Text 4.27 (Commentary)

[Guhyagarbha-Tantra, Text section 4.27]

Aho! This wheel is a Joyous cloud of
Skillful means and discriminative awareness.
It is the causal basis of the provision of enlightened mind.
Its result is the maturation and accomplishment of the conquerors.
These wondrous forty-two consonantal syllables.
Not compounded by nature.
Are the compounded indestructible reality
Which discloses the maṇḍalas.
Their commitment to do so is not transgressed—
Dependent are they on the great force
of their accumulated causes and conditions.
—Aho! Such are the words of secret indestructible reality which emerged. [27]

[Tibetan]

a-ho /
thabs-dang shes-rab dgyes-sprin byang-chub sems-tshogs rgyu 'khor-lo /
'bras-bu rgyal-ba smin-grub ngo-mtshar ming-tshogs bzhi-bcu-gnyis /
'dus-ma-byas-nyid 'dus-byas rdo-rje dkyil-'khor 'byin-pa'i dam /
'da'-bar mi-mdzad dpang-med rgyu-rkyen tshogs-pa'i mthu-chen yin /
ho / rdo-rje gsang-ba'i tshig-tu'o / [27]

Commentary:

Aho! (A-ho) is exclaimed in praise of the non-dual nature. From a disposition of skillful means (thabs) or naturally present great spirituality and (dang) natural discriminative awareness (shes-rab) beyond the two extremes, the teacher (the male and female consort Samantabhadra) is primordially endowed with this wheel of syllables or inexhaustible wheel ('khor-lo) of adornment. It is the superior pristine cognition, a joyous (dgyes) cloud (sprin) mass of spirituality for the sake of those to be trained. It is the causal basis (rgyu) of the excellent provision (tshogs) of enlightened mind (byang-chub sems), and its result ('bras-bu) is the maturation (smin) of the great maṇḍalas including those of the forty-two conquerors (rgyal-ba). From this apparition, the emanational body comes forth as a spontaneous accomplishment (grub) for the sake of living beings.

In this way the causal basis comprising these wondrous (ngo-mtshar) syllables—the forty-two consonantal syllables (ming-tshogs bzhi-bcu gnyis) and so forth—becomes manifest. Their essence is the spontaneously present reality which primordially abides and is not newly compounded by nature ('dus ma-byas-nyid) from causes and conditions. From its disposition self-arisen spirituality appears for the sake of living beings. Thus, the cycles of (the syllables) are the indestructible reality (rdo-rje) which is arrayed in a compounded ('dus-byas) manner and yet lacks duality because it is essentially unchanging.

This reality is the absolutely definitive nature which discloses (sbyin-pa'i) the forty-five maṇḍalas (dkyil-'khor) of buddha-body, speech, mind, attributes and activities, and so forth.^[1] Its great commitment to do so (dam), which emanates and makes the maṇḍalas manifest, is at all times not transgressed ('da'-bar mi-mdzad). Just as the light-rays of the sun are committed to shine. This apparitional nature of the maṇḍalas indeed resembles the images which dependently arise when form is reflected in a mirror. For, when the naturally present pristine cognition arises from the wheel of syllables, both the self-manifesting maṇḍala (of the body of perfect rapture) and the maṇḍala (of the emanational body) which trains living beings dependently (dbang-med) arise in all their emanational forms throughout the ten directions. Such manifestations are (yin) derived from the great force (mthu-chen) of their accumulated (tshogs-pa'i) causes (rgyu), i.e. the cloud-mass of syllables, and conditions (rkyen), i.e. the appearance of pristine cognition and beings to be trained. Aho! (A-ho) is therefore an exclamation of wonder. This is the explanation which accords with the buddhas’ emanational nature.

Furthermore, this wheel of syllables may also be explained In accordance with its presence in the body and its meditation on the path. As to the former: Inside the bodies of all corporeal beings, the seed or provision of enlightened mind, a joyous cloud of white and red seminal points without duality, which respectively indicate skillful means and discriminative awareness, is the causal basis of a relative nature. Abiding on the petals and at the centre of the four wheels (cakra) within the energy channels which are smooth and stalk-like, this seed appears in the form of syllables of pure-essence, radiant in the manner of a butter lamp; and the result (associated with them) is the maturation and accomplishment of the conquerors. in this way, the forty-two wondrous consonantal syllables naturally and primordially abide. They are the reality or inner radiance, not compounded by nature, from whose disposition emerges the compounded indestructible reality, i.e. the experience of the path which unites learning in skillful means with discrimintive awareness. It is these syllables which manifestly disclose the maṇḍalas of buddha-body and pristine cognition. Their great commitment to do so is not transgressed because the ground, or the syllables themselves, emerges dependently, radiating as the maṇḍala of deities through the conditions of the path. In this way, the potential and force of their accumulated causes and conditions do emerge. The expression of wonderment, Aho!, is revealed because this (result) is present in the ground from the present moment.^[2]

Furthermore, there are two explanations (of this same passage) connected with the meditational modes of the path, among which (the first) refers to the creation and perfection stages of the path of liberation:^[3] When one has cultivated the enlightened mind of skillful means, meditated on the contemplation of the real nature or discriminative awareness, and meditated on the contemplations associated with the universal appearance of the joyous cloud-mass (of syllables), and the causal basis or provision of enlightened mind, then one meditates, as previously indicated, on the wheel or cloud-mass of syllables. This has as its result the maturation and accomplishment of the maṇḍalas of the conquerors: The wondrous forty-two consonantal syllables disclose the genuine maṇḍalas of indestructible reality in which the non-compounded buddha-body of reality and the compounded body of form are without duality. Their commitment to do so is not transgressed because the force of their accumulated causes and conditions dependently arises. Aho! is an exclamation of great wonder (at the result) which emerges in the manner of a reflected image or of a magical apparition.

According to the path of skillful means: There is a joyous cloud, the essential nature of the four delights, in which are mingled without duality the "moon-fluid" (semen), indicative of the male consort or skillful means and the "sun-fluid" (ovum), indicative of the female consort or discriminative awareness. This is the seed, the provision of enlightened mind, the descent of which into the four wheels (cakra) gives rise to meditation on bliss and emptiness without duality. its result is the maturation and accomplishment of the conquerors, the wondrous forty-two consonantal syllables.^[4]

The essence of these (syllables) abides as the Indestructible reality where skillful means and discriminative awareness are non-dual because the four non-compounded pristine cognitions are compounded by arousal, filling, extension and so forth (of the seminal fluids).^[5] It is these (syllables) which disclose the genuine maṇḍalas, the five spontaneously present buddha-bodies. Their commitment to do so is not transgressed because, by meditating on this pristine cognition, (the result) dependently emerges, and is achieved through the great might of accumulated causes and conditions, i.e. the auspicious coincidence of the male and female consorts. The expression Aho! indicates great wonder.

Although this (summary) is profound and difficult to fathom I have revealed it in some detail.

Such are the words (tshig-tu'o) which reveal this secret Indestructible reality (rdo-rje gsang-ba'i), and whose meaning is without duality in respect of the Identity of pristine cognition.

[Synopsis of the Chapter (206.2-207.2)]

[The third part (of the interlinear commentary; see p. 557) is the synopsis or conclusion of the chapter (which comments on Ch. 4.28):]

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Footnotes and references:

[1]:

On these forty-five maṇḍalas, see above pp. 571-57?- The text, p. 203-3. reads dkyil-'khor lnga-bcu rtsa-lnga (sic!).

[2]:

On the practices associated with the wheel of syllables in the energy channels of the body, see below, pp. 1006-1019. The four wheels (cakra) referred to are those of crown, throat, heart and navel.

[3]:

On the path of liberation (grol-lam). see below, pp. 1019-1021. The three contemplations on this path of liberation, l.e. those of real nature, universal appearance and causal basis, are also discussed below, pp. 679. 771. and 851. See also NSTB, Book 1, Pt. 4, pp. 158ff.

[4]:

Tibetan thabs yab-kyi zla-ba-dang shes-rab yum-gyi nyi-ma. On the path of skillful means (thabs-lam), see below, pp. 899-914, and especially, pp. 1006-1019.

[5]:

"arousal" (Tibetan bsrubs-ra), "filling" ('gengs-pa), and "extension" ('grems-pa), On the four pristine cognitions associated with the four delights, see below, pp. 1006-1019.