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 21.2 (Commentary)
[Guhyagarbha-Tantra, Text section 21.2]
HŪṂ! Most ferocious, blazing forth
Like the fire at the end of time,
There are light rays which have the radiance
Of a hundred thousand suns,
Frowns of wrath like the flashing
Of a thousand lightning bolts,
And sharp fangs which devour. HOḤ! [2][Tibetan]
HŪṂ gtum-chen dus-mtha'i me-ltar 'bar /
'od-zer nyi-ma 'bum-gyi gzi /
khro-gnyer glog-stong 'gyu-ba-bzhin /
mche-ba zang-yag za-byed che HOḤ / [2]
Commentary:
[Eulogy to the Enlightened Families and their Lord:]
This has two parts, namely, a general eulogy to the five enlightened families and a particular eulogy to the mighty lord of the maṇḍala.
[i. This has five aspects, beginning with a eulogy to all the maṇḍalas in the enlightened family of Buddha-body. (It comments on Ch. 21.2):]
The syllables HŪṂ begin each of the songs to the wrathful deities, symbolising that they possess the five Buddha-bodies and five pristine cognitions. Now, the Buddha-body is most ferocious (gtum-chen) because it tames proud spirits such as Māra and Rudra; and it is blazing forth ('bar) like the fire at the end of time ([dus-mtha'] me-ltar), which destroys the aeon. From the buddha-body, present in the midst of that flaming mass, there are light-rays ('od-zer) of pristine cognition which simultaneously absorb and emanate throughout the ten directions the radiance of a hundred thousand suns (nyi-ma 'bum-gyi gzi). There are frowns of wrath (khro-gnyer) which threaten venomous beings, and which travel like the flashing of a thousand lightning bolts (glog-stong 'gyu-ba bzhin). This Buddha-body maintains a most (che) terrifying guise with four sharp (zang-yag)[1] white fangs (mche-ba) which uproot venomous beings and devour (za-byed) the pernicious ones. The syllable HOḤ! is a laugh of astonishment, which is also added to the subsequent songs.
[The second aspect, which is a eulogy to all maṇḍalas of the enlightened family of Buddha-speech (comments on Ch. 21.3):]
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Footnotes and references:
[1]:
See the explanation of this term in Lo-chen. op. cit., p. 445. where zangs-yag is said to be equivalent to Sanskrit tīkṣṇa.