Seventeen tantras

Seventeen tantras
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In Tibetan Buddhism, specifically in the literature and practice of Dzogchen, the 'Seventeen tantras of the esoteric
instruction cycle' (Tibetan: ;Wylie: man ngag sde'i rgyud bcu bdun) are a suite of tantras
belonging to the textual division known as the 'esoteric instruction cycle' (also known variously as: Nyingtik,
Upadesha or Menngagde).

Seventeen tantras

Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen

Though they are often referred to as the Seventeen Tantras, they are also referred to as Eighteen Tantras when the
'Ngagsung Tromay Tantra' (Wylie: sngags srung khro mai rgyud[1] ) (otherwise known as the 'Ekaja Khros Ma'i
rGyud' and to do with the protective rites of Ekajati) is appended to the seventeen by Shri Singha[2] ; and Nineteen
Tantras with Padmakara's annexure of the 'Longsel Barwey Tantra' (Wylie: klong gsal bar ba'i rgyud[3] ) (Tantra of
the Blazing Space of Luminosity).[4] Samantabhadri is associated with the Longsel Barwey and its full name is
'Samantabhadri's Tantra of the Blazing Sun of the Brilliant Expanse' (Wylie: kun tu bzang mo klong gsal 'bar ma nyi
ma'i rgyud).[5]

History by way of hagiography

The Seventeen Tantras though not considered 'treasure' (Wylie: gter ma) proper share in the treasure tradition as they
are associated with literature first transmitted in the human realm by the quasi-historical Garab Dorje (Fl. 55 CE) and
passed according to tradition along with other tantra through lineal transmission of manifold currents of esoteric
transmission and pointing out instruction by way of Majurmitra, Shri Singha, Padmasambhava, Jnanasutra and
Vimalamitra.
Kunsang (2006) holds that Shri Singha brought the Secret Mantra teachings from beneath the 'Vajra Throne' (Wylie:
rdo rje gdan)[6] of Bodhgaya to the 'Tree of Enlightenment in China' (Wylie: rgya nag po'i byang chub shing)[7] ,
where he concealed them in a pillar of the 'Auspicious Ten Thousand Gates Temple' (Wylie: bkra shis khri sgo[8]
).[9] Shri Singha conferred the Eighteen Dzogchen Tantras (Tibetan: rdzogs chen rgyud bco brgyad)[10] upon
Padmasambhava.[11] The eighteen are The Penetrating Sound Tantra (Tibetan: sgra thal gyur),[12] to which was
appended the Seventeen Tantras of Innermost Luminosity (Tibetan: yang gsang 'od gsal gyi rgyud bcu bdun).[13] It
should be mentioned here that the Dharma Fellowship (2009) drawing on the work of Lalou (18901967) holds the
'Five Peaked Mountain' of "the Land of Cina" (where Cina isn't China but a term for the textile cashmere) the Five
Peaked Mountain which Kunsang and others have attributed to Mount Wutai in China is instead a mountain near the
Kinnaur Valley associated with the historical Suvarnadwipa (Sanskrit) nation also known as 'Zhang-zhung' in the
Zhang-zhung language and the Tibetan language.[14]
The Seventeen Tantras are amongst the texts known as the 'Supreme Secret Cycle' the Fourth Cycle[15] and the most
sacred tantras in the Nyingma Dzogchen tradition and the Dharma Fellowship (2009) provide a different historical
location than Mount Wutai China for the location of concealment which is identified as near the Kinnaur Valley
within the Kinnaur District:
It is explained that Sri Simha divided the Pith Instruction into four sub-sections, and these are known as
the Exoteric Cycle, the Esoteric Cycle, the Secret Cycle, and the Supreme Secret Cycle. Before his own
death he deposited copies of the first three cycles in a rock cut crypt beneath the Bodhivriksha Temple
of Sugnam (Sokyam) in the land of Cina. The texts of the Supreme Secret Cycle, however, he hid
separately within the pillar of the "Gate of a Myriad Blessings".[16]
It is with Vimalamitra (fl. 8th century) that this collection of 'Seventeen Tantras, which are but a portion of Garab's
revelation may have first been given their specific enumeration and nomenclature as it was Vimalamitra's disciple,
Nyangban Tingzin Zangpo, who concealed the Seventeen Tantra subsequent to Vimalamitra's journey to China,
particularly Mount Wutai, for later discovery by Neten Dangma Lhungyal in the Eleventh Century that they enter
history in their current evocation, as Gyatso (1998: pp.153-154) relates thus:
"By the eleventh century, both Bonpos and Buddhists were presenting texts they claimed to have
unearthed from the place where those texts had been hidden in the past. Among the earliest Buddhist
materials so characterized were the esoteric Nyingtig, or "Heart Sphere", teachings, including the
seventeen Atiyoga tantras, which were associated with Vimalamitra, an Indian Great Perfection master
invited to Tibet, according to some accounts, by Trisong Detsen in the eighth century. Vimalamitra's

Seventeen tantras
Tibetan student, Nyangban Tingzin Zangpo, was said to have concealed these teachings after the master
went to China. The discoverer was Neten Dangma Lhungyal (eleventh century), who proceeded to
transmit these teachings to Chetsun Senge Wangchuk, one of the first accomplished Tibetan Buddhist
yogins, and to others. The Nyingtig materials were at the heart of the Great Perfection Buddhism and
had considerable influence upon Jigme Lingpa, who labelled his own Treasure with the same term."[17]
The Vima Nyingtik itself consists of 'tantras' (rgyud), 'agamas' (lung), and 'upadeshas' (man ngag), and the tantras in
this context are the Seventeen Tantras.[18]

Enumeration of the Seventeen Tantras

In no particular order they are as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

'Self-existing Perfection' (Tibetan: ;Wylie: rdzogs pa rang byung)

'Without Letters' (Tibetan: ;Wylie: yi ge med pa)
'Self-arising Primordial Awareness' (Tibetan: ;Wylie: rig pa rang shar)
'Self-liberated Primordial Awareness' (Tibetan: ;Wylie: rig pa rang grol)
'Piled Gems' (Tibetan: ;Wylie: rin po che spung ba)
'Shining Relics of Enlightened Body' (Tibetan: ;Wylie: sku gdung 'bar ba)

7. 'Reverberation of Sound' (Tibetan: ;Wylie: sgra thal 'gyur)

8. 'Great Auspicious Beauty' (Tibetan: ;Wylie: bkra shis mdzes ldan)
9. 'The Mirror of the Heart of Vajrasattva' (Tibetan: ;Wylie: rdo rje sems dpa' snying gi
me long)
10. 'The Mirror of the Mind of Samantabhadra' (Tibetan: ;Wylie: kun tu bzang po thugs
kyi me long)
11. 'Direct Introduction' (Tibetan: ;Wylie: ngo sprod spras pa)
12. 'Necklace of Precious Pearls' (Tibetan: ;Wylie: mu tig rin po che'i phreng ba)
13. 'Sixfold Expanse of Samantabhadra' (Tibetan: ;Wylie: kun tu bzang po klong drug)
14. 'Blazing Lamp' (Tibetan: ;Wylie: sgron ma 'bar ba)
15. 'Union of the Sun and Moon' (Tibetan: ;Wylie: nyi zla kha sbyor)
16. 'Lion's Perfect Expressive Power' (Tibetan: ;Wylie: seng ge rtsal rdzogs)
17. 'Array of Jewels' (Tibetan: ;Wylie: nor bu phra bkod)

Text sources, versions and variations

These Seventeen Tantras are to be found in the Canon of the Ancient School, the 'Nyingma Gyubum' (Tibetan:
;Wylie: rnying ma rgyud 'bum), volumes 9 and 10, folio numbers 143-159 of the edition edited by
'Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche' commonly known as Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (Thimpu, Bhutan, 1973), reproduced
from the manuscript preserved at 'Tingkye Gonpa Jang' (Tibetan: ;Wylie: gting skyes dgon pa
byang) Monastery in Tibet.[19]

Seventeen tantras

Adzom Chgar redaction

This 'Adzom Chgar redaction'[20] of the versions of the Seventeen Tantras were secured from Jim Valby who
transcribed these texts into Wylie transliteration and these selfsame texts have been uploaded onto Wikisource.[21]

English translations
None of these works as yet has been completely translated into English and made generally available.
The Seventeen Tantras are quoted extensively throughout Longchenpa's (1308 - 1364?) 'The Precious Treasury of
the Way of Abiding' (Tibetan: ;Wylie: gnas lugs rin po che'i mdzod) rendered in English by
Barron and Padma Translation Committee (1998).[22] This work is one of Longchenpa's Seven Treasuries and the
Tibetan text in poor reproduction of the pecha has been graciously made available online by Dowman and Smith.[23]

Emic scholarship
'Tegch Dz' (Wylie: theg mchog mdzod) "Treasury of the Sublime Vehicle'" is one of the Seven Treasuries, a
collection of seven works, some with auto-commentaries, by the Tibetan Buddhist philosopher and exegete
Longchenpa. The Tegch Dz is a commentary on the Seventeen Tantras.

Etic Scholarship
Cuevas (2003: p.62) embeds the emic perspective of the Nyingma Dzogchen tradition in the attribution of the
Seventeen Tantras to the revelation of Garap Dorje and opines from an etic assessment that:
"The seventeen interrelated Dzokchen Nyingthik scriptures are accepted by tradition as divine revelation
received by the ... mystic Garap Dorje. The Seventeen Tantras nevertheless betrays [sic] signs of being
compiled over a long period of time by multiple hands. The precise identity of these unknown redactors
is a riddle that I hope may soon be solved. Whatever the case, we must accept that the collection in the
form it is known to us today consists of several layers of history reflecting diverse influences."[24]

References
[1] Aro Encyclopaedia (2010). 'Ngak Srungma Ekajati'. Source: (http:/ / aroencyclopaedia. org/ shared/ text/ e/ ekajati_th_02_01_eng. php)
(accessed: Sunday April 11, 2010)
[2] Thondup, Tulku & Harold Talbott (Editor)(1996). Masters of Meditation and Miracles: Lives of the Great Buddhist Masters of India and
Tibet. Boston, Massachusetts, USA: Shambhala, South Asia Editions. ISBN 1-57062-113-6 (alk. paper); ISBN 1-56957-134-1, p.362
[3] Aro Encyclopaedia (2010). 'Ngak Srungma Ekajati'. Source: (http:/ / aroencyclopaedia. org/ shared/ text/ e/ ekajati_th_02_01_eng. php)
(accessed: Sunday April 11, 2010)
[4] Source: (http:/ / www. yoniversum. nl/ dakini/ tantras17. html) (accessed: Sunday April 11, 2010)
[5] Source: (http:/ / rywiki. tsadra. org/ index. php/ klong_gsal_'bar_ma) (accessed: Sunday April 11, 2010)
[6] Kunsang, Erik Pema (translator)(2006). Wellsprings of the Great Perfection. Hong Kong: Rangjung Yeshe Publications. Source: (http:/ /
books. google. com. au/ books?id=_yo1BGZXODEC& pg=PA444& lpg=PA444& dq="rgya+ nag+ po'i+ byang+ chub+ shing"& source=bl&
ots=gB6_DULQpm& sig=D4w07xjfzLTl1wruae7U8UnaXBU& hl=en& ei=pGzBS7DAIpSXkQW_1dTsBQ& sa=X& oi=book_result&
ct=result& resnum=4& ved=0CBIQ6AEwAw#v=onepage& q="rgya nag po'i byang chub shing"& f=false) (accessed: Sunday April 11, 2010)
p.445
[7] Kunsang, Erik Pema (translator)(2006). Wellsprings of the Great Perfection. Hong Kong: Rangjung Yeshe Publications. Source: (http:/ /
books. google. com. au/ books?id=_yo1BGZXODEC& pg=PA444& lpg=PA444& dq="rgya+ nag+ po'i+ byang+ chub+ shing"& source=bl&
ots=gB6_DULQpm& sig=D4w07xjfzLTl1wruae7U8UnaXBU& hl=en& ei=pGzBS7DAIpSXkQW_1dTsBQ& sa=X& oi=book_result&
ct=result& resnum=4& ved=0CBIQ6AEwAw#v=onepage& q="rgya nag po'i byang chub shing"& f=false) (accessed: Sunday April 11, 2010)
p.444
[8] Kunsang, Erik Pema (translator)(2006). Wellsprings of the Great Perfection. Hong Kong: Rangjung Yeshe Publications. Source: (http:/ /
books. google. com. au/ books?id=_yo1BGZXODEC& pg=PA444& lpg=PA444& dq="rgya+ nag+ po'i+ byang+ chub+ shing"& source=bl&
ots=gB6_DULQpm& sig=D4w07xjfzLTl1wruae7U8UnaXBU& hl=en& ei=pGzBS7DAIpSXkQW_1dTsBQ& sa=X& oi=book_result&
ct=result& resnum=4& ved=0CBIQ6AEwAw#v=onepage& q="rgya nag po'i byang chub shing"& f=false) (accessed: Sunday April 11, 2010)
p.427

Seventeen tantras
[9] Vimalamitra's Great History of the Heart Essence, translated in Erik Pema Kunsang (translator) : Wellsprings of the Great Perfection.
Rangjung Yeshe Publications, Hong Kong, 2006. pp. 136-137
[10] Source: (http:/ / rywiki. tsadra. org/ index. php/ Eighteen_Dzogchen_Tantras) (accessed: Sunday April 11, 2010)
[11] Erik Pema Kunsang (translator) : Wellsprings of the Great Perfection. Rangjung Yeshe Pulications, Hong Kong, 2006. p. 158
[12] Dra Talgyur Root Tantra Source: (http:/ / rywiki. tsadra. org/ index. php/ Dra_Talgyur_Root_Tantra) (December 13, 2007)
[13] Source: (http:/ / www. yoniversum. nl/ dakini/ tantras17. html) (accessed: Sunday April 11, 2010)
[14] Dharma Fellowship (2009). Biographies: Sri Simha, the Lion of Dzogchen. Source: (http:/ / www. dharmafellowship. org/ biographies/
historicalsaints/ sri-simha. htm) (accessed: Sunday April 11, 2010)
[15] 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), and the Most Secret Unsurpassable Cycle (yang gsang bla na med pa'i sde).
[16] Dharma Fellowship (2009). Biographies: Sri Simha, the Lion of Dzogchen. Source: (http:/ / www. dharmafellowship. org/ biographies/
historicalsaints/ sri-simha. htm) (accessed: Sunday April 11, 2010)
[17] Gyatso, Janet (1998). Apparitions of the Self: The Secret Autobiographies of a Tibetan Visionary; a Translation and Study of Jigme Lingpa's
'Dancing Moon in the Water' and 'kki's Grand Secret-Talk'. Princeton, New Jersey, USA: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01110-9
(cloth: alk. paper). Source: (http:/ / books. google. com. au/ books?id=qMUh9ir0Yi0C& pg=PA153& lpg=PA153& dq=Neten+ Dangma+
Lhungyal& source=bl& ots=cVQwlGMXDU& sig=XS7xiLDAUAyr7U0p2xjO-oYiOlY& hl=en& ei=JFDBS8fhBdCGkAWS7uzBBQ&
sa=X& oi=book_result& ct=result& resnum=4& ved=0CBQQ6AEwAw#v=onepage& q=Neten Dangma Lhungyal& f=false) (accessed:
Sunday April 11, 2010), pp.153-154
[18] Rigpa Shedra (August, 2009). 'Vima Nyingtik'. Source: (http:/ / www. rigpawiki. org/ index. php?title=Vima_Nyingtik) (accessed: Saturday
October 17, 2009)
[19] Guarisco, Elio (trans.); McLeod, Ingrid (trans., editor); Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, Kon-Sprul Blo-Gros-Mtha-Yas (compiler) (2005).
The Treasury of Knowledge: Book Six, Part Four: Systems of Buddhist Tantra. Ithaca, New York, USA: Snow Lion Publications. ISBN
1-55939-210-X, p.520
[20] Author Unknown. Edited by Sanje Dorje. rNying-ma'i rgyud bcu-bdun. A 'dzom chos sgar redaction. Collected Nyingmapa tantras of the
Man-ngag-sde class of the Atiyoga (rdzogs-chen), 3 vols., (New Delhi, 1973-77).
[21] Personal Communication. Jim Valby to B9hummingbirdhovering, March 2010.
[22] Barron, Richard (trans), Longchen Rabjam (author): Precious Treasury of the Way of Abiding. Padma Publishing (1998) ISBN 1881847098
[23] Source: http:/ / www. keithdowman. net/ dzogchen/ gnas_lugs_mdzod. htm (accessed: Sunday October 11, 2009)
[24] Cuevas, Bryan J. (2003). The Hidden History of the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195154139.Source:
(http:/ / books. google. com. au/ books?id=M0T5WNMY1ZUC& pg=PA62& lpg=PA62& dq=the+ seventeen+ tantras& source=bl&
ots=tm0xHdqht9& sig=geBi1IuU3DkrLMEvgnXFNQcvSQ4& hl=en& ei=XC_oSqHHOZGXkQWyk63QBg& sa=X& oi=book_result&
ct=result& resnum=6& ved=0CCAQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage& q=the seventeen tantras& f=false) (accessed: Wednesday October 28, 2009),
p.62

Article Sources and Contributors

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Seventeen tantras Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=356123158 Contributors: B9 hummingbird hovering, Giraffedata, 3 anonymous edits

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