Union of the Sun and Moon

One of the seventeen tantras of the esoteric instruction cycle

This article contains Tibetan script. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Tibetan characters.

Part of a series on

Tibetan Buddhism

Schools

* Nyingma
* Kadam
* Sakya
* Bodong
* Kagyu
* Jonang
* Gelug
* Rimé

Key personalities

First dissemination

* Padmasambhāva
* Śāntarakṣita
* Kamalaśīla
* Songtsen Gampo
* Trisong Detsen
* Ralpacan

Second dissemination

* Atiśa
* Talika
* Abhayakirti
* Niguma
* Sukhasiddhi
* Milarepa

Nyingma

* Yeshe Tsogyal
* Longchenpa
* Jigme Lingpa
* Patrul Rinpoche
* Dudjom Lingpa
* Mipham

Kagyu

* Marpa
* Rangjung Dorje

Jonang

* Dolpopa
* Taranatha

Sakya

* Sakya Pandita
* Gorampa

Bodongpa

Samding Dorje Phagmo

Gelugpa

* Je Tsongkhapa
* 5th Dalai Lama
* 13th Dalai Lama
* 14th Dalai Lama
* 10th Panchen Lama

Teachings

General Buddhist

* Three marks of existence

* Skandha
* Cosmology
* Saṃsāra

* Rebirth
* Bodhisattva
* Dharma

* Dependent origination
* Karma

Tibetan

* Four Tenets system
* Rangtong-Shentong
* Svatantrika-Prasaṅgika distinction

Nyingma

* Dzogchen
* Pointing-out instruction

Practices and attainment

* Lamrim
* Pāramitās

* Bodhicitta
* Avalokiteśvara

* Meditation
* Laity

* Vajrayana
* Tantra techniques

* Deity yoga
* Guru yoga
* Dream yoga

* Thukdam
* Buddhahood

Major monasteries

* Tradruk
* Drepung
* Dzogchen

* Ganden
* Jokhang
* Kumbum

* Labrang
* Mindrolling
* Namgyal

* Narthang
* Nechung
* Pabonka

* Palcho
* Ralung
* Ramoche
* Rato

* Sakya
* Sanga
* Sera
* Shalu

* Tashi Lhunpo
* Tsurphu
* Yerpa

Institutional roles

* Dalai Lama
* Panchen Lama

* Lama
* Karmapa
* Rinpoche

* Geshe
* Tertön
* Tulku
* Western tulku

Festivals

* Chotrul Duchen
* Dajyur
* Galdan Namchot
* Losar
* Dosmoche
* Monlam
* Sho Dun
* Losoong

Texts

* Kangyur
* Tengyur

* Tibetan Buddhist canon

* Mahayana sutras
* Nyingma Gyubum

Art

* Sand mandala
* Thangka
* Wall paintings
* Ashtamangala
* Tree of physiology
* Festival thangka
* Mani stone

History and overview

* History
* Timeline

* Outline
* Culture

* Index of articles

* v
* t
* e

Part of a series on

Buddhism

* Glossary
* Index
* Outline

History

* Timeline
* The Buddha
* Pre-sectarian Buddhism
* Councils
* Silk Road transmission of Buddhism
* Decline in the Indian subcontinent
* Later Buddhists
* Buddhist modernism

* Dharma
* Concepts

* Four Noble Truths
* Noble Eightfold Path
* Dharma wheel
* Five Aggregates
* Impermanence
* Suffering
* Not-self
* Dependent Origination
* Middle Way
* Mettā
* Emptiness
* Morality
* Karma
* Rebirth
* Saṃsāra
* Cosmology

Buddhist texts

* Buddhavacana
* Early Texts
* Tripiṭaka
* Mahayana Sutras
* Pāli Canon
* Sanskrit literature
* Tibetan canon
* Chinese canon
* Post-canon

Practices

* Three Jewels
* Buddhist Paths to liberation
* Five precepts
* Perfections
* Meditation
* Philosophical reasoning
* Devotional practices
* Merit making
* Recollections
* Mindfulness
* Wisdom
* Sublime abidings
* Aids to Enlightenment
* Monasticism
* Lay life
* Buddhist chant
* Pilgrimage
* Vegetarianism

Nirvāṇa

* Awakening
* Four Stages
* Arhat
* Pratyekabuddha
* Bodhisattva
* Buddha

Traditions

* Theravāda
* Pāli
* Mahāyāna
* Hinayana
* Chinese
* Vajrayāna
* Tibetan
* Navayana
* Newar

Buddhism by country

* Bhutan
* Brazil
* Cambodia
* China
* India
* Indonesia
* Japan
* Korea
* Laos
* Malaysia
* Mongolia
* Myanmar
* New Zealand
* Russia
* Singapore
* US
* Sri Lanka
* Taiwan
* Thailand
* Tibet
* Vietnam

* Buddhism portal

* v
* t
* e

The Union of the Sun and Moon (Tibetan: ཉི་ཟླ་ཁ་སྦྱོར, Wylie: nyi zla kha sbyor)[1] is one of the seventeen tantras of the esoteric instruction cycle (Tibetan: མན་ངག་སྡེའི་རྒྱུད་བཅུ་བདུན, Wylie: man ngag sde'i rgyud bcu bdun) which are a suite of tantras known variously as Nyingtik, Upadesha or Menngagde within Dzogchen discourse.

> This tantra shows which experience a person undergoes in the intermediate state, the bardo, after passing away. It teaches how to resolve one's master's oral instructions during the bardo of this life, how to stabilize awareness during the bardo of dying, how to attain enlightenment through recognizing awareness during the bardo of dharmata, and, if necessary, how to be assured a rebirth in a natural nirmanakaya realm during the bardo of becoming and there reveal buddhahood without further rebirths.[2]

## English discourse

[edit]

Namkha'i and Shane (1986, 1999: p. 91) open the discourse of the 'Song of the Vajra' (Wylie: rdo rje'i glu zhig)[3] an excerpt of the Union of the Sun and Moon into the English language and render it thus:

> Unborn, yet continuing without interruption,
>  neither coming nor going, omnipresent,
>  Supreme Dharma,
>  unchangeable space, without definition,
>  spontaneously self-liberating--
>  perfectly unobstructed state--
>  manifest from the very beginning,
>  self-created, without location,
>  with nothing negative to reject,
>  and nothing positive to accept,
>  infinite expanse, penetrating everywhere,
>  immense, and without limits, without ties,
>  with nothing even to dissolve
>  or to be liberated from,
>  manifest beyond space and time,
>  existing from the beginning,
>  immense ying,[4] inner space,
>  radiant through clarity
>  like the [S]un and the [M]oon,
>  self-perfected,
>  indestructible like a Vajra,
>  stable as a mountain,
>  pure as a lotus,
>  strong as a lion,
>  incomparable pleasure beyond all limits,
>  illumination, equanimity,
>  peak of the Dharma,
>  light of the [U]niverse,
>  perfect from the beginning.[5]

## Citations

[edit]

1. ^ Source: Union of the Sun and Moon (Wylie: nyi zla kha sbyor) Archived 2012-11-02 at the Wayback Machine (accessed: Friday March 19, 2010)
2. ^ Source: [1] (accessed: Friday March 19, 2010)
3. ^ Source: [2] (accessed: Tuesday March 23, 2010)
4. ^ Wylie: dbyings
5. ^ Namkhai Norbu (author, translator), John Shane (translator, editor) (1986, 1999). The crystal and the way of light: sutra, tantra and dzogchen. Snow Lion Publication. ISBN 1-55939-135-9, ISBN 978-1-55939-135-1 Source: [3] (accessed: Monday March 22, 2010), p.91

## Primary resources

[edit]

* Nyi ma dang zla ba kha sbyor ba chen po gsang ba'i rgyud (@ Wikisource in Wylie)
* ཉི་མ་དང་ཟླ་བ་ཁ་སྦྱོར་བ་ཆེན་པོ་གསང་བའི་རྒྱུད @ Wikisource (Tibetan Unicode)
* nyi zla kha sbyor @ TBRC as PDFs of Pecha

## External links

[edit]

* Rachel Pang (n.d.). 'Text Analysis of the Union of Sun and Moon Tantra (nyid zla kha sbyor rgyud)' from the Tibetan Renaissance Seminar
* Namkhai Norbu & John Shane (translators) (n.d.). The Union of the Solar and Lunar Tantra (an excerpt)
* Tantra on the Secret Union of Sun and Moon

* v
* t
* e

Tibetan Buddhism

Traditions|

* Bodong
* Bön
* Gelug
* Kadam
* Jonang
* Kagyu
* Nyingma
* Rimé
* Sakya

Practice systems|

* Chöd
* Dzogchen
* Kālacakra
* Lamdre
* Lamrim
* Mahamudra
* Pure Land
* Vajrayana

Individual practices|

* Deity yoga
* Empowerment
* Guru yoga
* Mandala
* Mantra
* Mudra
* Phowa
* Preparatory practices
* Refuge
* Sadhana
* Six Dharmas
* Tibetan tantric practice
* Transfer of merit
* Tukdam

Institutional roles|

* Lama
* Khenpo
* Ngakpa
* Rigdzin
* Rinpoche
* Tertön
* Tulku
* Western tulku
* Vajracharya
* Vidyadhara

Key figures|

| Nyingma|

* Padmasambhava
* Yeshe Tsogyal
* Longchenpa
* Jigme Lingpa
* Patrul Rinpoche
* Dudjom Lingpa
* Mipham
* Dudjom Rinpoche

|

Sakya|

* Khön Könchok Gyalpo
* Sakya Trizin
* Sakya Pandita
* Drogön Chögyal Phagpa

Kagyu|

* Milarepa
* Karmapa
* Thang Tong Gyalpo

Gelug|

* Je Tsongkhapa
* Dalai Lama
* Panchen Lama

Other|

* Trisong Detsen
* Akong Rinpoche
* Anagarika Govinda
* Arija Rinpoche
* Atiśa
* Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche
* Chatral Rinpoche
* Chetsang Rinpoche
* Chögyam Trungpa
* Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche
* Dampa Sangye
* Dezhung Rinpoche
* Dilgo Khyentse
* Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen
* Drukpa Kunley
* Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche
* Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche
* Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche
* Dzongsar Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö
* Gampopa
* Ganden Tripa
* Gorampa Sonam Sengye
* Gyalwang Drukpa
* Jamgon Kongtrul
* Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo
* Kalu Rinpoche
* Karma Thinley Rinpoche
* Khamtrul Rinpoche
* Khandro Rinpoche
* Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche
* Lama Jampa Thaye
* Ling Rinpoche
* Marpa Lotsawa
* Mikyö Dorje, 8th Karmapa Lama
* Namkhai Norbu
* Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche
* Orgyen Chokgyur Lingpa
* Orgyen Tobgyal
* Phabongkha
* Pema Lingpa
* Penor Rinpoche
* Phagmo Drupa Dorje Gyalpo
* Rangjung Dorje, 3rd Karmapa Lama
* Ratna Vajra Sakya
* Rechung Dorje Drakpa
* Reting Rinpoche
* Sakya Chokden
* Second Beru Khyentse
* Shamarpa
* Sogyal Rinpoche
* Tai Situpa
* Taranatha
* Tarthang Tulku
* Tenga Rinpoche
* Tenzin Palmo
* Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
* Tenzin Ösel Hita
* Thinley Norbu
* Thrangu Rinpoche
* Thubten Yeshe
* Thubten Zopa Rinpoche
* Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche
* Trijang Rinpoche
* Trulshik Rinpoche
* Tsangnyön Heruka
* Tsele Natsok Rangdröl
* Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
* Vairotsana
* Vimalamitra
* Yudra Nyingpo
* Zong Rinpoche

Texts|

* Gyubum
* Kangyur
* Tengyur
* Terma
* Tibetan canon

Ritual objects|

* Chöda
* Damaru
* Ghanta
* Phurba
* Serkyem
* Stupa
* Thangka
* Vajra
* Yidam

Monasteries|

* Drepung Monastery
* Dzogchen Monastery
* Dzongsar Monastery
* Ganden Monastery
* Jokhang Monastery
* Kathok Monastery
* Namdroling Monastery
* Palyul Monastery
* Ramoche Temple
* Sakya Monastery
* Sanga Monastery
* Sera Monastery
* Shechen Monastery
* Tashilhunpo Monastery

Places|

* Bhutan
* Buryatia
* Dharamshala
* Himachal Pradesh
* Kalmykia
* Ladakh
* Lhasa
* Mongolia
* Shambhala
* Tibet
* Tuva

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template