Natural Bliss: Five Tantras of the Space Section

The literature of the Great Perfection, the Dzogchen or Atiyoga, is generally divided into three sections: The Mind Section, the Space Section, and the Upadeśa Instruction Section. The five Tantras presented in this volume are from the Space Section. The earliest translation in this set is the Tantra on the All Good One that Brings Together the Roots of the Magnificent Sky. Its colophon informs us that it was translated by Vairochana and Sri Singha in the presence of Prahe Vajra (Tib. Garab Dorje). This establishes that the Tibetan translator Vairochana had met with Prahe Vajra personally, and places the Tantra in the Eighth Century. The Origin of Life Tantra was translated into Tibetan by an Indian preceptor named Kumara Kalasa Pada (Tib. Zhonu Bumbay Zhab) who was active in the Twelfth Century. The other three Tantras have no colophons, but we may safely place them between the Eighth and Twelfth centuries of our era, as they have been carefully preserved in the canonical collection known as the Hundred Thousand Tantras of the Ancients (Nyingma Gyubum). These Tantras are here translated into a modern language for the first time. Read more