Toh 2235 · classical Tibetan · Tengyur edition

Clarifying the Meaning of a Non-Abiding [Consciousness]

Translated from the Tibetan by buddhist-nlp/mitra-qwen35-translate · machine-assisted

Edition 1.0 · 2026 · not a critical edition machine draft

Catalogue: Toh 2235
Genre: Treatise
Period: classical Tibetan
Edition: Tengyur vol. 051_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཝི.txt
Extent: 2 passages · 1,430 Tibetan characters · 351 English words
Translation: buddhist-nlp/mitra-qwen35-translate (English, machine-assisted)
Status: Edition 1.0 · 2026 · machine draft
Rights: Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)

This text, titled The Clear Exposition of Non-Abiding, presents a concise ontological framework centered on the concept of non-abiding consciousness, which the author identifies as the primary inheritance of the Buddhas. The work argues that dependently arisen phenomena are characterized by a non-dual nature and the manifold mind. The central logical movement of the text is the assertion that the distinction between emptiness and this manifold mind provides the basis for the manifestation of the three kayas: the dharmakāya, sambhogakāya, and nirmāṇakāya. By linking the nature of consciousness to the structural manifestation of a Buddha's bodies, the text commits the reader to a view where the absolute and the phenomenal are integrated through the mechanism of non-abiding. The fragment concludes with a traditional dedicatory aspiration, suggesting the text functions as a pedagogical tool for accumulating merit through the understanding of these philosophical distinctions.

Provenance

About this text

A treatise concerning the nature of non-abiding consciousness, the Apratiṣṭhānaprakāśa is a work of the General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra tradition. It is attributed to the Indian author Avadhūtipa Advayavajra. The text was translated into classical Tibetan by Vajrapāṇi and nags tsho, and it is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཝི, where it extends over two pages. The work argues that non-abiding consciousness constitutes the entire paternal inheritance of the Buddhas, asserting that dependently arisen phenomena are non-dual and comprise the manifold mind. It further posits that the distinction between emptiness and this manifold mind allows for the manifestation of the three kayas: the dharmakāya, sambhogakāya, and nirmāṇakāya. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine a concise ontological framework that integrates the absolute and the phenomenal through the mechanism of non-abiding, specifically how the nature of consciousness relates to the structural manifestation of a Buddha's bodies.

Sanskrit title: Apratiṣṭhānaprakāśa
Indian author: Avadhūtipa Advayavajra
Tibetan translators: Vajrapāṇi, nags tsho
Canonical collection: General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works
Genre: Treatise
Source edition: Tengyur, vol. ཝི
Period: classical Tibetan

Read further

Catalogue

84000 catalogue entry

Bibliography

BDRC library search

Libraries

WorldCat

Sanskrit sources

Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon

Reference

Cite thisAnuvāda, “Clarifying the Meaning of a Non-Abiding [Consciousness]” (Toh 2235), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2235

Summary & commentary

Significance

The work is significant for its attempt to synthesize the doctrine of emptiness with the manifestation of the three kayas via the concept of non-abiding consciousness. For the modern reader, it illustrates the technical intersection between Madhyamaka-style emptiness and the Yogacara-influenced descriptions of the Buddha's bodies.

Structure

Passages	Section	Description
1	Introduction and Definition	Provides the Sanskrit and Tibetan titles, an invocation to Mañjuśrī, and defines non-abiding consciousness as the inheritance of the Buddhas.
2	Ontology of the Three Kayas	Discusses the non-dual nature of dependent arising and explains how the distinction between emptiness and the manifold mind results in the three kayas, ending with a dedication.

Themes

Non-abiding consciousness (1-2)
The Three Kayas (2)
Non-duality and dependent arising (2)

Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.

AnuvādaClarifying the Meaning of a Non-Abiding [Consciousness]·

༄༅༅། ། རྒྱ་གར་སྐད་དུ། ཨ་པྲ་ས་ཧ་པྲ་ཀ་ས་ནཱ་མ། བོད་སྐད་དུ། རབ་ཏུ་མི་གནས་པ་གསལ་བར་སྟོན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ། འཇམ་དཔལ་གཞོན་ནུར་གྱུར་པ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། ཤེས་པ་རབ་ཏུ་མི་གནས་པ། ། སངས་རྒྱས་ཕ་ནོར་ཐམས་ཅད་འདོད། ། འོན་ཀྱང་འབད་མེད་སྦྱོར་བ་ཡིས། ། གང་ཚེ་སེམས་ཅན་དོན་བྱེད་ནའོ། ། གང་ཕྱིར་གཞན་སེལ་སྒྲུབ་ལས་སྐྱེས། ། དེ་ནི་རྟག་དང་ཆད་ལ་གནས། ། རྟག་ཏུ་མ་སྐྱེས་མི་འགག་ཉིད། ། སྐྱེ་དང་འགག་པ་བྱོལ་སོང་ཚིག། གལ་ཏེ་རང་རིག་ཚད་མ་ནི། ། རིག་དེ་སེམས་ཅན་འདོད་མ་ཡིན། ། སྣང་བ་ཐམས་ཅད་སྤང་བའི་ཕྱིར། ། སེམས་ཅན་བདེན་པ་མ་ཡིན་ནོ། ། རྗེས་ལ་སེམས་ཅན་འདོད་ཅེ་ན། ། དེ་ཚེ་སེམས་ཅན་རྫས་ཡོད་མིན། ། དམ་བཅས་གཅོད་པ་གནོད་པའི་དོན། ། རྗེས་སུ་རྟག་པ་ཞེས་བརྗོད་དོ། ། དངོས་གཞི་ལ་ཡང་རིག་པ་ཡོད། ། རྗེས་ལ་དེ་ལྟར་སྣང་བའི་ཕྱིར། ། དང་པོ་མི་རྟོག་པར་འགྱུར་གྱིས། ། དེ་ལས་འཛིན་པའི་ཤེས་པའོ། ། འདས་དང་མ་འོངས་ལ་སོགས་པའོ། ། སེམས་ནི་གནས་པ་ཡོད་མ་ཡིན། ། དེས་ན་དེ་དག་མེད་པར་ནི། ། འགྲོ་ལ་འགྲོ་བའི་མགོན་པོས་བསྟན། ། ཆོས་རྣམས་ཀྱི་ནི་སྐྱེ་བ་ཉིད། ། རང་ཉིད་གཉུག་མ་བསམ་མི་ཁྱབ། ། དེ་ཉིད་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ཅེས་བརྗོད། ། ཆད་པའི་རྗེས་འགྲོ་མ་ཡིན་ནོ། ། རབ་ཏུ་མི་གནས་ས་བོན་ལས། ། འབྲས་བུ་རབ་ཏུ་མི་གནས་འབྱུང་། ། སྐྱོབ་པ་དེ་ཉིད་དམ་པ་སྟེ། ། བཅོས་མའི་བཅོས་མ་དེ་བཞིན་ནོ། ། དེ་བཞིན་བསམ་གཏན་ཡོད་མེད་ཅེས། ། ཆགས་མེད་སྤྱོད་ལ་བརྗོད་དུ་མེད། ། གང་ཕྱིར་རྟེན་ནས་འབྱུང་བ་རྣམས། ། ཉམས་མྱོང་ཇི་བཞིན་རྟག་ཏུ་སྐྱེ། །

In the language of India: Apratiṣṭhānaprakāśanāma. In the language of Tibet: Rab tu mi gnas pa gsal bar ston pa zhes bya ba (The Clear Exposition of Non-Abiding). Homage to Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta. The consciousness that does not abide is asserted to be the entire paternal inheritance of the Buddhas. Nevertheless, it is when one acts for the benefit of sentient beings through effortless application. Because it arises from the exclusion of others and the establishment [of its own nature], it abides in permanence and nihilism. It is eternally unborn and unceasing; birth and cessation are the words of the beasts. If self-awareness were the valid cognition, then that awareness would not be the sentient being. Because all appearances are abandoned, the sentient being is not real. If you say that the sentient being is asserted in the subsequent [state], then at that time the sentient being is not substantially existent. The refutation of the thesis is the meaning of the damage; it is subsequently called "permanent." Awareness also exists in the actual state, because it appears in that way in the subsequent [state]. First, it becomes non-conceptual, and from that, the grasping consciousness arises. The past, the future, and so forth—the mind does not have a place of abiding. Therefore, the Protector of Beings taught that they are non-existent. The very arising of phenomena is itself the innate, inconceivable. That is called emptiness; it does not follow the path of nihilism. From the seed of non-abiding, a non-abiding fruit arises. That very Protector is the supreme; the artificial is likewise artificial. Likewise, regarding meditative concentration as existent or non-existent, it is inexpressible for one who practices without attachment. Because dependent arisings always arise just as they are experienced.

structureTitle block: the Sanskrit title is given as it is transmitted in Tibetan transliteration, not reconstructed from Sanskrit sources; the Tibetan title is translated after it.

terminologyསངས་རྒྱས → “buddha”. The title, not a name. In Old Tibetan the spelling is usually སངས་རྒྱས already; the plural sense ('the buddhas') is carried by context, not by a suffix.

homonymསངས་རྒྱས is rendered “buddha” here; the glossary also records Awakened, awakened, Buddha for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionསངས་རྒྱས “buddha” — The Indic term buddha means "The Awakened One" and is used in Buddhism as an epithet for the historical Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama as well as other spiritually enlightened beings in general. “ Buddha ” is the past partici

periodརིག་པ → “knowledge”. 'awareness' belongs to the Dzogchen (11th c. onward) usage; in earlier tantras and in རིག་པ་དང་མ་རིག་པ it is 'knowledge' versus 'ignorance'.

homonymརིག་པ is rendered “knowledge” here; the glossary also records awareness, spell, incantation for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionརིག་པ “knowledge” — This term may, according to context, refer to exoteric or esoteric knowledge, a goddess, her associated dhāraṇī , or some combination of these. In the body of this scripture, the dhāraṇī is referred to as a vidyā . In ta

periodཆོས → “dharma”. In Abhidharma lists (སྐྱེ་མཆེད, ཁམས) ཆོས is 'phenomena', the objects of mind — not the Buddhist teaching. Same word, two referents; the list decides.

homonymཆོས is rendered “dharma” here; the glossary also records special qualities, phenomena, qualities for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionཆོས “dharma” — The term “ dharma ” ( chos ) conveys ten different meanings, according to Vasubandhu’s Vyākhyāyukti . It may mean the Buddhist teachings, the awakened qualities which buddhas and bodhisattvas acquire, phenomena or thing

definitionསྟོང་པ་ཉིད “emptiness” — Emptiness denotes the ultimate nature of reality, the total absence of inherent existence and self-identity with respect to all phenomena. According to this view, all things and events are devoid of any independent, intr

checkAutomatic check: bracketed gloss waived.

termཕྱག་འཚལ → homage

termསངས་རྒྱས → buddha

termརིག་པ → knowledge

termཆོས → dharma

termསྟོང་པ་ཉིད → emptiness

རྟེན་ནས་འབྱུང་བ་གང་དང་གང་། ། དེ་དེ་གཉིས་མེད་སྣ་ཚོགས་སེམས། ། སྟོང་དང་སྣ་ཚོགས་སེམས་དབྱེ་བས། ། ཆོས་དང་ལོངས་སྤྱོད་སྤྲུལ་པ་ཉིད། ། བདག་གིས་མི་གནས་བརྗོད་པ་ལས། ། བདེ་བ་བསགས་པ་གང་ཡོད་དེས། ། ཉེ་བར་སྤྱོད་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་དང་། ། འགྲོ་རྣམས་མི་གནས་ཐོབ་པར་ཤོག། རབ་ཏུ་མི་གནས་པ་གསལ་བར་བསྟན་པ། སློབ་དཔོན་གཉིས་མེད་རྡོ་རྗེས་མཛད་པ་རྫོགས་སོ། ། ། ། བཛྲ་པཱ་ཎི་དང་། ནགས་ཚོས་བསྒྱུར་བའོ། །

Whatever arises dependently, that is non-dual and the manifold mind. Through the distinction between emptiness and the manifold mind, there are the dharmakāya, sambhogakāya, and nirmāṇakāya. Whatever merit has been accumulated through my explanation of non-abiding, by that, may all beings and all enjoyments attain non-abiding. The Clear Exposition of Non-Abiding, composed by the master Advayavajra, is complete. Translated by Vajrapāṇi and Nagtsho.

Terminology used in this text (5)

Term	Rendering	×	Note
ཆོས	dharma	2	In Abhidharma lists (སྐྱེ་མཆེད, ཁམས) ཆོས is 'phenomena', the objects of mind — not the Buddhist teaching. Same word, two
ཕྱག་འཚལ	homage	1
སངས་རྒྱས	buddha	1	The title, not a name. In Old Tibetan the spelling is usually སངས་རྒྱས already; the plural sense ('the buddhas') is carr
རིག་པ	knowledge	1	'awareness' belongs to the Dzogchen (11th c. onward) usage; in earlier tantras and in རིག་པ་དང་མ་རིག་པ it is 'knowledge'
སྟོང་པ་ཉིད	emptiness	1

Colophon

Source: tengyur vol. 051_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཝི.txt. Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction).

Translation status: Not among 84000's published translations, and not in progress there. Translations published elsewhere have not been searched for, so one may exist. (source: 84000 catalogue + registry; checked 2026-11-10).

Set in Newsreader and EB Garamond; Tibetan in Noto Serif Tibetan; Chinese in Noto Serif SC.

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