Text 12.10 (Commentary)

[Guhyagarbha-Tantra, Text section 12.10]

Although they assume the pure birth
Of humans, gods and Brahmā gods, [10]

[Tibetan]

mi-dang lha-dang tshangs-pa-yi /
skye-ba rnam-dag 'dzin-mod-kyang / [10]

Commentary:

[ii. The second part concerns the provisional results accomplished thereby. There are two sections, of which the former concerns the beings who accomplish (those provisional results. It comments on Ch. 12.10):]

Among those awareness-holders, there are some in the respective abodes of (-yi) the humans (mi-dang) of the four continents, of the gods (lha-dang) of the desire realm, and the Brahmā Gods (tshangs-pa) and so forth. Although they assume ('dzin mod-kyang) the pure birth (skye-ba rnam-dag) in those respective forms, faultless and excellent in enlightened attributes, there is no similarity of attributes or equality in fortune with the beings of those abodes and races, just as, for example, buddhas and bodhisattvas may both assume the bodies of different abodes and classes of living beings, although there is no similarity in their fortune or enlightened attributes.^[1]

Concerning the four ways in which birth is assumed, it says in the Ornament of the Sūtras the Greater Vehicle (T. 4020):

Birth is held to be determined
Through the deeds of Intelligent beings.
Through their aspiration and power for the sake of others.
And through contemplation and mastery.

Among these (four), one is born on the ordinary levels, either into higher or evil existences by dint of good and evil deeds. One is held to be born on the levels from the first to seventh through aspiration and emanation which is learned in skillful means, and one appears to be born on the three pure levels (eighth to tenth) in order to train each according to his or her needs by contemplation and mastery. Then, on the Buddha-levels, one manifests a display of great mastery over the twelve deeds and so forth by means of spontaneously present emanations.^[2]

The sublime beings are without the characteristics of birth because they have traversed the rivers of birth, old age, sickness, and death.

However, they do emanate through their spirituality, as is said in the Supreme Continuum of the Greater Vehicle (T. 4024):

The sublime one has uprooted and abandoned
The sufferings of death, sickness and old age.
He is without them because he is without birth,
Which is determined by deeds and conflicting emotions.
Because he perceives genuine reality as it is,
He has transcended birth and so forth.
However, as an embodiment of his compassion.
He displays birth, death, old age, and sickness.

And in the Verse Summation of the Transcendental Perfection of Discriminative Awareness (T. 13):

Though he is without old age, sickness and death.
He displays the transference of consciousness at death.

Now, the awareness-holder of maturation has put an end to birth determined by deeds. This is because, immediately after abandoning his body, he obtains the sublime levels and, in this way, identifies with the conclusive path of connection.

From the feeling of warmth experienced on the path of connection there are no evil existences,^[3] as is said in the following verse from the section on the feeling of warmth in the Ornament of Emergent Realisation (T. 3786):^[4]

Hesitation and the absence of (the eight) freedoms are ended.

So it is that one is born through aspiration in the pure fields for the sake of living beings.

The awareness-holders of power over the lifespan and the (great) seal perform acts of benefit through their births which are determined by contemplation, However, these births are without inherent characteristics because the body itself is transformed into the buddha-body of indestructible reality, so that there is no connection with decay.

The awareness-holder of spontaneous presence manifests the birth determined by mastery, in order to train each according to his or her needs, so that there is a diffusion of emanations.

[The latter concerning the levels in which they are subsumed, (comments on Ch. 12.11):]

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Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The nirmāṇakāya is said to appear in diverse realms and diverse forms, in the manner of the moon's reflection in water, i.e. without straying from the dharmakāya or sambhogakāya. Cf. NSTB, Book 1, Pt. 2, pp. 50a-60a. Similarly, Bodhisattvas may appear in the same realms through their past aspirations. and yet they are differentiated from buddhas in their attributes and purpose. Cf. NSTB, Book 1. Pt. 3. PP. 80bff. Also, see the following paragraph.

[2]:

Among these four "ways in which birth is assumed”. the first corresponds to sentient beings, the second and third to bodhisattvas, and the fourth to buddhas. Cf. NSTB, Book 1, Pt. 3, pp. 80bff. On the twelve deeds (mdzad-pa bcu-gnyis) see above. Ch. 3, PP. 469-491.

[3]:

On this "feeling of warmth" on the prayogamārga (sbyor-lam drod), see NSTB, Book 1, Pt. 3, p. 130; also kLong-chen Rab-'byams-pa, grub-mtha'i mdzod. pp. 142-146.

[4]:

Tibetan the-tshom mi-dal zad-pa-dang. The "eight freedoms" (dal-ba brgyad) are the freedoms from birth in the hells, as tormented spirits, animals, fronteir [frontier?] tribes, long-living gods, those with erroneous views, those born in a time when there is no buddha, and the stupid. Cf. Smṛtyupasthāna-sūtra. as quoted in Sgam.po.pa, The Jewel Ornament of Liberation, p. 14.