Guhyagarbha Tantra (with Commentary)

by Gyurme Dorje | 1987 | 304,894 words

The English translation of the Guhyagarbha Tantra, including Longchenpa's commentary from the 14th century. The whole work is presented as a critical investigation into the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism, of which the Guhyagarbhatantra is it's principle text. It contains twenty-two chapters teaching the essence and practice of Mahayoga, which s...

Text 3.16 (Commentary)

[Guhyagarbha-Tantra, Text section 3.16]

 When well investigated by genuine realisation
Everything becomes present from that (disposition)
Where there is no independent existence. [16] ...

[Tibetan]

yang-dag rtogs-pas rab-brtags-na /
rang-bzhin med-las cir-yang 'grub / [16]

Commentary:

[Teaching that all things are a miraculous display without independent existence:]

When the phenomena of apparitional existence, saṃsāra and nirvana, have been well Investigated (rab-brtags-na) with awareness by a yogin who has genuine realisation (yang-dag rtogs-pas) of the meaning of the abiding nature, one should know that everything becomes present (cir-yang 'grub). arising as a conditional or apparitional mode from that (las) disposition of the abiding mode, where there is no independent existence (rang-bzhin-med), in the manner, for example, of a miraculous apparition in the sky, a magical display, or a reflected image.

It says in the King Contemplation (T. 127):

Just as swirls of clouds instantly emerge
From a totally cloudless atmosphere
And then disintegrate so that
There is no swirl of clouds.
One should similarly know that all phenomena
Are seen to emerge from this original (nature).
Just as in the midst of a multitude of people
Magicians emanate forms.
Projecting various horse and ox-drawn carts,
But these are indeed false and do not appear at all.
One should similarly know all things.
Just as the moon arises in a clear sky
And its reflection appears on a clear ocean
But the moon of water is an empty and coreless formation.
One should similarly know all things.
Just as when exposed to the summer sun
Creatures are tormented by thirst
And travellers perceive a mirage
In which a mass of water moves
But when investigated there is no water at all.
One should similarly know all things.

And in the Sūtra Requested By Druma (T. 157):

Just as the roundness of one’s complexion
Appears on the surfaces of a mirror
But does not independently exist as such.
One should know all things, Druma.

Therefore, one should know that all things appear without independent existence, and from the very moment of their appearance they are a miraculous display, in no way substantially existing.

[The third, (teaching that although the teachers and teachings do not change, for the sake of those to be trained they instruct each according to his or her needs, comments on Ch. 3.17):]

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