Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
The provided fragment of the Five Verses on Wisdom, Method, and Love (Prajñopāyaviniścayasiddhi-pañca) initiates a philosophical inquiry into the nature of reality and the mechanism of liberation. The text identifies the supreme play of supreme illumination as being synonymous with dependent origination. By framing the ontological status of dependent origination as the pivot between bondage and liberation, the text commits the reader to a non-dual understanding of causality. It argues that the failure to recognize the true nature of dependent origination results in spiritual entrapment, suggesting that the synthesis of wisdom and method is found in the correct determination of how phenomena arise. The work is structured as a concise set of verses intended to resolve the tension between the appearance of the world and its ultimate nature.
Provenance
About this text
A treatise on the synthesis of wisdom and method, the Prajñopāyadayāpañcaka belongs to the tradition of the General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works. The work is attributed to the Indian authors Avadhūtipa Advayavajra and Maitrīpa. It was translated into the Tibetan language by Vajrapāṇi and the Tibetan translator mtshur dz+nyA na A ka ra, and is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཝི, where it extends over two pages. In its opening verses, the work initiates a philosophical inquiry into the nature of reality, identifying the supreme play of supreme illumination as being synonymous with dependent origination. It argues that the ontological status of dependent origination serves as the pivot between bondage and liberation, suggesting that spiritual entrapment results from a failure to recognize the true nature of how phenomena arise. By framing the synthesis of wisdom and method through the correct determination of causality, the work seeks to resolve the tension between the appearance of the world and its ultimate nature. A scholar or serious reader consults this concise set of verses today to examine the non-dual understanding of causality and the mechanism of liberation as presented in the classical Tibetan tradition.
Sanskrit title
Prajñopāyadayāpañcaka
Indian author
Avadhūtipa Advayavajra, Maitrīpa
Tibetan translators
Vajrapāṇi, bod kyi lo tsA ba mtshur dz+nyA na A ka ra
Cite thisAnuvāda, “Five Verses on Wisdom, Method, and Love” (Toh 2246), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2246
Summary & commentary
Significance
This work is significant for its attempt to reconcile the concept of dependent origination with the state of supreme illumination. For the modern reader, it illustrates the technical precision of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist dialectics regarding the intersection of emptiness and causality.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Introduction and First Verse
Contains the Sanskrit and Tibetan titles, a preliminary homage to Vajrasattva, and the opening proposition regarding dependent origination.
Themes
Dependent Origination (1)
Supreme Illumination (1)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Prajñopāyaviniścayasiddhi-pañca. In the language of Tibet: Thabs dang shes rab rnam par nges pa grub pa lnga pa. Homage to the glorious Vajrasattva!
The supreme play of supreme illumination,
Is merely dependent origination.
If it were non-existent, it would be bondage;
It is the mere assertion of the existence of emptiness.
The body of the supreme play of emptiness
Is beyond all comparison.
If, by some chance, they were distinct,
The principal play would be distinct.
Therefore, the couple of doubts
Abide in the presence of the sublime guru.
Through that very innate play,
Make it the coemergent play!
Ema! Sublime and learned guru,
With such wondrous skill in means,
The innate is indivisible and without reference.
Both are unsurpassed,
Perfectly complete in all characteristics,
And utterly free from the two extremes.
The nature of all things
Is the constant arising of the absence of nature.
The Prajñopāyaviniścayasiddhi-pañca, composed by the master Avadhūtīpa Advayavajra, is complete. It was translated, edited, and finalized by the Indian abbot Vajrapāṇi and the Tibetan translator Tshur Jñānākara.
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.