Root Tantra (Source Transmission)
Chris Wilkinson
Wilkinson_Christoph@yahoo.com
© Chris Wilkinson 2007
A few years back I started to translate the Root Tantra (Source Transmission) of the Anu Yoga of the Great Perfection — an old transmission of Buddhism, from Chinese Turkistan to Persia to Tibet. The original text is written in "old Tibetan” — before the standardization of the language under dynastic patronage. I completed chapters one through six, which give a good idea of the contents. The final chapter, no. 75 is a condensation of the wisdom of the whole work, and is also translated here. There remain chapters seven through seventy four.
The attached text is at the first stage of translation. It will need critical reading and feedback by at least two people: someone knowledgeable in this particular type of literature and someone skilled in the English language. I expect a good deal of reworking before press.
Right now I want to send this to you so that you can get a taste of this ancient tradition. I am on the lookout for both editors and patrons that can help me achieve a full translation ready for publication, which may take more years than I have to live -- so I want to share this with you now.
It was a work of love, a love that didn’t have the chance to bloom — supporting my family and surviving took over for that period. I would very much like to see this work fully translated. I believe I am most qualified to do it, but I don’t know if the conditions and opportunities will come forth.
In the Language of India:
Sarva Tathagatha Citta Guhya Jnyana Garbha
Vajra Uha Tantra Vindhyaryatha Vhidha Susidhi Yogi
Mahayana Sama Arvidharmani Sutra
In the language of Gruzha:
Hon pan ril ti til Pi pu pi ti-la; Ti ti sing Wun wub Hang; Pang rim Wub pi su pang ri zhe hal paa ma kyang ku ’i dang rod ti
In The Tibetan Language:
De bzhin gshegs pa Thams cad Kyi Thugs gSang ba ’i Ye She
Don Gyi sNying po rDo rje bKodpa ’i rGyud
rNal ‘byor Grub pa ’i Lung
Theg Pa Chen po mNgon.par rTogs pa
Chos kyi rNam Grangs rNam par bKodpa
Zhes Bya ba ’i mDo \Chapter One:
Starting At the Beginning
Homage to the Blessed One, The Glorious Liberator, The King of Compassion,
The Very Essence of Total and Complete Release!
I Once Heard this Discourse.
The Most Blessed of all Those Who Have Gone Before, The Lord of Secrets, The Magnificent Vajra Bearer, He who is spoken of as the Lion who Addresses Individuals Who Have All Sorts of Arguments, organized everyone on the inconceivable platform of The Enlightened One. He sat among the diverse classes of living beings.
They heard without difficulty the inconceivable truth (chos) which cannot be thought upon, the compulations (gzimgs) that cannot be either joined together nor broken apart, proclaimed by all the endless
Victorious Ones, the awareness of all things, the vitality of the secret utterances, all in perfect accord with the way things really are, the very mirror of all truth. These were taught without mistake.
This is how they were liberated:
A circle of Boddhisattvas with enormous differences, along with their entourages, gathered in the domain of the Enlightened One Akshobhya (The Unalterable Being of Enlightenment), which is called “Real Bliss.”
It is ornamented everywhere with Vajra Light. There, on a mountain of heaped up Vajras was that great personage known as “Heroic Vajra” (sems dpa’rdo rje). They were able to hear the true vitality of the secret utterances on the clear light of the Mandala of the Mind from their own teacher. Then they
taught these very things to their own [respective] followers. Even though they have all passed away these things are still discussed, fortheir dissemnination has been exponential. Vast Enumerations of Tens of Millions of Bodhisattvas and their retinues listened to the individual known as Vajra Jem ([[rdo rje
rin chen]]) on the mountain known as “Vaidurya Light Heights” in the domain of the Enlightened One Ratnasambhava, which is called “Glorious” (Skt: Srimaf), where mountains of jewels are so finely displayed. They were able to hear the true vitality of the secret utterances on the clear light of the
Mandala of the Mind from their own teacher. Then they taught these very things to their own [respective] followers. Even though they have all passed away these things are still discussed, fortheir dissemnination has been exponential.
Vast Enumerations of Tens of Millions of Bodhisattvas and their retinues listened to the individual known as Cloud of Dharma on the mountain Masses of Lotuses in the domain of the Enlightened One Amitabha, which iscalled “Blissful” (bde ba can) where beautiful lotuses are so
finely displayed. They were able to hear the true vitality of the secret utterances on the clear light of the Mandala of the Mind from their own teacher. Then they taught these very things to their own [respective] followers. Even though they have all passed away these things are still discussed, for their dissemnination has been exponential.
Vast Enumerations of Tens of Millions of Bodhisattvas and their retinues listened to the prominent individual known as Vajra Action (*Vajrakarma) on the mountain known as Transforming the
Classification of All Precious Things in the domain of the Enlgihtened One Design Unspoiled by Evils (Skt: *Niscayasiddhi), which is called “Completely Pure,” and is drapped with the nets of the Indranila. They
were able to hear the true vitality of the secret utterances on the clear light of the Mandala of the Mind from their own teacher. Then they taught these very things to their own [respective] followers. Even though they have all passed away these things are still discussed, for their dissemnination has been exponential.
Vast Enumerations of Tens of Millions of Bodhisattvas and their retinues listened to the prominent individual known as Holder of the Vajra (Vajradhara) on the mountain known as Hammered by Truth
in the domain of the Enlightened One Vairocana, which is known as Matrix of Enlightenment and is bejeweled by a variety of minds. They were able to hear the true vitality of the secret utterances on the
clear light of the true nature of the mind from their own teacher. Then they taught these very things to their own [respective] followers. Even though they have all passed away these things are still discussed, for they are ascertained in the way things are.
Vast Enumerations of Tens of Millions of Bodhisattvas and their retinues of a variety of classes of demonic beings (yaksa) listened to the prominent individual known as The Lord of Concealers
in the palace where the demonic beings abide, called “Matted Locks,” in the domain of the Enlightened One “Master of Sages” (Munindra), known as “The Ten Directions of the Six Worlds of Tribulation” which is finely bejewelled by the Vajra Throne.
They were able to hear the true vitality of the secret utterances on the clear light of the true nature of the mind from their own teacher. Then they taught these very things to their own [respective] followers.
In the same way, Vast Enumerations of Tens of Millions of Bodhisattvas along with unspeakably large retinues listened to innumerble beings known as prominent individuals in the immeasurble
domains of inconceivable numbers of Enlightened Ones. They were able to hear the fathomless true vitality of the secret utterances on the clear light of the true nature of the mind from their very own teachers. Then they taught these very things to their own [respective] followers. Even though they have all passed away these things are still discussed, for they are still under investigation as to their authenticity.
Likewise, those who are known as representatives of the Victorious One along with inconeivable groups of individuals who represent the Victorious One certainly do fall upon the very essence of the Secret Mantra in the domain of the Dharmakaya, known as “The Vitality of Enlgihtenment,” which is that the true nature of the mind has been Enlightened from the very beginning.
In the same way there are the ten diverse directions of the world : the divine division, the non-divine (asura) division, the dragon division, the human division, the demon (yaksa) division, the sea-monster division, the animal division, the ghost division, and the hell
division. Each have their various leaders who enter into birth and manifest variously to their [respective divisions]. They have the diverse retinues of their very own em- bodments, and are able to hear the true vitality of the secret utterances on the clear light of the mirror of the mind from their own master sages, in their very own language, symbols, and with their own sorts of aspera- tion. Then, in the same way, they can teach those close them by means of investigation into the names and significances of things.
What is more, some of the above mentioned Bodhisattvas are Those Dircted Toward Enlightenment, some are The Enlightened Ones, some are The Heros of Enlightened Attitude (Bodhisattva), some are Great Heros of the Mind Who Are Heros of Enlightened Attitude (Bodhisallva-Mahasattvas), and some are Great Enlightened Ones.
To continue, this is how to explain the divergent analyses [of practitioners] by means of four or five designations:
1. ) Those who rejoice,
2. ) Those who have attained perseverance in the unborn dharmas,
3. ) Those who have no Eye-dust of Dharma with regard to the Dharma,
4) Those who are very pure and a far from filth,
5) Those who Dwell at the Level of Non-returning,
6) Those who have been Prophesied,
7) Those who tend to Strive,
8) Those who Trust through Faith,
9) Those who are Constantly Resting,
10) Those impeded by a single lifetime,
11) Those at the end of existence,
12) Those who enter the path,
13) Those who go,
14) Those who went,
15) Those who are coming back,
16) Those who are staying,
17) Those who are wishing,
18) Those who shine,
19) Those who are involved,
20) Those who keep staying,
21) Those who are perfect,
22) Those who are seeking,
23) Those who teach,
24) Those who do not teach,
25) Those who meditate,
26) Those who actualize things,
27) Those who rise to the Tantras,
28) Those who are certain of their tradition,
29) Those who have knowledge of the Dharma,
30) Sectarians,
31) Those who are interns for the Victorious One,
32) Those of Every Lineage,
33) Those with spells (gzungs, dharani) for mantras,
34) Those with mantras of awareness (yidyamcmtra),
35) Those with Secret Mantras (guhyamantrd),
36) Those of the Three Families,
37) Those of Four Families,
38) Those of Five Families,
39) Those involved in Parties (ganacakra),
40) Those who Apply,
41) Those who See,
42) Those who Meditate,
43) Those who have reached the end,
44) Yogis who Strive,
45) Yogis who Select a Great Tradition,
46) Yogis who exhale a great breath,
47) Yogis who acquire a Great Transmission,
48) Yogis who complete a Great Search,
49) Those who gather words,
50) Those who gather letters,
51) Those who gather names,
52) Those who gather symbols,
53) Those who gather for conventional purposes, and so on.
There are three or four from amongst these that are actually involved in the essential reality of the Secret Mantra. They are: 1) Application, 2) Staying, 3) Attainment, 4) Looking into the Future, 5)
Finishing Completely. These are nothing more than: 1) Dwelling on the Sound, 2) Dwelling on the Earth, 3) Dwelling on Life, 4) The Great Gesture (Mahanmdrd), and 5) Letting Things Happen by Themselves.
This being the case bountiful tens of millions of lamps shine out for the worlds, which are inconceivably diverse world systems with inconceivable tens of millions of contenents, all bounteous in that each world has six realms and ten directions. Samsara, however, is an unspeakable domain that has no beginning, and for
an unspeakable time span — a beginningless and endless eon — it manifests as an eternal whirlpool. The darkness in the worlds of humans and gods is cleared by the shining of lamps. Thus the Mandala of the Mind is clarified. Complete Nirvana [glows] like this when the Mandalas of the sun and of the moon set. Everything is everywhere made known to everyone; all things are illuminated.
This is the First Chapter of The Great Sutra on the Refined Inspiration of All the Enlightened Ones
Starting with the Usual Foundation
Chapter II
Ascertaining the Sacred Utterances
Then how and why does the mightiest of vajra sages, that teacher who lives in this worldly realm known to be “intolerable” where everyone lives for just a hundred years, remain for what is most certainly not a very long time, and then, getting the inspiration to completely transcend sorrow, stay in th
land known as Vaisali for the duration of the three months of summer along with a large gathering. He there grants the instructions whereby great miracles may be performed for followers who gather round, so as to implant in the students of this world the three sacred utterances.
You, the miraculous, must gather all those who are inclined toward this teaching, however it may have been arraigned by my students, throughout the ten divisions of the six worlds. You must proclaim that there are things which must be established as certain. The Miraculous Ones will all be truthfully gathered in a single moment when the following proclamation is announced. This is it:
Everyone from the six classes [of beings]
Is to be transported to the domain of the Victorious One!
Be certain to be here, and listen to all the proponents!
Be confident that the Victorious One will pour out the three ambrosias here.
Gather all those who long to trample out the three poisons!
When these words are announced, all present - with the exception of those with the five great transmissions of sacredness, will in turn be placed perfectly within the great meditations of Mantra. That great seducer, the Master of Langka {13} along with his intelligent technicians, and yet others, will all come together.
Then he announced to those who had assembled:
“O My Friends, you must know! All truths are impermanent! All joinings are finally destroyed! All material things are decimated without warning! I am leaving behind all sorrow, because the force of life for a living individual must have its birth and its death! All those whose doubts are not settled must question me now!”
He said these words, and a King of Vi dyadharas, who had joined in the gathering, by the name of Kunajara, got up from his seat. He looked into the teachers face with the visage of a lion, and addressed him so:
“You are the true nature of the sky
You do not leave behind or not leave behind anything at all!
You engage yourself in accommodating the worldly
And so leave [the world] behind.
Giving them the inspiration to leave it behind as well.
You rise up as the lamp of the world
You clear away all the convolutions4 of darkness
For all the worlds of gods and humans
You make clear the convolutions of the mind,
And arrange individuals on the three pathways of encouragement5
Which are the levels (sd), the act of liberation (thar) and the attainment of illumination (byang chub}. {14}
Yet you have not completely proclaimed the definitive Mahayana,
Where practice is not experientially adopted or rejected,
That immeasurable supreme method,
From none other than which awakening is found.
If you do not lay out a transmission of the instructions
On the Three Words of the Victorious One’s Intention6
Where will these deluded ones,
With their small and darkened attitudes,
Find any definitive intelligence?
Who will gather at the dance party
Of the three convoys7 to total liberation?
When the sun of clarity sets on the world
Who will make a lamp?
Who will put a stop to the wars-
Made by confused hordes
That destroy the teaching?
He addressed the Blessed One with these words, and received this reply:
“Great Vajradhara, this is good!
Your question asks five things; this is good!
This is how it is:
The identification of the definitive Mahayana
Manifests in twelve situations:
1. ) It manifests as that which clears away the torment of delusion
4 mandala
5 ‘dren pa’i theg pa. This probzbly refers to the Sravakayana, the Prattyekkabuddhayana, and the Mahayana.
6 RGyal ba'i tshig gsum, compare latter with tshig gsum nges sdeg by dGa’ rab rdo rje. It is possible that dGa’ rab’s text, the root of the Ati-yoga, is in fact a brief commentary on this issue. See Samten Kar- may’s work on the subject.
7 theg pa
8 The issues of dispute and war are of priary significance. This statement in the first questioning of the Awakened One emphasises the importance of conflisc resolution throughout the text.2. ) It also manifests as that which organises all the lamps for the world
3. ) It also manifests as that which discovers what is definitive
4. ) It also manifests as that core reality which is ascertained to be illumination itself
5. ) It also manifests as that inspiration in which commentary is definitive.
6. ) It also manifests when the time comes for expedients of subjugation
7. ) It also manifests through visions of blessedness
8. ) It also manifests as a means for glorifying the lineage.
9. ) It also manifests as an actor for some purpose
10. ) It also manifests as a definitive teaching on the great transmission.
11. ) It also manifests to sever totally the river of karma.
12. ) It also manifests when the intention [of the teaching] is in dispute.
Each and every one of these completely and totally illuminates all of the others, has illuminated them, and will illuminate them.” My expounding on this gives decision to considerations regarding the first of the [five] questions. Then the teacher expounded on the second question:
Vidyadhara, you should be intelligent!
You must make decisions based on discussion!
You must maintain them methodically!
You must purify your thinking!
Your speech must be straightforward!
Your duties must be performed well!
You must seek out what is meant!
You must investigate you needs and intentions!
You must find certainty!
You must speak truthfully!
You must not change the words!
You must act according to what you say!
You must be wise with regard to the Three Doors.
You must study the Three Mantras.
You must decimate the three cities!
My expounding on this gives decision to considerations regarding the second of the [five] questions.
9
10
Then the teacher expounded on the third question:Vidyadhara, this is how it is:
Any lamp I set out
Illuminates the three baskets
Regarding these three: living in peace, lofty perception, and the end of toil:
To begin with, know that these are three streams, {16}
Then apply the appropriate vocabularies.
Conveyances are graded according to the fact
That attitudes about levels are either great or small, And conferences are also great or small.
The objectives to be applied will coincide
With this differentiation of the two sorts.
Whatever one hopes for is just what one will find.
My expounding on this gives decision to considerations regarding the third of the [five] questions.”
Then the teacher expounded on the fourth and fifth questions in a single statement:
“Moreover, I will make a single decision
Regarding the last two questions.
Listen, You Vidyadhara
For I have made you my brother in truth!
The obligation to act as a lamp,
Which refers to predictions that emerge from out of the past,
Means that when brave hearted beings have appeared in bodily form
Things are made clear to them,
And their confusions are driven out by refutations.
My expounding on this gives decision to considerations regarding the fourth and fifth of the [five] questions. We have completely left behind all sufferings.”
From The Great Sutra Which Brings Together the Inspiration of All the Awakened Ones this is the second chapter which ascertains the sacred utterances.
CHAPTER III
The Sorrows of the Holy Ones
At that time those who were Great Personages were well established in a condition free from distress. The childish became most distressed. Their attitudes were full of rivalry. They became extremely confused, and cried perpetually. Some of the worldly ones came in contact with death. Some of them fainted and crashed down. Some dried up and turned into something like a stale corpse. All of them where in great despair, as if their fathers had died. They were screaming with the grieving noise that sounds like “Kyihud, kyihud.” The containing forces of the worlds of the gods and their peers lost their attractiveness. The convolutions of the minds of the world’s inhabitants were all mixed up. Those with opposing positions regarding this truth had blackened complexions. Those adhering to demonic things as well as those affiliated with other [teachings] had their facial convolutions turning white. Everyone was screaming words of desperation.
Then a hundred and twelve centuries went by.
The great heroes of the mind who had the sacred lineages and had kept themselves so perfectly inward got up. The teacher of the world had gone under, and his brilliance had gone out. They cried. Then all of them, using their own transcendent understandings, and using their miraculous powers gathered in real form at the peak of Mount Malaya, where there is lightening. It is an island in a peaceful lake, a dominion of the land of Langka. When they had got together all of them, they blasted out a melody of despair with a roar of grief in unison. It went like this:
Emao, Kyihud!
Emao, despair!
The light from the teacher’s lamp has gone out!
Now who will clear away the world’s darkness?
This does not rest in the measures of logic!
Will the living who seek to enter the teaching,
And do so through teachings on logical dissertation, Not wind up engaged in the opposite [of what they seek]?
What if an individual committed to logic
With an intention of bringing benefit,
Issues his dictates to an individual
Who would find definitive [[[truth]]]
And it should come to pass that [such opinions]
Be ratified as authoritative?
Will it not come to pass that the powers of diversion will be augmented, By those with eyes closed to the difference between good and evil, Eradicating the true proclamations [of the awakened one],
And will then reach their conclusions wearing the crown of falsity?
The pollution of the clouds of divergent teachings
Will bring down the sun and moon of the two truths!
Will it not come to pass that any living being that seeks the path
Will wander in darkness?
Now that the teacher has left behind sorrow
Who will control the demons, sea-monsters,
Trolls, pestilences, elementals, non-human beings, The hostile and the vicious?
It is in no way acceptable
That the ambrosia of this filthless teaching fail.
It will come to pass that anyone possessing the force
Will make a torch to cause this to be illuminated.
It is in no way acceptable
That the precious sacred instructions be lost.
It will come to pass that some holy person
Will be made to grasp the disciplines.
It is prophesied that in the aftermath of the Teacher’s ceasing to remain A variety of noble and ordinary individuals
Who are the Teacher’s students {19} will appear.
Will it not come about that
On account of the teaching being like the sky
They will cling to their diverse beliefs,
And take sides on what is and what is not,
And so augment the aggression?
Will it not come about that
Those who hold to one lineage with certainty
Will have discordant traditions and diverse practices?
And that those of differing lineages
Will degrade and contrive all the lineages?
Will it not come about that
A variety of unskilled individuals
Led on by emotional desires
Will poison and barter
This invaluable precious thing?
Before now, the King of Truth, the Teacher
Was physically present to decide what would be constructive.
Will it not come to pass that the intolerable increase
When the hostile enact their viciousness?
As many of those that were here while the teaching remained
Will remain together.
Those who came here before are the ones who were here before.
This is, [now], the time that will come in the future!
What will happen?
How is it that the final moment of the Teacher’s teaching
Will actually come about?
How will the last of the students who uphold the instructions
Turn out?
From now until after they leave behind sorrow?
How and for whom shall we go forth as teachers?
In which areas and dominions shall we dwell?
Just what teaching shall we proclaim there?
For so long the worlds have been without protection.
Who will protect and shelter them? {20}
Where attitudes are deceptive and advisors are scattered about
How can attitudes and intelligence come together?
If no one can find the certainty of this intent
Who will hold onto the definitive intention in the future?
How will there be descendants [of the Teacher’s lineage]
Where there are no places of worship or commemorative objects?
What should those of the future use as a place of worship?
Now, so long after the Teacher has passed away,
Will there come forth an individual who will represent the lineage?
Emao Kyihud!
Emao Sorrow!
This is how the utterly expressed their grief.
From The Great Sutra Which Brings Together the Inspiration of All the Awakened Ones this is the third chapter in which the holy ones begin by expressing their sorrow.Discussion on the Clearing Away of Sorrow
They said those words, then called out in distress.
The ocean of Victorious Ones.
The sole friends for those living in the three existences34
Listened,
And all these Lords of Compassion
Met in the home of the Lord of Secrets
At the palace Willow Leaves35
They implored him mightily with these words:
You are the Master of the Concealers!
Has your armour of old been lost or what?
Do you not know of the agony in the world?
Now that this has reached the level of the compassionate
The lineages of those who clear away the distress of the world
Must lay hold of their individual lineal implements And wipe out all of these monstrosities!
Those whose words employ the method of leading people on
By means of their attachments
Must be made to change their comprehensions36
So that they join in discussion on the interpretation of scripture {22}
In a tradition of humour37 with regard to the purest of intentions.
His Majesty, King Vajradhara,
Was encouraged by these words,
This wise one who can control those who are difficult to control,
The Mightiest of Kings throughout the world,
Holder of the signifiers of the secrets,
Possessing the Vajra,
Smiled, and arose from his throne.
“All the great miracles have been demonstrated,
And the magnates of the world’s perversity
Have been prophesied unto the fortunate.
The emergence of fortunate ones of great merit,
34 Srid gsum
35 lcang lo can, Skt: *alakavati, or *adakavati.
36 ‘dus shes
37 dgod.paWell endowed with both karma and fortune,
Has been prophesied by the Victorious One.
Their manifestation [here] is in fulfilment of this prophesy.
At present, the time has come,
As prophesied in the very core of Samsara itself,
That a holy one, through miraculous blessings,
Will speak out according to the prophesies,
The core of the teachings,
And discuss these things with the fortunate.
The Mountain known as “Ugra”
Is a very isolated place.
It is the place to bring forth the secrets of the Mahayana
For those at the core of wisdom.
It is praised by the holy ones
For it is timeless with regard to beginning and end.
This is the great abode of solitude
Used by innumerable Victorious Ones
Without beginning or end.
I myself miraculously display
The teaching that the convolutions of the mind
Are like a mirror,
Whenever I am asked,
With no regard to beginning or end,
To anyone who comes forth.”
This was his statement.
38
From The Great Sutra Which Brings Together the Inspiration of All the Awakened Ones this is the forth chapter in which there is the discussion on the clearing away of sorrow.Letting Out the Holy Transmission
Than and there, right away, The King of Damage Control said this.
Now the mountain called “Ugra” is the gathering place for pests
In Jambudvipa, one of the four continents
In this world’s unstable domain.
True emanations [of the Awakened One]
On the level of compassion
Went there for a place where the lineages holding to the truth
Might live and practice.
There were massive earthquakes.
They cleaned it all up with magical wonders,
And it looked like bliss.
Those who had been prophesied from of old to be fortunate
Took on lowly bodily form, their lineage being holy:
The lineage of the Kings of Men, perfect in etiquette.
Prince Indra showed up to have a look.
That is when those of holy lineage
Had a doubt that was joined with a delight.
The most courageous asked questions:
“Ema! Great Wonder of Miracles!
Great One, who are you?
Where do you come from?
How did you get here?
What do you rely on?
Whither would you proceed?”
This is what they asked so as to determine his intentions.
The Great Magician said this:
“I cannot be disturbed by anything!
I am the untrembling Vajrasattva! {23}I move and shake things, compassionately.
I am the only friend of the three existences.
My country is Great Openness!
My lineage is the Great Vajra Lineage.
My father is supreme and immeasurable Method!
My mother is that knowledge that goes beyond speech!
My moment is beginningless time!
I cast widely my wish fulfilling jewels!
Those who do not know that this is the ambrosia
Of the jewel of great price
Feel that it has been lost.
That is when they are totally impoverished
And become ill with endless diseases.
They wander in shadows, darkness, and desolation.
They loose even the pathway they must move along.
They are tormented, but do not know it.
When I met my very best comrade and friend.
I was taught by this holy protector of kindness:
“Emao! Is there nothing you do not know?
Will the jewel of great price,
That which will bring forth the living meaning,
Where everything one looks upon is bliss,
Be decimated?
Or is it that you do not know that this exists?
Is this not just why I am here?”
These words were uttered by my best comrade and friend.
That is when I replied in turn:
“I did not know of the existence
Of that which will produce the living meaning in fullness,
And felt it was lost.
You, my comrade and friend,
Must present me the instructions
On the methods which must be used to reach it!”
That holy one taught me a vision:
“If you wish to encounter this quickly
You must needs persevere in methods of seeking.
The holy map maker signifies this vision, for you may go over the many pathways of those expert in illuminating darkness, the map makers, but without seeking you will not find it. It comes from one’s own patch of ground. There you will find the ancient jewel, and this is the house of the holy. This finding of the ancients is the finding place of the findings that will be found.”
At the moment I heard these words
I looked to that holy one
For a path whereby I might seek.
This intelligent holy one explained this with certitude.
So I climbed on the great vehicle of whatever I knew
And proceeded out of the dominion of both darkness and light.
I swam the treacherous crevasses of four rivers,
And travelled on many kinds of roads.
I looked everywhere.
I entered the pathways of many holy ones.
I travelled the pathways of stages and of liberation.
I chased after the city of Nirvana.
I came to a decision regarding the jewel of great price.
It had not appeared. I had not found it.
Then I found it in my very own home, a sphere of truth.
I found nothing in the finding of it.
There was nothing aside from the lost,
Even in the lost thing itself.
It does not exist. It does not not exist.
There is nothing lost or found.
It is not got from others, but is got from itself.
Knowledge is designated by those without knowledge
As something to find.
“Lost” winds up being a conventional designation.
From time without beginning
There are the periods of existing, being lost, and being found
This is how this moment when illusions are visible
Can be here, despite the absence of any truth in it.
O Dominions of Both Darkness and Light, come here!
I am the skilful ferry-man.
I have an obligation to carry the three kinds of living things47
Across the endless river of Samsara. {25}
O ye who desire liberation,
Come to this path!
I am the learned eye doctor,
And have an obligation to clear away the cataracts48
Of the immeasurable blindness of the world.
O ye who wish to see,
Come to this path!
I am a skilful physician,
And have an obligation to cure the heart aches
Of the sick ones from the three cities.
You who desire happiness,
Enter this path!
I am a skilful map maker,
And have an obligation to unerringly lead
Travellers on the wrong path
And those who have lost their way.
You who desire a clear road,
Enter this path!
I am an expert at opening the eye49 of compassion,
And have an obligation to protect everyone
From the fear of Samsara’s enemy troops.
You who want freedom from fear,
Enter this path!
I am a great Adamantine Vajra Fortress,
And have an obligation to be a hide-out for living beings
From the war brigades of Samsara’s great battle.
You who desire a castle,
Enter this path!
I am a skilful merchant,
And have an obligation to give great treasures
To those unsatisfied by an ocean of desires.
47 srid gsum
48 ling tog
49 spyan ras This is a rare case of the morpheme ras used with the honorific for “eye” spyan,—the only surviving form of this usage is in the translation of the name of Avalokita. {spyan ras gzigs).
You who wish for treasure,
Enter this path!
I am a skilful lamp,
And have an obligation to clear away the dark shadows
For those who grope in the shadowy darkness of gloom.
You who wish for light,
Enter this path! {26}
I am a wish fulfilling jewel,
And have an obligation to fulfil the dreams
Of anyone who wishes for their dreams.
You who wish for spontaneous realisation,
Enter this path!
I am the key to the proclamations,
And have an obligation to open up
All the secrets locked up in the alters of scripture.
You who wish to get them out,
Enter this path!
I am the commentator on scripture,
And have an obligation to bring across with certainty
The profound volumes of spoken word.
You who wish to know,
Enter this path!
Anyone who has the good fortune to enterThis pure and magnificent pathway of total liberation
Will blaze with the light of the jewel of great price.
He or she will arise with certitude,
So persevere!
This is, in fact, the mirror of the mind,
And as soon as it is intuited with direct perception
One is, then, an Awakened One in the body of a living being.
This epitomises the explanations that clarify arguments regarding The true objects in the supreme treasuries of the holy ones Which are the concealed great secrets of the Vajra.
It has successively descended through the lineage holders
Of gods and humans, and will be famed.
It will clear away all the enclosures of darkness
In all the worlds of gods and humans
And the convolutions of the mind will be clarified.
Why should one enter the shadows of torment?
The sage regards Nirvana and affliction
As having the sky itself for an embodiment:
Nothing to transcend and nothing not to transcend. {27} Nothing is transferred.
This is like the sky.”
These words manifested as magical sounds,
And the lineage holders who had appeared from the past
Gave birth to a magnificent great joy
And bowed down their bodies
With thoughts of joy, pleasure, and delight.
They gathered in extreme devotion52
And sat with tears in their eyes, offering these words:
Just as lightening shows an intervening luminosity
In the darkened night fogged by clouds,
You, an individual who has come forth to fulfil a purpose, From out of the very dimension of things as they are,53 Likewise show the great path of purity.
You hold the secrets of the holy ones.
You are famed as the master of the concealers.
You are lauded in the debates on the scriptures.
You are famed as a great commentator on the scriptures.
52
53
gus
de bzhin nyid
You are the rising sun who conceals the three treasuries
That are in all the convolutions of the mind.
You are famed as the sun of clarity
Because you clarify all darkness regarding what must be known.
You subdue without exception all those who are difficult to subdue,
And, being the demon of demons, you destroy all demons.
You are famed as the demon of demons
Because you effectively wipe out the syndication of fear.
The very essence of things as they are
Is the mind,
Whose true nature is clear light.
You are famed as the mirror of truth,
For all truths are envisioned as formed reflections. {28}
The concoctions of medicine that pound out poisons
Are unexcelled relievers of illness.
You are famed as a King of Medicine,
For you are the adversary of every disease.
You are famed as a cleanser of sorrow,
For you bring joy, pleasure, and delight.
You are famed as a wish fulfilling jewel,
For you fulfil wants just as they are wished.
Those of us who are Vidyadhara Awareness Holders
Must act in accord with the holy ones,
So just when the manifestations of the holy ones disappear
We display the lamp of the holy ones.
We must carry on just as we have done
At the time the secret transmissions of the holy ones appeared:
Have discussions on the lineal transmission of the secrets!
Have discussions on the three words of the inspiration!
Have discussions on the adamantine vajra of the sky!”
So they made their request.
From The Great Sutra Which Brings Together the Inspiration of All the Awakened Ones this is the fifth chapter in which the request is made to let loose the holy transmission.CHAPTER VI
What Clears Confusion and Sorrow
{p. 28, line 5}
These words were addressed to him, so the Lord of Secrets gave instruction:
“O Brave Ones Embodied as Living Beings, You were prophesied from long ago.
Now let go of these illusory conceptions
That add question to your sorrow and praise!
Listen!
The convolutions of the mind are just what is.
The sky does not sink, nor do they.
Their true nature is primordial clear light.
It clears away on ti’s own anything which obscures it.
Anything that would be known,
When analysed by the two kinds of logic {29}
Will end up being logical.
The roots of evil and good are also like this,
But in reality, this [[[logic]]] does not change them.
The true nature of the mind is clear light
There is no solar or lunar whitener
That will whiten it.
The Awakened One does not transcend sorrow.
The truth will never go under.
The emanations [of the Awakened One]
Act out transcendence
So as to give honour to the lazy.
When the sky is destroyed
It will transcend sorrow.
The implementation of selflessness and opennessWill control the vicious and horrible.
The self-begotten lion blazes and illuminates with force,
The true nature of clear light,
The ocean of teaching that cannot be elaborated.
The mind itself is superior to all trainings.
This is the best of all the things one can attain.
Hold to this level of total luminescence,
You embodied Brave Ones
For the sake of living beings who will appear in the future!
Living beings are endless,
While they always remain
At the core of awakening.
All of them have been prophesied to be beyond training,
For their transmission is ascertained in reality as such.
The childish get into arguments
Saying “The mind exists or does not exist.”
The wise are forever free from argument.
They do not speak words of designation
For what is and what not.
The secrecy of my secret utterance
Is the secret of every Awakened One. {30}
No one can fathom it.
Still a single word regarding the secrets what are fathomed by others
Will turn out to have a variety [of expressions].
One who does not know this secret transmission of the holy ones
Will disseminate delusion.
Bartering ambrosia for poison,
He will burn up both what he has saved
And what he has done.
The great Bearer of LightIs a mirror who makes all things clear,
A Teacher who completes everything without mix up,
He is like the sky,
And will not relocate or change.
Nothing can harm him,
Just as the lightening and clouds [do not harm the sky].
The teachings will remain so long as
The core of awakening exists.
They emerge from where there is no beginning or end;
They do not have a before or an after.
The one who says that this emerged in the beginning from nothingness Will also say that at the end there is nothing that cannot be spoken. Those who cling to their sorrow as a beginning are the same way. They cannot find anything else, even at the end.
Reality as such comes from here and goes to here
It remains in the domain of vast encompassing pervasion.
The clear light of the convolutions of the mind
Is luminous in reality as such.
A miracle is shown for the sake of the childish
Who say it is unheard of in the flower adorned world.
Nothing is shown in the true demonstration.
The Awakened Ones who emanate into the pure lands
Make things appear in the same way.
The illusory manifestations do not show,
But nonetheless are apparent to others.
The supreme heart,
An unshakeable vajra,
Is one that disappears and appears,
Brings itself forth and destroys itself,
Throughout the innumerable dominions of the world
With blessings of manifest compassion. {31}
The domain of true wisdom has no birth;
65
66
It is obstructed fromThe heart-core of those who have, primordially, gone to bliss
By thought forms and adventitious karma.
It is, in fact, a great protective shelter for living beings.
The three words which are the inspiration of the Victorious One
Are the highest topic of arguemnt for those with deceptive attitudes
The duration of the great living meaning
Shines forth in the land of intelligent holy ones.
When you engage your attitude in this essence of certainty alone,
In the same way that the minds of all the Victorious Ones are so engaged,
There is true certainty.
All truths have the characteristics of the sky.
The Victorious Ones are embodiments of wisdom.
There is actually no material substance to their embodiment.
How could reliquaries and physical relics come about?
It is out of an intention to benefit sentient beings
That they are manifested from out of nothing.
A few tiny bits of illusory physical relics
Are a compassionate way of teaching how to lay [this body] down.
It is certain that anyone who believes in physical relics
Is like someone who believes you can get oil out of sand.
When the time comes that you plant rice and harvest sesame seeds
That will be when physical relics actually exist.
Physical appearance, profound proclamations, and the presence of a core
Are the three vajras of Embodiment, Speech, and Mind.
They are called the place of worship, the thought support, and the holy one.
The protector of beings, Vajrasattva, says so.
The innumerable Victorious Ones
Emerge from the lineages of Samsara’s sentient beings. {32}
If the lineages of Samsara’s living beings fail,
The lineages of Awakened Ones will also fail.To give an example:
The colours of the rainbow in the sky
First emerge from something other than themselves,
But do not in the end go anywhere but into themselves.
This symbolises self-emerging and self-elimination.
Manifestations are self-emerging and self-eliminating
So they never disappear.
They pass away.
This is different than being inseparable [from what manifests them].
Even when they do not pass away, they are not the same [as what manifests them].
This goes beyond passing away and not passing away,
So what is separate and what non-separate?
Why should anyone be upset about this?
Sorrow is a delusion caused by confusion.
Emao! What a miracle!
How could anyone who knows this be deluded?”
So the Lord of Secrets, with a countenance of a lion, made a joke. Those who were in sorrow due to their confusion felt joy and pleasure. They woke up completely from their depression on their own accounts, and stayed while dwelling in the mind free of contrivance. All the convolutions of reality turned into clear light. Then the Lord Of Langka addressed the Lord of Secrets:
“Great Lord of Secrets, you have cleared away all sorrow? Well then, clear away just the sorrow of this intolerable world!” The Lord of Secrets Spoke:
O Lord of Langka! I have cleared away all sorrow. I have also cleared away all the sorrows of times past. {33} I have also cleared away all the present sorrows for the domain of this intolerable world. I have cleared away the sorrows, as numerous as the sands, of other worlds’ domains. I will clear away any and all of the sorrows of times not yet come. For this reason, anyone who remains sorrowful does not know. They are confused. They are simply immature. Those who know, are not confused, are wise, and are mature are not sorrowful. This is freedom from sorrow!”
When they heard this the Lord of Langka and those in migration as embodied Brave Ones72 all woke up from their sorrows. From The Great Sutra Which Brings Together the Inspiration of All the Awakened Ones this is the sixth chapter which is called “What Clears Confusion and Sorrow.”
72 lus kyi sems dpa’
From
<poem>
The Tr ue History of the Mahayana13
This is the first teaching on the history,
The Uttered Discourse on What Clears Away Confusion and Sorrow.
A Discussion on the Wisdom which Symbolises the Truth.
Chapter 75
(p. 589)
Then the Lord of Secrets went on to speak, expounding in a style that was extremely dazzling and
brilliant to the Lord of Langka and those beings who had gross embodiments:
My Friends, How can these disputes be brought to unity? This is how!
(p. 590)
(q-
One time I heard this speech:
One blessed amongst all the Thus Gone Ones brought together all the Thus Gone Ones in their pure vitality,
and all these Thus Gone Ones proclaimed
The Unified Condensation of the Intentions of All Thus Gone Ones:
(1)
All things are naturally pure,
For all reality is pure.
This is the most lofty and excellent heart-bond scripture
For all Thus Gone Ones.
Then the Blessed One in his true vitality went on to say:
73
theg pa chen po nges par byung ba’i tshulThe Vajra Commitment that cannot be broken
Results from the natural being of the Vajra.
Once the Vajra Commitment to Reality is realised
It can at no time be broken.
My friends, this was proclaimed by the Blessed One Most Pure, in his pure vitality. So, My Friends, it
follows that:
(p. 591)
(3)
The Heart-Bond of all the Victorious Ones
Is what bonds all things
There is nothing other than this
And nothing exists that is not this [Heart-Bond],
Nothing will ever transcend it.
Then the Blessed One Perfect Enjoyment, in his pure vitality, said: Now, My Friends, look at this:
(4)
The words proclaimed by the Holy Ones
Are bound with vajra armour.
If one leaves behind this most sacred last word
One will burn.
Then the Blessed One Secret Embodiment, in his pure vitality, said: My Friends, Look at this again:
(5)
This, the bond of all the Victorious Ones,Is the totality of the bounteous obligations which must be guarded,
For everyone protects everyone.
This kind of protection is difficult to find.
Then the Blessed One Water Fall, in his pure vitality, said: Hey, My Friends, Look at this:
(6)
If you can level out the diverse cores of anger
Into an attitude of enlightenment
This is none other than the true way of things.
Non-denial is the pure vajra commitment.
Then the Blessed One Vajra Attitude, in his pure vitality, said: My Friends, take another look at this:
(7)
The reality of objectified desire and hatred
Is just the way things are.
Purity in the enjoyment of experiences and feelings
Has no attachment to the application [of these emotions],
This is the Vajra commitment.
(p. 592)
(q-
Then the Blessed One Bounteous Light, in his pure vitality said: Now look at this:
(8)
Everything is equalised in this reality
And there is no [longer] any difference or distinction.
The clear light of the vajra sky
Clears out all the darknesses of delusion.
Then the Blessed One Encompassing Vision, in his pure vitality, said: Now look at this:
(9)
The limits of a pure heart have no boundaries.
It is free from the pathways of words, both wide and narrow.
It is the same thing as the highway of all goodness.
The commitment of the vajra is the vast space of great bliss.
Then the Blessed One Realisation of All Things, in his pure vitality, said: Now look at this:
(10)
There is nothing other than the way things are.
This transcends both being and non-being
The selfless vajra is the way things are.
The vajra commitment is such that
The absence of a true identity does not change.
Then the Blessed One Origin of All Good Qualities, in his pure vitality, said: Look further, My friends, at
this:
(H)
There are bounteous varieties of truths
Known to exist because they are visible and apparent
The uncontrived reality of how things really are, however,
Is a pure land of clear light that has no pollution.
(p. 593)
Then the Blessed One Undistorted Sound, in his pure vitality, said: Look at this, too:This wisdom is apparent to everyone.
No one created it. It is self created.
It is the root from which all things grow.
The Mandala which emerges from itself is perfect.
Then the Blessed One Cloud of Rare Jewels, in his pure vitality, said: For further explication on the same topic look at this:
(13)
The vitality of all truths
Was not contrived even in the beginning.
Due to this, a number of perspectives hold
That it came from nothing.
The mandala is perfect because it is not perceived.
Then the Blessed One Origin of Arrangement, in his pure vitality, said: Still yet, look at this:
(14)
The mind itself, which is self arising awareness,
Uses spontaneous methods and knowledge
Directed toward the dimension of uncontrived reality
To make obvious the mandala of the pure nature of things.
Then the Blessed One Lion’s Roar, in his pure vitality, said that this was also proclaimed by the Blessed One Fruit of Beauty in his pure vitality :
(15)
All the happiness and unhappinessOf the world and of transcending the world
Actually taste the same.
So there are no pleasant or painful sensations at all.
(p. 594)
This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One Ornament of Beauty, in his pure vitality, said this: (16)
According to the teachings on the truth of how things are
All things are, just as they are, one.
Whoever teaches whatever to whomever
Is simply devoured in conversation with himself.
This is what he proclaimed. After that the Blessed One King of Perfume, in his pure vitality, said:
(17)
One cannot imagine three sorts of time or four sorts of time
With regard to the dimension what is.
Depending on one’s awareness of wisdom
And instant is an aeon, or it is an instant.
This is what he proclaimed. After that, the Blessed One King of Compassion, in his pure vitality, said:
(18)
In the dimension of the way things truly are
The things designated as “Samsara” and “Nirvana”
Are, from inception, Nirvana.
This is why the two gatherings [of merit and knowledge]
Are completed in the spontaneity of their own natures.This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One Eyes of Delight, in his pure vitality, said:
(19)
The true nature of every single thing
Is that everything is born subsequent to its not having been bom
In birth itself nothing is born
The birthplace of the supreme family of the vajra is sacred.
This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One King of Total Inspiration . in his pure vitality, said:
(20)
The awareness that everything is, in fact, the way that it is
Pervades to the point that a dance floor is a Buddha field,
Arrayed with jewel-clouds of fine things.
There is no act of migration [from Samsara to Nirvana] at all.
This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed one Golden Light Rays, in his pure vitality, said:
(p. 595)
(21)
The way things really are is non-dual:
In the same way that innumerable Victorious Ones
Live with the way things are,
The way things are and all of those [[[Victorious Ones]]] are [[[non-dual]]].
This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One Glory of Light, in his pure vitality, said this:Samsara and Nirvana
Are not perceived individually
For in the way things really are
Samsara has no real identity.
This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One Master of Peace, in his pure vitality, said:
(23)
The reality of the way things are
Is bounteous in both weight and measure.
It is the immeasurable palace of the Victorious Ones.
All things are displayed in it, and are in unity there.
This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One Master of Clouds, In is pure vitality, said:
(24)
The miracle that brings all things into being
Is that Wisdom which can transform into anything.
There is no truth which precedes [the others],
But [[[truths]]] have been put together as they have been perceived.
This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed one Attractive Melody, in his pure vitality, said:
(25)
Those with Oral Transmissions in which the world is Samsara,
And ignorance is the essential way of things,
Will reach a point in time where they have no base or root,
When one becomes aware of this he or she will abide in great bliss.
(p. 596)
This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One Light Vision of the Mirror, in his pure vitality, said: (26)
Emotional problems are designations for the Five Wisdoms
The result of this is that both [problems and wisdom] are obfuscated.
Actually, the understanding that there is no difference between conceptions
And the lack of conceptions is the path of purity.
This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One Glorious Moonlight, in his pure vitality, said:
(27)
There are innumerable teachings on the vehicles [to enlightenment]
They fall apart when the technique of have having them taught
Accords only with the diversity of hopes [of the teacher, patrons, and audience].
There is no other [way] than the Vajra Vehicle.
This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One Gloried Essence of the Sun, In his pure vitality, said:
(28)
Whoever sees this will, as soon as they see it,
Cut through the net of ignorant prejudice,
Which is based on individualistic perceptions,
Just as the [[[Wikipedia:unborn|unborn]]] eagle and lion
Who are obstructed by the physical womb
[Break forth from] the womb.
This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One King of Incense, In his pure vitality, said:
(29)
When one has achieved control over the truth
That the methods of the power of transformation
Are the illusory manifestations of wisdom,
This is the reflexive awareness
That controls and transforms all things.
It is like making something apparent despite the darkness.
(p. 597)
This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One King of Vast Diffusion, in his pure vitality, said:
(30)
The true natures of the pristine illusions of wisdom
And the misconceived illusions of designations
Are, in fact, the way things are.
The knowledge of this duality is, therefore,
The completion of the accumulations [of wisdom and merit].
This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One Jewel King, in his pure vitality, said:
(31)
In reality, these innumerable truths are one.
So anyone who knows that things are this way
Has attained transformative power over them all.
This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One Glorious Light Ray, in his pure vitality, said:
(32)
Anyone who understands this
Inspiration of All the Enli ghtened Ones
And sticks with it,
Achieves the power of true reflexive awareness,
And is, therefore, a true Holder of Awareness.
This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One King of Austerities, in his pure vitality, said:
(33)
When actualised appropriately
What occurs will not fade into nothing.
The river of magnificent qualities will not be dammed.
The Matrix of All Things can appear as anything;
It is the treasury of precious things.
This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One Core of the Crown, in his pure vitality, said:
(34)
Reality is uncontrived as it is,
So mental fixations on how things are
Are not, in fact, the way things are.
Where are the attainer and the attainment?
(p. 598)
This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One Passed To Certainty, in his pure vitality, said:
(35)
Reality is obscured by ephemeral concepts
Like ephemeral clouds that melt in the sky.
Just as the clear sky naturally releases the clouds
Conceptualisations are naturally released into Openness.(36)
There are lucid proclamations on the way things are,
Yet the Vajra Proclamation cannot be elaborated.
This unelaborated discourse elucidates what it actually covers;
The vast majority of teachings are simply not spoken.
This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One Great Bliss, in his pure vitality, said:
(37)
The unobstructed and unattached attitude,
Which is objectively engaged in all things
Can convert anything at all into just what is.
It has an inexhaustible treasure, a mine of jewels.
This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One Song of the Master of Flowers, In his pure vitality, said:
(38)
One who abides with things as they are
Does not say “this” in words,
But everyone gets exactly what they want
By the blessing of unity through inclusiveness.
(p. 599)
This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One Famous Glory, in his pure vitality, said:
No one, without exception,
Among all the Enlightened Ones and other living beings
Are excluded from the fact that all conceptual constructs
[About both] reflexive awareness and non-awareness
Are, in fact, self-arising wisdom.
This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One King of Emanations, in his pure vitality, said:
(40)
The basis for there being a path of words
Is that the letters are the symbols of the five Wisdoms.
If these are pure, all things are pure.
The true statement is not in the statement.
This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One Inexhaustible Melody of Sound, in his pure vitality, said:
(41)
The five conglomerations of emotional problems
In the reality of the way things are
Are completely pure.
Concepts cannot be smashed, removed, generated, or stopped.
They are all overcome by their own essential nature.
This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One Medicine King, in his pure vitality, said:
(42)
There are bounteous minute atoms of living beings
Throughout every single atom in all the measureless worlds.
This is apparent in the way things are.
The situation is like that of sesame seeds containing oil.(P-
600)
Then the Blessed One Golden Light Glow, in his pure vitality, said:
(43)
This was uttered in a previous proclamation,
With consideration for individuals
Who are simply solitary specks of dust,
So that when all of the dust specks,
In their bountiful immeasurability hear it
There will be a general liberation.
This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One King of the Array, in his pure vitality, said:
(44)
This bounteous proclamation can not be reduced
To a single proclamation.
It encompasses all things,
Whether they be peripheral or central.
Whether they are applicable or not,
The manifold vajra proclamations
Express the way things are without reification.
This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One Golden Rod, in his pure vitality, said:
(45)
The reality that is not contrived in any way
Has no directionality nor temporality
In terms of past and future.The reality of reflexive awareness in itself
Is that everything is in fact the dimension of reality.
This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One King of Glory, in his pure vitality, said:
(46)
The true nature of reality is diversity,
And diversity is reality,
Still the infantile cling to dualities,
While they cannot distinguish between any two things.
This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One Glory of amassed Illuminations, in his pure vitality, said:
(47)
Both discord and concord
Are, in the reality of the sky’s openness,
Indistinguishably a unity, from their inception,
So where is the destructiveness brought by animosity?
(p. 601)
This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One Glory Without Pain, in his pure vitality, said:
(48)
The true nature of the unchanging sky is pure:
The purity of the pure.
Conceptions appear conceptually
While nothing whatever appears to control them.This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One Glory of Supreme Delight, in his pure vitality, said:
(49)
The expansive clear light of things as they are
Is naturally uncontrived in its own nature
And is the true core of all things.
It is the magnificent sky,
Unpolluted by anything.
This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One Glorious Splendour, in his pure vitality, said:
(50)
The highest level is that of the way things really are.
The wisdom to be aware of this is the level a Teacher.
What is there to tolerate or move beyond
When one dwells in this primordial reality?
This is what he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One Kind Companion of All the Enlightened Ones, in his pure vitality, said:
(51)
The core of openness is surrounded
By a wheel of the variety of appearances.
This is the mandala of what really is,
Not made be anyone at all, and existing on its own.
(p. 602)
These are the words he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One Deliverance From All Evil States, in his pure vitality, said:The attainment of inexhaustible wisdom
Is to attain what is really there.
This is inexhaustible and not augmentable.
What is there to practice from this point on?
These are the words he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One Master of Lessons for All the Worlds, in his pure vitality, said:
(53)
“Nirvana” is so called
Due to the lack of a true identity in any thing.
The Enlightened Attitude is not to remain
In that openness whose nature is totally pure.
These are the words he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One Total Victory, in his pure vitality, said:
(54)
If those thick heads from the river of mental constructs
Are not transferred to the land of openness
The ocean of Samsara will reach the abyss,
And those without knowledge will perceive it accordingly.
These are the words he proclaimed. Then the Blessed One King of Flower Bouquets, in his pure vitality, said:
(55)
The origin of all things is not a reality
For those who compromise.
The abode of all Buddhas and living beingsIs perfected in deep knowledge of the All Good.
(p. 603)
These are his words of secrecy. Then the Blessed One Illumination of All Things, in his pure vitality, said:
(56)
The embodiment of the insubstantial
Is everything that appears in reality
To the dense array of enlightened ones
And every type of living being,
Whether it is something
That is stable, malleable, or otherwise.
These are his words of secrecy. Then the Blessed One Lucid Mind, in his pure vitality, said:
(57)
The enlightened attitude is, itself,
The root of the wisdom that occurs to itself.
The root of the [[[enlightened attitude]]] is compassion.
Use the methodology of the perfections!
These are his words of secrecy. Then the Blessed One Lion of a Hundred Thousand Bodies, in his pure vitality, said:
(58)
No matter how many meanings there may be for reality
The collections of lettered words that symbolise speech
Are nouns that do not depend on speech
And are nothing but classifications
For the justifications of hot-headed attitudes.These are his words of secrecy. Then the Blessed One Master of Sages, in his pure vitality, said: (59)
All truths in their own nature are true
And are not different than reality as such.
This, in fact, is the path of enlightenment,
A pathway which continues to organise the dense.
These are his words of secrecy.
O My Friends, these and so many others :
Ten million millions of emanations of the Heroic Vajra Mind,
The Goddesses of Liberation,
In their pure vitalities, dwelling in their palaces of truth,
Whose limits are beyond grasp, said these words of secrecy:
(p. 604)
Some said it like this:
(60)
The dimensions of both sentient beings and Enlightened Ones,
Which are simply the duality of awareness and non-awareness,
Are illuminated as the duality of the pure and the impure
At the moment there is non-conceptual reflexive awareness.This thing cannot be spoken of or explicated.
It is symbolised, and hence propounded in different ways.
Anything spoken is in fact its own reality.
The meaning of the vajra
Is that this thing cannot be elaborated.
In this way the sacredness of the secrecy is praised.
Some said it like this:
(62)
Even the Enlightened One has nothing to do
with the veracity of what there is.
Who contrives things, and who does them?
Where is there a creator?
In this way the sacredness of the secrecy is praised.
Some said it like this:
(63)
The province of the wise one
Is reality as it is.
All the truths that are involved with this
are naturally pure and have no defilements.
In this way the sacredness of the secrecy is praised.
(P-
(q-
Some said it like this:This thing has no designations.
It is therefore illustrated through a variety of designations.
Those whose true being
Is the dimension of the matrix of all things
State that it is not understood by reducing it into a nothing.
In this way the sacredness of secrecy is praised. Some said it like this:
(65)
The perspectives of the various vehicles,
And all the efforts to protect their vows,
Are not things that need to be worked out,
For all of them are perfectly whole
Without mixing them together.
In this way the sacredness of secrecy is praised. Some said it like this:
(66)
This thing is without direction or time.
This is made fully apparent
To anyone that designates it with a direction or a time.
Even the Enlightened One did not know that.When all the inconceivable things are understood
One decides not to think about them.
The bringer of innumerable qualities of goodness is
The knowledge of each and every thing.
In this way the sacredness of secrecy is praised. Some said it like this:
(68)
Those who do not understand the inconceivable,
And leave it in a state of thoughtlessness
Are childish. They are clowns.
In fact they happen to be
Generators and proliferaters of delusion.
In this way the sacredness of humour in all things is praised. Some said it like this:
(69)
In inconceivable truth, which cannot be thought upon,
Involvements in Exalted Vision, Peaceful Abiding,
Or the expulsion and integration of conceptual constructs,
Are, in fact, the expansive boundaries of delusion.
(p. 606)Even the total awareness of each and every different thing
Does not have a clear way to liberate everyone.
This [[[idea]]] is a complete deviation from one’s commitment.
Certainty will never ever be found.
Thus the sacredness of the source teaching was maintained. Some said it like this:
(71)
The practices of many organisations
Are in fact mental illnesses devoid of thought.
Enterprises which are thoughtlessly brought to completion
Are a great poison of the founders of these groups.
Thus the sacredness of diversity was maintained. Some said it like this:
(72)
When one is not aware of the variety
And the individuality of [[[truths]]]
One does not find any certainty in what there is.
It is inappropriate to speak on the variety of things
When one has found no certainty regarding either [variety or individuality].
Thus the sacredness of honesty was maintained. Some said it like this:
(73)
Just as there is the vision of a rainbow in the sky,
So there is the vision of a thought from the mind.
Proclamations that have no certitude regarding the unity of theseAre just what they present themselves to be.
Thus the sacredness that is difficult to measure was maintained. Some said it like this:
(74)
The best audience are the ones who are aware of what this means.
The root of all things certainly begins with them,
For the knowledge of this is the knowledge of everything:
The deep knowledge.
(p. 607)
Thus the sacredness of the Exalted Knowledge was lauded. Some said it like this:
(75)
This, the greatest secret amongst all the secrets,
Can never be seen ever by the person himself.
How could anyone else see it?
This is what the holy ones praise.
Thus the sacredness of secrecy is praised. Some said it like this:
(76)
This, the core of all truth,
Is like gold or the sky, for it does not change.
It is the excellent intent of the keepers of the truth,
For it does not decline, and cannot be cast away or removed.(IT)
The immeasurable cloud-banks of conceptual constructions,
Amassed through beginningless time,
Are liberated into the natural way of things
At the instant one is aware of their openness.
Thus the sacredness of secrecy is praised. Some said it like this:
(78)
When one ascertains with awareness
That all truths in their inconceivable abundance are open,
One joins the equality of all the Enlightened Ones.
This is, therefore, the mental stability of Great Yoga.
Thus the sacredness of Yoga is praised. Some said it like this:
(79)
The Sun, which is the core of the teaching,
Shines wherever Samsara may reign.
This wheel, which is the true nature of reality,
Does not set, but rolls on in unbroken continuity.
Thus the sacredness of the secret about the vehicle was praised.
(p. 608)
(q-
Some said it like this:
(80)
The Jewel, which is the matrix of all the manifold things,Is the unchangeable, indestructible, purport of the vajra.
The Lotus, in its indestructible purity,
Is, in fact, the magnificent creator of all things,
In the spontaneity, of unmistaken, uncontrived reality.
Thus the sacredness of certainty was set forth. Some said it like this:
The doer of good things, the fulfiller of wishes, can not be troubled,
For openness is his formless embodiment of truth,
His speech has no expectations, for it transcends thought patterns;
His heart is beyond definition
For it leaves behind conceptual constructs.
He does his work in the style of a skilful dancer.
Thus the occurrence of diverse miracles was praised. Some said it like this:
All things are equal
In the shining mirror of non-conceptual truth,
In it there is no duality [of reflection and reflected].
To attain what is most genuine,
Know the characteristics of all the manifold things
Without confusing them.
Know the true nature of all things from their inception.
Thus the shining of wisdom in the river [of transmission] is praised. Some said it like this:
The all-encompassing skySeparates the areas of the open and the apparent.
In the domain of the Great Vehicle
This is the level of abiding with all things.
The thing to know is that
The great river of purity in Peaceful Abiding,
And the blazing fire of the wisdom of Higher Vision,
Are just the winds of beginningless Samsara.
Thus the source of all things was praised. Then this was said:
This is the form of clarity and openness
Brought without confusion to final completion :
The sound by which one comprehends the reality of pervasive clarity,
The smell of the truth which is refreshing in its lucidity,
The taste of experiencing the nourishment of one’s goal,
The touch of the object of Great Bliss.
Thus the sacredness of quality things is praised. Some said it like this:
Ignorance is to think about nothing at all.
Hatred simply destroys everything.
Megalomania is the pride that broadcasts too much.
Lust follows behind the reality of great bliss.
Jealousy is for some other thing that will not come to pass.
Thus the refusal to adopt or reject is praised. Some said it like this:(86)
All things are controlled by the powers
Of the one who knows that the true nature of all things is unified.
The great primal power is perfected
By attaining power to transform anything.
Thus the sacredness of power is praised. Some said it like this:
The Discourse on the Awareness of
The Condensation of All [the Inspirations of the Enlightened Ones]
Is an all encompassing domain, and difficult to classify.
It is profound, the province of the Enlightened One,
The arrangement of every Vajra, the transmission of Yoga.
Thus the sacredness of the Pronouncement was praised. Some said it like this:
This and that are all the same.
There does not appear to be a self and an other.
In the clear sky of openness there is not even a speck of difference between
The pure from the blemished.
Thus the sacredness of ambrosia was praised. Some said it like this:
The core of enlightenment is lucid.
How could it be stained by the dust of conceptual constructs?This great reality cannot be disturbed by any sort of trash,
So don’t worry about it.
Thus the lack of hopes and fears was praised. Some said it like this:
The mountain of designated conceptualisations
Can be digested in the stomach of a lion!
What if this were so?
But can they not be dominated by being in natural openness?
How could anything other than [[[openness]]] eliminate them?
Thus the sacredness of natural being was praised. Some said it like this:
Great Bliss does not include conceptual constructions.
Good and Bad are conceptually constructed.
One who enters Great Bliss, that space of certitude,
Has no conceptual constructions.
Thus the complete transcendence of concepts is praised. Some said it like this:
The thing is to not turn back,
And not think about or dwell on things one needs to protect.
The lazy protect the enemies of turbulence.
This is why one should not leave them behind.Thus the sacredness of the commitments was praised. Some said it like this:
There are innumerable lamps for the measureless worlds,
Regardless of the various ways the truth is taught,
It turns out that their final intention is the same thing.
Thus the condensation into unity of inspiration was praised. Some said it like this:
The Three Trainings are finished
When one does not contemplate anything other than them,
This is when morality, mediation and knowledge
Do not depart from [any of] one’s thoughts and memories.
Thus the sacredness of the Trainings was praised.
Some said it like this:
The Three Baskets [of Discourse, Ethics, and Ontology]
Are definitively completed by combining
Living in peace, the ending of toil,
And a vision of the greater purpose.
So do not get involved in
Infinite hundreds of thousands of arguments.Thus the sacredness of the dialogue and the transmission are praised. Some said it like this:
(
There is power in words,
While the words can be changed to the point that
Comparisons of the infinity of words cannot be compiled.
Once a single word is elaborated upon
The discussions about it will never come to a conclusion.
Thus the sacredness on inconclusive proclamations was praised. Some said it like this:
It is impossible to fathom the intentions
Of those who delight in uttering and dictating words.
Nobody hears this ocean of words.
The best of listeners can comprehend [only] one word.
Thus the sacredness of the ocean of listeners is praised. Some said it like this:
The all inclusive lucidity does not dwell [in a place],
It is inconceivable, does not depart, is not fragile, and is not attached.
There is nothing other than this.
This is, precisely, the reaching of the other shore.
Thus the sacredness of having gone to the end is praised. Some said it like this:
Proclamations, explanations, questions, answers,
And discussions about the meanings of them allAre like races between blind men and pestilent vultures
The best dialogues are discussions about what it means
When the sky writes a letter to the sky.
Thus the sacredness of practice was praised.
(q-
Some said it like this:
It is just perfect
When contrived symbols and apparent truth are not confused.
The awareness of these being similar to the sky and a rainbow
Is the unsurpassed verdancy of Enlightened Awareness.
Thus the sacredness of greenery was praised. Some said it like this:
One who looks at things
In terms of whether the truth is the mind’s reality,
Whether they are a duality, and where the boundaries are
Regresses, on account of ignorant delusions,
And turns off of the pathway
Of the Great Vehicle’s secret utterances.The methods for teaching petty-minded idiots
Include cause and condition, interdependence, and graded levels.
Reality, here, is uncontrived,
It does not have any interdependence, cause and effect, or gradualism.
Thus the sacredness of certainty was praised. Some said it like this:
(103)
This, the uncontrived way of things,
Will appear under any circumstance
According to [an individual’s] attitude.
It appears miraculously.
That is why the way to tame sentient beings
Is by looking, listening, and demonstrating.
Thus the causelessness of all things was praised. Some said it like this:
This is the province of the deeply enlightened ones.
It is the very core of all secrets
For those who dwell in domains of secrecy.
When one sees it
One can fulfil the oceanic needs of living beings.When one sees that this vitality is not an entity
One will not speculate on this vitality.
One will not reminisce,
For nothing is done or needs to be done.
One will then recall that there is nothing to ponder
With regard to the three abodes of [actor, action, and that acted upon].
Thus the sacredness of meditation was praised.
Some said it like this:
There is no consciousness that can speculate on the three abodes.
Namelessly they are free from the pathways of words.
Worship that is not complicated is said to be the very best.
Thus the sacredness of worship was praised. Some said it like this:
The three darknesses of perversion, clinging, and longing,
[Which have been going on] for uncounted millions of aeons,
Are all illuminated in a single second by this method alone,
And they are cleared up completely.Those who are covered in darkness
Should look for the thing that does not alter
And is not conceptually constructed.
Darkness is made luminous by seeing this.
This is said to be the best kind of regret and purification.
Thus the sacredness of purification was praised. Some said it like this:
Do not speculate about remedies for what is disagreeable.
Those who dwell on the reality of openness
Have nothing whatsoever to depend on
To remedy [ problems].
Thus the sacredness of letting go was praised. Some said it like this:
(HO)
Because one has no contrivance
Regarding the true natures of anything
One gives birth to the unexcelled reflexive awareness
Of supreme enlightenment.
Thus the sacredness of giving birth to an [[[enlightened]]] attitude is praised. Some said it like this: (Hl)
The dimension of expansiveness does not think about anything,
It does not alter, is not a conceptual construct,
Does not break up in waves, and encompasses all things.
Everything fits into the supreme Great Vehicle,
Without one’s doing anything.Thus the sacredness of the secrecy of the Great Vehicle was praised.
Some said it like this:
(H2)
The core of secrecy of the Great Vehicle
Is not some speculation about the Middle Way.
It leaves behind all definitions.
How could someone who holds some thing
To be the Middle Way leave behind definition?
Thus non-speculation regarding the middle and the boundaries is praised. Some said it like this:
(H3)
When one does not look into every truth,
One does not look into reality either.
Sentient beings who do not see the mind
Do not see the enlightened one.
The pure perception of ultimate reality
Is just what one does see.
Thus the complete purity of seeing is praised. Some said it like this:
(H4)
Omniscience, unborn and unhindered,
Is the uncontrived true nature of wisdom.
Nobody made it at all. It appears by itself.
Conceptual constructs are ephemeral.
Thus the sacredness of being unpolluted was praised. Some said it like this:(H5)
One who maintains this lucidity is an Enlightened One,
Even though [living] in a gross embodiment.
Who else could act as an Enlightened One?
Thus Enlightenment from inception was praised. Some said it like this:
(H6)
The solidity and the motion of the mandala
Are perfected by the sign.
Meditating to the ends of conception, grasping, and speech
Is not praiseworthy,
By seeing through the practice and accomplishment
Of the symbolic words of obligation
Illumination is brought to fruit.
These are the words of binding secrecy.
My friends, all the Thus Gone Ones in the inspiration of this very reality have likewise said: (H9)
There is nothing whatever to be done
About the variety of verbal conventionalities
Regarding the many ways everything is everything.
The true nature of reality is primal enlightenment.
Aho!
This is how all the Thus Gone Ones leave behind conventionalities.
They spontaneously acquire great bliss.
Then the Lord of Secrets himself recited a poem:
The simile is the man who travels everywhere.
No matter which land he hopes to go to,
And the many bounties of that land,
The area that he moves over
And the place the road is
Are but one thing.
Just so,
The inconceivable enumerations of the door of truth
Are [all], honest words,
For they do guide
.
They are one
In terms of mental orientation.
The binding which brings together all intentions
Into a unity
Must be taught,
For there is only one thing that is certain.
Cherish the teaching
That holds together all things!
There is a bounteous wisdom
For the one who knows
What holds all that is sacred together.
It is, in fact, complete omniscience.
I proclaim that this joins in unity the meanings
Of [all] the Discourses.My friends, this is the inspiration of all the Thus Gone Ones
Condensed into a single exactitude.
All of the Thus Gone Ones got together and said it.
You should know that it is the exact rendering
Of all of the Discourses.
He gave this speech.
It is certain that the meek and the holy are the same. The holy will find this.
Then the meek and the holy all rejoiced and praised the Lord of Secrets:
Eh Ma ‘O
Great Deliverer, Lord of Secrets:
The great effulgence of your speech, a lion’s roar,
The heart of all the Thus Gone Ones,
Summons out of the primordial all the previous Enlightened Ones.
You are the patriarch of all the Enlightened Ones.
The lordly might of your magnificent excellence
Is an embodiment of the sacred.
You are the best friend of all those gone to bliss.
You are actually the mental courage of the Enlightened Ones.
You are the shining mirror of the matrix of all things.
Your discourse is a definitive commentary, elucidating every position.
Your marvellous celebration of the Great Vehicle is a great miracle.
A Ho
Thus the holy ones did indeed genuinely praise him.
After that they did not speculate on anything.
Hence those secrets that one must surely move through in the world of gods and men
Were widely disseminated, and became widely renowned.
This is the seventy fifth chapter of The Great Discourse on the Condensed Inspiration of All the Enlightened Ones
called
The Condensed Inspiration of All the Enlightened Ones.
Amongst the methods that the great vehicle is ascertained as authentic
There are those the intentions of which are widely debated.
Furthermore, those who speak on the origins of the oral transmission
Argue extensively with regard to the wisdom which signifies their Truth.
This is the last of the twelve approaches to the teaching.
The Great Discourse on the Condensed Inspiration of All the Enlightened Ones
The Genuine Intuition of the Great Vehicle
The Mirror of Every Truth
The Comment on Every Utterance
The Holy Secret of the Intentions of All the Thus Gone Ones
In which the Blessed One, Lord of Secrets, Vajra In Hand,
Debated extensively and thoroughly
With the Lord of Langka,
Along with brave hearted individuals
Whose bodies were ugly,
At the peak of the horrendous Mount Malaya
Is Ended
The Indian Master Dharma Bodhe, Danarakshita, the Chieftain of the Distant Transmission (Rings lugs Chen po, *Danyakataka), and Shuchen, a translator who was bom a refugee (btsan skyes), translated and edited this from the writings of ‘Bru-sha while at the Bazaar in the land of ‘Bru-sha.
Regarding this scripture, it has—from its beginning to its end, twelve approaches.
It has seventy five chapters. They are in ten folios.
It consists of three thousand two hundred fifty two verses.
A few years back I started to translate the Root Tantra (Source Transmission) of the Anu Yoga of the Great Perfection — an old transmission of Buddhism, from Chinese Turkistan to Persia to Tibet.
I completed chapters one through six, which give a good idea of the contents. The final chapter, no. 75 is a condensation of the wisdom of the whole work, and is also translated here. There remain chapters seven through seventy four.
The attached text is at the first stage of translation. It will need critical reading and feedback by at least two people: someone knowledgeable in this particular type of literature and someone skilled in the English language. I expect a good deal of reworking before press.
Right now I want to send this to you so that you can get a taste of this ancient tradition. I am on the lookout for both editors and patrons that can help me achieve a full translation ready for publication, which may take more years than I have to live — so I want to share this with you now.
May all good things be yours,
