In the autumn of 1895, Tertön Sogyal went with Jamgön Kongtrul
to Tsadra Rinchen Drak, a sacred site closely linked with both
Jamgön Kongtrul and Chokgyur Dechen Lingpa There, high up on the
hillside, Tertön Sogyal approached ‘The Cave that Delights the
Awesome Heruka’ , where, his biography recounts:
“The outline of the terma door stood out clearly in the rock face,
and when he saw this, he became as if excited and flung a stone at
it. At once the earth shook with a great crashing sound, as though
a whole mountain was subsiding. An aperture in the rock gaped open,
and an exquisite fragrance flooded out to fill the air. Tertön
Sogyal plunged his hand into the opening and withdrew a kutsab—a
representation of Guru Rinpoche—in a striding posture and gripping
vajra and phurba, and along with it, the casket containing the
terma of Yang Nying Pudri. Wrapping them carefully in silk so that
no one might see, he placed them in the terma chest held by his
consort. The terma trove in the rock was also full of amrita, but
he said that it was not his to take and he would not remove it.
However, his consort pleaded with him insistently, and to avoid
disappointing her, he took some of this amrita, which liberates
when tasted, and left the remaining treasure just as he had found
it. He offered a substitute for the terma, and closed the door and
sealed it well. Then Jamgön Kongtrul Rinpoche approached the site,
and together, in joyful gratitude, they all celebrated a tsok
feast, offered tormas to please the terma guardians, and made
prayers of dedication and auspiciousness on a grand scale, aspiring
to benefit the Dharma and all living beings.”
In 1898 Tertön Sogyal traveled to Lhasa to meet the Thirteenth
Dalai Lama. His first, momentous, meeting with the Dalai Lama had
been ten years earlier, when, it was said, “their wisdom minds
instantly merged as one.” Now, following a proclamation of the
Nechung Oracle, Tertön Sogyal offered the complete cycle of
empowerment, transmission, and instruction of the Yang Nying Pudri
to the Dalai Lama.
Early the next morning, the Dalai Lama records a vivid dream, in
which he found himself before the palace of Guru Rinpoche, where he
was met by two celestial beings, singing prophetic verses about
this practice of Vajrakilaya. They told him that desire, anger, and
ignorance would be eliminated, obstacles overcome and attainments
realized, if he performed a thousand tsok offerings according to
the Yang Nying Pudri practice. The Dalai Lama’s biography explains:
“He awoke, remembering the words very clearly. The Dalai Lama and
Lerab Lingpa then decoded their meaning together. And he
accomplished the thousand tsok offerings of Vajrakilaya, as the
prophecy made clear was the right thing to do.”
Tertön Sogyal then gave the Yang Nying Pudri empowerment to the
monks of the Namgyal Monastery in the Potala Palace, who have
maintained this practice ever since. In 1899 the mendrup was
performed as part of the Mönlam Chenmo, the annual Great Prayer
Festival at the New Year in Lhasa, and woodblocks for the entire
cycle were carved. The Thirteenth Dalai Lama arranged the Yang
Nying Pudri for practice as a drupchen and so composed the text
Treasury of Wishes for the Benefit of Self and Others that was used
by the Namgyal monks at Lerab Ling.