Editing Longchenpa (section)

=== View of Dzogchen ===
Longchenpa is widely considered the single most important writer on [[Dzogchen]] teachings. He was a prolific author and scholar, as well as a compiler of Dzogchen texts. According to David Germano, Longchenpa's work systematized the Dzogchen tradition and its extensive literature while also providing it with a scholastic and philosophical structure based on the standard doctrinal structures that were becoming dominant in the Tibetan Buddhism of late tenth to thirteenth centuries.{{sfnp|Germano|1994|p=205, 274}}

According to Germano, Longchenpa's main Dzogchen scriptural sources were: "(i) the ''[[Kulayarāja Tantra|Kun byed rgyal po]]'', (ii) ''[[Seventeen tantras|The Seventeen Tantras of the Great Perfection]]'' (including two closely affiliated tantras—the ''kLong gsal'' and ''Thig le kun gsal'') (iii) the [[Vima Nyingtik|''Seminal Heart system of Vimalamitra'' (''Bi ma snying thig'')]] and (iv) the ''Seminal Heart system of the [[Dakini]]'' (''mKha' 'gro snying thig'')."{{sfnp|Germano|1994|p=301}} Longchenpa's Dzogchen philosophy is based on the [[View (Dzogchen)|Dzogchen view]] outlined in these tantric texts. This worldview sees all phenomena (''[[Abhidharma|dharmas]]'', Tib. ''chos)'' as the emanations or expressions (''rtsal''), displays (''rol pa''), and adornments (''rgyan'') of an ultimate nature or principle (''[[Tathātā|Dharmatā]],'' Tib. ''chos nyid,'' or ''[[Dharmadhatu|Dharmadhātu]],'' Tib. ''chos kyi dbyings''){{sfnp|Arguillère|2007|p=195-201}}

This ultimate principle is described in various ways by Longchenpa, using terminology that is unique to Dzogchen, such as the [[Ground (Dzogchen)|basis or ground (''gzhi'')]] or the "nature of mind" (''sems nyid''). Longchenpa describes this fundamental basis as being primordially pure and [[Śūnyatā|empty]] while also having the nature of a subtle self-arising awareness. This empty and spontaneous primordial glow (''ye gdangs'') is the subtle basis for the arising of all phenomenal appearances.{{sfnp|Longchenpa|Thondup|1996|p=42, 60-61}}

Longchenpa brought Dzogchen thought more closely into dialogue with scholastic Buddhist philosophy and the [[Sarma (Tibetan Buddhism)|Sarma]] tantric systems which were normative in the Tibetan academic institutions of his time.{{sfnp|Germano|1994|p=209}} One of Longchenpa's main motivations was to provide a learned defense of Dzogchen thought and practice.{{sfnp|Germano|1994|p=242}} Longchenpa's writings also intended to prove the overall superiority of the Dzogchen path over the other eight vehicles of sutra and tantra. His work also posits that this supreme Dzogchen view is not just the pinnacle of Buddhism (which Longchenpa compares the peak of a mountain), but it is in fact a keystone to the entire Buddhist Dharma, without which the "lower vehicles" cannot be fully understood or justified (just like one cannot see the entirety of a mountain unless one is at the top).{{sfnp|Arguillère|2007|p=202}}

In his ''Theg mchog mdzod'', Longchenpa also provides an extensive [[doxography]] of Buddhism (based on the [[nine yanas]]) in order to explain why Dzogchen (i.e. Atiyoga) deserves the highest rank in this doxography.{{sfnp|Germano|1994|p=250}} Longchenpa's understanding of the relationship between Dzogchen and the lower vehicles is inclusive, and he sees Dzogchen as embracing all of the eight vehicles while also sublimating and transcending them.{{sfnp|Arguillère|2007|p=195-207}}