Text 14.2 (Commentary)

[Guhyagarbha-Tantra, Text section 14.2]

OṂ! Perfect in the ten directions and four times.
The maṇḍala of pristine cognition
Is the great seminal point.
The maṇḍala of merits is an assembly of Buddha-body.
Its appearance and emptiness is the seminal point.
Entirely perfect. HOḤ! [2]

[Tibetan]

OṂ phyogs-bcu dus-bzhi rdzogs-pa-yi /
ye-shes dkyil-'khor thig-le che /
bsod-nams dkyil-'khor sku-yi tshogs /
snang-stong thig-le kun-du rdzogs HOḤ / [2]

Commentary:

The second part (the exegesis of the meaning of its words) has two subdivisions, namely, a general eulogy to the five Buddha-bodies along with the five pristine cognitions, and a particular eulogy to the male and female consorts who are the mighty lord and lady of the maṇḍala.

[i. The former has five sections, among which the first is (the eulogy) to the maṇḍala of Buddha-body or the enlightened family of indestructible reality and the (pristine cognition of) reality's expanse. (It comments on Ch. 14.2):]

The syllable OṂ! begins the song because the five Buddha-bodies are perfected. It indicates that this maṇḍala of Buddha-body is also to illustrate the nature of the five Buddha-bodies and the five pristine cognitions.

Now, there are five aspects to these songs—the singer, the melody, the lyrics, the embellishment, and the blessing of the song. Among these, the melody of the song requires a choirmaster who introduces the following melody—the Pañcama tone, followed by the Ṣadja tone, which in turn is followed by the Madhyama tone, that by the Gandharva tone, and that by the melody of the Dhaivata and the Niṣāḍa tones.^[1]

The Buddha-body is indeed the natural expression of manifestly perfect (rdzogs-pa-yi) Buddha-hood, indivisible in nature from the Indestructible body of all the Buddhas in the ten directions and four times (phyogs-bcu dus-bzhi).^[2]

The Buddha-mind of this buddha-body refers to its maṇḍala of (dkyil-'khor) self-manifesting pure pristine cognition (ye-shes), mirror-like and so forth in nature and without conceptual elaboration, which is the great (che) pure and indivisible seminal point (thig-le).^[3]

The Buddha-body of this Buddha-body refers to its self-manifestation as the maṇḍala of (dkyil-'khor) excellent merits (bsod-nams), which appears but is without inherent existence. It is an inconceivable assembly of Buddha-body (sku-yi tshogs) because the nature of the five enlightened families is pervasive without extremes or centre.^[4]

The Buddha-speech of this Buddha-body refers to its essence or nature in which appearance and emptiness (snang-stong) are without duality. It is the genuine indescribable and great seminal point (thig-le), entirely perfect (kun-tu rdzogs) in excellent attributes.^[5] HOḤ! is exclaimed because joy emerges therefrom.

[The second (eulogy) is on behalf of the primordially pure pristine cognition of discernment in the maṇḍala of Buddha-speech or the enlightened family of the lotus. (It comments on Ch. 14.3):]^[6]

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Footnotes and references:

[1]:

On these tones, which with Ṛṣabha form the seven pitches of the octave (glu-dbyangs-kyi nges-pa bdun, Mahāvyutpatti 5027-5034), see T. Ellingson, The Maṇḍala of Sound: Concepts and Sound Structures in Tibetan, Pt. 1, pp. 161-162; and Savithri Rajan and M. Nixon (eds.), Shobhillu Saptasvara. appendix two, where the attributes of these pitches are compared in tabular form. in the case of the present melody, the Intonations occur in the order 5, 1, 4, 3, 6, 7.

[2]:

kLong-chen Rab-'byams-pa interprets sections 2-6 in an integrated manner which accords with his unique exegetical approach. The first of them considers the dharmadhātujñāna in terms of Buddha-body, and its subdivisions of body, speech and mind. According to Lo-chen Dharmaśrī, gsang-bdag dgongs-rgyan, p. 360, however, this section refers simply to the five Buddha-bodies. Thus, in his view, this first verse refers to the abhisambodhikāya.

[3]:

Lo-chen Dharmaśrī, op. cit., p. 360, associates this verse with the dharmakāya.

[4]:

Lo-chen Dharmaśrī, op. cit., interprets this as the rūpakāya, "the maṇḍala of merits" referring to the sambhogakāya and the "assembly of buddha-body" referring to the

[5]:

According to Lo-chen Dharmaśrī, cit., this verse refers to the vajrakāya.

[6]:

Again, in kLong-chen-pa's view, section three considers the pratyayekṣanajñāna in terms of buddha-speech and its sub-divisions of buddha-body, speech and mind, whereas Lo-chen Dharmaśrī Interprets it simply in terms of the five kinds of buddha-speech. On these five, see above, pp. 1035-1036.