Longchen Rabjam, or Longchenpa as he is popularly known, stands as one of the great Nyingma masters of Tibetan Buddhism, producing a wealth of texts in the Dzogchen, or Great Perfection, tradition. This volume presents eight texts found in two collections of Longchenpa's writings--the Lama Yangtig and the Zabmo Yangtig. These texts record a special experiential tradition of Great Perfection teachings by Chetsun Senge Wangchuk to a single student in the eleventh century, a tradition passed down mouth-to-ear, one student at a time, until it was set down in writing by Longchenpa in the mid-fourteenth century.

While Longchenpa's writings on the Seventeen Tantras are widely known, his writings on the Dzogchen aural lineage have received little attention, even though Tibetan histories show that it is the aural lineage that ensured the survival of the Great Perfection lineage. With this book of translations, we now have for the first time in English these records of the most important aural lineage in the Great Perfection tradition.

Unlike the arcane and difficult textual tradition associated with the Seventeen Tantras, the aural lineage teachings are experiential, easy to understand and practice, straightforward, and written in relatively simple language rich with similes and metaphors. The texts included in Yoga of the Natural State concern all aspects of the Great Perfection teaching, ranging from how to practice the preliminary practices, how the Great Perfection is introduced to qualified students, the correct view, meditation, and conduct of the practitioner, how to attain the state of liberation in this life, and how to recognize and attain liberation in the bardos.

Yoga of the Natural State: The Dzogchen Aural Lineage, Longchen Rabjam, Wisdom Publications, Hardcover, 232 pages, $34.95

Longchenpa (Longchen Rabjam, 1308-1364) is regarded as one of the most important figures in the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. He is especially renowned for his writings on Dzogchen, or the Great Perfection, and his revelations and codification of the various Nyingtik or Seminal Essence cycles, penned in a clear, direct, and often poetic style. Longchenpa also wrote in depth on Buddhist philosophy, in particular exploring the nature of the two truths through a Madhyamaka lens, and the soteriological significance of the respective paths in the Buddhist tradition, from Sutrayana to Mantrayana. Longchenpa has historically been respected as both a scholar and a yogi, accorded by tradition with the rare title of Omniscient One.

Born in 1962, Malcolm Smith (translator) was raised in Western Massachusetts. Captivated by the sound of Tibetan ritual music in 1984, he began his study of the Dharma. He met his first formal teacher, H. H. Sakya Trizin, in 1989. He studied Buddhist philosophy and Tibetan language under the guidance of Khenpo Migmar Tseten for the next five years at Sakya Institute for Buddhist Studies in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1990 Malcolm travelled to Nepal to receive lamdre from the late H. H. Sakya Dagchen.

He received his first Dzogchen teachings from Chogyal Namkhai Norbu in 1992. In 1993 he met his second Dzogchen teacher, Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok, receiving important transmissions. During this year he entered a three-year solitary retreat. In 1998 he met H. H. Penor Rinpoche and received the complete empowerments of the mahayoga section of the Nyingma Kama as well as teachings on the Namcho preliminary practices. In 2001, he met his third Dzogchen teacher, the late Kunzang Dechen Lingpa, from whom he received the Nyinthig Yazhi in its entirety, as well as the formal Ngakpa empowerment in 2004. He met his fourth Dzogchen teacher, H. H. Taklung Tsetrul Rinpoche, in 2001, from whom he received the entire transmission of the Gongpa Zangthal in 2010, as well other transmissions. He received the transmission of the Seventeen Tantras from Khenpo Tenzin Thinley in 2012 and again from Tulku Dakpa Rinpoche in 2022. Since 2018, he has been studying under Khenchen Namdrol Tsering of Namdrol Ling MonasteryIn addition, Malcolm has received Sakya, Kagyu, and Nyingma teaching cycles from many other lamas.

Malcolm Smith was awarded the title of acarya by Khenpo Migmar Tseten of Sakya Institute in 2004. In 2008 Malcolm was granted the title of lama by Lama Ngawang Tsultrim, abbot of Dhongag Tharling. In 2009 Malcolm graduated from Shang Shung Institute of America as a doctor of Tibetan medicine, completing an internship in Xining, in the Amdo province of northeast Tibet.

Since 1992 Malcolm Smith has worked on a wide variety of texts for Sakya, Drikung Kagyu, and Nyingma groups, as well as medical and astrological texts.