Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This running commentary on the practice of reciting the names of Mañjuśrī serves as a technical manual for the realization of non-dual wisdom through Vajrayāna methods. The text argues that liberation is achieved by abandoning conceptual thought and focusing one-pointedly on emptiness, while simultaneously employing paradoxical conduct and somatic manipulations. It integrates the purification of the six cakras and channels with the transformation of afflictions into primordial wisdom. The work commits the reader to a rigorous path of tantric yoga, involving the subduing of vital winds (prāṇa), the management of the bindu (drop), and the integration of bliss and emptiness. By mapping specific deities and wisdoms onto the sensory organs and the physical body, the text guides the practitioner toward the coemergent experience of the dharmakāya, where conventional appearances are recognized as the purity of delusion and the union of vajra and lotus.
Provenance
About this text
A commentary on the recitation of the names of Mañjuśrī, the Āryamañjuśrīnāmasaṃgītiamṛtabindupratyālokavṛttināma is attributed to the Indian author Anupamarakṣita. It entered the Tibetan tradition through the work of the translators Sugataśrī, bod kyi lo tsa ba d+harma kirti, and dge slong rdo rje rgyal mtshan. Preserved in the Tengyur (vol. ཕ) across 56 pages, the work is situated within the Non-dual Tantra collection of the classical Tibetan period. The text enacts a path toward the realization of non-dual wisdom by instructing the practitioner to abandon conceptual thoughts and focus the mind one-pointedly on emptiness. It details a rigorous system of tantric yoga involving the management of vital winds and the bindu, the purification of channels and cakras, and the transformation of afflictions into primordial wisdom. By mapping deities and wisdoms onto the physical body and sensory organs, it guides the reader toward the coemergent experience of the dharmakāya. A scholar or serious reader consults this work today as a technical manual for Vajrayāna practice, seeking to understand the somatic manipulations and paradoxical conduct required to recognize conventional appearances as the nature of space.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “A Running Commentary on “Reciting the Names of Mañjuśrī” called “The Clear Lamp of Drops of Elixir”” (Toh 1396), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1396
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant for its synthesis of somatic yoga and deity yoga, illustrating how the Indo-Tibetan tradition transforms physical experience into spiritual realization. For the modern reader, it provides a precise example of the 'twilight language' and paradoxical instructions used in tantric texts to bypass conceptual filters.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1-3
Introduction and Vows
Opening homage and the establishment of the necessity of conviction in emptiness.
4-20
Paradoxical Conduct and Somatic Yoga
Instructions on the transformation of conventional morality and the technical manipulation of winds and cakras.
26-32
Knowledge and Insight
Discussion on the power of words, etymologies, and the nature of the thoroughly imagined.
39-51
Yogic Ornaments and Ritual Symbols
Analysis of the vajra ornaments, the six syllables, and the conduct of the holy life.
57-69
Deity Mapping and Wisdoms
The assignment of specific deities to the sensory organs and the purification of the five gates.
70-73
Praise and Mantra Analysis
Homages to the union of vajra and lotus and the technical breakdown of mantra components.
Themes
Transformation of Afflictions (5, 66, 69)
Somatic Manipulation (Winds and Drops) (4, 10, 12, 20, 65)
Non-duality and Emptiness (3, 32, 63, 68)
Deity Yoga and Sensory Mapping (57, 66, 69)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
AnuvādaA Running Commentary on “Reciting the Names of Mañjuśrī” called “The Clear Lamp of Drops of Elixir”·
In the language of India: Āryamañjuśrīnāmasaṃgītyamṛtabindupradīpālokavṛttināma. In the language of Tibet: ’Phags pa ’jam dpal gyi mtshan yang dag par brjod pa’i ’grel pa bdud rtsi’i thigs pa sgron ma gsal ba zhes bya ba. Homage to Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta!
The object and the subject are of a nature like space; the sun and moon move along the path of darkness. The water born from the limits of the earth pervades all. To that Sugata Mañjughoṣa, I pay homage. This [work], like a drop of nectar, is a lineage transmitted from the mouth of the Guru. First, the Buddha, having arrived well, shall write the pith instructions for the Nāmasaṃgīti.
At the glorious Dhānyakaṭaka Stūpa, those who sought the meaning of the various tantras—both worldly and transcendent—gathered on the fifteenth day of the month of Vaiśākha. At that time, for the sake of all beings, the Teacher emanated the maṇḍala of the Lord of Speech, the expanse of reality (dharmadhātu), which is Dhānyakaṭaka. Within and without that, the great maṇḍala of the glorious constellations, the maṇḍala of the Primordial Buddha, was emanated. Having bestowed empowerment upon all, including the gods and others, Vajradhara extensively taught the four classes of tantra and the five, including the Essence Tantra. This is the essence of the essence. Having condensed it, the ḍākinīs sealed it in their respective abodes. This essence of the essence is renowned throughout the hundred million worlds of Jambudvīpa for the benefit of beings; its meaning is profound and difficult to fathom.
No one else knows it; it was explained by Sucandra. I shall now thoroughly elucidate its meaning for those of the noble family. Regarding this, although fourteen [topics] were taught, thirteen possess the actual meaning within the expanse of sound, while one is praised by all. For that very reason, it is not held here. The thirteen to be explained are: the request, the teaching, the vision, the Vajradhātu through the Net of Magical Illusion, the Dharmadhātu, the Mirror-like, the Discriminating, the Equality, and the All-Accomplishing tantras, the mantra, and the rejoicing—these thirteen are the levels of the Vajra Holder. Of these, first, at the very beginning, the sixteen requests will be shown.
The Teacher, the Dharmakāya, from the letter tha of Jālandhara, and the requester, from the letter a of Triśakuni, all phenomena arise through the condition of the letter a. What is explained as E-vaṃ-mā-yā is that very reality, the bhaga of the Vajra Consort, in which he dwells. Furthermore, it is explained: "Then the glorious Vajradhara, the supreme subduer of those difficult to tame, the hero who has triumphed over the three worlds, the Lord of Secrets, the Vajra Īśvara."
The aspect of a is selflessness, the Teacher himself who does not abide anywhere, free from all aspects. The aspect of tha is Akṣobhya, non-referential great compassion, in which diverse entities appear. The non-dual union of the two vajras, the essence of emptiness and compassion, is the non-leaking of the three impurities. "Holder" (dhara) is that very reality of union; because he holds it simultaneously, he is called a "Holder." Furthermore, from the Kālacakra:
Having completely abandoned all conceptual thoughts,
One focuses the mind one-pointedly on emptiness.
If, even after examining for a single day,
One does not gain conviction,
Then at that time, my words would be a lie.
Thus he spoke this vow.
Regarding the three signs—the first, middle, and last:
First, the five such as smoke and so forth are attained.
Second, one thousand and one hundred [breaths] cease.
Finally, by the cessation of twenty-one thousand
And six hundred [breaths], one becomes a perfect Buddha.
From that, glory arises, distinct from self-interest.
The two supreme [bodies] emerge,
Or rather, through the union of non-duality,
The pill, the vase, the sandals,
Subterranean power, sky-faring, swift-footedness,
Yakṣiṇīs, and alchemy—
These and other immeasurable supreme [attainments] arise.
As for the fourfold army of the difficult-to-tame:
Specifically, the great assembly of views—
Twenty-one thousand six hundred,
One thousand eight hundred, three hundred,
And sixty—the armies that are difficult to tame.
Why? Because they cause harm day and night.
Although there are immeasurable [teachings] such as the six Vinayas,
Not everyone is tamed by them.
The supreme, non-leaking great wisdom
Is the foremost of all conditioned formations.
If one asks, "From where is that found?"
It is found in the vase, the inner heat, and the coemergent,
Through the body being bound by the six branches.
Furthermore, from the Kālacakra:
"By the application of the activities and the binding,
Even the three worlds will be accomplished."
Thus it is said.
The three doors of the three worlds,
The Victorious One, are the expansion of bliss and emptiness within one's own body.
Distanced from the causes of wrath,
The secret is the five secrets.
Furthermore, from the Vajrayāna:
"You should kill living beings,
Take what is not given,
Frequent the wives of others,
And speak words of falsehood.
Drink the fluid that causes intoxication;
By practicing in this way, you will be liberated."
In this context, "life-force" refers to the vital wind (prāṇa); "killing living beings" is the act of arresting that wind. "The wives of others" refers to the beauty of one's own body, which is naturally pure. "Taking what is not given" means taking the bindu (drop) from the syllable Haṃ. "I shall liberate all sentient beings" is the speaking of words of falsehood. The "fluid of the mudrā of bliss" is that which should be drunk constantly. If one does not practice in this way but engages in literal [actions], one will certainly be boiled in the Vajra Hell. This was taught in the intentional language (saṃdhābhāṣā).
The "faculties" are the five faculties: faith, mindfulness, diligence, concentration, and insight. By possessing these, one accomplishes the path of the Vajrayāna. Possessing the five empowerments of the Secret Vajra, one is therefore the Īśvara (Lord). The fully expanded Vajra Body is the supreme among the human realm. The white bindu in the lotus channel resides in the space element. The "Eye" is the clear appearance; the "Sign" and the "Wisdom Jewel" are stable. The "variegated lotus" is the shape of the channels. "Seated upon the throne" refers to the sense bases (āyatana). One's own "hands" are the two channels, rasanā and lalanā. The "supreme Vajra" is the Non-dual Mother. By relying on many enumerations, for the sake of experiencing [the state], one exerts diligence as the antidote; "acting again and again" means to experience it. The "frown" is the bindu on the forehead.
Through the experience of the sixteen stages, such as the "Endowed with Sequence," primordial wisdom (jñāna) increases. Vajrapāṇi is the wisdom of the kinsman; by attaining the infinite great means, he subdues the difficult-to-tame through the complete purification of the afflictions (kleśa). The heroes who subdue them are said to have a single enlightened activity (karma). Because he conquers those heroes, he is "Heroic." The terrifying Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas are afraid of engaging with the objects of desire. As for his form, he is the Yakṣa whom none can overcome; he assumes the body of a short dwarf, and his very nature is the Vajra of Akṣobhya, the subduer of hatred. Thus it is said.
Regarding the "Vajra Body," the tips are the syllable Haṃ at the crown and the syllable A in the vase [of the heart]. Their intense radiation is the ascending and descending [of the winds]. One's own "hands" are the six limbs; "brandishing" them refers to the vital winds (prāṇāyāma) and so forth, which are practiced with increasing proficiency. For what purpose is this? It is for the sake of compassion, which is the bodhicitta. Furthermore, from the Vajraḍāka: "As long as sentient beings remain in the cycle of existence, until that time, for the sake of the peerless and supreme glory of sentient beings, one does not pass into nirvāṇa. Therefore, the sublime being is never terrified by the noose of existence. To prevent the aspiration for the pleasures of existence, one is always intoxicated by great passion, and through the expansion of realization, brings [beings] to maturity." Thus it is said.
The great lord of yogis of the present is the non-conceptual insight (prajñā) of the dharmadhātu. Alternatively, there are the two: karma and wisdom. The answer is the supreme, uncontrived wisdom. This very reasoning is the supreme way of benefiting beings through skillful means (upāya). Whether it be the passion of great desire or the subsequent attachment, [it is the means].
Withdrawal and the Mother of the Deities: based upon these, realization occurs. The wisdom of joy and bliss itself is the abandonment of insatiability and lack of contentment. "Delight" is the satisfaction of body and mind. "Equanimity" is the desire for liberation; it is free from the dualistic thoughts of abandoning saṃsāra and so forth. "Possessing the form of a wrathful body" refers to the wrathful deities of emptiness. The wisdom of detachment is the form of the coemergent. Furthermore, from the Buddhakapāla: "It generates all things; it destroys them through emptiness. Because it destroys, it is the fierce, wrathful form. It has utterly abandoned the deceptive deer. The sky of natural emptiness neither laughs nor drips." Thus it is said. Regarding the supreme bliss of the Buddha, the enlightened activity radiates bliss. The meaning is: the lords of yoga and so forth, bowing with bodies that are unimpaired, are the perfect completion of the coemergent. "Bowing" refers to the syllable Haṃ. The Blessed One (Bhagavān) is so called because he descends from above and thereby destroys conceptual thought. The Tathāgata is so called because he returns from below to his own abode. "Complete" refers to the completion of the conch-chamber; the Buddha has abandoned what is to be abandoned and attained what is to be attained. "Homage" means bowing to that. Joining the palms—the channels and winds—does not allow the drops to be emitted. Sitting before the Vajra Vase, one gazes at and restrains the radiating light-drops. "O Pervasive Lord, for the sake of the increasing and suffering drops, grant me the supreme medicine of bliss and the physical bliss of the white side. As a support for those who wish to train in the great bliss of the welfare of others," [he prays].
Through compassion, the bodhicitta of one’s own body does not disperse; it is because it is always possessed without degeneration. Through the joy of the māyājāla, the sixteen joys and the manifestly perfect joys are absorbed. Just as the Buddhas of the past attained the wisdom that is not to be found [by others], make that pure expanse of reality (dharmadhātu) manifest to direct perception. Through the afflictions, the bindu (drop) is impaired; by the expansion of saṃsāra, the deluded mind experiences suffering, which is the expansion of manifold [appearances]. The power of the habitual tendencies of ignorance and non-awareness is a mire difficult to cross. As it is said in the Ḍākinīcaryā: "Covered by the darkness of ignorance, always delighting in pride, and always possessing a malicious mind—none of these know this secret sphere of activity." Because twenty-one thousand six hundred [breaths] have ceased for all sentient beings, the physician is the inseparable great bliss. To attain that unsurpassed fruit of coemergent bliss, meditate on the four joys. "The perfectly clear, complete Buddha" refers to the nature of perfect clarity, which is clear as both dharma and rūpa. That itself is the complete Buddha. In the Bhagavān’s untainted wisdom, the Teacher is the bindu of great bliss. In the haṃ syllable at the crown, the source, are the activities of the winds of beings. The Guru, the supreme method, ignites the fire and wind; their non-dual union is great bliss. The four joys of the great samaya are the wisdom that knows reality itself. The objects and subjects appearing to the five sense faculties and their intentions are the manifestations.
Through the withdrawal [of the senses], the signs are attained; that is called "Supreme Knowledge." The Blessed One is the meaning of realization; the wisdom body is the fourth body. It is not a body of the fourth [empowerment] that has degenerated. The uṣṇīṣa of great bliss and the syllable Haṃ at the forehead are in the form of the great letter E. From the syllable Vaṃ, the garland of Kāli is explained as the "Lord of Speech." The great drop of the wisdom uṣṇīṣa is self-arisen and does not depend on causes. It is uncreated and utterly transcendent; it is the supreme merit known by oneself. From the presence of Dārikapa: "That wisdom which is unborn is like the center of the stainless sky. From the expansion of bliss abiding in the body, Dārikapa has now found it." Thus he spoke. From the Mañjuśrī-nor-rtse-tiṅ-ṅe-’dzin: "The non-dual wisdom is the support of bliss; it is the expansion of the liṅga of the Sattva. Its name is the coemergent great bliss." From the many tantras of the Tathāgataguhyaka: "It is taught as the supreme, sublime accomplishment. Its meaning is profound, difficult to realize, and unchanging; it is also the object of accomplishment in the Vajrayāna." As for the meaning "vast field," it pervades all coemergent entities. Through the other [empowerment] obtained by the peerless fourth empowerment, the great peace is Mahāmudrā, which causes the Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas to tremble. The first joy is the hero; the middle is supreme joy; and at the end is the virtuous joy-free coemergent. At the time of hearing the past, the Buddhas spoke it; hearing what the Guru spoke is the experience. At the time of meditating on the future, the Buddhas will also speak it. Thus said Lūipa. From the Mañjuśrī-nor-rtse-tiṅ-ṅe-’dzin: "The non-dual wisdom is the support of bliss; it is the expansion of the liṅga of the Sattva. Its name is the coemergent great bliss." From the many tantras of the Tathāgataguhyaka: "It is taught as the supreme, sublime accomplishment. Its meaning is profound, difficult to realize, and unchanging; it is also the object of accomplishment in the Vajrayāna." As for the meaning "vast field," it pervades all coemergent entities. Through the other [empowerment] obtained by the peerless fourth empowerment, the great peace is Mahāmudrā, which causes the Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas to tremble. The first joy is the hero; the middle is supreme joy; and at the end is the virtuous joy-free coemergent. At the time of hearing the past, the Buddhas spoke it; hearing what the Guru spoke is the experience. At the time of meditating on the future, the Buddhas will also speak it. Thus said Lūipa. From the Mañjuśrī-nor-rtse-tiṅ-ṅe-’dzin: "The non-dual wisdom is the support of bliss; it is the expansion of the liṅga of the Sattva. Its name is the coemergent great bliss." From the many tantras of the Tathāgataguhyaka: "It is taught as the supreme, sublime accomplishment. Its meaning is profound, difficult to realize, and unchanging; it is also the object of accomplishment in the Vajrayāna." As for the meaning "vast field," it pervades all coemergent entities. Through the other [empowerment] obtained by the peerless fourth empowerment, the great peace is Mahāmudrā, which causes the Ś
It is the experience of meditation. The present is the perfect Buddha; through contemplation, its meaning is realized. That which has been taught again and again is the experience of the Vajrayāna. It is the teaching given to oneself by oneself. The great tantra is the continuous flow of great bliss; it is the hidden suchness. It is the manifest realization of the magical net, where the channels and drops are interconnected. The great Vajradhara is the wisdom body; the holder of secret mantra clearly maintains the five wisdoms of great bliss. The immeasurable ones are the specific paths; according to the word, they are the Universal Radiance. Until it is seen, the supreme restraint of the winds is the song; please explain that which is sung. Thus, the mind is satisfied by the song. In that way, one realizes oneself and is blissful. The Protector, the perfect Buddha of all, [teaches] the supreme unchanging wisdom, which ends with the fourth drop. It is the secret of all perfect Buddhas; it is the six branches of union. Retention is the holding of the drop; it causes the wisdom of the four joys to expand. Definite emergence is born from the syllable Haṃ. Up to the maṇḍala of the navel, it should be clearly shown to sentient beings just as it is. By the union of my two winds, I hold the drop with firm intention. From that, Mahāmudrā is attained. To sever the suffering of the decline of afflictions without exception, and to abandon the forms of ignorant conceptualization without exception, one relies on the reality. Just as it is in the inconceivable, the afflictions are the path of the branches of awakening. Furthermore, from the Buddhakapāla:
"Since there is no sin in the three realms greater than being free from desire, therefore, my son, you should always apply yourself diligently to desire." Thus it was said. Sentient beings abide as the bindu (drop). Furthermore, from the Saṃpuṭa: "In this, there is nothing to be removed, and not the slightest thing to be added. Look truly at the truth itself; seeing the truth, one is liberated." Thus it was said. He shows that it should be explained to those who desire it. In the branch of the maṇi of the secret empowerment, by means of the vajra, one is unshakable. Thus, E-vaṃ are method and wisdom; the Tathāgata has ascended upward. Having offered a prayer to the mind of great bliss, and having joined the palms of method and wisdom, bowing the body, through the yoga of the stars, he sat before [the Buddha] and realized it. Thus, by relying on the dhūtī, through the purification of the sixteen joys, the sixteen verses of the request are concluded. This is the first chapter, the Chapter of the Request.
The second chapter is spoken again: "For the sake of training childish beings, to certain people such as the Teacher, the great meaning is explained here." Then, "The Blessed One Śākyamuni"—by this, Śākyamuni is the Great Vairocana, the Vajra-holder. From the Arali, Śuddhodana is the method; Mahāmāyā is the wisdom; Amoghasiddhi is Vajrasattva. Supreme joy is great bliss. The Blessed One is the Great Seal (mahāmudrā). The perfection is the completion of the uṣṇīṣa and bindu. The sixfold retinue of Buddhas is wisdom. The supreme among bipeds is the two truths. Alternatively, the uṣṇīṣa and the maṇi are the two. From his own mouth, the excellent tongue—
To explain the meaning of this: through the arising of wisdom that pervades the entire world, one sees the ultimate sign of the dhūtī of wisdom—a black line, finer than the finest. This is the vision of the radiating saṃbhogakāya. Furthermore, first from the Buddha, the ten signs are taught: "smoke, mirage, fireflies, and fire," and so forth. Through the attainment of the signs of the long and the conceptual, the intellect becomes vast. Having made day and night perfectly continuous, it is said in the Cakrasaṃvara: "When familiarity becomes stable, a clear appearance will be seen directly." By the application of the tongue-tip, for as long as one desires, the tongue will grow; at that time, one should also view the three realms. Thus it is said. The three worlds are body, speech, and mind; the three channels are the illuminators themselves. The four Māras—the aggregates, afflictions, death, and the son of the gods—are the enemies, the Māras and so forth, the afflictions. The subduers are the bliss, wind, and bindu elements. The path of unsubdued sentient beings is the three downward-looking channels, the three lower realms. Through the increase of defilements, one wanders in saṃsāra. Then, the three non-leaking wisdoms are the coemergent purifiers. Having shown the smile, the four joys arise. Brahmā is the path of the central channel; Speech is the path of the upward-moving wind; the melodious sound of the cooling bliss-wind arises. Having filled the three worlds, it is said that through the expansion of the sixteen channels, the coemergent pervades the three gates. In the concentration of Vajrapāṇi, the Great Powerful One is coemergent bliss. Through the gradual arrival, the four joys expand.
Regarding the secret empowerment at the vajra jewel, having spoken again, it reaches the ultimate and then returns to its place. "Possessing great compassion" means that all is pervaded by great bliss. Appearances arise just as they are, like one's own reflection. The winds that conceptualize beings are blocked for the sake of benefit. You, who possess the enjoyments of the five consorts, have a wisdom body, a vajra body. Mañjuśrī is the element of the bindu; the name is the joy of the moment. The great meaning is non-conceptual great bliss, the purifier free from conceptual elaboration. All bondage and liberation are suchness. The clearing of sins refers to the four root downfalls, such as taking life; they do not stain it. As Tilopa said: "Whatever rests upon the golden slopes of Mount Meru, having abandoned its own nature, appears as gold. Likewise, through the yoga that realizes the unborn, having abandoned the nature of things, Mahāmudrā [is realized]." Thus he spoke. Now, the yogi who strives to hear the supreme unchanging wisdom is the glorious Vajradhara himself. "Excellent! Realize the wisdom of the afflictions." To Vajrapāṇi, who has accomplished the union, "Excellent! You are the meditation." The secret is the place of the jewel. The lord holds bliss at the navel; the coemergent is experienced. Therefore, at the time of the third [empowerment], I have fully shown it to you. You, with non-conceptual one-pointedness, listen with your mind and meditate. The Bhagavān is the bhaga, the place of the consort; because faults have subsided, it is "excellent." Furthermore, from the Hevajra: [it is said].
"Extremely beautiful, with wide eyes,
Adorned with form and youth,
This vajra maiden, who is your own empowerment
And great compassion—take her,
And understand how to engage in the conduct."
Thus it was said. This is the request to ascend.
Through the purification of the six cakras and channels,
Including the Great Uṣṇīṣa and so forth,
The six verses are again spoken. This is the second chapter of the extensive commentary on the repeated verses.
Regarding the chapter on beholding the six families:
"Then the Blessed One, Śākyamuni..."
The Blessed One is bliss; Śākya is the great emptiness itself;
The Sage is the jewel that does not pass away.
By what is he beheld? He is beheld by that.
Upon what is he beheld? Upon the six families.
How is he beheld? As the six cakras.
He is beheld as the six Buddhas.
All the great families of Secret Mantra
Pervade the centers of the six cakras.
The luminosity is the bodhicitta,
Which does not move from the opening of the jewel.
Akṣobhyavajra is the innate joy;
Vajradhṛk is the indestructible.
The secret mantra is the form of the syllables at the navel channel;
The vidyāmantra is the radiating maṇḍala wheel.
The family of the Holder is the Father;
The navel cakra is Jinajik,
The Great Vairocana.
The three families are rajas, tamas, and sattva;
Vipaśyin is without characteristics.
The first Buddha, the Blessed One,
Is Amitābha, Aralok;
The worldly navel maṇḍala,
And the supramundane heart itself.
The family is Ratnasambhava;
The throat cakra is Ratnasambhava itself,
Ratnadhṛk, the illuminator.
In the fluid of the world’s melting, the illuminator is the appearance of great bliss. The great family, the body of wisdom that accomplishes the purpose, performs the activity of descending from the syllable Haṃ. Adorned with emptiness, he is Prajñādhṛk, the Great Seal Vajrasattva. The supreme family, the condensed family, is liberated in great bliss. The sixteen drops are fully complete; pure at the end of the fifteenth. That itself is the Great Uṣṇīṣa, and the Jewel is also that very thing. He is empowered as the King of Dharma; regarding that, the Teacher gazes with great vision. He gazes upon that which possesses the six: the locations, the aggregates, the joys, the actions, the deities, and the wisdoms. Through the nature of method and insight, two verses are purified. This is the extensive commentary on the gaze upon the six families; it is the third chapter.
Then, regarding the Māyājāla, in the chapter on manifest awakening, the Buddha, the Lord of Speech, spoke these verses: "However many networks of channels there are, they are condensed into the six cakras. These are the six kings of secret mantra, possessing the various Vajradhṛks. They are present in the six cakras." Regarding "arising non-dually," this refers to the conventional and the ultimate. The conventional consists of the imputed and the dependent; the ultimate is the thoroughly established. In the inseparability of non-existence and truth, "arising" is the arising of the three bodies. Alternatively, it is the nature of the dharmadhātu, free from the four extremes. Internally, the two are the rasanā and lalanā; since these are the extremes of permanence and nihilism, "non-existence" is the avadhūtī itself. In the unarisen nature of a single taste—
The elements are supreme, unchanging great bliss; that very reality is the nature of the unborn. What was spoken of here is beyond thought and expression. To explain the meaning of "A Ā I Ī U Ū E AI O AU AṂ AḤ": the four neuter vowels are not explained because this tantra teaches the unborn. Relying upon these twelve syllables is taught as the twelve grounds. The places, near-places, fields, near-fields, chandohas, near-chandohas, meeting places, near-meeting places, drinking places, near-drinking places, charnel grounds, and near-charnel grounds: the six short vowels are the first, and the six long vowels are the near-places. Engaging with the six cakras, abiding, enjoying, and dissolving—by these four sets, the winds are arrested and the supreme is attained. If one asks, "What are those grounds of the path of attainment?" they are the twelve [vowels] beginning with A: Universal Light, Nectar Light, Space Light, Vajra Light, Jewel Light, Lotus Light, Flower Light, Incomparable Light, Supreme Light, Insight Light, Omniscience, and Individual Awareness. The first three short vowels are the joy of the three doors; the first three long vowels are supreme joy. The second three short vowels are the joy beyond joy; the three long vowels are coemergent joy. The nature of these four joys is the perfections; this is the explanation of the meaning of the unborn. Regarding that, the manifestation of birth is: sthito hṛdi (abiding in the heart), tilaka (the drop), jñānamūrti (the embodiment of great bliss), rahaṃ buddho (the Buddha who possesses abandonment and realization), buddhānāṃ (of the Buddhas), dhūtī (the central channel), tryadhvavarttinām (of those who abide in the three times), and vāyu-traya-bhāvanā (meditation on the three winds).
Oṃ vajratīkṣṇā means the jewel that cuts through the wind of Akṣobhya. Duḥkha-saṃsāra-ccheda is Vairocana residing within the navel. Prajñā is Amitābha, the insight. Jñānamūrtaye is at the heart. Jñānakāya is Amoghasiddhi, the element of the bindu residing at the forehead. Vāgīśvara is Ratnasambhava, the aggregate of Dharma residing at the throat. Arapacana is Vajrasattva, the Blessed One residing at the uṣṇīṣa. Yate namaḥ means homage to him.
Alternatively, if one explains the meaning of the syllables of Arapacana: through the realization of unchanging wisdom, one relies on the great medicine for desire and the like. By partaking of the five nectars, one attains accomplishment. The secret conduct and the conduct of the families are Samantabhadra. This should be analyzed by the yogic awareness. This is the oral instruction of Indrabhūti. Thus, by those three verses, the body, speech, and mind are completely purified. This is the extensive commentary on the mantra, the fourth chapter.
The fifth chapter is the explanation of the Great Maṇḍala of the Vajra Expanse. The aggregates and elements are the pure dharmadhātu. In this way, regarding the Great Mudrā: the Buddha, the Blessed One, is the liṅga; he is the constant expansion of bliss, Samantabhadra, the perfect Buddha, the one who increases wealth. From A arises the Perfection of Wisdom. In the Great Mudrā of Clear Light, the appearance of the reflection is Māmakī. A is the supreme of all syllables; it is the neuter vajra recitation. The supreme recitation that stops the winds is Tārā. Regarding the qualities of the syllable of great meaning, it bestows all sublime things. The fire of caṇḍālī arises from within.
Furthermore, the Hevajra Tantra states:
"By igniting the inner heat (caṇḍālī) at the navel,
The five Tathāgatas are incinerated;
Having also incinerated Locanā and the others,
The moon [of amṛta] drips from the syllable Haṃ."
The Great Life-force, the Perfector, Pāṇḍaravāsinī,
Is the limit where verbal expression ceases.
The abandonment is the stable Great Bliss, Locanā,
The supreme cause of all speech,
The wisdom (jñāna) of the inseparable bliss and emptiness.
All words are the forms of the channels, winds, and syllables;
By reading them through inner heat, bliss and emptiness are clarified.
That itself is Vajrayoginī;
To experience it is the offering.
If one offers vast external substances
And dedicates them with the three excellences,
Because the qualities of this and future lives follow,
It is extremely difficult for it to become a cause for liberation.
Not to mention liberation, even becoming a cause for the higher realms
Is hindered by the distraction of meditative concentration and its practice.
Therefore, that is not the "Great Offering."
Consuming nectar and so forth, and enjoying the objects of desire,
Are also not the cause of the lineage;
Thus, they are not the Great Offering.
The Great Offering is the realization of the reality of the five poisons;
It is the singular wisdom of the third empowerment,
The great wisdom of insight (prajñājñāna).
The great wisdom of the three times of desire
Brings immeasurable joy to the three doors
Of fortunate sentient beings with the karmic potential.
The Great Offering is as described above;
The "Great Hatred" is the arresting of the winds.
By that, bliss is stirred and becomes non-conceptual;
The sound of all afflictions to be abandoned
Is not moved by this greatness—this is Akṣobhya.
The Great Offering is the Great Delusion;
By entering the path of the dhūtī through vital effort,
Delusion is the mind;
Regarding insight, it is the manifestation that dispels delusion.
The great offering is the same as above.
The great wrath is the destruction of decline.
Alternatively, regarding the wisdom of the "beyond joy,"
The great wrath is the coemergent.
The great ferocity is Amoghasiddhi.
The great offering is the great desire.
Through bliss, the mind is gathered and non-conceptuality expands.
Because it dispels all desires, it is the Jewel.
In passion itself, there is no passion.
The five, such as desire, are indivisible;
The sixth is Vajradhara, the Kālacakra.
The great desire is the bliss of the body.
The great bliss is whatever is bliss.
The great joy is the bliss of the mind.
The great satisfaction is the bliss of wisdom.
Furthermore, that which is non-erroneous, the state of sleep,
The dream, and the great dream,
Are the emanation, enjoyment, and great bliss of reality itself.
One experiences joy as the four joys.
Through the great dhāraṇī, the bindu expands the liṅga.
The body is also the great luminosity;
It is the expansion of the objects of the saṃbhogakāya.
That is the supreme joy of the body.
Great in color and expanded in qualities,
The great body is the expansion of the dhūtī.
That is the supreme joy of speech.
Great in name and the vehicle of the supreme secret,
Vast and pervasive, it is the joy of the blissful mind.
The "center" is the essence of bliss;
The "circumference" is surrounded by channels, bindus, and winds.
The great nature of phenomena is vast,
Arising like an illusion.
That is the supreme joy of wisdom.
That is the four joys of the saṃbhogakāya.
The great weapon of insight is emptiness;
The "holder" is the destruction of all entities.
Born from the lotus, supported by the hundred
Great afflictions and actions.
The joy of the body is the joy of separation from bliss. The supreme hook is the wisdom of desire; the bliss of the fourfold passion is the joy of separation from speech. The great renown is the sound of fire and wind; the clear appearance of fame is wisdom; this is the joy of separation from the mind. The great appearance is the vajra method; the great clarity is the wisdom consort. Through non-dual union, bliss expands; this is the wisdom joy of separation. The wise are skilled in the method of bliss and emptiness; they hold the great illusory appearance-emptiness. This is the innate joy of the body. The great illusion is the four mudrās; because there is no accomplishment, it is the accomplishment of the goal. This is the innate joy of speech. In the great illusion of the bhaga, the joy of joy is the experience of bliss. This is the innate joy of the mind. The great illusion is the channel wheels; the magician is attachment. This is the innate joy of wisdom. From the uṣṇīṣa to the vajra-jewel, from the twelve joys of the three joys, the four joys of ascending joy are reached. In the center where the two are equal and abide, it is bliss, non-conceptual, and free from characteristics. To the subject of the innate, it is taught that "separation" is called conceptualization. These are the sixteen types of joy. For a detailed explanation, look to the Vimalaprabhā. The great benefactor gives externally and internally; the principal lady, the graceful one, bestows the innate. This is superior to worldly giving. The great discipline is the bodhicitta; holding it is the peerless jewel. At its peak is the supreme, unimpaired garland. The great patience gathers the mind through bliss.
Holding is non-emission, which is stability. Great diligence is the winds of the right and left [channels]. Subduing them into the dhūtī is the dance of leaping and moving. Great concentration is bliss and emptiness; the flower of meditative absorption is viewed with one-pointedness. Great insight is emptiness. The body is the substance of the darkness of ignorance; holding it is grasping the lamp of the antidote. The Great Powerful One is the accomplishment of the winds, possessing the incense that travels through space. By means of great skillful means, bliss increases, and it is anointed so as to pervade all parts of the body. Through the aspiration of consuming the equalized fluid, the dharmas are the eight similes, the lady who dwells on the earth. The ocean of the fire and wind of primordial wisdom (jñāna) resides in the bindu and the conch-palace; it is the purity of the sky-farers (khecarī). Great love is the arising of the knowable as bliss. One realizes the immeasurable nature free from conceptual elaboration. Great compassion is for those with attachment; the supreme intellect experiences bliss and emptiness. Great insight is the Great Seal (mahāmudrā) which is non-referential in any respect. The one possessing great intellect is the four joys. The "Great Sage" is from the glorious Kālacakra: the hero is the expansion of the touch of passion. The ten states are asserted as: extreme passion, trembling, moving, agitation, mental agitation, intoxication, and fainting. By applying that internally, there are the ten signs of individual withdrawal. The great skillful means is the object in the twenty-four [sites]; pervaded by bliss, it is the hero. "Possessing the power of great miraculous ability" means the winds are brought under control. "Great force" is the bodhicitta not declining. "Great speed" is pervading all the channels. "Greatly renowned for great miraculous power" refers to the mundane and supramundane.
Through bliss, one is able to inspire both self and others. By means of great power, one is not stained by the harms of others, even those resulting from the five crimes of immediate retribution and the like. Furthermore, from the Vajrayāna: "Even outcastes, bamboo-workers, and others who commit the five crimes of immediate retribution and so forth—even those who seek to kill—will become buddhas in this very life." Thus it is said. The mountain of existence, the sixty-two views of the transitory collection, is a great mass difficult to destroy. That which destroys it is the great bliss free from conceptual elaboration. If one asks what the signs of attaining great bliss are: at the site of the channel of the firm jewel, the great vajra liṅga expands. The one who holds it is Vajrabhairava. He is the Great Fierce One; the Great Ferocious One who destroys the three poisons. The Great Terrifier who terrifies the eternal; the Terrifier who destroys nihilism. The Protector, the Supreme Family, the Great Mudrā. There is nothing greater than that Great One. In the Guru of Great Bliss, one maintains the samaya of the bliss of Secret Mantra. The supreme greatness is the supreme method. One abides in the way of the Great Vehicle. Thus it is said: by this method, one abides in the way because one uplifts this world. Then, the way of the Great Vehicle is Heruka and Nairātmyā. The supreme is the union of the vajra and the lotus. At the crown, forehead, throat, heart, navel, secret place, and the tip of the jewel—through the fourteen movements of going and coming, the fourteen verses are purified. The vajra body itself is the vajra expanse. Experiencing the bliss of the seven sites of arrival and departure, that is the deity; therefore, it is the maṇḍala. Eight hundred and twelve reside there.
This is the fifth chapter of the Extensive Commentary on the Vajradhātu.
Chapter Six: The Dharmadhātu.
The maṇḍala of Vairocana is the Buddha who grants the prayer of great bliss. Vairocana is the great luminosity, the Great Sage of unchanging bliss. Possessing the Great Sage through three hundred doors, in the great system of Secret Mantra, bliss and emptiness, the path of the sensory qualities arising from that, in the four empowerments of the great system of Secret Mantra, possessing the nature of the four knowledges, the attainment of the ten perfections. Thus, the ten substances of the vase empowerment are bestowed. To the three, the three substances are bestowed as generosity. The two are the union and the stable holding of bodhicitta. Discipline is the absence of conceptualization, and patience. Diligence is not being destroyed even by a mere hair. The immovable bliss-emptiness is concentration. Wisdom is from the mudrā of the goddess, found from the mouth of the Guru. If the method is not realized by the above, then by relying on the ten karaṇas, the methods of arresting, reversing, pervading, and so forth. Furthermore, from the Ocean of Vows: "The universal kissing, the kuṇḍali, the tip of the nose, the tip of the nāda, the perfect union, and saying 'siṃ', rubbing, and acting like a man—by dividing these eight into eight each, they become sixty-four actions." Thus it is said. The aspiration is not to be separated from great bliss. The power is the reversal of what is difficult to reverse. Primordial wisdom is the coemergent. By attaining the ten perfections, the empowerment is complete. Furthermore, from the presence of Kampa: "In the monastery of the great charnel ground, when the Lord of Yogins poured lion’s milk into golden vessels, [the milk] flowed back and forth."
The first two are through the dispelling of poverty and the attainment of coolness; the second, third, and fourth are through passion, the absence of anger, and the absence of laziness. The fifth and sixth are likewise through one-pointedness and freedom from conceptualization. The others are the cessation, the taking up, the pervasive, the abiding, the yogic exercises, the methods of the winds, the power, the places and near-places, and so forth, the twelve aspirations, and suchness. The fourth is the abiding in the inseparability of bliss and its opposite; this ground appears clearly to me through the kindness of the sublime guru. Thus it was said.
"Abiding in the ten perfections" refers to the subduing of the ten elements: wind, mind, bodhicitta, blood, marrow, bone, flesh, the sense faculties, skin, and so forth—these ten are the stable abiding pervaded by bliss. That itself is asserted as the place and the purity. "The purity of the ten perfections" refers to the purity of object and subject. "The manner of the ten perfections" refers to the ten karaṇas (yogic exercises), the great manner in which bliss and emptiness arise. "The Protector Mahāsukha Heruka, abiding in the ten grounds, the places, the near-places, and so forth, the Īśvara, the non-leaking joy, and wisdom, abides in the ten grounds" refers to the ten karaṇas, adorned by each of the [perfections] such as generosity. "Possessing the nature of the ten pure knowledges" refers to the knowledge of the gazes; from that, the ten signs of attaining purity arise: smoke, mirage, fireflies, blazing light, the blue moon, the pure sky, the drop, the black line, and the nature itself, which is the manifold. This is asserted as the vision of the Sambhogakāya. "The holder of the ten pure knowledges" refers to looking into the aperture of the sky, where the sense faculties and their objects [are unified].
Seeing the single [state] is the six-limbed yoga; it is the bearer of the realization of the signs. From the Glorious Primordial Buddha: "Fixing the mind in space, without blinking the eyes, one enters the vajra path and sees the ten signs." Thus it is said. "The ten aspects are the meaning of the ten meanings" refers to the ten signs mentioned above; through the five eyes, such as the flesh-eye and so forth, one sees the objects and the subject. Regarding "the ten powers of the Lord of Sages": the upward and downward [winds], the pervasive life-force, the nāga, the rūḍhira, the vasu, and the dhanada—these are the pervasive self, the bliss-emptiness. Within the twenty-one thousand [channels] of all, it stops the meaning and acts without exception. "The great one possessing the ten powers" refers to fire, the moon, the sun, the black drop, and the great drop; this is the seeing of the Buddha’s saṃbhogakāya. Furthermore, from the Primordial Buddha: "Life, requisites, birth, and dharma, miraculous power, resolve, aspiration, mind, and wisdom—these are the ten masteries of the accomplishment of the ten signs." Thus it is said. "In the beginningless joy, the non-elaborated self is supreme joy; suchness is the coemergent; the pure self is the joy-free." While experiencing the nature of truth, to the son of the Kalkī who speaks, the unchanging word is the meaning and the sign, joined to great bliss. The son of wisdom acts exactly as the guru has spoken; this is the abandonment of emission. "Showing non-duality as non-dual"—to explain the meaning of this: first is the meditation on conceptualization, and then the non-conceptual arises. To say this is incorrect is like [saying] the cause is similar.
Because a similar result arises, just as rice does not come from millet, from a non-conceptual cause, a non-conceptual result—wisdom—is born. The authentic wisdom is the jewel at the end; abiding therein is the mind of joy, the non-leaking wisdom. The selfless phenomena are inexpressible. With the lion’s roar of the sequential treading, the non-Buddhists who do not know reality are terrified by the sound of emptiness. The all-pervading great bliss is the meaningful power applied through yoga. Just as it flows, it returns to the location of the conch-house; the pervasive great bliss is as swift as thought. The Victorious One is the joy of victory over desire; the victorious wind is the joy of wisdom. Victory over the enemy is ignorance and so forth; victory over dependent origination is the coemergent. The one who turns the six wheels is adorned with drops in the channels. The great power consists of the four armies: the attainment of appearance, the increase of appearance, the stable, and the request for suchness. The seventy-two thousand assemblies are the master, the semen, and wisdom. The assembly is the birth endowed with the three supreme joys. The assembly consists of the three moments; the lord is the signless moment. The assembly consists of the three mudrās; the master is the Great Mudrā. Regarding those eighteen phenomena, one who possesses empowerment is "Empowered." Regarding the great power of the precious great bliss, one always holds it without decline. Having attained the ten signs of the great method of suchness, one is not dependent on others and is uncontrived. The lord of speech is able to grant the supreme boon.
Regarding the phrase "the words are the specific perfect knowledges" and "the master of words is skilled in speech": the activities such as the eight great accomplishments arise through the power of words. The knowledge of etymologies is the mastery of words. The expansion of insight into infinite words is the specific perfect knowledge of eloquence. The conventional truth of words is the maṇḍala of the deities; speaking the truth is the ultimate truth—these are the four aspects of the completion stage. Furthermore, from the Ḍākinīcaryā: "I have always taught that everything relies upon the two truths; for the sake of the yogi’s accomplishment, meditation is made manifest. The yogis of the tantras truly rely upon the two truths." Thus it is said. The four truths are the teaching of suffering and so forth; the teacher is the teaching of the four joys. Irreversibility is the accomplishment of the winds; the non-returner is the stability of the drops. The guide is the wind of self-awareness; through hūṃ and ha, the bliss-wind is drawn in. The Pratyekabuddha is the expansion of the elements; the rhinoceros-like is the avadhūtī. The manner is nirvāṇa; renunciation is perfect Buddhahood. The various vehicles are the various paths; whatever arises appears accordingly. "The great elements are the single cause" refers to the five elements; from those great elements, all phenomena are born. "Cause" refers to the causes and conditions themselves. "Single" refers to the fact that through phenomena and the possessor of phenomena, this very thing becomes the cause and condition. "Phenomena" are the elements, and "the possessor of phenomena" is consciousness; there are six of those. The arising of cognition is also a phenomenon; when there is cognition itself, what is it that knows? The mind that is without cognition is the clear light.
Therefore, the ultimate is nirvāṇa; it is the meditative absorption of non-perception and cessation. The object of accomplishment in the Mahāyāna is as follows: by focusing upon the three realms of existence in the manner of a magical illusion, one takes up the qualities of the Sage upon the path. Conventional saṃsāra and nirvāṇa are both composed of the primary elements and their derivatives. To assert that these are truly real in an ultimate sense is the system of the Hearers and the outsiders.
To assert that what appears is consciousness and to maintain that clarity is the ultimate truth is the position of the other masters of yoga. Since there is not the slightest difference between saṃsāra and nirvāṇa, the conventional appears like a magical illusion, while the ultimate is the very absence of intrinsic nature. This is asserted as the non-dual Mahāmudrā.
Within the activity of the three vajras, all phenomena—both the primary elements and their derivatives—reside. In the Vajra Body: solidity is earth, fluidity is water, heat is fire, movement is wind, and that which provides space is space. The aspect of the Vajra Speech consists of the vowels, which are the element of wisdom-wisdom, and the consonants, from which the five elements arise.
The five consonants ka, ca, ṭa, ta, pa are earth. The five kha, cha, ṭha, tha, pha are water. The five ga, ja, ḍa, da, ba are fire. The five gha, jha, ḍha, dha, bha are wind. The five ṅa, ña, ṇa, na, ma are space. Ka, ca, ṭa, ta, pa are wisdom. Because they arise from the throat, feet, crown, lips, and teeth, they are space, wind, fire, water, and earth.
The five a, ku, e, kaṃ, ha are the space element, arising from the throat sound. The five i, cu, kṣa, ya, śa are the wind element, arising from the palate sound. The five ṛ, ṭu, ra, ṣa, ar are the fire element, arising from the crown sound. The five u, pu, pa, va, o are the water element, arising from the lip sound. The five ḷ, tu, la, sa, al are...
The sound of the teeth is the earth element. From the five sources of origin, the flower of the elemental power ripens into the five poisons of color and syllable. Regarding the examination of the sound of the first syllable: vowels are enemies of vowels, and consonants are enemies of consonants; it is held that a consonant is its own enemy. There is no harm when consonants and vowels are method and wisdom. If a vowel becomes an enemy, it is death; if a consonant becomes an enemy, one is afflicted by disease. If a limb becomes an enemy, it robs one of glory; if the wangthang (personal power) is discordant, there is no gain. When these are in harmony, one has long life, is free of disease, and possesses wealth. For the ordinary, the result is neutral and not clear. Water is the enemy of wind, wind is the enemy of earth, earth is the enemy of fire, and fire is the enemy of water. Space is the friend of all; it is harmonious. Earth is the friend of water, water is the friend of earth, fire is the friend of wind, and wind is the friend of fire. Wind is the servant of water, fire is the servant of earth, water is the servant of fire, and earth is the servant of wind. Enemies cause harm, while friends provide benefit. Servants benefit in return but also cause harm. The ordinary hold that all three are absent. The great elements are the life-force, the minor elements are the body, the limbs are glory, and the conditions are the wangthang. If they become one, they should be known as four through their specific functions. When the life-force is harmonious, life is long; when the body is harmonious, one is free of disease; when glory is harmonious, one possesses splendor; and when the wangthang is harmonious, enjoyments increase. When they are discordant, life is short, diseases are many, there is no mind, no glory, and enjoyments decline. The ordinary hold that there is neither benefit nor harm. Servants harm one and benefit the other. Space, the two, the expanse, and wisdom are excellent. The three are the supreme inseparability; the fourth is that which destroys.
The two winds are the inferior prāṇāyāma; the three become the excellent wisdom. The two fires are beneficial but short-lived methods; the three are a turmoil of various sufferings. The two waters are excellent, and the three are also suitable. The fourth is entirely the same as the above. The two earths are excellent; the third is suitable; the fourth is excellent; the fifth is to be abandoned. One should know the mutual benefit and harm through their power. When powers are equal, they are glory, charisma, and life-force. One should know the mutual [effects] through the power of the three. When that declines, one should always compete. That which is beneficial should be done by its friend; that which is harmful should be done by its enemy. Regarding life, illness, glory, and friends, as well as life-force, body, glory, and charisma—one acts with their respective antidotes. Earth is yellow and square; water is white and circular; fire is red and triangular; wind is blue and crescent-shaped; space is the friend of all, devoid of color and shape. It is difficult for that [space] alone to be beneficial or harmful. Each element has six activities: striking, descending, burning, satisfying, healing, and pleasing. Each should be adorned with a bindu. To illustrate with the names of the lamps: OṂ HTĀḤ PHAṬ is striking; OṂ YTĀḤ HŪṂ is descending; OṂ RTĀḤ BAUṢAṬ is burning; OṂ VTAḤ NAMAḤ is satisfying; OṂ LTAḤ SVĀHĀ is healing; OṂ AṬĀṂ VAṢAṬ is pleasing. The elements are in a state of flourishing, decline, or equilibrium. One should understand each of the two pairs—strengthening and weakening—from both sides. Regarding the twenty-five minor elements, there are twenty-five according to shape and color, twenty-five according to time, direction, and affliction; one should know them through the desire to abandon or attain.
In Śambhala, Siṅghala, Jambudvīpa, and countless other lands, whatever letters, phonemes, and names exist, by knowing them to have arisen from the five elements, one understands all sounds. Those who practice deity yoga without knowing the reality of the mantras of the glorious Kālacakra are like those who wish to eat the sky. Therefore, for the benefit of mantra practitioners, I have here briefly extracted the meaning of the Stainless Light.
Furthermore, from the Hevajra: "Through the union of the bola and kaṅkāla, the solid touch is the earth element; the moist is water, the heat is fire; the movement is the wind element, and bliss is space—thus it is completely surrounded by the five. The monk is free from afflictions; the Arhat is the bliss of desire. The 'defilements' are the exhaustion of urine and semen. By being free from desire for the five sensory qualities, one attains the wisdom of the third empowerment. At the time of the fourth, the senses are subdued and bliss is found without emission. Attaining fearlessness is the absence of saṃsāra; becoming cool is the exhaustion of passion. Being 'unpolluted' is the pure essence."
Also, from the Cakrasaṃvara: "Having completely abandoned the desire of desire, and having understood those to be tamed, one abandons that which arises from letters. Having become Brahmā himself, one subsequently becomes like space." Thus it is said.
"Knowledge" is the three-born [Brahmin]; "feet" refers to the wisdom-knowledge (prajñājñāna); "endowed" is the wisdom of the fourth. The "Sugata-essence" is the knower of the world, the supreme realization of the path that purifies afflictions.
Not grasping at "mine" is joy; it is the action mudrā, without grasping at "I." The supreme joy is the dharma mudrā, abiding in the manner of the two truths. Thus, regarding the innate commitment mudrā, one reaches the far shore of saṃsāra. The joy beyond joy is the mahāmudrā; having completed what was to be done, one dwells on dry land. One gradually abides in the fourth [state]. All phenomena are mere cognition; one realizes the innate wisdom of definitive clarity. With the weapon of insight—emptiness—one destroys the afflictions and secondary afflictions. The sublime guru is Vajradhara. Regarding the eighty-four thousand dharmas, the Dharma King is the e-vam of all phenomena, the father and mother of all Buddhas. Clearly, the ā is endowed with the kāli; from that, all phenomena are born. As it is said in the Ḍākinīsamudra: "If one desires the vajra dharma apart from the āli and kāli, this will not be the result; it is like threshing chaff." Thus it is said. The world is non-realization and wrong realization. Seeing the reality of what is called "appearance," the supreme is innate wisdom. From the haṃ of the Lord of Dharma, the self-consecration is the King of Dharma. The excellent path is that which possesses passion; it is the enhancement of conduct and non-conduct. One attains the supreme unchanging accomplishment of Amoghasiddhi. Regarding "the fulfillment of intention," because the action mudrā is a vessel of suffering, one should abandon it and, through the wisdom mudrā, manifest Vajrasattva. One should abandon all bliss based on the conceptual woman; relying on the non-conceptual six-limbed [yoga], one relies on Vārāhī and Nairātmyā.
One attains the wisdom of the inexhaustible expanse. This is the Great Vajradhara. As it is said: "By whatever conceptualization, whatever entity is conceptualized, that very thing is the nature of the thoroughly imagined; it is without essence, for it does not exist." Thus it was said.
If one asks, "Is it then only that which is to be abandoned?" [the answer is:] "Because there is an inexhaustible method within the sublime expanse of reality, it is taught to those of inferior intellect." Furthermore, from the Nāga-āveśa: "If pacification does not bring benefit, the Tathāgata himself emanates as a wrathful deity. In whatever way they are subdued, the agent of this is Vajrasattva." Thus it was said.
Regarding merit and great compassion: "Those possessing [merit] are the fools of attachment. The mind of bliss in which merit does not leak is the method of the Great Mudrā." Furthermore: "Great wisdom abides within the body; all desire liberation through realizing this. The method for realizing that is merit and wisdom; all agree on this, yet those unskilled in method [stray]. Because merit is accumulated externally and wisdom is fabricated by the intellect, liberation is far off. Here, the great maṇḍala of merit is pleased and increased by the offerings of the essences. Through the expansion of bliss and emptiness, one becomes a perfect Buddha. Where else could such merit exist? The accumulations of wisdom are that very [state]. Therefore, in all the tantras, asceticism and hardships are not required here. By enjoying the five sensory qualities as one pleases, accomplishment is attained." Thus it was said.
The jewel of wisdom is non-referential bliss; the element of the bindu born of haṃ is the great source of that very [wisdom].
Furthermore, the Tantra states:
"By the application of binding the winds,
All conceptual thoughts are incinerated.
The application to non-conceptual wisdom
Is supreme, relying upon the methods of the body."
Thus it is said. "Possessing wisdom within oneself,
This is the ignorance of not knowing;
Knowing whether or not the wisdom of the other exists,
Or rather, realizing the freedom from extremes.
The two accumulations are gathered."
Thus, from the pores of the skin,
Emanations are projected, capable of benefiting beings.
Without such a mind of bliss, emptiness, and compassion,
Austerities such as fasting and the like
Are like a turtle trying to break through the shell of the ocean.
The constant, undecaying, and all-victorious
Seventy-two thousand channels
Expand the nature of great bliss.
The yogi’s three doors are purified.
Furthermore, as it is taught regarding the body:
"Entering into meditative equipoise in mere wisdom
Is explained as 'yoga.'"
Thus it is said. The object of meditation for the four joys of concentration
Is the mindfulness of the winds and channels.
Alternatively, the supreme wise one’s mindfulness of the partless
At the lotus seat of the heart
Is the unmoving, individual self-cognition.
Thus it is said. The youth Sahaja
Is unable to speak of that which is known.
"The supreme, primordial coemergent,
Holder of the three bodies, Vajrasattva,
The nature of the five Buddha bodies."
Thus it is said. The non-erroneous and the erroneous,
The dream and the great dream,
And the waking state—these five states
Are the nature of the five Buddha bodies.
In the all-pervading lord, the coemergent,
The five wisdoms abide in the five states;
He is endowed with pure wisdom.
Furthermore, from the Hevajra:
"By joining the bola and the kakkola..."
This is applied here: "The five buddhas are the five families; the five crowns are the signs of the purified aggregates, and one is the holder of the crossed vajra. The five eyes are the five signs of the night; by looking, one holds to non-attachment." Furthermore, from the Jālapañjara: "First, the appearance of a deer in the expanse; the second sign has the form of smoke; the third is like fireflies; the fourth is like a cloudless sky; the fifth sign is the arising of one's own appearance, which is utterly luminous." Thus it is said. "The progenitor of all buddhas" refers to seeing the nirmāṇakāya, saṃbhogakāya, and so forth. Seeing the signs of the day, one attains the six superknowledges. "The sons of the buddhas, the bodhicitta, generate the supreme holy one." Regarding the maṇḍala from which existence arises, the absence of a place of birth is the completion stage. As it is said: "Abiding in the generation stage and meditating on the completion stage, the buddhas, possessing skillful means, explain it to be like the steps of a ladder." Thus it is said.
"From the dharma, the bhaga arises; by placing the baṃ, existence is cleared away. The sole, firm, and hard vajra-nature" refers to coemergent wisdom (sahaja-jñāna). "As soon as that reality is born, the master of beings accomplishes the welfare of all. Through maturation and the possession of the yantra, that which is self-arisen from space—these are the eight signs seen, as follows: the great fire of insight-wisdom, the aspect of one's own mind blazing; the great wisdom of Akṣobhyavajra, the great light of Vairocana; the moon-wisdom of Vairocana, the brilliant radiance of wisdom."
The sun is the wisdom jewel.
It arises as the lamp of the wisdom of beings.
Rāhu is the wisdom Amoghasiddhi.
Great majesty is the luminosity.
Lightning is the wisdom of Ananta himself.
The fierce mantra is the sovereign, the king of vidyā-mantras.
It is the wisdom abiding in the drop,
The very nature of Vajrasattva.
The king of secret mantra performs the great purpose.
The wisdom of the blue moon’s appearance
Is asserted to be the glorious Heruka himself.
By the gaze of the great uṣṇīṣa,
One sees the wisdom of the black line.
Kālacakra is the one with the skull-cup;
The wondrous crown is Vajradhara.
He has attained the supreme vision of all.
The lord of space is Tāraṇa,
The quality that displays the manifold.
Furthermore, from the Ādibuddha:
"By the quality of binding Tāraṇa,
Without wavering from the three realms of existence,
One becomes the lord of space,
Displaying the manifold, such as the ten signs."
Thus it is said.
The lord of all buddhas,
Through the appearance of the signs, is the supreme reality.
The yogi who sees such as this
Possesses the great joy of the eyes.
The four gazes are the possessing dharmas;
The various forms are the signs and marks.
The agent is the six branches.
Offering and recitation are the four stages of approach and accomplishment.
The great sage, the Blessed One,
Holds the three families, the abodes, the fields, and the wisdom.
Holding that, there is bliss.
The holder of secret mantra is the yogi;
Holding the secret mantra without the drop declining,
He is always blissful in the great samaya.
The principal is the three channels and the Three Jewels;
Holding that, one holds the internal drop.
The teacher of the three supreme vehicles is the support for coemergent wisdom; it is the lotus, the vehicle, and the parasol. The noose of the meaningful drop is victorious by piercing with the wind. The great vajra noose is the cessation of the winds within the six wheels of the grasper. Having been taken up by the wind, it is called the "great hook and noose of the vajra." Alternatively, the "great noose" refers to the coiled channel below the navel; by means of that wind named Vāsuki, the bodhicitta is drawn up from the dhūtī, and that is what is called the "noose."
The body consists of the twenty-four great sites, such as the forehead and so forth, which are applied to the petals of the lotus in the center of the heart. These are the primary locations, and through the five channels, there are twenty-five verses. This is the sixth chapter of the extensive commentary on the dharmadhātu wisdom of Vairocana.
The seventh chapter, the Vajra Family, consists of eleven verses. First, regarding Vajrabhairava: the vajra is the avadhūtī, and the wind within it is the "Terrifier." It terrifies by destroying conceptualization. The King of Wrath is the limit of the "beyond-joy" [fourth joy]. Regarding the six-faced one of withdrawal and so forth, that terror cuts through conceptualization. The six eyes are the signs of the superknowledges, and the six arms are the signs of the powers. Being "endowed with strength" means that through desire, all attachments are overcome. The skeleton is the white haṃ at the crown; the fangs are the a-shad [vowel stroke] bared. Through the guru’s instructions, one applies the caṇḍālī. Hala hala is the space-wisdom. With the hundred channels of the hundred faces, the hundred faces are the various wisdoms.
Yama is non-dual wisdom; that Slayer destroys dualistic appearance. The King of Obstructors is the King of the Four Māras. Regarding the vajra of authentic wisdom, he is called "Great Force" because he causes terror. The "Vajra Fierce One" refers to body, speech, and mind, as taught in the Guhyasamāja and other tantras. The "Vajra Essence" is the way of the Dharma; the Māyājāla is E and Vaṃ. The "Vajra Liṅga" and "Great-Bellied One" are extensive and very extensive. Born from the vajra action, within the vajra vase, at Jālandhara, adorned with a crown, filled with bliss, the Vajra Self. The Vajra Essence is body, speech, and mind; bliss born from the secret place, like space. Abiding in the immovable vital winds, the "Single Lock" is liberated into one taste. Such is the majestic bearing. The elephant-hide of bliss covers the entire body and brings satisfaction; possessing that, one wears it as a garment. Filled with the bliss of great renown, the Hero’s laughter proclaims "Ha Ha"; the Heroine’s laughter proclaims "Hi Hi." Experiencing manifest bliss, the great laughter is the drop of Great Bliss. The "Roaring One" is the sound of falling; the "Eight Hās" are the vajra laughter. Proclaiming loudly, it is uninterrupted. Vajrasattva is bodhicitta; the Great Being is inseparable bliss. The Vajra King is the bola; within that is Great Bliss. The Vajra Fierce One is emptiness; always possessing that is Great Joy. The Vajra Hūṃ proclaims "Hūṃ"; thus, with the four Hūṃs, one experiences the four joys in the four places. Regarding the Vajra Avadhūtī:
The one who holds the arrow is the wielder of weapons; by arresting the winds of both the right and left, that great weapon cuts through conceptual thought. With the sword of non-dual vajra wisdom, all afflictions are severed without exception. Holding all the vajra winds, one meditates on a mustard seed at the tip of the nose. That itself is the jewel of the vajra-holder. Furthermore, from the Kālacakra: "The mustard seed at the tip of the nose is called prāṇāyāma. Within the entirety of the three realms, the reflections of the three worlds will be seen." Thus it is said. From the single vajra, the action mudrā is relied upon; through that bliss, the battle is cleared away. The blazing vajra is Caṇḍālī. Virūpākṣa is the deer-eyed one. "The blazing vajra at the crown" means the upper and lower tips blaze. Regarding the sixteen vajra-descents, half of half is the great descent. One gains mastery over the three realms as the Mahāmudrā. "The hundred-eyed one" refers to the many; the vajra eye is the flesh eye, by which the reflections are seen. "The body has vajra body hairs" means the body hairs are thirty-five million; internally, they are the openings of the drops. That itself is the vajra hair; the single body is uninterrupted. From the mixture of white and red nails, the born bliss-emptiness is the vajra tip. Without leaking, the mind is always joyful. The vajra essence is free of conceptual thought. The firm skin is invulnerable to defects. Holding the vajra garland, in the four root channels of the objects, there are the three: dissolution, enjoyment, and engagement. Having transcended the times of day and night, one is endowed with glory.
Such are the three vajra ornaments of the agent, adorning the body of the yogi. The laughter of bliss for all is the great joy, the certain proclamation of "Ha Ha." The six syllables are the six cakras; the vajra sound is the akṣara, the unchanging syllable. In the great drop of Mañjughoṣa, that is the non-emitting, great sound, the single sound in the three worlds. This is the sole enemy of the defilements. The great method for subduing it proclaims the sound throughout the reaches of space of the three-thousandfold world system. Among the various methods taught in the Mahāyāna Dharma that possesses sound, this very one is the supreme. The seven outer channels of the heart and the four lower channels—those through which feces, urine, blood, and semen flow—make eleven; these are the pure verses, ten and one line, the purity. This is the extensive commentary on the Vajra Family, the seventh chapter.
The eighth chapter is Amitābha. In the chapter on the Lotus Family, forty-two eight-line verses teach the wisdom of discernment. Suchness is the dhūtī; the authentic selflessness is the wind of the right and left. The ultimate reality is the accomplishment of the wind. The "letterless" is the absence of conceptual thought. The mind is full, not leaking the two thousand [drops]. Regarding the speech of āli and kāli, the bull [Mañjuśrī] is the subduer of Māras. Profound and vast, the appearance of emptiness, the indivisible sound is proclaimed. It is the conch of Dharma; in the source of phenomena (dharmodaya), the channel is the "Conch-like" (śaṅkhinī) that generates bliss. It possesses the great sound of immeasurable bliss. The Dharma gaṇḍī resides in the throat.
Eight
The eighty-four thousand dharmas are the great sound, the Vajra Speech. In the non-abiding Mahāmudrā, there is the Dharmakāya, the state beyond sorrow. The ten directions are the objects and the subject; the great drum of Dharma is the canopy of the channels and winds. The formless Dharmakāya is emptiness; the beautiful form is the Saṃbhogakāya, great bliss. The sublime one is the Vajrakāya; the one possessing various forms is the Nirmāṇakāya. From the mind, which is great bliss free from conceptual elaboration, there arises the nature of the five kāyas. Within the saṃsāra of the five classes of beings and all that is supported and the support, by relying [on this], the glory of the appearance of the four kāyas is attained—the fourteen signs of day and night, like reflections. The peerless one is not harmed by the five sensory qualities, but increases and becomes greatly renowned. He is the Great Maheśvara of the three realms, having reached the culmination of the accumulations of merit and wisdom. This is both the path and the fruit. The noble one is without decline. The path consists of the six cakras. At the very high uṣṇīṣa, the drop remains without diminishing. The realization of Dharma is at the tip of the vajra; the one who expands is filled with bliss. The three worlds are body, speech, and mind. The single youthful body is the time of the third. At the Nirmāṇacakra of the Elder, the Elder is the coemergent wisdom. The Lord of Beings has the nine orifices bound. Furthermore, from the Mahāmāyā: "The two eyes and the two ears, likewise the nose and the mouth, and the blocking of the essence of the mind—this is the Lion’s Liberation Mahāmudrā, which the yogi should bind." Thus it is said.
The bliss born from that is the bearer of the thirty-two marks. These are the sixteen increases and decreases. To the youthful Caṇḍālī, beautiful in the three realms and the three worlds, the Teacher is called the Ācārya, who is unstained by the defects of the worldly eye and so forth, and possesses excellent knowledge. The syllable KṢA, endowed with the five worldly elements, is the bestower of the fourth empowerment; in that, there is supreme fearlessness. The non-dual union is the protector and savior. The worldly and the ultimate, the conventional and the ultimate, are not mutually contradictory. The refuge, the descent, and the protection are the unsurpassed wisdom through reversal. The limit of space is insight; the enjoyment is the non-dual union. Through the six-fold union of the Omniscient One, all signs are attained without exception. From that, the ocean of wisdom is inexhaustible and filled with great qualities. Regarding the twelve links of dependent origination of ignorance, the shell of the egg is the shroud of unknowing; the opener is the wisdom of the third. Alternatively, the eggshell is the failure to realize that the Buddha exists within the body; the opener is the wisdom-union bestowed by the Guru. This is taught to be the supreme path. The net of existence is shrouded by ignorance; the destroyer is realization. The root afflictions and secondary afflictions are all eliminated by the four joys. The four wisdoms are obtained from the four empowerments. The seal from the ocean of saṃsāra is the seal of wisdom. The crossed-vajra is non-dual great bliss. Whatever is found as the supreme unchanging is the wisdom empowerment; the one with the crown is the ripening of the uṣṇīṣa.
The complete vajra-jewel peak is the undiminished great bliss of the Buddha. Worn as an ornament, it is the crown of the five wisdoms. As for speech, regarding the three—body, speech, and mind—it pacifies suffering, and through the vital-wind exertion, it burns, cauterizes, and rots. When suffering is pacified, the conceptual winds cease; this is the clearing of the three, the clearing of the three poisons. Infinite coemergent joy is the attainment of the three liberations, the three kāyas. The obscurations are earth, water, fire, wind, and space; coarse, subtle, extremely subtle, the general meaning, the sattva, and the tenth. Complete liberation from all is the attainment of the ten, such as smoke and so forth. At that very time, like space, one abides in coemergent equanimity. The stains of the afflictions, the ten mentioned above, are transcended and brought to perfection. At that time, coemergence is cast off; it is the realization of the three times as timeless. That itself is asserted as Mahāmudrā. Regarding that which is to be abandoned by all sentient beings, the great nāga is the antidote. Having conquered the poison of contact and the four joys, as well as desire and so forth, it is the great nāga. Regarding the qualities of the Great Vehicle, those with the skull are the Secret Mantra; "skull" refers to this very skull. "From all afflictions" means the desire for abandonment and liberation. Complete liberation is the realization of great bliss; it is liberated naturally without effort. Like a heap of ash from burned wood, one abides in bliss, limitless like space. That itself is the great wish-fulfilling jewel, the holder of the inseparable truth. It is the stainless bliss of the jewel, the Mahāmudrā supreme over all; the pervasive lord of the stable and the moving.
In the great wish-fulfilling tree of the dhūtī, all the channels are fully expanded and pervaded by the winds and bindus. The supreme excellence of the excellent vase and the jewel is the bliss of non-emission. If one asks what its function is: it is intended for the sake of training sentient beings, performing the welfare of all and increasing bliss. By attaining the eight qualities of benefit, one is affectionate in benefiting sentient beings; one knows the good and the bad, and knows the proper time. Thus it is said: "Just as it is externally, so it is internally." Through the twelve external links of dependent origination, one comes to know birth, karma, inauspicious directions, movement, thieves, purposes, omens, the lifespan, and diseases, as well as all activities. Internally, the five maṇḍalas of the right and left [channels] accomplish the internal and external purposes. Furthermore, by the twelve [zodiac signs]—Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, and Sagittarius—one knows the sun and the moon. Its self-arisen [nature] and so forth, one knows the samaya, the body, speech, and wisdom. Regarding the prajñā who possesses the samaya, through the four samayas of affection, force, rubbing, and the bliss of non-emission, the self that pervades the entire body and mind is the emergence of amṛta, as taught [in the scriptures]. Like a whirling firebrand, the mind that runs and shifts, the mind that leaks toward the objects of conceptualization—there is no doubt that it can be held in bliss. Thus it is said. Through the four [levels of] superior, middling, and inferior sentient beings, one knows the time and bestows the four empowerments. By relying on the methods of the Guru's time, one knows. From the three liberations and the samaya, wisdom arises. The wise one [knows] the subterranean realms and so forth.
Having obtained empowerment, through its qualities,
The qualities of sattva, rajas, and tamas are present,
And therein resides wisdom; that is described as the quality of wisdom.
Knowledge of the dharma is auspicious worldly bliss;
Supreme auspiciousness is that which transcends the world.
The auspiciousness of all auspicious things,
Is the experience of the sixteen joys.
Through the renown of such experience,
One attains the virtue of auspicious fame.
Without abandoning attachment and the rest, it is the great relief;
It is the great festival that brings satisfaction.
The play of great joy and the coemergent
Is an appearance like a magical illusion.
The Great is the ultimate mahāmudrā.
"Honoring" is the exertion of the body;
"Service" is the excellent application of the winds.
Through these, the perfection of qualities is attained.
Supreme joy is beyond the world;
The glorious Lord of Renown is the coemergent.
From the existence of the supreme coemergent,
The Fourth is the chief of givers.
That itself is the supreme refuge,
And as the great antidote, it is worthy of refuge.
The enemies of the world are the three poisons;
The supreme excellence is bliss-emptiness.
By that, all fears without exception
Are utterly dispelled as they cease to exist.
The "topknot" is the bliss of saṃsāra;
The "tuft" is firmly bound by empowerment.
"Aḍakavatī" is for the sake of others,
Filling it beautifully and extensively.
The "locks" bind non-duality;
It possesses the crown of the cīra garment.
The "five faces" are the five wisdoms;
Possessing the "five topknots"
Is to possess the five families.
"Holding flowers in the five stages" refers to the five stages:
The non-erroneous, the erroneous, the dream, and so forth.
Dream and waking. Holding flowers is the grasping of substances. The shaven-headed, the variegated-mouthed, and the mukha [face]. The ascetic conduct of gain and non-gain. Holding great bliss is the undegenerated holy life (brahmacarya); that itself is the supreme ascetic conduct. The culmination of the hearers' (śrāvaka) austerities is the great austerity of the perfections (pāramitā); that is the Vajrayāna itself. From the Tattvālokakara-tantra: "When even a mere drop of saliva leaks, the ḍākinīs and mātṛkās will slay the yogin and drink his blood; from that, one will go to hell." Thus it is said. The stainless, supreme, pure abode is the Gautama family, undegenerated. The brahmin is the knower of the Vedas; the four—poetry, the Rigveda, the Atharvaveda, and sacrifice—were known by Brahmā. Nirvāṇa is the ultimate; it is the attainment of being free from Brahmā. Liberation, emptiness, and release are the body of liberation, great bliss free from conceptual elaboration. In the Mahāmudrā of liberation, there is the peace of the four joys. Furthermore, from the Hevajra: "Just as one who is burned by fire is revived by fanning with that very fire, one who is burned by the fire of desire is liberated by desire itself." Thus it is said. Nirvāṇa is the dharmakāya; the explanation of nirvāṇa is the rūpakāya. Through such explanation, one draws near to attaining nirvāṇa. That is the wisdom (jñāna) free from extremes. The reason for that is: "The culmination of the removal of pleasure and pain." Here, pleasure refers to the joy of joy and the supreme joy; pain refers to the joy of separation and the [ordinary] joy. The culmination is the coemergent wisdom (sahaja-jñāna).
In the joy of non-emission, free from attachment,
It transcends all objects and subjects.
In the abandonment of the unassailable,
It is expanded and peerless.
The joy of the unmanifest is not a state of going;
The supreme joy of the invisible is not attachment.
The joy of non-illumination is the absence of joy;
The unchanging is the coemergent,
That very one who is all-pervading and omnipresent.
Subtle, the stainless experience of the dhūtī,
Free from the stains of conceptual seeds,
Dustless, free from the dust of passion,
Stainless, having abandoned clinging to entities.
The stainless is the time of peace;
One naturally knows the abandonment of faults.
The faultless is the unobscured.
At the time of empowerment, when fully awakened,
That is the arising of understanding.
The "well-awakened" is that very reality,
Never separated, but always possessed.
The "all-knowing" is the coemergent awareness
That cognizes all forms and so forth.
The "Supreme One" is the unchanging excellence;
Consciousness abides in the ālaya.
Furthermore, as it is said in the Sūtra:
"The expanse of time without beginning
Is the locus of all phenomena.
Because it exists, all beings
And nirvāṇa arise."
Thus it is said.
The cessation of the seven is the clear light;
The clear light is non-conceptual,
Transcending the nature of phenomena.
That non-dual wisdom beyond the two
Is not an object of words, free from expression.
Furthermore, from the Hevajra:
"Beyond the path of speech, free from the sphere of activity,
It is known by relying on the guru’s timely methods.
The one who maintains the manner, by relying on the guru’s
Timely methods, spontaneously
Experiences non-conceptual wisdom
At the time of the third."
It transcends the entire world. The conceptualization of the Buddhas of the three times is also that. Because the agent of action is such, both self and other are ripened. "The Buddha has no beginning or end"—this is the meaning of conceptualization. As for the Buddha's own nature: in the beginning, like space, there is no birth. Being like space, in the middle as well, from the very moment of abiding, it is like space. For example, just like the appearance of a reflection, because the cause, path, and result are completely pure, it is free from all hope and fear. The justification for it being so is: "The first Buddha has no cause," which is the purity of the three times. If one asks from what method it is born: in the coemergent wisdom, the single eye is within the dhūtī; the stainless wind and mind enter there. The wisdom-body, which is bliss and emptiness, is the tathāgata, the suchness. Without relying [on others], one proceeds and departs on one's own path. The Lord of Speech, the abiding wind, is the Great Speaker, the Vajra Speech. The bindu of the Lord of Speech resides in the wind of speech. The King of Speech has reached the channels; the Supreme Speaker is the Vajra Speech. The supreme speech is the pure speech. The Lion of Speech, who has accomplished the wind, is peerless in the purity of the afflictions. The all-seeing is without acceptance or rejection. The supreme joy is the appearance of wisdom. The three splendors are in wisdom; through familiarity with the linked mālā tantra, one attains the qualities of the beautiful to behold. The blazing good light is the seed; the śrīvatsa is the auspicious mark. Holding the swirling joy, through the practice of the hands, the blazing light is the appearance of bliss.
The great poison is the harm of entities; desire and so forth are the great severers. The supreme lord is emptiness; the piercing pain is conceptualization. The two winds are the unsurpassed meditation on the exhaling wind. All medicines without exception are the collection of antidotes; the flourishing tree is the dhūtī. Regarding the eighty-four thousand afflictions, the disease is the suffering of beginningless [time]. Therefore, that very [affliction] is the great enemy. The three worlds are the three doors. The blending of the white and red drops is the meditation on the beautiful, blazing [drop] the size of a thick mustard seed. It is the glorious realm of great bliss; that which is called "possessing the maṇḍala of constellations" means that the moving channels are the constellations, and the elements of the body revolve [therein].
Furthermore, as for the channels and drops: there are four at the uṣṇīṣa, sixteen at the forehead, twenty at the phlegm [center], thirty-two at the throat, eight at the heart—making forty. There are sixty-four at the bile [center] of the navel, and sixteen at the secret place—making eighty. The wind element is equalized up to the jewel [tip]; there are sixteen, the six families, and twenty-two. Wind, bile, phlegm, and their combination [occur] there. Within each channel are the ten winds; because they depend on the winds, there is a drop for each. Thus, regarding the channels, winds, and drops, the total number is asserted to be three thousand three hundred and sixty. That very [number] is the purity of the thirty-seven heroes and heroines. In the limbs and members of the body throughout the ten directions, up to the limits of space, the victory banner of Dharma is the wisdom element; it firmly plants the bliss of non-emission. The flourishing of the dhūtī is supreme. For beings, there are the channels, winds, and bodhicitta.
Like a parasol, the wheel of great bliss is an inexhaustible, vast treasury; because it protects one from suffering, it is called a "parasol." Furthermore, from the Māyājāla: "Arising from E-Vaṃ, possessing many methods, swift, and protecting from suffering, it is the continuous desire of Vajrasattva through the passion of great desire." Thus it is said.
The self-nature of the maṇḍala of great bliss, characterized by love and compassion, is the glorious vajra-lotus, renowned as the kakkola. Through the method of union, the Lord of Dance possesses sixty-two branches; this is the system of other traditions. Upon the great pervasive lord, the bindu, the precious parasol is at the tip of the jewel, cooling all afflictions. The wisdom born from the great caṇḍālī enters into that. This is the path of all Buddhas; because it is supreme, it is the "King." By this path, one holds the bodies of all Buddhas as the fruit. Because it joins one to the path and fruit of all Buddhas, it is the "Great Yoga."
The teaching of all Buddhas consists of the three trainings, and since this possesses them, it is the single innate teaching. This is the first empowerment: the purification of perception is Vajra Ananta; the purification of feeling is Ratna Āditya; the glorious empowerment is Amoghasiddhi; the purification of formations is the All-Master Vairocana; and the purification of the aggregate of consciousness is the Sovereign Akṣobhya. Lokeśvara is Vajradhara, the master of all vajra conducts.
Thus, one attains the mastery of accomplishment. One is the supreme lord or the master of all of the three tantras of Vajradhara. Furthermore, the place, substances, empowerments, qualities, and practices are to be applied. "The great power of all Buddhas" refers to becoming a suitable vessel. "By the empowerment of the vajra name, one is a Buddha in this very life"—to explain the meaning of this: through the vase, you are well-established in the generation stage. "You are not any of the six classes of beings"—if it is asked, "Is that an imputation?"—this too is an imputation; therefore, you are a deity. Why is it not adorned with "jewel," which is found through the kindness of the guru? "Abiding in the minds of all Buddhas" means being cared for and protected. "The great body of all Buddhas"—through empowerment, consecration, fire offerings, and so forth, the great master is the physical activity. "Also the speech of all Buddhas"—this refers to the secret empowerment. From the non-dual union of the guru father and mother, the wisdom maṇḍala is manifestly emanated. To the infinite Vajrasūrya, its bliss is the great appearance. To the Vajracandra Akṣobhya, the stainless light of the radiating and absorbing wisdom is to be given to the disciple's tongue. "Free from attachment and so forth, yet great attachment"—this is the third empowerment. To the monks who are Vajra-holders, the guru, free from attachment, should demonstrate it. If it is not so, the guru degenerates. Even if the disciple has great desire, the Pratimokṣa vows must not be abandoned. The Great Sage taught this path as the supreme path. For individuals, the monk is supreme. Restraining the abodes of enjoyment, one sees the sky.
The two colors are the coemergent non-dual. To that son of great passion, it is also stated in the Great Root Tantra: "A sixteen-year-old of noble family, adorned with youth and the like, should first be properly trained; one should place [the syllables] in the five locations, such as the forehead, and meditate on them as the bodies of the Buddhas." Thus it is said.
The ritual for that is also taught: "First, the Sojong (restoration and purification) should be given; then the ten points of training should be given; then the specific Sūtra class should be shown; then the system of the Middle Way should be given; and after that, the Kālacakra should be given." Thus it is said. According to the treatise of Kāraṇa, there are five types of Yoginīs: the Excellent One, the Crowned One, the Conch-like One, the Painted One, and the Elephant-like One. They are characterized by the scents of musk, lotus root, water, fish, and pus. They belong to the families of Vārāhī, Tārā, Pāṇḍaravāsinī, Māmakī, and Locanā.
The Elephant-like one has a moderate body, a slender waist, and smooth limbs; her breasts are half-rounded and pointed. The Painted One is slightly slender and tall, with eyes that do not move and curly hair. The Conch-like one is very passionate, shameless, and delights in exertion; she is short. The Elephant-like one is tall, with a full body, thin hair, high teeth, and appears like a drop (bindu). The Elephant-like one is stout, short, with a firm and very solid body; she is talkative and belongs to the family of Locanā.
Likewise, there are five types of male Yogins: the Lion, the Deer, the Horse, the Elephant, and the Human. They are Akṣobhya, Amoghasiddhi, Ratnasambhava, Amitābha, and Vairocana. Their scents are the same as before. They should dwell in a secluded place, free from fear and worldly objects.
Generosity and restraint belong to the Akṣobhya family. Moving swiftly and emitting fluid quickly, being fearful and terrified, is Amoghasiddhi. Great desire, generosity, and striving for the sake of others, being under the influence of others, is the Sūrya (Sun) family. Moving slowly and with unchanging eyes, possessing the qualities of an inanimate nature, and smelling of fish is the Amitābha family. Being extremely deluded, good, and speaking little, smelling of pus is the Vairocana family. Thus it was spoken in the Vimalaprabhā.
Light blazing with various colors arises from that insight. Having assumed the vajra posture, one generates the body of a perfect Buddha. The Dharma of the authentic expression of the Buddha consists of the five-limbed vase application. Vajradhara spoke of this as the peerless accumulation of all conditioned merit. Grasping the Middle Way, possessing flowers, it is the glorious great wisdom. The Buddha is born from the lotus. By receiving the fourth empowerment, one holds the treasury of omniscient wisdom. Having attained that Mahāmudrā, the subsequent appearance of conceptualization is the King who holds various magical illusions. Thus, from the Vajracchedikā: "Like a star, a visual fault, a lamp, a magical illusion, a dewdrop, a bubble, a dream, a flash of lightning, a cloud, an echo, a whirling firebrand, and a reflection—thus should one understand conditioned phenomena. One who understands them is a noble person." So it was said. Regarding the wisdom of the fourth greatness, the three are the noble Buddhas, the King of Vidyāmantras. That fourth is the Sharp Vajra; that great sword cuts through all conceptualization.
The syllable is the supreme, the letter A; it is utterly pure and unchanging. The qualities of those four empowerments sever the suffering of the Great Vehicle. That severance occurs by relying on what is not to be abandoned. That very great weapon is renowned as the Vajra Dharma. The profound vajra is the unborn; the Victorious One who realizes it has transcended the world. He has triumphed over karma and overwhelmed the Arhats. Regarding the meaning of the four empowerments, the family is the realization of that very supreme path. These qualities are obtained as they are explained for the Vajra Intelligence. All ten perfections are complete and possessed within the four empowerments. Regarding all the grounds, on the ten grounds, each empowerment possesses the ornaments: the first has two, the second has four, the third has four, and the fourth has one. This is also taught in the Secret Treasury: "The water empowerment is the Joyous; the secret empowerment makes the Stainless Radiate; the wisdom-gnosis empowerment is the Difficult to Conquer; the manifest [empowerment] is the Immovable and the Far-Gone. By the empowerment of Mahāmudrā, one attains the Excellent Intelligence and the Dharmadhātu." It is said. By that path of utter purity, one attains the Vajradhara of the selfless nature of phenomena, the great bliss of authentic wisdom, and the excellent moonlight from the syllable HAṂ. Through the application of the great diligence of the vase, the Net of Magical Illusion pervades the channels and winds. The channels and winds of all tantras are themselves the sovereign bindu of supreme bliss and emptiness. The Vajra Seat is at the navel; it possesses all six families without exception, the radiating hours and danda-measures, and is endowed with five mandalas each.
The Gaze
When the qualities of the wind are accomplished, the wisdom body is seen in the signs. All fifteen, such as the poisons and so forth, are held without exception; the lines are seen. The one of excellent intelligence who investigates and analyzes possesses coemergent wisdom. Samantabhadra is equanimity; Mahāmudrā is spontaneously present. The grounds are the five elements, such as earth and so forth; their essence is the accomplishment of the wisdom wind. Holding the beings, change is ceased. This is the path traversed by all Buddhas. The great essence enters the dhūtī. The twelve lagna and so forth are gradually and sequentially purified. The emanation wheel, the vya and so forth, hold various qualities. Look extensively at the stainless. The supreme nature of all things is the unchanging luminosity, the dharmadhātu. The nature of all things is the view that realizes the unborn. The unborn dharma is the ultimate; the various objects are the conventional. All dharmas are the various vehicles; their essence is the finality. Holding this, one sustains it through the mindfulness of bliss and emptiness. Great insight is emptiness. In a single moment, in a single lifetime, one sees Mañjuśrī. Dharma, the retinue, and nirvāṇa—one who has realized these holds them as a single taste. All dharmas, the three realms, and the three conceptualizations, are the great bliss of rajas, tamas, and sattva. This is the supreme clear realization. The Sage, with a supreme mind that does not leak, is the one who dispels the bhūta of bliss-emptiness and liberation. Through the unmoving wind, he is of a nature that is utterly serene. Adorned with the bliss of the bindu,
...
The Perfect Buddha abides in joy; he holds awakening of such a nature. That wisdom of all Buddhas is the direct perception of the yogi. Possessing the flames of the remedial wisdom, it is attained through the blazing light in the dhūtī. Regarding the abiding, there are the six cakras in the body; the five types of aggregates of the elements; the six qualities and the six limits; the six powers of the lord of action; and the two types of calm abiding and special insight. Through the purity of these forty-two, there are forty-two verses. This is the eighth chapter, the extensive commentary on the wisdom of individual discernment.
Ninth, Ratnasambhava teaches the chapter on the wisdom of equality. In the wisdom of supreme desire, Amoghasiddhi is attained through bliss. The sublime is effortless; the nine lower realms are the three poisons. All eighty-four thousand afflictions are purified; ignorance is realized as the great coemergent wisdom. This Vajrayāna of the Protector is the supreme path for all sentient beings. It brings all sentient beings without exception to the complete liberation of Mahāmudrā. The battle of afflictions and delusive appearances is conquered by emptiness alone; thus, he is the Hero. The formations of ignorance and grasping at true existence are the enemies; he is the Glorious One who conquers pride. By that Dharma, the wise and the virtuous possess the Dharma. He is the one who holds the grace of wisdom. Firm is the uṣṇīṣa and the bindu. In the wisdom of the unattractive and the empty, he is the one who holds form, possessing bliss and emptiness. The right and left hands are the two winds.
The total of one hundred is twenty-one thousand six hundred. "Moving" refers to the horse of consciousness. From the presence of the noble Nāgārjuna: "That which has become the life-force of all sentient beings, the one called wind, performs all actions. It is the nature of the five, possessing ten names; this is the mount of insight. It enters the central channel, the path of the nāḍī, and dances by the power of habituation." This refers to the sixty-four constellations, such as Samahetu. "The glorious nāḍī is filled with two hands" means it is filled with a hundred; "the wind fills the channels" refers to the nature of the empty sky. Pervading the empty wind and adorned with drops, it dances. "By the extent of one yava" refers to the yava-giving wind; "extent" means taking the whole in its entirety. The earth maṇḍala is the dharma-cakra; pressing the sole [of the foot] is in the center of the heart. Like the flower of the plantain tree, it dissolves into the spring drop. It is renowned as the "elephant of name and form," the tip of the egg of Brahmā. This refers to the two fruits of the Brahmā-door channels. The "tip" is the drawing up of the lower wind. As for the "extent," by pressing the toenail, the caṇḍālī blazes. Just as the spring drop arises, it drips like snow or frost. Its waxing and waning are the white and black fortnights; gradually the bindu increases. From the gradual waning from the tip of the Brahmā-egg, the uṣṇīṣa-victor, the black [drop] flows through the left maro. The single meaning is the unchanging bodhicitta. The non-dual [state] of the six sense bases of subject and object is what is called the "meaning of the dharma."
Regarding the objects and subjects of phenomena:
In the eye, Kṣitigarbha and Rūpavajrā;
In the ear, Vajrapāṇi and Śabdavajrā;
In the nose, Mañjughoṣa and Gandhavajrā;
In the tongue, Avalokiteśvara and Rasavajrā;
In the body, Sarvanīvaraṇaviṣkambhin and Sparśavajrā;
In the mind, Vajrasattva and Dharmavajrā.
The sense faculties and their objects lack true existence.
For example, in a single Devadatta,
The three—attachment, aversion, and delusion—arise,
Distinguished by his wife, his enemy, and a neutral person.
Therefore, the object does not cause harm.
The meaning is great bliss, free from conceptual elaboration.
That itself is the ultimate truth;
It is the fearless Mahāmudrā.
Cognition, the imputed, and distorted knowledge:
The various forms are the dependent nature,
The appearance of things through causes and conditions.
The meaningful, non-referential is the thoroughly established nature.
The mind is these three, one's own mind;
Its own essence, consciousness,
Is endowed with the continuum of clear light.
The actual is the object, from which joy arises;
The meaning is the subject, supreme joy itself.
All objects and subjects without exception,
When the three joys are gathered and severed,
Contact is the coemergent wisdom.
Emptiness is the joy beyond joy,
The supreme wisdom, the middle way.
If one asks, "Is it then a conceptual mind of desire?"
It is the abandonment of grasping at things
Such as the desires of cyclic existence.
Throughout the three realms of body, speech, and mind,
Great joy and wisdom pervade.
Pure white clouds are Vajrasattva;
White and the feeling of bliss are non-dual.
Excellent light is the antidote that abandons habitual tendencies;
Like the light of the autumn moon,
The drop of great bliss abides in space.
Beautiful as the center of the rising sun, the inner heat (caṇḍālī) blazes as the fire of wisdom (jñāna). It incinerates the Tathāgatas and their consorts. Blending like the light of fingernails, the bodhicitta merges into the fire, becoming intensely red. The peak of the excellent crown is the uṣṇīṣa, which performs the act of praising. From the supreme hair, the syllable Haṃ, the Great One resides in the drop (bindu). The great jewel enters the vase; the radiant glory is bliss and non-conceptuality. Thus, he is endowed with the ornaments of the Buddha’s emanations.
The meaning of this is as follows: This is the self-arisen Blessed One (Bhagavān). As it is taught in the tantra: The womb-membrane is the Dharma robe; the palms joined at the crown are the gesture of homage. Naked, with hair and beard shaved, the mantra recitation is A and Haṃ. The twelve months are the abodes of the vows. The father and mother are the preceptor and instructor. Being born self-arisen, he is a monk (bhikṣu). Vajrasattva is the unconditioned; craving and attachment are utterly pure.
Regarding the world of body, speech, and mind, the hundred elements pervade all conduct. The bases of miraculous power (ṛddhipāda) are the inner and outer winds; they bring about complete perfection. Possessing great strength, great bliss expands. Being inseparable from that very reality is to hold great mindfulness (smṛti). The four mindfulnesses are the kissing (cumbana); they are the recollections of the four objects. Satisfying through the two-by-two embrace, holding hands, gazing, and laughing, these are applied to the four empowerments in sequence. The supreme is satisfaction through gazing. As for the "branches of awakening" (bodhyaṅga), they are the causes for the arising of the bodhicitta drop. Food, phlegm, bile, flesh, and blood...
"Bone, brain, and the seven limbs; the flower kunda, incense, and inner heat (caṇḍālī). These should also be consumed seven times"—this refers to consuming without impairment. Likewise, all phenomena are the Sugatas; the ocean of qualities dispels becoming. The path is the avadhūtī; the limbs are fire, wind, and the bindu. The eight are the descending from above and the stabilizing from below. This method of knowledge comes from the guru’s oral instructions. Regarding the perfectly self-arisen primordial wisdom (jñāna), the Buddha’s path is the union; it is known as the ultimate path. Therefore, for all sentient beings, there is a great attachment to the illusion-like. If one asks, "Is attachment saṃsāra?"—there is no attachment like space. While being without attachment, for the sake of the benefit of beings, one takes birth and engages according to what is needed to discipline all sentient beings. Like the minds of all sentient beings, one acts swiftly for their benefit with great diligence. Regarding the power of the faculties of all sentient beings, one knows the superior, middling, and great. The way to benefit all sentient beings is the ability to act for the benefit of beings in a captivating manner. The five aggregates are ultimately nirvāṇa; since they are not perceived, knowing that very reality is the five primordial wisdoms. The five pure aggregates are discipline, meditative concentration, insight, liberation, and the vision of liberated primordial wisdom. That which possesses the five aggregates is the mind of joy, without grasping or emission. The three awakenings of all renunciations abide at the limit as Vajradhara. The limit of all renunciations is the higher [state] itself. The wise in that are the Vajrayāna. On the path of all renunciations, the essence abides as the primordial wisdom of great bliss. All modes of renunciation—
It is explained as the teaching of conduct. The twelve links, beginning with ignorance, are the unceasing cause of cyclic existence, the root of becoming; thus it was spoken by Maitreya. Because of obscuring, because of sowing, because of leading, because of grasping, because of completing, because of the convergence of the three, because of cutting, because of utilizing, and because of gathering; because of application, because of actualization, and because of suffering, they are the afflictions of the head. So it is said.
Supreme unchanging wisdom itself, through realization and experience, uproots the root of existence. That itself is purity; as for the phrase "holding the twelve aspects," it refers to the twelve modes of conduct through the purity of dependent origination. The four truths are at the navel, heart, throat, and forehead. The phrase "having the aspect of the manner" refers to suffering, origin, path, and cessation. The Sthaviras, Mahāsāṃghikas, and Saṃmitīyas speak of each truth as performing the functions of path and result. The "eight cognitions" are: the various, the ripened, the non-existent, the deity, the mantra, the wisdom, the four joys, and the eight. "Holding the conceptual" means their purity. The twelve aspects of the meaning of truth are: the agent, the power, the experience, and the ripened result. Each of the four results has three—great, medium, and small. Possessing these is the Vajra Body. In that very Great Drop, there are the sixteen aspects of joy and the families. The twenty aspects are the five aggregates, the five elements, the five fathers, and the five mothers; awakening is their pervasion by bliss. It is the distinct [state], the self-arisen wisdom of all Buddhas, the supreme coemergent consort. It is the nirmāṇakāya of all Buddhas.
Birth, action, craftsmanship, and the supreme; the descent, reversal, retention, and spreading of that very [essence]. By the winds of immeasurable millions, the drops open the eyes of the channels. In a moment, at the limit of time, all is clearly realized as the coemergent. The moment of mind is coemergent bliss; the meaning of all families is the fourth. Through the methods of the various vehicles, the three vehicles abide. By way of the nine applications, for the sake of training the various sentient beings of the world, the Teacher is certain of the meaning of the Dharma. The three vehicles are the three empowerments; the fourth alone is the definitive emergence. Great bliss is the fruit of the single vehicle, abiding like the timing and methods of the Guru. The six elements of the afflictions become the pure self, śuddha; others [hold] that the afflictions are to be abandoned. The Vajra Vehicle destroys conceptualization. It is not that afflictions are exhausted and conceptualization is absent; free from conceptualization, there is no abiding in anything. By finding that very reality, the elements of action—the concepts of virtue and non-virtue—are exhausted into great bliss. There are five kinds of rivers: the river of the view of self, the river of substantiality, the rivers of hatred and delusion, and the stream of the river of desire. By crossing with the raft of the four joys, one crosses the entire ocean. Through the complete purity of these, it is said that one has crossed over all. Regarding the union of method and wisdom: freedom from attachment and attachment are nirvana. Feeling bliss, craving, grasping, modesty, play, and looking on—these are the eight qualities of the Wisdom Mother. Attachment, satisfaction, and joy...
Exquisite, playful, kissing, and vocalizing,
Stable, diligent, and mental engagement—
These eleven are the functions of skillful means.
Sentient beings who have abandoned such qualities
Are said to be in a wilderness where wisdom is hard to find.
The support for the wisdom arising from that
Is the path of liberation such as this.
By this path, the afflictions, the secondary afflictions,
And all deluded elements of conceptualization,
Along with their habitual tendencies, are permanently abandoned.
This is praised as the great skillful means of poison.
One attains qualities like those of a subduer.
Without the mantra, poison causes death.
The mantra is great compassion and
The realization of emptiness through insight.
The union and liberation are the supreme skillful means.
Thus, because actions are meaningful,
One benefits beings through bliss,
Neither remaining in cyclic existence nor in peace.
Perception, names, substances, and symbols—
Abiding in meditative equipoise, having abandoned all objects,
The object of consciousness is luminosity;
By looking, all conceptualization is ceased.
For the six classes of sentient beings,
The objects of their minds are the three poisons and so forth;
Possessing these, the minds of attachment and aversion arise.
The minds of all such sentient beings
Are the primordial wisdom that abandons delusion through awareness.
Within the minds of all sentient beings,
The luminous expanse of reality (dharmadhātu) is perfectly present.
In the primordial wisdom that benefits them,
One enters and transforms in accordance with their minds.
Whatever minds sentient beings possess,
One satisfies them; without abandoning, they are liberated.
The joy of the minds of all sentient beings in the realms of cyclic existence
Is the attainment of the path.
Regarding the assertions of their respective tenets,
The ultimate is the absence of desire.
There is no error in the ultimate meaning. Furthermore, from the Ādibuddha:
"That which is just as it is is free from conceptualization. The conceptualizations of the two types of childish beings are absent; the Victorious One’s dharmakāya is free from conceptualization and possesses the form of the coemergent." Thus it is said.
All errors, such as eternalism and nihilism, are completely abandoned therein. By knowing the three objects—the imputed, the dependent, and the thoroughly established—through that very reality, one attains a mind free from doubt.
Regarding the activities for the sake of all beings, it possesses the nature of the three qualities. The five aggregates are realized as the meaning of great bliss, the equality of the three times. In a single instant, the central channel is possessed; all winds are distinguished. In a single instant, one enters the central channel. Therein is the perfect buddhahood of bliss and emptiness. That very reality is the holder of the nature of all buddhas, the holder of primordial wisdom. The limbless is the dharmakāya; the body is the saṃbhogakāya of great bliss; the supreme body is the nirmāṇakāya, adorned with the marks and signs.
The limit of the body is the three kāyas; the one who realizes this is the yogi. At the time of attaining the supreme, various forms are fully displayed. Thus, various different forms are displayed to whoever is to be tamed. Because it is the object of accomplishment, it is like a wish-fulfilling gem; because all desires arise from it, it is a precious jewel. Because it does not set, it is called the "pinnacle." Having abandoned the twelve factors of the negative side, such as ignorance and so forth, and having attained the twelve grounds of the concordant side, there are twenty-four verses.
This is the ninth chapter, the extensive commentary on the wisdom of equality.
The tenth chapter is Amoghasiddhi. Regarding the wisdom of all-accomplishing action, the activities of action are taught in fifteen verses of purity. All buddhas abide in the three times; that which is to be realized is the wisdom body. Furthermore, from the Tattvasaṃgraha:
"You are the father of the omniscient ones;
You are the source and that which has become the source.
The awakening of the buddhas depends upon you;
The Tathāgatas depend upon you."
Thus it is said. The awakening of the buddhas is coemergent, unsurpassed and peerless. From the letterless, the secret mantra arises. This is the letterless awakening. The arising of the secret mantra from that is the power of all buddhas. The great secret mantra is the wind; the third family is the arising, entering, and abiding. That is the function of the wind. The secret mantra is the bliss of all purposes; without bliss, the wind belongs to the hearers. From that, bliss is generated. The activities are the four: pacifying, enriching, magnetizing, and subjugating; these are definitely accomplished by this. The great drop is the ultimate; in the great bliss of Vajrasattva, it is the very letterlessness. Emptiness is the very letterlessness. The great five elements and five aggregates are these five letters: Oṃ, Hūṃ, Trāṃ, Hrīḥ, Khaṃ, and the five Laṃ, Maṃ, Paṃ, Taṃ, Phaṃ. Through the drops, the channels become letters; through that becoming, various blisses arise. Through the wind, the conceptualizations of the three realms increase. Emptiness is empty of its own essence. The six letters that gather bliss are:
(Note: The text concludes with the six letters of bliss, which are typically: A, Ā, I, Ī, U, Ū, or the six syllables of the mantra of the six sages, depending on the specific context of the tantra.)
Aḥ, Haṃ, Oṃ, Hūṃ, Ho, Kṣaḥ—these six. From the gathering of bliss and wind in each, signs arise in body, speech, and mind. Alternatively, at the center of the heart, the six-part Vajradhara is asserted as Hūṃ. Conventional reality possesses all aspects, while in the ultimate sense, it is aspectless. That very joy consists of the sixteen joys; they are divided half by half at the throat and so forth. From the location of the drop to the tip of the jewel, the two abiding in the center is that very wisdom-gnosis (prajñājñāna). It is free from the branches of conceptual thought. It transcends the counting of children’s arithmetic. The four concentrations (dhyāna) are applied to the four joys: investigation, analysis, joy, and bliss. The Peak-Holder (Vajraśekhara) is the crown jewel; he holds the bliss of non-emission. Knowing all the branches of concentration, through the activity of the mudrā of method and conceptualization, at the time of realizing meditative absorption (samādhi), one knows the tantra of the dharma-mudrā. The generation stage is the dependent nature; it is asserted that meditative absorption has a physical form. At the time of joy, the supreme body is the spontaneously present Mahāmudrā. At the time of bliss, the Sambhogakāya is the king of all samaya-mudrās. He performs the activity of great bliss. That very state is the provisional Nirmāṇakāya; the Sage spoke of it as the supreme body. The five families of the Buddha’s emanation-tantra are held by the one possessing the three families. In the hundreds of world-systems of the ten directions, he radiates various emanations. Through such supreme emanations as they are, he acts for the benefit of beings; for example, the goddess Umā is the purification of desire, and the supreme deity is the wisdom Amitābha.
The god Brahmā and Viṣṇu are Vairocana, the purity of delusion. The asuras Viṣṇu and Īśvara are Akṣobhya, the purity of hatred. The lord of generosity, Jambhala, is Ratnasambhava, the purity of avarice. The immortal lord Īśvara is Amoghasiddhi, the purity of envy. The god Vighnāntaka and the Guru are Vajrasattva, the purity of pride. The two who destroy the five views, the Moon and Varāhī, are the purity of the five views. The Sun and Īśvara who destroy are Heruka, who clears away all doubt. To you, the Great Bliss who subdues the eight great gods of the root afflictions and who exercises mastery over the three realms of existence, I prostrate. The wilderness of the three realms of becoming is a wilderness because bliss and emptiness are rare there. The one who has transcended karma is Vajrasattva; the sole teacher is the dhūtī. Because there is no rival, it is "sole." The Guru of beings is the element of the bindu. In the world of body, speech, and mind, the wind of bliss is renowned throughout the ten directions. The great Caṇḍālī is the patron of the Dharma; "the Great One" is the blazing. She relies on the four commitments of loving-kindness, which are the abandoning and adopting, and the protecting and increasing. "Armed with armor" is the mind of joy. Through compassion, she acts for the benefit of others. "Clad in mail" is the reliance on skillful means. With the sword of the Great Seal of Wisdom, she cuts through all conceptual thoughts. Holding the bow and arrow of Caṇḍālī, she strikes the target of the syllable Haṃ. She utterly abandons the leaking of afflictions and ignorance, clearing the battlefield. The enemies are the extremes of attachment to the objects of desire; the enemy Māra is overcome by great primordial wisdom.
Subduing the Māras is being unstained. By means of the four joys that terrify the four Māras, one eliminates and clears away opposing factors. The various hosts of Māra are conceptualizations; their defeat is also that very reality. The perfection of the drop is the bliss of the Buddha, the supreme among the guides of the world. Worthy of offerings, the great samaya of the food; worthy of praise, the expanse of the consort’s space; worthy of prostration, the joining of palms.
Always abandoning attachment, with a mind free of acceptance and rejection, one should increase the bodhicitta worthy of service. The yogi who possesses the non-leaking [state] is worthy of honor by the hearers and others. To those of the Pāramitā vehicle, he is the supreme one whose qualities are to be proclaimed. To the Yoga Tantras and so forth, he is worthy of prostration. Through the common union of method and insight, the Net of Magical Illusion is the highest of the supreme. In the three worlds, the three channels are traversed in a single step as the winds shift; this is fifty-six and a quarter [breaths]. When those winds move, like the sky, they utterly suppress infinite conceptualizations.
From the movement of the three, the central and the left are pure. Possessing the qualities of the six superknowledges, one attains the six recollections and so forth. In the Pāramitā vehicle, the bodhisattva is designated by the name "Great Being." When that beginner enters the central channel here, they attain great miraculous powers and supramundane accomplishments. That very reality is the Perfection of Insight; that very reality is also the limit of conceptualization. Through the wisdom of the third insight, one who attains that reality is without fear.
Self-awareness is the knowledge of one's own body and the knowledge of others. Through insight and method, all is known. Because it is superior to all, it is the coemergent. This is the path of the supreme individual. It transcends all examples; this is the coemergent experience arising from the oral instructions of the Guru.
Knowledge and the object of knowledge, the subject and the object, the supreme master realizes them as non-dual. The principal is the central channel, the path to awakening. The patron of Dharma is the blazing and dripping. The activities of the four mudrās are the dharma, the great mudrā, and the commitment mudrā; all phenomena are subsumed within these four mudrās. The teacher of the meaning applies the path, the signs, the antidotes, and the results. The cause of the happiness of the world's veneration is the supreme place, the karaṇa. There are sixty-two functions. The three renunciations are the three bodies. This Dharma is the Mañjuśrī-nāmasaṃgīti. "For the benefit of beings" refers to the time of the path. The aspect of the meaning is the great mudrā. The pure glory is the fourth. The three worlds are the outer, inner, and intermediate bodies. The great fortunate one is the sixteen drops of the forehead. The glorious wealth is the four joys and so forth. The all-creator is the caṇḍālī. Mañjuśrī, possessing the drops, is the supreme great wisdom. Thus, there are fifteen verses.
Application, close application, accomplishment, and great accomplishment are applied to the specific activities. This is the pure tantra of the perfections. This is the extensive commentary on the discriminating wisdom; it is the tenth chapter.
The eleventh chapter is the homage. It is a praise to the five bodies of the Buddha, which possess the five wisdoms. The subject matter is the possession of the five wisdoms. It is a praise to the five bodies of the Buddha.
First, one realizes the three realms to be abandoned. The antidote to the affliction of delusion is the wisdom of the expanse of phenomena (dharmadhātu-jñāna), which purifies the five gates. Regarding the aggregate of form, Vairocana is in the eyes; the wisdom of delusion is Kṣitigarbha. The action seal (karmamudrā) is the manifold self. This is the first joy, the vase initiation. The fourth is the approach stage, the earth element, possessing the nirmāṇakāya and the eighteen [qualities]. To that wisdom at the uṣṇīṣa, one offers praise with the four joys. The supreme body, speech, and mind of the vajra offering—homage to you, the joy of joys. Through looking, the bliss of satisfaction is the clarity of the six cakras and channels. The supreme joy that becomes the ultimate reality is the drawing in of the winds through laughter; homage to you, who practices this. Through the joy arising from emptiness, one experiences the touch of the innate [bliss] held in the hand; fire and wind pervade the body. Homage to you is as before. Through the joy of the Buddha’s awakening, the joy of separation, by embracing, the drop descends from the haṃ like a spider’s thread; bliss. Homage to you, the bliss of non-emission, which sustains without depending on conditions. The second thing to be abandoned is clinging to a self. The antidote to the affliction of desire is the wisdom of individual discernment (pratyavekṣaṇā-jñāna), which transforms the afflicted mind (kliṣṭamanas). Regarding the aggregate of perception, Amitābha is in the tongue; the lord of the world, Vajra, is the antidote to desire. That very deity is the dharma seal (dharmamudrā) without signs. This is the second joy, the secret initiation. The extensive accomplishment is the fire element, possessing the saṃbhogakāya and the eighteen [qualities]. To sever suffering in that way, one offers praise with the four joys of supreme joy. The supreme joy of the Buddha’s passion—homage to you, the joy of supreme joy.
Homage to you, the cognition of appearance-emptiness,
The union of vajra and lotus.
The Buddha is the supreme joy of supreme desire;
Diligence increases great bliss.
Homage and prostration to the union of the winds.
The Buddha’s delight is supreme coemergence;
The mind turned away from external objects,
Abiding firmly—homage to that.
The Buddha’s play is the joy beyond joy;
Having rendered attachment free from attachment,
Homage and prostration to the one who utters words.
Regarding the abandonment of what was taught, the attachment to extremes:
The antidote to the affliction of hatred
Is the mirror-like wisdom, the purified universal ground.
Consciousness is Akṣobhya; in the ear,
Hatred is Vajra, Vajrapāṇi himself.
The signless mantra of Mahāmudrā,
The third joy within the state of the third,
Empowerment and great accomplishment,
The element of water,
The Dharmakāya—possessing eighteen [qualities].
To such a sharp vajra,
Praise is offered through the four coemergent joys.
The Buddha’s smile is coemergent joy;
Homage to you, the expansion of great bliss.
The Buddha’s laughter is supreme coemergence;
Homage to you, the union of bliss and emptiness.
The Buddha’s speech itself is coemergent birth;
Homage to you, who transcends expression.
The Buddha’s mind is coemergent freedom;
Homage and prostration to Mahāmudrā.
The fourth abandonment is negation and proof.
The antidote to the affliction of pride
Is the incomparable wisdom, the mental consciousness.
Feeling is Ratnasambhava; in the nose,
Avarice is Vajra, Mañjughoṣa.
The commitment seal, the ripening wisdom,
The fourth joy, the fourth empowerment,
The fierce one, near-accomplishment, the element of space,
The Vajra Body—possessing eighteen [qualities].
Such speech is a praise to Īśvara through the four joys of the joy-free. I bow to you, the realization of the eight examples, the joy-free joy arising from non-existence. I bow to you, the supreme joy-free arising from the appearance of a Buddha, who is without attachment to joy. I bow to you, the joy-free possessing the sky-like, the great bliss free from conceptual elaboration. I bow to you, the joy-free arising from wisdom, who has exhausted all antidotes.
The fifth [stage] has no objects to be abandoned. The antidote to the affliction of envy is the all-accomplishing wisdom and the eight consciousnesses. In the body of Amoghasiddhi, the formations, the Īśvara Vajra, and the Dispeller of Obscurations, the various activities and joys are gathered at the end of time. The wisdom joy is the perfection of the empowerments; the wind element accomplishes the wrathful activities. The body of great bliss possesses the eighteen [qualities]. To the one possessing such a wisdom body, I offer praise through the four wisdom joys. I bow to you, the wisdom joy of the Net of Magical Illusion, who is without grasping at true existence. I bow to you, the supreme wisdom who displays the play of the Buddhas, the unceasing clarity. I bow to you, the one possessing the Great Mudrā, who is endowed with the wisdom of all and everything. I bow to you, the wisdom body itself, who is free from wisdom, beyond sound and intellect.
Thus, to Mañjuśrī Jñānasattva, who is the nature of the five bodies, I constantly bow with the vajra body. Through the purification of the five elements, these are the five verses of complete purity. This is the extensive commentary on the homage, the eleventh chapter.
The twelfth chapter is on mantra. In this context, it is held that there are three types: the mantra of meaning, the mantra of words, and the mantra of signs. The first is the mind of the Buddha.
The second is the āli and kāli. The third is the application to the deity, wisdom, and the four activities; this is asserted to be the mantra of the signs. To explain that further: Oṃ is the five wisdoms. Sarvadharma refers to the two—saṃsāra and nirvāṇa. Abhāva is their emptiness by nature. Through the instructions of the guru, experiencing that very [emptiness] is svabhāva. Viśuddha is the pure inseparability. Vajra is non-dual wisdom. A Ā Aṃ Aḥ are the four joys. Prakṛti refers to the times of cause, path, and result. Pariśuddhaḥ is being without obscuration. Sarvadharma is omniscience. Yaduta is the non-duality of appearance and emptiness. Sarvatathāgata is the Buddha himself abiding in the three times. Mahāsukha-jñānakāya is the body of great bliss. Mañjuśrī is the element of the bindu. Pariśuddhi is non-leaking. Tā means there is nothing superior to that. Upādāna is the outflow. Yeti and A mean that in such a way, the non-leaking joy is the supreme path. If one asks what that supreme path is, it is this extremely condensed tantra. How it is explained in both the extensive and the condensed versions is contained within this. A Ā arise from the unborn. Sarvatathāgatahṛdaya and Hara Hara signify the perfection of the signs of individual withdrawal (pratyāhāra). The heart of all the Tathāgatas is Hara, which exists individually; through Hara, they are gathered into equality. Oṃ Hūṃ Hrīḥ are the abiding, arising, and entering. Bhagavān is the Blessed One who has conquered the twenty-four thousand [afflictions]. This is asserted to be the branch of vital effort (prāṇāyāma). Jñānamūrti is concentration (dhyāna). Following that is Vāgīśvara.
Mahāpāca is the arising. Sarvadharmagaṇa is the branch of absorption. Amalasupariśuddha is the branch of retention. Dharmadhātujñānagarbha Āḥ is the recollection. By means of these three verses of mantra, the three realms are purified. This is the twelfth chapter, the extensive commentary on the mantra.
Thirteenth: Rejoicing. Following the explanation of the twelfth chapter, which purifies the twelve supreme stages, the great compiler, with speech joyful and mind delighted, joined his palms in his body and said: "Protector, Buddha, Blessed One, appearing in the sign of Śākyamuni, but in reality the blazing and dripping from Haṃ—he is explained as the Tathāgata. To that Teacher, the Perfect Buddha, having cleared away the five obscurations with the five limbs of prostration, one realizes suchness. Having prostrated to that realized meaning, he is the path of the Protector Buddha. Because he dwells in the secret nature, the Guru bestowed the wisdom of great bliss upon Vajrapāṇi. Through the wrathful ones, he became a great king who has conquered the afflictions to be abandoned. Relying on a diverse vessel like himself, and others such as the fourfold assembly, who are matured and whose rituals are unimpaired, he sat together and, having praised the secret meaning with all its qualities, spoke these words of great joy and delight, making them firm with his speech: 'O Protector, King of Great Bliss, we rejoice!'"
Excellent is the practice of the secret mantra’s meaning; excellent is the abandonment of the causes of anger. It is excellent to teach others according to one’s own practice as it has been well-spoken. The fruit of liberation is the three kāyas. Those who seek it desire it in this very life. The purpose is for the sake of protectorless beings who are submerged in the mud of the afflictions, and for us, the fortunate assembly of the retinue. Perfect and complete awakening is the attainment of the Great Vajradhara; as the means, he acts for the great benefit of beings. Possessing the essence of emptiness and bliss, this scripture of the Nāmasaṃgīti is the net of the conventional magical display. It is the pure and excellent path that demonstrates the manner of mere signs and aspects. This dharma is the profound and vast method, the inseparable and extensive. It acts for the great benefit of the five families of beings, teaching whatever is necessary to subdue them. This is the object, the abode, or the path of the Buddhas of the three times. It has been explained, is being explained, and will be explained by the Buddhas of the three times, such as Dīpaṃkara and others. The one who explains it now is Śākyamuni, who is himself the Great Vajradhara, known as Kālacakra or Khasarpaṇi. Through the purity of the three kāyas and the two activities, the five verses are completely pure. For those who have faith in the profound meaning, the ultimate secret meaning is expressed here. Khasarpaṇi, please grant your forbearance. I dedicate this virtue to all wandering beings.
The Detailed Commentary on the Noble Nāmasaṃgīti, titled The Drop of Nectar: The Illuminating Lamp, the Thoroughly Refining Analysis.
This concludes the work composed by the great paṇḍita Anupamarakṣita, who touched the dust of the feet of Vajradhara. It was translated and finalized at the glorious northern mountain Tashi Lhakhang temple by the Kashmiri scholar Sugataśrī and the Tibetan translators Dharmakīrti and the monk Dorje Gyaltsen.
The ultimate path traversed by the Victorious Ones, the essence of the teachings, the path of the Vajrayāna—the tantras of Kriyā, Caryā, Yoga, and Mahāyoga—are the vajra words that condense the essence of the ocean of scriptures. Though this source text, the Chanting of the Names, is like a wish-fulfilling jewel that appears according to one's desires, its profound and difficult-to-realize supreme intention of the Victorious Ones has not been found by all. Therefore, the Lord Avalokiteśvara, Vimalaprabha, explained the profound meaning through an extensive commentary, which perfectly elucidates the meaning of the Primordial Buddha Tantra.
From that, like drawing milk from a lake of supreme joy, this treatise of pith instructions condensing the profound meaning was written by the peerless protector for the benefit of fortunate sentient beings. It is a drop of nectar that accomplishes immortality. Through the power of aspiration, in this Land of Snows, Sugataśrī—the omniscient one of the five hundred—extensively explained it in the Sanskrit language to the fortunate monk Dorje Gyaltsen. Having mastered the words and meaning, this commentary was translated with great effort in accordance with his oral instructions.
Since I have not become proficient in the verbal roots of grammar, I beg the learned translators to forgive any errors in this translation.