Esoteric transmission

The pointing-out instruction (ngo sprod) is the direct introduction to the nature of mind in the Tibetan Buddhist lineages of Mahāmudrā and Dzogchen. In these traditions, a "root guru" gives the "pointing-out instruction" in such a way that the disciple successfully recognizes the "nature of mind."

The tradition of conferring such instructions outside of the context of formal empowerment (Sanskrit: abhiṣeka) is unique to the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages. Whether or not such instructions are valid without the formal empowerment has historically been a point of contention with the more conservative Gelug and Sakya lineages. The pointing-out instruction is often equated with the fourth formal vajrayana empowerment.

In the Mahāmudrā tradition, pointing-out instruction (Wylie: ngo sprod kyi gdams pa ngotrö kyi dampa) is also referred to as "pointing out the nature of mind" (Wylie: sems kyi ngo sprod sem kyi ngotrö), "pointing out transmission", or "introduction to the nature of mind". In the Dzogchen tradition, the pointing out instructions are often called the “introduction to awareness” (rig pa'i ngo sprod, pronounced "rigpay notro") or "sems khrid," pronounced "sem tri". Senior Shambhala Buddhist teacher Jeremy Hayward describes this as

[A] direct pointing out of the nature of mind, that is mind's simplicity and universality—all appearances arise within the mind and in that sense there is nothing other than mind, yet mind itself is emptiness, openness beyond concept."

In the Mahāmudrā tradition, the mind pointed out is called "ordinary mind" (Wylie: tha mal gyi shes pa tamel gyi shépa, Sanskrit: *prākṛita-jñana). As the Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche explains,

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