The Greatness of the Omniscient Longchen Rabjamby Khenpo ShengaDue to the kindness of Guru Padmasambhava, there have been many great holdersof the teachings here in Tibet, the Land of Snows. There have appeared highlyaccomplished saints who were no different from the vidydharas of India, the Landof the ryas. Yet although there have been countless eminent scholars, none of themmight be compared with the Six Ornaments and Two Supreme Ones of India interms of wisdom and enlightened activity.

In later times there was the Omniscient One from Samy, Longchenpa, who was theequal of the Jowo Kadampa geshes in terms of his ethical discipline and practice oftraining the mind (lojong), and who was like Jetsn Milarepa in how he first servedhis teacher and then spent his life meditating in solitude on the gurus instructions.On account of his total mastery of study and contemplation, his fearless eloquenceand his achievements in explanation, debate and composition we might comparehim to the likes of Sakya Paita, the Lord of Dharma, or the precious JeTsongkhapa. How he reached the final accomplishment and arrived at theexhaustion of reality within the primordial state was just like the great ChetsnSenge Wangchuk, Melong Dorje and others. In terms of his ability to manipulatephenomenal existence and call upon the assistance of the oath-bound guardians hewas comparable to the great awareness-holders of Nub. In keeping to the tenets ofthe pinnacle of all ynas and surpassing all the views and philosophies fabricated bythe ordinary mind, he was like the great Rongzom. If we consider the vast array ofinstructions he passed on in an aural lineage and the way he cared for the discipleswho maintained his tradition, we might compare him to Sachen Kunga Nyingpo orMarpa Lotsawa. His mastery over the conventional sciences and the way in whichSarasvat, the goddess of learning, lent power to his speech,1 made him the equal ofthe lotsawas of the past. The way great clouds of blessings are amassed within hiswritten instructions makes them identical to the profound dharma treasures of thegreat tertns. His perfect training in bodhichitta and his ability to benefit all thosewith whom he came into contact was reminiscent of Dromtnpa or the peerlessDakpo Lharje [Gampopa].

Other Tibetan scholars took as their basis the excellent Indian treatises but thenadded explanations based on their own clever ideas, with the result that on occasiontheir statements no longer accord with scripture or valid reasoning. In particular, theworks of Ngrjuna and his successors have been fervently debated among Tibetans,with the assertions of earlier Tibetan scholars subjected to a great deal ofpresumptuous refutation and affirmation by later scholars. Yet the explanations ofthe Omniscient One remain true to the tradition of the Six Ornaments and TwoSupreme Ones in their beginning, middle and end.

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Other Tibetan siddhas possessed only a few instructions from the aural lineage andthen taught the holders of their tradition to meditate on selected instructions.Gyalwa Longchenpa, by contrast, was the master of countless teachings fromprofound transmissions. He possessed all manner of instructions, which had beenpassed down from vidydharas and accomplished siddhas, from kas and kins,or received directly from Guru Padmasambhava and so on. This meant he could leadthe holders of his tradition to attainment by encouraging them to practise diligentlythose instructions for which they felt the greatest affinity.

Other learned and accomplished masters may have given complete teachings onparticular instructions, but they did not have practices for all the teachings in theirentirety. The Omniscient Guru explained all the teachings completely. He revealedthe instructions for gaining supreme and common accomplishments in general, fromthe kriy and cary tantras onwards, and all the tantras and pith instructions ofDzogpachenpo in particular, and so he is the true charioteer of the essence of clearlight teachings.

In addition, his wisdom body has appeared in visions before those with great goodfortune, granting them realization and so on.2

In short, I believe Gyalwa Longchenpa to be the unique embodiment of theenlightened qualities of all the learned and accomplished masters of the Land ofSnows. If you consider this honestly, you will find this to be just how it is, neither anexaggeration nor an understatement.

Gaining experience and realization through meditationThat is common to all forms of pith instruction.But gaining experience and realization through non-meditationHow could anyone fail to seize upon something so amazing?Ha! Ha!

| Translated by Adam Pearcey, Rigpa Translations, 2006. Revised 2012.

A version of this translation was published in Stewart Jampa Mackenzie (ed.). The Life of Longchenpa:The Omniscient Dharma King of the Vast Expanse. Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications, 2014, pp. 133135.

1. Literally: frolicked in his throat. 2. Khenpo Shenga himself was blessed with such a vision.

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The Greatness of the Omniscient Longchen Rabjamby Khenpo Shenga