In Tibetan Buddhism and Bon, Menngakde, is the name of one of three scriptural and lineage divisions within Dzogchen. Dzogchen is itself the pinnacle of the ninefold division of practice according to the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. Menngagde focuses on rigpa. The Menngagde or 'Instruction Class' of Dzogchen teachings are divided into two parts: trekchö and tögel.
Practice
For general purposes, Menngagde may also be known as Nyingthik. Germano & Gyatso note a similarity of practice between Chan-like formless meditations and Nyingthik/Menngagde:
"...the Seminal Heart or Nyingthik form of the Great Perfection movement,...a syncretic Tantric tradition consisting of Chan-like practices of formless meditation combined with exercises that cultivated spontaneous visions of buddhas."
Menngagde in the Dzogchen textual tradition
Traditionally, Mañjuśrīmitra is said to have classified all the Dzogchen teachings transmitted by his teacher, Garab Dorje, into three series: semdé, long dé, and menngakdé. Mañjuśrīmitra's student Sri Singha reedited the oral instruction cycle and in this form the teaching was transmitted to Jñānasūtra and Vimalamitra. Vimalamitra is said to have taken the Menngagde teachings to Tibet in the 8th Century. The Glossary for Rangjung Yeshe books described menngakde: The three series do not represent different schools of Dzogchen practice as much as different approaches. As is common throughout much Buddhist literature, Tibetan Buddhism in particular, the divisions are sometimes said to represent gradations in the faculties of the students for whom the practices are appropriate; practitioners of low, middling, and high faculties, respectively.
The distinguishing features of Menngagde are the practices of lhündrup tögal and kadak trekchö. Another feature of the menngagde is the sādhanā of the Seven Mind Trainings Capriles identifies the sādhanā of the "Seven Lojong".
Four divisions of Menngagde
Menngagde itself is sometimes said to have been further divided by Sri Singha into four categories, called the "Four Cycles of Nyingtig". They are the:
Outer Cycle
Inner Cycle
Secret Cycle
Innermost Unexcelled Cycle
Variations of the name of the fourth section include the Secret Heart Essence, the Most Secret Unexcelled Nyingtig, the Innermost Unexcelled Cycle of Nyingtig, the Most Secret and Unexcelled Great Perfection, the Most Secret Heart Essence, the Most Secret Unsurpassable Cycle and the Vajra Heart Essence.
Seventeen tantras
This fourth section of menngakdé is said to contain the seventeen tantras, although there are eighteen when the Ngagsung Tromay Tantra is added and nineteen including the Longsel Barwey Tantra.
Norbu, Namkhai and Clemente, Adriano. "The Supreme Source: The Fundamental Tantra of the Dzogchen Semde, Kunjed Gyalpo". Ithaa, New York: Snow Lion Publications.
Schmidt, Marcia Binder . The Dzogchen Primer: Embracing The Spiritual Path According To The Great Perfection. London, Great Britain: Shambhala Publications, Inc.
Capriles, Elías. Buddhism and Dzogchen: The Doctrine of the Buddha and the Supreme Vehicle of Tibetan Buddhism. Part One Buddhism: A Dzogchen Outlook. Mérida, Venezuela:
