Garab Dorje is his only attested name. The Sanskrit offerings are reconstructions. No Sanskrit name has been found in a colophon to attest to historicity. That said, Germano cited "Vajraprahe" in the "Direct Consequence of Sound Tantra" within the Nyingma Gyubum and goes on to state in the same work that Reynolds reverses the two words in the contraction in his translation and analysis of a section of the Bardo Thodol from Tibetan into English, specifically the rig pa ngo sprod gcer mthong rang grol where he employs "Prahevajra". Germano holds that Reynolds's lexical choice of "Prahevajra" was influenced by a mantra of a short Guru Yoga text by Dzongsar Khyentse Chokyi Lodro. Prahevajra or Pramodavajra
Detail
According to the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, Garab Dorje transmitted the complete empowerments of Dzogchen to Manjushrimitra, who was regarded as his chief disciple. Padmasambhava is also known to have received the transmission of the Dzogchen tantras directly from Garab Dorje. Garab Dorje received the empowerment and transmission of the Mahayoga teachings of the SecretMatrix Tradition from MahasiddhaKukuraja.
Birth
Garab Dorje's birth is interpreted in different ways by different people: In an interpretation, he was born as a son of Su-dharmā and a island-dwelling daughter of king Upa-rāja of, in the land of Uddiyana, also the birthplace of Padmasambhava. Garab Dorje is said to have received all the Tantras, scriptures and oral instructions of Dzogchen directly from Vajrasattva and Vajrapani. In another interpretation, his mother is named as, located on the banks of lake Kutra. The Nyingmapa lineage conveys Garab Dorje's birth to be a miraculous birth by a virgin daughter of the king of Odiyana, and that he recited Dzogchen tantras at his birth. A detailed interpretation of the hagiographic nativity of Garab Dorje briefly contextualizes his mother, a bhikṣuṇī whose sadhana was Yoga tantra, and her parents. The bhiksuni daughter has a dream in which a man holds the vase of the Astamangala, the 'threefold world', with the syllables 'oṃ ā hūṃ' and svāhā:
Teachings
In the tradition of the oral transmission lineage, Garab Dorje's teachings are also shared through quotations. Before becoming Garab Dorje's student, Manjushrimitra heard of Garab Dorje's Dzogchen teachings, and sought a debate to defeat the heretical views. Manjushrimitra lost the debate and realized his errors. Garab Dorje then gave Manjushrimitra the complete Dzogchen empowerments, and summarized his teaching as follows: The nature of mind is the original Buddha Without birth or cessation, like the sky! When you understand that, all apparent phenomena are beyond birth and cessation. Meditating means letting this condition be as it is, without seeking! As Garab Dorje attained paranirvana, his body dissolved into a mist of rainbow light. Manjushrimitra called to his teacher and Garab Dorje responded by handing his last teaching to Manjushrimitra, which was enclosed in a golden casket the size of a thumbnail. Inside, the three precepts known as the Three Words that Strike to the Heart of the Essential Point, or Tsig Sum Nèdek, contain the whole of the Dzogchen teachings, and are a universal introduction to Dzogchen. The "Three Words that Strike to the Heart" are considered the essential teaching by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, and the infallible key point by Patrul Rinpoche. Garab Dorje's "The Three Statements that Strike the Vital Point" teaching, as translated by Lotsawa House:
Introducing directly the face of rigpa itself. Deciding upon one thing and one thing only. Confidence directly in the liberation of rising thoughts.
Writings
Though not his writings the tradition holds that the Seventeen Tantras were directly revealed to Garab Dorje. The following texts are attributed to Garab Dorje:
"Cutting Through the Three Times"
"Overwhelming the Six Modes of Consciousness with Splendour"
