Chapter 41 Outline
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 10.3. The chapter on the placement of the mandala of twenty-four syllables
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 10.3.1. The promise to explain
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 10.3.2. The promised import explained
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 10.3.2. 1. Classifying the ritual actions to be achieved
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 10.3.2. 2. Showing the cause of their achievement
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 10.3.2. 2.1. The concise exposition
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 10.3.2. 2.2. The detailed exposition
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 10.3.2. 2.2.1. Showing in detail the sites with the ḍākinīs
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 10.3.2. 2.2.2. Recognizing the chief among the sites
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 10.3.2. 2.2.2. 1. Showing the twenty-four sites
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 10.3.2. 2.2.2. 2. The way to engage with the blessings of the yoginīs there
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 10.3.2. 2.2.2. 3. Those who are included with the yoginīs
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 10.3.2. 2.2.3. Showing protection by means of meditation and worship
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 10.3.3. Showing the name of the chapter
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 10.3. The chapter on the placement of the mandala of twenty-four syllables
The third part, the chapter on the placement of the mandala of twenty-four syllables, has three sections: (1) the promise to explain, (2) the promised import explained, and (3) showing the name of the chapter.
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 10.3.1. The promise to explain
Now, having explained the fortieth chapter, I will explain the accomplishment of the excellent, supreme ritual action by the adept who knows (41.1ab) the mantric yoga that reveals the accomplishment of all powers for those who reside in the perfection stage. Even though this can also be achieved by those on the creation stage, here it is the perfection stage practitioner who examines the signs of achieving the supreme power. Therefore, in three commentaries it is applied to the perfection stage practitioner.501 It is said that the mantric attainment that is secret and difficult to obtain should be known by one, that is, that [practitioner], from the explanatory and appendix tantras as well as from the guru’s mouth.502
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 10.3.2. The promised import explained
The second part has two sections: (1) classifying the ritual actions to be achieved, and (2) showing the cause of their achievement.
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 10.3.2. 1. Classifying the ritual actions to be achieved
Regarding the ritual actions that are to be achieved, there are twelve great ritual actions (41.3c). The two, subjugating and summoning, should be counted as one. There is also dividing loved ones. Killing and expelling should be counted as two. And so forth (41.1cd) implies pacifying and enriching; these two should be individually undertaken. There are also the three, mentally befogging, immobilizing, and stupefying, which is rendering someone senseless. The four — staking, stealing the capacity for speech, rendering someone mute, and making ears deaf, and eyes blind (41.2) — immobilize the sense powers, and should be taken as one. Causing impotence and changing into various shapes amount to twelve in the system of the previous gurus.
It seems that in the system of Bhavyakīrti and so forth that there are twelve by counting subjugating and summoning as one, counting killing and expelling as one, and counting stealing speech and making mute as one.503 In this context it is explained that one accomplishes the ritual action relying upon a magical diagram (yantra, ’khrul ’khor) with the mantra of the four-faced one and so forth. Fearing prolixity, I will not write further about this.
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 10.3.2. 2. Showing the cause of their achievement
The second part has two sections: (1) the concise exposition and (2) the detailed exposition.
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 10.3.2. 2.1. The concise exposition
Regarding the adept always achieves these twelve great ritual actions (41.3cd), have no doubt that the adept achieves the desired power through recollection (41.4ab). This is intended with respect to superior individuals. Success with magical diagrams correlates to middling and inferior [individuals].
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 10.3.2. 2.2. The detailed exposition
The second part has three sections: (1) showing in detail the sites with the ḍākinīs, (2) recognizing the chief among the sites, and (3) showing protection by means of meditation and worship.
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 10.3.2. 2.2.1. Showing in detail the sites with the ḍākinīs
What are these procedures for obtaining power through recollection only? The seats of the land of Jambhudvīpa are the superior, i.e., best, of all lands. And so forth implies [the remaining types of sites], from the subsidiary seats to the subsidiary charnel grounds. The ḍākinīs of the twenty-four lands pervade all of the lands (41.4cd).
Who are these ḍākinīs? They are born in land after land, such as Pullīramalaya and so forth, and each of their immeasurable places of birth (yoni, skye gnas) is endowed with the gnosis of great bliss. It is the ocean of the ultimate spirit of awakening.
Who is born from that? The twenty-four ḍākinīs who are shown to be the essence of the twenty-four realms of the adamantine body. They are Prachaṇḍā, and so forth, who taken together are the mistresses of the mandala that is adamantine (41.5), meaning it has the nature of gnosis of nonduality. In short, the ḍākinīs who bestow the accomplishment of the ritual actions through mere recollection are Prachaṇḍā, and so forth. Regarding their bestowal of the powers of pacifying and so forth through mere recollection, one should know this to be a sign that the supreme power will be quickly attained.
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 10.3.2. 2.2.2. Recognizing the chief among the sites
The second part has three sections: (1) showing the twenty-four sites, (2) the way to engage with the blessings of the yoginīs there, and (3) those who are included with the yoginīs.
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 10.3.2. 2.2.2. 1. Showing the Twenty-Four Sites
Just as I indicated that the order of the twenty-four yoginīs in chapter four was reversed, here too I will show that the twenty-four sites were reversed. [They are:] Kulutā, Maru, that is, the land of sorrow,504 the land of Sindhu, Nagara, Suvarṇadvīpa, Saurāṣhṭra, Gṛihadevatā (41.6), Pretapurī, Himālaya, Kāñchi, the land of Lampāka, Kaliṅga, Koshala, Trishakuni, Oḍra (41.7), Kāmarūpa, Mālava, Devīkoṭa, Rāmeshvara, Godāvarī, Arbuda, Oḍḍiyāna, Jālandhara, and Pullīramalaya. It begins with the body wheel and concludes with the mind wheel. And so forth (41.8) implies the final [types of sites], namely villages, subsidiary villages, and so forth, which yields thirty-two sites. These lands that are the residences of the twenty-four mistresses are also the residences of the twenty-four heroes.
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 10.3.2. 2.2.2. 2. The way to engage with the blessings of the yoginīs there
All of these girls of these twenty-four sites are yoginīs who are nondual, equipoised, with the heroes, Khaṇḍakapālin and so forth, have the ability to transform into many different forms just as they desire. Why should these twenty-four yoginīs be placed in the mandala? Since one visualizes these twenty-four yoginīs in the outer and body mandalas, they quickly depart with the power of the mind (41.9), i.e., as if with the power of mind, and bestow blessings upon the adept. By visualizing them, one will swiftly encounter the heroines who reside in the distinctive sites, and in relying upon them one will rapidly and effortlessly progress along the path.
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 10.3.2. 2.2.2. 3. Those who are included with the yoginīs
Regarding Nāropā’s oral instructions and the two translators’ way of explaining [verse 41.10], from six yoginīs up to mistresses, the six yoginīs are Lāma, Rūpikā, Sabālikā, Parāvṛittā, Aihikī and Anivartikā.505 They are included among the yoginīs who reside in the twenty-four sites. How are they included? It is Mahāvīryā who resides in Kulutā, the northeast section of the body wheel. In the land of Maru are the six mothers, the chief of whom is Chakravartinī, [in the] northwest of the [body] wheel. It is Mahābalā who resides in the land of Sindhu, the southwest [of the body wheel]. The clan mistress in Nagara (41.10) is Suvīrā who resides there, in the southeast [section of the body wheel]. The four females who occupy the ordinal directions of the body wheel are included among those who have the nature of the lāmās.
Residing in Lampāka and Suvarṇadvīpa is Chakravarmiṇī, of the south of the [body] wheel, and the clan goddesses are in Saurāṣhṭra, the chief of them being Shauṇḍinī to the west, Khaṇḍarohā to the north who resides in Mahākāla506 Gṛihadevatā, and Chakravegā to the east in Pretapurī. Regarding ḍākinīs together with Rūpinī (41.11), those who reside in the body wheel’s cardinal directions are included among those who have Rūpinī’s self-nature.
Residing at the Himālaya mountain is Khagānanā, of the speech wheel’s northeast [section]. Residing at Kāñchi is Hayakarṇā of [the speech wheel’s] northwest [section]. Residing at Pañchāla507 is Subhadrā of [the speech wheel’s] southwest [section]. Residing at Kaliṅga are the household goddesses508 (41.12) who uphold the observance (41.13a), namely Shyāmādevī of [the speech wheel’s] southeast [section]. Those of the speech wheel’s ordinal directions are subsumed under Sabālikā. Mal states that they are subsumed under Parāvṛittā.
The carnivore who dwells in Koshala is Surābhakṣhī in the south. The vajraḍākinī residing in Pretapurī and Oḍra is Mahābhairavā in the north. Airāvatī in the east resides in Sthūleshvara and Kāmarūpa, and Vāyuvegā in the west resides in Trishakuni. These four who reside in the cardinal directions of the speech wheel and subsumbed under Khaṇḍarohā (41.13) and Parāvṛittā.
Prachaṇḍā in the east of the mind wheel resides at Pullīramalaya. Likewise [implies] Prabhāvatī in the west who resides in Oḍḍiyāna, Mahānāsā in the south who resides in Arbuda, and Chaṇḍākṣhī in the north who resides in Jālandhara of the gold mountain. These four [goddesses] of the mind wheel’s cardinal directions are born in the chaṇḍāla caste, that is, are subsumed under Aihikī. Twenty-one thousand women (41.14) means that each of the yoginīs of those sites also has a retinue to that extent.
Regarding the other additional ones, Drumacchāyā in the northeast resides in Mālava, Laṅkeshvarī in the northwest resides in Devīkoṭa, Kharvarī in the southwest resides in Rāmeshvara, Vīramatī in the southeast resides in Godāvarī. These four [goddesses] of the mind wheel’s ordinal directions are subsumed under Anivartikā. The great churner is Vajravārāhī; Shrī Heruka is hers. If the lady is Vārāhī, subsumed under her are the four [essence yoginīs,] Ḍākinī, and so forth, and the eight [doorkeepers], Kākāsyā and so forth. Therefore, all thirty-six of the yoginīs (41.15) are subsumed under Vārāhī. There is no difference between her and the Blessed Lord.
It is explained that all three worlds, the heavens, earth, and underworld, are pervaded by these ḍākinīs and so forth, namely the aerial, terrestrial, and subterranean ones.509 There are two among the claims made by other scholars mentioned by Bhavyakīrti.510 Regarding Koṅkanapāda [Jayabhadra]’s claim, the six yoginīs are the six heroines of the [female] partner’s armor.511 The mothers residing in the land of Maru, who are all of those eight doorkeepers, delude the evil ones. The lāmās of the land of Sindhu are the fierce yoginīs who belong to their clan. Clan mistress refers to the [four] Ḍākinī [etc.] Regarding Beauty (rūpinī), they are beauties distinct from Chumbikā and so forth. Regarding Pañchāla, the land of “taking the five,”512 it refers to a particular accomplished site aside from seats and subsidiary seats. And so forth simply implies something not stated. At length, there are twenty-one thousand accomplished yoginīs. With the exception of just these [comments] this is similar to Laṅka [Jayabhadra] and Vīravajra’s [comments] as well.513
Lochen translates [two lines as] “In the *Mahākatya and Pretapurī (yi dwags yul) is Mahākālā (nag mo che),” and, with respect to [an alternate translation of] Pretapurī (yi dwags grong), is “the cannibals are in Pretapurī (yi dwags grong).”514 As for mentioning the claim of Shrī Oḍḍiyāna-pāda,515 fearing prolixity I will not write further.
The ladies of the mandala are the twenty-four ḍākinīs. These twenty-four pervade, i.e., move through, everything, namely the animate, i.e., all beings, and inanimate triple world (41.16a–c) habitat.
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 10.3.2. 2.2.3. Showing protection by means of meditation and worship
This commitment of the ḍākinīs, which should not be transgressed, is the ḍākinīs’ meditation with respect to outer and inner bodies emanated (41.16de) via concentration. Any ritual action whatsoever, pacification and so forth, is brought to completion, i.e., accomplished, on the surface of the earth through repetition and so forth by means of the meditative states and so forth of the two stages. The adept should undertake secret conduct being equipoised in concentration and sky-clad or naked at night (41.17). If the thus qualified person worships the self-emergent one with offerings of gesture and dance, which is the art of pleasing the heroes and any woman, left wise, as all yoginīs, this is the method by which everything is achieved without exception, i.e., all powers. Once should engage in the worship of the wisdom consort who is of the left (41.18).
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 10.3.3. Showing the name of the chapter
In the Concise Shrī Herukābhidhāna Tantra, this is the forty-first chapter on the procedure of laying down the heroes’ mandala in the twenty-four sites that are illustrated by the twenty-four syllables, such as pu, ja, and so forth. This is the explanation of the forty-first chapter in the Illumination of the Hidden Meaning, A Detailed Exegesis of the Concise Saṁvara Tantra Called “The Chakrasaṁvara.”
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501. Vīravajra defines the “adept” as a perfection stage practitioner (PD 432a). Bhavyakīrti explains that this chapter “shows the attainment of all powers of the perfected yogī” (rdzogs pa’i rnal ’byor pa’i dngos grub thams cad grub par ston pa yin no, BC 36b.1), which could be interpreted as referring to a perfection stage practitioner. I haven’t found a third commentator who addresses this issue.
502. Tsong Khapa here paraphrases Butön’s commentary. See NS 230b.1.
503. Bhavyakīrti specifically calls for counting the pair of subjugating and summoning and the pair of killing and expelling as one, respectively, but he does not mention the final pair, of stealing speech and rendering mute. See BC 36b.2.
504. Tsong Khapa here seems to be referring to a translation of the place name marudeśa in Kambala’s commentary (K 70a.2) as mya ngan yul (SN 72b.1), evidently based on the root meaning of the term maru, “desert” or “wasteland.”
505. These are six of a list of seven ḍākinīs listed earlier, at 17.3. The ḍākinī from this list that is excluded here is Chumbikā.
506. Tsong Khapa’s text here reads ka tya che gri ha de ba tar. The text gri ha de ba tar is a translation of Gṛihadevatā. The text ka tya che, however, derives from the SM translation of 41.11cd, which reads: ka tya che pre ta pu ra / mkha’ ’gro gzugs can ma ru bcas.
The text ka tya che appears to be a transliteration from the Sanskrit, and surviving Sanskrit texts reads pretapuryāṁ mahākāla ḍākinī saha rūpiṇī; evidently it is a transliteration of mahākāla, perhaps a faulty reading, since the graph tya looks quite similar to la in many scripts.
507. Tsong Khapa represents this site with the unusual transliteration pañtsa la li pa ka. The translations all give the simple transliteration pañtsa la.
508. The Sanskrit here reads gṛhadevatā, one of the names of the twenty-four sites. The Tibetan translations read it as “household goddess” instead (SM: khyim lha mo; PM: khyim gyi lha mo; SL: khyim gyi lha mor).
509. Tsong Khapa here summarizes Butön’s more extensive comments on this text. Butön wrote: “All worlds, the animate sentient beings and the inanimate aerial, terrestrial, and subterranean habitats, the heavens, earth, and underworld, and the sentient beings by means of their natures — body, speech, and mind — are pervaded by these twenty-four ḍākinīs” (NS 244b.7–45a.1: mkha’ ’gro ma nyi shu rtsa bzhi po ’dis rgyu ba sems can dang / mi rgyu ba snod dang bcas pa’i sa ’og sa steng sa bla’i ’jig rten dang / ’gro ba sems can kun ni / ’di’i sku gsung thugs kyi rang bzhin gyis khyab bo).
510. Bhavyakīrti discusses at length the identities of the yoginīs mentioned in this chapter. See BC 36b–37a.
511. That is, the six goddesses associated with Vajravārāhī’s armor mantra, discussed in chapter 8 above.
512. Tsong Khapa here provides an alliterative etymology for the place name Pañchāla.
513. Tsong Khapa here is refers to Bhavyakīrti’s summary of Jayabhadra’s commentary, at BC 36b.6–37a.2. As noted previously, Tsong Khapa does not realize that the name mentioned by Bhavyakīrti, Koṅkanapāda, refers to Laṅka Jayabhadra. This text occurs in Jayabhadra’s commentary as follows: “The six yoginīs are Vajravārāhī and so forth ending with Chaṇḍikā. The mothers are Kākāsyā and so forth. The lāmās are the fierce yoginīs who belong to the lāmā [clan]. Clan mistress refers to the four ḍākinīs. Mahākāla refers to Mahābhairava, and with the ḍākinīs is instrumental in the sense of accompaniment. With whom are they accompanied? It is the beauties (rūpiṇayaḥ). The term rūpiṇī refers to other beauties, meaning that they should be considered as being accompanied by beauties who exist separately from the beauties Chumbikā, Sabālikā, and so forth. Pañchāla is an accomplished place aside from the seats, subsidiary seats, and so forth. And so forth implies others than are unstated. At length, there are twenty-one thousand accomplished yoginīs who wander everywhere in diverse forms” (Sugiki 2001, 137: ṣaḍ yoginyo vajravārāhādicaṇḍikāntāḥ / mātaraḥ kākāsyādyāḥ / lāmās tv iti lāmājātīyā ugrayoginyaḥ / kulanāyikā ḍākinyaś catasraḥ / mahākālo mahābhairavaḥ / ḍākinībhir iti sahārthe tṛtīyā / kiṁbhūtābhiḥ saha, rūpiṇyaḥ / rūpiṇīty anyā rūpiṇyaś cumbikāsa[b]ālikāpra-bhṛtayaḥ pṛthagbhūtāḥ saha rūpiṇībhir iti draṣṭavyāḥ / pañcāla iti).
514. As noted above, Rinchen Zangpo has the unusual partial translation/transcription ka tya che where the extant Sanskrit reads mahākāla. Tsong Khapa appears to be commenting here on two alternate translations for Pretapurī found in this text. The second line, yi dwags grong du sha chen za, is unattested elsewhere.
515. Tsong Khapa refers here to Kambala, who reputedly hailed from Oḍḍiyāna.