Tantra and Buddha-Nature
From Buddha-Nature
Tantra & Buddha-Nature
Though the theory of buddha-nature is more readily associated with certain Mahāyāna Sūtras and related treatises, such as the Ratnagotravibhāga, in the Tibetan tradition there also developed a strong association between this concept and the Vajrayāna. For instance, terms related to buddha-nature, like sugatagarbha, also appear in tantric literature and in the Jonang tradition Dolpopa's development of his famed view of other-emptiness (zhentong) was directly linked with a profound realization he attained through his practice of the Kālacakra Tantra. For the Kagyu the Ratnagotravibhāga has long since been described as a "bridge between sūtra and tantra" and for the Nyingma sugatagarbha is commonly used throughout much of the revealed tantric corpus of its treasure tradition. Therefore, buddha-nature is a crucial concept for the Vajrayāna.
Watch & Learn
Discovering Buddha Nature: Talk by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
In this short teaching, Mingyur Rinpoche describes buddha-nature with the metaphor of a diamond covered in mud, explaining how the innate purity of awareness can be obscured, but never changed.
Mingyur, Yongey, 7th. "Discovering Buddha Nature." Produced by Tergar Learning Community, April 7, 2014. Video, 1:48. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srRcHz9jVrg.
Mingyur, Yongey, 7th. "Discovering Buddha Nature." Produced by Tergar Learning Community, April 7, 2014. Video, 1:48. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srRcHz9jVrg.;Discovering Buddha Nature: Talk by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche;Contemporary;Defining buddha-nature;Metaphors for buddha-nature;Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche;Discovering Buddha Nature
Revealing Your Buddha-Nature: Teaching by Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche at the 2012 PBC Dzogchen Winter Retreat
On January 14, 2012, during the first teaching of the Padmasambhava Buddhist Center's Dzogchen Winter Retreat on the Buddha of Compassion in West Palm Beach, Florida, Venerable Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche taught on how to reveal the buddha-nature within us by using the Vajrayana methods taught by Buddha Shakyamuni, Guru Padmasambhava, Tsasum Lingpa, Venerable Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche, and so many great lineage masters.
In English with his direct, characteristic humor, Khenpo Rinpoche presents the "shining star" of buddha-nature in the minds of sentient beings as the same nature as the buddhas. He says, "We are always guided by this nature all the time whether we realize it or not."
Dongyal, Khenpo Tsewang. "Revealing Your Buddha-Nature." Filmed January 14, 2012 in West Palm Beach, FL. Video, 9:55, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFDWZyMgOQQ.
Dongyal, Khenpo Tsewang. "Revealing Your Buddha-Nature." Filmed January 14, 2012 in West Palm Beach, FL. Video, 9:55, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFDWZyMgOQQ.;Revealing Your Buddha-Nature: Teaching by Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche at the 2012 PBC Dzogchen Winter Retreat;Tsewang Dongyal;Revealing Your Buddha-Nature: Teaching by Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche at the 2012 PBC Dzogchen Winter Retreat
From the Tantras
In the Hevajra Tantra, it states:
- सत्त्वा बुद्धा एव किं तु आगन्तुकमलावृताः
तस्यापकर्षनात् सत्त्वा बुद्धा एव न संशयः- །སེམས་ཅན་རྣམས་ནི་སངས་རྒྱས་ཉིད།
།འོན་ཀྱང་གློ་བུར་དྲི་མས་བསྒྲིབས།
།དེ་གསལ་ན་ནི་སངས་རྒྱས་ཉིད།- All beings are, themselves, buddhas.
However, this is obscured by adventitious stains.
When those are cleared away, buddhahood is actualized.~ Adapted from D.L. Snellgrove. The Hevajra Tantra: A Critical Study. London: Oxford University Press, 1959: p. 107.
In the Guhyagarbha Tantra, it states:
- །ཨེ་མའོ་བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་ལས།
རང་གི་རྣམ་རྟོག་ལས་ཀྱིས་སྤྲུལ།- Ema ho, from the sugatagarbha
one's own discursive thinking manifests due to karma.~ Cited in Higgins, David. The Philosophical Foundations of Classical rDzogs chen in Tibet: Investigating the Distinction Between Dualistic Mind (sems) and Primordial Knowing (ye shes). Wien: Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien, Universität Wien, 2013: p. 180.
In the Tantra of Great Self-Arisen Awareness, it states:
- །ཡང་དག་སངས་རྒྱས་དགོངས་པ་ནི།
སེམས་ཅན་ཀུན་གྱི་རང་རྒྱུད་ལ།
།སྐུ་དང་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཚུལ་དུ་གནས།- The mind of the perfect buddhas
Dwells in the mind stream of sentient beings
In the manner of kayas and wisdoms.~ From the Rig pa rang shar chen po'i rgyud, cited in Padmasambhava, Jamgön Kongtrül, Kunsang, Erik Pema, trans. The Light of Wisdom Vol. 1. Hong Kong: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 1999: p. 74.
From the Masters
Candrakīrti
In his Illuminating Lamp, a commentary on the Guhyasamaja Tantra, Candrakīrti states:
- རྒྱལ་བ་ཀུན་གྱི་གནས་ནི་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་དེ།
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་ཡིན་པའི་ཕྱིར་རོ།- The abode of the victorious ones is all sentient beings
Because they are of the essence of the tathagatas.~ Candrakīrti. Pradīpoddyotana-nāma-ṭīkā (sgron ma gsal bar byed pa zhes bya ba'i rgya cher bshad pa). In bstan 'gyur (sde dge), Vol. 30, p. 133. New Delhi: delhi karmapae choedhey, gyalwae sungrab partun khang, 1982-1985.
-Cited in Padmasambhava, Jamgön Kongtrül, Kunsang, Erik Pema, trans. The Light of Wisdom Vol. 1. Hong Kong: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 1999: p. 31.
Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje
The Third Karmapa concludes his The Treatise on Pointing Out the Tathāgata Heart with the following lines:
- །འགྲོ་ཀུན་སངས་རྒྱས་སྙིང་པོ་འདི།
།མཐར་ཕྱིན་མ་ནོར་ཤེས་པར་ཤོག
།སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་སྙིང་པོ་གཏན་ལ་དབབ་པ་རྡོ་རྗེ་ཐེག་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་རྫོགས་སོ།།- May all beings know this buddha heart
Perfectly and without error!
This completes the determination of the buddha heart,
The essence of the vajrayāna.~ rang byung rdo rje, (Karmapa, 3rd). de bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po bstan pa'i bstan bcos. In gsung 'bum rang byung rdo rje. Zi ling: mtshur phu mkhan po lo yag bkra shis, 2006: Vol. 7, p. 290.
-Translation from Karmapa, The Third, Rang byung rdo rje. Luminous Heart: The Third Karmapa on Consciousness, Wisdom, and Buddha Nature. Translated by Karl Brunnhölzl. Nitartha Institute Series. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2009: p. 360.
In his Zab mo nang don he states:
- །སེམས་ཅན་ཁམས་ནི་སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི།
།སྙིང་པོ་དྲི་མེད་བདེན་གཉིས་ལྡན།
།འདི་ནི་ཡེ་ཤེས་རྡོ་རྗེ་རུ།
།ཀུན་རྫོབ་གཟུང་འཛིན་སྣང་བ་སྟེ།
།བདེན་པ་ཆུ་ཟླ་ལྟ་བུའོ་།
།དོན་དམ་སྟོང་ཉིད་བཅོ་བརྒྱད་དེ་།
།བདེན་པ་གཉིས་མེད་ཡེ་ཤེས་བརྗོད།- As for the [buddha] element in sentient beings, it is the stainless
buddha nature (sangs rgyas kyi snying po),
Endowed with the two truths.
This [is stated] in the Vajrajñāna[samuccayatantra]:
Apparent means to appear as a perceived and a perceiver.
[This] truth is like [a reflection of] the moon in water.
Ultimate refers to the eighteen [types of] emptiness.
[This] truth is called nondual wisdom.~ rang byung rdo rje, (Karmapa, 3rd). Zab mom nang gi don. In gsung 'bum rang byung rdo rje. Zi ling: mtshur phu mkhan po lo yag bkra shis, 2006: Vol. 7, p. 29022b6-23ai.
-Translation from Klaus-Dieter Mathes. A Direct Path to the Buddha Within: Go Lotsāwa's Mahāmudrā Interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhāga. Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. Boston:Wisdom Publications, 2008: p. 66.
Longchenpa
Longchenpa explains the difference between the causal and resultant vehicles in the following way:
- ཁམས་བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་ས་བོན་དུ་ཡོད་པ་ཙམ་རྐྱེན་ཚོགས་གཉིས་ཀྱིས་ཡོན་ཏན་གོང་དུ་འཕེལ་བ་ལས་སངས་རྒྱས་ཐོབ་པར་འདོད་པས་རྒྱུ་འབྲས་སྔ་ཕྱིར་ཁས་ལེན་པའི་ཕྱིར་རྒྱུའི་ཐེག་པ་དང་། སྙིང་པོ་ཡོན་ཏན་བཅས་སེམས་ཅན་ལ་རང་ཆས་ལྷུན་གྲུབ་ཏུ་ཡོད་པ་སྦྱང་གཞི་ཉི་མ་འོད་ཟེར་ལྡན་པ་འདྲ་བ་ལ། སྦྱང་བྱ་ཚོགས་བརྒྱད་གློ་བུར་བའི་དྲི་མ་སྤྲིན་ལྟ་བུས་བསྒྲིབས་པ་ཉིད། སྦྱོང་བྱེད་སྨིན་གྲོལ་ལམ་གྱིས་སྦྱངས་པའི་འབྲས་བུ་གདོད་གནས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་མངོན་དུ་གྱུར་པ་ལས་སྔ་ཕྱིར་བཟང་ངན་ཁྱད་པར་མེད་པར་འདོད་པས་འབྲས་བུའི་ཐེག་པ་ཞེས་བཏགས་པར་བཞེད་དེ།
- The causal vehicles are so-called because of accepting a sequence of cause and effect, asserting that buddhahood is attained by increasing the qualities of the nature of the sugata essence, which is merely present as a seed, through the circumstance of the two accumulations. The resultant vehicles are so-called because of asserting that the basis for purification is the [sugata] essence endowed with qualities that are spontaneously present as a natural possession in sentient beings, just as the sun is endowed with rays of light; that the objects of purification are the temporary defilements of the eight collections, like the sky being [temporarily] obscured by clouds; and that one realizes the result of purification, the primordially present nature by means of that which purifies, the paths of ripening and liberation. Besides this, there is no difference in sequence or quality.
~ Adapted from Klong chen rab 'byams, yid bzhin mdzod kyi grub mtha' bsdus pa, cited in Padmasambhava, Jamgön Kongtrül, Kunsang, Erik Pema, trans. The Light of Wisdom Vol. 1. Hong Kong: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 1999: pp. 152-153.
Gö Lotsāwa Zhönu Pal
Gö Lotsāwa on the origins of the Tibetan exegesis of the Ratnagotravibhāga:
- With regard to the [Maitreya works], three among the works of the Illustrious Maitreya, [namely] the Abhisamayālaṁkāra, the Mahāyānasūtrālaṁkāra, and the Madhyāntavibhāga, were translated by the translators Paltseg (Dpal brtsegs), Yeshé Dé (Ye shes sde), and others during the first period of the spread of the doctrine [in Tibet]. As for the [remaining] two, the [Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyāna-]Uttaratantra[śāstra] and the Dharmadharmatāvibhāga together with its commentary, Lord Maitrīpa saw light shining from a crack in a stūpa and, wondering what the source of the light was, tried to determine it. As a consequence, he obtained the texts of the two treatises. He rejoiced [in them] and prayed to the venerable [Maitreya], whereupon he arrived—directly visible in an opening between clouds—and duly bestowed [on Maitrīpa] the "oral transmission" (lung) [of both texts]. Thus it is known.
- Then he who is called Paṇḍita Ānandakīrti heard [the teaching of both texts] from Lord Maitrīpa and carried the texts to Kashmir disguised as a beggar. Upon his arrival, the great paṇḍita Sajjana recognized him as a scholar and invited him to his home. [Sajjana] listened to [the teaching of] both treatises and copied the texts. The great translator Loden Sherab heard them [from Sajjana], translated them in Śrīnagar in Kashmir, and composed an extensive explanation in Tibet.
- Also, the [well-] known Tsen Kawoché, a disciple of Drapa Ngönshé, came with the great translator (i.e., Ngog Loden Sherab) to Kashmir. He requested Sajjana to bestow on him [the Maitreya works] along with special instructions, since he wanted to make the works of the Illustrious Maitreya his "practice [of preparing] for death" ('chi chos). Thereupon [Sajjana] taught all five works, with Lotsāwa Zu Gawa Dorjé serving as translator. He also gave special instructions with regard to the Uttaratantra in the due way, and back in Tibet, Tsen explained it to numerous [spiritual friends] in Ü and Tsang. The translator Zu Gawa Dorjé wrote a commentary on the Uttaratantra in accordance with the teaching of Sajjana, and translated the [Dharma]dharmatāvibhāga, both root-text and commentary. Thus neither the Uttara[tantra] nor the [Dharma]dharmatāvibhāga was spread in India before the time of Lord Maitrīpa. Neither is found in the great treatises such as the Abhisamayālaṁkārāloka, not even "a single phrase of them" (zur tsam).
~ Klaus-Dieter Mathes. A Direct Path to the Buddha Within: Go Lotsāwa's Mahāmudrā Interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhāga. Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. Boston:Wisdom Publications, 2008: pp. 161-163.
Śākya Chokden
In the opening lines of his Undermining the Haughtiness of Others by the Wheel of Brahma: A Treatise Clarifying Mahāmudrā Śākya Chokden states:
- རང་བཞིན་རྣམ་དག་རྫོགས་སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་བློ།
།གློ་བུར་དྲི་མའི་ཚོགས་དང་མ་འདྲེས་པ།
།དུས་རྣམས་རྟག་ཏུ་ཀུན་ལ་བཞུགས་གྱུར་པ།
།གཡོ་མེད་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ནས།- I pay homage to the unwavering mahāmudrā,
The naturally pure perfect buddha-mind—
Unadulterated by the host of adventitious stains—
That has been ever-present in all for all time.~ shAkya mchog ldan. phyag rgya chen po gsal bar byed pa'i bstan bcos tshangs pa'i 'khor los gzhan blo'i dregs pa nyams byed. In gser mdog paN chen shAkya mchog ldan gyi gsung 'bum. rdzong sar: rdzong sar khams bye'i slob gling thub bstan dar rgyas gling, 2006-2007: Vol. 17, p. 438.
-David Higgins and Martina Draszczyk. Mahāmudrā and the Middle Way: Post-Classical Kagyü Discourses on Mind, Emptiness and Buddha-Nature. Volume 2: Translations, Critical Texts, Bibliography and Index. Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde 90. Vienna: Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien Universität Wien, 2016: p. 14.
Tsele Natsok Rangdrol
On the correlation of various terms Tsele Natsok Rangdrol states:
- །རང་བྱུང་རང་ཤར་རང་རིག་ཆོས་ཉིད་དོན། །འདི་ལ་མིང་གི་རྣམ་གྲངས་སྣ་ཚོགས་ཏེ། །ཕར་ཕྱིན་ཐེག་པར་ཆོས་ཉིད་བདེན་པ་ཟེར། །སྔགས་ཀྱི་ཐེག་པ་རང་བཞིན་འོད་གསལ་ཟེར། །སེམས་ཅན་དུས་ན་བདེར་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོའི་ཁམས། །ལམ་གྱི་སྐབས་སུ་ལྟ་སྒོམ་ལ་སོགས་མིང། །འབྲས་བུའི་དུས་ན་སངས་རྒྱས་ཆོས་སྐུ་ཟེར། །དེ་སོགས་མིནད་དང་དབྱེ་བ་དུ་མ་ཡང་། །དོན་ལ་ད་ལྟའི་ཐ་མལ་ཤེས་པ་འདིའོ།
- This self-existing and self-manifest natural awareness, your basic state,
Has a variety of names:
In the Prajnaparamita vehicle it is called innate truth.
The vehicle of Mantra calls it natural luminosity.
While a sentient being it is named sugata-garbha.
During the path it is given names which describe the view, meditation, and so forth.
And at the point of fruition it is named the dharmakaya of buddhahood.
All the different names and classifications
Are nothing other than this present ordinary mind.~ rtse le sna tshogs rang grol. nges don gyi lta sgom nyams su len tshul ji lta bar ston pa rdo rje'i mdo 'dzin. In rtse le sna tshogs rang grol gyi gsung gdams zab phyogs bsgrigs. Kathmandu: Khenpo Shedup tenzin and Lama Thinley namgyal, 2007: pp.13-14.
-Tsele Natsok Rangdrol. The Heart of the Matter: The Unchanging Convergence of Vital that Show Exactly How to Apply the View and Meditation of the Definitive Meaning. Translated by Erik Pema Kunsang. Kathmandu: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 2002: p. 14.
Chogyur Lingpa
In his treasure revelation the Lamrim Yeshe Nyingpo it states:
- ཤེས་བྱའི་གཞི་ནི་ཀུན་ཁྱབ་བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང༔
འདུས་མ་བྱས་པ་གསལ་སྟོང་རིག་པའི་བབས༔
འཁྲུལ་གྲོལ་ལས་འདས་མཁའ་ལྟར་རབ་ཏུ་ཞི༔
འཁོར་འདས་དབྱེ་བསྲི་མེད་པར་གནས་གྱུར་ཀྱང༔- The ground to be understood is the all-pervasive sugata essence
Uncompunded, luminous, and empty, it is the natural state of awareness.
Beyond confusion and liberation, it is completely quiescent, like space.
Although it abides without separation in samsara or joining in nirvana...~ mchog gyur gling pa. bla ma'i thugs sgrub rdo rje drag rtsal las zhal gdams lam rim ye shes snying po. In In Rin chen gter mdzod chen mo pod drug bcu re bzhi pa (The Great Treasury of Rediscovered Teachings Volume 64) by 'jam mgon kong sprul, 887-1167. New Delhi: Shechen Publications, 2007-2016.
-Padmasambhava, Jamgön Kongtrül, Kunsang, Erik Pema, trans. The Light of Wisdom Vol. 1. Hong Kong: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 1999: p. 9.
Jamgön Kongtrul
In his commentary to the Lamrim Yeshe Nyingpo Jamgön Kongtrul states:
- ཤེས་བྱ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་གཞིར་གྱུར་པ་ནི་སྣོད་བཅུད་ཀྱི་དངོས་པོ་ལ་ནམ་མཁས་ཁྱབ་པ་བཞིན་དུ་འཁོར་འདས་ཀུན་ལ་ཁྱབ་པའི་བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཁྱད་པར་ལྔ་ལྡན་དུ་བཞུགས་པ་ཡིན་ཏེ། ངོ་བོ་འདུས་མ་བྱས་པ། བཞུགས་ཚུལ་གསལ་སྟོང་རིག་པའི་རང་བབས། དང་པོར་འཁྲུལ་མ་མྱོང་ཞིང་མཐར་གྲོལ་བ་ལས་འདས་པ། ནམ་མཁའ་ལྟར་སྐྱེ་འགག་སོགས་སྤྲོས་པའི་མཚན་མ་མེད་པས་རབ་ཏུ་ཞི་བ། འཁོར་བ་དང་མྱང་འདས་གཉིས་ལ་སྐྱོན་རྟོག་གིས་དབྱེ་ཞིང་རིང་བ་དང་། ཡོན་ཏན་དུ་ཤེས་པས་བསྲི་བ་སྟེ་ཉེ་བར་གྱུར་པ་གང་ཡང་མེད་པར་བཞུགས་ཤིང་གནས་པར་གྱུར་ཏོ།
- The ground of all knowable things is called sugata essence, and it pervades all of samsara and nirvana just as space pervades all worlds and beings. It is endowed with these five special qualities: its essence is uncompounded; its mode of being is the empty and luminous natural state of awareness; at the beginning, it knows no confusion and at the end it is beyond liberation; it is totally quiescent like the sky, being devoid of the marks of mental constructs, such as arising, ceasing, and so forth; it abides utterly devoid of separating, growing distant by conceiving faults in samsara, or joining, drawing close by perceiving qualities in nirvana.
~ 'Jam mgon kong sprul. bla ma'i thugs sgrub rdo rje drag rtsal las zhal gdams lam rim ye shes snying po'i 'grel pa ye shes snang ba rab tu rgyas pa. In In Rin chen gter mdzod chen mo pod drug bcu re bzhi pa (The Great Treasury of Rediscovered Teachings Volume 64) by 'jam mgon kong sprul, 887-1167. New Delhi: Shechen Publications, 2007-2016.
-Padmasambhava, Jamgön Kongtrül, Kunsang, Erik Pema, trans. The Light of Wisdom Vol. 1. Hong Kong: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 1999: p. 69.
In his Guiding Instructions on the View of Great Shentong Madhyamaka—Light Rays of the Stainless Vajra Moon Jamgön Kongtrul states:
- །ཕྱི་འཇིག་རྟེན་སྣོད་བཅུད་སྲིད་པ་གསུམ་གྱི་རྣམ་པར་ཤར་བ་འདི་དག་བཞིན་གྱི་བྱད་མེ་ལོང་ལ་འཕོས་པ་བཞིན་དུ་ནང་རྩ་རླུང་ཐིག་ལེའི་ཆོ་འཕྲུལ་དུ་ཤར་བ་ཡིན་ཞིང་དེ་གསུམ་ཡང་གཞན་མཆོག་དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་གྱི་འཁོར་ལོ་རྟེན་དང་བརྟེན་པར་བཅས་པའི་རྣམ་པར་བཞུགས་ལ། དེ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱང་། དེ་ཁོ་ན་ཉིད་བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོའ་རང་འོད་རང་མདངས་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྐུ་ཉིད་རྣམ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་པར་ཤར་བ་མཆོག་ཏུ་མི་འགྱུར་བའི་ཡེ་ཤེས། །དོན་དམ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབྱིངས་བདེ་སྟོང་ཟུང་འཇུག་རང་བཞིན་འགྱུར་བ་མེད་ལ་རྒྱུན་མི་ཆད་པས་རྒྱུད་ཀྱི་དོན་དུ་གསུངས་ཤིང་། དེའང་གཞིའི་གནས་སྐབས་དྲི་བཅས་དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་ལ་རྒྱུའི་རྒྱུད་དང་། ལམ་དུས་ཆོས་ཉིད་དོན་ནི་རིམ་པར་སྣང་བ་ལ་ལམ་ཐབས་ཀྱི་རྒྱུད་དང་། དག་པ་གཉིས་ལྡན་མངོན་དུ་འགྱུར་བ་ན་ཤིན་ཏུ་རྣམ་དག་འབྲས་བུའི་རྒྱུད་ཅེས་བྱ་སྟེ། ལྟ་བ་ཐུན་མོང་མ་ཡིན་པ་དེ་ཉིད་ཀུན་རྫོབ་ཀྱི་སྟོང་ཚུལ་ལ་མཆོག་ཏུ་འཛིན་པ་རྣམས་ཀྱིས་ཕྱོགས་ཙམ་མི་མཐོང་བ་ལྟ་ཅི་སྨོས། གོང་སྨོས་མདོ་ལུགས་རང་རྐང་གི་ལམ་དེས་ཀྱང་ཡུན་རིང་པོར་འགོར་བ་ཡིན་པས། དབང་དང་དམ་ཚིག་གིས་ཁྱད་པར་དུ་བྱས་པའི་སྔགས་ཀྱི་ལམ་མཐའ་དག་ལས་ཁྱད་པར་དུ་འཕགས་པ་རྡོ་རྗེའི་རྣལ་འབྱོར་ཡན་ལག་དྲུག་ལ་མཉམ་པར་བཞག་པ་ན་དུས་ཐུང་ངུར་ཚེགས་ཆུང་ངུས་བདེ་བླག་ཏུ་རྟོགས་པར་འགྱུར་བ་ཡིན་ནོ།
- These appearances of the three existences (the container that is the outer world and the [inner] content [of sentient beings]), just as a face’s being transferred [as a reflection] into a mirror, appear as the magical display of inner nāḍīs, vāyus, and tilakas, and these three abide as the aspects of "the other"—the circle of the supreme maṇḍala with its support and supported. All of these are true reality’s—the sugata heart’s—own light and own radiance, the dharmakāya itself appearing as all aspects, and utterly changeless wisdom. This ultimate dharmadhātu, the union of bliss and emptiness, is unchanging in nature yet uninterrupted. Therefore, it is taught as having the meaning of "tantra." Being the stained suchness during the phase of the ground, it is [called] "the causal tantra." Since this actuality of the nature of phenomena appears gradually during the time of the path, it is [also called] "the path [or] method tantra." When it has manifested as being endowed with twofold purity, it is called "the tantra of the completely pure fruition." Let alone that those who cling to the manner of the seeming’s being empty as being supreme do not even see a fraction of this uncommon view, it takes a long time [to realize this view] even through the above-mentioned path of the sūtra system as it stands on its own feet. Therefore, when you rest in meditative equipoise in the six-branch vajra yoga that is more eminent than all [other] paths of mantra specified by empowerments and samayas, [this view] will be realized conveniently in a short time and with little hardships.
~ 'Jam mgon kong sprul. Gzhan stong dbu ma chen po'i lta khrid rdo rje zla ba dri ma med pa'i 'od zer. In Blo gros mtha' yas pa'i mdzod. Deb phreng drug pa. 'Khor lo tha ma'i dgongs don gces btus, 179–204. Kathmandu: Rigpe Dorje Publications, 2008: pp. 196-197.
Translation from Karl Brunnhölzl. When the Clouds Part: The Uttaratantra and its Meditative Tradition as a Bridge between Sūtra and Tantra. Boston: Snow Lion Publications, an imprint of Shambhala Publications, 2014: p. 847.
Further Readings
[Creation and Completion (2002)]
In the creation stage, practitioners visualize themselves in the form of buddhas and other enlightened beings in order to break down their ordinary concepts of themselves and the world around them. This meditation practice prepares the mind for engaging in the completion stage, where one has a direct encounter with the ultimate nature of mind and reality.
~ Jamgön Kongtrul and Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche. Creation and Completion: Essential Points of Tantric Meditation. Translated by Sarah Harding. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2002 (First published 1996.)
[[|Book: Buddha Nature Reconsidered]]
As a Mahāmudrā proponent, Mi bskyod rdo rje gives primacy to innate modes of being and awareness, such as coemergent wisdom or buddha nature naturally endowed with qualities, that are amenable only to direct yogic perception and revealed through the personal guidance of a qualified teacher. As an exponent of yuganaddha (zung ’jug), i.e., unity (literally, “yoking together”), he espouses the tantric goal of unity beyond extremes, a goal grounded in the inseparability of the two truths or realities (bden gnyis dbyer med), of appearance and emptiness (snang stong dbyer med). In his eyes, this unity is only fully realized when one understands that the conventional has no independent existence apart from the ultimate and that the latter is a condition of possibility of the former. As an advocate of apratiṣṭhāna (rab tu mi gnas pa), i.e., nonfoundationalism, he resolutely maintains that all outer and inner phenomena, including deep features of reality disclosed through meditation, lack any ontic or epistemic essence or foundation that the mind can lay hold of. Finally, as a champion of Madhyamaka, i.e., the Buddhist Middle Way, the author attempts to ply a middle course between the extremes of existence and nonexistence, eternalism and nihilism. These various doxographical strands are deftly interwoven in the Karma pa’s view of buddha nature, which affirms the innate presence of buddha nature and its qualities in all sentient beings as well as their soteriological efficacy while denying either any ontological status.
~ Higgins, David and Draszczyk, Martina. Buddha Nature Reconsidered: The Eighth Karma pa's Middle Path. Vol. 1: Introduction and Analysis. Vienna: Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien Universität Wien, 2019.
