About the Three Lines That Strike Key Points

The Dodrupchens are well-known as one of the main holders of the Longchen Nyingthig lineage. The first Dodrupchen, Jigmey Thrinley Ozer was a direct disciple of Jigmey Lingpa. After spending many years with Jigmey Lingpa, he returned to East Tibet and established a monastery at Dodrupchen. The third Dodrupchen declared that he would write extensively as a way to provide support for transmission of the lineage. Later, he was known especially for his writings in support of the system. The text here contains a teaching given when he was quite young and shows the extent to which he understood the depths of the system even at that early age. He was asked to give some clarification of Garab Dorje's Three Lines teaching and this text is the result. This text of the Dodrupchen's is particularly interesting because it was not included in the original Collected Works of this Dodrupchen but was discovered much later and included only in recent editions of the Collected Works. The Three Lines teaching is one of the main ways that Dzogchen view is transmitted these days. The Three Lines teaching is essentially a teaching on Thorough Cut. This can be clearly seen from Patrul's explanation of the teaching in his text called Feature of the Glorious, Expert King. In fact, Patrul's text is a pithy presentation of the way that the Dzogchen lineage transmits the meaning of Garab Dorje's Three Lines.