The Feature of the Expert, Glorious King: “Three Lines That Hit the Key Points.” Root text and commentary by Patrul Rinpoche

Patrul Rinpoche

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The first Patrul Rinpoche is one of the important lineage holders of the Longchen Nyingthig transmission of innermost Great Completion . He wrote many texts on Great Completion practices. One of them has become particularly famous as a manual for the practice of Thorough Cut The actual title of this text is "The Feature of the Expert, Glorious King". The Expert, Glorious King is Patrul's description of himself as someone who has the lineage and means to provide this explanation of one of the most profound practices of dharma. The lineage of innermost Dzogchen has several root teachings on Thorough Cut practice and all of them can be used as a basis for a manual of how to practice Thorough Cut. One of the most popular ones is a teaching that came from Garab Dorje after he had passed away. This teaching was given as a set of three lines of instructions to his disciple Manjushrimitra and is generally known as the "Three Lines". Patrul's text is actually an explanation of the Three Lines teaching from Garab Dorje. Patrul used the three lines as a basis and then expanded on them so that their meaning could be more easily understood. For that reason, the text has become known as The Three Lines that Strike the Key Points. It is so commonly called by this name that many people do not know the actual name of the text. Patrul Rinpoche not only wrote this text but wrote his own, short commentary to it as well. The commentary certainly will help anyone to understand the very terse words of the original text. Therefore this book contains translations both of the root text and Patrul's own commentary to it. The book also includes an introduction that tells more about the text, notes and a glossary that provide significant help with the unique terminology involved, and an explanation of what the title actually says!