In Tibetan Buddhism and Bon, Menngagde ([1] Sanskrit: upadeśavarga), is the name of one of three scriptural and lineage divisions within Dzogchen (Great Perfection Sanskrit: 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.
For general purposes, Menngagde may also be known as Nyingthik.[2] Germano & Gyatso (2000: p. 240) note a similarity of practice between Chan-like formless meditations and Nyingthik/Menngagde:
Traditionally, Mañjuśrīmitra is said to have classified all the Dzogchen teachings transmitted by his teacher, Garab Dorje, into three series: semdé, Longdé, and menngagdé.[3] 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. The Glossary for Rangjung Yeshe books[4] described menngagde:
The three series do not represent different schools of Dzogchen practice as much as different approaches. As is common throughout much Buddhist literature, Tibetan Buddhism in particular, the divisions are sometimes said to represent gradations in the faculties of the students for whom the practices are appropriate; practitioners of low, middling, and high faculties, respectively.
The distinguishing features of Menngagde are the practices of lhündrup tögal and kadak trekchö.
Another feature of the menngagde is the sādhanā of the Seven Mind Trainings Capriles (2003: p. 103) identifies the sādhanā of the "Seven Lojong".
Menngagde itself is sometimes said to have been further divided by Sri Singha into four categories, called the "Four Cycles of Nyingtig" (Wylie: snying thig skor bzhi). They are the:
Variations of the name of the fourth section include the Secret Heart Essence (gsang ba snying thig), the Most Secret Unexcelled Nyingtig (yang gsang bla na med pa snying tig), the Innermost Unexcelled Cycle of Nyingtig (yang gsang bla na med pa'i snying thig skor), the Most Secret and Unexcelled Great Perfection (yang gsang bla na med pa rdzogs pa chen po), the Most Secret Heart Essence (yang gsang snying thig), the Most Secret Unsurpassable Cycle (yang gsang bla na med pa'i sde) and the Vajra Heart Essence.
See main article: Seventeen tantras. This fourth section of menngagde is said to contain the seventeen tantras, although there are eighteen when the Ngagsung Tromay Tantra (focused on protective rites of Ekajati) is added and nineteen including the Longsel Barwey Tantra (Tantra of the Blazing Space of Luminosity).[5]