seven transmissions
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Seven transmissions (bka' babs bdun; བཀའ་བབས་བདུན།): canonical lineage, revealed treasure, rediscovered treasure, mind treasure, recollection, pure vision and hearing lineage.
- Oral tradition (bka' ma; བཀའ་མ།) the early translated Tripitaka and tantras passed on unbrokenly from master to disciple;
- Earth Treasure (sa gter; ས་གཏེར།), revealed by the tertön;
- Rediscovered Treasure (yang gter; ཡང་གཏེར།), revealed for the second time from an past treasure;
- Mind Treasure (dgongs gter; དགོངས་གཏེར།), revealed from the mind of the guru;
- Hearing Lineage (snyan brgyud; སྙན་བརྒྱུད།), received directly from an enlightened being;
- Pure Vision (dag snang; དག་སྣང།), received in a pure experience; and
- Recollection (rjes dran; རྗེས་དྲན།), remembrance from a former life. (RY)
The seven transmissions. They are mentioned like this:
The unbroken oral tradition from person to person,
The profound treasures themselves, and mind termas,
Rediscovered treasures, the termas of recollection,
Pure visions, and the hearing lineage;
The rivers of these seven transmissions
Will be immensely precious for the Buddhadharma in the dark age.
Profound and extensive, they will shine further than the light of the sun. (RY)