Text 15.31 (Commentary)

[Guhyagarbha-Tantra, Text section 15.31]

... Then, all these hosts of the maṇḍala of wrathful deities were indeed seen to be present in an expanse of great blazing Buddha-body, with nine hundred heads, one thousand eight-hundred arms, and eight hundred legs. [31] ...

[Tibetan]

khro-bo'i dkyil-'khor-gyi tshogs de-dag thams-cad-kyang dbu-dgu-brgya phyag stong-brgyad-brgya / zhabs brgyad-brgya / sku 'bar-ba chen-po'i klong-dkyil-na bzhugs-par mthong-ngo / [31]

Commentary:

[The third concerns the visage of the maṇḍala of blazing deities which was then revealed. (It comments on Ch. 15.31):]

Then (-nas) all these (de-dag thams-cad) cloudlike hosts (tshogs) of the maṇḍala of wrathful deities (khro-bo'i dkyil-'khor-gyi), along with the female consorts of the five enlightened families, were indeed (kyang) seen to be present in an expanse (klong-dkyil-na bzhugs-par mthong-ngo) of great blazing ('bar-ba chen-po'i) flames of Buddha-body (sku) and pristine cognition, with nine hundred heads, one thousand eight hundred arms and eight hundred legs (dbu dgu-brgya phyag stong-brgyad-brgya zhabs brgyad-brgya), to symbolise that each of the five pristine cognitions and four kinds of enlightened activity respectively represents the Hundred Authentic Families (of Buddhas). This is indeed the vision of truth which is beheld in the contemplation of the inconceivable and spontaneous Original Buddha (Samantabhadra).^[1]

[ii. This concerns the subjugation (of these proud spirits) which occured equally throughout the chlliocosms. (It comments on Ch. 15.32):]

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Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The Hundred Authentic Families (dam-pa rigs-brgya) are those of the forty-two peaceful deities and the fifty-eight wrathful deities combined. The symbolic number of nine-hundred heads corresponds to the nine-hundred attributes, when each of these deities assumes the ye-shes lnga and the phrin-las bzhi.