InTibetan Buddhism, aTertön (Tibetan:གཏེར་སྟོན་,Wylie:gter ston)[1] is a person who is a discoverer of ancient hidden texts orterma. Many tertöns are considered to be incarnations of the twenty five main disciples ofPadmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche), who foresaw a dark time in Tibet. He and his consortYeshe Tsogyal hid teachings to be found in the future to benefit beings.[2] A vast system oftransmission lineages developed. Scriptures from theNyingma school were updated by terma discoveries, and terma teachings have guided many TibetanBon andBuddhist practitioners.
The termas are sometimes objects like statues, and can also exist as dharma texts and experiences. Tertöns discover the texts at the right time and place. The teachings can be relatively simple transmissions as well as entire meditation systems. Termas are found in rocks, water and the minds of incarnations of Guru Rinpoche's students.[2]
According to generally accepted history, the rediscovering of terma began with the first tertön,Sangye Lama (1000–1080).
Throughout the centuries, many Nyingmapas were known as tertöns. Five of them were widely recognized as very important ones and called the "five tertön kings":
Some influential female tertöns have all been considered to be emanations ofYeshe Tsogyal:[3]
Other influential female tertöns include:
Other important Nyingma tertöns include:
The 15th KarmapaKhakyab Dorje of theKarma Kagyu Lineage was a tertön. There was a prophecy fromYeshe Tsogyal that he should take tantric consorts. Initially, he wished to stay a monk, but his health was failing. Meditation masters told him he would die if he didn't fulfill his functions as a tertön. In 1892, he was convinced to marry when he was 20 years old. By the time the 15th karmapa died, he had accumulated 40 boxes of termas, texts and objects.[4]
Another noteworthy tertön isTsangpa Gyare, founder of theDrukpa Lineage (12th century).
The Drikung Kagyu also have a Dzogchen terma tradition, theYangzab Dzogchen, based on termas revealed by Rinchen Phuntsog (16th century).
The5th Dalai Lama was a tertön who revealed a Dzogchen terma cycle through his pure visions known as theSangwa Gyachen(Bearing the Seal of Secrecy). The Fifth Lelung Jedrung, Lobzang Trinle (1697–1740) was also a terton.[5]
Consorts, with whom they practice sexualyoga orkarmamudra to accelerate and enhance their capacity for realization, are thought to be very important to tertöns.[6] Fremantle (2001: p. 19) states that:
One of the special requirements for the discovery of termas is the inspiration of the feminine principle, just as it was necessary for their concealment. The great majority of tertöns have been men, and generally they are accompanied by their wives or female companions (who need not necessarily have a sexual relationship with them). Alternatively, something representing the tertön's complementary energy, whether male or female, must be present.[7]
Yet, even very realized female practitioners bring forth terma, sometimes with an living male consort and sometimes alone.DakiniSera Khandro is a notable example of a woman tertön.
Although the authenticity and value of a terma may be questioned or debated, tertöns are exempt from being judged according to their behavior and lifestyle, withGuru Rinpoche having cautioned that "hidden enlightened beings appear in uncertain form" and, by contrast, "fool-deceivers are great hypocritical mimics of the dharmic practitioner".[8]
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