Glenn’s study of the history, substance, and philosophical legacy of the Six Yogas of Naropa together with his translations of Tsongkhapa’s treatise provides an invaluable guide to this tradition.

—Buddhism Now

Mullin’s new translation and explanation are an absolute treasure.

—Mandala Magazine

A veritable feast containing teachings that for centuries have been kept secret but that give one a clear sense of the enormous possibilities on the spiritual path.

—Quest Magazine

Another example of Mullin’s brilliance as a translator and interpreter of Tibetan tantricism.

—The Tibet Journal

ABOUT THE BOOK

Tsongkhapa’s commentary entitled A Book of Three Inspirations: A Treatise on the Stages of Training in the Profound Path of Naro’s Six Dharmas is commonly referred to as The Three Inspirations. Anyone who has read more than a few books on Tibetan Buddhism will have encountered references to the Six Yogas of Naropa, a preeminent yogic technology system. The six practices—inner heat, illusory body, clear light, consciousness transference, forceful projection, and bardo yoga—gradually came to pervade thousands of monasteries, nunneries, and hermitages throughout Central Asia over the past five and a half centuries.

GLENN H. MULLIN is an internationally renowned Tibetologist, author, and expert on Buddhist meditation. He lived in Dharamsala, India, the home of the Dalai Lama, for many years, where he studied Tibetan language, literature, yoga, and meditation under twenty-five of the greatest masters of Tibet. He is the author of over fifteen books on Buddhist topics and has led many pilgrimages to Nepal and Tibet. He now divides his time between writing, lecturing, giving, workshops, and leading pilgrimages to the power places of Central Asia.

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THE SIX YOGAS OF NAROPA

Tsongkhapa’s commentary entitled A Book of Three Inspirations: A Treatise on the Stages of Training in the Profound Path of Naro’s Six Dharmas, commonly referred to as

The Three Inspirations

Translated, edited, and introduced by

Glenn H. Mullin

Snow Lion

Boston & London

2014

Snow Lion

An imprint of Shambhala Publications, Inc.

Horticultural Hall

300 Massachusetts Avenue

Boston, Massachusetts 02115

www.shambhala.com

© 1996, 2005 by Glenn H. Mullin

Previously published as Tsongkhapa’s Six Yogas of Naropa

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

The Library of Congress catalogues the previous edition of this book as follows:

Tsoṅ-kha-pa Blo-bzaṅ-grags-pa, 1357–1419.

[Zam lam Nā-ro’i chos drug gi sgo nas ’khrid pa’i rim pa yid ches gsum ldan źes bya ba. English]

Tsongkhapa’s Six Yogas of Naropa / Tsongkhapa Lobsang Drakpa; translated and introduced by Glenn H. Mullin.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

eISBN 978-1-5593-9906-7

ISBN 978-1-55939-058-3 (1st ed.)

ISBN 978-1-55939-234-1

1. Nāḍapāda. 2. Yoga (Tantric Buddhism)—Early works to 1800. I. Mullin, Glenn H. II. Title.

BQ7950.N347T79 1996

294.3′443—dc20

96-6980

Table of Contents

Publisher’s Note

Preface

Introduction

Tsongkhapa and the Lineage of the Six Yogas

The Buddhist Tantric Tradition in India

Naropa

The Legacy of the Six Yogas

The Six Yogas, Three Bardo States, and Nine Blendings

Lama Tsongkhapa’s A Book of Three Inspirations

Section One of Tsongkhapa’s Text

The Preliminary Trainings Associated with the General Mahayana

The General Tantric Preliminaries

The Tantric Preliminaries Unique to the Six Yogas System

The Generation Stage Yogas

Introduction to the Nature of the Mind

Introduction to the Nature of the Body

The Physical Exercises and Meditations upon the Empty Shell Body

Section Two of Tsongkhapa’s Text

The Inner Heat Yoga

Karmamudra

The Illusory Body Yoga

The Bardo Yoga

The Clear Light Yoga

The Consciousness Transference Yoga

The Forceful Projection Yoga

Concluding Notes

The Six Yogas of Naropa in English Translation

The Seventh Dalai Lama’s Prayer to the Six Yogas Lineage

Some Historical Lineage Considerations

A Parting Perspective on Tsongkhapa the Great

A Book of Three Inspirations: A Treatise on the Stages of Training in the Profound Path of Naro’s Six Dharmas

by Tsongkhapa Lobzang Drakpa

Prologue

I. The preliminary meditations, which build the foundations of this path

A. The preliminaries that are general meditations derived from the common Mahayana teachings

1. Why it is necessary for training in this tradition to be preceded by training in the practices of the common Mahayana

2. The actual stages of training the mind in that path

B. The preliminaries that belong exclusively to the highest yoga tantra tradition

1. The general Vajrayana preliminaries

a. Why it is necessary to receive the complete empowerments

b. Why it is necessary to observe the tantric precepts

2. The preliminaries emphasized in this Naropa system

II. Having established the preliminaries, how to train in the actual tantric meditations

A. The meditations of the generation stage yogas

B. The meditations of the completion stage yogas

1. The nature of the basis

a. The nature of the mind

b. The nature of the body

2. The explanation of the stages of traversing the path

a. The meditations upon the physical exercises, together with the meditation upon the body as empty

i. The meditations on the physical exercises

ii. The meditations on the body as an empty shell

b. The stages of meditating upon the actual path

i. The manner of structuring the path

ii. The stages of being guided on the path

.A. The essence of the basic principles in the guidelines of the path

.1. The essence of the actual path

.a. Arousing the four blisses by means of drawing the vital energies into the central channel

.i. The inner condition of the meditations on the inner heat doctrine

(.A.) Meditating upon the inner heat in order to draw the vital energies into the central channel

(.1.) How to meditate on the inner heat yoga

(.a.) Meditating by means of visualizing the channels

(.b.) Meditating by means of visualizing mantric syllables

(.c.) Meditating by means of engaging the vase breathing technique

(.2.) Having meditated in this way, how to cause the vital energies to enter, abide and dissolve within the central channel

(.B.) Having brought in the energies, the methods of arousing the four blisses

(.1.) The nature of the signs that arise, and the blazing of the inner fire

(.2.) How the bodhimind substances are melted and the four blisses induced

(.3.) The manner of meditating upon the innate wisdom

.ii. The external condition of relying upon a karmamudra

.2. Having aroused the four blisses, how to engage in the meditations on the illusory body and clear light doctrines

.i. The general principles of how, in reliance upon the inner heat doctrine, one meditates on the remaining stages of the path

.ii. The manner of meditating on the individual paths

(.A.) How to meditate on the illusory body doctrine

(.1.) How to meditate on all appearances as illusory

(.2.) How to meditate on dream illusions

(.a.) Learning to retain [conscious presence during] dreams

(.b.) Controlling and increasing dreams

(.c.) Overcoming fear and training in the illusory nature of dreams

(.d.) Meditating upon suchness in dreams

(.3.) How to meditate on the illusory nature of the bardo experience

(.a.) The underlying philosophy of the bardo experience

(.b.) The stages of the bardo yoga practice

(.i.) The types of beings who can practice in the bardo

(.ii.) The nature of the training

(.B.) How to meditate upon the clear light yogas

(.1.) How to meditate upon the clear light during the waking period

(.2.) How to meditate upon the clear light during sleep

.2. The branches of that path, which include the practices of consciousness transference and forceful projection

.a. Consciousness transference

.b. Forceful projection to a new residence

.i. The vessels who are able to accomplish forceful projection

.ii. The purpose of the practice

.iii. The manner of effecting the projection

.B. The methods and activities for enhancing the path

III. The manner of actualizing the results

Epilogue

Appendix I: Vajrasattva Meditation and Mantra Recitation

Appendix II: Establishing Blessing Powers by Meditating upon Guru Yoga

Glossary: Sanskrit and Tibetan Names and Terms

Notes

Bibliography

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Publisher’s Note

This book contains diacritics and special characters. If you encounter difficulty displaying these characters, please set your e-reader device to publisher defaults (if available) or to an alternate font.

Dedicated to the late Italian monk Stephano Piovella,

and the late British monk Kevin Rigby,

both very dear friends on the path to enlightenment,

and both of whom made great efforts to fulfill

the visions of the buddhas and bodhisattvas.

May they pick up in future incarnations

from where they left off in this,

and catch the wave of meritorious energies

everywhere surging since time without beginning.

Preface

Anyone who has read more than a few books on Tibetan Buddhism will have encountered a reference to the Naro Choe Druk (Tib. na ro’i chos drug), a phrase that renders literally as Naro’s Six Dharmas, but is more often encountered in English translation as the Six Yogas of Naropa. These six—inner heat, illusory body, clear light, consciousness transference, forceful projection, and the bardo yoga—represent one of the most popular Tibetan Buddhist presentations of yogic technology to come from India to the Land of Snows.

The Tibetan word choe (Tib. chos) in the expression Naro Choe Druk is a translation of the Sanskrit term dharma, which means doctrine, teaching, instruction or yogic training. Druk means six. Thus the system can be called Six Dharmas, Six Doctrines, or Six Yogas. I generally use the Six Yogas of Naropa, or simply the Six Yogas, because these are the forms best known to Western readers. Occasionally I resort to the more literal Naro’s Six Dharmas, although whenever I do so I enclose the phrase in quotation marks in order to indicate that I am honoring the Tibetan form of the name, Naro Choe Druk.

Tibetan literature randomly refers to the illustrious Indian Buddhist master after whom this tradition is named as Naro, Naropa, and Naropada (born 1016). Naropa was a disciple of the Indian mahasiddha Tilopa (b. 988). The lineages that Naropa gave to his Tibetan lay-disciple Marpa Lotsawa (lit. Marpa Translator; b. 1012), especially that of the Six Yogas, came to pervade thousands of monasteries and hermitages throughout Central Asia, regardless of sect. This is certainly true within all the Sarmai Choeluk, or New Schools, such as the Kadampa, Kargyupa, Sakyapa, Jonangpa and Gelukpa. In addition, the Six Yogas have also gradually become absorbed into most of the Nyingma Choeluk, or Older Schools.

The treatise on the system written by Tsongkhapa the Great (1357–1419)—A Book of Three Inspirations: A Treatise on the Stages of Training in the Profound Path of Naro’s Six Dharmas—is regarded as one of the finest on the subject to come out of the Land of Snows. Lama Tsongkhapa was the forefather of the Gelukpa school (Tib. dGe lugs; lit. Order of Excellence), which quickly swept across Central Asia and became the largest single school of tantric Buddhism. He was also the guru of the First Dalai Lama (b. 1391). His treatise has served as the fundamental guide to the system of the Six Yogas of Naropa as practiced in the more than three thousand Gelukpa monasteries, nunneries and hermitages across Central Asia over the past five-and-a-half centuries.

The Gelukpa lineage came down over the generations to the present day. The principal transmission holder, when I arrived in India in 1972, was Kyabjey Trijang Rinpochey, the Junior Tutor of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He in turn passed it to numerous disciples.

I was in Dharamsala in 1973 when Kyabjey Rinpochey delivered his last transmission on Naropa’s Six Yogas. At the time I was studying Tibetan language, philosophy and meditation at the Buddhist Studies Program initiated by H. H. the Dalai Lama as part of the activities of his recently established Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala. A few months into the program it was announced that the Junior Tutor to His Holiness, the very venerable and very elderly Kyabjey Trijang Rinpochey, would be giving a teaching in the museum room, the largest space in the building. The subject would be the Six Yogas of Naropa, and the recipients would be a large group of Tibetan yogis, hermits, monks and nuns. We Westerners couldn’t attend, but if we liked we could sit in an adjoining room and listen through the sound system.

The Dalai Lama’s Junior Tutor was considered to be one of the greatest living masters to come out of Tibet, and was regarded as a living buddha by the Tibetan community. News of his discourse had travelled throughout the refugee communities of India and Nepal, and great lamas began to roll into town from all directions. One monk who was pointed out to me was said to have spent more than forty years in meditation in the mountains. There were dozens of others with twenty or more years of solitary retreat under their belts.

Rinpochey spoke six hours a day for many, many days, using the text of Lama Tsongkhapa as his focus. One day one of the yogis coming out of the room at the end of a session looked at me and said, Really, what a buddha he is!

When this great lama passed away a few years later, the Tibetan spiritual community mourned the loss of one of the last of the super-greats to come out of Tibet. When I think back twenty-two years ago to the faces in the front couple of rows at that teaching, many of them have today come to rank among the foremost lamas in the Gelukpa school.

Essentially there are two main ways to teach Tsongkhapa’s A Book of Three Inspirations: by means of a shey tri (Tib. bshad ’khrid), or explanatory discourse; and by means of a nyam tri (Tib. nyams ’khrid), or experiential discourse. The former is what is most often received first. Usually this kind of teaching is given by a senior lama at a large public gathering, and entails a word-for-word reading and explanation of the text. The discourse of Kyabjey Trijang Rinpochey belongs to this latter category, as does the teaching I received from His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1990.

Those who have attended a public teaching of the text and want to pursue the training will arrange to receive the second type of teaching, the experiential discourse, which is given more privately. Here all philosophical and historical discussions are set aside, and the focus instead is placed on the actual yogic and meditative applications. This was the teaching style in Gelukpa practice hermitages; the resident teacher would impart a few pages of the text, and the disciples would then meditate for a few weeks or months on the material that had been covered. Only when the teacher felt that the desired inner experiences had been generated would he teach the next section of the text. Most practitioners receiving an experiential teaching of the text from their personal lama would already have received the explanatory teaching, together with the appropriate empowerments, from a senior lineage lama.

Tsongkhapa’s treatise was published in English—in an edition riddled with hundreds of errors—by Dr. C. A. Muses and Garma C. C. Chang in 1961 (Esoteric Teachings of the Tibetan Tantras, Falcon Wing’s Press, 1961). Because the treatise itself is of considerable importance, the editorial staff at Snow Lion Publications felt it imperative that a more accurate rendition be prepared. They approached me with the request to accept responsibility for the project.

To prepare the first draft, I listened through the tapes of a reading of Tsongkhapa’s text given by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala in 1990, which I had had the good fortune to attend. Although this was a wonderful teaching, it was of limited value for translation purposes, as it was not a word-for-word commentary (Tib. tshig ’khrid), but rather was a meaning commentary (Tib. don ’khrid). Therefore I undertook a private reading of the text with Geshey Lobzang Tenpa of Ganden Shartsey Monastery, who at the time was residing at Kopan Monastery in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Later one of my root gurus, Ven. Doboom Tulku, kindly made time in his busy schedule to fly up from Delhi to Kathmandu in order to help me check my translation, and we were able to complete two-thirds of the work, up to the end of the section introducing the general principles of the illusory body and clear light doctrines. A few weeks later I had the good fortune of meeting up with another dear lama friend, Ven. Ngawang Pendey of Drepung Loseling Monastery, and he consented to help me check over the remaining third of the manuscript.

In addition, with Ngawang Pendey I read through several other treatises on the Six Yogas system, including the shorter of the two texts on Naro’s Six Dharmas found in Tsongkhapa the Great’s Collected Works (Tib. gSung ’bum); this is his Mikrim (Tib. dMigs rim), or Stages of Meditation, which I plan to include in a forthcoming collection of readings on the Six Yogas of Naropa. With Ngawang Pendey I also read through several short commentaries on Tsongkhapa’s A Book of Three Inspirations, including those by Gyalwa Wensapa (b. 1505), Ngulchu Dharmabhadra (b. 1772), and Jey Sherab Gyatso (b. 1803); I have drawn extensively from these in the introduction and notes. Later I re-checked several sections of these various works with Geshey Lobzang Tenzin, also of Drepung Loseling. Finally, some months later when I was back in Canada I had the honor of meeting up with another very dear lama friend, Zasep Tulku Rinpochey of Sera Jey Monastery, and at his Ganden Choling Meditation Center in Toronto checked through a number of passages regarding which I still had points of doubt, including the Epilogue and the section dealing with the physical exercises, which is written in a rather cryptic form.

The actual work of translation began quite auspiciously in Lhasa, where I was leading a group from the Tampa Art Museum, Florida, on pilgrimage to the holy places of Tibet. The bulk of the writing took place in my home-away-from-home, Room 405 of the Snow Lion Guest House, Chettrapati, Kathmandu, with its window looking up at the holy Swayambu Stupa. For me, setting is important to the task of setting pen to paper. Although the Kathmandu Valley has become somewhat chaotic and polluted over the past decade due to the tremendous influx of mountain villagers, the aura of sacredness emanating from its many holy Buddhist sites still shines with great strength. Preparation of the final manuscript was done at the country cottage of a New York friend, Ms. Lulu Hamlin, who over the years has greatly encouraged and supported my Dharma activities. Prof. Alex Wayman of Columbia University kindly offered guidance on technical matters, and Jimmy Apple of the University of Wisconsin generously helped in tracing down the many scriptural quotations that ornament Tsongkhapa’s treatise. Over the year that the writing took place a number of other friends also helped with various details of the work; in this regard I would especially like to thank Conrad Richter, Michael Robillard, Pierre Robillard, Atisha Mullin, Hilary Shearman, Heidi Strong, Tina Teno, Athena Tara, and Debby Spencer. Finally, the staff at Snow Lion—Sidney Pibum, Susan Kyser and Jeff Cox—offered much valuable advice and support.

Fifteen years ago in a conversation with a very dear spiritual friend, Lama Zopa Rinpochey of Kopan Monastery, Nepal, the topic of translating tantric scriptures for open publication came up. I replied that I was somewhat hesitant to work with tantric material because of the self-professed secret nature of the tradition. Rinpochey laughed and replied, When we came out of Tibet we all thought of the words of tantra as secret. But actually they are really self-secret. You should translate and publish tantric texts. It could benefit people. Those without a connection won’t buy the book; or even if they do, they won’t be able to understand the meaning.

I remember once when I was living in Dharamsala a friend’s father came to visit. He picked up a book from the table, opened it at random, and began to read it aloud. The chapter was on the topic of the logic of emptiness. After a page or so he looked up, a somewhat stunned expression on his face, and said, You know, there was not a single word on that page that I didn’t know. But I don’t have a clue what the thing as a whole is talking about.

On the other hand, when one approaches self-secret literature in its own environment, allowing it to speak in its own words and to use its own metaphors and illustrations, a sense of the profound integrity of the language soon begins to dawn.

Throughout the text the names of the Tibetan masters who are quoted or referred to are spelled simply as they sound in English, i.e., Jey Sherab Gyatso rather than rJe shes rab rgya mtsho. For the specialist, these are given in their transliterated forms in the glossary. In the main body of the text I do not use diacritical marks on Sanskrit names and terms, as these are distracting to the general reader; but again they can be found in the glossary.

As is standard practice with classical Tibetan authors, Tsongkhapa quotes all Indian texts from their translated versions preserved in the Tibetan canons, and gives the titles only in abbreviated Tibetan forms. Hence he will refer to the Shri samputa tantra raja tika amnaya manjari simply as Manngak Nyema (Tib. Man ngag snye ma), which in Sanskrit would become Amnaya manjari. Similarly, Tibetan textual titles appear only in condensed forms. I have followed a policy of giving all titles in English translation wherever this seems practical, followed at their first occurrence by the abbreviated Sanskrit or Tibetan forms in parentheses. Again, here diacritics are not put on the Sanskrit, but all texts are listed in the bibliography with fuller forms of both the Sanskrit and Tibetan titles of the Indian works.

I have done my best to insure that the translation is error-free; but Tsongkhapa’s text is profound, and no doubt some hazy readings have found their way into the fabric of my work. Here I can only echo the sentiment expressed by Tsongkhapa in a closing verse of A Book of Three Inspirations, in which he addresses the subject of his concern with any errors that he himself may have brought into his composition:

The essence of the profound teachings is hard to perceive

And ordinary beings cannot easily penetrate them.

Hence I request the dakas and dakinis

To be patient with any faults of my treatise.

As Tsongkhapa states again and again in A Book of Three Inspirations, an understanding of the context of the Six Yogas, and thus an appreciation of its profundity, is greatly facilitated by an understanding of the Guhyasamaja Tantra system known as the Five Stages (Skt. Pancha krama). Unfortunately none of Tsongkhapa’s quintessential Guhyasamaja material has yet been translated. This is the next big step in the transmission of the Gelukpa tantric system.

The tradition of Naro’s Six Dharmas has fascinated and delighted Central Asians for almost a thousand years now. As Tibetan Buddhist studies continue to mature in the West, it will undoubtedly also receive considerable attention here. If this work can make a small contribution to the understanding of this extraordinary legacy, my purpose in undertaking the project will have been fulfilled.

Glenn H. Mullin

Snow Lion Guest House

Chetrapatti, Kathmandu, Nepal

March 14, 1995

Introduction

TSONGKHAPA AND THE LINEAGE OF THE SIX YOGAS

Tsongkhapa the Great stands as a colossal figure in Tibetan spiritual history. One of the most creative of the many illustrious writers, philosophers and scholar-yogis to grace the Land of Snows, he is usually referred to in traditional literature simply as Tsongkhapa Chenpo, Tsongkhapa the Great, or as Gyalwa Nyipa, the Second Buddha. His Collected Works reveal the depth and scope of his endeavors, which encompass the entire range of Buddhist thought, both in the Sutrayana, or public teachings, and the Mantrayana, or esoteric tantric doctrines.

His appearance on the Tibetan scene was timely. Less than two centuries had passed since the Turkic invasions of India had destroyed Buddhism in the land of its birth. Yet long before the destruction was complete, Tibet had absorbed much of what had existed in Buddhist India. The threads of the diverse lineages were scattered across the vast Central Asian plateau, to be found in mountain hermitages, monasteries, cave retreats and other sites of spiritual activity.

The spread of Buddhism in Tibet is usually divided into two periods: the Early and the Later Disseminations of the Doctrine. The first of these refers to the transmissions that occurred prior to the end of the tenth century C.E.; the second refers to the renaissance of the eleventh century, and the plethora of schools and sub-schools that this spawned. The Six Yogas of Naropa belongs to the period of the Later Dissemination of the Doctrine.

Tibetan records of the influx of Buddhist teachings do not provide us with much detail on the period prior to the seventh century. However, in approximately 650 C.E., under the rule of King Songtsen Gampo, Buddhism became the country’s national religion. From this time on, the importation of Buddhist lineages was systematically executed under royal patronage, and clear records were kept. All the major sutras, tantras and shastras¹ were translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan at that time, and the principal Indian Buddhist systems of practice were established as living traditions in the Land of Snows. Tibetans remember this as the golden era of the Three Great Dharma Kings.² Even though the civil wars of the early ninth century destroyed much of what had been accomplished, nonetheless many translations survived, as well as dictionaries of technical terms, and before long many of the lineages were revived. The schools of Tibetan Buddhism deriving from transmissions of this period are known as the Nyingmapa,³ or Old Schools. This term is synonymous with the phrase the Early Dissemination of the Doctrine.

In the eleventh century increasing numbers of Tibetans once more began to travel south over the Himalayas to study with Indian masters. Many of them joined the training programs at the large international monastic universities of northern India, such as Nalanda and Vikramashila. Others studied with individual masters, as was the case in Marpa’s training under Naropa. A movement to re-translate large sections of the vast corpus of Buddhist Sanskrit literature began, using a revised terminology based on Tibet’s centuries-old Buddhist experience and on the nature of Buddhism in India at that time. The scholar-yogis returning to Tibet found themselves eagerly sought after as teachers; clusters of students grew up around them, and these developed into monasteries and hermitages dedicated to the study and practice of the specific lineages imported by the founding translator.

Because this Later Dissemination of the Doctrine was largely a freelance undertaking, in contrast to the Early Dissemination, which had generous court funding, the results were predictably individualistic. Several dozen new schools of Tibetan Buddhism were born at this time, the similarity between them being established by the fact that the language they used in their translations was somewhat standard, having followed the movement emanating from western Tibet.

Thus prior to Tsongkhapa’s time most schools of Tibetan Buddhism were primarily based upon specific transmissions coming directly from India. The school that was to emanate from his work, known as the Gelukpa, or Order of Excellence, was the only successful Tibetan Buddhist school to be formulated solely from a fusion of indigenous Tibetan lineages. Similar movements gradually became absorbed into the other schools, and thus ceased to exist as independent entities.

It didn’t take Tsongkhapa long to discover that some lineages of transmission were more powerful than others, and that some had remained more true to the letter and spirit of Indian Buddhism. Even with the transmissions of the early masters whom he greatly admired, his impression was that, with the passage of the generations, many of the Tibetan lineage lamas had become somewhat provincial, and suffered from poor training, sloppy understanding, and spiritual complacency.

He made it his life’s work to trace down the clearest of the many lineages of transmission coming from India, his measuring stick always having three edges to it: the original sutras and tantras spoken by the Buddha; the treatises (Skt. shastras) of the Indian masters; and the works of the early Tibetan translators who imported the individual traditions.

One of the early translators in whom he placed great faith was Marpa Lotsawa⁴ (b. 1012), the forefather of the Kargyupa school (Tib. bKa’ brgyud ring lugs; lit. Order of Instructions). Prominent among the lineages that Marpa imported was that famed as Naro’s Six Dharmas, i.e., the Six Yogas of Naropa.

Tsongkhapa’s treatise on this system of tantric practice is formally entitled A Book of Three Inspirations: A Treatise on the Stages of Training in the Profound Path of Naro’s Six Dharmas (hereafter simply referred to as A Book of Three Inspirations). It became the standard guide to the Naropa tradition at Ganden Monastery, the seat he founded near Lhasa in 1409. Ganden was to become the motherhouse of the Gelukpa school, and thus the symbolic head of the network of thousands of Gelukpa monasteries that sprang up over the succeeding centuries across Central Asia, from Siberia to northern