Foreword THE DALAl LAMA Jig-me Gyal-wai Nyu-gu, who was one of the eminent disciples of Jig-me Ling-pa, the exponent of Dzog-pa Chen-po Long-chen Nying-thig, gave an oral instruction on Long-chen Nying-thig and his disciple Dza Pal-trul Rinpoche transcribed it, giving it the title: KUNSANG LA-MAI ZHALLUNG It is said in the Great Perfection teachings that one cannot become enlightened through a contrived mind; rather, the basic mind is to be identified, in relation to which all phenomena are to be understood as the sport of the mind One then familiarises oneself continuously and one-pointedly with this ascertainment However, to have a full understanding of this is it is not sufficient merely to read books; one needs the full preparatory practice of the Nying-ma system and, in addition, the special teaching of a qualified Nying-ma master as well as his blessings The student must also have accumulated great merit That is why great Nying-ma-pa masters like Jig-me Ling-pa and Do-drup-chen worked so hard Translation of such works containing the Dzog-chen preliminaries will be of immense value these days I congratulate the Padmakara Translation Group for having produced this work in English and French I am sure this authentic preliminary work will benefit all those who are interested in Dzog-chen November 23, 1990 The Dalai Lama XXV Longchenpa (1308-1363) The most brilliant teacher of the Nyingma lineage Longchen Rabjampa gathered together the Heart-essence teachings of Padmasambhava, Vimalamitra and Yeshe Tsogyal He transmitted all these teachings to Jigme Lingpa in a series of visions as the Heart-essence of the Vast Expanse Foreword by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche The Words of My Perfect Teacher, a Guide to the Preliminaries for the Heart-essence of the Vast Expanse from the Great Perfection, sets out the paths of the four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism without any conflict between them It contains all the teachings, including the Steps of the Path for those of the three levels of understanding, along with the Three Main Themes of the Path; the Three Perceptions, preliminaries for the Path and Fruit; the Buddha Nature as the cause, precious human life as the support, the spiritual friend as the impetus, his instructions as the method, and the kayas and wisdoms as the result, these representing the confluence of the Kadampa and Mahamudra traditions; and the Nyingma path in terms of determination to be free through disgust for sarilsara, faith through confidence in the effect of actions, bodhicitta through striving to help others, and pure perception of the utter purity of everything there is For all teachings on all practices, whether preliminaries or main, this text is indispensable That is why, at this fortunate time in which the Buddha's precious doctrine is beginning to shine its light throughout the world, this book has been translated in the profound hope that-being of enormous worth and little danger, and covering as it does all the essential points of the path-all contact with it may be fruitful, and that it may become the object of study, reflection and meditation That followers of the Dharma teach or listen to this text is of great importance xxvii Translators, Acknowledgements In accordance with Tibetan tradition, the translators would like to thank the teachers of the lineage: the late Dudjom Rinpoche, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and Kangyur Rinpoche, whose extraordinary inspiration and patient explanations form the basis for all our efforts to understand these teachings; and also the numerous other lamas who answered our questions and gave us encouragement-Dodrup Chen Rinpoche, Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche, Dzogchen Khenpo Thubten, Zenkar Rinpoche, Khetsun Zangpo Rinpoche, Lama Sonam Tobgyal and many others The Padmakara Translation Group is made up of students of Tibetan Buddhism from several countries and disciplines, working under the direction of Perna Wangyal Rinpoche and Jigme Khyentse Rinpoche, at the Centre d'Etudes de Chanteloube in Dordogne, Southwest France The history of this particular project runs parallel to the evolution of the group, many of whose members began their study of Patrul Rinpoche's Kunzang Lamai Shelung in the mid seventies, both in India and in Europe They were then taught in detail from it, as the basis for their own practice of the Vajrayana path during the traditional meditation retreats which started in 1980 at Chanteloube The text was translated into French by members of the group guided by their Tibetan teachers, and published as Le Chemin de La Grande Perfection by the newly-formed Editions Padmakara in 1987 The first stage of the English version was a draft translation from the French by Michael Dickman This was the starting point for a new translation from the original Tibetan It was prepared, with many revisions, by Christian Bruyat, Charles Hastings and John Canti Stephen Gethin provided editorial help and prepared the index The translators are grateful to readers Michal Abrams, Wulstan Fletcher, Helena Blankleder, Rinchen Lhamo, Elissa Mannheimer and Vivian Kurz for their valuable suggestions, and to Jill Heald for help with the typescript Finally, our warmest thanks to Kerry Brown of the International Sacred Literature Trust for her constant and patient encouragement xxviii Preface to the Second Edition The encouraging need for this book to be reprinted has made possible a number of changes A preface written by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche for the first French edition has been included, as well as a postface written by Jamgon Kongtrul the Great for the very first woodblock printing of this book in Tibetan a century ago The quality of the illustrations has been improved, the notes and glossary have been expanded and revised, and Sanskrit words have been given their standard transliterated spelling However, the principal change is a revision of the text itself, the fruit of a painstaking, detailed re-reading by Perna Wangyal Rinpoche His numerous comments, clarifications and queries on average three or four per page-have enabled us to take a critical look at the accuracy of our translation and to bring it closer still to Patrul Rinpoche's original meaning Readers of the first edition may be assured that we have found no glaring errors in the substance of the instructions and practices explained Nevertheless, in a text so justly celebrated forits extraordinary wealth of detail and anecdote, it is in those finer details that we hope the translation has gained in authenticity and accuracy No translation will ever be definitive Our hope is that we may continue to improve the translation of this text in the future, particularly since-as testifie4 by the many encouraging letters we have received from all over the world-it is used intensively by many individual readers and Buddhist groups as a tool for study and practice Had time allowed, we would have liked to undertake a thorough revision of the endnotes in the light of a new translation of one of the principal sources from which they were COllijJiled, Khenpo Ngawang Palzang's Notes, currently proceeding under the direction of Alak Zenkar (with the participation of several members of the Padmakara Translation Group, see bibliography) That, unfortunately, will have to await a third edition All the changes to this edition were compiled, edited and entered by John Canti, with valuable help from Maria jesus Hervas, whose assiduous work in preparing a forthcoming Spanish translation uncovered a number of errors and omissions in the English, and from readers Helena Blankleder, Charles Hastings, Steven Gethin and Wulstan Fletcher Once again, we are grateful for the continuing interest and support of the Sacred Literature Trust and its successive directors, Paul Seto and Malcolm Gerratt-and especially for their patience, which the delays in the preparation of this second edition must have sorely tested XXIX ... including the Steps of the Path for those of the three levels of understanding, along with the Three Main Themes of the Path; the Three Perceptions, preliminaries for the Path and Fruit; the Buddha... transmitted all these teachings to Jigme Lingpa in a series of visions as the Heart-essence of the Vast Expanse Foreword by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche The Words of My Perfect Teacher, a Guide to the Preliminaries... Nature as the cause, precious human life as the support, the spiritual friend as the impetus, his instructions as the method, and the kayas and wisdoms as the result, these representing the confluence