Three inner tantras

The three inner tantras are the final three divisions within the nine yanas of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism.

The three divisions of the inner tantras are:

• Mahayoga
• Anuyoga
• Atiyoga (also known as Dzogchen, "Great Perfection")

Cortland Dahl states:

The three inner tantras— Maha, Anu, and Ati—are typified by their use of the various development and completion stage yogas. While all three approaches involve both forms of practice, each emphasizes one particular form of meditation. Mahayoga, or Great Yoga, emphasizes the deity visualizations and mantra recitations of the development stage, while Anu and Ati focus on the completion stage. Within the completion stage, Anuyoga is primarily associated with the subtle body practices of the completion stage with symbolic attributes. Atiyoga is synonymous with the Great Perfection, the completion stage without symbolic attributes.

Dudjom Rinpoche states:

All three inner tantras are mutually pervasive, incorporating aspects of one another. A certain practice is classified as Maha-, Anu- or Atiyoga in reference to what is emphasized or is foremost in it. The prominent feature of a Mahayoga practice is the development stage, that of Anuyoga is the completion stage, while that of Atiyoga is the cultivation of the realization of the void sphere of all things. Each of these practices, however, has development (Maha), completion (Anu) and Dzogchen (Ati) stages.

Texts

Some of the tantras of the three inner tantras are included in the Kangyur, but the main collection for these tantras is the Nyingma Gyubum.

There are also many tantras of this tradition that were revealed as termas.

See also

• Outer Tantras
• Classes of Tantra in Tibetan Buddhism
• Vajrayana

Sources

• Dahl, Cortland (2009), Entrance to the Great Perfection: A Guide to the Dzogchen Preliminary Practices, Shambhala 
• Dudjom Rinpoche, The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: Its Fundamentals and History, Wisdom Publications, second edition, 2002, ISBN 978-0-86171-199-4.
• Longchen Rabjampa, Dudjom Rinpoche & Beru Khyentse Rinpoche (1979), The Four Themed Precious Garland An Introduction to Dzog-ch'en, trans. Alexander Berzin, Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives
• Tulku Thondup (1999), Masters of Meditation and Miracles, Boston: Shambhala 

External links

• Three inner tantras, Rigpa Shedra Wiki
• Three yanas of powerful transformative methods, Rigpa Shedra Wiki
• Inner Tantras, Wikipedia