bka' drin gsum ldan
endowed with the three kindnesses. (RY)
making use of 3 courtesies: རིག་པ་བསླབ་པ། - (rig pa bslab pa), མདོ་རྒྱུད་བསྟན་པ། - (mdo rgyud bstan pa), དབང་བསྐུར་བྱིན་རླབས་བྱེད་པ། - (dbang bskur byin rlabs byed pa). (JV)
possessing the 3-fold kindness: (in sutra the lama giving precepts - སྡོམ་པ། - (sdom pa) reading authorization - ལུང། - (lung) teachings - ཁྲིད། - (khrid); in tantra - དབང་བསྐུར། - (dbang bskur) conferring empowerment, རྒྱུད་བཤད་ - (rgyud bshad) explaining the tantras, མན་ངག་གནང་བ། - (man ngag gnang ba) giving pith instructions. (IW)
threefold kindness. Being endowed with the threefold kindness is, according to the general system, to have obtained the three precepts. In the Mantra system it means the root master who confers empowerment, explains the tantras, and bestows oral instructions, which is the one who gives the pointing-out instruction. (RY)
See also this synonymous entry: བཀའ་དྲིན་གསུམ་ལྡན་བླ་མ། - (bka' drin gsum ldan bla ma). (RY)