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The '''precious word empowerment''' (Tib. ཚིག་དབང་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་, ''tsik wang rinpoche''; [[Wyl.]] ''tshig dbang rin po che'') is the fourth and most important of the [[four empowerments]]. [[Khenpo Ngakchung]] writes that the goal of the precious word empowerment is to generate the spontaneously arisen innate wisdom, the absolute meaning of empowerment.<ref>From [[Tulku Thondup]], ''Enlightened Journey'' (Boston: Shambhala, 1995), page 228.</ref> 

[[Thinley Norbu]] explains why it is called 'word' empowerment:
:The lama indicates to us by words in order to make us realize that the basis of our own natural mind is [[buddha nature]]. [...] In some systems, in the word empowerment, the lama indicates by a gesture, such as showing an object like a crystal, and explains how we should watch our mind.<Ref>Thinley Norbu, ''The Small Golden Key'' (Boston & London: Shambhala, 1993) page 62.</ref>

The precious word empowerment: 
*purifies all defilements of body, speech and mind, and all [[karmic obscurations|karmic]], [[cognitive obscurations|cognitive]] and [[habitual obscurations]].
*grants the blessings of vajra wisdom 
*authorizes the student as a receptive vessel for the practice of [[trekchö]]
*sows the seed for the attainment of the state of a ‘[[spontaneously accomplished vidyadhara]]’
*enables the student to attain the [[svabhavikakaya]] level of realization.

==Alternative Terms/Translations==
*ultimate empowerment of the absolute nature
*symbolic empowerment

==Notes==
<small><references/></small>

==Further Reading==
*[[Tulku Thondup]], ''Enlightened Journey'' (Boston: Shambhala, 1995), Chapter 9 'The Empowerments and Precepts of Esoteric Training' and Chapter 12 'Receiving the Four Empowerments of Ngöndro Meditation'.
*[[Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche]], ''As It Is, Vol. 2'' (Hong Kong: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 2000), page 207.

[[Category:Empowerments]]