Transcendental Perfection of

10 Tib. bskyed rim and rdzogs rim , Skt. utpattikrama and sampannakrama,n F.80b.12 Nine-[storey] precious treasure-house.13 An Indian master from the Indian Buddhist period. As described by Dudjom

Rinpoche, he sounds like an early treasure finder and treasure concealer: “ManjuSrimitra went to the Sltavana charnel ground, where he met master Garap Dorje and studied the doctrine under him for seventy-five years. After the great master Garap Dorje had given him all the instructions and further advice, the master passed into nirvana in the uncomiptcd expanse, on the banks of the River Danatika. When that took place, Manjusrimitra cried, “Alas! Alas!” in distress three times. Then, in an aura of celestial light the master’s body actually appeared; and the master dropped a casket of gold the size of a fingernail into Mahjusrimitra’s hand. It contained his last testament, entitled Three Phrases which Penetrate the Essential (Tshig gsum gnad du brdeg pa) ...MafijuSrimitra annotated the aural lineage, but not finding, at that time, a vessel worthy to be entrusted with the exegetical tradition, that is to say, with the transmitted precepts of the Innermost Spirituality {snying thig), he concealed it under a boulder to the north-east of Vajrasana (Bodhgaya) and, sealing the boulder with a crossed vajra (visvavajra) he made it invisible”. Dudjom Rinpoche, Jikdrel Ycshe Dorje, The Nyingma School o f Tibetan Buddhism. Its Fundamentals and History, vol.l, “The Translations” , translated and edited by Gyurmc Dorje with the collaboration of Matthew Kapstcin, Wisdom Publications, Boston, 1991 pp.493f..

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Discriminative Awareness”). As soon as Khyentse touched that volume on his own head and focused his mind, he experienced the great sense of perfection of realisation of the characteristics of all phenomena. This was said by him to be the dbang , lung, and khrid of that text.14 He also took a volume from ManjuSrimitra’s right side on which the colour of paper was whitish, like a conch, but the script was in Tibetan characters. When he opened it he saw it was a tantra associ­ated with Vajrasattva, the Rdo rje setns dpa' snying gi me long gi rgyud (“Mirror of the Heart of Vajrasattva”), and as he touched it on his head, focusing his mind on it, he attained the complete blessings and understood the meanings o f all the secret Vajrayana instructions in general and the three divisions of Rdzogs chen, as well as all the requisite blessings. Mahjusrimitra gave him some prophecies and then joyously dissolved into light and absorbed into him and he was blessed with the samadhi of non-thought.Having wakened from this samadhi [but while still dreaming], as he came down to the lower storeys he saw many panditas , meditators, explicators and abbots,15 who he thought were the twenty one scholars of setns sde division and he sought their empowerments.16 As he came outside the door, he saw a great blazing fire without any visible fuel such as wood as its source. Thinking he would jump into the fire to be burnt, he jumped and all his aggregates, both inner and outer, were burnt. Subsequently all the visions ceased. He felt that his body was that of Vimalamitra, and entered into a profound meditation of boundless transcendental wisdom of uncontaminated bliss and void. Even after waking from sleep, this vision did not vanish for several days, indicating his attainment of the near lineage of rdzogs chen sems sde.

Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche experienced this pure vision in a dream and the pure vision experience continued even after waking from the dream. He was only sixteen years old at the time and it was one of the first of his pure vision experiences through which he ultimately received the eight lineages. To reiterate the description, he dreamt of going to Bodhgaya, of entering a nine-storey stupa, ascending to the eighth storey and meeting with Acarya Mahjusrimitra, one of the founders of the Rdzogs chen lineage. Khyentse had journeyed to another world; his vision was of a celestial Bodhgaya, not the Bodhgaya of nineteenth century India, which was in a state of dis­repair, largely forgotten and neglected. Meeting Mahjusrimitra was a

14 The dbang is the initiation ceremony, the lung is the reading of the text to the initiate, and the khrid is the teachings on the practice.

15 Tib. gzim pa ‘abbot’, honourific term for resident of a lama’s quarters.16 F.8 la.

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meeting with one of the most important ancestors of the Rdzogs chen lineage, and he was a ninth century Indian master who had lived 1.000 years earlier. This vision is of a journey through both time and space, and the qualities of the journey have a ripening power. Afterwards he remained in the experience of “boundless transcen­dental wisdom of uncontaminated bliss and void” for several days, even after waking up from his dream state.

Just to digress here, I think it is significant that Bodhgaya appears in Tibetan visions in this idealised ‘pure realm’ manner. It is a kind of Tibetan Shangrila, a pure and perfect place full of enlightened beings from the past who are still teaching in nine storey stupas, and so on. I understand that when the Tibetans came to India they were very disappointed by the reality of India, which was nothing like the holy land they had expected. This rdzogs chen setns sde experience is also the only one of the eight lineage visions that is very clearly placed in India. Other experiences happen in dreams or waking visions that occur while visiting sacred places, but the dream loca­tions are not clearly defined except for the near lineage experience of Kalacakra. The Kalacakra experiences occurred during visits to both Eastern and Western Tibet, Khams and Gtsang, and in these he had the experience of visiting Shambhala.

In Zha lu, Gtsang, he had this vision:

On the night of the preparation day, in his dream he flew up in the sky and travelled to the far northern land of Shambhala and had the vision of the fully perfected body, speech and mind mandala o f Kalacakra , but not very clearly.

At the Jo nangs Sku 'bum in Gtsang:

He saw the whole landscape turning into a pure realm. He had a vivid vision17 of the Dharma Kings of Shambhala18 and their descendants.

So Bodhgaya and Shambhala are treated in an equivalent way as pure realms. Obviously these are not actual places with mud and dust and sickness and poverty, they are idealised and transcendent land­scapes.

One of the qualities demonstrated by this experience of meeting with great masters like ManjuSrimitra is that they demonstrate an

17 T ib .gsalsnang.,x Pure Land where the Kalacakratanira is taught.

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accessible past. Dag snang ‘pure vision’ and dgongs gter ‘mind treasure’ demonstrate the accessibility of a sacred source that is continuously available through states of consciousness, grace or blessing, amidst a continuously unfolding and destined dispensation. The ability to reach back into the past and bring texts, artefacts and blessings into the present, gives the past a less distant quality. This has been described as ‘a dynamics of incursion’: it is the incursion into the present of the ‘primordial and authoritative past’.19 In short, understanding Tibetan treasure, treasure finders and pure vision entails understanding specifically Tibetan ideas about time, destiny, and the accessibility of a sacred and historical past.

T y p e s o f V i s io n s

Khyentse’s visions were of many types. They are located in real mundane space as well as pure realm visionary landscapes. Some of Khyentse’s visions involved the transformation of ordinary things into sublime ones. A mound of earth transformed into a single image of Spang Mi pham Mgon po, who later appeared as, “an old person wearing a felt gown who leaned on his meditation staff in his left hand”20 A statue of Tshar chen Bio gsal Rgya mtsho (1494-1566?) turned into the actual person and gave him blessings. He went to Zhang Zhung21 in Western Tibet and above the head of the image of Mkhas grub Khyung po Rnal 'byor he saw a cloud of deities in a roundish canopy of blue light. These absorbed into the image, and from the heart of the statue issued the mantra, Evam maya Hoh, which absorbed into Khyentse “and which awakened in him his predisposition for Shangs pa teachings” 22 He paid homage to the statue of Ma gcig Lab sgron at Zangs ri Mkhar Dmar in Eastern Tibet.23 The statue smiled and moved her body, and it seemed that there was an earthquake. “At the time he received a shower of

19 Janet Gyatso, “The Logic of Legitimation in the Tibetan Treasure Tradition” , History o f Religions, November 1993, vol .33, no.2, pp. 131 -33 .

20 F.81a.21 Although it is written in the text as Zhang Zhong.22 F.83a.u Just north of the Tsangpo River, cast of Dcnsatil.

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blessings and a burst of instructions came forth from his mind, at which point he spontaneously wrote songs” .24

There is a widespread tendency amongst Western scholars to see deities as mere ‘psychic propensities’ and statues as merely representational, but the literature tends to a quite different view, where deities are active personalities, and statues may have volitional actions. The idea of a statue being an actual location for a deity or, shall we say, a ‘non-human personality’, is expressed in many places. This idea is not exclusive to Tibet and is called henolocotheism?5 An example of a representation of a deity as an active personality is given in an early tradition related to the deity, Pehar. A twelfth century lama who disliked the deity Pehar ordered that no picture of him would be painted in the new monastery. Pehar took the form of a young boy and helped the painters and afterwards they asked him how he would like to be rewarded. He requested that they paint a monkey holding an incense stick. One night Pehar entered into the monkey and burned down the monastery with the incense stick.26 So Pehar is not just an abstract principle, and a painted monkey is not just a two dimensional image on a wall, it can be animated and given volition.

In Tamil Nadu, South India, it is customary to visit the Siva shrines of all five elements. One pilgrimage centre will be famous for the earth lingam, one for the fire lingam, one for the air lingam, etc. While all these shrines are for Siva, there are very different spiritual qualities to be obtained from each of them, and the significance and history of the place is paramount.

24 F.83b.25 See David Dean Shulmann, ch.2, “The Phenomenon of Localization” , Tamil

Temple Myths, Sacrifice and Divine Marriage in the South Indian Saiva Tradition, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1980, for a discussion of the immanent character of Hindu deities in Tamil legend. This is offered as a cross-cultural com­parison and as a contrast to the trend towards seeing Buddhist and Hindu gods as universal principles. Both immanent and transcendent readings are possible, but the literature varies.

26 Dan Martin, “The Star King and the Four Children of Pehar: Popular Religious Movements of 1 l ,h to I2'h century Tibet” , Acta Orientalia Hungarica, 1996.

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A u s p i c i o u s C o i n c i d e n c e

In treasure literature one of the most important words is rten 'brel ‘auspicious coincidence*. This word is largely equivalent to the Sanskritpratityasamutpada ‘dependent origination’, but it is given a special flavour. All the causes and conditions need to be present in order for a treasure to be found or pure vision experience to occur. On Khyentse’s pilgrimage across Tibet he experiences unique spiritual qualities in each environment. The place he is visiting at any particular time is often a fundamental determinant of what teaching will take place. His acquisition of one lineage by pure vision, say, the Zhi byed lineage—pacification teachings—occurred in Western Tibet. In the same family of teachings he received the near lineage of Gcod in Eastern Tibet.

To give a sense of another of these pure visions, this one occurs in real mundane space. It is an example of a pure vision experienced in a meditative state.

At the age of 24, on the tenth day of the seventh month of the Water Rabbit Year, he performed a tshogs offering in the cave of (Pha)dam pa Sangs rgyas in Rtsi khog.27 The cave became illuminated and in the space above appeared (Pha)dam pa Sangs rgyas from whom he received instructions on Zhi byed. The image transformed into Padmasambhava and gave whispered lineage teachings.28 A certain white dakini gave him a symbolic gesture,29 and although he did not recognise the sign letters (which appeared in space as a consequence of the symbolic gesture), nevertheless they all absorbed into his heart. At the same time all the related dharmas of the whispered teachings of Pha dam pa dawned in his mind and he later wrote the sadhana30 on them and root texts.31

At each different place a special quality or teaching is revealed or a special experience is obtained, which is a sign of his attainment.

To return to the significance of place; this is an element heavily emphasised in this narrative, and that is, I think, a rather distinctive quality of the text. There is some special benefit to going on pil­grimage: it gives access to the power of place. It seems to be implicit

27 F.83b. Cave unidentified, but Pha dam pa Sangs rgyas is mostly associated with Western Tibet.

u Tib. snyan brgyud.29 Tib. brcla.30 Tib. sgrub thabs.31 Tib. rtsa ha.

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that the place is somehow an active custodian and that the teaching is concealed within the landscape. That somehow the temple, or the place consecrated by the use of the visionary figure of the past, or the dream environment activated by the historical person, contains the teaching.

By contrast, when one looks at the life of Kongtrul, the elements of auspicious coincidence or rten 'brel that are most emphasised in his rnam thar are his meetings with particular people and his own practice of the treasure teachings he had received. These meetings and practices create the auspicious conditions for treasure finding to take place. But Kongtrul spent most of his life living quietly in a hermit­age, whereas Khyentse is famous for his journeys through Tibet.

With the story of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo there is an emphasis on a special experience of the landscape.

T h e P u r e R e a l m C o n d u c i v e t o P u r e V i s i o n

When we think about the much earlier convention of canonical scripture as something derived from India in a foreign language in the past, we can see how very far we have come in this idea of the consecrated Tibetan landscape. Tibet itself is now the embodiment of the dharma, the pure realm conducive to pure vision. Khyentse, as noted, also has visions of Bodhgaya as a pure realm, but there is no greater quality or importance given to this imaginary India than is given to mundane Tibet. As backgrounds for visionary experience, they have been equalised.

This is an indication of how closely integrated the Buddhist point of view had become and how things had changed over a thousand years. The Indian tan trie texts, such as the Cakrasamvaratantra, had articulated the sacredness of the Indian landscape through systems such as the twenty-four plthas of India. In this system the soil of India is considered to be the vajra body of the Buddha and is divided into twenty-four limbs, each corresponding to a sacred and famous location. This becomes thirty-two sacred places when the eight great cemeteries are added.

By contrast the early Buddhist view of the Tibetan landscape—at least as remembered in later histories—was quite different. The Chinese wife of Srong btsan Sgam po, Wen cheng Kong jo, had used geomancy to reveal that Tibet was a demonness who needed to be

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pressed down by the erection of temples. With Khyentse Wangpo who lived one thousand years or so after the establishment of Buddhism in Tibet, it has been sanctified, it embodies the blessings of the masters of the past, it is a Buddhist pure realm. This transition was accomplished in stages, and many earlier masters had revered the sacred places of Tibet. The landscape has always been a place of power, whether conceived of as imbued with demonic forces or local protectors. The Cakrasamvara system was replicated in the Tibetan context.

Other visionaries have also received dag snang in important temples and other sites. The uniqueness of Khyentse’s contribution lies in the breadth of his experience, the vastness of his journey, and the extended period of time over which it took place. His lineages were both Rnying ma and Gsar ma, and his experiences were mediated by many different mythical/historical figures, not just, and not principally, Guru Rinpoche. By transmitting lineages and creating canons based, in part, on a mystical experience of the landscape of Tibet, Khyentse has re-imagined the idea of the canon, re-imagined Tibet, and re-imagined all of the separate lineages that were obtained.

Khyentse’s receiving of the eight lineages straddled both dual and non-dual experience. On the one hand, much of what he described are meetings; he had visions of Atisa, Mar pa, Thang stong Rgyal po, and so on. On the other hand, these give rise to non-dual experiences such as achieving the various lineages of Rdzogs chen. In terms of the Ris med movement, the idea of the accessibility of all of these historical figures and lineages of teaching gave Khyentse and Kongtrul a potency as a focus wherein all divergent traditions came together. Impartiality was demonstrated through the physical compilation of different texts and the gathering through near lineage of different traditions. Khyentse’s journey demonstrated not only an unusual access to history but also the power of being in the auspicious place at an auspicious time for the auspicious encounter.