A roadmap through the Dzogchen landscape always circles back to a handful of luminous tantras and root texts:

• All-Creating King Tantra (Kunjed Gyalpo): Often called the “royal seal” of Dzogchen, this text lays out the basic view of spontaneous, primordial awareness. Its imagery of a boundless, self‐arising Buddha essence still sparks fresh wonder in contemporary Tibetan seminars and online gatherings.

• Seventeen Tantras of the Seminal Heart (rgyud bka’ bco brgyad): These form the backbone of the Upadeśa (Instruction) class within the Mind Series. Known for their poetic yet precise instructions, they guide practitioners straight to the experience of rigpa, unfiltered and naked.

• Mind, Space and Instruction Series distinctions:
­– Mind Series (Semde) texts emphasize recognizing awareness as it appears in thought and perception.
­– Space Series (Longde) scripts use symbolic landscapes—lakes, mountains, sky—to mirror the openness of mind.
­– Instruction Series (Menngagde) delivers pith teachings, passed down in an oral “living transmission,” often rediscovered by treasure revealers (tertons).

• Treasure Cycles (Nyingthig): The Longchen Nyingthig, revealed by Jigme Lingpa in the late 18th century, has become especially widespread. It compiles profound commentaries, sadhanas and short root verses that feel almost tailor-made for today’s busy meditator.

• Longchenpa’s Seven Treasuries: Though not tantras per se, these encyclopedic works unpack Dzogchen view, meditation and conduct, holding center stage in many academic and retreat settings worldwide.

Recent translations—courtesy of projects at the Tibetan and Himalayan Library—and webinars hosted by the Mind & Life Institute in spring 2025 have brought these texts into sharper relief. Encountering the Kunjed Gyalpo’s bold vision or the Seventeen Tantras’ velvet-soft instructions today feels a bit like rediscovering a lifelong friend: familiar yet endlessly fresh.