2025 Annual Pandey Norbu Shedra: The Black Snake Discourse

Rongzom Mahapandita

Live Webcast Teaching

The Black Snake Discourse

by Rongzom Mahapandita

A contemporary of the renowned 11th century guru Jowa Je Atisha, Rongzom Mahapandita, is a leading master of the Early Translation School of the Nyingma tradition. Atisha himself remarked, “One could not possibly win a debate on the dharma with him.” Such was the extraordinary depth of Rongzom Mahapandita’s scholarship and realization.

Of the trio of view, meditation, and conduct, Rongzom Mahapandita’s The Black Snake Discourse primarily emphasizes the profound wisdom of the view. Employing the analogy of a snake’s reflection on water in which different observers perceive it differently, he illustrates the progressive refinement of the profound view beginning with the Hinayana, and advancing through the Mahayana, Secret Mantrayana, and culminating in Dzogchen.

The value of seeing this gradation of views is that it clarifies how to dispel the confusion that does not see things according to the way they are and how to attain authentic and true realization of the natural state.

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