Text 8.15 (Commentary)

[Guhyagarbha-Tantra, Text section 8.15]

Then there are the symbolic hand-emblems.
Which begin with the night lotus and the orange tree—
Namely, the shoot of gems, the blazing sword.
The white lotus, the blazing vajra,
The doctrinal wheel, and the corn-ear of gems.
And there are the beauteous form, the garland of gems,
The lute and the supreme dancing gesture.
The flower-garland, the supreme incense,
The butter-lamp, the scented oil and so forth.
(The female Bodhisattvas) embrace "activity"
And (the male Bodhisattvas) support (a bell) on "reality".
Their heads are tilted and bowed.
As in the case of the aforementioned great seal.
They embrace in the disposition of the non-dual expanse. [15] ...

[Tibetan]

ut-pal klu-shing la-sogs mtshan /
rin-chen myu-gu ral-gri 'bar /
padma dkar-po rdo-rje 'bar /
chos-kyi 'khor-lo rin-chen snye /
gzugs-mdzes rin-chen phreng-ba-dang /
pi-vang gar-mkhan mchog-nyid-de /
me-tog 'phreng-dang spos-mchog-ma /
mar-me byug-pa la-sogs-pa'i /
las-la 'khril-zhing chos-la-brtan /
dbu-rnams 'byo-zhing 'dud-pa'i tshul /
gong-gi phyag-rgya chen-po-bzhin /
gnyis-med dbyings-kyi ngang-du 'khril / [15]

Commentary:

[Secondly, there are the seals or hand-emblems of the male & female bodhisattvas. (This comments on Ch. 8.15):]

These are similar to the aforementioned (seals of the conquerors). in particular, the male consorts hold the symbolic hand-emblems which emerge from their respective seed-sy1lables at the heart-centre in their right hands, and the female consorts hold theirs at the heart-centre in their left hands. The left hands of the male consorts in addition support (a bell) on the left thigh of the female consort, which represents reality; and the right hand of the female consort should embrace the right thigh of the male consort (representing activity).

Then there are the symbolic hand-emblems of the male consorts, i.e. the symbolic hand-emblems (mtshan) which begin with (la-sogs) the night lotus (utpala) that emerges from the syllable MŪṂ (of Mañjuśrī) and the orange tree (klu-shing) that emerges from the syllable MAI (of Maitreya). These are namely, the shoot of gems (rin-chen myu-gu) which emerges from the syllable KṢIṂ (of Kṣitigarbha), the blazing sword (ral-gri 'bar) of light which emerges from the syllable TRĀṂ (of Ākāśagarbha), the white lotus (padma dkar-po) which emerges from the syllable HRĪḤ (of Avalokiteśvara), the blazing vajra (rdo-rje 'bar) which emerges from the syllable JIṂ (of Vajrapāṇi), the doctrinal wheel (chos-kyi 'khor-lo) which emerges from the syllable THLĪṂ (of Nivāraṇaviṣkambhin), and the corn-ear of gems (rin-chen snye-ma) which emerges from the syllable HŪṂ (of Samantabhadra).

Then, there are the symbolic hand-emblems of the female consorts, namely, the mirror illustrative of beauteous form (gzugs-mdzes) which emerges from the syllable HŪṂ (of Lāsyā), the garland of gems (rin-chen 'phreng-ba) which emerges from the syllable TRĀṂ (of Mālyā), the lute (pi-yang) which emerges from the syllable HRĪḤ (of Gītā), and the supreme dancing gesture (gar-mkhan mchog-nyid-de) which emerges from the syllable ĀḤ (of Nartī). This is indicated by the three-pronged vajra which she carries above her head in a dancing movement. Also included among these are the flower garland (me-tog 'phreng) which emerges from the syllable HŪṂ (of Puṣpā), the censer of supreme incense (dang spos-mchod-ma) which emerges from the syllable JAḤ (of Dhūpā),^[1] the butterlamp (mar-me) which emerges from the syllable VAṂ (of Ālokā), and the doctrinal conch with its scented oil and so forth (byug-pa) which emerges from the syllable HOḤ (of Gandhā).

In the case of the female consorts, the right hand of the female consort embraces ('khril) the right thigh of the male consort which represents "activity" (las-la), and (zhing) in the case of the male consorts, the left hand supports (a bell) on (la-brten) or clasps the left thigh of the female consort, representing "reality" (chos). The heads (dbu-rnams) of the male consorts are slightly tilted ('byo) towards their female consorts, and (zhing) the female consorts are bowed ('dud-pa'i tshul) in the presence of their male consorts. As in the case of the aforementioned great seal (gong-gi phyag-rgya chen-po bzhin), the male & female consorts embrace in the disposition of (-kyi ngang-du 'khril) the expanse (dbyings) of reality, the nature of supreme bliss without conceptual elaboration, which is non-dual (gnyis-med) in terms of skillful means and discriminative awareness.

[Thirdly, there are the seals or hand-emblems of the male & female gatekeepers. (This comments on Ch. 8.16):]

[Read next page]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

See above, p. 212, note 34, where the reading spos-mchog-ma is also given.