Menngagde

In Tibetan Buddhism and Bon, Menngakde (Tibetan: མན་ངག་སྡེ, Wylie: man ngag sde , THL: men-ngak-dé,Sanskrit: upadēśavarga), is the name of one of three scriptural and lineage divisions within Dzogchen (Great Perfection atiyōga).

Dzogchen is itself the pinnacle of the ninefold division of practice according to the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. Menngagde focuses on rigpa. The Menngagde or 'Instruction Class' of Dzogchen teachings are divided into two parts: trekchö and tögel.

Practice

For general purposes, Menngagde may also be known as Nyingthik. Germano & Gyatso (2000: p. 240) note a similarity of practice between Chan-like formless meditations and Nyingthik/Menngagde:

Menngagde in the Dzogchen textual tradition

Traditionally, Mañjuśrīmitra (Wylie: jam dpal bshes gnyen ) is said to have classified all the Dzogchen teachings transmitted by his teacher, Garab Dorje, into three series: semdé (Wylie: sems sde ), long dé (Wylie: klong sde ), and menngakdé. Mañjuśrīmitra's student Sri Singha reedited the oral instruction cycle and in this form the teaching was transmitted to Jñānasūtra and Vimalamitra. Vimalamitra is said to have taken the Menngagde teachings to Tibet in the 8th Century.