I phoned JL today about this question and synthesized his answers below.
kalden yungdrung wrote:Tashi delek,
I have here the Kusum Rangshar or the
rDzogs pa chen po sku gsum rang sharal snang bzhi' i nyams len ngo mtshar snang ba' i ltas mo
The display of Marvellous Visions - Practice of the Natural Emergence of the 3 Bodies in their Great Perfection.
Mutsog Marro
KY
It's of no use because it's partly based on New Bon works, as well as Bon from India which accepts the classification into three series. This means the Bonpos accept the three series as a valid classificatory scheme but they don't have Longde texts.
Bhusuku wrote:I'm curious about the existence (or non-existence) of Longde in Bön-Dzogchen...
See the quotes in my previous message from Bonpo Dzogchen Teachings, p. 192 and 193.
But Samten Karmay suggests that the bsGrags pa skor gsum is basically the same as Semde.
Samten Karmay is right because what some Bonpos have classified as Longde are actually Semde texts.
Yes Longde is there in Shardza Tashi' s Kusum Rangshar.
No the classification is there but not Longde texts. You will see that Lopon also refers to the three series in Bonpo Dzogchen Teachings but he is not saying that there are Longde texts in Bon; he actually says the contrary.
Lopon lak does mostly personal use the method Mengagde as explanation,
No he does that in public, he may use other methods in private (which are more potent).
Tenzin Wangyal explains the three streams of Bön-Dzogchen in the following way: the stream called Ati corresponds to Semde,
This "Ati" should certainly be corrected into A-khrid. But even A khrid which is considered as a Semde manual has evolved into Upadesha with Thogel and consort practice. It is thus very difficult to limit it to Semde.
Zhang Zhung Nyen Gyud corresponds to Upadesha,
Sure that is generally accepted, but there is no mention of the three series in it and the expression "man-ngag-sde" does not appear in it nor in the related collections of Nyamgyu and other manuals associated with this cycle.
and the stream called Dzogchen corresponds to Longde.
Wrong, it's actually Semde but since it has some Upadeshas techniques (such as consort practice, dark retreat, etc.), it also has traits of Upadeshas. However, the root tantras of this "Dzogchen" (which corresponds to Dzogchen Yangtse Longchen) actually belong to the Drakpa Korsum and this is pure Bonpo Semde.
Well what TW makes more of it that is his case. I am looking only to what his / our Master, Lopon Tenzin Namdak does explain.
See the quotes from Bonpo Dzogchen Teachings then. WHen the Yetri or Kusum Rangshar mention Longde, they mention the classification of the three series. But: 1) this is entirely copied on Nyingma texts, and 2) this means they accept the classificatory scheme, but does not prove any of the texts mentioned as being of Longde are actually Longde. I have read these texts through JL's translations and saw nothing of Longde characteristics therein...
So, we have Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen and Tenzin Wangyal saying that there are Longde teachings within Bön-Dzogchen, while Yongdzin Namdak and Karmay say the contrary...
THis is because Shardza is referring to the scheme and is of the opinion that Drakpa Korsum is Longdé, while Lopon Rinpoche and Samten Karmay say this collection is Semde... Shardza had an agenda in this case.
Well i doubt if our Lopon lak and Samten Karmay will have another opinion than Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen has.
Rinpoche's opinion differ frequently from Shardza's. This is no secret.
I keep for the safety, Lopon Lak' s explanations as the only valid ones.
He is indeed very well informed and contrary to many others (although not Shardza) he has read all Dzogchen Nyingma texts available and can recognized if there is something "Longde-esque" in his own tradition or not.
We saw that Lopon Lak did not deny the value and existence of Longde, Semsde and Mengagde within Bon Dzogchen.
This wrongly stated: Lopon says that the scheme from classifying the Dzogchen texts from the Bon of India fits with the 3 series. This is not the case for the rest of the Bon of Zhangzhung. Moreover, the Drakpa Korsum and Yangtse Longchen which are said to be Longde Bon texts are actually Semde.