No More Learning

When the sequence of this succession is broken, All will know it is the decline
Of the [20bJ Buddha' s teaching.
Not only has such emerged in those treatises concerned with this Tantra, it has also been praised in other Tantras as well. Both the Red [Yamari] and the Black [Yamari] Tantra declared:
The ultimate in Tantras is the Community- Nothing like it in the past, nor in the future.
The Esoteric Accomplishment also states:
There is nothing superior to the Glorious Community, Which is the jewel of the three worlds.
The supreme essence of the essence,
The unexcelled of the unexcelled of all the Tantras.
Abiding in the teaching and the explanation
Is the very stage of the yoga of perfection. Who do not know this Community,
How can such as they attain accomplishment?
Cutting off all doubts ,
Dispelling all fogs of unknowing,
This is the treasure-case for the jewel of the Buddha. Abandoning utterly this Glorious Community,
Fantasizing with many mental constructs, Deluded, yet desiring accomplishments, Is like punching one's fist at the sky
Or like drinking the water of a mirage !
The Illumination ofthe Lamp also declares:
Up to Ya Ra La Ha,
Those [Tantras] ending Ka Kha Gha, those ending ? a Ja.
Chapter /-Introduction ? 67
68 ?
Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp Those ending Tra Dhra and Ma,
Their root is the three syllables. 20
This Glorious Community is the jewel-case Of all 84,000 of the heaps
Of the teachings of the great sage. Therefore, it is the summit of the Tantras.
Thus, Chandrakirti declares that this Tantra is the summit of all the Tan- tras, being the root of all the other Tantras and the treasure-case of all the Sutras.
The Wisdom Vajra Compendium explains that Tantras ending with each letter such as Ka are numbered each 121ul 1,000, stating that in terms of all four of the Tantra divisions. This statement of being the root of the Tantras whose names end in the consonant letters is a mere example, and
the Masters Bhavyakirti and Kumara explain that it means that it is also the root of all Tantras whose names end in vowels as well. The "three syllables" mentioned in "their root is the three syllables" are explained by Naropa to be the three [buddha] seeds [OM AJJ HOM]; the former scholars of Tibet considered them to be SA MA JA. The former of these is explained in the Further Tantra as the three secrets of body, speech, and mind, which are united in the Esoteric Community; thus, the Community Tantra is identified from the perspective of what it is uniting. Not taking
this [instrument of uniting] as referring to the Community Tantra, but explaining it as coming down to the three vajras, the three syllables that are the import of all Tantras, would be to ignore the context, since that statement teaches that the Community Tantra is the root of all the Tantras.
As for the meaning of "root," just as a tree has many leaves and branches but comes down to the place of the root, so the Tantras have many various meanings, but the ultimate essentials of all of them tinally come down to the path of the Community-this is the meaning. And the meaning of "jewel-case of all the SDtras" is just the same. This teaches
2? The Sanskrit version includes more final letters: yu, ru, Ia, hu, ku, kha, ghu, oa. jhu, da, dhu, mu. The "three syllables" seem to be the names of the Tantra, sa ma ja (Community), though Tsong Khapa mentions below that Nlropa interpreted them here as being the thn:e buddha seeds, OM Al:l HOM.
? Chapter /- Introduction ? 69
that if one knows how to explain this path completely, there is nothing better than that.
Kr? huacharya praised the intensive path of the Community with regard to both stages, from the perspective of its being the chief of all the Tantras, as has been previously quoted. [2lhl There are no degrees of superior and inferior among the Unexcelled Yoga Tantras, as among the three lower Tantra divisions, from the point of view of the stages [of practice]. Yet it is not that there are no degrees of superiority with regard to certain other distinctions. For example, a certain Tantra can be superior or inferior [in clarity, specificity, and so on] within a grouping of texts that explain the two stages, and yet have no degree of superiority or inferiority with regard to the stages [of practice] of that Tantra.
[HI. - The process of elucidating the inner intention of that {Esoteric Community)]
The treatises composed by Indrabhiiti the Greater,21 Naga(lakini, and the Earth-Lord Visukalpa have not appeared here [in Tibet], but the Glorious Savior Mahasukhanatha [Padmavajra] composed the Esoteric Accomplishment to determine the meaning of the Community. Among the passages of the Community, this treatise mainly determines the meaning of the opening. It teaches the four meditations with their [appropriate]
actions as the following stages of the path: first, the creation stage which sets up the syllables; second, characterizing your own nature as thatness while depending on the action seal; third, meditating depending on the intuition-seal in order to stabilize [that designation of your nature]; and fourth, meditation on the realization of the great seal. This text counts the deities of the mandala contained within this [fourfold process] to be
seventeen. The text itself [of the Esoteric Accomplishment) states:
21 According to Paul Hackett, there are possibly as many as three IndrabhOtis in the canon: 1) Mahendrabhnti (indra bha ti chen po), identified by Bhattacaryya (Two Vajrayana Works, p. xi) as the (step-)father of Padmasambhava and student of Anangavajra (p. vii), who authored at least one text on Vajrayogini (Toh. 1 546), 2) Madhyamendrabhilti (indra bha ti 'bring po), who authored the Shrr-sahajashambara-svtidhi$h(hana (dpal lhan skyes pa bde ba'i mchog bdag byin gyis brlabs pa; Toh. 1459), a Chakrasarhvara-related text, and 3) an otherwise undistinguished "IndrabhOti" who authored several texts on the Vajra- pafijara-tantra, Chakrasamvara, Vajrayoginr, Sarvabuddhasamayoga, Vajrasattva, Guhya-
? ? garbha, and others.
70 ? Brilliant Illumination oftht? umrp
The (mandala) detinitely becomes perfect by the sequence
of seventeen bodhisattvas . . .
-that is. it seems that he merely thought about "completion through seventeen [bodhisattva deities]. " However in the context of the assembly, the lllumination ofthe Lamp states at the opening:
There it is taught by just that many, the circle of deities is complete.
This indicates that the mandala of thirty-two deities ! 22u l is not asserted [by Mahasukhanatha]. Therefore, that refers just to the circle of buddhas, buddhesses, heroes, and heroines which complete the mandala of deities -just that much is taught in the prologue. The previous meaning is that he took everyone directly mentioned in the opening except the five families' [lords], and his point is that those [seventeen] complete the directly mentioned bodhisattva circle. This Esoteric Accomplishment is renowned as the "paradigm of all the other six of the Accomplishment divisions," called the "Essence of Accomplishment. " It also appears to be the paradigm of the Enlightenment Song of the Great Brahmin [Saraha] concerning essence. These are extremely important in understanding the essence of all the Unexcelled Tantras as the orgasmic intuitive wisdom uniting bliss and void. It does not appear that Master Saraha made a
special commentary on the Esoteric Community.
The great soul Nagarjuna composed an elucidation of the meaning
ofthe Community. We will explain his system's way ofelucidation. Master Lalitavajra composed an explanation of the Tantra's pro- logue only, and does not appear to have treated separately the style of the
path of the two stages.
Then the disciple of Lalitavajra, the great master Jiianapada, received
the explanation of the meaning of the Community from the noble Maiiju- shri [in person], and the stages [as given in his work] are renowned as the system of Jiianapada. There are two stages in his path: his creation stage having a mandala of nineteen deities headed by Maiijuvajra, according to the explanations in the Samantabhadra Sadhana, and in ! 22hl the Four Hundred Fifty. His perfection stage is given in the Persona/ Instruction taught by His Holiness [Maiji ushri], and in the Liberation Drop composed by the master himself.
Chapter /- Introduction ? 7 1
From the Personal Instruction, at the beginning of meditating the perfection stage he explains the meditation of the indestructible drop in the heart, the branch of "life-energy control" called the "branch of stop- ping the breath" in the meditation of the secret drop on the gem; by meditating that produces the branch of restraint called the "endurance" branch, then the branch of "mindfulness" meditating the sixteen mindful- nesses, then the vajra recitation called the emanation drop, and finally the repeated meditation of the indestructible drop in the heart center, medi- tated exclusively in terms of the intuitive orgasmic wisdom. It seems that this [master] explains only the last four of the six branches, leaving out the two branches "retraction" and "contemplation" which are in the Further Tantra. The implication of such a method of explanation is that he seems to consider that those two should be included in the creation stage, just as in the Jiianapada system's texts on the six-branched yoga, where retraction and contemplation are taught in the creation stage.
In the context of this [system], the import of the statements in the Further Tantra that the ordinary service is the "four vajras" and the superior service is the "six branches" is not that [master Jiianagarbha] considers the superior service and the creation stage to be mutually exclu-
sive. Here in the context of the perfection stage, he seems to take the Further Tantra as his basis to compose [his commentary] condensing [the import of] the Four Goddess Dialogue and the Vajra Essence Orna- ment [Tantra]. Those 1 23a l in this tradition who wrote commentaries of the Root Tantra do not seem often22 to [use the] explanations of the Further Tantra, but neither do they seem to use the ways of explanation of the other Explanatory Tantras. Especially, the practical instruction
texts based on the Personal Instruction and the Liberation Drop have a way of teaching the perfection stage with many texts of the Root Tantra, and should explain the last four of the six branches of the Further Tantra in agreement with the Personal Instruction and the Liberation Drop; yet they seem not to explain in such a way.
The [idea that] the Master Anandagarbha composed a Great Com- mentary on the Community, changing its [standard] way of explanation
22 The text literally says, "rgyud phyi mar rna bshad pa cher mi snang na 'ang. . . " adding a confusing extra negative where a single better fits the sense, apparently duplicating the second syllable of "Further" (phyi ma).
? ? 72 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
in coarse and subtle ways, is said without examining that very commen- tary, and is incorrect. The Commentary translated by the Great Translator [Rinchen Zangpo] was [said to be] written by Anandagarbha, [but] its explanation of the fifth chapter was included in the commentary of Master Vimalagupta, and so that [work of Anandagarbha's] cannot be the source [of the translation]. 23
All this [master's] explanations about the use of the physical con- sort are just made to attract some followers of the Vi$h? u Tantras who cannot give up attachment to the objects of sense. All statements about keeping the pledge to eat feces and urine are just made for the benefit of those involved in fake Tantras and goblin Tantras. Neither are made for the more gifted disciples, as is explained. He does not teach the science
explained in others' explanation ofthe perfection [23bl stage: the yogas of the channels, wind-energies, and drops. Thinking of these facts, the Tibetan master scholars said that Anandagarbha elucidated the Esoteric Community as "yoga. " Here it appears that his style of explanation of Unexcelled Tantra was in disagreement with the explanations of the other great Indians.
Master Shantipa holds that the first chapter of the Root Tantra teaches the Tantra of art-generated fruition, and the other four arts of the Tantra that are the means of attaining that are taught in the other sixteen chapters. The four "triple" chapters teach service; the four "double"
chapters teach practice; the four "perfected" chapters teach "perform- ance"; the four "ecstatic" chapters teach "great realization24"; and the Further Tantra illuminates all of them. This master explains the seventh chapter's meaning by relying on the Further Tantra, giving the nineteen
23 Tsong Khapa here rejects the Great Commentary attributed to Anandagarbha, since its interpretations are very different from Anandagarbha's usual. He discounts the fact that Rinchen Zangpo translated a commentary by Anandagarbha (or also falsely attributed to him), giving evidence that its fifth chapter is quoted in Vimalagupta's Commentary (who lived earlier than Anandagarbha). According to the Dharma Index, the colophons of Butt>n, Narlhang, Peking, and Derge, all agree wth Tsong Khapa that this was not by Ananda- garbha. They attribute it to a Prabhava! Aryagarbha.
24 Seva, anust2dhana, st2dllana, and maht2st2dhana as service, practice, performance, and great realization. Describing the four sets of four chapters euch as gsum /dan, g11yis /dan, rdzogs /dan, dga ba can is of a meaning I do not know. One theory of Gen Jamspal is that the first three refer to cosmic time periods.
? deity [mandala] presided over by Ak? hobhya on the first stage, and the method of six-branch perfection stagepracticed after achieving a stable creation stage in a way quite different from the JiUinapada, Noble [Arya], and Time Machine systems. His other explanations seem to be given fol- lowing Jiianapada, even though they do not seem to do so explicitly in specific cases. However, I do not enlarge on this, as it seems incidental to the purpose of my elucidation.
Thus, one should understand the champions' systems of elucidat- ing the Glorious Community to be the two famous systems of the noble [Aryas] and of Jiianapada.
[IV. - Enumeration of the treatises in the Noble (Arya) l iterature]
The fourth has three parts: [A. ] How the treatises of the Noble father L24al and son were composed; [B. ] How the treatises of the other three sons were composed; and [C. ] How the treatises of their followers were composed.
[IV. A. -
Concerning how treatises were authored by the Noble [Nagarjuna] on the subject of the Community, the Extreme Illumination of the Lamp mentions that he wrote the Condensed [Siidhana], the [Performance] In- corporating the [Community] Satras,25 the Performance ofHamkiira, the Five Stages, the Tantra Commentary, and so forth. Now as for the
currently existing Community Commentary said to be authored by the Noble [Nagarjuna], Tibetan scholars say it was made in Tibet by a certain [Indian] pal). Qit. It cites the Mirror of Poetry, the Reason in Elucidation, the Treasury ofPure Science, and so on. In its conclusion, it is written:
Awakening through meditation on the Bliss Lord state of the supreme Victor,
I stay in the place of my self, the savior Jiianapada, and so on.
25 The Satramelllpaka is actually a Tantric performance text (slldhana) which incorpo- rates quotations ("satras") from the Community Tantra to ground this slldhana in that Tantra. Wedemeyer (CW, p. 50) and others have noted this and given the text a new English name, which I have followed here in modified form.
Chapter /-Introduction ? 73
? ? ? How the treatises of the Noble father and son were composed]
74 ? Brilliant Illumination ofthe Lamp
Further, many of the elucidations of the Tantra appear to disagree with the treatises of the Noble father and son. Therefore, the claim of author- ship by the Noble [Nagarjuna] is just spurious.
So, while he wrote the Condensed [Sadhana] and the [Performance] Incorporating the [Community] Satras to teach the creation stage, former Tibetan masters thought the Mandala Rite 20 was also his, and the Ex- treme Illumination of the Lamp also asserts that there is a Mandala Rite by the Noble Master, as if [Chandrakirti] was thinking mainly of this
text. Later Tibetan authors considered this a spurious attribution, since the text often disagreed with Nagabodhi's [Mandala] Rite 20, which was taken as authoritative by so many Indian pa? :u;lits, and it even disagrees with the Master's 124hl own treatises, which seem to be correct.
Concerning the perfection stage, the Vajra Recitation Stage [ofthe Five Stages] is extremely famous, and he composed the Disclosure ofthe Spirit of Enlightenment to elucidate the spirit of enlightenment pro- claimed by Vairochana in the second chapter of the Root Tantra. There is also a commentary on this by Smrti. and many paQ<;lits such as Abhaya cite it as an authority. In the Great Translator's translations of the Five Stages texts, including the Vajra Recitation Stage and so on, all five chapters of the single text called Five Stages were recorded as composed by the Noble [Master]. However, there is also a tradition that the Second Stage [ Vajra Recitation Stage text] was composed by Shakyamitra, it being so recorded in the commentaries of Lak? hmi as well as in the com- mentary Jewel Rosary [attributed to Nagabodhi]. The translator Chag
translated the five sections as separate texts. 26
Concerning this, in the text itself it is certain that the Noble Master
himselfcomposed five stages, because the dedications concerning author- ship of the Five Stages found at the ends of the [texts on the] third stage,
26 For these reasons, and for the reasons further articulated below, at some times Tsong Khapa will refer to and cite the Fiw! Stagt! s us a single, unified text comprised of tive chapters (incl. , e. g. , the "second stage chapter"), while at other times he will refer to and cite the individual "chapters" (particularly the second) as independent texts (e. g. , "the St! cond Stugt! states. . . "). Our formatting and indexing herein reflects this ambiguity (with- in the index of cited texts we have created cross-references between the relevant related textual citations, viz. the Fil't! Stugrs, the Srcond Stag#! , the Third Stugr, and the Fourth Stagr). Cited passages from all such chapten;/texts ure identitied in the extant unified canonical ven;ion - the Sunskrit Paikukrama, and the Tibetan rim pa lnga pa (TOh. 1 802).
? "Self-consecration," the fourth, "Manifest Enlightenment:' and the fifth, "Communion" [mention each as one of "the Five Stages"]. Yet. since Abhaya and Samayavajra explain in their commentaries that the Noble Master's disciple Shakyamitra composed the Second Stage, we must accept the "condensed [sadhana]" as one stage of the five. as they attest. Munishribhadra also asserts this. In Lak? hmi's commentary, she gives two explanations: her own, in which the Master himself wrote the Second Stage, his adept's name being Nagarjuna and his monk's name being Shakyamitra; and someone else's, in which. while the Master 12Sal him- self wrote it, he attached his disciple's name to it as a sign of his great pleasure with him. In the commentary Jewel Rosary [attributed to Naga- bodhi], it is said to be optional, according either to the former or the latter explanation.
In this regard, in the other three [perfection] stage [texts], there are offering verses and author's commitments, but no final dedications, since [Nagarjuna] composed a dedication commonly for all of them at the end of the last stage [text] . And since he made a separate dedication at the end of the Condensed [Siidhana], and [since it] corresponds with the summary of all five stages occuring in the context of the summary in the
Vajra Recitation Stage, all five texts teaching the perfection stage are similar insofar as being composed by the Noble [Master].
Well then, why is it explained that the Second Stage was written by Shakyamitra?
It does not seem that this was entirely composed by the Noble master, since its alternative explanations of "By the noble vajra's kind- ness, many Tantras were heard" seem incorrect; since it is supplied with a separate dedication in the end; and since, if the Noble master had com- posed all of this second stage, his apparent explaining in that context of
many things to be explained in the context of the "Clear Light"27 [fourth] and "Communion" [fifth chapters] seems improper. On the other hand, if the entire chapter was composed by the Noble [Master] ' s disciple, Shakya- mitra: expressions such as "The Noble Master condensed the perfection stage into five stages" would seem incorrect, and it is obvious that the
27 The fourth stage is sometimes called "manifest enlightenment" and sometimes "clear light. "
Chapter /-Introduction ? 75
? 76 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
appearance of Aryadeva's [25bJ two citations [from the Second Stage text] as "according to the Unexcelled Intention" would be inaccurate. [There- fore,] since some have suggested that the beginning was written by the Noble [Nagarjuna] and the remainder he allowed Shakyamitra to compose with his authorization, those of both great and subtle intellects should reflect upon it.
If we accept it that way, the single text called the "Five Stages" is taken to have five chapters, including the first portion of the second stage [chapter], and we can infer that, of the two names of the second stage [chapter], the name given by the Noble Master is the "Unexcelled Inten- tion. " If we do not interpret in that way, then the Five Stages cannot be taken as a single text, since the Condensed [Sadhanaj is a separate text, and because the Second Stage [text] has a different author. Furthermore, if it is according to that, the statement in the colophon of the first chapter,
"This is the first, the stage of Vajra recitation," would become improper to leave alone.
In any case, one knows from the "Vajra Recitation Stage" [chapter] that the Noble master condensed [the perfection stage] into five, making the "Mind Objective" the second stage; and that also appears to be the intention of the Stage ofArrangement.
Again, the sages of Tibet assert the falsity of the position that the Noble Master composed the Determination of the Meaning of the Four Initiations, as the claim that "The Noble one composed the stages of the four seals" is refuted in the Sheaf of Instructions, and the Commentary Boat. Nevertheless, Vimalamitra and his followers accept [those texts] as being by the Noble [Nagru-juna].
In regard to the works of Aryadeva, l26al his Lamp ofIntegrated Practices is greatly famous as the import commentary of the Five Stages, and Master Abhaya cites his Self-Consecration Stage as an authoritative source. Though claimed to be a discussion of the mind isolation, his Purification of the Mind 's Obstructions is a Tantric text teaching mainly about the mind, but is not specifically an Esoteric Community text. This [text] is also taken to be authoritative by Abhayakara.
In regard to the claim that this master [Aryadeva] composed the Manifest Enlightenment Sttlge, the Tibetan sages allowed that it seems somewhat controversial. But since it seems to disagree greatly with the Integrated Practices, [it is definitely] a false attribution. Again, the Tibetan
Chapter /-Introduction ? 77
sages considered there to be some ground for investigation in the claims that this master composed a so-called Four Procedures of Explanation, Ya Ra La Wa, and so on, and a Rite ofBurning Corpses. The first of these [texts] comments on the two verses of the Illumination ofthe Lamp [begin- ning] "Up to Ya Ra La Ha. . . ,"28 cites the Integrated Practices [itself] as a source, states that the Vajra Summit, the Vajra Rosary, and the Revelation of the Hidden Intention are Root Tantras, [which Aryadeva would not have done]; also it seems to have singled out the explanation of the four procedures of explanation concerning ya ra la wa and so on in master Kula- dhara's commentary on the Illumination of the Lamp,29 which means it cannot be a work of Aryadeva. As for the latter [text], it also is obviously false.
Second, in regard to the works of Nagabodhi or Nagabuddhi, his Stage ofArrangement is very famous, emphasizing the creation stage, though teaching also the perfection stage. His Mandala Rite 20 was taken as authoritative by many par? u;lits such as Rahulashrimitra, Abhayakara, KaruQ. ashripada, and [26bl Munishribhadra. The Terminal Action Investi- gation - which determines the four voids - is taken as authoritative [by
Chandrakirti] in the Illumination of the Lamp. However, in the transla- tion we have nowadays, there are 160 instinctual imaginations explained in the summary; in the detailed explanation, the eighty instincts are not completely listed, and it seems to abbreviate them into fifty-four instincts; so it seems to have the faults of an incorrect Tibetan book or of a transla-
tion of a faulty Indian text.
28 See above, p. 67 (Tib. 20b ). There does not seem to be such a work in the Tengyur. and Tsong Khapa here, though he refers to a text accessible to him, indicates it to be a later work perhaps written in Tibet, referring to a very late Indian commentary on the Illumi-
29 Tsong Khapa here refers to a text that we no longer have. Kuladhara is not in the DharmaIndex,Toh. cat. ,ortheBlueAnnals. KramaTantricismofKashmir(VolI. p. 156) by Navjivan Rastogi (a book on Kashmiri Shaivism) has this entry: "Kuladhara (950- 1000 A. D. ). We know nothing about him except that he directly came into the line of the
gupta. " EBL 28b says he iii a Kashmiri, and 29b names this commentary he wrote on the
? ? [IV. B. - How the treatises of the other three sons were composed]
nation of the Lamp.
Stotrakara after Bhaskara. He, therefore. appears to be a contemporary of Abhinava-
Illumination ofthe Lamp.
78 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
There are many texts falsely attributed to this master; there are three commentaries on the Five Stages claimed to be his: the Jewel
the Clear Meaning. and the Concise Source on the Stages. The first of these was accepted as authority by many Tibetan mentors, but [then] more contemporary sages considered it and the Clear Meaning false. In the first one. there are many things in its way of elucidating the Community that disagree with the Noble father and son: it seems to claim
that the text of Buddhajiianapilda, a disciple of the master Haribhadra who accepted Chandrakirti's text as authority, was the text of Nagabodhi, itself accepted as authority by Chandrakirti; and it seems to be unable to determine decisively whether Nagarjuna or his disciple Shakyamitra wrote the Second Stage. So it seems merely falsely attributed to Naga- bodhi. Also the claim that the commentary, Clear Meaning, was composed
by him is merely a false attribution.
The Concise Source on the Stages was accepted as Nagabodhi's by
Tibetan sages, though the translator Chag asserted it was written by another scholar of the same name "Nagabodhi. " [27al This text claims that the six stages from creation stage up to communion stage each has six [recapitulative] stages within itself, just as in the Ornament of Realiza- tions each of the six transcendences has six [transcendences] within itself. When the pattern of such containment is explained, though, it seems that each stage has five meditative stages within it; it is not made definite. For example, in the context of mind isolation, there is stated the creation stage of creating the deity from moon and vajra etc. , and this is asserted to be
the "mind-isolation creation stage. " Thus there is no distinction between explaining it in the context of that stage and practicing it as contained in the practice of that stage. Since there seem to be many such [garbled] explanations, they could only be made by a text falsely attributed to Naga- bodhi. It seems this text and the Jewel Rosary were composed by some otherIndian [scholar].
As for the works of master Shakyamitra, we have already explained the way he wrote the Second Stage. 30 The Integrated Practices Commen- tary said to be by SMkyamitra might just possibly be by some author of
30 See above, p. 74 ff.
Rosary
.
? Chapter /-Introduction ? 79
a similar name, but if it is supposed to be the Shakyamitra disciple of the Noble [Nagarjuna] it is definitely not his work. 31
As for the works of master Chandrakirti, his Illumination of the Lamp is extremely famous. The Six-Branched Yoga attributed to him seems to diverge from the content of the twelfth chapter of the Lamp. His
Vajrasattva Performance [Sadhana] was commented on by Tathagata- rak? hita and Lalitavajra, and was also accepted as a Chandrakirti text by the (27b1 Magadha Par:t4it Munishribhadra. As for a root text and auto- commentary called Ornament ofRealization ofthe Community attributed to him, the Tibetan sages thought it worthy of investigation. These might possibly be written by someone with a similar name, but they seem only false attributions if we suppose the Chandrakirti in question to be the author of the Illumination ofthe Lamp.
Now, Aryadeva, Nagabodhi, and Shakyamitra were the most fa- mous disciples of the Noble one; still, the Marpa Esoteric Community tradition accepts Mataugi as the Noble one's disciple. Chandrakirti was accepted as the Noble [Nagarjuna] ' s [direct] disciple by former mentors such as Master Go [the translator]. Some Tibetan Madhyamikas claim that Chandrakirti did not meet the Noble [Nagarjuna], since [Chandra- kirti] stated at the end of the Lucid Exposition:
Due to the fact that there has been a decline [in the tradition] over such a long time since the [writing of the] treatises of the Noble one and his disciple, nowadays their interpretive tradition is not clear. 32
That reason is uncertain; Chandrakirti attained the state of scientist-adept and lived a long time, according to the report relayed by the translator
31 It is interesting that Tsong Khapa and colleagues are quite ready to consider that differ- ent Indian scholars with the same name could cause confusion as their works could be attributed to each other. The fact that they think thus critically about questions of author- ship and false attribution, requires us to take more seriously their insistence that Nagar- juna, Aryadeva, Chandrakirti, and many others who wrote important Tantric treatises
were the same persons who also wrote well-known philosophical treatises.
32 This passage in the Derge redaction (see note to Tibetan text) gives more detail than in Tsong Khapa's paraphrase: "There has been a decline for a long time in the treatises written by the bodhisattva Nagarjuna, who went to the Sukhavati buddhaverse, and in the
? society of his disciples; since his sun has set, the interpretive tradition is not at aU clear. "
80 ? Brilliant Illumination ofthe Lamp
Patsab transmitting what the adept Vajrasanaguru had said. Therefore, it is not contradictory that by the end of his life span the treatises and dis- ciples of Nagarjuna had declined and yet that he had himself already met Nagarjuna. 33 Therefore, the Tibetan sages accept the statement that "Chandrakirti was the disciple of the Noble one ! " according to the asser- tion of the glorious Atisha that he was the [direct] disciple of Nagarjuna.
[28a]
Chandrakirti discovered the imports of the Community from Nagarjuna. In this regard, Bhavyakirti commented [in his Commentary on the Illumi- nation of the Lamp, entitled the Extreme Illumination of the Lamp] :
He says he discovered [the profound import] by the grace of glorious Nagarjuna; and this indicates he was a personal disciple in the presence of the illustrious Nagar-
juna, and not an indirect one.
And [the tradition] that the Brahmin Rahulabhadra-Saraha instructed Nagarjuna and [also] instructed Chandrakirti was recounted along with their virtues, by [Bhavyakirti's] Extreme Illumination ofthe Lamp:
In the city of Konkana,
On the peak of Shri Parvata, The man first having lived there In the place of solitude.
He was like the Lord of humans and gods. He taught the supreme Dharma
33 There is also the point that the Lucid Exposition is an exoteric philosophical text, and so Chandra was referring to the long time since the writing of Nagarjuna's exoteric works such as the Wisdom. Or perhaps Chandra wrote those words in that colophon early in his own career, before he attained the stage of scientist-adept.
As the Illumination ofthe Lamp declares:
Having discovered, through the grace of Nagarjuna, [the meaning of the Esoteric Community] , sealed by all the buddhas, standing with the two stages,
[1], Chandrakirti, bow to the Glorious Lord Vajrasattva, and will explain it systematically.
? Chapter /- Introduction ? Received from the mouth of Rahula[bhadra-Saraha].
May he triumph here on this earth!
Having propitiated that very [master Rahulabhadra] That yogi obtained the Universal Vehicle,
He achieved the [eighth] stage, working to help others- May the illustrious Nagarjuna triumph !
Winning the very same jewel from [Nagarjuna] , And becoming famous in the three worlds,
He crossed the ocean of the Community -
May that illuminator, Chandrakirti, triumph !
8 1
So it is said. Also, masters such as the paQ. Qit Kumara, disciple of Lak? h- mirilkara, said [in his Illumination of the Lamp Concise Commentary
"Heart Mirror " ] :
These [statements] demonstrate that [Chandrakirti] was the real disciple in the presence of Nagarjuna ! 28bl and so was really in possession of the personal instructions.
Thus, all those who elucidate the Community following the Noble father and sons, such as Naropa, Abhayakara, KaruQ. ashripada, the Kash- miri Lak? hmi, Munishribhadra, Bhavyakirti, Kumara, Kuladhara, Tatha- gatarak? hita, and Lilavajra, all accept Chandra[kirti]pada as being worthy of trust just like the Noble ones.
[IV. C. - How the treatises of their followers were composed]
As for treatises written by other Indians about the Community, fol- lowing the Noble father and son, there is the commentary on the Further Tantra called Esoteric Lamp, which some editions claim to be authored by Lord Naropa and some claim to be authored by Yashobhadra, the colo-
phon to the translation of Smrti stating:
This is a form of annotating commentary on Root and Explanatory [Tantras by] Samantabhadra, * Akasha- garbha, Yashobhadra, Naropa, and Jiianasiddhi.
-Stntiti was the disciple of both Naropa and Jiiiinagarbha.
There seem to be two texts supposedly composed by Naropa and translated by Marpa, a large text called the Five Stages, Personal Instruction
? 82 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
in the Community, and a smaller one called Concise Five Stages Elucida- tion. The first of these expresses many gross errors contradicting the Five Stages and the Integrated Practices, such as the claim that the path of the dull and the mediocre disciples was gradual like the rungs on a ladder while the path of the sharp disciple was instantaneous; therefore it seems only falsely attributed to Naropa [2911) by some Tibetans. The Concise Five Stages Elucidation is taken as authoritative by both traditions of Marpa's personal instruction in the Community, apparently descending through the teacher, Tsur. In regard to most of the personal instructions of
Mentor Marpa, they are present in various short Indian texts, but there do not appear to be any extra short texts on the personal instruction in the five stages, and so this one seems to be taken as the authoritative treatise. And this seems to have the combined import of all the great treatises of the noble tradition; hence it should be accepted as the authoritative root treatise of the Marpa tradition's personal instruction in the five stages. [Nevertheless,] in its colophon it states:
The Noble father and son explained the process Of the Glorious Esoteric Community Tantra, And Naropa found that very inner intention. [But] with a commentator who does not know How to explain the Tantra on his own, concisely,
This blessed path is not in common.
Such a statement deprecating the Illumination ofthe Lamp was made, in- terpolated there by one who was intending to praise Naropa but did not know how to praise him. For, in his commentary on the Further Tantra, Naropa [himself] states:34
This elucidation of the import of the Further Tantra Follows according to the Illumination ofthe Lamp, And explains the secret instruction of Nagarjuna.
And :
34 This and the following verses do not appear to be the work of Naropa, but rather occur in Slll{tiijl\lnakJrti's colophon to Yuhobhadra's Esoterit? Lamp.
? Chapter /-Introduction ? 83
Depending in order upon the personal instruction Of masters Nagarjuna, Aryadeva,
Nagabodhi, Shakyamitra,
And Chandrakirti, and so forth,
I compose. . . [etc. ]
By this you should know how to refute the multitude who uphold the superiority of the commentary on the Tantra alone composed by the Khampa Ronyam Dorjey, disciple of Tsur, who explains the Tantra itself in disagreement with the Illumination of the Lamp, ! 29bJ claiming the supremacy of the tradition of Naropa.
The Commentary up to the middle of the forty-fourth chapter made by the pa-:u. fit Alarhkadeva or Alarhkakalasha on the Explanatory Tantra Vajra Rosary does accord with the Noble father and sons.
The commentary on the Condensed [Sadhana] called Precious Rosary, said to be by Shantipa, is considered by Tibetan scholars to be falsely attributed, not even the work of a man of the same name. There is the difficult-point commentary by VibhOti on the Condensed [Sadhana]; and in comment on the Five Stages along with the Condensed [Sadhana], there are three: the Moonlight, written by Abhaya; the difficult-point com-
mentary by Kr? hl)a Samayavajra; and the difficult-point commentary by Bhavyakirti.
Munishribhadra wrote the Captivator of Yogr/nfs on four [of the five] stages and on the Condensed [Sadhana], leaving out the second stage. And there is the Five Stages Difficult Point Commentary by VIryabhadra, and the commentary on the five stages by the Kashmiri scholar Lak? hmi
[the Clear Meaning ofthe Five Stages]. Including all the above-mentioned falsely attributed texts, these are the texts of the noble tradition.
I have already explained about the Integrated Practices Commen- tary and the commentary on the Vajrasattva Sadhana. 35
There is the Illumination of the Lamp extensive commentary, the Extreme Illumination of the Lamp [by Bhavyakirti] ; the Illumination of the Lamp Concise Commentary "Heart Mirror" [by Kumara]; and the Illumination of the Lamp Extensive Commentary by KaruQashripada.
? 35 See p. 78 ff. above.
84 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
There is the Illumination ofthe Lamp Explanation Verses by Kuladhara;36 (30aJ the Illumination ofthe Lamp Concise Difficult Point Elucidation by a Bhavaviveka, someone with a similar name as the Bhavaviveka who is the author of the Wisdom Lamp;31 and the Illumination ofthe Lamp Com- mentary said to be by an Aryadeva, apparently having the same name, but not being the well-known Aryadeva. This text and that falsely attrib- uted to Nagabodhi, the commentary Clear Meaning [of the Five Stages],
seem to be [Indian], not Tibetan [misattributed texts].
There is also Shraddha's Explanation of Vajra Recitation which
discusses the Revelation ofthe Hidden Intention [Tantra], and his Eluci- dation ofthe Seven Ornaments; Ekadashanirgho? ha's Stages ofthe Path of Vajradhara; Rahulashrimitra's Mandala Rite; and Samayavajra's Mandala Rite and his Vajrasattva Pujii Art. These constitute the texts of the Noble tradition.
Here, I give a contextual verse:
When this earth upholds the great burden
Of the jewels of hundreds thousands of sage adepts, With great effort one partakes of the eloquence From the presence of each of them.
When they decline by the power of time,
The heart's essence of them all,
Put into writing in the many treatises,
Should be well studied and practiced,
Relying on the mentor's personal instruction.
The wise know this replaces [their living presence], And thus you can discern the paths [of practice], Distinguishing authentic from spurious.
37 Again. Tsong Khapa here critically rejects an attribution, supporting the argument that he could have done so with the supposed "doubles" of Nagarjuna etc. , if he had a reason to do so.
? 36 Krama Tuntridsm of Kasllmir (Vol I , p. 1 56) by Nuvjivan Rastogi: "Kuladhara (950-
1000 A. D. )
cwne into the line of the Stotrakllrll after Bhaskam. He. therefore. appears to be a contemporary of Abhinavagupta. "
. . . .
Chapter /-Introduction ? 85 (V. - were trans-
The illustrious Atisha taught the Illumination ofthe Lamp in Ngari, and the lineage of the Five Stages gradually descends from there. (. \Ohl The great being Rinchen Zangpo made the basic translation and the polished determination of many treatises of the five masters, the Noble father and sons, and of the Root Tantra and the Revelation of the Hidden Intention and other [explanatory] Tantras. But that tradition of explana- tion did not survive long. Mentor Marpa was renowned as having seven styles of explaining the Esoteric Community. Although he seems to have studied the Illumination ofthe Lamp under Naropa, along with the Kash- miri Akarasiddhi, he did not begin its explanation in Tibet. However, he
spread very widely the private instruction in the Five Stages.
The Master Go visited India twelve times, relying in general upon seventy pa. J)Qit mentors and upon two c,takini mentors. He investigated the Noble tradition of the Community in particular, and he relied upon the Bengali sage Abhijiia, the Zahor sage Tsunmojen, the Konkana sage Meghavegin, the Kashmir throne-holding Chandahari, Jiianakara who was blessed by Maiijushri, the Nepali Tilgyi Tsahangu, the Nepali Dzongi Nagakoti, the paQ. Qit Saraha, the sage of Bodhgaya Kr? hQ. a Samayavajra, the sage of Vikramashila DipariJ. karashrijiiana [Atisa] - and these last two he heard in Tibet. From them he learned the explanations of the texts based on the treatises of the five members of the Noble tradition. He also determined well the initiations and the secret instruc- tions. He took Abhijiia, Tsunmojen, and Kanhapa [Kr? hQ. a Samayavajra]
as his supreme mentors, taking the traditions of those three (3Jal as chief both in explanation of texts and also in personal instructions. Since the miraculous activities of the Community entered the life of this mentor, he had many disciples upholding his pioneering style of teaching, producing four sages in each phase of his life, early, middle, and late, and the con-
tinuum of his teaching still survives until today.
There is also a personal instruction in the Five Stages descending
from Jiianakara to Nagtso [the translator]. Further, the translator Patsab also studied the Noble tradition of the Community and translated many treatises. As above explained, these translators who translated the exten- sive commentaries of the Illumination of the Lamp first gave a measure of teachings, but their styles did not last long. The translator Shudpu and
? The way the private instructions (of the Communityl
mitted in Tibet]
86 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
the translator Chag studied Go's style of teaching in Tibet, and then met [other] par:tc,lit mentors and developed their own method of explaining the Noble tradition.
Thus, although there are many other styles of teaching the Tantra in the Noble tradition of the Esoteric Community spread in Tibet from India, the very style of teaching of the precious Master Go is seen as the supreme of all these.
[VI. -
1VI. A. - The way of leaming the general path or that common to the two Universal Vehicles]
First, as for the basis for first entering into the Vajra Vehicle, it is stated in the Vajra Rosary Tantra:
Which excellences does a disciple need To be the vessel of the Yoga Tantra?
In response to this question:
Faithful and reverent to the mentor, Always 1-'lbl persisting in virtuous actions, Abandoning all bad thoughts;
Having widely learned the discourses, Abandoning killing and harming,
With the total effort arising
From the messianic resolve to save beings; The one who has such excellences
Is the fine disciple of great faith.
If one teaches a disciple without those good qualities of fitness, the dis- ciple will be ruined in this and future lives. and the master will be far distanced from the gaining of accomplishment in tenns of the swift arisal
From the same [Vajra Rosary Tantra]:
? The sixth has two parts: [A. ] The way of learning the general path
? of the path in his experience
.
Just as you don't keep lion's milk in an earthen vessel,
The import of the actual precious jewel of personal instruction]
or that common to the two Universal Vehicles; and [B. ] The way of learning the special, uncommon Community path.
do not bestow upon unfit disciples this Tantra of great yoga.
That disciple will die in that instant
And will be ruined in this and future lives.
If he teaches private instructions to the unfit, The master's accomplishments also will decline.
Further, granted that the characteristics of the physical foundation of the disciple need not be newly achieved, the characteristics of the excel- lences of the mental foundation, such as faith in the Dharma, reverence for the mentor, constant perseverance in the tenfold path of virtuous action, wide learning in the textual teaching, and effort motivated by the intense aspiration of resolve to save living beings; these are not spon- taneous in beginning disciples and so must be newly created. They are not to be generated after having been [mistakenly] recognized as origi-
nally fit and already having been introduced into the vehicle of Mantra.