Text 13.12 (Commentary)

[Guhyagarbha-Tantra, Text section 13.12]

Manifestly perfect in the ten directions and four times.
The faces which identify body, speech, attributes.
Activities, and mind, without exception, are perceived.
This mastery is the genuine supreme nature.
For one who abides in the maṇḍala, the maṇḍala itself
Becomes spontaneously present as the maṇḍala of perfection,
And. as its ornaments, one encounters all maṇḍalas without exception. [12]

[Tibetan]

phyogs-bcu dus-bzhir mngon-rdzogs-pa /
sku-gsung yon-tan 'phrin-las thugs /
ma-lus bdag-nyid zhal-mthong-ba /
dbang-sgyur mchog-nyid dam-pa yin /
dkyil-'khor-la gnas dkyil-'khor-nyid /
rdzogs-pa'i dkyil-'khor lhun-gyis grub /
rgyan-du dkyil-'khor ma-lus thogs / [12]

Commentary:

[The second concerns the recognition of the appearance of pristine cognition in accordance with the path. (It comments on Ch. 13.12):]

By meditating on this maṇḍala, the ten signs including light and seminal points are naturally perceived as the apparitional objects of contemplation.^[1] Among them, the faces (zhal) are perceived (mthong-ba) which identify (bdag-nyid) without exception (ma-lus) all the maṇḍalas of the body, speech, attributes, activities, and mind (sku gsung yon-tan phrin-las thugs) of all the buddhas who have attained manifestly perfect (mngon-rdzozs-pa) Buddha-hood in the ten directions and four times (phyogs-bcu dus-bzhir).

It says in the Extensive Magical Net (T. 834):

When the truth of signlessness is perceived.
The maṇḍalas of all the buddhas are perceived.

This text explains that by seeing one thing all things are seen, that this is the conclusive Buddha-body of reality, and that one who has experienced the uncreated truth will perceive the faces of the Buddhas.

This mastery (dbang-sgyur) through contemplation of the naturally pure buddha or mind-as-such is therefore the genuine supreme nature (mchog-nyid dam-pa yin) of all things, because it is the meditation on the conclusive truth of abiding nature.

It says in the Sūtra Requested by Jñānottara (T. 82):

The supreme contemplation
Which is dispositionally unwavering.
Concerns the nucleus of all things.

When one has meditated in this way. for one who abides in the maṇḍala (dkyil-^[2] khor-la gnas) of natural expression and the maṇḍala created by contemplation, there ensues meditation on the maṇḍala (dkyil-' khor) of self-manifesting inner radiance. This itself (nyid) then becomes spontaneously present as the maṇḍala (dkyil-'khor lhun-gyis grub) of (-'i) the perfection (rdzogs-pa) stage of discriminative awareness, the great pristine cognition, so that increasingly higher enlightened attributes of the path are perfectly actualised. in particular, when one's own perception is transformed into the field of the five enlightened families, in all outer (phenomena) and the inner centres of the energy channels, one encounters (thogs) all maṇḍalas (dkyil-'khor) of the different deities without exception (ma-lus) as its ornaments (rgyan-du) of natural awareness or pristine cognition. These, too, are adorned with thousands of enlightened attributes. When all apprehension of them has ceased, one arrives at the cessation of reality, which is the primordially pure nature of the levels and paths.^[3]

[The result (of this meditation comments on Ch. 13.13):]

[Read next page]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

For the ten signs of inner radiance ('od-gsal rtags-bcu), see above, pp. 827-828.

[2]:

On the terms "hidden" (gab) and "concealed" (sbas) with reference to the meaning of the tantra-texts, see above, pp. 321-322, and below, p. 998.

[3]:

This is the fourth visionary appearance (chos-nyid zad-pa'i snang-ba) described above, pp. 858, 1029, 1034. The four maṇḍalas identified in this verse respectively refer to the natural ground (as in Ch. 1), the visualised ground (as in Ch. 6), the inner radiance of the body-maṇḍala (as in Chs. 11-13) and the discriminative awareness of it (as in Chs. 11-13).