Tapihritsa or Tapahritsa (c 7th ~ 8th century) was a Bon practitioner who achieved the

Dzogchen Dzogchen (, "Great Perfection" or "Great Completion"), also known as ''atiyoga'' ( utmost yoga), is a tradition of teachings in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and Yungdrung Bon aimed at discovering and continuing in the ultimate ground of existence. ...

mastery of the

rainbow body In Dzogchen, rainbow body (, Jalü or Jalus) is a level of realization. This may or may not be accompanied by the 'rainbow body phenomenon'. The rainbow body phenomenon is pre-Buddhist in origin, and is a topic which has been treated fairly serio ...

and consequently, as a fully realised

trikaya The Trikāya doctrine ( sa, त्रिकाय, lit. "three bodies"; , ) is a Mahayana Buddhist teaching on both the nature of reality and the nature of Buddhahood. The doctrine says that Buddha has three ''kāyas'' or ''bodies'', the '' Dharm ...

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...

, is invoked as an iṣṭadevatā ( xct, yi dam) by Dzogchen practitioners in both Bon and

Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...

. He is known for his achievement of the

. The historical Tapihritsa was born in

Zhangzhung Zhangzhung or Shangshung was an ancient culture and kingdom in western and northwestern Tibet, which pre-dates the culture of Tibetan Buddhism in Tibet. Zhangzhung culture is associated with the Bon religion, which has influenced the philosophie ...

to a family of

nomad A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the po ...

s. Tapihritsa's principal teacher was

Dawa Gyaltsen Dawa Gyaltsen () was a Dzogchen master who lived in the 8th century in the area of Zhangzhung. His body of work includes the Fivefold Teaching: # Vision is mind. # Mind is empty. # Emptiness is clear light. # Clear light is union. # Union is great ...

. Tapihritsa was contemporaneous with Ligmincha, King of Zhangzhung, and

Trisong Detsen Tri Songdetsen () was the son of Me Agtsom, the 38th emperor of Tibet. He ruled from AD 755 until 797 or 804. Tri Songdetsen was the second of the Three Dharma Kings of Tibet, playing a pivotal role in the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet and th ...

, Emperor of Tibet. Tapihritsa is often visualized as representing the realization of all the masters of the Zhangzhung Whispered Transmission () lineage, one of the three Bon Dzogchen lineages.

Works

Tapihritsa's primary notable work is ''The Twenty-One Nails'' (''rdzogs pa chen po zhang zhung snyan rgyud las gzer bu gnyis shu rtsa gcig''). There are two translations of this text and commentary into English, as follows: * - a translation of Tapihritsa's ''The Twenty-One Nails''. *

Notes

References

* * * *

External links

The Invocation of Tapihritsa, by Nangzher Lopo
{{authority control Bon Bon deities Dzogchen lamas Dzogchen practices Dzogchen lineages Tibetan Buddhists from Tibet Yidams

Works

Notes

References

Further reading

External links