Product Code Database
Garab Dorje (c. 665) () was a nomad and said to be the first human to receive the complete direct transmission teachings of Sutra, Tantra and Dzogchen. The circumstances of his birth are shrouded in different interpretations, with some accounts describing a miraculous birth by a virgin daughter of the king of Uddiyana. He has been described as "historically problematic" and at best a "mythical figure".
Garab Dorje became the first teacher of Dzogchen ("Great Perfection", also called Ati Yoga) teachings. Garab Dorje's core teachings revolve around understanding the nature of the mind as the original Buddha and Ultimate Reality, beyond birth and cessation, emphasizing meditation as a practice of allowing this natural state without seeking, letting it be as it is, this is the highest teaching in Buddhism.
According to the Nyingma school tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, he transmitted the profound empowerments of Dzogchen to his chief disciple, Manjushrimitra, and is also believed to have imparted these teachings to Padmasambhava.
His legacy includes the encapsulation of Dzogchen's essence in the "Three Words that Strike to the Heart of the Essential Point". This teaching is considered the pinnacle of Dzogchen wisdom, focusing on direct recognition of the nature of mind, single-pointed concentration, and confidence in liberating thoughts. Garab Dorje's writings, attributed to him, are essential texts in the Dzogchen tradition, further solidifying his influence and significance in Tibetan Buddhism's Nyingma school.
Garab Dorje received the empowerment and transmission of the Mahayoga teachings of the Secret Matrix Tradition (Guhyagarbha tantra) from Mahasiddha Kukuraja.
The Nyingmapa lineage conveys Garab Dorje's birth to be a miraculous birth by a virgin daughter of the king of Odiyana (Uddiyana), and that he recited Dzogchen tantras at his birth. A detailed interpretation of the hagiographic nativity of Garab Dorje briefly contextualizes his mother, a Bhiksuni whose sadhana was Yoga tantra, and her parents. The bhiksuni daughter has a dream in which a man holds the vase of the Astamangala, the 'trailokya', with the syllables 'Three vajra' and svaha:
Before becoming Garab Dorje's student, Manjushrimitra heard of Garab Dorje's Dzogchen teachings, and sought a debate to defeat the heretical views. Manjushrimitra lost the debate and realized his errors. Garab Dorje then gave Manjushrimitra the complete Dzogchen empowerments, and summarized his teaching as follows: The nature of mind is the original Buddha without birth or cessation, like the sky! When you understand that, all apparent phenomena are beyond birth and cessation. Meditating means letting this condition be as it is, without seeking.
As Garab Dorje attained paranirvana, his body dissolved into a mist of rainbow light. Manjushrimitra called to his teacher and Garab Dorje responded by handing his last teaching to Manjushrimitra, which was enclosed in a golden casket the size of a thumbnail. Inside, the three precepts known as the Three Words that Strike to the Heart of the Essential Point, or Tsig Sum Nèdek, () contain the whole of the Dzogchen teachings, and are a universal introduction to Dzogchen. Garab Dorje became the wellspring for the body of instructions eventually known as the mind teachings of Tibet associated with Dzogchen of the Nyingma lineages.
Garab Dorje's "Three Words that Strike to the Heart" are considered the essential teaching by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, and the infallible key point by Patrul Rinpoche. "The Three Statements that Strike the Vital Point" teaching, as translated by Lotsawa House:
|
|
