Garab Dorje

Garab Dorje (or Garap Dorje) is his only attested name. The Sanskrit offerings are reconstructions. No Sanskrit name has been found in a colophon to attest to historicity.

That said, Germano (1992: p.4) cited "Vajraprahe" in the "Direct Consequence of Sound Tantra" within the Nyingma Gyubum (NGB1 24,1) and goes on to state in the same work that Reynolds (1989, 2000 revised)[2] reverses the two words in the contraction in his translation and analysis of a section of the Bardo Thodol from Tibetan into English, specifically the rig pa ngo sprod gcer mthong rang grol (Wylie) where he employs "Prahevajra". Germano (1992: p.4) holds that Reynolds's lexical choice of "Prahevajra" was influenced by a mantra of a short Guru Yoga text by Dzongsar Khyentse Chokyi Lodro (c.1893-1959).[3] Prahevajra or Pramodavajra [4] (Tibetan: Garab Dorje, Tibetan: དགའ་རབ་རྡོ་རྗེ་, Wylie: dga’ rab rdo rje ; Sanskrit: Prahevajra or Pramodavajra[1])

According to Tibetan Buddhism, Garab Dorje transmitted the teachings to Manjushrimitra, who was regarded as his chief disciple. Padmasambhava is also known to have received the transmission of the Dzogchen tantras directly from Garab Dorje.

Garab Dorje received the empowerment and transmission of the Mahayoga teachings of the Secret Matrix Tradition (Guhyagarbha tantra) from Mahasiddha Kukuraja.[1]

Garab Dorje's birth is interpreted in different ways by different people: In an interpretation, he was born as a son of Su-dharmā and a island-dwelling daughter of king Upa-rāja of Dhana-koṣa,[5] in the land of Uddiyana, also the birthplace of Padmasambhava. Garab Dorje is said to have received all the Tantras, scriptures and oral instructions of Dzogchen directly from Vajrasattva and Vajrapani. In another interpretation, his mother is named as Pāraņī, located on the banks of lake Kutra.[6]

Dargyay, et al. (1977, 1998: p. 19) conveys their interpretation of the hagiographic nativity of Garab Dorje and briefly contextualizes his mother, a bhikṣuṇī whose sadhana was Yoga tantra, and her parents; the dream holds the vase of the Astamangala, the 'threefold world', 'oṃ  ā  hūṃ' and svāhā:

The Lord of Secrets (gSang-ba'i-bdag-po) instructed the Holders of Wisdom (Rig-'dsin) in Dhanakośa in Uḍḍiyāna the contemporary Swat valley. There was a large temple, called bDe-byed-brtsegs-pa; it was surrounded by 1608[7] smaller chapels. King Uparāja, and Queen sNang-ba-gsal-ba'i-od-ldan-ma resided there. They had a daughter called Sudharmā; she took the novice vows, and soon afterwards the full monastic vows. Sudharmā, together with her maidens, stayed on an island and meditated about the Yoga Tantra (rnal-'byor-gyi rgyud). One night the Bhikṣuṇī Sudharmā dreamed that a white man had come, who was utterly pure and beautiful. He held a crystal vessel in his hand which had the letters oṃ  ā  hūṃ  svāhā engraved upon it. Three times he set the vessel upon the crown of her head, and light then shone from it. While this happened, she beheld the threefold world perfectly and clearly. Not long after this dream the Bhikṣuṇī gave birth to a true son of the gods.[8]

In the tradition of the oral transmission lineage, Garab Dorje's teachings are also shared through quotations: "Mind’s nature is and always has been Buddha. It has neither birth nor cessation, like space. When you realize the real meaning of the equal nature of all things, To remain in that state without searching is meditation."[9]

As Garab Dorje attained nirvana, his body dissolved into a mist of rainbow light. Manjushrimitra called to his teacher and Garab Dorje responded by imparting his last teaching to Manjushrimitra, which was enclosed in a golden casket the size of a thumbnail. Inside, the three precepts known as the "Three Words that Strike to the Heart of the Essential Point", or Tsig Sum Nèdek, (Wylie: tshig gSum gNad brDeg )[4] contain the whole of the Dzogchen teachings, and are considered the essential teaching by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, and the infallible key point by Patrul Rinpoche.[10]

Garab Dorje's "Three Words that Strike the Heart" teaching, as translated by Khandro Dechen:

• One is introduced directly to one's true nature or "Direct introduction." (Wylie: ngo rang thog tu sPrad )[4]
• One attains certainty about this natural state or "Remaining without doubt." (Wylie: thag gCig thog dug Cad )[4]
• One continues with confidence in liberation or "Continuing in the non-dual state." (Wylie: gDengs grol thog du ’cha’ )[4]

Though not his writings the tradition holds that the Seventeen Tantras were directly revealed to Garab Dorje. The following texts are attributed to Garab Dorje:

• "Cutting Through the Three Times" (Tibetan: དུས་གསུམ་ཆིག་ཆོད, Wylie: dus gsum chig chod )
• "Overwhelming the Six Modes of Consciousness with Splendour" (Tibetan: ཚོགས་དྲུག་ཟིལ་གནོན, Wylie: tshogs drug zil gnon )
• "Natural Freedom That Underlies Characteristics" (Tibetan: མཚན་མ་རང་གྲོལ, Wylie: mtshan ma rang grol )
• "Direct Encounter with the Three Kayas" (Tibetan: སྐུ་གསུམ་ཐུག་ཕྲད, Wylie: sku gsum thug phrad )
• "Vajra Fortress" (Tibetan: རྡོ་རྗེ་མཁར་རྫོང, Wylie: rdo rje mkhar rdzong )
• "Deep Immersion in Awareness" (Tibetan: རིག་པ་སྤྱི་བླུགས, Wylie: rig pa spyi blugs )

• Atiyoga
• Vimalamitra

• Reynolds, John Myrdhin; Ithaca NY 1996; Snow Lion; 'The Golden Letters' ISBN 978-1-55939-050-7
• Dharma Fellowship (2005). Biographies: Pramodavajra, Regent of the Divine. Source: (accessed: November 15, 2007)
• Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche, with Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal. The Lion’s Gaze. Translated by Sarah Harding, Sky Dancer Press, 1998.

• Early treasure masters of the Great Perfection
• Garab Dorje - Rigpa Wiki