The Nyingma Tradition 2

Foreword by Shenpen Dawa Rinpoche

His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche, Jikdrel Yeshe Dorje, (1904-87) was appointed by His Holiness Dalai Lama XIV as the supreme head of the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. He was an enlightened yogin and meditation master, a discoverer of concealed treasure teachings (gter-ston) who was inseparable from Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava), the most prolific of contemporary Tibetan scholars, and an incarnate lama who had intentionally emanated for the sake of sentient beings through seventeen successive lives.

In ancient India these emanations included: Buddha Sakyamuni's foremost disciple Sariputra; the rnahasiddha Saraha; Kr~I}.adhara, the religious minister of King Indrabhuti; and the ni HUqlkara. In Tibet, they included: Khyeucung Lotsawa, one of Padmasambhava's twenty-five disciples; Smrtijiianaklrti whose lifetime demarcated the transition from the ancient to the new system of translation; Rongzom PaI}.Q.ita who was among the first to compose major treatises within the Nyingma tradition; Katok Tampa Deshek (1122-92) who founded the monastery of Katok in East Tibet; ChOgyel Phakpa (1235-80) who established a Sakya administration in Central Tibet; Rikdzin Dodol Dorje (1615-72) who is famous for his discovery of concealed treasure teachings (gter-rna) in the Puwo region of south-east Tibet; Gyelse Sonam Detsen, responsible for revitalising Katok; and the treasure-finder DOjom Lingpa (1835-1904) who discovered the "New Treasures" (gter-gsar).

Like many of his predecessors, His Holiness was also renowned as a great discoverer of concealed treasure teachings which are now widely practised and propagated. These are primarily the direct "treasures of intention" or "mind treasures" (dgongs-gter) of the awareness-holders (vidyadhara) concerning the inner tantras of the secret mantra vehicle, which can bring about the unsurpassed enlightenment of the rainbow body in one lifetime.

He took birth in the Pemako region on the frontier of Tibet, on the twenty-third day of the fourth Tibetan month, 1904. This birth occured while his predecessor DOjom Lingpa was still alive. DOjom Lingpa

himself gave the specific instructions of how to find his authentic emanation. His father was Tlilku Jampel Norbu, who was Prince ofKanam, a direct descendant of King Trhisong Detsen, and his mother, Namgyel Drolma.

In his youth His Holiness received the transmissions and direct blessings of Guru Rinpoche, Yeshe Tshogyel and MafijusrI in person. He received all the lineages of the Nyingma school from his lamas: Phlingong Tlilku Gyurme N gedon Wangpo, J edrung Trhinle Campa J ungne, Gyurme Phendei Ozer, Namdrol Gyamtso of Mindroling, Gendlin Gyamtso and Khenpo Aten, amongst others. He mastered every tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Astonishingly, at the age of fourteen, he gave the full empowerment and oral transmission of the Store of Precious Treasure (rin-chen gter-mdzod), which are the collected treasure texts of the Nyingma lineage.

From that time on, he gave major empowerments relating to different treasure cycles, and at the same time composed many means for attainment (sadhana) which elucidated the profound teachings of the buddhadharma. He wrote commentaries both on his predecessor's teachings and on his own revealed treasures. When he was seventeen years old he composed his first celebrated treatise on the Great Perfection (rdzogs-pa chen-po). He became widely renowned as a scholar and meditation master, and was followed by many students. Among his students in Tibet and throughout the Himalayan regions, many have shown the signs of full enlightenment.

He maintained the lineage of the Mindroling tradition in Central Tibet, and above all at Perna ChOling Lamaling and his other seats in the Kongpo and Puwo areas of south-east Tibet. Subsequently, forseeing the incipient Chinese invasion, His Holiness and family left Tibet for India in 1958, following the prediction of Dlijom Lingpa that the lineage of his New Treasures would spread to all continents of the world, and especially to the West.

After his arrival in India, Nepal and Sikkim, he established many vital communities of Buddhist practitioners. These include Zangdok Pelri in Kalimpong, Dlidlil Rapten Ling in Orissa and the Buddhist monasteries in Tshopema Rewalsar, Himachal Pradesh] and Bodhnath in Nepal. In addition, he actively encouraged the study of the Nyingma tradition at the Tibetan Institute for Higher Studies in Sarnath.

In such locations, he continued to grant the empowerments and literary transmissions for the Collected Transmitted Precepts of the Nyingmapa (rnyingma'i bka'-ma), the Collected Tantras of the Nyingmapa (rnying-ma'i rgyud- 'bum), and the Store of Precious Treasure, among others. His prolific scholarship is attested by the recent publication in India of his Collected Works, and his edition of the Collected Transmitted Precepts of the Nyingmapa, a fifty-five volume work which he began at the age of seventy-four.

At the request of the Dalai Lama, he also wrote a Political History of Tibet (bod-kyi rgyal-rabs).

In the final phase of his teaching activity, His Holiness travelled widely throughout Asia, Europe and North America, where he brought many students to the dharma. He continued the buddha-activity of formal teaching, empowerment and personal supervision of meditation practice and retreat, which is the essence of the transmission of Vajrayana Buddhism. Meditation and retreat centres were also established: the Vajrayana Esoteric Society of Hong Kong, Dorje Nyingpo and Urgyen Samye ChOling in France, Yeshe Nyingpo and Orgyen ChO Dzong in the United States.

His Holiness passed inro parinirvli1Ja, dissolving his emanational body into the pure space of the buddha-body of reality (dharmakliya) on 17 January 1987, the eighteenth day of the eleventh month of the fire tiger year, shortly before the advent of a new Tibetan sixty-year cycle.

This was at his residence overlooking the Vezere valley in the Dordogne, France. His passing was accompanied by miraculous signs of his enlightened realisation and buddha-attributes. His passing away in France is of great significance because it enacts the unification of East and West into a single mal).<;iala of enlightened mind. His embalmed body was placed in a stupa, constructed in Bodhnath, Nepal on 5 February 1989, in order to continue the Bodhisattva's activity of benefitting sentient beings. He was a Vajra Guru whose accomplishment is to be seen not so much in the outward form of elaborate monastic establishments, but in the direct, clear awareness of the mind, free from elaboration.

This enlightened mind is displayed by many of his monastic and lay disciples. On this basis the purity of his lineage is established and maintained to this day in an unbroken succession. The publication of this translation was originally conceived as a mal).<;iala offering to His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche and to those great teachers who, through their discriminative awareness and skilful method, lead sentient beings to the path of the dharma - what is to be abandoned and what is to be adopted. For twenty years Gyurme Dorje devoted painstaking and continuous effort to bring these translations to fruition.

He is a modest and unswerving scholar who has accomplished a work of paramount importance for practitioners, scholars and those generally interested in Tibetan Buddhism. Matthew Kapstein has given invaluable assistance for the later stages of these translations. Our joy is that this work has now come to its final form - the seed having been carefully planted and tended throughout, its growth has borne fruit. It will bring inconceivable benefit to all those who come into contact with it through reading, contemplation or meditation. Our regret is that we could not complete the project in time to make an offering of it to His Holiness during his lifetime. It is a work which communicates the highest wisdom of the Nyingma lineage to the English-speaking world.

I dedicate the benefit of this profound work of my father to the long life of His Holiness Dalai Lama XIV, the incarnation of A valokitesvara, who is a benefit to the Land of Snows, and to the whole world. May all his actions be spontaneously accomplished. May the Tibetan people, under his lotus feet, never be separated from his enlightened discriminative awareness and compassion. May His Holiness the Gyelwa Karmapa manifest swiftly to raise the victory banner of the dhanna which liberates sentient beings, and may the heads of the Kagyti schools continue to illuminate the path of those wandering in the six realms.

May His Holiness the Sakya Trhizin powerfully safeguard and nourish the faultless tradition of the Sakyapa. Mayall other lineage-holders flourish, and their dhanna activities increase like the waxing moon. May His Majesty King Jikme Senge Wangcuk of Bhutan live long, bringing happiness, prosperity and spiritual growth to his people. May His Majesty King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev of Nepal fulfil all the aspirations and wishes of his people. May the government and people of India, the land of the sublime ones, prosper and sustain their spiritual heritage.

May our dhanna patrons, the Royal Grandmother of Bhutan, HRH Phtintsok Chadron, M. Gerard Godet, Dr L. Y. Soo, Ms Emily Stevens and Jonathan Altman, enjoy both causal and wisdom merits and may their ability to benefit others never be exhausted. Ttilku Perna Wangyel and Ttilku RangdrOl selflessly served His Holiness - may their activities in the West be crowned with success.

To you, my physical and spiritual father and root guru, on behalf of my mother Rikzin Wangmo, my sisters Chime Wangmo and Tsering Penzom, my niece Lhanzey Wangmo, and my prophesied wife Sonam Chhuskit; on behalf of my sons Namgyel Dawa and Wangchen Dawa, and on behalf of all your disciples, I bow at your lotus feet and offer homage for your unrepayable kindness and guidance in making our lives wholesome and meaningful. May the victorious sound of the drum of the dhanna penetrate all the levels of existence, bringing joy and happiness. Mayall be auspicious. Taking a humble position, rich with the treasure of contentment,

Free from the binds of the eight worldly concerns, firm and strong-hearted in practice, Receiving the Guru's blessing, realisation becomes equal to space.

May we attain the kingdom of the All-Good. HIS EMINENCE SHENPEN DA WA RINPOCHE Lineage-holder of the New Treasures

Preface

Two treatises form the present volume, namely, the Fundamentals of the Nyingma School (bstan-pa'i rnam-gzhag) and the History of the Nyingma School (rnying-ma'i chos-'byung). Among the most widely read of all His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche's works, these treatises were composed during the years immediately following his arrival in India as a refugee. His intention in writing them, as the concluding verses of the History state, was to preserve the precise structure of the Nyingma philosophical view within its own historical and cultural context, in a period of great uncertainty and instability. Since the early sixties, His Holiness had appreciated the growing interest in the meditation practices and philosophical views of the Nyingma tradition, which is now evident both in universities and in the large number of Buddhist meditation centres throughout the world.

He knew that, despite the vastness of the Tibetan literature, very few texts had actually been translated into other languages, and he recognised an urgent need for the presentation in English of traditional works which precisely define, stage by stage, the entire range of Buddhist experience and thought, and the authentic history of its transmission from antiquity to the present. Therefore, in 1971, he authorised and encouraged me to translate into English his History of the Nyingma School, which constitutes the latter part of this volume. Then, in 1980, he further authorised the translation of his Fundamentals of the Nyingma School.

Prior to 1971, partial Chinese and Hindi translations of the History had already been published in Hong Kong and Nalanda respectively. Working from the original Tibetan and its Hindi version, I prepared an annotated English translation in manuscript form at the monastery of Orgyen Kunzang Chokhorling in Darjeeling and at the sacred place of the Nyingmapa known as Tshopema, or Rewalsar, in Himachal Pradesh, between 1971 and 1977. The typing of the first draft was completed by Sheona Gunn at Bodhnath, Nepal, during the winter of 1977 to 1978. In the summer of 1979, the Author asked Matthew Kapstein to edit the manuscript, and consequently in 1981 we met to revise the edited translation and to standardise the English terminology. Then, between 1980 and 1982, I prepared a translation of the Fundamentals in the Dordogne region of France and met again with Matthew Kapstein in New York during the summer of 1983, where he helped edit the Fundamentals. Both texts were prepared for publication with the assistance of many volunteer typists at Orgyen Cho Dzong, Greenville, New York.

The Fundamentals is written in the terse, highly structured style of the grub-mtha' genre, and is by no means an easy text to comprehend. A synopsis of the treatise has been included in the Translator's Introduction so that the reader can form an overall view of its structure and become familiar with the English terminology. Those unfamiliar with even the basic categories of Buddhist thought are recommended to start by reading the History, Parts One and Two, where these concepts are introduced in the clear narrative context of the origins ofIndian Buddhism, as understood in the Nyingma tradition.

The annotations, glossaries and indexes for both texts, which are published here in the second section as a resource for the reader, were compiled after consulting materials at the library of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, between 1982 and 1983. The bibliographies were initially prepared in the Dordogne and London over the same period, and their sources thoroughly researched and documented at Brown University, Rhode Island, USA, from 1985 to 1986. All of this reference material was revised, updated and expanded into its present form with the help of our editor Sarah Thresher during the final editorial work in London, New York and Boston throughout 1989 and 1990.

The general problems of translation are compounded in the case of the Tibetan language. In the past, Tibetan scholars of the calibre of Vairocana and Kawa Peltsek could translate the Sanskrit Buddhist texts with great accuracy because they had fully realised the essence of enlightened mind. By contrast, in the present circumstances, despite our total absence of inner realisation, we are obliged to translate the great works of Tibetan literature in order to preserve and propagate them for the benefit of posterity.

It is therefore hoped that the well informed reader will exercise some restraint in the knowledge that the translator accepts full responsibility for errors which inevitably exist. These in no way reflect on the realisation or scholarship of the Author. At this juncture Matthew Kapstein and I wish to express our gratitude to all who helped bring about the publication of the English version of these texts. Above all, His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche suggested the task and inspired the work of translation at every stage of its development. Specifically, he gave attention to many textual problems in the

Dordogne, France, during the summer of 1982 and in New York during the summer of 1983. His wife, Lady Rikdzin Wangmo (Sangyum Kusho), and his dharma heir, Shenpen Dawa Rinpoche, have also given constant support. The late Kangyur Rinpoche and his family facilitated the project during its formative years in Darjeeling from 1971 to 1976, and gave invaluable subsequent assistance. During this period, the project was also funded and staunchly supported by Eric and Joan McLennan. Then, from 1977 to 1983, Gerard Godet of the Kangyur Rinpoche Foundation sponsored the translation with dedicated generosity.

Some financial support was also provided by Tom Stickland in 1978, Georgina and Etienne De Swarte in 1982, and Mr C. T. Chen of the Institute for Advanced Studies of World Religions during 1979 and 1980. Moreover, for the past twelve years enormous practical help has been given by Rigzin Dolma, who, keeping in the background, has sustained those working on the project.

Several scholars devoted many concentrated hours to clarify obscure points of dharma or translation. In chronological order, these were: Perna Dorje, the artist, and Khenpo Perna Sherab who dedicated themselves to the task at Clement Town during the winter and spring of 1978 to 1979; Khetsun Zangpo Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyel who offered similar assistance during the autumn and winter of 1979 in Nepal; and Lama Sonam Topgyel, Ttilku Perna Wangyel, Khenpo Palden Sherap and Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche, who applied themselves to the editing problems in France from 1980 to 1982. I also wish to thank Professor David Snellgrove for his interest and support, Mr Hugh Richardson, Dr Michael Aris and Kalon Jikme Taring, who helped clarify specific points; and Mr Michael Farmer, who prepared our new maps with great thoroughness and care.

Matthew Kapstein wishes to thank Khenpo Sangye Tenzin of Serlo Gumba, Nepal, for the profound kindness with which he introduced· him to the historical and doctrinal traditions of the Nyingmapa. Finally, we wish to express gratitude to all the staff of Wisdom Publications for their sustained efforts, editorial care and strong commitment to the preservation of the important works of Tibetan Buddhism. The publishers wish to thank Brian Boland for his assistance during the latter stages of production.

After H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche's The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: Its Fundamentals and History first appeared in English in 1991, many expressed to us the desire for a more moderately priced edition that would be readily available to the broad range of students of Buddhism in the West and in Asia. We are therefore grateful to Wisdom Publications for now undertaking to bring out a new edition that will fulfill this demand. Our thanks are also due to the Venerable Sogyal Rinpoche and to the Rigpa Fellowship, whose encouragements have greatly facilitated these efforts.

The present volume reproduces in full the text of the two volumes of the original publication, the Translations, and Reference Materials. It differs in that it offers a reduced selection of the photographic plates that illustrated the first edition; and it corrects, without comment, a number of errors and infelicities that were found in the text after careful review. A list of addenda to the bibliography of works referred to by the translators has also been added so as to reflect pertinent developments in Tibetan Buddhist Studies during the past decade.

As promised in the original version, an exhaustive Tibetan-English glossary of the material treated in volume two is being prepared, and we are happy to announce that it is nearing completion. Remarks on new researches concerning the identification and availability of primary textual sources, which we have not been able to incorporate here, will be included in that forthcoming work, intended as an aid to Tibetological scholarship. In concluding our present task, we wish to honour once again the memory of our magnificent teacher, H.H. the late Dudjom Rinpoche. We have been greatly privileged to assist in bringing these treasures of his intention to interested readers throughout the world. dge legs 'phel! May virtue and goodness increase!

The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism represents the original Buddhist teachings as they were translated, principally from Sanskrit but also from Burushaski and other languages into Tibetan, until the period of the Indian scholar Smnijfianaklrti (late tenth or early eleventh century) and prior to that of Locen Rincen Zangpo (958-1055). It is also known as the Ancient Translation School (snga-'gyur) in contrast to the other lineages of Indian origin such as the Kagytipa, the Sakyapa, and the Kadampa, which subsequently arrived in Tibet and became known as the new traditions (gsar-ma) or the later translation schools (phyi-'gyur).

The original promulgator of the doctrines brought together within the Nyingma tradition is held to be Samantabhadra, who is the primordial buddha-body of reality (chos-sku, Skt. dharmakaya). However, there are also a considerable number of teachings which derive from Vajradhara and the Buddhas of the Five Families, who are the buddha-body of perfect rapture (longs-spyod rdzogs-pa'i sku, Skt. sambhogakaya), and from the emanational bodies (sprul-pa'i sku, Skt. nirmalJakaya) , such as Sakyamuni in the world of men, Munlndra in the god realms and so on.

All Buddhist teachings may be presented in accordance with the threefold approach of theoretical view (lta-ba), meditational experience (bsgom-pa), or conduct (spyod-pa). In the Fundamentals of the Nyingma School, His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche precisely delineates the entire range of the Buddhist spiritual and philosophical systems from the standpoint of the view. It is traditionally held that once the view has been comprehended, it is then to be experientially cultivated through meditation, and practically applied in all everyday situations which arise during the aftermath of meditation.

The Buddhist spiritual and philosophical systems form what is essentially a dynamic gradation of experience from the most mundane level of cyclical existence (sarrzsara) to that of the Great Perfection (rdzogs-pa chen-po). As the text explains (p.80): Acquired at

12 Fundamentals

When the transmitted precepts are classified according to their power, they form a vehicle, because it appears that therein higher and higher paths are traversed, in the manner of a "vehicle".

And again:

Riding on that, which is the best of vehicles, Manifestly attaining to delightful bliss, All sentient beings pass into nirval).a. The Fundamentals expands upon these systems, which are known in the Nyingma tradition as the nine sequences of the vehicle (theg-pa'i rim-pa dgu), in extraordinarily intricate detail. To facilitate the reader's understanding, a summary now follows.

The Fundamentals consists of four parts. The first expounds the doctrines of cyclical existence or saIp.sara and the supramundane doctrines of nirval).a. The second explains the nature of the teachers who are endowed with the three buddha-bodies of reality, perfect rapture, and emanation. The third is an analysis of the causal vehicles of dialectics. And, finally, there is a detailed account of the resultant vehicles of indestructible reality (Vajrayana) which are held to be supreme by all schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

Within these four parts the distinctions of entrance (Jug-sgo) , empowerment (dbang-bskur) , view (lta-ba) , moral discipline (tshul-khrims), meditation (bsgom-pa), conduct (spyod-pa), and result ('bras-bu) are clarified as they apply to each stage of the Buddhist experience.

PART ONE: DOCTRINES OF SA¥SARA AND NIRVANA

At the outset, the Author differentiates between mundane doctrines which do not transcend the suffering of cyclical existence and the supramundane doctrines which do so by relyiag on the continuum of enligh tenmen t.

Doctrines of Sa1?lsara

The basis of the mundane doctrines is held to be ignorance which, in three interrelated aspects, generates a sense of bewilderment. This, in turn, gives rise to consciousness of the ground-of-all (kun-gzhi rnam-shes, Skt. alayavijiiana), the six conflicting emotions of ignorance, delusion, hatred, pride, desire, and envy, and also all sensory perception, the

eighteen psychophysical bases, the five components and the twelve activity fields. l All these are said to be compounded internally by the mind, their apparent aspect and support being the five gross elements compounded by external objects. In this way, the three world realms of desire (kamadhatu) , form (rilpadhatu) and the formless (arilpyadhatu) are nothing but apparitional modes of the bewildered intellect of living beings. They do not appear in the pure vision of the buddhas, and the sufferings sustained within them are prolonged by karma or worldforming deeds.

The Mundane Vehicle and the Brahma Vehicle

The mundane vehicle which is followed by gods and human beings (lha-mi 'jig-rten-gyi theg-pa) is the basis on which the nine specifically Buddhist sequences of the vehicle develop. By regulating world-forming deeds, renouncing the ten non-virtues and observing good deeds with piety and humility, one is said to progress to the status of a god of the desire realm within cyclical existence. As the text says (pp.60-1): It either forms the foundation of, or is preliminary to, all vehicles, because the vehicle which is not retained by the correct view and which does not observe the deeds and path of the ten virtues as its actual foundation is nowhere to be found.

As an extension of this mundane vehicle, the vehicle of Brahma (tshangspa'i theg-pa) generates the experience of all the twenty-one higher realms within cyclical existence. These include seventeen realms of form, which are experienced through the four meditative concentrations of form, and four formless realms at the summit of cyclical existence, which are to be experienced through the four formless absorptions.

These meditative techniques employ both tranquillity (zhi-gnas, Skt. samatha) and higher insight (lhag-mthong, Skt. vipafyana), and are accompanied by the practice of the four immeasurables (loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity). The chart on the following pages indicates the stages and overall structure of the three realms of cyclical existence with their subdivisions and their corresponding meditative states.

Since the vehicles of gods and human beings and the vehicle of Brahma possess qualities which are basic to any Buddhist experience, they are regarded as a means of entering into the true vehicle of Buddhist experience.

Those of No Understanding and Those of Wrong Understanding

The sentient beings who are considered to be ensnared within cyclical existence and subject to continuous rounds of suffering are traditionally

divided into those who have no understanding (ma-rtogs-pa) and those who have wrong understanding (log-par rtogs-pa). The former include the apathetic who lack understanding of deeds and causality, and so fail to respond to any philosophical system, observing neither renunciation nor commitment; and the materialists (Lokayata) who refer only to the present life and set their trust in the mysterious calculations of worldly wisdom.

Those of wrong understanding are traditionally said to comprise four schools of eternalistic extremism and one of nihilistic extremism. The former are the Saf!lkhya, the Aisvara, the Vai~I).ava, and Jainism. The Saf!lkhya hold all that is knowable to consist of twenty-five existent categories, which are said to be dissolved when sublimation of the self (purn~a) occurs. The Aisvara, who include the adherents of Nyaya logic and Vaise~ika analysis of substances, hold that an eternally existent lord or Isvara controls the destiny of all beings regardless of deeds.

The Vai~I).ava uphold the authenticity of the Veda, along with the eternal status of Vi~I).u, Brahma and other deities. And Jainism holds all the knowable to be divided into nine categories, among which animate substances (jfva) are eternally existent. The nihilistic extremists are the Barhaspatya hedonists of ancient India who negate causality, past and future lives, the existence of invisible beings and the possibility of progress beyond suffering into nirvaI).a.

All these are said to lack a means of achieving liberation from the suffering of cyclical existence - those of no understanding because they are roused by no philosophical view and those of wrong understanding because they either cling to the concept of an eternal self or become totally negative. Even so, the Author maintains, there are certain circumstances when a buddha may teach in the manner of the eternalists for a specific purpose or in that of the nihilists when scepticism may be transmuted into Madhyamaka dialectic. 3 Doctrines of NirvaYJa

The true doctrine of nirvaI).a which transcends the suffering of cyclical existence is said to surpass mundane doctrines because it seeks refuge in the Buddha, the doctrines of Buddhism and the community of practitioners. There are four seals or hallmarks indicative of such transmitted precepts, namely, all that is compounded is impermanent, all that is corrupt is suffering, all things are without self, and nirvaI).a is peace. By the practice of the Buddhist teachings all cyclical existence and rebirth are opposed.

In general, the Buddhist teaching is divided according to realisation (rtogs-pa, Skt. adhigama) and literary transmission (lung, Skt. agama). The former includes the realisation which has been achieved by buddhas, or the truth of cessation, as well as the active or dynamic means

to attain that realisation - the truth of the path which removes obscuration and reveals the intrinsic awareness of buddhahood, bringing about the truth of cessation. The literary transmissions comprise both the transmitted precepts (legs-bshad bka', Skt. subha~itapravacana) and the treatises (bstan-bcos, Skt. sastra).

Transmitted Precepts

Transmitted precepts are the sutra and tantra texts which ongInated from buddhas such as Sakyamuni. They comprise those given in the form of oral teaching, those given by the blessing or consecration of the buddha-body, speech and mind, and those given by a buddha's mandate (pp.74-6). They may also be classified according to the three successive promulgations of the doctrinal wheel, the twelve branches of the scriptures, the eighty-four thousand doctrinal components including the Vinayapi!aka, Sutrapi!aka, Abhidharmapi! aka, and Vidyadharapi!aka,4 or according to the nine sequences of the vehicle.

The Author indicates at some length that enumerations such as two vehicles, three vehicles, four vehicles, or five vehicles are merely different ways of categorising the single vehicle. In fact there may be as many vehicles as there are thoughts. As the Sutra of the Descent to Lahka (Lahkavatarasutra, T 107)5 says: As long as there is perception The culmination of vehicles will never be reached.

In the Nyingma tradition the vehicle is said to have nine sequences, which are differentiated according to the acumen of those who require training through them. Each lower sequence is also included in the higher. Thus the All-Accomplishing King (kun-byed rgyalpo, T 828) states:

Existentially there is only one

But empirically there are nine vehicles.

These nine sequences are the vehicles of the pious attendants (nyan-thos, Skt. sravaka), self-centred buddhas (rang-rgyal, Skt. pratyekabuddha) and bodhisattvas (byang-chub sems-dpa,); the vehicles of Kriyatantra (byaba), Ubhayatantra (gnyis-ka), and Yogatantra (rnal-'byor); and those of Mahayoga (rnal-'byorchen-po), Anuyoga (rjes-su rnal-'byor) and Atiyoga, the Great Perfection (rdzogs-chen shin-tu rnal-'byor). However, it is emphasised that the transmitted precepts in the form of a vehicle are a means of attaining realisation, and that, in the words of the Sutra of the Descent to Lahka:

When the mind becomes transformed

There is neither vehicle nor mover.

Treatises

Treatises are commentaries composed by sublime beings such as Nagarjuna, Asailga and Longcen Rapjampa to elucidate the intention of the transmitted precepts.

In Buddhist terms, treatises are defined as compositions which are made so as to counteract the three poisons of delusion, desire and hatred, and to protect the mind from the suffering of cyclical existence (pp.88ff.). They require four special attributes, namely, a motivation based on compassion and discriminative awareness, expressive words in verse, an expressed meaning which reveals the means for those who desire liberation, and a purposeful composition. Treatises are then classified in six ways according to: the purpose of the composer, the qualitative standard of the composition, the status of the composer (i.e. buddha, bodhisattva, arhat or paI).c;lita), the specific or general manner of their composition, the view, conduct and integration of view and conduct as revealed in each of the three successive promulgations of the transmitted precepts, and finally the meaning they express, which may be quantitative, qualitative or conducive to liberation and omniscience.

The quantitative treatises, in which diverse categories are enumerated, include general treatises on ethics, and specialised treatises on grammar, logic, art, medicine, astrology, poetics, prosody, synonymics and drama. Qualitative treatises include those on Madhyamaka philosophy which establish the selflessness of the individual and of phenomena. Finally, the treatises conducive to liberation and omniscience include esoteric instructions of five kinds, which are condensed in order to generate liberation from cyclical existence in those who require training through them.

PART TWO: BUDDHA NATURE ACCORDING TO THE BUDDHA-BODIES

Having distinguished between the doctrines which cause one to remain in cyclical existence and those which transcend such suffering, what then is the nature of the buddha or the teacher who is said to communicate the means of attaining liberation? This is the subject -matter of Part Two. Buddha (literally, the "awakened one") is rendered in Tibetan as sangsrgyas: sangs meaning purified of all conflicting emotions and rgyas meaning vast in enlightened attributes. Thus a buddha is one who has purified all sufferings of cyclical existence and is endowed with the enlightened attributes of buddha-body and pristine cognition. The buddha-bodies are held to number three or five, although they have many other aspects. Lower sequences of the vehicle speak of the two bodies of reality and form, or of three or four.

Here in the Nyingma tradition there are five, namely, the buddha-bodies of reality, perfect rapture, emanation, awakening and indestructible reality.

The Buddha-body of Reality

The buddha-body of reality (chos-sku, Skt. dhannakiiya) , which is also known as Samantabhadra (kun-tu bzang-po), is considered to be the prime mover of the highest teachings of the Great Perfection or Atiyoga.

The Nyingmapa hold that buddhahood is attained when intrinsic awareness is liberated just where it is through having recognised the nature of Samantabhadra, the primordially pure body of reality. This buddhahood is endowed with the pristine cognition of the expanse of reality (chos-dbyings ye-shes, Skt. dhannadhiitujftiina) , for it is free from all conceptual elaborations, and the pristine cognition of sameness (mnyamnyid ye-shes, Skt. samatiijftiina) which remains pure through the extent of sarpsara and nirvaI).a.

Reality (chos-nyid, Skt. dhannatii) in Buddhism refers to the emptiness which is the:! inherent nature of phenomena. The apparitional aspect of this reality is known as chos-can (dhannin), and that which is real (the phenomena themselves) are known as chos (dhanna). Since it is held to be the foundation of all genuine experience, the body of reality is the basis of the buddha-bodies of form. It is also known as the youthful vase body (gzhon-nu bum-pa'i sku) because the pristine cognition remains inwardly radiant within it, in the manner oflight within a crystal prism, even when it emanates as the buddha-body of form.

Through the blessing of this youthful vase body, the Buddha-field of the Bounteous Array (Ghanavyi1habuddhak~etra) becomes manifest, and therein the Teachers of Five Enlightened Families, including the Buddha Vairocana, assume the body of perfect rapture. This is the great play of undifferentiated buddha-body and pristine cognition, which also acts out of compassion for the sake of sentient beings who are perceived to be bewildered without cause; for they wander in cyclical existence without recognising the nature of the primordial ground. These teachers emanate all the buddha-fields within and around the body of Vairocana in order to guide beings to liberation. The fields are arrayed in three dimensions, namely, the Indestructible Nucleus of Inner Radiance (' od-gsal rdo-rje snying-po) , Brahma' s Drum beat (tshangspa mga-sgra) and the Aeon of Great Brahma (tshangs-chen-gyi bskal-pa), which correspond, respectively, to the body of reality, the body of perfect rapture and the emanational body. The last of these comprises all the realms of cyclical existence outlined in the chart above. It is said that in the space of a single atomic particle there are measureless fields of sentient beings being trained by the buddhas, and that on the surface of a single atom there are fields containing atoms of oceanic infinity.

As the Great Bounteousness of the Buddhas (Buddhavata1'(lsaka, T 44) says:

On the surface of a single atom There are as many buddhas As there are atoms.

However, as our text emphasises (p.119): These fields are said to be radiant apparitions, not existing in reality because, in the expanse of reality, relative appearances have not existed from the beginning.

The Buddha-body of Perfect Rapture

The buddha-body of perfect rapture (longs-spyod rdzogs-pa'i sku, Skt. sambhogakaya) is said to act within all those fields connected with Vairocana. It is endowed with seven attributes of natural expression, and the thirty-two major and eighty minor marks of the buddhas. These marks may appear outwardly, as the external form of the buddha-body; inwardly, as the network of energy channels, currents and seminal points (rtsa rlung thig-le) within the buddha-body; secretly, as present in the seed which is enlightened mind, or the nucleus of the tathagata (de-gshegs snying-po, Skt. tathagatagarbha); and, most secretly, as the rapture ofthe Great Perfection (rdzogs-pa chen-po) which is experienced when the energy channels and seminal points are naturally expressed as supreme bliss.

As such, the five components of mundane cyclical existence find their true natural expression in the Teachers of the Five Enlightened Families, namely, Vairocana, Ak~obhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha, and Amoghasiddhi; while the five elemental properties of space, cohesion, solidity, warmth and movement find their true natural expression as the five consorts: DhatvIsvarI, Locana, MamakI, PaI).QaravasinI, and Samayatara. The four sensations of seeing, hearing, tasting and smelling, as well as the four sense objects, the four sense organs, the four temporal dimensions, the four aspects of sexual contact, and the four extremes of permanence, decay, self and character all find their true natural expression in the deities of the surrounding maI).Qalas. This pure vision, it is emphasised, lies within the perceptual range of the buddhas' pristine cognition alone, and remains invisible even to bodhisattvas of the highest level who are not liberated from all obscurations. It is maintained that all these elements of mundane cyclical existence are transmuted into the pure, divine nature through experiential cultivation of the Buddhist teachings. As the Extensive Magical Net (sgyu-phrul rgyas-pa, NGB Vol. 14) says:

If there is no understanding of intrinsic awareness or genuine perception, The field of SukhavatI is even seen as a state of evil existence. If the truth which is equivalent to the supreme of vehicles is realised, Even states of evil existence are Akani~!ha and Tu~ita.

The Emanational Body

The emanational body (sprul-pa'i sku, Skt. nirmiir;akiiya), which disciplines those who require training on the path to liberation, is of three types. First, there are the emanations of natural expression (rang-bzhin sprul-pa'i sku) who are the above-mentioned Teachers of the Five Enlightened Families appearing in their lower role before bodhisattvas of the highest level, in the manner of rainbow light. In this situation, when they are compounded by the minds of others, they are said to be endowed with a semi-manifest natural expression, half-way between the true body of perfect rapture and the emanational body.

Secondly, there are the supreme emanational bodies (mchog-gi sprulpa'i sku) or emanations of the body of reality who train living beings through their twelve deeds in myriads of world systems. Within this world system of ours, which is known as the world system of Patient Endurance (mi-mjed 'jig-rten-gyi khams, Skt. Sahalokadhiitu), the supreme emanational body appears as a sage embodying awareness of the true buddha nature in each of the six classes of living beings - gods, antigods, humans, animals, tormented spirits and hells. In the human world, for example, he appears as Sakyamuni Buddha, and, as the text explains (p.13l):

In these realms, the supreme emanational body projects the lamp of instruction for those requiring training in as many ways as they have psychophysical bases, sense organs and modes of conduct, and acts on behalf of sentient beings through four kinds of instruction.

These four are instruction by the great merits of the buddha-body's twelve deeds, instruction by the direct perception of the buddha-mind which is endowed with six supernormal cognitive powers (mngon-shes drug, Skt. ~a4abhijiiii), instruction by inconceivable miraculous abilities which are the mysteries of the buddha's body, speech and mind, and instruction by knowledge conveyed in speech.

Thirdly, there are the diversified emanations (sna-tshogs sprul-sku) appearing as oases, food, and medicine, which are of benefit to living beings, and as the emanations of birth (skyes-sprul) and artistry (bzosprul) assumed, for example, by Sakyamuni Buddha in his previous lives and recorded in the Jiitaka Tales.

The Nyingma tradition in particular holds that twelve teachers of the emanational body have appeared as the blessing of the body of perfect rapture in this world system to disclose the three emanational teachings of the buddha-body, speech and mind. A hand-sized vajra (rdo-ry'e) is said to be the actuality of the body of reality, a four-inch book is said to be the actuality of the body of perfect rapture, and the physical form, exemplified in those twelve teachers, is the actuality of the emanational body. The emanational body, in the Nyingma view, is endowed with sixty attributes; for each of those twelve teachers is connected with the five excellences of place, teacher, retinue, doctrine and time. A single emanational body also possesses ninety-six doctrines with respect to enlightened activity. Yet this enumeration is not regarded as a limitation because (p.l3S):

The Sugata, learned in skilful means, manifests the body of form in ways which correspond to the number of atoms in the myriad fields of those requiring training, which are of oceanic extent.

The Buddha-body of Awakening

The buddha-body of awakening (mngon-par byang-chub-kyi sku, Skt. abhisambodhikaya), which is derived from the distinct apparitional functions of the aforementioned three bodies, possesses the four fearlessnesses, the eighteen distinct attributes of the buddhas, great compassion and the ten powers. These are all enumerated in the Mahavyutpatti, the great glossary of technical terms composed by the Tibetan translators, probably during the reign of Senalek.

The Buddha-body of Indestructible Reality

Finally, the buddha-body of indestructible reality (rdo-ry'e sku, Skt. vajrakaya), which derives from the indivisible essence of the first three bodies, is the original unchanging expanse of reality in which all paths are concluded and all conceptual elaboration transcended. It is the taintless buddha nature pure from the beginning.

The Five Pristine Cognitions

The five pristine cognitions (ye-shes lnga, Skt. pancajfiana), which are among the buddhas' attributes, are also discussed here. They are the pristine cognition of the expanse of reality (chos-dbyings ye-shes, Skt. dharmadhlitujfiana) , which is the perception of the buddha-body of reality; the mirror-like pristine cognition (me-long ye-shes, Skt. adarsajfiana) , which is the unbroken causal basis of all pristine cognition; the pristine cognition of sameness (mnyam-nyid ye-shes, Skt. samatajfiana), Acquired at wisdompubs.org Translator's Introduction 23 which continuously abides in tranquillity, loving kindness and compassion without falling into the extremes of cyclical existence or nirval).a; and the pristine cognition of discernmerit (sor-rtogs ye-shes, Skt. pratyavek~at}ajfiiina), which is unimpeded with regard to the knowable, and refers to contemplations, dharal).I and other attributes. These last three are the perceptions of the body of perfect rapture. Finally, the pristine cognition of accomplishment (bya-grub ye-shes, Skt. krtyanu- Hhanajfiana) is diversified in all realms, within the emanations who act on behalf of living beings. Thus it is the perception of the emanational body.

The Author asserts that the nature of the buddhas who have purified obscurations and become vast in enlightened attributes of buddha-body and pristine cognition is to be experientially cultivated through the Buddhist teachings - both indirectly, through the sutra texts, and directly through the mantra texts which are respectively a long and a short path to the same goal.

He concludes Part Two by distinguishing between the attributes of the buddha-bodies as they are revealed in the causal vehicles of dialectics, and in the resultant vehicles of secret mantra. The sutras of the causal vehicles require one to undertake a long path of causal gradation, whereby conflicting emotions are abandoned, and merits and pristine cognition are accumulated. The resultant vehicles of the way of mantras, however, begin from the ultimate view of the buddha nature and insist that the whole of cyclical existence and nirval).a conform to the pattern of the three buddha-bodies.

PART THREE: CAUSAL VEHICLES OF DIALECTICS

The causal vehicles of dialectics (rgyu mtshan-nyid-kyi theg-pa, Skt.

• hetulak~at}ayana)6 are classified either according to the three successive promulgations of the doctrinal wheel or according to the philosophical systems included within the lesser vehicle (theg-pa chung-ba, Skt. Hfnayana) and the greater vehicle (theg-pa chen-po, Skt. Mahayana). The Three Promulgations of the Doctrinal Wheel In the first promulgation the Buddha expounded the four truths of suffering, its origin, the path and the cessation of suffering, with the intention that sentient beings should forsake cyclical existence. In the second promulgation he expounded the teaching on the transcendental perfection of discriminative awareness (shes-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyinpalma, Skt. prajfiaparamita) with the intention that the buddha nature should be comprehended through topics of emptiness, signlessness and

aspirationlessness, and that consequently the ultimate truth which is referred to by synonyms in order to bring about the partial cessation of conceptual elaboration might become the foundation for those who enter the greater vehicle. Then, in the third promulgation he excellently analysed all things from form to omniscience in accord with the three essential natures, namely, the imaginary (parikalpita), the dependent (paratantra), and the absolute (parini~panna), and disclosed the nucleus of the tathagata (tathiigatagarbha), intending that the ultimate truth for which there is no synonym should become the nucleus of the path of the greater vehicle. Such were the three promulgations delivered by Sakyamuni Buddha.

The Lesser Vehicle

Among the philosophical systems of the causal vehicles of dialectics, those which belong to the lesser vehicle are the Vaibha~ika and the Sautrantika systems.

Vaibhii~ika

The pious attendants of the Vaibha~ika school classify the knowable into five categories: perceptual forms, mind, mental events, disjunct conditions unassociated with mental events, and uncompounded entities. They hold that consciousness ultimately exists as a series of timemoments and that the material substances composing the world are an association of indivisible atomic particles unified by vital energy. They claim the subject -object dichotomy to be created through the recognition of objects by consciousness, but that there is no intrinsic awareness apart from this consciousness.

Through the vehicle of the pious attendants (Sriivaka), the status of an arhat is realised by meditation on the sixteen aspects of the four truths, so that the obscurations of the three poisons and ignorance are destroyed. As it is said in the Sequence o/the Path (Miiyiijiilapathakrama, P 4736):

If, without realising non-duality, Everything is viewed to exist substantially In terms of the four truths, And one resorts to renunciation and non-renunciation, This is the level of the pious attendants.

Sautriintika

The self-centred buddhas and pious attendants of the Sautrantika school hold ultimate reality to agree with consciousness, which is a series of time moments. They also hold that, although consciousness refers to

objects, external objects are not actually perceived, a single, uncompounded sensum being transmitted in the manner of a reflection on a mirror. The subject-object dichotomy therefore becomes a subjective process, conventionally known as the recognition of objects. They are said to surpass the Vaibha~ika in holding the conglomerate of atoms to be unknown and in their appreciation of an intrinsic awareness. Through the vehicle of the self-centred buddhas (pratyekabuddha), the twelve modes of dependent origination are meditated on and reversed. Whereas pious attendants hold the individual self to be abandoned in ultimate truth, the self-centred buddhas hold external objects to be ultimately fallacious and subjective consciousness to exist genuinely. They are said to be realised in one and a half parts of what is implied by selflessness. This is because they realise selflessness with reference to the individual and understand that the atomic particles of external phenomena do not independently exist, but still hold time moments of consciousness or internal phenomena to be ultimately real.

The Greater Vehicle

Among the philosophical systems of the greater causal vehicle, there are the VijfUinavada or proponents of consciousness, and the Madhyamika or adherents of the middle path.

Vijiiiinaviida

The Vijfianavada confirm the Sautrantika view that objects are not perceived. All things are held to be apparitional aspects of mind, definitively ordered according to three essential natures: the imaginary which includes both phenomena and characteristics such as the concept of selfuood; the dependent which includes the five impure components of mundane existence and the pure attributes of buddha-body and pristine cognition; and the absolute which includes the unchanging abiding nature of reality and the incontrovertible absence of conflicting emotions.

The Mind Only school, which emphasises the ontological aspect of the Vijfianavada, is divided into those who hold sensa to be veridical (Sakaravada), and those holding sensa to be false, admitting only consciousness to be genuine (Nirakaravlida). These have many subdivisions. While the Vijiianavada is held to surpass the Vaibha~ika and Sautrantika of the lower vehicle, it fails to understand the absolute nature, since it holds consciousness to exist absolutely in the ultimate truth. Madhyamaka The Madhyamika or adherents of the middle path are either those who uphold the coarse outer Madhyamaka or the subtle inner Great Madhyamaka (dbu-ma chen-po).

The Outer Madhyamaka include the Svatantrika (rang-rgyud-pa) who employ independent reasoning, and the Prasangika (thal-'gyur-ba) who employ reductio ad absurdum.

The Svatantrika surpass the previous philosophical systems which adhere to substantiality and subjective conceptual elaboration, and they avoid both extremes. All things which appear are said to exist in relative truth, which is either correct or incorrect in conventional terms, but are inherently empty and non-existent in the ultimate truth, which cuts through conceptual elaboration. All relative appearances can be refuted by logical arguments, but it is also proven that no scrutiny or judgement can be made in relation to ultimate truth.

The Prasangika distinguish between the unbewildered intellect or pristine cognition of the buddhas, in which relative phenomena never appear, and the bewildered intellect of sentient beings. Ultimate truth, the reality of the unbewildered intellect of the buddhas, is vitiated by bewilderment, and so mundane cyclical existence appears and is assigned conventionally to the relative truth, though not really admitted. The Prasangika also employ the five kinds of logical axioms used by the Svatantrika, but unlike them do not seek to prove their conclusions positively with reference to relative appearances and conceptual elaboration, having refuted them. Rather they refute all possible views which lie within the range of the four extremes of being, non-being, both being and non-being, and neither being nor non-being. Ultimate truth is thus the pristine cognition of the buddhas, free from all conceptual elaboration of the subject-object dichotomy. It is said that the two truths form the Madhyamaka of the ground; the two provisions of merit and pristine cognition form the Madhyamaka of the path; and that the coalescence of the two buddha-bodies of reality and form is the Madhyamaka of the result.

Great Madhyamaka

The Great Madhyamaka (dbu-ma chen-po) is aloof from the reasoning of the Outer Madhyamaka which is based upon dialectics, and instead must be experientially cultivated in meditation. In accord with the analysis of all things made by Sakyamuni in the third promulgation of the doctrinal wheel with respect to the aforementioned essential natures, it holds the imaginary to imply that attributes are without substantiality, the dependent to imply that creation is without substantiality, and the absolute to imply that ultimate reality is without substantiality. Absolute reality is thus empty of all the imaginary objects which are to be refuted and all conceptual elaboration of cyclical existence, but it is not empty of the enlightened attributes of buddha-body and pristine cognition which are spontaneously present from the beginning.

The Supreme Continuum 0/ the Greater Vehicle (Mahayanottaratantrasastra, T 4024) says:

The seed which is empty of suddenly arisen phenomena,

Endowed with divisive characteristics, Is not empty of the unsurpassed reality, Endowed with indivisible characteristics.

The Great Madhyamaka therefore maintains that the conceptual area of the subject-object dichotomy is intrinsically empty (rang-stong), while the buddha-body of reality endowed with all enlightened attributes is empty of that extraneous conceptual area which forms the subject-object dichotomy (gzhan-stong). If enlightened attributes were themselves intrinsically empty of their own essence, the entire structure of the ground, path and result would be negated and one would be in the position of the nihilistic extremists who deny causality, progress on the path to liberation and so forth.

This expanse of reality, the ultimate truth, is said to pervade all beings without distinction and is known as the nucleus of the tathagata (tathagatagarbha) or the nucleus of the sugata (sugatagarbha). It is held to be only fully developed and qualitatively perceived according to its true nature by buddhas, and yet equally present in ordinary sentient beings and bodhisattvas who are partially purified on the path to liberation. It is when the obscurations covering this seed of the buddha nature are removed that liberation is said to occur. Now, there are two kinds of renunciation of obscurations which have been expounded, one that is a naturally pure, passive/ait accompli, and another which actively removes the obscurations by applying an appropriate antidote. Although the nucleus of the tathagata is held to be present from the beginning in all beings, it is not therefore claimed that all beings are buddhas free from all obscuration. Similarly there are two kinds of realisation, one that is naturally present and passive, and another that is dependently produced and active. They are equivalent to the truths of cessation and of the path described above in Part One. While the second and the third promulgations of the doctrinal wheel give authenticity to the view of Great Madhyamaka, it is the third or final promulgation which extensively reveals the nucleus of the tathagata. Certain scholars of the past have, as the Author states, erroneously linked the views of Great Madhyamaka and VijiHinavada. However, the former is concerned with absolute reality, and the latter is directed towards consciousness. There is held to be a great distinction between the pristine cognition of the budd has and the consciousness of the ground-of-all. The proponents of Mind Only maintain that consciousness is not transcended in ultimate truth, but this is a view which is bound within cyclical existence. According to Great Madhyamaka,

the ultimate truth is the obscurationless pristine cognition, the uncorrupted expanse of reality transcending consciousness. This is because subjective consciousness is only dependently real, and pristine cognition is free from the subject-object dichotomy.

This view of the Great Madhyamaka is revealed in the compositions of Nagarjuna,7 Asailga and others, whether they belong to the second or third promulgation of the doctrinal wheel, for both refer to the three essential natures. Once Mind Only has been provisionally taught, the apparitionless Madhyamaka is taught, and when that has been transcended, the apparitional Madhyamaka is revealed. Without reaching that, the profound meaning of the greater vehicle is not perceived. Those who actually and experientially cultivate the path to liberation do not differentiate the two modes of Madhyamaka (rang-stong and gzhan-stong), as is attested by the writings of Nagarjuna, Asailga and other pal)9itas who commented on the intention of the definitive meaning (nges-don). While the second promulgation is generally confined to an outright negation of conceptual elaboration, this is merely a step in the experiential cultivation of Madhyamaka, which must subsequently transcend the Prasailgika and Svatantrika reasoning.

When meditational experiences have been established, it is the Great Madhyamaka, as taught in the third promulgation, which is profound and vast; and the vehicles of the secret mantra which are even more extensive. The purposes of the lower sequences of the vehicle are gathered within the higher. Otherwise the buddhas would not have given the three promulgations and nine sequences of the vehicle in that appropriate order.

Provisional and Definitive Meaning

Thus, in the Nyingma view, the first and second promulgations may be allocated provisional meaning (drang-don, Skt. neyartha) because they are a basis for debate, respectively rousing the mind from cyclical existence by teaching impermanence and destroying by means of the three approaches to liberation the reductionist view which adheres to the selfhood of phenomena. The third promulgation, however, is allocated definitive meaning (nges-don, Skt. nftartha) because it teaches that all relative appearances are intrinsically empty (rang-stong) and that all enlightened attributes are empty of those same extraneous appearances (gzhan-stong). The range of the buddhas' pristine cognition is thereby revealed and debate is surpassed by experiential cultivation. Yet, as the Author asserts, there is no difference between the transcendental perfection of discriminative awareness (prajnaparamita) revealed in the second promulgation and the pristine cognition revealed in the third. The distinction merely concerns the extent to which ultimate reality is revealed.

The Enlightened or Buddha Family

Since all beings are endowed with the nucleus of the tathagata, the seed of the buddha nature, they are all part of the buddha or enlightened family. From the ultimate point of view, this family is one in which the natural expression of enlightenment is said to abide inherently, and from the conventional or dynamic point of view, it is one in which that natural expression is to be attained. The former is the ground of separation from obscuration ('bral-rgyu), in which the three resultant buddhabodies arise. It is also known as the truth of cessation according to the greater vehicle. The latter is the truth of the path on which the provisions of merit and pristine cognition are accumulated in order that the obscurations covering the nucleus may be removed and the result be actualised (bral-'bras). The three buddha-bodies are thus said to abide primordially in the nucleus of the enlightened family, and are merely realised by the removal of the obscurations which cover them. They are not themselves compounded by the accumulation of causal provisions.

This indivisible essence of the enlightened family, the nucleus of the tathagata, is extensively revealed in the writings of Nyingmapa authors such as Longcenpa, Rongzompa, Terdak Lingpa and Mipham Rinpoche, and also in the compositions of the great masters of other Tibetan traditions - Kadampa, Kagyiipa, Sakyapa and Gelukpa, as can be seen in the many quotations cited from their works.

The Two Truths according to Great Madhyamaka During moments of meditative absorption, the outer and inner Madhyamaka do not differentiate the two truths since one then abides in the expanse of reality, the pristine cognition that is free from all conceptual elaborations of the subject-object dichotomy. During the aftermath of meditative absorption, however, they are distinguished differently by the Outer Madhyamaka, which allocates emptiness to ultimate truth and appearances to the relative truth; and the inner Great Madhyamaka, which determines ultimate truth to be the realities of nirvaI)a, in which the subject or pristine cognition and the object of its perception, as established by conventional logic, are harmonious, and relative truth to be the phenomena of cyclical existence, in which the subjective consciousness and the object of its perception, incapable of being established even in terms of conventional logic, are in a state of dichotomy. Ultimate truth is thus the expanse of reality in which pure appearances and emptiness are coalesced. Although this coalescence is even more elaborately revealed in the resultant vehicles of the secret mantra, it must first be established according to the view of Great Madhyamaka, on which the superior views from Kriyatantra to Atiyoga are all based. The Great Madhyamaka is therefore said to be the

climax of the philosophical systems according to the causal vehicles of dialectics.

Through the vehicle of the bodhisattvas who uphold the VijiHinavada and Madhyamaka philosophies, the ten levels and five paths are gradually traversed, and liberation is finally attained in the buddha-body of reality on the eleventh level (Samantaprabha). Manifesting the two bodies of form, the bodhisattva then acts on behalf of others until all beings have been liberated from cyclical existence. It is therefore held that the vehicle of the bodhisattvas is the first of the nine sequences of the vehicle which may be conducive to total liberation.

Key to the Appraisal of Causal Vehicle Texts Texts belonging to the causal vehicles of dialectics are firstly divided between those of the definitive third promulgation and their commentaries which reveal the full extent of the buddha nature, and those of the provisional earlier promulgations and their commentaries which partially reveal the buddha nature. There are also four kinds of intention with which buddhas deliver the teaching, unknown to the listener, and four kinds of covert intention which buddhas are said to employ in order for their precise meaning to be eventually understood by the listener.

Recapitulation of the Causal Vehicles

To facilitate comprehension of the above philosophical systems, Part Three is completed by a recapitulation of the three causal vehicles of dialectics, namely, those of the pious attendants, self-centred buddhas and bodhisattvas, within the context of their respective entrances, views, moral disciplines, meditations, modes of conduct and results.

PART FOUR: RESULTANT VEHICLES OF SECRET MANTRA

Part Four concerns the resultant vehicles of secret mantra, on which subject our text says (p.244):

.. .in the vehicle of dialectics, mind-as-such [or pristine cognition] is merely perceived as the causal basis of buddha hood. Since it is held that buddhahood is obtained under the condition whereby the two provisions increasingly multiply, and since the purifying doctrines which form the causal basis of nirvaI)a are made into the path, it is called the causal vehicle. Therein a sequence in which cause precedes result is admitted. According to the vehicle of mantras, on the other hand, mind-as-such abides primordially and intrinsically as the

essence of the result, identified as the buddha-bodies and pristine cognitions. Mind-as-such is thereby established as the ground which exists within oneself from the present moment as the object to be attained. It is then established as the path through its functions of bringing about recognition and removing the provisional stains which suddenly arise by means of inducing the perception of just what is, and it is established as the result through its function of actualising this very ground. Since a sequence in which cause precedes result is not really distinguished therein, it is called the resultan t vehicle and the vehicle of indestructible reality. SuperiorilY of Secrel Mantra

The resultant vehicles are said to surpass the causal vehicles in many ways. They are held to be unobscured, endowed with many means, without difficulties, and referred to by those of highest acumen; or to be swift, blissful, and endowed with skilful means. The Tantra of Inconceivable Rali Cakrasarrzvara (Srfcakrasarrzvaraguhyacintyatantraraja, T 385) speaks of fifteen such superior qualities. Above all, the resultant vehicles are said to transcend all conceptual elaboration and logical reasoning, and to establish pristine cognition as the nucleus of the buddha-body of reality, the coalescence of appearance and emptiness, within one lifetime and so forth. Since a sameness with respect to all things is to be experienced, they are capable of making relative appearances into the path, without requiring them to be renounced as in the causal vehicles. Thus one meditates through the outer mantras of Kriylltantra, Ubhayatantra and Yogatantra with reference to the deity'S body, speech and mind, and according to the inner mantras all things are realised and experienced as the mat:lc;ialas of the buddha-body, speech and mind.

Essence and Definition of Secret Mantra

Mantra is defined as an attribute of buddha-body, speech and mind which protects the mind with ease and swiftness. It also includes the deities in which emptiness and appearances are coalesced, symbolised by the seed-syllables E-VA¥, because they too protect the mind from rebirth in the three realms of cyclical existence. Those who attain realisation through the mantras are known as awareness-holders (rig- 'dzin, Skt. vidyiidhara) and the texts which convey the mantra teaching are known as the Pit aka of Awareness-holders. There are said to be three kinds of mundane awareness-holder and enumerations of either four or seven kinds of supramundane awareness-holder. The resultant vehicle is also known as the vehicle of indestructible reality (rdo-rje theg-pa, Skt. Vajrayana) because pristine cognition or mind-as-such is imperishable

and unchanging, despite the divergent apparitional modes of cyclical existence and nirvaI)a.

The Three Continua

Again, the resultant vehicle is also known as tantra, which is defined both as a means for protecting the mind and as the continuum extending from ignorance to enlightenment. There are said to be three such continua - those of the ground, path and result.

The continuum of the ground is another name for the nucleus of the tathagata, the buddha-body of reality, the family in which the natural expression of enlightenment abides and the pristine cognition of the ground-of-all - which have previously been explained in the context of Great Madhyamaka. However, the same continuum of the ground is also spoken of in Kriyatantra as one's own real nature (bdag-gi de-kho-nanyid) , in Ubhayatantra as the blessing of that reality, which is the ultimate truth without symbols (don-dam mtshan-ma med-pa'i byinrlabs) , and in Yogatantra as a deity of the expanse of indestructible reality, who relatively appears (kun-rdzob rdo-rje dbyings-kyi Iha). Similarly, it is also spoken of in Mahayoga as the superior and great body of reality in which the two truths are indivisible (bden-gnyis dbyermed Ihag-pa'i chos-sku chen-po), in Anuyoga as the fundamental maI)Qala of enlightened mind, the offspring of the non-duality of the expanse and pristine cognition (dbyings-dang ye-shes gnyis-su med-pa'i sras rtsa-ba byang-chub sems-kyi dkyil-'khor), and in the Great Perfection of Atiyoga as the ground conventionally known as essence, natural expression and spirituality (ngo-bo rang-bzhin thugs-rje).

The continuum of the path refers to the skilful means which purify the obscurations covering the ground, and cause all cyclical existence to be experienced as an array of deities and their fields of rapture. The continuum of the result is actualised when those obscurations have been removed, although it is essentially identical to the continuum of the ground. All accomplishments are therein actualised . .It is said that when the ground and result are indivisible, the truth of the origin of cyclical existence appears as the truth of the path to its cessation, and that the truth of suffering appears as the truth of its cessation.

The Four Tantrapitaka

The texts in which the teachings of the resultant vehicles of the secret mantra are expressed are divided into four tantrapitaka, namely, Kriyarantra, Ubhayatantra (or Caryatantra), Yogatantra, and Unsurpassed Yogatantra (Anuttarayogatantra) , which are taught as the means respectively for those of lowest, middling, superior and highest acumen who require training. According to the Nyingma tradition, the first three of these are known as the vehicle of austere awareness (dka'-lhub

rig-pa'i theg-pa) because they all, to a greater or lesser extent, include external observances of body and speech. The last one is known as the vehicle of overpowering means (dbang-bsgyur thabs-kyi theg-pa) , in which skilful means and discriminative awareness are coalesced.

Kriyatantra

Kriyatantra (bya-ba'i rgyud), or the tantra of action, emphasises external observances of body and speech, while continuing the subject-object dichotomy. It holds that meditation is required alternately on an ultimate truth, which is one's own real nature, and on a deity of relative appearance endowed with pristine cognition, distinct from that reality, who externally confers the accomplishments. By aspiring towards accomplishment, regarding the deity as a servant would his master, and by practising ablutions, fasting and other austerities which delight the deity, one may be granted the realisation of a holder of indestructible reality (rdo-rje 'dzin-pa) within seven lifetimes.

Ubhayatantra

Ubhayatantra (gnyis-ka'i rgyud), or the tantra which gives equal emphasis to the view and conduct, includes both symbolic meditation on the seed-syllables, seals and form of the deity and non-symbolic meditation on ultimate reality, the blessing of which may confer accomplishment as a holder of indestructible reality within five lifetimes.

Yogatantra

Yogatantra (rnal-'byor-gyi rgyud), or the tantra of union, emphasises meditation. The blessing of ultimate reality relatively appears as a deity' of the expanse of indestructible reality. Persevering in the acceptance and rejection of positive and negative attributes in relation to this deity, one may attain the accomplishment of a holder of indestructible reality belonging to the five enlightened families within three lifetimes. Symbolic meditation in this context includes the experiences of the five awakenings (mngon-byang lnga), the four yogas (rnal-'byor bzhi), and the four seals (phyag-rgya bzhi) associated with the deity, and non-symbolic contemplation concerns the real nature of the mind. External observances are not, however, rejected. Unsurpassed Yogatantra The Unsurpassed Yogatantra (bla-na med-pa'i rgyud, Skt. Anuttarayogatantra) emphasises the coalescence of skilful means and discriminative awareness, and is said to surpass the lower tantras which have not abandoned duality. The three poisons are carried on the path - desire as the essence of bliss and emptiness, hatred as the essence of radiance

and emptiness, and delusion as the essence of awareness and emptiness - and the result may be achieved within a single lifetime. In the Nyingma tradition, the Unsurpassed Yogatantra is divided into Mahayoga, Anuyoga and Atiyoga.

Mahtiyoga

Mahayoga (mal-'byor chen-po) unites the mind in the superior body of reality, in which the two truths are indivisible. The continuum of the ground is established as the genuine view to be realised by means of four axioms. The continuum of the path has two stages, among which the path of skilful means (thabs-Iam) carries the three poisons on to the path by means of practices concerning the network of energy channels, currents and seminal points (rtsa rlung thig-Ie) within the body. The path of liberation (grol-Iam) comprises a ground of discriminative awareness, a path of contemplation and, as its result, the status of an awareness holder (rig-'dzin) is attained. Contemplation chiefly refers to the five contemplative experiences of the divine mat;l<;ialas in their creation and perfection phases (bskyed-rim-dang rdzogs-rim) , which purify the rebirth process including the moment of death, the intermediate state after death (bar-do), and the three phases of life (skye-ba rim-gsum). At the successful conclusion of this practice one is said to become an awarenessholder and to actualise twenty-five resultant realities of the buddha level.

Anuyoga

Anuyoga (rjes-su mal-'byor) , or subsequent yoga, emphasises the perfection phase, and so forms a bridge between the creation phase of Mahayoga and the Great Perfection of Atiyoga. The ground or view of Anuyoga is that the expanse of reality, which is the primordial mat;l<;iala of SamantabhadrI, and pristine cognition, which is the spontaneously present mat;l<;iala of Samantabhadra, are indivisible in the fundamental mat;l<;iala of enlightened mind.

The path of Anuyoga comprises these three mat;l<;ialas ofthe ground, along with all the nine sequences of the vehicle. Among them the specific Anuyoga practices include the definitive path of skilful means (nges-pa'i thabs-Iam) in which the co-emergent pristine cognition of melting bliss is realised through the perfection of the energy channels, currents and seminal points within the body (see p.286); and the liberating path of discriminative awareness (shes-rab grol-Iam) which establishes the view that all things are of the nature of the three mat;l<;ialas, and employs both a non-symbolic contemplation of reality and a contemplation of the symbolic deity. While the divine mat;l<;ialas of Mahayoga and the lower sequences are gradually created or generated, those of Anuyoga arise spontaneously in a perfect manner. The result is that the five paths and ten levels known to Anuyoga are traversed, all the

subtle propensities which lead to rebirth in cyclical existence are refined, and the rank of Samantabhadra is realised along with the twenty-five resultant realities of the buddha level.

Key to the Appraisal of Secret Mantra Texts At this point, Dudjom Rinpoche discusses the criteria by which the texts of the resultant vehicles of secret mantra are to be appraised. The language of the texts is said to observe six limits and their styles of presentation are said to number four. Each line or verse of the teaching of indestructible reality (vajrapada) is to be analysed in terms of these criteria before the meaning can be ascertained.

Atiyoga

According to the Nyingma tradition, the Great Perfection of Atiyoga (rdzogs-chen shin-tu rnal-'byor) or "highest yoga" is the climax of the nine sequences of the vehicle. The expanse of reality, the naturally present pristine cognition, is herein held to be the ground of great perfection. The eight lower sequences of the vehicle have intellectually contrived and obscured by their persevering activities the pristine cognition which intrinsically abides. Accordingly, the text says (pp. 294-5): In this way the pious attendants and self-centred buddhas among the lower vehicles, with reference to the selflessness which they realise, hold consciousness and atomic matter to be the ultimate realities; and the proponents of consciousness who hold consciousness, self-cognisant and self-radiant in nature, to be the absolute characteristic of ultimate reality, do not transcend [the view of] mind and mental events harboured by mundane beings. The Madhyamika adhere to a truth of cessation scrutinised by four great axioms and the like, concerning the absence of creation, absence of cessation, absence of being and absence of non-being, which are appraised according to the two truths, and they adhere to an emptiness which is, for example, like the sky, free from extremes and free from conceptual elaboration. The Kriyatantra among the lower ways of mantra hold that accomplishments are attained which delight the deity endowed with the three purities, by means of cleanliness and other such austerities. The Ubhayatantra are attached to superficialities in their equation of the higher view and the lower conduct. The Yogatantra, having regarded the blessing of ultimate reality as a deity, objectively refer to the yoga of the four seals. The Mahayoga holds that pristine cognition is generated by incisive application ofthe creation stage, and

[practices associated with] the energy channels, currents and seminal points according to the perfection stage. The Anuyoga regards the expanse of reality and pristine cognition as maf.19alas of the deity which are either to be created or are in the process of creation.

Since these lower sequences are all drawn together by the intellect, they are said to be points of great deviation (gol-sa) from the Great Perfection, as the long quotation from the Tantra of the All-Accomplishing King (pp.295-7) clearly demonstrates. They are said to have been designed and so intended for the differing degrees of acumen in those requiring training through the vehicle, or as stepping-stones to Atiyoga. The Great Perfection, on the other hand, refers not to consciousness but to pristine cognition. It is the intrinsic awareness of mind-as-such (sems-nyid-kyi rang-rig), transcending the mind, and buddhahood is said to emerge not through compounded provisions but through realisation of pristine cognition without activity. Thus the nucleus of all Buddhist teachings, in the Nyingma view, is pristine cognition, and the establishment of it through intrinsic awareness is the path of the Great Perfection. While the structure of the buddha level was revealed in the third promulgation by Sakyamuni, the path or means by which it is actualised was not revealed to the adherents of the causal vehicles. The lower mantras, too, are not considered to be definitive since they persevere with intellectually contrived activities. If the nucleus of pristine cognition is not realised in accordance with the Great Perfection, all aspects of the path, such as the six transcendental perfections (pha-rol-tu phyinpa drug), the creation stage and the perfection stage, will not transcend the ideas and scrutiny of one's own mind. Yet these aspects of the path are not, it is emphasised, to be renounced, since they are spontaneously perfect in the ground. So the text declares (p.307): .. .in this abiding nature that is free from all activity, all things belonging to the truth of the path are narurally complete, without effort, in the manner of a hundred rivers converging under a bridge.

Great Perfection is therefore defined as the naturally present pristine cognition, or as a sameness throughout the extent of cyclical existence and nirvaf.1a, in which all lower sequences of the vehicle are perfected in a single essence.

The Divisions of Atiyoga

Within the teachings of Atiyoga, there are three modes of experiencing the goal of Great Perfection according to the narure of those who aspire to it. The text explains (p.319):

There is the Mental Class (sems-sde), which teaches that all things are liberated from the extreme of renunciation, because they are not separated from mind-as-such. There is the Spatial Class (klong-sde), which teaches that all apparitions of reality are free from activity and liberated from the extreme of the antidote, because they are perfectly gathered in SamantabhadrI, the space of reality. And there is the profound Esoteric Instructional Class (man-ngag-sde), which teaches that the particular characteristics of truth itself are liberated from both extremes of renunciation and antidote, because they are established according to the modes of reality (yin-lugs).

The spiritual and philosophical goal of the Mental Class transcends the subject-object dichotomy. The compounded truth of the path as taught in the causal vehicles and lower mantras is determined in the great expanse of reality to be a pristine cognition of great purity and sameness. When the Mental Class is analysed, there are seven categories or areas of mind (sems-phyogs) in which this determination is made. While the Mental Class holds the apparitions of reality to appear as the expressive power of mind-as-such, the spiritual and philosophical goal of the Spatial Class is the establishment of a great infinity of primordial liberation unscrutinised by mind.

All that appears in the vast space of SamantabhadrI is an adornment of that array, free from all activities. The Spatial Class is divided into teachings concerning the Black Space propounded as Absence of Cause (klong nag-po rgyu-med-du smra-ba), the Variegated Space propounded as Diversity (klong khra-ba sna-tshogs-su smra-ba), the White Space propounded as the Mind (klong dkar-po sems-su smra-ba), and the Infinite Space in which Cause and Result are Determined (klong rab-'byams rgyu-'bras la-bzla-ba).

While the Mental Class, referring to mind-as-such, mostly achieves profundity rather than radiance, and almost clings to mental scrutiny because it does not recognise the expressive power of radiance to be reality, and while the Spatial Class almost falls into the deviation of emptiness although it achieves both radiance and profundity, the Esoteric Instructional Class is considered to be superior to both because it gathers all apparitions of reality within reality itself. It is classified into the three categories of the Random (kha-'thor), in which pristine cognition instantly arises without regard for formal structure, the Oral Tradition (kha-gtam), which naturally shatters the source of all conceptualisation and remains indefinite in character, and the Teaching which accords with its own Textual Tradition ofTantras (rgyud rang-gzhung-du bstan-pa), that is, the Seventeen Tantras o/the Esoteric Instructional Class (NGB Vols.9-1O), which turn to the origin of all transmitted precepts, without renunciation or acceptance, sansara or nirvana, or disputations regarding emptiness. These have their various subdivisions, and further subdivisions.

So in Atiyoga the awareness which transcends the mind is said to be a primordial liberation (ye-grol), a natural liberation (rang-grol), a direct liberation (cer-grol), and a liberation from extremes (mtha'-grol). Once this intrinsic awareness or pristine cognition has been ascertained to be the distinctive doctrine, there are said to be two means of realising it, which are known as Cutting Through Resistance (khregs-chod) and All-Surpassing Realisation (tlwd-rgal).

The former, Cutting Through Resistance, is oriented towards the emptiness-aspect, or primordially pure awareness without conceptual elaboration, and so causes the cessation of inherently empty phenomena. The latter, All-Surpassing Realisation, clarifies the apparitional aspect, which includes material objects, into inner radiance in a spontaneously present manner, and so causes the cessation of apparitional reality.

It is said that when firm experience in Cutting Through Resistance has come about, one dissolves finally into a great primordially pure point of liberation. The coarse atoms of the four elements are transformed into pristine cognition and vanish. If, however, activity on behalf of others is resorted to, the dissolving atoms emanate as, and leave behind, relics of four kinds, while the awareness centred in the buddha-body of reality acts on behalf of beings through unceasing emanation. While it is held that Cutting Through Resistance directly liberates the bewildering appearance of objects in fundamental reality, the All- Surpassing Realisation brings about the liberation of all apparitional aspects of the three world realms of desire, form and the formless (see chan, pp.14-IS) in the inner radiance or luminosity of a seminal point of five-coloured light which is the natural tone of awareness.

Thus, the expanse of reality and its appearances, which are known as indestructible chains [of light, rdo-rje lu-gu rgyud], are the mature awareness itself. At the successful conclusion of this practice, it is held that the outer and inner elements of the three world realms all dissolve into inner radiance through a succession of four visionary appearances (snang-ba bzhi), and so all cyclical existence is reversed.

The awareness enters a formless disposition, as in Cutting Through Resistance, but the buddha-body ofform continues to appear in the manner of rainbow light, and to act on behalf of sentient beings. As such, it is known as the body of supreme transformation (,pho-ba chen-po'i sku, Skt. *mahiisahkriintikiiya), and this is recognised to be the buddha level attained by Padmasambhava, Vimalamitra, SIlamafiju and others. If, for the while, there is no one requiring to be trained, the buddha-body of supreme transformation is absorbed into the body of reality or the youthful vase body (gzhon-nu bum-pa'i sku), the emanational basis of all pristine cognition, and the intrinsic awareness abides radiantly within it.

Furthermore, according to the esoteric instructions (man-ngag, Skt. amnayalupadeia) of the Great Perfection system, all things belonging to cyclical existence and nirvaI).a are established as a display of four intermediate states (bar-do, Skt. antariibhava), which are respectively known as the intermediate state of the birthplace, the intermediate state of the moment of death, the intermediate state of reality and the intermediate state of rebirth. Each of these transformations is provided with particular guidance, so that beings may be conveyed to the point of original liberation at any stage or in any circumstance. It is said that through the power of the descent of pristine cognition and the experiential cultivation of it in continuous yoga, the recollection of signs on the path, and the removal of obstacles, the result may be actualised within one lifetime. Recapitulation of the Vehicles of Secret Mantra Having detailed the overall meaning of the resultant vehicles of the secret mantra, Dudjom Rinpoche recapitulates them succinctly, categorising each sequence according to its entrance, view, moral discipline, meditation, conduct and result.

This concludes the summary of the contents of the Fundamentals of the Nyingma School. The history of their transmission in India by Garap Dorje, Mafljusrlmitra, Jflanasl1tra, King Ja, Kukkuraja, LIlavajra and others, along with an account of their introduction to Tibet by Padmasambhava, Vimalamitra, Buddhaguhya and so forth, has been recorded by Dudjom Rinpoche, in his History of the Nyingma School (rnying-ma'i chos-'byung), which is published here in conjunction with the Fundamentals.

The History elaborately traces the distant lineage of transmitted precepts (ring-brgyud bka'-ma) and the close lineage of concealed teachings or treasures (nye-brgyud gter-ma) from their first appearance in Tibet until the present century, and clearly indicates that the Nyingmapa for the most part remained aloof from the sectarianism which has so often been divisive in Tibetan history. Indeed, as the Author demonstrates, the destiny and propagation of all schools of Buddhism in Tibet have been interlinked from the earliest times.

THE LITERARY TRADITION REPRESENTED IN THE

The literary heritage of the Nyingma tradition includes both tantras and siitras, along with the treatises or commentaries composed upon their intention over the centuries.

Fundamentals

The tantras and siitras which emphasise the particular Nyingma teachings of Mahayoga, Anuyoga and Atiyoga are found in the canonical transmitted precepts of the Kangyur (bka'-'gyur) and in the Collected Tantras of the Nyingmapa (rnying-ma'i rgyud-'bum). Among them, those which focus on Mahayoga are exemplified by the Tantra of the Secret Nucleus (rgyud gsang-ba'i snying-po, T 832, NGB Vol.l4), those which focus on Anuyoga are exemplified by the Sutra which Gathers All Intentions (mdo dgongs-pa 'dus-pa, T 829, NGB Vol.ll), and those which focus on Atiyoga are exemplified by the Tantra of the All-Accomplishing King (kun-byed rgyal-po, T 828, NGB Vol.l). However, there are many other texts which elaborate on each of these three categories. Among those which refer to the entire nine sequences of the vehicle there are the Tantra of the Great Natural Arising of Awareness (rig-pa rang-shar chen-po'i rgyud, NGB Vol.lO) and the Miraculous Key to the Storehouse (bang-mdzod 'phrul-lde, NGB Vol.2).

The treatises composed by Indian scholars of the past on those transmitted precepts include long commentaries on specific texts such as those on the Tantra of the Secret Nucleus by LIlavajra (Srfguhyagarbhamahiitantrariijat'rkii, P 4718) and by Siiryaprabhasirpha (Srfguhyagarbhatattvani17Jflyavyiikhyiinatfkii, P 4719). Yet they also include a tradition

of short, pithy explanations of the nine sequences of the vehicle, among which one should note the Garland of Views: A Collection of Esoteric Instructions (Upadefadarsanamiilii, P 4726) by Padmasambhava, the Sequence of the Path (Miiyiijiilapathakrama, P 4736) by Buddhaguhya, the Lock of the Heart (Cittatiilaka, P 4758) by SrI Sirpha, and the Turquoise Display (gYu-thang-ma kras-dgu, P 4729) attributed to Nagarjuna.

When the Nyingma tradition was introduced to Tibet, the concise exegetical style was maintained by authors such as Kawa Peltsek who wrote the Seventeenfold Appearance of the Sequence of the View (lta-rim snang-ba bcu-bdun-pa, T 4356).

During the medieval period of Tibetan history which followed the persecution of the Buddhist doctrine by Langdarma and its subsequent restoration, long treatises were composed concerning these "ancient translations" by Rongzom Pal)Qita (eleventh century), YungtOnpa Dorjepel (1284-1365), Longcen Rapjampa (1308-63) and others.

Longcenpa in particular was encouraged by his teacher Kumaradza (1266-1343) to compose the Seven Treasuries (mdzod-bdun) which definitively structured the entire Buddhist experience from the Nyingma point of view. These include his Treasury of Spiritual and Philosophical Systems (grnb-mtha'i mdzod) which has had a profound influence on later interpretations of the nine sequences of the vehicle.

Among his other works, one should note the General Exposition [of the Secret Nucleus, entitled] Dispelling Mental Darkness (spyi-don yid-kyi mun-pa sel-ba) which is a basic source-book for much of the present treatise.

Subsequently, Perna Trhinle (1641-1717) and Locen DharmasrI (1654-1717) have commented on the range of the Buddhist teachings in their respective Collected Works, and have explored in depth the distant lineage of transmitted precepts (ring-brgyud bka'-ma) and the meaning of the Anuyoga Sutra which Gathers All Intentions (mdo dgongs-pa 'dus-pa, T 829, NGB Vol.ll). The latter's Oral Teaching of the Lord of Secrets (gsang-bdag zhal-Iung) is a primary source for the recapitulations found in Parts Three and Four of the present work. In the eighteenth century, Jikme Lingpa (1730-98) intricately stated the view of the Nyingmapa tantras and the nine sequences of the vehicle in his nine volumes of Collected Works, particularly in the Treasury of Enlightened Attributes (yon-tan mdzod); and Gyurme Tshewang Chokdrup of Katok catalogued the Collected Tantras of the Nyingmapa in his Discourse Resembling a Divine Drum (rgyud-'bum dkar-chag lha'i rnga-boche lta-bu), the first part of which corresponds closely to our present text.

During the nineteenth century, under the inspiration of his teacher the great J amyang Khyentse Wangpo, J amgon Kongtriil (1813-99) compiled five anthologies (kong-sprul mdzod-Inga) which integrated the most important teachings from all schools of Buddhism.

More recently, Zhecen Gyeltsap and others have followed in this eclectic (ris-med) tradition, and Mipham Rinpoche (1846-1912) has composed elaborate exegeses on Madhyamaka, on the mind in its natural state (gnyugs-sems), and on the integration of the views of intrinsic emptiness (rang-stong) and extrinsic emptiness (gzhan-stong)8 within the sphere of the causal vehicles of dialectics. These are all included in the four cycles of his Collected Works. His Summary of the Spiritual and Philosophical Systems from Longcenpa's Wish-fulfilling Treasury (yidbzhin mdzod-kyi grub-mtha' bsdus-pa) has been partially translated into English by H. V. Guenther. 9

These prominent texts and authors serve to illustrate the literary tradition which Dudjom Rinpoche has inherited. Looking back upon the development of the Nyingma exegetical tradition from the Indian period until the eclectic movement, he has produced a treatise, the Fundamentals, which conforms to contemporary circumstances and requirements. Many Tibetans who currently practise the doctrine do so in a refugee environment, and so lack the time and resources which were once available for the detailed study of vast commentaries. Capturing the elegance of traditional versification, and the scholarly insights which have gradually been acquired over the centuries, he has condensed the writings of past masters, presenting their reasoning in an immediate, contemporary manner, and at the same time has substantiated this summarisation with copious quotations from the concise exegetical tradition of both Indian and Tibetan origin, which epitomises the Ancient Translation School. Acquired at wisdompubs.org 42 Fundamentals

The formal title of this work is An Abridged Definitive Ordering of the Nyingma Teaching, the Ancient Translation School of Secret Mantra, entitled Feast in which Eloquence Appears (gsang-sngags snga-'gyurrnying-maba'i bstan-pa'i rnam-gzhag mdo-tsam brjod-pa legs-bshad snang-ba'i dga'- ston). Its two hundred and thirty-two Tibetan folios were composed during the summer of 1966. The xylographs for the first edition of the text were prepared in Kalimpong, West Bengal, India, where they are preserved at the monastery of Zangdok Pelri. The text was subsequently reprinted in the Collected Works of Dudjom Rinpoche (Kalimpong,

GYURME DORJE

The Text

An Abridged Definitive Ordering of the Nyingma Teaching, the Ancient Translation School of Secret Mantra, entitled Feast in which Eloquence Appears gsang-sngags snga-'gyur mying-ma-ba'i bstan-pa'i mam-gzhag mdo-tsam brjod-pa legs-bshad snang-ba'i dga '-ston Acquired at wisdompubs.org Acquired at wisdompubs.org Verses of Invocation May you who are the indestructible reality Of the speech of all conquerors, Having attained supreme accomplishment, A level whose wonder cannot even be grasped, And arisen embodied as an awareness-holder, Powerfully transforming the three spheres of existence, Orgyen Dorje Chang, \0 confer your blessings. May you who bind the entire network Of the supreme skilful means, Which appears as great bliss, In the seal of discriminative awareness, Which is emptiness in its natural state, Heruka, completely present In mobile and motionless creatures, All-pervading lord and guru, Grant protection until enlightenment. When the brilliant, attractive lotus of eloquent discourse Born from the taintless ocean of doctrinal tradition Exudes honey drops of excellent meaning, The feast of the discerning bee increases in all ways.

Introduction

On the basis of the unsurpassed aspiration and enlightened activity of the three ancestral religious kingsll who emanated in the land of snow mountains Tibet, the field of the sublime and supreme Lokesvara,12 the Teaching of the Conqueror Buddhism was established. Its foundation was clearly made secure by the preceptors, masters, paI).Qitas, accomplished masters, bodhisattvas and translators who were representatives of the Teacher Buddha through their translations, exegeses, teachings, study, meditation, and attainment. Subsequently, an immeasurable number of accomplished awareness-holders manifestly equal to the Conqueror himself emerged, such as Nupcen Sangye Yeshe and his nephew Nup Khulungpa Yonten Gyamtso], the generations of the Zur family, Nyang-rel Nyima Ozer, Rok Sherap-o, Rongzompa ChOki Zangpo and Longcen Rapjampa. 13 Therefore, I wish to summarise and briefly explain the fundamentals of that body of teaching renowned as the Nyingma tradition or Ancient Translation School of the secret mantra, the exegesis, attainment and enlightened activity of which continue to be maintained without decline until the present day.

Part One

1 The Essence and Definition of Dharma

[3a.I-4b.S] At the outset, the doctrines of saI1lsara and nirval).a must be recognised in general and their characteristics established. This has three aspects: essence, verbal definition and classification. The essence is as follows: Mundane doctrines are characterised as those which, when referred to objectively, cause one to wander in the three realms by the power of corrupt deeds, and as those whose nature is flawed in such a way that suffering alone is experienced. Suprarrnmdane doctrines are characterised as those which destroy the two obscurations when founded upon the continuum of the mind, and which are endowed with positive attributes affording protection from the suffering of saI1lsara. As it is said [in the Rational System of Exposition, Vyakhyayukti, T 4061]:

The true doctrine (saddhanna) is that which removes all suffering and every obscuration.

The verbal definition is that the term dhanna, which is derived from the root dhrl4 "to hold", holds or conveys ten meanings. The Wishfulfiller (Amaratfkakamadhenu, T 4300) explains: Because it holds everything It is the dhanna.

In the Rational System of Exposition the ten meanings emerge as follows: Dhanna is that which is knowable, the path, nirval).a, an object of mind, merit, life, the scriptures, material objects, regulation, and the doctrinal traditions. Accordingly, there are quotations from the siitras illustrating the word dhanna when it conveys the meaning of that which is knowable, for example: Some things (dhanna) are compounded, Others are uncompounded.

All things (dharma) should be known in that way. When dharma conveys the meaning of the path, it may be illustrated by the words:

o monks, the wrong view is not the doctrine (dharma), but the correct view is the doctrine. When it conveys the meaning of nirvuI).a, it may be illustrated by the words:

He took refuge in the doctrine (dharma).

When conveying the meaning of an object of mind, it may be illustrated by the expression "activity field of phenomena" (dharmiiyatana). When conveying the meaning of merit, it may be illustrated by the words: He practised the doctrine (dharma) in the company of a retinue of queens and maidens.

When conveying the meaning oflife, it may be illustrated by the words: A childish person dearly holds to the things (dharma) which he sees. When conveying the meaning of the scriptures, it may be illustrated by the words:

o monks, that which is called the doctrine (dharma) includes for instance the pitaka of the sutras and the pitaka of prose and verse combined.

When conveying the meaning of emergent objects, it may be illustrated by the words: and:

As for compounded substances, this is their reality (dharma). Even I have not transcended the phenomenon (dharma) of death and the reality of death.

When conveying the meaning of regulation, it may be illustrated by the term "four doctrines (dharma) of a spiritual ascetic", 16 and by the words:

o monks, to kill is not the doctrine, but to renounce killing is the doctrine (dharma). And so forth. When it conveys the meaning of tradition, it may be illustrated by "national traditions" (dharma) and "ethnic traditions" (dharma).

If one then wonders how these [ten definitions] relate to the sense of the term "to hold", then the things which are knowable hold both

Essence and Definition of Dharma

individual and general characteristics. Individual characteristics are held as illustrated, for example, in the following words: Earth is hard, water wet, fire hot And wind is light and mobile.

And the manner in which general characteristics are held may be illustrated by the words:

All that is compounded is impermanent. All that is corrupt is suffering. All things are devoid of self.

NirvaQa is peace.

By the path and nirvaQa one is held from falling into sarpsara. By the object of mind the mind is held. By merit one is held from falling into evil existences. By the life-span or life itself one holds the body or its appropriate stations. The scriptures hold the unmistakable truth. Emergent objects hold that which has a transient basis. Regulations hold the precise foundation. Traditions uphold an idiosyncratic conduct; and by awareness [of all these] one is held apart from the area of bewilderment. Such analogies may be inferred by reason. The classification is twofold, consisting of the doctrine of sarpsara and the doctrine of nirvaQa. Concerning the distinction between these two, the [Long] Mother [Le. the Transcendental Perfection of Discriminative Awareness in One Hundred Thousand Lines] says:

Liberality is possessed by both mundane and supramundane beings. What, you may ask, is mundane liberality? That which, by the act of having made some offering, neither moves beyond, nor sublimates, nor transcends the world, is said to be mundane liberality. That which does move beyond, sublimate, or transcend the world, by the act of having made some offering, is called supra mundane liberality. According to such quotations, when one has reached a conclusion through any method, the result is distinguished by having or lacking the power to sublimate the world.

2 Doctrines of Samsara

[4b.5-16a.3] First, the doctrines of saJ11sara are explained under three headings: (l) the characteristics of saJ11sara, (2) the mundane vehicle [and the Brahma vehicle], and (3) an ensuing discussion of the views held by those of no understanding and by those of wrong understanding.

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SA~SARA

The doctrines or phenomena of saJ11sara are originally caused by ignorance which arises in three interrelated aspects. Firstly, the ignorance of individ ual selfhood (bdag-nyid gcig-pu'i ma-rig-pa) arises as consciousness, but it is not recognised as such. Secondly, through the co-emergent ignorance (lhan-cig skyes-pa'i ma-rig-pa), the unconsciousness of the true essence and that consciousness emerge together. Yet it is thirdly, through the ignorance of the imaginary (kun-tu brtag-pa'i ma-rig-pa), that one's own perceptions are externally discerned. Since these three aspects arise diversely from a single essence, they arise from the ground as the appearance of the ground; and since this is not known to have been self-originated, the threefold ignorance which subjectively discerns objects is the causal condition [of saJ11sara]. The objective appearances, which arise like one's own reflection in a mirror, through clinging to externals a part from oneself, are the referential condition [of saJ11sara].

The consciousness which holds to the concepts of "1" and "mine" is the possessive condition, and since these three conditions are simultaneous, they form the immediate condition. Bewilderment originates from the impure referential aspect containing these four conditions [of saJ11sara] and is maintained by divisively clinging externally to objective phenomena, and internally to subjective consciousness. As it is said in the Penetration of Sound (sgra thal-'gyur, NGB Vol.lO): The basis of bewilderment is ignorance. Ignorance has three forms.

Owing to that root which is the single indivisible1? cause, The true essence is not perceived; This, therefore, is the beginning of sarpsara. And in the Great An'ay (bkod-pa chen-po): Spontaneous presence arises as an object, Which is emptiness.

At that time, from the cycle of bewilderment Which has four conditions, The snare of clinging comes into being.

From the very moment of bewilderment, that same bewilderment arises as the ground-of-all (kun-gzhi, Skt. iiia)'a) in its role as the ignorance, the naturally obscuring expressive power, which is the unconsciousness of the true essence, Dependent upon that [ground-of-all] is the mind which is the consciousness of the ground-of-all and the six conflicting emotions which originate from it. These are ignorance, the basis on which bewildering thoughts are grasped];18 delusion, the bewilderment in the area of discriminative awareness; hatred, the bewilderment in the area of creative phases; 19 pride, the bewilderment in the area of the view; desire, the bewilderment in the area of appearances; and envy, the bewilderment in the area of non-understanding [in relation to these]. Eighty-four thousand phenomena (dhanna) then emerge through the gradual accumulation of ideas, beginning with the mind which apprehends emotionally conflicted thoughts such as the above, the intellect which apprehends all memories, the ideas which form the ground of connecting propensities and doubts, and that area [of mind] which clings to objects and entities.

In this way then, the five sensory perceptions originate together with the consciousness of the intellect wherein the twenty-one thousand phenomena [in each offour categories], namely, the three poisons and their equal combination, arise dispositionally.

The object which maintains the continuity of any of these six active consciousnesses20 at the moment of objectification, the immediate consciousness which at the same instant apprehends the object and its form, and any of the three subsequent feelings of pleasure, suffering or neutrality, are together called the sensation of contact. So it is that the eighteen psychophysical bases originate, divided into three groups of SiX. 21

[Thereupon, the evolution of] the five components, the twelve activity fields, the six sense organs and karma or [world-forming] deeds ensues. The five components are, namely, the component of form, which is an accumulation of atoms and is capable of being destroyed and split; the component of feelings, which are the source of enjoyment

S6 Fundamentals: Doctrines of SaJ?1,sara and Nirval'Ja and desire; the component of perceptions, which are dynamic and object-oriented; the component of habitual tendencies which create and accumulate propensities; [and the component of consciousness which is aware and objectifying].

As for the twelve activity fields which cause any accumulation of ideas to be sensed, there are six objective modes, such as form, the object apprehended by the eye, which causes both the continuity [of the object of perception] in the subsequent instant and the apprehending consciousness to be sensed; and there are also six subjective modes, such as the consciousness of the eye,23 which arises in that subsequent instant and perceives as form that form which may be objectively sensed. There are five organs of sense, such as the eye, which have the power to apprehend objects, or six with the inclusion of the sense organ of the intellect, which originates from the possessive condition of the initial apperceptive consciousness.

Deeds may be of three types: virtuous, unvirtuous or neutral. The first includes the ten virtues which produce worldly happiness as their result. The second comprises the contrary deeds which cast beings into evil existences. The third refers to those neutral deeds24 which cast beings into higher realms.

Although all these phenomena are compounded internally by the mind, their apparitional aspect and supporting foundation are the five gross elements of which external objects are compounded, and which are caused, conditioned, supported and substantiated by the fourfold process of creation, duration, destruction and dissolution. As the number of mental propensities through which they appear as objects expands, the world realm of desire containing the four continents, Mount Sumeru and perimeter appears like a dream, along with the realm of form, like self-radiating rainbow light of five colours, and the formless realm, which originates from the contemplation of the summit of existence, and so on. 25 In brief, the entire array of the inanimate container and animate creatures, mobile and motionless, subsumed by the three world realms, does not appear in the ultimate vision of sublime beings. Rather, it is an apparitional mode of the bewildered intellect of sentient beings, which appears by the power of the subject-object dichotomy lapsing into delusion, like water in a mirage, and into erroneous perception, like seing a multicoloured rope as a snake. As it is said in the Pearl Necklace (mu-tig phreng-ba, NGB Vol.9): In this way, the diverse appearances Resemble a rope when seen as a snake. Though not so, by clinging to them as such The outer container and inner essence Are established as a duality. The rope itself, on further investigation,

Doctrines of Sa'f!lsara 57 Is primordially empty of container and essence. The ultimate takes form as the relative. That perception of the snake is visually true, The perception of the rope is genuinely true.

Enduring, for example, as a bird relates to a scarecrow, The independent existence of the two truths Refers only to the relative world. It has no relation to genuine reality.

Because of the expanse of emptiness The essence of that reality is that all is free. And in the Oral Instrnctions of Maiijufrf(Maiijufrfmukhagama, T 1853-4) it says:

All things of sal11sara are held to be non-existent Like the multicoloured rope when perceived as a snake. Moreover, the creator of the happiness and suffering of sal11sara, the high and the low and all such apparitional modes, is karma or [worldforming] deeds, corrupted by all-conflicting emotions, which are of three types. Without exception these modes are created by deeds, emanated by deeds, matured by deeds, and they appear through the power of deeds. Accordingly, it is said in the Hundred Parables on Deeds (Karmasatakasiltra, T 340):

The diversity of the world is developed through deeds. Happiness and suffering are created by deeds.

Deeds originate from an accumulation of conditions And by deeds happiness and suffering are made. And in the Introduction to the Madhyamaka (Madhyamakavatara, T 3861, Ch.6, v.89) it explains:

By mind itself the diverse Sentient and inanimate worlds Are allocated their share of deeds. Living creatures without exception Are said to be created through deeds.

THE MUNDANE VEHICLE AND THE BRAHMA VEHICLE

The Mundane Vehicle

[7b.2-lOa.3] The mundane vehicle or the basic vehicle followed by gods and human beings is explained under three headings: essence, verbal definition and classification.

The essence is any method of progressing to the conclusive happiness of gods and human beings which lacks the power to sublimate sal11sara.

58 Fundamentals: Doctrines of Sa1?lsara and Nirvar;,a It is verbally defined as a vehicle because it can merely unite with, and progress towards, the result of happiness experienced by gods and human beings. Its classifications are sixfold, namely, entrance, view, moral discipline, meditation, conduct and result.

Firstly, concerning the entrance: After having seen the three evil existences, which are naturally endowed with suffering, one enters by means of renouncing the unvirtuous deeds, which are the cause of birth therein. As it is said in the Heruka Galpo (he-ru-kagal-po, NGB Vo1.25): Non-virtue is renounced by the vehicle of gods and humans.

In this context the ten non-virtues consist of three physical deeds - to kill, to steal and to commit sexual misconduct; four verbal deeds - to lie, to slander, to talk irresponsibly and to utter abuse; and three mental deeds - to covet, to be malicious and to hold wrong views.

Secondly, concerning the view: The correct view is the conviction that there are such things as a future world and the cause and fruition of deeds. It says in the Collection of Meaningful Expressions (Udanavarga, T 326, ChA, v.9):

The great one who possesses

The correct view for a mundane being Even in a thousand lifetimes Will not turn to evil existences.

Conversely, with a wrong view, even though one may have practised other virtuous deeds, such as abstaining from murder, one will reap the fruit of suffering. As it is said in the Letter to a Friend (Suhrllekha, T 4182, vA6):

Even though an individual may have practised well, with a wrong view All that matures will be unbearable.

Therefore, it is important that the correct view be retained. Thirdly, moral discipline is nothing but the moral discipline of renouncing the ten non-virtues. It has been said in the above-mentioned Letter to a Friend, v.Il]:

The eight vows of the] purificatory fast Cause the pleasant body of the gods who act as they desire To be bestowed upon lay people.

This being the case, is not the moral discipline derived from correct commitment explained to be necessary for one who would progress to the rank of the gods? Though indeed mentioned, it is spoken of only with reference to [the attainment of] the extraordinary form realms. For the ordinary form realms, its necessity is uncertain.

Therefore, these latter realms are held to be attained simply by enacting the deeds and path of the ten virtues, along with their concomitants, which are retained by the correct view.

Furthermore, concepts such as purity of the grasping components are adhered to, and one who has been motivated by the possession of conscience and humility is called a holy or superior being for performing his or her duties of body and speech with propriety. And the converse is true for an evil or inferior being. The Treatise on Behaviour entitled the Holy Ornament (lugs-kyi bstan-bcos dam-pa'i rgyan) says: 27 To honour well those who are worthy of reverence, To be especially benevolent to those who are unprotected, And not to forget to repay kindness Is the conduct of a holy being.

The holy person actually chooses death, Rather than a life which has forsaken conscience, Experiences which are tainted with sin, And power gained 1 y the deception of friends.

And again:

An evil creature delights in sin, Shows ingratitude and casts away Conscience like an enemy. That one will do anything To achieve his or her own purpose.

And in the Short Chapter on Discrimination ('byed-pa le'u chung) sixteen pure human laws (mi-chos gtsang-ma bcu-drug) are taught as follows: Develop faith in the Three Precious Jewels without sorrow or weariness; search ultimately for the true doctrine; skilfully study the excellent sciences; first recollect and then appraise anything that is to be undertaken; do not hanker after unassigned work; look to a higher level and emulate the ancients and those of superior conduct; repay kindness to one's parents of the past, present and future; be broad-minded and hospitable in one's dealings with elder and younger siblings and paternal relatives; ensure that the young respect their elders by degrees; show loving kindness to one's neighbours;

arduously assist one's acquaintances who are spiritual benefactors; perfectly fulfil the needs of those nearby who are connected through the worldly round; help others through one's skill in science and the arts; provide a refuge with kindness to those who depend upon it; resist bad advice and establish advice which will increase the happiness of the country; and, entrusting one's deeds to the doctrine, one

should bring one's spouse to obtain the ground of enlightenment in future lives.

Fourth, meditation: There is training until one has the power to bring about the proper result.

Fifth, conduct: One enacts the deeds and path of the ten virtues "endowed with corruption" along with their concomitants, which virtues are so named after their function which is [merely] to renounce the ten non-virtues. The positive virtues of such physical actions as prostration, verbal actions as praise and mental actions which benefit others by virtuous thoughts are also included. However, one might object, is it not said in the Heruka Galpo that on the vehicle of gods and humans, the ten modes of doctrinal conduct such as writing scriptures and making offerings are necessary? Here, as before, there is a distinction between [the attainment of] the extraordinary realms, and the ordinary realms.

Sixth, the result is as follows: By the extent of the power of one's virtuous deeds, one is born in the ten higher levels of the desire realm, namely, among the human beings of the four continents or among the six species of Kama divinities. Accordingly, the Tantra of the Extensive Magical Net says:

The practice of the ten virtues and the renunciation of nonvirtues Are the basis for birth among the gods and humans of the desire realm.

And in Buddhaguhya's28 Sequence of the Path it says: By emphasising the ten virtues And not equating virtue with non-virtue, One is born among the gods and human beings. Without understanding sameness, one wanders in the desire realm.

Since this vehicle progresses to the culmination of the happiness desired in this life either as an emperor among men, or as a master of the Paranirmitavasavartin29 realm of the gods, the Sutra of the Descent to Lanka speaks of it as the divine vehicle, after the name of the highest realm to which it progresses. It has been said of this vehicle in the Sequence of the Path:

It is definitively arranged As the first of the fundamental vehicles. Accordingly, it either forms the foundation of, or is preliminary to, all the vehicles, because the vehicle which is not retained by the correct view and which does not observe the deeds and path of the ten virtues

as its actual foundation is nowhere to be found. The Hevajra Tantra (T 417-18, Pt.2, Ch.2, v.18cd) also states: Having commenced from the ten virtues His doctrine is disclosed.

The Brahma Vehicle

[lOa.3-llb.3] The Sutra of the Descent to Lanka also speaks of the vehicle of Brahma. Here Brahma does not only apply to the three realms which begin with the Brahmakayika,30 but the meanings of chaste, clean and pure are also conveyed by the word Brahma; for the conflicting emotion of desire is cleansed and purified. In this way the above siitra refers to the whole range of the word Brahma. All twentyone higher realms, including the seventeen form realms of the gods and the four formless realms, are expressed by the word Brahma, and the path, along with its concomitants, which progresses to these realms is called the vehicle ofBrahma

It also says that one who has renounced the conflicting emotions of the lower level will be born in a higher realm by the power of having meditated with tranquillity, and with higher insight which perceives as coarse the level below one's own and perceives as subtle one's own level. Therefore, one will not be born in the higher realms without obtaining an actual foundation in the four meditative concentrations and the four formless absorptions on the path which removes attachment to the level below one's own. So it is that the meditative concentrations and absorptions are held to be the actual vehicle of Brahma and the four immeasurables and five mundane supernormal cognitive powers to be the extraordinary path of enlightened attributes in the vehicle of Brahma.

These attributes also require a view which accepts the doctrine of deeds and their result; an entrance and a moral discipline through which the ten non-virtues are renounced; a conduct through which the ten virtues are observed as before, but through which in addition the four immeasurables, namely, loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity are practised; and a meditation which includes both formal and formless absorptions. The formal ones are the four meditative concentrations which are characteristically disillusioned with the sensations of desire. As the Intennediate Mother Transcendental Perfection of Discriminative Awareness in Twenty-five Thousand Lines, Paficavirr- satisahasrikaprajfiaparamita, T 9] says:

That which possesses both ideas and scrutiny is the first concentration. That which possesses no ideas but scrutiny alone is the second concentration. Mental action devoid of both ideas and scrutiny is the third concentration, and mental action united with delight is the fourth concentration.

Doctrines of Sa1?1slira and Nirvlir;,a The latter [i.e. the formless ones] are the four absorptions which are characteristically disillusioned with the cognition of the four concentrations.

These are the absorptions into the activity field infinite as the sky, into the activity field of infinite consciousness, into the activity field of nothing at all, and into the activity field where there is neither perception nor non-perception.

They are the culmination of the path to the summit of existence. 32 Concerning these, the Tantra of the Extensive Magical Net also says:

One whose conduct is the four immeasurables And whose meditation is unwavering Will be born in the Brahma realms and so forth. The result [in this context] refers to both the form and formless realms. As regards the former, one takes birth in the three realms which begin with Brahmakayika through having meditated respectively on the weak, middling, and strong aspects of the actual foundation of the first concentration, and [by applying the second, third and fourth concentrations] in the same way, altogether there are twelve such ordinary realms in which one revolves.

During the fourth concentration the uncorrupted discriminative awareness of the sublime beings increases and one takes birth in the Five Pure Abodes beginning with A vrha through meditation in five respective stages. Yet, one does not obtain freedom from attachment to form, and one continues to wander in saq1sara through attachment to the flavour of concentration. As the Sequence of the Path says:

Holding to individual selfhood through the stages Of the four immeasurables and four concentrations, And imputing self in all forms, One takes birth successively in the Brahma realms. As regards the latter [type of result], one takes birth as a formless god by clinging to [the idea of] self during the contemplation endowed with four nominal components33 in which the discriminative awareness of higher insight is absent. The same text [Sequence of the Path] says:

Without understanding sameness and that which is formless, One does not know the four names to be non-existent. When one abides in the four activity fields, One is born on the level of the summit of existence.

THOSE OF NO UNDERSTANDING AND THOSE OF WRONG UNDERSTANDING

[11 b.3-16a.3] The ensuing discussion of the views held by those of no understanding and by those of wrong understanding is explained as

Doctrines of Sarrzsara 63

follows: on this topic the opinions of past masters slightly differ. The master Siiryaprabhasirpha34 claims that those of no understanding are the trio of the apathetic (phyal-ba), the materialists (rgyang-'phen-pa, Skt. Lokayata) and the nihilistic extremists (mur stug-pa), while those of wrong understanding are the eternalistic extremists (mu stegs-pa, Skt. tfrthika). Master Liiavajra35 claims that those of no understanding are the apathetic and those of wrong understanding the extremists, both eternalistic and nihilistic. Vimalamitra36 has said:

The apathetic and materialists Have no understanding, The nihilistic and eternalistic extremists Have wrong understanding.

Since a similar account also is found in the great master Padmasambhava's Garland of Views: A Collection of Esoteric Instructions, I shall adopt the same approach here.

Those of No Understanding

[12a .1-12a.4] Among those of no understanding and those of wrong understanding, the former are both interpreted and classified as follows. They are interpreted to be ordinary individuals whose attitudes have not been changed by a philosophical system. They are classified into two groups: the actual and the incidental.

The Apathetic

First, those who actually have no understanding, the mundane apathetic, are explained under three headings: essence, verbal definition and classification. Their essence is that they are totally deluded because from the beginning they have not understood [the relationship] between the causes and results of deeds. The verbal definition is that they are called apathetic because they do not act in response to the existence or non-existence of doctrines concerning interdependent causes and results, and observe neither renunciation nor commitment. As the Parkap Commentary [on the Secret Nucleus, Guhyagarbhamahatantrarajatfka, P 4718] says: He who understands nothing at all Is a mundane apathetic being.

Their classification is into an inferior type and a dubious type. The inferior type have a debased intellect which does not consider the attainment of positive attributes. The dubious type are both good and evil, and resemble those described below. Acquired at wisdompubs.org 64 Fundamentals: Doctrines of Sa1tlsara and NirvalJa

The Materialists [12aA-12bA] Secondly, those who are incidentally classed with those of no understanding, the materialists, are also explained under three headings. Their essence is that without understanding the existence or non-existence of previous and future lives, they are inclined to achieve only the slight temporal and spiritual well-being of one lifetime.

The verbal definition is that they are called materialists because, rejecting the future as remote, their achievements depend upon the mysterious expressions, oracles, dreams and calculations of mundane beings, such as those who are mighty and powerful in this life. Their classification is into two types: the cut-off and the perceptive. The former includes those cut off by nature and by conditions. Since [the view that there are cut-off beings] is not held by those who uphold the philosophy of the greater vehicle (Mahayana), they may be known in detail from other sources. 37 The perceptive type is fourfold. As a great sutra (mdo chen-po) says:

The four perceptive types, Known as the attached, the distracted, The fearful, and the aspiring, Appear as the field Capable of retaining the seed [of enlightenment].

Respectively, these four are unable to resist lustful attachment to objects of desire, distracted by the duties of man-made laws in this life, successful in power and wealth through evil means, and the type which aspires to renounce the ten non-virtues and attain liberation. Those of Wrong Understanding [12bA-16a.3] Secondly, those of wrong understanding are interpreted and classified as follows. They are interpreted to be any receptive individuals whose attitudes have been changed by wrong philosophy. They are classified as the five sophistic schools of the extremist masters of the past, who turn outwards rather than inwards. 38 Included among them are four schools of the eternalist view, the first being the Sarpkhya.

Sa1tlkhya

[12b.S-13a.3] During the age when living beings had a life-span of twenty thousand years,39 the sage Kapila attained accomplishment through the austerities of the eternalistic extremists and composed many treatises. There were two students who upheld his philosophical system, Bharadvaja and Patafijali. Those who follow the tenet of Bharadvaja, that all that is knowable is divided into twenty-five categories, are the Sarpkhya. Those based on the tenet ofPatafijali, that the abiding nature of the twenty-five categories is empty, are the Followers of Kapila

Doctrines of Sa1?lsara

Kapila, the Yoga School. As the Compendium of the Nucleus of Pristine Cognition (Jiianasarasamuccaya, T 3851) says: The Saqlkhya speak of attributes; The Followers of Kapila maintain they are empty. So it is that they are called the Saqlkhya, the Followers of Kapila and Adherents of the Three Attributes (Traigu1Jya).

Ais'vara

[13a.3-13b.l] The second school holding an eternalistic view is that of the Followers of !svara [[[Siva]]]. The god !svara, the teacher of many tantrapitaka, had two students who attained accomplishment, namely, Ak~apada and KaI).ada. The adherents of Nyaya (Naiyayika) depend on the View of Reason (Nyayadarsana) which was composed by Ak~apada, while the Vaise~ika depend on the Clear Distinction (bye-brag gsal-ba, Skt. Vaise~ikadarsana) which was composed by KaI).ada. This school holds that all the bondage and liberation of sentient beings is created by !svara:

Having no consciousness, these living creatures Lack control over their own happiness and sorrow. But when dispatched by !svara, They become creatures who exclusively inhabit The abyss [of evil existences] Or the higher realms [of gods and humans].

Thus they are called Followers of !svara, Followers of the Owl (Aulilkyatl and Adherents of the Six Categories (Sa4padarthavaise~ika). Vai~1Java

[13b.I-13b.6] The third school holding an eternalist view is the Vai~I).ava. Vi~I).u composed the Anthology of Vedic Treatises. The fourfaced Brahma was born from the lotus of his navel, and, after emanating the entire world and its contents, he recollected the great Four Veda, namely, the ~gveda, the Samaveda, the Yajurveda and the Atharvaveda. Later his exegeses were compiled by the sages and the following five divisions emerged:42 the grammarians (Vaiyakara1Ja) who rely on Vi~I).u's treatise entitled Light Rays of Grammatical Speech (brda'-sprod ngag-gi 'od-zer); the logicians including AviddhakarI).a43 who rely on the ni Agni's Weapons of Expression (smra-ba'i mtshon-cha); the mystics among accomplished meditators who rely on the ni Satya's Nine Cycles of the Meditational Sequence (bsgom-rim skor-dgu); those proponents of textual exegesis who emphasise ritual, relying on the ni Bhrgu's Clear Judgement (rnam-dpyod gsal-ba); and the followers of Caraka who are physicians relying on the Anthology of Caraka (Carakasa1?lhita), which

Acquired at wisdompubs.org

66 Fundamentals: Doctrines of Sarrzsara and Nirva1Ja was composed by the Hi Atreya and others. All of these uphold the authenticity of the Four Veda. When classified, they are known as the Followers of ViglU (Vai~1Java), the Followers of Brahma and the Followers of the Veda.

Jainism

[13b.6-14a.2] The fourth school holding an eternal is tic view is the Jaina (rgyal-ba-pa). In the Ornamental Mirror of Categories (tshig-don rgyan-gyi snang-ba)44 it says:

The great god [l~~abha], holiest of conquerors Ascertains that which is knowable

In the following nine categories:

Animate substance (jfva), inanimate substance (ajfva)4S and commitments (sarrzvara), Rejuvenation (nirjara), bondage (bandha) and deeds (karmasrava) , Evil (papa), virtue (pu1Jya) and liberation (mok~a). Consequently, it is held that liberation has form and colour, while trees are animate. They are called the Followers of the Conqueror (Jaina), Adherents ofthe Nine Categories and the Naked Ascetics (Nirgrantha).

Nihilism

[14a.2-14b.3] The fifth school is the only one which holds a nihilistic view. In Trayatriqlsa, the heaven of the Thirty-three Gods, Brhaspati, who had become the accomplished guru of the gods, composed the treatise entitled Essence of the View which Negates Everything (thams-cadla skur-pa 'debs-pa'i lta-ba'i snying-po)46 in order that the gods might develop enthusiasm for their struggle against the antigods. Later it was propagated in the human world by Valmlki. The treatise negates past and future births, saying [cf. Sarvadarsanasarrzgraha, Ch.l, v.l]: Act joyously, good lady, While you are not dead, For nothing is not in death's range. Even your body will vanish like powder.

Where can there be rebirths? It then negates the existence of invisible beings, saying: As many creatures as there are, They exist solely Within the range of the senses.

Alas, whatever the learned say Resembles the tracks of a deceiving wolf.

Acquired at wisdompubs.org DoctrinesofSarrzsara 67

It goes on to negate buddhahood as the result of progress on the path, saying:

The intellect is the body's soul,

It is the body's fruit and the body's attribute;

Depending on three modes such as these There is no possibility of progress [to enlightenment].

It negates logic, saying:

Because it exaggerates There is no logic.

And it also negates causality, with the words [Summation of the Real, Tattvasa-rrzgraha, T 4266, vv.111-12ab]: Who made the anthers of a lotus? Who designed the markings of a peacock? Who sharpened the point of a thorn?

All things emerge substantially without cause. So it is that they are called the Followers of Brhaspati (Barhaspatya), the materialists, hedonists,47 and those who hold that mind emerges from space.

CONCLUSION

Since these four views of no understanding and wrong understanding exclusively originate from ignorance, they are mundane views. Such has been said in the Garland of Views: A Collection of Esoteric Instntctions from the passage beginning: The countless siitras which gather together the erroneous views of sentient beings in the mundane realm fall within four categories, namely, the apathetic, the materialists, the nihilistic extremists and the eternalistic extremists. down to:

All these are ignorant views.

Among these, the two which have no understanding represent no philosophical view. However, they are explained to be associated with [such a view] because they are subsumed within the status of the mind: The two which have wrong understanding do represent views which change the attitude through a philosophical system, but by clinging to extremes which exaggerate and depreciate the reality free from extremes, they have become erroneous. Therefore, they are not the means of liberation from sarpsara. This applies not only to the nihilistic ex- Doctrines of Saytlsara and Nirva1Ja tremists who are the worst among those professing philosophy, but to theeternalistic extremists as well, because, maintaining a self, they are bound by clinging to a self, which is the root of saI1lsara. Accordingly, the Exposition of Valid Cognition (Prama1Javarttika, T 4210, Ch.1, v.193cd) says:

As long as one actually clings to a self, One will turn to saI1lsara. And in the Sequence of the Path: Anyone who inclines towards The duality of eternalism and nihilism Is said to deviate from the reality Of the genuine essence.

On this occasion, I have not written about the texts and so forth which they individually uphold. One wishing to know them should look elsewhere. Some may well ask at this point whether it is not most inappropriate to explain the philosophical systems of the Outsiders,48 etc., while analysing the Conqueror's transmitted precepts. Yet there is no fault, because having recognised the downfalls and things to be renounced on the path with reference to the eternalistic extremists who follow their own independent course, one has reason not to delay [in following] our own path, which is the supramundane vehicle. It says in the Heruka Galpo:

When the vehicle of the eternalistic extremists is well ascertained,

It is explained to you so that You will not practise but renounce it. Furthermore, with reference to those eternalistic extremists who are [the buddhas'] emanations, [there is no fault] because in addition to that aforementioned reason [for pursuing the path of the supramundane vehicle], they are said to represent the enlightened activity of the conquerors who train each in accord with his or her needs. It is said in the Rite which Ties by the Rope of Compassion of the Gathering of the Sugatas (bde-'dus-kyi thugs-'1ie dpyang-thag gnas-kyi lung, P 4781), which was composed by the bodhisattva Vajradharma: By the diverse inroads of compassion, Training in whatever manner may be suitable, The Teacher speaks of this [true doctrine] And whatever appears therein To the schools of the Outsiders. In the very same way, one might well wonder how the development of such a negative view as that of the nihilistic extremists could appro- Acquired at wisdompubs.org

Doctrines of Sa'!lstira 69

priately be within the conquerors' skilful means, since it is an extremely terrible wrong view. None the less, it is appropriate because the nihilistic extremists, too, admit much that is reasonable. When one examines the scriptures or meets the arguments of those who established the pure Prasailgika dialectic,49 one is first of all sceptical, and subsequently having seen the pure proof to the contrary, one comes to develop the correct logic. Therefore [the nihilists] are nearer to developing the correct view than the fools who have never entertained philosophy. Again, if one asks how these [[[views]]] are explained to form an ensuing discussion that is derived from the vehicle of gods and human beings, they are so called because the receptive individuals who make progress through the vehicle of gods and humans are both Outsiders and Insiders. With reference to the Outsiders, as Sura says: The beings who do not side with your teaching are blinded by ignorance.

Though they have reached the summit of existence, They will achieve a rebirth in which suffering re-emerges. And with reference to the Insiders, even though they may hold to the refuge with a will to perform their duties on behalf of the Three Precious Jewels (dkon-mchog gsum), they are referred to as remaining only on the mundane path, unless their intellects aspire to liberation. As the Supreme Continuum of the Greater Vehicle (Ch.l, v.19) says: With reference to differing volitions, The threefold refuge is laid .down.

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