Text 2.2 (Commentary)

[Guhyagarbha-Tantra, Text section 2.2]

Emaho!
The aspects of the component of indestructible reality
Are known as the five perfect Buddhas.
All the manifold activity fields and sensory bases
Are the nature of the maṇḍala of Bodhisattvas.
Earth and water are Buddhalocanā and Māmakī.
Fire and air are Pāṇḍaravāsinī and Samayatārā.
Space is Dhātvīśvarī.
The three realms of existence are primordial Buddha-fields.
All things that there are without exception
Are not extraneous to the Buddhas themselves.
Phenomena extraneous to the Buddhas themselves
Have not been found by the Buddhas themselves.
—When he said this, all the Tathāgatas rejoiced. [2] ...

[Tibetan]

e-ma-ho / rdo-rje phung-po yan-lag-ni / rdzogs-pa'i sangs-rgyas lnga-ru grags / skye-mched khams-rnams mang-po kun / byang-chub sems-dpa'i dkyil-'khor-nyid / sa-chu spyan-dang ma-ma-ki / me-rlung gos-dkar sgrol-ma-ste / nam-mkha' dbyings-kyi dbang-phyug-ma / srid-gsum ye-nas sangs-rgyas-zhing / thams-cad ma-lus chos-so-cog / sangs-rgyas-nyid-las gzhan ma-yin / sangs-rgyas-nyid-las gzhan-pa'i chos / sangs-rgyas-nyid-kyis mi-brnyes-so / —zhes brjod-pas / de-bzhin gshegs-pa thams-cad mnyes-par gyur-to [2]

Commentary:

[His actual discourse]

Emaho! (e-ma-ho) signifies great wonder because all things are originally pure. Accordingly, the term “indestructible reality” (rdo-rje) refers to the nature of all buddhas and sentient beings which is the primordial uncreated buddhahood; and the component of (phung-po) which it is comprised refers to the nature of reality or emptiness and apparitional reality or appearance. Its aspects (yan-lag-ni) are the five components Including consciousness, which (in reality) are known (grags) as the five (lnga-ru) genuinely perfect buddhas (rdzogs-pa'i sangs-rgyas) beginning with Akṣobhya. Similarly, all the manifold (mang-po kun) details of the twelve activity fields (skye-mched) and the eighteen sensory bases (khams-rnams) abide primordlally as the nature of the maṇḍala (dkyil-'khor-nyid) of the retinue of bodhisattvas (byang-chub sems-dpa'i) who are male and female consorts.

The activity fields are so-called because they cause the six objects such as form and the six consciousnesses of the senseorgans such as the eye “to arise” (skye). while causing the continuity (of their perception) “to be sensed” (mched) in the subsequent instant.^[1] When classified, they comprise the six objective modes, namely those of form, sound, smell, taste, contact, and phenomena; and the six sense-organs (i.e. subjective modes), namely those of the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and Intellect; twelve activity fields in all. The eighteen sensory bases are the six objects such as form, the six sense-organs such as the eye, and the six consciousnesses of the sense-organs such as the consciousness of the eye.

The five elements are also buddhas in the essence of the five female consorts. Earth and water (sa-chu) are respectively Buddhalocanā and Māmakī (spyan-dang ma-ma-ki). Fire and air (me-rlung) are respectively Pāṇḍaravāsinī and Samayatārā (gos-dkar sgrol-ma ste); and space is Dhātvīśvarī (nam-mkha' dbyings-kyi dbang-phyug-ma).

In the same way, the essence of the three realms of existence (grid-gsum), namely those of desire, form and formlessness which are subsumed respectively within the outer elements. the Inner elements. and the accumulation of ideas, is ostensibly impure, but it too abides in the nature of primordial (ye-nas) or original buddha-fields (sangs-rgyas zhing). All things (thams-cad) of saṃsāra and the realities of nirvāṇa without exception (ma-lus), i.e. all things of apparitional existence that there are (chos-so-cog) are not extraneous to the buddhas themselves (sangs-rgyas-nyid-las gzhan-ma-yin). The so-called phenomena (chos) of impure saṃsāra, extraneous to the buddhas themselves (sangs-rgyas-nyid las gzhan-pa'i), which have independent characteristics, when searched for, have not been found (mi-brnyes-so) by the buddhas themselves (sangs-rgyas-nyid-kyis), even to the extent of an atomic particle. They are not found; and there is understood to be actually nothing which the buddhas do not find.

It says in the Ascertainment of Valid Cognition (T. 4211):

The omniscient one is exclusively understood to be without erroneous perception in all respects.

Similarly, it says in the All-Accomplishing King (T. 828):

The disposition of the All-Accomplishing One,
Where all things are uncreated.
Is the nucleus of primordial buddhahood.
The All-accomplishing One does not refer objectively
To a presence or absence.
His disposition of natural sameness
Is the original ground or baseless reality.

And in the Sūtra of the Irreversible Wheel (t. 240):

All things have attained primordial Buddha-hood.
Therefore enlightenment is the characteristic nature of space.

In this way, the reality which appears is primordial Buddha-hood.

When he said this (zhes brjod-pas), all (thams-cad) the Tathāgatas (de-bzhin gshegs-pa) along with the assembled host of their queens rejoiced (mnyed-par gyur-to).

[ii. Intention of the Female Consort Which Gives Rise to the Discourse (101.5-103.6):]

The second (see p. 442), the intention of the female consort which gives rise to a discourse principally on the abiding nature of reality or emptiness, also has two sections, namely, the cause which induces her intention to initiate the discourse and the actual discourse.

[The former (comments on Ch. 2.3):]

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Footnotes and references:

[1]:

On the activity-fields and sensory bases, see above. Ch. 1, note 99; also NSTB, Book 1, Pt. 1, pp 4bff.