— Khenpo Ugyen Tenzin
Generally, the Tibetan word for “reading transmission” is lung, which has many meanings. Often, it means a reading transmission that gives us authorization or permission to read or practice a text. This is what we are now receiving. If we engage in practice after receiving the reading transmission, we are in accord with the traditional procedures.
Special to the vajrayana are empowerments (wang, dbang in Tibetan, abhisheka in Sanskrit), which give us permission, or empower us, to practice a certain deity and recite its mantra. A reading transmission resembles this.
There is also “an assembly transmission” (tsok lung, tshogs lung in Tibetan), which refers to a group of people doing a puja together. If they have the reading transmission, then we receive it by doing the practice with them. The only difference is that we cannot pass along the reading transmission to others, as we could in the case of receiving the transmission directly from someone else.
In a text of a Guru Rinpoche empowerment, it is said that if we only receive the empowerment and keep it purely, this can be a cause for being reborn in the pure land of Guru Rinpoche. And if we really practice well, we can become enlightened in one lifetime. That is the benefit of receiving an empowerment. In the case of Karma Chakme’s collected works, if we have a chance to make a connection with these texts, even part of them, it’s auspicious and very beneficial. Just receiving the reading transmission closes the doors to rebirth in a lower realm if we keep the samaya.
Khenpo Ugyen also mentioned that it is especially important to receive the reading transmission for vajrayana texts; otherwise, it has been his own experience that we will face obstacles. It does not matter so much if we read a sutrayana text without a reading transmission, but it is crucial to receive one for a vajrayana text; otherwise, we will face problems and obstacles that can come from any direction and be in any form, so it is difficult to figure out where they come from. We could develop wrong ideas about the Dharma, and therefore, we need to be careful from the very beginning.
Khenpo Ugyen then quoted from a text saying that reciting or memorizing the text, making prayers, or hearing someone read it, we will take rebirth as a noble offspring of the tathagatas. All our karmic obscurations will be purified as if we were polishing a white conch. The activities of the two accumulations will increase just like a star and we will be freed from the eight fears. All our karmic illnesses, such as leprosy, will be slowly purified. Our family’s lineage or Dharma lineage will flourish, and all the non-human Buddhist protectors will be following us. Finally, our wisdom will increase.
In addition to receiving a reading transmission for vajrayana texts, it is also good to receive one for the Dharma texts we are studying. The lineage of the teachings is also important. If we seek good practice, we should have a lineage teacher and not just read books.
In the beginning, it was mentioned that there are many meanings to the word lung. Another one is lung dren, (lung ‘dren), which means, “to bring forth a quote.” These are used in debate, for example, to decide a point in dispute. When a teacher is presenting the Dharma, they might use a gyabten gyi lung (rgyab rten gyi lung), literally “a quote that supports,” to authenticate the teachings they are giving. It is said that the speech of a scholar is ornamented by quotes and reasoning.
— edited by Michele Martin