–5–
Laura Harrington
Introduction
Gendun Gyatso (Dge ’dun rgya mtsho) was twenty-seven years old when he composed his Kālacakra-based Great Sun commentary to the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti (Tib. ’jam dpal mtshan brjod) at the Chogyal Tsentse (Phyogs rgyal mtshan rtse) hermitage in 1503. Fully ordained as a monk from the Drepung (’Bras spungs) Monastery seven years earlier, Gendun Gyatso had just completed an intensive study of Kālacakra treatises under the great master Kaydrub Norzang-gyatso (mKhas-grub Nor-bzang rgya-mtsho) and three years of retreats and pilgrimages in south-western Tibet. The young scholar was conducting a teaching retreat in Yarlung when he wrote the Great Sun.
Though he is best known today as the (retroactively designated) Second Dalai Lama, Gendun Gyatso was, at the time of its composition, renowned as one of the most brilliant young monk-scholars of the newly formed Gelug (Dge lugs) tradition. In the subsequent two decades, he would serve as the abbot of the three most influential Dge lugs monasteries in Central Tibet: Tashilhunpo (Bkra shis lhun po), Drepung (’Bras spungs), and Sera (Se ra). He would subsequently found a number of temples and monasteries, most famously the Ganden Pograng (Dga’ ldan pho brang) and the Chokhorgyal (Chos ‘khor rgyal) Monastery near the Lhama Lhatso Lake (Lha mo’ bla mtsho), and would develop a broad network of patrons for the Gelug school that stretched from the western areas of Ngari, Guge, and Mustang to the borders of Kham in the east.1
Gendun Gyatso would also have been renowned as the first formally recognized reincarnated lama, or tulku (sprul sku), in Gelug history. The practice of transmitting religious authority on the basis of a reincarnation lineage was, as is well known, first practiced by the Kagyu (Bka’ brgyud) tradition in the early thirteenth century and was gradually adopted by virtually all Tibetan Buddhist schools. At the time of Gendun Gyatso’s birth, however, it was pointedly absent from the Gelug tradition, which selected its leaders on the basis of their scholarly and spiritual achievement. What circumstances brought the young scholar to such prominence?
Born in Tanak Dorjedan (Rta nags rdo rje gdan) in 1475, Gendun Gyatso had come to maturity in a deeply troubled period in the history of Tsang and the Gelug tradition. Since the early fifteenth century, Tsang had been primarily a Gelug region; the Tashilhunpo Monastery and its core patrons, the Pakmodrupa (Phag mo gru pa) hierarchy, tacitly dominated Tsang’s religious cum political landscape. By the time of Gendun Gyatso’s birth, however, rivalry between the Pakmodrupa and the Rinpungpa (Rin spungs pa) princes had bred sharp sectarian antagonism and political instability in the region. Determined to uproot the Pakmodrupa and establish their own power base in Lhasa, the Rinpungpa had allied themselves with the Karma Kagyu (Karma bka’ brgyud) school and in 1480—when Gendun Gyatso was six years old—had sent troops towards Central Tibet. By 1498, these Kagyu allies formally occupied the region of Lhasa, where they took immediate steps to secure their hold by suppressing the Gelugpa centers of Drepung and Sera— bastions of Pakmodrupa supporters.2 The Gelug recognition of Gendun Gyatso as the reincarnated successor of Gendun Drub (Dge ’dun grub pa), the charismatic founder of the Tashilhunpo Monastery, arguably imparted much-needed prestige to the besieged Gelugpa establishment, though it was not immediately accepted by all his Gelug contemporaries.3
These tensions were the backdrop of the years preceding his composition of the Great Sun, though we find in it little direct reference to these concerns. His Autobiography, however, leaves us in little doubt of the authenticity of his reincarnation status. We learn that in the Year of the Fire Monkey (1475), Gendun Gyatso emerged painlessly from the womb of his mother, Kunga Palmo (Kun dga’ dpal mo), the reincarnation of the dākinī and consort of Gotsangpa (Rgod tshang pa), a famous Kagyu teacher. His birth was, he notes, accompanied by various signs and auspicious events, including one related to the Kālacakra tradition:
At the moment of birth, just after my mother dreamed again, a voice said, “Only one son will be born to you. Give him the name ‘Sanggye Pel’ (Sangs rgyas ’phel). This will be a sign linking him to the Buddha of the past, present, and future.” Thus I had this name until my ordination as a monk. Also around this time, my mother dreamt of a large shrine where my father had engaged excellent painters to paint the Kālacakra maṇḍala and just then they finished the final strokes with perfection.4
His father, Kunga Gyaltsen (Kun dga’ rgyal mtshan), was a well-known Nyingma lama who—as Gendun Gyatso is careful to emphasize—traced his roots back to a chaplain of the Samye Monastery at the time of King Trisong Detsen (Khri srong lde’u btsan). Kunga Gyaltsen was a learned and highly accomplished practitioner and gave his precocious young son initiations and teachings in a wide range of Tantric traditions.5
Gendun Gyatso’s Autobiography tells us that when he was five, he gave indications of remembering his previous birth as Gendun Drub (Dge ’dun grub pa), which brought him recognition by local community members. “I told them quite clearly, according to the memory of my previous life, my mother’s name, and my own name Pema Dorje . . . I said this and more . . . At this time in Tanak, it started to be known that the birth of Gendun Drub was in Tanak.”6 This realization was not, apparently, immediately shared by the monastic authorities of Tashilhunpo; it was not until 1485, when he was ten years old, that he was invited to join Tashilhunpo and given some recognition as a getsul (dge tshul), “novice,” and not until almost a decade later, when he was almost twenty, that he was fully acknowledged as Gendun Drub’s successor.
We learn from a later hagiography that the young tulku continued in his studies of Tantra and the monastic curriculum of Tashilhunpo over the next half decade. It seems he was not, however, fully accepted as Gendun Drub’s successor by all of his monastic confrères. In his late teens, therefore, he moved to the Drepung Monastery to continue his studies. His training was rigorous and wide ranging and included a close study of Gyaltseb-je Darma Rinchen’s (Rgyal tshab rje dar ma rin chen) treatises on the Kālacakra Tantra. On the day of the half moon in the second month of the Hare Year (1495), Gyalwa Gendun Gyatso took on the precepts of a fully ordained monk. He was just twenty years old. Soon thereafter, he traveled to the Olkha Valley where he conducted an intensive study of the Kālacakra Tantra and its commentaries with Kaydrub Norzang Gyatso—an accomplished Kālacakra adept who would become one of his primary teachers.7
His tutelage unarguably enriched and informed Gendun Gyatso’s composition of the Kālacakra-centric Great Sun commentary three years later. Approximately 160 folios in length, The Great Sun Illuminating the Reality of Vajra Yoga: An Extensive Explanation of The Recitation of the Names of Mañjuśrī (Mtshan yang dag par brjod pa’i rgya cher bshad pa rdo rje’i rnal ’byor gyi de kho na nyid snang bar byed pa’i nyi ma chen po) is an unsung landmark in Kālacakra literature. Clarifying points of doubt about its Creation Stage practice, explicating sādhanas for practical use, articulating the finer points of hermeneutical strategies for Tantric texts—the Great Sun exemplifies the breadth of scholarly and spiritual mastery that made Gendun Gyatso so revered a figure in his time. Its core textual focus is, of course, the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti: a late seventh- or early eighth-century Indian text which is, as its title suggests, comprised of multiple epithets of Mañjuśrī, the bodhisattva of wisdom. In India from the eighth through the twelfth centuries, the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti became the focus of cult worship by Indian Buddhist monastics, tantrikas, and laypeople alike; it emerged as the subject of twenty-two commentaries and approximately 130 related works. The same may be said of its status in Tibetan culture. Translated into Tibetan in the eleventh century by Rinchen Zangpo (Rin chen bzang po) and revised in the thirteenth century by Lodro Tenpa (bLo gros brtan pa), the hundred-plus Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti-centric works in the Derge (Sde dge) canon underscore its importance. To this day, the Nāmasaṃgīti is routinely recited by monks and Tibetan schoolchildren intent on bolstering their memories and academic performance.
Its popularity in Tibet was also linked to its identification with the Kālacakra tradition. The core commentary to the Kālacakra Tantra, the Vimalaprabhā,8 cites almost seventy verses from the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti in order to “explain or substantiate the Kālacakratantra’s views of Buddhahood and the path of actualizing it.”9 In the segments that follow here, we catch a glimpse of Gendun Gyatso’s celebration of the intimacy of the Kālacakra with the Nāmasaṃgīti and of the tremendous transformative power of enacting their fusion: like “a Buddha jewel-casket thrown open,” it is, he tells us, the path that grants the exaltation of Vajradhara in a single lifetime.
Note: My translation from the Tibetan draws from the edition published by the Shes rig dpar khang Tibetan Cultural Printing Press, Dharamsala, 1989. The Great Sun is also found in Volume 1 (ja., 141 ff.) of Gendun Gyatso’s three-volume collected works (gsung ’bum) in the Potala collection.
Introduction: (1-2b)
I pay homage at all times to the holy Primal Buddha Mañjughoṣa. I bow to the one whose mind, the light rays of a thousand suns of the great wisdom of supreme unchanging great bliss, truly embraces in bliss the maiden of space, the aspectless dharmadhātu, liberated from the watery bondage of the incidental defilements, the joyous companion with a wisdom body, the very sun of the true meaning, that glorious king, Mañjuśrī Jñānasattva.
I salute the Śākya lion, the guru of the three states of existence, the Primal Buddha who taught all Tantras with his omnifaceted speech in the immeasurable mansion of the glorious Drepung.10 As if filled [by a rain of] flowers and robes, his toenail reflects a river of the taintless coiffures of the entire host of deities and siddhas—the totally pure retinue of the Abhirati [Heaven]; like the hundred sounds embraced by a net of earth-protectors. I bow to those who commented on the meaning of the Tantra: the Lord of Secrets who compresses all secrets, the two noble ones, the great siddha Anupamarakṣita11 and the glorious Raviśrījñāna,12 who elucidate the essential meaning. I bow with humility to the glorious Tsong kha pa, the actuality of all Victors, who definitively abandoned errors in regard to the keys of the path of all discourses, particularly the Tantras, and his sons. The Mañjuśrī Paramārtha Nāma Saṃgīti is the crown [jewel] of all the nondual Tantras, difficult to fathom by even the most intelligent of the Victor’s sons. Here, I will explain its intended meaning—the vital point of the path of Vajradhara, Lord of Secrets—according to the way in which it is elucidated by the “Three Bodhisattva Commentaries.”13 From the bottomless and endless ocean of yoga arises a necklace of glistening pearls of reference and reasoning, embracing the throats of the maidens of the directions. This very thing is worthy of delightful joy.
Among however many pronouncements of the doctrine within the two vehicles of cause and effect which, mindful of the stages of his disciples, the Three World guru Buddha Bhagavān composed, the nondual Tantras are the chief, the supreme, the most excellent of the Tantra class. Even among these, the essence of the essence, the chief of the chief is the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti. Supremely difficult to fathom and to measure, it is the chief amongst all methods of secret mantra which actualize the ultimate essence. This is the doctrine to be set down.
The essential topic of the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti: (9a-10b)
The chief topic of this very Tantra [the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti] is the Mañjuśrī Jñānasattva himself of interpretable and definitive meaning and the paths for achieving that. With regard to these, there are two ways of commenting: the Yoga Tantra way and the Unexcelled Yoga Tantra way.
In the first way, the definitive meaning Mañjuśrī Jñānasattva is the nondual intuition of all buddhas. The Lalitavajra says: “Here, what is to be expressed is nondual intuition.” The interpretable Mañjuśrī Jñānasattva is the arisal for the sake of disciples of that very [intuition] in the form of Mañjuśrī deity wheels.
The Unexcelled Tantra ways of commenting are also of two [types]: the general system and that done in harmony with the Kālacakra. In the first of those, there are two types of Mañjuśrī Jñānasattvas: the bliss-void Indivisible and the Two-Reality Indivisible. In general, the Mañjuśrī Jñānasattva is the chief meaning of the fruitional Evam. The master Advayavajra comments: “The ones [possessed of] acute, very acute, and extremely acute faculties should strive to go to the essence of that very expression ‘evam maya sruta samaya eka.’”14 He states that because the Mañjuśrī Jñānasattva will be achieved by realizing the meaning of the fruitional Evam, jewel-like individuals with supremely acute faculties should, having understood the meaning of the fruitional Evam, strive to generate the path Evam in their continuum. They should [strive to] understand the meanings of the Evam of the basis and the symbolic Evam which induces the Evam of the path.
It is also said that the Evam [syllables] illustrate all of the means and wisdom combinations of Unexcelled Yoga’s basis, path, and fruition. From that same text: It possesses everything. However many bases and parents enumerated by the 84,000 dharma properties are well taught to be these two letters. The E letter is the mother; Va is commonly said to be the father; the thig le is the union, which is extremely marvelous.15
This is stated therefore in this commentary, which gives as its source the Devendrā-para-samucca Tantra. The fruitional Evam is of the nature of the non-duality of art and wisdom, whereby the male is means, the female is wisdom, and the nonduality of both is the hermaphroditic being which does not privilege one over the other. That same text says, “The union of male and female is the hermaphrodite.” Therefore, “The distinctive individual who enters into that [fruitional Evam] is the expression of the mahāmudrā, whose nature is the orgasmic bliss. This is certain.”
[Clarifying the meaning of] the distinctive individual who enters into the meaning of that fruitional Evam: one is the Mañjuśrī Jñānasattva or Evam which is the indivisibility of bliss and voidness in the occasion of the fruit; the other one, interpreted by that, is the Evam Mañjuśrī Jñānasattva which is the union of the Two Truths: the one thing that is both body and mind, the Enjoyment Body, adorned with signs and marks, which is the sevenfold branches of union, and the Dharmakāya, which is bliss-void indivisible.
The definitive meaning Mañjuśrī Jñānasattva as elucidated by the Kālacakracentric “Three Bodhisttava Commentaries” is the aspectless voidness, and the changeless great bliss of experiential uniformity is the natural Dharmakāya. The body adorned with signs and marks, which in all aspects has the union in one experiential taste, is the Rupakāya in the aspect of union with the mahāmudrā. In short, that very thing is the vajra yoga of art and wisdom indivisible, or the definitive meaning fourth initiation. As Avalokiteśvara said in the Vimalaprabhā of the Nāmasaṃgīti: “What is to be spoken of is the indivisible Ādibuddha. The means of expressing that is to say that. Again, the topic is the Intuition Body. The means of saying that is the mass of these letters.”16 One can understand this in detail from the explanation of the verbal meaning . . .
Brief description of Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti commentaries and their arrangements: (10b-12a)
Generally, the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti is commented upon as a Yoga Tantra and an Unexcelled Yoga Tantra. Within the first [category], the master Śrī Mañjukīrti wrote a commentary on the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti which was translated by Rin chen bzang po. There is Sgeg rdor’s Vision of the Meaning of Tantra, translated by Smṛti and revised by Prajñākuta;17 the commentary of Someśvara Kīrti Śrī, translated by Ārya Prajñā;18 Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti-vṛtti translated by Gnyags dzny’a na.19 Advayavajra wrote the Vitarka which was translated by Bsod nams gyan.20 There is Mañjuśrīmitra’s commentary, translated by Rin chen bzangpo;21 Avadhūti’s GAR, translated by Chos skyan Bzang po;22 Avagupta wrote the Realization of the Essence, translated by Smṛti; Prajñākīrti wrote a small commentary; Kumarakīrti wrote the Upadeśa,23 and then there are several by Buddhaguhya.
Second, the Unexcelled Yoga category of commentaries are of two kinds: those that elucidate in accordance with the general procedure of Unexcelled Tantra, and those that elucidate in accordance with the Three Bodhisattava Commentaries. Among the first [type], there are the commentaries by Vimalamitra;24 by dGa rab rdo rje;25 by Śrī Advayavajra; by Prajñāguru;26 and those of Acarya Advayavajra.27
Those that comment from the perspective of the Kālacakra in harmony with the Three Bodhisattva Commentaries include the Narendrakīrti, translated by Vajrarāja,28 and the Essential Abbreviated Mantra Meaning on the benefits of that commentary by Kālacakrapada,29 translated by Vajrarāja. Bu ston mentions these two as the basis of doubt. There is Puṇḍarika’s Vimalaprabhā, translated by Bsod snyoms chen po at Nalenda, the Sa skya monastery.30 This was not included in Bu ston’s History of Dharma (chos ‘byung) index, but it is included in the bstan ’gyur of the glorious Ri bo bde chen Monastery and the Rtses thang bstan’gyur.31 Anupamarakṣita wrote Amṛtabindu-pratyāloka and Dharmakīrti and rDo rje rgyal mtshan translated it.32 Raviśrī wrote the Amṛtakaṇīka.33 These are in Bu ston’s History index, though they are not included by some [others]; these are mentioned only as authoritative commentaries in the Ri bo bde chen Monastery. In addition, there are many sādhanas relying on the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti and many kinds of dharma teachings which offer assorted relevant rituals.
Someone may wonder, “Well then. How do [these commentators] elucidate the import of the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti?” The Yoga Tantra commentaries, as already explained, taught the Mañjuśrī Jñānasattva of definitive and interpretable meaning to be the arisal of various deity wheels of that very Mañjuśrī, the nondual intuition of all the buddhas. Then, they comment on the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti as elucidating the arts of achieving that, namely the yogas with and without signs.
Those who elucidate in accordance with the General Unexcelled Yoga way comment, saying: “[The Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti] teaches the bliss-void indivisible Mañjuśrī Jñānasattva and the Two-Reality indivisible Mañjuśrī Jñānasattva, as well as the arts of achieving those, such as the two stages of the path, and so forth.” Those who comment in accordance with the Kālacakra way teach the Vajra Yoga which is the nonduality of goal and means. Then, they teach the six-branched yoga and so forth as the art of achieving that.
If someone wonders, “Do all those different approaches on how to comment on the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti abide as the intention of the vajra-words? Or does one make a division, thinking, ‘among all those ways of commenting, this one abides as the intention of the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti, and this one does not.’ Which is correct?”
If that is what you’re wondering: [I think] the actuality of the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti is [in harmony with] Unexcelled Tantras, and from among those, the ultimate intent [inheres in] the Kālacakra. However, a number of different meanings are taught for each of the vajra-words of the root Guhyasamāja Tantra, and there are six different ways of explaining the meanings of each. So, with regard to the authoritative commentaries on the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti, I think there is no contradiction in asserting that all the different approaches are the meaning of the vajra-words of the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti.
Why elucidate the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti in harmony with the Kālacakra Tantra: (12b-13a)
Though there are many different perspectives from which to elucidate the intent of the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti, the ultimate way explains [from the perspective of] the “Three Bodhisattva Commentaries.” The heart of the topic of the “Three Bodhisattva Commentaries,” which accords with the Kālacakra, is vajra yoga itself—means and wisdom indivisible. To explain that clearly, they take that as the chief topic of the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti. The great Kālacakra commentary states: “It is embraced by the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti, which makes manifest the Vajradhara intuition-body because it is the statement in the Ādibuddha.”34 [Here,] “The Vajradhara intuition-body” is the Void Form Body Couple, which has the nature of changeless great bliss; “makes manifest by the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti” [connotes that it] explains clearly. “Because it is the statement:” here again, having taken that as the chief topic of the Ādibuddha which is like that, it is “the statement [of the Ādibuddha]. By the method of taking that [vajra yoga] as the chief subject of the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti and the chief topic of the Kālacakra, they are ‘embraced.’” Thus it explains clearly.
If one does not understand the meaning of the Ādibuddha, one cannot understand the essence-meaning of the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti. If one does not understand that, one cannot understand the Vajradhara intuition-body as above; and if one does not understand that, one cannot understand the essence of the Mantrayāna path and is separate from the Vajradhara path. Accordingly, one will be unable to eliminate the subtlest instincts of saṃsāra and unable to achieve the exaltation of Kālacakra which abandons those instincts. From the Great Commentary on the sixth summary topic of the “Cosmology Chapter”:
Those who do not understand the Paramādibuddha do not understand the Nāmasaṃgīti. Those who do not understand the Nāmasaṃgīti do not understand the Jñānakāya of Vajradhara. Those who do not understand Jñānakāya of Vajradhara do not understand the Mantrayāna. Those who do not understand the Mantrayāna are thoroughly samsaric, separate from the path of Bhagavān Vajradhara. Therefore, noble teachers must teach the Paramādibuddha, and those noble disciples who desire liberation should listen.35
This explains the need for understanding the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti in harmony with the Kālacakra . . .
The explanation of the setting of the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti: (13a-14b)
If one were to ask: by which teacher, in what place, to what kind of retinue, at what time, and in what way was it taught? As for the teacher: it was that very Śākya Rāja, possessing the Vajra. When the teacher had taught the method of becoming manifestly enlightened at Vajrāsana, he turned the wheel of the doctrine of general vehicle of perfections, and at Vultures’ Peak, he turned the wheel of the Prajñāpāramitā. The place is the glorious Drepung Stūpa near the southern part of India at Śrīparvata. Below, [he] emanated the Dharmadhātu-Vagiśvara Maṇḍala, and above, the glorious Great Astronomical Maṇḍala. There in the place of great bliss on the vajra lion throne at the great Dharmadhātu Maṇḍala, he sat—the superlative teacher, the Śākya lion, abiding in the form of the lord of the maṇḍala. The retinue was those [beings] with the good fortune to listen to this Dharmadhātu Tantra. As for the time: in the full moon of the middle spring month of Nakba, he gave the mundane and transcendent initiations for the first time. He taught all the Unexcelled Yoga Tantras, such as the superlative Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti and the Ādibuddha. Raviśrī’s commentary states:
Here at the glorious Great Stūpa of [Drepung] Dhānyakaṭaka, the Buddha Bhagavān, the “glorious Śākya Lion,” was entreated by srāvanas who desired to learn various Tantras. And in the middle spring month, having emanated the glorious Dharmadhātu Maṇḍala, and, above that, the Astrological Maṇḍala, of the Ādibuddha, the Buddha gave initiation to the deities, etc., on that very day. He then taught all the ways of secret mantras, dividing them according to [whether they were] expanded or concise. The Glorious Ādibuddha says: “Just as the teacher taught the Prajñāpāramitā at Rajrgṛha, so too, he taught the dharma through the modality of secret mantra at the glorious Dhānyakaṭaka.” Because it actualized the essence of the ultimate, the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti, whose depth is difficult to measure, is the main of all mantras.36
Likewise, Anupamarakṣita says:
On the fifteenth [day] of the Citra month, those seeking the meaning of various mundane and transcendent Tantras gathered in the Drepung Stūpa. At that time, for the sake of beings, the teacher emanated the Dharmadhātu-Vagiśvara Maṇḍala at Dhānyakaṭaka. Above that, Vajradhara emanated the Glorious Astronomical Maṇḍala; below, he radiated the Ādibuddha Maṇḍala. He gave initiation to all, such as the gods, and extensively taught the four Tantra classes as well as the essential Tantra—five in all. This is the quintessence.
This also explains that in that place, the Bhagavān taught the four great Tantra classes along with the quintessence, the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti. The teaching at glorious Dhānyakaṭaka of all of the Unexcelled Tantras is also the intent of the root and commentaries on the Kālacakra. It is stated in the supplement chapter of the Kālacakra: “The tenfold Mighty One taught the myriad Buddha Tantras in the Dharmadhātu at Glorious Dhānyakaṭaka.”
If someone wonders: Who is the collector of the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti? Generally speaking, Vajrapāṇi is the collector of secret mantra Tantras. In the specific case of the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti and the Kālacakra, the requester and collector was King Sucandra, a [human] emanation of Vajrapāṇi. The Vimalaprabhā [commentary] to the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti states: “Therefore, he is ‘Vajrapāṇi Sucandra,’ the Lord of Ten Stages, who emerged from the womb of the goddess Suryaprabha Vijaya in the city of Kalapa and the country of Śambhala.” Anupamarakṣita [comments on] the meaning of that: “Profound and hard to measure, it cannot be understood by anybody; yet it was taintlessly explained by Sucandra.”
The greatness of the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti Tantra to be explained: (14b-15b)
This Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti Tantra is the chief of all modalities of secret mantra. The great commentary to the Kālacakra explains its greatness: “Its very envelopment by the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti is stated to be the greatness of the Kālacakra. One who does not understand the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti does not understand the Intuition Body of Vajradhara. One who does not understand Vajradhara’s Intuition Body does not know the mantra vehicle.”37 Not only that, in the very well-known “Three Bodhisattva Commentaries” [which contain] the full essence of the Unexcelled Vehicle, it is said: “The full essence of the path is definitely made clear by the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti.” In addition, the treatises of the great siddhas of India, which elucidate the meaning of the Hiding Tantras, cite the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti as a source and contain many eulogies to the greatness of the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti. Speaking as the Lord of all Tantras, this very text itself states that “the Supreme Lord of all Tantras.” Moreover, its own Benefit [section] contains various enumerations of praise. The great siddha Anupamarakṣita says: “The four Tantra classes, the Essence Tantra, and the Fifth [One] were extensively taught by Vajradhara. This one is the quintessence. It was collected by the ḍākinīs, each of whom sealed it in her own place. That is this very quintessence, widely renowned, read a billion [times] for the sake of beings in Jambuling.”38 There are a great many unparalleled praises such as Raviśrī’s statement: “It is the chief of all modalities of secret mantra.” Accordingly, the essence of all the discourses of the Bhagavān is the mantra collections. And among those that exist within the four classes of Tantras, the nondual Tantras are supreme.
The ultimate essence of all nondual tantras makes clear the intuition body of Vajradhara. Under the influence of the vajra-words of all Tantras, this Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti Tantra is like a Buddha jewel-casket thrown open, for it is the very teaching which makes clear the ultimate profound path that easily grants the exaltation of Vajradhara in one lifetime. It should be understood as the unexcelled of all scriptural statements. From the perspective of learning about and reflecting upon the meaning of Tantra, it is correct to enter it in whatever way possible. It is thus expressly recommended for fortunate [beings].
(19b-20a)
Wish-fulfilling ocean of nondualistic Tantras which all come from the rain-clouds of Indra, bottomless and endless, which has waves of many explanations of what is unclear, difficult to cross by millions of pretentious scholars, source of precious attainments, look! I alone launched the great boat of analysis to achieve the desired goal of entering wish-fulfillment. In the vermillion ocean, where the rising sun is gently reflected, which makes creepers of the arching eyebrows like unlimited patterns of beauty in all directions, I, having set the eye in the lotus of the face of Mañjuśrī, will illuminate the immutable great bliss which is the nature of that [eye], and which is of one taste with the omnifaceted supreme body, which is the glory of the White Lotus Holder who illuminates things as they are—leading to this point, I will clarify those things . . .
Actual explanation of the meaning of the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti: (21a-24b)
The entire import of Unexcelled Tantra is condensed in the words of the setting: “This I heard at one time . . . ” The Vajramālā says: “ ‘This’ [Evam] is two letters. Their absence at the beginning of a Tantra renders it unacceptable.” This quote teaches the necessity of affirming these two letters at the beginning of all Unexcelled Tantras.
If someone should ask: “Given that this Tantra [the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti] is the chief of all Tantras, how is it that it does not contain such a setting?” It is a small extract from the Great Sixty-thousand Māyājāla, wherein the words “evam maya śrutam,” etc., do not actually occur at the beginning. However, its meaning is present when one clarifies. Therefore, the equivalent of the quote THEN, VAJRADHARA, THE GLORIOUS, is present in the Indian [Sanskrit] text as ATHAŚRİ VAJRADHARA.
The three letters of that ATHA ŚRİ symbolize all the distinctions of means and wisdom, just as they are symbolized by the two [letters] of Evam, which is synonymous with “this” in the quote “This I heard.” Accordingly, those three syllables aptly fulfill the meaning of Evam. So, the a illustrates the meaning of the voidness of aspectless intuition which is characterized by E; THA illustrates the meaning of the intuition of unchanging great bliss which is characterized by the Va letter, and ŚRİ illustrates the meaning of the anuśvara, which is the experiential unity of subject and object. Not only that; here a indicates the meaning which is characterized by E, namely wisdom [as] the Void Form mahāmudrā; THA indicates the MañjuśRĪ Jñānasattva of multifaceted artistry which is characterized by the letter Va; and ŚRI indicates that very meaning of the integration of the art and wisdom pair—the meaning characterized by the thig le.
Acarya Raviśrī says:
Here, by the fact that it designates selflessness; the A letter teaches the supreme, omnifaceted voidness; the Tha letter teaches the objectless compassion which signifies the nature of Akṣobhya. Those are also mentioned in the Union of Extreme Faith by Dgyes pa dor je: “Because those two are nondual, the topic of the utterance Evam is the spontaneous joy which is the semen (gu ba) which resides at the tip of the jewel. For that, one should say Atha.”39
Similarly, the Amṛtabindu teaches: “By adorning the letter A which is the melter from Triśakuni with the letter Tha of Jālandhara, it explains the source of the doctrine, namely evam maya. Just that is what enters into the yoni of the vajra-queen.”40
The seat on which the Teacher sat and taught the dharma is, in some Tantras, referred to as “secret.” Similarly, the meaning which is signified by E is realm of space, bhaga, dharmottara, lotus, lion throne, etc. Likewise, the meaning signified by Va is called Vajra-possessor, Vajrasattva, Vajrabhairava, Lord Vajra Heruka, Kālacakra, and the Ādibuddha.
In brief, it is explained that E is said to signify secret, realm of space, bhaga, dharmottara, [and] lotus, while Vajrasattva, teaching the supreme marvel and sitting on the lion throne, is described as vam, vajra, Vajrabhairava, Heruka, Śrī Kālacakra, and the Ādibuddha. Here also, it is similarly explained that the signification of the letter a is the seat in which the Dharma Teacher sat and taught the Tantra, and THA is the Ādibuddha who taught the dharma while sitting in that [seat], [all of which] is signified by Va. This mainly explains the meaning of the fruitional Evam.
The wondrous method for explaining in Lokeśvara’s Vimalaprabhā is as follows: “Therefore, having affirmed Evam as the meaning of the ATHA ŚRĪ as pre viously explained, initially, virtue is the cause; in the middle, virtue is the path; and at the end, virtue is the fruition.” Having explained virtue in reference to the three—beginning, middle, and end—therefore, in the beginning, virtue is the cause. Or, if referred to in the context of the basis: the a is the body of the mother whose nature is wisdom, the THA is the body of the father, whose nature is artistry. ŚRĪ is composed of the three letters ŚA, RA and Ī: As for supplementing the etymological analysis of the first, the ŚA sound [connotes] śaśukra, which is the semen of the father. Supplementing the etymological analysis of the first of the second, the RA sound [connotes] rakta, the blood (ovum) of the mother, and the Ī which is the ki gu serves as Vam. As for the etymological analysis of that, Va is vāyu, the wind. Those two—the very subtle translucency mind and the vitality wind which is its mount—achieve a human body from entering into the middle of the sperm-ovum mixture of the father and mother. However, having achieved that, it is the meaning of VAJRA, “inseparable,” for that subtle two-part wind-mind resides inseparably for the life of the body.
As for DHARA, it has the meaning either of “grasper” or “holder.” These two [wind-mind] are the actual basis for the achievement of the Buddha Dharmakāya and Rupakāya. Alternately, that “holder” connotes a human being, womb born and endowed with the six elements. This should be called either the support or the basis for complete enlightenment in a single lifetime. This meaning is also in that very text:
The quote ATHA ŚRĪ VAJRADHARA refers to the cause, the path, and the fruition. The a of that ATHA is the body of the mother, which is of the nature of wisdom, and the THA is the body of the father, which is of the nature of means. The ŚRĪ functions as three letters: the sound śaśukra is the semen of the father; rakta the blood (ovum) of the mother, and because Ī is ki-gu, Ī is Vam. Because the VA is vāyu, it is the wind, the ordinary consciousness of the basis of all. Similarly, it is glorious, ŚRĪ in Sanskrit, because it achieves a human body. VAJRA is adamantine. It resides in the body for as long as there is life and is thus inseparable [from it]. Therefore, it is adamantine. DHARA is either dhara as holder or apprehending: therefore the human body of the six elements is established as the wind-mind which is the cause of buddhahood.
Like that, in the context of the basis, either the EVAM or the ATHA ŚRĪ has the signification of means and wisdom. [These are] the basis-level father and mother, which are the red and white elements of those two. The wind-mind continues through the transition of death and rebirth. Having gone through the transition (i.e., conception, nying mtsams sbyor wa) and achieved a human body, it is the wind-mind pair that abides in the body until death. This is the way of training in the context of virtuous actions (lit. “abiding on the path”) at the time of the middle.
The a signifies the special blazing of the inner fire, the gtum mo, at the navel, within the central channel through the power of the winds of the left and right channels (ro kyang) being blocked in the central channel during the upwards-moving life-effort (srog rtsol). The THA signifies the melting of the white element at the crown by the power of that; the ŚRĪ signifies the descent [of the drops] along the path of the central channel [occasioned by] the melting of the bodhicitta like that, and the up-and-down movement of the four blisses. VAJRA signifies the union of the special bliss from the melting like that with indivisible, immutable voidness. DHARA signifies the external retention of the element from the tip of the jewel until the stage of Buddha. Alternately, it is explained as that very indivisible, immutable bliss-voidness grasped until the stage of Buddha. Also, from this very commentary:
The A, because it is achieving the path which is virtuous in the middle, is the blazing intuition from the gtum mo at the navel. THA is the trickling of the bodhicitta from the crown. ŚRĪ is glory, the ordered progression of the blisses. VAJRA, because indivisible, is bliss and voidness. DHARA, because it is grasper, means up to buddha[hood].41
In regard to this, the meaning indicated by either Evam or ATHA ŚRĪ is however many means-wisdom [dyads] are on the occasion of the path: Evam of the sex organs which is a way of developing [bliss], existing in the pattern of the kiss [i.e., in union] within the central internal channel complex; the dyad of the gtum mo at the navel and the white element at the crown; of the orgasmic bliss which is developed in dependence upon the downward and upward movement of the drops and their object voidness; the dyad of the vajra of the male adept and the lotus of either the karma- or jñānamudrā; the bliss-void intuition developed in dependence upon that [union of vajra and lotus], and the body of the universal void-form couple; the dyad of vajra and lotus; and the unchanging great bliss which is developed in dependence upon that, and the aspectless voidness which is of one taste with that [bliss].
At the end, if one applies it within the context of the virtue of fruition, having exhausted all bodily substances through 21,600 paths of realizing emptiness by the unchanging bliss, it points to that very circumstance of the twelve stages of blocking the various winds from the twelve “great breath shifts.”42 Therefore, A [points to] the ultimate realm of the two purificants of the four liberations, and THA [to] that very unchanging great bliss which is experientially uniform with objectless compassion and which, for analytical purposes, exists as the five intuitions. The ŚRĪ is glory: it is the ultimate great bliss body of self-interest and the two Dharmakāyas, as well as the ultimate all-aspected Sambhogakāya of altruistic interest;it is also the Nirmanakāya, which is the achievement of four bodies. VAJRA is the actual nondifference of the four bodies like that; DHARA is either “holding the great intuition of excellent, immutable self-grasping” or “grasper.” Like this, from that very text:
In the end, virtue is the twelfth stage of Buddhahood; a is the voidness of the four liberations, the totally purified Dharma realm; THA is the five-as pected Buddha-intuitions that are the fulfillment of compassion; ŚRĪ, which means glory, is the attainment of the four bodies for the sake of self and others. VAJRA is the nondifference of the four bodies. DHARA should be called VAJRADHARA because it holds the supreme unchanging bliss.43
This is spoken in order to illustrate whatever special methods and wisdoms [exist] on the occasion of the fruition.
In short, someone who is born from a human womb and endowed with the six elements is the supreme basis or support for practicing the path. Such a one purifies his continuum through the common path. Having entered into the path of Kālacakra, he trains himself by the six branches of Creation and Perfection Stage [practice], whereby he attains buddhahood in that very life. All the means and wisdom [dyads] of the basis, path, and fruit [for such a process] are expressed by ATHA ŚRĪ VAJRADHARA. It is clarified by ascertaining the statement of Lokeśvara: “In particular, ATHA ŚRĪ points to it.” As such, the myriad meanings of the topics of the Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṃgīti are condensed in the meaning of the first pāda: THEN, VAJRADHARA, THE GLORIOUS. Therefore, having clarified it in summary as the three letters A THA ŚRĪ, seize this explanation, unprecedented in excellence!
Endnotes
1. Gendun Gyatso would ascend the throne of Bkra shis lhun po in 1512, of ’Bras spungs in 1517, and Se ra in 1526. He founded the Dga’ ldan pho brang in 1518; it would be his seat for the remainder of his life and the seat of his successors. With the consolidation of power under the Fifth Dalai Lama, its name would be taken over as the formal designation of the Central Tibetan government—a convention that remained true until 1959.
2. In particular, Gelugpa monks were forbidden to participate in the Great Prayer Festival marking the Tibetan New Year—a celebration invented by the Gelug’s founder, Tsongkhapa (Tsong kha pa blo bzang grags pa) in 1409, and one which would have convened thousands of Gelugpas in the city center. The Festival would not, in fact, be returned to Gelug leadership until Gendun Gyatso’s successful intervention in 1518. For a general overview of this period, see Matthew Kapstein, The Tibetans (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2006), 143 ff.
3. For a discussion of this dynamic which focuses more particularly on the history of the Gelug school, see George Dreyfus’ essays on the history of ’Bras spungs at: thdl.org/xml/ show.php?xml=/collections/cultgeo/mons/drepung/essays/drepung-intro.xml.
4. Cited by Amy Heller, “The Second Dalai Lama, Gendun Gyatso,” in Martin Brauen, The Dalai Lamas: A Visual History (Chicago: Serindia Publications, 2005), 45.
5. His Autobiography notes: “From the time I was five or six, I had already made compositions spontaneously . . . When I started my lessons, I was able to learn to read and write perfectly without studying. At that time, with my father as teacher, I mastered ritual cycles for Cakrasaṃvara, Yamāntaka and special forms for the Four-Armed Mahākāla, Yama, Vaiśravana, Lhamo Makzorma, and Dharmapāla Bektse, too. I also learned the Shangpa amd Dakpo Kagyu teachings of Mahāmudrā, the Zhije system of Padampa, and many other initiations and rituals from my great-grandfather’s and grandfather’s teachings.” See Heller in Brauen, 2005, 49.
6. Heller in Brauen, 48.
7. From Sde srid sangs rgyas rgya mtsho’s Du la la’i gos bzang, translated by Glenn H. Mullin in De-si Sang-gye Gya-tso’s “The Life of the Second Dalai Lama,” The Tibet Journal 11, no. 3:12-13.
8. Peking 2064, bstan ’gyur, rgyud, Ka-2 1-227a and Kha 2a-297a. Puṇḍarika, bsDus pa’i rgyud kyi rgyal po dus kyi ’khor lo’i ’grel bshas rtsa ba’i rgyud kyi rjes su ’jug pa stong phrag bcu gnyis pa dri ma med pa’i ’od ces bya ba (Vimalaprabhānāma-mūlatantrānusāriṇīdvādaśasahāsrikalaghukālacakra-tantrarājaṭīkā).
9. Vesna A. Wallace, The Inner Kālacakratantra: A Buddhist Tantric View of the Individual (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), 19.
10. This is the Dhānyakaṭaka Stūpa in south India, identified as Amarāvati in the Sattenpalle Tāluka of Guṇṭūr District, Madras. It dates back to at least the second century AD. See footnote 1 of George Roerich, The Blue Annals: Parts 1 & 2 (Bound in One) (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1995), 754. The stūpa is said to have received its name from an event in the lifetime of the Buddha Kanakamuni, when a monk is said to have caused a magic rain of rice to fall for twelve days and thus alleviate a famine. The remaining rice was collected and the Heap of Rice (Dhānyakaṭaka) was used to construct a stūpa.
11. Author of the Āryamañjuśrīnāmasaṃgīti-amṛtabindu-pradīpālokavṛtti-nāma. See end-note 30.
12. Author of the Amṛtakaṇīkanāmāryanāmasaṃgītiṭippaṇi. See endnote 33.
13. The “Three Bodhisattva Commentaries” are some of the first texts of the Kālacakra literature and constitute commentaries to three Tantras in terms of the Kālacakra path. The Laghutantraṭīkā by Vajrapāṇī elucidates the first ten and a half verses of the Cakrasaṃvara Tantra (also called Herukābhidhānatantra). The Hevajratantrapiṇḍārthaṭīkā by Vajragarbha explores the first five paṭalas of the Hevajra Tantra, and the Vimalaprabhā by Puṇḍarika is an extended commentary on the Laghukālacakratantra. Francesco Sferra notes that the success of the Kālacakra in its initial phase is closely linked to the diffusion of these three works, which were also an important source for Nāropa’s Sekoddeśaṭīkā. See Claudio Cicuzza and Francesco Sferra, “Brief Notes on the Beginning of the Kālacakra Literature,” Dhih: Journal of Rare Buddhist Texts Project 23:113-14.
14. Peking 2945, 106b.4.
15. Peking 2945, fol. 106b.5-6.
16. Peking 2114, 216a.7-8.
17. Derge 2533, Khu 27b-115b. Sgeg pa’i rdo rje, ’Phugs pa mtshan yan dag par brjod pahi rgya chen hgrel pa mtshan gsang snags kyi don du rnam par lta ba shes bya ba. Tr. Smṛtijñānakīrti; Rev: Phyag na rdo rje, Klog skya Shes rab brtsegs.
18. Derge 2535, Gu 1b-27a, Zla-ba grags-pa, Āryamañjuśrīnāmasaṃgītivṛttināma. Trans. Srimahājana, Phags pa shes rab.
19. Derge 2092, Tshi 1b-38b. Vimalamitra, Nāmasaṃgītivṛttināmārthaprakāśakaraṇadīpa -nama. Trans. Gnyags dzny’a na.
20. Derge 2094, Tshi 56b-84b. Nāmasaṃgītyupasamhāravitarka. Trans. Śrīvajrabodhi, Bsod-nams rgyal mtshan.
21. Indefinite. This could be the Nāmasaṃgītivṛtti, also known as the “Little Commentary,” found in Derge 2532, Khu 1b-27b. Alternately it might be the Āryamañjuśrīnāmasaṃgītiṭī kā, also known as the “Great Commentary.” See Derge 2534, Khu 115b-301a.
22. Derge 2536 Gu 27a-47b. Āryamañjuśrīnāmasaṃgītivṛtti. The translator’s full name is ’Gar chos kyi bzang po; hence, the text is referred to as the “ ’Gar.”
23. Derge 2539, Gu 118b-145a. Āryamañjuśrīnāmasaṃgītyupadeśavṛttināma. Trans. Devarāja, Shes rab bla ma.
24. Derge 2092, Tshi 1b-38b. Mañjuśrīnāmasaṃgītivṛttināmārthaprakāśakaraṇạdīīpanama. Trans. Gnyags Jñāna.
25. Derge 2093 Tshi 38b-56b. Mañjuśrīnāmasaṃgītyarthālokaranama. Trans. unknown.
26. Derge 2095, Tshi 85a1-92b7. ’Jam dpal gyi snags don rnam gzigs dang ne ba bsdus pahi rnam par rtog ge gnyis kyi don bsdus pa mtshan gyi sgron me. Trans. unknown.
27. It’s not clear why GG mentions Advayavajra twice. However, the texts in question are probably Derge 2098, Tshi 95a-129b, Āryamañjuśrīnāmasaṃgītiṭīkasārābhisamaya-nāma. Trans. Prajñāśrījñānakīrti, and Advayavajra’s commentary on the Benefits (anuśamsa) section, Derge 2094, Tshi 56b-84b, Nāmasaṃgītyupasaṃhāravitarkanāma. Trans. Śrīvajrabodhi, Bsod nams rgyal mtshan.
28. Derge 1397, Pha 124a-184b, Āryamañjuśrīnāmasaṃgītivyākhyāna. Trans. Abhayavajra and rdo rje rgyal po.
29. Derge 1399, Pha 232b-285b, Āryamañjuśrīnāmasaṃgīti-anuśaṃsavṛtti. Trans. Abhayavajra, rdo rje rgyal po.
30. Interestingly, the colophon to this text in the Derge edition notes that it was translated at the Tāra temple at Nālanda.
31. The Ri bo che Monastery (the name is usually prefixed with the expression gCung or dPal) was located at the ninety-degree bend of the Gtsang po River, south of Rnam ring in Dbus-Gtsang. The Ttses thang Monastery was based in the town of Rtses thang, located at the head of Tibet’s Yarlung Valley, on the south bank of the river.
32. Derge 1396 Pha 96b-124a, Āryamañjuśrīnāmasaṃgīti-amṛtabindu-pradīpālokavṛttināma.
33. Derge 1395, Pha 36a-96b, Amṛtakaṇīkanāmāryanāmasaṃgītiṭippaṇī. Trans. Norbu dpal ye shes, Nyi ma’i dbang po’i ‘od zer, Chos rje dpal.
34. Peking 2064, fol. 17a.1-2.
35. Peking 2064, 52a, 5-8.
36. Peking 2111, 45a, 4-7.
37. Peking 2064, 52a.5ff.
38. Peking 2112, 116a.3-4.
39. Peking 2111, 45b.3-5.
40. Peking 2112, 1450.2. The Kālacakra literature describes twelve sets of cosmic pilgrimage sites in Jambudvīpa, namely pīṭhas, upapīṭhas, kṣetras, upakṣetras, chandohas, upachandohas, melāpakas, upamelāpakas, veśmas, upaveśmas, śmaśānas, and upaśmaśānas. These sites are also corresponded to the twelve links, the twelve signs of the zodiac, and the twelve bodhisattva-bhūmis and are said to reside at the six cakras of the human body. Jālandhara—a well-known Śāktata pilgrimage center—is one of the four pīṭhas and is identified cosmically with the earth-element maṇḍala and with the jñānadhātu cakra at the level of the individual. Triśakuni is one of the four upakṣetras and is identified with the water maṇḍala and the earth cakra.
41. Peking 2114, fol. 1638, lines 6-7.
42. Twelve months and twelve signs of zodiac correspond to the twelve shifts of breath (pho-ba) of a person in a twenty-four-hour period. Outer Kālacakra analogue is twelve phochen in one year, i.e., the twelve months in which the days gradually wax and wane. During half of a person’s day, one’s breath is predominantly in the right nostril, i.e., the sun channel, and the other half in the left, i.e., the moon channel. In one shift or pho-ba, a person takes 1,800 breaths, totaling 21,600 per day. Each of these 12 groups is purified one by one in the Perfection stage.