Chö Ying Rinpoche Dzöd

“[The Chö Ying Rinpoche Dzöd (The Precious Treasury of the Basic Space of Phenomena)] is an infinitely profound work that arose from the wisdom mind of Omniscient Longchenpa. When you play the Cho Ying Dzod recitation, the whole area becomes permeated with wisdom and compassion, changing our environment. It is very powerful. We don’t have to wait until we are dying to listen to it. I rely on it, reading and meditating on it again and again. My own personal meditation is to read a few sentences of the Cho Ying Dzod, then meditate on what I have read, trying to xerox its meaning in my mind, and then sit with that awareness. I recommend you can do this too.” – Lama Tharchin Rinpoche

Since the time of Longchenpa, all masters of the Great Perfection have meditated upon the Chö Ying Dzöd as a means of attaining liberation. It is the most famous of Dzogchen texts among all scholars and mahasiddhas. elucidating the view, meditation, and conduct of the spiritual path, and the final freedom that is the fruition of that path. Rinpoche carried a pocket-size version of the Chö Ying Dzöd that he designed and had published in his shirt pocket so that he could always turn to the essential Dzogchen text for meditation support and inspiration.

You can stream a video of Rinpoche reciting the Chö Ying Dzöd in Tibetan on our YouTube and Vimeo channels or you can purchase downloads of the video and audio here. In addition to using this precious text as a manual for meditation and realizing our primordial nature, it is also commonly read to dying practitioners to introduce them to their true nature and bring liberation upon death. Here's more from Lama Tharchin Rinpoche:

“The Cho Ying Dzod, written by the Nyingma master Omniscient Longchen Rabjam, is a Dzogchen (Great Perfection) teaching that contains the essence of the 6,400,00 Dzogchen tantras. This text is good for us in many ways – it is of benefit to anyone who sees the text, touches it, keeps it nearby, hears it, reads it, or connects to it in any way. Anyone who hears it will experience liberation through hearing; touching it or keeping it near your body will result in liberation through touch; and meditating on it is a way of taking it in through our hearts, which of course truly wakes up our original enlightened nature. Any sentient being who hears this, including animals and insects, benefits. This is why I made this recording. We also have a beautiful translation of this text by Richard Barron* so you can also read it in English, listen to its sound, and slowly absorb its profound meaning. This text provides a support for dharma practitioners’ meditation, yet even if one is not a practitioner, just connecting with this Great Perfection tantra has enormous power. For anyone who is dying, hearing the sound of this text is a chance to liberate their consciousness into the enlightened state before taking rebirth again in samsara. When dying, beings first go through an outer dissolution before taking their last breath. If they can hear this text recited when this process starts, it will be of great benefit to them. The inner dissolution, which begins when breathing ceases, can take a long time. During this time, it is very important to recite or play the recitation of the text. Traditionally we recite the Cho Ying Dzod for a period of 49 days when the being who has died is in the bardo (intermediate state after death), or for the first three or seven days and weekly during the seven weeks of bardo transition."

*The Precious Treasury of the Basic Space of Phenomena by Longchen Rabjam, translated by Richard Barron, Padma Publishing, 2001 (may not be currently available)