Table of Contents

| frame | three_lineages_of_transmission Three lineages of transmission (Tib. བཀའི་བརྒྱུད་པ་གསུམ་, ké gyüpa sum, Wyl. bka'i brgyud pa gsum) — the three modes and stages of transmission of the three inner tantras of the Nyingma school, and in particular of the Dzogchen teachings.

  1. the mind direct transmission of the buddhas (Tib. རྒྱལ་བ་དགོངས་བརྒྱུད་, gyalwa gong gyü, Wyl. rgyal ba dgongs brgyud): from the dharmakaya Samantabhadra to the sambhogakaya buddhas in the Akanishtha heaven, such as the buddhas of the five families, and Vajrasattva, and then to nirmanakaya buddhas such as the twelve teachers.
  2. the sign transmission of the vidyadharas (Tib. རིག་འཛིན་བརྡ་བརྒྱུད་, rigdzin da gyü, Wyl. rig 'dzin brda brgyud): from Vajrasattva to the first human Dzogchen master Garab Dorje, through to Padmasambhava. For the Dzogchen lineage, this includes masters such as Mañjushrimitra, Shri Singha, and Jñanasutra.
  3. the oral transmission from special individuals (Tib. གང་ཟག་སྙན་བརྒྱུད་, gangzak nyen gyü, Wyl. gang zag snyan brgyud)<ref>This lineage is also sometimes known as the oral transmission of the ascetics (Wyl. rnal 'byor snyan brgyud).</ref>. In Tibet, the oral transmission of the Dzogchen teachings started with Padmasambhava, Vimalamitra and Vairotsana, and has continued in an unbroken lineage to this day.

Alternative Translations

Lama Chökyi Nyima:

  1. the mind-to-mind transmission by victorious ones
  2. the transmission through symbols by masters of awareness
  3. the oral transmission by human individuals

Notes

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Further Reading

Category of Buddhist Key Terms Category of Schools and Lineages Category of Lineages Category of Nyingma Category of Dzogchen Category of Enumerations Category of 03-Three