Text 9.14 (Commentary)

[Guhyagarbha-Tantra, Text section 9.14]

Through offerings of the Great Identity
All maṇḍalas of the Buddhas without exception are pleased.
All living beings within the three realms of existence
Are filled with supreme delight. [14]

[Tibetan]

bdag-nyid chen-po mchod-pa-yis /
sangs-rgyas dkyil-'khor ma-lus mnyes /
srid-gsum 'gro-ba thams-cad-la /
dga'-ba chen-pos khyab-par-'gyur / [14]

Commentary:

[Those pleasing to all the Buddhas:]

Through offerings (mchod-pa-yis) of the blissful Great Identity (bdag-nyid chen-po) which is made in the maṇḍala of the secret centre of the female consort, all maṇḍalas of the buddhas (sangs-rgyas dkyil-'khor) of the ten directions and four times without exception (ma-lus) are pleased (mnyes). Also, through the offerings of her bliss that is displayed to the Great Identity or pristine cognition of intrinsic awareness, the deities of the forty-two maṇḍalas and so forth in which sensory bases and activity fields are primordial Buddha-hood are pleased. Furthermore, through the offering-sacraments of the Great Identity, which the male consort confers on the female consort and the female consort confers on the male consort, the deities of skillful means and discriminative awareness are pleased. So one should know (this offering) to be threefold: outer, inner, and secret.^[1]

All living beings, too, are satisfied in the following manner: All living beings ('gro-ba thams-cad-la) possessed of feeling and accumulated thoughts are subsumed within the three realms of existence (srid-gsum), namely, the existence of the desire realm which physically appears through the display of that bliss, the existence of the form realm which is pure and semi-manifest, and the existence of the formless realm which is mental and invisible.^[2] They are filled (khyab-par-'gyur) with the supreme (chen-pos) inner radiance free from conceptual elaboration and the four realities which are indivisible from the four delights (dga'-ba) of great pristine cognition.

The four realities are namely: The reality of non-dual body, liberated from the entire subject-object dichotomy because there is no apprehension of the male & female consorts; the reality of non-dual speech, liberated from all conceptual elaboration and attachment because it is inexpressible; the reality of non-dual mind, liberated from accumulated thoughts in supreme bliss, which thus perceives the essence of the natural buddha-body of reality; and the reality of non-dual pristine cognition, which is an uninterrupted cycle of inner radiance, abiding in the great disposition where there is no subjective apprehension with respect to bliss.^[3]

The four kinds of inner radiance are namely: The inner radiance of bliss through which at that time the three media (of body, speech, and mind) are filled with delight, causing phenomenal existence to arise as delightful bliss; the inner radiance of radiance through which the naturally radiant essence of mind unimpededly appears from that disposition of bliss as skillful means and discriminative awareness; the inner radiance of non-conceptualisation through which sensations of attachment to subtle and coarse phenomena subside, so that one abides in a non-conceptual state without digression in any respect: and the inner radiance of the inconceivable through which the apparition of ten signs arises from the disposition of reality.

The ten signs are the indications of the single savour of the expanse and pristine cognition, which emerge through the entry of vital energy and mind into the central channel, namely those which resemble smoke, mirage, clouds, fireflies, sun, moon, blazing gemstones, eclipse, stars, and the appearance of light rays. A slightly dissimilar enumeration of the ten signs is also explained in other classes of tantra.^[4]

[The latter refers to the conclusive result, or the attainment of Buddha-hood. (It comments on Ch. 9.15):]

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Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Contrast this explanation where the outer, inner and secret offerings are identified with the union of male & female consorts with that given in the preparatory section above, pp. 818-819, where they are identified with the female deities of the maṇḍala. The pattern of subject, object and their interaction is however maintained.

[2]:

On the tridhātu, see the chart in NSTB, Book 1, introduction. The rūpadhātu is said to be semi-manifest (phyed-snang) in the sense that its higher expressions are rang-snang, i.e. manifest only in and of themselves, whereas its lower expressions are considered to be gzhan-snang, i.e. extraneously manifesting. See NSTB, Book 1, Pt. 2, p. 51; and on the purification of tridhātu with its propensities. Ibid.. Book 1. Pt. 2, p. 62.

[3]:

Tibetan chos-nyid bzhi-ni: 1) lus gnyis-su med-pa'i chos-nyid: ii) ngag gnyis-su med-pa'i chos-nyid: iii) yid gnyis-su med-pa'i chos-nyid: iv) ye-shes gnyis-su med-pa'i chos-nyid.

[4]:

Tibetan 'od-gsal bzhi-ni: i) bde-ba'i 'od-gsal: ii) gsal-ba'i 'od-gsal: iii) mi-rtog-pa'i 'od-gsal: iv) bsam-gyis mi-khyab-pa'i 'od-gsal. For a further explanation of inner radiance ('od-gsal) and its symbolic Indications, see below. Ch. 13, pp. 1006ff. The Kālacakratantra and other works include slightly different enumerations of these ten signs. See NSTB, Book 1, Pt. 4, p. 206, where this tantra is said to enumerate the ten signs as smoke, mirage, radiance, immaculate sky, butter lamps, blazing flames, noon, sun, vajras, and supreme seminal points.