This is the 13th article in a series depicting the lives of Dzogchen masters. Of all the ways to apply the teachings of the Buddha to our own experience, the path of Dzogchen is the simplest and swiftest.

The third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje (Self-Arising Vajra), wasa nirmanakaya expression of the great lord of compassion, Avalokiteshvara. Out of his boundless compassion, he directed his consciousness into the corpse of a dead boy. Entering the human world in this way, he met with the superstitious scorn of the people who witnessed the miraculous event. Saying that it was a bad omen for the dead to come to life and see, they gouged his eyes out with a needle. No longer having a suitable body with which to benefit others through the dharma, he transferred his consciousness, taking rebirth as the son of a yogi and yogini. He was unaffected by his experiences in the bardo and had clear recollection of his past lives.

Rangjung Dorje's consciousness was suffused with the meaning of the Great Perfection when he had a vision of the great master Vimalamitra,who dissolved into his forehead. Even so, to demonstrate the path of guru yoga for others, he attended the rigdzin Kumaradza and received empowerments and teachings from him on the highest levels of Great Perfection practice, t'hreg-chhod and t'hod-gal. Realizing that a Great Perfection lineage must have originated with Padmasambhava as well, he made fervent prayers and had a vision of that great master in which he received teachings from him.

To preserve the profound methods of the Great Perfection, he sent his most accomplished students to teach in China, Mongolia, and Central Tibet. Having fully realized the teachings, he left as his legacy the Karma Nyingt'hig, "The HeartEssence Teachings of the Karmapa."

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