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 11.12 (Commentary)
[Guhyagarbha-Tantra, Text section 11.12]
Are placed by the learned (Yogin)
Upon solar and lunar disks.
With pride, he meditates on that hand-made (effigy):
Transformed into the syllable HŪṂ, and so purified.
This dissolves into the expanse,
And then blazing forth as the symbolic seal.
It becomes the Buddha-body.
Brilliant through the proliferation
Of its rays of light.
Then he meditates that (the evil one) has become triumphant
On the crown of the head. [12][Tibetan]
nyi-zla'i steng-du mkhas-pas gzhag /
nga-rgyal lag-gi 'du-byed bsgom /
hūṃ-du gyur-pas rnam-par-dag /
dbyings-su thim-nas phyag-rgyar 'bar /
skur-gyur 'od-zer 'phro-bas brjid /
gtsug-tu rnam-par rgyal-bar bsgom / [12]
Commentary:
[Concerning the skillful means through which these beings are "liberated":]
The best Yogin "liberates” (these beings) through contemplation, the mediocre Yogin "liberates" them through contemplation, mantra and gestures of sealing: and the inferior one, in addition to those methods, gathers together the actual sacraments including a hearth and an effigy, and then "liberates" them utilising a representative image.[1]
The basic equipment is the blazing hearth located in the southwest of the maṇḍala which is triangular in the shape of the (Sanskrit) syllable E, and filled with charcoal (rdo-sol). Within it and upon (steng-du) a solar disk (nyi) derived from the syllable MA, and a lunar disk (zla) derived from the syllable A, an effigy (of such beings) and tokens indicative of their names and clans are placed (gzhag) by (-pas) the yogin who is learned (mkhas) in the rite of "liberation”, while (the beings themselves) are summoned and Induced by means of contemplation.[2]
Now, there are five ways in which (the Yogin) is learned: He is learned in the view which liberates by nature, he is learned in meditation which liberates by contemplation, he is learned in conduct which liberates through sense-organs, objects and time. he is learned in the oral instructions which liberate by the secret and supreme skillful means, and he is learned in the deeds and conduct which "liberate” by profound sorcery (i.e., ejection of saṃsāra).[3]
Then endowed with pride (nga-rgyal), he visualises himself as a great warrior, the essence of the male and female consorts, and thinking that the malignant beings should be "liberated”, he visualises on the ten fingers of his hands the five seedsyllables of the spiritual warriors or the ten syllables HŪṂ, which are the seeds of the ten "liberating” spirits (sgrol-ging) and whence emerge the ten male "liberating” spirits (ging-pho bcu).[4] Meanwhile, he turns his copper dagger or kīla and thrusts it into the heart of that hand-made (lag-gi 'du-byed) effigy, so that it is cut into pieces of flesh and blood. He then meditates (bsgom) that the ten "liberating" spirits deliver these to the central deity and offer them to the maṇḍala. The obscurations of the three media (of the beings' body, speech and mind) are also refined: The consciousness is transformed into (-du-gyur) the single white syllable HŪṂ. and so purified (-pas rnam-par dag) of all deeds and propensities. This same syllable HŪṂ gradually dissolves Into the expanse (dbyings-su thim) of its crescent-shaped breve-accent (zla-tshe), and then (nas) the crescent is wholly transformed into the mirror-like pristine cognition, which itself becomes a single vajra, the symbolic seal (phyag-rgyar) of buddha-mind, blazing forth ('bar) rays of light.
The Yogin "then meditates (bsgom) that it becomes the Buddha-body (skur-gyur) of Vajrasattva, brilliant through the proliferation of its rays of light ('od-zer 'phro-bas brjid); and that on the crown of the head (gtsuc-tu) it has a finger-size Samantabhadra image, indicating that (the evil one) has become triumphant (rnam-par rgyal-bar) over saṃsāra. Seated upon a lunar throne on a maṇḍala of vital energy, this (image) is ejected by the sound of PHAṬ to Akaniṣṭha where it is visualised as Vajrasattva in the secret centre of the female consort, seated in the presence of the tathāgata. Consequently, (the evil one) is visualised to become a Tathāgatas’ son, acting on behalf of sentient beings.[5]
[iii. The third, concerning the beneficial attributes of having performed this rite of "liberation", (comments on Ch. 11.13):]
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Footnotes and references:
[1]:
On these techniques, see below. Ch. 20.
[2]:
Cf. Ch. 20. Lo-chen Dharmaśrī, gsang-bdag dgongs-rgyan, p. 314, does not mention the seed-syllables MA and A in his interpretation of this verse.
[3]:
Among these five ways in which the yogin is liberated (mkhas-tshul lnga), the fourth refers to the sbyor-ba practices, and the fifth to the present rite of wrathful "liberation".
[4]:
On the class of deities from which the enumerations of sgrol-ging bcu and their functionaries, the ging-pho are derived, see Nebesky-Wolkowitz, Oracles and Demons Tibet. pp. 278-279. See also above Ch. 9, note 116.