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.
Thurman-Robert-a-F-Tr-Tsong-Khapa-Losang-Drakpa-Brilliant-Illumination-of-the-Lamp-of-the-Five-Stages
But this Further Tantra explains the Root Tantra according to the four branches of service and practice set forth in the twelfth chapter.
It is said in the Dialogue on the Glorious Meaning ofthe Commentary that the six- teen chapters explain the four branches, and the inquiries into the indi- vidual chapters are included in that.
r t6bJ
The inquiry into the classification as art Tantra is the very same as the inquiry into the meaning of the name. Thus, as the general import is included in the inquiry into the meaning of the name, it can be implied
[I. C. 2. b. - Showing the way in which the Explanatory Tantras explainI
The other Community Explanatory Tantras explain it but are not
for how it explains the Root Tantra, its explanation of the [16aJ common meanings of the Tantra lies in its dialogues about: the meaning of the name of the Tantra, "Glorious Esoteric Community Yoga Tantra," its clas- sification as an art Tantra, and the general scheme of the Tantra. Its other
sections explain particular points from each of the seventeen chapters.
The second has two parts: [i] How the Further Tantra and the Reve- lation ofthe Hidden Intention explain; and [ii] How the [other] three, such as the Vajra Rosary, explain.
themselves the Community Tantra, whereas the Further Tantra is both. As
Chapter /- Introduction ? 6 1
that the Root Tantra text can be explained mainly as explaining the name of the Tantra; which is a cause of extreme wonderment! Here, since it is difficult to discern how the four-chapter sections explain the four branches of practice and service, one must know how to explain the Root Tantra through a good understanding of how to elucidate this, how to discern the boundaries of the four branches in each of the two stages, and especially how to explain the six branches of service of the perfection stage. And it appears that understanding how the noble system explains the Further Tantra depends on the same commentary of Naropa.
The Revelation ofthe Hidden Intention [Tantra] orders its chapters in the same way as in the Root Tantra, and mentions almost everything mentioned in the Root Tantra's chapters, so that it serves as a commen- tary elucidating the difficult points of each chapter. It concisely states that, "such and such is the import taught by each of the seventeen chapters of this Root Tantra. " It indicates how it is improper to explain the Commu- nity always literally, and elucidates the hidden definitive meanings of the interpretable meaning statements. It explains thoroughly the intentional interpretations given to one import by other [apparently] contradictory
statements. It clearly teaches most often the vajra recitation practice hidden in the Root Tantra in almost every chapter. Therefore, emphasizing this [17aJ recitation practice it explains the Root Tantra according to those pro- cedures. In the Illumination ofthe Lamp most quotes "from the Explana- tory Tantra" are from this source, quoted as emphasizing the definitive
meaning explanations.
[I. C. 2. b. ii. -Howthe(other)threesuchas theVajraRosaryexplain]
The Vajra Rosary Short Tantra [translations] have three different ways of dividing its Chapters 1 9 and 20. The Commentary explains that, at the beginning of Chapter 1 9 [of the Vajra Rosary] , from [the lines] :
Then still more should be explained,
The self-instantaneous in variety, and so on. . .
up to [the lines]:
. . . Various aspects are eagerly accepted
except for nine quarter-verses, the text of the end of the nineteenth chapter did not extend further, and "was left here. " After that, from [the line] :
? 62 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
Then yet another should be explained . . .
up to [the line]:
. . . This should be understood from the succession of
mentors . . .
is taken as the twentieth chapter. In general the Commentary takes it to have sixty-eight chapters. I ?
The translation of the Lha Lama Zhiwa Od is the same as above, up to "various aspects are eagerly desired," but after that it takes out the verses from "Gazing, attracting, and also signaling, know the experience of kissing and its delight" up to "experiencing the orgasmic joy, an instant free from identity" and makes them the nineteenth chapter, the
analysis of instantaneity. Then it takes the verses from "Then yet another should be explained, the character of the four joys . . . " up to "naturally born in the circle of emanations, let one experience joy" [17bl as the twentieth chapter, the analysis of the character of joy. In general, it has sixty-eight chapters.
As for the Zhiwa Od translation revised by Darma Tsondru, it is the same up to "various aspects are accepted," and afterwards it repeats the verses from "Then yet another should be explained, the character of the four joys" up to "naturally born in the circle of emanations, let one experience joy. " After that it repeats from "Gaze, attract, and also signal" up to "the experience of natural joy, an instant free of identity. " And after that, from "The great space of all the channels" up to "the experience of natural joy, an instant free of identity," and from "The great space of all the channels" up to "it should be known from the mentor succession"-it takes all these as the nineteenth chapter, the nature of the universal joy, and generally takes it to have sixty-seven chapters.
Thus, though there appear to be many such variations, the chapter divisions of the translation by Sujana ShrTjiUlna and Zhiwa Od and the Indian book of Pa? ;u,tita Mantrakalasha seem to be correct; because there is evident in the text both one passage explaining the four instants in forward and reverse order and another passage explaining the four joys
1 7 Though the commentary as we have it in the Tengyur today only includes explanations of 44 chapters, Wld the commentary quote often diverge from the verses in the translaton of the mot text. See D. Kittay. Vc1jramala, forthcoming.
? Chapter /-Introduction ? 63
in forward and reverse order; because the "Gaze, prod, [l8al and also signal," and so forth, is obviously an addition to "various forms are eagerly accepted"; and because the words "Yet another now should be explained" are said to be the chapter's opening words in many other chapters .
In this Tantra, Vajrapa1. 1i wishes-while referring to the Vajra Rosary-to inquire into the two stages, which are unclearly stated only by symbols in the Esoteric Community, and precedes his speech by the expression, "Please teach mainly from the point of view of the perfection stage. " He then asks his questions concerning topics from the meaning of the name of the Vajra Rosary up to the nature and the way of destruction of the wind-energies. The answers to those questions explain most of the meanings of the Community and also many meanings of the Yogini Tantras, such as the [Unexcelled] Clear Articulation 100,000, although those explanations are given mostly as a factor of decisively determining the import of the Community. The number of the questions and answers
is said by the Commentary to be eighty-two.
What does this Tantra explain of the Community text in plain
terms?
Those texts [18b1 teach mainly body isolation, speech isolation, mind isolation, and the magic body, also teaching repeatedly in other contexts the clear light and communion; thus teaching the complete per- fection stage. The scheme of that path is taken as the five stages because
that same text [the Vajra Rosary] declares:
Through application to the vajra recitation, Knowing the nature of the energies,
Cut off the energies of mental constructions, You will attain the mind objective.
And by the stage of blessing the self,
The eight accomplishments will be achieved. Know the divisions of luminance and so on,
While it explains much of the Root Tantra's third chapter and sixth chapter statements about the meditation of the mustard-seed-size jewels at the nosetips, chiefly this Tantra explains the meaning of each syllable ofthe prologue "E VAMMA YA," and so on, the forty syllables which the
of the Lamp says contain all the meanings of the Tantra,
Illumination
each by a verse such as "E is the holy wisdom. . . . "
Brilliant Illumination ofthe Lamp
And you will attain clear realization. Abiding on the stage of communion.
The yogi/ni should have no doubt S/he will achieve in this very life The gathering of all attainments.
The savior Nagarjuna, in condensing the perfection stage into the five stages. follows this Tantra, and also follows this Tantra in the three samadhis. the four yogas, the thirty-two deities and so forth on the crea- tion stage. Therefore, when His Holiness [Nagarjuna] in the Condensed [Sadhana] becomes an [alchemical] churner, he "churns the ocean of hidden waters of the Esoteric Community with the churning stick of the Vajra Rosary. "18 Thus his statement about finding the art of the practice of the Community was not just referring to the creation stage. It explains
the many stages of creation and dissolution of the body in terms of the channel-structure, wind-energy-movement, and enlightenment-spirit- substance as a factor in the decisive ascertainment 1 t9aJ of the internal and external life-energy controls for bringing forth the four voids and the magic body, depending on the life-energy controls of the outer seal of the hidden discipline of desire and of the vajra recitation, and so on. Beyond those two techniques, it further explains the limitless ways for the dawn- ing of realization, and so forth. It also declares many things such as the scheme of consecrations for attaining receptivity for the path condensed into twenty rites, the schemes for condensing the creation stage, and the determinations of the sequence of the two stages. Especially, the sixth chapter explains the keys for the life-energy-control vajra recitation to open up the knot of the heart channels, and the twenty-second chapter section which collects the definitive meaning mantras of the three syllables explains how the unravelling of the heart-channel-knot is the supreme unravelling of a channel-knot of all the wheels [of channels]. It seems
that such excellent elucidation is rarely seen.
This Tantra's dominant emphasis in elucidating the Community lies
in its clear extraction of the hidden meaning of the Community by explain- ing the meaning of each of the syllables of the prologue. Now, the way in
IS This is a paraphrase from Nagarjuna's Condensed Sadhana (TOh. 1796; Derge rGyud 'Grel, NGI: 10b. 7).
64 ?
? which the other texts of the Explanatory Tantras become factors in decid- ing that very same thing must be known from the perspective of the inter- pretation of the schemes of the two stages. Therefore. I must somewhat explain that below. The statement from the translator's colophon of this text that "among Explanatory Tantras a better one than this has not previ- ously appeared," still seems to be just how it is.
The Four Goddess Dialogue chiefly explains in detail the keys of the life-energy-control yogas. The Wisdom Vajra Compendium (19hJ teaches the seven ornaments, the ultimate in private i? struction explain- ing the Unexcelled Yoga Tantras, taking the Community as chief. And here, clearer than in any other Explanatory Tantra, is explained the attain- ment of the three voids and the magic body from there. The details of how these two Tantras explain the Community will not be mentioned here, as I have already explained them in the extensive commentaries of those two texts. 19
Thus, inquiring thoroughly into the texts containing the private instructions of the holy father and son, with the key for easily extracting the pith of the meaning, discerning accurately with the help of the Explanatory Tantras the meanings sealed behind the door of the Root Tantra by the six parameters and four procedures, one should be able to
open the door of the Root Tantra. One then becomes one who has the personal precept granting confidence in personal Tantric instruction. And knowing how to apply the reasoning to other Tantras in that way, as well, one becomes an expert in all Tantras.
[II. -
The Root Tantra, when mentioning the name, declares that this Tantra unites all the secrets of body, speech, and mind of all the transcen- dent buddhas; [it] shows that all the essentials of the secrets of the Vajra
Vehicle are united here. The Further Tantra also declares: Emaho! Extremely hard to find,
This is the art of attaining enlightenment.
19 These commentaries as we have them do not seem that "extensive. " One wonders whether the full transcription of the lectures Tsong Khapa gave on them is no longer extant.
Chapter /- Introduction ? 65
? ? Expression of the greatness of the Community]
66 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
It is the furthest of the Further Tantras;
It is called the Esoteric Community.
It declares that, because of its rarity and importance, when performing the [intensive] four-session yoga, in studying, investigating, and worship- ping, one should regard Bodhicittavajra as just like Vajradhara [20aJ and salute him. Moreover, one who is the prince of practitioners of that Tantra, who sees, hears, remembers, touches and has faith in it, up to one who holds even the merest portion of the Tantra, should be regarded as like Vajradhara and saluted. Thus the Further Tantra states:
Those who practice the vajras of four sessions - Attaining the superior and inferior varieties [of powers]
such as invisibility,
Realizing this unerring path by the grace of the buddha-
mentor -
Seeing them as like Bodhivajra, we worship them always!
Those who learn this very Esoteric Community Tantra- Who recite it, read it, contemplate it,
Worship it, write it, and have it written-
Seeing them like Bodhivajra, we worship them always!
And it also declares:
Those who are master practitioners - seeing, contacting, Remembering well, learning, indeed, even the name, Generating faith, and living in even a part-
Seeing them like Bodhivajra, we worship them always!
The Persona/ Instruction ofManjushrr praises the Tantra as:
The Tantra that unites all buddhas,
The great secret, the secret of great secrets, Unexcelled great teaching . . .
and states that the measure of the duration of the essence of the [buddha] teaching is whether or not this very Tantra exists:
This import, when it goes into the ear, And for however long it endures there,
The jewel teaching of the B uddha
Is proclaimed to be enduring.
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.
The inquiry into the classification as art Tantra is the very same as the inquiry into the meaning of the name. Thus, as the general import is included in the inquiry into the meaning of the name, it can be implied
[I. C. 2. b. - Showing the way in which the Explanatory Tantras explainI
The other Community Explanatory Tantras explain it but are not
for how it explains the Root Tantra, its explanation of the [16aJ common meanings of the Tantra lies in its dialogues about: the meaning of the name of the Tantra, "Glorious Esoteric Community Yoga Tantra," its clas- sification as an art Tantra, and the general scheme of the Tantra. Its other
sections explain particular points from each of the seventeen chapters.
The second has two parts: [i] How the Further Tantra and the Reve- lation ofthe Hidden Intention explain; and [ii] How the [other] three, such as the Vajra Rosary, explain.
themselves the Community Tantra, whereas the Further Tantra is both. As
Chapter /- Introduction ? 6 1
that the Root Tantra text can be explained mainly as explaining the name of the Tantra; which is a cause of extreme wonderment! Here, since it is difficult to discern how the four-chapter sections explain the four branches of practice and service, one must know how to explain the Root Tantra through a good understanding of how to elucidate this, how to discern the boundaries of the four branches in each of the two stages, and especially how to explain the six branches of service of the perfection stage. And it appears that understanding how the noble system explains the Further Tantra depends on the same commentary of Naropa.
The Revelation ofthe Hidden Intention [Tantra] orders its chapters in the same way as in the Root Tantra, and mentions almost everything mentioned in the Root Tantra's chapters, so that it serves as a commen- tary elucidating the difficult points of each chapter. It concisely states that, "such and such is the import taught by each of the seventeen chapters of this Root Tantra. " It indicates how it is improper to explain the Commu- nity always literally, and elucidates the hidden definitive meanings of the interpretable meaning statements. It explains thoroughly the intentional interpretations given to one import by other [apparently] contradictory
statements. It clearly teaches most often the vajra recitation practice hidden in the Root Tantra in almost every chapter. Therefore, emphasizing this [17aJ recitation practice it explains the Root Tantra according to those pro- cedures. In the Illumination ofthe Lamp most quotes "from the Explana- tory Tantra" are from this source, quoted as emphasizing the definitive
meaning explanations.
[I. C. 2. b. ii. -Howthe(other)threesuchas theVajraRosaryexplain]
The Vajra Rosary Short Tantra [translations] have three different ways of dividing its Chapters 1 9 and 20. The Commentary explains that, at the beginning of Chapter 1 9 [of the Vajra Rosary] , from [the lines] :
Then still more should be explained,
The self-instantaneous in variety, and so on. . .
up to [the lines]:
. . . Various aspects are eagerly accepted
except for nine quarter-verses, the text of the end of the nineteenth chapter did not extend further, and "was left here. " After that, from [the line] :
? 62 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
Then yet another should be explained . . .
up to [the line]:
. . . This should be understood from the succession of
mentors . . .
is taken as the twentieth chapter. In general the Commentary takes it to have sixty-eight chapters. I ?
The translation of the Lha Lama Zhiwa Od is the same as above, up to "various aspects are eagerly desired," but after that it takes out the verses from "Gazing, attracting, and also signaling, know the experience of kissing and its delight" up to "experiencing the orgasmic joy, an instant free from identity" and makes them the nineteenth chapter, the
analysis of instantaneity. Then it takes the verses from "Then yet another should be explained, the character of the four joys . . . " up to "naturally born in the circle of emanations, let one experience joy" [17bl as the twentieth chapter, the analysis of the character of joy. In general, it has sixty-eight chapters.
As for the Zhiwa Od translation revised by Darma Tsondru, it is the same up to "various aspects are accepted," and afterwards it repeats the verses from "Then yet another should be explained, the character of the four joys" up to "naturally born in the circle of emanations, let one experience joy. " After that it repeats from "Gaze, attract, and also signal" up to "the experience of natural joy, an instant free of identity. " And after that, from "The great space of all the channels" up to "the experience of natural joy, an instant free of identity," and from "The great space of all the channels" up to "it should be known from the mentor succession"-it takes all these as the nineteenth chapter, the nature of the universal joy, and generally takes it to have sixty-seven chapters.
Thus, though there appear to be many such variations, the chapter divisions of the translation by Sujana ShrTjiUlna and Zhiwa Od and the Indian book of Pa? ;u,tita Mantrakalasha seem to be correct; because there is evident in the text both one passage explaining the four instants in forward and reverse order and another passage explaining the four joys
1 7 Though the commentary as we have it in the Tengyur today only includes explanations of 44 chapters, Wld the commentary quote often diverge from the verses in the translaton of the mot text. See D. Kittay. Vc1jramala, forthcoming.
? Chapter /-Introduction ? 63
in forward and reverse order; because the "Gaze, prod, [l8al and also signal," and so forth, is obviously an addition to "various forms are eagerly accepted"; and because the words "Yet another now should be explained" are said to be the chapter's opening words in many other chapters .
In this Tantra, Vajrapa1. 1i wishes-while referring to the Vajra Rosary-to inquire into the two stages, which are unclearly stated only by symbols in the Esoteric Community, and precedes his speech by the expression, "Please teach mainly from the point of view of the perfection stage. " He then asks his questions concerning topics from the meaning of the name of the Vajra Rosary up to the nature and the way of destruction of the wind-energies. The answers to those questions explain most of the meanings of the Community and also many meanings of the Yogini Tantras, such as the [Unexcelled] Clear Articulation 100,000, although those explanations are given mostly as a factor of decisively determining the import of the Community. The number of the questions and answers
is said by the Commentary to be eighty-two.
What does this Tantra explain of the Community text in plain
terms?
Those texts [18b1 teach mainly body isolation, speech isolation, mind isolation, and the magic body, also teaching repeatedly in other contexts the clear light and communion; thus teaching the complete per- fection stage. The scheme of that path is taken as the five stages because
that same text [the Vajra Rosary] declares:
Through application to the vajra recitation, Knowing the nature of the energies,
Cut off the energies of mental constructions, You will attain the mind objective.
And by the stage of blessing the self,
The eight accomplishments will be achieved. Know the divisions of luminance and so on,
While it explains much of the Root Tantra's third chapter and sixth chapter statements about the meditation of the mustard-seed-size jewels at the nosetips, chiefly this Tantra explains the meaning of each syllable ofthe prologue "E VAMMA YA," and so on, the forty syllables which the
of the Lamp says contain all the meanings of the Tantra,
Illumination
each by a verse such as "E is the holy wisdom. . . . "
Brilliant Illumination ofthe Lamp
And you will attain clear realization. Abiding on the stage of communion.
The yogi/ni should have no doubt S/he will achieve in this very life The gathering of all attainments.
The savior Nagarjuna, in condensing the perfection stage into the five stages. follows this Tantra, and also follows this Tantra in the three samadhis. the four yogas, the thirty-two deities and so forth on the crea- tion stage. Therefore, when His Holiness [Nagarjuna] in the Condensed [Sadhana] becomes an [alchemical] churner, he "churns the ocean of hidden waters of the Esoteric Community with the churning stick of the Vajra Rosary. "18 Thus his statement about finding the art of the practice of the Community was not just referring to the creation stage. It explains
the many stages of creation and dissolution of the body in terms of the channel-structure, wind-energy-movement, and enlightenment-spirit- substance as a factor in the decisive ascertainment 1 t9aJ of the internal and external life-energy controls for bringing forth the four voids and the magic body, depending on the life-energy controls of the outer seal of the hidden discipline of desire and of the vajra recitation, and so on. Beyond those two techniques, it further explains the limitless ways for the dawn- ing of realization, and so forth. It also declares many things such as the scheme of consecrations for attaining receptivity for the path condensed into twenty rites, the schemes for condensing the creation stage, and the determinations of the sequence of the two stages. Especially, the sixth chapter explains the keys for the life-energy-control vajra recitation to open up the knot of the heart channels, and the twenty-second chapter section which collects the definitive meaning mantras of the three syllables explains how the unravelling of the heart-channel-knot is the supreme unravelling of a channel-knot of all the wheels [of channels]. It seems
that such excellent elucidation is rarely seen.
This Tantra's dominant emphasis in elucidating the Community lies
in its clear extraction of the hidden meaning of the Community by explain- ing the meaning of each of the syllables of the prologue. Now, the way in
IS This is a paraphrase from Nagarjuna's Condensed Sadhana (TOh. 1796; Derge rGyud 'Grel, NGI: 10b. 7).
64 ?
? which the other texts of the Explanatory Tantras become factors in decid- ing that very same thing must be known from the perspective of the inter- pretation of the schemes of the two stages. Therefore. I must somewhat explain that below. The statement from the translator's colophon of this text that "among Explanatory Tantras a better one than this has not previ- ously appeared," still seems to be just how it is.
The Four Goddess Dialogue chiefly explains in detail the keys of the life-energy-control yogas. The Wisdom Vajra Compendium (19hJ teaches the seven ornaments, the ultimate in private i? struction explain- ing the Unexcelled Yoga Tantras, taking the Community as chief. And here, clearer than in any other Explanatory Tantra, is explained the attain- ment of the three voids and the magic body from there. The details of how these two Tantras explain the Community will not be mentioned here, as I have already explained them in the extensive commentaries of those two texts. 19
Thus, inquiring thoroughly into the texts containing the private instructions of the holy father and son, with the key for easily extracting the pith of the meaning, discerning accurately with the help of the Explanatory Tantras the meanings sealed behind the door of the Root Tantra by the six parameters and four procedures, one should be able to
open the door of the Root Tantra. One then becomes one who has the personal precept granting confidence in personal Tantric instruction. And knowing how to apply the reasoning to other Tantras in that way, as well, one becomes an expert in all Tantras.
[II. -
The Root Tantra, when mentioning the name, declares that this Tantra unites all the secrets of body, speech, and mind of all the transcen- dent buddhas; [it] shows that all the essentials of the secrets of the Vajra
Vehicle are united here. The Further Tantra also declares: Emaho! Extremely hard to find,
This is the art of attaining enlightenment.
19 These commentaries as we have them do not seem that "extensive. " One wonders whether the full transcription of the lectures Tsong Khapa gave on them is no longer extant.
Chapter /- Introduction ? 65
? ? Expression of the greatness of the Community]
66 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
It is the furthest of the Further Tantras;
It is called the Esoteric Community.
It declares that, because of its rarity and importance, when performing the [intensive] four-session yoga, in studying, investigating, and worship- ping, one should regard Bodhicittavajra as just like Vajradhara [20aJ and salute him. Moreover, one who is the prince of practitioners of that Tantra, who sees, hears, remembers, touches and has faith in it, up to one who holds even the merest portion of the Tantra, should be regarded as like Vajradhara and saluted. Thus the Further Tantra states:
Those who practice the vajras of four sessions - Attaining the superior and inferior varieties [of powers]
such as invisibility,
Realizing this unerring path by the grace of the buddha-
mentor -
Seeing them as like Bodhivajra, we worship them always!
Those who learn this very Esoteric Community Tantra- Who recite it, read it, contemplate it,
Worship it, write it, and have it written-
Seeing them like Bodhivajra, we worship them always!
And it also declares:
Those who are master practitioners - seeing, contacting, Remembering well, learning, indeed, even the name, Generating faith, and living in even a part-
Seeing them like Bodhivajra, we worship them always!
The Persona/ Instruction ofManjushrr praises the Tantra as:
The Tantra that unites all buddhas,
The great secret, the secret of great secrets, Unexcelled great teaching . . .
and states that the measure of the duration of the essence of the [buddha] teaching is whether or not this very Tantra exists:
This import, when it goes into the ear, And for however long it endures there,
The jewel teaching of the B uddha
Is proclaimed to be enduring.
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.
