Fundamental Mind: The Nyingma View of the Great Completeness Mi-pam-gya-tso
Fundamental Mind: The Nyingma View of the Great Completeness Mi-pam-gya-tso
With Practical Commentary by Khetsun Sangpo Rinbochay
Translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
Preface
This is the first translation of The Meaning of Fundamental Mind, Clear Light, Expressed in Accordance with the Transmission
of Conqueror Knowledge-Bearers: Vajra Matrix1 by
the great Tibetan scholar-yogi Mi-pam-gya-tso2 (1846-
1912) of the Óying-ma order. This text on the Óying-ma
view of ultimate reality is the first of Mi-pam-gya-tso
trilogy, called Three Cycles on Fundamental Mind, which
explains the Great Completeness, the basal nature in which
spiritual development is grounded.
Through commenting on the text, Khetsun Sangpo
Rinbochay expands on his ground-breaking presentation
of the preliminary Tantric practices in Tantric Practice in
Nying-ma.3 He begins with a biography of Mi-pam-gyatso,
drawn from and contextualizing his thirteen-volume
Biographical Dictionary of Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism,4
and then gives expansive, practical commentary on Mipam-gya- the book the differentiation of mistaken mind from fundamental mind. The main theme is primordial enlightenment
in the basal clear light, self-arisen pristine wisdom.
Then, in four chapters Mi-pam-gya-tso:
presents basic mind, or vajra matrix, drawing on myriad
explanations in Tantras;
details how fundamental mind is an uncompoundeda
union of luminosity and emptiness;
refutes Ja- Do-½gak
Completeness as a compoundedb mind;
and draws distinctions about the nature and appearance of fundamental mind prior to and after realization. The emphasis is on introducing fundamental mind in naked experience through a l ctions.
Khetsun Sangpo Rinbochay is a Óying-ma lama trained in Tibet and capable of transmitting in complete form the special precepts of the Óying-ma order. A lay priest and renowned yogi-scholar, he was trained in all four lineages of Tibetan Buddhism. He is among the most senior lamas and Great Completeness masters in the Óying- ma Tibetan Buddhist tradition and is the most eminent Óying-ma historian alive today.
He was born in 1920 in Yak-de (g.yag sde) on the border
between the central and western provinces of Tibet
and came to India in 1959. He was soon asked by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to represent Dudjom Rinbochay,
head of the Óying-ma school, in Japan, where he spent ten
years in this capacity from 1960-1970, teaching in Tokyo
and Kyoto Universities and becoming fluent in Japanese.
In 1971 he returned to India and founded a school to
educate Tibetan monastics in his tradition, called the
Nyingmapa Wishfulfilling Center, in Bouda, Nepal. Over
more than thirty years he has accepted numerous invitations
to teach in Japanese and U.S. universities and to
teach students in retreats in Dordogne, France. He taught
at the University of Virginia during the spring semester,
1974, and returned in 1986 to lecture on the Óying-ma
presentation of the two truths and to give a series of lectures
and meditations at the Union of the Modern and the
Ancient (UMA) in Boonesville, Virginia, on Mi-pam-gyaition
of fundamental mind, on which this book
is based.
In Tibet, Khetsun Sangpo Rinbochay received teachings on the Heart Essence of the Great Expanse tradition from the famous Lady Master Jetsun Shuksep Rinbochay (d. 1953) of Shuksep Nunnery, Tibet s main institution for female practitioners of the Great Completeness. His other teachers include Dudjom Rinbochay, Kangyur Rinbochay, and Dilgo Khyentse Rinbochay.
His writings feature an account of his spiritual journey and attainments, titled Autobiography of Khetsun Sangpo: Memoirs of a Nyingmapa Lama from the Yamdok Area of Tibet 5 and a thirteen-volume Biographical Dictionary of Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism, an edited compilation of biographies of the masters of all Tibetan Buddhist traditions. His Tantric Practice in Nyingma has been used by thousands of students around the world as a guide to the foundational practices. Jeffrey Hopkins
Emeritus Professor of Tibetan Studies
Technical Note
In this work, the transliteration of Tibetan follows the system formulated by Turrell Wylie,6 except that here no letters are capitalized. Also employed here is a system of essay phonetics, 7 developed to reflect the pronunciation of words in the central dialect. A macron over a letter indicates that its sound is high in tone.
In the conversion table below, the Wylie transliteration form of Tibetan letters is on the left of each column and the Hopkins essay phonetics form on the right.
kha = ka ga = ga nga = nga or Ìga*
ca = Á cha = cha ja = ja nya = nya or Ìya
ta = «a tha = ta da = da na = na or Ìa
pha = pa ba = ba ma = ma or Îa
tsa = «za tsha = tsa dza = dza wa = wa
zha = sha za = sa ya = ya
ra = ra la = la sha = Ôha sa = Ôa
ha = ha a = a
high tone only when affected by a prefixed or superscribed letter.
At the first occurrence of a number of technical terms, Tibetan equivalents are given, accompanied by the Sanskrit when available. These terms appear together in the Glossary, in English alphabetical order. The four chapter divisions and titles have been added to the translation to facilitate accessibility.
Biography of Mi-pam-gya-tso by Khetsun Sangpo Rinbochay Within adjusting your motivation to seek highest enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings throughout space, listen to the doctrine today, which is about the lifeand- liberation story of the omniscient Mi-pam-jam-Âang- ½am-gyel-gya-tso.8 He was born in 1846 in the Kam9 Province of Tibet in Ya-chu-ding-chung10 on the banks of the gently flowing [Yalu] River. A very learned uncle on his , Padma-dar-gyay,11 gave him the name Mipam- gya-tso.12 When he was very young, unlike other children, he was naturally endowed with faith, discipline, renunciation, intelligence, and compassion. In the midst of children he was keen to be helpful and caring, and when children were playing hard and so forth, picking on others, he was protective and encouraged them to be compassionate.
At age six or seven he memorized the root text of Ógari
Paò-chen Padma-Ûang-gyel 13 Ascertainment of the Three Vows 14 and so forth, and studied introductory books on
white and black astrology. Able to write not only in capital
and cursive Tibetan but also in other alphabets, such as
Lantsa, at age ten he composed a poem, which when scholars
saw it, they were amazed. Thus, in the Kam area, various
scholars passed his poem amongst themselves, and
even at that age he became famous for his intelligence.
At age twelve he entered ordinary monastic life at Jume-
hor ðang-½gak-chö-Èing15 Monastery, which is a subsidiary
of Se- -½yi-dar-gyay-Èing Monastery,16 which
itself is a branch monastery of O-gyen Ïin-dröl-Èing Monastery.
17 Everyone called him little monk scholar
At age fifteen, when he was trying to read an ancient
text of white astrology of Svarodaya18 of the Kålachakra
system, he had some difficulty, at which point he made a supplication to Mañjushr¦, whereupon he understood all the words and meaning vividly. He realized that Mañjushr¦ was his particularly special deity and that to repay Mañjushr¦ gain meditative achievement. So, at Ju-nyung19 hermitage he practiced Mañjushr¦ Vådasiôha20 for eighteen months and performed the activity rites of sacred Mañjushr¦ pills, and so forth, for the sake of increasing intelligence. He was successful such that upon the opening of the vast mental expanse all that he
had to do with respect to any topic was to receive its reading-
transmission,21 whether it was a book of ritual, philosophy,
or debate in the categories of SÒtra, Tantra, or
sciences;22 he would not have to study and be taught as we
do. He would know immediately the words and meaning.
When he was seventeen, because of disturbances in
Nyak-rong23 all the nomads moved to Go-lok,24 due to
which he also went there. Around this age he became renowned
for his great skill in arithmetic.
At age eighteen, on a pilgrimage to central Tibet with
his maternal uncle Gyur-sang,25 he went to Ganden Monastic
University, where he spent about a month engaged
in reasoning in the debating courtyard. He traveled extensively
in southern Tibet, during which he went to Hlodrak
Kar-chu,26 almost to the border of Bhutan, where
there are many important holy places associated with
Padmasambhava. This was also the location of the monk
Nam-kay-½ying- ,27 one of the twenty-five great disciples
of Padmasambhava,28 who became such a great adept that
he climbed aboard the rays of the sun traveling from
mountain to mountain.
Without intentionally entering into study or meditation,
just from the blessings of the place ordinary appearances
and conceptions vanished, and Mi-pam-gya-tso
experienced various joys of the stage of generation and the
Biography of Mi-pam-gya-tso 15
stage of completion, in which all appearances dawn as solely
the sport of great bliss and emptiness. Since at that time
he did not know much about the practice of Mantra, he
remarked that it was probably due to the empowering
blessings of the area. On the way back north in a vision of
pure appearance a book titled Crystal Mirror of the Great
All-Seeing Svarodaya29 arrived in his hands, as is described
clearly at the end of that text.
Having finished his pilgrimage and returning to Kam,
he went to receive teachings from the famous adept Lap-
»yap-gön Ùang-chen-gyay-rap-dor-je,30 who immediately
said, under the care of white Mañjushr¦; therefore,
you need do only a rite of approximation meditation
of white Mañjushr¦ in accordance with the ma-ti system
and he bestowed on him the permission rite to conduct
this practice. Both during the initiation and during the
ritual activities31 subsequent to the practice, signs of adepthood
manifested, due to which the lotus of his intelligence
blossomed.
Then from Õa-«rül O-gyen-jik-me-chö-»yi-Ûang- 32
Mi-pam-gya-tso took teachings on the wisdom chapter of
Shåntideva Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds over five
days, at which point he completely understood the words
and the meaning of the text. Having given what was mostly
an oral transmission reading, Õa-«rül Rin- -chay finally
said, I have nothing particular to teach you. You know
more about this
Later, Mi-pam-gya-tso composed a commentary on the
chapter on wisdom,33 and so forth.
Based on karmic connections over lifetimes, his main
teacher for both SÒtra and Mantra was one of the most
famous lamas of Kam, named Jam-Âang-kyen-«zay-wango,
34 who put together a collection of works called the Precious
Treasury,35 which used to be sixty-four volumes and
now is around double that number. Though Jam-Âang16
kyen-«zay-wang- o own lineage was ða-»ya, he was skilled in the doctrines of all Tibetan lineages, and he considered Mi-pam-gya-tso to be his unique inner spiritual child. Just as the former lama had done, Jam-Âang-kyen- «zay-wang- o conducted a permission ritual for Mi-pamgya- tso to practice white Mañjushr¦ in accordance with the ma-ti system, since he saw that Mi-pam was under the care of Mañjushr¦.
Jam-Âang-kyen-«zay-wang- o conferred on him many
approaches of common and uncommon scriptures; extraordinary
texts of SÒtra and Mantra that had been passed
to him in direct transmission; and the maturations, releases,
supports, quintessential instructions, practical techniques,
and experiential instructions of the entire scope of
the Word Transmissions, Treasure Transmissions, and
Visionary Transmissions of the greatly secret Vajra Vehicle.
Having conferred on him the transmissions of all of
the three scriptural collections of the discipline, sets of discourses,
and manifest knowledge, as well as the four tantras
Action, Performance, Yoga, and Highest Yoga and
their initiations, Jam-Âang-kyen-«zay-wang- o announced,
of education in
the manner of pouring from one vessel into an
very quickly also taught Mi-pam-gya-tso his style of intonation
and cadence, and so forth, of various rites.
At various times Mi-pam received from Jam-gön-
»ong-«rül Ío-drö-ta-ye36 instructions on the common topics
of knowledge such as Chandragomin Sanskrit grammar37
and the five euphonic combinations,38 through the
study of which he was able to understand, without being
taught, other texts of Sanskrit grammar, such as AnubhÒtisvarÒpåchårya
Òtra,39 Sarvarvarman
KalåpasÒtra,40 and so forth. His teacher told him
that he must have been an Indian paòçita over many
lifetimes in order to be able to understand Sanskrit gramBiography
of Mi-pam-gya-tso
mar so well likely being the only person in Tibet at that
time who could understand it so fully and that in order
to help sentient beings he should study medicine. So, he
studied the four medical tantras, including how to use purified
mercury in medicine.
From the same master he received the collections of
exalted activities of pacification, increase, subjugation, and
control of Black Mañjushr¦ Lord of Life,41 a Óying-ma
Highest Yoga Tantra deity, and so forth together with all
of the quintessential instructions for maturation and release
involved in those practices. Once this transmission
was complete, Jam-gön-»ong-«rül Ío-drö-ta-ye announced
that, like a father to his child, he would bestow on Mipam-
gya-tso the full scope of Óying-ma doctrines, including
ritual activities and quintessential instructions that he
had acquired in direct transmission including those never
written down.
From many spiritual guides such as Padmavajra,42 preceptor
of Dzok-chen Monastery, Mi-pam-gya-tso heard
endless cycles on SÒtra, Mantra, and the topics of knowledge.
He did not just leave them as something heard but
put them into practice effectively. The causes these being
the potentialities of auspicious lineage from having trained
well and having familiarized with these practices over
countless lives were thoroughly activated by the condie
of magnificent
blessings of compassion and thought. Through this he
comprehended all modes of profound and vast essentials of
Bud scriptures without contradicting the four reliances43
in the manner of the four correct reasonings.44 By
attaining dominion with regard to the appearance of selfarisen
qualities equal to space, he attained the eight great
treasures of confident exposition.
When the spiritual guide Ju-Ûön Jik-may-dor-je45
bestowed on him the oral reading-transmission of the root
18 Fundamental Mind
text of the Condensed Perfection of Wisdom SÒtra, he immediately
was able to generate understanding regarding the
features of the view of the Perfection of Wisdom, such that
from merely reading texts in that field there was nothing
he could not understand. Ju-Ûön Jik-may-dor-je conversed
with Mi-pam-gya-tso about the text, and seeing that Mipam
was more skilled than he was in the difficult and profound
points, he asked Mi-pam-gya-tso to teach him those
profound points, which he did. Ju-Ûön Jik-may-dor-je
said, hough I have studied until old age, I have not
heard anything better than what I have heard from him.
His teaching is the Even nowadays, among Óyingmas
Mi- commentary on the perfection of wisdom is
considered to be the best and the clearest.
Bum-Ôar Ge-Ôhay Nga-Ûang-jung-½e46 bestowed on
Mi-pam-gya-tso an oral reading-transmission of Chandrak
¦rt d
Mi-pam told the Ge-Ôhay that except for a readingtransmission
he need not trouble himself; and so as soon as
the Ge-Ôhay finished, he quizzed Mi-pam on the difficult
terms and meanings of the text, the relevant commentaries
on particular topics, and their explanations. The Ge-Ôhay
was amazed, praising him in the presence of his retinue,
declaring that even though he had gained the name GeÔhay
(doctor professor), he did not have even a mere portion
of the understanding that Mi-pam-gya-tso had.
From the great professor of Ngor, Ío-«e-Ûang- ,47
who was also a student of Jam-Âang-kyen-«zay-wang- o
and famous among the ða-»ya School, Mi-pam received a
reading-transmission on the Treasury of Reasoning on Valid
Cognition48 by ða- a Paò .49 From Ío-«e-Ûangmanager,
Padma,50 he received the Five Doctrines of Maitreya
Grounds of Bodhisattvas and so forth.
After these, Mi-pam-gya-tso taught at length to the great
ða-»ya scholars of this monastery the five great treatises of
Biography of Mi-pam-gya-tso 19
Maitreya, Chandrak¦rti Supplement to (Någår
and so forth. They considered
him to be a very bright young scholar who had an extraordinary
capacity to explain both words and meaning; at ða-
»ya monasteries there was no one who could rise in debate
against him. He was also invited to lecture at places of
study of all of the orders of Tibetan Buddhism within
Kam Province, whereby he became renowned as a highly
developed scholar, at the peak of fame among all scholars
in Kam.
When he was young, it was easy for him to study the
texts of the New Translation Schools of ða-»ya, a-gyu,51
and Ge-luk.52 It seemed that there was nothing in their
texts that he did not understand. He did have difficulties
with certain Óying-ma tantric texts, but still he determined
that these were precious and valid pure transmissions
and did not even for a moment generate any doubts
or wrong ideas about Óying-ma, figuring that the difficulties
were due to his own lack of comprehension. Due to
this, in time, when his meditation developed and his understanding
and so forth advanced with age, he gained
particularly strong ascertainment that these tantras and
Padmasambhava explanations contained supremely fantastic
profound meaning.
At this stage of his full development he was called by
his root lama Jam-Âang-kyen-«zay-wang- o to his monastery,
where he advised Mi-pam-gya-tso to write many
commentarial explanations that would set forth the Óyingmas
he wrote many commentaries setting forth Óying-ma presentations
of the view, meditation, and behavior. Because
he composed these texts within putting great emphasis on
Óying- own perspective, many scholars wrote texts
attempting to counter what he had said. A great deal of
controversy developed.
However, his intention was to further the Óying-ma teaching at a time when it was quite weak; he did not intend to criticize other teachings. His hope and intention was, within Óying-ma, to develop more persons who were interested in study, it being the case that within Óying-ma most people, out of realization that life is impermanent and so forth, withdraw from the world and do not engage in an active way in such activities. Nevertheless, since he was emphasizing the Óying-ma presentation on these topics, certain scholars from other orders, such as Ge-luk, got worked up about it.
Thus, he was carrying out the word of his lama, JamÂang-
kyen-«zay-wang- o, who had advised him to write
many commentaries, and he was seeking to encourage
more Óying-mas to develop in a scholarly way at a time
when, as he said, the teachings of the Old Translation School were close to being a mere picture of a butter-lamp.
He did not have any sense of showing absence of faith toward
other schools. Mi-pam-gya-tso himself said,
look into my own compositions and see whether I have
written them out of the pride of thinking that I was a very
smart scholar, or whether they were written to help other
be
Thinking that it might even be beneficial to those who
were debating against what he had explained, he wrote
careful and honest replies to their objections; he decided
that he could from his own point of view perhaps discover
points that he did not realize, or that he had understood
improperly, and from other points of view his responses
might cause these scholars to realize points that they had
not understood before, or had misunderstood. And he
thought that if those scholars answered back, he might be
able to use their answers like medicine. Therefore, he
engaged in such written debates without an intention to be
partisan in any sense, whether in terms of family line, area,
Biography of Mi-pam-gya-tso
or order of Tibetan Buddhism.
One of the greatest Ge-luk- scholars, -ri Ío-sangrap-
Ôel,53 wrote a two hundred page criticism of Mi-pamgya-
tso, called Rap-sel ations.54 Many
times they wrote criticisms back and forth, developing
great respect for each other, because their compositions
served to eliminate their qualms and so forth. This culminated
in writing letters of praise of each other.
Also, in response to the Ge-luk master Drak-gar-«rül-
»u Ío-sang-«en-dzin-½yen-drak55 from Kam, Mi-pam-gyatso
wrote a shorter set of critical answers, called Response to
Objections Concerning the Chapter on Wisdom in (Shåntide-
) Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds : Sunshine Illumination.
While Mi-pam-gya-tso was writing a commentary on Dhar Prime Cognition, 57 ða- ò appeared to him in a dream in the guise of an Indian paòçita with a slightly hooked nose, asking him, could there be in the Commen Compilation of Prime Cognition that you do not understand? It is just refutations and proofs. ða- ò took text and divided it into two parts, one half in one hand and one half in the other, saying, these two together, you will understand. In the dream Mi-pam-gya-tso put the two together, and immediately the book turned into a long sword, whereupon all knowables appeared in front of him. ða- ò said, it will penetrate
all phenomena, all knowables, from forms to omniscient
con when Mi-pam wielded it, it cut
through everything at once. From then, he was able to
write commentary on text just spontaneously.
When he looked into Guòaprabha Aphorisms on
Discipline,58 there were some points that he did not under22
stand, but after reading once through the Translated Word of Buddha,59 he reported that from his single reading of the thirteen volumes on discipline, he was able to understand everything in the Aphorisms on Discipline without impediment. Concerning profound quintessential instructions and other matters such as the differences between earlier and later Tibetan schools, when he remained in solitary meditative retreat, performing the approximation of a deity by repeating mantra, understanding of these would spontaneously and vividly arise through the opening of channels of awareness and the blessings of his lamas and favored deities, without reading any texts or the like. He reported that due to this there was no way for him not to write these down.
On a particularly virtuous date, Jam-Âang-kyen-«zaywang- o had volumes of SÒtra, Mantra, and topics of knowledge whose transmissions were rare and containing crucial points arranged on a large, high altar and made extensive offerings. He had Mi-pam-gya-tso sit on a platform- throne slightly lower than the altar. He announced, all of my authority with respect to holding, sustaining, and increasing teachings through
explanation, debate, and composition. Make them shine in
the world for a long time. Conducting a ritual called
Blazing Jewel of Lordship of Speech, 60 he made him his
regent, passing his transmission to him and bestowing a
scroll-painting of white Tårå. He made a supplication for
his long, steady life, which he himself composed in connection
with Mi-pam-gya- several names, and gave
him many old representations of exalted body, speech, and
mind. As a symbol of Mi- power and stature, he took
off his own long-eared hat and bestowed it on him,
marking a marvelous event.
Later when speaking to others, Jam-Âang-kyen-«zayBiography
of Mi-pam-gya-tso 23
wang- o announced that Mi-pam-gya-tso was the greatest
of the scholars of that era on earth, since he knew all of the
doctrines of the various orders of Tibetan Buddhism, and
all of the topics of scholarship included in SÒtra and Mantra
right through to the Great Completeness, as well as
Sanskrit grammar, poetry, and so forth. Whereas some
scholars might be better than him in a particular area, they
did not have his depth and breadth of knowledge. Jamgön-
»ong-«rül Ío-drö-ta-ye also praised him as a
mahåpaòçita (a great scholar) and, though he was Mipam-
gya-tso a, he requested from him instruction on
his Clear Exposition of the Text of (Dhar mand
Explanation of the Eight Pronouncements 61 as well as
others.
Ja- -½gak,62 a [Óying-ma] scholar versed in the
new traditions, criticized Mi- commentary on the
chapter on wisdom in Engaging in the Bodhisattva
Deeds, also known as the Ketaka Jewel. So, Õa-«rül
O-gyen-jik-me-chö-»yi-Ûang- , supreme in scholarship,
holiness, and adepthood, was made the judge, and those
two debated in front of him. Though they contested all
day and into the night, they were not able to come to any
definite conclusion; they were over and over again debating
about difficult points concerning Hearers entry to the
Great Vehicle path, a topic on which Indian paòçitas
themselves could not come to any agreement, and other
such difficult topics.
A lama in the audience named Rik-chok63 asked Õa-
«rül O-gyen-jik-me-chö-»yi-Ûang- to indicate who was
the victor, since he and others considered both of them to
be great scholars and thus found it difficult to determine
who won. Õa-«rül Rin- -chay responded
how to determine the victor. It would not be proper if I
indicated who is the better scholar. To cite a worldly
proverb, son is not praised by his father but by an enemy; a daughter is not praised by her mother but by the neighborhood. If a lama praises his own student, it would be like a father who indeed would definitely praise his own son, or like a mother who, even if her daughter is not very pretty, will My daughter is very pretty and energetic.
In a similar way, if I indicated who was better, no one
would believe me. However, Do-½gak
that during the early part of debate they clearly saw rays of light issue forth from the heart of Lama Mi-
Mañjushr¦, his meditational deity, on the altar and enter
into his heart and into mine. From that you can understand.
At one point Õa-«rül Rin- -chay intervened saying,
scholars could not settle it? This is to be settled by natural
reasoning, and thus it will not help to debate about
They were both probably very thirsty at that point, and tea
was brought to them. Over tea, Õa-«rül Jik-me-chö-»yiÛang-
remarked, Ja- Do-½gak has written a text on
the basis, path, and fruit of the Óying-ma Great Completeness.
Some people praise it, but others criticize it; it
would be better for you two to talk about this while taking
tea.
Mi-pam-gya-tso immediately rose up to debate, saying,
64 In
just several minutes Mi-pam-gya-tso was able to defeat Ja-
Do-½gak in debate, at which point Õa-«rül Rin- -chay
declared to Ja- Do-½gak, You have been defeated. Such
faulty reasoning would ruin the path; it would be best to
burn the
Õa-«rül Rin- -chay added, That is enough debate.
Bring them some food. Ja- Do-½gak was
eating his food, he was thinking of the tough spot that he
Biography of Mi-pam-gya-tso 25
was in that his root lama had his book burned and not
Mi-pam-gya-tso and tears streamed down his cheeks.
The many monastics and yogis who had gathered to listen
to the debate noticed that he was crying, and he became
famous throughout the two eastern provinces of Tibet,
Kam and Am-do, as the person whom Mi-pam made cry.
Ja- a Do-½gak was the only person who actually met
in debate with Mi-pam-gya-tso. Ge-luk- scholars from
great centers of learning sent essays of criticism against Mi-
It is
reported that, later on, a Ge-Ôhay was sent from Ío-Ôel-Èing
College of Dre- onastic University to find Mi-pamgya-
tso and debate against him, but when they met, the
Ge-Ôhay talked with him without actually debating, later
reporting that he was a very amazing lama. Much later,
Den-ma Rin- -chay (the predecessor of the present one)
upon hearing this was provoked and decided that he
would go and debate with Mi-pam-gya-tso. However, he
arrived when Mi-pam-gya-tso was about to die, and so
they never got a chance to debate.
After the debate with Ja- Do-½gak, Mi-pam-gya-tso
went into meditative retreat in the Tiger Den of Àar-mo
in Kam Province for a period of thirteen years. He reported
that during that period he was never distracted
from the yogic approximation of Black Mañjushr¦ Lord of Life, due to which all signs of achievement described in the
texts arose. At one point, he went to see his lama, JamÂang-
kyen-«zay-wang- , who asked him, is your
practice going in Mi-pam-gya-tso answered,
hen I studied the great texts, I understood them thoroughly,
but I am concerned that in meditative retreat on
my favored deity I will not bring the stage of generation to
fulfillment, so I am taking great care in practicing it with
energy and earnestness.
Jam-Âang-kyen-«zay-wang- remarked, Doing it
26 Fundamental Mind
that way is very difficult. As the omniscient Íong-chenrap-
jam66 said, hout doing anything, remain in your
That is what I did, and though I did not see
anything with white flesh and a ruddy complexion that
have the
slightest of Mi-pamgya-
tso took this as advice that he should now just cultivate
the view of the Great Completeness. Later, he reported
that this was very helpful to him.
With respect to his meditative achievements, through
putting penetrative focus on important points in the vajra body during the completion stage of Highest Yoga Tantra,
he purified most of the movements of karmic winds in the
central channel, and his mind experienced the metaphoric
and actual clear lights the great bliss of the fundamental
innate pristine wisdom induced by the four joys and four empties. In particular, in dependence upon the Great Completeness yoga of breakthrough-to-essential-purity
and spontaneous leap-over,67 he arrived at direct perception
of the noumenon,68 attaining mastery over appearance and
behavior as the sport of exalted body and exalted wisdom.
Through the force of purifying his internal channels
and essential constituents into a cloud-wheel of syllables,
exalted knowledge arisen from meditation burst forth from
the expanse. By cultivating the view of the Great Completeness,
he received texts within the expanse of thought,
and he wrote them down. He did not have to do research,
comparing this and that; expositions just naturally
emerged from the expanse of reality.
However, he did not announce that these were
Thought-Treasures, texts received in thought-transmission
from the great expanse, but just said that they were his
compositions. Thirty-two such books just as a Buddha
has thirty-two marks were published in Kam, but there
are also many notes as well as a number of texts about
Biography of Mi-pam-gya-tso
black and white astrology, medicine, and Sanskrit that
were never published and have not arrived in India. He
expressed the hope that the collection of thirty-two texts
would serve as a way of reviving and furthering the Óyingma
teaching, which had come to a point of deterioration
like a person about to die.
In the Water Mouse Year (1912) on the thirteenth day
of the first month (Friday, March 1), he left meditative retreat, and on the twenty-first, as a sign that he was about
to die, he called his manager and asked him to bring a
piece of paper. He wrote that after dying he would assume
the aspect of a youthful Bodhisattva in the pure land of
Manifest Joy mpassion
for all sentient beings throughout space I will remain
helping sentient beings as long as there is space. This
is my prom
It appears that Mi-pam-gya-tso was sick during a great
deal of his life, and so he wrote, n exponent of the
Buddhist doctrine at this time of the five ruinations was I,
suffering continuously for seventeen years from a chronic
disease of the channels. Even though I have suffered a great
deal from disease until now, I have stayed here in this land,
but I think that now it would be better to die, and thus I
his manager, Lama Ö-Ôel, who himself was a great scholar,
to hide.
Near the time of his death he said to his manager,
am not an ordinary being. I am a Bodhisattva who
through the power of wishes took rebirth in order to help
sentient beings. What I was seeking to do was to help the
teaching, and especially to help the teaching of
the Great Completeness, but in general since the Óyingmas
are of very little merit, they undergo a great deal of
harm from interrupting factors, and thus through the
dependent-arising of certain circumstances I have had to
28 Fundamental Mind
suffer a lot physically and have not been able to achieve the
level of assistance that I was seeking to bring. However, I
have mostly achieved what I wanted to do in terms of
commentaries, even though I have not been able to write
an extensive general-meaning commentary on Madhyamaka,
as I had hoped, but that does not matter much. However,
if I were able to finish writing on the fundamental mind in accordance with my wish to fully express my own
thought about it, I think that it would be of immense benefit
to all of the orders, Old and New, but I have not able
to finish this His point was that he had written a considerable
amount on the topic of the fundamental mind, but
had not completed it.
Then he announced, will not be taking actual rebirth
in this world any more, because outlying barbarians
will arrive and make a mess out of the teaching. Therefore,
I will remain just in pure lands but will send emanations to
impure lands. It is the responsibility and wish of Bodhisattvas
in pure lands to send forth inconceivable emanations
to impure lands to help sentient beings in whatever
way would be suitable to tame them, and thus innumerable
That evening he indicated that his long-term illness
did not seem to be with him any more, that he had been
cured of it, not feeling any pain, and most of the mistaken
appearances of cyclic existence had disappeared, and he
was perceiving pure appearances of rainbows, drops, exalted
bodies, pure lands, and so forth associated with the
meditative process of leap-over. He had instructed his
manager not to let people into his room, but now he said,
on how they should practice and made prayer-wishes for
each of them. Those who had come for audience told him
that he was not very old and should stay and help others.
He said, not
going to take rebirth. One of my emanations will proceed
to Shambhala in the north. In his sixty-seventh year, on
the twenty-ninth day of the fourth month of the Water Mouse Year (June 14, 1912), he assumed meditative posture,
his mind entering into equipoise in the primordial
basal expanse.
Mi-pam-gya-tso had a great many famous students,69 the
most renowned being his manager, but during the course
of his life he did not establish a big monastery or have
many images constructed, and in the latter part of his life
he stayed entirely in a hermitage in Kam, composing texts
and so forth. As he said in his will, he considered the
Three Cycles on Fundamental Mind to be very important,
and although he was unable to complete them in the way
he wanted, he had set them down in a rough way, which
were then edited by Shay-chen Gye-«zal.70
Just as Mi-pam-gya-tso felt that his exposition on fundamental mind would be helpful to scholar-practitioners
of all orders of Tibetan Buddhism, I also, hoping that it
will be of use to those interested in the nature of reality,
will comment in this book on the difficult points and so
forth of the first of the Three Cycles on Fundamental Mind.
In the Introduction, Khetsun Sangpo Rinbochay expansive oral commentary is at the margin, and Mi-pam-gya- ndented. After that, the four chapters that form the body of the text are at the margin, and oral comments on difficult points are in footnotes.
Introduction
Countering Unfavorable Forces
Because this is Secret Mantra, listeners should attain initiation
beforehand. However, if the circumstances for this
have not come together, it would be good, for the sake of
avoiding interrupting factors, to recite the one-hundredsyllable
mantra:
-
tiøhîha, hyo me
bhava, anurakto me bhava, sarva-siddhiô me prayachchha,
sarva-karmasu cha me chittaô shr¦yam kuru, hÒô ha ha ha
ha ho¯, bhagavan-sarva- - uñcha,
- (Oô Vajrasattva,
71 keep [your] pledge. Vajrasattva, reside [in me].
Make me firm. Make me satisfied. Fulfill me. Make me
compassionate. Grant me all feats. Also, make my mind
virtuous in all actions. HÒô ha ha ha ha ho¯, all the supramundane
victorious Ones-Gone-Thus, do not abandon
phaî.)
This should be done at least every day before going to
sleep at night.
Or, you could recite the mantra oô vajrasatva hÒô. In
each of the syllables, there is one of the five lineages of
Vajrasattva:
oô is the white Vajrasattva
vajra is the red Vajrasattva
sa is the yellow Vajrasattva
tva is the green Vajrasattva
hÒô is the blue Vajrasattva.
Accumulating at least a hundred repetitions of this mantra every day helps in purifying karmic obstructions. Vajrasattva contains all of the hundred lineages. If you are able to recite this mantra for at least one rosary each day, whatever ill deeds you have accumulated will not increase in force. This is Secret Mantra and, unlike SÒtra, requires taking many pledges and so forth beforehand; I suggest the recitation of this mantra every day, especially if you have not received initiation. Imagine a lotus on the top of your head, and upon it imagine Vajrasattva yab-yum;72 both male and female are white. Then imagine that at the heart of the male is a small flat moon disc, the size of a mustard seed, that has the hundred-syllable mantra around its edge. The letters of the mantra are standing upright, facing inward, circling around the edge.
Take your recitation of oô vajrasatva hÒô as a prayer to it to activate it. Just as when a child cries to its mother, the mother powerlessly gives what is required, so here through the repetition of the mantra the minds of Vajrasattva yab-yum are stirred. As you recite the mantra, this stirs them, and the letters set around the edge of the moon begin melting like butter put out in the sun, flowing from both male and female. The continuum of melted ambrosia comes down into the lotus on the top of your head, then into the stem of the lotus which is four finger widths inside your head. These drops gradually fill your entire body. As this nectar comes into your body, imagine that all of your sicknesses, ill-deeds, obstructions, and so forth in the form of various types of black awful things go down to the bottom of your body and then out through the lower holes and hair pores. All of the evil spirits and so forth that are in you come out in the form of black scorpions, toads, and so on.
Then imagine that all of the factors that would cause
Introduction 35
interruption to you, bringing havoc to your life and so
forth, manifest as a red bull, down nine stories below the
earth, that has its mouth open upwards. Imagine that all
beings to whom you owe a debt incurred over your beginningless
lifetimes beings whose flesh you have used,
debts of money that you have not paid back, and so
forth all of these beings gather in a great assembly with
their mouths gaping upwards. Imagine that all of these
awful black substances that have come out of your body
scorpions, toads, and the like transform into whatever
any of these beings want, such that they get whatever they
want.
Then imagine that every being has a Vajrasattva yabyum
on top of his or her head and is engaged in the same
process of purifying ill-deeds and obstructions.
For the purification of ill-deeds you need to have four powers. The first power is that of the basis, which in this
case is Vajrasattva yab-yum. The second power is contrition
for ill-deeds you have done in the past:
such and such terrible things; I will not do them any-
-deeds. The third
power is that of restraint, feeling that in the future you will
keep from any of these ill-deeds. The fourth, the power of
an antidote, is the recitation in the long form of the
hundred-syllable mantra or, in the briefer form, of oô vajrasatva
hÒô. Recite it one-pointedly within visualizing the
purification of ill-deeds, sicknesses, and so forth in the
complete form that I have just described.
Do the recitation-visualization for one rosary length,
that is, a hundred times, and then change your visualization.
Imagine that Vajrasattva has become extremely
your ill-deeds and obstructions are puri ajrasattva
and consort dissolve into light and melt into you,
whereby you become Vajrasattva. Imagine that there is a
blue hÒô at the center of your heart you do not need to visualize a moon disc as its base. There is a white oô in front, and on the right side is a red vajra, in the back a yellow sa, and on the left a green tva. Then imagine that all sentient beings have turned into Vajrasattvas and that the whole area surrounding you is not your usual local area but like the Eastern Pure Land of Vajrasattva. With a loud voice recite oô vajrasatva hÒô.
Then the syllable oô turns into light and dissolves into
vajra; vajra turns into light and dissolves into sa; sa turns
into light and dissolves into tva; tva turns into light and
dissolves into hÒô. The syllable hÒô dissolves into space
like breath disappearing on a mirror; imagine that your
mind is undifferentiable from this great emptiness. Stay in
this state of immaculate vacuity as long as you can, and
then when some conceptuality begins to stir in your mind,
into Vajrasattva and establish all sentient beings in the
state of Va
Title of the Text
I will give an explanation of fundamental mind based on a
text by Mi-pam-gya-tso.73 Let us begin with his title, The
Meaning of Fundamental Mind, Clear Light, Expressed in
Accordance with the Transmission of Conqueror Knowledge-
Bearers: Vajra Matrix. a ,
unchanging. Fundamental mind,74 immutable mind,75 clear
light,76 and noumenal mind77 are synonymous. The topic
of this book is the meaning of the ultimate clear light.
Knowledge-
Bearers
Completeness,78 which was passed from Ga-rap-dor-je,79
Jam- -Ôhay-Ìyen,80 and Shr¦ Sinha to Vairochana and
Introduction 37
Padmasambhava, and thereby to Tibet. Among Padmaudents
were King Tri-Ôong-day-«zen81
and his twenty-five ministers, and it continues down to
present lamas through to you today. There has been a
transmission from lama to student, lama to student, without
break. The main topic Mi- ajra
matrix
Homage
First Mi-pam pays homage to Mañjushr¦ in Sanskrit:
Namo gurumañjushr¦ye.
There are three styles of preliminary homage: just in Sanskrit,
in both Sanskrit and Tibetan, and just in Tibetan.
This is an example of the first an expression in Sanskrit.
If we associate the two languages, namo is homage or
bowing down (phyag tshal ); guru is lama (bla ma);
mañjushr¦ is Mañjushr¦ ( l ); ye is to (la). Thus it
mage to the guru
You might wonder why a statement is made in an Indian
language at the beginning of a Tibetan text. It is for
the sake of gaining belief in the source of the teaching, that
being in India. It is to indicate that texts composed in India
and in Tibet do not differ in the quality of their topics
expressed.
Next he makes an expression of worship: Obeisance with homage by way of knowledge In which the supreme lama and special favored deity Body of vajra essence that has come to be endowed with the glory of smoothness Are undifferentiable within the fundamental 38 Fundamental Mind great bliss, mind-emptiness. There are many ways of identifying a lama; here, because this is an occasion of Secret Mantra, it is the one who confers initiation. The word lama, or guru, is used only in Mantra, not in SÒtra. In the SÒtra system when vows are given, the reference is made to the abbot82 or to the master83 who confers the vows. Although you can find in- SÒtra system,
these are cases of the Mantric term being brought over to
SÒtra.
The syllable la (bla) in the term lama has the sense of
that high place where all of the teaching of the Buddha
abides; ma is to be understood as the mother of all these
mother. The Sanskrit term guru (literally
to have the weight of good qualities. How is it that a person
comes to be weighty? This person has taken upon
himself or herself the burden of freeing all sentient beings
from suffering. The lama does that.
Among lamas there are the best, middling, and lower
ones, and here the reference is to the best, or supreme, lama.
What is a yidam? A special favored deity. For those
persons who cannot be tamed by a peaceful aspect, a lama
appears in fierce aspect, this being a yidam. It is called a
special deity because among the various yidam this is a deity
that is particularly powerful with respect to taming trainees.
cloth, but here in this context it refers to the smoothness of
not having any of the roughness of afflictive emotions.
becomes free from suffering, cyclic existence, and so forth; the other type of glory is that of compassion it is a glory n indicating that the one being talked about here has attained this. vajra refers to immutability, the immutable noumenon, or final nature of phenom -emptiness way of the artifice84 the activity of knowledge on the one hand and ignorance on the other that one is either a Buddha or a sentient being. With knowledge, one is a Buddha; with ignorance, one is a sentient being wandering in cyclic existence. noumenon,
the nature of phenomena. ða-»ya 85 Tibetan
spelling book says that emptiness is a ga nyug, that is, a
nyug with a ga prefix
(gnyug ma) and he says that bamboo (snyug ma) is sa
nyug it is spelled with a sa superscription. [The two
words sound alike, but are spelled differently and have
different meanings.]
that is
immutable because, unlike ordinary happiness that is
present one moment and gone in another moment, this is
unchanging inu
nti
mind as undifferentiable from the qualities enumerated
above. From among types of homage, the best is with the
view of reality, within knowledge.
is seeking the highest enlightenment of a Buddha through
uprooting, or completely eradicating, the two obstructions
the afflictive obstructions and the obstructions to
omniscience. That is a general meaning of homage.
Here, in particular, one should understand the nature of
ndicates that one is
bowing down to the feet
the transmission of this view.
Aim of the Composition
Mi-pam continues:
Concerning this, the essentials of all doors of doctrine
of the Great and Small Vehicle
inconceivably set forth in accordance with the
dispositions, faculties, and thoughts of trainees in
the ten directions and three times through the inconceivable
secrecy of speech of the One-Gone-
Thus are included in the two vehicles, cause and effect.
-Gone-
Thus 86 alternatively could be One-Gone-to-Bliss. 87
e Secret Mantra. One
could include Mantra within the sets of manifest knowledge
of the SÒtra system from among the three scriptural
divisions sets of discourses, sets of discipline, and sets of
manifest knowl
just Secret Mantra
secrecy of speech of the Ones-Gone-Thus is beyond the
verbalization and realization of our mistaken minds.
The ten directions are north, east, south, west,
northeast, southeast, northwest, southwest, zenith, and
nadir. The three times are past, present, and future.
g trained by
the Bud
accordance with the dispositions, faculties, and thoughts of
trainees; to those of low interest he set forth the low
vehicle; to those of middling interest he set forth the middling vehicle; and to those of great interest he set forth the Great Vehicle the 84,000 bundles of doctrine that Buddha taught. The essentials of all these doors of doctrine are included in the two vehicles, cause and effect. Furthermore, the thought of the perfection of wisdom, which is the peak of all views of the causal path of the perfections, meets back to the sphere of reality88 devoid of all extremes of proliferation,89 emptiness endowed with all supreme aspects, known by oneself individually.
The causal vehicle is the vehicle of the path of the perfections
the six perfections of giving, ethics, patience, effort,
concentration, and wisdom. The peak of all of the views of
the path of the perfections, that is, of the causal vehicle, is
the thought of the perfection of wisdom. Then Mi-pam
speaks of that which is devoid of all of the extremes of proliferation.
One way of taking proliferation is set forth at
the beginning of Någår Treatise on the Middle, when
he speaks of that which is free from the eight proliferations
production, cessation, annihilation, permanence,
coming, going, sameness, and difference. Also Chandrak
¦rt Sup
speaks of a mode of subsistence free from the proliferations
of the four extremes of production production from self,
production from other, production from both self and
other, and causeless production. The Middle Way view is
called a view having no assertions, devoid of all such extremes.
As Någårjuna says in his Refutation of Objections,90
rtions
What is this view devoid of all assertions? It is the
sphere of the nature of phenomena, the sphere of reality.
This sphere of reality is identified as emptiness endowed
42 Fundamental Mind
with all supreme aspects. Because it is free from all assertions
of all directions of north, south, east, west, and so
forth it is emptiness, but it is endowed with the supreme
of all aspects. It is understood individually by oneself.
, Råhula, made a praise of the
mother, the perfection of wisdom, he called it inconceivable,
unfabricated, the perfection of wisdom, unproduced,
unceasing, the entity of space itself, that which is realized
individually by oneself, the perfection of pristine wisdom.
And because all Buddhas of the three times past, present,
and future are born from it, he paid obeisance to the
mother of the Buddhas of the three times having all of
these quali Ornament for Clear Realization
describes emptiness as the mother of all Buddhas because if
persons realize emptiness, they can become Buddhas, and
if they do not realize emptiness, there is no way at all to
become a Buddha. That is the reason why the perfection of wisdom is treated as the mother of all Buddhas. Just as a
river meets back to, or derives from, a snow mountain, so
the view derives from this which is realized individually.
The finality of the thought of all profound, resultant
mantric tantras meets back to this which is
described in the Compendium of the Thought of the
SÒtras
clear light, the suchness of Secret Mantra The Mantra system is profound in that it is deep and cannot to be understood immediately. The reason why Mantra is called resultant, the effect, is that whereas SÒtra paths work on the causes of enlightenment, Mantra paths are based on the effect. With respect to the tantras, there are many different ways of enumerating them 64,000 tantras and so forth and Mi-pam is about to talk about the ultimate thought of all the tantras. There are two Compendium of the Thought of the
SÒtras, one related with the Mind-Only School and one related with the Great Completeness. This is the one from the Great Completeness. As long as you cannot make a difference between mistaken mind and unmistaken mind, you cannot understand anything that is said here. What are we accustomed to? Night and day, during the six periods of an entire day, what we are accustomed to is mistaken mind. In all of our activities the agents and objects with which we are involved every day it is as if the mind of reality, the reality of the unmistaken mind, is dormant, and we are engaging in activities from within mistaken mind. Performing all of these actions, or works, are the six main consciousnesses and fifty-one mental factors. Who indicated that these are mistaken minds? Buddha said in the Descent into Laêkå SÒtra,92 an exag form realm, and formless realm.
Therefore, beginners initially learn about the conventionalities
and then use those conventionalities as means
for ascending to the higher level of the ultimate like the
steps of stairs. If you do not train originally very finely in
the presentations of conventional phenomena, then when
you come to the difficult level of the ultimate, you cannot
understand anything. When you become very skilled in
conventional phenomena, then you can, through gradual
changes in perspective, quickly understand the ultimate.
This is why Buddha, upon becoming enlightened, first
taught the four noble truths and then taught the Great Vehicle. If he had taught the doctrines of the Great Vehicle
in the beginning, no one would have understood.
Since almost all of the things we are doing and all of what
we are thinking are bogged down in mistaken mind, we
have to study conventional mistaken mind, and then,
when we turn to the ultimate, we can give up entirely all of
these activities lodged in the mistaken mind. The situation of our mind now is that we are so used to mistaken mind that we cannot understand what ultimate mind is. You might think that if you gave up all of these activities of mistaken mind, you would become like a dead body. Hence, we instruct a person who retreats to a solitary place on a mountain to cultivate this view of the Great Completeness to think in the beginning that it probably would be that if you cut off all of the activities of the mistaken mind you would end up being just like a dead body. After considering this for a while, the person comes to think that it could not be that the Supramundane Victor Buddha set forth something that was just like a dead body; there must be something beyond that, there must be an unmistaken reality. At that point the person begins seeking unmistaken reality.
How is it that mistaken mind overwhelms the unmistaken
mind, unmistaken reality? To give an example, during
the day when the sun is shining one does not see any
stars and thus one would think that there are no stars at
all, that they just plain do not exist. Just so, afflictive emotions
shine so brightly and are so powerful that it is as if
unmistaken reality, unmistaken mind, does not exist at all.
When you seek out this unmistaken mind from within,
you come to understand that there is an unmistaken
mind a reality of the mind that does not die, that does
not scurry after pleasure and pain. This mind that does not
follow after pleasure and pain has a mode of being that is
emptiness but not an emptiness in the sense of an empty
house or an empty vessel; rather, it is endowed with the
inconceivable self-effulgence93 of unmistaken reality, of
pristine wisdom.
When you search for this that is beyond mistaken
mind, mistaken mind just stops; gradually like dawn there
comes to be a time when pristine wisdom manifests a little.
With the beginning of dawn there is not just darkness but some light, and so it is when the self-effulgence, the self-color, the self-nature of the pristine wisdom shows itself a little; one generates a suspicion that there is wisdom beyond mistaken mind. As Åryadeva nerate doubt thinking that there might be such a reality, cyclic existence 94 How does cyclic existence come to be torn to tatters, or wrecked, made into a mess by doubt? For instance, if a table is wrecked, broken up, it cannot perform the function of a table; just so, when the self-effulgence of unmistaken pristine wisdom begins to dawn with this state of doubt, cyclic existence is wrecked and torn to tatters.
This mandala, this sphere, of the mind that is naturally
clear light is suchness, only set forth in Secret Mantra
and thus a distinguishing feature of Secret Mantra. Because
whether one is caught in cyclic existence or not depends
upon being able to differentiate between mistaken
mind and unmistaken mind, great emphasis is put on this
point, and that is why I have explained it in some detail.
Therefore wise scholars (who, having completed
vast hearing, thinking, and meditating, generated
ascertaining knowledge from proper explanation
through scriptures and reasonings by those perceiving
the definitive meaning) or yogis (who,
though they are not endowed with the great wisdom
of having trained in hearing and thinking,
generated conviction in accordance with having
been introduced well to basic mind by a lama
who, endowed with experience of the quintessential
instructions, has totally mastered the essentials
of basic mind, pristine wisdom) will not fall from
the essentials of the teaching with respect to the
meaning of those two.
mind itself, and the clear light of Secret Mantra. In order to realize those two, it is necessary to engage in the beginning in vast hearing, then in the middle in vast thinking, and in the end in vast meditation. When you have brought vast hearing, thinking, and meditation to completion, you become a wise person. When Buddha taught, he set forth sÒtras requiring interpretation for those persons who were not capable at that time of understanding the definitive Great Vehicle teachings, gradually leading them that way, pements endowed with the blessings n rigs with the second suffix sa) is to be understood as rational reasoning. Although scribes have used different spellings and thus created some confusion, the word that means reasoning must have the secondary suffix (rigs pa), whereas when we speak about knowledge, basic mind, or basic knowledge (rig pa) of the unmistaken mind, it has no second suffix sa. One generates ascertaining knowledge from proper explanations, these explanations being by way of blessed statements and reasoning.
you choose either the first
way or the second way. Either in the mode of a great scholar
you bring to full development hearing, thinking, and
meditating, or even if you do not possess the great wisdom
of having trained fully in hearing and thinking, you manifest
from within in the manner of a great meditator the
meaning of the reality of unmistaken mind
means that through gradually becoming accustomed to the
reality of unmistaken mind, to emptiness, the person becomes
fully enlightened such that realization is there from
within. If you do not have a lama with experience such
that he or she has mastery penetrating
enlightenment, it is very difficult. The lama should be someone who through becoming accustomed to the reality of unmistaken mind has become enlightened. Because the lama has experience, the lama can introduce and identify for the student how to meditate so that basic mind will become manifest. How does the lama introduce the student to reality? There are three phases basis, path, and fruit. First, the lama introduces the student to the basis, the mind of clear light, the reality of unmistaken mind. At this time you must generate valid belief in the clear light karmic obstructions, the karmic background, due to which there are varieties among students some able to generate conviction, some not, as well as varieties in the strength of belief and so forth.
In any case, you must develop conviction to the level
of valid cognition, realizing that since beginningless time
all of your activities have been bogged down in mistakenness.
When you generate conviction in the reality of unmistaken
mind to the level of valid cognition, you become
a yogi, one who has arrived at the natural state of reality.
Yogis who have identified their own face, their own basic
entity, will not stray from the essentials of the teaching.
Otherwise, as sÒtras and tantras prophesy, there
are many who, having abandoned the profound meaning through dry analysis that seems so plentiful
and so good, distribute quasi-doctrine for material
gain, leading those of low merit and small
intelligence on a perverse path at this time of the
end of the era.
If you abandon the reality of unmistaken mind and engage
in many dry analyses that seem to you to be so good, so
good, and are so multitudinous, so multitudinous, having
no end, nothing will come of it. Once you become totally
48 Fundamental Mind
absorbed just in conventional verbiage, it is as if the
profound ultimate reality has dried up. Then you use this
quasi-religious doctrine as a means of gathering money, of
getting things.
Such people of small mind and low merit at this degenerate time when the five degeneracies have set in, lead other people on a mistaken path, not directing them in the least to ultimate reality. This happens frequently; many people have ended up this way. Buddha prophesied in sÒtras and in tantras that such would happen in the future that there would be a time when people of low mind would sell religious doctrines in order to gain money. [Hence] those of good lot should seek the profound thought of the transmission of Conqueror Knowledge-Bearers with profound intelligence endowed with the four reliances. Buddha spoke of four reliances:
1. Rely not on the person, but on the doctrine.
2. Within the doctrine, rely not on the words, but on the meaning.
3. Within the meaning, rely not on interpretable meanings, but on the definitive meaning.
4. Within the definitive meaning, rely not on mere consciousness, but on pristine wisdom.
People of good fortune should seek out the profound
thought of the transmission of the Conqueror Knowledge-
Bearers with profound intelligence endowed with these
four reliances. If you do not understand it right away, you
should keep working and working at it with such profound
intelligence.
It is not suitable to get involved with what is proIntroduction
pounded with superficial logic, but due to the era, humans are weak in wisdom and effort; their merit and lot are small; virtuous spiritual guides who have perceived the ultimate are few; those who propound all sorts of conceptual fabrications are many; also the doctrine, having been polluted with their own mind, has become weaker and weaker like milk watered down to market, such that quasi-doctrines are very plentiful at this time of the degeneration of the teaching. Still, it is rare for anyone to know this.
The word logic (rtog ge) has two basic meanings, one is
correct logic, and the other is wrong logic, but here the
reference is to those who pay attention just to logic, without
getting at the meaning.
(zol ma) also means deceit; it refers to just making up seemingly
logical vocabulary and arguments that are not in
the great treatises. Though it is not suitable to get involved
with what is propounded with deceitful logic, due to the
time, that is, due to the fact that we are in the era of the
five degenerations, humans have little wisdom and little
effort, and therefore are drawn into deceitful logic.
If you have great merit, you have the lot of being able
to absorb much doctrine, but if you have little merit, you
have the lot of being able to absorb only a little doctrine.
Also, nowadays there are few virtuous spiritual guides who
perceive the ultimate, the mode of subsistence of phenomena.
And many people just make up things to say from
their imagination, and end up just blabbing, fabricating
their own vocabulary and polluting the doctrine with their
own perspective, unable to leave the doctrines just as they
are. For instance, when milk is sold, sellers often mix in
water, making it very weak, and in the same way the doctrines
have become weak with admixtures. This is a time
when the doctrine has degenerated, like milk mixed with water, and thus there are many propounding quasidoctrines, but there are very few who practice the real thing. At such a time it is rare to find anyone who knows the situation. Aside from those endowed with the best of accumulations of the collections [of merit and wisdom], ordinary beings cannot even understand the profound meanings. Even those who gain understanding from deliberate earnest analysis and investigation are few.
The profound meanings of Mantra are to be realized by
those who have great accumulations of the collections of
merit and wisdom. Aside from people who have the highest
level of the accumulations of merit and wisdom, ordinary people cannot even understand these doctrines. And
there are only a few who are able to gain understanding
from analyzing and investigating intensely and earnestly.
At such a time when, despite the fact that the
modes of appearance to the ordinary conceptual awarenesses of the short-sighted are contradictory
with the innermost profound meaning, [[[people]]]
voluntarily take up [these superficial, false modes
of appearance] with enthusiasm like a dog coming
upon lungs
card the profound, saying,
such a time the very profound is difficult to fathom.
Also, engagement of the mind in the essentials
of the path so meaningful when understood
is very rare.
People like us, who only know what is nearby them and do
sighted tshur mthong), those with limited sight. The
mode of appearance to our ordinary conceptual awarenesses
is contradictory with the innermost profound meaning; and since we are limited to this superficial level,
we are in a state of contradiction with the more profound.
We immediately feel that this is all there is that the superficial
is all that exists.
When a dog comes upon lungs, it considers them to
be so delicious it wants immediately to gobble them up;
just the same, when we meet with any superficial teaching,
whatever it is, we voluntarily sink ourselves into it or grab
on to it. We discard the more profound, thinking that it is
something unknowable. During such a era when we have
discarded the more profound in favor of the more superficial,
indeed the profound is extremely difficult to plumb.
When the profound is understood, it is very meaningful,
but we live at a time when those who engage their minds
in the essentials of the path, which when realized are very
meaningful, are very rare.
Therefore, I do not see much purpose in writing
about this, but with the good intention that even
at the end of an era it might help a few persons a
bit, I will speak a little about central points concerning
profound meanings very difficult to understand
that are a little clear to my mind due to
the kindness of excellent lamas and profound
scriptures.
Mi-pam-gya-tso is saying: I do not see much purpose in
writing about such profundity; however, I think that at
this time at the end of an era there definitely will be a few
who will want to hear about such topics, and thus I think
it might help. With this beneficial attitude, I will write
about these profound meanings extremely difficult to understand.
Through the kindness and force of the excellent
lamas and the profound scriptures by the former great Conquerors, I will talk briefly about central meanings that appear somewhat clearly to my mind. The central meanings are the basis, path, and fruit, and here I will talk about the basis. The Basal Clear Light About this, just this original (ye thog) basal clear light, the primordial (gdod ma) mode of subsistence, is the final reality of all phenomena. All appearances of cyclic existence and nirvåòa shine forth from within it, and when they shine forth, there is not a single phenomenon that is other than continuously abiding in it.
Ye has the sense of original, and thog ma means first,
so the reference here is to the original basal clear light. The
basis, here in the system of the Great Completeness, is not
just a non-existence, or a mere negative, but is the clear light that is the primordial subsistence of things. It is the
final reality of all phenomena.
From within the basal clear light, all appearances of
cyclic existence and nirvåòa shine forth. And when they
shine forth from within the mind of clear light, they do
not become separate from it but are like the effulgence of
that mind of clear light. Thus there is no phenomenon
other than ones that remain abiding within that mind of clear light when it shines forth.
Since this is the final place of release, it is called
body of attributes that is the ultimate mode
of subsistence ntitious obstructions
as well as their predispositions are
nature body endowed
with the
the supreme vehicle. Because this basal mind of clear light is the final place of body of attributes that is the ultimate mode of subsistence he body of attributes is complete within this basal mind of clear light. Thus, what defiles it and prevents its manifestation? An example of this situation is the sun and the clouds: the sun is the basal mind of clear light, and the clouds are our own adventitious and temporary predispositions blocking realization, or manifestation, of the sun. When we are unable to see the sun, we think that only clouds exist; just so, due to our predispositions we think that those things that come forth from these predispositions are all that there is. When these adventitious predispositions and obstructions finally become purified, this basal mind of clear light nature body endowed with the two purically
free from defilements but also is the purity of being
free from adventitious defilements. It is the final true cessation
taught in the supreme vehicle. The supreme vehicle is
the Vajra Vehicle and, within that, the Great Completeness.
In that foundation, mistake and release are nondual.
Just that foundation is the essential purity95
from the viewpoint of being without any [[[Wikipedia:conceptual|conceptual]]
and dualistic] proliferations and is spontaneity96
in that it is not a mere emptiness like space but
is self-luminous without partiality, not limited in
its vastness, and not fallen into limitation. Since it
is the source of all appearances of cyclic existence
and nirvåòa, it is called all-pervasive compassion.
Within that basis, that is to say, within that basal body of
attributes, since it is primordially buddhafied, there is no
such thing as error, and there is no such thing as release.
Within that basis, error and release are non-dual, and thus it is the great natural equality. Just that basis the basal body of attributes of the mind of clear light is the essential purity from the viewpoint of its being totally without any dualistic and conceptual proliferation. It is not just a mere emptiness like space or like an empty house, but has a self-arisen spontaneous nature of self-illumination. It is not partial, not limited anywhere in its extent not ruptured due to being too vast not fallen to any extreme. Being the source of all appearances of cyclic existence and nirvåòa, it is the place from which they arise. Because it pervades everything right through Buddhahood, it is called all-pervasive compassion.
In the doctrinal vocabulary of the tantras of the
Great Completeness, it is the triply endowed pristine wisdom residing as the basis. Similarly, in the
sÒ 97 and
98 from the viewpoint of being without
observation of marks and being devoid of all aspects
of prolif -arisen pristine wisdom
selfeffulgence,
99 and ndamental mind 100 ndamental
cognition 101
102 -vajra 103
space-vajra pervading space 104 and so forth due to
not changing in any aspect.
In the tantras of the Great Completeness, it is said to be
endowed with the three pristine wisdoms residing as the
basis. The three are the mirror-like wisdom, the wisdom of
the sphere of reality, and the wisdom of individual
realiza , here
Mi-pam-gya-tso mentions only three because he is speaking
about the clear light that is the basis, rather than when
manifested at Buddhahood as the five wisdoms. The
remaining two, the wisdom of equality and the wisdom of
the accomplishment of activities, are attained with Buddhahood
and are endowed with the two purities natural purity and purity of adventitious defilements.
In the sÒ
emptiness eing
without observation of any marks, being devoid of all
aspects of proliferation, such as production, cessation,
coming, going, and so forth, as mentioned at the beginning
of Någår Treatise on the Middle, and for the
i evoid of all
marks and signs, which are like smoke being the sign indicating
the presence of fire.
From its factor of luminous self-effulgence, it is called
-arisen pristine wisdom
nd
mind of clear utability,
it is called -vajra
change. The mind-vajra pervades wherever space is
present, and thus this basal mind of clear light is called
ndowed with the space-vajra pervading space
Though it is taught with such synonyms, all of
them are not different in fact from only the nondual
sphere of reality and pristine wisdom, the
noumenon of the mind, the ultimate mode of
subsistence, the vajra-like mind of enlightenment
it
of
empty sphere but as emptiness endowed with all
supreme aspects, without any conjunction with or
disjunction from luminosity. Though it is called
-arisen m56
pounded awareness endowed with marks, a subject realizing emptiness within a division of object and subject but as having a luminous nature without even a particle of any mark to be designated as compounded.
The different names come by way of emphasizing different
qualities. Though it is taught with various terms, all of
them are not different in fact from only the vajra-like mind of enlightenment, the noumenon of the mind, or ultimate
mode of subsistence, the non-duality of the sphere of reality
and pristine wisdom. Although there are these many
different names, their meanings do not exist as separate
factualities; it is just this vajra-like ultimate mind of enlightenment,
the mode of subsistence of things.
nderstood
as just a mere empty sphere. Rather, it is luminous.
The sphere does not come together with luminosity
or separate from luminosity, but is beyond coming together
with anything and separating from anything. It is emptiness
endowed with all supreme aspects.
It -arisen pristine wisdom some kind of subject that is the counterpart of an object not a mere awareness that is a subject realizing emptiness from within a division into subject and object. It is immutable mind, not to be confused with compounded mind having marks. Although it has a luminous nature, it does not have even a particle of a mark that is to be designated as compounded; it is uncompounded. Within the Great Completeness, in the mind-class and so forth e mind of enlightenment the expanse-class and so forth it is called
- in the quintessentialinstruction-
class it the Perfection of Wisdom SÒtras it is called
ements there are different names due to the force of certain needs, but the meaning to be understood is the union of basic knowledge and emptiness, the actual pristine wisdom that is what is being characterized, the mode of subsistence of all phenomena. Hence, it is the primordial innate pristine wisdom. In the Great Completeness there are three classes of teachings mind-class, expanse-class, and quintessentialinstruction- class. In the mindenlightenment the expanse-class, reality ntial instruction -arisen pristine wisdom the Perfection of Wisdom texts the perfection of wisdom being the mother that gives rise to all Buddhas it is called , it is called stances,
needs, purposes, and intentions there are different names, but when you come down to it, what is to be understood is a union of basic knowledge and emptiness, the actual pristine wisdom; this is what is being characterized. Since it is the final mode of subsistence of all phenomena, it is the primordial innate pristine wisdom. Not being produced through the fluctuations of the predispositions of the three appearances, it is naturally flowing noumenon.105 Because of being devoid in all ways from the pangs of suffering of these mutations, it is designated great bliss. There are many different identifications of the three appearances. In texts on death, intermediate state, and rebirth, the three appearances are identified as appearance, increase, and near-attainment the minds of vivid white
appearance, vivid red or orange increase of appearance, and vivid black near-attainment, called the minds of white, red, and black appearance. In the vocabulary of the ða-»ya system, the three appearances are identified as 1) impure appearance, 2) visionary appearance, and 3) pure appearance. Applying this division of three appearances to the basis, path, and fruit, the basis is the impure appearances that you are currently perceiving. Then, when you endeavor at the spiritual path and so forth, there are visionary appearances. When you advance and have purified the visionary appearances, there is pure appearance of the state of the effect in which everything is limitless purity these being natural appearances that come from meditating on emptiness. As long as you have not identified actual pristine wisdom, all cases of mental imputations and apprehensions in which you have a sense of:
a subject that is a compounded awareness and
an object that is uncompounded mere emptiness
a changeable compounded bliss
a similar [that is to say, changeable and compounded]
sense of clarity and so forth
and a sense of not conceptualizing anything,
you have not gone even in the direction of the definitive meaning, and consequently need to rely on
the quintessential instructions of an excellent lama.
Dry analysis without the orally transmitted
quintessential instructions is, with respect to this
topic [of the fundamental reality], like the blind
looking at the sun.
If you remain with stale analysis, you are like a blind person
trying to look at the sun.
(That concludes Khetsun Sangpo Rinbochay expansive commentary on the Introduction. Hereafter, Mi-pam-gya-tso with comments by Khetsun Sangpo Rinbochay in footnotes.)
While not fluctuating in any of the three times from this
great clear light basal sphere, appearances of the two
cyclic existence and nirvåòa are ready to shine forth as
appearances of the artifice [of basic mind] from within that
mode of subsistence. However, at a time of non-realization
and cyclic existence there are the various dual appearances
of substrata as apprehended-objects and apprehendingsubjects106
due to not realizing the equality of the noumenon,
and there are unequal appearances of self and other,
good and bad, pleasure and pain, cyclic existence and
nirvåòa without any limit.
At the time of realized nirvåòa, or purification, the
noumenon that is the naturally flowing mode of subsistence
is realized, whereby it is realized that all appearances
whatsoever of substrata do not pass beyond that [basal
mind of clear light]. Having realized [the great equality], it
is realized that even though various aspects appear, all
these have one taste in thusness, in the clear light sphere of reality without the marks of dualistic phenomena.a At that
time, all phenomena of cyclic existence and nirvåòa from
forms on up shine forth as not having passed beyond the
nature of buddhafication, primordially released.
Therefore, in terms of realizing the naturally pure
noumenal mode of subsistence, all that appears is settled
through the view as pure from the beginning, as naturally
a Just as when rivers flow into the ocean they blend into one
taste, so all of our conceptuality blends into one taste in realizing
the noumenon. Oneself and others, as well as the different types
of conceptuality, come all to have the one taste of reality. Even
though all these things appear, they are one taste in suchness and
are without the marks of duality.
pure primordially, as just buddhafied. Because this is established
through reasoning concerning the noumenon,107
it is non-mistaken and non-delusive and hence is called the
correct view.
In the perspective of those having dualistic appearance,
the two, impure sentient beings and pure Buddhas,
do not appear to be one, but appear to be different. No
one asserts that in the perspective of those who perceive
in this way all sentient beings are Buddhas, but what is
comprehended by mistaken awarenesses having dualistic
appearance does not damage non-dualistic pure awareness.
When yogis realize the noumenon of the mind, there is
not even a speck of the actual108 eight collections of consciousness
in the face of that realization; consciousness
itself dawns as pristine wisdom, and even all phenomena
similarly dawn as just naturally pure. When the noumenon
of the mind is taken to mind during the path without having
realized the Great Completeness, the eight collections of consciousness are apprehended in an ordinary aspect,
and the noumenon does not appear. Hence, such a person
does not have any way of knowing even preliminarily a
trace of where the uncompounded mind of clear light is.
Therefore, in terms of the exalted perception of one
who has thoroughly purified the defilements of obstructions
as well as their predispositions in the mode of subsistence,
all phenomena are just manifestly buddhafied in
that mode of subsistence. The Monarch of Tantras: The
Vajrasattva Magical Net says:109
A Buddha does not find a phenomenon
Other than Buddhahood.
Thus, the meaning indicated by the phrase nd, the clear light, the Great Completeness noumenon of the mind, self-arisen pristine wisdom, this which does not become other than the sphere of reality, primordial Vajra Matrix 63
basic mode of subsistence, union, the great equality, the
great uncompounded due to being immutable and not
changing in the three times. However, there is no way that
this could be understood as an impermanent momentary
mind, which is a compounded subject, or as a non-thing,
an uncompounded mere emptiness that is just an elimination
of an object of negation by reasoning.
Therefore, this basal Great Completeness, or primordial
basal clear light, great uncompounded union, is the
final mode of subsistence of all phenomena, and it also is
what is to be realized by the view. The Tantra of Great
Luminous Meaning Devoid of Proliferation says:110
From this uncompounded knowledge, primordially pure, this great unhindered vividness, all of cyclic existence and nirvåòa appears; therefore, it is
the pristine wisdom abiding as the basis.
and:
In entity it is unmade, unfabricated, unpolluted,
immutable, pure in nature, uncompounded, great
luminous pristine wisdom, noumenon like space,
emptiness renowned with the quality of a vajra,
basic mind that is a non-thing, pure from the beginning,
great unhindered vividness.
and:
Basic mind that is luminous, empty, non-dual,
and unhinderedly vivid.
and:
When in all the scriptures of the tantras that I
have taught,
I have expressed the vajra-like words
Of immutability and uncompoundedness
64 Fundamental Mind
I have been explaining the great self-arisen wisdom.
and:
The immutable basis is primordially buddhafied;
it is the Supramundane Victor, the great Vajradhara;
hence, in the past it never experienced any
mistake, and also now is not mistaken, and furthermore
in the future will not be mistaken.
and:
The basis that is the meaning of reality is released
from the eight collections of consciousness, which
are concordant with it merely in that they are
cognitive. Since it is without increase or decrease,
it is released from the mind-basis-of-all.111 Since it
is without apprehended-object and apprehendingsubject,
it is released from the mental consciousness,
the sixth consciousness. Since it is without
production and cessation, it is released and reverted
from the consciousnesses of the five doors.a
And on the occasion of setting forth examples to characterize
this basis, [the Tantra of Great Luminous Meaning Devoid
of Proliferation] speaks of being empty and pervasive
like space; undefiled like a crystal; immutable like a diamond;
giving rise to all blessings into magnificence, and
hence like a jewel; clear and unimpeded, like the essence of
the sun. And:
Opposite from ignorance and from matter, and
abiding as an entity of knowledge of reality, it is
knowledge. Due to being beyond causes and
a The five sense consciousnesses eye consciousness and so
forth.
Vajra Matrix 65 conditions, it is self-arisen. Not having adventitiously arisen, it is pristine wisdom endowed with a nature of primordially abiding basic knowledge. It is the basis from which all of cyclic existence and nirvåòa appear. And it speaks at length about how that basis is called natural, spontaneously established Buddha; youthful encased body;a body of attributes; nature body; threefold entity, nature, and compassion.b And: O child of lineage, this basis abides without impediment as the basis of all [[[Buddha bodies]]] from the viewpoint of entity, the body of attributes; from the viewpoint of nature, the complete enjoyment body; from the viewpoint of compassion, the emanation body. Hence, it is the basally abiding three bodies.
and:
It is beyondd the three classes of philosophy. Because
it is from the start pure of compounded phenomena, it is spontaneously established, selfarisen
pristine wisdom.
And [the Tantra of Great Luminous Meaning Devoid of
a It is youthful in that it does not admit of any degeneration.
This mode of subsistence is contained within our bodies; it is
contained, or encased, internally and is not showing itself externally
now. Thus it is like a statue set inside a pot.
b It is set forth extensively with these many synonyms, but
they do not pass beyond this encased youthful body.
c asally
abiding three bodies
d The term ja log e66
Proliferation] teaches that places of going astray with
respect to the view are eliminated:
That it is self-arisen eliminates straying into causes and conditions. That it abides empty eliminates
straying into effective things. That it is luminous
eliminates straying into [mere] emptiness.
And similarly, places of going astray with respect to the
eight collections of consciousness are eliminated:a
To indicate the character of the mental consciousness,
It acts as the overlord of [the sense consciousnesses],
partaking of the five external objects.
The afflicted mentality internally apprehending
those
Is the overlord of the two factors of apprehendedobjects
and apprehending-subjects.
Therefore conceptual consciousnesses are the artifice
of self-knowledge.b
Apprehensionless luminous basic knowledge itself
Moves in knowledge but is without the entity of
apprehension.
Though one makes use of external objects, if there
is no apprehension,
The perspective is unhindered vividness, reversed
from mentality.c
a The eight collections of consciousness are the five consciousnesses
through the doors of the senses, the mental consciousness,
the afflicted mentality, and the mind-basis-of-all.
b Using the example of fire and smoke, smoke is the artifice of
fire. Instead of paying attention to fire which is the source, we
usually pay attention to its artifice.
c Although these consciousnesses come from basic knowledge,
basic knowledge is without the entity of apprehension. Since this
Vajra Matrix 67
and so forth; this describes how basic knowledge is beyond
mentalitya and the six operative consciousnesses.b And:
If conceptuality does not gather in the seven collections
of consciousness,
One passes beyond the basis-of-all that is the connecting
link.
and so forth, and:
With respect to the favorable class, through purifying
the eight collections [by viewing them as basic
knowledge] one passes beyond these.
and:
The enumeration of the eight collections is as follows:
the consciousnesses of the five doors [that is,
the five sense consciousnesses], mental consciousness,
afflicted mentality, and the basis-of-all,
which is the storehouse accumulating the various
[[[seeds]]]. Those are the phenomena of cyclic existence.
How do those proceed in cyclic existence?
Due to not identifying the basis-of-all that is the
basic reality, through the artifice of basic knowledge
objects are engaged, whereby the eight collections of consciousness dawn.
and so forth, and:
The artifice that is the stirring of basic knowledge
basic knowledge has no apprehension, the view of the basic selfknowing
knowledge is of unhindered vividness, even though one
makes use of external objects.
a The seventh consciousness.
b They are called operative consciousnesses because they operate
on objects.
is stirred by wind mentality. a From the viewpoint of the function of that mentality, it permeates the eight collections of consciousness. and so forth. These [passages] speak of: how the eight collections dawn from the artifice of basic knowledge;b and if one does not realize the mode of subsistence of the basic knowledge, the pristine wisdom, one wanders in cyclic existence by means of the eight collections of consciousness;
and if one realizes pristine wisdom, the eight collections of consciousness dawn as the five pristine wisdoms.
In that way, the consciousnesses of the eight collections,
the substrata, are not the ultimate that is being ascertained
by the path of the Great Completeness, whereas the noumenon
of the minds of the eight collections basic knowledge
and emptiness, fundamental pristine wisdom, selfarisen
and uncompounded is the mind of clear light to
be pointed out and recognized.c The naturally clear
a There are appearances of that basis from that basis; appearances
are stirred up by wind. We have to differentiate between
two types of wind: one is karmic wind, and the other is wind of
pristine mind. Karmic wind cannot have any effect on basic
knowledge, which is beyond being affected, beyond cause and effect, and so forth. Thus, the wind being referred to here is the
wind of pristine knowledge. Through karmic winds, conceptuality
appears as the artifice of the basic knowledge, like the example
of smoke and fire; the consciousness that apprehends such conntality
yid ).
b The eight collections do not dawn from basic knowledge;
rather, they dawn from the artifice of basic knowledge.
c The mind of clear light is to be introduced to students
Vajra Matrix 69
maòçala of the mind,a the suchness of Secret Mantra, is
this. The path of release [from obstructions], the meaning
of the fourth initiation introduced by way o
quintessential instructions, is this.b The innate factuality
[that is, the fundamental innate mind of clear light] dawning
as an imprint of the winds and minds entering the central channel by way of the path of method [such as in the
Guhyasamåja Tantra] is also this.
through Great Completeness practices.
a ; the reality of all
phenomena is contained within this mind.
b The path of the union of method and wisdom causes the
karmic winds to enter into the central channel, thereby causing
the winds of pristine wisdom to become manifest from within,
by oneself. It is the innate pristine wisdom that is to be introduced
and recognized at the point of the fourth initiation, the
highest initiation. It is what is to be actualized.
2. Uncompounded Wisdom
Those who understand as the actual pristine wisdom
something that is a new putting together of (1) a momentary
compounded mind and (2) an uncompounded mere
emptiness make evident their own internal poverty of not
having identified basic knowledge due to not having a lanstructions.
From the perspective of
all those who have not been introduced to the entity of
actual innate basic ntial
instructions, it is thought that although emptiness is
uncompounded, how could it be possible for what is luminous,
knowing, and blissful to be anything other than
compounded? That they think this only arises due to the
force of not having realized the unified mode of subsistence.
Here, with respect to and knowing 112 if
this involves apprehension in the context of having marks,
then indeed it would be suitable for it to be compounded.
However, although [basic knowledge] is expressed in
113 not even a speck of a
mark of those two being different is observed, due to
which essentially pure basic knowledge impartial and
signless has nothing about it that serves as a reason for
calling it m
When such a union is not identified, and persons hear
nothing other than something compounded
dawns to their mind, and when they hear nothing
other than a non-thing dawns to their mind.a When
a When it is said that it is luminous, nothing appears to that
- when it is said that
is uncompounded. The two get separated. Thus, when union is
they hear union they do not understand that these are of one taste; rather, all that they understand is a mere collection together of a thing and a non-thing. Due to this, they apprehend suchness to be just a mere emptiness, a non-thing, and they understand the knower of that suchness to be a compounded awareness. When they set forth the emptiness of the sÒtra system, that is what they describe, and even when they explain the innate [[[wisdom]]] of the Mantra system, they cannot draw out even a speck of anything more developed beyond what was explained before, except for just different techniques of paths. Even until the final point of their deaths, they remain without being able to generate any understanding concerning how suchness is beyond the extremes of things and non-things, this being evident in their own treatises.a However, when basic knowledge is introduced and identified as it is, it is decided in evident experience that it is uncompounded. The Tantra of Great Luminous Meaning Devoid of Proliferation says:
The body of attributes, self-arisen basic knowledge,
Is not established as the entity of anything.
Hence any doubt that it is a compounded thing
with marks is eliminated.
and:
mentioned, they do not recognize that luminosity and emptiness
are of one taste, and understand nothing other than a mere coming
together of something that is compounded and something
that is uncompounded.
a That they cannot generate even a verbal understanding of
something beyond that can be understood when one looks into
their texts.
Uncompounded Wisdom 73 In the body of attributes, self-arisen pristine wisdom, There are no causes and conditions and hence nothing compounded. This is called noumenal fundamental mind.114 From the viewpoint of being self-luminous, it is indicated with the ot a mind included within the eight collections of consciousness that are compounded phenomena. The Tantra Containing the Definitive Meaning of the Great Completeness says:115 Self-arisen body without earlier and later Is not arisen from mind it is buddha. Due to being immutable, it is devoid of suffering. and: You who are the essence of retinues, listen! With respect to the definitive meaning, the distinctive buddha,
Since there is no basis-of-all, there is no appearance.
Hence, this basal mindless knowledge
Is not arisen from mind it is buddha
The supreme from among the doctrines of the
nine vehicles.
and:
Because of being without the eight collections of consciousness, it is devoid of mind,
The self-arisen matrix, the body of attributes.
Since within that mode of subsistence of the undifferentiable
sphere [of emptiness] and basic knowledge known
individually by oneself there is no mutable mind holding
the various predispositions [from actions], how could this
basic knowledge be the mind-basis-of-all?
Since it is absent the external objects of the six collections of consciousness and absent awareness apprehending the internal self or even a little bit of the marks of their objects, how could it be the consciousnesses of the five doors of the senses, the mental consciousness, or the afflicted mentality?
While, like space, it is without any of the phenomena
of effective things or marks such external and internal
marks are not observed it is empty, unhindered,116 selfluminous,
and seen directly. Although it is such, in this
entity of luminosity and knowledge there primordially
does not exist even a particle of an aspect of marks, which
would be what one was aiming at [in conceptuality]. It is
not imputable as having arisen from any causes and as having
been produced from any conditions; therefore, it is
self-arisen great primordial emptiness, self-luminous, and
hence self-arisen pristine wisdom.117 It is noumenal mind
or pristine wisdom of clear light.
Although those who do not have quintessential instructions
do not believe in this, it is not that there is no
such noumenal knowledge. [For it is taught] not just in
Mantra but also in the common vehicle; Ornament
for the Great Vehicle SÒtras says:119
It is said that aside from the noumenal mind
Any other mind has a nature that is not clear
light.a
Sublime Continuum of the Great Vehicle
says:
The clear light nature of the mind
a Minds that are other than the noumenal mind are not the
clear light that is the fruit of having practiced, but are expressed
as having a nature of emptiness.
Uncompounded Wisdom 75
Is immutable, like space.a
The matrix-of-one-gone-to-bliss also refers to this mind of clear light.
The Tantra Containing the Definitive Meaning of the
Great Completeness says:121
Because mistaken mind involves the three times
[[[Wikipedia:past|past]], present, and future],
There comes to be earlier, later, and present in
Because the mind has mutability, the body has
birth and death.
Because the varieties of sickness, pleasure, and
pain
It ripens as cyclic existence.
Therefore mind is not buddha. and: Because the causes [of mind] are compounded and impermanent, They can be destroyed by antidotes, and hence [[[mind]]] proceeds according to causation. Therefore the immutable self-arisen body of attributes That is not produced by conditions Is the matrix of all phenomena. a Ornament for the Great Vehicle SÒtras speaks of these mistaken minds that is, minds other than the noumenal mind as not being the clear light of truth, his Sublime Continuum of the Great Vehicle says that the mistaken mind transforms into the manifested state of the nature of the mind. His descriptions appear to be contradictory but are not: the first emphasizes the empty nature of the mind, while the second emphasizes the clear light nature of the mind, which is manifested as a fruit of the path.
and: The self-arisen matrix which is the body of attributes Is the self-arisen body not arisen from causes; Fruit not appropriated by conditions; Empty basic knowledge, not produced by causes; Self-luminous, not produced by causes. Pristine wisdom with unhindered vividness, not produced by causes. Hence the noumenon, the permanent body, Self-arisen pristine wisdom, is not produced by causes. Conditionless, it is uninterruptedly self-luminous, Not affected by conditions that are antidotes. and so forth, and: Because the matrix of phenomena, the self-arisen body, Is the root of cyclic existence and of nirvåòa,a Buddhas and sentient beings arise from it. Therefore, it is the self-arisen basis-of-all. and:
This body of attributes that is the self-arisen basic
knowledge
Has no production or cessation in the three times.
Without going and coming it abides primordially.
A concordant example is great uncompounded
space.
and:
The factuality of the basis-of-all is compounded.
a If one does not understand it, one is sunk in cyclic existence,
and if one understands it, one gains nirvåòa.
Uncompounded Wisdom 77
It is not without an antidote.a
The self-arisen pristine wisdom that is special insight
Destroys the basis-of-all from the root.
and:
Beclouded persons lacking realization
Say that even the body of attributes itself is mind.
Therefore, they do not understand the meaning
from the words.b
It is rare to understand the definitive meaning just
from [[[thinking]] about] words.
From this the mind does not become buddhafied.c
This indicates that without understanding the mode of
subsistence, self-arisen pristine wisdom, one does not become
buddhafied through mind.
Then, is it that all paths of the nine vehicles at the
end of which one is to become enlightened upon having
performed hearing, thinking, and meditating with the
mind are senseless? To indicate that this is not so, it says:
Through searching for imprints an elephant is
found.
When you search for the fact from the direction of
the mind, you will find royal self-knowing pristine
wisdom.d
a It is not something that cannot become non-existent due to
an antidote.
b Even though they hear the words in their ears, they do not
understand their meaning.
c Because the mind is mistaken, it is not enlightened.
d If you search for that from which mistaken mind arises, you
will likely find its reality.
78 Fundamental Mind
When you find it, you separate from apprehending
it as mind.
Having become separated from [such] apprehension,
you will attain self-arisen mindless body,
Buddha that is not arisen from mind.a
This indicates that at the end of the practices of taking the
mind as the path in the eight vehicles,b you take pristine wisdom as the path and, realizing the meaning of the
Great Completeness, become fully buddhafied, and until
you have realized self-arisen pristine wisdom the basic
knowledge of the Great Completeness you are not
buddhafied. The Tantra of the Expanse of the All-Good Pristine Wisdom: Refined Gold of Great Value says:122
This uncompounded nature body,
Nature of the body of attributes,
Unpolluted basic knowledge, not produced
By causes and conditions, immutable, is like
space.
The Tantra of the Great Completeness Equal to Space says:123
Just as lotuses [grow from mud, but] are not polluted
by mud,
So the entity of the mind of enlightenment, the
basis,
a Since mind is mistaken, what you are to attain is not arisen
from mind; rather, what you will attain is a state of Buddhahood
that is not arisen from mind.
b Being unable to abandon mistaken conventional mind, one
uses that mind itself as the path. The nine vehicles are the three
external vehicles (Hearer, Solitary Realizer, and Bodhisattva vehicles),
the three internal vehicles (Action, Performance which is
ehicles
(Mahåyoga, Anuyoga, and Atiyoga vehicles), the Great Completeness being the same as the last.
Uncompounded Wisdom
Is without the stains of apprehended-object and
apprehending-subject.
Therefore, this self-arisen pristine matrix
Is not made by anyone and is not fabricated.
It is royal self-arisen basic knowledge.
Hence, this uncompounded exalted mind
Is not destroyed by any antidote.
It cannot be left aside or taken up.
A yogi realizing this meaning has buddha-mind
while in a human body.
In the self-arisen body [the yogi] has pure speech
And immediately [at death] is the all-good Samantabhadra
itself.
and:
The Buddhas of the three times are devoid of
mind.
Since they are without the eight consciousnesses, they are mindless. The self-arisen matrix, the body of attributes, Is pristine wisdom not arisen from mind. Pristine wisdom is not arisen from mind, but is the mode of subsistence of the mind, the clear light nature. This is to be understood as similar to how the emptiness that is the noumenon of all things is the mode of subsistence of all things, but is not arisen from those things.a The Tantra of the View of the Great Completeness: The Complete Depth of Pristine Wisdom says:124 Since this self-arisen matrix that has subsisted primordially a The emptiness that is the mode of subsistence of phenomeependence, but emptiness does not arise from those things.
Is not arisen from causes and is not produced from conditions, There is also conviction that the body of attributes Not made by any exertion is self-arisen pristine wisdom. and the Tantra of the Great Self-Dawning Basic Knowledge says:125 This great body of attributes devoid of possibilities of predication Dwells in all but none realize it. In it there is no sentience, no mind, and none of the mistakenness of ignorance. and: In basic knowledge devoid of mind, The appearances of various [[[phenomena]]] are completed instantaneously.a and:
If you know immutable basic knowledge, that is
the fruit of all doctrines.126
If you know mindless basic knowledge, that is the
stainlessness of all doctrines.
If you know what ties upb basic knowledge, that is
what is to be abandoned through all doctrines.
If you know insentient c basic knowledge, that is
the baselessness of all doctrines.
and:
a This is like all phenomena melting into space.
b Like the rope that the Tibetan nomads use to tie up the feet
of their animals so that they cannot move.
c That is, without the mental consciousness and so forth.
Uncompounded Wisdom 81
How could there be any mistake in the immutable
mind of enlightenment?
The unmistaken mind of enlightenment pervades
all transmigrating beings.
This matrix of enlightenment pervading all sentient beings is equal to [that pervading] all
Buddhas.
This self-knowing lamp, self-illuminating object
of light,
Dwells in all but is self-secret, revealed by methods.
It is the supreme meaning of the thought of all
Buddhas of the three times,
Abiding equally without fluctuation in all Buddhas.
a
While fundamental knowledge abiding as the basis, selfarisen
pristine wisdom, does not fluctuate from the noumenon
that is without any apprehensions, its selfeffulgence
self-dawning spontaneous appearances and
luminous appearances of marks manifests from techniques.
b At that time it is the practice of leap-over to recognize
these as the effulgence of the noumenon through
self-arisen wisdom lamps without the apprehended-objects
a There are two kinds of secrecy. In the first kind you know
something and keep it hidden from others, but in the other if,
for instance, somebody in a past generation put a treasure under
this house, it would be secret to us, hidden from us, and would
not help us at all. Similar to this latter type, this self-knowing
lamp, this self-illuminating object of light, is with us at all times,
but is secret from us, though right within us now. If someone
identifies it, it is the same as the supreme meaning of the thought
of the Buddhas of the three times.
b The techniques are ways of sitting, ways of gazing, and so
forth that cause these to appear.
and apprehending-subjects of object and subject. Their basis of dawning is the fundamental mind abiding as the basis.a That previous tantra says: The cause of realization is basic knowledge. The means of realization is wisdom. and: Mind and predispositions are not the actual buddha. a When these appearances occur, you are on the level of -arisen king as your objects the external objects of the five senses, you are beyond that level. Not involved in apprehended-objects and apprehending- subjects, these being the sphere of the five senses and mind, there are appearances of self-arisen lamps, dawning as the effulgence, color, or complexion of the noumenon. -over thod rgal ) comes from within the context of breakthrough and leap-over gnition of the essential purity that is the nature of phenomena, and is posited from the viewpoint of emptiness, whereas leapover is posited from the viewpoint of spontaneity. The word leap-over asionally in the sÒtra system, and in general it means that instead of proceeding according to the stages of the path, one jumps over certain levels. Just as breakthrough is associated with the essential purity which is the emptiness of phenomena, so leap-over is associated with the spontaneous lamps that are beyond object and subject these appearances being understood as the effulgence, complexion, or color of the noumenon.
The basis of the dawning of these leap-over factors, the
spontaneous leap-over appearances of the self-arisen lamps, is the
fundamental mind abiding as the basis
inner channels and so forth, this inner reality lets forth an effulgence
that appears out through the eyes, whereby these appearances
appear to the eyes.
Uncompounded Wisdom 83
Pristine wisdom, basic knowledge, is devoid of
mind and predispositions.
and:
In self-arisen pristine wisdom there are no words,
no letters, no grounds and paths, no mentality, no mind, no ignorance, no adventitious arisings, no
rising up [of conceptuality], no dormancies, no
aspects, no visionary experience.a Therefore, this
[[[inconceivable]] reality without any proliferations]
is called the view not limited in its extent and not
fallen to any quarter.b
It is thus: pristine wisdom not over-extended
such that it has become ruptured; view not fallen
into any quarter; noumenon pervading all [from
sentient beings up through Buddhas]; unimpeded
wisdom;c self-release127 without apprehension; nonconceptual
self-effulgence; pristine wisdom without
having to cease anything;d fivefold light without
attachment; noumenon in which there is release
on that spot itself; spontaneously established
buddha; basic knowledge devoid of mind; buddha
devoid of breath; vivid non-conceptual meditation;
lifestyle without grasping and attachment;
view without assertions [of hopes and fears]; fruit
of seeing suchness; [natural, spontaneous]
activities not achievable [through exertion];
a There are no various types of visions appearing to the mind.
b It is not permanent, impermanent, and so forth.
c Though it is self-arisen basic knowledge, in the sÒtra system
it is identified as wisdom from among the six perfections, unimpeded
wisdom.
d When this non-conceptual self-effulgence occurs, it is not
necessary to stop anything.
84 Fundamental Mind
pristine wisdom of great self-purification [in
which defilements are purified of their own accord].
and:
Furthermore, mentality does not perceive pristine wisdom, nor make it clearer. In pristine wisdom
there is no conceptuality. Because mentality involves
the coming and going [of conceptuality], it
obstructs the path of Buddhahood.
and:
Whoever has apprehension
Does not have self-arisen pristine wisdom.
When one comes under the influence of meditatively
cultivating
Self-arisen pristine wisdom,
[All] theses are contradicted from the start.
and:
If in that way you realize self-arisen pristine wisdom,
you are primordially released; it is not necessary
[to be released] again. Being self-releasing,
there is no [need for] antidotes [to cause release].
Regarding this statement of the mode of arising of the four
releases,a these do not occur from being introduced to
and identifying the minds of the eight collections of
a Primordial release and self-release are the first two of four
releases. The third is naked release; when conceptuality appears,
if you just watch its entity, it is nakedly released. The fourth is
dawning release; just as in writing on water, whatever you write
immediately disappears, so as conceptuality dawns, it immediately
disappears and immediately is released.
Uncompounded Wisdom 85
consciousness.a The Mirror of the All-Good Exalted Mind
Tantra says:
If you assert that the basis-of-all is the body of attributes, you have deviated from me. If you assert that Buddhahood is [[[attained]]] from the mind, you have deviated from me. If you assert meditation that has an object, you have deviated from me. If you adhere to an empty object, you have deviated from me. If you meditate on something other-arisen having marks, you have deviated from me. and so forth.
In brief, in all of the divisions of the Great Completeness
mind-class, expanse-class, and quintessentialinstruction-
class a self-luminous factuality, pristine wisdom
beyond mind, is delineated. The fundamental selfarisen
clear light is introduced and identified upon differentiating
basis-of-all and body of attributes, mind and
pristine wisdom, mentality and wisdom; hence, no more
than a small number of scriptural passages are cited here.
Because [such differentiation] is vastly well renowned
in the great omniscient [Íong-chen-rap- asuries
and so forth, the assertion that the Great Completeness
is compounded and is consciousness is very deviant.
The former scripture says:
Whereas all phenomena have the nature of basic
knowledge,
Those who see phenomena as mind have deviated
from you.
a The minds of the eight collections of consciousness are
mistaken minds perceiving something that does not exist as
existing and therefore cannot be a source of release.
86 Fundamental Mind
The Great Completeness Lion of the Culmination of Artifice
Tantra says:
The self-voice of the Great Completeness,
Is beyond the objects of appearance and emptiness,
Beyond mind, mentality, and phenomena.
and the Inlaid Jewels Tantra says:130
Mind is the root of all predispositions.
It is indicated as the initial defilement of all sentient beings.
Mentality, like wind, gathers together the predispositions.
It is described as the second defilement of sentient beings.
Breath, like water, is the abode of all predispositions.
It is the third defilement of all sentient beings.
The five poisons, like fire, increase appearances
with respect to objects.
It is the fourth defilement of all sentient beings.
These four thoroughly abide in all transmigrating
beings.
In the body of attributes pure of defilements, how
could there be any mental defilements or marks!
The pristine wisdom body pure of defilements
Is the mind of enlightenment devoid of actualities
of marks;
Hence the pristine wisdom of basic knowledge is
not anything.a
and the Monarch of Multitudinous Expanse Tantra says:131
a The pristine wisdom of basic knowledge does not have any
of the defilements that were explained above.
Uncompounded Wisdom 87
Those who view the unproduced noumenon within
the dualism of causes and conditions
Have turned away from the uncompounded,
Making superimpositionsa and deprecations regarding
the meaning of reality.
They are deceiving themselves how pathetic it is!
and:
Through being set in its own place just as it is,
The meaning of immutability appears in basic
knowledge, like space.
Hence in that there is no distraction or nondistraction.
No matter what one does, one is within that
state.b
and the Foremost Powerful Excellent Great Completeness
Tantra says:132
Its entity is undemonstrable, uncompounded,
a Superimpositions are to consider what does not exist to exist,
and deprecations are to consider qualities, for instance, that
do exist not to exist. The Tibetan word for superimposition (sgro btags
without any feathers on it will not go very far; however, if you
put four sets of feathers on it, it will go extremely far. Similarly,
with superimposition once you start adding on to what actually
exists, it just increases greatly.
b Because the meaning of immutability appears in basic knowledge
which is like space due to allowing it to be set in its own
place just as it is, in that there is no distraction nor nondistraction.
For a beginner, there can be distraction, but once the
basic mind has manifested itself in fullness, there is no distraction
or non-distraction. No matter what one does, one remains within
that state. No matter what appears, no matter what one does,
it is like the movement of basic reality that is like space.
Beyond words, the matrix, the mind of enlightenment. and the All-Creating Monarch says:133 Self-arisen, it arises without causes and conditions, Pristine wisdom unimpededly luminous. and: When my nature is known, All phenomena are known, Whereby one is beyond actions and agents, and achievement through exertion. [[[Buddha]] qualities] are established without exertion. a and: In this mind of enlightenment, the matrix of all phenomena, There is no need to seek and accomplish it with the ten natures.b As an example of my entire nature it is like space. In pure space no exertion is to be made. and:
a You might think that if it is beyond all action, agent, and
exertion, and beyond all expression and so forth, then it would
be like nothing, like just space itself, but it is not; it is replete
with good qualities.
b The ten natures are factors such as the five paths and ten grounds. Because this mind of enlightenment is the fruit state of
pristine wisdom, the qualities of Buddhahood and so forth are
spontaneously established within it; there is no need to seek them
through techniques of paths.
Uncompounded Wisdom 89
Because I am primordially devoid of apprehendedobject
and apprehending-subject,
I am not a
I am primordial self-arisen pristine wisdom.
I am not to be ascertained by another [practice].b
and:
The scriptures of monkey-like teachers who are
not valid
Are beset by conceptuality of mistaken teachings
and paths.
Therefore since masters using a black mineral on
gold
Are invaluably precious treasures teaching reality,
they are suitable to be bought.c
and:
a Because there is no basis of designation in this body of
attributes of basic knowledge, there is nothing to be imputed as
being subtle.
b Since I am the pristine wisdom that is the fundamental reality,
when this is manifested, it does not need to be delineated by
any other path.
c Proper teachers are like persons who use a black mineral
(nag mtshur) that causes the color of gold to come forth in great
brilliance even if it has become befouled and so forth. They are
like precious treasures who teach correctly. Just as when one puts
this black mineral on gold, it makes the gold look even worse but
when one then puts it in fire its color comes out in its full brilliance,
so when such a teacher teaches about the Great Completeness,
at first the student does not understand much of anything
at all, but when implemented in the fire of practice, it
flames forth with all of its brilliance. Since the gold has become
purified, it is of tremendous value, and hence is suitable to be
bought.
Those propounding that there is cause and effect In the Great Completeness, the highest of all yogas, Are not imbued with the meaning of having realized the Great Completeness. When the conventional and the ultimate are propounded as dual, These are words of superimposition and deprecation. Realization of them as non-dual is lacking. Realization of the Buddhas of the three times Is not seen dualistically, but is asserted as just natural placement. And it says that in comparison with the path of the Great Completeness, in which basic knowledge is directly perceived without exertion, there is little progress through cultivating the stage of completion involving marks of mental apprehension: If one analyzes those seeking the path of mental isolation Imputed with the name of a subtle approach And keeping solitude in an isolated place, They are cultivating conceptuality.a a In Highest Yoga Tantra, the stage of generation is associated with method and is cultivation of oneself as a deity, whereas the stage of completion is associated with wisdom and is meditation on emptiness. The stages of generation and completion are below the level of Great Completeness of Atiyoga. Thus through cultivating certain levels of the stage of completion that involve marks of holding the mind, or mental apprehension, there is little progress compared to that of the Great Completeness. When you look into these levels of the stage of completion, it really seems that they involve cultivating conceptuality. Uncompounded Wisdom
and: Because the mind of enlightenment is without causes and conditions, It cannot be measured within the scope of worldly practices that are produced and cease. Because the [[[Wikipedia:Absolute (philosophy)|ultimate]]] mind of enlightenment is not produced by conditions, It cannot be exemplified with worldly phenomena involving production.
In that way, in the tantras of the Great Completeness mind-class, expanse-class, and quintessential-instructionclass mind and basic knowledge are differentiated,a whereupon uncompounded pristine wisdom is taken as the path, and factors of compounded consciousness are not taken as the path. Taking the fruit as the self-arisen path without any exertion is the path of Atiyoga. Aside from just these scriptures [cited above], I will not write down more since it would take too many words, but through merely these it can be understood. Not only is such in the tantras of the Great Completeness, but also the Compendium of the Thought of the SÒtras in the doctrinal class of scriptural Anuyoga speaks extensively about the suchness of the mind:
With respect to delineating the luminous mode of subsistence that is the nature of the mind, the noumenon of the mind is the self-arisen pristine wisdom of Vajrasattva. That pristine wisdom has the nature of space since it is without inherent existence. a Just as a swan can take a mixture of milk and water and drink out just the milk, without drinking any of the water, so one is to differentiate between mind and basic knowledge. 92 Fundamental Mind and: Lord of Laºkå,a that which is the suchness of [your] mind and that which is the suchness of Vajrasattva are non-dual and not to be taken dualistically. and:
The suchness of Vajrasattva is unfabricated, unpolluted, unmade, unanalyzed, and just as it is. The suchness of the minds of all sentient beings also is unmade, unpolluted, and so on and primordially just as it is.b O Lord of Laºkå, those a Between the last Buddha, D¦paôkara, and the present Buddha, Shåkyamuni, there was an intervening period during which the Mantra teaching started, both the old and the new tantras. During this time lived the Lord of Laºkå, a winged monster who took over the whole world system. Eventually a certain deity entered his body and grew up within his body, causing him excruciating pain. From within this excruciating pain, the monster asked for help from the Buddhas, saying that he had done many terrible things, and now [in this quotation] a Buddha is speaking to him, causing him to identify his own mind. b The nature of the mind is unfabricated (ma bcos pa), which means that it is pure and clear. In a small pool of clear water, you could see down to all the small stones on the bottom. You might think that you could see more clearly by stirring it with a stick, but that would only stir up all the befoulment so that you could not see anything. Similarly, with the nature of the mind, when you get some sense of its clarity, and then you think with conceptuality cannot see anything.
Between the Old Translation School and the New Translation Schools there are many controversies, one of which concerns
just this unfabricatedness. Those who refute that we should seek
merely to manifest unfabricated mind are thinking in terms of
Uncompounded Wisdom 93
who wish to gain ascertainment of Secret Mantra
should recognize the suchness of the mind.
and:
The suchness of the mind is the door of purification.
It is the door of perceiving the doctrine. It is
mistaken mind that if you leave mistaken mind just as it is
without fabricating anything, without making anything new,
that would be a great fault. But that is not the unfabricatedness
we are talking about here. What we are saying is that you are to
leave the nature of the mind, the noumenon of the mind, as it is,
unfabricated, and once you have differentiated between mistaken
mind and unmistaken mind, you need to leave it unfabricated.
Since the
not differentiating mistaken mind and non-mistaken mind, the
refutation does not hit its mark at all.
If the noumenon of the mind, basic knowledge, is exemplified
with clear wa
establishment of your own position would be like putting the
stick of conceptuality in that water, stirring it up, just making a
mess. They will not let you get down to the fact. When the selfentity,
the own-face, of the Great Completeness is introduced to
a student, a quintessential instruction is to not invite thoughts
about the past or thoughts about the future; rather, set the mind
just in its own nature right in the present. Thus, it is not something
to be analyzed by the level of the mistaken mind. It is unpolluted,
unmade.
In the first instant, the mind appears as it is, and you are to
leave it as it is, without letting conceptuality get started. If conceptuality
gets started, the nature of the mind does not remain,
except for that one moment. It is entirely lost. The minds of all
sentient beings are on the level of superficial mistaken mind that
becomes happy so easily, sad so easily, and the like. But there is a
nature of that mind, an unmoving nature of the mind, and except
for the fact that you have not identified it, this nature of the mind is with you at all times.
94 Fundamental Mind
the sphere of reality.
and:
The secret sphere is self-knowing.a Hence, it is
called self-arisen pristine wisdom.
and so forth. The root of all phenomena is the mind of enlightenment.
The excellent quintessential instruction, the great
method with little difficulty,
Of immeasurable meaning, easy to do, difficult to
fathom,
and:
Therefore, the thought of the excellent ones
Is contained in that ultimate, unfabricated basic
mind.
The nature of the mind is unmade and self-arisen.
Hence it is meditative stabilization devoid of all
objects of observation.
In that mind of enlightenment ascertained thus
There are no places to be progressed tob and no
object to be viewed.
a dbyings), there are the
external sphere, the internal sphere, and the secret sphere. Some
identify the external sphere as space, which lacks obstructive contact,
but I think that the meaning should be associated with practice,
and thus I take it to be a sphere appearing to a meditator in
which there are various appearances, like honeycombs or little
boxes. The internal sphere is that very same ground of appearance
in which various things like vajra chains and so forth appear.
The secret sphere is self-knowing basic knowledge, which,
when manifested, makes one a Buddha.
b There is no sense of a traveler and something traveled, or
someone making progress and that over which progress is made.
Uncompounded Wisdom 95
Hence, it is devoid of all marks, and disadvantage
and advantage are primordially absent.a
It is the completion of the two great collections;
all doubts are annihilated,
Conclusively decided in unsurpassed Great Completeness.
b
and:
When the all-containing profound secret perspective
Self-arisen, self-knowing basic knowledge
appears vividly in direct perception,
This is called self-arisen pristine wisdom seeing
suchness.
When in that way the excellent perspective is seen,
The darkness of ignorance of the collections of
conceptuality is cleared away, being beyond objects
seen,
Set [in inconceivable reality] with nothing to be
done, no perception, no seeking.
and:
The factuality of all phenomena, illuminating selfarisen self-knowing pristine wisdom, Is unarisen, not produced, and will not be produced, Primordially devoid of anything to be designated as cause and effect. Those who know it in this way complete the two collections of merit and wisdom. a There is no place for hope and no place for fear. b Everything is decided, come to completion in the Great Completeness than which there is none higher. In the three top vehicles Mahåyoga, Anuyoga, and Atiyoga it is Atiyoga. 96 Fundamental Mind And the General Tantra of the Great Lotus Sovereign Gone to Bliss says:134 When the phenomena of cyclic existence of thorough affliction Are purified, there is nirvåòa. The root is contained in the noumenon of the mind.
Through abiding well in great enlightenment, The unmade, unfabricated, spontaneous Clear light nature of the mind, One becomes devoid of all activities involving exertion. Just as basic mind having clear light as its nature Is naturally unfabricated, In this all-encompassing great clear light Basic mind wish-granting jewel Abides without exception in all sentient beings Of the three realms, but is not seen, Like butter within milk. Those skilled in these two draws out the butter.a The Miraculous Secret Essence 135 also similarly delineates the and so forth, and the Miraculous Transcendence Great Tantra says:136 The nature of immutable great bliss Is not a thing nor a non-thing. Nor is it observed even as the mere middle. a When you look at milk, you do not see any butter at all, but the butter is there pervading it. When the milk is churned, the butter manifests. Just as someone who churns butter can get butter out of milk, so one who is skilled in these two, that is to say, method and wisdom, is able to draw out the butter of manifesting the mind of clear light. Uncompounded Wisdom 97 Great bliss is described as the great seal.137 and the Guhyasamåja says:138 The non-existence of a self of phenomena Is equal with regard to cognitions of self and aggregates;
produced
And has the character of emptiness.
and the Hevajra says:139
This meditative stabilization is very subtle
Like the center of vajra space.a
and:
In this there is no beginning, middle, or end.
There is no cyclic existence and no nirvåòa
There is nothing other than the selfless.
This is the supreme great bliss.
In brief, the Mad Elephant Tantra says:140
Obeisance forever to the equal mind of enlightenment
The nature of the mind being the great sky of the
sphere of reality,
Phenomena being pure primordially clear light
The sphere embedded in natural meaning beyond
proposition and thought.b
a Like a vajra, it is unbreakable and cannot be overcome. Like
the sphere of space, it cannot be said to be this or that.
b What is the nature of the mind like? It is unidentifiable. It is
the sphere of reality, like great space. Phenomena from forms
through to omniscient consciousnesses are naturally pure, and
hence are primordially clear light. Yoga realizing this is the
sphere of that which has arrived at this natural meaning and is
When such is ascertained, that is the unmistaken, the correct path of the Great Completeness. beyond propositions and faults. Obeisance forever to the mind of enlightenment that is the equal mode of subsistence of all phenomena! 3. Refuting a Contrary View Nowadays, Ja- Do-½gaka claims that the basic mind of the Great Completeness that is to be introduced is a subtle mind.b He does this clutching on so- at the point of the clear light when meditatively cultivating mental isolation from among the five stages of Guhyasamåja according to the Ge-luk- ction is a subtle mind. Since that subtle mind is a compounded phenomenon produced from four conditions, the Great Completeness would be compounded. There are also some who, following him, repeat this. This is extremely unsuitable. In general, fundamental mind is the luminous uncompounded nature of the mind, whereby the matrix-of-one-gone-to-bliss also is the same. Holding it to be a compounded mind is indeed a terrible error, but if there is some advantage to describing the clear light of the completion stage of the Guhyasamåja system as compounded, then let those people do as they like. I have a Ja- Do-½gak ( pa mdo sngags), known also as Ja- Ngel-wa A-lak ( pa ngal ba a lag ) and Ja- -»u ( pa sprul sku), was a fellow student with Mi-pam-gya-tso when both -«rül Rin- -chay. (For the story of their debate, see pp. 23ff. above.)
b Ja- -½gak had studied the Ge-luk view and had mixed
this into the Óying-ma view, whereas they differ in certain respects.
Specifically, Ge-luk identifies the clear light a subtle mind that manifests in the cultivation of mental isolation from
among the five stages of Guhyasamåja as being fundamental mind. Taking his lead from that, in his book on the basis, path,
and fruit of the Great Completeness Ja- -½gak says that the
basic mind of the Great Completeness that is to be introduced to
practitioners is such a subtle mind.
no wish to refute them, but there is no sense at all in mixing that with the Great Completeness. The description of the Great Completeness as a compounded subtle mind, far from helping the teaching of the Great Completeness, scars the teaching greatly. It contravenes the introduction and identification of basic mind as the noumenal uncompounded union of luminosity and emptiness, widely renowned down to the present day in all the doctrines of the Great Completeness tantras, oral transmissions, and quintessential instructions and in the statements by the great omniscient Íong-chen-rap-jam as well as the lineaged series of the lamas of the Word Transmission and the Hidden Treasure Transmission.a Indeed, the Great Completeness cannot be harmed by those who say that it is not Dharma, but when a mode of the path is set up saying that the Great Completeness is a compounded phenomenon, it is possible that due to the bad era some persons nowadays will repeat these very unsuitable proclamations by those of small intelligence who have not identified basic knowledge, have not realized the essentials of the tantras and oral transmissions, and like to run after whatever others say.b This is because in general a All Óying-ma doctrines are included within two classes: the Word (the famous Óying-ma tantras and so forth that were brought from India to Tibet by the Indian paòçitas and were translated into Tibetan by them) and the Hidden Treasure (texts later revealed from under the ground). Concerning the latter, Padmasambhava determined the types of quintessential instructions that would be needed in the future and put texts into the ground to be revealed later by his own incarnations. b When the Great Completeness is refuted by whosoever says that it is not Dharma, they cannot harm it, but when people set up a system saying that the Great Completeness is a compounded phenomenon, they really hurt the teaching. Persons nowadays do not identify the basic knowledge, and they do not Refuting a Contrary View
some even take up what is said in the bad systems of the
[[[non-Buddhist]]] Forders; Dhar Commentary on
ition says:
There are those who repeat even what is said in
these [[[non-Buddhist]] texts].
Thereby awful darkness is spread about.
And in particular, in this bad era there are many cases of
types of dark-side demons who, contemptuous of the
teaching, [enter inside people and] divert their minds such
that they generate hesitation with respect to the doctrine.
In particular, profound and decidedly secret doctrines
are very difficult to understand, due to which it is not suitable
to just propound whatever comes to mind. In this
way, the Compendium of the Thought of the SÒtras says:
Their minds have not become proficient
In the secret essence, the intended meaning,
And yet they make effort at propounding it.
If they did not speak about it, would it not be better?
Likewise, those who possess [improper] lifestyles
And who make proofs and perform analysis,
What would be wrong if they held back
Until gaining a mind ascertaining the meaning?
and:
In future eras their fabricated, perverse, secret a
words
realize the essentials of the tantras and the oral transmission of
quintessential instructions. Due to this terrible time in which we
live, it is possible that such people will repeat the unsuitable proclamations
of small minds.
a They use vocabulary that other people cannot make out. 102 Fundamental Mind Will disturb the stainless secret teachings; The Word will become polluted and proper texts discarded, Making senseless wrong doctrines widespread. and: Just as the blind who have set out on a path And try to measure their steps mentally Rush to a path bringing terrible fright, So these are making estimates from mere guesses. Accordingly, the Quintessence of the View of the Great Completeness: The Broad Expanse of Space Tantra141 says that this is the situation of those fancying themselves to be wise who have heard a great deal about textual systems and have generated scattered experience within the context of making use of the mind but have not identified basic knowledge through quintessential instructions of the eartransmission: Although the profound meaning of the birthless Great Completeness is profound,
There are those who, due to not having realized it,
make a lot of criticisms.
Just as it is difficult to find a precious jewel,
So bad humans in the future
Will be plentiful and, having quick dispositions,
will from sudden feelings
Not believe the meaning of the Word.
Criticizing the terms of many texts, they will foment
conceptions.
Rather than enlightenment, they will achieve profit
and fame.
Due to being very lazy, signs of actual achievement
will be very distant.
Refuting a Contrary View 103
Anxious to enter into practice, they will be quick
to give it up.
They will take on the great burden of finding contradictions
in the definitive meaning,
Making superimpositions and deprecations with
regard to words of truth,
Making fine distinctions in words but rough
about the meaning.
Prone to being satisfied with hearing and thinking,
Having understood [a little], they will not put it
into practice and will neglect it.
They will confuse and mix higher and lower texts,
Intent on doctrines made up by humans that are
not the Word.
Merchandising the profound quintessential instructions,
Unwilling to work hard at quintessential instructions
having few words
But having profundity taking one to the depths,
they will get angry, saying that these are opaque.
Not allowing instructive advice to penetrate their
minds,
They will not believe in what brings about realization
of suchness,
And therefore set up reasoning [for the sake of
criticism].
Though they will lecture a lot, it will be senseless.
People will speak of their good qualities, saying
they are wise.
About persons who deride lamas They will say, They are right, them. Not understanding secret quintessential instructions 104 Fundamental Mind They will not act properly as students, and so teachers will get fed up. Not valuing quintessential instructions From authentic sources as unerring, They will believe and hold to be holy What has been mixed with self-fabrications, Flattering those of low views. At such a [pathetic] time, In just that moment when they start teaching doctrine, Buddhas endowed with tantras and oral teachings will become concerned and fearful, And Hearer sÒtra followers will outright faint. Groups of gods, demi-gods, and monsters will bring about interruptions To the lives of those persons making superimpositions and deprecations, Who will completely fall into great hells, Undergoing various frights there With their heads and bodies split into thousands of pieces.
Those who hold the knowledge will forsake them.a Therefore, it will be difficult to find a student who is a suitable vessel For these very secret meanings. and: The teaching of the Great Completeness with quintessential instructions has arisen, And when groups of hypocrites with low view a Virtuous spiritual guides, seeing that these people are in such an awful state and are for the time being beyond being taken care of, will forsake them, since they cannot do anything for them for the time being. Refuting a Contrary View 105 Forders fancying themselves to be Måntrikas And those attached to provisional vehicles Become angry concerning its explanation of the definitive view, They will make derision and nasty criticism. and so forth, and: This definitive view of the all-good Is not hypocritically crafted to curry favor. Those who without discouragement can explain this holy doctrine, Unhesitating supreme of heroes, Will be blessed by Ones-Gone-to-Bliss To teach fearlessly, without mistake. What need is there to mention that the skytravelers and doctrine-protectors will do so too? They will not be affected by sources of harm, and their merit will increase. and so forth, and the Tantra of the Great Completeness Equal to Space says: If you do not possess quintessential instructions transmitted in the ear, No matter how much you analyze with your own analytical mind,
You will not realize this profound transmission.
Due to being without the instructive advice of the
definitive transmission,
A master without the ear transmission
Does not have the definitive meaning,
Whereby an attempt to save another will be for
both a cause to fall.a
a Just as when someone who is swept away by the current of a
river tries to help somebody else in the same situation, both of
106 Fundamental Mind
Also, there are many stories of the unfortunate who behaved
according to the literal words and were reborn in
bad transmigrations.a And [the Tantra of the Great Completeness Equal to Space also says]:
With respect to the self-luminous, non-dual pristine wisdom,
They make distinctions of is and is not
Due to its not according with their own conceptuality
them are drowned, so here when such a person teaches, it only
makes causes of downfall for both teacher and student.
a The unfortunate here are those who take non-literal terms
literally and thus make trouble for themselves. You have to make
a distinction between what is literal and what is non-literal. The
definitive is literal, and the non-definitive is to be taken nonliterally.
Consider Buddha Compilations of Indicative
Verse (XXIX.22 and XXX.73 in Gareth Sparham, The
Tibetan Dhammapada):
Those without ill deeds who, having killed father and mother, destroy the monarch, the two cleanly ones, and the area as well as the retinue are the pure. That father and mother are to be killed should be taken nonliterally as meaning that one should eliminate attachment and grasping. That the monarch should be destroyed should be taken non-literally as referring to overcoming consciousness that arises due to the condition of contaminated actions [in the twelve links of dependent-arising]. That the two cleanly ones should be destroyed should be taken as overcoming holding wrong views to be supreme and holding modes of conduct to be supreme. Destroying the area and retinue should be taken non-literally as overcoming the objects of afflictive emotions and the twenty secondary afflictive emotions. Through doing this, one will become pure, that is to say, will gain enlightenment endowed with the two types of purity natural purity and purity from adventitious defilements. Refuting a Contrary View 107 And only serve to increase controversy.a [This precious teaching] cannot be darkened by other [outside forces] But just as a lion is destroyed [by a worm] inside its gut, So this secret transmission is made to vanish By those asserting that they are my children.b How will this happen? and so forth, and: Although they meditate on the clear light basic mind
With mistaken worldly consciousness, They will not succeed, and their lives will be cut short. and the Tantra of Quintessential Instructions of the Precious Lamp of Secret Pristine Wisdom says:142 Wrong tenets are demons to the doctrine. They make apprehensions of inherent existence in that which has none; They seek for cause and effect in what is just selfarisen; a Although pristine wisdom is beyond the posi with respect to it, due to the fact that it does not accord with their own conceptuality, and through holding on to these proliferations with respect to that which is devoid of proliferations, they just serve to increase controversy. b A lion, being the king of beasts, cannot be killed by any other animal, but is destroyed by a worm generated inside its gut that then destroys the lion from within. Similarly, this secret transmission of the Great Completeness cannot be destroyed from the outside, but will be made to vanish by misinterpretation from within. 108 Fundamental Mind Concerning what is unfabricated and is not anything They analyze with thoughts holding on to this and that; Concerning the spontaneously established effect not involving any progression They pollute the non-progressive with the progressions of the eight paths.a Therefore, since no matter how much they analyze with a mind Holding on to wrong ideas about the unfabricated actuality, it is not so. It is understood by setting in the natural state without analysis.b
and so forth. In these ways, this awful talk of a tenet saying
the Great Completeness is compounded has arisen.c
My lama, the holy presence Jam-Âang-kyen-«zaywang-
,143 said that the single phrase that the Great Completeness
is compounded contradicts all of the essentials of
basis, path, and fruit of the Great Completeness.d As
illustrated by that, it displeases the minds of the holy, but
nowadays since we are at an end point [of the doctrine] in
which mere reflections of the teaching are considered to be
a These are the first eight of the nine vehicles, which, while
not the final vehicle, are mistaken for being final.
b Allow the clear water of the mind to remain clear without
stirring it up.
c When Mi-pam-gya-tso wrote this, the book by Ja- -
½gak had already been burned at Õa-«rül O-gyen-jik-me-chö-»yiÛang-
mmand.
d Mi-pam mainly heard ða-»ya teachings from Jam-Âangkyen-
«zay-wang- , Àa-gyu teachings from Jam-gön-»ong-«rül
Ío-drö-ta-ye, and the Great Completeness from Õa-«rül
O-gyen-jik-me-chö-»yi-ÛangRefuting
a Contrary View 109
doctrine, there are those who know how to say all sorts of
things without even making the slightest analysis as to
whether these accord or not with the essentials of Óyingma
doctrine. This shows signs that the teaching at the
heart of Samantabhadra will not remain for a long time
it is very sad.a
The Great Completeness is the pristine wisdom of
knowledge and emptiness, the meaning to be realized in
the fourth initiation.b It is that which is to introduced and
identified; it is the path to be delineated, and hence is the
basis of analysis as to whether it is compounded or uncompounded.
This is the noumenon of the mind,
self-arisen pristine wisdom. It is not different from the
sphere of reality, and since the sphere of reality is selfluminous,
it is the mode of subsistence that has primordially
abided as the noumenon of the mind; therefore, it is
the great uncompounded union. In terms of this mode of
a The body of attributes, Samantabhadra, is a huge Buddha
m thub pa gangs chen mtsho) with a
bowl of fragrant water resting on his hands that are in the posture
of meditative equipoise. A lotus with twenty-five levels of
petals on its stalk grows up from the bowl, and our world system,
Jambudv¦pa, is on the lotus petal right at the level of his heart. A
thousand Buddhas will appear in this auspicious era in Jambudv
¦pa. The current critical situation is similar to when during a
war you have been worn down to the point where there are only
a few of you left, and you feel there is just little that can be done,
since you are at a time of such ruination. There are very few
people capable of thinking, capable of appreciating the profound meaning, and there are so many people engaged in all sorts of
fault-finding.
b The four initiations are the vase initiation, the secret initiation,
the knowledge wisdom initiation, and the precious fourth initiation of the word, in which the Great Completeness is to be
identified.
110 Fundamental Mind
subsistence, all of the phenomena of the three times past,
present, and future do not pass beyond this immutable
equality, due to which it is to be understood as without the
proliferations of the three times and of dualistic phenomena.
A compounded and momentary consciousness is not
the mode of subsistence of all phenomena. Through identifying
it how could suchness be realized? Therefore, since
the pristine wisdom of basic knowledge and emptiness that
is the Great Completeness is the fundamental, unchanging,
and immutable clear light, it is to be comprehended
from the side of its being the mode of subsistence. No tantra
of the Great Completeness and no lineaged lama
Knowledge-Bearers144 such as Ga-rap-dor-je145 and so
forth has taught a compounded mode of subsistence.
The awful proclamation that the Great Completeness is
compounded is fit for laughter, not fit to be heard.
When yogis who have properly been introduced to
and have identified basic knowledge are set in meditative equipoise within the fundamental noumenon, they realize
it without even any of the consciousnesses of the eight collections
wavering from this state. There, objects to be realized
and realizers do not exist as different.a If it were the
case that a subtle mind were fundamental mind, it would
have to be primordial, original basal clear light because
of being the fundamental noumenon without the
changeability and mutability of the three times. And if it
is, it is said that at that time of the primordial, original,
basal clear light there are no Buddhas and no sentient beings, and it is said that in that mere basis there is no
mistake, and there is not even any imputation of release
a Just as the planets and stars dissolve into the sky in the light
of the bright sun, so objects realized and means of realization all
become of one taste in the great reality.
Refuting a Contrary View 111
from the viewpoint of the reversal of error. Hence, if there
is a subtle mind [in that state], why would it not be a sentient being, as is the case with a sentient being of the formless absorptions or a sentient being of no discrimination.a
Consequently, it would have to be asserted that there is
mistake in that state, and no release.
At that time of [[[realizing]]] the primordial original reality,
does that subtle mind have apprehension of and
have apprehension of duality, or not? If it does, then it is a
mind of cyclic existence associated with obstructions. How
could it be a mind of clear light devoid of obstruction?b If
obstructions exist in the fundamental mind, the basic disposition,
c then fundamental mind would be included within
cyclic existence and would not be included within
nirvåòa. In that case, this would contradict all of the many
scriptures, cited earlier, speaking of the clear light nature of the mind, and so forth.
Therefore, fundamental mind is the noumenon, emptiness,
and from the viewpoint of not being a mere
emptiness of inherent existence and of not being just an
emptiness of matter, it is mind of clear light and
self-arisen pristine wisdom Aside from only being selfluminous
emptiness, it is without even a particle of
any marks of being compounded or uncompounded.
a Although in the Form Realm there are no coarser consciousnesses,
there is a subtler type of consciousness, and thus
there are sentient beings, as is the case with sentient beings in
that level of cyclic existence
the coarser levels of consciousness have disappeared, but there is
a subtler type of consciousness, and thus there is a sentient being.
b How could it be the basic fundamental mind of clear light of
the time of the fruit?
c amental
disposition, or mode of subsistence.
112 Fundamental Mind
Consequently, it is beyond atomically established matter
and is beyond luminous and cognitive consciousness
having factors of apprehended-object and apprehendingsubject.
dual knowledge
perceiving suchness, not comparable in the least with
any of the consciousnesses of the eight collections.
In that noumenal union of basic knowledgea and emptiness
there are utterly and primordially no conceptual and
constructed apprehended-objects and apprehendingsubjects,
146 whereby within natural flow one abides in the
non-conceptual sameness of all phenomena. Hence, in it
there are primordially no marks147 of dualistic phenomena
cyclic existence and nirvåòa, mistake and release, self
and other, beginning and end, and so forth. This is the
suchness of mind described in the Hevajra Tantra and in
VirÒpa b Utterly Without Proliferation148 This has no
beginning, middle, or end .
From within the state of such a noumenon there is not
at all any fluctuation, but then appearances of conceptuality,
appearances of the artifice of the noumenon, dawn
upon association with adventitious karmic winds, at which
time mind having dualistic appearances operates, and there
is apprehension of I-self. Thereupon, the arising of the
eight collections of consciousness Due to
conceiving [of object and subject] as actualities, the cyclic existence of mistaken dualistic appearance in which the
fundamental suchness is not realized arises, and one roams
downwards in the process of dependent-arising.c
a Basic knowledge is that which, when known, one is a Buddha,
and when not known, one is in cyclic existence
b VirÒpa was an Indian master who was one of the great
sources and translators of the ða-»ya School.
c From ignorance comes action, and so on through the twelve links of dependent-arising.
When one perceives the fundamental meaning, the unmistaken path of the Great Vehicle,a the noumenon is realized, whereupon predispositions for mistaken dualistic appearance are extinguished,b this being called uddha Therefore, the fundamental noumenon, the dispositional mode of subsistence abiding without the changeability and mutability of the three times is taught by way of synonyms such as fundamental mind, mind of clear light, mind of enlightenment, sphere of reality, self-arisen pristine wisdom abiding as the basis, innate great bliss, noumenal suchness, and so forth.
In the minds of all sentient beings such exists in the
manner of the noumenon, and during states in which obstructions
remain fit to be abandoned [but are not yet
abandoned], it is called the -of-one-gone-to-bliss
because through realizing this noumenon of the mind one
is buddhafied. In the same way, you should also understand
the mode of designating it as fundamental mind and
so forth. In the Kålachakra -stupid emptiness
has the sense of luminous pristine wisdom that is not a
mere emptiness and is without any coming together or
separating apart. It is beyond the poles of the compounded
and the uncompounded. The suchness of things is not
apprehendable as an emptiness devoid of clear light, nor
apprehendable as a mind of clear light devoid of emptiness.
When those two [[[clear light]] and emptiness] are realized
as objects of your own individual knowledge realizing
suchness, they are realized to be undifferentiable. When
a Within the Great Vehicle, the reference here is to the path
of Secret Mantra, and within that, it is to the path of the Great Completeness.
b This extinguishment of predispositions is like the extinguishing of a butter-lamp upon the consumption of its oil. 114 Fundamental Mind this is not realized, a mere object of understanding wherein from the point of view of conceptual isolates there is an object, emptiness, which is a mere elimination of an object of negation and there is a consciousness, an objectpossessor, having marks may dawn to your mind. However, this does not pass beyond objects of conceptual dualistic consciousness apprehending phenomena with marks, that is to say, as things and non-things; hence, it is not the ultimate.
When fundamental mind, suchness, is actualized, this is the non-dualistic noumenon, known by individual selfknowledge, passed beyond all dualistic phenomena, such as thing and non-thing, emptiness and non-emptiness, and so forth. Consequently, making dualistic divisions within that, such as emptiness and clear light, or basic knowledge and emptiness, or appearance and emptiness, and so forth, are just cases of subsequent conceptuality expressing the mode of not abiding in any partial extremes.a In the entity of suchness there is no duality; it similarly is beyond all dualistic phenomena of object and subject, and so forth. This non-dualistic mind of enlightenment is, as was cited earlier [from the Mad Elephant Tantra, see p. 97 above], sphere of reality Aside from being actualized by one endowed with yoga in dependence upon quintessential instruction of method and release, it is not an object of analysis by logical reasoning. Hence, conviction in this is suitable to be generated in those who have decided that their own minds are without production,b whereas those who assert that the uncompounded mere emptiness that is taken to mind by a a Such expressions are used for beginners. b In those who have made such a decision, belief then develops from within.
compounded mind is suchness are only children whose judgment has not matured. Since not even a similitude of individual self-knowledge has been generated, nothing other than that can dawn to their minds, whereupon these tenets [made up] by conceptuality deceive childish beings;a therefore, you should give up pursuing that direction and, instead, should listen to instructions of the profound lineage, transmitted ear to ear, from the mouth of excellent knowledge-bearing lamas, getting at the tenets of the Great Seal and the Great Completeness.
In brief, since your own mind is primordially without production, it is beyond all proliferations of things and marks and hence is emptiness, but there is no blockage of the effulgence of the basic knowledge.b Aside from that, there is no difference between mere emptiness and a mind knowing that emptiness. The basic mind is self-empty, and emptiness is self-luminous. Luminosity and emptiness are undifferentiable and utterly without the conceptuality of apprehended-objects and apprehending-subjects. Such a noumenon that is this way due to its primordial disposition is nominally imputed fundamental mind. c It is primordially not established as the two, a mind that is the knower and the emptiness that is the object of knowing. Therefore, it is the great uncompounded union.d a Like one child telling stories to another child. b Our bodies and consciousnesses block up the effulgence of the basic knowledge. We have this basic knowledge within us, but our bodies and consciousnesses block it. Through the three modes of posture and the three modes of viewing in the practice of leap-over, these become unblocked, and it dawns. c For the sake of causing others to understand it, it is merely d Union here means that which is already unified; thus, it is union a state of already being unified and is uncompounded,
In the noumenon there are no causes and conditions, no production and cessation; hence, it is uncompounded, but it is not an uncompounded non-actuality.a In the great clear light of effulgent basic knowledge Primordially without production from the start, There are no continuums of momentary compounded things produced and ceasing; The three times are just equal. It is non-conceptual with no marks of proliferation. In that way, in all three times it does not develop and change; Hence, it is conventionally designated as fundamental mind Primordially abiding like space.
Compounded minds, momentarily produced
And ceasing, are adventitious;
Hence they are not suitable to be fundamental.
In consideration of this, even sÒtras say
That consciousness is impermanent and pristine wisdom is permanent.
About calling fundamental mind permanent,
There is no fluctuation within its own state at any
time,
And hence it is designated permanent.
Since it is rid of all proliferations of the marks of
things,
The ways of the words permanent and impermanent
Are divisions by dualistic phenomena.
and is not some small uncompounded thing and thus is great.
a Unlike space, which is a mere absence of obstructive contact,
it is not a mere absence.
Refuting a Contrary View 117
nature devoid of all
Proliferations of marks is comprehended,
One has passed beyond the objects of conceptions
of permanence and impermanence.
Likewise one has passed beyond all marks of dualistic
phenomena
Thing and non-thing, permanence and annihilation,
and so forth.
Hence, aside from being what is comprehended
By those endowed with yoga realizing
The suchness of mind by themselves individually,
It is not an object of comprehension through the
dualistic conceptuality
Of examples, reasons, and so forth.a
Therefore it is designated with the conventions
Of being devoid of thought and expression
And being beyond awareness and so forth.
Those who realize meaning of this know suchness.
a The reference here is to logical syllogisms in which a subject,
a predicate, a reason, an example, and so forth are stated.
4. Distinctions
Question: [Within differentiating between basal fundamental mind, path fundamental mind, and fruit fundamental mind,] does basal fundamental mind realize emptiness
or not?
Answer: With respect to fundamental mind residing in
the basal state [as distinct from when one is on the path or
in the fruit state,] there are no conventions of realizing
emptiness or not realizing emptiness.a [With respect to the
mode of subsistence of the basis itself,] its own entity is a
clear light emptiness or noumenon, which is a union of
basic knowledge and emptiness unpolluted by any conceptuality.
Therefore, it itself is suchness and the sphere of reality but not an object to be affixed with the conventions
or Realizing emptiness or not
realizing emptiness is not posited with respect to the basis
itself.b
Within the basis abiding as the suchness that is to be
realized, appearances of the basis shine forth, whereupon
there is realization of the basis as it is, or non-realization,
due to which release or mistake come to be. Hence, relative
to that, one is designated as a Buddha or as a sentient being. c
When the mental consciousness that is the means of
a Because this question concerns the basic state, fundamental mind is the reality of the mind, and thus all of us have it. Since
this is a neutral state, conventions of realizing emptiness or not
realizing emptiness do not apply.
b These distinctions have to be posited within the context of
basal appearances from that basis.
c If a person has release, that person is designated as a Buddha,
and if a person has error, that person is designated as a sentient being.
realization realizes the fundamental mind abiding as the basis, it is said that the realizer realizes emptiness. a Mistaken sentient beings who have not realized this have the noumenal fundamental mind,b but when, being without realization, they have conceptions of marks regarding dualistic appearances of the eight collections of subjectconsciousness, c - Upon the arising of the array of cyclic existence and nirvåòa, which are basal appearances as projections from the basis,d there are the conventions of the two, mistake and release. In the mere basis, there is nothing that could be designated as mistake or release, Buddha or sentient being, realization or non-realization. The two cyclic existence and nirvåòa are not established in the fundamental mind that is the basis.
Although it is the sole drope that is the great clear light
of essential purity, undifferentiable basic knowledge and
a At that time, the realizing mind has dissolved completely
into fundamental mind, or it can be said that simultaneous with
the removal of all defilements with respect to all phenomena
ranging from forms up to omniscient consciousnesses, the defilements
of that realizing mind are removed.
b Without realizing the fundamental mind they have not recognized
their own nature.
c This is how we are bound by conceptions of apprehendedobjects
and apprehending-subjects.
d The comparison here is like that between fire and smoke:
fire is like the fundamental basis, and smoke is like the projective
appearances (rtsal ) from that basis, which are also called effulgence
(gdangs). Within these projective appearances of cyclic existence and nirvåòa there come to be the conventions of error
and release.
e The sole drop is the single entity that is the mode of subsistence
of all phenomena.
emptiness,a in which the marks of dualistic phenomena are primordially non-existent, anything and everything are suitable to appear from within the clear light that is the nature,b and hence Projective appearances dawn, whereupon in the context of those basic appearances there are the two paths of mistake and release,c due to which [[[tantras]]] speak of d Therefore, Íong-chen- says that projective appearances are the basis of release and [the practice of] essential purity is the ground of release.e Consequently, within the essential purity that is the basis, there is no way of making a differentiation of a The sÒtra system speaks of wisdom differentiating phenomena, whereas this tantric system speaks of empty basic knowledge, which is more profound and quicker. b Like the constellations of the stars and so forth appearing in space, cyclic existence and nirvåòa are suitable to appear from within the clear light that is the nature. c When you recognize these projective appearances of the basis as such, there is release, and when you do not, there is mistake. d There is only one basis for the Buddhas who know and the sentient beings who do not know.
e These projective appearances of the basis are both the basis
of mistake and the basis of release through the practice of essential
purity, which, therefore, is called the ground of release. Just
as the ground of an airport is the place where the people of cyclic existence wander about and also is that from which the plane of
those who are released takes off to the heights the ground of
the airport being a single ground for those two activities so the
basic mode of subsistence serves as the basis of both activities of
mistake and release. Projective appearances of the basis are the
basis of release when you realize them as they are, and they are
also the basis of mistake when you do not recognize them properly.
realization and non-realization.a In terms of the mode of
appearance [of these projective appearances that dawn
from the basis], there must be a progression of improvements
of abandonments and realizations, ranging from
common beings up through Buddhas, and moreover there
is nothing fit [to do this] except for these eight collections
[of consciousness] in the continuum of the meditator.b
In particular, it is taken for granted that the mental consciousness must identify the meaning of [[[the fourth]]]
initiation.c Not only in the Great Completeness, but also
in any of the paths of the nine vehicles, all comprehensions
by the wisdoms of hearing, thinking, and meditating on
any of the paths of the nine vehicles are mainly by the
mental consciousness.d Hence, there is indeed not anything
that is not meditated on by the mind, but it is not that
whatever the mind meditates on must be the mind. Even
when emptiness is meditated on, it is indeed meditated on
by the mind, but emptiness is not mind; it is the object of
the mind,e and likewise although the Great Completeness
a With respect to the ground of an airport itself, you do not
say that it flies up in the sky, or that it walks around on the
ground.
b There is nothing suitable to do the meditating other than ctions of consciousness. There is nothing else suitable for the job. Basic reality is unthinkable and inexpressible it is not going to be what does the meditating. c It is basic that it is necessary that the meaning of the fourth initiation be recognized, understood, and identified by the mental consciousness. d It is the agent of realization. e It would be extremely absurd to say that whatever the mind meditates on must be mind itself. It is like the fact that although one meditates on emptiness with the mind, emptiness is not the mind, it is the object of the mind.
is meditated on by the mental consciousness, the mental consciousness is meditating on the noumenon of the mind,
the union of basic knowledge and emptiness, but this [union]
is not the mind that is within the six collections of
consciousness.
Just as when the mind meditates on the emptiness that
is selflessness, it is not necessary that the mind be or not be
emptiness and selflessness, so when the mind is realized as
without production or when the mind itself [that is meditating on emptiness] is realized as without production, a
mind that is different from the absence of production does
not exist even in the slightest,a but that absence of production
does not become the mind and does not become
compounded. [[[Meditating]] on the Great Completeness] is
similar.
ecided
as without production, that very mind is directly
perceived as without production from the start; not even a
particle of a factor of mind or consciousness that is other
than non-production is observed.b Similarly, the entity of
the union of luminosity and emptiness, which is the unimpeded
self-luminosity of the factor of luminosity and
a When the mind realizes the lack of production, that lack of
production similarly applies to the mind, and there is not any
mind that is left over separate from the absence of production
it, simultaneous with all other phenomena, is seen as just nonproduced.
b When the mind is realized in its basic reality of nonproduction,
there is not any mind left over the mind completely
disappears. An example of this is when you see a rope as a
snake. When you find out that it is a rope, the mistaken consciousness
of it as a snake utterly and completely disappears.
There is not any such consciousness left over at all. When the
mind is realized as having the basic reality of non-production,
there is no mind left over.
knowing of the mind,a is called the noumenon of the
mind. From within that noumenon, even all eight collections of consciousness abide as that to be known individually
by oneself, a multitude having an equal taste, devoid
of verbalization.
Within this, what is there to be identified as a compounded
Great Completeness, as subtle mind ?b There
is not any such thing. It should be explained just what sort
of system this is that says a subtle mind is the Great Completeness,
and that other, coarse minds and so forth the
eight collections of consciousness are not the Great Completeness.
Not only that, but also from within noumenal fundamental basic knowledge and emptiness, whether cyclic existence or nirvåòa appears, it appears from within this, and whether one is released, one is released from within this.c If this [[[noumenal]] fundamental basic knowledge and emptiness] is that which is to be realized in actual experience by yogis of the Great Completeness, then what value is there in identifying and meditating on a momentary subtle a In such an entity of luminosity and emptiness, luminosity is not one thing and emptiness another thing; those two are of one taste. This noumenon, or reality, of the mind is what is to be explained to trainees from beginning to end. It is what is left over when all of the consciousnesses involving apprehended-objects and apprehending-subjects cease.
b A subtle mind would be an impermanent phenomenon, and within that state in which everything is of one taste, how could there be any subtle mind that could be identified as a compounded Great Completeness? c For all appearances of cyclic existence and nirvåòa, whatever dawns dawns from within this fundamental basic knowledge and emptiness. When you are released in the path of omniscience, you are released right within the state of this fundamental basic knowledge and emptiness.
factor of mind as the Great Completeness and not the foundation and root of all phenomena, basic mind, the fundamental Great Completeness, fundamental mind? Therefore, the mental consciousness is the awareness that is the meditator on the Great Completeness. As long as one meditates with that awareness in the manner of the dualistic appearance of apprehended-object and apprehending- subject within observing verbal objects of observation of the path such as a union of the object, emptiness, and luminosity, and so forth that is a consciousness having apprehended-object and apprehending-subject and has not even gone in the direction of the Great Completeness, non-dualistic pristine wisdom. However, when you conclusively know in immediacy like a moist olive in the palm of your hand your own mind as noumenal empty basic knowledge without object and subject, the convention that the basic knowledge of the Great Completeness has been identified is designated.a The process is to be introduced to the basic nature of the mind right within the context of coarse mind and to meditatively get used to this again and again, thereupon coming to decisiveness.b a When you manifestly identify the basic nature of mind, not thinking that there is anything beyond what you are seeing, when you come to such decisiveness like the decisiveness that you have with respect to a moist olive placed in your palm, seeing everything about that olive, both inside and outside, understanding it completely when you come to such direct decisiveness, without any sense of object and subject with respect to the basic reality of the mind, then it is permissible to designate the convention that Great Completeness basic knowledge has been identified. face.
b The lama introduces the student to this basic mind right within the context of a coarse consciousness, and does this again and again, and the student gets used to this again and again, 126 Fundamental Mind Just this has been transmitted in quintessential instructions by all of the transmissions of the earlier Knowledge- Bearers, and in all of the fortunate, measures of warmth [that is, signs of success] become manifest.a While there still is this uninterrupted transmission of these profound essentials of prescriptive instructions, what is the use of describing a subtle compounded mind, wiping out the doctrinal language of the Great Completeness?
Even the clear light fundamental mind that is described on the occasion of the five stages [in the Guhyasamaja system] in terms of melting bliss, mental isolation, and so forth as techniques for realizing it for the sake of those who do not identify it in immediacy is the self-arisen pristine wisdom of noumenal clear light.b It is not a subtle mind that is an instance of one of the eight collections of consciousness; such a subtle mind is a momentary compounded factor. Therefore, how could a compounded factor be the noumenon and the mode of subsistence? Once you have been introduced to and have succeeded attaining decisiveness with respect to the nature of the mind. a This is the process that has been advised in quintessential instructions, these being easy techniques to bring about success for those who do not know how to meditate.
b For those who cannot identify the basic nature of the mind in immediacy, straight-on in this way, other techniques are explained for realizing it, such as melting bliss, mental isolation, and so forth, these being set forth not only in the New Translation Schools, but also in the Old Translation School. Melting bliss is the ignition of internal fire in order to melt drops of essential fluid and thereby cause the winds to enter into the central channel, inducing deeper states of consciousness. The term sems dben mind becomes isolated from coarser levels of appearance and consciousness and causes them to be pacified, extinguished, dormant.
in identifying the Great Completeness, then although you do not intentionally meditate with exertion on the objects of observation of mental isolation,a through familiarizing just with [the Great Completeness], the pure clear light like unpolluted space that dawns during thick sleep is manifest. This occurs for those who have previously developed any level of experience with respect to the path of the Great Completeness.b Since there is not any object of realization other than experiencing just this present naked basic knowledge without even a speck of pollution by conceptuality,c noumenal self-arisen pristine wisdom dawns. How could this be meditation on the emptiness that is an object understood by a subtle compounded mind left over after stopping the coarse six collections of consciousness? Aside from just abiding in the luminous and empty noumenond without end or middle, how could there be conceptuality that is performing analysis? There is not.
They assert that: With regard to delicate clear light149 and the clear light when meditatively cultivating mental isolation, three appearances dawn in the forward process [before the mind of clear light] and in the a That is to say, even if you do not intentionally try to stop the grosser levels of consciousness. b During deep dreamless sleep those who have not been introduced to the clear light are unable to actualize the clear light, even though it is there. c Naked basic knowledge is consciousness of the present moment, in which you do not follow after thoughts of the past, or follow after thoughts of the future, but is just naked present consciousness. At that time, you experience just thus naked present basic knowledge without even the slightest conceptuality. d It is internally luminous and externally luminous.
reverse process [after the mind of clear light], and there are subtle analyses identifying them.a Thinking just of experiencing that mere subtle mind [of mental isolation after the three appearances] without the cessation of the three modes of appearance and analytical identification of them, they assert that the noumenal basal clear light is a subtle compounded mind. This is like the story of a turtle in a well.b How could it be a The three appearances are the white, red, and black appearances. At death these occur in gross form and are much easier to recognize. Initially, your consciousness becomes somewhat vivid, but then in the white stage becomes very vivid, then it passes to a red stage, and then in the black stage it is as if a big pot has been placed over your head, and you suddenly have been encased, everything becoming absolutely black. In the forward process, you pass from the white to the red to the black to the clear light; in the backward process, you pass from the clear light to the black to the red to the white. A subtler version of these occurs when we sleep and we dream, but they are much harder to catch hold of because they are subtler, which also means quicker, but if you are able to get hold of these and cultivate them, then when you die it is very easy, because they appear more grossly. b There is a turtle in a well, and another turtle comes from a huge lake, and they meet. The one whose home is in the well homes. The thinks that this is impossible, and so both of them go off to the great lake to look at it, and when the one from the well gets to the ocean and looks at it, he is amazed, because the two are as different as sky and earth he is so amazed that he falls over and
that the Knowledge-Bearers, Ga-rap-dor-je150 and so forth,
taught the preceptual instructions of the Great Completeness
without having thought about or having realized
merely this! Switching the powerful sovereign of wishgranting
jewels, the thought of the Conqueror Knowledge-
Bearers,151 for the trinkets of conceptual fabrications by
logicians should be known as a manifest, true sign of a bad
era.a
The clear light self-arisen pristine wisdom is the spacelike
noumenon. Because it is the noumenon, which does
not exist as other than emptiness and the sphere of reality,
it is without causes and conditions uncompounded. A
subtle mind, however, is a compounded phenomenon, and
thus there are limitless fallacies:
It must be produced from the four conditions; hence,
it must be examined what its four conditions are, and
in particular what its observed-object-condition is.
If such [a subtle mind] is not continuous from beginningless
time through the end, it would not be a fundamental mind.
If it is continuous from beginningless time through
the end, then if a compounded mind not polluted by
coarse conceptuality exists in the continuums of all
sentient beings, does it know, or does it not know, the
objects of coarse minds? If it does, why are desire and
so forth not generated in it? If it does not know the
dies. In the same way, those who identify this mutable subtle consciousness as the Great Completeness are trying to compare it
to the inconceivable huge Great Completeness.
a Calling a subtle mind the Great Completeness is like switching
this best of wish-granting jewels for the fake jewelry that is
the conceptual fabrications of those who are addicted to superficial
reasoning, or to words. Such switching should be known as a
manifestation showing that this is a bad era.
objects of coarse minds, how could it train newly in
the coarse objects of understanding involved in analyzing
emptiness and thereupon meditate on emptiness?
When a Foe Destroyer has entered into cessation, has
this subtle consciousness ceased or not? If it has
ceased, it is not fundamental, since it is affected by
conditions. If it has not ceased, a continuum of this
fundamental compounded mind would exist at the
time of the nirvåòa in which there is no remainder of
mental and physical aggregates.
Similarly, at Buddhahood this continuum of moments
would not be reversed, whereby the causes of aggregates
that have a mental nature would not have disappeared.
and so forth.
Moreover, in terms of the mode of appearance, as was
mentioned earlier, from the level of a common being
through to the Buddha ground, abandonments and realizations
improve and improve; therefore, [that progress] also
is not suitable to be other than from the gradual cultivation
of the path within the streams of the consciousnesses
of the eight collections in the continuum of the meditator.a
Hence, mainly that must be done by the mental consciousness,
and therefore, since mental awarenesses, being
produced from three conditions (object, sense power, and
a consciousness) have production and cessation,b then
a Effort and exertion must be made in order to bring about
progress in the path, and this has to be done in the mind. There
is not any other suitable way that it could be done.
b This is the case with all of our sense consciousnesses there
is an object, a sense power, and a previous moment of consciousness
that act as the causes of a sense consciousness. Through the
coming together of these we develop attachment and so on, and
are drawn to cyclic existence bad transmigrations, and so forth.
Distinctions 131
sometimes one meditates, and sometimes one does not
meditate, and when one does meditate, it lasts for a certain
period, and does not exist outside of that period, and so
forth. There is no other way for it to occur, due to which
it is not suitable except to assert that the path is compounded.
a
Consequently, since the basal Great Completeness is
the mode of subsistence, basic knowledge, and is uncompounded,
all awarenesses and all phenomena do not pass
beyond being within the state of that uncompounded
mode of subsistence. However, if, in consideration of this,
you assert that the path is uncompounded, then it is not
necessary to mention that there would be limitless fallacies
such as that you would have to assert that the person who
is the meditator and all awarenesses that are the means of
meditation would be uncompounded.
Objection: b If this which is called path is naked basic
knowledge and emptiness at the time of meditative equipoise
abiding within the state of that basic knowledge or,
in accordance with the path of method,c is the natural clear light basic knowledge at the time of practicing the clear light appearing at the end of the three appearances,d how
could this in which there is not even a speck of something
to be apprehended as object and subject be
designated as compounded?
a You are practicing this path now, that path later; you are giving up this one, moving on to that one, and so forth, and therefore the paths are compounded. b This person is confusing the view with the path, and speaking of factors associated with the view as if they were the path. c That is to say, the path of the father tantras, such as the Guhyasamåja. d At the end of the white, red, and black appearances the mind of clear light manifests. 132 Fundamental Mind Answer: If this is considered from the viewpoint of the noumenon, it is not observed as either a compounded thing or an uncompounded non-thing. The noumenon, not abiding in the polarity of the compounded and the uncompounded, is to be known by oneself individually and is indeed immutable, not undergoing change even in any of the three times. However, since this is a person whose predispositions for dualistic appearance of apprehended- object and apprehending-subject with respect to the eight collections of consciousness have not been extinguished or, in the religious vocabulary of the path of method, since this is a person whose predispositions for the unfolding of the three appearances have not been extinguished, this, therefore, is an occasion of the path in which the primordial noumenon has not been released from adventitious defilements. At such a point all states of meditative equipoise and states subsequent to meditative equipoise in the continuum of the meditator do not pass beyond appearing in a continuum of moments. Hence, in terms of the mode of appearance [in such a situation, the is expressed as being compounded.
When the predispositions for the unfolding of the three appearances have been extinguished, this being at the time of Buddhahood, when the primordial noumenon manifests, the body of pristine wisdom a great permanence like a vajra never fluctuating from the sphere of reality is a great uncompoundedness; it is not compounded. You will be freed from the nets of doubt when you make distinctions concerning individual intended meanings in accordance with the general scriptures such as when: in terms of its mode of appearance, it is posited as like being newly arisen from the viewpoint of being a Distinctions 133 separative effect of earlier having meditatively cultivated the path;
and by way of the factor of engaging in sequence in the exalted activities of a Buddha for the sake of trainees, it is posited as like compounded, and so forth. In that fashion, most of the others [that is, most of those outside Óying-ma] also assert that a Buddha body and pristine wisdom are impermanent in entity but permanent in terms of their continuum [in the sense that their continuums go on forever. However,] those who assert that [a Buddha] body and pristine wisdom are a nature of fruitional emptiness endowed with all supreme aspects assert that [ ] body and pristine wisdom are permanent by way of their own entities, but impermanent and continuous in terms of how they appear to trainees, like what is said in the Compendium of the Thought of the SÒtras.a Thus, while in terms of how the mode of subsistence is there are not any phenomena included within the three times that deviate from the sameness of lacking production and cessation in their basic disposition, there is an unconfused dawning of all varieties of phenomena, such as self and other, cyclic existence and nirvåòa, compounded and uncompounded, past, present, and future, and so forth. It is not necessary from apprehending one of these two classes to abandon the other.b Those for whom the import of the non-contradiction of the two truths dawns thus in connection with the mode of realization of the a The continuum of the reality of Buddhahood is permanent, but in terms of how this manifests to trainees, it seems to be impermanent. b Apprehending the noumenon, it is not necessary to give up compounded phenomena, and apprehending compounded phenomena, it is not necessary to give up the noumenon. 134 Fundamental Mind eight profunditiesa come to have no doubt regarding the sÒtras and tantras of the Great Vehicle.b Alas, at this present time of degeneration of the view,c
Most of the beings who could serve as witnesses have flowed into the sphere of peace. Those of bad conceptualization, lacking analysis differentiating between what is and is not the doctrine, Have disturbed this supreme teaching. Hungry ghosts see even food endowed with a hundred tastes as awful vomit, And in the perspective of those with a bile disease a conch appears to be yellow; Just so, how awful is this situation in which The doctrine is infected with the faults of their own minds!
a These are the eight eliminations of proliferation the lack of cessation, production, annihilation, permanence, coming, going, difference, and sameness. b For beginners, the two truths appear to be contradictory, but those persons to whom the meaning of the noncontradiction of the two truths dawns well in this way easily generate ascertaining knowledge without doubt with respect to the import of the sÒtras and tantras. That concludes the text of the first book of the three cycles concerning fundamental mind, called The Meaning of Fundamental Mind, Clear Light, Expressed in Accordance with the Transmission of Conqueror Knowledge-Bearers: Vajra Matrix. c With he expresses sadness because people are not practicing the view, meditation, and behavior of this system. Distinctions 135 Look at this shameless assertion That a momentary, impermanent, mutable, subtle mind Which is an illustration of a true suffering Is the path and effect of the monarch of supreme secrecy. Though the Conquerors have caused the cool rain of the supreme doctrine Profound, peaceful, devoid of proliferation, luminous, uncompounded, And like ambrosia to fall on the realms of trainees, It has been wrecked by the salty filth of those of bad lot. Since all dualistic and conceptual proliferations are essentially pure, the extreme of existence is cleared away, And through spontaneous self-luminosity the extreme of annihilation is cleared away. Though expressed dualistically, it is non-dual equality, Union, basic knowledge and emptiness, fundamental vajra-mind.
This is the essence of the profound thought of the sÒtras and tantras of definitive meaning, Unraveled well by millions of scholar-adept Knowledge-Bearers. The groups of Conquerors and superior Conqueror- Children enlightened From this supreme path as their basis of release are the witnesses. 136 Fundamental Mind Through the fervent intention of my own mind, Ia have collected in one place The essence of the sacred word of the omniscient Mi-pam, Sole lion of proponents in the snowy ranges, appearance of Mañjughoøha, Sole father of all Conquerors, in the manner of a virtuous spiritual guide for transmigrators such as myself.
In this that I have assembled There is no pollution by the mess of my own words, But because my qualities of training and meditative familiarization are slight, If there are any mistakes, such as confusing the earlier and the later, and so forth, I confess. Through the stainless intense virtue arisen from this, Very white like a moon of autumn, May all the pangs of fever of decline in this age of the five ruinations be pacified, And may the grove of night lilies teaching blossom. T of this greatly luminous definite secrecy, May this good text bring the auspiciousness of joy to the worlds of the three levelsb a The person who wrote down this text was She-chen Gye- «zal (zhe chen dgyes rtsal ), not Mi-pam-gya-tso himself. b Below, on, and above the ground, or desire, form, and formless realms.
For as long as this great earth lasts,
Like a sun and moon lamp in darkness.
In this first book on fundamental mind, which was bestowed
by the foremost lama, the omniscient, greatly perceiving
Mi-pam-jam- el-gyay- ay-dor-je,152 I have filled in
hings.
In accordance with whatever I could figure out with
my own mind I, a mantrika monastic, the stupid Dor-jeÛang-
chok-gye- a-«zel,a wrote this in my own place of
residence, Place of the Spreading and Propagation of the
Two Teachings,153 during interstices between retreat sessions
in an isolation hut. May this also serve as a cause for
the long stability of the victory banner of the teaching of
the definitively secret.
Through the virtue of publishing this distilled essence
of the secret speech of the omniscient lama,
May all sentient beings, transmigrators equal to
space, myself and others,
Be taken care of by the supreme lamab and thereupon
Become monarchs of doctrine spontaneously
achieving the two aims.c
a rdo rje dbang mchog dgyes pa rtsal, which is the poetic name
of She-chen Gye-«zal.
b That is to say, Mi-pam-gya-tso.
c don gnyis) could be taken as the body of
attributes which is the f elfare and the
Glossary
English Tibetan Sanskrit
abbot mkhan po
actual rang mtshan pa
apprehended-objects and
apprehending-subjects
artifice rtsal
basic knowledge rig pa
clear light
compounded saôsk¸ta
Conqueror Knowledge-
Bearer
delicate clear light
element of attributes/ sphere of reality
chos kyi dbyings dharmadhåtu
emptiness stong pa nyid
empty and luminous stong gsal
essential purity ka dag
fundamental cognition
fundamental mind /
gnyug sems
Great Completeness rdzogs chen
great seal phyag rgya chen po mahåmudrå
immutable mind
Knowledge-Bearer
leap-over thod rgal
luminous and knowing gsal rig
mark mtshan ma
master slob dpon
mind-basis-of-all kun gzhi rnam par shes pa
ålayavijñåna
mind-vajra sems kyi rdo rje
natural mind of clear light
140 Fundamental Mind
English Tibetan Sanskrit
naturally flowing noumenon rang bzhin bab kyi
chos nyid
noumenal fundamental mind
sems
noumenal mind chos nyid kyi sems
noumenon chos nyid dharmatå
One-Gone-Thus de bzhin gshegs pa tathågata
One-Gone-to-Bliss bde bar gshegs pa sugata
phenomena and noumenon chos dang chos nyid
pristine wisdom of clear light
proliferation spros pa prapañca
reading-transmission bshad lung
reasoning of dependence apekøåyukti
reasoning of nature chos nyid kyi rigs/rig
pa
dharmatåyukti
reasoning of performance of
function pa
kåryakåraòayukti
reasoning of tenable proof
rigs pa
upapattisådhanayukti
sciences rig gnas
self-arisen matrix rang byung snying po
self-arisen pristine wisdom rang byung ye shes
self-dawning rang shar
self-effulgence rang mdangs
self-knowing rang rig
self-luminous rang gsal
self-release rang grol
sphere of reality/ element of
attributes
chos kyi dbyings dharmadhåtu
sphere dbyings
spontaneity lhun grub
that endowed with the spacevajra
pervading space yi rdo rje can
Translated Word of Buddha
uncompounded asaôsk¸ta
unhindered zang thal
List of Abbreviations
sde dge edition of the Tibetan canon published
by Dharma Press: the Nyingma Edition of the sDe-dge
bKa'-'gyur and bsTan-'gyur (Oakland, Calif.: Dharma Press,
1981).
(Sichuan,
sde dge
Facsimile Edition of the 18th Century Redaction of Si tu chos
ction of H.H. the 16th
rgyal dbang karma pa (Delhi: Delhi Karmapae Chodhey
Gyalwae Sungrab Partun Khang, 1977).
The Tibetan Tripitaka
(Tokyo-Kyoto: Tibetan Tripitaka Research Foundation,
1955-1962).
stog Tog Palace Manuscript of the Tibetan
Kanjur (Leh, Ladakh: Smanrtsis Shesrig Dpemdzod, 1979).
The Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library
of the University of Virginia at www.thdl.org. (The identifications
in the endnotes of THDL numbers for tantras are
tentative.)
A Complete Catalogue of the Tibetan Buddhist
Canons, edited by Hakuju Ui et al. (Sendai, Japan: Tohoku
University, 1934), and A Catalogue of the Tohoku University
Collection of Tibetan Works on Buddhism, edited by Yensho
Kanakura et al. (Sendai, Japan: Tohoku University, 1953).
sde dge sDe dge Tibetan Tripiîaka bsTan
edited by Z. Yamaguchi et al. (Tokyo: Tokyo University
Press, 1977-1984).
Bibliography
SÒtras and tantras are listed alphabetically by English title in the
f irst section of the bibliography. Indian and Tibetan treatises are
listed alphabetically by author in the second section; other works
are listed alphabetically by author in the third section. Works
mentioned in the f irst or second section are not repeated in the
third section.
1. SÒtras and Tantras
All-Creating Monarch
kun byed rgyal po/ chos thams cad rdzogs pa chen po byang chub kyi sems
kun byed rgyal po
THDL Ng1.1.2.1
Compilations of Indicative Verse
udånavarga
P992, vol. 39
English translation: W. Woodville Rockhill. The Udånavarga: A Collection
of Verses from the Buddhist Canon. London: Trübner, 1883. Also: Gareth Sparham. The Tibetan Dhammapada. New Delhi: Mahayana Publications,
1983; rev. ed., London: Wisdom Publications, 1986.
Compendium of the Thought of the SÒtras
dus
pa'i rgyud
THDL Ng2.3.3
Descent into Laºkå SÒtra
laºkåvatårasÒtra
P775, vol. 29
Sanskrit: Bunyiu Nanjio. Bibl. Otaniensis, vol. 1. Kyoto: Otani University Press, 1923. Also: P. L. Vaidya. SaddharmalaºkåvatårasÒtram. Buddhist Sanskrit Texts 3. Darbhanga, India: Mithila Institute, 1963.
English translation: D. T. Suzuki. The Lankavatara Sutra. London: Routledge
and Kegan Paul, 1932.
Foremost Powerful Excellent Great Completeness Tantra
rdzogs pa chen po rje btsan dam pa
THDL Ng4.1.16
144 Fundamental Mind
General Tantra of the Great Lotus Sovereign Gone to Bliss
padma dbang chen bde gshegs spyi dril gyi rgyud/ de bzhin gshegs pa thams
cad kyi dgongs pa spyi dril gyi rgyud
THDL Ng2.3.4
Great Completeness Lion of the Culmination of Artifice Tantra
rdzogs chen seng ge rtsal rdzogs kyi rgyud/ seng ge rtsal rdzogs chen po'i
rgyud
THDL Ng1.3.3.8
Guhyasamåja Tantra
sarvatathågatakåyavåkcittarahasyaguhyasamåjanåmamahåkalparåja
de bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyi sku gsung thugs kyi gsang chen gsang ba
P81, vol. 3; D442, vol. ca; Dharma vol. 29
Hevajra Tantra
hevajratantraråja
P10, vol. 1
English translation: D. L. Snellgrove. Hevajra Tantra, Parts 1 and 2. London:
Oxford University Press, 1959. Also: G. W. Farrow and I. Menon.
The Concealed Essence of the Hevajra Tantra. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass,
1992.
Inlaid Jewels Tantra
nor bu phra bkod/ nor bu phra bkod rang gi don thams cad gsal bar byed
pa'i rgyud
THDL Ng1.3.3.16
Mad Elephant Tantra
glang po rab bog gi rgyud
THDL Ng3.1.3.3.5
Miraculous Secret Essence
sgyu phrul gsang ba snying po
THDL Ng3.1.1.8
Miraculous Transcendence Great Tantra
sgyu phrul thal ba'i rgyud chen po
THDL Ng3.1.2.1.4
Mirror of the All-Good Exalted Mind Tantra
kun tu bzang po thugs kyi me long gi rgyud
THDL Ng1.3.3.14
Monarch of Multitudinous Expanse Tantra
klong chen rab byams rgyal po'i rgyud
THDL Ng1.2.1
Monarch of Tantras: The Vajrasattva Magical Net
rgy phrul dra ba/ rdo rje sems dpa'i
sgyu phrul dra ba gsang ba thams cad kyi me long zhes bya ba'i rgyud
THDL Ng3.1.2.1.2
Bibliography 145
Quintessence of the View of the Great Completeness: The Broad Expanse of Space
Tantra
THDL Ng1.5.20
Tantra Containing the Definitive Meaning of the Great Completeness
rdzogs chen nges don
che rnam par bkod pa
THDL Ng1.5.17
Tantra of the Expanse of the All-Good Pristine Wisdom: Refined Gold of Great
Value
kun tu bzang po ye shes klong gi rgyud rin chen gser gyi yang zhun/ rdzogs pa chen po nges don dus pa'i yang snying
THDL Ng1.5.23
Tantra of Great Luminous Meaning Devoid of Proliferation
THDL Ng1.5.1
Tantra of the Great Completeness Equal to Space
THDL Ng1.5.24
Tantra of Quintessential Instructions of the Precious Lamp of Secret Pristine Wisdom
THDL Ng1.2.7
Tantra of the Great Self-Dawning Basic Knowledge
THDL Ng1.3.3.3
Tantra of the View of the Great Completeness: The Complete Depth of Pristine Wisdom
rdzogs chen lta ba ye shes gting rdzogs kyi rgyud
THDL Ng1.1.3.21
2. Other Sanskrit and Tibetan Works
AnubhÒtisvarÒpåcårya
SÒtra
sårasvatavyåkaraòa / sårasvat¦prakriyå
dbyangs can sgra mdo/ dbyangs can ma
P5886, vol. 148; P5911, vol. 149; P5912, vol. 149
Þryadeva ( second to third century C.E.)
Four Hundred / Treatise of Four Hundred Stanzas / Four Hundred Stanzas on
the Yogic Deeds of Bodhisattvas
P5246, vol. 95
Edited Tibetan and Sanskrit fragments along with English translation: Ka146
Fundamental Mind
ren Lang. i
Merit and Knowledge. Indiske Studier 7. Copenhagen: Akademisk
Forlag, 1986.
English translation: Geshe Sonam Rinchen and Ruth Sonam. Yogic Deeds of Bodhisattvas: Gyel- Hundred. Ithaca, N.Y.:
Snow Lion Publications, 1994.
udi
n-
Rivista degli Studi
Orientali 10 (1925): 521-567.
Asaºga (thogs med, fourth century)
Five Treatises on the Grounds
1. Grounds of Yogic Practice
yogåcårabhÒmi
rnal
P5536-5538, vols. 109-110
Grounds of Bodhisattvas
bodhisattvabhÒmi
byang chub sem
P5538, vol. 110
Sanskrit: Unrai Wogihara. BodhisattvabhÒmi: A Statement of the
Whole Course of the Bodhisattva (Being the Fifteenth Section of
YogåcårabhÒmi). Leipzig: 1908; Tokyo: Seigo KenyÒkai, 1930-
1936. Also: Nalinaksha Dutt. Bodhisattvabhumi (Being the XVth
bhumi). Tibetan Sanskrit Works
Series 7. Patna, India: K. P. Jayaswal Research Institute, 1966.
English translation of the Chapter on Suchness, the fourth chapter of
Part I of what is the fifteenth volume of the Grounds of Yogic
Practice: Janice D. Willis. On Knowing Reality. New York: Columbia University Press, 1979; reprint, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass,
1979.
2. Compendium of Ascertainments
rnam par gtan la dbab pa bsdu ba
P5539, vols. 110-111
3. Compendium of Bases
vastusaôgraha
gzhi bsdu ba
P5540, vol. 111
4. Compendium of Enumerations
paryåyasaôgraha
rnam grang bsdu ba
P5543, vol. 111
5. Compendium of Explanations
vivaraòasaôgraha
rnam par bshad pa bsdu ba
Bibliography 147
P5543, vol. 111
Grounds of Hearers
nyan sa
P5537, vol. 110
Sanskrit: Karunesha Shukla. õråvakabhÒmi. Tibetan Sanskrit Works Series
14. Patna, India: K. P. Jayaswal Research Institute, 1973.
Two Summaries
1. Summary of Manifest Knowledge
abhidharmasamuccaya
chos mngon pa kun btus
P5550, vol. 112
Sanskrit: Pralhad Pradhan. Abhidharma Samuccaya of Asaºga. Visva-
Bharati Series 12. Santiniketan, India: Visva-Bharati (Santiniketan
Press), 1950.
French translation: Walpola Rahula. La compendium de la super-doctrine
(philosophie) (Abhi Paris: École Française
ême-Orient, 1971.
English translation: Walpola Rahula. Abhidharmasamuccaya: The Compendium
of the Higher Teaching (Philosophy) by Asaºga. Trans. Sara
Boin-Webb. Fremont, Calif.: Asian Humanities Press, 2001.
2. Summary of the Great Vehicle
mahåyånasaôgraha
theg pa chen po bsdus pa
P5549, vol. 112
French translation and Chinese and Tibetan texts: Étienne Lamotte. La
. 2 vols. Publications de
Orientaliste de Louvain 8. Louvain: Université de Louvain, 1938; reprint,
1973.
English translation: John P. Keenan. The Summary of the Great Vehicle by
Bodhisattva Asaºga: Translated from the Chinese of Paramårtha. Berkeley,
Calif.: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research,
1992.
-ri Ío-sang-rap-Ôel ( 1840-1910?)
Raprab
gsal dgag lan
n.d.
Chandragomin
P5767, vol. 140
Sanskrit edition: Cåndravyåkaraòaô. Jodhapura, 1967.
Chandrak¦rti (candrak¦rti, zla ba grags pa, seventh century)
d
madhaymakåvatårabhåøya
dbu ma la grel
148 Fundamental Mind
P5263, vol. 98. Also: Dharmsala, India: Council of Religious and Cultural
Affairs, 1968.
Tibetan: Louis de La Vallée Poussin. Madhyamakåvatåra par Candrak¦rti.
Bibliotheca Buddhica 9. Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio Verlag, 1970.
English translation: C. W. Huntington, Jr. The Emptiness of Emptiness: An
Introduction to Early Indian Mådhyamika, 147-195. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1989.
French translation (up to chap. 6, stanza 165): Louis de La Vallée Poussin.
Muséon 8 (1907): 249-317; Muséon 11 (1910): 271-358; Muséon 12
(1911): 235-328.
German translation (chap. 6, stanzas 166-226): Helmut Tauscher. Candrak
¦rti-Madhyamakåvatåra¯ und Madhyamakåvatårabhåøyam. Vienna:
Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien, Universität
Wien, 1981.
Supplement to (Någår
madhyamakåvatåra
dbu ma la jug pa
P5261, P5262, vol. 98
Tibetan: Louis de La Vallée Poussin. Madhyamakåvatåra par Candrak¦rti.
Bibliotheca Buddhica 9. Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio Verlag, 1970.
English translation (chaps. 1-5): Jeffrey Hopkins. Compassion in Tibetan Buddhism. London: Rider, 1980; reprint, Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications,
1980.
English translation (chap. 6): Stephen Batchelor. Echoes of Voidness by
Geshé Rabten, 47-92. London: Wisdom Publications, 1983.
e-
Dharmak¦rti (chos kyi grags pa, seventh century)
Seven Treatises on Valid Cognition
1. Analysis of Relations
sambandhapar¦køå
P5713, vol. 130
2. Ascertainment of Prime Cognition
tshad ma rnam par nges pa
P5710, vol. 130
3.
pramåòavårttikakårikå
tshad ma rnam
P5709, vol. 130. Also: Sarnath, India: Pleasure of Elegant Sayings Press,
1974.
Sanskrit: Dwarikadas Shastri. Pramåòavårttika of Þchårya Dharmak¦rtti.
Varanasi, India: Bauddha Bharati, 1968. Also, YÒsho Miyasaka.
- Acta Indologica 2
(1971-1972): 1-206. Also, (chap. 1 and autocommentary) Raniero
Bibliography 149
Gnoli. The Pramåòavårttikam of Dharmak¦rti: The First Chapter with
the Autocommentary. Rome: Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo
Oriente, 1960.
English translation (chap. 2): Masato rrvard
University, 1957.
English translation (chap. 4, stanzas 1-148): Tom J.F. Tillemans. Dharrttika:
An Annotated Translation of the Fourth
Chapter (parårthånumåna), vol. 1. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen
Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2000.
4. Drop of Reasoning
nyåyabinduprakaraòa
P5711, vol. 130
English translation: Th. Stcherbatsky. Buddhist Logic. New York: Dover
Publications, 1962.
5. Drop of Reasons
hetubindunåmaprakaraòa
gtan tshigs kyi thigs pa zhes bya ba rab tu byed pa
P5712, vol. 130
6. Principles of Debate
vådanyåya
P5715, vol. 130
7. Proof of Other Continuums
saôtånåntarasiddhinåmaprakaraòa
P5716, vol. 130
Guòaprabha (yon tan od )
Aphorisms on Discipline
vinayasÒtra
P5619, vol. 123
Maitreya (byams pa)
Five Doctrines of Maitreya
1. Sublime Continuum of the Great Vehicle / Great Vehicle Treatise on the Sublime Continuum / Treatise on the Later Scriptures of the Great Vehicle
the
P5525, vol. 108; D4024, Dharma vol. 77
Sanskrit: E. H. Johnston (and T. Chowdhury). The Ratnagotravibhåga
Mahåyånottaratantra tra. Patna, India: Bihar Research Society, 1950.
English translation: E. Obermiller.
Acta Orientalia 9 (1931): 81-306. Also: J. Takasaki. A
Study on the Ratnagotravibhåga. Rome: Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed
Estremo Oriente, 1966.
150 Fundamental Mind
2. Differentiation of Phenomena and Noumenon
dharmadharmatåvibhaºga
chos dang chos nyid rnam par byed pa
P5523, vol. 108; D4022, Dharma vol. 77
Dharmadharmatåvibhaºga and the
Dharmadharmatå-vibhaºgavætti, Tibetan Texts, Edited and Collated,
Based upon the Peking and Derge Edi Studies in Indology and
Buddhology: Presented in Honour of Professor Susumu Yamaguchi on the
Occasion of his Sixtieth Birthday, edited by Gadjin M. Nagao and Jßshß
Nozawa. Kyoto: Hozokan, 1955.
English translation: John Younghan Cha. A Study of the Dharmadharmatåvibhåga:
An Analysis of the Religious Philosophy of the Yogåcåra,
ntary.
Ph.D. diss., Northwestern University, 1996.
English translation: Jim Scott. ng Phenomena and
Pure Being with commentary by Mipham. Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications,
2004.
3. Differentiation of the Middle and the Extremes
madhyåntavibhaºga
byed pa
P5522, vol. 108; D4021, Dharma vol. 77
Sanskrit: Gadjin M. Nagao. Madhyåntavibhåga-bhåøya. Tokyo: Suzuki Research
Foundation, 1964. Also: Ramchandra Pandeya. Madhyåntavibhåga-
. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1971.
English translation: Stefan Anacker. Seven Works of Vasubandhu. Delhi:
Motilal Banarsidass, 1984.
Also, of chapter 1: Thomas A. Kochumuttom. A Buddhist Doctrine of Experience.
Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1982. Also, of chapter 1: Th. Stcherbatsky.
Madhyåntavibhåga, Discourse on Discrimination between
Middle and Extremes Ascribed to Bodhisattva Maitreya and Commented
by Vasubandhu and Sthiramati. Bibliotheca Buddhica 30 (1936). Osnabrück,
Germany: Biblio Verlag, 1970; reprint, Calcutta: Indian Studies
Past and Present, 1971. Also, of chapter 1: David Lasar Friedmann.
Sthiramati, Madhyåntavibhågaþ¦kå: Analysis of the Middle Path
and the Extremes. Utrecht, Netherlands: Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden,
e-
Monumenta Nipponica 9, nos.
1-2 (1953): 277-303 and Monumenta Nipponica 10, nos. 1-2 (1954):
227-269.
4. Ornament for Clear Realization
abhisamayålaôkåra
P5184, vol. 88; D3786, vol. ka; Dharma vol. 63
Sanskrit: Th. Stcherbatsky and E. Obermiller, eds. Abhisamayålaôkåra-
Prajñåpåramitå- -õåstra. Bibliotheca Buddhica 23. Osnabrück,
Germany: Biblio Verlag, 1970.
Bibliography 151
English translation: Edward Conze. Abhisamayålaôkåra. Serie Orientale
Roma 6. Rome: Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente,
1954.
5. Ornament for the Great Vehicle SÒtras
mahåyånasÒtrålaôkåra
P5521, vol. 108; D4020, Dharma vol. 77
Sanskrit: Sitansusekhar Bagchi. Mahåyåna-SÒtrålaôkåra¯ of Asaºga [with
ts 13. Darbhanga,
India: Mithila Institute, 1970.
Sanskrit text and translation into French: Sylvain Lévi. Mahåyåna-
SÒtrålaôkåra, exposé de la doctrine du Grand Véhicule selon le système
Yogåcåra. 2 vols. Paris: Bibliothè Hautes Études,
1907, 1911.
English translation: L. Jamspal et al. The Universal Vehicle Discourse Literature.
Editor-in-chief, Robert A.F Thurman. New York: American Institute of Buddhist Studies, Columbia University, 2004.
Mi-pam-gya-tso (mi pham rgya mtsho, 1846-1912)
Clear Exposition of the Text of ( )
Compilation of Prime Cognition
tshad ma rnam grel gyi gzhung gsal bor bshad pa legs bshad snang ba'i
gter
Collected W - -pham-rgya-mtsho : Comprising a collection
of the works of the scholar-saint selected for their rarity from recently
unpublished xylographic prints and MSS. from the libraries of Dudjom Rimpoche, Luding Khen Rimpoche, and other religious teachers and laymen
by Sonam Topgay Kazi. Gangtok: Kazi, 1972
Explanation of the Eight Pronouncements
khreng tu'u: si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2000
- -pham-rgya-mtsho : Comprising a collection
of the works of the scholar-saint selected for their rarity from recently
unpublished xylographic prints and MSS. from the libraries of Dudjom Rimpoche, Luding Khen Rimpoche, and other religious teachers and laymen
by Sonam Topgay Kazi. Gangtok: Kazi, 1972.
The Meaning of Fundamental Mind, Clear Light, Expressed in Accordance with
the Transmission of Conqueror Knowledge-Bearers: Vajra Matrix
gnyug sems od gsal gyi don rgyal ba rig dzin brgyud pa'i lung bzhin brjod
pa rdo rje'i snying po
Edition cited: Varanasi: Tarthang Tulku, 1965.
hings
upon the nature of mind and an elucidation of the most difficult points
of Buddhist philosophy taught by Jam-mgon Bla-ma Mi-pham and written
by Ze-chen Rgyal-tshab Gyur-med-pad-ma-rnam-rgyal. Paro, Bhutan :
Kyichu Temple, 1982.
Gñug sems skor gsum: notes on Jam-Mgon Mi-Pham-Rgya-Mtsho's Lectures
152 Fundamental Mind
on the Nature of the Primordial Mind in the Context of Dzogchen
Psychology, as Transcribed by his Disciple Ze-chen Rgyal-tshab Padma-
Rnam-Rgyal. Gangtok: Sonam Topgay Kazi, 1972.
Collected writings of Jam-mgon Ju Mi-pham-rgya-mtsho : Comprising a collection
of the works of the scholar-saint selected for their rarity from recently
unpublished xylographic prints and MSS. from the libraries of Dudjom Rimpoche, Luding Khen Rimpoche, and other religious teachers and laymen
by Sonam Topgay Kazi. Gangtok: Kazi, 1972.
Response to Objections C
Sunshine Illumination
spyod jug sher le brgal lan nyin byed snang ba
Collected Writings of Jam-mgon Ju Mi-pham-rgya-mtsho : Comprising a collection
of the works of the scholar-saint selected for their rarity from recently
unpublished xylographic prints and MSS. from the libraries of Dudjom Rimpoche, Luding Khen Rimpoche, and other religious teachers and laymen
by Sonam Topgay Kazi. Gangtok: Kazi, 1972.
Óga-ri Paò-chen Padma-Ûang-gyel ( l )
Ascertainment of the Three Vows
sdom gsum rnam nges
n.d.
ða- ò kun dga rgyal mtshan, 1182-1251)
Treasury of Reasoning on Valid Cognition
The Complete Works of the Great Masters of the Sa-skya Sect of the Tibetan Buddhism, vol. 5, 155.1.1-167.2.1. Tokyo: Toyo Bunko, 1968.
Sarvarvarman
KalåpasÒtra
kalåpasÒtra
P5775, vol. 140
Shåntideva (zhi ba lha, eighth century)
Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds
bodhi[[[sattva]]]caryåvatåra
jug pa
P5272, vol. 99
Sanskrit: P. L. Vaidya. Bodhicaryåvatåra. Buddhist Sanskrit Texts 12.
Darbhanga, India: Mithila Institute, 1988.
Sanskrit and Tibetan: Vidhushekara Bhattacharya. Bodhicaryåvatåra. Bibliotheca Indica 280. Calcutta: Asiatic Society, 1960.
Bodhicaryåvatåra. Bauddha-Himålaya-Granthamålå, 8. Leh, Ladåkh:
Central Institute of Buddhist Studies, 1989.
English translation: Stephen Batchelor. A Guide to the
Life. Dharamsala, India: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1979.
Also: Marion Matics. Entering the Path of Enlightenment. New York:
Macmillan, 1970. Also: Kate Crosby and Andrew Skilton. The
Bibliography 153
Bodhicaryåvatåra. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. Also: Padmakara Translation Group. The Way of the Bodhisattva. Boston: Shambhala, 1997. Also: Vesna A. Wallace and B. Alan Wallace. A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life. Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications,
1997.
Contemporary commentary by H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso.
Transcendent Wisdom. Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 1988. Also:
H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. A Flash of Lightning in the
Dark of the Night. Boston: Shambhala, 1994.
VirÒpa
Utterly Without Proliferation
suniøprapañcatattvopade a-nåma
shin tu spros med/ shin tu spros pa med pa de kho na nyid kyi man ngag ces bya ba
P2876, vol. 67
3. Other Works
Dorje, Gyurme, and Matthew Kapstein. The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism:
Its Fundamentals and History. Vol. 2. Boston: Wisdom Publications,
1991.
Dudjom Rinpoche. The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: Its Fundamentals
and History. Vol. 1. Trans. and ed. Gyurme Dorje and Matthew Kapstein.
Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1991.
Goodman, Steven D. -pham rgya-mtsho: An Account of His Life, the Printing
of His Works, and the Structure of His Treatise Entitled mKhastshul
la jug- . In Ronald M. Davidson (ed.), Wind Horse: Proceedings
of the North American Tibetological Society, 58-78. Berkeley: Asian Humanities Press, 1981.
Kapstein, Matthew. - . In Donald S. Lopez, Jr. (ed.), Buddhist Hermeneutics, pp. 149-174. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1988.
Pettit, John. Mi- . Boston: Wisdom Publications,
1999.
Endnotes
1 gnyug sems od gsal gyi don rgyal ba rig i lung
bzhin brjod pa rdo rje'i snying po. I have added the chapter headings.
2 . His names, as
listed in TBRC (Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center) P252, are
mi pham rnam rgyal rgya mtsho, mi pham rgya mtsho, ju mi pham rnam rgyal rgya mtsho, and jam mgon mi pham rgya mtsho.
3 Edited and translated by Jeffrey Hopkins, co-edited by Anne
C. Klein (London: Rider/Hutchinson, 1982; Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 1983; German edition, Munich: Diederichs
Verlag, 1988; Chinese edition, Om Ah Hum, 1998).
4 Dharamsala, India: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives,
1973.
5 Dharamsala, India: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives,
1973.
6 Harvard
Journal of Asian Studies, 22 (1959): 261-267.
7 See the technical note in Jeffrey Hopkins, Meditation on Emptiness (London: Wisdom Publications, 1983), pp. 19-21.
8 This is an oral expansion, and sometimes condensation of
Mi-pam-gya- ; see Khetsun Sangpo, Biographical Dictionary of Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism, vol. 4 (Dharamsala,
India: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1973), 531-547.
For a splendid translation of a similar biography, as well as helpful
notes, see Dudjom Rinpoche, The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism, vol. 1, trans. and ed. Gyurme Dorje and Matthew Kapstein (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1991), 869-880. For
helpful additional material, see Steven D. -pham
rgya-mtsho: An Account of His Life, the Printing of His Works,
and the Structure of His Treatise Entitled mKhasjug-
, , Wind Horse: Proceedings
of the North American Tibetological Society (Berkeley: Asian Humanities Press, 1981), 58-78; and John Pettit, Mi-
Beacon of Certainty (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1999), 19-39.
156 Fundamental Mind
9 khams.
10 this place is located
in the present sde dge county, dkar mdzes prefecture.
11 pad ma dar rgyas.
12 mi pham rgya mtsho.
13 s paò chen padma dbang rgyal.
14 sdom gsum rnam nges.
15
16 ze/zhe chen bstan gnyis dar rgyas gling.
17
18
19
20
21 bshad lung; these can include occasional discussion of important
points but tend to be the reading of a text, constituting
transmission passed down orally from another master.
22 rig gnas.
23 nyag rong/ nyan rong.
24 mgo log.
25
26 lho brag mkhar chu.
27 po.
28 King Tri-Ôong-day-«zen (
btsan) and twenty-
29
30 lab skyabs mgon dbang chen dgyes rab rdo rje, born 1832.
31 Gyurme Dorje and Matthew Kapstein (The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism, vol. 2, 85 n. 1210) identify
this as bean- of White
-brown makøaka bean is held in
the mouth. If the bean sprouts, this is a sign of successful accom-
32 rdza dpal sprul o rgyan jigs med chos kyi dbang po, 1808-1887.
33 spyod jug shes rab le u i tshig don go slar bshad pa.
34 mkhyen brtse i dbang po, 1820-1892.
Endnotes 157
35 rin chen gter mdzod.
36 jam mgon kong sprul blo gros mtha' yas jam mgon yon tan rgya mtsho, 1813-1899.
37 cåndravyåkaraòasÒtra; P5767, vol. 140.
38 The Rangjung Yeshe Dictionary lists the five as:
1. sgra rig pa'i ming gi mtshams sbyor, :
sandhi of grammatical terms
2. dbyangs kyi mtshams sbyor, svara-sandhi: sandhi of vowels
3. rang bzhin gyi mtshams sbyor: (?)
4. gsal byed kyi mtshams sbyor, vyañjana-sandhi: sandhi of consonants
5. rnam bcad kyi mtshams sbyor, visarga-sandhi: sandhi of visarga.
Thanks to Prof. Karen Lang for the Sanskrit and the English.
39 dbyangs can sgra mdo, sårasvatavyåkaraòa; P5886, vol. 148;
P5911, vol. 149; P5912, vol. 149.
40 P5775, vol. 140.
41
tshe bdag lca
42 1867-1934.
43 See p. 48.
44 The four reasonings are:
1. The reasoning of dependence ( , apekøåyukti
) is from the viewpoint that the arising of effects depends
on causes and conditions.
2. The reasoning of performance of function (bya ba byed
, kåryakåraòayukti ) is from the viewpoint that
phenomena perform their respective functions, such as
fire performing the function of burning. One examines,
rforms
this func
3. The reasoning of tenable proof (
pa, upapattisådhanayukti ) is to prove a meaning without
contradicting valid cognition. It is an examination within
considering whether the meaning has valid
cognition direct, inferential, or believable scripture.
158 Fundamental Mind
4. The reasoning of nature (chos nyid kyi rigs pa, dharmatåyukti
) is to examine from the viewpoint of natures
renowned in the world, such as heat being the nature of
fire and moisture being the nature of water; inconceivable
natures such as placing a world system in a single
hair-pore, and so forth.
45
46
47 blo gter dbang po, 1847-1914,
48 tshad ma rig gter; in The Complete Works of the Great Masters
of the Sa-skya Sect of the Tibetan Buddhism, vol. 5, 155.1.1-
167.2.1 (Tokyo: Toyo Bunko, 1968).
49 kun dga rgyal mtshan, 1182-1251.
50 gsol dpon padma.
51
52 dge lugs.
53 1840-1910(?).
54 rab gsal dgag lan.
55 hor brag dkar sprul sku blo bzang dpal ldan bstan dzin snyan
grags, 1866-1928; two texts are mi pham rnam rgyal gyi klan ka
bgyis pa dang po and mi pham rnam rgyal gyi rtsod pa'i yang lan log
lta'i khong khrag don pa'i skyug sman. Thanks to Gene Smith for
the identification.
56 spyod jug sher le brgal lan nyin byed snang ba.
57 tshad ma rnam grel gyi gzhung gsal bor bshad pa legs bshad
snang ba'i gter.
58 P5619, vol. 123.
59 This is an enormous collection of Tibetan translations
of sÒtras and tantras in 108 volumes.
60
61 bka brgyad rnam bshad.
62 ja pa mdo sngags.
63 bla ma rig mchog.
64 For an extensive presentation of Mi-pam-gyaon
this, see Chapter Three.
65 Douglas Duckworth, on reading the manuscript for this
Endnotes 159
book, pointed to another debate in person mentioned in Karma Phuntsho, ebates on Emptiness
(London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2005), 53:
mKhan po Jigs med Phun tshogs reports a debate with
Mongolian dGe lugs pa scholar Blo bzang Phun tshogs
in the presence of
po, the rNying yi
ma, the Sa skya scholar Blo gter dBang po, and the dGe lugs master Mi nyag Kun bzang Chos grags.
66 1308-1363.
67 thod rgal.
68 chos nyid. The term refers to the final reality and is often
found in the pair, phenomena and noumenon (chos dang chos nyid ).
69 For a list of the more important students, see Dudjom Rinpoche,
Nyingma School, vol. 1, 879, and TBRC P252.
70 zhe chen dgyes rtsal.
71
and thus I am using the latter in the mantras.
72 That is, father and mother, or male and female deities.
73 1846-1912.
74 gnyug sems.
75
76
77 chos nyid kyi sems.
78 rdzogs chen.
79
80
81
82 mkhan po.
83 slob dpon.
84 rtsal.
85 kun dga rgyal mtshan, 1182-1251.
86 de bzhin gshegs pa, tathågata.
87 bde bar gshegs pa, sugata.
160 Fundamental Mind
88 chos kyi dbyings.
89 spros pa, prapañca.
90 vigrahavyåvartanÐkårikå,
in stanza 29; P5229, vol. 95, 15.1.1. Sanskrit text in Bhattacharya,
Johnston, and Kunst, Dialectical Method, 14 and 61: yadi
kåcana pratijñå syån me tata eøa me bhaved doøa
91 mdo dgongs de bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyi dgongs pa dus pa'i rgyud, Ng2.3.3.
92 P775.
93 rang mdangs.
94 Paraphrasing Four Hundred Stanzas on the Yogic Deeds of Bodhisattvas, stanza 180 (VIII.5); sde dge 3846, 9a.7.
See Karen Lang, o
Cultivation of Merit and Knowledge, Indiske Studier 7 (Copenhagen:
Akademisk Forlag, 1986), 81; and Yogic Deeds of Bodhisattvas:
Gyel- commentary by Geshe Sonam Rinchen, translated and edited by Ruth Sonam (Ithaca,
N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 1994), 188. The entire stanza is:
Those of little merit would not even generate
Mere doubt about this doctrine.
Even through merely coming to doubt it
Cyclic existence is torn to tatters.
95 ka dag
96 lhun grub.
97 dbyings.
98 stong pa nyid.
99 rang mdangs.
100
101
102
103 sems kyi rdo rje.
104
105 rang bzhin bab kyi chos nyid.
106
107 chos nyid kyi rigs/rig pa.
Endnotes 161
108 rang mtshan pa.
109 rgy phrul dra ba/ rdo rje sems dpa i sgyu phrul dra ba gsang ba thams cad kyi me long zhes
i rgyud, THDL Ng3.1.2.1.2.
110 spros bral don gsal che , THDL Ng1.5.1.
111 kun gzhi rnam par shes pa, ålayavijñåna.
112 gsal rig.
113 stong gsal.
114 chos n
115 rdzogs chen nges don / lta ba thams cad kyi snying po rin po che rnam par bkod pa, THDL Ng1.5.17.
116 zang thal.
117 rang byung ye shes.
118 .
119 XIII.19cd; Sanskrit in Sylvain Lévi, Mahåyåna-SÒtrålaôkåra,
exposé de la doctrine du Grand Véhicule selon le Système Yogåcåra,
tome 1 (Paris: Bibliothè autes Études, 1907),
88:
vidhÐyate //.
120 I.63ab.
121 rdzogs chen nges don
po rin po che rnam par bkod pa, THDL Ng1.5.17.
122 kun tu bzang po ye shes klong gi rgyud rin chen gser gyi yang
zhun/ rdzogs pa chen po nges don dus pa'i yang snying, THDL
Ng1.5.23.
123 , THDL
Ng1.5.24.
124 rdzogs chen lta ba ye shes gting rdzogs kyi rgyud, THDL
Ng1.1.3.21.
125 , THDL Ng1.3.3.3.
126 chos, dharma; this could
127 rang grol.
128 kun tu bzang po thugs kyi me long gi rgyud, THDL
Ng1.3.3.14.
129 rdzogs chen seng ge rtsal rdzogs kyi rgyud / seng ge rtsal rdzogs
chen po'i rgyud, THDL Ng1.3.3.8.
162 Fundamental Mind
130 nor bu phra bkod/ nor bu phra bkod rang gi don thams cad gsal
bar byed pa'i rgyud, THDL Ng1.3.3.16.
131 klong chen rab byams rgyal po'i rgyud, THDL Ng1.2.1.
132 rdzogs pa chen po rje btsan dam pa, THDL Ng4.1.16.
133 kun byed rgyal po/ chos thams cad rdzogs pa chen po byang chub kyi sems kun byed rgyal po, THDL Ng1.1.2.1.
134 padma dbang chen bde gshegs spyi dril gyi rgyud/ de bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyi dgongs pa spyi dril gyi rgyud, THDL Ng2.3.4.
135 sgyu phrul gsang ba snying po, THDL Ng3.1.1.1.
136 sgyu phrul thal ba'i rgyud chen po, THDL Ng3.1.2.1.4.
137 phyag rgya chen po, mahåmudrå.
138 gsang ba dus pa; P81, vol. 3.
139 kye rdo rje; P10, vol. 1.
140 glang po rab bog gi rgyud, THDL Ng3.1.3.3.5.
141
kyi rgyud, THDL Ng1.5.20.
142 ,
THDL Ng1.2.7.
143 .
144
145 .
146 rnam rtog dang
147 mtshan ma.
148 shin tu spros med/ shin tu spros pa med pa de kho na nyid kyi
man ngag ces bya ba (suniøprapañcatattvopade a-nåma); P2876.
149 od gsal.
150 ,
151
152 mi pham jam dpal d .
153 bstan gnyis dar rgyas gling.
Index
abiding as the basis, 63, 81,
82, 113, 120
afflicted mentality, 66, 67, 74
afflictive emotions, 38, 44,
106
AnubhÒtisvarÒpåchårya
,
16
appearance and emptiness, 86,
114
appearances
three, 57, 58, 127, 128,
131, 132
apprehended-objects and
apprehending-subjects, 61,
64, 66, 79, 82, 89, 112,
115, 120, 124, 125, 132
artifice, 39, 61, 66, 67, 68,
112
Åryadeva
Four Hundred, 45
Atiyoga, 78, 90, 91, 95
Õa-«rül O-gyen-jik-me-chö-
»yi-Ûang- rdza dpal
kyi dbang po), 15, 23, 24,
108
-ri Ío-sang-rap-Ôel (
blo bzang rab gsal ), 21
basic knowledge, 46, 57, 65,
66, 67, 68, 71, 72, 73, 76,
78, 79, 80, 82, 83, 85, 86,
87, 89, 90, 91, 93, 94, 95,
100, 102, 110, 112, 114,
115, 116, 119, 120, 121,
123, 124, 125, 127, 131,
135
noumenal empty, 125
noumenal fundamental,
124
basic mind, 7, 45, 46, 47, 61,
62, 63, 87, 94, 96, 99, 100,
107, 115, 125
basis, path, and fruit, 24, 47,
52, 58, 99, 108
basis-of-all, 67, 73, 76, 77, 85
bliss
compounded, 58
great, 15, 26, 38, 39, 57,
96, 97, 113
bliss and emptiness, 15
bodies
three, 65
body
complete enjoyment, 65
emanation, 65
nature, 52, 53, 65, 78
of attributes, 52, 53, 54,
65, 72, 73, 75, 76, 77,
78, 79, 80, 85, 86, 89,
109, 137
self-arisen, 73, 76
buddha, 73, 75, 79, 82, 83,
113
buddhafication, 61
buddhafied, 62, 77, 78, 113
primordially, 53, 64
Bum-Ôar Ge-Ôhay Nga-Ûangjung-
½e ( bum gsar dge bshes
), 18
cause and effect, 40, 41, 68,
90, 95, 107
causes and conditions, 66, 73,
78, 87, 88, 91, 116, 129,
164 Fundamental Mind
157
Chandragomin, 16
Chandrak¦rti
Treatise on the Middle
18, 19, 41
clear light, 36, 42, 45, 46, 47,
52, 54, 61, 62, 74, 75, 79,
85, 96, 97, 99, 107, 110,
111, 113, 114, 116, 119,
120, 121, 126, 127, 128,
129, 131
basal, 7, 52, 63, 110
delicate, 127
noumenal, 126
noumenal basal, 128
self-arisen, 85
ultimate, 36
clear light and emptiness, 113
clear light basal sphere, 61
clear light nature of the mind,
74, 75, 111
collections of consciousness
eight, 62, 64, 66, 67, 68,
73, 85, 112, 120, 122,
124, 126, 132
seven, 67
six, 74, 123, 127
compassion, 13, 17, 27, 39,
53, 54, 65
Compendium of the Thought of
the SÒtras , 42, 43, 91, 101,
133
compounded, 7, 56, 58, 63,
65, 71, 72, 73, 75, 76, 85,
91, 99, 100, 108, 109, 110,
111, 113, 115, 116, 123,
124, 126, 127, 128, 129,
130, 131, 132, 133
awareness, 56, 58, 72
consciousness, 91
conceptuality, 36, 61, 67, 68,
74, 83, 84, 89, 90, 92, 93,
95, 106, 107, 112, 114,
115, 117, 119, 127, 129
conditions
four, 99, 129
Conqueror Knowledge-
Bearers, 48, 129, 134
consciousness
mental, 64, 66, 67, 74, 80,
119, 122, 123, 125, 130
cyclic existence, 28, 39, 45,
52, 53, 54, 61, 63, 65, 67,
68, 75, 76, 96, 97, 111,
112, 120, 121, 124, 130,
133, 160
cyclic existence and nirvåòa,
52, 53, 54, 61, 63, 65, 112,
120, 121, 124, 133
defilements, 62, 84, 86, 120
adventitious, 53, 55, 106,
132
four, 86
intrinsically free from, 53
definitive meaning, 45, 48, 58,
73, 77, 103, 105, 135
degeneration, 49, 65, 134
degenerations
five, 49
dependent-arising, 28, 106,
112
deprecation, 87, 103, 104
Descent into Laêkå SÒtra, 43
Dharmak¦rti
Compilation of Prime Cognition 101
Dor-je-Ûang-chok-gye- -«zel
(rdo rje dbang mchog dgyes
pa rtsal ), 137
dualism, 53, 54, 61, 62, 110,
Index 165
112, 113, 114, 116, 117,
120, 121, 125, 132, 135
effulgence, 45, 52, 81, 82,
115, 116, 120
emptiness, 7, 36, 39, 41, 42,
44, 46, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58,
63, 66, 68, 72, 73, 74, 79,
82, 90, 97, 100, 109, 110,
111, 112, 113, 114, 115,
119, 120, 121, 122, 123,
124, 125, 127, 129, 130,
131, 133, 135
endowed with all supreme
aspects, 41, 42, 55, 56,
133
mere, 53, 54, 58, 63, 71,
72, 113, 114, 115
empty and luminous, 71
entity, nature, and
compassion, 65
essential purity, 53, 54, 82,
120, 121
essentially pure, 71, 135
expanse-class, 56, 57, 85, 91
external objects, 66, 67, 74, 82
extreme, 54, 114
of annihilation, 135
of existence, 135
extremes
four, 41
of proliferation, 41
of things and non-things,
72
fabrication, 49, 104, 129
Foe Destroyer, 130
Foremost Powerful Excellent
Great Completeness Tantra,
87
fundamental cognition, 54, 55
fundamental mind, 7, 8, 28,
29, 36, 54, 55, 57, 82, 99,
110, 111, 113, 114, 115,
116, 119, 120, 125, 126,
129, 134, 137
basal, path, and fruit, 119
noumenal, 73, 120
-gyu ( d ), 19
Ga-rap-dor-je (
rje), 36, 110, 129
Ge-luk (dge lugs), 19, 20, 21,
25, 99
General Tantra of the Great
Lotus Sovereign Gone to
Bliss, 96
gnyug ma, 39
Great Completeness, 7, 8, 9,
23, 24, 26, 27, 36, 43, 44,
52, 53, 54, 56, 57, 62, 63,
68, 69, 75, 78, 85, 86, 89,
90, 91, 93, 95, 98, 99, 100,
102, 104, 107, 108, 109,
110, 113, 115, 122, 123,
124, 125, 126, 127, 129,
131
Great Completeness Lion of the
Culmination of Artifice
Tantra, 86
great seal, 97
Great Vehicle, 23, 41, 43, 46,
74, 113, 134
Guhyasamåja Tantra, 69, 97,
99, 131
Guòaprabha
Aphorisms on Discipline, 22
guru
etymology, 37, 38
Hevajra Tantra, 97, 112
homage, 37, 39
hundred-syllable mantra, 33,
34, 35
ignorance, 39, 64, 80, 83, 95,
112
166 Fundamental Mind
immutability, 39, 55, 63, 87
immutable, 36, 39, 56, 63, 64,
73, 75, 78, 80, 81, 96, 110,
132
immutable mind, 36, 56, 81
impermanent, 20, 63, 75, 83,
116, 124, 133, 135
inherent existence, 91, 107,
111
initiation, 15, 33, 34, 38, 69,
109, 122
fourth, 69
interpretable meaning, 48
Ja- -½gak (
sngags), 23, 24, 25, 99, 108
Jam- -Ôhay-Ìyen (
gshes gnyen), 37
Jam-gön-»ong-«rül Ío-drö-taye
(
blo gros mtha' yas) , 16, 17,
23, 108
Jam-Âang-kyen-«zay-wang-
(
dbang po), 16, 18, 19, 20,
22, 23, 25, 26, 108
Precious Treasury, 15
Ju-Ûön Jik-may-dor-je (
), 17
Kålachakra, 14, 113
Kam (khams), 13, 15, 19, 21,
25, 26, 29
Khetsun Sangpo Rinbochay, 7,
8, 31, 59
Autobiography, 9
Biographical Dictionary of Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism, 7, 9
Tantric Practice in Nyingma, 9
Lap-»yap-gön Ùang-chengyay-
rap-dor-je (lab skyabs mgon dbang chen dgyes rab
rdo rje), 15
leap-over, 26, 28, 81, 82, 115
Ío-«e-Ûang- blo gter dbang po), 18
logic, 48, 49
Lord of Laºkå, 92
luminosity, 7, 55, 56, 72, 74,
100, 123, 124, 125
luminous, 54, 55, 56, 63, 66,
71, 74, 76, 81, 88, 91, 99,
112, 113, 127, 135, 136
luminous and knowing, 71
Mad Elephant Tantra, 97, 114
Maitreya
Ornament for Clear Realization, 42
Ornament for the Great Vehicle SÒtras, 75
Sublime Continuum of the
Great Vehicle, 75, 149
Mañjughoøha, 136
Mañjushr¦, 14, 24, 37
black, 17, 25
Vådasiôha, 14
white, 15, 16
mantra, 22, 33, 34, 156
Mantra, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23,
33, 34, 38, 40, 42, 45, 46,
50, 69, 72, 74, 92, 93, 113
marks, 26, 54, 55, 56, 61, 71,
72, 74, 81, 85, 86, 90, 95,
111, 112, 114, 115, 116,
117, 120, 121
matrix
self-arisen, 73, 76, 79
matrix of all phenomena, 75,
88
matrix of enlightenment, 81
matrix-of-one-gone-to-bliss,
75, 99, 113
Index 167
maturation and release, 17
meditative equipoise, 109,
110, 131, 132
mental isolation, 90, 99, 126,
127
mentality, 66, 67, 68, 83, 84,
85, 86
mere negative, 52
milk, 49, 91, 96
mind
compounded, 56, 71, 99,
115, 126, 127, 128,
129, 130
mistaken, 7, 43, 44, 45, 69,
75, 77, 93
momentary, 63
subtle, 99, 100, 110, 111,
124, 126, 128, 129, 135
ultimate, 44
unmistaken, 43, 44, 45, 46,
47, 81, 93
mind of clear light, 47, 52, 54,
62, 68, 75, 96, 111, 113,
127, 131
basal, 53, 55, 61
fundamental innate, 69
natural, 54, 55
mind of enlightenment, 55,
56, 57, 78, 86, 88, 91, 94,
97, 98, 113, 114
ultimate, 56
mind-basis-of-all, 64, 66, 73
mind-class, 56, 57, 85, 91
mind-emptiness, 38
mindless, 73, 78, 79, 80
Mind-Only School, 43
mind-vajra, 54, 55
Mi-pam-gya-tso (mi pham rgya mtsho), 7, 99, 108, 136,
137
biography, 13
commentary on
Commentary on
Compilation
of Prime Cognition 21
commentary on the
perfection of wisdom,
18
Explanation of the Eight Pronouncements , 23
Ketaka Jewel, 23
purpose of book, 51
Response to Objections
Concerning the Chapter
on Wisdom in
Engaging
in the Bodhisattva
Deeds 21
Three Cycles on
Fundamental Mind, 7,
29
Miraculous Secret Essence , 96
Miraculous Transcendence
Great Tantra, 96
Mirror of the All-Good Exalted
Mind Tantra, 85
mistake and release, 53, 112,
120, 121
mode of subsistence, 41, 49,
52, 53, 55, 56, 57, 61, 62,
63, 65, 68, 71, 73, 77, 79,
91, 98, 109, 110, 111, 113,
119, 120, 121, 126, 131,
133
noumenal, 61
Monarch of Multitudinous
Expanse Tantra, 86
mutability, 75, 110, 113
Någårjuna
Refutation of Objections, 41
168 Fundamental Mind
Treatise on the Middle, 41,
55
Nam-kay-½ying- nam
), 14
New Translation Schools, 19,
92, 93, 126
nirvåòa, 61, 76, 96, 97, 111,
120, 124, 130
non-duality, 53, 54, 55, 56,
63, 90, 92, 106, 135
non-thing, 63, 71, 72, 96,
114, 117, 132
noumenal knowledge, 74
noumenal mind, 36, 74, 75
noumenon, 26, 39, 55, 56, 61,
62, 63, 68, 76, 79, 81, 82,
83, 87, 91, 93, 96, 109,
111, 112, 113, 114, 115,
116, 119, 123, 124, 126,
127, 129, 132, 133
fundamental, 110, 113
naturally flowing, 57
obstructions
afflictive, 39
karmic, 34, 47
to omniscience, 39
Old Translation School, 20,
92
One-Gone-Thus, 40
One-Gone-to-Bliss, 40
operative consciousnesses
six, 67
Padmasambhava, 14, 19, 37,
100
Paò-chen Padma-Ûang-gyel
(
dbang rgyal )
Ascertainment of the Three Vows, 13
path of method, 69, 131, 132
path of release, 69
perfection of wisdom, 41, 42,
57
Perfection of Wisdom SÒtras,
56
permanence and annihilation,
117
permanent, 76, 83, 116, 133
powers
four, 35
predispositions, 52, 53, 57, 62,
73, 82, 83, 86, 113, 132
primordial, 7, 29, 52, 57, 62,
63, 74, 89, 110, 111, 115,
132
primordially, 53, 61, 62, 63,
64, 65, 74, 76, 79, 84, 88,
92, 95, 97, 109, 112, 115,
116, 121
pristine wisdom, 42, 44, 45,
48, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 62,
63, 65, 68, 69, 71, 74, 77,
78, 79, 83, 84, 85, 86, 88,
89, 91, 95, 106, 107, 109,
110, 113, 116, 125, 132,
133
innate, 26, 57, 69
of clear light, 74
self-arisen, 7, 54, 55, 56,
57, 62, 65, 73, 74, 76,
77, 78, 80, 81, 83, 84,
89, 91, 94, 95, 109,
111, 113, 126, 127, 129
uncompounded, 91
production, 41, 55, 64, 76,
91, 114, 115, 116, 123,
130, 133, 134
Pure Land, 36
purification, 35, 61, 84, 93
Quintessence of the View of the
Great Completeness: The
Broad Expanse of Space
Index 169
Tantra, 102
quintessential instruction, 8,
16, 17, 22, 45, 57, 58, 69,
71, 74, 93, 94, 100, 101,
102, 103, 104, 105, 114,
126
quintessential-instructionclass,
56, 57, 85, 91
Råhula, 42
reading-transmission, 14, 18
reasoning concerning the
noumenon, 62
reasoning of dependence, 157
reasoning of nature, 158
reasoning of performance of
function, 157
reasoning of tenable proof,
157
reasonings
four, 17
rtog ge, 49
ða-»ya (sa skya), 16, 18, 19,
39, 58, 108, 112
ða-
Treasury of Reasoning on
Valid Cognition, 18
Samantabhadra, 79, 109
Sanskrit, 11, 16, 23, 27, 37,
38
Sarvarvarman
KalåpasÒtra, 16
self-arisen, 7, 17, 54, 55, 56,
57, 62, 64, 65, 66, 68, 72,
73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79,
80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 89, 91,
94, 95, 107, 109, 111, 113,
126, 127, 129
self-color, 45
self-dawning, 81
self-effulgence, 44, 45, 54, 55,
81, 83
self-knowing, 67, 77, 81, 94,
95
self-knowledge, 66, 114, 115
self-luminosity, 123, 135
self-luminous, 53, 73, 74, 76,
85, 106, 109, 111, 115
self-release, 83, 84
Shåntideva
Engaging in the Bodhisattva
Deeds, 15, 21, 23
Shay-chen Gye-«zal (zhe chen
dgyes rtsal ), 29
short-sighted, 50
Shr¦ Sinha, 37
SÒtra, 14, 16, 17, 22, 23, 38,
40, 42
space, 13, 17, 27, 36, 42, 53,
54, 55, 63, 64, 74, 75, 76,
78, 80, 87, 88, 91, 94, 97,
116, 121, 127, 129, 137
space-vajra, 54, 55
space-vajra pervading space,
54, 55
sphere of reality, 41, 54, 55,
56, 57, 61, 62, 94, 97, 109,
113, 114, 119, 129, 132
suchness, 42, 45, 61, 69, 72,
83, 91, 92, 93, 95, 103,
110, 112, 113, 114, 115,
117, 119
noumenal, 113
suffering, 27, 38, 39, 57, 73,
135
superimposition, 87, 103, 104
Svarodaya, 14, 15
Tantra Containing the
Definitive Meaning of the
Great Completeness, 73, 75
Tantra of Great Luminous
Meaning Devoid of
Proliferation, 63, 64, 65, 72
170 Fundamental Mind
Tantra of Quintessential
Instructions of the Precious Lamp of Secret Pristine Wisdom, 107
Tantra of the Expanse of the
All-Good Pristine Wisdom,
78
Tantra of the Great Completeness Equal to Space,
78, 105, 106
Tantra of the Great Self-
Dawning Basic Knowledge,
80
Tantra of the View of the Great Completeness
The Complete Depth of
Pristine Wisdom, 79
things and non-things, 114
Translated Word of Buddha,
22
Tri-Ôong-day-«zen (khri srong
), 37, 156
unchanging, 36, 39, 110
uncompounded, 7, 56, 58, 62,
63, 68, 71, 72, 78, 79, 87,
91, 99, 109, 111, 113, 114,
115, 116, 129, 131, 132,
133, 135
great, 63, 76, 109, 115
undifferentiable, 36, 37, 39,
73, 113, 115, 120
unfabricated, 42, 63, 92, 94,
96, 108
unhindered, 63, 66, 67, 74, 76
union, 7, 57, 63, 69, 71, 109,
115, 119, 123, 125
noumenal, 112
noumenal uncompounded,
100
Vairochana, 37
Vajrasattva, 33, 34, 35, 36, 91,
92
valid cognition, 47, 157
VirÒpa
Utterly Without
Proliferation, 112
visionary appearances, 58
vows, 38
winds, 68, 69, 126
adventitious karmic, 112
karmic, 26
wisdoms
five, 54, 55
yab-yum, 34, 35
yidam, 38
