May the Great tradition of Khenpo Shantarakshita, Lobpon Padmasambhava and Dharma King Trisong Detsen Increase and spread throughout the three realms of the World. May the appearance of the Three Jewels and the mindstream of beings remain inseparable, And bring sublime well-being throughout the three times.

The Tradition of the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism

The Lineage of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhist teaching are classified into three different types: The long trams- mission (Ring Gyu) of the extensive karma. The short transmission (Nye Gyu) of the profound terma. And the extremely short transmission of the pure Vision (Dag Nang) when teachings were directly received by the masters in pure vision from gurus and the deities.

The Dzogchen Nyingthig Lineage of the Long transmission (Kama)  

According to the Nine Yanas of the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism, the highest teaching is known as the Great Perfection(Dzogpa  Chenpo or Atiyoga),Which is the direct method for realizing the nature of the mind and for attaining Buddha hood in this very body. Thus the Dzogchen Nyingthig,as a teaching, fundamentally deals with expression of the doctrine of the Three Perfect Bodies(Kayas)of a Fully Awakened beings, and this tradition has been transmitted through the three lineages of spiritual transmission as follows:

a)    The Wisdom mind lineage of the Buddha-this spiritual transmission is from the primordial Buddha Samantabhadra(Kuntuzangpo)of Dharmakaya to five self-manifesting Buddha's of the sambogkaya.In this Lineage, the teacher transmits the teachings to the disciple, without using words or any other indications, only with his all pervading Wisdom mind.

b)   The Symbolic Lineage of the Awareness-Holders (Vidyadhara)-the SambogakayaBuddha vajrasattva(Dorje Sempa)transmitted all empowerments and teachings to the Nirmanakaya Prahevajra(Garab Dorjee),the first human master. It was from Prahevajra that this transmission was passed on to Manjushrimitra,shri Simha,jnanasura,Mahapandita Vimalamitra and Guru Padmasambhava(Guru Rinpoche).Here ,an Awareness- Holder, a being who has direct and pure vision of the nature of  reality, manifest to a receptive disciple and transmits the teachings by means of pronouncing a mantra or showing a sign.

c)    The Oral Lineage of the Realized beings-here the complete verbal empowerments and instruction are transmitted by words of mouth from the masters to the disciple. This lineage of spiritual transmission in Tibet initially spread through two traditions in the beginning at the early part of the ninth century. One tradition originated from Mahapandita Vimalamitra and is come to be known as the"Vima Nyingthig".The other tradition originated from Guru Padmasambhava and is came to be known as the "khandro Nyingthig". Then, it was later that both these innermost Essence transmission meet in kunkhyen Longchen Rabjampa, from whom the uninterrupted oral transmission of these teachings have extended until the present day.

The Short Transmission of the Terma Tradition.

The Terma Teachings are well known to have six lineages, since they possess three special Lineages over and above-mentioned Lineages. These are the Lineage empowered by enlightened aspirations, the lineage of prophetically declared spiritual succession, and the lineage of the dakinis" seal of entrustment.A more detailed description of these lineages can be found in Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche's The Fundamental and History of the Nyingma School of the Tibetan Buddhism (With the English translation by Gyurme Dorjee and Matthew Kapstein and published by Wisdom Publication.
          Thease Terme teachings were concealed mainly by Guru Rinpoche and his spiritual consort Yeshe Tsogyal,to be revealed at the time most appropriate for their discovery by prophesized "Treasure Revealers"(Tertons),Who are themselves incarnations of realized disciples of Guru Rinpoche .Guru Rinpoche first formulated the secret teachings by showing the method of attaining perfection(drub-t'ha) through the tantras,the method of attaining the core techniques(men-ngag)through perfection, and instruction on how to put these core techniques in to practice(lag-len),with the blessings(mon-lam),the authority of initiation(wang-kur),credentials of authority(te-gya),future prophecy(lung-ten),and so on, those secret teachings were then concealed in small boxes of terma. Furthermore Terma teachings(tercho)can be classified into three main types:

1)    Lama-the peaceful and wrathful sadhanas on Guru Rinpoche,usually divided up into outer,inner,secret and innermost secret cycles;

2)    Dzogchen-teachings on Ati-yoga(DzogpaChenpo);and

3)    Thugje Chenpo(La Dzog Tuk Sum)-sadhanas of the great compassionate one,Avalokiteshvara.

These Dharma Treasures (Terchos) are the teachings which possess the "warm breath" of Guru Rinpoche himself. As there are no contaminations and error in them, and so they are extremely powerful, they have almost no obstructions for the practices, their accomplishments are easy to attain, and their fruits are swiftly achieved.  

The Dzogchen Longchen Nyingthig Lineage of the Extremely Short Transmission of pure Visions(Dag Nang)

It was in the eighteenth century that the spiritual master Rigzin Rangjung Dorjee Jigme Lingpa (Who was the combined emanation of the Mahapandita Vimalamitra,King Tritsong Detsen and Gyelse Lharje,1729-1798),received the complete Dzogchen Nyingthig teachings from Manjushrimitra,Humkara,Guru Rinpoche,Yeshe Tsogyal,Vimalamitra and Longchen  Rabjampa, through the three lineages of Wisdom Mind, Symbolic and Oral transmissions, in the state of pure visions.
            In these Visions, he saw Longchen Rabjampa three times and received his blessings of body, speech and mind. Thus, he became inseparable from the spiritual Master and attained the realization of the Great Perfection .These Dharma Treasures (Terchos), which were collected into nine volumes, became his own Mind Terma and came to be known as the renowned "Longchen Nyingthig" lineage. His disciples were scattered in all different schools of Tibetan Buddhism.
        After his passing away,the "Longchen Nyingthig" lineage was propagated through his two main disciples: Jigmey Thinley Woser(the first Dodrup chen,1745-1821) and Jigmey Gyalwai Nyugu(1765-1843).His incarnation included:Do Khyentse Yeshe Dorjee (1800-1866),as his body incarnation;Patrul Jigmey Chokyi Wangpo(1800-1887),as his speech incarnation; and Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo(1820-1892),as his mind incarnation.Nowadays the 'Dzogchen Nyingthig" and the "Longchen Nyingthig" are known as earlier and Later Nyingthig traditions respectively.

Buddha

Samantabhadra (Kuntuzangpo)

Garab Dorje

Manjushrimitra

Shri Singha

Vimalamitra

Padmasambhava

Longchenpa

Jigme Lingpa

Jigme Gyalwe Nyugu

Patrul Rinpoche

Nyushul Lungtok

Khenpo Ngagchung

Penor Rinpoche

Khenpo Chimed Rinpoche