Text 12.12 (Commentary)

[Guhyagarbha-Tantra, Text section 12.12]

The extraordinary levels, namely the ten and the three
Which respectively have skillful means,
Supreme skillful means and discriminative awareness.
And that which is supreme for its supreme discriminative awareness
Are spontaneously perfect through their distinctions
Of cause and result. [12]

[Tibetan]

thabs-dang shes-rab thabs-kyi mchog /
shes-rab mchog-gi mchog-gyur-pa'i /
sa-yi khyad-par bcu-dang gsum /
rgyu-'bras khyad-par lhun-gyis rdzogs / [12]

Commentary:

[iii. The third part (of the particular exegesis of the result attained through the feast-offerings), concerning the conclusive result (of one who has reached the goal, comments on Ch. 12.12):]

The eleventh level. Universal Light, is the level on which living beings are trained through emanations and enlightened activities, manifested by conclusive skillful means (thabs). It says in a sūtra:^[1]

It is called the level of Universal Light because there is a diffusion of light-rays which make those to be trained into worthy recipients.

The conclusive twelfth level. Unattached Lotus-Endowed, on which supreme discriminative awareness and skillful means (-dang shes-rab thabs-kyi mchog) are effortlessly coalesced manifests in and of itself as the Buddha-field of the Spontaneous Bounteous Array.

It says in the Tantra Comprising the Supreme Path of the Means which Clearly Reveal All-Positive Pristine Cognition (NGB. Vol. 8):

On the Lotus-Endowed level.
The spontaneous pristine cognition
Of perfect rapture manifests in and of itself.

Then, there is (the thirteenth level), the field of the buddha-body of reality free from all conceptual elaborations, the original Samantabhadra, which is an enclosure of spontaneously present gemstones, supreme (mchog-gyur-pa'i) for its supreme discriminative awareness (shes-rab mchog-gi) because it is the basis which absorbs the two (form bodies) of perfect rapture and emanation in the expanse of nirvāṇa, the ground of the Buddha-body of reality.

It says (Secret Nucleus. Ch. 9.35):^[2]

The real nature which is free from
The single and the multiple.
And is without extremes or middle,
Is not seen even by the Buddhas.
The naturally present pristine cognition
Appears without abiding.

So it is that provisional and conclusive extraordinary levels (sa-yi khyad-par), namely, the ten (bcu) beginning with the Joyful, and the three (-dang gsum) beginning with Universal Light which respectively have (-pa'i ) those (aforementioned) attributes are classified through their distinctions of cause and result (rgyu-'bras khyad-par); but they are naturally and spontaneously perfect (lhun-gyis rdzogs) without being sought. That is the conclusive (result) which is to be obtained.

[Synopsis of the Great All-Gathering Mandala which Supports the Feast-Offerings (435.4-439.1):]

The third subdivision (of the exgesis of this chapter—see p. 954) is a synopsis of the great all-gathering maṇḍala which supports the feast-offerings. It has three parts, namely: a teaching on the creation and perfection of Samantabhadra; the accomplishment of all maṇḍalas thereby; and (its result) which is uncovered by the slightest defect.

[i. The first of these also has two aspects, the former concerning the actual meditation. (It comments on Ch. 12.13):]

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Footnotes and references:

[1]:

N.L.

[2]:

See the above discussion. pp. 661, 672-673, on the interpretations of the eleventh and thirteenth levels as those of the nirmāṇakāya and dharmakāya respectively. in this context no real distinction is made between the thirteenth level and the sixteenth. On the phrase "enclosure of spontaneous gemstones", see above p. 858.