Text 12.14 (Commentary)

[Guhyagarbha-Tantra, Text section 12.14]

From any of the four times and ten directions.
The perfect Buddha will not be found.
Mind-as-such is the perfect Buddha.
Do not search elsewhere for the Buddha. [14]

[Tibetan]

dus-bzhi phyogs-bcu gang-nas-kyang /
rdzogs-pa'i sangs-rgyas rnyed mi-'gyur /
sems-nyid rdzogs-pa'i sangs-rgyas-te /
sangs-rgyas gzhan-nas ma-'tshol-zhig / [14]

Commentary:

[The latter aspect concerns the correct projection (of that meditation. It comments on Ch. 12.14):]

In order to abandon hesitation caused by wondering how the deities who are the object of such meditation could be accomplished because they are (the nature of) one's own mind, or by wondering whether the nature of the deity arrives extraneously and then grants accomplishment: from any of (gang-nas kyang) the four times (dus-bzhi) such as the past and ten directions (phyogs-bcu) such as east, the perfect buddha (rdzogs-pa'i sangs-rgyas) will not be found (rnyed mi-'gyur) as an Independent characteristic apart from the mind, whether as one yet to be attained or as one which is emergent. The nature of mind (sems) as such (nyid), just as it abides, is the perfect buddha (rdzogs-pa'i sangs-rgyas-te). Indeed the buddha will not be found by the extraneous analyses of objects and time, whether one asks if such buddhas (emerge) from other directions of space or thinks that one who has refined the seed or cause of Buddha-hood, namely the present mind itself, will at some future time become a Buddha, but is not now a Buddha.^[1] Therefore, as it is taught, do not search (ma-'tshol-zhig) elsewhere (gzhan-du) for the buddha (sangs-rgyas) apart from the mind.

The Transcendental Perfection of Discriminative Awareness in Eight Thousand Lines (T. 8) accordingly says:

A Buddha-image made a prophetic declaration in the presence of the Bodhisattva Sadaprarudita, and then vanished. At that time, there occurred to Sadaprarudita this following thought. "Whence ", he thought, "did this Tathāgata come, and where does he reside?". Then, Dharmodgata said, "Son of the enlightened family, this Tathāgata did not come from anywhere and he does not reside anywhere. If you ask how this is the case, it is as follows: when, for example, the Tathāgata appears during the dreams of certain persons and then vanishes, does he come from or reside anywhere?" Sadaprarudita replied, "He does not exist. There is nothing but sleep." Dharmodgata said, "In the same way, (that Buddha-image) is not separate from the mind. So it is that all things are naturally pure."

And also:

If the mind is realised, It is the buddha. Therefore one should well cultivate the perception that does not seek elsewhere for the Buddha.

[ii. The second part (of the synopsis of the great all-gathering maṇḍala which supports the feast-offerings) concerns the accomplishment of all maṇḍalas thereby. (It comments on Ch. 12.15):]

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Footnotes and references:

[1]:

This causal system of Buddhist philosophical systems is the subject of NSTB, Book 1. Pt. 3.