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Self-Arising Three-fold Embodiment of Enlightenment
[of Bon Great Completion Meditation]
ISBN: 978-1-7321579-4-1
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019937921
Copyright © 2019 Pointing Out the Great Way Foundation
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without prior
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Published by Bright Alliance
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Front cover: Shar rdza practicing rainbow body (source unknown)
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Self-Arising Three-fold
Embodiment of Enlightenment
[of Bon Great Completion Meditation]
Written by
Shar rdza bKra’ shis rGyal mtshan
(1859- 1934)
TRANSLATED UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF
His
Holiness the thirty-third
Menri Trizin
Geshe Sonam Gurung and Daniel P. Brown, Ph.D.
for Pointing Out the Great Way Foundation
May the translation of these precious lineage teachings
cause their benefits to flourish everywhere
and serve the welfare of all beings.
Geshe Sonam Gurung grew up in an indigenous Bon Tibetan
region of Nepal, in the Pangling Village area of Central Mustang.
UTien he was nine years old he was sent by the local Bon lama to be
come a monk at Menri Monastery, the seat of the indigenous Bon reli
gion, now located in the Dolanji area of India. He spent fourteen years
obtaining his Geshe degree (the equivalent of a doctoral degree in Bon
spiritual studies) under the guidance of His Holiness Menri Trizin, the
spiritual leader and lineage holder of the Bon and the 33rd Head Abbott
of Menri Monastery. After obtaining his Geshe degree he served as trea
surer, guest master, and as personal assistant to His Holiness Menri Triz
in at Menri Monastery. Recently, Geshe Sonam returned to the Jomson
area of Central Mustang to reestablish and spread the indigenous Bon
teachings in his country of origin. Two documentaries have been made
about Geshe Sonam’s life and work: Bon: From Mustang to Menri, and a
follow-up film about his return home, Returning the Blessings.
Daniel P. Brown, Ph.D. is an Associate Clinical Professor in
Psychology, Dept, of Psychiatry, at Harvard Medical School at
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He has been on the HMS
faculty for 37 years, where he teaches a variety of clinical assess
ment and treatment courses and also a course on performance
excellence for physicians, CEOs, and judges. In graduate school at
The University of Chicago he studied Sanskrit, and at the University
of Wisconsin he studied Tibetan, Buddhist Sanskrit, and Pali. In the
1980s he wrote Transformations of Consciousness with Ken Wilber
and Jack Engler. He is also the author the Pointing Out the Great Way:
The Mahamudra Tradition of Tibetan Meditation-Stages, and two
books on public dialogues with H.H. The Dalai Lama. More re
cently under the guidance of H.H. Menri Trizin, he and Geshe
Sonam translated this book, Bru rGyal ba g.Yung drung’s The Pith In
structions for the Stages of the Practice Sessions of Bon rDzogs Chen [Great
Completion] Meditation, this collection of eleven advanced yogic texts,
Shar rdza bKra5 shis rGyal mtshan’s sKu gsum rang shar [Threefold
Embodiment of Enlightenment],
Table of Contents
Illustrations........................................................................................xxxiv-xxxix
Acknowledgments ............................................................................................xli
Part I. Introduction..................................................................................................1
The Unique Contributions of Shar rdza Rinpoche.............................................1
Introduction to the sKu gsum rang shar (“Self-Arising Three-fold Embodi
ment of Enlightenment”)....................................................................................9
The Organization of the Collected Texts in the Self-Arising Three-fold
Embodiment of Enlightenment.........................................................................13
The Relationship Between the sKu gsum rang shar and Other Cycles of
Advanced Yogic Practices................................................................................18
Book One: The Emphasis of the Actual Foundational Practices
in Bru rGyal ba’s Root Text..............................................................................22
The Essential Points of the A Khrid, Actual Foundational Practices as
Emphasized by Shar rdza Rinpoche.................................................................31
Pith Instructions for Reaching the End, Liberation...........................................46
Co-Emergent Clear-Light.................................................................................46
Book Two: Wondrous By-Passing and Visions in the Daytime
Sunlight............................................................................................................48
Book Three: Dark Retreat at Nighttime...........................................................57
The Trilogy of Works on Conduct...................................................................73
Book Four: Daytime Conduct for the Advanced Practitioner.........................75
Book Five: Conduct in Deep Sleep and Dreams..................................................83
Dream Yoga.........................................................................................................83
Deep Sleep Yoga..................................................................................................90
Book Six: Conduct Throughout the Process of Dying.........................................94
Conduct During the Dying Process and After-Death Bardos..............................95
The Razor’s Edge of Consciousness-Transference............................................101
Consciousness-Transference From a Dying Body............................................104
The Razor’s Edge of Fastening to and Joining With a Host Body.... 108
Book Seven: Fruition, The Three-fold Enlightened Bodies and
Primordial Wisdoms..........................................................................................112
Pointing Out Primordial Wisdom’s Self-Awakened Awareness.......................114
Pointing Out the Three Visions.........................................................................116
Pointing Out the View, Meditation, and Conduct.............................................116
Pointing Out the Fruition, The Three-fold Enlightened Bodies........................117
Accomplishing Buddhahood in a Single Lifetime.............................................122
Book Eight: Enhancing the Realization of Enlightenment with Solo
Inner Fire Practice.............................................................................................122
The Channels, Winds, and Energy Drops..........................................................123
The Energy Drops..............................................................................................127
Book Nine: Reaching Equilibrium, Removing Hindrances with Yogic
Exercises............................................................................................................138
Actual Foundational Yogic Exercises................................................................140
A Condensed Version of the Forty Yogic Exercises.........................................142
Using Favorable Conditions to Balance the Elements and Extract Ele
mental Energy to Enhance the Realization........................................................143
Book Ten: Taking Sexual Desire as Path..........................................................143
The Extensive Preliminary Practices.................................................................145
The Actual Foundational Sexual Consort Practices..........................................148
viii Self-Arising Embodiment of Enlightenment
Book Eleven: Getting the Vital Essence.................................................159
Those of Best Capacity................................................................................162
Those of Middling Capacity........................................................................166
Those of Lesser Capacity.............................................................................170
Self-Arising Embodiment
of Enlightenment
[of Bon Great Completion Medi tation]
Book One
The Quintessence of the Precious Pith Instructions of the Actual
Foundational Practices for the Fifteen Sessions of the A Khrid
Great Completion........................................................................................177
1.0 Preliminaries [See Previous Volume in Shar rdza Rinpoche’s
Collected Works, Block Print Version]...............................................179
2.0 Actual Foundational Instructions......................................................179
2.1 Concentration with Attributes...........................................................179
2.1.1 Preliminaries....................................................................................180
2.1.2 Guidance with Substances..............................................................181
2.1.2.1 Concentrating the Mind By Relying on Skillful
Means.............................................................................................182
2.1.2.1.1 Guidance with Substances........................................................182
2.1.2.1.1.1 Body Points.............................................................................182
2.1.2.1.1.2 Gaze.........................................................................................183
2.1.2.1.1.3 Setting Up the Mind...............................................................184
2.1.2.1.1.4 Spiritual Duties.......................................................................184
2.1.2.1.2 Guidance with Sound................................................................185
2.1.2.2 Special Preliminaries..................................................................187
2.1.2.2.1 External and Internal Yogic Practices for
Distinguishing.............................................................................187
The first section has two divisions: (1) external,
and (2) internal...........................................................................187
2.1.2.2.1.1 External...................................................................................188
Table of Contents ix
2.1.2.3.1.1.1 The Body.............................................................................188
2.1.2.2.1.2.1 Speech..................................................................................189
2.1.2.2.1.1.3 Mind.................................................................................189
2.1.2.2.1.2 Internal Differentiation...........................................................190
2.1.2.2.1.2.1 Body.....................................................................................191
2.1.2.2.1.2.2 Speech.................................................................................191
2.1.2.2.1.2.2.1.1 Sealing.........................................................................192
2.1.2.2.1.2.2.1.1 Sealing External Appearance.........................................192
2.1.2.2.1.2.2.1.2 Sealing Internal Aggregates...........................................192
2.1.2.2.1.2.2.2 Skillful Practicing..........................................................193
2.1.2.2.1.2.2.2.1 Practicing with External Appearance...........................193
2.1.2.2.1.2.2.2.2 Practicing With The Internal Aggregates.....................193
2.1.2.2.1.2.2.3 Seeking Pliancy................................................................194
2.1.2.2.1.2.2.4 Establishing the Path......................................................194
2.1.2.2.1.2.3 The Practice of Mind............................................................195
2.1.2.2.1.2.3.1 Investigation....................................................................196
2.1.2.2.1.2.3.1.1 Examining the Basis of Mental Events and
Their Agent...................................................................196
2.1.2.2.1.2.3.1.2 Examining the Basis of Staying and the
Agent of Staying...........................................................197
2.1.2.2.1.2.3.1.3 Examining the Basis of Moving and the
Agent of Moving...........................................................198
2.1.2.2.1.2.3.2 Extracting the Benefit.....................................................199
2.1.2.2.1.2.3.3 Way of Arising.................................................................202
2.1.2.2.1.2.3.3.1 Distinguishing the Three Capacities..............................203
2.1.2.2.1.2.3.3.2 The Way to Take Up the Meditation Experiences
Based on Supplemental Preliminary and
Actual Foundational Practices....................................204
2.1.2.2.1.2.3.3.2.1 Examination-Meditation..........................................205
2.1.2.2.1.2.3.3.2.2 Samadhi-Meditation.................................................210
2.2 Concentration Without Attributes...........................212
2.2.1 Resting in Naturalness....................................................................212
2.2.1.1 The Actual Resting in Naturalness.............................................212
2.2.1.1.1 Resting in the Naturalness of the Body-Points.......................212
2.2.1.1.2 Resting in the Naturalness of the Speech-Points....................213
2.2.1.1.3 Resting in the Naturalness of the Mind-Points.......................213
