Toh 2237 · classical Tibetan · Tengyur edition

Clarifying the Meaning of Union

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

Edition 1.0 · 2026 · not a critical edition machine draft

Catalogue: Toh 2237
Genre: Treatise
Period: classical Tibetan
Edition: Tengyur vol. 051_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཝི.txt
Extent: 2 passages · 2,107 Tibetan characters · 527 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)

The Clear Exposition of the Union (Yuganaddhaprakāśanāma) is a philosophical treatise that addresses the nature of reality and the integration of meditative realization with conduct. The text posits a fundamental distinction between the unchanging nature of phenomena when realized as they are and the conditional nature of born phenomena. It argues that the attainment of a state of excellent intelligence, when stabilized across body, speech, and mind, transcends the dichotomy between formal practice and ordinary activity. By establishing this internal state, the practitioner is considered to be engaged in conduct regardless of their external actions. The work commits the reader to a path of cognitive realization where the understanding of non-duality or union transforms the quality of existence, shifting the focus from external ritual or behavioral adherence to a pervasive, internalized state of awareness.

Provenance

About this text

A treatise on the nature of union, the Yuganaddhaprakāśanāma belongs to the tradition of the General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works. It is attributed to the Indian author Avadhūtipa Advayavajra. The work entered the Tibetan tradition through the efforts of the translators Vajrapāṇi and nags tsho, and it is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཝི, where it extends over two pages. The text argues that while phenomena born from conditions are subject to change, that which appears is unchanging when realized as it is. It posits that form does not exist apart from form and emphasizes that the stabilization of a mind of excellent intelligence across body, speech, and mind allows a practitioner to be considered engaged in conduct regardless of whether they are performing specific formal activities. A scholar or serious reader consults this work today to examine its philosophical position on the integration of meditative realization with conduct, specifically how the internal state of the practitioner transcends the dichotomy between ordinary activity and formal practice through the understanding of non-duality.

Sanskrit title: Yuganaddhaprakāśanāma
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 Union” (Toh 2237), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2237

Summary & commentary

Significance

The work is significant for its focus on the internalisation of conduct, suggesting that ontological realization takes precedence over formal behavioral markers. This reflects a broader tradition in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism regarding the union of view and conduct. For the modern reader, it provides insight into the conceptualization of mindfulness as a stable state of being rather than a discrete activity.

Structure

Passages	Section	Description
1	Introduction and Ontological Premise	Provides the title in Sanskrit and Tibetan, offers homage to Mañjuśrī, and establishes the distinction between unchanging reality and conditioned phenomena.
2	The Nature of Conduct	Discusses the role of excellent intelligence and the definition of being engaged in conduct through the stabilization of body, speech, and mind.

Themes

The nature of conditioned vs. unchanging reality (1)
The integration of realization and conduct (2)
Stabilization of body, speech, and mind (2)

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

AnuvādaClarifying the Meaning of Union·

༄༅༅། ། རྒྱ་གར་སྐད་དུ། ཡུ་ག་ན་ད་པྲ་ཀཱ་ས་ནཱ་མ། བོད་སྐད་དུ། ཟུང་དུ་འཇུག་པ་རབ་ཏུ་གསལ་བ་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ། འཇམ་དཔལ་གཞོན་ནུར་གྱུར་པ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། གང་དང་གང་སྣང་དེ་དག་པར། ། རྟོགས་པར་གྱུར་ན་མི་འགྱུར་ཉིད། ། རྐྱེན་ལས་སྐྱེས་པ་དེ་འགྱུར་བ། ། དེ་ཡང་རྐྱེན་ལས་དེ་མ་སྐྱེས། ། གཟུགས་ལས་གཟུགས་ནི་ཡོད་མ་ཡིན། ། མིག་ལ་ཡང་ནི་ཡོད་མ་ཡིན། ། དེ་སྐྱེས་རྣམ་ཤེས་ལ་ཡང་མིན། ། ཇི་ལྟར་གཙུབ་ཤིང་མི་བསྟེན་བཞིན། ། གཙུབ་ཤིང་དང་ནི་གཙུབ་གཏན་དང་། ། སྐྱེས་བུའི་ལག་པ་མ་བསྟེན་པར། ། མངོན་དུ་མེ་ནི་གྲུབ་པ་མེད། ། དེ་ནི་འདི་དག་བསྟེན་ནས་འབྱུང་། ། བདག་གིས་བུ་བས་སྔར་རྨོངས་སམ། ། འོན་ཏེ་བུ་ལས་རྨོངས་པར་འགྱུར། ། བུ་ཉིད་ལ་ནི་སྔར་ཞེན་པ། ། དེ་ནི་རྫས་སུ་ཡོད་མ་ཡིན། ། དེ་ལྟར་རྐྱེན་ཉིད་འབའ་ཞིག་ཕྱིར། ། ཆོས་རྣམས་རང་བཞིན་མེད་པ་ཉིད། ། དེ་ལ་གནས་པའི་རྣལ་འབྱོར་པས། ། བདེ་མཆོག་ལས་ནི་ཉམས་མི་འགྱུར། ། ཐམས་ཅད་བླང་དང་དོར་མེད་ཀྱང་། ། ཐ་སྙད་དུ་ནི་འཇུག་པར་འགྱུར། ། འདི་དག་སྒྱུ་མ་བཞིན་དངོས་མེད། ། རྐྱེན་ལས་བྱུང་བར་རྟོགས་པའི་ཕྱིར། ། མ་སྐྱེས་ཕྱིར་ན་རང་བཞིན་མེད། ། རྐྱེན་ལས་བྱུང་བ་མི་འགག་ཉིད། ། དངོས་དང་དངོས་མེད་ཉམས་པས་ན། ། ཟུང་དུ་འཇུག་པ་སྣང་བར་འགྱུར། ། སྟོང་པ་སྙིང་རྗེ་གཅིག་གྱུར་པ། ། རང་གི་རྟོག་པས་བྱས་པ་མིན། ། སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་དང་རབ་གསལ་བ། ། རང་བཞིན་ཟུང་དུ་འཇུག་པ་ཉིད། ། རྣམ་པ་ཀུན་མཆོག་རྒྱས་ལྡན་པའི། ། ཟབ་མོ་གཉུག་མའི་སྙིང་པོ་ཉིད། ། མངོན་སུམ་རིག་པ་སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱིས། །

In the language of India: Yuganaddhaprakāśanāma. In the language of Tibet: Zung du 'jug pa rab tu gsal ba bstan pa zhes bya ba (The Clear Exposition of the Union). Homage to Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta. Whatever appears, when realized as it is, is unchanging. That which is born from conditions is subject to change, yet it is not born from those conditions. Form does not exist apart from form; it does not exist in the eye either. Nor does it exist in the consciousness produced from them. Just as fire is not established without relying on the fire-drill, the fire-board, and the human hand, so too fire is not manifest without their reliance. It arises only through the reliance upon these. Am I deluded regarding the son before the son is born, or am I deluded regarding the son after he is born? That attachment to the son itself prior to his birth does not exist as a substantial entity. Thus, because they are merely conditions, phenomena are devoid of intrinsic nature. The yogi who abides in that state does not fall away from the supreme bliss. Although there is nothing to be accepted or rejected in all things, one engages with them conventionally. These are without reality, like an illusion, because they are realized to have arisen from conditions. Because they are unproduced, they lack intrinsic nature; because they arise from conditions, they are unceasing. Through the dissolution of both entity and non-entity, the union becomes manifest. The unification of emptiness and compassion is not a fabrication of one's own conceptual thought. Emptiness and luminosity are the very nature of the union. This is the profound, innate essence, endowed with the excellence of all supreme aspects. It is the direct awareness of the Buddha.

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.

periodམེ → “fire”. In ritual and cosmological prose མེ is the element 'fire'; Agni is the deity only where he is named or invoked. Do not capitalise the element.

homonymམེ is rendered “fire” here; the glossary also records Āgneya, Analā, Acalā for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionམེ “fire” — Classified as a “ lord of beings ” ( prajāpati ).

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

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

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

termཕྱག་འཚལ → homage

termམེ → fire

termཆོས → dharma

termསྟོང་པ་ཉིད → emptiness

termརིག་པ → knowledge

termསངས་རྒྱས → buddha

མཆོད་པ་ལེགས་སྦྱོར་བྱེད་པ་ཡིན། ། ལུས་དང་ངག་དང་སེམས་ཀྱི་ནི། ། རྟག་ཏུ་བློ་བཟང་རབ་གནས་ན། ། སྤྱོད་པ་བྱེད་དང་མི་བྱེད་ཀྱང་། ། དེ་ལ་སྤྱོད་པ་བྱེད་ཅེས་བརྗོད། ། ཟུང་དུ་འཇུག་པ་རབ་ཏུ་གསལ་བ་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ། སློབ་དཔོན་ཨ་བ་དྷཱུ་ཏཱིས་མཛད་པ་རྫོགས་སོ། ། ། ། བཛྲ་པཱ་ཎི་དང་། ནགས་ཚོས་བསྒྱུར་བའོ། ། ༄༅༅། ། རྒྱ་གར་སྐད་དུ། པྲི་ཎ་པཉྩ་ཀ། བོད་སྐད་དུ། དགའ་གཅུགས་ལྔ་པ། སངས་རྒྱས་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། སྣང་བ་མཆོག་ཏུ་གཅུགས་པ་ནི། ། རྟེན་ཅིང་འབྲེལ་འབྱུང་ཙམ་ཉིད་དེ། ། མེད་པར་གྱུར་ན་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད། ། འདོད་པ་མོ་དངོས་འཆིང་བར་འགྱུར། ། སྟོང་ཉིད་ཤིན་ཏུ་མཆོག་གྱུར་པའི། ། མཛའ་བོ་དཔེ་མེད་གཟུགས་ལྡན་གང་། ། དེ་དང་བརྒྱ་ལ་བྱེད་ན་ནི། ། དགའ་བདེའི་གཙོ་བོ་བརླག་པར་འགྱུར། ། དེ་ཕྱིར་དོགས་པས་ཁྱོ་ཤུག་གཉིས། ། བླ་མ་དམ་པའི་སྤྱན་སྔར་གནས། དེ་ཡིས་དེ་དག་སྔོན་བཞིན་དུ། ། དགའ་བས་ལྷན་ཅིག་གཅུགས་པར་མཛོད། ། ཨེ་མའོ་བླ་མ་མཆོག་མཁས་ནི། ། འདི་ལྟ་བུ་ལ་མཁས་པ་མཚར། ། རང་བཞིན་གཉིས་མེད་དམིགས་པ་མེད། ། བླ་ན་མེད་པར་གཉིས་ཀ་སྐྱེས། ། མཚན་ཉིད་ཐམས་ཅད་ཡང་དག་རྫོགས། ། མཐའ་གཉིས་རྣམ་པར་སྤངས་པ་སྟེ། ། དངོས་པོ་ཀུན་གྱི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད། ། རང་བཞིན་མེད་པར་རྟག་ཏུ་ཤར། ། དགའ་གཅུགས་ལྔ་པ་སློབ་དཔོན་མཻ་ཏྲི་པས་མཛད་པ་རྫོགས་སོ། ། ། ། བླ་མ་ཕྱག་ནའི་ཞལ་སྔ་ནས་དང་། ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་རྨ་བན་གྱིས་བསྒྱུར་བའོ། །

It is the excellent preparation of offerings. If the mind of excellent intelligence is always well-established in body, speech, and mind, then whether one is engaged in conduct or not, one is said to be "engaged in conduct." The Exposition of the Clear Manifestation of Union, composed by the master Avadhūti, is hereby complete. Translated by Vajrapāṇi and Naktso. In the language of India: Priṇapañcaka. In the language of Tibet: Dga' gtsug lnga pa (The Fivefold Embrace of Joy). Homage to the Buddha! Appearance, which is the supreme embrace, is merely dependent origination. If it were non-existent, it would be emptiness; yet the object of desire binds one to reality. That peerless, embodied friend who is the most supreme emptiness—if one acts with him, the primary joy and bliss will be destroyed. Therefore, out of apprehension, the husband and wife remain in the presence of the sublime guru. May he cause them to embrace together in joy, just as before. Ema! How wondrous is the skill of the supreme, learned guru! The non-dual nature is without focal point; both are born in the unsurpassed. All characteristics are perfectly complete; having utterly abandoned the two extremes, the essence of all things always arises without intrinsic nature. The Fivefold Embrace of Joy, composed by the master Maitrīpa, is hereby complete. Translated from the presence of the guru Phyag na (Vajrapāṇi) and the translator Rma ban.

Terminology used in this text (8)

Term	Rendering	×	Note
ཕྱག་འཚལ	homage	2
སྟོང་པ་ཉིད	emptiness	2
སངས་རྒྱས	buddha	2	The title, not a name. In Old Tibetan the spelling is usually སངས་རྒྱས already; the plural sense ('the buddhas') is carr
མེ	fire	1	In ritual and cosmological prose མེ is the element 'fire'; Agni is the deity only where he is named or invoked. Do not c
ཆོས	dharma	1	In Abhidharma lists (སྐྱེ་མཆེད, ཁམས) ཆོས is 'phenomena', the objects of mind — not the Buddhist teaching. Same word, two
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'
མཆོད་པ	offering	1
བླ་མ	guru	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. A bibliography of the canon lists 1 English-language publication(s) on this text, e.g. Brunnhölzl, Karl, ″Five Stanzas on Love″ (2007). in Straight From the Heart. Ithaca: Snow Lion, pp.137-138. — these may include a full or partial translation. (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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