Editing Longchenpa (section)

==Biography==
===Incarnation lineage===
The incarnation lineage of Longchenpa is traced to Princess [[Pema Sal]] (c.758-766), King [[Trisong Deutsen]]'s daughter and [[Padmasambhava]]'s student who died young from a bug bite. Padmasambhava briefly revived her to give her the [[Khandro Nyingtik]] empowerment.<ref>Padmasambhava, "Liberation Upon Hearing: The History of the Great Jarung Kashor Stupa". Boudhanath: Vajra Yogini Nuns Projects, 2025, pgs 10,12.</ref>
She incarnated as [[Pema Ledrel Sal]] (1291-1315/1319), the "fifth pure rebirth" of Princess Pema Sal, who became a great [[Terton]] as prophesied by Padmasambhava. He revealed the Khandro Nyingtik cycle as a terma treasure at the age of 23 years.<ref>Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thayé, "The Biography of Pema Ledrel Sal". Translated by Adam Pearcey, ''Lotsawa House'', 2025.</ref><ref name=RG>Ron Garry, "Pema Ledrel Sal". ''Treasury of Lives'', 2007.</ref> He then incarnated as the great [[Terton]] and scholar Longchenpa in the 14th century, who then incarnated as the Terton [[Pema Lingpa]] (1450-1521).<ref name=RG/>

=== Youth ===
Longchen Rabjam was born in 1308 in a village in the Dra Valley in Yuru, [[Ü-Tsang|U-Tsang]].{{sfnp|Longchenpa|2020|p=xxvi}} He was born to the Nyingma lama Lopon [[Tenpasung|Tsensung]], a descendent of the Rog clan.{{sfnp|Longchenpa|2020|p=xxvi}} Longchenpa's mother died when he was nine and his father died two years after. After being orphaned, he entered [[Samye|Samye monastery]] in 1320 under the Abbot Sonam Rinchen and master Lopon Kunga Ozer.{{sfnp|Longchenpa|2020|p=xxvi}} Longchenpa was an avid student with a great capacity for memory.{{sfnp|Longchenpa|2020|p=xxvii}}

In 1327, Longchenpa moved to the [[Kadam (Tibetan Buddhism)|Kadam]] monastic college of [[Sangpu Neutok]], the most esteemed center of learning in Tibet at the time. He stayed for six years at Sangpu, mastering the entire scholastic curriculum of [[Buddhist logico-epistemology|logical-epistemology]], [[Yogachara|yogacara]] and [[madhyamaka]] as well as poetics.{{sfnp|Longchenpa|2020|p=xxvii}}{{sfnp|Lobel|2018|p=88}} During this period, Longchenpa also received teachings and transmissions from different Tibetan Buddhist traditions, including Kadam, [[Sakya]], [[Kagyu]] and [[Nyingma]].{{sfnp|Longchenpa|2020|p=xxviii-xxix}} Longchenpa studied under various teachers, including the famous Third Karmapa [[Rangjung Dorje, 3rd Karmapa Lama|Rangjung Dorje]] (1284-1339), from whom he received the six yogas of the [[Kalachakra|Kālacakra]] and the [[Six Dharmas of Naropa|six dharmas of Nāropa]].{{sfnp|Arguillère|2007|p=49-51}}

Longchenpa left Sangpu to practice in the solitude of the mountains, after coming into conflict with certain Khampa scholars.{{sfnp|Rabjam|1996|p=145–188}} After leaving Sangpu, Longchenpa entered a period of retreat for eight months in complete darkness (winter 1332–1333), where he had some important visions of a young girl who promised to watch over him and grant him blessings.{{sfnp|Arguillère|2007|p=87-91}} Afterwards, Longchenpa met his main teacher, the [[Ngagpa]] [[Rigdzin Kumaradza]] (1266-1343), from whom he received Dzogchen teachings while traveling from valley to valley with a [[nomad]]ic group of about seventy students.{{sfnp|van Schaik|2011|p=93-94}}{{sfnp|Longchenpa|2020|p=xxx}} It is said Longchenpa lived in great poverty during this period, sleeping on a sack and eating only barley.{{sfnp|Arguillère|2007|p=94}}

Longchenpa accompanied Kumaradza and his disciples for two years, during which time he received all of Rigdzin Kumaradza's transmissions (mainly focusing on the ''[[Vima Nyingtik|Vima Nyingthig]]'' and the ''[[Khandro Nyingthig]])''. Longchenpa was permitted to teach after a three-year period of retreat (1336-1338) in mChims phu, not far from Samye (according to the ''mThong snang ’od kyi dra ba'', other sources give longer periods like six years).{{sfnp|Longchenpa|2020|p=xxxii}}{{sfnp|van Schaik|2011|p=94}}{{sfnp|Arguillère|2007|p=94}} He is said to have had various visions of different deities, including Padmasambhava, black Vajravārāhī, Guru drag po, and the goddess Adamantine Turquoise Lamp (''rDo rje gyu sgron ma''){{sfnp|Arguillère|2007|p=94}}

=== Mature period ===
In 1340, Longchenpa then gathered a group of eight male and female students  in order to initiate them into the Dzogchen teachings.{{sfnp|Longchenpa|2020|p=xxxii}}{{sfnp|Germano|Gyatso|2001}} During this initial period of teaching, Longchenpa and his students experienced a series of visions of dakinis, and states of possession that only happened to the women of the group. These experiences convinced him and his disciples that Longchenpa should teach the Dzogchen lineage of the [[Menngagde]], the Esoteric Instruction cycle.{{sfnp|van Schaik|2011|p=95}}{{sfnp|Germano|Gyatso|2001}}

Longchenpa also compiled the main texts of the ''[[Vima Nyingtik|Vima Nyingthig]]'' and the ''[[Khandro Nyingthig]]'' along with a series of his own commentaries on these works.{{sfnp|Longchenpa|2020|p=xxxiii}} Most of Longchenpa's mature life was spent in his hermitage at Gangri Thokar, either in meditation retreat or studying and composing texts.{{sfnp|Longchenpa|2020|p=xxxiii}}

In 1350, at the age of 42, Longchenpa had a vision of Vimalamitra in which he was asked to restore the temple of Zhai Lhakhang, where the ''[[Seventeen tantras|Seventeen Tantras]]'' had been concealed by Nyang Tingdzin Zangpo.{{sfnp|Longchenpa|2020|p=xxxiv}} In the process of this work, Longchenpa accepted a [[Drikung Kagyu]] student named Kunga Rinchen. Kunga Rinchen had political designs and came into conflict with the powerful Changchub Gyaltsen, who had the support of the Mongolian Authorities in Peking who attacked Kunga Rinchen's monastery.{{sfnp|Longchenpa|2020|p=xxxiv-xxxv}}

Longchenpa fled to [[Bumthang District|Bumthang]], [[Bhutan]] to avoid conflict. Here he relinquished his monastic vows, married and had a daughter and a son.{{sfnp|Longchenpa|2020|p=xxxvi}} He also founded a series of small monasteries in Bhutan, including [[Tharpaling Monastery]], his main seat. Longchenpa's lineage survives in Bhutan.{{sfnp|Longchenpa|2020|p=xxxvii}} After living in Tharpa Ling for 10 years, he returned to Tibet and was reconciled with Changchub Gyaltsen, who even became Longchenpa's student.{{sfnp|Longchenpa|2020|p=xxxvii}}

=== Legacy ===
Longchenpa's writings and compilations were highly influential, especially on the Nyingma tradition. According to Germano, Longchenpa's work:
<blockquote>had an immediate impact, and in subsequent centuries was to serve as the explicit model for many Nyingma compositions. In particular, his Seminal Heart writings were intensely philosophical as well as contemplative, and architectonic in nature. Though on the whole their characteristic doctrines and terminology are present in the earlier literature stemming from ICe btsun seng ge dbang phyug onwards, their terminological precision, eloquent style, systematic range and structure, and integration with normative Buddhist discourse constitute a major innovation in and of themselves.{{sfnp|Germano|1994|p=275}}</blockquote>

A detailed account of Longchenpa's life and teachings is found in ''Buddha Mind'' by [[Tulku]] [[Thondup Rinpoche]],{{sfnp|Thondup|1989}} ''A Marvelous Garland of Rare Gems'' by [[Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche|Nyoshul Khenpo]],{{sfnp|Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche|2005}} and ''The Life of Longchenpa'' by Jampa Mackenzie Stewart. [[Pema Lingpa]], the famous ''[[terton]]'' (finder of sacred texts) of Bhutan, is regarded as the immediate reincarnation of Longchenpa.