Jean-Luc Achard - Enlightened Rainbows - Life & Works of Shardza Tashi Gyeltsen
Tibetan Bon and Dzogchen Traditions
From Acknowledgements:
Shar rdza Rin po che (hereafter Shardza Rinpoche) is one of the most famous Bon po masters of the late 19th century and early 20th century. He is of course particularly well-known because of his realization of the Rainbow Body ('ja'lus) which he manifested at the end of his life in 1934. But he was not only a fully accomplished practitioner of rDzogs chen and Tantras - which would appear to be much sufficient in itself: he was also a highly talented scholar whose expertise embraced all the fields of Bon spiritual knowledge. His works have consequently greatly influenced most of the modern masters of Bon, even if some voices appear here and there in a discordant tone. The detailed study of these works clearly demonstrates that their author had an unequalled mastery of Bon teachings and that he has initiated specific traditions that are definitely his own innovations. His spiritual heritage is preciously kept alive in both Eternal Bon and New Bon traditions, in India and in Tibet (and to a lesser extent in some Western countries). . .
In the course of elaborating this volume, I was encouraged by the activities of Menri Lopon Trinley Nyima Rinpoche who has started a cursus of gradual training in Menri based on the sDe snod mdzod, one of the major works authored by Shardza Rinpoche. Menri Lopon's association with the corpus of Shardza's teachings comes both from the latter's lineage as handed down in Dolpo by bsTan 'dzin rgyal mtshan, one of Shardza's direct disciples, as well as from the actual Menri Abbot, Lungtok Tenpai Nyima Rinpoche.
~ Jean-Luc Achard
Uploader's note:
There is a finely detailed account of Shardza Rinpoche's final years and achievement of the rainbow body, which I found very moving and inspirational.
May the sharing here be auspicious.
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search for Wheaten to see my other uploads
MsSVig
