Text 1.13 (Commentary)

[Guhyagarbha-Tantra, Text section 1.13]

... There was the great subjugator of indestructible contact. the great subjugator of the indestructible subject of contact. the great subjugator of the indestructible object of contact, and the great subjugator of the indestructible consciousness of contact. [13] ...

[Tibetan]

'joms-pa chen-po reg-pa-dang / 'joms-pa chen-po reg-byed-dang / 'joms-pa chen-po reg-bya-dang / 'joms-pa chen-po reg-shes-dang/ [13]

Commentary:

[The section on the male & female consorts who are the gatekeepers (of the maṇḍala) has two parts, of which the former concerning the male consorts:]

It is explained that they correspond to the following description which is found in the Subsequent Tantra of Guhyasamāja (T. 643):

If this pristine cognition, the enlightenment
Of the buddhas is known to be
Without decay, without consciousness,
Without description and without conception.
Bliss will be obtained.

The subjugator ('joms-pa) is skillful means, great (chen-po) in discriminative awareness. He is said to be indestructible (rdo-rje) because venomous spirits such as Māra and Yama are disciplined by great emanations who possess these two attributes. Now, within the threefold process of sensory interaction which occurs when the sensation of physical contact (reg-pa-dang) is generated, there is the body or subject of contact (reg-byed-dang). the object of contact (reg-bya-dang), and the consciousness of the body or consciousness of contact (reg-shes-dang) which derives from the encounter (of these two). Respectively, these are represented by Amṛtakuṇḍalin, Aśvottama, Mahābala, and Yamāntaka whose Buddha-bodies penetrate the five sense-objects or sensory bases of contact, surpassing ordinary (contact).

Then there is also verbal contact, which is vocalised. Although in this text it is the four aspects of physical (contact) which are primarily and actually revealed, those of both speech and mind are implied. Now, when the sensation of verbal contact is generated, there is the sound or subject of expression, the object of that expression, and the consciousness of that sound which derives from the accumulated conditions of these two aspects of expression. These appear respectively as the four wrathful deities beginning with Amṛtakuṇḍalin to illustrate that Buddha-speech free from all obscurations of tone penetrates its five objects, surpassing the euphonous, discordant and neutral sounds which (ordinarily) emerge.

Then there is mental (contact) during which phenomena come into being. When the activity field of phenomena, the object of the intellect, is generated, there is the intellect or subject of perception, the forms of general concept or diverse objects of perception, and the consciousness of bliss, sorrow, refutation and proof which derives from the encounter of these two. Surpassing this generation, the four wrathful deities manifest In and of themselves at the gates (of the maṇḍala) through the energy of pristine cognition to illustrate that the unobscured pristine cognition of the buddhas is actualised without regard for the apprehension of general concepts and is free from all desires and hatred.

These (gatekeepers) are none other than the four pristine cognitions which realise (respectively) that there is neither creation nor decay, there is nothing to be expressed, there is nothing which perceives, and there is nothing at all (physical, verbal or mental).

[The section on their female consorts (comments on Ch. 1.14):]

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