Text 3.3 (Commentary)

[Guhyagarbha-Tantra, Text section 3.3]

... The sages who demonstrate birth, renunciation, austerity, Buddha-hood, the subjugation of Māra, the turning of the doctrinal wheel, the demonstration of great miracles, the passing into nirvāṇa, and so forth, [3] ...

[Tibetan]

bltams-pa-dang / rab-tu byung-ba-dang / dka'-thub mdzad-pa-dang / sangs-rgyas-pa-dang / bdud-btul-ba-dang / chos-kyi 'khor-lo bskor-ba-dang / cho-'phrul chen-po ston-pa-dang / mya-ngan-las-'das la-sogs-par ston-pa'i thub-pas [3]

Commentary:

The sage who demonstrates (ston-pa'i thub-pas) the great miracles of deeds in order to mature immeasurable living beings through his great emanation of buddha-body instructs Inconceivable living beings; i.e. (he demonstrates) the birth (bltams-pa-dang) of the buddha-body, the renunciation (rab-tu byung-ba-dang) or rejection of household life, the austerity (dka'-thub mdzas-pa-dang) on the banks of the Nairañjana River and so forth, the buddha-hood (sangs-rgyas-pa-dang) in Vajrāsana, the subjugation of Māra’s (bdud-btul-ba dang) host, the turning of the doctrinal wheel (chos-kyi 'khor-lo bskor-ba-dang) in Vārāṇasī, the demonstration of great miracles (cho-'phrul chen-po bstan-pa-dang) at Śrāvastī, and the passing into nirvāṇa (mya-ngan-las 'das-pa) at Kuśinagara. The words and so forth (la-sogs-par) refer to (the others) in addition to these eight (deeds) which are universally taught. Included among them are his transference of consciousness from Tuṣita, his proficiency in the arts, his enjoyment with a retinue of queens, his arrival at the Point of Enlightenment, his subjugation of a rutting elephant at Rājagṛha, his teaching of the doctrine to hie mother in Tuṣita, and the subjugation of a great Yakṣa in Aṭavī.^[1]

There are some who hold that his deeds number twelve, but that is not definite because he is additionally said to demonstrate miracles, and the other (deeds) are interspersed with these. The enumeration of twelve deeds subsumed in the words and so forth (la-sogs-pa) is merely illustrative. in short, all acts which Instruct living beings by the great miracles of buddha-body are subsumed therein.

[The second (instruction by direct perception, comments on Ch. 3.4):]

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Footnotes and references:

[1]:

in addition to the present account derived from the Lalitavistara, see also the account of Śākyamuni’s life in NSTB, Book 2, Pt. 1, pp. 20-110.