IOverview
Dzogchen Yangtse Longchen, the great expanse of the highest peak, is one of three Dzogchen lineages kept within Yungdrung Bön. The other two are A-tri and Zhangzhung Nyengyud. Bönpos often name the three together in a short phrase made of A, Dzogchen and Nyengyud, and in that phrase Yangtse Longchen stands for Dzogchen in the narrow sense.
Unlike Zhangzhung Nyengyud, prized as an unbroken oral lineage, this one rests on a terma, a text hidden and later rediscovered. It belongs within Yungdrung Bön and is not a separate school.
IIHistory
According to Bön tradition, the root text was composed and hidden by Lishu Tagring, an 8th century Bön master, during the period of decline. In 1080 Zhodtön Ngödrub Drakpa found it behind a statue of Vairocana at the Khumthing temple in Lhodrak, southern Tibet.
The date 1080 is recorded in Bön sources and repeated by Wikipedia and by John Myrdhin Reynolds. The attribution to Lishu Tagring is the tradition's account, and historians have no independent evidence to test it. Rediscovering texts in this way, terma, is a feature shared by Bön and the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism from the 10th and 11th centuries.
- 8th centuryLishu TagringThe master to whom tradition attributes composing and hiding the text.
- 1080Discovery in LhodrakZhodtön Ngödrub Drakpa found the text behind a Vairocana statue at the Khumthing temple.
- 11th century onwardTransmission within Yungdrung BönKept alongside A-tri and Zhangzhung Nyengyud by Bön lineage families and monasteries.
IIITeachings
Like every Bön Dzogchen lineage, Yangtse Longchen teaches kunzhi, the primordially pure ground, and rigpa, self luminous awareness, and treats liberation as recognising the mind's own nature. The English and French sources the library consulted do not set out the particular structure of this text in the detail they give the other two lineages. The library therefore does not describe distinctive features it has not been able to verify.
The name is easily confused with Longchenpa, a great 14th century master of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. The two share only the word longchen, great expanse. Dzogchen Yangtse Longchen is a Bön text and lineage with no connection to Longchenpa himself.
IVPractice
As is usual in Bön Dzogchen, students of this lineage complete the preliminaries and receive transmission and direct instruction from a master who holds it. Practice includes calm abiding, recognising awareness and sustaining that recognition in daily life. The library has found no public source describing a separate retreat programme for this lineage at present day centres.
VIts Place Today
Yangtse Longchen remains part of the Dzogchen heritage of Yungdrung Bön and is received by senior Bön masters together with the other two lineages. Compared with Zhangzhung Nyengyud, which is widely taught at Menri, Triten Norbutse and Western centres, it appears far less in introductory material in English. Readers who want to go deeper usually turn to the writing of John Myrdhin Reynolds and the textual studies of Jean-Luc Achard.
In the arrangement of the Bön Kangyur described in the library's main article, Dzogchen texts belong to the section called mind, mdzod in Tibetan, regarded as holding the highest teachings. In Tibetan the three Dzogchen lineages are often referred to together as A rdzogs snyan gsum, the three of A, Dzogchen and Nyengyud. A master who has received all three is regarded as having completed a full training in Dzogchen within the Bön tradition.
VIIn Vietnam
The library has found no practice group or Vietnamese translation connected with this lineage.
VIISymbol of the Branch
No symbol of its own is recorded with a source for this branch, so the library uses the common symbol of the path.
VIIIOther Branches of Bön
Yungdrung Bönགཡུང་དྲུང་བོན་ g.yung drung bonThe main living tradition, tracing its teachings to Tonpa Shenrab through Zhangzhung, with its own canon, monasteries and Nine Ways.Zhangzhung Nyengyudཞང་ཞུང་སྙན་རྒྱུད་ zhang zhung snyan rgyudOne of the three Bön Dzogchen lineages, held to be an unbroken oral transmission, including the master Tapihritsa.Uses the common symbol of the path
A-triཨ་ཁྲིད་ a khridOne of the three Bön Dzogchen lineages, meaning instruction on the letter A, codified by Meu Gongdzo (1038 to 1096).Dzogchen Yangtse Longchenརྫོགས་ཆེན་ཡང་རྩེ་ཀློང་ཆེན་ rdzogs chen yang rtse klong chenThe third Bön Dzogchen lineage, based on a treasure text said to have been discovered in 1080.Uses the common symbol of the pathNew Bönབོན་གསར་ bon gsarA movement from the 14th century centred on Drenpa Namkha, Tsewang Rigdzin and Padmasambhava, blending Eternal Bön with Tibetan Buddhist elements.Uses the common symbol of the pathOld Bönབོན་རྙིང་ bon rnying, also གདོད་མའི་བོན་ gdod ma'i bonThe pre-Buddhist religion of the Tibetan plateau, linked to the early kings.Uses the common symbol of the pathBön Centres in the WestNo shared original name. Centre names: Ligmincha, Shenten Dargye LingSince the late 20th century Bön teachers have founded centres in Europe and the Americas, notably Ligmincha (founded 1992 by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche) and Shenten Dargye Ling in France.Uses the common symbol of the pathIXSources
The library cross-checks the sources below. Where they disagree, the page gives both.
?Quick Questions
What is Dzogchen Yangtse Longchen?
One of three Bön Dzogchen lineages, based on a text that Zhodtön Ngödrub Drakpa is said to have discovered in 1080. Tradition attributes the root text to the 8th century master Lishu Tagring.
Is it connected to Longchenpa of the Nyingma school?
No. The names share only the word longchen, great expanse. This is a Bön lineage, while Longchenpa was a 14th century Tibetan Buddhist master.
Why is it less well known?
Because Bön teachers in the West have mostly taught Zhangzhung Nyengyud and A-tri. The Yangtse Longchen text has been less often translated and introduced.