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From treatise to tantra: the Pure Golden Ore (rDo la gser zhun) and the Tantra of Meditation on Bodhicitta (Byang chub sems bsgom pa'i rgyud)

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From treatise to tantra: the Pure Golden Ore (rDo la gser zhun) and the Tantra of Meditation on Bodhicitta (Byang chub sems bsgom pa'i rgyud)

Karen Liljenberg


This paper presents an examination, translation and edition of the Byang chub sems bsgom pa'i rgyud, or Tantra of Meditation on Bodhicitta, (hereafter SGG).1 This hitherto-unstudied early text of the Tibetan rDzogs chen tradition is found in at least three editions of the rNying ma Collected Tantras (rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum; hereafter NGB).2

The importance of the SGG derives mainly from the fact that it is closely related to the similarly-titled Meditation on Bodhicitta (Byang chub sems bsgom pa), also known as Pure Golden Ore (rDo la gser zhun, hereafter DLSZ).3 It is not my intention here to focus on the DLSZ per se, as it has received attention elsewhere,4 but rather on the SGG and the relationship between the two texts.

A comparative study of both texts, which I provide below,5 reveals contrasting styles and doctrinal emphases, which I would argue indicate that they belong to successive periods during which rDzogs chen was gradually emerging as a philosophical and meditational system


This paper incorporates the research that I conducted for my 2008 Master's dissertation at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.

These are: mTshams brag (Tb. 37), sDe dge (Dg. 155) and gTing skyes (Tk. 69). It is probable that the missing volume Ga of the Tshe dbang nor bu NGB also included the SGG. The absence of the SGG from the Collected Tantras of Vairocana (Bai ro'i rgyud 'bum), however, is noteworthy.

The DLSZ is found in the Tibetan commentarial canon (bsTan 'gyur) as P. 3415, as well as in the Collected Tantras of Vairocana (Bai ro'i rgyud 'bum; hereafter VGB) as Bg.119, and also in the sDe dge (Dg. 157) and mTshams brag (Tb. 22) NGB editions. A much shorter version of the DLSZ also forms Chapter 26 of the All creating King (Kun byed rgyal po, hereafter KBG), the sole rDzogs chen work to be included in the Tibetan scriptural canon (bKa' 'gyur).

My principal reference in regard to the rDo la gser zhun is Lipman, 2001, whose work was very useful to my research on the Byang chub sems bsgom pa'i rgyud.

See infra the section “Outline and comparative structural analysis of the SGG and the DLSZ.”


Karen Liljenberg, “From treatise to tantra: the Pure Golden Ore (rDo la gser zhun) and the Tantra of Meditation on Bodhicitta (Byang chub sems bsgom pa'i rgyud)”, Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines, no. 44, Mars 2018, pp. 31–108.

in its own right. It also constitutes an unusually clear-cut case of the process of transformation of an authored Indian commentarial text into a hybrid Indo-Tibetan tantric scripture, accorded sacred status equivalent to the Word of the Buddha (Skt. buddha vacana).

One of the most important early rDzogs chen texts, the DLSZ is remarkable for its early exposition of rDzogs chen in the context of logic and philosophy. According to tradition, it is one of the first five rDzogs chen texts to be translated by Vairocana into Tibetan, known as the Five Earlier Translations of the Mind Series (sems sde snga 'gyur lnga).

Traditional accounts attribute the composition of the DLSZ to the Indian scholar Mañjuśrīmitra, an obscure but important figure in the early rDzogs chen lineage. No early biography of him has survived, although he is mentioned in the hagiography of Vairocana. Later sources portray him as a learned paṇḍita from Sri Lanka, resident at a monastic university (perhaps Nālandā) in eighth-century India when dGa' rab rDo rje, the first rDzogs chen master, began to teach. Mañjuśrīmitra is said to have written the DLSZ after receiving and immediately attaining a profound understanding of these first rDzogs chen teachings, in order to make amends for his initial scholarly distrust of dGa 'rab rdo rje.  

The central theme of the DLSZ is bodhicitta, variously translated in English, for example as "awakening mind" or "the mind of enlightenment". Of course, bodhicitta is praised throughout the Mahāyāna as indispensable from the outset for the bodhisattva. Developing the authentic Mahāyāna motivation was (and is) known as "generating bodhicitta". Śantideva (695-743 C.E.) praises it as:

"The supreme gold-making elixir,

For it transforms the unclean body we have taken Into the priceless jewel of a Buddha-form.

Therefore firmly seize this Awakening Mind"12

The concept of bodhicitta evolved over time until, in the Vajrayāna context of Mahāyoga sādhanas, generating bodhicitta became part of the deity yoga visualization practice of bskyed rim, the development stage, where it is the key to the second of the three samādhis, the "All illuminating samādhi".

In the subsequent Mahāyoga practice of rdzogs rim, the perfection stage, bodhicitta could also signify the sexual fluid that embodied the practitioner's realization of bliss and Emptiness. One Dunhuang treatise on the development and perfection stages, PT 321, refers to the bodhicitta substance as "the great perfection, the great self, the heart nectar".

The DLSZ, however, is more conservative in its interpretation of bodhicitta, at least at the outset. It describes it as:

"the very essence of Youthful Mañjuśrī, who is the true, essential nature of the Dharma itself. Because it has been the matrix of all the Sugatas it is the sole mother of all the victors."15

The key point that the DLSZ addresses is how to cultivate this bodhi-

man ngag sde. Lo rgyus chen mo p. 104 (in the Bi ma snying thig - New Delhi: Trulku Tsewang, Jamyang and L. Tashi, 1970).

Bodhicaryāvatāra Ch. 1 verse 10, translated in Batchelor S., 1993 p. 5 The Bodhicaryāvatāra imagery of transformation of coarse matter into gold here contrasts with the later commentarial literature on the rdo la gser zhun, where gold ore is said to be essentially as good as gold itself - that is, all sentient beings are already, in essence, enlightened. See Dowman, 2006, p. 27.

13 See Khyentse D., 1992, p. 20.

14 van Schaik, 2004, p. 168, n. 10. The "Great self" or "great lord" (bdag nyid chen po) is given in the SGG as one of the names of the enlightened figures who utter the text.


fol. 320a.7: chos la chos nyid snying por gyur pa/ 'jam dpal gzhon nu'i snying po nyid/ bde shegs ma lus yum du gyur pas rgyal ba kun gyi yum gcig pu/.


Tib. bsgom pa, Skt. bhāvanā. Although I use them here, the standard translations of this term as "cultivation" or "meditation" or "development" are less than adequate

citta? Taking as its starting-point the steps of conventional Buddhist logical analysis in order to determine that the twin notions of really existing "self" and material phenomena are erroneous, the DLSZ then describes in detail the manner in which the delusory perceptions of ordinary beings arise and lead to continued rebirth. It presents this process in terms derived from Yogācāra philosophy, such as the three phases of transformation.

Thus far, the DLSZ proceeds through a gradual, intellectual approach towards the realization of the view of emptiness. However, once the limits of conceptual and verbal analysis have been reached, the text emphasises that its "path of great sages" is "free of verbal designations" and "not arrived at by words" but by practice in accord with the instructions of one's master. This, at least from the viewpoint of later rDzogs chen tradition, is the point where the DLSZ could be considered to approach the domain of rDzogs chen per se.

It is noteworthy, however, that the DLSZ nowhere refers to itself as a rDzogs chen work, or to the path which it sets out as rdzogs chen, but simply as "this yogic path".18 Otherwise, the DLSZ presents its doctrine simply as "yoga". Moreover, it still orients itself in respectful reference to the framework of tantric deity-practice, in this case either of Mañjuśrī, or, more radically, of Samanta bhadra-Vajrasattva. Such practice is validated as a relative, symbolic basis on which to approach bodhicitta in the absolute sense, with the implication that not all are able to immediately tackle the more difficult path.

After this brief look at the DLSZ, let us turn now to the principal subject of this paper, the SGG. I have found that it incorporates almost the entire DLSZ verbatim, but also greatly expands upon it, at over twice its length.19 Thus, rather than being simply another recension of the DLSZ,20 it is better characterised as a derivative, but substantially different text.

The relationship of the SGG to the DLSZ is in some ways similar to both an experiential instruction (nyams khrid) and a commentary, although the DLSZ "root text" is undifferentiated from the SGG's exegesis. The main structural difference between the two works, apart

in a strictly rDzogs chen context; "familiarisation (with)" would probably be better. 17 SGG fol. 324b.4: sems dang sems las byung ba de nyid lus gsum don du snang ba yin/.


An exceptional use of the term rig pa, in the sense similar to later rDzogs chen discourse, occurs only in the commentarial redaction of the DLSZ by the nineteenth-century lama Mipham: It is also present in one of the SGG passages shared with the DLSZ, at fol. 328b.6. (It occurs without this rDzogs chen sense at: fol. 324b.1; fol. 325a.5; fol. 325b.5).


The SGG comprises 26 folio sides, while the DLSZ has 10.


As described by Lipman 2001, p. 6, n. 17.

from the great difference in their length, is the division of the SGG into eleven chapters. Whereas the DLSZ is a continuous undifferentiated exposition, each SGG chapter is pronounced by a Buddha figure, in a manner similar to the sutras. However, the SGG departs from sūtric tradition in that its mouthpieces are all hypostatized personifications of spiritual accomplishment rather than named Buddhas. So, for example, in chapter one we encounter "the Lord of all Blessed Tāthāgatas (bcom ldan 'das de bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyi bdag po), and later "the great lord who is no different from the realization and understanding of this nature of the ultimate truth" ([[don dam pa'i rang bzhin de rtogs shing shes par bya ba/ gnyis su med pa'i bdag nyid chen po ) or "the Blessed One, Great Bliss" (bcom ldan 'das bde ba chen po).


Who was the author of the SGG?

There is no authorship colophon in the SGG, so what, if anything, can we deduce about who may have written it? The lDan kar ma/Lhan kar ma library catalogue from the early ninth century mentions two texts with the same title of byang chub sems bsgom pa - one attributed to rGyal ba'i 'od, said to comprise one hundred ślokas, and the other to Mañjuśrīmitra, in sixty-eight ślokas. The only slightly later 'Phang thang catalogue also includes these two works in its "Stotras praised by former Ācāryas and Kings" section. Interestingly, the text by Ācārya Jayaprabhā (transliterated there as Dza ya pra bha) is described as from his "tantric collection".

It is highly significant that there was already a text titled byang chub sems bsgom pa attributed to Mañjuśrīmitra at this early date, and it is extremely probable that this was an early version of the DLSZ. In that case, the lDan kar's Byang chub sems bsgom pa by rGyal ba'i 'od, a significantly longer work, may plausibly have been an early commentary on the DLSZ. If it was an early version of the SGG, then rGyal ba'i 'od would be our missing author. It could, of course, have been a different commentary altogether.

It is also conceivable that parts of the SGG may even derive from Vairocana himself. As the Tibetan translator of the DLSZ, he would be in a good position to transmit and expound as well as, perhaps, expand upon it. If it was passed down and gradually altered by disciples in his lineage, rGyal ba'i 'od may have been among them. The fact that no-one of this name29 appears in the lineage lists of early rDzogs chen does not preclude this possibility, as they are not reliable for historical purposes.

There is in the bsTan 'gyur a sādhana of Buddha Vairocana composed by a certain Jayaprabhā around the end of the eighth century and the beginning of the ninth. These dates would fit very well with the Jayaprabhā of the lDan kar/'Phang thang catalogues.30 However, even if the sādhana author Jayaprabhā was also the author of the catalogues' longer Byang chub sems bsgom pa, the identity of that text itself must remain uncertain. In my view, it is unlikely to have been identical to the SGG as we currently have it, although it could have been a precursor to it.31


The literary tradition of the DLSZ


It is feasible that the Byang chub sems bsgom pa/DLSZ actually gave rise to a whole genre of texts known as byang chub sems, because a large number of early rDzogs chen works include this phrase in their titles.32 The introductory section of the sBas pa'i rgum chung even refers to the text itself as "this Mind of Enlightenment", (byang chub sems 'di) thus implying the existence of a literary genre and/or practice

ample, the Trailokyavijaya-tantra ('Jig rten gsum las rnampar rgyal ba 'i rgyud, No. 888) with its commentary (No. 889); Nāgārjuna's Jewelled Necklace, the Ratnamala (Rin po che 'phreng ba) (No. 629) with commentary (No. 630); Nāgārjuna's Letter to a Friend (Grogs po'i 'phrin yig) (No. 633) and its commentary (No. 635).

28 Such as Tb. 76; on which see below, p. 12, and p. 18.


The Tibetan name rGyal ba'i 'od could be either Jinaprabhā or Jayaprabhā in Sanskrit, but it is the latter form that appears in the 'Phang Thang catalogue.


The sādhana is Peking bsTan 'gyur 3489, vol. 77, pp. 358-368, rNam par snang mdzad kyi sgrub pa'i thabs kyi cho ga. See Lobsang Nyima Laurent, 2013, p. 200 and n. 21; and see also Heller, 2002, p. 52 n. 28.


another possible author for the SGG, if not rGyal ba'i 'od, would be the so-called "second Mañjuśrīmitra" ('jam dpal bshes gnyen phyi ma) who according to tradition lived 125 years after the first. The historicity of this figure is, however, debated. See also Lipman, p. 136 n. 1. 32 Byang chub (kyi) sems, Skt. bodhicitta is one of several terms that later rDzogs chen tradition has taken as synonyms for the actual term rDzogs chen. See Norbu, in Lipman 2001 p. ix.

tradition so-called. This rubric seems to have preceded that of sems phyogs, "mind-oriented" to refer to rDzogs chen works mostly later retrospectively classified as the Mind Series (sems sde).

However, most closely related to the DLSZ are the large number of texts which include its original title Byang chub sems bsgom pa within theirs, including, of course, the SGG. Some of these are clearly commentaries on the DLSZ, such as the rNa mar rgyud or Oral Instructions (full title: Byang chub sems bsgom pa'i bsam gtan rna mar rgyud [kyi man ngag), as well as the Twelve-Point Commentary (Byang chub sems bsgom pa don bcu gnyis bstan pa). Also among this group of relatively early commentaries is the Wheel that Cuts through the Vehicles (Theg pa gcod pa'i 'khor lo). The first

work in volume one of the Bai ro'i rgyud 'bum, the Sun of the Heart (sNying gi nyi ma), includes a section of commentary on the DLSZ.  In the late eleventh century the prestige of the DLSZ was such that it is the most frequently-cited work in Rong zom chos kyi bzang po's Disclosing the Great Vehicle Approach (Theg chen tshul 'jug), in which he set out to defend the legitimacy of rDzogs chen as an authentic Buddhist vehicle in the face of serious criticism.  The famous nineteenth-century rNying ma scholar Mipham also wrote a commentary on the DLSZ.  

Most relevant to our present examination of the SGG, however, is another text with a title that is very similar, and indeed identical in its   abbreviated Tibetan form, namely The Tantra of Meditation on Bodhicitta, the [[Universal Unborn Sky like [Nature]] (Thams cad nam mkha'i ngo bo skye ba]] med pa'i byang chub kyi sems bsgom pa'i rgyud]].) In the mTshams brag edition of the NGB this is Tb.76, which is how I shall refer to it from now on. Similar title notwithstanding, it is, nevertheless, an entirely different work to the SGG. Before we try to understand the nature of the relationship between the DLSZ, SGG and Tb.76, it is necessary first to consider another important work, the bSam gtan mig sgron.


The SGG and the bSam gtan mig sgron

The Lamp for the Eye of Contemplation (bSam gtan mig sgron, henceforth STMG), by gNubs chen sangs rgyas ye shes, dates to the late ninth or early tenth century. The STMG's seventh chapter is the most detailed and systematic extant exposition of early rDzogs chen, comparing it with other vehicles and setting forth nine different interpretations of the rDzogs chen view.

The STMG contains three groups of citations that are relevant to our discussion: those citing a text entitled sems bsgom pa'i rgyud; those citing sems bsgom pa; and those citing the sems bsgom rdo la gser zhun.

If I may be forgiven a slight digression here, I shall deal first with the citations from the sems bsgom pa and sems bsgom rdo la gser zhun. Although these are less directly relevant to the SGG itself, they are nonetheless of interest for what they can tell us about the history of the DLSZ, and also their potential implications for the date of another important early rDzogs chen text, the All-creating King (Kun byed rgyal po).

I found two citations of the DLSZ as such (i.e. under that actual title) in the STMG. The first, citing "sems bsgom rdo la gser zhun las" is in both the SGG and DLSZ. The second, "rdo la gser zhun las" is again found in both texts, but omits five lines that intervene in the middle. The vast majority (eleven in total) of the relevant STMG quotations from the DLSZ are given under the abbreviated title sems bsgom pa. All of these except one can be located in the body of text shared by both DLSZ and SGG.

The single exceptional sems bsgom citation has an interlinear note which states "the position of Mañjuśrīmitra". It is not found in either the SGG or DLSZ, but, significantly, is part of the very short version of the DLSZ subsumed into the All-creating King.

Of the other snga 'gyur lnga texts also included in the KBG, the DLSZ is the only one that is shorter in the KBG than the stand-alone version. This leads Clemente to suggest that the KGB version of the text might be "the original one that Mañjuśrīmitra authored his text on the basis of".

The colophon to KBG chapter twenty-six states it comes "from the Ten Instructions on perfect non-action". Chapters twenty-two to twenty-seven of the KBG all have colophons stating that they are from these Ten Instructions, and include several other snga 'gyur lnga texts. Thus, the KBG is a composite work drawing here, by its own admission, on an earlier grouping of texts.   From the eleventh century edict of Pho brang Zhi ba 'od onwards, doubts were expressed about the KBG's authenticity.54 The fact that the STMG makes no mention of the KBG seems to support such qualms.

What, then, are we to make of the STMG quoting a passage from "sems bsgom" that appears to be extant solely in the KBG version of the DLSZ? It follows that either there was a different sems bsgom text containing this passage available at the time of the STMG's composition, or the STMG is indeed quoting directly from the KBG here - meaning, of course, that the KBG would pre-date the STMG. The fact that the citation is not, however, attributed by name to the KBG, which is indeed never referenced in the STMG, tends to support the former hypothesis.

It seems more likely that the KBG version of the DLSZ previously circulated separately, and was then included, perhaps already in a shortened form, as part of a collection of texts called the Ten Instructions on Perfect Non-action. It is unlikely to have formed part of the KBG at the time of STMG's composition. Despite the status that it accrued in later centuries as the principal tantra of the rDzogs chen Mind Series, all the evidence points to the KBG being compiled considerably later than the STMG.

Returning now to our discussion of the SGG itself, there are just three instances where the bSam gtan mig sgron cites from a sems bsgom (pa'i) rgyud. I was initially surprised to discover that none of them are present in the SGG. The first citation comes not in the STMG's Atiyoga (rDzogs chen) section (chapter seven), but much earlier in the text. I have located this citation in Tb.76. The second citation is near

phyir nga yi rnam grol mchog gi lam" with SGG/DLSZ's "de med mi 'byung de ni rnam grol mchog gi lam". It is more plausible that KBG has added "nga yi" to suit its distinctive first-person narrative, than that this has been removed from the other two texts. I am therefore disinclined to accept Clemente's suggestion that the KGB version is the "original" one.

However, I am aware of the danger of collapsing the difference between known historical references to a text's existence and the possibility of much earlier undocumented origins. For an overview of the Tibetan debates on the KGB's "authenticity", i.e. its claim to being a translation from a Sanskrit original, see Karmay 1975.

Different, that is, from the SGG and the DLSZ (and also different from Tb. 76, which does not conatin this STMG citation either). As discussed above, apart from this one KGB passage, STMG cites a version of the DLSZ text that is common to both the SGG and the DLSZ, while excluding altogether those passages unique to the SGG.

The Eighteen Texts of the Mind Series (sems sde bco brgyad) are extensively cited as independent, individual works in the STMG. See Liljenberg, 2012.

STMG fol. 45.1: sems bsgom pa'i rgyud las/ mchod rten lha khang la sogs pa//'dus byas dge rtsa mnyam snyoms bzhagTb. 76, p. 642.4: mchod rten lha khang la sogs 'dus byas dge rtsa btang snyoms bzhag.

the beginning of the STMG's chapter seven, in an interlinear note, and so could have been written considerably later than the root text. I have also located this citation in Tb.76. The third sems bsgom pa'i rgyud quotation, again absent from both the SGG (and DLSZ) is found in Tb.76 as well. Since it contains all three STMG sems bsgom pa'i rgyud quotations, I therefore believe Tb.76 is very likely to be the sems bsgom pa'i rgyud that is cited by the STMG.

The significance of Tb.76 is further enhanced by the fact that the above-mentioned commentary on the DLSZ, the Oral Instructions rNa mar rgyud also draws heavily upon it. Like the STMG, it also contains many quotations from a byang chub sems bsgom pa'i rgyud. I have located almost all of these quotations in Tb.76.


Tb.76 and the SGG


The question then arises, why should both the STMG and the NMG quote the Tb.76 Byang chub sems bsgom pa'i rgyud and ignore the SGG? It seems that gNubs chen, author of the STMG, as well as whoever wrote the NMG, were either unaware of the SGG - perhaps because it had not yet been composed - or did not consider it as suitable to their purpose as Tb.76. However, if the latter reason is correct, why did neither author take care to differentiate between the two very similarly-titled sources?

At first evaluation, therefore, it looks possible that the SGG was compiled and written later than Tb.76. Other evidence that might lend support to this view is that Tb.76 adheres more closely to the DLSZ than the SGG. Where the SGG and DLSZ readings differ from each other, Tb.76 consistently adopts those of the DLSZ. At points where the SGG diverges from the DLSZ, Tb.76 retains the DLSZ's unbroken sequence.

Nevertheless, Tb.76 incorporates and comments on passages in apparently random order from the DLSZ, without explicitly differentiating them from the rest of its text. From its chapter sixteen onwards, however, it contains no further DLSZ root text or commentary, thus it only comments on roughly two-thirds of the DLSZ, (text shared by the DLSZ and SGG up to the end of SGG's chapter eight).

The major problem with the hypothesis that the SGG is later in date than Tb. 76 is that Tb.76's doctrinal elements and language appear markedly more developed than those of the SGG. It pays homage to Samantabhadra in its opening, emphasizes non-duality and effortless naturalness, and rejects formal meditation practices and traditional meritorious actions at temples and stūpas.

It frequently employs the actual term rdzogs(pa) chen (po). Even more tellingly with regard to its date, it mentions thod rgal, a rDzogs chen practice considered by most academic scholarship to be a later introduction, since it is referenced only from the eleventh century on, in the snying thig literature of the man ngag sde.

Doctrinal variations between the DLSZ and SGG

(1) Ālaya (kun gzhi) in the SGG and DLSZ

A full discussion of the doctrinal differences between the DLSZ and the SGG is outside the scope of this present paper. However, one or two points of interest are worth highlighting.

Firstly, the DLSZ presents the Yogācāra notion of the Ālaya, the "basis of all" or "universal ground" (Tib. kun gzhi), as the site of the karmic imprints or habitual tendencies (Skt. vāsanā/Tib. bag chag) which lead to the imputation of a "self", and hence the perpetuation of Samsaric suffering. However, it also goes further, towards the apophatic realm of the Madhyamaka, declaring:

"Since they are produced by erroneous, conceptual thought, habitual tendencies are not [truly] existent, and since it has no sphere of operation, the basis-of-all does not exist, nor do the various kinds of cognition exist. Since there are no boundaries, and neither objects nor basis for them, how could cognitive perceptions arise? Therefore, this mind transcends the extremes of existence and nonexistence, and is free of [notions of being] one or many."

In contrast, just after the above passage, the SGG gives a quite different description of the kun gzhi from the previous Yogācāra/Madhyamaka-derived one, in which it is explicitly identified with the Dharmakāya, the source of all manifestation, the "adamantine mind itself", the mind of enlightenment:

"The mind is not situated internally, nor is it situated externally, nor [somewhere] in-between. It has never wavered from the state of reality which resides equally in everyone, everywhere. This adamantine mind itself, the totally pure, great path, is everything that can be known, and gives rise to everything. Without focusing on any object, it extends its branches everywhere, in the manner of the essential clear light. Primordially-present Suchness is one's own reflexive awareness, and the space of the primordial matrix; resting in this unchanging Suchness is what is called the mind [of enlightenment."

Almost right at the outset, in chapter one, the SGG equates the Ālaya with the state of Suchness, that is, enlightenment, the non-dual universal basis from which all phenomena are generated:

"The true state of non-duality of Saṃsāra and Nirvāṇa is the essence of phenomena, the universal basis of outer and inner phenomena without exception. The matrix of all the Sugatas, Mistress of Secret Space, is the actual supreme mudra of great bliss, the secure state of Suchness."

Another example, from chapter seven this time:

"Nothing obscures, destroys, or manifests this, from which everything manifests, so it is also the Basis-of-all."

This interpretation of the Ālaya/kun gzhi as the basis of manifestation of everything (i.e. both Saṃsāra and Nirvāṇa) is characteristic of rDzogs chen Mind Series literature. The SGG's use of the term in this manner predates the careful distinction made in later rDzogs chen discourse between the kun gzhi and the kun gzhi rnam par shes pa, but it is not alone among early rDzogs chen texts in describing the kun gzhi in this way.80

In contrast, in later rDzogs chen works, especially those of Longchenpa, the Ālaya/kun gzhi is viewed differently, in a more negative light.

(2) Vajrayāna affiliations in the SGG and DLSZ

The SGG and DLSZ both make reference to the techniques and principles of Mahāyoga. The principal passage in this regard in the SGG, which it shares with the DLSZ, is in chapter ten. It assumes the reader's familiarity with meditation methods specific to Mahāyoga, such as the three samādhis, etc. These techniques are useful "as a basis for generating and meditating on the actual mind of enlightenment". Thus, the DLSZ and SGG both integrate Mahāyoga practice into their discourse, even if merely as a basis for their main focus, namely "meditating on the expanse of the mind".

The DLSZ, however, never defines itself by the term Mahāyoga (rnal 'byor chen po), instead rather ambiguously referring to its doctrine as a "yogic path" ('rnal 'byor lam).

The SGG, while it explicitly identifies its doctrine as rDzogs chen on several occasions, clearly considers that it is also part of the Vajrayāna. Thus on the one hand it characterizes its teaching as "this great ocean of secret mantra", while on the other it makes clear the superiority of the practice of rDzogs chen, "this non-action that transcends words", within the Mantrayāna as "the great supreme secret mantra". The links between early rDzogs chen and the Guhyagarbha tantra were well-established by Karmay, who noted that in the eleventh century Rong zom chos kyi bzang po described the Man ngag lta ba'i 'phreng ba, attributed to Padmasambhava, as a note on the Guhyagarbha's chapter XIII.

It is, therefore, noteworthy how closely the opening lines of chapter two of the SGG echo chapter two of the Guhyagarbha tantra. The SGG has, however, made some interesting alterations and added characteristic hyperbole: the Guhyagarbha says that its "dharma, secret from the beginning, has been spoken by all the perfect Buddhas" but the SGG declares that "unaltered and unuttered by anyone, the unaltered state elucidates itself." Other parallels with the Guhyagarbha include the fact that both texts are (partly) pronounced by bdag nyid chen po and both contain the phrase "ma lus mi lus lus pa med pa".

3) Some aspects of rDzogs chen doctrines and terminology in the SGG and DLSZ

In chapter seven of the STMG, nine different interpretations of the rDzogs chen view or philosophical theory (lta ba) of the primordial basis (gdod ma'i gzhi) are expounded. Among them, the seventh, "of the principle [i.e. view] as non-duality in accordance with the supreme great yoga" is ascribed in an interlinear note to Mañjuśrīmitra. This ascription may be based on the note-writer's familiarity with the DLSZ, already probably attributed (correctly or not) to Mañjuśrīmitra. Therefore, even if we find such a view expressed in the DLSZ/SGG, to take it as evidence of its authorship by Mañjuśrīmitra runs the risk of a circular argument.

With this caveat in mind, one can search in the DLSZ for this view, paraphrased by the STMG as: "the bodhicitta which exists from the beginning is effortless and is the same as the Great Bliss. That means that all known extremes are non-dual as far as the Great Bliss is concerned". Now, one finds no mention of either bliss or great bliss (bde ba chen po) in the text unique to the DLSZ.

By contrast, the SGG is replete with references to it, including in chapter one, the phrase "all dharmas are…primordially perfect, with no duality of happiness and unhappiness [=bliss and non-bliss]"; and in chapter four a description of Suchness as "the great space of bliss, without any need for action". Moreover, chapters eight to eleven are actually uttered by "The blessed one, the non-dual great bliss".

Nonduality (gnyis med) as well as oneness (mi gnyis) do occur in the DLSZ, but they are again more visible in the SGG, with its insistence on the nondual sameness of Saṃsāra and Nirvāṇa. It is possible, then, that the author of the STMG note was deriving his conclusions on Mañjuśrīmitra's view not directly from the DLSZ but the SGG, or another rgyud text such as Tb.76.

Most of the SGG's chapters are pronounced by the "great lord" or "great self". A note in the STMG ascribes this view to Vairocana, who is traditionally credited with translating the DLSZ into Tibetan . None of the passages unique to the DLSZ contain this term, but it is possible that Vairocana's influence is reflected in the SGG's "great Lord".

As stated above, the actual term rdzogs pa chen po occurs only in the SGG, and not in the DLSZ, where we find instead phrases such as "this yogic path" and "this supreme path of nonduality".

We have already discussed the differing use of the term kun gzhi in the DLSZ and the SGG.

Further examples would perhaps only labor the point, that the DLSZ exhibits far less of the vocabulary and doctrines that rDzogs chen gradually made its own than the SGG does. Even so, I believe the SGG itself to have been written relatively early in this period of development. Karmay observed that the terms bdag nyid chen po, bde ba chen po, and also rang byung ye shes "primarily convey tantric notions".

Although these terms, absent altogether from the DLSZ, are present in the SGG, the latter contains relatively few of the key terms or neologisms that are peculiar to rDzogs chen, such as "spontaneous presence" (lhun grub), "great sphere" (thig le chen po) and "pure from the beginning" (ka dag).

Finally, in contrast to Tb. 76, which may contain the earliest literary reference to the practice of thod rgal, the SGG mentions no formal practices specific to rDzogs chen. Indeed its main practice, meditation on bodhicitta, would in later rDzogs chen tradition be called resting in rig pa.


Conclusion


The principal problem in the intertextual relationship of the SGG and DLSZ is the question of whether the SGG incorporated and expanded the DLSZ, or the DLSZ is a redaction of the SGG. A close parallel reading of both texts demonstrates that, if the passages unique to SGG are removed, the continuity of the DLSZ is unimpaired. We have also found several places where the restoration of part of a missing line or whole line from DLSZ into the SGG improves the sense. Thus, we conclude that the DLSZ certainly preceded the composition of the SGG.

In the context of the Tibetan literary tradition, where a text has continued to circulate as a freestanding work, and yet continued to undergo some degree of modification, it is probably safe to say that the movement has more often been towards accretion of additional text rather than contraction. This may be true especially of those texts that had the greatest prestige, and eventual canonical status. As well as deliberate insertions or additions, gradually accreted interlinear notes and commentaries were sometimes incorporated into the root texts themselves, with the distinction between them sometimes becoming obscured .

We do not have to look far for a parallel to the way the DLSZ became the basis upon which the SGG was elaborated. This is the rig pa'i khu byug; like the DLSZ, also one of the snga 'gyur lnga - indeed, often regarded as the first and foremost among them. Karmay notes that its six verses are "split up and put into different parts" of a text entitled bkra shis pa'i rig pa'i khu byug gi rgyud in order to fit in different contexts. The addition of "tantra" (rgyud) to the title, just as with the SGG, signals its claim to Vajrayāna scriptural status.

Investigation of the reception of the SGG and its place in the early literary tradition of the DLSZ and the Mind Series in general has, so far at least, not thrown up any evidence that it is cited in later works. On the contrary, I have established that Tb.76, and not the SGG, is the byang chub sems bsgom pa'i rgyud cited by the STMG and the NMG.

We may ask why gNubs Sangs rgyas ye shes should have apparently preferred Tb.76 over the SGG. Tb.76 may have supplanted the SGG in popularity or accessibility, or both. The fact that the NMG also incorporated passages from Tb.76 rather than the SGG may have influenced his choice. Further investigation of the intertextual relationship of Tb.76 with the SGG and the DLSZ may shed light on these questions. There may also be more evidence to be gleaned from some of the other related texts, not all of which I have been able to fully examine in this study.

The motive of Mañjuśrīmitra, if he was indeed its author, for writing the DLSZ appears to have been to present and promote the matrix of ideas from which early rDzogs chen was emerging in the context of the Mahāyāna, Cittamātra/Yogācāra philosophy, and Mahāyoga.

Given the nature of the material unique to SGG, the principal motives of the author(s) or redactor(s) of the SGG also seem clear: a desire to supplement the logical analysis and philosophical argument of the DLSZ with much more explicit rDzogs chen material designed to instruct and inspire confidence in the reader, and above all, to validate the rDzogs chen teaching itself, "the supreme path of sages", as the authentic word of the Buddha.

In the process of elevating the status of the SGG to that of scripture, its author erased himself (and also, incidentally, Mañjuśrīmitra) from the picture, to become instead an anonymous mouthpiece of the buddhas. To what extent did he achieve his aims? To judge from the fact that, as far as we can currently tell, it was eclipsed shortly after it was composed by other similarly-titled texts, it may only have been a partial success. Perhaps its juxtaposition of the comparatively objective, scholarly text of the DLSZ right alongside its own bold, lyrical assertions of the "great universal marvel" of rDzogs chen was just too stark a contrast for its time. Even so, it secured itself a place in the Collected Tantras of the rNying ma school, and so survived to bear witness to the manner in which a treatise could transform into a tantra during the early days of rDzogs chen.

Outline and comparative structural analysis of the SGG and the DLSZ

Chapter 1

As the titles of both texts indicate, and I have discussed above, their main subject is bodhicitta and how to meditate on or cultivate it. The DLSZ moves swiftly onto this theme after its opening homage, but the SGG's first two chapters are concerned with the wider sphere of rDzogs chen, and in establishing the text's scriptural authority by placing it in the mouth of the "great lord"

Whereas the DLSZ opens with homage to the Youthful Mañjuśrī, the SGG pays homage to Samantabhadra, thereby identifying itself as a rDzogs chen text. The passage that follows may perhaps foreshadow the later rDzogs chen elaboration of the three-kāya, essence/nature/energy ontological system, although here only the Saṃbhogakāya is explicitly mentioned.

Halfway through its first chapter, the SGG echoes the Buddha's first utterance after his enlightenment ("In this peace, the nature of all, there is lucidity…"). These are also the first words that the SGG has in common with the DLSZ, which precedes them with homage to the Buddha. The DLSZ's variant reading of lam where SGG reads las here makes it clear that this sentence pays homage to the second of the Three Jewels, the (Dharma) path.

The poetic, mystical tone of SGG's first chapter, with its themes of the nonduality of Saṃsāra and Nirvāṇa and its rDzogs chen appropriation of tantric motifs, could hardly be more different to the DLSZ's more restrained and formal opening. The two texts have only one sentence in common in this chapter.


Chapter two


Chapter two is entirely unique to the SGG. It begins with the "great lord" engaged in soliloquy - thereby subtly emphasizing the reader's non-duality from him. The triple repetition of "e" (presumably for emphasis) in the exclamation of wonder seems to be without exact parallel in other texts.

His first utterance expresses wonder at primordial enlightenment. The second explains how beings become deluded, giving equal emphasis to "the truth of non-self and non-duality". The beginning of the third utterance, "Great Dharma without basis or root" closely echoes the Vajrasattva Questions and Answers (rDo rje sems dpa' zhus lan) by gNyan dPal byangs, which dates to the early ninth century. It also occurs in the STMG , and is common in later rDzogs chen literature. The passage that follows then describes the state of Suchness, twice said to be beyond cause and effect.124

The chapter ends with the first occurrence of the actual term rdzogs pa chen po. This term occurs only three times in the entire text - here, and in the passages, also unique to the SGG, that conclude chapters nine and ten. Its complete absence from the DLSZ and rarity even in SGG argues for both texts being of early date (with the SGG just a little later) in the evolution of rDzogs chen as a distinct tradition.


Chapter three


Chapter three opens with the lord "who is no different from the realization and understanding of this nature of the ultimate truth" declaring that there is nothing to be rejected or accepted in the nature of mind, the "Sovereign [and] female consort " The SGG then rejoins the DLSZ, but instead of paying homage to those who are "one with all the Victors endowed with the ten powers", (that is, the Sangha), the SGG equates the nature of mind itself with this attainment.

In the intersection between the two texts here it is evident that the SGG is incorporating the text of the DLSZ rather than the DLSZ editing the SGG. The reference to the "very sameness of the three places" in the next sentence makes a good deal more sense in the context of the triple homage that we see in the DLSZ.

A shared passage then follows on the importance of having meditated in the method of the state of perfect bodhicitta, indispensable to becoming a bodhisattva. It is significant that the word the DLSZ uses here is tshul, "method" "mode" or "system", but the SGG in sections unique to itself repeatedly and emphatically employs the term "theg pa", "vehicle". This elevation of rDzogs chen from a mere method in the DLSZ to not just a vehicle in its own right, but supreme among all vehicles in the SGG, is indicative of the greater degree of authority that it had gained between the composition of the two works.

The next passage, unique to the SGG, expounds the blissful, unchanging nature of the mind, referring to "this dharma of the enlightened essence" that does not objectify bodhicitta. Its enthusiastic, laudatory tone is characteristic of many of the passages exclusive to the SGG, in marked contrast to the DLSZ's more measured and impersonal style. Defining meditation as "one's reflexive awareness"(rang rig) resting without thinking or effort on one's mind that is without essence, this has the flavor of an experiential commentary, one of several such SGG passages, as mentioned above. Since the next part common to both texts appears to flow logically on from the point where this SGG passage begins, one may conclude that a commentarial section has been inserted into the SGG here.

Both texts then ask how should one meditate on this state, symbolized by the figure of "kun tu rdo rje sems dpa'", an unusual conflation of kun tu bzang po (Samantabhadra) and rdo rje sems dpa' (Vajrasattva). In general, Vajrasattva is the chief deity of the maṇḍala in Mahāyoga, while Samantabhadra came to be increasingly invoked in rDzogs chen texts. This juxtaposition may therefore help to position the doctrine of the DLSZ, in particular, at a stage of equipoise between both traditions.

After the admonition that this subtle and difficult path "is not arrived at by words", both texts summarize the inherent limitations of trying to arrive at true understanding of reality through the operation of logical thought.

With the declaration "Since they are, everywhere, primordially pure and equal…" the SGG diverges sharply from the DLSZ. This is the longest continuous SGG section not found in the DLSZ, comprising the second half of chapter three, and the whole of chapters four, five, and six. It is significant, as further evidence that the SGG derives from the DLSZ rather than vice versa, that the two lines in the DLSZ between which this part of SGG is apparently interpolated both contain the words lam 'dir, and show no sign of discontinuity.

The concluding part of SGG's chapter three describes the primordial sameness and purity of all phenomena. Even the way that phenomena appear "is the nature of the sphere of reality, Suchness itself". This "sublime dimension of the causal result" is "not imputed by comparisons or logical reasoning". This section underscores the ultimate futility of logic vis à vis the pure perception of "this great ocean of secret mantra". The chapter is described as showing "the method for achieving realization of the nature of the ultimate truth, and showing it as irrefutable by logic".


Chapter four


This chapter is a brief, potentially originally self-contained teaching on formless meditation. With its references to great bliss and the vajra body, again, this passage seems to illustrate the stage of rDzogs chen's evolution when it was still primarily an interpretive framework for the contemplative experiences arising from the rdzogs rim phase of Mahāyoga practice, as argued by various scholars.

Chapter five


This chapter, expounding "the meaning and character of the Mahayāna sūtra section", begins by describing the "conception of unhappiness" as the process whereby the mind fixates and becomes attached to things. This occurs "if the mind should waver" from the level of ultimate truth. If the mind is unwavering, without conceptual thought, then there is "unborn awareness of nowness". These themes are common in later rDzogs chen works.

The text then veers back towards the basic Buddhist doctrine of the non-self of the individual and of phenomena (bdag med gnyis). This section appears quite disjointed, rather as if a series of aphorisms and pieces of advice has been brought together. For example, the passage that begins "in order to know the mind…" reads like practical instructions for retreatants. With the sentence "the essential emptiness of all dharmas…" it turns to the topic of the fruition, Buddhahood, according to the Mahāyāna.


Chapter six


This chapter extols bodhicitta, as "[the] Great Perfection" (rDzogs chen). Because it is non-objectifiable, it is free of effort, without even an iota of meditation to do. It is Suchness, the state of ultimate reality, in which all the buddhas reside. It is also spontaneously-accomplished great bliss, the clear light of the pristine Dharmakāya. This "vehicle" (theg pa - by implication, rDzogs chen) - is said to transcend the All illuminating (bodhisattva) level. Other vehicles are inferior, being all within the realm of thought. This vehicle, on the other hand "does not depend on any of the tenets of other vehicles; it is the nature of all of them".

This all-encompassing, universal mind of enlightenment is the "dimension of the pure vital essence". It is also called "the sovereign of the non-dual sameness of Saṃsāra and Nirvāṇa". The process of samsaric manifestation is ascribed to non-realization of Suchness. The chapter concludes with advice on returning to the state of Suchness and then remaining in it. After "having plunged the mind's dagger into the depths of Suchness, one should not arise from this state of resting". The "mind's dagger" is a term also found in the Mahāyoga literature of Vajra Kilāya


Chapter seven


The SGG opens this chapter with two lines that declare it to be the utterance of the non-dual "great lord". Rejoining the DLSZ at this point, a lengthy discussion ensues of how phenomena manifest through the power of delusion. This employs terms and concepts drawn from the Yogācāra or Mind Only (Skt. cittamātra; Tib. sems tsam) school of Indian Buddhist philosophy.

The two texts then diverge again . Where they rejoin, in chapter eight of the SGG, the restoration of a line from the DLSZ that is missing in the SGG seems to be required for the text to make satisfactory sense. A little further in the same chapter, another line from the DLSZ, absent in the SGG, would similarly improve the sense if restored.

The second half of chapter seven is unique to the SGG. The introductory words "sems ni" which introduce this section are characteristic of what is known in the later rDzogs chen tradition as sems khrid, or experiential instructions on the nature of the mind. The text here emphasizes the cosmogonic aspect of (enlightened) mind, its all pervasiveness, and its gnostic accessibility to rang rig. The phrase gnas sa de kar bzhag perhaps presages the four "letting be"(cog bzhag) precepts of the man ngag sde.

The text continues by stressing the primordiality of Buddhahood and the need to abandon "all paths of exertion". It refers to this path as "the swift path of perfect bliss, the three-kāya level of Vajradhāra", another tantric reference.

After declaring that the "essence itself" is not present in the objects of analysis of the Mind Only school, the chapter closes with more advice on resting the mind in Suchness. Its conclusion describes this chapter as "[on how] Ati yoga, transcends the view of Mind-only and its results and qualities."


Chapter eight


Pronounced this time by "the non-dual Great Bliss", this chapter is introduced as "teaching on the appearance of his magical display to those who are deluded". The same section in the DLSZ, discussed in the second part of the 12-point commentary's point five, is entitled "pointing out how the state of clarification makes itself felt within the state of deception".

In the entire DLSZ (apart from its concluding passage) we find only three extra lines that are absent from the SGG, and the first of these omissions occurs in chapter eight. It is probably due to a visual copying error caused by the repetition of chos (kyi) dbyings at the start of both the line missing from SGG and the second line to follow it in both texts. Its restoration to the SGG improves the sense here.

The second extra line is also absent from SGG's chapter eight, and seems to be another copying error, as it involves repetition of the word g.yo in two adjacent lines.

A short passage on Suchness, unique to the SGG, following a quotation that defines bodhicitta (attributed to the Buddha), may have originated as a commentarial note expatiating on this definition. The shared DLSZ/SGG text, without this passage, appears to proceed logically from citing the Buddha to discussing how even the sūtra path of renunciation "is itself Mara", that is, an obstacle to practice. The seventh topic of the Twelve-point commentary (P 3405), divided into two sub-sections in that text, appears to be divided in the SGG between two chapters, eight and nine with a short (interpolated?) passage on non-action ending chapter eight. However, the opening of chapter nine seems to partially incorporate the wording of the commentary's subheading (i.e. "pointing out the true meaning").


Chapter nine


Chapter nine is introduced as "intending to point out genuine reality", and in its conclusion described as "summarizing the Great Perfection, the supreme path of meditation". This is a similarly-titled section in the Twelve-point commentary on the DLSZ.

The section of SGG's chapter nine shared with DLSZ is an instruction on meditation practice. It appears to have a rather tangential relationship to the DLSZ's progression here, and it is tempting to speculate that this was originally an interlinear note (ending "one should meditate on this supreme path") on the passage that leads to the conclusion of SGG's chapter eight (also ending with the words "this very path").

The last of the three DLSZ lines missing from the SGG occurs here in chapter nine. That a copying error may have caused its omission is suggested by the fact that the next line is also truncated in SGG, apparently due to a copyist's eye skipping ahead to the second occurrence of the word mchog in that line.

The passage on Suchness, unique to SGG here, may perhaps have begun as a note on the previous passage common to both texts, as it amplifies it and adds the characteristic rDzogs chen themes of nonaction and all-inclusiveness.


Chapter ten


Roughly the first half of the SGG's chapter ten is also found in the DLSZ. This continues the second point in P. 3405's seventh topic, "pointing out the true sense of meditation", describing how, for the practitioner who realizes that nothing has substance, all phenomena are Nirvāṇic. Reality is not objectifiable and is without characteristics such as virtue or non-virtue. Meditation on or cultivation of this state involves no dualistic analysis, fixation, or effort. The signs of successful practice include imperturbability, fearlessness, etc. This meditation encompasses the Pāramitās and other aspects of the Mahāyāna bodhisattva path, and without it, awareness of the clear light of ultimate truth is said not to come about.

In a tacit acknowledgment that a more gradual approach may sometimes be required, the next section focuses on bodhicitta in Mahāyoga practice as "a basis for generating and meditating on the actual mind of enlightenment", and also on aspiration towards bodhicitta, as (relative) methods leading towards the (ultimate) mind of enlightenment.

By meditating on Vajrasattva, the primordial Buddha par excellence of Mahāyoga, one cultivates "all paths, without error". In immediate juxtaposition we see Samantabhadra and Samantabhadrī, the rDzogs chen personifications of skilful means and wisdom. Samantabhadrī here is analogous to Prajñāpāramitā. Just as realization of Emptiness is said in the Mahāyāna to "seal" (that is, safeguard) the merit of positive actions, the "conduct of Samantabhadrī" that is, the rDzogs chen realization of the mind of enlightenment, is also said to prevent the exhaustion of positive qualities.

Chapter ten then sets out the positive effects and merits of bodhicitta in aspiration, in exoteric as well as esoteric Mahāyāna contexts. It includes what appears to be a quotation from Nāgārjuna's Bodhicittavivarana, to the effect that space would be too small to contain the merit of generating bodhicitta, if it took physical form.

The second half of SGG's chapter ten is absent from the DLSZ. It continues and expands on the preceding section eulogizing the mind of enlightenment, emphasizing its total transcendence of characteristics. The intellect that realizes the meaning of this "great, supreme secret mantra" is equated with Mañjuśrī himself. A more conventional attitude to goal-oriented practice is unflatteringly compared to the view of "frogs in a well". The colophon to this chapter describes it as "with pride in the nature of the Great Perfection". This better describes the chapter's second half, as the first half focuses on the merits of bodhicitta itself, while it is the second that proclaims its superiority to other vehicles.


Chapter eleven


Only half of the DLSZ's eleventh topic "pointing out that those who have gone wrong are the object of compassion", is found in the SGG's chapter eleven. This includes the passage that gave the DLSZ its informal title.

The SGG then diverges from the DLSZ. It is worth closely examining the sentence that follows this juncture in both texts. The DLSZ continues from here its theme of compassion for sentient beings' lack of understanding, mentioning that this is the period of the last five hundred years of the Buddha's teaching. The SGG closely echoes the first words of this line, but then departs from it in the second half, seeming there to use the ideas expressed several lines later in the DLSZ.

After condensing the next DLSZ passage into one line the SGG replaces its comparatively lengthy dedication with its own very brief statement of the purpose of the text. It then describes the universality of the mind of enlightenment, and its inalienability (mi 'phrogs). We should note the use of the rDzogs chen term (ye shes) zang thal here in connection with Suchness. This term is rarely encountered in the earlier rDzogs chen literature. The text then seems to cite from an explanation of this point "by the Dharmakāya Amitābha", the nearest the SGG ever comes to suggesting a source.

The SGG then ends on a note of personal instruction to the reader - most unusually addressed directly as "you" - to aspire towards the Dharmakāya, and to regard this teaching as "the vast, supreme speech of the Dharmakāya". Frequent repetition of the honorific verb for "speak", (gsungs) lends this closing part of the text a scriptural gravity as Buddha-speech. In place of the DLSZ's colophon attributing the text's composition to Mañjuśrīmitra, here its origin is placed firmly in the exalted Dharmakāya sphere, as it has been throughout the SGG.


The final section of the DLSZ


The DLSZ's final section, comprising eleven sentences in the mTshams brag edition, is the only lengthy section that it does not share with the SGG. It emphasizes the ignorance of sentient beings "stirred up by this river of misunderstanding", implying that this is the reason for the text's composition. The tone of the SGG is by contrast more positive, exhorting the reader to aspire towards the Dharmakāya.

The DLSZ states that its (human) author has validated this "path of all the victorious ones" through meditation and logic. However, the SGG proclaims that "the Dharmakāya that is beyond activity appears in this way and speaks in order that it may manifest to all". There is no colophon in the mTshams brag DLSZ. The only version of the text that does have a colophon, ascribing its composition to Mañjuśrīmitra and translation to Śrī Siṃha and Vairocana, is found in the gDams ngag mdzod.


Appendix I - Translation of the Byang chub sems bsgom pa'i rgyud (Passages in bold are absent from the rdo la gser zhun)

[Folio 318b]

Sanskrit Title: Bodhicitta abaya tantra English title: The Tantra of Meditation on Enlightened Mind.

[Folio 319]

Homage to Samantabhadra, the glorious, transcendent victor!

These words were elucidated at a time of the indivisibility, without any omission in past, present and future, of the lord of all blessed tathāgatas, the special essence itself, from the blessed tathāgatas, the perfectly enlightened buddhas.

It was pronounced to a great gathering in the pure celestial palace called Blazing with Enlightened Qualities.

Springing from the power of the great compassion of the universal nature, the innumerable great saṃbhogakāya forms and the forms that appear in common perception, and so on, are wondrously renowned.

Realizing his non-duality with the nature of all the tathāgatas that is primordially subsumed, with nothing omitted, in the body of the great lord himself, the great lord of non-duality uttered the following to himself:

"This peace, the nature of all, is luminosity and the unsurpassed path. The true state of non-duality of Saṃsāra and Nirvāṇa is the essence of phenomena, the universal basis of outer and inner phenomena without exception. The matrix of all the Sugatas, Mistress of Secret Space, is the actual supreme mudra of great bliss, the secure state of Suchness. [Folio 319b] All are completely pure within this naturally-arising maṇḍala. The non-duality of bliss and non-bliss is the Dharma of primordial perfection, which neither develops nor ceases, and is nothing on which to reflect or focus." The Introductory first chapter of the Tantra of Meditation on Enlightened Mind, on the ultimate truth, [is concluded].


Chapter 2


Then the great lord uttered to himself and on his own behalf these words of wonder:

"How wonderful! What a marvelous, mysterious, great and wondrous Dharma! Unaltered and unuttered by anyone, it is expressed by the unaltered state [itself]. Even though everything develops from the unborn state, it is [nonetheless] unborn. All fixations on terms and ideas are primordially enlightened."

Then the wondrous, marvelous state uttered these words of wonder concerning non-realization:

"Ignorant, mistaken, deluded conceptual thought, dichotomizing into subject and object, imagines existence where there is non-existence, and conceives of interdependence as duality. The actual nature of things, surpassing subject and object, is unimpaired, [but] when one does not see the truth of non-self and nonduality, fixating on such things as illusions as real, one spoils the truth, like some fool tying imaginary knots in the sky." Then the great lord uttered the following, on the nonexistence of a basis or root, to himself:

"Great Dharma of no basis or root, that makes no distinction between cause and result! From the non-conceptual state free of objects [Folio 320a] the variety of conceptual objects arises. It is not something to accomplish - in this there is nothing at all that should be accomplished. As it is the actual state of Suchness, it remains firm; and as it is free from the malaise of the effort of conceptual objectifying and non-objectifying, it is without even the slightest thing to correct by antidotes. Extremely hard to analyze, its profundity is unimaginable. It is not within the domain of imputing cause and effect."

The second chapter of the Tantra of Meditation on Enlightened Mind, verbally expressing wonder at the Great Perfection and at those who have not realized it, and expounding the nature of the ultimate truth [is concluded].


Chapter 3

Then the great lord who is no different from the realization and understanding of this nature of the ultimate truth, said to himself: "The nature of mind is supreme among all: it is the sovereign [and] consort, without anything to be rejected or accepted. It is one in attainment with all the victors endowed with the ten powers, such as non-returning, and so on. One should faithfully aspire, with a non-conceptualizing mind, towards this, the very sameness of the three places. It is equally praised by teachers who have been the light of the world. It is the very essence of Youthful Mañjuśrī, who is the true, essential nature of the Dharma itself. Because it has been the matrix of all the Sugatas it is the sole mother of all the victors. [Folio 320b] It is the basis for the vast activity of the path of the perfections, such as discipline and so on.

"The special value of having meditated in the condition of the state of perfect bodhicitta is: as soon as a wise person actualizes, on one occasion, this sacred mind, this, the victor has said, is called the dharmakāya, supreme among the three kāyas. It is also called cognition that has become sublime, the eye of wisdom.

This very thing is, also, the supreme vajra peak itself, non-conceptual primordial wisdom. All those things taught as aspects of the liberation of the noble ones, all those positive qualities, will emerge from the perfect path of bodhicitta itself. Without this, none of the great and noble family of deathless bodhisattvas would come into being; this is, therefore, the actual, supreme path of liberation.

"This unexcelled nature, supremely high, surpasses all. The mind itself, which is without basis or root, is like a precious jewel; since there is nothing in it to point out, there is nothing: no preexisting character. Because it is not destroyed by anything, it is the adamantine essence. This Dharma of the enlightened essence that remains in Suchness in the dimension of unchanging bliss does not objectify bodhicitta, which is not an object. This authentic state is the supreme path of sages. When mind sees mind itself in this way, there is supreme bliss. One's reflexive awareness rests in this way on one's mind that is without essence: [Folio 321a] remaining like that without thinking or effort is meditation.


"How, then, should one meditate on Samantabhadra-


Vajrasattva? This path of great sages, subtle and difficult to understand, transcends non-thought and thought. Difficult to analyze and difficult to teach, it is free of verbal designations. It is not arrived at by words, and is not within the domain of spiritually-immature people and those following other [vehicles]. But one should look at the teacher's definitive statements and the instructions of one's masters on this subject.

"Through such means as direct perception, one applies the concepts of refutation and affirmation to material entities. [But] this very analysis, after logically affirming its object, the flow of thoughts, as valid cognition, is [then] refuted by the intellect. Since thoughts are limitless, therefore the exercise would be limitless: as there is no essence, what is the point of logic? Therefore, analysis of conventional worldly designations is not necessary on this yogic path.

"Since they are everywhere primordially pure and equal, the diversity of all phenomena comes under one's control, just as one wishes. "If all things, of this world or transmundane, are understood after proper analysis through correct cognition, whatever phenomena appear and arise in all their variety from the peerless nature, no matter how they appear, are in that very appearance the nature of the sphere of reality, Suchness itself. [Folio 321b]

"The essential self-arising primordial wisdom that brings about such understanding, although it controls all the various phenomena, [is] unimpaired [and] non-existent. Therefore, although conventional designations that assert the four valid cognitions and cause and effect are indeed established in logic, where is there anything for logic to negate in this sublime dimension of the causal result? There is nothing.

"Not imputed by comparisons or logical reasoning, this great ocean of secret mantra pervades all, produces everything, and abides as the essence, and [yet] is also the fruition."

The third chapter of the Tantra of Meditation on Enlightened Mind, which shows the method for achieving realization of the nature of the ultimate truth, and showing it as irrefutable by logic, [is concluded].


Chapter Four


Then the great lord of all the tathāgatas expounded to himself the meaning of 'nothing on which to meditate':

"Vast in grandeur, this exceedingly subtle nature of reality itself, secured by the state that does not distinguish cause and effect, is Suchness. Naturally remaining in it is the great space of bliss, without any need for action. Not fit to be heard from another, it transcends words. The tongue is not fit to express the primordial purity of the universe and its inhabitants, the vajra body devoid of acceptance or rejection, and the body of perfection.

"Sages entering into the truth should not analyze it; by analyzing this meaning one falls away from the space of nonconceptuality. In this essence of phenomena, there is no meditation to accomplish. [Folio 322a] If one focuses on anything, it is like one realizes the 'characteristic' of absence of characteristics. The space of conceptual thought [becomes] non-conceptuality, and gives rise to primordial wisdom.

"On the supreme path of the nature of reality itself, where nothing whatsoever manifests, if one does not search for anything and is free of thoughts, this is the space of meditation. If one does search and analyze, one deviates from this supreme path. From this, the bliss of Suchness does not arise, [as it] involves cause and effect.

"Making something the object of attention while in a state of non-meditation is like creating a mirage of water." The fourth chapter of the Tantra of Meditation on Enlightened Mind, which expounds the method of meditation, [is concluded].


Chapter Five


Then the great lord of non-duality expounded to himself on the meaning of the Great Vehicle and on characteristics: "The mind that is like a rock or a tree, and commits no karmic action, virtuous or unvirtuous, is a sublime mind. On the [level of] the ultimate truth, there are no names and characteristics; the mind cannot objectify it, nor can speech express it.

"When the mind has wavered, [there is] the concept of characteristics. This cause of characteristics, when labelled, is called "name and characteristics".

"When one holds onto and becomes attached to any concept, its illusory name is the conception of unhappiness. [But] the realization and understanding that names and characteristics are nowhere existent is called true wisdom.

"All names and characteristics, one's reflexive awareness which does not arise from the intellectual mind, are explained as 'Suchness'. [Folio 322b] As is true in the Mahāyāna, unwavering consciousness is the unborn mind-continuum itself. Where there is no conceptual thought, there is unborn consciousness of nowness. "Just as the Buddhas do, one knows that the mind does not exist, and that there are no existents in phenomena.

"Where there is a mind that is aware of formlessness, that is awareness, [but] where phenomena have no form in a mind without awareness, that formlessness of phenomena is nonawareness.

"Those who see male and female lay and ordained people, or sentient beings and Buddhas and so on - as long as [their focus] does not waver, are correctly applying the Dharma path.

"In order to know this mind, it is inappropriate for a person who meditates to be served by anyone. Because the people on whom one depends have untamed minds, and look for what profit they might get out of it, they are harmful to meditation.

"The person who cultivates a thorough understanding of the mind applies himself in secret diligence, day and night without laziness. Through understanding that all phenomena are [merely] imputed to exist, and are therefore false, untrue, and indeterminate, he has no fear of the moment of death, and through the force of this habitual tendency, he has no anxiety about the hell-realms for, after Buddhahood, not even the name of the infernal hosts exists. The essential emptiness of all dharmas is the perfect path of the Buddhas.

"Having thoroughly realized this, [the moment of] this attainment is, itself, [Folio 323a] Buddhahood, the Buddha has said. Having thus understood this teaching, and then expounded it to others, he was skilful in liberating the beings in Saṃsāra. All the Buddhas of the three times, furthermore, come about from such a realization and attainment as this [and] display the marks and signs.

"Otherwise, without the realization of this essential emptiness, there would be no Dharmadhātu, or the fruition of Buddhahood. Furthermore, as long as one's practice of essential emptiness is not attached to the empty essence, this, itself, is Nirvāṇa.

"Words are not fit to explain the authentic meaning of this; one cannot reach it through verbal explanation." The fifth chapter of the Tantra of Meditation on Enlightened Mind, which expounds the meaning and characteristics of the Mahāyāna Sūtra section, [is concluded].


Chapter Six


Then the great lord of non-duality delivered to himself this special utterance on the essential meaning:

"The mind of enlightenment is the very jewel that confers every good quality; it is Great Perfection, the highest vehicle, particularly excellent and extolled by all.

"There is not even an iota on which to meditate in this universal nature, free of anything to be done, the vast essence. This is because the nature of the unborn mind of enlightenment is insubstantial, and non-objectifiable.

"The mind of enlightenment does not depart from the state of Suchness. Thus, this is the Suchness in which all the tathāgatas [Folio 323b] dwell and which they understand. The mind of the tathāgatas, itself, does not emerge from this Suchness. This is also the level of the spontaneously-accomplished great bliss, the stainless clear light of the totally-pure Dharmakāya.

"This unsurpassed, great vehicle, which transcends the unimaginably vast expanse of the All-illuminating bodhisattva Level, is the sovereign healer which cures the ills of all [other] vehicles, and there exists nowhere a dharma more profound than this: it is exceedingly subtle.

"Without seeing this, even though one were to see as many Buddhas as the Ganges' sands, there is no true enlightenment. "Although other vehicles' ideas may seem deep, and affect purification [on the] path through their great wisdom, [they are within] the realm of thought. Although one may have practiced at the level of the mind for a long period of time, this is actually the mere grasp of philosophical tenets.

"This mind of enlightenment does not depend on any of the tenets of other vehicles: it is the nature of all [of them]. The brilliantly blazing primordial wisdom that emanates marvelously out from this pervades everything with its clarity.

"There is no phenomenon that is not contained within this, and this dimension of the pure vital essence has nothing to objectify or meditate on: it transcends conventional meditation. "There is no path to travel: the supreme path, the innermost part of the path, is the innermost path of Suchness.

"In this there is no conceptual activity to be done, [as] everything is Buddhahood, from the beginning. The sovereign of the non-dual sameness of Saṃsāra and Nirvāṇa has nothing to reject or accept.

"If the constituents of non-realization of Suchness [Folio 324a] were apart from it, there would be existence. These constituents are the automatic appearance of all phenomena along with the flow of conditioned factors. Because conceptual thought processes [and] karmic imprints are continuous, uninterrupted phenomena, one should not analyze things that appear.

"Because they are the continual process of mind occurring and engaging, they should not be thought to be anything other than primordial Buddhahood. In this way, in the space of Suchness, [they are] Suchness itself.

"Having plunged the mind's dagger into the depths of Suchness, one should not withdraw it from this state of resting. When movement and disturbance occur one should completely refrain from entering into binding or emerging."

The sixth chapter of the Tantra of Meditation on Enlightened Mind, on the nature of the essential meaning, along with its good qualities, [is concluded.]


Chapter Seven


Then again, the great lord of non-duality expounded to himself the characteristics of the mind of the afflicted emotions: "One should examine this path starting from the stories [that are] the basis of the concept of existing entities. The phenomenon that dominates the minds of all living beings, of [things] designated internal or external, is not as it is seen and analyzed by the six fixating senses, [but] is deceptive.

"If the perceptions apprehended while one is intoxicated by one's own conceptual thoughts were true, then one could be classed as becoming like the enemy-defeating arhats, who have realized the non-substantiality of those perceptions.

"[However] it is evident that those people are deluded, because they are defeated by the enemy, time, and afflicted with suffering. Otherwise, [Folio 324b] if what is known via the sense-fields was valid cognition, the fact that it was valid cognition would mean that no-one would need the path of the noble ones. This path is taught as the path of total liberation, and [yet] sensory cognition does not free anyone. Perceptual awareness removes no suffering; it is the source that produces the afflictive emotions. Therefore it is evident that what is seen by living beings is deceptive, as the victor taught.

"How do things appear from that, through the power of delusion?

"Overcome and impaired by the process of erroneous conceptual thoughts, because one's intelligence is distorted and controlled by the conditioning factor of ignorance, mind and mental events manifest in [the following] three phases of transformation:


1. Once the karmic imprints of various conditioning factors have accumulated, as they grow strong through habituation, mind itself, manifesting as objects and a body, appears like a pile of bones.

2. A self is imputed by the mental faculty from the objectified continuum of accumulated karmic imprints, but it does not exist.

3. Specific perceptions arise due to obscuration by the power of conditioning factors, and failure to see the [true] subtlety. The power of the mind, with its continual process, is such that it is swept along in the wake of non-realized conceptual thoughts and then conceives out of this a contaminated selfnature, causing 'phenomena' and 'self' to proliferate.

"From not seeing this very subtle movement of mind and its associated tendencies, the various views, such as that of the self, arise and are conceived of as liberation. This mind becomes the site of a multiplicity of karmic imprints, and their infinite habitual tendencies are innumerable.

"Multiple kinds of conditions reinforce and activate the habitual tendencies. Some conditions mature some tendencies, and manifest as the body of a human being, while other conditions activate other tendencies.

"After seeing the power of this transformation some claim that this is done by Śiva, and so on, but that path does not bring peace or liberation. It is the cause of doubt that weakens the yogic path, and brings about non-realization of the subtlety of this process. Obscured by imputing [the existence of] a self, one is estranged from the lineage of the noble ones. By imputing [the existence of] phenomena various kinds of suffering arise, and one will be reborn in the lower realms.

"Moreover, since consciousness grasps at different characteristics from out of the continuing flow of conditioning factors, its particular functions appear as [if] eightfold, although [in fact] they are not multiple in type. Consciousness and cognition are of a single type; they are not many in type.

"Therefore, in that first moment of mind, one's body and all phenomena are [already] present. Due to thinking becoming attached to that, the later moment arises and appears to happen.

"No phenomena exist, for either noble ones or ordinary beings, other than in their own mind-streams. The different paths of the six types of sentient beings are also due to their own mind-sets. Since the mind's continuum is completely unbounded, there is no basis for it [to be] 'one'. Since it has no boundaries, limitless Buddha-fields are one's own body. Although one's own body [may] manifest as limitless Buddha-fields and as the body of an ordinary being, it is very difficult to investigate whether the mind and habitual tendencies are the same or different.

"As for saying that all of this arises and ceases in accordance with dependent origination: like a burnt seed, a non-existent [effect] does not arise from a non-existent cause; cause and effect do not exist. One's mind itself, seizing onto things as real existents and presenting them as cause and effect, appears as causes and conditions, but as neither of these exists, there is no origination or cessation.

"Since origination and cessation do not exist, there is no self and other. Since there is no birth or death, there is no eternity or annihilation. Therefore, it is obvious that neither deceptive Saṃsāra nor Nirvāṇa exists. They are the same in their status, inseparable even for a moment: if one does not exist, neither does the other.

"Since they are produced by erroneous, conceptual thought, habitual tendencies are not [truly] existent, and since it has no sphere of operation, the Basis-of-all does not exist, nor do the various kinds of cognition exist. Since there are no boundaries, and neither objects nor basis for them, how could cognitive perceptions arise? Therefore, this mind transcends the extremes of existence and non-existence, and is free of [notions of being] one or many.

"The mind is not situated internally, nor is it situated externally, nor [somewhere] in-between. It has never wavered from the state of reality which resides equally in everyone, everywhere. "This adamantine mind itself, the totally pure, great path, is everything that can be known, and gives rise to everything. Without focusing on any object, it extends its branches everywhere, in the manner of the essential clear light. Primordially-present Suchness is one's own reflexive awareness, and the space of the primordial matrix; resting in this unchanging Suchness is what is called the mind of enlightenment.

"The mind is not in characteristics, but it is the expanse that produces all things. Without limit or centre, as it transcends both conceptuality and non-conceptuality, it is explained as the Dharmakāya. This very Dharmakāya, primordially clear to the host of noble ones, is the great accumulation of wisdom. Nothing obscures, destroys, or manifests this, from which everything manifests, so it is also the Basis-of-all.

"When one sees this depth of the mind, there are no phenomena apart from mind. This supremely wondrous, marvelous, exceptional object is the great, universal marvel. Reflexive awareness, the subject that knows Suchness, its object of knowledge, enters into it of its own accord. Furthermore, since this reflexive awareness emerges from Suchness, yet is still present within it, one should leave it just where it is.

"This truth is the conclusion of whatever other path one might follow. Therefore, this source of all is the fruition of [all] schools of thought. Experiencing the state of Suchness, and remaining in it in a sky-like manner, is the universal guide of the blind that directs the minds of other schools of thought.

Since everything is the activity of the sovereign of sameness, it transcends action. Thus, this primordial presence is not created by anyone, [and] resting in this essential Suchness is the great mind of enlightenment. The totally-perfect true, natural state, the essence of Dharma, it is perfect in its view and conduct.

"In this essence of Dharma, acting to accomplish the view and conduct [is] far from the essence. Not seeing the essence due to this, being involved in activity, one falls away from the essence. This essence, primordially free from effort, has, from the beginning, nothing to strive for, and so it is the supreme essence.

"Moreover, all the victors of the past, present, and future see it, by resting in the state without accomplishment, purification or effort. As soon as they see it, they fully realize it, without any need for purification, effort, or regret. This is the state of realization in which all the infinite victorious Buddhas of the past, present, and future remain.


"By abandoning all paths of exertion for the purpose of reaching Buddhahood, they are primordially enlightened. While one remains on the path of progressive effort, one is merely at the entrance to the level of the noble ones. Therefore, this essence is called 'the swift path of perfect bliss, the three-kāya level of Vajradhāra.' Arriving at the untravelled-to place, one's own pure mindstream is also the destination.

"The view of outer and inner mental objects, along with the flow of habitual tendencies, is [that of] the Mind-only [school]. [But] this essence itself is not present in this concept of habitual tendencies and the mind's process. Therefore, the view of objects and the body is itself the process of conceptual thought.

"Not meditating, accomplishing, or maintaining [it], one leaves one's conceptual mind in [the state of] Suchness. Since this very resting-place, destination, and abode, is the universal journey's end, it is the swift path."

The seventh chapter of the Tantra of Meditation on Enlightened Mind, [on how] Ati yoga transcends the view of Mind-only and its results and qualities, [is concluded.]


Chapter Eight


Then the Blessed One, the non-dual, non-substantiallyexisting Great Bliss, uttered to himself this teaching on the appearance of his magical display to those who are deluded:

"Because the enlightenment of the Sugātas does not exist, it is its magical display that appears, like an illusion, to [those who are] deluded. Although the wisdoms of the Tāthāgatas, the very cause of virtue and the dharmadhātu itself, are imagined to be objects that arise, due to the fact that the vajra -like mind has no basis, they are equivalent, and alike in nature. Since the supreme vajra, the dharmadhātu, is without boundaries, there are no momentary existents. Since, [like] a reflection, the source of pure virtues is non-existent, mundane wisdom does not exist.

"Therefore, since enlightenment and non-enlightenment are the same in their absence of characteristics, there is nothing to accept or reject. In this sense, synonyms for the Ultimate, [such as] 'unborn and unceasing', 'the state of equality', 'non-duality', 'transcending thought', 'Emptiness', 'the sphere of reality beyond utterance', and so on, are all [just] conventionally-taught designations. The ultimate truth does not exist, nor does the state of total obscuration. To say 'this is the real path on the ultimate level' is itself the state of total obscuration.

"One should not act to reject doubt, where it is present, or to remain in a state of the absence of doubt. Because there is no meditator and no dharmadhātu, there is neither doubt nor [correct] View of the Ultimate.

"Since, when analyzed in this way, the concepts of existent entities vanish like an illusion, even non-existence, being dependent on existence, does not exist; nor does its non-existence exist.

"Since these conceptual extremes do not exist, no middle [between them] exists. Nor should one posit the non-existence of the middle. "The Lotus Lord of the World rejects nothing [but] remains in equality, with the complete realization that seeing phenomena as delusory is itself delusion, and does not even reject the work of Mara, the teachings of the six Hindu schools, conceiving them as evil.

Due to the fact that even the conduct of wisdom and skillful means does not exist, such activity is like that of Mara. When one becomes proud and triumphant at one's superior understanding, then attachment and aversion arise, and disputes occur - this is ignorance, not seeing the true meaning. One should not remain in the extremes of [either] movement or non-movement; nor is there any remaining in remaining. The Sugāta has said, 'The Middle Path without [delusory] appearances is the mind of enlightenment'.

"Therefore, in the immaculate seminal essence of Suchness, where nothing is divided, everything is the same. There is nothing other than this; it is the cause and the result; it is also the enlightened essence. If this is not seen, whatever one may contend, one is within the realm of conceptual thought. [Folio 328/p. 655]

"Cultivating the Three Gateways to Liberation after renouncing attachment to form, characteristics and wishfulness - even this is the activity of Mara: form itself is empty. Rejecting the Three Paths of Saṃsāra and cultivating the Path of Nirvāṇa is itself Mara. This is not natural, peaceful cessation- the nature of Suchness to seek and the non-pacified nature of Saṃsāra to renounce are both without basis. The domain and state of all the Noble Ones, Nirvāṇa and so on, are nothing other than this very path."

The Eighth Chapter of the Tantra of Meditation on Enlightened Mind, the ultimate teaching on the path of Nirvāṇa, [is concluded]


Chapter Nine


Then the Blessed One, Great Bliss, intending to point out genuine reality, Buddhahood itself, said to himself: "Whether thoughts arise or do not arise, one should neither deliberately reject them nor establish a physical mental basis for them. The slightest movement of thought that is not Mañjuśrī is [still] Suchness, [although] one does not remain in it. Since one finds no basis of meditation, one will find nothing by meditating, either.

"Free of attributes, without anything better or worse - one should meditate on this supreme path. Free from action, actor, or anything to be done, thus one naturally remains in the primordial state of Suchness. In this there is no Saṃsāra or Nirvāṇa, [yet] there is nothing lacking from it: it is all-endowed." The Ninth Chapter of the Tantra of Meditation on Enlightened Mind, summarizing the Great Perfection, the supreme path of meditation, [is concluded]

Chapter Ten

Then again, he whose nature is Great Bliss pronounced this special utterance to himself:

"Conditioned factors do not arise; all dharmas have no origin; and absolutely all phenomena are Nirvanic. [When one realizes that] things have no substance, one understands that everything is the dharmadhātu - [and] this knowledge [means that] one is a sublime arhat. "Space is not objectifiable, just a name; and virtue and nonvirtue are indivisible, and do not arise. One does not focus attention on striving, or keeping one's mind on anything: one is free from knowing and not knowing. Inseparable from mindfulness, rejecting and accepting, aversion and attachment are equally absent; one does not objectify anything. Without dualistic analysis of the state of sameness, free of utterance, without anything to do or not do, there is no increase or decrease [of merit.

"Without any deliberate effort or mental focus, one's awareness of sameness is undisturbed by anything. There is no fear of attachment to anything, or intoxication by any object - one neither withdraws from them nor lingers on them. In this one knows the four [kinds of] undisturbed awareness of sameness, the factors [conducive to enlightenment, and the Pāramitās.

"By meditating on the expanse of the mind, one penetrates to the innermost [part of] the path, but by meditating otherwise one will not develop awareness of the clear light of ultimate reality.

"Since the Teacher has declared that latching onto the truth symbolically is also the mind of enlightenment, this is a basis for generating and meditating on the actual mind of enlightenment. After stabilizing the three samādhis and using the three symbolic mudras, one activates the nature of mind itself as the great mudra of the Dharma, reciting the heart mantra and meditating on the deity. By meditating on Vajrasattva one meditates on all paths, without error. "Unless whatever positive qualities [one may have] are embraced by the conduct of Samantabhadrī, [then] the conduct of Samantabhadra will become the work of Mara, and will be exhausted and come to an end. As for actions which are endowed with this conduct of Samantabhadrī, even the works of Mara, they are [still] said to be the conduct of the great mind of enlightenment.

"Aspiration towards this goal is also praised by the Victorious One as the great mind of enlightenment. The Buddha has declared that by merely activating this state, the arhats, who are venerated by the inhabitants of the three worlds who pay them homage, subjugate the hosts of Mara. This very thing is also the great secret conduct of the bodhisattva who is skilful in means. Without this, Buddha Vairocana could not teach the Three Vehicles.

"In just an instant, feeling powerful faith, one has quickly become youthful Mañjuśrī, entered into the secret mandala, and observed the supreme Mahāyāna vow. One has also observed all the vows of ethical discipline, and been consecrated as a supreme object of veneration. "Therefore, the Victorious Ones have accordingly declared that if the merit of the mind of enlightenment were to take physical form, even the expanse of space would be too small to contain it.

"The perfect Sugātas all, without exception, abide in the mind of enlightenment. There is no dharma that is not equivalent to the mind of enlightenment. The Victorious Ones are enlightened through seeing [this] subtle reality of the mind. Suppressing negative forces, this [is] the state of the dharma dhātu. It has no space or obstruction, union or separation whatsoever. There is no dimension of wisdom and no Nirvāṇa, either. All so-called 'phenomena' are, by necessity, perfect. It completely pacifies conceptual characteristics; there are no characteristics, and their absence is also non-existent. It even transcends the non-existence of the nonexistence of the absence of self-nature, and because it transcends practice with another it is superior.

"It is superior to vehicles that label and [try to] accomplish [this] non-objectifiable Emptiness, non-self-nature, the actual state of Suchness, and verbal designations [such as] entering or not entering it, that are limited from the beginning. Since this nonaction that transcends words is all-pervasive, it is the supreme limitlessness. Totally free of verbal recitation, it is the great, supreme Secret Mantra.

"Once one has realized in this way that the self-arisen state could never, from the beginning, be altered from this, the intellect that remains in this is the highest intellect. This is actually what is referred to as glorious youthful Mañjuśrī. All the Buddhas of the three times have established and taken this to heart, and all the countless Buddhas are equivalent to this.

"Since this arises from the basis of the uncultivated natural state, [Folio 330/659] than which nothing higher could ever be sought, there is no other teaching apart from this Great Vehicle of the Victorious Ones, whose qualities other teachings do not name. "Therefore, those who assert that results are obtained after entering and proceeding along the Dharma path are like frogs in a well." The Tenth Chapter of the Tantra of Meditation on Enlightened Mind, with pride in the nature of the Great Perfection, [is concluded].


Chapter Eleven


Then the Blessed One, Great Bliss, summing up the meaning, pronounced these words to himself:

"Living beings have been born and will be born in various forms of birth, controlled by the demon of birth. Not knowing the limits of conceptuality, they are deceived by thoughts, and it becomes impossible for them to withdraw from the confusing, continuous flow of thoughts. Illusory beings are deluded by illusions, like when magical illusionists conjure up illusory elephants. Like dreamers who, in their dreams, lose their dream-happiness and fall under the power of the dream, they reject this [correct] path and regard different, or extreme

views as the path, teaching them as the unerring path. Although these people, like those who mistake stone for gold, are the object of activity of those who have excellently purified their wisdom, [causing them to be] carried away by compassion and to exclaim in pity, this quintessential enlightened speech does not manifest to those unfortunates whose wisdom has not been purified."


This supreme, nectar-like path practised by the Victorious ones, the great objective achieved [by] the Victorious ones, is the supreme discovery. Having met such a goal as this, may I repay it! Whatever ordinary beings, such as foxes or dogs, aspire towards this, they, too, are in pursuit of the happiness of the great mind of enlightenment, and so they, too, are venerable and great, included among the noble ones.

After realizing this, it is hardly necessary to mention activity, since it, too, is Buddhahood. Sentient beings' actions do not despoil this, nor does the compassion of the noble ones maintain it. This goal of goals is the sovereign, ultimate goal without meditation or effort.

The vast mind of enlightenment, the essence of the immaculate ocean [of] the profound speech [that is] the hidden quintessence of the mind of the Buddhas, is the basis of all Vehicles and supreme among the Resultant Vehicles. To know the primordiallypresent true nature in this manner is also to meditate, and to be enlightened.

Unimpeded wisdom that is embraced by [this] View is, similarly, the great central deity of the mandala. As this point is explained by the Dharmakāya Amitābha: 'Is this how the proclaimed speech of the Victorious Ones manifests? You should aspire to possess the limitless Dharmakāya of the Tāthāgatas.

You should also regard this vast, supreme speech of the Dharmakāya in the same way. Due to the fact that this is abiding on the tenth bodhisattva level, [you] should also aim for that. Those whose minds abide in this are supreme bodhisattva siddhas. [Folio 331] [As for] the level, the presence of this meaning in the mind even for one instant, is taught to be the perfect Dharmakāya. The blessing of this, all the Victorious Ones also proclaim'.

It would be impossible to realize the meaning of this [even if] taught by a Nirmanakāya form endowed with the major and minor marks [of Buddhahood. Since it is non-conceptual the tongue cannot explain it - therefore, the Dharmakāya speaks it. The Victorious One has said: 'The Dharmakāya that is beyond activity appears in this way and speaks in order that it may manifest to all.' The Eleventh Chapter of the Tantra of Meditation on Enlightened Mind, in which the very pinnacle of Vehicles praises itself, and gives instructions, [is concluded]. The essence of [all] Vehicles, the Tantra of Meditation on Enlightened Mind is concluded.


Appendix II - Edition of the Byang chub sems bsgom pa'i rgyud


Used as a basis for this edition:

mTshams brag edition of the rNying ma rgyud 'bum, Tb. 37, vol. 1 (ka); incipit p. 636.7 - Byang chub sems bsgom pa'i rgyud.

Other rNying ma rgyud 'bum sources used: gTing skyes, vol. 3 (ga), Text 4 - Byang chub sems bsgom pa'i rgyud. mTshams brag, Tb. 22 vol. 1 (ka) - Byang chub sems bsgom pa/sems bsgom rdo la gser zhun.

Folio 318b/p. 636)


(l.7) rgya gar skad du/ bo dhi tsi tta a ba ya tan tra /bod skad du/ byang chub sems bsgom pa'i rgyud/ bcom (folio 319a/p. 637) (l.1) ldan 'das dpal kun tu bzang po la phyag 'tshal lo/ 'di skad bshad pa'i dus gcig na/ bcom ldan 'das de bzhin gshegs pa yang dag (l.2) par rdzogs pa'i sangs rgyas bcom ldan 'das de bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyi bdag po khyad par du gyur pa'i snying po nyid ma lus mi lus lus pa med pa dang dbyer med pa'o/ (l.3) mkha' dag pa'i gzhal yas khang yon tan gyi me 'od 'bar ba na brtag pa ni/ kun tu zhal rgyas par gsol lo/ kun gyi rang bzhin gyi thugs rje chen po'i mthu las/ (l.4) long spyod chen po'i sku dang 'thun par snang ba'i sku la sogs pa bsam yas pa rmad byung bar grags so/ de bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyi rang bzhin bdag nyid chen (l.5) po'i sku la/ gang yang ma lus par ye nas 'dus pa de gnyis su med par rtog pas/ de nas gnyis su med pa'i bdag nyid chen pos nyid kyis nyid la ched du brjod do / (l.6) kun gyi rang bzhin zhi ba 'di la gsal zhing bla med las mchog ste/ mya ngan 'das dang 'khor ba gnyis med yang dag nyid/ chos kyi snying po phyi nang ma lus chos rnams (l.7) kun gyi gzhi/ bde gshegs kun gyi yum gyur gsang ba'i dbyings phyug ma/ de bzhin nyid kyi ngang btsan bde ba chen po'i rgya mchog nyid/ thams cad rang byung (folio 319b/p. 638)

(l.1) dkyil 'khor 'dir ni rnam par dag/ bde dang mi bde gnyis med ye nas rdzogs pa'i chos/ mi skye ci 'gag cir yang mi dgongs dmigs su med/ byang chub kyi sems (l.2) bsgom pa'i rgyud las/ don dam pa'i gleng gzhi'i le'u ste dang po'o// de nas bdag nyid chen pos ngo mtshar ba'i tshig 'di nyid la nyid kyis chad (l.3) du brjod pas/ e e e ma'o ngo mtshar gsang ba rmad du byung ba'i chos chen po/ sus kyang ma bcos ma gsungs ma bcos ngang gis gsal/ skye ba med las thams (l.4) cad skyes kyang skye ba med/ ming dang tha snyad 'dzin pa thams cad ye nas sang rgyas yin/ de nas ngo mtshar ba'i rmad du byung ba ste ma rtogs pa la ngo mtshar ba'i tshig 'di (l.5) brjod do/ ma rig log 'khrul rtog pa'i gzung 'dzin gyis/ med la yod brtags rten 'brel gnyis su 'khor/ bya byed las phags rang bzhin nyid la nyams (l.6) pa med/ bdag med gnyis med bden pa ma mthong bas/ sgyu ma la sogs dngos por 'dzin pas yang dag nyams/ blun po gang zhig mkha' la mdud por 'dra/ (l.7) de nas bdag nyid chen po gzhi dang rtsa ba med pa nyid la nyid kyis brjod pa/ rgyu 'bras mi 'byed gzhi dang rtsa ba med pa'i chos chen po/ mi dmigs dmigs pa med las (folio 320a/p. 639)

(l.1) dmigs pa sna tshogs 'byung/ bsgrub tu med cing grub par bya ba 'di la ci yang med/ ji bzhin nyid kyi ngang nyid yin pas btsan par gnas pa ste/ (l.2) dmigs dang dmigs med rtsol ba'i nad dang bral bas na/ gnyen pos bcos su rdul tsam med pa yin/ shin tu rtag dka' gting dpag bsam yas pa/ rgyu dang (l.3) 'bras bur 'dogs pa'i spyod yul min/ byang chub sems bsgom pa'i rgyud las/ rdzogs pa chen po la ngo mtshar ba'i tshig bstan pa dang/ de ma rtogs pa la ngo mtshar (l.4) ba dang don dam pa'i rang bzhin bstan pa'i le'u ste gnyis pa'o// de nas don dam pa'i rang bzhin de rtogs shing shes par bya ba / gnyis (l.5) su med pa'i bdag nyid chen po des nyid kyi nyid la brjod pa/ sems kyi rang bzhin kun gyi mchog ste blang dor med pa'i rgyal po yum/ mi ldogs la sogs pa258 dbang bcu rgyal ba (l.6) kun dang cig mnyes pa/ gnas gsum mnyam nyid de la mtshan med yid kyis rab tu de la dad pas mos/ ston pa 'jig rten sgron mar gyur gyis mtshungs par rab bsngags (l.7) pa/ chos la chos nyid snying por gyur pa 'jam dpal gzhon nu'i snying po nyid / bde shegs ma lus yum du gyur pas rgyal ba kun gyi yum gcig pu / tshul khrims(folio 320b/p. 640) (l.1) la sogs pha rol phyin lam spyod pa rgya mtsho'i gzhir gyur pa/ rnam dag byang chub sems kyi ngang tshul bsgoms dang yon tan khyad par ni/ blo ldan nam zhig sems kyi dam pa de (l.2) ni mngon du gyur pa na/ de la sku gsum mchog tu gyur pa chos kyi sku zhes rgyal bas gsungs/ shes byed dam par gyur pa shes rab spyan zhes kyang ni de la bya/ rdo rje rtse (l.3) mo'i mchog nyid mi rtog ye shes de yang de nyid do/ ji snyed 'phags pa'i277 rnam grol chos su bstan pa de dag thams cad kyang/ byang chub sems nyid rdzogs lam de yi yon (l.4) tan de dag de las 'byung/ 'phags pa'i rigs chen 'chi med byang chub sems dpa' de dag thams cad kyang/ de med mi 'byung de phyir de ni rnam grol mchog gi lam nyid do/ (l.5) 282bla med rang bzhin mchog gi mchog nyid 'di ni kun gyi mchog/ gzhi rtsa med pa'i sems nyid rin chen nor 'dra la/ mtshon du med pas gang yang med de rigs rgyud 258

DLSZ te. 259

TK gcig; DLSZ gcig.

yod ma283 yin/ (l.6) cis kyang gzhig tu med phyir rdo rje284 nyid/ mi 'gyur 285bde ba'i klung na de bzhin de gnas pa'i/ byang chub snying po'i chos 'di mi dmigs byang chub sems mi dmigs/ 'di (l.7) ni yang dag nyid de drang srong rnams kyi lam gyi mchog/ sems kyis sems nyid de ltar mthong na bde ba'i mchog/ rang bzhin med pa'i sems la rang rig de bzhin bzhag / (folio 321a/p. 641) (l.1) ma bsams ma btsal de bzhin gnas pa bsgom pa yin/ de na kun tu rdo rje sems dpa' ci 'dra bar bsgom par bya bar 'gyur/ phra zhing shes (l.2) dka' drang srong chen po'i lam 'di mi rtog rtog las 'das/ brtag par dka' zhing bstan par dka' la brjod pa'i tha snyad rnams dang bral/ tshig gis mi phebs gzhan (l.3) dang byis pa kun gyi spyod yul ma yin kyang295/ ston pa nges pa'i lung dang bla ma rnams kyi man ngag de nyid don 'dir blta / mngon sum la sogs rgyu yis dngos po 'jig cing (l.4) grub pa'i mtha' spyod pa/ de nyid rtogs pa'i rgyun 'brangs spyod yul tshad mar bzhag nas blo yis 'jig byed de / rtog mtha' med de phyir spyod mtha' med de snying po med (l.5) na tshad mar gang/ de phyir 'jig rten tha snyad brtag pa rnal 'byor lam 'dir mi dgos so/ phyogs 283


TK pa. 284 TK inserts rdo rje. 285

TK omits the following passage beginning: bde ba'i klung… .

su mnyam nyid rnam par dag pa ye nas yin pas na/ sna tshogs (l.6) chos rnams kun la ji ltar 'dod dbang sgyur / 'jig rten 'das dang 'jig rten ma 'das thams cad kun/ yang dag shes pas rab tu brtags nas rtogs 'gyur na/ (l.7) rang bzhin mnyam pa med las cir yang snang zhing 'byung/ ji ltar snang ba nyid na'ang dbyings kyi rang bzhin de bzhin nyid yin te/ de ltar rtogs par gyur pa'i rang byung ye (folio 321b/p. 642) (l.1) shes snying po ni/ sna tshogs chos rnams kun la dbang yang sgyur bas mi nyams med/ de phyir tshad bzhi rgyu 'bras 'dod pa'i tha snyad pas na tshad mar 'jog mod kyi/ rgyu yi (l.2) 'bras bu dam pa'i yul 'di tshad mas gshig tu ga la yod de med/ dpe dang tshad mas bsnyad min gsang sngags rgya mtsho chen po 'dis/ yongs snums kun skyed snying por (l.3) gnas te 'bras bu'ang yin/ byang chub kyi sems bsgom pa'i rgyud las/ don dam pa'i rang bzhin rtogs par bya ba'i thabs bstan pa dang/ tshad mas gzhig tu med (l.4) par bstan pa'i le'u ste gsum pa'o//

de nas de bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyi bdag po chen po des/ nyid la nyid kyis bsgom du med pa'i (l.5) don brjod pa/ yangs so che yi shin tu phra ba'i chos nyid 'di/ rgyu 'bras mi 'byed ngang gis btsan pas de bzhin nyid/ rang bzhin gnas pas bya med bde ba'i klung chen (l.6) po/ rna bas gzhan nas thos par mi rung tshig las 'das/ lces kyang brjod du mi rung snod bcud ye nas rnam par dag/ blang dor med pa'i rdo rje'i sku ste rdzogs pa'i (l.7) sku/ drang srong bden par bzhugs pa rnams kyis brtag mi bya/ don 'di brtags pas mi rtog klung las nyams/ chos kyi snying po 'di la bsgom du cir yang grub pa(folio 322a/p. 643) (l.1) med/ gang yang dmigs na mtshan med mtshan ma 'dra ste rtog / mi rtog pa nyid rtog pa'i rlung ste ye shes skye/ gang yang snang ba med pa'i chos nyid (l.2) lam mchog la/ ma btsal bsam dang bral na bsgom pa'i klung/ btsal zhing brtags na lam mchog de las gol / de las de bzhin bde ba mi 'byung rgyu 'bras bcas/ (l.3) bsgom du med bzhin dmigs par byed pa smig rgyu chu byed 'dra/ byang chub sems bsgom pa'i rgyud las/ bsgom pa'i thabs bstan pa'i le'u ste bzhi pa'o//

(l.4) de nas gnyis su med pa'i bdag nyid chen pos theg pa chen po'i don dang mtshan nyid la nyid kyis brjod pa/ sems ni rdo shing 'dra ste dge dang mi dge ba'i las mi (l.5) spyod pa dam pa'i sems yin no/ don dam nyid la ming dang mtshan ma med de sems kyis dmigs par nus pa ma yin ngag gis bshad par nus ma yin/ sems g.yos (l.6) na mtshan ma nyid de mtshan ma'i rgyu la ming btags pa de ming dang mtshan ma zhes bya'o/ rnam par rtog pa gang yang len cing chags na ming sgyu ma mi bde ba'i 'du shes yin/ ming (l.7) dang mtshan ma gang na'ang med par rtogs shing shes de ming yang dag pa'i ye shes so/ ming dang mtshan ma ci yang rang rig yid las ma skyes ba ni de bzhin nyid ces bshad/ (folio 322b/p. 644) (l.1) theg pa chen po gang na bden pa bzhin du rnam par shes pa mi g.yo zhing ni sems kyi rgyud nyid skye ba med pa'o/ rnam par rtog pa med pa gang na da ltar gyi ni rnam par shes pa mi skye (l.2) pa'o/ sangs rgyas spyod pa ji lta bu na sems med par shes chos la chos med par shes pa'o/ sems gzugs med la shes pa yod pa gang na sems la shes pa med (l.3) la chos la gzugs med chos la gzugs med pa de shes dang mi shes pa'o/ pho mo khyim pa rab tu byung dang sems can sangs rgyas la sogs mthong ba de dag ma g.yos pa na (l.4) yang dag pa bzhin chos lam spyod pa yin/ sems de shes par bya phyir bsgom pa'i mis ni sus kyang bsnyen par mi rigs te344/ brten345 pa'i mi rnams mi rgod sems dang ( l.5) chas shing khe spogs ci thob tshol ba yin pas bsgom la gnod phyir ro/ sems rtogs bsgom pa'i mis ni 'grus par gsang ba nyin mtshan le lo mi byed pa'o/ chos rnams (l.6) thams cad btag pa yod phyir brdzun te bden med nges pa med par shes pas 'chi tshe 'jigs med la/ bag chags de mthus dmyal ba'i bag tsha med de sangs rgyas nyid las (l.7) dmyal tshogs ming yang med/ chos rnams thams cad ngo bo nyid kyis stong pa de ni sangs rgyas rnams kyi yang dag pa yi lam yin no/ de ltar rtog nas thob pa na de nyid sangs (folio 323a/p. 645) (l.1) rgyas yin par sangs rgyas gsung/ de 'dra yi ni chos 'di rtogs nas gzhan la 'chad pa de ni 'khor wa'i sems can sgrol la mkhas pa yin/ (l.2) dus gsum sangs rgyas kyis kyang 'di bzhin rtogs shing thob las byung nas mtshan dpe dod / ngo bo nyid kyis stong pa 'di ma rtogs par gzhan na chos dbyings med cing 'bras bu (l.3) sangs rgyas med/ ngo bo nyid stong spyod pa stong pa'i ngo bo nyid la'ang mi chags pa na de nyid mya ngan 'das pa'o/ yang dag don ni tshig gis bshad du mi rung tshig dang bshad pas (l.4) sleb par nus ma yin/ byang chub sems bsgom pa'i rgyud las/ theg pa chen po'i mdo sde'i don dang mtshan nyid bstan pa'i le'u ste lnga pa'o//

(l.5) de nas gnyis su med pa'i bdag nyid chen pos snying po'i don nyid nyid kyis nyid la brjod pa 'di ched du brjod do/ byang chub sems ni yon tan thams cad 'byin pa'i nor bu nyid de theg (l.6) pa'i mchog/ khyad par mchog tu gyur cing kun gyis rab tu bsngags pas rDzogs chen yin/ kun gyi rang bzhin bya bral yangs pa'i snying po 'di ni bsgom du rdul tsam med/ (l.7) de ni skye med byang chub sems kyi rang bzhin dngos med dmigs su med pas so/ byang chub sems ni de bzhin nyid las ngang gis 'da' mi byed/ de ltar de bzhin 'di la de bzhin (folio 323b/p. 646) gshegs pa kun gnas 'di la dgongs/ de bzhin gshegs pa'i thugs nyid de365 de bzhin de las de mi 'byung/ de ni rnam dag chos sku dri med 'od gsal bde chen lhun grub sa'ang (l.2) yin/ mkha' dbyings gzhal yas kun tu 'od sa 'das pa'i bla med theg chen 'di/ theg pa kun gyi nad gso mdzad pa'i sman pa'i rgyal po ste/ 'di las zab pa'i (l.3) chos ni gang na'ang med pa yin te shin tu phra/ 'di ma mthong bar gang ga'i bye snyed sangs rgyas mthong yang yang dag byang chub med/ theg gzhan blo yi gting du snang zhing ye shes (l.4) chen pos lam sbyangs byas kyang rtog pa'i klung / blo'i rim pas yun rings yun du bsgrubs na grub mtha' 'dzin pa kho na de nyid do/ theg gzhan grub mtha' 'di ni cir yang (l.5) dmigs su med de kun gyi rang bzhin yin/ 'di las ya mtshan 'phrul gyi ye shes 'od 'bar de ni kun la khyab par gsal/ 'dir ma 'khyil ba'i chos ni gang na'ang med de (l.6) thig le dag pa'i sku 'di ni dmigs shing sgom du med de bsgom pa'i tha snyad 'das/ lam du bgrod du med de lam mchog lam gyi phugs te de bzhin lam phugs nyid/ 'di la (l.7) rtog par byar med kun sangs rgyas pa ye nas yin/ 'khor ba mya ngan 'das pa gnyis med mnyam pa'i rgyal po blang dor med/ de bzhin nyid ma rtogs pa'i chos rnam gud (folio 324a/p. 647) (l.1) na yod pa yin/ chos 'di snang ba thams cad 'du byed rgyun dang bcas pa mthu nyid snang ba ste/ rgyun rtog bag chags rgyun du rgyun ma chad par snang ba (l.2) yin pas snang ba'i dngos po brtag mi bya/ de dag sems kyi 'byung 'jug rgyun bcas yin phyir ye sangs rgyas pa las/ gzhan du mi bsam de bzhin de bzhin gyi nar de bzhin (l.3) nyid/ sems kyi phur pa de bzhin gting du btab nas bzhag pa de las dbyung mi bya/ 'gul zhing g.yo ba'i tshe na cing zhing 'byung du gzhug par yongs mi bya/ byang chub (l. 4) sems bsgom pa'i rgyud las/ don gyi snying po'i rang bzhin yon tan dang bcas pa'i le'u ste drug pa'o//

de nas yang gnyis su med pa'i bdag nyid (l.5) chen pos/ kun nas nyon mongs pa'i mtshan nyid nyid la nyid kyis brjod pa/ 374dngos po mtha'375 yi rgyu376 ni lo rgyus dag las lam 'di brtag par bya/ skye bo kun gyi sems la (l.6) mngon snang phyi nang grags pa'i chos 'di ni/ 'dzin pa drug gis ji ltar mthong zhing brtag pa de lta ma yin 'khrul/ rang gi rtog pas myos pa de bzhin bzung ba bden gyur na/ (l.7) de dag dngos po med rtogs dgra bcom 'dra bar 'gyur ba'i rigs/ de dag dus dgras 'joms dang sdug bsngal nyen las des 'khrul mngon par 'gyur/ gzhan du skye (folio 324b/p. 648) mched sgo nas rig pa de dag tshad mar gyur nas ni/ de nyid tshad mar gyur pa 'phags pa'i lam de su la'ang dgos mi 'gyur/ lam de rnam grol lam du bstan cing dbang po'i (l.2) shes pas mi thar te/ sdug bsngal 'ga' yang mi 'jil rnam rig shes te nyon mongs skye ba'i gnas/ de phyir skye bos mthong ba de dag 'khrul par mngon zhing rgyal ba gsungs/ (l.3) de las 'khrul pa'i dbang gis ji ltar snang bar 'gyur / kun tu rtog cing yang dag ma yin kun tu rtog pas bcom med nyams/ blo gros phyin ci log tu gyur cing ma rig rkyen (l.4) gyi dbang song bas/ sems dang sems las byung ba de nyid lus gsum don du snang ba yin/ 'du byed sna tshogs dag gi bag chags bsags las gang goms mthu rtas (l.5) tshe/ sems nyid yul dang lus 'drar snang ba rus pas gang ba bzhin du snang/ bag chags bsags 374


DLSZ resumes here. 375 TK mtha'i. 376


TK rgyud.

pa'i rgyun la dmigs skyes yid las btags pa'i bdag ni/ (l.6) med/ 'du byed mthu yis bsgribs shing phra ba ma mthong de las rnam rig skye/ rgyun dang bcas pa'i sems kyi mthu ni ma rtogs rtogs pa'i rjes 'brangs nas/ (l.7) de las zag bcas rang bzhin rtogs pas bdag gi chos rnams rgyas par byed/ ldan par 'byung ba shin tu rgyu ba de ni ma mthong las / bdag tu sogs pa lta ba sna (folio 325a/p. 649) tshogs skye zhing thar pa rtogs / sems 'di las rnams sna tshogs gnas 'gyur bag chags mtha' med nges pa med/ bag chags rtas shing/ (l.2) sad par byed pa'i rkyen yang rnam pa sna tshogs te/ rkyen 'gas bag chags 'ga' zhig smin nas mi yi rgyud kyi lus snang la/ rkyen gzhan dag gis bag chags gzhan (l.3) sad byas tshe 'gyur ba'i mthu mthong nas/ dbang phyug la sogs byed par 'dod de lam des mi zhi grol mi 'gyur / rnal 'byor lam slad the tsom rgyu yang rgyun 'di phra ba ma (l.4) rtogs rkye / bdag tu brtag pas bsgribs te 'phags pa'i rig dang rnam par bral/ chos su brtag pas sdug bsngal sna tshogs 'byung zhing ngan song srid par 'gyur/ (l.5) rnam shes de yang 'du byed rgyun las mtshan ma tha dad 'dzin pas na/ las kyi khyad par dag gis brgyad du snang gi rigs la du ma med/ shes shing rig pa'i rigs (l.6) su gcig ste rigs la du ma med / de phyir sems kyi skad cig dang po de la lus dang chos kun gnas/ de la bsam pa zhen phyir phyi ma des 'byung de la snang/ rang (l.7) sems rgyun las  

'phags pa skye bo'i chos ni gzhan na yod pa425 min/ rgyud drug rigs lam426 de la'ang sna tshogs de dag rang gi ting 'dzin no / sems rgyun de ni phyogs (folio 325b/p. 650) kyang cung zad med pas gcig la brten med do / de la phyogs med phyir na mtha' yas zhing rnams bdag gi lus/ bdag gi lus ni mtha' yas zhing dang skye bo'i lus su (l.2) rab snang yang/ sems dang bag chags tha dad ma yin gcig min brtag pa rab tu dka'/ 'di kun brten cing 'brel 'byung tshul te skye dang 'gag 'gyur zhes pa ni / (l.3) tshig pa'i sa bon bzhin du med las med pa mi 'byung rgyu 'bras med/ dngos por zhen cing rgyu dang 'bras bur ston pa'i sems nyid ni/ rgyu dang rkyen du snang ste de gnyis (l.4) med phyir skye dang 'jig pa med/ skye 'chi med phyir bdag gzhan med de 'chi 'pho med phyir rtag chad med/ des na 'khrul 'khor med cing mya ngan 'das pa med par mngon/ (l.5) gnas kyi skad cig nam yang mi 'bral mnyam 'gyur de med med/ yang dag ma yin rtog pas bskyed phyir bag chags yod pa ma yin dang/ spyod yul med phyir kun gzhi (l.6) med cing rnam rig de yang med pa yin/ phyogs rnams med phyir dmigs dang gnas med rnam shes rig pa ji ltar skye/ de phyir sems 'di yod med mtha' las 'das (l.7) shing gcig dang du ma bral/ sems ni nang na 425


DLSZ ma. 426 DLSZ las.

mi gnas phyi rol mi gnas bar na gnas pa min/ thams cad kun la mnyam gnas de nyid ngang las g.yos pa med/ (folio 326a/p. 651) rnam dag lam chen sems nyid rdo rje 'di ni shes bya nyid de thams cad skye/ cir yang mi dmigs kun tu 'od gsal snying po'i tshul de yan lag rgyas/ (l.2) ye nas gnas pa'i de bzhin nyid ni rang rig rnam par dag pa ste/ ye nyid yum gyi mkha' ste mi 'gyur de bzhin gnas pas sems zhes bya/ sems ni mtshan mar ma yin (l.3) thams cad 'byung bas dbyings kyang yin/ mtha' dang dbus med mi rtog rtog las 'das pas chos skur bshad/ de nyid 'phags pa'i tshogs su ye nas gsal bas ye (l.4) shes tshogs chen po/ cis kyang mi sgrib mi shigs mi snang ba las thams cad snang bas kun gyi gzhi yang yin/ sems kyi ting 'di mthong na sems las ma gtogs (l.5) chos rnams gang yang med/ mchog tu rmad byung ngo mtshar khyad par yul 'di kun gyi rmad chen yin/ shes bya de bzhin nyid la rang rig rig byed rang zhir 'gro ru gzhug / (l.6) rang rig de yang de las byung nas de la gnas pa yin pas gnas sa de kar bzhag/ lam gzhan ji ltar bgrod kyang grub mtha' de nyid yin/ de phyir kun gyi byung khung de ni (l.7) grub mtha' 'bras bu yin/ thams cad ngang gis 'char bas nam mkha'i tshul la'ang gnas/ 'di ni kun gyi dmigs bu yin te gzhan lo khrid par byed/ thams cad (Folio 326b/p. 652) mnyam pa'i rgyal po bya ba yin pas spyod las 'das pa yin/ de ltar ye nas gnas pa de la su'ang mi 'chos ngo bo de nyid de bzhin 'jog pa byang chub che/ de kho kun rdzogs rang (l.2) bzhin chos kyi snying po lta spyod rdzogs pa yin/ chos kyi snying po 'di lta lta zhing spyod de sgrub par byed pa de la snying po ring/ de yis snying po ma mthong spyod dang bcas pas snying (l.3) po nyams/ 'di ni rtsol460 dang ye nas bral bas btsal du ye nas med phyir snying po'i mchog/ dus gsum rgyal bas kyang ni ma bsgrubs ma sbyangs ma btsal bzhag pas (l.4) mthong/ mthong ma thag tu sbyang btsal 'gyod de sbyang ma dgos par rtogs / rtogs pa'i ngang de la ni dus gsum rgyal ba'i sang rgyas rdul snyed gnas/ sang rgyas (l.5) bgrod phyir rtsol ba'i lam kun bor bas gdod sang rgyas/ rtsol bgrod lam la gnas tshe 'phags pa'i sar tshud tsam/ de phyir nye lam bde rdzogs sku gsum rdo rje 'chang (l.6) ba'i sa zhes snying po 'di la bya/ ma bgrod gnas su phyin par rang rgyud dag pas phyin pa'i sa yang yin/ phyi nang sems kyi spyod yul bag chags rgyun dang bcas par lta ba (l.7) sems tsam yin/ sems rgyun bag chags rtog pa de la snying po 'di nyid med/ de phyir yul dang lus su lta ba de nyid rtog pa'i rgyun nyid do/ mi sgom mi sgrub mi srung (folio 327a/p. 653) de bzhin nyid la rang blo de bzhin bzhag/ de kha bzhag sa 'gro sa 'dug sa kun gyis bgrod sar phyin pa yin pas nye lam mo/ byang chub sems bsgom (l.2) pa'i rgyud las/ sems tsam gyi lta ba 'bras bu yon tan dang bcas pa a tir las bzlas pa'i le'u ste bdun pa'o//


(folio 327a/p. 653) (l.2) de nas bcom ldan 'das (l.3) gnyis su med pa'i bde ba chen pos yang dag pa ma grub pas/ de'i rdzu 'phrul 'khrul pa rnams la snang bar bstan pa 'di nyid la nyid kyis ched du brjod do/ bde gshegs (l.4) byang chub med phyir de'i rdzu 'phrul sgyu 'dra 'khrul la snang/ de bzhin gshegs pa'i ye shes de dag shin tu dge ba'i rgyun nyid dang/ rdo rje gnas med phyir na mnyam (l.5) gnas rang bzhin 'drar gyur nas / chos dbyings rdo rje'i rtse mo de dag phyogs nyid med pas skad cig min/ dag pa'i dag pa gzugs brnyan med pas 'jig rten yod mi (l.6) 'gyur/ de phyir byang chub ma chub mtshan nyid med par gcig pas blang dor med/ don de'i tshul gyi484 don dam rnam grangs skye 'gag med dang mnyam nyid dang/ gnyis (l.7) med bsam 'das stong nyid chos dbyings brjod dang 485bral ba lag486 sogs/ bstan pa de kun tha snyad yin de487 don 488med cing kun sgrib med/ don dam tshul gyis lam nyid 'di (folio 327b/p. 654) 'dra zhes pa de nyid kun sgrib yin / the tsom yod med chos ni gang la'ang spong zhing gnas par mi byed do/ bsgom pa dang ni chos dbyings med phyir som nyi med la'ang dam (l.2) par lta ba med/ de ltar dngos po'i mtha' rnams brtags deng de bzhin sgyu ma med 'gyur phyir/ yod la ltos pa'i med pa'ang med de yod pa'ang med/ mtha' rnams (l.3) med phyir dbus med dbus la'ang med par mi byed do/ gang la'ang 'jig rten dbang phyug padmo kun kyang mi spong 'drar mnyam gnas/ chos la 'khrul par mthong ba de (l.4) nyid 'khrul pa yin par rab rtogs te/ drug gis bstan pa'i bdud kyis las kyang mi 'dor ngan du mi rtog go/ shes rab thabs kyi spyod pa la'ang mi gnas phyir na bdud (l.5) kyi dra bar spyod/ rang gi shes pa dam par byas shing kun las rgyal te snyems nas513/ 'dod chags zhe sdang skyes nas rtsod 484

TK and DLSZ gyis. 485

DLSZ inserts: tha snyad. 486 DLSZ bral la. 487

TK and DLSZ te. 488

DLSZ inserts: dam.


'byung gti mug yin te don mi mthong/ 514g.yo (l.6) dang mi g.yo tha snyad mi gnas gnas pa515 la'ang gnas pa med516/ snang med dus su ma'i517 lam de byang chub sems zhes bde gshegs gsungs/ de phyir gang yang mi 'byed (l.7) zag med de bzhin nyid kyi ther thams cad gcig pa yin/ 'di las gzhan med rgyu yin 'bras bu nyid de snying po yang yin/ 'di ma mthong na gang la bsnyad kyang rtog pa'i (folio 328a/p. 655) klung na gnas/ gzugs dang mtshan mar 'dzin par smon pa rab spangs nas / rnam par thar pa gsum po bsgom pa'ang bdud kyi las yin gzugs nyid (l.2) stong pa'o/ 'khor ba'i lam gsum spong zhing mya ngan las 'das lam bsgom pa'i / de nyid rang bzhin ma zhi rang bzhin rtsal spang gar mi gnas/ 'phags pa kun gyi (l.3) yun la gnas dang 'das sogs lam nyid gzhan na med/ byang chub sems bsgom pa'i rgyud las/ mya ngan las 'das pa'i lam mthar gtugs pa'i le'u ste brgyad pa'o//

(l.4) de nas bcom ldan 'das bde ba chen po'i yang dag po'i don mdzub tshugs su dgongs pa sangs rgyas nyid kyi nyid542 la 513

DLSZ na. 514

DLSZ inserts an extra sentence: ji srid yid kyi g.yo ba de srid bdud kyi yul te phra ba'i lam/. 515

TK and DLSZ omit pa. 516

DLSZ reads gnas par mi byed da. da may be crossed out. 517


TK and DLSZ read: snang med dbu ma'i.

ched543 du brjod do/ lha544 dang mi (l.5) ldang ched545 du mi spong sems rten mi 'cha' mngon du min/ 'jam dpal ma yin rdul tsam g.yo ba de nyid de yin der mi gnas/ bsgom pa'i sa mi rnyed phyir bsgoms pas (l.6) rnyed par mi 'gyur te/ rnam bral gang la'ang mchog 'di bsgom mo/ bya byed bya bral ye nas de bzhin nyid 'di de bzhin de bzhin rang bzhin gnas/ de la 'khor ba mya (l.7) ngan 'das med gang la yang ni med min thams cad ldan/ byang chub sems bsgom pa'i rgyud las/ rdzogs pa chen po mdor bsdus te bsgom pa'i lam gyi mchog gi (folio 328b/p. 656) le'u ste dgu pa'o// de nas yang bde ba chen por rang bzhin gyi nyid la nyid kyis ched du brjod pa 'di ched du brjod do/ 'du byed ma skyes mchog kun (l.2) 'byung med shin tu chos rnams mya ngan 'das/ dngos med de tshe kun kyang chos kyi dbyings zhes dgra bcom rab 'byor yin/ nam mkha' mi dmigs ming tsam dge dang mi dger (l.3) dbyer med skye ba med/ rtsol bar yid la mi byed gang la sems med shes dang mi shes bral/ dran dang dbyer med spong len gang la'ang chags dang mtshungs med mi dmigs shing/ (l.4) mnyam gnas gnyis su brtag med brjod bral bya dang mi bya med 542


TK omits kyi nyid. 543

TK mched. 544

DLSZ ldang. 545


TK mched.

de gang569 bri med/ ched du rtsol bral570 yid la mi byed cis kyang mi 'khrugs mnyam shes dang/ gang la'ang chags (l.5) dang yul gyis571 myos sgrag572 med de mi 'bral mi gnas zhing/ mi 'phrogs mnyam shes bzhi po phyogs dang pha rol phyin rnams der shes te/ sems kyi573 dbyings su sgom pas (l.6) lam gyi phugs nas 'dug pa yin gyi / gzhan du bsgom pas 'od gsal don nyid rig par mi 'gyur ro/ brda can yang dag len pa'ang byang chub yin zhes ston pas rab tu gsungs (l.7) pa'i phyir/ de la byang chub sems nyid bskyed cing bsgom pa'i gnas yin te/ ting 'dzin gsum po brtan par byas shing rtags kyi phyag rgya gsum bcings nas/ (folio 329a/p. 657) chos kyi phyag rgya chen por sems nyid bskyed de snying po brjod cing bsgom / rdo rje sems dpa' bsgom pas lam kun ma nor bsgoms pa yin/ kun (l.2) tu bzang mo'i spyod pas ma zin dge ba'i chos gang yang rung/ kun tu bzang po'i spyod pa bdud kyi las de zad cing mthar thug 'gyur/ de dang ldan pa'i las ni bdud kyi las (l.3) kyang byang chub chen por spyod par gsungs/ 569


DLSZ srog. 570

DLSZ bar. 571

DLSZ gyi. 572

TK rkrag ?; DLSZ skrag.

573 TK kyis.

don der598 mos pa de yang byang chub chen por yin zhes rgyal bas rab tu bsngags/ gnas 'dir skyes pa tsam gyi 'jig rten gsum (l.4) po bla mar bcas pa yin / chos gnas nyan thos bdud kyi sde rnams zil gyis gnon par sangs rgyas gsungs/ thabs chen byang chub sems dpa' gsang ba'i spyod (l.5) pa'ang 'di nyid do / 'di med rgyal ba rnam par snang mdzad theg pa gsum ston mi srid do/ skad cig tsam du dad pa'i shugs skyes de yang myur du 'jam dpal gzhon nur (l.6) gyur pa / dkyil 'khor gsang bar zhugs shing theg chen dam tshig mchog kyang srung ba yin/ tshul khrims sdom pa kun kyang bsrungs shing sbyin gnas dam par rab tu (l.7) bsngags/ de phyir byang chub sems kyi bsod nams de la gzugs yod na/ nam mkha' bar snang de yang snod du chung zhes rgyal bas mtshungs par gsungs/ (folio 329b/p. 658) yang dag bde gshegs ma lus byang chub sems la gnas/ byang chub sems dang lam du ma tshungs chos gang med/ rgyal bas sems kyi dngos po phra ba mthong bas rgyas/ (l.2) bdud dang des zil mnan te dbyings kyi ngang/ 'di la dbyings dang 'gag pa med de 'du 'bral ci yang med/ ye shes dbyings med mya ngan 'das pa'ang min/ chos zhes (l.3) ming du gdags dgos 'brel thams cad rdzogs/ mtshan ma rab zhi mtshan med med 598


TK and DLSZ 'dir.

pa med/ rang bzhin med pa'i med pa'ang med las 'das te gzhan la spyod la 'das (l.4) pas 'phags/ stong pa mi dmigs rang bzhin med dang ji bzhin de bzhin nyid/ gdags pa'i sgrub par byed pa'i lam ste 'jug pa'i gnas/ 'di la 'jug dang (l.5) zhugs dang ma zhugs ye na rgya chad pas theg pa'i bla/ spyod med tshig las 'das pas kun la khyab phyir rgya mchog nyid/ ming tshig bzlas pa rnams bral gsang sngags (l.6) mchog chen yin/ ye nas de las mi 'gyur du rung pa yin par nga byung nyid/ 'di ltar rtogs nas 'di la blo gros gnas pa blo gros mchog/ de ni 'jam dpal dpal (l.7) ldan gzhon nu nyid ces bya/ dus gsum sangs rgyas kun kyang der gtsug khung du chung zhing rdul rnyed sangs rgyas de dang mtshungs/ ye nas de las yas ma btsal bar ma (folio 330a/p. 659) bsgoms rang bzhin gnas las 'byung ba'i phyir/ chos gzhan mi 'dogs yon tan rgyal ba'i theg chen 'di las chos gzhan med/ de phyir (l.2) chos lam 'jug dang zhugs637 nas 'bras thob 'dod pa khron sbal 'dra/ byang chub kyi sems sgom pa'i rgyud las/ rdzogs pa chen po rang bzhin nga rgyal dang bcas pa'i (l.3) le'u ste bcu pa'o//


de nas bcom ldan 'das bde ba chen pos don mdor bstan pa'i nyid kyis nyid la ched du brjod pa 'di brjod do/ skye bo skye ba (l.4) sna tshogs dag nas skyes shing skye 'gyur skye ba'i bdud kyi dbang song ba / rtog mtha' mi shes rtog pas bslus shing rtog

pa'i rgyu 'bras647 'khrul pa'i rtog las648 phyir/ ldog (l.5) med 'gyur ba sgyu ma'i sgyu shes dag gis649 sgyu ma'i grang650 po 'dra bar651 sgyu ma652 653rnams/ rmi lam rmi ba bzhin du rmi yis bde ba nyams shing rmi lam dbang du song ba'i rmi lam sa / (l.6) lam 'di spong zhing mtha' dang lam gzhan lam du bltas pas ma nor lam du ston pa de/ de dag rdo la gser bzhin thugs rjes thugs rje kye ma phrog pa yin/ mchog tu (l.7) shes rab sbyangs pa rnams kyi spyod yul 'di yin gyis/ skal med shes rab ma sbyangs pa la gsung gi nying khu 'di mi snang/ rgyal ba rnams kyis bsnyen pa bdud rtsi lam (folio 330b/p. 660) mchog 'di/ rgyal ba rnyed pa don chen rnyed pa'i mchog yin no/ de lta'i don bdag dang phrad nas bdag gi lhogs gyur cig/ smon cing de la tha mal wa khyi la sogs gang (l.2) 'dun kyang/ des kyang byang chub chen po'i bde ba 647

DLSZ rgyun 'brangs. 648 DLSZ omits: rtog las. The words "pa'i rgyun 'brangs 'khrul pa'i" are all written at a much smaller size than the surrounding text. 649 TK gi. 650


TK and DLSZ glang. 651 TK ba. 652

DLSZ mas. 653

DLSZ inserts: rmongs pa'i sgyu ma.

bsnyags pa'i phyir/ de ni 'phags pa'i khong na gnas pa'i nang na btsun zhing che/ rtog nas 'di spyod pa la lta ci smos te (l.3) yang sangs rgyas pa yin/ sems can las kyi 'di la mi 'phrogs shing/ 'phags pa'i thugs rjes 'di la bzung du med/ don gyi don de sgom rtsol med pa'i don dam (l.4) rgyal po yin/ sangs rgyas thugs kyi nying khu sbas pa zab mo'i gsung/ dri med rgya mtsho'i snying po byang chub rgya chan po/ theg pa'i rtsa ba 'bras bu theg pa yongs kyi mchog/ (l.5) ye nas gnas pa'i de nyid de ltar shes pa de ni bsgom pa yang yin te sangs rgyas so/ lta bas zin pa'i ye shes zang thal de bzhin dkyil po che/ chos sku 'od dpag med (l.6) pas don 'di bshad pa las/ rgyal ba'i gsung gi bsgrag pa 'di ltar snang ngam zhes / de bzhin gshegs pa'i chos sku dpag med khyod la 'dun par gyis/ chos sku'i (l.7) gsung mchog rgya mtsho 'di la'ang de bzhin lta/ sa bcu pa la 'di gnas phyin na de la 'ang gtad/ 'di blo su la gnas pa byang chub sems dpa' rnams grub pa'i mchog/ (folio 331a/p. 661) sa yang don 'di blo la skad cig gnas pa de la rdzogs par chos skus gsungs/ de'i byin rlabs rgyal ba kun kyang gsung bar 'gyur te de skad gsungs/ (l.2) don 'di gzugs sku mtshan dpe dad pas bstan pas rtogs mi rung/ mi rtog phyir na kha lces bshad pa min phyir chos skus gsungs/ chos sku bya bral 'di ltar snang ba (l.3) kun la snang phyir gsungs zhes rgyal bas gsungs/ byang chub sems bsgom pa'i rgyud las/ theg pa'i mchog nyid dang/ de nyid la de nyid kyi bstod pa

dang/ gdams (l.4) pa bshad pa'i le'u ste bcu gcig pa'o// byang chub kyi sems sgom pa'i rgyud las / theg pa'i snying po rdzogs so//


Appendix III - Concordance table for the DLSZ, SGG, and the Twelve-point Commentary on the DLSZ (P. 3405)

Commentary points (as translated in Lipman) Line nos. in Lipman's edition of the DLSZ Location in the SGG (mTshams brag edition) 1. Homage 1-4 (incomplete) Fol. 319a.6/Fol. 320a.5,6

2.Why (the primordial state) should be fully grasped 5-17 Fol. 320a.6-Fol. 320b.4 3. What should be fully grasped 18-21 Fol. 321a.1-3 4. How it can be fully grasped 22-26 Fol. 321a.3-5 5. What has to be inquired into to fully grasp (it) a) that which muddies the stream of awareness (i) just what is meant by (a) 27-37 Fol. 324a.5-Fol. 324b (ii) the deceptiveness of how things appear: A.What appears 38-45 Fol. 324b.3-325a.4

B. Why it appears 46-55 Fol. 324b.6-325a.4 C. How the deceptiveness of how things appear obstructs (the path) 56-57 Fol. 325a.4-5 D. What defines perception, which is the basis of all appearance 58-59 Fol. 325a.5 E. How that which is to appear becomes present 60-61 Fol. 325a.6 F. Nothing need be added or gotten, because everything is already included within our mind…. 62-67 Fol. 325a.6-325b.2 G. An answer to the question: If everything is our emerging mind, why do some things and happenings appear to originate from independent conditions? 68-71 Fol. 325b.2-325b.3

H. That which appears, things and happenings, is not to be found at all 71-73 Fol. 325b.3-4

I. Even our mind, from which all appearance arises, is not to be found at all. 74-78 Fol. 325b.5-7 b) that which is the clarification (of the stream of awareness) b i)pointing out how the state of clarification makes itself felt within the state of deception 79 Fol. 327a.3-4 b ii) pointing out that the appearance of the state of clarification is not to be found:-

A pointing out that non- conceptual ever-fresh awareness is not to be found 80-83 Fol. 327a.4-5 (minus line 81 in Lipman's Edition) B why is pure, though worldly, ever fresh awareness not to be found? 84 Fol. 327a.5-6 6. Pointing out the real meaning (grasped) after inquiring into (the above)

a) pointing out fundamental

alikeness (at the level) of thought i)because the two truths are not divided and there is no ac- and rejection 85-89 Fol. 327a.6-327b.1 ii)pointing out the fundamental alikeness of truth and falsity since there is no aversion to the objectionable and no longing for the positive 90-91 Fol. 327b.1-2

iii)since there is nothing for mind to objectify 92-94 Fol. 327b.2 b)fundamental alikeness (at the level) of behaviour 95-100 Fol. 327b.3-5 (minus line 101 of Lipman's edition) c) summing up what defines the primordial state of pure and total presence 101-103 Fol. 327b.5-6 7. Putting the real meaning into practice a) pointing out the obstacles to practice 104-108 Fol. 328a.1-3 b)pointing out the true meaning of cultivation i) briefly pointing out the true 109 Fol. 328a.4 meaning of cultivation ii)why should one cultivate as above? 110-116 Fol. 328a.5-6 (minus line 112 in Lipman's ed.)/Fol. 328b.1-3

iv) (precedes iii)pointing out the logical reason for cultivating in this way 117-19 Fol. 328b.3-4 iii)pointing out the signs of proper cultivation 120-123 Fol. 328b.4-6 8. Special methods taught for fully grasping the real meaning 124-127 Fol. 328b.6-329a.1 9. Pointing out that without fully taking hold of the primordial state of pure and total presence, freedom will not be attained and positive qualities will come to an end 128-131 Fol. 329a.1-3 10.Pointing out that even the arousal of more intense interest (in this primordial state) leads to many superior abilities 132-141 Fol. 329a.3-7

11. Pointing out that those who have gone wrong are the object of compassion 142-151 Fol. 330a.3-6 (minus lines 148-151 in Lipman's ed.) 12. Dedication for (the sake of creating) s foundation of positive qualities 152-157 Absent (although elements of lines 152-3 in Lipman's ed. are visible in Fol. 330a.7

Appendix IV Brief Notes on some other related texts

Of the potentially-related texts not already discussed above, the byang chub kyi sems bsgom pa'i man ngag (P. 3389) is a two-line instruction on yi dam visualization using seed syllables including a white letter 'A'. It pays homage to Mañjuśrī, and is part of a series of texts connected to the Mañjuśrīnāmasaṃgītī. This text is comparable to IOL Tib J 331.

Bg 49, with nine chapters, belongs to a group containing "yi ge med pa" in their titles. It includes Bg. 51, which seems to be an abridged version of one (or more) of the other texts. These all share the characteristic of being pronounced by a Buddha-figure, who addresses an audience declared to be not separate from him. The group also includes P. 4512, with ten chapters, attributed in its colophon to Śrī Siṃha and Jñānagarbha, and translated by "the monk Vairocana". These texts appear to be rather late additions to the byang chub sems bsgom sub-genre.

P. 4536 is untitled, but its last line reads: "byang chub kyi sems bsgom pa'i rgyud rdzogs so". It contains no passages from the DLSZ or SGG. It is entirely devoid of logical philosophical passages. In eight chapters, the other Buddhas of the Five Families question Buddha Vairocana on how to meditate on bodhicitta. The outer and inner practices involve visualization, including a sexual partner or mudra, while the secret one, proceeding from the state entered by the first two, is described as "the inexpressible samādhi without conceptual thought". The references to internal subtle body practices in chapter six suggest that it is a later text than the SGG. .

P. 4537, adjacent to the above text, is similar to its predecessor but contains even more details of the subtle body channels and their visualization practice. This text is said in its colophon to be a translation by Jñānagarbha and Vairocana, but given its contents, this attribution is dubious.


List of related texts (Identified Texts of the SGG are highlighted in their titles)

Edition Text title/s Text No Peking bsTan 'gyur Byang chub sems bsgom pa (=rDo la gser zhun) P. 3418 (=Dg.157, Tb. 22)

Byang chub kyi sems bsgom pa don P. 3405

bcu gnyis bstan pa (=Bg.115) Byang chub kyi sems bsgom pa'i man ngag (a 2-line visualization instruction) P. 3389

Bai ro'i rgyud 'bum Byang chub sems bsgom pa'i bsam btan rna mar rgyud pa (Colophon title: Byang chub sems bsgom pa'i rna rgyud kyi man ngag) Bg. 4

Byang chub sems bsgom pa ( last line: byang chub kyi sems bsgom pa yi ge med pa bstan pa'i skabs dgu pa rdzogs sho) Bg. 49

Byang chub sems bsgom pa yi ge med pa'i rgyud Bg. 50 Byang chub sems bsgom pa yi ge med pa'i rgyud (colophon title Byang chub sems bsgom pa yi ge med pa las bsdu gsungs pa'i skabs)

Bg. 51 Byang chub sems bsgom pa/(title in first line adds: don bcu gnyis kyis ston) Bg. 115 (=P. 3405)

Byang chub kyi sems bsgom pa Bg. 119 Theg pa gcod pa'i khor lo Bg. 108 NGB gTing skyes Byang chub kyi sems bsgom pa yi ge med pa'i rgyud Tk. 45 Byang chub sems bsgom pa'i rgyud Tk. 69 NGB sDe dge


Byang chub sems bsgom pa (Last line: byang chub kyi sems yi ge med pa bstan pa'i skabs dgu pa) Dg.134 (Taipei Tb1.4539)

Bg. 49 Tb. 80 Tk.1.14 Byang chub kyi sems bsgom pa yi ge med pa'i rgyud Dg.135 (Taipei Tb1.4512) Bg50

Byang chub kyi sems sgom pa'i Dg.155 i rgyud (Taipe Tb1.4496) Tb. 37 Tk. 69

Byang chub sems sgom pa rdo la gser zhun Dg. 157 P. 3418 Untitled. Last line reads: byang chub kyi sems bsgom pa'i rgyud rdzogs so Taipei Tb1.4536

De bzhin gshegs pa thams cad ran bzhin byang chub kyi sems bsgo pa'i rgyud g m Taipei Tb1.4537 Tb. 78 NGB mTshams brag Byang chub sems bsgom pa Tb. 22 P. 3418 Dg. 157

Byang chub sems bsgom pa'i rgyud Tb. 37 Dg.155 (Taipei Tb1.4496) Tk. 69

Byang chub sems bsgom pa yi g med pa'i rgyud e Tb. 53 Bg. 50 Thams cad nam mkha'i ngo bo sky ba med pa'i byang chub kyi sem bsgom pa'i rgyud e s Tb. 76 (Taipei Tb1

4535) Byang chub kyi sems bsgom pa rgyud 'i Tb. 77 (Taipei Tb1.4536) De bzhin gshegs pa thams cad ran bzhin byang chub kyi sems bsgo pa'i rgyud g m Tb. 78 (Taipei Tb1.4537) Byang chub sems bsgom pa (called: byang chub sems bsgom p yi ge med pa'i rgyud at end of Ch and 9) a 8 Tb. 80 (Taipei 4539)


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