Guhyagarbha Tantra (with Commentary)
by Gyurme Dorje | 1987 | 304,894 words
The English translation of the Guhyagarbha Tantra, including Longchenpa's commentary from the 14th century. The whole work is presented as a critical investigation into the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism, of which the Guhyagarbhatantra is it's principle text. It contains twenty-two chapters teaching the essence and practice of Mahayoga, which s...
Text 8.17 (Commentary)
[Guhyagarbha-Tantra, Text section 8.17]
The six sages have diverse seals.
When subsumed, they number six seals.
Their female consort is the non-referential expanse of reality. [17] ...[Tibetan]
thub-drug phyag-rgya sna-tshogs-te /
mdor-bsdus phyag-rgya drug yin-no /
yum-ni dmigs-med chos-kyi dbyings / [17]
Commentary:
[Fourthly, there are the seals or hand-emblems of the six sages (which comment on Ch. 8.17):]
By the power of those to be trained, the six sages (thub-drug) have diverse (sna-tshogs-te) seals (phyag-rgya). Although they are without specific definition, number and extent, when subsumed (mdor-bsdus) according to their respective classes (of living beings), they number six seals (phyag-rgya drug yin-no). What, one might ask, are these?
According to the Indestructible Reality (NGB. Vol. 15) they are as follows:[1]
They should be known as the seals or hand-emblems
Of the lute, the armour, the begging bowl.
The casket, the book and the fire & water.
Emerging from their respective seed-syllables (OṂ), these seals or hand-emblems are maintained at the heart-centres (of the respective sages). One might think, by the way, that because the sages have no female consorts they conform to the path in which skillful means and discriminative awareness are not coalesced. In that case, it is true that they lack a female consort who appears as a referential object, but they are revealed to have the non-referential expanse as their female consort. Therefore, their female consort (yum-ni) is the expanse of reality (chos-kyi dbyings), non-referential (dmigs-med) in all respects and free from extremes of conceptual elaboration. There are some who hold that on the left side of the six sages there are six Samantabhadrīs, but that would contradict the precise number of deities (i.e. forty-two). There are also those who say their (consorts) are combined in Samantabhadrī, but that is incorrect because during meditation one would confuse the visualised deities and their correct number.
Again, there are some who hold that the six sages have no female consort, saying:
In order to benefit eternalistic extremists
The Buddhas’ queen is most secret.
The latter observation, however, refers to the circumstances of the Yogatantras, and in this context (of Unsurpassed Yogatantra) it is not relevant. Although the sage of the human beings (Śākyamuni) did renounce the attributes of desire, he did not say that other (buddhas) should renounce them because emanational buddha-bodies appear to each in accord with his or her needs. Therefore, the actual absence of a female consort depends on (the 12 type of) emanation and the number of deities (in the maṇḍala).
[Fifthly, there are the seals or hand-emblems of the male & female consorts Samantabhadra (which comment on Ch. 8.18):]
[Read next page]