Text 19.14 (Commentary)

[Guhyagarbha-Tantra, Text section 19.14]

 Do not speak even for an instant or a moment
To those apathetic persons
Whose basic commitments have degenerated.
And who do not try to restore them.
The defects of those who have degenerated are indescribable. [14]

[Tibetan]

rtsa-ba nyams-pa'i phyal-ba-dag /
gso-la nye-bar mi-brtson-dang /
skad-cig yud-tsam smra ma-byed /
nyams-gyur nyes-pa brjod mi-lang / [14]

Commentary:

[The latter, the retribution exacted for degeneration (of the commitments), has two aspects.]

[The first concerns the harm which degeneration and obscuration bring to others when the defects of degeneration occur in the basic commitments. (It comments on Ch. 19.14):]

Do not befriend even for an instant (skad-cig), or do not speak (smra ma-byed) conversationally even for a moment (yud-tsam) to those persons (dag) whose basic commitments have degenerated (rtsa nyams-pa'i) and who, being apathetic (phyal-ba), have rejected their training and vows, and (dang) do not try (nye-bar mi-btson) through skillful means to restore them (gso-la).

Why so, you may ask? It is because the defects of those who have degenerated are indescribable (nyams-gyur nyes-pa brjod mi-lang)—in this life they undergo various undesirable conditions of sickness, affliction and so forth, and in the next they must equally proceed to the hells. Thus one is said to degenerate through association with (such persons).

There are some who say that one should additionally not drink the water in a place frequented by such persons, but that is not intended here. The lower classes of secret mantras are increasingly more restrictive and the higher ones are increasingly more open. Therefore the limits of the commitments to be guarded change correspondingly. According to the Kriyātantra, it is explained that one should not drink water in a place frequented by (violators of the commitments).

It says in the Array of Commitments (dam-tshig bkod-pa):

Extraordinary among the Kriyātantras
Is the commitment not to drink water
In a place frequented (by violators).

According to Ubhayatantra one should not see (such a violator) even though one lives in the same place. According to Yogatantra, one should not meet him even though one does see him. According to Mahāyoga, Anuyoga and Atiyoga, one should not speak to him even though one meets him, but it is not said to be a defect simply to live in the same place.^[1]

[The second concerns the defects of deseneration which oneself incurs (with respect to the basic commitments. It comments on Ch. 19.15):]

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Footnotes and references:

[1]:

On the differing attitudes expressed with respect to violations of the commitments in these different vehicles, see the recapitulation of the resultant vehicles in NSTB, Book 1, Pt. 4, pp. 211b-229b.