Homage to all Lineage Masters

Venerable teachers whose compassion is infinite and unconditional, I prostrate myself before you all.

Conquerors of the mind lineage; Vidyadharas of the symbol lineage;

Most fortunate of ordinary beings who,

Guided by the enlightened ones, have attained the two-fold goal- 

Teachers of the three lineages, I prostrate myself before you.  

In the expanse where all phenomena come to exhaustion, you encountered the wisdom of dharmakaya; 

In the clear light of empty space you saw sambhogakaya Buddhafields appear; 

To work for beings' benefit you appeared to them in nirmanakaya form.

Omniscient Sovereign of Dharma, I prostrate myself before you.

In your wisdom you saw the true nature of whatever can be known;

The light f your love beamed benefit upon all beings; 

You elucidated the teachings of the profound path, summit of all vehicles.

Ridgzin Jigme Lingpa, I prostrate myself before you.

You were Lord Avalokitesvara himself in the form of a spiritual friend;

whoever heard you speak was established on the path to freedom;

To fulfill all beings' needs your activity was infinite;

Gracious root teacher, I prostrate myself before you.

The writings of Omniscient Longchenpa and his lineage contain the Buddha's entire teachings;

The quintessential pith instructions that bring Buddhahood in a single lifetime,

The ordinary, outer, and the inner preliminaries of the path

And the additional advice on the swift path of transference.

May the Buddhas and the teachers bless me

That I may explain definitively as I have remembered them,

Wonderfully profound, yet clear and easy to understand-

The unerring words of my perfect teacher.

_________________________________________________________________________________

     With these words the Great Patrul Rinpoche makes homage to the lineage which he inherited from his Master Jigme Gyalwai Nyugu at the opening of his practice manual, "The Words of my Perfect Teacher".  This lineage, the Longchen Nyingthik (The Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse) was revealed to the Terton Jigme Lingpa in a vision by the 14th century master, Longchen Rabjam.  Jigme Lingpa passed this lineage down to his disciple, Jigme Gyalwai Nyugu who in turn passed it to Patrul Rinpoche.  

     Patrul Rinpoche composed this work to benefit the numberless beings who would have the great fortune of receiving them from a qualified Lama into the distant future.  I am one such being of exceedingly good fortune as I have had the opportunity to receive the Buddhadharma from many masters.  And of the great treasures I have been fortunate enough to receive, perhaps the greatest gift has been the oral transmission for the Longchen Nyingthik Ngondro.  Lama Drimed Lodo, has been kind enough to give this transmission to me so that I can begin practicing under his guidance.  For this I am deeply grateful and to his long life and continued efforts to turn the wheel of dharma do I dedicate this blog.