Guhyagarbha tantra
Guhyagarbha Tantra (Skt.; Tib. རྒྱུད་གསང་བ་སྙིང་པོ་, Gyü Sangwé Nyingpo; Wyl. rgyud gsang ba'i snying po), The Essence of Secrets Tantra is the main tantra of the Mahayoga. It contains twenty-two chapters.[1]
Khenpo Namdrol writes: "Among the distinctions within Mahayoga, namely the great accomplishment pratices of the eight herukas and the eighteen classes of the great tantras, this Secret Essence Tantra extracts the essence of them all, as well as being the general tantra of enlightened mind. The twenty-two chapters of this tantra afford an explanation of the three tantras of the ground, path and result and, within the context of the tantra of the path, the ten topics of tantra."[2]
Title
Its fuller title is the Glorious Web of Magical Illusion, The Secret Essence Definitive Nature Just As It Is (Tib. Pal Gyutrül Drawa Sangwé Nyingpo De Kona Nyid Ngé Pa, Wyl. dpal sgyu 'phrul drva ba gsang ba'i snying po de kho na nyid nges pa), which can itself be condensed to the alternative title of Tantra of the Web of Magical Illusion (Tib. Gyutrül Drawa Gyü, Wyl. sgyu 'phrul drva ba rgyud).
Commentarial Tradition
For centuries, detailed study of its root verses and many celebrated commentaries, including Longchenpa's Trilogy of Dispelling Darkness, Dodrupchen Jikmé Tenpé Nyima's Key to the Precious Treasury and Mipham Rinpoche's Essence of Clear Light, has been the key to understanding the Vajrayana’s most prominent themes and practices, such as empowerment, samaya, mantra recitation and the use of mandalas.
In Tibet, two major commentarial traditions of this tantra have developed:
- the Zurpa tradition, based on the perspectives of Buddhaguhya, Vilasavajra, and other masters, which can be described as the vast, common tradition, and
- Rongzom Chökyi Zangpo and Longchenpa's tradition, based on the perspective of Suryaprabhasingha, which can be described as the profound, uncommon tradition.
Alternative Translations
The Guhyagarbha Tantra (The Tantra of the Secret Quintessence) is the main tantra of the Mahayoga class and the primary Tantric text studied in the Nyingma tradition as a key to understanding empowerment, samaya, mantras, mandalas and other Vajrayana topics.
Traditionally higher tantras require an empowerment and transmission from a qualified guru or lama before they can be studied and practiced, and were therefore not usually discussed publicly.
Prahevajra (Garab Dorje) received the empowerment and transmission of the Mahayoga teachings of the Secret Matrix Tradition (Guhyagarbha tantra) from Mahasiddha Kukuraja.
Commentaries on the Guhyagarbha Tantra
- Vilāsavajra dpal gsang ba snying po’i ’grel pa rin po che’i spar khab slob dpon sgeg pa'i rdo rjes mdzad pa - "Blazing Palace".
- Vimalamitra (8th century)
- Rongzom Pandita, Chökyi Zangpo (1012–1088) (Tibetan: རྒྱུད་རྒྱལ་གསང་བ་སྙིང་པོ་དཀོན་ཅོག་འགྲེལ, Wylie: rgyud rgyal gsang ba snying po dkon cog 'brel)
- Longchenpa (1308–1363) mun sel skor gsum - "Trilogy of Dispelling Darkness" - Three commentaries on the Guhyagarbha Tantra:
- dpal gsang ba snying po de kho na nyid nges pa'i rgyud kyi grel ba phyogs bcu'i mun sel/ -"Dispelling Darkness in the Ten Directions" - Detailed commentary on the Guhyagarbha Tantra
- dpal gsang ba snying po'i spyi don legs par bshad pa'i snang bas yid kyi mun pa thams cad sel ba/ - "Dispelling the Darkness of the Mind" General meaning of the Guhyagarbha Tantra
- dpal gsang ba snying po'i rgyud kyi bsdus pa'i don ma rig mun pa thams cad sel ba/ - "Dispelling Darkness of Ignorance" - Condensed meaning of the Guhyagarbha Tantra
- Minling Lochen Dharma Shri (1654–1718) -
- dpal gsang ba snying po de kho na nyid nges pa'i rgyud kyi 'grel ba gsang bdag dgongs rgyan/ - Textual exegesis of the Guhyagarbha Tantra
- dpal gsang ba snying po de kho na nyid nges pa'i rgyud kyi rgyal po sgyu 'phrul drwa ba spyi don gyi sgo nas gtan la 'bebs par byed pa'i legs bshad sang bdag shal lung/ - General commentary on the Guhyagarbha tantra.
- Mipham (1846–1912) gsang 'grel phyogs bcu'i mun sel gyi spyi don 'od gsal snying po/ - An exegesis of Longchenpa's commentary on the Guhyagarbha Tantra
- Dodrup Chen III, Jigme Tenpai Nyima (1865–1926) - dpal gsang ba’i snying po’i rgyud kyi spyi don nyung ngu’i ngag gis rnam par ’byed pa rin chen mdzod kyi lde mig "Key to the Precious Treasury" - A {General Commentary on the Guhyagarbha Tantra.
- Khenpo Shenga (1871–1927) - Annotated Commentary on the Guhyagarbha Tantra
Footnotes
- ↑ There are actually three distinct versions of the Guhyagarbha Tantra, respectively in twenty-two, forty-six and eighty-two chapters. The concise version in twenty-two chapters is the one which is most widely studied within the Nyingma tradition (Source: Gyurme Dorje, Guhyagarbha Tantra: Introduction, PhD.).
- ↑ Introduction to Ju Mipham Jampal Gyepa'i Dorje, (2010), p. 1.
