Timeless Symbolism. An Early Dzogchen Patriarch Hagiography and Scriptures

Abstract

<p>The life of Śrī Siṃha, the early contemplative patriarch of the teachings of the Great Perfection, is shrouded in mystery. Our knowledge of the life of this teacher is indebted to Tibetan hagiographical records of the Treasure and oral traditions, centuries after the latest date assigned to him in the first half of the ninth century. Śrī Siṃha occupies a seminal role in the Nyingma history of the transmission of the Great Perfection to Tibet and there are a good number of texts attributed to him in the Tengyur, Vairocana’s Collected Tantras, and the Collected Tantras of the Nyingma. With the aim of examining Śrī Siṃha’s contribution to the earliest genealogies of Dzogchen in Tibet, this study will serve as an overview of his works and life by examining traditional methods of explanation of the Great Perfection’s Symbolic Lineage of Transmission.<br></p>