The Hidden Teaching

of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras

Jam-yang-shay-pa’s
Seventy Topics
and
Kon-chog-jig-may-wang-po’s
173 Aspects

Jeffrey Hopkins
Jongbok Yi
UMA INSTITUTE
FOR TIBETAN STUDIES
 The Hidden Teaching
of the Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras

Website for UMA Institute for Tibetan Studies (Union of the

Modern and the Ancient: gsar rnying zung `jug khang): uma-
tibet.org. UMA stands for "Union of the Modern and the Ancient"
and means "Middle Way" in Tibetan. UMA is a non-profit 501(c)3
organization.
 The Hidden Teaching
of the Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras:
Jam-yang-shay-pa’s
Seventy Topics
and
Kon-chog-jig-may-wang-po’s
173 Aspects

With Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s commentary

on the citations from Maitreya’s
Ornament for the Clear Realizations

Jeffrey Hopkins
Jongbok Yi

Edited by Elizabeth Napper

UMA Institute for Tibetan Studies

uma-tibet.org
 Education in Compassion and Wisdom
UMA Great Books Translation Project
Supported by a generous grant
from the ING Foundation
and individual sponsors—
Hsu Shu-Hsun; Chou Mei-Dai;
Chien Jin-Hong; Pu Chih-Pin;
Daniel E. Perdue
Translating texts from the heritage of Tibetan and Inner Asian Bud-
dhist systems. The project focuses on Great Indian Books and Ti-
betan commentaries from the Go-mang College syllabus as well as
a related theme on the fundamental innate mind of clear light in
Tantric traditions. A feature of the Project is the usage of consistent
vocabulary and format throughout the translations.
Publications available online without cost under a Creative Com-
mons License with the understanding that downloaded material
must be distributed for free: http://uma-tibet.org. UMA stands for
Union of the Modern and the Ancient (gsar rnying zung ’jug
khang). The UMA Institute for Tibetan Studies is a non-profit
501(c)3 organization.
Version: June, 2015
ISBN 9781941381007
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014934085
Hopkins, Jeffrey; Yi, Jongbok.
The hidden teaching of the perfection of wisdom sūtras: jam-yang-shay-pa’s seventy
topics and kon-chog-jig-may-wang-po’s 173 aspects / by Jeffrey Hopkins, Jongbok Yi ;
edited by Elizabeth Napper.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 9781941381007
1. 'Jam dbyangs bzhad pa ngag dbang brtson grus, 1648-1722. Dngos po
brgyad don bdun cu'i rnam bzhag legs par bshad pa mi pham bla ma'i zhal
lung. 2. Dkon mchog 'jigs med dbang po, 1728-1791. Mkhyen gsum gyi
rnam pa brgya dang don gsum gyi rang bzhin yang dag par brjod pa legs
bshad padma dkar po'i khri shing. 3. Ngag dbang dpal ldan, b. 1797. Bstan
bcos mngon par rtogs pa'i rgyan tshig don gyi sgo nas bshad pa byams
mgon zhal lung. 4. Byams pa (Maitreya). Mngon par rtogs pa'i rgyan.
5. Dge-lugs-pa (Sect)--Doctrines. 6. Don-bdun-bcu. 7. Wisdom—
Religious aspects--Buddhism.
I. Napper, Elizabeth, 1949- II. Title.
Contents
List of Charts 23
Preface 25
Modes of doctrinal training in Ge-lug-pa 25
Monastic curriculum 27
Commentaries on Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear
Realizations 30
The author of The Sacred Word of Guru Ajita 35
Format of the presentation in this book 49
Editions consulted 54
Kön-chog-jig-may-wang-po’s 173 Aspects 55
Introduction 56
Jam-yang-shay-pa’s Eloquent Presentation of
the Eight Categories and Seventy Topics:
Sacred Word of Guru Ajita 63
The Eight Categories 69
Chapter I. Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects 71
Definition [of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects] 71
Divisions [of exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects] 72
Boundaries [of exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects] 72
Chapter II. Knowers of Paths 73
Definition [of a knower of paths] 73
Divisions [of knowers of paths] 75
Boundaries [of knowers of paths] 75
Chapter III. Knowers of Bases 75
Definition [of a knower of bases] 76
Divisions [of knowers of bases] 77
Boundaries [of knowers of bases] 77
Chapter IV. Complete Trainings in All Aspects 77
Definition [of a complete training in all aspects] 77
Divisions [of complete trainings in all aspects] 78
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Boundaries [of complete trainings in all aspects] 78

Chapter V. Peak Trainings 79
Definition [of a peak training] 79
Divisions [of peak trainings] 79
Boundaries [of peak trainings] 81
Chapter VI. Serial Trainings 81
Definition [of a serial training] 81
Divisions [of serial trainings] 81
Boundaries [of serial trainings] 81
Chapter VII. Momentary Trainings 82
Definition [of a momentary training] 82
Divisions [of momentary trainings] 83
Boundaries [of momentary trainings] 83
Chapter VIII. Body of Attributes, the Fruit 83
Definition [of a fruit body of attributes] 83
Divisions [of fruit bodies of attributes] 84
Boundaries [of a fruit body of attributes] 84
Explaining the Seventy Topics 85
Explaining the thirty phenomena characterizing the three
exalted knowers 85
Chapter I. Explaining the ten phenomena
characterizing exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects 85
st
1 Topic 89
1. Great Vehicle Mind-generations (སེམས་
བ ེད་) 89
Definition of a mind-generation 91
Objects of observation of a mind-generation 92
Divisions of mind-generations 94
2nd Topic 100
2. Guidance (གདམས་ངག་) 100
Definition [of guidance] 101
Divisions [of guidance] 102
Boundaries [of guidance] 112
Mode of listening [to guidance] 112
3rd Topic 114
 Contents 7

3. Limbs of Definite Discrimination (ངེས་འ དེ ་

ཡན་ལག་) 114
Definition [of a path of preparation] 116
Divisions [of paths of preparation] 118
Boundaries [of paths of preparation] 119
Features such as object of observation, aspect, and so
forth [of paths of preparation] 119
th
4 Topic 130
4. Naturally Abiding Lineage, the
Support of Great Vehicle Achievings (ཐེག་
ཆེན་ བ་པའི་ ེན་རང་བཞིན་གནས་རིགས་) 130
Definition [of lineage] 131
Divisions [of lineage] 132
Boundaries [of lineage] 136
5th Topic 138
5. Objects of Observation of Great
Vehicle Achievings (ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་པའི་དམིགས་པ་) 138
Definition [of an object of observation of a Great
Vehicle achieving] 139
Divisions [of objects of observation of Great Vehicle
achievings] 139
Whether or not there are boundaries [of objects of
observation of Great Vehicle achievings] 141
6th Topic 142
6. Objects of Intent of Great Vehicle
Achievings (ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་པའི་ཆེད་ ་ ་བ་) 142
Definition [of an object of intent of a Great Vehicle
achieving] 143
Divisions [of objects of intent of Great Vehicle
achievings] 143
Boundaries [of objects of intent of Great Vehicle
achievings] 144
th
7 Topic 145
7. Achievings through Armor (གོ་ བ་) 145
Definition [of a Great Vehicle achieving] 145
Divisions [of Great Vehicle achievings] 146
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Definition [of an achieving through armor] 147

Divisions [of achievings through armor] 149
Boundaries [of achievings through armor] 149
8th Topic 150
8. Achievings through Engagement (འ ག་
བ་) 150
Definition of an achieving through engagement 151
Divisions of achievings through engagement 151
Boundaries of achievings through engagement 153
9th Topic 154
9. Achievings through Collections (ཚགས་ བ་) 154
Definition [of an achieving through collections] 155
Divisions [of achievings through collections] 155
Boundaries [of achievings through collections] 157
10th Topic 159
10. Definitely Issuative Achievings (ངེས་འ ང་
བ་པ་) 159
Definition [of a definitely issuative achieving] 160
Divisions [of definitely issuative achievings] 160
Boundaries [of definitely issuative achievings] 161
Chapter II. Explaining the eleven phenomena
characterizing knowers of paths 162
th
11 Topic 165
1. Limbs of Knowers of Paths (ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ཡན་ལག་) 165
Definition [of a limb of a knower of paths] 165
Divisions [of limbs of knowers of paths] 166
Boundaries [of limbs of knowers of paths] 170
12th Topic 171
2. Knowers of Paths that Know Hearer
Paths (ཉན་ཐོས་ཀྱི་ལམ་ཤེས་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་) 171
Definition [of a knower of paths that knows learner
Hearer paths] 172
Divisions [of knowers of paths that know Hearer
paths] 173
Boundaries [of knowers of paths that know Hearer
paths] 174
 Contents 9

13th Topic 175

3. Knowers of Paths that Know Solitary
Victor Paths (རང་ ལ་གྱི་ལམ་ཤེས་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་) 175
Definition [of a knower of paths that knows Solitary
Victor paths] 176
Divisions [of knowers of paths that know Solitary
Victor paths] 178
Boundaries [of knowers of paths that know Solitary
Victor paths] 178
th
14 Topic 179
4. Great Vehicle Paths of Seeing, Greatly
Beneficial in This and Future Lives (འདི་ ིར་
ཕན་ཡོན་ཆེ་བའི་ཐེག་ཆེན་མཐོང་ལམ་) 179
Definition [of a Great Vehicle path of seeing] 181
Divisions [of Great Vehicle paths of seeing] 181
Boundaries [of Great Vehicle paths of seeing] 184
15th Topic 185
5. Functions of a [Great Vehicle] Path of
Meditation ( ོམ་ལམ་གྱི་ ེད་པ་) 185
Definition [of a function of a Great Vehicle path of
meditation] 186
Divisions [of the functions of a Great Vehicle path of
meditation] 186
Boundaries [of functions of a Great Vehicle path of
meditation] 187
6. Paths of Meditation 189
Definition [of a Great Vehicle path of meditation] 189
Divisions [of Great Vehicle paths of meditation] 189
16th Topic 190
Paths of Meditation of Belief (མོས་པ་ ོམ་ལམ་) 190
[Definition of a Great Vehicle path of meditation of
belief] 191
[Divisions of Great Vehicle paths of meditation of
belief] 192
Boundaries [of Great Vehicle paths of meditation] 193
17th Topic 194
10 Contents

7. Praise, Extolling, and Lauding of the

Benefits of That [Path of Meditation of
Belief] (དེའི་ཕན་ཡོན་བ ོད་བཀུར་བ གས་ག མ་) 194
[Definition of a benefit of a path of meditation of
belief included within the three—praise, extolling,
and lauding] 194
[Divisions of benefits of a path of meditation of
belief included within the three—praise, extolling,
and lauding] 195
[Boundaries of benefits of a path of meditation of
belief included within the three—praise, extolling,
and lauding] 195
th
18 Topic 196
8. Paths of Meditation of Dedication (བ ོ་བ་
ོམ་ལམ་) 196
[Definition of a Great Vehicle path of meditation of
dedication] 197
[Divisions of Great Vehicle paths of meditation of
dedication] 198
Boundaries [of Great Vehicle paths of meditation of
dedication] 200
th
19 Topic 201
9. Paths of Meditation of Admiration ( ེས་ ་
ཡི་རང་ ོམ་ལམ་) 201
[Definition of a Great Vehicle path of meditation of
admiration] 201
[Divisions of Great Vehicle paths of meditation of
admiration] 202
[Boundaries of Great Vehicle paths of meditation of
admiration] 203
th
20 Topic 204
10. Paths of Meditation of Achieving ( བ་པ་
ོམ་ལམ་) 204
[Definition of a Great Vehicle path of meditation of
achieving] 205
[Divisions of Great Vehicle paths of meditation of
achieving] 206
 Contents 11

Boundaries [of Great Vehicle paths of meditation of

achieving] 207
st
21 Topic 208
11. Paths of Meditation of Complete
Purity ( མ་དག་ ོམ་ལམ་) 208
[Definition of a Great Vehicle path of meditation of
complete purity] 209
[Divisions of Great Vehicle paths of meditation of
complete purity] 210
Boundaries [of Great Vehicle paths of meditation of
complete purity] 216
Chapter III. Explaining the nine phenomena
characterizing knowers of bases 218
nd
22 Topic 221
1. Knowers of Bases Not Abiding in the
Extreme of Mundane Existence due to
Knowledge (ཤེས་པས་ ིད་ལ་མི་གནས་པའི་གཞི་ཤེས་) 221
Definition [of a knower of bases not abiding in the
extreme of mundane existence] 223
[Divisions of knowers of bases not abiding in the
extreme of mundane existence] 224
nd
23 Topic 225
[2. Knowers of Paths Not Abiding in the
Extreme of Peace due to Compassion ( ིང་
ེས་ཞི་ལ་མི་གནས་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་)] 225
[Definition of a knower of paths not abiding in the
extreme of peace due to compassion] 225
[Divisions of knowers of paths not abiding in peace
due to compassion] 226
[Boundaries of knowers of bases not abiding in the
extreme of cyclic existence due to knowledge and
knowers of paths that do not abide in peace due to
compassion] 227
rd
24 Topic 228
3. Knowers of Bases Distant from the
Fruit Mother (འ ས་ མ་ལ་རིང་བའི་གཞི་ཤེས་) 228
12 Contents

Definition [of a knower of bases distant from the

fruit Mother] 228
Divisions [of knowers of bases distant from the fruit
Mother] 229
Boundaries [of knowers of bases that are distant
from the fruit Mother] 229
th
25 Topic 230
4. Knowers of Bases Close to the Fruit
Mother (འ ས་ མ་ལ་ཉེ་བའི་གཞི་ཤེས་) 230
Definition [of a knower of bases close to the fruit
Mother] 230
Divisions [of knowers of bases close to the fruit
Mother] 232
Boundaries [of knowers of bases close to the fruit
Mother] 232
th
26 Topic 233
5. Knowers of Bases Classed as
Discordant (མི་མ ན་ ོགས་ཀྱི་གཞི་ཤེས་) 233
[Definition of a knower of bases classed as
discordant] 234
th
27 Topic 236
6. Knowers of Bases Classed as Antidotes
(གཉེན་པོ་ ོགས་ཀྱི་གཞི་ཤེས་) 236
[Definition of a knower of bases classed as an
antidote] 237
th
28 Topic 241
7. Trainings in Knowers of Bases (གཞི་ཤེས་ ོར་
བ་) 241
Definition [of a training in knowers of bases] 242
Divisions [of trainings in knowers of bases] 243
Boundaries [of trainings in knowers of bases] 248
29th Topic 249
8. Equalities in the Modes of
Apprehension of Trainings [in Knowers
of Bases] ( ོར་བ་དེའི་འཛིན་ ངས་མཉམ་ཉིད་) 249
 Contents 13

Definition [of an equality in the modes of

apprehension of trainings in knowers of bases] 250
Divisions [of equalities in the modes of apprehension
of trainings in knowers of bases] 251
Boundaries [of equalities in the modes of
apprehension of trainings in knowers of bases] 252
30th Topic 253
9. Paths of Seeing (མཐོང་ལམ་) 253
[Definition of a path of seeing] 254
[Divisions of paths of seeing] 254
Explaining the thirty-six phenomena characterizing the four
trainings 258
Chapter IV. Explaining the eleven phenomena
characterizing complete trainings in all aspects 258
[Definition of a complete training in all aspects] 259
[Divisions of complete trainings in all aspects] 260
[Boundaries of complete trainings in all aspects] 260
31st Topic 262
1. Aspects ( མ་པ་) 262
Definition [of an aspect indicated here] 263
Divisions [of the aspects indicated here] 264
32nd Topic 268
2. Trainings ( ོར་བ་) 268
Definition [of a training] 269
Divisions [of trainings] 271
[Boundaries of trainings] 277
33rd Topic 278
3. Qualities of Trainings ( ོར་བའི་ཡོན་ཏན་) 278
[Definition of a quality of training] 278
[Divisions of qualities of trainings] 278
[Boundaries of qualities of trainings] 281
34th Topic 282
4. Defects of Trainings ( ོར་བའི་ ོན་) 282
[Definition of a defect of training] 282
[Divisions of defects of trainings] 282
[Boundaries of defects of trainings] 292
35th Topic 293
14 Contents

5. Characteristics of Trainings ( ོར་བའི་མཚན་ཉིད་)293

Definition [of a training of a path perfection of
wisdom] 298
Divisions [of characteristics of trainings] 298
(a) Forty-eight knowledge characteristics 299
Definition [of a knower that is the entity of a
training] 301
[Divisions of knowledge characteristics] 302
Subjective aspects of a Bodhisattva’s training in a
knower of bases 303
[Definition of a Bodhisattva’s training in a knower
of bases] 303
[Divisions of subjective aspects of a Bodhisattva’s
training in a knower of bases] 303
Subjective aspects of a Bodhisattva’s training in a
knower of paths 305
[Definition of a knowledge characteristic of a
training in a knower of paths indicated here] 305
[Divisions of subjective aspects of a Bodhisattva’s
training in a knower of paths] 306
Subjective aspects of a bodhisattva’s training in an
exalted-knower-of-all-aspects 309
[Definition of a training in a knower of paths that
is a training in an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects] 309
[Divisions of subjective aspects of a Bodhisattva’s
training in an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects] 310
(b) Sixteen differentiating characteristics 313
Definition [of a differentiator of a Bodhisattva’s
training as superior] 314
Divisions [of differentiating characteristics] 315
(c) Eleven functional characteristics 319
Definition [of a training endowed with the
special function of a Bodhisattva’s training,
achieving others’ welfare] 320
Divisions [of functional characteristics] 320
(d) Sixteen essential characteristics 323
[Definition of an essence of a training] 324
Divisions [of essential characteristics] 324
36th Topic 327
 Contents 15

6. Concordances with a Portion of

Liberation (ཐར་པ་ཆ་མ ན་) 327
Definition [of a Great Vehicle concordance with a
portion of liberation] 328
Etymologies 328
Divisions [of concordances with a portion of
liberation] 329
Boundaries [of concordances with a portion of
liberation] 329
Signs [of concordances with a portion of liberation] 331
37th Topic 333
7. Concordances with a Portion of
Definite Discrimination (ངེས་འ ེད་ཆ་མ ན་) 333
Definition [of a Great Vehicle concordance with a
portion of definite discrimination] 334
Etymology 334
Divisions [of concordances with a portion of definite
discrimination] 335
Boundaries [of concordances with a portion of
definite discrimination] 335
th
38 Topic 336
8. Irreversible Community Members ( རི ་མི་
ོག་པའི་དགེ་འ ན་) 336
Definition [of an irreversible community member] 336
Divisions [of irreversible community members] 337
Boundaries [of irreversible community members] 337
39th Topic 338
9. Trainings in the Equality of Mundane
Existence and Peace ( ིད་ཞི་མཉམ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ ོར་བ་) 338
Definition [of a training in the equality of mundane
existence and peace] 339
Divisions [of trainings in the equality of mundane
existence and peace] 339
Boundaries [of trainings in the equality of mundane
existence and peace] 339
th
40 Topic 340
10. Trainings in a Pure Land (ཞིང་དག་ ོར་བ་) 340
16 Contents

Definition [of a training in a pure land] 341

Divisions [of trainings in a pure land] 341
Boundaries [of trainings in a pure land] 341
41th Topic 342
11. Trainings in Skill in Means (ཐབས་མཁས་ ོར་
བ་) 342
Definition [of a training in skill in means] 343
Divisions [of trainings in skill in means] 343
Boundaries [of trainings in skill in means] 344
Chapter V. Explaining the eight phenomena
characterizing peak trainings 346
nd
42 Topic 348
1. Heat Peak Trainings ( ོད་ ེ་ ོར་) 348
Definition [of a heat peak training] 350
Divisions [of heat peak trainings] 350
Boundaries [of heat peak trainings] 350
43rd Topic 351
2. Peak Peak Trainings ( ེ་མོའི་ ེ་ ོར་) 351
Definition [of a peak peak training] 351
Divisions [of peak peak trainings] 352
Boundaries [of peak peak trainings] 352
44th Topic 353
3. Forbearance Peak Trainings (བཟོད་པའི་ ེ་ ོར་) 353
Definition [of a forbearance peak training] 353
Divisions [of forbearance peak trainings] 355
Boundaries [of forbearance peak trainings] 355
45th Topic 356
4. Supreme Mundane Qualities Peak
Trainings (ཆོས་མཆོག་གི་ ེ་ ོར་) 356
Definition [of a supreme mundane qualities peak
training] 357
Divisions [of supreme mundane qualities peak
trainings] 357
Boundaries [of supreme mundane qualities peak
trainings] 357
th
46 Topic 358
 Contents 17

5. Path-of-Seeing Peak Trainings (མཐོང་ལམ་ ་ེ

ོར་) 358
Definition [of a path-of-seeing peak training] 363
Divisions [of path-of-seeing peak trainings] 364
Boundaries [of path-of-seeing peak trainings] 364
47th Topic 365
6. Path-of-Meditation Peak Trainings ( མོ ་
ལམ་ ེ་ ོར་) 365
Definition [of a path-of-meditation peak training] 368
Divisions [of path-of-meditation peak trainings] 368
Boundaries [of path-of-meditation peak trainings] 369
48th Topic 370
7. Uninterrupted Peak Trainings (བར་ཆད་མེད་
པའི་ ེ་ ོར་) 370
Definition [of an uninterrupted peak training] 371
Divisions [of uninterrupted peak trainings] 371
Boundaries [of uninterrupted peak trainings] 371
49th Topic 372
8. Wrong Achievings to be Avoided (བསལ་ ་
ལོག་ བ་) 372
Definition [of a wrong achieving to be avoided] 373
Divisions [of wrong achievings to be avoided] 373
Boundaries [of wrong achievings to be avoided] 377
Chapter VI. Explaining the thirteen phenomena
characterizing serial trainings 378
Definition [of a serial training] 379
Divisions [of serial trainings] 379
50th Topic 379
1. Perfection of Giving ( ིན་པའི་ཕར་ ིན་) 379
51st Topic 379
2. Perfection of Ethics ( ལ་ཁྲིམས་ཀྱི་ཕར་ ིན་) 379
52nd Topic 379
3. Perfection of Patience (བཟོད་པའི་ཕར་ ིན་) 379
53rd Topic 379
18 Contents

4. Perfection of Effort (བ ོན་འ ས་ཀྱི་ཕར་ ིན་) 379

th
54 Topic 379
5. Perfection of Concentration (བསམ་གཏན་གྱི་ཕར་
ིན་) 379
th
55 Topic 379
6. Perfection of Wisdom (ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕར་ ིན་) 379
th
56 Topic 380
7. Recollection of the Buddha Jewel (སངས་ ས་
དཀོན་མཆོག་ ེས་ ་ ན་པ་) 380
th
57 Topic 380
8. Recollection of the Doctrine Jewel (ཆོས་
དཀོན་མཆོག་ ེས་ ་ ན་པ་) 380
th
58 Topic 380
9. Recollection of the Spiritual
Community Jewel (དགེ་འ ན་དཀོན་མཆོག་ ེས་ ་ ན་པ་) 380
th
59 Topic 380
10. Recollection of ethics ( ལ་ཁྲིམས་ ེས་ ་ ན་པ་)
[illustrating reversal from the
unfavorable class] 380
th
60 Topic 380
11. Recollection of generosity (གཏོང་བ་ ེས་ ་ ན་པ་)
[illustrating engagement in virtue] 380
st
61 Topic 380
12. Recollection of deities [endowed with
the eye of pristine wisdom] and gurus ( ་ ་
མ་ ེས་ ་ ན་པ་) [as judges of whether virtues or
nonvirtues are performed] 380
nd
62 Topic 381
13. Realizing the naturelessness (ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མེད་པ་
ོགས་པ་) [of all those twelve] 381
Boundaries [of serial trainings] 383
 Contents 19

Chapter VII. Explaining the four phenomena

characterizing momentary trainings 384
Definition [of a momentary training] 385
Divisions [of momentary trainings] 386
63rd Topic 387
1. Nonfruitional Momentary Trainings
( མ་པར་ ིན་པ་མ་ཡིན་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་ ོར་) 387
[Definition of a nonfruitional momentary
training] 387
th
64 Topic 390
2. Fruitional Momentary Trainings ( མ་པར་
ིན་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་ ོར་) 390
[Definition of a fruitional momentary training] 390
th
65 Topic 392
3. Characterless Momentary Trainings
(མཚན་ཉིད་མེད་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་ ོར་) 392
[Definition of a characterless momentary
training] 392
th
66 Topic 393
4. Nondual Momentary Trainings (གཉིས་ ་མེད་
པའི་ ད་ཅིག་ ོར་) 393
[Definition of a nondual momentary training] 393
Meaning of the term [“clear realization in a single
moment”] 394
Boundaries [of momentary trainings] 395
Chapter VIII. Explaining the four phenomena
characterizing bodies of attributes 396
[Definition of a fruit body of attributes] 407
[Divisions of bodies of attributes] 408
67th Topic 410
1. Nature Bodies (ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ ་) 410
Definition [of a nature body] 410
Divisions [of nature bodies] 411
Boundaries [of nature bodies] 411
68th Topic 412
20 Contents

2. Pristine Wisdom Bodies of Attributes

(ཡེ་ཤེས་ཆོས་ ་) 412
Definition [of a pristine wisdom body of attributes] 413
Divisions [of pristine wisdom bodies of attributes] 414
Boundaries [of pristine wisdom bodies of attributes] 416
69th Topic 417
3. Complete Enjoyment Bodies (ལོངས་ ་) 417
Definition [of a complete enjoyment body] 417
Divisions [of complete enjoyment bodies] 418
Boundaries [of complete enjoyment bodies] 419
70th Topic 420
4. Emanation Bodies ( ལ་ ་) 420
Definition [of an emanation body] 420
Divisions [of emanation bodies] 421
Buddha Activities (སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་འ ིན་ལས་) 423
Definition [of Buddha activities] 425
Divisions [of Buddha activities] 425
Boundaries [of Buddha activities] 425
Operation [of Buddha activities] 426
Duration [of Buddha activities] 426

Kön-chog-jig-may-wang-po’s Thorough
Expression of the Natures of the One
Hundred Seventy-Three Aspects of the Three
Exalted Knowers: White Lotus Vine of
Eloquence 433
III. Ascertaining the nature of aspects 434
A. General meaning of the nature of aspects 434
1. Nature of an aspect 434
2. How aspects are meditated 435
3. Dispelling objections about the modes of
meditation 435
B. Meaning of the branches 436
1. Extensive explanation of the branches 436
 Contents 21

a. Twenty-seven aspects of a knower of

bases 436
(1) Actual divisions [of aspects of knowers of bases] 437
four aspects of true sufferings 437
four aspects of true origins 437
four aspects of true cessations 437
aspects of true paths 437
(2) Eliminating qualms about the aspects of true
paths 439
b. Thirty-six aspects of a knower of paths 440
(1) Actual divisions [of aspects of a knower of paths] 440
Aspects of true origins 440
Aspects of true paths: seven exalted wisdoms of
Bodhisattvas directly realizing emptiness 440
Aspects of true sufferings 441
Aspects of true cessations 441
(2) Elimination of a qualm with respect to true
origins 445
c. One hundred ten aspects of an exalted-
knower-of-all-aspects 446
(1) Actual divisions [of aspects of an exalted-
knower-of-all-aspects] 446
Common aspects [of an exalted-knower-of-all-
aspects] 447
Common aspects [of an exalted-knower-of-all-
aspects] that are concordant with those that
Hearers and Solitary Victors have 447
Common Aspects [of an exalted-knower-of-all-
aspects] that are concordant with those
Bodhisattvas have 448
Uncommon aspects of an exalted-knower-of-all-
aspects 449
(2) Elimination of a qualm 451
Appendix 1: Meditation on the Sixteen Attributes of
the Four Noble Truths 453
Appendix 2: The Sixteen Periods of the Path of
Seeing 458
22 Contents

Abbreviations 460
Bibliography of Works Cited 463
1. Sūtras 463
2. Other Sanskrit and Tibetan Works 464
3. Other Works 477
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Commentary on the Citations
from Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations 479
List of Charts
Chart 1: Twenty-one commentaries on Maitreya’s Ornament
for the Clear Realizations 31
Chart 2: Jam-yang-shay-pa’s citations of Maitreya’s
Ornament 50
Chart 3: Progression from path of seeing to path of
meditation 188
Chart 4: The three realms and nine levels of cyclic existence 211
Chart 5: Afflictive emotions to be abandoned in terms of the
three realms and nine levels 213
Chart 6: Objects abandoned by the path of meditation 215
Chart 7: Four truths and sixteen attributes 453
Chart 8: Sixteen periods of forbearance and knowledge 459
Preface

Modes of doctrinal training in Ge-lug-pa

In general, doctrinal training in the Ge-lug-pa school, founded by Tsong-
kha-pa Lo-sang-drag-paa in the early fifteenth century, can be divided into
two types based on a division of fundamental teachings into sūtra and tan-
tra—both attributed to be Shākyamuni Buddha’s speech that were com-
mitted to writing even many centuries after his passing away. The term
“sūtra” can be used to refer to tantras, but here in the division of all of
Buddha’s teachings into the mutually exclusive categories of sūtra and
tantra, “sūtra” refers, roughly speaking, to those texts that are not based on
the practice of deity yoga.b “Tantra,” on the other hand, refers to texts and
systems whose primary practitioners can employ deity yoga. In deity yoga,
practitioners meditate on themselves as having the physical form not of an
ordinary person but of a supramundane deity, an embodiment of the high-
est levels of wisdom and compassion.

a tsong kha pa blo bzang grags pa, 1357-1419.

b Here we are following Tsong-kha-pa’s presentation of the difference between
sūtra and tantra in his Great Exposition of Secret Mantra (sngags rim chen mo) as
found in H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-kha-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins, Tantra in Ti-
bet (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1977; reprint, with minor corrections, Ith-
aca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 1987). Tsong-kha-pa presents the difference
between the Great Vehicle sūtra system (called the Perfection Vehicle) and the
tantra system in terms of what the four classes of tantra (Action, Performance,
Yoga, and Highest Yoga) present as the path for their main intended trainees. In
this way, he is able to posit deity yoga as the central distinctive feature of tantra,
even though a majority of the tantras included in the class of Action Tantra do not
involve deity yoga, since, as he puts it, those Action Tantras that do not involve
deity are not intended for the main intended trainees of that class of tantra. One
would expect that the majority of Action Tantras would be for the main intended
trainees of Action Tantra, but in Tsong-kha-pa’s presentation they are not. There-
fore, the mere presence and absence of the practice of deity yoga cannot serve as
the feature distinguishing a particular text as tantra or sūtra, for it serves only to
distinguish those two in terms of the practices of their main intended trainees. This
is why we have used the qualification “roughly speaking.”
26 Preface

Training in the systems that formed around sūtra-style teachings can

be further divided into more practically oriented and more theoretically
oriented modes of study.a Both modes are concerned with both theory and
practice, but the style of the practically oriented directly addresses partic-
ular meditation practices and behavior modification, whereas the style of
the theoretically oriented is primarily concerned with countering wrong
ideas through scholastic arguments that, although they can be employed in
meditation, are framed around critiques of issues often in the format of
debate—refuting others’ mistakes, presenting one’s own view, and then
dispelling objections to it. Both systems are based on focal Indian books
and Tibetan texts, the latter being either explicit commentaries on the In-
dian texts or expositions of their main themes or of issues that arise when
juxtaposed with other material.
The more practical system of study is aimed at making coherent and
accessible the plethora of practices that were inherited from India and are
the topics of critical study in more theoretical texts. In Ge-lug the more
practical system of study centers on:
1. Tsong-kha-pa’s Great Exposition of the Stages of the Path,b which
calls itself a commentary on the Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment c
by the eleventh-century Indian scholar Atisha (who spent the last
twelve years of his life in Tibet), and
2. a commentary by one of Tsong-kha-pa’s two chief disciples, Gyal-
tshab Dar-ma-rin-chen, d on the Indian text Engaging in the Bodhi-
sattva Deeds by the eighth-century scholar-yogi Shāntideva.e
The more theoretical system of study centers either on a comparative anal-
ysis of systems of tenets, both Buddhist and non-Buddhist, or on the Five
Great Books of Buddhist India. The comparative analysis of philosophical
(and psychological) schools is based on Tibetan presentations of several
non-Buddhist Indian schools but primarily on what came to be classified
as the four schools of Indian Buddhism.

a This division was suggested by the Fourteenth Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatsho.
b lam rim chen mo / skyes bu gsum gyi nyams su blang ba’i rim pa thams cad
tshang bar ston pa’i byang chub lam gyi rim pa; Peking 6001, vol. 152.
c byang chub lam gyi sgron ma, bodhipathapradīpa; Peking 5343, vol. 103.
d rgyal tshab dar ma rin chen, 1364-1432.
e byang chub sems dpa’i spyod pa la ’jug pa, bodhicāryāvatāra; Peking 5272,
vol. 99. Gyal-tshab’s commentary is his Explanation of (Shāntideva’s) “Engaging
in the Bodhisattva Deeds”: Entrance of Victor Children (byang chub sems dpa’i
spyod pa la ’jug pa’i rnam bshad rgyal sras ’jug ngogs).
 Preface 27

Monastic curriculum
Ge-lug-pa colleges share a curriculum that is based on Five Great
Booksa—a program of study that begins around age eighteen and lasts for
about twenty-five years—but they use different textbooks that are com-
mentaries on those Great Books.b To prepare students for study of these
texts, the curriculum begins with a class on introductory debate that serves
to establish the procedure of outwardly combative but inwardly probing
analysis used throughout the course of study. The debate format is at once
individualistic, in the aim to win one-on-one debates, and group-stimu-
lated, in the sense that information and positions are acquired from fellow
debaters in an ongoing network of communication and shared appreciation
of insight. As further preliminaries, the classes study Awareness and
Knowledge, which is basic psychology, and Signs and Reasonings, which
is basic reasoning. Then begins the first of the Five Great Books: the com-
ing Buddha Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations,c a rendering
of the hidden teaching on the path structure in the Perfection of Wisdom
Sūtras. In the standard Ge-lug-pa educational curriculum, six years are
spent studying Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations—a highly
elaborate compendium on the paths; the long period of study is used to
enrich understanding of a complex structure of spiritual development that
provides an all-encompassing worldview daunting in its intricacy. The
structure of the path, as it is presented in this text, enhances the rubric of
actual practice, much of its import being brought over to “stages of the
path” literature, which supplies the practical implementation certified by
the great number of short texts in this latter genre aimed at daily meditation.

a In his condensation of Tsong-kha-pa’s biography, Geshe Ngawang Dhargey

(“A Short Biography,” 9, 11) speaks of the Five Great Books as a category that
predates Tsong-kha-pa, and as I say in Emptiness in the Mind-Only School (6),
“Chö-jay Don-drup-rin-chen advised him to study the Five Great Books of Indian
Buddhism.” For a list of the seventeen texts that Tsong-kha-pa taught in a three-
month teaching, see Geshe Ngawang Dhargey, “A Short Biography,” 13-14.
b This section presents a general description of the Ge-lug-pa monastic curricu-
lum; a detailed description of the specific curriculum in the Go-mang College in
Mundgod, Karnataka State, India is available online at:
http://uma-tibet.org/edu/gomang/gomang.php.
c mngon rtogs rgyan, abhisamayālaṃkāra. A notable exception is the curriculum
at the monastery of the Paṇ-chen Lama, Tra-shi-lhun-po Monastic University
(bkra shis lhun po), where Dharmakīrti’s Commentary on (Dignāga’s) “Compi-
lation of Prime Cognition” (tshad ma rnam ’grel, pramāṇavarttika) is the topic
of this initial long period of study.
28 Preface

The more complex system is highly elaborate, such that it provides a pe-
rimeter and horizon within which the more practical teachings are imple-
mented.
Classes on Maitreya’s text (and the other Great Books) usually meet
with a teacher for about two hours daily and then for two sessions of de-
bates, each about two hours. Throughout much of the twenty-five-year
program, time is taken out for pursuit of the second of the Great Books,
Dharmakīrti’s Commentary on (Dignāga’s) “Compilation of Prime Cog-
nition” —largely epistemological and logical studies.
Having settled the path structure through the study of Maitreya’s Or-
nament for the Clear Realizations, the class passes on to the third Great
Book, Chandrakīrti’s Supplement to (Nāgārjuna’s) “Treatise on the Mid-
dle,” a to explore for two years the emptiness of inherent existence, the

a dbu ma la ’jug pa, madhyamakāvatāra. Since Chandrakīrti often refers to Nā-

gārjuna’s Treatise on the Middle (dbu ma’i bstan bcos, madhyamakaśāstra)
merely by the appellation madhyamaka, the madhyamaka of “madhyamakāvatāra”
is held to refer to a text propounding the middle, specifically Nāgārjuna’s Treatise
on the Middle. My translation of avatāra (’jug pa) as “supplement” is controver-
sial; others use “introduction” or “entrance,” both of which are attested common
translations in such a context. My translation is based on the explanation by
Tsong-kha-pa that Chandrakīrti was filling in holes in Nāgārjuna’s Treatise on the
Middle; see Tsong-kha-pa, Kensur Lekden, and Jeffrey Hopkins, Compassion in
Tibetan Buddhism (London: Rider, 1980; reprint, Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion, 1980),
96-99. Among the many meanings of the Tibetan term for avatāra, ’jug pa can
mean “to affix” or “to add on.” To summarize the oral teachings of the late Ken-
sur Nga-wang-lek-den:
Avatāra means “addition” in the sense that Chandrakīrti’s text is a sup-
plement historically necessary so as to clarify the meaning of Nāgār-
juna’s Treatise on the Middle. He wanted to make clear that the Treatise
should not be explained according to the Mind-Only system or according
to the Middle Way Autonomy School (dbu ma rang rgyud pa, svatan-
trikamādhyamika), the founding of which is attributed to Bhāvaviveka.
During Nāgārjuna’s lifetime, Bhāvaviveka had not written his commen-
tary on the Treatise, nor had he founded his system; therefore, it was
necessary later to supplement Nāgārjuna’s text to show why it should not
be explained in such a way. Moreover, it is said that Chandrakīrti sought
to show that a follower of Nāgārjuna should ascend the ten grounds by
practicing the vast paths necessary to do so. This is because some take
the Middle Way perspective to be nihilistic. They see it as a means of
refuting the general existence of phenomena rather than just their inher-
ent existence and conclude that it is not necessary to engage in practices
such as the cultivation of compassion. Therefore, in order to show that it
 Preface 29

ten grounds, and so forth. Emptiness is the primary content of path con-
sciousnesses of meditative equipoise and is the explicit teaching of the
Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras.
The next Great Book is Vasubandhu’s Treasury of Manifest
Knowledge,a a compendium of the types and natures of afflicted phenom-
ena and their causes as well as the pure phenomena that act as antidotes to
them and the states of cessation brought about by these antidotes; this takes
two years. The last Great Book is Guṇaprabha’s Aphorisms on Discipline,b
again studied for two years. At the end, there are several years for review
and preliminary rounds of debate in preparation for the yearly debate com-
petition.
Tsong-kha-pa wrote commentaries on Maitreya’s Ornament for the
Clear Realizations and Chandrakīrti’s Supplement to (Nāgārjuna’s)
“Treatise on the Middle,” and his two main students, Gyal-tshab and
Khay-drub, wrote commentaries on Dharmakīrti’s Commentary on
(Dignāga’s) “Compilation of Prime Cognition.” Gyal-tshab also wrote a
commentary on Maitreya’s text, which is said to reflect Tsong-kha-pa’s
more mature thinking on several points later in his life.
These commentaries by Tsong-kha-pa and his two chief disciples are
used by the colleges, along with Tibetan commentaries by Chim Jam-pay-

is important to engage in three central practices—compassion, non-dual

understanding, and the altruistic mind of enlightenment—and to ascend
the ten Bodhisattva grounds, Chandrakīrti in reliance on Nāgārjuna’s
Precious Garland wrote this supplementary text.
See Jeffrey Hopkins, Nāgārjuna’s Precious Garland: Buddhist Advice for Living
and Liberation (Ithaca, New York: Snow Lion, 1998).
This Tibetanized reading of ’jug pa as “supplement” accords with the Tibetan
term rtags ’jug (liṅgāvaṃtāra [Sarat Chandra Das, A Tibetan-English Dictionary
(Calcutta: 1902; reprint, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1969, 1970; compact reprint,
Kyoto, Japan: Rinsen Book Company, 1981), 535) “the affixing of gender,” re-
ferring to the usage of letters—identified by gender in Tibetan grammar—in var-
ious positions in a syllable. It also perhaps accords with the fifth meaning given
in Vaman Shivaram Apte, Sanskrit-English Dictionary (Poona, India: Prasad Pra-
kashan, 1957), 163, “Any new appearance, growth, rise,” though it seems that not
much of a case can be made from the Sanskrit. Of course, such a supplement also
serves as an introduction, or means of entry, to Nāgārjuna’s Treatise.
a chos mngon pa’i mdzod, abhidharmakośa.
b ’dul ba’i mdo, vinayasūtra; Peking 5619, vol. 123.
30 Preface

yanga and the First Dalai Lama, Gen-dün-drub,b on Vasubandhu’s Treas-

ury of Manifest Knowledge and Tsho-na-wa’sc and the First Dalai Lama’s
commentaries on Guṇaprabha’s Aphorisms on Discipline, but Tsong-kha-
pa’s works are not the chief textbooks in the monastic colleges. Given that
the basic structure of the monastic university is to divide into camps that
stimulate intellectual exchange, the main textbooks are sub-sub-commen-
taries written by prominent scholars of monastic colleges, which present
the aforementioned commentaries in a clearer format and attempt to re-
solve issues in those texts. These commentaries, called the college’s “text-
book literature,”d are the main focus of those colleges, elevated even to a
status of primary concern and adherence.

Commentaries on Maitreya’s Ornament for the

Clear Realizations
Jam-yang-shay-pa Ngag-wang-tsön-drü,e the final textbook author of the
Go-mang College of Dre-pung Monastery, wrote commentaries on all Five
Great Books in the manner of decisive analyses.f As a preparatory text for
the study of his Decisive Analysis of the Treatise (Maitreya’s) “Ornament
for the Clear Realizations”: Precious Lamp Illuminating All of the Mean-
ing of the Perfection of Wisdom,g he also composed a helpful introductory
text which is translated in the present book. Titled Eloquent Presentation
of the Eight Categories and Seventy Topics: Sacred Word of Guru Ajita,
it prepares students for study and analysis of Maitreya’s Ornament for the
Clear Realizations by providing definitions, divisions, and boundaries for
the eight categories and seventy topics that are the focus of that text.
The poetry of Maitreya’s text is often cryptic, and a textbook such as
this one by Jam-yang-shay-pa establishes a lay of the land so that Mait-
reya’s highly elaborate structure can be explored much more easily.
Shākyamuni Buddha lived for eighty-one years, turning the wheel of doc-

a mchims ’jam pa’i dbyangs.

b dge ’dun grub; 1391-1475, retrospectively called the First Dalai Lama when
Sö-nam-gya-tso, the reincarnation of his reincarnation, received the title of Dalai.
c mtsho sna ba shes rab bzang po, born 13th century.
d yig cha.
e ’jam dbyangs bzhad pa ngag dbang brtson grus, 1648-1722.
f mtha' dpyod.
g bstan gcos mngon par rtogs pa'i rgyan gyi mtha' dpyod shes rab kyi pha rol tu
phyin pa'i don kun gsal ba'i rin chen sgron me.
 Preface 31

trine for forty-five years, the Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras being consid-
ered in all Great Vehicle schools to be the supreme of all sūtras.a The Per-
fection of Wisdom Sūtras teach the naturelessness, the emptiness, of all
phenomena on their explicit level, but they also teach in a hidden way the
modes of the paths to supreme enlightenment, called exalted-knowledge-
of-all-aspects.b The Perfection of Wisdom Sutras are said to indicate the
path structure neither explicitly nor implicitly but in a hidden way because
the reasonings proving emptiness only establish an absence, a nonaffirm-
ing negative—not something positive and not even an affirming nega-
tive—such that a consciousness explicitly realizing emptiness knows a
mere elimination of an object of negation. Thus, the Perfection of Wisdom
Sūtras communicate the message of the path structure not explicitly, nor
even implicitly, but in a hidden manner.
In many ways, the stanzas of Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Re-
alizations are an abbreviation like an index or even a code outlining the
path structure, and thus it is no wonder that it itself spawned a renowned
set of twenty-one commentaries in Sanskrit:c
Chart 1: Twenty-one commentaries on Maitreya’s Ornament
for the Clear Realizations
I. Correlating the Ornament with specific Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras
A. Twenty-five Thousand Stanza Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra
1. Āryavimuktisena (’phags pa grol sde, ca. 6th century C.E.). Com-
mentary on the “Twenty-Five Thousand Stanza Perfection of Wis-
dom Sūtra,” by taking it to have eight chapters correlated with the
eight chapters of the Ornament

a mdo sde kun kyi mchog.

b rnam mkhyen, sarvākārajñatā.
c See the Bibliography for more information on the titles. The chart follows the
exposition in Tsong-kha-pa’s Golden Garland; see Tsong kha pa, Detailed Ex-
planation of the Ornament and Brief Called Golden Garland of Eloquence, trans.
Gareth Sparham (Fremont, CA: Jain Publishing Company, 2008), vol. 1, 11-13.
Tsong-kha-pa’s challenges to the authorship of three of these are indicated in
notes below. See the same but differently arranged list in Karl Brunnhölzl, Gone
Beyond: The Prajñāpāramitā̄ Sūtras, The Ornament of Clear Realization, and its
Commentaries in the Tibetan Kagyü tradition, The Tsadra Foundation series, vol.
1 (Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2011), 65-66.
32 Preface

2. Bhadanta Vimuktasena (btsun pa grol sde). [Sub]commentary on

(Maitreya’s) “Treatise of Quintessential Instructions on the ‘Supe-
rior Twenty-Five Thousand Stanza Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra’:
Ornament for the Clear Realizations”
3. Haribhadra (seng ge bzang po, ca. 8th century C.E.). [Commentary
on the] “Twenty-Five Thousand Stanza Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra”
/ The Eight Chaptered
4. Ratnākarashānti (rin chen 'byung gnas zhi ba). Pure Commentary
on (Maitreya’s) “Ornament for the Clear Realizations”
B. One Hundred Thousand Stanza Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra
5. Dharmashrī.a Explanation of the “One Hundred Thousand Stanza
Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra”
C. Eight Thousand Stanza Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra
6. Haribhadra. Explanation of the “Eight Thousand Stanza Perfec-
tion of Wisdom Sūtra”: Illumination of (Maitreya’s) “Ornament for
the Clear Realizations”
7. Ratnākarashānti. Commentary on the Difficult Points of the
“Eight Thousand Stanza Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra”: The Su-
preme Essence
8. Abhayākaragupta ('jigs med 'byung gnas sbas pa). Commentary
on the “Eight Thousand Stanza Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra”:
Moonlight of Essential Points
D. Verse Summary of the Perfection of Wisdom
9. Haribhadra. Commentary on the Difficult Points of the “Verse
Summary of the Precious Qualities of the Supramundane Victorious
[Mother]”
10. Buddhashrījñāna. Commentary on the Difficult Points of the
“Verse Summary”
11. Dharmashrī. Key to the Treasury of the Verse Summary of the
Perfection of Wisdom
E. One Hundred Thousand, Twenty-five Thousand, and Eight Thousand
Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras

a Tsong-kha-pa presents evidence that this commentary is not actually by the

Dharmashrī from Kashmir and is in fact not Indian since it draws from Tibetan
materials. He concludes (Sparham, op. cit., 13), “So although this and the Key to
the Treasury [item 11] are widely attributed to Dharmaśrī, I think they were writ-
ten by the translator or by some other Tibetan.”
 Preface 33

12. Smṛtijñānakīrti.a Indicating Through Eight Concordant Mean-

ingsb the Mother Perfection of Wisdom Taught Extensively in One
Hundred Thousand [Stanzas], Taught in Medium Length in Twenty-
five Thousand [Stanzas], and Taught in Brief in Eight Thousand
[Stanzas]
II. Not correlating the Ornament with specific Perfection of Wisdom
Sūtras
13. Haribhadra. Clear Meaning Commentary / Commentary on
(Maitreya’s) “Treatise of Quintessential Instructions on the Perfec-
tion of Wisdom: Ornament for the Clear Realizations”
A. Two commentaries on Haribhadra’s Clear Meaning Commentary
14. Dharmamitra (chos kyi bshes gnyen). Explanation of (Hari-
bhadra’s) “Commentary on (Maitreya’s) ‘Ornament for the Clear
Realizations’”: Very Clear Words
15. Dharmakīrtishrī (chos kyi grags pa dpal, or gser gling pa). Ex-
planation of (Haribhadra’s) “Commentary on (Maitreya’s) ‘Trea-
tise of Quintessential Instructions on the Perfection of Wisdom: Or-
nament for the Clear Realizations’”: Illumination of the Difficult to
Realize
B. Three summaries
A summary of Haribhadra’s Clear Meaning Commentary
16. Prajñākaramati (shes rab 'byung gnas blo gros, 950-1030).
Summary of (Haribhadra’s) “Commentary on (Maitreya’s) ‘Or-
nament for the Clear Realizations’”
Two summaries of Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations
17. Atisha c (dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna, mar me mdzad ye shes, 982-
1054). Lamp Summary of (Maitreya’s) “Perfection of Wisdom”
18. Kumārashrībhadra (bkra shis rgyal mtshan). Summary of
(Maitreya’s) “Perfection of Wisdom”

a Tsong-kha-pa wonders whether Smṛtijñānakīrti actually is the author (Sparham,

op. cit., 13), “The Teaching that the Three Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras are the
Same in Terms of the Eight Clear Realizations is also weak and makes certain
mistaken correlations with the Sūtras, [11] so whether or not it is by the great
scholar Smṛtijñānakīrti requires further research.”
b The eight are the eight clear realizations, that is, the eight categories.
c Tsong-kha-pa also doubts that Atisha is the author of this commentary (Spar-
ham, op. cit., 13), “The Lamp Summary [attributed to Atiśa] is also weak and with
many statements originating with Tibetans, so I rather think it is by one of Atisha’s
disciples or by some other Tibetan.”
34 Preface

C. Two other commentaries on Haribhadra’s Clear Meaning Commen-

tary
19. Ratnakīrti. Commentary on (Maitreya’s) “Ornament for the
Clear Realizations”: A Portion of Glory
20. Buddhashrījñāna. Commentary on (Maitreya’s) “Treatise of
Quintessential Instructions on the Supramundane Victorious
Mother Perfection of Wisdom: Ornament for the Clear Realiza-
tions”: Wisdom Lamp Garland
D. One treatise
21. Abhayākaragupta. Ornament to the Subduer’s Thought, a gen-
eral explanation of Buddha’s word, the final three chapters of which
mainly teach the topics of Maitreya’s Ornament.
Among these, Jam-yang-shay-pa, relying mainly on the commentaries by
Āryavimuktisena and Haribhadra and, within Tibet, principally following
Tsong-kha-pa Lo-sang-drag-pa’s Extensive Explanation of (Maitreya’s)
“Treatise of Quintessential Instructions on the Perfection of Wisdom: Or-
nament for the Clear Realizations” as well as its Commentaries: Golden
Garland of Eloquencea and his student Gyal-tshab-dar-ma-rin-chen’sb Ex-
planation Illuminating the Meaning of the Commentaries on (Maitreya’s)
“Treatise of Quintessential Instructions on the Perfection of Wisdom, Or-
nament for the Clear Realizations”: Ornament for the Essence,c formu-
lated concise definitions for the eight categories and their subsections, the
seventy topics. Those also often have internal divisions, and thus a text-
book such as this methodically presents a structural map and guide to
Maitreya’s text.
As mentioned above, the structures found in Maitreya’s Ornament for
the Clear Realizations influence presentations in “stages of the path” lit-
erature, and they also strongly influence “grounds and paths” textbooks
such as that by the Go-mang author Kön-chog-jig-may-wang-pod in his
Presentation of the Grounds and Paths: Beautiful Ornament of the Three

a legs bshad gser ’phreng / shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa’i man ngag gi bstan
bcos mngon par rtogs pa’i rgyan ’grel pa dang bcas pa’i rgya cher bshad pa legs
bshad gser gyi phreng ba.
b rgyal tshab dar ma rin chen, 1364-1432.
c rnam bshad snying po rgyan/ shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i man ngag gi
bstan bcos mngon par rtogs pa'i rgyan gyi 'grel pa don gsal ba'i rnam bshad
snying po'i rgyan.
d dkon mchog ’jigs med dbang po, 1728-1791
 Preface 35

Vehiclesa as well as presentations of tenets such as those by Jam-yang-

shay-pa and Kön-chog-jig-may-wang-po. However, none of these three
other modes of presenting the details of how to engage in practice—
“stages of the path,” “grounds and paths,” and “tenets”—approach the
elaborate intricacy of the eight categories and seventy topics and the many
further branches, twigs, and leaves of Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear
Realizations and thus the book translated here.

Eight categories and seventy topics

Jam-yang-shay-pa lists 49 of the 70 topics as characterizing their respec-
tive category among five of the eight categories and lists 21 of the 70 top-
ics by way of laying out divisions within the remaining three categories:
Ten phenomena characterizing exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects:b

a sa lam gyi rnam bzhag theg gsum mdzes rgyan, Collected Works of dkon-
mchog-’jigs-med-dbaṅ-po, vol. 7 (New Delhi: Ngawang Gelek Demo, 1972). For
an English translation, see Elizabeth Napper, Kön-chog-jig-may-wang-po’s
Presentation of the Grounds and Paths: Beautiful Ornament of the Three Vehicles,
With Commentary by Dan-ma-lo-chö, UMA Institute for Tibetan Studies, 2013;
downloadable for free at:
http://uma-tibet.org/edu/gomang/phar_phyin/salam.php.
b The first category is an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects; it has ten phenomena that
characterize it, define it, or make it known. In general, through a definition one
can understand its definiendum, that which it defines. The definition causes un-
derstanding; it characterizes, illustrates, makes known. Similarly, a cause can
characterize an effect; it can tell us something about its effect. Also, the object of
a consciousness can cause us to understand something about the consciousness
that knows it, and in this sense can characterize it, can bring about some under-
standing of it. As Ngag-wang-pal-dan (Meaning of the Words, 4b.7) says (see
backnote 4), the type of characterization here is both characterization of an effect
by a cause and characterization of an object-possessor [that is, a consciousness]
by an object; it is thus not the type of characterization that occurs by way of a
more usual definition as when “that which is wet and moistening” (the definition
of water) defines, or characterizes, water.
Rather, these ten phenomena cause us to understand an exalted-knower-of-all-
aspects in that it is attained through the power of having practiced these ten phe-
nomena; also, an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects is the final wisdom directly real-
izing all Great Vehicle causes and effects included within the ten phenomena, and
these ten objects tell us something about the subject that supremely realizes them.
In these ways, an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects can be considered to be their de-
finiendum, their object characterized, though not in the technical way that the re-
36 Preface

1. Great Vehicle mind-generations (theg chen sems bskyed, bodhi-

cittotpādaḥ)a
2. guidance (gdams ngag, avavādaḥ)
3. limbs of definite discrimination (nges ’byed yan lag, nirvedhā-
ṅgaḥ)
4. naturally abiding lineage, the support of Great Vehicle achievings
(theg chen sgrub pa’i rten rang bzhin gnas rigs, pratipatter-
ādhāraḥ prakṛtisthaṃ gotram)
objects of observation of Great Vehicle achievings (theg chen
sgrub pa’i dmigs pa, pratipatterālambanam)
6. objects of intent of Great Vehicle achievings (theg chen sgrub pa’i
ched du bya ba, pratipatterūddeśaḥ)
7. achievings through armor (go sgrub, saṃnāhapratipattiḥ)
8. achievings through engagement (’jug sgrub, prasthānaprati-
pattiḥ)
9. achievings through the collections (tshogs sgrub, saṃbhārapra-
tipattiḥ)
10. definitely issuative achievings (nges ’byung sgrub pa, niryāṇa-
pratipattiḥ)
Eleven phenomena characterizing knowers of paths:
11. limbs of knowers of paths (lam shes kyi yan lag,
mārgajñatāṅgāni)
12. knowers of paths that know learner Hearer paths (slob ma nyan
thos kyi lam shes pa’i lam shes, śrāvakamārgajñānamayī mārga-
jñatā)
13. knowers of paths that know Rhinoceros Solitary Victor paths (bse
ru rang rgyal gyi lam shes pa’i lam shes, pratyekajinamārga-
jñānamayī mārgajñātā)
14. Great Vehicle paths of seeing, greatly beneficial in this and future
lives (’di phyir phan yon che ba’i theg chen mthong lam,
mahānuśaṃso mahāyānadarśanamārgaḥ)
15. functions of a [Great Vehicle] path of meditation (sgom lam gyi
byed pa, bhāvanāmārgasya kāritraṃ)
16. [Great Vehicle] paths of meditation of belief (mos pa’i sgom lam,

lationship of definition and definiendum is usually held, and thus the ten phenom-
ena can be considered to be their definition, their means of characterization.
a In the citations of the Tibetan and Sanskrit that follow, the Tibetan accords with
Jam-yang-shay-pa’s text, whereas the Sanskrit follows Obermiller, Analysis of the
Abhisamayālaṃkāra; hence, the discrepancies.
 Preface 37

adhimuktalakṣaṇo bhāvanāmārgaḥ)
17. praise, extolling, and lauding of the benefits of that [Great Vehicle
path of meditation of belief] (de’i phan yon bstod bkur bsngags
gsum, stutistomapraśaṃsāḥ)
18. [Great Vehicle] paths of meditation of dedication (bsngo ba sgom
lam, pariṇāmanālakṣaṇo bhāvanāmārgaḥ)
19. [Great Vehicle] paths of meditation of admiration (rjes su yi rang
sgom lam, anumodalakṣaṇo bhāvanāmārgaḥ)
20. [Great Vehicle] paths of meditation of achieving (sgrub pa sgom
lam, abhinirhārasvabhāvo bhāvanāmārgaḥ)
21. [Great Vehicle] paths of meditation of complete purity (rnam dag
sgom lam, atyantaviśuddhisvabhāvo bhāvanāmārgaḥ).
Nine phenomena characterizing knowers of bases:
22. knowers of bases that do not abide in [the extreme of] mundane
existence due to knowledge (shes pas srid la mi gnas pa’i gzhi
shes, prajñayā bhavāpratiṣṭhitaṃ vastujñānaṃ)
23. knowers of paths that do not abide in [the extreme of] peace due
to compassion (snying rjes zhi la mi gnas pa’i lam shes, kṛpayā
śamāpratiṣṭhā mārgajñatā)
24. knowers of bases that are distant from the fruit Mother (’bras yum
la ring ba’i gzhi shes, phalamūtamāturdūrībhūtaṃ vastujñānam)
25. knowers of bases that are close to the fruit Mother (’bras yum la
nye ba’i gzhi shes, phalamūtamāturāsannıbhūtaṃ vastujñānam)
26. knowers of bases bound by the apprehension of signs that are
classed as discordant (mtshan ’dzin gyis bcings pa’i mi mthun phy-
ogs kyi gzhi shes, nimittagrahaṇabaddhaṃ vipakṣamūtaṃ
vastujñānam)
27. knowers of bases conjoined with the antidote to apprehension of
signs that are classed as an antidote (mtshan ’dzin gyi gnyen pos
zin pa’i gnyen po phyogs kyi gzhi shes, nimittagra-
haṇapratipakṣaparigṛhītaṃ pratipakṣabhūtam vastujñānam)
28. trainings in knowers of bases (gzhi shes sbyor ba, vastujñānapra-
yogaḥ)
29. equalities in the mode of apprehension of trainings [in a knower
of bases] (sbyor ba’i ’dzin stangs mnyam pa nyid, prayogasya sa-
matā)
30. paths of seeing (mthong lam, darśanamārgaḥ).
Eleven phenomena characterizing complete trainings in all aspects:
31. aspects (rnam pa, ākārāḥ)
38 Preface

32. trainings (sbyor ba, prayoga)

33. qualities [of trainings] (yon tan, guṇaḥ)
34. defects of trainings (sbyor ba’i skyon, prayogadoṣāḥ)
35. characteristics [of trainings] (mtshan nyid, lakṣāṇi)
36. concordance with a portion of liberation (thar pa cha dang mthun
pa, mokṣabhāgīyaṃ)
37. concordance with a portion of definite discrimination (nges’byed
cha mthun pa, nirvedhabhāgīyaṃ)
38. learner irreversible community membersa (slob pa phyir mi ldog
pa’i dge ’dun, śaikṣo’vaivartiko bodhisattvagaṇaḥ)
39. trainings in the equality of mundane existence and peace (srid zhi
mnyam nyid kyi sbyor ba, bhavaśāntisamatābhāvanāprayogaḥ)
40. training of a pure land (zhing dag sbyor ba, buddhakṣetrapariśud-
dhiprayogaḥ)
41. training in skill in means (thabs mkhas sbyor ba, upāyakauśala-
prayogaḥ)
Eight phenomena characterizing peak trainings:
42. heat peak trainings (drod rtse sbyor, ūṣmamūrdhaprayogaḥ)
43. peak peak trainings (rtse mo’i rtse sbyor, mūrdhamūrdhapray-
ogaḥ)
44. forbearance peak trainings (bzod pa’i rtse sbyor, kṣāntimūrdha-
prayogaḥ)
45. supreme mundane qualities peak trainings (chos mchog gi rtse
sbyor, agradharmatāmūrdhaprayogaḥ)
46. path-of-seeing peak trainings (mthong lam rtse sbyor, darśana-
mārgamūrdhaprayogaḥ)
47. path-of-meditation peak trainings (sgom lam rtse sbyor, bhāvanā-
mārgamūrdhaprayogaḥ)
48. uninterrupted peak trainings (bar cad med ba’i rtse sbyor, anan-
taramūrdhaprayogaḥ)
49. wrong achievings to be avoided (bsal bya log sgrub, apaneyavi-
pratipattiḥ).
When serial trainings divided, there are thirteen:
50. perfection of giving
51. perfection of ethics
52. perfection of patience
53. perfection of effort

a dge ’dun, literally, aspirants to virtue.

 Preface 39

54. perfection of concentration

55. perfection of wisdom
56. recollection of the buddha jewel
57. recollection of the doctrine jewel
58. recollection of the spiritual community jewel
59. recollection of ethics
60. recollection of generosity
61. recollection of deities and gurus
62. realizing naturelessness
When momentary trainings are divided, there are four that are the same
entity but are different isolates:
63. nonfruitional momentary trainings
64. fruitional momentary trainings
65. characterless momentary trainings
66. nondual momentary trainings.
When bodies of attributes are divided, there are four:
67. nature bodies (ngo bo nyid sku, svabhāvikakāya)
68. pristine wisdom bodies of attributes (ye shes chos sku, jñānadhar-
makāya)
69. complete enjoyment bodies (longs sku, sāṃbhogakāya)
70. emanation bodies (sprul sku, nirmāṇakāya).

This results in a more formal list of

Eight Categories and Seventy Topics

THE THIRTY PHENOMENA CHARACTERIZING THE
THREE EXALTED KNOWERS

Chapter I. The ten phenomena characterizing Ex-

alted-knowers-of-all-aspects ( མ་མཁྱེན་)
1st Topic
1. Great Vehicle Mind-generations (སེམས་བ ེད་)
2nd Topic
40 Preface

2. Guidance (གདམས་ངག་)
3rd Topic
3. Limbs of Definite Discrimination (ངེས་འ ེད་ཡན་
ལག་)
4th Topic
4. Naturally Abiding Lineage, the Support of Great
Vehicle Achievings (ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་པའི་ ེན་རང་བཞིན་གནས་
རིགས་)
5th Topic
5. Objects of Observation of Great Vehicle
Achievings (ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་པའི་དམིགས་པ་)
6th Topic
6. Objects of Intent of Great Vehicle Achievings
(ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་པའི་ཆེད་ ་ ་བ་)
7th Topic
7. Achievings through Armor (གོ་ བ་)
8th Topic
8. Achievings through Engagement (འ ག་ བ་)
9th Topic
9. Achievings through Collections (ཚགས་ བ་)
10th Topic
10. Definitely Issuative Achievings (ངེས་འ ང་ བ་པ་)
Chapter II. The eleven phenomena characterizing
Knowers of paths (ལམ་ཤེས་)
11th Topic
 Preface 41

1. Limbs of Knowers of Paths (ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ཡན་ལག་)

12th Topic
2. Knowers of Paths that Know Hearer Paths (ཉན་
ཐོས་ཀྱི་ལམ་ཤེས་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་)
13th Topic
3. Knowers of Paths that Know Solitary Victor
Paths (རང་ ལ་གྱི་ལམ་ཤེས་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་)
14th Topic
4. Great Vehicle Paths of Seeing, Greatly Benefi-
cial in This and Future Lives (འདི་ ིར་ཕན་ཡོན་ཆེ་བའི་
ཐེག་ཆེན་མཐོང་ལམ་)
15th Topic
5. Functions of a [Great Vehicle] Path of Medita-
tion ( ོམ་ལམ་གྱི་ ེད་པ་)
6. Paths of Meditation
16th Topic
Paths of Meditation of Belief (མོས་པ་ མ
ོ ་ལམ་)
17th Topic
7. Praise, Extolling, and Lauding of the Benefits of
That [Path of Meditation of Belief] (དེའ་ི ཕན་ཡོན་བ ོད་
བཀུར་བ གས་ག མ་)
18th Topic
8. Paths of Meditation of Dedication (བ ་ོ བ་ ོམ་ལམ་)
19th Topic
42 Preface

9. Paths of Meditation of Admiration ( ེས་ ་ཡི་རང་

ོམ་ལམ་)
20th Topic
10. Paths of Meditation of Achieving ( བ་པ་ ོམ་ལམ་)
21st Topic
11. Paths of Meditation of Complete Purity ( མ་དག་
ོམ་ལམ་)
Chapter III. The nine phenomena characterizing
Knowers of bases (གཞི་ཤེས་)
22nd Topic
==1. Knowers of Bases Not Abiding in the Extreme
of Mundane Existence due to Knowledge (ཤེས་པས་
ིད་ལ་མི་གནས་པའི་གཞི་ཤེས་)
23nd Topic
[2. Knowers of Paths Not Abiding in the Extreme
of Peace due to Compassion ( ིང་ ས
ེ ་ཞི་ལ་མི་གནས་པའི་
ལམ་ཤེས་)]
24rd Topic
3. Knowers of Bases Distant from the Fruit Mother
(འ ས་ མ་ལ་རིང་བའི་གཞི་ཤེས་)
25th Topic
4. Knowers of Bases Close to the Fruit Mother
(འ ས་ མ་ལ་ཉེ་བའི་གཞི་ཤེས་)
26th Topic
 Preface 43

5. Knowers of Bases Classed as Discordant (མི་

མ ན་ གོ ས་ཀྱི་གཞི་ཤེས་)
27th Topic
6. Knowers of Bases Classed as Antidotes (གཉེན་པོ་
ོགས་ཀྱི་གཞི་ཤེས་)
28th Topic
7. Trainings in Knowers of Bases (གཞི་ཤེས་ ོར་བ་)
29th Topic
8. Equalities in the Modes of Apprehension of
Trainings [in Knowers of Bases] ( ར
ོ ་བ་དེའ་ི འཛིན་
ངས་མཉམ་ཉིད་)
30th Topic
9. Paths of Seeing (མཐོང་ལམ་)
THE THIRTY-SIX PHENOMENA CHARACTERIZING
THE FOUR TRAININGS

Chapter IV. The eleven phenomena characteriz-

ing Complete trainings in all aspects ( མ་ ོགས་
ོར་བ་)
31st Topic
1. Aspects ( མ་པ་)
32nd Topic
2. Trainings ( ོར་བ་)
33rd Topic
3. Qualities of Trainings ( ོར་བའི་ཡོན་ཏན་)
44 Preface

34th Topic
4. Defects of Trainings ( ོར་བའི་ ནོ ་)
35th Topic
5. Characteristics of Trainings ( ོར་བའི་མཚན་ཉིད་)
36th Topic
6. Concordances with a Portion of Liberation (ཐར་
པ་ཆ་མ ན་)
37th Topic
7. Concordances with a Portion of Definite Dis-
crimination (ངེས་འ ད
ེ ་ཆ་མ ན་)
38th Topic
8. Irreversible Community Members ( ིར་མི་ གོ ་པའི་
དགེ་འ ན་)
39th Topic
9. Trainings in the Equality of Mundane Existence
and Peace ( ིད་ཞི་མཉམ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ ར
ོ ་བ་)
40th Topic
10. Trainings in a Pure Land (ཞིང་དག་ ོར་བ་)
41th Topic
11. Trainings in Skill in Means (ཐབས་མཁས་ ོར་བ་)
Chapter V. The eight phenomena characterizing
Peak trainings ( ་ེ ོར་)
42nd Topic
1. Heat Peak Trainings ( ོད་ ་ེ ོར་)
43rd Topic
 Preface 45

2. Peak Peak Trainings ( ་ེ མོའ་ི ་ེ རོ ་)

44th Topic
3. Forbearance Peak Trainings (བཟོད་པའི་ ་ེ ོར་)
45th Topic
4. Supreme Mundane Qualities Peak Trainings
(ཆོས་མཆོག་གི་ ་ེ ར
ོ ་)
46th Topic
5. Path-of-Seeing Peak Trainings (མཐོང་ལམ་ ་ེ རོ ་)
47th Topic
6. Path-of-Meditation Peak Trainings ( ོམ་ལམ་ ་ེ རོ ་)
48th Topic
7. Uninterrupted Peak Trainings (བར་ཆད་མེད་པའི་ ་ེ
ོར་)
49th Topic
8. Wrong Achievings to be Avoided (བསལ་ ་ལོག་ བ་)
Chapter VI. The thirteen phenomena characteriz-
ing Serial trainings (མཐར་གྱིས་ ོར་བ་)
50th Topic
1. Perfection of Giving ( ིན་པའི་ཕར་ ནི ་)
51st Topic
2. Perfection of Ethics ( ལ་ཁྲིམས་ཀྱི་ཕར་ ནི ་)
52nd Topic
3. Perfection of Patience (བཟོད་པའི་ཕར་ ནི ་)
53rd Topic
46 Preface

4. Perfection of Effort (བ ོན་འ ས་ཀྱི་ཕར་ ིན་)

54th Topic
5. Perfection of Concentration (བསམ་གཏན་གྱི་ཕར་ ནི ་)
55th Topic
6. Perfection of Wisdom (ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕར་ ནི ་)
56th Topic
7. Recollection of the Buddha Jewel (སངས་ ས་དཀོན་
མཆོག་ སེ ་ ་ ན་པ་)
57th Topic
8. Recollection of the Doctrine Jewel (ཆོས་དཀོན་
མཆོག་ སེ ་ ་ ན་པ་)
58th Topic
9. Recollection of the Spiritual Community Jewel
(དགེ་བ ན་དཀོན་མཆོག་ ས
ེ ་ ་ ན་པ་)
59th Topic
10. Recollection of ethics ( ལ་ཁྲིམས་ ེས་ ་ ན་པ་) [il-
lustrating reversal from the unfavorable class]
60th Topic
11. Recollection of generosity (གཏོང་བ་ ེས་ ་ ན་པ་)
[illustrating engagement in virtue]
61st Topic
12. Recollection of deities [endowed with the eye
of pristine wisdom] and gurus ( ་ ་མ་ ེས་ ་ ན་པ་)
[as judges of whether virtues or nonvirtues are per-
formed]
62nd Topic
 Preface 47

13. Realizing the naturelessness (ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མེད་པ་ གོ ས་

པ་) [of all those twelve]
Chapter VII. The four phenomena characterizing
Momentary trainings ( ད་ཅིག་མའི་ ར
ོ ་བ་)
63rd Topic
1. Nonfruitional Momentary Trainings ( མ་པར་ ནི ་
པ་མ་ཡིན་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་མའི་ ོར་བ་)
64th Topic
2. Fruitional Momentary Trainings ( མ་པར་ ིན་པའི་
ད་ཅིག་མའི་ ོར་བ་)
65th Topic
3. Characterless Momentary Trainings (མཚན་ཉིད་
མེད་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་མའི་ ོར་བ་)
66th Topic
4. Nondual Momentary Trainings (གཉིས་ ་མེད་པའི་
ད་ཅིག་མའི་ ོར་བ་)
CHAPTER VIII. THE FOUR PHENOMENA
CHARACTERIZING BODIES OF ATTRIBUTES ( ཆོས་
་)
67th Topic
1. Nature Bodies (ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ ་)
68th Topic
48 Preface

2. Pristine Wisdom Bodies of Attributes (ཡེ་ཤེས་ཆོས་

་)
69th Topic
3. Complete Enjoyment Bodies (ལོངས་ ་)
70th Topic
4. Emanation Bodies ( ལ་ ་)
Buddha Activities (སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་འ ན
ི ་ལས་)
The author of The Sacred Word of Guru Ajita
Jam-yang-shay-pa Ngag-wang-tsön-drüa was born in the Am-do Province
of Tibet in 1648 east of the Blue Lake. Having studied the alphabet at age
seven with his uncle, who was a monk, he mastered reading and writing
and six years later became a novice monk. He went to Lhasa at age twenty-
one to further his studies at the Go-mang College of Dre-pung Monastery;
six years later he received full ordination and at twenty-nine entered the
Tantric College of Lower Lhasa. From age thirty-three he spent two years
in meditative retreat in a cave near Dre-pung Monastery. Perhaps it was at
this time that Mañjushrī, also called Mañjughoṣha, appeared to him and
smiled, due to which, according to Ngag-wang-leg-dan,b he came to be
called “One On Whom Mañjushrī Smiled,” Jam-yang-shay-pa.
At age fifty-three he became abbot of Go-mang and at sixty-two in
1710 returned to Am-do Province where he founded a highly influential
monastery at Tra-shi-khyil.c Seven years later he founded a tantric college
at the same place. He wrote prolifically on the full range of topics of a

a This short biography is taken from Hopkins, Maps of the Profound, 14-15. For
an extensive biography see Derek F. Maher, “Knowledge and Authority in Ti-
betan Middle Way Schools of Buddhism: A Study of the Gelukba (dge lugs pa)
Epistemology of Jamyang Shayba ('jam dbyangs bzhad pa) In Its Historical Con-
text” (Ph.D. diss., University of Virginia, 2003), 169-196.
b mkhan zur ngag dbang legs ldan, 1900-1971; abbot emeritus of the Tantric Col-
lege of Lower Lhasa and ge-she of Go-mang College; a Tibetan born in Yak-day
(g.yag sde) on the border between the central and western provinces of Tibet but
included in Tsang (gtsang), he is not to be confused with the Mongolian ngag
dbang legs ldan.
c bkra shis ’khyil.
 Preface 49

typical Tibetan polymath and, having received honors from the central Ti-
betan government and from the Chinese Emperor, died at the age of sev-
enty-three or seventy-four in 1721/2.
Partly because of the close connection between Go-mang College and
the Mongolian peoples stretching from the Caspian Sea through Siberia,
who were predominantly Ge-lug-pa by this time, Jam-yang-shay-pa’s in-
fluence on the Ge-lug-pa order has been considerable. His life manifests a
pattern typical of many influential Tibetan religious figures—child prod-
igy, learned scholar, disseminator of the religion, politician, priest to po-
litical personages, monastery leader, yogi, magician, popular teacher, and
prolific writer.

Format of the presentation in this book

To facilitate access by those who read Tibetan the Tibetan of Jam-yang-
shay-pa’s text is provided in large font after short blocks of the translation.
Jam-yang-shay-pa usually cites just the beginning and end of the relevant
passage of Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, but we have
provided the full citations in a smaller Tibetan font within the body of the
text and have translated them.
Since these stanzas are often cryptic beyond comprehension unlike,
for instance, the stanzas of Chandrakīrti’s Supplement to (Nāgārjuna’s)
“Treatise on the Middle,”a we have added in backnotes illuminating com-
mentary from the Khalkha Mongolian scholar Ngag-wang-pal-dan’sb Ex-
planation of the Treatise “Ornament for the Clear Realizations” From the
Approach of the Meaning of the Words: The Sacred Word of Maitreyanā-
thac in both Tibetan and translation with the words of Maitreya’s Orna-
ment highlighted. Since the backnotes contain all of Jam-yang-shay-pa’s
citations of 203 of the 274 stanzas of Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear
Realizations as well as Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s commentary, the backnotes
may be read as a separate document for an overview of seventy-five per-
cent of Maitreya’s Ornament. (See chart next page.)

a dbu ma la ’jug pa, madhyamakāvatāra.

b ngag dbang dpal ldan, b. 1797, also known as Pal-dan-chö-jay (dpal ldan chos
rje).
c bstan bcos mngon rtogs rgyan tshig don gyi sgo nas bshad pa byams mgon zhal
lung, TBRC W5926-3829: 221-416, which is a PDF of: Delhi: Mongolian Lama
Gurudeva, 1983.
50 Preface

Chart 2: Jam-yang-shay-pa’s citations of the Ornament

Ornament no. of citations by JYSP total cited
stanzas by JYSP
Expression of 1 not cited [but included in our In- 0
worship troduction]
I. Promise of 2 not cited [I.1-2; but included in 0
composition our Introduction]
I. Overview of 15 I.3-4, 7-9, 10-11, 12-13, 14-16a, 12
Eight Categories 16ab, 4bc [in lieu of 16bc]
I. Exalted-know- 56 [Overview I.3-4] 31
ers-of-all-aspects I.5-6, 18-20, 21-22, 25-26, 27-
36, 37-38, 40-41, 42, 43, 44-45,
46-47, 72-73
II. Knowers of 31 [Overview I.7-9] 23
Paths II.1, 2, 6-8, 11-16, 17, 18-19, 20,
21-23, 24, 25, 28-30
III. Knowers of 16 [Overview I.10-11] 15
Bases III.1, 2ab, 2cd, 3, 4-6, 7, 8-10ab,
10cd, 11-15
IV. Complete 63 [Overview I.12-13] 40
Trainings in All IV.1-5, (also individually 2, 3, 4-
Aspects 5), 8-11, 12ab, 12cd, 13, 14-31,
(also individually 14-22, 18-19,
20-22, 23-26, 27-28, 29-31), 32-
34, 35-37, 38, 60, 61, 62-63
V. Peak Trainings 42 [Overview I.14-16a] 36
V.1, 2, 3, 4, 5-22, 24-32, 37-38c,
40-42 (33-34 added in
backnotes.)
VI. Serial Train- 1 [Overview I.16ab] 1
ings VI.1
VII. Momentary 5 [Overview I.4bc, in lieu of 5
Trainings I.16b-16c]
VII.1-5 (also individually 1, 3, 4,
5)
VIII. Body of At- 40 VIII.1-40 (also individually 1, 2- 40
tributes, the Fruit 6, 12, 33, 34-40)
Supplement 2 0
TOTAL 274 TOTAL STANZAS 203
STANZAS CITED BY JYSP
 Preface 51

The translation of Jam-yang-shay-pa’s text is expanded through com-

ments by Dan-ma-lo-chö who taught at the University of Virginia in the
Spring semester of 1978. While not a line-by-line commentary, his occa-
sional explanations provide helpful background and expansion of points.
Dan-ma-lo-chö is a Ge-she of the Lo-sel-ling College, Abbot Emeritus of
Nam-gyal College, and a Great Assembly Hall Tulku.a His autobiography
is available online at: http://uma-tibet.org/haa/archive.php.
Throughout the book additional explanations are drawn from mainly
from:
Gung-thang Lo-drö-gya-tsho (gung thang blo gros rgya mtsho, 1851-
1928/1930), Annotations to (Haribhadra’s) Small Clear Meaning
Commentary on (Maitreya’s) “Ornament for the Clear Realizations”:
Clearing Away the Darkness for Those Wanting Liberation. b Go-
mang College of Dre-pung Monastery.
Gyal-tshab-dar-ma-rin-chen (rgyal tshab dar ma rin chen, 1364-1432),
Explanation of (Maitreya’s) “Ornament for the Clear Realizations”
and its Commentaries: Ornament for the Essence. c Tsong-kha-pa’s
student; he became the first abbot of Gan-dan Monastery after Tsong-
kha-pa’s death.
Kön-chog-jig-may-wang-po (dkon mchog ’jigs med dbang po, 1728-
1791), Condensed Presentation of the Eight Categories and Seventy
Topics. d Identified as Jam-yang-shay-pa’s reincarnation, Go-mang
College of Dre-pung Monastery.
Lo-sang-chö-kyi-gyal-tshan, First Paṇ-chen Lama (blo bzang chos kyi
rgyal mtshan, 1567/1570-1662), Explanation of the First Category in
the Ocean of Eloquence Illuminating the Essence of the Essence of
(Maitreya’s) “Ornament for the Clear Realizations, Treatise of Quin-
tessential Instructions on the Perfection of Wisdom.”e His affiliation

a tshogs chen sprul sku.

b mngon rtogs rgyan gyi 'grel chung don gsal ba'i mchan 'grel kun bzang zhing
gi nyi ma thar 'dod mun sel, TBRC W00EGS1017126, which is a PDF of: Lhasa
(?): dge ldan legs bshad gsung rab 'grem spel khang, 2006.
c rnam bshad snying po rgyan/ shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i man ngag gi
bstan bcos mngon par rtogs pa'i rgyan gyi 'grel pa don gsal ba'i rnam bshad
snying po'i rgyan, (Sarnath: Gelugpa Student's Welfare Committee, 1980).
d dngos brgyad don bdun cu’i rnam bzhag bsdus pa, Collected Works, vol. 6
(New Delhi: Ngawang Gelek Demo, 1972).
e shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa’i man ngag gi bstan bcos mngon par rtogs pa’i
rgyan gyi snying po’i snying po gsal bar legs par bshad pa’i rgya mtsho las skabs
52 Preface

could be determined through his teachers; for instance, he entered the

To-sam-ling College (thos bsam gling grwa tshang) at Ta-shi-lhun-po
Monastery, studying with Pal-jor-gya-tsho (dpal 'byor rgya mtsho).
Long-döl Ngag-wang-lo-sang (klong rdol ngag dbang blo bzang, 1719-
1794), Vocabulary Occurring in the Perfection of Wisdom.a Jay Col-
lege of Se-ra Monastery.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan (ngag dbang dpal ldan, b. 1797), also known as Pal-
dan-chö-jay (dpal ldan chos rje), Meaning of the Words/ Explanation
of the Treatise “Ornament for the Clear Realizations” From the Ap-
proach of the Meaning of the Words: The Sacred Word of Mait-
reyanātha.b Go-mang College of Dre-pung Monastery (and in a lesser
way Lo-sel-ling College of Dre-pung Monastery).
Tshe-chog-ling Ye-shay-gyal-tshan (tshe mchog gling ye shes rgyal
mtshan, 1713-1793), Quintessential Instructions Clearly Teaching the
Essentials of (Tsong-kha-pa’s) “Stages of the Path to Enlightenment,”
Correlating the “Eight Thousand Stanza Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra”
with (Maitreya’s) “Ornament for Clear Realization”: Lamp Illumi-
nating the Perfection of Wisdom. c Go-mang College of Dre-pung
Monastery.
The final year of the production of this book benefitted greatly from con-
sultations with Lo-sang-gyal-tshan, Ge-she at Go-mang College in
Mundgod, Karnataka State, India, who also served as Disciplinarian at the
Tantric College of Lower Lhasa in Hunsur, India.
The present translation of Jam-yang-shay-pa’s Eloquent Presentation
of the Eight Categories and Seventy Topics: Sacred Word of Guru Ajita
into English is the first full translation into any language. Parts of the first
four chapters were translated into English in Eugène Obermiller’s Analysis
of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra. d In that magnificent work Obermiller pre-

dang po’i rnam par bshad pa, Collected Works, vol. 4 (New Delhi: Gurudeva,
1973).
a phar phyin las byung ba’i ming gi rnam grangs, Collected Works, Śata-Piṭaka
Series, vol. 100 (New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture, 1973).
b bstan bcos mngon rtogs rgyan tshig don gyi sgo nas bshad pa byams mgon zhal
lung, (TBRC W5926-3829: 221-416.
c sher phyin stong phrag brgyad pa dang mngon rtogs rgyan sbyar te byang chub
lam gyi rim pa’i gnad rnams gsal bar ston pa’i man ngag sher phyin gsal ba’i
sgron me), Collected Works, vol. 7 (New Delhi: Tibet House, 1975).
d Eugène Obermiller, Analysis of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra (Fasc. 1), Calcutta
 Preface 53

sented an amalgam of Sanskrit and Tibetan commentaries to create an in-

novatively rich exposition of the first four chapters of Maitreya’s Orna-
ment for the Clear Realizations, but his ambitious intent unfortunately re-
mained incomplete.
The extensive table of Contents provided at the beginning of our book
should facilitate access to the relevant sections of the abovementioned
work by Eugène Obermiller as well as:
Theodore Stcherbatsky and Eugène Obermiller, Abhisamayālaṅkāra-
Prajñāpāramitā-Upadeśa-śāstra: The Work of Bodhisattva Maitreya
Edward Conze, The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines & Its
Verse Summary and The Large Sūtra on Perfect Wisdom, with the Di-
visions of the Abhisamayālaṅkāra
Kōei Amano, A study on the Abhisamaya-alaṃkāra-kārikā-śāstra-vṛtti
Gareth Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti and
[Haribhadra’s] Ālokā and Detailed Explanation of the Ornament and
Brief Called Golden Garland of Eloquence by Tsong kha pa
Karl Brunnhölzl, Gone Beyond: The Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, The Orna-
ment of Clear Realization, and its Commentaries in the Tibetan Kagyü
tradition and Groundless Paths: The Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, The Or-
nament of Clear Realization, and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan
Nyingma Tradition.
Also, since Jam-yang-shay-pa does not cite the initial two stanzas of Mait-
reya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, we have provided a short In-
troduction drawn from a commentary by the First Paṇchen Lama Lo-sang-
chö-kyi-gyal-tshan.
Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations has eight Chapters
plus two Condensations at the end. Identifications of the seventy topics are
added to the translation by name and number from Jam-yang-shay-pa’s
text, where in the first five chapters they are listed as phenomena charac-
terizing the respective category and the last three chapters they listed as
divisions of those categories. The continuous numbering from one to sev-
enty is confirmed by the explicit numbering in the abovementioned works
by Tshe-chog-ling Ye-shay-gyal-tshan of the Go-mang College of Dre-
pung Monastery and by Long-döl Ngag-wang-lo-sang of the Jay College
of Se-ra Monastery. These appear in the Contents and in the translation of
Jam-yang-shay-pa’s and Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s texts. Chapter and verse
numbers also have been added throughout the book.

Oriental Series No. 27 (London: Luzac & Co., 1936; reprint: Fremont, CA: Asian
Humanities Press, 2001).
54 Preface

Editions consulted
Two basic editions of Jam-yang-shay-pa’s text were exhaustively com-
pared:
dngos po brgyad don bdun cu’i rnam gzhag legs par bshad pa mi pham
bla ma’i zhal lung. In kun mkhyen 'jam dbyangs bzhad pa'i rdo rje mchog
gi gsung 'bum, vol. 14. TBRC W22186.14: 115-178, which is a PDF of:
bla brang bkra shis 'khyil: bla brang brka shis 'khyil dgon, publishing date
unknown. Abbreviated reference: “2011 TBRC bla brang.”
don bdun cu'i mtha' spyod mi pham bla ma'i zhal lung gsal ba'i legs bshad
blo gsal mgul rgyan. 1a-20a. Published at Go-mang College, date un-
known. Abbreviated reference: “1987 Go-mang Lhasa,” so named because
of being acquired in Lha-sa, Tibet, at Go-mang College in 1987.
In addition, six editions, based on the bla brang brka shis 'khyil edition
above, were consulted:
“1973 Ngawang Gelek bla brang” = Collected Works of ’Jam-dbyaṅs-
bźad-pa’i-rdo-rje, vol. 15. New Delhi, India: Ngawang Gelek Demo,
1973.
“1995 Mundgod revision of Ngawang Gelek bla brang” = Collected
Works of ’Jam-dbyaṅs-bźad-pa’i-rdo-rje, vol. 16. Mundgod, India:
Gomang College, 1995.
“1999 Mundgod” = 'jam dbyangs bzhad pa and 'jigs med dbang po. don
bdun cu'i mtha' dpyod mi pham bla ma'i zhal lung dang sa lam gyi rnam
gzhag theg gsum mdzes rgyan grub mtha' rnam gzhag rin po che'i phreng
ba bcas. Mundgod, India: Drepung Gomang Library, 1999.
1999 Tōyō Bunko CD-ROM: “Tibetan texts of don bdun bcu of 'jam
dbyangs bzhad pa and rigs lam 'phrul gyi lde mig of dkon mchog bstan
pa'i sgron me.” In the Toyo Bunko Database CD Release II. Tokyo, Japan:
Tōyō Bunko, 1999. CD-ROM. (This edition is based on the 1999
Mundgod edition.)
“2001 Kan su’u” = dngos po brgyad don bdun cu’i rnam gzhag legs par
bshad pa mi pham bla ma’i zhal lung. In don bdun cu dang sa lam sogs
nyer mkho'i skor phyogs bsgrigs: 88-146. Kan su'u, China: kan su’u mi
rigs dpe skrun khang, 2001.
“2005 Mundgod” = dngos po brgyad don bdun cu’i rnam gzhag legs par
bshad pa mi pham bla ma’i zhal lung. In don bdun cu dang sa lam sogs
nyer mkho'i skor phyogs bsgrigs: 1-67. Mundgod, India: Drepung Gomang
 Preface 55

Library, 2005.
The critical comparison of the two basic editions is published online and
freely available at:
http://uma-tibet.org/edu/gomang/phar_phyin/seventy.php.

Kön-chog-jig-may-wang-po’s 173 Aspects

Jam-yang-shay-pa’s reincarnation Kön-chog-jig-may-wang-po was, in
part, concerned with making his predecessor’s scholarship more approach-
able; he did this by abbreviating several of his long textbooks, composing
an accessible, pithy, and easily memorizable book on non-Buddhist and
Buddhist schools of tenets, and—relevant to our concern here—expanding
on the 31st Topic, Aspects, in Jam-yang-shay-pa’s Seventy Topics. It is
likely that he found Jam-yang-shay-pa’s depiction in Chapter Four of
Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations of the 173 aspects in-
volved in the complete training in all aspects far too brief, and thus Kön-
chog-jig-may-wang-po treated the topic extensively and clearly in his
Thorough Expression of the Natures of the One Hundred Seventy-Three
Aspects of the Three Exalted Knowers: White Lotus Vine of Eloquence.
(See also backnotes 46-49 for Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s commentary to the
five stanzas on the 173 aspects from Maitreya’s Ornament that Jam-yang-
shay-pa cites but does not unpack.)
Jeffrey Hopkins
Jongbok Yi
Introduction
By Jeffrey Hopkins and Jongbok Yi

The title of Maitreya’s text is Treatise of Quintessential Instructions on

the Perfection of Wisdom, Ornament for the Clear Realizations (shes rab
kyi pha rol tu phyin pa’i man ngag gi bstan bcos mngon par rtogs pa’i
rgyan, prajñāpāramitopadeśaśāstrābhisamayālaṃkāra). As Lo-sang-
chö-kyi-gyal-tshan, a First Paṇchen Lama and a tutor of the Fifth Dalai
Lama, says in his Explanation of the First Category in the Ocean of Elo-
quence Illuminating the Essence of the Essence of (Maitreya’s) “Orna-
ment for the Clear Realizations: Treatise of Quintessential Instructions on
the Perfection of Wisdom”:b
There are reasons for calling this treatise by such a title since it is
called:
• “quintessential instructions” (man ngag, upadeśa) because of
causing easy realization of what is difficult to realize—the
meanings of the three Perfection of Wisdoms, vast, medium,
and briefc
• “clear realization” (mngon rtogs, abhisamaya) because it

a blo bzang chos kyi rgyal mtshan, 1567/70-1662.

b shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa’i man ngag gi bstan bcos mngon par rtogs pa’i
rgyan gyi snying po’i snying po gsal bar legs par bshad pa’i rgya mtsho las skabs
dang po’i rnam par bshad pa), Collected Works, vol. 4 (New Delhi: Gurudeva,
1973), 8a.3-8a.6:

བ ན་བཅོས་འདི་ལ་མཚན་དེ་ ར་བ ོད་པའི་ ་མཚན་ཡོད་དེ།

ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ ་ ིན་པ་ ས་འ ིང་བ ས་ག མ་གྱི་དོན་
ོགས་དཀའ་བ་བདེ་ ག་ ་ ོགས་པར་ དེ ་པས་མན་ངག དེ་
ཡང་མངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་པར་ ེད་པས་མངོན་ ོགས། འཆོས་
ོབས་ཀྱི་ཡོན་ཏན་གཉིས་དང་ ན་པས་བ ན་བཅོས། རང་བཞིན་
གྱི་ ན་ མ་གྱི་ ས་བཟང་པོ་ལ་མཛས་ ེད་ཀྱི་ ན་དོན་བ ན་
ས་ ས་པ། གསལ་ ེད་ཀྱི་ ན་བ ན་བཅོས་འདིས་ ང་བར་ ེད་
པས་ ན་ཞེས་བ ོད་པའི་ ིར།
c Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras in 100,000, 25,000, and 8,000 stanzas.
 Introduction 57

causes manifest realization

• “treatise” (bstan bcos, śāstra) because of being endowed with
the two qualities of curing (’chos) and protecting (skyobs, śās-
tra)
• “ornament” (rgyan, alaṃkāra) because [like a mirror] this
treatise, an illuminating ornament, causes perception of the
beautiful body of the Mother [the perfection of wisdom], a
natural ornament, bedecked with the seventy topics, beautify-
ing ornaments.a
The text was translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan probably around 800
C.E. and was either newly translated or revisedb by Ngog Lo-dan-Shay-
rabc and the Indian paṇḍita Amaragomin. At the beginning, the translators
make homage to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. As Lo-sang-chö-kyi-gyal-
tshan says:d

a The perfection of wisdom, which is a natural ornament, is bedecked with the

beautifying ornaments of the seventy topics. Maitreya’s book is an ornament of
illumination in that, like a mirror, it reveals the beauty of the perfection of wisdom.
Therefore, the title of Maitreya’s text has been translated as Ornament for the
Clear Realizations, in that sense that, as Lo-sang-chö-kyi-gyal-tshan says, it
“causes perception of the beautiful body of the Mother [the perfection of wisdom],
a natural ornament, bedecked with the seventy topics, beautifying ornaments,” or
bedecked with the eight clear realizations and seventy topics.
b Thanks to Gareth Sparham for the wording.
c rngog blo ldan shes rab, 1059-1109.
d Lo-sang-chö-kyi-gyal-tshan’s Explanation of the First Category in the Ocean
of Eloquence, 9a.2-9a.6:
སངས་ ས་དང་ ང་ བ་སེམས་དཔའ་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་ ག་འཚལ་
ལོ། ཞེས་འ ར་གྱི་ ག་འདི་ ར་མཛད་པའི་ ་མཚན་ཡོད་དེ།
འ ར་མཐར་ ིན་པ་དང་། མདོ་ ེའི་ ེ་ དོ ་ཀྱི་ ོགས་ ་གཏོགས་
པ་ཤེས་པའི་ཆེད་ ་ཡིན་པའི་ ིར། ཤེས་ ས་ཏེ། ོན་གྱི་ ལ་ ོན་
པཎ་ བ་ མས་ཀྱིས་འ ལ་བའི་ ེ་ ོད་ཀྱི་ཐོག་མར་ཐམས་ཅད་
མཁྱེན་པ་དང་། མངོན་པ་ལ་འ མ་དཔལ་དང་། མདོ་ ེ་ལ་སངས་
ས་ ང་སེམས་ལ་འ ར་ ག་ ེད་པར་བཀས་བཅད་པའི་ ིར། དེ་
ར་བཅད་པའི་ ་མཚན་ཡང་ཡོད་དེ། འ ལ་བའི་ ེ་ དོ ་ མས་
58 Introduction

There are reasons for their making a translator’s homage this way:
“Homage to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas,”a because it is for the
sake of completing the translation and for the sake of making
known that [this text] is included within the class of the scriptural
collection of sets of discourses.b This can be known because ear-
lier kings, ministers, paṇḍitas, and adepts decreed that a transla-
tor’s homage is to be made at the beginning of [texts included
within] the scriptural collection of disciplinec to the Omniscient
One; at [the beginning of texts included within] the scriptural col-
lection of manifest knowledged to Mañjushrī; and at [the begin-
ning of texts included within] the scriptural collection of sets of
discourses to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Also, there are reasons
for the decree being this way because translator’s homages are
made individually for the sake of making known that :

ཀྱིས་ཐམས་ཅད་མཁྱེན་པ་ཉག་གཅིག་གི་མངོན་ མ་གྱི་ ོད་ ལ་

ང་དོར་ ་མོ་དང་ལས་འ ས་ ་མོ་ མས་བ ན་པ་དང་། མངོན་
པའི་ ེ་ ོད་ཀྱིས་ ག་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་བ བ་པ་ ེ་བ ན་འ མ་
དཔལ་ ་ འི་མཁྱེན་རབ་ལས་ཤེས་དགོས་པར་བ ན་པ་དང་།
མདོ་ ེའི་ ེ་ དོ ་ཀྱིས་ཉན་རང་ མས་ཀྱིས་མིང་ཙམ་ཡང་དཀའ་
བའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་གྲངས་ལས་འདས་པ་བ ན་པ་དེ་སངས་ ས་
ང་སེམས་ཀྱི་ ན་མོངས་མ་ཡིན་པའི་ཆོས་ ་ཤེས་པའི་ཆེད་ ་སོ་
སོར་འ ར་ ག་མཛད་པ་ཡིན་པའི་ ིར།
a Maitreya (byams pa), Ornament for the Clear Realizations (mngon rtogs rgyan
zhes bya ba'i tshig le'ur byas pa), in bstan 'gyur (sde dge), TBRC W23703.80,
1b.2:

སངས་ ས་དང་ ང་ བ་སེམས་དཔའ་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་ ག་འཚལ་ལོ། །

b mdo sde’i sde snod, sūtrāntapiṭaka. The Tripiṭaka (sde snod gsum)—the three
scriptural collections or, as it is often translated, the three baskets—are not con-
fined just to Buddha’s word but also includes treatises (bstan bcos, śāstra). Thus,
since a treatise like Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations is included
in the collection of sets of discourses, it is an instance of a sūtra-piṭaka. Thus,
sūtra-piṭakas are not just Buddha’s word.
c ’dul ba’i sde snod, vinayāpiṭaka.
d mngon pa’i sde snod, abhidharmapiṭaka.
 Introduction 59

• the subtle adoptings and discardings and subtle effects of ac-

tions (las, karma)—objects in the sphere of direct perception
uniquely of the omniscient—that are taught by the scriptural
collections of discipline,
• the trainings in higher wisdom that are taught by the scriptural
collections of manifest knowledge as having to be known
from the supreme knowledge of the likes of the Foremost
Holy Mañjushrī, and
• the innumerable meditative stabilizations—even the mere
names of which are difficult for Hearers and Solitary Vic-
tors—that are taught by the scriptural collections of sets of
discourses
are uncommon attributes of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations itself begins with an ex-
pression of worship; Lo-sang-chö-kyi-gyal-tshan explains:a
There is a purpose why at the start of composing the Ornament for
the Clear Realizations the Foremost Holy Maitreya makes prais-
ing homage to the Mother [the perfection of wisdom] and the three
exalted knowers [exalted knowers of bases, exalted knowers of
paths, and exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects] because it is done (1)
for the sake of trainees’ generating [the faith of] clarity with re-
spect to the Mother, (2) for the sake of trainees’ attaining libera-
tion and omniscience in dependence on her, and (3) temporarily
for the sake of completing the composition of the treatise.
The expression of worship is:1
Homage to the Mother of Buddhas as well as of the groups of

a Lo-sang-chö-kyi-gyal-tshan’s Explanation of the First Category in the Ocean

of Eloquence, 14a.3-14a.4:

ན་ ོམ་པའི་ཐོག་མར། ེ་བ ན་གྱིས་ མ་མཁྱེན་ག མ་ལ་

བ ོད་ ག་མཛད་པ་ལ་དགོས་པ་ཡོད་དེ། ག ལ་ ་ མས་ མ་ལ་
དང་བ་བ ེད་[14a.4]པ་དང་། དེ་ལ་བ ེན་ནས་ཐར་པ་དང་ཐམས་
ཅད་མཁྱེན་པ་ཐོབ་པར་འ ར་བ་དང་། གནས་ བས་བ ན་བཅོས་
ོམ་པ་མཐར་ ིན་པའི་ཆེད་ ་ཡིན་པའི་ ིར།
60 Introduction

Hearers and Bodhisattvas

Which through knowledge of all leads Hearers seeking pacifica-
tion to thorough peace
And which through knowledge of paths causes those helping
transmigrators to achieve the welfare of the world,
And through possession of which the Subduers set forth these
varieties endowed with all aspects.
[Ornament 1b.2-1b.3]
ཉན་ཐོས་ཞི་བ་ཚལ་ མས་ཀུན་ཤེས་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་ཉེར་ཞིར་འཁྲིད་མཛད་གང་ཡིན་
དང་། །
འགྲོ་ལ་ཕན་པར་ ེད་ མས་ལམ་ཤེས་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་འ ིག་ ེན་དོན་ བ་མཛད་པ་
གང་། །
གང་དང་ཡང་དག་ ན་པས་ བ་ མས་ མ་པ་ཀུན་ ན་ ་ཚགས་འདི་ག ངས་
པ། །
ཉན་ཐོས་ ང་ བ་སེམས་དཔའི་ཚགས་བཅས་སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ནི་ མ་དེ་ལ་ ག་
འཚལ། །
Lo-sang-chö-kyi-gyal-tshan expands on the meaning:a

a Lo-sang-chö-kyi-gyal-tshan’s Explanation of the First Category in the Ocean

of Eloquence, 14b.4-15a.2:

་ེ [14b.5]བ ན་གྱིས་ ན་ ོམ་པའི་ཐོག་མར་མཁྱེན་ག མ་ལ་

བ ོད་ ག་མཛད་དེ། ེན་གྱི་གང་ཟག་ཉན་ཐོས་དང་། རང་སངས་
ས་ ག་ཀུན་ཉེ་བར་ཞི་བ་ཚལ་བ་ མས་ ང་ཁམས་ ེ་ཆེད་ཀུན་
གང་ཟག་གི་བདག་མེད་[14b.6]པར་ཤེས་པ་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་འ ས་ ་ ག་
མ་ཡོད་མེད་ཀྱི་ཉེར་ཞིར་འཁྲིད་པར་མཛད་པ་གང་ཡིན་པ་དེ་ལ་
འ ད་པའི་ ིར་དང་། ེན་གྱི་གང་ཟག་འགྲོ་བ་ལ་ཕན་པར་ ེད་
པའི་ ང་སེམས་ མས་ཐབས་ལམ་ཤེས་ཉིད་ཀྱི་འ ས་ ་
[15a.1]
འ ིག་ ེན་རིགས་ཅན་ག མ་གྱི་དོན་བ བ་པར་མཛད་པ་
གང་ཡིན་པ་དང་། བ་པ་སངས་ ས་བཅོམ་ ན་འདས་ མས་
ཐབས་གང་དང་ཡང་དག་པར་ ན་པས། བ ོད་ ་ མ་པ་ཀུན་
 Introduction 61

At the start of composing the Ornament the Foremost Holy One

[Maitreya] makes praising homage to the three exalted knowers
• because he makes obeisance to what leads persons having the
life support of Hearers and Solitary Victors who seek the thor-
ough pacification of sufferings and their sources, to thorough
peace—the nirvāṇas with and without remainder—through
knowledge of the aggregates, constituents, and sense-fields as
lacking a self of persons, and
• because he makes obeisance (1) to what causes persons hav-
ing the life support of Bodhisattvas helping transmigrators, to
achieve the welfare of worldly beings of the three lineages,
the fruit of knowledge of the path, the method, and (2) to the
exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects, the dominant condition that
is the method by possession of which the Subduer Buddha
Supramundane Victors set forth this variety of scriptural col-
lections that are means of expression endowed with all as-
pects of objects of expression.
Maitreya next states a promise to compose the text (I.1-2):2
{I.1}
The path of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects
Explained by the Teacher in these [sūtras]a
Is not experienced by others.
In order that those with intelligence will see the meanings
{I.2}
Of the sūtras having an essence of ten practices
Upon having set them in mindfulness,
The easy realization of them
Is the purpose of the composition.
[Ornament I.1-2, 1b.4-2a.1]
{I.1}
མ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་མཁྱེན་ཉིད་ལམ། ། ོན་པས་འདི་ མས་བཤད་པ་གང་། །
གཞན་གྱིས་ ོང་བ་མ་ཡིན་ཏེ། །ཆོས་ ོད་བ ་ཡི་བདག་ཉིད་ཀྱི། །

དང་[15a.2] ན་པའི་ ོད་ ེད་ ེ་ ོད་ ་ཚགས་པ་འདི་ག ང་བའི་

བདག་ ེན་ མ་མཁྱེན་ མས་ལ་འ ད་པའི་ ིར།
a The vast, medium, and brief Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras.
62 Introduction

{I.2}
མདོ་དོན་ ན་པ་ལ་བཞག་ནས། ། ོ་དང་ ན་པས་མཐོང་འ ར་ ིར། །
བདེ་ ག་ ་ནི་ ོགས་པ་ཞེས། ། ་བ་ མ་པའི་དགོས་པ་ཡིན། །
 Jam-yang-shay-pa’s
Eloquent Presentation of the
Eight Categories and Seventy Topics:
Sacred Word of Guru Ajita

According to Maitreya’s Ornament, that which is to be developed through

practice are the three exalted knowers and the means of developing them
in practice are the four trainings. When through these four means of prac-
tice one develops the three exalted knowers, the fruit is a Buddha’s body
of attributes, which is an extinguishment of all defects and an attainment
of all auspicious attributes. This is the reason why the subjects of expres-
sion are these eight categories—three exalted knowers, four trainings, and
body of attributes.
Dan-ma-lo-chö
Eloquent Presentation of the Eight Categories and Seventy
Topics: Sacred Word of Guru Ajita
༄༅། ། དངོས་པོ་བ ད་དོན་བ ན་ འི་ མ་བཞག་ལེགས་པར་
བཤད་པ་མི་ཕམ་ ་མའི་ཞལ་ ང་ཞེས་ ་བ་བ གས་སོ། །
Dan-ma-lo-chö: In Jam-yang-shay-pa’s title “Guru Ajita” (Un-
daunted Lama) refers to Maitreya. The teaching of the eight cate-
gories and seventy topics is a condensation of the meaning of
Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations,a which in turn is
a condensation of the Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras.b Thus, this is
a brief explanation of the meaning of the vast, medium, and brief
Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras.
Buddha taught 84,000 bundles of doctrine in accordance with
the latent predispositions, interests, tendencies, and so forth of his
listeners. Although all are the same in being Buddha’s teaching
from the viewpoint of the subjects expressed, the supreme of all
these are the Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras. Usually, the throne
from which Buddha taught was set up by his trainees, whereas
with the Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras Buddha himself set up the
throne. He placed it on the backs of eight lions, sat up straight and
positioned himself in mindfulness indicating the importance of the
doctrine he was about to teach. This is said in the sūtra itself.
Everything Buddha spoke was solely for the sake of taming
the afflictions of trainees. For some he set forth methods for di-
rectly taming afflictions; for others he set forth indirect methods.
Because there are 84,000 afflictions, he set forth 84,000 antidotes
to them, and thus there are 84,000 bundles of doctrine about them.
The reason why the Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras are the main
among the 84,000 bundles of doctrine is that the main of the
84,000 antidotes is the wisdom realizing the selflessness of phe-
nomena. The root, and consequently the main, of the 84,000 af-
flictions is ignorance. Thus, the antidote to that—direct realization
of selflessness—is the main antidote, and the teaching of that an-
tidote, the main doctrine.
With respect to the arising of the afflictions, one has the sense

a mngon rtogs rgyan, abhisamayālaṅkāra/ abhisamayālaṅkāranāmaprajñā-

pāramitopadeśaśāstra.
b shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa’i mdo, prajñāpāramitāsūtra.
 Eight Categories 65

of an I that exists under its own power and not just through the
power of its appearing to an awareness. Because of this, a mind of
attachment arises with respect to the I. Then a mind of attachment
arises thinking, “My form,” “My feeling,” “My discrimination,”
“My mind and body.” Due to that, one becomes attached to feel-
ings of pleasure and develops anger toward feelings of pain.
Through the force of this, one makes the discrimination of people
into different types, becoming attached to some as friends because
they help and finding danger in others who have harmed, are
harming, or whom one thinks might harm in the future, thereby
developing hatred toward them. And from there, it expands further
as one thinks, “Such and such a person helped my friend,” and
one’s attachment increases, or “Such and such a person harmed
my friend,” and one’s hatred increases. Through this differentia-
tion of people into different types by way of attachment and aver-
sion, more and more afflictions arise.
When one has good resources or any good qualities, one
thinks, “Oh, I am terrific,” and develops pride. Similarly, if some-
one one dislikes has excellent qualities, much wealth, and so forth,
even though one is not harmed by their having those, still one can-
not stand it and develops jealousy. One does not feel to give one’s
resources, food, clothing, and so forth to others but cherishes them
for oneself and thereby develops miserliness. In this way the six
root and twenty secondary afflictionsa are generated. All of these
come from the conception that an I truly exists and thus this con-
ception is the root of all afflictions. The antidote that destroys it is
the wisdom realizing truthlessness. This is why, among all the an-
tidotes, the wisdom realizing truthlessness, or selflessness, is
chief.
There are other antidotes to the afflictions. For instance, if one
cultivates love, one’s hatred toward others will temporarily be
stopped; if one meditates on one’s own body as ugly, one can tem-

a The six root afflictions are desire, anger, pride, ignorance, doubt, and afflicted
view. The twenty secondary afflictions are belligerence, resentment, concealment,
spite, jealousy, miserliness, deceit, dissimulation, haughtiness, harmfulness, non-
shame, non-embarrassment, lethargy, excitement, non-faith, laziness, non-consci-
entiousness, forgetfulness, non-introspection, and distraction. For descriptions of
these see Jeffrey Hopkins, Meditation on Emptiness (London: Wisdom Publica-
tions, 1983; rev. ed., Boston, Ma.: Wisdom Publications, 1996), 255-266.
66 Sacred Word of Guru Ajita

porarily cease desire. There are many such techniques of contem-

plation for relief from afflictions. However, these methods stop
afflictions only temporarily and cannot eradicate them from the
root. If you cut branches from a poisonous tree, that removes some
of the poison but does not remove it from the root. However, con-
quering the afflictions through cultivating the wisdom realizing
truthlessness is like removing the poisonous tree from the root.
Because the Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras set forth the teaching of
the wisdom realizing truthlessness—the chief of all of the anti-
dotes set forth in the 84,000 bundles of doctrine—they are the
main of those 84,000.
That which is explicitly indicated in the Perfection of Wisdom
Sūtras is the teaching of emptiness, and in order to delineate the
stages of that teaching, Nāgārjuna set forth the Six Collections of
Reasonings. The teachings of the clear realizationsa are hidden in
the Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras. There are two types of hidden
teachings. One is a case in which something is not taught at all and
kept hidden; the other is one in which something is taught but not
manifestly. The teaching of the eight categories and seventy topics
is an instance of the second case—they are taught but not mani-
festly in the Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras. In order to explain these
hidden teachings, Maitreya set forth the Ornament for the Clear
Realizations.
In brief, the subjects of discussion in Maitreya’s Ornament for
the Clear Realizations are the eight categories; corresponding to
these eight, his book has eight chapters. Grouped under these are
the seventy topics, and thus what is explained here are the eight
categories and seventy topics.
According to Maitreya’s Ornament, that which is to be devel-
oped through practice are the three exalted knowers and the means
of developing them in practice are the four trainings. When
through these four means of practice one develops the three ex-
alted knowers, the fruit is a Buddha’s body of attributes, which is
an extinguishment of all defects and an attainment of all auspi-
cious attributes. This is the reason why the subjects of expression
are these eight categories—three exalted knowers, four trainings,
and body of attributes.
In terms of what is being set forth within the Perfection of
Wisdom Sūtras, there are the topics of emptiness, which are what

a mngon rtogs, abhisamaya.

 Eight Categories 67

is explicitly taught, and the topics of clear realization, which are

the hidden meaning. For the sake of delineating these topics of
clear realization which are the hidden teaching, Maitreya com-
posed the Ornament for the Clear Realizations.
In terms of the stages of clear realizations that are set forth by
Maitreya in the Ornament, it can be said that teaching is given
ranging from how to rely on a spiritual guide through to the Bud-
dha ground, or from the path of accumulation through to the Bud-
dha ground. These stages of clear realizations are vast as an ocean;
however, when they are condensed merely in terms of an enumer-
ation, they are included within the seventy topics.
The reason for the eight categories are, as just explained, the
three to be developed through practice, the four means of devel-
oping these, and the fruit of that practice. This mode of explana-
tion of that which is developed through practice, the means of so
developing, and the fruit of such is a distinctive quality of Bud-
dhist exposition. Most of the Buddha’s own high speech and the
commentaries on these set forth their subjects of discussion by
way of presenting the bases, paths, and fruits because such an ex-
planation easily appears to the mind of a practitioner.
If one does not explain the bases and only explains the paths,
one cannot understand what objects those paths are observing; one
cannot understand what is being meditated on. Therefore, it is very
important to delineate the bases, the foundation.
Following this, it is important to determine what the paths are.
For instance, when we are going somewhere, we need a path that
will take us there without error. Thus, if one wishes to attain lib-
eration or the status of omniscience, one must train in the paths
that are the techniques for attaining it. These paths must be non-
mistaken. For this reason, in the second period it is important to
ascertain the path.
It is not sufficient merely to know the path, however. One
must know its effects. Thus, in the end it is important to explain
the fruit; the final object of attainment is Buddhahood.
Therefore, this Buddhist feature of textual explanation being
given in terms of a presentation of bases, paths, and fruits is very
captivating. The Buddhist teaching is not explained for the sake
of beauty of explanation but for the sake of revealing just those
factors that have been generated in the continuums of excellent
beings. They are not cases of explaining things incorrectly, or
merely guessing, or telling stories.
68 Sacred Word of Guru Ajita

If we engage in hearing, thinking, and meditating in accord-

ance with our own capacity, we are fortunate. If that does come
about, then our explanation and hearing done here is meaningful.
Jam-yang-shay-pa begins with an obeisance.
Obeisance to the guru Mañjughoṣha and to Svarasvatī.
For the sake of making good distinction between the actual and
the so-called concerning the eight categories and the seventy
topics
In the speech of Maitreya, regent of the Conqueror, in commen-
tary on the thought of the Mother of the Conquerors—
The sun-like exposition by the Sun-Friend [Buddha],
I bow respectfully to the feet of my lama and deity.
༄༅༅། །ན་མོ་གུ་ ་མ ་གྷོ་ ་ཡ་ ་ར་ ་ ཻ་ཙ། །
ཉི་མའི་གཉེན་གྱིས་ཉི་མ་བཞིན་བཤད་པའི། །
ལ་ མ་དགོངས་འགྲེལ་ ལ་ཚབ་ མས་ པའི་ག ང་། ། [1b.2]

དངོས་བ ད་བ ན་ ར་དངོས་བཏགས་ལེགས་ ེ་ ིར། །

་མ་ ར་བཅས་ཞབས་ལ་གུས་བ ད་དེ། །
Dan-ma-lo-chö: In order to penetrate the meaning of the sūtras on
the perfection of wisdom, it is necessary to have the wisdom dis-
criminating phenomena. Mañjughoṣha and Sarasvatī are the two
deities that bestow wisdom on others, and thus Jam-yang-shay-pa
begins his text with an expression of worship to them. “The speech
of Maitreya” refers to the latter’s treatise, the Ornament for the
Clear Realizations. “Mother” refers to the three Perfection of Wis-
dom Sūtras, the vast of the length of 100,000 stanzas, the medium
of the length of 25,000 stanzas, and the brief of the length of 8,000
stanzas. These sūtras were expounded clearly, like the sun, by the
Buddha. A lama (guru) is someone who unerringly teaches the
path to oneself. Thus, the author here makes obeisance to the feet
of his lama as well as his personal deity for the sake of this expla-
nation of Maitreya’s text. Now he makes a promise of composi-
tion:
I will set forth here a clear explanation in accordance with the
 Eight Categories 69

speech of the two, Āryavimuktisenaa and Haribhadra,

Who, having come [to India, set forth] with few words the mean-
ing of the Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras.
Using this as an ornament for their necks, those of clear intellect
Should follow the Six Ornaments beautifying the Subduer’s
teaching.
ང་ ས་ཚིག་གིས་ཤེར་དོན་འཕགས་སེང་ གཉིས། ། [1b.3]

ོན་ནས་ག ངས་བཞིན་གསལ་བར་འདིར་བཤད་ ། །
ོ་གསལ་ མས་ཀྱིས་མགུལ་བའི་ ན་ ས་ཏེ། །
བ་བ ན་མཛས་པའི་ ན་ ག་ སེ ་འགྲོ་ མཛད། ། [1b.4]

Dan-ma-lo-chö: Āryavimuktisena and Haribhadra are the two

greatest among the many commentators on Maitreya’s Ornament
for the Clear Realizations. The author, Jam-yang-shay-pa, is say-
ing to take this text as an ornament for the neck and thereby follow
the Six Ornaments who beautify the teaching of the Buddha—
Nāgārjuna, Āryadeva, Asaṅga, Vasubandhu, Dignāga, and Dhar-
makīrti.
Concerning that, here with respect to explaining the eight categories and
seventy topics, there are two parts: explaining the eight categories and ex-
plaining the seventy topics.
དེ་ལ་འདིར་དངོས་པོ་བ ད་དོན་བ ན་ ་བཤད་པ་ལ།
[1b.4]

དངོས་པོ་བ ད་བཤད་པ་དང་། དོན་བ ན་ ་བཤད་པ་གཉིས།

The Eight Categories
[Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, I.3-4] says:3
{I.3}
The perfection of wisdom will be thoroughly
Explained by way of eight categories.
Exalted-knower-of-all-aspects, knower of paths,
Then knower of all,

a Vasubandhu’s student Āryavimuktisena is not to be confused with Bhadanta

Vimuktasena.
70 Sacred Word of Guru Ajita

{I.4}
Completely realizing all aspects,
Passed to the peak, serial,
Momentary thoroughly complete enlightenment,
And body of attributes—those are the eight aspects.
དང་པོ་[དངོས་པོ་བ ད་བཤད་པ་]ནི། ཤེས་aརབ་ཕ་རོལ་ ིན་པ་ [2a.1]

ནི། །ཞེས་པ་ནས། ཆོས་ཀྱི་ ་དང་དེ་ མ་བ ད། །ཅེས་ག ངས།

[Ornament I.3-4, 2a.1-2a.2]
{I.3}
ཤེས་རབ་ཕ་རོལ་ ིན་པ་ནི། །དངོས་པོ་བ ད་ཀྱིས་ཡང་དག་བཤད། །
མ་ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཉིད་ལམ་ཤེས་ཉིད། །དེ་ནས་ཐམས་ཅད་ཤེས་པ་ཉིད། །
{I.4}
མ་ཀུན་མངོན་ ོགས་ གོ ས་པ་དང་། ། ེ་མོར་ ིན་དང་མཐར་གྱིས་པ། །
ད་ཅིག་གཅིག་མངོན་ གོ ས་ ང་ བ། །ཆོས་ཀྱི་ ་དང་དེ་ མ་བ ད། །
There are eight categories because there are the eight consisting of:b
1. exalted-knower-of-all-aspects (rnam mkhyen, sarvākārajñatā)
2. knower of paths (lam shes, mārgajñatā)
3. knowers of bases (gzhi shes, vastujñānam)
4. complete training in all aspects (rnam rdzogs sbyor ba, sarvākārā-ab-
hisaṃbodhaḥ)
5. peak training (rtse sbyor, mūrdhaprayogaḥ)
6. serial training (mthar gyis sbyor ba, anupūrvaprayogaḥ)
7. momentary training (skad cig ma’i sbyor ba, kṣaṇikaprayogaḥ)
8. fruit body of attributes (’bras bu chos sku, phaladharmakāyā).
དངོས་པོ་བ ད་ཡོད་དེ།
1. མ་མཁྱེན་དང་།
a Correcting sher in the 2011 TBRC bla brang and the 1995 Mundgod revision
of Ngawang Gelek bla brang (2a.1) and in the 2005 Mundgod (1.12) to shes in
accordance with the 1987 Go-mang Lhasa (1b.3). The term sher is an abbreviation
for shes rab as in sher phyin and is inappropriate here since an abbreviation is
obviously not needed for shes rab in shes rab pha rol phyin pa.
b In the citations of the Tibetan and Sanskrit that follow, the Tibetan accords with
Jam-yang-shay-pa’s text, whereas the Sanskrit follows Eugène Obermiller, Anal-
ysis of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra (Fasc. 1), Calcutta Oriental Series No. 27
(Fremont, CA: Asian Humanities Press, 2001); hence, the discrepancies.
 Eight Categories 71

ལམ་ཤེས་ དང་།
2. [2a.2]

3. གཞི་ཤེས་དང་།

4. མ་ གོ ས་ ོར་བ་དང་།
5. ེ་ ོར་དང་།
6. མཐར་གྱིས་ ོར་བ་དང་།

7. ད་ཅིག་མའི་ ོར་བ་དང་།
8. འ ས་ ་ཆོས་ ་

དང་བ ད་ཡོད་པའི་ རི །

Chapter I. Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects
With regard to exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects there are three: definition,
divisions, and boundaries.
དང་པོ་ མ་མཁྱེན་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད་དང་། ད ེ་བ་དང་། ས་
[2a.3]

མཚམས་ག མ།
Definition [of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects]
A final exalted knower that in one instant directly knows all aspects
of the modes [emptinesses] and the diversity [conventional phenom-
ena] is the definition of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects.
དང་པོ་ནི། ི་ ་ ི་ དེ ་ཀྱི་ མ་པ་མ་ ས་པ་ ད་ཅིག་མ་གཅིག་
ལ་མངོན་ མ་ ་ མཁྱེན་པའི་མཐར་ ག་གི་མཁྱེན་པ་དེ།
[2a.4]

མ་མཁྱེན་གྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Exalted-knower-of-all-aspects and exalted
knower in the continuum of a Buddha Superior are equivalent.
72 Sacred Word of Guru Ajita

Divisions [of exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects]

When divided, there are:
• two—exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects that realize the modes [that is to
say, emptinesses] and exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects that realize the
diversity [that is to say, conventional phenomena],
• exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects directly realizing all the aspects of
cause and effect, such as mind-generation and so forth, and
• the twenty-one groups of the uncontaminated wisdom of the Buddha
ground.
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན། ི་ ་བ་a ོགས་པའི་ མ་མཁྱེན་དང་། ི་
ེད་པ་ གོ ས་པའི་ མ་ མཁྱེན་གཉིས་དང་། སེམས་བ དེ ་
[2b.1]

སོགས་ ་འ ས་ཀྱི་ མ་པ་ཀུན་མངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་པའི་ མ་

མཁྱེན་དང་། སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་སའི་ཟག་མེད་ཡེ་ཤེས་ ེ་ཚན་ཉེར་
གཅིག་ཡོད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: With respect to these divisions, it is not the case
that there is one exalted knower that realizes the modes and an-
other one that realizes the diversity; these are divided only in terms
of how they appear to conceptuality.
“Directly realizing” means without any mixture of meaning-
generalities, conceptual images. The twenty-one divisions are the
ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, and so forth that are qualities
of a Buddha.

Boundaries [of exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects]

[Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects] exist only on the Buddha ground.
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་ སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ས་ཁོ་ནར་ཡོད།
[2b.2]

Dan-ma-lo-chö: Where does an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects oc-

cur? It occurs only in the continuum of a Buddha. Other than that,
it is not found in the continuum of any sentient being.

a Correcting ji lta pa in the 2011 TBRC bla brang and the 1995 Mundgod revi-
sion of Ngawang Gelek bla brang (1.4) to ji lta ba in accordance with 1987 Go-
mang Lhasa (1.5) and the 2005 Mundgod (2.5).
 Eight Categories 73

Chapter II. Knowers of Paths

With regard to knowers of paths there are three: definition, divisions, and
boundaries.

གཉིས་པ་ལམ་ཤེས་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས་ག མ།

Definition [of a knower of paths]
A Great Vehicle Superior’s clear realization that is conjoined with the
wisdom directly realizing the three paths as not truly existent is the
definition of a knower of paths.
དང་པོ་ནི། ལམ་ག མ་བདེན་མེད་ ་མངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་པའི་
ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱིས་ཟིན་པའི་ཐེག་ཆེན་འཕགས་ པའི་མངོན་ ོགས་ [2b.3]

དེ། ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: The three paths are (1) the path realizing the self-
lessness of the person, (2) the path realizing the absence of differ-
ence of entity of apprehended-object and apprehending-subject,
(3) the path realizing the absence of true existence. The words “di-
rectly realizing” in the above definition indicate that this con-
sciousness realizing that these three paths are empty of true exist-
ence is not by means of a meaning-generality, a conceptual image,
but is direct. The “wisdom” mentioned in the definition is the main
object of cultivation in the Great Vehicle—the wisdom directly
realizing these three paths as empty of true existence. A clear re-
alization in the continuum of a Great Vehicle Superior conjoined
with such a wisdom is a knower of paths. With regard to this con-
joining, there are two types:
1. actual conjoining (dngos su zin pa), which is also called man-
ifest conjoining (mngon du gyur pa’i sgo nas zin pa)
2. a mode of being conjoined in the manner of non-degeneration
(ma nyams pa’i tshul gyis zin pa).
To be actually or explicitly conjoined means to be conjoined by
74 Sacred Word of Guru Ajita

way of its being manifest. This means that the wisdom itself actu-
ally exists at that time.
If we take as an example an uninterrupted path of seeing, this
path is actually, or explicitly, conjoined with a wisdom realizing
the three paths as without true existence. That uninterrupted path
of seeing is also conjoined with the factors of method—great com-
passion, the altruistic mind of enlightenment, and so forth—but
this is not an explicit conjunction. Rather, it is a conjunction in the
sense that these factors of method have not degenerated. Because
at this time of meditative equipoise one is directly realizing emp-
tiness, there is no compassion observing sentient beings with the
aspect of not being able to bear their suffering.a At that time there
is also no altruistic mind of enlightenment, the wish to attain the
enlightenment of Buddhahood for the sake of helping others.
However, that uninterrupted path of seeing is conjoined with an
altruistic mind of enlightenment and great compassion in the sense
that these have not degenerated. Even though the altruistic mind
of enlightenment and great compassion do not actually exist at that
time, we know that an uninterrupted path of seeing is conjoined
with them because their capacity becomes greater at that time. The
sign of this is that when one rises from meditative equipoise one’s
compassion that observes all sentient beings and one’s altruistic
mind of enlightenment have become of greater capacity; they are
“possessed in an increasing manner” (yar ldan)—they increase in
capacity during this period.
Some scholars say that the altruistic mind of enlightenment
does exist at this time; others say that it does not. However, those
who say that it does not exist at this time explain that it does not
exist manifestly; those who say that it does exist at this time say it
exists in the manner of non-degeneration. Thus there is actually
no contradiction.
One could posit as the definition of a knower of paths “a clear
realization of a Great Vehicle Superior”; however, in order to in-
dicate more clearly what this means a more extended definition is

a Throughout this comment Dan-ma-lo-chö is speaking from the viewpoint of

Paṇ-chen Sö-nam-drag-pa and the Lo-sel-ling College. According to Jam-yang-
shay-pa and the Go-mang College, subliminal forms of great compassion and the
altruistic mind of enlightenment exist during meditative equipoise directly per-
ceiving emptiness; these are actual awarenesses, and thus such meditative equi-
poise is actually, or explicitly, conjoined with them.
 Eight Categories 75

given.
Knower of paths and clear realization of a Great Vehicle Superior are
equivalent.
ལམ་ཤེས་དང་། ཐེག་ཆེན་འཕགས་པའི་མངོན་ ོགས་དོན་གཅིག།
Divisions [of knowers of paths]
When are divided, there are three:
1. knowers of paths that know Hearer paths
2. knowers of paths that know Solitary Victor paths
3. knowers of paths that know Great Vehicle paths.
Each of these also has two each: types of realizations of method and of
wisdom.
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན།
1. ཉན་ཐོས་ཀྱི་ལམ་ཤེས་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས།

2. རང་ ལ་གྱི་ལམ་ ཤེས་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས།

[2b.4]

3. ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ལམ་ཤེས་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་

ག མ། དེ་རེ་རེ་ལའང་ཐབས་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ ོགས་རིགས་གཉིས་གཉིས་
ཡོད།
Boundaries [of knowers of paths]
[Knowers of paths] exist from the Great Vehicle path of seeing through
the Buddha ground.
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་ཐེག་ཆེན་མཐོང་ལམ་ནས་སངས་ ས་
ཀྱི་སའི་ བར་ ་ཡོད།
[2b.5]

Chapter III. Knowers of Bases

With regard to knowers of bases there are three: definition, divisions, and
boundaries.
76 Sacred Word of Guru Ajita

ག མ་པ་གཞི་ཤེས་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས་ག མ།

Definition [of a knower of bases]
An exalted knower in the continuum of a Superior that dwells in a
Lesser Vehicle type of realization and that is posited from the factor
of realizing directly all bases [that is, phenomena] as without a self of
persons is the definition of a knower of bases.
དང་པོ་ནི། གཞི་ཐམས་ཅད་གང་ཟག་གི་བདག་མེད་ ་མངོན་
མ་ ་ ོགས་པའི་ཆ་ནས་བཞག་པའི་ཐེག་དམན་གྱི་ གོ ས་
རིགས་ ་གནས་པའི་འཕགས་ ད་ཀྱི་མཁྱེན་པ་དེ། གཞི་ཤེས་
[2b.6]

ཀྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
“Is posited from the factor” includes a knower of bases in the continuum
of a Lesser Vehicle Superior that realizes emptiness.
ཆ་བཞག་གིས་ཐེག་དམན་འཕགས་ ད་ཀྱི་ ངོ ་ཉིད་ ོགས་པའི་
གཞི་ཤེས་ ད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Here the word “bases” refers to all phenomena—
the aggregates, the sense-spheres, and the constituents.a That all
phenomena are being realized as without a self of persons means
that they are realized as either not substantially existent them-
selves or as not being objects of use by a substantially existent
person. That this is posited from the factor of such a realization
means that it either is such a realization or is a factor that is con-
joined with such a realization. A knower of bases abides in or is
included within a Lesser Vehicle type of realization, that is to say,
a Hearer’s or a Solitary Victor’s.
This type of consciousness knows all phenomena as without
a self of persons, but it does not know all phenomena. It is not
omniscient in that sense. For instance, when you realize that a
sound is impermanent because of being a product, you realize that
productness does not exist in the permanent. You understand that
productness does not exist in anything permanent; however, this

a See Hopkins, Meditation on Emptiness, 427ff.

 Eight Categories 77

does not mean you have to know all permanent things in order to
understand that what is permanent is necessarily not a product.
Similarly, a knower of bases realizes all phenomena to be without
a self of persons but does not know all phenomena.

Divisions [of knowers of bases]

When divided, there are two—knowers of bases close to a fruit Mother
[perfection of wisdom] and knowers of bases distant from a fruit Mother.
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན། འ ས་ མ་ལ་ཉེ་རིང་གི་གཞི་ ཤེས་ [3a.1]

གཉིས་ཡོད།
Boundaries [of knowers of bases]
[Knowers of bases] exist from the Hearer path of seeing through the Bud-
dha ground.
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་ཉན་ཐོས་ཀྱི་མཐོང་ལམ་ནས་སངས་
ས་ཀྱི་སའི་བར་ ་ཡོད།

Chapter IV. Complete Trainings in All Aspects

With regard to complete trainings in all aspects there are three: definition,
divisions, and boundaries.
བཞི་པ་ མ་ ོགས་ རོ ་བ་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས་
ག མ།
[3a.2]

Definition [of a complete training in all aspects]

A Bodhisattva’s yogaa that is conjoined with the wisdom of medita-
tively cultivating the aspects of the three exalted knowers is the defini-
tion of a complete training in all aspects.
དང་པོ་ནི། མཁྱེན་ག མ་གྱི་ མ་པ་ ོམ་པའི་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱིས་ཟིན་
a That is, yogic consciousness.
78 Sacred Word of Guru Ajita

པའི་སེམས་དཔའི་ ལ་འ ོར་དེ། མ་ གོ ས་ ོར་བའི་མཚན་

ཉིད།
Divisions [of complete trainings in all aspects]
When divided, there are by way of entity and so forth twenty trainings and
by way of aspect 173 Bodhisattvas’ yogas practicing the 173 aspects of
the three exalted knowers.
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན། ངོ་བོ་སོགས་ཀྱི་ ོས་ ོར་བ་ཉི་ ་དང་།
མ་པའི་ ོས་མཁྱེན་ག མ་གྱི་ མ་པ་བ ་དང་དོན་ག མ་
[3a.3]

ཉམས་ ་ལེན་པའི་སེམས་དཔའི་ ལ་འ ོར་བ ་དང་དོན་

ག མ་ཡོད།
Bodhisattva’s yoga (sems dpa’i rnal byor), path perfection of wisdom (lam
sher phyin, mārgamūtaprajñāpāramitā), Bodhisattva path (byang sems kyi
lam, bodhisattvamārgaḥ), Great Vehicle achieving (theg chen sgrub pa,
mahāyānapratipattiḥ), and achieving through armor (go sgrub,
saṃnāhapratipattiḥ) are synonymous equivalents.
སེམས་དཔའི་ ལ་འ རོ ་དང་། ལམ་ཤེར་ ནི ་དང་། ང་སེམས་
ཀྱི་ལམ་ དང་། ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་པ་དང་། གོ་ བ་ མས་དོན་
[3a.4]

གཅིག་མིང་གི་ མ་གྲངས་སོ།
Boundaries [of complete trainings in all aspects]
[Complete trainings in all aspects] exist from the Great Vehicle path of
accumulation until the end of the continuum [as a sentient being, just prior
to Buddhahood].
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་ཐེག་ཆེན་ཚགས་ལམ་ནས་ ན་མཐའི་
བར་ ་ཡོད།
 Eight Categories 79

Chapter V. Peak Trainings

With regard to peak trainings there are three: definition, divisions, and
boundaries.
་པ་ ེ་ རོ ་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས་ག མ། [3a.5]

Definition [of a peak training]

A Bodhisattva’s yoga on the occasion of attaining control with respect
to meditatively cultivating the aspects of the three exalted knowers,
that is posited from the factor of being conjoined with the wisdom
arisen from meditation observing emptiness is the definition of a peak
training. It should be understood that “posited from the factor” includes
Bodhisattva paths of preparation arisen from hearing.”
དང པོ་ནི། ོང་ཉིད་ལ་དམིགས་པའི་ ོམ་ ང་གི་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱིས་
ཟིན་པའི་ཆ་ནས་བཞག་པའི་མཁྱེན་ག མ་གྱི་ མ་པ་ ོམ་པ་ལ་
དབང་ཐོབ་པའི་ བས་ཀྱི་སེམས་དཔའི་ ལ་འ ོར་དེ། ེ་
[3a.6]
ོར་གྱི་མཚན་ཉིད། ཆ་བཞག་གིས་ཐོས་ ང་གི་ ང་སེམས་
ོར་ལམ་ མས་ ད་ ལ་ཤེས་དགོས།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: To attain control with respect to meditating on, or
cultivating, the aspects means that one has attained a yoga of calm
abiding with respect to them. Although one has attained the wis-
dom that is a state arisen from meditation, that is to say, a medita-
tive stabilization that is a union of calm abiding and special insight
with respect to emptiness, one does not necessarily have a union
of calm abiding and special insight with respect to the 173 aspects.
One does, however, necessarily have calm abiding with respect to
them.
A peak training is a case of collective meditation on the 173
aspects of the three exalted knowers having become surpassing,
having developed higher.

Divisions [of peak trainings]

When are divided in condensed form, there are four:
80 Sacred Word of Guru Ajita

1. peak trainings of the path of preparationa

2. peak trainings of the path of seeing
3. peak trainings of the path of meditation
4. uninterrupted peak trainings
or there are seven:
1-4. the four peak trainings of the path of preparation—heat peak trainings
and so forth [that is, peak peak trainings, forbearance peak trainings,
and supreme mundane qualities peak trainings]
5-7. the three—path-of-seeing peak trainings, path-of-meditation peak
trainings, and uninterrupted peak trainings.
Or when divided extensively, there are 173.
གཉིས་པ་ནི་ད ེ་བ་བ ས་ན།
1. ོར་ལམ་ ་ེ ོར་དང་།
2. མཐོང་ལམ་ ེ་ ོར་དང་།

3. ོམ་ལམ་ ་ེ ོར་དང་། [3b.1]

4. བར་ཆད་མེད་པའི་ ེ་ ོར་

བཞིའམ། དོ ་ ེ་ ོར་སོགས་ རོ ་ལམ་ ་ེ རོ ་བཞི། མཐོང་ལམ་

ོམ་ལམ་བར་ཆད་མེད་པའི་ ེ་ རོ ་ག མ་དང་བ ན་ནམ།
ས་པར་ན་བ ་དང་དོན་ག མ་ཡོད།

a The translation of sbyor lam (prayogamārga) as “path of preparation” is based

on the oral explanation of it as analogous to preparing food for a meal—the meal
being the path of seeing. Whether it is called preparation, training, connection,
joining, or application, it has to do with preparing one for the path of seeing, the
initial direct realization of emptiness. Thus, the main feature of the path of prep-
aration is the four levels of lessening dualistic appearance—heat, peak, forbear-
ance, and supreme mundane qualities—over which the dualistic sense of the emp-
tiness of true existence on one side and the consciousness realizing it on the other
side is reduced and finally disappears.
 Eight Categories 81

Boundaries [of peak trainings]

[Peak trainings] exist from the Great Vehicle heat path of preparation until
the end of the continuum [as a sentient being, just prior to Buddhahood].
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་ མཚམས་ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ ོར་ལམ་ དོ ་ནས་
[3b.2]

ན་མཐའི་བར་རོ།

Chapter VI. Serial Trainings

With regard to serial trainings there are three: definition, divisions, and
boundaries.
ག་པ་མཐར་གྱིས་ ོར་བ་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས་
ག མ།
Definition [of a serial training]
A Bodhisattva’s yoga that is posited from the factor of a serial medi-
tation for the sake of attaining steadiness with respect to the aspects
of the three exalted knowers is the definition of a serial training.
དང་པོ་ནི། མཁྱེན་ག མ་གྱི་ མ་པ་ལ་བ ན་པ་ཐོབ་ ིར་ ་རིམ་
གྱིས་ ོམ་ པའི་ཆ་ནས་བཞག་པའི་སེམས་དཔའི་ ལ་འ ོར་
[3b.3]

དེ། མཐར་གྱིས་ ོར་བའི་མཚན་ཉིད།

Divisions [of serial trainings]
When divided, there are thirteen serial trainings.
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན། མཐར་གྱིས་ རོ ་བ་བ ་ག མ་ཡོད།
Boundaries [of serial trainings]
[Serial trainings] exist from the Great Vehicle path of accumulation to
prior to the end of the continuum [as a sentient being, prior to Bud-
dhahood].
82 Sacred Word of Guru Ajita

ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ཚགས་ལམ་ནས་ [3b.4]

ན་
མཐའི་ ་ལོགས་བར་a ་ཡོད།

Chapter VII. Momentary Trainings

With regard to momentary trainings there are three: definition, divisions,
and boundaries.
བ ན་པ་ ད་ཅིག་མའི་ ོར་བ་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་
མཚམས་ག མ།
Definition [of a momentary training]
A Bodhisattva’s final yoga that has arisen from having meditatively
cultivated serially the aspects of the three exalted knowers is the defi-
nition of a momentary training.
དང་པོ་ནི། མཁྱེན་ག མ་གྱི་ མ་པ་མཐར་གྱིས་བ ོམས་པ་ལས་
ང་བའི་ སེམས་དཔའི་ ལ་འ རོ ་མཐར་ ག་དེ། ད་ཅིག་
[3b.5]

མའི་ ོར་བའི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: A momentary training is a yogic consciousness in
the continuum of a Bodhisattva who is capable of meditating on
the 173 aspects of the three exalted knowers in the smallest unit
of time in which an action can be completed. We may wonder if
such a thing could actually be possible, but if one gets used to it,
becomes familiar with it, indeed it could. For instance, if you put
out a hundred offering bowls side by side and filled them with
water, by hitting one of them you would affect them all; every one
would move. Similarly, you can put a hole through 360 pages with
a single needle-like hole puncher. Similarly, when one becomes
familiar with the path, it is possible to meditatively cultivate the
173 aspects in a single moment.

a Correcting par in the 2011 TBRC bla brang and the 1995 Mundgod revision of
Ngawang Gelek bla brang (3b.4) to bar in accordance with dga' ldan pho brang
(2b.4) and the 2005 Mundgod (5.1).
 Eight Categories 83

I can also give an example that you have experience of, alt-
hough I myself do not. When I see people use a typewriter or com-
puter quickly, I feel it is an impossible accomplishment, but in fact
when one gets used to it one can do it easily. Familiarization, or
conditioning, is like that. Thus it must be possible to meditate on
all 173 aspects in a shortest moment.

Divisions [of momentary trainings]

When divided, there are four by way of isolates [that is to say, by way of
how they appear to conceptuality (see 386ff.)].
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན། ོག་པའི་ སོ ་བཞི།
Boundaries [of momentary trainings]
[Momentary trainings] exist only at the end of the continuum [as a sentient
being, just prior to Buddhahood].
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་ ན་མཐའ་ཁོ་ནར་ཡོད།

Chapter VIII. Body of Attributes, the Fruit

With regard to the fruit body of attributes there are three: definition, divi-
sions, and boundaries.
བ ད་པ་འ ས་ ་ཆོས་ [3b.6]
་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་
མཚམས་ག མ།
Definition [of a fruit body of attributes]
An uncontaminated quality of the final fruit attained through the
force of having meditatively cultivated the aspects of the three exalted
knowers is the definition of a fruit body of attributes.
དང་པོ་ནི། མཁྱེན་ག མ་གྱི་ མ་པ་བ ོམས་ ོབས་ཀྱིས་ཐོབ་
པའི་འ ས་ ་མཐར་ ག་པའི་ཟག་མེད་ཀྱི་ཡོན་ཏན་དེ། འ ས་
་ཆོས་ འི་མཚན་ཉིད། [4a.1]
84 Sacred Word of Guru Ajita

Divisions [of fruit bodies of attributes]

When divided, there are four:
1. nature body (ngo bo nyid sku, svabhāvikakāya)
2. pristine wisdom body of attributes (ye shes chos sku, jñānadharma-
kāya)
3. complete enjoyment body (longs sku, sāṃbhogakāya)
4. emanation body (sprul sku, nirmāṇakāya)
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན།
1. ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ །

2. ཡེ་ཤེས་ཆོས་ །

3. ལོངས་ །

4. ལ་ ་
བཞི་ཡོད།
Boundaries [of a fruit body of attributes]
[A fruit body of attributes] exists only on the Buddha ground.
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ས་ཁོ་ནར་ཡོད། །
Explaining the Seventy Topics
This has three parts: explaining the thirty phenomena characterizing the
three exalted knowers, explaining the thirty-six phenomena characterizing
the four trainings, and explaining the four phenomena characterizing the
body of attributes.
གཉིས་པ་ དོན་བ ན་ ་བཤད་པ་ལ། མཁྱེན་ག མ་
[4a.1] [4a.2]

མཚན་ ེད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་ མ་ ་བཤད་པ། ོར་བཞི་མཚན་ དེ ་ཀྱི་

ཆོས་སོ་ ག་བཤད་པ། ཆོས་ ་མཚན་ ེད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་བཞི་བཤད་པ་
ག མ།
Explaining the thirty phenomena characterizing
the three exalted knowers
This has three parts: explaining the ten phenomena characterizing exalted-
knowers-of-all-aspects, explaining the eleven phenomena characterizing
knowers of paths, and explaining the nine phenomena characterizing
knowers of bases.
དང་པོ་ལ་ མ་མཁྱེན་ མཚན་ དེ ་ཀྱི་ཆོས་བ ་བཤད་པ།
[4a.3]

ལམ་ཤེས་མཚན་ དེ ་ཀྱི་ཆོས་བ ་གཅིག་བཤད་པ། གཞི་ཤེས་

མཚན་ ེད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་དགུ་བཤད་པ་ག མ།
Chapter I. Explaining the ten phenomena charac-
terizing exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects
[Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, I.5-6] says:4
{I.5}
Mind-generations, guidance,
Four limbs of definite discrimination,
The nature of the element of attributes
Which is the basis of achievings,
{I.6}
86 Chapter I: Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects

Objects of observation, intent,

Armor, activities of engaging,
Collections, and issuance
[Characterize] a Subduer’s exalted-knower-of-all-aspects.
དང་པོ་ནི། སེམས་བ དེ ་པ་དང་གདམས་ངག་དང་། །ཞེས་པ་
ནས། བ་པའི་ མ་ཀུན་མཁྱེན་པ་ཉིད། །ཅེས་ག ངས།
[4a.4]

[Ornament I.5-6, 2a.2-2a.3]

{I.5}
སེམས་བ ེད་པ་དང་གདམས་ངག་དང་། །ངེས་འ ེད་ཡན་ལག་ མ་བཞི་དང་། །
བ་པ་ཡི་ནི་ ེན་ ར་པ། །ཆོས་ཀྱི་ད ིངས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་དང་། །
{I.6}
དམིགས་པ་དག་དང་ཆེད་དང་ནི། །གོ་ཆ་འ ག་པའི་ ་བ་དང་། །
ཚགས་ནི་ངེས་པར་འ ང་བཅས་ མས། ། བ་པའི་ མ་ཀུན་མཁྱེན་པ་ཉིད། །
There are ten phenomena that characterize exalted-knowers-of-all-as-
pectsa because there are the ten consisting of:b

a The first category is an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects; it has ten phenomena that

characterize it, define it, or make it known. In general, through a definition one
can understand its definiendum, that which it defines. The definition causes un-
derstanding; it characterizes, illustrates, makes known. Similarly, a cause can
characterize an effect; it can tell us something about its effect. Also, the object of
a consciousness can cause us to understand something about the consciousness
that knows it, and in this sense can characterize it, can bring about some under-
standing of it. As Ngag-wang-pal-dan (Meaning of the Words, 4b.7) says (see
backnote 4), the type of characterization here is both characterization of an effect
by a cause and characterization of an object-possessor [that is, a consciousness]
by an object; it is thus not the type of characterization that occurs by way of a
more usual definition as when “that which is wet and moistening” (the definition
of water) defines, or characterizes, water.
Rather, these ten phenomena cause us to understand an exalted-knower-of-all-
aspects in that it is attained through the power of having practiced these ten phe-
nomena; also, an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects is the final wisdom directly real-
izing all Great Vehicle causes and effects included within the ten phenomena, and
these ten objects tell us something about the subject that supremely realizes them.
In these ways, an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects can be considered to be their de-
finiendum, their object characterized, though not in the technical way that the re-
lationship of definition and definiendum is usually held, and thus the ten phenom-
ena can be considered to be their definition, their means of characterization.
b In the citations of the Tibetan and Sanskrit that follow, the Tibetan accords with
 Ten Phenomena Characterizing Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects 87

1. Great Vehicle mind-generations (theg chen sems bskyed, bodhicittot-

pādaḥ)
2. guidance (gdams ngag, avavādaḥ)
3. limbs of definite discrimination (nges ’byed yan lag, nirvedhāṅgaḥ)
4. naturally abiding lineage, the support of Great Vehicle achievings
(theg chen sgrub pa’i rten rang bzhin gnas rigs, pratipatterādhāraḥ
prakṛtisthaṃ gotram)
5. objects of observation of Great Vehicle achievings (theg chen sgrub
pa’i dmigs pa, pratipatterālambanam)
6. objects of intent of Great Vehicle achievings (theg chen sgrub pa’i
ched du bya ba, pratipatterūddeśaḥ)
7. achievings through armor (go sgrub, saṃnāhapratipattiḥ)
8. achievings through engagement (’jug sgrub, prasthānapratipattiḥ)
9. achievings through collections (tshogs sgrub, saṃbhārapratipattiḥ)
10. definitely issuative achievings (nges ’byung sgrub pa, niryāṇa-
pratipattiḥ)
མ་མཁྱེན་མཚན་ ེད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་བ ་ཡོད་དེ།
1. ཐེག་ཆེན་སེམས་བ ད ེ ་དང་།
2. གདམས་ངག་དང་།

3. ངེས་འ དེ ་ཡན་ལག་དང་།
4. ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་པའི་ ེན་རང་བཞིན་གནས་རིགས་
[4a.5]

དང་།
5. ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་པའི་དམིགས་པ་དང་།
6. ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་པའི་ཆེད་ ་ ་བ་དང་།

7. གོ་ བ་དང་།

8. འ ག་ བ་དང་།

9. ཚགས་ བ་དང་།

10. ངེས་འ ང་ བ་པ་

Jam-yang-shay-pa’s text, whereas the Sanskrit follows Obermiller, Analysis of the

Abhisamayālaṃkāra; hence, the discrepancies.
88 Chapter I: Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects

དང་བ ་ཡོད་པའི་ རི །
 1st Topic
1. Great Vehicle Mind-generations (སེམས་བ ེད་)
To explain the first by means of the four—the definition, objects of obser-
vation, divisions, and boundaries of mind-generations—[Maitreya’s Or-
nament for the Clear Realizations, I.18-20] says:5
{I.18}
Mind-generation is a wish for thoroughly
Complete enlightenment for the sake of others.
That and that
Are described briefly and at length similarly to the sūtras.
{I.19}
Moreover that6 is of twenty-two aspects—
By way of earth, gold, moon, fire,
Treasure, jewel-mine, ocean,
Diamond, mountain, medicine, spiritual guide,
{I.20}
Wishing-granting jewel, sun,
Song, monarch, storehouse, highway,
Mount, spring, lute,
River, and cloud.
དང་པོ་[ཐེག་ཆེན་སེམས་བ ེད་]སེམས་བ ེད་ཀྱི་མཚན་ཉིད་དང་།
[4a.6]

དམིགས་པ་དང་། ད ེ་བ་དང་། ས་མཚམས་བཞིས་བཤད་པར།

སེམས་བ དེ ་པ་ནི་གཞན་དོན་ རི ། །ཞེས་པ་ནས། མ་པ་ཉི་ ་
་གཉིས་སོ། །ཞེས་ ག ངས།
[4b.1]

[Ornament I.18-20, 2b.5-2b.6]

{I.18}
སེམས་བ ེད་པ་ནི་གཞན་དོན་ རི ། །ཡང་དག་ ོགས་པའི་ ང་ བ་འདོད། །
དེ་དང་དེ་ནི་མདོ་བཞིན་ ། །བ ས་དང་ ས་པའི་ ོ་ནས་བ ོད། །
{I.19}
དེ་ཡང་ས་གསེར་ ་བ་མེ། །གཏེར་དང་རིན་ཆེན་འ ང་གནས་མཚ། །
ོ་ ེ་རི་ ན་བཤེས་གཉེན་དང་། །ཡིད་བཞིན་ནོར་ ་ཉི་མ་ ། །
90 Chapter I: Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects

{I.20}
ལ་པོ་མཛད་དང་ལམ་པོ་ཆེ། །བཞོན་པ་བཀོད་མའི་ ་དང་ནི། །
་བ ན་ ་བོ་ ིན་ མས་ཀྱིས། ། མ་པ་ཉི་ ་ ་གཉིས་སོ། །
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Altruistic mind-generation is taught as the first
topic because it is the door of entry to the Great Vehicle. If one
generates this precious mind of enlightenment in one’s contin-
uum, then even if one’s life is a low one, such as an animal or hell-
being, one becomes a suitable object of worship for gods and so
forth and attains the name “Child of the One-Gone-to-Bliss.” If,
however, one does not have this altruistic mind of enlightenment,
then no matter what good qualities one has—even if one has the
wisdom realizing emptiness, the five clairvoyances, or magical
powers—one is not among the group of Great Vehicle practition-
ers, whereas a person who has the altruistic mind of enlightenment
in his or her continuum is. It is like being in a room: from the
inside of the door one is inside, otherwise one is outside. There-
fore, the altruistic mind of enlightenment is called the door of en-
try to the Great Vehicle.
What must one have in order to possess an altruistic mind-
generation? Two aspirations: an aspiration seeking others’ wel-
fare; and a wish for your own highest enlightenment. If you have
only the second, this is not an altruistic mind-generation. Thus
Maitreya says:
Mind-generation is the wish for thoroughly
Complete enlightenment for the sake of others.
The cause of an altruistic mind-generation—that which induces
it—is the aspiration seeking others’ welfare. Thus this aspiration
seeking others’ welfare precedes mind-generation. The welfare
that one is seeking for others is others’ own attainment of a non-
abiding nirvāṇa. The aspiration seeking others’ welfare and mind-
generation are like a needle and its thread; wherever the needle
goes, it pulls the thread along.
Mind-generation is accompanied, or assisted, by the wish for
enlightenment. In general there are two types of assisters: one that
acts as a cause of a thing and another that accompanies a particular
thing, and in this case the assister is something that accompanies.
An altruistic mind-generation itself is a main mind, not a mental
factor, and it is accompanied by or associated with the wish for
enlightenment. It is called special because it is unlike others.
 Great Vehicle Mind-generations 91

With regard to mind-generation there are four: definition, objects of ob-

servation, divisions, and boundaries.a
སེམས་བ དེ ་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། དམིགས་པ། ད ་ེ བ། ས་མཚམས་
བཞི།
Definition of a mind-generation
A special cognition that is induced by its cause, an aspiration seeking
the welfare of others, and is in parallel association with an accompa-
nier, a wish for [one’s own] enlightenment is the definition of a Great
Vehicle mind-generation.
དང་པོ་ནི། རང་ ་གཞན་དོན་དོན་གཉེར་གྱི་འ ན་པས་ ངས་
ཤིང་གྲོགས་ ང་ བ་འདོད་པ་དང་མ ངས་ ན་གྱི་ མ་རིག་
ཁྱད་པར་ཅན་དེ། ཐེག་ཆེན་སེམས་བ དེ ་ཀྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
[4b.2]

Dan-ma-lo-chö: The word “generation” (bskyed) in mind-genera-

tion (sems bskyed) does not just mean to produce, but means to
make vast.
It is very difficult to develop the causes of an altruistic mind-
generation, and when it is generated, it is very meaningful. No
matter who one is, one considers oneself to be very valuable. This
is a very mistaken idea, for if oneself does well or poorly, it is
relatively insignificant since oneself is only one. Others are limit-
less, and if others do not do well, it is very, very bad, and if things
go well for others, there has been great benefit. Therefore, Buddha
set forth many activities motivated by this altruistic wish that val-
ues others more than oneself.
From a religious perspective it is, of course, excellent for per-
sons to cherish others more than oneself, but even in a worldly
way it is considered to be good. Conversely, not only in the reli-
gious way is it considered bad to cherish oneself more than others,
but also in the worldly way. Therefore, the diminishment of self-
cherishing and increase of cherishing others, no matter from what
perspective one considers it, worldly or religious, is excellent. As
the Bodhisattva Shāntideva said, “All sufferings in the world arise

a The fourth, boundaries, is not addressed under a separate heading.

92 Chapter I: Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects

from wishing for happiness for oneself. All happiness in the world
arises from wishing for happiness for others.”

Objects of observation of a mind-generation

The objects of observation of a mind-generation exist because the [altru-
istic] mind is generated upon observing the two—the enlightenment that
is one’s own welfare and the nirvāṇa in others’ continuums that is others’
welfare.
གཉིས་པ་ནི། དམིགས་པ་ཡོད་དེ། རང་དོན་ ང་ བ་དང་གཞན་
དོན་གཞན་ ད་ཀྱི་ ང་འདས་གཉིས་ལ་དམིགས་ནས་སེམས་
བ ེད་པའི་ ིར།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: What is an object of observation? If we consider
a wisdom realizing sound to be impermanent, its object of obser-
vation is sound. Sound is a substratum of the quality of imperma-
nence. In the case of an altruistic mind-generation the object of
observation is perfect enlightenment. Both conventional and ulti-
mate Great Vehicle mind-generation have as their object of obser-
vation perfect enlightenment.
A conventional mind-generation is a case of observing com-
plete enlightenment and generating a wish to attain it, whereas an
ultimate mind-generation takes as its object complete enlighten-
ment and, refuting true existence, realizes this absence of true ex-
istence directly, just as the eye sees a visible form.
The object of observation of a conventional mind-generation
is that enlightenment which is one’s own object of attainment, that
is to say, the Form Bodies—Emanation Body and Complete En-
joyment Body—of the Buddha one will become. One must differ-
entiate this object of observation from the object of intent, which
is also called an object of observation. The object of intent is iden-
tified as others’ welfare. To give an example, if one wants to give
water to someone who is thirsty, one first must have a vessel.
Thus, one initially prepares the vessel and then engages in giving
the water. Similarly, to fulfill others’ welfare one first needs to
attain Buddhahood oneself; one needs the Form Bodies of a Bud-
dha that serve as a vessel for bestowing welfare on others. There-
fore, as mentioned previously, one needs two aspirations—to
one’s own enlightenment and to others’ welfare. If one had only
 Great Vehicle Mind-generations 93

one of these—the aspiration to become a Buddha oneself—that is,

if one valued it and considered it worth having, this would not be
called a mind-generation toward Buddhahood, but only an aspira-
tion to Buddhahood. What one should want is to establish sentient
beings in the non-abiding nirvāṇa of a Buddha and thus aspire to-
ward one’s own enlightenment so that one will be able to do this.
There are three types of altruistic mind-generation. One is
compared to a shepherd in that the person thinks to establish oth-
ers in Buddhahood and then to achieve Buddhahood himself, like
a shepherd coming home after the flock. Another is called the
mind-generation of a boatman, in which one thinks that others and
oneself will attain Buddhahood at the same time, just as a boatman
reaches the other side of a frightful river along with the passen-
gers. The third type, that being indicated here, is the mind-gener-
ation of a monarch. For instance, someone who wants to help the
people of a certain country could aspire to be that country’s pres-
ident whereby this person would attain many powers enabling him
or her to help others more effectively. The mind-generation indi-
cated here is similar; one initially seeks to attain the highest en-
lightenment of a Buddha in order to be of greatest help to others,
and thus one’s mind-generation is that of a monarch.
When Great Vehicle mind-generations are divided termino-
logically, there are two—ultimate and conventional. This is a ter-
minological division because an ultimate mind-generation is not
an actual mind-generation although the term “mind-generation” is
used for it. A Great Vehicle Superior’s main mental cognition
that abides in the type of realization of special wisdom and for
which dualistic appearance has vanished with respect to the
mode of subsistence of complete enlightenmenta is the defini-
tion of an ultimate mind-generation. An ultimate mind-generation

a The Se-ra Jay scholar Long-döl Ngag-wang-lo-sang (klong rdol ngag dbang blo
bzang, 1719-1794), Vocabulary Occurring in the Perfection of Wisdom (phar
phyin las byung ba’i ming gi rnam grangs), Collected Works, Śata-Piṭaka Series,
vol. 100 (New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture, 1973), 338.2, adds
at the beginning “That which is either an ultimate mind-generation or a conven-
tional mind-generation and”…:

དོན་དམ་སེམས་བ ེད་དང་ཀུན་ ོབ་སེམས་བ ེད་གང་ ང་གང་ཞིག།

ོགས་པའི་ ང་ བ་ཀྱི་གནས་ གས་ལ་གཉིས་ ང་ བ་ཅིང་། ཤེས་རབ་
94 Chapter I: Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects

is the same as a mental consciousness directly realizing emptiness

within the continuum of a Great Vehicle Superior. For an ultimate
mind-generation dualistic appearance has vanished. There are no
conceptual images, and there is no sense of true existence at all.
This type of consciousness exists only in the continuum of a Great
Vehicle Superior—that is, one on or above the Great Vehicle path
of seeing.
Actual mind-generations are conventional mind-generations.
A Great Vehicle [practitioner’s] special main mental cognition
distinguished by abiding in the type of path that serves as the
door of entry to the Great Vehicle path, induced by its cause—
an aspiration that seeks others’ welfare—and in parallel asso-
ciation with an accompanier, a wish for enlightenmenta is the
definition of a Great Vehicle [practitioner’s] conventional mind-
generation. Conventional mind-generation, mind of enlighten-
ment, mind of enlightenment among the seven cause and effect
quintessential instructions, and mind of enlightenment in the in-
structions on equalizing and switching self and others are equiva-
lent.

Divisions of mind-generations
When divided, there are two mind-generations by way of entity, aspira-
tional and practical.7
[4b.3]
ག མ་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན། ངོ་བོའི་ ོས་ ོན་འ ག་གཉིས་དང་།

ཁྱད་པར་ཅན་གྱི་ ོགས་རིགས་ ་གནས་པའི། ཐེག་ཆེན་འཕགས་པའི་

གཙ་བོ་ཡིད་ཀྱི་ མ་རིག། དོན་དམ་སེམས་བ ེད་ཀྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
a The Se-ra Jay scholar Long-döl Ngag-wang-lo-sang’s Vocabulary Occurring in
the Perfection of Wisdom, 338.5:

རང་ ་གཞན་དོན་དོན་གཉེར་གྱི་འ ན་པས་ ངས་ཤིང་། གྲོགས་ ང་

བ་འདོད་པ་དང་མ ངས་ ན་ཐེག་ཆེན་ལམ་གྱི་འ ག་ ོར་ ར་པའི་
ལམ་གྱི་རིགས་ ་གནས་པས་རབ་ ་ ེ་བའི་ཐེག་ཆེན་གཙ་བོ་ཡིད་ཀྱི་
མ་རིག་ཁྱད་པར་ཅན་དེ། ཐེག་ཆེན་ཀུན་ ོབ་སེམས་བ ེད་ཀྱི་མཚན་
ཉིད།
 Great Vehicle Mind-generations 95

Dan-ma-lo-chö: A mind-generation of a type not requiring re-

liance on deeds of practice is the definition of an aspirational
mind-generation; its boundaries are from the lesser Great Vehicle
path of accumulation through the seventh ground. A mind-gener-
ation that must be explicitly conjoined with deeds of six per-
fections is the definition of a practical mind-generation; its bound-
aries are from the lesser Great Vehicle path of accumulation
through the Buddha ground. Using the example of going to an-
other city, some might think to go there but not engage in any ac-
tivities related to going, whereas others would both wish to go and
engage in such activities. The aspirational mind of enlightenment
is a case of the first, wishing to attain Buddhahood for the sake of
helping others and generating that aspiration, but not actually en-
gaging in training in the Bodhisattva deeds. With the practical
mind of enlightenment one not only wishes to progress to the state
of a Buddha but engages in the Bodhisattva deeds in order to pro-
gress there. Shāntideva said that through the example of wishing
to go and going, the wise can know the divisions of the conven-
tional mind of enlightenment—aspiration and practical.
And there are twenty-two mind-generations by way of association.
གྲོགས་ཀྱི་ སོ ་ཉེར་གཉིས་ཡོད་པའི་ ིར།
[On the paths of accumulation and preparation, mind-generations of en-
gagement through belief]a
1. mind-generation like earth [associated with aspiration in the contin-
uum of a Bodhisattva on the lesser path of accumulation]
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This mind-generation is said to be like earth in
that just as the earth serves as the basis of the mobile and the im-
mobile—all the things that grow and depend on it—so this mind-
generation serves as the basis for developing all the higher quali-
ties of the path.
2. mind-generation like gold [associated with contemplation in the con-
tinuum of a Bodhisattva on the medium path of accumulation]
3. mind-generation like a moon [associated with a special attitude in the
continuum of a Bodhisattva on the greater path of accumulation]
4. mind-generation like fire [associated with training in the continuum of
a Bodhisattva on the path of preparation]

a The brackets in this section are drawn from the Se-ra Jay scholar Long-döl
Ngag-wang-lo-sang’s Vocabulary Occurring in the Perfection of Wisdom,
339.3/2a.3ff.
96 Chapter I: Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects

[On the seven impure grounds, mind-generations of special pure thought]

5. mind-generation like a treasure [associated with giving in the contin-
uum of a first ground Bodhisattva]
Dan-ma-lo-chö: The first grounder’s mind is said to be like a treas-
ure because the Bodhisattva at that stage possesses a special ful-
fillment of the perfection of giving that is like an inexhaustible
treasure.
6. mind-generation like a jewel-mine [associated with ethics in the con-
tinuum of a second grounder]
7. mind-generation like an ocean [associated with patience in the contin-
uum of a third grounder]
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Just as a lake or ocean cannot be disturbed by a
stone that is thrown into it, so third ground Bodhisattvas have a
special fulfillment of the perfection of patience, whereby they can-
not be moved by disturbances.
8. mind-generation like a diamond [associated with effort in the contin-
uum of a fourth grounder]
Dan-ma-lo-chö: A diamond can cut other things but other things
cannot cut it. A Bodhisattva on the fourth ground has attained a
special fulfillment of the practice of effort and cannot be diverted
by laziness and so forth.
9. mind-generation like a mountain [associated with concentration in the
continuum of a fifth grounder]
Dan-ma-lo-chö: A mountain is not moved by the winds that blow
against it; similarly, fifth grounders, due to having achieved a spe-
cial fulfillment of the practice of concentration, have very firm
meditative stabilization. Their mind will not fluctuate due to dis-
traction, lethargy, excitement, and so forth.
10. mind-generation like medicine [associated with wisdom in the contin-
uum of a sixth grounder]
Dan-ma-lo-chö: If one takes medicine it is possible to cure dis-
eases; similarly because sixth grounders have achieved a special
fulfillment of the perfection of wisdom they are able to remove
the afflictions from the root. The reason why a Buddha’s exalted
knower is called a perfection of wisdom despite the fact that it is
the perfection of all qualities is just this—that it is able to over-
come all obstructions. In dependence on the practice of the per-
fection of wisdom, the practices of giving, patience, ethics, effort,
and concentration become causes of Buddhahood. The first five
perfections—giving and so forth—are said to be like a blind per-
son, whereas wisdom is like a person with eyes. Chandrakīrti’s
 Great Vehicle Mind-generations 97

Supplement to (Nāgārjuna’s) “Treatise on the Middle” says:a

Just as a person with eyes easily leads all
In a blind group to their desired destination,
So here also the mind [of wisdom], taking hold of qualities
Lacking the eye [of wisdom], goes to the state of a Con-
queror.
11. mind-generation like a spiritual guide [associated with method in the
continuum of a seventh grounder].
[On the three pure grounds, ripening mind-generations]
12. mind-generation like a wish-granting jewel [associated with the per-
fection of prayer-wishes in the continuum of an eighth grounder]
13. mind-generation like the sun [associated with the perfection of power
in the continuum of a ninth grounder]
14. mind-generation like a pleasant song [associated with the perfection
of pristine wisdom in the continuum of a tenth grounder]
15. mind-generation like a monarch [associated with the five clairvoy-
ances in the continuums of Bodhisattvas abiding on the three pure
grounds—eighth, ninth, and tenth]
16. mind-generation like a storehouse [associated with the two collections
of merit and wisdom in the continuums of Bodhisattvas biding on the
three pure grounds]
17. mind-generation like a highway [associated with the thirty-seven har-
monies with enlightenment in the continuums of Bodhisattvas abiding
on the three pure grounds]
18. mind-generation like a mount [associated with the compassion and
special insight in the continuums of Bodhisattvas abiding on the three
pure grounds]
19. mind-generation like a spring [associated with the retentions and cour-
age in the continuums of Bodhisattvas abiding on the three pure
grounds]
20. mind-generation like a lute [associated with the festival of doctrine in

a VI.2; dbu ma la 'jug pa:

ི་ ར་ལོང་བའི་ཚགས་ཀུན་བདེ་ ག་ ། །
མིག་ ན་ ེས་ ་གཅིག་གིས་འདོད་པ་ཡི། །
ལ་ ་འཁྲིད་པ་དེ་བཞིན་འདིར་ཡང་ ོས། །
མིག་ཉམས་ཡོན་ཏན་ ངས་ཏེ་ ལ་ཉིད་འགྲོ། །
In bstan 'gyur (sde dge), TBRC W23703.102, 204a.1-204a.2.
98 Chapter I: Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects

the continuum of a tenth ground Bodhisattva].

[In the continuum of a Buddha, mind-generations of one who has aban-
doned the obstructions]
21. mind-generation like a river [associated with the path of sole passage
in the continuum mainly of an Enjoyment body]
22. mind-generation like a cloud [associated with skill in means in the
continuum mainly of an Emanation Body].
1. ས་ ་ འི་སེམས་བ དེ ་དང་དེ་བཞིན་ ་།
2. གསེར་ ་ འི་སེམས་བ ེད།

3. ་བ་ ་ འི་དེ།
4. མེ་ ་ [4b.4]
འི་དེ།
5. གཏེར་ ་ འི་དེ།

6. རིན་པོ་ཆེའ་ི འ ང་གནས་ ་ འི་དེ།

7. མཚ་ ་ འི་དེ།

8. ོ་ ེ་ ་ འི་དེ།
9. རི་ ་ འི་དེ།

10. ན་ ་ འི་དེ།

11. བཤེས་གཉེན་ ་ འི་དེ།

12. ཡིད་བཞིན་ནོར་ ་ ་ འི་དེ།

13. ཉི་མ་ ་ འི་དེ།
[4b.5]

14. ་ད ངས་ ་ འི་དེ།

15. ལ་པོ་ ་ འི་དེ།

16. མཛད་ ་ འི་དེ།

17. ལམ་པོ་ཆེ་ ་ འི་དེ།

18. བཞོན་པ་ ་ འི་དེ།

 Great Vehicle Mind-generations 99

བཀོད་མའི་ ་ ་ འི་དེ།
19.

20. ་ ན་ ་ འི་དེ།

21. ་བོ་ ་ འི་དེ།

22. ིན་ ་ འི་སེམས་ བ ེད་ [4b.6]

དང་ཉེར་གཉིས་ཡོད།
Divided by way of state, there are four mind-generations:
1. mind-generation of engagement through belief
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This mind-generation is so called because during
the paths of accumulation and preparation the Bodhisattva realizes
emptiness not directly, but by means of a conceptual image, or
meaning generality.
2. mind-generation of special pure thought
Dan-ma-lo-chö: These are the mind-generations of the seven im-
pure grounds—the first through the seventh Bodhisattva grounds
3. ripening mind-generation
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This is the mind-generation of Bodhisattvas on
the three pure grounds—the eighth, ninth, and tenth. On these
grounds one is accumulating the merit that will become the thirty-
two major and eighty beauties of a Buddha, as well as the Bud-
dha’s pure land, and thus these are called mind-generations of rip-
ening or fruition.
4. mind-generation of one who has abandoned the obstructions.
Dan-ma-lo-chö: These are mind-generations in the continuum of
a Buddha.
གནས་ བས་ ོས་བཞིར་ཡོད་དེ།
1. མོས་པ་ ད
ོ ་པའི་སེམས་བ ེད།
2. ག་བསམ་དག་པའི་སེམས་བ དེ །
3. མ་པར་ ནི ་པའི་སེམས་བ ེད།
4. ིབ་པ་ ངས་པའི་སེམས་ བ དེ ་ [5a.1]

དང་བཞི་ཡོད་པའི་ རི །
 2nd Topic
2. Guidance (གདམས་ངག་)
གཉིས་པ་གདམས་ངག་ནི།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Why should this topic follow the discussion on
mind-generation? It is put in this order because a good thought is
not sufficient to achieve Buddhahood—it is also necessary to en-
gage in practice. In order to cause people to know that one should
practice the achievings of the Great Vehicle path, the topic of
guidance is presented next.
[Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, I.21-22] says:8
{I.21}
Concerning achieving, the truths,
The three jewels—Buddha and so forth,
Nonattachment, thorough nonwearying,
Thoroughly maintaining the paths,
{I.22}
The five eyes, the six qualities
Of clairvoyance, the path of seeing,
And meditation: guidances
Are to be known as having a nature of ten.
བ་aདང་བདེན་པ་ མས་དང་ནི། །ཞེས་པ་ནས། བ ་ཡི་བདག་
ཉིད་ཤེས་པར་ ། །ཞེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament I.21-22, 2b.6-2b.7]
{I.21}
བ་དང་བདེན་པ་ མས་དང་ནི། །སངས་ ས་ལ་སོགས་དཀོན་མཆོག་ག མ། །
མ་ཞེན་ཡོངས་ ་མི་ངལ་དང་། །ལམ་ནི་ཡོངས་ ་འཛིན་པ་དང་། །
{I.22}
ན་ ་དང་ནི་མངོན་ཤེས་ཀྱི། །ཡོན་ཏན་ ག་དང་མཐོང་ལམ་དང་། །
བ ོམ་ཞེས་ ་ལ་གདམས་ངག་ནི། །བ ་ཡི་བདག་ཉིད་ཤེས་པར་ ། །

a The 2005 Mundgod (7.13) mistakenly inserts pa.

 Guidance 101

With regard to guidance there are four: definition, divisions, boundaries,

and mode of listening [to guidance].
གདམས་ ངག་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས། ཉན་ ལ་
[5a.2]

བཞི།
Definition [of guidance]
A pure means of expression that unerringly teaches a path of libera-
tion is the definition of guidance.
དང་པོ་ནི། ཐར་ལམ་མ་ནོར་བར་ ནོ ་པའི་ དོ ་ ེད་ མ་དག་དེ།
གདམས་ངག་གི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Liberation is a state of abandonment of the men-
tal and physical aggregates that receive their impetus from con-
taminated actions and afflictions and is a state of liberation from
their causes. What is taught is called a path because it leads to
liberation. These will be explained later as the paths of Hearers,
Solitary Victors, and Great Vehicle practitioners or Bodhisattvas.
It teaches a path of freedom unerringly, without mistake. The
words or sounds that set these forth are rjod byed, means of ex-
pression. Rnam dag means “pure” in the sense of “complete;” it
essentially means “good.”
A means of expression that unerringly teaches a method of attaining
what is sought by a Great Vehicle mind-generationa is the definition of
a Great Vehicle guidance.
ཐེག་ཆེན་སེམས་བ དེ ་ཀྱི་དོན་ ་ གཉེར་ ་ཐོབ་པའི་ཐབས་
[5a.3]

མ་ནོར་བར་ ོན་པའི་ ོད་ དེ ་དེ། ཐེག་ཆེན་གདམས་ངག་གི་

མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: An altruistic mind-generation seeks to attain the
state of perfect Buddhahood in order to bring about others’ wel-
fare; thus a Great Vehicle guidance is verbalizing sound that un-
erringly teaches a means for attaining this.

a The welfare of others and one’s own enlightenment.

102 Chapter I: Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects

Divisions [of guidance]

When divided, there are two by way of mode of guidance: guidance that
guides and guidance that is subsequent teaching.
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན། གདམས་ ལ་གྱི་ ོས་
1. གདམས་པའི་གདམས་ངག་དང་།

2. ེས་བ ན་ གྱི་གདམས་ངག་
[5a.4]

གཉིས་ཡོད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: When Great Vehicle guidances are divided by
their mode of guidance there are two: those guiding to the Great
Vehicle for the sake of newly attaining previously unattained
Great Vehicle qualities and those of subsequent Great Vehicle
teachings for the sake of lifting higher already attained Great Ve-
hicle qualities.
On this occasion there are ten guidances by way of subjects of expression
because in terms of aspects of objects of observation of achievings there
are ten:
1. guidance concerning the entities, the two truths [ultimate truths and
obscurational truths]
2. guidance concerning the objects of observation, the four truths
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Here, on this occasion of Maitreya’s text, where
the division is made by way of what is taught (brjod bya), there
are ten in terms of the aspects of objects of observation of achiev-
ings. The objects of observation of Great Vehicle achievings are
the bases for the elimination of superimpositions. And that refers
to all phenomena. This division refers to various aspects of those
objects, and the first, entity of achievings, indicates the division
of all phenomena into the two truths, conventional and ultimate.
The four noble truths are true sufferings, true origins, true ces-
sations, and true paths. After Shākyamuni Buddha became en-
lightened at the Vajra Seat (Bodh Gaya) he went to Varanasi and
turned the wheel of the doctrine. First, he turned the wheel of doc-
trine based on the four truths for the five good ascetics, 84,000
gods, and so forth. This was the first time he taught the four truths.
The first of these are true sufferings; then he spoke about true or-
igins, true cessations, and true paths. For instance, when one wants
 Guidance 103

to be cured of an illness, one must first identify what it is, and then
one must give up its causes. One must seek the pleasure of release
from that illness and take medicine for that purpose.
Thus, first of all it is necessary to view suffering as suffering
and see it as faulty. If one does not know suffering as suffering
one cannot generate an attitude wishing to abandon it. If, having
seen suffering to be suffering, one turns away from it, then when
one has analyzed what its causes are, one must seek the state of
being free from that suffering. This is the way the wish to attain
that liberation which is the state of having abandoned all suffering
arises. The method for the attainment of this liberation is cultiva-
tion of the path realizing both coarse and subtle selflessness.
True sufferings are like the illness. True origins are like the
causes of illness. True cessations are like the pacification of the
causes of illness, and true paths are like the medicine.
3. guidance concerning the three jewels, the support [For Dan-ma-lo-
chö’s commentary, see the separate section after the list of ten guid-
ances.]
4. guidance concerning thorough nonattachment, a cause of enhancing
achieving
Dan-ma-lo-chö: These are guidance exhorting to effort. Three
types of effort are mentioned here; the first is nonattachment,
which means not being attached to bad worldly activities. It is a
case of initiating effort within nonattachment to bad worldly ac-
tivities
5. guidance concerning thorough nonwearying, a cause of nonreversal
from Great Vehicle achieving
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Even if one has entered into achieving, it is still
possible to reverse from that, to get tired and give it up. What
would cause one to do so is laziness, a feeling that it is too much
to accomplish, too difficult; what keeps ones courage up and keeps
one from that reversal is nonwearying.
6. guidance concerning thoroughly maintaining Great Vehicle paths, a
cause of nondegeneration from achieving
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This is a case of exhorting persons to possess in
their mental continuums a forceful effort that maintains all the
Great Vehicle paths. One should not feel that one cannot accom-
plish practice, thinking it is impossible to do it. With effort, exer-
tion and so forth it is possible to generate in one year the qualities
that one might think one might think one could not generate in
one’s continuum in even a hundred years.
104 Chapter I: Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects

7. guidance concerning the five eyes, causes of engaging in Great Vehi-

cle achieving under one’s own power
Dan-ma-lo-chö: The five eyes are the fleshly eye, divine eye, doc-
trine eye, wisdom eye, and Buddha eye. How do these come to
cause one to engage in Great Vehicle practice under one’s own
power? The fleshly eye is probably so called because it depends
on its empowering condition (bdag rkyen, adhipatipratyaya) the
eye sense power; however, its uncommon dominant condition is
meditative stabilization that is an actual concentration. Through
this eye one is capable of seeing wherever one’s trainees might be.
There are trainees who are suited to hear one’s own teaching of
the doctrine, and one will be able to see them no matter where they
are. With it one can see anything from 100 yojanas out to all the
hundred billion worlds of this world system. It is not that you
would necessarily always see everything, but you could see what
you wanted to within that space. This ability comes through the
cause of having cultivated meditative stabilization.
The divine eye can see, within the same abovementioned area,
where beings die and where they are reborn, and whether their
welfare is increasing or diminishing. One would be viewing one’s
own trainees in this way because within meditative stabilization
one would have the motivation to know how one’s own trainees
are doing. It is not that the death, rebirth, transmigration, prosper-
ity, and so forth are appearing to one simultaneously as they do to
a Buddha, but one can know these if one wishes to do so within
this sphere.
The eye of doctrine is posited from the factor of directly real-
izing the selflessness of persons and the selflessness of phenom-
ena.
The eye of wisdom is a case of being able to see the sharpness
or dullness of wisdom of these same beings that one perceives
transmigrating and so forth with the divine eye. One can also see
whether their faith is great or small, the extent of their effort, the
greatness or smallness of their mindfulness, and their strength or
weakness of meditative stabilization. The eye of wisdom should
be applied to all five faculties. The five faculties are wisdom, faith,
effort, mindfulness, and meditative stabilization.
The Buddha eye is an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects realizing
all the diversity and modes directly. Thus it only exists in a Bud-
dha.
These five are called causes for engaging in practice under
 Guidance 105

one’s own power because if one has these, one does not have to
depend on others.
8. guidance concerning the six clairvoyances, causes of quickly achiev-
ing fruits
Dan-ma-lo-chö: If one has the six clairvoyances, one will know
what kind of disposition and interest persons have and what path
would be appropriate to those persons and would thus be able to
teach them according to their capacity because the accumulators
of the collections of merit and wisdom and the achievers of the
fruit are the practitioners themselves. For instance, although emp-
tiness is very profound and important, some people are frightened
by it and thus are not suitable vessels for teaching on it. Someone
with clairvoyance would know this and thus would not teach them
about emptiness at that time. Further, even though the Great Ve-
hicle is vast and profound, some become discouraged on hearing
about it in consequence of which it is not suitable to teach the
Great Vehicle to them; other paths should be taught. Therefore, in
order to teach any doctrine one needs a suitable vessel. If one ex-
plains the doctrine to those who are not vessels for it, it can be
harmful instead of helpful, and thus it is helpful to have clairvoy-
ance; but even if one does not, one must estimate what kind of
disposition, capacity, and so forth one’s listeners have. The mere
fact that one has heard a doctrine or knows it is not a sufficient
reason to explain it to others, because teaching it could hurt them.
Clairvoyance in Tibetan is mngon shes, in Sanskrit abhijñā.
The syllable mngon here means shar (appear), and because one
knows (shes) what is appearing to another’s mind, the two sylla-
bles together mean clairvoyance. Similarly, in Sanskrit abhi
means “appear” and jñā means “know.” This is the etymology, the
name coming by way of the main of all clairvoyances—
knowledge of others’ minds. However, when clairvoyances are di-
vided, there are six types:
1. clairvoyance of magical emanation, which is so called be-
cause it is a clairvoyance in which one has power over various
emanations
2. clairvoyance of the divine ear which can hear subtle and gross
distant sounds that are not heard by the ordinary ear
3. clairvoyance of memory of former lives, a knowledge of
where oneself and other persons died in the former lifetime
and where they took rebirth in this lifetime
4. clairvoyance of knowing others’ minds, knowing whether
106 Chapter I: Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects

others’ minds are desirous or not desirous, whether persons

have interest or faith in a doctrine that is to be taught, whether
they are suitable vessels for teaching and so forth—one knows
these specifics of others’ minds
5. clairvoyance of divine eye, posited from the factor of the ap-
pearance of gross and subtle forms, just as they are, to the
mind; these are forms not seen by the ordinary eye
6. clairvoyance of extinction of contamination, which is
knowledge that one has removed all the contamination of the
afflictions; it exists in the continuum of one who has com-
pletely overcome the afflictions, that is, a Foe Destroyer.
9. guidance concerning the path of seeing which abandons the artificial
objects of abandonment as well as their seeds
10. guidance concerning the path of meditation which abandons the seeds
of the innate objects of abandonment.a
བས་འདིར་བ ོད་ འི་ ོ་ནས་བ ་ཡོད་དེ། བ་པའི་དམིགས་
པའི་ མ་པའི་དབང་ ་ ས་ནས་
1. ངོ་བོ་བདེན་གཉིས་ལ་འདོམས་པ་དང་།

2. དམིགས་ ལ་བདེན་བཞི་ལ་འདོམས་པ་ གཉིས་དང་། [5a.5]

3. ེན་དཀོན་མཆོག་ག མ་ལ་འདོམས་པ་དང་།
4. བ་པ་ཁྱད་པར་ ་འགྲོ་བའི་ ་ཡོངས་ ་མ་ཞེན་པ་bལ་
འདོམས་པ་དང་།
5. ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་པ་ལས་མི་ ོག་པའི་ ་ཡོངས་ ་མི་ངལ་བ་
ལ་འདོམས་པ་དང་། [5a.6]

6. བ་པ་མི་ཉམས་པའི་ ་ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ལམ་ཡོངས་ ་
འཛིན་པ་ལ་འདོམས་པ་དང་།
a For details on these paths, see Elizabeth Napper, Kön-chog-jig-may-wang-po’s
Presentation of the Grounds and Paths with Denma Locho’s Commentary and
Hopkins, Meditation on Emptiness, 661-667.
b The 2005 Mundgod (8.8) reads ba.
 Guidance 107

7. ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ བ་པ་ལ་རང་དབང་ ་འ ག་པའི་ ་ ན་

་ལ་འདོམས་པ་དང་།
8. འ ས་ ་ ར་ ་འ བ་པའི་ ་མངོན་ཤེས་ ག་ལ་

འདོམས་པ་དང་།
[5b.1]

9. ང་ ་ཀུན་བཏགས་ས་བོན་དང་བཅས་པ་ ངོ ་བའི་
མཐོང་ལམ་ལ་འདོམས་པ་དང་།
10. ང་ ་ ན་ ེས་ཀྱི་ས་བོན་ ོང་བའི་ ོམ་ལམ་ལ་

འདོམས་པའི་གདམས་ངག་
དང་བ ་ཡོད་པའི་ རི །
Dan-ma-lo-chö: I will expand a little on the three jewels—Bud-
dha, the doctrine and the spiritual community. According to Bud-
dhists, that which has the perfect and complete capacity of pro-
tecting oneself and others from fright are the three jewels. In San-
skrit, the word for “jewels” is ratna, which, translated literally into
Tibetan, would be rin po che which means “jewel” or, more spe-
cifically, “precious substance.” However, it was not translated this
way in Tibetan because people might have become confused and
think it meant gold, silver, or the like. Therefore, it was translated
according to its meaning as dkon mchog. The syllable dkon means
rare, and mchog means supreme. Thus, “supreme rarities.” Hence
the Tibetan name comes from their being both rare and supreme
in the world. Maitreya’s Sublime Continuum of the Great Vehicle
says that the supreme rarities are similar to wish-granting jewels
by way of six features:
1. Just as wish-granting jewels do exist in the world but are very
rare, so the appearance of Buddha, his doctrine, and the spir-
itual community are rare.
2. Just as a wish-granting jewel is the best of all worldly wealth,
so are the three jewels.
3. Just as a wish-granting jewel is supreme among adornments
of the world, so Buddha, his doctrine, and the spiritual com-
munity are the best of adornments for those seeking liberation.
108 Chapter I: Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects

4. Just as whoever possesses a wish-granting jewel is able to

avoid poverty, so the three jewels can remove the sufferings
of cyclic existence—the suffering of pain, the suffering of
change, and the pervasive suffering of conditioning—from
those who seek liberation.
5. Just as a wish-granting jewel is free from defilements such as
rust and so forth, so the three jewels are free from the defile-
ments of afflictions or any other stains of defects.
6. Just as a wish-granting jewel is unchangeable in the face of
praise or blame, so are the three jewels of Buddha, doctrine,
and spiritual community; they do not get better if they are
praised, nor do they get worse if criticized.
From among these six, the first—its being rare—leads to the trans-
lation as dkon, rarity, and the second, its supremacy, leads to the
translation as mchog, superior.
Why are there only three jewels? We are beings who from
beginningless births have been caught in the sufferings of cyclic
existence. We are like ill persons whose physical constituents
have been consumed by disease. A person who has been wasted
by illness for a long time needs three things: a skilled doctor, good
medicine, and a good nurse. Without all three of these it is difficult
to be cured. People caught in cyclic existence, like those with
chronic illness, require the equivalent of a skilled doctor; this is
the Conqueror Buddha who is free from all defects and has at-
tained all auspicious attributes. Beings must take refuge in him as
well as in the doctrine—the state of freedom from cyclic existence
and the means for achieving that state. They also must follow the
example of the supreme spiritual community—the previous supe-
rior beings—and practice the path just as they did. Buddha jewel
is the revealer, or teacher, of refuge. The doctrine jewel is the ac-
tual refuge. The spiritual community jewel are the helpers to ref-
uge.
In order to go for refuge to the three jewels it is necessary to
know their qualities. Also one needs the causes of taking refuge,
namely, (1) the faith that sees the qualities of the three jewels and
(2) fear and concern for one’s own suffering in cyclic existence.
Unless one sees the qualities of the three jewels one does not have
a wish to go to them for refuge. Also, if one has no wish to take
refuge, one will not place hope in them.
Qualities of the Three Jewels: the Buddha Jewel
 Guidance 109

A Buddha has two types of qualities: qualities for one’s own wel-
fare (rang don gyi yon tan) and (2) qualities for others’ welfare
(gzhan don gyi yon tan).
Qualities for one’s own welfare
1. uncompounded naturally pure qualities (’dus ma byas pa rang
bzhin rnam dag gi yon tan)
2. spontaneously accomplished qualities of purity from adventi-
tious [defilements] (lhun gyis grub pa glo bur rnam dag gi yon
tan)
3. the quality of the inability of thoroughly realizing these two
qualities through terms and conceptuality (yon tan de gnyis
sgra rtog gis rdzogs pa’i tshul gyis rtogs mi nus pa’i yon tan).
These are explained as:
1. the quality of the Nature Body of a Buddha that is the factor
of natural purity
2. the quality of the Nature Body of a Buddha that is the factor
of purity from adventitious [defilements]
3. feature of those two being profound and difficult to realize
just as they are.
Qualities for others’ welfare
1. qualities of exalted knowledge (mkhyen pa’i yon tan). A Bud-
dha is able to perceive directly of all the various phenomena
that exist just as we see a small item placed on a table in front
of us. Whether it is something very far in the past, or hundreds
of thousands of miles away, or many eons in the future, a Bud-
dha sees all of these just we would see something placed di-
rectly in front of us, or like an olive in the palm of the hand.
2. qualities of empathy (brtse ba’i yon tan) as exemplified by the
type of cherishing that a mother has for her sole, sweet child.
A Conqueror Buddha has this for each and every sentient be-
ing, with no sense of nearness to some and distance from oth-
ers. For instance, Shākyamuni Buddha had a continual oppo-
nent in Devadatta, who always opposed him. Before Buddha
became a monk he had a son, Rahula, but Buddha made no
difference between his son and his enemy. One day Devadatta
saw Buddha take medicine in butter, and he decided to take as
much as he had seen Buddha take. This was much more than
Devadatta could handle because, as the doctor said, Buddha
had accumulated the collections of merit and wisdom for three
countless eons. Devadatta was unable to digest the medicine,
110 Chapter I: Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects

and his stomach hurt a lot. Buddha said to him: “I make no

difference between my own son and you. Due to the truth of
this, may you Devadatta be cured immediately.” Saying this
Buddha put his hands on Devadatta’s head and through the
truth of Buddha’s words Devadatta was cured. Even though
Devadatta still had no faith at all in Buddha, all the others
around him did. This is an example of Buddha’s having no
sense of intimacy or alienness with regard to any sentient be-
ing. A Buddha helps and fulfills the aims of everyone, those
who help him and those who harm him. By having no sense
of closeness or distance, he has compassion for all sentient
beings.
3. qualities of removing faults and defects from trainees (gdul
bya’i nyes skyon bsel ba’i yon tan). Buddhas teach what
should be adopted and discarded to those suited for direct
teaching. For those who are not suitable to train directly, such
as those who do not believe in them, Buddhas first make them
suitable for direct training by making magical displays to gen-
erate belief in them, and so forth, and later on teach the essen-
tials of adopting and discarding.
Qualities of the Three Jewels: the Doctrine Jewel
The doctrine Jewel is comprised by true cessations and true paths,
both of which have in common the quality of unthinkability by
way of terms and thoughts as the four alternatives (sgra rtog gis
mu bzhir btags par mi nus pa’i bsam du med pa’i yon tan). The
four alternatives are: existent, nonexistent, both and neither.
A true cessation, the third of the four noble truths, is a removal
forever of the object of abandonment that is abandoned by the un-
interrupted path that serves as its antidote. This is not a case of
temporary abandonment, but an eradication of it such that it will
never come back again. In order to attain these true cessations it
is necessary to cultivate the wisdom of meditative equipoise that
directly realizes the selflessness of the person, emptiness, and so
forth.
For instance, if we take the path of seeing as an example, its
uninterrupted path which is the actual antidote destroys at that
time its object of abandonment, which here is the artificial appre-
hension of self. In the next moment, the time of the path of release
of the path of seeing, one attains a stability that is a non-arising
ever again of this object of abandonment. Simultaneous with the
 Guidance 111

attainment of the path of release of the path of seeing is the attain-

ment of the true cessation that is a state of having abandoned what
is to be abandoned through the path of seeing. For example, if a
robber had gotten inside someone’s home, the uninterrupted path
would be like throwing him outside, whereas the path of release is
like locking the door so that the robber cannot return.
Qualities of the Three Jewels: the Spiritual Community Jewel
The spiritual community Jewel is comprised by Superiors (’phags
pa, ārya) who have such true cessations in their continuum. The
qualities of the spiritual community are knowledge (rig pa’i yon
tan) and release (grol ba’i yon tan). There are three types of
knowledge:
1. knowledge of suchness (de kho na nyid)
2. knowledge of conventional truths, that is, knowing the diver-
sity of phenomena
3. realization of the matrix-of-One-Gone-Thus that exists in
every sentient being’s continuum.
There are also three types of release:
1. separation from the obstructions of desire and so forth
2. separation from the obstructions of impededness (thogs pa’i
sgrib pa) This mainly prevents omniscience.
3. separation from obstructions to meditative equipoise.
The spiritual community is free from portions of these obstruc-
tions.
There are two ways of going to refuge, one causal and the
other fruitional. Causal refuge is a case of observing the true ces-
sations in the continuums of past or present Buddhas or Foe De-
stroyers, placing one’s hope in them, and taking refuge in them.
In this case one is observing true cessations in the continuums of
those who are separate from oneself.
Regarding fruitional refuge, everyone is capable of becoming
a Buddha, there is no one who is not. Even those who are not prac-
ticing now, such as hell-beings, bugs and so forth, will become
Buddhas. The only difference lies in when they will achieve en-
lightenment. Everyone will become a Buddha, and when they do,
just the same qualities existing for those who are now Buddhas
will be generated in their continuums.
Although one’s own Buddhahood does not exist now, it does
exist in general. One’s own thought that “I myself will actualize
112 Chapter I: Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects

this as quickly as possible” is a case of fruitional refuge. One en-

gages in virtuous activities upon thinking about the qualities that
one will actualize: the Buddhahood that one will attain in the fu-
ture as well as the true cessations that are to be actualized prior to
becoming a Buddha and the true paths that are the means of at-
taining those true cessations. The intention to do whatever one can
in order to attain the state of a Superior Being who possesses these
qualities in one’s mental continuum is a case of taking refuge in
the effect, a fruitional refuge.

Boundaries [of guidance]

[Guidances] exist from before entering the path through the Buddha
ground.
ག མ་ པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་ལམ་མ་ གས་ནས་སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་
[5b.2]

སའི་བར་ ་ཡོད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: The boundaries begin before entering the path be-
cause prior to entering a path one could hear guidance and hold
those teachings in mind.

Mode of listening [to guidance]

There are cases of Great Vehicle guidance being heard even by those who
have not entered the path but who have pure karma and perception; it is
explained that through relying on Buddhas or spiritual guides for many
eons one [can] become a suitable vessel for hearing [Great Vehicle guid-
ance].
བཞི་པ་ཐེག་ཆེན་གདམས་ངག་ནི། ལམ་ ་མ་ གས་པ་ལས་ ང་
དག་པས་ཀྱང་གསན་པ་ཡོད་ལ། སངས་ ས་སམ་དགེ་བའི་
a
བཤེས་ གཉེན་བ ལ་པ་b ་མར་བ ེན་ནས་ཉན་པའི་ ོད་ ་
[5b.3]

ང་བར་བཤད་དོ། །
a Correcting pa’i in the 2011 TBRC bla brang and the 1995 Mundgod revision
of Ngawang Gelek bla brang (5b.2), the 2005 Mundgod (9.2), and the 2001 Kan
su’u (95.8) to ba’i in accordance with the dga' ldan pho brang (3b.5).
b The 2005 Mundgod (9.2) reads ba.
 Guidance 113

Dan-ma-lo-chö: One needs to have faith in Buddha, faith and be-

lief in the doctrine taught by Buddha, respect for a spiritual guide,
and a wish to hear guidance. Through having such, one can be-
come a suitable vessel for directly hearing guidance from Buddhas
and Bodhisattvas.
 3rd Topic
3. Limbs of Definite Discrimination (ངེས་འ ེད་ཡན་ལག་)
Dan-ma-lo-chö: After the explanation of guidance comes that of
the limbs of definite discrimination, which is another name for the
path of preparation. Why is the path of preparation explained after
the explanation of guidance? One first generates the good mind
which is the altruistic aspiration to enlightenment and after that
one must hear guidance either directly from a Buddha, or from
Bodhisattvas or other teachers to whom the transmission of the
teaching has passed without interruption. Then, having contem-
plated the meaning that one has heard over and over again, one
develops wisdom arisen from thinking. After that one again and
again meditates. In dependence on this, one achieves a stability of
mind and thereby calm abiding induced by the bliss of physical
and mental pliancy. Then, within calm abiding one engages in
analysis, and when one attains the wisdom discriminating phe-
nomena that is induced by the power of analyzing within the state
of calm abiding and that is conjoined with pliancy, this is the at-
tainment of special insight. The wisdom discriminating phenom-
ena that is so qualified is called special insight. The attainment of
meditative stabilization that is a union of calm abiding and special
insight observing emptiness is simultaneous with the attainment
of the path of preparation. Thus, the path of preparation is now
explained.
Since the object is emptiness, this is the path of preparation of
the Great Vehicle. Because the Great Vehicle path of preparation
arises when this meditative stabilization arises, the path of prepa-
ration is the next subject to be discussed. The four limbs of definite
discrimination is another name for the path of preparation; it is
also called the four concordances with a portion of definite dis-
crimination.
To explain how the [Great Vehicle] four limbs of definite discrimination
surpass the four [levels of] the path of preparation of the Lesser Vehicle,
[Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations I.25-26] says:9
{I.25}
By way of objects of observation, aspects,
 Limbs of Definite Discrimination 115

Cause, and restrainersa

The entities of heat and so forthb
Of protective Bodhisattvas—
{I.26}
Having the four conceptions
[As objects of abandonment] accordingly
And [having divisions of] small, medium, and great—
Surpass those of Hearers as well as the Rhinoceros-like.
ག མ་པ་ངེས་འ ེད་ཡན་ལག་བཞི་ཐེག་དམན་གྱི་ ོར་ལམ་བཞི་
ལས་ཁྱད་པར་འཕགས་ ལ་འཆད་པར།
དམིགས་པ་དང་ནི་ མ་པ་ དང། ནས། བཅས་པ་དག་ལས་
[5b.4]

ཁྱད་པར་འཕགས། །ཞེས་ག ངས།

[Ornament I.25-26, 3a.1-3a.2]
{I.25}
དམིགས་པ་དང་ནི་ མ་པ་དང་། ། ་cདང་ཡོངས་ ་འཛིན་པ་ཡིས། །
ང་ བ་སེམས་དཔའ་ ོབ་པ་ཡི། ། ོད་སོགས་བདག་ཉིད་ ི་བཞིན་ ། །
{I.26}
མ་ ོག་བཞི་པོ་ ན་བ ེན་པ། ། ང་དང་འ ིང་དང་ཆེན་པོ་ མས། །
ཉན་ཐོས་བསེ་ ་ ་ ་དང་། །བཅས་པ་དག་ལས་ཁྱད་པར་འཕགས། །
Dan-ma-lo-chö: The term “definite discrimination” (nges par
’byed pa) refers to the path of seeing. At the time of the path of
seeing one realizes emptiness directly. Because the path of prepa-
ration is concordant with the definite discrimination of the path of
seeing and because it is a method for attaining the path of seeing’s
definite discrimination, its limbs are called the limbs of definite
discrimination.
The entities of the Great Vehicle path of preparation are the

a As described below, restrainers include mentors, tutors, but also internal factors
that keep one from suffering.
b That is, the other levels of the path of preparation, namely, peak, forbearance,
and supreme mundane qualities.
c Correcting sgyu in the 2011 TBRC bla brang and the 1995 Mundgod revision
of Ngawang Gelek bla brang to rgyu (3a.1) in accordance with Ngag-wang-pal-
dan’s Meaning of the Words, 11b.5, and also the co ne, 3a.1.
116 Chapter I: Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects

four Great Vehicle limbs of definite discrimination. The explana-

tion here is of the superiority of the Great Vehicle version to that
of the Lesser Vehicle’s four limbs of definite discriminations.
There are four levels to the path of preparation, and thus there
are the four limbs of definite discrimination. Thus, the four Great
Vehicle paths of preparation—heat, peak, forbearance, and su-
preme mundane qualities—are superior to those of the Lesser Ve-
hicle. What is being explained is how (tshul) these surpass (khyad
par ’phags) those of the Lesser Vehicle.
With regard to this there are four: definition, divisions, boundaries, and
features such as object of observation, aspect, and so forth of a path of
preparation.
འདི་ལ་ རོ ་ལམ་གྱི་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས། དམིགས་
མ་སོགས་ཀྱི་ཁྱད་པར་བཞི།
Definition [of a path of preparation]
A clear realization of the meaning that arises after its cause, a con-
cordance with a portion of liberation is the definition of a path of prep-
aration.a
དང་པོ་ནི། རང་ ་ཐར་ པ་ཆ་མ ན་གྱི་ སེ ་ ་ ང་བའི་དོན་
[5b.5]

མངོན་ ོགས་དེ། ོར་ལམ་གྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།

Dan-ma-lo-chö: The definition begins with a reference to its own
cause, which precedes it. This cause is a concordance with a por-
tion of liberation, that is to say, is a path of accumulation. One
must first attain a concordance with a portion of liberation and
following that, the limbs of definite discrimination, or the path of
preparation. The “meaning” that is realized, in terms of the Great
Vehicle, is emptiness.
Path of preparation, clear realization of the meaning, limb of definite dis-
crimination, and concordance with a portion of definite discrimination are
synonymous equivalents.
ོར་ལམ་དང་དོན་མངོན་ ོགས་དང་ངེས་འ དེ ་ཡན་ལག་དང་
a “Path of preparation” could also be translated as “path of connection” because
it directly connects one to the path of seeing.
 Limbs of Definite Discrimination 117

ངེས་འ དེ ་ཆ་མ ན་ མས་དོན་གཅིག་མིང་གི་ མ་གྲངས་ཡིན།

[5b.6]

Dan-ma-lo-chö: The path of preparation is also called a “clear re-

alization of the meaning” because one is realizing emptiness
mainly by way of a meditative stabilization that is a union of calm
abiding and special insight. A path of seeing is called “definite
discrimination” (nges ’byed) because one is seeing emptiness di-
rectly, and the path of preparation is called the “limb of definite
discrimination” because the meditative stabilization that is a union
of calm abiding and special insight is like a part of that. Also, be-
cause of being concordant with or partially similar to (cha mthun)
this discrimination for the same reason, it is called concordance
with a portion of definite discrimination (nges ’byed cha mthun),
that is, partially concordant with the path of seeing.
All these terms have the same meaning. For instance, the sun
is called “lotus friend” because it opens the lotuses, but this name
means the same thing as “sun.” Similarly, “the hot one” and “land
of the seven horses” also mean “sun.” The latter name arises be-
cause, according to legend, the sun was drawn to its place by seven
horses. It is also called the “jewel of the sky.” In this way different
forms of the name have one meaning.
There are paths of preparation of the three vehicles. Each of those three
has the four—heat, peak, forbearance, and supreme mundane qualities.
དེ་ལ་ཐེག་པ་ག མ་གྱི་ ོར་ལམ་ཡོད། དེ་ག མ་རེ་རེ་ལ་ ོད་ ེ་
མོ་བཟོད་པ་ཆོས་མཆོག་བཞི་རེ་ཡོད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Each of the three vehicles—Hearer, Solitary Vic-
tor, and Bodhisattva—has a path of preparation. Each of these has
four levels; there is a Hearer heat path of preparation, a Hearer
peak path of preparation, a Hearer forbearance path of preparation,
and a Hearer supreme mundane qualities path of preparation. Sim-
ilarly, Solitary Victor and Bodhisattva paths of preparation each
have these four levels.
A Great Vehicle clear realization of the meaning that is produced af-
ter its cause, the Great Vehicle path of accumulation is the definition
of a Great Vehicle path of preparation. Great Vehicle path of preparation,
118 Chapter I: Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects

Great Vehicle clear realization of the meaning, and Great Vehicle con-
cordance with a portion of definite discrimination, and so forth are equiv-
alent.
རང་ ་ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ཚགས་ལམ་གྱི་ ེས་ ་ ེས་པའི་aཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་
དོན་མངོན་ ོགས་དེ། ཐེག་ཆེན་ རོ ་ ལམ་མཚན་ཉིད། ཐེག་[6a.1]

ཆེན་གྱི་ རོ ་ལམ། ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་དོན་མངོན་ གོ ས། ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་

ངེས་འ དེ ་ཆ་མ ན་སོགས་དོན་གཅིག
Divisions [of paths of preparation]
When divided, there are four—heat, peak, forbearance, and supreme mun-
dane qualities Great Vehicle paths of preparation endowed with five fea-
tures. Since each of these is treated as three—lesser, medium, and greater
forms, there are twelve.
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན། ཁྱད་པར་ ་ ན་གྱི་ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ ོར་
[6a.2]

ལམ་ དོ ་ ་ེ མོ་བཟོད་པ་ཆོས་མཆོག་བཞི། དེ་རེ་རེ་ལ་ ང་འ ིང་

ཆེ་ག མ་ ས་པས་བ ་གཉིས་ཡོད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: The five features are objects of observation, as-
pects, mode of acting as a cause, restrainers (yongs ’dzin), and di-
visions of lesser, medium, and greater [to be discussed below]. A
restrainer holds one back from a source of fright and thus usually
refers to teachers; here there are external and internal “holders-
back.” External restrainers are, for example, supreme Emanation
Bodies or Bodhisattvas on the path of meditation that teach Bo-
dhisattvas on the path of preparation the doctrine. Internal re-
strainers would be compassion and the wisdom realizing empti-
ness in the continuum of Bodhisattvas on the path of preparation
because these hold them back from the extreme of cyclic existence
(srid mtha’) and the extreme of [solitary] peace (zhi mtha’).
Great Vehicle paths are also superior by way of having con-
ceptions as objects of abandonment. This feature is not included
in the list of five.

a The 2005 Mundgod (9.14) misreads ba'i.

 Limbs of Definite Discrimination 119

Boundaries [of paths of preparation]

[Paths of preparation] exist from attaining special insight observing any of
the three selflessnesses through to just before attaining the first ground.
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་བདག་མེད་ག མ་གང་ ང་ལ་དམིགས་
པའི་ ག་མཐོང་ ཐོབ་པ་ནས་ས་དང་པོ་ཐོབ་ཁའི་བར་ ་
[6a.3]

ཡོད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: The three selflessnesses are:
1. the selflessness of persons, which Hearers mainly take as their
object of meditation
2. the coarse selflessness of phenomena, an emptiness of dual-
ity—the absence of a difference of entity between appre-
hended-object and apprehending-subject—which Solitary
Victors mainly take as their object of meditation
3. the subtle selflessness of phenomena, the emptiness of true
existence of phenomena, which Bodhisattvas take as their
main object of meditation.

Features such as object of observation, aspect, and

so forth [of paths of preparation]
A Great Vehicle path of preparation surpasses a Lesser Vehicle path of
preparation by way of six features—(1) objects of observation, (2) aspects,
(3) mode of acting as a cause, (4) restrainers, (5) ways of having concep-
tions as objects of abandonment, and (6) divisions of small, medium, and
great.
བཞི་པ་ནི། ཐེག་དམན་གྱི་ ོར་ལམ་དེ་ལས་ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ ོར་
ལམ་ཁྱད་པར་ ག་གིས་འཕགས་པ་ཡིན་ ེ།
1. དམིགས་པ་དང་།

2. མ་པ་དང་།
3. ་ ེད་ ལ་དང་།
4. ཡོངས་འཛིན་དང་། [6a.4]
120 Chapter I: Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects

5. ང་ ར་ མ་ ོག་ ན་ ལ་དང་།
6. ང་འ ིང་ཆེ་ག མ་གྱི་ད ེ་བ་
ག་གིས་ཁྱད་པར་ ་འཕགས་པའི་ ིར་ཏེ།
[Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, I.27-36] says:10
{I.27}
The objects of observation are impermanence and so forth
Based on the truths. The aspect
Is to stop manifest adherence and so forth;
Cause of attaining all three vehicles.
{I.28}
Forms and so forth devoid of coming together and decay, [inex-
pressible]
As devoid of abiding and as abiding; and the imputed as inex-
pressible.
Those11 nonabiding forms and so forth
Are without inherent existence in their entity—
{I.29}
They are mutually one nature.
Those do not abide [ultimately] as impermanent and so forth.
They are empty of their nature.
They are mutually one nature.
{I.30}
Because phenomena are not apprehended
And those are not seen as signs [of true establishment],a
All thoroughly analyzed by wisdom
Are unobservable.
{I.31}
Forms12 and so forth are natureless.
The absence of that is the nature.
Those are without production and deliverance;
Are pure; and those are signless.
{I.32}

aBrackets from Gung-thang Lo-drö-gya-tsho’s Annotations to (Haribhadra’s)

“Clear Meaning Commentary,” vol. 1, 229.19.
 Limbs of Definite Discrimination 121

Due to not relying on signs of them

There is no belief and discrimination of them.
Meditative stabilizations,13 the functioning of those,
Prophecy, extinction of conceit.
{I.33}
The three are mutually one entity;
[Hence] nonconceptualization [as] meditative stabilization.
In that way the concordances with a portion of definite discrimi-
nation
Are small, medium, and great.
{I.34}
Due to the substrata14 and their antidotes
Conceptualizations as apprehended objects have two aspects.
Due to the distinction of obscuration and the aggregates and so
forth
Those individually have nine aspects.
{I.35}
Due to possessing substantial and imputed supports
Apprehending-subjects also are asserted in two aspects.
From entities such as a self under its own power and so forth
And supports such as the aggregates and so forth they are like-
wise [nine each].
{I.36}
Mental nondiscouragement15 and so forth
And teachers of naturelessness and so forth
That have forsaken the discordant classes of those
དམིགས་པ་མི་ ག་ལ་
Are thorough restrainers in all respects.

སོགས་པ། །ནས། དེ་ ར་ངེས་འ དེ ་ཆ་མ ན་ནི། ། ང་

དང་འ ིང་དང་ཆེན་པོ་ཡིན། ནས། མ་པ་ཀུན་ ་
[6a.5]

ཡོངས་འཛིན་ཡིན། །ཞེས་ག ངས་སོ། །

[Ornament I.27-36, 3a.2-3a.6]
{I.27}
དམིགས་པ་མི་ ག་ལ་སོགས་པ། །བདེན་པའི་ ེན་ཅན་དེ་ཡི་ནི། །
མ་པ་མངོན་ཞེན་ལ་སོགས་འགོག །ཐེག་པ་ག མ་ཆར་འཐོབ་པའི་ ། །
{I.28}
122 Chapter I: Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects

ག གས་སོགས་འ ་འགོད་གནས་ ལ་དང་། །གནས་དང་བ གས་དང་བ ོད་ ་

མེད། །
ག གས་སོགས་མི་གནས་དེ་དག་ནི། །དེ་ཡི་ངོ་བོ་རང་བཞིན་མེད། །
{I.29}
དེ་དག་གཅིག་གི་རང་བཞིན་གཅིག །དེ་མི་ ག་སོགས་པར་མི་གནས། །
དེ་ མས་དེ་ཡི་ངོ་བོས་ ོང་། །དེ་དག་གཅིག་གི་རང་བཞིན་གཅིག །
{I.30}
ཆོས་ མས་མི་འཛིན་གང་ཡིན་དང་། །དེ་དག་མཚན་མར་མི་མཐོང་ ིར། །
ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱིས་ནི་ཡོངས་ ོག་aཔ། །ཐམས་ཅད་དམིགས་ ་མེད་པར་རོ། །
{I.31}
ག གས་སོགས་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མེད་ཉིད། །དེ་མེད་པ་ཉིད་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད། །
དེ་དག་ ེ་མེད་ངེས་འ ང་མེད། །དག་དང་དེ་དག་མཚན་མ་མེད། །
{I.32}
དེ་ཡི་མཚན་མར་མི་བ ེན་པས། །མོས་མིན་འ ་ཤེས་མེད་པ་ཡིན། །
ཏིང་འཛིན་དེ་ཡི་ ེད་པ་ཉིད། ། ང་ ོན་པ་དང་ ོམ་པ་ཟད། །
{I.33}
ག མ་པོ་ཕན་ ན་ངོ་བོ་གཅིག །ཏིང་འཛིན་ མ་པར་མི་ ོག་པ། །
དེ་ ར་ངེས་འ ེད་ཆ་མ ན་ནི། ། ང་དང་འ ིང་དང་ཆེན་པོ་ཡིན། །
{I.34}
གཞི་དང་དེ་ཡི་གཉེན་པོ་ཡིས། །ག ང་བར་ ོག་པ་ མ་པ་གཉིས། །
ོངས་དང་ ང་སོགས་ ེ་ ག་གིས། །དེ་ནི་སོ་སོར་ མ་པ་དགུ །
{I.35}
ས་དང་བ གས་པའི་ ེན་ཅན་གྱིས། །འཛིན་པའང་ མ་པ་གཉིས་ ་འདོད། །
a sde dge (3a.5), co ne (3a.6), dpe bsdur ma (6.12), and Āryavimuktisena’s com-
mentary (51a.6) read rtogs while snar thang (4b.1), Peking (3b.4), and
Haribhadra’s commentary (87a.4) read rtog. The corresponding Sanskrit stanza
is:
anudgraho yo dharmāṇāṁ tannimittāsamīkṣaṇam |
parīkṣaṇaṃ ca prajñayā sarvasyānupalambhataḥ || I.30 ||
See Th. Stcherbatsky and E. Obermiller, eds., Abhisamayālaṃkāra-Prajñāpāra-
mitā-Upadeśa-Śāstra, Bibliotheca Buddhica 23 (Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio
Verlag, 1970), 9. Considering the meaning of the corresponding Sanskrit term
parīkṣa (careful examination), rtog, one of the meanings of which is “examine”
(or brtag as Ngag-wang-pel-den’s Meaning of the Words glosses it), is the more
accurate Tibetan translation.
 Limbs of Definite Discrimination 123

རང་དབང་བདག་སོགས་ངོ་བོ་དང་། ། ང་སོགས་ ེན་ལས་དེ་བཞིན་ནོ། །

{I.36}
སེམས་མི་འགོང་བ་ཉིད་ལ་སོགས། །ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མེད་སོགས་ ོན་ ེད། །
དེ་ཡི་མི་མ ན་ ོགས་བོར་བ། ། མ་པ་ཀུན་ ་ཡོངས་འཛིན་ཡིན། །
Dan-ma-lo-chö: (1) The feature of objects of observation. The
Lesser Vehicle path of preparation takes as its object of observa-
tion the four noble truths and their sixteen attributes, but even
when a Great Vehicle path of preparation takes these four noble
truths and the sixteen attributes of these truths as its object of ob-
servation, it does so by way of limitless forms of reasoning. Be-
cause Bodhisattvas are mostly interested in others’ welfare, it is
not sufficient merely for they themselves to realize the four noble
truths and their sixteen aspects; they need to be able to explain
these to others in accordance with their capacity. Therefore, they
train in the four truths and the sixteen attributes by way of limitless
approaches.
(2) The feature of aspect. “Aspect” here refers to the object,
but in this case to the Bodhisattva’s taking emptiness as the object
of observation. The emptiness of all phenomena appears to the
mind, not just through the route of one reasoning, but by way of a
limitless number of reasonings. Emptiness is the “object-aspect”
(don rnam) that is realized in terms of all phenomena, which are
taken as the basis (gzhi), and it is realized by many different types
of reasonings. Although realizing this through only one type of
reasoning might be sufficient for oneself alone, it is not sufficient
for a Bodhisattva. Again, this is because the Bodhisattva is mainly
concerned with the welfare of others, and he or she wishes to be
able to explain emptiness to others in accordance with their own
capacity. Thus, one type of reasoning is not sufficient. For in-
stance, the reasoning of the lack of being one or many, or of de-
pendent arising, or the reasoning that refutes production from the
four extremes, or the reasoning of the vajra nodes is not sufficient
for all types of trainees; therefore, the Bodhisattva trains in a lim-
itless number of reasonings.
Sometimes “object of observation” and “aspect” refer to ob-
ject and subject, respectively; however, this is not the case here.
The object of observation here is the substratum (khyad gzhi), and
the aspects are the attributes (khyad chos) of that substratum,
which are to be understood in relation to it. Thus, in the root text
the word “aspect” refers to the absence of true existence.
124 Chapter I: Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects

(3) The feature of mode of acting as a cause. This refers to the

Great Vehicle path of preparation’s acting as a cause for the Great
Vehicle path of seeing which includes within it all the abandon-
ments and realizations of the three vehicles. All the abandonments
and realizations of the Hearer and Solitary Victor paths are in-
cluded within the functioning of the Great Vehicle’s path of see-
ing.
Bodhisattvas on the path of preparation who sought to over-
come all afflictions could, in place of going on to the path of see-
ing, achieve the state of a Lesser Vehicle Foe Destroyer. If they
made an effort at realizing the selflessness of persons as a Hearer
does, they could attain the path of no-more-learning of a Hearer,
instead of the Great Vehicle path of seeing. This means they
would attain the total abandonment of a conception of a self of
person. Similarly, if Bodhisattvas on the path of preparation made
an effort to meditate on the emptiness of the duality that is the lack
of a difference of entity between apprehended-object and appre-
hending-subject as Solitary Victors do, they could, instead of at-
taining the path of seeing, achieve a Solitary Victor path of no-
more-learning. As a Solitary Victor Foe Destroyer, they would at-
tain total abandonment of the conception of a difference of entity
between apprehended-object and apprehending-subject. In this
way, a Great Vehicle path of preparation acts as a cause of a Great
Vehicle path of seeing that includes within it all of the types of
realizations of the three vehicles and includes within it all func-
tionings of the paths of the three vehicles. Thus, the feature of su-
periority here is the way the Great Vehicle path of preparation acts
as a cause of a Great Vehicle path of seeing.
(4) The feature of restrainers. The external restrainer, or
teacher, of Bodhisattvas on the path of preparation is a supreme
Emanation Body that teaches doctrine to them. For instance, there
are Hearers and Solitary Victors on the path of preparation who
hear Great Vehicle guidance, but they cannot hear the full guid-
ance on the entire range of method and wisdom of the Great Ve-
hicle. Thus there are Hearers on the path of preparation who do
hear guidance from the same Emanation Bodies, but those Ema-
nation Bodies do not give them the full range of guidance on the
profound and vast, the external and internal, of the Great Vehicle.
This is how a Great Vehicle path of preparation surpasses that of
a Lesser Vehicle by way of an external restrainer.
The internal restrainers are the great compassion, altruistic
 Limbs of Definite Discrimination 125

mind of enlightenment, and so forth that are in the continuum of a

Bodhisattva on the Great Vehicle path of preparation. Hearer and
Solitary Victor Foe Destroyers have an abandonment of mental
and physical aggregates appropriated through the force of contam-
inated actions and afflictions, and therefore do not fall into an ex-
treme of cyclic existence. Hence, non-falling into an extreme of
cyclic existence occurs not only in the Great Vehicle, but also in
the Lesser Vehicle. However, there are two extremes: that of cy-
clic existence and that of peace. There are many usages of the
word mtha’ (end); one means “to be used up” or “consumed” like
the edge of a table. Another meaning is “near,” yet another “direc-
tion.” It can also mean “lowly” and that is its meaning here—
something that is considered to be low and looked down upon.
That which is bad or looked down upon with respect to the ex-
treme of peace (zhi ba’i mtha’) is an actualization of nirvāṇa for
one’s own sake alone. Hearers and Solitary Victors do not dwell
in the extreme of cyclic existence, but they do dwell in the extreme
of peace. This is a bad, or low, type of peace, a low nirvāṇa. What
causes Bodhisattvas not to fall into the extreme of peace? One
cause is their great compassion that consists of the inability to bear
the sufferings of all sentient beings [without doing something
about it]. Once a person has a mind that cannot bear the suffering
of others, one knows that if one abides in the sphere of cessation,
sentient beings will be suffering while one remains there. Simi-
larly, with the altruistic mind of enlightenment, one is seeking
highest enlightenment for the sake of others and is willing to give
up one’s own welfare, seeking only the welfare of others; thus,
this also keeps the Bodhisattva from falling into an extreme peace.
Therefore, the internal restrainers of Bodhisattvas on the path of
preparation are consciousnesses that keep them from being at-
tached to a state of peace for their sake alone. These keep them
from actions that discard others’ welfare and seek only their own
welfare.
Restrainer (yongs ’dzin) is an honorific word for virtuous spir-
itual friends (dge ba’i bshes gnyen), or spiritual guides, who are
so called because they cause one to be joined to virtuous actions
of body, speech, and mind in accordance with whatever one is able
to do and also turn one away from non-virtuous actions; they pro-
vide methods for assuming good behavior and discarding bad be-
havior. This is why spiritual guides are considered to be very kind.
(5) The feature of mode of having conceptions as objects of
126 Chapter I: Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects

abandonment. The conception of true existence is of two varie-

ties—artificial (kun btags) and innate (lhan skyes). The artificial
conception of true existence, as well as its seeds, is entirely and
forever abandoned by the path of seeing. The artificial conception
of true existence has four divisions, and even though artificial con-
ceptions are actually abandoned by the path of seeing, one attains
the capacity to suppress their manifest form on the path of prepa-
ration. The four artificial conceptions of true existence are:
Two conceptualizations of objects (gzung rtog) as truly existent
1. conceptualizations of afflicted phenomena (kun nas nyon
mongs gzung rtog)
2. conceptualizations of pure phenomena (rnam byang gzung
rtog)
Two conceptualizations of subjects (’dzin rtog) as truly existent
3. conceptualizations of a conceiver of substantial existence
(rdzas ’dzin rtog pa)
4. conceptualizations of a conceiver of imputed existence (btags
’dzin rtog pa).
All four of these are conceptions of true existence. They are also
all artificial conceptions of true existence. Therefore, what is a
conception of true existence? First, the phenomena that are being
conceived to truly exist are those that we see, hear, and so forth
with undamaged consciousnesses that are not affected by superfi-
cial error—objects about which no one can deny their existence.
In this Middle Autonomy system all these phenomena have a com-
mon mode of subsistence in that they (a) are posited by the power
of appearing to undamaged awarenesses and (b) are established
from their own side. Therefore, all of these phenomena, whether
they be called internal and external, or produced and nonproduced,
are only posited through their appearing to an undamaged aware-
ness. A consciousness that, on the contrary, conceives these phe-
nomena as not just to be posited by way of appearing to the mind,
but as existing by way of their own uncommon mode of subsist-
ence, is called a conception of true existence.
The realization of the selflessness of phenomena is the reali-
zation—first through hearing, then through thinking, and then
through meditating—that phenomena are posited only through ap-
pearing to an undamaged awareness and do not exist through their
own uncommon objective mode of subsistence. The opposite of
 Limbs of Definite Discrimination 127

being posited through the force of appearing to an undamaged

consciousness and not having their own uncommon mode of sub-
sistence is true existence. Whereas there is no true existence, we
conceive objects to truly exist, and this is the final reason why we
have been cycling in cyclic existence until now and why we have
not been able to attain Buddhahood.
Such conceptions of true existence are of two types: artificial
and innate. An innate conception of true existence is a case of this
misconception that does not depend on reasoning, but which arises
of its own accord. This exists in our continuums even when we are
sleeping. Artificial conceptions of true existence are cases of
strong conceptions of true existence wherein one is thinking “This
does truly exist.” Thus, an artificial conception is a conception
thinking that true existence is correct in dependence upon hearing
teachings about true existence, or in dependence on following a
nonvirtuous spiritual guide who teaches that phenomena do truly
exist.
Within artificial conceptions of true existence, the mode of
misapprehension is the same, but the objects of observation are
different; thus, there are conceptions of objects and conceptions
of subjects, as listed above. You know that there are objects (yul)
and possessors of objects (yul can), which are subjects, but here
the word for “object” is “the apprehended” (gzung), and the word
for “subject” is “an apprehender” (’dzin). In the first case one is
taking as one’s object of observation (dmigs pa) an object that one
conceives to be a truly existent object of use. However, in the case
of the conception of a truly existent subject one takes a subject, a
consciousness, as one’s object of observation and conceives that
to be a truly existent user of objects. In the first case one is con-
ceiving of truly existent objects of use, and in the second case one
is conceiving of truly existent users of objects.
In the first type of misconception of objects, one is conceiving
the true existence of not just any phenomenon, but of afflicted
phenomena. These are misconceived to be truly existent objects
of use. In the second type of misconception of objects, one takes
as object of observation things included within the sphere of pure
phenomena and considers them to be truly existent objects of use.
Within the conceptions of subjects, there are (3) the concep-
tion that a consciousness conceiving a substantially existent self
truly exists, and (4) the conception that a consciousness conceiv-
128 Chapter I: Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects

ing an imputedly existent self truly exists. A consciousness con-

ceiving a person to substantially exist is a wrong consciousness,
whereas a consciousness conceiving a person to imputedly exist
is a factually concordant or right consciousness. In the first type
of misconception of subjects, one conceives the consciousness
conceiving a person to substantially exist to be a truly existent
user. In the second case one conceives the consciousness conceiv-
ing a person to imputedly exist to be a truly existent user.
Thus we have four conceptions of true existence. On the four
levels of the path of preparation one attains the capacity to over-
come the manifest form of these conceptions respectively.
1. heat—capacity to overcome the manifest form of the concep-
tion of afflicted phenomena as truly existent
2. peak—capacity to overcome the manifest form of the concep-
tion of pure phenomena as truly existent
3. forbearance—capacity to overcome the manifest form of the
conception of the true existence of a consciousness conceiv-
ing a person as substantially existent
4. supreme mundane qualities—capacity to overcome the mani-
fest form of the conception of the true existence of a con-
sciousness conceiving a person as imputedly existent.
Why are there these stages? In terms of our conception of phe-
nomena as truly existent, it is easier to overcome the conception
of objects as truly existent than it is to overcome the conception
of subjects as truly existent. Within the conception of the true ex-
istence of objects, it is easier to overcome the conception of the
true existence of afflicted phenomena than to overcome the con-
ception of the true existence of pure phenomena. Similarly, since
a consciousness conceiving a person to substantially exist is a
wrong consciousness and since a consciousness conceiving the
person to imputedly exist is a factually concordant, or right, con-
sciousness, it is easier to overcome the conception of true exist-
ence with respect to the first than to the second. Thus, on the four
levels of the path of preparation one attains the capacity to over-
come the manifest forms of these four conceptions of true exist-
ence. This is the fifth feature of the Great Vehicle path of prepa-
ration’s superiority over the Lesser Vehicle one—namely, its
mode of having conceptions as objects of abandonment.
(6) The feature of divisions of small, medium, and great. With
respect to the last feature of superiority, the Great Vehicle heat,
 Limbs of Definite Discrimination 129

peak, forbearance, and supreme mundane qualities paths of prep-

aration each are divided into small, medium, and great, whereas
the Lesser Vehicle versions of these four do not have these further
divisions. Earlier there was mention of five features that did not
include this sixth. There are some systems that posit five and some
that posit all six. Whereas Jam-yang-shay-pa does it by way of six
features, Paṇ-chen Sö-nam-drag-pa says “by either five or six.”
There are other verbal designations for the Great Vehicle path
of preparation:a
1. Heat is also called “the meditative stabilization of attaining
perception of suchness” (snang ba thob pa’i ting nge ’dzin,
ālokalabdhasamādhi)
2. Peak is called “meditative stabilization of the increase of the
perception of suchness” (snang ba mched pa’i ting nge ’dzin,
ālokavṛddhisamādhi)
3. Forbearance is called “meditative stabilization which under-
stands suchness one-sidedly” (de kho na nyid kyi phyogs gcig
la zhugs pa’i ting nge ’dzin, tattvārthaikadeśānupra-
veśasamādhi)
4. Supreme mundane qualities is called “uninterrupted medita-
tive stabilization” (bar chad med pa’i ting nge ’dzin, ānantar-
yasamādhi)

a See Geshe Lhundup Sopa and Jeffrey Hopkins, Cutting through Appearances:
The Practice and Theory of Tibetan Buddhism (Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publica-
tions, 1989), 129.
 4th Topic
4. Naturally Abiding Lineage, the Support of Great
Vehicle Achievings (ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་པའི་ ནེ ་རང་བཞིན་གནས་རིགས་)
To explain the naturally abiding lineage which is the basis of Great Vehi-
cle achieving [Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, I.37-38]
says:16
{I.37}
The support of the six qualities of realization,
Antidotes, abandonments,
Finalizations of those,
Wisdom together with empathy,
{I.38}
Uncommonness with learners,
Gradations of others’ welfare,
And operation of wisdom without exertion
Is called lineage.
བཞི་པ་ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་པའི་ ནེ ་རང་བཞིན་གནས་རིགས་འཆད་
པར།
ོགས་པ་ཡི་ནི་ཆོས་ ག་དང་། །ནས། འ ག་པའི་ ནེ ་ལ་རིགས་
ཤེས་a ། །ཞེས་ ག ངས།
[6a.6]

[Ornament I.37-38, 3b.1-3b.2]

{I.37}
གོ ས་པ་ཡི་ནི་ཆོས་ ག་དང་། །གཉེན་པོ་དང་ནི་ ོང་བ་དང་། ། །
དེ་དག་ཡོངས་ ་ག གས་པ་དང་། །ཤེས་རབ་ ིང་བ ེར་བཅས་པ་དང་། ། །
{I.38}
བོ ་མ་ ན་མོང་མིན་ཉིད་དང་། །གཞན་གྱི་དོན་གྱི་གོ་རིམས་དང་། ། །
ཡེ་ཤེས་ ོལ་བ་མི་མངའ་བར། །འ ག་པའི་ ེན་ལ་རིགས་ཤེས་ ། །

a Correcting zhes in the 2011 TBRC bla brang and the 1995 Mundgod revision
of Ngawang Gelek bla brang to shes in accordance with the sde dge Ornament
(3b.2) and the 2005 Mundgod (10.14).
 Naturally Abiding Lineage, the Support of Great Vehicle Achievings 131

With regard to lineage there are three: definition, divisions, and bounda-
ries.
རིགས་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས་ག མ།
Definition [of lineage]
The element of [a Superior’s] attributes that, when purified, is suita-
ble to become enlightenment is the definition of lineage.
དང་པོ་ནི། ཆོས་ད ངི ས་གང་ ངས་ན་ ང་ བ་ ་འ ར་ ང་
དེ་རིགས་ཀྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
The element of [a Superior’s] attributes that, when purified, is suita-
ble to become enlightenment and also acts as the basis for Great Ve-
hicle achieving is the definition of naturally abiding lineage that is the
basis for Great Vehicle achieving.
ཆོས་ད ངི ས་གང་ ངས་ན་ ང་ བ་ ་འ ར་ ང་ཡང་
ཡིན། ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་པའི་ ེན་གཞི་ དེ ་པ་དེ། ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་
[6b.1]

པའི་ ནེ ་རང་བཞིན་གནས་རིགས་ཀྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This is the reality, the emptiness, of the mind that
is in the continuum of a person who has not completely abandoned
defilements and that is suitable to become a Buddha’s Nature
Body. This is the definition of the naturally abiding lineage that is
the basis of Great Vehicle practice.
Why is the emptiness of a mind that has still has obstructions
called the basis of practice? It is because in dependence on medi-
tating on the emptiness of the mind one advances over the paths
of accumulation, preparation, seeing, and meditation. The empti-
ness of the mind is called the basis of these qualities because
through meditating on it these qualities of the path increase.a

a “Lineage” means the Buddha nature. What is the Buddha nature? It is emptiness.
Not the emptiness of any phenomenon, such as that of a cup, but the emptiness of
the mind that still has obstructions yet to be removed. By observing the emptiness
of one’s own mind and meditating on this one develops greater and greater qual-
ities of mind. Not qualities of emptiness, but qualities of mind. From that view-
point it is called a lineage because lineage means that which can grow something.
If you have the lineage of a monarch, you can turn into a monarch.
132 Chapter I: Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects

Since there are thirteen types of minds as listed above, there

are thirteen types of lineages. As there are many types of paths
that are the means of practice, the emptiness of those paths or con-
sciousnesses comes to be divided into many types. It is not a ques-
tion of there being a difference in terms of ease or difficulty in
realizing the respective emptiness. There cannot be any divisions
at all made in terms of emptiness itself. Emptiness is the main ob-
ject of meditation of the Great Vehicle, because one passes from
a lower ground to a higher within meditative equipoise on empti-
ness.

Divisions [of lineage]

When lineages are divided terminologically, there are two—naturally
abiding lineages (rang bzhin gnas rigs, prakṛtisthaṃ gotram) and devel-
opmental lineage (rgyas gyur gyi rigs, paripuṣṭaṃ gotram).
གཉིས་པ་ནི། རིགས་ལ་ ས་བ དོ ་རིགས་ཀྱི་ ་ོ ནས་རང་བཞིན་
གནས་རིགས་དང་ ས་འ ར་གྱི་རིགས་ གཉིས་ཡོད། [6b.2]

Dan-ma-lo-chö: This is a terminological division because, accord-

ing to Jam-yang-shay-pa, a developmental lineage is not an actual
lineage. Certain other scholars say that the emptiness of Bodhi-
sattvas’ paths is the naturally abiding lineage and that the Bodhi-
sattvas’ paths of accumulation, preparation, seeing, meditation,
and Bodhisattvas’ wisdom, method, and so forth are developmen-
tal lineages. They say that both of these are Buddha lineages. They
are called lineages because they are bases, or sources, of turning
into a Buddha. For instance, in the past when a king had a son,
that child even from birth was suitable to become a king; he had
the lineage of a king. According to Jam-yang-shay-pa, however,
the developmental lineage is not an actual lineage. The paths are
called developmental lineages because they increase and develop

Emptiness can grow nothing; it is just an absence of true existence or inherent

existence; but meditation on it can produce something. Not meditation on empti-
ness in general, but on the emptiness of one’s own mind, which, so to speak, turns
into the Nature Body of a Buddha. The emptiness of our mind and the emptiness
of a Buddha’s mind is the same, but ours is not called a Nature Body. When our
mind becomes purified of defilements its emptiness will be called a Nature Body.
Thus the emptiness of the mind is imputed with different names as if it gets better
and better, but it does not; it is the mind that improves.
 Naturally Abiding Lineage, the Support of Great Vehicle Achievings 133

higher and higher.

When the naturally abiding lineage that is the basis of Great Vehicle
achieving is divided, by way of dependent attributes there are [fourteen]
naturally abiding lineages—the thirteen explicitly indicated [in Maitreya’s
Ornament for the Clear Realizations] and the support of Great Vehicle
path of accumulation.a
ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་པའི་ ནེ ་རང་བཞིན་གནས་རིགས་ལ་ད ེ་ན།
བ ེན་པའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་ སོ ་དངོས་བ ན་བ ་ག མ་དང་། ཐེག་
ཆེན་ཚགས་ལམ་གྱི་ ནེ ་རང་བཞིན་གནས་རིགས་ མས་ཡོད་དེ།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Once the naturally abiding lineage is emptiness,
it has no difference of subtlety and grossness as one proceeds
along the path; consequently the emptiness of the heat path of
preparation, the emptiness of the peak path of preparation, the
emptiness of the forbearance path of preparation, the emptiness of
the supreme mundane qualities path of preparation, the emptiness
of the path of seeing, and the emptiness of the path of meditation
are all the same. Therefore, the division of lineages is not made in

a The next stanza in Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations (I.39) says:
[Objection:] Because the element of attributes has no divisions,
The lineages are not possibly different.
[Response:] Divisions of those are thoroughly expressed
Due to differences in the dependent phenomena.
Based on this statement, Tsong-kha-pa in his Extensive Explanation of (Chan-
drakīrti’s) “Supplement to (Nāgārjuna’s) ‘Treatise on the Middle’”: Illumination
of the Thought says, “This indicates that [some] Hearers and Solitary Victors also
realize the nature of phenomena,” and proceeds to explain that here the Orna-
ment—and Āryavimuktisena’s Commentary on the “Twenty-Five Thousand
Stanza Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra” and Haribhadra’s Explanation of the “Eight
Thousand Stanza Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra”: Illumination of (Maitreya’s) “Or-
nament for the Clear Realizations”—evince the view of the Consequence School
that some Hearers and Solitary Victors realize the subtle emptiness of the absence
of inherent existence. His point is that Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Reali-
zations does not just present the view of the Yogic Practice Middle Way School.
See Jeffrey Hopkins, Compassion in Tibetan Buddhism (Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion
Publications, 1980), 178-181; the portion of the book that is Tsong-kha-pa’s Illu-
mination of the Thought (chapters 1-5) is freely downloadable at: http://uma-ti-
bet.org/edu/gomang/dbu_ma/middle.php.
134 Chapter I: Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects

terms of a difference in emptinesses. However, there are phenom-

ena which are as if attributes of the emptiness that is the nature of
the mind and from this viewpoint there are divisions of lineages.
Maitreya’s Ornament explicitly indicates thirteen such divisions.
To these thirteen, our text adds a fourteenth, the naturally abiding
lineage which serves as the basis of a Great Vehicle path of accu-
mulation.
This is because there are the thirteen consisting of those explicitly indi-
cated [in Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations]:
1-6.six naturally abiding lineages that are bases of six qualities of realiza-
tion—(1-4) heat, peak, forbearance, and supreme mundane qualities
of the path of preparation, (5) the path of seeing, and (6) the path of
meditation
7. naturally abiding lineage that is the basis of antidotal achievings
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Antidotes are so called because they damage or
remove the unfavorable. Since these paths are techniques (thabs)
for removing the conception of true existence, they are called an-
tidotes.
8. naturally abiding lineage that is the basis of achievings that are means
of abandoning
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This refers to the emptiness that is the basis of an
uninterrupted path, and the next indicates the emptiness that is the
basis of a path of release. The achieving that is a means of aban-
doning (spong ba) is the uninterrupted path that serves as the ac-
tual antidote to the conception of true existence, and the emptiness
of this uninterrupted path is the naturally abiding lineage that
serves as its basis.
9. naturally abiding lineage that is the basis of the paths of release that
are the finalizations of those objects of abandonment
Dan-ma-lo-chö: The previous item referred to the emptiness of
that which is the cause of abandoning the conception of true ex-
istence. The present one refers to the subsequent state when it has
been abandoned (spangs pa). This naturally abiding lineage is the
emptiness that is the basis of the path of release that is the state of
having gotten rid of the conception of true existence forever. It is
a finalization, in the sense that it has been gotten rid of this such
that it can never return, like throwing out garlic or onions so that
not even the smell remains.
10. naturally abiding lineage that is the basis of wisdom and empathy
Dan-ma-lo-chö: The pristine wisdom in the continuum of an
 Naturally Abiding Lineage, the Support of Great Vehicle Achievings 135

eighth ground Bodhisattva is called an achieving of wisdom and

empathy. This naturally abiding lineage is the emptiness of that
pristine wisdom. At the eighth ground Bodhisattvas have com-
pletely gotten rid of any possibility of a manifest conception of
true existence. At that time there is no doubt that a mind directed
towards one’s own welfare would become manifest. Actually,
such a mind does not become manifest even from the first Bodhi-
sattva ground, but on the eighth there is not even a qualm that it
might become manifest. That is why the emptiness of the pristine
wisdom of an eighth ground Bodhisattva is called the naturally
abiding lineage that is the basis of wise and empathetic practice.
“Empathetic” here means compassionate.
11. naturally abiding lineage that is the basis of what is unshared with
Hearer learners and so forth
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This is the emptiness of the ninth grounder’s pris-
tine wisdom. On the ninth ground Bodhisattvas attain qualities
that are not shared with Hearers; they attain the four right knowl-
edges.
12. naturally abiding lineage that is the basis of the gradual effecting of
the welfare of others
Dan-ma-lo-chö: The twelfth type of natural lineage refers to the
Bodhisattva on the tenth ground who is out of meditative equi-
poise; it is the emptiness of the wisdom subsequent to meditative
equipoise of a tenth ground Bodhisattva. On this ground the Bo-
dhisattva is able to effect the welfare of sentient beings in a man-
ner that is very similar to that of a Buddha. Buddhas can tell the
difference between a tenth grounder’s activities and their own, but
Hearers, Solitary Victors, and lower Bodhisattvas cannot.
13. naturally abiding lineage that is the basis of the operation of pristine
wisdom without exertion
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Just before a tenth grounder’s pristine wisdom
turns into that of a Buddha, there is a path known as the uninter-
rupted path at the end of the continuum; this naturally abiding lin-
eage is the emptiness of the uninterrupted path at the end of the
continuum.
and a [fourteenth] naturally abiding lineage that is the basis of the path of
accumulation.
དངོས་བ ན་ [6b.3]

1-6. ོར་ལམ་ ད
ོ ་སོགས་བཞི། མཐོང་ལམ་ མོ ་ལམ་གཉིས།
136 Chapter I: Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects

གོ ས་པའི་ཆོས་ ག་གི་ ེན་རང་བཞིན་གནས་རིགས་

ག་དང་།
7. གཉེན་པོ་ བ་པའི་ ན ེ ་རང་བཞིན་གནས་རིགས་དང་།
8. ོང་བའི་ བ་པའི་[ ེན་རང་བཞིན་གནས་རིགས་]དེ་དང་།
9. ང་ ་དེ་ དག་ག གས་པའི་ མ་གྲོལ་ལམ་གྱི་ ེན་
[6b.4]

རང་བཞིན་གནས་རིགས་དང་།
10. ཤེས་རབ་ ང ི ་བ ྕེ་བའི་ ེན་རང་བཞིན་གནས་རིགས་
དང་།
11. ོབ་མ་ཉན་ཐོས་སོགས་དང་ ན་མོང་མ་ཡིན་པའི་ ེན་

རང་བཞིན་གནས་རིགས་དང་། [6b.5]

12. གཞན་དོན་གོ་རིམ་ ་ ེད་པའི་ ན ེ ་རང་བཞིན་གནས་

རིགས་དང་།
13. ཡེ་ཤེས་ ལོ ་བ་མི་མངའ་བར་འ ག་པའི་ ནེ ་རང་
བཞིན་གནས་རིགས་
དང་བ ་ག མ། ཚགས་ལམ་གྱི་ ནེ ་རང་བཞིན་གནས་རིགས་
མས་ཡོད་ པ་དེའི་ ིར།
[6b.6]

Boundaries [of lineage]

In general, [naturally abiding lineages of the Great Vehicle that are the
bases of Great Vehicle achievings] exist from the Great Vehicle path of
accumulation until the end of the continuum [as a sentient being, just prior
to Buddhahood], and [the naturally abiding lineages of the Great Vehicle
that are the bases of Great Vehicle achievings] explicitly indicated [in
Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations] are from the heat [path
of preparation] until the end of the continuum.
 Naturally Abiding Lineage, the Support of Great Vehicle Achievings 137

ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་ ིར་ཐེག་ཆེན་ཚགས་ལམ་ནས་ ན་

མཐའི་བར་དང་། དངོས་བ ན་ དོ ་ནས་ ན་མཐའི་བར་ ་
ཡོད་དོ།
 5th Topic
5. Objects of Observation of Great Vehicle
Achievings (ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་པའི་དམིགས་པ་)
[In Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, I.40-41] the explana-
tion of the objects of observation of Great Vehicle achievings is:17
{I.40}
The objects of observation are all phenomena.
Moreover, they are virtues and so forth,
Worldly realizations,
Those accepted as supramundane,
{I.41}
Contaminated and uncontaminated qualities,
Those compounded and uncompounded,
Qualities shared with learners,
And a Subduer’s unshared.
་པ་ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་པའི་དམིགས་པ་འཆད་པ་ནི།
དམིགས་པ་ཆོས་ མས་ཐམས་ཅད་དེ། །ནས། གང་དག་ བ་
[7a.1]

པའི་ ན་མོང་མིན། །ཞེས་ག ངས།

[Ornament I.40-41, 3b.2-3b.3]
{I.40}
དམིགས་པ་ཆོས་ མས་ཐམས་ཅད་དེ། །དེ་ཡང་དགེ་ལ་སོགས་པ་ཡིན། ། །
འ ིག་ ེན་པ་ཡི་ ོགས་པ་དང་། །གང་དག་འ ིག་ ེན་འདས་འདོད་དང་། ། །
{I.41}
ཟག་བཅས་ཟག་པ་མེད་ཆོས་དང་། །གང་དག་འ ས་ ས་འ ས་མ་ ས། ། །
ོབ་མ་ ན་མོང་ཆོས་ མས་དང་། །གང་དག་ བ་པའི་ ན་མོང་མིན། །
With regard to objects of observation of Great Vehicle achievings there
are three: definition, divisions, and whether or not there are boundaries.
ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་པའི་དམིགས་པ་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་
མཚམས་ཡོད་མེད་ག མ། [7a.2]
 Objects of Observation of Great Vehicle Achievings 139

Definition [of an object of observation of a Great Ve-

hicle achieving]
An object to be known by a Great Vehicle achieving is the definition of
an object of observation by a Great Vehicle achieving.
དང་པོ་ནི། ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་པའི་ཤེས་པར་ ་བ་དེ། ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་
པའི་དམིགས་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: An easy way to understand the topic of object of
observation by a Great Vehicle practice, or achievings, is to con-
sider it as the basis for the elimination of superimpositions. For
instance, there is a consciousness that realizes sound to be imper-
manent. That consciousness eliminates the superimposition that
sound is permanent. The basis for the removal of the superimpo-
sition of permanence by a mind that realizes sound to be imper-
manent is sound. Impermanent sound is not the basis for the elim-
ination of the superimposition of permanence; sound is the basis.
Impermanent sound is to be realized. Indeed, because all objects
are bases for superimposition, any object can be an object of ob-
servation by a Great Vehicle practice. Thus, an alternative defini-
tion could be a basis for the elimination of superimpositions by
a Great Vehicle achieving.

Divisions [of objects of observation of Great Vehicle

achievings]
When divided, there are eleven because there are the eleven consisting of:
1-3. each of the three—virtues, non-virtues, and the neutral
Dan-ma-lo-chö: A virtue is that which issues forth happiness as its
fruition. A nonvirture is that which issues forth suffering as its
fruition. The full definitions of virtue and non-virtue are that
which abides in the type of issuing forth pleasure as its fruition
and that which abides in the type of issuing forth suffering as
its fruition. The qualification “abides in the type” (rigs su gnas
pa) is made because uncontaminated virtues do not issue forth
their own fruition. “Fruition” (rnam smin) here does not just mean
fruit (’bras bu); it is a technical term that has three features:
a. its entity is neutral
b. it is included in the [personal] continuum
140 Chapter I: Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects

c. its cause or causes are either contaminated virtues or non- vir-

tues.
The main reason for this type of division into virtues that do and
do not have fruitions is that uncontaminated virtues do not yield
their fruits as a maturation in form—that is, as bodies and so
forth—whereas contaminated virtues do. For instance, the pristine
wisdoms of meditative equipoise (mnyam bzhag ye shes) of a Su-
perior serve as causes of a pristine wisdom body of attributes (ye
shes chos sku) and so forth, but not of forms and so forth.
The neutral refers to any phenomenon that is neither a virtue
nor a non-virtue; thus it could be any other phenomenon, even an
uncompounded phenomenon such as uncompounded space or a
compounded phenomenon such as a table.
4. the aggregates of worldly common beings
Dan-ma-lo-chö: These are five aggregates of beings who have not
attained a Superior path, that is, who have not attained a path of
seeing.
5. the [four] supramundane uncontaminated concentrations in the con-
tinuum of Superiors
6. the [five] contaminated appropriated aggregates
Dan-ma-lo-chö: “Contaminated” here refers to the fact that these
particular aggregates are produced by the power of contaminated
actions and afflictions and are included within cyclic existence.
They are called “appropriated aggregates” because they are appro-
priated through the power of contaminated actions and afflictions.
7. the uncontaminated [four] mindful establishments, and so forth, which
are antidotes to the view of self
Dan-ma-lo-chö: These are mindful establishments only in the con-
tinuum of a Superior.
8. true paths produced by causes not included within the three realms
[desire, form and Formless Realms]
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This refers to true paths directly realizing self-
lessness.
9. true cessations not compounded by causes and conditions
10. concentrations that are shared qualities existing in the continuums of
all three Superiors [Hearer, Solitary Victor, and Bodhisattva Superi-
ors]
11. the ten unshared powers that exist only in Buddhas
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན་བ ་གཅིག་ཡོད།
 Objects of Observation of Great Vehicle Achievings 141

1-3. དགེ་མི་དགེ་ ང་མ་བ ན་ག མ་རེ་རེ་དང་།

4. འ ིག་ ེན་སོ་ ེའི་ ང་པོ་དང་། [7a.3]

5. འ ིག་ ེན་ལས་འདས་པའི་འཕགས་ ད་ཀྱི་ཟག་མེད་

བསམ་གཏན་དང་།
6. ཉེར་ལེན་གྱི་ ང་པོ་ཟག་བཅས་དང་།

7. བདག་ འི་གཉེན་པོ་ ན་སོགས་ཟག་མེད་དང་།

8. ཁམས་ག མ་ལ་མ་གཏོགས་པའི་ ས་བ ད ེ ་པ་ ལམ་ [7a.4]

བདེན་དང་།
9. ་ ེན་གྱིས་འ ས་མ་ ས་པའི་འགོག་བདེན་དང་།
10. འཕགས་པ་ག མ་གའི་ ད་ལ་ཡོད་པའི་ ན་མོང་གི་

ཡོན་ཏན་བསམ་གཏན་དང་།
11. སངས་ ས་ཁོ་ན་ལ་ཡོད་པའི་ ན་མོང་མ་ཡིན་པ་ ོབས་

བ ་ [7a.5]

ེ་བ ་གཅིག་ཡོད་པའི་ ིར།

Whether or not there are boundaries [of objects of
observation of Great Vehicle achievings]
Because all phenomena are necessarily objects of observation by Great
Vehicle achievings, they have no boundaries.
ག མ་པ་ནི། ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་པའི་དམིགས་པས་ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་
ལ་ཁྱབ་པས་ས་མཚམས་མེད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Once objects of observation by Great Vehicle
practice pervade or apply to all phenomena, this topic cannot have
any boundaries.
 6th Topic
6. Objects of Intent of Great Vehicle Achievings (ཐེག་
ཆེན་ བ་པའི་ཆེད་ ་ ་བ་)
To explain the objects of intent of Great Vehicles achievings one stanza
occurs [in Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, I.42]:18
{I.42}
The objects of intent of [Bodhisattvas] self-arisen
By way of three greatnesses are to be known as the three—
The mind that [makes a person endowed with it]
The supreme of sentient beings, abandonment, and realization.
ག་པ་ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་པའི་ཆེད་ ་ ་བ་འཆད་པར།
སེམས་ཅན་ཀུན་མཆོག་ཉིད་ སེམས་དང་། །ཞེས་སོགས་ཚིགས་
[7a.6]

བཅད་གཅིག་ ང་།
[Ornament I.42, 3b.3-3b.4]
{I.42}
སེམས་ཅན་ཀུན་མཆོག་ཉིད་སེམས་དང་། ། ངས་དང་ གོ ས་དང་ག མ་པོ་ལ། །
ཆེན་པོ་ག མ་གྱི་རང་ ང་གི །ཆེད་ ་ ་བ་འདི་ཤེས་ ། །
With regard to objects of intent of Great Vehicle achievings there are
three: definition, divisions, and boundaries.
ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་པའི་ཆེད་ ་ ་བ་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་
མཚམས་ག མ།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: “Object of intent” means that for the sake of
which one engages in practice, the reason why one enters into
practice. One engages in Great Vehicle practice in order to attain
complete abandonment (spangs pa mthar thug), complete realiza-
tion (rtogs pa mthar thug), as well as complete qualities (mthar
thug gi yon tan), and hence “objects of intent,” are identified as:
1. great mind. This is the great compassion, mind-generation,
and so forth in the continuum of a Buddha. These are final
qualities that are posited as factors of method (thabs kyi char
 Objects of Intent of Great Vehicle Achievings 143

’jogs pa’i mthar thug gi yon tan). These are final qualities of
a Buddha (yon tan mthar thug), final objects of attainment
(’thob bya mthar thug), the completion of method.
2. great abandonment, which is the complete abandonment of
obstructions in the continuum of a Buddha
3. great realization, which is the wisdom realizing emptiness in
the continuum of a Buddha. This is the final quality included
within the factor of wisdom (shes rab kyis bsdus pa’i yon tan
mthar thug).

Definition [of an object of intent of a Great Vehicle

achieving]
A final object of attainment for which a Bodhisattva engages in
achieving is the definition of an object of intent of a Great Vehicle achiev-
ing.
དང་པོ་ནི། ང་སེམས་ བ་པར་འ ག་པའི་ཐོབ་ ་མཐར་ ག་
དེ། ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་པའི་ཆེད་ ་ ་བའི་མཚན་ཉིད།
[7b.1]

Divisions [of objects of intent of Great Vehicle

achievings]
When divided, there are three:
1. great mind
2. great abandonment
3. great realization
གཉིས་པ་ནི། དེ་ལ་ད ེ་ན།
1. སེམས་ཆེན་པོ།

2. ང་བ་ཆེན་པོ།
3. ོགས་པ་ཆེན་པོ་
ག མ་ཡོད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Great mind is so named because the main of these
factors are included within method, the altruistic mind of enlight-
enment being the chief method. Great abandonment is the
144 Chapter I: Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects

nonabiding nirvāṇa because this is a state of having abandoned all

of the afflictive obstructions and the obstructions to omniscience.
Great realization is an exalted knower in the continuum of Buddha
that realizes the selflessness of persons and the emptiness of true
existence with respect to all phenomena.

Boundaries [of objects of intent of Great Vehicle

achievings]
[Objects of intent of Great Vehicle achievings] exist only on the Buddha
ground.
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ས་ཁོ་ནར་ཡོད་དོ།
 7th Topic
7. Achievings through Armor (གོ་ བ་)
To explain achieving through armor [Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear
Realizations, I.43] says:19
{I.43}
Achieving through armor is explained exactly
By including individually in six aspects
Giving and so forth by way of
Six divisions of six.
བ ན་པ་གོ་ བ་བཤད་པར།
[7b.2]

དེ་དག་སོ་སོར་ ིན་ལ་སོགས། །ནས། ག་ཚན་ ག་གིས་ ི་

བཞིན་བཤད། །ཅེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament I.43, 3b.4-3b.5]
{I.43}
དེ་དག་སོ་སོར་ ིན་ལ་སོགས། ། མ་པ་ ག་ ་བ ས་པ་ཡིས། །
གོ་ཆའི་ བ་པ་གང་ཡིན་དེ། ། ག་ཚན་ ག་གིས་ ི་བཞིན་བཤད། །
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Because the next two sections are concerned
Great Vehicle achievings, this section begins not with a definition
of an achieving through armor but with a definition of a Great Ve-
hicle achieving.

Definition [of a Great Vehicle achieving]

An activity of achieving the two aims for the sake of unsurpassed en-
lightenment in dependence on a Great Vehicle mind-generation is the
definition of a Great Vehicle achieving.
ཐེག་ཆེན་སེམས་བ དེ ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་ ་མེད་ ང་ བ་ཀྱི་ཆེད་
་དོན་གཉིས་ བ་པའི་ ་བ་དེ། ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་པའི་མཚན་
[7b.3]

ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Saying that this achieving arises in dependence
146 Chapter I: Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects

on a Great Vehicle mind-generation indicates that the altruistic

mind of enlightenment is its root. “Unsurpassed” means that there
is none higher; this activity is for the sake of attaining an enlight-
enment with respect to which there is none higher.
The “two aims” refers to the body of attributes, which is the
fulfillment of one’s own welfare, and the form body which is the
fulfillment of others’ welfare. Activities involved in achieving
these are called Great Vehicle achievings, or practices.

Divisions [of Great Vehicle achievings]

When divided, there are four—achieving through armor, achieving
through engagement, achieving through the collections, and definitely is-
suative achieving.
ད ེ་ན།
1. གོ་ བ།

2. འ ག་ བ།

3. ཚགས་ བ།

4. ངེས་འ ང་ བ་པ་

བཞི་ཡོད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: In the world when one engages in war in order to
achieve a goal, one has to pass through various states. First, one
has to put on tough armor. Similarly, in religious practice there is
an achieving through armor, the seventh topic. Then one must en-
ter into battle, throwing weapons and so forth. That is the achiev-
ing through engagement, the eighth topic. It is not sufficient to
have only a few soldiers to help you, you need a whole army, a
collection of soldiers, and similarly because Bodhisattvas must
amass the collections of merit and wisdom in order to attain Bud-
dhahood, Maitreya next speaks of achieving through collections,
the ninth topic.
When one has done this well, one is able to defeat the enemy.
If a Bodhisattva initially practices the achieving through armor,
then practices the achieving through engagement, then achieving
through collections, then in dependence on these three the wisdom
of a Buddha which realizes all aspects will definitely arise, or
 Achievings through Armor 147

emerge. Thus, definitely issuative achieving is placed last.

What one is achieving here is not, as the terminology might
suggest, armor, engagement, and collections. One is achieving
Buddhahood by way of these practices.a
With regard to achievings through armor there are three: definition, divi-
sions, and boundaries.
དང་པོ་གོ་ བ་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས་ག མ།
Definition [of an achieving through armor]
A Bodhisattva’s yoga that is conjoined with the wisdom of how to
practice all six perfections completely within each of the six perfec-
tions is the definition of an achieving through armor.
དང་པོ་ནི། ིན་ ག་རེ་རེའི་ནང་ ་ ག་ ག་ཚང་བར་
[7b.4]

བ ས་ནས་ཉམས་ ་ལེན་པའི་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱིས་ཟིན་པའི་སེམས་
དཔའི་ ལ་འ ོར་དེ། གོ་ བ་ཀྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This wisdom need not be manifest; it is sufficient
if the Bodhisattva’s yogic consciousness is conjoined with the
force of the wisdom of how to practice all six within each of the
six.
How does one practice the six perfections within all of them?
With respect to giving, one practices the giving of giving, the eth-
ics of giving, the patience of giving, the effort of giving, the med-
itative stabilization of giving, and the wisdom of giving. The giv-
ing of giving is a pure form of giving that is without diminishment.
To practice the ethics of giving means to restrain from bad behav-
ior when engaging in giving; for example, one would not view the
recipient of one’s gift as lowly. Because this is a case of restrain-
ing ill behavior, it is called ethics, and because it is involved in

a The first could be translated as achieving by way of putting on armor; the sec-
ond and third as achieving by way of engagement and achieving by way of col-
lections. Achieving through engagement refers to the practices that one under-
takes in order to achieve Buddhahood; it is so called because one achieves Bud-
dhahood by way of engaging in practices. And the third is so named because one
achieves the final attainment, the omniscient consciousness of a Buddha, by way
of many collections, the collections of wisdom, of merit, and so forth.
148 Chapter I: Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects

giving, it is called the ethics of giving. The patience of giving is

the ability to give an article that one prizes highly without any
sense of fear or doubt. Bodhisattvas who have attained the grounds
can give away even their own bodies; because they do so without
fear, this activity is a patience of giving. The effort of giving is a
case of being enthusiastic in giving; if someone requests some-
thing, you do not have a sense of “Oh, I should give it; it would
be unsuitable if I did not” but instead feel an enthusiasm to give.
One would not be giving just for the sake of attaining fame one-
self. The concentration of giving is a case of giving in which the
mind does not wander. One gives very carefully with an altruistic
attitude and is conscientious in one’s action. The wisdom of giv-
ing is a giving conjoined with wisdom realizing that the three
spheres of giver, giving, and object given or recipient do not truly
exist.
This format should be applied similarly to the other perfec-
tions. For example, the giving of ethics would be a case of turning
away from ill deeds a person who is habituated to such deeds by
convincing him or her that such activities are not helpful to
him/her and would not help in the future and so on. If you under-
stand how the six are applied with respect to giving, you can apply
to this to ethics and so forth, and extend it to the thirty-six.
This [achieving through armor] and a Bodhisattva path are equivalent.
དེ་དང་ ང་སེམས་ཀྱི་ལམ་དོན་གཅིག།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: All Bodhisattva paths are achievings through ar-
mor. It might seem strange that any Bodhisattva path would fulfill
the definition of achieving through armor because, for instance,
dull Bodhisattvas on the path of accumulation have not realized
emptiness and, therefore, how could the compassion in their con-
tinuum—which is a Bodhisattva path—be a Bodhisattva’s yoga
conjoined with the wisdom of how to practice all six perfections
within each of the six perfections? Indeed, dull Bodhisattvas do
not have the wisdom realizing emptiness at this point, but they
would have a practice of the wisdom realizing emptiness; thus,
their compassion—though it could not be such a wisdom—would
be conjoined with the force of a [rough] understanding of empti-
ness.
 Achievings through Armor 149

Divisions [of achievings through armor]

When divided, there are six—achieving through the armor of giving, eth-
ics, patience, effort, concentration, and wisdom. When they are divided
extensively, each has six, making thirty-six, because there are the six—
ranging from achieving through the armor of the giving of giving on
through achieving through the armor of the wisdom of giving—and like-
wise also for the other [perfections, that is, six for ethics, six for patience,
six for effort, six for concentration, six for wisdom].
གཉིས་པ་ད ེ་ན། ིན་པའི་ གོ་ བ་ནས་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་གོ་ བ་
[7b.5]

པར་ ག་ཡོད ། ས་པར་ ེ་ན་དེ་རེ་རེ་ལ་ ག་ ག་ ེ་སོ་ ག་

ཡོད་དེ། ནི ་པའི་ ནི ་པའི་གོ་ བ་ནས། ིན་པའི་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་
གོ་ བ་བར་ ག་དང་། དེ་བཞིན་ ་གཞན་ལའང་ཡོད་ པའི་ [7b.6]

ིར།
Boundaries [of achievings through armor]
[Achievings through armor] exist from the Bodhisattva path of accumula-
tion until the end of the continuum [as a sentient being, just prior to Bud-
dhahood].
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་ ང་སེམས་ཚགས་ལམ་ནས་ ན་མཐའི་
བར་ ་ཡོད་དོ། །
 8th Topic
8. Achievings through Engagement (འ ག་ བ་)
To explain achieving through engagement [Maitreya’s Ornament for the
Clear Realizations, I.44-45] says:20
{I.44}
Achieving through engagement in the modes
Of the concentrations and formlessness [absorptions], giving and
so forth,
Paths, love and so forth,
That endowed with unapprehendability,
{I.45}
Thorough purity of the three spheres,
Objects of intent, the six clairvoyances,
And an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects
Is to be known as ascending in the Great Vehicle.
བ ད་པ་འ ག་ བ་བཤད་པར།
བསམ་གཏན་ག གས་མེད་ ནི ་སོགས་དང་། །ནས༏ །འཛག་aཔ་
ཡིན་པར་ ཤེས་པར་ ། ཞེས་ག ངས།
[8a.1]

[Ornament I.44-45, 3b.5-3b.6]

{I.44}
བསམ་གཏན་ག གས་མེད་ ིན་སོགས་དང་། །ལམ་དང་ མས་ལ་སོགས་པ་དང་། །
དམིགས་པ་མེད་དང་ ན་པ་དང་། །འཁོར་ག མ་ མ་པར་དག་པ་དང་། །
{I.45}
ཆེད་ ་ ་དང་མངོན་ཤེས་ ག ། མ་ཀུན་མཁྱེན་པའི་ ལ་ལ་ནི། །
འ ག་པའི་ བ་པ་ཐེག་ཆེན་ལ། །འཛག་bཔ་ཡིན་པར་ཤེས་པར་ ། །
With regard to achievings through engagement there are three: definition,

a Correcting 'dzog in the 2011 TBRC bla brang and the 1995 Mundgod revision
of Ngawang Gelek bla brang (7b.6) and 'dzig (14.7) in the 2005 Mundgod and
'dzogs in the sde dge Ornament (3b.6) to 'dzeg in accordance with Ngag-wang-
pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words (23a.2), and also the co ne, 3b.7.
b See the previous footnote.
 Achievings through Engagement 151

divisions, and boundaries.

འ ག་ བ་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས་ག མ།
Definition of an achieving through engagement
An activity engaging in any Great Vehicle causes and effects from the
approach mainly of states arisen from meditation is the definition of an
achieving through engagement.
དང་པོ་ནི། ོམ་ ང་གཙ་བོར་ ར་པའི་ ོས་ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ ་
འ ས་ཅི་རིགས་ལ་འ ག་ པའི་ ་བ་དེ། འ ག་ བ་ཀྱི་
[8a.2]

མཚན་ཉིད།
Divisions of achievings through engagement
When divided, there are nine because there are the nine:
1. the achieving through engagement that engages in the concentrations
and formless [absorptions motivated by the precious] mind of enlight-
enment
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This means to engage in the actual concentrations
and formless absorptions, these being four concentrations and four
formless absorptions.
2. the achieving through engagement that engages in the six perfections
3. the achieving through engagement that engages in the Superior paths
[of seeing and meditation of the Great Vehicle]
4. the achieving through engagement that engages in the four im-
measurables [of love, compassion, joy, and equanimity]
Dan-ma-lo-chö: There are four possibilities between great com-
passion and immeasurable compassion. In order to generate an im-
measurable compassion in one’s mental continuum it is necessary
to achieve an actual concentration. The immeasurable compassion
in the continuums of a Hearer or Solitary Victor Superior is an
immeasurable compassion but is not a great compassion. The
great compassion in the continuum of a Bodhisattva on the lesser
path of accumulation—this being a Bodhisattva who has not at-
tained an actual concentration—is a great compassion that is not
an immeasurable compassion. A great compassion in the contin-
uum of a Bodhisattva Superior is both a great compassion and an
immeasurable compassion; such a compassion is necessarily an
152 Chapter I: Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects

immeasurable compassion because there is no case of the degen-

eration of a Bodhisattva’s attainment of an actual concentration.
A pot or a pillar is neither great compassion nor immeasurable
compassion.
In brief, love is the wish to establish other sentient beings in
happiness. Compassion is a wish to free other sentient beings from
suffering. Joy is to take delight in other sentient beings’ possessing
happiness. Equanimity is to abide without bias—without becom-
ing desirous toward those who have helped you or your friend or
without having hatred toward those who have harmed you or your
friend.
An immeasurable compassion occurs for one who has attained
an actual concentration and observes an immeasurable number of
beings within the wish that they be free from suffering. Such em-
pathy is called an immeasurable compassion. Because one is here
observing a limitless number of sentient beings, immeasurable
merit is accumulated. That is why such compassion is called im-
measurable.
5. the achieving through engagement that engages what is endowed with
nonapprehendability
Dan-ma-lo-chö: All phenomena are without true existence; there-
fore, all phenomena are unapprehendable as being truly existent.
6. the achieving through engagement that engages in the thorough purity
of the three spheres [of agent, object, and activity]
Dan-ma-lo-chö: The agent here is the meditator, the object is that
which is being meditated upon, and the activity is meditation. This
means to engage in meditation without manifesting the conception
of true existence with regard to meditator, meditated, and medi-
tating.
7. the achieving through engagement that engages in [practicing the
paths for the sake of] the objects of intent [great mind, great abandon-
ment, and great realization]
8. the achieving through engagement that engages in [generating] the
[six] clairvoyances
9. the achieving through engagement that engages in [meditation mainly
for the sake of attaining] an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན་དགུ་ཡོད་དེ།
1. ང་སེམས་ཀྱི་བསམ་གཏན་ག གས་མེད་ལ་འ ག་པའི་
 Achievings through Engagement 153

དེ་དང་།
2. ཕར་ ིན་ ག་ལ་འ ག་པའི་དེ་དང་།

3. འཕགས་ལམ་ལ་འ ག་པའི་དེ།

4. ཚད་ མེད་བཞི་ལ་འ ག་པའི་དེ།

[8a.3]

5. མི་དམིགས་པ་དང་ ན་པའི་འ ག་པའི་དེ།

6. འཁོར་ག མ་ཡོངས་ ་དག་པའི་འ ག་པའི་དེ།

7. ཆེད་ ་ ་བའི་འ ག་པའི་དེ།

8. མངོན་པར་ཤེས་པའི་འ ག་ བ་དང་།

9. མ་མཁྱེན་ ་ འ ག་པའི་འ ག་ བ་
[8a.4]

ེ་དགུ་ཡོད་པའི་ ིར།
Boundaries of achievings through engagement
[Achievings through engagement] exist from the heat level of [the path of
preparation within the levels of] engagement through belief until the end
of the continuum [as a sentient being, just prior to Buddhahood].
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་མོས་ དོ ་ཀྱི་ ོར་ལམ་ ོད་ནས་ ན་
མཐའི་བར་རོ། །
Dan-ma-lo-chö: The levels of engagement through belief are the
paths of accumulation and preparation; at those times one is still a
common being. These are called engagements through belief be-
cause one is not realizing emptiness directly but by way of belief.
 9th Topic
9. Achievings through Collections (ཚགས་ བ་)
[Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, I.46-47] says:21
{I.46}
Empathy, giving and so forth six,
Calm abiding, special insight,
The path of union [of calm abiding and special insight],
Skill in means,
{I.47}
Pristine wisdom, merit,
Paths, retentions, the ten grounds,a
And antidotes are to be known as being
The stages of achieving through collections.
དགུ་པ་ཚགས་ བ་བཤད་པ་ནི།
བ ེ་དང་ ནི ་ལ་སོགས་པ་ ག །ནས། །རིམ་པ་ ཡིན་པར་ཤེས་ [8a.5]

པར་ ། །ཞེས་ག ངས།

[Ornament I.46-47, 3b.6-3b.7]
{I.46}
བ ེ་དང་ ནི ་ལ་སོགས་པ་ ག །ཞི་གནས་ ག་མཐོང་བཅས་པ་དང་། །
ང་ ་འ ེལ་པའི་ལམ་གང་དང་། །ཐབས་ལ་མཁས་པ་གང་ཡིན་དང་། །
{I.47}

a The ten grounds of Bodhisattvas are:

1. very joyful (rab tu dga' ba, pramuditā)
2. stainless (dri ma med pa, vimalā)
3. luminous ('od byed pa, prabhākarī)
4. radiant ('od 'phro ba, arciṣmatī)
5. difficult to overcome (sbyang dka' ba, sudurjayā)
6. manifest (mngon du gyur ba, abhimukhī)
7. gone afar (ring du song ba, dūraṃgama)
8. immovable (mi g.yo ba, acalā)
9. good intelligence (legs pa'i blo gros, sādhumatī)
10. cloud of doctrine (chos kyi sprin rnams, dharmamegha).
 Achievings through Collections 155

ཡེ་ཤེས་དང་ནི་བསོད་ནམས་དང་། །ལམ་དང་ག ངས་aདང་ས་བ ་དང་། །

གཉེན་པོ་ཚགས་ཀྱི་ བ་པ་ཡི། །རིམ་པ་ཡིན་པར་ཤེས་པར་ ། །
With regard to achievings through collections there are three: definition,
divisions, and boundaries.
ཚགས་ བ་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས་ག མ།
Definition [of an achieving through collections]
An activity that abides in a type directly issuing forth a great enlight-
enmentb as its own fruit is the definition of an achieving through collec-
tions.
དང་པོ་ནི། རང་འ ས་ ང་ཆེན་དངོས་ ་འ ནི ་པའི་རིགས་
གནས་ཀྱི་ ་བ་དེ། ཚགས་ བ་ཀྱི་མཚན་ཉིད། [8a.6]

Divisions [of achievings through collections]

When divided, there are seventeen because there are [seventeen] ranging
over:
1. [achieving through] the collection of great compassion
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Great compassion is an empathetic consciousness
that, within observing all sentient beings, wishes for them to be
free from suffering. The difference between immeasurable com-
passion and great compassion lies in their objects of observation.
Indeed, you could not number the sentient beings that are being
observed by immeasurable compassion, but it is not an observa-
tion of all sentient beings as it is in great compassion. Hearers and

a dpe bsdur ma (8.3), Peking (8a.8), Haribhadra’s Clear Meaning (91a.5), and co
ne (3b.8) read gzungs; snar thang (5a.3) reads gzung. Among the editions of
Āryavimuktisena’s commentary, only the sde dge (68b.7) reads gzugs, while co
ne (73a.3), snar thang (72b.5), Peking (79a.1), and dpe bsdur ma (159.3) read
gzungs. Āryavimuktisena’s commentary (dpe bsdur ma, 637.15) reads lam dang
sa bcu gang yin dang //.
b There is a final great enlightenment, which is Buddhahood, and temporary great
enlightenments (gnas skabs kyi byang chen), the first of which occurs at the start
of the path of seeing; thus, the level of the path of preparation called the great
supreme mundane qualities is the first direct issuer forth of a great enlightenment
and marks the initial boundary of an achieving through collections.
156 Chapter I: Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects

Solitary Victors are indeed not nasty people; they have removed
harmful thoughts from their continuums, but they only have im-
measurable compassion. This is because they do not have com-
passion for each and every sentient being, specifically for ex-
tremely nasty ones with regard to whom they feel, “I could never
help such an intractable person.” If one feels that way toward any
sentient being, one does not have great compassion.
2. [achieving through] the collection of giving
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Giving itself is a collection; the word “collection”
here means “many” and indicates that there are many varieties of
giving.
3. [achieving through] the collection of ethics
4. [achieving through] the collection of patience
5. [achieving through] the collection of effort
6. [achieving through] the collection of concentration
7. [achieving through] the collection of wisdom
8. [achieving through] the collection of calm abiding
Dan-ma-lo-chö: A meditative stabilization that spontaneously
and without exertion engages in its own object of observation
by way of being conjoined with pliancy is the definition of calm
abiding.
9. [achieving through] the collection of special insight
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Special insight is a thorough discrimination of
phenomena conjoined with pliancy and induced by the power of
having analyzed from within calm abiding.
10. [achieving through] the collection of a union of those [that is, calm
abiding and special insight]
11. [achieving through] the collection of skill in means
12. [achieving through] the collection of pristine wisdom
13. [achieving through] the collection of merit
14. [achieving through] the collection of the [Great Vehicle] paths [of see-
ing and meditation]
15. [achieving through] the collection of retentions
Dan-ma-lo-chö: A retention (gzung, dhāraṇi) here is a conscious-
ness, specifically either mindfulness or wisdom that is able to hold
scriptural words and meanings without forgetting them for an eon
(gsung rab kyi tshig don bskal pa’i bar du mi brjed par ’dzin nus
pa’i dran pa dang shes rab gang rung). This is different from the
mantras that are called dhāraṇi although such mantras are often
done for this purpose. Here a dhāraṇi is a consciousness, either
mindfulness or wisdom.
 Achievings through Collections 157

16. [achieving through] the collection of the [ten] grounds

17. [achieving through] the collection of antidotes.
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན་བ ་བ ན་ཡོད་དེ།
1. ིང་ ེ་ཆེན་པོའི་ཚགས་དང་།
2. ིན་པའི་ཚགས་དང་།
3. ལ་ཁྲིམས་ཀྱི་ཚགས་དང་།
4. བཟོད་པའི་ཚགས་དང་།

5. བ ོན་འ ས་ཀྱི་ཚགས་དང་།
6. བསམ་གཏན་གྱི་ཚགས་ དང་།
[8b.1]

7. ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཚགས་དང་།

8. ཞི་གནས་ཀྱི་ཚགས་དང་།

9. ག་མཐོང་གི་ཚགས་དང་།
10. དེ་ ང་འ ལ ེ ་གྱི་ཚགས་དང་།
11. ཐབས་མཁས་ཀྱི་ཚགས་དང་།

12. ཡེ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ཚགས་དང་།

13. བསོད་ནམས་ཀྱི་ཚགས་དང་།

14. ལམ་ གྱི་ཚགས་དང་།

[8b.2]

15. ག ངས་ཀྱི་ཚགས་དང་།

16. སའི་ཚགས་དང་།

17. གཉེན་པོའི་ཚགས་

ཀྱི་བར་ཡོད་པའི་ ིར།
Boundaries [of achievings through collections]
Although mere collections exist from the ground of a beginner [namely, a
158 Chapter I: Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects

Bodhisattva on the small path of accumulation, the collections] explicitly

indicated here [in Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations] exist
from the great supreme mundane qualities [level of the path of preparation]
until the end of the continuum [as a sentient being, just prior to Bud-
dhahood]. This is because the lowest point of the first fifteen exists on the
great supreme mundane qualities [level of the path of preparation] and the
collections of grounds and antidotes exist on the ten grounds.
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་ཚགས་ཙམ་ཞིག་ལས་aདང་པོ་bབའི་ས་
ན་ཡོད་ཀྱང་། དངོས་བ ན་ནི་ཆོས་མཆོག་ ཆེན་པོ་ནས་ ན་ [8b.3]

མཐའི་བར་ཡོད་དེ། དང་པོ་བཅོ་ འི་མ་མཐའ་ཆོས་མཆོག་ཆེན་

པོ་ན་ཡོད་ཅིང་། ས་དང་གཉེན་པོའི་ཚགས་གཉིས་ས་བ ་ན་
ཡོད་པའི་ རི །

a The 2001 Kan su’u (101.3) incorrectly reads lam.

b The 2001 Kan su’u (101.3) incorrectly reads bo.
 10th Topic
10. Definitely Issuative Achievings (ངེས་འ ང་ བ་པ་)
To indicate definitely issuative achievings [Maitreya’s Ornament for the
Clear Realizations, I.72-73] says:22
{I.72}
These having the nature of eight aspects
Of definite issuance having as objects—
Objects of intent, equality,
The welfare of sentient beings, nonstriving,
{I.73}
Definite issuance passed beyond extremes,
Definite issuance having the character of attainment,
Exalted-knower-of-all-aspects, and path—
Are to be known as “definitely issuative achievings.”
བ ་པ་ངེས་འ ང་ བ་པ་ ོན་པར།
ཆེད་ ་ ་དང་མཉམ་ ཉིད་དང་། །ནས། ངེས་འ ང་ བ་པ་
[8b.4]

ཡིན་ཞེས་ ། །ཞེས་ག ངས།

[Ornament I.72-73, 4b.6-4b.7]
{I.72}
ཆེད་ ་ ་དང་མཉམ་ཉིད་དང་། །སེམས་ཅན་དོན་དང་འབད་མེད་དང་། །
མཐའ་ལས་འདས་པར་ངེས་འ ང་དང་། །ཐོབ་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་ངེས་འ ང་དང་། །
{I.73}
མ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་མཁྱེན་ཉིད་དང་། །ལམ་གྱི་ ལ་ཅན་ངེས་འ ང་ ེ། །
མ་པ་བ ད་ཀྱི་བདག་ཉིད་འདི། །ངེས་འ ང་ བ་པ་ཡིན་ཞེས་ ། །
With regard to definitely issuative achievings there are three: definition,
divisions, and boundaries.
ངེས་འ ང་ བ་པ་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས་ག མ།
160 Chapter I: Exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects

Definition [of a definitely issuative achieving]

A Bodhisattva’s yoga on a pure ground that indubitably will definitely
issue forth an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects is the definition of a defi-
nitely issuative achieving.
དང་པོ་ནི། མ་མཁྱེན་གདོན་མི་ཟ་བར་ངེས་པར་འ ིན་aཔའི་
དག་སའི་ སེམས་དཔའི་ ལ་འ རོ ་དེ། ངེས་འ ང་ བ་པའི་
[8b.5]

མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This is a practice that will itself definitely, un-
questionably, issue forth the great enlightenment; there can be no
obstacles, no interruptions.

Divisions [of definitely issuative achievings]

When divided, there are eight because there are the eight:
1. definitely issuative [achieving] for the sake of the three objects of in-
tent
2. [definitely issuative achieving] of equality
3. [definitely issuative achieving] of the welfare of sentient beings
4. [definitely issuative achieving] of spontaneity
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Spontaneity refers to the achieving itself; it is an
achieving that involves spontaneity without striving.
5. [definitely issuative achieving] of passing beyond extremes
6. [definitely issuative achieving] of the character of attainment
7. definitely issuative achieving into an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects
8. definitely issuative achieving of the path.
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན་བ ད་ཡོད་དེ།
1. ཆེད་ ་ ་བ་ག མ་གྱི་དོན་ ་ངེས་པར་འ ང་བ་དང་།
2. མཉམ་པ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་[ངེས་པར་འ ང་བའི་ བ་པ་]དེ།

3. སེམས་ཅན་དོན་གྱི་[ངེས་པར་འ ང་བའི་ བ་པ་]དེ།

a Correcting 'byid in the 1995 Mundgod revision of Ngawang Gelek bla brang
(8b.4) to 'byin in accordance with the 2011 TBRC bla brang (8b.4), the 1973
Ngawang Gelek (8b.4), and the 2005 Mundgod (16.5).
 Definitely Issuative Achievings 161

4. ན་ གྱིས་ བ་པའི་[ངེས་པར་འ ང་བའི་ བ་པ་]དེ།

[8b.6]

5. མཐའ་འདས་ཀྱི་[ངེས་པར་འ ང་བའི་ བ་པ་]དེ།

6. ཐོབ་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་ཀྱི་[ངེས་པར་འ ང་བའི་ བ་པ་]དེ།

7. མ་མཁྱེན་ ་ངེས་པར་འ ང་བའི་ བ་པ་དང་།

8. ལམ་གྱི་ངེས་འ ང་ བ་པ་

ེ་བ ད་ཡོད་པའི་ རི །
Boundaries [of definitely issuative achievings]
Definitely issuative achievings exist on the three pure grounds.

ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་དག་ས་ག མ་ ན་aཡོད། [9a.1]

Dan-ma-lo-chö: The pure grounds are the eighth, ninth, and tenth
grounds. They are called pure because they are pure of the mani-
fest conception of true existence. Because it has been completely
overcome, there is no opportunity at all for a manifest form of the
conception of true existence to occur.
The ten phenomena characterizing an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects have
been explained.
མ་མཁྱེན་མཚན་ ེད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་བ ་བཤད་ཟིན་ཏོ། ། ༈ །
Dan-ma-lo-chö: These ten phenomena characterize an exalted-
knower-of-all-aspects by way of being its objects. Through these
explicit explanations of the ten phenomena of mind-generation
and so forth you can implicitly understand the final exalted
knower that knows these directly.

a The 1999 Tōyō Bunko CD-ROM reads kho nar (9a.1) for na. See Tōyō Bunko,
"Tibetan texts of don bdun bcu of 'jam dbyangs bzhad pa and rigs lam 'phrul gyi
lde mig of dkon mchog bstan pa'i sgron me," in the Toyo Bunko Database CD
Release II (Tokyo, Japan: Tōyō Bunko, 1999), CD-ROM.
Chapter II. Explaining the eleven phenomena
characterizing knowers of paths
To indicate the eleven phenomena characterizing knowers of pathsa [Mait-
reya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, I.7-9] says:23
{I.7}
Making lusterless and so forth;
Paths of learners and the rhinoceri;
[Great Vehicle] paths of seeing greatly beneficial
By way of qualities in this and other [lives];
{I.8}
Paths of meditation—function, taking to mind belief,
Praise-extolling-lauding,
Dedication, admiration,
Achieving the unsurpassed,
{I.9}
And completely pure:
A knower of paths
Of the wise Bodhisattvas
Is described as such.
གཉིས་པ་ལམ་ཤེས་མཚན་ ེད་གྱི་ཆོས་བ ་གཅིག་ ནོ ་པར།
མོག་མོག་པོར་ ེད་ལ་སོགས་དང་། །ནས་ ལམ་ཤེས་ཉིད་ནི་དེ་[9a.2]

འ ར་བཤད། །ཅེས་ག ངས།

[Ornament I.7-9, 2a.3-2a.5]
{I.7}
མོག་མོག་པོར་ ེད་ལ་སོགས་དང་། ། ོབ་མ་བསེ་ འི་ལམ་གང་དང་། །
འདི་དང་གཞན་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་གྱིས། །ཕན་ཡོན་ཆེ་བ་མཐོང་བའི་ལམ། །
{I.8}
དེ ་པ་དང་ནི་མོས་པ་དང་། །བ ོད་དང་བཀུར་དང་བ གས་པ་དང་། །
བ ོ་དང་ ེས་ ་ཡི་རང་བ། །ཡིད་ལ་ ེད་པ་ ་མེད་དག །
a Since Bodhisattvas must take care of all three types of beings—Hearers, Soli-
tary Victors, and Bodhisattvas—they must know their paths, and to do this they
must have a consciousness that knows their paths. That consciousness is called a
knower of paths.
 Eleven Phenomena Characterizing Knowers of Paths 163

{I.9}
བ་དང་ཤིན་ ་དག་པ་ཞེས། ། ་བ་འདི་ནི་ ོམ་པའི་ལམ། །
ང་ བ་སེམས་དཔའ་མཁས་ མས་ཀྱི། །ལམ་ཤེས་ཉིད་ནི་དེ་འ ར་བཤད། །
There are eleven phenomena characterizing a knower of paths because
there are the eleven:a
1. limbs of knowers of paths (lam shes kyi yan lag, mārgajñatāṅgāni)
2. knowers of paths that know learner Hearer paths (slob ma nyan thos
kyi lam shes pa’i lam shes, śrāvakamārgajñānamayī mārgajñatā)
3. knowers of paths that know Rhinoceros Solitary Victor paths (bse ru
rang rgyal gyi lam shes pa’i lam shes, prateyajinamārgajñānamayī
mārgajñatā)
4. Great Vehicle paths of seeing, greatly beneficial in this and future lives
(’di phyir phan yon che ba’i theg chen mthong lam, mahānuśaṃso
mahāyānadarśanamārgaḥ)
5. functions of a [Great Vehicle] path of meditation (sgom lam gyi byed
pa, bhāvanāmārgasya kāritraṃ)
6. [Great Vehicle] paths of meditation of belief (mos pa’i sgom lam, ad-
himuktalakṣaṇo bhāvanāmārgaḥ)
7. praise, extolling, and lauding of the benefits of that [Great Vehicle
path of meditation of belief] (de’i phan yon bstod bkur bsngags gsum,
stutistomapraśaṃsāḥ)
8. [Great Vehicle] paths of meditation of dedication (bsngo ba sgom lam,
pariṇāmanālakṣaṇo bhāvanāmārgaḥ)
9. [Great Vehicle] paths of meditation of admiration (rjes su yi rang
sgom lam, anumodalakṣaṇo bhāvanāmārgaḥ)
10. [Great Vehicle] paths of meditation of achieving (sgrub pa sgom lam,
abhinirhārasvabhāvo bhāvanāmārgaḥ)
11. [Great Vehicle] paths of meditation of complete purity (rnam dag
sgom lam, atyantaviśuddhisvabhāvo bhāvanāmārgaḥ).
ལམ་ཤེས་མཚན་ དེ ་ཀྱི་ཆོས་བ ་གཅིག་ཡོད་དེ།
1. ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ཡན་ལག་དང་།

2. ོབ་མ་ཉན་ཐོས་ཀྱི་ལམ་ཤེས་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་དང་།

a In the citations of the Tibetan and Sanskrit that follow, the Tibetan accords with
Jam-yang-shay-pa’s text, whereas the Sanskrit follows Obermiller, Analysis of the
Abhisamayālaṃkāra; hence, the discrepancies.
164 Chapter II: Knowers of paths

བསེ་ ་རང་ ལ་གྱི་ལམ་ཤེས་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་དང་།

3. [9a.3]

4. འདི་ ིར་ཕན་ཡོན་ཆེ་བའི་ཐེག་ཆེན་མཐོང་ལམ་དང་།

5. ོམ་ལམ་གྱི་ ེད་པ་དང་།
6. མོས་པ་ མོ ་ལམ་དང་།
7. དེའི་ཕན་ཡོན་བ ོད་བཀུར་བ གས་ག མ་དང་།

8. བ ོ་བ་
[9a.4]
ོམ་ལམ་དང་།
9. ེས་ ་ཡི་རང་ ོམ་ལམ་དང་།
10. བ་པ་ ོམ་ལམ་དང་།

11. མ་དག་ མ ོ ་ལམ་

ེ་བ ་གཅིག་ཡོད་པའི་ ིར།
 11th Topic
1. Limbs of Knowers of Paths (ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ཡན་ལག་)
To indicate limbs of knowers of paths [Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear
Realizations, II.1] says:24
{II.1}
With light making gods lusterless
In order to make them suitable,
Limited places, pervasion,
Nature, and its function.
དང་པོ་[ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ཡན་ལག་] ནོ ་པར།
་ མས་ ང་བར་ ་བའི་ རི ། །ནས། རང་བཞིན་དང་ནི་དེ་ཡི་
ལས། །ཞེས་ག ངས།
[9a.5]

[Ornament II.1, 5a.1]

{II.1}
་ མས་ ང་བར་ ་བའི་ ིར། །འོད་ཀྱིས་མོག་མོག་པོར་མཛད་དང་། །
ལ་ངེས་པ་དང་ཁྱབ་པ་དང་། །རང་བཞིན་དང་ནི་དེ་ཡི་ལས། །
With regard to limbs of knowers of paths there are three: definition, divi-
sions, and boundaries.
ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ཡན་ལག་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས་ག མ།
Definition [of a limb of a knower of paths]
A quality that serves as a factor bringing a knower of paths to com-
pletion is the definition of a limb of a knower of paths.

དང་པོ་ནི། ལམ་ཤེས་ གོ ས་ ེད་ཀྱི་ཆ་ཤས་ ་ ར་པའི་aཡོན་

ཏན་དེ། ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ཡན་ལག་གི་མཚན་ ཉིད། [9a.6]

a The 2005 Mundgod (17.10) misreads ba.

166 Chapter II: Knowers of Paths

Dan-ma-lo-chö: These factors are included within the causes, en-

tity, or fruits of a knower of paths. There are limbs of knowers of
paths before entering the path, but they do not exist prior to the
generation of great compassion.
A quality in a Bodhisattva’s continuum that serves as a factor bring-
ing a knower of paths to completion is the definition of a limb of a
knower of paths that is explicitly indicated here on this occasion [in Mait-
reya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations].
ལམ་ཤེས་ གོ ས་ ེད་ཀྱི་ཆ་ཤས་ ་ ར་པའི་སེམས་དཔའི་ ད་
ཀྱི་ཡོན་ཏན་དེ། བས་འདིར་དངོས་ ་བ ན་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་
ཡན་ལག་གི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: A limb of a knower of paths can serve as a factor
for a knower of paths that has not been generated to be generated,
for one that has been generated to remain, or for one that has been
generated to increase high to higher. What distinguishes this defi-
nition from the previous one and causes it to be specified as indi-
cated explicitly in Maitreya’s text is the inclusion of the phrase “in
a Bodhisattva’s continuum.”

Divisions [of limbs of knowers of paths]

There are five limbs of knowers of pathsa because there are the five con-
sisting of:

a The first point that Maitreya discusses about knowers of paths are the limbs of
a knower of paths. Such limbs are not necessarily knowers of paths, but they have
something to do with knowers of paths. If you reflect on points that are related to
knowers of paths, you will come to know about knowers of paths. Two and one
half of these limbs have to do with the causes of a knower of paths; the other half
of the third one—the natural lineage—has to do with its entity itself. The last two
have to do with the effects of a knower of paths. By reflecting on the causes, entity,
and effects of a knower of paths, you will understand about a knower of paths.
These causes, entity, and effects are called limbs. Thus, whatever is a limb of a
knower of paths is not necessarily a knower of paths. Dan-ma-lo-chö called them
factors fulfilling the knower of paths.
Among the factors involved in producing a knower of paths is the first limb
which is to get rid of pride, a hindrance to its generation. The second limb, gener-
ation of an altruistic intention to become enlightened, is a cooperative condition.
 Limbs of Knowers of Paths 167

1. separating the support from the hindrance of manifest pride

Dan-ma-lo-chö: “Support” refers to a person who could generate
a knower of paths, and here refers primarily to gods of the Desire
and Form Realms. “Hindrance” means “obstacle,” specifically an
obstacle to generating a knower of paths, and that obstacle is man-
ifest pride. Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations above
says, “with light making the gods lusterless in order to make them
suitable.” This is a reference to a passage from the Eight Thousand
Stanza Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra, which says at the beginning
of the section on Knowers of Paths, “When the Ones-Gone-Thus
emit their natural light, the light of the gods, which is produced
from the ripening of their karma, is overwhelmed by its magnifi-
cence.”
The light of the Buddhas is a natural light due to having
brought to completion the two accumulations of merit and wis-
dom, whereas the light of the gods is due to the ripening of past
karma. Because the gods usually emit a great radiance, they be-
come very proud. However, when the gods arrive in the presence
of the more powerful radiance of a One-Gone-Thus, their light is
not seen at all. It is like the way we see the light of fireflies at
night, but during the day do not. That is the meaning of “luster-
less”—their light is no longer manifest, no longer seen. And this
causes the pride of the gods to be undermined.
How does this relate to being a limb of a knower of paths?
This passage is cited in the Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra at the point
of beginning the discussion of knowers of paths. If one has mani-
fest pride, then it is not possible to generate a knower of paths in
one’s mental continuum. If someone is completely full of them-
selves and how great they are, then even if you teach them about
knowers of paths, it will not help them. Their pride prevents this.
Hence, a Buddha helps these gods by overcoming their pride so
that they become suitable vessels for being taught this and can
then generate a knower of paths.
Therefore, from among causes, entity, and fruit, this limb is
posited from the viewpoint of cause. Thus, all limbs of knowers
of paths are not knowers of paths.
2. cooperative condition, an [altruistic] mind-generation
Dan-ma-lo-chö: For instance, in making a golden pot, gold is the
substantial cause (nyer len, upādana) and the hands and the ham-
mer of the goldsmith are cooperative conditions (lhan cig byed
rkyen, sahakāripratyaya). An altruistic mind-generation acts as a
168 Chapter II: Knowers of Paths

cooperative condition for the generation of a knower of paths in

one’s continuum.
3. cause, the pervasion [of all sentient beings] by [the Buddha] lineage
Dan-ma-lo-chö: The Buddha lineage is the naturally abiding line-
age and the developmental lineage. a What is being established
here is that all sentient beings are capable of becoming Buddhas.
All sentient beings are suitable to become Buddhas because the
Buddha lineage exists in the continuums of all. Why does it follow
that because the Buddha lineage exists in all sentient beings’ con-
tinuums they are necessarily all able to become Buddhas? The fact
that this lineage exists in all beings means that the minds of all
sentient beings are empty of true existence; therefore, any con-
sciousness that conceives the mind or any other phenomenon to
truly exist is a wrong consciousness (log shes), erroneously mis-
conceiving what does not accord with the mode of subsistence.
Therefore, the conception of true existence itself and the afflic-
tions induced by that conception do not dwell within the very en-
tity, or nature, of the mind itself. Since these are twisted con-
sciousnesses involved in perverse modes of misconception, they
can gradually be overcome by delineating what the mode of sub-
sistence of phenomena actually is.
Hence, based on the fact that the Buddha lineage exists in the
minds of all sentient beings, one can prove that all sentient beings
are suitable to become enlightened. All sentient beings have the
naturally abiding lineage, which is the mind’s emptiness of true
existence, and they have the developmental lineage, which is the
clear light nature of the mind.
The first point is that the Buddha lineage exists in all sentient
beings and the second is that the defilements that exist in sentient
beings’ continuums—the conceptions of true existence and all the
afflictions induced by it—are suitable to be separated from the
mind. Based on these two reasons, it can be proved that all beings
are suitable to become Buddhas.

a The naturally abiding lineage is the emptiness of the mind accompanied by de-
filement. This emptiness will become a Buddha’s Nature Body when one achieves
Buddhahood, that is, when the mind becomes free of defilements. The emptiness
of the mind exists in all sentient beings, and it is from that point of view that the
third limb indicates the final entity of a knower of paths. The mind that is becom-
ing free of defilement is the developmental lineage; this becomes a compounded
Buddha body; therefore, it is that which is suitable to turn into a Form Body.
 Limbs of Knowers of Paths 169

In the Hearer schools of tenets three final vehicles are as-

serted, but in the Middle system only one final vehicle is asserted.
Hearer schools assert three final vehicles because they hold that
some sentient beings become Foe Destroyers who at death pass
into a nirvāṇa without remainder, a state in which nothing is done
and from which there is no advancement. This is not asserted in
the Middle systems because they maintain that the Buddhas rouse
Foe Destroyers who have passed into a remainderless nirvāṇa by
snapping their fingers and saying to them, “Rise from the medita-
tive equipoise. You have only abandoned a portion of defects, not
all of them, and you have not attained all beneficial attributes.
Therefore, you should generate the altruistic mind of enlighten-
ment, enter into the Great Vehicle, and make effort to attain the
state of Buddhahood.” Due to this exhortation they enter into the
Great Vehicle. Thus, there is no sentient being who will not even-
tually become a Buddha. Consequently, there is in fact only one
final vehicle.
4. the nature of not discarding cyclic existence
Dan-ma-lo-chö: A knower of paths brings about the purposes of
sentient beings, and this not discarding of cyclic existence arises
in dependence upon a knower of paths. Bodhisattvas take birth in
cyclic existence for the sake of helping sentient beings through the
power of compassion and prayer petitions, and it is included with
the fruits, or effects, of a knower of paths because it is only upon
becoming a Bodhisattva Superior that one can take rebirth in cy-
clic existence through the force of great compassion. From their
own viewpoint, Bodhisattvas do not have to take rebirth in cyclic
existence, and taking rebirth there would not please them, since
they see nothing good about it. However, due to the power of great
compassion they are unable to bear the suffering of sentient beings
within cyclic existence and so they make the prayer petition, “May
I be reborn in cyclic existence along with those sentient beings,”
and take rebirth there. This is the nature of not discarding cyclic
existence.
5. the function of gathering others into one’s circle and so forth
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This means, for instance, a Bodhisattva’s taking
rebirth as a Universal Monarch, having many consorts and many
children and then causing those children to help the Buddha’s
teaching and so forth. The Bodhisattva here is intentionally seek-
ing a contamination [the desire involved in copulation] for the
sake of having children, which is included within the Desire
170 Chapter II: Knowers of Paths

Realm, but he turns this activity into a limb of the achievement of

others’ welfare. Such arises in dependence upon a knower of
paths; thus, it is a limb of a knower of paths included within the
fruits, or effects, of a knower of paths.
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ཡན་ལག་ལ་ ་ ཡོད་དེ། [9b.1]

1. ེན་གེགས་ང་ ལ་མངོན་ ར་དང་ ལ་བ་དང་།

2. ན་ཅིག་ དེ ་ ེན་སེམས་བ ེད་པ་དང་།
3. ་རིགས་ཀྱིས་ཁྱབ་པ་དང་།
4. འཁོར་བ་མི་འདོར་བའི་རང་བཞིན་དང་།

5. གཞན་འཁོར་ ་ ད་པ་སོགས་ཀྱི་ ེད་ལས་

དང་ ་ཡོད་པའི་ རི །
[9b.2]

Boundaries [of limbs of knowers of paths]

[Limbs of knowers of paths] exist from before entering the path through
the Buddha ground.
ག མ་པ་ནི། ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ཡན་ལག་ནི་ལམ་མ་ གས་ནས་སངས་
ས་ཀྱི་སའི་བར་ ་ཡོད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: As already mentioned, the bottom line of “before
entering the path” is the point of generating great compassion.
The limbs of knowers of paths that are explicitly indicated in Maitreya’s
Ornament for the Clear Realizations exist from the path of accumulation
until the end of the continuum [as a sentient being, just prior to Bud-
dhahood].
དངོས་བ ན་གྱི་ཡན་ལག་ཚགས་ལམ་ནས་ ན་མཐའི་བར་ ་
ཡོད།
 12th Topic
2. Knowers of Paths that Know Hearer Paths (ཉན་ཐོས་ཀྱི་
ལམ་ཤེས་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་)
To indicate knowers of paths that know Hearer pathsa [Maitreya’s Orna-
ment for the Clear Realizations, II.2] says:25
{II.2}
With regard to the mode of knowers of paths,
By way of the nonapprehension [of the true existence]
Of the aspects of the four noble truths
These paths of Hearers are to be known.
གཉིས་པ་ཉན་ཐོས་ཀྱི་ལམ་ཤེས་ པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་ ོན་པར།
[9b.3]

a What do knowers of paths know? Bodhisattvas themselves are realizing the ab-
sence of true existence of subject and object, the four truths, and so forth, but they
must generate knowledge of the sixteen attributes of the four truths in their con-
tinuum in order to be able to help others. Thus, they must intimately know Hearer
paths, the second topic. What they generate in their continuum is not a Hearer’s
version of these but a Bodhisattva’s version; nevertheless, they generate a wisdom
that takes the four noble truths and their attributes as its object, whereby they will
be able to help those of this particular lineage who cannot fit the Great Vehicle
paths into their minds.
A knower of paths has to be a Great Vehicle Superior’s clear realizer; therefore,
it can only begin from the Great Vehicle path of seeing. It could not exist in the
continuum of a Lesser Vehicle practitioner. Thus, there are paths of seeing that
are knowers of Hearer paths, paths of meditation that are knowers of Hearer paths,
and—in the continuum of a Buddha—paths of no-more-learning that know Hearer
paths. There are also those that know Solitary Victor paths as well (the next topic);
a Bodhisattva specifically realizes, for example, the emptiness of duality because
this is what Solitary Victors want to do. Hence, Bodhisattvas must generate such
a realization themselves, and not merely recognize it as a topic out there as a topic
in the universe of knowledge. Again, Bodhisattvas do not generate a Solitary Vic-
tor’s version of it; they generate a Great Vehicle version of it. Bodhisattvas do
have the Great Vehicle paths and, of course, can teach them to others; however,
knowers of Hearer and Solitary Victor paths are indicated here because a Bodhi-
sattva must specifically train in them although they are not their own path. Bodhi-
sattvas’ own paths of seeing and meditation are explained in this chapter in topics
four through eleven below.
172 Chapter II: Knowers of Paths

ལམ་ཤེས་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ ལ་ལ་ནི། །ནས། ཉན་ཐོས་ལམ་འདི་ཤེས་པར་

། །ཞེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament II.2, 5a.1-5a.2]
{II.2}
ལམ་ཤེས་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ ལ་ལ་ནི། །འཕགས་པའི་བདེན་པ་བཞི་དག་གི །
མ་པ་མི་དམིགས་ ོ་ནས་ནི། །ཉན་ཐོས་ལམ་འདི་ཤེས་པར་ ། །
With regard to a knower of paths that knows learner Hearer paths there are
three: definition, divisions, and boundaries.
བོ ་མ་ཉན་ཐོས་ཀྱི་ལམ་ཤེས་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་ལ། མཚན་ཉིད།
ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས་ ག མ། [9b.4]

Definition [of a knower of paths that knows learner

Hearer paths]
A Great Vehicle Superior’s clear realization—dwelling in a Hearer
type of realization—that is posited from the factor of observing any of
the four truths and thereupon directly realizing any of the [sixteen]
aspects, impermanence and so forth, this being for the sake of taking
care of trainees having the Hearer lineage is the definition of a knower
of paths that knows Hearer paths.
དང་པོ་ནི། ག ལ་ ་ཉན་ཐོས་ཀྱི་རིགས་ཅན་ ེས་ ་བ ང་བའི་
ཆེད་ ་དམིགས་པ་བདེན་བཞི་གང་ ང་ལ་དམིགས་ནས་ མ་པ་
མི་ ག་སོགས་གང་ ང་མངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་པའི་ཆ་ནས་བཞག་
པའི་ཉན་ཐོས་ཀྱི་ གོ ས་རིགས་ ་གནས་པའི་ཐེག་ཆེན་
[9b.5]

འཕགས་པའི་མངོན་ གོ ས་དེ། ཉན་ཐོས་ཀྱི་ལམ་ཤེས་པའི་ལམ་

ཤེས་ཀྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Bodhisattvas must bring about the aims of all
three types of trainees—those having the Hearer, Solitary Victor,
and Great Vehicle lineages. Thus, Bodhisattvas must help those
who wish to enter the Hearer path; if such persons ask a Bodhi-
sattva to teach them, the Bodhisattva must respond by doing so.
 Knowers of Paths that Know Hearer Paths 173

Here, the “object of observation” is the substratum, the four

noble truths; the “aspect” here refers to the attributes of those sub-
strata, the attributes of the four truths. There are four attributes to
each of the four truths:
• The attributes of the first, true sufferings, are impermanence,
misery, emptiness, and selflessness.
• The attributes of the second, true origins, are cause, origin,
strong production, and condition.
• The attributes of the third, true cessations, are cessation, pac-
ification, auspiciousness, and definite emergence from a por-
tion of the obstructions.
• The attributes of the fourth, true paths, are path, reasonable-
ness, achievement, and deliverance.a
To directly realize these means that these are realized not through
meaning-generalities, that is, conceptual images, but directly.
Such a clear realization exists in the continuum of Bodhisattvas.
They do not know Hearer paths in the sense of generating those
Hearer paths in their continuum; rather, the general realization of
the sixteen aspects of the four noble truths must be generated in
the Bodhisattva’s continuum.
Bodhisattvas do not generate an exalted knower that directly
realizes the four noble truths and their sixteen attributes in the
form in which this realization exists in a Hearer’s continuum, for
the pristine wisdom in a Hearer’s continuum is not a conscious-
ness to be generated in a Bodhisattva’s continuum. In that case,
why is this clear realization called a knower of paths that knows
Hearer paths? It is a pristine wisdom knowing the four truths and
so forth that Hearers take as their main object of cultivation.

Divisions [of knowers of paths that know Hearer

paths]
When divided by way of aspect, there are sixteen; and when divided by
way of paths there are three—paths of seeing, meditation, and no-more-
learning that are themselves [that is, that are knowers of paths that know
Hearer paths].

aFor discussion of the sixteen attributes see Appendix 1, which is drawn from
Hopkins, Meditation on Emptiness, 292-296.
174 Chapter II: Knowers of Paths

གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན་ མ་པའི་ སོ ་བ ་ ག་དང་། ལམ་གྱི་ ོས་

རང་ཡིན་གྱི་ མཐོང་ ོམ་མི་ བོ ་ལམ་ག མ་ཡོད།
[9b.6]

Boundaries [of knowers of paths that know Hearer

paths]
[Knowers of paths that know Hearer paths] exist from the Great Vehicle
path of seeing through the Buddha ground. According to a verbal reading
of Tsong-kha-pa’s Golden Garlanda and according to some Indian texts it
must be taken that these exist from the Great Vehicle path of accumulation
through the Buddha ground.

ག མ་པ་ནི། ཐེག་ཆེན་མཐོང་ལམ་ནས་སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་སའི་བར་

་ཡོད། གསེར་འ ངེ ་ཚིག་ཟིན་དང་ ་ག ང་ལ་ལ་ ར་ན་ཐེག་
ཆེན་ཚགས་ལམ་ནས་སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་སའི་ བར་ ེད་དགོས་ [10a.1]

སོ། །

a legs bshad gser gyi ’phreng ba.

 13th Topic
3. Knowers of Paths that Know Solitary Victor Paths
(རང་ ལ་གྱི་ལམ་ཤེས་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་)
To indicate knowers of paths that know Solitary Victor paths [Maitreya’s
Ornament for the Clear Realizations, II.6-8] says:26
{II.6}
Because the self-arisen realize [enlightenment] by themselves,
They also do not need to be taught by others,
[Whereby] it is said that the wisdom
Of the rhinoceros-like is also more profound.
{II.7}
Whatsoever meanings about which
[Their trainees] want to hear
Appear accordingly to them
Even though there are no sounds.
{II.8}
It is to be known that the paths of the rhinoceros-like
Are included completely within abandoning conceptualization
Of apprehended-objects [as external objects], not abandoning
[conceptualization
Of] apprehenders [as truly existent], and the support.
ག མ་པ་རང་ ལ་གྱི་ལམ་ཤེས་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་ ོན་པར།
རང་ ང་བདག་ཉིད་ གོ ས་པའི་ རི ། །ནས། ཡང་དག་བ ས་
པར་aཤེས་པར་ ། །ཞེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament II.6-8, 5a.3-5a.5]
{II.6}
རང་ ང་བདག་ཉིད་ ོགས་པའི་ ིར། །གཞན་གྱིས་བ ན་ཡང་མི་དགོས་ལ། །
བསེ་ ་ ་ འི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ནི། །ཟབ་པ་ཉིད་ ་མངོན་པར་བ ོད། །
{II.7}
གང་གང་དོན་ནི་གང་གང་ལ། ། ི་ ་ ི་ ར་ཉན་འདོད་པ། །

a The 2005 Mundgod (19.1) misreads bar.

176 Chapter II: Knowers of Paths

དེ་དེ་ལ་དོན་དེ་དང་དེ། ། ་མེད་ཀྱང་དེ་དེ་ ར་ ང་། །

{II.8}
ག ང་དོན་ ོག་པ་ ོང་ ིར་དང་། །འཛིན་པ་མི་ ོང་ ིར་དང་ནི། །
ེན་གྱིས་བསེ་ ་ ་ འི་ལམ། །ཡང་དག་བ ས་པར་ཤེས་པར་ ། །
With regard to knowers of paths that know Rhinoceros Solitary Victor
paths there are three: definition, divisions, and boundaries.
བསེ་ ་རང་ ལ་གྱི་ལམ་ཤེས་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད།
[10a.2]

ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས་ག མ།
Definition [of a knower of paths that knows Solitary
Victor paths]
A Great Vehicle Superior’s path—dwelling in a Solitary Victor type
of realization—that is posited from the factor of observing the twelve
sense-spheresa and thereupon directly realizing, as its subjective as-
pect, that these are devoid of external objects of apprehension, this
being for the sake of trainees who are Solitary Victors is the definition
of a knower of paths that knows Solitary Victor paths.
དང་པོ་ནི། ག ལ་ ་རང་ ལ་གྱི་ཆེད་ ་དམིགས་པ་ ེ་མཆེད་
བ ་གཉིས་ལ་དམིགས་ནས་ མ་པ་ག ང་ ་ ་ི དོན་གྱིས་ [10a.3]

དབེན་པར་bམངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་པའི་ཆ་ནས་བཞག་པའི་རང་
ལ་གྱི་ གོ ས་རིགས་ ་གནས་པའི་ཐེག་ཆེན་འཕགས་ལམ་དེ།
རང་ ལ་གྱི་ལམ་ཤེས་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Bodhisattvas must take care of Solitary Victors.
Therefore, they take as their object of observation here the twelve
sense-spheres, the six external and six internal sense-spheres,
these being the six objects and the six sense powers:

a See Hopkins, Meditation on Emptiness, 428 ff. Sense-spheres (skye mched,

ayatana) could more literally be translated as “sources” since etymologically they
are so named because they open the way for the production of the six conscious-
nesses.
b The 2005 Mundgod (19.5) misreads bar.
 Knowers of Paths that Know Solitary Victor Paths 177

Object Sense power

(visible) form eye sense power
sound ear sense power
odor nose sense power
taste tongue sense power
tangible object body sense power
phenomenon mind sense powera
These twelve are the substrata, and their subjective aspect is real-
ization that they are empty of being different substantial entities.
According to the Yogic Autonomy Middle School, an object must
appear to a subject by way of the activation of internal predispo-
sitions; otherwise there is no way for an object to appear. Thus the
positing of the existence of object and subject is done through the
force of an activation of predispositions, due to which all objects
are said to be of the nature, or entity, of consciousness. There is
no mode of existence of something that is not of the same entity
as a consciousness. Bodhisattvas here are realizing the emptiness
of a difference of entity of apprehended-object and apprehending-
subject. This knower is a path in the continuum of a Great Vehicle
Superior and is included within the type of realization of a Solitary
Victor.
The term “which is posited from the factor of…” is used in
order to accommodate the fact that although a Buddha’s exalted-
knower-of-all-aspects knows all phenomena, an exalted-knower-
of-all-aspects that, for instance, realizes the selflessness of the per-
son is posited by way of its realizing the selflessness of the person,
and similarly, an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects that knows the
emptiness of a difference of entity between subject and object is
posited by way of its realization of this non-duality. Also simi-
larly, an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects that realizes the selfless-
ness of phenomena is posited by way of its realization of the self-

a The mind sense power is a previous moment of any of the six consciousnesses
that acts as the support of a mental consciousness much as a physical sense power
acts as the support of a sense consciousness; thus, the six consciousnesses are
included in the category mind sense power.
178 Chapter II: Knowers of Paths

lessness of phenomena. Indeed, all three of these are mutually in-

clusive; whatever is the one is the other, but the way that they are
expressed and the way they appear to conceptuality are different.

Divisions [of knowers of paths that know Solitary

Victor paths]
When divided, there are three—paths of seeing, meditation, and no-more-
learning [that are knowers of paths that know Solitary Victor paths].
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ ན་མཐོང་ མོ ་མི་ ོབ་ལམ་ག མ་ཡོད།
[10a.4]

Boundaries [of knowers of paths that know Solitary

Victor paths]
[Knowers of paths that know Solitary Victor paths] exist from the Great
Vehicle path of seeing through the Buddha ground.
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་ཐེག་ཆེན་མཐོང་ལམ་ནས་སངས་ ས་
ཀྱི་སའི་བར་ ་ཡོད།
 14th Topic
4. Great Vehicle Paths of Seeing, Greatly Beneficial
in This and Future Lives (འདི་ ིར་ཕན་ཡོན་ཆེ་བའི་ཐེག་ཆེན་མཐོང་ལམ་)
To indicate Great Vehicle paths of seeing as well as their benefits [Mait-
reya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, II.11-16] says:27
{II.11}
This path of seeing as well as its benefits
Is described about knowers of paths
From the viewpoint that each of the truths has four aspects
That are moments of forbearance and knowledge.
{II.12}
(1) Nonassertion of thusness and Buddhas
As enumerations since support and supported
Mutually do not exist in them,
(2) Greatness [of emptiness], (3) nonexistence of valid cogni-
tions,
{II.13}
(4) Measurelessness, (5) absence of extremes,
(6) Definite apprehension of forms and so forth
As buddha by those abiding in that
And (7) as without adopting and discarding, and so forth,
{II.14}
(8) Love and so on, (9) emptinesses,
(10) Attainment of Buddhahood,
(11) Thorough inclusion of all the pure,
(12) Removal of all fright and disease,
{II.15}
(13) Pacification of apprehension of nirvāṇa,
(14) Being guarded by Buddhas and so forth,
(15) Oneself abiding in an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects
Such as not killing and so forth
{II.16}
And setting other sentient beings,
And (16) dedicating giving and so forth
180 Chapter II: Knowers of Paths

To complete enlightenment
Are the moments of knowers of paths.
བཞི་པ་ཐེག་ཆེན་མཐོང་ལམ་ཕན་ཡོན་དང་བཅས་པ་ ནོ ་པར།
བདེན་དང་བདེན་ ལ་བཟོད་པ་དང་། །ནས། ལམ་ཤེས་ཉིད་
[10a.5]

ཀྱི་ ད་ཅིག་མ། །ཞེས་ག ངས།

[Ornament II.11-16, 5a.6-5b.2]
{II.11}
བདེན་དང་བདེན་ལ་བཟོད་པ་དང་། །ཤེས་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་ མ་བཞི་ཡིས། །
ལམ་ཤེས་ཉིད་ལ་མཐོང་བའི་ལམ། །ཕན་ཡོན་བཅས་པ་འདི་བཤད་དོ། །
{II.12}
དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་དང་སངས་ ས་དང་། །ཕན་ ན་ ེན་aཔ་བ ེན་མེད་ ིར། །
མ་གྲངས་ཁས་མི་ལེན་པ་དང་། །ཆེན་པོ་ཚད་མ་མེད་བཅས་དང་། །
{II.13}
ཚད་མེད་པ་དང་མཐའ་མེད་དང་། །དེར་གནས་ག གས་ལ་སོགས་པ་ལ། །
སངས་ ས་ཉིད་ ་ངེས་འཛིན་དང་། ། ང་མེད་དོར་བ་མེད་སོགས་དང་། །
{II.14}
མས་ལ་སོགས་པ་ ོང་ཉིད་དང་། །སངས་ ས་ཉིད་ནི་འཐོབ་པ་དང་། །
མ་པར་ ང་ཀུན་ཡོངས་བ ས་དང་། །ཉམ་ང་བ་དང་ནད་ཀུན་སེལ། །
{II.15}
་ངན་འདས་འཛིན་ཞི་ཉིད་དང་། །སངས་ ས་ མས་ཀྱིས་བ ང་ལ་སོགས། །
ོག་མི་གཅོད་པ་ལ་སོགས་པ། ། མ་པ་ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ ལ་ལ་ནི། །
{II.16}
བདག་ཉིད་གནས་ཏེ་སེམས་ཅན་དག །འགོད་དང་ ནི ་པ་ལ་སོགས་པ། །
ོགས་པའི་ ང་ བ་ ་བ ོ་བ། །ལམ་ཤེས་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ ད་ཅིག་མ། །
With regard to Great Vehicle paths of seeing there are three: definition,

a sde dge (5a.6), co ne (5b.1), dpe bsdur ma (11.15), and Haribhadra’s commen-
tary (97b.5) read rten, while snar thang (6b.3), Peking (6a.5), Āryavimuktisena’s
commentary (100a.6) read brten. The corresponding Sanskrit stanza is:
ādhārādhyeyatābhāvātthatābuddhayormithaḥ |
paryāyeṇānanujñānaṃ mahattā sāpramāṇatā || II.12 ||
See Stcherbatsky and Obermiller, Abhisamayālaṃkāra, 12. Considering the
meaning of the corresponding Sanskrit term ādhāra (support), brten is the more
accurate Tibetan reading.
 Great Vehicle Paths of Seeing, Greatly Beneficial in This & Future Lives 181

divisions, and boundaries.

ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་མཐོང་ལམ་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས་
ག མ།
Definition [of a Great Vehicle path of seeing]
A clear realization of the truth that negates the two extremes of mun-
dane existence and [solitary] peace is the definition of a Great Vehicle
path of seeing.
དང་པོ་ནི། ིད་ཞིའི་མཐའ་གཉིས་འགོག་པའི་བདེན་ པ་ [10a.6]

མངོན་ ོགས་དེ། ཐེག་ཆེན་མཐོང་ལམ་གྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།

Dan-ma-lo-chö: A Great Vehicle path of seeing negates, or pre-
vents, the two extremes of mundane existence and solitary peace.
The extreme of cyclic existence is to fall powerlessly into cyclic
existence due to the power of contaminated actions and afflictive
emotions. The extreme of peace is to abandon the purposes of oth-
ers and for one’s own sake alone to enter into nirvāṇa. A Great
Vehicle path of seeing is a clear realization of the truth that ne-
gates, or prevents, these two. So it is a common locus of being that
which stops the two extremes and is a manifest realization of the
truth.

Divisions [of Great Vehicle paths of seeing]

When divided, there are two—pristine wisdoms of meditative equipoise
and pristine wisdoms subsequent [to meditative equipoise].
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན།
1. མཉམ་བཞག་ཡེ་ཤེས་དང་།

2. ེས་ཐོབ་ཡེ་ཤེས་
གཉིས།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Some systems assert a third division that is nei-
ther a pristine wisdom of meditative equipoise nor a pristine wis-
dom subsequent to meditative equipoise. In this system of two di-
182 Chapter II: Knowers of Paths

visions, consciousnesses such as compassion and love are in-

cluded in a pristine wisdom subsequent to meditative equipoise.
When Great Vehicle paths of seeing are divided by way of type of realiza-
tion, there are three—paths of seeing knowing Hearer paths, paths of see-
ing knowing Solitary Victor paths, and paths of seeing knowing Great Ve-
hicle paths.
ོགས་རིགས་ཀྱིས་ ེ་ན་
1. ཉན་ཐོས་ཀྱི་ལམ་ཤེས་ པའི་aམཐོང་ལམ།
[10b.1]

2. རང་ ལ་གྱི་ལམ་ཤེས་པའི་མཐོང་ལམ།

3. ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ལམ་ཤེས་པའི་མཐོང་ལམ་

Dan-ma-lo-chö: The first of these, a path of seeing knowing

Hearer paths, would be a Bodhisattva’s abiding in meditative eq-
uipoise on the subtle selflessness of the person; this type of reali-
zation is included within a Hearer type of realization. The second
type of path of seeing is one realizing the emptiness of a difference
of substantial entity between apprehended-object and apprehend-
ing-subject. A path of seeing that knows Great Vehicle paths is a
path of seeing that is in meditative equipoise directly realizing the
selflessness of phenomena.
When [Great Vehicle paths of seeing are] divided by way of objects of
observation and isolates [that is, conceptually isolatable factors], there are
sixteen—the eight forbearances and the eight knowledges.
ག མ་དང་། དམིགས་པ་དང་ གོ ་པས་ ེ་ན་བཟོད་པ་བ ད་
དང་། ཤེས་པ་བ ད་དེ་བ ་ ག་ཡོད་དོ། ། [10b.2]

(See the stanzas cited above from Maitreya’s Ornament for the
Clear Realizations and the accompanying backnote and Appendix
2.)
Dan-ma-lo-chö: There are eight forbearances and eight knowl-
edges. (See chart next page.)

a The 2005 Mundgod (20.1) misreads ba'i.

Great Vehicle Paths of Seeing, Greatly Beneficial in This & Future Lives 183

subsequent knowledge
(rjes shes)
subject
(yul can)
subsequent forbearance
(rjes bzod)

1. true sufferings
(sdug bsngal bden pa)

doctrinal knowledge
(chos shes)
object
(yul)
doctrinal forbearance
(chos bzod)

On the far left is the first noble truth, true sufferings. (The same
structure as is shown for the first noble truth pertains to the other
three truths—origins, cessations, and paths). The objects of obser-
vation are the four noble truths, but the meditator realizes them to
be empty of true existence. “Subject” refers to the doctrinal for-
bearances themselves, the consciousnesses realizing the four
truths to be empty of true existence. Those very same forbearance
consciousnesses realize themselves to be empty of true existence,
but this knowledge of the doctrinal forbearances as empty of true
existence is called a subsequent forbearance, even though it occurs
at the same time. This one doctrinal forbearance, or uninterrupted
path, of a path of seeing is all four of the doctrinal forbearances
and all four of the subsequent forbearances. That is why Jam-
yang-shay-pa says that they are “divided by way of objects of ob-
servation and isolates” [conceptually isolatable factors].
In the term “doctrinal forbearance” the word “doctrine” (chos)
refers to the four truths themselves. “Doctrinal knowledge” is the
same as a path of release that follows upon an uninterrupted path,
and “subsequent knowledge” is another name for a path of release
that follows an uninterrupted path realizing a doctrinal forbear-
ance itself to be empty of true existence. By teaming these up with
all four noble truths, you get a total of eight forbearances and eight
184 Chapter II: Knowers of Paths

knowledges. All eight forbearances are the one uninterrupted path

of the Great Vehicle path of seeing, and all eight knowledges are
the one path of release of the Great Vehicle path of seeing.a

Boundaries [of Great Vehicle paths of seeing]

[Great Vehicle paths of seeing] exist only on the path of seeing.
ག མ་པ་ས་མཚམས་མཐོང་ལམ་ཁོ་ནར་ཡོད།

a This complexity is involved due to how the Low Vehicle systems of tenets as-
sert a system a gradual procedure of sixteen steps over the path of seeing; see
Appendix 2.
 15th Topic
5. Functions of a [Great Vehicle] Path of Meditation
( ོམ་ལམ་གྱི་ ེད་པ་)
To indicate the functions of a [Great Vehicle] path of meditation [Mait-
reya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, II.17] says:28
{II.17}
Thoroughly pacifying, bowing to all,
Overcoming the afflictions,
Not being affected by harmers,
Enlightenment, foundations of worship.
་པ་ ོམ་ལམ་གྱི་ དེ ་པ་ ོན་པར།
ཀུན་ནས་ཞི་དང་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ། །ནས། ང་ བ་དང་ནི་ ནེ ་
མཆོད་ཉེད། །ཅེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament II.17, 5b.2-5b.3]
{II.17}
ཀུན་ནས་ཞི་དང་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ། །འ ད་aདང་ཉོན་མོངས་ལས་ ལ་དང་། །
གནོད་པས་བ ི་བ་མེད་ཉིད་དང་། ། ང་ བ་དང་ནི་ ེན་མཆོད་ཉིད། །
With regard to the functions of a Great Vehicle path of meditation there
are three: definition, divisions, and boundaries.
ཐེག་ཆེན་ མོ ་ལམ་ གྱི་ ེད་པ་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་
[10b.3]

མཚམས་ག མ།
a co ne (5b.3), dpe bsdur ma (12.3), Peking (6a.8), and sde dge editions (5b.2)
read bdud dang nyon mongs las rgyal dang, but Haribhadra (98b.4) cites it as
'dud dang nyon mongs las rgyal dang, and Ngag-wang-pal-dan uses 'dud as in-
dicated in the backnote; the latter is correct since the meaning is “bowing,” not
“demon.” The Sanskrit stanza is:
sarvato damanaṃ nāmaḥ sarvataḥ kleśanirjayaḥ |
upakramāviṣaklatvaṃ bodhirādhārapūjyatā || II.17 ||
The corresponding Sanskrit term is “nāmaḥu” meaning “bowing.”
186 Chapter II: Knowers of Paths

Definition [of a function of a Great Vehicle path of

meditation]
A benefit attained through the force of having cultivated a Great Ve-
hicle path of meditation is the definition of a function of a Great Vehicle
path of meditation.
དང་པོ་ནི། ཐེག་ཆེན་ མོ ་ལམ་བ མོ ས་པའི་ བོ ས་ཀྱིས་ཐོབ་
པའི་ཕན་ཡོན་དེ། ཐེན་ཆེན་ མོ ་ལམ་གྱི་ ེད་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: There is a slight verbal fault in this definition that
would make it difficult to hold in debate, because it is possible to
cultivate a Great Vehicle path of meditation before achieving it.
Thus it should be understood that what is meant here is that these
benefits arise when one has cultivated a Great Vehicle path of
meditation after one has achieved it.

Divisions [of the functions of a Great Vehicle path of

meditation]
When divided, there are six functions of the [Great Vehicle] path of med-
itation:
1. the function of pacifying the mind of pride and so forth
Dan-ma-la-chö: This is a function of pacifying, that is, removing,
the afflictions of pride, haughtiness, inflation, and so forth in the
continuum of that person.
2. the function of causing humility in all ways
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This refers to the meditator showing respect in all
ways and at all times for the teacher who has shown himself or
herself the path.
3. the function of definitely overcoming afflictions
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This means that the afflictions of desire, hatred,
and so forth cannot affect one. It does not mean that one has fin-
ished overcoming afflictions but means that the process of remov-
ing forever from one’s continuum certain levels of the afflictions
begins on this path.
4. function of not being affected by harmers
Dan-ma-lo-chö: For example, being harmed by poisonous weap-
ons, demons, and so forth. Again this is not a case of forever being
rid of the possibility of such harm, but one has begun to achieve
 Functions of a Great Vehicle Path of Meditation 187

the capacity to prevent some instances of harm.

5. function of bringing about perfect complete enlightenment
6. the function of making the places where one practices the perfection
of wisdom become objects of worship [by humans, gods, and so forth].
གཉིས་པ་ ད ེ་ན་ ག་ཡོད་དེ།
[10b.4]

1. ཀུན་ནས་ང་ ལ་སོགས་ཞི་བའི་ ད ེ ་པ་དང་།

2. མ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ ་འ ད་པའི་ ེད་པ་དང་།
3. ཉོན་མོངས་ལས་ངེས་པར་ ལ་བའི་ ེད་པ་དང་།

4. གནོད་པས་ མི་བ ི་བའི་ ེད་པ་དང་།

a

5. ཡང་ དག་ ོགས་པའི་ ང་ བ་ཀྱི་ ེད་པ་དང་།

[10b.5]

6. ཤེར་ ིན་ ན
ེ ་པའི་ ལ་མཆོད་པར་ ་བ་ཉིད་ ་ ེད་
པའི་
ོམ་ལམ་ དེ ་པ་ ེ་ ག་ཡོད།
Boundaries [of functions of a Great Vehicle path of
meditation]
[Functions of a Great Vehicle path of meditation] exist from the first [Bo-
dhisattva] ground through the tenth ground.
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་ས་དང་པོ་ནས་བ ་པའི་བར་ཡོད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: There are three possibilities (mu gsum) between
a path of seeing and a first ground: Whatever is a path of seeing is

a Correcting bas in the 2011 TBRC bla brang (10b.4) and the 1995 Mundgod
revision of Ngawang Gelek bla brang (10b.4) and correcting pa'i in the 1987 Go-
mang Lhasa (6b.7) to pas in accordance with the 1973 Nawang Gelek bla brang
(10b.4). Also, A-kya-yong-dzin Yang-jan-ga-way-lo-drö's Luminous Mirror
(151.1) which indicates that the suffix ca-like ga, ba, na, ma, and sa-calls for pa;
therefore, gnod pas is correct. As the fourth division of six functions of a Great
Vehicle path of meditation, the text explains that not being affected by harmers is
one of the functions; therefore, an instrumental sa should be affixed to gnod pa.
188 Chapter II: Knowers of Paths

necessarily a first ground, but whatever is a first ground is not nec-

essarily a path of seeing because there is a case of a first ground
that is a path of meditation.
Attaining the path of seeing and attaining the first ground are
simultaneous. There is the uninterrupted path of the path of seeing
and then the path of release of the path of seeing, and after that
there is a mere meditative stabilization that occurs on the first
ground and is a path of meditation. This is the function of a Great
Vehicle path of meditation that occurs on the first ground.
When one goes from the path of seeing to the path of medita-
tion, one goes from subsequent attainment to meditative equi-
poise; when one goes from one ground to the next ground one goes
from meditative equipoise to meditative equipoise. Therefore, af-
ter the exalted wisdom of subsequent attainment of the path of
seeing there is a mere meditative stabilization that is a path of
meditation and a first ground and that serves as the basis for pass-
ing to the second ground. It is not long in duration, merely a mo-
ment. It is followed by the uninterrupted path of the path of med-
itation of the second ground.
Chart 3: Progression from path of seeing to path of
meditation
(read chart from bottom to top for temporal order)
3. path of release
path of medita- 2. uninterrupted path
tion 1. non-conceptual mere meditative equi-
poise on emptiness
2. path of release
path of seeing
1. uninterrupted path
6. Paths of Meditation
With regard to [Great Vehicle] paths of meditation there are three: defini-
tion, divisions, and boundaries.
ག་པ་ མོ ་ ལམ་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས་ག མ།
[10b.6]

Definition [of a Great Vehicle path of meditation]

A Great Vehicle subsequent clear realization is the definition of a Great
Vehicle path of meditation.
དང་པོ་ནི། ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ ེས་ལ་མངོན་ གོ ས་དེ། ཐེག་ཆེན་ ོམ་
ལམ་གྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: It is called a subsequent realization because it is
generated subsequent to the Great Vehicle path of seeing. It is, of
course, in the continuum of a Superior.
Subsequent clear realization and path of meditation are equivalent.
ེས་ལ་མངོན་ ོགས་དང་ ོམ་ལམ་དོན་གཅིག།
Divisions [of Great Vehicle paths of meditation]
When divided, there are two—contaminated (zag bcas, sāsrava) and un-
contaminated (zag med, anāsrava) [Great Vehicle] paths of meditation.
གཉིས་པ་ནི་ ད ེ་ན་ཟག་བཅས་ ོམ་ལམ་དང་ཟག་མེད་
[11a.1]

ོམ་ལམ་གཉིས།
The first [that is, contaminated path of meditation] and conceptual path of
meditation are equivalent. The second [that is, uncontaminated path of
meditation] and path of meditation devoid of conceptuality are equivalent.
དང་པོ་དང་ ོག་པར་ ར་པའི་ མོ ་ལམ་དོན་གཅིག །གཉིས་པ་
དང་ གོ ་ ལ་གྱི་ ོམ་ལམ་དོན་གཅིག།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: A conceptual path of meditation is one that is not
a case of meditative equipoise in which one directly realizes self-
lessness. Thus, all conceptual paths of meditation are paths of
190 Chapter II: Knowers of Paths

meditation subsequent to meditative equipoise. It is easy to posit

a definition for conceptual and nonconceptual Great Vehicle paths
of meditation by affixing to it the definitions for conceptual and
non-conceptual; the definition of a conceptual Great Vehicle path
of meditation is a subsequent Great Vehicle clear realization
involving a determinative knower apprehending sound- and
meaning-generalities in a manner suitable for association, and
the definition of nonconceptual Great Vehicle path of meditation
is a subsequent Great Vehicle clear realization not involving a
determinative knower apprehending sound- and meaning-
generalities in a manner suitable for association.
Regarding the first [that is, contaminated, or conceptual, paths of medita-
tion], there are three—paths of meditation of belief, dedication, and admi-
ration.
དང་པོ་ལ་མོས་ བ ོ་ ེས་ ་ཡི་རང་བའི་ ོམ་ལམ་ག མ་
[11a.2]

ཡོད།
16th Topic
Paths of Meditation of Belief (མོས་པ་ ོམ་ལམ་)
To indicate [Great Vehicle] paths of meditation of belief [Maitreya’s Or-
nament for the Clear Realizations, II.18-19] says:29
{II.18}
Belief is to be known as having three aspects—
Consisting of one’s own welfare,
The welfare of oneself and others, and others’ welfare.
Also, it is asserted individually as the three aspects
{II.19}
Of the small, medium, and great.
Also, through the divisions of the small of the small and so forth
Those have three aspects, thus it is asserted
That there are twenty-seven aspects.
དང་པོ་མོས་པ་ ོམ་ལམ་ ོན་པར།
མོས་པ་རང་གི་དོན་དང་ནི། །ནས། མ་པ་ཉི་ ་བ ན་ ་
 Paths of Meditation of Belief 191

འདོད། །ཅེས་ག ངས།

[Ornament II.18-19, 5b.3-5b.4]
{II.18}
མོས་པ་རང་གི་དོན་དང་ནི། །རང་གཞན་དོན་དང་གཞན་དོན་དང་། །
མ་ག མ་ཤེས་ ་དེ་ཡང་ནི། ། ང་དང་འ ིང་དང་ཆེན་པོ་ ེ། །
{II.19}
སོ་སོར་ མ་པ་ག མ་ ་འདོད། ། ང་ འི་ ང་སོགས་ད ེ་བ་ཡིས། །
དེ་ཡང་ མ་ག མ་དེ་ ར་ན། ། མ་པ་ཉི་ ་བ ན་ ་འདོད། །
[Definition of a Great Vehicle path of meditation of
belief]
A subsequent Great Vehicle clear realization posited from the factor
of faith believing in the Mothersa as sources of the three welfares [of
oneself, others, and both] is the definition of a Great Vehicle path of
meditation of belief.
མ་དོན་ག མ་གྱི་འ ང་གནས་ ་ཡིད་ ཆེས་པའི་དད་པའི་ [11a.3]

ཆ་ནས་བཞག་པའི་ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ སེ ་ལ་མངོན་ ོགས་དེ། ཐེག་

ཆེན་གྱི་མོས་པ་ ོམ་ལམ་གྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Practitioners believe that in dependence on the
three Mothers—the textual, path, and fruit perfections of wis-
dom—their aims will be accomplished, the welfares of oneself, of
others, and of both. The ultimate of one’s own aims is attainment
of complete abandonment and realization, a Buddha’s body of at-
tributes and form bodies. Others’ welfare here means to set others
in the non-abiding nirvāṇa. “Both welfares” is not to be identified
as something separate, but the composite of these two. The greater
of the purposes is to achieve Buddhahood and establish others in
it, but even smaller purposes such as a long lifetime that would
enable one to practice are aided by the three Mothers. This pur-
pose can be achieved by taking an interest and having faith in the
perfection of wisdom. In a similar way, if in the next lifetime one
attains a good physical support, one can practice the path well; one
could take this as one’s aim and with that in mind read a text on

a The textual, path, and fruit perfections of wisdom.

192 Chapter II: Knowers of Paths

the perfection of wisdom and so forth. In this way, within one’s

own aims there are greater and smaller ones, and the same is so
with regard to others’ aims.
This is a general discussion of one’s own and others’ welfare;
a Bodhisattva on the path of meditation might have no need for
some of the aims just mentioned.

[Divisions of Great Vehicle paths of meditation of be-

lief]
When divided, there are three:
1. [Great Vehicle paths of meditation of belief] interested in one’s own
welfare
2. [Great Vehicle paths of meditation of belief] interested in the welfare
of both
3. [Great Vehicle paths of meditation of belief] interested in others’ wel-
fare.
ད ེ་ན་
1. རང་དོན་མོས་པའི་[ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་མོས་པ་ ོམ་ལམ་]དེ།

2. གཉིས་དོན་མོས་པའི་[ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་མོས་པ་ ོམ་ལམ་]དེ།

3. གཞན་དོན་མོས་པའི་[ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་མོས་པ་ ོམ་ལམ་]དེ་

ག མ། [11a.4]

Dan-ma-lo-chö: In the case of a Bodhisattva Superior on the path

of meditation, these three are equivalent. They are only mentioned
separately for the factor of conceptuality; there are no separate ex-
amples to set forth for them since whatever is the one is the other.
Any Great Vehicle path of meditation of belief accomplishes all
three aims—of oneself, both oneself and others, and others.
Also, each of those is divided into small, medium, and great, making nine;
and each of those also is divided into small of the small and so forth, mak-
ing twenty-seven.
དེ་རེ་རེ་ལའང་ ང་ ་འ ིང་ཆེན་པོ་ག མ་ ེ་དགུ་དང་། དེ་རེ་
རེ་ལའང་ ང་ འི་ ང་ ་སོགས་ག མ་ག མ་ ེ་བས་ཉེར་
 Paths of Meditation of Belief 193

བ ན་ཡོད།
Boundaries [of Great Vehicle paths of meditation]
[Great Vehicle paths of meditation] exist from the first ground through the
tenth ground.
ས་མཚམས་ས་དང་པོ་ནས་ས་བ ་པའི་aབར་ ་ཡོད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: The only thing that is a path of meditation and is
a first ground is a state of mere meditative equipoise that is non-
conceptual.

a The 2005 Mundgod (21.13) misreads ba'i.

 17th Topic
7. Praise, Extolling, and Lauding of the Benefits of
That [Path of Meditation of Belief] (དེའི་ཕན་ཡོན་བ དོ ་བཀུར་
བ གས་ག མ་)
To indicate the praise, extolling, and lauding of the benefits of that [Great
Vehicle path of meditation of belief Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear
Realizations, II.20] says:30
{II.20}
It is asserted that praising, extolling, and lauding
Is made by way of three groups of nine
During the occasions of belief
In the perfections of wisdom.
བ ན་པ་དེའི་ཕན་ཡོན་ བ དོ ་བཀུར་བ གས་ག མ་ ོན་
[11a.5]

པར།
ཤེས་རབ་ཕ་རོལ་ ིན་པ་ལ། །ནས། བཀུར་བ་དང་ནི་བ གས་
པར་འདོད། །ཅེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament II.20, 5b.4]
{II.20}
ཤེས་རབ་ཕ་རོལ་ ིན་པ་ལ། །མོས་པའི་གནས་ བས་ མས་ལ་ནི། །
དགུ་ཚན་ག མ་གྱིས་བ ོད་པ་དང་། །བཀུར་བ་དང་ནི་བ གས་པར་འདོད། །
Dan-ma-lo-chö: All three—praise, extolling, and lauding—are
named by way of activities of speech.

[Definition of a benefit of a path of meditation of be-

lief included within the three—praise, extolling, and
lauding]
A quality that is included within (1) a factor pleasing Buddhas and
higher Bodhisattvas with regard to a Bodhisattva’s cultivating the
three paths of meditation of belief or (2) a factor expressing the qual-
ities of one abiding in the fact of those is posited as the definition of a
 Praise, Extolling, and Lauding of Its Benefits 195

benefit of a path of meditation of belief included within the three—praise,

extolling, and lauding.
མོས་པ་ མོ ་ལམ་ག མ་ ོམ་པའི་ ང་སེམས་ལ་སངས་ ས་ ང་
སེམས་གོང་མ་ མས་དགྱེས་པའི་ཆ་དང་དེའི་དོན་གནས་ཀྱི་
[11a.6]

ཡོན་ཏན་བ ོད་པའི་aཆ་གང་ ང་གིས་བ ས་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་དེ།

མོས་པ་ མོ ་ལམ་གྱི་ཕན་ཡོན་བ དོ ་བཀུར་བ གས་ག མ་གྱིས་
བ ས་པའི་ཕན་ཡོན་གྱི་ མཚན་ཉིད་ ་འ ོག།
[11b.1]

Dan-ma-lo-chö: When Bodhisattvas generate the twenty-seven di-

visions of the path of meditation of belief in their continuums, the
Buddhas and higher Bodhisattvas become pleased with them and
praise them. This praise is called “praise, extolling, and lauding of
the benefits.” The qualities being praised are also called by these
names; therefore, a benefit of a path of meditation of belief does
not necessarily have to be speech.

[Divisions of benefits of a path of meditation of belief

included within the three—praise, extolling, and
lauding]
When divided, there are twenty-seven.
ད ེ་ན་ཉེར་བ ན་ཡོད།
[Boundaries of benefits of a path of meditation of be-
lief included within the three—praise, extolling, and
lauding]
The boundaries correspond to those [of the path of meditation] of belief.b
ས་མཚམས་མོས་པ་དང་འ ། །

a The 2005 Mundgod (22.1) misreads ba'i.

b See backnote 29.
 18th Topic
8. Paths of Meditation of Dedication (བ ོ་བ་ མོ ་ལམ་)
To indicate paths of meditation of dedication three stanzas occur [in Mait-
reya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, II.21-23]:31
{II.21}
The function of special thorough
Dedications is more supreme.
Having the aspect of unapprehendability;
The character of non-erroneousness;
{II.22}
Voidness; having the sphere of activity
Of mindfulness of the nature
Of the collection of a Buddha’s merit,
Having skill in means; signless; admired by Buddhas;
{II.23}
Not contained within the three realms;
Three aspects of other dedications—
Small, medium, great—
Giving rise to great merit.
བ ད་པ་བ ོ་བ་ ོམ་ལམ་ ནོ ་པར།
ཡོངས་ ་བ ོ་བ་ཁྱད་པར་ཅན། །ནས། བསོད་ནམས་ཆེ་འ ང་
བདག་ཉིད་དོ། །ཞེས་ ཚིགས་བཅད་ག མ་ ང་།
[11b.2]

[Ornament II.21-23, 5b.4-5b.6]

{II.21}
ཡོངས་ ་བ ོ་བ་ཁྱད་པར་ཅན། །དེ་ཡི་ ེད་པ་མཆོག་ཡིན་ནོ། །
དེ་ནི་དམིགས་མེད་ མ་པ་ཅན། ། ིན་ཅི་མ་ལོག་མཚན་ཉིད་དོ། །
{II.22}
དབེན་དང་སངས་ ས་བསོད་ནམས་ཚགས། །རང་བཞིན་ ན་པའི་ ོད་ ལ་ཅན། །
ཐབས་བཅས་མཚན་མ་མེད་པ་དང་། །སངས་ ས་ ེས་ ་ཡི་རང་དང་། །
{II.23}
 Paths of Meditation of Dedication 197

ཁམས་ག མ་གཏོགས་aཔ་མ་ཡིན་དང་༏ ། ང་དང་འ ིང་དང་ཆེན་པོ་ཡི། །

བ ོ་བ་གཞན་ནི་ མ་ག མ་པོ། །བསོད་ནམས་ཆེ་འ ང་བདག་ཉིད་དོ། །
[Definition of a Great Vehicle path of meditation of
dedication]
A Great Vehicle subsequent conceptual clear realization that trans-
forms one’s own and others’ virtuous roots into a branch of complete
enlightenment is the definition of a Great Vehicle path of meditation of
dedication.
རང་གཞན་གྱི་དགེ་ ་ ོགས་ ང་གི་ཡན་ལག་ ་ ར་བར་ ེད་
པའི་ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ ེས་ལ་མངོན་ གོ ས་ གོ ་བཅས་དེ། ཐེག་ཆེན་
གྱི་བ ོ་བ་ མོ ་ལམ་གྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: “One’s own” refers to the Bodhisattva herself or
himself. “Others” refers to all those of a different continuum from
oneself. “Virtuous roots” are virtuous activities themselves—the
paths and also all other virtues of body, speech, and so forth—as
well as latent tendencies they leave. All of these virtuous roots,
whether done by oneself or by others, grow into enlightenment
when they are dedicated as a cause of enlightenment. They are
dedicated so that that they will not be wasted, but rather be trans-
formed into causes of enlightenment.

a The sde dge (5b.6) and co ne (5b.6) read rtogs; however, snar thang (7a.2),
Peking (6b.5), dpe bsdur ma (12.14), Āryavimuktisena's commentary (106a.3),
and Haribhadra’s Clear Meaning (99b.1) correctly read gtogs. For, the corre-
sponding Sanskrit stanza is:
traidhātukāprapannaśca pariṇāmo 'parastridhā |
mṛdumadhyādhimātraśca mahāpuṇyodayātmakaḥ ||II.23||
Since traidhātukāprapannaḥ means "not contained/included [within] the three
realms, its corresponding Tibetan should be gtogs pa (include, contain), not rtogs
pa (realize).
198 Chapter II: Knowers of Paths

[Divisions of Great Vehicle paths of meditation of

dedication]
When [Great Vehicle paths of meditation of dedication] are divided, there
are twelve, for there are the twelve:
1. path of meditation of special thorough dedications
2. path of meditation of dedications having the aspect of unapprehenda-
bility
3. path of meditation of dedications having a character of non-erroneous-
ness
4. path of meditation of dedications devoid [of ultimate existence]
5. path of meditation of dedications mindful of the nature of a Buddha’s
merit
6. path of meditation of dedications having skill in means
7. path of meditation of dedication of signless dedications
8. path of meditation of dedications admireda by Buddha
9. path of meditation of dedications not contained within the three realms
10. path of meditation of small dedications giving rise to great merit
11. path of meditation of medium dedications [giving rise] to great merit
12. path of meditation of great dedications [giving rise]to great merit.
ད ེ་ན་བ ་གཉིས་ ཡོད་དེ། [11b.3]

1. ཡོངས་ ་བ ོ་བ་ཁྱད་པར་ཅན་གྱི་ ོམ་ལམ་དང་།

2. དམིགས་མེད་ མ་པ་ཅན་གྱི་བ ་ོ བ་ ོམ་ལམ་དང་

གཉིས།
3. ིན་ཅི་མ་ལོག་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་ཅན་གྱི་བ ོ་བ་ ོམ་ལམ་
དང་ག མ།
4. དབེན་པའི་བ ོ་བ་ ོམ་ལམ་དང་བཞི།
[11b.4]

5. སངས་ ས་བསོད་ནམས་རང་བཞིན་ ན་པའི་བ ོ་བ་

ོམ་ལམ་དང་།
6. ཐབས་ལ་མཁས་པའི་བ ོ་བ་ ོམ་ལམ་དང་།

a See two footnotes below.

 Paths of Meditation of Dedication 199

7.མཚན་མ་མེད་པའི་བ ་ོ བ་ ོམ་ལམ་དང་།
8. སངས་ ས་ཀྱིས་ ེས་ ་གནང་bབའི་བ ོ་བ་ ོམ་
a [11b.5]

ལམ་དང་།
9. ཁམས་ག མ་ ་གཏོགས་པ་མ་ཡིན་པའི་བ ་ོ བ་ ོམ་

ལམ་དང་།
10. བསོད་ནམས་ཆེན་པོ་འ ང་བའི་བ ོ་བ་ ང་ འི་ ོམ་

ལམ་དང་།
11. བསོད་ནམས་ཆེན་པོའ་ི འ ིང་གི་བ ོ་བ་ ོམ་ལམ་ [11b.6]

དང་།
12. བསོད་ནམས་ཆེན་པོའ་ི བ ོ་བ་ཆེན་པོའི་ མ
ོ ་ལམ་
དང་བ ་གཉིས་ཡོད་དོ། །
a The 2005 Mundgod (22.16) reads kyi.
b All of the editions of Jam-yang-shay-pa's Seventy Topics consulted—2011
TBRC bla brang and the 1995 Mundgod revision of Ngawang Gelek bla brang
(11b.4), 1987 Go-mang Lhasa (7b.2), 2011 Kan su'u (107.5), 1999 Gomang
(18.14), and 2005 Gomang (22.16) read rjes su gnang; however, all editions of
the sde dge Ornament consulted read rjes su yi rang: snar thang (7a.2), co ne
(5b.6), Peking (6b.5), and dpe bsdur ma (12.4) as well as Āryavimuktisena’s com-
mentary (106a.3), Haribhadra’s Clear Meaning (99a.7), and Ngag-wang-pal-
dan’s Meaning of the Words, 36b.3. The corresponding Sanskrit stanza is:
vivikto buddhapuṇyaghasvabhāvasmṛtigocaraḥ |
sopāyaṣcānimitraśca buddhairabhyanumodhitaḥ || II.22 ||
The meanings of the Sanskrit term anumodhitaḥ according to Monier-Williams
are “pleased, delighted, applauded, agreeable, acceptable”; thus, rjes su yi rang
seems the more appropriate Tibetan translation. However, rjes su gnang as mean-
ing “authorized” accords somewhat with the latter three meanings (“applauded,
agreeable, acceptable”), and thus sangs rgyas kyis rjes su gnang ba as a translation
for buddhairabhyanumodhitaḥ and meaning “authorized by the Buddhas” may be
possible and may be a deliberate choice by Jam-yang-shay-pa who knew Sanskrit
well; or it may simply be a slip up. The translation here, however, follows rjes su
yi rang and thus is “admired by the Buddhas.”
200 Chapter II: Knowers of Paths

Boundaries [of Great Vehicle paths of meditation of

dedication]
[Paths of meditation of dedication] exist from the first through tenth
grounds.
ས་མཚམས་ས་དང་པོ་ནས་བ ་པའི་བར་རོ། །
Dan-ma-lo-chö: It could be that Jam-yang-shay-pa has a particular
reason for setting the boundaries this way, but to be consistent
with the presentation with which I am familiar they should be from
the second through the tenth grounds since, as mentioned above,
the only thing that is a path of meditation and is a first ground is a
state of mere meditative equipoise that is non-conceptual.
 19th Topic
9. Paths of Meditation of Admiration ( ེས་ ་ཡི་རང་ ོམ་ལམ་)
To indicate paths of meditation of admiration one stanza occurs [in Mait-
reya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, II.24]:32
{II.24}
Admiration of roots of virtue
With skill in means and nonobservation
Is said here to be meditation
Taking admiration to mind.
དགུ་པ་ སེ ་ ་ཡི་རང་ ོམ་ལམ་ ནོ ་པར།
ཐབས་དང་མི་དམིགས་པ་ དག་གིས། །ནས། ། ོམ་པ་ཡིན་
[12a.1]

པར་འདིར་བ ོད་དོ། །ཞེས་པའི་ཚིགས་བཅད་གཅིག་ ང་།

[Ornament II.24, 5b.6]
{II.24}
ཐབས་དང་མི་དམིགས་པ་དག་གིས། །དགེ་བའི་ ་ལ་ཡི་རང་བ། །
ེས་ ་ཡི་རང་ཡིད་ ེད་པ། །བ ོམ་པ་ཡིན་པར་འདིར་བ ོད་དོ། །
[Definition of a Great Vehicle path of meditation of
admiration]
A Great Vehicle subsequent conceptual clear realization that mani-
festly rejoices in one’s own and others’ virtue is the definition of a Great
Vehicle path of meditation of admiration.
རང་གཞན་གྱི་དགེ་བ་ལ་མངོན་པར་དགའ་བའི་ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་
ེས་ལ་མངོན་ ོགས་ གོ ་ བཅས་དེ། ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ སེ ་ ་ཡི་
[12a.2]

རང་ ོམ་ལམ་གྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
202 Chapter II: Knowers of Paths

[Divisions of Great Vehicle paths of meditation of

admiration]
When divided, there are two—admirations of one’s own and others’ vir-
tue; or admirations that have as their objects the conventional and the ul-
timate.
ད ེ་ན་རང་གཞན་གྱི་དགེ་བ་ལ་ཡི་རང་གཉིས་སམ་ཀུན་ ོབ་
དང་དོན་དམ་པའི་ ལ་ཅན་གྱི་ཡི་རང་གཉིས་ཡོད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: The latter division refers to admiring conscious-
nesses that have conventional or ultimate objects. An example of
admiration of an ultimate object would be to think, “Oh, how val-
uable it is to abide in meditative equipoise directly realizing emp-
tiness.”
Even though a path of meditation of admiration can be pos-
sessed only by a Superior, it is good for us also to admire virtues.
Although it is unsuitable once one has done a virtuous act to be-
come proud and inflated about it thinking “What a terrific thing I
have done,” one can rejoice in it, whereby its power will increase.
If someone else engages in a virtuous act, it is unsuitable either to
be jealous of it or competitive about it, but if one rejoices in it, it
will become very easy for oneself to generate that particular qual-
ity.
If one dedicates whatever virtue one does as a cause of happi-
ness coming to others and of one’s own Buddhahood, the fruit of
that virtue will not be lost but will be very great. Buddha said that
if a pot of water is poured into the ocean, it will stay forever.a
Similarly, virtuous roots that are dedicated for the sake of achiev-
ing the state of Buddhahood will not be wasted—with the excep-
tion of being undermined by actions of great hatred—until their
fruit at Buddhahood. In other words, they will bear fruit.
Shāntideva says in his Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds that
virtuous actions conjoined with an altruistic intention to become
enlightened or dedicated to highest enlightenment are like a field
that will forever bear crops. Whatever virtuous activity a practi-
tioner engages in, whether to memorize or read a text or to medi-
tate, should be dedicated to highest enlightenment.

a This is based on the old-fashioned notion that it will not evaporate in a large
body of water.
 Paths of Meditation of Admiration 203

[Boundaries of Great Vehicle paths of meditation of

admiration]
The boundaries of paths of meditation of belief, dedication, and admiration
are similar.
མོས་བ ོ་ཡི་རང་གི་ མོ ་ ལམ་ག མ་གྱི་ས་མཚམས་འ །
[12a.3]

Dan-ma-lo-chö: Even though the paths of meditation of belief,

dedication, and admiration occur high on the path, people such as
us can engage in belief, dedication and admiration from right now,
and it is extremely helpful for us to do so.
 20th Topic
10. Paths of Meditation of Achieving ( བ་པ་ མོ ་ལམ་)
To indicate paths of meditation of achieving one stanza occurs [in Mait-
reya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, II.25]:33
{II.25}
Its nature, supremacy,
Non-composition of all,
Bestowal of nonobservation
Of phenomena, great purpose.
བ ་པ་ བ་པ་ ོམ་ལམ་ ོན་པར།
དེ་ཡི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མཆོག་ཉིད། །ནས། གཏོད་པར་ ེད་པ་དོན་ཆེན་ a

ཉིད། །ཅེས་ཤོ་ལོ་ཀ་གཅིག་ ང་།

[Ornament II.25, 5b.6-5b.7]
{II.25}
དེ་ཡི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མཆོག་ཉིད། །ཀུན་ལ་མངོན་པར་འ ་མི་ ེད། །
ཆོས་ མས་དམིགས་ ་མེད་པར་ནི། །གཏོད་པར་b ེད་པ་དོན་ཆེན་ཉིད། །
Dan-ma-lo-chö: In general, an achieving is an act of attaining
higher qualities that have not yet been attained. A Buddha pos-
sesses in his continuum a final realization that can be called an

a All consulted editions of Jam-yang-shay-pa’s text read gtod par as do all con-
sulted editions of the Tibetan of Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realiza-
tions—sde dge (5b.6), snar thang (7a.3), Peking (6b.7), cone (6a.1), and dpe
bsdur ma (12.19) as well as Āryavimuktisena’s commentary (108a.1) and
Haribhadra’s commentary (100a.3), whereas Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of
the Words (see backnote 33) when citing the stanza and when giving commentary
uses gtong bar. The corresponding Sanskrit stanza is:
svabhāvaḥ śreṣṭhatā tasya sarvasyānabhisaṃskṛtiḥ |
nopalambhena dharmāṇām arpaṇā ca mahārthatā || II.25 ||
See Stcherbatsy and Obermiller, Abhisamayālaṃkāra, 14. Since the meaning of
the corresponding Sanskrit term arpaṇā is “entrust,” “bestow,” and so forth, both
Tibetan translations are suitable.
b See the previous footnote.
 Paths of Meditation of Achieving 205

exalted knower that knows the modes and an exalted knower that
knows the diversity, though there are other divisions of it that will
be considered in the eighth category. In any case, an achievement,
or achieving, is an action aimed at achieving this final state.

[Definition of a Great Vehicle path of meditation of

achieving]
An uncontaminated Great Vehicle subsequent clear realization that
sets up the imprint of the final realization is the definition of a Great
Vehicle path of meditation of achieving.
ཟག་མེད་ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ ེས་ ལ་མངོན་ ོགས་གང་ གོ ས་པ་
[12a.4]

མཐར་ ག་གི་ལག་ སེ ་འ ོག་ དེ ་དེ། ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ བ་པ་ ོམ་

ལམ་གྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: The word “uncontaminated” indicates that it is
free from being a determinative knower in which sound- and
meaning-generalities are suitable to be associated. “Great Vehi-
cle” indicates that it does not exist in the continuum of a Hearer
or Solitary Victor, but only in the continuum of a Great Vehicle
practitioner. Within the Great Vehicle itself, it does not exist in
the continuum of a common being but only in that of a Superior
that is, it does not occur on occasions of the paths of accumulation
and preparation. Further, among Great Vehicle Superiors it is not
found in the continuums of those on the Great Vehicle path of see-
ing, but only during the path generated after, that is, subsequent
to, the Great Vehicle path of seeing, namely the path of medita-
tion.
To explain “final realization:” Buddhas know suchness well;
beyond this, they know it completely, and furthermore they are
not miserly with respect to it but teach it to others just as they
know it. An exalted-knower-of-all-aspects is a final exalted
knower knowing suchness just as it is—that it has these three qual-
ities.
The Great Vehicle path of meditation is said to set up the im-
print of final realization because it is that realization’s cause, much
as when one presses one’s hand into something, the imprint of the
hand remains. Because such a final pristine wisdom arises in de-
pendence upon cultivation of the wisdom of meditative equipoise
206 Chapter II: Knowers of Paths

of the three pure grounds [the eighth, ninth, and tenth Bodhisattva
grounds], this exalted-knower-of-all-aspects and the uncontami-
nated paths of meditation are in a relationship of effect and cause.
Therefore, these uncontaminated paths of meditation are causes of
this exalted-knower-of-all-aspects that is the effect of them.
Not only are these paths the causes of an exalted-knower-of-
all-aspects, they are its main or substantial causes. For instance,
there are many causes for the production of a sprout, but the main
among them—the substantial cause of the sprout—is the seed.
These uncontaminated paths of meditation are the positors of that
imprint, which is an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects. The wisdom
that is an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects is the main effect of the
cultivation of the uncontaminated paths of meditation. In Tibetan
we say, “What is the imprint of such and such an activity?” mean-
ing, “What is the main effect?”

[Divisions of Great Vehicle paths of meditation of

achieving]
When divided, there are five because there are the five consisting of:
1. the nature of a path of meditation of achieving realization that all phe-
nomena are not truly existent
Dan-ma-lo-chö: “All phenomena” here refers to those ranging
from forms through to omniscient consciousnesses; all these phe-
nomena are being realized as not truly existent. Because the rank,
or state, of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects is achieved by way
of realizing all phenomena to be not truly existent, this is called a
path of meditation of achieving realizing all phenomena as not
truly existent.
2. the supremacy of the path of meditation of achieving the perfection of
wisdom
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Due to the fact that it achieves the perfection of
wisdom, it is the supremacy of a path of meditation. Such a path
of meditation does not discriminate any phenomena as truly exist-
ent; thus, the next division is:
3. the non-composition, by that path of meditation, of all phenomena as
truly existent
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Never mind conceiving phenomena to truly exist,
phenomena do not even appear to such a path of meditation to
 Paths of Meditation of Achieving 207

truly exist. This path of meditation not only does not consider phe-
nomena to be truly existent, but considers them to be without true
existence; thus, the next division is:
4. the consideration, by that path of meditation, of all phenomena as un-
observable as truly existent
5. the great purpose of attaining the fruit, Buddhahood, through that path
of meditation.
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This path of meditation has the capacity of caus-
ing the attainment of the Buddhahood that is extinguishment of all
defects and attainment of all attributes in dependence upon culti-
vating it; thus, it is called the great purpose of attaining the fruit.
ད ེ་ན་ ་ཡོད་དེ།
1. ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་བདེན་མེད་ ་ ག ོ ས་པའི་ བ་པ་ ོམ་
ལམ་དེའི་ངོ་བོ་ ཉིད་དང་། [12a.5]

2. ཤེར་ ིན་གྱི་ བ་པ་ ོམ་ལམ་གྱི་མཆོག་ཉིད་དང་།

3. ོམ་ལམ་དེས་ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་བདེན་ བ་ ་འ ་མི་
ེད་པ་དང་།
4. ོམ་ལམ་དེས་ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་བདེན་ བ་ཀྱི་དམིགས་པ་
མེད་པར་ གཏོད་པ་དང་།
[12a.6]

5. ོམ་ལམ་དེས་འ ས་ ་སངས་ ས་ཐོབ་པའི་དོན་ཆེན་པོ་

ཉིད་
དང་ ་ཡོད་པའི་ ིར།
Boundaries [of Great Vehicle paths of meditation of
achieving]
[Paths of meditation of achieving] exist from the first through tenth
grounds.
ས་མཚམས་ས་དང་པོ་ནས་བ ་པའི་བར་རོ། །
 21st Topic
11. Paths of Meditation of Complete Purity ( མ་དག་ ོམ་
ལམ་)
To indicate the definition as well as the divisions with regard to a path of
meditation of complete purity three stanzas occur [in Maitreya’s Orna-
ment for the Clear Realizations, II.28-30]:34
{II.28}
The purity of the fruit is the very purity
Of forms and so forth because
Those two are not different
And are not distinguishable, whereby they are called pure.
{II.29}
Because of withering (1) the afflictions, (2) the obstructions to
omniscience,
And (3) the three paths, there are the purities of (1) Learners,
(2) The Rhinoceri, and (3) Victor Children.
Buddhas are the utmost from all aspects.
{II.30}
The paths, small of the small and so forth,
Antidotes to the defilements
Regarding the nine levels—the big of the big
And so forth—are the purifiers.
བ ་གཅིག་པ་ མ་དག་ ོམ་ལམ་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད་ད ེ་ བ་ [12b.1]

དང་བཅས་ ོན་པར།
འ ས་ ་དག་པ་ག གས་ལ་སོགས། །ནས། སོགས་པའི་ལམ་ནི་
དག་པ་ཡིན། །ཞེས་ཤོ་ལོ་ཀ་ག མ་ ང་།
[Ornament II.28-30, 6a.1-6a.3]
{II.28}
འ ས་ ་དག་པ་ག གས་ལ་སོགས། །དག་པ་ཉིད་དེ་གང་གི་ ིར། །
དེ་གཉིས་ཐ་དད་མ་ཡིན་ཞིང་། །བཅད་ ་མེད་པས་དག་པར་བ ོད། །
{II.29}
 Paths of Meditation of Complete Purity 209

ཉོན་མོངས་ཤེས་ ་ལམ་ག མ་གྱི། །ཉམས་ ིར་ ོབ་མ་བསེ་ ་དང་། །

ལ་ ས་ མས་ཀྱི་དག་པ་ ེ། །སངས་ ས་ མ་ཀུན་ཤིན་ ་བ། །
{II.30}
ས་དགུ་ལ་ནི་ཆེན་པོ་ཡི། །ཆེན་པོ་ལ་སོགས་ ི་མ་ཡི། །
གཉེན་པོ་ ང་ འི་ ང་ ་ལ། །སོགས་པའི་ལམ་ནི་དག་པ་ཡིན། །
[Definition of a Great Vehicle path of meditation of
complete purity]
An uncontaminated Great Vehicle subsequent clear realization that
sets up the imprint of the final [state of] abandonment is the definition
of a Great Vehicle path of meditation of complete purity.
ཟག་མེད་ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ ེས་ལ་མངོན་ ོགས་གང་ ངས་པ་མཐར་
ག་གི་ ལག་ ེས་འ ོག་ དེ ་དེ། ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ མ་དག་ ོམ་
[12b.2]

ལམ་གྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: As was mentioned earlier, this path is uncontam-
inated because there is no appearance of true existence and be-
cause it does not involve any conceptuality. It is said to be a sub-
sequent clear realization of the Great Vehicle because it is in the
continuum of a person who has generated the wish to attain high-
est enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings and that wish
has not degenerated; thus, the person is a Great Vehicle practi-
tioner. It is called a subsequent realization because it is a realiza-
tion generated after the new realization of the truth on the path of
seeing.
Buddhas have in their continuum an extinguishment that is a
state of the removal of all obstructions: the afflictive obstructions,
the obstructions to omniscience, the obstructions to meditative ab-
sorption, and so forth. Buddhas have abandoned these obstruc-
tions well, much as one gradually gets rid of a cold. They have
furthermore abandoned all types of defects, not just some, but all
whatsoever in such a way that they will never return. Therefore, a
Buddha is One-Gone-to-Bliss (bde bar gshegs pa, sugata), who
has these three features.
210 Chapter II: Knowers of Paths

[Divisions of Great Vehicle paths of meditation of

complete purity]
When divided, there are the nine cycles of antidotes to the nine cycles of
objects of abandonment by the path of meditation. There are nine ranging
from [the small of the small path of meditation of complete purity that is]
the antidote to the big of the big objects of abandonment by the path of
meditation through to the big of the big path of meditation of complete
purity that is the antidote to the small of the small [objects of abandonment
by the path of meditation].
ད ེ་ན། མོ ་ ང་ རོ ་དགུའི་གཉེན་པོ་ ོར་དགུ་ཡོད། ོམ་ ང་
ཆེན་པོའི་ཆེན་པོའི་གཉེན་པོ། ནས། ང་ འི་ ང་ འི་གཉེན་
པོ་ མ་དག་ མོ ་ལམ་ཆེན་པོའ་ི ཆེན་པོའི་བར་དགུ་ཡོད།
[12b.3]

Dan-ma-lo-chö: The nine cycles of the objects to be abandoned

are related to the nine levels of cyclic existence (see the chart on
the next page). We have afflictions with respect to all of these lev-
els; therefore, we have objects to be abandoned with respect to
them. The nine objects to be abandoned with respect to each of the
nine levels are each divided in turn into nine, making eighty-one
in total. Thus there are eighty-one abandonments, or paths of re-
lease that are states of the abandonment of the eighty-one objects
to be abandoned. To this can be added the eight abandonments of
the path of seeing—four doctrinal knowledges and four subse-
quent knowledges—making eighty-nine abandonments or true
cessations. For the nine cycles of the objects abandoned by the
path of meditation there are the nine cycles of the path of medita-
tion that are their antidotes, or uninterrupted paths.
The series of objects to be abandoned go from the big to the
small. First the big of the big, then the medium of the big, and the
small of the big; then the big of the medium, the medium of the
medium, and the small of the medium; then the big of the small,
the medium of the small, and the small of the small. The antidotes,
however, begin with the small and go to the big. The small of the
small comes first, then the medium of the small, and the big of the
small; then the small, medium, and big of the medium, and so on.
There are some who dispute this, saying that if the objects of
abandonment are arranged from larger to smaller and the paths
that abandon them from the smaller to the larger, it is unsuitable
 Paths of Meditation of Complete Purity 211

because a lesser path of meditation cannot overcome a greater ob-

ject of abandonment, and because one does not need to cultivate a
greater path of meditation in order to overcome a lesser object of
abandonment. The disputant’s thought is that a small fighter can-
not overcome a big opponent and a big opponent is not necessary
to overcome a small fighter. In our own system this is not the case;
when cleansing the mind of defilements, one

Chart 4: The three realms and nine levels of cyclic existencea

(from the highest levels to the lowest)

III. Formless Realm (gzugs med khams, ārūpyadhātu)

9. Peak of Cyclic Existence (srid rtse, bhavāgra)
8. Nothingness (ci yang med, ākiṃcaya)
7. Limitless Consciousness (rnam shes mtha’ yas, vijñānānantya)
6. Limitless Space (nam mkha’ mtha’ yas, ākāśānantya)
II. Form Realm (gzugs khams, rūpadhātu)
5. Fourth Concentration (bsam gtan bzhi pa, caturthadhyāna)
4. Third Concentration (bsam gtan gsum pa, tritīyadhyāna)
3. Second Concentration (bsam gtan gnyis pa, dvitīyadhyāna)
2. First Concentration (bsam gtan dang po, prathamadhyāna)
I. and 1. Desire Realm (’dod khams, kāmadhātu)
Gods of the Desire Realm (’dod khams kyi lha, kāmadhātudeva)
Those Who Make Use of Others’ Emanations (gzhan ’phrul
dbang byed, paranirmitavaśavartin)
Those Who Enjoy Emanation (’phrul dga’, nirmāṇarati)
Joyous Land (dga’ ldan, tuṣita)
Land Without Combat (’thab bral, yāma)
Heaven of Thirty-Three (sum cu rtsa gsum, trayastriṃśa)
Four Great Royal Lineages (rgyal chen rigs bzhi,
cāturmahārājakāyika)
Demigods (lha ma yin, asura)
Humans (mi, manuṣya)
Animals (dud ’gro, tiryañc)
Hungry ghosts (yi dvags, preta)
Hell-beings (dmyal ba, nāraka)

a Chart adapted from Leah Zahler, Study and Practice of Meditation: Tibetan In-
terpretations of the Concentrations and Formless Absorptions (Ithaca, N.Y.:
Snow Lion Publications, 2009), 192.
212 Chapter II: Knowers of Paths

must purify the coarser first. For example, if you wash a piece of
clothing that is extremely dirty, the grosser dirt is removed first
and after a while only the smaller or subtler stains remain and are
harder to remove. (See chart next page.)
 Paths of Meditation of Complete Purity 213

Chart 5: Afflictive emotions to be abandoned in terms of the

three realms and nine levels
(Read from bottom to top)
Peak of Cyclic Exist- 73-81
ence (ninth level)
afflictive emotions per- Nothingness 64-72
taining to the Formless (eighth level)
Realm Infinite Consciousness 55-63
(seventh level)
Infinite Space 46-54
(sixth level)
Fourth Concentration 37-45
(fifth level)
afflictive emotions per- Third Concentration 28-36
taining to the Form (fourth level)
Realm Second Concentration 19-27
(third level)
First Concentration 10-18
(second level)
small of the small 9
small medium of the small 8
great of the small 7
afflictive emotions per-
small of the medium 6
taining to the Desire
Realm (first level) medium medium of the medium 5
great of the medium 4
small of the great 3
great medium of the great 2
great of the great 1

The series of objects to be abandoned go from the big to the

small.a First the big of the big, then the medium of the big, and the

a Chart adapted from Zahler, ibid., 193. As Zahler says:

Each of the nine levels has cycles of afflictive emotions pertaining to it.
There are three main divisions for each level—great (chen po, ad-
himātra), middling (’bring, madhya), and small (chung ngu, mṛdu)—
each of which is subdivided into three by degrees. Thus, each of the nine
levels has nine degrees of afflictive emotions pertaining to it—(1) the
great of the great (chen po’i chen po, adhimātrādhimatra), (2) the mid-
dling of the great (chen po’i ’bring, adhimātramadhya), and (3) the small
214 Chapter II: Knowers of Paths

small of the big; then the big of the medium, the medium of the
medium, and the small of the medium; then the big of the small,
the medium of the small, and the small of the small. The antidotes,
however, begin with the small and go to the big. The small of the
small comes first, then the medium of the small, and the big of the
small; then the small, medium, and big of the medium, and so on.
There are some who dispute this, saying that if the objects of
abandonment are arranged from larger to smaller and the paths
that abandon them from the smaller to the larger, it is unsuitable
because a lesser path of meditation cannot overcome a greater ob-
ject of abandonment, and because one does not need to cultivate a
greater path of meditation in order to overcome a lesser object of
abandonment. The disputant’s thought is that a small fighter can-
not overcome a big opponent and a big opponent is not necessary
to overcome a small fighter. In our own system this is not the case;
when cleansing the mind of defilements, one must purify the
coarser first. For example, if you wash a piece of clothing that is
extremely dirty, the grosser dirt is removed first and after a while
only the smaller or subtler stains remain and are harder to remove.
(See chart next page.)
When one attains a path of release on the path of meditation,
one has attained a state of abandonment in which one has aban-
doned a measure of what is to be abandoned by a path of medita-
tion. The path of meditation has nine cycles that remove the nine
cycles of the objects to be abandoned by the path of meditation,
with the lesser levels of the path of meditation removing the
greater or coarser objects to be abandoned. Each of the nine paths
has an uninterrupted path, which is when a corresponding obstruc-
tion is abandoned. With the attainment of each of the paths of re-
lease there is an attainment of the abandonment of its own corre-
sponding level of obstruction.

of the great (chen po’i chung ngu, adhimātramṛdu); (4) the great of the
middling (’bring gi chen po, madhyādhimātra), (5) the middling of the
middling (’bring gi ’bring, madhyamadhya), and (6) the small of the
middling (’bring gi chung ngu, madhyamṛdu); (7) the great of the small
(chung ngu’i chen po, mṛdvadhimātra), (8) the middling of the small
(chung ngu’i ’bring, mṛdumadhya), and (9) the small of the small (chung
ngu’i chung ngu, mṛdumṛdu)—making eighty-one in all.
 Paths of Meditation of Complete Purity 215

Chart 6: Objects abandoned by the path of meditation

(read chart from bottom to top for temporal order)
Path of Meditation Object Abandoned
Path of Release

9 Big Small 9
Uninterrupted
Path
Path of Release

Big 8 Medium Medium 8 Small

Uninterrupted
Path
Path of Release

7 Small Big 7
Uninterrupted
Path
Path of Release

6 Big Small 6
Uninterrupted
Path
Path of Release

Medium 5 Medium Medium 5 Medium

Uninterrupted
Path
Path of Release

4 Small Big 4
Uninterrupted
Path
Path of Release

3 Big Small 3
Uninterrupted
Path
Path of Release

Small 2 Medium Medium 2 Big

Uninterrupted
Path
Path of Release

1 Small Big 1
Uninterrupted
Path
216 Chapter II: Knowers of Paths

The paths of release, except for the last one, are not final.
Since the last one is Buddhahood, it is no longer the path of med-
itation, and thus the abandonments by the path of meditation are
not final abandonments because there are objects of abandonment
yet to be abandoned. However, through cultivating the uninter-
rupted path at the end of the continuum as a sentient being one
overcomes the subtlest of the obstructions to omniscience; one
then attains a path of release that is a state of having abandoned
all obstructions. This is the “final abandonment” that is mentioned
in the above definition.

Boundaries [of Great Vehicle paths of meditation of

complete purity]
[Paths of meditation of complete purity] exist from the first through tenth
grounds.
ས་མཚམས་ས་དང་པོ་ནས་ས་བ ་པའི་བར་ ་ཡོད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: The path of meditation of achieving and the path
of meditation of complete purity are really the same thing; they
are just divided by way of conceptually isolatable factors.
If we come to have faith in the Buddha and develop a wish to
attain Buddhahood and, then, for that purpose listen to teachings,
study texts, and newly come to understand something, those ac-
tivities serve as techniques, or causes, for attaining Buddhahood.
Coming to know even one subject does this because knowing one
object of knowledge clears away (sangs) the non-knowledge of
not knowing it, and knowing it, a consciousness—a wisdom—that
knows it is generated in the continuum. In general, objects of
knowledge are without measure, but knowing one thing helps to-
wards knowing all (thams cad mkhyen).
Similarly, abandoning one thing is a step towards abandoning
all. It temporarily stops the manifest form of that problem. For
instance, if you know the definition of something, it eliminates
(bsal) the non-knowing of it, and the wisdom knowing it arises
within your mental continuum. And because it has temporarily
eliminated the arising of that non-knowledge, that serves as a
cause for the utter eradication in the future of the possibility of its
arising again. Thus it serves as a cause for the final abandonment
of all ignorance.
 Paths of Meditation of Complete Purity 217

All of the activities that one engages in serve as causes to-

wards that knower of all; all of the activities of the path of medi-
tation serve as causes of that knower of all.
A path of meditation of complete purity is generated only
when one has attained a Bodhisattva ground, that is, has achieved
the path of seeing, but it is something that people can practice
now. This is because if one engages in completely pure view, med-
itation, and behavior now, these serve as causes for the attainment
of the path of meditation of complete purity later. They serve as
causes for attaining the state of Buddhahood. It is something one
can do now. To give an example of something difficult to do,
when one understands the middle path that is the center between
the extremes of permanence and nihilism, then one has generated
the pure correct view. To take an easier example, one first stops
the view of former and future births as nonexistent and comes to
believe that these do exist, and based on this understanding en-
gages in virtuous activity—generating virtues and removing
nonvirtues—and generates in his or her mental continuum the
view of the existence of the effects of actions. This is also a correct
view.
Pure behavior is a case of stopping non-virtuous activities of
body, speech, and mind, and turning oneself towards virtuous ac-
tivities of body, speech, and mind, and if one cannot do that, at
least abiding in neutral activities of body, speech, and mind. For
pure meditation one needs to be able to set the mind on its object
of observation without laxity (bying ba), excitement (rgod pa), or
lethargy (rmugs pa). If, having ceased those, one is able to keep
one’s object clearly in mind, this is a case of pure meditation. It is
possible for people like us right now to engage in pure view, med-
itation, and behavior. It is important to do so.
The eleven phenomena illustrating a knower of paths have been explained.
ལམ་ཤེས་མཚན་ དེ ་ཀྱི་ཆོས་བ ་གཅིག་བཤད་ཟིན་ཏོ། ། ༈ ། །
Chapter III. Explaining the nine phenomena char-
acterizing knowers of bases
Dan-ma-lo-chö: By way of setting forth nine phenomena a knower
of bases is caused to appear to mind.
To indicate the nine phenomena characterizing knowers of bases two stan-
zas occur [in Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, I.10-11]:35
{I.10}
Not abiding in cyclic existence through knowledge,
Not abiding in peace through compassion,
Distant due to non-skill in method,
Not distant due to skill in method,
{I.11}
Those classed as discordant and as antidote,
Trainings, their equality, and
The paths of seeing of Hearers and so forth—
Knowers of all are asserted thus.
ག མ་པ་གཞི་ཤེས་མཚན་ ེད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་དགུ་ ོན་པར།
[12b.4]

ཤེས་པས་ དི ་ལ་མི་གནས་ཤིང་། །ནས། དེ་འ ་ཀུན་ཤེས་ཉིད་ ་

འདོད། །ཅེས་སོགས་ཤོ་ལོ་ཀ་གཉིས་ ང་།
[Ornament I.10-11, 2a.5-2b.1]
{I.10}
ཤེས་པས་ ིད་ལ་མི་གནས་ཤིང་། ། ིང་ ེས་ཞི་ལ་མི་གནས་དང་། །
ཐབས་མ་ཡིན་པས་རིང་བ་དང་། །ཐབས་ཀྱིས་རིང་བ་མ་ཡིན་ཉིད། །
{I.11}
མི་མ ན་གཉེན་པོའི་ ོགས་དག་དང་། ། ོར་དང་དེ་ཡི་མཉམ་ཉིད་དང་། །
ཉན་ཐོས་ལ་སོགས་མཐོང་བའི་ལམ། །དེ་འ ་ཀུན་ཤེས་ཉིད་ ་འདོད། །
There are nine phenomena characterizing knowers of bases because there
are the nine consisting of:a

a In the citations of the Tibetan and Sanskrit that follow, the Tibetan accords with
Jam-yang-shay-pa’s text, whereas the Sanskrit follows Obermiller, Analysis of the
Abhisamayālaṃkāra; hence, the discrepancies.
 Nine Phenomena Characterizing Knowers of Bases 219

1. knowers of bases that do not abide in [the extreme of] mundane exist-
ence due to knowledge (shes pas srid la mi gnas pa’i gzhi shes,
prajñayā bhavāpratiṣṭhitaṃ vastujñānaṃ)
2. knowers of paths that do not abide in [the extreme of] peace due to
compassion (snying rjes zhi la mi gnas pa’i lam shes, kṛpayā
śamāpratiṣṭhā mārgajñatā)
3. knowers of bases that are distant from the fruit Mother (’bras yum la
ring ba’i gzhi shes, phalamūtamāturdūrībhūtaṃ vastujñānam)
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Here “fruit” refers to the fruit body of attributes
and “mother” to an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects; so in brief
these two refer to the state of Buddhahood. This division indicates
the knower of bases of those who cannot quickly attain, who will
in fact take a long time to attain, the resultant body of attributes
and the state of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects, and hence called
a knower of bases that is distant from the fruit mother.
4. knowers of bases that are close to the fruit Mother (’bras yum la nye
ba’i gzhi shes, phalamūtamāturāsannıbhūtaṃ vastujñānam)
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This is the opposite of the one that just preceded
it. It is a knower of bases of one who without needing to take such
a long time to attain the resultant body of attributes and the state
of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects, will quickly attain those, and
hence is called a knower of bases that is close to the fruit mother.
5. knowers of bases bound by the apprehension of signs that are classed
as discordant (mtshan ’dzin gyis bcings pa’i mi mthun phyogs kyi gzhi
shes, nimittagrahaṇabaddhaṃ vipakṣamūtaṃ vastujñānam)
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This refers to knowers of bases that are conjoined
with an antidote that can overcome, can vanquish, such erroneous
awarenesses as self-cherishing, the conception of a self of persons,
and the conception of true existence.
6. knowers of bases conjoined with the antidote to apprehension of signs
that are classed as an antidote (mtshan ’dzin gyi gnyen pos zin pa’i
gnyen po phyogs kyi gzhi shes, nimittagrahaṇapratipakṣaparigṛhītaṃ
pratipakṣabhūtam vastujñānam)
7. trainings in knowers of bases (gzhi shes sbyor ba, vastujñānapray-
ogaḥ)
8. equalities in the mode of apprehension of trainings [in a knower of
bases] (sbyor ba’i ’dzin stangs mnyam pa nyid, prayogasya samatā)
9. paths of seeing (mthong lam, darśanamārgaḥ).
གཞི་ཤེས་མཚན་ དེ ་ཀྱི་ཆོས་དགུ་ཡོད་དེ།
220 Chapter III: Knowers of Bases

ཤེས་པས་ དི ་ལ་ མི་གནས་པའི་གཞི་ཤེས་དང་།

1. [12b.5]

2. ིང་ ེས་ཞི་ལ་མི་གནས་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་དང་།
3. འ ས་ མ་ལ་རིང་བའི་གཞི་ཤེས་དང་།

4. འ ས་ མ་ལ་ཉེ་བའི་གཞི་ཤེས་དང་།

5. མཚན་འཛིན་གྱིས་བཅིངས་པའི་མི་མ ན་ ོགས་ཀྱི་
[12b.6]

གཞི་ཤེས་དང་།
6. མཚན་འཛིན་གྱི་གཉེན་པོས་ཟིན་པའི་གཉེན་པོ་ ོགས་ཀྱི་

གཞི་ཤེས་དང་།
7. གཞི་ཤེས་ རོ ་བ་དང་།
8. ོར་བའི་འཛིན་ ངས་མཉམ་པ་ཉིད་དང་།
9. མཐོང་ལམ་

དང་དགུ་ཡོད་པའི་ ིར།
[13a.1]
 22nd Topic
1. Knowers of Bases Not Abiding in the Extreme of
Mundane Existence due to Knowledge (ཤེས་པས་ ིད་ལ་མི་
གནས་པའི་གཞི་ཤེས་)
Dan-ma-lo-chö: By way of what kind of knowledge does one not
abide in the extreme of cyclic existence? It is through realization
of the selflessness of persons or through realization of the sixteen
attributes of the four noble truths. The text uses the term “mun-
dane existence” (srid pa, bhava) which here is the same as cyclic
existence (’khor ba, saṃsāra). Through having such knowledge
one is no longer reborn in cyclic existence by the power of con-
taminated actions (las, karma) and afflictions.
In general, the word srid pa (bhava) refers to anything that
exists. All things that exist are srid pa, things that occur. The word
srid pa can be said to have a wider meaning than yod pa, existent.
If, for example, there was some supersensory object, and you
wanted to know whether it existed here or not, you could say that
it might occur here despite not being able to say whether it did or
did not exist here. In this sense the word “occur” applies to every-
thing that exists and also refers to those things that one cannot
decide are nonexistent.
That is the meaning of srid pa in general, but here in “not
abiding in mundane existence (srid pa) through knowledge,” the
term srid pa means “cyclic existence” (’khor ba, saṃsāra) as it
does, for instance, when in speaking of rebirth we use the term
yang srid, literally “again-occurrence.” Similarly, the Autonomy
Middle School systems and others below it say that the main men-
tal consciousness is the “I.” The final reason for this is set forth in
Bhāvaviveka’s Blaze of Reasoning where he says that we desig-
nate the term “self” to consciousness, this being because the con-
sciousness (rnam par shes pa) takes rebirth (yang srid). In the
same way, here in Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations
the word srid pa in “not abiding in mundane existence (srid pa)
through knowledge” refers to taking birth again in cyclic exist-
ence; therefore, the term here means cyclic existence.
In fact, the contaminated mental and physical aggregates are
222 Chapter III: Knowers of Bases

themselves cyclic or mundane existences. They have four differ-

ent states:
• birth state (skye srid). This is the first moment of life (in a
human or egg birth it is the moment of conception).
• prior time state (sngon dus gyi srid pa). This state lasts from
the first moment of life to the coarser stages of death, thus the
state prior to death.
• death state (’chi srid). Roughly speaking, this state begins
with the dissolution of the elements in the death process and
lasts until the separation of mind and body. More subtly, it
refers to the stages of vivid white appearance, vivid red or or-
ange appearance, vivid black appearance, and the clear light
appearance of the all-empty. After this state, mind and body
separate; thus, this is what actual death is.
• intermediate state (bar srid), the period between abandoning
the former body and assuming a new body. A being in the
intermediate state has all five sense faculties but is able to pass
through solid objects and can move about unimpededly with
magical force due to earlier karma.
Because of passing through or revolving in these four states, the
contaminated mental and physical aggregates are called cyclic ex-
istence in general. To repeat, because of passing from the birth
state to the death state and back, again and again, the contaminated
mental and physical aggregates themselves are called cyclic exist-
ence.
Here the topic is concerned with not abiding in the extreme of
mundane existence—cyclic existence—due to knowledge.
Concerning [knowers of bases that do not abide in the extreme of mundane
existence due to knowledge] one stanza occurs [in Maitreya’s Ornament
for the Clear Realizations, III.1]:36
{III.1}
Because of not abiding in the extremes
Of the near side and the far side nor inbetween
And knowing the times as equal
It is asserted as the perfection of wisdom.
དང་པོ་[ཤེས་པས་ ིད་ལ་མི་གནས་པའི་གཞི་ཤེས་]ནི། ར་རོལ་ཕ་རོལ་
མཐའ་ལ་མིན། །སོགས་ཤོ་ལོ་ཀ་གཅིག་ ང་།
 Knowers of Bases Not Abiding in Mundane Existence Due to Knowledge 223

[Ornament III.1, 6a.4]

{III.1}
་རོལ་ཕ་རོལ་མཐའ་ལ་མིན། །དེ་དག་བར་ན་མི་གནས་པ། །
ས་ མས་མཉམ་པ་ཉིད་ཤེས་ ིར། །ཤེས་རབ་ཕ་རོལ་ ིན་པར་འདོད། །
Definition [of a knower of bases not abiding in the
extreme of mundane existence]
A Great Vehicle Superior’s exalted knower dwelling in a Lesser Vehi-
cle type of realization that is conjoined with method—great compas-
sion—and directly realizes any [of the sixteen attributes of the four
truths], impermanence and so forth is the definition of a knower of ba-
ses that does not abide in the extreme of mundane existence.
ིད་མཐའ་ལ་མི་གནས་པའི་གཞི་ཤེས་ཀྱི་མཚན་ཉིད་ནི། ཐབས་
ིང་ ེ་ཆེན་པོས་ ཟིན་ཅིང་མི་ ག་སོགས་གང་ ང་མངོན་
[13a.2]

མ་ ་ ོགས་པའི་ཐེག་དམན་གྱི་ ོགས་རིགས་ ་གནས་པའི་

ཐེག་ཆེན་འཕགས་པའི་མཁྱེན་པ་དེ་དེའི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Within the division into wisdom and method,
“method” refers to paths cultivated mainly by way of belief. The
cultivation of an altruistic mind of enlightenment—the recogni-
tion of sentient beings as one’s mothers and so forth, reflection on
their kindness, developing the intention to repay it, love, compas-
sion and great compassion—are cases of paths cultivated mainly
by way of belief.
This consciousness is conjoined with the great compassion
that, observing all sentient beings, wishes to free them from suf-
fering. That the definition says “any” means that this conscious-
ness does not have to realize all sixteen attributes, and that it is a
direct realization means that it is a clear realization with no mix-
ture with a generic image. It is an exalted knower in the continuum
of a Great Vehicle Superior, thus in one on the Great Vehicle path
of seeing or above.
224 Chapter III: Knowers of Bases

[Divisions of knowers of bases not abiding in the ex-

treme of mundane existence]
When divided, there are three—[those included] within the paths of see-
ing, meditation, and no-more-learning.
ད ེ་ན་མཐོང་ ོམ་མི་ ོབ་ལམ་ག མ་ཡོད།
An illustration [of a knower of bases that does not abide in the extreme of
cyclic existence] is, for instance, a Great Vehicle path of meditation di-
rectly realizing the sixteen attributes of impermanence and so forth.
མཚན་ གཞི་མི་ ག་སོགས་བ ་ ག་མངོན་ མ་ ་ གོ ས་
[13a.3]

པའི་ཐེག་ཆེན་ ོམ་ལམ་ ་ །
Dan-ma-lo-chö: It is said that there can be a consciousness that
realizes all sixteen aspects of the four noble truths at one time be-
cause in one session one can realize all sixteen. From that point of
view one mind is said to realize all sixteen.
 23nd Topic
[2. Knowers of Paths Not Abiding in the Extreme of
Peace due to Compassion ( ིང་ ེས་ཞི་ལ་མི་གནས་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་)]
[གཉིས་པ་ ིང་ ེས་ཞི་ལ་མི་གནས་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་]
[Definition of a knower of paths not abiding in the
extreme of peace due to compassion]
Also, a Great Vehicle Superior’s clear realization dwelling in the type
of a negator of the extreme of peace relative to the conventional is the
definition of a knower of paths that does not abide in the extreme of peace
due to compassion.
ཡང་ཀུན་ བོ ་ལ་ ོས་པའི་ཞི་མཐའ་འགོག་ དེ ་ཀྱི་རིགས་ ་
གནས་པའི་ཐེག་ཆེན་འཕགས་པའི་མངོན་ ོགས་དེ། ིང་ ེས་ཞི་
ལ་ མི་གནས་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
[13a.4]

Dan-ma-lo-chö: Compassion is an empathetic consciousness that

is an inability to bear, from the very depths of one’s heart, the
sufferings of other sentient beings. Through the force of having
this compassion one does not abide for a long time in the nirvāṇa
of having abandoned the afflictive obstructions. That is why com-
passion is said to cause nonabiding in the extreme of peace.
“The extreme of peace relative to the conventional” refers to
the nirvāṇa that is the analytical cessation of the afflictive obstruc-
tions for one’s own sake. A negator of such an extreme of peace
stops one from abiding in the meditative equipoise of such a nir-
vāṇa for a long time. There are two extremes, that of peace and
that of cyclic existence. These are both terminologically divided
into a variety based on the conventional and a variety based on the
ultimate. This is a terminological division because those based on
the ultimate are not actual extremes. The true existence of nirvāṇa
is called an extreme of peace based on the ultimate. The extreme
of peace based on the conventional is what was described above.
Similarly, the extreme of cyclic existence based on the ultimate is
226 Chapter III: Knowers of Bases

the true existence of cyclic existence.

An illustration is, for instance, the compassion in the continuum of one on
the Great Vehicle path of meditation.
མཚན་གཞི་ཐེག་ཆེན་ མོ ་ལམ་པའི་ ད་ཀྱི་ ངི ་ ེ་ ་ །
Since it would not be feasible for there to be a knower of bases that does
not abide in peace through compassion, it is unlike the former.
ངི ་ སེ ་ཞི་ལ་མི་གནས་པའི་གཞི་ཤེས་མི་ ང་བས་ ་མ་དང་
མི་འ འོ། །
Dan-ma-lo-chö: The definition given just above says it is a defini-
tion of a “knower of paths” not of a knower of bases. This is be-
cause it would not be feasible for a knower of bases not to abide
in peace through compassion. It is unlike the first topic because
that was a knower of bases that does not abide in the extreme of
cyclic existence, whereas this is a knower of paths that does not
abide in the extreme of peace due to compassion. The reason why
it is not feasible for a knower of bases not to abide in peace
through compassion is that the great compassion of a Bodhisattva
which is the wish to oneself relieve all sentient beings from suf-
fering is a main object of cultivation in the Great Vehicle, whereas
this is not so in the Lesser Vehicle, and therefore such a knower
could not be included within a Lesser Vehicle type of realization
as knowers of bases are.

[Divisions of knowers of paths not abiding in peace

due to compassion]
When divided, there are the three great compassions, the mind-generation,
and so forth of a Great Vehicle Superior.
ད ེ་ན། ཐེག་ཆེན་འཕགས་ པའི་ ིང་ ེ་ཆེན་པོ་ག མ་དང་
[13a.5]

སེམས་བ དེ ་སོགས་ཡོད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: The first type of compassion observes sentient
beings without understanding them as qualified by impermanence,
selflessness, and so forth; it is simply a wish that they be free from
suffering. It is called compassion observing mere sentient beings
(sems can tsam la dmigs pa’i snying rje).
 Knowers of Paths Not Abiding in Extreme of Peace Due to Compassion 227

The second type, called compassion observing phenomena, is

an empathetic consciousness that is not conjoined with wisdom
realizing sentient beings to be without true existence but conjoined
with wisdom realizing sentient beings to be impermanent, empty
[but not the emptiness of true existence], or selfless. Like the
other, this compassion also wishes that sentient beings be free
from suffering. Because this consciousness observes sentient be-
ings as qualified by impermanence or the selflessness of persons
and so forth, it is called compassion observing phenomena (chos
la dmigs pa’i snying rje).
In the third type of compassion the mind is conjoined with the
wisdom realizing that sentient beings do not truly exist. One is
observing sentient beings and has the wish that they be free from
all suffering. This is called compassion observing the unappre-
hendable (dmigs med la dmigs pa’i snying rje) because it observes
sentient beings that are understood as qualified by the absence of
true existence.
“Mind-generation” means the mind of enlightenment which is
the wish to attain the highest enlightenment for the sake of all sen-
tient beings.

[Boundaries of knowers of bases not abiding in the

extreme of cyclic existence due to knowledge and
knowers of paths that do not abide in peace due to
compassion]
With regard to the boundaries of these two, [knowers of bases that do not
abide in the extreme of cyclic existence due to knowledge and knowers of
paths that do not abide in peace due to compassion] exist from the first
ground through the tenth ground.
འདི་གཉིས་ཀྱི་ས་མཚམས་ས་དང་པོ་ནས་ས་བ ་པའི་ བར་ ་ a

ཡོད།

a Correcting ba’i in the 1987 Go-mang Lhasa (8b.1) and the 2011 TBRC bla
brang and the 1995 Mundgod revision of Ngawang Gelek bla brang (13a.5) to
pa’i in accordance with the 2005 Mundgod (20.5) and the 1999 Tōyō Bunko CD-
ROM (13a.5).
 24rd Topic
3. Knowers of Bases Distant from the Fruit Mother
(འ ས་ མ་ལ་རིང་བའི་གཞི་ཤེས་)
To indicate knowers of bases distant from the fruit Mother [Maitreya’s
Ornament for the Clear Realizations, III.2ab] says:37
{III.2}
That is distant due to not being skilled in method
From the approach of apprehension in the manner of having
signs.
ག མ་པ་འ ས་ མ་ལ་རིང་བའི་གཞི་ཤེས་ ནོ ་པར།
དེ་ནི་མཚན་མར་དམིགས་ ོ་ནས། །ཐབས་མ་ཡིན་པས་རིང་
[13a.6]

བ་ ེ། །ཞེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament III.2ab, 6a.4-6a.5]
{III.2}
དེ་ནི་མཚན་མར་དམིགས་ ོ་ནས། །ཐབས་མ་ཡིན་པས་རིང་བ་ ེ། །
With regard to [knowers of bases that are distant from the fruit Mother]
there are three: definition, divisions, and boundaries.
དེ་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས་ག མ།
Definition [of a knower of bases distant from the fruit
Mother]
A knower of bases that is a pristine wisdom directly realizing imper-
manence and so forth, is devoid of great compassion, and is bound by
the apprehension of true existence is the definition of a knower of bases
distant from the fruit Mother.
དང་པོ་ནི། མི་ ག་སོགས་མངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་
གང་། ིང་ ེ་ཆེན་པོ་དང་ ལ་ ཞིང་བདེན་འཛིན་གྱིས་
[13b.1]
 Knowers of Bases: Distant from the Fruit Mother 229

བཅིངས་པའི་aགཞི་ཤེས་དེ་འ ས་ མ་ལ་རིང་བའི་གཞི་ཤེས་ཀྱི་
མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: The “fruit Mother” is the state of Buddhahood it-
self. Here distance from Buddhahood is due to Lesser Vehicle
practitioners’ absence of skill in means in that they are bound by
the conception of true existence—that is, they are bound by the
misapprehension that phenomena are not just posited through ap-
pearing to an undamaged awareness but are established by way of
their own uncommon mode of subsistence.

Divisions [of knowers of bases distant from the fruit

Mother]
When divided, there are knowers of bases in the continuums of Hearers
and Solitary Victors that realize [the sixteen aspects of the four truths,]
impermanence and so forth.
ད ེ་ན་ཉན་རང་ ད་ཀྱི་མི་ ག་སོགས་ གོ ས་པའི་གཞི་ཤེས་
སོགས་ཡོད།
Boundaries [of knowers of bases that are distant
from the fruit Mother]
[Knowers of bases distant from the fruit Mother] exist from the Lesser
Vehicle path of seeing through [the state of] Foe Destroyer.
ས་མཚམས་ཐེག་དམན་མཐོང་ལམ་ནས་ དགྲ་བཅོམ་པའི་ [13b.2]

བར་ ་ཡོད།

a The 2005 Mundgod (26.11) misreads ba'i.

 25th Topic
4. Knowers of Bases Close to the Fruit Mother (འ ས་
མ་ལ་ཉེ་བའི་གཞི་ཤེས་)
To indicate knowers of bases close to the fruit Mother [Maitreya’s Orna-
ment for the Clear Realizations, III.2cd] says:38
It is explained that that is thoroughly
Close due to skill in method.
བཞི་པ་འ ས་ མ་ལ་ཉེ་བའི་གཞི་ཤེས་ ོན་པར། །
དེ་ནི་ཐབས་ལ་མཁས་པ་ཡིས། །ཡང་དག་ཉེ་བ་ཉིད་ ་
བཤད། །ཅེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament III.2cd, 6a.5]
དེ་ནི་ཐབས་ལ་མཁས་པ་ཡིས། །ཡང་དག་ཉེ་བ་ཉིད་ ་བཤད། །
With regard to [knowers of bases close to the fruit Mother] there are three:
definition, divisions, and boundaries.
དེ་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས་ག མ། [13b.3]

Definition [of a knower of bases close to the fruit

Mother]
A Great Vehicle Superior’s exalted knower dwelling in a Lesser Vehi-
cle type of realization that, conjoined with the two—great compassion
and wisdom directly realizing emptiness—realizes any [of the sixteen
attributes of the four truths,] impermanence and so forth is the defini-
tion of a knower of bases close to the fruit Mother.

དང་པོ་ནི། ིང་ ེ་ཆེན་པོ་དང་ ངོ ་ཉིད་མངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་

པའི་ཤེས་རབ་གཉིས་ཀྱིས་ཟིན་པའི་མི་ ག་སོགས་གང་ ང་
ོགས་པའི་ཐེག་དམན་ ོགས་རིགས་ ་གནས་པའི་ཐེག་ཆེན་
 Knowers of Bases Close to the Fruit Mother 231

འཕགས་པའི་མཁྱེན་པ་དེ། འ ས་ [13b.4]
མ་ལ་ཉེ་བའི་གཞི་ཤེས་
ཀྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Because Bodhisattvas have vast techniques, great
compassion, the altruistic mind of enlightenment, and so forth,
they are skilled at accomplishing the purposes of sentient beings
and hence are close to the state of Buddhahood.
Another suitable definition for a knower of bases that is close
to the fruit Mother would be a Great Vehicle Superior’s exalted
knower dwelling in a Lesser Vehicle type of realization that is
conjoined with wisdom and method. It is very important that
there are the two factors of wisdom and method, for while one is
training during the paths of learning, one must accumulate the two
collections of merit and wisdom because the fruit, Buddhahood,
has two types, the body of attributes (chos sku) and form bodies
(gzugs sku). This is why Nāgārjuna says in his Precious Garland:a
The form bodies of a Buddha
Arise from the collections of merit.
The body of attributes in brief, O King,
Arise from the collections of wisdom.
Since these two bodies exist in the object of attainment, Bud-
dhahood, as methods for the attainment of these two there are two
types of paths, one in which method is the chief component and
the other in which wisdom is the chief component. Also, for peo-
ple like ourselves, there are collections of merit and wisdom prior
to attaining a path. Our own giving of gifts, maintenance of ethics,
cultivation of patience, virtuous actions of body and speech, and

a Stanza 212:

སངས་ ས་ མས་ཀྱི་ག གས་ ་ནི། །

བསོད་ནམས་ཚགས་ལས་ ང་བ་ ེ། །
ཆོས་ཀྱི་ ་ནི་མདོར་བ ་ན། །
ལ་པོ་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཚགས་ལས་ ང་། །
Translation adapted from Jeffrey Hopkins, Nāgārjuna’s Precious Garland: Bud-
dhist Advice for Living and Liberation (Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications,
2007), 122.
232 Chapter III: Knowers of Bases

so forth are actions included within the collection of merit. In-

stances of engaging in analytical meditation on the sixteen attrib-
utes of the four truths or on the emptiness of duality or on the
emptiness of true existence are all cases of the collection of wis-
dom.

Divisions [of knowers of bases close to the fruit

Mother]
When divided, there are three—Great Vehicle paths of seeing, meditation,
and no more learning.
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན། ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་མཐོང་ ོམ་མི་ ོབ་ལམ་
ག མ་ཡོད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This does not mean that every instance of such a
path is necessarily such a knower of bases; rather, there are Great
Vehicle paths of seeing and so forth that are instances of it. How-
ever, whatever is a knower of bases in the continuum of a Bodhi-
sattva Superior is a knower of bases that is close to the fruit
mother.

Boundaries [of knowers of bases close to the fruit

Mother]
[Knowers of bases close to the fruit Mother] exist from the Great Vehicle
path of seeing through the Buddha ground.
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་ཐེག་ཆེན་མཐོང་ལམ་ནས་སངས་ ས་
ཀྱི་སའི་བར་རོ། །
 26th Topic
5. Knowers of Bases Classed as Discordant (མི་མ ན་ གོ ས་
ཀྱི་གཞི་ཤེས་)
Dan-ma-lo-chö: The word “discordant” can sometimes refer to
what is not something else, but here it refers to something that is
counter. Bodhisattvas abandon their own welfare and are intent on
the welfare of others, whereas Hearers and Solitary Victors medi-
tate on selflessness and so forth for the sake of their own liberation
from cyclic existence. Such an exalted consciousness in the con-
tinuum of a Hearer or Solitary Victor Superior is a knower of ba-
ses that is classed as discordant. Hence, their exalted knowers that
realize the sixteen aspects of the four noble truths, impermanence,
and so forth, are here classed as knowers of bases that are discord-
ant. Knowledge of the sixteen aspects of the four noble truths can
be had by Hearers, Solitary Victors, or Bodhisattvas but Hearers’
and Solitary Victors’ versions of it are very restricted; such a mo-
tivation is not suitable for Bodhisattvas, for their thought is vast.
To indicate knowers of bases classed as discordant [Maitreya’s Ornament
for the Clear Realizations, III.3] says:39
{III.3}
Discrimination treating (1) the emptiness of the aggregates
Of forms and so forth and (2) the phenomena contained
In the three times, giving and so forth, and the harmonies
With enlightenment is classed as discordant.
་ པ་མི་མ ན་ གོ ས་ཀྱི་གཞི་ཤེས་ ོན་པར།
[13b.5]

ག གས་སོགས་ ང་པོ་ ོང་ཉིད་དང་། །ནས། ོད་པའི་འ ་ཤེས་

མི་མ ན་ གོ ས། །ཞེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament III.3, 6a.5]
{III.3}
234 Chapter III: Knowers of Bases

ག གས་སོགས་ ང་པོ་ ོང་ཉིད་དང་། ། ས་ག མ་གཏོགས་aཔའི་ཆོས་ མས་

དང་། །
ིན་སོགས་ ང་ བ་ ོགས་ མས་ལ། ། ོད་པའི་འ ་ཤེས་མི་མ ན་ ོགས། །
[Definition of a knower of bases classed as discord-
ant]
A Lesser Vehicle practitioner’s knower of bases that is devoid of great
compassion—the method—and the wisdom realizing emptiness and is
bound by the apprehension of true existence is the definition of a
knower of bases classed as discordant.
ཐབས་ ངི ་ ེ་ཆེན་པོ་དང་ ངོ ་ཉིད་ ོགས་པའི་ཤེས་རབ་དང་
ལ་ཞིང་བདེན་འཛིན་གྱིས་བཅིངས་པའི་ཐེག་དམན་གྱི་
[13b.6]

གཞི་ཤེས་དེ་མི་མ ན་ ོགས་ཀྱི་གཞི་ཤེས་ཀྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: A Hearer’s or Solitary Victor’s realization of the
sixteen aspects of the four noble truths is devoid of the great
method—great compassion—and of the wisdom realizing all phe-
nomena to be empty of true existence. Their wisdom is bound or
constricted by the conception of true existence, which is the ap-
prehension that phenomena do truly exist, whereas the fact is that
they do not. It is a Lesser Vehicle practitioner’s knower of bases
because it is in the continuum of a Lesser Vehicle practitioner.
Since it is not suitable for a Bodhisattva to generate a Lesser Vehicle path,
it is called classed as discordant.
ཐེག་དམན་གྱི་ལམ་ ང་སེམས་ཀྱིས་ ེད་མི་ ང་བས་མི་མ ན་
ོགས་ཟེར་རོ། །
Dan-ma-lo-chö: It is classed as discordant because it is bound by
the apprehension of signs (mtshan ’dzin). “Apprehension of signs”
refers to any sort of bad consciousness such as cherishing oneself

a Peking (7a.6), snar thang (7b.1), Āryavimuktisena’s commentary (113b.2), and

Haribhadra’s Clear Meaning (102a.2) read gtogs; co ne (6a.6) and dpe bsdur ma
(13.18) read rtogs.
 Knowers of Bases Classed as Discordant 235

more than others or conceiving of a self of persons. The term “ap-

prehension of signs” here refers to an adding or superimposition
of something that is not actually there. In this case it refers to a
wrong consciousnesses (log shes) and specifically the apprehen-
sion of true existence.
The divisions and boundaries of knowers of bases that are discordant are
like those of knowers of bases that are distant [from the fruit Mother].
ད ེ་བ་ས་ མཚམས་ མས་རིང་བའི་གཞི་ཤེས་དང་འ འོ། །
[14a.1]
 27th Topic
6. Knowers of Bases Classed as Antidotes (གཉེན་པོ་ ོགས་ཀྱི་
གཞི་ཤེས་)
Dan-ma-lo-chö: An antidote is that which removes the discordant.
To indicate knowers of bases classed as antidotes three stanzasa occur [in
Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, III.4-6]:40
{III.4}
Nonapprehension as “I” with respect to giving and so forth
Which connects others to this
Stops the extreme of attachment.
Hence, attachment to Conquerors and so forth is subtle.
{III.5}
Since the path of phenomena is devoid
Of a nature, it is just profound.
Through knowing the single nature
Of phenomena attachment is abandoned.
{III.6}
Since it stops perception and so forth,
It is described in sūtra as difficult to realize.
Because it is not known in the manner of a form and the like,
It is asserted as unencompassable by thought.
ག་པ་གཉེན་པོ་ ོགས་ཀྱི་གཞི་ཤེས་ ོན་པར།
ིན་ལ་སོགས་ལ་ངར་འཛིན་མེད། །ནས། དེ་ནི་བསམ་མི་ཁྱབ་
པར་འདོད། །ཅེས་ཤོ་ལོ་ཀ་ག མ་ ང་། །b
[14a.2]

[Ornament III.4-6, 6a.5-6a.7]

a See the next footnote.

b The text reads:

ཤོ་ལོ་ཀ་ག མ་དང་ ང་པ་གཅིག་ ང་

“three stanzas and one line,” but the citation is only three stanzas; the line follow-
ing the three stanzas appears in the next citation.
 Knowers of Bases Classed as Antidotes 237

{III.4}
ནི ་ལ་སོགས་ལ་ངར་འཛིན་མེད། །གཞན་དག་དེ་ལ་འ ད་ ེད་པ། །
དེ་ནི་ཆགས་པའི་མཐའ་འགོག་པས། ། ལ་ལ་སོགས་ལ་ཆགས་པ་ ། །
{III.5}
ཆོས་ཀྱི་ལམ་ནི་རང་བཞིན་གྱིས། །དབེན་པའི་ ིར་ན་དེ་ཟབ་ཉིད། །
ཆོས་ མས་རང་བཞིན་གཅིག་པར་ནི། །ཤེས་པས་ཆགས་པ་ ོང་བ་ཡིན། །
{III.6}
མཐོང་བ་ལ་སོགས་བཀག་པ་ཡིས། །དེ་ནི་ ོགས་པར་དཀའ་བར་བཤད། །
ག གས་ལ་སོགས་པར་མི་ཤེས་ ིར། །དེ་ནི་བསམ་མི་ཁྱབ་པར་འདོད། །
[Definition of a knower of bases classed as an anti-
dote]
A knower of bases in the continuum of a Great Vehicle Superior that
is conjoined with great compassion—the method—and the wisdom di-
rectly realizing emptiness is the definition of a knower of bases classed
as an antidote.
ཐབས་ ངི ་ ེ་ཆེན་པོ་དང་ ངོ ་ཉིད་མངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་པའི་
ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱིས་ཟིན་པའི་ཐེག་ཆེན་འཕགས་ ད་ཀྱི་གཞི་ཤེས་དེ།
གཉེན་པོ་ གོ ས་ཀྱི་གཞི་ཤེས་ཀྱི་མཚན་ ཉིད། [14a.3]

Dan-ma-lo-chö: “Method” refers to the method of “method and

wisdom.” “Great compassion” is an empathetic consciousness
that, observing all sentient beings, wants to free them from suffer-
ing. The compassion of Great Vehicle Superiors is such that they
would give their own lives if asked. The fact that such a knower
of bases is conjoined with a wisdom directly realizing empti-
ness—that is, the emptiness of true existence of all phenomena—
means that the wisdom realizes this directly, not in the manner of
a generic image. There are two types of conjunction, explicit con-
junction and conjunction in the manner of non-degeneration. This
knower of bases is in the continuum of a Great Vehicle practi-
tioner; thus it is in the continuum of one who has generated a non-
artificial form of the altruistic mind of enlightenment, which seeks
the highest enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings.
Among Great Vehicle practitioners, a knower of bases classed as
238 Chapter III: Knowers of Bases

an antidote exists only in the continuums of Great Vehicle Supe-

riors, that is, those who have attained the path of seeing.
Hearers’ and Solitary Victors’ knowers of bases are classed as
discordant from two points of view: they are polluted by a factor
of self-cherishing, and they are unable to realize that all phenom-
ena lack true existence. To clarify this, Hearers and Solitary Vic-
tors cherish themselves and abandon other sentient beings, that is,
those whose continuums are different from their own. Bodhisatt-
vas, however, abandon themselves; for instance, if someone asked
a Bodhisattva to give that person his head, he would give it. Bo-
dhisattvas are intent on the welfare of others, which they consider
to be important and intentionally seek to bring about. Bodhisattvas
also have strength of heart such that they can engage in any hard-
ship whatsoever in order to bring about any benefit to another.
Thus, from the viewpoint of their mode of thought there is a dif-
ference between Hearers and Solitary Victors on the one hand and
Bodhisattvas on the other. The second difference between them is
that Bodhisattva Superiors directly realize that all phenomena are
empty of true existence, whereas Hearers and Solitary Victors Su-
periors are incapable of realizing that all phenomena are empty of
true existence and hence are not capable of liberating themselves
from the bonds of the conception of phenomena as having true
existence. It is from these two points of view that the knower of
bases of the one is classed as discordant and the knower of bases
of the other is classed as an antidote. The latter is conjoined with
an antidote to the misapprehension of signs, that is, it is conjoined
with an antidote to the apprehension of true existence.
The divisions and boundaries of knowers of bases classed as antidotes are
like those of knowers of bases that are close to the fruit Mother.
ད ེ་བ་ས་མཚམས་འ ས་ མ་ལ་ཉེ་བའི་གཞི་ཤེས་དང་འ འོ། །
When knowers of bases are divided, there are two—knowers of bases near
to the fruit Mother and knowers of bases distant from the fruit Mother.
When those [persons] who have previously proceeded on the Lesser Ve-
hicle are not considered, a knower of bases that is near to the fruit Mother,
a knower of bases that is near due to skill in means, a knower of bases that
is classed as an antidote, and a Great Vehicle knower of bases are equiva-
lent.

གཞི་ཤེས་ལ་ད ེ་ན་འ ས་ མ་ལ་ཉེ་བའི་གཞི་ཤེས་དང་། དེ་ལ་

 Knowers of Bases Classed as Antidotes 239

རིང་བའི་གཞི་ཤེས་གཉིས་ཡོད། ཐེག་དམན་ ནོ ་སོང་མ་ ས་ན་

འ ས་ མ་ལ་ཉེ་བའི་གཞི་ཤེས་དང་། ཐབས་ལ་མཁས་པས་
[14a.4]

ཉེ་བའི་གཞི་ཤེས་དང་། གཉེན་པོ་ གོ ས་ཀྱི་གཞི་ཤེས་དང་ཐེག་

ཆེན་གཞི་ཤེས་ མས་དོན་གཅིག །
Dan-ma-lo-chö: There are some persons who first enter the Lesser
Vehicle path, but this explanation is given in terms of those who
just progress on the Great Vehicle path. With respect to a knower
of bases that is near to the fruit Mother, the fruit is the body of
attributes and the Mother is the exalted-knower-of-all-aspects;
since one is not far from attaining that wisdom, it is said to be near
the fruit Mother.
Knower of bases that is distant from the fruit Mother, knower of bases that
is distant due to not being the method, knower of bases that is bound by
apprehension of signs [of true existence], knower of bases that is classed
as discordant, and Lesser Vehicle knower of bases are equivalent. [Mait-
reya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, III.7] says:41
{III.7}
The entirety of the divisions thus
Of those classed as discordant and as antidotes
In the system of knowers-of-all
As described [in sūtra] are to be known here.

འ ས་ མ་ལ་རིང་བའི་གཞི་ཤེས། ཐབས་མ་ཡིན་ པས་རིང་ [14a.5]

བའི་གཞི་ཤེས། མཚན་འཛིན་གྱིས་བཅིངས་པའི་གཞི་ཤེས། མི་

མ ན་ ོགས་ཀྱི་གཞི་ཤེས། ཐེག་དམན་གཞི་ཤེས་ མས་དོན་
གཅིག་ ེ། དེ་ ར་ཀུན་ཤེས་ཉིད་ གས་ལ། །ནས། ི་ ད་
བཤད་པ་འདིར་ཤེས་ ། །ཞེས་ག ངས།
[14a.6]

[Ornament III.7, 6a.7-6b.1]

{III.7}
དེ་ ར་ཀུན་ཤེས་ཉིད་ གས་ལ། །མི་མ ན་གཉེན་པོའི་ ོགས་དག་གི །
མ་པར་ད ེ་བ་མ་ ས་པ། ། ི་ ད་བཤད་པ་འདིར་ཤེས་ ། །
240 Chapter III: Knowers of Bases

Haribhadra’s Great Commentary says:

These are to be known from the divisions of Hearers and Bodhi-
sattvas.
འགྲེལ་ཆེན་ལས། འདི་དག་ནི་ཉན་ཐོས་དང་ ང་ བ་སེམས་
དཔའི་ད ེ་བ་ལས་ཤེས་པར་ འོ་ཞེས་དང་།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: “These” refers to knower of bases that is near to
the fruit Mother, knower of bases that is close due to skill in
means, knower of bases that is classed as an antidote, and Great
Vehicle knower of bases. Someone might wonder why Hearers’
knowers are far from the fruit Mother, so Haribhadra’s text con-
tinues:
and:
In that way an achieving that is distant from the fruit Mother is an
antidote for Hearers and so forth. However, because of being an
object of abandonment due to erroneously engaging in apprehen-
sion of true existence,a it is taught as classed as discordant for Bo-
dhisattvas.
དེ་ ར་འ ས་ མ་ལ་རིང་བར་ བ་པ་ནི་ཉན་ཐོས་ལ་
སོགས་པ་ མས་ཀྱི་གཉེན་པོ་ཉིད་ཡིན་པ་དང་། དངོས་པོར་
[14b.1]

དམིགས་པ་ ིན་ཅི་ལོག་ ་འ ག་པ་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་ ང་བར་ ་བ་

ཡིན་པའི་ རི ་དེ་ ང་ བ་སེམས་དཔའ་ མས་ཀྱི་མི་མ ན་
ོགས་ཡིན་པར་བ ན་པའི་ ིར། ཞེས་ སོ། [14b.2]

Dan-ma-lo-chö: Although a knower of bases distant from the fruit

Mother is an antidote to the conception of a self of persons, it per-
versely apprehends phenomena, which do not truly exist, as truly
existent, and therefore it is not an object of achievement for Bo-
dhisattvas. Thus, because it is not to be generated by Bodhisattvas
but is to be stopped by them, it is classed as discordant for them.

a dngos por.
 28th Topic
7. Trainings in Knowers of Bases (གཞི་ཤེས་ རོ ་བ་)
To indicate trainings in knowers of bases two stanzas and two lines occur
[in Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, III.8-10ab]:42
{III.8}
Forms and so forth; impermanence and so forth;
Noncompletion and completion of those;
Training stopping enactment
Regarding nonattachment about those;
{III.9}
Unchangeabilty; absence of agents;
Training in the three aspects difficult to perform;
Asserting the existence of the fruit
Through attaining the fruit in accordance with [one’s] lot;
{III.10}
Nonreliance on another;
Seven types of revelatory appearances.
བ ན་པ་གཞི་ཤེས་ རོ ་བ་ ོན་པར།
ག གས་སོགས་དེ་མི་ ག་སོགས་དང་། །ནས། ང་བ་ མ་བ ན་
ཤེས་ ེད་དོ། །ཞེས་ཤོ་ལོ་ཀ་གཉིས་དང་ ང་པ་aགཉིས་ ང་།
[Ornament III.8-10ab, 6b.1-6b.2]
{III.8}
ག གས་སོགས་དེ་མི་ ག་སོགས་དང་། །དེ་མ་ ོགས་དང་རབ་ ོགས་དང་། །
དེ་ལ་ཆགས་པ་མེད་ཉིད་ལ། ། ོད་པ་བཀག་པའི་ ོར་བ་དང་། །
{III.9}
མི་འ ར་ ེད་པོ་མེད་ཉིད་དང་། ། ་དཀའ་ མ་ག མ་ ོར་བ་དང་། །
ལ་བ་ ི་བཞིན་འ ས་ཐོབ་པས། །འ ས་ཡོད་འདོད་པ་དེ་དང་ནི། །
{III.10}
གཞན་ལ་རག་ལས་མེད་གང་དང་། ། ང་བ་ མ་བ ན་ཤེས་ ེད་དོ། །

a The 2005 Mundgod (29.3) misreads ba.

242 Chapter III: Knowers of Bases

With regard to [trainings in knowers of bases] there are three: definition,

divisions, and boundaries.
དེ་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་ མཚམས་ག མ། [14b.3]

Definition [of a training in knowers of bases]

A Bodhisattva’s yoga—dwelling in a Lesser Vehicle type of realiza-
tion—that is an antidote to erroneous conceptions about the entities
and attributes of the mode of abiding of conventional bases is the def-
inition of a training in knowers of bases indicated here.
དང་པོ་ནི། གཞི་ཀུན་ བོ ་པའི་ དོ ་ གས་ཀྱི་ངོ་བོ་དང་ཁྱད་
པར་ལ་ ནི ་ཅི་ལོག་ ་ཞེན་པའི་གཉེན་པོ་ཐེག་དམན་གྱི་ ོགས་
རིགས་ ་གནས་པའི་སེམས་དཔའི་ ལ་འ ོར་དེ། འདིར་བ ན་
གཞི་ ཤེས་ ོར་བའི་མཚན་ཉིད།
[14b.4]

Dan-ma-lo-chö: With respect to the term “conventional bases,”

they are called bases because they are substrata. The word for con-
ventional/obscurational (kun rdzob, saṃvṛti) means fake or false.
For instance, if you do not have good behavior and you pretend to
have it, this would be fake. This is how the word is used in com-
mon parlance. In accordance with this, the word kun rdzob
(saṃvṛti) is used for those phenomena of which the mode of ap-
pearance and the mode of actual being disagree. For a false or fal-
sifying consciousness these appear to be true, but they are in fact
not true. A falsifying consciousness is a conceiver of true exist-
ence. In brief, all phenomena except emptiness are conventional,
that is to say, false, phenomena.
Here, the concern is with erroneous conceptions about the en-
tities and attributes of the mode of abiding of conventional phe-
nomena. The entity of a form, for instance, is the form itself; the
form’s attributes are its production, abiding, cessation, and so
forth. For instance, the conception of a form as truly existent is an
erroneous conception about the entity of a form whereas the con-
ception that a form’s production truly exists is an erroneous con-
ception about an attribute of a form. “Erroneous” means that what
is not is conceived to be.
Any consciousness that harms or damages such erroneous
 Trainings in Knowers of Bases 243

conceptions is an antidote to that erroneous conception. The defi-

nition above refers to a Bodhisattva’s yoga; it could also say a
Bodhisattva’s pristine wisdom, and it is included within a Lesser
Vehicle type of realization. In general, the word for “training”
here, sbyor ba (prayoga), means to make effort to attain some-
thing that has not been attained. In this case, however, it refers to
a path consciousness and thus is not a nonassociated composi-
tional factor (ldan min ’du byed, viprayukta-saṃskāra) but a con-
sciousness. “Training” can also here be understood as the con-
sciousness’ mode of activity. The path is being designated with a
name by way of its manner of performing its function or activity.
Even though this refers to a path, it is not referred to here as “path
of training” because it could then be confused with “path of prep-
aration” (sbyor lam) because they would both be prayoga-
mārga—the second of the five paths.

Divisions [of trainings in knowers of bases]

When divided, there are ten because there are the ten consisting of:
Four by way of objects
1. training that stops the conception of true existence regarding forms
and so forth
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This is not a case of making effort to stop the con-
ception of true existence with respect to forms and so forth in the
future; rather, this training consciousness actually stops the mani-
fest conception of true existence. It begins from the path of accu-
mulation.
2. training that stops the conception of true existence regarding attributes
such as impermanence and so forth
3. training that stops the conception of true existence regarding the com-
pletion or noncompletion of forms and so forth as bases of qualities
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This training stops the conception of true exist-
ence with respect to the fact that a form, for instance, would either
be a complete or incomplete base of attributes—these attributes
being qualities such as that of impermanence and so forth.
4. training in nonattachment to the conception of true existence regarding
forms and so forth
[The remaining six]
5. training in the ultimate unchangeability of the perfection of wisdom in
terms of increase and decrease
244 Chapter III: Knowers of Bases

Dan-ma-lo-chö: A perfection of wisdom does not have truly ex-

istent increase or truly existent decrease.
6. training in the absence of ultimate existence of agents
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Agents do not ultimately exist.
7. training in the three aspects difficult to perform [(1) the difficulty of
realizing that even though the fruit, an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects,
is not observed (to exist) ultimately, it is the object of intent in con-
ventional terms; (2) the difficulty of performing the training: the dif-
ficulty of realizing that even though the causes, knowers of paths, are
not observed (to exist) ultimately, these are the training in the causes
of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects in conventional terms; and (3) the
difficulty of performing the function: the difficulty of realizing that
even though knowers of bases are not observed (to exist) ultimately,
they are endowed with the efficacy of methods for taking care of train-
ees in conventional terms]a
8. training in the conventional existence of the fruit though nonexistent
ultimately
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This training realizes that the fruit does conven-
tionally exist even though it does not exist ultimately.
9. training in non-reliance on another enlightenment of greater benefit
10. training in the seven types of appearances—dream, [magical illusion,
mirage, echo, reflection, city of smell-eaters, and emanation]—to
make known that appearances are thoroughly conceived to truly exist
even though they do not

a The bracketed material is from the Se-ra Jay scholar Long-döl Ngag-wang-lo-
sang (klong rdol ngag dbang blo bzang, 1719-1794), Vocabulary Occurring in
the Perfection of Wisdom (phar phyin las byung ba’i ming gi rnam grangs), Col-
lected Works, Śata-Piṭaka Series, vol. 100 (New Delhi: International Academy of
Indian Culture, 1973), 366.3-366.5. The Tibetan is:

ཆེད་ ་ ་དཀའ་བ་ནི་། འ ས་ ་ མ་མཁྱེན་དོན་དམ་པར་མི་

དམིགས་ཀྱང་། ཐ་ ད་ ་ཆེད་ ་ ་བ་ གོ ས་པར་ ་དཀའ་
བའོ། ། ོར་བ་ ་དཀའ་བ་ནི་ ་ལམ་ཤས་དོན་དམ་པར་མི་
དམིགས་ཀྱང་། ཐ་ ད་ ་ མ་མཁྱེན་གྱི་ འི་ ོར་བ་ ོགས་པར་ ་
བ་དཀའ་བའོ། །ལས་ ་དཀའ་བ་ནི། གཞི་ཤེས་དོན་དམ་པར་མ་
དམིགས་ཀྱང་ཐ་ ད་ ་ག ལ་ ་གཞན་ ེས་ ་འཛིན་པའི་ཐབས་
ཀྱི་ ེད་པ་དང་ ན་པ་ ོགས་པར་ ་དཀའ་བའོ།
 Trainings in Knowers of Bases 245

Dan-ma-lo-chö: For instance, if you are sleeping in a small room,

you can still dream about elephants and so forth that would indeed
not fit into your room. Magicians are able to take small pebbles or
sticks and through the usage of certain substances, salve, and man-
tra, they are able to cause a great diversity of appearances—wars,
people fighting and being killed, horses and elephants going here
and there, and so forth.
Mirages are the appearance of moving water that occurs in
deserts due to the summer sun hitting the sand. People seeing this
from a distance think it is water and go running after it. The seven
types of appearances are seven examples of falsity, that is, of a
discordance between what appears and what actually exists. With
an echo of a voice, for instance, one gets a sense that someone is
speaking from a distance. Similarly, all phenomena appear to truly
exist but do not.
There is a consciousness known as a conventional conscious-
ness of illusion that is a composite of this appearance of true ex-
istence and realization of the actual emptiness of true existence.
This is what the seven examples exemplify. In brief, all phenom-
ena have beginninglessly appeared to all of our minds as if they
truly exist, but despite appearing that way they do not exist that
way; they are actually empty of true existence.
To ascertain true existence one should first delineate it in
terms of whatever example easily appears to your mind. It is es-
sential to have an example that is renowned as false within the
world; thus at this point seven different examples are set forth.
You should use the example that is most helpful for you to gain
realization of truthlessness. Use what appears most easily to your
own mind, the one that fits your mind the best.
Similarly, if it seems easier for you to begin realizing the ab-
sence of true existence with respect to your own “I,” you should
start with that. Then gradually you should extend this out to your
friends, relatives, and other persons. Buddha said in sūtra, “Just as
the self is, so are all other sentient beings, and just as all sentient
beings are, so are all phenomena.” Here Buddha is saying that one
should first delineate the absence of true existence of the “I” and
then ascertain the absence of true existence of sentient beings
whom one knows, and then extend this understanding to all phe-
nomena. Nevertheless, it is also suitable to begin with some exter-
nal object, ascertain its absence of true existence, and then switch
to the mental and physical aggregates, and then to the “I.” There
246 Chapter III: Knowers of Bases

is no definiteness as to any particular way; you should do what

appears most easily to the mind.
For instance, you could set the syllogism:
The subject, the person, does not truly exist because of being
devoid of true oneness and true plurality. The subject, the per-
son, is devoid of being truly one because of having parts. The
subject, the person, does have parts, because of existing.
Whatever exists, necessarily has parts.
Once something exists, then even its very existence is a part or
factor of that thing. Thus once it exists, it necessarily must have
parts or factors. For example, a person has parts because of having
the five aggregates. Even within the first of these, the form aggre-
gate, the body has limbs, secondary limbs, and so forth. Thus a
person does have parts. Once it has parts, it cannot be a truly ex-
istent one. If it were a truly existent one, its mode of appearance
would have to accord with its mode of existence. However, “I”
and “my aggregates” appear to thought as different. Although they
appear to be different entities in this way, they are in fact one en-
tity; thus the self’s mode of appearance and mode of subsistence
are discordant. Therefore, the self is not a truly existent one.
The subject, a person, is not a truly existent plurality because
truly existent oneness does not exist.
Once there is no truly existent one, there can be no truly existent
plurality. For instance, if you do not have even one dollar, you
cannot have many dollars.
Because a person is not a truly existent one and is not a truly
existent plurality, it must not truly exist.
The reason for this is that whatever truly exists must be either a
truly existent one or a truly existent plurality, because whatever
exists must be either one or many. If something is neither one nor
many, then it does not exist. Once it follows that in general what-
ever exists is necessarily either one or many, then whatever truly
exists is necessarily either a truly existent one or a truly existent
plurality.
This is one way of thinking about the absence of true existence
of the self or “I.” In the textbooks on perfection of wisdom and on
the Middle Way school many different reasonings are set forth;
here I have set forth one in connection with the seven examples of
 Trainings in Knowers of Bases 247

falsity.
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན་བ ་ཡོད་དེ།
1. ག གས་སོགས་ལ་བདེན་ཞེན་བཀག་པའི་ ར ོ ་བ་དང་།
2. ཁྱད་ཆོས་དེ་མི་ ག་པ་སོགས་ལ་བདེན་ཞེན་བཀག་པའི་

ོར་བ་དང་།
3. ག གས་སོགས་དེ་ ཡོན་ཏན་གྱི་ ེན་ ་མ་ ོགས་པ་
[14b.5]

དང་ གོ ས་པའི་ ོར་བ་དང་།

4. ག གས་སོགས་དེ་ལ་བདེན་ཞེན་གྱི་ཆགས་མེད་ཀྱི་ ོར་བ་

ེ་ ལ་གྱི་ ོས་བཞི་དང་།
5. དོན་དམ་པར་ཤེར་ ན ི ་འཕེལ་འགྲིབ་མི་འ ར་བའི་ ོར་
བ་དང་།
6. ེད་ པ་པོ་དོན་དམ་པར་མེད་པའི་ ོར་བ་དང་།
[14b.6]

7. ་དཀའ་བ་ མ་ག མ་གྱི་ ོར་བ་དང་།

8. དོན་དམ་པར་མེད་ཀྱང་ཐ་ ད་ ་འ ས་ ་ཡོད་པའི་

ོར་བ་དང་།
9. ཕན་ཡོན་ཆེ་བའི་ ང་ བ་གཞན་ལ་རག་མ་ལས་པའི་

ོར་བ་དང་།[15a.1]

10. བདེན་པར་མེད་ཀྱང་མངོན་ཞེན་གྱི་ ང་བ་ ི་ལམ་

སོགས་ཤེས་ ེད་ ང་བ་ མ་བ ན་གྱི་ ོར་བ་

དང་བ ་ཡོད་པའི་ རི །
248 Chapter III: Knowers of Bases

Although [the above] does not agree with the wording of Gyal-tshab’s Ex-
planation, a it accords with Tsong-kha-pa’s Golden Garland and Ārya-
vimuktisena’s Illumination of the Twenty-five Thousand Stanza Perfection
of Wisdom Sūtra, and therefore agrees in meaning.
མ་བཤད་དང་ཚིག་མི་མ ན་ཀྱང་གསེར་འ ངེ ་དང་ཉི་ ང་
ར་ ཡིན་པས་དོན་མ ན་ནོ། །
[15a.2]

Boundaries [of trainings in knowers of bases]

[Trainings in knowers of bases] exist from the path of accumulation
through the end of the continuum [as a sentient being, just prior to Bud-
dhahood]; Tsong-kha-pa’s Golden Garland says,b “Though someone as-
serts these as paths of preparation, they exist from the path of accumulation
until the end of the continuum.”
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་ཚགས་ལམ་ནས་ ན་མཐའི་བར་ཏེ།
གསེར་འ ངེ ་ལས། འདི་ཁ་ཅིག་ ོར་ལམ་ ་འདོད་ཀྱང་ཚགས་
ལམ་ནས་ ན་མཐའི་བར་ན་ཡོད་དོ་ཞེས་སོ། །

a Gyal-tshab’s Explanation of (Maitreya’s) “Ornament for the Clear Realiza-

tions” and its Commentaries: Ornament for the Essence. See rgyal tshab dar ma
rin chen. rnam bshad snying po'i rgyan. In gsung 'bum/ rgyal tshab rje (zhol).
(New Delhi, India: Mongolian Lama Guru Deva, 1982), 48b.3; TBRC W676.2:
7-698.
b Tsong kha pa, shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i man ngag gi bstan bcos mngon
par rtogs pa'i rgyan 'grel pa dang bcas pa'i rgya cher bshad pa'i legs bshad gser
phreng (stod cha), in gsung 'bum/ tsong kha pa (bkra shis lhun po par rnying),
(New Delhi, India: Ngawang Gelek Demo, 1977), 83a.3-83a.4; TBRC
W22109.3219.
 29th Topic
8. Equalities in the Modes of Apprehension of
Trainings [in Knowers of Bases] ( ོར་བ་དེའི་འཛིན་ ངས་མཉམ་
ཉིད་)
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Concerning equalities in the modes of apprehen-
sion of trainings in knowers of bases, “mode of apprehension” re-
fers to the way in which the object appears to the mind. “Equality”
here refers to the fact that there is no difference in subtlety or
grossness with respect to the emptiness that is with all phenomena,
from forms through to and including omniscient consciousnesses.
In other words, the object of negation that is negated by the re-
spective emptiness of these phenomena does not vary in subtlety
or grossness. There is also no difference of difficulty or ease in
realizing the emptiness that is with all phenomena.
To indicate equalities in the modes of apprehension of trainings [in know-
ers of bases Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, III.10cd]
says:43
Four aspects of nonconceit with respect to
Forms and so forth are their equalities.
བ ད་ པ་ ོར་བ་དེའི་འཛིན་ ངས་མཉམ་ཉིད་ ནོ ་པར།
[15a.3]

ག གས་ལ་སོགས་ལ་ མོ ་མེད་པ། ། མ་བཞི་དེ་ཡི་མཉམ་པ་

ཉིད། །ཅེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament III.10cd, 6b.2]
ག གས་ལ་སོགས་ལ་ ོམ་མེད་པ། ། མ་བཞི་དེ་ཡི་མཉམ་པ་ཉིད། །
With regard to [equalities in the modes of apprehension of trainings in
knowers of bases] there are three: definition, divisions, and boundaries.

དེ་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས་ག མ།

250 Chapter III: Knowers of Bases

Definition [of an equality in the modes of apprehen-

sion of trainings in knowers of bases]
An aspect of meditatively cultivating a training in a knower of bases
that stops conceits concerning objects and subjects is the definition of
an equality in the modes of apprehension of a training in a knower of bases.
དང་ པོ་ནི། གཞི་ཤེས་ ོར་བ་ མོ ་པའི་ མ་པ་གང་ ལ་དང་
[15a.4]

ལ་ཅན་ ་ ོམ་པ་འགོག་ དེ ་དེ། ོར་བ་དེའི་འཛིན་ ངས་

མཉམ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Most often the term “conceit” refers to pride, but
not always. Here “conceits” means to conceive of the existence of
something that does not exist. An “object” is the object of any
mind, whereas a subject is a thing or phenomenon that possesses
any type of object. With regard to subjects, the word literally is
“object possessor;” there are object possessors that are forms, that
are consciousnesses, and that are nonassociated compositional
factors. An illustration of the first, an object-possessor that is a
form, is a term that indicates its object; its referent is its object,
and thus a term (sgra) is an object possessor. An illustration of a
consciousness that is an object-possessor is a conceptual con-
sciousness apprehending a form; its referent object is a form. Sim-
ilarly, with respect to an object-possessor that is a nonassociated
compositional factor, a person who has an eye consciousness ap-
prehending a form or who has a conceptual consciousness appre-
hending a form, is such an object-possessor.
Forms are objects; thus, if one considers forms to be truly ex-
istent, one has a conceit, a false fabrication, with respect to ob-
jects. Similarly, if any of the three types of subjects—terms
[which are forms], or consciousnesses, or nonassociated compo-
sitional factors [such as persons]—are considered to be truly ex-
istent users of objects, one has conceits with respect to object-pos-
sessors, subjects. This equality in the mode of apprehension of the
training is a means of ceasing such conceits; it is what stops false
fabrications of true existence with respect to objects and subjects.
 Equalities in the Modes of Apprehension of Trainings in Knowers of Bases 251

Divisions [of equalities in the modes of apprehension

of trainings in knowers of bases]
When divided, there are four nonconceitsa for each of the ten trainings,
making forty;
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན་ རོ ་བ་དེ་བ ་ལ་ ོམ་མེད་བཞི་ བཞི་ [15a.5]

ེ་བཞི་བ ་ཡོད་དེ།
Āryavimuktisena’s Illumination of the Twenty-Five Thousand Stanza Per-
fection of Wisdom Sūtra says:b
How are the four aspects? They are what [Subhūti] says [in the
sūtra]:
They do not make mental conceits about forms. They do
not make [mental] conceits by way of forms. They do not
make mental conceits as “Forms are mine.” They do not
make mental conceits with respect to forms.
ཉི་ ང་ལས། ི་ ར་ན་ མ་པ་བཞི་གང་ཡིན་ཞེ་ན། ག གས་
ོམ་སེམས་ ་མི་ ེད་དེ། ག གས་ཀྱིས་ ོམ་[སེམས་]c ་མི་ དེ །
ག གས་བདག་གི་ཞེས་ ་བར་ ོམ་སེམས་ ་མི་ ེད། [15a.6]

ག གས་ལ་ ོམ་སེམས་ ་མི་ ེད། ཅེས་གང་ག ངས་པ་ཞེས་སོ། །

Dan-ma-lo-chö: This means: Do not conceive forms to exist by
way of their own mode of subsistence without being posited
through the force of appearing to an undamaged awareness. Do
not make false fabrications with respect to the attributes of forms
such as production, abiding, disintegration, and so forth, conceiv-
ing these attributes of forms to truly exist whereas they do not. Do
not make mental conceits with respect to things included within
one’s continuum, such as one’s form, thinking that one possesses
in a truly existent manner such things as “my head,” “my hand,”

a See backnote 43.

b shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa stong phrag nyi shu lnga pa'i man ngag gi bstan
bcos mngon par rtogs pa'i rgyan gyi 'grel pa, 115b.5-115b.6.
c Material in brackets is added in accordance with Āryavimuktisena’s text as
cited in the previous note.
252 Chapter III: Knowers of Bases

“my nose,” and so forth. Do not make mental conceits with respect
to forms means not to engage in false fabrications such as con-
ceiving forms to be truly existent one or truly existent many, not
conceiving the basis of designation of a form to truly exist as the
basis of designation of a form, and not conceiving a form to truly
exist as an object designated to its basis of designation.

Boundaries [of equalities in the modes of apprehen-

sion of trainings in knowers of bases]
It is easy [to understand that equalities in the modes of apprehension of
trainings in knowers of bases] exist from the path of accumulation until
the end of the continuum [as a sentient being, just prior to Buddhahood].
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་ཚགས་ལམ་ནས་ ན་མཐའི་བར་ །
 30th Topic
9. Paths of Seeing (མཐོང་ལམ་)
To indicate paths of seeing, five stanzas occur [in Maitreya’s Ornament
for the Clear Realizations, III.11-15]:44
{III.11}
These having the essence of periods—
Doctrinal knowledge, subsequent knowledge,
Forbearance, and knowledge—about the truths, suffering and so
forth,
Are the path of seeing in the system of knowers of all.
{III.12}
Forms are not permanent and not impermanent,
Are passed beyond the extremes, are pure,
Are not produced and do not cease, and so forth.
Like space; abandonment of desire;
{III.13}
Released from thorough grasping;
Naturally inexpressible.
The meaning is not bestowable
To others through verbalization;
{III.14}
Unobservable;
Very pure; non-arising of illness.
Bad states are severed;
Not conceptualized as actualizing the fruit;
{III.15}
Not related with signs;
Nonproduction of consciousness
Regarding things, names, and duality.
These are the periods of knowers of all.
དགུ་པ་མཐོང་ལམ་ ནོ ་པར།
ག་བ ལ་ལ་སོགས་ བདེན་པ་ལ། །ནས། ཀུན་ཤེས་ཉིད་ཀྱི་
[15b.1]
254 Chapter III: Knowers of Bases

ད་ཅིག་མ། །ཞེས་ཤོ་ལོ་ཀ་ ་འ ང་།

[Ornament III.11-15, 6b.2-6b.5]
{III.11}
ག་བ ལ་ལ་སོགས་བདེན་པ་ལ། །ཆོས་ཤེས་ ེས་ ་ཤེས་པ་དང་། །
བཟོད་ཤེས་ ད་ཅིག་བདག་ཉིད་འདི། །ཀུན་ཤེས་ ལ་ལ་མཐོང་བའི་ལམ། །
{III.12}
ག གས་ ག་མ་ཡིན་མི་ ག་མིན། །མཐའ་ལས་འདས་དང་ མ་དག་དང་། །
མ་ ེས་མ་འགགས་ལ་སོགས་དང་། །མཁའ་འ ་ཆགས་པ་ ངས་པ་དང་། །
{III.13}
ཡོངས་ ་འཛིན་ལས་གྲོལ་བ་དང་། །ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་བ ོད་མེད་དང་། །
གང་ ིར་འདི་དོན་བ ོད་པ་ཡིས། །གཞན་ལ་ ིན་ ་མེད་པ་དང་། །
{III.14}
དམིགས་པ་མེད་པར་ དེ ་པ་དང་། །ཤིན་ ་ མ་དག་ནད་མི་འ ང་། །
ངན་སོང་ཆད་དང་འ ས་ ་ནི། །མངོན་ ་ ་ལ་མི་ ོག་ཉིད། །
{III.15}
མཚན་མ་དག་དང་མ་འ ེལ་དང་། །དངོས་དང་མིང་དང་གཉིས་པོ་ལ། །
ཤེས་པ་ ེ་བ་མེད་པ་ནི། །ཀུན་ཤེས་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ ད་ཅིག་མ། །
[Definition of a path of seeing]
A clear realization of the truth that is devoid of the thirty-two super-
impositionsa is the definition of a path of seeing.
་ོ འདོགས་སོ་གཉིས་དང་ ལ་བའི་བདེན་པ་མངོན་ ོགས་དེ།
མཐོང་ལམ་གྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
[Divisions of paths of seeing]
When divided, there are three—the paths of seeing of the three vehicles
[Hearers, Solitary Victors, and the Great Vehicle].
ད ེ་ན་ཐེག་པ་ག མ་གྱི་མཐོང་ ལམ་ག མ། [15b.2]

Divided by way of their isolates, [paths of seeing] indicated here [in Mait-
reya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations] are the sixteen periods. (For
the sixteen periods see Appendix 2, on page 458)

a For the thirty-two superimpositions see backnote 44.

 Paths of Seeing 255

ོག་པས་ ་ེ ནས་འདིར་བ ན་ ད་ཅིག་མ་བ ་ ག་ག ངས་སོ།

Dan-ma-lo-chö: Everything up to this point has been the discus-
sion of the three exalted knowers, which are what are to be prac-
ticed. Maitreya has explained:
• the final object of attainment, which is the exalted knower of
all aspects,
• the means of attaining it, which is the knower of all paths, and
• the purifier of that knower of paths by way of ceasing the ex-
treme of peace, which is the knower of bases.
Next is the discussion of the four trainings that are the means of
practicing them. Accordingly, Jam-yang-shay-pa now provides a
transitional stanza.
Transitional stanza:
The Mother of the four Superiorsa captivating all beings
With the exalted knowers’ three eyes of full beauty
And smiling, red fruit lips of eloquence having
The characterizing thirty teeth attracting the fortunate: Amazing!
ས་པ།
མཁྱེན་པའི་ ན་ག མ་མཛས་ ག་རབ་ ོགས་པས།
ལ་བཟང་འགུགས་པའི་མཚན་ དེ ་ མ་ འི་ཚམས། །
ལེགས་ བཤད་བིམ་པའི་མ ་ སོ ་མཉམ་བཞད་པས། །
[15b.3]

ེ་དགུའི་ཡིད་འ གོ ་འཕགས་བཞིའི་ མ་ངོ་མཚར། །

ཞེས་པའང་བར་ བས་ཀྱི་ཚིགས་བཅད་དེ།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Jam-yang-shay-pa uses an elaborate metaphor of
a beautiful goddess who fully embodies wisdom, such as
Prajñāpāramitā or Sarasvatī. She has three eyes, here indicating
the exalted knower of all aspects, the exalted knower of paths, and
the exalted knower of bases. She is completely beautiful and at-
tractive. She has thirty teeth, which are equated with the thirty top-
ics characterizing the three exalted knowers. Her lips have the lush

a Hearer, Solitary Victor, Bodhisattva, and Buddha Superiors.

256 Chapter III: Knowers of Bases

redness of the Bimbaa fruit, and with those red lips of eloquent
explanation, she smiles, captivating the minds of all creatures.
When those seeking the state of liberation and complete omnisci-
ence see the qualities of these three exalted knowers, which are
the Mother giving rise to the four Superiors, they feel great de-
light.
Since the author has inserted poetry here, I will discuss a little
the description in the field of poetics of examples and figures of
speech related with them. Words that explicitly indicate that an
example is being given are “like” (bzhin), “for example,” “just as”
(ji ltar), “equal to” (’dra) “similar” (mtshungs), and so forth.
These are terms illuminating similarity (mtshungs pa gsal bar
byed pa’i sgra); there are sixty or seventy such terms. If there is a
term indicating similarity, this is a simile (dpe’i rgyan, literally,
“example-adornment”), and there are thirty-two types of similes.
Those that do not have such a term of similarity are called meta-
phors (gzugs can gyi rgyan, literally, “form-adornment”). For ex-
ample, the text says, “the three eyes of the exalted knowers”
(mkhyen pa’i spyan gsum). Here the phrase has a genitive particle
linking the two parts, and the three exalted knowers have been set
forth as forms, specifically, “the three eyes.” Likewise, the thirty
topics characterizing the three exalted knowers are indicated as
forms, the “thirty teeth” of the goddess Sarasvatī. Also, the elo-
quence (legs bshad) is stated literally as the form “red lips.”
Regarding the difference between metaphors (gzugs can gyi
rgyan) and similes (dpe rgyan), they are the same in being exam-
ple and exemplified, but in the case of similes, because a term of
similarity is used, you can understand the two as being different;
in the case of metaphors the example and exemplified are con-
flated, as if undifferentiable. It is as if the example is the exempli-
fied, though in fact they are example and exemplified. In the study
of poetics (snyan ngag) there are thirty-two types of similes and
twenty types of metaphors which are differentiated in this way.
This was a transitional stanza that Jam-yang-shay-pa added
here in his treatise after finishing explaining the phenomena char-
acterizing the three exalted knowers. The next section is the fourth
category, which begins the second part of his text, the explanation
of the thirty-six phenomena characterizing the four trainings.

abim pa in Tibetan, bimba or vimba/vimva in Sanskrit; the fruit of the Momordica

Monadelpha.
 Paths of Seeing 257

The phenomena characterizing the three exalted knowers have been ex-
plained.
མཁྱེན་ག མ་མཚན་ དེ ་ཀྱི་ཆོས་བཤད་ཟིན་ཏོ། ༈
Explaining the thirty-six phenomena
characterizing the four trainings
This has four parts: explaining the eleven phenomena characterizing com-
plete trainings in all aspects, the eight phenomena characterizing peak
trainings, the thirteen phenomena characterizing serial trainings, and the
four phenomena characterizing momentary trainings.
གཉིས་པ་ ོར་བཞི་མཚན་པའི་ཆོས་སོ་ ག་བཤད་པ་ལ།
[15b.4]

མ་ གོ ས་ ོར་བ་མཚན་པའི་ཆོས་བ ་གཅིག་དང་། ེ་ ོར་

མཚན་པའི་ཆོས་བ ད་དང་། མཐར་གྱིས་ ོར་བ་མཚན་པའི་
ཆོས་བ ་ག མ། ད་ཅིག་ ོར་མཚན་པའི་ཆོས་བཞི་བཤད་
[15b.5]

པ་བཞི།
Chapter IV. Explaining the eleven phenomena
characterizing complete trainings in all aspects
Dan-ma-lo-chö: A complete training in all aspects is so called
based on an etymology that it is a training that is the practice of
the 173 aspects of the three exalted knowers, having brought them
all completely together as objects of its mode of apprehension
(mkhyen gsum gyi rnam pa brgya dang don gsum yongs su rdzogs
par ’dzin stangs kyi yul du bsdud nas nyams su len pa’i sbyor ba
yin pas na rnam rdzogs sbyor ba).
To indicate [the eleven phenomena characterizing complete trainings in all
aspects Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, I.12-13] says:45
{I.12}
Aspects, trainings,
Qualities, defects, characteristics,
Concordances with a portion of liberation and with definite dis-
crimination,
Groups of irreversible learners,
{I.13}
Equality of mundane existence and peace,
Unsurpassed pure land,
 Eleven Phenomena Characterizing Complete Trainings in All Aspects 259

And skill in means [characterize]

The complete manifest realization of all aspects.
དང་པོ་[ མ་ ོགས་ ོར་བ་མཚན་པའི་ཆོས་བ ་གཅིག་] ོན་པར།
མ་པ་ རོ ་བར་བཅས་ མས་དང་། །ནས། འདི་ནི་ཐབས་ལ་
མཁས་པ་ཡིན།a །ཞེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament I.12-13, 2b.1-2b.2]
{I.12}
མ་པ་ ོར་བར་བཅས་ མས་དང་། ཡོན་ཏན་ ོན་ནི་མཚན་ཉིད་བཅས། །
ཐར་དང་ངེས་འ ེད་ཆ་མ ན་དང་། ོབ་པ་ ིར་མི་ ོག་པའི་ཚགས། །
{I.13}
ིད་དང་ཞི་བ་མཉམ་ཉིད་དང་། །ཞིང་དག་ ་ན་མེད་པ་ནི། །
མ་ཀུན་མངོན་ ོགས་ ོགས་པ་ ེ། །འདི་ནི་ཐབས་མཁས་བཅས་པ་ཡིན། །
[Definition of a complete training in all aspects]
A Bodhisattva’s yogab that is conjoined with the wisdom of practicing
the one hundred seventy-three aspects of the three exalted knowers is
the definition of a complete training in all aspects.
མཁྱེན་ག མ་གྱི་ མ་པ་བ ་དང་དོན་ག མ་ ཉམས་ ་ལེན་ [15b.6]

པའི་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱིས་ཟིན་པའི་སེམས་དཔའི་ ལ་འ ོར་དེ་ མ་

ོགས་ རོ ་བའི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: In this training Bodhisattvas are taking all the dif-
ferent aspects of the three knowers and meditatively cultivating
them. Once one has generated a complete training in all aspects in
the mental continuum, then one’s consciousness realizing empti-
ness, for instance, is also a complete training of all aspects, for the
definition shows that it is sufficient for a consciousness to be con-
joined with the wisdom practicing the one hundred seventy-three
aspects; such a consciousness does not have to be that wisdom.

a Jam-yang-shay-pa’s citation of the last line of the stanza is different from

the sde dge Ornament as cited just below.
b That is, yogic consciousness.
260 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

Bodhisattva’s path (byang sems kyi lam, bodhisattvamārgaḥ), path perfec-

tion of wisdom (lam sher phyin, mārgamūtaprajñāpāramitā), Bodhi-
sattva’s yoga (sems dpa’i rnal byor), training in an exalted-knower-of-all-
aspects (rnam mkhyen sbyor ba, sarvākārajñatāprayogaḥ), training in a
knower of paths (lam shes sbyor ba, mārgajñatāprayogaḥ), and achieving
through armor (go sgrub, saṃnāhapratipattiḥ) are equivalent.
ང་སེམས་ཀྱི་ལམ་དང་། ལམ་ཤེར་ ིན་དང་། སེམས་དཔའི་ ལ་
འ ོར་དང་། མ་མཁྱེན་ ོར་བ་དང་། ལམ་ཤེས་ རོ ་དང་།
[16a.1]

གོ་ བ་ མས་དོན་གཅིག།
[Divisions of complete trainings in all aspects]
When divided, there are 173 by way of aspect and twenty by way of train-
ing.
ད ེ་ན་ མ་པའི་ ོས་བ ་དོན་ག མ་དང་། རོ ་བའི་ ོས་ཉི་ ་
ཡོད།
[Boundaries of complete trainings in all aspects]
Concerning the boundaries, [complete trainings in all aspects] exist from
the Great Vehicle path of accumulation until the end of the continuum [as
a sentient being, just prior to Buddhahood].
ས་མཚམས་ཐེག་ཆེན་ཚགས་ ལམ་ནས་ ན་མཐའི་བར་ ་
[16a.2]

ཡོད།
There are eleven phenomena characterizing a complete training in all as-
pects because there are the eleven:a
1. aspects (rnam pa, ākārāḥ)
2. trainings (sbyor ba, prayoga)
3. qualities [of trainings] (yon tan, guṇaḥ)
4. defects of trainings (sbyor ba’i skyon, prayogadoṣāḥ)
5. characteristics [of trainings] (mtshan nyid, lakṣāṇi)

a In the citations of the Tibetan and Sanskrit that follow, the Tibetan accords with
Jam-yang-shay-pa’s text, whereas the Sanskrit follows Obermiller, Analysis of the
Abhisamayālaṃkāra; hence, the discrepancies.
 Eleven Phenomena Characterizing Complete Trainings in All Aspects 261

6. concordance with a portion of liberation (thar pa cha dang mthun pa,

mokṣabhāgīyaṃ)
7. concordance with a portion of definite discrimination (nges’byed cha
mthun pa, nirvedhabhāgīyaṃ)
8. learner irreversible community membersa (slob pa phyir mi ldog pa’i
dge ’dun, śaikṣo’vaivartiko bodhisattvagaṇaḥ)
9. trainings in the equality of mundane existence and peace (srid zhi
mnyam nyid kyi sbyor ba, bhavaśāntisamatābhāvanāprayogaḥ)
10. training in a pure land (zhing dag sbyor ba, buddhakṣetrapariśud-
dhiprayogaḥ)
11. training in skill in means (thabs mkhas sbyor ba, upāyakauśalapray-
ogaḥ)
མ་ གོ ས་ ོར་བ་མཚན་ ེད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་བ ་གཅིག་ཡོད་དེ།
1. མ་པ་དང་།
2. ོར་བ་དང་།
3. ཡོན་ཏན་དང་།

4. ོར་བའི་ ནོ ་དང་།
5. མཚན་ཉིད་དང་།

6. ཐར་པ་ཆ་མ ན་དང་། [16a.3]

7. ངེས་འ ད ེ ་ཆ་མ ན་དང་།

8. ོབ་པ་ ིར་མི་ ོག་པའི་དགེ་འ ན་དང་།
9. ིད་ཞི་མཉམ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ ོར་བ་དང་།
10. ཞིང་དག་ ར ོ ་བ་དང་།
11. ཐབས་མཁས་ ོར་བ་

ེ་བ ་གཅིག་ཡོད་པའི་ ིར།

a dge ’dun, literally, aspirants to virtue.

 31st Topic
1. Aspects ( མ་པ་)
To indicate [aspects a Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations,
IV.1-5] says:46
{IV.1}
The specifics of knowing the bases
Are called “aspects,” characters.
Because there are three aspects of exalted knowers of all,
Those [mental aspects] are asserted as three aspects.
{IV.2}
Those ranging from the aspect of nonexistence
To the aspect of nonfluctuation
Are explained as four [each] for the individual truths
And fifteen for paths.
{IV.3}
It is proclaimed that there are
Eight, seven, five, and sixteen
Respectively in terms of the causes,
Paths, sufferings, and cessations.
{IV.4}
By dividing these ranging
From the establishments by way of mindfulness
Through the finality of Buddha aspects
In accordance with true paths
{IV.5}
Into the three exalted knowers of all,
These are asserted respectively
Regarding Learners, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas
As thirty-seven, thirty-four, and thirty-nine.
དང་པོ་[ མ་པ་] ོན་པར་ [16a.4]

a See the separate treatment of aspects by Jam-yang-shay-pa’s reincarnation Kön-

chog-jig-may-wang-po in the second text in this volume, 435ff.
 Aspects 263

གཞི་ཤེས་པ་ཡི་ ེ་ ག་ མས། །ནས། མ་ ་ ་དགུ་དག་ ་

བཞེད། །ཅེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament IV.1-5, 6b.6-7a.2]
{IV.1}
གཞི་ཤེས་པ་ཡི་ ེ་ ག་ མས། ། མ་པ་ཞེས་ ་མཚན་ཉིད་དེ། །
ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཉིད་ནི་ མ་ག མ་ ིར། །དེ་ནི་ མ་པ་ག མ་ ་འདོད། །
{IV.2}
མེད་པའི་ མ་པ་ནས་བ ང་ ེ། །མི་གཡོ་བ་ཡི་ མ་པའི་བར། །
བདེན་པ་སོ་སོ་ལ་བཞི་དང་། །ལམ་ལ་དེ་ནི་བཅོ་ ར་བཤད། །
{IV.3}
་དང་ལམ་དང་ ག་བ ལ་དང་། །འགོག་པ་ལ་ནི་གོ་རིམས་བཞིན། །
དེ་དག་བ ད་དང་བ ན་དང་ནི། ། ་དང་བ ་ ག་ཅེས་བ གས་སོ། །
{IV.4}
ན་པ་ཉེར་གཞག་ནས་བ ང་ ེ། །སངས་ ས་ མ་པའི་མཐར་ ག་ མས། །
ལམ་གྱི་བདེན་པའི་ ེས་མ ན་པར། །ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ག མ་ ་ ེ་བས་ན། །
{IV.5}
ོབ་མ་ ང་ བ་སེམས་དཔའ་དང་། །སངས་ ས་ མས་ལ་རིམ་བཞིན་ ། །
མ་ ་བ ན་དང་ མ་ ་བཞི། ། མ་ ་ ་དགུ་དག་ ་བཞེད། །
With regard to the aspects indicated here [in Maitreya’s Ornament for the
Clear Realizations] there are two: definition and divisions.
འདིར་བ ན་ མ་པ་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ་གཉིས།
Definition [of an aspect indicated here]
A specific or feature of the mode of apprehension of training involved
in meditatively cultivating collectively the three exalted knowers is the
definition of an aspect of training involved in meditatively cultivating col-
lectively the three exalted knowers.
དང་པོ་ནི། མཁྱེན་ག མ་བ ས་ མོ ་གྱི་ ོར་བའི་ འཛིན་ [16a.5]

ངས་ཀྱི་ ་ེ ག་གམ་ཁྱད་པར་དེ། མཁྱེན་ག མ་བ ས་ མོ ་གྱི་

ོར་བའི་a མ་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད།
a The 2005 Mundgod (32.15) reads pa.
264 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

Dan-ma-lo-chö: What is collective cultivation of the aspects of the

three exalted knowers? It is to take the 173 aspects as objects of
apprehension of that one pristine wisdom.

Divisions [of the aspects indicated here]

When [aspects of trainings involved in meditatively cultivating collec-
tively the three exalted knowers] are divided, there are 173 because there
are twenty-seven aspects of knowers of bases, thirty-six aspects of know-
ers of paths, and 110 aspects of exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects.
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན་བ ་དང་དོན་ག མ་ཡོད་དེ།
1. གཞི་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ མ་པ་ཉེར་བ ན།

2. ལམ་ཤེས་ ཀྱི་ མ་པ་སོ་ ག

[16a.6]

3. མ་མཁྱེན་གྱི་ མ་པ་བ ་ ་བ ་
ཡོད་པའི་ རི །
The first reason [which is that there are twenty-seven aspects of knowers
of bases] is established because there are twenty-seven consisting of four
aspects each in terms of the first three of the four truths and fifteen aspects
in terms of true paths, since [Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realiza-
tions, IV.2] says:47
{IV.2}
Those ranging from the aspect of nonexistence
To the aspect of nonfluctuation
Are explained as four for the individual [first three] truths
And fifteen for paths.
གས་དང་པོ་ བ་ ེ། བདེན་བཞིའི་བདེན་པ་དང་པོ་ག མ་གྱི་
ེང་གི་ མ་པ་བཞི་བཞི་དང་ལམ་བདེན་ ངེ ་གི་ མ་པ་བཅོ་ ་
དང་ཉེར་ བ ན་ཡོད་དེ། མེད་པའི་ མ་པ་ནས་བ ང་
[16b.1]

ེ། །ནས། ལམ་ལ་དེ་ནི་བཅོ་ ར་བཤད། །ཅེས་ག ངས་པའི་ ིར།

[Ornament IV.2, 6b.6-6b.7]
{IV.2}
མེད་པའི་ མ་པ་ནས་བ ང་ ེ། །མི་གཡོ་བ་ཡི་ མ་པའི་བར། །
 Aspects 265

བདེན་པ་སོ་སོ་ལ་བཞི་དང་། །ལམ་ལ་དེ་ནི་བཅོ་ ར་བཤད། །

Dan-ma-lo-chö: About the twenty-seven aspects of knowers of ba-
ses, the four of each of the first three of the four noble truths refer
to the usual four attributes of each of the truths. True paths usually
have only four aspects, but here they have fifteen: four uncontam-
inated paths of seeing that serve as antidotes to the conception of
a self of persons, five contaminated paths of seeing that serve as
actual antidotes to the coarse obstructions to omniscience and that
realize the emptiness of a difference of entity of apprehended-ob-
ject and apprehending-subject through the means of a generic im-
age, and six uncontaminated paths of meditation that directly re-
alize the emptiness of a difference of entity of apprehended-object
and apprehending-subject.
The 173 aspects are considered to be subjective aspects from
one point of view and objective aspects from another. Conscious-
nesses like the ones just mentioned, which are pristine wisdoms
acting as antidotes to certain afflictions, are subjective aspects
(shes rnam). The objects that they realize are objective aspects
(don rnam).
The second reason [which is that there are thirty-six aspects of knowers of
paths] is established because there are thirty-six consisting of eight aspects
in terms of the causes, true origins; seven aspects in terms of true paths;
five aspects in terms of true sufferings; and sixteen aspects in terms of true
cessations. [Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, IV.3] says:48
{IV.3}
It is proclaimed that there are
Eight, seven, five, and sixteen
Respectively in terms of the causes,
Paths, sufferings, and cessations.
གས་གཉིས་པ་ བ་ །ེ ་ཀུན་འ ང་བདེན་པའི་ ེང་གི་ མ་
པ་བ ད་དང་། ལམ་ བདེན་གྱི་ ེང་གི་ མ་པ་བ ན་དང་།
[16b.2]

ག་བདེན་ ེང་གི་ མ་པ་ ་དང་། འགོག་བདེན་ ེང་གི་ མ་

པ་བ ་ ག་དང་སོ་ ག་ཡོད་པའི་ ིར། ་དང་ལམ་དང་ ག་
བ ལ་དང་། །ནས། ་དང་བ ་ ག་ཅེས་བ གས་ སོ། །ཞེས་ [16b.3]
266 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

ག ངས།
[Ornament IV.3, 6b.7]
{IV.3}
་དང་ལམ་དང་ ག་བ ལ་དང་། །འགོག་པ་ལ་ནི་གོ་རིམས་བཞིན། །
དེ་དག་བ ད་དང་བ ན་དང་ནི། ། ་དང་བ ་ ག་ཅེས་བ གས་སོ། །
The third reason [which is that there are 110 aspects of exalted-knowers-
of-all-aspects] is established because there are (1) thirty-seven harmonies
of enlightenment that are aspects of knowers of bases that are types of
realizations in common with learner Hearers, (2) thirty-four aspects of
knowers of paths that are types of realizations in common with Bodhisatt-
vas, and (3) thirty-nine aspects that are uncommon to exalted-knowers-of-
all-aspects since [Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, IV.4-
5] says:49
{IV.4}
By dividing these ranging
From the establishments by way of mindfulness
Through the finality of Buddha aspects
In accordance with true paths
{IV.5}
Into the three exalted knowers of all,
These are asserted respectively
Regarding Learners, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas
As thirty-seven, thirty-four, and thirty-nine.
གས་ག མ་པ་ བ་ ེ། ོབ་མ་ཉན་ཐོས་དང་ ོགས་རིགས་
ན་མོང་བའི་གཞི་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ མ་པ་ ང་ ོགས་སོ་བ ན་དང་།
ང་སེམས་དང་ གོ ས་རིགས་ ན་མོང་བའི་ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ མ་
པ་སོ་བཞི། མ་མཁྱེན་གྱི་ ན་མོང་མ་ཡིན་པའི་ མ་པ་
[16b.4]

མ་ ་ ་དགུ་དང་བ ་ ་བ ་ཡོད་དེ། ན་པ་ཉེར་བཞག་

ནས་བ ང་ ེ། །ནས། མ་ ་ ་དགུ་དག་ ་བཞེད་། ཅེས་
ག ངས་པའི་ ིར།
[Ornament IV.4-5, 7a.1-7a.2]
{IV.4}
 Aspects 267

ན་པ་ཉེར་གཞག་ནས་བ ང་ ེ། །སངས་ ས་ མ་པའི་མཐར་ ག་ མས། །

ལམ་གྱི་བདེན་པའི་ ེས་མ ན་པར། །ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ག མ་ ་ ེད་པས་ན། །
{IV.5}
ོབ་མ་ ང་ བ་སེམས་དཔའི་དང་། །སངས་ ས་ མས་ལ་རིམ་བཞིན་ ། །
མ་ ་བ ན་དང་ མ་ ་བཞི། ། མ་ ་ ་དགུ་དག་ ་བཞེད། །
Dan-ma-lo-chö: There are 110 aspects of exalted-knowers-of-all-
aspects. Jam-yang-shay-pa cites the root text, beginning with the
four mindful establishments, these being the first division of the
thirty-seven harmonies with enlightenment. How can it be said
that any of the 110 aspects of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects are
common to Hearers or to Bodhisattvas? The four mindful estab-
lishments that are in the continuum of Buddha Superiors do not
exist in the continuums of any sentient beings, but the mere gen-
eral four mindful establishments do exist in the continuums of
Hearers and Solitary Victors. Because the mere generality of the
group exists with these others, it is said that a Buddha has these in
common with others. Similarly, the pristine wisdom of the three
doors of liberation or the nine meditative absorptions that exist in
the continuum of a Buddha do not exist in the continuum of a Bo-
dhisattva, but pristine wisdoms of the three doors of liberation and
the nine meditative absorptions do exist in the continuums of Bo-
dhisattvas.
The ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, and the eighteen un-
shared qualities of a Buddha, however, exist in the continuum of
a Buddha and, in general, do not exist at all in the continuums of
sentient beings. These latter are called the uncommon aspects of
an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects. The definition of a common as-
pect of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects is an aspect of an ex-
alted-knower-of-all-aspects, the actual type of which exists in
the continuums of lower Superiors. Those aspects whose gen-
eral type does not exist in the continuums of lower Superiors are
uncommon aspects of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects.
With respect to the subjective aspects it is necessary to know the objective
aspects first; therefore, it is easier if the objective aspects are explained
first.
ཤེས་ མ་ ལ་དོན་ མ་ ནོ ་ ་ཤེས་དགོས་པས་ ོན་ལ་དོན་
[16b.5]

མ་བཤད་པ་ འོ། །
 32nd Topic
2. Trainings ( ོར་བ་)
To indicate [trainings Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations,
IV.8-11] says:50
{IV.8}
Because of not abiding in forms and so forth,
And because of stopping connection to those,
And because of the profundity of the thusness of those,
And because the depth of those is difficult to fathom,
{IV.9}
And because the measure of those is limitless,
And because of realizing with great difficulty over a long period,
And because of prophecy, and because of irreversibility,
And because of definitely emerging, and because of noninterrup-
tion,
{IV.10}
And because of nearing enlightenment, and because of speedy
enlightenment,
And because of others’ welfare, and because of the absence of
increase and decrease,
And because of not seeing the proper and the improper, and so
forth,
And because of inconceivable nonseeing of forms and so forth,
{IV.11}
And because of not conceptualizing forms and so forth
As their entities and their marks,
And because of issuing forth the precious fruit,
And because of purity of those, and because of time periods as
well.
གཉིས་པ་ རོ ་བ་ ོན་པར།
ག གས་ལ་སོགས་ལ་མི་གནས་ རི ། །ནས། དེ་ནི་དག་པ་མཚམས་
དང་བཅས། །ཞེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament IV.8-11, 7a.3-7a.5]
 Trainings 269

{IV.8}
ག གས་ལ་སོགས་ལ་མི་གནས་ ིར། །དེ་ལ་ ོར་བ་བཀག་པའི་ ིར། །
དེ་ཡི་དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་ཟབ་ ིར། །དེ་ མས་གཏིང་དཔག་དཀའ་བའི་ ིར། །
{IV.9}
དེ་དག་ཚད་ནི་མེད་ ིར་དང་། །ཚགས་ཆེན་ ན་རིང་ ོགས་པའི་ ིར། །
ང་བ ན་ ིར་མི་ ོག་ཉིད་དང་། །ངེས་འ ང་བར་ཆད་མེད་བཅས་aདང་། །
{IV.10}
ང་ བ་ཉེ་དང་ ར་བ་དང་། །གཞན་དོན་འཕེལ་མེད་འགྲིབ་མེད་ ིར། །
ཆོས་དང་ཆོས་མིན་སོགས་མི་མཐོང་། །ག གས་སོགས་བསམ་མི་ཁྱབ་མི་མཐོང་། །
{IV.11}
ག གས་སོགས་དེ་ཡི་མཚན་མ་དང་། །དེ་ཡི་ངོ་བོར་ མ་མི་ ོག །
འ ས་ ་རིན་ཆེན་ ིན་ ེད་དང་། །དེ་ནི་དག་པ་མཚམས་དང་བཅས། །
With regard to trainings there are three: definition, divisions, and bounda-
ries.
ོར་བ་ ་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས་ག མ།
[16b.6]

Definition [of a training]

A union of calm abiding and special insight realizing objects and sub-
jects, and the three—bases,b paths,c and aspectsd—as empty of true
existence is the definition a training that is the main one explicitly indi-
cated [in Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations].
དང་པོ་ནི། ལ་ ལ་ཅན་དང་གཞི་ལམ་ མ་ག མ་བདེན་ ོང་
་ ོགས་པའི་ཞི་ ག་ ང་འ ེལ་དེ། དངོས་བ ན་གཙ་བོའི་
ོར་བའི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: “Explicitly indicated” means that which is openly
indicated in the words of the text itself. It is what is mainly being
delineated through the text, and thus it is the object explicitly

a co ne (7a.5), dpe bsdur ma (16.1), Peking (8a.8), snar thang (8a.6), Āryavimuk-
tisena's commentary (128b.7), and Haribhadra’s Clear Meaning (108b.1) read
bcas. Only sde dge (7a.4) reads bcad.
b That is, substrata.
c That is, the three vehicles.
d That is, the 173 subjective and objective aspects.
270 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

taught.
Jam-yang-shay-pa gives two definitions. The one above is of
a training that is the main of those explicitly indicated in Mait-
reya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations; he specifies the other,
given below, [more loosely] as the definition of the training indi-
cated here in Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations.
The first must have a realization of emptiness as its subjective as-
pect; the second is perhaps secondarily indicated because it can
also have conventional phenomenon as its aspect.
A Bodhisattva’s yoga conjoined with the wisdom that is an attainment
of a union of calm abiding and special insight with respect to the di-
versity of aspects of the three exalted knowers is the definition of a
training indicated here.
མཁྱེན་ ག མ་གྱི་ མ་པ་ ི་ དེ ་པ་ལ་ཞི་ ག་ ང་འ ེལ་
[17a.1]

ཐོབ་པའི་ཤེས་རབ་གྱིས་ཟིན་པའི་སེམས་དཔའི་ ལ་འ ོར་དེ།

འདིར་བ ན་ ོར་བའི་མཚན་ཉིད་
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Thus, it does not just have emptiness as its aspect.
The “diversity of aspects of the three exalted knowers” are the 173
aspects of these knowers. Jam-yang-shay-pa then explains why it
is good to define training in this way.
If [this definition] is made [that way], it is good because the training in
realization with great difficulty over a long time must be posited as exist-
ing from the path of accumulation, and it is a division of these [trainings].
For, Āryavimuktisena’s Illumination of the Twenty-Five Thousand Stanza
Perfection Wisdom Sūtra says,a “This training with great difficulty by be-
ginners [that is to say, by those on the path of accumulation] with this
which is not a union [of calm abiding and special insight]…” and [this
definition] accords with Gyal-tshab’s Explanation and Tsong-kha-pa’s
Golden Garland and [thus it] is good.
ས་ན་ལེགས་ཏེ། ཚགས་ཆེན་ ་ ན་རིང་ ོགས་པའི་ ོར་བ་
[17a.2]

ཚགས་ལམ་ནས་འ ོག་དགོས་ཤིང་འདིའི་ད ེ་བ་ཡིན་པའི་ ིར་

aĀryavimuktisena, Illumination of the Twenty-Five Thousand Stanza Perfection

Wisdom Sūtra, 130b.7-131a.1.
 Trainings 271

ཏེ། ཉི་ ང་ལས། ོར་བ་མ་ཡིན་པ་ ེད་པ་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་ནི་ལས་དང་

པོ་བ་ཚགས་ཆེན་པོས་དང་ཞེས་ག ངས་པའི་ ིར་ དང་། [17a.3]

མ་བཤད་གསེར་འ ངེ ་དང་ཡང་མ ན་ཞིང་ལེགས།

Dan-ma-lo-chö: Once the training of realization with great diffi-
culty over a long time exists from the path of accumulation, the
first definition is too narrow because it requires the union of calm
abiding and special insight realizing that phenomena are empty of
true existence, and such is only attained with the beginning of the
path of preparation.

Divisions [of trainings]

When divided, there are twenty because there are the twenty consisting of:
Five by way of the entities [of trainings]
1. training in not abiding in and conceiving the true existence of forms
and so forth that are included in bases, the paths [of the three vehicles],
and [the 173 objective and subjective] aspects
Dan-ma-lo-chö: “Forms and so forth” refers to all phenomena,
ranging from forms right up through exalted-knowers-of-all-as-
pects. When this training takes these aspects to mind, it does not
conceive their true existence.
2. training that stops the apprehension of true existence with respect to
forms and so forth
3. training in profundity that realizes the suchness of bases—forms and
so forth
Dan-ma-lo-chö: It is profound because it realizes their suchness
just as it is.
4. training in the difficult to fathom the depths of realizing the nature of
the phenomena of the path
5. training of limitlessness that realizes the limitless nature of the aspects
of forms and so forth
Dan-ma-lo-chö: “Aspects” means the attributes of forms—such as
forms’ impermanence, forms’ arising, forms’ misery, the paths
leading to the cessation of forms, and so forth. Emptiness is real-
ized in terms of all these limitless aspects.
These five are divisions of trainings from the viewpoint of en-
tity. All are themselves trainings.
272 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

Eight by way of the persons who are the supports [for cultivating train-
ings]
6. training of a beginner who, due to fearing the profound emptiness, re-
alizes enlightenment over a long period
7. training of one who attains prophecy [by the Buddha] and who from
the heat [level of the path of preparation] does not fear the noumenon
and practices the six perfections even in dreams
Dan-ma-lo-chö: From the heat level of the path of preparation, a
person no longer has fear of emptiness and, due to having under-
stood the profound meaning of emptiness just as it is, is able to
practice the six perfections even in dreams.
8. training of the stable, [a person] who is irreversible due to the arising
in oneself of the Mother realizing the noumenon from the peak [level
of the path of preparation]
9. training of definite emergence of one who has firm realization of
method and wisdom from the forbearance [level of the path of prepa-
ration], having passed beyond the interruptions of Hearers and Soli-
tary Victors
Dan-ma-lo-chö: On the forbearance level of the path of prepara-
tion, the realization of method and wisdom is far more stable than
it was before. Due to this, one has passed beyond the interruptions
of Hearers and Solitary Victors, that is to say, of seeking after only
one’s own welfare.
10. training of one without interruption due to perceiving entry into the
ocean of directly seeing the element of attributes from the supreme
mundane qualities [level of the path of preparation]
Dan-ma-lo-chö: On the supreme mundane qualities level of the
path of preparation, one will in the next period realize emptiness
directly and, thus, this is the point of entry into the ocean of di-
rectly perceiving the element of attributes, that is to say, empti-
ness. Therefore, the tenth division is called “training of one with-
out interruption” because between it and the path of seeing there
is nothing to interrupt.
11. training of one nearing enlightenment in whom new uncontaminated
qualities, [that is to say, the pristine wisdom of the path of seeing that
is a] cause of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects, are suitable to be pro-
duced [on the path of seeing]a

a The identifications of the levels from here to the end of the divisions are added
from the Se-ra Jay scholar Long-döl Ngag-wang-lo-sang, Vocabulary Occurring
in the Perfection of Wisdom, 379.3-380.5; he also posits the first five as existing
 Trainings 273

12. training of one who will speedily become fully purified and in whom
the fruit will quickly arise [second through the seventh grounds]
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This training gets its name because one is about
to be enlightened.
13. training in others’ welfare—engaging in the turning of the wheel of
doctrine for the sake of others out of compassion [eighth ground].
Dan-ma-lo-chö: These are the eight divisions of trainings made by
way of persons who are cultivating trainings.
Four by way of methods for completing meditative cultivation of the
Mother
14. training in realizing that ultimately defects and good qualities do not
increase or decrease
Dan-ma-lo-chö: In general, there is increase and decrease of de-
fects and good qualities, but they do not increase or decrease ulti-
mately. Conventionally, an interrupted path is a mode of virtuous
practice, and a path of release and the abandonment that is attained
with a path of release are the compounded and uncompounded ef-
fects of that virtuous practice. The uninterrupted path of the path
of seeing removes the obstructions to be abandoned by the path of
seeing, and uninterrupted path of the path of meditation removes
the nine cycles of objects of abandonment to be abandoned by the
path of meditation. At the time of the path of release of a path of
seeing, one attains the path of release and an abandonment of the
respective objects of abandonment. So it is with the nine cycles of
the path of meditation; with each path of release one attains that
path of release and an abandonment of the respective object of
abandonment, and thereby one attains the true cessation that is the
cessation of those objects of abandonment. Thus, indeed, conven-
tionally, there does exist increase of good qualities or virtues and
decrease of defects. However, in terms of ultimately existent enti-
ties, there is no increase or decrease of good qualities and defects.
15. training in not ultimately seeing the proper—virtues and so forth—and
the improper, and so forth
Dan-ma-lo-chö: There are virtuous and non-virtuous actions;
these exist conventionally but not ultimately.
16. training in inconceivable non-seeing—the lack of false fabrication of
true existence with respect to forms and so forth

from the path of accumulation until the end of the continuum as a sentient being,
that is, just prior to Buddhahood.
274 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

Dan-ma-lo-chö: Here one does not have any fabrications or con-

ceptions of true existence with respect to forms and so forth.
17. training in non-conceptualization due to not conceptualizing forms
and so forth as truly existent definienda and definitions
Dan-ma-lo-chö: For instance, the definition of form is “that which
is suitable to be called form” and the definiendum is form itself.
“Form” and “that which is suitable to be called form” are indeed
definiendum and definition conventionally, but not ultimately.
Forms and so forth are not being considered to truly exist as de-
finienda and definitions.
Two from the viewpoint of effect
18. training in issuing forth the precious fruit, increasing good qualities
[ninth ground]
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This increases the good qualities of realization.
19. training in purity, removing faults [tenth ground]
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This training removes faults, that is to say, it re-
moves the afflictive obstructions and the obstructions to libera-
tion—defects of body, speech, and mind and so forth—the dis-
cordant class (mi mthun phyogs) of the six perfections, giving and
so forth.
[One from the viewpoint of time]
20. training in time periods, quickly cultivating the Mother [from the path
of preparation through the seventh ground].
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན་ཉི་ ་ཡོད་དེ།
1. གཞི་ལམ་ མ་པས་བ ས་པའི་ ག གས་སོགས་བདེན་
a

པར་ཞེན་ཞིང་མི་གནས་པའི་ ོར་བ་དང་།
2. ག གས་ སོགས་ལ་བདེན་ཞེན་བཀག་bཔའི་ ོར་བ་
[17a.4]

དང་།
3. ག གས་སོགས་གཞིའི་དེ་ཉིད་ ག ོ ས་པའི་ཟབ་པའི་ ོར་
བ་དང་།

a The 2005 Mundgod (34.13) misreads ba'i.

b The 2005 Mundgod (34.15) misreads dkag.
 Trainings 275

4. ལམ་གྱི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་ གོ ས་པའི་གཏིང་དཔག་
དཀའ་བའི་ ོར་བ་དང་།
5. ག གས་སོགས་ཀྱི་ མ་ པའི་རང་བཞིན་ཚད་མེད་པ་
[17a.5]

ོགས་པའི་ཚད་མེད་པའི་ ོར་བ་
་ངོ་བོའི་ ོས་དང་།
6. ོང་ཉིད་ཟབ་མོ་ལ་ ག་པས་ལས་དང་པོ་བ་ ང་ བ་
ན་རིང་པོ་ནས་ ོགས་པའི་ ོར་བ་དང་།
7. ོད་ནས་ཆོས་ཉིད་ལ་མི་ ག་ ཤིང་ ི་ལམ་ན་ཡང་
[17a.6]

ིན་ ག་ དོ ་པའི་ ང་བ ན་ཐོབ་པའི་ ོར་བ་དང་།

8. ེ་མོ་ནས་ཆོས་ཉིད་ གོ ས་པའི་ མ་རང་ལ་ ང་བས་
ིར་མི་ གོ ་བ ན་པའི་ ོར་བ་དང་།
9. བཟོད་པ་ནས་ཐབས་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ ོགས་པ་བ ན་པོ་ཉན་
[17b.1]
རང་གི་བར་ཆད་ལས་འདས་པ་ངེས་པར་aའ ང་
བའི་ ོར་བ་དང་།
10. ཆོས་མཆོག་ནས་ཆོས་ད ིངས་མངོན་ མ་ ་མཐོང་བའི་

་མཚར་འ ག་པར་མཐོང་ནས་བར་མེད་པ་དང་བཅས་
པའི་ ོར་བ་དང་།
11. མ་མཁྱེན་གྱི་ ་ཟག་མེད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་གསར་པ་ ེ་ ང་
[17b.2]

བའི་ ང་ བ་ཉེ་བའི་ ོར་བ་དང་།

12. འ ས་ ་ ར་ ་འ ང་བའི་ ར་བར་འཚང་ ་བའི་ ར ོ ་
བ་དང་།
a The 2005 Mundgod (35.7) misreads bar.
276 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

13.ངི ་ ེས་གཞན་དོན་ ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ་བ རོ ་བ་ལ་

འ ག་པ་གཞན་ དོན་གྱི་ ོར་བ་
[17b.3]

དང་བ ད་པོ་འདི་ ནེ ་གང་ཟག་ སོ ་དང་།

14. དོན་དམ་པར་ ོན་དང་ཡོན་ཏན་འཕེལ་མེད་འགྲིབ་མེད་

་ ོགས་པའི་ ོར་བ་དང་།
15. དོན་དམ་པར་དགེ་སོགས་ཆོས་དང་ཆོས་མིན་པ་སོགས་

མི་མཐོང་བའི་ ོར་ བ་དང་། [17b.4]

16. ག གས་སོགས་ལ་བདེན་པར་ ོམ་པ་མེད་པའི་བསམ་མི་

a

ཁྱབ་ཀྱིས་མི་མཐོང་བའི་ ོར་བ་དང་།
17. ག གས་སོགས་མཚན་མཚན་ ་བདེན་པར་མི་ ོགས་
b
པས་ མ་པར་མི་ ོག་པའི་ ོར་བ་
དང་བཞི་ནི་ མ་ ོམ་པ་ གོ ས་པའི་ཐབས་ཀྱི་ ོས་དང་།
[17b.5]

18. ཡོན་ཏན་འཕེལ་བར་ ད ེ ་པ་འ ས་ ་རིན་ཆེན་ ིན་

པའི་ ོར་བ་དང་།
19. ཉེས་པ་ སེལ་བར་ ེད་པ་ མ་པར་དག་པའི་ ར ོ ་བ་
c

དང་གཉིས་ནི་འ ས་ འི་ ོས་དང་།

20. མ་ ར་ ་ ོམ་པའི་ས་མཚམས་ཀྱི་ རོ ་བ་
[17b.6]

དང་ཉི་ ་ཡོད་པའི་ རི །

a The 2005 Mundgod (35.17) misreads bar.

b Based on the root text and what immediately follows, this most likely should
read rtog.
c The 2005 Mundgod (36.4) misreads ba.
 Trainings 277

[Boundaries of trainings]a

a Jam-yang-shay-pa omits the section on boundaries, which the Se-ra Jay scholar
Long-döl Ngag-wang-lo-sang, Vocabulary Occurring in the Perfection of Wis-
dom, 21b.5, gives as:
The boundaries of the five from the viewpoint of entity are from the path
of accumulation through the end of the continuum. The boundaries of
the one from the viewpoint of time are from the path of accumulation
through the seventh ground. The others are to be put together individu-
ally as explained above [in the list of divisions].
ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ ོར་བ་ ། ཚགས་ལམ་ནས་ ན་མཐའི་བར་ ་ཡོད།
ས་ཀྱི་ ོ་ནས་ད ེ་བའི་ས་འཚམས་ཀྱི་ ོར་བ་གཅིག་པོ་ཚགས་
ལམ་ནས་ས་བ ན་པའི་བར་ ་ཡོད། གཞན་ མས་ནི་གོང་ ་
བཤད་པ་ ར་སོ་སོ་ལ་ ོར་བར་ འོ༎
 33rd Topic
3. Qualities of Trainings ( ོར་བའི་ཡོན་ཏན་)
To indicate qualities of trainings [Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Re-
alizations, IV.12ab] says:51
{IV.12}
The qualities such as overcoming the force
Of demons and so forth are fourteen aspects.
ག མ་པ་ རོ ་བའི་ཡོན་ཏན་ ོན་པར།
བ ད་ཀྱི་མ ་བཅོམ་ལ་སོགས་པ། །ཡོན་ཏན་ མ་པ་བ ་
བཞིའ།ོ །ཞེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament IV.12ab, 7a.5]
{IV.12}
བ ད་ཀྱི་མ ་བཅོམ་ལ་སོགས་པ། །ཡོན་ཏན་ མ་པ་བ ་བཞིའོ། །
[Definition of a quality of training]
A benefit attained through the power of having cultivated a training
is the definition of a quality of training.
རོ ་བ་ བ ོམས་པའི་ ོབས་ཀྱིས་ཐོབ་པའི་ཕན་ཡོན་དེ། ོར་
[18a.1]

བའི་ཡོན་ཏན་གྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
[Divisions of qualities of trainings]
When divided, there are fourteen because there are the fourteen consisting
of:
1. [quality of] overcoming the force of interfering demons through the
Buddhas’ blessing into magnificence the training, that is to say, the
questioning, reciting, and meditating on the perfection of wisdom
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Here when it says “perfection of wisdom,” it is
referring to the texts of the perfection of wisdom, the sūtras them-
selves. So, whether one is questioning about the meaning of a par-
 Qualities of Trainings 279

ticular passage, or reciting portions of the text that one has mem-
orized, or meditating on the meaning of the texts, by the power of
the blessings of the Buddhas the interference of demons is van-
quished.
This might look like a fruit of training, but it is a quality of
training that arises in dependence upon having cultivated training.
Thus, the devaputras and so forth—whatsoever demons and inter-
ferers there are—cannot bring about interruptions because the
Buddhas have blessed the training into a magnificent state.
2. quality of [Buddhas’]a thinking on and knowing that one has culti-
vated training
3. quality of Buddhas’ making themselves manifest
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This means that Buddhas manifestly show them-
selves to oneself.
4. quality of nearing thoroughly complete enlightenment [Buddhahood]
5. quality of great meaningfulness and so forth
Dan-ma-lo-chö: One can achieve the welfare of oneself and others
in a vast manner.
6. quality of making use of areas such as where the perfection of wisdom
has spread
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Also, one can increase the teaching in an area
where it has spread, or introduce it where it has not yet spread.
7. quality of fulfilling all uncontaminated qualities
Dan-ma-lo-chö: These are true paths and true cessations.
8. quality of being a person propounding [the meaning of the Mother]b
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This is to teach the meaning of the scriptures
without any longer needing to depend on someone else to do so.
9. quality of indivisibility
10. quality of generating uncommon roots of virtue
11. quality of achieving the meaning of one’s promises
12. quality of thoroughly taking hold of vast fruits
13. quality of bringing about the welfare of sentient beings
14. quality of gaining the complete perfection of wisdom.
Dan-ma-lo-chö: These are the fourteen qualities mentioned in the
root text, Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations.

a sangs rgyas kyi, the Se-ra Jay scholar Long-döl Ngag-wang-lo-sang, Vocabu-
lary Occurring in the Perfection of Wisdom, 22a.1.
b yum gyi don, the Se-ra Jay scholar Long-döl Ngag-wang-lo-sang, Vocabulary
Occurring in the Perfection of Wisdom, 22a.4.
280 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

ད ེ་ན་བ ་བཞི་ཡོད།
1. ོར་བ་ ེ་ཤེར་ ིན་འ ་ི འདོན་ མོ ་པ་ལ་སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་
ིན་གྱིས་ བ བས་པས་བར་ཆད་བ ད་ཀྱི་མ ་
[18a.2]

བཅོམ་པ[འི་ཡོན་ཏན]་དང་།
2. ོར་བ་བ མོ ས་པ་དགོངས་ཤིང་མཁྱེན་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་
དང་།
3. སངས་ ས་ཀྱིས་མངོན་ མ་ ་མཛད་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་

དང་།
4. ཡང་དག་པར་ ོགས་པའི་ ང་ བ་ དང་ཉེ་བར་ ར་ [18a.3]

པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་དང་།
5. དོན་ཆེ་བ་ཉིད་ལ་སོགས་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་དང་།

6. ཤེར་ ིན་ ལ་སོ་སོར་དར་བ་ ་ ་ ལ་ ད་པའི་ཡོན་

ཏན་དང་།
7. ཟག་པ་མེད་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་ཐམས་ཅད་ ོགས་པའི་ཡོན་

ཏན་དང་།
[18a.4]

8. ་བའི་ ེས་ འི་ཡོན་ཏན་དང་།

9. མི་ ེད་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་དང་།

10. དགེ་ ་ ན་མོང་མ་ཡིན་པ་ ེས་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་དང་།

11. དམ་བཅའི་དོན་བ བ་པའི་ ཡོན་ཏན་དང་།

a

12. འ ས་ ་ ་ཆེན་པོ་ཡོངས་ ་འཛིན་ པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་ [18a.5]

དང་།
a The 2005 Mundgod (37.2) misreads ba'i.
 Qualities of Trainings 281

སེམས་ཅན་གྱི་དོན་ ས་པའི་aཡོན་ཏན་དང་།
13.

14. ཤེར་ ིན་ཚང་བ་ ེད་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་

དང་བ ་བཞི་ཡོད་པའི་ ིར།

[Boundaries of qualities of trainings]b

a The 2005 Mundgod (37.4) misreads ba'i.

b Jam-yang-shay-pa omits the section on boundaries, which the Se-ra Jay scholar
Long-döl Ngag-wang-lo-sang, Vocabulary Occurring in the Perfection of Wis-
dom, 22b.1, gives as:
Qualities of training exist from the path of accumulation through the
Buddha ground.
ས་འཚམས་ཐེག་ཆེན་ཚགས་ལམ་ནས། སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་སའི་བར་
འོ། །
 34th Topic
4. Defects of Trainings ( ོར་བའི་ ོན་)
To indicate defects of trainings [Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Real-
izations, IV.12cd] says:52
The defects should definitely be realized
To be four groups of ten plus six.
བཞི་པ་ ོར་བའི་ ོན་ ནོ ་པར།
ོན་ནི་བ ་ཚན་བཞིར་བཅས་ པ། ། ག་ ་ངེས་པར་ གོ ས་
[18a.6]

པར་ ། །ཞེས་ག ངས།

[Ornament IV.12cd, 7a.5-7a.6]
ོན་ནི་བ ་ཚན་བཞིར་བཅས་པ། ། ག་ ་ངེས་པར་ ོགས་པར་ ། །
[Definition of a defect of training]
An interference that interrupts either the production, abiding, or en-
hancement of a training is the definition of a defect of training.
རོ ་བ་ ེ་བ་དང་གནས་པ་དང་ཁྱད་པར་ ་འགྲོ་བ་གང་ ང་ལ་
བར་ ་གཅོད་པའི་གེགས་དེ། ོར་བའི་ ོན་གྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: These are listed in chronological order. First, you
might have interference with the production of a training, then of
its lasting, and then of increasing or enhancing it.

[Divisions of defects of trainings]

When are divided, there are forty-six because there are twenty-three con-
trary conditions to generating a training that has not yet been generated
and twenty-three non-completions of favorable conditions. a The first
group of ten exists because there are the ten consisting of:

a About the twenty-three contrary conditions to generating a training that has not
yet been generated and twenty-three non-completions of favorable conditions,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words (55a.4) explains:
 Defects of Trainings 283

1. [the contrary condition] of needing to realize [the perfection of wis-

dom] through great difficulty
2. [the contrary condition] of too quick attainment of self-assurance
[thinking that oneself is terrific because one has done it so fast]
Dan-ma-lo-chö: It is said in sūtra, “O Subhūti, a too great sense of
prowess should be considered the work of a demon.”
3. [the contrary condition] of dysfunctional physical states
4. [the contrary condition] of dysfunctional mental states [such as non-
faith, wrong ideas, and so forth]
5. [the contrary condition] of performing recitation and so forth irration-
ally
6. [the contrary condition of] dislike due to neutrality [that is, due to Bud-
dha’s silence], a cause of turning away
Dan-ma-lo-chö: There were times when people, long accustomed
to non-Buddhist views, came to the Buddha to ask him questions,
and he did not give them answers. This was because if they asked
him if a self did or did not exist, it would in fact harm them if he
answered in either way, and therefore, he would remain silent. If
he said that a self did exist, this would increase their wrong view,
and if he said that a self did not exist, the person would generate
in the mental continuum a fear that their own self was annihilated,
and this would cause them to turn away from the practice of virtue.
Due to this fact, Buddha did not answer such questions. For this
reason, Nāgārjuna’s Treatise on the Middle says that when Bud-
dha was asked “Is there a beginning?” Buddha remained silent.
The reason for not answering was that if Buddha, when asked
about a self of persons, said “there is a self of persons,” then the
person would have an even stronger misconception of the self of
persons, but if Buddha said that there was not a self of persons,
the person would take this to mean that there was no basis for the
cause and effect of actions, and this would turn the person away
from the teaching. There being these two faults, Buddha remained
silent without saying anything. If a person disliked the fact that
Buddha remained silent at those times, this would be a defect of

It is explained that the first two groups of ten and the last three of the
final six [44-46] are the twenty-three abiding as contrary conditions, and
the two latter groups of ten and the first three of the final six [41-43] are
non-completions of favorable conditions.
The twenty-three contrary conditions are each labeled as such; non-completions
each begin with “losing out.”
284 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

training.
Āryadeva says in his Four Hundred that there are beings who
do not understand the full breadth of Buddha’s teaching, and
thereby see fault in it. They do not realize that this arises through
their own lack of understanding of Buddha’s purpose. Instead of
realizing their own fault, they impute fault to Buddha for the way
he acts.
7. [the contrary condition] of forsaking the fundamental causes and
thereupon upholding something lower
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This means, for instance, not focusing on the core
meaning in practicing the path, but rather just concentrating on a
minor branch practice. Or, not making effort at hearing and think-
ing about a text that sets forth the main meaning, but rather making
great effort at a text that sets forth just one of the subsidiary mean-
ings.
8. [the contrary condition] of forsaking the taste of the sublime
9. [the contrary condition] of degeneration from thoroughly maintaining
the supreme vehicle in all aspects
10. [the contrary condition] of degeneration from the object of intent.
The second group of ten exists because there are the ten consisting of:
11. [the contrary condition of] degeneration of the relationship of cause
and effect
12. [the contrary condition of] degeneration from the state of which there
is none higher
13. [the contrary condition of] conceptions with respect to many objects
14. [the contrary condition of] attachment to questioning concerning the
letters [of a text]
Dan-ma-lo-chö: There is nothing wrong with asking questions
about letters, but this refers to questions that act as obstacles to
engaging in hearing and thinking.
15. [the contrary condition of] attachment to nonactualities
16. [the contrary condition of] attachment to letters
17. [the contrary condition of] attachment to letters as nonexistent
Dan-ma-lo-chö: “Letters” in this and the previous item are the let-
ters of the Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras, their form in books,
which is different from the sūtras themselves. The previous item
refers to mistaken adherence to the forms of the letters constituting
the texts of the Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras as truly existent, and
this item refers to mistaken adherence to their not existing at all.
18. [the contrary condition of] attachment to areas and so forth
 Defects of Trainings 285

19. [the contrary condition of] experiencing the taste of goods, services,
and poetry
Dan-ma-lo-chö: If you engage in the perfection of wisdom in the
hopes of attaining good services and so forth, you would have this
defect. It is called “experiencing the taste” of these because if
someone gives you some goods, just as you like the taste of food
and so forth, so with this, once you get these experiences you like
the taste of them.
20. [the contrary condition of] seeking methods from non-paths.
The third group of ten exists because there are the ten consisting of:
21. losing out due to the listener having aspiration but the teacher being
indolent
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This group of ten items concerns situations that
would disrupt the relationship of listener and teacher. If one does
not hear the perfection of wisdom teachings well because of such
disruptions, one will not be able to meditate on them well and this
will cause a fault, or defect, in one’s training. The first refers to a
difference of enthusiasm and indolence between the listener and
the teacher in listening to or explaining the teachings on the per-
fection of wisdom. This might cause them not to begin the series
of teachings or if begun, not to bring them to conclusion.
22. losing out due to those two having different wanted places
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Or taken another way, if the lecturer wanted to
discourse on a certain subject and the listener wanted to hear about
another subject.
23. losing out due to the listener and the teacher desiring and not desiring
goods [respectively]
24. losing out due to [the listener and the teacher] being endowed and not
being endowed with qualities of the purified [respectively]
Dan-ma-lo-chö: In general there are twelve qualities of the puri-
fied [that is to say, of those who have been purified]. One is to be
satisfied with whatever you get from begging, rather than having
money and then acquiring what you specifically want. Another is
to be satisfied with making your garment from rags that have been
gathered from here and there, after cleaning and dying them, or to
be satisfied with wearing clothing that has been worn by someone
else for at least five months, and not wearing any new clothing.
Other qualities of the purified are to stay in a wooden hut or stone
cave, and to sleep in a sitting posture, not lying down. Those who
have such qualities are said to be endowed with the qualities of
286 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

the purified. If between the lecturer and listener, one did not like
these qualities of the purified and the other did, this would be a
cause of their separation.
25. losing out due to [the listener and the teacher] possessing practice of
virtue and nonvirtue [respectively]
26. losing out due to [the listener and the teacher] being generous and mi-
serly [respectively]
27. losing out due to [the listener and the teacher] giving [donations] and
not taking [those donations, respectively]
28. losing out due to [the listener and the teacher] understanding through
mentioning the beginning and through an elaboration of the meaning
[respectively]
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This refers to the one understanding through just
hearing the beginning of the topic and the other understanding
only through an elaboration of the meaning.
29. losing out due to [the listener and the teacher] knowing and not know-
ing the sūtras and so forth [respectively]
30. losing out due to [the listener and the teacher] possessing and not pos-
sessing the six perfections [respectively].
Dan-ma-lo-chö: To illustrate this with the perfection of ethics, one
would have the practice of that perfection and the other not.
The fourth group of ten exists because there are the ten consisting of:
31. losing out due to [the listener and the teacher] having and not having
skill in means [respectively]
32. losing out due to [the listener and the teacher] having attained and not
having attained retention (gzungs, dhāraṇī) [respectively]
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Retention here means the ability to retain the
meaning of the sūtras for a long time.
33. losing out due to [the listener and the teacher] wanting and not wanting
questions about the letters [respectively]
34. losing out due to [the listener and the teacher] being and not being
devoid of desire [respectively]
35. losing out due to oneself turning away from going into bad migrations
[for the sake of others]
36. losing out due to oneself turning toward happy transmigrations
37. losing out due to the lecturer and the listenera liking solitude and com-
panions [respectively]

a The order of the two has been reversed in accordance with the reading in Tshe-
chog-ling Ye-shay-gyal-tshan (40a.4, see below) and Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s
Meaning of the Words (54b.6).
 Defects of Trainings 287

38. losing out due to [the listener and the lecturer] wanting to associate
and not allowing such a chance [respectively]
Dan-ma-lo-chö: For example, if the lecturer had to just follow
what the listener wanted and did not get time to do what he had to
do, this would be a cause of separation of teacher and students.
39. losing out due to [the lecturer and the listener] somewhat desiring ma-
terial things and not wanting to give [respectively]
40. losing out due to [the lecturer and the listener] going and not going in
a direction where there will be interference with life [respectively].
The remaining six exist because there are the six consisting of the defects:
41. likewise, losing out due to [the lecturer and the listener] going and not
going in directions where there will be a good harvest and contagiona
42. losing out due to [the lecturer and the listener] going and not going in
a direction disrupted by robbers, thieves, and so forth [respectively]
43. losing out due to [the lecturer and the listener] taking and not taking
mental pleasure at looking in on households [respectively]
44. [the contrary condition of] demonic working to divide from the per-
fection of wisdom
Dan-ma-lo-chö: There is a demon called Ga-rab-wang-chug who
flings arrows at people; these are not arrows you can see or that
leave marks, but through being hit by such arrows afflictions are
strongly generated in the person. Due to that the person forgets or
loses the practice of the perfection of wisdom, or ceases to hear it,
and so forth.
45. [the contrary condition of] achievement of the fake
46. [the contrary condition of] generating a liking for objects that does not
accord with the fact.
ད ་ེ ན་ཞེ་ ག་ཡོད་དེ། ོར་བ་མ་ ེས་པ་ ེད་པའི་འགལ་
[18b.1]

ེན་ཉེར་ག མ་དང་། མ ན་ ེན་མ་ཚང་bབ་ཉེར་ག མ་ཡོད་

པའི་ ིར། བ ་ཚན་དང་པོ་ཡོད་དེ།
1. ཚགས་ཆེན་པོས་ ོགས་དགོས་པའི་དེ་དང་།

a It is likely that this means that the one wants to go to an area with a good harvest,
and the other wants to go to an area where there is contagion.
b Correcting mtshang in the 2011 TBRC bla brang (18b.1) to ma tshang in ac-
cordance with the 1995 Mundgod revision of Ngawang Gelek bla brang (18b.1)
and the 2005 Mundgod (37.11).
288 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

ོབས་པ་ ར་ཆེ་བའི་དེ་དང་།
2. [18b.2]

3. ས་ཀྱི་གནས་ངན་ལེན་ཀྱི་དེ་དང་།
4. སེམས་ཀྱི་གནས་ངན་ལེན་གྱི་དེ་དང་།

5. རིགས་མིན་གྱིས་ཁ་ཏོན་སོགས་ ད ེ ་པའི་དེ་དང་།
6. ིར་ ོགས་པའི་ ་ ང་མ་བ ན་པས་མི་དགའ་བ་དང་།
7. ་བའི་ ་བོར་ནས་དམན་པ་འཛིན་ པའི་དེ་དང་། [18b.3]

8. གྱ་ནོམ་པའི་རོ་ ང་བ་བོར་བའི་དེ་དང་།

9. མ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ ་ཐེག་པའི་མཆོག་ཀུན་ ་འཛིན་པ་

ཉམས་པའི་དེ་དང་།
10. ཆེད་ ་ ་བ་ཉམས་པའི་དེ་

དང་བ ་ཡོད། བ ་ཚན་གཉིས་པ་ཡོད་དེ།

11. ་འ ས་ཀྱི་ འ ེལ་བ་ཉམས་པ་དང་།
[18b.4]

12. གོང་ན་མེད་པའི་གནས་ལས་ཉམས་པ་དང་།

13. ལ་མང་པོ་ལ་ མ་པར་ ོག་པ་དང་།

14. ཡི་གེ་འ ི་བ་ལ་མངོན་པར་ཞེན་པ་དང་།

15. དངོས་མེད་ལ་མངོན་པར་ཞེན་པ་དང་།
16. ཡི་གེ་ལ་མངོན་ པར་ཞེན་པ་དང་།
[18b.5]

17. ཡི་གེ་མེད་པར་ཞེན་པ་དང་།

18. ལ་སོགས་ལ་ཞེན་པ་དང་།

19. ེད་བཀུར་ཚིགས་བཅད་ཀྱི་རོ་ ང་བ་དང་།

20. ལམ་མ་ཡིན་པ་ལས་ཐབས་ཚལ་བ་

དང་བ ་ཡོད། བ ་ཚན་ག མ་པ་ཡོད་དེ།

 Defects of Trainings 289

ཉན་ པ་པོ་དང་ ནོ ་པ་པོ་འ ན་པ་དང་ ོམས་ལས་

21. [18b.6]

ཀྱིས་ ལ་བ་དང་།
22. [ཉན་པ་པོ་དང་ ོན་པ་པོ་]དེ་གཉིས་འ ན་ ལ་ཐ་དད་པས་

ལ་བ་དང་།
23. ཉན་པ་པོ་དང་ ན ོ ་པ་པོ་ ེད་པ་ལ་འདོད་པ་དང་མི་
འདོད་པས་ ལ་བ་དང་།
24. ངས་པའི་ ཡོན་ཏན་ ན་ མི་ ན་གྱིས་དེ་དང་།
a [19a.1]

25. དགེ་མི་དགེའི་ཆོས་ཅན་གྱིས་དེ་དང་།

26. གཏོང་བ་དང་སེར་ ས་དེ་དང་།

27. ེར་བ་དང་མི་ལེན་པས་དེ་དང་།

28. མགོ་ ོས་པ་དང་དོན་ ོས་པའི་གོ་བས་དེ་དང་། [19a.2]

29. མདོ་སོགས་ཤེས་མི་ཤེས་ཀྱིས་དེ་དང་།

30. ིན་ ག་ ན་མི་ ན་གྱིས་དེ་

དང་བ ་ཡོད་པའི་ རི ། བ ་ཚན་བཞི་པ་ཡོད་དེ།

31. ཐབས་ལ་མཁས་མི་མཁས་ཀྱི་དེ་དང་།

32. ག ངས་ཐོབ་མ་ཐོབ་ཀྱི་དེ་དང་།
33. ཡི་གེ་ འ ི་འདོད་མི་འདོད་ཀྱི་དེ་དང་།
[19a.3]

34. འདོད་ཆགས་དང་ ལ་མ་ ལ་གྱི་དེ་དང་།

35. རང་ཉིད་ངན་འགྲོ་བའི་འགྲོ་བ་ལས་ ིར་ ོགས་པའི་དེ་

དང་།
36. རང་ཉིད་བདེ་འགྲོ་ལ་ ོགས་པའི་དེ་དང་།

a The 2005 Mundgod (38.11) misreads ba'i.

290 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

ཉན་པ་པོ་དང་འཆད་པ་པོ་གཅིག་ ་aཉིད་དང་
37. [19a.4]

འཁོར་ལ་དགའ་བའི་དེ་དང་།
38. ེས་ ་འ ལ ེ ་འདོད་ཅིང་གོ་ བས་མི་འ ེད་པའི་དེ་
དང་།
39. ཟང་ཟིང་ ང་ཟད་འདོད་ཅིང་ ན ི ་མི་འདོད་པའི་དེ་
དང་།
40. ོག་གི་བར་ཆད་ ་འ ར་བ་དང་མི་འ ར་བའི་

ོགས་ ་འགྲོ་མི་འགྲོའི་དེ་
[19a.5]

དང་བ ་ཡོད་པའི་ རི ། ག་མ་ ག་ཡོད་དེ།

41. དེ་བཞིན་ ་ལོ་ལེགས་དང་ ་གེའ་ི ོགས་ ་འགྲོ་མི་

འགྲོའི་དེ་དང་།
42. ཆོམ་ ན་གྱིས་ད གས་པའི་ ོགས་ ་དེ་འ ་དང་།
b

43. འཆད་པ་པོ་ དང་ཉན་པ་པོ་ཁྱིམ་ལ་ ་བས་ཡིད་བདེ་

[19a.6]

མི་བདེ་དང་།
44. བ ད་ཀྱིས་ཤེར་ ིན་དང་འ ད ེ ་པའི་ ོར་cབ་དང་།
45. བཅོས་མ་ བ་པ་དང་།
46. ལ་ ི་བཞིན་མིན་པ་ལ་དགའ་བ་ ེད་པའི་

ོན་དང་ ག་ཡོད་པའི་ ིར། 53

a Correcting bu in the 2011 TBRC bla brang and the 1995 Mundgod revision of
Ngawang Gelek bla brang (19a.4) to pu in accordance with the 2005 Mundgod
(39.3).
b Correcting chon in the 2011 TBRC bla brang and the 1995 Mundgod revision
of Ngawang Gelek bla brang (19a.5) to chom in accordance with the 2005
Mundgod (39.10).
c The 2005 Mundgod (39.11) misreads spyor.
 Defects of Trainings 291

Even though in that way interferences with trainings are manifold as in the
example of a jewel [owner] having many enemies, all interferences are
overcome, the wholesome class of removers of interferences being pro-
tected by the exalted consideration of all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, like
a mother who has many sons.
དེ་ ར་རིན་ པོ་ཆེ་ལ་དགྲ་མང་བའི་དཔེ་བཞིན་ ་ རོ ་བའི་
[19b.1]

བར་ཆད་མང་ཡང་བར་ཆད་བསལ་བའི་དཀར་པོའི་ ོགས་
སངས་ ས་ ང་སེམས་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱིས་དགོངས་པས་བ ངས་
ེ ་བར་ཆད་ཐམས་ཅད་ལས་ ལ་བའི་ ིར། ་མང་ པོ་ཡོད་
a [19b.2]

པའི་མའི་དཔེ་བཞིན་ནོ།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: For example, if someone has a great diamond
which no other can equal, some people might try to steal it, and
others might feel to buy it through deception, leading the person
into a low price. Such a person has many enemies.
A person who engages in the trainings is protected by whole-
some beings such as Buddhas and Bodhisattvas who pay attention
to oneself and thereby protect one. Even though there are many
interrupters, due to the force of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and
the wholesome types of deities the interrupters are overcome, and
one is able to remain with cultivation of the training. “Removers”
here means those which get rid of the interferences.
For, Āryavimuktisena’s Illumination of the Twenty-Five Thousand Stanza
Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra says:
As with the example of a mother who has many sons, those who
make effort at these [trainings] are protected and so forth by the
consideration of all Superior persons, the Buddhas, the Bodhisatt-
vas, and so forth of the worldly realms of the ten directions.
ཉི་ ང་ལས། b མ་ ་མང་པོ་ཡོད་པའི་མའི་དཔེས་དེ་ལ་ ོགས་
བ འི་འ གི ་ ེན་གྱི་ཁམས་ཀྱི་སངས་ ས་ ང་སེམས་ལ་སོགས་
a The 2011 TBRC bla brang and the 1995 Mundgod revision of Ngawang Gelek
bla brang (19b.1) read ste; the 2005 Mundgod (39.15) reads te.
b Āryavimuktisena's commentary, 134b.5-134b.6.
292 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

པ་འཕགས་པའི་གང་ཟག་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱིས་དགོངས་པས་ དེ་ [19b.3]

ལ་བ ནོ ་པ་ མས་ལ་དེ་ མས་ཀྱིས་བ ངས་པ་ a ལ་སོགས་པ་

མཛད་པ་ཉིད་དང་། ཞེས་ག ངས་པའི་ ིར།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: In India at that time, if a mother had many sons,
her children could take care of her.

[Boundaries of defects of trainings]b

a srung ba in Āryavimuktisena's commentary (134b.6)

b Jam-yang-shay-pa omits the section on boundaries, which Long-döl Ngag-
wang-lo-sang, Vocabulary Occurring in the Perfection of Wisdom, 22b.4, gives
as:
Defects of training exist from before entering the path through the sev-
enth ground.
ས་འཚམས་ལམ་མ་ གས་ནས། ས་བ ན་པའི་བར་ འོ། །
 35th Topic
5. Characteristics of Trainings ( ོར་བའི་མཚན་ཉིད་)
To indicate characteristics of trainings [Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear
Realizations, IV.13] gives a brief explanation with one stanza:54
{IV.13}
Those by which [trainings] are characterized are to be known
As characteristics. Moreover, those characteristics are in three
aspects—
Knowledge, differentiating, and functional.
The essence is what is characterized; it also is [a characteristic].
and then an extensive explanation [IV.14-31]:a
{IV.14}
Knowing the arising of a One-Gone-Thus,
The nondisintegrative nature of the transient world,
The mental behaviors of sentient beings,
The withdrawal of it, distraction outside,
{IV.15}
The aspect of inexhaustibility,
Accompaniment with desire, and so forth, vast,
Bigness, immeasurability,
Indemonstrability of consciousness,
{IV.16}
Invisibility of mind, the fluctuations
And so forth of those consciousnesses;
In addition to those, knowing
Those in the aspect of thusness;
{IV.17}
The Subduer, having realized thusness,
Teaches it to others. These
Comprise the knowledge characteristics

a For Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s fleshing out of stanzas IV.14-17 see backnote 55; for
stanzas IV.18-19 see backnote 56; for stanzas IV.20-22 see backnote 57; for stan-
zas IV.23-26 see backnote 58; for stanzas IV.27-28 see backnote 59; for stanzas
IV.29-31 see backnote 60.
294 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

On the occasion of knowledge of all.

{IV.18}
Emptiness, signlessness,
Exclusion of wish,
Nonproduction, noncessation, and so forth,
The noumenon as without disturbance,
{IV.19}
As without composition, as without conceptualization,
And as without divisions, and characteristics as nonexistent
Are asserted as being knowledge characteristics
On the occasion of knowledge of paths.
{IV.20}
In dependence upon one’s own practice
Knowing dwelling, respecting,
Taking as guru, honoring,
Worshipping, without activities,
{IV.21}
And engagement in all;
Teaching nonperception,
The world in the aspect of emptiness,
To be expressed, to be known, to be directly seen,
{IV.22}
To be taught as inconceivable, as just quiescent,
Negation of the world, and of discrimination—
These are described as knowledge characteristics
For the mode of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects.
{IV.23}
It is explained that the sixteen periods—
Having as objects of activity the truths
Elevated by way of features such as inconceivability and so
forth—
Are differentiating characteristics.
{IV.24}
Inconceivability, inequality,
Thoroughly beyond comprehension, and enumeration,
Containing all the Superiors, known
By the wise, knowing the uncommon,
 Characteristics of Trainings 295

{IV.25}
Knowing faster, without diminishment or increase,
Achieving, correct achievement,
Observing, endowment with the support,
Entirety, restrainers,
{IV.26}
And non-taste—these called
“Natures of sixteen characteristics”
Are superior to others,
And hence are elevating paths.
{IV.27}
Help, happiness, protection,
Refuge of humans,
Place of rest, defender,
Island, “leader,”
{IV.28}
Spontaneity, nonmanifestation
Of the fruit by way of the three vehicles,
And lastly the function of support—
These are functional characteristics.
{IV.29}
Isolation from afflictions, signs, marks,
Discordant classes and antidotes;
The difficult, definiteness,
Intents, nonobservability,
{IV.30}
And stopping conceptions;
That which is “observing,”
Disagreeing, unimpeded,
Baseless, without going, without production,
{IV.31}
Not observing thusness—
Since the natures of sixteen essences
Characterize what are as if the characterized,
They are asserted as a fourth characteristic.
་པ་ ོར་བའི་མཚན་ཉིད་ ོན་པར།
296 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

གང་གིས་མཚན་དེ་མཚན་ཉིད་ ། །ཞེས་སོགས་ཀྱི་ཚིགས་བཅད་
གཅིག་གིས་མདོར་བ ན་ནས། ས་པར་འཆད་པ་ལ། དེ་
[19b.4]

བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་འ ང་བ་དང་། །ནས། མཚན་ཉིད་བཞི་བར་

བཞེད་པ་ཡིན། །ཞེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament IV.13-31, 7a.6-8a.2]
{IV.13}
གང་གིས་aམཚན་དེ་bམཚན་ཉིད་ ། །ཤེས་ ་དེ་ཡང་ མ་པ་ག མ། །
ཤེས་པ་ཁྱད་པར་ ེད་པ་ ེ། །ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་གང་མཚན་ ་ཡང་། །c
{IV.14}
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་འ ང་བ་དང་། །འ ིག་ ེན་འ ིག་མེད་བདག་ཉིད་དང་། །
སེམས་ཅན་སེམས་ཀྱི་ ོད་པ་དང་། །དེ་བ ས་པ་དང་ ིར་ ས་དང་། །
{IV.15}
མི་བཟད་པ་ཡི་ མ་པ་དང་། །ཆགས་བཅས་སོགས་དང་ ་ཆེན་དང་། །
ཆེན་པོར་ ར་དང་ཚད་མེད་དང་། ། མ་ཤེས་བ ན་ ་མེད་པ་དང་། །
{IV.16}
སེམས་བ ར་མེད་དང་ཤེས་པ་དེ། །གཡོ་བ་ལ་སོགས་ཤེས་ ་དང་། །
དེ་ལས་གཞན་ཡང་དེ་དག་ནི། །དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ མ་པར་ཤེས། །
{IV.17}
བ་པས་དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་ ོགས་ཏེ། །གཞན་ལ་བ ན་པ་ཞེས་ ་འདི། །

a snar thang (8b.1), Peking (8a.2), Āryavimuktisena (134b.7), and Haribhadra

(110a.6) read gis; co ne (7a.6), sde dge (7a.6), and dpe bsdur ma (16.7) read gi.
b Following Haribhadra (110a.6) which reads de, as does Jam-yang-shay-pa (see
also Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s commentary in the backnotes); snar thang (8b.1), Pe-
king (8a.2), co ne (7a.6), sde dge (7a.6), and dpe bsdur ma (16.7), and Āryavimuk-
tisena (134b.7) read te.
c Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words (55a.7) reads yin, but all other edi-
tions—snar thang (8b.1), co ne (7a.7), Peking (8b.3), dpe bsdur ma (16.8),
Haribhadra’s commentary (110a.6), Āryavimuktisena’s commentary (134b.7)—
read yang. The corresponding Sanskrit stanza is:
lakṣyate yena takkṣeyaṃ lakṣaṇaṃ trividhaṃ ca tat |
jñānaṃ viśeṣaḥ kāritraṃ svabhāvo yaśca lakṣyate || IV.13 ||
See Stcherbatsky and Obermiller, Abhisamayālaṃkāra, 19. Considering that the
corresponding Sanskrit term is ca, yang is correct.
 Characteristics of Trainings 297

ཐམས་ཅད་ཤེས་པ་ཉིད་ བས་ཀྱི། །ཤེས་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་བ ས་པ་ཡིན། །

{IV.18}
ོང་ཉིད་མཚན་མེད་བཅས་པ་དང་། ། ོན་པ་ མ་པར་ ངས་པ་དང་། །
ེ་མེད་འགག་པ་མེད་སོགས་དང་། །ཆོས་ཉིད་ མ་པར་འ ག་མེད་དང་། །
{IV.19}
འ ་མི་ ེད་དང་ མ་མི་ ོག །རབ་ད ེ་མཚན་ཉིད་མེད་ཉིད་ལ། །
ལམ་ཤེས་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ བས་ཀྱིས་ནི། །ཤེས་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་ཡིན་པར་བཞེད། །
{IV.20}
དེ་ནི་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་བ ེན་ནས། །གནས་དང་གུས་པར་ ་བ་དང་། །
་མ་ཉིད་དང་མཉེས་པ་དང་། །དེ་ལ་མཆོད་དང་ ེད་མེད་དང་། །
{IV.21}
ཀུན་ ་འ ག་མཁྱེན་གང་ཡིན་དང་། །མ་མཐོང་ ོན་པར་མཛད་པ་དང་། །
འ ིག་ ེན་ ོང་ཉིད་ མ་པ་དང་། །བ ོད་དང་ཤེས་མཛད་མངོན་ མ་མཛད། །
{IV.22}
བསམ་མི་ཁྱབ་དང་ཞི་ཉིད་ ོན། །འ ིག་ ེན་འ ་ཤེས་འགོག་པ་ལ། །
མ་པ་ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ ལ་ལ་ནི། །ཤེས་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་ཅེས་བཤད་དོ། །
{IV.23}
བསམ་མི་ཁྱབ་སོགས་ཁྱད་པར་གྱིས། །ཁྱད་ གས་བདེན་པའི་ ོད་ ལ་ཅན། །
ད་ཅིག་མ་ནི་བ ་ ག་གིས༏ །ཁྱད་པར་མཚན་ཉིད་བཤད་པ་ཡིན། །
{IV.24}
བསམ་མི་ཁྱབ་དང་མི་མཉམ་དང་། །གཞལ་དང་བགྲང་ལས་ཡང་དག་འདས། །
འཕགས་པ་ཀུན་བ ས་མཁས་པ་ཡིས། །རིག་ ་ ན་མོང་མིན་ཤེས་ཉིད། །
{IV.25}
ཤེས་ ར་ ི་དང་གང་མེད་དང་། ། བ་དང་ཡང་དག་འ བ་པ་དང་། །
དམིགས་པ་ ེན་aདང་བཅས་པ་དང་། །མཐའ་དག་པ་དང་ཡོངས་འཛིན་དང་། །
{IV.26}
རོ་ ང་མེད་དང་ཁྱད་པར་ནི། །བ ་ ག་བདག་ཉིད་ཅེས་ ་ ེ། །
གང་གིས་ལམ་ནི་གཞན་དག་ལས། །ཁྱད་ ་འཕགས་པས་ཁྱད་པར་ལམ། །
{IV.27}
ཕན་དང་བདེ་དང་ ོབ་པ་དང་༏ །མི་ མས་ཀྱི་ནི་ བས་དག་དང་། །
གནས་དང་ད ང་གཉེན་གླིང་དང་ནི། །ཡོངས་འ ེན་པ་ཞེས་ ་བ་དང་། །
a co ne (7b.6), sde dge (7b.6), and dpe bsdur ma (17.10) read brtan, but snar
thang (9a.1), Peking (9a.4), Āryavimuktisena’s commentary (139b.5), and
Haribhadra’s Clear Meaning (111b.5) read rten, which is preferable by meaning.
298 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

{IV.28}
ན་གྱིས་ བ་དང་ཐེག་ག མ་གྱིས། །འ ས་ ་མངོན་ མ་མི་ ེད་དག
ཐ་མ་ ེན་གྱི་མཛད་པ་ ེ། །འདི་ནི་ ེད་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་ཡིན། །
{IV.29}
ཉོན་མོངས་ གས་དང་མཚན་མ་དང་། །མི་མ ན་ ོགས་དང་གཉེན་པོ་དག །
དབེན་དང་དཀའ་དང་ངེས་པ་དང་། །ཆེད་ ་ ་དང་མི་དམིགས་དང་། །
{IV.30}
མངོན་པར་ཞེན་པ་བཀག་པ་དང་། །དམིགས་པ་ཞེས་ ་གང་ཡིན་དང་། །
མི་མ ན་ཐོགས་པ་མེད་དང་དེ། །གཞི་མེད་འགྲོ་མེད་ ེ་མེད་དང་། །
{IV.31}
དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་ནི་མི་དམིགས་དང་། །ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་བ ་ ག་བདག་ཉིད། །
མཚན་ ་ ་ ར་མཚན་པས་ན། །མཚན་ཉིད་བཞི་བར་བཞེད་པ་ཡིན། །
With regard to [characteristics of trainings] there are three: definition, di-
visions, and boundaries.
དེ་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས་ག མ་ [19b.5]

Definition [of a training of a path perfection of wis-

dom]
A Bodhisattva’s yoga that characterizes from the viewpoint of the en-
tity or capacity of a training is the definition of a training of a path per-
fection of wisdom
དང་པོ་ནི། ོར་བའི་ངོ་བོའམ་ ས་པའི་ཆ་ནས་མཆོན་པར་ ེད་
པའི་སེམས་དཔའི་ ལ་འ ོར་དེ། ལམ་ཤེར་ ནི ་གྱི་ ོར་བའི་
མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: That which is being characterized here is a train-
ing itself; characteristics of training serve to characterize a train-
ing from the viewpoint of the training’s own entity or capacity.

Divisions [of characteristics of trainings]

When divided, there are ninety-one because there are forty-eight
knowledge characteristics (shes mtshan, jñānalakṣāni), sixteen differenti-
ating characteristics (khyad mtshan, viśeṣalakṣaṇāni), eleven functional
 Characteristics of Trainings 299

characteristics (byed pa’i mtshan nyid, kāritralakṣaṇāni), and sixteen es-

sential characteristics (ngo bo nyid mtshan, svabhāvalakṣāni).
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན་གོ་གཅིག་ཡོད་དེ། ཤེས་མཚན་ཞེ་བ ད་
དང་ ཁྱད་མཚན་བ ་ ག་དང་། ེད་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་བ ་
[19b.6]

གཅིག་དང་། ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མཚན་བ ་ ག་ཡོད་པའི་ ིར།

(a) Forty-eight knowledge characteristics
To indicate [the forty-eight knowledge characteristics Maitreya’s Orna-
ment for the Clear Realizations, IV.14-22] says:55
{IV.14}
Knowing the arising of a One-Gone-Thus,
The nondisintegrative nature of the transient world,
The mental behaviors of sentient beings,
The withdrawal of it, distraction outside,
{IV.15}
The aspect of inexhaustibility,
Accompaniment with desire, and so forth, vast,
Bigness, immeasurability,
Indemonstrability of consciousness,
{IV.16}
Invisibility of mind, the fluctuations
And so forth of those consciousnesses;
In addition to those, knowing
Those in the aspect of thusness;
{IV.17}
The Subduer, having realized thusness,
Teaches it to others. These
Comprise the knowledge characteristics
On the occasion of knowledge of all.
{IV.18}
Emptiness, signlessness,
Exclusion of wish,
Nonproduction, noncessation, and so forth,
The noumenon as without disturbance,
{IV.19}
300 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

As without composition, as without conceptualization,

And as without divisions, and characteristics as nonexistent
Are asserted as being knowledge characteristics
On the occasion of knowledge of paths.
{IV.20}
In dependence upon one’s own practice
Knowing dwelling, respecting,
Taking as guru, honoring,
Worshipping, without activities,
{IV.21}
And engagement in all;
Teaching nonperception;
The world in the aspect of emptiness;
To be expressed, to be known, to be directly seen,
{IV.22}
To be taught as inconceivable, as just quiescent,
Negation of the world, and of discrimination—
These are described as knowledge characteristics
For the mode of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects.
དང་པོ་[ཤེས་མཚན་ཞེ་བ ད་] ོན་པར། དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་འ ང་
བ་དང་། །ནས། ཤེས་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་ཅེས་བཤད་ དོ། །ཞེས་ [20a.1]

ག ངས།
[Ornament IV.14-22, 7a.6-7b.4]
{IV.14}
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་འ ང་བ་དང་། །འ ིག་ ེན་འ ིག་མེད་བདག་ཉིད་དང་། །
སེམས་ཅན་སེམས་ཀྱི་ ོད་པ་དང་། །དེ་བ ས་པ་དང་ ིར་ ས་དང་། །
{IV.15}
མི་བཟད་པ་ཡི་ མ་པ་དང་། །ཆགས་བཅས་སོགས་དང་ ་ཆེན་དང་། །
ཆེན་པོར་ ར་དང་ཚད་མེད་དང་། ། མ་ཤེས་བ ན་ ་མེད་པ་དང་། །
{IV.16}
སེམས་བ ར་མེད་དང་ཤེས་པ་དེ། །གཡོ་བ་ལ་སོགས་ཤེས་ ་དང་། །
དེ་ལས་གཞན་ཡང་དེ་དག་ནི། །དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ མ་པར་ཤེས། །
{IV.17}
བ་པས་དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་ ོགས་ཏེ། །གཞན་ལ་བ ན་པ་ཞེས་ ་འདི། །
ཐམས་ཅད་ཤེས་པ་ཉིད་ བས་ཀྱི། །ཤེས་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་བ ས་པ་ཡིན། །
 Characteristics of Trainings 301

{IV.18}
ོང་ཉིད་མཚན་མེད་བཅས་པ་དང་། ། ོན་པ་ མ་པར་ ངས་པ་དང་། །
ེ་མེད་འགག་པ་མེད་སོགས་དང་། །ཆོས་ཉིད་ མ་པར་འ ག་མེད་དང་། །
{IV.19}
འ ་མི་ ེད་དང་ མ་མི་ ོག །རབ་ད ེ་མཚན་ཉིད་མེད་ཉིད་ལ། །
ལམ་ཤེས་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ བས་ཀྱིས་ནི། །ཤེས་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་ཡིན་པར་བཞེད། །
{IV.20}
དེ་ནི་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་བ ེན་ནས། །གནས་དང་གུས་པར་ ་བ་དང་། །
་མ་ཉིད་དང་མཉེས་པ་དང་། །དེ་ལ་མཆོད་དང་ ེད་མེད་དང་། །
{IV.21}
ཀུན་ ་འ ག་མཁྱེན་གང་ཡིན་དང་། །མ་མཐོང་ ོན་པར་མཛད་པ་དང་། །
འ ིག་ ེན་ ོང་ཉིད་ མ་པ་དང་། །བ ོད་དང་ཤེས་མཛད་མངོན་ མ་མཛད། །
{IV.22}
བསམ་མི་ཁྱབ་དང་ཞི་ཉིད་ ོན། །འ ིག་ ེན་འ ་ཤེས་འགོག་པ་ལ། །
མ་པ་ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ ལ་ལ་ནི། །ཤེས་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་ཅེས་བཤད་དོ། །
Definition [of a knower that is the entity of a training]
A Bodhisattva’s pristine wisdom that is conjoined with a complete
type of special method and wisdom—great compassion, wisdom real-
izing emptiness, and so forth is the definition of a knower that is the
entity of a training.
མཚན་ཉིད་ནི། ིང་ ེ་ཆེན་པོ་དང་ ོང་ཉིད་ ོགས་པའི་ཤེས་
རབ་སོགས་ཐབས་ཤེས་ཁྱད་པར་ཅན་གྱི་རིགས་ ོགས་པས་ཟིན་
པའི་aསེམས་དཔའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་དེ། ོར་བའི་ངོ་བོར་ ར་པའི་
[20a.2]

ཤེས་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Great compassion is the wish to free all sentient
beings from suffering. The wisdom realizing emptiness under-
stands emptiness just as it is. It is necessary to have non-separated
wisdom and method. For the monarch of swans to fly in the air, it
must have two wings; both must be flawless. If there is a defect

a For rigs rdzogs pas zin pa'i sems pa'i in the 2011 TBRC bla brang and the 1995
Mundgod revision of Ngawang Gelek bla brang (20a.1), the 2005 Mundgod (41.1)
reads rigs rdzogs pa ma yin pa'i sems pa'i.
302 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

with one wing, it cannot fly. Chandrakīrti says his Supplement to

(Nāgārjuna’s) “Treatise on the Middle” (VI.226):
The king of swans—with the broad white vast wings
Of the conventional and suchness flapping at the apex
Of the swans of beings [to be tamed]—
Soars through the force of the winds of virtue
To the supreme far shore of the ocean of a Conqueror’s qual-
ities.
The king of swans who has the broad, white, vast wings of great
compassion and realization of emptiness—a sixth ground Bodhi-
sattva who has such method and wisdom—that king of swans (the
leader of the flock who flies at the head of the “V”), in dependence
on the force of the wind of virtue, the practice of the six perfec-
tions, is able to cross to the other side of the ocean of the qualities
of Buddhahood.
Illustrations are, for instance, the sixteen Bodhisattva yogas (see the six-
teen essential characteristics below, 324) isolated from the signs of the
afflictions and so forth.
མཚན་གཞི་ཉོན་མོངས་ གས་སོགས་ཀྱིས་དབེན་པའི་སེམས་
དཔའི་ ལ་འ ོར་བ ་ ག་ ་ །
[Divisions of knowledge characteristics]
When knowledge characteristics are divided, there are three—subjective
aspects of a Bodhisattva’s training in a knower of bases, subjective aspects
of a Bodhisattva’s training in a knower of paths, and subjective aspects of
a Bodhisattva’s training in an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects.
ཤེས་མཚན་དེ་ལ་ད ེ་ན།
1. སེམས་དཔའི་གཞི་ཤེས་ ོར་བའི་ ཤེས་ མ་དང་། [20a.3]

2. སེམས་དཔའི་ལམ་ཤེས་ ོར་བའི་ཤེས་ མ་དང་།

3. སེམས་དཔའི་ མ་མཁྱེན་ ོར་བའི་ཤེས་ མ་

ག མ།
 Characteristics of Trainings 303

SUBJECTIVE ASPECTS OF A BODHISATTVA’S TRAINING IN A

KNOWER OF BASES

[DEFINITION OF A BODHISATTVA’S TRAINING IN A KNOWER OF

BASES]
A Bodhisattva’s yoga that has abandoned the four, the signs of afflictions
and so forth, and observes any aspect of a knower of bases, such as know-
ing the arising of a One-Gone-Thus and so forth characterizes a Bodhi-
sattva’s training in a knower of bases, since a Bodhisattva’s pristine wis-
dom that has the aspect of any [of the aspects of a knower of bases,
namely,] knowing the arising of a One-Gone-Thus and so forth is taken
as the definition of it [that is, a Bodhisattva’s training in a knower of ba-
ses].
དང་པོ་[སེམས་དཔའི་གཞི་ཤེས་ ོར་བའི་ཤེས་ མ་]ནི། ཉོན་མོངས་ གས་
སོགས་བཞི་ ོང་ཞིང་། དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་ འ ང་བ་ཤེས་ [20a.4]

པ་སོགས་གཞི་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ མ་པ་གང་ཡང་ ང་བ་ལ་དམིགས་པའི་

སེམས་དཔའི་ ལ་འ རོ ་དེ། སེམས་དཔའི་གཞི་ཤེས་ ོར་བར་
མཚན། དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་འ ང་བ་ཤེས་པ་སོགས་གང་ ང་
གི་ མ་པ་ཅན་གྱི་སེམས་དཔའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་དེ་དེའི་མཚན་ཉིད་
[20a.5]

ས་པས་སོ། །
[DIVISIONS OF SUBJECTIVE ASPECTS OF A BODHISATTVA’S
TRAINING IN A KNOWER OF BASES]
When divided, there are sixteen because there are the sixteen consisting
of:
1. knowing the arising of a One-Gone-Thus
2. knowing that the transient world does not [ultimately] disintegrate
3. knowing the mental behaviors of sentient beings
4. knowing the withdrawal of minds [inside]
5. knowing the distraction of minds [outside]
6. knowing minds’ aspect of inexhaustibility
7. knowing minds’ separation from desire
8. knowing minds’ accompaniment with desire and so forth
304 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

9. knowing minds as vast

10. knowing minds as big
11. knowing minds as immeasurable
12. knowing minds as indemonstrable
13. knowing minds as invisible
14. knowing minds as the three—fluctuating and so forth
15. knowing the aspect of thusness
16. knowing that Monarchs of Subduers, having realized suchness, teach
it to others.
ད ེ་ན་བ ་ ག་ཡོད་དེ།
1. དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་འ ང་བ་ཤེས་པ་དང་།

2. འ ིག་ ེན་འ ིག་མེད་ཤེས་པ་དང་།

3. སེམས་ཅན་གྱི་སེམས་ ོད་ཤེས་པ་དང་།
[20a.6]

4. སེམས་བ ས་པ་ཤེས་པ་དང་།

5. སེམས་གཡེང་བ་ཤེས་པ་དང་།

6. སེམས་མི་ཟད་པའི་ མ་པ་ཤེས་པ་དང་།

7. སེམས་འདོད་ཆགས་དང་ ལ་བ་ཤེས་པ་དང་།

8. སེམས་ཆགས་སོགས་དང་ བཅས་པ་ཤེས་པ་དང་།
[20b.1]

9. སེམས་ ་ཆེན་ཤེས་པ་དང་།

10. སེམས་ཆེན་པོ་ཤེས་པ་དང་།

11. སེམས་ཚད་མེད་ཤེས་པ་དང་།

12. སེམས་བ ན་མེད་ཤེས་པ་དང་།

13. སེམས་བ ར་མེད་ཤེས་པ་དང་།

14. སེམས་གཡོ་ སོགས་ག མ་ཤེས་པ་དང་།

[20b.2]

15. དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ མ་པ་ཤེས་པ་དང་།

16. བ་དབང་གིས་དེ་ཉིད་ ོགས་ནས་གཞན་ལ་ ོན་པ་

 Characteristics of Trainings 305

ཤེས་པ་
དང་བཅས་པ་བ ་ ག་ཡོད་པའི་ ིར།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Through these sixteen a training is characterized
from a subjective point of view. Amongst trainings, these charac-
terize a knower of bases. A training of a knower of bases is a
knower of bases itself. It is a making of effort for the sake of
achieving an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects.a

SUBJECTIVE ASPECTS OF A BODHISATTVA’S TRAINING IN A

KNOWER OF PATHS

[DEFINITION OF A KNOWLEDGE CHARACTERISTIC OF A TRAINING

IN A KNOWER OF PATHS INDICATED HERE]
A Bodhisattva’s pristine wisdom that is qualified with any of the
knowledge aspects of a knower of paths—emptiness, signlessness, and
so forth is the definition of a knowledge characteristic of a training in a
knower of paths indicated here.
གཉིས་པ་[སེམས་དཔའི་ལམ་ཤེས་ ོར་བའི་ཤེས་ མ་]ནི། ོང་ཉིད་མཚན་
མེད་ སོགས་ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ཤེས་པའི་ མ་པ་གང་ཡང་ ང་
[20b.3]

བའི་ཁྱད་པར་ ་ ས་པའི་སེམས་དཔའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་དེ། འདིར་

བ ན་ལམ་ཤེས་ ོར་བའི་ཤེས་མཚན་གྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
To indicate illustrations [of knowledge characteristics of a training in a
knower of paths], a Bodhisattva’s training that is qualified with achieving
the armor of others’ welfareb difficult to perform and so forth (see 325),
and that has the aspect of any of the aspects of a knower of paths such as
emptiness, signlessness, and so forth [Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear
Realizations, IV.18-19] says:56
{IV.18}
Emptiness, signlessness,

a In this sense “training” means “technique.”

b Dan-ma-lo-chö: This means that such practitioners have great strength of heart
such that they are not discouraged with regard to achieving others’ welfare.
306 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

Exclusion of wish,
Nonproduction, noncessation, and so forth,
The noumenon as without disturbance,
{IV.19}
As without composition, as without conceptualization,
And as without divisions, and characteristics as nonexistent
Are asserted as being knowledge characteristics
On the occasion of knowledge of paths.
མཚན་གཞི་གཞན་དོན་གྱི་གོ་ཆ་ ་དཀའ་བ་ སོགས་ བ་ [20b.4]

པའི་ཁྱད་པར་ ་ ས་ཤིང་ ངོ ་ཉིད་མཚན་མེད་སོགས་ལམ་ཤེས་

ཀྱི་ མ་པ་གང་ ང་གི་ མ་ཅན་གྱི་སེམས་དཔའི་ ོར་བ་ ་ ་
ོན་པར། ོང་ཉིད་མཚན་མ་མེད་བཅས་དང་། །ནས། ལམ་ཤེས་
ཉིད་ཀྱི་ བས་ཀྱི་ནི། །ཤེས་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་བ ས་པ་
[20b.5]

ཡིན། །ཞེས་ག ངས།

[Ornament IV.18-19, 7b.1-7b.2]a
{IV.18}
ོང་ཉིད་མཚན་མེད་བཅས་པ་དང་། ། ོན་པ་ མ་པར་ ངས་པ་དང་། །
ེ་མེད་འགག་པ་མེད་སོགས་དང་། །ཆོས་ཉིད་ མ་པར་འ ག་མེད་དང་། །
{IV.19}
འ ་མི་ ེད་དང་ མ་མི་ ོག །རབ་ད ེ་མཚན་ཉིད་མེད་ཉིད་ལ། །
ལམ་ཤེས་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ བས་ཀྱིས་bནི། །ཤེས་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་ཡིན་པར་བཞེད། །
[DIVISIONS OF SUBJECTIVE ASPECTS OF A BODHISATTVA’S
TRAINING IN A KNOWER OF PATHS]
When divided, there are sixteen because there are the sixteen consisting of:
1. knowing emptiness

a There are a few insignificant discrepancies with Jam-yang-shay-pa’s citation.

b co ne (7b.3), snar thang (8b.4), dpe bsdur ma (16.20), Peking (8b.6), Ārya-
vimuktisena’s commentary (136a.7), and Haribhadra’s Clear Meaning (111a.1)
read kyis. The 2011 TBRC bla brang and the 1995 Mundgod revision of Ngawang
Gelek bla brang (20b.5) read gi, which seems preferable both grammatically and
because it parallels the construction of the two stanzas above.
 Characteristics of Trainings 307

Dan-ma-lo-chö: This is taken as the door of liberation of empti-

ness, and this means emptiness from the viewpoint of the object
itself.
likewise:
2. knowing signlessness
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This is taken as the door of liberation of signless-
ness, which refers to an emptiness of compounded phenomena
from the viewpoint of their causes.
3. knowing wishlessness
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This is taken as the door of liberation of wishless-
ness, which means to know the emptiness of the object by way of
the emptiness of the effect of that object. These are called the three
doors of liberation.
4. knowing nonproduction ultimately
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This is the lack of ultimate production. The fact
that the word skye (production) has no prefix gives it a sense of
the future; whereas when it has a prefix, there is a sense of present
production. Here, this indicates that the entity of the object has not
yet been produced but the necessary causes for its production have
come together. If there were a prefix, it would indicate that the
entity of the object had been produced.
5. knowing noncessation [ultimately]
Dan-ma-la-chö: This means the ceasing of something that does
exist.
and [the next] six which are included within the term “and so forth” [in
Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations]:
6. knowing the [ultimate] nonexistence of the class of the afflicted phe-
nomena
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This means knowing that desire, hatred, igno-
rance, and so forth do not exist ultimately.
7. knowing the [ultimate] nonexistence of the class of pure phenomena
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This means knowing that true paths, true cessa-
tions, and so forth do not exist ultimately.
8. knowing the [ultimate] nonexistence of factualities
9. [knowing] the nature
10. knowing the [ultimate] nonexistence of a support
11. knowing the character of space
and:
12. knowing that the noumenon is without disturbance
13. knowing that the noumenon is without composition
14. knowing that the noumenon is without conceptualization
308 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

15. knowing that the noumenon is without divisions

16. knowing that the noumenon is without characteristics.
ད ེ་ན་བ ་ ག་ཡོད་དེ།
1. ོང་ཉིད་ཤེས་པ་དང་།
2. དེ་བཞིན་ ་མཚན་མེད་དང་།

3. ོན་མེད་དང་།
4. དོན་དམ་པར་ ེ་མེད་དང་།

5. འགགས་ མེད་དང་།
[20b.6]

སོགས་པའི་ ས་བ ས་པ་

6. ཀུན་ཉོན་མེད་པ་དང་།

7. མ་ ང་མེད་པ་དང་།
8. དངོས་པོ་མེད་པ་དང་།

9. ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་དང་།

10. ེན་མེད་དང་།

11. ནམ་མཁའི་མཚན་ཉིད་

ག་དང་།
12. ཆོས་ཉིད་ མ་པར་འ ག་མེད་དང་། [21a.1]

13. འ ་མི་ ད ེ ་པ་དང་།

14. མ་པར་མི་ ོག་པ་དང་།

15. རབ་ད ེ་དང་།

16. མཚན་ཉིད་མེད་པ་ཤེས་པ་

དང་བ ་ ག་ཡོད་པའི་ ིར།

 Characteristics of Trainings 309

SUBJECTIVE ASPECTS OF A BODHISATTVA’S TRAINING IN AN

EXALTED-KNOWER-OF-ALL-ASPECTS

[DEFINITION OF A TRAINING IN A KNOWER OF PATHS THAT IS A

TRAINING IN AN EXALTED-KNOWER-OF-ALL-ASPECTS]
A Bodhisattva’s pristine wisdom that has the aspect of observ-
ing any of the aspects of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects,
such as the abiding in bliss in this life and so forth of just Ones-
Gone-Thus is the definition of training in a knower of paths that
is a training in an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects.
ག མ་པ་[སེམས་དཔའི་ མ་མཁྱེན་ ོར་བའི་ཤེས་ མ་]ནི། དེ་བཞིན་
གཤེགས་པ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་མཐོང་ཆོས་ལ་ བདེར་གནས་སོགས་ མ་
[21a.2]

མཁྱེན་གྱི་ མ་པ་གང་ ང་ལ་དམིགས་པའི་ མ་ཅན་གྱི་སེམས་

དཔའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་དེ། མ་མཁྱེན་ ོར་བའི་ལམ་ཤེས་ ོར་བའི་
མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: A One-Gone-Thus (de bzhin gshegs pa,
tathāgata) is so called because of having realized thusness (de
bzhin nyid, tathatā) just as it is and also unerringly teaching it to
others as it is seen. Because of having gone (gshegs pa, gata) to
such a high rank they are called Ones-Gone-Thus. A Buddha has
the meditative stabilization of bliss in this lifetime.
With respect to illustrations [of knowledge-characteristics of an exalted-
knower-of-all-aspects], there are, for instance, the sixteen indicated here
[in Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations], or these are con-
densed into seven, because Tsong-kha-pa’s Golden Garland says:
Here…the objects indicated are mostly presentations of fruits of
the fulfillment of one’s own and others’ aims generated in the con-
tinuum of a Buddha; therefore, the sixteen [consciousnesses] that
have these as their objects known are knowledge-characteristics
of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects.

མཚན་གཞི་འདིར་བ ན་བ ་ ག་གམ། དེ་བ ན་ [21a.3]

་བ ས་
310 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

པ་ ་ ་ ེ། གསེར་འ ངེ ་ལས། འདིར་ནས། བ ན་པའི་ ལ་ཕལ་

ཆེར་སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ ད་ལ་ ེས་པའི་རང་གཞན་གྱི་དོན་ ན་
མ་ཚགས་པའི་འ ས་ འི་ མ་བཞག་ཡིན་པས། དེ་ཤེས་པའི་
ལ་ ཅན་བ ་ ག་ནི་ མ་མཁྱེན་གྱི་ཤེས་མཚན་ནོ། །ཞེས་
[21a.4]

ག ངས་པའི་ ིར།
Here, aside from indicating the meaning, this is not mainly treated in terms
of indicating how these characterize [an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects].
འདིར་དོན་ ་ ་ལས་མཚན་ ལ་གཙ་བོར་མ་ ས་སོ། །
[DIVISIONS OF SUBJECTIVE ASPECTS OF A BODHISATTVA’S
TRAINING IN AN EXALTED-KNOWER-OF-ALL-ASPECTS]
When divided, there are sixteen because there are the sixteen consisting of:
In dependence on the Mother,
1. knowing that [a One-Gone-Thus] dwells in bliss
2. knowing that the Mother is to be respected
3. knowing the Mother as guru [that is, as having unsurpassed qualities]
4. knowing that the Mother is to be honored
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This means knowing that one should not practice
what does not accord with the Mother, but rather that one should
accomplish virtue; one should cultivate the path, cultivate the
mind of enlightenment, cultivate emptiness, and so on.
5. knowing that the Mother is to be worshipped
6. knowing that ultimately there are no such activities
7. knowing engagement in all objects
8. knowing nonperception [of things] in reality
9. knowing the world as an aspect of emptiness
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This means that they know the world as having
the aspect of emptiness, or as being empty of true existence.
“World” is loka in Sanskrit, ’jig rten in Tibetan, which is so called
because we depend on an unstable or disintegrating (’jig) basis
(rten).a

a Therefore, loka (’jig rten) could be translated more literally as “transitory sup-
port.”
 Characteristics of Trainings 311

10. knowing the world is to be expressed as empty of its own entity

11. knowing [the world is] to be known as empty
12. knowing emptiness is to be directly actualized
13. knowing [emptiness] as ultimately inconceivable
14. knowing proliferations as ultimately quiescent
15. knowing negation of a truly established world
16. knowing negation of the discrimination of worldly aggregates.
ད ེ་ན་བ ་ ག་ཡོད་དེ།
དེ་ནས་ མ་ལ་བ ེན་ནས་
1. བདེར་གནས་ཤེས་པ་ དང་། [21a.5]

2. མ་ལ་གུས་པར་ཤེས་པ་དང་།
3. མ་ལ་ ་མར་ཤེས་པ་དང་།
4. མ་ལ་མཉེས་པར་[ཤེས་པ་]དེ་དང་།
5. མ་ལ་མཆོད་པར་[ཤེས་པ་]དེ་དང་།
6. དོན་དམ་པར་དེ་ ར་ ེད་པ་མེད་པར་[ཤེས་པ་]དེ་དང་།

7. ལ་ཐམས་ཅད་ ་འ ག་ པར་[ཤེས་པ་]དེ་དང་། [21a.6]

8. དེ་ཁོ་ན་མ་མཐོང་བ་ཉིད་ ་[ཤེས་པ་]དེ་དང་།

9. འ ིག་ ེན་ ོང་ཉིད་ མ་པར་[ཤེས་པ་]དེ་དང་།

10. འ ིག་ ེན་རང་གི་ངོ་བོས་ ོང་བར་བ ོད་པར་[ཤེས་

པ་]དེ་དང་།
11. ོང་ཉིད་ཤེས་པར་[ཤེས་པ་]དེ་དང་།
12. ོང་ཉིད་མངོན་ མ་ ་མཛད་པར་[ཤེས་པ་]དེ་དང་། [21b.1]

13. དོན་དམ་པར་བསམ་མི་ཁྱབ་པ་ཉིད་ ་ ོན་པ་དང་།

14. དོན་དམ་པར་ ོས་པ་ཉེ་བར་ཞི་བ་ཉིད་ ་ ན ོ ་པ་དང་།

15. འ ིག་ ེན་བདེན་པར་ བ་པ་འགོག་པ་དང་།
312 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

འ གི ་ ེན་ ང་པོའི་འ ་ཤེས་འགོག་པ་ཤེས་པ་

16.

དང་བ ་ ག་ཡོད་པའི་ ིར་ ཏེ། [21b.2]

For, [Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, IV.20-22] says:57

{IV.20}
In dependence upon one’s own practice
Knowing dwelling, respecting,
Taking as guru, honoring,
Worshipping, without activities,
{IV.21}
Engagement in all;
Teaching nonperception,
The world in the aspect of emptiness,
To be expressed, to be known, to be directly seen,
{IV.22}
To be taught as inconceivable, as just quiescent,
Negation of the world, and of discrimination—
These are described as knowledge characteristics
For the mode of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects.
དེ་ནི་aཉིད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་བ ནེ ་ནས། །ནས། ཤེས་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་ཅེས་
བཤད་དོ། །ཞེས་སོ། །
[Ornament IV.20-22, 7b.3-7b.4]
{IV.20}
དེ་ནི་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་བ ེན་bནས། །གནས་དང་གུས་པར་ ་བ་དང་། །
་མ་ཉིད་དང་མཉེས་པ་དང་། །དེ་ལ་མཆོད་དང་ ེད་མེད་དང་། །
{IV.21}
ཀུན་ ་འ ག་མཁྱེན་གང་ཡིན་དང་། །མ་མཐོང་ ོན་པར་མཛད་པ་དང་། །
འ ིག་ ེན་ ོང་ཉིད་ མ་པ་དང་། །བ ོད་དང་ཤེས་མཛད་མངོན་ མ་མཛད། །
{IV.22}
བསམ་མི་ཁྱབ་དང་ཞི་ཉིད་ ོན། །འ ིག་ ེན་འ ་ཤེས་འགོག་པ་ལ། །

a The 1987 Go-mang Lhasa (13b.1) and the 2005 Mundgod (35.19) misread nas.
b Co ne (7b.3), dpe bsdur ma (16.20), snar thang (8b.5), sde dge (9b.3), and Pe-
king (8b.7) read bsten; however, Āryavimuktisena’s commentary (137a.4) reads
brten, and Haribhadra’s Clear Meaning (111a.4) reads rten.
 Characteristics of Trainings 313

མ་པ་ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ ལ་ལ་ནི། །ཤེས་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་ཅེས་བཤད་དོ། །

(b) Sixteen differentiating characteristics
Dan-ma-lo-chö: These are what characterize a Bodhisattva’s
training as being superior to that of a Hearer or a Solitary Victor.
To indicate [the sixteen] differentiating characteristics [Maitreya’s Orna-
ment for the Clear Realizations, IV.23-26] says:58
{IV.23}
It is explained that the sixteen periods—
Having as objects of activity the truths
Elevated by way of features such as inconceivability and so
forth—
Are differentiating characteristics.
{IV.24}
Inconceivability, inequality,
Thoroughly beyond comprehension, and enumeration,
Containing all the Superiors, known
By the wise, knowing the uncommon,
{IV.25}
Knowing faster, without diminishment or increase,
Achieving, correct achievement,
Observing, endowment with the support,
Entirety, restrainers,
{IV.26}
And non-taste—these called
“Natures of sixteen characteristics”
Are superior to others,
And hence are elevating paths.
གཉིས་པ་ཁྱད་མཚན་ ནོ ་པར།
བསམ་མི་ཁྱབ་སོགས་ཁྱད་པར་གྱིས། །ནས། ཁྱད་ ་འཕགས་པའི་
ཁྱད་ པར་ལམ། །ཞེས་ག ངས།
[21b.3]

[Ornament IV.23-26, 7b.4-7b.6]

{IV.23}
བསམ་མི་ཁྱབ་སོགས་ཁྱད་པར་གྱིས། །ཁྱད་ གས་བདེན་པའི་ ོད་ ལ་ཅན། །
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ད་ཅིག་མ་ནི་བ ་ ག་གིས༏ །ཁྱད་པར་མཚན་ཉིད་བཤད་པ་ཡིན། །

{IV.24}
བསམ་མི་ཁྱབ་དང་མི་མཉམ་དང་། །གཞལ་དང་བགྲང་ལས་ཡང་དག་འདས། །
འཕགས་པ་ཀུན་བ ས་མཁས་པ་ཡིས། །རིག་ ་ ན་མོང་མིན་ཤེས་ཉིད། །
{IV.25}
ཤེས་ ར་ ི་དང་གང་མེད་དང་། ། བ་དང་ཡང་དག་འ བ་པ་དང་། །
དམིགས་པ་ ེན་aདང་བཅས་པ་དང་། །མཐའ་དག་པ་དང་ཡོངས་འཛིན་དང་། །
{IV.26}
རོ་ ང་མེད་དང་ཁྱད་པར་ནི། །བ ་ ག་བདག་ཉིད་ཅེས་ ་ ེ། །
གང་གིས་ལམ་ནི་གཞན་དག་ལས། །ཁྱད་ ་འཕགས་པས་ཁྱད་པར་ལམ། །
With regard to differentiating characteristics there are two: definition and
divisions.
ཁྱད་མཚན་ལ། མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ་གཉིས།
Definition [of a differentiator of a Bodhisattva’s training
as superior]
A Bodhisattva’s pristine wisdom qualified with inconceivability and
so forth is the definition of a differentiator of a Bodhisattva’s training as
superior.
དང་པོ་ནི། བསམ་མི་ཁྱབ་སོགས་ཀྱིས་ཁྱད་པར་ ་ ས་པའི་
སེམས་དཔའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་དེ། སེམས་དཔའི་ རོ ་བའི་ཁྱད་པར་ གས་
པའི་མཚན་ཉིད།
[21b.4]

Illustrations are, for instance, the sixteen essential trainings [given below,
324]. Characterization of [a Bodhisattva’s training] as elevated above or
superior to a Lesser Vehicle training is the mode of characterization by
differentiation.
མཚན་གཞི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ ོར་བ་བ ་ ག་ ་ ། ཐེག་དམན་གྱི་
ོར་བ་ལས་ཁྱད་པར་འཕགས་པའམ་ཁྱད་ གས་པ་མཚན་པ་དེ་
a Co ne (7b.6), sde dge (7b.6), and dpe bsdur ma (17.10) read brtan, but snar
thang (9a.1), Peking (9a.4), Āryavimuktisena’s commentary (139b.5), and
Haribhadra’s Clear Meaning (111b.5) read rten, which is preferable by meaning.
 Characteristics of Trainings 315

ཁྱད་པར་གྱིས་མཚན་ ལ་ཡིན།
Divisions [of differentiating characteristics]
Dan-ma-lo-chö: A Bodhisattva’s training is being characterized as
superior to that of a Hearer or Solitary Victor.
When divided, there are sixteen means of characterization that elevate the
sixteen periods of forbearance and knowledge of the Great Vehicle path
of seeing above [those of] Hearers and Solitary Victors because these six-
teen are characteristics elevating them above the sixteen periods of for-
bearance and knowledge of Hearers and Solitary Victors:
[the characteristics of] the four periods of forbearance and knowledge [of
the Great Vehicle path of seeing] observing true sufferings are the four
consisting of:
1. nature of inconceivability
2. nature of inequality
3. nature of being beyond comprehension by valid cognition as it is
4. nature of being beyond enumeration by number
[the characteristics of the four periods of forbearance and knowledge of
the Great Vehicle path of seeing] observing true origins are the four con-
sisting of:
5. nature of containing the abandonments and realizations by the three
Superior persons
6. nature of being objects known by the wise
7. nature of being uncommon with Hearers and Solitary Victors
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Bodhisattvas’ understanding of reality in terms of
true origins is not shared with Hearers and Solitary Victors.
8. nature of knowing faster than Hearers and Solitary Victors
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Amongst all the Hearers who were in Shākya-
muni Buddha’s retinue, Shāriputra was foremost in wisdom and
Maudgalyāyana in magical powers; these are the two excellent
persons often depicted next to Buddha. A Bodhisattva’s wisdom
is superior to that of the greatest among Hearers. Buddha said that
even if the world were filled with Hearers such as Shāriputra and
Maudgalyāyana, or even if the number of Hearers who had
reached the path of preparation were equal to the number of reeds
in a swamp, if you collected all their wisdom in one place it could
not compete with the wisdom of one Bodhisattva training in the
316 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

perfection of wisdom for a single day. It would not even be a hun-

dredth of that, not even a thousandth; it would not even be a hun-
dred thousandth; indeed, it could not even be posited as an exam-
ple in relation to it.
In sūtra, Buddha compares the four levels of a Hearer’s path
of preparation, and the paths of seeing and meditation, to six dif-
ferent types of reeds. There are reeds in swamps that can be split
by merely touching them with a knife, and similarly, the heat level
of the path of preparation can easily be overcome through gener-
ating hatred and so forth. The peak level is compared to milkweed,
which is more difficult to cut, because on the peak level roots of
virtue are not easily overcome by hatred, wrong views, and so
forth.
The sugarcane stalk, which is very sweet, is compared with
the forbearance level of the path of preparation, because once it is
attained, the practitioner has the sweet taste of always being born
in a happy transmigration, and not the astringent taste of being
born in a bad transmigration. Bamboo stalks grow very quickly
and thus are mentioned in relation to the supreme mundane quali-
ties level of the path of preparation because the path of seeing is
generated immediately after it.
The path of seeing is compared to rice, because rice was the
first type of grain to grow in the world, and similarly the path of
seeing is the first Superior path. The path of meditation is com-
pared to sesame, which has many different leaves and so forth,
and similarly there are many divisions to the path of meditation—
uninterrupted path, path of release, states subsequent to meditative
equipoise, the nine cycles of the path of meditation, and so forth.
Because Buddha said that even if the whole world were filled
with Hearers equal to Shāriputra and Maudgalyāyana they would
not equal the wisdom of a Bodhisattva, one can understand that a
Bodhisattva’s wisdom is superior. This is indicated at the point in
the sūtra teaching guidance, but I have brought it up here in rela-
tion to this teaching that a Bodhisattva’s wisdom is faster than that
of Hearers and Solitary Victors.
[the characteristics of the four periods of forbearance and knowledge of
the Great Vehicle path of seeing] observing true cessations are the four
consisting of:
9. nature of being ultimately without any diminishment or increase
10. nature of achieving the six perfections
11. nature of correct achievement for eons through the purity of the three
 Characteristics of Trainings 317

spheres
12. nature of the unobservability of all phenomena in conjunction with
method
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This is a seeing of all phenomena as not truly es-
tablished that is conjoined with great compassion and the mind of
enlightenment. Thus there is a nonseparation of wisdom and
method.
[the characteristics of the four periods of forbearance and knowledge of
the Great Vehicle path of seeing] observing [true] paths are the four con-
sisting of:
13. nature of possessing the supportive lineage of the Bodhisattva path,
the entity of the element of attributes
14. nature of [possessing] the causal collections of the full complement of
the perfections
15. nature of thorough sustenance by external and internal restrainers
(yongs ’dzin)a
Dan-ma-lo-chö: The external restrainers are Supreme Emanation
Bodies as well as those whose very nature is the mind of enlight-
enment who teach one the path; internal restrainers are sublime
thoughts and sublime trainings (bsam pa phun tshogs dang sbyor
ba phun tshogs).
16. nature of nonexperience of the taste of manifest conception of all phe-
nomena [as truly existent].
Dan-ma-lo-chö: The experience of manifest conception of all phe-
nomena is the apprehension of them as truly existent. Because one
has abided for a long time without that manifest conception, here
its taste is no longer experienced.
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན། ཐེག་ ཆེན་གྱི་མཐོང་ལམ་ཤེས་བཟོད་
[21b.5]

ད་ཅིག་མ་བ ་ ག་ཉན་རང་ལས་ཁྱད་པར་འཕགས་པའི་
a As Dan-ma-lo-chö mentioned earlier (119):
A restrainer holds one back from a source of fright and thus usually refers
to teachers; here there are external and internal “holders-back.” External
restrainers are, for example, supreme Emanation Bodies or Bodhisattvas
on the path of meditation that teach Bodhisattvas on the path of prepara-
tion the doctrine. Internal restrainers would be compassion and the wis-
dom realizing emptiness in the continuum of Bodhisattvas on the path of
preparation because these hold them back from the extreme of cyclic ex-
istence (srid mtha’) and the extreme of [solitary] peace (zhi mtha’).
318 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

མཚན་ ེད་བ ་ ག་ཡོད་དེ། ག་བདེན་ལ་དམིགས་པའི་ཤེས་

བཟོད་བཞི་ནི།
1. བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་པའི་བདག་ཉིད་དང་། [21b.6]

2. མི་མཉམ་པའི་བདག་ཉིད་དང་།

3. དེ་ཁོ་ནར་ཚད་མས་གཞལ་བ་ལས་འདས་པའི་[བདག་
ཉིད་]དེ་དང་།
4. ས་བགྲང་ལས་འདས་པའི་དེ་
དང་བཞི་ཡིན་ལ། ཀུན་འ ང་ལ་དམིགས་པའི་[ཤེས་བཟོད་བཞི་ནི།]
5. འཕགས་པའི་གང་ཟག་ག མ་གྱི་ ངས་ ོགས་ ད་ [22a.1]

པའི་[བདག་ཉིད་]དེ་དང་།
6. མཁས་པས་ཤེས་པར་ ་བའི་[བདག་ཉིད་]དེ་དང་།

7. ཉན་རང་དང་ ན་མོང་མ་ཡིན་པའི་[བདག་ཉིད་]དེ་དང་།

8. ཉན་རང་ལས་ ར་བའི་ཤེས་པའི་[བདག་ཉིད་]དེ་

དང་བཞི་ཡིན་ལ། འགོག་ བདེན་ལ་དམིགས་པའི་[ཤེས་བཟོད་

[22a.2]

བཞི་ནི།]
9. དོན་དམ་པར་ ི་གང་མེད་པའི་[བདག་ཉིད་]དེ་དང་།
10. ཕར་ ིན་ ག་ ་ བ་པའི་[བདག་ཉིད་]དེ་དང་།

11. འཁོར་ག མ་ མ་དག་གིས་བ ལ་བར་ཡང་དག་པར་

བ་པའི་[བདག་ཉིད་]དེ་དང་།
12. ཐབས་ཀྱིས་ཟིན་པའི་ཆོས་ཐམས་ ཅད་ལ་མི་དམིགས་
[22a.3]

པའི་[བདག་ཉིད་]དེ་
བཞི་ཡིན་ལ། ལམ་ལ་དམིགས་པའི་[ཤེས་བཟོད་བཞི་ནི།]
 Characteristics of Trainings 319

13.ཆོས་ད ངི ས་ཀྱི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ ང་སེམས་ལམ་གྱི་ ེན་

རིགས་དང་ ན་པའི་[བདག་ཉིད་]དེ་དང་།
14. ཕར་ ིན་ཡོངས་ ་ ོགས་པའི་ ་ཚགས་པའི་[བདག་
ཉིད་]དེ་དང་།
15. ི་ ནང་གི་བཤེས་གཉེན་གྱིས་ཡོངས་ ་བ ང་བའི་
[22a.4]

[བདག་ཉིད་]དེ་དང་།
16. ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་མངོན་ཞེན་གྱི་རོ་ ང་མེད་པའི་[བདག་
ཉིད་]དེ་
དང་བཞི་ ་ེ བ ་ ག་པོ་ཉན་རང་གི་ཤེས་བཟོད་བ ་ ག་ལས་
ཁྱད་པར་འཕགས་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་ཡིན་ པའི་ ིར། [22a.5]

(c) Eleven functional characteristics

To indicate [the eleven] functional characteristics [Maitreya’s Ornament
for the Clear Realizations, IV.27-28] says:59
{IV.27}
Help, happiness, protection,
Refuge of humans,
Place of rest, defender,
Island, “leader,”
{IV.28}
Spontaneity, nonmanifestation
Of the fruit by way of the three vehicles,
And lastly the function of support—
These are functional characteristics.
ག མ་པ་ རོ ་བའི་ དེ ་མཚན་ ནོ ་པར།
ཕན་དང་བདེ་དང་ བོ ་པ་དང་། །ནས། འདི་ནི་ ེད་པའི་མཚན་
ཉིད་ཡིན། ། ཞེས་ ང་།
[Ornament IV.27-28, 7b.6-7b.7]
320 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

{IV.27}
ཕན་དང་བདེ་དང་ ོབ་པ་དང་༏ །མི་ མས་ཀྱི་ནི་ བས་དག་དང་། །
གནས་དང་ད ང་གཉེན་གླིང་དང་ནི། །ཡོངས་འ ེན་པ་ཞེས་ ་བ་དང་། །
{IV.28}
ན་གྱིས་ བ་དང་ཐེག་ག མ་གྱིས། །འ ས་ ་མངོན་ མ་མི་ ེད་དག །
ཐ་མ་ ེན་གྱི་མཛད་པ་ ེ། །འདི་ནི་ ེད་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་ཡིན། །
[With regard to differentiating characteristics there are two: definition and
divisions.

Definition [of a training endowed with the special function

of a Bodhisattva’s training, achieving others’ welfare]
A Bodhisattva’s pristine wisdom endowed with the special function of
help, happiness, protection, and so forth is the definition of a training
endowed with the special function of a Bodhisattva’s training, achieving
others’ welfare.
ཕན་བདེ་ བོ ་སོགས་ཀྱི་ ེད་ལས་ཁྱད་པར་ཅན་དང་ ན་པའི་
སེམས་དཔའི་ཡེ་ཤེས། སེམས་དཔའི་ ོར་བ་གཞན་དོན་ བ་
[22a.6]

པའི་ ེད་པ་ཁྱད་པར་ཅན་དང་ ན་པའི་ རོ ་བའི་མཚན་ཉིད།

Illustrations are, for instance, the sixteen essential characteristics [given
below, 323 and 324], for instance. Here the function of bringing about
others’ welfare is the mode of characterization.
མཚན་གཞི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མཚན་བ ་ ག་ ་ ། འདིར་གཞན་དོན་
གྱི་ ེད་ལས་ མཚན་ ལ་ལོ། །
[22b.1]

Divisions [of functional characteristics]

When divided, there are eleven because there are the eleven consisting of
three functions of a Bodhisattva’s training in a knower of bases, seven
functions of a Bodhisattva’s training in a knower of paths, and one func-
tion of a Bodhisattva’s training in an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects:
ད ེ་ན་བ ་གཅིག་ཡོད་དེ། སེམས་དཔའི་གཞི་ཤེས་ ོར་བའི་
ེད་པ་ག མ་དང་། ལམ་ཤེས་ རོ ་བའི་ ེད་པ་བ ན་དང་།
 Characteristics of Trainings 321

མ་མཁྱེན་ ོར་བའི་ དེ ་པ་གཅིག་དང་བ ་གཅིག་ཡོད་པའི་

ིར། [22b.2]

Dan-ma-lo-chö: Sometimes Bodhisattvas train in a knower of ba-

ses and thus have a training in a knower of bases. This training has
certain qualities among which here the concern is with functional
qualities.
The first, the three [functions of a Bodhisattva’s training in a knower of
bases] exist because through a Bodhisattva’s training in a knower of bases
there are the three consisting of:
1. help: setting all sentient beings in the bliss of liberation
2. happiness: [setting all sentient beings in] the happiness of this life
without suffering, mental discomfort, and so forth
3. protection: [of all sentient beings] from all the sufferings of cyclic ex-
istence.
The middle ones, the seven [functions of a Bodhisattva’s training in a
knower of paths,] exist because [through a Bodhisattva’s training in a
knower of paths] there are the seven consisting of:
4. function of refuge: setting [all sentient beings] in nirvāṇa
5. function of place of rest: overcoming the causes of suffering [in all
sentient beings]
6. function of defender: realizing cyclic existence and nirvāṇa as ulti-
mately of the same taste.
Dan-ma-lo-chö: “Defender” means assister.
7. function of acting as an island: realizing others’ welfare
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This means realizing what one needs to do in or-
der to help others as, for example, setting forth three final vehicles,
whereas there is actually only one final vehicle. This is done be-
cause some people would become discouraged if they were told it
was necessary to amass the collections of merit for three countless
eons; thus, it is helpful for them to hear of two “final vehicles” for
which such lengthy amassing is not required. The function of act-
ing as a helper is said to be an island because, for example, in the
past when people had to spend several months crossing the ocean
they would feel great relief when they came across an island.
8. function of acting as a leader: achieving the two aims
Dan-ma-lo-chö: The two aims are the achievement of high status
within cyclic existence and the definite goodness of liberation
322 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

from cyclic existence for sentient beings, thus relieving them of

the two extremes of cyclic existence and solitary peace.
9. function of spontaneously achieving the welfare of sentient beings
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This is done not through effort and exertion, but
spontaneously.
10. [function of] not causing manifestation of the fruits of the three vehi-
cles at the wrong time.
The one function of a training in an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects exists
because it is:
11. the function of acting as the support of the world: teaching all doc-
trines exactly as they are.

དང་པོ་[སེམས་དཔའི་གཞི་ཤེས་ ོར་བའི་ ེད་པ་]ག མ་ཡོད་དེ། སེམས་

དཔའི་གཞི་ཤེས་ ོར་བས་
1. སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་ཐར་པའི་བདེ་བ་ལ་འགོད་པའི་

ཕན་པ་དང་།
2. ག་བ ལ་དང་ཡིད་མི་བདེ་བ་སོགས་མེད་པའི་ཚ་
འདིའི་བདེ་བ་དང་།
3. འཁོར་བའི་ ག་བ ལ་ ཐམས་ཅད་ལས་ བོ ་པ་
[22b.3]

དང་ག མ་ཡོད་པའི་ རི ། བར་པ་a[ལམ་ཤེས་ ོར་བའི་ ེད་པ་]བ ན་

ཡོད་དེ།
4. ང་འདས་ལ་འགོད་པའི་ བས་ཀྱི་ ེད་པ་དང་།
5. ག་བ ལ་གྱི་ ་བ ོག་པའི་གནས་ཀྱི་ ེད་པ་དང་།
6. འཁོར་འདས་དོན་དམ་པར་རོ་ མཉམ་ ་ ོགས་པའི་
[22b.4]

ད ང་གཉེན་གྱི་ ེད་པ་དང་།
a The 2011 TBRC bla brang and the 1995 Mundgod revision of Ngawang Gelek
bla brang (22b.3) read ba; the 2005 Mundgod (46.13) reads pa.
 Characteristics of Trainings 323

7. གཞན་དོན་ ོགས་པའི་གླིང་གི་ དེ ་པ་དང་།

8. དོན་གཉིས་ བ་པའི་ཡོངས་འ ེན་གྱི་ ེད་པ་དང་།

9. སེམས་ཅན་གྱི་དོན་ ན་གྱིས་ བ་པར་ ེད་པ་དང་།

10. ཐེག་པ་ག མ་ གྱི་འ ས་ ་ ས་མ་ཡིན་པར་མངོན་

[22b.5]

མ་ ་མི་ ེད་པ་
དང་བ ན་ཡོད་པའི་ རི ། མ་མཁྱེན་གྱི་ རོ ་བའི་ ེད་པ་
གཅིག་ཡོད་དེ།
11. ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་ ི་བཞིན་ ོན་པའི་འ ིག་ ན ེ ་གྱི་ ེན་
ེད་པ་
དེ་ཡིན་པའི་ ིར།
(d) Sixteen essential characteristics
To indicate [the sixteen] essential characteristics [Maitreya’s Ornament
for the Clear Realizations, IV.29-31] says:60
{IV.29}
Isolation from afflictions, signs, marks,
Discordant classes and antidotes;
The difficult, definiteness,
Intents, nonobservability,
{IV.30}
And stopping conceptions;
That which is “observing,”
Disagreeing, unimpeded,
Baseless, without going, without production,
{IV.31}
Not observing thusness—
Since the natures of sixteen essences
Characterize what are as if the characterized,
They are asserted as a fourth characteristic.
324 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

བཞི་ པ་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མཚན་ ོན་པར།

[22b.6]

ཉོན་མོངས་ གས་དང་མཚན་མ་དང་། །ནས། མཚན་ཉིད་བཞི་

པར་བཞེད་པ་ཡིན། །ཞེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament IV.29-31, 8a.1-8a.2]
{IV.29}
ཉོན་མོངས་ གས་དང་མཚན་མ་དང་། །མི་མ ན་ ོགས་དང་གཉེན་པོ་དག །
དབེན་དང་དཀའ་དང་ངེས་པ་དང་། །ཆེད་ ་ ་དང་མི་དམིགས་དང་། །
{IV.30}
མངོན་པར་ཞེན་པ་བཀག་པ་དང་། །དམིགས་པ་ཞེས་ ་གང་ཡིན་དང་། །
མི་མ ན་ཐོགས་པ་མེད་དང་དེ། །གཞི་མེད་འགྲོ་མེད་ ེ་མེད་དང་། །
{IV.31}
དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་ནི་མི་དམིགས་དང་། །ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་བ ་ ག་བདག་ཉིད། །
མཚན་ ་ ་ ར་མཚན་པས་ན། །མཚན་ཉིད་བཞི་པར་བཞེད་པ་ཡིན། །
[With regard to essential characteristics there are two: definition and divi-
sions.]

[Definition of an essence of a training]

The definition is that given above (301) for the entity of a training.a
མཚན་ཉིད་ ར་ ོར་བའི་ངོ་བོར་བཤད་པ་དེ་ཡིན་ལ།
Divisions [of essential characteristics]
When divided, there are sixteen because there are the sixteen consisting of
the four essentials of a training in a knower of bases, the five essentials of
a training in a knower of paths, seven essentials of a training in an exalted-
knower-of-all-aspects.

ད ེ་ན་ བ ་ ག་ཡོད་དེ། གཞི་ཤེས་ རོ ་བའི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་བཞི་

[23a.1]

a The earlier definition is:

A Bodhisattva’s pristine wisdom that is conjoined with a complete
type of special method and wisdom—great compassion, wisdom re-
alizing emptiness, and so forth is the definition of a knower that is the
entity of a training.
 Characteristics of Trainings 325

དང་། ལམ་ཤེས་ ོར་བའི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ ་དང་། མ་མཁྱེན་ ོར་

བའི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་བ ན་ཡོད་པའི་ རི །
The first, the four [essentials of a training in a knower of bases], exist be-
cause there are the four consisting of:
1. essential of isolation from the afflictions
2. essential of the nonexistence of assumptions of bad physical states that
are signs of those [afflictions]
3. essential of the nonexistence of improper [mental application], the
[causal] mark of those [afflictions]
4. essential of isolation from conceptions of [truly existent] adopting and
discarding.
The five [essentials of a training] in a knower of paths exist because there
are the five consisting of:
5. training in the difficult to achieve
6. training in definiteness of full purification one-pointedly
7. training in achieving the three great intents [great mind, great aban-
donment, and great realization (see above, 142ff.)]
8. training in not observing the three spheres of meditation as ultimately
existent
9. training in stopping the conception of truly existent things.
The seven essentials of a training of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects exist
because there are the seven consisting of:
10. essential of observing bases and paths
11. essential of nonagreement with everything worldly
12. essential of unimpededness
13. essential of the nonexistence of a basis [of mistake]
14. essential of nongoing
15. essential of nonproduction
16. essential of nonobservation of suchness [as ultimately existent].
དང་པོ་[གཞི་ཤེས་ ོར་བའི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་]བཞི་ཡོད་དེ། [23a.2]

1. ཉོན་མོངས་ལས་དབེན་པའི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་དང་།

2. [ཉོན་མོངས་]དེའི་ གས་ ས་ཀྱི་གནས་ངན་ལེན་མེད་པའི་

ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་དང་།
326 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

[ཉོན་མོངས་]དེའི་མཚན་མ་ ལ་བཞིན་མིན་པ་མེད་པའི་[ངོ་
3.
བོ་ཉིད་]དེ་དང་།
4. ང་དོར་གྱི་ མ་ ོག་གིས་དབེན་པའི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་
དང་། བཞི་ཡོད་པའི་ ིར། ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་[ ོར་བའི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་]དེ་
[23a.3]

་ཡོད་དེ།
5. བ་དཀའ་བའི་ ོར་བ་དང་།
6. གཅིག་ ་འཚང་ ་བར་ངེས་པའི་ ོར་བ་དང་།

7. ཆེད་ ་ ་བ་ཆེན་པོ་ག མ་ བ་པའི་ ོར་བ་དང་།

8. ོམ་པའི་འཁོར་ག མ་དོན་ དམ་པར་མི་དམིགས་ [23a.4]

པའི་ ོར་བ་དང་།
9. བདེན་པའི་དངོས་པོར་ཞེན་པ་བཀག་པའི་ ར ོ ་བ་
དང་ ་ཡོད་པའི་ ིར། མ་མཁྱེན་ ོར་བའི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་བ ན་
ཡོད་དེ།
10. གཞི་ལམ་ལ་དམིགས་པའི་[ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་]དེ་དང་།

11. འ ིག་ ེན་ཐམས་ ཅད་དང་མི་མ ན་པའི་[ངོ་བོ་

[23a.5]

ཉིད་]དེ་དང་།
12. ཐོགས་མ་མེད་པའི་[ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་]དེ་དང་།

13. གཞི་མེད་པའི་[ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་]དེ་དང་།

14. འགྲོ་བ་མེད་པའི་[ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་]དེ་དང་།

15. ེ་བ་མེད་པའི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་དང་།

16. དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་མི་དམིགས་པའི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་

དང་བ ན་ཡོད་པའི་ རི །
 36th Topic
6. Concordances with a Portion of Liberation (ཐར་པ་ཆ་
མ ན་)
To indicate concordances with a portion of liberation [Maitreya’s Orna-
ment for the Clear Realizations, IV.32-34] says:61
{IV.32}
Skill in thoroughly achieving
Signless intense giving and so forth
Is asserted—concerning this realization of all aspects—
As concordant with a portion of liberation.
{IV.33}
Faith observing Buddhas and so forth,
Effort having giving and so forth as its objects of activity,
Mindfulness of the excellent attitude,
Nonconceptual meditative stabilization,
{IV.34}
Wisdom knowing phenomena
In all aspects—comprising five aspects.
It is asserted that complete enlightenment
Is realized easily by the sharp but with difficulty by the dull.
ག་པ་ ཐར་པ་ཆ་མ ན་ ོན་པར།
[23a.6]

མཚན་མེད་རབ་ ་ ནི ་ལ་སོགས། །ནས། ཐར་པའི་ཆ་དང་མ ན་

པར་འདོད། །ཅེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament IV.32-34, 8a.2-8a.3]
{IV.32}
མཚན་མེད་རབ་ ་ ནི ་ལ་སོགས། །ཡང་དག་ བ་ལ་མཁས་པ་ནི། །
མ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ གོ ས་འདི་ལ། །ཐར་པའི་ཆ་དང་མ ན་པར་འདོད། །
{IV.33}
[།སངས་ ས་སོགས་དམིགས་དད་པ་དང་། ། ིན་སོགས་ ོད་ ལ་བ ོན་འ ས་
དང་། །
བསམ་པ་ ན་ཚགས་ ན་པ་དང་། ། མ་པར་མི་ ོག་ཏིང་འཛིན་དང་། །
328 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

{IV.34}
ཆོས་ མས་ མ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ ། །ཤེས་པའི་ཤེས་རབ་དང་ མ་ ། །
ོགས་པའི་ ང་ བ་ ོན་པོ་ཡིས། ། ོགས་ ་ ལ་པོས་ ོགས་དཀར་བཞེད། །]a
With regard to concordances with a portion of liberation there are five:
definition, etymologies, divisions, boundaries, and their signs.
ཐར་པ་ཆ་མ ན་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ་བཤད། ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས།
དེའི་ ་ གས་དང་ །
[23b.1]

Definition [of a Great Vehicle concordance with a

portion of liberation]
A clear realization of the doctrine in the continuum of a Bodhisattva
skilled in achieving an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects in one’s own con-
tinuum is the definition of a Great Vehicle concordance with a portion of
liberation.
དང་པོ་ནི། མ་མཁྱེན་རང་ ད་ལ་ བ་པར་མཁས་པའི་སེམས་
དཔའི་ ད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་མངོན་ ོགས་དེ། ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ཐཪ་པ་ཆ་
མ ན་གྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Great Vehicle clear realization of doctrine, Great Vehicle concordance
with a portion of liberation, Great Vehicle path of accumulation, and so
forth are equivalent.
ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ཆོས་མངོན་ ོགས། ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ཐར་པ་ཆ་
མ ན་དང་། ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ཚགས་ལམ་སོགས་དོན་གཅིག།
[23b.2]

Etymologies
“Liberation” (thar pa) is so called because of having abandoned the afflic-
tions. “Portion of liberation” (thar pa’i cha) is so called because of being
one faction of it. A “concordance with a portion of liberation” is so called
because of being that which aids liberation.

a These two stanzas are, according to Jam-yang-shay-pa’s textbook on the per-

fection of wisdom, to be included in this topic, and not in the next section and thus
have been added here in brackets.
 Concordances with a Portion of Liberation 329

གཉིས་པ་ ་བཤད་ནི། ཉོན་མོངས་ ངས་པས་ན་ཐར་པ་དང་

དེའི་ གོ ས་གཅིག་ཡིན་པས་ཐར་པའི་ཆ་དང་དེ་ལ་ཕན་འདོགས་
པས་ན་ཐར་པའི་ཆ་དང་མ ན་པ་ཞེས་ འོ། ། [23b.3]

Divisions [of concordances with a portion of libera-

tion]
When divided by way of time, there are three—lesser, medium, and
greater; and when divided by way of entity, there are three—[conscious-
ness of] hearing, thinking, and meditating that are them [that is, are con-
cordances with a portion of liberation and thus are paths of accumulation].
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་ཀྱིས་ད ེ་ན། ང་ ་འ ངི ་ཆེན་པོ་ག མ་
དང་། ངོ་བོས་ད ེ་ན། རང་ཡིན་པའི་ཐོས་བསམ་ ོམ་ག མ་ཡོད།
Boundaries [of concordances with a portion of liber-
ation]
[Concordances with a portion of liberation] exist only on the Great Vehicle
path of accumulation because they must exist upon having generated the
altruistic mind-generation in [the mental] continuum and prior to having
attained the five faculties [faith, effort, mindfulness, meditative stabiliza-
tion, and wisdom].a

a Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Annotations for (Jam-yang-shay-pa’s) “Great Exposi-

tion of Tenets”: Freeing the Knots of the Difficult Points, Precious Jewel of Clear
Thought lists both the assertions of both the lower and upper manifest knowledges
(chos mngon pa, abhidharma) on when the five faculties and the five powers are
attained, the latter being the one utilized here:
Knowledge—in the continuum of a Foe Destroyer—of extinguishment
[of obstructions] and knowledge of non-production [of obstructions in
the future] is enlightenment. Because of being causes concordant with
attaining that enlightenment, thirty-seven practices are called harmonies
with enlightenment…The thirty-seven [and the paths with which they
are associated] are:
I. Four mindful establishments (attained from the path of accumulation)
1. Mindful establishment on the body
2. Mindful establishment on feeling
330 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

3. Mindful establishment on mind

4. Mindful establishment on phenomena
II. Four thorough abandonings (attained from the heat level of the path
of preparation)
5. Generating virtuous qualities not yet generated
6. Increasing virtuous qualities already generated
7. Not generating non-virtuous qualities not yet generated
8. Thoroughly abandoning non-virtuous qualities already generated
III. Four legs of manifestation (attained from the peak level of the path
of preparation)
9. Aspiration
10. Effort
11. Thought
12. Analytical meditative stabilization
IV. Five faculties (attained from the forbearance level of the path of
preparation)
13. Faith
14. Effort
15. Mindfulness
16. Meditative stabilization
17. Wisdom
V. Five powers (attained from supreme mundane qualities level of the
path of preparation)
18. Faith
19. Effort
20. Mindfulness
21. Meditative stabilization
22. Wisdom
VI. Seven branches of enlightenment (attained from the path of medita-
tion)
23. Correct mindfulness
24. Correct discrimination of phenomena
25. Correct effort
26. Correct joy
27. Correct pliancy
28. Correct meditative stabilization
29. Correct equanimity
VII. Eightfold path (attained from the path of seeing)
30. Correct view
31. Correct realization
32. Correct speech
33. Correct aims of actions
34. Correct livelihood
 Concordances with a Portion of Liberation 331

བཞི་པ། ས་མཚམས་ཐེག་ཆེན་ཚགས་ལམ་ཁོ་ནར་ཡོད་དེ། སེམས་

བ ེད་ ད་ལ་ སེ ་ནས་དབང་པོ་ ་མ་ཐོབ་ ན་ཆད་ན་
[23b.4]

ཡོད་དགོས་པས་སོ། །
Signs [of concordances with a portion of liberation]
The signs [of having attained a concordance with a portion of liberation]
are that when hearing about the faults of cyclic existence and the benefits
of liberation, one’s hairs rise, tears well from the eyes, and so forth. And
in particular there are the three characteristics—(1) non-depression and
non-oppression of mind, (2) not being afraid or overpowered [thinking that
one could not become free from cyclic existence], and (3) non-fear with
respect to the profound [emptiness] and non-regretful.
་པ་ གས་ནི། འཁོར་བའི་ཉེས་པ་དང་ཐར་པའི་ཕན་ཡོན་ཐོས་
ན་ ་ ང་ཞིང་མཆི་མ་འ ིན་པ་སོགས་དང་། ཁྱད་པར་སེམས་མི་
མ་ ་ཞིང་མི་དངངས་པ་དང་། མི་ ག་ཅིང་མ་འགོང་བ་
[23b.5]

དང་། ཟབ་མོ་ལ་མི་ ག་ཅིང་མི་འགྱོད་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་ག མ་

མོ། །
35. Correct exertion
36. Correct mindfulness
37. Correct meditative stabilization…
In Maitreya’s Differentiation of the Middle and the Extremes and in the
higher systems of tenets:
• The first three groups are associated with the three paths of accumu-
lation—small, medium, and great.
• The five faculties are associated with the heat and peak levels of the
path of preparation.
• The five powers are associated with the forbearance and supreme
mundane qualities levels of the path of preparation.
• The seven branches of enlightenment are associated with the path of
seeing.
• The eightfold path is associated with the path of meditation.
See Hopkins, Maps of the Profound, 225-227.
332 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

Dan-ma-lo-chö: Among the latter three, the first means that one
does not become depressed or discouraged about attaining libera-
tion oneself, this being from the viewpoint of having thought
about the faults of cyclic existence and the benefits of liberation.
 37th Topic
7. Concordances with a Portion of Definite
Discrimination (ངེས་འ ེད་ཆ་མ ན་)
To indicate concordances with a portion of definite discrimination [Mait-
reya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, IV.35-37] says:62
{IV.35}
The objects of observation of the heats
Are praised as being all sentient beings.
They are described as ten aspects
With respect to them—a mind of equality and so forth.
{IV.36}
Those—who by way of oneself turning away
From sins and abiding in giving and so forth
And express praises and [display] agreement
Set others in those—move
{IV.37}
To the peak. Likewise, forbearance is for those
Having the life support of oneself and others to know the truths.
Supreme mundane qualities is likewise
To be known by way of the maturation and so forth of sentient
beings.
བ ན་པ་ངེས་འ ེད་ཆ་མ ན་ ནོ ་པར།
སངས་ ས་སོགས་དམིགས་དད་པ་དང་། །ནས། [23b.6]
ིན་ ེད་
སོགས་ཀྱིས་ཤེས་པར་ ། །ཞེས་ག ངས།a
[Ornament IV.35-37, 8a.4-8a.6]
{IV.35}
ོ་བ་ མས་ཀྱི་དམིགས་པ་འདིར། །སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་ཡིན་པར་བ གས། །
དེ་དག་ཉིད་ལ་སེམས་མཉམ་སོགས། ། མ་པ་དག་ནི་བ ར་བཤད་དོ། །
a The first two stanzas that are indicated in this abbreviated citation are, according
to Jam-yang-shay-pa’s textbook on the perfection of wisdom, included not in this
topic but in the previous section and thus are neither translated here nor given just
below.
334 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

{IV.36}
བདག་ཉིད་ ིག་པ་ལས་ ོག་ཅིང་། ། ིན་ལ་སོགས་ལ་གནས་པས་གཞན། །
དེ་དག་ལ་ནི་འགོད་པ་དང་། །བ གས་པ་བ ོད་དང་མ ན་པ་ཉིད། །
{IV.37}
རེ ་ ར་དེ་བཞིན་བཟོད་པ་ནི། །རང་གཞན་ ེན་ཅན་བདེན་ཤེས་པ། །
ཆོས་མཆོག་དེ་བཞིན་སེམས་ཅན་ མས། ། ིན་ ེད་སོགས་ཀྱིས་ཤེས་པར་ ། །
With regard to Great Vehicle concordances with a portion of definite dis-
crimination there are four: definition, etymologies, divisions, and bound-
aries.
ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ངེས་འ དེ ་ཆ་མ ན་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ་བཤད། ད ེ་
བ། ས་མཚམས་བཞི།
Definition [of a Great Vehicle concordance with a
portion of definite discrimination]
A Bodhisattva’s clear realization of the meaning that is qualified with
methoda is the definition of a Great Vehicle concordance with a portion
of definite discrimination.
དང་པོ་ནི། ཐབས་ཀྱི་ཁྱད་པར་ ་ ས་པའི་སེམས་ དཔའི་ [24a.1]

དོན་མངོན་ ོགས་དེ། ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ངེས་འ དེ ་ཆ་མ ན་གྱི་

མཚན་ཉིད།
Etymology
A “concordance with a portion of definite discrimination” is so called be-
cause of aiding one portion, or one faction, of the path of seeing that defi-
nitely discriminates the seeds that are to be abandoned by the path of see-
ing.
གཉིས་པ་ ་བཤད་ནི་མཐོང་ ང་གི་ས་བོན་ངེས་པར་འ ེད་
པའི་མཐོང་ལམ་གྱི་ཆའམ་ ོགས་གཅིག་ ལ་ཕན་འདོགས་ [24a.2]

པས་ན་ངེས་འ ེད་ཆ་མ ན་ཞེས་ ་འོ། །

a That is, with great compassion and the altruistic mind of enlightenment.
 Concordances with a Portion of Definite Discrimination 335

Divisions [of concordances with a portion of definite

discrimination]
When divided, there are twelve because the four—the heat, peak, forbear-
ance, and supreme mundane qualities Great Vehicle concordances with a
portion of definite discrimination—each have three, small, medium, and
great.
ག མ་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན། བ ་གཉིས་ཡོད་དེ། ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ངེས་
འ ེད་ཆ་མ ན་ དོ ་དང་། ེ་མོ་དང་། བཟོད་པ་དང་། ཆོས་
མཆོག་བཞི་ལ་ ང་འ ངི ་ ཆེན་པོ་ག མ་ག མ་ཡོད་པའི་
[24a.3]

ིར།
Boundaries [of concordances with a portion of defi-
nite discrimination]
[Concordances with a portion of definite discrimination] exist from attain-
ment of special insight realizing emptiness until attainment of the path of
seeing.
བཞི་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་ ོང་ཉིད་ གོ ས་པའི་ ག་མཐོང་ཐོབ་པ་
ནས་མཐོང་ལམ་མ་ཐོབ་ཀྱི་བར་ ་ཡོད།
 38th Topic
8. Irreversible Community Members ( རི ་མི་ གོ ་པའི་དགེ་
འ ན་)
To indicate irreversible community members [Maitreya’s Ornament for
the Clear Realizations, IV.38] says:63
{IV.38}
Those Bodhisattvas dwelling on the paths
Ranging from the limbs of definite discrimination
To the paths of seeing and meditation
Are here the irreversible group.
བ ད་པ་ རི ་མི་ ོག་པའི་དགེ་འ ན་ ནོ ་པར།
ངེས་འ དེ ་ཡན་ ལག་ནས་བ ང་ ེ། །ནས། དེ་འདིར་ ིར་མི་
[24a.4]

ོག་པའི་ཚགས། །ཞེས་ག ངས།

[Ornament IV.38, 8a.6]
{IV.38}
ངེས་འ ེད་ཡན་ལག་ནས་བ ང་ ེ། །མཐོང་དང་ ོམ་པའི་ལམ་དག་ལ། །
ང་ བ་སེམས་དཔའ་གང་དག་གནས། །དེ་འདིར་མི་ ོག་པ་ཡི་ཚགས། །
With regard to irreversible community members there are three: definition,
divisions, and boundaries.
རི ་མི་ གོ ་པའི་དགེ་འ ན་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས་
ག མ།
Definition [of an irreversible community member]
A Bodhisattva who has attained any of the signs such as the disap-
pearance of discriminations of forms and so forth [as truly existent] is
the definition of an irreversible community member.
དང་པོ་ནི། ག གས་སོགས་འ ་ཤེས་ ོག་ པ་སོགས་ཀྱི་ [24a.5]

གས་གང་ ང་ཐོབ་པའི་སེམས་དཔའ་དེ། ིར་མི་ གོ ་པའི་

 Irreversible Spiritual community 337

དགེ་འ ན་གྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: “And so forth” includes twenty items. “Irreversi-
ble” means that one will not turn away from the unsurpassed en-
lightenment.

Divisions [of irreversible community members]

When divided, there are three:
1. Bodhisattvas of sharp faculties who attain signs [of irreversibility]
from the path of preparation
2. Bodhisattvas of medium faculties who attain signs [of irreversibility]
from the path of seeing
3. Bodhisattvas of dull faculties who attain signs [of irreversibility] from
the path of meditation.
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན།
1. དབང་ ོན་ ོར་ལམ་ནས་ གས་ཐོབ་[པའི་སེམས་
དཔའ་]དང་།
2. དབང་འ ང ི ་མཐོང་ལམ་ནས་ གས་ཐོབ་ པ[འི་སེམས་ [24a.6]

དཔའ་]་དང་།
3. དབང་ ལ་ ོམ་ལམ་ནས་ གས་ཐོབ་པའི་སེམས་དཔའ་

ག མ་མོ།
Boundaries [of irreversible community members]
[Irreversible community members] exist from the heat path of preparation
until the end of the continuum [as a sentient being, just prior to Bud-
dhahood].
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་ ོར་ལམ་ ོད་ནས་ ན་མཐའི་བར་ ་
ཡོད།
 39th Topic
9. Trainings in the Equality of Mundane Existence
and Peace ( ིད་ཞི་མཉམ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ རོ ་བ་)
Dan-ma-lo-chö: The training in the equality of mundane existence
and peace is the viewing of cyclic existence and nirvāṇa as equal
in the sense that just as there is no manifest apprehension of true
existence during meditative equipoise, so is there none outside of
meditative equipoise.
To indicate trainings in the equality of mundane existence and peace
[Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, IV.60] says:64
{IV.60}
Because phenomena are like dreams,
Mundane existence and peace are not conceptualized.
The answers to objections—that there would be
No karma and so forth—are exhausted as explained.
དགུ་པ་ དི ་ཞི་མཉམ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ རོ ་བ་ ོན་པར།
ཆོས་ མས་ ི་ལམ་འ ་བའི་ ིར། །ནས། ལན་ནི་ ི་ ད་
[24b.1]

བཤད་པར་ཟད། །ཅེས་ག ངས།

[Ornament IV.60, 9a.4]
{IV.60}
ཆོས་ མས་ ི་ལམ་འ ་བའི་ ིར། ། ིད་དང་ཞི་བར་མི་ ོག་པ། །
ལས་མེད་ལ་སོགས་ཀླན་ཀ་ཡི། །ལན་ནི་ ི་ ད་བཤད་པར་ཟད། །
With regard to trainings in the equality of mundane existence and peace
there are three: definition, divisions, and boundaries.
དི ་ཞི་མཉམ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ ོར་བ་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས་
ག མ།
 Trainings in the Equality of Mundane Equality and Peace 339

Definition [of a training in the equality of mundane

existence and peace]
A pristine wisdom of a pure ground Bodhisattva that overcomes the
chance for manifest generation of the apprehension of true existence
even in states subsequent to meditative equipoisea is the definition of a
training of the equality of mundane existence and peace.
དང་པོ་ནི། ེས་ཐོབ་ ་ཡང་བདེན་ འཛིན་མངོན་ ར་ ་ ེ་ [24b.2]

བའི་གོ་ བས་བཅོམ་པའི་དག་སའི་སེམས་དཔའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་དེ།
ིད་ཞི་མཉམ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ ོར་བའི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Divisions [of trainings in the equality of mundane ex-
istence and peace]
When divided, there are the three pristine wisdoms of the three pure
grounds [eighth, ninth, and tenth grounds].
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན། དག་ས་ག མ་གྱི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ག མ་ཡོད།
Boundaries [of trainings in the equality of mundane
existence and peace]
[Trainings in the equality of mundane existence and peace] exist from the
eighth ground until the end of the continuum [as a sentient being, just prior
to Buddhahood].
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་ མཚམས་ས་བ ད་པ་ནས་ ན་མཐའི་བར་
[24b.3]

་ཡོད།

a Literally, subsequent attainment.

 40th Topic
10. Trainings in a Pure Land (ཞིང་དག་ ོར་བ་)
Dan-ma-lo-chö: One needs a place where in the future one will
become a fully enlightened Buddha; thus, one must newly create,
or achieve, the pure land in which one oneself will become a Bud-
dha, this being done through one’s own collections of merit and
wisdom. In order to achieve such a special land, one must accu-
mulate these collections, chiefly the collection of merit, while on
the levels of learning. To do this one engages in prayer-wishes, in
keeping ethics, giving gifts, and so forth.
To indicate trainings in a pure land [Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear
Realizations, IV.61] says:65
{IV.61}
They purify Buddha lands
By achieving the purification of the impurities
Of the world of the environment
Like of the world of the sentient being.
བ ་པ་ཞིང་དག་ ོར་བ་ ོན་པར།
སེམས་ཅན་འ ིག་ ེན་དེ་བཞིན་ ། །ནས། སངས་ ས་ཞིང་ནི་
དག་པ་ཉིད། །ཅེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament IV.61, 9a.4-9a.5]
{IV.61}
སེམས་ཅན་འ ིག་ ེན་དེ་བཞིན་ ། ། ོད་ཀྱི་འ ིག་ ེན་མ་དག་པ། །
དེ་ལ་དག་པར་ བ་པ་ཡིས། །སངས་ ས་ཞིང་ནི་དག་པ་ཉིད། །
With regard to trainings in a pure land there are three: definition, divisions,
and boundaries.
ཞིང་དག་ རོ ་བ་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས་ག མ་
[24b.4]

ལས།
 Complete Trainings in All Aspects: Trainings in a Pure Land 341

Definition [of a training in a pure land]

A pristine wisdom of a pure ground Bodhisattva that is a powerful
virtuous root, being the prayer-wishes and so forth that establish the
special land where one will be fully enlightened is the definition of a
training in a pure land.
དང་པོ་ནི། རང་གང་ ་འཚང་ ་འ ར་གྱི་ཞིང་ཁྱད་པར་ཅན་
འ བ་པའི་ ོན་ལམ་སོགས་ཀྱི་དགེ་ ་མ ་ཅན་གྱི་དག་སའི་
སེམས་དཔའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་དེ། ཞིང་དག་ ོར་བའི་མཚན་ཉིད། [24b.5]

Divisions [of trainings in a pure land]

When divided, there are two, consisting of:
1. training in the pure environment of a Buddha land
2. training in the pure animate beings in [that Buddha land].
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན།
1. སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ཞིང་གི་ ོད་དག་པའི་ ོར་བ།

2. [སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ཞིང་གི་]བ ད་དག་པའི་ ོར་བ་

དང་གཉིས་ཡོད།
Boundaries [of trainings in a pure land]
[Trainings in a pure land] exist in the three pure grounds [eighth, ninth,
and tenth].
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་དག་པ་ས་ག མ་ན་ཡོད།
 41th Topic
11. Trainings in Skill in Means (ཐབས་མཁས་ རོ ་བ་)
To indicate trainings in skill in means [Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear
Realizations, IV.62-63] says:66
{IV.62}
This training having objects
Has ten aspects of skill in means:
Passed beyond the enemies,
Nonabiding, according with the power,
{IV.63}
Unshared character,
Unattached, unobservable,
Having extinguished signs, and wish-paths,
[Showing] the signs of it, and immeasurable.
བ ་ཅིག་པ་ཐབས་མཁས་ ོར་བ་ ནོ ་པར། ལ་དང་ ོར་ [24b.6]

བ་ཅན་འདི་ནི། །ནས། ཐབས་ལ་མཁས་པ་ མ་པ་བ ། །ཞེས་

ག ངས།
[Ornament IV.62-63, 9a.5-9a.6]
{IV.62}
ལ་དང་ ོར་བ་ཅན་འདི་ནི། །དགྲ་ མས་ལས་ནི་འདས་པ་དང་། །
མི་གནས་a ི་བཞིན་ གས་དང་ནི། ། ན་མོང་མ་ཡིན་མཚན་ཉིད་དང་། །
{IV.63}
མ་ཆགས་པ་དང་མི་དམིགས་དང་། །མཚན་མ་ ོན་ལམ་ཟད་པ་དང་། །
དེ་ཡི་ གས་དང་ཚད་མེད་པ། །ཐབས་ལ་མཁས་པ་ མ་པ་བ ། །
With regard to trainings in skill in means there are three: definition, divi-
sions, and boundaries.

a Co ne (9a.6), snar thang (10a.7), Peking (9a.8), Āryavimuktisena’s commen-

tary (161b.5), and Haribhadra’s Clear Meaning (120a.5) read gnas, as does Ngag-
wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words (see the backnote); dpe bsdur ma (20.19)
and sde dge (9a.5) read shes.
 Trainings in Skill in Means 343

ཐབས་མཁས་ ོར་བ་ལ། མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས་ག མ།

Definition [of a training in skill in means]
A pristine wisdom of a pure ground Bodhisattva for which exalted ac-
tivities are spontaneously established by way of the quiescence of
coarse striving and exertion is the definition of a training in skill in
means.
Dan-ma-lo-chö: “Skill in means” means being skilled in accom-
plishing the purposes of others. How does one do this? Coarse
striving and exertion as well as coarse conceptuality have been
pacified and hence do not occur, and so without having to rely on
great difficulty, exalted activities occur spontaneously. Bodhisatt-
vas on the eighth ground and above have such pristine wisdom.
དང་པོ་ནི། འབད་ ོལ་རགས་ པ་ཞི་བའི་ ོ་ནས་འ ནི ་ལས་
[25a.1]

ན་གྱིས་ བ་པའི་དག་སའི་སེམས་དཔའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་དེ། ཐབས་

མཁས་ རོ ་བའི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Divisions [of trainings in skill in means]
When divided, there are ten because there are the ten consisting of:
1. training in skill in means that has passed beyond interrupting phenom-
ena
2. training in non-abiding skill in means
Dan-ma-lo-chö: This training does not abide in the extreme of cy-
clic existence or the extreme of solitary peace.
3. training in skill in means, this being pristine wisdom impelled by the
power of prayer-wishes
4. training in uncommon skill in means [unshared with Hearers and Sol-
itary Victors]
5. training in nonattached skill in means
6. training in unobservable skill in means [in the sense that one does not
conceive of true existence]
7. training in signless skill in means [in the sense that one does not con-
ceive of true existence in terms of causes]
8. training in wishless skill in means [in the sense that one does not con-
ceive of true existence in terms of effects]
344 Chapter IV: Complete Trainings in All Aspects

9. training in skill in means having the signs of irreversibility [with re-

spect to attaining complete enlightenment]
10. training in immeasurable skill in means [in terms of its entity and its
fruits].
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན་བ ་ཡོད་དེ།
1. བར་ཆད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་ལས་ འདས་པའི་ཐབས་མཁས་ ོར་
[25a.2]

བ་དང་།
2. མི་གནས་པའི་ཐབས་མཁས་ ོར་བ་དང་།

3. ོན་ལམ་གྱི་ གས་ཀྱིས་འཕངས་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་[ཀྱི་ཐབས་
མཁས་ ོར་བ་]དང་།
4. ན་མོང་མ་ཡིན་པ[འི་ཐབས་མཁས་ ོར་བ་]དེ་དང་།
5. མ་ཆགས་པའི་[ཐབས་མཁས་ ོར་བ་]དེ་དང་།

6. མི་དམིགས་པའི་[ཐབས་མཁས་ ོར་བ་]དེ་དང་ [25a.3]

7. མཚན་མ་མེད་པའི་[ཐབས་མཁས་ ོར་བ་]དེ་དང་།

8. ོན་པ་མེད་པའི་[ཐབས་མཁས་ ོར་བ་]དེ་དང་།
9. ིར་མི་ གོ ་པའི་ གས་ཀྱི་[ཐབས་མཁས་ ོར་བ་]དེ་དང་།
10. ཚད་མེད་པའི་ཐབས་མཁས་ ོར་བ་

དང་བ ་ཡོད་པའི་ རི །
Boundaries [of trainings in skill in means]
[Trainings in skill in means] exist from the eighth ground until the end of
the continuum [as a sentient being, just prior to Buddhahood].
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་ས་བ ད་པ་ནས་ ན་མཐའི་ བར་ [25a.4]

་ཡོད།
The eleven phenomena characterizing a complete training in all aspects
have been explained.
 Trainings in Skill in Means 345

མ་ གོ ས་ ོར་བ་མཚན་ ེད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་བ ་གཅིག་བཤད་ཟིན་

ཏོ། ། ༈ ། །
Chapter V. Explaining the eight phenomena char-
acterizing peak trainings
To indicate the eight phenomena characterizing peak trainings [Maitreya’s
Ornament for the Clear Realizations, I.14-16a] says:67
{I.14}
Signs of it, increases,
Firmness, thorough stability of mind,
Four aspects of antidotes
To the four aspects of conceptions
{I.15}
Individually for the paths called
“Seeing” and “meditation,”
Uninterrupted meditative stabilization,
And wrong achievings [characterize]
{I.16}
Peak clear realizations.
གཉིས་པ་ ་ེ ོར་མཚན་ ེད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་བ ད་ ནོ ་པར།
དེ་ཡི་ གས་དང་ མ་འཕེལ་དང་། །ནས། ེ་མོའི་མངོན་
[25a.5]
ོགས། ཞེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament I.14-16a, 2b.2-2b.4]
{I.14}
དེ་ཡི་ གས་དང་ མ་འཕེལ་དང་། །བ ན་དང་སེམས་ཀུན་གནས་པ་དང་། །
མཐོང་ཞེས་ ་དང་ ོམ་པ་ཞེས། ། ་བའི་ལམ་ནི་སོ་སོ་ལ། །
{I.15}
མ་པར་ ོག་པ་ མ་བཞི་ཡི། །གཉེན་པོ་ མ་པ་བཞི་དང་ནི། །
བར་ཆད་མེད་པའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན། །ལོག་པར་ བ་དང་བཅས་པ་ནི། །
{I.16}
ེ་མོའི་མངོན་ ོགས་
There are eight phenomena characterizing peak trainings because there are
the eight consisting of:
1. heat peak trainings (drod rtse sbyor, ūṣmamūrdhaprayogaḥ)
2. peak peak trainings (rtse mo’i rtse sbyor, mūrdhamūrdhaprayogaḥ)
 Peak Trainings: Heat Peak Trainings 347

3. forbearance peak trainings (bzod pa’i rtse sbyor, kṣāntimūrdhapray-

ogaḥ)
4. supreme mundane qualities peak trainings (chos mchog gi rtse sbyor,
agradharmatāmūrdhaprayogaḥ)
5. path-of-seeing peak trainings (mthong lam rtse sbyor, darśanamār-
gamūrdhaprayogaḥ)
6. path-of-meditation peak trainings (sgom lam rtse sbyor, bhāvanāmār-
gamūrdhaprayogaḥ)
7. uninterrupted peak trainings (bar cad med ba’i rtse sbyor, ananta-
ramūrdhaprayogaḥ)
8. wrong achievings to be avoided (bsal bya log sgrub, apaneyavi-
pratipattiḥ).
ེ་ ོར་མཚན་པའི་ཆོས་བ ད་ཡོད་དེ།
1. ོད་ ེ་ རོ །
2. ེ་མོའི་ ེ་ ོར།
3. བཟོད་པའི་ ེ་ ོར།

4. ཆོས་མཆོག་གི་ ེ་ ོར།

5. མཐོང་ལམ་ ེ་ ོར།

6. ོམ་ལམ་ ་ེ ོར།
7. བར་ཆད་མེད་ པའི་ ེ་ ོར།
[25a.6]

8. བསལ་ ་ལོག་ བ་

དང་བ ད་ཡོད་པའི་ རི །
 42nd Topic
1. Heat Peak Trainings ( ོད་ ེ་ རོ ་)
To indicate heat peak trainings [Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Real-
izations, V.1] says:68
{V.1}
Even in dreams viewing all phenomena
As like dreams and so forth
Are asserted as the twelve aspects
Of signs of training having gone to the peak.
དང་པོ་ དོ ་ ེ་ ོར་ ནོ ་པར།
ི་ལམ་ན་ཡང་ཆོས་ མས་ཀུན། །ནས། མ་པ་བ ་གཉིས་དག་
་བཞེད། །ཅེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament V.1, 9a.7]
{V.1}
ི་ལམ་ན་ཡང་ཆོས་ མས་ཀུན། ། ི་ལམ་ ་ ར་ ་ལ་སོགས། །
ེ་མོར་ ིན་པར་ ོར་བའི་ གས། ། མ་པ་བ ་གཉིས་དག་ ་བཞེད། །
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Even in dreams one views all phenomena as like
dreams. About dreams in general, one does not have dreams dur-
ing thick sleep, but in thin [or light] sleep. What is a dream con-
sciousness? It is a consciousness to which various objects appear
at a time of light sleep. There are many different types. Some peo-
ple are able to understand what will happen in the future on the
basis of their dreams; this occurs due to their own former actions
(karma). There are also people who can, through analyzing their
dreams, tell where they or others have been born in the past or will
be born in the future and so forth.
What does it mean here to view phenomena as like dreams?
We are not usually attached to the truth of dreams. Similarly, if
we think about it, we can understand that all phenomena have the
discrepancy of not existing the way they appear. The measure of
their subsistence and that of their appearance disagree. Except for
someone who is very accustomed to this practice, it is not possible
to view all objects as like dream objects.
 Heat Peak Trainings 349

If one knows a certain mantra recitation very well while

awake, it is possible to recite it during dream time, but if one does
not know it well when awake it is very, very difficult to think
about it while dreaming. Similarly, there is a difference in clarity
between meeting people in dream and meeting them outside of it.
In dreams one has a hazy sense of perhaps having met or not met
with them. It lacks the clarity of actually meeting and speaking
directly to them. This is because the coarse operative conscious-
nesses have been withdrawn inside. Sometimes, however, due to
one’s winds and karma, one sees things even more clearly in
dream than otherwise.
The definition of sleep is a mental factor that has the func-
tion of powerlessly withdrawing the operative consciousnesses
inside (’jug shes rang dbang med par nang du sdud pa’i byed las
can gyi sems byung). This means that it is not one’s own choice to
withdraw the sense consciousnesses; rather, the withdrawal comes
about due to the factor of sleep. In meditation one withdraws the
senses purposely, under one's own power. For beginners, the fac-
tor of obscuration is predominant in dream-time. We can know
from our own experience that we do not dream during thick sleep
but do dream in light sleep. For example, we do not have many
dreams when we have been working very hard or sleep only for a
short period of time, or when night is very short. If we are not
extremely tired and do not go to sleep late, we will dream.
There are differences between neutral, virtuous, and nonvirtu-
ous sleep; and this arises due to your thought as you go to sleep.
A person making serious effort at meditation can practice dream
yoga. If as you fall asleep, not within thoughts of desire or hatred,
and not taking to mind an object that will generate afflictive emo-
tions, but within reflecting on light or on a deity in whom you have
faith, then it is possible for sleep itself to become virtuous. Sleep
can change into virtue or nonvirtue; it is one of the four mental
factors that is posited as “changeable”—the four being contrition,
sleep, analysis, and investigation.
The appearance of various objects to a sleep consciousness is
called a dream. Dreams can be changed easily because they are
produced by the power of karma and winds. Therefore, if you wish
to have a certain type of dream it is possible to bring it about. Usu-
ally we cannot identify what we have dreamed, but if you pay at-
tention it is possible to do so.
When you become used to viewing all phenomena as like the
350 Chapter V: Peak Trainings

illusions of a magician and become very steady at this, such

awareness occurs not only when during coarse waking discrimi-
nation, but also when asleep, at which time coarse discrimination
has disappeared.
With regard to heat peak trainings there are three: [definition, divisions,
and boundaries].
ོད་ ེ་ རོ ་ལ་ག མ་ ལས། [25b.1]

Definition [of a heat peak training]

A Bodhisattva’s concordance with a portion of definite discrimination
that is posited from the factor of having attained any of the twelve
signs of it such as even in dreams viewing all phenomena as like
dreams, and so forth is the definition of a heat peak training.
དང་པོ་ནི། ི་ལམ་ན་ཡང་ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་ ་ི ལམ་ ་ ར་ ་བ་
སོགས་དེའི་ གས་བ ་གཉིས་གང་ ང་ཐོབ་པའི་ཆ་ནས་བཞག་
པའི་སེམས་དཔའི་ངེས་འ ེད་ཆ་མ ན་དེ། ོད་ ེ་ ོར་གྱི་
མཚན་ཉིད།
Divisions [of heat peak trainings]
When divided, there are three: small, medium, and great heat [peak train-
ings].
གཉིས་ པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན་ ོད་ ང་འ ིང་ཆེ་ག མ་ཡོད།
[25b.2]

Boundaries [of heat peak trainings]

[Heat peak trainings] exist in the heat [level of the path of preparation, that
is, after the great path of accumulation and before the peak path of prepa-
ration].
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་ ོད་ན་ཡོད།
 43rd Topic
2. Peak Peak Trainings ( ེ་མོའི་ ་ེ ོར་)
To indicate peak peak trainings [Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Real-
izations, V.2] says:69
{V.2}
Using as an example virtues in many aspects
Such as worshipping Buddhas
Equal to the number of beings of Jambudvīpa,
[Sūtra speaks of] the entities of sixteen increases.
གཉིས་ ེ་མོའི་ ེ་ ོར་ ོན་པར།
འཛམ་ ་གླིང་aགི་ ེ་བོ་ ེད། །ནས། མ་འཕེལ་བ ་ ག་བདག་
ཉིད་དོ། །ཞེས་ ག ངས།
[25b.3]

[Ornament V.2, 9a.7-9b.1]

{V.2}
འཛམ་ འི་གླིང་གི་ ེ་བོ་ ེད། །སངས་ ས་མཆོད་པའི་དགེ་ལ་སོགས། །
མ་མང་ ་ནི་དཔེར་མཛད་ནས། ། མ་འཕེལ་བ ་ ག་བདག་ཉིད་དོ། །
With regard to heat peak trainings there are three: [definition, divisions,
and boundaries].
ེ་མོའི་ ེ་ ོར་ལ་ག མ་ལས།
Definition [of a peak peak training]
A second Great Vehicle concordance with a portion of definite dis-
crimination that abides in a type containing all sixteen increases of
merit is the definition of a peak peak training.
དང་པོ་ནི། བསོད་ནམས་ མ་པར་འཕེལ་བ་བ ་ ག་ཚང་བའི་
a While all other editions—sde dge (9a.7), co ne (9b.1), snar thang (10b.1), Pe-
king (11a.2), dpe bsdur ma (21.5), and Āryavimuktisena's commentary
(164b.3)—read 'dzam bu'i gling, only Haribhadra’s Clear Meaning (121a.1) reads
'dzam bu gling.
352 Chapter V: Peak Trainings

རིགས་གནས་ཀྱི་ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ངེས་འ ེད་ཆ་མ ན་གཉིས་པ་དེ།

ེ་མོའི་ ེ་ ོར་གྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
This [peak peak training] and Great Vehicle peak path of preparation are
equivalent.
དེ་དང་ ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ ོར་ལམ་ ེ་མོ་དོན་གཅིག།
[25b.4]

Divisions [of peak peak trainings]

When divided, there are three: small, medium, and great peak peak train-
ings.
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན། ེ་མོའི་ ེ་ རོ ་ ང་འ ངི ་ཆེ་ག མ་ཡོད།
Boundaries [of peak peak trainings]
[Peak peak trainings] exist in the Great Vehicle peak path of preparation.
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ ོར་ལམ་ ེ་མོ་ན་ཡོད།
 44th Topic
3. Forbearance Peak Trainings (བཟོད་པའི་ ེ་ རོ ་)
To indicate forbearance peak trainings [Maitreya’s Ornament for the
Clear Realizations, V.3] says:70
{V.3}
[Sūtra] says (1) “The unsurpassed
Thorough fulfillment of the three exalted knowers of all
And (2) not letting go of the welfare
Of sentient beings are firm.”
ག མ་པ་བཟོད་པའི་ ེ་ ོར་ ོན་ པར། [25b.5]

ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཉིད་ག མ་ཆོས་ མས་ཀྱི། །ནས། བ ན་པ་ཞེས་ནི་

མངོན་པར་བ ོད། །ཅེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament V.3, 9b.1]
{V.3}
ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཉིད་ག མ་ཆོས་ མས་ཀྱི། །ཡོངས་ ་ ོགས་པ་ ་མེད་པ། །
སེམས་ཅན་དོན་ཡོངས་མི་གཏོང་བ། །བ ན་པ་ཞེས་ནི་མངོན་པར་བ ོད། །
With regard to forbearance peak trainings there are three: [definition, di-
visions, and boundaries].
བཟོད་པའི་ ེ་ ོར་ལ་ག མ་ལས།
Definition [of a forbearance peak training]
A third concordance with a portion of definite discrimination that has
attained firm wisdom—a full similitude of the three exalted know-
ers—and firm method indivisible with regard to the welfare of others
is the definition of a forbearance peak training.
དང་པོ་ནི། མཁྱེན་ག མ་ ེས་མ ན་པ་ ོགས་པའི་ཤེས་
རབ་དང་གཞན་དོན་ལ་མི་ དེ ་པའི་ཐབས་བ ན་པོ་ཐོབ་
[25b.6]

པའི་ངེས་འ ེད་ཆ་མ ན་ག མ་པ་དེ། བཟོད་པའི་ ེ་ རོ ་གྱི་

354 Chapter V: Peak Trainings

མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: That this third concordance with definite discrim-
ination is a similitude means that one does not have the three ex-
alted knowers in complete form. However, one does have qualities
of mind that are similar to portions of the three exalted knowers;
thus, there is a partial concordance. This is because one has at-
tained a stability in which factors contrary to faith, effort, mind-
fulness, meditative stabilization, and wisdom—the five faculties
mentioned earlier—cannot arise. Because factors contrary to these
five cannot overpower one, one has a similitude of the three ex-
alted knowers. This is why it is said that a similitude of the three
is now complete.
“Divisibility” from the welfare of others would mean that
upon an interruption one would be deterred from achieving others’
benefit. For instance, indivisible friends are those who will remain
friends and will not turn against each other due to circumstance.
Since one cannot now be deterred from bringing about the welfare
of others, it is said that one has an indivisibility with regard to their
welfare.
At this point one has attained a nonanalytical cessation that is
a cessation of rebirth in bad transmigrations.
This [forbearance peak training] and Great Vehicle forbearance path of
preparation are equivalent.
དེ་དང་ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ རོ ་ལམ་བཟོད་པ་དོན་གཅིག།
It would also have been suitable even if “Bodhisattva’s”a was not affixed
in [the definitions of] the former two peak trainings [heat peak training and
peak peak training] as was the case here [in this definition], because there
are no such paths of preparation in the Lesser Vehicle. Nevertheless, it was
affixed for the sake of easily clearing away qualms.
་ེ ོར་ ་མ་གཉིས་ལའང་འདི་ ར་ སེམས་དཔའི་མ་ ར་ [26a.1]

ནའང་ ང་ ེ། ཐེག་དམན་ལ་དེ་འ ེའི་ ོར་ལམ་མེད་པའི་ ིར།

དེ་ ར་ནའང་དོགས་པ་སེལ་ ་ཆེད་ ་ ར་རོ། །

a Actually it was “Great Vehicle” (theg chen).

 Forbearance Peak Trainings 355

Divisions [of forbearance peak trainings]

When divided, there are three: small, medium, and great Great Vehicle
forbearance [peak trainings].
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན། ཐེག་ཆེན་ གྱི་བཟོད་པ་ ང་འ ངི ་ཆེ་
[26a.2]

ག མ་ཡོད།
Boundaries [of forbearance peak trainings]
The boundaries are like those of the Great Vehicle forbearance path of
preparation.
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ ོར་ལམ་བཟོད་པ་བཞིན་
ནོ། །
 45th Topic
4. Supreme Mundane Qualities Peak Trainings (ཆོས་
མཆོག་གི་ ་ེ རོ ་)
Dan-ma-lo-chö: At this point one’s mind has the capacity of gen-
erating the path of seeing since all its causes have been assembled,
and the path of seeing itself, a clear realization of the truth, is about
to be generated. One has a meditative stabilization that, in the
manner of a meaning-generality, realizes emptiness in terms of
limitless phenomena, free of any falsification, of any apprehen-
sion of true establishment. Thus there has been an increase in
one’s meditative stabilization, and one’s mind is approaching the
entity of a yogic direct perception.
To indicate supreme mundane qualities peak trainings [Maitreya’s Orna-
ment for the Clear Realizations, V.4] says:71
{V.4}
Meditative stabilization is thoroughly proclaimed
By way of manifold merit, using
As examples a four-continent,
A thousand, a million, and a billion.
བཞི་པ་ཆོས་མཆོག་གི་ ེ་ ོར་ ནོ ་པར།
གླིང་བཞི་པ་དང་ ོང་དག་དང་། །ནས། ཏིང་འཛིན་ ཡོངས་ [26a.3]

་བ གས་པ་ཡིན། །ཞེས་ག ངས།

[Ornament V.4, 9b.1-9b.2]
{V.4}
གླིང་བཞི་པ་དང་ ོང་དག་དང་། ། ོང་གཉིས་ག མ་དག་དཔེར་མཛད་ནས། །
བསོད་ནམས་མང་པོ་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་ནི། །ཏིང་འཛིན་ཡོངས་ ་བ གས་པ་ཡིན། །
With regard to supreme mundane qualities peak trainings there are three:
[definition, divisions, and boundaries].
ཆོས་མཆོག་གི་ ེ་ ོར་ལ་ག མ་ལས།
 Supramundane Qualities Peak Trainings 357

Definition [of a supreme mundane qualities peak

training]
A fourth concordance with a portion of definite discrimination that
has attained thorough stability of mind through limitless meditative
stabilizations endowed with the capacity to generate a path of seeing
is the definition of a supreme mundane qualities peak training.
དང་པོ་ནི། མཐོང་ལམ་ ེད་པའི་ ས་ ན་གྱི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་
མཐའ་ཡས་པས་སེམས་ཀུན་ ་གནས་པ་ཐོབ་པའི་ངེས་འ དེ ་
ཆ་མ ན་བཞི་པ་དེ། ཆོས་མཆོག་གི་ ེ་ ོར་གྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
[26a.4]

Divisions [of supreme mundane qualities peak train-

ings]
When divided, there are three: small, medium, and great Great Vehicle
supreme mundane qualities [peak trainings].
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན། ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ ོར་ལམ་ཆོས་མཆོག་ ང་
འ ིང་ཆེ་ག མ་ཡོད།
Boundaries [of supreme mundane qualities peak
trainings]
The boundaries are like those of the supreme mundane qualities path of
preparation.
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ ོར་ལམ་ ཆོས་མཆོག་ [26a.5]

དང་འ །
 46th Topic
5. Path-of-Seeing Peak Trainings (མཐོང་ལམ་ ་ེ རོ ་)
To indicate path-of-seeing peak trainings [Maitreya’s Ornament for the
Clear Realizations, V.5-22] says:72
{V.5}
Individually, those [two] conceptualizations of apprehended ob-
jects—
Engagements and disengagements—
Themselves ninefold entities, are to be known
As entities [apprehending their] objects not as they are.
{V.6}
By way of the divisions of common beings and superiors,
Sentient beings (1) as substantially existent and (2) as imputedly
existent
Are asserted as the two conceptualizations of apprehending-sub-
jects.
Those individually exist as ninefold entities.
{V.7}
If the objects apprehended do not exist that way,
Of what are those asserted as apprehenders?
Those are marked with the emptiness
Of an entity of apprehension in that way.
{V.8}
It73 is asserted that these conceptualizations having as their basis
The class of objects of engagement exist in nine aspects [observ-
ing]:
(1) Nature, (2) lineage,
(3) Thorough achievement of the path,
{V.9}
(4) Unmistaken objects of observation of knowledge,
(5) Discordant class, (6) antidotes,
(7) Realization by themselves, (8) acting,
(9) And their actions and the fruits of acting.
{V.10}
 Path-of-Seeing Peak Trainings 359

These74 entities of nine conceptualizations

Of these called (1) low realization
Due to falling to mundane existence or [solitary] peace,
(2) Lack of restrainers,
{V.11}
(3) Incompleteness of the aspects of the path,
(4) Proceeding under others’ conditions,
(5) Turning away from the intents,
(6) Trifling, (7) various,
{V.12}
(8) Obscured about abiding and entering,
(9) And going afterward
Have as their basis the class of disengagements,
Arising in the minds of Hearers and so forth.
{V.13}
(1) Assuming75 and discarding,
(2) Taking to mind, (3) closely
Related with the three realms
(4) Abiding, (5) manifestly adhering,
{V.14}
(6) The actualities of phenomena as imputations,
(7) Attached, (8) the antidotes,
(9) And degenerated from proceeding as wished
Are to be known as the first of apprehensions.
{V.15}
(1) Not76 going forth in accordance with the intents,
(2) Definitely holding paths to be non-paths,
(3) Production as well as cessation,
(4) Actualities endowed and non-endowed,
{V.16}
(5) Dwelling, (6) destroying the lineage,
(7) No seeking, (8) no cause,
(9) And observing opposition
Are the other conceptualizations of apprehending-subjects.
{V.17}
Teaching77 [in order to set] others in enlightenment,
Conferring what is a cause of it,
And cause of uninteruptedness
360 Chapter V: Peak Trainings

Having the characteristic of much merit.

{V.18}
The pristine78 wisdoms of extinction of the defilements
And of nonproduction are called enlightenment.
Because extinguishment does not exist and production does not
exist,
The two are to be known respectively.
{V.19}
In79 a nature without cessation
What type of conceptualization
Is extinguished by the path called “seeing”?!
What aspect of nonproduction is attained?!
{V.20}
Whereas the others on the one hand [assert] phenomena as exist-
ent,
I reckon the statement by the Teacher on the other hand
That the obstructions to objects of knowledge
Are extinguished to be amazing.
{V.21}
These80 have nothing to be removed at all.
There is nothing in the least to be posited.
Reality is to be viewed correctly.
Upon seeing reality, one becomes released.
{V.22}
Those81 that are contained within
The forbearances of simultaneous period—
That are mutually contained in giving and so forth individu-
ally—
Are here the path of seeing.
་པ་མཐོང་ལམ་ ་ེ རོ ་ ོན་པར།
འ ག་པ་དང་ནི་ གོ ་པ་ལ། །ནས། བ ས་པ་དེ་འདིར་མཐོང་
བའི་ལམ། །ཞེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament V.5-22, 9b.2-10a.4]
{V.5}
འ ག་པ་དང་ནི་ ོག་པ་ལ། །ག ང་བའི་ མ་ ོག་སོ་སོར་དེ། །
 Path-of-Seeing Peak Trainings 361

དགུ་ཡི་བདག་ཉིད་ ི་བཞིན་ ལ། །མིན་པའི་བདག་ཉིད་དག་ཤེས་ ། །

{V.6}
སོ་སོའི་ ེ་བོ་འཕགས་ད ་ེ བས། །སེམས་ཅན་ ས་དང་བཏགས་ཡོད་པར། །
མ་ ོག་འཛིན་པ་དག་ ་འདོད། །དེ་དག་སོ་སོར་དགུ་བདག་ཉིད། །
{V.7}
གལ་ཏེ་ག ང་དོན་དེ་བཞིན་མེད། །དེ་དག་གང་གི་འཛིན་པར་འདོད། །
དེ་ ར་དེ་དག་འཛིན་པ་ཡི། །ངོ་བོས་ ོང་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་དོ། །
{V.8}
ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་དང་རིགས་དང་ནི། །ལམ་ནི་ཡང་དག་འ བ་པ་དང་། །
ཤེས་པའི་དམིགས་པ་མ་འ ལ་དང་། །མི་མ ན་ ོགས་དང་གཉེན་པོ་དང་། །
{V.9}
རང་གིས་ ོགས་དང་ དེ ་པ་དང་། །དེ་ཡི་ལས་ འི་འ ས་ ་ལ། །
འ ག་པའི་ ོགས་ཀྱི་ ནེ ་ཅན་གྱི། ། མ་ ོག་དེ་ནི་ མ་དགུར་འདོད། །
{V.10}
དི ་དང་ཞི་བར་ ང་བའི་ ིར། ། ོགས་པ་དམན་པ་ཉིད་དང་ནི། །
ཡོངས་ ་འཛིན་པ་མེད་པ་དང་། །ལམ་གྱི་ མ་པ་མ་ཚང་དང་། །
{V.11}
གཞན་གྱི་ ེན་གྱིས་འགྲོ་བ་དང་། །ཆེད་ ་ ་བ་ལོག་པ་དང་། །
ཉི་ཚ་བ་དང་ ་ཚགས་ཉིད། །གནས་དང་འ ག་ལ་ ོངས་པ་དང་། །
{V.12}
ེས་ལ་འགྲོ་ཞེས་ ་བ་ལ། ། མ་ ོག་དགུ་ཡི་བདག་ཉིད་འདི། །
ོག་པའི་ ོགས་ཀྱི་ ེན་ཅན་ཏེ། །ཉན་ཐོས་ལ་སོགས་ཡིད་ལ་འ ང་། །
{V.13}
འཛིན་པ་དང་ནི་འདོར་བ་དང་། །ཡིད་ལ་ ེད་དང་ཁམས་ མས་ནི། །
ག མ་པོ་དག་དང་ཉེ་འ ེལ་དང་། །གནས་དང་མངོན་པར་ཞེན་པ་དང་། །
{V.14}
ཆོས་ཀྱི་དངོས་པོ་བ གས་པ་དང་། །ཆགས་པ་དང་ནི་གཉེན་པོ་དང་། །
ི་ ར་འདོད་བཞིན་འགྲོ་ཉམས་ལ། །འཛིན་པ་དང་པོར་ཤེས་པར་ ། །
{V.15}
ཆེད་བཞིན་ངེས་པར་མི་འ ང་དང་། །ལམ་ལ་ལམ་མིན་ངེས་འཛིན་དང་། །
འགག་དང་བཅས་པའི་ ེ་བ་དང་། །དངོས་པོ་ ན་དང་མི་ ན་དང་། །
{V.16}
362 Chapter V: Peak Trainings

གནས་དང་རིགས་ནི་འ ིག་aཔ་དང་། །དོན་ ་གཉེར་དང་ ་མེད་དང་། །

ིར་ ལ་བ་ནི་དམིགས་པ་ལ། །འཛིན་པའི་ མ་ ོག་གཞན་ཡིན་ནོ། །
{V.17}
ང་ བ་ལ་གཞན་ ོན་པ་དང་། །དེ་ཡི་ ་ནི་ཡོངས་གཏོད་bདང་། །
དེ་ཐོབ་བར་ཆད་མེད་པའི་ ། །བསོད་ནམས་མང་པོའི་མཚན་ཉིད་དོ། །
{V.18}
་ི མ་ཟད་དང་མི་ ེ་བའི། །ཡེ་ཤེས་ ང་ བ་ཅེས་བ ོད་དོ། །
ཟད་མེད་ ེ་མེད་ ིར་དེ་དག །གོ་རིམས་བཞིན་ ་ཤེས་པར་ ། །
{V.19}
འགོག་པ་མེད་པའི་རང་བཞིན་ལ། །མཐོང་ཞེས་ ་བའི་ལམ་གྱིས་ནི། །
མ་པར་ ོག་རིགས་ཅི་ཞིག་ཟད། ། ེ་མེད་ མ་པ་ཅི་ཞིག་འཐོབ། །
{V.20}
གཞན་གྱིས་ཆོས་ མས་ཀྱང་ཡོད་ལ། །ཤེས་ ་ལ་ཡང་ ོན་པ་ཡི། །
ིབ་པ་ཟད་པར་བ ོད་པ་གང་། །དེ་ལ་ཁོ་བོས་མཚར་ ་བ ིས། །
{V.21}
འདི་ལ་cབསལ་ ་ཅི་ཡང་མེད། །གཞག་པར་ ་བ་ ང་ཟད་མེད། །

a co ne (10a.1), snar thang (11a.2), Peking (11b.5), and Haribhadra’s Clear Mean-
ing (123b.2) read 'jig; sde dge (10a.1), dpe bsdur ma (22.11), and Āryavimuk-
tisena’s commentary (171b.5) read 'dzin. The corresponding Sanskrit stanza is:
sthāne gotrasya nāśe ca prārthanāhetvābhāvayoḥ |
pratyarthikopalambhe ca vikalpo grāhako 'paraḥ || V.16||
See Stcherbatsky and Obermiller, Abhisamayālaṃkāra, 28. Since in this stanza
nāśe means “destroying,” ’jig is clearly more appropriate.
b sde dge (10a.1), co ne (10a.2), snar thang (11a.2) and Āryavimuktisena’s com-
mentary (173a.1) read gtod; Peking (11b.6), dpe bsdur ma (22.14), and
Haribhadra’s Clear Meaning (124a.2) read gtong. The corresponding Sanskrit
stanza is:
bodhau saṃdarśanānyeṣāṃ taddhetośca parīndanā |
tatprāptyanantro hetuḥ puṇyabāhulyalakṣaṇaḥ || V.17 ||
See Stcherbatsky and Obermiller, Abhisamayālaṃkāra, 29. Since in this stanza
parīndanā means “conferred,” yong su gtod pa is more appropriate.
c co ne (10a.4), snar thang (10a.4), Peking (11b.8), Āryavimuktisena’s commen-
tary (173b.7), and Haribhadra’s Clear Meaning (125b.1) read la; sde dge (10a.3)
and dpe bsdur ma (22.20) read las. The corresponding Sanskrit stanza is:
nāpaneyamataḥ kiṃcitprakṣeptatyaṃ na kiṃ cana |
 Path-of-Seeing Peak Trainings 363

ཡང་དག་ཉིད་ལ་ཡང་དག་ ། །ཡང་དག་མཐོང་ནས་a མ་པར་གྲོལ། །

{V.22}
ནི ་པ་ལ་སོགས་རེ་རེར་ནི། །དེ་དག་ཕན་ ན་བ ས་པ་གང་། །
ད་ཅིག་གཅིག་པའི་བཟོད་པ་ཡིས། །བ ས་པ་དེ་འདིར་མཐོང་བའི་ལམ། །
With regard to path-of-seeing peak trainings there are three: [definition,
divisions, and boundaries].
མཐོང་ལམ་ ེ་ ོར་ལ་ག མ་ལས།
Definition [of a path-of-seeing peak training]
A Great Vehicle clear realization of the truth that is posited from the
factor of acting as the antidote to the apprehension of true existence
to be abandoned by the path of seeing is the definition of a path-of-see-
ing peak training.
དང་པོ་ནི་ མཐོང་ ང་བདེན་འཛིན་གྱི་གཉེན་པོ་ ེད་པའི་
[26a.6]

ཆ་ནས་བཞག་པའི་ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་བདེན་པ་མངོན་ ོགས་དེ།
མཐོང་ལམ་ ེ་ ོར་གྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Two types of objects to be abandoned by the path
of seeing are enumerated:
1. conception [of the true existence] of objects to be engaged in
(’jug pa gzung rtog)
2. conception [of the true existence] of objects to be avoided
(ldog pa gzung rtog).
There is a conception of true existence that conceives the wisdom
realizing emptiness and compassion to be truly existent objects to
be engaged in, or generated, for instance. There is also a concep-
tion of the true existence of objects to be avoided, for example, to
view the paths of Hearers and Solitary Victors as objects to be
turned away from by Bodhisattva practitioners.
This [path-of-seeing peak training] and Great Vehicle path of seeing are

draṣṭavyaṃ bhūtato bhūtaṃ bhūtadarśī vimucyate || V.21||

a co ne (10a.4), snar thang (11a.6), Peking (11b.1), and Haribhadra’s Clear
Meaning (125b.1) read nas; sde dge (10a.4), dpe bsdur ma (23.1), and Ārya-
vimuktisena’s commentary (174a.1) read na.
364 Chapter V: Peak Trainings

equivalent.
དེ་དང་ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་མཐོང་ལམ་དོན་གཅིག།
Divisions [of path-of-seeing peak trainings]
When divided, there are:
• two—meditative equipoise and states subsequent to meditative equi-
poise
• or from the viewpoint of objects of abandonment—the four path-of-
seeing peak trainings that are antidotes to the four conceptualizations
[to be abandoned by the path of seeing]
• or in terms of the pristine wisdom of meditative equipoise—the six-
teen periods of forbearance and knowledge.
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ ན་མཉམ་ སེ ་གཉིས་དང་། ང་ འི་ ོས་
[26b.1]

མཐོང་ ང་ མ་ གོ ་བཞིའི་གཉེན་པོ་མཐོང་ལམ་ ེ་ ོར་བཞི་

དང་། མཉམ་བཞག་ཡེ་ཤེས་ལ་ཤེས་བཟོད་ ད་ཅིག་མ་བ ་ ག་
ཡོད།
Boundaries [of path-of-seeing peak trainings]
The boundaries are like those of the Great Vehicle path-of-seeing.
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་ ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་མཐོང་ལམ་དང་
[26b.2]

འ འོ། །
 47th Topic
6. Path-of-Meditation Peak Trainings ( ོམ་ལམ་ ་ེ རོ ་)
Dan-ma-lo-chö: The four concentrations and the four formless ab-
sorptions plus the absorption of cessation make nine meditative
absorptions. What is the meditative absorption of cessation? It is
defined as a nonassociated compositional factor in the contin-
uum of a Superior that is distinguished by a cessation of all
types of coarse movement of feeling and discrimination, these
being the objects negated with respect to a subtle mental con-
sciousness that is the basis of negation (dgag gzhi yid kyi rnam
shes phra mo’i steng du dgag bya tshor ’du rags pa rgyu ba ci rigs
bkag pas rab tu phye ba’i ’phags rgyud kyi ldan min ’du byed de).
The other eight meditative absorptions are consciousnesses:
this one, however, is a very subtle nonassociated compositional
factor. The meditative absorption of cessation is necessarily at-
tained after the meditative absorption of the peak of cyclic exist-
ence, which is the mind-basis-of-all (kun gzhi rnam par shes pa,
ālayavijñāna)a for those who assert a mind-basis-of-all and which
is a subtle mental consciousness for those who do not assert a
mind-basis-of-all. There are no ordinary beings in the meditative
absorption of cessation, only Superiors. Among Superiors, there
are no Stream-Enterers or Once-Returners because they have not
attained a meditative absorption that is an actual concentration.
The actualizers of the absorption of cessation are Never-Returners
and Adorned Foe Destroyers, that is, Foe Destroyers who have
absorptions.
I have mentioned these points as background for the stanzas
about to be quoted from Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Real-
izations.
To indicate path-of-meditation peak trainings [Maitreya’s Ornament for
the Clear Realizations, V.24-32] says:82
{V.24}
Having gone and come in the nine meditative absorptions

a The Proponents of Mind-Only Following Scripture; see Hopkins, Maps of the

Profound, 432ff., and Sopa and Hopkins, Cutting through Appearances, 268.
366 Chapter V: Peak Trainings

Including cessation in the two aspects,

A consciousness included in the Desire [Realm] not in medita-
tive equipoise
Is taken as the boundary,
{V.25}
Whereupon one enters in absorption in the manner of leapover,
Leaping over one, two, three, four,
Five, six, seven, and eight
Going variously until entering into absorption in cessation.
{V.26}
(1) Brief,83 (2) extensive, (3) not being
Thoroughly taken care of by a Buddha,
(4-6) The nonexistence of qualities of the three times,
(7-9) The three aspects of paths to goodness—
{V.27}
These apprehended objects are one.
[A path of meditation] has these as objects of activity of aspects
of training.
The second84 are asserted as being
Minds and mental factors, operative object-possessors.
{V.28}
Conceptualizations of (1) the mind not generated,
(2) The essence of enlightenment not taken to mind,
(3-4) Lesser Vehicles taken to mind
(5) Complete enlightenment not taken to mind,
{V.29}
(6) Meditation, (7) no meditation,
(8) Opposites from those,
(9) And improper meaning
Are to be known as the path of meditation.
{V.30}

(1) Objects85 of activity imputed as sentient beings,

(2) Imputations of phenomena, (3) the non-empty,
(4) Attachment, (5) a nature of intensive differentiation,
(6) Acting on things, (7) the three vehicles
{V.31}

(8) Impure donation,

 Path-of-Meditation Peak Trainings 367

(9) Disturbed behavior

Are proclaimed as to be known
As the first apprehensions.
{V.32}
There86 are nine other aspects of the discordant class,
Related with the path of meditation,
Since it overcomes those having as objects
The imputation of sentient beings and the causes of those.
ག་པ་ མོ ་ལམ་ ེ་ རོ ་ ོན་པར།
འགོག་དང བཅས་པའི་ ོམས་འ ག་དགུར། །ནས། མི་མ ན་
ོགས་གཞན་ མ་པ་དགུ། ཞེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament V.24-32, 10a.5-10b.3]
{V.24}
འགོག་དང་བཅས་པའི་ ོམས་འ ག་དགུར། ། མ་པ་གཉིས་ ་སོང་འོངས་ནས། །
འདོད་པར་གཏོགས་པའི་ མ་པར་ཤེས། །མཉམ་གཞག་མིན་པའི་མཚམས་བ ང་
ེ། །
{V.25}
ཐོད་ ལ་ ་ནི་ ོམས་འ ག་པ། །གཅིག་དང་གཉིས་ག མ་བཞི་དང་ ་། །
ག་དང་བ ན་དང་བ ད་ ལ་ནས། །འགོག་པའི་བར་ ་མི་འ ར་འགྲོ། །
{V.26}
མདོར་བ ས་ ས་དང་སངས་ ས་ཀྱི། །བ ང་བས་ཡོངས་ ་མ་བ ང་དང་། །
ས་ག མ་ཡོན་ཏན་མེད་པ་དང་། །ལེགས་པའི་ལམ་ནི་ མ་ག མ་ལ། །
{V.27}
བ ང་བའི་ མ་ ོག་འདི་གཅིག་ ེ། ། ོར་བའི་ མ་པའི་ ོད་ ལ་ཅན། །
གཉིས་པ་སེམས་དང་སེམས་ ང་ མས། །འ ག་པའི་ ལ་ཅན་ཡིན་བཞེད་དེ། །
{V.28}
སེམས་མི་ ེ་དང་ ང་ བ་ཀྱི། ། ིང་པོ་ཡིད་ལ་མི་ ེད་དང་། །
ཐེག་པ་དམན་པ་ཡིད་ ེད་དང་། ། ོགས་པའི་ ང་ བ་ཡིད་མི་ ེད། །
{V.29}
ོམ་དང་ ོམ་པ་མེད་པ་དང་། །དེ་དག་ལས་ནི་བ ོག་ཉིད་དང་། །
ི་བཞིན་དོན་མིན་ མ་ ོག་པ། ། ོམ་པའི་ལམ་ལ་ཤེས་པར་ ། །
{V.30}
སེམས་ཅན་བཏགས་པའི་ ོད་ ལ་དང་། །ཆོས་བཏགས་པ་དང་ ོང་མིན་ཉིད། །
368 Chapter V: Peak Trainings

ཆགས་དང་རབ་འ ེད་བདག་ཉིད་དང་། །དངོས་པོར་ ེད་དང་ཐེག་ག མ་དང་། །

{V.31}
ཡོན་ནི་དག་པ་མ་ཡིན་དང་། ། ོད་པ་ མ་པར་འ ག་པ་ལ། །
འཛིན་པར་ ེད་པ་དང་པོར་ཏེ། །ཤེས་པར་ ་བ་བ གས་པ་ཡིན། །
{V.32}
སེམས་ཅན་བཏགས་དང་དེའི་ ་ཡི། ། ལ་ཅན་དེ་ཡིས་ མ་འ ོམས་པས། །
ོམ་པའི་ལམ་དང་འ ེལ་པ་ཡི། །མི་མ ན་ ོགས་གཞན་ མ་པ་དགུ། །
With regard to path-of-meditation trainings there are three: [definition, di-
visions, and boundaries].
ོམ་ ལམ་ ེ་ ོར་ལ་ག མ་ལས།
[26b.3]

Definition [of a path-of-meditation peak training]

A Great Vehicle subsequent clear realization that is posited from the
factor of acting as an antidote to the conceptions to be abandoned by
the path of meditation and is conjoined with a wisdom that is the best
of collective meditative cultivations of the three exalted knowers is the
definition of a path-of-meditation peak training.
དང་པོ་ནི། མཁྱེན་ག མ་བ ས་ མོ ་གྱི་རབ་ ་ ར་པའི་aཤེས་
རབ་ཀྱིས་ཟིན་པའི་ མོ ་ ང་ ོག་པའི་གཉེན་པོ་ ེད་པའི་ཆ་
ནས་གཞག་པའི་ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ ེས་ལ་མངོན་ གོ ས་དེ། མོ ་
ལམ་ ེ་ ོར་གྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
[26b.4]

Divisions [of path-of-meditation peak trainings]

When divided, there are nine cycles of uninterrupted paths that are actual
antidotes to the nine cycles of conceptions to be abandoned by the path of
meditation and nine cycles of paths of release of the path of meditation
[from the nine cycles of conceptions to be abandoned by the path of med-
itation].

གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན་ མོ ་ ང་ མ་ ོག་ ོར་དགུའི་དངོས་

a The 2005 Mundgod (55.12) misreads ba'i.
 Path-of-Meditation Peak Trainings 369

གཉེན་བར་ཆད་མེད་ལམ་ ོར་དགུ་དང་། ོམ་ལམ་ མ་གྲོལ་

ལམ་ ོར་aདགུ་ཡོད།
Boundaries [of path-of-meditation peak trainings]
[Path-of-meditation peak trainings] exist from the first ground through the
tenth ground.
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་ མཚམས་ས་དང་པོ་ནས་བ ་པའི་བར་ ་
[26b.5]

ཡོད།

a The 2005 Mundgod (55.16) misreads sgor.

 48th Topic
7. Uninterrupted Peak Trainings (བར་ཆད་མེད་པའི་ ་ེ རོ ་)
To indicate uninterrupted peak trainings [Maitreya’s Ornament for the
Clear Realizations, V.37-38c] says:87
{V.37}
That which is uninterrupted to Buddhahood
Having much more merit than, for example,
The virtues setting the beings of the billion [world-systems]
In the fulfillment of realizations
{V.38}
Of Hearers and Rhinoceros-like Solitary Victors
And in the flawlessness of Bodhisattvas
Is the uninterrupted meditative stabilization.
བ ན་པ་བར་ཆད་མེད་པའི་ ེ་ རོ ་ ོན་པར།
ོང་ག མ་ ེ་བོ་ཉན་ཐོས་དང་། །ནས། བར་ཆད་མེད་པའི་ཏིང་
ངེ་འཛིན། །ཞེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament V.37-38c, 10b.6-10b.7]
{V.37}
ངོ ་ག མ་ ེ་བོ་ཉན་ཐོས་དང་། །བསེ་ འི་ ོགས་པ་ ན་ཚགས་དང་། །
ང་ བ་སེམས་དཔའི་ ོན་མེད་ལ། །བཀོད་པའི་དགེ་བ་དཔེར་མཛད་ནས། །
{V.38}
བསོད་ནམས་མང་པོ་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་ནི། །སངས་ ས་ཉིད་ཀྱི་བར་མེད་དེ། །
བར་ཆད་མེད་པའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན། །a
With regard to uninterrupted peak trainings there are three: definition, di-
visions, and boundaries.
བར་ ཆད་མེད་པའི་ ེ་ ོར་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་
[26b.6]

a The final line of this stanza is:

དེ་ནི་ མ་པ་ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཉིད།
 Uninterrupted Peak Trainings 371

མཚམས་ག མ།
Definition [of an uninterrupted peak training]
A Bodhisattva’s final yogaa that is the best of collective meditative cul-
tivations of the three exalted knowers and directly produces, without
interruption, the exalted-knower-of-all-aspects that is its effect is the
definition of an uninterrupted peak training.
དང་པོ་ནི། མཁྱེན་ག མ་བ ས་ མོ ་རབ་ ་ ར་པའི་bརང་
འ ས་ མ་མཁྱེན་བར་མ་ཆད་པར་དངོས་ ་ ེད་པའི་སེམས་
དཔའི་ ལ་འ ོར་མཐར་ ག་དེ། བར་ཆད་མེད་པའི་ ེ་
[27a.1]

ོར་གྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
This [uninterrupted peak training] and pristine wisdom at the end of the
continuum [as a sentient being, just prior to Buddhahood] are equivalent.
དེ་དང་ ན་མཐའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་དོན་གཅིག།
Divisions [of uninterrupted peak trainings]
When divided, there are the four momentary trainings [to be explained in
the seventh category, 386ff. including Topics 63-66].
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན། ད་ཅིག་ རོ ་བཞི་ཡོད། [27a.2]

Boundaries [of uninterrupted peak trainings]

The boundaries [of uninterrupted peak trainings] are only the end of the
continuum.c
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་ ན་མཐའ་ཁོ་ན་ཡིན་ནོ། །

a That is to say, yogic consciousness.

b The 2005 Mundgod (56.4) misreads ba'i.
c Uninterrupted peak trainings exist only within the end of a person’s continuum
as a sentient being, just prior to attaining Buddhahood.
 49th Topic
8. Wrong Achievings to be Avoided (བསལ་ ་ལོག་ བ་)
To indicate wrong achievings to be avoided [Maitreya’s Ornament for the
Clear Realizations, V.40-42] says:88
{V.40}
1. The logical feasibility of objects of observation,
2. Distinguishing their entities,
3. The pristine wisdom of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects,
4. The ultimate and the obscurational,
{V.41}
5. Trainings, 6.-8. the three jewels,
9. Skill in means, 10. the realizations of a Subduer [Buddha],
11. Error, 12. paths,
13. Antidotal, 14. and unfavorable classes,
{V.42}
15. Characteristics, 16. meditative cultivation—
These wrong conceptions by proponents
Concerning an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects
Are asserted in sixteen aspects.
བ ད་པ་བསལ་ ་ལོག་ བ་ ོན་པར།
དམིགས་པ་འཐད་དང་དེ་ཡི་ནི། །ནས། མ་པར་བ ་ ག་དག་
་བཞེད། །ཅེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament V.40-42, 10b.7-11a.2]
{V.40}
དམིགས་པ་འཐད་དང་དེ་ཡི་ནི། །ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ངེས་བ ང་བ་དང་། །
མ་ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཉིད་ཡེ་ཤེས་དང་། །དམ་པའི་དོན་དང་ཀུན་ ོབ་དང་། །
{V.41}
རོ ་དང་དཀོན་མཆོག་ག མ་པོ་དང་། །ཐབས་བཅས་ བ་པའི་ ོགས་པ་དང་། །
ིན་ཅི་ལོག་ནི་ལམ་བཅས་དང་། །གཉེན་པོ་མི་མ ན་ ོགས་དག་དང་། །
{V.42}
མཚན་ཉིད་དང་ནི་ ོམ་པ་ལ། ། ་བ་ མས་ཀྱིས་ལོག་ ོག་པ། །
མ་པ་ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཉིད་ ེན་ཅན། ། མ་པ་བ ་ ག་དག་ ་བཞེད། །
 Wrong Achievings to be Avoided 373

With regard to wrong achievings to be avoided there are three: definition,

divisions, and boundaries.
བསལ་ [27a.3]
་ལོག་ བ་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས་
ག མ།
Definition [of a wrong achieving to be avoided]
That which is either a seed or a manifest form of apprehending the
two truths as unsuitable to be contained in one entity is the definition
of a wrong achieving to be avoided.
དང་པོ་ནི། བདེན་གཉིས་ངོ་བོ་གཅིག་ལ་འ ་མི་ ང་བར་འཛིན་
པའི་ས་བོན་དང་མངོན་ ར་གང་ ང་དེ། བསལ་ ་ལོག་ བ་ཀྱི་
མཚན་ ཉིད། [27a.4]

Dan-ma-lo-chö: The two truths exist with each and every phenom-
enon. For example, in relation to a pot, the pot itself is an obscu-
rational truth;a the absence of its true existence is its ultimate truth.
These two are contained within the one base which is the pot. Sim-
ilarly, there is an ultimate and an obscurational truth with every
single phenomenon, and these two truths are one entity. Thus a
mind that conceives the two truths as unsuitable to be contained
within one phenomenon, as well as the predispositions established
by such a mind, are the wrong achievings to be avoided. “Achiev-
ing” in this context means “apprehension;” hence, this is a misap-
prehension, a wrong conception.
A person with such a misconception mistakenly feels that if
an obscurational truth is present, there could not possibly be an
ultimate truth there, or if an ultimate truth is present, there could
not possibly be a conventional truth. Due to this misconception a
person cannot perceive how factors of deceptiveness and nonde-
ceptiveness could both be present in a single phenomenon.

Divisions [of wrong achievings to be avoided]

When divided, there are sixteen because there are the sixteen:b

a Or, conventional truth.

b The formatting of the list mirrors the grouping in the text; the third, tenth, and
374 Chapter V: Peak Trainings

two thoughts
1. thinking that the objects of observation of path-cultivation are un-
suitable
2. thinking that the aspects of path-cultivation are unsuitable
3. thinking that the fruits of path-cultivation are unsuitable
two debates concerning the basis [the two truths]
4. repudiating conventionalities by way of the ultimate
5. repudiating the ultimate by way of conventionalities
one consequence
6. consequence that the entities of deeds, giving and so forth, are not
feasible
three consequences
7. consequence that the basis of deeds, Buddhas, are not feasible
8. consequence that the doctrine is not feasible
9. consequence that the spiritual community is not feasible
10. consequence that skill in means—a feature of deeds—is not feasible
two consequences
11. consequence that clear realization is not feasible
12. consequence that conceptions that are objects of abandonment by
clear realizations are not feasible
one consequence
13. consequence that the entities of the paths are not feasible
one consequence
14. consequence that the divisions of objects of abandonment and an-
tidotes are not feasible
one consequence
15. consequence that specific and general characteristics of objects of
meditation are not feasible
16. consequence that meditation is not feasible.
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན། བ ་ ག་ཡོད་དེ།
1. ལམ་བ མ ོ ས་པའི་དམིགས་པ་མི་ ང་ མ་པ་དང་།
2. [ལམ་བ ོམས་པའི་] མ་པ་མི་ ང་ མ་པ་

sixteenth divisions have no heading.

 Wrong Achievings to be Avoided 375

གཉིས་དང་།
3. ལམ་བ མ ོ ས་པའི་འ ས་ ་མི་ ང་ མ་པ་དང་། [27a.5]

4. གཞིའི་དོན་དམ་གྱི་ ོ་ནས་ཀུན་ བོ ་ ན་འ ནི ་པ་དང་།

5. ཀུན་ བ ོ ་ སོ ་དོན་དམ་ ན་འ ིན་པའི་
ོད་པ་གཉིས་དང་།
6. ོད་པའི་ངོ་བོ་ ིན་སོགས་མི་འཐད་པར་ཐལ་བ་
གཅིག་དང་།
7. ོད་པའི་ ནེ ་སངས་ ས་ མི་འཐད་པར་ཐལ་བ་
[27a.6]

དང་།
8. ཆོས་མི་འཐད་པར་ཐལ་བ་དང་།

9. དགེ་འ ན་མི་འཐད་པར་ཐལ་བ་

ག མ་དང་།
10. ོད་པའི་ཁྱད་པར་ཐབས་མཁས་པ་མི་འཐད་པར་ཐལ་བ་

དང་།
11. མངོན་ ོགས་མི་འཐད་པར་ཐལ་ བ་དང་།
[27b.1]

12. དེའི་ ང་ ་ ོག་པ་མི་འཐད་པར་ཐལ་བ་

གཉིས་དང་།
13. ལམ་གྱི་ངོ་བོ་མི་འཐད་པར་ཐལ་བ་

གཅིག་དང་།
14. ང་གཉེན་གྱི་ད ེ་བ་མི་འཐད་པར་ཐལ་བ་

གཅིག་དང་།
15. བ ོམ་ ་ཪང་ ི་མི་འཐད་པར་ཐལ་བ་ [27b.2]
376 Chapter V: Peak Trainings

གཅིག་དང་།
16. ོམ་པ་མི་འཐད་པར་ཐལ་བ་

ེ་བ ་ ག་ཡོད་པའི་ ིར།

Wrong conceptions apprehending such are actual wrong achievings,
whereas the terms flinging such consequences are secondary [wrong
achievings].
དེ་ ར་འཛིན་པའི་ལོག་ ོག་ནི་ལོག་ བ་དངོས་ཡིན་ལ། དེ་ ར་
ཐལ་བ་འཕེན་པའི་ ་ནི་ཕལ་བའོ། །
Further, when wrong achievings are terminologically divided, there are
two—conceptual consciousnesses and expressive terms.
ཡང་ལོག་ བ་ལ་ ས་ བ ོད་ཀྱིས་ད ེ་ན་ ོག་པ་དང་ ོད་
[27b.3]

ེད་ཀྱི་ ་གཉིས།
A conceptual knower that, using either of the two truths as evidence,
repudiates the other is the definition of the first [a wrong achieving that
is a conceptual consciousness].
བདེན་གཉིས་གང་ ང་ ་མཚན་ ་ ས་ནས་ཅིག་ཤོས་ ན་
འ ིན་པའི་ཞེན་རིག་དེ་དང་པོའི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Disputatious speech that, using either of the two truths as evidence,
repudiates the other is the definition of the second [a wrong achieving
that is an expressive term].
བདེན་གཉིས་གང་ ང་ ་མཚན་ ་ ས་ནས་ཅིག་ཤོས་ [27b.4]
ན་
འ ིན་པའི་ ོད་ངག་དེ་གཉིས་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད།
When those [wrong achievings that are expressive terms] are grouped,
they are grouped as the two, critical disputes from the approach of con-
ventionalities and critical disputes from the approach of the ultimate.
དེ་དག་བ ་ན་ཀུན་ བོ ་ ོ་ཅན་གྱི་ཀླན་aཀའི་ ོད་པ་དང་། དོན་
a Correcting glan in the 2011 TBRC bla brang and the 1995 Mundgod revision
 Wrong Achievings to be Avoided 377

དམ་ ོ་ཅན་གྱི་ཀླན་aཀའི་ ོད་པ་གཉིས་ ་འ འོ། །

Boundaries [of wrong achievings to be avoided]
[Wrong achievings to be avoided] exist from before entering the path
through the seven impure grounds because, since it is explained that the
seeds [of these exist] there, objects to be abandoned by the path of medi-
tation exist [there].
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་ལམ་མ་ གས་ ནས་མ་དག་ས་ [27b.5]

བ ན་གྱི་བར་ ་ཡོད་དེ། ས་བོན་ཡང་དེར་བཤད་པས་ མོ ་ ང་

ཡོད་པའི་ རི །
The eight phenomena characterizing peak trainings have been explained.
ེ་ ོར་མཚན་ ེད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་བ ད་བཤད་ཟིན་ཏོ། ། ༈ ། །

of Ngawang Gelek bla brang (27b.4) to klan in accordance with the 1987 Go-
mang Lhasa (17a.2) and the 2005 Mundgod (46.21).
a Correcting glan in the 2011 TBRC bla brang and the 1995 Mundgod revision
of Ngawang Gelek bla brang (27b.4) to klan in accordance with the 1987 Go-
mang Lhasa (47.1) and the 2005 Mundgod (58.1).
Chapter VI. Explaining the thirteen phenomena
characterizing serial trainings
To indicate [the thirteen phenomena characterizing] serial trainings [Mait-
reya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, I.16a-16b] makes a brief in-
dication,89 “The serial having thirteen aspects,” and to make an extensive
indication of it by way of the branches it [VI.1] says:90
{VI.1}
Giving through to wisdom,
Recollections of the Buddha and so forth,
And phenomena as the nature of thinglessness
Are asserted as the serial activity.
ག མ་པ་མཐར་གྱིས་ རོ ་བ་[མཚན་པའི་ཆོས་བ ་ག མ་] ོན་པར།
མཐར་ གྱིས་པ། ། མ་ག མ་ མ་བ ། ཞེས་མདོར་བ ན་
[27b.6]

ནས་དེ་ཡན་aལག་གི་ སོ ་ ས་པར་ ོན་པར། ིན་པ་ཤེས་རབ་

བར་དག་དང་། །ནས། མཐར་གྱིས་པ་ཡི་ ་བར་བཞེད། །ཅེས་
ག ངས།
[Ornament I.16a-16b, 2b.3-2b.4]
{I.16}
མཐར་གྱིས་པ། ། མ་ག མ་ མ་བ ་
[Ornament VI.1, 11a.3]
{VI.1}
ནི ་པ་ཤེས་རབ་བར་དག་དང་། །སངས་ ས་ལ་སོགས་ ན་དང་ཆོས། །
དངོས་མེད་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་དེ། །མཐར་གྱིས་པ་ཡི་ ་བར་བཞེད། །
With regard to serial trainings there are three: definition, divisions, and
boundaries.
མཐར་གྱིས་ ོར་བ་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས་
[28a.1]

ག མ་ལས།
a Correcting lan in both the 1995 Mundgod revision of Ngawang Gelek bla brang
(27b.5) and the 2005 Mundgod (47.6) to yan in accordance with the 2011 TBRC
bla brang (27b.5) and the 1987 Go-mang Lhasa (17b.4).
 Thirteen Phenomena Characterizing Serial Trainings 379

Definition [of a serial training]

A Bodhisattva’s yoga conjoined with the wisdom of meditation in
stages on the aspects of the three exalted knowers is the definition of a
serial training.
དང་པོ་ནི། མཁྱེན་ག མ་གྱི་ མ་པ་རིམ་ཅན་ ་ ོམ་པའི་ཤེས་
རབ་ཀྱིས་ཟིན་པའི་སེམས་དཔའི་ ལ་འ ོར་དེ། མཐར་གྱིས་
[28a.2]

ོར་བའི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Divisions [of serial trainings]
When divided, there are thirteen because there are the thirteen:
The six:

50th Topic
1. Perfection of Giving ( ིན་པའི་ཕར་ ིན་)

51st Topic
2. Perfection of Ethics ( ལ་ཁྲིམས་ཀྱི་ཕར་ ནི ་)

52nd Topic
3. Perfection of Patience (བཟོད་པའི་ཕར་ ནི ་)

53rd Topic
4. Perfection of Effort (བ ོན་འ ས་ཀྱི་ཕར་ ིན་)

54th Topic
5. Perfection of Concentration (བསམ་གཏན་གྱི་ཕར་ ིན་)

55th Topic
6. Perfection of Wisdom (ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕར་ ནི ་)
380 Chapter VI: Serial Trainings

and the six:

56th Topic
7. Recollection of the Buddha Jewel (སངས་ ས་དཀོན་མཆོག་ ེས་
་ ན་པ་)

57th Topic
8. Recollection of the Doctrine Jewel (ཆོས་དཀོན་མཆོག་ ེས་ ་
ན་པ་)

58th Topic
9. Recollection of the Spiritual Community Jewel (དགེ་
འ ན་དཀོན་མཆོག་ སེ ་ ་ ན་པ་)

59th Topic
10. Recollection of ethics ( ལ་ཁྲིམས་ སེ ་ ་ ན་པ་)
[illustrating reversal from the unfavorable class]a
60th Topic
11. Recollection of generosity (གཏོང་བ་ སེ ་ ་ ན་པ་)
[illustrating engagement in virtue]
61st Topic
12. Recollection of deities [endowed with the eye of
pristine wisdom] and gurus ( ་ ་མ་ ེས་ ་ ན་པ་) [as judges
of whether virtues or nonvirtues are performed]

a The brackets in this and next three topics are drawn from the Se-ra Jay scholar
Long-döl Ngag-wang-lo-sang’s Vocabulary Occurring in the Perfection of Wis-
dom, 398.4/30b.4ff.
 Thirteen Phenomena Characterizing Serial Trainings 381

and:

62nd Topic
13. Realizing the naturelessness (ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མེད་པ་ གོ ས་པ་) [of
all those twelve]
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན། བ ་ག མ་ཡོད་དེ། ིན་པ་ནས་ཤེས་རབ་
ཀྱི་བར་ ག་དང་། སངས་ ས་ཆོས་དགེ་བ ན་ ལ་ཁྲིམས་
གཏོང་བ་ ་ ་མ་ ེས་ ་ ན་པ་ ག་དང་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མེད་
[28a.3]

ོགས་ཀྱི་བར་བ ་ག མ་ཡོད་པའི་ ིར།

Dan-ma-lo-chö: While the actual form of these occurs on the path
of meditation, it is important even now to apply those to one’s own
practice. One should reflect on the qualities of a Buddha who has
abandoned all defects and has the complete form of all auspicious
attributes. A Buddha possesses compassion like that of a mother
for her own sweet sole child; a compassion operating for all, with-
out bias. Buddhas bring about the welfare of everyone—those
who help them and those who do not. Buddhas tame sentient be-
ings who have come to a point where they are suitable to be tamed.
Their bodies are adorned with the thirty-two marks and eighty
beauties; their speech is endowed with the sixty branches of per-
fect vocalization; one statement is capable of answering the ques-
tions of a limitless number of beings, for they can physically em-
anate forms to each one of them.
In terms of the virtuous qualities possessed by the doctrine,
true cessations are free from the afflictive obstructions, free from
the obstruction of impededness and from obstruction of lowliness.
True paths have the quality that their own entities are free from
defilement, are capable of illuminating conventional and ultimate
phenomena—the diversity and the mode of being—and are anti-
dotes capable of overcoming the unfavorable.
The spiritual community is endowed with the qualities of
abiding well, of abiding with knowledge, honesty, and concord-
antly, and of abiding in a manner suitable to receive the hand ges-
ture of respect and obeisance. They are a field for the accumula-
tion of merit and are able to ineluctably issue forth the fruits of
382 Chapter VI: Serial Trainings

oneself paying respect and so forth to them in both superficial and

deep ways. For persons seeking liberation they serve as a place of
reliance. Their behavior is peaceful and disciplined, and they are
beautified by the adornments of the three highest trainings in eth-
ics, meditative stabilization, and wisdom.
What is the value of keeping good ethics? Ultimately, all the
ranks of Buddhahood and of liberation depend on wisdom. Wis-
dom in turn depends on the training in meditative stabilization,
which itself depends on training in ethics. Thus, the training in
ethics is the basis or foundation for all the trainings. More partic-
ularly, in order to attain a rebirth as a god or human, it is necessary
to maintain ethics. If one engages in giving but not in ethics, one
is very mistaken to think that one will thereby be reborn in a good
transmigration. As Chandrakīrti himself said, in dependence on
giving one can enjoy good resources even in a bad transmigration.
The fact that a person born into a bad transmigration nevertheless
has good resources is due to that person’s own former giving. The
reason why such a person has not been born in a good transmigra-
tion is that he or she has lost ethics, which are like legs bearing
one to a good transmigration. For example, there are extremely
powerful nāga kings and hungry ghosts with great magical pow-
ers. The cause of their present situation is in the past when they
engaged in much charity and thereby achieved a great deal of
merit, but they did not keep good ethics.
Buddha said that the effect is just like the action; an effect
arises that is similar to its cause. All the wealth in the world could
not compare with the wealth of a single nāga king; this arises due
to the force of having given gifts. Similarly, in our world there are
beings who have achieved a human life, but who are extremely
poor in terms of food, drink, and so forth. This is because they
were formerly able to keep the good ethics of abandoning one or
two types of nonvirtue, but did not engage in giving. They were
miserly, and, therefore, they are reborn in very poor circum-
stances. Due to their having kept ethics, however, they were born
as humans. Thus, the type of effect depends on its cause of similar
type. Chandrakīrti said that there is no greater cause than ethics
for attaining the body of a good transmigration. Therefore, during
the tenth serial training, reflection on ethics, one should reflect on
the benefits of keeping good ethics and the faults of not keeping
ethics.
In the reflection on generosity one considers the advantages
 Thirteen Phenomena Characterizing Serial Trainings 383

of generosity and the disadvantages of miserliness. For example,

if one engages in giving, it is like putting goods in the care of a
trustworthy person and then reaping the benefit in a future life-
time. Miserliness arises because one is not used to giving and be-
cause one does not know its benefits. Similarly, a person who has
never put money in a bank will not feel to do so when he becomes
wealthy. However it is safe to put money in the bank and there are
many advantages in doing so. One who does not know of these
advantages will not put his money there. If one does not use one’s
resources and engage in giving, then at death they are wasted, for
one cannot take them with oneself. However, if one does engage
in giving, it is like putting money in the bank because there will
be effects in the future. Thus, it is very valuable to engage in giv-
ing. It helps one in a deep way.
The twelfth serial training is a reflection on mundane and su-
pramundane gods. Although we cannot see such gods with our
eyes, they are mentioned in scripture where it is said that the gods
of the Desire, Form, and Formless Realms achieve their resources
without depending on exertion, spontaneously. We believe that
they have excellent happiness, and when one so believes, one un-
derstands their good fortune to have arisen due to virtue. Thus,
believing in them is a way of believing in virtue. One can also
view one’s own guru or lama as undifferentiable with a supreme
deity in this twelfth serial training.
The last serial training is the realization of the naturelessness
of all phenomena. Those are the thirteen serial trainings. Although
these are listed as practices of Bodhisattvas, they are also practices
that people who are not yet Bodhisattvas can adopt.

Boundaries [of serial trainings]

[Serial trainings] exist from the path of accumulation to just prior to mo-
mentary trainings.
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་ཚགས་ལམ་ནས་ ད་ཅིག་ ོར་གྱི་ ་
རོལ་བར་ ་ཡོད། ། ༈ ། །
Chapter VII. Explaining the four phenomena
characterizing momentary trainings
[Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, I.4bc] having made a
brief indication, 91 “single moment manifest complete enlightenment,”
says in order to make an extensive indication [VII.1-5]:92
{VII.1}
Because of bringing together all uncontaminated phenomena
Even with every one of giving and so forth,
This realization of a subduer
Is to be known as single moment.
{VII.2}
Just as when a person moves a paddle
On a water wheel from a single point,
All simultaneously are moved,
So is single moment knowledge.
{VII.3}
When the perfection of wisdom having a nature
Of all bright phenomena
Is generated on the occasion having nature of fruition,
It is single moment pristine wisdom.
{VII.4}
Abiding regarding all phenomena—the deeds
Of giving and so forth—as like dreams,
It realizes phenomena
As characterless in a single moment.
{VII.5}
Just as a dream and what sees it
Are not seen in a dualistic manner,
The nondual suchness of phenomena
Is seen in a single moment.
བཞི་པ་ ད་ཅིག་མའི་ ོར་བ་[མཚན་པའི་ཆོས་བཞི་བཤད་པ་]ནི།
ད་ ཅིག་གཅིག་མངོན་ གོ ས་ ང་ བ། ཅེས་མདོར་བ ན་
[28a.4]

ནས།
[Ornament I.4c, 2b.4]
 Four Phenomena Characterizing Momentary Trainings 385

ད་ཅིག་གཅིག་མངོན་ ོགས་ ང་ བ། །
ས་པར་ ནོ ་པར། ིན་པ་ལ་སོགས་རེ་རེས་ཀྱང་། །ནས། དེ་ཉིད་
ད་ཅིག་གཅིག་གིས་མཐོང་། །ཞེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament VII.1-5, 11a.4-11a.6]
{VII.1}
ིན་པ་ལ་སོགས་རེ་རེས་ཀྱང་། །ཟག་མེད་ཆོས་ཀུན་བ ས་པའི་ ིར། །
བ་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་གཅིག་པ་ཡིས། ། ོགས་པ་འདི་ནི་ཤེས་པར་ ། །
{VII.2}
་ི ར་ ེས་ ས་ཟོ་ ན་ ད། ། གོ ་ཐབས་གཅིག་གིས་བ ོད་པ་ན། །
ཐམས་ཅད་ཅིག་ཅར་འགུལ་བ་ ར། ། ད་ཅིག་གཅིག་ཤེས་དེ་བཞིན་ནོ། །
{VII.3}
གང་ཚ་ཆོས་དཀར་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི། །རང་བཞིན་ཤེས་རབ་ཕ་རོལ་ ིན། །
མ་ ིན་ཆོས་ཉིད་གནས་ བས་ ེས། །དེ་ཚ་ ད་ཅིག་གཅིག་ཡེ་ཤེས། །
{VII.4}
ནི ་ལ་སོགས་པའི་ ོད་པ་ཡིས། །ཆོས་ཀུན་ ི་ལམ་འ ར་གནས་ནས། །
ཆོས་ མས་མཚན་ཉིད་མེད་པ་ཉིད། ། ད་ཅིག་མ་ནི་གཅིག་གིས་ ོགས། །
{VII.5}
་ི ལམ་དང་ནི་དེ་མཐོང་ཉིད། །གཉིས་ཀྱི་ ལ་ ་མི་མཐོང་ ར། །
ཆོས་ མས་གཉིས་ ་མེད་པ་ཡི། །དེ་ཉིད་ ད་ཅིག་གཅིག་གིས་མཐོང་། །
With regard to momentary trainings there are four: definition, divisions,
meaning of the term, and boundaries.
ད་ཅིག་མའི་ ོར་བ་ ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ་དོན། ས་
[28a.5]

མཚམས་བཞི།
Definition [of a momentary training]
A Bodhisattva’s final yoga that has attained steady familiarization
with the aspects of the three exalted knowers is the definition of a mo-
mentary training.
དང་པོ་ནི། མཁྱེན་ག མ་གྱི་ མ་པ་ལ་གོམས་པ་བ ན་པོ་ཐོབ་
པའི་སེམས་དཔའི་ ལ་འ ོར་མཐར་ ག་དེ། ད་ཅིག་མའི་ ོར་
386 Chapter VII: Momentary Trainings

བའི་མཚན་ཉིད། [28a.6]

The three—momentary training, pristine wisdom at the end of the contin-

uum, and uninterrupted peak training—are equivalent. However, there are
many modes of assertion on this, even in the Land of Superiors [India].
ད་ཅིག་མའི་ ོར་བ་དང་། ན་མཐའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་དང་། བར་ཆད་
མེད་པའི་ ་ེ ོར་ག མ་དོན་གཅིག་ལ་འཕགས་ ལ་ནའང་
འདོད་ ལ་མང་ངོ་། །
Divisions [of momentary trainings]
When divided, there are four that are the same entity but are different iso-
lates because there are the four consisting of:
1. nonfruitional momentary trainings
2. fruitional momentary trainings
3. characterless momentary trainings
4. nondual momentary trainings.
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན། ངོ་བོ་གཅིག་ལ་ ོག་པ་ ཐ་དད་བཞི་ [28b.1]

ཡོད་དེ།
1. མ་པར་ ནི ་པ་མ་ཡིན་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་ ོར་དང་།
2. མ་པར་ ནི ་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་ ོར་དང་།
3. མཚན་ཉིད་མེད་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་ ར ོ ་དང་།
4. གཉིས་ ་མེད་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་ ོར་

དང་བཞི་ཡོད་པའི་ རི །
 63rd Topic
1. Nonfruitional Momentary Trainings ( མ་པར་ ིན་པ་མ་ཡིན་
པའི་ ད་ཅིག་མའི་ ོར་བ་)
To indicate nonfruitional momentary trainings [Maitreya’s Ornament for
the Clear Realizations, VII.1] says:93
{VII.1}
Because of bringing together all uncontaminated phenomena
Even with every one of giving and so forth,
This realization of a subduer
Is to be known as the single moment.
དང་པོ་[ མ་པར་ ིན་པ་མ་ཡིན་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་ ོར་] ོན་པར། ིན་པ་
ལ་སོགས་རེ་རེས་ཀྱང་། ནས། ོགས་པ་འདི་ནི་ཤེས་པར་ །
[28b.2]

ཞེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament VII.1, 11a.4]
{VII.1}
ིན་པ་ལ་སོགས་རེ་རེས་ཀྱང་། །ཟག་མེད་ཆོས་ཀུན་བ ས་པའི་ ིར། །
བ་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་གཅིག་པ་ཡིས། ། ོགས་པ་འདི་ནི་ཤེས་པར་ ། །
[Definition of a nonfruitional momentary training]
A Bodhisattva’s final yoga that in one moment is able to actualize the
types of qualities ranging from nonfruitional uncontaminated giving
through to the eighty beauties is the definition of a nonfruitional mo-
mentary training.
མ་པར་ ནི ་པ་མ་ཡིན་པའི་ཟག་མེད་ཀྱི་ ནི ་པ་ནས་དཔེ་ ད་
བ ད་ འི་བར་གྱི་ཡོན་ཏན་གྱི་རིགས་ མས་ ད་ཅིག་མ་གཅིག་
ལ་མངོན་ ་ ེད་ ས་པའི་སེམས་དཔའི་ ལ་ འ ོར་མཐར་ [28b.3]

ག་དེ། མ་པར་ ནི ་པ་མིན་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་ ོར་གྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།

Since the spontaneous capacity of meditation has not matured on the seven
388 Chapter VII: Momentary Trainings

impure grounds, these are indicated by way of isolatable factors that are
objects of those [seven impure grounds], a for this is the thought of all
four—Āryavimuktisena, Haribhadra, and the Foremost Father [Tsong-
kha-pa] and his spiritual son [Gyal-tshab]:
• Haribhadra’s Illumination of (Maitreya’s) “Ornament for the Clear
Realizations” says, “This is taught in accordance with a division into
four aspects by way of isolates in the perspective of close beings who
are trainees,” and
• Tsong-kha-pa’s Golden Garland says, “When momentary trainings
are divided by way of defining characteristics or isolates,” and
• Gyal-tshab’s Explanation of (Maitreya’s) “Ornament for the Clear
Realizations” and its Commentaries: Ornament for the Essence also
says, “By way of the character of different borders of isolates [that is,
the [points from which conceptually isolatable factors are drawn] there
are four aspects that are one entity but different isolates.”
མ་དག་ས་བ ན་ ་ མོ ་གྱི་ ས་པ་ ན་འ བ་མ་ ིན་པས་དེའི་
ལ་གྱི་ གོ ་ཆས་བ ན་པ་ཡིན་ཏེ། འཕགས་སེང་དང་ ེ་ཡབ་
ས་བཞི་ཀའི་དགོངས་པ་ཡིན་པའི་ ིར་ཏེ། ན་ ང་ལས་ [28b.4]

ག ལ་ འི་ ེ་བོ་ཉེ་བའི་ངོར་ གོ ་པས་ད ེ་ན་ མ་པ་བཞིར་ ི་

ར་བ ན་པར་མཛད་པས་སོ། ། ཞེས་དང་། གསེར་འ ངེ ་ལས།
ད་ཅིག་ རོ ་དེ་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད་དམ་ ོག་པས་ ེ་ན། ཞེས་དང་།
མ་བཤད་ལས་ཀྱང་། ོག་མཚམས་bམི་ འ ་བའི་མཚན་ [28b.5]

a Now however, the spontaneous capacity of meditation has matured.

b Correcting ’tshams in the 2011 TBRC bla brang and the 1995 Mundgod revi-
sion of Ngawang Gelek bla brang (28b.4) and in the 2005 Mundgod (49.1) to
mtshams in accordance with the 1987 Go-mang Lhasa (17b.5) and in Gyal-tshab’s
Explanation of (Maitreya’s) “Ornament for the Clear Realizations” and its Com-
mentaries: Ornament for the Essence (48b.3), which reads:

གོ ་མཚམས་མི་འ ་བའི་མཚན་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་ནི་ངོ་བོ་གཅིག་ལ་ ོག་པ་ཐ་

དད་པ་ མ་པ་བཞིའོ། །
See rgyal tshab dar ma rin chen, rnam bshad snying po'i rgyan, in gsung 'bum/
rgyal tshab rje (zhol), TBRC W676.2, 48b.3
 Nonfruitional Momentary Trainings 389

ཉིད་ཀྱིས་ན་ངོ་བོ་གཅིག་ལ། ོག་པ་aཐ་དད་པ་ མ་bཔ་བཞིའ།ོ །

ཞེས་སོ། །

a Correcting ba in the 2011 TBRC bla brang and the 1995 Mundgod revision of
Ngawang Gelek bla brang (28b.5) and in the 2005 Mundgod (49.2) to pa in ac-
cordance with the 1987 Go-mang Lhasa (17b.5) and Gyal-tshab’s Explanation
cited in the previous footnote.
b Correcting rnams in the 2011 TBRC bla brang and the 1995 Mundgod revision
of Ngawang Gelek bla brang (28b.5) and in the 2005 Mundgod (49.2) to rnam in
accordance with the 1987 Go-mang Lhasa (17b.5) and Gyal-tshab’s Explanation
cited in the previous footnote.
 64th Topic
2. Fruitional Momentary Trainings ( མ་པར་ ིན་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་མའི་
ོར་བ་)
To indicate fruitional momentary trainings [Maitreya’s Ornament for the
Clear Realizations, VII.3] says:94
{VII.3}
When the perfection of wisdom having a nature
Of all bright phenomena
Is generated on the occasion having nature of fruition,
It is the pristine wisdom in a single moment.
གཉིས་པ་ མ་པར་ ནི ་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་ ོར་ ནོ ་པར།
གང་ཚ་ཆོས་དཀར་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི། ནས། དེ་ཚ་ ད་ཅིག་གཅིག་
ཡེ་ཤེས། ཞེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament VII.3, 11a.5]
{VII.3}
གང་ཚ་ཆོས་དཀར་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི། །རང་བཞིན་ཤེས་རབ་ཕ་རོལ་ ིན། །
མ་ ིན་ཆོས་ཉིད་གནས་ བས་ ེས། །དེ་ཚ་ ད་ཅིག་གཅིག་ཡེ་ཤེས། །
[Definition of a fruitional momentary training]
A Bodhisattva’s final yoga that in one moment is able to actualize the
types of qualities ranging from fruitional uncontaminated giving
through to the eighty beauties is the definition of a fruitional momentary
training.
མ་པར་ ིན་པའི་ཟག་མེད་ཀྱི་ ིན་སོགས་ནས་དཔེ་ ེད་
[28b.6]

བ ད་ འི་བར་གྱི་ཡོན་ཏན་གྱི་རིགས་ མས་ ད་ཅིག་མ་གཅིག་

ལ་མངོན་ ་ ེད་ ས་པའི་སེམས་དཔའི་ ལ་འ ོར་མཐར་ ག་
དེ། མ་པར་ ིན་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་ ོར་གྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
“Fruitional” here is used by way of isolating [that is, focusing] on objects
 Fruitional Momentary Trainings 391

of the eighth ground and above because Āryavimuktisena’s Illumination

of the Twenty-five Thousand Stanza Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra speaks of,
“All uncontaminated phenomena of that state by way of the nature of fru-
ition,” and Gyal-tshab’s Explanation says, “The first of the four moments
is achieved through exertion on the seventh ground and below, whereby
all nonfruitional uncontaminated phenomena are actualized.” [That Ārya-
vimuktisena and Gyal-tshab say these] entail [that “fruitional” here is used
by way of isolating (that is, focusing) on objects of the eighth ground
above] because with respect to the “state” of Āryavimuktisena’s Illumina-
tion, Gyal-tshab’s Explanation describes the seventh ground and below as
nonfruitional and because implicitly the fruitional mode of the eighth
ground and above also can be understood.
འདིའི་ མ་པར་ ིན་པ་ས་བ ད་པ་ཡན་ཆད་ཀྱི་ ལ་གྱི་
[29a.1]

ོག་པས་བཤད་དེ། ཉི་ ང་ལས། མ་པར་ ནི ་པའི་ཆོས་ཉིད་

ཀྱིས་གནས་ བས་ཀྱི་ཟག་པ་མེད་པའི་ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད། ཅེས་
དང་། མ་བཤད་ལས། ད་ཅིག་མ་ བཞིའི་དང་པོ་ས་བ ན་ [29a.2]

པ་མན་ཆད་ ་ ོལ་བས་ བ་པས་ན་ མ་པར་ ིན་པ་མིན་པའི་

ཟག་པ་མེད་པའི་ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་མངོན་ ་ དེ ་པ། ཞེས་
ག ངས་པའི་ ིར། ཁྱབ་ ེ། ཉི་ ང་གི་གནས་ བས་ལ། མ་
བཤད་ཀྱི་ས་བ ན་པ་མན་ཆད་ མ་ པར་མ་ ིན་པར་ [29a.3]

བཤད་པའི་ ིར་དང་། གས་ལ་ས་བ ད་པ་ཡན་ཆད་ མ་པར་

ིན་ ལ་ཡང་གོ་ ས་པའི་ ིར།
 65th Topic
3. Characterless Momentary Trainings (མཚན་ཉིད་མེད་པའི་ ད་
ཅིག་མའི་ རོ ་བ་)
To indicate characterless momentary trainings [Maitreya’s Ornament for
the Clear Realizations, VII.4] says:95
{VII.4}
Abiding regarding all phenomena—the deeds
Of giving and so forth—as like dreams,
It realizes phenomena
As characterless in one moment.
ག མ་པ་མཚན་ཉིད་མེད་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་ ོར་ ོན་པར།
ིན་པ་ལ་སོགས་ དོ ་པ་ཡིས། ནས། ད་ཅིག་མ་ནི་གཅིག་གིས་
ོགས་ ཞེས་ག ངས་
[29a.4]

[Ornament VII.4, 11a.5-11a.6]

{VII.4}
ནི ་ལ་སོགས་པའི་ ོད་པ་ཡིས། །ཆོས་ཀུན་ ི་ལམ་འ ར་གནས་ནས། །
ཆོས་ མས་མཚན་ཉིད་མེད་པ་ཉིད། ། ད་ཅིག་མ་ནི་གཅིག་གིས་ ོགས། །
[Definition of a characterless momentary training]
A Bodhisattva’s final yoga posited from the factor of directly realizing
in one moment that all phenomena—giving and so forth—are empty
of true existence is the definition of a characterless momentary training.
ནི ་སོགས་ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་བདེན་ ོང་ ་ ད་ཅིག་མ་གཅིག་ལ་
མངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་པའི་ཆ་ནས་བཞག་པའི་སེམས་དཔའི་ ལ་
འ ོར་མཐར་ ག་དེ། མཚན་ཉིད་མེད་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་ རོ ་གྱི་
མཚན་ཉིད།
 66th Topic
4. Nondual Momentary Trainings (གཉིས་ ་མེད་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་མའི་
ོར་བ་)
To indicate nondual momentary trainings [Maitreya’s Ornament for the
Clear Realizations, VII.5] says:96
{VII.5}
Just as a dream and what sees it
Are not seen in a dualistic manner,
The nondual suchness of phenomena
Is seen in a single moment.
བཞི་པ་གཉིས་ ་མེད་པའི་ ད་ ཅིག་ ོར་ ོན་པར།
[29a.5]

ི་ལམ་དང་ནི་དེ་མཐོང་ཉིད། ནས། དེ་ཉིད་ ད་ཅིག་གཅིག་

གིས་མཐོང་། །ཞེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament VII.5, 11a.6]
{VII.5}
་ི ལམ་དང་ནི་དེ་མཐོང་ཉིད། །གཉིས་ཀྱི་ ལ་ ་མི་མཐོང་ ར། །
ཆོས་ མས་གཉིས་ ་མེད་པ་ཡི། །དེ་ཉིད་ ད་ཅིག་གཅིག་གིས་མཐོང་། །
[Definition of a nondual momentary training]
A Bodhisattva’s final yoga posited from the factor of being able to di-
rectly realize in one moment that all phenomena are not established
as different substantial entities of apprehended-object and appre-
hending-subject is the definition of a nondual momentary training.
ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་ག ངས་aའཛིན་ ས་ཐ་དད་ ་མ་ བ་པར་
ད་ཅིག་མ་གཅིག་ལ་མངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་ ས་པའི་ཆ་ནས་
བཞག་པའི་སེམས་དཔའི་ ལ་འ ོར་མཐར་ ག་དེ། གཉིས་
[29a.6]

་མེད་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་ ོར་གྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།

a The 2005 Mundgod (61.15) reads gzung.
394 Chapter VII: Momentary Trainings

Meaning of the term [“clear realization in a single

moment”]
Because of unmistaken, or correct, realization with respect to manifestly
regarding giving and so forth in a single moment that is the smallest unit
of time in which an activity can be completed, it is called “clear realization
in a single moment” (skad cig ma gcig gis mngon par rtogs pa). For during
the period of a single moment that is a smallest unit of time: within ab-
hisamaya (clear realization), abhi means “manifestly regarding” (mngon
par phyogs pa); sam means “correctly” (yang dag pa), that is, unmistaken
due to the removal of defilement; and aya means “realization” (rtogs pa)
and “comprehension” (gzhal ba), because Āryavimuktisena’s Illumination
of the Twenty-five Thousand Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra says:a
What is the meaning of abhisamaya? Abhi (mngon du phyogs pa,
abhimukha [“manifestly regarding”]) means “manifestly realiz-
ing” (mngon du rtogs pa); or the term sam expresses definiteness
(nges pa, niyata); aya is [expressed] for realization (rtogs pa).”
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཐའི་ ་ ོགས་ཀྱི་ ད་ཅིག་མ་གཅིག་ལ་ ིན་
སོགས་མངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་པར་མ་འ ལ་བའམ་ ཡང་དག་ [29b.1]

པར་ ོགས་པས་ན་ ད་ཅིག་མ་གཅིག་གིས་མངོན་པར་ གོ ས་པ་

ཞེས་ ་ ེ། ས་མཐའི་ ད་ཅིག་མ་གཅིག་གི་ ན་ལ་ཨ་བྷི་ས་མ་
ཡའི། ཨ་བྷི་མངོན་ ་ གོ ས་པ་དང་། སམ་bཡང་དག་པ་ ེ་ ི་མ་
ཟད་པས་མ་ འ ལ་བ་དང་། ཨ་ཡ་ ོགས་པ་དང་གཞལ་
[29b.2]

བའི་དོན་ཡིན་པའི་ རི ་ཏེ། ཉི་ ང་ལས།c མངོན་པར་ ོགས་པ་

a Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti and
[Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 65.
b The 2005 Mundgod (62.5-62.6) misreads sa ma.
c Āryavimuktisena's commentary in the sde dge (191b.5) reads differently from
Jam-yang-shay-pa’s citation, although the meaning is similar:

མངོན་པར་ ོགས་པ་ཞེས་ ་བའི་དོན་ཅི་ཞིག་ཡིན་ཞེ་ན། མངོན་པ་ནི་

མངོན་ ་ ོགས་པའོ། །སམ་གྱི་ ་ནི་ངེས་པར་མངོན་པར་བ ོད་པའོ། །ཨ་
 Nondual Momentary Trainings 395

ཞེས་ ་བའི་དོན་ཅི་ཞེ་ན། མངོན་ ་ ོགས་པ་ནི་མངོན་ ་

ོགས་པའམ་སམ་aགྱི་ ་ནི་ངེས་པར་མངོན་པར་ བ ོད་ [29b.3]

པའོ། །ཨ་ཡ་ནི་ ོགས་པ་ལའོ་ཞེས་ག ངས་ རི །

Boundaries [of momentary trainings]
With regard to the boundaries of all four momentary trainings, [the four
momentary trainings] exist only at the end of the continuum [as a sentient
being, just prior to Buddhahood].
བཞི་པ་ནི། བཞི་ཀའི་ས་མཚམས་ ན་མཐའ་ཁོ་ནར་ཡོད།
Manifest complete enlightenment in a single moment has been explained
well.
ད་ཅིག་གཅིག་གིས་མངོན་པར་ གོ ས་པར་ ང་ བ་པ་ལེགས་
པར་བཤད་ཟིན་ ཏོ། ། ༈ ། །
[29b.4]

ཡ་ནི་ ོགས་པ་ལའོ། །
Jam-yang-shay-pa:

མངོན་པར་ ོགས་པ་ཞེས་ ་བའི་དོན་ཅི་ཞེ་ན། མངོན་ ་ ོགས་པ་ནི་

མངོན་ ་ ོགས་པའམ་སམ་གྱི་ ་ནི་ངེས་པར་མངོན་པར་བ ོད་པའོ། །ཨ་
ཡ་ནི་ ོགས་པ་ལའོ་
a The 2005 Mundgod (62.9) misreads sa ma.
Chapter VIII. Explaining the four phenomena
characterizing bodies of attributes
To indicate bodies of attributes, the fruits, [Maitreya’s Ornament for the
Clear Realizations, VIII.1-40] says:97
{VIII.1}
The nature body of a Subduer
Has attained uncontaminated attributes
Has purity in all respects,
And a nature possessing the characteristic [of emptiness].
{VIII.2}
1) The harmonies98 with enlightenment, 2) the immeasurables,
3) The liberations, 4) the entities
Of the nine serial absorptions
5) The entities of the ten totalities,
{VIII.3}
6) The eight aspects by way of thoroughly dividing
The faculties of outshining,
7) Nonaffliction, 8) exalted knowledge upon wishing,
9) Clairvoyances, 10) individual correct knowledges,
{VIII.4}
11) Four purities in all aspects,
12) Ten powers, 13) ten strengths
14) Four fearlessnesses
15) Three aspects of nonconcealment,
{VIII.5}
16) Three aspects of mindful establishment,
17) A nature of not being endowed with forgetfulness,
18) Thorough conquest of the predispositions,
19) Great compassion for creatures,
{VIII.6}
20) The unshared attributes of only a Subduer
That are described as eighteen,
21) And the exalted-knower-of-all-aspects
Are called the body of attributes.
{VIII.7}
 Four Phenomena Characterizing the Body of Attributes 397

The Hearers’99 nonafflictive viewing

Is just the thorough abandonment of a human’s afflictive emo-
tion;
The severance of the continuum of their afflictive emotions
In towns and so forth is the nonafflictiveness of Conquerors.
{VIII.8}
A Buddha’s exalted knowledge upon wishing
Is asserted as (1) spontaneously established,
(2) having abandoned attachment, (3) being unobstructed,
(4) always abiding, and (5) answering all questions.
{VIII.9}
The cause100 having thoroughly ripened,
They manifest that [body],
The deed for that specific benefit,
To a specific one at a specific [place] at a specific time.
{VIII.10}
Just as even though a monarch of gods sends down rain,
Nothing grows from unfit seeds,
So although Buddhas have arisen,
Those without the lot do not experience the goodness.
{VIII.11}
Because exalted activities thus are vast,
Buddhas are called pervasive.
Because those are not consumed,
They are also called “permanent.”
{VIII.12}
This101 having an essence
Of thirty-two marks and eighty beauties
Is asserted as a Subduer’s complete enjoyment body
Because of thoroughly enjoying the Great Vehicle.
{VIII.13}
1) Hands102 and feet marked by wheels, 2) tortoise-feet,a
3) Fingers and toes joined by webs [of light],
4) Soft and youthfully tender hands as well as feet,

a In Nāgārjuna’s Precious Garland (178d) this is identified as “feet that are very
level.”
398 Chapter VIII: Bodies of Attributes

5) Seven body areas prominent,a

{VIII.14}
6) Long fingers and toes, 7) broad heels, 8) large straight body,
9) Inconspicuous ankles, 10) body hairs standing upwards,
11) Calves like an antelope’s, 12) long and beautiful arms,
13) Secret organ of the genitals retracting inside,b
{VIII.15}
14) Gold-colored skin, 15) smooth skin,
16) Body hairs each growing nicely to the right,
17) Face adorned with a hair treasury,c 18) lion-like upper body,
19) Round shoulders, 20) broadness between the shoulder
blades,
{VIII.16}
21) Unpleasant tastes perceived for this one as supreme of tastes,
22) Body symmetrical like a fig tree,
23) Prominent crown protrusion, 24) long and beautiful tongue,
25) Brahmā melodiousness, 26) cheeks like a lion,
{VIII.17}
27) Very white teeth 28) equal in size, 29) well arranged,
30) And fully forty in number,
31) Dark blue sapphire eyes, and 32) eyelashes like those of a
supreme cow—
These are the thirty-two marks.
{VIII.18}
These103 marks are thoroughly achieved
Through intensively completing
The particular causes achieving
The marks for this [complete enjoyment body]—
{VIII.19}

a Nāgārjuna’s Precious Garland (180def ):

Your hands, feet, shoulder blades,
And the nape of your neck will broaden,
So your body will be large and those seven areas broad.
b As Gyal-tshab’s commentary on Nāgārjuna’s Precious Garland (185.5) ex-
plains, like an elephant or a horse.
c A spiraling hair between the eyebrows (Nāgārjuna’s Precious Garland, stanza
187d).
 Four Phenomena Characterizing the Body of Attributes 399

Escorting gurus and so forth,

Firmness of vows that have been assumed,
Reliantly cultivating gathering [of students]
Giving fine articles, freeing those bound
{VIII.20}
To be killed, spreading to others
Virtues taken up and so forth—
Those having the character of causes achieving them
In accordance with how they occur in the sūtras.
{VIII.21}
A Subduer has104 1) nails copper-colored,
2) Oily-toned, and 3) prominent,
4) Fingers round, 5) broad, and 6) tapering,
7) Veins not manifest and 8) without knots,
{VIII.22}
9) Ankles not protruding, 10) legs even,
11) Proceeding in the manner of a lion, 12) of an elephant,
13) Of a swan, 14) and of a supreme bull,
15) Proceeding turning to the right, 16) beautifully, 17) and
straight,
{VIII.23}
18) Body elegant, 19) as if wiped, 20) well-proportioned,
21) Clean, 22) smooth, 23) and pure,
24) Signs fully complete,
25) Limbs of the body broad and excellent,
{VIII.24}
26) Steps equal, 27) two eyes pure,
28) Just having youthful flesh,
29) Body not slouching but 30) expansive,
31) Body very taut,
{VIII.25}
32) Limbs very distinct,
33) Unobstructed clear vision,
34) Waist round, 35) appropriately sized, 36) not stretched out,
37) But flat, 38) navel deep and
{VIII.26}
39) Curling to the right,
40) Beautiful when viewed in all ways,
400 Chapter VIII: Bodies of Attributes

41) All behavior clean,

42) Body without moles and black spots,
{VIII.27}
43) Hands smooth like cotton,
44) Lines on the hands lustrous, 45) deep, and 46) long,
47) Mouth not too wide,
48) Lips red like the bimba [fruit],a
{VIII.28}
49) Tongue flexible, 50) slender,
51) And red, 52) sound of a dragon,b
53) Speech supple and smooth, 54) eye-teeth round,
55) Sharp, 56) white, 57) even,
{VIII.29}
58) And tapered, 59) nose prominent,
60) And supremely pure,
61) Eyes wide, 62) eyelashes thick,
63) [Eyes] like lotus petals,
{VIII.30}
64) Eyebrows long, 65) soft,
66) Glossy, 67) with even hairs,
68) Arms long and broad, 69) ears equal
70) And devoid of impairment,
{VIII.31}
71) Forehead beautifully defined,
72) Large, 73) head broad,
74) Head hair black like a bee,
75) Thick, 76) smooth, 77) not tangled,
{VIII.32}
78) Not bristly, 79) and with fragrance
Captivating the minds of beings,
80) Adorned with glorious curls,c
Lucky [signs], curling swastikas—

a Momordica Monadelpha.
b That is, thunderous.
c dpal gyi be’u, śrīvatsa. This term is often translated as “endless knot,” but the
connotation of “knot” is not present in either the Sanskrit or the Tibetan though
present in the Chinese.
 Four Phenomena Characterizing the Body of Attributes 401

Those are asserted as a Buddha’s excellent beauties.a

{VIII.33}
Those105 bodies simultaneously bringing about
Various benefits for transmigrating beings
As long as mundane existence lasts
Are the Subduer’s emanation bodies of uninterrupted continuum.
{VIII.34}
Likewise,106 activities as long as cyclic existence lasts
Are asserted to be of uninterrupted continuum.
1) The activity of the pacification of transmigrations,
2) Setting them in the four aspects of gathering [students],
{VIII.35}
3) The realizations of the thoroughly afflicted
And adoptions of the thoroughly pure,
4) Properly [achieving] the welfare of sentient beings,
5) The six perfections,
{VIII.36}
6) The Buddha path, 7) emptiness
Of inherent existence, 8) extinguishment of dualistic [appear-
ance]
9) Terminological, 10) unobservable,
11) Thorough ripening of embodied beings,
{VIII.37}
12) The paths of Bodhisattvas,
13) Reversing manifest conception,
14) Having attained enlightenment, 15) the pure land
Of buddhafication, 16) definite,
{VIII.38}
17) Immeasurable benefits for sentient beings,
18) The qualities of relying on Buddhas and so forth
19) The branches of enlightenment,
20) Nonwasted, 21) seeing the truths,
{VIII.39}
22) Abandonment of the errors,
23) The mode of baselessness of those,
25) Purification, the causal collections,

a This stanza has an extra line.

402 Chapter VIII: Bodies of Attributes

26) Thoroughly not knowing the compounded

{VIII.40}
And uncompounded as different,
And 27) setting them in the nonabiding nirvāṇa
Are asserted as the twenty-seven aspects
Of the activities of the body of attributes.
ག མ་པ་འ ས་ ་ཆོས་ ་[མཚན་ ེད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་བཞི་] ོན་པར།
བ་པའི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ ་ནི། །ནས། མ་པ་ཉི་ ་བ ན་ ་
བཞེད། །ཅེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament VIII.1-40, 11a.7-13a.4]
{VIII.1}
བ་པའི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ ་ནི། །ཟག་པ་མེད་པའི་ཆོས་གང་དག །
ཐོབ་ ར་ མ་ཀུན་ མ་དག་པ། །དེ་དག་རང་བཞིན་མཚན་ཉིད་ཅན། །
{VIII.2}
ང་ བ་ ོགས་མ ན་ཚད་མེད་དང་། ། མ་པར་ཐར་དང་མཐར་གྱིས་ནི། །
ོམས་འ ག་དགུ་ཡི་བདག་ཉིད་དང་། །ཟད་པར་བ ་ཡི་བདག་ཉིད་དང་། །
{VIII.3}
ཟིལ་གྱིས་གནོན་པའི་ ་ེ མཆེད་ནི། །རབ་ ་ད ེ་བས་ མ་བ ད་དང་། །
ཉོན་མོངས་མེད་དང་ ནོ ་མཁྱེན་དང་། །མངོན་ཤེས་སོ་སོ་ཡང་དག་རིག །
{VIII.4}
མ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་དག་བཞི་དང་། །དབང་བ ་དང་ནི་ ོབས་བ ་དང་། །
མི་འ ིགས་པ་ནི་བཞི་དག་དང་། །བ ང་བ་མེད་པ་ མ་ག མ་དང་། །
{VIII.5}
ན་པ་ཉེར་གཞག་ མ་ག མ་དང་། །བ ེལ་བ་མི་མངའི་ཆོས་ཉིད་དང་། །
བག་ཆགས་ཡང་དག་བཅོམ་པ་དང་། ། ེ་ལ་ གས་ ེ་ཆེན་པོ་དང་། །
{VIII.6}
བ་པ་ཁོ་ནའི་མ་འ ེས་ཆོས། །བཅོ་བ ད་བཤད་པ་གང་ཡིན་དང་། །
མ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་མཁྱེན་ཉིད་དང་། །ཆོས་ཀྱི་ ་ཞེས་བ ོད་པ་ཡིན། །
{VIII.7}
ཉན་ཐོས་ཉོན་མོངས་མེད་པའི་ ། །མི་ཡི་aཉོན་མོངས་ཡོངས་ ོང་ཉིད། །

a Correcting the second line of VIII.7 nyan thos nyon mongs yongs spong nyi to
mi yi nyon mongs spong nyid in the sde dge (11b.4) and dpe bsdur ma (26.13) in
accordance with all other editions—cone (10b.4), snar thang (11b.3), Peking
 Four Phenomena Characterizing the Body of Attributes 403

གྲོང་སོགས་ ་དེའི་ཉོན་མོངས་ མས། ། ན་གཅོད་ ལ་བའི་ཉོན་མོངས་མེད། །

{VIII.8}
སངས་ ས་ ོན་ནས་aམཁྱེན་པ་ནི། ། ན་གྱིས་ བ་དང་ཆགས་ ངས་དང་། །
ཐོགས་པ་མེད་དང་ ག་གནས་དང་། ། ི་བ་ཀུན་ལན་འདེབས་པར་བཞེད། །
{VIII.9}
་ནི་ཡོངས་ ་ ིན་ ར་ནས། །གང་དང་གང་ལ་གང་དང་ནི། །
གང་ཚ་ ་བ་ཕན་ ར་པ། །དེ་དང་དེ་ལ་དེ་ ང་ངོ་། །
{VIII.10}
་ཡི་ ལ་པོས་ཆར་ཕབ་ཀྱང་། །ས་བོན་མི་ ང་མི་འ ངས་ ར། །
སངས་ ས་ མས་ནི་ ང་ ར་ཀྱང་། ། ལ་བ་མེད་པས་བཟང་མི་ ོང་། །
{VIII.11}
དེ་ ར་མཛད་པ་ ་ཆེའི་ ིར། །སངས་ ས་ཁྱབ་པར་ངེས་པར་བ ོད། །
དེ་ཉིད་ཟད་པ་མེད་པའི་ ིར། ། ག་པ་ཞེས་ཀྱང་བ ོད་པ་ཡིན། །
{VIII.12}
མཚན་ནི་ མ་ ་ ་གཉིས་དང་། །དཔེ་ ད་བ ད་ འི་བདག་ཉིད་འདི། །
ཐེག་ཆེན་ཉེ་བར་ལོངས་ ོད་ ིར། ། བ་པའི་ལོངས་ ོད་ ོགས་ ར་བཞེད། །
{VIII.13}
ག་ཞབས་འཁོར་ལོའི་མཚན་དང་ ས་ ལ་ཞབས། ། ག་དང་ཞབས་སོར་ ་བས་
འ ེལ་པ་དང་། །
ག་ནི་ཞབས་བཅས་འ མ་ཞིང་གཞོན་ཤ་ཆགས། །འདི་ཡི་ ་ནི་བ ན་དག་མཐོ་
བ་དང་། །
{VIII.14}

(13a.4), Āryavimuktisena’s commentary (196b.4), and Haribhadra’s Clear Mean-

ing (133b.1) and in consideration of nṛkleśa in the Sanskrit:
śrāvakasyāraṇādaṣṭernṛkleśaparihāritā |
tatkleśasrotaucchityai grāmādiṣu jñanāraṇā ||
See Stcherbatsky and Obermiller, Abhisamayālaṃkāra, 34.
a Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words (90a.5) reads gnas as does Ārya-
vimuktisena’s commentary (196b.7), but the others—co ne (11b.4), snar thang
(12b.3), dpe bsdur ma (26.15), Peking (13b.6), Haribhadra’s Clear Meaning
(133b.4)—read nas. The corresponding Sanskrit stanza is:
anābhogamanābhaṅgamavyāghāthaṃ sadā sthitam |
sarvapraśnāpanudbhauddhaṃ praṇidhijñānamiṣyate || VIII.8 |||
The term praṇidhijñānam could go either way, smon nas mkhyen pa or smon gnas
mkhyen pa.
404 Chapter VIII: Bodies of Attributes

སོར་མོ་རིང་དང་ ིང་ཡངས་ ་ཆེ་ ང་། །ཞབས་འ ར་མི་མངོན་ ་ནི་གྱེན་ ་

ོགས། །
ིན་པ་ཨེ་ན་ཡའི་འ ་ ག་རིང་མཛས། །མདོམས་ཀྱི་ ་བ་ བས་ ་ བ་པའི་
མཆོག །
{VIII.15}
པགས་པ་གསེར་མདོག་པགས་པ་ བ་པ་དང་། ། ་ནི་རེ་རེ་ནས་གཡས་ལེགས་
འ ངས་དང་། །
ཞལ་མཛད་ ས་བ ན་རོ་ ོད་སེང་གེ་འ ། །འདི་ཡི་ད ང་པའི་མགོ་ མ་ཐལ་
གོང་ ས། །
{VIII.16}
འདི་ལ་རོ་མི་ཞིམ་པ་རོ་མཆོག་ ང་། ། ་ནི་ ་གྲོ་དྷ་ ར་ ་ཞེང་གབ། །
ག ག་ཏོར་ད ར་ ན་ གས་རིང་མཛས་པ་དང་། །ཚངས་ད ངས་འགྲམ་པ་སེང་
གེའི་འ ་དང་ཚམས། །
{VIII.17}
ཤིན་ ་དཀར་དང་ཚད་aམཉམ་ཐགས་བཟང་དང་། །གྲངས་ནི་བཞི་བ ་ཐམ་པར་
ཚང་བ་དང་། །
ན་ནི་མཐོན་མཐིང་ ན་ ི་བ་མཆོག་གི །འ ་བ་འདི་དག་ མ་ ་ ་གཉིས་
མཚན། །
{VIII.18}
འདི་ལ་མཚན་ནི་གང་གང་གིས།b ། བ་པར་ ེད་པའི་ ་གང་ཡིན། །
a Correcting tshed in the sde dge (12a.3), co ne (13a.3), and dpe bsdur ma (27.13)
to tshad in accordance with snar thang (13a.1), Peking (14b.5), and Haribhadra’s
Clear Meaning (134b.6). The corresponding Sanskrit stanza is:
tulyāḥ pramāṇe 'viralāś ca dantā
anyūnasaṃkhyādaśikāś catasraḥ
nīlekṣaṇo govṛṣapakṣmanetro |
dvātriṃśad etāni hi lakṣaṇāni ||VIII.17||
See Stcherbatsky and Obermiller, Abhisamayālaṃkāra, 36. Considering the
meaning of the corresponding Sanskrit term pramāṇe (“in size”), tshad is the cor-
rect Tibetan reading. Āryavimuktisena’s commentary (200b.1) reads tshems.
b sde dge (12a.4), co ne (13a.4), and dpe bsdur ma (27.15) read gis, while snar
thang (13a.2), Peking (14a.6), Āryavimuktisena’s commentary (201b.2), and
Haribhadra’s Clear Meaning (135b.3) read gi; also, Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Mean-
ing of the Words (92b.2) in commentary reads gang and gang gi. The correspond-
ing Sanskrit stanza is:
 Four Phenomena Characterizing the Body of Attributes 405

དེ་དང་དེ་ནི་རབ་ ོགས་པས། །མཚན་ནི་འདི་དག་ཡང་དག་འ བ། །

{VIII.19}
་མ་ ེལ་ལ་སོགས་པ་དང་། །ཡང་དག་ ངས་པ་བ ན་པ་དང་། །
བ ་བ་བ ེན་དང་གྱ་ནོམ་པའི། །དངོས་པོ་ ིན་དང་གསད་ ་བ། །
{VIII.20}
ཐར་བར་ དེ ་དང་དགེ་བ་ནི། །ཡང་དག་ ངས་པ་ ེལ་ལ་སོགས། །
བ་ ེད་ ་ཡི་མཚན་ཉིད་དེ༏ །མདོ་ལས་ ི་ ད་འ ང་བ་བཞིན། །
{VIII.21}
བ་པའི་སེན་མོ་ཟངས་མདོག་དང་། །མདོག་ མ་མཐོ་དང་སོར་མོ་ མས། །
མ་ ས་ ིན་གྱིས་ ་བ་དང་། ། ་མི་མངོན་དང་མ ད་པ་མེད། །
{VIII.22}
ལོང་ ་མི་མངོན་ཞབས་མཉམ་དང་། །སེང་གེ་གླང་ཆེན་ ་ངང་ནི། །
་མཆོག་ བས་གཤེགས་གཡས་ ོགས་དང་། །མཛས་གཤེགས་ ང་དང་འཁྲིལ་
བག་ཆགས། །
{VIII.23}
་ི དོར་ ས་འ ་རིམ་པར་འཚམ། །གཙང་དང་འ མ་དང་དག་པའི་ ། །
མཚན་ནི་ཡོངས་ ་ ོགས་པ་དང་། ། ་ཡི་ཁོ་ལག་ཡངས་ཤིང་བཟང་། །
{VIII.24}
གོམ་ ོམས་པ་དང་ ན་གཉིས་ནི། །དག་དང་གཞོན་ཤ་ཅན་ཉིད་དང་། །
་ མ་མེད་དང་ ས་པ་དང་། །ཤིན་ ་གྲིམས་པའི་ ་ཉིད་དང་། །
{VIII.25}
ཡན་ལག་ཤིན་ ་ མ་འ སེ ་དང་། །གཟིགས་པ་ ིབ་མེད་དག་པ་དང་། །
དཀུ་ མ་ བས་ ིན་མ་ ོངས་དང་། ། ང་ངེ་བ་དང་ ེ་བ་ནི། །
{VIII.26}
ཟབ་དང་གཡས་ ོགས་འཁྱིལ་བ་དང་། །ཀུན་ནས་བ ་ན་ ག་པ་དང་། །
ཀུན་ ོད་གཙང་དང་ ་ལ་ནི། ། ེ་བ་གནག་བག་མེད་པ་དང་། །
{VIII.27}
ག་ནི་ཤིང་བལ་ ར་འ མ་དང་། ། ་རིས་མདངས་ཡོད་ཟབ་རིང་དང་། །
ཞལ་ནི་ཧ་ཅང་མི་རིང་དང་། །མ ་ནི་བི ྦ་a ར་དམར་དང་། །

yasyayasyātra yo heturlakṣaṇasyaprasādhakaḥ |
tasyatasya prapūryāyaṃ samudāgamalakṣaṇaḥ ||VIII.18||
See Stcherbatsky and Obermiller, Abhisamayālaṃkāra, 36.
a Correcting bim+pa in sde dge (12b.3), snar thang (13a.7), and dpe bsdur ma
406 Chapter VIII: Bodies of Attributes

{VIII.28}
གས་མཉེན་པ་དང་ བ་པ་དང་། །དམར་དང་འ ག་གི་ ་ཉིད་དང་། །
ག ང་མཉེན་འ མ་དང་མཆེ་བ་ མ། ། ོ་དང་དཀར་དང་མཉམ་པ་དང་། །
{VIII.29}
ིན་གྱིས་ ་དང་ཤངས་མཐོ་དང་། །མཆོག་ ་དག་པ་དག་དང་ནི། །
ན་ཡངས་པ་དང་ ི་མ་ ག །པ ྨའི་འདབ་མ་འ ་བ་དང་། །
{VIII.30}
ནི ་ གས་རིང་དང་འ མ་པ་དང་། ། མ་དང་ ་ནི་མཉམ་པ་དང་། །
ག་རིང་ ས་དང་ ན་མཉམ་དང་། །ཉམས་པ་ མ་པར་ ངས་པ་དང་། །
{VIII.31}
ད ལ་བ་ལེགས་པར་འ ེས་པ་དང་། །ད ེས་ཆེ་བ་དང་ད ་ ས་དང་། །
ད ་ ་ ང་བ་ ར་གནག་དང་། ། ག་དང་འ མ་དང་མ་འཛིངས་དང་། །
{VIII.32}
མི་བཤོར་ ི་ཞིམ་ ེས་ ་ཡི༏ །ཡིད་ནི་འ ོག་པར་ ེད་པ་དང་། །
དཔལ་གྱི་བེ ་དང་བཀྲ་ཤིས་ནི། །ག ང་ ང་འཁྱིལ་བས་བ ན་པ་ ེ། །
སངས་ ས་དཔེ་ ད་བཟང་པོར་བཞེད། །
{VIII.33}
གང་གིས་a ིད་པ་ ི་ དི ་པར། །འགྲོ་ལ་ཕན་པ་ ་ཚགས་དག །
མཉམ་ ་མཛད་པའི་ ་དེ་ནི། ། བ་པའི་ ལ་ ་ ན་མི་འཆད། །
{VIII.34}
དེ་བཞིན་འཁོར་བ་ ི་ ིད་འདིའི། །ལས་ནི་ ན་མི་འཆད་པར་འདོད། །

(28.13) to bim+ba in accordance with co ne (12b.3); Peking (14b.5), Āryavimuk-

tisena's commentary (205a.6), and Haribhadra’s Clear Meaning (136a.3) simi-
larly misread bim pa. The corresponding Sanskrit stanza is:
karau tūlamṛdū snigdhagambhīrāyatalekhatā |
nātyāyataṃ vaco bimbhapratibimbopamauṣṭatā ||VIII.27||
The Sanskrit term bimba agrees with the transliteration in the co ne edition.
a sde dge (12b.6), co ne (12b.6), and dpe bsdur ma (29.3) read gi, while snar
thang (13b.2), Peking (15a.2), Āryavimuktisena’s commentary (138a.3), and
Haribhadra’s Clear Meaning (205b.3) read gis. The corresponding Sanskrit stanza
is:
karoti yena citrāṇi hitāni jagataḥ samaṃ |
ābhavāt so’nupacchinnaḥ kāyo nairmāṇiko muneḥ || VIII.33 ||
Considering the Sanskrit term yena which is an instrumental, gis seems the pref-
erable Tibetan reading.
 Four Phenomena Characterizing the Body of Attributes 407

འགྲོ་ མས་ཞི་བའི་ལས་དང་ནི། །བ ་ མ་བཞི་ལ་འགོད་པ་དང་། །

{VIII.35}
ཀུན་ནས་ཉོན་མོངས་བཅས་པ་ཡི། ། མ་པར་ ང་བ་ ོགས་པ་དང་། །
སེམས་ཅན་ མས་དོན་ ི་བཞིན་གྱི། །དོན་དང་ཕ་རོལ་ ིན་ ག་དང་། །
{VIII.36}
སངས་ ས་ལམ་དང་རང་བཞིན་གྱིས། ། ོང་པ་ཉིད་དང་གཉིས་ཟད་དང་། །
བ ་དང་དམིགས་པ་མེད་པ་དང་། ། ས་ཅན་ མས་ནི་ཡོངས་ ིན་དང་། །
{VIII.37}
ང་ བ་སེམས་དཔའི་ལམ་དང་ནི། །མངོན་པར་ཞེན་པ་ ོག་པ་དང་། །
ང་ བ་ཐོབ་དང་སངས་ ས་ཞིང་། ། མ་པར་དག་དང་ངེས་པ་དང་། །
{VIII.38}
སེམས་ཅན་དོན་ནི་ཚད་མེད་དང་། །སངས་ ས་ ེན་aསོགས་ཡོན་ཏན་དང་། །
ང་ བ་ཡན་ལག་ལས་ མས་ནི། ། ད་མི་ཟ་དང་བདེན་མཐོང་དང་། །
{VIII.39}
ིན་ཅི་ལོག་ནི་ ངས་པ་དང་། །དེ་གཞི་མེད་པའི་ ལ་དང་ནི། །
མ་པར་ ང་དང་ཚགས་དང་ནི། །འ ས་ ས་འ ས་མ་ ས་པ་ལ། །
{VIII.40}
ཐ་དད་ཡོངས་ ་མི་ཤེས་དང་། ། ་ངན་འདས་ལ་འགོད་པ་ ེ། །
ཆོས་ཀྱི་ ་ཡི་ ིན་ལས་ནི། ། མ་པ་ཉི་ ་བ ན་ ་བཞེད། །
[Definition of a fruit body of attributes]
A final quality attained through the force of having accumulated the
two collections [of merit and wisdom] is the definition of a fruit body of
attributes.
ཚགས་གཉིས་བསགས་ ོབས་ཀྱིས་ཐོབ་པའི་མཐར་ ག་གི་
ཡོན་ཏན་དེ། འ ས་ ་ཆོས་ འི་མཚན་ཉིད།
[29b.5]

a sde dge (13a.2), co ne (13a.2), Peking (15a.6), and dpe bsdur ma (29.13) read
rten; however, Āryavimuktisena’s commentary (206a.4), and Haribhadra’s Clear
Meaning (138b.1) read bsten. The corresponding Sanskrit stanza is:
aprameye ca sattvārthe buddhasevādike guṇe |
bodher aṅgeṣv anāśe ca karmaṇāṃ satyadarśane || VIII.38 ||
Considering Sanskrit term sevā means “relying on,” both are suitable.
408 Chapter VIII: Bodies of Attributes

[Divisions of bodies of attributes]

When [bodies of attributes] are divided, there are four because there are
the four:
1. nature bodies (ngo bo nyid sku, svabhāvikakāya)
2. pristine wisdom bodies of attributes (ye shes chos sku, jñānadhar-
makāya)
3. complete enjoyment bodies (longs sku, sāṃbhogakāya)
Dan-ma-lo-chö: Is a complete enjoyment body a body of attributes
(chos sku, dharmakāya)? In general, all Buddha bodies are bodies
of attributes; thus, here within this fourfold division all four—na-
ture bodies, pristine wisdom bodies of attributes, complete enjoy-
ment bodies, and emanation bodies—are bodies of attributes.a
4. emanation bodies (sprul sku, nirmāṇakāya).
For [Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, I.17, says]:107
{I.17}
Nature, complete enjoyment,
And likewise the others, emanation
And body of attributes as well as activities
Are expressed as the four aspects.
“Body of attributes” also indicates pristine wisdom body of attributes.
དེ་ལ་ད ེ་ན། བཞི་ཡོད་དེ།
1. ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ །

2. ཡེ་ཤེས་ཆོས་ །
3. ལོངས་ །

4. ལ་ ་
བཞི་ཡོད་པའི་ ིར་ཏེ། ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ལོངས་ ོགས་བཅས་དང་། དེ་

a When bodies of attributes are divided into the three—bodies of attributes, com-
plete enjoyment bodies, and emanation bodies—then complete enjoyment bodies
and emanation bodies and not instances of the subdivision bodies of attributes,
but they are instances of the basis of division, the general bodies of attributes.
 Four Phenomena Characterizing the Body of Attributes 409

བཞིན་གཞན་པ་ ལ་པ་ནི། །ཆོས་ ་མཛད་པ་དང་བཅས་

[29b.6]

པ། ། མ་པ་བཞིར་ནི་ཡང་དག་བ དོ ། །ཅེས་སོ། །
[Ornament I.17, 2b.4]
{I.17}
ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ལོངས་ ོགས་བཅས་དང་། །དེ་བཞིན་གཞན་པ་ ལ་པ་ནི། །
ཆོས་ ་མཛད་པ་དང་བཅས་པ། ། མ་པ་བཞིར་ནི་ཡང་དག་བ ོད། །
ཆོས་ ་ཞེས་པས་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཆོས་ ་ཡང་བ ན་ཏོ། །
 67th Topic
1. Nature Bodies (ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ ་)
To indicate nature bodies [Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realiza-
tions, VIII.1] says:108
{VIII.1}
The nature body of a Subduer
Has attained uncontaminated attributes
Has purity in all respects,
And a nature possessing the characteristic [of emptiness].
དང་པོ་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ ་ ོན་པར།
བ་པའི་ངོ་ བོ་ཉིད་ ་ནི། །ནས། དེ་དག་རང་བཞིན་མཚན་
[30a.1]

ཉིད་ཅན། །ཞེས་ག ངས།

[Ornament VIII.1, 11a.7]
{VIII.1}
བ་པའི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ ་ནི། །ཟག་པ་མེད་པའི་ཆོས་གང་དག །
ཐོབ་ ར་ མ་ཀུན་ མ་དག་པ། །དེ་དག་རང་བཞིན་མཚན་ཉིད་ཅན། །
With regard to that there are three: definition, divisions, and boundaries.
དེ་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས་ག མ།
Definition [of a nature body]
The final elementa that is endowed with the two, natural purity and
purity from adventitious defilements is the definition of a nature body.
དང་པོ་ནི། རང་བཞིན་གྱིས་དག་པ་དང་གློ་ ར་གྱི་ ི་མས་ [30a.2]

དག་པ་གཉིས་དང་ ན་པའི་ད ངི ས་མཐར་ ག་དེ། ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་

འི་མཚན་ཉིད།

a dbyings, dhātu.
 Nature Bodies 411

Dan-ma-lo-chö: “Element,” or “reality,” here means the uncom-

pounded body.

Divisions [of nature bodies]

When divided, there are two, a nature body that is a factor of natural purity
and a nature body that is a factor of purity from the adventitious, which
are [both] nature bodies.

གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན། རང་ཡིན་གྱི་

1. རང་བཞིན་ མ་དག་གི་ཆར་ ར་པའི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ ་དང་།

2. གློ་ ར་ མ་དག་གི་ཆར་ ར་ པའི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ ་

[30a.3]

གཉིས་ཡོད།
Boundaries [of nature bodies]
[Nature bodies] exist only on the Buddha ground.
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ས་ཁོ་ནར་ཡོད།
 68th Topic
2. Pristine Wisdom Bodies of Attributes (ཡེ་ཤེས་ཆོས་ ་)
To indicate the pristine wisdom bodies of attributes [Maitreya’s Ornament
for the Clear Realizations, VIII.2-6] says:109
{VIII.2}
1) The harmonies with enlightenment, 2) the immeasurables,
3) The liberations, 4) the entities
Of the nine serial absorptions
5) The entities of the ten totalities,
{VIII.3}
6) The eight aspects by way of thoroughly dividing
The faculties of outshining,
7) Nonaffliction, 8) exalted knowledge upon wishing,
9) Clairvoyances, 10) individual correct knowledges,
{VIII.4}
11) Four purities in all aspects,
12) Ten powers, 13) ten strengths
14) Four fearlessnesses
15) Three aspects of nonconcealment,
{VIII.5}
16) Three aspects of mindful establishment,
17) A nature of not being endowed with forgetfulness,
18) Thorough conquest of the predispositions,
19) Great compassion for creatures,
{VIII.6}
20) The unshared attributes of only a Subduer
That are described as eighteen,
21) And the exalted-knower-of-all-aspects
Are called the body of attributes.
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ཡེ་ཤེས་ཆོས་ ་ ོན་པར།
ང་ བ་ གོ ས་མ ན་ཚད་མེད་དང་། །ནས། ཆོས་ཀྱི་ ་ཞེས་
བ ོད་པ་ ཡིན། །ཞེས་ག ངས།
[30a.4]
 Pristine Wisdom Bodies of Attributes 413

[Ornament VIII.2-6, 11b.1-11b.4]

{VIII.2}
ང་ བ་ ོགས་མ ན་ཚད་མེད་དང་། ། མ་པར་ཐར་དང་མཐར་གྱིས་ནི། །
ོམས་འ ག་དགུ་ཡི་བདག་ཉིད་དང་། །ཟད་པར་བ ་ཡི་བདག་ཉིད་དང་། །
{VIII.3}
ཟིལ་གྱིས་གནོན་པའི་ ་ེ མཆེད་ནི། །རབ་ ་ད ེ་བས་ མ་བ ད་དང་། །
ཉོན་མོངས་མེད་དང་ ནོ ་མཁྱེན་དང་། །མངོན་ཤེས་སོ་སོ་ཡང་དག་རིག །
{VIII.4}
མ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་དག་བཞི་དང་། །དབང་བ ་དང་ནི་ ོབས་བ ་དང་། །
མི་འ ིགས་པ་ནི་བཞི་དག་དང་། །བ ང་བ་མེད་པ་ མ་ག མ་དང་། །
{VIII.5}
ན་པ་ཉེར་གཞག་ མ་ག མ་དང་། །བ ེལ་བ་མི་མངའི་ཆོས་ཉིད་དང་། །
བག་ཆགས་ཡང་དག་བཅོམ་པ་དང་། ། ེ་ལ་ གས་ ེ་ཆེན་པོ་དང་། །
{VIII.6}
བ་པ་ཁོ་ནའི་མ་འ ེས་ཆོས། །བཅོ་བ ད་བཤད་པ་གང་ཡིན་དང་། །
མ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་མཁྱེན་ཉིད་དང་། །ཆོས་ཀྱི་ ་ཞེས་བ ོད་པ་ཡིན། །
With regard to that there are three: definition, divisions, and boundaries.
དེ་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས་ག མ།
Definition [of a pristine wisdom body of attributes]
A pristine wisdom whose perception is consummate relative to the
mode and the diversity is the definition of a pristine wisdom body of
attributes.
དང་པོ་ནི། ི་ ་བ་དང་ ི་ ེད་པ་ལ་ ོས་ནས་གཟིགས་པ་
མཐར་ ག་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་དེ། ཡེ་ཤེས་ཆོས་ འི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: A pristine wisdom body of attributes perceives
everything, not just the mode or just the diversity, but everything.
There is not anything relative to which it is not fully developed.
That is the meaning of the term “relative to” (ltos nas) here.
This [pristine wisdom body of attributes] and exalted-knower-of-all-as-
pects are equivalent.
དེ་དང་ མ་ མཁྱེན་དོན་གཅིག།
[30a.5]
414 Chapter VIII: Bodies of Attributes

Divisions [of pristine wisdom bodies of attributes]

When divided, there are the twenty-one sets of uncontaminated pristine
wisdoms of the Buddha ground because there are these ranging through:
1. the Buddha ground’s thirty-seven harmonies with enlightenment
2. the Buddha ground’s four immeasurables
3. the Buddha ground’s eight liberations
4. the Buddha ground’s nine [serial] absorptions
5. the Buddha ground’s ten totalities
6. the Buddha ground’s eight magnificences
7. the Buddha ground’s unafflicted meditative stabilizations
8. the Buddha ground’s exalted knowers of states of prayer-wishes
9. the Buddha ground’s six clairvoyances
10. the Buddha ground’s four individual correct knowledges
11. the Buddha ground’s four purities of body and so forth
12. the Buddha ground’s ten powers
13. the Buddha ground’s ten strengths
14. the Buddha ground’s four fearlessnesses
15. the Buddha ground’s three nonconcealments
16. the Buddha ground’s three mindful establishments
17. the Buddha ground’s nature of not having forgetfulness of sentient be-
ings’ welfare
18. the Buddha ground’s thorough conquest of the predispositions of the
three doors
19. the Buddha ground’s great compassion for all creatures
20. the Buddha ground’s eighteen unshared Buddha qualities
21. the Buddha ground’s three exalted knowers.
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན། སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་སའི་ཟག་མེད་ཡེ་ཤེས་ ེ་
ཚན་ཉེར་གཅིག་ཡོད་དེ།
1. སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་སའི་ ང་ ོགས་སོ་བ ན་ ེ་ཚན་དང་པོ་

དང་།
2. [སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ས་]དེའི་ཚད་མེད་བཞི་ ེ་ཚན་གཉིས་པ་

དང་།
[30a.6]

3. [སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ས་]དེའི་ མ་ཐར་བ ད་ ེ་ཚན་ག མ་པ་

 Pristine Wisdom Bodies of Attributes 415

དང་།
4. [སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ས་]དེའི་ ོམས་འ ག་དགུ་ ེ་ཚན་བཞི་པ་

དང་།
5. [སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ས་]དེའི་ཟད་པར་བ ་ ་ེ ཚན་ ་པ་དང་།

6. [སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ས་]དེའི་ཟིལ་གནོན་བ ད་ ེ་ཚན་ ག་པ་

དང་།
7. [སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ས་]དེའི་ཉོན་མོངས་མེད་པའི་ཏིང་ངེ་

འཛིན་ ེ་ཚན་བ ན་པ་དང་།

[30b.1]

8. [སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ས་]དེའི་ ོན་གནས་མཁྱེན་པ་ ེ་ཚན་བ ད་

པ་དང་།
9. [སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ས་]དེའི་མངོན་ཤེས་ ག་ ེ་ཚན་དགུ་པ་དང་།

10. [སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ས་]དེའི་སོ་སོ་ཡང་དག་པར་རིག་པ་བཞི་ ེ་

ཚན་བ ་པ་དང་།
11. [སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ས་]དེའི་ ས་སོགས་དག་པ་བཞི་ ེ་ཚན་

བ ་གཅིག་པ་དང་།
[30b.2]

12. [སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ས་]དེའི་དབང་བ ་ ེ་ཚན་བ ་གཉིས་པ་

དང་།
13. [སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ས་]དེའི་ ོབས་བ ་ ེ་ཚན་བ ་ག མ་པ་

དང་།
14. [སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ས་]དེའི་མི་འ ིགས་པ་བཞི་ ེ་ཚན་བ ་བཞི་

པ་དང་།
15. [སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ས་]དེའི་བ ང་བ་མེད་པ་ག མ་ ་ེ ཚན་བཅོ་
416 Chapter VIII: Bodies of Attributes

་པ་དང་།
[སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ས་]དེའི་ ན་པ་ཉེར་བཞག་ག མ་ ེ་
16. [30b.3]

ཚན་བ ་ ག་པ་དང་།
17. [སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ས་]དེའི་སེམས་ཅན་གྱི་དོན་ལ་བ ལ ེ ་བ་མི་
མངའ་བའི་ཆོས་ཉིད་ ་ེ ཚན་བ ་བ ན་པ་དང་།
18. [སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ས་]དེའི་ ོ་ག མ་གྱི་བག་ཆགས་ཡང་དག་

པར་བཅོམ་པ་ ེ་ཚན་བཅོ་བ ད་པ་ དང་། [30b.4]

19. [སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ས་]དེའི་ ེ་བོ་ཀུན་ལ་ གས་ ེ་ཆེ་བ་ ེ་ཚན་

བ ་དགུ་པ་དང་།
20. [སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ས་]དེའི་སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ཆོས་མ་འ ས ེ ་པ་བཅོ་
བ ད་ ེ་ཚན་ཉིད་ ་པ་དང་།
21. [སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ས་]དེའི་མཁྱེན་ག མ་ ་ེ ཚན་ཉེར་གཅིག་པ་

ཡིན་པའི་བར་ཡོད་པའི་ ིར།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: All these are of the Buddha ground only. These
are the twenty-one uncontaminated pristine wisdoms on the Bud-
dha ground.

Boundaries [of pristine wisdom bodies of attributes]

[Pristine wisdom bodies of attributes] exist only on the Buddha ground.
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་ སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ས་ཁོ་ནར་ཡོད།
[30b.5]
 69th Topic
3. Complete Enjoyment Bodies (ལོངས་ ་)
To indicate complete enjoyment bodies a [Maitreya’s Ornament for the
Clear Realizations, VIII.12] says:110
{VIII.12}
This having an essence
Of thirty-two marks and eighty beauties
Is asserted as a Subduer’s complete enjoyment body
Because of thoroughly enjoying the Great Vehicle.
ག མ་པ་ལོངས་ ་ ནོ ་པར།
མཚན་ནི་ མ་ ་ ་གཉིས་དང་། །ནས། བ་པའི་ལོངས་ ་ ོད་
ོགས་ ར་བཞེད། །ཅེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament VIII.12, 11b.7]
{VIII.12}
མཚན་ནི་ མ་ ་ ་གཉིས་དང་། །དཔེ་ ད་བ ད་ འི་བདག་ཉིད་འདི། །
ཐེག་ཆེན་ཉེ་བར་ལོངས་ ོད་ ིར། ། བ་པའི་ལོངས་ ོད་ ོགས་ ར་བཞེད། །
With regard to that there are three: definition, divisions, and boundaries.
དེ་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས་ག མ།
Definition [of a complete enjoyment body]
An exalted body that is posited from the factor of five certainties is the
definition of a complete enjoyment body.
དང་ པོ་ནི། ངེས་པ་ འི་ཆ་ནས་བཞག་པའི་ ་དེ། ལོངས་
[30b.6]

འི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: The five certainties are:
1. time (dus nges pa)

a For Jam-yang-shay-pa’s lengthier description of complete enjoyment bodies

see Hopkins, Maps of the Profound, 997-1000.
418 Chapter VIII: Bodies of Attributes

2. place (gnas nges pa)

3. body (sku nges pa)
4. doctrine (chos nges pa)
5. retinue (’khor nges pa).
The time is said to be certain because a complete enjoyment body
lasts as long as cyclic existence is not emptied of sentient beings.
A complete enjoyment body always stays only in the Heavily
Adorned Highest Pure land (’og min stug bkod pa, akaniṣṭa);
therefore, the place is certain. Certainty of body refers to the fact
that a complete enjoyment body only displays the thirty-two
marks and eighty beauties of a Buddha and does not itself display
any other type of body. Certainty of doctrine is that a complete
enjoyment body only teaches Great Vehicle doctrine, never Lesser
Vehicle doctrine. Its retinue is certain because a complete enjoy-
ment body is surrounded only by Bodhisattva Superiors, not by
Bodhisattva common beings, Hearers, or Solitary Victors.

Divisions [of complete enjoyment bodies]

When divided terminologically, there are two, greater and lesser complete
enjoyment bodies.a The greater is equivalent with a complete enjoyment
body of a Highest Pure Land, and the lesser is equivalent with an emana-
tion body of a Highest Pure Land.
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ས་བ ོད་ཀྱིས་ད ེ་ན་ལོངས་ ་ཆེ་ ང་གཉིས་
ཡོད། དང་པོ་དང་འོག་མིན་གྱི་ལོངས་ ་དོན་གཅིག །གཉིས་
པ་དང་འོག་མིན་གྱི་ ལ་ ་དོན་གཅིག།
[31a.1]

Dan-ma-lo-chö: Since this emanation body abides in a Highest

Pure Land, it is called a complete enjoyment body, but it actually
is not a complete enjoyment body. Thus, it is not that the complete
enjoyment body in that Highest Pure Land is itself displaying an-
other complete enjoyment body.

a The existence of a lesser complete enjoyment body is perhaps the reason why
the definition of a complete enjoyment body includes the qualification “posited
from the factor of.”
 Complete Enjoyment Bodies 419

Boundaries [of complete enjoyment bodies]

[Complete enjoyment bodies] exist only on the Buddha ground and in a
Highest Pure Land as a place.
ག མ་པ་ནི། ས་མཚམས་སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ས་དང་གནས་འོག་མིན་
ཁོ་ནར་ཡོད་པའོ། །
 70th Topic
4. Emanation Bodies ( ལ་ ་)
To indicate emanation bodies [Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Reali-
zations, VIII.33] says:111
{VIII.33}
Those bodies simultaneously bringing about
Various benefits for transmigrating beings
As long as mundane existence lasts
Are the Subduer’s emanation bodies of uninterrupted continuum.
བཞི་པ་ ལ་ ་ ོན་པར།
གང་གིས་ ིད་པ་ ི་ ིད་པར། །ནས། བ་པའི་ ལ་ ་ ན་
[31a.2]

མི་འཆད། །ཅེས་ག ངས།

[Ornament VIII.33, 12b.6]
{VIII.33}
གང་གི་ ིད་པ་ ི་ ིད་པར། །འགྲོ་ལ་ཕན་པ་ ་ཚགས་དག །
མཉམ་ ་མཛད་པའི་ ་དེ་ནི། ། བ་པའི་ ལ་ ་ ན་མི་འཆད། །
With regard to that there are two: definition and divisions.
དེ་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ་གཉིས།
Definition [of an emanation body]
A final form body that is posited from the factor of not possessing the
five certaintiesa is the definition of an emanation body.
དང་པོ་ནི། ངེས་པ་ ་དང་མི་ ན་པའི་ཆ་ནས་བཞག་པའི་
ག གས་ ་མཐར་ ག་ དེ། ལ་ འི་མཚན་ཉིད།
[31a.3]

Dan-ma-lo-chö: It is called a final form body because a tenth

ground Bodhisattva can emanate bodies that are similar to this and
might be mistaken for them, but such are not emanation bodies.

a For the five certainties see above, 418.

 Emanation Bodies 421

The two—this [emanation body] and body emanated by a complete enjoy-

ment body—are equivalent.
དེ་དང་ལོངས་ ས་ ལ་པའི་ ་གཉིས་དོན་གཅིག།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: A complete enjoyment body is the emanator of
emanation bodies.

Divisions [of emanation bodies]

When divided, there are three, consisting of artisan emanation bodies, in-
carnation emanation bodies, and supreme emanation bodies.
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན་
1. བཟོ་བ་ ལ་ །

2. ེ་བ་ ལ་ །
3. མཆོག་གི་ ལ་པའི་ ་

དང་ག མ་ཡོད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: An emanation body of a Buddha that is display-
ing skill in the arts is an artisan emanation body. For example, the
king of artisans (bzo ba’i rgyal po) named Bi-sho-kor-ma (’bi sho
skor ma) was particularly skilled in painting images, making reli-
gious statues, and so forth; it was he who made the statue of Jo-
wo Rin-po-che in Lhasa.
Incarnation Emanation Bodies are those that take rebirth in
various forms for the sake of taming sentient beings. For instance,
before the Buddha came to this continent he took rebirth in the
Joyous Pure Land (dga’ ldan, tuṣita) as Dam-pa-tog-kar (dam pa
tog dkar). Buddhas also take rebirth in the form of, or having the
appearance of, animals such as deer, and these are also incarnation
[or birth] Emanation Bodies. Any form except that of an artisan or
supreme emanation body would fall into this category.
A supreme emanation body is one that tames trainees by way
of showing the twelve deeds.a Among the many activities, the su-
preme is that of speech, and thus because this type of emanation

aThe twelve deeds are: descent from the Joyous Pure Land, conception, birth,
mastery of the arts, sporting with the retinue, renunciation, asceticism, meditation
422 Chapter VIII: Bodies of Attributes

body turns the wheel of doctrine for each and every trainee who
has the lot to receive it, it is called supreme.

under the tree of enlightenment, conquest of the array of demons, becoming a

Buddha, turning the wheel of doctrine, and nirvāṇa (passing away).
Buddha Activities (སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་འ ནི ་ལས་)
Dan-ma-lo-chö: The final subject, Buddha activities, is, in a sense,
a seventy-first topic, but since it is just subsidiary or an elabora-
tion, it is not counted.
To indicate Buddha activities [Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Reali-
zations, VIII.34-40] says:112
{VIII.34}
Likewise, activities as long as cyclic existence lasts
Are asserted to be of uninterrupted continuum.
1. The activity of the pacification of transmigrations,
2. Setting them in the four aspects of gathering [students],
{VIII.35}
3. The realizations of the thoroughly afflicted
And adoptions of the thoroughly pure,
4. Properly [achieving] the welfare of sentient beings,
5. The six perfections,
{VIII.36}
6. The Buddha path, 7. emptiness
Of inherent existence, 8. extinguishment of dualistic [appear-
ance]
9. Terminological, 10. unobservable,
11. Thorough ripening of embodied beings,
{VIII.37}
12. The paths of Bodhisattvas,
13. Reversing manifest conception,
14. Attaining enlightenment, 15. the pure land
Of buddhafication, 16. definite,
{VIII.38}
17. Immeasurable benefits for sentient beings,
18. The qualities of relying on Buddhas and so forth
19. The branches of enlightenment,
20. Nonwasted, 21. seeing the truths,
{VIII.39}
22. Abandonment of the errors,
23. The mode of baselessness of those,
25. Purification, the causal collections,
424 Chapter VIII: Bodies of Attributes

26. Thoroughly not knowing the compounded

{VIII.40}
And uncompounded as different,
And 27. setting them in the nonabiding nirvāṇa
Are asserted as the twenty-seven aspects
Of the activities of the body of attributes.
སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་འ ནི ་ ལས་ ོན་པར།
[31a.4]

དེ་བཞིན་འཁོར་བ་ ི་ ིད་འདིའི། །ནས། མ་པ་ཉི་ ་བ ན་ ་

བཞེད། །ཅེས་ག ངས།
[Ornament VIII.34-40, 12b.7-13a.4]
{VIII.34}
དེ་བཞིན་འཁོར་བ་ ི་ ིད་འདིའི། །ལས་ནི་ ན་མི་འཆད་པར་འདོད། །
འགྲོ་ མ་ཞི་བའི་ལས་དང་ནི། །བ ་ མ་བཞི་ལ་འགོད་པ་དང་། །
{VIII.35}
ཀུན་ནས་ཉོན་མོངས་བཅས་པ་ཡི། ། མ་པར་ ང་བ་ ོགས་པ་དང་། །
སེམས་ཅན་ མས་དོན་ ི་བཞིན་གྱི། །དོན་དང་ཕ་རོལ་ ིན་ ག་དང་། །
{VIII.36}
སངས་ ས་ལམ་དང་རང་བཞིན་གྱིས། ། ོང་པ་ཉིད་དང་གཉིས་ཟད་དང་། །
བ ་དང་དམིགས་པ་མེད་པ་དང་། ། ས་ཅན་ མས་ནི་ཡོངས་ ིན་དང་། །
{VIII.37}
ང་ བ་སེམས་དཔའི་ལམ་དང་ནི། །མངོན་པར་ཞེན་པ་ ོག་པ་དང་། །
ང་ བ་ཐོབ་དང་སངས་ ས་ཞིང་། ། མ་པར་དག་དང་ངེས་པ་དང་། །
{VIII.38}
སེམས་ཅན་དོན་ནི་ཚད་མེད་དང་། །སངས་ ས་ ེན་སོགས་ཡོན་ཏན་དང་། །
ང་ བ་ཡན་ལག་ལས་ མས་ནི། ། ད་མི་ཟ་དང་བདེན་མཐོང་དང་། །
{VIII.39}
ིན་ཅི་ལོག་ནི་ ངས་པ་དང་། །དེ་གཞི་མེད་པའི་ ལ་དང་ནི། །
མ་པར་ ང་དང་ཚགས་དང་ནི། །འ ས་ ས་འ ས་མ་ ས་པ་ལ། །
{VIII.40}
ཐ་དད་ཡོངས་ ་མི་ཤེས་དང་། ། ་ངན་འདས་ལ་འགོད་པ་ ེ། །
ཆོས་ཀྱི་ ་ཡི་ ིན་ལས་ནི། ། མ་པ་ཉི་ ་བ ན་ ་བཞེད། །
With regard to Buddha activities there are five: definition, divisions,
boundaries, operation, and duration.
 Buddha Activities 425

སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་འ ནི ་ལས་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད། ད ེ་བ། ས་མཚམས།

འ ག་ ལ། ན་ཚད་ ་ལས། [31a.5]

Definition [of Buddha activities]

A very bright quality arisen from the proprietary condition that is an
exalted-knower-of-all-aspects as its own cause is the definition of a
Buddha activity.
དང་པོ་ནི། རང་ ་ མ་མཁྱེན་གྱི་བདག་ ེན་ལས་ ང་བའི་ མ་
དཀར་གྱི་ཡོན་ཏན་དེ། སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་འ ནི ་ལས་ཀྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Divisions [of Buddha activities]
When divided, there are twenty-seven because there are twenty-seven
ranging from setting transmigrators in peaceful activities through to set-
ting them in nirvāṇa.
གཉིས་པ་ནི། ད ེ་ན་ཉེར་བ ན་ཡོད་དེ། འགྲོ་ མས་ཞི་བའི་
ལས་ལ་ འགོད་པ་ནས། ང་འདས་ལ་འགོད་པའི་འ ིན་
[31a.6]

ལས་ཀྱི་བར་ཉེར་བ ན་ཡོད་པའི་ ིར།

Boundaries [of Buddha activities]
[Buddha activities] exist from before entering the path through the Buddha
ground.
ག མ་པ་ནི། ལམ་མ་ གས་ནས་སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་སའི་བར་ ་ཡོད།
Dan-ma-lo-chö: How can Buddha activities exist before entering
the path? Generating virtue in our own continuums is a case of a
Buddha activity since whether we generate virtue on the basis of
something we are told or read in a book, we can trace its derivation
back to a Buddha. Also, all oral transmissions derive from a Bud-
dha in an uninterrupted manner. Thus, even though we have not
actually met with a Buddha, when we generate virtue in our con-
tinuums, its cause meets back to a Buddha.
426 Chapter VIII: Bodies of Attributes

Operation [of Buddha activities]

With respect to how Buddha activities operate on trainees’ continuums,
this occurs in limitless ways because activities of exalted body, speech,
and mind in accordance with [trainees’] individual lots are vast like the
sky, unbroken in continuum like a river, not delaying like the waves of an
ocean, and spontaneously happening without striving like a wish-granting
tree and a wish-granting jewel.
བཞི་པ་ནི། སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་འ ནི ་ལས་ག ལ་ འི་ ད་ལ་ [31b.1]

འ ག་ ལ་ལ་མཐའ་ཡས་པ་ཡོད་དེ། རང་རང་གི་ ལ་བ་དང་

འཚམ་པར་ ་ག ང་ གས་ཀྱི་འ ནི ་ལས་ནམ་མཁའ་ ར་ ་ཆེ་
བ། ་བོ་བཞིན་ ན་མི་འཆད་པ་དང་། ་མཚའི་ བས་བཞིན་
ས་ལས་མི་ ཡོལ་བ་དང་དཔག་བསམ་གྱི་ཤིང་དང་ཡིད་
[31b.2]

བཞིན་གྱི་ནོར་ ་བཞིན་ ་འབད་མེད་ ན་ བ་ ་འ ག་པའི་

ིར།
Duration [of Buddha activities]
With respect to their duration, Buddha activities are of unbroken contin-
uum because they continuously enter trainees’ continuums in various
forms until cyclic existence is emptied, because the root text [Maitreya’s
Ornament for the Clear Realizations, VIII.34ab] says:
{VIII.34}
Likewise, activities as long as cyclic existence lasts
Are asserted to be of uninterrupted continuum.
་པ་ནི། ན་ཚད་སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་འ ིན་ལས་ ན་མི་འཆད་པ་
ཡིན་ཏེ། འཁོར་བ་མ་ ོང་བར་ ་ག ལ་ འི་ ད་ལ་ ན་ [31b.3]

མི་འཆད་པར་ ་ཚགས་འ ག་པ་དེའ་ ིར། ་བར། དེ་བཞིན་

འཁོར་བ་ ་ི ིད་འདིའ།ི ལས་ནི་ ན་མི་འཆད་པར་འདོད། །ཅེས་
ག ངས་པའི་ ིར།
 Buddha Activities 427

[Ornament VIII.34ab, 12b.7]

{VIII.34}
དེ་བཞིན་འཁོར་བ་ ི་ ིད་འདིའི། ལས་ནི་ ན་མི་འཆད་པར་འདོད། །
428 Colophon

Let it be said:
Amazing is this sport in Indra’s Palace of Threefold Play of the
three exalted knowers
On Meru’s peak with the high tiers of the four bodies
[In the ocean] thoroughly filled from the four directions by the
four trainings
Endowed with waves of eloquence, source of jewels that is the
Mothers of the Conquerors!
Dan-ma-lo-chö: These are Jam-yang-shay-ba’s concluding stan-
zas, set forth in poetry using metaphors. The Mothers of the Con-
querors, the three Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras (the vast having
the length of 100,000 stanzas, the medium having the length of
25,000 stanzas, and the brief having the length of 8,000 stanzas),
are metaphorically compared to an ocean that is a source of jewels.
Just as an ocean has waves, arising always and never delayed, so
the three Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras possess unmistaken, elo-
quent explanations. Just as an ocean has contributory rivers filling
it, so in dependence upon the four trainings—complete training in
all aspects, peak training, serial training, and momentary train-
ing—acting as causes, there is the sport of the faculties of the per-
fections and so forth. Mt. Meru has four sets of high tiers that are
metaphors for the four Buddha bodies—nature bodies, wisdom
bodies of attributes, complete enjoyment bodies, and emanation
bodies—Mt. Meru itself being a metaphor for the body of attrib-
utes. At the peak of Mt. Meru is the sovereign of gods, Shakra
[Indra] who is a metaphor for the Superior Buddha who is sover-
eign of the faculties of the perfections and so forth.
ས་པ། །
ལ་ མ་རིན་ ཆེན་འ ང་གནས་ལེགས་བཤད་ཀྱི། །
[31b.4]

བས་ ན་ ོར་བཞིས་ ོགས་བཞིར་རབ་བཀང་བའི། །

་བཞིའི་བང་རིམ་མཐོ་བའི་ ན་པོའི་ ེར། །
མཁྱེན་ག མ་དབང་པོ་ མ་ ེན་རོལ་འདི་མཚར།
 Colophon 429

May that supreme Brahmā, though continually seated on the

hundred petaled lotus
Of meditative equipoise, sustain transmigrators by bestowing the
twelve eyes
Of the turning of the gold wheel of doctrine from the four faces
Of the nature, attribute, complete enjoyment, and emanation
bodies!
Dan-ma-lo-chö: That Brahmā is seated on a lotus with hundreds
of petals is a metaphor for Buddha’s continuously abiding in med-
itative equipoise on the mode of being. The four faces of Brahmā
are metaphors for the four Buddha bodies—nature, pristine wis-
dom, complete enjoyment, and emanation. The gold wheel in
Brahmā’s hand is a metaphor for Buddha’s turning of the wheel
of doctrine. That each of Brahmā’s four faces has three eyes, mak-
ing twelve, stands for the twelve branches of Buddha’s high
speech. Just as in dependence on an eye one can see forms, so in
dependence on hearing, thinking, and meditation on the meaning
of the twelve branches of Buddha’s high speech one can see, or
attain, high status within cyclic existence and definite goodness,
the latter being liberation from cyclic existence and omniscience;
this is why the twelve eyes are used as a physical metaphor for the
twelve branches of scripture. The Supramundane Victor Buddha
who bestows on transmigrators the eye of wisdom seeing what in
practice is to be adopted and what is to be discarded is indicated
by the metaphor of Brahmā.
ན་ ་མཉམ་ བཞག་འདབ་བ འི་གདན་བཅས་ཀྱང་། །
[31b.5]

རང་བཞིན་ཆོས་ལོངས་ ལ་ འི་ཞལ་བཞི་ལས། །
ཆོས་ཀྱི་གསེར་འཁོར་བ ོར་བའི་བ ་གཉིས་ ན། །
འགྲོ་ལ་ ལོ ་མཛད་ཚངས་པ་མཆོག་དེས་ ོངས། །
May the sovereign of gods, the perfection of wisdom, endowed
with a thousand eyes
Who, on the elephant of special pure attitude, makes all the dem-
igod wombs
Of wrong achievement fall at once with Sho-thung’s hundred
nodes
Of refutations and proofs prevail at all times!
430 Colophon

Dan-ma-lo-chö: The guardian of the earth, an elephant, is a meta-

phor for the special pure thought or attitude of the altruistic inten-
tion to become enlightened. Just as the god Shakra sits on a huge
white elephant, so the perfection of wisdom arises in dependence
upon the altruistic intention to become enlightened. Not long after
the beginning of the eon there lived an ascetic seer (drang srong,
ṛṣi) called Sho-thunga all of whose bones were diamond. The va-
jra in Shakra’s hand, as well as some of the implements of other
gods, were made from his diamond bones; the hundred nodes of
Shakra’s vajra are a metaphor for the many presentations of refu-
tations of other systems and proofs of our own system. The demi-
gods cannot bear the prosperity of the gods and oppose them, and
Indra’s vajra with a hundred nodes destroys all the cities of demi-
gods; thus when pregnant demi-god women take Shakra’s vajra to
mind, all them simultaneously abort, this being a metaphor for
how opposing views are dropped. The sovereign of gods Shakra,
or Indra, with a thousand eyes is a metaphor for the perfection of
wisdom. May such a perfection of wisdom prevail at all times.
ག་ བསམ་ས་ ང་ ེང་ན་ཞོ་འ ང་གི །
[31b.6]

དགག་ བ་ ེ་བ ས་ལོག་ བ་ ་མིན་མངལ། །

མ་ ས་ཅིག་ཆར་ ང་bམཛད་ ན་ ོང་ཅན། །
ཤེར་ ིན་ ་དབང་ ས་ཀུན་ ལ་ ར་ཅིག །
May this Sacred Word of Guru Ajita,
Eloquence brilliantly illuminating all eight categories and sev-
enty topics
Crafted for the sake of furthering the Subduer’s teaching in the
ten directions,
Blaze forth illumination of the excellent path of transmigrators!
དངོས་བ ད་བ ན་ འི་དོན་ ཀུན་ཆེས་གསལ་བའི། །
[32a.1]

a zho thung; literally, yogurt drinker; the term refers to a sucking child since “yo-
gurt” here means “milk.” In general in Tibetan, yogurt is drunk, not eaten.
b 1973 Ngawang Gelek bla brang edition (13b.6), 1995 Mundgod revision of
Ngawang Gelek bla brang edition (13b.6), 1999 Mundgod edition (54.17), and
2011 TBRC bla brang edition (13b.6) read ltung; 1987 Go-mang Lhasa edition
(19b.5) and 2001 Kan su’u edition (145.17) read lhung.
 Colophon 431

ལེགས་བཤད་མི་ཕམ་ ་མའི་ཞལ་ ང་འདི། །

བ་བ ན་ ོགས་བ ར་ ས་པའི་ཆེད་བ ན་པའི། །
འགྲོ་བའི་ལམ་བཟང་ ང་བ་འབར་ ར་ཅིག ། [32a.2]

May this uttered here—by the learned one [Jam-yang-shay-pa]

Fearless Vajra (rdo rje),a
[Who has seen] Mañjughoṣha’s (’jam dbyangs) ever broadening,
smiling (bzhad pa) face—
And compiled in Tra-shi-khyil in Dar-gyay-lingb of explanation
and achievement
Endowed with hundreds of joys be virtuous!
Oṃ svasti!
དེ་ ད་ ས་པ་མང་ཐོས་འ མ་ད ངས་ཞལ། །
བཞད་པ་རབ་ ས་འ གི ས་མེད་ ་ོ ེ་ཡིས། །
དགའ་བ་བ ་ ན་བཤད་ བ་དར་ ས་གླིང་། །
བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཀུན་ནས་འཁྱིལ་བར་ ར་བ་དགེ། །
ཨ་ ་ ི། །
May this fertile rain of the ambrosia of the gift of doctrine fall
From the doctrinal college where good fortune spirals to the
rightc
So that the groups of farmers of fortunate lot may enjoy
The harvest of help and happiness on the earth of the Subduer’s
teachings.
Sarvamaṅgalaṃ!
བ་བ ན འཛིན་མར་བ ལ་བཟང་ཞིང་པའི་ཚགས། །
[32a.3]

a His full name is Jam-yang-shay-pay-dor-jay ('jam dbyangs bzhad pa’i rdo rje).
He has added extra syllables to extend the meaning: 'jam dbyangs zhal bzhad pa
rab rgyas ’jigs med rdo rje. In his biography it is said that in meditation he saw
the smiling face of Mañjushrī that, unlike ordinary smiles, did not diminish in
intensity.
b The full name is dga’ ldan bshad sgrub dar rgyas gling.
c “Good fortune spiraling to the right” is the meaning of “Tra-shi-khyil” (bkra
shis ’khyil), the monastery that Jam-yang-shay-pa founded in Am-do province.
432 Colophon

ཕན་བདེའི་ལོ་ཏོག་ལོངས་ ་ ོད་པའི་ ིར། །

བཀྲ་ཤིས་གཡས་ ་འཁྱིལ་བའི་ཆོས་ ་ལས། །
ཆོས་ ིན་བ ད་ འི ི་ ་ཆར་འདི་ཕབ་པོ། །
ས མ ྒལ།ཾ །
 Kön-chog-jig-may-wang-po’s
Thorough Expression of the Natures
of the One Hundred Seventy-Three
Aspects of the Three Exalted Knowers:
White Lotus Vine of Eloquence a

This is in several ways a more extensive treatment of the 31st Topic, As-
pects, in Jam-yang-shay-pa’s Seventy Topics; the two are profitably read
together.

a mkhyen gsum gyi rnam pa brgya dang don gsum gyi rang bzhin yang dag par
brjod pa legs bshad padma dkar po’i khri shing; The Collected Works of dKon-
mchog-’jigs-med-dbang-po, vol. 6, 625-644; the part translated here is 630.2-
644.4.
III. Ascertaining the nature of aspects
This section has two parts: the general meaning and the meaning of the
branches.

A. General meaning of the nature of aspects

This section has three parts: nature of an aspect, how aspects are meditated,
and dispelling objections about the modes of meditation.

1. Nature of an aspect
As Dharmamitra’s Clearly Worded Commentary [on Maitreya’s “Orna-
ment for the Clear Realizations”] says, “An aspect is an instance; it indi-
cates instances of phenomena that exist on the Buddha ground and so forth.”
Accordingly, [aspects are] particulars of thoroughly afflicted and pure
phenomena from forms through exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects.
Therefore, although whatever is an established base [that is, an exist-
ent] is necessarily an aspect, aspect here on this occasion is not the mere
generality of aspect, per se, but is to be taken the aspects of the three ex-
alted knowers that are objects of meditation by complete trainings in all
aspects.
These are of two types, particulars that exist with the objects of reali-
zation—the four truths—and particulars that exist with the realizers—the
three exalted knowers. The former are aspects that are objective achievings
(las sgrub), and the latter are aspects that are agentive achievings (byed
sgrub). Those two are respectively designated with the conventions “ob-
jective aspects” (don rnam) and “mental aspects” (shes rnam).
Although in general whatever is an aspect is necessarily an objective
aspect, in relation to a particular awareness it is not necessarily so, because
a knower of bases itself is posited as an aspect of a knower of bases that
realizes the impermanence of true sufferings, whereas the impermanence
of true sufferings must be posited as its objective aspect.
Furthermore, there are many types of aspects here on this occasion:
the 173 objective aspects—the impermanence of true sufferings and so
forth; the 173 mental aspects—the knowers of bases that realize the im-
permanence of true sufferings and so forth; and the 173 mental aspects of
a Bodhisattva’s trainings that realize the 173 modes of apprehension [that
is to say, the objects] of the three exalted knowers.
 Kön-chog-jig-may-wang-po 435

2. How aspects are meditated

There are two modes of meditation:
1. meditation in which [an aspect] is taken as the object of the mode of
apprehension as in “meditating on impermanence and emptiness”
2. meditation in which an awareness is generated in the entity of that [as-
pect] as in “meditating on [that is, meditatively cultivating] compas-
sion, love, and so forth”

3. Dispelling objections about the modes of medi-

tation
Some say: It is impossible for meditation on the uncommon aspects of
an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects to occur on the path of accumulation, for
the meaning of meditation must be taken as generating the meditating
awareness into the entity of the object meditated.
Answer: Though this is so for some types of objects of meditation, it
is not so for all. This is because there are four modes of a Bodhisattva’s
meditation:
1. meditation in which an imitation is taken to mind. Here one is not ca-
pable of generating [the mind] into the character of the object medi-
tated exactly as it is but generates merely a similitude of it in the men-
tal continuum, as is the case with meditating on [that is, meditatively
cultivating] the five faculties on the path of accumulation, for exam-
ple.
2. meditation in which [the mind] is generated into the entity [of the ob-
ject meditated] exactly as it is. The character of the awareness that is
the object meditated in generated in the continuum just as it is, as is
the case with meditating [that is, meditatively cultivating] the mindful
establishments on the path of accumulation, for example.
3. meditation in which the character [of an aspect] is analyzed. The char-
acters of higher qualities that are objects of [later] attainment are indi-
vidually taken to mind [identifying them as] “It is such-and-such” and
are analyzed with wisdom, as is the case with taking to mind the char-
acter of concordance with a portion of definite discrimination [that is,
the path of preparation, while one is] on the path of accumulation.
4. meditation on [or cultivation of] an aspect of a wish. This is a taking
to mind by way of a wish thinking, “May such and such states that are
objects of attainment be attained!”
436 173 Aspects

Therefore, modes of meditation on the 110 aspects of an exalted-knower-

of-all-aspects do occur even on the path of accumulation, for:
• although the thirty-seven and thirty-four common aspects are not gen-
erated in exact accordance with their character on the seventh ground
and below, mere similitudes of those types of realizations are gener-
ated; consequently, there is meditation on them in which an imitation
is taken to mind, and
• since not even similitudes of the thirty-nine uncommon aspects are
generated [on the seventh ground and below], they are meditated in
the manner of analyzing their character and in the manner of wishing.
On the eighth ground and above, similitudes of the powers and so forth
are attained, whereby [on those grounds] they are meditated in the
manner of taking an imitation to mind.
Hence, there is no fault of being unable to meditate on an omniscient
knower of all aspects on the path of accumulation.
On the levels of engagement through imitation [that is, on the paths of
accumulation and preparation,] a knower of bases and a knower of paths
are meditated either through taking an imitation to mind or through ana-
lyzing their character; once a ground is attained, they are meditated by way
of generating their entities just as they are.
If this essential is understood well, it will prevent propounding that on
the paths of learning there are no awarenesses meditating on an omniscient
knower of all aspects.

B. Meaning of the branches

This section has two parts: an extensive explanation and a summary.

1. Extensive explanation of the branches

This section has three parts: the twenty-seven aspects of a knower of bases,
the thirty-six aspects of a knower of paths, and the one hundred ten aspects
of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects.

a. Twenty-seven aspects of a knower of bases

This section has two parts: the actual divisions and eliminating qualms
about the aspects of true paths.
 Kön-chog-jig-may-wang-po 437

(1) Actual divisions [of aspects of knowers of bases]

Here, from among the objective aspects and the mental aspects the objec-
tive aspects are twenty-seven. In accordance with the statement [in Mait-
reya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, IV.2c] “four [each] for the
individual truths,” the twelve aspects of the first three truths are:

four aspects of true sufferings

1. impermanence
2. misery
3. emptiness
4. selflessness

four aspects of true origins

5. cause
6. origin
7. strong production
8. condition

four aspects of true cessations

9. cessation
10. pacification
11. auspiciousness
12. definite emergence

aspects of true paths

About the aspects of true paths, in accordance with the statement [in Mait-
reya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, IV.2d], “And fifteen for paths,”
there are:
13.-16. four uncontaminated paths of seeing that are antidotes to the af-
flictive obstructions: these are four knowers of bases that are uncon-
taminated paths of seeing directly realizing the following four subtle
selflessnesses of persons:
• realizing the emptiness of substantial existence—in the sense of
self-sufficiency—of the agent of adopting and discarding
• realizing the selflessness of the person who is the knower
• realizing the selflessness of the person who is the ascender from
lower to higher realizations
438 173 Aspects

• realizing the selflessness of the person who is the tamer of the af-
flictive emotions
These respectively are posited as the four—path, suitability, achieve-
ment, and deliverance.
17.-21. five contaminated paths of meditation that are antidotes to the
[coarse] obstructions to omniscience: these are five knowers of bases
that are contaminated paths of meditation realizing in the manner of
meaning-generalities the illusory-like emptiness of duality of appre-
hended-object and apprehending-subject as follows:
• realizing that forms and so forth appear, like dreams, as external
objects even though they are not established as external objects
• realizing that forms and so forth appear, like echoes, as external
objects even though they have no externally existent production
• realizing that forms and so forth appear, like optical illusions, as
external objects even though have no externally existent cessation
• realizing that forms and so forth appear, like mirages, as external
objects even though they from the start are quiescent of externality
• realizing that forms and so forth appear, like a magician’s illu-
sions, as external objects even though they are naturally passed
beyond the sorrow of externality
22.-27. six uncontaminated paths of seeing that are antidotes to the
[coarse] obstructions to omniscience; these are six knowers of bases
that are uncontaminated paths of seeing directly realizing six empti-
nesses of external objects:
• realizing that thoroughly afflicted phenomena such as desire are
empty of being external objects
• realizing that thoroughly pure phenomena such as faith are empty
of being external objects
• realizing the nature of the mind is unpolluted by the stains of ex-
ternal existent obstructions
• realizing that forms and so forth are without the proliferations of
externally existent divisions
• realizing that realizations already attained are not conceived ob-
jects of conceptual consciousnesses fancying them to be external
objects
• realizing that realizations already attained do not have an exter-
nally existent degeneration.
The mental aspects are the twenty-seven knowers of bases that take those
as their objects of apprehension.
 Kön-chog-jig-may-wang-po 439

(2) Eliminating qualms about the aspects of true

paths
1. Question: What is the reason for positing the first four from among
the fifteen aspects of true paths as antidotes to the afflictive obstructions
and the remaining eleven as antidotes to the obstructions to omniscience?
Answer: The four [realizations that] the agent [of adopting and dis-
carding] does not [substantially] exist and so forth have the aspect of the
selflessness of persons, and they are [the usual four attributes of true
paths—]path, knowledge, achievement, and deliverance. The apprehen-
sion of a self of persons is the cause of the afflictive obstructions, and the
paths realizing the sixteen attributes of the four truths—impermanence and
so forth—serve as antidotes to the afflictive obstructions. Therefore, the
first [four] are antidotes to the afflictive obstructions. With respect to the
remaining eleven, these aspects of the paths must indicate antidotes to ob-
structions; since antidotes to the afflictive obstructions have already been
indicated, they are posited as antidotes to the obstructions to omniscience
through the reasoning of not being suitable to be anything else.
2. With regard to [the meaning of] contaminated and uncontaminated here,
an exalted wisdom subsequent to meditative equipoise is a conceptual cog-
nition that has the aspect of an affirming negative—[a composite of] emp-
tiness of true existence and illusion-like [appearance of true existence];
therefore, it is posited as contaminated. However, an exalted wisdom of
non-conceptual meditative equipoise has the aspect of a non-affirming
negative; therefore, it is posited as uncontaminated.
3. There is a reason for positing the paths of seeing and meditation, which
are the antidotes to the coarse obstructions to omniscience, as uncontami-
nated and contaminated [respectively], for:
• since the path of seeing is mainly generated without interruption as
meditative equipoise and is of short duration, it is uncontaminated, and
• since the path of meditation is generated with meditative equipoise
and states subsequent to meditative equipoise in alternation and is of
long duration, it is posited as contaminated.
4. [The reason for] positing two antidotes for the obstructions to omnisci-
ence and one for the afflictive obstructions is that since the obstructions to
omniscience are more difficult to abandon, there are two, contaminated
and uncontaminated, whereas since the afflictive obstructions are easier to
abandon, there is only one—uncontaminated.
440 173 Aspects

b. Thirty-six aspects of a knower of paths

This section has two parts: the actual divisions and elimination of a qualm
with respect to true origins.

(1) Actual divisions [of aspects of a knower of paths]

There are eight objective aspects of the first of the four truths, true origins
[when laid out in terms of two causes—true origins and true paths—and
two effects—true sufferings and true cessations]:

Aspects of true origins

aspects of cause
1. aspiration: attachment to future objects
2. desire: attachment to present mental and physical aggregates
3. attachment: liking rebirth
aspects of origin
4., 5., 6. desire, hatred, and ignorance that are apprehensions of a self of
persons
aspect of strong production
7. afflictions that are apprehensions of the person as pure, happy, perma-
nent, and having self in sense of substantial existence, that is, self-
sufficiency
aspect of condition
8. afflictions that are apprehension of persons as under their own power,
that is to say, substantially existent in the sense of self-sufficient.
The eight Bodhisattva paths of seeing that realize the nonexistence of the
conceived objects of those are posited as the antidotal mental aspects of
knowers of paths.

Aspects of true paths: seven exalted wisdoms of

Bodhisattvas directly realizing emptiness
aspects of path
9. the true path opening the opportunity for liberation to limitless sentient
beings
10. the way that this is an aspect of path is that it is a true path of a Bodhi-
sattva opening the opportunity for liberation not related with the two
extremes of mundane existence and peace
 Kön-chog-jig-may-wang-po 441

aspects of reasonableness
11. the true path directly realizing all phenomena as non-different in their
emptiness of true existence
12. the way that this is an aspect of reasonableness is that it is a true path
directly realizing freedom from [conceptual and dualistic] prolifera-
tions without holding Hearer and Solitary Victor paths to be supreme
aspects of achievement
13. the true path directly realizing all phenomena as not truly exist
14. the way that this is an aspect of achievement is that it is a true path
directly realizing that all phenomena are ultimately incomprehensible
by valid cognition
aspect of deliverance
15. the exalted wisdom directly realizing that all phenomena are ulti-
mately desireless.
In sūtra, paths are explained by way of a thesis and proof, and for the first
three of the aspects of true paths a thesis and a reason are set forth. How-
ever, for deliverance no more than a thesis is given, this being in relation
to the thought of close trainees; it is not that there is no reason.

Aspects of true sufferings

16. impermanence
17. misery
18. emptiness
19. selflessness
20. absence of ultimate existence
The first four are specific characteristics of true sufferings, whereas the
last is a general characteristic [shared with other phenomena].

Aspects of true cessations

In general, the sixteen emptinesses are:
1. emptiness of the internal—the absence of true existence of the
five sense powers, eyes and so forth
2. emptiness of the external—the absence of true existence of
external forms, sounds, and so forth
3. emptiness of the internal and the external—the absence of
true existence of the containers that are the bases of the sense
powers [such as the gross orbs of the eyes and so forth]
442 173 Aspects

4. emptiness of emptiness—the absence of true existence of

emptiness
5. emptiness of the great—the absence of true existence of the
ten directions
6. emptiness of the ultimate—the absence of true existence of
nirvāṇa
7. emptiness of the compounded—the absence of true existence
of the compounded
8. emptiness of the uncompounded—the absence of true exist-
ence of the uncompounded
9. emptiness of what has passed beyond the extremes—the ab-
sence of true existence of voidness of the extremes of perma-
nence and annihilation
10. emptiness of what is beginningless and endless—the absence
of true establishment of a beginning and end to cyclic exist-
ence
11. emptiness of nondiscarding—the absence of true existence of
adopting and discarding
12. emptiness of an [inherent] nature—the absence of true exist-
ence of an [inherent] nature
13. emptiness of all phenomena—the absence of true existence of
all phenomena, compounded and uncompounded
14. emptiness of definitions—the absence of true existence of
that-suitable-[to-be-called]-a-forma
15. emptiness of the unobservable—the absence of true existence
of the three times
16. emptiness of the inherent existence of non-things—the ab-
sence of true existence of the inherent existence of non-
things.
There is a reason for calling the containers that are the bases of the sense
powers both internal and external because since they are included within
the mental continuum, they are posited as internal and since they are not
included within the sense powers, they are posited as external. There is a
reason for calling the ten directions “great” because the ten directions per-
vade all the world of the environment and beings. There is a reason for
calling the three times “the unobservable” because a time when the three

a That-suitable-[to-be-called-]a-form (gzugs su rung ba) is the definition of form.

 Kön-chog-jig-may-wang-po 443

times collect together is unobservable. The others are easy to understand.

With respect to the sixteen emptinesses indicated here [in Maitreya’s
Ornament for the Clear Realizations]:a
21. the noumenon in terms of the true cessation that is to have abandoned
the apprehension of true existence which is artificial (that is to say, is
abandoned by the path of seeing) and is the apprehension of internal
phenomena—the five sense powers, eyes and so forth—as truly estab-
lished is posited as the emptiness of the internal on this occasion
22. the noumenon in terms of the true cessation that is to have abandoned
the apprehension of true existence which is artificial (that is to say, is
abandoned by the path of seeing) and is the apprehension of external
phenomena—external forms, sounds, and so forthb—as truly estab-
lished is posited as the emptiness of the external on this occasion
23. the noumenon in terms of the true cessation that is to have abandoned
the apprehension of true existence which is artificial (that is to say, is
abandoned by the path of seeing) and is the apprehension of the inter-
nal and the external—the containers that are the bases of the sense
powers [such as the gross orbs of the eyes and so forth]—as truly es-
tablished is posited as the emptiness of the internal and the external on
this occasion
24. the noumenon in terms of the true cessation that is to have abandoned
the apprehension of true existence which is artificial (that is to say, is
abandoned by the path of seeing) and is the apprehension of empti-
ness—the absence of true existence—as truly established is posited as
the emptiness of emptiness on this occasion
25. the noumenon in terms of the true cessation that is to have abandoned
the apprehension of true existence which is artificial (that is to say, is
abandoned by the path of seeing) and is the apprehension of the
great—the ten directions—as truly established is posited as the emp-
tiness of the great on this occasion
26. the noumenon in terms of the true cessation that is to have abandoned
the apprehension of true existence which is artificial (that is to say, is
abandoned by the path of seeing) and is the apprehension of the ulti-
mate—nirvāṇa—as truly established is posited as the emptiness of the
ultimate on this occasion

a Kön-chog-jig-may-wang-po lists the first two and calls on the reader to apply
the format to the rest of the list, which I have extended here. He includes the term
“artificial” in the second but not in the first, so I have added it in brackets in the
first.
b Kön-chog-jig-may-wang-po omits the illustrations in his reformulation.
444 173 Aspects

27. the noumenon in terms of the true cessation that is to have abandoned
the apprehension of true existence which is artificial (that is to say, is
abandoned by the path of seeing) and is the apprehension of the com-
pounded as truly established is posited as the emptiness of the com-
pounded on this occasion
28. the noumenon in terms of the true cessation that is to have abandoned
the apprehension of true existence which is artificial (that is to say, is
abandoned by the path of seeing) and is the apprehension of the un-
compounded as truly established is posited as the emptiness of the un-
compounded on this occasion
29. the noumenon in terms of the true cessation that is to have abandoned
the apprehension of true existence which is artificial (that is to say, is
abandoned by the path of seeing) and is the apprehension of what has
passed beyond the extremes—voidness of the extremes of permanence
and annihilation—as truly established is posited as the emptiness of
what has passed beyond the extremes on this occasion
30. the noumenon in terms of the true cessation that is to have abandoned
the apprehension of true existence which is artificial (that is to say, is
abandoned by the path of seeing) and is the apprehension of what is
beginningless and endless—the absence of true establishment of a be-
ginning and end to cyclic existence—as truly established is posited as
the emptiness of what is beginningless and endless on this occasion
31. the noumenon in terms of the true cessation that is to have abandoned
the apprehension of true existence which is artificial (that is to say, is
abandoned by the path of seeing) and is the apprehension of nondis-
carding—the absence of true existence of adopting and discarding—
as truly established is posited as the emptiness of nondiscarding on
this occasion
32. the noumenon in terms of the true cessation that is to have abandoned
the apprehension of true existence which is artificial (that is to say, is
abandoned by the path of seeing) and is the apprehension of an [inher-
ent] nature as truly established is posited as the emptiness of an [in-
herent] nature on this occasion
33. the noumenon in terms of the true cessation that is to have abandoned
the apprehension of true existence which is artificial (that is to say, is
abandoned by the path of seeing) and is the apprehension of all phe-
nomena—compounded and uncompounded—as truly established is
posited as the emptiness of all phenomena on this occasion
34. the noumenon in terms of the true cessation that is to have abandoned
the apprehension of true existence which is artificial (that is to say, is
 Kön-chog-jig-may-wang-po 445

abandoned by the path of seeing) and is the apprehension of defini-

tions—[such as] that-suitable-[to-be-called]-a-form—as truly estab-
lished is posited as the emptiness of definitions on this occasion
35. the noumenon in terms of the true cessation that is to have abandoned
the apprehension of true existence which is artificial (that is to say, is
abandoned by the path of seeing) and is the apprehension of the unob-
servable—the three times—as truly established is posited as the emp-
tiness of the unobservable on this occasion
36. the noumenon in terms of the true cessation that is to have abandoned
the apprehension of true existence which is artificial (that is to say, is
abandoned by the path of seeing) and is the apprehension of the inher-
ent existence of non-things as truly established is posited as the emp-
tiness of the inherent existence of non-things on this occasion
Whatever is any of the sixteen emptinesses indicated here on this occasion
[in Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations] is necessarily an emp-
tiness of the internal because whatever is such a basis of emptiness is nec-
essarily an internal phenomenon, a true cessation.
Thus, the eight pristine wisdoms of Bodhisattvas that directly realize
the conceived objects of the eight aspects of true origins as nonexistent
and the twenty-eight pristine wisdoms of Bodhisattva Superiors that take
the twenty-eight aspects of the latter three truths as objects of apprehen-
sion are the thirty-six aspects of knowers of paths.

(2) Elimination of a qualm with respect to true ori-

gins
Someone says: The description of a hatred that is an apprehension of
a self of persons on the occasion of the aspects of true origins is not logi-
cally feasible because apprehensions of a self of persons must be neutral,
and hatreds must be nonvirtuous.
Response: In the oral transmissions of the glorious auspicious Go-
mang [College of the Dre-pung Monastic University] it is asserted that
whatever is an apprehension of self is necessarily neutral and that hatreds
that are apprehensions of self do not occur, this being in dependence upon
the passage in Vasubandhu’s Treasury of Manifest Knowledge:
If it is asserted that all [consciousnesses] in the upper [realms of
form and formlessness] are neutral, then the view of the transitory
collection [as real I and mine], apprehension of extremes, as well
as ignorance [must also be neutral since these occur in the upper
realms].
446 173 Aspects

[However] the omniscient lama [Jam-yang-shay-pa] says in the two, his

Great Exposition of the Concentrations and Formless Absorptionsa and in
Beginnings of a Text on Dependent-Arising,b that apprehensions of self of
persons that are associated with hatred do exist. Since this accords greatly
with [Gyal-tshab’s] Explanation on this point [in Maitreya’s Ornament for
the Clear Realizations, I] think that this latter [position] is better. The in-
telligent, having forsaken bias, should analyze this in detail.

c. One hundred ten aspects of an exalted-knower-of-

all-aspects
This section has two parts: the actual divisions and elimination of qualms.

(1) Actual divisions [of aspects of an exalted-knower-

of-all-aspects]
The explanation [of the actual divisions of an exalted-knower-of-all-as-
pects] in accordance with the statement [in Maitreya’s Ornament for the
Clear Realizations, IV.4-5],c
{IV.4}
By dividing these ranging
From the establishments by way of mindfulness
Through the finality of Buddha aspects
In accordance with true paths
{IV.5}
Into the three exalted knowers of all,
These are asserted respectively

a bsam gzugs chen mo / bsam gzugs kyi snyoms ’jug rnams kyi rnam par bzhag
pa’i bstan bcos thub bstan mdzes rgyan lung dang rigs pa’i rgya mtsho skal bzang
dga’ byed.
b rten ’brel rtsom ’phro.
c Vol. ka, sde dge 3786, sde dge ed., 7a.1-7a.2:

ན་པ་ཉེར་བཞག་ནས་བ ང་ ེ། །སངས་ ས་ མ་པའི་མཐར་ ག་ མས། །

ལམ་གྱི་བདེན་པའི་ ེས་མ ན་པར། །ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ག མ་ ་ ེད་པས་ན། །
ོབ་མ་ ང་ བ་སེམས་དཔའི་དང་། །སངས་ ས་ མས་ལ་རིམ་བཞིན་ ། །
མ་ ་བ ན་དང་ མ་ ་བཞི། ། མ་ ་ ་དགུ་དག་ ་བཞེད། །
 Kön-chog-jig-may-wang-po 447

Regarding Learners, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas

As thirty-seven, thirty-four, and thirty-nine.
has two parts: common aspects and uncommon aspects.

Common aspects [of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects]

An exalted-knower-of-all-aspects with respect to which a fully quali-
fied form of the category in which it is included exists in the continuum
of a lower Superior is the definition of a common aspect of an exalted-
knower-of-all-aspects. When common aspects of an exalted-knower-of-
all-aspects are divided, there are two—common aspects that are concord-
ant with those Hearers and Solitary Victors have and common aspects that
are concordant with those Bodhisattvas have.

Common aspects [of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects]

that are concordant with those that Hearers and Solitary
Victors have
There are thirty-seven aspectsa of a final knower of bases in seven groups
because there are seven groups. The first group exists because the four
establishments through mindfulness:
1. mindful establishment on the body
2. mindful establishment on feelings
3. mindful establishment on the mind
4. mindful establishment on [other] phenomena
are it. The second group exists because the four thorough abandonings:
5. abandoning non-virtues already generated
6. not generating non-virtues not yet generated
7. increasing virtues already generated
8. generating virtues not yet generated
are it. The third group exists because the four legs of manifestation:
9. aspiration
10. contemplationb
11. effort
12. analysis

a These are the thirty-seven harmonies with enlightenment.

b sems.
448 173 Aspects

are it. The fourth group exists because the five faculties:
13. faith
14. effort
15. mindfulness
16. meditative stabilization
17. wisdom
are it. The fifth group exists because the five powers:
18. faith
19. effort
20. mindfulness
21. meditative stabilization
22. wisdom
are it. The sixth group exists because the seven correct branches of en-
lightenment:
23. mindfulness
24. wisdom
25. effort
26. joya
27. pliancy
28. meditative stabilization
29. equanimity
are it. The seventh group exists because the eight-fold path of Superiors:
30. correct view
31. correct realization
32. correct speech
33. correct aims of actions
34. correct livelihood
35. correct exertion
36. correct mindfulness
37. correct meditative stabilization
is it.

Common Aspects [of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects]

that are concordant with those Bodhisattvas have

a Missing in text.
 Kön-chog-jig-may-wang-po 449

There are thirty-four aspects in common with Bodhisattvas:

[three doors of liberation]
38. emptiness door of liberation: the aspect that is realization of the two,
emptiness and selflessness, attributes of true sufferings
39. signlessness door of liberation: the aspect that is realization of the
eight attributes of true cessations and paths
40. wishlessness door of liberation: the aspect that is realization of the re-
maining six attributes of true sufferings and origins
eight [meditative] liberations
41. liberation of the embodied looking at a form
42. liberation of the formless looking at a form
43. liberation of a beautiful form
44. liberation of infinite spacea
45. liberation of infinite consciousness
46. liberation of nothingness
47. liberation of the peak of cyclic existence
48. liberation of the equipoise of cessation
nine serial absorptions
49.-56. eight concentrations and absorptionsb
57. absorption of cessation
58.-61. four uninterrupted paths that are doctrinal forbearances having the
four truths as objects
62.-71. ten perfections, giving and so forthc

Uncommon aspects of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects

From among the 110 there are thirty-nine uncommon aspects of an ex-
alted-knower-of-all-aspects:
ten powers
72. power of exalted knowledge of sources and non-sources
73. power of exalted knowledge of the fruition of actions
74. power of exalted knowledge of the varieties of interests
75. power of exalted knowledge of the varieties of worldly dispositions

a This and the next three are listed merely as “the liberations of the four form-
lessnesses.”
b That is, the four concentrations and the four formless absorptions.
c The ten perfections are giving, ethics, patience, effort, concentration, wisdom,
method, prayer-wishes, power, and pristine wisdom.
450 173 Aspects

76. power of exalted knowledge of the grades of superior and inferior fac-
ulties
77. power of exalted knowledge of [the paths] going everywhere
78. power of exalted knowledge of thoroughly afflicted phenomena and
very pure phenomena
79. power of exalted knowledge mindful of former states
80. power of exalted knowledge of transmigration and birth
81. power [of exalted knowledge] of the extinction of contamination
four fearlessnesses
82. fearlessness with respect to asserting that oneself has perfect abandon-
ment
83. fearlessness with respect to asserting that oneself has perfect realiza-
tion
84. fearlessness with respect to asserting oneself as an independent
teacher of desire and so forth as interruptive phenomena
85. fearlessness with respect to asserting knowers of bases, knowers of
paths, and so forth as paths of definite emergence
four correct knowledges
86. correct knowledge of individual doctrines that knows the various
forms of names
87. correct knowledge of individual meanings that knows all general and
specific characteristics
88. correct knowledge of individual communication that knows all types
of languages
89. correct knowledge of individual prowess that knows the divisions of
entities and aspects
eighteen unshared attributes of a Buddha
six unshared behaviors
90. not having error physically
91. not having senselessness verbally
92. not having decrease in mindfulness
93. not having non-equipoise of mind
94. not having discrimination of different minds
95. not having the indifference of a non-individually analytical mind
six unshared realizations
96. aspiration
97. effort
98. mindfulness
99. meditative stabilization
 Kön-chog-jig-may-wang-po 451

100. wisdom
101. not having degeneration from release
three unshared activities
102. exalted activities of body: taming trainees through the four modes
of behavior
103. exalted activities of speech: speaking religiously and meaningfully
104. exalted activities of mind: love, compassion, and so forth
Preceded by exalted wisdom and followed by exalted wisdom, the three
aspects are unshared with other exalted activities.
three unshared exalted wisdoms
105.-107. the three unimpeded exalted knowers of past, future, and pre-
sent phenomena
[three mental aspects]
108. mental aspect of suchness: a Buddha’s pristine wisdom knowing the
mode
109. self-arisen mental aspect: the pristine wisdom that has gained domin-
ion with respect to turning all wheels of doctrine
110. mental aspect of Buddhahood: exalted knower directly realizing the
entirety of the modes and varieties.
Hence, there are one hundred seventy-three [aspects of the three exalted
knowers].

(2) Elimination of a qualm

Someone objects: It is not logically feasible to assert as the meaning
of common and uncommon
the existence and nonexistence—among lower Superiors—of a
fully qualified form of the category in which [an aspect] itself is
included
because (1) the four individual correct knowledges exist among lower Su-
periors, (2) but they are not common aspects. The first [part of the reason,
which is that the four individual correct knowledges exist among lower
Superiors] because Maitreya’s Ornament [for the Great Vehicle Sūtras]
says:a
The ground of good awareness of individual

a Maitreya, theg pa chen po’i mdo sde rgyan zhes bya ba'i tshig le'u byas pa, in
bstan 'gyur (sde dge), TBRC W23703.123, 37b.
452 173 Aspects

Correct knowledge is [the ground of] good intelligence.

Answer: There is no fallacy, for [the assertion that the four indi-
vidual correct knowledges exist among lower Superiors] is in considera-
tion of attainment of a mere similitude of the four individual correct
knowledges on the occasion of the ninth ground.
…
This Thorough Expression of the Natures of the One Hundred Seventy-
three Aspects of the Three Exalted Knowers: White Lotus Vine of Elo-
quence was put together by the proponent of reasoning, the monk Kön-
chog-jig-may-wang-po in the Great Dharma College Tra-shi-khyil.a

a bkra shis ’khyil.

Appendix 1:
Meditation on the Sixteen Attributes
of the Four Noble Truths
The four noble truths are objects of extensive meditation, with each truth
having four attributes, making a total of sixteen attributes.a

Chart 7: Four truths and sixteen attributes

1. True sufferings
i. Impermanence. The meditation centers on the thought:
The contaminated mental and physical aggregates are imperma-
nent because of being produced occasionally (not existing for-
ever).
The impermanence of true sufferings is their momentary disintegration,
which is a fault arising from the afflictions and actions contaminated with
the afflictions. However, the impermanence of a Buddha’s omniscient
consciousness is an advantage of this consciousness and arises from the
force of the completion of the accumulations of wisdom and merit. Unlike
a Buddha’s omniscient consciousness which, though impermanent, con-
tinuously remains of the same type, true sufferings change in the process
of disintegration, gradually leading one to lower rebirths. Meditation on
the impermanence of true sufferings overcomes viewing them as perma-
nent.
ii. Misery. The meditation centers on the thought:
The contaminated mental and physical aggregates are miserable
because of being under the outside influence of contaminated ac-
tions and afflictions.
True sufferings are miserable because they are not independent phenom-
ena but under the outside influence of former afflictions and actions con-
taminated with the afflictions. The experience of ordinary beings confirms

a This Appendix is adapted from Hopkins, Meditation on Emptiness, 285ff.,

which is drawn from Gung-thang Kön-chok-ten-pay-drön-may’s Presentation of
the Four Truths, Port of Those Wishing Liberation: Festival for the Wise (bden
bzhi’i rnam gzhag thar ’dod ’jug ngogs mkhas pa’i dga’ ston), Collected Works,
vol. 2 (New Delhi: Ngawang Gelek Demo, 1972), 877-914.
454 Appendix 1: Meditation on the Sixteen Attributes of the Four Truths

the misery of birth, aging, sickness, and death whereas realization of the
suffering of being under an outside influence requires long analysis. Med-
itation on the misery of true sufferings counters viewing them as pure and
pleasurable.
iii. Emptiness. The meditation centers on the thought:
The contaminated mental and physical aggregates are empty be-
cause of being devoid of a supervisory self that is a different entity
from them.
True sufferings are empty of being a permanent, single, independent self.
The permanent is the non-disintegrating; the single is the partless; and the
independent is what does not depend on others for its existence. That true
sufferings are empty of being a permanent, single, independent self or of
being objects of use of such a self is their emptiness. Meditation on the
emptiness of true sufferings overcomes viewing them as a self.
iv. Selflessness. The meditation centers on the thought:
The contaminated mental and physical aggregates are selfless be-
cause of not existing as an independent self, but being under the
influence of many other impermanent factors.
True sufferings are empty of being a self-sufficient person. A self-suffi-
cient person would be a controller of the mental and physical aggregates,
like a master over his servants. That true sufferings are empty of being
such a self-sufficient person or objects of its use is their selflessness. Med-
itation on this counters the view of true sufferings as a self-sufficient per-
son or as the objects of use of such a person.

2. True origins
i. Cause. The meditation centers on the thought:
Contaminated actions and attachment are causes because of being
the roots of suffering.
Meditation on these as causes counters the notion that suffering is cause-
less, as is asserted by the Hedonists (tshu rol mdzes pa, carvāka).
ii. Origin. The meditation centers on the thought:
Contaminated actions and attachment are origins because they
again and again produce suffering in all its forms.
Meditation on these as origins counters the notion that suffering is caused
 Appendix 1: Meditation on the Sixteen Attributes of the Four Truths 455

by just one cause, such as permanent time as is asserted by the Dīpakas.

iii. Strong production. The meditation centers on the thought:
Contaminated actions and attachment are strong producers be-
cause they produce suffering with great force.
Meditation on true origins as strong producers counters the notion that the
nature of things is permanent but their states changeable, as is asserted by
the Vaidakas and the Sāṃkhyas.
iv. Condition. The meditation centers on the thought:
Contaminated actions and attachment are conditions because at-
tachment to cyclic existence acts as a cooperative condition for
suffering.
Meditation on true origins as conditions counters the notion that suffering
is created under the supervision of a deity, as is asserted by the Naiyāyikas
and Vaisheṣhikas.

3. True cessations
i. Cessation. The meditation centers on the thought:
A separation which is a total extinguishment of a suffering by its
antidote is a cessation because of being a state of having aban-
doned that suffering.
Meditation on true cessations as cessations counters the view that there is
no liberation from cyclic existence, as is asserted by the Hedonists.
ii. Pacification. The meditation centers on the thought:
A separation which is a total extinguishment of a suffering by its
antidote is a pacification because of being a state of having aban-
doned an affliction.
Meditation on true cessations as pacifications of contaminations counters
notions conceiving contaminated states to be liberation as is the case with
the Jaina assertion of a place of liberation on top of the worlds that is like
an upside-down white umbrella.
iii. Auspicious highness. The meditation centers on the thought:
A separation which is a total extinguishment of a suffering by its
antidote is auspiciously high because of being a liberation other
456 Appendix 1: Meditation on the Sixteen Attributes of the Four Truths

than which there is no superior source of help and happiness.

Meditation on true cessations as auspiciously high counters the notion that
there is a liberation superior to the cessation of suffering, as is the case
with the Sāṃkhya assertion of the liberated self as high liberation.
iv. Definite emergence. The meditation centers on the thought:
A separation which is a total extinguishment of a suffering by its
antidote is a definite emergence because of being a liberation from
that suffering such that it will never return.
Meditation on true cessations as definite emergences from suffering coun-
ters the notion that liberation, once attained, is reversible.

4. True paths
i. Path. The meditation centers on the thought:
The wisdom directly cognizing selflessness is a path because it
causes one to proceed to liberation.
Meditation on this as a path counters the notion that there are no paths of
liberation from cyclic existence.
ii. Reasonableness. The meditation centers on the thought:
The wisdom directly cognizing selflessness is reasonable because
of being the antidote to ignorance.
Meditation on the wisdom realizing selflessness as suitable counters the
notion that it is not a path of liberation.
iii. Achieving. The meditation centers on the thought:
The wisdom directly realizing selflessness is an achieving because
it realizes the nature of the mind unmistakenly.
Meditation on this wisdom as an achieving counters the notion that such
paths as worldly concentrations, receiving initiation in a maṇḍala of Īsh-
vara, or undergoing the asceticism of the five fires (one each on the four
sides and the sun above as in Jainism) are paths of liberation.
iv. Deliverance. The meditation centers on the thought:
The wisdom directly realizing selflessness is a deliverer because
it unquestionably causes one to pass to a state of irreversible lib-
eration, extinguishing sufferings and afflictions completely.
 Appendix 1: Meditation on the Sixteen Attributes of the Four Truths 457

Meditation on wisdom as a deliverer counters the notion that there is no

total eradicator of suffering.
Appendix 2:
The Sixteen Periods of the Path of Seeing
According to all but the Consequence School, the path of seeing is the
occasion when direct realization of the four noble truths first occurs. The
moments, or periods, of forbearance are so called because one has devel-
oped forbearance, that is to say, facility or non-fear, with respect to the
object of meditation; they are also called uninterrupted paths because they
lead without interruption into a path of release, or doctrinal knowledge, in
the same meditative sitting. The paths of release are the moments of
knowledge that certain afflictive emotions have been abandoned forever.
The four noble truths are the objects contemplated on the path of see-
ing; for each noble truth there is a doctrinal forbearance and a doctrinal
knowledge in relation to the Desire Realm, and there is also a subsequent
forbearance and a subsequent knowledge in relation to the higher realms,
the Form Realm and the Formless Realms which are here included in one
category. According to the Great Exposition School when meditators com-
plete the paths of the first truth in relation to the Desire Realm, they then
pass on to the paths of the first truth in relation to the form and Formless
Realms. The sixteenth moment is the time of entering the path of medita-
tion. The other schools say that the eight forbearances can occur simulta-
neously and that the eight knowledges can occur simultaneously, and some
hold that they necessarily occur simultaneously. (See chart, next page.)
 Appendix 2: The Sixteen Periods of the Path of Seeing 459

Chart 8: Sixteen periods of forbearance and knowledge

(read from bottom to top)

path of
meditation
(Abider in 16 subsequent knowledge
the fruit higher realms
of Stream 15 subsequent forbearance
Enterer) true paths
14 knowledge
Desire Realm
13 forbearance

12 subsequent knowledge
higher realms
11 subsequent forbearance
true cessations
10 knowledge
Desire Realm
path of 9 forbearance
seeing
8 subsequent knowledge
(Approacher
higher realms
to the fruit 7 subsequent forbearance
of Stream true origins
Enterer) 6 knowledge
Desire Realm
5 forbearance

4 subsequent knowledge
higher realms
3 subsequent forbearance
true sufferings
2 knowledge
Desire Realm
1 forbearance
Abbreviations
“1973 Ngawang Gelek bla brang” = Collected Works of ’Jam-dbyaṅs-
bźad-pa’i-rdo-rje, vol. 15. New Delhi, India: Ngawang Gelek Demo,
1973.
“1987 Go-mang Lhasa (first printing)” = don bdun cu'i mtha' spyod mi
pham bla ma'i zhal lung gsal ba'i legs bshad blo gsal mgul rgyan. 1a-20a.
Named “1987” because of being acquired in Lha-sa, Tibet, at Go-mang
College in 1987; published at Go-mang College, date unknown. (Com-
plete edition, available at UMA Institute for Tibetan Studies, uma-ti-
bet.org.)
“1987 Go-mang Lhasa (second printing)” = don bdun cu'i mtha' spyod mi
pham bla ma'i zhal lung gsal ba'i legs bshad blo gsal mgul rgyan. 3a-20a.
Named “1987” because of being acquired in Lha-sa, Tibet, at Go-mang
College in 1987; published at Go-mang College, date unknown. (Incom-
plete edition, available at UMA Institute for Tibetan Studies, uma-ti-
bet.org.)
“1995 Mundgod revision of Ngawang Gelek bla brang” = Collected
Works of ’Jam-dbyaṅs-bźad-pa’i-rdo-rje, vol. 16. Mundgod, India:
Gomang College,1995. Also available at: TBRC W21503-0413.
“1999 Mundgod” = 'jam dbyangs bzhad pa and 'jigs med dbang po. don
bdun cu'i mtha' dpyod mi pham bla ma'i zhal lung dang sa lam gyi rnam
gzhag theg gsum mdzes rgyan grub mtha' rnam gzhag rin po che'i phreng
ba bcas. Mundgod, India: Drepung Gomang Library, 1999.
1999 Tōyō Bunko CD-ROM: “Tibetan texts of don bdun bcu of 'jam
dbyangs bzhad pa and rigs lam 'phrul gyi lde mig of dkon mchog bstan
pa'i sgron me.” In the Toyo Bunko Database CD Release II. Tokyo, Japan:
Tōyō Bunko, 1999. CD-ROM. (This edition is based on the 1999
Mundgod edition.)
“2001 Kan su’u” = dngos po brgyad don bdun cu’i rnam gzhag legs par
bshad pa mi pham bla ma’i zhal lung. In don bdun cu dang sa lam sogs
nyer mkho'i skor phyogs bsgrigs: 88-146. Kan su'u, China: kan su’u mi
rigs dpe skrun khang, 2001.
“2005 Mundgod” = dngos po brgyad don bdun cu’i rnam gzhag legs par
bshad pa mi pham bla ma’i zhal lung. In don bdun cu dang sa lam sogs
nyer mkho'i skor phyogs bsgrigs: 1-67. Mundgod, India: Drepung Gomang
 Abbreviations 461

Library, 2005.
“2011 TBRC bla brang” = dngos po brgyad don bdun cu’i rnam gzhag
legs par bshad pa mi pham bla ma’i zhal lung. In kun mkhyen 'jam dbyangs
bzhad pa'i rdo rje mchog gi gsung 'bum, vol. 14. TBRC W22186.14: 115-
178, which is a PDF of: bla brang bkra shis 'khyil: bla brang brka shis
'khyil dgon, publishing date unknown.
“Āryavimuktisena’s commentary” = Āryavimuktisena’s Commentary on
the “Twenty-Five Thousand Stanza Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra.” shes rab
kyi pha rol tu phyin pa stong phrag nyi shu lnga pa'i man ngag gi bstan
bcos mngon par rtogs pa'i rgyan gyi 'grel pa. In bstan 'gyur (sde dge).
TBRC W23703.80, which is a PDF of: Delhi, India: Karmapae choedhey,
Gyalwae sungrab partun khang, 1982-1985.
“co ne” = co ne bstan ’gyur. TBRC W1GS66030. co ne dgon chen: co ne,
1926.
“Dharma” = the sde dge edition of the Tibetan canon published by Dharma
Press: the Nying-ma Edition of the sDe-dge bKa'-'gyur and bsTan-'gyur.
Oakland, Calif.: Dharma Press, 1980.
“Haribhadra’s Clear Meaning” = Haribhadra’s Clear Meaning Commen-
tary / Commentary on (Maitreya’s) “Treatise of Quintessential Instruc-
tions on the Perfection of Wisdom: Ornament for the Clear Realizations.”
’grel pa don gsal / shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i man ngag gi bstan
bcos mngon par rtogs pa'i rgyan zhes bya ba'i 'grel pa. In bstan 'gyur (sde
dge). TBRC W23703.86, which is a PDF of: Delhi, India: Karmapae
choedhey, Gyalwae sungrab partun khang, 1982-1985.
“Peking” = Tibetan Tripiṭaka: Peking Edition kept in the Library of the
Otani University, Kyoto. Edited by Daisetz Teitarō Suzuki. Tokyo, Kyoto,
Japan: Tibetan Tripiṭaka Research Foundation, 1955-1961.
“sde dge” = sDe dge Tibetan Tripiṭaka—bsTan ḥgyur preserved at the
Faculty of Letters, University of Tokyo. Edited by Z. Yamaguchi, et al.
Tokyo: Tokyo University Press, 1977-1984. The cataglogue numbers are
from Complete Catalogue of the Tibetan Buddhist Canons. Edited by
Hukuji Ui. Sendai, Japan: Tohoku University, 1934. And A Catalogue of
the Tohuku University Collection of Tibetan Works on Buddhism. Edited
by Yensho Kanakura. Sendai, Japan: Tohoku University, 1953. TBRC
W23703, which is a PDF of: Delhi: Karmapae Chodhey, Gyalwae sungrab
partun khang, 1977.
“TBRC” = Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center (http://www.tbrc.org).
462 Jam-yang-shay-pa’s Seventy Topics: Critical Comparison

“the sde dge Ornament” = mngon par rtogs pa’i rgyan/ shes rab kyi pha
rol tu phyin pa'i man ngag gi bstan bcos mngon par rtogs pa'i rgyan shes
bya ba'i tshig le'ur byas pa (abhisamayālaṃkāra/ abhisamayālaṁkāra-
nāma-prajñāpāramitopadeśaśāstrakārikā). In bstan ’gyur (sde dge).
TBRC W23703.80:3-28, which is a PDF of: Delhi: Karmapae Choedhey,
Gyalwae sungrab partun khang, 1982-1985. See Bibliography for the other
editions consulted.
Bibliography of Works Cited
Sūtras are listed alphabetically by English title in the first section; the
terms “glorious” and “supreme” at the beginning of titles are often dropped
in the Bibliography. Indian and Tibetan treatises are listed alphabetically
by author in the second section; other works are listed alphabetically by
author in the third section. Works mentioned in the first or second sections
are not repeated in the third section.

1. Sūtras
Eight Thousand Stanza Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra
aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā
shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa brgyad stong pa
Peking 734, vol. 21; TBRC W22084
Sanskrit: P. L. Vaidya. Aṣṭasāhasrika Prajñāpāramitā, with Haribhadra’s Commentary called
Ālokā. Buddhist Sanskrit Texts 4. Darbhanga, India: Mithila Institute, 1960.
English translation: Edward Conze. The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines & Its
Verse Summary. Bolinas, Calif.: Four Seasons Foundation, 1973.
Five Hundred Stanza Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra
āryapañcaśatikāprajñāpāramitā
’phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa lnga brgya pa
Peking 0738, vol. 21.
English translation: Edward Conze. The Short Prajñāpāramitā Texts. London: Luzac, 1973.
One Hundred Fifty Modes of the Perfection of Wisdom
prajñāpāramitānayaśatapañcāśatikāsūtra
shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa’i tshul brgya lnga bcu pa’i mdo
Peking 121, vol. 5
English translation: Edward Conze. The Short Prajñāpāramitā Texts, 184-195. London: Luzac,
1973.
One Hundred Thousand Stanza Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra
śatasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā
shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa stong phrag brgya pa
Peking 730, vols.12-18; Tohoku 8, vols. ka-a (’bum); TBRC W22084
Condensed English translation: Edward Conze. The Large Sūtra on Perfect Wisdom. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1975.
One Letter Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra
ekākṣarīmātānāmasarvatathāgataprajñāpāramitāsūtra
de bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyi yum shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa yi ge gcig ma’i mdo
Peking 741, vol. 21; sde dge 23, Dharma vol. 12
Perfection of Wisdom in Few Letters
svalpākṣaraprajñāpāramitāsūtra
shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa yi ge nyung ngu
Peking 159, vol. 6
English translation: Edward Conze. The Short Prajñāpāramitā Texts, 144-147. London: Luzac,
1973.
Twenty-five Thousand Stanza Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra
464 Bibliography of Works Cited

pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā
shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa stong phrag nyi shu lnga pa
Peking 731, vol. 19; TBRC W22084
English translation (abridged): Edward Conze. The Large Sūtra on the Perfection of Wisdom.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975.
Verse Summary of the Perfection of Wisdom
prajñāpāramitāsañcayagāthā
shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa sdud pa tshigs su bcad pa
Peking 735, vol. 21; Tohoku 13, vol. ka (shes rab sna tshogs); TBRC W22084.34: 3-40
Sanskrit and Tibetan: Akira Yuyama. Prajñā-pāramitā-ratna-guṇa-saṃcaya-gāthā (Sanskrit Re-
cension A): Edited with an Introduction, Bibliographical Notes and a Tibetan Version from
Tunhuang. London: Cambridge University Press, 1976.
Sanskrit: E. E. Obermiller. Prajñāpāramitā-ratnaguṇa-sañcayagāthā. Osnabrück, Germany: Bib-
lio Verlag, 1970. Also: P. L. Vaidya. Mahāyāna-sūtra-saṃgraha. Part I. Buddhist Sanskrit
Texts, 17. Darbhanga, India: Mithila Institute, 1961.
English translation: Edward Conze. The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines & Its
Verse Summary. Bolinas, Calif.: Four Seasons Foundation, 1973.

2. Other Sanskrit and Tibetan Works

Abhayākaragupta (’jigs med ’byung gnas sbas pa)
Commentary on the “Eight Thousand Stanza Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra”: Moonlight of Essential
Points
aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitāvṛttimarmakaumudī
shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa brgyad stong pa'i 'grel pa gnad kyi zla 'od
Peking 5202, vol. 92; sde dge 3805, vol. da
Ornament to the Subduer’s Thought
munimatālaṃkāra
thub pa’i dgongs rgyan
Peking 5294, vol.101; sde dge 3894, vol. ha
Āryavimuktisena ('phags pa rnam grol sde, ca. 6th century C.E.)
Commentary on (Maitreya’s) “Treatise of Quintessential Instructions on the ‘Superior Twenty-Five
Thousand Stanza Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra’: Ornament for the Clear Realizations”
pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikāprajñāpāramitopadeśaśāstrābhisamayālaṃkāravṛtti
'phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa stong phrag nyi shu lnga pa'i man ngag gi bstan bcos
mngon par rtogs pa'i rgyan gyi 'grel pa; abbr. nyi 'khri snang ba
Peking 5185, vol. 88
Sanskrit edition: L'Abhisamayālamkāravrtti di Ārya-Vimuktisena: primo Abhisamaya / testo e
note critiche [a cura di] Corrado Pensa. Roma, Italy: Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo
Oriente, 1967.
Tibetan edition: In bstan 'gyur (sde dge). TBRC W23703.80: 29-425, which is a PDF of: Delhi,
India: Karmapae choedhey, Gyalwae sungrab partun khang, 1982-1985.
Atisha (dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna, mar me mdzad ye shes, 982-1054)
Lamp Summary of (Maitreya’s) “Perfection of Wisdom”
prajñāpāramitāpiṇḍārthapradīpa
shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i don bsdus sgron ma
Peking 5201, vol. 92; sde dge 3804, vol. tha
Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment
bodhipathapradīpa
byang chub lam gyi sgron ma
Peking 5343, vol. 103; sde dge 3947, vol. khi
English translation with Atisha’s autocommentary: Richard Sherbourne, S.J. A Lamp for the
 Bibliography of Works Cited 465

Path and Commentary. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1983.

English translation: Atisha’s Lamp for the Path: An Oral Teaching by Geshe Sonam Rinchen.
Trans. and ed. Ruth Sonam. Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 1997.
Bhadanta Vimuktasena (btsun pa grol sde)
[Sub]commentary on (Maitreya’s) “Treatise of Quintessential Instructions on the ‘Superior
Twenty-Five Thousand Stanza Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra’: Ornament for the Clear Realiza-
tions”
āryapañcaviṃśatisāhasrikāprajñāpāramitopadeśaśāstrābhisamayālaṃkārakārikāvārttika
nyi khrid nam ’grel / ’phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa stong phrag nyi shu lnga pa’i
man ngag gi bstan bcos mngon par rtogs pa’i rgyan gyi tshig le’ur byas pa’i rnam par ’grel pa
Peking 5186, vol. 88
Buddhashrījñānaa
Commentary on (Maitreya’s) “Treatise of Quintessential Instructions on the Supramundane Victo-
rious Mother Perfection of Wisdom: Ornament for the Clear Realizations”: Wisdom Lamp Gar-
land
abhisamayālaṃkārabhagavatīprajñāpāramitopadeśaśāstravṛttiprajñāpradīpāvali
bcom ldan ’das ma shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa’i man ngag gi bstan bcos mngon par rtogs
pa’i rgyan gyi ’grel pa shes rab sgron ma’i phreng ba
Peking 5198, vol. 91; sde dge 3800, vol. ta
Commentary on the Difficult Points of the “Verse Summary”
sañcayagāthāpañjikā
bsdus pa tshig su bcad pa'i dka' 'grel
Peking 5196, vol. 91; sde dge 3798, vol. nya
Chandrakīrti (zla ba grags pa, seventh century)
Autocommentary on the “Supplement to (Nāgārjuna’s) ‘Treatise on the Middle’”
madhaymakāvatārabhāṣya
dbu ma la ’jug pa’i bshad pa / dbu ma la ’jug pa’i rang ’grel
Peking 5263, vol. 98; sde dge 3862, vol. ’a. Also: Dharmsala, India: Council of Religious and
Cultural Affairs, 1968.
Tibetan: Louis de La Vallée Poussin. Madhyamakāvatāra par Candrakīrti. Bibliotheca Bud-
dhica 9. Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio Verlag, 1970.
French translation (up to chap. 6, stanza 165): Louis de La Vallée Poussin. Muséon 8 (1907):
249-317; Muséon 11 (1910): 271-358; Muséon 12 (1911): 235-328.
German translation (chap. 6, stanzas 166-226): Helmut Tauscher. Candrakīrti-Madhya-
makāvatāraḥ und Madhyamakāvatārabhāṣyam. Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Bud-
dhismuskunde, 5. Vienna: Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien Universität
Wien, 1981.
Supplement to (Nāgārjuna’s) “Treatise on the Middle”

a Gareth Sparham raises a qualm:

It is not certain these two texts are by the same person. In the colophon
to the first it is by kha che'i rigs kyi paṇḍita chen po buddha śrī jñāna;
for the second in the colophon it is by slob dpon buddha śrī jñāna. Dhar-
mamitra refers explicitly to the author of the latter as Bud-
dhajñānaśrī. Bu-tön (lung gi snye ma p. 4) seems to take the works to be
by two different authors buddhajñānaśrī and sangs rgyas ye shes zhabs
(Buddhajñānapāda). Tsong-kha-pa cites the former work as shes rab
sgron me/ma and bud dha shrī; he cites the latter work as sdud pa'i dka'i
'grel and sang ye.
466 Bibliography of Works Cited

madhyamakāvatāra
dbu ma la ’jug pa
Peking 5261, Peking 5262, vol. 98; sde dge 3861, sde dge 3862, vol. ’a
Tibetan: Louis de La Vallée Poussin. Madhyamakāvatāra par Candrakīrti. Bibliotheca Bud-
dhica 9. Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio Verlag, 1970.
English translation: C. W. Huntington, Jr. The Emptiness of Emptiness: An Introduction to Early
Indian Mādhyamika, 147-195. Honolulu, Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press, 1989.
English translation (chaps. 1-5): Jeffrey Hopkins. Compassion in Tibetan Buddhism. London:
Rider, 1980; reprint, Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 1980.
English translation (chap. 6): Stephen Batchelor. Echoes of Voidness by Geshé Rabten, 47-92.
London: Wisdom Publications, 1983.
See also references under Chandrakīrti’s Autocommentary on the “Supplement.”
Chim Jam-pay-yang (mchims ’jam pa’i dbyangs or mchims nam mkha’ grags, died 1289 / 1290)
Commentary on [ Vasubandhu’s] “Treasury of Manifest Knowledge”: Ornament of Manifest
Knowledge
chos mngon mdzod kyi tshig le’ur byas pa’i ’grel pa mngon pa’i rgyan
Buxaduor, India: Nang bstan shes rig ’dzin skyong slob gnyer khang, n.d.
Dharmakīrti (chos kyi grags pa, seventh century)
Commentary on (Dignāga’s) “Compilation of Prime Cognition”
pramāṇavārttikakārikā
tshad ma rnam ’grel gyi tshig le’ur byas pa
Peking 5709, vol. 130; sde dge 4210, vol. ce. Also: Sarnath, India: Pleasure of Elegant Sayings
Press, 1974.
Sanskrit: Dwarikadas Shastri. Pramāṇavārttika of Āchārya Dharmakīrtti. Varanasi, India:
Bauddha Bharati, 1968.
Sanskrit and Tibetan: Yūsho Miyasaka. “Pramāṇavarttika-kārikā: Sanskrit and Tibetan.” Indo
Koten Kenkyu (Acta Indologica) 2 (1971-72): 1-206.
English translation (chap. 2): Masatoshi Nagatomi. “A Study of Dharmakīrti’s Pramāṇavarttika:
An English Translation and Annotation of the Pramāṇavarttika, Book I.” Ph. D. diss., Harvard
University, 1957.
English translation (chap. 4): Tom J.F. Tillemans. Dharmakīrti’s Pramāṇavārttika: An Anno-
tated Translation of the Fourth Chapter (parārthānumāna), vol. 1 (k. 1-148). Vienna:
Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2000.
Dharmakīrtishrī (chos kyi grags pa dpal / gser gling pa)
Explanation of (Haribhadra’s) “Commentary on (Maitreya’s) ‘Treatise of Quintessential Instruc-
tions on the Perfection of Wisdom: Ornament for the Clear Realizations’”: Illumination of the
Difficult to Realize
prajñāpāramitopadeśaśāstrābhisamayālaṃkāravṛttidurbodhālokānāmaṭīkā
shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i man ngag gi bstan bcos mngon par rtogs pa'i rgyan gyi 'grel pa
rtogs par dka' ba'i snang ba zhes bya ba'i 'grel bshad
Peking 5192, vol. 91; sde dge 3794, vol. ja
Dharmamitra (chos kyi bshes gnyen)
Explanation of (Haribhadra’s) Commentary on (Maitreya’s) “Ornament for the Clear Realiza-
tions”: Very Clear Words
abhisamayālaṃkārakārikāprajñāpāramitopadeśaśāstraṭīkāprasphuṭapadā
shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa’i man ngag gi bstan bcos mngon par rtogs pa’i rgyan gyi tshig
le’ur byas pa’i ’grel bshad tshig rab tu gsal ba
Peking 5194, vol. 91; sde dge 3796, vol. nya
Dharmashrī
Explanation of the “One Hundred Thousand Stanza Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra”
śatasāhasrikāvivaraṇa
stong phrag brgya pa'i rnam par bshad pa
Peking 5203, vol. 92; sde dge 3802, vol. da
 Bibliography of Works Cited 467

Key to the Treasury of the Verse Summary of the Perfection of Wisdom

prajñāpāramitāsaṃcayagāthākośatāla
shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa sdud pa’i tshig su bcad pa’i mdzod kyi lde mig
Peking 5204, vol. 92; sde dge 3806, vol. da
Gen-dün-drub, First Dalai Lama (dge ’dun grub, 1391-1474)
Commentary on (Guṇaprabha’s) “Aphorisms on Discipline” / Essence of the Entire Discipline,
Eloquent Holy Doctrine
legs par gsungs pa’i dam chos ’dul ba mtha’ dag gi snying po
Collected Works of the First Dalai Lama dge-’dun-grub-pa. Gangtok, Sikkim: Dodrup Lama
Sangye, 1978-1981.
Explanation of [ Vasubandhu’s] “Treasury of Manifest Knowledge”: Illuminating the Path to Lib-
eration
dam pa’i chos mngon pa’i mdzod kyi rnam par bshad pa thar lam gsal byed
Tibetan editions:
Collected Works of the First Dalai Lama dge-’dun-grub-pa, vol. 3. Gangtok, Sikkim: Dodrup
Lama, 1978-1981.
Buxaduor, India: n.p., 1967. Also: Sarnath, India: wa na mtho’ slob dge ldan spyi las khang,
1973.
English translation (chapters 1-5): David Patt. Elucidating the Path to Liberation. Ann Arbor,
Mich.: University Microf ilms, 1994.
English translation (chap. 6): Harvey B. Aronson, “The Buddhist Path: A Translation of the Sixth
Chapter of the First Dalai Lama’s Path of Liberation.” Tibet Journal 5, no. 3 (1980): 29-51;
5, no. 4 (1980): 28-47; 12, no. 2 (1987): 25-40; 12, no. 3 (1987): 41-61.
Guṇaprabha (yon tan ’od )
Aphorisms on Discipline
vinayasūtra
’dul ba’i mdo
Peking 5619, vol. 123
Gung-thang Kön-chog-tan-pay-drön-me (gung thang dkon mchog bstan pa’i sgron me, 1762-1823)
Presentation of the Four Truths, Port of Those Wishing Liberation: Festival for the Wise
bden bzhi’i rnam gzhag thar ’dod ’jug ngogs mkhas pa’i dga’ ston
Collected Works of Gun-thaṅ dkon-mchog bstan-pa’i sgron-me, vol. 2. New Delhi: Ngawang
Gelek Demo, 1972.
Gung-thang Lo-drö-gya-tsho (gung thang blo gros rgya mtsho, 1851-1928/1930)
Annotations to (Haribhadra’s) Small Clear Meaning Commentary on (Maitreya’s) “Ornament for
the Clear Realizations”: Clearing Away the Darkness for Those Wanting Liberation
mngon rtogs rgyan gyi 'grel chung don gsal ba'i mchan 'grel kun bzang zhing gi nyi ma thar 'dod
mun sel
Tibetan editions:
Lhasa (?): dge ldan legs bshad gsung rab 'grem spel khang, 2006.
TBRC W00EGS1017126, which is a PDF of: Lhasa (?): dge ldan legs bshad gsung rab 'grem
spel khang, 2006.
Gyal-tshab-dar-ma-rin-chen (rgyal tshab dar ma rin chen, 1364-1432)
Explanation [of (Maitreya’s) “Ornament for the Clear Realizations” and its Commentaries]: Or-
nament for the Essence/ Explanation Illuminating the Meaning of the Commentaries on (Mait-
reya’s) “Treatise of Quintessential Instructions on the Perfection of Wisdom, Ornament for the
Clear Realizations”: Ornament for the Essence
rnam bshad snying po rgyan/ shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i man ngag gi bstan bcos mngon
par rtogs pa'i rgyan gyi 'grel pa don gsal ba'i rnam bshad snying po'i rgyan
Tibetan editions:
Sarnath: Gelugpa Student's Welfare Committee, 1980.
shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i man ngag gi bstan bcos mngon par rtogs pa'i rgyan gyi 'grel
pa don gsal ba'i rnam bshad snying po'i rgyan. TBRC W23692.2: 5-762, which is a PDF
468 Bibliography of Works Cited

of: sku 'bum monastery, Tibet: sku 'bum byams pa gling par khang, [19?].
Explanation of (Shāntideva’s) “Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds”: Entrance for Victor Children
byang chub sems dpa’i spyod pa la ’jug pa’i rnam bshad rgyal sras ’jug ngog
Sarnath: Pleasure of Elegant Sayings Printing Press, 1973
Illumination of the Path to Liberation / Explanation of (Dharmakīrti’s) Commentary on
(Dignāga’s) “Compilation of Prime Cognition”: Unerring Illumination of the Path to Liberation
thar lam gsal byed / tshad ma rnam ’grel gyi tshig le’ur byas pa’i rnam bshad thar lam phyin ci
ma log par gsal bar byed pa
Tibetan editions:
Collected Works of Rgyal-tshab Dar-ma-rin-chen, vol. 6 (entire). Delhi: Guru Deva, 1982.
Collected Works of Rgyal-tshab Dar-ma-rin-chen, vol. 6 (entire). Delhi: Ngawang Gelek
Demo, 1981.
Varanasi, India: Pleasure of Elegant Sayings Press, 1974.
Haribhadra (seng ge bzang po, late eighth century)
Clear Meaning Commentary / Commentary on (Maitreya’s) “Treatise of Quintessential Instruc-
tions on the Perfection of Wisdom: Ornament for the Clear Realizations”
spuṭhārtha / abhisamayālaṃkāranāmaprajñāpāramitopadeśaśāstravṛtti
’grel pa don gsal / shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa’i man ngag gi bstan bcos mngon par rtogs
pa’i rgyan ces bya ba’i ’grel pa
Sanskrit editions:
Amano, Kōei. A study on the Abhisamaya-alaṃkāra-kārikā-śāstra-vṛtti. Rev. ed. Yanai City,
Japan: Rokoku Bunko, 2008.
Tripathi, Ram Shankar. Slob-dpon Seṅ-ge-bzaṅ-pos mdzad pa'i Mṅon-par-rtogs-pa'i-rgyan
gyi 'grel pa Don-gsal (Prajñāpāramitopadeśaśāstre Ācāryaharibhadraviracitā Abhisama-
yālaṅkāravṛttiḥ Sphuṭārtha), 1977. 2nd ed. Sarnath, India: Central Institute of Higher Ti-
betan Studies. 1993.
Wogihara, Unrai. Abhisamayālaṃkārālokā Prajñā-pāramitā-vyākhyā, The Work of Hari-
bhadra. 7 vols. Tokyo: Toyo Bunko, 1932-1935; reprint, Tokyo: Sankibo Buddhist Book
Store, 1973.
Wogihara, Unrai, ed. Abhisamayālaṃkārālokā Prajñāpāramitāvyākhyā: Commentary on
aṣṭasāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā by Haribhadra, Together with the Text Commented on. To-
kyo, Japan: The Toyo Bunko, 1973.
Tibetan edition: In bstan 'gyur (sde dge). TBRC W23703 86: 158-281, which is a PDF of: Delhi,
India: Karmapae choedhey, Gyalwae sungrab partun khang, 1982-1985.
English translation: Sparham, Gareth. Āryavimuktisena, Maitreyanātha, and Haribhadra. Ab-
hisamayālaṃkāra with Vṛtti and Ālokā̄. 4 vols. Fremont, CA: Jain Publishing Company,
2006-2011.
Commentary on the Difficult Points of the “Verse Summary of the Precious Qualities of the Supra-
mundane Victorious [Mother]” / Commentary that Makes the Difficult Points of the “Verse
Summary of the Precious Qualities of the Supramundane Victorious [Mother]” Easy to Under-
stand
bhagavatīratnaguṇasaṃcayagāthāpañjikāsubodhinīnāma
bcom ldan 'das yon tan rin po che sdus pa'i tshig su bcad pa'i dka' 'grel
Peking 5190; sde dge 3792
[Commentary on the] “Twenty-Five Thousand Stanza Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra”
pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā
shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa stong phrag nyi shu lnga pa
Peking 5188; sde dge 3790
Explanation of the “Eight Thousand Stanza Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra”: Illumination of (Mait-
reya’s) “Ornament for the Clear Realizations”
aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitāvyākhyānābhisamayālaṃkārālokā
shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa brgyad stong pa'i bshad pa mngon par rtogs pa'i rgyan gyi snang
ba
 Bibliography of Works Cited 469

In bstan 'gyur (sde dge). TBRC W23703.85: 4-683, which is a PDF of: Delhi, India: Karmapae
choedhey, Gyalwae sungrab partun khang, 1982-1985.
Jam-yang-shay-pa Ngag-wang-tson-drü ('jam dbyangs bzhad pa’i rdo rje ngag dbang brtson grus,
1648-1721/1722)
Eloquent Presentation of the Eight Categories and Seventy Topics: Sacred Word of Guru Ajita
dngos po brgyad don bdun cu’i rnam bzhag legs par bshad pa mi pham bla ma'i zhal lung
Tibetan editions:
bla brang edition:
“2011 TBRC bla brang” = In kun mkhyen 'jam dbyangs bzhad pa'i rdo rje mchog gi gsung
'bum, vol. 14. TBRC W22186.14: 115-178, which is a PDF of: bla brang bkra shis 'khyil:
bla brang brka shis 'khyil dgon, publishing date unknown. [Preferred edition since it has
not been retouched.]
“1973 Ngawang Gelek bla brang” = Collected Works of ’Jam-dbyaṅs-bźad-pa’i-rdo-rje,
vol. 15. New Delhi, India: Ngawang Gelek Demo, 1973. [Retouched edition.]
“1995 Mundgod revision of Ngawang Gelek bla brang” = Collected Works of ’Jam-
dbyaṅs-bźad-pa’i-rdo-rje, vol. 16. New Delhi, India: Ngawang Gelek Demo, 1995. Also
available at: TBRC W21503-0413. [Further retouched edition.]
“1999 Mundgod” = dngos po brgyad don bdun cu’i rnam gzhag legs par bshad pa mi pham
bla ma’i zhal lung. In don bdun cu dang sa lam sogs nyer mkho'i skor phyogs bsgrigs:
1-55. Mundgod, India: Drepung Gomang Library, 1999.
“1999 Tōyō Bunko CD-ROM” = “Tibetan texts of don bdun bcu of 'jam dbyangs bzhad pa
and rigs lam 'phrul gyi lde mig of dkon mchog bstan pa'i sgron me.” In the Toyo Bunko
Database CD Release II. Tokyo, Japan: Tōyō Bunko, 1999. CD-ROM. [This edition is
based on the 1999 Mundgod.]
“2001 Kan su’u” = dngos po brgyad don bdun cu’i rnam gzhag legs par bshad pa mi pham
bla ma’i zhal lung. In don bdun cu dang sa lam sogs nyer mkho'i skor phyogs bsgrigs:
88-146. Kan su'u, China: mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2001.
“2005 Mundgod” = dngos po brgyad don bdun cu’i rnam gzhag legs par bshad pa mi pham
bla ma’i zhal lung. In don bdun cu dang sa lam sogs nyer mkho'i skor phyogs bsgrigs:
1-67. Mundgod, India: Drepung Gomang Library, 2005.
Go-mang Lhasa edition:
“1987 Go-mang Lhasa (first printing)” = don bdun cu'i mtha' spyod mi pham bla ma'i zhal
lung gsal ba'i legs bshad blo gsal mgul rgyan. 1a-20a. Go-mang College: Lha-sa, Tibet:
n.d. (PDF of complete printing available at UMA Institute for Tibetan Studies,
http://www.uma-tibet.org.) Named “1987” because of being acquired in Lha-sa, Tibet,
at Go-mang College in 1987.
“1987 Go-mang Lhasa (second printing)” = don bdun cu'i mtha' spyod mi pham bla ma'i
zhal lung gsal ba'i legs bshad blo gsal mgul rgyan. 3a-20a. Go-mang College: Lha-sa,
Tibet: n.d. (PDF of incomplete printing available at UMA Institute for Tibetan Studies,
http://www.uma-tibet.org.) Named “1987” because of being acquired in Lha-sa, Tibet,
at Go-mang College in 1987.
Great Exposition of Tenets / Explanation of “Tenets”: Sun of the Land of Samantabhadra Bril-
liantly Illuminating All of Our Own and Others’ Tenets and the Meaning of the Profound [Emp-
tiness], Ocean of Scripture and Reasoning Fulf illing All Hopes of All Beings
grub mtha’ chen mo / grub mtha’i rnam bshad rang gzhan grub mtha’ kun dang zab don mchog
tu gsal ba kun bzang zhing gi nyi ma lung rigs rgya mtsho skye dgu’i re ba kun skong
Edition cited: Musoorie, India: Dalama, 1962. Also: Collected Works of ’Jam-dbyaṅs-bźad-pa’i-
rdo-rje, vol. 14 (entire). New Delhi: Ngawang Gelek Demo, 1973. Also: Mundgod, India:
Drepung Gomang Library, 1999.
English translation (entire root text and edited portions of the autocommentary and Nga-wang-
pel-den’s Annotations): Jeffrey Hopkins. Maps of the Profound: Jam-yang-shay-ba’s Great
Exposition of Buddhist and Non-Buddhist Views on the Nature of Reality. Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow
Lion Publications, 2003.
470 Bibliography of Works Cited

English translation (beginning of the chapter on the Consequence School): Jeffrey Hopkins.
Meditation on Emptiness, 581-697. London: Wisdom Publications, 1983; rev. ed., Boston:
Wisdom Publications, 1996.
English translation of root text with Losang Gonchok’s commentary: Daniel Cozort and Craig
Preston. Buddhist Philosophy: Losang Gonchok's Short Commentary to Jamyang Shayba's
Root Text on Tenets. Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 2003.
Translation of the section of the distinctive tenets of the Consequence School: Daniel Cozort,
Unique Tenets of the Middle Way Consequence School (Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion, 1998).
Great Exposition of the Middle / Decisive Analysis of (Chandrakīrti’s) “Supplement to (Nāgār-
juna’s) ‘Treatise on the Middle’”: Treasury of Scripture and Reasoning, Thoroughly Illuminat-
ing the Profound Meaning [of Emptiness], Entrance for the Fortunate
dbu ma chen mo / dbu ma ’jug pa’i mtha’ dpyod lung rigs gter mdzod zab don kun gsal skal
bzang ’jug ngogs
Tibetan editions:
Collected Works of ’Jam-dbyaṅs-bźad-pa’i-rdo-rje, vol. 9 (entire). New Delhi: Ngawang
Gelek Demo, 1973.
Buxaduor, India: Gomang, 1967.
Translation of the section on the two truths: Guy M. Newland’s Ph.D. thesis, The Two truths: a
study of Mādhyamika philosophy as presented in the Monastic textbooks of the Ge-luk-ba
order of Tibetan Buddhism.
Jay-tsun Chö-kyi-gyal-tshan (se ra rje btsun chos kyi rgyal mtshan, 1469-1546)
Excellent Means Definitely Revealing the Eight Categories and Seventy Topics, the Topics of (Mait-
reya’s) “Treatise of Quintessential Instructions on the Perfection of Wisdom: Ornament for the
Clear Realizations,” the Stainless Oral Transmission of Jay-tsun-chö-kyi-gyal-tshan
bstan bcos mngon par rtogs pa’i rgyan gyi brjod bya dngos brgyad don bdun cu nges par ’byed
pa’i thabs dam pa rje btsun chos kyi rgyal mtshan gyi gsung rgyun dri ma med pa
Indian block-print, n.d.
dngos po brgyad don bdun cu’i rnam gzhag. In don bdun cu dang sa lam sogs nyer mkho'i skor
phyogs bsgrigs bzhugs so: 1-44.
kan su'u, China: mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2005.
Rje btsun pa’i Don bdun cu: An Introduction to the Abhisamayālaṅkāra
Edited with Introduction by Shunzō Onoda
Kyoto, Japan: The Association of Indian and Buddhist Studies, Nagoya University, 1983.
Khay-drub-ge-leg-pal-sang (mkhas grub dge legs dpal bzang, 1385-1438)
Extensive Explanation of (Dharmakīrti’s) “Commentary on (Dignāga’s) ‘Compilation of Prime
Cognition’”: Ocean of Reasoning
tshad ma rnam 'grel gyi rgya cher bshad pa rigs pa'i rgya mtsho
TBRC W1KG10279, vol. 10 (tha), 623-1006: pdf of bla brang bkra shis 'khyil par khang edition,
199?
Kön-chog-jig-may-wang-po (dkon mchog ’jigs med dbang po, 1728-1791)
Condensed Presentation of the Eight Categories and Seventy Topics
dngos brgyad don bdun cu’i rnam bzhag bsdus pa
Collected Works of dKon-mchog-’jigs-med-dbang-po, vol. 6. New Delhi: Ngawang Gelek
Demo, 1972.
Precious Garland of Tenets / Presentation of Tenets: A Precious Garland
grub pa’i mtha’i rnam par bzhag pa rin po che’i phreng ba
Tibetan: K. Mimaki. Le Grub mtha’ rnam bzhag rin chen phreṅ ba de dkon mchog ’jigs med
dbaṅ po (1728-1791), Zinbun [The Research Institute for Humanistic Studies, Kyoto Univer-
sity], 14 (1977):55-112. Also, Collected Works of dkon-mchog-’jigs-med-dbaṅ-po, vol. 6,
485-535. New Delhi: Ngawang Gelek Demo, 1972. Also: Xylograph in thirty-two folios from
the Lessing collection of the rare book section of the University of Wisconsin Library, which
is item 47 in Leonard Zwilling. Tibetan Blockprints in the Department of Rare Books and
Special Collections. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries, 1984. Also:
 Bibliography of Works Cited 471

Mundgod, India: blo gsal gling Press, 1980. Also: Dharmsala, India: Tibetan Cultural Printing
Press, 1967. Also: Dharmsala, India: Teaching Training, n.d. Also: A blockprint edition in
twenty-eight folios obtained in 1987 from Go-mang College in Hla-sa, printed on blocks that
predate the Cultural Revolution.
English translation: Geshe Lhundup Sopa and Jeffrey Hopkins. Practice and Theory of Tibetan
Buddhism, 48-145. New York: Grove, 1976; rev. ed., Cutting through Appearances: Practice
and Theory of Tibetan Buddhism, 109-322. Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 1989. Also:
H. V. Guenther. Buddhist Philosophy in Theory and Practice. Baltimore, Md.: Penguin, 1972.
Also, the chapters on the Autonomy School and the Consequence School: Shōtarō Iida. Rea-
son and Emptiness, 27-51. Tokyo: Hokuseido, 1980.
Presentation of the Grounds and Paths: Beautiful Ornament of the Three Vehicles
sa lam gyi rnam bzhag theg gsum mdzes rgyan
Collected Works of dkon-mchog-’jigs-med-dbaṅ-po, vol. 7. New Delhi: Ngawang Gelek Demo,
1972.
English translation: Elizabeth Napper. Kön-chog-jig-may-wang-po’s Presentation of the
Grounds and Paths: Beautiful Ornament of the Three Vehicles, With Commentary by Dan-
ma-lo-chö. UMA Institute for Tibetan Studies, 2013: downloadable at:
http://uma-tibet.org/edu/gomang/phar_phyin/salam.php.
Thorough Expression of the Natures of the One Hundred Seventy-Three Aspects of the Three Ex-
alted Knowers: White Lotus Vine of Eloquence
mkhyen gsum gyi rnam pa brgya dang don gsum gyi rang bzhin yang dag par brjod pa legs bshad
padma dkar po’i khri shing
Tibetan editions:
Collected Works of dKon-mchog-’jigs-med-dbang-po, vol. 6. New Delhi, India: Ngawang
Gelek Demo, 1971.
In gsung 'bum/ dkon mchog 'jigs med dbang po (bla brang par ma). TBRC W2122.6: 627-
646, which is a PDF of: bla brang bkra shis 'khyil, Tibet: bla brang dgon pa, 1999.
Kumārashrībhadra
Summary of (Maitreya’s) “Perfection of Wisdom”
prajñāpāramitāpiṇḍārtha
shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i don bsdus pa
Peking 5195, vol. 91; sde dge 3797, vol. nya
Long-döl Ngag-wang-lo-sang (klong rdol ngag dbang blo bzang, 1719-1794)
Vocabulary Occurring in the Perfection of Wisdom
phar phyin las byung ba’i ming gi rnam grangs
Tibetan editions:
Collected Works, Śata-Piṭaka Series, vol. 100. New Delhi, India: International Academy of
Indian Culture, 1973.
TBRC W87: 343-412, which is a PDF of: khreng tu'u, China: [s.n.], [199-].
Lo-sang-chö-kyi-gyal-tshan (blo bzang chos kyi rgyal mtshan, 1570-1662)
Explanation of the First Category in the Ocean of Good Explanation Illuminating the Essence of
the Essence of (Maitreya’s) “Treatise of Quintessential Instructions on the Perfection of Wis-
dom: Ornament for the Clear Realizations”
shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i man ngag gi bstan bcos mngon par rtogs pa'i rgyan gyi snying
po'i snying po gsal bar legs par bshad pa'i rgya mtsho las skabs dang po'i rnam par bshad pa
Tibetan editions:
Collected Works, vol. 4. New Delhi, India: Mongolian Lama Gurudeva, 1973.
TBRC W23430.4: 265-346, which is a PDF of: New Delhi, India: Mongolian Lama
Gurudeva, 1973.
Maitreya (byams pa)
Ornament for the Clear Realizations/ Treatise of Quintessential Instructions on the Perfection of
Wisdom, Ornament for the Clear Realizations
abhisamayālaṃkāra/ abhisamayālaṁkāra-nāma-prajñāpāramitopadeśaśāstrakārikā
472 Bibliography of Works Cited

mngon par rtogs pa’i rgyan/ shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i man ngag gi bstan bcos mngon par
rtogs pa'i rgyan shes bya ba'i tshig le'ur byas pa
Sanskrit editions:
Amano, Kōei. A study on the Abhisamaya-alaṃkāra-kārikā-śāstra-vṛtti. Rev. ed. Yanai City,
Japan: Rokoku Bunko, 2008.
Stcherbatsky, Theodore and Eugène Obermiller, eds. Abhisamayālaṅkāra-Prajñāpāramitā-
Upadeśa-śāstra: The Work of Bodhisattva Maitreya. Bibliotheca Indo-Buddhica Series.
Reprint ed. Delhi, India: Sri Satguru Publications, 1992.
Tibetan editions:
Asian Classics Input Project,
http://www.asianclassics.org/reader.php?collection=tengyur&index=3786.
co ne: TBRC W1GS66030.80: 5-30, which is a PDF of: Co ne dgon chen: co ne, 1926.
dpe bsdur ma: vol. 49: 3-32. Beijing, China: Krung go'i bod rig pa'i dpe skrun khang, 1994-
2008.
Peking 5184, vol. 88 (śer-phyin, I): 1-15a.8. Tokyo; Kyoto, Japan: Tibetan Tripitaka Research
Institute, 1955-1961.
snar thang: TBRC W22704.89: 5-30, which is a PDF of: Narthang: s. n., 1800?.
sde dge: TBRC W23703.80:3-28, which is a PDF of: Delhi: Karmapae Choedhey, Gyalwae
sungrab partun khang, 1982-1985.
English translations:
Brunnhölzl, Karl. Gone Beyond: The Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, The Ornament of Clear Reali-
zation, and its Commentaries in the Tibetan Kagyü tradition. The Tsadra Foundation
series. 2 vols. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2011-2012.
―――. Groundless Paths: The Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, The Ornament of Clear Realization,
and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Nyingma Tradition. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Pub-
lications, 2012.
Conze, Edward.Abhisamayālaṅkāra: Introduction and Translation from Original Text with
Sanskrit-Tibetan Index. Roma, Italy: Is. M.E.O., 1954.
Sparham, Gareth. Āryavimuktisena, Maitreyanātha, and Haribhadra. Abhisamayālaṃkāra
with Vṛtti and Ālokā. 4 vols. Fremont, CA: Jain Publishing Company., 2006-2011.
―――. Golden Garland of Eloquence: legs bshad gser phreng, 4 vols. Fremont, CA: Jain
Publishing Company, 2008-2010.
Ornament for the Great Vehicle Sūtras
mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra
theg pa chen po’i mdo sde rgyan gyi tshig le’ur byas pa
Peking 5521, vol. 108; Dharma vol. 77
Tibetan edition: sde dge: TBRC W23703.123: 3-80, which is a PDF of: Delhi: Karmapae
choedhey, Gyalwae sungrab partun khang, 1982-1985.
Sanskrit edition: Sitansusekhar Bagchi. Mahāyāna-Sūtrālaṃkāraḥ of Asaṅga [with
Vasubandhu’s commentary]. Buddhist Sanskrit Texts 13. Darbhanga, India: Mithila Institute,
1970.
Sanskrit text and translation into French: Sylvain Lévi. Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra, exposé de la
doctrine du grand véhicule selon le système Yogācāra. 2 vols. Paris: Bibliothèque de l’École
des Hautes Études, 1907, 1911.
Nāgārjuna (klu sgrub, first to second century, C.E.)
Precious Garland of Advice for the King
rājaparikathāratnāvalī
rgyal po la gtam bya ba rin po che’i phreng ba
Peking 5658, vol. 129; Dharma vol. 93
Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese: Michael Hahn. Nāgārjuna’s Ratnāvalī. vol. 1. The Basic Texts
(Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese). Bonn: Indica et Tibetica Verlag, 1982.
English translations:
Jeffrey Hopkins. Nāgārjuna’s Precious Garland: Buddhist Advice for Living and Liberation,
 Bibliography of Works Cited 473

94-164. Ithaca, New York: Snow Lion Publications, 1998. Supersedes that in: Nāgārjuna
and the Seventh Dalai Lama. The Precious Garland and the Song of the Four Mindful-
nesses, translated by Jeffrey Hopkins, 17-93. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1975;
New York: Harper and Row, 1975; reprint, in H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. The
Buddhism of Tibet. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1983; reprint, Ithaca, New York:
Snow Lion Publications, 1987.
John Dunne and Sara McClintock. The Precious Garland: An Epistle to a King. Boston: Wis-
dom Publications, 1997.
Of 223 stanzas (chap. 1, 1-77; chap. 2, 1-46; chap. 4, 1-100): Giuseppe Tucci. “The Ratnāvalī
of Nāgārjuna.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1934): 307-325; (1936): 237-52, 423-
35.
Japanese translation: Uryūzu Ryushin. Butten II, Sekai Koten Bungaku Zenshu, 7 (July, 1965):
349-72. Edited by Nakamura Hajime. Tokyo: Chikuma Shobō. Also: Uryūzu Ryushin. Daijō
Butten, 14 (1974): 231-316. Ryūju Ronshū. Edited by Kajiyama Yuichi and Uryūzu Ryushin.
Tokyo: Chūōkōronsha.
Danish translation: Christian Lindtner. Nagarjuna, Juvelkaeden og andre skrifter. Copenhagen:
1980.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan (ngag dbang dpal ldan, b. 1797), also known as Pal-dan-chö-jay (dpal ldan chos
rje)
Explanation of (Maitreya’s) Treatise “Ornament for the Clear Realizations” from the Approach of
the Meaning of the Words: Sacred Word of Maitreyanātha
bstan bcos mngon par rtogs pa’i rgyan tshig don gyi sgo nas bshad pa byams mgon zhal lung
TBRC W5926-3:221-416, which is a PDF of: Delhi: Mongolian Lama Gurudeva, 1983.
Paṇ-chen Sö-nam-drag-pa (paṇ chen bsod nams grags pa, 1478-1554)
General-Meaning Commentary on the Perfection of Wisdom/ Good Explanation of the Meaning of
(Gyal-tshab’s) “Explanation Illuminating the Meaning of the Commentaries on (Maitreya’s)
‘Treatise of Quintessential Instructions on the Perfection of Wisdom, Ornament for the Clear
Realizations’: Ornament for the Essence”: Lamp Illuminating the Meaning of the Mother
phar phyin spyi don/ shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa’i man ngag gi bstan bcos mngon par rtogs
pa’i rgyan ’grel pa dang bcas pa’i rnam bshad snying po rgyan gyi don legs par bshad pa yum
don gsal ba’i sgron me
Buxaduor: Nang bstan shes rig ’dzin skyong slob gnyer khang, 1963.
Prajñākaramati (shes rab 'byung gnas blo gros, 950-1030)
Summary of (Haribhadra’s) “Commentary on (Maitreya’s) ‘Ornament for the Clear Realizations’”
abhisamayālaṃkāravṛittipiṇḍārtha
mngon par rtogs pa'i rgyan gyi 'grel pa'i bsdus don
Peking 5193, vol. 91; sde dge 3795, vol. ja
Ratnākarashānti (rin chen ’byung gnas zhi ba)
Commentary on the Difficult Points of the “Eight Thousand Stanza Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra”:
The Supreme Essence
ārya-aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitāpañjikāsārottamā
phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa brgyad stong pa'i dka' 'grel snying po mchog
Peking 5200, vol. 92; sde dge 3803, vol. tha
Pure Commentary on (Maitreya’s) “Ornament for the Clear Realizations”
abhisamayālaṃkārakārikāvṛittiśuddhamatīnāma
mngon par rtogs pa'i rgyan gyi 'grel pa'i tshig le'ur byas pa'i 'grel pa dag ldan
Peking 5199, vol. 91; sde dge 3801, vol. ta
Quintessential Instructions on the Perfection of Wisdom
prajñāpāramitopadeśa
shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa’i man ngag
Peking 5579, vol. 114; sde dge 4079, vol. hi
Ratnakīrti
Commentary on (Maitreya’s) “Ornament for the Clear Realizations”: A Portion of Glory
474 Bibliography of Works Cited

abhisamayālaṃkāravṛittikīrtikalānāma
mngon par rtogs pa'i rgyan gyi 'grel pa grags pa'i cha
Peking 5197, vol. 91; sde dge 3799, vol. nya
Shāntideva (zhi ba lha, eighth century)
Compendium of Instructions
śikṣāsamuccaya
bslab pa kun las btus pa
Peking 5272, vol. 102; sde dge 3940, vol. khi
English Translation: C. Bendall and W.H.D. Rouse. Śikṣā Samuccaya. Delhi: Motilal, 1971.
Edited Sanskrit: Cecil Bendall. Çikshāsamuccaya: A Compendium of Buddhistic Teaching. Bib-
liotheca Buddhica 1. Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio Verlag, 1970.
Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds
bodhi[sattva]caryāvatāra
byang chub sems dpa’i spyod pa la ’jug pa
sde dge 3871, dbu ma, vol. la
Sanskrit: P. L. Vaidya. Bodhicaryāvatāra. Buddhist Sanskrit Texts 12. Darbhanga, India: Mithila
Institute, 1988.
Sanskrit and Tibetan: Vidhushekara Bhattacharya. Bodhicaryāvatāra. Bibliotheca Indica, 280.
Calcutta: Asiatic Society, 1960.
Sanskrit and Tibetan with Hindi translation: Rāmaśaṃkara Tripāthī, ed. Bodhicaryāvatāra.
Bauddha-Himālaya-Granthamālā, 8. Leh, Ladākh: Central Institute of Buddhist Studies,
1989.
English translations:
Stephen Batchelor. A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life. Dharmsala, India: Library of
Tibetan Works and Archives, 1979.
Marion Matics. Entering the Path of Enlightenment. New York: Macmillan, 1970.
Kate Crosby and Andrew Skilton. The Bodhicaryāvatāra. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1996.
Padmakara Translation Group. The Way of the Bodhisattva. Boston: Shambhala, 1997.
Vesna A. Wallace and B. Alan Wallace. A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life. Ithaca, N.Y.:
Snow Lion Publications, 1997.
Contemporary commentary:
H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. Transcendent Wisdom. Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publi-
cations, 1988.
H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. A Flash of Lightning in the Dark of the Night. Boston:
Shambhala, 1994.
Smṛtijñānakīrti
Indicating Through Eight Concordant Meanings the Mother Perfection of Wisdom Taught Exten-
sively in One Hundred Thousand, Taught in Medium Length in Twenty-five Thousand, and
Taught in Brief in Eight Thousand [Stanzas]
prajñāpāramitāmātṛikāśatasāhasrikābṛhacchāsana-
pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikāmadhyaśāsanāṣṭādaśasāhasrikālaghuśāsanāṣṭasamānārthaśāsana
yum shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa brgyas par bstan pa 'bum dang 'bring du bstan pa nyi khri
lnga stong dang bsdus te bstan pa khri brgyad stong pa rnams mthun par don brgyad kyis
bstan pa
Peking 5187, vol. 88; sde dge 3789, vol. kha
Tsong-kha-pa Lo-sang-drag-pa (tsong kha pa blo bzang grags pa, 1357-1419)
Extensive Explanation of (Chandrakīrti’s) “Supplement to (Nāgārjuna’s) ‘Treatise on the Mid-
dle’”: Illumination of the Thought
dbu ma la ’jug pa’i rgya cher bshad pa dgongs pa rab gsal
Peking 6143, vol. 154. Also: Dharmsala, India: Tibetan Cultural Printing Press, n.d. Also: Sar-
nath, India: Pleasure of Elegant Sayings Press, 1973. Also: Delhi: Ngawang Gelek, 1975.
 Bibliography of Works Cited 475

Also: Delhi: Guru Deva, 1979.

English translation (chaps. 1-5): Jeffrey Hopkins. Compassion in Tibetan Buddhism, 93-230.
Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 1980; the portion of the book that is Tsong-kha-pa’s
Illumination of the Thought (chapters 1-5) is downloadable at:
http://uma-tibet.org/edu/gomang/dbu_ma/middle.php.
English translation (chap. 6, stanzas 1-7): Jeffrey Hopkins and Anne C. Klein. Path to the Mid-
dle: Madhyamaka Philosophy in Tibet: The Oral Scholarship of Kensur Yeshay Tupden, by
Anne C. Klein, 147-183, 252-271. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1994.
Golden Garland of Eloquence / Extensive Explanation of (Maitreya’s) “Treatise of Quintessential
Instructions on the Perfection of Wisdom: Ornament for the Clear Realizations” as Well as Its
Commentaries: Golden Garland of Eloquence
legs bshad gser ’phreng / shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa’i man ngag gi bstan bcos mngon par
rtogs pa’i rgyan ’grel pa dang bcas pa’i rgya cher bshad pa legs bshad gser gyi phreng ba
Tibetan editions:
In gsung 'bum/ tsong kha pa (bkra shis lhun po par rnying). New Delhi, India: Ngawang
Gelek Demo, 1977.
TBRC W22109.3219, which is a PDF of: gedan sungrab minyam gyunphel series (Ngawang
Gelek Demo), 1977.
English translation: Sparham, Gareth. Golden Garland of Eloquence: legs bshad gser phreng, 4
vols. Fremont, CA: Jain Publishing Company, 2008-2010.
Great Exposition of Secret Mantra / The Stages of the Path to a Conqueror and Pervasive Master,
a Great Vajradhara: Revealing All Secret Topics
sngags rim chen mo / rgyal ba khyab bdag rdo rje ’chang chen po’i lam gyi rim pa gsang ba kun
gyi gnad rnam par phye ba
Peking 6210, vol. 161. Also: Delhi: Ngawang Gelek, 1975. Also: Delhi: Guru Deva, 1979.
English translation (chap. 1): H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-kha-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins. Tantra
in Tibet. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1977; reprint, with minor corrections, Ithaca,
N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 1987.
English translation (chaps. 2-3): H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-kha-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins. The
Yoga of Tibet. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1981; reprinted as Deity Yoga. Ithaca, N.Y.:
Snow Lion Publications, 1987.
English translation (chap. 4): H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba, and Jeffrey Hopkins. Yoga
Tantra: Paths to Magical Feats. Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 2005.
Great Exposition of the Stages of the Path / Stages of the Path to Enlightenment Thoroughly Teach-
ing All the Stages of Practice of the Three Types of Beings
lam rim chen mo / skyes bu gsum gyi nyams su blang ba’i rim pa thams cad tshang bar ston pa’i
byang chub lam gyi rim pa
Peking 6001, vol. 152. Also: Dharmsala, India: Tibetan Cultural Printing Press, 1964. Also:
Delhi: Ngawang Gelek, 1975. Also: Delhi: Guru Deva, 1979.
Edited Tibetan: Tsultrim Kelsang Khangkar. The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to
Enlightenment (Lam Rim Chen Mo). Japanese and Tibetan Buddhist Culture Series, 6. Kyoto:
Tibetan Buddhist Culture Association, 2001.
English translation: Lamrim Chenmo Translation Committee. The Great Treatise on the Stages
of the Path to Enlightenment. 3 vols. Joshua W.C. Cutler, editor-in-chief, Guy Newland, edi-
tor. Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 2000-2004.
English translation of the part on the excessively broad object of negation: Elizabeth Napper.
Dependent-Arising and Emptiness, 153-215. London: Wisdom Publications, 1989.
English translation of the part on the excessively narrow object of negation: William Magee. The
Nature of Things: Emptiness and Essence in the Geluk World, 179-192. Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow
Lion Publications, 1999.
English translation of the parts on calm abiding and special insight: Alex Wayman. Calming the
Mind and Discerning the Real, 81-431. New York: Columbia University Press, 1978; reprint,
New Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass, 1979.
476 Bibliography of Works Cited

Medium-Length Exposition of the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment to be Practiced by Beings of

the Three Capacities / Medium-Length Exposition of the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment to
be Practiced by Beings of the Three Capacities together with an Outline / Short Exposition of
the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment
skyes bu gsum gyis nyams su blang ba’i byang chub lam gyi rim pa / skyes bu gsum gyi nyams
su blang ba’i byang chub lam gyi rim pa bring po sa bcad kha skong dang bcas pa / lam rim
’bring / lam rim chung ngu
Tibetan editions:
Mundgod, India: dga’ ldan shar rtse, n.d. (includes outline of topics by Trijang Rinbochay).
Bylakuppe, India: Sera Je Library, 1999 (includes outline of topics by Trijang Rinbochay).
Peking 6002, vol. 152-153.
Dharmsala, India: Tibetan Cultural Printing Press, 1968.
Delhi: Ngawang Gelek, 1975. Also: Delhi: Guru Deva, 1979.
English translation of the section on special insight:
Jeffrey Hopkins. In Tsong-kha-pa’s Final Exposition of Wisdom. Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion
Publications, 2008.
Robert Thurman. “The Middle Transcendent Insight.” Life and Teachings of Tsong Khapa,
108-185. Dharmsala, India: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1982.
Edited Tibetan text and Japanese translation of the section on special insight:
Tsultrim Kelsang Khangkar and Takada Yorihito. A Study of Tsong khapa’s Mādhyamika Phi-
losophy 1: Annotated Japanese translation of the Vipaśyanā Section of Medium Exposition of
the Stages of the Path (Lam rim). Tsong kha pa chuugan tetsugaku no kenkyuu 1, Bodai-
dousidairon chuuhen, kan no shou: wayaku, Tsultrim Kelsang Khangkar and Takada Yori-
hito, Kyoto: Buneido, 1996.
Japanese translation: Tsultrim Kelsang Khangkar and Takashi Rujinaka. The Treatise on the
Stages of the Path to Enlightenment by rJe Tsong kha pa: An Annotated Japanese Translation
of Byang chub Lam rim chung ba. Kyoto: Unio Corporation, 2005.
Vasubandhu (dbyig gnyen, fl. 360)
Treasury of Manifest Knowledge
abhidharmakośa
chos mngon pa’i mdzod
Peking 5590, vol. 115
Sanskrit: Swami Dwarikadas Shastri. Abhidharmakośa and Bhāṣya of Ācārya Vasubandhu with
Sphuṭārtha Commentary of Ācārya Yaśomitra. Bauddha Bharati Series, 5. Banaras: Bauddha
Bharati, 1970. Also: P. Pradhan. Abhidharmakośabhāṣyam of Vasubandhu. Patna, India:
Jayaswal Research Institute, 1975.
French translation: Louis de La Vallée Poussin. L’Abhidharmakośa de Vasubandhu. 6 vols.
Brussels: Institut Belge des Hautes Études Chinoises, 1971.
English translation of the French: Leo M. Pruden. Abhidharmakośabhāṣyam. 4 vols. Berkeley,
Calif.: Asian Humanities Press, 1988.
Ye-shay-gyal-tshan (tshe mchog gling ye shes rgyal mtshan, 1713-1793)
Quintessential Instructions Clearly Teaching the Essentials of (Tsong-kha-pa’s) “Stages of the Path
to Enlightenment,” Correlating the “Eight Thousand Stanza Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra” with
(Maitreya’s) “Ornament for Clear Realization”: Lamp Illuminating the Perfection of Wisdom
sher phyin stong phrag brgyad pa dang mngon rtogs rgyan sbyar te byang chub lam gyi rim pa’i
gnad rnams gsal bar ston pa’i man ngag sher phyin gsal ba’i sgron me
Tibetan editions: Tshe-chog-ling
Collected Works, vol. 7. New Delhi, India: Tibet House, 1975.
TBRC W1022.7: 8-174, which is a PDF of: New Delhi, India: Tibet House, 1975.
 Bibliography of Works Cited 477

3. Other Works
Amano, Kōei. A study on the Abhisamaya-alaṃkāra-kārikā-śāstra-vṛtti. Rev. ed. Yanai City, Japan:
Rokoku Bunko, 2008.
Bastian, Edward Winslow. Mahāyāna Buddhist Religious Practice and the Perfection of Wisdom:
According to the Abhisamayālaṃkāra and the Pañcavimśatisāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā: (The In-
terpretation of the First Two Topics by Haribhadra, Rgyal-Tshab Dar-Ma-Rin-Chen, and Rje-
Btsun Chos-Kyi Rgyal-Mtshan. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms International, 1980.
Brunnhölzl, Karl. Gone Beyond: The Prajñāpāramitā̄ Sūtras, The Ornament of Clear Realization, and
its Commentaries in the Tibetan Kagyü Tradition. The Tsadra Foundation series. 2 vols. Ithaca,
NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2011-2012.
―――. Groundless Paths: The Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, The Ornament of Clear Realization, and Its
Commentaries in the Tibetan Nyingma Tradition. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2012.
Conze, Edward. Abhisamayālaṅkāra: Introduction and Translation from Original Text with Sanskrit-
Tibetan Index. Roma, Italy: Is. M.E.O., 1954.
―――. The Gilgit manuscript of the Aṣṭādaśasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā: Chapters 55 to 70 corre-
sponding to the 5th Abhisamaya. Roma, Italy: Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente,
1962.
―――. The Large Sūtra on Perfect Wisdom, with the Divisions of the Abhisamayālaṅkāra. Berkeley,
CA: University of California Press, 1975.
―――. The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines & Its Verse Summary. Bolinas, Calif.: Four
Seasons Foundation, 1973.
Dhargey, Geshe Ngawang. “A Short Biography” in Life and Teachings of Tsong Khapa, ed. Robert
A. F. Thurman. Dharmsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1982. 4-39.
H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-kha-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins. Tantra in Tibet. London: George Allen and
Unwin, 1977; reprint, with minor corrections, Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 1987.
Hopkins, Jeffrey. “Extracts from (Si-tu Paṇ-chen Chö-kyi-jung-nay’s) ‘Explanation of (Tön-mi Sam-
bhoṭa’s) The Thirty.’” Unpublished.
―――. Meditation on Emptiness. London: Wisdom Publications, 1983; rev. ed., Boston, Ma.: Wisdom
Publications, 1996.
―――. Maps of the Profound: Jam-yang-shay-ba’s Great Exposition of Buddhist and Non-Buddhist
Views on the Nature of Reality. Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 2003.
―――. Nāgārjuna’s Precious Garland: Buddhist Advice for Living and Liberation. Ithaca, NY: Snow
Lion Publications, 2007.
Hopkins, Jeffrey, and Elizabeth Napper. “Grammar Summaries for Tibetan.” Unpublished.
Maher, Derek F. “Knowledge and Authority in Tibetan Middle Way Schools of Buddhism: A Study
of the Gelukba (dge lugs pa) Epistemology of Jamyang Shayba ('jam dbyangs bzhad pa) In Its
Historical Context.” Ph.D. diss., University of Virginia, 2003.
Napper, Elizabeth. Kön-chog-jig-may-wang-po’s Presentation of the Grounds and Paths with Denma
Locho’s Commentary. UMA Institute for Tibetan Studies, 2013; downloadable free online at:
http://uma-tibet.org/edu/gomang/phar_phyin/salam.php.
Obermiller, Eugène. Analysis of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra (Fasc. 1). Calcutta Oriental Series No. 27.
London: Luzac & Co., 1936. Reprint ed. Fremont, CA: Asian Humanities Press, 2001.
Sopa, Geshe Lhundup, and Jeffrey Hopkins. Cutting through Appearances: The Practice and Theory
of Tibetan Buddhism. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 1989.
Sparham, Gareth. Maitreyanātha, Āryavimuktisena, and Haribhadra. Abhisamayālaṃkāra with Vṛtti
and Ālokā. 4 vols. Fremont, CA: Jain Publishing Company., 2006-2011.
―――. Detailed Explanation of the Ornament and Brief Called Golden Garland of Eloquence by
Tsong kha pa, 4 vols. Fremont, CA: Jain Publishing Company, 2008-2010.
Stcherbatsky, Theodore and Eugène Obermiller, eds. Abhisamayālaṅkāra-Prajñāpāramitā-Upadeśa-
śāstra: The Work of Bodhisattva Maitreya. Bibliotheca Buddhica 23. Osnabrück, Germany: Bib-
lio Verlag, 1970. Reprint ed. Delhi, India: Sri Satguru Publications, 1992.
478 Bibliography of Works Cited

Tsong-kha-pa, Kensur Lekden, and Jeffrey Hopkins. Compassion in Tibetan Buddhism. London:
Rider, 1980; reprint, Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 1980. Available free online at
http://uma-tibet.org/edu/gomang/dbu_ma/middle.php.
Zahler, Leah. Study and Practice of Meditation: Tibetan Interpretations of the Concentrations and
Formless Absorptions. Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 2009.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s
Commentary on the Citations from
Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear
Realizations
1
Expression of worship:
Homage to the Mother of Buddhas as well as of the groups of
Hearers and Bodhisattvas
Which through knowledge of all leads Hearers seeking pacifica-
tion to thorough peace
And which through knowledge of paths causes those helping
transmigrators to achieve the welfare of the world,
And through possession of which the Subduers set forth these
varieties endowed with all aspects.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words (2b.3) fleshes the meaning of
this stanza out as:
Homage to the Mother, the three exalted knowers, of Buddhas
as well as of the groups of Hearers, Solitary Victors, and Bo-
dhisattvas (1) which through knowledge of all, that is, knowers
of bases, realizing the selflessness of persons leads to peace Hear-
ers and Solitary Victors—seeking the liberation thoroughly pac-
ifying coarse sufferings and their sources; (2) which through
knowers of path realizing the three paths as without true exist-
ence causes the Bodhisattvas achieving temporary and final help
for transmigrators to achieve the welfare of worldly beings of
the three lineages; (3) and through thoroughly possessing the ex-
alted-knower-of-all-aspects realizing all aspects as without truly
existent production the Subduer Monarchs, Buddhas, Supramun-
dane Victors set forth these varieties of means of expression en-
dowed with all aspects of objects of expression.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
480 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

ཉན་ཐོས་ཞི་བ་ཚལ་ མས་ཀུན་ཤེས་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་ཉེར་ཞིར་འཁྲིད་མཛད་གང་ཡིན་
དང་། །
འགྲོ་ལ་ཕན་པར་ ེད་ མས་ལམ་ཤེས་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་འ ིག་ ེན་དོན་ བ་མཛད་པ་
གང་། །
གང་དང་ཡང་དག་ ན་པས་ བ་ མས་ མ་པ་ཀུན་ ན་ ་ཚགས་འདི་ག ངས་
པ། །
ཉན་ཐོས་ ང་ བ་སེམས་དཔའི་ཚགས་བཅས་སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ནི་ མ་དེ་ལ་ ག་
འཚལ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཉན་ཐོས་དང་རང་སངས་ ས་ ག་ཀུན་རགས་པ་ཉེ་བར་ཞི་
བའི་ཐར་པ་འཚལ་བ་ ་ེ དོན་ ་གཉེར་བ་ མས་གང་ཟག་གི་
བདག་མེད་ ོགས་པའི་ཀུན་ཤེས་པ་ ེ་གཞི་ཤེས་ཉིད་ཀྱིས། ཉེར་
ཞི་དེར་འཁྲིད་པར་མཛད་པ་གང་ཡིན་པ་དང༌། འགྲོ་བ་ལ་འ ལ་
དང་ ན་ ་ཕན་པ་ བ་པར་ དེ ་པའི་ ང་ བ་སེམས་དཔའ་
མས་ལམ་ག མ་བདེན་པར་ དེ ་པར་ ོགས་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་པ་
ཉིད་ཀྱིས་འ གི ་ ནེ ་རིགས་ཅན་ག མ་གྱི་དོན་བ བ་པར་
མཛད་པ་གང་ཡིན་པ་དང༌། མ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་བདེན་ བ་ཀྱི་ ེ་
བ་མེད་པར་ གས་ ་ ད་པའི་ མ་མཁྱེན་གང་དང་ཡང་དག་
པར་ ན་པའི་ བ་དབང་སངས་ ས་བཅོམ་ ན་འདས་ མས་
བ ོད་ འི་ མ་པ་ཀུན་དང་ ན་པའི་ ོད་ དེ ་ ་ཚགས་པ་
འདི་དག་ག ང་པར་མཛད་པ་གང་ཡིན་པ་ ེ། ཉན་ཐོས་རང་
ལ་ ང་ བ་སེམས་དཔའི་ཚགས་དང་བཅས་པའི་སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་
མ་མཁྱེན་ག མ་དེ་ལ་ ག་འཚལ་ལོ། །
See also Gareth Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s]
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 481

Vṛtti and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā (Freemont, Ca.: 2006), vol. 1, 3.

2
Promise of composition, I.1-2:
{I.1}
The path of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects
Explained by the Teacher in these [sūtras]
Is not experienced by others.
In order that those with intelligence will see the meanings
{I.2}
Of the sūtras having an essence of ten practices
Upon having set them in mindfulness,
The easy realization of them
Is the purpose of the composition.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words (3a.1) draws the significance
of these two stanzas out as:
“The objects of expression,
• the exalted-knower-of-all-aspects, which is a path only of
Buddhas, as well as the remaining seven clear realizations il-
lustrated by it, which are explained by the Teacher Buddha
in these Mother sūtras
• and this exalted-knower-of-all-aspects which is not experi-
enced successively in the beginning, middle, and end by any
others than Bodhisattvas with the three wisdoms arisen from
hearing and so forth, that is to say, is not experienced by Out-
siders and Hearers and Solitary Victors
will be seen, that is, actualized, through the stages of the ten
grounds attained only by the intelligent, Bodhisattvas, having be-
come familiar from having set without forgetfulness the entirety
of the meanings of the Mother sūtras having a nature of the
practices—the ten perfections that are performance of achiev-
ing—in a mindful consciousness arisen from predispositions es-
tablished by hearing and thinking on them.” This indicates the es-
sential purpose [of Maitreya’s composing the Ornament for the
Clear Realizations]. “Easy realization of the meanings of the
three Mothers in dependence upon the Ornament for the sake of
that essential purpose” is the purpose of composing the treatise.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
482 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

{I.1}
མ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་མཁྱེན་ཉིད་ལམ། ། ོན་པས་འདི་ མས་བཤད་པ་གང་། །
གཞན་གྱིས་ ོང་བ་མ་ཡིན་ཏེ། །ཆོས་ ོད་བ ་ཡི་བདག་ཉིད་ཀྱི། །
{I.2}
མདོ་དོན་ ན་པ་ལ་བཞག་ནས། ། ོ་དང་ ན་པས་མཐོང་འ ར་ ིར། །
བདེ་ ག་ ་ནི་ ོགས་པ་ཞེས། ། ་བ་ མ་པའི་དགོས་པ་ཡིན། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
མ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་མཁྱེན་པ་ཉིད་སངས་ ས་ཁོ་ནའི་ལམ་དང༌།
དེས་མཚན་པའི་མངོན་ ོགས་ ག་མ་བ ན་དང་བཅས་པ་ ནོ ་
པ་སངས་ ས་ཀྱིས་ མ་གྱི་མདོ་འདི་ལས་བཤད་པ་གང་ཡིན་པ་
དེ་བ དོ ་ ་དང༌། ང་སེམས་ལས་གཞན་ ི་རོལ་པ་དང༌། ཉན་
རང་གིས་ཐོས་ ང་ལ་སོགས་པའི་ཤེས་རབ་ག མ་གྱིས་ཐོག་མ་
དང་བར་དང་ཐ་མར་རིམ་གྱིས་ ངོ ་བ་མ་ཡིན་པའི་ མ་མཁྱེན་
དེ། ཆོས་དེ་ བ་པའི་ དོ ་པ་ཕར་ ནི ་བ འི་བདག་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ མ་
གྱི་མདོའ་ི དོན་མ་ ས་པ་ཐོས་བསམ་གྱིས་བཞག་པའི་བག་ཆགས་
ལས་ ང་བའི་ ན་པའི་ཤེས་པ་ལ་མི་བ དེ ་པར་བཞག་ནས་
གོམས་པར་ ས་པ་ལས། ོ་དང་ ན་པ་ ང་སེམས་ཁོ་ནའི་ས་ས་
བ ་ཐོབ་པའི་རིམ་པས་མཐོང་བ་ ་ེ མངོན་ མ་ ་ ེད་པར་
འ ར་རོ་ཞེས་ཉིང་དགོས་བ ན་པ་དང༌། ཉིང་དགོས་དེའི་ རི ་
་ ན་གྱི་ག ལ་ ས་ ན་ལ་བ ནེ ་ཞེས་ མ་ག མ་གྱི་དོན་
བདེ་ ག་ ་ གོ ས་པ་ཞེས་ ་བ་ནི་བ ན་བཅོས་ མོ ་པའི་དགོས་
པ་ཡིན་ནོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 1, 3.
3
The eight categories, I.3-4:
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 483

{I.3}
The perfection of wisdom will be thoroughly
Explained by way of eight categories.
Exalted-knower-of-all-aspects, knower of paths,
Then knower of all,
{I.4}
Completely realizing all aspects,
Passed to the peak, serial,
Momentary thoroughly complete enlightenment,
And body of attributes—those are the eight aspects.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words (3b.5) fleshes the first two
lines out as:
The perfection of wisdom, which in the expression of worship is
praised and made obeisance as the subject matter, will be thor-
oughly, that is, entirely, explained by this treatise in the manner
of a division of the means of expression into eight chapters and
the subject matter into eight categories.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{I.3}
ཤེས་རབ་ཕ་རོལ་ ིན་པ་ནི། །དངོས་པོ་བ ད་ཀྱིས་ཡང་དག་བཤད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
མཆོད་བ དོ ་ ་བ དོ ་ ་ལ་བ དོ ་ ག་ ས་པའི་ཤེས་རབ་ཕ་
རོལ་ ་ ནི ་པ་དེ་ནི་བ ན་བཅོས་འདིས་ དོ ་ དེ ་ བས་བ ད་
དང་བ ོད་ ་དངོས་པོ་བ ད་ ་ ེ་བའི་ ལ་གྱིས་ཡང་དག་པ་
ེ་མ་ ས་པར་བཤད་དོ། །
Jam-yang-shay-pa holds that perfections of wisdom (sher phyin) and per-
fections (phar phyin) exist on paths of learning by taking pāramitā (pha
rol tu phyin pa) not just as “having gone beyond” (phyin zin pa/ ’dir phyin
pa) but also as “means to having gone beyond” (pha rol tu phyin byed/ ’dis
phyin pa). The latter are common, or ordinary, perfections of wisdom (sher
phyin phal pa) but are still perfections of wisdom just as an ordinary hu-
man (mi phal pa) is still a human. Ngag-wang-pal-dan proceeds here to
give a somewhat different nuanced opinion:
According to Gyal-tshab’s Explanation Illuminating the Meaning
484 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

of the Commentaries on (Maitreya’s) “Treatise of Quintessential

Instructions on the Perfection of Wisdom, Ornament for the Clear
Realizations”: Ornament for the Essence, since the fruit perfec-
tion of wisdom [on the Buddha ground] is a fully qualified perfec-
tion of wisdom and the textual and path perfections of wisdom are
imputed perfections of wisdom, it is to be asserted that perfections
of wisdom (sher phyin) and perfections (phar phyin) do not exist
on paths of learning [that is, on any path prior to the path of no-
more-learning, Buddhahood]. According to Tsong-kha-pa’s
Golden Garland, it is explained that although perfections of wis-
dom do not exist on the paths of accumulation and of preparation,
nevertheless the paths of seeing, meditation, and no-more-learn-
ing directly realizing emptiness are fully qualified perfections of
wisdom. It is also explained in Tsong-kha-pa’s Explanation of
(Chandrakīrti’s) “Supplement to (Nāgārjuna’s) ‘Treatise on the
Middle’” that if the term phyin pa (ita) [in pha rol tu phyin pa
(pāramitā)] is taken as “gone beyond” (phyin zin pa), perfections
(phar phyin) do not exist on paths of learning, whereas if it is taken
as “means of having gone beyond” (phyin byed), perfections (phar
phyin) do exist on paths of learning.
མ་བཤད་ ར་ན། འ ས་ ་ཤེར་ ིན་ནི་ཤེར་ ིན་མཚན་ཉིད་
པ་དང༌ག ང་དང་ལམ་ཤེར་ ིན་ནི་ཤེར་ ནི ་བཏགས་པ་བ་
ཡིན་པས། ོབ་ལམ་ན་ཤེར་ ིན་དང་ཕར་ ནི ་མེད་པར་འདོད་
དོ། །གསེར་ ེང་ ར་ན། ཚགས་ ོར་ན་ཤེར་ ནི ་མཚན་ཉིད་པ་
མེད་ཀྱང་ ངོ ་ཉིད་མངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་པའི་ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་
མཐོང་ ོམ་མི་ ོབ་ལམ་ཤེར་ ིན་མཚན་ཉིད་པར་བཤད་ཅིང༌།
འ ག་པའི་ མ་བཤད་ལས་ཀྱང་ ནི ་པའི་ ་ ིན་ཟིན་ལ་ ེད་
ན་ ོབ་ལམ་ན་ཕར་ ནི ་མེད་ལ། ིན་ ེད་ལ་ ེད་ན་ཡོད་པར་
བཤད་དོ། །
Jam-yang-shay-pa also makes a very broad usage of the term “path per-
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 485

fection of wisdom” in the Seventy Topics when he treats it as a synony-

mous equivalent of “Bodhisattva path” (62):
Sattva’s yoga (sems dpa’i rnal byor), path perfection of wisdom
(lam sher phyin, mārgamūtaprajñāpāramitā), Bodhisattva path
(byang sems kyi lam, bodhisattvamārgaḥ), Great Vehicle achiev-
ing (theg chen sgrub pa, mahāyānapratipattiḥ), and achieving
through armor (go sgrub, saṃnāhapratipattiḥ) are synonymous
equivalents.
སེམས་དཔའི་ ལ་འ རོ ་དང་། ལམ་ཤེར་ ནི ་དང་། ང་
སེམས་ཀྱི་ལམ་ དང་། ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་པ་དང་། གོ་ བ་
[3a.4]

མས་དོན་གཅིག་མིང་གི་ མ་གྲངས་སོ།
This means that since path perfections of wisdom are fully qualified per-
fections of wisdom, fully qualified perfections of wisdom exist on the
paths of accumulation and preparation, even if they are common or ordi-
nary—an extraordinary position indeed. In any case, all agree that textual
perfections of wisdom are imputed perfections of wisdom. (Perhaps one
could say that the common perfections of wisdom on the paths of accumu-
lation and preparation are imputed perfections of wisdom.)
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words (3b.5) fleshes the remaining
six lines out as:
1. A final exalted knower that directly realizes the ten phenom-
ena—mind-generation and so forth—is an exalted-knower-
of-all-aspects.
2. A Great Vehicle Superior’s clear realization that is conjoined
with the wisdom directly realizing the three paths as not truly
existent is a knower of paths.
3. A Superior’s path dwelling in a Lesser Vehicle type of reali-
zation and conjoined with the wisdom directly realizing all
bases [that is, phenomena] as without a self of persons is a
knower of bases.
4. A Bodhisattva’s yoga conjoined with the wisdom of medita-
tively cultivating the aspects of the three exalted knowers is a
complete training in all aspects.
5. A Bodhisattva’s yoga on the occasion of attaining control
with respect to meditatively cultivating the aspects of the
486 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

three exalted knowers is a peak training.

6. A Bodhisattva’s yoga on the occasion of serial meditation for
the sake of attaining steadiness with respect to the subjective
aspects of the three exalted knowers is a serial training.
7. A Bodhisattva’s final yoga arisen through the force of having
meditatively cultivated serially the aspects of the three ex-
alted knowers is a momentary training.
8. A final fruit attained through the force of having meditatively
cultivated the four trainings is a fruit body of attributes.
Those are the eight aspects.
Furthermore concerning their boundaries, Gyal-tshab’s Ex-
planation Illuminating the Meaning of the Commentaries on
(Maitreya’s) “Treatise of Quintessential Instructions on the Per-
fection of Wisdom, Ornament for the Clear Realizations”: Orna-
ment for the Essence explains that:
• exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects and bodies of attributes exist
only on the Buddha ground;
• knowers of paths exist from the Great Vehicle path of seeing
through the Buddha ground;
• knowers of bases exist in all Superiors [that is to say, Hearer,
Solitary Victor, Bodhisattva, and Buddha Superiors];
• complete trainings in all aspects exist from the Great Vehicle
path of accumulation until the end of the continuum [as a sen-
tient being, just prior to Buddhahood];
• peak trainings exist from the Great Vehicle heat path of prep-
aration until the end of the continuum [as a sentient being, just
prior to Buddhahood];
• serial trainings exist from the Great Vehicle path of accumu-
lation to prior to the end of the continuum [as a sentient being,
prior to Buddhahood];
• Momentary trainings] exist only at the end of the continuum
[as a sentient being, just prior to Buddhahood].
According to Tsong-kha-pa’s Golden Garland, knowers of paths
exist from the Great Vehicle path of accumulation until the end of
the continuum [as a sentient being, just prior to Buddhahood] and
knowers of bases exist from the Hearer path of accumulation
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 487

through the Lesser Vehicle path of no-more-learning, but the oth-

ers are similar.
Maitreya’s Ornament: I.3-4, 2a.1-2a.2:
མ་ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཉིད་ལམ་ཤེས་ཉིད། །དེ་ནས་ཐམས་ཅད་ཤེས་པ་ཉིད། །
{I.4}
མ་ཀུན་མངོན་ ོགས་ གོ ས་པ་དང་། ། ེ་མོར་ ིན་དང་མཐར་གྱིས་པ། །
ད་ཅིག་གཅིག་མངོན་ གོ ས་ ང་ བ། །ཆོས་ཀྱི་ ་དང་དེ་ མ་བ ད།
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
སེམས་བ དེ ་སོགས་ཆོས་བ ་མངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་པའི་མཐར་
ག་གི་མཁྱེན་པ་ནི་ མ་མཁྱེན་དང༌། ལམ་ག མ་བདེན་མེད་ ་
མངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་པའི་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱིས་ཟིན་པའི་ཐེག་ཆེན་
འཕགས་པའི་མངོན་ གོ ས་ནི་ལམ་ཤེས་དང༌། གཞི་ཐམས་ཅད་
གང་ཟག་གི་བདག་མེད་ ་མངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་པའི་ཤེས་རབ་
ཀྱིས་ཟིན་པའི་ཐེག་དམན་གྱི་ ོགས་རིགས་ ་གནས་པའི་
འཕགས་ལམ་ནི་གཞི་ཤེས་དང༌། མཁྱེན་ག མ་གྱི་ མ་པ་བ ོམ་
པའི་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱིས་ཟིན་པའི་སེམས་དཔའི་ ལ་འ ོར་ནི་ མ་
གོ ས་ ོར་བ་དང༌། མཁྱེན་ག མ་གྱི་ མ་པ་ ོམ་པ་ལ་དབང་
ཐོབ་པའི་ བས་ཀྱི་སེམས་དཔའི་ ལ་འ ོར་ནི་ ་ེ རོ ་དང༌།
མཁྱེན་ག མ་གྱི་ཤེས་ མ་ལ་བ ན་པ་ཐོབ་ ིར་ ་རིམ་གྱིས་
ོམ་པའི་གནས་ བས་ཀྱི་སེམས་དཔའི་ ལ་འ ོར་ནི་མཐར་
གྱིས་ རོ ་བ་དང༌། མཐར་གྱིས་ ོར་བའི་ ོབས་ལས་ ང་བའི་
སེམས་དཔའི་ ལ་འ རོ ་མཐར་ ག་ནི་ ད་ཅིག་མའི་ རོ ་བ་
དང༌། ོར་བཞི་བ མོ ས་པའི་ ོབས་ཀྱིས་ཐོབ་པའི་འ ས་ ་
མཐར་ ག་ནི་འ ས་ ་ཆོས་ ་དང་ མ་པ་བ ད་དོ། །འདི་དག་
488 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

གི་ས་མཚམས་ཀྱང། མ་མཁྱེན་དང་ཆོས་ ་ནི་སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ས་

ཁོ་ནར་ཡོད་ལ། ལམ་ཤེས་ནི་ཐེག་ཆེན་མཐོང་ལམ་ནས་སངས་
ས་ཀྱི་སའི་བར་དང༌། གཞི་ཤེས་ནི་འཕགས་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་
ཡོད་པ་དང༌། མ་ གོ ས་ ོར་བ་ནི་ཐེག་ཆེན་ཚགས་ལམ་ནས་
ན་མཐའི་བར་དང༌། ེ་ ོར་ནི་ཐེག་ཆེན་ རོ ་ལམ་ དོ ་ནས་
ན་མཐའི་བར་དང༌། མཐར་གྱིས་ ོར་བ་3ནི་ཐེག་ཆེན་ཚགས་
ལམ་ནས་ ན་མཐའི་ ་ལོགས་བར་དང༌། ད་ཅིག་མའི་ རོ ་བ་
ནི་ ན་མཐའ་ཁོ་ནར་ཡོད་པར་ མ་བཤད་ལས་བཤད་
དོ། །གསེར་ ེང་ ར་ན། ལམ་ཤེས་ཐེག་ཆེན་ཚགས་ལམ་ནས་ ན་
མཐའི་བར་དང༌། གཞི་ཤེས་ཐེག་དམན་ཚགས་ལམ་ནས་ཐེག་
དམན་མི་ བོ ་ལམ་གྱི་བར་ ་ཡོད་ལ་གཞན་ མས་འ འོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 1, 5ff.
4

Explaining the thirty phenomena characterizing

the three exalted knowers
Chapter I. Explaining the ten phenomena charac-
terizing exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects
I.5-6:
{I.5}
Mind-generations, guidance,
Four limbs of definite discrimination,
The nature of the element of attributes
Which is the basis of achievings,
{I.6}
Objects of observation, intent,
Armor, activities of engaging,
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 489

Collections, and issuance

[Characterize] a Subduer’s exalted-knower-of-all-aspects.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 4b.4, fleshes these two stan-
zas out as:
Mind-generations, guidance, limbs of definite discrimination,
the naturally abiding lineage which is the support of Great Ve-
hicle achievings, objects of observation of Great Vehicle achiev-
ings, objects of intent of Great Vehicle achievings, achievings
through armor, achievings through engagement, achievings
through the collections, and definitely issuative achievings are
the ten phenomena characterizing an exalted-knower-of-all-as-
pects.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{I.5}
སེམས་བ ེད་པ་དང་གདམས་ངག་དང་། །ངེས་འ ེད་ཡན་ལག་ མ་བཞི་དང་། །
བ་པ་ཡི་ནི་ ེན་ ར་པ། །ཆོས་ཀྱི་ད ིངས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་དང་། །
{I.6}
དམིགས་པ་དག་དང་ཆེད་དང་ནི། །གོ་ཆ་འ ག་པའི་ ་བ་དང་། །
ཚགས་ནི་ངེས་པར་འ ང་བཅས་ མས། ། བ་པའི་ མ་ཀུན་མཁྱེན་པ་ཉིད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
སེམས་བ དེ ་དང༌། གདམས་ངག་དང༌། ངེས་འ དེ ་ཡན་ལག་
དང༌། ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་པའི་ ནེ ་རང་བཞིན་གནས་རིགས་དང༌།
ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་པའི་དམིགས་པ་དང༌། ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་པའི་ཆེད་ ་
་བ་དང༌། གོ་ བ་དང༌། འ ག་ བ་དང༌། ཚགས་ བ་དང༌།
ངེས་འ ང་ བ་པ་དང་བཅས་པ་ནི་ མ་མཁྱེན་མཚན་ དེ ་ཀྱི་
ཆོས་བ འོ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words continues:
The modes of characterization are both:
1. characterization of an effect by a cause (rgyus ’bras bu
mtshon pa)—“The final exalted knower attained through the
power of having practiced the ten phenomena is an exalted-
490 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

knower-of-all-aspects,” and
2. characterization of an object-possessor [that is, a conscious-
ness] by an object (yul gyis yul can mtshon pa)—“The final
exalted knower directly realizing all Great Vehicle causes and
effects included within the ten phenomena is an exalted-
knower-of-all-aspects.”
མཚན་ ལ་ནི། ཆོས་བ ་ཉམས་ ་ ངས་པའི་ ོབས་ཀྱིས་ཐོབ་
པའི་མཁྱེན་པ་མཐར་ ག་ནི་ མ་མཁྱེན་ནོ་ཞེས་ ས་འ ས་ ་
མཚན་པ་དང༌། ཆོས་བ ས་བ ས་པའི་ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ ་འ ས་
མཐའ་དག་མངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་པའི་མཐར་ ག་གི་མཁྱེན་པ་
ནི་ མ་མཁྱེན་ནོ་ཞེས་ ལ་གྱིས་ ལ་ཅན་མཚན་པ་གཉིས་ཀ་
ཡིན་ནོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 1, 189ff.
5

1st Topic
1. Great Vehicle Mind-generations (སེམས་བ ེད་)
Definition of mind-generation, I.18ab:
{I.18}
Mind-generation is a wish for thoroughly
Complete enlightenment for the sake of others.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words (6b.6) fleshes these two lines
out as:
Great Vehicle mind-generation is a special mental cognition
wishing for the object of attainment—thoroughly complete en-
lightenment—for the sake of sentient beings other than oneself.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{I.18}
སེམས་བ ེད་པ་ནི་གཞན་དོན་ ིར། །ཡང་དག་ ོགས་པའི་ ང་ བ་འདོད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 491

ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་སེམས་བ དེ ་པ་ནི་ཆེད་ ་ ་བར་ང་ཡིས་གཞན་

པའི་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་དོན་གྱི་ རི ་ ་ཐོབ་ ་ཡང་དག་
པར་ གོ ས་པའི་ ང་ བ་འདོད་པའི་ཡིད་ཀྱི་ མ་རིག་ཁྱད་པར་
ཅན་ཡིན་ནོ། །
I.18cd:
That and that
Are described briefly and at length similarly to the sūtras.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words (6b.6) fleshes these two lines
out as:
The thought of Tsong-kha-pa’s Golden Garland is: That enlight-
enment is the object of attainment and that others’ welfare is the
object of intent are described in the Mother Sūtras in the twofold
manner of brevity and at length, due to which the explanation
by the Foremost Holy [Maitreya] of mind-generation as the wish
for complete enlightenment for the sake of others is done simi-
larly to the Mother Sūtras, that is, concordantly with them, and
not at his own whim. In this case, [I] wonder whether [this means
these two lines should be taken], so to speak, as:
That [enlightenment is the object of attainment] and that
[others’ welfare is the object of intent]
Are treated briefly and at length similarly to the sūtras.
According to Gyal-tshab’s Explanation, [the meaning is:] It is to
be known that that enlightenment and that welfare of others are
described in the manner of brevity and at length in all three
Mothers—Extensive, Medium, and Brief—because similar to the
Medium Mother the meanings are completely taught also in the
other two. In this case, [I] wonder whether [this means these two
lines should be taken], so to speak, as:
That [enlightenment] and that [welfare of others] are, sim-
ilarly
To the Medium Mother, described briefly and at length
also in the other two.
492 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

[It is the case that] the meanings are completely taught in [the
Brief Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra,] the Eight Thousand Stanza,
even though extensive and brief words are not individually pre-
sent. It needs to be analyzed how, in accordance with this mode of
explanation, [these final two lines] serve as a proof of how the
definition of mind-generation set out above does not contradict the
meaning of the [perfection of wisdom] sūtras [since the purpose
of the final two lines should be to point out the definition of mind-
generation is based on the Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras].
Maitreya’s Ornament:
དེ་དང་དེ་ནི་མདོ་བཞིན་ ། །བ ས་དང་ ས་པའི་ ོ་ནས་བ ོད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ང་ བ་ཐོབ་ འི་ ལ་ཡིན་པ་དེ་དང་གཞན་དོན་ཆེད་ ་ ་
བའི་ ལ་ཡིན་པ་དེ་ནི་བ ས་པ་དང་ ས་པ་གཉིས་གཉིས་ཀྱི་ ་ོ
ནས་ མ་གྱི་མདོ་ལས་བ དོ ་པས་ ེ་བ ན་གྱིས་སེམས་བ ེད་དེ་
གཞན་ཆེད་ ་ ོགས་ ང་འདོད་པར་བཤད་པ་དེ་ མ་གྱི་མདོ་
བཞིན་ ་ ་ེ དེ་དང་མ ན་པར་ ས་ཀྱི་རང་དགར་ནི་མིན་
ནོ། །ཞེས་པ་ནི་གསེར་ ངེ ་གི་དགོངས་པའོ། །འདི་ ར་ན། དེ་དང་
དེ་ནི་མདོ་ཉིད་ནས། །བ ས་ ས་ ོ་ནས་བ དོ ་བཞིན་
ས། །ཞེས་པ་ ་ ་ཡིན་ནམ་ མ། མ་བཤད་ ར་ན། ང་ བ་
དེ་དང་གཞན་དོན་དེ་ནི་ མ་ ས་འ ིང་བ ས་ག མ་ག་ལས་
བ ས་པ་དང་ ས་པའི་ ་ོ ནས་བ དོ ་པར་ཤེས་པར་ ་ ེ། མ་
བར་མའི་མདོ་བཞིན་ ་གཞན་གཉིས་ལས་ཀྱང་དོན་ཚང་བར་
བ ན་པའི་ ིར་ཞེས་པའོ། །འདི་ ར་ན། དེ་དང་དེ་ནི་བར་མ་
བཞིན། །གཞན་གཉིས་ལས་ཀྱང་བ ས་ ས་བ ོད། །ཅེས་པ་ ་ ་
ཡིན་ནམ་ མ་ཞིང༌། བ ད་ ངོ ་པར་ ས་བ ས་ཀྱི་ཚིག་སོ་སོར་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 493

མེད་ཀྱང་དོན་ཚང་བར་བ ན་པའོ། །བཤད་ ལ་འདི་ ར་ན།

སེམས་བ དེ ་ཀྱི་མཚན་ཉིད་ ར་བཤད་པ་དེ་མདོའི་དོན་དང་མི་
འགལ་བའི་ བ་ ེད་ ་ ི་ ར་ ར་ད ད་དགོས་སོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 1, 7ff.
6
Divisions of mind-generations, I.19-20:
{I.19}
Moreover that is of twenty-two aspects—
By way of earth, gold, moon, fire,
Treasure, jewel-mine, ocean,
Diamond, mountain, medicine, spiritual guide,
{I.20}
Wishing-granting jewel, sun,
Song, monarch, storehouse, highway,
Mount, spring, lute,
River, and cloud.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words (6b.6/14) fleshes these two
stanzas out :
1. Moreover that mind-generation endowed with aspiration to
enlightenment is like earth because of its being the founda-
tion of all the paths and fruits of the Great Vehicle.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{I.19}
དེ་ཡང་ས་གསེར་ ་བ་མེ། །གཏེར་དང་རིན་ཆེན་འ ང་གནས་མཚ། །
ོ་ ེ་རི་ ན་བཤེས་གཉེན་དང་། །ཡིད་བཞིན་ནོར་ ་ཉི་མ་ ། །
{I.20}
ལ་པོ་མཛད་དང་ལམ་པོ་ཆེ། །བཞོན་པ་བཀོད་མའི་ ་དང་ནི། །
་བ ན་ ་བོ་ ིན་ མས་ཀྱིས། ། མ་པ་ཉི་ ་ ་གཉིས་སོ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
སེམས་བ དེ ་དེ་ཡང་ ང་ བ་ལ་འ ན་པ་དང་ ན་པ་ནི། ས་ ་
་ ེ། ཐེག་ཆེན་ལམ་འ ས་ཀུན་གྱི་གཞི་ཡིན་པའི་ ིར།
2. [Mind-generation] endowed with a continuously abiding
494 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

thought [toward complete enlightenment]* is like gold be-

cause the thought to [provide] help and happiness does not
change.
ན་ཆགས་ ་གནས་པའི་བསམ་པ་དང་ ན་པ་ནི་གསེར་ ་ ་
ེ། ཕན་བདེའི་བསམ་པ་མི་འ ར་པའི་ ིར།
3. [Mind-generation] endowed with surpassing thought [due to
hearing doctrines from many Buddhas through magical crea-
tions]* is like a waxing moon because it increases all virtuous
attributes.
ག་བསམ་དང་ ན་པ་ནི། ་ཚས་ ་ ་ ེ། དགེ་ཆོས་མཐའ་
དག་འཕེལ་བར་འ ར་བའི་ ིར།
4. [Mind-generation] endowed with training in the three exalted
knowers is like fire because of burning manifest obstructions.
མཁྱེན་ག མ་གྱི་ ོར་བ་དང་ ན་པ་ནི། མེ་ ་ ་ ེ། ིབ་པ་
མངོན་ ར་བ་ ེག་པའི་ ིར།
5. [Mind-generation] endowed with [the perfection of]* giving
is like a treasure because of satisfying sentient beings.
ིན་པ་དང་ ན་པ་ནི། གཏེར་ ་ ་ ེ། སེམས་ཅན་ཚིམ་པར་
ེད་པའི་ རི །
6. [Mind-generation] endowed with [the perfection of]* ethics
is like a jewel-mine because of acting as a foundation of all
good qualities.
ལ་ཁྲིམས་དང་ ན་པ་ནི། རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་འ ང་གནས་ ་ ་ ེ།
ཡོན་ཏན་ཀུན་གྱི་གཞི་ ེད་པའི་ རི །
7. [Mind-generation] endowed with [the perfection of]* pa-
tience is like an ocean because descent of the unwanted does
not disturb the mind.
བཟོད་པ་དང་ ན་པ་ནི། ་མཚ་ ་ ་ ེ། མི་འདོད་པ་ཐོག་ ་
བབ་པས་ཡིད་མི་འ ག་པའི་ ིར།
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 495

8. [Mind-generation] endowed with [the perfection of]* effort is

like a diamond because demons cannot split one from the
Great Vehicle.
བ ོན་འ ས་དང་ ན་པ་ནི། ་ོ ་ེ ་ ་ །ེ བ ད་ཀྱིས་ཐེག་
ཆེན་ལས་མི་ ེད་པའི་ ིར།
9. [Mind-generation] endowed with [the perfection of]* concen-
tration is like a mighty mountain (ri rab, meru) because dis-
traction does not agitate one from meditative stabilization.
བསམ་གཏན་དང་ ན་པ་ནི། རི་རབ་ ་ ་ ེ། མ་གཡེང་གིས་
ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་ལས་མི་བ ོད་པའི་ ིར།
10. [Mind-generation] endowed with the perfection of wisdom is
like medicine because of pacifying the sickness of the two
obstructions.
ཤེར་ ནི ་དང་ ན་པ་ནི། ན་ ་ ་ ེ། ིབ་གཉིས་ཀྱི་ནད་ཞི་
བར་ ེད་པའི་ ིར།
11. [Mind-generation] endowed with [the perfection of]* method
[that is, skill in means] is like a spiritual guide because sen-
tient beings are not forsaken due to the four immeasurables.
ཐབས་དང་ ན་པ་ནི། བཤེས་གཉེན་ ་ ་ ེ། ཚད་མེད་བཞིས་
སེམས་ཅན་མི་གཏོང་བའི་ ིར།
12. [Mind-generation] endowed with [the perfection of]* prayer-
wishes is like a wish-granting jewel because effects are
achieved, in the way that they are wished through the five
clairvoyances [seeing what will help].*
ནོ ་ལམ་དང་ ན་པ་ནི། ཡིད་བཞིན་གྱི་ནོར་ ་ ་ ་ ེ། མངོན་
ཤེས་ ས་ ་ི ར་ ོན་པའི་འ ས་ ་འ བ་པའི་ ིར།
13. [Mind-generation] endowed with [the perfection of]* power
is like a sun because trainees are ripened through the four
ways of gathering [students: giving, speaking pleasantly, pur-
poseful behavior, and concordant behavior, which respec-
tively are (a) to give material things, (b) to converse on the
496 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

subjects of high status and definite goodness, (c) to cause oth-

ers to practice what is beneficial, and (d) for oneself to prac-
tice what one teaches others].
བོ ས་དང་ ན་པ་ནི། ཉི་མ་ ་ ་ ེ། བ ་དངོས་བཞིས་ག ལ་
་ ིན་པར་ ེད་པའི་ རི །
14. [Mind-generation] endowed with [the perfection of]* pristine
wisdom is like a song of Smell-eaters (dri za, gandhārva) [a
melodious song]* because doctrines to which trainees aspire
are taught by way of the four reasonings [reasoning of de-
pendence (ltos pa’i rigs pa), reasoning of performance of
function (bya ba byed pa’i rigs pa), reasoning of tenable proof
(’thad pas sgrub pa’i rigs pa), and reasoning of nature (chos
nyid kyi rigs pa)].
ཡེ་ཤེས་དང་ ན་པ་ནི། ི་ཟའི་ ་ ་ ་ ེ། སོ་རིག་བཞིས་ག ལ་
་འ ན་པར་ ེད་པའི་ཆོས་ ོན་པའི་ ིར།
15. [Mind-generation] endowed with [the six]* clairvoyances is
like a monarch because of accomplishing others’ welfare by
the unimpeded force of not losing out at four times through
the four reliances. [From Jam-yang-shay-pa’s Great Exposi-
tion of Tenets cited in Hopkins, Maps of the Profound, 317:
The four reliances are posited respectively in order not to
lose out at four times:
• When understanding [that is, hearing]* all doctrines,
one should rely on doctrine, but not on persons
[since if one takes as true all that is explained and
does not analyze the meaning of words, one will not
distinguish between the correct and the quasi].
• When holding all doctrines [without forgetting], one
should rely on meaning, but not [be intent only] on
persons’ words.
• When closely investigating meaning, one should rely
on definitive meaning, but not on interpretable
meaning [since if one merely takes conventionalities
to mind, one will not gain ascertainment arisen from
thinking with regard to the ultimate].
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 497

• When achieving doctrinal practices [of liberation],

one should rely on pristine wisdom, but not on con-
sciousness [since if one is satisfied with mere con-
ceptual consciousnesses arisen from hearing, think-
ing, and meditation, one will not gain uncontami-
nated pristine wisdom in which clear perception of
the meaning of reality is complete…]
* The brackets throughout the section of the four reliances are drawn from
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Annotations, dngos, wa-nga, 129.5ff.
མངོན་ཤེས་དང་ ན་པ་ནི། ལ་པོ་ ་ ་ ེ། བ ོན་པ་བཞིས་
ས་བཞིར་ ད་མི་ཟ་བའི་མ ་ཐོགས་པ་མེད་པས་གཞན་དོན་
བ་པའི་ རི །
16. [Mind-generation] endowed with [the collections of]* merit
and wisdom is like a storehouse because the varieties of good
qualities, whatever is wanted, arise from the two collections.
བསོད་ནམས་དང་ཡེ་ཤེས་དང་ ན་པ་ནི། བང་མཛད་ ་ ་ ེ།
ཚགས་གཉིས་ལས་ཡོན་ཏན་ ་ཚགས་གང་འདོད་འ ང་བའི་
ིར།
17. [Mind-generation] endowed with the thirty-seven harmonies
with enlightenment is like a highway because of being the
tracks of passage of all Superiors—this is for the harmonies
with enlightenment but not for mind-generation [since Lesser
Vehicle Superiors do not have altruistic mind-generation].
ང་ ོགས་སོ་བ ན་དང་ ན་པ་ནི། ལམ་པོ་ཆེ་ ་ ་ ེ།
འཕགས་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་གཤེགས་ ལ་ཡིན་པའི་ ིར། འདི་ནི་
ང་ ོགས་ལ་ཡིན་གྱི་སེམས་བ དེ ་ལ་མིན་ནོ། །
18. [Mind-generation] endowed with compassion [carrying the
burden of others’ welfare]* and special insight [realizing the
absence of inherent existence]* is like a mount [such as a
horse who knows where to go]* because of easily going to the
498 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

nonabiding ground [of the nonabiding nirvāṇa of Bud-

dhahood] without falling to the extreme of mundane existence
and [solitary] peace.
ངི ་ ེ་ ག་མཐོང་དང་ ན་པ་ནི། བཞོན་པ་ ་ ་ ེ། ིད་ཞིའི་
མཐར་མི་ ང་བར་མི་གནས་པའི་སར་བདེ་ ག་ ་འགྲོ་བའི་
ིར།
19. [Mind-generation] endowed with retentions and confi-
dence*** is like a spring [inexhaustibly issuing upward]* be-
cause of being inexhaustible due to holding the doctrines
heard and will be heard.
ག ངས་ བོ ས་དང་ ན་པ་ནི། བཀོད་མའི་ ་ ་ ་ །ེ ཐོས་པ་
དང་ཐོས་འ ར་གྱི་ཆོས་འཛིན་པས་མི་ཟད་པའི་ ིར།
20. [Mind-generation] endowed with the festival of the four sum-
maries of doctrine** is like a lute [pleasing all, which when
heard satisfies the mind,] because of proclaiming the pleasant
discourse of doctrine to trainees wanting liberation.
ཆོས་ཀྱི་ མོ ་བཞིའི་དགའ་ ོན་དང་ ན་པ་ནི། ་ ན་ ་ ་ ེ།
ཐར་འདོད་ཀྱི་ག ལ་ ་ལ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་གཏམ་ ན་པ་ ོགས་པའི་
ིར།
21. [Mind-generation] endowed with the path of solely progress-
ing [without interruption in nonconceptual pristine wisdom]
is like the continuum of a river because of impartially and of
its own accord engaging in others’ welfare with unbroken
continuum.
བགྲོད་པ་གཅིག་པའི་ལམ་དང་ ན་པ་ནི་ ་བོའི་ ན་ ་ ་ ེ།
གཞན་དོན་ལ་རིས་ ་མ་ཆད་པ་དང་རང་གི་ངང་གིས་ ན་མ་
འཆད་པར་འ ག་པའི་ ིར།
22. [Mind-generation] endowed with a body of attributes is like a
cloud because of ripening the harvest of help and happiness
of impure trainees through the twelve great deeds of skill in
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 499

means.
ཆོས་ ་དང་ ན་པ་ནི། ནི ་ ་ ་ །ེ ཐབས་ལ་མཁས་པའི་
མཛད་ཆེན་བ ་གཉིས་ཀྱིས་མ་དག་པའི་ག ལ་ འི་ཕན་བདེའི་
ལོ་ཏོག་ ིན་པར་མཛད་པའི་ ིར།
In that way, mind-generation is indicated to be twenty-two as-
pects of mind-generation by way of those ranging from earth
through cloud.
དེ་ ར་ས་ནས་ ིན་གྱི་བར་ མས་ཀྱིས་སེམས་བ ེད་པ་ མ་པ་
ཉི་ ་ ་གཉིས་བ ན་པ་ཡིན་ནོ། །
* Gung-thang Lo-drö-gya-tsho’s Annotations to (Haribhadra’s) “Clear
Meaning Commentary,” vol. 1, 109.7ff.
** The four summaries of doctrine are: All compounded phenomena are
impermanent; all contaminated things are miserable; all phenomena are
selfless; nirvāṇa is peace.
*** Tsong-kha-pa’s Golden Garland speaks of “the retentions that hold
words and meanings without forgetting” (tshig don mi brjed par ’dzin pa’i
gzungs) and “the confidence of unimpededly explaining to others” (gzhan
la thogs med du ’chad pa’i spobs pa).
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 1, 9ff.
7
In fleshing out I.18ab, Ngag-wang-pal-dan (Meaning of the Words, 6b.6)
adds:
About this, there are two, aspirational and practical mind-genera-
tions. Concerning the difference between these two, the assertion
of Tsong-kha-pa’s greater and lesser Stages of the Path is that they
are differentiated by whether the vow to engage in practice has
been attained or not, whereas Gyal-tshab’s assertion is that they
are differentiated by whether they are explicitly conjoined or not
conjoined with the activities of practice, the [Bodhisattva] deeds.
According to the first, the aspirational mind exists only on the
small path of accumulation, whereas according to the second it
exists through the seventh ground. Furthermore, the thought of
[Jam-yang-shay-pa’s] textbooks is not restricted to being one-
500 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

pointedly in accordance with the latter because it is explained in

his Middle Way textbook [Great Exposition of the Middle] that
the practical mind exists among mind-generations devoid of in-
tense [practice of the] deeds.
འདི་ལ་ ནོ ་འ ག་གི་སེམས་གཉིས་ཡོད། འདི་གཉིས་ཀྱི་ཁྱད་
པར་ནི་འ ག་ ོམ་ཐོབ་མ་ཐོབ་ཀྱིས་འ ེད་པ་དེ་ལམ་རིམ་ཆེ་
ང་གི་དགོངས་པ་ཡིན་ལ། ོད་པ་ཉམས་ལེན་གྱི་ ་བས་དངོས་
་ཟིན་མ་ཟིན་གྱིས་འ དེ ་པ་དེ་ ལ་ཚབ་ འེ ་ི བཞེད་པའོ། །དང་
པོ་ ར་ན། ོན་སེམས་ནི་ཚགས་ལམ་ ང་ ་ཁོ་ནར་ཡོད་ལ།
གཉིས་པ་ ར་ན་ས་བ ན་པའི་བར་ ་ཡོད་དོ། །ཡིག་ཆའི་
དགོངས་པ་ཡང་མཐའ་གཅིག་ ་ ་ི མ་ ར་ཡིན་པའི་ངེས་པ་
མེད་དེ། ོད་པ་ནན་ཏན་དང་ ལ་བའི་སེམས་བ ེད་ལ་འ ག་
སེམས་ཡོད་པར་ད ་མའི་ཡིག་ཆར་བཤད་པའི་ ིར་རོ། །
8

2nd Topic
2. Guidance (གདམས་ངག་)
I.21-22:
{I.21}
Concerning achieving, the truths,
The three jewels—Buddha and so forth,
Nonattachment, thorough nonwearying,
Thoroughly maintaining the paths,
{I.22}
The five eyes, the six qualities
Of clairvoyance, the path of seeing,
And meditation: guidances
Are to be known as having a nature of ten.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 8b.7, fleshes out these two
stanzas—the general divisions of guidances—as:
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 501

1. Guidance concerning achieving’s own entity is the instruc-

tion “You should engage in methods for achieving the entirety
of the aforementioned wholesome phenomena in the manner
of:
(a) not passing beyond obscurational and ultimate truths,
that is, a union of the two truths, and
(b) not observing as ultimate[ly existing] the four phenom-
ena [the practitioner Bodhisattva, the object practiced
which is the Mother perfection of wisdom, the fruit of
practice which is enlightenment, and the entity of prac-
tice itself]* involved in practicing the Mother
in order to achieve a body of attributes for the sake of oth-
ers’ welfare—this being not shared with Hearers and Sol-
itary Victors.”
* Gung-thang Lo-drö-gya-tsho’s Annotations to (Haribhadra’s) “Clear
Meaning Commentary,” vol. 1, 120.5.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{I.21}
བ་དང་
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ར་བཤད་པའི་དཀར་ཆོས་མ་ ས་པ་ བ་པའི་ཐབས་ལ། ཀུན་
ོབ་དང་དོན་དམ་པའི་བདེན་པ་ལས་མི་འདའ་བ་ ེ་བདེན་
གཉིས་ ང་འ ེལ་དང༌། ཉན་རང་དང་ ན་མོང་མ་ཡིན་པ་
གཞན་དོན་ ་ཆོས་ ་འ བ་པའི་ཆེད་ ་ མ་ལ་ ོད་པའི་ཆོས་
བཞི་དོན་དམ་པར་མི་དམིགས་པའི་ ལ་གྱིས་འ ག་པར་ འོ་
ཞེས་ ོབ་པ་ནི་ བ་པ་རང་གི་ངོ་བོ་ལ་འདོམས་པ་དང༌།
2. Guidance concerning the four truths is:
(a) “Regarding true sufferings, the two—the emptiness of
contaminated effects and the perfection of wisdom real-
izing this—are ultimately undifferentiable.”
(b) “Regarding origins, since emptiness and contaminated
502 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

causes are not ultimately different, contaminated causes

are not truly established as having the attributes of pro-
duction and cessation and of thorough affliction and thor-
ough purity.”
(c) “Regarding true cessations, emptiness—the voidness of
adventitious defilements—is ultimately devoid of the
characteristics of compounded phenomena (production
and cessation) and the characteristics of objects of aban-
donment and antidotes (thorough affliction and thorough
purity) and distinctions of state such as deterioration, in-
crease, and so forth; and those do not have any attribute
of true establishment.”
(d) “Regarding true paths, realize that the perfections and
Bodhisattvas mutually; the three meditative stabiliza-
tions and the three—emptiness, signlessness, and wish-
lessness—mutually; and the former pole [the past] and
the later pole [the future] mutually are not ultimately as-
sociated and not associated!
Gung-thang Lo-drö-gya-tsho’s Annotations to
(Haribhadra’s) “Clear Meaning Commentary,”
(vol. 1, 126.8) explains the meaning of these
three:
The objects of training that are the six perfec-
tions and the practitioners that are the Bodhi-
sattvas are not truly associated as object med-
itated and meditator and are not truly estab-
lished as not associated as object meditated
and meditator. The three meditative stabiliza-
tions on emptiness, signlessness, and wish-
lessness and the three—emptiness, signless-
ness, and wishlessness—are not truly estab-
lished as related, or associated, as subject and
object and those are not truly established as
truly not related, or not associated as subject
and object. That the former pole, that is, the
past, the later pole, that is, the future, and the
present are not ultimately associated or con-
nected the one to the other and that these are
not so associated is proven as just not true[ly
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 503

established].
Maitreya’s Ornament:
བདེན་པ་ མས་དང་ནི། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ག་བདེན་ལ་ཟག་བཅས་ཀྱི་འ ས་ འི་ ོང་ཉིད་དང་དེ་ ོགས་
པའི་ཤེར་ ནི ་གཉིས་དོན་དམ་པར་ད ེར་མེད་དོ་ཞེས་དང༌།
ཀུན་འ ང་ལ་ ོང་ཉིད་དང་ཟག་བཅས་ཀྱི་ ་ མས་དོན་དམ་
པར་ཐ་དད་མིན་པས་ཟག་བཅས་ཀྱི་ ་ མས་ ེ་དགག་དང་
ཀུན་ ང་གི་ཆོས་ཅན་ ་བདེན་པར་མ་ བ་བོ་ཞེས་དང༌།
འགོག་བདེན་ལ་ ོང་ཉིད་གློ་ ར་གྱི་ ི་མ་དང་ ལ་བ་དེ་དོན་
དམ་པར་འ ས་ ས་ཀྱི་མཚན་ཉིད་ ེ་དགག་དང་ ང་གཉེན་གྱི་
མཚན་ཉིད་ཀུན་ ང་དང་གནས་ བས་ཀྱི་ཁྱད་པར་ཉམས་
འཕེལ་ལ་སོགས་པ་དང་ ལ་བ་ཡིན་ལ་དེ་ལ་ནི་ཁྱད་ཆོས་བདེན་
པར་ བ་པ་གང་ཡང་མེད་དོ་ཞེས་དང༌། ལམ་བདེན་ལ་ཕར་
ིན་དང་ ང་སེམས་ནི་ཕན་ ན་དང༌། ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་ག མ་
དང་ ངོ ་ཉིད་མཚན་མེད་ ོན་མེད་ག མ་ནི་ཕན་ ན་དང༌།
ོན་གྱི་མཐའ་དང་ ི་མའི་མཐའ་ནི་ཕན་ ན་དོན་དམ་པར་
ན་པ་དང་མི་ ན་པ་མ་ཡིན་པར་ ོགས་པར་གྱིས་ཤིག་ཅེས་
བདེན་པ་བཞི་ལ་འདོམས་པ་དང༌།
3. Guidance concerning the three jewels is the transmission of
the exhortation:
(a) “Regarding the buddha, the final pristine wisdom realiz-
ing object observed and observer as just equally empty of
true existence is buddha.”
(b) “Regarding the doctrine, all phenomena—comprised by
504 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

the bases, the paths, and the aspects which are the objects
of the three exalted knowers—are ultimately natureless.”
(c) “Regarding the spiritual community, Bodhisattva Supe-
riors should be engaged as ultimately just unproduced.”
Maitreya’s Ornament:
སངས་ ས་ལ་སོགས་དཀོན་མཆོག་ག མ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
སངས་ ས་ལ་དམིགས་ ་དང་དམིགས་ ེད་བདེན་ ངོ ་མཉམ་
པ་ཉིད་ ་ ོགས་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་མཐར་ ག་ནི་སངས་ ས་ཡིན་ནོ་
ཞེས་དང༌། ཆོས་ལ་མཁྱེན་ག མ་གྱི་ ལ་གཞི་ལམ་ མ་ག མ་
གྱིས་བ ས་པའི་ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་དོན་དམ་པར་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མེད་
དོ་ཞེས་དང༌། དགེ་འ ན་ལ་ ང་ བ་སེམས་དཔའ་འཕགས་པ་
ོབ་པ་ ིར་མི་ ོག་པ་ མས་ལ་དོན་དམ་པར་ ེ་བ་མེད་པ་ཉིད་
་འ ག་པར་ འོ་ཞེས་ ང་འབོག་པ་ནི་དཀོན་མཆོག་ག མ་ལ་
འདོམས་པ་དང༌།
4. Guidance concerning the effort of nonattachment, which is
an antidote to attachment bad activities, is: “Realize that
body, speech, and mind are ultimately without the nature of
an object of attachment!”
Maitreya’s Ornament:
མ་ཞེན་
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ས་ངག་ཡིད་ མས་དོན་དམ་པར་ཞེན་ འི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མེད་
པར་ ོགས་ཤིག་ཅེས་ ་བ་ངན་ཞེན་གྱི་ལེ་ལོའི་གཉེན་པོ་མ་ཞེན་
པའི་བ ནོ ་འ ས་ལ་འདོམས་པ་དང༌།
5. Guidance concerning the effort of nonwearying, which is an
antidote to the laziness of losing affinity [with high states of
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 505

mind, a sense of inadequacy; for instance, to take cognizance

of a Buddha or Bodhisattva’s great qualities of mind and to
think, “I could not possibly achieve such qualities,”]* is: “Re-
alize phenomena ranging from forms through complete en-
lightenment as just without the conceit of being truly estab-
lished!”
* See Gedün Lodrö, Calm Abiding and Special Insight, trans. and ed. by
Jeffrey Hopkins (Ithaca: Snow Lion, 1998), 71.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
ཡོངས་ ་མི་ངལ་དང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ག གས་ནས་ ོགས་ ང་གི་བར་གྱི་ཆོས་ མས་བདེན་པར་ ོམ་
པ་མེད་པ་ཉིད་ ་ གོ ས་པར་གྱིས་ཤིག་ཅེས་ དི ་ ག་པའི་ལེ་
ལོའི་གཉེན་པོ་མི་ངལ་བའི་བ ནོ ་འ ས་ལ་འདོམས་པ་དང༌།
6. Guidance concerning the effort of thoroughly maintaining
the paths, which is an antidote to self-disparagement, is:
“Train within realizing that phenomena are ultimately just not
inherently produced!”
Maitreya’s Ornament:
ལམ་ནི་ཡོངས་ ་འཛིན་པ་དང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཆོས་ མས་དོན་དམ་པར་རང་བཞིན་གྱིས་མ་ ེས་པ་ཉིད་ ་
ོགས་ནས་ ོབ་པར་གྱིས་ཤིག་ཅེས་བདག་ཉིད་བ ས་པའི་ལེ་
ལོའི་གཉེན་པོ་ལམ་ཡོངས་ ་འཛིན་པའི་བ ོན་འ ས་ལ་
འདོམས་པ་དང༌།
7. Guidance concerning the five eyes is: “You should train
within realizing that the objects and subjects of the five eyes:
(a) the fleshly eye, individually ascertaining coarse and sub-
tle forms ranging from a hundred leagues (yojana) up to
506 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

the billionfold world-system

(b) the divine eye, knowing one’s own and others’ transmi-
grations and rebirths
(c) the eye of wisdom, directly realizing all phenomena as
without true existence
(d) the eye of attributes, realizing the distinctions of Superior
persons’ keenness of faculty
(e) the Buddha eye, directly realizing all phenomena—the
mode [of being] and the diversity—
are ultimately without difference.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{I.22}
ན་ ་དང་ནི་
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
དཔག་ཚད་བ ་ནས་ ངོ ་ག མ་ ན་ཆད་ཀྱི་ག གས་ ་རགས་
སོ་སོར་ངེས་པའི་ཤའི་ ན་དང༌། རང་གཞན་གྱི་འཆི་འཕོ་དང་ ེ་
བ་ཤེས་པའི་ འི་ ན་དང༌། ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་བདེན་པར་མེད་
པར་མངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་པའི་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ ན་དང༌། འཕགས་
པའི་གང་ཟག་གི་དབང་པོ་ ོ་ ལ་གྱི་ཁྱད་པར་ ོགས་པའི་ཆོས་
ཀྱི་ ན་དང༌། ི་ ་ ི་ ེད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་མངོན་ མ་ ་
ོགས་པའི་སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ ན་ འི་ ལ་ ལ་ཅན་ མས་དོན་
དམ་པར་ཐ་དད་མེད་པར་ ོགས་ནས་བ བ་པར་ འོ། །ཞེས་
ན་ ་ལ་འདོམས་པ་དང༌།
8. Guidance concerning the six qualities of clairvoyance is:
“The six clairvoyances:
(a) the clairvoyance of magical emanation, displaying vibra-
tions of the ground and so forth
(b) the clairvoyance of the divine ear, hearing great and small
sounds dwelling in worldly realms
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 507

(c) the clairvoyance of knowing others’ minds, directly real-

izing whether others’ minds are desirous or not desirous
and so forth
(d) the clairvoyance of memory of former situations, re-
calling one’s own and others’ earlier succession of life-
times
(e) the clairvoyance of divine eye, seeing the death, transmi-
gration, and birth of sentient beings and their quality of
form [for example, body]
(f) the clairvoyance of extinction of contamination, which is
to have abandoned or to abandon the seeds of (1) the af-
flictive obstructions such as desire and so forth and (2)
the obstructions to omniscience
in conventional terms should be generated in [your mental]
continuum and should be realized as ultimately just quiescent
from the start.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
མངོན་ཤེས་ཀྱི། །ཡོན་ཏན་ ག་དང་
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ས་གཡོ་བ་ལ་སོགས་པ་ ོན་པར་ དེ ་པའི་ ་འ ལ་གྱི་མངོན་
ཤེས་དང༌། འ ིག་ ེན་གྱི་ཁམས་ན་གནས་པའི་ ་ཆེ་ ང་ཐོས་
པར་ ེད་པའི་ འི་ ་བའི་མངོན་ཤེས་དང༌། གཞན་གྱི་སེམས་
འདོད་ཆགས་དང་བཅས་མ་བཅས་སོགས་མངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་
པའི་གཞན་སེམས་ཤེས་པའི་མངོན་ཤེས་དང༌། རང་གཞན་གྱི་ཚ་
རབས་ ་མ་ ེས་ ་ ན་པར་ ེད་པའི་ ོན་གནས་ ེས་ ན་གྱི་
མངོན་ཤེས་དང༌། སེམས་ཅན་གྱི་འཆི་འཕོ་ ་ེ བ་དང་དེ་དག་གི་
ག གས་བཟང་ངན་མཐོང་བར་ དེ ་པའི་ འི་མིག་གི་མངོན་
ཤེས་དང༌། ཆགས་སོགས་ཉོན་མོངས་པ་དང་ཤེས་ འི་ བི ་པའི་
ས་བོན་ ངས་པའམ་ ངོ ་བར་ དེ ་པའི་ཟག་ཟད་ཀྱི་མངོན་ཤེས་
508 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

ག་ཐ་ ད་ ་ ད་ལ་བ དེ ་ཅིང་དོན་དམ་པར་གཟོད་མ་ནས་

ཞི་བ་ཉིད་ ་ ོགས་པར་ འོ་ཞེས་མངོན་ཤེས་ ག་ལ་འདོམས་
པ་དང༌།
9. Guidance concerning the Great Vehicle path of seeing is: “A
yogi realizing that all phenomena are without the nature of
true establishment should meditatively cultivate—like a ma-
gician without adhering to the trueness [of what the magician
has emanated]*—the path of seeing, which is the entity of the
sixteen periods of forbearance and knowledge, as the antidote
to the objects abandoned by the path of seeing.”
* Gung-thang Lo-drö-gya-tsho’s Annotations to (Haribhadra’s) “Clear
Meaning Commentary,” vol. 1, 157.1.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
མཐོང་ལམ་དང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་བདེན་ བ་ཀྱི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མེད་པར་ ོགས་པའི་
ལ་འ ོར་པས་མཐོང་ ང་གི་གཉེན་པོར་ཤེས་བཟོད་ ད་
གཅིག་མ་བ ་ ག་གི་ངོ་བོར་ ར་བའི་མཐོང་ལམ་བདེན་ཞེན་
མེད་པར་ ་མ་མཁན་བཞིན་ ་ མོ ་པར་ འོ་ཞེས་ཐེག་ཆེན་
མཐོང་ལམ་ལ་འདོམས་པ་དང༌།
10. Guidance concerning the Great Vehicle path of meditation
is: “That yogi should meditatively cultivate the path of medi-
tation—observing the noumenon already seen by the path of
seeing—as the antidote to the objects abandoned by the path
of meditation.”
In that way guidances are to be known as having a nature of
ten.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
བ ོམ་ཞེས་ ་ལ་གདམས་ངག་ནི། །བ ་ཡི་བདག་ཉིད་ཤེས་པར་ ། །
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 509

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:

ལ་འ ོར་པ་དེས་ མོ ་ ང་གི་གཉེན་པོར་མཐོང་ལམ་གྱིས་
མཐོང་ཟིན་པའི་ཆོས་ཉིད་ལ་དམིགས་པའི་ མོ ་ལམ་ ོམ་པར་
འོ་ཞེས་ཐེག་ཆེན་ མོ ་ལམ་ལ་འདོམས་པ་ ེ། དེ་ ར་གདམས་
ངག་ནི་བ འི་བདག་ཉིད་ ་ཤེས་པར་ འོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 1, 27ff.
9

3rd Topic
3. Limbs of Definite Discrimination (ངེས་འ ེད་ཡན་ལག་)
I.25-26:
{I.25}
By way of objects of observation, aspects,
Cause, and restrainers
The entities of heat and so forth
Of protective Bodhisattvas—
{I.26}
Having the four conceptions
[As objects of abandonment] accordingly
And [having divisions of] small, medium, and great—
Surpass those of Hearers as well as the Rhinoceros-like.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 11b.3, fleshes these two
stanzas out as:
By way of the four:
1. observing not just the four bare truths but the four truths qual-
ified by endless attributes
2. meditating not just on the sixteen [attributes,] impermanence
and so forth, but within differentiating the 173 aspects and so
forth of the four truths
3. being a powerfully capable cause of the Great Vehicle path
510 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

of seeing containing the types of realizations of the three ve-

hicles
4. being taken care of by virtuous spiritual friends who thor-
oughly restrain one from falling into the extremes of cyclic
existence and [solitary] peace
the entities of heat and so forth of the path of preparation of Bo-
dhisattvas endowed with an attitude protective of transmigra-
tors—having the four conceptions of apprehended-object and
apprehending-subject as objects of abandonment in accordance
with the enumeration [of heat and so forth] and [having divisions
of] small, medium, and great—surpass the path of preparation
of Hearers as well as of the Rhinoceros-like.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{I.25}
དམིགས་པ་དང་ནི་ མ་པ་དང་། ། ་དང་ཡོངས་ ་འཛིན་པ་ཡིས། །
ང་ བ་སེམས་དཔའ་ ོབ་པ་ཡི། ། ོད་སོགས་བདག་ཉིད་ ི་བཞིན་ ། །
{I.26}
མ་ ོག་བཞི་པོ་ ན་བ ེན་པ། ། ང་དང་འ ིང་དང་ཆེན་པོ་ མས། །
ཉན་ཐོས་བསེ་ ་ ་ ་དང་། །བཅས་པ་དག་ལས་ཁྱད་པར་འཕགས། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
བདེན་པ་བཞི་དག་པ་བ་ཙམ་མ་ཡིན་པར་ཁྱད་ཆོས་མཐའ་ཡས་
པས་ཁྱད་པར་ ་ ས་པའི་བདེན་པ་བཞི་ལ་དམིགས་པ་དང༌། མི་
ག་སོགས་བ ་ ག་ཙམ་མ་ཡིན་པར་བདེན་བཞིའི་ མ་པ་བ ་
དང་དོན་ག མ་ལ་སོགས་པར་ ེ་ནས་ ོམ་པ་དང༌། ཐེག་པ་
ག མ་གྱི་ གོ ས་རིགས་ཚང་བའི་ཐེག་ཆེན་མཐོང་ལམ་གྱི་ ་ ས་
པ་མ ་ཅན་ཡིན་པ་དང༌། ིད་ཞིའི་མཐར་ ང་བ་ལས་ཡོངས་ ་
འཛིན་པའི་དགེ་བའི་བཤེས་གཉེན་གྱིས་ སེ ་ ་ག ང་བ་དང་
བཞིས། ང་ བ་སེམས་དཔའ་འགྲོ་བ་ བོ ་པའི་བསམ་པ་ཅན་གྱི་
ོར་ལམ་ དོ ་སོགས་བཞིའི་བདག་ཉིད་གང་ ་ི ་བ་བཞིན་ ་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 511

ག ང་འཛིན་གྱི་ མ་ གོ ་བཞི་ ང་ ར་ ན་པ། རེ་རེ་ལ་ ང་ ་

དང་འ ངི ་དང་ཆེན་པོའི་ད ེ་བ་ཡོད་པ་ མས་ནི་ཉན་ཐོས་བསེ་
་ ་ འི་རང་ ལ་དང་བཅས་པའི་ ོར་ལམ་ལས་ཁྱད་པར་ ་
འཕགས་པ་ཡིན་ནོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 1, 53.
10
I.27-36; Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 12a.5ff., divides
these ten stanzas into three parts—(1) explanation of the features of the
objects of observation, aspects, and cause; (2) explanation of the features
of the conceptions; and (3) explanation of the features of restrainers. He
treats the first in four parts corresponding to the four levels of a path of
preparation; the first of these is an explanation—with respect to the heat
path of preparation—of the features of (1) its objects of observation, (2)
its aspect, and (3) the cause.
I.27:
{I.27}
The objects of observation are impermanence and so forth
Based on the truths. The aspect
Is to stop manifest adherence and so forth;
Cause of attaining all three vehicles.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 12a.5, fleshes this stanza out
as:
The objects of observation of small heat are the sixteen attrib-
utes of the four truths—impermanence and so forth, and the
aspect is the pristine wisdom stopping manifest adherence to
true existence with respect to impermanence and so forth. All
twelve paths of preparation, [that is, the four levels of the path of
preparation—heat, peak, forbearance, and supreme mundane
qualities—each divided into three,] indicated here have the power
of a cause capable of attaining the path of seeing that contains
the types of realizations of all three vehicles.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{I.27}
དམིགས་པ་མི་ ག་ལ་སོགས་པ། །བདེན་པའི་ ེན་ཅན་དེ་ཡི་ནི། །
512 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

མ་པ་མངོན་ཞེན་ལ་སོགས་འགོག །ཐེག་པ་ག མ་ཆར་འཐོབ་པའི་ ། །

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
དོ ་ ང་ འི་དམིགས་པ་ནི། བདེན་པ་བཞིའ་ི ཁྱད་ཆོས་མི་ ག་
སོགས་བ ་ ག་དང༌། མ་པ་ནི། མི་ ག་སོགས་ ་བདེན་ཞེན་
འགོག་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་སོ། །འདིར་བ ན་ ོར་ལམ་བ ་གཉིས་ཀ་
ཐེག་པ་ག མ་ཆར་གྱི་ ོགས་རིགས་ཚང་བའི་མཐོང་ལམ་འཐོབ་
པའི་ ་ ས་པ་མ ་ཅན་ཡིན་ནོ། །
I.28ab:
{I.28}
Forms and so forth devoid of coming together and decay, [inex-
pressible]
As devoid of abiding and as abiding; and the imputed as inex-
pressible.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words fleshes these two lines out
as:
The objects of observation of medium [heat] are forms and so
forth ultimately devoid of coming together and decay, that is,
production and disintegration; the aspect is the pristine wisdom
realizing the ultimate as inexpressible as devoid of abiding and
as abiding—that is to say, as inexpressible by names that are mo-
mentary or by names that are endowed with continuums.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{I.28}
ག གས་སོགས་འ ་འགོད་གནས་ ལ་དང་། །གནས་དང་…བ ོད་ ་མེད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
འ ིང་གི་དམིགས་པ་ནི། དོན་དམ་པར་འ ་འགོད་དེ་ ེ་འ ིག་
དང་ ལ་བའི་ག གས་སོགས་དང༌། མ་པ་ནི། དོན་དམ་པ་
གནས་ ལ་དང་གནས་ཏེ་ ད་ཅིག་མ་དང་ ན་ ན་གྱི་མིང་
གིས་བ དོ ་ ་མེད་པར་ ོགས་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་སོ། །
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 513

I.28b:
and the imputed as inexpressible.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words fleshes this half-line line out
as:
The objects of observation of great [heat] are all terminologically
imputed phenomena; the aspect is the pristine wisdom realizing
that ultimately virtues and so forth are inexpressible as anything.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
བ གས་དང་བ ོད་ ་མེད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཆེན་པོའི་དམིགས་པ་ནི། བ ར་བཏགས་པའི་ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་
དང༌། མ་པ་ནི། དོན་དམ་པར་དགེ་སོགས་གང་ ་ཡང་བ དོ ་
་མེད་པར་ ོགས་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་སོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 1, 68ff.
11
I.28c-30; the second of the four parts corresponding to the four levels of
a path of preparation is an explanation—with respect to the peak path of
preparation—of the features of its objects of observation and aspect.
I.28c-29a:
Those nonabiding forms and so forth
Are without inherent existence in their entity—
{I.29}
They are mutually one nature.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 12b.4ff., fleshes these three
lines out as:
With respect to the objects of observation and the aspect of the
small peak path of preparation, according to the assertion of Ārya-
vimuktisena, from between the two—not positing [the objects of
observation and the aspect with respect to the four] truths and pos-
iting [them with respect to the four] truths—regarding the first
[not positing the objects of observation and the aspect with respect
to the four truths]: the objects of observation are forms and so
514 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

forth qualified by an absence of inherent existence in the entity

of forms [and so forth] ultimately, and the aspect is the pristine
wisdom realizing that ultimately forms and so forth and their nou-
menon are one nature, that is, are without a different nature.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
ག གས་སོགས་མི་གནས་དེ་དག་ནི། །དེ་ཡི་ངོ་བོ་རང་བཞིན་མེད། །
{I.29}
དེ་དག་གཅིག་གི་རང་བཞིན་གཅིག །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
་ེ མོ་ ང་ འི་དམིགས་ མ་ལ། འཕགས་པའི་བཞེད་པ་ ར་ན།
བདེན་པ་ མ་པར་མ་བཞག་པ་དང༌། བཞག་པ་གཉིས་ལས། དང་
པོའི་དམིགས་པ་ནི། དོན་དམ་པར་ག གས་ཀྱི་ངོ་བོར་རང་བཞིན་
མེད་པས་ཁྱད་པར་ ་ ས་པའི་ག གས་སོགས་དང༌། མ་པ་ནི།
ག གས་སོགས་དང་དེའི་ཆོས་ཉིད་དོན་དམ་པར་རང་བཞིན་
གཅིག་ ེ་ཐ་དད་མེད་པར་ ོགས་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་སོ། །
I.29b:
Those do not abide [ultimately] as impermanent and so forth.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 12b.7ff., fleshes this line out
as:
Regarding the second, [positing the objects of observation and the
aspect with respect to the four truths,] from among the four: the
objects of observation of the small peak [path of preparation] in
the context of true sufferings are the four—impermanence and
so forth [misery, emptiness, and selflessness]—that do not abide
ultimately, and the aspect is the pristine wisdom realizing that
those four and their noumenon are ultimately without difference.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
དེ་མི་ ག་སོགས་པར་མི་གནས། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
གཉིས་པ་ལ་བཞི་ལས། ག་བདེན་གྱི་དབང་ ་ ས་པའི་ ེ་མོ་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 515

ང་ འི་དམིགས་པ་ནི། དོན་དམ་པར་མི་གནས་པའི་མི་ ག་
སོགས་བཞི་དང༌། མ་པ་ནི། དེ་བཞི་དང་དེ་དག་གི་ཆོས་ཉིད་
དོན་དམ་པར་ཐ་དད་མེད་པར་ གོ ས་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་སོ། །
I. 29cd:
They are empty of their nature.
They are mutually one nature.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 13a.1ff., fleshes these two
lines out as:
The objects of observation of that [small peak path of preparation]
in the context of [true] origins are the four—cause and so forth
[origin, strong production, and condition]—that do not abide ulti-
mately, and the aspect is the pristine wisdom realizing that those
four and their noumenon are ultimately without difference, and
the objects of observation of that [small peak path of preparation]
in the context of [true] cessations are the four—cessation and so
forth [pacification, auspicious highness, and definite emer-
gence]—that do not abide ultimately, and the aspect is the pristine
wisdom realizing that those four and their noumenon are ulti-
mately without difference.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
དེ་ མས་དེ་ཡི་ངོ་བོས་ ོང་། །དེ་དག་གཅིག་གི་རང་བཞིན་གཅིག །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཀུན་འ ང་གི་དབང་ ་ ས་པའི་དེའི་དམིགས་ མ་ནི། དོན་
དམ་པར་མི་གནས་པའི་ ་སོགས་བཞི་དང༌། དེ་དང་དེའ་ི ཆོས་
ཉིད་ཅེས་སོགས་དང༌། འགོག་བདེན་གྱི་དབང་ ་ ས་པའི་དེའི་
དམིགས་ མ་ནི། དོན་དམ་པར་མི་གནས་པའི་འགོག་པ་སོགས་
བཞི་དང༌། དེ་དང་དེའ་ི ཆོས་ཉིད་ཅེས་སོགས་ ་མ་ ར་ ར་རོ། །
I. 30a:
{I.30}
516 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

Because phenomena are not apprehended

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 13a.1ff., fleshes these two
lines out as:
The objects of observation of that [small peak path of preparation]
in the context of [true] paths are phenomena empty of being ob-
jects apprehended ultimately as signs, and the aspect is the pris-
tine wisdom realizing that ultimately there are no signs at all.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{I.30}
ཆོས་ མས་མི་འཛིན་གང་ཡིན་དང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ལམ་བདེན་གྱི་དབང་ ་ ས་པའི་དེའི་དམིགས་པ་ནི། དོན་དམ་
པར་མཚན་མར་ག ང་ ས་ ོང་པའི་ཆོས་ མས་དང༌། མ་པ་
ནི། དོན་དམ་པར་མཚན་མ་གང་ཡང་མེད་པར་ ོགས་པའི་ཡེ་
ཤེས་སོ། །
I.30b:
And those are not seen as signs [of true establishment],
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 13b.1ff., fleshes this line out
as:
The objects of observation of the medium [peak path of prepara-
tion] are phenomena empty of being objects apprehended as signs,
and the aspect is the pristine wisdom realizing that ultimately at-
tainment and clear realization do not exist.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
དེ་དག་མཚན་མར་མི་མཐོང་ ིར། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
འ ིང་གི་དམིགས་པ་ནི། མཚན་མར་ག ང་ ས་ ོང་པའི་ཆོས་
མས་དང༌། མ་པ་ནི། དོན་དམ་པར་ཐོབ་པ་དང་མངོན་པར་
ོགས་པ་མེད་པར་ གོ ས་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་སོ། །
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 517

I.30cd:
All thoroughly analyzed by wisdom
Are unobservable.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 13b.3ff., fleshes these two
lines out as:
The objects of observation of the great [peak path of preparation]
are the substrata properly analyzed by the wisdom realizing the
mode of being, and the aspect is the pristine wisdom realizing that
all phenomena are ultimately unobservable.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱིས་ནི་ཡོངས་ ོག་པ། །ཐམས་ཅད་དམིགས་ ་མེད་པར་རོ། །
ཆེན་པོའི་དམིགས་པ་ནི། ཡིན་ གས་ ོགས་པའི་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱིས་
ལ་བཞིན་ ་བ ག་པའི་གཞི་ མས་དང༌། མ་པ་ནི། ཆོས་
ཐམས་ཅད་དོན་དམ་པར་དམིགས་ ་མེད་པར་ ོགས་པའི་ཡེ་
ཤེས་སོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 1, 68.
12
I.31-32b; the third of the four parts corresponding to the four levels of
a path of preparation is an explanation—with respect to the forbearance
path of preparation—of the features of its objects of observation and as-
pect.
I.31ab:
{I.31}
Forms and so forth are natureless.
The absence of that is the nature.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 13b.4ff., fleshes out these
two lines as:
The objects of observation of the small forbearance [path of prep-
aration] are forms and so forth which are absent the nature of
true establishment, and the aspect is the pristine wisdom realizing
this absence of the nature of true establishment as the conven-
tional nature.
518 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

Maitreya’s Ornament:
{I.31}
ག གས་སོགས་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མེད་ཉིད། །དེ་མེད་པ་ཉིད་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
བཟོད་པ་ ང་ འི་དམིགས་པ་ནི། བདེན་ བ་ཀྱི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མེད་
པའི་ག གས་སོགས་དང༌། མ་པ་ནི། བདེན་ བ་ཀྱི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་
མེད་པ་དེ་ཐ་ ད་པའི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ ་ ོགས་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་སོ། །
I.31cd:
Those are without production and deliverance;
Are pure; and those are signless.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 13b.6ff., fleshes out these
two lines as:
The objects of observation of the medium [forbearance path of
preparation] are forms and so forth qualified by an absence of true
existence of production and definite emergence, that is, of cyclic
existence and nirvāṇa, and the aspect is the pristine wisdom real-
izing that meditation on cyclic existence and nirvāṇa as without
true existence act as the cause of the five purities of body and so
forth.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
དེ་དག་ ེ་མེད་ངེས་འ ང་མེད། །དག་དང་དེ་དག་མཚན་མ་མེད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
འ ངི ་གི་དམིགས་པ་ནི། ་ེ བ་དང་ངེས་འ ང་ ེ་འཁོར་བ་དང་
ང་འདས་བདེན་པར་མེད་པས་ཁྱད་པར་ ་ ས་པའི་ག གས་
སོགས་དང༌། མ་པ་ནི། འཁོར་འདས་བདེན་པར་མེད་པར་
བ ོམ་པས་ ས་སོགས་དག་པ་ འི་ ་ ེད་པར་ ོགས་པའི་ཡེ་
ཤེས་སོ། །
I.32ab:
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 519

{I.32}
Due to not relying on signs of them
There is no belief and discrimination of them.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 14a.1ff., fleshes out these
two lines as:
The objects of observation of the great [forbearance path of prep-
aration] are forms and so forth which do not exist as objects ap-
prehended ultimately as signs, and the aspect is the pristine wis-
dom realizing that those forms and so forth do not ultimately exist
as objects to be believed and as objects to be known by the two
takings to mind [taking belief to mind (mos pa yid byed) and tak-
ing suchness to mind (de kho na nyid yid byed)].*
* Gung-thang Lo-drö-gya-tsho’s Annotations to (Haribhadra’s) “Clear
Meaning Commentary,” vol. 1, 234.18.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{I.32}
དེ་ཡི་མཚན་མར་མི་བ ེན་པས། །མོས་མིན་འ ་ཤེས་མེད་པ་ཡིན། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཆེན་པོའི་དམིགས་པ་ནི། དོན་དམ་པར་མཚན་མར་ག ང་ ་
མེད་པའི་ག གས་སོགས་དང༌། མ་པ་ནི། ག གས་སོགས་དེ་
དག་དོན་དམ་པར་ཡིད་ ེད་གཉིས་ཀྱིས་མོས་ ར་མེད་པ་དང་
ཤེས་ ར་མེད་པར་ གོ ས་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་སོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 1, 69.
13
I.32c-33; the fourth of the four parts corresponding to the four levels of
a path of preparation is an explanation—with respect to the supreme-mun-
dane-qualities path of preparation—of the features of its objects of obser-
vation and aspect.
I.32c:
Meditative stabilizations, the functioning of those,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 14a.3ff., fleshes out this line
as:
520 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

The objects of observation of the small supreme-mundane-quali-

ties [path of preparation] are forms and so forth which are quali-
fied by the ultimate absence of difference between (1) the medi-
tative stabilization of nonproduction and meditative stabiliza-
tions of going-as-a-hero and so forth and (2) emptiness, and the
aspect is the pristine wisdom realizing that the functioning, that
is, the fruit, of those meditative stabilizations operates spontane-
ously in accordance with the lot of trainees.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
ཏིང་འཛིན་དེ་ཡི་ ེད་པ་ཉིད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཆོས་མཆོག་ ང་ འི་དམིགས་པ་ནི། ེ་བ་མེད་པའི་ཏིང་ངེ་
འཛིན་དང་དཔའ་བར་འགྲོ་བ་ལ་སོགས་པའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་
མས་དང་ ོང་པ་ཉིད་དོན་དམ་པར་ཐ་དད་མེད་པས་ཁྱད་
པར་ ་ ས་པའི་ག གས་སོགས་དང༌། མ་པ་ནི། ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་
དེའ་ི དེ ་པ་ ེ། འ ས་ ་ག ལ་ འི་ ལ་བ་ ི་ ་བ་བཞིན་ ་
ན་ བ་ ་འ ག་པར་ ོགས་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་སོ། །
I.32d:
Prophecy, extinction of conceit.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 14a.5ff., fleshes out this line
as:
The objects of observation of the medium [supreme-mundane-
qualities path of preparation] are forms and so forth whose nature
is such that when realized, one is prophesied, and the aspect is
the pristine wisdom realizing that ultimately the three spheres of
meditative stabilization [namely, the object, agent, and action of
meditative stabilization] are unobservable.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
ང་ ོན་པ་དང་ ོམ་པ་ཟད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 521

འ ིང་གི་དམིགས་པ་ནི། གང་གི་རང་བཞིན་ གོ ས་ན་ ང་ ནོ ་

པའི་ག གས་སོགས་དང༌། མ་པ་ནི། དོན་དམ་པར་ཏིང་ངེ་
འཛིན་གྱི་འཁོར་ག མ་མི་དམིགས་པར་ ོགས་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་སོ། །
I.33ab:
{I.33}
The three are mutually one entity;
[Hence] nonconceptualization [as] meditative stabilization.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 14a.6ff., fleshes out these
two lines as:
The objects of observation of the great [supreme-mundane-quali-
ties path of preparation] are forms and so forth which are qualified
by the ultimate mutual absence of difference among the three
spheres of meditative stabilization, and the aspect is the pristine
wisdom realizing the ultimate nonconceptualization as medita-
tive stabilization.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{I.33}
ག མ་པོ་ཕན་ ན་ངོ་བོ་གཅིག །ཏིང་འཛིན་ མ་པར་མི་ ོག་པ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཆེན་པོའི་དམིགས་པ་ནི། དོན་དམ་པར་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་གྱི་འཁོར་
ག མ་ཕན་ ན་ཐ་དད་མེད་པས་ཁྱད་པར་ ་ ས་པའི་ག གས་
སོགས་དང༌། མ་པ་ནི། དོན་དམ་པར་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་ ་ མ་
པར་མི་ གོ ་པར་ གོ ས་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་སོ། །
I.33cd:
In that way the concordances with a portion of definite discrimi-
nation
Are small, medium, and great.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 14a.7ff., fleshes out these
two lines as:
522 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

In that way the four concordances with a portion of definite dis-

crimination each are possessors of divisions of small, medium,
and great.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
དེ་ ར་ངེས་འ ེད་ཆ་མ ན་ནི། ། ང་དང་འ ིང་དང་ཆེན་པོ་ཡིན། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
དེ་ ར་ངེས་པར་ དེ ་པའི་ཆ་དང་མ ན་པ་བཞི་པོ་རེ་རེ་ནས་
ང་ ་དང་འ ངི ་དང་ཆེན་པོའ་ི ད ེ་བ་ཅན་ཡིན་ནོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 1, 69.
14
I.34-35; the second of the three parts of this section is the explanation of
the features of the conceptions.
{I.34}
Due to the substrata and their antidotes
Conceptualizations as apprehended objects have two aspects.
Due to the distinction of obscuration and the aggregates and so
forth
Those individually have nine aspects.
{I.35}
Due to possessing substantial and imputed supports
Apprehending-subjects also are asserted in two aspects.
From entities such as a self under its own power and so forth
And supports such as the aggregates and so forth they are like-
wise [nine each].
གཉིས་པ་[ ོག་པའི་ཁྱད་ཆོས་བཤད་པ་]ནི།
གཞི་དང་དེ་ཡི་གཉེན་པོ་ཡིས། །ག ང་བར་ གོ ་པ་ མ་པ་
གཉིས། ། ངོ ས་དང་ ང་སོགས་ ་ེ ག་གིས། །དེ་ནི་སོ་སོར་ མ་
པ་དགུ། ། ས་དང་བཏགས་པའི་ ནེ ་ཅན་གྱིས། །འཛིན་པའང་
མ་པ་གཉིས་ ་འདོད། །རང་དབང་བདག་སོགས་ངོ་བོ་
དང༌། ། ང་སོགས་ ནེ ་ལས་དེ་བཞིན་ནོ། །ཞེས་ག ངས།
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 523

Due to the distinction of observing the substrata—thorough af-

flictions and their antidotes, pure [phenomena]—conceptuali-
zations as apprehended objects have two aspects, conceptuali-
zations as afflicted apprehended objects and conceptualizations as
pure apprehended objects. And due to the distinction of observ-
ing obscuration, that is, ignorance, and the pure aggregates and
so forth, those two individually have nine aspects each.
Due to possessing objects qualified by existing substantially
and qualified by existing imputedly, conceptualizations as ap-
prehending-subjects also are asserted in two aspects. And from
the approach of entities such as a self under its own power and
so forth and objects such as the aggregates and so forth, those
two individually have nine each, like that explained above.
There are nine conceptualizations as afflicted apprehended
objects because there are the nine conceptualizations as appre-
hended objects (1) that conceive sufferings and so forth as truly
[established] as mine or objects of use and (2) that are such that
when their nature is known purity, nirvāṇa is indirectly gener-
ated:*
1. ignorance that is the chief of thorough afflictions
2. view of the transitory conceiving of the contaminated aggre-
gates—forms and so forth—and name-and-form as self and
mine
3-4. extreme views conceiving as the two extremes of permanence
and annihilation
5. nonfaith that is not knowing what to adopt and what to discard
concerning thorough afflictions and pure phenomena
6. laziness of not dwelling on the path of Superiors
7. other awarenesses that erroneously observe phenomena
8-9. desire and hatred observing the factors of self and other [re-
spectively]
* Ngag-wang-pal-dan does not clearly indicate how to frame the list; there
are several sets of two that can be split into separate items to make the
count of nine. This list is offered as one possibility.
There are nine conceptualizations as pure apprehended objects be-
cause there are the nine conceptualizations as apprehended objects
that conceive as truly [established] as mine or objects of use:
524 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

1. pure aggregates
2. pure sense-fields
3. pure constituents
4. pure dependent-arisings
5. emptinesses
6. perfections
7. paths of seeing
8. paths of meditation
9. paths of no-more-learning.
There are nine conceptualizations apprehending substantial exist-
ence because there are the nine conceptualizations apprehending
substantial existence that conceive as truly [established] as a par-
taker* qualified by substantial existence upon observing:
1. [a consciousness] apprehending self as having its own power
2. [a consciousness] apprehending self as unique without equal
3. [a consciousness] apprehending self as the cause opening the
door of consciousness
4. [a consciousness] apprehending self as the viewer and so forth
5. the support of the three thorough afflictions [desire, hatred,
and ignorance]
6. the support of separation from desire by the worldly path
7. the support of the path of seeing directly realizing the four
truths
8. the support of the path of meditation that is the entities of the
liberations and serially abiding [absorptions]
9. the support of the path of no-more-learning which has accom-
plished the aim, or purpose.
There are nine conceptualizations apprehending imputed exist-
ence because there are the nine conceptualizations apprehending
imputed existence that conceive as truly [established] as a partaker
qualified by an imputed existence—an absence of a self of per-
sons—upon observing:
1-5. purities that are entities of the five aggregates, the twelve
sense-fields of eye and so forth, the eighteen constituents, the
twelve branches of dependent-arising, and the thirty-seven
harmonies with enlightenment
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 525

6. the path of seeing that is the entities of the three doors of lib-
eration
7. the path of meditation that is the entities of concentrations and
formless absorptions
8. the special path exceeding Hearers and so forth
9. the path of no-more-learning of powers and so forth.
* longs spyod pa po: partaker, enjoyer, user.
Maitreya’s Ornament: I.34-35, 3a.6-3a.7:
{I.34}
གཞི་དང་དེ་ཡི་གཉེན་པོ་ཡིས། །ག ང་བར་ ོག་པ་ མ་པ་གཉིས། །
ོངས་དང་ ང་སོགས་ ེ་ ག་གིས། །དེ་ནི་སོ་སོར་ མ་པ་དགུ། །
{I.35}
ས་དང་བཏགས་པའི་ ེན་ཅན་གྱིས། །འཛིན་པའང་ མ་པ་གཉིས་ ་འདོད། །
རང་དབང་བདག་སོགས་ངོ་བོ་དང༌། ། ང་སོགས་ ེན་ལས་དེ་བཞིན་ནོ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 16b.4:
གཞི་ཀུན་ཉོན་དང་དེའ་ི གཉེན་པོ་ མ་ ང་ལ་དམིགས་པའི་ ེ་
ག་གིས། ག ང་བར་ གོ ་པ་ལ་ཉོན་མོངས་ག ང་ ོག་དང་ མ་
ང་ག ང་ ོག་ མ་པ་གཉིས་དང༌། ངོ ས་པ་ ེ་མ་རིག་པ་དང་
མ་ ང་གི་ ང་པོ་ལ་སོགས་པ་ལ་དམིགས་པའི་ ེ་ ག་གིས། དེ་
གཉིས་སོ་སོ་ལ་ མ་པ་དགུ་དགུ་ཡོད་དོ། ། ས་ ་ཡོད་པའི་ཁྱད་
པར་ ་ ས་པ་དང་བཏགས་པར་ཡོད་པས་ཁྱད་པར་ ་ ས་པའི་
ལ་ཅན་གྱིས། འཛིན་པར་ ོག་པའང་ མ་པ་གཉིས་ ་འདོད་པ་
དང༌། རང་དབང་བའི་བདག་ལ་སོགས་པ་ངོ་བོ་དང་ ང་པོ་ལ་
སོགས་པའི་ ལ་གྱི་ ོ་ནས་ ར་བཤད་པ་དེ་བཞིན་ ་དེ་གཉིས་
སོ་སོ་ལ་དགུ་དགུ་ཡོད་དོ། ། ཉོན་མོངས་ག ང་ ོག་དགུ་ཡོད་དེ།
ཀུན་ཉོན་གྱི་གཙ་བོ་མ་རིག་པ་དང༌། ཟག་བཅས་ཀྱི་ག གས་
སོགས་ ང་པོ་དང༌། །མིང་ག གས་ལ་བདག་དང་བདག་གི་བར་
526 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

ཞེན་པའི་འ ིག་ ་དང༌། ག་ཆད་ཀྱི་མཐའ་གཉིས་ ་ཞེན་པའི་

མཐར་ ་དང༌། ཀུན་ ང་གི་ ང་དོར་མི་ཤེས་པའི་མ་དད་པ་
དང༌། འཕགས་ལམ་ལ་མི་གནས་པའི་ལེ་ལོ་དང༌། ཆོས་ མས་ལ་
ིན་ཅི་ལོག་ ་དམིགས་པའི་ ོ་གཞན་དང༌། བདག་གཞན་གྱི་ཆ་
ལ་དམིགས་པའི་ཆགས་ ང་དང༌། གང་གི་རང་བཞིན་ཤེས་ན་
མ་པར་དག་པ་ ང་འདས་བ ད་ནས་ དེ ་པའི་ ག་བ ལ་ལ་
སོགས་པ་ལ་བདག་གི་བའམ་ལོངས་ ོད་ ར་བདེན་བར་ཞེན་
པའི་ག ང་ ོག་དགུ་ཡོད་པའི་ རི ། མ་ ང་ག ང་ ོག་དགུ་
ཡོད་དེ། མ་ ང་གི་ ང་པོ་དང༌། དེའི་ ེ་མཆེད་དང༌། དེའི་
ཁམས་དང༌། དེའི་ ེན་འ ེལ་དང༌། ོད་པ་ཉིད་དང༌། ཕར་ ིན་
དང༌། མཐོང་ལམ་དང༌། ོམ་ལམ་དང༌། མི་ བོ ་ལམ་ལ་བདག་
གི་བའམ་ལོངས་ ོད་ ར་བདེན་པར་ཞེན་པའི་ག ང་ ོག་དགུ་
ཡོད་པའི་ རི ། ས་འཛིན་གྱི་ གོ ་པ་དགུ་ཡོད་དེ། བདག་རང་
དབང་ཅན་ ་འཛིན་པ་དང༌། བདག་ ་མེད་པའི་གཅིག་ ར་
འཛིན་པ་དང༌། བདག་ མ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ ོ་འ ེད་པའི་ ར་འཛིན་པ་
དང༌། བདག་ ་བ་པོ་ལ་སོགས་པར་འཛིན་པ་དང༌། ཀུན་ཉོན་
ག མ་གྱི་ ནེ ་དང༌། འ ིག་ ནེ ་པའི་ལམ་གྱིས་འདོད་ཆགས་
དང་ ལ་བའི་ ེན་དང༌། བདེན་བཞི་མངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་པའི་
མཐོང་ལམ་གྱི་ ེན་དང༌། མ་ཐར་མཐར་གནས་ཀྱི་ངོ་བོར་ ར་
བའི་ ོམ་ལམ་གྱི་ ེན་དང། དོན་ནམ་དགོས་པ་བ བས་ཟིན་
པའི་མི་ བོ ་པའི་ལམ་གྱི་ ེན་ལ་དམིགས་ནས་ ས་ཡོད་ཀྱིས་
ཁྱད་པར་ ་ ས་པའི་ལོངས་ དོ ་པ་པོར་བདེན་པར་ཞེན་པའི་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 527

ས་འཛིན་ ོག་པ་དགུ་ཡོད་པའི་ ིར། བཏགས་འཛིན་གྱི་ ོག་

པ་དགུ་ཡོད་དེ། ང་པོ་ ་དང༌། མིག་སོགས་ ་ེ མཆེད་བ ་
གཉིས་དང༌། ཁམས་བཅོ་བ ད་དང༌། ེན་འ ེལ་ཡན་ལག་བ ་
གཉིས་དང༌། ང་ གོ ས་སོ་བ ན་གྱི་ངོ་བོར་ ར་བའི་ མ་ ང་
དང༌། མ་ཐར་ ོ་ག མ་གྱི་ངོ་བོར་ ར་བའི་མཐོང་ལམ་དང༌།
བསམ་ག གས་ཀྱི་ངོ་བོར་ ར་བའི་ ོམ་ལམ་དང༌། ཉན་ཐོས་
སོགས་ལས་ ལ་ ་ ང་བའི་ཁྱད་པར་གྱི་ལམ་དང༌། ོབས་ལ་
སོགས་པའི་མི་ ོབ་པའི་ལམ་ལ་དམིགས་ནས་གང་ཟག་གི་བདག་
མེད་པའི་བཏགས་ཡོད་ཀྱིས་ཁྱད་པར་ ་ ས་པའི་ལོངས་ དོ ་པ་
པོར་བདེན་པར་ཞེན་པའི་བཏགས་འཛིན་གྱི་ གོ ་པ་དགུ་ཡོད་
པའི་ ིར།
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 1, 76ff.
15
I.36; the final of the three parts of this section is the explanation of the
features of restrainers.
{I.36}
Mental nondiscouragement and so forth
And teachers of naturelessness and so forth
That have forsaken the discordant classes of those
Are thorough restrainers in all respects.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words (19a.5) fleshes the meaning
of this stanza out as:
The six perfections conjoined with special method and wisdom in
the continuum of a Bodhisattva on the path of preparation—the
causes of mental nondiscouragement and so forth with respect
to the meaning of the profound emptiness—are internal restrain-
ers, and virtuous spiritual friends who gradually teach doctrines
such as that phenomena are ultimately natureless, and so forth,
appropriate to the lot of trainees are external restrainers because
528 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

internal and external restrainers that have forsaken the discord-

ant classes of both of those—(1) being separated from taking to
mind an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects, (2) having predominant
adherence to true existence and so forth, and (3) devils and sinful
friends who cause one to abandon the highway of the Great Vehi-
cle—thoroughly restrain trainees in all respects from falling to
the extremes of mundane existence and [solitary] peace.
Maitreya’s Ornament: I.36, 3a.7-3b.1:
{I.36}
སེམས་མི་འགོང་བ་ཉིད་ལ་སོགས། །ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མེད་སོགས་ ོན་ ེད། །
དེ་ཡི་མི་མ ན་ ོགས་བོར་བ། ། མ་པ་ཀུན་ ་ཡོངས་འཛིན་ཡིན། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ང་སེམས་ ོར་ལམ་པའི་ ད་ཀྱི་ ོང་ཉིད་ཟབ་མོའི་དོན་ལ་
སེམས་མི་འགོང་བ་ལ་སོགས་པའི་ ་ཐབས་ཤེས་ཁྱད་པར་ཅན་
གྱིས་ཟིན་པའི་ ིན་ ག་ནི་ནང་གི་ཡོངས་འཛིན་དང༌། ཆོས་
མས་དོན་དམ་པར་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མེད་པ་ལ་སོགས་པའི་ཆོས་
ག ལ་ འི་ ལ་བ་དང་འཚམ་པར་རིམ་ཅན་ ་ ནོ ་པར་ དེ ་
པའི་དགེ་བའི་བཤེས་གཉེན་ནི་ འི ་ི ཡོངས་འཛིན་ཏེ། དེ་གཉིས་
ཀའི་མི་མ ན་ གོ ས་ མ་མཁྱེན་ཡིད་ ེད་དང་ ལ་ཞིང་བདེན་
ཞེན་ཤས་ཆེ་བ་སོགས་དང་ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ག ང་ལམ་ ོང་ ་
འ ག་པའི་བ ད་དང་ ིག་གྲོགས་བོར་བའི་ ི་ནང་གི་ཡོངས་
འཛིན་ནི་ མ་པ་ཀུན་ ་ག ལ་ ་ མས་ དི ་ཞིའི་མཐར་ ང་
བ་ལས་ཡོངས་ ་འཛིན་པ་ཡིན་ནོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 1, 78ff.
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 529

16

4th Topic
4. Naturally Abiding Lineage, the Support of
Great Vehicle Achievings (ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་པའི་ ེན་རང་བཞིན་གནས་
རིགས་)
I.37-38:
{I.37}
The support of the six qualities of realization,
Antidotes, abandonments,
Finalizations of those,
Wisdom together with empathy,
{I.38}
Uncommonness with learners,
Gradations of others’ welfare,
And operation of wisdom without exertion
Is called lineage.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words (19b.2) fleshes these two
stanzas out as:
The thusness [of a mind] that is together with defilement, which
is the support of:
1-6. the six qualities of realization—the four [limbs of] definite
discrimination [that is, heat, peak, forbearance, and supreme
mundane qualities of the path of preparation], path of seeing,
and path of meditation
7. antidotal achievings—uninterrupted paths
8. achievings that are states of abandonments—paths of release
9. thorough finalizations of those conceptions adhering to anti-
dotes as ultimately produced and objects of abandonment as
ultimately ceased; that is, achievings that are states of having
abandoned obstructions to omniscience
10. achievings that are wisdom together with empathy not abid-
ing in the extremes of cyclic existence and [solitary] peace
11. achievings that are not shared with learners who are Hear-
ers and so forth
530 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

12. achievings bringing about gradations of others’ welfare

13. achievings of the operation of wisdom of the mode and the
diversity without exertion,
is called the Great Vehicle lineage.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{I.37}
གོ ས་པ་ཡི་ནི་ཆོས་ ག་དང་། །གཉེན་པོ་དང་ནི་ ོང་བ་དང་། །
དེ་དག་ཡོངས་ ་ག གས་པ་དང་། །ཤེས་རབ་ ིང་བ ེར་བཅས་པ་དང་། །
{I.38}
བོ ་མ་ ན་མོང་མིན་ཉིད་དང་། །གཞན་གྱི་དོན་གྱི་གོ་རིམས་དང་། །
ཡེ་ཤེས་ ོལ་བ་མི་མངའ་བར། །འ ག་པའི་ ེན་ལ་རིགས་ཤེས་ ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
གོ ་པའི་ཆོས་ངེས་འ དེ ་བཞི་དང་མཐོང་ མོ ་གཉིས་ཏེ་ ག་
དང༌། གཉེན་པོའི་ བ་པ་བར་ཆད་མེད་ལམ་དང༌། ངོ ་བའི་
བ་པ་ མ་གྲོལ་ལམ་དང༌། དོན་དམ་པར་གཉེན་པོ་ ེ་བ་དང་
ང་ ་འགག་པར་ཞེན་པའི་ མ་ ོག་དེ་དག་ཡོངས་ ་ག གས་
པ་ ེ་ཤེས་ བི ་ ངས་པའི་ བ་པ་དང༌། ིད་ཞིའི་མཐར་མི་
གནས་པའི་ཤེས་རབ་དང་ ངི ་ འེ ་ི བ་པ་དང༌། བོ ་མ་ཉན་
ཐོས་ལ་སོགས་པ་དང་ ན་མོང་མ་ཡིན་པའི་ བ་པ་དང༌། གཞན་
དོན་གོ་རིམ་བཞིན་ དེ ་པའི་ བ་པ་དང༌། ི་ ་ ི་ ེད་ལ་ཡེ་
ཤེས་ ལོ ་བ་མི་མངའ་བར་འ ག་པའི་ བ་པའི་ ནེ ་ ི་མ་དང་
བཅས་པའི་དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་ལ་ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་རང་བཞིན་གནས་
རིགས་ཞེས་ འོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 1, 79.
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 531

17

5th Topic
5. Objects of Observation of Great Vehicle
Achievings (ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་པའི་དམིགས་པ་)
I.40-41:
{I.40}
The objects of observation are all phenomena.
Moreover, they are virtues and so forth,
Worldly realizations,
Those accepted as supramundane,
{I.41}
Contaminated and uncontaminated qualities,
Those compounded and uncompounded,
Qualities shared with learners,
And a Subduer’s unshared.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words (20b.5) fleshes these two
stanzas out as:
The objects of observation of Great Vehicle achievings are all
phenomena. Moreover, they are:
1-3. individually the three, virtues, nonvirtues, and the neutral
4. the five aggregates included within the worldly paths in the
continuums of worldly, that is, common, beings
5. the four concentrations in the continuums of supramundane
Superiors
6. the five appropriated aggregates that are contaminated, that
is, are not antidotes to the view of self
7. the four establishments through mindfulnes that are uncon-
taminated, that is, are antidotes to the view of self
8. constituents asserted to be compounded
9. uncompounded thusness
10. the four concentrations that are qualities shared with Hearer
learners
11. a Subduer’s unshared ten powers.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
532 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

{I.40}
དམིགས་པ་ཆོས་ མས་ཐམས་ཅད་དེ། །དེ་ཡང་དགེ་ལ་སོགས་པ་ཡིན། །
འ ིག་ ེན་པ་ཡི་ ོགས་པ་དང་། །གང་དག་འ ིག་ ེན་འདས་འདོད་དང་། །
{I.41}
ཟག་བཅས་ཟག་པ་མེད་ཆོས་དང་། །གང་དག་འ ས་ ས་འ ས་མ་ ས། །
ོབ་མ་ ན་མོང་ཆོས་ མས་དང་། །གང་དག་ བ་པའི་ ན་མོང་མིན། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་པའི་དམིགས་པ་ནི་ཆོས་ མས་ཐམས་ཅད་དེ། དེ་
ཡང་དགེ་མི་དགེ་ ང་མ་བ ན་ག མ་རེ་རེ་དང༌། འ གི ་ ནེ ་པ་
ེ་སོ་ ེའི་ ད་ཀྱི་འ གི ་ ེན་པའི་ལམ་གྱིས་བ ས་པའི་ ང་པོ་
་དང༌། འ གི ་ ནེ ་ལས་འདས་པ་འཕགས་པའི་ ད་ཀྱི་བསམ་
གཏན་བཞི་དང༌། ཟག་བཅས་ཏེ་བདག་ འི་གཉེན་པོ་མ་ཡིན་
པའི་ཉེར་བར་ལེན་པའི་ ང་པོ་དང༌། ཟག་མེད་དེ་བདག་ འི་
གཉེན་པོ་ ན་པ་ཉེ་བར་བཞག་པ་བཞི་དང༌། འ ས་ ས་འདོད་
པའི་ཁམས་དང༌། འ ས་མ་ ས་དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་དང༌། བོ ་མ་
ཉན་ཐོས་དང་ ན་མོང་བའི་ཆོས་བསམ་གཏན་བཞི་དང༌། བ་
པའི་དབང་པོ་ཁོ་ནའི་ ན་མོང་མ་ཡིན་པའི་ཆོས་ ོབས་བ ་ ེ་
བ ་གཅིག་གོ །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 1, 86ff.
18

6th Topic
6. Objects of Intent of Great Vehicle Achievings
(ཐེག་ཆེན་ བ་པའི་ཆེད་ ་ ་བ་)
I.42:
{I.42}
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 533

The objects of intent of [Bodhisattvas] self-arisen

By way of three greatnesses are to be known as the three—
The mind that [makes a person endowed with it]
The supreme of sentient beings, abandonment, and realization.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words (21a.6), following Gyal-
tshab’s Explanation of (Maitreya’s) “Ornament for the Clear Realiza-
tions” and its Commentaries: Ornament for the Essence, fleshes out this
stanza as:
The objects of intent of Bodhisattvas, who are self-arisen by
way of three greatnesses in that it is in terms of these three that
they are impelled into achievings [that is, practices]:
• great mind—great compassion, the quality that makes per-
sons who possess it in their continuum the supreme of sen-
tient beings
• great abandonment—the final state of abandonment [of ob-
structions]
• great realization—final realization [of selflessness]
are to be known as these three aspects.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{I.42}
སེམས་ཅན་ཀུན་མཆོག་ཉིད་སེམས་དང་། ། ངས་དང་ གོ ས་དང་ག མ་པོ་ལ། །
ཆེན་པོ་ག མ་གྱི་རང་ ང་གི །ཆེད་ ་ ་བ་འདི་ཤེས་ ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
རང་ ད་ལ་ ན་པའི་གང་ཟག་དེ་སེམས་ཅན་ཀུན་གྱི་མཆོག་ ་
ེད་པའི་ཆོས་ གས་ ་ེ ཆེན་པོ་ནི་སེམས་ཆེན་པོ་དང༌། ངས་པ་
མཐར་ ག་ནི་ ོང་བ་ཆེན་པོ་དང༌། ོགས་པ་མཐར་ ག་ནི་
གོ ས་པ་ཆེན་པོ་དང་ག མ་པོའི་དབང་ ་ ས་ནས་ བ་པ་ལ་
འ ག་པས་ན། །དེ་ ར་ཆེན་པོ་ཉིད་ག མ་གྱི་ ་ོ ནས་རང་ ང་
ེ་ ང་ བ་སེམས་དཔའི་ཆེད་ ་ ་བ་ མ་པ་ག མ་པོ་འདི་
ཡིན་པར་ཤེས་པར་ འོ། །
534 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti

and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 1, 89.
19

7th Topic (གོ་ བ་)

7. Achievings through Armor
I.43:
{I.43}
Achieving through armor is explained exactly
By including individually in six aspects
Giving and so forth by way of
Six groups of six.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 21b.4, fleshes out this stanza
as:
Achieving through armor is explained exactly, that is, in com-
plete enumeration, in the Mother Sūtras by way of six groups of
six:
• mode of inclusion—by including individually, that is, in
each, in six aspects
• the objects included—those giving and so forth
• the includers—giving and so forth.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{I.43}
དེ་དག་སོ་སོར་ ིན་ལ་སོགས། ། མ་པ་ ག་ ་བ ས་པ་ཡིས། །
གོ་ཆའི་ བ་པ་གང་ཡིན་དེ། ། ག་ཚན་ ག་གིས་ ི་བཞིན་བཤད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
བ ་ ེད་ ནི ་པ་ལ་སོགས་པ་ མ་པ་ ག་ ་བ ་ ་ ིན་སོགས་
དེ་དག་ ད་ ལ་སོ་སོར་ཏེ་རེ་རེར་ ག་བ ས་པ་ཡིས། གོ་ཆའི་
བ་པ་གང་ཡིན་པ་དེ་ ག་ཚན་ ག་གི་ད ེ་བའི་ ོ་ནས་ ནི ་
སོགས་ ག་ ་ི བཞིན་ ་ ེ་གྲངས་ཚང་བར་ མ་གྱི་མདོ་ལས་
བཤད་དོ། །
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 535

See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti

and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 1, 95ff.
20

8th Topic
8. Achievings through Engagement (འ ག་ བ་)
I.44-45:
{I.44}
Achieving through engagement in the modes
Of the concentrations and formlessness [absorptions], giving and
so forth,
Paths, love and so forth,
That endowed with unapprehendability,
{I.45}
Thorough purity of the three spheres,
Objects of intent, the six clairvoyances,
And an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects
Is to be known as ascending in the Great Vehicle.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 23a.1, fleshes out these two
stanzas as:
Achieving through engagement in the modes of practicing:
1. the worldly paths of the concentrations and formlessness
absorptions
2. the supramundane paths of the six perfections, giving and so
forth, that are the means of attaining the fulfillment of reali-
zation, one’s own welfare
3. the four paths of seeing, meditation, and no-more-learning,
and special path* that are the means of attaining the fulfill-
ment of abandonment [of obstructions]
4. the four immeasurables of love and so forth [that is, compas-
sion, joy, and equanimity], methods for accomplishing the
welfare of others
5. paths endowed with unapprehendability, which realize
emptiness, the means of purifying the welfare of others
6. paths thoroughly purified of the three spheres, realizing the
actions, agents, and objects of the six perfections as empty of
536 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

true existence like illusions

7. paths of dedicating roots of virtue for the sake of the three
objects of intent
8. engagement in the six clairvoyances, methods for quickly
completing the collections [of merit and wisdom]
9. engagement in an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects, the fruit
—these being included within the support [of a person] of the
Great Vehicle]—is to be known as ascending higher and higher
in the Great Vehicle.
* This is the uninterrupted peak training (bar cad med ba’i rtse sbyor,
anantaramūrdhaprayogaḥ) that is the cause of an exalted-knower-of-all-
aspects.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{I.44}
བསམ་གཏན་ག གས་མེད་ ིན་སོགས་དང་། །ལམ་དང་ མས་ལ་སོགས་པ་དང་། །
དམིགས་པ་མེད་དང་ ན་པ་དང་། །འཁོར་ག མ་ མ་པར་དག་པ་དང་། །
{I.45}
ཆེད་ ་ ་དང་མངོན་ཤེས་ ག ། མ་ཀུན་མཁྱེན་པའི་ ལ་ལ་ནི། །
འ ག་པའི་ བ་པ་ཐེག་ཆེན་ལ། །འཛགས་པ་ཡིན་པར་ཤེས་པར་ ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ེན་ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱིས་བ ས་པའི་འ གི ་ ེན་པའི་ལམ་བསམ་
ག གས་ཀྱི་ ོམས་འ ག་ཉམས་ ་ལེན་པའི་འ ག་ བ་དང༌།
འ ིག་ ེན་ལས་འདས་པའི་ལམ་རང་དོན་ གོ ས་པ་ ན་ཚགས་
ཐོབ་ ེད་ ནི ་སོགས་ཕར་ ིན་ ག་དང༌། ངས་པ་ ན་ཚགས་
ཐོབ་ ེད་མཐོང་ མོ ་མི་ ོབ་ཁྱད་པར་གྱི་ལམ་བཞི་དང༌། གཞན་
དོན་འ བ་པའི་ཐབས་ མས་སོགས་ཚད་མེད་བཞི་དང༌། གཞན་
དོན་ མ་པར་དག་ དེ ་ ོང་ཉིད་ ོགས་པའི་མི་དམིགས་པ་དང་
ན་པའི་ལམ་དང༌། ནི ་ ག་གི་ ་ ེད་ལས་ག མ་བདེན་པས་
ོང་པ་ ་མ་ ་ ར་ ོགས་པའི་འཁོར་ག མ་ཡོངས་ ་དག་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 537

པའི་ལམ་དང༌། དགེ་ ་ཆེད་ ་ ་བ་ག མ་གྱི་དོན་ ་བ ་ོ བའི་

ལམ་དང༌། ཚགས་ ར་ ་ ོགས་པའི་ཐབས་མངོན་ཤེས་ ག་ལ་
འ ག་པའི་དེ་དང༌། འ ས་ ་ཐམས་ཅད་མཁྱེན་པ་ལ་འ ག་
པའི་ བ་པ་ ེ་དགུ་པོ་ནི་ཐེག་ཆེན་ལ་གོང་ནས་གོང་ ་འཛག་པ་
ཡིན་པར་ཤེས་པར་ འོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 1, 97ff.
21

9th Topic
9. Achievings through Collections (ཚགས་ བ་)
I.46-47:
{I.46}
Empathy, giving and so forth six,
Calm abiding, special insight,
The path of union [of calm abiding and special insight],
Skill in means,
{I.47}
Pristine wisdom, merit,
Paths, retentions, the ten grounds,
And antidotes are to be known as being
The stages of achieving through collections.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 23a.7, fleshes out these two
stanzas as:
The seventeen consisting of:
Seven in terms of attitude and training
1. achieving through the collection of empathy
2-7. achieving through the collection of giving and so forth [eth-
ics, patience, effort, concentration, and wisdom] six
Four in terms of being set or not set in meditative equipoise
8. achieving through the collection of calm abiding
9. achieving through the collection of special insight
538 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

10. achieving through the collection of a union of those

11. achieving through the collection of skill in means
Two in terms of view and behavior
12. achieving through the collection of pristine wisdom
13. achieving through the collection of merit
Two in terms of achieving fruits and holding objects of observa-
tion
14. achieving through the collection of paths
15. achieving through the collection of retentions
Two in terms of acting as a foundation of good qualities and clear-
ing away faults
16. achieving through the collection of grounds and antidotes
are to be known as being the stages of enumeration of achieving
through collections.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{I.46}
བ ེ་དང་ ནི ་ལ་སོགས་པ་ ག །ཞི་གནས་ ག་མཐོང་བཅས་པ་དང་། །
ང་ ་འ ེལ་པའི་ལམ་གང་དང་། །ཐབས་ལ་མཁས་པ་གང་ཡིན་དང་། །
{I.47}
ཡེ་ཤེས་དང་ནི་བསོད་ནམས་དང་། །ལམ་དང་ག ངས་དང་ས་བ ་དང་། །
གཉེན་པོ་ཚགས་ཀྱི་ བ་པ་ཡི། །རིམ་པ་ཡིན་པར་ཤེས་པར་ ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
བསམ་ རོ ་གྱི་དབང་ ་ ས་པ་ ིང་ ་ེ བ་དང་ ནི ་པ་ལ་སོགས་
པ་ ག་ ེ་བ ན་དང༌། མཉམ་པར་བཞག་མ་བཞག་གི་དབང་ ་
ས་པ་ཞི་གནས་དང་ ག་མཐོང་དང་དེ་ ང་འ ལེ ་དང་ཐབས་
མཁས་ཏེ་བཞི་དང༌། ་ ོད་ཀྱི་དབང་ ་ ས་པ་ཡེ་ཤེས་དང་
བསོད་ནམས་གཉིས་དང༌། འ ས་ ་ བ་པ་དང་དམིགས་པ་
འཛིན་པའི་དབང་ ་ ས་པ་ལམ་དང་ག ངས་གཉིས་དང༌།
ཡོན་ཏན་གྱི་ ེན་ ེད་པ་དང་ཉེས་པ་སེལ་བའི་དབང་ ་ ས་པ་
ས་དང་གཉེན་པོའི་ཚགས་ བ་གཉིས་དང་བ ་བ ན་ནི་ཚགས་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 539

ཀྱི་ བ་པའི་གྲངས་ཀྱི་རིམ་པ་ཡིན་པར་ཤེས་པར་ འོ། །

See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 1, 102ff.
22

10th Topic
10. Definitely Issuative Achievings (ངེས་འ ང་ བ་པ་)
I.72-73:
{I.72}
These having the nature of eight aspects
Of definite issuance having as objects—
Objects of intent, equality,
The welfare of sentient beings, nonstriving,
{I.73}
Definite issuance passed beyond extremes,
Definite issuance having the character of attainment,
Exalted-knower-of-all-aspects, and path—
Are to be known as “definitely issuative achievings.”
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words (28b.6) fleshes these two
stanzas out as:
These having the nature of an enumeration of eight aspects of
means of assured definite issuance of the places of definite emer-
gence or [wisdoms] having eight objects:
1. the three great objects of intent described above [that is, great
mind, great abandonment, and great realization]
2. the final pristine wisdom realizing all phenomena as equally
empty of true existence
3. limitlessly bringing about the welfare of sentient beings by
means of compassion
4. spontaneously achieving all activities for others’ welfare
without striving and exertion
5. the nonabiding nirvāṇa passed beyond the extremes of cy-
clic existence and [solitary] peace
6. attainment of all types of abandonments [of obstructions]
and realizations [of selflessness] of the three vehicles
540 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

7. the exalted-knower-of-all-aspects described above

8. the uninterrupted peak training (bar cad med ba’i rtse sbyor,
anantaramūrdhaprayogaḥ) that is the special path which is
the cause of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects
are to be known as being definitely issuative achievings.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan identifies the first seven “places of definite emer-
gence” (nges par ’byung sa) as existing only in a Buddha, and the final
one as existing only at the end of the continuum as a sentient being (rgyun
mtha’). For more on uninterrupted peak trainings see Topic 48.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{I.72}
ཆེད་ ་ ་དང་མཉམ་ཉིད་དང་། །སེམས་ཅན་དོན་དང་འབད་མེད་དང་། །
མཐའ་ལས་འདས་པར་ངེས་འ ང་དང་། །ཐོབ་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་ངེས་འ ང་དང་། །
{I.73}
མ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་མཁྱེན་ཉིད་དང་། །ལམ་གྱི་ ལ་ཅན་ངེས་འ ང་ ེ། །
མ་པ་བ ད་ཀྱི་བདག་ཉིད་འདི། །ངེས་འ ང་ བ་པ་ཡིན་ཞེས་ ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
གོང་ ་བཤད་པའི་ཆེད་ ་ ་བ་ཆེན་པོ་ག མ་དང༌། ཆོས་
ཐམས་ཅད་བདེན་ ངོ ་མཉམ་པ་ཉིད་ ་ གོ ས་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་
མཐར་ ག་དང༌། ིང་ ེས་སེམས་ཅན་གྱི་དོན་མཐའ་ཡས་པར་
ེད་པ་དང༌། འབད་ ལོ ་མེད་པར་གཞན་དོན་གྱི་ ་བ་ཐམས་
ཅད་ ན་གྱིས་ བ་པ་དང༌། ིད་ཞིའི་མཐའ་ལས་འདས་པའི་མི་
གནས་པའི་ ང་འདས་དང༌། ཐེག་པ་ག མ་གྱི་ ངས་ གོ ས་ཀྱི་
རིགས་ཐམས་ཅད་འཐོབ་པ་དང༌། ར་བཤད་པའི་ མ་པ་
ཐམས་ཅད་མཁྱེན་པ་ཉིད་དང༌། མ་མཁྱེན་གྱི་ འི་ལམ་ཁྱད་
པར་ ་ ར་བ་བར་ཆད་མེད་པའི་ ེ་ ོར་ཏེ་བ ད་ཀྱི་ ལ་ཅན་
ནམ་ངེས་པར་འ ང་ས་དེ་དག་ ་གདོན་མི་ཟ་བར་ངེས་པར་
འ ིན་ དེ ་དེ་གྲངས་ མ་པ་བ ད་ཀྱི་བདག་ཉིད་འདི་ངེས་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 541

འ ང་ བ་པ་ཡིན་པར་ཤེས་པར་ འོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 1, 128ff.
23

Chapter II. Explaining the eleven phenomena

characterizing knowers of paths
I.7-9; Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 5a.3; see also Sparham,
Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti and [Haribhadra’s]
Ālokā, vol. 1, 191ff.
24

11th Topic
1. Limbs of Knowers of Paths (ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ཡན་ལག་)
II.1ab:
{II.1}
With light making gods lusterless
In order to make them suitable,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 30a.4, fleshes out these two
lines on the first of the five limbs as:
In order to make gods of the Desire Realm and Form Realm suit-
able as supports for generating knowers of paths, the One-Gone-
Thus made the light that is a fruition of their contaminated virtues
lusterless—that is to say, without splendor—with his light that is
a fruition of the two collections [of merit and wisdom]. Illustrated
by this, it is implicitly indicated that for those suitable as vessels
for generating a knower of paths, one must overcome whatever is
the predominant afflictive emotion. Hence, overcoming whatever
is the support’s predominant afflictive emotion is the first limb of
knowers of paths.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{II.1}
་ མས་ ང་བར་ ་བའི་ ིར། །འོད་ཀྱིས་མོག་མོག་པོར་མཛད་དང་། །
འདོད་ག གས་ཀྱི་ ་ མས་ལམ་ཤེས་ ེ་བའི་ ེན་ ་ ང་བར་ ་
542 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

བའི་ རི ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་ཚགས་གཉིས་ཀྱི་ མ་ ནི ་གྱི་

འོད་ཀྱིས་དེ་དག་གི་ཟག་བཅས་དགེ་བའི་ མ་ ིན་གྱི་འོད་མོག་
མོག་པོར་ཏེ་གཟི་མེད་པར་མཛད་པ་ ེ། དེས་མཚན་ནས་ལམ་
ཤེས་ ེ་བའི་ ོད་ ང་ལ་ཆགས་སོགས་ཉོན་མོངས་གང་ཤས་ཆེ་
བ་བཅོམ་པ་ཞིག་དགོས་པར་ གས་ཀྱིས་བ ན་ཅིང༌། དེས་ན་
ེན་ཆགས་སོགས་ཉོན་མོངས་གང་ཤས་ཆེ་བ་བཅོམ་པ་ནི་ལམ་
ཤེས་ཀྱི་ཡན་ལག་དང་པོ་ཡིན་ནོ། །
II.1c:
Limited places, pervasion,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 30a.7, fleshes out this line
on the second and third of the five limbs as:
Knowers of paths are generated only in Bodhisattvas; they are not
generated in Hearers and Solitary Victors. Therefore, the places
where the states are generated are limited. Since all creatures will
become fully purified, all those having the three lineages are per-
vaded by meditatively cultivating knowers of paths in the end.
These two [limited places and pervasion] are the second and third
limbs.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
ལ་ངེས་པ་དང་ཁྱབ་པ་དང་། །
ལམ་ཤེས་ནི་ ང་སེམས་ཁོ་ན་ལ་ འེ ི་ཉན་རང་ལ་མི་ ེ་བས་
གནས་ བས་ ེ་བའི་ ལ་སོ་སོར་ངེས་པ་དང༌། ེ་བོ་ཐམས་ཅད་
འཚང་ ་བར་འ ར་བས་མཐར་ ག་རིགས་ཅན་ག མ་གས་
ལམ་ཤེས་ མོ ་པས་ཁྱབ་པ་ ེ། འདི་གཉིས་ནི་ཡན་ལག་གཉིས་པ་
དང་ག མ་པའོ། །
II.1d:
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 543

Nature,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 30b.2, fleshes out this word
on the fourth of the five limbs as:
The nature of a knower of paths is to not abandon afflictive emo-
tions intentionally for one’s own sake in all respects. This is the
fourth limb.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
རང་བཞིན་དང་ནི་
ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་ནི་རང་དོན་ ་ཉོན་མོངས་པ་ མ་པ་
ཐམས་ཅད་ ་ཆེད་ ་གཉེར་ནས་མི་ ོང་བ་ ེ། འདི་ནི་ཡན་
ལག་བཞི་པའོ། །
II.1d:
and its function.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 30b.3, fleshes out these two
words on the fifth of the five limbs as:
The function of a knower of paths is to not actualize the limit of
reality for the time being but through special skill in means to
gather into one’s circle sentient beings who have not been gath-
ered, and so forth. This is the fifth limb.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
དེ་ཡི་ལས། །
ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ དེ ་ལས་ནི་བར་ བས་ ་ཡང་དག་མཐའ་མངོན་
་མི་ ེད་པར་ཐབས་ཤེས་ཁྱད་པར་ཅན་གྱིས་སེམས་ཅན་འཁོར་
་མ་བ ས་པ་ ད་པ་ལ་སོགས་པ་ ེ། འདི་ནི་ཡན་ལག་ ་
པའོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 2, 3.
544 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

25

12th Topic
2. Knowers of Paths that Know Hearer Paths (ཉན་
ཐོས་ཀྱི་ལམ་ཤེས་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་)
II.2:
{II.2}
With regard to the mode of knowers of paths,
By way of the nonapprehension [of the true existence]
Of the aspects of the four noble truths
These paths of Hearers are to be known.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 31a.7, fleshes this stanza out
as:
With regard to the mode of, that is to say, on the occasion of,
full meditative cultivation of knowers of paths, the sixteen as-
pects of those four noble truths—impermanence and so forth—
(1) are to be meditated by way of conjunction with wisdom real-
izing them without apprehension as truly existing and, as illus-
trated by that, conjunction with mind-generation during the prep-
aration as well as dedication [of the virtue] at the end and (2) how
these paths of Hearers are meditatively cultivation also is to be
known.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{II.2}
ལམ་ཤེས་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ ལ་ལ་ནི། །འཕགས་པའི་བདེན་པ་བཞི་དག་གི །
མ་པ་མི་དམིགས་ ོ་ནས་ནི། །ཉན་ཐོས་ལམ་འདི་ཤེས་པར་ ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ལམ་ཤེས་ཉིད་ ོགས་པར་ ོམ་པའི་ ལ་ལ་ ེ་ བས་ ་འཕགས་
པའི་བདེན་པ་བཞི་པོ་དེ་དག་གི་ མ་པ་མི་ ག་སོགས་བ ་ ག་
པོ་ནི། ཟིན་ ེད་བདེན་པར་མི་དམིགས་པར་ གོ ས་པའི་ཤེས་
རབ་དང་དེས་མཚན་པའི་ ོར་བའི་སེམས་བ དེ ་དང་མ ག་གི་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 545

བ ོ་བ་དང་བཅས་པའི་ ་ོ ནས་ མོ ་པར་ ་ཞིང་ཉན་ཐོས་ཀྱི་

ལམ་འདི་ ་ི ར་ ོམ་པ་ཡང་ཤེས་པར་ འོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 2, 4ff.
26

13th Topic
3. Knowers of Paths that Know Solitary Victor
Paths (རང་ ལ་གྱི་ལམ་ཤེས་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་)
II.6:
{II.6}
Because the self-arisen realize [enlightenment] by themselves,
They also do not need to be taught by others,
[Whereby] it is said that the wisdom
Of the rhinoceros-like is more profound.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 32a.1, fleshes this stanza out
as:
Because in their final life in mundane existence self-arisen Soli-
tary Victors realize their own enlightenment by themselves, they
also do not need to be taught by others, their consciousness be-
ing more profound [than the wisdom of Hearers]. The word
“also” includes that they do not need to teach doctrine to others
with their speech, [whereby] not speaking is more profound. Due
to being endowed with these two profundities, the wisdom of rhi-
noceros-like Solitary Victors is said to be more profound.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{II.6}
རང་ ང་བདག་ཉིད་ ོགས་པའི་ ིར། །གཞན་གྱིས་བ ན་ཡང་མི་དགོས་ལ། །
བསེ་ ་ ་ འི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ནི། །ཟབ་པ་ཉིད་ ་མངོན་པར་བ ོད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
རང་ ང་རང་སངས་ ས་ མས་ དི ་པ་ཐ་མ་བའི་ཚ་གཞན་ལ་
མ་ ོས་པར་བདག་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་རང་གི་ ང་ བ་ གོ ས་པའི་ རི ་
546 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

གཞན་གྱིས་རང་ལ་བ ན་ཡང་མི་དགོས་པ་ ེ་ཤེས་པ་ཟབ་པ་

ཡིན་ལ། ཡང་ ས་བ ས་པ་གཞན་ལ་རང་གི་ངག་གི་ཆོས་བ ན་
མི་དགོས་པ་ ེ་མ་བ དོ ་པ་ཟབ་པ་ཡིན་ནོ། །ཟབ་པ་དེ་གཉིས་
དང་ ན་པའི་ ིར་བསེ་ ་ ་ འི་རང་ ལ་གྱི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ནི་ཟབ་པ་
ཉིད་ ་མངོན་པར་བ དོ ་དོ། །
II.7:
{II.7}
Whatsoever meanings about which
[Their trainees] want to hear
Appear accordingly to them
Even though there are no sounds.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 32a.5, fleshes this stanza out
as:
How is it suitable to teach doctrine without sounds? The mean-
ings of whatsoever objects of expression about which whatso-
ever trainees of Solitary Victors want to hear appear in accord-
ance with their interest to them even though there are no sounds
expressing those meanings…Tsong-kha-pa’s Golden Garland
and Gyal-tshab’s Explanation: Ornament for the Essence explain,
in agreement, that [Solitary Victors] teach doctrine through their
body [that is, by way of physical gestures].
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{II.7}
གང་གང་དོན་ནི་གང་གང་ལ། ། ི་ ་ ི་ ར་ཉན་འདོད་པ། །
དེ་དེ་ལ་དོན་དེ་དང་དེ། ། ་མེད་ཀྱང་དེ་དེ་ ར་ ང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
་མེད་པར་ཆོས་ ོན་པ་ ི་ ར་ ང་ མ་ན། རང་ ལ་གྱི་
ག ལ་ ་གང་དང་གང་བ ོད་ འི་དོན་ནི། གང་དང་གང་ལ་
རང་རང་གི་མོས་པ་ ་ི ་ ་ི ར་ཉན་འདོད་པ་དེ་དང་དེ་ལ་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 547

བ ན་ འི་དོན་དེ་དང་དེ་བ ོད་པའི་ ་མེད་ཀྱང་བ ོད་ ་དེ་

ཉན་པ་པོས་ ི་ ར་ཉན་འདོད་པ་དེ་ ར་ ང་ངོ༌། །… གསེར་
ེང་ མ་བཤད་སོགས་མ ན་པར་ ས་ཀྱིས་ཆོས་ ོན་པར་
བཤད་དོ། །
II.8:
{II.8}
It is to be known that the paths of the rhinoceros-like
Are included completely within abandoning conceptualization
Of apprehended-objects [as external objects], not abandoning
[conceptualization
Of] apprehenders [as truly existent], and the support.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 32b.5, fleshes this stanza out
as:
It is to be known by Bodhisattvas that the paths of Solitary Vic-
tors, as illustrated by the rhinoceros-like, are included com-
pletely within the three features of (1) abandoning conceptual-
ization of apprehended-objects such as forms and so forth as ex-
ternal objects, (2) not abandoning conceptualization of appre-
henders, that is, adhering to consciousnesses as truly existent,
and (3) the person who is the support that is the achiever [prac-
titioner] or the support that is the noumenon, the object of obser-
vation of achieving.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{II.8}
ག ང་དོན་ ོག་པ་ ོང་ ིར་དང་། །འཛིན་པ་མི་ ོང་ ིར་དང་ནི། །
ེན་གྱིས་བསེ་ ་ ་ འི་ལམ། །ཡང་དག་བ ས་པར་ཤེས་པར་ ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ག ང་བ་ག གས་སོགས་ ི་རོལ་གྱི་དོན་ ་ཞེན་པའི་ གོ ་པ་ ངོ ་
བ་དང༌། འཛིན་པ་ ེ་ཤེས་པ་བདེན་པར་ཞེན་པའི་ གོ ་པ་མི་
ངོ ་བ་དང༌། བ་པ་པོའི་ ནེ ་གྱི་གང་ཟག་གམ་ བ་པའི་
548 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

དམིགས་པ་ཆོས་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ ེན་གྱི་ཁྱད་པར་ག མ་གྱིས། བསེ་ ་ ་

ས་མཚན་པའི་རང་ ལ་གྱི་ལམ་ཡང་དག་པར་བ ས་པར་ ང་
བ་སེམས་དཔའ་ མས་ཀྱིས་ཤེས་པར་ འོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 2, 8ff.
27

14th Topic
4. Great Vehicle Paths of Seeing, Greatly
Beneficial in This and Future Lives (འདི་ རི ་ཕན་ཡོན་ཆེ་
བའི་ཐེག་ཆེན་མཐོང་ལམ་)
II.11:
{II.11}
This path of seeing as well as its benefits
Is described about knowers of paths
From the viewpoint that each of the truths has four aspects
That are moments of forbearance and knowledge.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 33b.1, treats this first of six
stanzas as a brief indication of Great Vehicle paths of seeing as well as
their benefits and fleshes it out as:
This path of seeing as well as its benefits in this and future [life-
times] is described on the occasion of knowers of paths from
the viewpoint of indicating that each of the four truths—the two
truths of suffering and origin and the two truths of cessation and
path—have four aspects that are four moments of forbearance
and knowledge each.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{II.11}
བདེན་དང་བདེན་ལ་བཟོད་པ་དང་། །ཤེས་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་ མ་བཞི་ཡིས། །
ལམ་ཤེས་ཉིད་ལ་མཐོང་བའི་ལམ། །ཕན་ཡོན་བཅས་པ་འདི་བཤད་དོ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 549

ག་ཀུན་གྱི་བདེན་པ་གཉིས་དང་འགོག་ལམ་གྱི་བདེན་པ་གཉིས་
ཏེ་བཞི་ལ་བཟོད་པ་དང་ཤེས་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་མ་ མ་པ་བཞི་
བཞིར་བ ན་པའི་ ོ་ནས་ལམ་ཤེས་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ བས་ ་མཐོང་བའི་
ལམ་འདི་ འི ི་ཕན་ཡོན་དང་བཅས་པ་འདི་བཤད་པ་ཡིན་ནོ། །
II.12-13a:
{II.12}
(1) Nonassertion of thusness and Buddhas
As enumerations since support and supported
Mutually do not exist in them,
(2) Greatness [of emptiness], (3) nonexistence of valid cogni-
tions,
{II.13}
(4) Measurelessness,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 33b.3, treats the remaining
five stanzas as an extensive explanation of Great Vehicle paths of seeing
as well as their benefits and fleshes the first out as:
The four moments of doctrinal forbearance and so forth with re-
spect to sufferings, these being indicated through illustration by
four aspects of objects of realization:
1. Because support and supported mutually do not ultimately
exist in the thusness of true sufferings and Buddhas’ perfec-
tion of wisdom realizing it, those objects and object-posses-
sors [that is, subjects] are not asserted as enumerations of
same and different, that is to say, they do not exist as what is
to be adopted;
2. the emptiness of true existence of the forms and so forth of
true sufferings is great because it is the entity of the element
of attributes
3. ultimately the valid cognitions comprehending those forms
and so forth of true sufferings do not exist
4. with respect to those forms and so forth of true sufferings,
ultimately a measure of them as the two, being or not being
physical, does not exist;
550 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

Maitreya’s Ornament:
{II.12}
དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་དང་སངས་ ས་དང་། །ཕན་ ན་ ེན་པ་ ེན་མེད་ ིར། །
མ་གྲངས་ཁས་མི་ལེན་པ་དང་། །ཆེན་པོ་ཚད་མ་མེད་བཅས་དང་། །
{II.13}
ཚད་མེད་པ་དང་
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ག་བདེན་གྱི་དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་དང་དེ་ ོགས་པའི་སངས་ ས་ཤེར་
ིན་དེ་དག་ལ་དོན་དམ་པར་ཕན་ ན་ ནེ ་དང་བ ནེ ་པ་མེད་
པའི་ རི ་ ལ་ ལ་ཅན་དེ་དག་གཅིག་ཐ་དད་ཀྱི་ མ་གྲངས་
ཁས་མི་ལེན་པ་ ེ་ ང་ ར་མེད་པ་དང༌། ག་བདེན་གྱི་ག གས་
སོགས་བདེན་པས་ ངོ ་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་ད ིངས་ཀྱི་ངོ་བོ་ཡིན་པས་
ཆེན་པོ་དང་དོན་དམ་པར་ ག་བདེན་གྱི་ག གས་སོགས་དེ་དག་
འ ལ་ ེད་ཀྱི་ཚད་མ་མེད་པ་དང༌། དོན་དམ་པར་ ག་བདེན་
གྱི་ག གས་སོགས་དེ་དག་ག གས་ཅན་ཡིན་མིན་གཉིས་ཀྱི་ཚད་
མེད་པ་ ེ་ གོ ས་ འི་ མ་པ་བཞིས་མཚན་ནས་བ ན་པའི་ ག་
བ ལ་ཆོས་བཟོད་སོགས་ ད་ཅིག་མ་བཞི་དང༌།
II.13a-14a:
(5) absence of extremes,
(6) Definite apprehension of forms and so forth
As buddha by those abiding in that
And (7) as without adopting and discarding, and so forth,
{II.14}

(8) Love and so on,

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 33b.7, fleshes these lines out
as:
the four moments of doctrinal forbearance and so forth with re-
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 551

spect to origins [of suffering], these being indicated through illus-

tration by the four aspects of, respectively, (5) objects of realiza-
tion, (6) benefit, (7) stopping falling to the extreme of mundane
existence, and (8) stopping falling to the extreme of the extreme
of [solitary] peace:
5. the absence of the extremes of permanence and annihilation
and so forth in the forms and so forth of origins [of sufferings]
since they do not truly exist
6. yogis abiding in that doctrinal knowledge of origins [of suf-
ferings] definitely apprehend the forms and so forth of or-
igins [of sufferings] as buddha, that is, those two [that is, the
forms and so forth of origins of sufferings and yogis abiding
in that doctrinal knowledge of origins of sufferings] as the one
taste of the emptiness of true existence
7. those abiding in the subsequent forbearance with respect to
origins [of sufferings] meditate on all the phenomena of ori-
gins as ultimately without adopting and discarding, and so
forth
8. [those abiding in the subsequent forbearance with respect to
origins of sufferings origins of sufferings] meditatively culti-
vate the four immeasurables of love and so on conjoined with
an awareness realizing the absence of true existence;
Maitreya’s Ornament:

མཐའ་མེད་དང་། །དེར་གནས་ག གས་ལ་སོགས་པ་ལ། །

སངས་ ས་ཉིད་ ་ངེས་འཛིན་དང་། ། ང་མེད་དོར་བ་མེད་སོགས་དང་། །
{II.14}
མས་ལ་སོགས་པ་
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཀུན་འ ང་གི་ག གས་སོགས་བདེན་པར་མེད་པས་ ག་ཆད་ཀྱི་
མཐའ་ལ་སོགས་པ་མེད་པ་དང༌། ཀུན་འ ང་ཆོས་ཤེས་དེར་
གནས་པའི་ ལ་འ ོར་བ་ནི་ཀུན་འ ང་གི་ག གས་ལ་སོགས་པ་
ལ་སངས་ ས་ཉིད་ ་ ་ེ དེ་གཉིས་བདེན་ ངོ ་རོ་གཅིག་ ་ངེས་
552 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

པར་འཛིན་པ་དང༌། ཀུན་འ ང་ སེ ་བཟོད་ལ་གནས་པས་ཀུན་

འ ང་གི་ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་དོན་དམ་པར་ ང་བ་མེད་པ་དང་
དོར་བ་མེད་པར་ ོམ་པ་ལ་སོགས་པ་དང༌། བདེན་མེད་ གོ ས་
པའི་ ོས་ཟིན་པའི་ མས་པ་ལ་སོགས་པའི་ཚད་མེད་བཞི་ ོམ་པ་
ེ། རིམ་བཞིན་ གོ ས་ ་དང་ཕན་ཡོན་དང་ ིད་མཐའ་དང་ཞི་
མཐར་ ང་བ་འགོག་པའི་ མ་པ་བཞིས་མཚན་ནས་བ ན་པའི་
ཀུན་འ ང་ཆོས་བཟོད་སོགས་ ད་ཅིག་མ་བཞི་དང༌།
II.14:
(9) emptinesses,
(10) Attainment of Buddhahood,
(11) Thorough inclusion of all the pure,
(12) Removal of all fright and disease,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 34a.4, fleshes these lines out
as:
the four moments of doctrinal forbearance and so forth with re-
spect to cessations [of the origins of suffering], these being indi-
cated through illustration by the four aspects of, respectively, ob-
jects of realization, benefit of attaining the fruit, function contain-
ing the antidotes, and benefit of removing the damage:
9. the sixteen primordial emptinesses of true existence of the
entities of forms and so forth
10. attainment of Buddhahood, the fruit of roots of virtue
11. thorough inclusion of all the types of pure antidotes in the
subsequent forbearance of cessations
12. removal of all external damage such as fright and so forth
and internal damage such as disease and so forth;
Maitreya’s Ornament:

ོང་ཉིད་དང་། །སངས་ ས་ཉིད་ནི་འཐོབ་པ་དང་། །

མ་པར་ ང་ཀུན་ཡོངས་བ ས་དང་། །ཉམ་ང་བ་དང་ནད་ཀུན་སེལ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 553

ག གས་སོགས་ཀྱི་ངོ་བོ་གདོད་མ་ནས་བདེན་པས་ ོང་པའི་ ངོ ་
ཉིད་བ ་ ག་དང༌། དགེ་བའི་ ་བ་ མས་ཀྱི་འ ས་ ་སངས་
ས་ཉིད་འཐོབ་པ་དང༌། འགོག་པ་ ེས་བཟོད་ ་གཉེན་པོ་ མ་
པར་ ང་བའི་རིགས་ མས་ཡོངས་ ་བ ས་པ་དང༌། འགོག་པ་
ེས་ཤེས་ཀྱིས་ཡ་ང་བ་སོགས་ ི་དང་ནད་སོགས་ནང་གི་འཚ་བ་
མས་སེལ་བ་ ེ། རིམ་བཞིན་ ོགས་ ་དང་འ ས་ ་འཐོབ་
པའི་ཕན་ཡོན་དང་གཉེན་པོ་ ད་པའི་ ེད་ལས་དང་གནོད་པ་
སེལ་བའི་ཕན་ཡོན་གྱི་ མ་པ་བཞིས་མཚན་ནས་བ ན་པའི་
འགོག་པ་ཆོས་བཟོད་སོགས་ ད་ཅིག་མ་བཞི་དང༌།
II.15-16:
{II.15}
(13) Pacification of apprehension of nirvāṇa,
(14) Being guarded by Buddhas and so forth,
(15) Oneself abiding in an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects
Such as not killing and so forth
{II.16}
And setting other sentient beings,
And (16) dedicating giving and so forth
To complete enlightenment
Are the moments of knowers of paths.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 34a.7, fleshes these lines out
as:
and the four moments of doctrinal forbearance and so forth with
respect to the path, these being indicated through illustration by
the four aspects of, respectively, pacification of adherence to ob-
jects, benefits of protection by others, setting oneself and others in
virtue, and dedicating the virtues of those to complete enlighten-
ment:
13. pacification of adherence to forms and so forth and nirvāṇa
only by meditating on ultimate naturelessness
554 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

14. for those abiding in doctrinal knowledge of the path, Bud-

dhas and gods guard, protect, and shelter them respectively
from the three harms arisen from their own conditions, con-
ditions counted as sentient, and conditions not counted as sen-
tient or from the three nonvirtuous karmas—to be experi-
enced in the present life, upon rebirth, and in some other birth
15. oneself abiding in the causes of an exalted-knower-of-all-
aspects such as not killing and so forth, and setting other
sentient beings in those [causes]
16. dedicating the roots of virtues of giving and so forth to thor-
oughly complete enlightenment;
these sixteen are the sixteen moments of the path of seeing of
knowers of paths.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{II.15}
་ངན་འདས་འཛིན་ཞི་ཉིད་དང་། །སངས་ ས་ མས་ཀྱིས་བ ང་ལ་སོགས། །
ོག་མི་གཅོད་པ་ལ་སོགས་པ། ། མ་པ་ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ ལ་ལ་ནི། །
{II.16}
བདག་ཉིད་གནས་ཏེ་སེམས་ཅན་དག །འགོད་དང་ ནི ་པ་ལ་སོགས་པ། །
ོགས་པའི་ ང་ བ་ ་བ ོ་བ། །ལམ་ཤེས་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ ད་ཅིག་མ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
དོན་དམ་པར་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མེད་པ་ ོམ་པ་ཁོ་ནས་ག གས་སོགས་
དང་ ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པ་ལ་བདེན་པ་ཞེན་པ་ཞི་བ་དང༌། ལམ་
ཆོས་ཤེས་ལ་ གས་པ་ལ་སངས་ ས་དང་ ་ མས་ཀྱིས་རང་གི་
ེན་དང་སེམས་ཅན་ ་བགྲང་བའི་ ེན་དང་སེམས་ཅན་བགྲང་
བ་མ་ཡིན་པའི་ ནེ ་ལས་ ང་བའི་གནོད་པ་ག མ་མམ་མཐོང་
ཆོས་དང་ སེ ་ནས་དང་ལན་གྲངས་གཞན་ལ་ ོང་འ ར་གྱི་མི་
དགེ་བའི་ལས་ག མ་ལས་རིམ་བཞིན་ ང་བ་དང་བ བ་པ་དང་
་བར་མཛད་པ་དང༌། གོ ་མི་གཅོད་པ་ལ་སོགས་པ་ མ་མཁྱེན་
གྱི་ ་ལ་བདག་ཉིད་གནས་ཏེ་སེམས་ཅན་དག་དེ་ལ་འགོད་པ་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 555

དང༌། ནི ་པ་ལ་སོགས་པའི་དགེ་ ་ མས་ཡང་དག་པར་ གོ ས་

པའི་ ང་ བ་ ་བ ་ོ བར་ ་ ེ། རིམ་བཞིན་ ལ་ལ་ཞེན་པ་ཞི་
བ་དང་གཞན་གྱིས་བ ང་བའི་ཕན་ཡོན་དང་བདག་གཞན་དགེ་
བ་ལ་འགོད་པ་དང༌། དེའི་དགེ་བ་ ོགས་ ང་ ་བ ོ་བའི་ མ་
པ་བཞིས་མཚན་ནས་བ ན་པ་ལམ་ཆོས་བཟོད་སོགས་ ད་ཅིག་
མ་བཞི་ ེ་བ ་ ག་པོ་ནི་ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་མཐོང་ལམ་ ད་ཅིག་བ ་
ག་དག་ཡིན་ནོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 2, 14ff.
28

15th Topic
5. Functions of a [Great Vehicle] Path of
Meditation ( ོམ་ལམ་གྱི་ ེད་པ་)
II.17:
{II.17}
Thoroughly pacifying, bowing to all,
Overcoming the afflictions,
Not being affected by harmers,
Enlightenment, foundations of worship.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 34b.6, fleshes this stanza out
as:
Internally thoroughly pacifying, that is, taming, one’s own mind;
and externally due to that cause being without pride bowing
(’dud) to all beings; and internally overcoming the afflictions of
desire and so forth; and externally due to that cause not being af-
fected by external harmers; and finally attaining unsurpassed en-
lightenment; and [making] the areas where one resides become
foundations of worship by gods and so forth are the six functions,
that is to say, fruits, of a Great Vehicle path of meditation.
556 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

Maitreya’s Ornament:
{II.17}
ཀུན་ནས་ཞི་དང་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ། །འ ད་དང་ཉོན་མོངས་ལས་ ལ་དང་། །
གནོད་པས་བ ི་བ་མེད་ཉིད་དང་། ། ང་ བ་དང་ནི་ ེན་མཆོད་ཉིད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ནང་ ་རང་གི་སེམས་ཀུན་ནས་ཞི་བ་ ེ་འ ལ་བ་དང༌། ་དེས་
ི་རོལ་ ་ང་ ལ་མེད་པར་ ེ་བོ་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་འ ད་པ་དང༌།
ནང་ ་ཆགས་སོགས་ཉོན་མོངས་ལས་ ལ་བ་དང༌། ་དེས་ ི་
རོལ་ ་ཕ་རོལ་གྱི་གནོད་པས་ ་ི བ་མེད་པ་དང༌། མཐར་ ག་ ་
མེད་ ང་ བ་འཐོབ་པ་དང༌། རང་གང་ ་གནས་པའི་ ནེ ་ས་
ོགས་ མས་ ་ལ་སོགས་པས་མཆོད་པའི་ ནེ ་ ་ ར་པ་ནི་
ཐེག་ཆེན་ མོ ་ལམ་གྱི་ ེད་པ་ ེ་འ ས་ ་ ག་གོ །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 2, 19ff.
29

16th Topic
Paths of Meditation of Belief (མོས་པ་ མོ ་ལམ་)
II.18-19:
{II.18}
Belief is to be known as having three aspects—
Consisting of one’s own welfare,
The welfare of oneself and others, and others’ welfare.
Also, it is asserted individually as the three aspects
{II.19}
Of the small, medium, and great.
Also, through the divisions of the small of the small and so forth
Those have three aspects, thus it is asserted
That there are twenty-seven aspects.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 35a.3, fleshes these two
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 557

stanzas out as:

A path of meditation of belief believing in the textual, path, and
fruit perfections of wisdom as sources of the three welfares is to
be known as having three aspects of divisions—consisting of
paths of meditation of belief for one’s own welfare, for the wel-
fare of both oneself and others, and for others’ welfare. Also,
each of those is divided individually into the three aspects each
of the small, medium, and great, whereby it is asserted as nine;
also through the divisions of the small of the small and so
forth, each of those nine has three aspects each, in which case
it is asserted that there are twenty-seven aspects of paths of
meditation of belief.
Tsong-kha-pa’s Golden Garland says that interest in one’s
own welfare exists from the second ground through the seventh
ground, interest in the welfare of both exists on the two grounds
of the eighth and the ninth; and interest in others’ welfare exists
only on the tenth ground, but Gyal-tshab’s Explanation explains
that all three are posited [starting] from the second ground.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{II.18}
མོས་པ་རང་གི་དོན་དང་ནི། །རང་གཞན་དོན་དང་གཞན་དོན་དང་། །
མ་ག མ་ཤེས་ ་དེ་ཡང་ནི། ། ང་དང་འ ིང་དང་ཆེན་པོ་ ེ། །
{II.19}
སོ་སོར་ མ་པ་ག མ་ ་འདོད། ། ང་ འི་ ང་སོགས་ད ེ་བ་ཡིས། །
དེ་ཡང་ མ་ག མ་དེ་ ར་ན། ། མ་པ་ཉི་ ་བ ན་ ་འདོད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ག ང་ལམ་འ ས་ འི་ཤེར་ ིན་དོན་ག མ་གྱི་འ ང་གནས་ ་
ཡིད་ཆེས་པའི་མོས་པ་ མོ ་ལམ་ནི་རང་གི་དོན་དང་རང་གཞན་
གཉིས་ཀའི་དོན་དང་གཞན་གྱི་དོན་གྱི་མོས་པ་ ོམ་ལམ་ ་ེ ད ེ་
བ་ མ་པ་ག མ་ ་ཤེས་པར་ ་ལ། དེ་རེ་རེ་ལ་ཡང་ ང་ ་དང་
འ ངི ་དང་ཆེན་པོ་ ་ེ སོ་སོར་ མ་པ་ག མ་ག མ་ ་ད ེ་བས་
དགུར་འདོད་པ་དང༌། ང་ འི་ ང་ ་ལ་སོགས་པའི་ད ་ེ བས་
558 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

དགུ་རེ་རེ་ལ་ཡང་ མ་པ་ག མ་ག མ་ཡོད་པ་དེ་ ར་ན་མོས་པ་

ོམ་ལམ་ མ་པ་ཉི་ ་ ་བ ན་ཡོད་པར་འདོད་པར་ འོ། །རང་
དོན་མོས་པ་ས་གཉིས་པ་ནས་བ ན་པའི་བར་དང༌། གཉིས་དོན་
མོས་པ་ས་བ ད་པ་དགུ་པ་གཉིས་དང༌། གཞན་དོན་མོས་པ་ས་
བ ་པ་ཁོ་ནར་ཡོད་པར་གསེར་ ངེ ་ལས་ག ངས་ཤིང༌། མ་
བཤད་ལས་ག མ་ག་ས་གཉིས་པ་ནས་བཞག་པར་བཤད་དོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 2, 20ff.
30

17th Topic
7. Praise, Extolling, and Lauding of the Benefits
of That [Path of Meditation of Belief] (དེའི་ཕན་ཡོན་བ ོད་
བཀུར་བ གས་ག མ་)
II.20:
{II.20}
It is asserted that praising, extolling, and lauding
Is made by way of three groups of nine
During the occasions of belief
In the perfections of wisdom.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 35b.1, fleshes this stanza out
as:
It is asserted that Buddhas and high Bodhisattvas:
(1) make praises in a manner ever increasing over the former by
way of nine aspects during the nine occasions of taking to
mind interest in one’s own welfare—which is to believe in
the textual, path, and fruit perfections of wisdom as sources
of the three welfares [that is, one’s own welfare, the welfare
of both oneself and others, and others’ welfare];
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 559

(2) make extolling by way of nine aspects during the nine oc-
casions of taking to mind interest in the welfare of both[—
which is to believe in the textual, path, and fruit perfections
of wisdom as sources of the three welfares]; and
(3) make lauding by way of nine aspects during the nine occa-
sions of taking to mind interest in the welfare of others[—
which is to believe in the textual, path, and fruit perfections
of wisdom as sources of the three welfares;
thereby] praising, extolling, and lauding respectively the indi-
vidual three paths of meditation of belief through three groups
of nine.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{II.20}
ཤེས་རབ་ཕ་རོལ་ ིན་པ་ལ། །མོས་པའི་གནས་ བས་ མས་ལ་ནི། །
དགུ་ཚན་ག མ་གྱིས་བ ོད་པ་དང་། །བཀུར་བ་དང་ནི་བ གས་པར་འདོད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ག ང་ལམ་འ ས་ འི་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ ་ ནི ་པ་ལ་དོན་
ག མ་གྱི་འ ང་གནས་ ་ཡིད་ཆེས་པའི་རང་དོན་མོས་པ་ཡིད་
ལ་ ེད་པའི་གནས་ བས་དགུ་ མས་ ་སངས་ ས་དང་ ང་
སེམས་གོང་མ་ མས་ཀྱིས་ མ་པ་དགུས་ ་མ་ ་མ་ལས་ ག་
པའི་ ལ་ ་བ ོད་པ་དང༌། གཉིས་དོན་མོས་པ་ཡིད་ལ་ ེད་
པའི་གནས་ བས་དགུ་ མས་ ་ མ་པ་དགུས་བཀུར་བ་དང༌།
གཞན་དོན་མོས་པ་ཡིད་ལ་ ེད་པའི་གནས་ བས་དགུ་ མས་ ་
མ་པ་དགུས་བ གས་པར་མཛད་པ་ ེ་དགུ་ཚན་ག མ་གྱིས་
མོས་པ་ མོ ་ལམ་ག མ་སོ་སོ་ལ་གོ་རིམ་བཞིན་ ་བ དོ ་པ་དང་
བཀུར་བ་དང་བ གས་པར་འདོད་པར་ འོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 2, 26ff.
560 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

31

18th Topic
8. Paths of Meditation of Dedication (བ ོ་བ་ མོ ་ལམ་)
II.21:
{II.21}
The function of special thorough
Dedications is more supreme.
Having the aspect of unapprehendability;
The character of non-erroneousness;
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 36a.2, fleshes this stanza out
as:
Since the function of special thorough dedications, the dedica-
tions of a Bodhisattvas on the path of meditation, is to transform
one’s own and others’ virtuous roots into a branch of complete
enlightenment, they are more supreme than other dedications.
When those are divided, there are eleven divisions:
1. dedications of roots of virtue to complete enlightenment in
the manner of nonadherence to the substantial entity of the
objects of dedication as truly existent are dedications imputed
with the name “having the aspect of unapprehendability”
2. dedications of roots of virtue to complete enlightenment in
the manner of nonadherence to the mind—that is the agent of
dedication—as truly existent are dedications imputed with the
name “having a character of non-erroneousness”
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{II.21}
ཡོངས་ ་བ ོ་བ་ཁྱད་པར་ཅན། །དེ་ཡི་ ེད་པ་མཆོག་ཡིན་ནོ། །
དེ་ནི་དམིགས་མེད་ མ་པ་ཅན། ། ིན་ཅི་མ་ལོག་མཚན་ཉིད་དོ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཡོངས་ ་བ ་ོ བ་ཁྱད་པར་ཅན་ ང་སེམས་ མོ ་ལམ་པའི་བ ོ་བ་
དེའ་ི དེ ་པ་ནི་རང་གཞན་གྱི་དགེ་ ་ ོགས་ ང་གི་ཡན་ལག་ ་
ར་བར་ དེ ་པའི་ རི ་བ ོ་བ་གཞན་ལས་མཆོག་ཡིན་ནོ། །དེ་ལ་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 561

ད ་ེ ན། བ ོ་ འི་ ས་ལ་བདེན་པར་མི་ཞེན་པའི་ ལ་གྱིས་དགེ་

་ མས་ གོ ས་ ང་ ་བ ོ་བ་ནི། དམིགས་མེད་ མ་པ་ཅན་
ཞེས་མིང་བཏགས་པའི་བ ོ་བ་དང༌། བ ོ་ ེད་ཀྱི་སེམས་ལ་
བདེན་པར་མི་ཞེན་པར་དགེ་ ་ མས་ གོ ས་ ང་ ་བ ་ོ བ་ནི།
ནི ་ཅི་མ་ལོག་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་ཅེས་མིང་ ་བཏགས་པའི་བ ོ་
བ་དང༌།
II.22:
{II.22}
Voidness; having the sphere of activity
Of mindfulness of the nature
Of the collection of a Buddha’s merit,
Having skill in means; signless; admired by Buddhas;
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 36a.5, fleshes this stanza out
as:
3. dedications of roots of virtue to complete enlightenment in
the manner of nonadherence to the person—who is the dedi-
cator—as truly existent are dedications imputed with the
name “devoid of ultimate [existence]”
4. dedications of roots of virtue to complete enlightenment in
the manner of nonadherence to one’s own and a Buddha’s vir-
tues—as bad and good—as truly existent are dedications im-
puted with the name “having the sphere of activity of mind-
fulness of the nature of the collection of a Buddha’s merit”
5. dedications of roots of virtue to complete enlightenment in
the manner of nonadherence to the virtues of the six perfec-
tions—as good and bad—as truly existent are dedications im-
puted with the name “having skill in means”
6. dedications of roots of virtue to complete enlightenment in
the manner of nonadherence to all dedications as truly exist-
ent in terms of the three spheres [of agent, action, and object]
are dedications imputed with the name “signless dedications”
7. dedications of roots of virtue to complete enlightenment in
562 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

the manner of nonadherence to all paths of the three vehicles

as truly existent in terms of the three spheres [of agent, action,
and object] are dedications imputed with the name “admired
by Buddhas”
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{II.22}
དབེན་དང་སངས་ ས་བསོད་ནམས་ཚགས། །རང་བཞིན་ ན་པའི་ ོད་ ལ་ཅན། །
ཐབས་བཅས་མཚན་མ་མེད་པ་དང་། །སངས་ ས་ ེས་ ་ཡི་རང་དང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
བ ་ོ བ་པོ་གང་ཟག་ལ་བདེན་པར་མི་ཞེན་པར་དགེ་ ་ མས་
ོགས་ ང་ ་བ ོ་བ་ནི། དོན་དམ་པར་དབེན་པ་ཞེས་མིང་ ་
བཏགས་པའི་བ ོ་བ་དང༌། རང་དང་སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་དགེ་བ་ལ་
བཟང་ངན་ ་བདེན་པར་མི་ཞེན་པར་དགེ་ ་ མས་ གོ ས་ ང་
་བ ོ་བ་ནི། སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་བསོད་ནམས་ཀྱི་ཚགས་ཀྱི་རང་
བཞིན་ ན་པའི་ དོ ་ ལ་ཅན་ཞེས་མིང་ ་བཏགས་པའི་བ ོ་བ་
དང༌། ིན་ ག་གི་དགེ་བ་ལ་བཟང་ངན་ ་བདེན་པར་མི་ཞེན་
པར་དགེ་ ་ མས་ གོ ས་ ང་ ་བ ོ་བ་ནི། ཐབས་ལ་མཁས་པ་
དང་བཅས་པ་ཞེས་མིང་ ་བཏགས་པའི་བ ོ་བ་དང༌། བ ོ་བ་
ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་འཁོར་ག མ་ ་བདེན་པར་མི་ཞེན་པར་དགེ་ ་
མས་ ོགས་ ང་ ་བ ོ་བ་ནི། མཚན་མ་མེད་པ་ཞེས་མིང་ ་
བཏགས་པའི་བ ོ་བ་དང༌། ཐེག་པ་ག མ་གྱི་ལམ་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་
བདེན་པར་མི་ཞེན་པར་དགེ་ ་ མས་ གོ ས་ ང་ ་བ ་ོ བ་ནི།
སངས་ ས་ཀྱིས་ སེ ་ ་ཡི་རང་བ་ཞེས་མིང་ ་བཏགས་པའི་བ ོ་
བ་དང༌།
II.23:
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 563

{II.23}
Not contained within the three realms;
Three aspects of other dedications—
Small, medium, great—
Giving rise to great merit.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 36b.3, fleshes this stanza out
as:
8. dedications of roots of virtue to complete enlightenment in
the manner of nonadherence to the three realms—the Desire
Realm and so forth—as truly existent are dedications imputed
with the name “not contained within the three realms”
9. dedications of roots of virtue to complete enlightenment in
the manner of nonadherence to the virtues—setting the sen-
tient beings of the billion world systems in the ten virtues,
four immeasurables, eight concentrations and formless ab-
sorptions, and five clairvoyances—as truly existent are small
dedications giving rise to great merit
10. dedications of roots of virtue to complete enlightenment in
the manner of nonadherence to the virtues—setting the sen-
tient beings of the billion world systems in Stream-Enterer
through to Solitary Victor—as truly existent are medium
dedications giving rise to great merit
11. dedications of roots of virtue to complete enlightenment in
the manner of nonadherence to the virtues—setting the sen-
tient beings of the billion world systems in the causes of un-
surpassed enlightenment—as truly existent are great dedica-
tions giving rise to great merit.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan identifies the count of eleven as the thought of Ārya-
vimuktisena, which Tsong-kha-pa’s Golden Garland says greatly fits with
the sūtra. Ngag-wang-pal-dan adds that Haribhadra employs a count of
twelve (see Jam-yang-shay-pa’s list of twelve).
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{II.23}
ཁམས་ག མ་གཏོགས་པ་མ་ཡིན་དང་༏ ། ང་དང་འ ིང་དང་ཆེན་པོ་ཡི། །
བ ོ་བ་གཞན་ནི་ མ་ག མ་པོ། །བསོད་ནམས་ཆེ་འ ང་བདག་ཉིད་དོ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
564 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

འདོད་པ་ལ་སོགས་པའི་ཁམས་ག མ་ལ་བདེན་པར་མི་ཞེན་པར་
དགེ་ ་ མས་ ོགས་ ང་ ་བ ོ་བ་ནི། ཁམས་ག མ་ ་
གཏོགས་པ་མ་ཡིན་པ་ཞེས་མིང་ ་བཏགས་པའི་བ ོ་བ་དང༌།
ོང་ག མ་གྱི་སེམས་ཅན་ མས་དགེ་བ་བ ་ཚད་མེད་བཞི་
བསམ་ག གས་བ ད་མངོན་ཤེས་ ་ལ་བཀོད་པའི་དགེ་བ་ལ་
བདེན་པར་མི་ཞེན་པར་དགེ་ ་ མས་ གོ ས་ ང་ ་བ ་ོ བ་ནི།
བསོད་ནམས་ཆེན་པོ་འ ང་བའི་བ ོ་བ་ ང་ ་དང༌། ངོ ་
ག མ་གྱི་སེམས་ཅན་ མས་ ན་ གས་ནས་རང་ ལ་གྱི་བར་ལ་
བཀོད་པའི་དགེ་བ་ལ་བདེན་པར་མི་ཞེན་པར་དགེ་ ་ མས་
ོགས་ ང་ ་བ ོ་བ་ནི། བསོད་ནམས་ཆེན་པོ་འ ང་བའི་བ ོ་
བ་འ ངི ་དང༌། ོང་ག མ་གྱི་སེམས་ཅན་ མས་ ་མེད་ ང་
བ་ཀྱི་ ་ལ་བཀོད་པའི་དགེ་བ་ལ་བདེན་པར་མི་ཞེན་པར་དགེ་
་ མས་ གོ ས་ ང་ ་བ ོ་བ་ནི། བསོད་ནམས་ཆེན་པོ་འ ང་
བའི་བ ོ་བ་ཆེན་པོ་ ེ་བ ་གཅིག་གོ །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 2, 26ff.
32

19th Topic
9. Paths of Meditation of Admiration ( ེས་ ་ཡི་རང་ མོ ་
ལམ་)
II.24:
{II.24}
Admiration of roots of virtue
With skill in means and nonobservation
Is said here to be meditation
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 565

Taking admiration to mind.

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 37a.5, fleshes this stanza out
as:
Admiration of roots of virtue with a rejoicing mind that con-
sumes jealousy—conjoined (1) with skill in means convention-
ally realizing roots of virtues as like illusions and (2) with wisdom
realizing them as ultimately unobservable—is said in sūtra on
this occasion to be meditation taking admiration to mind.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{II.24}
ཐབས་དང་མི་དམིགས་པ་དག་གིས། །དགེ་བའི་ ་ལ་ཡི་རང་བ། །
ེས་ ་ཡི་རང་ཡིད་ ེད་པ། །བ ོམ་པ་ཡིན་པར་འདིར་བ ོད་དོ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
དགེ་ ་ མས་ཀུན་ བོ ་ ་ ་མ་ ་ ར་ ོགས་པའི་ཐབས་
མཁས་དང༌། དོན་དམ་པར་མི་དམིགས་པར་ གོ ས་པའི་ཤེས་
རབ་ཀྱིས་ཟིན་པ་དག་གིས་དགེ་བའི་ ་བ་ མས་ལ་ ག་དོག་
ཟད་པའི་རབ་ ་དགའ་བའི་སེམས་ཀྱིས་ཡི་རང་བ་ནི། སེ ་ ་ཡི་
རང་བ་ཡིད་ལ་ དེ ་པའི་ མོ ་པ་ཡིན་པར་ བས་འདིའི་མདོར་
བ དོ ་དོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 2, 34ff.
33

20th Topic
10. Paths of Meditation of Achieving ( བ་པ་ མོ ་ལམ་)
II.25:
{II.25}
Its nature, supremacy,
Non-composition of all,
Bestowal of nonobservation
Of phenomena, great purpose.
566 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 37b.1) fleshes this stanza out

as:
1. The nature of the path of meditation of achieving described
in the presentation of the body [in Maitreya’s Ornament for
the Clear Realizations] is direct seeing of the final mode of
subsistence of the phenomena of forms and so forth.
2. Its supremacy is that without being conjoined with it, Bud-
dha[hood] is not attained by other perfections or contami-
nated paths of meditation.
3. Its non-composition of all is its achieving within realizing
the specifics of thoroughly afflicted and completely pure phe-
nomena as without:
• composition
• production and disintegration
• observation as truly existent.
4. Its bestowal is the engendering—in the continuum of one on
the path of meditation—of the yoga not observing as truly
existent the phenomena that are the qualities of the path en-
dowed with nature and so forth.
5. Its performing a great purpose is the attainment of the final
fruit, Buddhahood.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{II.25}
དེ་ཡི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མཆོག་ཉིད། །ཀུན་ལ་མངོན་པར་འ ་མི་ ེད། །
ཆོས་ མས་དམིགས་ ་མེད་པར་ནི། །གཏོད་པར་ ེད་པ་དོན་ཆེན་ཉིད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ས་ མ་བཞག་ ་བཤད་པའི་ བ་པ་ ོམ་ལམ་དེའ་ི ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་
ནི། ག གས་སོགས་ཆོས་ མས་ཀྱི་གནས་ གས་མཐར་ ག་
མངོན་ མ་ ་མཐོང་བ་དང༌། དེའ་ི མཆོག་ཉིད་ནི། །འདིས་མ་
ཟིན་པར་ཕར་ ིན་གཞན་ནམ་ཟག་བཅས་ མོ ་ལམ་གྱིས་སངས་
ས་མི་འཐོབ་པ་དང༌། དེས་ཀུན་ལ་མངོན་པར་འ ་མི་ དེ ་པ་
ནི། ཀུན་ ང་གི་ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་ཁྱད་པར་བདེན་པར་མངོན་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 567

པར་འ ་ ་བ་དང་ ེ་འ ིག་དང་དམིགས་པ་མེད་པར་ གོ ས་

ནས་ བ་པ་དང༌། དེས་གཏོང་བར་ དེ ་པ་ནི། ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ལ་
སོགས་པ་དང་ ན་པའི་ལམ་གྱི་ཡོན་ཏན་གྱི་ཆོས་ མས་དོན་
དམ་པར་དམིགས་ ་མེད་པར་ ལ་འ ོར་པ་ མོ ་ལམ་པའི་ ད་
ལ་ ེད་པར་ ེད་པ་དང༌། དེས་དོན་ཆེན་པོ་ཉིད་ ་ ེད་པ་ནི།
མཐར་ ག་གི་འ ས་ ་སངས་ ས་འཐོབ་པར་ ེད་པའོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 2, 34ff.
34

21st Topic
11. Paths of Meditation of Complete Purity ( མ་དག་
ོམ་ལམ་)
II.28:
{II.28}
The purity of the fruit is the very purity
Of forms and so forth because
Those two are not different
And are not distinguishable whereby they are called pure.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 38a.6, treats II.28-30 in two
parts, the first part, II.28, being a general indication of complete purity,
which he fleshes out as:
When the path of release that is the fruit of the mode of virtuous
behavior of a Superior person of the three vehicles is pure of [or
free from] its corresponding defilements, all the phenomena of
forms and so forth that are its objects also are just pure of [or
free from] those very defilements because those two purities—
devoid of one defilement as an object of negation—are not dif-
ferent entities and are not distinguishable as different types,
whereby they are said in sūtra to be one type of purity.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
568 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

{II.28}
འ ས་ ་དག་པ་ག གས་ལ་སོགས། །དག་པ་ཉིད་དེ་གང་གི་ ིར། །
དེ་གཉིས་ཐ་དད་མ་ཡིན་ཞིང་། །བཅད་ ་མེད་པས་དག་པར་བ ོད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཐེག་པ་ག མ་གྱི་འཕགས་པའི་གང་ཟག་གི་དགེ་ ོང་གི་ ལ་གྱི་
འ ས་ ་ མ་གྲོལ་ལམ་རང་གི་ངོ་ ལ་གྱི་ ི་མས་དག་པ་ན་དེའི་
ལ་ག གས་ལ་སོགས་པའི་ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱང་ ི་མ་དེ་ཉིད་
ཀྱིས་དག་པ་ཉིད་དེ། ་མཚན་གང་གི་ རི ་ན། དགག་ ་ ་ི མ་
གཅིག་གིས་དབེན་པའི་དག་པ་དེ་གཉིས་ངོ་བོ་ཐ་དད་མ་ཡིན་
ཞིང་རིགས་ཐ་དད་པར་བཅད་ ་མེད་པས་སོ། །དེས་ན་དག་པ་
རིགས་གཅིག་པར་མདོ་ལས་བ དོ ་དོ། །
II.29:
{II.29}
Because of withering (1) the afflictions, (2) the obstructions to
omniscience,
And (3) the three paths, there are the purities of (1) Learners,
(2) The Rhinoceri, and (3) Victor Children.
Buddhas are the utmost from all aspects.
The second part is a detailed explanation of complete purity, which itself
is in two parts, the first being the actual divisions of the path, which Ngag-
wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 38b.3, fleshes out as:
Because of withering, that is, abandoning, any of (1) the afflic-
tions, (2) those [afflictions] and one class of the obstructions to
omniscience, and (3) the seeds of the obstructions of the three
paths, those purities are respectively the purities of (1) Learner
Hearers, (2) Solitary Victors illustrated by the Rhinoceri, and (3)
Victor Children. The purities of Buddhas are the utmost of pu-
rities from all aspects of obstructions.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{II.29}
ཉོན་མོངས་ཤེས་ ་ལམ་ག མ་གྱི། །ཉམས་ ིར་ ོབ་མ་བསེ་ ་དང་། །
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 569

ལ་ ས་ མས་ཀྱི་དག་པ་ ེ། །སངས་ ས་ མ་ཀུན་ཤིན་ ་བ། །

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཉོན་མོངས་པ་དང༌། དེ་དང་ཤེས་ འི་ ིབ་པའི་ ོགས་གཅིག་
དང༌། ལམ་ག མ་གྱི་ བི ་པའི་ས་བོན་ཅི་རིགས་ཉམས་པ་ ་ེ
ངས་པའི་ རི ། དག་པ་དེ་དག་ནི་རིམ་བཞིན་ བོ ་མ་ཉན་ཐོས་
དང༌། བསེ་ ས་མཚན་པའི་རང་ ལ་དང༌། ལ་ ས་ མས་ཀྱི་
དག་པ་ །ེ སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་དག་པ་ནི་ ིབ་པའི་ མ་པ་ཀུན་གྱིས་
དག་པའི་ཤིན་ ་བ་ཡིན་ནོ། །
II.30:
{II.30}
The paths, small of the small and so forth,
Antidotes to the defilements
Regarding the nine levels—the big of the big
And so forth—are the purifiers.
The last part is the distinctive feature of the final path, which Ngag-wang-
pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 38b.6, fleshes out as:
What is the reason why a Buddha’s purity is utmost and others’
purities are not utmost? The nine aspects of antidotal paths, rang-
ing from the small of the small Great Vehicle path of meditation
through to the big of the big [indicated] by the term “and so
forth,” which respectively are antidotes to the nine aspects of
defilements—that exist regarding the three realms and nine lev-
els—ranging from the big of the big objects of abandonment by
the path of meditation through to the small of the small [indicated]
by the term “and so forth,” are the causes purifying all defile-
ments that are to be abandoned by the path of meditation; hence,
there is the distinctive feature that the purity of a Buddha, the fruit,
is utmost, whereas others’ purity is not utmost.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{II.30}
ས་དགུ་ལ་ནི་ཆེན་པོ་ཡི། །ཆེན་པོ་ལ་སོགས་ ི་མ་ཡི། །
570 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

གཉེན་པོ་ ང་ འི་ ང་ ་ལ། །སོགས་པའི་ལམ་ནི་དག་པ་ཡིན། །

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ མ་དག་ཤིན་ ་བ་དང་གཞན་ མས་ཀྱི་ མ་
དག་ཤིན་ ་བ་མ་ཡིན་པའི་ ་མཚན་ ི་ ་ ་ཡིན་ཞེ་ན། དེའི་
ལན་ ་ཁམས་ག མ་ས་དགུ་ལ་ཡོད་པའི་ མོ ་ ང་ཆེན་པོའ་ི
ཆེན་པོ་དང༌། སོགས་ ས་ ང་ འི་ ང་ འི་བར་ ་ི མ་ མ་པ་
དགུའི་གཉེན་པོར་གོ་རིམ་བཞིན་ ་ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ ོམ་ལམ་ ང་
འི་ ང་ ་དང༌། སོགས་ ས་ཆེན་པོའི་ཆེན་པོའི་བར་གཉེན་
པོའི་ལམ་ མ་པ་དགུ་ནི་ ོམ་ ང་གི་ ི་མ་མཐའ་དག་དག་པར་
ེད་པའི་ ་ཡིན་པའི་ ིར་འ ས་ ་སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ མ་དག་ནི་
ཤིན་ ་བ་ཡིན་ལ། གཞན་ མས་ཀྱི་ མ་དག་ནི་ཤིན་ ་མ་ཡིན་
པའི་ཁྱད་པར་ཡོད་དོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 2, 37ff.
35

Chapter III. Explaining the nine phenomena char-

acterizing knowers of bases
I.10-11:
{I.10}
Not abiding in cyclic existence through knowledge,
Not abiding in peace through compassion,
Distant due to non-skill in method,
Not distant due to skill in method,
{I.11}
Those classed as discordant and as antidote,
Trainings, their equality, and
The paths of seeing of Hearers and so forth—
Knowers of all are asserted thus.
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 571

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 5b.1, fleshes these two stan-

zas out as:
1. Knowers of paths that do not abide in mundane existence
through knowledge
2. knowers of paths that do not abide in [solitary] peace
through compassion
3. knowers of bases that are distant due to non-skill in method
4. knowers of bases that are close due to skill in method
5. knowers of bases that are classed as discordant
6. knowers of bases that are classed as an antidote
7. trainings [in knowers of bases]
8. equalities in the mode of apprehension of those trainings
9. paths of seeing
are the nine phenomena characterizing knowers of bases.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{I.10}
ཤེས་པས་ ིད་ལ་མི་གནས་ཤིང་། ། ིང་ ེས་ཞི་ལ་མི་གནས་དང་། །
ཐབས་མ་ཡིན་པས་རིང་བ་དང་། །ཐབས་ཀྱིས་རིང་བ་མ་ཡིན་ཉིད། །
{I.11}
མི་མ ན་གཉེན་པོའི་ ོགས་དག་དང་། ། ོར་དང་དེ་ཡི་མཉམ་ཉིད་དང་། །
ཉན་ཐོས་ལ་སོགས་མཐོང་བའི་ལམ། །དེ་འ ་ཀུན་ཤེས་ཉིད་ ་འདོད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཤེས་པས་ དི ་ལ་མི་གནས་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་དང༌། ངི ་ སེ ་ཞི་ལ་
མི་གནས་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་དང༌། ཐབས་མ་ཡིན་པས་རིང་བའི་གཞི་
ཤེས་དང༌། ཐབས་ཀྱིས་རིང་བ་མ་ཡིན་པའི་གཞི་ཤེས་དང༌། མི་
མ ན་ གོ ས་ཀྱི་གཞི་ཤེས་དང༌། གཉེན་པོའ་ི གོ ས་ཀྱི་གཞི་ཤེས་
དང༌། རོ ་བ་དང༌། རོ ་བ་དེའ་ི འཛིན་ ངས་མཉམ་ཉིད་དང༌།
མཐོང་ལམ་ མས་ནི་གཞི་ཤེས་མཚན་ ེད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་དགུའོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 1, 6.
572 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

36

22nd Topic
1. Knowers of Bases Not Abiding in the Extreme
of Mundane Existence due to Knowledge (ཤེས་པས་ ིད་
ལ་མི་གནས་པའི་གཞི་ཤེས་)
and
23nd Topic
[2. Knowers of Paths Not Abiding in the Extreme
of Peace due to Compassion ( ིང་ སེ ་ཞི་ལ་མི་གནས་པའི་ལམ་
ཤེས་)]
III.1:
{III.1}
Because of not abiding in the extremes
Of the near side and the far side nor inbetween those
And knowing the times as equal
It is asserted as the perfection of wisdom.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 40a.2, fleshes out this stanza
as:
The perfection of wisdom
• possessing the three attributes of:
(1) not abiding with manifest adherence to the extreme of
cyclic existence, which is the near side relative to com-
mon beings, due to the wisdom realizing impermanence
and so forth
(2) not abiding with manifest adherence to the extreme of
nirvāṇa, which is the far side relative to common beings,
due to great compassion carrying others’ welfare as
[one’s own] burden
(3) not abiding with manifest adherence even inbetween
those due to the wisdom realizing emptiness, and
• directly realizing the phenomena of the three times as
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 573

equally empty of true existence

is asserted as intimate, that is, existing, in the continuums of Bud-
dhas and Bodhisattvas as its support.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{III.1}
་རོལ་ཕ་རོལ་མཐའ་ལ་མིན། །དེ་དག་བར་ན་མི་གནས་པ། །
ས་ མས་མཉམ་པ་ཉིད་ཤེས་ ིར། །ཤེས་རབ་ཕ་རོལ་ ིན་པར་འདོད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
མི་ ག་སོགས་ ོགས་པའི་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱིས་སོ་ ེ་ལ་ ོས་ཏེ་ ་རོལ་
འཁོར་བའི་མཐའ་ལ་མངོན་ཞེན་གྱིས་གནས་པ་མིན་པ་དང༌།
གཞན་དོན་ཁུར་ ་འཁྱེར་བའི་ ངི ་ ེ་ཆེན་པོས་སོ་ ེ་ལ་ ོས་ཏེ་
ཕ་རོལ་ཆད་པའི་ ང་འདས་ཀྱི་མཐའ་ལ་མངོན་ཞེན་གྱིས་གནས་
པ་མིན་པ་དང༌། ོང་ཉིད་ གོ ས་པའི་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱིས་དེ་དག་གི་
བར་ན་ཡང་བདེན་ཞེན་གྱིས་མི་གནས་པའི་ཁྱད་པར་ག མ་དང་
ན་ཞིང༌། ས་ག མ་གྱི་ཆོས་ མས་བདེན་ ངོ ་མཉམ་པ་ཉིད་
་མངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་པའི་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ ་ ནི ་པ་ནི་
ེན་སངས་ ས་དང་ ང་སེམས་ཀྱི་ ད་ལ་ཉེ་བར་ ར་པ་ ེ་
ཡོད་པར་འདོད་པ་ཡིན་ནོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 2, 51.
37

24rd Topic
3. Knowers of Bases Distant from the Fruit
Mother (འ ས་ མ་ལ་རིང་བའི་གཞི་ཤེས་)
III.2ab:
{III.2}
574 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

That is distant due to not being skilled in method

By way of apprehension in the manner of having signs.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 41a.2, fleshes out these two
lines as:
That perfection of wisdom of those knowers of bases is distant
for Hearers and Solitary Victors who—by way of observing and
adhering to bases [that is, phenomena] in the manner of having
signs of true establishment—are not skilled in methods for gen-
erating the fruit Mother.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{III.2}
དེ་ནི་མཚན་མར་དམིགས་ ོ་ནས། །ཐབས་མ་ཡིན་པས་རིང་བ་ ེ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
གཞི་ཤེས་པའི་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ ་ ིན་པ་དེ་ནི། གཞི་ལ་
བདེན་ བ་ཀྱི་མཚན་མར་དམིགས་ཤིང་ཞེན་པའི་ ོ་ནས་འ ས་
མ་བ དེ ་པའི་ཐབས་ལ་མཁས་པ་མ་ཡིན་པའི་ཉན་རང་ལ་
རིང་བ་ །ེ
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 2, 51ff.
38

25th Topic
4. Knowers of Bases Close to the Fruit Mother
(འ ས་ མ་ལ་ཉེ་བའི་གཞི་ཤེས་)
III.2cd:
It is explained that that is thoroughly
Close due to skill in methods.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 41a.3, fleshes out these two
lines as:
Sūtra explains that that perfection of wisdom is thoroughly
close for Bodhisattvas due to skill in method for generating the
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 575

fruit Mother.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
དེ་ནི་ཐབས་ལ་མཁས་པ་ཡིས། །ཡང་དག་ཉེ་བ་ཉིད་ ་བཤད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཤེར་ ིན་དེ་ནི་འ ས་ མ་བ དེ ་པའི་ཐབས་ལ་མཁས་པའི་ ང་
སེམས་ལ་ཡང་དག་པར་ཉེ་བ་ཉིད་ ་མདོ་ལས་བཤད་དོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 2, 52.
39

26th Topic
5. Knowers of Bases Classed as Discordant (མི་མ ན་
ོགས་ཀྱི་གཞི་ཤེས་)
III.3:
{III.3}
Discrimination treating (1) the emptiness of the aggregates
Of forms and so forth and (2) the phenomena contained
In the three times, giving and so forth, and the harmonies
With enlightenment is classed as discordant.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 41a.7, fleshes out this stanza
as:
Paths that are bound by discrimination treating as truly [exist-
ent]:
• the emptiness that is the emptiness of a self of persons of the
aggregates of forms and so forth, which is included within
the mode [of being],
• the phenomena contained in the three times, giving and so
forth, the harmonies with enlightenment, and so forth,
which are included within the diversity,
are classed as discordant deviating paths for those definite in the
Bodhisattva lineage.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
576 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

{III.3}
ག གས་སོགས་ ང་པོ་ ོང་ཉིད་དང་། ། ས་ག མ་གཏོགས་པའི་ཆོས་ མས་
དང་། །
ིན་སོགས་ ང་ བ་ ོགས་ མས་ལ། ། ོད་པའི་འ ་ཤེས་མི་མ ན་ ོགས། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
་ི ་བས་བ ས་པ་ག གས་ལ་སོགས་པའི་ ང་པོ་གང་ཟག་གི་
བདག་གི་ ངོ ་པའི་ ངོ ་པ་ཉིད་དང༌། ི་ ེད་པས་བ ས་པ་ ས་
ག མ་ ་གཏོགས་པའི་ཆོས་ མས་དང༌། ནི ་པ་ལ་སོགས་པ་
དང་ ང་ བ་ཀྱི་ གོ ས་ལ་སོགས་པ་ལ་བདེན་པར་ དོ ་པའི་འ ་
ཤེས་ཀྱིས་བཅིངས་པའི་ལམ་ནི་ ང་སེམས་རིགས་ངེས་པའི་ལམ་
གྱི་གོལ་ས་མི་མ ན་ གོ ས་ཡིན་ཞིང༌།
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 2, 52.
40

27th Topic
6. Knowers of Bases Classed as Antidotes (གཉེན་པོ་
ོགས་ཀྱི་གཞི་ཤེས་)
III.4abc:
{III.4}
Nonapprehension as “I” with respect to giving and so forth
Which connects others to this
Stops the extreme of attachment.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 41b.2, fleshes these lines out
as:
The pristine wisdom in Bodhisattvas’ continuums directly realiz-
ing bases and paths as without true existence, which itself abides
in nonapprehension as “I,” that is to say, nonconception of the
three spheres [of the agent, action, and object] with respect to
giving and so forth as truly existent and thereby connects others
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 577

to this [pristine wisdom], is an antidote stopping the extreme of

attachment to bases and paths as truly existent.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{III.4}
ནི ་ལ་སོགས་ལ་ངར་འཛིན་མེད། །གཞན་དག་དེ་ལ་འ ད་ ེད་པ། །
དེ་ནི་ཆགས་པའི་མཐའ་འགོག་པས། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ནི ་པ་ལ་སོགས་པ་ལ་འཁོར་ག མ་ ་བདེན་པར་ཞེན་པའི་ངར་
འཛིན་མེད་པ་ལ་རང་གནས་པས་གཞན་དག་དེ་ལ་ ོར་བར་ དེ ་
པའི་ ང་ བ་སེམས་དཔའི་ ད་ཀྱི་གཞི་ལམ་བདེན་མེད་ ་
མངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་དེ་ནི་གཞི་ལམ་ལ་བདེན་པར་
ཆགས་པའི་མཐའ་འགོག་པའི་གཉེན་པོ་ཡིན་ནོ། །
III.4d-5ab:
Hence, attachment to Conquerors and so forth is subtle.
{III.5}
Since the path of phenomena is devoid
Of a nature, it is just profound.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 41b.4, fleshes these lines out
as:
Although, while being bound by subtle attachment to the virtues
of Conquerors and the three between,* homage to them and ded-
ication [of virtues] to enlightenment are antidotes to karmic ob-
structions and so forth, they are classed as discordant to Bodhi-
sattva paths. How is subtle attachment classed as discordant? It is
classed as discordant because it adheres to Ones-Gone-Thus and
so forth as truly established and since the path, that is, the lineage,
of phenomena is devoid of a nature of true establishment, it is
just profound.
* Perhaps Hearers, Solitary Victors, and Bodhisattvas.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
ལ་ལ་སོགས་ལ་ཆགས་པ་ ། །
578 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

{III.5}
ཆོས་ཀྱི་ལམ་ནི་རང་བཞིན་གྱིས། །དབེན་པའི་ ིར་ན་དེ་ཟབ་ཉིད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ལ་བ་དང་དེའི་བར་ག མ་གྱི་དགེ་བ་ལ་བདེན་པར་ཆགས་པ་
་མོས་བཅིངས་བཞིན་ ་དེ་ལ་ ག་འཚལ་བ་དང༌། ང་ བ་
་བ ོ་བ་ནི་ལས་ བི ་སོགས་ཀྱི་གཉེན་པོ་ཡིན་ཀྱང་ ང་སེམས་
ཀྱི་ལམ་གྱི་མི་མ ན་ གོ ས་ཡིན་ནོ། ། ི་ ར་ན་ཆགས་པ་ ་མོ་མི་
མ ན་ ོགས་ཡིན་ཞེ་ན། དེ་མི་མ ན་ གོ ས་ཡིན་ཏེ། དེས་དེ་
བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་སོགས་ལ་བདེན་ བ་ ་ཞེན་པ་གང་
ཞིག །ཆོས་ཀྱི་ལམ་ ེ་རིགས་ནི་བདེན་ བ་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་གྱིས་
དབེན་པའི་ རི ་ཟབ་པ་ཉིད་དེ་དེའ་ི ིར་རོ། །
III.5cd:
Through knowing the single nature
Of phenomena attachment is abandoned.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 41b.7, fleshes these lines out
as:
Well then, what is its antidote? Through directly knowing the
single nature of phenomena, that is, as having the single taste of
the emptiness of true existence, attachment to effects as truly ex-
istent is abandoned.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
ཆོས་ མས་རང་བཞིན་གཅིག་པར་ནི། །ཤེས་པས་ཆགས་པ་ ོང་བ་ཡིན། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
འོ་ན་དེའི་གཉེན་པོ་གང་ཞེ་ན། ཆོས་ མས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་གཅིག་
པ་ ེ་བདེན་ ོང་རོ་གཅིག་ ་མངོན་ མ་ ་ཤེས་པས་འ ས་ ་
ལ་བདེན་པར་ཆགས་པ་ ངོ ་བ་ཡིན་ནོ། །
III.6:
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 579

{III.6}
Since it stops perception and so forth,
It is described in sūtra as difficult to realize.
Because it is not known as a form and the like,
It is asserted as unencompassable by thought.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 42a.1, fleshes these lines out
as:
How is it profound? Since conventional valid cognition of forms
and so forth is blocked from perception and so forth [of it], the
ultimate mode of subsistence is described in sūtra as difficult to
realize; therefore, it is profound. How is it difficult to realize? Be-
cause without relying on a rational consciousness it is not known
in the manner of a conventional truth such as a form and the
like and because the ultimate mode of subsistence is unencom-
passable by thought, that is to say, is reasonable to assert as
passed beyond the explicit objects of conventional conscious-
nesses, it is difficult to realize.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{III.6}
མཐོང་བ་ལ་སོགས་བཀག་པ་ཡིས། །དེ་ནི་ ོགས་པར་དཀའ་བར་བཤད། །
ག གས་ལ་སོགས་པར་མི་ཤེས་ ིར། །དེ་ནི་བསམ་མི་ཁྱབ་པར་འདོད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
དེ་ ི་ ར་ཟབ་པ་ཡིན་ཞེ་ན། ག གས་སོགས་འཛིན་པའི་ཐ་ ད་
པའི་ཚད་མས་མཐོང་བ་ལ་སོགས་པ་བཀག་པས་དོན་དམ་པའི་
གནས་ གས་དེ་ནི་ གོ ས་པར་དཀའ་བར་མདོ་ལས་བཤད་པའི་
ིར་ཟབ་པ་ཡིན་ནོ། ། གོ ས་དཀའ་བ་ ི་ ར་ཡིན་ཞེ་ན། རིགས་
ཤེས་ལ་མ་ ོས་པར་ག གས་ལ་སོགས་པ་ཀུན་ ོབ་བདེན་པར་མི་
ཤེས་པའི་ རི ་དང་དོན་དམ་པའི་གནས་ གས་དེ་ནི་བསམ་གྱི་
མི་ཁྱབ་པ་ ་ེ ཐ་ ད་པའི་དངོས་ ལ་ལས་འདས་པར་འདོད་
རིགས་པའི་ ིར་ ོགས་པར་དཀའ་བ་ཡིན་ནོ། །
580 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti

and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 2, 53ff.
41
III.7:
{III.7}
Thus the entirety of the divisions
Of those classed as discordant and as antidotes
In the system of knowers-of-all
Is to be known here in accordance with the description [in sūtra].
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words (42a.4) fleshes out this stanza
as:
In the manner described above thusly, in the system—that is, on
the occasion—of knowers-of-all the entirety of the divisions, in
which paths of Hearers and Solitary Victors are classed as dis-
cordant in relation to the Great Vehicle and paths of Bodhisattvas
and Buddhas are classed as antidotes, is to be known as de-
scribed here earlier in the third chapter in accordance with the
description in sūtra.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{III.7}
དེ་ ར་ཀུན་ཤེས་ཉིད་ གས་ལ། །མི་མ ན་གཉེན་པོའི་ ོགས་དག་གི །
མ་པར་ད ེ་བ་མ་ ས་པ། ། ི་ ད་བཤད་པ་འདིར་ཤེས་ ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
གོང་ ་བཤད་པའི་ ལ་དེ་ ར་ཀུན་ཤེས་པ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ གས་ལ་ ེ་
བས་ ་ཉན་རང་གི་ལམ་ནི་ཐེག་ཆེན་ལ་ སོ ་ཏེ་མི་མ ན་པའི་
ོགས་དང༌། ང་སེམས་དང་སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ལམ་ནི་གཉེན་པའི་
གོ ས་ཡིན་པ་དག་གི་ མ་པར་ད ་ེ བ་མ་ ས་པ་མདོ་ལས་ ་ི
ད་བཤད་པ་ མས་ནི་ བས་ག མ་པ་འདིར་ ར་བཤད་པ་
བཞིན་ ་ཤེས་པར་ འོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 2, 55.
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 581

42

28th Topic
7. Trainings in Knowers of Bases (གཞི་ཤེས་ ོར་བ་)
III.8:
{III.8}
Forms and so forth; impermanence and so forth;
Noncompletion and completion of those;
Training stopping enactment
Regarding nonattachment about those;
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 42b.1, fleshes this stanza out
as:
1. training that stops the conception of true existence regarding
substrata such as forms and so forth
2. training that stops the conception of true existence regarding
attributes such as impermanence and so forth
3. training that stops the conception of true existence regarding
the noncompletion of imputational forms (kun btags pa’i
gzugs) and so forth as bases of qualities and the completion
of noumenal forms (chos nyid kyi gzugs) as bases of qualities
4. training that stops enactment of the conception of true ex-
istence regarding nonattachment ultimately
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{III.8}
ག གས་སོགས་དེ་མི་ ག་སོགས་དང་། །དེ་མ་ ོགས་དང་རབ་ ོགས་དང་། །
དེ་ལ་ཆགས་པ་མེད་ཉིད་ལ། ། ོད་པ་བཀག་པའི་ ོར་བ་དང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཁྱད་གཞི་ག གས་སོགས་ལ་བདེན་ཞེན་བཀག་པའི་ ོར་བ་དང༌།
ཁྱད་ཆོས་མི་ ག་སོགས་ལ་བདེན་ཞེན་བཀག་པའི་ ོར་བ་དང༌།
ཀུན་བཏགས་པའི་ག གས་སོགས་ཡོན་ཏན་གྱི་ ེན་ ་མ་ གོ ས་
པ་དང་ཆོས་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ག གས་སོགས་ཡོན་ཏན་གྱི་ ེན་ ་ གོ ས་
པ་དེ་ལ་བདེན་ཞེན་བཀག་པའི་ རོ ་བ་དང༌། དོན་དམ་པར་
582 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

ཆགས་པ་མེད་པ་ལ་བདེན་པར་ཞེན་པའི་ དོ ་པ་བཀག་པའི་ རོ ་
བ་དང༌།
III.9-10ab:
{III.9}
Unchangeabilty; absence of agents;
Training in the three aspects difficult to perform;
Asserting the existence of the fruit
Through attaining the fruit in accordance with [one’s] lot;
{III.10}
Nonreliance on another;
Seven aspects of revealing appearances.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 42b.3, fleshes this stanza
and a half out as:
5. training that stops the conception of true existence regarding
the perfection of wisdom which is unchangeable in terms of
increase and decrease from the approach of being taught or
not being taught verbally
6. training that stops the conception of true existence regarding
the nature of phenomena, the absence of agents in desire, ha-
tred, and so forth due to praise and blame
7. training that stops the conception of true existence regarding
the three exalted knowers [these being the three aspects] dif-
ficult to perform [see the explanation inserted in the divi-
sions section]
8. training that stops the conception of true existence regarding
the existence of attaining the fruit in accordance with one’s
own lot through learning the perfection of wisdom
9. training that stops the conception of true existence regarding
non-reliance on the guardian protection of another person
who is making effort at the perfection of wisdom
10. training that stops the conception of true existence regarding
the seven aspects of revealing appearances [dream, magical
illusion, mirage, echo, reflection, city of smell-eaters, and em-
anation].
Maitreya’s Ornament:
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 583

{III.9}
མི་འ ར་ ེད་པོ་མེད་ཉིད་དང་། ། ་དཀའ་ མ་ག མ་ ོར་བ་དང་། །
ལ་བ་ ི་བཞིན་འ ས་ཐོབ་པས། །འ ས་ཡོད་འདོད་པ་དེ་དང་ནི། །
{III.10}
གཞན་ལ་རག་ལས་མེད་གང་དང་། ། ང་བ་ མ་བ ན་ཤེས་ ེད་དོ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཚིག་གིས་བ ན་མ་བ ན་གྱི་ ོ་ནས་འཕེལ་འགྲིབ་ཀྱི་གཞན་ ་
མི་འ ར་བའི་ཤེར་ ནི ་ལ་བདེན་ཞེན་བཀག་པའི་ ོར་བ་དང༌།
བ ོད་ ད་ཀྱིས་ཆགས་ ང་སོགས་ ་ དེ ་པ་པོ་མེད་པ་ཆོས་
མས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་ལ་བདེན་ཞེན་བཀག་པའི་ ོར་བ་དང༌། ་
དཀའ་བ་མཁྱེན་ག མ་ལ་བདེན་ཞེན་བཀག་པའི་ རོ ་བ་དང༌།
ཤེར་ ིན་ལ་བ བས་པས་རང་རང་གི་ ལ་བ་ ་ི ་བ་བཞིན་ ་
འ ས་ ་ཐོབ་པ་ཡོད་པ་ལ་བདེན་ཞེན་བཀག་པའི་ ོར་བ་དང༌།
ཤེར་ ིན་ལ་བ ོན་པའི་གང་ཟག་བ ང་བ་ བས་གཞན་ལ་རག་
མ་ལས་པ་ལ་བདེན་ཞེན་བཀག་པའི་ ོར་བ་དང༌། ཤེས་ དེ ་ ང་
བ་ མ་བ ན་ལ་བདེན་ཞེན་བཀག་པའི་ ོར་བ་ ེ་བ འོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 2, 55ff.
43

29th Topic
8. Equalities in the Modes of Apprehension of
Trainings [in Knowers of Bases] ( ོར་བ་དེའི་འཛིན་ ངས་
མཉམ་ཉིད་)
III.10cd:
Four aspects of nonconceit with respect to
Forms and so forth are their equalities.
584 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 43a.2, fleshes out these two

lines as:
Concerning the equalities in the mode of apprehension of those
[ten trainings], four aspects of nonconceit, that is, absence of
conceiving true existence, with respect to:
(1) entities such as forms and so forth
(2) signs such as blue, yellow, and so forth
(3) divisions such as shape, color, and so forth
(4) object-possessors [that is, subjects] such as paths of prepara-
tion and so forth
are the explicitly indicated equalities of those ten trainings.
When divided, there are forty.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
ག གས་ལ་སོགས་ལ་ ོམ་མེད་པ། ། མ་བཞི་དེ་ཡི་མཉམ་པ་ཉིད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
དེའི་འཛིན་ ངས་མཉམ་ཉིད་ནི། ག གས་ལ་སོགས་པའི་ངོ་བོ་
དང༌། ོ་སེར་ལ་སོགས་པའི་མཚན་མ་དང༌། ད ིབས་དང་ཁ་
དོག་ལ་སོགས་པའི་ད ་ེ བ་དང༌། ོར་ལམ་ལ་སོགས་པའི་ ལ་
ཅན་ལ་ མོ ་པ་ ེ་བདེན་ཞེན་མེད་པ་ མ་པ་བཞི་ནི། དངོས་
བ ན་གྱི་ རོ ་བ་བ ་པོ་དེའ་ི མཉམ་པ་ཉིད་ཡིན་ལ། ད ེ་ན་
བཞི་བ འོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 2, 58ff.
44

30th Topic
9. Paths of Seeing (མཐོང་ལམ་)
III.11:
{III.11}
These having the essence of periods—
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 585

Doctrinal knowledge, subsequent knowledge,

Forbearance, and knowledge—about the truths, suffering and so
forth,
Are the path of seeing in the system of knowers of all.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 43a.5, treats the five stanzas
of III.11-15 in two groups, a brief indication and an extensive explanation
of the path of seeing, the first of which (III.11) he fleshes out as:
These having the essence of sixteen periods divided into four
each—doctrinal forbearance of knowledge (chos su shes pa’i
bzod pa), subsequent forbearance of knowledge (rjes su shes pa’i
bzod pa), doctrinal knowledge (chos su shes pa), and subse-
quent knowledge (rjes su shes pa) observing each of the four
truths, suffering and so forth, are the path of seeing in the sys-
tem of knowers of all, that is to say, as indicated on this occasion
[in Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations]. (For the or-
der of the sixteen periods see Appendix 2.)
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{III.11}
ག་བ ལ་ལ་སོགས་བདེན་པ་ལ། །ཆོས་ཤེས་ ེས་ ་ཤེས་པ་དང་། །
བཟོད་ཤེས་ ད་ཅིག་བདག་ཉིད་འདི། །ཀུན་ཤེས་ ལ་ལ་མཐོང་བའི་ལམ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ག་བ ལ་ལ་སོགས་པའི་བདེན་པ་བཞི་པོ་རེ་རེ་ལ་དམིགས་པའི་
ཆོས་ ་ཤེས་པའི་བཟོད་པ་དང༌། སེ ་ ་ཤེས་པའི་བཟོད་པ་དང༌།
ཆོས་ ་ཤེས་པ་དང༌། སེ ་ ་ཤེས་པ་བཞི་བཞིར་ ེ་བའི་ ད་
ཅིག་མ་བ ་ ག་གི་བདག་ཉིད་འདི་ནི་ཀུན་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ ལ་ལ་ ེ་
བས་ ་བ ན་པའི་མཐོང་བའི་ལམ་ཡིན་ནོ། །
III.12abc:
{III.12}
Forms are not permanent and not impermanent,
Are passed beyond the extremes, are pure,
Are not produced and do not cease, and so forth.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 43b.1, fleshes out the first
586 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

part of the extensive explanation of the path of seeing as:

On this occasion sixteen aspects devoid of thirty-two superimpo-
sitions are set forth. The four aspects of true sufferings [devoid of
two superimpositions each]:(the sixteen attributes of the four
truths are in italic)
• “forms are not permanent and not impermanent”—true
sufferings’ voidness of ultimately established permanence
and impermanence
• “[forms are] ultimately passed beyond the extremes of per-
manence and annihilation”—true sufferings’ voidness of ul-
timately established misery and non-misery
• “[forms are] ultimately naturally pure”—true sufferings’
voidness of truly established emptiness and nonemptiness of
a self that is factually other [than the mental and physical ag-
gregates]
• “[forms] ultimately are not produced and do not cease and
so forth”—true sufferings’ voidness of truly established self
and selflessness that are entities
are objective aspects (don rnam), and the four periods of doctrinal
forbearance and of doctrinal knowledge regarding suffering that
are paths of seeing realizing such are mental aspects (shes rnam).
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{III.12}
ག གས་ ག་མ་ཡིན་མི་ ག་མིན། །མཐའ་ལས་འདས་དང་ མ་དག་དང་། །
མ་ ེས་མ་འགགས་ལ་སོགས་དང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
བས་འདིར་ ོ་འདོགས་སོ་གཉིས་དང་ ལ་བའི་ མ་པ་བ ་
ག་ག ངས་ཏེ། ག གས་ ག་མ་ཡིན་མི་ ག་མིན། །ཞེས་པས།
ག་བདེན་དོན་དམ་པར་ ག་པ་དང་མི་ ག་པ་དང་ ལ་བ་
དང༌། དོན་དམ་པར་ ག་ཆད་ཀྱི་མཐའ་ལས་འདས་ཞེས་པས།
ག་བདེན་དོན་དམ་པར་ ག་བ ལ་བ་དང་ ག་བ ལ་བ་མ་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 587

ཡིན་པ་དང་ ལ་བ་དང༌། དོན་དམ་རང་བཞིན་གྱིས་ མ་པར་

དག་ཅེས་པས། ག་བདེན་དོན་གཞན་གྱི་བདག་གིས་ ངོ ་མི་
ོང་བདེན་པར་ བ་པ་དང་ ལ་བ་དང༌། དོན་དམ་པར་མ་ སེ ་
མ་འགགས་ལ་སོགས་ཞེས་པས། ག་བདེན་ངོ་བོར་ ར་པའི་
བདག་དང་བདག་མེད་བདེན་པར་ བ་པ་དང་ ལ་བ་ ེ། ག་
བདེན་གྱི་ མ་པ་བཞི་ནི་དོན་ མ་དང༌། དེ་ ར་ གོ ས་པའི་
མཐོང་ལམ་ ག་བ ལ་བཟོད་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ ད་ཅིག་མ་བཞི་ནི་ཤེས་
མ་ཡིན་ནོ། །
III.12d-13b:
Like space; abandonment of desire;
{III.13}
Released from thorough grasping;
Naturally inexpressible.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 43b.6, fleshes out the second
part of the extensive explanation of the path of seeing as:
The four aspects of true origins [devoid of two superimpositions
each]:
• “ultimate nonexistence like space”—true origins’ voidness of
true establishment as being or not being the creative cause of
suffering
• “abandonment of afflictive emotions such as desire ulti-
mately”—true origins’ voidness of true establishment as be-
ing or not being the origin of suffering
• “ultimately released from thorough grasping”—true ori-
gins’ voidness of true establishment as being or not being
strongly produced
• “naturally inexpressible ultimately”—true origins’ voidness
of true establishment as being or not being conditions of
transmitting suffering from one to another
are objective aspects, and the four periods of doctrinal forbearance
588 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

and of doctrinal knowledge regarding origins that realize such are

mental aspects.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
མཁའ་འ ་ཆགས་པ་ ངས་པ་དང་། །
{III.13}
ཡོངས་ ་འཛིན་ལས་གྲོལ་བ་དང་། །ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་བ ོད་མེད་དང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
དོན་དམ་པར་མེད་པ་ནམ་མཁའ་དང་འ ་ཞེས་པས། ཀུན་
འ ང་བདེན་པ་ ག་བ ལ་གྱི་ དེ ་ ་དང་ ེད་ ་མ་ཡིན་པ་
བདེན་པར་ བ་པ་དང་ ལ་བ་དང༌། ཆགས་སོགས་ཉོན་མོངས་
དོན་དམ་པར་ བ་པ་ ངས་པ་ཞེས་པས་ཀུན་འ ང་བདེན་པ་
ག་བ ལ་ཀུན་འ ང་བ་ཡིན་མིན་བདེན་པར་ བ་པ་དང་ ལ་
བ་དང༌། དོན་དམ་པར་ཡོངས་ ་འཛིན་པ་ལས་གྲོལ་བ་ཞེས་པས།
ཀུན་འ ང་བདེན་པ་ ག་བ ལ་ གས་ ག་རབ་ ་ ེ་མི་ ེ་
བདེན་པར་ བ་པ་དང་ ལ་བ་དང༌། དོན་དམ་པར་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་
ཀྱིས་བ དོ ་ ་མེད་ཅེས་པས། ཀུན་འ ང་བདེན་པ་ ག་བ ལ་
གཅིག་ནས་གཅིག་ ་བ ད་པའི་ ནེ ་ཡིན་མིན་བདེན་པར་ བ་
པ་དང་ ལ་བ་ ེ། ཀུན་འ ང་བདེན་པའི་ མ་པ་བཞི་ནི་དོན་
མ་དང༌། དེ་ ར་ གོ ས་པའི་ཀུན་འ ང་བཟོད་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ ད་
ཅིག་མ་བཞི་ནི་ཤེས་ མ་ཡིན་ནོ། །
III:13c-14ab:
The meaning is not bestowable
To others through verbalization;
{III.14}
Unobservable;
Very pure; non-arising of illness.
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 589

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 44a.4, fleshes out the third

part of the extensive explanation of the path of seeing as:
The four aspects of true cessations [devoid of two superimposi-
tions each]:
• “the meaning of true cessations is not ultimately bestowable
to others through verbalization”—true cessations’ voidness
of true establishment as being or not being cessation of afflic-
tive emotions
• “ultimately unobservable”—true cessations’ voidness of
true establishment as being or not being pacification of suf-
fering
• “ultimately very pure of defilements of the two extremes of
permanence and annihilation”—true cessations’ voidness of
true establishment as being or not being the auspiciousness of
bliss and cleanliness
• the benefit, the “non-arising of all illness”—true cessations’
voidness of true establishment as being or not being the defi-
nite emergence that is irreversibility again
are objective aspects, and the four periods of doctrinal forbearance
and of doctrinal knowledge regarding cessations that realize such
are mental aspects.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
གང་ ིར་འདི་དོན་བ ོད་པ་ཡིས། །གཞན་ལ་ ིན་ ་མེད་པ་དང་། །
{III.14}
དམིགས་པ་མེད་པར་ ེད་པ་དང་། །ཤིན་ ་ མ་དག་ནད་མི་འ ང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
འགོག་བདེན་གྱི་དོན་བ དོ ་པས་དོན་དམ་པར་གཞན་ལ་ ནི ་ ་
མེད་པ་ཞེས་པས། འགོག་བདེན་ཉོན་མོངས་འགོག་པ་ཡིན་མིན་
བདེན་པར་ བ་པ་དང་ ལ་བ་དང༌། དོན་དམ་པར་དམིགས་པ་
མེད་པར་ དེ ་པ་ཞེས་པས། འགོག་བདེན་ ག་བ ལ་ཞི་བ་ཡིན་
མིན་བདེན་པར་ བ་པ་དང་ ལ་བ་དང༌། དོན་དམ་པར་ ག་
590 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

ཆད་ཀྱི་མཐའ་གཉིས་ཀྱི་ ི་མ་ཤིན་ ་ མ་པར་དག་ཅེས་པས།

འགོག་བདེན་བདེ་གཙང་གིས་གྱ་ནོམ་པ་ཡིན་མིན་བདེན་པར་
བ་པ་དང་ ལ་བ་དང༌། ཕན་ཡོན་ནད་ཐམས་ཅད་མི་འ ང་
ཞེས་པས། འགོག་བདེན་ ར་མི་ ོག་པའི་ངེས་འ ང་ཡིན་མིན་
བདེན་པར་ བ་པ་དང་ ལ་བ་ ེ། འགོག་བདེན་གྱི་ མ་པ་བཞི་
ནི་དོན་ མ་དང༌། དེ་ ར་ གོ ས་པའི་འགོག་པ་བཟོད་ཤེས་ཀྱི་
ད་ཅིག་མ་བཞི་ནི་ཤེས་ མ་ཡིན་ནོ། །
III:14cd-15:
Bad states are severed;
Not conceptualized as actualizing the fruit;
{III.15}
Not related with signs;
Nonproduction of consciousness
Regarding things, names, and duality.
These are the periods of exalted knowers of all.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 44b.1, fleshes out the fourth
part of the extensive explanation of the path of seeing as:
The four aspects of true paths [devoid of two superimpositions
each]:
• “the benefit that birth in three bad states is severed”—true
paths’ voidness of true establishment as being or not being
paths leading to liberation
• “not conceptualized as ultimately the methods for actualiz-
ing the fruit”—true paths’ voidness of true establishment as
being or not being suitable as antidotes to afflictive emotions
• “ultimately not related with signs such as blue, yellow, and
so forth”—true paths’ voidness of true establishment as being
or not being nonerroneous achievement of mind
• “nonproduction of dualistic consciousness regarding
things verbalized, verbalizing names, and duality—true
paths’ voidness of true establishment as being or not being
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 591

deliverance proceeding to always beneficial situations

are objective aspects, and the four periods of doctrinal forbearance
and of doctrinal knowledge regarding paths that realize such are
mental aspects. The sixteen periods indicated on the occasion of
knowers of all are Bodhisattvas’ path of seeing. Sixteen periods
of forbearance and knowledge of Hearers and Solitary Victors that
are not devoid of thirty-two superimpositions are implicitly indi-
cated.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
ངན་སོང་ཆད་དང་འ ས་ ་ནི། །མངོན་ ་ ་ལ་མི་ ོག་ཉིད། །
{III.15}
མཚན་མ་དག་དང་མ་འ ེལ་དང་། །དངོས་དང་མིང་དང་གཉིས་པོ་ལ། །
ཤེས་པ་ ེ་བ་མེད་པ་ནི། །ཀུན་ཤེས་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ ད་ཅིག་མ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཕན་ཡོན་ངན་སོང་ག མ་ ་ ེ་བ་ཆད་ཅེས་པས། ལམ་བདེན་
ཐར་པར་འཁྲིད་པའི་ལམ་ཡིན་མིན་བདེན་པར་ བ་པ་དང་ ལ་
བ་དང༌། འ ས་ ་མངོན་ ་ ་བའི་ཐབས་ལ་དོན་དམ་པར་ མ་
པར་མི་ གོ ་ཅེས་པས། ལམ་བདེན་ཉོན་མོངས་ཀྱི་གཉེན་པོར་
རིགས་པ་ཡིན་མིན་བདེན་པར་ བ་པ་དང་ ལ་བ་དང༌། དོན་
དམ་པར་ ་ོ སེར་སོགས་ཀྱི་མཚན་མ་དག་དང་མ་འ ལེ ་ཞེས་པས།
ལམ་བདེན་སེམས་ ནི ་ཅི་མ་ལོག་པར་ བ་པ་ཡིན་མིན་བདེན་
པར་ བ་པ་དང་ ལ་བ་དང༌། བ དོ ་ འི་དངོས་པོ་དང་ དོ ་
ེད་ཀྱི་མིང་དང་གཉིས་པོ་ལ་གཉིས་ ང་ཅན་གྱི་ཤེས་པ་ ་ེ བ་
མེད་པ་ཞེས་པས། ལམ་བདེན་ ག་ཕན་གྱི་གནས་ ་འགྲོ་བའི་
ངེས་འ ནི ་ཡིན་མིན་བདེན་པར་ བ་པ་དང་ ལ་བ་ ེ། ལམ་
བདེན་གྱི་ མ་པ་བཞི་ནི་དོན་ མ་དང༌། དེ་ ར་ གོ ས་པའི་
ལམ་བཟོད་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ ད་ཅིག་མ་བཞི་ནི་ཤེས་ མ་ཡིན་ནོ། །ཀུན་
592 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

ཤེས་པ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ བས་ནས་བ ན་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་མ་བ ་ ག་ནི་

ང་ བ་སེམས་དཔའི་མཐོང་བའི་ལམ་ཡིན་ནོ། ། ོ་འདོགས་སོ་
གཉིས་དང་མ་ ལ་བའི་ཉན་རང་གི་ཤེས་བཟོད་ ད་ཅིག་མ་
བ ་ ག་ནི་ གས་ལ་བ ན་ཏོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 2, 59ff.
45

Explaining the thirty-six phenomena

characterizing the four trainings
Chapter IV. Explaining the eleven phenomena
characterizing complete trainings in all aspects
I.12-13:
{I.12}
Aspects, trainings,
Qualities, defects, characteristics,
Concordances with a portion of liberation and with definite dis-
crimination,
Groups of irreversible learners,
{I.13}
Equality of mundane existence and peace,
Unsurpassed pure land,
And skill in means [characterize]
The complete manifest realization of all aspects.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 5b.6, fleshes out these two
stanzas as:
The aspects of the three exalted knowers, trainings, qualities of
trainings, defects1 of trainings, characteristics of trainings, con-
cordance with a portion of liberation, concordance with a por-
tion of definite discrimination, groups of irreversible commu-
nity members, trainings in the equality of mundane existence
and peace, trainings in a pure land, and trainings in skill in
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 593

means are the eleven phenomena characterizing a complete train-

ing in all aspects.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{I.12}
མ་པ་ ོར་བར་བཅས་ མས་དང་། ཡོན་ཏན་ ོན་ནི་མཚན་ཉིད་བཅས། །
ཐར་དང་ངེས་འ ེད་ཆ་མ ན་དང་། ོབ་པ་ ིར་མི་ ོག་པའི་ཚགས། །
{I.13}
ིད་དང་ཞི་བ་མཉམ་ཉིད་དང་། །ཞིང་དག་ ་ན་མེད་པ་ནི། །
མ་ཀུན་མངོན་ ོགས་ ོགས་པ་ ེ། །འདི་ནི་ཐབས་མཁས་བཅས་པ་ཡིན། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
མཁྱེན་ག མ་གྱི་ མ་པ་དང༌། རོ ་བ་དང༌། ོར་བའི་ཡོན་ཏན་
དང་། ོར་བའི་ ནོ ་དང༌། ོར་བའི་མཚན་ཉིད་དང༌། ཐར་པ་
ཆ་མ ན་དང༌། ངེས་འ དེ ་ཆ་མ ན་དང༌། བོ ་པ་ རི ་མི་ གོ ་
པའི་དགེ་འ ན་དང༌། དི ་ཞི་མཉམ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ ོར་བ་དང༌། ཞིང་
དག་ རོ ་བ་དང༌། ཐབས་མཁས་ རོ ་བ་དང་བཅས་པ་ མས་ནི་
མ་ གོ ས་ ོར་བ་མཚན་ ེད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་བ ་གཅིག་གོ །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 1, 6.
46

31st Topic
1. Aspects ( མ་པ་)
The five stanzas on aspects are in two parts, a single stanza that is a brief
indication and four stanzas that are an extensive explanation.
IV.1:
{IV.1}
The specifics of knowing the bases
Are called “aspects,” characters.
Because there are three aspects of exalted knowers of all,
Those [mental aspects] are asserted as three aspects.
594 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 45b.4, fleshes out the first

of five stanzas on aspects, the brief indication, as:
The specifics of pristine wisdoms knowing the attributes, such as
impermanence and so forth, of the bases, the four truths, are
called “aspects.” Those specifics also are whatsoever characters
of antidotes of whatsoever objects of abandonment; for example,
the pristine wisdom—indicated here—realizing impermanence is
the character of the first of the 173 antidotes or mental aspects
indicated here. Gyal-tshab’s Explanation says:
The aspect indicated here itself is the character; hence,
speaking of “character of the aspect” (rnam pa’i mtshan
nyid) is not logically feasible…
Because there are three aspects with regard to knowing exalted
knowers of all, mental aspects are asserted as three aspects.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{IV.1}
གཞི་ཤེས་པ་ཡི་ ེ་ ག་ མས། ། མ་པ་ཞེས་ ་མཚན་ཉིད་དེ། །
ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཉིད་ནི་ མ་ག མ་ ིར། །དེ་ནི་ མ་པ་ག མ་ ་འདོད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
གཞི་བདེན་བཞིའི་ཆོས་མི་ ག་སོགས་ཤེས་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ ་ེ
ག་ མས་ལ་ མ་པ་ཞེས་ འོ། ། ེ་ ག་དེ་ཡང་ ང་ ་གང་གི་
གཉེན་པོའི་མཚན་ཉིད་གང་ཡིན་པ་ ེ། དཔེར་ན་འདིར་བ ན་
མི་ ག་ གོ ས་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ནི་འདིར་བ ན་གཉེན་པོའམ་ཤེས་
མ་བ ་དང་དོན་ག མ་གྱི་དང་པོའི་མཚན་ཉིད་ཡིན་པ་ ་
འོ། ། མ་བཤད་ལས། འདིར་བ ན་ མ་པ་ཁོ་རང་མཚན་ཉིད་
ཡིན་པས། མ་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་བཤད་པ་མི་འཐད་དེ།… ཀུན་
མཁྱེན་ཉིད་དེ་མཁྱེན་པ་ལ་ མ་ག མ་ཡོད་པའི་ རི ་ཤེས་ མ་
དེ་ནི་ མ་པ་ག མ་ ་འདོད་དོ། །
The four stanzas that constitute the extensive explanation of aspects are
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 595

treated in three successive notes below. See also Sparham, Abhisamayā-

laṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 3,
3-12.
47
IV.2:
{IV.2}
Those ranging from the aspect of nonexistence
To the aspect of nonfluctuation
Are explained as four [each] for the individual truths
And fifteen for paths.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 46a.6, fleshes out this stanza
as:
The objective aspects of knowers of bases, explained in sūtra as
being twenty-seven ranging from the aspect of nonexistence to
the aspect of nonfluctuation, are treated by the Foremost Holy
[Maitreya] as divided into twelve—four aspects for the individ-
ual, that is, for each of, the first three truths—and fifteen for true
paths. Moreover, what are those?
four aspects of true sufferings
1. impermanence, which is indicated by the name “nonexistent
as permanent”
2. misery, which is indicated by the name “ultimately not pro-
duced” or “not produced for more than one instant”
3. emptiness, which is [indicated by] voidness of a creator self
4. selflessness, which is [indicated by] insuppressibility by the
apprehension of self
four aspects of true origins
5. cause, which is indicated by the ultimate nonexistence of a
situation for producing name and form [“name” referring to
the four mental aggregates]
6. origin, which is indicated by the ultimate nonexistence of go-
ing and coming that are like space
7. strong production, which is indicated by the ultimate inex-
pressibility by investigation and analysis as well as their fruits
8. condition, which is indicated by the ultimate nonexistence of
name, that is to say, feeling within the four “name” [or mental
aggregates]
four aspects of true cessations
596 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

9. cessation, which is indicated by the nonexistence of going

from one location to another
10. pacification, which is indicated by nonsusceptibility to condi-
tions or by nonapprehension as an object of mental discrimi-
nation
11. auspiciousness, which is indicated by inexhaustion due to
nondeterioration
12. definite emergence, which is indicated by nonproduction due
to being uncompounded
fifteen aspects of true paths
Four uncontaminated paths of seeing that are antidotes to the af-
flictive obstructions and that respectively are path, suitability,
achievement, and deliverance:
13. path of seeing directly realizing the selflessness of persons as
agents
14. path of seeing directly realizing the selflessness of persons as
knowers
15. path of seeing directly realizing the selflessness of persons as
ascenders higher
16. path of seeing directly realizing the selflessness of persons as
tamers of afflictive emotions
Five contaminated paths of meditation that are antidotes to the
[coarse] obstructions to omniscience:
17. pristine wisdom of the path of meditation—subsequent to
meditative equipoise—realizing that external objects are na-
tureless, like dreams
18. pristine wisdom of the path of meditation—subsequent to
meditative equipoise—realizing that external objects are not
produced, like echoes
19. pristine wisdom of the path of meditation—subsequent to
meditative equipoise—realizing that external objects are un-
ceasing, like optical illusions
20. pristine wisdom of the path of meditation—subsequent to
meditative equipoise—realizing that external objects are qui-
escent from the start, like mirages
21. pristine wisdom of the path of meditation—subsequent to
meditative equipoise—realizing that external objects are nat-
urally passed beyond sorrow, like a magician’s illusions
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 597

Six uncontaminated paths of seeing that are antidotes to the

[coarse] obstructions to omniscience:
22. pristine wisdom of meditative equipoise of the path of seeing
directly realizing that the thorough afflictions of external ob-
jects do not exist
23. pristine wisdom of meditative equipoise of the path of seeing
directly realizing that the complete purifications of external
objects do not exist
24. pristine wisdom of meditative equipoise of the path of seeing
directly realizing that pollutions by predispositions [set] by
afflictive emotions that are external objects do not exist
25. pristine wisdom of meditative equipoise of the path of seeing
directly realizing that the proliferations of divisions of forms,
sounds, and so forth that are external objects do not exist
26. pristine wisdom of meditative equipoise of the path of seeing
directly realizing that the pretensions of experiencing the taste
of one’s own realizations that are external objects do not exist
27. pristine wisdom of meditative equipoise of the path of seeing
directly realizing that one’s own already attained realizations
about external objects are nonfluctuating, that is, without de-
generation.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{IV.2}
མེད་པའི་ མ་པ་ནས་བ ང་ ེ། །མི་གཡོ་བ་ཡི་ མ་པའི་བར། །
བདེན་པ་སོ་སོ་ལ་བཞི་དང་། །ལམ་ལ་དེ་ནི་བཅོ་ ར་བཤད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
གཞི་ཤེས་ཀྱི་དོན་ མ་ནི། མེད་པའི་ མ་པ་ནས་བ ང་ །ེ མི་
གཡོ་བའི་ མ་པའི་བར་ཉེར་བ ན་ཡོད་པར་མདོ་ལས་བཤད་པ་
དེ། བདེན་པ་དང་པོ་ག མ་སོ་སོ་ ེ་རེ་རེ་ལ་ མ་པ་བཞི་བཞི་ ེ་
བ ་གཉིས་དང༌། ལམ་བདེན་ལ་བཅོ་ ར་ ེ་བ་ ེ་ ེ་བ ན་གྱིས་
མཛད་དོ། །དེ་དག་ཀྱང་གང་ཞེ་ན། ག་པར་མེད་པའི་མིང་གིས་
བ ན་པའི་མི་ ག་པ་དང༌། དོན་དམ་པར་མི་ ེ་བའམ་ ད་
598 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

ཅིག་གཅིག་ལས་ ག་པར་མི་ ེ་བའི་མིང་གིས་བ ན་པའི་ ག་

བ ལ་བ་དང༌། ེད་པ་པོའི་བདག་གིས་དབེན་པའི་ ོང་པ་
དང༌། བདག་འཛིན་གྱིས་མི་ ི་བའི་བདག་མེད་དེ་ ག་བདེན་གྱི་
མ་པ་བཞི་དང༌། དོན་དམ་པར་མིང་ག གས་ ེད་པའི་གནས་
མེད་པ་དང༌། དོན་དམ་པར་འགྲོ་འོང་མེད་པ་ནམ་མཁའ་དང་
མ ངས་པ་དང༌། དོན་དམ་པར་ གོ ་ད དོ ་འ ས་ ་དང་
བཅས་པས་བ ོད་ ་མེད་པ་དང༌། དོན་དམ་པར་མིང་ ེ་མིང་
གཞིའི་ནང་ཚན་གྱི་ཚར་བ་མེད་པ་བཞིས་རིམ་བཞིན་བ ན་པའི་
་དང༌། ཀུན་འ ང་དང༌། རབ་ ེ་དང༌། ེན་ཏེ་ཀུན་འ ང་
བདེན་པའི་ མ་པ་བཞི་དང༌། ད་གཅིག་ནས་གཅིག་ ་འགྲོ་བ་
མེད་པ་དང༌། ེན་གྱིས་མི་འ གོ ས་པའམ་ སོ ་ཡོངས་གཅོད་ཀྱི་
ལ་ ་ག ང་ ་མེད་པ་དང༌། ཉམས་པ་མེད་པས་མི་ཟད་པ་
དང༌། འ ས་མ་ ས་ཡིན་པས་ ་ེ བ་མེད་པ་བཞིས་རིམ་བཞིན་
བ ན་པའི་འགོག་པ་དང༌། ཞི་བ་དང༌། གྱ་ནོམ་པ་དང༌། ངེས་
འ ང་ ེ་འགོག་བདེན་གྱི་ མ་པ་བཞི་དང་བ ་གཉིས་སོ། །ལམ་
བདེན་གྱི་ མ་པ་ལ་ག མ་ལས། ཉོན་ ིབ་ཀྱི་གཉེན་པོ་མཐོང་
ལམ་ཟག་མེད་བཞི་ནི། ེད་པ་པོའ་ི གང་ཟག་གི་བདག་མེད་པ་
དང༌། ཤེས་པ་པོའི་གང་ཟག་གི་བདག་མེད་པ་དང༌། གོང་མར་
འཕོ་བ་པོའ་ི གང་ཟག་གི་བདག་མེད་པ་དང༌། ཉོན་མོངས་འ ལ་
བ་པོའི་གང་ཟག་གི་བདག་མེད་པར་མངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་པའི་
མཐོང་ལམ་བཞི་ནི་གོ་རིམ་བཞིན་ ་ལམ་དང༌། རིགས་པ་དང༌།
བ་པ་དང༌། ངེས་འ ནི ་ཡིན་པ་དང༌། ཤེས་ ིབ་ཀྱི་གཉེན་པོ་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 599

མོ ་ལམ་ཟག་བཅས་ ་ནི། ི་ལམ་ ར་ ི་དོན་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མེད་

པ་དང༌། ་བ ན་ ར་ ི་དོན་མ་ ེ་བ་དང༌། མིག་ཡོར་ ར་ ི་
དོན་མ་འགགས་པ་དང༌། ིག་ ་ ར་ ི་དོན་གཟོད་མ་ནས་ཞི་
བ་དང༌། ་མ་ ར་ ི་དོན་རང་བཞིན་གྱིས་ ་ངན་ལས་འདས་
པར་ ོགས་པའི་ ོམ་ལམ་ ེས་ཐོབ་ཡེ་ཤེས་ ་དང༌། ཤེས་ ིབ་
ཀྱི་གཉེན་པོ་མཐོང་ལམ་ཟག་མེད་ ག་ནི། ི་དོན་གྱི་ཀུན་ནས་
ཉོན་མོངས་པ་མེད་པ་དང༌། ི་དོན་གྱི་ མ་པར་ ང་བ་མེད་པ་
དང༌། ི་དོན་གྱི་ཉོན་མོངས་པའི་བག་ཆགས་ཀྱིས་གོས་པ་མེད་
པ་དང༌། ི་དོན་གྱི་ག གས་ ་སོགས་ད ེ་བའི་ ོས་པ་མེད་པ་
དང༌། ི་དོན་གྱི་རང་གི་ ོགས་པ་ལ་རོ་ ང་བའི་ ོམ་པ་མེད་པ་
དང༌། ི་དོན་གྱི་རང་གི་ ོགས་པ་ཐོབ་ཟིན་མི་གཡོ་བ་ ེ་ཉམས་
པ་མེད་པར་མངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་པའི་མཐོང་ལམ་མཉམ་གཞག་
ཡེ་ཤེས་ ག་ ེ་ལམ་བདེན་གྱི་ མ་པ་བཅོ་ འོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 3, 3-12.
48
IV.3:
{IV.3}
It is proclaimed that there are
Eight, seven, five, and sixteen
Respectively in terms of the causes,
Paths, sufferings, and cessations.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 47b.5, fleshes out this stanza
as:
In general it is proclaimed in sūtra that there are thirty-six as-
pects of knowers of paths, arranged by the Foremost Holy [Mait-
reya] as being eight, seven, five, and sixteen aspects respectively
in terms of the causes, true origins; true paths; true sufferings;
600 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

and true cessations.

I. Eight aspects of true origins indicated from the viewpoint of an-
tidote and object of abandonment
Aspects of cause that are implicitly projected respectively from
the explicit statement in sūtra of the aspects of (1) a knower of
paths separated from desire wishing to attaining attributes of the
Desire Realm, (2) a knower of paths not abiding in the manner of
adherence to not separating from objects, and (3) a knower of
paths that has pacified attachment liking the body:
1. aspiration that is attachment to future objects
2. desire that is attachment to not separating from objects
3. attachment that is liking rebirth
Aspects of origin that are implicitly projected respectively from
the explicit statement in sūtra of the aspects of (1) a knower of
paths without desire, (2) a knower of paths without hatred, and (3)
a knower of paths without delusion:
4. desire
5. hatred
6. delusion
Aspect of strong production that is implicitly projected respec-
tively from the explicit statement in sūtra of the aspect of a knower
of paths without the improper mental activities that are causes
generating afflictive emotions:
7. conceptualizations as pure, happy, permanent, and self [in
sense of substantial existence, that is, self-sufficiency]
Aspect of condition that is implicitly projected respectively from
the explicit statement in sūtra of the aspect of a knower of paths
realizing that self-powered sentient beings do not exist:
8. view of the transitory manifestly adhering to a self-powered
sentient being
II. Seven aspects of true paths indicated from the viewpoint of the-
sis and logical feasibility
Aspects of path
9. path opening the opportunity for liberation to limitless sen-
tient beings
10. path bringing about the welfare of others unrelated with the
two extremes of mundane existence and peace
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 601

Aspects of reasonableness
11. reasonableness of realizing all phenomena entirely as non-
different in the emptiness of true existence
12. reasonableness of achieving all qualities of the Great Vehicle
without holding the grounds of Hearers and Solitary Victors
to be supreme
Aspects of achievement
13. achievement that realizes objects as not conceptualized as the
two selves
14. achievement that realizes the noumenon as ultimately incom-
prehensible
Aspect of deliverance
15. deliverance that realizes all phenomena are ultimately desire-
less.
It is said that although for the first three aspects of true paths a
thesis and logical feasibility are stated, with respect to deliverance
the nonstatement of an aspect of logical feasibility upon setting
forth merely a thesis is relative to the thought of close trainees. [I]
wonder whether this means that there are no trainees involved in
wanting to know how this could be deliverance.
III. Five aspects of true sufferings indicated from the viewpoint of
specific characteristics and a general characteristic
Four specific characteristics
16. impermanence that is disintegration of continuum and mo-
mentary disintegration
17. misery that is to be under the other-power of afflictive emo-
tions and karma
18. emptiness that is voidness of a factually other agentive self
19. selflessness that is one’s own nonestablishment as an entity
of a self of persons
One general characteristic
20. nonestablishment ultimately
Tsong-kha-pa’s Golden Garland says that the former four are na-
tures of particular [objects], and the last is the nature of all four
and applies to all, whereby [respectively] they are specific char-
acteristics and a general characteristic. There are explanations in
602 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

other texts that impermanence and misery are specific character-

istics, and emptiness and selflessness are general characteristics.
IV. Sixteen aspects of true cessations indicated from the viewpoint
of benefits
Aspects of cessation indicated by the terms of the three empti-
nesses of the internal, the external, and both [the internal and the
external]
21. the true cessation that is to have stopped the conception of
true existence with respect to the contaminated things that are
eyes and so forth
22. the true cessation that is to have stopped the conception of
true existence with respect to the contaminated things that are
forms and so forth
23. the true cessation that is to have stopped the conception of
true existence with respect to the contaminated things that the
bases of the sense powers [such as the gross orbs of the eyes
and so forth]
Aspects of pacification indicated by the eight terms ranging from
the emptiness of emptiness to the emptiness of nondiscarding
24. the true cessation that is to have stopped the conception of
true existence with respect to emptiness
25. the true cessation that is to have stopped the conception of
true existence with respect to the ten directions
26. the true cessation that is to have stopped the conception of
true existence with respect to nirvāṇa
27. the true cessation that is to have stopped the conception of
true existence with respect to the compounded
28. the true cessation that is to have stopped the conception of
true existence with respect to uncompounded
29. the true cessation that is to have stopped the conception of
true existence with respect to what has passed beyond the ex-
tremes of permanence and annihilation
30. the true cessation that is to have stopped the conception of
true existence with respect to cyclic existence
31. the true cessation that is to have stopped the conception of
true existence with respect to realizational doctrine of the
Great Vehicle
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 603

Aspect of auspiciousness indicated by the term emptiness of a na-

ture
32. the true cessation that is to have stopped the manifest adher-
ence to a creator such as the principal (gtso bo, pradhāna [or
prakṛti as is asserted in Sāṃkhya]) or Īshvara (dbang phyug)
and so forth
Aspects of the mode of deliverance indicated by the three terms of
the emptiness of all phenomena, the emptiness of own-character-
istic, and the emptiness of the unobservable
33. the true cessation that is to have stopped the conception of
true existence with respect to forms and so forth as objects
defined
34. the true cessation that is to have stopped the conception of
true existence with respect to that-suitable-[to-be-called]-a-
form and so forth as definitions
35. the true cessation that is to have stopped the conception of
true existence with respect to the past and so forth as times
Aspect of deliverance indicated by the term of the emptiness of
the inherent existence of non-things
36. the true cessation that is to have stopped the conception of
true existence with respect to entities that are objects of at-
tainment.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{IV.3}
་དང་ལམ་དང་ ག་བ ལ་དང་། །འགོག་པ་ལ་ནི་གོ་རིམས་བཞིན། །
དེ་དག་བ ད་དང་བ ན་དང་ནི། ། ་དང་བ ་ ག་ཅེས་བ གས་སོ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
་ཀུན་འ ང་བདེན་པ་དང༌། ལམ་བདེན་དང༌། ག་བདེན་
དང༌། འགོག་བདེན་ལ་གོ་རིམས་བཞིན་ ་ མ་པ་དེ་དག་བ ད་
དང༌། བ ན་དང༌། ་དང༌། བ ་ ག་ཡོད་ཅེས་ ེ་བ ན་གྱིས་ས་
གཅོད་མཛད་དེ། ིར་ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ མ་པ་སོ་ ག་ཡོད་པར་མདོ་
ལས་བ གས་སོ། །དེ་ལ་བཞི་ལས། ང་གཉེན་གྱི་ ོ་ནས་བ ན་
པའི་ཀུན་འ ང་བདེན་པའི་ མ་པ་བ ད་ནི། མདོ་ལས། འདོད་
604 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

ཡོན་ཐོབ་འདོད་ཀྱི་འདོད་ཆགས་དང་ ལ་བའི་ལམ་ཤེས་དང༌།
ལ་ལ་མི་འ ལ་བར་ཞེན་པའི་ ལ་གྱིས་མི་གནས་པའི་ལམ་
ཤེས་དང༌། ས་ལ་དགའ་བའི་ དེ ་པ་ཞི་བའི་ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ མ་
པ་དངོས་ ་ག ངས་པའི་ གས་ལ་གོ་རིམས་བཞིན་ ་འཕངས་
པའི་ འི་ མ་པ་གང་ཡིན་པ་ ལ་མ་འོངས་པ་ལ་ ེད་པའི་
འ ན་པ་དང༌། ལ་ལ་མི་འ ལ་བར་ ེད་པའི་འདོད་ཆགས་
དང༌། ཡང་ ིད་ལ་དགའ་བའི་ དེ ་པ་ག མ་དང༌། འདོད་
ཆགས་མེད་པ་དང༌། ཞེ་ ང་མེད་པ་དང༌། གཏི་ ག་མེད་པའི་
ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ མ་པ་དངོས་ ་ག ངས་པའི་ གས་ལ་འཕངས་
པའི་ཀུན་འ ང་གི་ མ་པ་གང་ཡིན་པའི་འདོད་ཆགས་དང༌། ཞེ་
ང་དང༌། གཏི་ ག་ག མ་དང༌། ཉོན་མོངས་ ེ་བའི་ ་ ལ་
མིན་ཡིད་ དེ ་མེད་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ མ་པ་དངོས་ ་ག ངས་
པའི་ གས་ལ་འཕངས་པའི་རབ་ འེ ི་ མ་པ་གང་ཡིན་པ་གཙང་
བདེ་ ག་བདག་ ་ཀུན་ ་ ོག་པ་དང༌། རང་དབང་བའི་སེམས་
ཅན་མེད་པར་ ོགས་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ མ་པ་དངོས་ ་ག ངས་
པའི་ གས་ལ་འཕངས་པའི་ ནེ ་གྱི་ མ་པ་གང་ཡིན་པ་རང་
དབང་བའི་སེམས་ཅན་ ་མངོན་པར་ཞེན་པའི་འ ིག་ ་ ེ་
བ ད་དོ། །དམ་བཅའ་དང་འཐད་པའི་ ོ་ནས་བ ན་པའི་ལམ་
བདེན་གྱི་ མ་པ་བ ན་ནི། ལམ་གྱི་ མ་པ་གང་ཡིན་པ་སེམས་
ཅན་ཚད་མེད་པ་ལ་ཐར་བའི་གོ་ བས་འ དེ ་པའི་ལམ་དང༌།
ིད་ཞིའི་མཐའ་གཉིས་དང་མ་འ ལེ ་བར་གཞན་དོན་ དེ ་པའི་
ལམ་གཉིས་དང༌། རིགས་པའི་ མ་པ་གང་ཡིན་པ་ཆོས་ཐམས་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 605

ཅད་མ་ ས་པར་བདེན་ ོང་ ་ཐ་མི་དད་པར་ ོགས་པའི་

རིགས་པ་དང༌། ཉན་རང་གི་ས་ལ་མཆོག་ ་འཛིན་པ་མེད་པར་
ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ཡོན་ཏན་མཐའ་དག་ བ་པའི་རིགས་པ་གཉིས་
དང༌། བ་པའི་ མ་པ་གང་ཡིན་པ་བདག་གཉིས་ ་ མ་པར་
མི་ ོག་པར་ ལ་ ོགས་པར་ ེད་པའི་ བ་པ་དང༌། ཆོས་ཉིད་
དོན་དམ་པར་གཞལ་ ་མེད་པར་ ོགས་པའི་ བ་པ་གཉིས་
དང༌། ངེས་འ ིན་གྱི་ མ་པ་གང་ཡིན་པ་ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་
དོན་དམ་པར་ཆགས་པ་མེད་པར་ ོགས་པའི་ངེས་འ ནི ་གཅིག་
ེ་བ ན་ནོ། །དང་པོ་ག མ་ལ་དམ་བཅའ་དང་འཐད་པའི་ མ་
པ་གཉིས་གཉིས་ག ངས་ཀྱང༌། ངེས་འ ིན་གྱི་ མ་པ་ལ་དམ་
བཅའ་ཙམ་བཤད་ནས་འཐད་པའི་ མ་པ་མ་ག ངས་པ་ནི་
ག ལ་ ་ཉེ་བའི་བསམ་པ་ལ་ ོས་པ་ཡིན་པར་ག ངས་ཏེ། ི་
ར་ངེས་འ ིན་ཡིན་ མ་ ་ཤེས་འདོད་ གས་པའི་ག ལ་ ་
མེད་པའི་དོན་ཡིན་ནམ་ མ་མོ། །རང་ ིའི་མཚན་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ ོ་
ནས་བ ན་པའི་ ག་བདེན་གྱི་ མ་པ་ ་ནི། ན་དང་ ད་ཅིག་
གིས་འ ིག་པའི་མི་ ག་པ་དང༌། ལས་ཉོན་གྱི་གཞན་དབང་ཅན་
གྱི་ ག་བ ལ་བ་དང༌། ེད་པ་པོའ་ི བདག་དོན་གཞན་གྱིས་
དབེན་པའི་ ོང་པ་དང༌། རང་ཉིད་གང་ཟག་གི་བདག་གི་ངོ་
བོར་མ་ བ་པའི་བདག་མེད་དེ་རང་གི་མཚན་ཉིད་བཞི་དང༌།
དོན་དམ་པར་མ་ བ་པའི་ ིའི་མཚན་ཉིད་གཅིག་ ེ་ འོ། ། ་
མ་བཞི་རང་རང་གི་ངོ་བོ་དང་ཐ་མ་ནི་བཞི་གའི་ངོ་བོ་ཡིན་ཞིང་
ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་ཁྱབ་པས་རང་དང་ ི་མཚན་ནོ་ཞེས་གསེར་ ེང་
606 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

ལས་ག ངས་ཤིང༌། ག ང་གཞན་ནས་མི་ ག་ ག་བ ལ་ནི་

རང་མཚན་དང་ ངོ ་བདག་མེད་ནི་ ིའི་མཚན་ཉིད་ ་བཤད་པ་
ཡོད་དོ། །ཕན་ཡོན་གྱི་ ོ་ནས་བ ན་པའི་འགོག་བདེན་གྱི་ མ་
པ་བ ་ ག་ནི། ནང་དང་ ི་དང་གཉིས་ཀ་ ངོ ་པ་ཉིད་ག མ་
གྱི་ ས་བ ན་པའི་འགོག་པའི་ མ་པ་གང་ཡིན་པ་མིག་སོགས་
དང༌། ག གས་སོགས་དང༌། དབང་ ེན་གྱི་ཟག་བཅས་ཀྱི་དངོས་
པོ་བཀག་པའི་འགོག་བདེན་ག མ་དང༌། ོང་པ་ཉིད་ ངོ ་པ་
ཉིད་ནས་དོར་བ་མེད་པ་ ོང་པ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་བར་བ ད་ཀྱི་ ས་
བ ན་པའི་ཞི་བའི་ མ་པ་གང་ཡིན་པ་ ོང་པ་ཉིད་དང༌།
ོགས་བ ་དང༌། ང་འདས་དང༌། འ ས་ ས་དང༌། འ ས་མ་
ས་དང༌། ག་ཆད་ཀྱི་མཐའ་ལས་འདས་པ་དང༌། འཁོར་བ་
དང༌། ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ གོ ས་པའི་ཆོས་ལ་བདེན་པར་ཞེན་པ་བཀག་
པའི་འགོག་བདེན་བ ད་དང༌། རང་བཞིན་ ངོ ་པ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ ས་
བ ན་པའི་གྱ་ནོམ་པའི་ མ་པ་གང་ཡིན་པ་གཙ་བོ་དང་དབང་
ག་ལ་སོགས་པ་ ེད་པ་པོར་མངོན་པར་ཞེན་པ་བཀག་པའི་
འགོག་བདེན་གཅིག་དང༌། ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་དང་རང་གི་མཚན་
ཉིད་དང་མི་དམིགས་པ་ ོང་པ་ཉིད་ག མ་གྱི་ ས་བ ན་པའི་
ི་ ར་ངེས་པར་འ ང་བའི་ མ་པ་གང་ཡིན་པ་ག གས་སོགས་
ལ་མཚན་ ་དང༌། ག གས་ ང་སོགས་ལ་མཚན་ཉིད་དང༌།
འདས་སོགས་ལ་ ས་ ་བདེན་པར་ཞེན་པ་བཀག་པའི་འགོག་
བདེན་ག མ་དང༌། དངོས་པོ་མེད་པའི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ ངོ ་པ་ཉིད་
ཀྱི་ ས་བ ན་པའི་གང་ངེས་པར་འ ང་བའི་ མ་པ་གང་ཡིན་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 607

པ་ཐོབ་ འི་ངོ་བོར་བདེན་པར་ཞེན་པ་བཀག་པའི་འགོག་བདེན་
གཅིག་ ེ་བ ་ ག་གོ །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 3, 7ff.
49
IV.4-5:
{IV.4}
By dividing these ranging
From the establishments by way of mindfulness
Through the finality of Buddha aspects
In accordance with true paths
{IV.5}
Into the three exalted knowers of all,
These are asserted respectively
Regarding Learners, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas
As thirty-seven, thirty-four, and thirty-nine.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 49b.4, fleshes out these two
stanzas as:
By dividing the aspects ranging from mindful establishment on
the body through the Buddha aspects from the viewpoint of
types in accordance with what exist for three exalted knowers
[of all] regarding true paths, the Foremost Holy [Maitreya] ar-
ranged (1) aspects of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects that are in
common with those that Learners, that is, Hearers and Solitary
Victors have, (2) aspects of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects that
are in common with those that Bodhisattvas have, and (3) un-
common aspects of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects that exist
only in Buddhas, these respectively being thirty-seven, thirty-
four, and thirty-nine; in general it is asserted, that is, explained,
in sūtra that there are 110 aspects of an exalted-knower-of-all-as-
pects.
Thirty-seven aspects of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects that are
in common with those that Hearers and Solitary Victors have
Four establishments through mindfulness:
1. mindful establishment on the body
2. mindful establishment on feelings
608 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

3. mindful establishment on the mind

4. mindful establishment on [other] phenomena
Four thorough abandonings:
5. abandoning non-virtues, thorough afflictions, already gener-
ated
6. not generating non-virtues not yet generated
7. increasing virtues, the pure, already generated
8. generating virtues not yet generated
Four legs of manifestation:
9. aspiration
10. effort
11. contemplation
12. analysis
Five faculties:
13. faith
14. effort
15. mindfulness
16. meditative stabilization
17. wisdom
Five powers:
18. faith
19. effort
20. mindfulness
21. meditative stabilization
22. wisdom
Seven correct branches of enlightenment:
23. mindfulness
24. intense differentiation of phenomena
25. effort
26. joy
27. pliancy
28. meditative stabilization
29. equanimity
Eight-fold path of Superiors:
30. correct view
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 609

31. correct realization

32. correct speech
33. correct aims of actions
34. correct livelihood
35. correct exertion
36. correct mindfulness
37. correct meditative stabilization
Thirty-four aspects of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects that are in
common with those that Bodhisattvas have
Three doors of liberation:
38. emptiness door of liberation
39. signlessness door of liberation
40. wishlessness of door of liberation
Three [meditative] liberations:
41. liberation of the embodied looking at a form
42. liberation of the formless looking at a form
43. liberation of a beautiful form
Five [meditative] liberations:
44. liberation of infinite space
45. liberation of infinite consciousness
46. liberation of nothingness
47. liberation of the peak of cyclic existence
48. liberation of cessation
Nine [serial] absorptions:
49. first concentration
50. second concentration
51. third concentration
52. fourth concentration
53. infinite space
54. infinite consciousness
55. nothingness
56. peak of cyclic existence
57. cessation
Four doctrinal forbearances:
58. doctrinal forbearance regarding suffering
59. doctrinal forbearance regarding the origins [of suffering]
610 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

60. doctrinal forbearance regarding the cessation [of suffering

and its origins]
61. doctrinal forbearance regarding the path
Ten perfections:
62. giving
63. ethics
64. patience
65. effort
66. concentration
67. wisdom
68. method
69. prayer-wishes
70. power
71. pristine wisdom
Thirty-nine uncommon aspects of an exalted-knower-of-all-as-
pects that exist only in Buddhas
Ten powers
72. power of exalted knowledge of sources and non-sources
73. power of exalted knowledge of the fruition of actions
74. power of exalted knowledge of the varieties of interests
75. power of exalted knowledge of the varieties of dispositions
76. power of exalted knowledge of the varieties of faculties
77. power of exalted knowledge of the paths going everywhere
78. power of exalted knowledge of the varieties of meditative eq-
uipoise
79. power of exalted knowledge mindful of former states
80. power of exalted knowledge of transmigration and birth
81. power of exalted knowledge of the extinction of contamina-
tion
Four fearlessnesses
82. fearlessness with respect to asserting perfect realization
83. fearlessness with respect to asserting perfect abandonment
84. fearlessness with respect to asserting teaching interruptive
phenomena
85. fearlessness with respect to asserting teaching the paths of
definite emergence
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 611

Four correct knowledges

86. correct knowledge of individual doctrines
87. correct knowledge of individual meanings
88. correct knowledge of individual communication
89. correct knowledge of individual prowess
Eighteen unshared attributes of a Buddha
six [unshared behaviors]*
90. not having error physically
91. not having senselessness verbally
92. not having decrease in mindfulness mentally
93. not having non-equipoise
94. not having discrimination of difference
95. not having the indifference of non-individual analysis
six [unshared realizations]
96. aspiration
97. effort
98. mindfulness
99. meditative stabilization
100. wisdom
101. not having degeneration from release
three [unshared activities] preceded by exalted wisdom and fol-
lowed by exalted wisdom
102. exalted activities of body
103. exalted activities of speech
104. exalted activities of mind
three unshared exalted wisdoms
105. pristine wisdom unimpededly knowing all past objects of
knowledge
106. pristine wisdom unimpededly knowing all future objects of
knowledge
107. pristine wisdom unimpededly knowing all present objects of
knowledge
Three pristine wisdoms
108. pristine wisdom of meditative equipoise on thusness devoid
of defilement in the manner of never rising again [from med-
itative equipoise]
612 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

109. self-arisen pristine wisdom that has gained dominion with

respect to all doctrine
110. pristine wisdom of a Buddha understanding all aspects of the
modes and the diversity.
*The three bracketed subdivisions are from Kön-chog-jig-may-wang-po’s
Thorough Expression of the Natures of the One Hundred Seventy-Three
Aspects of the Three Exalted Knowers: White Lotus Vine of Eloquence.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{IV.4}
ན་པ་ཉེར་གཞག་ནས་བ ང་ ེ། །སངས་ ས་ མ་པའི་མཐར་ ག་ མས། །
ལམ་གྱི་བདེན་པའི་ ེས་མ ན་པར། །ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ག མ་ ་ ེད་པས་ན། །
{IV.5}
ོབ་མ་ ང་ བ་སེམས་དཔའི་དང་། །སངས་ ས་ མས་ལ་རིམ་བཞིན་ ། །
མ་ ་བ ན་དང་ མ་ ་བཞི། ། མ་ ་ ་དགུ་དག་ ་བཞེད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ས་ ན་པ་ཉེར་གཞག་ནས་བ ང་ ་ེ སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ མ་པའི་
བར་ མས། ལམ་གྱི་བདེན་པ་ལ་མཁྱེན་ག མ་ཡོད་པ་དང་ སེ ་
་མ ན་པར་ མ་མཁྱེན་ལ་ཡང་རིགས་ཀྱི་ ་ོ ནས་ཀུན་མཁྱེན་
ག མ་ ་ ་ེ བས་ན། བོ ་མ་ཉན་ཐོས་ལ་ཡོད་པ་དང་ ན་མོང་
བའི་ མ་མཁྱེན་གྱི་ མ་པ་དང༌། ང་ བ་སེམས་དཔའ་ལ་ཡོད་
པ་དང་ ན་མོང་བའི་ མ་མཁྱེན་གྱི་ མ་པ་དང༌། སངས་ ས་
ཁོ་ན་ལ་ཡོད་པའི་ ན་མོང་མ་ཡིན་པའི་ མ་མཁྱེན་གྱི་ མ་པ་
མས་ལ་རིམ་པ་བཞིན་ ་ མ་ ་ ་བ ན་དང༌། མ་ ་བཞི་
དང༌། མ་ ་ ་དགུ་དག་ ་ ེ་བ ན་གྱིས་ས་གཅོད་མཛད་
ཅིང༌། ིར་ མ་མཁྱེན་གྱི་ མ་པ་བ ་ ་བ ་ཡོད་པར་བཞེད་
པ་ ེ་མདོ་ལས་བཤད་དོ། །དེ་ ར་ག མ་ལས། དང་པོ་ནི། ས་
དང༌། ཚར་བ་དང༌། སེམས་དང༌། ཆོས་ ན་པ་ཉེར་གཞག་བཞི་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 613

དང༌། མི་དགེ་བ་ཀུན་ཉོན་གྱི་ ེ་བ་ ོང་བ་དང༌། མ་ སེ ་པ་མི་

བ ེད་པ་དང༌། དགེ་བ་ མ་ ང་ སེ ་པ་འཕེལ་བ་དང༌། མ་ ེས་
པ་བ ེད་པའི་ཡང་དག་པར་ ོང་བ་བཞི་དང༌། འ ན་པ་དང༌།
བ ོན་འ ས་དང༌། སེམས་དང༌། ད ོད་པའི་ ་འ ལ་གྱི་ ང་
པ་བཞི་དང༌། དད་པ་དང༌། བ ོན་འ ས་དང༌། ན་པ་དང༌།
ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་དང༌། ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་དབང་པོ་ ་དང༌། དད་པ་
དང༌། བ ནོ ་འ ས་དང༌། ན་པ་དང༌། ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་དང༌།
ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ ོབས་ ་དང༌། ན་པ་དང༌། ཆོས་རབ་ ་ མ་
འ ེད་དང༌། བ ནོ ་འ ས་དང༌། དགའ་བ་དང༌། ཤིན་ ངས་
དང༌། ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་དང༌། བཏང་ ོམས་ཡང་དག་ ང་ བ་ཀྱི་
ཡན་ལག་བ ན་དང༌། ཡང་དག་པའི་ ་བ་དང༌། ཡང་དག་པའི་
ོག་པ་དང༌། ཡང་དག་པའི་ངག་དང༌། ཡང་དག་པའི་ལས་ཀྱི་
མཐའ་དང་། ཡང་དག་པའི་འཚ་བ་དང༌། ཡང་དག་པའི་ ོལ་བ་
དང༌། ཡང་དག་པའི་ ན་པ་དང༌། ཡང་དག་པའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་
འཕགས་ལམ་ཡན་ལག་བ ད་དེ་ མ་ ་ ་བ ན་ནོ། །གཉིས་པ་
ནི། ོང་ཉིད་དང༌། མཚན་མེད་དང༌། ོན་མེད་ཀྱི་ མ་ཐར་ ོ་
ག མ་དང༌། ག གས་ཅན་ག གས་ལ་ ་བ་དང༌། ག གས་མིན་
ག གས་ལ་ ་བ་དང༌། ག གས་ ག་པའི་ མ་ཐར་ག མ་དང༌།
ནམ་མཁའ་མཐའ་ཡས་དང༌། མ་ཤེས་མཐའ་ཡས་དང༌། ཅིང་
ཡང་མེད་དང༌། ིད་ ེ་དང༌། འགོག་པའི་ མ་ཐར་ ་དང༌།
བསམ་གཏན་དང་པོ་དང༌། གཉིས་པ་དང༌། ག མ་པ་དང༌།
བཞི་པ་དང༌། ནམ་མཁའ་མཐའ་ཡས་དང༌། མ་ཤེས་མཐའ་
614 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

ཡས་དང༌། ཅི་ཡང་མེད་དང༌། ིད་ ེ་དང༌། འགོག་པའི་ མོ ས་

འ ག་དགུ་དང༌། ག་བ ལ་དང༌། ཀུན་འ ང་དང༌། འགོག་པ་
དང༌། ལམ་ཆོས་བཟོད་བཞི་དང༌། ིན་པ་དང༌། ལ་ཁྲིམས་
དང༌། བཟོད་པ་དང༌། བ ོན་འ ས་དང༌། བསམ་གཏན་དང༌།
ཤེས་རབ་དང༌། ཐབས་དང༌། ོན་ལམ་དང༌། ོབས་དང༌། ཡེ་
ཤེས་ཀྱི་ཕར་ ིན་བ ་ ེ་ མ་ ་ ་བཞིའོ། །ག མ་པ་ནི། གནས་
དང་གནས་མིན་མཁྱེན་པ་དང༌། ལས་འ ས་མཁྱེན་པ་དང༌།
མོས་པ་ ་ཚགས་མཁྱེན་པ་དང༌། ཁམས་ ་ཚགས་མཁྱེན་པ་
དང༌། དབང་པོ་ ་ཚགས་མཁྱེན་པ་དང༌། ཀུན་འགྲོའི་ལམ་
མཁྱེན་པ་དང༌། ོམས་འ ག་ ་ཚགས་མཁྱེན་པ་དང༌། ནོ ་
གནས་མཁྱེན་པ་དང༌། འཆི་འཕོ་ ་ེ བ་མཁྱེན་པ་དང༌། ཟག་པ་
ཟད་པ་མཁྱེན་པའི་ བོ ས་བ ་དང༌། ོགས་པ་ ན་ཚགས་ ་
དམ་བཅའ་བ་དང༌། ངས་པ་ ན་ཚགས་ ་དམ་བཅའ་བ་
དང༌། བར་ ་གཅོད་པའི་ཆོས་བ ན་པ་དང༌། ངེས་པར་འ ང་
བའི་ལམ་བ ན་པ་ལ་མི་འ གི ས་པ་བཞི་དང༌། ཆོས་དང༌། དོན་
དང༌། ངེས་ཚིག་དང༌། ོབས་པ་སོ་སོ་ཡང་དག་རིག་པ་བཞི་
དང༌། ་ལ་འ ལ་བ་དང༌། ག ང་ལ་ཅ་ཅོ་དང་། གས་ལ་
ན་པ་ཉམས་པའི་བ དེ ་ངེས་དང༌། མཉམ་པར་མ་བཞག་པ་
དང༌། ཐ་དད་པ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་འ ་ཤེས་དང༌། སོ་སོར་མ་བ གས་
པའི་བཏང་ ོམས་མི་མངའ་བ་ ག་དང༌། འ ན་པ་དང༌།
བ ོན་འ ས་དང༌། ན་པ་དང༌། ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་དང༌། ཤེས་
རབ་དང༌། མ་གྲོལ་ལས་ཉམས་མི་མངའ་བ་ ག་དང༌། འི་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 615

འ ིན་ལས་དང༌། ག ང་གི་འ ནི ་ལས་དང༌། གས་ཀྱི་འ ིན་

ལས་ཡེ་ཤེས་ ོན་ ་འགྲོ་ཞིང་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ སེ ་ ་འ ང་བ་ག མ་
དང༌། འདས་པ་དང༌། མ་འོངས་པ་དང༌། ད་ ར་འ ང་བའི་
ཤེས་ ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཆགས་ཐོགས་མེད་པར་མཁྱེན་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་
ག མ་ ེ་སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ཆོས་མ་འ ེས་པ་བཅོ་བ ད་དང༌། ི་
མ་དང་ ལ་བའི་དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་ལ་ ར་མི་ ང་བའི་ ལ་གྱིས་
མཉམ་པར་བཞག་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་དང༌། ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་མངའ་
བ ར་བའི་རང་འ ང་གི་ཡེ་ཤེས་དང༌། ི་ ་ ི་ ེད་ཀྱི་ མ་པ་
ཀུན་ གས་ ་ ད་པའི་སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ག མ་ ེ་ མ་ ་
་དགུའོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 3, 12ff.
50

32nd Topic
2. Trainings ( ོར་བ་)
IV.8-11; Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 51b.7, treats the
twenty trainings described in these four stanzas in five groups. The titles
of the first four groups below are taken from Jam-yang-shay-pa’s section
on the divisions of trainings.
IV.8-9a:
{IV.8}
Because of not abiding in forms and so forth,
And because of stopping connection to those,
And because of the profundity of the thusness of those,
And because the depth of those is difficult to fathom,
{IV.9}
And because the measure of those is limitless,
616 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 51b.7, fleshes out these lines

as:
Five by way of the entities of trainings
1. because of not abiding in true existence upon having con-
ceived it in objects such as forms and so forth, training that
has stopped abiding, and
2. because of stopping connection to true existence upon hav-
ing conceived it in those, training that has stopped joining
(rnal ’byor), and
3. because of realizing that the thusness of those forms and so
forth is profound, training in profundity, and
4. because of realizing that the depth of the noumenon of
those is difficult to fathom, training in the difficult to fathom
the depths, and
5. because of realizing that the noumenon of those is limitless,
training in limitlessness, and
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{IV.8}
ག གས་ལ་སོགས་ལ་མི་གནས་ ིར། །དེ་ལ་ ོར་བ་བཀག་པའི་ ིར། །
དེ་ཡི་དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་ཟབ་ ིར། །དེ་ མས་གཏིང་དཔག་དཀའ་བའི་ ིར། །
{IV.9}
དེ་དག་ཚད་ནི་མེད་ ིར་དང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ག གས་ལ་སོགས་པའི་ ལ་ལ་བདེན་པར་ཞེན་ནས་མི་གནས་
པའི་ རི ་གནས་པ་བཀག་པའི་ རོ ་བ་དང༌། དེ་ལ་བདེན་པར་
ཞེན་ནས་ རོ ་བ་བཀག་པའི་ རི ་ ལ་འ ོར་བཀག་པའི་ རོ ་བ་
དང༌། ག གས་སོགས་དེའ་ི དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་ཟབ་པར་ ོགས་པའི་
རི ་ཟབ་པའི་ ོར་བ་དང༌། དེ་ མས་ཀྱི་ཆོས་ཉིད་གཏིང་དཔག་
དཀའ་བར་ ོགས་པའི་ རི ་གཏིང་དཔག་དཀའ་བའི་ རོ ་བ་
དང༌། དེ་དག་གི་ཆོས་ཉིད་ཚད་མེད་པར་ གོ ས་པའི་ རི ་ཚད་
མེད་པའི་ རོ ་བ་ ེ་ ་དང༌།
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 617

IV.9b-10b:
And because of realizing with great difficulty over a long period,
And because of prophecy, and because of irreversibility,
And because of definitely emerging, and because of noninterrup-
tion,
{IV.10}
And because of nearing enlightenment, and because of speedy
enlightenment,
And because of others’ welfare,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 52a.1, fleshes out these lines
as:
Eight by way of the persons who are the supports [for cultivating
trainings]
6. because of realizing and attaining enlightenment with great
difficulty over a long period, training with great difficulty
over a long period, and
7. because fear of emptiness mostly does not arise and proph-
ecy [by the Buddha] is attained without the passage of more
than three Ones-Gone-Thus, training of one who attains
prophecy, and
8. because from the peak [level of the path of preparation] spe-
cial realization is attained and roots of virtue ripen, training
in irreversibility, and
9. because of attaining stable realization of method and wisdom,
training in definitely emerging above the grounds of Hearers
and Solitary Victors, and
10. because of seeing that one is close to the ocean of the element
of attributes, training in noninterruption, and
11. because of becoming a support of new uncontaminated qual-
ities, training in nearing enlightenment, and
12. because of speedily manifestly accomplishing the fruit, the
great enlightenment, training in speedy enlightenment, and
13. because of engaging in the turning of the wheel of doctrine,
training in others’ welfare, and
Maitreya’s Ornament:

ཚགས་ཆེན་ ན་རིང་ ོགས་པའི་ ིར། །

618 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

ང་བ ན་ ིར་མི་ ོག་ཉིད་དང་། །ངེས་འ ང་བར་ཆད་མེད་བཅས་དང་། །

{IV.10}
ང་ བ་ཉེ་དང་ ར་བ་དང་། །གཞན་དོན་
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཚགས་ཆེན་པོས་ ན་རིང་པོ་ནས་ ང་ བ་ གོ ས་ཤིང་འཐོབ་
པའི་ རི ་ཚགས་ཆེན་ ན་རིང་ གོ ས་པའི་ ོར་བ་དང༌། ངོ ་
ཉིད་ལ་ ག་པ་ཤས་ཆེར་མི་འ ང་ཞིང་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་
ག མ་ལས་མི་འདའ་བར་ ང་བ ན་འཐོབ་པས་ ང་བ ན་
འཐོབ་པའི་ ོར་བ་དང༌། ོད་ལས་ ོགས་པའི་ཁྱད་པར་ཐོབ་
ཅིང་དགེ་ ་ ིན་པས་ རི ་མི་ གོ ་པའི་ ོར་བ་དང༌། ཐབས་
ཤེས་ཀྱི་ གོ ས་པ་བ ན་པ་ཐོབ་པས་ཉན་རང་གི་ས་ལས་ངེས་
པར་འ ང་བའི་ ོར་བ་དང༌། ཆོས་ད ིངས་ཀྱི་ ་མཚ་དང་ཉེ་
བར་འ ར་བར་མཐོང་བས་བར་ཆད་མེད་པའི་ ོར་བ་དང༌།
ཟག་མེད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་གསར་བའི་ ེན་ ་ ར་པས་ ང་ བ་ཉེ་བའི་
ོར་བ་དང༌། འ ས་ ་ ང་ཆེན་ ར་ ་མངོན་པར་འ བ་པས་
ང་ བ་ ར་བའི་ ོར་བ་དང༌། ཆོས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ་བ ོར་བ་ལ་
འ ག་པས་གཞན་དོན་གྱི་ ོར་བ་ ་ེ བ ད་དང༌།
IV.10b-11b:
and because of the absence of increase and decrease,
And because of not seeing the proper and the improper, and so
forth,
And because of inconceivable nonseeing of forms and so forth,
{IV.11}
And because of not conceptualizing forms and so forth
As their entities and their marks,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 51a.7, fleshes out these lines
as:
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 619

Four by way of methods for completing meditative cultivation of

the Mother
14. because of realizing that ultimately defects and good qualities
do not increase or decrease, training in the absence of in-
crease and decrease, and
15. training in not ultimately seeing the proper and the im-
proper, and so forth, and
16. training in the inconceivable nonseeing of forms and so
forth ultimately, and
17. because of not conceptualizing—as truly existent—forms
and so forth and that-which-is-suitable-as-form (gzugs
rung), for instance, as the entities of their definienda and
marks [that is, definitions], training in non-conceptualiza-
tion, and
Maitreya’s Ornament:

འཕེལ་མེད་འགྲིབ་མེད་ ིར། །
ཆོས་དང་ཆོས་མིན་སོགས་མི་མཐོང་། །ག གས་སོགས་བསམ་མི་ཁྱབ་མི་མཐོང་། །
{IV.11}
ག གས་སོགས་དེ་ཡི་མཚན་མ་དང་། །དེ་ཡི་ངོ་བོར་ མ་མི་ ོག །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
དོན་དམ་པར་ ོན་ཡོན་འཕེལ་མེད་འགྲིབ་མེད་ ་ ོགས་པས་
འཕེལ་འགྲིབ་མེད་པའི་ ོར་བ་དང༌། དོན་དམ་པར་ཆོས་དང་
ཆོས་མིན་སོགས་མི་མཐོང་བའི་ རོ ་བ་དང༌། དོན་དམ་པར་
ག གས་སོགས་བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་པར་མི་མཐོང་བའི་ རོ ་བ་
དང༌། མཚན་གཞི་ག གས་སོགས་དང་ག གས་ ང་སོགས་དེའ་ི
མཚན་མ་དང་དེའི་མཚན་ འི་ངོ་བོར་བདེན་པར་ མ་པར་མི་
གོ ་པས་ མ་པར་མི་ ོག་པའི་ རོ ་བ་ ེ་བཞི་དང༌།
IV.11cd:
And because of issuing forth the precious fruit,
And because of purity of those, and because of time periods as
well.
620 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 52b.2, fleshes out these lines

as:
Two from the viewpoint of effect
18. training in issuing forth the precious fruit, increasing good
qualities, and
19. training in purity, removing defects, and
[One from the viewpoint of time]
20. training in time periods, meditating within delimiting time
intervals in cycles of days, months, and years.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
འ ས་ ་རིན་ཆེན་ ིན་ ེད་དང་། །དེ་ནི་དག་པ་མཚམས་དང་བཅས། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཡོན་ཏན་འཕེལ་བར་ དེ ་པ་འ ས་ ་རིན་ཆེན་ ནི ་ དེ ་ཀྱི་ ོར་
བ་དང༌། ནོ ་སེལ་བར་ ེད་པ་ མ་པར་དག་པའི་ ོར་བ་ ེ་
གཉིས་དང༌། ཞག་ ་ལོ་ ོར་ ་ ས་ཚིགས་བཅད་ནས་ མོ ་པའི་
ས་མཚམས་ཀྱི་ ོར་བ་གཅིག་ ེ་ཉི་ འོ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 52b.3, adds a section on the
boundaries of the twenty trainings:
Furthermore, regarding their boundaries it is explained that:
• the first five exist from the path of accumulation until the end
of the continuum [as a sentient being, that is, just prior to Bud-
dhahood]
• [the sixth,] realizing with great difficulty over a long period,
exists only on the path of accumulation of those of dull facul-
ties
• the four, those who have attain prophecy and so forth [7-10],
exist on the four, heat and so forth [that is, peak, forbearance,
and supreme mundane qualities]
• nearing enlightenment [11] exists on the first ground
• speedy enlightenment [12] exists from second through sev-
enth grounds
• the five, training in others’ welfare and so forth [13-17], exist
on the eight ground
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 621

• issuing forth the precious fruit [18] exists on the ninth ground
• purity [19] exists on the tenth ground
• training in time periods [20] exists from the path of accumu-
lation through the seventh ground.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
དེ་དག་གི་ས་མཚམས་ཀྱང༌། དང་པོ་ ་ནི་ཚགས་ལམ་ནས་ ན་
མཐའི་བར་དང༌། ཚགས་ཆེན་ ན་རིང་ ོགས་པ་ནི་དབང་
བ ལ་ཚགས་ལམ་ཁོ་ནར་ཡོད། ང་བ ན་འཐོབ་པ་སོགས་
བཞི་ནི་རིམ་བཞིན་ དོ ་སོགས་བཞི་དང༌། ང་ བ་ཉེ་བ་ནི་ས་
དང་པོ་དང༌། ང་ བ་ ར་བ་ནི་ས་གཉིས་པ་ནས་བ ན་པའི་
བར་དང༌། གཞན་དོན་གྱི་ ོར་བ་སོགས་ ་ནི་ས་བ ད་པ་དང༌།
འ ས་ ་རིན་ཆེན་ ནི ་ ེད་ནི་ས་དགུ་པ་དང༌། མ་པར་དག་
པ་ནི་ས་བ ་པ་དང༌། ས་མཚམས་ཀྱི་ ོར་བ་ནི་ཚགས་ལམ་ནས་
ས་བ ན་པའི་བར་ཡོད་པར་བཤད་དོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 3, 21ff.
51

33rd Topic
3. Qualities of Trainings ( ོར་བའི་ཡོན་ཏན་)
IV.12ab:
{IV.12}
The qualities such as overcoming the force
Of demons and so forth are fourteen aspects.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 53a.1, fleshes out these two
lines as:
1. Quality of overcoming the force of interfering demons
2. quality of Buddhas’ thinking on and knowing [one’s] training
for the sake of enhancing it
622 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

3. quality of Buddhas’ making themselves manifest for the sake

of that
4. quality of nearing thoroughly complete enlightenment [Bud-
dhahood]
5. quality of the great meaningfulness of nonseparation from
Buddhas, and so forth
6. quality of analyzing areas such as a One-Gone-Thus prophe-
sying the land where one will be born
7. quality of fulfilling all uncontaminated qualities
8. quality of being a person who even upon passing away will
teach and propound the Mother
9. quality of indivisible from complete enlightenment by de-
mons and sinful friends
10. quality of generating roots of virtue not shared with Hearers
and Solitary Victors
11. quality of actually achieving the meaning of one’s promises
to bring about the welfare of others just as promised
12. quality of thoroughly taking hold of the vast fruit, full purifi-
cation itself
13. quality of bringing about the welfare of others by way of giv-
ing away external and internal possessions as well as their ef-
fects
14. quality of definitely gaining the perfection of wisdom in other
lifetimes also—
fourteen.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{IV.12}
བ ད་ཀྱི་མ ་བཅོམ་ལ་སོགས་པ། །ཡོན་ཏན་ མ་པ་བ ་བཞིའོ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
བར་ཆད་ དེ ་པའི་བ ད་ཀྱི་མ ་བཅོམ་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་དང༌།
ོར་བ་ཁྱད་པར་ ་འགྲོ་བའི་དོན་ ་སངས་ ས་ཀྱིས་དགོངས་
ཤིང་མཁྱེན་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་དང༌། དེའི་དོན་ ་སངས་ ས་ཀྱིས་
མངོན་ མ་ ་མཛད་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་དང༌། ོགས་ ང་ཐོབ་པ་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 623

དང་ཉེ་བར་ ར་བའི་ཡོན་ཏན་དང་། སངས་ ས་དང་མི་འ ལ་

བའི་དོན་ཆེ་བ་སོགས་ཀྱི་ཡོན་ཏན་དང༌། རང་གང་ ་ ེ་འ ར་
གྱི་ ལ་དེ་ཉིད་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པས་ ང་བ ན་པ་སོགས་ ལ་
ད ད་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་དང༌། ཟག་མེད་ཀྱི་ཡོན་ཏན་དང་ཐམས་
ཅད་ཡོངས་ ་ ོགས་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་དང་། ཚ་འཕོས་ནས་ཀྱང་
མ་ ོན་ ་པའི་ ེས་ ་ཉིད་ ་འ ར་བའི་ཡོན་ཏན་དང༌།
བ ད་དང་ ིག་གྲོགས་ཀྱིས་ གོ ས་ ང་ལས་མི་ ེད་པའི་ཡོན་
ཏན་དང༌། དགེ་བའི་ ་བ་ཉན་རང་དང་ ན་མོང་མ་ཡིན་པར་
ེ་བའི་ཡོན་ཏན་དང་། གཞན་དོན་མཛད་པར་དམ་བཅས་པའི་
དོན་ ི་ ་བ་བཞིན་ ་དངོས་ ་ བ་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་དང༌།
འ ས་ ་ ་ཆེན་པོ་འཚང་ ་ཉིད་ཡོངས་ ་འཛིན་པའི་ཡོན་
ཏན་དང༌། ི་ནང་གི་བདོག་པ་འ ས་བཅས་ ེར་བའི་ ོ་ནས་
སེམས་ཅན་གྱི་དོན་ བ་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་དང༌། ཚ་རབས་གཞན་ ་
ཡང་ཤེར་ ནི ་ངེས་པར་འཐོབ་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་ཏེ་བ ་བཞིའོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 3, 21ff.
52

34th Topic
4. Defects of Trainings ( ོར་བའི་ ནོ ་)
IV.12cd:
The defects should definitely be realized
To be four groups of ten plus six.
Below, in the section on divisions Jam-yang-shay-pa tersely lists the forty-
six, and in the next backnote the occasionally more expansive explanation
of Tshe-chog-ling Ye-shay-gyal-tshan (tshe mchog gling ye shes rgyal
624 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

mtshan, 1713-1793) is given. Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the

Words, 53a.7, fleshes out these two lines as:
The obstacles to generating trainings and to the abiding of their
continuums should definitely be realized to be four groups of
ten plus six. What are they?
[Twenty defects contrary to trainings that depend on oneself:*
First,] two [in terms of self-assurance]
1. ascertainment regarding the meaning of the words of the
Mother is gained through great difficulty, and being discour-
aged by this
2. very quickly attaining the self-assurance of knowing the
Mother without having analyzed the situation (de la mtha’ ma
brtag par),* and being conceited due to this
* Gung-thang Lo-drö-gya-tsho’s Annotations to (Haribhadra’s) “Clear
Meaning Commentary,” vol. 2, 58.11: sngon dang phyi mtha’ la ma brtag
par.
[Second,] three [in terms of dysfunctional states]
3. dysfunctional physical states such as asking questions about
the Mother, and so forth, while yawning, laughing, joking,
and so forth
4. dysfunctional mental states of (1) mental distraction to close
friends and so forth, (2) mutual attraction to an object of
pleasure dependent upon self and other, and (3) getting up
from one’s seat and going off, thinking “[I] am not experienc-
ing the taste of this Mother [perfection of wisdom]”
5. irrationalities—ranging from recitation generated by the three
physical [dysfunctional states] and apprehensions generated
by the three mental [dysfunctional states] through to taking
these to mind
[Third,] seven [causes of degeneration from the Great Vehicle]
6. holding reasons for turning away from the Mother [perfection
of wisdom] such as thinking “I have not been prophesied [in
the Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras],” and so on
7. degeneration from adherence to the cause: upon forsaking the
Mother, engaging in the Lesser [Vehicle] scriptural collec-
tions
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 625

8. degeneration from the taste of the sublime: upon forsaking the

Mother, pursuing the inner purpose of Lesser [Vehicle] scrip-
tural collections
9. degeneration from thoroughly apprehending the Great Vehi-
cle in all aspects: not apprehending the Great Vehicle from
the Mother but seeking apprehension of it from the Lesser
[Vehicle] scriptural collections
10. degeneration from the continual object of intent: being satis-
fied with Lesser [Vehicle] scriptural collections when equat-
ing the Mother and Lesser [Vehicle] scriptural collections and
thereupon not engaging in the Mother
11. degeneration from the relationship of cause and effect: want-
ing to attain an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects through prac-
ticing only the meaning of the Lesser [Vehicle] scriptural col-
lections
12. degeneration from the three [Buddha] bodies of which there
is none higher: holding that the Mother and the Lesser [Vehi-
cle] scriptural collections are similar
[Fourth,] eight [causes of distraction from the Great Vehicle]
13. the arising of much conceptual self-assurance upon determin-
ing many objects such as forms, sounds, and so forth
14. manifest adherence to mere questioning about letters as the
Mother [perfection of wisdom]
15. manifest adherence to the non-thingness (dngos po med pa)
of dependent-arisings [even in conventional terms] as the
meaning of the mode of subsistence
16. manifest adherence to what is already written in letters as the
Mother [perfection of wisdom]
17. manifest adherence to only the nonexistence of letters as the
Mother [perfection of wisdom]
18. taking to mind areas, towns, and so forth with an attitude of
experiencing their taste
19. experiencing the taste of goods, services, and poetry [high-
sounding flattery]
20. seeking skill in means from what are not paths for attaining
Buddhahood, that is, words taught by a demon
[Twenty-three incompletions of concordant conditions for
626 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

trainings:]
Fourteen degenerations of religious activities of assembling
21. degeneration of religious activities of assembly due to the lis-
tener having great aspiration for questioning and so forth but
the lecturer being very indolent and lazy
22. degeneration of religious activities of assembly due to a dif-
ference in the location sought, the listener wanting to listen in
this place whereas the lecturer wanting to lecture in another
23. degeneration of religious activities of assembly due to the lis-
tener having little desire for religious attire, and so forth, and
knowing contentment and the lecturer being opposite from
that
24. degeneration of religious activities of assembly due to the lis-
tener being endowed with the twelve qualities of the purified
whereas the lecturer is not so endowed
25. degeneration of religious activities of assembly due to the lis-
tener wanting to ask questions and so forth about the Mother
[perfection of wisdom] because of having the attributes of vir-
tue and of aspiration and the lecturer not wanting such
26. degeneration of religious activities of assembly due to the lis-
tener giving away articles and belongings and the lecturer be-
ing miserly about such
27. degeneration of religious activities of assembly due to the lis-
tener wanting to donate articles and belongings but the lec-
turer not wanting to receive them
28. degeneration of religious activities of assembly due to the lis-
tener understanding through mentioning the beginning [of the
subject] whereas the lecturer understands [and thereby ex-
plains] through elaboration
29. degeneration of religious activities of assembly due to the lis-
tener manifestly knowing the branches of high sayings
whereas the lecturer does not know them
30. degeneration of religious activities of assembly due to the lis-
tener possessing the six perfections whereas the lecturer does
not possess them
31. degeneration of religious activities of assembly due to the lis-
tener having skill in means with regard to the perfections
whereas the lecturer has skill in non-means [that is, does not
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 627

have skill in means with regard to the perfections]

32. degeneration of religious activities of assembly due to the lis-
tener having attained the retention (gzungs, dhāraṇī) of not
forgetting words and meanings whereas the lecturer has not
attained this
33. degeneration of religious activities of assembly due to the lis-
tener wanting to ask questions and so forth about the Mother
whereas the lecturer does not want this
34. degeneration of religious activities of assembly due to the lis-
tener being devoid of the five obstructions [aspiration to de-
sire, harmful intent, sleepiness and lethargy, excitement and
contrition, and doubt] whereas the lecturer is not devoid of
those
Two [that depend on oneself]
35. turning away from going into bad transmigrations for the sake
of others
36. mental pleasure for one’s own sake in actualizing migration
in a happy transmigration, actualizing stream-enterer, and so
forth
Seven degenerations of religious activities of assembly
37. degeneration of religious activities of assembly due to the lec-
turer liking solitude but the listener liking commotion
38. degeneration of religious activities of assembly due to the lec-
turer not allowing an opportunity and the listener wanting to
follow
39. degeneration of religious activities of assembly due to the lec-
turer wanting material things whereas the listener does not
want to donate them
40. degeneration of religious activities of assembly due to the lec-
turer wanting to go in a direction where there might be inter-
ference with life whereas the listener does not want to go there
41. degeneration of religious activities of assembly due to the lec-
turer wanting to go in a direction where there might be conta-
gion whereas the listener does not want to go there
42. degeneration of religious activities of assembly due to the lec-
turer wanting to go to an area disrupted by robbers, thieves,
and so forth whereas the listener does not want this
628 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

43. degeneration of religious activities of assembly due to the lec-

turer taking mental pleasure in looking in on households of
friends and so forth and the listener not taking mental pleasure
in this
Three [defects contrary to trainings that depend on others:]
44. a demon comes in the garb of a monk and says that what ap-
pears in his sūtras are the Mother but what appears in the vast,
medium, and brief [Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras] are not, cre-
ating dissension between doctrines and persons, thereby
working to divide
45. achieving a fabricated Mother as, for instance, in the teaching
that meditating on ugliness and so forth is to meditate on the
final mode of subsistence
46. a demon, having emanated as a Buddha, causes desire to be
generated toward itself, whereby a liking for objects that does
not accord with the fact is generated.
It is explained that the first two groups of ten (1-20) and the last
three of the final six (44-46) are twenty-three contrary conditions
and that the latter two sets of ten (21-40) and the first three of the
final six (41-43) are twenty-three incompletions of concordant
conditions. It is said that in this way those who are training have
many interferences, but by always being in the consideration, pro-
tection, and so on by Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, they will not de-
generate from the trainings.
*The parts of the headings in brackets are drawn from Gung-thang Lo-
drö-gya-tsho’s Annotations to (Haribhadra’s) “Clear Meaning Commen-
tary,” vol. 2, 58.6ff. Gung-thang Lo-drö-gya-tsho points out that “when
meditatively cultivating the Mother [perfection of wisdom]” (yum sgom
pa’i dus) is to be affixed before all of these.
**tha snyad du yang: Gung-thang Lo-drö-gya-tsho’s Annotations to
(Haribhadra’s) “Clear Meaning Commentary,” vol. 2, 60.15.
***Gung-thang Lo-drö-gya-tsho’s Annotations to (Haribhadra’s) “Clear
Meaning Commentary,” vol. 2, 63.3.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
ོན་ནི་བ ་ཚན་བཞིར་བཅས་པ། ། ག་ ་ངེས་པར་ ོགས་པར་ ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 629

རོ ་བ་ ེ་བ་དང་ ན་གནས་པའི་གེགས་ནི་བ ་ཚན་བཞི་དང་

བཅས་པའི་ ག་ ་ངེས་པར་ གོ ས་པར་ འོ། །དེ་དག་གང་ཞེ་ན་
མ་གྱི་ཚིག་དོན་ལ་ཚགས་ཆེན་པོས་ངེས་པ་འཐོབ་ཅིང་དེས་ ོ་
བ་དང༌། དེ་ལ་མཐའ་མ་བ ག་པར་ མ་ཤེས་པའི་ ོབས་པ་ཧ་
ཅང་ ར་ ་ ེ་ཞིང་དེས་ ོམ་པ་གཉིས་དང༌། ཀླལ་བ་དང་ ོད་
པ་དང་ཀུ་རེ་ ེད་བཞིན་ ་ མ་འ ི་བ་སོགས་ ེད་པའི་ ས་ཀྱི་
གནས་ངན་ལེན་དང༌། གཉེན་བཤེས་སོགས་ལ་སེམས་གཡེང་བ་
བདག་གཞན་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་དགའ་བར་ ་བའི་ ལ་ལ་ཕན་ ན་
ཆགས་པ་ མ་འདིའི་རོ་མི་ ོང་ངོ་ཞེས་ ན་ལས་ལངས་ནས་
གུད་ ་སོང་བའི་སེམས་ཀྱི་གནས་ངན་ལེན་དང༌། རིགས་པ་མ་
ཡིན་[པ་ ས་]ཀྱི་ག མ་གྱིས་ ེད་པའི་ཁ་ཏོན་དང་སེམས་ཀྱི་
ག མ་གྱིས་ ེད་པའི་འཛིན་པ་ནས་ཡིད་ལ་ དེ ་པའི་བར་ཏེ་
ག མ་དང༌། བདག་ ང་མ་བ ན་ཏོ་ མ་པ་སོགས་ མ་ལས་
ིར་ ོགས་པའི་ ་མཚན་འཛིན་པ་དང༌། མ་བོར་ནས་དམན་
པའི་ ེ་ དོ ་ལ་འ ག་པ་ ་ལ་མངོན་པར་ཞེན་པ་ཉམས་པ་དང༌།
མ་བོར་ནས་དམན་པའི་ ེ་ ོད་ཀྱི་ཉིང་དགོས་དོན་ ་གཉེར་
བ་གྱ་ནོམ་པའི་རོ་ ང་བ་ལས་ཉམས་པ་དང༌། མ་ལས་ཐེག་
ཆེན་མི་འཛིན་པར་དམན་ ེ་ལས་དེ་འཛིན་པ་ཚལ་བ་ མ་པ་
ཐམས་ཅད་ ་ཐེག་ཆེན་ཀུན་ ་འཛིན་པ་ལས་ཉམས་པ་དང༌།
མ་དང་དམན་ ེ་ མོ ་པ་ན་དམན་ ེས་ཚིམ་ནས་ མ་ལ་མ་
གས་པ་ ག་ ་ཆེད་ ་ ་བ་ལས་ཉམས་པ་༡༠དང༌། དམན་
ེའི་དོན་ཙམ་ཉམས་ ་ ངས་པས་ མ་མཁྱེན་ཐོབ་པར་འདོད་
630 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

པ་ ་དང་འ ས་ འི་འ ེལ་བ་ལས་ཉམས་པ་དང༌། མ་དང་

དམན་ ེ་འ ་བར་འཛིན་པ་གོང་ན་མེད་པ་ ་ག མ་ལས་
ཉམས་པ་ ་ེ བ ན་དང༌། ག གས་ ་སོགས་ ལ་མང་པོ་ལ་ཞེན་
ནས་ མ་པར་ ོག་པའི་ ོབས་པ་ ་མ་འ ང་བ་དང༌། ཡི་གེར་
འ ི་བ་ཉིད་ལ་ མ་ ་མངོན་པར་ཞེན་པ་དང༌། ེན་འ ང་གི་
དངོས་པོ་མེད་པ་ལ་གནས་ གས་ཀྱི་དོན་ ་མངོན་པར་ཞེན་པ་
དང༌། ཡི་གེར་ ིས་ཟིན་པ་ལ་ མ་ ་མངོན་པར་ཞེན་པ་དང༌།
ཡི་གེ་མེད་པ་ཁོ་ན་ལ་ མ་ ་མངོན་པར་ཞེན་པ་དང༌། རོ་ ང་
བའི་བསམ་པས་ ལ་དང་གྲོང་ལ་སོགས་པ་ཡིད་ལ་ ེད་པ་དང༌།
ེད་པ་དང་བཀུར་ ི་དང་ཚིགས་ ་བཅད་པའི་རོ་ ང་བ་དང༌།
སངས་ ས་ཐོབ་པའི་ལམ་མ་ཡིན་པ་བ ད་ཀྱིས་བ ན་པའི་ཚིག་
ལས་ཐབས་ལ་མཁས་པ་ཚལ་བ་ ེ་༢༠བ ད་དང༌། ཉན་པ་པོ་
མ་འ ི་བ་སོགས་ལ་འ ན་པ་ཆེ་བ་དང་འཆད་པ་པོ་ ོམ་ལས་
ལེ་ལོ་ཆེ་བ་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་ཚགས་པའི་ཆོས་ ོད་ལས་ཉམས་པ་དང༌།
དེ་བཞིན་ ་ཉན་པ་པོ་ ་མ་དང་འཆད་པ་པོ་ ི་མ་དང་ ར་
ནས་ ལ་འདིར་ཉན་འདོད་པ་དང་གཞན་ ་འཆད་འདོད་པ་
འ ན་པའི་ ལ་ཐ་དད་པས་དང༌། ཆོས་གོས་སོགས་ལ་འདོད་པ་
ང་ཞིང་ཆོག་ཤེས་པ་དང་དེ་ལས་བ ོག་པས་དང༌། ངས་པའི་
ཡོན་ཏན་བ ་གཉིས་དང་ ན་པ་དང༌། དེ་དང་མི་ ན་པས་
དང༌། དགེ་ཞིང་འ ན་པའི་ཆོས་ཅན་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་ མ་འ ི་བ་
སོགས་འདོད་པ་དང་དེ་ ར་མི་འདོད་པས་དང༌། ཡོ་ ད་གཞན་
ལ་གཏོང་བ་དང་དེ་ལ་སེར་ ་ ེད་པས་དང༌། འཆད་པ་པོ་ལ་ཡོ་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 631

ད་ ིན་འདོད་པ་དང་དེ་མི་ལེན་པས་དང༌། མགོ་ ོས་པས་གོ་

བ་དང་ མ་པར་ ོས་པས་གོ་བ་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་དང༌། ག ང་རབ་ཡན་
ལག་བ ་གཉིས་ཀྱི་ཆོས་མངོན་པར་ཤེས་པ་དང་དེ་དག་མི་ཤེས་
པས་དང༌། ཕར་ ིན་ ག་དང་ ན་པ་དང་དེ་དང་མི་ ན་པས་
༣༠དང༌། ཕར་ ིན་གྱི་ཐབས་ལ་མཁས་པ་དང་ཐབས་མ་ཡིན་པ་
ལ་མཁས་པས་དང༌། ཚིག་དོན་མི་བ ེད་པའི་ག ངས་ཐོབ་པ་
དང་དེ་མ་ཐོབ་པས་དང༌། མ་འ ི་བ་སོགས་འདོད་པ་དང་དེ་
མི་འདོད་པས་དང༌། བི ་པ་ ་དང་ ལ་བ་དང་དེ་དང་མ་ ལ་
བས་ཚགས་པའི་ཆོས་ དོ ་ལས་ཉམས་པ་ ེ་བ ་བཞི་དང༌།
གཞན་དོན་ ་ངན་སོང་གི་འགྲོ་བར་འགྲོ་བ་ལ་ཡིད་ ིར་ ོགས་
པ་དང༌། བདེ་འགྲོར་འགྲོ་བ་དང་ ན་ གས་སོགས་མངོན་ ་
ེད་པ་ལ་རང་དོན་ ་ཡིད་བདེ་བ་གཉིས་དང༌། འཆད་པ་པོ་ ་
མ་དང་ཉན་པ་པོ་ ི་མ་དང་ ར་ནས་དབེན་པ་ལ་དགའ་བ་
དང་འ ་འཛི་ལ་དགའ་བ་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་ཚགས་པའི་ཆོས་ དོ ་ལས་
ཉམས་པ་དང༌། གོ་ བས་མི་འ དེ ་པ་དང་ སེ ་ ་འ ང་བར་
འདོད་པས་དང༌། ཟང་ཟིང་འདོད་པ་དང་དེ་ ིན་པར་མི་འདོད་
པས་དང༌། ོག་གི་བར་ཆད་ ་འ ར་བའི་ གོ ས་ ་འགྲོ་བར་
འདོད་པ་དང་དེ་མི་འདོད་པས་༤༠དང༌། ་གེ་འ ང་བའི་
ོགས་ ་འགྲོ་བར་འདོད་པ་དང་དེ་མི་འདོད་པས་དང༌། ཆོམ་
ན་པ་ལ་སོགས་པས་ད གས་པའི་ ོགས་ ་འགྲོ་བར་འདོད་པ་
དང་དེ་མི་འདོད་པས་དང༌། མཛའ་བོ་སོགས་ཀྱི་ཁྱིམ་ ་བས་
ཡིད་བདེ་བ་དང་ཡིད་མི་བདེ་བས་ཚགས་པའི་ཆོས་ ོད་ལས་
632 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

ཉམས་པ་ ་ེ བ ན་དང༌། བ ད་དགེ་ ོང་གི་ཆ་ ད་ ་འོངས་

ནས་ངེད་ཀྱི་མདོ་ ེ་ནས་འ ང་བ་དེ་ མ་ཡིན་གྱི། ས་འ ིང་
བ ས་ག མ་ནས་འ ང་བ་དེ་མ་ཡིན་ནོ་ཞེས་ཆོས་དང་གང་
ཟག་གི་བར་ ་ད ནེ ་བ ག་ནས་འ ེད་པའི་ རོ ་བ་དང༌། མི་
ག་པ་ མོ ་པ་སོགས་གནས་ གས་མཐར་ ག་ ོམ་པར་ ོན་པ་
་ ་ མ་བཅོས་མ་ཉེ་བར་ བ་པ་དང༌། བ ད་སངས་ ས་ ་
ལ་ནས་དེ་རང་ལ་འདོད་པ་ དེ ་ ་བ ག་པས་ ལ་ ་ི ་བ་
བཞིན་མ་ཡིན་པ་ལ་དགའ་བ་བ དེ ་པ་ ེ་ག མ་དང་བཞི་བ ་
་ ག་གོ །བ ་ཚན་དང་པོ་གཉིས་དང་ཐ་མ་ ག་གི་ ི་མ་
ག མ་ ེ་འགལ་ ནེ ་ཉེ་བར་གནས་པ་ཉེར་ག མ་དང༌། བ ་
ཚན་ ི་མ་གཉིས་དང་ཐ་མ་ ག་གི་དང་པོ་ག མ་ ེ་མ ན་ ནེ ་
མ་ཚང་བར་ཉེར་ག མ་ ་བཤད་དོ། ། ོར་བ་པོ་ལ་དེ་ ར་བར་
ཆད་མང་ཡང་སངས་ ས་ ང་སེམས་ཀྱིས་ ག་ ་དགོངས་ཤིང་
ང་བ་སོགས་མཛད་པས་ ོར་བ་ལས་མི་ཉམས་པར་འ ར་བར་
ག ངས་སོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 3, 28ff.
53
Tshe-chog-ling Ye-shay-gyal-tshan (tshe mchog gling ye shes rgyal
mtshan/ tshe mchog gling yongs 'dzin ye shes rgyal mtshan/ dka' chen ye
shes rgyal mtshan, 1713-1793) gives occasionally more expansive de-
scriptions of the forty-six defects in his Quintessential Instructions Clearly
Teaching the Essentials of (Tsong-kha-pa’s) “Stages of the Path to En-
lightenment,” Correlating the “Eight Thousand Stanza Perfection of Wis-
dom Sūtra” with (Maitreya’s) “Ornament for Clear Realization”: Lamp
Illuminating the Perfection of Wisdom (sher phyin stong phrag brgyad pa
dang mngon rtogs rgyan sbyar te byang chub lam gyi rim pa’i gnad rnams
gsal bar ston pa’i man ngag sher phyin gsal ba’i sgron me), Collected
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 633

Works, vol. 7 (New Delhi: Tibet House, 1975), 76.4-80.4:

1. When meditatively cultivating a training, being discouraged by having
to gain knowledge of the Mother with great difficulty over a long time
2. when meditatively cultivating a training, being conceited by very
quick attainment of self-assurance
3. when meditatively cultivating a training, distraction by dysfunctional
physical states such as yawning, excitement, and so forth
4. when meditatively cultivating a training, distraction by dysfunctional
mental states
5. when meditatively cultivating a training, performing recitation and so
forth produced by irrationality
6. when meditatively cultivating a training, holding reasons for turning
away from the Mother
7. when meditatively cultivating a training, degeneration from adher-
ence—that is to say, great intentness—toward the profound Mother
and so forth, the causes of attaining an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects
8. when meditatively cultivating a training, degeneration from the taste
of the sublime: discarding the profound Mother and thereupon enter-
ing a Low Vehicle path
9. when meditatively cultivating a training, degeneration from thor-
oughly teaching the supreme vehicle in all aspects
10. when meditatively cultivating a training, degeneration from seeking
an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects, the continual object of intent
11. when meditatively cultivating a training, degeneration from causes
and effects concordant with attaining an exalted-knower-of-all-as-
pects
12. when meditatively cultivating a training, degeneration from that of
which there is none higher: forsaking the profound perfection of wis-
dom and thereupon seeking an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects from
Low Vehicle scriptural collections
13. when meditatively cultivating a training, the arising of great force of
conceptions with regard to many aspects of objects
14. when meditatively cultivating a training, excessive attachment to
questioning about letters, having forsaking the meaning
15. when meditatively cultivating a training, attachment to nonactualities
16. when meditatively cultivating a training, attachment to letters
17. when meditatively cultivating a training, attachment to the nonexist-
ence of letters
18. when meditatively cultivating a training, taking areas and so forth to
mind
19. when meditatively cultivating a training, experiencing the taste of
634 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

goods, services, and poetry

20. when meditatively cultivating a training, discarding the path of Bud-
dha and thereupon seeking skill in means from non-paths, that is,
scriptural collections deceptively [set forth] by a demon
21. when meditatively cultivating a training, degeneration of religious ac-
tivities of assembly due to the listener having great aspiration but the
lecturer being very indolent
22. when meditatively cultivating a training, degeneration of religious ac-
tivities of assembly due to their being a difference of place in that the
listener wants to listen in this place whereas the lecturer wants to lec-
ture in another place
23. when meditatively cultivating a training, degeneration of religious ac-
tivities of assembly due to the listener having little desirous attachment
and the lecturer having great desirous attachment
24. when meditatively cultivating a training, degeneration of religious ac-
tivities of assembly due to the discrepancy that the listener is endowed
with qualities of the purified whereas the lecturer is not are endowed
with qualities of the purified
25. when meditatively cultivating a training, degeneration of religious ac-
tivities of assembly due to the discrepancy that the listener makes ef-
fort at virtuous actions but the lecturer performs nonvirtuous actions
26. when meditatively cultivating a training, degeneration of religious ac-
tivities of assembly due to the listener having great generosity but the
lecturer acting miserly
27. when meditatively cultivating a training, degeneration of religious ac-
tivities of assembly due to the discrepancy that the listener wants to
make donations but the lecturer does not wish to receive them
28. when meditatively cultivating a training, degeneration of religious ac-
tivities of assembly due to the discrepancy that the listener understands
just through mentioning the beginning [of the subject] whereas the
lecturer does otherwise, just understanding [and thereby explaining]
through elaboration
29. when meditatively cultivating a training, degeneration of religious ac-
tivities of assembly due to the discrepancy that the listener knows the
three scriptural collections well whereas the lecturer does not
30. when meditatively cultivating a training, degeneration of religious ac-
tivities of assembly due to the discrepancy that the listener possesses
the six perfections whereas the lecturer does not possess them
31. when meditatively cultivating a training, degeneration of religious ac-
tivities of assembly due to the discrepancy that the listener is skilled
in Great Vehicle means whereas the lecturer is not
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 635

32. when meditatively cultivating a training, degeneration of religious ac-

tivities of assembly due to the discrepancy that the listener has attained
mental retention (gzungs, dhāraṇī) whereas the lecturer has not
33. when meditatively cultivating a training, degeneration of religious ac-
tivities of assembly due to the discrepancy that the listener wants to
ask questions about the letters whereas the lecturer does not want this
34. when meditatively cultivating a training, degeneration of religious ac-
tivities of assembly due to the discrepancy that the listener is free from
the five obstructions—aspiration to desire, harmful intent, sleepiness
and lethargy, excitement and contrition, and doubt—whereas the lec-
turer is not free of those five
35. when meditatively cultivating a training, degeneration from the
greatly powerful attitude of the Great Vehicle: turning away from go-
ing into bad transmigrations for the sake of others upon becoming
frightened through hearing about the unpraiseworthiness of the hells
and so forth
36. when meditatively cultivating a training, degeneration from the atti-
tude of the Great Vehicle: becoming attached through hearing praise
of the places and resources of gods and so forth and one’s mind be-
coming desirous toward happy transmigrations
37. when meditatively cultivating a training, degeneration from religious
activities of assembly due to the discrepancy that the lecturer likes sol-
itude whereas the listener likes commotion
38. when meditatively cultivating a training, degeneration of religious ac-
tivities of assembly due to the discrepancy that the listener wants to
follow the lecturer but the lecturer does not afford a chance of that
39. when meditatively cultivating a training, degeneration of religious ac-
tivities of assembly due to the discrepancy that the lecturer wants to
teach doctrine for the sake of material things whereas the listener does
not want to make donations
40. when meditatively cultivating a training, degeneration of religious ac-
tivities of assembly due to the discrepancy that the lecturer wants to
go in a direction where there might be interference with life whereas
the listener does not want to go there
41. when meditatively cultivating a training, degeneration of religious ac-
tivities of assembly due to the discrepancy that the lecturer wants to
go to an area where there is contagion whereas the listener does not
42. when meditatively cultivating a training, degeneration of religious ac-
tivities of assembly due to the discrepancy that the lecturer wants to
go to an area disrupted by robbers, thieves, and so forth whereas the
listener does not want to go there
636 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

43. when meditatively cultivating a training, degeneration of religious ac-

tivities of assembly due to the discrepancy that the lecturer likes again
and again looking in on a household that gives him/her alms and is
distracted by this whereas the listener does not like this
44. when meditatively cultivating a training, demonic dissension: a demon
in the guise of a virtuous practitioner comes and creates dissension
with regard to doctrines and persons
45. when meditatively cultivating a training, achievement of a fake
Mother [taught] by a demon
46. when meditatively cultivating a training, demonic activity such that a
demon comes in the guise of a Buddha and, affecting the mind, causes
generation of liking for what is not the fact.
1. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་ཚགས་ཆེན་པོས་ ན་རིང་པོ་ནས་
མ་ཤེས་པ་ཐོབ་ཅིང་དེས་ ོ་བ།
2. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་ ོབས་པ་ཧ་ཅང་ ར་བ་ཐོབ་ཅིང་
དེས་ ོམ་པ།
3. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་གླལ་བ་དང་ དོ ་པ་སོགས་ ས་ཀྱི་
གནས་ངན་ལེན་གྱིས་གཡེང་བ།
4. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་སེམས་ཀྱི་གནས་ངན་ལེན་གྱིས་
གཡེང་བ།
5. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་རིགས་པ་མ་ཡིན་པས་བ ེད་པའི་
ཁ་ཏོན་ ེད་པ་ལ་སོགས་པ།
6. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་ མ་ལ་ ིར་ ོགས་པའི་ ་མཚན་
འཛིན་པ།
7. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་ མ་མཁྱེན་ཐོབ་པའི་ ་ མ་ཟབ་
མོ་སོགས་ལ་མངོན་པར་ཞེན་པ་ ེ་ཆེས་ཆེར་ དེ ་པ་ཉམས་པ།
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 637

8. རོ ་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་ མ་ཟབ་མོ་དོར་ནས་དམན་ལམ་

ལ་འ ག་པ་གྱ་ནོམས་པའི་རོ་ ང་པ་ལས་ཉམས་པ།
9. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་ མ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ ་ཐེག་པའི་
མཆོག་ཀུན་ ་ ོན་པ་ལས་ཉམས་པ།
10. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་ ག་ ་ཆེད་ ་ ་བ་ མ་མཁྱེན་
འཚལ་བ་ལས་ཉམས་པ།
11. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་ མ་མཁྱེན་ཐོབ་པའི་ ་དང་
འ ས་ ་ སེ ་ ་མ ན་པ་ལས་ཉམས་པ།
12. ོར་བ་བ མོ ས་པའི་ ས་ ་ཤེར་ ནི ་ཟབ་མོ་བོར་ནས་ཐེག་
དམན་གྱི་ ་ེ ོད་ལས་ མ་མཁྱེན་འཚལ་བ་གོང་ན་མེད་པ་
ལས་ཉམས་པ།
13. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་ ལ་ མ་པ་མང་བ་ལ་ མ་པར་
ོག་པའི་ བོ ས་པ་འ ང་བ།
14. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་དོན་བོར་ནས་ཡི་གེ་འ ི་བ་ཉིང་
ལ་མངོན་པར་ཞེན་པ།
15. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་དངོས་པོ་མེད་པ་ལ་མངོན་པར་
ཞེན་པ།
16. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་ཡི་གེ་ལ་མངོན་པར་ཞེན་པ།
17. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་ཡི་གེ་མེད་པ་ལ་མངོན་པར་ཞེན་
པ།
18. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་ ལ་ལ་སོགས་པ་ཡིད་ལ་ ེད་པ།
638 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

19. རོ ་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་ ེད་པ་དང་བཀུར་ ི་དང་ཚིགས་

་བཅད་པའི་རོ་ ང་བ།
20. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ལམ་དོར53་ནས་
ལམ་མ་ཡིན་པ་བ ད་ཀྱིས་བ ས་པའི་ ེ་ དོ ་ལས་ཐབས་
མཁས་འཚལ་བ།
21. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་ཉན་པ་པོ་འ ན་པ་ཆེ་ལ་འཆད་
པ་པོ་ ོམ་ལས་ཆེ་བ་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་ཚགས་པའི་ཆོས་ ོད་ལས་
ཉམས་པ།
22. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་ཉན་པ་པོ་ ལ་འདིར་ཉན་འདོད་
ལ་འཆད་པོ་ ལ་གཞན་ ་འཆད་འདོད་པ་འ ན་པའི་ ལ་
ཐ་དད་པས་ཉམས་པ།
23. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་ཉན་པ་པོ་འདོད་ཞེན་ ང་ལ་
འཆད་པ་པོ་འདོད་ཞེན་ཆེ་བས་ཚགས་པའི་ཆོས་ ོད་ལས་
ཉམས་པ།
24. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་ཉན་པ་པོ་ ངས་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་
དང་ ན་ལ་འཆད་པ་པོ་ ངས་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་དང་མི་ ན་
པས་མ་མ ན་ཏེ་ཚགས་པའི་ཆོས་ ོད་ལས་ཉམས་པ་
25. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་ཉན་པ་པོ་དགེ་བའི་ལས་ལ་བ ོན་
ལ་འཆད་པ་པོ་མི་དགེ་བའི་ལས་ དེ ་པས་མ་མ ན་ཏེ་
ཚགས་པའི་ཆོས་ ོད་ལས་ཉམས་པ།
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 639

26. རོ ་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་ཉན་པ་པོ་གཏོང་ཕོད་ཆེ་ལ་འཆད་

པ་པོ་སེར་ ་ ེད་པས་མ་མ ན་ཏེ་ཚགས་པའི་ཆོས་ ོད་ལས་
ཉམས་པ།
27. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་ཉན་པ་པོ་ ིན་འདོད་ལ་འཆད་པ་
པོ་ལེན་མི་འདོད་པས་མ་མ ན་ཏེ་ཚགས་པའི་ཆོས་ ོད་ལས་
ཉམས་པ།
28. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་ཉན་པ་པོ་འགོ་ སོ ་པས་གོ་བ་
ཡིན་ལ་འཆད་པ་པོ་དེ་མིན་པར་ མ་པར་ ོས་པས་གོ་བ་
ཉིད་ཡིན་པས་མ་མ ན་ཏེ་ཚགས་པའི་ཆོས་ དོ ་ལས་ཉམས་
པ།
29. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་ཉན་པ་པོ་ ེ་ ོད་ག མ་མངོན་
པར་ཤེས་པ་ཡིན་ལ་འཆད་པ་པོ་དེ་མངོན་པར་མི་ཤེས་པ་
ཉིད་ཡིན་པས་མ་མ ན་ཏེ་ཚགས་པའི་ཆོས་ དོ ་ལས་ཉམས་
པ།
30. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་ཉན་པ་པོ་ཕར་ ིན་ ག་དང་ ན་
ལ་འཆད་པ་པོ་དེ་དང་མི་ ན་པས་མ་མ ན་ཏེ་ཚགས་པའི་
ཆོས་ ོད་ལས་ཉམས་པ།
31. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་ཉན་པོ་པོ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་ཐབས་
ལ་མཁས་ལ་འཆད་པ་པོ་མི་མཁས་པས་མ་མ ན་ཏེ་ཚགས་
པའི་ཆོས་ དོ ་ལས་ཉམས་པ།
640 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

32. རོ ་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་ཉན་པ་པོ་ག ངས་ཐོབ་པ་ཡིན་ལ་

འཆད་པ་པོ་དེ་མ་ཐོབ་པས་མ་མ ན་ཏེ་ཚགས་པའི་ཆོས་
ོད་ལས་ཉམས་པ།
33. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་ཉན་པ་པོ་ཡི་གེ་འ ི་འདོད་ལ་
འཆད་པ་པོ་དེ་མི་འདོད་པས་མ་མ ན་ཏེ་ཚགས་པའི་ཆོས་
ོད་ལས་ཉམས་པ།
34. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་ཉན་པ་པོ་འདོད་པ་ལ་འ ན་པ་
གནོད་སེམས་གཉིད་ གས་ དོ ་འགྱོད་ཐེ་ཚམ་གྱི་ ིབ་པ་
དང་ ལ་བ་ཡིན་ལ། འཆད་པ་པོ་དེ་ ་དང་མ་ ལ་བས་མ་
མ ན་ཏེ་ཚགས་པའི་ཆོས་ ོད་ལས་ཉམས་པ།
35. ད ལ་བ་ལ་སོགས་པའི་མི་བ གས་པ་ཐོས་པས་ ག་ ེ་
གཞན་དོན་ ་ངན་སོང་གི་འགྲོ་བ་ལ་ཡིད་ ིར་ ོགས་ཏེ་
ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་བསམ་པ་ བས་པོ་ཆེ་ལས་ཉམས་པ།
36. ་ལ་སོགས་པའི་གནས་དང་ལོངས་ ོད་ཀྱི་བ གས་པ་ཐོས་
པས་དེ་ལ་ ེད་ཅིང་བདེ་འགྲོ་ལ་ཡིད་ཆགས་ཏེ་ཐེགས་པ་
ཆེན་པོའི་བསམ་པ་ལས་ཉམས་པ།
37. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་འཆད་པ་པོ་གཅིག་ ་དབེན་པ་ལ་
དགའ་ལ་ཉན་པ་པོ་འ ་འཛི་ལ་མངོན་པར་དགའ་བས་མ་
མ ན་ཏེ་ཚགས་པའི་ཆོས་ ོད་ལས་ཉམས་པ།
38. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་ཉན་པ་པོ་འཆད་པ་པོའི་ ེས་ ་
འ ང་བར་འདོད་ལ་འཆད་པོས་དེའི་གོ་ བས་མི་འ ེད་
པས་མ་མ ན་ཏེ་ཚགས་པའི་ཆོས་ ོད་ལས་ཉམས་པ།
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 641

39. རོ ་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་འཆད་པ་པོ་ཟང་ཟིང་གི་ ིར་ཆོས་

ོན་འདོད་ལ་ཉན་པ་པོ་དེ་ ིན་པར་མི་འདོད་པས་མ་
མ ན་ཏེ་ཚགས་པའི་ཆོས་ ོད་ལས་ཉམས་པ།
40. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་འཆད་པ་པོ་གང་ན་ ོག་གི་བར་
ཆད་ ་འ ར་བའི་ གོ ས་ ་འགྲོ་བར་འདོད་ལ་ཉན་པ་པོ་
དེར་འགྲོ་བར་མི་འདོད་པས་མ་མ ན་ཏེ་ཚགས་པའི་ཆོས་
ོད་ལས་ཉམས་པ།
41. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་འཆད་པ་པོ་ ་གེ་ཡོད་པའི་ གོ ས་
་འགྲོ་འདོད་ལ་ཉན་པ་པོ་དེར་འགྲོ་མི་འདོད་པས་མ་
མ ན་ཏེ་ཚགས་པའི་ཆོས་ ོད་ལས་ཉམས་པ།
42. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་འཆད་པ་པོ་ཆོམ་ ན་ལ་སོགས་
པས་དཀྲགས་པའི་ གོ ས་ ་འགྲོ་འདོད་ལ་ཉན་པ་པོ་དེར་མི་
འགྲོ་བས་མ་མ ན་ཏེ་ཚགས་འི་ཆོས་ ོད་ལས་ཉམས་པ།
43. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་འཆད་པ་པོ་རང་ལ་བསོད་ མོ ས་
ེར་བའི་ཁྱིམ་ཡང་ཡང་ ་བས་དགའ་ཞིང་གཡེང་ལ་ཉན་པ་
པོ་དེ་ལ་ཡིད་མི་དགའ་བས་མ་མ ན་ཏེ་ཚགས་པའི་ཆོས་
ོད་ལས་ཉམས་པ།
44. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་བ ད་དགེ་ ངོ ་གི་ཆ་ ད་ ་
འོངས་ནས་ཆོས་དང་གང་ཟག་ལ་ད ེན་ དེ ་པ་བ ད་ཀྱིས་
འ ེད་པའི་ ོར་བ་ ས་པ།
45. ོར་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་བ ད་ཀྱིས་ མ་བཅོས་མ་ཉེ་བར་
བ བས་པ།
642 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

46. རོ ་བ་བ མོ ་པའི་ ས་ ་བ ད་སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ཆ་ ད་ ་

འོངས་ནས་ ོ་བ ར་ཏེ་ ི་ ར་བ་མ་ཡིན་པ་ལ་དགའ་བ་
བ ེད་པ་ཞེས་ ་བའི་བ ད་ལས་ཏེ་ཞེ་ ག་གོ །
54

35th Topic
5. Characteristics of Trainings ( ོར་བའི་མཚན་ཉིད་)
IV.13:
{IV.13}
Those by which [trainings] are characterized are to be known
As characteristics. Moreover, those characteristics are in three
aspects—
Knowledge, differentiating, and functional.
The essence is what is characterized; it also is [a characteristic].
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 55a.7, fleshes this stanza out
as:
The means by which trainings are characterized are to be
known as characteristics of trainings. Moreover, those charac-
teristics are in three aspects—knowledge characteristics, dif-
ferentiating characteristics, and functional characteristics. The
essence of the training that is characterized by those three is what
is characterized; [essential characteristics also] are to be known
as characteristics of trainings, and thus there are four characteris-
tics.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{IV.13}
གང་གིས་མཚན་དེ་མཚན་ཉིད་ ། །ཤེས་ ་དེ་ཡང་ མ་པ་ག མ། །
ཤེས་པ་ཁྱད་པར་ ེད་པ་ ེ། །ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་གང་མཚན་ ་ཡང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
དེ ་པ་གང་གིས་ ོར་བ་ མས་མཚན་པར་ དེ ་པ་དེ་ ོར་བའི་
མཚན་ཉིད་ ་ཤེས་པར་ འོ། །མཚན་ཉིད་དེ་ཡང་ མ་པ་ག མ་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 643

།ེ ཤེས་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་དང༌། ཁྱད་པར་གྱི་མཚན་ཉིད་དང༌།
དེ ་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་དོ། །དེ་ག མ་གྱིས་མཚན་པར་ ་བའི་ ོར་
བའི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་གང་ཡིན་པའི་མཚན་ ་ཡིན་[or ཡང་] ོར་བའི་
མཚན་ཉིད་ ་ཤེས་པར་ ་ ེ་མཚན་ཉིད་བཞིའོ། །གཉིས་པ་ལ་
བཞི། ཤེས་མཚན། ཁྱད་མཚན། ེད་མཚན། ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མཚན་
ནོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 3, 34.
55
IV.14-22; Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 55a.7, first
treats the four stanzas (IV.14-17) concerning the knowledge characteris-
tics of a knower of bases.
IV.14:
{IV.14}
Knowing the arising of a One-Gone-Thus,
The nondisintegrative nature of the transient world,
The mental behaviors of sentient beings,
The withdrawal of it, distraction outside,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 55a.7, fleshes this stanza out
as:
A Bodhisattva’s four trainings in a knower of bases isolated from
the signs of afflictions and so forth have the capacity of generating
fulfillment of realization of one’s own welfare:
(1) because in dependence upon a Bodhisattva’s training in a
knower of bases a One-Gone-Thus knows, from the perfec-
tion of wisdom of the training in a knower of bases, the aris-
ing of the powers and so forth of a One-Gone-Thus, and
(2) because in dependence upon a Bodhisattva’s training in a
knower of bases [a One-Gone-Thus] knows, from [the perfec-
tion of wisdom of the training in a knower of bases], that the
transient world of the five aggregates does not disintegrate
in reality, and
(3) because in dependence upon [a Bodhisattva’s training in a
644 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

knower of bases, a One-Gone-Thus] knows, from [the perfec-

tion of wisdom of the training in a knower of bases], the
84,000 mental behaviors of all sentient beings, and
(4) because in dependence upon [a Bodhisattva’s training in a
knower of bases, a One-Gone-Thus] knows, from [the perfec-
tion of wisdom of the training in a knower of bases], the with-
drawal of the mind due to being set in meditative equipoise
on selflessness, and
(5) because in dependence upon [a Bodhisattva’s training in a
knower of bases, a One-Gone-Thus] knows, from [the perfec-
tion of wisdom of the training in a knower of bases], the dis-
traction outside of the mind due to not being set in medita-
tive equipoise on selflessness, and
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{IV.14}
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་འ ང་བ་དང་། །འ ིག་ ེན་འ ིག་མེད་བདག་ཉིད་དང་། །
སེམས་ཅན་སེམས་ཀྱི་ ོད་པ་དང་། །དེ་བ ས་པ་དང་ ིར་ ས་དང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཉོན་མོངས་ གས་སོགས་ཀྱིས་དབེན་པའི་སེམས་དཔའི་གཞི་
ཤེས་ཀྱི་ རོ ་བ་བཞི་ལ་རང་དོན་ གོ ས་པ་ ན་ཚགས་ དེ ་པའི་
ས་པ་ཡོད་དེ། སེམས་དཔའི་གཞི་ཤེས་ ོར་བ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་དེ་
བཞིན་གཤེགས་པས་གཞི་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ ོར་བའི་ཤེར་ ིན་ལས་དེ་
བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་ བོ ས་སོགས་འ ང་བ་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་དང༌།
སེམས་དཔའི་གཞི་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ ོར་བ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་དེ་བས་ ང་པོ་
འི་འ གི ་ ནེ ་དེ་ཁོ་ནར་འ གི ་པ་མེད་པ་ཤེས་པའི་ རི ་དང༌།
དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་དེ་བས་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་སེམས་ཀྱི་
དོ ་པ་བ ད་ཁྲི་བཞི་ ོང་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་དང༌། དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་
ནས་དེ་བས་བདག་མེད་ལ་མཉམ་པར་བཞག་པས་སེམས་བ ་
བར་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་དང༌། དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་དེ་བས་བདག་མེད་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 645

ལ་མཉམ་པར་མ་བཞག་པས་སེམས་ རི ་གཡེང་བ་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་

དང༌།
IV.15:
{IV.15}
The aspect of inexhaustibility,
Accompaniment with desire, and so forth, vast,
Bigness, immeasurability,
Indemonstrability of consciousness,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 56a.2, fleshes this stanza out
as:
(6) because in dependence upon [a Bodhisattva’s training in a
knower of bases, a One-Gone-Thus] knows, from [the perfec-
tion of wisdom of the training in a knower of bases], the as-
pect of inexhaustibility of the mind since in reality the mind
does not disintegrate or is devoid of desire and there is the
constituent, that is to say, uncompounded factors of cessation
and abandonment, and
(7) because in dependence upon [a Bodhisattva’s training in a
knower of bases, a One-Gone-Thus] knows, from [the perfec-
tion of wisdom of the training in a knower of bases], the ac-
companiment of common persons’ minds with desire and
so forth, and
(8) because in dependence upon [a Bodhisattva’s training in a
knower of bases, a One-Gone-Thus] knows, from [the perfec-
tion of wisdom of the training in a knower of bases], the sep-
aration of Superiors’ minds from desire and so forth—this be-
ing included in the term “and so forth” in the root text [Mait-
reya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations]—and
(9) because in dependence upon [a Bodhisattva’s training in a
knower of bases, a One-Gone-Thus] knows, from [the perfec-
tion of wisdom of the training in a knower of bases], that the
mode of subsistence of others—common beings and Superi-
ors—is vast, and
(10) because in dependence upon [a Bodhisattva’s training in a
646 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

knower of bases, a One-Gone-Thus] knows, from [the perfec-

tion of wisdom of the training in a knower of bases], that be-
cause the minds of others—common beings and Superiors—
are pervasive, they are big, or alternatively that all minds are
equally selfless and in conventional terms equally are sup-
ports for the attainment of good qualities, and
(11) because in dependence upon [a Bodhisattva’s training in a
knower of bases, a One-Gone-Thus] knows, from [the perfec-
tion of wisdom of the training in a knower of bases], that since
ultimately there is no individual limitation of [their] supports
of engagement, the minds of others—common beings and
Superiors—are immeasurable,
(12) because in dependence upon [a Bodhisattva’s training in a
knower of bases, a One-Gone-Thus] knows, from [the perfec-
tion of wisdom of the training in a knower of bases], that the
minds of others—common beings and Superiors—are ulti-
mately indemonstrable as “they are such-and-such,”
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{IV.15}
མི་བཟད་པ་ཡི་ མ་པ་དང་། །ཆགས་བཅས་སོགས་དང་ ་ཆེན་དང་། །
ཆེན་པོར་ ར་དང་ཚད་མེད་དང་། ། མ་ཤེས་བ ན་ ་མེད་པ་དང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་དེ་བས་སེམས་ཡང་དག་པར་ན་འ ིག་པ་མེད་
པས་སམ་འདོད་ཆགས་དང་ ལ་བ་དང་འགོག་པ་དང་ ངས་
པའི་ཁམས་ཏེ་འ ས་མ་ ས་ཀྱི་ཆ་མི་ཟད་པའི་ མ་པ་ཤེས་པའི་
ིར་དང༌། དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་དེ་བས་སོ་ ེའི་སེམས་འདོད་ཆགས་
དང་བཅས་པ་ལ་སོགས་པ་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་དང༌། དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་
དེ་བས་ ་བའི་སོགས་ ས་བ ས་པ་འཕགས་པའི་སེམས་འདོད་
ཆགས་དང་ ལ་བ་ལ་སོགས་པ་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་དང༌། དེ་ལ་
བ ེན་ནས་དེ་བས་ ེ་འཕགས་ཕ་རོལ་པོའི་སེམས་ཀྱི་གནས་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 647

གས་ ་ཆེན་པོ་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་དང༌། དེ་ལ་བ ེན་ནས་དེ་བས་

ེ་འཕགས་ཕ་རོལ་བོའ་ི སེམས་ཁྱབ་པར་ ེད་པས་ཆེན་པོའམ་
ཡང་ན་སེམས་ཐམས་ཅད་བདག་མེད་པ་དང་ཐ་ ད་ ་ཡོན་
ཏན་ཐོབ་པའི་ ེན་ ་མཉམ་པར་ཤེས་པའི་ རི ་དང༌། དེ་ལ་
བ ེན་ནས་དེ་བས་དོན་དམ་པར་འ ག་པའི་ ེན་སོ་སོར་ངེས་
པ་མེད་པས་ ེ་འཕགས་ཕ་རོལ་པོའི་སེམས་ཚད་མེད་པར་ཤེས་
པའི་ ིར་དང༌། དེ་ལ་བ ེན་ནས་དེ་བས་ ེ་འཕགས་ཕ་རོལ་
པོའི་སེམས་དོན་དམ་པར་འདིའོ་ཞེས་བ ན་ ་མེད་པར་ཤེས་
པའི་ ིར་དང༌།
IV.16:
{IV.16}
Invisibility of mind, the fluctuations
And so forth of those consciousnesses;
In addition to those, knowing
Those in the aspect of thusness;
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 56a.7, fleshes this stanza out
as:
(13) because in dependence upon [a Bodhisattva’s training in a
knower of bases, a One-Gone-Thus] knows, from [the perfec-
tion of wisdom of the training in a knower of bases], that the
minds of others—common beings and Superiors—are ulti-
mately invisible by the five eyes,
(14) because in dependence upon [a Bodhisattva’s training in a
knower of bases, a One-Gone-Thus] knows, from [the per-
fection of wisdom of the training in a knower of bases], that
the fluctuation, withdrawal, spreading, and contraction of
the minds of others—common beings and Superiors—is pro-
duced in dependence upon the five aggregates, and do not ex-
ist in accordance with how those are conceived by them,
(15) because in dependence upon [a Bodhisattva’s training in a
648 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

knower of bases, a One-Gone-Thus] in addition to those

modes of conventional knowledge knows, from [the perfec-
tion of wisdom of the training in a knower of bases], those
minds of fluctuation and so forth in the aspect of thusness,
the emptiness of true existence, and
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{IV.16}
སེམས་བ ར་མེད་དང་ཤེས་པ་དེ། །གཡོ་བ་ལ་སོགས་ཤེས་ ་དང་། །
དེ་ལས་གཞན་ཡང་དེ་དག་ནི། །དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ མ་པར་ཤེས། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་དེ་བས་ ེ་འཕགས་ཕ་རོལ་པོའི་སེམས་དོན་
དམ་པར་ ན་ ས་བ ར་མེད་པར་ཤེས་པའི་ རི ་དང༌། དེ་ལ་
བ ེན་ནས་དེ་བས་ ེ་འཕགས་ཕ་རོལ་པོའི་སེམས་གཡོ་བ་དང་
འ ་བ་དང་བཀྲམ་པ་དང་བ མ་པ་ མས་ ང་པོ་ ་ལ་བ ེན་
ནས་ ེའི་དེ་དག་གིས་ཞེན་པ་ ར་མེད་པར་ཤེས་པའི་ རི ་དང༌།
དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་དེ་བས་ཀུན་ བོ ་ཀྱི་མཁྱེན་ ལ་དེ་ལས་གཞན་
་ཡང་གཡོ་བ་ལ་སོགས་པའི་སེམས་དེ་དག་ནི་བདེན་པས་ ོང་
པ་དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ མ་པར་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་དང༌།
IV.17:
{IV.17}
The Subduer, having realized thusness,
Teaches it to others. These
Comprise the knowledge characteristics
On the occasion of knowledge of all.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 56b.3, fleshes this stanza out
as:
(16) because in dependence upon [a Bodhisattva’s training in a
knower of bases, a One-Gone-Thus] knows, from [the perfec-
tion of wisdom of the training in a knower of bases], that the
Subduer places all thusnesses in one mode, realizes it just as
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 649

it is, realizes it as the supreme of doctrine, and teaches it to

others in accordance with how it has been realized.
These sixteen knowledge characteristics characterize Bodhisatt-
vas’ trainings in knowers of bases as endowed with the capacity
for generating the sixteen exalted knowers of those; therefore,
those are included within knowledge of all (thams cad shes pa
nyid) [that is, knowers of bases].
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{IV.17}
བ་པས་དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་ ོགས་ཏེ། །གཞན་ལ་བ ན་པ་ཞེས་ ་འདི། །
ཐམས་ཅད་ཤེས་པ་ཉིད་ བས་ཀྱི། །ཤེས་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་བ ས་པ་ཡིན། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་དེ་བས་ བ་པས་དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་ཐམས་ཅད་
ལ་གཅིག་ ་འ གོ ་པ་དང་དེ་ ི་བཞིན་ ་ གོ ས་པ་དང་དེ་
ཆོས་ མས་ཀྱི་མཆོག་ ་ ོགས་པ་དང་ གོ ས་པ་ ར་གཞན་ལ་
ནོ ་པར་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་རོ། །ཤེས་མཚན་བ ་ ག་པོ་འདི་ མས་
ཀྱིས་སེམས་དཔའི་གཞི་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ རོ ་བ་ མས་དེའི་མཁྱེན་པ་བ ་
ག་ དེ ་པའི་ ས་ ན་ ་མཚན་པ་ཡིན་པས་ན་དེ་དག་ནི་
ཐམས་ཅད་ཤེས་པ་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་བ ས་པ་ཡིན་ནོ། །
For Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s fleshing out of stanzas 18-19 and 20-22 see the
next two backnotes. See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Ārya-
vimuktisena’s] Vṛtti and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 3, 34ff.
56
IV.18-19; Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 57a.4, next
treats the two stanzas concerning the knowledge characteristics of a
knower of paths.
IV.18abc:
{IV.18}
Emptiness, signlessness,
Exclusion of wish,
Nonproduction, noncessation,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 57a.4, fleshes these lines out
650 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

as:
[A Bodhisattva’s] five trainings in knowers of paths—achieving
the armor of others’ welfare difficult to perform and so forth
(gzhan don gyi go cha bya dka’ ba sogs, see 304)—have the ca-
pacity of generating fulfillment of realization of one’s own wel-
fare:
(1) because in dependence upon training in a knower of paths a
One-Gone-Thus knows the emptiness that is that the entities
of all phenomena are empty of true existence, and
(2) because in dependence upon [training in a knower of paths a
One-Gone-Thus] knows signlessness that is that ultimately
causes do not exist, and
(3) because in dependence upon [training in a knower of paths a
One-Gone-Thus] knows wishlessness that is that ultimately
effects are not wishable, and
(4) because in dependence upon [training in a knower of paths a
One-Gone-Thus] knows nonproduction that is that ulti-
mately the forward process of dependent-arising is produc-
tionless, and
(5) because in dependence upon [training in a knower of paths a
One-Gone-Thus] knows noncessation that is that ultimately
the reverse process of dependent-arising is cessationless, and
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{IV.18}
ོང་ཉིད་མཚན་མེད་བཅས་པ་དང་། ། ོན་པ་ མ་པར་ ངས་པ་དང་། །
ེ་མེད་འགག་པ་མེད་
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
གཞན་དོན་གྱི་གོ་ཆ་ ་དཀའ་བ་སོགས་ བ་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་
ོར་བ་ ་ལ་རང་དོན་ ོགས་པ་ ན་ཚགས་ ེད་པའི་ ས་པ་
ཡོད་དེ། ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ ོར་བ་ལ་བ ེན་ནས་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་
པས་ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་ངོ་བོ་བདེན་པས་ ངོ ་བའི་ ངོ ་པ་ཉིད་
ཤེས་པའི་ རི ་དང༌། དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་དེ་བས་དོན་དམ་པར་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 651

འི་མཚན་མ་མེད་པར་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་དང༌། དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་

དེ་བས་དོན་དམ་པར་འ ས་ ་ལ་ ནོ ་པར་ ར་མེད་པར་ཤེས་
པའི་ ིར་དང༌། དེ་ལ་བ ེན་ནས་དེ་བས་དོན་དམ་པར་ ནེ ་
འ ེལ་ གས་འ ང་གི་ ་ེ བ་མེད་པར་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་དང༌། དེ་
ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་དེ་བས་དོན་དམ་པར་ ེན་འ ལེ ་ གས་བ ོག་གི་
འགག་པ་མེད་པར་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་དང༌།
IV.18c:
and so forth,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 57a.7, fleshes these words
out as:
[six] that are included within the term “and so forth” in the root
text [Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations]:
(6) because in dependence upon [training in a knower of paths a
One-Gone-Thus] knows the thoroughly afflicted having a na-
ture of defilement as ultimately nonexistent, and
(7) because in dependence upon [training in a knower of paths a
One-Gone-Thus] knows the completely pure devoid of defile-
ment as ultimately nonexistent, and
(8) because in dependence upon [training in a knower of paths a
One-Gone-Thus] knows the factualities of abandonment and
adoption as ultimately nonexistent, and
(9) because in dependence upon [training in a knower of paths a
One-Gone-Thus] knows the nature of nirvāṇa, and
(10) because in dependence upon [training in a knower of paths a
One-Gone-Thus] knows that a support of abiding by way of
the entity of element of attributes does not ultimately exist,
and
(11) because in dependence upon [training in a knower of paths a
One-Gone-Thus] knows the nature of thusness, the character
or inner mode of space, exactly as it is,
Maitreya’s Ornament:
སོགས་དང་། །
652 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:

དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་དེ་བས་ ་བའི་སོགས་ ས་བ ས་པ་དོན་དམ་
པར་ ི་མའི་བདག་ཉིད་ཀུན་ནས་ཉོན་མོངས་པ་མེད་པར་ཤེས་
པའི་ ིར་དང༌། དེ་ལ་བ ེན་ནས་དེ་བས་དོན་དམ་པར་ ་ི མ་
དང་ ལ་བའི་ མ་པར་ ང་བ་མེད་པར་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་དང༌།
དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་དེ་བས་དོན་དམ་པར་ ང་ ང་གི་དངོས་པོ་
མེད་པར་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་དང༌། དེ་ལ་བ ེན་ནས་དེ་བས་ ་ངན་
ལས་འདས་པའི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་དང༌། དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་
ནས་དེ་བས་དོན་དམ་པར་ཆོས་ད ིངས་ཀྱི་ངོ་བོས་གནས་པའི་
ེན་མེད་པར་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་དང༌། དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་དེ་བས་དེ་
བཞིན་ཉིད་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་ནམ་མཁའི་མཚན་ཉིད་དམ་ངང་ ལ་
ི་ ་བ་དེ་ ར་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་དང༌།
IV.18d-19:
The noumenon as without disturbance,
{IV.19}
As without composition, as without conceptualization,
And as without divisions, and characteristics as nonexistent
Are asserted as being knowledge characteristics
On the occasion of knowledge of paths.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 57b.4, fleshes these lines out
as:
and:
(12) because in dependence upon [training in a knower of paths a
One-Gone-Thus] knows the noumenon as without disturb-
ance due to not changing into something other, and
(13) because in dependence upon [training in a knower of paths a
One-Gone-Thus] knows the noumenon as without composi-
tion by causes and conditions, and
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 653

(14) because in dependence upon [training in a knower of paths a

One-Gone-Thus] knows the noumenon as without concep-
tualization because of not being imputable as anything, and
(15) because in dependence upon [training in a knower of paths a
One-Gone-Thus] knows the noumenon as without divisions
from knowing the characters of phenomena in accordance
with just how they abide, and
(16) because in dependence upon [training in a knower of paths a
One-Gone-Thus] knows all characteristics as ultimately
nonexistent.
These sixteen knowledge characteristics characterize trainings
in knowers of paths as endowed with the capacity for generating
the sixteen exalted knowers of those; therefore, those are asserted
as included within knowledge of paths.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
ཆོས་ཉིད་ མ་པར་འ ག་མེད་དང་། །
{IV.19}
འ ་མི་ ེད་དང་ མ་མི་ ོག །རབ་ད ེ་མཚན་ཉིད་མེད་ཉིད་ལ། །
ལམ་ཤེས་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ བས་ཀྱིས་ནི། །ཤེས་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་ཡིན་པར་བཞེད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་དེ་བས་ཆོས་ཉིད་གཞན་ ་མི་འ ར་བས་ མ་
པར་འ ག་པ་མེད་པར་ཤེས་པའི་ རི ་དང༌། དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་དེ་
བས་ཆོས་ཉིད་ ་ ེན་གྱིས་འ ་མི་ དེ ་པར་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་དང་།
དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་དེ་བས་ཆོས་ཉིད་དེ་འགར་ཡང་གདགས་པར་
་བ་མ་ཡིན་པས་ མ་པར་མི་ གོ ་པར་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་དང༌། དེ་
ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་དེ་བས་ཆོས་ མས་ཀྱི་མཚན་ཉིད་དེ་ ི་ ར་
གནས་པ་ ར་མཁྱེན་ནས་མཚན་ཉིད་ཀྱི་རབ་ ་ད ་ེ བ་བ ན་
པར་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་དང༌། དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་དེ་བས་དོན་དམ་
པར་མཚན་ཉིད་ཐམས་ཅད་མེད་པར་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་རོ། །ཤེས་
654 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

མཚན་བ ་ ག་པོ་འདི་ མས་ཀྱིས་ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ ོར་བ་ མས་

དེའི་མཁྱེན་པ་བ ་ ག་ ེད་པའི་ ས་ ན་ ་མཚན་པས་ན་དེ་
དག་ནི་ལམ་ཤེས་པ་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་བ ས་པ་ཡིན་པར་བཞེད་དོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 3, 37ff.
57
IV.20-22; Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 58a.2, next
treats the three stanzas concerning the knowledge characteristics of an ex-
alted-knower-of-all-aspects.
IV.20:
{IV.20}
In dependence upon one’s own practice
Knowing dwelling, respecting,
Taking as guru, honoring,
Worshipping, without activities,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 58a.2, fleshes out this stanza
as:
[A Bodhisattva’s] seven trainings in an exalted-knower-of-all-as-
pects observing the features included within bases and paths have
the capacity of generating fulfillment of realization of one’s own
welfare:
(1) because in dependence upon training in an exalted-knower-
of-all-aspects a One-Gone-Thus knows that—in manifest de-
pendence upon one’s own causal practice (rgyu’i chos),
training in an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects—the Monarch of
Subduers dwells in bliss in the present (mthong chos la), and
(2) because in dependence upon [training in an exalted-knower-
of-all-aspects a One-Gone-Thus] knows that when teaching a
Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra, upon one’s own setting up seat,
cushion, and so forth it is to be respected, and
(3) because in dependence upon [training in an exalted-knower-
of-all-aspects a One-Gone-Thus] knows that it is to be taken
as guru by esteeming the Word as just to be achieved, and
(4) because in dependence upon [training in an exalted-knower-
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 655

of-all-aspects a One-Gone-Thus] knows that it is to be hon-

ored by speaking of its good qualities and so forth, and
(5) because in dependence upon [training in an exalted-knower-
of-all-aspects a One-Gone-Thus] knows that the Mother is to
be worshipped by scattering jeweled flowers and so on, and
(6) because in dependence upon [training in an exalted-knower-
of-all-aspects a One-Gone-Thus] knows that ultimately there
are no such activities as respecting and so forth, and
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{IV.20}
དེ་ནི་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་བ ེན་ནས། །གནས་དང་གུས་པར་ ་བ་དང་། །
་མ་ཉིད་དང་མཉེས་པ་དང་། །དེ་ལ་མཆོད་དང་ ེད་མེད་དང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
གཞི་ལམ་གྱིས་བ ས་པའི་ཁྱད་པར་ལ་དམིགས་པ་སོགས་ མ་
མཁྱེན་གྱི་ རོ ་བ་བ ན་ལ་རང་དོན་ ོགས་པ་ ན་ཚགས་ ེད་
པའི་ ས་པ་ཡོད་དེ། མ་མཁྱེན་གྱི་ ོར་བ་ལ་བ ེན་ནས་དེ་
བཞིན་གཤེགས་པས་ བ་དབང་དེ་ནི་རང་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ འི་ཆོས་ མ་
མཁྱེན་གྱི་ རོ ་བ་ལ་མངོན་པར་བ ནེ ་ནས་མཐོང་ཆོས་ལ་བདེ་
བར་གནས་པ་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་དང༌། དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་དེ་བས་ཤེར་
ིན་གྱི་མདོ་ ོན་པ་ན་རང་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་གདན་དང་ཁྲི་བཤམས་པ་
སོགས་མཛད་ནས་གུས་པར་ ་བར་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་དང༌། དེ་ལ་
བ ེན་ནས་དེ་བས་བཀའ་བ བ་པར་ ་བ་ཉིད་ ་བཀུར་བས་
་མར་ ་བར་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་དང༌། དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་དེ་བས་
ཡོན་ཏན་བ ོད་པ་ལ་སོགས་པས་མཉེས་པར་ ་བར་ཤེས་པའི་
ིར་དང༌། དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་དེ་བས་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་མེ་ཏོག་གཏོར་
བ་སོགས་ཀྱིས་ མ་དེ་ལ་མཆོད་པར་ ་བར་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་དང༌།
དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་དེ་བས་དོན་དམ་པར་གུས་པར་ ་བ་སོགས་དེ་
656 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

ར་ དེ ་པ་མེད་པར་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་དང༌།
IV.21:
{IV.21}
Engagement in all;
Teaching nonperception,
The world in the aspect of emptiness,
To be expressed, to be known, to be directly seen,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 58a.7, fleshes out this stanza
as:
(7) because in dependence upon [training in an exalted-knower-
of-all-aspects a One-Gone-Thus] knows that [the Mother] un-
impededly engages in or goes to all objects, and
(8) because in dependence upon [training in an exalted-knower-
of-all-aspects a One-Gone-Thus] knows to teach nonpercep-
tion of the factuality of forms and so forth ultimately and per-
ception of suchness in conventional terms, and
(9) because in dependence upon [training in an exalted-knower-
of-all-aspects a One-Gone-Thus] knows that the world of the
five aggregates as having the aspect of emptiness of true ex-
istence, and
(10) because in dependence upon [training in an exalted-knower-
of-all-aspects a One-Gone-Thus] knows that to trainees gath-
ered as retinue the world is to be expressed as empty of truly
existence, and
(11) because in dependence upon [training in an exalted-knower-
of-all-aspects a One-Gone-Thus] knows that to trainees of
ripened continuum the world is to be known as empty of true
existence, and
(12) because in dependence upon [training in an exalted-knower-
of-all-aspects a One-Gone-Thus] knows that for trainees of
release the emptiness of true existence of the world is to be
directly seen, and
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{IV.21}
ཀུན་ ་འ ག་མཁྱེན་གང་ཡིན་དང་། །མ་མཐོང་ ོན་པར་མཛད་པ་དང་། །
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 657

འ ིག་ ེན་ ོང་ཉིད་ མ་པ་དང་། །བ ོད་དང་ཤེས་མཛད་མངོན་ མ་མཛད། །

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་དེ་བས་ ལ་ཐམས་ཅད་ ་ཐོགས་མེད་ ་
འ ག་པའམ་འགྲོ་བ་ཤེས་པའི་ རི ་དང༌། དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་དེ་
བས་ག གས་སོགས་ཀྱི་དོན་དོན་དམ་པར་མ་མཐོང་བ་ཉིད་ཐ་
ད་ ་དེ་ཁོ་ན་མཐོང་བར་ ནོ ་པར་མཛད་པ་ཤེས་པའི་ རི ་
དང༌། དེ་ལ་བ ེན་ནས་དེ་བས་ ང་པོ་ འི་འ གི ་ ནེ ་བདེན་
པས་ ངོ ་པའི་ མ་ཅན་ ་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་དང༌། དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་
ནས་དེ་བས་ག ལ་ ་འཁོར་ ་བ ས་པ་ལ་འ ིག་ ེན་ད་
བདེན་པས་ ོང་པར་བ དོ ་པ་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་དང༌། དེ་ལ་བ ེན་
ནས་དེ་བས་ ད་ ིན་པའི་ག ལ་ ་ལ་འ གི ་ ེན་བདེན་པས་
ོང་པ་ཤེས་པར་མཛད་པ་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་དང༌། དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་
དེ་བས་ མ་པར་གྲོལ་བའི་ག ལ་ ་ལ་འ གི ་ ེན་བདེན་པས་
ོང་པ་མངོན་ མ་ ་མཐོང་བར་མཛད་པ་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་དང༌།
IV.22:
{IV.22}
To be taught as inconceivable, as just quiescent,
Negation of the world, and of discrimination—
These are described as knowledge characteristics
For the mode of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 58b.4, fleshes out this stanza
as:
(13) because in dependence upon [training in an exalted-knower-
of-all-aspects a One-Gone-Thus] knows that since the such-
ness of the five aggregates is beyond the objects of activity of
argumentation it is to be taught as just inconceivable, and
(14) because in dependence upon [training in an exalted-knower-
658 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

of-all-aspects a One-Gone-Thus] knows that all proliferations

are to be taught as just quiescent in the perspective of an
awareness directly realizing the noumenon of the five aggre-
gates, and
(15) because in dependence upon [training in an exalted-knower-
of-all-aspects a One-Gone-Thus] knows the negation of the
world of the five contaminated aggregates, and
(16) because in dependence upon [training in an exalted-knower-
of-all-aspects a One-Gone-Thus] knows ultimate negation of
the discrimination of the world, the other side and this side.
These sixteen knowledge characteristics characterize trainings
in exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects as endowed with the capacity
for generating the sixteen exalted knowers of those; therefore,
those are described as being included within exalted-knowers-
of-all-aspects. Tsong-kha-pa’s Golden Garland says that in that
way even these knowledge characteristics are mainly in consider-
ation of Buddhas, but it is not that they do not exist in Bodhisatt-
vas.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{IV.22}
བསམ་མི་ཁྱབ་དང་ཞི་ཉིད་ ོན། །འ ིག་ ེན་འ ་ཤེས་འགོག་པ་ལ། །
མ་པ་ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ ལ་ལ་ནི། །ཤེས་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་ཅེས་བཤད་དོ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་དེ་བས་ ང་པོ་ འི་དེ་ཁོ་ན་ཉིད་ གོ ་གེའི་
ོད་ ལ་ལས་འདས་པས་བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་པ་ཉིད་ ་ ནོ ་
པར་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་དང༌། དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་དེ་བས་ ང་པོ་ འི་
ཆོས་ཉིད་རང་མངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་པའི་ ོའི་ངོར་ ོས་པ་ཐམས་
ཅད་ཞི་བ་ཉིད་ ་ ནོ ་པ་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་དང༌། དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་
དེ་བས་ཟག་བཅས་ཀྱི་ ང་པོ་ འི་འ གི ་ ནེ ་འགོག་པ་ཤེས་
པའི་ ིར་དང༌། དེ་ལ་བ ེན་ནས་དེ་བས་དོན་དམ་པར་འ ིག་
ེན་ཕ་རོལ་དང་ ་རོལ་གྱི་འ ་ཤེས་འགོག་པ་ཤེས་པའི་ ིར་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 659

རོ། །ཤེས་མཚན་བ ་ ག་པོ་འདི་ མས་ཀྱིས་ མ་མཁྱེན་གྱིས་

ོར་བ་ མས་དེའི་མཁྱེན་པ་བ ་ ག་ དེ ་པའི་ ས་ ན་ ་
མཚན་པས་ན་དེ་དག་ནི་ མ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་མཁྱེན་པ་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་
བ ས་པ་ཡིན་པར་བཤད་དོ། ། དེ་ ར་ཤེས་མཚན་འདི་དག་
ཀྱང་སངས་ ས་ལ་གཙ་ཆེ་བ་ལ་དགོངས་ཀྱི་ ང་སེམས་ལ་མེད་
པ་མ་ཡིན་ནོ་ཞེས་གསེར་ ེང་ལས་ག ངས་སོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 3, 39ff.
58
IV.23-26; Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 59a.3, treats the
four stanzas on differentiating characteristics in two parts, a brief indica-
tion in a single stanza and an extensive explanation in three stanzas.
IV.23:
{IV.23}
It is explained that the sixteen periods—
Having as objects of activity the truths
Elevated by way of features such as inconceivability and so
forth—
Are differentiating characteristics.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 59a.3, fleshes the stanza of
the brief indication out as:
It is explained in sūtra that the sixteen periods of doctrinal for-
bearance and subsequent knowledge—having as objects of ac-
tivity the four noble truths elevated by way of features such as
inconceivability, inequality, and so forth—are differentiating
characteristics characterizing the final twelve essential charac-
teristics as superior to the trainings of Hearers and Solitary Vic-
tors.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{IV.23}
བསམ་མི་ཁྱབ་སོགས་ཁྱད་པར་གྱིས། །ཁྱད་ གས་བདེན་པའི་ ོད་ ལ་ཅན། །
ད་ཅིག་མ་ནི་བ ་ ག་གིས༏ །ཁྱད་པར་མཚན་ཉིད་བཤད་པ་ཡིན། །
660 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:

བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་པ་དང་མི་མཉམ་པ་ལ་སོགས་པའི་ཁྱད་པར་
གྱིས་ཁྱད་པར་ ་ ས་པའི་འཕགས་པའི་བདེན་པ་བཞིའ་ི དོ ་
ལ་ཅན་ཆོས་དང་ སེ ་ ་ཤེས་པའི་བཟོད་པ་དང་ཤེས་པའི་
ད་ཅིག་མ་བ ་ ག་གིས་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མཚན་ཐ་མ་བ ་གཉིས་པོ་
དེ་ཉན་རང་གི་ ོར་བ་ལས་ཁྱད་པར་ ་འཕགས་པར་མཚན་
པའི་ཁྱད་པར་གྱི་མཚན་ཉིད་ཡིན་པར་མདོ་ལས་བཤད་པ་ཡིན་
ནོ། །
IV.24ab:
{IV.24}
Inconceivability, inequality,
Thoroughly beyond comprehension, and enumeration,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 59a.5, fleshes out these lines
of the extensive explanation of differentiating characteristics as:
The subject, the final twelve essential characteristics, are superior
to the trainings of Hearers and Solitary Victors by way of the ca-
pacity to generate fulfillment of the two welfares [of oneself and
others] because of being Bodhisattvas’ trainings endowed with the
entities, effects, or causes of sixteen differentiating characteris-
tics:
THE FOUR PERIODS REALIZING THE FOUR NOUMENA OF
SUFFERING [NAMELY, DOCTRINAL FOREBEARANCE AND SO
FORTH REGARDING SUFFERING, THAT HAVE THE
DIFFERENTIATING CHARACTERISTICS OF]:
(1) inconceivability due to being beyond the objects of activity
of argumentation
(2) inequality due to being without a matchable comparison
(3) being beyond comprehension by valid cognition as it is
(4) being beyond enumeration by number
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{IV.24}
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 661

བསམ་མི་ཁྱབ་དང་མི་མཉམ་དང་། །གཞལ་དང་བགྲང་ལས་ཡང་དག་འདས། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མཚན་ཐ་མ་བ ་གཉིས་པོ་དེ་ཆོས་ཅན། དོན་གཉིས་
ན་ཚགས་ ེད་པའི་ ས་པའི་ ོ་ནས་ཉན་རང་གི་ ོར་བ་ལས་
ཁྱད་པར་ ་འཕགས་པ་ཡིན་ཏེ། གོ ་གེའི་ དོ ་ ལ་ལས་འདས་
པས་བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་པ་དང༌། དཔེར་ ར་ ང་བའི་མ ངས་
པ་མེད་པས་མི་མཉམ་པ་དང༌། དེ་ཁོ་ནར་ཚད་མས་གཞལ་བ་
ལས་འདས་པ་དང༌། ས་བ ོད་པ་སོགས་ཀྱི་གྲངས་ཀྱིས་བགྲང་
བ་ལས་འདས་པའི་ ག་བ ལ་གྱི་ཆོས་ཉིད་བཞི་ ོགས་པའི་ ད་
ཅིག་མ་བཞི་དང༌།
IV.24c-25a:
Containing all the Superiors, known
By the wise, knowing the uncommon,
{IV.25}
Knowing faster,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 59b.2, fleshes out these lines
of the extensive explanation of differentiating characteristics as:
THE FOUR PERIODS OF DOCTRINAL FOREBEARANCE AND SO
FORTH REGARDING ORIGINS OF SUFFERING [THAT HAVE THE
DIFFERENTIATING CHARACTERISTICS OF]:
(5) containing all the good qualities of the abandonments and
realizations by all Superior persons
(6) objects of, or known by, beings skilled in the two truths
(7) knowing objects that are not objects of activity of Hearers
and Solitary Victors or Great Vehicle uncommon knowledge
superior to the good qualities of Hearers and Solitary Victors
(8) knowing very faster than Hearers and Solitary Victors—
manifestly knowing, that is, attaining, the nonabiding nirvāṇa
Maitreya’s Ornament:
662 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

འཕགས་པ་ཀུན་བ ས་མཁས་པ་ཡིས། །རིག་ ་ ན་མོང་མིན་ཤེས་ཉིད། །

{IV.25}
ཤེས་ ར་
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
འཕགས་པའི་གང་ཟག་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་ ངས་ ོགས་ཀྱི་ཡོན་ཏན་
ཐམས་ཅད་ ད་པ་དང༌། བདེན་པ་གཉིས་ལ་མཁས་པའི་ སེ ་ ་
མ་རིག་པར་ ་བའི་ ལ་ཤེས་པ་དང༌། ཉན་རང་གི་ ོད་ ལ་མ་
ཡིན་པའི་ ལ་ཤེས་པའམ་ཉན་རང་གི་ཡོན་ཏན་ལས་ཁྱད་པར་
་འཕགས་པའི་ཐེག་ཆེན་ ན་མོང་མ་ཡིན་པའི་ཤེས་པ་དང༌།
མི་གནས་པའི་ ང་འདས་མངོན་པར་ཤེས་པ་ ་ེ ཐོབ་པ་ཉན་
རང་ལས་ཤིན་ ་ ར་བའི་ཤེས་པ་ ེ་ཀུན་འ ང་ཆོས་བཟོད་
སོགས་ ད་ཅིག་མ་བཞི་དང༌།
IV. 25a-c:
without diminishment or increase,
Achieving, correct achievement,
Observing,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 59b.4, fleshes out these lines
of the extensive explanation of differentiating characteristics as:
THE FOUR PERIODS OF DOCTRINAL FOREBEARANCE AND SO
FORTH REGARDING CESSATION [THAT HAVE THE
DIFFERENTIATING CHARACTERISTICS OF]:
(9) without diminishment in the entities of obscurational truths
or increase in the entities of ultimate truths; in brief, realizing
the noumenon devoid of superimposition and deprecation
(10) strongly intensely achieving the six perfections of giving and
so forth through zeal in them and taking them to mind by way
of purity from the three spheres [of object, agent, and action]
ultimately
(11) correct, that is to say, noninverted, achievement of the merit
and pristine wisdom that are to be attained upon achievement
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 663

over many eons through training in the purity of the three

spheres in reality
(12) observing all the phenomena of giving and so forth without
conceptualization and thereupon apprehending them with the
effort that does not discard the perfection of wisdom
Maitreya’s Ornament:

་ི དང་གང་མེད་དང་། ། བ་དང་ཡང་དག་འ བ་པ་དང་། །

དམིགས་པ་
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཀུན་ བོ ་བདེན་པའི་ངོ་བོར་ ི་བ་མེད་པ་དང་དོན་དམ་བདེན་
པའི་ངོ་བོར་གང་བ་མེད་པ་ ེ་མདོར་ན་ ོ་ ར་དང་ ལ་བའི་
ཆོས་ཉིད་ གོ ས་པ་དང༌། དོན་དམ་པར་འཁོར་ག མ་ མ་པར་
དག་པས་ ནི ་སོགས་ཕར་ ིན་ ག་ལ་མོས་པ་དང་ཡིད་ལ་ ེད་
པས་ ག་ ་རབ་ ་ བ་པ་དང༌། ཡང་དག་པར་འཁོར་ག མ་
མ་དག་གི་ ོར་བས་བ ལ་བ་ ་མར་བ བས་ནས་ཐོབ་པར་
་བའི་བསོད་ནམས་དང་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཡང་དག་པ་ ེ་ ིན་ཅི་མ་ལོག་
པར་འ བ་པ་དང༌། ཞེན་ཞེས་ མ་པར་མི་ གོ ་པར་ ནི ་སོགས་
ཀྱི་ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་དམིགས་ནས་ཤེར་ ནི ་མི་འདོར་བའི་
བ ོན་འ ས་ཀྱིས་དེ་དག་འཛིན་པ་ ེ་འགོག་པ་ཆོས་བཟོད་
སོགས་ ད་ཅིག་མ་བཞི་དང༌།
IV.25c-26:
endowment with the support,
Entirety, restrainers,
{IV.26}
And non-taste—these called
“Natures of sixteen characteristics”
Are superior to others,
664 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

And hence are elevating paths.

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 60a.1, fleshes out these lines
of the extensive explanation of differentiating characteristics as:
THE FOUR PERIODS OF DOCTRINAL FOREBEARANCE AND SO
FORTH REGARDING THE PATH [THAT HAVE THE DIFFERENTIATING
CHARACTERISTICS OF]:
(13) endowment with the Bodhisattvas’ support that has the na-
ture of the element of attributes
(14) complete entirety of the causal collections of the full com-
plement of the ten perfections, such as prayer-wishes and so
forth
(15) internal restrainers (nang gi yongs ’dzin)—special method
and wisdom that thoroughly hold one back from falling into
cyclic existence and [solitary] peace
(16) nonexperience of the taste of the conception of any phenom-
enon as truly existent and dedication of roots of virtue to com-
plete enlightenment.
In that way, sixteen characteristics, inconceivability and so forth,
characterize the twelve path trainings as superior to the paths of
others—Hearers and Solitary Victors—and hence those are to be
known as being elevating paths.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
ེན་དང་བཅས་པ་དང་། །མཐའ་དག་པ་དང་ཡོངས་འཛིན་དང་། །
{IV.26}
རོ་ ང་མེད་དང་ཁྱད་པར་ནི། །བ ་ ག་བདག་ཉིད་ཅེས་ ་ ེ། །
གང་གིས་ལམ་ནི་གཞན་དག་ལས། །ཁྱད་ ་འཕགས་པས་ཁྱད་པར་ལམ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཆོས་ཀྱི་ད ངི ས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་ཅན་གྱི་ ང་ བ་སེམས་དཔའི་
ནེ ་དང་བཅས་པ་དང༌། ོན་ལམ་ལ་སོགས་པའི་ཕར་ ནི ་བ ་
ཡོངས་ ་ གོ ས་པའི་ འི་ཚགས་པ་མཐའ་དག་ཚང་བ་དང༌།
ནང་གི་ཡོངས་འཛིན་ཐབས་ཤེས་ཁྱད་པར་ཅན་གྱིས་ ིད་ཞིར་
ང་བ་ལས་ཡོངས་ ་བ ང་བ་དང༌། ཆོས་གང་ལ་ཡང་བདེན་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 665

པར་ཞེན་པའི་རོ་ ངས་པ་མེད་ཅིང་དགེ་ ་ མས་ གོ ས་ ང་

་བ ོ་བར་ ེད་པ་ ེ་ལམ་ཆོས་བཟོད་སོགས་ ད་ཅིག་མ་བཞི་
ེ་ཁྱད་པར་བ ་ ག་ངོ་བོའམ་འ ས་ འམ་ ར་ ན་པའི་
སེམས་དཔའི་ ོར་བ་ཡིན་པའི་ རི ་རོ། །དེ་ ར་བསམ་གྱིས་མི་
ཁྱབ་པ་སོགས་ཁྱད་པར་བ ་ ག་གིས་ལམ་ རོ ་བ་བ ་གཉིས་
ནི་གཞན་ཉན་རང་གི་ལམ་དག་ལས་ཁྱད་པར་ ་འཕགས་པར་
མཚན་པས་ན་དེ་དག་ཁྱད་པར་ ་འཕགས་པའི་ལམ་ཡིན་པར་
ཤེས་པར་ འོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 3, 40ff.
59
IV.27-28; these two stanzas describe functional characteristics.
IV.27a:
{IV.27}
Help, happiness, protection,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 60b.5, fleshes out this line
on functional characteristics as:
A Bodhisattva’s four trainings in knowers of bases that are iso-
lated from the signs of the afflictions and so forth (see 304) have
the capacity of generating fulfillment of exalted activities for oth-
ers’ welfare:
(1) because in dependence upon the method, training in knowers
of bases, the supports—Buddhas and Bodhisattvas—cause
the objects, trainees, to achieve future help, the nirvāṇa paci-
fying the suffering of cyclic existence of later lives, and
(2) because in dependence upon the method, training in knowers
of bases, the supports—Buddhas and Bodhisattvas—cause
trainees to be set in the happiness of this life devoid of suf-
fering, mental discomfort, and so forth and finally to achieve
nirvāṇa, and
(3) because in dependence upon the method, training in knowers
666 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

of bases, the supports—Buddhas and Bodhisattvas—cause

trainees to be protected from the sufferings of cyclic exist-
ence and to be set in the remainderless nirvāṇa of never being
reborn [by the power of actions and afflictive emotions].
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{IV.27}
ཕན་དང་བདེ་དང་ ོབ་པ་དང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཉོན་མོངས་ གས་སོགས་ཀྱིས་དབེན་པའི་སེམས་དཔའི་གཞི་
ཤེས་ཀྱི་ རོ ་བ་བཞི་ལ་གཞན་དོན་འ ིན་ལས་ ན་ཚགས་ ེད་
པའི་ ས་པ་ཡོད་དེ། ེན་སངས་ ས་ ང་སེམས་ཀྱིས་ཐབས་
གཞི་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ ོར་བ་ལ་བ ེན་ནས་ ལ་ག ལ་ ་ མས་ལ་མ་
འོངས་པའི་ཕན་པ་ཚ་ ་ི མར་ ིད་པའི་ ག་བ ལ་ཞི་བའི་ ང་
འདས་ཉེ་བར་ བ་པར་མཛད་པའི་ ིར་དང༌། དེ་དག་གིས་དེ་
ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་ག ལ་ ་ མས་ལ་ ག་བ ལ་དང་ཡིད་མི་བདེ་
བ་སོགས་དང་ ལ་བའི་ཚ་འདིའི་བདེ་བ་ལ་འགོད་ཅིང་མཐར་
ང་འདས་ བ་པར་མཛད་པའི་ རི ་དང༌། དེ་དག་གིས་དེ་ལ་
བ ེན་ནས་ག ལ་ ་ མས་ལ་འཁོར་བའི་ ག་བ ལ་ལས་ བོ ་
ཅིང་ ར་མི་ ེ་བའི་ ག་མེད་ཀྱི་ ང་འདས་ལ་འགོད་པར་
མཛད་པའི་ ིར་རོ། །
IV.27b-28ab:
Refuge of humans,
Place of rest, defender,
Island, “leader,”
{IV.28}
Spontaneity, nonmanifestation
Of the fruit by way of the three vehicles,
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 667

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 61a.2, fleshes out these lines

on functional characteristics as:
A Bodhisattva’s five trainings in knowers of paths—achieving the
armor of others’ welfare difficult to perform and so forth (see 304)
have the capacity of generating fulfillment of exalted activities for
others’ welfare:
(4) because in dependence upon training in knowers of paths
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas enact the refuge of trainees, illus-
trated [in Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations] by
humans, achieving everlasting help, remainderless nirvāṇa,
nonerroneously at the trainees’ proper time, and
(5) because in dependence upon training in knowers of paths
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas enact the function of place of rest,
establishing trainees in the reversal of the cause of suffer-
ing—the apprehension of true existence—and
(6) because in dependence upon training in knowers of paths
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas enact the function of defender, es-
tablishing trainees in realizing cyclic existence and nirvāṇa as
equal, and
(7) because in dependence upon training in knowers of paths
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas enact the function of an island,
setting trainees in the nonabiding nirvāṇa that is devoid of the
moisture of the degeneracies of mundane existence and [soli-
tary] peace and is qualitatively similar to dryness surrounded
by water, and
(8) because in dependence upon training in knowers of paths
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas enact the function of a leader, set-
ting trainees in achieving temporary and final welfare of oth-
ers, and
(9) because in dependence upon training in knowers of paths
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas enact the function of setting train-
ees in spontaneously engaging in the welfare of others, and
(10) because in dependence upon training in knowers of paths
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas enact the deliverance of trainees
by way of the three vehicles for the welfare of others and
correctly achieve in a timely fashion the nonmanifestation
of its fruit for themselves.
668 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

Maitreya’s Ornament:
མི་ མས་ཀྱི་ནི་ བས་དག་དང་། །
གནས་དང་ད ང་གཉེན་གླིང་དང་ནི། །ཡོངས་འ ེན་པ་ཞེས་ ་བ་དང་། །
{IV.28}
ན་གྱིས་ བ་དང་ཐེག་ག མ་གྱིས། །འ ས་ ་མངོན་ མ་མི་ ེད་དག །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
གཞན་དོན་གྱི་གོ་ཆ་ ་དཀའ་བ་སོགས་ བ་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་
ོར་བ་ ་ལ་གཞན་དོན་འ ནི ་ལས་ ན་ཚགས་ ེད་པའི་ ས་
པ་ཡོད་དེ། སངས་ ས་ ང་སེམས་ཀྱིས་ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ ོར་བ་ལ་
བ ེན་ནས་མིས་མཚན་པའི་ག ལ་ ་ མས་ལ་གཏན་ ་ཕན་པ་
ག་མེད་ ང་འདས་ག ལ་ ་ག ལ་བའི་ ས་ ི་ ་བ་བཞིན་
་ ིན་ཅི་མ་ལོག་པར་ བ་པའི་ བས་མཛད་པའི་ ིར་དང༌། དེ་
དག་གིས་དེ་ལ་བ ེན་ནས་ག ལ་ ་ མས་ ག་བ ལ་གྱི་ ་
བདེན་འཛིན་ ོག་པ་ལ་འགོད་པའི་གནས་ཀྱི་ དེ ་པ་མཛད་པའི་
ིར་དང༌། དེ་དག་གིས་དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་ག ལ་ ་ མས་འཁོར་
འདས་མཉམ་པ་ཉིད་ ་ ོགས་པ་ལ་འགོད་པའི་ད ང་གཉེན་གྱི་
ེད་པ་མཛད་པའི་ རི ་དང༌། དེ་དག་གིས་དེ་ལ་བ ེན་ནས་
ག ལ་ ་ མས་ ས་བ ོར་བའི་ མ་པ་དང་ཆོས་མ ན་པར་
ིད་ཞིའི་ ད་པའི་ ན་དང་ ལ་བའི་མི་གནས་པའི་ ང་འདས་
ལ་འགོད་པའི་གླིང་གི་ ེད་པ་མཛད་པའི་ རི ་དང༌། དེ་དག་
གིས་དེ་ལ་བ ེན་ནས་ག ལ་ ་ མས་གནས་ བས་དང་མཐར་
ག་གི་གཞན་དོན་ བ་པ་ལ་འགོད་པའི་ཡོངས་འ ནེ ་གྱི་ ེད་
པ་མཛད་པའི་ ིར་དང༌། དེ་དག་གིས་དེ་ལ་བ ེན་ནས་ག ལ་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 669

་ མས་གཞན་གྱི་དོན་ ན་གྱིས་ བ་པར་འ ག་པ་ལ་འགོད་

པའི་ ེད་པ་མཛད་པའི་ ིར་དང༌། དེ་དག་གིས་དེ་ལ་བ ནེ ་
ནས་ག ལ་ ་ མས་གཞན་དོན་ ་ཐེག་པ་ག མ་གྱིས་ངེས་པར་
འ ང་ཞིང་རང་དོན་ ་དེའི་འ ས་ ་མངོན་ མ་ ་མི་ དེ ་པ་
དེ་ ས་ ི་ ་བ་བཞིན་ ་ཡང་དག་པར་ཉེ་བར་ བ་པར་མཛད་
པའི་ ིར་རོ། །
IV.28cd:
And lastly the function of support—
These are functional characteristics.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 61b.3, fleshes out these lines
on functional characteristics as:
[A Bodhisattva’s] seven trainings in an exalted-knower-of-all-as-
pects, observing the features included within the bases and paths
and so forth (see 304), have the capacity of generating fulfillment
of exalted activities for others’ welfare:
(11) because in dependence upon training in an exalted-knower-
of-all-aspects, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas enact the function
of the support of sentient beings through the fact of accom-
plishing teaching all doctrines to sentient beings without pass-
ing outside of the context of an exalted-knower-of-all-as-
pects.
These eleven functional features of help, happiness, protection,
and so forth characterize their causes, the trainings in the three
exalted knowers, as endowed with the capacity for generating ful-
fillment of exalted activities for others’ welfare; therefore, these
are functional characteristics. Tsong-kha-pa’s Golden Garland
says that the finality of these eleven functions exists in Buddhas
and temporary ones exist among Bodhisattvas.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
ཐ་མ་ ེན་གྱི་མཛད་པ་ ེ། །འདི་ནི་ ེད་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་ཡིན། །
670 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:

གཞི་ལམ་གྱིས་བ ས་པའི་ཁྱད་པར་ལ་དམིགས་པ་སོགས་ མ་
མཁྱེན་གྱི་ རོ ་བ་བ ན་ལ་གཞན་དོན་འ ིན་ལས་ ན་ཚགས་
ེད་པའི་ ས་པ་ཡོད་དེ། སངས་ ས་ ང་སེམས་ཀྱིས་ མ་
མཁྱེན་གྱི་ རོ ་བ་ལ་བ ེན་ནས་ག ལ་ ་ མས་ལ་ཆོས་ཐམས་
ཅད་ མ་མཁྱེན་གྱི་ངང་ ལ་ལས་མི་འདའ་བར་ ོན་པ་ཉེ་བར་
བ་པའི་དོན་གྱིས་སེམས་ཅན་ མས་ཀྱི་ ནེ ་ ེད་པར་མཛད་
པའི་ ིར་རོ། །ཕན་དང་བདེ་དང་ བོ ་པ་སོགས་ ེད་པའི་ཁྱད་
པར་བ ་གཅིག་གིས་རང་ ་མཁྱེན་ག མ་གྱི་ ོར་བ་ མས་
གཞན་དོན་འ ིན་ལས་ ན་ཚགས་ ེད་པའི་ ས་ ན་ ་མཚན་
པས་ན་འདི་དག་ནི་ དེ ་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་ཡིན་ནོ། །མཐར་ ག་པ་
སངས་ ས་དང་གནས་ བས་ཀྱི་ དེ ་པ་བ ་གཅིག་ ང་སེམས་
ལ་ཡང་ཡོད་དོ། །ཞེས་གསེར་ ེང་ལས་ག ངས་སོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 3, 45ff.
60
IV.29-31; these three stanzas describe essential characteristics.
IV.29ab:
{IV.29}
Isolation from afflictions, signs, marks,
Discordant classes and antidotes;
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 61b.7, fleshes out these lines
on essential characteristics as:
With respect to the subject, a Bodhisattva’s training in knowers of
bases, its entity is endowed with special abandonment and reali-
zation because of possessing the four divisions:
(1) a Bodhisattva’s training in knowers of bases that is isolated
from manifest entities of afflictions such as desire and so
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 671

forth
(2) a Bodhisattva’s training in knowers of bases that is isolated
from assumptions of bad states of the three doors [body,
speech, and mind] that are signs, that is to say, effects, of af-
flictions such as desire and so forth
(3) a Bodhisattva’s training in knowers of bases that is isolated
from the marks, that is to say, the causes of afflictions such
as desire and so forth—improper mental application and so
forth
(4) a Bodhisattva’s training in knowers of bases that is isolated
from manifest awarenesses conceiving discordant classes
and antidotes as truly existent.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{IV.29}
ཉོན་མོངས་ གས་དང་མཚན་མ་དང་། །མི་མ ན་ ོགས་དང་གཉེན་པོ་དག །
དབེན་དང་
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
སེམས་དཔའི་གཞི་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ ོར་བ་ཆོས་ཅན། རང་གི་ངོ་བོ་ ངས་
ོགས་ཁྱད་པར་ཅན་དང་ ན་ཏེ། ཆགས་སོགས་ཉོན་མོངས་པའི་
ངོ་བོ་མངོན་ ར་བས་དབེན་པའི་སེམས་དཔའི་གཞི་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ ོར་
བ་དང༌། ཆགས་སོགས་ཉོན་མོངས་ཀྱི་ གས་ཏེ་འ ས་ ་ ་ོ
ག མ་གྱི་གནས་ངན་ལེན་གྱིས་དབེན་པའི་སེམས་དཔའི་གཞི་
ཤེས་ཀྱི་ རོ ་བ་དང༌། ཆགས་སོགས་ཉོན་མོངས་ཀྱི་མཚན་མ་ ེ་
་ ལ་མིན་ཡིད་ ེད་སོགས་ཀྱིས་དབེན་པའི་སེམས་དཔའི་གཞི་
ཤེས་ཀྱི་ རོ ་བ་དང༌། མི་མ ན་པའི་ གོ ས་དང་གཉེན་པོ་དག་
བདེན་པར་ཞེན་པའི་ ་ོ མངོན་ ར་བས་དབེན་པའི་སེམས་
དཔའི་གཞི་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ རོ ་བ་བཞིའི་ད ེ་བ་ཅན་ཡིན་པའི་ ིར་
རོ། །
IV.29c-30a:
672 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

The difficult, definiteness,

Intents, nonobservability,
{IV.30}
And stopping conceptions;
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 62a.4, fleshes out these lines
on essential characteristics as:
With respect to the subject, a training in knowers of paths, its en-
tity is endowed with special abandonment and realization because
of possessing the five divisions:
(5) the training in knowers of paths that achieves the difficult,
the passing beyond sorrow of all sentient beings which is ul-
timately nonexistent but [exists] in conventional terms
(6) the training in knowers of paths that achieves definiteness
with regard to one-pointedly becoming buddhafied without
falling into another vehicle
(7) the training in knowers of paths that achieves the three great
intents [great mind, great abandonment, and great realization
(see above, 125ff.)], the supreme objects of achievement over
a long period
(8) the training in knowers of paths that realizes that the three—
object of meditation, meditator, and meditating—are ulti-
mately unobservable
(9) the training in knowers of paths that stops all conceptions of
all phenomena as truly existent.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
དཀའ་དང་ངེས་པ་དང་། །ཆེད་ ་ ་དང་མི་དམིགས་དང་། །
{IV.30}
མངོན་པར་ཞེན་པ་བཀག་པ་དང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ ོར་བ་ཆོས་ཅན། རང་གི་ངོ་བོ་ ངས་ གོ ས་ཁྱད་
པར་ཅན་དང་ ན་ཏེ། དོན་དམ་པར་མེད་ཅིང་ཐ་ ད་ ་སེམས་
ཅན་མཐའ་ཡས་པ་ ་ངན་ལས་བ ་བར་དཀའ་བ་ བ་པའི་
ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ ོར་བ་དང༌། ཐེག་པ་གཞན་ ་མི་ ང་བར་མཐའ་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 673

གཅིག་ ་སངས་ ས་པར་ངེས་པར་ བ་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ ོར་

བ་དང༌། ན་རིང་པོ་ནས་བ བ་པར་ ་བ་མཆོག་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ཆེད་
་ ་བ་ཆེན་པོ་ག མ་ བ་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ ོར་བ་དང༌།
བ ོམ་ ་ མོ ་པ་པོ་ མོ ་པ་ག མ་དོན་དམ་པར་མི་དམིགས་
པར་ ོགས་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ ོར་བ་དང༌། ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་
བདེན་པར་མངོན་པར་ཞེན་པ་མཐའ་དག་བཀག་པའི་ལམ་ཤེས་
ཀྱི་ ོར་བ་ འི་ད ེ་བ་ཅན་ཡིན་པའི་ ིར་རོ། །
IV.30b-31:
That which is “observing,”
Disagreeing, unimpeded,
Baseless, without going, without production,
{IV.31}
Not observing thusness—
Since the natures of sixteen essences
Characterize what are as if the characterized,
They are asserted as a fourth characteristic.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 62b.1, fleshes out these lines
on essential characteristics as:
With respect to the subject, a training in exalted-knowers-of-all-
aspects, its entity is endowed with special abandonment and real-
ization because of possessing the seven divisions:
(10) the training in exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects observing (1)
the aspects of bases and paths—the specifics of things in-
cluded as objects of knowers of bases and knowers of paths—
(2) thusness
(11) the training in exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects that—disa-
greeing with the world’s apprehensions that conceive as truly
existent what are and are not objects to be apprehended—re-
alizes in a manner ultimately devoid of the extremes of to be
apprehended and not to be apprehended
(12) the training in exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects that knows
674 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

forms and so forth as unimpeded

(13) the training in exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects that realizes
bases of mistake, such as forms and so forth, as not truly ex-
isting
(14) the training in exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects that realizes the
thusness of forms and so forth, as without going and coming
(15) the training in exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects that realizes
forms and so forth as ultimately without production
(16) the training in exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects not observ-
ing—as truly existent—thusness devoid of the four extremes.
Since in this way the sixteen essentials of trainings are as if
means of characterization characterizing objects of characteri-
zation [definienda] or illustrations existing as objects other than
them, the sūtra asserts them as a fourth characteristic, essential
characteristics.
Maitreya’s Ornament:

དམིགས་པ་ཞེས་ ་གང་ཡིན་དང་། །
མི་མ ན་ཐོགས་པ་མེད་དང་དེ། །གཞི་མེད་འགྲོ་མེད་ ེ་མེད་དང་། །
{IV.31}
དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་ནི་མི་དམིགས་དང་། །ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་བ ་ ག་བདག་ཉིད། །
མཚན་ ་ ་ ར་མཚན་པས་ན། །མཚན་ཉིད་བཞི་པར་བཞེད་པ་ཡིན། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
མ་མཁྱེན་གྱི་ ོར་བ་ཆོས་ཅན། རང་གི་ངོ་བོ་ ངས་ གོ ས་ཁྱད་
པར་ཅན་དང་ ན་ཏེ། གཞི་ཤེས་དང་ལམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ ལ་ ་བ ས་
པའི་དངོས་པོའི་ཁྱད་པར་གཞི་ལམ་གྱི་ མ་པ་དང་དེ་བཞིན་
ཉིད་ལ་དམིགས་པའི་ མ་མཁྱེན་གྱི་ ོར་བ་དང༌། ག ང་ ་ཡིན་
མིན་ ་བདེན་པར་ཞེན་པའི་འ གི ་ ེན་གྱི་འཛིན་པ་དང་མི་
མ ན་པར་དོན་དམ་པར་ག ང་མི་ག ང་གི་མཐའ་ ལ་ ་
ོགས་པའི་ མ་མཁྱེན་གྱི་ ོར་བ་དང༌། ག གས་ལ་སོགས་པ་
ཐོགས་པ་མེད་པར་ཤེས་པའི་ མ་མཁྱེན་གྱི་ རོ ་བ་དང༌།
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 675

ག གས་སོགས་འ ལ་བའི་གཞི་བདེན་པར་མེད་པར་ གོ ས་པའི་

མ་མཁྱེན་གྱི་ ོར་བ་དང༌། ག གས་སོགས་ཀྱི་དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་
འགྲོ་འོང་མེད་པར་ གོ ས་པའི་ མ་མཁྱེན་གྱི་ ོར་བ་དང༌།
ག གས་སོགས་དོན་དམ་པར་ ་ེ བ་མེད་པར་ ོགས་པའི་ མ་
མཁྱེན་གྱི་ རོ ་བ་དང༌། མཐའ་བཞི་དང་ ལ་བའི་དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་
བདེན་པར་མི་དམིགས་པར་ ོགས་པའི་ མ་མཁྱེན་གྱི་ རོ ་བ་
བ ན་གྱི་ད ེ་བ་ཅན་ཡིན་པའི་ རི ་རོ། །དེ་ ར་ ོར་བའི་ངོ་བོ་
ཉིད་བ ་ ག་གིས་མཁྱེན་ག མ་གྱི་ ོར་བའི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མཚན་
ེད་དོན་གཞན་ཡོད་པའི་མཚན་ འམ་མཚན་གཞི་ ་ ར་
མཚན་པས་ན་དེ་དག་ནི་མཚན་ཉིད་བཞི་པ་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་མཚན་
ཉིད་ཡིན་པར་མདོ་ལས་བཞེད་པ་ཡིན་ནོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 3, 48ff.
61

36th Topic
6. Concordances with a Portion of Liberation (ཐར་པ་
ཆ་མ ན་)
IV.32-34; Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 66a.6, treats the
first of these three stanzas as the entity of a concordance with a portion of
liberation—that is, a path of accumulation—and the remaining two stanzas
as the divisions of a path of accumulation.
IV.32:
{IV.32}
Skill in thoroughly achieving
Signless intense giving and so forth
Is asserted—concerning this realization of all aspects—
As concordant with a portion of liberation.
676 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 66a.6, fleshes out this stanza

as the entity of a concordance with a portion of liberation—a path of ac-
cumulation:
A clear realization of doctrine in the continuum of a person skilled
in achieving in one’s own continuum what ranges from intense
giving and so forth through to an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects,
these being conjoined with the wisdom realizing signlessness ul-
timately, is asserted—on this occasion of teaching the training in
manifest complete realization of all aspects—as concordant
with a portion of liberation.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{IV.32}
མཚན་མེད་རབ་ ་ ནི ་ལ་སོགས། །ཡང་དག་ བ་ལ་མཁས་པ་ནི། །
མ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ གོ ས་འདི་ལ། །ཐར་པའི་ཆ་དང་མ ན་པར་འདོད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
དོན་དམ་པར་མཚན་མ་མེད་པར་ ོགས་པའི་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱིས་ཟིན་
པའི་ ོ་ནས་རབ་ ་ ནི ་པ་ལ་སོགས་པ་ནས་ མ་མཁྱེན་ལ་ ག་
པའི་བར་རང་ ད་ལ་བ བ་པ་ལ་མཁས་པའི་གང་ཟག་གི་ ད་
ཀྱི་ཆོས་མངོན་ ོགས་ནི་ མ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་མངོན་པར་ གོ ས་
པར་ གོ ས་པའི་ ོར་བ་ ོན་པའི་ བས་འདི་ལ་ཐར་པའི་ཆ་དང་
མ ན་པར་ཡིན་པར་འདོད་དོ། །
IV.33-34:
{IV.33}
Faith observing Buddhas and so forth,
Effort having giving and so forth as its objects of activity,
Mindfulness of the excellent attitude,
Nonconceptual meditative stabilization,
{IV.34}
Wisdom knowing phenomena
In all aspects—comprising five aspects.
It is asserted that complete enlightenment
Is realized easily by the sharp but with difficulty by the dull.
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 677

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 66b.1, fleshes out these two

stanzas as the divisions of concordances with a portion of liberation—
paths of accumulation:
When paths of accumulation are divided, there are five aspects:
(1) faith that observes Buddhas and so forth, that is to say,
Great Vehicle paths as well their causes and effects
(2) effort that takes the six perfections of giving and so forth as
its objects of activity
(3) mindfulness that does not forget the objects of observation
and aspect of Great Vehicle mind-generation, the Great Ve-
hicle excellent attitude
(4) meditative stabilization that observes non-conceptual im-
ages or that does not conceptualize true existence
(5) wisdom that knows the phenomena of the mode and diver-
sity in all aspects.
Even if [practitioners] become skilled in that way in the five ob-
jects and generates those five greatnesses—faith and so forth—in
their [mental] continuum, it is not easy for all to attain complete
enlightenment, for the Teacher asserted that complete enlight-
enment is easily realized by those with sharp faculties but is re-
alized with difficulty by the dull.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{IV.33}
སངས་ ས་སོགས་དམིགས་དད་པ་དང་། ། ིན་སོགས་ ོད་ ལ་བ ོན་འ ས་
དང་། །
བསམ་པ་ ན་ཚགས་ ན་པ་དང་། ། མ་པར་མི་ ོག་ཏིང་འཛིན་དང་། །
{IV.34}
ཆོས་ མས་ མ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ ། །ཤེས་པའི་ཤེས་རབ་དང་ མ་ ། །
ོགས་པའི་ ང་ བ་ ོན་པོ་ཡིས། ། ོགས་ ་ ལ་པོས་ ོགས་དཀར་བཞེད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཚགས་ལམ་ལ་ད ེ་ན། སངས་ ས་སོགས་ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ལམ་ ་
དང་འ ས་ ར་བཅས་པ་ལ་དམིགས་པའི་དད་པ་དང༌། ནི ་
སོགས་ཕར་ ིན་ ག་ དོ ་ ལ་ ་ ེད་པའི་བ ནོ ་འ ས་དང༌།
678 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་བསམ་པ་ ན་ མ་ཚགས་པ་ཐེག་ཆེན་སེམས་
བ ེད་ཀྱི་དམིགས་ མ་མི་བ དེ ་པའི་ ན་པ་དང༌། མ་པར་མི་
གོ ་པའི་ག གས་བ ན་ལ་དམིགས་པའམ་བདེན་པར་ མ་པར་
མི་ ོག་པའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་དང༌། ི་ ་ ི་ དེ ་ཀྱི་ཆོས་ མས་
མ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ ་ཤེས་པའི་ཤེས་རབ་ ེ་ མ་པ་ འོ། །དེ་
ར་ ལ་ ་ལ་མཁས་ཤིང་དད་སོགས་ཆེན་པོ་ ་རང་ ད་ལ་
ེས་ན་ཡང༌། ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱིས་ གོ ས་ ང་འཐོབ་ ་བ་མ་ཡིན་
ཏེ། གོ ས་པའི་ ང་ བ་ནི་དབང་པོ་ ནོ ་པོས་ གོ ས་པར་ ་ལ་
ལ་པོས་ གོ ས་པར་དཀའ་བར་ ནོ ་པས་བཞེད་དོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 3, 55ff.
62

37th Topic
7. Concordances with a Portion of Definite
Discrimination (ངེས་འ དེ ་ཆ་མ ན་)
IV.35-37; these three stanzas describe the four levels of a concordance
with a portion of definite discrimination, that is, a path of preparation.
IV.35:
{IV.35}
The objects of observation of the heats
Are praised as being all sentient beings.
They are described as ten aspects
With respect to them—a mind of equality and so forth.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 67a.1, fleshes this stanza out
as:
The objects of observation of the three heats [small, medium,
and great] are praised—that is, are said—on this occasion of all
aspects as being all sentient beings. The [subjective] aspects [of
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 679

the three heats] are described as ten aspects of mind. Upon ob-
serving those [sentient beings], these are:
(1) the aspect of a mind of equality
and [those included] by the term “and so forth” [in Maitreya’s
Ornament for the Clear Realizations]
(2) the aspect of a mind of love
(3) the aspect of a mind of help
(4) the aspect of a mind of nonbelligerence
(5) the aspect of a mind of nonharmfulness
(6) the aspect of a mind of a parent
(7) the aspect of a mind of a brother or sister
(8) the aspect of a mind of a son or daughter
(9) the aspect of a mind of a friend or companion
(10) the aspect of a mind of relatives or kin over seven generations.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{IV.35}
ོ་བ་ མས་ཀྱི་དམིགས་པ་འདིར། །སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་ཡིན་པར་བ གས། །
དེ་དག་ཉིད་ལ་སེམས་མཉམ་སོགས། ། མ་པ་དག་ནི་བ ར་བཤད་དོ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
་ོ བ་ག མ་པོ་ མས་ཀྱི་དམིགས་པ་ནི་ མ་ཀུན་གྱི་ བས་འདིར་
སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་ཡིན་པར་བ གས་པ་ ེ་བ ོད་དོ། ། མ་
པ་ནི་དེ་དག་ལ་དམིགས་ནས་མཉམ་པའི་སེམས་དང༌། སོགས་
པས་ མས་པའི་སེམས་དང༌། ཕན་པའི་སེམས་དང༌། ཁོང་ཁྲོ་བ་
མེད་པའི་སེམས་དང༌། མ་པར་འཚ་བ་མེད་པའི་སེམས་དང༌།
ཕ་མའི་སེམས་དང༌། ན་དང་ ངི ་མོའི་སེམས་དང༌། ་དང་ ་
མོའི་སེམས་དང༌། བཤེས་དང་གྲོགས་ཀྱི་སེམས་དང༌། གཉེན་
དང་ ག་གི་གཉེན་མཚམས་ཀྱི་སེམས་ཀྱི་ མ་པ་དག་ནི་བ ར་
བཤད་དོ། །
IV.36-37a:
680 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

{IV.36}
Those—who by way of oneself turning away
From sins and abiding in giving and so forth
And express praises and [display] agreement
Set others in those—move
{IV.37}
To the peak.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 67a.5, fleshes these lines out
as:
Moving to the peak is (1) to set others in the discarding of sins
and adoption of virtues by way of oneself (a) turning away from
sins such as taking life and so forth and (b) abiding in virtues
such as giving and so forth, and (2) to observe sentient beings by
way of (a) expressing praises in speech, without being asked by
others, urging the discarding and adoption of those and (b) [dis-
playing] mental aspects of agreement [when they do].
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{IV.36}
བདག་ཉིད་ ིག་པ་ལས་ ོག་ཅིང་། ། ིན་ལ་སོགས་ལ་གནས་པས་གཞན། །
དེ་དག་ལ་ནི་འགོད་པ་དང་། །བ གས་པ་བ ོད་དང་མ ན་པ་ཉིད། །
{IV.37}
ེར་ ར་
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
བདག་ཉིད་ ོག་གཅོད་ལ་སོགས་པའི་ གི ་པ་ལས་ གོ ་ཅིང༌།
ནི ་པ་ལ་སོགས་པའི་དགེ་བ་ལ་གནས་པའི་ ོ་ནས་གཞན་དག་
དེ་དག་གི་དོར་ལེན་ལ་འགོད་པ་དང༌། གཞན་མ་བ ལ་བར་དེ་
དག་གི་དོར་ལེན་ལ་ གས་པ་ལ་དག་གིས་བ གས་པ་བ དོ ་པ་
དང༌། སེམས་ཀྱིས་མ ན་པར་ དེ ་པའི་ མ་པ་ མས་ཀྱི་ ོ་ནས་
སེམས་ཅན་ལ་དམིགས་པ་ནི་ ེ་མོར་ ར་བ་ཡིན་ནོ། །
IV.37ab:
Likewise, forbearance is for those
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 681

Having the life support of oneself and others to know the truths.
Likewise, forbearance is—within oneself abiding in the four,
manifest meditation on knowledge and abandonment with respect
to the four truths—to observe sentient beings with the aspect of
setting, and so forth, others in those four, which [Maitreya’s Or-
nament for the Clear Realizations calls] “those having the life sup-
port of oneself and others knowing the truths.”
Maitreya’s Ornament:
དེ་བཞིན་བཟོད་པ་ནི། །རང་གཞན་ ེན་ཅན་བདེན་ཤེས་པ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
དེ་བཞིན་ ་བཟོད་པ་ནི། རང་གཞན་ ནེ ་ཅན་བདེན་ཤེས་པ་ ེ་
རང་བདེན་བཞི་ཤེས་ ང་མངོན་ མོ ་བཞི་ལ་གནས་ནས་གཞན་
དེ་བཞི་ལ་འགོད་པར་ ེད་པ་ལ་སོགས་པའི་ མ་པས་སེམས་
ཅན་ལ་དམིགས་པའོ། །
IV.37cd:
Supreme mundane qualities is likewise
To be known by way of the maturation and so forth of sentient
beings.
It is likewise to be known that supreme mundane qualities is—
within oneself abiding in maturation and so forth—to observe sen-
tient beings with the aspect of bringing about maturation and so
forth in others.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
ཆོས་མཆོག་དེ་བཞིན་སེམས་ཅན་ མས། ། ིན་ ེད་སོགས་ཀྱིས་ཤེས་པར་ ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཆོས་མཆོག་ནི་དེ་བཞིན་ ་རང་ ནི ་སོགས་ལ་གནས་ནས་གཞན་
ནི ་པར་ དེ ་པ་སོགས་ཀྱི་ མ་པས་སེམས་ཅན་ལ་དམིགས་པ་
ཡིན་པར་ཤེས་པར་ འོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
682 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 3, 58ff.

63

38th Topic
8. Irreversible Community Members ( ིར་མི་ གོ ་པའི་དགེ་
འ ན་)
IV.38:
{IV.38}
Those Bodhisattvas dwelling on the paths
Ranging from the limbs of definite discrimination
To the paths of seeing and meditation
Are here the irreversible group.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 67b.3, fleshes out this
stanza, which briefly indicates irreversible community members (Jam-
yang-shay-pa does not cite the extensive explanation, IV.39-59), as:
Those Bodhisattvas dwelling on the paths ranging from the
limbs of definite discrimination, that is, the path of preparation,
to the path of seeing and the path of familiarization (goms pa’i
lam) [the path of meditation (sgom pa’i lam)] are here in the
Great Vehicle the irreversible group, that is to say, the irreversi-
ble spiritual community.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{IV.38}
ངེས་འ ེད་ཡན་ལག་ནས་བ ང་ ེ། །མཐོང་དང་ ོམ་པའི་ལམ་དག་ལ། །
ང་ བ་སེམས་དཔའ་གང་དག་གནས། །དེ་འདིར་མི་ ོག་པ་ཡི་ཚགས། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ངེས་འ དེ ་ཡན་ལག་ རོ ་ལམ་ནས་བ ང་ ་ེ མཐོང་ལམ་དང་
གོམས་པའི་ལམ་དག་ལ་ ང་ བ་སེམས་དཔའ་གང་དག་གནས་
པ་དེ་ཐེག་ཆེན་འདིར་ ིར་མི་ གོ ་པའི་ཚགས་ཏེ་དགེ་འ ན་
ཡིན་ནོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 3, 61ff.
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 683

64

39th Topic
9. Trainings in the Equality of Mundane Existence
and Peace ( ིད་ཞི་མཉམ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ རོ ་བ་)
IV.60ab:
{IV.60}
Because phenomena are like dreams,
Mundane existence and peace are not conceptualized.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 72b.6, treats the first two
lines of this stanza as the actual meaning of the trainings in the equality of
mundane existence and peace, fleshing these lines out as:
Because Bodhisattvas realize that the phenomena of cyclic exist-
ence and nirvāṇa are without true existence like dreams, they do
not conceptualize mundane existence and peace as truly differ-
ent in terms of to be discarded and to be adopted.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{IV.60}
ཆོས་ མས་ ི་ལམ་འ ་བའི་ ིར། ། ིད་དང་ཞི་བར་མི་ ོག་པ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ང་སེམས་ཀྱིས་འཁོར་འདས་ཀྱི་ཆོས་ མས་ ་ི ལམ་དང་འ ་
བར་བདེན་མེད་ ་ གོ ས་པའི་ རི ་ དི ་པ་དང་ཞི་བ་ལ་ ང་
དོར་ཐ་དད་ ་བདེན་པར་མི་ གོ ་ཅེས་པའོ། །
IV.60cd:
The answers to objections—that there would be
No karma and so forth—are exhausted as explained.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 73a.1, treats the final two
lines of this stanza as a dispelling of four objections, fleshing these lines
out as:
The answers to the four objections—that there would be no
karma and so forth—are exhausted as explained in the sūtra,
that is to say, are to be known as explained in the sūtra.
684 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

Concerning these, from among the four the first is:

Objection: It [absurdly] follows that even during the
day there is no [accumulation of] karma because phenom-
ena are without true existence like dreams, as is the case,
for example, with dreams.
Response: Relative to the ultimate, the answer is that
it is accepted [that even during the day there is no accu-
mulation of karma], and relative to the conventional, the
entailment and the example are not established because
there are cases of accumulating karma if, upon waking,
one admires behavior in a dream.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
ལས་མེད་ལ་སོགས་ཀླན་ཀ་ཡི། །ལན་ནི་ ི་ ད་བཤད་པར་ཟད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ལས་མེད་པ་ལ་སོགས་པའི་ཀླན་ཀ་བཞིའ་ི ལན་ནི་མདོ་ལས་ ་ི
ད་བཤད་པར་ཟད་ཅེས་ཏེ་མདོར་བཤད་པ་ ར་ཤེས་པར་ འོ་
ཞེས་པའོ། །འདི་ལ་བཞི་ལས །དང་པོ་ནི། ཉིན་པར་ཡང་ལས་
སོག་པ་མེད་པར་ཐལ། ཆོས་ མས་བདེན་པས་ ོང་པ་ ི་ལམ་ ་
་ཡིན་པའི་ ིར། དཔེར་ན་ ི་ལམ་བཞིན་ནོ། །ཞེས་པ་ལ། དོན་
དམ་ལ་ སོ ་ན་འདོད་ལན་དང༌། ཀུན་ བོ ་ལ་ ོས་ན་ཁྱབ་པ་
དང་དཔེ་མ་ བ་ ེ། ི་ལམ་ན་ལས་ ད་པ་ལ་སད་ནས་ཡི་རང་
ན་ལས་གསོག་པ་ཡོད་པའི་ ིར་རོ། །
and:
The second is:
Objection: It [absurdly] follows that the relationship
of action and effect is ultimately established because [ac-
cording to you] there are cases of accumulation or dimin-
ishment of karma if subsequent conceptualization nour-
ishes it.
Response: Since even the relationship of action and
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 685

effect is conventionally established, but does not exist ul-

timately, there is no entailment.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
གཉིས་པ་ནི། །ལས་འ ས་ཀྱི་འ ལེ ་བ་དོན་དམ་པར་ བ་པར་
ཐལ། ེས་ཀྱི་ མ་ གོ ་གིས་གསོས་འདེབས་ན་ ི་ལམ་གྱི་ལས་ལ་
གསོག་འ ི་ཡོད་པའི་ རི ། ཞེས་པ་ལ། ལས་འ ས་ཀྱི་འ ལེ ་བ་
ཡང་ཀུན་ བོ ་ ་ཡོད་ཀྱི་དོན་དམ་པར་མེད་པས་ཁྱབ་པ་མེད་དོ་
ཞེས་པའོ། །
and:
The third is:
Objection: It [absurdly] follows that the statement
that all actions and intentions are void (dben pa) is not
logically feasible because actions and intentions are pro-
duced from objects of observation.
Response: There is no entailment because voidness is
ultimately, and existence is conventionally.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ག མ་པ་ནི། ལས་དང་སེམས་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་དབེན་པར་ག ངས་
པ་མི་འཐད་པར་ཐལ། ལས་དང་སེམས་པ་དམིགས་པ་ལས་ ེས་
པའི་ ིར་ཞེ་ན། ཁྱབ་པ་མེད་དེ། དབེན་པ་དོན་དམ་ ་ཡིན་ལ་
ཡོད་པ་ཀུན་ ོབ་ ་ཡིན་པའི་ རི ་ཞེས་པའོ། །
and:
The fourth is:
Objection: It [absurdly] follows that if, upon having
meditatively cultivated the six perfections in dreams, the
roots of virtue are dedicated to complete enlightenment,
this fulfills the role of having dedicated them to complete
enlightenment because [according to you] there are cases
of accumulating karma in dreams.
686 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

Concerning the response to this, Subhūti referred [the

matter] to Maitreya, but he also did not give a direct re-
sponse but said that that the three spheres of disputation
were unobservable, indicating that the questioning was
not complete, this being for the sake of making connec-
tion to the future line of Buddhas.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
བཞི་པ་ནི། ི་ལམ་ན་ ིན་ ག་བ ོམས་ཏེ་དགེ་ ་ ོགས་ ང་
་བ ོས་ན་ ོགས་ ང་ ་བ ོས་པའི་གོ་ཆོད་པར་ཐལ། ི་ལམ་
ན་ལས་གསོག་པ་ཡོད་པའི་ ིར་ཞེས་པ་ལ། འདིའི་ལན་ནི་རབ་
འ ོར་གྱིས་ མས་པ་ལ་ཁ་འཕངས་པ་དང༌། དེས་ཀྱང་ལམ་
དངོས་ ་མ་ག ངས་པར་ཀླན་ཀའི་འཁོར་ག མ་མི་དམིགས་
པར་ག ངས་ཏེ། མ་འོངས་པའི་སངས་ ས་བ ད་མ་འ ང་བར་
མཚམས་ རོ ་བའི་ཆེད་ ་ ི་བ་མ་ ོགས་པར་བ ན་པ་ཡིན་
ནོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 3, 88ff.
65

40th Topic
10. Trainings in a Pure Land (ཞིང་དག་ རོ ་བ་)
IV.61:
{IV.61}
They purify Buddha lands
By achieving the purification of the impurities
Of the world of the environment
Like of the world of the sentient being.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 74a.6, fleshes out this stanza
on trainings in a pure land as:
They purify two Buddha lands by way of (1) accumulating the
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 687

virtuous roots of achieving the purification of the impurities of

the world of the environment, such as thorns and so forth, dedi-
cating those [roots of virtue] as causes of a pure land, and planting
prayer-wishes just as (2) they achieve the purification of the con-
tinuum of the world of the buddhafied sentient being they will
become.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{IV.61}
སེམས་ཅན་འ ིག་ ེན་དེ་བཞིན་ ། ། ོད་ཀྱི་འ ིག་ ེན་མ་དག་པ། །
དེ་ལ་དག་པར་ བ་པ་ཡིས། །སངས་ ས་ཞིང་ནི་དག་པ་ཉིད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
རང་གང་ ་སངས་ ས་པའི་སེམས་ཅན་གྱི་འ གི ་ ནེ ་གྱི་ ད་
དག་པར་ བ་པ་དེ་བཞིན་ ་ དོ ་ཀྱི་འ གི ་ ནེ ་ཚར་མ་སོགས་
ཀྱི་མ་དག་པ་དེ་ལ་དག་པར་ བ་པའི་དགེ་ ་བསགས་ཤིང་དེ་
ཉིད་ཞིང་དག་པའི་ ར་བ ོ་ཞིང་ ོན་ལམ་བཏབ་པའི་ ་ོ ནས་
སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ཞིང་གཉིས་དག་པར་ ེད་པའོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 3, 91ff.
66

41th Topic
11. Trainings in Skill in Means (ཐབས་མཁས་ ོར་བ་)
IV.62-63:
{IV.62}
This training having objects
Has ten aspects of skill in means:
Passed beyond the enemies,
Nonabiding, according with the power,
{IV.63}
Unshared character,
Unattached, unobservable,
Having extinguished signs, and wish-paths,
688 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

The signs of it, and immeasurable.

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 74b.1, fleshes out these two
stanzas on trainings in skill in means as:
This training is a practice not abiding in the two extremes be-
cause although it (1) is intimately acquainted with ten objects, the
three doors of liberation and the seven groups of harmonies with
enlightenment and (2) is intimately acquainted by way of wisdom
with all phenomena, it does not manifest their fruit for one’s own
sake due to compassion. This training, having the aforemen-
tioned ten phenomena as objects, has ten aspects because there
are the ten aspects of trainings in skill in means:
(1) training in skill in means that has passed beyond the four
demons, the enemies which are the two grounds of Hearers
and Solitary Victors
(2) training in skill in means that does not abide in the two ex-
tremes of mundane existence or [solitary] peace
(3) training in skill in means that enacts the welfare of others in
accordance with the power of wishes
(4) training in skill in means that is not shared with Hearers and
Solitary Victors, this being not to actualize the limit of reality
in an untimely way
(5) training in skill in means that is unattached, not conceiving
true existence with respect to all phenomena
(6) training in skill in means that realizes that the entities of phe-
nomena are not observable as truly existent
(7) training in skill in means that has extinguished signs, in the
sense of conceiving causes to be truly existent
(8) training in skill in means that has extinguished wish-paths,
in the sense of conceiving effects to be truly existent
(9) training in skill in means that illustrates the signs of irrevers-
ibility
(10) training in skill in means that is immeasurable in the sense
of realizing [how to] make responses to questions by others.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{IV.62}
ལ་དང་ ོར་བ་ཅན་འདི་ནི། །དགྲ་ མས་ལས་ནི་འདས་པ་དང་། །
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 689

མི་གནས་ ི་བཞིན་ གས་དང་ནི། ། ན་མོང་མ་ཡིན་མཚན་ཉིད་དང་། །

{IV.63}
མ་ཆགས་པ་དང་ནི་དམིགས་དང་། །མཚན་མ་ ོན་ལམ་ཟད་པ་དང་། །
དེ་ཡི་ གས་དང་ཚད་མེད་པ། །ཐབས་ལ་མཁས་པ་ མ་པ་བ ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
མ་ཐར་ ་ོ ག མ་དང་ ང་ ོགས་ ེ་ཚན་བ ན་ཏེ་བ ་ནི་
ལ་དང༌། ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱིས་ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་འ ིས་པར་ ེད་
ཀྱང་ ངི ་ སེ ་དེ་དག་གི་འ ས་ ་རང་དོན་ ་མངོན་ ་མི་ ེད་
པས་མཐའ་གཉིས་ལ་མི་གནས་པའི་ཉམས་ལེན་ ར་བཤད་པའི་
ཆོས་བ ་ ལ་ ་ཡོད་པ་ཅན་གྱི་ རོ ་བ་འདི་ལ་ནི་ མ་པ་བ ་
ཡོད་དེ། བ ད་བཞི་ཉན་རང་གིས་གཉིས་ཀྱི་དགྲ་ མས་ལས་
འདས་པའི་ཐབས་མཁས་ ོར་བ་དང༌། ིད་ཞིའི་མཐའ་གཉིས་
ལ་མི་གནས་པའི་དེ་དང༌། ་ི ར་ ནོ ་པའི་ གས་ཀྱིས་གཞན་
དོན་ དེ ་པའི་དེ་དང༌། ས་མ་ཡིན་པར་ཡང་དག་མཐའ་མངོན་
་མི་ ེད་པ་ཉན་རང་དང་ ན་མོང་མ་ཡིན་པའི་དེ་དང༌། ཆོས་
ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་བདེན་ཞེན་མེད་པ་མ་ཆགས་པའི་དེ་དང༌། ཆོས་
མས་ཀྱི་ངོ་བོ་བདེན་པར་མི་དམིགས་པར་ གོ ས་པའི་དེ་དང༌།
་བདེན་པར་ཞེན་པའི་མཚན་མ་ཟད་པའི་དེ་དང༌། འ ས་ ་
བདེན་པར་ཞེན་པའི་ ནོ ་ལམ་ཟད་པའི་དེ་དང༌། ིར་མི་ གོ ་
པའི་ གས་མཚན་པར་ ེད་པའི་དེ་དང༌། གཞན་གྱིས་ ི་བའི་
ལན་ ནོ ་པར་ ེད་པ་ ོགས་པ་ཚད་མེད་པའི་ཐབས་མཁས་པའི་
ོར་བ་ མ་པ་བ ་ཡོད་པའི་ ིར་རོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 3, 93ff.
690 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

67

Chapter V. Explaining the eight phenomena char-

acterizing peak trainings
I.14-16a:
{I.14}
Signs of it, increases,
Firmness, thorough stability of mind,
Four aspects of antidotes
To the four aspects of conceptions
{I.15}
Individually for the paths called
“Seeing” and “meditation,”
Uninterrupted meditative stabilization,
And wrong achievings [characterize]
{I.16}
Peak clear realizations.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 6a.3.6, fleshes out these two
stanzas and a partial line on the eight phenomena characterizing peak train-
ings as:
1. Heat peak trainings which are characterized by twelve signs
2. peak peak trainings containing sixteen increases
3. forbearance peak trainings which have attained firm realiza-
tion of method and wisdom
4. supreme mundane qualities peak trainings which have at-
tained thorough stability of mind
5. path-of-seeing peak trainings which are the antidotes to the
four conceptions of apprehended-object and apprehending-
subject abandoned by the path of seeing
6. path-of-meditation peak trainings which are the antidotes to
the four conceptions of apprehended-object and apprehend-
ing-subject abandoned by the path of meditation
7. uninterrupted peak trainings
8. wrong achievings to be avoided
are the eight phenomena characterizing peak trainings. The first
seven are the entity [of peak trainings], and the last is objects of
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 691

abandonment.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{I.14}
དེ་ཡི་ གས་དང་ མ་འཕེལ་དང་། །བ ན་དང་སེམས་ཀུན་གནས་པ་དང་། །
མཐོང་ཞེས་ ་དང་ ོམ་པ་ཞེས། ། ་བའི་ལམ་ནི་སོ་སོ་ལ། །
{I.15}
མ་པར་ ོག་པ་ མ་བཞི་ཡི། །གཉེན་པོ་ མ་པ་བཞི་དང་ནི། །
བར་ཆད་མེད་པའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན། །ལོག་པར་ བ་དང་བཅས་པ་ནི། །
{I.16}
ེ་མོའི་མངོན་ ོགས་
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
གས་བ ་གཉིས་ཀྱིས་མཚན་པའི་ ོད་ ེ་ རོ ་དང༌། མ་
འཕེལ་བ ་ ག་ཚང་པའི་ ེ་མོ་ ེ་ ོར་དང༌། ཐབས་ཤེས་ཀྱི་
ོགས་པ་བ ན་པ་ཐོབ་པའི་བཟོད་པ་ ེ་ ོར་དང༌། སེམས་ཀུན་
་གནས་པ་ཐོབ་པའི་ཆོས་མཆོག་ ་ེ ོར་དང༌། མཐོང་ ང་
ག ང་འཛིན་ མ་ གོ ་བཞིའི་གཉེན་པོ་མཐོང་ལམ་ ེ་ རོ ་དང༌།
མོ ་ ང་ག ང་འཛིན་ མ་ གོ ་བཞིའི་གཉེན་པོ་ མོ ་ལམ་ ེ་
ོར་དང༌། བར་ཆད་མེད་པའི་ ེ་ རོ ་དང༌། བསལ་ ་ལོག་ བ་
དང་བཅས་པ་ མས་ནི་ ་ེ རོ ་མཚན་ དེ ་ཀྱི་ཆོས་བ ད་
དོ། །དང་པོ་བ ན་ནི་ངོ་བོ་དང་ཐ་མ་ནི་ ང་ ་ཡིན་ནོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 1, 6.
68

42nd Topic
1. Heat Peak Trainings ( ོད་ ་ེ ོར་)
V.1:
{V.1}
692 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

Even in dreams viewing all phenomena

As like dreams and so forth
Are asserted as the twelve aspects
Of signs of training having gone to the peak.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 75a.4, fleshes out this stanza
on heat peak trainings as:
(1) Even in dreams viewing all phenomena as like dreams and
so forth
(2) even in dreams not generating a mind longing for the Hearer
and Solitary Victor grounds and the three realms [Desire,
Form, and Formless Realms]
(3) even in dreams seeing Ones-Gone-Thus teaching doctrine
surrounded by many retinues
(4) even in dreams seeing Buddhas rise into space and send forth
various emanations
(5) even in dreams generating a mind to teach the doctrine that
the three realms are like dreams
(6) even in dreams recollecting when seeing hells and so forth to
abandon bad transmigrations in a Buddha land in which one-
self becomes fully purified
(7) in both waking and dreams states pacifying with the word of
truth a city burning with fire
(8) in both waking and dreams states pacifying with the word of
truth harms by nonhumans
(9) relying on external and internal virtuous friends [that is to say,
restrainers] that overwhelm demons and sinful friends
(10) learning the perfection of wisdom in all meditative equipoises
and states subsequent [to meditative equipoise]
(11) being without adherence to true existence toward all phenom-
ena
(12) having a closeness with the enlightenment of a Buddha
are asserted as the twelve aspects of signs of having attained
heat peak training.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{V.1}
ི་ལམ་ན་ཡང་ཆོས་ མས་ཀུན། ། ི་ལམ་ ་ ར་ ་ལ་སོགས། །
ེ་མོར་ ིན་པར་ ོར་བའི་ གས། ། མ་པ་བ ་གཉིས་དག་ ་བཞེད། །
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 693

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:

་ི ལམ་ན་ཡང་ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་ ་ི ལམ་སོགས་དང་འ ་བར་ ་
བ་དང༌། ི་ལམ་ན་ཡང་ཉན་རང་གི་ས་དང་ཁམས་ག མ་ལ་
དགའ་བའི་སེམས་མི་བ ེད་པ་དང༌། ི་ལམ་ན་ཡང་དེ་བཞིན་
གཤེགས་པ་འཁོར་ ་མས་བ ོར་ནས་ཆོས་ ནོ ་པ་མཐོང་བ་
དང༌། ི་ལམ་ན་ཡང་སངས་ ས་ནམ་མཁར་འཕགས་ཏེ་ ལ་པ་
་ཚགས་འགྱེད་པ་མཐོང་བ་དང༌། ི་ལམ་ན་ཡང་ཁམས་ག མ་
ི་ལམ་ ་ ར་ཆོས་ ནོ ་པའི་སེམས་ ེ་བ་དང༌། ི་ལམ་ན་ཡང་
ད ལ་བ་ལ་སོགས་པ་མཐོང་བ་ན་རང་འཚང་ ་བའི་སངས་
ས་ཀྱི་ཞིང་ ་ངན་སོང་ ོང་བ་ ེས་ ་ ན་པ་དང༌། སད་ ི་
གཉིས་ཀར་གྲོང་ཁྱེར་མེས་ཚིག་པ་བདེན་ཚིག་གིས་ཞི་བར་ ེད་
པ་དང༌། སད་ ི་གཉིས་ཀར་མི་མ་ཡིན་པའི་གནོད་པ་བདེན་
ཚིག་གིས་ཞི་བར་ ེད་པ་དང༌། བ ད་དང་ གི ་གྲོགས་ཟིལ་གྱིས་
གནོན་པའི་ ི་ནང་གི་དགེ་བའི་བཤེས་གཉེན་བ ེན་པ་དང༌།
མཉམ་ ེས་ཐམས་ཅད་ ་ཤེར་ ནི ་ལ་ ོབ་པ་དང༌། ཆོས་ཐམས་
ཅད་ལ་བདེན་ཞེན་མེད་པ་དང༌། སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ ང་ བ་ལ་ཉེ་
བར་ ར་པ་ཞེས་ ་བ་ ་ེ ོད་ ་ེ རོ ་ཐོབ་པའི་ གས་ མ་པ་
བ ་གཉིས་དག་ ་བཞེད་དོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 3ff.
694 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

69

43rd Topic
2. Peak Peak Trainings ( ེ་མོའ་ི ེ་ ོར་)
V.2:
{V.2}
Using as an example virtues in many aspects
Such as worshipping Buddhas
Equal to the number of beings of Jambudvīpa,
[Sūtra speaks of] the entities of sixteen increases.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 75b.3, fleshes out this stanza
on peak peak trainings as:
Sūtra speaks of the entities of sixteen states of increase of merit
of Bodhisattvas dwelling in peak peak training by way of initially
using as an example the arising of many aspects of merit such
as the virtue of worshipping Buddhas equal to the number of
sentient beings in a billion world-systems of Jambudvīpa and so
forth—the first rising above this and each of the latter rising above
that.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{V.2}
འཛམ་ འི་གླིང་གི་ ེ་བོ་ ེད། །སངས་ ས་མཆོད་པའི་དགེ་ལ་སོགས། །
མ་མང་ ་ནི་དཔེར་མཛད་ནས། ། མ་འཕེལ་བ ་ ག་བདག་ཉིད་དོ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
འཛམ་ ་གླིང་ལ་སོགས་པའི་ ོང་ག མ་གྱི་སེམས་ཅན་གྱི་གྲངས་
དང་མཉམ་པའི་སངས་ ས་མཆོད་པའི་དགེ་བ་ལ་སོགས་པ་
བསོད་ནམས་ མ་པ་མང་པོ་འ ང་བ་དང་པོར་དཔེར་མཛད་
ནས་དེ་ལས་དང་པོ་དང༌། དེ་ལས་ ི་མ་ ི་མ་ མས་གོང་ནས་
གོང་ ་ཁྱད་པར་ ་འཕགས་པའི་ ལ་གྱིས། ེ་མོ་ ེ་ རོ ་ལ་
གནས་པའི་ ང་ བ་སེམས་དཔའི་བསོད་ནམས་ མ་པར་འཕེལ་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 695

བའི་གནས་ བས་བ ་ ག་གི་བདག་ཉིད་མདོ་ལས་ག ངས་

སོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 6ff.
70

44th Topic
3. Forbearance Peak Trainings (བཟོད་པའི་ ེ་ ོར་)
V.3:
{V.3}
[Sūtra] says (1) “The unsurpassed
Thorough fulfillment of the three exalted knowers of all
And (2) not letting go of the welfare
Of sentient beings are firm.”
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 76b.2, fleshes out this stanza
on forbearance peak trainings as:
Sūtra says (1) “The unsurpassed zeal to thoroughly fulfill any
of the thirty phenomena of the three exalted knowers of all and
(2) the character of not letting go of the welfare of sentient be-
ings due to compassion are firm method and wisdom.”
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{V.3}
ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཉིད་ག མ་ཆོས་ མས་ཀྱི། །ཡོངས་ ་ ོགས་པ་ ་མེད་པ། །
སེམས་ཅན་དོན་ཡོངས་མི་གཏོང་བ། །བ ན་པ་ཞེས་ནི་མངོན་པར་བ ོད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཉིད་ག མ་གྱི་ཆོས་ མ་ ་ མས་ཅི་རིགས་པར་
ཡོངས་ ་ གོ ས་པར་ དེ ་པ་ལ་མོས་པ་ ་ན་མེད་པ་དང༌། ིང་
ེ་ཆེན་པོས་སེམས་ཅན་གྱི་དོན་ཡོངས་ ་མི་གཏོང་བའི་མཚན་
ཉིད་ནི་ཐབས་ཤེས་བ ན་པ་ཡིན་ཞེས་མདོ་ལས་མངོན་པར་
བ དོ ་དོ། །
696 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti

and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 10ff.
71

45th Topic
4. Supreme Mundane Qualities Peak Trainings
(ཆོས་མཆོག་གི་ ་ེ ོར་)
V.4:
{V.4}
Meditative stabilization is thoroughly proclaimed
By way of manifold merit, using
As examples a four-continent,
A thousand, a million, and a billion.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 76b.4, fleshes out this stanza
on supreme mundane qualities peak trainings as:
The meditative stabilization of utter stability of mind is thor-
oughly proclaimed in sūtra by way of manifoldly teaching about
merit, using as examples the taking up of a mass of water the size
of a four-continent world system, of a thousand such, of a mil-
lion such, and a billion such with drops of water by one hundredth
of a sliver of hair and saying that one could apprehend the measure
of this whereas one cannot apprehend the measure of the roots of
virtue of admiring the [altruistic] mind-generation of the four Bo-
dhisattvas—(1) initially generating the [altruistic] mind, (2) en-
gaging in [altruistic] deeds, (3) [having achieved] irreversibility,
and (4) being impeded by one birth [that is, having only one more
birth before complete enlightenment].
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{V.4}
གླིང་བཞི་པ་དང་ ོང་དག་དང་། ། ོང་གཉིས་ག མ་དག་དཔེར་མཛད་ནས། །
བསོད་ནམས་མང་པོ་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་ནི། །ཏིང་འཛིན་ཡོངས་ ་བ གས་པ་ཡིན། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
གླིང་བཞི་པ་དང་ ངོ ་དང་པོ་དང་ ངོ ་གཉིས་པ་དང་ ངོ ་ག མ་
གྱི་འ གི ་ ནེ ་གྱི་ འི་ ང་པོ་ འི་ ེ་མོ་བ ར་གཤགས་པའི་ཆ་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 697

གཅིག་གིས་ ་ཐིག་ ངས་པ་དཔེར་མཛད་ནས་དེའི་ཚད་ག ང་

བར་ ས་ཀྱི། སེམས་དང་པོ་བ ེད་པ་དང༌། ོད་པ་ལ་ གས་པ་
དང༌། ིར་མི་ ོག་པ་དང༌། ེ་བ་གཅིག་གིས་ཐོགས་པའི་ ང་
སེམས་བཞིའི་སེམས་བ ེད་ལ་ཡི་རང་བའི་དགེ་ ་དེའི་ཚད་
ག ང་བར་མི་ ས་ཞེས་བསོད་ནམས་མང་པོར་བ ན་པའི་ ོ་
ནས་སེམས་ཀུན་ ་གནས་པའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་མདོ་ལས་ཡོངས་ ་
བ གས་པ་ཡིན་ནོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 11ff.
72

46th Topic
5. Path-of-Seeing Peak Trainings (མཐོང་ལམ་ ེ་ ོར་)
V.5-22; Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 76b.7ff., divides
these eighteen stanzas on path-of-seeing peak trainings into two parts, ob-
jects of abandonment of path-of-seeing peak trainings and the antidotes to
them. He treats the first three stanzas, V.5-7, as a brief indication of the
objects of abandonment of path-of-seeing peak trainings.
V.5:
{V.5}
Individually, those [two] conceptualizations of apprehended ob-
jects—
Engagements and disengagements—
Themselves ninefold entities, are to be known
As entities [apprehending their] objects not as they are.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 76b.7ff., fleshes this stanza
out as:
The apprehensions—of (1) the paths and fruits of the Great Vehi-
cle, which are objects of engagement by Bodhisattvas, and (2)
the paths and fruits of the Lesser Vehicle, which are objects of
disengagement by Bodhisattvas—[respectively] as truly existent
698 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

objects to be adopted and objects to be discarded are the two con-

ceptualizations of apprehended objects (gzung ba’i rnam par
rtog pa) [as truly existent]. Individually, those each exist as nine-
fold entities, and they are to be known as being wrong concep-
tualizations since they are entities apprehending their objects not
as they are [but as truly existent].
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{V.5}
འ ག་པ་དང་ནི་ ོག་པ་ལ། །ག ང་བའི་ མ་ ོག་སོ་སོར་དེ། །
དགུ་ཡི་བདག་ཉིད་ ི་བཞིན་ ལ། །མིན་པའི་བདག་ཉིད་དག་ཤེས་ ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ང་སེམས་ཀྱིས་འ ག་པའི་ ལ་ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ལམ་འ ས་དང་
གོ ་པའི་ ལ་ཐེག་དམན་གྱི་ལམ་འ ས་ལ་ ང་དོར་ ་བདེན་
པར་འཛིན་པ་ནི་ག ང་བའི་ མ་པར་ གོ ་པ་གཉིས་སོ། །སོ་སོར་
རེ་རེ་ལ་དགུའི་བདག་ཉིད་ ་ཡོད་ལ། དེ་དག་ནི་རང་ ལ་ ི་ ་
བ་བཞིན་མིན་པར་འཛིན་པའི་བདག་ཉིད་ཡིན་པས་ལོག་ ོག་
ཡིན་པར་ཤེས་པར་ འོ། །
V.6:
{V.6}
By way of the divisions of common beings and superiors,
Sentient beings (1) as substantially existent and (2) as imputedly
existent
Are asserted as the two conceptualizations of apprehending-sub-
jects.
Those individually exist as ninefold entities.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 77a.3ff., fleshes this stanza
out as:
By way of divisions existing in the continuums of common be-
ings and existing in the continuums of superiors, (1) the appre-
hension of sentient beings as truly established as partakers [that
is, enjoyers or users] that are qualified by substantial existence
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 699

in the sense of being able to be self-sufficient and (2) the appre-

hension of those [sentient beings] as truly established as partakers
[that is, enjoyers or users] that are qualified by imputed existence
in the sense of not [being able to be self-sufficient] are asserted
as the two conceptualizations of apprehending-subjects (’dzin
pa’i rnam par rtog pa) [as truly existent]. Those individually ex-
ist as ninefold entities.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{V.6}
སོ་སོའི་ ེ་བོ་འཕགས་ད ་ེ བས། །སེམས་ཅན་ ས་དང་བཏགས་ཡོད་པར། །
མ་ ོག་འཛིན་པ་དག་ ་འདོད། །དེ་དག་སོ་སོར་དགུ་བདག་ཉིད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
སོ་སོ་ ་ེ བོའ་ི ད་ལ་ཡོད་པ་དང་འཕགས་པའི་ ད་ལ་ཡོད་པའི་
ད ་ེ བས་སེམས་ཅན་རང་ ་ བ་པའི་ ས་ཡོད་ཀྱིས་ཁྱད་པར་ ་
ས་པའི་ལོངས་ ོད་པ་པོར་བདེན་པར་འཛིན་པ་དང༌། །དེ་མེད་
པའི་བཏགས་ཡོད་གྱིས་ཁྱད་པར་ ་ ས་པའི་ལོངས་ དོ ་པ་པོར་
བདེན་པར་འཛིན་པའི་ མ་པར་ གོ ་པ་གཉིས་ ་འདོད་དོ། །དེ་
དག་སོ་སོར་རེ་རེ་ལ་དགུའི་བདག་ཉིད་ ་ཡོད་ལ།
V.7:
{V.7}
If the objects apprehended do not exist that way,
Of what are those asserted as apprehenders?
Those are marked with the emptiness
Of an entity of apprehension in that way.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 77a.5ff., fleshes this stanza
out as:
If, or because, the objects apprehended by those conceptualiza-
tions [as truly existent] do not exist in the way they are appre-
hended, those conceptualizations are asserted as apprehenders
of what objects in accordance with that which is conceived?! That
700 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

is to say, they are not apprehenders because those conceptualiza-

tions are marked with the emptiness of an entity of unmistaken
apprehension in that way.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{V.7}
གལ་ཏེ་ག ང་དོན་དེ་བཞིན་མེད། །དེ་དག་གང་གི་འཛིན་པར་འདོད། །
དེ་ ར་དེ་དག་འཛིན་པ་ཡི། །ངོ་བོས་ ོང་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་དོ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
གལ་ཏེ་འམ་གང་གི་ རི ་ན་ ོག་པ་དེས་ག ང་བའི་དོན་ མས་
ག ང་བ་དེ་བཞིན་ ་མེད་པས་ན། ོག་པ་དེ་དག་ཞེན་པ་ ར་
གྱི་ ལ་གང་གི་འཛིན་པར་འདོད་དེ་འཛིན་པ་མིན་ཏེ། ། ོག་པ་
དེ་དག་དེ་ ར་འཛིན་པ་མ་འ ལ་བའི་ངོ་བོས་ ངོ ་པའི་མཚན་
ཉིད་ཡིན་པའི་ ིར་རོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 12ff.
73
V.8-16; Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 77b.4ff., treats
these nine stanzas as an extensive explanation of the objects of abandon-
ment of path-of-seeing peak trainings, dividing them into four sections—
extensive explanations of (1) conceptualizations of apprehended objects
that are objects of engagement (’jug pa gzung rtog), (2) conceptualizations
of apprehended objects that are objects of disengagement (ldog pa gzung
rtog), (3) conceptualizations apprehending substantial existence
(rdzas ’dzin rtog pa), and (4) conceptualizations apprehending imputed
existence (btags ’dzin rtog pa).
The first section, the extensive explanation of conceptualizations of appre-
hended objects that are objects of engagement, takes two stanzas, V.8-9:
{V.8}
It is asserted that these conceptualizations having as their basis
The class of objects of engagement exist in nine aspects [observ-
ing]:
(1) Nature, (2) lineage,
(3) Thorough achievement of the path,
{V.9}
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 701

(4) Unmistaken objects of observation of knowledge,

(5) Discordant class, (6) antidotes,
(7) Realization by themselves, (8) acting,
(9) And their actions and the fruits of acting.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 77b.4ff., fleshes these two
stanzas out as:
It is asserted that these conceptualizations—having as their
basis, that is, object, the class of Bodhisattvas’ objects of engage-
ment and adhering to them as truly existent—exist in nine as-
pects [thinking,] “The class of Bodhisattvas’ objects of engage-
ment are my apprehended objects of engagement,” upon observ-
ing:
(1) the nature of—in conventional terms—attaining the fruit, un-
surpassed enlightenment, through the causes, the six perfec-
tions
(2) definite transformation into the Buddha lineage
(3) thorough achievement of the Great Vehicle path of seeing
and so forth
(4) unmistaken objects of observation of Great Vehicle
knowledge
(5) clearing away the discordant class of Great Vehicle paths
(6) [Great Vehicle paths’] capacity to generate antidotes
(7) realization by Great Vehicle paths themselves of objects just
as they are
(8) acting to distance themselves from the grounds of Hearers
and Solitary Victors
(9) the effective actions of those [Bodhisattvas] for sentient be-
ings and the fruits of acting to set all beings in nirvāṇa.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{V.8}
ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་དང་རིགས་དང་ནི། །ལམ་ནི་ཡང་དག་འ བ་པ་དང་། །
ཤེས་པའི་དམིགས་པ་མ་འ ལ་དང་། །མི་མ ན་ ོགས་དང་གཉེན་པོ་དང་། །
{V.9}
རང་གིས་ ོགས་དང་ དེ ་པ་དང་། །དེ་ཡི་ལས་ འི་འ ས་ ་ལ། །
འ ག་པའི་ ོགས་ཀྱི་ ནེ ་ཅན་གྱི། ། མ་ ོག་དེ་ནི་ མ་དགུར་འདོད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
702 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

ཐ་ ད་ ་ ་ ིན་ ག་གིས་འ ས་ ་ ་མེད་ ང་ བ་ཐོབ་པའི་

ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་དང༌། སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་རིགས་ ་ངེས་པར་འ ར་བ་
དང༌། ཐེག་ཆེན་མཐོང་ལམ་སོགས་ཡང་དག་པར་འ བ་པ་དང༌།
ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ཤེས་པའི་དམིགས་པ་མ་འ ལ་བ་དང༌། ཐེག་ཆེན་
ལམ་གྱི་མི་མ ན་ གོ ས་སེལ་བ་དང༌། གཉེན་པོ་བ ེད་པའི་ ས་
པ་དང༌། ཐེག་ཆེན་ལམ་རང་གིས་ ལ་ ི་ ་བ་བཞིན་ ་ གོ ས་
པ་དང༌། ཉན་རང་གིས་ཐག་ ིང་པར་ དེ ་པ་དང༌། དེའ་ི སེམས་
ཅན་གྱི་དོན་ ེད་པའི་ལས་དང༌། ེ་བོ་ཐམས་ཅད་ ང་འདས་
ལ་འགོད་པར་ ་བའི་འ ས་ ་ལ་དམིགས་ནས། ང་སེམས་ཀྱི་
འ ག་པའི་ གོ ས་ཀྱི་ ནེ ་ཅན་ཏེ་ ལ་ཅན་བདག་གི་འ ག་ འི་
ག ང་བའོ་ཞེས་བདེན་པར་ཞེན་པའི་ མ་ གོ ་དེ་ནི་ མ་པ་
དགུ་ཡོད་པར་འདོད་དོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 14ff.
74
The second section—the extensive explanation of conceptualizations of
apprehended objects that are objects of disengagement (ldog pa gzung
rtog)—takes three stanzas, V.10-12:
{V.10}
These entities of nine conceptualizations
Of these called (1) low realization
Due to falling to mundane existence or [solitary] peace,
(2) Lack of restrainers,
{V.11}
(3) Incompleteness of the aspects of the path,
(4) Proceeding under others’ conditions,
(5) Turning away from the intents,
(6) Trifling, (7) various,
{V.12}
(8) Obscured about abiding and entering,
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 703

(9) And going afterward

Have as their basis the class of disengagements,
Arising in the minds of Hearers and so forth.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 78a.2, fleshes these three
stanzas out as:
These entities of nine conceptualizations adhering to true [exist-
ence, thinking], “These are my apprehended objects of disengage-
ment,” upon observing these called:
(1) low realization due to falling either to mundane existence
or [solitary] peace
(2) lack of external and internal restrainers holding one from
falling to the extremes of mundane existence and [solitary]
peace
(3) incompleteness of the aspects of the path due to not being
antidotes to all obstructions to omniscience
(4) during the final mundane existence proceeding under oth-
ers’ conditions
(5) turning away from seeking the three great intents [great
mind, great abandonment, and great realization (see above,
125ff.)]
(6) trifling abandonments
(7) various realizations such as Stream-Enterer and so forth
(8) until attaining the position of [solitary] peace, obscured
about continually abiding in and initially entering the Great
Vehicle path
(9) going into another vehicle after attaining the fruit of their
own path
have as their basis—that is to say, have as their objects—the
class of Bodhisattvas’ objects of disengagement, arising in the
minds or continuums of Hearers and so forth; they are observa-
tions of the paths and fruits of Hearers and so forth.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{V.10}
དི ་དང་ཞི་བར་ ང་བའི་ ིར། ། ོགས་པ་དམན་པ་ཉིད་དང་ནི། །
ཡོངས་ ་འཛིན་པ་མེད་པ་དང་། །ལམ་གྱི་ མ་པ་མ་ཚང་དང་། །
{V.11}
704 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

གཞན་གྱི་ ེན་གྱིས་འགྲོ་བ་དང་། །ཆེད་ ་ ་བ་ལོག་པ་དང་། །

ཉི་ཚ་བ་དང་ ་ཚགས་ཉིད། །གནས་དང་འ ག་ལ་ ོངས་པ་དང་། །
{V.12}
ེས་ལ་འགྲོ་ཞེས་ ་བ་ལ། ། མ་ ོག་དགུ་ཡི་བདག་ཉིད་འདི། །
ོག་པའི་ ོགས་ཀྱི་ ེན་ཅན་ཏེ། །ཉན་ཐོས་ལ་སོགས་ཡིད་ལ་འ ང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
དི ་པ་དང་ཞི་བ་གང་ ང་ ་ ང་བའི་ རི ་ གོ ས་པ་དམན་པ་
དང༌། ིད་ཞིའི་མཐར་ ང་བ་ལས་ག ང་བའི་ ི་ནང་གི་ཡོངས་
་འཛིན་པ་མེད་པ་དང༌། ཤེས་ བི ་མཐའ་དག་གི་གཉེན་པོ་མ་
ཡིན་པས་ལམ་གྱི་ མ་པ་མ་ཚང་བ་དང༌། ིད་པ་མཐའ་མའི་ཚ་
གཞན་གྱི་ ནེ ་གྱིས་འགྲོ་བ་དང༌། ཆེད་ ་ ་བ་ཆེན་པོ་ག མ་
དོན་ ་གཉེར་བ་ལས་ལོག་པ་དང༌། ངས་པ་ཉེ་ཚ་བ་དང༌།
ན་ གས་སོགས་ གོ ས་པ་ ་ཚགས་པ་དང༌། ཞི་མཐའ་མ་ཐོབ་
བར་ ་ཐེག་ཆེན་ལམ་ལ་ ན་ ་གནས་པ་དང་དང་པོར་འ ག་
པ་ལ་ ངོ ས་པ་དང༌། རང་ལམ་གྱི་འ ས་ ་ཐོབ་ སེ ་ ་ཐེག་པ་
གཞན་ ་འགྲོ་བ་ཞེས་ ་བ་ལ་དམིགས་ནས། བདག་གི་ གོ ་ འི་
ག ང་བའོ་ཞེས་བདེན་པར་ཞེན་པའི་ མ་ གོ ་དགུའི་བདག་
ཉིད་འདི་ནི་ ང་སེམས་ཀྱི་ གོ ་པའི་ གོ ས་ཀྱི་ ནེ ་ཅན་ཏེ་ ལ་
ཅན་ཉན་ཐོས་ལ་སོགས་པའི་ཡིད་དམ་ ད་ལས་འ ང་བ་ ་ེ
ཉན་ཐོས་སོགས་ཀྱི་ལམ་འ ས་ལ་དམིགས་པའོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 15ff.
75
The third section—the extensive explanation of conceptualizations ap-
prehending substantial existence (rdzas ’dzin rtog pa)—takes two stanzas,
V.13-14:
{V.13}
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 705

(1) Assuming and discarding,

(2) Taking to mind, (3) closely
Related with the three realms
(4) Abiding, (5) manifestly adhering,
{V.14}
(6) The actualities of phenomena as imputations,
(7) Attached, (8) the antidotes,
(9) And degenerated from proceeding as wished
Are to be known as the first of apprehensions.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 78a.7, fleshes these two
stanzas out as:
Conceptualizations conceiving of a partaker*—qualified by sub-
stantial existence—as truly existent with respect to:
(1) a person (gang zag, pudgala) who conventionally assumes
good qualities and discards defects
(2) a person who [conventionally] takes phenomena to mind as
truly existing
(3) a person who [conventionally] due to the influence of having
taken true existence to mind is closely related with the three
realms [of Desire, Form, and Formlessness]
(4) a person who [conventionally] abides within having con-
ceived forms and so forth as truly existent
(5) a person who [conventionally] manifestly adheres to empti-
ness as truly existent in the manner of not adhering to things
as truly existent
(6) a person who [conventionally] understands all phenomena as
only imputations of conventions
(7) a person who [conventionally] by way not adhering to true
existence is attached to the six perfections
(8) a person who [conventionally] enacts the antidotes to the
[mis]apprehension of signs by meditating on all phenomena
as equally empty of true existence
(9) a person who [conventionally] due to not knowing the natural
perfection of wisdom degenerates—that is, is prevented for
a long time—from proceeding on to an exalted-knower-of-
all-aspects as wished
706 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

are to be known as being the first conceptualizations of appre-

hending-subjects (’dzin rtog dang po), that is, conceptualizations
apprehending substantial existence (rdzas ’dzin rtog pa).
* longs spyod pa po: partaker, enjoyer, user.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{V.13}
འཛིན་པ་དང་ནི་འདོར་བ་དང་། །ཡིད་ལ་ ེད་དང་ཁམས་ མས་ནི། །
ག མ་པོ་དག་དང་ཉེ་འ ེལ་དང་། །གནས་དང་མངོན་པར་ཞེན་པ་དང་། །
{V.14}
ཆོས་ཀྱི་དངོས་པོ་བ གས་པ་དང་། །ཆགས་པ་དང་ནི་གཉེན་པོ་དང་། །
ི་ ར་འདོད་བཞིན་འགྲོ་ཉམས་ལ། །འཛིན་པ་དང་པོར་ཤེས་པར་ ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཀུན་ བོ ་ ་ཡོན་ཏན་འཛིན་པ་དང་ ོན་འདོར་བའི་གང་ཟག་
དང༌། ཆོས་ མས་བདེན་པར་ཡིད་ལ་ དེ ་པའི་གང་ཟག་དང༌།
བདེན་པར་ཡིད་ལ་ ས་པའི་དབང་གིས་ཁམས་ག མ་པོ་དང་ཉེ་
བར་འ ལེ ་བའི་གང་ཟག་དང༌། ག གས་སོགས་ལ་བདེན་པར་
ཞེན་ནས་གནས་པའི་གང་ཟག་དང༌། དངོས་པོ་ལ་བདེན་པར་མ་
ཞེན་པའི་ ལ་གྱིས་ ངོ ་ཉིད་ལ་བདེན་པར་མངོན་པར་ཞེན་པའི་
གང་ཟག་དང༌། ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་ཐ་ ད་བཏགས་པ་ཙམ་ ་ཁོང་
་ ད་པའི་གང་ཟག་དང༌། བདེན་པར་མ་ཞེན་པའི་ ་ོ ནས་
ིན་ ག་ལ་ཆགས་པའི་གང་ཟག་དང༌། ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་བདེན་
ོང་མཉམ་པ་ཉིད་ ་ ོམ་པས་མཚན་འཛིན་གྱི་གཉེན་པོ་ ེད་
པའི་གང་ཟག་དང༌། རང་བཞིན་གྱི་ཤེར་ ིན་མ་ཤེས་པས་ མ་
མཁྱེན་ ་ ་ི ར་འདོད་པ་བཞིན་ ་འགྲོ་བ་ཉམས་པ་ ེ་ ན་
རིང་ ་ཐོགས་པའི་གང་ཟག་ལ་ ས་ཡོད་ཀྱིས་ཁྱད་པར་ ་ ས་
པའི་ལོངས་ ོད་པ་པོར་བདེན་པར་ཞེན་པའི་ མ་ ོག་ནི།
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 707

འཛིན་ གོ ་དང་པོ་ ས་འཛིན་ ོག་པ་ཡིན་པར་ཤེས་པར་ འོ། །

See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 18ff.
76
The fourth section—the extensive explanation of conceptualizations ap-
prehending imputed existence (btags ’dzin rtog pa)—takes two stanzas,
V.15-16:
{V.15}
(1) Not going forth in accordance with the intents,
(2) Definitely holding paths to be non-paths,
(3) Production as well as cessation,
(4) Actualities endowed and non-endowed,
{V.16}
(5) Dwelling, (6) destroying the lineage,
(7) No seeking, (8) no cause,
(9) And observing opposition
Are the other conceptualizations of apprehending-subjects.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 78b.5, fleshes these two
stanzas out as:
Conceptualizations conceiving of a partaker*—qualified by im-
puted existence—as truly existent upon observing:
(1) a being (skyes bu, puruṣa#) who does not go forth in accord-
ance with the three great intents [great mind, great abandon-
ment, and great realization (see above, 125ff.)]
(2) a being who definitely holds Great Vehicle paths to be non-
correct paths
(3) a being who realizes the production and cessation of causes
and effects as made by entities only imputed conventionally
(4) a being who knows the actualities of forms and so forth as
endowed (ldan pa), that is, as not ultimately having divisions,
and as non-endowed (mi ldan pa), that is, as conventionally
having divisions
(5) a being who dwells adhering to the true existence of forms
and so forth
(6) a being who destroys and reverses the attitude of the line-
age—that is, seeking mere peace—of Hearers and so forth
(7) a being who when realizing emptiness, holds merely it to be
708 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

sufficient and thereupon has no desire seeking Buddhahood

(8) a being who has no cause, that is, cultivation of the perfection
of wisdom
(9) a being who observes (dmigs pa)—that is, has (yod pa)—the
opposing actualities interfering with enlightenment such as
devilishness and so forth
are conceptualizations of apprehending-subjects other than the
previous, that is, conceptualizations apprehending imputed exist-
ence.
* longs spyod pa po: partaker, enjoyer, user.
#
Often translated as “person.”
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{V.15}
ཆེད་བཞིན་ངེས་པར་མི་འ ང་དང་། །ལམ་ལ་ལམ་མིན་ངེས་འཛིན་དང་། །
འགག་དང་བཅས་པའི་ ེ་བ་དང་། །དངོས་པོ་ ན་དང་མི་ ན་དང་། །
{V.16}
གནས་དང་རིགས་ནི་འ ིག་པ་དང་། །དོན་ ་གཉེར་དང་ ་མེད་དང་། །
ིར་ ལ་བ་ནི་དམིགས་པ་ལ། །འཛིན་པའི་ མ་ ོག་གཞན་ཡིན་ནོ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཆེད་ ་ ་བ་ཆེན་པོ་ག མ་ ་ངེས་པར་མི་འ ང་བའི་ སེ ་ ་
དང༌། ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ལམ་ལ་ལམ་ཡང་དག་པ་མ་ཡིན་པར་ངེས་
པར་འཛིན་པའི་ ེས་ ་དང༌། ་འ ས་ ་ེ བ་དང་འགག་པ་ཀུན་
ོབ་བཏགས་པ་ཙམ་གྱི་ངོ་བོས་ ེད་པར་ གོ ས་པའི་ སེ ་ ་
དང༌། ག གས་སོགས་ཀྱི་དངོས་པོ་ ན་པ་ ེ་དོན་དམ་པར་ད ེ་
བ་མེད་པ་དང་མི་ ན་པ་ ེ་ཀུན་ ོབ་ ་ད ་ེ བ་ཡོད་པར་ཤེས་
པའི་ ེས་ ་དང༌། ག གས་སོགས་ལ་བདེན་པར་མ་ཞེན་པར་
གནས་པའི་ ེས་ ་དང༌། ཉན་ཐོས་སོགས་ཀྱི་རིགས་ཏེ་ཞི་བ་ཙམ་
དོན་གཉེར་གྱི་ ོ་འ གི ་ཅིང་ ོག་པའི་ ེས་ ་དང༌། ོང་ཉིད་
ོགས་པ་ན་དེ་ཙམ་གྱིས་ཆོག་པར་བ ང་ནས་སངས་ ས་དོན་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 709

་གཉེར་བའི་འདོད་པ་མེད་པའི་ ེས་ ་དང༌། ་ཤེར་ ནི ་ ོམ་

པ་མེད་པའི་ ེས་ ་དང༌། བ ད་ལ་སོགས་པ་ ང་ བ་ལ་བར་
་གཅོད་ དེ ་ཀྱི་ རི ་ ལོ ་བའི་དངོས་པོ་དམིགས་པ་ ེ་ཡོད་
པའི་ ེས་ ་ལ་དམིགས་ནས་བཏགས་ཡོད་ཀྱིས་ཁྱད་པར་ ་ ས་
པའི་ལོངས་ ོད་པ་པོར་བདེན་པར་ཞེན་པའི་ མ་ ོག་ནི།
འཛིན་པའི་ མ་ གོ ་ ་མ་ལས་གཞན་བཏགས་འཛིན་ ོག་པ་
ཡིན་ནོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 20ff.
77
V.17-22; Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 79a.5ff., treats
these six stanzas as explaining the second section above, antidotes to the
objects of abandonment of path-of-seeing peak trainings. He divides the
six stanzas into two parts, ancillary subjects and the regular subject, and
divides the first, ancillary subjects, into assisters of path-of-seeing peak
trainings and the fruits of those assisters of path-of-seeing peak trainings.
The first, assisters of path-of-seeing peak trainings, takes one stanza, V.17:
{V.17}
Teaching [in order to set] others in enlightenment,
Conferring what is a cause of it,
And cause of uninteruptedness
Having the characteristic of much merit.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 79a.5ff., fleshes this stanza
out as:
(1) For the sake of setting in enlightenment others having the
Great Vehicle lineage, teaching the methods for this;
(2) conferring [on them] the meaning and words of the perfec-
tion of wisdom, a cause of this enlightenment; and
(3) oneself meditatively cultivating in meditative equipoise the
perfection of wisdom of the path, cause of uninterupted-
ness—that is, definiteness—of attaining enlightenment,
which has the characteristic of very much merit
710 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

are causes of attaining the final great enlightenment.

Maitreya’s Ornament:
{V.17}
ང་ བ་ལ་གཞན་ ོན་པ་དང་། །དེ་ཡི་ ་ནི་ཡོངས་གཏོད་དང་། །
དེ་ཐོབ་བར་ཆད་མེད་པའི་ ། །བསོད་ནམས་མང་པོའི་མཚན་ཉིད་དོ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་རིགས་ཅན་གཞན་ ང་ བ་ལ་འགོད་པའི་དོན་ ་
དེའི་ཐབས་ ནོ ་པ་དང༌། ང་ བ་དེའ་ི ་ཤེར་ ིན་གྱི་ཚིག་
དོན་ཡོངས་ ་གཏོད་པ་དང༌། ང་ བ་ཐོབ་པར་ ེད་པའི་བར་
ཆད་མེད་པ་ ེ་ངེས་པའི་ ་མཐོང་ལམ་གྱི་ཤེར་ ིན་མཉམ་
གཞག་ ་རང་གིས་ མོ ་པ་བསོད་ནམས་ཆེས་མང་པོའ་ི མཚན་
ཉིད་དེ་ག མ་ནི་མཐར་ ག་གི་ ང་ བ་ཆེན་པོ་ཐོབ་པའི་ ་
ཡིན་ནོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 23ff.
78
V.18-20; Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 79 b.2ff., divides
the second, the fruits of those assisters of path-of-seeing peak trainings,
into two parts: indicating the great enlightenment that abides in fact [that
is to say, indicating the actual great enlightenment] and refuting the great
enlightenment imputed by conceptuality.
The first, indicating the great enlightenment that abides in fact, takes one
stanza, V.18:
{V.18}
The pristine wisdoms of extinction of the defilements
And of nonproduction are called enlightenment.
Because extinguishment does not exist and production does not
exist,
The two are to be known respectively.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 79b.2ff., fleshes this out as:
Sūtra says that the two pristine wisdoms knowing extinction of
the defilements of the two obstructions [to liberation from cyclic
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 711

existence and to omniscience] and knowing nonproduction are

the great enlightenment. Also concerning their meaning, because
the extinguishment of previously existent truly established de-
filements does not exist and the production of previously nonex-
istent truly established defilements does not exist, the two pris-
tine wisdoms knowing that defilements ultimately are extin-
guished from the start and directly knowing that defilements ulti-
mately are not produced are to be known respectively as being
the knowledge of extinction and the knowledge of nonproduction.
The meaning of these is like this, but it is not suitable, in ac-
cordance with the verbal reading (tshig zin) of [Gyal-tshab’s] Ex-
planation and [Jam-yang-shay-pa’s] textbook [Decisive Analysis
on the Perfection of Wisdom], to render these as “pristine wisdoms
directly realizing that extinguishment of defilements ultimately
does not exist and production of defilements ultimately does not
exist” because in many [texts of] of the upper and lower vehicles
these are described as “knowledge of extinction” but not described
as “knowledge of the nonexistence of extinction.”
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{V.18}
་ི མ་ཟད་དང་མི་ ེ་བའི། །ཡེ་ཤེས་ ང་ བ་ཅེས་བ ོད་དོ། །
ཟད་མེད་ ེ་མེད་ ིར་དེ་དག །གོ་རིམས་བཞིན་ ་ཤེས་པར་ ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
བི ་གཉིས་ཀྱི་ ་ི མ་ཟད་པ་ཤེས་པ་དང་མི་ ་ེ བ་ཤེས་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་
གཉིས་ནི་ ང་ བ་ཆེན་པོ་ཡིན་པར་མདོ་ལས་བ དོ ་དེ། དེའི་
དོན་ཡང་བདེན་པར་ བ་པའི་ ི་མ་ ར་ཡོད་ཟད་པ་མེད་པ་
དང་ ར་མེད་ ེ་བ་མེད་པའི་ རི ་ན་ ི་མ་དོན་དམ་པར་གདོད་
མ་ནས་ཟད་པ་ཤེས་པ་དང་དོན་དམ་པར་མི་ ེ་བར་ཤེས་པའི་ཡེ་
ཤེས་མཐར་ ག་གཉིས་ནི་གོ་རིམ་བཞིན་ ་ཟད་པ་ཤེས་པ་དང་
མི་ ེ་བ་ཤེས་པ་ཡིན་པར་ཤེས་པར་ འོ། ། འདིའི་དོན་འདི་ ར་
ཡིན་གྱི། མ་བཤད་དང་ཡིག་ཆའི་ཚིག་ཟིན་ ར་ ིབ་པ་དོན་
712 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

དམ་པར་ཟད་པ་མེད་པ་དང་ ེ་བ་མེད་པ་མངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་

པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཞེས་ ོར་མི་ ང་ །ེ ཐེག་པ་གོང་འོག་ ་མར་ཟད་
པ་ཤེས་པ་ཞེས་བཤད་པ་ཡིན་གྱི་ཟད་པ་མེད་པ་ཤེས་པ་ཞེས་མ་
བཤད་པའི་ ིར་རོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 24ff.
79
V.19-21; Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 79b.6ff., divides
the second section from above, refuting the great enlightenment imputed
by conceptuality, into two parts: refuting the system of the Proponents of
[Truly Established] Things and positing the system of the Middle School.
The first of those, refuting the system of the Proponents of [Truly Estab-
lished] Things, takes two stanzas, V.19-20:
{V.19}
In a nature without cessation
What type of conceptualization
Is extinguished by the path called “seeing”?!
What aspect of nonproduction is attained?!
{V.20}
Whereas the others on the one hand [assert] phenomena as exist-
ent,
I reckon the statement by the Teacher on the other hand
That the obstructions to objects of knowledge
Are extinguished to be amazing.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 79b.6ff., fleshes these two
stanzas out as:
In that truly established defilements have a nature without ces-
sation—that is, new cessation of the previously existent—what
truly established, previously existent type of conceptualization
that is to be abandoned by the path of seeing is extinguished?!
And what aspect of nonproduction—that is, previously nonex-
istent annihilation of the about-to-be-produced—is attained?!
That is to say, an extinction is not suitable to be attained.
Whereas the others, Proponents of [Truly Established]
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 713

Things, assert on the one hand that external and internal phe-
nomena ultimately exist, I, Maitreyanātha, reckon the statement
by the Teacher Buddha on the other hand that the obstructions
obscuring objects of knowledge are extinguished to be amazing
because if things are truly established, obstructions are not fit to
be abandoned.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{V.19}
འགོག་པ་མེད་པའི་རང་བཞིན་ལ། །མཐོང་ཞེས་ ་བའི་ལམ་གྱིས་ནི། །
མ་པར་ ོག་རིགས་ཅི་ཞིག་ཟད། ། ེ་མེད་ མ་པ་ཅི་ཞིག་འཐོབ། །
{V.20}
གཞན་གྱིས་ཆོས་ མས་ཀྱང་ཡོད་ལ། །ཤེས་ ་ལ་ཡང་ ོན་པ་ཡི། །
ིབ་པ་ཟད་པར་བ ོད་པ་གང་། །དེ་ལ་ཁོ་བོས་མཚར་ ་བ ིས། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
བདེན་པར་ བ་པའི་ ་ི མ་ ར་ཡོད་གསར་ ་འགག་པའི་འགོག་
པ་མེད་པའི་རང་བཞིན་ཡིན་པ་ལས་མཐོང་ ང་ མ་པར་ གོ ་
པའི་རིགས་བདེན་པར་ བ་པ་ ར་ཡོད་ཅི་ཞིག་ཟད་པར་ ས་
ཤིང་ ར་མེད་ ེ་འ ོ་ཆད་པའི་ ་ེ མེད་ཀྱི་ མ་པ་ཅི་ཞིག་འཐོབ་
ེ་ཟད་ཐོབ་མི་ ང་ངོ༌། །གཞན་དངོས་ ་བ་ མས་ཀྱིས་ ི་ནང་
གི་ཆོས་ མས་ཀྱང་དོན་དམ་པར་ཡོད་པར་འདོད་ལ་ཤེས་ ་ལ་
ོངས་པའི་ བི ་པ་ཡང་ ནོ ་པ་སངས་ ས་ཀྱིས་ཟད་པར་བ དོ ་
པ་གང་ཡིན་པ་དེ་ལ་ཁོ་བོ་ མས་མགོན་གྱིས་མཚར་ ་བ སི ་ཏེ།
དངོས་པོ་བདེན་པར་ བ་ན་ ིབ་པ་ ང་ ་མི་ ང་བའི་ རི ་
རོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 25ff.
80
The second, positing the system of the great enlightenment of the Middle
School, takes one stanza, V.21:
{V.21}
714 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

These have nothing to be removed at all.

There is nothing in the least to be posited.
Reality is to be viewed correctly.
Upon seeing reality, one becomes released.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 80a.5ff., fleshes this stanza
out as:
These dependent-arisings have nothing—of the two selves [self
of persons and self of phenomena] that previously existed—to be
removed at all because those two have from the start not been
[validly] experienced as existing. The two selflessnesses are not
in the least to be posited newly because those two have no be-
ginning or end. Reality—the two selflessnesses devoid of re-
moval and positing that way—is to be viewed correctly, that is,
nonerroneously. Upon directly seeing the meaning of reality, one
becomes released in stages from the afflictive obstructions and
the obstructions to objects of knowledge.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{V.21}
འདི་ལ་བསལ་ ་ཅི་ཡང་མེད། །གཞག་པར་ ་བ་ ང་ཟད་མེད། །
ཡང་དག་ཉིད་ལ་ཡང་དག་ ། །ཡང་དག་མཐོང་ནས་ མ་པར་གྲོལ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ནེ ་འ ེལ་འདི་ལ་བདག་གཉིས་ ར་ཡོད་བསལ་བར་ ་བ་ཅི་
ཡང་མེད་དེ། དེ་གཉིས་དང་པོ་ནས་ཡོད་མ་ ངོ ་བས་སོ། །བདག་
མེད་གཉིས་གསར་ ་གཞག་པར་ ་བ་ ང་ཟད་མེད་དེ། དེ་
གཉིས་ལ་ཐོག་མཐའ་མེད་པས་སོ། །དེ་ ར་བསལ་བཞག་དང་
ལ་བའི་ཡང་དག་པ་བདག་མེད་གཉིས་ལ་ཡང་དག་པ་ ེ་ ིན་
ཅི་མ་ལོག་པར་ ་བར་ འོ། །ཡང་དག་པའི་དོན་བདག་མེད་
གཉིས་མངོན་ མ་ ་མཐོང་ནས་རིམ་པ་ ར་ཉོན་མོངས་པ་
དང༌། ཤེས་ འི་ ིབ་པ་ལས་ མ་པར་གྲོལ་བར་འ ར་རོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 715

and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 26.

81
The second section from above, the regular subject concerning antidotes
to the objects of abandonment of path-of-seeing peak trainings, takes two
stanzas, V.22-23, but Jam-yang-shay-pa cites only V.22:
{V.22}
Those that are contained within
The forbearances of simultaneous period—
That are mutually contained in giving and so forth individu-
ally—
Are here the path of seeing.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 80b.1ff., fleshes this stanza
out as:
Those uninterrupted paths that are contained within the for-
bearances of simultaneous period—that are mutually con-
tained in the six perfections of giving and so forth individu-
ally—are the path of seeing here on this occasion of peak train-
ing because of being the actual antidotes to the four conceptuali-
zations of apprehended-object and apprehending-subject that are
objects of abandonment by the path of seeing.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{V.22}
ནི ་པ་ལ་སོགས་རེ་རེར་ནི། །དེ་དག་ཕན་ ན་བ ས་པ་གང་། །
ད་ཅིག་གཅིག་པའི་བཟོད་པ་ཡིས། །བ ས་པ་དེ་འདིར་མཐོང་བའི་ལམ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ནི ་པ་ལ་སོགས་པ་ ག་པོ་རེ་རེར་ཕར་ ིན་ ག་པོ་དེ་དག་ཕན་
ན་བ ས་པ་གང་ཡིན་པ་ ད་ཅིག་གཅིག་པ་བཟོད་པས་བ ས་
པའི་བར་ཆད་མེད་ལམ་དེ་ ེ་ ོར་གྱི་ བས་འདིར་མཐོང་བའི་
ལམ་ཡིན་ཏེ། མཐོང་ ང་ག ང་འཛིན་གྱི་ མ་ ོག་བཞིའ་ི
དངོས་གཉེན་ཡིན་པའི་ ིར་རོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 26ff.
716 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

82

47th Topic
6. Path-of-Meditation Peak Trainings ( ོམ་ལམ་ ེ་ རོ ་)
V.24-32; Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 81a.2ff., divides
these nine stanzas on path-of-meditation peak trainings into three parts—
(1) the support, the path of meditation, (2) conceptualizations to be aban-
doned, and (3) dependent qualities.
The first—the support, the path of meditation—takes two stanzas, V.24-
25:
{V.24}
Having gone and come in the nine meditative absorptions
Including cessation in the two aspects,
A consciousness included in the Desire [Realm] not in medita-
tive equipoise
Is taken as the boundary,
{V.25}
Whereupon one enters in absorption in the manner of leapover,
Leaping over one, two, three, four,
Five, six, seven, and eight
Going variously until entering into absorption in cessation.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 81a.2ff., fleshes these two
stanzas out as:
Having previously performed two rounds of training—going and
coming over the nine meditative absorptions including the
meditative absorption of cessation in the two aspects of the for-
ward and reverse orders—subsequently one goes in series from
the first concentration until the meditative absorption of cessation
(’gog pa’i snyoms ’jug, nirodhasamāpatti). In consideration that
this is of the same type as a training in forward order, it is one that
is not in the verbal reading of the root text [Maitreya’s Ornament
for the Clear Realizations] (rtsa tshig gis ma zin pa). Also, a con-
sciousness included in the Desire [Realm] is not of a ground of
meditative equipoise (mnyam bzhag gi sa pa min pa); hence, one
enters in absorption in the manner of leapover within taking
it as the boundary for going upward and coming downward for
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 717

each meditative absorption.

Between the two of these [that is, going upward and coming
downward], that of going upward while interweaving cessation
(’gog pa spel pa’i yar song) is to enter into absorption in the man-
ner of leapover going variously while entering into absorption in
cessation:
1. leaping over one [that is, setting aside the first concentra-
tion], entering into absorption in the first concentration and
then entering into absorption in cessation, and
2. leaping over two [that is, setting aside the first concentration
and the second concentration], entering into absorption in the
second concentration and then entering into absorption in ces-
sation, and
3. leaping over three, entering into absorption in the third con-
centration and then entering into absorption in cessation, and
4. leaping over four, entering into absorption in the fourth con-
centration and then entering into absorption in cessation, and
5. leaping over five, entering into absorption in limitless space
and then entering into absorption in cessation, and
6. leaping over six, entering into absorption in limitless con-
sciousness and then entering into absorption in cessation, and
7. leaping over seven, entering into absorption in nothingness
and then entering into absorption in cessation, and
8. leaping over eight, entering into absorption in the actual peak
of cyclic existence and then entering into absorption in cessa-
tion.
Then, one manifests again [the meditative absorption of] the peak
of cyclic existence and thereupon the mind of the Desire Realm
that is taken as the boundary of ascending and descending
[through the nine meditative absorptions].
[The process of] coming downward while interweaving the
mind of the Desire Realm (’dod sems spel ba’i mar ’ong) is indi-
cated by linking together the two lines ’dod par and so forth, the
two lines gcig dang and so forth, and mi ’drar ’ongs; it is to enter
into absorption in the manner of leapover going variously until the
mind of the Desire Realm:
1. upon rising from that mind of the Desire Realm entering into
718 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

absorption in cessation, and

2. then the mind of the Desire Realm, and
3. then skipping one—cessation—entering into absorption in
the peak of cyclic existence, and
4. then the mind of the Desire Realm, and
5. then skipping two—cessation and the peak of cyclic exist-
ence—entering into absorption in nothingness, and
6. then the mind of the Desire Realm, and
7. then skipping three—cessation, the peak of cyclic existence,
and nothingness—entering into absorption in limitless con-
sciousness, and
8. then the mind of the Desire Realm, and
9. then likewise skipping four, entering into absorption in limit-
less space, and
10. then the mind of the Desire Realm, and
11. then skipping five, entering into absorption in the fourth con-
centration, and
12. then the mind of the Desire Realm, and
13. then skipping six, entering into absorption in the third con-
centration, and
14. then the mind of the Desire Realm, and
15. then skipping seven, entering into absorption in the second
concentration, and
16. then the mind of the Desire Realm, and
17. then skipping eight, entering into absorption in the first con-
centration, and
18. then the mind of the Desire Realm.
It is set forth this way in Tsong-kha-pa’s Golden Garland.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{V.24}
འགོག་དང་བཅས་པའི་ ོམས་འ ག་དགུར། ། མ་པ་གཉིས་ ་སོང་འོངས་ནས། །
འདོད་པར་གཏོགས་པའི་ མ་པར་ཤེས། །མཉམ་གཞག་མིན་པའི་མཚམས་བ ང་
ེ། །
{V.25}
ཐོད་ ལ་ ་ནི་ ོམས་འ ག་པ། །གཅིག་དང་གཉིས་ག མ་བཞི་དང་ ་། །
ག་དང་བ ན་དང་བ ད་ ལ་ནས། །འགོག་པའི་བར་ ་མི་འ ར་འགྲོ། །
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 719

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:

འགོག་ ོམས་དང་བཅས་པའི་ མོ ས་འ ག་དགུ་ལ་ གས་དང་
མ ན་པ་དང་ གས་དང་མི་མ ན་པ་ མ་པ་གཉིས་ ་སོང་
ཞིང་འོངས་པའི་ ོར་བ་ཚར་གཉིས་ ོན་ ་བཏང་ནས། དེའི་
འོག་ ་བསམ་གཏན་དང་པོ་ནས་འགོག་ ོམས་ཀྱི་བར་ ་མཐར་
ཆགས་ ་སོང་བ་ ེ་དེ་ ོར་བ་ གས་མ ན་དང་རིགས་གཅིག་
པ་ལ་དགོངས་ནས་ ་ཚིག་གིས་མ་ཟིན་པ་གཅིག་དང༌། འདོད་
པར་གཏོགས་པའི་ མ་པར་ཤེས་པ་མཉམ་བཞག་གི་ས་པ་མིན་
པས་ཡར་འགྲོ་ས་མཐའི་མཚམས་དང་མར་འོངས་ལ་ ོམས་
འ ག་རེ་རེའི་མཚམས་ ་བ ང་ ་ེ ཐོད་ ལ་ ་ མོ ས་པར་
འ ག་པ་ཡིན་ཏེ། འདི་ལ་གཉིས་ལས་འགོག་པ་ ེལ་པའི་ཡར་
སོང་ནི། གཅིག་ ལ་བ་ ེ་བསམ་གཏན་དང་པོ་ལ་ ོམས་པར་
འ ག་པ་དང༌། དེ་ནས་འགོག་པ་དང༌། གཉིས་ ལ་བ་ ེ་བསམ་
གཏན་གཉིས་པ་ལ་འ ག་པ་དང༌། དེ་ནས་འགོག་པ་དང༌།
ག མ་ ལ་བ་ ེ་བསམ་གཏན་ག མ་པ་ལ་འ ག་པ་དང༌། དེ་
ནས་འགོག་པ་དང༌། བཞི་ ལ་བ་ ེ་བསམ་གཏན་བཞི་པ་ལ་
འ ག་པ་དང༌། དེ་ནས་འགོག་པ་དང༌། ་ ལ་བ་ ེ་ནམ་མཁའ་
མཐའ་ཡས་ལ་འ ག་པ་དང༌། དེ་ནས་འགོག་པ་དང༌། ག་ ལ་
བ་ མ་ཤེས་མཐའ་ཡས་ལ་འ ག་པ་དང༌། དེ་ནས་འགོག་པ་
དང༌། བ ན་ ལ་བ་ ེ་ཅི་ཡང་མེད་ལ་འ ག་པ་དང༌། དེ་ནས་
འགོག་པ་དང༌། བ ད་ ལ་བ་ ེ་ དི ་ ེའི་དངོས་གཞི་ལ་ ོམས་
པར་ གས་ནས་འགོག་པ་ལ་ ོམས་པར་འ ག་པའི་བར་ ་མི་
720 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

འ ་བར་འགྲོ་བ་ ེ་ཐོད་ ལ་ ་ ོམས་པར་འ ག་པ་ཡིན་

ནོ། །དེ་ནས་ ར་ཡང་ དི ་ ེ་དང༌། དེ་ནས་ཡར་སོང་མར་འོང་
གི་མཚམས་འཛིན་གྱི་འདོད་སེམས་མངོན་ ་ དེ ་དོ། །འདོད་
སེམས་ ལེ ་བའི་མར་འོང་ནི། འདོད་པར་ཞེས་སོགས་ ང་པ་
གཉིས་དང༌། གཅིག་དང་ཞེས་སོགས་ ང་པ་གཉིས་དང༌། མི་
འ ར་འོངས་ཞེས་ ལེ ་བས་བ ན་ཏེ། འདོད་སེམས་དེ་ལས་
ལངས་པའི་འོག་ ་འགོག་པ་ལ་ མོ ས་པར་འ ག་པ་དང༌། དེ་
ནས་འདོད་སེམས་དང་དེ་ནས་འགོག་པ་གཅིག་བོར་ནས་ དི ་ ེ་
དང༌། དེ་ནས་འདོད་སེམས་དང༌། དེ་ནས་འགོག་པ་དང་ ིད་ ེ་
གཉིས་བོར་ནས་ཅི་ཡང་མེད་དང༌། འདོད་སེམས་དང༌། དེ་ནས་
འགོག་པ་ དི ་ ེ་ཅི་ཡང་མེད་ག མ་བོར་ནས་ མ་ཤེས་མཐའ་
ཡས་དང༌། འདོད་སེམས་དང༌། དེ་བཞིན་ ་བཞི་བོར་ནས་ནམ་
མཁའ་མཐའ་ཡས་དང༌། འདོད་སེམས་དང༌། ་བོར་ནས་
བསམ་གཏན་བཞི་པ་དང༌། འདོད་སེམས་དང༌། ག་བོར་ནས་
བསམ་གཏན་ག མ་པ་དང༌། འདོད་སེམས་དང༌། བ ན་བོར་
ནས་བསམ་གཏན་གཉིས་པ་དང༌། འདོད་སེམས་དང༌། བ ད་
བོར་ནས་བསམ་གཏན་དང་པོ་དང༌། །འདོད་སེམས་ཀྱི་བར་ ་
མི་འ ར་འོངས་པ་ ེ་ཐོད་ ལ་ ་ ོམས་པར་འ ག་པ་ཡིན་ནོ།
ལ་བའི་དོན་ནི་ཡར་སོང་གི་ཚ་དེ་ལ་འ ག་པ་དང༌། མར་
འོངས་ཀྱི་ཚ་དེ་ལ་ ོམས་པར་ གས་ནས་བོར་བ་ལ་ ེད་པར་
བཤད་དོ། །དེ་ ར་གསེར་ ེང་ལས་ག ངས་སོ། །
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 721

To summarize the above, initially the meditator goes in forward, or as-

cending, order through the nine meditative absorptions:
1. first concentration (bsam gtan dang po, prathamadhyāna)
2. second concentration (bsam gtan gnyis pa, dvitīyadhyāna)
3. third concentration (bsam gtan gsum pa, tritīyadhyāna)
4. fourth concentration (bsam gtan bzhi pa, caturthadhyāna)
5. limitless space (nam mkha’ mtha’ yas, ākāśānantya)
6. limitless consciousness (rnam shes mtha’ yas, vijñānānantya)
7. nothingness (ci yang med, ākiṃcaya)
8. peak of cyclic existence (srid rtse, bhavāgra)
9. cessation (’gog pa, nirodha)
and then the meditator comes in reverse, or descending, order back through
the eight meditative absorptions to a mind of the Desire Realm:
10. peak of cyclic existence
11. nothingness
12. limitless consciousness
13. limitless space
14. fourth concentration
15. third concentration
16. second concentration
17. first concentration
18. mind of the Desire Realm [a one-pointed mind of the Desire Realm
(’dod sems rtse gcig pa)]*
Taking this mind of the Desire Realm as the boundary, the meditator in-
terweaves, or alternates, meditative absorptions for the sake of developing
dexterity, beginning with an ascent interweaving cessation:
19. first concentration
20. cessation
21. second concentration
22. cessation
23. third concentration
24. cessation
25. fourth concentration
26. cessation
27. limitless space
28. cessation
29. limitless consciousness
30. cessation
31. nothingness
722 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

32. cessation
33. peak of cyclic existence
34. cessation
Ngag-wang-pal-dan indicates two intervening steps in order to return to
the boundary state before beginning the descent interweaving the mind of
the Desire Realm:
35. peak of cyclic existence
36. mind of the Desire Realm
Then, in the descent interweaving the mind of the Desire Realm, the med-
itator interweaves the mind of the Desire Realm:
37. cessation
38. the mind of the Desire Realm
39. peak of cyclic existence
40. the mind of the Desire Realm
41. nothingness
42. the mind of the Desire Realm
43. limitless consciousness
44. the mind of the Desire Realm
45. limitless space
46. the mind of the Desire Realm
47. fourth concentration
48. the mind of the Desire Realm
49. third concentration
50. the mind of the Desire Realm
51. second concentration
52. the mind of the Desire Realm
53. first concentration
54. the mind of the Desire Realm.
* Gung-thang Lo-drö-gya-tsho’s Annotations to (Haribhadra’s) “Clear
Meaning Commentary,” vol. 2, 319.15; Geshe Lobsang Gyaltshan ex-
plained that the period of the one-pointed mind of the Desire Realm lasts
for only a moment and is included within a mind of equipoise but is not a
mind of equipoise and is included within a mind of calm abiding but is not
a mind of calm abiding.
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 27ff.
83
V.26-32; Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 82a.7ff., divides
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 723

the seven stanzas on the second section, the conceptualizations to be aban-

doned by the path of meditation, into two parts: conceptualizations of ap-
prehended objects (gzung rtog) [as truly existent] and conceptualizations
of apprehending-subjects (’dzin rtog) [as truly existent]. The first, concep-
tualizations of apprehended objects, has two parts: conceptualizations of
apprehended objects that are objects of engagement (’jug pa gzung rtog)
and conceptualizations of apprehended objects that are objects of disen-
gagement (ldog pa gzung rtog).
The first part, conceptualizations of apprehended objects that are objects
of engagement, takes one and a half stanzas, V.26-27b:
{V.26}
(1) Brief, (2) extensive, (3) not being
Thoroughly taken care of by a Buddha,
(4-6) The nonexistence of qualities of the three times,
(7-9) The three aspects of paths to goodness—
{V.27}
These apprehended objects are one.
[A path of meditation] has these as objects of activity of aspects
of training.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 82a.7ff., fleshes these lines
out as:
The nine conceptualizations to be abandoned by the path of med-
itation that adhere to true existence with regard to:
(1) the high speech (gsung rab)—spoken for the sake of taking
care of sentient beings who like brief verbiage—as well as
the objects expressed [such as the paths and fruits of the Great
Vehicle]*
(2) the high speech—spoken for the sake of taking care of sen-
tient beings who like extensive verbiage—as well as the ob-
jects expressed
(3) [taking the perfection of wisdom to mind,]* the antidote to
not being thoroughly taken care of, that is, not being pro-
tected, by a Buddha due to one’s not acting intently with re-
gard to achieving the meaning of the brief and extensive
[sūtras]*
(4) the absence of ultimate existence of the qualities of the path
of preparation, which are past relative to the path of seeing
724 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

(5) the absence of ultimate existence of the present qualities of

the path of seeing
(6) the absence of ultimate existence of the future qualities of
the path of meditation
the means of attaining goodness, nirvāṇa:
(7) the path of preparation
(8) the path of seeing
(9) the path of meditation
[within thinking] “These are my apprehended objects of en-
gagement,” are one of four conceptualizations of apprehended
objects and apprehended subjects [as truly existent], the first.
Manifest [versions] of these are objects of activity of aspects of
training of a path of meditation, that is to say, are its temporary
objects of abandonment.
* Brackets are from Gung-thang Lo-drö-gya-tsho’s Annotations to
(Haribhadra’s) “Clear Meaning Commentary,” vol. 2, 322.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{V.26}
མདོར་བ ས་ ས་དང་སངས་ ས་ཀྱི། །བ ང་བས་ཡོངས་ ་མ་བ ང་དང་། །
ས་ག མ་ཡོན་ཏན་མེད་པ་དང་། །ལེགས་པའི་ལམ་ནི་ མ་ག མ་ལ། །
{V.27}
བ ང་བའི་ མ་ ོག་འདི་གཅིག་ ེ། ། ོར་བའི་ མ་པའི་ ོད་ ལ་ཅན། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཚིག་མདོར་བ ས་པ་ལ་དགའ་བའི་སེམས་ཅན་ ེས་ ་འཛིན་
པའི་དོན་ ་ག ངས་པའི་ག ང་རབ་བ ོད་ ་དང་བཅས་པ་
དང༌། ཚིག་ ས་པ་ལ་དགའ་བའི་སེམས་ཅན་ ེས་ ་འཛིན་པའི་
དོན་ ་ག ངས་པའི་ག ང་རབ་བ ོད་ ་དང་བཅས་པ་དང༌།
མདོ་ ས་ཀྱི་དོན་ལ་ བ་པ་ནན་ཏན་མི་ ེད་པས་སངས་ ས་
ཀྱིས་བ ངས་ཏེ་ཡོངས་ ་མ་བ ང་བ་ ེ་མགོན་མ་མཛད་པའི་
གཉེན་པོ་དང༌། མཐོང་ལམ་ལ་ སོ ་ཏེ་འདས་པ་ ོར་ལམ་གྱི་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 725

ཡོན་ཏན་དོན་དམ་པར་མེད་པ་དང༌། ད་ ར་བ་མཐོང་ལམ་གྱི་
ཡོན་ཏན་དོན་དམ་པར་མེད་པ་དང༌། མ་འོངས་པ་ ོམ་ལམ་གྱི་
ཡོན་ཏན་དོན་དམ་པར་མེད་པ་དང༌། ལེགས་པ་ ་ངན་ལས་
འདས་པ་ཐོབ་ ེད་ཀྱི་ ོར་བའི་ལམ་དང༌། མཐོང་བའི་ལམ་
དང༌། ོམ་པའི་ལམ་ལ་བདག་གི་འ ག་ འི་ག ང་བའོ་ཞེས་
བདེན་པར་ཞེན་པའི་ མོ ་ ངས་ ་ ར་པའི་ མ་ གོ ་དགུ་ནི་
ག ང་འཛིན་གྱི་ མ་ ོག་བཞིའི་གཅིག་ ་ེ དང་པོའོ། དེ་དག་
མངོན་ ར་བ་ནི་ ོམ་ལམ་གྱི་ རོ ་བའི་ མ་པའི་ དོ ་ ལ་ཏེ་
དེའི་གནས་ བས་ཀྱི་ ང་ ་ཡིན་ནོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 29ff.
84
The second part, conceptualizations of apprehended objects that are ob-
jects of disengagement (ldog pa gzung rtog), takes two and a half stanzas,
V.27c-29:
The second are asserted as being
Minds and mental factors, operative object-possessors.
{V.28}
Conceptualizations of (1) the mind not generated,
(2) The essence of enlightenment not taken to mind,
(3-4) Lesser Vehicles taken to mind
(5) Complete enlightenment not taken to mind,
{V.29}
(6) Meditation, (7) no meditation,
(8) Opposites from those,
(9) And improper meaning
Are to be known as the path of meditation.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 82b.5ff., fleshes these two
and a half stanzas out as:
The second, conceptualizations of apprehended objects that are
objects of disengagement, are asserted as being abandoned by
726 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

minds and mental factors, operative object-possessors—that

is, uninterrupted paths—encompassed by the path of meditation.
The nine conceptualizations to be abandoned by the path of med-
itation that adhere to true [existence, thinking], “These are my ap-
prehended objects of disengagement,” upon observing:
(1) the path of accumulation [of the Lesser Vehicle]* in which
the mind of enlightenment is not generated
(2) the path of accumulation [of the Lesser Vehicle]* in which
the essence of enlightenment, the body of attributes, is not
taken to mind as an object of attainment
(3) the path of preparation [of the Lesser Vehicle]* in which a
Lesser Vehicle, the Hearer Vehicle, is taken to mind as an
object of attainment
(4) the path of preparation [of the Lesser Vehicle]* in which a
Lesser Vehicle, the Solitary Victor Vehicle, is taken to mind
as an object of attainment
(5) the path of seeing in which complete enlightenment is not
taken to mind as an object of attainment
(6) the path of meditation [of the Lesser Vehicle]* in which a re-
flection of the perfection of wisdom is meditated
(7) the path of no-more-learning [of the Lesser Vehicle]* in
which there is no meditation of the perfection of wisdom
(8) awarenesses adhering to the four poles:
1. meditation
2. non-meditation
opposite from those—that is:
3. not meditation of the perfection of wisdom and not
without meditation of the perfection of wisdom—
and so forth**
(9) an awareness improperly conceiving of the meaning of the
mode of subsistence
are to be known as being objects of abandonment on the occasion
of the path of meditation.
* Brackets are from Gung-thang Lo-drö-gya-tsho’s Annotations to
(Haribhadra’s) “Clear Meaning Commentary,” vol. 2, 324-325.
** Gung-thang Lo-drö-gya-tsho (Annotations to [Haribhadra’s] “Clear
Meaning Commentary,” vol. 2, 325.6) explains the four as:
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 727

1. adhering to true existence regarding meditation

2. adhering to true existence regarding not meditation
and opposite from the above two:
3. adhering to true existence regarding both meditation and not
meditation
4. adhering to true existence regarding not both.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
གཉིས་པ་སེམས་དང་སེམས་ ང་ མས། །འ ག་པའི་ ལ་ཅན་ཡིན་བཞེད་དེ། །
{V.28}
སེམས་མི་ ེ་དང་ ང་ བ་ཀྱི། ། ིང་པོ་ཡིད་ལ་མི་ ེད་དང་། །
ཐེག་པ་དམན་པ་ཡིད་ ེད་དང་། ། ོགས་པའི་ ང་ བ་ཡིད་མི་ ེད། །
{V.29}
ོམ་དང་ ོམ་པ་མེད་པ་དང་། །དེ་དག་ལས་ནི་བ ོག་ཉིད་དང་། །
ི་བཞིན་དོན་མིན་ མ་ ོག་པ། ། ོམ་པའི་ལམ་ལ་ཤེས་པར་ ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
གཉིས་པ་ གོ ་པ་ག ང་ ོག་ནི་ མོ ་ལམ་གྱིས་བ ས་པའི་སེམས་
དང་སེམས་ ང་འ ག་པའི་ ལ་ཅན་ཏེ་བར་ཆད་མེད་ལམ་གྱིས་
ོང་པ་ཡིན་པར་བཞེད་དེ། ང་ བ་གྱི་སེམས་མི་ ་ེ བའི་ཚགས་
ལམ་དང༌། ང་ བ་ཀྱི་ ངི ་པོ་ཆོས་ ་ཐོབ་ ར་ཡིད་ལ་མི་ དེ ་
པའི་ཚགས་ལམ་དང༌། ཐེག་པ་དམན་པ་ཉན་ཐོས་ཀྱི་ཐེག་པ་ཐོབ་
ར་ཡིད་ལ་ དེ ་པའི་ རོ ་ལམ་དང༌། ཐེག་པ་དམན་པ་རང་ ལ་
གྱི་ཐེག་པ་ཐོབ་ ར་ཡིད་ལ་ དེ ་པའི་ ོར་ལམ་དང༌། གོ ས་པའི་
ང་ བ་ཐོབ་ ར་ཡིད་ལ་མི་ དེ ་པའི་མཐོང་ལམ་དང༌། ཤེར་
ིན་གྱི་ག གས་བ ན་ མོ ་པའི་ མོ ་ལམ་དང༌། ཤེར་ ིན་ མོ ་
པ་མེད་པའི་མི་ ོབ་ལམ་དང༌། ོམ་མི་ ོམ་དེ་དག་ལས་བ གོ ་
པ་ཤེར་ ནི ་ ོམ་པ་ཡང་མ་ཡིན་ཤེར་ ིན་ག གས་བ ན་ ོམ་
པ་མེད་པ་མ་ཡིན་པ་ལ་སོགས་པའི་ ་བཞིར་བདེན་པར་ཞེན་
728 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

པའི་ ོ་དང༌། གནས་ གས་ཀྱི་དོན་ ་ི ་བ་བཞིན་མིན་པར་

མངོན་པར་ཞེན་པའི་ ་ོ ལ་དམིགས་ནས་བདག་གི་ ོག་ འི་
ག ང་བའོ་ཞེས་བདེན་པར་ཞེན་པའི་ ོམ་ ངས་ ་ ར་བའི་
མ་ གོ ་དགུ་ནི་ མོ ་པའི་ལམ་གྱི་གནས་ བས་ ་ ང་པར་ ་
བ་ཡིན་པར་ཤེས་པར་ འོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 32ff.
85
V.30-32; Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 83a.4ff., divides
the second section above, conceptualizations of apprehending-subjects
(’dzin rtog) into two parts, conceptualizations apprehending substantial
existence (rdzas ’dzin rtog pa) and conceptualizations apprehending im-
puted existence (btags ’dzin rtog pa).
The first, conceptualizations apprehending substantial existence, takes two
stanzas, V.30-31:
{V.30}
(1) Objects of activity imputed as sentient beings,
(2) Imputations of phenomena, (3) the non-empty,
(4) Attachment, (5) a nature of intensive differentiation,
(6) Acting on things, (7) the three vehicles
{V.31}
(8) Impure donation,
(9) Disturbed behavior
Are proclaimed as to be known
As the first apprehensions.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 83a.4ff., fleshes these two
stanzas out as:
It is proclaimed in sūtra that the nine conceptualizations to be
abandoned by the path of meditation that conceive of a partaker*
(longs spyod pa po)—qualified by substantial existence—as truly
existent upon observing:
(1) objects of activity imputed as sentient beings, that is, sen-
tient beings imputed to aggregates and so forth
(2) imputations of eyes, forms, and so forth as the phenomena
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 729

of objects and object-possessors [that is, subjects]

(3) those which are not empty of existing in conventional terms,
such as exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects and so forth
(4) attachment to phenomena as truly existent
(5) intensively differentiating the doctrine of the absence of true
existence
(6) acting to achieve the object of intent by way of observing the
aggregates as truly established things
(7) final deliverance, the place of definite emergence by the
three vehicles
(8) impure donation due to not being a field of merit
(9) disturbed behavior due to practicing upon having observed
giving and so on as truly existent
are to be known as being the first apprehensions, that is, con-
ceptualizations of a substantially existent apprehender.
* longs spyod pa po: partaker, enjoyer, user.
As Tshe-chog-ling Ye-shay-gyal-tshan’s Quintessential Instructions
Clearly Teaching the Essentials of (Tsong-kha-pa’s) “Stages of the Path
to Enlightenment,” Correlating the “Eight Thousand Stanza Perfection of
Wisdom Sūtra” with (Maitreya’s) “Ornament for Clear Realization”
(61a.1) says:
Concerning how those nine conceptualizations go as apprehend-
ing substantial existence, they have conception thinking “a self
that is a substantially existent apprehender” with respect to phe-
nomena possessing those objects, whereby they are posited as
conceptualizations conceiving such [that is, conceptualizations
conceiving substantial existence]. (rtog pa dgu po de dag rdzas
’dzin du ’gro tshul ni yul de dag dang ldan pa’i chos la rdzas yod
kyi ’dzin po po’i bdag go snyam du zhen pa yod pas de ltar du
zhen pa’i rtog par ’jog pa’o)
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{V.30}
སེམས་ཅན་བཏགས་པའི་ ོད་ ལ་དང་། །ཆོས་བཏགས་པ་དང་ ོང་མིན་ཉིད། །
ཆགས་དང་རབ་འ ེད་བདག་ཉིད་དང་། །དངོས་པོར་ ེད་དང་ཐེག་ག མ་དང་། །
{V.31}
ཡོན་ནི་དག་པ་མ་ཡིན་དང་། ། ོད་པ་ མ་པར་འ ག་པ་ལ། །
730 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

འཛིན་པར་ ེད་པ་དང་པོར་ཏེ། །ཤེས་པར་ ་བ་བ གས་པ་ཡིན། །

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
སེམས་ཅན་ ་བཏགས་པའི་ དོ ་ ལ་ཏེ་ ང་སོགས་ལ་བཏགས་
པའི་སེམས་ཅན་དང་། མིག་དང་ག གས་སོགས་ལ་ ལ་ ལ་
ཅན་གྱི་ཆོས་ ་བཏགས་པ་དང་ མ་མཁྱེན་སོགས་ཐ་ ད་ ་
མེད་པའི་ ངོ ་པ་མ་ཡིན་པ་དང་། ཆོས་ལ་བདེན་པར་ཆགས་པ་
དང་། བདེན་པར་མེད་པའི་ཆོས་རབ་ ་ མ་པར་འ དེ ་པ་དང་།
ང་པོ་ལ་བདེན་ བ་ཀྱི་དངོས་པོར་དམིགས་པའི་ ོ་ནས་ཆེད་
་ ་བ་ བ་པར་ དེ ་པ་དང་། ཐེག་པ་ག མ་གྱིས་ངེས་པར་
འ ང་བའི་འ ང་ས་མཐར་ ག་པར་འ ིན་པ་དང་། བསོད་
ནམས་ཀྱི་ཞིང་མ་ཡིན་པས་ཡོན་མ་དག་པ་དང་། ིན་སོགས་ལ་
བདེན་པར་དམིགས་ཏེ་ བ་པས་ དོ ་པ་ མ་པར་འ ག་པ་ལ་
དམིགས་ནས་ ས་ཡོད་ཀྱིས་ཁྱད་པར་ ་ ས་པའི་ལོངས་ ོད་པ་
པོར་བདེན་པར་ཞེན་པའི་ ོམ་ ངས་ ་ ར་པའི་ མ་ གོ ་དགུ་
ནི་འཛིན་པར་ དེ ་པ་དང་པོ་ ས་འཛིན་ ོག་པ་ཡིན་པར་ཤེས་
པར་ འོ་ཞེས་མདོ་ལས་བ གས་པ་ཡིན་ནོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 34ff.
86
V.32-34; the second section above, conceptualizations apprehending im-
puted existence (btags ’dzin rtog pa), takes three stanzas, the first of which
is a brief indication, and the remaining two stanzas are an extensive expla-
nation. Jam-yang-shay-pa cites only the first stanza, V.32:
{V.32}
There are nine other aspects of the discordant class,
Related with the path of meditation,
Since it overcomes those having as objects
The imputation of sentient beings and the causes of those.
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 731

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 83b.2ff., fleshes this stanza

out as:
There are nine aspects of the discordant class, other than the
earlier ones, related with the path of meditation as antidotes to
objects of abandonment, since path-of-meditation peak trainings
overcome [innate conceptualizations that are]* object-possessors
[that is, conceptual consciousnesses conceiving the true existence]
of the two—the imputation of conventions as sentient beings
and the causal factors (rgyu mtshan) of positing those imputa-
tions.
* The brackets in this paragraph are from Gung-thang Lo-drö-gya-tsho’s
Annotations to [Haribhadra’s] “Clear Meaning Commentary,” vol. 2,
331.6.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{V.32}
སེམས་ཅན་བཏགས་དང་དེའི་ ་ཡི། ། ལ་ཅན་དེ་ཡིས་ མ་འ ོམས་པས། །
ོམ་པའི་ལམ་དང་འ ེལ་པ་ཡི། །མི་མ ན་ ོགས་གཞན་ མ་པ་དགུ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
སེམས་ཅན་ ་ཐ་ ད་བཏགས་པ་དང་བཏགས་པ་དེར་ མ་པར་
འ ོག་པའི་ ་མཚན་གཉིས་ཀྱི་ ལ་ཅན་ མོ ་ལམ་ ེ་ རོ ་དེ་
ཡིས་ མ་པར་འ མོ ས་པས་ མོ ་པའི་ལམ་དང་ ང་གཉེན་ ་
འ ལེ ་བའི་མི་མ ན་ གོ ས་ ་མ་ལས་གཞན་ མ་པ་དགུ་ཡོད་
དོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 37.
Jam-yang-shay-pa, unlike the pattern above, does not cite the two stan-
zas concerning the extensive explanation of conceptualizations appre-
hending imputed existence, but let us add them here, V.33-34:
{V.33}
Thorough obscuration about (1-3) the three aspects
Of obstructions to the three exalted knowers respectively,
(4) The paths for pacification, (5) thusness
732 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

And so forth not possessing association,

{V.34}
(6) Inequality, (7) suffering
And so forth, (8) the nature
Of afflictive emotions, (9) and nonduality
Are asserted as the final conceptualizations.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 83b.4, continuing from the
paragraph just above, fleshes these two stanzas out as:
What are those? The conceptualizations to be abandoned by the
path of meditation that conceive of a partaker (longs spyod pa
po)—qualified by imputed existence—as truly existent upon ob-
serving nine objects:
(1-3) thorough obscuration about the methods for removing the
three aspects of obstructions to generating the three exalted
knowers respectively, that is, each of the three exalted knowers:
1. thorough obscuration about the methods for removing the
obstructions to generating exalted-knowers-of-all-aspects
2. thorough obscuration about the methods for removing the
obstructions to generating knowers of paths
3. thorough obscuration about the methods for removing the
obstructions to generating knowers of bases
(4) thorough obscuration about the path [the perfection of wis-
dom]* for pacifying all obstructions
(5) thorough obscuration about thusness and form and so
forth not possessing association, that is, not possessing
sameness of entity, which is to say being different entities
(6) thorough obscuration about the inequality of the paths of
the Lesser Vehicle and the Great Vehicle
(7) thorough obscuration about the four truths—suffering and
so forth
(8) thorough obscuration about the nature of afflictive emo-
tions
(9) thorough obscuration about the nonduality that is the emp-
tiness of a different substantial entity between apprehended-
object and apprehending-subject
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 733

are asserted as being the final conceptualizations, that is, con-

ceptualizations of an imputedly existent apprehender (btags ’dzin
rtog pa).
* Tshe-chog-ling Ye-shay-gyal-tshan’s Quintessential Instructions
Clearly Teaching the Essentials of (Tsong-kha-pa’s) “Stages of the Path
to Enlightenment,” Correlating the “Eight Thousand Stanza Perfection of
Wisdom Sūtra” with (Maitreya’s) “Ornament for Clear Realization,”
61a.5.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{V.33}
བདག་ཉིད་ ི་བཞིན་ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ནི། །ག མ་གྱི་ ིབ་པ་ མ་ག མ་དང༌། །
ཞི་ལམ་དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་སོགས་དང༌། །མ ངས་པར་ ན་དང་མི་ ན་དང༌། །
{V.34}
མི་མཉམ་ ག་བ ལ་ལ་སོགས་དང༌། །ཉོན་མོངས་ མས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་དང༌། །
གཉིས་ ་མེད་ལ་ཀུན་ ོངས་དང༌། ། མ་པར་ ོག་པ་ཐ་མར་བཞེད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
དེ་དག་གང་ཞེ་ན། བདག་ཉིད་ ་ི བཞིན་ཏེ་མཁྱེན་ག མ་རང་
རང་ ེད་པའི་ བི ་པ་ མ་པ་ག མ་ ེ་ མ་མཁྱེན་ ེད་པའི་ ིབ་
པ་སེལ་བའི་ཐབས་ལ་ཀུན་ ་ ངོ ས་པ་དང༌། ལམ་ཤེས་ དེ ་
པའི་ ིབ་པ་སེལ་བའི་ཐབས་ལ་ཀུན་ ་ ོངས་པ་དང༌། གཞི་
ཤེས་ ེད་པའི་ ིབ་པ་སེལ་བའི་ཐབས་ལ་ཀུན་ ་ ོངས་པ་དང༌།
ིབ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཞི་བར་ ེད་པའི་ལམ་ལ་ཀུན་ ་ ངོ ས་པ་
དང༌། དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་དང་ག གས་སོགས་མ ངས་པར་ ན་པ་ ེ་
ངོ་བོ་གཅིག་དང་མི་ ན་པ་ ེ་ངོ་བོ་ཐ་དད་པ་ལ་ཀུན་ ་ ོངས་
པ་དང༌། ཐེག་དམན་དང་ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་ལམ་མི་མཉམ་པ་ལ་ཀུན་
་ ོངས་པ་དང༌། ག་བ ལ་ལ་སོགས་པའི་བདེན་པ་བཞི་ལ་
ཀུན་ ་ ངོ ས་པ་དང༌། ཉོན་མོངས་པ་ མས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་ལ་
ཀུན་ ་ ངོ ས་པ་དང༌། ག ང་འཛིན་ ས་ཐ་དད་ཀྱིས་ ངོ ་པའི་
734 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

གཉིས་ ་མེད་པ་ལ་ཀུན་ ་ ངོ ས་པ་ ེ་ ལ་དགུ་ལ་དམིགས་

ནས་བཏགས་ཡོད་ཀྱིས་ཁྱད་པར་ ་ ས་པའི་ལོངས་ དོ ་པ་པོར་
བདེན་པར་ཞེན་པའི་ མོ ་ ངས་ ་ ར་པའི་ ོག་པ་ནི་ མ་
པར་ གོ ་པ་ཐ་མ་བཏགས་འཛིན་ གོ ་པ་ཡིན་པར་བཞེད་དོ། །
87

48th Topic
7. Uninterrupted Peak Trainings (བར་ཆད་མེད་པའི་ ེ་ རོ ་)
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 84a.6, divides the six stanzas
on uninterrupted peak trainings into three parts, two stanzas on the entity
of uninterrupted peak trainings (V.37-38), one stanza on the “causes” of
uninterrupted peak trainings (V.39), and three stanzas on the objects of
abandonment by uninterrupted peak trainings (V.40-42). Jam-yang-shay-
pa cites the two stanzas on the entity except for the last line, skips the
stanza on the “causes,” and in Topic 49, Wrong Achievings to be Avoided,
cites the three stanzas on the objects of abandonment.
V.37-38c:
{V.37}
That which is uninterrupted to Buddhahood
Having much more merit than, for example,
The virtues setting the beings of the billion [world-systems]
In the fulfillment of realizations
{V.38}
Of Hearers and Rhinoceros-like Solitary Victors
And in the flawlessness of Bodhisattvas
Is the uninterrupted meditative stabilization.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan (Meaning of the Words, 84a.6ff.) fleshes out these
lines plus the final line of the second stanza as:
The uninterrupted meditative stabilization—the cause for at-
taining Buddhahood, uninterrupted by any other phenome-
non—is taught within being characterized by way of indicating
that, for example, the merit of generating the first mind [that is,
the first Bodhisattva ground]* is much more than the virtues, the
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 735

merit, of setting all the beings of the billion [world-systems] in

the fulfillment of realizations of Hearers and Rhinoceros-like
Solitary Victors, and the merit of entering into enlightenment is
much more than, for example, the virtues of setting all beings of
the billion [world-systems] in:
(1) the ground of seeing the wholesome
(2) the ground of lineage
(3) the ground of the eighth
(4) the ground of seeing
(5) the ground of diminishment
(6) the ground of separation from desire
(7) the ground of realizing completion
(8) ground of a Solitary Victor, and
(9) the flawlessness of a Bodhisattva [the first Bodhisattva
ground].*
The fruit of that meditative stabilization, Buddhahood, is an ex-
alted-knower-of-all-aspects itself.
* Gung-thang Lo-drö-gya-tsho’s Annotations to [Haribhadra’s] “Clear
Meaning Commentary,” vol. 2, 339.5.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{V.37}
ངོ ་ག མ་ ེ་བོ་ཉན་ཐོས་དང་། །བསེ་ འི་ ོགས་པ་ ན་ཚགས་དང་། །
ང་ བ་སེམས་དཔའི་ ོན་མེད་ལ། །བཀོད་པའི་དགེ་བ་དཔེར་མཛད་ནས། །
{V.38}
བསོད་ནམས་མང་པོ་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་ནི། །སངས་ ས་ཉིད་ཀྱི་བར་མེད་དེ། །
བར་ཆད་མེད་པའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན། །[དེ་ནི་ མ་པ་ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཉིད། །]
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ངོ ་ག མ་གྱི་ ེ་བོ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཉན་ཐོས་དང་བསེ་ ་ ་ ་རང་
ལ་གྱི་ གོ ས་པ་ ན་ཚགས་ལ་བཀོད་བའི་དགེ་བ་ ེ་བསོད་
ནམས་དཔེར་མཛད་ནས་དེ་ལས་སེམས་དང་པོ་བ ེད་པ་བསོད་
ནམས་མང་ཞིང༌། ོང་ག མ་གྱི་ ་ེ བོ་ཐམས་ཅད་དཀར་པོ་ མ་
མཐོང་དང་རིགས་དང་བ ད་པ་དང་མཐོང་བ་དང་བ བས་པ་
736 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

དང་འདོད་ཆགས་དང་ ལ་བ་དང་ ས་པ་ གོ ས་པ་དང་རང་

ལ་གྱི་ས་དང་ ང་སེམས་ཀྱི་ ནོ ་མེད་པ་ལ་བཀོད་པའི་དགེ་བ་
དཔེར་མཛད་ནས་དེ་བས་ ང་ བ་ ་ གས་པའི་བསོད་ནམས་
མང་པོར་བ ན་པའི་ ་ོ ནས་མཚན་ཏེ་སངས་ ས་འཐོབ་པ་ལ་
ཆོས་གཞན་གྱིས་བར་མ་ཆད་པའི་ ་བར་ཆད་མེད་པའི་ཏིང་ངེ་
འཛིན་ ོན་ཏེ། ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་དེའི་འ ས་ ་སངས་ ས་དེ་ནི་
མ་པ་ཀུན་མཁྱེན་པ་ཉིད་ཡིན་ནོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 41ff.
88

49th Topic
8. Wrong Achievings to be Avoided (བསལ་ ་ལོག་ བ་)
There are three stanzas on wrong achievings to be avoided, which are ob-
jects of abandonment by uninterrupted peak trainings, V.40-42.
V.40-41a:
{V.40}
1. The logical feasibility of objects of observation,
2. Distinguishing their entities,
3. The pristine wisdom of an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects,
4. The ultimate and the obscurational,
{V.41}
5. Trainings, 6.-8. the three jewels,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 84b.7ff., fleshes these lines
out as:
[There are sixteen wrong conceptions revolving around the prop-
osition that the emptiness of true existence and performance of
function are contradictory:]
1. It follows that objects of observation of uninterrupted peak
trainings are not logically feasible because [according to you]
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 737

ultimately the two—compounded and uncompounded ob-

jects—do not exist.
2. It follows that distinguishing—that is, a way of realizing—
the entities of the objects of observation of uninterrupted
peak trainings is not logically feasible because [according to
you] all phenomena ultimately do not exist.
3. It follows that the pristine wisdom of an exalted-knower-
of-all-aspects does not exist because [according to you] ulti-
mately the two—effective things and noneffective things—
do not exist.
4. It follows that dividing [phenomena] into the two—ultimate
and obscurational truths— is not logically feasible because
[according to you] ultimately those two are not divisible.
5. It follows that the practice of trainings, giving and so forth,
does not exist because [according to you] the three spheres
[action, agent, and object] of giving and so forth to not ulti-
mately exist.
6. It follows that the Buddha jewel does not exist because [ac-
cording to you] ultimately objects to which an awareness
could be extended among the knowable (shes bya la blo rgyas
pa’i yul) do not exist.
7. It follows that the doctrine jewel does not exist because [ac-
cording to you] all phenomena ultimately are reduced to only
nominally imputed.
8. It follows that the spiritual community jewel does not exist
because [according to you] the bases of imputation as spiritual
community, forms and so forth, do not exist.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{V.40}
དམིགས་པ་འཐད་དང་དེ་ཡི་ནི། །ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ངེས་བ ང་བ་དང་། །
མ་ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཉིད་ཡེ་ཤེས་དང་། །དམ་པའི་དོན་དང་ཀུན་ ོབ་དང་། །
{V.41}
ོར་དང་དཀོན་མཆོག་ག མ་པོ་དང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
བར་ཆད་མེད་ ེའི་དམིགས་པ་མི་འཐད་པར་ཐལ། དོན་དམ་
པར་འ ས་ ས་མ་ ས་ཀྱི་ ལ་གཉིས་མེད་པའི་ ིར་ཞེས་པ་
738 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

དང་པོ་དང༌། བར་ཆད་མེད་ འེ ི་དམིགས་པའི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ངེས་

པར་ག ང་བ་ ེ་དེ་ གོ ས་པའི་ ལ་མི་འཐད་པར་ཐལ། ཆོས་
ཐམས་ཅད་དོན་དམ་པར་མེད་པའི་ ིར་ཞེས་པ་གཉིས་པ་དང༌།
མ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་མཁྱེན་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་མེད་པར་ཐལ། དོན་དམ་
པར་དངོས་པོ་དང་དངོས་མེད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་གཉིས་མེད་པའི་ རི ་ཞེས་
པ་ག མ་པ་དང༌། དོན་དམ་དང་ཀུན་ བོ ་བདེན་པ་གཉིས་ ་ ེ་
བ་མི་འཐད་པར་ཐལ། དོན་དམ་པར་དེ་གཉིས་ད ེར་མེད་ཡིན་
པའི་ ིར་ཞེས་པ་བཞི་པ་དང༌། རོ ་བ་ ེ་ ིན་སོགས་ཉམས་ ་
ལེན་པ་མེད་པར་ཐལ། ིན་སོགས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ག མ་དོན་དམ་
པར་མེད་པའི་ ིར་ཞེས་པ་ ་པ་དང༌། སངས་ ས་དཀོན་མཆོག་
མེད་པར་ཐལ། དོན་དམ་པར་ཤེས་ ་ལ་ ོ་ ས་པའི་ ལ་མེད་
པའི་ ིར་ཞེས་པ་ ག་པ་དང༌། ཆོས་དཀོན་མཆོག་མེད་པར་ཐལ།
ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་དོན་དམ་པར་མིང་ ་བཏགས་པ་ཙམ་ ་ཟད་
པའི་ ིར་ཞེས་པ་བ ན་པ་དང༌། དགེ་འ ན་དཀོན་མཆོག་མེད་
པར་ཐལ། དགེ་འ ན་ ་གདགས་པའི་གཞི་ག གས་སོགས་དོན་
དམ་པར་མེད་པའི་ རི ་ཞེས་པ་བ ད་པ་དང༌།
V.41bc:
9. Skill in means, 10. the realizations of a Subduer [Buddha],
11. Error, 12. paths,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 85a.5ff., fleshes these lines
out as:
9. It follows that skill in means such as mental discouragement
and so forth and so forth does not exist because [according to
you] observation in terms of the three spheres of giving and
so forth is refuted.
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 739

10. It follows that the clear realizations of a Subduer [Buddha]

do not exist because [according to you] that realizations of
things in the four alternatives of existing, not existing, and so
forth are clear realizations of a Subduer is refuted.
11. It follows that the distinctions of being and not being wrong
with respect to the two—apprehensions as the four, perma-
nent and so forth, and apprehensions as the four, impermanent
and so forth—do not exist because [according to you] ulti-
mately both permanence and impermanence and so forth do
not exist.
12. It follows that the purpose of the meditative cultivation of the
three paths by Bodhisattvas does not exist because [accord-
ing to you] the fruits of two paths, the nirvāṇas of Hearers and
Solitary Victors, are not actualized.
Maitreya’s Ornament:

ཐབས་བཅས་ བ་པའི་ ོགས་པ་དང་། །

ིན་ཅི་ལོག་ནི་ལམ་བཅས་དང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
སེམས་མི་འགོང་བ་སོགས་ཀྱི་ཐབས་ལ་མཁས་པ་མེད་པར་ཐལ།
ིན་སོགས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ག མ་ ་དམིགས་པ་བཀག་པའི་ རི ་ཞེས་
པ་དགུ་པ་དང༌། བ་པའི་མངོན་ གོ ས་མེད་པར་ཐལ། དངོས་
པོ་ཡོད་མེད་སོགས་མཐའ་བཞིར་ གོ ས་པ་ བ་པའི་མངོན་
ོགས་ཡིན་པ་བཀག་པའི་ ིར་ཞེས་བ ་པ་དང༌། ག་སོགས་
བཞིར་འཛིན་པ་དང་མི་ ག་སོགས་བཞིར་འཛིན་པ་གཉིས་ལ་
ནི ་ཅི་ལོག་ཡིན་མིན་གྱི་ཁྱད་པར་མེད་པར་ཐལ། དོན་དམ་པར་
ག་མི་ ག་སོགས་གཉིས་ཀ་མེད་པའི་ ིར་ཞེས་པ་བ ་གཅིག་
པ་དང༌། ང་སེམས་ཀྱིས་ལམ་ག མ་ ོམ་པ་ལ་དགོས་པ་མེད་
པར་ཐལ། ལམ་གཉིས་ཀྱི་འ ས་ ་ཉན་རང་གི་ ང་འདས་
740 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

མངོན་ ་མི་ ེད་པའི་ ིར་ཞེས་པ་བ ་གཉིས་པ་དང༌།

V.41d-42:
13. Antidotal, 14. and unfavorable classes,
{V.42}
15. Characteristics, 16. meditative cultivation—
These wrong conceptions by proponents
Concerning an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects
Are asserted in sixteen aspects.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 85b.2ff., fleshes these lines
out as:
13. It follows that the class of antidotes does not exist because
[according to you] ultimately objects to be adopted do not ex-
ist.
14. It follows that the unfavorable class does not exist because
[according to you] ultimately objects discarded do not exist.
15. It follows that specific and general characteristics of phe-
nomena do not exist because [according to you] ultimately all
phenomena are characterless.
16. It follows that meditative cultivation of the path for the sake
of attaining an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects is not logically
feasible because [according to you] ultimately the specific
and general characteristics of objects of meditation do not ex-
ist.
It is asserted in sūtra that there are sixteen aspects of wrong con-
ceptions—based on an exalted-knower-of-all-aspects and the
objects of observation and the aspect of its cause, uninterrupted
peak trainings—by those propounding that the emptiness of true
existence and performance of function are contradictory…These
indicate that Bodhisattvas should become skilled in the divisions
of the two truths, and clear away wrong conceptions with respect
to the objects of observation and the aspects of uninterrupted peak
trainings, and having done so, generate the uninterrupted medita-
tive stabilization.
The differences between Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s list of sixteen and Jam-
yang-shay-pa’s sixteen divisions of wrong achievings to be avoided (see
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 741

below in the text) reflect different readings among various Indian and ear-
lier Ge-lug-pa commentators.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
གཉེན་པོ་མི་མ ན་ ོགས་དག་དང་། །
{V.42}
མཚན་ཉིད་དང་ནི་ ོམ་པ་ལ། ། ་བ་ མས་ཀྱིས་ལོག་ ོག་པ། །
མ་པ་ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཉིད་ ེན་ཅན། ། མ་པ་བ ་ ག་དག་ ་བཞེད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
གཉེན་པོའི་ གོ ས་མེད་པར་ཐལ། དོན་དམ་པར་ ང་ ་མེད་
པའི་ ིར་ཞེས་པ་བ ་ག མ་པ་དང༌། མི་མ ན་ གོ ས་མེད་པར་
ཐལ། དོན་དམ་པར་དོར་ ་མེད་པའི་ ིར་ཞེས་པ་བ ་བཞི་པ་
དང༌། ཆོས་ མས་ཀྱི་རང་ ིའི་མཚན་ཉིད་མེད་པར་ཐལ། དོན་
དམ་པར་ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་མཚན་ཉིད་མེད་པའི་ ིར་ཞེས་པ་བཅོ་
་པ་དང༌། མ་མཁྱེན་ཐོབ་ཆེད་ ་ལམ་ མོ ་པ་མི་འཐད་པར་
ཐལ། དོན་དམ་པར་བ ོམ་ ་རང་ ིའི་མཚན་ཉིད་མེད་པའི་
ིར་ཞེས་པ་བ ་ ག་པ་ ེ། བདེན་ ོང་དང་ ་བ་ ེད་པ་
འགལ་བར་ ་བ་ མས་ཀྱི་ལོག་པར་ གོ ་པ་ མ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་
མཁྱེན་པ་དང་དེའི་ ་བར་ཆད་མེད་པའི་ ེ་ ོར་གྱི་དམིགས་
མ་ལ་བ ནེ ་པ་ཅན་ མ་པ་བ ་ ག་ཡོད་པར་མདོ་ལས་
བཞེད་དོ། །… དེ་དག་གིས་ ང་སེམས་ མས་ཀྱིས་བདེན་གཉིས་
ཀྱི་ མ་ད ་ེ ལ་མཁས་པར་ ས་ཤིང་བར་ཆད་མེད་ ེའི་དམིགས་
མ་ལ་ལོག་ ོག་བསལ་ནས་བར་ཆད་མེད་པའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་
བ ེད་པར་ འོ་ཞེས་བ ན་པའོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 43ff.
742 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

89

50th Topic
1. Perfection of Giving ( ིན་པའི་ཕར་ ིན་)
51st Topic
2. Perfection of Ethics ( ལ་ཁྲིམས་ཀྱི་ཕར་ ནི ་)
52nd Topic
3. Perfection of Patience (བཟོད་པའི་ཕར་ ནི ་)
53rd Topic
4. Perfection of Effort (བ ོན་འ ས་ཀྱི་ཕར་ ིན་)
54th Topic
5. Perfection of Concentration (བསམ་གཏན་གྱི་ཕར་ ིན་)
55th Topic
6. Perfection of Wisdom (ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕར་ ིན་)
56th Topic
7. Recollection of the Buddha Jewel (སངས་ ས་དཀོན་
མཆོག་ སེ ་ ་ ན་པ་)
57th Topic
8. Recollection of the Doctrine Jewel (ཆོས་དཀོན་མཆོག་
ེས་ ་ ན་པ་)
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 743

58th Topic
9. Recollection of the Spiritual Community Jewel
(དགེ་བ ན་དཀོན་མཆོག་ སེ ་ ་ ན་པ་)
59th Topic
10. Recollection of ethics ( ལ་ཁྲིམས་ ེས་ ་ ན་པ་)
[illustrating reversal from the unfavorable class]
60th Topic
11. Recollection of generosity (གཏོང་བ་ སེ ་ ་ ན་པ་)
[illustrating engagement in virtue]
61st Topic
12. Recollection of deities [endowed with the eye
of pristine wisdom] and gurus ( ་ ་མ་ ེས་ ་ ན་པ་) [as
judges of whether virtues or nonvirtues are
performed]
62nd Topic
13. Realizing the naturelessness (ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མེད་པ་ ོགས་པ་)
[of all those twelve]
Chapter VI. Explaining the thirteen phenomena
characterizing serial trainings
A brief indication of serial trainings is given in two half-lines, I.16ab:
The serial
Having thirteen aspects.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 6a.6, fleshes out these two
half-lines as:
744 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

The six:
1. serial training in giving
2. serial training in ethics
3. serial training in patience
4. serial training in effort
5. serial training in concentration
6. serial training in wisdom
and the six:
7. serial training in recollection of the Buddha
8. serial training in recollection of the Doctrine
9. serial training in recollection of the spiritual community
10. serial training in recollection of ethics
11. serial training in recollection of generosity
12. serial training in recollection of deities
and:
13. serial training in realizing all phenomena as ultimately nature-
less
are the thirteen phenomena characterizing serial trainings.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
མཐར་གྱིས་པ། ། མ་ག མ་ མ་བ ་
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ིན་པའི་མཐར་གྱིས་པ་ནས་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་མཐར་གྱིས་པའི་བར་
ག་དང༌། སངས་ ས་དང༌། ཆོས་དང༌། དགེ་འ ན་དང༌། ལ་
ཁྲིམས་དང༌། གཏོང་པ་དང༌། ་ སེ ་ ་ ན་པའི་མཐར་གྱིས་པ་
ག་དང༌། ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་དོན་དམ་པར་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མེད་པར་
ོགས་པའི་མཐར་གྱིས་པ་ མས་ནི་མཐར་གྱིས་ ོར་བ་མཚན་
ེད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་བ ་ག མ་མོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 1, 6.
90
The extensive explanation of serial trainings is given in a single stanza,
VI.1:
{VI.1}
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 745

Giving through to wisdom,

Recollections of the Buddha and so forth,
And phenomena as the nature of thinglessness
Are asserted as the serial activity.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 86a.3ff., fleshes out this
stanza as:
The training in stages in the 173 aspects of the three exalted know-
ers by way of being conjoined with the thirteen—the six perfec-
tions ranging from giving through to wisdom; the six recollec-
tions of the Buddha, the doctrine, the spiritual community, eth-
ics, generosity, and deities; and realizing all phenomena as ulti-
mately having the nature of thinglessness (dngos po med pa’i
ngo bo nyid)—is asserted in sūtra as the serial activity (mthar
gyis pa’i bya ba), the serial learning (mthar gyis pa’i slob pa), and
the serial achieving (mthar gyis pa’i sgrub pa).
Moreover, those are associated as “the serial activity” on the
occasion of the path of accumulation, as “the serial learning” on
the occasion of the path of preparation, and as “the serial achiev-
ing” on the occasion of the path of seeing.” With respect to the
way [the training in stages in the 173 aspects of the three exalted
knowers] is conjoined with the thirteen phenomena, the thirteen
serial trainings were set forth in order to know that when the as-
pects of the three exalted knowers are meditated in stages, it is
necessary to practice by way of being conjoined with:
• nonseparation from the deeds, the practice of the six perfec-
tions
• nonseparation from the support, recollection of the qualities
of the Three Jewels
• nonseparation from reversal from the unfavorable class, rec-
ollection of ethics, and from engagement in the class of vir-
tues as illustrated by recollection of the benefits of generosity
• nonseparation from recollection of divine superiors (lha
’phags pa) and gurus having the life-supports of all three
realms [that is, those in the Desire, Form, and Formless
Realms] as the sovereigns of those
• wisdom realizing emptiness without adhering to all those as
truly existent.
746 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

Maitreya’s Ornament:
{VI.1}
ནི ་པ་ཤེས་རབ་བར་དག་དང་། །སངས་ ས་ལ་སོགས་ ན་དང་ཆོས། །
དངོས་མེད་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་དེ། །མཐར་གྱིས་པ་ཡི་ ་བར་བཞེད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ནི ་པ་ནས་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་བར་ཕར་ ནི ་ ག་དང༌། སངས་ ས་
དང༌། ཆོས་དང༌། དགེ་འ ན་དང༌། ལ་ཁྲིམས་དང༌། གཏོང་བ་
དང༌། ་ སེ ་ ་ ན་པ་ ག་དང༌། ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་དོན་དམ་
པར་དངོས་པོ་མེད་པའི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ ་ ོགས་པའི་ཤེས་རབ་ ེ་
བ ་ག མ་གྱིས་ཟིན་པའི་ ོ་ནས་མཁྱེན་ག མ་གྱི་ མ་པ་བ ད་
དང་དོན་ག མ་རིམ་ཅན་ ་ ོམ་པའི་ ོར་བ་ནི་མཐར་གྱིས་
པའི་ ་བ་དང་མཐར་གྱིས་པའི་ ོབ་པ་དང་མཐར་གྱིས་བའི་
བ་པ་ཡིན་པར་མདོ་ལས་བཞེད་དོ། །དེ་ཡང་ཚགས་ལམ་གྱི་
བས་ ་མཐར་གྱིས་ ་བ་དང༌། ོར་ལམ་གྱི་ བས་ ་མཐར་
གྱིས་ ོབ་པ་དང༌། མཐོང་ ོམ་གྱི་ བས་ ་མཐར་གྱིས་ བ་པ་
ཞེས་ ར་རོ། །ཆོས་བ ་ག མ་གྱིས་ཟིན་པར་ དེ ་ ལ་ནི།
མཁྱེན་ག མ་གྱི་ མ་པ་རིམ་ཅན་ ་ ོམ་པའི་ཚ་ ོད་པ་ ིན་
ག་ཉམས་ ་ལེན་པ་དང་མི་འ ལ་བ་དང༌། ེན་དཀོན་མཆོག་
ག མ་གྱི་ཡོན་ཏན་ ེས་ ་ ན་པ་དང་མི་འ ལ་བ་དང༌། མི་
མ ན་ ོགས་ལས་ གོ ་པ་ ལ་ཁྲིམས་ཀྱི་ཕན་ཡོན་དང་དགེ་
ོགས་ལ་འ ག་པ་མཚན་པ་གཏོང་བའི་ཕན་ཡོན་ ེས་ ་ ན་
པ་དང་མི་འ ལ་བ་དང༌། དེ་དག་གི་དབང་པོ་ཉིད་ ་ཁམས་
ག མ་ཀའི་ ེན་ཅན་གྱི་ ་འཕགས་པ་དང་ ་མ་ ེས་ ་ ན་པ་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 747

དང་མི་འ ལ་བ་དང༌། དེ་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་བདེན་ཞེན་མེད་པར་

ོང་ཉིད་ གོ ས་པའི་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱིས་ཟིན་པའི་ ོ་ནས་ཉམས་ ་
ལེན་དགོས་པར་ཤེས་པའི་ཆེད་ ་མཐར་གྱིས་ ོར་བ་བ ་ག མ་
ག ངས་སོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 43ff.
91

Chapter VII. Explaining the four phenomena

characterizing momentary trainings
As a brief indication of momentary trainings Jam-yang-shay-pa cites a
mere listing of the category, I.4bc:
single moment
Manifest complete enlightenment;
Maitreya’s Ornament: 2a.2
ད་ཅིག་གཅིག་མངོན་ ོགས་ ང་ བ། །
One might expect Jam-yang-shay-pa to cite I.16b-16c since in Chapter 6
at the corresponding point he cites I.16a-16b, and in Chapter 5 at the cor-
responding point he cites I.14-16a, and so forth. Indeed, some information
about momentary trainings is provided at 16b-16c:
Single moment
Manifest complete enlightenment
Is of four aspects by way of character.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 6b.1, fleshes these lines out
as:
Nonfruitional momentary trainings, fruitional momentary train-
ings, characterless momentary trainings, and nondual momentary
trainings are the four phenomena characterizing momentary
trainings.
Maitreya’s Ornament: 2b.3-2b.4
ད་ཅིག་མ། །
གཅིག་གིས་མངོན་ ོགས་ ང་ བ་པ། །
748 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

མཚན་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་ནི་ མ་པ་བཞི། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
མ་པར་ ནི ་པ་མ་ཡིན་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་མའི་ ོར་བ་དང༌། མ་
པར་ ིན་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་མའི་ ོར་བ་དང༌། མཚན་ཉིད་མེད་པའི་
ད་ཅིག་མའི་ ོར་བ་དང༌། གཉིས་ ་མེད་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་མའི་
ོར་བ་ མས་ནི་ ད་ཅིག་མའི་ ོར་བ་མཚན་ ེད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་
བཞིའ།ོ །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 1, 6.
92
The five stanzas concerning momentary trainings, VII.1-5, are cited in
connection with their respective sections below.
93

63rd Topic
1. Nonfruitional Momentary Trainings ( མ་པར་ ིན་པ་མ་
ཡིན་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་ ོར་)
Jam-yang-shay-pa cites only the first stanza here whereas he cited both the
first and second stanzas above; the second stanza is added here for the sake
of completeness.
VII.1-2:
{VII.1}
Because of bringing together all uncontaminated phenomena
Even with every one of giving and so forth,
This realization of a subduer
Is to be known as single moment.
{VII.2}
Just as when a person moves a paddle
On a water wheel from a single point,
All simultaneously are moved,
So is single moment knowledge.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 86b.5ff., fleshes out these
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 749

two stanzas as:

Not only does a single awareness that takes many as objects bring
them together as objects of one [awareness] but also this pristine
wisdom itself at the end of the continuum that brings together
each, that is, every one of giving and so forth, is a training of
meditation upon bringing together all uncontaminated phe-
nomena ranging from giving and so forth through the eighty beau-
ties. Therefore this realization of a subduer (thub pa)—that is,
a Bodhisattva at the end of the continuum [as a sentient being]
whose three doors [of body, speech, and mind] are set in equi-
poise—is to be known as a nonfruitional momentary training.
Just as, for example, when through the force of the previous
skillful craftsmanship of one skilled in construction gradually and
with each of these—the water wheel, the sluice, the rope, and so
forth—a person moves a paddle on the water wheel from a sin-
gle point, all the paddles of the wheel simultaneously are
moved, so when through the force of:
1. having gradually familiarized well previously over three pe-
riods of countless great eons,
2. wish-paths thinking, “May [I] simultaneously directly realize
all phenomena in a single moment,” and
3. the element of attributes in which all phenomena are of one
taste within thusness,
an uncontaminated pristine wisdom at the time of the fruit ob-
serves one [phenomenon], all uncontaminated [phenomena] of a
type concordant with it are brought together as objects.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{VII.1}
ིན་པ་ལ་སོགས་རེ་རེས་ཀྱང་། །ཟག་མེད་ཆོས་ཀུན་བ ས་པའི་ ིར། །
བ་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་གཅིག་པ་ཡིས། ། ོགས་པ་འདི་ནི་ཤེས་པར་ ། །
{VII.2}
་ི ར་ ེས་ ས་ཟོ་ ན་ ད། ། གོ ་ཐབས་གཅིག་གིས་བ ོད་པ་ན། །
ཐམས་ཅད་ཅིག་ཅར་འགུལ་བ་ ར། ། ད་ཅིག་གཅིག་ཤེས་དེ་བཞིན་ནོ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
མང་པོ་ ལ་ ་ ས་པའི་ ོས་གཅིག་ ལ་ ་བ ས་པ་འབའ་
750 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

ཞིག་ ་མ་ཟད་ཀྱི་ ནི ་པ་ལ་སོགས་པ་རེ་རེ་ ེ་གཅིག་ ལ་ ་

བ ས་པའི་ ན་མཐའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་དེ་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་ ནི ་སོགས་ནས་དཔེ་
ད་བཟང་པོ་བ ད་ འི་བར་གྱི་ཟག་མེད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་
ལ་ ་བ ས་ནས་ མོ ་པའི་ ོར་བ་ཡིན་པའི་ རི ་ བ་པ་ ེ་ ོ་
ག མ་མཉམ་པར་བཞག་པའི་ ང་སེམས་ ན་མཐའ་བའི་
གོ ས་པ་འདི་ནི་ མ་ ིན་མ་ཡིན་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་མའི་ རོ ་བ་
ཡིན་པར་ཤེས་པར་ འོ། ། ་ི ར་ཏེ་དཔེར་ན་བཟོ་བོ་མཁས་པས་
ོན་ ་ཟོ་ ན་གྱི་འཁོར་ལོ་དང་ ་འཕོ་བའི་ དོ ་དང་ཐག་པ་
སོགས་རེ་རེ་ནས་རིམ་གྱིས་བཟོ་ལེགས་པར་ ས་པའི་མ ས་
འ ས་ འི་ ས་ན་ སེ ་ ས་ཟོ་ ན་གྱི་ ད་ གོ ་ཐབས་གཅིག་
གིས་བ དོ ་པ་ན་ཟོ་ ན་གྱི་ ད་ཐམས་ཅད་གཅིག་ཅར་འགུལ་བ་
ར། ོན་བ ལ་ཆེན་གྲངས་མེད་ག མ་ ་རིམ་གྱིས་ལེགས་པར་
གོམས་པར་ ས་ཤིང༌། ད་ཅིག་མ་གཅིག་ལ་ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་
གཅིག་ཆར་མངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་པར་ ར་ཅིག་ མ་པའི་ ོན་
ལམ་དང༌། ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ངང་ ་རོ་གཅིག་
པའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་ད ིངས་ཀྱི་མ ས་འ ས་ འི་ ས་ན་ཟག་པ་མེད་
པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་གཅིག་དམིགས་པ་ན་དེ་དང་རིས་མ ན་པའི་ཟག་
མེད་ཐམས་ཅད་ ལ་ ་བ ས་པ་ཡིན་ནོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 61ff.
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 751

94

64th Topic
2. Fruitional Momentary Trainings ( མ་པར་ ིན་པའི་ ད་
ཅིག་ རོ ་)
VII.3:
{VII.3}
When the perfection of wisdom having a nature
Of all bright phenomena
Is generated on the occasion having nature of fruition,
It is single moment pristine wisdom.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 87a.5ff., cites Tsong-kha-
pa’s Golden Garland which follows the translation of this stanza as:
གང་ཚ་ མ་ ིན་ཆོས་ཉིད་ཀྱི། །གནས་ བས་ཆོས་དཀར་ ེས་ ར་པ། །
དེ་ཚ་ ད་ཅིག་གཅིག་ཡེ་ཤེས། །ཤེས་རབ་ཕ་རོལ་ ིན་རང་བཞིན། །
and thus Ngag-wang-pal-dan, 87a.6, fleshes it out as:
When all the types of pure [phenomena] are fruitional—that is to
say, when they have separated from all defilements on the occa-
sion having the nature of their attainment in one’s own contin-
uum—the pristine wisdom at the end of continuum that realizes
those uncontaminated [phenomena] in a single moment is a na-
ture of a training in the second moment of the perfection of wis-
dom.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{VII.3}
གང་ཚ་ཆོས་དཀར་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི། །རང་བཞིན་ཤེས་རབ་ཕ་རོལ་ ིན། །
མ་ ིན་ཆོས་ཉིད་གནས་ བས་ ེས། །དེ་ཚ་ ད་ཅིག་གཅིག་ཡེ་ཤེས། །
As Tsong-kha-pa cites this translation, it is:

གང་ཚ་ མ་ ིན་ཆོས་ཉིད་ཀྱི། །གནས་ བས་ཆོས་དཀར་ ེས་ ར་པ། །

དེ་ཚ་ ད་ཅིག་གཅིག་ཡེ་ཤེས། །ཤེས་རབ་ཕ་རོལ་ ིན་རང་བཞིན། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
752 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

གང་ཚ་ མ་ ང་གི་རིགས་ཐམས་ཅད་ མ་པར་ ནི ་པ་ ་ེ རང་

ད་ལ་ཐོབ་པའི་ཆོས་ཉིད་ཀྱི་གནས་ བས་ ་ ི་མ་ཐམས་ཅད་
དང་ ལ་བས་ཆོས་དེ་དག་དཀར་བའི་བདག་ཉིད་ ་ སེ ་པར་
ར་པ་དེའི་ཚ་ན་ ད་ཅིག་གཅིག་ལ་ཟག་མེད་དེ་དག་ གོ ས་
པའི་ ན་མཐའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ནི་ཤེར་ ནི ་ ད་ཅིག་མ་གཉིས་པའི་
ོར་བའི་རང་བཞིན་ཡིན་ནོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 63ff.
95

65th Topic
3. Characterless Momentary Trainings (མཚན་ཉིད་མེད་
པའི་ ད་ཅིག་ ོར་)
VII.4:
{VII.4}
Abiding regarding all phenomena—the deeds
Of giving and so forth—as like dreams,
It realizes phenomena
As characterless in a single moment.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 87b.2ff., fleshes out this
stanza as:
The pristine wisdom attained through the power of having previ-
ously familiarized—over three periods of countless eons—abid-
ing in realizing all phenomena, such as the deeds of giving and
so forth, as empty of true existence like dreams is the final train-
ing directly realizing thoroughly afflicted and pure phenomena
as ultimately characterless in only one moment.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{VII.4}
ིན་ལ་སོགས་པའི་ ོད་པ་ཡིས། །ཆོས་ཀུན་ ི་ལམ་འ ར་གནས་ནས། །
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 753

ཆོས་ མས་མཚན་ཉིད་མེད་པ་ཉིད། ། ད་ཅིག་མ་ནི་གཅིག་གིས་ ོགས། །

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ནོ ་བ ལ་པ་གྲངས་མེད་ག མ་ ་ ནི ་པ་ལ་སོགས་པའི་ དོ ་པ་
ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་བདེན་ ོང་ ་ི ལམ་དང་འ ་བར་ གོ ས་པ་ལ་
གནས་ནས་གོམས་པར་ ས་པའི་ བོ ས་ཀྱིས་ཐོབ་པའི་ ན་
མཐའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ནི་ཀུན་ ང་གི་ཆོས་ མས་དོན་དམ་པར་མཚན་
ཉིད་མེད་པར་ ད་ཅིག་མ་གཅིག་ཁོ་ནས་མངོན་ མ་ ་ གོ ས་
པའི་ ོར་བ་མཐར་ ག་ཡིན་ནོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 63ff.
96

66th Topic
4. Nondual Momentary Trainings (གཉིས་ ་མེད་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་
ོར་)
VII.5:
{VII.5}
Just as a dream and what sees it
Are not seen in a dualistic manner,
The nondual suchness of phenomena
Is seen in a single moment.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 87b.4ff., fleshes out this
stanza as:
Just as a dream and what sees it are, upon waking, not seen in
a dualistic manner of different substantial entities of appre-
hended-object and apprehending-subject, the pristine wisdom at
the end of the continuum directly sees in a single moment the
suchness that is the nonduality of apprehended-object and ap-
prehending-subject of phenomena.
It is said that those [momentary trainings] are divided by way
754 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

of isolates such that there are four trainings—nonfruitional, frui-

tional, characterless, and nondual—in a single pristine wisdom at
the end of the continuum.
It is to be analyzed whether the likes of the statement that a
single moment of a pristine wisdom simultaneously directly real-
izes all phenomena is in consideration that the collection of the
direct causes for simultaneously directly realizing all phenomena
has been completed and in the next moment those [that is, all phe-
nomena] will be directly realized.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{VII.5}
་ི ལམ་དང་ནི་དེ་མཐོང་ཉིད། །གཉིས་ཀྱི་ ལ་ ་མི་མཐོང་ ར། །
ཆོས་ མས་གཉིས་ ་མེད་པ་ཡི། །དེ་ཉིད་ ད་ཅིག་གཅིག་གིས་མཐོང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
་ི ལམ་དང་དེ་མཐོང་བ་ཉིད་སང་བ་ན་ག ང་བ་དང་འཛིན་པ་
ས་ཐ་དད་པ་གཉིས་ཀྱི་ ལ་ ་མི་མཐོང་བ་ ར། ན་མཐའི་
ཡེ་ཤེས་དེ་ཆོས་ མས་ཀྱི་ག ང་འཛིན་གཉིས་ ་མེད་པའི་དེ་ཁོ་
ན་ཉིད་ ད་ཅིག་མ་གཅིག་གིས་མངོན་ མ་ ་མཐོང་བ་ཡིན་
ནོ། །དེ་དག་གི་ ན་མཐའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་གཅིག་ལ་ མ་པར་ ནི ་པ་མ་
ཡིན་པ་དང༌། མ་པར་ ིན་པ་དང༌། མཚན་ཉིད་མེད་པ་དང༌།
གཉིས་ ་མེད་པའི་ ད་ཅིག་མའི་ ོར་བ་བཞི་ཡོད་པར་ གོ ་
པའི་ ོ་ནས་ ེ་བ་ཡིན་པར་ག ངས་སོ། །ཡེ་ཤེས་ ད་ཅིག་མ་
གཅིག་གིས་ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་གཅིག་ཆར་མངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་པ་
་ ར་ག ངས་པ་ནི། ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་གཅིག་ཆར་མངོན་ མ་
་ ོགས་པའི་དངོས་ཀྱི་ ་ཚགས་ཚང་བ་དང༌། ད་ཅིག་གཉིས་
པར་དེ་དག་མངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་པར་འ ར་བ་ལ་དགོངས་སམ་
ད ད་པར་ འོ། །
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 755

See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti

and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 64ff.
97

Chapter VIII. Explaining the four phenomena

characterizing bodies of attributes
67th Topic
1. Nature Bodies (ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ ་)
VIII.1:
{VIII.1}
The nature body of a Subduer
Has attained uncontaminated attributes
Has purity in all respects,
And a nature possessing the characteristic [of emptiness].
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 88a.7ff., fleshes this stanza
out as:
The nature body of a Lord of Subduers, a Buddha Supramun-
dane Victor, is a body endowed with two purities having three
features:
1. the feature of endowment which is to have attained the
twenty-one groups of uncontaminated attributes such as the
establishments through mindfulness and so forth
2. the feature of separation which is purity in all respects from
the two obstructions as well as their predispositions
3. the feature of entity which is a nature of those pristine wis-
doms possessing the characteristic of emptiness of true ex-
istence.
Although the three bodies, which are the subjects about to be ex-
plained, do not exist as different entities from the nature body,
they are posited as different bodies in order to indicate respec-
tively that “They are posited as objects of activity of the direct
perception of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas residing on the great
grounds, and Hearers and so forth.”
Maitreya’s Ornament:
756 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

{VIII.1}
བ་པའི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ ་ནི། །ཟག་པ་མེད་པའི་ཆོས་གང་དག
ཐོབ་ ར་ མ་ཀུན་ མ་དག་པ། །དེ་དག་རང་བཞིན་མཚན་ཉིད་ཅན། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
བ་དབང་སངས་ ས་བཅོམ་ ན་འདས་ཀྱི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ ་ནི།
ན་པའི་ཁྱད་པར་ ན་པ་ཉེར་གཞག་སོགས་ཟག་པ་མེད་པའི་
ཆོས་ ེ་ཚན་ཉེར་གཅིག་པོ་གང་དག་ཐོབ་པར་ ར་པ། ལ་བའི་
ཁྱད་པར་ བི ་གཉིས་བག་ཆགས་དང་བཅས་པ་ མ་པ་ཀུན་ ་
མ་པར་དག་པ། ངོ་བོའི་ཁྱད་པར་ཡེ་ཤེས་དེ་དག་གི་རང་བཞིན་
བདེན་པས་ ོང་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་ཅན་ཏེ་ཁྱད་པར་ག མ་དང་
ན་པའི་དག་པ་གཉིས་ ན་གྱི་ ་ཡིན་ནོ། །འཆད་པར་འ ར་
བའི་ཆོས་ཅན་གྱི་ ་ག མ་ནི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ ་ལས་ངོ་བོ་ཐ་དད་ ་
མེད་ཀྱང༌། རིམ་པ་ ར་སངས་ ས་དང་ ང་སེམས་ས་ཆེན་པོ་
ལ་བ གས་པ་དང་ཉན་ཐོས་ལ་སོགས་པའི་མངོན་ མ་གྱི་ ོད་
ལ་ ་ མ་པར་བཞག་པ་ཡིན་ནོ་ཞེས་བ ན་པའི་ ིར་ ་ ་ཐ་
དད་པར་ མ་པར་བཞག་གོ །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 64ff.
98

68th Topic
2. Pristine Wisdom Bodies of Attributes (ཡེ་ཤེས་ཆོས་ ་)
VIII.2-3b:
{VIII.2}
1) The harmonies with enlightenment, 2) the immeasurables,
3) The liberations, 4) the entities
Of the nine serial absorptions
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 757

5) The entities of the ten totalities,

{VIII.3}
6) The eight aspects by way of thoroughly dividing
The faculties of outshining,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 88a.7ff., fleshes these lines
out as:
The Buddha ground’s
1. thirty-seven harmonies with enlightenment
2. four immeasurables—love, compassion, joy, and equanim-
ity
3. eight liberations
4. nine serially abiding absorptions
5. ten totalities—meditative stabilizations of earth, water, fire,
wind, blue, yellow, red, white, space, and consciousness
6. eight outshinings—four shape outshinings: the two which
are by way of the internal yogi discriminating oneself as hav-
ing a form viewing external forms as little and viewing them
as big, and the two which are by way of the internal yogi dis-
criminating oneself as formless viewing external forms as lit-
tle and viewing them as big; and four color outshinings:
which are by way of the internal yogi discriminating oneself
as formless viewing external forms as blue, yellow, red, and
white. Those are known upon being outshone and seen upon
being outshone. There come to be eight by applying such dis-
crimination to each of these, or the shape outshinings are con-
densed into two, making six, and then counting the two, sky
and consciousness outshinings, making eight.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{VIII.2}
ང་ བ་ ོགས་མ ན་ཚད་མེད་དང་། ། མ་པར་ཐར་དང་མཐར་གྱིས་ནི། །
ོམས་འ ག་དགུ་ཡི་བདག་ཉིད་དང་། །ཟད་པར་བ ་ཡི་བདག་ཉིད་དང་། །
{VIII.3}
ཟིལ་གྱིས་གནོན་པའི་ ེ་མཆེད་ནི། །རབ་ ་ད ེ་བས་ མ་བ ད་དང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་སའི་ ང་ བ་ཀྱི་ གོ ས་དང་མ ན་པའི་ཆོས་སོ་
758 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

བ ན་ནི་ ་ེ ཚན་དང་པོ་དང༌། མས་པ་ ངི ་ ེ་དགའ་བ་

བཏང་ ོམས་ཚད་མེད་བཞི་ནི་ ེ་ཚན་གཉིས་པ་དང༌། མ་པར་
ཐར་པ་བ ད་ནི་ ེ་ཚན་ག མ་པ་དང༌། མཐར་གྱིས་གནས་པའི་
མོ ས་པར་འ ག་པ་དགུ་ནི་ ེ་ཚན་བཞི་པ་དང༌། ཟད་པར་ས་
དང་ ་དང་མེ་དང་ ང་དང་ ནོ ་པོ་དང་སེར་པོ་དང་དམར་པོ་
དང་དཀར་པོ་དང་ནམ་མཁའ་དང་ མ་པར་ཤེས་པའི་ཏིང་ངེ་
འཛིན་ཏེ་ཟད་པར་བ ་ནི་ ེ་ཚན་ ་པ་དང༌། ནང་ ལ་འ ོར་
བ་རང་ལ་ག གས་ཅན་ ་འ ་ཤེས་པའི་ ་ོ ནས་ ི་རོལ་གྱི་
ག གས་ ང་ ་ལ་བ ་བ་དང་ཆེན་པོ་ལ་བ ་བ་གཉིས་དང༌།
ནང་ ལ་འ ོར་པ་རང་ལ་ག གས་མེད་པར་འ ་ཤེས་པའི་ ོ་
ནས་ ི་རོལ་གྱི་ག གས་ ང་ ་ལ་བ ་བ་དང་ཆེན་པོ་ལ་བ ་བ་
གཉིས་ཏེ་ད ིབས་ཟིལ་གནོན་བཞི་དང༌། ནང་ ལ་འ ོར་བ་
རང་ལ་ག གས་མེད་པར་འ ་ཤེས་པ་ཁོ་ནས་ ི་རོལ་གྱི་
ག གས་ ནོ ་པོ་དང་སེར་པོ་དང་དམར་པོ་དང་དཀར་པོ་ མས་
ལ་བ ་བ་ ེ་ཁ་དོག་ཟིལ་གནོན་བཞིའོ། །དེ་དག་ཟིལ་གྱིས་
མནན་ནས་ཤེས་ཤིང་ཟིལ་གྱིས་མནན་ནས་མཐོང༌། དེ་ ར་འ ་
ཤེས་པར་ ར་བ་ཞེས་རེ་རེ་ལ་ ར་བ་བ ད་དམ་ད ིབས་ཟིལ་
གནོན་གཉིས་ ་བ ས་ཏེ་ ག་ ་ ར་བའི་ ངེ ་ ་ནམ་མཁའ་
དང་ མ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ཟིལ་གནོན་གཉིས་བགྲངས་ནས་བ ད་ ་ ས་
པ་ནི་ ེ་ཚན་ ག་པ་དང༌།
VIII.3c-5b:
7) Nonaffliction, 8) exalted knowledge upon wishing,
9) Clairvoyances, 10) individual correct knowledges,
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 759

{VIII.4}
11) Four purities in all aspects,
12) Ten powers, 13) ten strengths
14) Four fearlessnesses
15) Three aspects of nonconcealment,
{VIII.5}
16) Three aspects of mindful establishment,
17) A nature of not being endowed with forgetfulness,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 89a.3ff., fleshes these lines
out as:
7. nonafflictive meditative stabilizations—that do not generate
the afflictive emotions of desire and so forth in others’ con-
tinuums
8. exalted knowledge upon wishing—knowing all upon merely
wishing
9. six clairvoyances
10. four individual correct knowledges
11. four purities—purity of support such that one has attained
control with regard to taking and leaving a body; purity of
object of observation such that one has attained control with
regard to transforming a nonexistent into an existent emana-
tion; purity of mind that enters into countless meditative sta-
bilizations in each moment; purity of pristine wisdom that has
gained dominion with regard to immeasurable doors of reten-
tions
12. ten powers—three fruits of giving: power over life, power
over mind, and power over articles; two fruits of ethics: power
over body and power over birth; one fruit of patience: power
over interests; one fruit of effort: power over prayer-wishes;
one fruit of concentration: power over magical emanation;
two fruits of wisdom: power over pristine wisdom and power
over doctrine.
13. ten strengths
14. four fearlessnesses
15. three nonconcealments of the behaviors of exalted body,
speech, and mind
760 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

16. three mindful establishments, when teaching doctrine, ab-

sence of desire regarding the retinue wanting to listen respect-
fully, and absence of anger regarding the retinue not wanting
to listen due to disrespect, and neutrality without the occur-
rence of a mixture of desire and anger regarding their engag-
ing in listening with a mixture of those two
17. possessing a nature of not being endowed with forgetful-
ness of sentient beings’ welfare
Maitreya’s Ornament:
ཉོན་མོངས་མེད་དང་ ོན་མཁྱེན་དང་། །མངོན་ཤེས་སོ་སོ་ཡང་དག་རིག་
{VIII.4}
མ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་དག་བཞི་དང་། །དབང་བ ་དང་ནི་ ོབས་བ ་དང་། །
མི་འ ིགས་པ་ནི་བཞི་དག་དང་། །བ ང་བ་མེད་པ་ མ་ག མ་དང་། །
{VIII.5}
ན་པ་ཉེར་གཞག་ མ་ག མ་དང་། །བ ེལ་བ་མི་མངའི་ཆོས་ཉིད་དང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
གཞན་ ད་ལ་ཉོན་མོངས་པ་ཆགས་སོགས་མི་ ེད་པའི་ཉོན་
མོངས་མེད་པའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་ནི་བ ན་པ་དང༌། ོན་པ་ཙམ་
ས་ནས་ཐམས་ཅད་ཤེས་པའི་ ནོ ་ནས་མཁྱེན་པ་ནི་བ ད་པ་
དང༌། མངོན་པར་ཤེས་པ་ ག་ནི་དགུ་པ་དང༌། སོ་སོ་ཡང་དག་
པར་རིག་པ་བཞི་ནི་བ ་པ་དང༌། ས་འདོར་ལེན་ལ་དབང་
ཐོབ་པའི་ ནེ ་ཡོངས་ ་དག་པ་དང༌། མེད་པ་ ལ་ཡོད་པ་ ར་
བ་ལ་དབང་ཐོབ་པའི་དམིགས་པ་ཡོངས་ ་དག་པ་དང༌། ད་
ཅིག་རེ་རེ་ལ་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་གྲངས་མེད་པ་ལ་འ ག་པའི་ གས་
ཡོངས་ ་དག་པ་དང༌། ག ངས་ཀྱི་ ོ་དཔག་ ་མེད་པ་ལ་
དབང་འ རོ ་བའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཡོངས་ ་དག་པ་བཞི་ནི་བ ་གཅིག་
པ་དང༌། ཚ་ལ་དབང་བ་དང་སེམས་ལ་དབང་བ་དང་ཡོ་ ེད་ལ་
དབང་བ་ ་ེ ིན་པའི་འ ས་ ་ག མ་དང༌། ལས་ལ་དབང་བ་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 761

དང་ ེ་བ་ལ་དབང་བ་ ེ་ ལ་ཁྲིམས་ཀྱི་འ ས་ ་གཉིས་དང༌།

མོས་པ་ལ་དབང་བ་ ་ེ བཟོད་པའི་འ ས་ ་གཅིག་དང༌། ོན་
ལམ་ལ་དབང་བ་ ེ་བ ོན་འ ས་ཀྱི་འ ས་ ་གཅིག་དང༌། ་
འ ལ་ལ་དབང་བ་ ེ་བསམ་གཏན་གྱི་འ ས་ ་གཅིག་དང༌། ཡེ་
ཤེས་ལ་དབང་བ་དང་ཆོས་ལ་དབང་བ་ ེ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་འ ས་ ་
གཉིས་ཏེ་དབང་བ ་ནི་བ ་གཉིས་པ་དང༌། བོ ས་བ ་ནི་བ ་
ག མ་པ་དང༌། མི་འ གི ས་པ་བཞི་ནི་བ ་བཞི་པ་དང༌། ་
ག ང་ གས་ཀྱི་ཀུན་ ་ ོད་པ་བ ང་བ་མེད་པ་ག མ་ནི་བཅོ་
་པ་དང༌། ཆོས་ ོན་པ་ན་འཁོར་གུས་པས་ཉན་པར་འདོད་པ་
ལ་ཆགས་པ་མེད་པ་དང་མ་གུས་བས་ཉན་པར་མི་འདོད་པ་ལ་
ཁོང་ཁྲོ་བ་མེད་པ་དང༌། དེ་གཉིས་འ ེས་མར་འ ག་པ་ལ་
ཆགས་ ང་འ ེས་མར་འ ང་བ་མེད་པར་བཏང་ ོམས་ ་ ན་
པ་ཉེ་བར་གཞག་པ་ག མ་ནི་བ ་ ག་པ་དང༌། སེམས་ཅན་གྱི་
དོན་ལ་བ ལེ ་བ་མི་མངའ་བའི་ཆོས་ཉིད་དང་ ན་པ་ནི་བ ་
བ ན་པ་དང༌།
VIII.5c-6:
18) Thorough conquest of the predispositions,
19) Great compassion for creatures,
{VIII.6}
20) The unshared attributes of only a Subduer
That are described as eighteen,
21) And the exalted-knower-of-all-aspects
Are called the body of attributes.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 89b.4ff., fleshes these lines
out as:
762 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

18. possessing thorough conquest of the predispositions of the

two obstructions
19. great compassion seeing all creatures in the six periods of
day and night
20. eighteen unshared attributes of only a Subduer
21. the three—exalted-knower-of-all-aspects, knower of paths,
and knower of bases:
in terms of the sense (don gyis), sūtra says that the twenty-one
groups of uncontaminated pristine wisdoms of the Buddha ground
are the pristine wisdom body of attributes.
Tsong-kha-pa’s Golden Garland says that the ten groups
ranging from the harmonies with enlightenment through the indi-
vidual correct knowledges are in common with the Lower Vehi-
cle; the four purities and the ten powers are in common with Bo-
dhisattvas; and the remaining nine groups are uncommon qualities
of Buddhas; therefore, the explanation in [Jam-yang-shay-pa’s]
textbook [on the perfection of wisdom] that the four individual
correct knowledges are qualities only of Buddhas is to be exam-
ined because even in Manifest Knowledge the four individual cor-
rect knowledges are described as in common with the Lower Ve-
hicle.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
བག་ཆགས་ཡང་དག་བཅོམ་པ་དང་། ། ེ་ལ་ གས་ ེ་ཆེན་པོ་དང་། །
{VIII.6}
བ་པ་ཁོ་ནའི་མ་འ ེས་ཆོས། །བཅོ་བ ད་བཤད་པ་གང་ཡིན་དང་། །
མ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་མཁྱེན་ཉིད་དང་། །ཆོས་ཀྱི་ ་ཞེས་བ ོད་པ་ཡིན། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
བི ་གཉིས་ཀྱི་བག་ཆགས་ཡང་དག་པར་བཅོམ་པ་དང་ ན་པ་ནི་
བཅོ་བ ད་པ་དང༌། ་ེ བོ་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་ཉིན་མཚན་ ས་ ག་ ་
གཟིགས་པའི་ གས་ ་ེ ཆེན་པོ་ནི་བ ་དགུ་པ་དང༌། བ་པ་ཁོ་
ནའི་མ་འ སེ ་པའི་ཆོས་བཅོ་བ ད་ནི་ཉི་ ་པ་དང༌། མ་པ་
ཐམས་ཅད་མཁྱེན་པ་དང་ལམ་ཤེས་པ་དང་གཞི་ཤེས་པ་ག མ་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 763

ནི་ཉེར་གཅིག་པ་ ེ། སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་སའི་ཟག་མེད་ཀྱི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ ེ་

ཚན་ཉེར་གཅིག་ལ་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཆོས་ ་ཞེས་མདོ་ལས་དོན་གྱིས་
བ དོ ་པ་ཡིན་ནོ། ། ོགས་མ ན་ནས་སོ་རིག་བཞིའི་བར་ ་ེ ཚན་
བ ་ནི་ཐེག་དམན་དང༌། ཡོངས་དག་བཞི་དང་དབང་བ ་ནི་
སེམས་དཔའ་དང་ ན་མོང་བ་དང༌། ག་མ་ ེ་ཚན་དགུ་ནི་
སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ ན་མོང་མིན་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་ཡིན་པར་གསེར་ ེང་
ལས་ག ངས་པས། ཡིག་ཆར་སོ་རིག་བཞི་སངས་ ས་ཁོ་ནའི་
ཡོན་ཏན་ཡིན་པར་བཤད་པ་ད ད་པར་ ་ ེ། མངོན་པ་ནས་
ཀྱང་སོ་རིག་བཞི་ཐེག་དམན་དང་ ན་མོང་བར་བཤད་པའི་ ིར་
རོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 67ff.
99
VIII.7-8; from among the twenty-one groups of uncontaminated pristine
wisdoms of the Buddha ground listed in the previous five stanzas, these
two stanzas explain the distinctive feature of the seventh, nonafflictive
meditative stabilization, which is a Buddha’s not generating the afflictive
emotions of desire and so forth in others’ continuums, and the distinctive
features of the eighth, exalted knowledge upon wishing, which is to know
all upon merely wishing:
{VIII.7}
The Hearers’ nonafflictive viewing
Is just the thorough abandonment of a human’s afflictive emo-
tion;
The severance of the continuum of their afflictive emotions
In towns and so forth is the nonafflictiveness of Conquerors.
{VIII.8}
A Buddha’s exalted knowledge upon wishing
Is asserted as (1) spontaneously established,
(2) having abandoned attachment, (3) being unobstructed,
(4) always abiding, and (5) answering all questions.
764 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 90a.3ff., fleshes these two

stanzas out as:
The nonafflictive meditative stabilization of Hearers and Soli-
tary Victors is exhausted as just the thorough abandonment of
acting as the observed-object-condition of a human’s afflictive
emotion viewing them in towns and so forth, but the severance
from the root of the continuum of the afflictive emotions of hu-
mans and so forth when they come in towns, cities, and so forth
is a distinctive feature of the nonafflictive meditative stabilization
of Conquerors.
A Buddha’s exalted knowledge upon wishing is asserted as
(1) being spontaneously established without striving and exer-
tion, that is, operates on objects of its own accord, (2) having
abandoned attachment due to being of unbroken continuum, (3)
being unobstructed due to being engaged in all objects of
knowledge, (4) always abiding due to always being set in equi-
poise, and (5) answering all questions due to making response to
all inquiries.
Tsong-kha-pa’s Golden Garland says that it is implied that
the knowledge upon wishing of Hearers and so forth is not en-
dowed with the five features and that the explanation of the fea-
tures of these two from among the 146 pristine wisdoms is for the
sake of also illustrating the others.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{VIII.7}
ཉན་ཐོས་ཉོན་མོངས་མེད་པའི་ ། །མི་ཡི་ཉོན་མོངས་ཡོངས་ ོང་ཉིད། །
གྲོང་སོགས་ ་དེའི་ཉོན་མོངས་ མས། ། ན་གཅོད་ ལ་བའི་ཉོན་མོངས་མེད། །
{VIII.8}
སངས་ ས་ ོན་ནས་མཁྱེན་པ་ནི། ། ན་གྱིས་ བ་དང་ཆགས་ ངས་དང་། །
ཐོགས་པ་མེད་དང་ ག་གནས་དང་། ། ི་བ་ཀུན་ལན་འདེབས་པར་བཞེད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཉན་ཐོས་དང་རང་ ལ་གྱི་ཉོན་མོངས་མེད་པའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་
ནི་གྲོང་ལ་སོགས་པར་རང་ལ་བ ་བའི་མིའ་ི ཉོན་མོངས་ཀྱི་
དམིགས་ ནེ ་ ེད་པ་ཡོངས་ ་ ངོ ་བ་ཉིད་ ་ཟད་ལ། གྲོང་དང་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 765

གྲོང་ཁྱེར་ལ་སོགས་པར་ ོན་པ་ན་རང་ལ་དམིགས་པའི་མི་ལ་
སོགས་པ་དེའ་ི ཉོན་མོངས་ མས་ ་བ་ནས་ ན་གཅོད་པར་
མཛད་པ་ནི་ ལ་བའི་ཉོན་མོངས་པ་མེད་པའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་གྱི་
ཁྱད་ཆོས་ཡིན་ནོ། །སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ ནོ ་གནས་མཁྱེན་པ་ནི་འབད་
ོལ་མེད་པར་ ན་གྱིས་ བ་པ་ ེ་ ལ་ལ་རང་གི་ངང་གིས་
འ ག་པ་དང༌། ན་མ་ཆད་པས་ཆགས་པ་ ངས་པ་དང༌། ཤེས་
་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་ གས་པས་ཐོགས་པ་མེད་པ་དང༌། ག་ ་
མཉམ་པར་གཞག་པས་ ག་གནས་དང༌། ས་ལན་ཐམས་ཅད་
འདེབས་པར་མཛད་པས་འ ་ི བ་ཀུན་གྱི་ལན་འདེབས་པར་
མཛད་པ་ཡིན་པར་བཞེད་དོ། །ཉན་ཐོས་ལ་སོགས་པའི་ ནོ ་
གནས་ཤེས་པ་ནི་ཁྱད་པར་ ་དང་མི་ ན་པར་ གས་ལ་
འཕངས་ཤིང༌། ཡེ་ཤེས་བ ་ཞེ་ ག་ལས་འདི་གཉིས་ཀྱི་ཁྱད་པར་
འཆད་པ་ནི་གཞན་ མས་ཀྱང་མཚན་པའི་ཆེད་ ་ཡིན་པར་
གསེར་ ངེ ་ལས་ག ངས་སོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 77ff.
100
Dispelling an objection, VIII.9-10:
{VIII.9}
The cause having thoroughly ripened,
They manifest that [body],
The deed for that specific benefit,
To a specific one at a specific [place] at a specific time.
{VIII.10}
Just as even though a monarch of gods sends down rain,
Nothing grows from unfit seeds,
So although Buddhas have arisen,
Those without the lot do not experience the goodness.
766 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 90b.2ff., fleshes these two

stanzas out as:
It is not contradictory that even though [Buddhas] abide in a body
of attributes having a nature of great compassion always seeing all
sentient beings, they sometimes do not bring about the welfare for
certain sentient beings by way of actually manifesting a body be-
cause in dependence upon thorough ripening of the virtuous root
that is the cause of actually hearing doctrine from a Buddha they
enact the deed for that specific benefit, actually manifesting
that body by performing the activity of actually teaching doctrine
to such a specific trainee at a specific place at a specific time.
For example, just as even though a monarch of gods such
as Shakra or the gods of the Four Great Royal Lineages send
down rain upon dunking clothing in the great ocean and stirring
it up, green shoots do not grow from seeds unfit due to being
burned and the like, so although Buddhas have actually arisen
in the world, certain sentient beings without the lot of actually
seeing a Buddha do not experience the goodness of hearing the
doctrine and so forth.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{VIII.9}
་ནི་ཡོངས་ ་ ིན་ ར་ནས། །གང་དང་གང་ལ་གང་དང་ནི། །
གང་ཚ་ ་བ་ཕན་ ར་པ། །དེ་དང་དེ་ལ་དེ་ ང་ངོ་། །
{VIII.10}
་ཡི་ ལ་པོས་ཆར་ཕབ་ཀྱང་། །ས་བོན་མི་ ང་མི་འ ངས་ ར། །
སངས་ ས་ མས་ནི་ ང་ ར་ཀྱང་། ། ལ་བ་མེད་པས་བཟང་མི་ ོང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ས་ ག་ ་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་གཟིགས་པའི་ གས་ ེ་
ཆེན་པོའི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་ ་ལ་ག ག་ན་ཡང་སེམས་ཅན་ཁ་
ཅིག་ལ་ ་དངོས་ ་ ང་བའི་ ོ་ནས་རེས་འགའ་དོན་མི་མཛད་
པ་མི་འགལ་ཏེ། སངས་ ས་ལ་དངོས་ ་ཆོས་ཉན་པའི་ ་དགེ་
བའི་ ་བ་ཡོངས་ ་ ནི ་པར་ ར་པ་ལ་བ ནེ ་ནས་དེ་འ འི་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 767

ག ལ་ ་གང་དང་གང་ལ་ ལ་གང་དང་ ས་གང་གི་ཚ་དངོས་

་ཆོས་ ོན་པའི་ ་བ་མཛད་པས་ཕན་པར་ ར་པ་དེ་དང་དེ་ལ་
་དེ་དངོས་ ་ ང་ནས་ ་བ་མཛད་པའི་ རི ་རོ། །དཔེར་ན་
འི་ ལ་པོ་བ ་ ིན་ནམ་ ལ་ཆེན་རིགས་བཞིའི་ ་ མས་ཀྱིས་
གོས་ ་མཚར་བ ག་ཏེ་ གས་ནས་ཆར་ཕབ་ཀྱང་མེས་ཚིག་པ་
ལ་སོགས་པས་ས་བོན་ ་མི་ ང་བ་ལས་ ་གུ་ ོན་པོ་མི་འ ངས་
པ་ ར། སངས་ ས་ མས་ནི་འ ིག་ ེན་ ་དངོས་ ་ ང་བར་
ར་ཀྱང་སངས་ ས་དངོས་ ་མཐོང་བའི་ ལ་བ་མེད་པའི་
སེམས་ཅན་ཁ་ཅིག་གིས་ཆོས་མཉན་པ་ལ་སོགས་པའི་བཟང་པོ་
མི་ ངོ ་ངོ༌། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 83ff.
Dispelling a second objection, VIII.11:
{VIII.11}
Because exalted activities thus are vast,
Buddhas are called pervasive.
Because those are not consumed,
They are also called “permanent.”
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 90b.6ff., fleshes this stanza
out as:
Someone objects: It follows that it is not reasonable to call the
subject, a pristine wisdom body of attributes, “pervasive” because
of existing only within the life-supports of continuums limited to
individual yogis dwelling in the Highest Pure Land and so forth.
It follows that it is also not reasonable to call [a pristine wisdom
body of attributes] “permanent” because of being produced and
arising in each moment.
Answer: Because exalted activities—as explained on the oc-
casion of “The cause having thoroughly ripened” and so forth*—
768 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

engage all having the lot, they are vast, whereby Buddhas are
called pervasive, and because the continuum of those [activities]
is not consumed, or severed, as long as there is cyclic existence,
[Buddhas] are also called “permanent.”
* Two stanzas above.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{VIII.11}
དེ་ ར་མཛད་པ་ ་ཆེའི་ ིར། །སངས་ ས་ཁྱབ་པར་ངེས་པར་བ ོད། །
དེ་ཉིད་ཟད་པ་མེད་པའི་ ིར། ། ག་པ་ཞེས་ཀྱང་བ ོད་པ་ཡིན། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཡེ་ཤེས་ཆོས་ ་ཆོས་ཅན། ཁྱབ་པ་ཞེས་བ དོ ་མི་རིགས་པར་ཐལ།
འོག་མིན་སོགས་ན་བ གས་པའི་ ལ་འ ོར་པ་སོ་སོར་ངེས་པའི་
ད་ཀྱི་ ནེ ་ཁོ་ན་ལ་ཡོད་པའི་ རི ། ག་པ་ཞེས་ཀྱང་བ དོ ་མི་
རིགས་པར་ཐལ། ད་ཅིག་རེ་རེ་ལ་ ེ་ཞིང་འ ང་བའི་ ིར་ཞེ་
ན། ་ནི་ཡོངས་ ་ ིན་ ར་ནས། །ཞེས་སོགས་ཀྱི་ བས་ ་
བཤད་པ་དེ་ ར་མཛད་པ་ ལ་ ན་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་འ ག་པས་
་ཆེ་བའི་ རི ་སངས་ ས་ཁྱབ་པར་ངེས་པར་བ དོ ་པ་ཡིན་ལ།
འཁོར་བ་ ་ི ིད་ཀྱི་བར་ ་དེ་ཉིད་ ན་ཟད་པའམ་ཆད་པ་མེད་
པའི་ རི ་ ག་པ་ཞེས་ཀྱང་བ དོ ་པ་ཡིན་ནོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 83ff.
101

69th Topic
3. Complete Enjoyment Bodies (ལོངས་ ་)
VIII.12:
{VIII.12}
This having an essence
Of thirty-two marks and eighty beauties
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 769

Is asserted as a Subduer’s complete enjoyment body

Because of thoroughly enjoying the Great Vehicle.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 91a.3ff., fleshes out this
stanza as:
This form body that is qualified by the five certainties of residing
only in a Highest Pure Land and so forth and has an essence of
thirty-two marks and eighty beauties that are the fruition of
having accumulated the collections [of merit and wisdom] is as-
serted as a Subduer’s complete enjoyment body because of
thoroughly enjoying [or making use of] the Great Vehicle doc-
trine.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{VIII.12}
མཚན་ནི་ མ་ ་ ་གཉིས་དང་། །དཔེ་ ད་བ ད་ འི་བདག་ཉིད་འདི། །
ཐེག་ཆེན་ཉེ་བར་ལོངས་ ོད་ ིར། ། བ་པའི་ལོངས་ ོད་ ོགས་ ར་བཞེད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཚགས་བསགས་པའི་ མ་ ིན་གྱི་འ ས་ ་མཚན་ མ་ ་ ་
གཉིས་དང་དཔེ་ ད་བ ད་ འི་བདག་ཉིད་ཅན་འོག་མིན་ཁོ་
ནར་བ གས་པ་སོགས་ངེས་པ་ ས་ཁྱད་པར་ ་ ས་པའི་
ག གས་ ་འདི་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་ཆོས་ལ་ཉེ་བར་ལོངས་ དོ ་པའི་
རི ་ བ་པའི་ལོངས་ དོ ་ གོ ས་པའི་ ་ཡིན་པར་བཞེད་དོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 84.
102
Thirty-two marks, VIII.13-17.
VIII.13-14ab:
{VIII.13}
1) Hands and feet marked by wheels, 2) tortoise-feet,
3) Fingers and toes joined by webs [of light],
4) Soft and youthfully tender hands as well as feet,
5) Seven body areas prominent,
{VIII.14}
6) Long fingers and toes, 7) broad heels, 8) large straight body,
770 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

9) Inconspicuous ankles, 10) body hairs standing upwards,

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 91a.6ff., fleshes these lines
out as:
The first group of ten:
1. hands and feet endowed with signs of wheels due to being
accustomed to escorting and welcoming gurus
2. level soles of the feet like a tortoise due to having brought to
completion the firmness of vows that have been assumed
3. fingers and toes joined by webs [of light] due to having re-
liantly cultivated the four means of gathering [students—giv-
ing, speaking pleasantly, purposeful behavior, and concord-
ant behavior; these respectively are (a) to give material things,
(b) to converse on the subjects of high status and definite
goodness, (c) to cause others to practice what is beneficial,
and (d) for oneself to practice what one teaches others]
4. soft and youthfully tender hands as well as feet due to hav-
ing given fine articles of food, drink, and so forth
5. this one’s seven body areas prominent due to having given
the finest of what is licked [such as yogurt] and so forth
6. long fingers and toes due to having freed those bound to be
killed and so forth
7. broad heels due to having protected the lives of others and
assisted in their livelihood
8. large and straight body due to having abandoned taking life
9. inconspicuous kneecaps and ankles due to oneself having
thoroughly undertaken virtuous practices
10. body hairs each standing upwards due to increasing in oth-
ers the undertaking of virtues
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{VIII.13}
ག་ཞབས་འཁོར་ལོའི་མཚན་དང་ ས་ ལ་ཞབས། ། ག་དང་ཞབས་སོར་ ་བས་
འ ེལ་པ་དང་། །
ག་ནི་ཞབས་བཅས་འ མ་ཞིང་གཞོན་ཤ་ཆགས། །འདི་ཡི་ ་ནི་བ ན་དག་མཐོ་
བ་དང་། །
{VIII.14}
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 771

སོར་མོ་རིང་དང་ ིང་ཡངས་ ་ཆེ་ ང་། །ཞབས་འ ར་མི་མངོན་ ་ནི་གྱེན་ ་

ོགས། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
་མ་ལ་ ལེ ་བ་དང་བ ་བ་ལ་སོགས་པ་གོམས་པས་ ག་དང་
ཞབས་འཁོར་ལོའ་ི མཚན་དང་ ན་པ་དང༌། ོམ་པ་ཡང་དག་
པར་ ངས་པ་བ ན་པ་མཐར་ ནི ་པས་ ས་ ལ་བཞིན་ ་
ཞབས་མཐིལ་མཉམ་པ་དང༌། བ ་བའི་དངོས་པོ་བཞི་བ ནེ ་
པས་ ག་དང་ཞབས་ཀྱི་སོར་མོ་ ་བས་འ ལེ ་པ་དང༌། བཟའ་བ་
དང་བཅའ་བ་ལ་སོགས་པའི་དངོས་པོ་གྱ་ནོམ་པ་ ིན་པས་ ག་
དང་ཞབས་འ མ་ཞིང་གཞོན་ཤ་ཆགས་པ་དང༌། ག་པ་ལ་
སོགས་པ་ཤིན་ ་གྱ་ནོམ་པ་ ིན་པས་ འི་བ ན་མཐོ་བ་དང༌།
བསད་པར་ ་བ་བཅིངས་པ་སོགས་ལས་ཐར་བར་ ས་པས་སོར་
མོ་རིང་བ་དང༌། གཞན་གྱི་ ོག་བ ངས་ཏེ་འཚ་བ་ལ་ཕན་
བཏགས་པས་ ངི ་པ་ཡངས་པ་དང༌། ོག་གཅོད་པ་ ངས་པས་
་ཆེ་ཞེང་ ང་བ་དང༌། དགེ་བའི་ཆོས་རང་གིས་ཡང་དག་པར་
ངས་པས་ཞབས་འ ར་ཏེ་ ས་མོའི་ ་ང་དང་ལོང་ ་ཆེ་བ་མི་
མངོན་པ་དང༌། དགེ་བ་ ངས་པ་གཞན་ལ་ ལེ ་བས་ འི་ ་རེ་
རེ་ནས་གྱེན་ ་ གོ ས་པ་ ེ་བ ་ཚན་དང་པོའ།ོ །
VIII.14c-15:
11) Calves like an antelope’s, 12) long and beautiful arms,
13) Secret organ of the genitals retracting inside,
{VIII.15}
14) Gold-colored skin, 15) smooth skin,
16) Body hairs each growing nicely to the right,
17) Face adorned with a hair treasury, 18) lion-like upper body,
772 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

19) Round shoulders, 20) broadness between the shoulder

blades,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 91b.3ff., fleshes these lines
out as:
The second group of ten:
11. calves like an antelope’s (aiṇeya) due to having been intent
on the science of medicine, the crafts, and so forth and giving
them to others
12. long and beautiful arms due to not rejecting supplicants
when they beg them for wealth they own
13. secret organ of the genitals retracting inside like an all-
knowing-horse due to causing others to undertake pure be-
havior and to guarding secret words that are secret from oth-
ers
14. skin color shining like gold due to having given fine sitting
mats to others
15. smooth skin due to having given excellent buildings and so
forth
16. body hairs each curling nicely to the right in each hair pore
due to having thoroughly abandoned busyness and so forth
17. face adorned with a hair treasury due to having treated all
higher beings with respect and service in accordance with
their status
18. upper body greatly expansive like a lion due to not scorning
others with a vicious mouth
19. shoulders very round due to learning in accordance with oth-
ers’ propounding pleasantly and propounding well
20. broadness between the shoulder blades, that is, a chest not
uneven, due to having provided medicine and doctors to oth-
ers
Maitreya’s Ornament:
ིན་པ་ཨེ་ན་ཡའི་འ ་ ག་རིང་མཛས། །མདོམས་ཀྱི་ ་བ་ བས་ ་ བ་པའི་
མཆོག །
{VIII.15}
པགས་པ་གསེར་མདོག་པགས་པ་ བ་པ་དང་། ། ་ནི་རེ་རེ་ནས་གཡས་ལེགས་
འ ངས་དང་། །
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 773

ཞལ་མཛད་ ས་བ ན་རོ་ ོད་སེང་གེ་འ ། །འདི་ཡི་ད ང་པའི་མགོ་ མ་ཐལ་

གོང་ ས། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
གསོ་བ་རིག་པ་དང་བཟོ་ལ་སོགས་གུས་པར་ ས་ཏེ་གཞན་ལ་
ིན་པས་ ནི ་པ་རི་ གས་ཨེ་ན་ཡའི་ ནི ་པ་ ་ ་དང༌། རང་ལ་
བདོག་པའི་ནོར་ ོང་བ་ན་ ོང་བ་པོའི་ ེ་བོ་ རི ་མ་ ངས་པས་
ག་རིང་ཞིང་མཛས་པ་དང༌། གཞན་ཚངས་པར་ ོད་པ་ལེན་ ་
འ ག་པ་དང་གཞན་ལ་གསང་བའི་གསང་ཚིག་བ ངས་པས་ ་
ཅང་ཤེས་ ར་འདོམས་ཀྱི་ ་བ་ བས་ ་ བ་པ་དང༌། གཞན་ལ་
གདིང་བ་གྱ་ནོམ་པ་ ནི ་པས་ གས་པའི་མདོག་གསེར་ ར་
གསལ་བ་དང༌། ཁང་བཟང་སོགས་དམ་པ་ ནི ་པས་ གས་པ་
འ མ་པ་དང༌། འ ་འཛི་ལ་སོགས་པ་ཡོངས་ ་ ངས་པས་བ་
འི་ཁུང་ ་རེ་རེར་ ་རེ་རེ་ནས་གཡས་ ་འཁྱིལ་བ་དང༌། ེ་བོ་
གོང་མ་ཐམས་ཅད་བ ནེ ་བཀུར་གྱིས་གནས་ ་ི ་བ་བཞིན་ ་
བཀོད་པས་ཞལ་ ནི ་མཚམས་མཛད་ ས་བ ན་པ་དང༌། གཞན་
ལ་ཁ་ ག་གི་ཚིག་གིས་ཁྱད་ ་མ་བསད་པས་རོ་ དོ ་སེང་གེ་ ར་
འཕེལ་ཁ་ཆེ་བ་དང༌། གཞན་གྱིས་ ན་པར་ ་བ་དང་ལེགས་
པར་ ་བའི་ ེས་ ་མ ན་པར་བ བ་པས་ད ང་མགོ་ཤིན་ ་
མ་པ་དང༌། གཞན་ལ་ ན་དང་ ན་པ་ ིན་པས་ཐལ་གོང་ ས་
པ་ ེ་ ང་མི་མཉམ་པ་མེད་པ་ ེ་བ ་ཚན་གཉིས་པའོ། །
VIII.16-17:
{VIII.16}
21) Unpleasant tastes perceived for this one as supreme of tastes,
22) Body symmetrical like a fig tree,
774 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

23) Prominent crown protrusion, 24) long and beautiful tongue,

25) Brahmā melodiousness, 26) cheeks like a lion,
{VIII.17}
27) Very white teeth 28) equal in size, 29) well arranged,
30) And fully forty in number,
31) Dark blue sapphire eyes, and 32) eyelashes like those of a
supreme cow—
These are the thirty-two marks.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 92a.2ff., fleshes these lines
out as:
The third group of ten:
21. unpleasant tastes perceived as the supreme of delicious
tastes due to having acted as a servant of Insider [Buddhists]
22. body symmetrical like a fig (nyagrodha; banyan) tree, the
circumference [of outstretched arms and body height] equal
to a fathom, due to having encouraged others to thoroughly
take up construction of parks, pleasure groves, and so forth
23. endowment with a prominent crown protrusion due to hav-
ing especially provided temples and so forth
24. long and beautiful tongue that covers as much as is wished
due to having spoken smoothly, melodiously, and softly over
a long time
25. endowment with the five-limbed brahmā melodiousness due
to having caused sentient beings in all worldly realms to un-
derstand the excellent doctrine
26. cheeks like a lion due to having abandoned foolish talk (tshig
kyal)
27. very white teeth due to having made honor, praise, and so
forth to all beings
28. teeth equal in size without being higher or lower due to pure
livelihood having abandoned the five wrong livelihoods [hy-
pocrisy, flattery, soliciting, expropriating, and calculated gen-
erosity*]
29. teeth well arranged without gaps due to having used true
words in all ways
30. teeth fully forty in number due to having abandoned divisive
words
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 775

Two:
31. eyes like dark blue sapphire jewels due to having looked on
all sentient beings as like a sole child
32. upper and lower eyelashes like the eyelashes of a supreme
cow due to having looked on all sentient beings without bel-
ligerence, lust, obscuration, and so forth—
These are the thirty-two marks.
*For Nāgārjuna’s slightly different list of these five see Hopkins, Nāgār-
juna’s Precious Garland, stanzas 413-415b.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{VIII.16}
འདི་ལ་རོ་མི་ཞིམ་པ་རོ་མཆོག་ ང་། ། ་ནི་ ་གྲོ་དྷ་ ར་ ་ཞེང་གབ། །
ག ག་ཏོར་ད ར་ ན་ གས་རིང་མཛས་པ་དང་། །ཚངས་ད ངས་འགྲམ་པ་སེང་
གེའི་འ ་དང་ཚམས། །
{VIII.17}
ཤིན་ ་དཀར་དང་ཚད་མཉམ་ཐགས་བཟང་དང་། །གྲངས་ནི་བཞི་བ ་ཐམ་པར་
ཚང་བ་དང་། །
ན་ནི་མཐོན་མཐིང་ ན་ ི་བ་མཆོག་གི །འ ་བ་འདི་དག་ མ་ ་ ་གཉིས་
མཚན། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ནད་པའི་གཡོག་ ས་པས་རོ་མི་ཞིམ་པ་ལའང་རོ་ ོ་བའི་མཆོག་
་ ང་བ་དང༌། ནགས་ཚལ་དང་ཀུན་དགའ་ར་བ་སོགས་ ེད་
པ་གཞན་ཡང་དག་པར་ལེན་ ་བ ག་པས་ འི་ ིད་ཚད་དང་
འདོམ་མཉམ་པ་ཤིང་ཁྭ་གྲོ་ཏ་ ར་ ་ཞེང་གབ་པ་དང༌། ག ག་
ལག་ཁང་ལ་སོགས་པ་ ག་པར་ ནི ་པས་ད ་ག ག་ཏོར་དང་
ན་པ་དང༌། ན་རིང་པོ་ནས་འ མ་ཞིང་ ན་ལ་མཉེན་པ་ལ་
སོགས་པ་ག ངས་པས་ ི་ཙམ་བཞེད་པ་ ར་ཁེབས་པས་མཛད་
པའི་ གས་རིང་ཞིང་མཛས་པ་དང༌། འ གི ་ ནེ ་གྱི་ཁམས་
ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་སེམས་ཅན་ལ་དམ་པའི་ཆོས་གོ་བར་ ས་པས་
776 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

ཡན་ལག་ ་ ན་གྱི་ཚངས་པའི་ད ངས་དང་ ན་པ་དང༌། ཚིག་

ཀྱལ་བ་ ངས་པས་འགྲམ་པ་སེང་གེའ་ི འ ་བ་དང༌། ེ་བོ་ཐམས་
ཅད་ལ་བཀུར་བ་དང་བ གས་པ་སོགས་ ས་པས་ཚམས་ཤིན་ ་
དཀར་བ་དང༌། ལོག་འཚ་ ་ ངས་པའི་འཚ་བ་ མ་པར་དག་
པས་མཐོ་དམན་མེད་པར་ཚམས་ཚད་མཉམ་པ་དང༌། བདེན་
པའི་ཚིག་ཀུན་ ་ ད་པས་མཚམས་མ་དོད་པའི་ཚམས་ཐགས་
བཟང་བ་དང༌། ་མའི་ཚིག་ ངས་པས་ཚམས་གྲངས་བཞི་བ ་
ཚང་བ་ ེ་བ ་ཚན་ག མ་པའོ། །སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་ ་
གཅིག་པ་ ར་བ ས་པས་ ན་ནོར་ ་མཐོན་མཐིང་དང་འ ་བ་
དང༌། སེམས་ཅན་ལ་ཁོང་ཁྲོ་བ་དང་ཆགས་པ་དང་ ངོ ས་པ་
སོགས་མེད་པར་བ ས་པས་ ེང་འོག་གི་ ་ི མ་ མས་བ་མཆོག་
གི་ ི་མ་འ ་བ་དང་གཉིས་ཏེ་འདི་དག་མཚན་ མ་ ་ ་གཉིས་
སོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 84ff.
103
Causes of the marks, VIII.18-20:
{VIII.18}
These marks are thoroughly achieved
Through intensively completing
The particular causes achieving
The marks for this [complete enjoyment body]—
{VIII.19}
Escorting gurus and so forth,
Firmness of vows that have been assumed,
Reliantly cultivating gathering [of students]
Giving fine articles, freeing those bound
{VIII.20}
To be killed, spreading to others
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 777

Virtues taken up and so forth—

Those having the character of causes achieving them
In accordance with how they occur in the sūtras.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 92b.2ff., fleshes these three
stanzas out as:
These thirty-two marks are thoroughly achieved through in-
tensively completing the particular causes achieving the re-
spective thirty-two marks for this complete enjoyment body.
What are those causes? They are those having the characteris-
tics of causes achieving marks, that is to say, the seven explicitly
indicated here [in Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realiza-
tions]:
1. escorting gurus and so forth
2. firmness of vows that have been assumed
3. reliantly cultivating the four means of gathering [students]
4. giving fine articles of food, drink, and so forth
5. giving the finest of what is licked [such as yogurt] and so forth
6. freeing those bound to be killed
7. spreading to others the virtuous practices that [you] have
taken up
and the twenty-five included by the term “and so forth” [in Mait-
reya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations], as occur in the
Mother Sūtras. These were explained earlier (see the previous
backnote).
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{VIII.18}
འདི་ལ་མཚན་ནི་གང་གང་གིས། ། བ་པར་ ེད་པའི་ ་གང་ཡིན། །
དེ་དང་དེ་ནི་རབ་ ོགས་པས། །མཚན་ནི་འདི་དག་ཡང་དག་འ བ། །
{VIII.19}
་མ་ ེལ་ལ་སོགས་པ་དང་། །ཡང་དག་ ངས་པ་བ ན་པ་དང་། །
བ ་བ་བ ེན་དང་གྱ་ནོམ་པའི། །དངོས་པོ་ ིན་དང་གསད་ ་བ། །
{VIII.20}
ཐར་བར་ དེ ་དང་དགེ་བ་ནི། །ཡང་དག་ ངས་པ་ ེལ་ལ་སོགས། །
བ་ ེད་ ་ཡི་མཚན་ཉིད་དེ༏ །མདོ་ལས་ ི་ ད་འ ང་བ་བཞིན། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
778 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

ལོངས་ ་འདི་ལ་མཚན་སོ་གཉིས་གང་དང་གང་གི་ བ་པར་ དེ ་

པའི་ ་གང་ཡིན་པ་དེ་དང་དེ་ནི་རབ་ ་ གོ ས་པས་མཚན་སོ་
གཉིས་པོ་འདི་དག་ཡང་དག་པར་འ བ་ །ེ ་དེ་དག་གང་ཞེ་
ན། ་མ་ ལེ ་པ་ལ་སོགས་པ་དང༌། ོམ་པ་ཡང་དག་པར་ ངས་
པ་བ ན་པ་དང༌། བ ་བའི་དངོས་པོ་བཞི་བ ནེ ་པ་དང༌། བཟའ་
བཅའ་སོགས་གྱ་ནོམ་པའི་དངོས་པོ་ ནི ་པ་དང༌། ག་པ་ལ་
སོགས་པ་གྱ་ནོམ་པ་ ནི ་པ་དང༌། བསད་པར་ ་བ་ཐར་པར་
དེ ་པ་དང༌། དགེ་བའི་ཆོས་ཡང་དག་པར་ ངས་པ་གཞན་ལ་
ལེ ་བ་སོགས་མཚན་ བ་ དེ ་ཀྱི་ འི་མཚན་ཉིད་དེ་འདིར་
དངོས་ ་བ ན་པ་བ ན་དང་སོགས་ ས་བ ས་པ་ཉེར་ ་ ེ་
སོ་གཉིས་ནི་ མ་གྱི་མདོ་ལས་ ་ི ད་འ ང་བ་བཞིན་ནོ་ཞེས་པ་
ེ། ར་བཤད་ཟིན་ཏོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 87.
104
Eighty beauties, VIII.21-32.
VIII.21-22a:
{VIII.21}
A Subduer has 1) nails copper-colored,
2) Oily-toned, and 3) prominent,
4) Fingers round, 5) broad, and 6) tapering,
7) Veins not manifest and 8) without knots,
{VIII.22}
9) Ankles not protruding, 10) legs even,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 92b.6ff., fleshes these lines
out as:
Subduers have:
First group of ten:
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 779

1. nails copper-colored due to having separated from desire for

all compositional phenomena (’du byed)
2. nails oily-toned due to being endowed with a special attitude
of helping all sentient beings, and
3. nails prominent due to having been born from a supreme lin-
eage
4. fingers round due not having unseemly modes of behavior
5. fingers broad due to having accumulated vast roots of virtue
6. fingers tapering due to having gradually accumulated roots
of virtue
7. veins not manifest due to having abandoned the ten nonvir-
tues and wrong livelihood and
8. without knots of veins due to having unraveled the knots of
the afflictive emotions
9. ankles not protruding due to just having intelligence realiz-
ing profound secret points that are very secret
10. legs even without a difference in length due to having re-
leased beings from all states difficult to traverse—cyclic ex-
istence and so forth
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{VIII.21}
བ་པའི་སེན་མོ་ཟངས་མདོག་དང་། །མདོག་ མ་མཐོ་དང་སོར་མོ་ མས། །
མ་ ས་ ིན་གྱིས་ ་བ་དང་། ། ་མི་མངོན་དང་མ ད་པ་མེད། །
{VIII.22}
ལོང་ ་མི་མངོན་ཞབས་མཉམ་དང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
འ ་ དེ ་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་འདོད་ཆགས་དང་ ལ་བས་ བ་པའི་
སེན་མོ་ཟངས་ཀྱི་མདོག་ ་ ་དང༌། སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་
ཕན་པའི་ ག་བསམ་དང་ ན་པས་སེན་མོ་མདོག་ མ་པ་དང༌།
རིགས་ཀྱི་མཆོག་ལས་ སེ ་པས་སེན་མོ་མཐོ་བ་དང༌། ོད་ ལ་
ཁ་ན་མ་ཐོ་བ་མེད་པས་སོར་མོ་ མས་ མ་པ་དང༌། དགེ་བའི་ ་
བ་ ་ཆེན་བསགས་པས་སོར་མོ་ མས་ ས་པ་དང༌། དགེ་ ་
780 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

མས་རིམ་གྱིས་བསགས་པས་སོར་མོ་ མས་ ནི ་གྱིས་ ་བ་དང༌།

མི་དགེ་བ་བ ་དང་ལོག་འཚ་ ངས་པས་ ་མི་མངོན་པ་དང༌།
ཉོན་མོངས་པའི་མ ད་པ་གྲོལ་བས་ ་མ ད་པ་མེད་པ་དང༌།
ཤིན་ ་ ས་བའི་གསང་བའི་གནས་ཟབ་མོ་ ོགས་པའི་ ོ་གྲོས་
ཅན་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་ལོང་ ་ ང་ ་མི་མངོན་པ་དང༌། འཁོར་བ་
སོགས་བགྲོད་དཀའ་བའི་གནས་ཐམས་ཅད་ལས་ ེ་བོ་ ོལ་བར་
མཛད་པས་ཞབས་རིང་ ང་མེད་པར་མཉམ་པ་ ེ་བ ་ཚན་དང་
པོའོ། །
VIII.22b-23a:
11) Proceeding in the manner of a lion, 12) of an elephant,
13) Of a swan, 14) and of a supreme bull,
15) Proceeding turning to the right, 16) beautifully, 17) and
straight,
{VIII.23}
18) Body elegant, 19) as if wiped, 20) well-proportioned,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 93a.3ff., fleshes these lines
out as:
Second group of ten:
11. proceeding in the manner of a lion due to being skilled in
outshining humans
12. proceeding in the manner of an elephant due to being skilled
in outshining dragons
13. proceeding in the manner of a swan due to being skilled in
moving in the sky
14. proceeding in the manner of a supreme bull due to being
skilled in guiding sentient beings
15. proceeding turning to the right due to proceeding in accord-
ance with the path of the direction of circumambulation
16. proceeding beautifully due to being skilled in the lovely and
the beautiful
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 781

17. proceeding straight due to not having the crookedness of tak-

ing two grounds* to mind
18. body elegant due to having thoroughly expressed the good
qualities of others
19. body as if wiped [that is, smooth] due to not having been con-
taminated by sinful practices
20. body well-proportioned due to having taught doctrine rele-
vant to trainees
* The reference of “two grounds” (sa gnyis) is not apparent.
Maitreya’s Ornament:

སེང་གེ་གླང་ཆེན་ ་ངང་ནི། །
་མཆོག་ བས་གཤེགས་གཡས་ ོགས་དང་། །མཛས་གཤེགས་ ང་དང་འཁྲིལ་
བག་ཆགས། །
{VIII.23}
ི་དོར་ ས་འ ་རིམ་པར་འཚམ། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
མི་ཟིལ་གྱིས་གནོན་པ་ལ་མཁས་པས་སེང་གེའི་ བས་ ་གཤེགས་
པ་དང༌། ་ཟིལ་གྱིས་གནོན་པ་ལ་མཁས་པས་གླང་པོ་ཆེའ་ི བས་
་གཤེགས་པ་དང༌། ནམ་མཁར་གཤེགས་པ་ལ་མཁས་པས་ ་
ངང་བའི་ བས་ ་གཤེགས་པ་དང༌། སེམས་ཅན་གྱི་ ་འ ེན་པ་
ལ་མཁས་པས་ ་མཆོག་གི་ བས་ ་གཤེགས་པ་དང༌། ོར་
ོགས་ཀྱི་ལམ་དང་མ ན་པར་གཤེགས་པས་གཡས་ གོ ས་ ་
ོག་ཅིང་གཤེགས་པ་དང༌། ་ན་ ག་ཅིང་མཛས་པར་མཁས་
པས་མཛས་པར་གཤེགས་པ་དང༌། ས་གཉིས་ཡིད་ལ་ ེད་པའི་གྱ་
་མི་མངའ་བས་ ང་པོར་གཤེགས་པ་དང༌། གཞན་གྱིས་ཡོན་
ཏན་ཡང་དག་པར་བ དོ ་པར་མཛད་པས་ ་འཁྲིལ་བག་ཆགས་
པ་དང༌། གི ་པའི་ཆོས་དང་མ་འབགས་པས་ ་ ི་དོར་ ས་པ་
782 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

དང་འ ་བ་དང༌། ག ལ་ ་དང་འཚམ་པའི་ཆོས་ ོན་པར་

མཛད་པས་ ་རིམ་པར་འཚམ་པ་ ེ་བ ་ཚན་གཉིས་པའོ། །
VIII.23b-24c:
21) Clean, 22) smooth, 23) and pure,
24) Signs fully complete,
25) Limbs of the body broad and excellent,
{VIII.24}
26) Steps equal, 27) two eyes pure,
28) Just having youthful flesh,
29) Body not slouching but 30) expansive,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 93a.7ff., fleshes these lines
out as:
Third group of ten:
21. body clean due to clean behavior of body, speech, and mind
22. body smooth due to being one having a mind of compassion
23. body pure due to having a mind purified of defilement
24. the parts of the signs fully complete due to the disciplinary
practices overcoming defilements being fully complete
25. limbs of the body broad and excellent due to having com-
plete broad and beautiful qualities
26. steps equal due to an equal mind toward all sentient beings
27. two eyes pure due to teaching pure doctrine engendering only
good qualities
28. body having youthful flesh due to teaching doctrine in a
manner easy to understand
29. body not slouching due to not having a dejected mind with
regard to things difficult to do
30. flesh of body expansive due to the roots of virtues being thor-
oughly elevated above all the world
Maitreya’s Ornament:

གཙང་དང་འ མ་དང་དག་པའི་ ། །
མཚན་ནི་ཡོངས་ ་ ོགས་པ་དང་། ། ་ཡི་ཁོ་ལག་ཡངས་ཤིང་བཟང་། །
{VIII.24}
གོམ་ ོམས་པ་དང་ ན་གཉིས་ནི། །དག་དང་གཞོན་ཤ་ཅན་ཉིད་དང་། །
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 783

་ མ་མེད་དང་ ས་པ་དང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
་ག ང་ གས་ཀྱི་ཀུན་ ོད་གཙང་བས་ ་གཙང་བ་དང༌།
གས་ གས་ ེ་ཅན་ཡིན་པས་ ་འ མ་པ་དང༌། གས་ ི་མས་
དག་པས་ ་དག་པ་དང༌། ི་མ་འ ོམ་ ེད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་འ ལ་བ་
ཡོངས་ ་ གོ ས་པས་མཚན་ཆ་ཤས་ཡོངས་ ་ གོ ས་པ་དང༌།
ཡངས་ཤིང་མཛས་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་ གོ ས་པས་ འི་ཁོ་ལག་ཡངས་
ཤིང་བཟང་བ་དང༌། སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་ གས་ མོ ས་
པས་གོམ་པ་ མོ ས་པ་དང༌། ཡོན་ཏན་འབའ་ཞིག་བ ེད་པ་ མ་
པར་དག་པའི་ཆོས་ ནོ ་པས་ ན་གཉིས་དག་པ་དང༌། ཆོས་གོ་ ་
བར་ ོན་པས་ ་གཞོན་ཤ་ཅན་དང༌། ་དཀའ་བའི་གནས་ལ་
གས་ མ་པ་མེད་པས་ ་ཤ་ མ་པ་མེད་པ་དང༌། དགེ་བའི་ ་
བ་འ གི ་ ནེ ་ཐམས་ཅད་ལས་ཡང་དག་པར་འཕགས་པས་ ་ཤ་
ས་པ་ ེ་བ ་ཚན་ག མ་པའོ། །
VIII.24d-26b:
31) Body very taut,
{VIII.25}
32) Limbs very distinct,
33) Unobstructed clear vision,
34) Waist round, 35) appropriately sized, 36) not stretched out,
37) But flat, 38) navel deep and
{VIII.26}
39) Curling to the right,
40) Beautiful when viewed in all ways,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 93b.3ff., fleshes these lines
out as:
Fourth group of ten:
784 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

31. body very taut without loose bodily flesh due to having ex-
tinguished future mundane existence [rebirths]
32. limbs and secondary limbs very distinct due to teaching the
fine divisions of dependent-arising
33. clear vision without the cataracts of defilements due to teach-
ing very clear words and meanings
34. waist round due [their] students’ having perfect ethics
35. waist appropriately sized due to not being polluted by the
defects of cyclic existence
36. waist not stretched out, that is, not overly long, due to having
overcome the inflation of pride
37. flat waist, that is, abdomen without differences in height, due
to teaching without knowing exhaustion of doctrine
38. navel deep due to realizing profound doctrines
39. outline of the navel curling to the right due to being en-
dowed with students holding guidance concordant with one-
self
40. beautiful when viewed in all ways due to making [their] ret-
inue beautiful in all ways
Maitreya’s Ornament:
ཤིན་ ་གྲིམས་པའི་ ་ཉིད་དང་། །
{VIII.25}
ཡན་ལག་ཤིན་ ་ མ་འ སེ ་དང་། །གཟིགས་པ་ ིབ་མེད་དག་པ་དང་། །
དཀུ་ མ་ བས་ ིན་མ་ ོངས་དང་། ། ང་ངེ་བ་དང་ ེ་བ་ནི། །
{VIII.26}
ཟབ་དང་གཡས་ ོགས་འཁྱིལ་བ་དང་། །ཀུན་ནས་བ ་ན་ ག་པ་དང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཡང་ ིད་ཟད་པས་ ་ཤ་མི་ ོད་པ་ཤིན་ ་གྲིམས་པ་དང༌། ེན་
ཅིང་འ ེལ་བར་འ ང་བ་ཤིན་ ་ མ་པར་ ་ེ བ་ ོན་པས་ཡན་
ལག་དང་ཉིང་ལག་ཤིན་ ་ མ་པར་འ སེ ་པ་དང༌། ཚིག་དོན་
ཤིན་ ་ མ་པར་དག་པ་ ོན་པས་གཟིགས་པ་ ི་མའི་རབ་རིབ་
མེད་ཅིང་དག་པ་དང༌། ོབ་མ་ ལ་ཁྲིམས་ ན་ མ་ཚགས་པར་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 785

ར་བས་དཀུ་ མ་པ་དང༌། འཁོར་བའི་ ོན་གྱིས་མ་ གས་པས་

དཀུ་ བས་ ནི ་པ་དང༌། ང་ ལ་གྱི་འགྱིང་པ་བཅོམ་པས་ ེད་
པ་ཧ་ཅང་རིང་བ་མ་ཡིན་པ་དཀུ་མ་ ངོ ས་པ་དང༌། ཆོས་ཟད་མི་
ཤེས་པར་ ནོ ་པས་ ལ་ ང་ངེ་བ་ ེ་ ོ་བ་མཐོ་དམན་མེད་པ་
དང༌། ཆོས་ཟབ་མོ་ ོགས་པས་ ་ེ བའི་གཏིང་ཟབ་པ་དང༌། རང་
དང་མ ན་པར་གདམས་ངག་འཛིན་པའི་ བོ ་མ་མདའ་བས་ ེ་
བའི་རི་མོ་གཡས་ གོ ས་ ་འཁྱིལ་བ་དང༌། འཁོར་ཀུན་ནས་
མཛས་པར་མཛད་པས་ ོད་ལམ་ཀུན་ནས་ ་ན་ ག་པ་ ེ་བ ་
ཚན་བཞི་པའོ། །
VIII.26c-28a:
41) All behavior clean,
42) Body without moles and black spots,
{VIII.27}
43) Hands smooth like cotton,
44) Lines on the hands lustrous, 45) deep, and 46) long,
47) Mouth not too wide,
48) Lips red like the bimba [fruit],
{VIII.28}
49) Tongue flexible, 50) slender,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 93b.7ff., fleshes these lines
out as:
Fifth group of ten:
41. all behavior clean due to the mind being clean
42. body without moles and black spots due to being free from
teaching the disciplinary doctrine at the wrong time
43. hands smooth like cotton due to teaching doctrines for at-
taining pleasant figure and color of body and so forth
44. lines on the hands lustrous due to treating one’s own and
others’ peoples equally
786 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

45. lines on the hands deep due to abiding in realization of pro-

found doctrines
46. lines on the hands long due to teaching doctrines again and
again
47. mouth not too wide due to making a great many moral train-
ings appropriate to trainees
48. lips red like the bimba [fruit] due to realizing that all worlds
are like reflections (gzugs brnyan, pratibimba)
49. tongue flexible due to taming trainees with soft words
50. tongue slender due to teaching many logically feasible qual-
ities
Maitreya’s Ornament:
ཀུན་ ོད་གཙང་དང་ ་ལ་ནི། ། ེ་བ་གནག་བག་མེད་པ་དང་། །
{VIII.27}
ག་ནི་ཤིང་བལ་ ར་འ མ་དང་། ། ་རིས་མདངས་ཡོད་ཟབ་རིང་དང་། །
ཞལ་ནི་ཧ་ཅང་མི་རིང་དང་། །མ ་ནི་བི ྤ་ ར་དམར་དང་། །
{VIII.28}
གས་མཉེན་པ་དང་ བ་པ་དང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
གས་གཙང་བས་ཀུན་ དོ ་གཙང་བ་དང༌། ས་མ་ཡིན་པར་
ཆོས་འ ལ་བ་ ོན་པ་དང་ ལ་བས་ ་ལ་ ་ེ བ་དང་གནག་བག་
མེད་པ་དང༌། ས་སོགས་བཟོ་མདོག་བདེ་བ་འཐོབ་པའི་ཆོས་
ོན་པས་ ག་ཤིང་བལ་ ར་འ མ་པ་དང༌། རང་གཞན་གྱི་ ེ་བོ་
ོམས་པར་ ས་པས་ ག་གི་རི་མོ་མདངས་ཡོད་པ་དང༌། ཆོས་
ཟབ་མོའི་ གོ ས་པ་ལ་གནས་པས་ ག་གི་རི་མོ་ཟབ་པ་དང༌།
ཡང་ཡང་ཆོས་ ོན་པས་ ག་གི་རི་མོ་རིང་བ་དང༌། ག ལ་ ་
དང་འཚམ་པའི་བ བ་པ་རབ་ ་མང་པོ་མཛད་པས་ཞལ་ཧ་
ཅང་མི་རིང་བ་དང༌། འ ིག་ ནེ ་ཐམས་ཅད་ག གས་བ ན་
དང་འ ་བར་ ོགས་པས་མ ་བིམ་པ་ ར་དམར་བ་དང༌།
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 787

ག ལ་ ་ མས་ཚིག་འ མ་པོས་འ ལ་བས་ གས་མཉེན་པ་

དང༌། ཡོན་ཏན་འཐད་པ་མང་པོ་ ོན་པས་ གས་ བ་པ་ ེ་
བ ་ཚན་ ་པའོ། །
VIII.28b-29b:
51) And red, 52) sound of a dragon,
53) Speech supple and smooth, 54) eye-teeth round,
55) Sharp, 56) white, 57) even,
{VIII.29}
58) And tapered, 59) nose prominent,
60) And supremely pure,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 94a.4ff., fleshes these lines
out as:
Sixth group of ten:
51. tongue red due to taming childish desirous impassioned be-
ings with doctrines whose depth is difficult to fathom
52. sound of a dragon due to not having any fears
53. speech pleasant and supple and smooth due to speaking
pleasantly and so forth
54. eye-teeth round due to having extinguished all entangle-
ments
55. eye-teeth sharp due to taming beings difficult to tame
56. eye-teeth white due to taming afflictive emotions with very
white doctrines
57. eye-teeth even due to abiding on the ground of realizing self
and other as just equal
58. eye-teeth tapered due to intensively teaching serial clear re-
alization of the three vehicles
59. nose prominent due to abiding in the supreme wisdom real-
izing emptiness endowed with all supreme aspects
60. nose supremely clean and pure due to being endowed with
trainee beings having the splendid cleanliness of belief
Maitreya’s Ornament:

དམར་དང་འ ག་གི་ ་ཉིད་དང་། །

788 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

ག ང་མཉེན་འ མ་དང་མཆེ་བ་ མ། ། ོ་དང་དཀར་དང་མཉམ་པ་དང་། །

{VIII.29}
ིན་གྱིས་ ་དང་ཤངས་མཐོ་དང་། །མཆོག་ ་དག་པ་དག་དང་ནི། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
སི ་པའི་ ེ་བོ་ཆགས་ཅན་གཏིང་དཔག་དཀའ་བའི་ཆོས་ཀྱིས་
འ ལ་བས་ གས་དམར་བ་དང༌། བ ེངས་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་མི་
མངའ་བས་འ ག་གི་ ་དང་ ན་པ་དང༌། ན་པ་ལ་སོགས་པར་
ག ངས་པས་ག ང་ ན་ཅིང་མཉེན་ལ་འ མ་པ་དང༌། ཀུན་ ་
ོར་བ་དགུ་ཟད་པས་མཆེ་བ་ མ་པ་དང༌། ེ་བོ་ག ལ་དཀའ་
བ་ག ལ་བར་མཛད་པས་མཆེ་བ་ ་ོ བ་དང༌། ཆོས་ཤིན་ ་
དཀར་པོས་ཉོན་མོངས་འ ལ་བར་མཛད་པས་མཆེ་བ་དཀར་བ་
དང༌། བདག་གཞན་མཉམ་པ་ཉིད་ ་ ོགས་པའི་ས་ལ་གནས་
པས་མཆེ་བ་མཉམ་པ་དང༌། མཐར་གྱིས་ཐེག་པ་ག མ་གྱི་མངོན་
པར་ ོགས་པ་རབ་ ་ ནོ ་པས་མཆེ་བ་ ནི ་གྱིས་ ་བ་དང༌།
མ་ཀུན་མཆོག་ ན་གྱི་ ོང་ཉིད་ ོགས་པའི་ཤེས་རབ་མཆོག་ལ་
གནས་པས་ཤངས་མཐོ་བ་དང༌། ག ལ་ འི་ ་ེ བོ་ཡིད་ཆེས་པའི་
གཙང་མ་ ན་ མ་ཚགས་པ་དང་ ན་པས་ཤངས་མཆོག་ ་
གཙང་ཞིང་དག་པ་ ེ་བ ་ཚན་ ག་པའོ། །
VIII.29c-30:
61) Eyes wide, 62) eyelashes thick,
63) [Eyes] like lotus petals,
{VIII.30}
64) Eyebrows long, 65) soft,
66) Glossy, 67) with even hairs,
68) Arms long and broad, 69) ears equal
70) And devoid of impairment,
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 789

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 94b.1ff., fleshes these lines

out as:
Seventh group of ten:
61. eyes wide due to teaching very vast Great Vehicle doctrines
62. eyelashes thick due to drawing endless groups of sentient be-
ings out of cyclic existence
63. eyes like lotus petals due to being endowed like the orna-
mented white and black of a maiden’s eyes and pleasing lotus
petals, delighting the supreme, that is, fit to be praised by
transmigrators who are gods, demi-gods, and humans
64. eyebrows long due to seeing all that will occur in the future
65. eyebrows soft due to being skilled in taming transmigrators
through soft doctrines
66. eyebrows glossy due to due to being moistened with a virtu-
ous mental continuum
67. eyebrow hairs even due to entirely seeing the defects of thor-
ough afflictions
68. arms long and broad due to having reversed the supremely
harmful afflictions
69. ears equal in being without difference in length and size due
to have conquered over the battle of desire and so forth
70. ear sense power devoid of impairment due to not having im-
paired the continuums of all sentient beings
Maitreya’s Ornament:
ན་ཡངས་པ་དང་ ི་མ་ ག །པ ྨའི་འདབ་མ་འ ་བ་དང་། །
{VIII.30}
ནི ་ གས་རིང་དང་འ མ་པ་དང་། ། མ་དང་ ་ནི་མཉམ་པ་དང་། །
ག་རིང་ ས་དང་ ན་མཉམ་དང་། །ཉམས་པ་ མ་པར་ ངས་པ་དང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་ཆོས་ཤིན་ ་ ་ཆེ་བ་ ོན་པས་ ན་ཡངས་པ་
དང༌། སེམས་ཅན་གྱི་ཚགས་མཐའ་ཡས་པ་འཁོར་བ་ལས་ ངས་
པས་ ་ི མ་ ག་པ་དང༌། ་དང་ ་མིན་དང་མིའི་འགྲོ་བ་གཞོན་
་མ་མིག་དཀར་ནག་འ ེས་ཤིང་པད་འདབ་རངས་བ་ ་ ་
790 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

དང་ ན་པ་མཆོག་ མས་མགུ་བ་ ེ་དེ་དག་གི་བ ོད་པར་འོས་

པས་ ན་པད་མའི་འདབ་མ་འ ་བ་དང༌། མ་འོངས་པ་ན་ཅིར་
འ ར་ཐམས་ཅད་གཟིགས་པས་ ནི ་ གས་རིང་བ་དང༌། འ མ་
པོའི་ཆོས་ཀྱིས་འགྲོ་བ་འ ལ་བ་ལ་མཁས་པས་ ིན་མ་འ མ་པ་
དང༌། གས་ཀྱི་ ད་དགེ་བས་བ ན་པས་ ནི ་མ་ མ་པ་དང༌།
ཀུན་ཉོན་གྱི་ ོན་ཀུན་ ་གཟིགས་པས་ ིན་མའི་ ་མཉམ་པ་
དང༌། མཆོག་ ་གནོད་པ་ཉོན་མོངས་པ་བ གོ ་པར་མཛད་པས་
ག་རིང་ཞིང་ ས་པ་དང༌། འདོད་ཆགས་ལ་སོགས་པའི་ག ལ་
ལས་ མ་པར་ ལ་བས་ ན་རིང་ ང་དང་ཆེ་ ང་མེད་པར་
མཉམ་པ་དང༌། སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་ ད་མ་ཉམས་པར་
མཛད་པས་ ན་གྱི་དབང་པོ་ མ་པར་ ངས་པ་ ེ་བ ་ཚན་
བ ན་པའོ། །
VIII.31-32:
{VIII.31}
71) Forehead beautifully defined,
72) Large, 73) head broad,
74) Head hair black like a bee,
75) Thick, 76) smooth, 77) not tangled,
{VIII.32}
78) Not bristly, 79) and with fragrance
Captivating the minds of beings,
80) Adorned with glorious curls,
Lucky [signs], curling swastikas—
Those are asserted as a Buddha’s excellent beauties.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 94b.6ff., fleshes these lines
out as:
Eighth group of ten:
71. forehead beautifully defined, that is, the border with the hair
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 791

is nicely prominent, due to the mind not having been affected

by bad views
72. large, that is, the area of the forehead is large due to having
overcome all wrong proponents
73. head broad like an umbrella due to having thoroughly com-
pleted the supreme of wish-paths wishing to attain Bud-
dhahood
74. head hair black like a bee due to having overcome attach-
ment liking objects
75. head hair thick due to having exhaustively abandoned the
dormancies of the objects abandoned by the path of seeing
and the objects abandoned by the path of meditation
76. head hair smooth due to knowing the essence of the teaching
with smoothed awareness lacking the roughness of holding to
extremes
77. head hair not tangled due to the mind not being disturbed by
desire and so forth
78. head hair not bristly due to having exhaustively abandoned
harsh words
79. fragrant head hair captivating the minds of beings due to
having spread out the flowers of the branches of enlighten-
ment
80. adorned on hands and feet with glorious curls (dpal gyi
be’u, śrīvatsa), lucky [signs] (bkra shis, nandyāvarta), and
swastikas circling to the right due to the body being beauti-
fied in all aspects.
Those are asserted in sūtra as a Supramundane Victor Buddha’s
excellent beauties.
With regard to the difference between marks and beauties,
marks are so called because they characterize persons possessing
them in their continuum as great beings (skyes bu chen po), and
beauties are so called because they create physical beauties for
others (gzhan la sku’i mdzes pa byed pa); since the marks are prin-
cipal, even each is said to arise from a cause within the six perfec-
tions, whereas since the beauties are accompaniers, such is not
said.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{VIII.31}
792 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

ད ལ་བ་ལེགས་པར་འ ེས་པ་དང་། །ད ེས་ཆེ་བ་དང་ད ་ ས་དང་། །

ད ་ ་ ང་བ་ ར་གནག་དང་། ། ག་དང་འ མ་དང་མ་འཛིངས་དང་། །
{VIII.32}
མི་བཤོར་ ི་ཞིམ་ ེས་ ་ཡི༏ །ཡིད་ནི་འ ོག་པར་ ེད་པ་དང་། །
དཔལ་གྱི་བེ ་དང་བཀྲ་ཤིས་ནི། །ག ང་ ང་འཁྱིལ་བས་བ ན་པ་ ེ། །
སངས་ ས་དཔེ་ ད་བཟང་པོར་བཞེད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
་བ་ངན་པས་ གས་གཞན་ ་མི་འ ར་བས་ད ལ་བ་ལེགས་
པར་འ སེ ་པ་ ེ་ ་མཚམས་ལེགས་པར་དོད་པ་དང༌། ལོག་པར་
་བ་ཐམས་ཅད་འ མོ ས་པར་མཛད་པས་ད སེ ་ཆེ་བ་ ེ་ད ལ་
པའི་ཁྱོན་ཆེ་བ་དང༌། སངས་ ས་ཐོབ་པར་ ོན་པའི་ ོན་ལམ་
གྱི་མཆོག་ཡོངས་ ་ ོགས་པས་ག གས་ ར་ད ་ ས་པ་དང༌།
ལ་ལ་དགའ་བའི་ དེ ་པ་བ ོག་པར་མཛད་པས་ད ་ ་ ང་བ་
ར་གནག་པ་དང༌། མཐོང་ ང་དང་ ོམ་ ང་གི་བག་ལ་ཉལ་
ཟད་པར་ ངས་པས་ད ་ ་ ག་པ་དང༌། མཐར་འཛིན་གྱི་ བ་
རེག་མེད་པའི་ ོ་འ མ་པོས་བ ན་པའི་ ིང་པོ་ཤེས་པས་ད ་
་འ མ་པ་དང༌། གས་འདོད་ཆགས་སོགས་ཀྱིས་མ་འ གས་
པས་ད ་ ་མ་འཛིངས་པ་དང༌། ཚིག་ བ་ཟད་པར་ ངས་པས་
ད ་ ་མི་གཤོར་བ་ ེ་མ་བ ེས་པ་དང༌། ང་ བ་ཀྱི་ཡན་ལག་
གི་མེ་ཏོག་བཀྲམ་པས་ད ་ ་ ་ི ཞིམ་པ་ སེ ་ འི་ཡིད་འ གོ ་
པར་ དེ ་པ་དང༌། ་ མ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ ་མཛས་པར་ ར་བས་
ག་ཞབས་ལ་དཔལ་གྱི་བེ ་དང་བཀྲ་ཤིས་དང་ག ང་ ང་
གཡས་ ་འཁྱིལ་བའི་རི་མོས་བ ན་པ་ ་ེ བ ་ཚན་བ ད་
པའོ། །དེ་དག་ནི་སངས་ ས་བཅོམ་ ན་འདས་ཀྱི་དཔེ་ ད་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 793

བཟང་པོར་མདོ་ལས་བཞེད་པ་ཡིན་ནོ། །མཚན་དཔེའི་ཁྱད་པར་
ནི། རང་ ད་ལ་ ན་པའི་གང་ཟག་ ེས་ ་ཆེན་པོར་མཚན་པར་
ེད་པས་མཚན་དང༌། གཞན་ལ་ འི་མཛས་པ་ ེད་པས་དཔེ་
ད་ཅེས་བཤད་ལ། མཚན་གཙ་བོ་ཡིན་པས་རེ་རེ་ཡང་ ིན་ ག་
གི་ ་ལས་ ང་བར་ག ངས་ཤིང༌། དཔེ་ ད་འཁོར་ཡིན་པས་དེ་
ར་མ་ག ངས་སོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 91ff.
105

70th Topic
4. Emanation Bodies ( ལ་ ་)
VIII.33:
{VIII.33}
Those bodies simultaneously bringing about
Various benefits for transmigrating beings
As long as mundane existence lasts
Are the Subduer’s emanation bodies of uninterrupted continuum.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 96a.4ff., fleshes out this
stanza as:
Those form bodies simultaneously bringing about the various
benefits of high status and definite goodness for pure and impure
transmigrating beings without intimacy [for some] and alienness
[for others] as long as mundane existence lasts are the emana-
tion bodies of a Subduer, which, moreover, are of uninter-
rupted continuum.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{VIII.33}
གང་གིས་ ིད་པ་ ི་ ིད་པར། །འགྲོ་ལ་ཕན་པ་ ་ཚགས་དག །
མཉམ་ ་མཛད་པའི་ ་དེ་ནི། ། བ་པའི་ ལ་ ་ ན་མི་འཆད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
794 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

ག གས་ ་གང་གིས་ དི ་པ་ ་ི དི ་པར་དག་མ་དག་གི་འགྲོ་བ་

ལ་མངོན་མཐོ་ངེས་ལེགས་ཀྱི་ཕན་པ་ ་ཚགས་ཉེ་རིང་མེད་པར་
ས་མཉམ་ ་མཛད་པའི་ ་དེ་ནི་ བ་པའི་ ལ་ ་ ེ་དེའང་
ན་མ་ཆད་པ་ཡིན་ནོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 97.
106

Buddha Activities (སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་འ ིན་ལས་)

VIII.34-40.
VIII.34-36b:
{VIII.34}
Likewise, activities as long as cyclic existence lasts
Are asserted to be of uninterrupted continuum.
1) The activity of the pacification of transmigrations,
2) Setting them in the four aspects of gathering [students],
{VIII.35}
3) The realizations of the thoroughly afflicted
And adoptions of the thoroughly pure,
4) Properly [achieving] the welfare of sentient beings,
5) The six perfections,
{VIII.36}
6) The Buddha path, 7) emptiness
Of inherent existence, 8) extinguishment of dualistic [appear-
ance]
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 96a.6ff., fleshes these lines
out as:
Just as the body of attributes is of uninterrupted continuum as
long as cyclic existence lasts, so the activities of this body of at-
tributes are asserted to be of uninterrupted continuum as long
as cyclic existence lasts. Concerning them, how many are there?
one that sets [beings] in a life-support for the path
1. The One-Gone-Thus performs the activities of achieving the
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 795

pacification of the sufferings of three bad transmigrations,

of [bad] views, and of human transmigrations
five that set [beings] in the path of accumulation
2. setting them in the four aspects of gathering [students]—
giving, speaking pleasantly, purposeful behavior, and con-
cordant behavior [that is, giving gifts, giving doctrine, teach-
ing others to fulfill their aims, and oneself acting according to
that teaching]
3. setting them in the realizations of the discardings of the
thoroughly afflicted and adoptions of the thoroughly pure
4. setting them in properly achieving the welfare of sentient
beings that has a limitless nature
5. setting them in achieving their own welfare, the six perfec-
tions
6. setting them in achieving their own and others’ welfare, the
ten paths of virtuous actions, the Buddha path
one that sets [beings] in the path of preparation
7. setting them in a worldly state arisen from meditation realiz-
ing all phenomena as ultimately empty of inherent existence
one that sets [beings] in the path of seeing
8. setting them in the pristine wisdom of the first ground in
which the proliferations of dualistic appearance are extin-
guished
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{VIII.34}
དེ་བཞིན་འཁོར་བ་ ི་ ིད་འདིའི། །ལས་ནི་ ན་མི་འཆད་པར་འདོད། །
འགྲོ་ མས་ཞི་བའི་ལས་དང་ནི། །བ ་ མ་བཞི་ལ་འགོད་པ་དང་། །
{VIII.35}
ཀུན་ནས་ཉོན་མོངས་བཅས་པ་ཡི། ། མ་པར་ ང་བ་ ོགས་པ་དང་། །
སེམས་ཅན་ མས་དོན་ ི་བཞིན་གྱི། །དོན་དང་ཕ་རོལ་ ིན་ ག་དང་། །
{VIII.36}
སངས་ ས་ལམ་དང་རང་བཞིན་གྱིས། ། ོང་པ་ཉིད་དང་གཉིས་ཟད་དང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཆོས་ ་ ན་མི་ཆད་པ་དེ་བཞིན་ ་འཁོར་བ་ ་ི དི ་པར་ཆོས་ ་
796 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

འདིའ་ི འ ནི ་ལས་ ན་མི་ཆད་པར་འདོད་དོ། །དེ་ལ་ ་ཞིག་ཡོད་

ཅེ་ན། ལམ་གྱི་ ེན་ལ་འགོད་པ་གཅིག་ནི། དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་
པས་ངན་སོང་ག མ་དང་ ་དང་མིའི་འགྲོ་བ་ མས་ཀྱི་ ག་
བ ལ་ཞི་བ་ བ་པའི་འ ིན་ལས་མཛད་པ་དང༌། ཚགས་ལམ་ལ་
འགོད་པ་ ་ནི། ིན་པ་ ན་ ་དོན་ ོད་དོན་མ ན་ཏེ་བ ་བ་
མ་པ་བཞི་ལ་འགོད་པ་དང༌། ཀུན་ནས་ཉོན་མོངས་པ་དང་ མ་
པར་ ང་བའི་ ང་དོར་ གོ ས་པ་ལ་འགོད་པ་དང༌། སེམས་ཅན་
མས་ཀྱི་དོན་ཚད་མེད་པའི་རང་བཞིན་ ་ི ་བ་བཞིན་ ་ བ་
པ་ལ་འགོད་པ་དང༌། རང་གི་དོན་ཕ་རོལ་ ་ ནི ་པ་ ག་ བ་པ་
ལ་འགོད་པ་དང༌། རང་གཞན་གཉིས་ཀའི་དོན་སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་
ལམ་དགེ་བའི་ལས་ལམ་བ ་ལ་འགོད་པ་ ེ་ ་དང༌། རོ ་ལམ་
ལ་འགོད་པ་གཅིག་ནི། ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་དོན་དམ་པར་རང་
བཞིན་གྱིས་ ངོ ་པ་ཉིད་ ་ ོགས་པའི་འ གི ་ ནེ ་པའི་ མོ ་ ང་
ལ་འགོད་པ་དང༌། མཐོང་ལམ་ལ་འགོད་པ་གཅིག་ནི། གཉིས་
ང་གི་ སོ ་པ་ཟད་པའི་ས་དང་པོའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ལ་འགོད་པ་དང༌།
VIII.36c-37c:
9) Terminological, 10) unobservable,
11) Thorough ripening of embodied beings,
{VIII.37}
12) The paths of Bodhisattvas,
13) Reversing manifest conception,
14) Attaining enlightenment,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 96b.4ff., fleshes these lines
out as:
one that sets [beings] in the second through fifth grounds
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 797

9. setting them in the pristine wisdoms of the second through

fifth grounds realizing all phenomena as only terminological
(brda), or conventional (tha snyad)
one that sets [beings] in the sixth ground
10. setting them in the pristine wisdom of the sixth ground real-
izing all phenomena as ultimately unobservable
one that sets [beings] in the seventh ground
11. setting them in the pristine wisdom of the seventh ground en-
acting the thorough ripening of embodied beings through
the power of having surpassingly attained the perfection of
method
two that set [beings] in the eighth ground
12. setting them on the Bodhisattva paths included within the
pristine wisdom of the eighth ground
13. setting them in the pristine wisdom of the eighth ground re-
versing manifest conception of true existence
one that sets [beings] in the ninth ground
14. setting them in the pristine wisdom of the ninth ground able
to perform the deeds of an emanation body partially akin to
having attained enlightenment
Maitreya’s Ornament:
བ ་དང་དམིགས་པ་མེད་པ་དང་། ། ས་ཅན་ མས་ནི་ཡོངས་ ིན་དང་། །
{VIII.37}
ང་ བ་སེམས་དཔའི་ལམ་དང་ནི། །མངོན་པར་ཞེན་པ་ ོག་པ་དང་། །
ང་ བ་ཐོབ་དང་
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ས་གཉིས་པ་ནས་ ་པའི་བར་ལ་འགོད་པ་གཅིག་ནི། ཆོས་ཐམས་
ཅད་བ འམ་ཐ་ ད་ཙམ་ ་ གོ ས་པའི་ས་གཉིས་ནས་ ་པའི་
བར་གྱི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ལ་འགོད་པ་དང༌། ས་ ག་པ་ལ་འགོད་པ་གཅིག་
ནི། ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་དོན་དམ་པར་དམིགས་པ་མེད་པར་ གོ ས་
པའི་ས་ ག་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ལ་འགོད་པ་དང༌། ས་བ ན་པ་ལ་
798 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

འགོད་པ་གཅིག་ནི། ཐབས་ཀྱི་ཕར་ ིན་ ག་པར་ཐོབ་ ོབས་

ཀྱིས་ ས་ཅན་ མས་ཡོངས་ ་ ནི ་པར་མཛད་པའི་ས་བ ན་
པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ལ་འགོད་པ་དང༌། ས་བ ད་པ་ལ་འགོད་པ་གཉིས་
ནི། ས་བ ད་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཀྱིས་བ ས་པའི་ ང་ བ་སེམས་
དཔའི་ལམ་ལ་འགོད་པ་དང༌། བདེན་པར་མངོན་པར་ཞེན་པ་
བ གོ ་པའི་ས་བ ད་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ལ་འགོད་པ་ ེ་གཉིས་དང༌། ས་
དགུ་པ་ལ་འགོད་པ་གཅིག་ནི། ང་ བ་ཐོབ་པ་དང་ཆ་འ ་
བའི་ ལ་ འི་མཛད་པ་ ས་པའི་ས་དགུ་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ལ་འགོད་
པ་དང༌།
VIII.37c-40:
15) the pure land
Of buddhafication, 16) definite,
{VIII.38}
17) Immeasurable benefits for sentient beings,
18) The qualities of relying on Buddhas and so forth
19) The branches of enlightenment,
20) Nonwasted, 21) seeing the truths,
{VIII.39}
22) Abandonment of the errors,
23) The mode of baselessness of those,
25) Purification, the causal collections,
26) Thoroughly not knowing the compounded
{VIII.40}
And uncompounded as different,
And 27) setting them in the nonabiding nirvāṇa
Are asserted as the twenty-seven aspects
Of the activities of the body of attributes.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 97a.1ff., fleshes these lines
out as:
twelve that set [beings] in the tenth ground
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 799

15. setting them in the pure land of the environment and the in-
habitants of one’s own buddhafication that the tenth
grounder is about to attain
16. setting those definite to be buddhafied in the next birth in be-
ing separated from [buddhafication] by one birth
17. setting those separated from [buddhafication] by one birth in
achieving immeasurable benefits for sentient beings
18. setting those separated from [buddhafication] by one birth in
going everywhere to worldly realms and in the qualities of
relying on Buddhas and listening to doctrine and so forth
19. setting those in their last existence in completing the
branches of unsurpassed enlightenment definite to become
buddhafied in that very birth
20. setting them in the pristine wisdom of the final existence re-
alizing that the relationship of actions and effects is not
wasted and is nondelusive
21. setting them in the pristine wisdom of the final existence di-
rectly realizing all the actualities of the four truths correctly
just as they are
22. setting those in their last existence in abandonment of the
four errors (phyin ci log bzhi)
23. [commentary missing on “the mode of baselessness of
those”]
24. [commentary missing on “purification”]
25. setting those in their last existence in fulfillment of the causal
collections of buddhafication
26. setting them in the pristine wisdom of the final existence di-
rectly realizing that compounded cyclic existence and un-
compounded nirvāṇa are not ultimately different
27. setting them in the fruit of the path, the nonabiding nir-
vāṇa:
these are asserted in sūtra as the twenty-seven aspects of the
activities of the pristine wisdom body of attributes.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
སངས་ ས་ཞིང་། ། མ་པར་དག་དང་ངེས་པ་དང་། །
{VIII.38}
སེམས་ཅན་དོན་ནི་ཚད་མེད་དང་། །སངས་ ས་ ེན་སོགས་ཡོན་ཏན་དང་། །
800 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

ང་ བ་ཡན་ལག་ལས་ མས་ནི། ། ད་མི་ཟ་དང་བདེན་མཐོང་དང་། །

{VIII.39}
ིན་ཅི་ལོག་ནི་ ངས་པ་དང་། །དེ་གཞི་མེད་པའི་ ལ་དང་ནི། །
མ་པར་ ང་དང་ཚགས་དང་ནི། །འ ས་ ས་འ ས་མ་ ས་པ་ལ། །
{VIII.40}
ཐ་དད་ཡོངས་ ་མི་ཤེས་དང་། ། ་ངན་འདས་ལ་འགོད་པ་ ེ། །
ཆོས་ཀྱི་ ་ཡི་ ིན་ལས་ནི། ། མ་པ་ཉི་ ་བ ན་ ་བཞེད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ས་བ ་པ་ལ་འགོད་པ་བ ་གཉིས་ནི། རང་ཉིད་སངས་ ས་པའི་
ོད་བ ད་ཀྱི་ཞིང་ མ་པར་དག་པ་ས་བ ་པ་ཐོབ་མ་ཐག་པ་ལ་
འགོད་པ་དང༌། ེ་བ་ ི་མར་སངས་ ས་པར་ངེས་པ་ ེ་བ་
གཅིག་གིས་ཐོགས་པ་ལ་འགོད་པ་དང༌། ེ་བ་གཅིག་གིས་ཐོགས་
པ་སེམས་ཅན་གྱི་དོན་ཚད་མེད་པ་ བ་པ་ལ་འགོད་པ་དང༌། ེ་
བ་གཅིག་གིས་ཐོགས་པ་འ ིག་ ནེ ་གྱི་ཁམས་ཀུན་ ་ཉེ་བར་
འགྲོ་ཞིང་སངས་ ས་བ ནེ ་པ་དང་ཆོས་ཉན་པ་སོགས་ཀྱི་ཡོན་
ཏན་ལ་འགོད་པ་དང༌། ིད་པ་ཐ་མ་པ་ ེ་བ་དེ་ཉིད་ལ་སངས་
ས་པར་ངེས་པའི་ ་མེད་ ང་ བ་ཀྱི་ཡན་ལག་ གོ ས་པ་ལ་
འགོད་པ་དང༌། ལས་དང་འ ས་ ར་འ ེལ་བ་ ད་མི་ཟ་ཞིང་མི་
བ ་བར་ གོ ས་པའི་ དི ་པ་ཐ་མའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ལ་འགོད་པ་དང༌།
བདེན་པ་བཞིའི་དངོས་པོ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཡང་དག་པ་ ི་ ་བ་
བཞིན་ ་མངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་པའི་ ིད་པ་ཐ་མའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ལ་
འགོད་པ་དང༌། ིད་པ་ཐ་མ་བ་ ནི ་ཅི་ལོག་བཞི་ ངས་པ་ལ་
འགོད་པ་དང༌། [commentary on activities 23 and 24 missing]
ིད་པ་ཐ་མ་པ་སངས་ ས་པའི་ འི་ཚགས་པ་ཚང་བ་ལ་འགོད་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 801

པ་དང༌། འ ས་ ས་འཁོར་བ་དང་འ ས་མ་ ས་ ང་འདས་

དོན་དམ་པར་ཐ་དད་མེད་པར་མངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་པའི་ ིད་
མཐའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ལ་འགོད་པ་ ེ་བ ་གཉིས་དང༌། ལམ་གྱི་འ ས་
་མི་གནས་པའི་ ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པ་ལ་འགོད་པ་ །ེ ཡེ་ཤེས་
ཆོས་ འི་འ ནི ་ལས་ མ་པ་ཉི་ ་ ་བ ན་ ་མདོ་ལས་བཞེད་
པ་ཡིན་ནོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 97ff.
107
Four divisions of bodies of attributes, I.17:
{I.17}
Nature, complete enjoyment,
And likewise the others, emanation
And body of attributes as well as activities,
Are expressed as the four aspects.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 6b.2ff., fleshes out this
stanza as:
Nature body, complete enjoyment body, emanation body, and
pristine wisdom body of attributes as well as activities are the
four phenomena characterizing the fruit body of attributes.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{I.17}
ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ལོངས་ ོགས་བཅས་དང་། །དེ་བཞིན་གཞན་པ་ ལ་པ་ནི། །
ཆོས་ ་མཛད་པ་དང་བཅས་པ། ། མ་པ་བཞིར་ནི་ཡང་དག་བ ོད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ ་དང༌། ལོངས་ དོ ་ གོ ས་པའི་ ་དང༌། ལ་པའི་
་དང༌། ཡེ་ཤེས་ཆོས་ ་མཛད་པ་དང་བཅས་པ་ མས་ནི་འ ས་
་ཆོས་ ་མཚན་ ེད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་བཞིའོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 1, 7.
802 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

108
Nature bodies, VIII.1:
{VIII.1}
The nature body of a Subduer
Has attained uncontaminated attributes
Has purity in all respects,
And a nature possessing the characteristic [of emptiness].
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 88a.7ff., fleshes this stanza
out as:
The nature body of a Lord of Subduers, a Buddha Supramun-
dane Victor, is a body endowed with two purities having three
features:
1. the feature of endowment which is to have attained the
twenty-one groups of uncontaminated attributes such as the
establishments through mindfulness and so forth
2. the feature of separation which is purity in all respects from
the two obstructions as well as their predispositions
3. the feature of entity which is a nature of those pristine wis-
doms possessing the characteristic of emptiness of true ex-
istence.
Although the three bodies, which are the subjects about to be ex-
plained, do not exist as different entities from the nature body,
they are posited as different bodies in order to indicate respec-
tively that “They are posited as objects of activity of the direct
perception of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas residing on the great
grounds, and Hearers and so forth.”
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{VIII.1}
བ་པའི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ ་ནི། །ཟག་པ་མེད་པའི་ཆོས་གང་དག །
ཐོབ་ ར་ མ་ཀུན་ མ་དག་པ། །དེ་དག་རང་བཞིན་མཚན་ཉིད་ཅན། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
བ་དབང་སངས་ ས་བཅོམ་ ན་འདས་ཀྱི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ ་ནི།
ན་པའི་ཁྱད་པར་ ན་པ་ཉེར་གཞག་སོགས་ཟག་པ་མེད་པའི་
ཆོས་ ེ་ཚན་ཉེར་གཅིག་པོ་གང་དག་ཐོབ་པར་ ར་པ། ལ་བའི་
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 803

ཁྱད་པར་ བི ་གཉིས་བག་ཆགས་དང་བཅས་པ་ མ་པ་ཀུན་ ་

མ་པར་དག་པ། ངོ་བོའི་ཁྱད་པར་ཡེ་ཤེས་དེ་དག་གི་རང་བཞིན་
བདེན་པས་ ོང་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་ཅན་ཏེ་ཁྱད་པར་ག མ་དང་
ན་པའི་དག་པ་གཉིས་ ན་གྱི་ ་ཡིན་ནོ། །འཆད་པར་འ ར་
བའི་ཆོས་ཅན་གྱི་ ་ག མ་ནི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ ་ལས་ངོ་བོ་ཐ་དད་ ་
མེད་ཀྱང༌། རིམ་པ་ ར་སངས་ ས་དང་ ང་སེམས་ས་ཆེན་པོ་
ལ་བ གས་པ་དང་ཉན་ཐོས་ལ་སོགས་པའི་མངོན་ མ་གྱི་ ོད་
ལ་ ་ མ་པར་བཞག་པ་ཡིན་ནོ་ཞེས་བ ན་པའི་ ིར་ ་ ་ཐ་
དད་པར་ མ་པར་བཞག་གོ །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 64ff.
109
Pristine wisdom bodies of attributes, VIII.2-3b:
{VIII.2}
1) The harmonies with enlightenment, 2) the immeasurables,
3) The liberations, 4) the entities
Of the nine serial absorptions
5) The entities of the ten totalities,
{VIII.3}
6) The eight aspects by way of thoroughly dividing
The faculties of outshining,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 88a.7ff., fleshes these lines
out as:
The Buddha ground’s
1. thirty-seven harmonies with enlightenment
2. four immeasurables—love, compassion, joy, and equanim-
ity
3. eight liberations
4. nine serially abiding absorptions
5. ten totalities—meditative stabilizations of earth, water, fire,
wind, blue, yellow, red, white, space, and consciousness
804 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

6. eight outshinings—four shape outshinings: the two which

are by way of the internal yogi discriminating oneself as hav-
ing a form viewing external forms as little and viewing them
as big, and the two which are by way of the internal yogi dis-
criminating oneself as formless viewing external forms as lit-
tle and viewing them as big; and four color outshinings:
which are by way of the internal yogi discriminating oneself
as formless viewing external forms as blue, yellow, red, and
white. Those are known upon being outshone and seen upon
being outshone. There come to be eight by applying such dis-
crimination to each of these, or the shape outshinings are con-
densed into two, making six, and then counting the two, sky
and consciousness outshinings, making eight.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{VIII.2}
ང་ བ་ ོགས་མ ན་ཚད་མེད་དང་། ། མ་པར་ཐར་དང་མཐར་གྱིས་ནི། །
ོམས་འ ག་དགུ་ཡི་བདག་ཉིད་དང་། །ཟད་པར་བ ་ཡི་བདག་ཉིད་དང་། །
{VIII.3}
ཟིལ་གྱིས་གནོན་པའི་ ེ་མཆེད་ནི། །རབ་ ་ད ེ་བས་ མ་བ ད་དང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་སའི་ ང་ བ་ཀྱི་ གོ ས་དང་མ ན་པའི་ཆོས་སོ་
བ ན་ནི་ ་ེ ཚན་དང་པོ་དང༌། མས་པ་ ངི ་ ེ་དགའ་བ་
བཏང་ ོམས་ཚད་མེད་བཞི་ནི་ ེ་ཚན་གཉིས་པ་དང༌། མ་པར་
ཐར་པ་བ ད་ནི་ ེ་ཚན་ག མ་པ་དང༌། མཐར་གྱིས་གནས་པའི་
མོ ས་པར་འ ག་པ་དགུ་ནི་ ེ་ཚན་བཞི་པ་དང༌། ཟད་པར་ས་
དང་ ་དང་མེ་དང་ ང་དང་ ནོ ་པོ་དང་སེར་པོ་དང་དམར་པོ་
དང་དཀར་པོ་དང་ནམ་མཁའ་དང་ མ་པར་ཤེས་པའི་ཏིང་ངེ་
འཛིན་ཏེ་ཟད་པར་བ ་ནི་ ེ་ཚན་ ་པ་དང༌། ནང་ ལ་འ ོར་
བ་རང་ལ་ག གས་ཅན་ ་འ ་ཤེས་པའི་ ་ོ ནས་ ི་རོལ་གྱི་
ག གས་ ང་ ་ལ་བ ་བ་དང་ཆེན་པོ་ལ་བ ་བ་གཉིས་དང༌།
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 805

ནང་ ལ་འ ོར་པ་རང་ལ་ག གས་མེད་པར་འ ་ཤེས་པའི་ ོ་

ནས་ ི་རོལ་གྱི་ག གས་ ང་ ་ལ་བ ་བ་དང་ཆེན་པོ་ལ་བ ་བ་
གཉིས་ཏེ་ད ིབས་ཟིལ་གནོན་བཞི་དང༌། ནང་ ལ་འ ོར་བ་
རང་ལ་ག གས་མེད་པར་འ ་ཤེས་པ་ཁོ་ནས་ ི་རོལ་གྱི་
ག གས་ ནོ ་པོ་དང་སེར་པོ་དང་དམར་པོ་དང་དཀར་པོ་ མས་
ལ་བ ་བ་ ེ་ཁ་དོག་ཟིལ་གནོན་བཞིའོ། །དེ་དག་ཟིལ་གྱིས་
མནན་ནས་ཤེས་ཤིང་ཟིལ་གྱིས་མནན་ནས་མཐོང༌། དེ་ ར་འ ་
ཤེས་པར་ ར་བ་ཞེས་རེ་རེ་ལ་ ར་བ་བ ད་དམ་ད ིབས་ཟིལ་
གནོན་གཉིས་ ་བ ས་ཏེ་ ག་ ་ ར་བའི་ ངེ ་ ་ནམ་མཁའ་
དང་ མ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ཟིལ་གནོན་གཉིས་བགྲངས་ནས་བ ད་ ་ ས་
པ་ནི་ ེ་ཚན་ ག་པ་དང༌།
VIII.3c-5b:
7) Nonaffliction, 8) exalted knowledge upon wishing,
9) Clairvoyances, 10) individual correct knowledges,
{VIII.4}
11) Four purities in all aspects,
12) Ten powers, 13) ten strengths
14) Four fearlessnesses
15) Three aspects of nonconcealment,
{VIII.5}
16) Three aspects of mindful establishment,
17) A nature of not being endowed with forgetfulness,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 89a.3ff., fleshes these lines
out as:
7. nonafflictive meditative stabilizations—that do not generate
the afflictive emotions of desire and so forth in others’ con-
tinuums
8. exalted knowledge upon wishing—knowing all upon merely
806 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

wishing
9. six clairvoyances
10. four individual correct knowledges
11. four purities—purity of support such that one has attained
control with regard to taking and leaving a body; purity of
object of observation such that one has attained control with
regard to transforming a nonexistent into an existent emana-
tion; purity of mind that enters into countless meditative sta-
bilizations in each moment; purity of pristine wisdom that has
gained dominion with regard to immeasurable doors of reten-
tions
12. ten powers—three fruits of giving: power over life, power
over mind, and power over articles; two fruits of ethics: power
over body and power over birth; one fruit of patience: power
over interests; one fruit of effort: power over prayer-wishes;
one fruit of concentration: power over magical emanation;
two fruits of wisdom: power over pristine wisdom and power
over doctrine.
13. ten strengths
14. four fearlessnesses
15. three nonconcealments of the behaviors of exalted body,
speech, and mind
16. three mindful establishments, when teaching doctrine, ab-
sence of desire regarding the retinue wanting to listen respect-
fully, and absence of anger regarding the retinue not wanting
to listen due to disrespect, and neutrality without the occur-
rence of a mixture of desire and anger regarding their engag-
ing in listening with a mixture of those two
17. possessing a nature of not being endowed with forgetful-
ness of sentient beings’ welfare
Maitreya’s Ornament:
ཉོན་མོངས་མེད་དང་ ོན་མཁྱེན་དང་། །མངོན་ཤེས་སོ་སོ་ཡང་དག་རིག །
{VIII.4}
མ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་དག་བཞི་དང་། །དབང་བ ་དང་ནི་ ོབས་བ ་དང་། །
མི་འ ིགས་པ་ནི་བཞི་དག་དང་། །བ ང་བ་མེད་པ་ མ་ག མ་དང་། །
{VIII.5}
ན་པ་ཉེར་གཞག་ མ་ག མ་དང་། །བ ེལ་བ་མི་མངའི་ཆོས་ཉིད་དང་། །
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 807

Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:

གཞན་ ད་ལ་ཉོན་མོངས་པ་ཆགས་སོགས་མི་ ེད་པའི་ཉོན་
མོངས་མེད་པའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་ནི་བ ན་པ་དང༌། ོན་པ་ཙམ་
ས་ནས་ཐམས་ཅད་ཤེས་པའི་ ནོ ་ནས་མཁྱེན་པ་ནི་བ ད་པ་
དང༌། མངོན་པར་ཤེས་པ་ ག་ནི་དགུ་པ་དང༌། སོ་སོ་ཡང་དག་
པར་རིག་པ་བཞི་ནི་བ ་པ་དང༌། ས་འདོར་ལེན་ལ་དབང་
ཐོབ་པའི་ ནེ ་ཡོངས་ ་དག་པ་དང༌། མེད་པ་ ལ་ཡོད་པ་ ར་
བ་ལ་དབང་ཐོབ་པའི་དམིགས་པ་ཡོངས་ ་དག་པ་དང༌། ད་
ཅིག་རེ་རེ་ལ་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་གྲངས་མེད་པ་ལ་འ ག་པའི་ གས་
ཡོངས་ ་དག་པ་དང༌། ག ངས་ཀྱི་ ོ་དཔག་ ་མེད་པ་ལ་
དབང་འ རོ ་བའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཡོངས་ ་དག་པ་བཞི་ནི་བ ་གཅིག་
པ་དང༌། ཚ་ལ་དབང་བ་དང་སེམས་ལ་དབང་བ་དང་ཡོ་ ེད་ལ་
དབང་བ་ ་ེ ིན་པའི་འ ས་ ་ག མ་དང༌། ལས་ལ་དབང་བ་
དང་ ེ་བ་ལ་དབང་བ་ ེ་ ལ་ཁྲིམས་ཀྱི་འ ས་ ་གཉིས་དང༌།
མོས་པ་ལ་དབང་བ་ ་ེ བཟོད་པའི་འ ས་ ་གཅིག་དང༌། ོན་
ལམ་ལ་དབང་བ་ ེ་བ ོན་འ ས་ཀྱི་འ ས་ ་གཅིག་དང༌། ་
འ ལ་ལ་དབང་བ་ ེ་བསམ་གཏན་གྱི་འ ས་ ་གཅིག་དང༌། ཡེ་
ཤེས་ལ་དབང་བ་དང་ཆོས་ལ་དབང་བ་ ེ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་འ ས་ ་
གཉིས་ཏེ་དབང་བ ་ནི་བ ་གཉིས་པ་དང༌། བོ ས་བ ་ནི་བ ་
ག མ་པ་དང༌། མི་འ གི ས་པ་བཞི་ནི་བ ་བཞི་པ་དང༌། ་
ག ང་ གས་ཀྱི་ཀུན་ ་ ོད་པ་བ ང་བ་མེད་པ་ག མ་ནི་བཅོ་
་པ་དང༌། ཆོས་ ོན་པ་ན་འཁོར་གུས་པས་ཉན་པར་འདོད་པ་
808 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

ལ་ཆགས་པ་མེད་པ་དང་མ་གུས་བས་ཉན་པར་མི་འདོད་པ་ལ་
ཁོང་ཁྲོ་བ་མེད་པ་དང༌། དེ་གཉིས་འ ེས་མར་འ ག་པ་ལ་
ཆགས་ ང་འ ེས་མར་འ ང་བ་མེད་པར་བཏང་ ོམས་ ་ ན་
པ་ཉེ་བར་གཞག་པ་ག མ་ནི་བ ་ ག་པ་དང༌། སེམས་ཅན་གྱི་
དོན་ལ་བ ལེ ་བ་མི་མངའ་བའི་ཆོས་ཉིད་དང་ ན་པ་ནི་བ ་
བ ན་པ་དང༌།
VIII.5c-6:
18) Thorough conquest of the predispositions,
19) Great compassion for creatures,
{VIII.6}
20) The unshared attributes of only a Subduer
That are described as eighteen,
21) And the exalted-knower-of-all-aspects
Are called the body of attributes.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 89b.4ff., fleshes these lines
out as:
18. possessing thorough conquest of the predispositions of the
two obstructions
19. great compassion seeing all creatures in the six periods of
day and night
20. eighteen unshared attributes of only a Subduer
21. the three—exalted-knower-of-all-aspects, knower of paths,
and knower of bases:
in terms of the sense (don gyis), sūtra says that the twenty-one
groups of uncontaminated pristine wisdoms of the Buddha ground
are the pristine wisdom body of attributes.
Tsong-kha-pa’s Golden Garland says that the ten groups
ranging from the harmonies with enlightenment through the indi-
vidual correct knowledges are in common with the Lower Vehi-
cle; the four purities and the ten powers are in common with Bo-
dhisattvas; and the remaining nine groups are uncommon qualities
of Buddhas; therefore, the explanation in [Jam-yang-shay-pa’s]
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 809

textbook [on the perfection of wisdom] that the four individual

correct knowledges are qualities only of Buddhas is to be exam-
ined because even in Manifest Knowledge the four individual cor-
rect knowledges are described as in common with the Lower Ve-
hicle.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
བག་ཆགས་ཡང་དག་བཅོམ་པ་དང་། ། ེ་ལ་ གས་ ེ་ཆེན་པོ་དང་། །
{VIII.6}
བ་པ་ཁོ་ནའི་མ་འ ེས་ཆོས། །བཅོ་བ ད་བཤད་པ་གང་ཡིན་དང་། །
མ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་མཁྱེན་ཉིད་དང་། །ཆོས་ཀྱི་ ་ཞེས་བ ོད་པ་ཡིན། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
བི ་གཉིས་ཀྱི་བག་ཆགས་ཡང་དག་པར་བཅོམ་པ་དང་ ན་པ་ནི་
བཅོ་བ ད་པ་དང༌། ་ེ བོ་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་ཉིན་མཚན་ ས་ ག་ ་
གཟིགས་པའི་ གས་ ་ེ ཆེན་པོ་ནི་བ ་དགུ་པ་དང༌། བ་པ་ཁོ་
ནའི་མ་འ སེ ་པའི་ཆོས་བཅོ་བ ད་ནི་ཉི་ ་པ་དང༌། མ་པ་
ཐམས་ཅད་མཁྱེན་པ་དང་ལམ་ཤེས་པ་དང་གཞི་ཤེས་པ་ག མ་
ནི་ཉེར་གཅིག་པ་ ེ། སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་སའི་ཟག་མེད་ཀྱི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ ེ་
ཚན་ཉེར་གཅིག་ལ་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཆོས་ ་ཞེས་མདོ་ལས་དོན་གྱིས་
བ དོ ་པ་ཡིན་ནོ། ། ོགས་མ ན་ནས་སོ་རིག་བཞིའི་བར་ ་ེ ཚན་
བ ་ནི་ཐེག་དམན་དང༌། ཡོངས་དག་བཞི་དང་དབང་བ ་ནི་
སེམས་དཔའ་དང་ ན་མོང་བ་དང༌། ག་མ་ ེ་ཚན་དགུ་ནི་
སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་ ན་མོང་མིན་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་ཡིན་པར་གསེར་ ེང་
ལས་ག ངས་པས། ཡིག་ཆར་སོ་རིག་བཞི་སངས་ ས་ཁོ་ནའི་
ཡོན་ཏན་ཡིན་པར་བཤད་པ་ད ད་པར་ ་ ེ། མངོན་པ་ནས་
ཀྱང་སོ་རིག་བཞི་ཐེག་དམན་དང་ ན་མོང་བར་བཤད་པའི་ ིར་
རོ། །
810 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti

and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 67ff.
110
Complete enjoyment bodies, VIII.12:
{VIII.12}
This having an essence
Of thirty-two marks and eighty beauties
Is asserted as a Subduer’s complete enjoyment body
Because of thoroughly enjoying the Great Vehicle.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 91a.3ff., fleshes out this
stanza as:
This form body that is qualified by the five certainties of residing
only in a Highest Pure Land and so forth and has an essence of
thirty-two marks and eighty beauties that are the fruition of
having accumulated the collections [of merit and wisdom] is as-
serted as a Subduer’s complete enjoyment body because of
thoroughly enjoying [or making use of] the Great Vehicle doc-
trine.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{VIII.12}
མཚན་ནི་ མ་ ་ ་གཉིས་དང་། །དཔེ་ ད་བ ད་ འི་བདག་ཉིད་འདི། །
ཐེག་ཆེན་ཉེ་བར་ལོངས་ ོད་ ིར། ། བ་པའི་ལོངས་ ོད་ ོགས་ ར་བཞེད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཚགས་བསགས་པའི་ མ་ ིན་གྱི་འ ས་ ་མཚན་ མ་ ་ ་
གཉིས་དང་དཔེ་ ད་བ ད་ འི་བདག་ཉིད་ཅན་འོག་མིན་ཁོ་
ནར་བ གས་པ་སོགས་ངེས་པ་ ས་ཁྱད་པར་ ་ ས་པའི་
ག གས་ ་འདི་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་ཆོས་ལ་ཉེ་བར་ལོངས་ དོ ་པའི་
རི ་ བ་པའི་ལོངས་ དོ ་ གོ ས་པའི་ ་ཡིན་པར་བཞེད་དོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 84.
111
Emanation bodies, VIII.33:
{VIII.33}
Those bodies simultaneously bringing about
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 811

Various benefits for transmigrating beings

As long as mundane existence lasts
Are the Subduer’s emanation bodies of uninterrupted continuum.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 96a.4ff., fleshes out this
stanza as:
Those form bodies simultaneously bringing about the various
benefits of high status and definite goodness for pure and impure
transmigrating beings without intimacy [for some] and alienness
[for others] as long as mundane existence lasts are the emana-
tion bodies of a Subduer, which, moreover, are of uninter-
rupted continuum.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{VIII.33}
གང་གིས་ ིད་པ་ ི་ ིད་པར། །འགྲོ་ལ་ཕན་པ་ ་ཚགས་དག །
མཉམ་ ་མཛད་པའི་ ་དེ་ནི། ། བ་པའི་ ལ་ ་ ན་མི་འཆད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ག གས་ ་གང་གིས་ དི ་པ་ ་ི དི ་པར་དག་མ་དག་གི་འགྲོ་བ་
ལ་མངོན་མཐོ་ངེས་ལེགས་ཀྱི་ཕན་པ་ ་ཚགས་ཉེ་རིང་མེད་པར་
ས་མཉམ་ ་མཛད་པའི་ ་དེ་ནི་ བ་པའི་ ལ་ ་ ེ་དེའང་
ན་མ་ཆད་པ་ཡིན་ནོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 97.
112
Buddha activities, VIII.34-40:
VIII.34-36b:
{VIII.34}
Likewise, activities as long as cyclic existence lasts
Are asserted to be of uninterrupted continuum.
1) The activity of the pacification of transmigrations,
2) Setting them in the four aspects of gathering [students],
{VIII.35}
3) The realizations of the thoroughly afflicted
And adoptions of the thoroughly pure,
4) Properly [achieving] the welfare of sentient beings,
812 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

5) The six perfections,

{VIII.36}
6) The Buddha path, 7) emptiness
Of inherent existence, 8) extinguishment of dualistic [appear-
ance]
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 96a.6ff., fleshes these lines
out as:
Just as the body of attributes is of uninterrupted continuum as
long as cyclic existence lasts, so the activities of this body of at-
tributes are asserted to be of uninterrupted continuum as long
as cyclic existence lasts. Concerning them, how many are there?
one that sets [beings] in a life-support for the path
1. The One-Gone-Thus performs the activities of achieving the
pacification of the sufferings of three bad transmigrations,
of [bad] views, and of human transmigrations
five that set [beings] in the path of accumulation
2. setting them in the four aspects of gathering [students]—
giving, speaking pleasantly, purposeful behavior, and con-
cordant behavior [that is, giving gifts, giving doctrine, teach-
ing others to fulfill their aims, and oneself acting according to
that teaching]
3. setting them in the realizations of the discardings of the
thoroughly afflicted and adoptions of the thoroughly pure
4. setting them in properly achieving the welfare of sentient
beings that has a limitless nature
5. setting them in achieving their own welfare, the six perfec-
tions
6. setting them in achieving their own and others’ welfare, the
ten paths of virtuous actions, the Buddha path
one that sets [beings] in the path of preparation
7. setting them in a worldly state arisen from meditation realiz-
ing all phenomena as ultimately empty of inherent existence
one that sets [beings] in the path of seeing
8. setting them in the pristine wisdom of the first ground in
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 813

which the proliferations of dualistic appearance are extin-

guished
Maitreya’s Ornament:
{VIII.34}
དེ་བཞིན་འཁོར་བ་ ི་ ིད་འདིའི། །ལས་ནི་ ན་མི་འཆད་པར་འདོད། །
འགྲོ་ མས་ཞི་བའི་ལས་དང་ནི། །བ ་ མ་བཞི་ལ་འགོད་པ་དང་། །
{VIII.35}
ཀུན་ནས་ཉོན་མོངས་བཅས་པ་ཡི། ། མ་པར་ ང་བ་ ོགས་པ་དང་། །
སེམས་ཅན་ མས་དོན་ ི་བཞིན་གྱི། །དོན་དང་ཕ་རོལ་ ིན་ ག་དང་། །
{VIII.36}
སངས་ ས་ལམ་དང་རང་བཞིན་གྱིས། ། ོང་པ་ཉིད་དང་གཉིས་ཟད་དང་། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ཆོས་ ་ ན་མི་ཆད་པ་དེ་བཞིན་ ་འཁོར་བ་ ་ི དི ་པར་ཆོས་ ་
འདིའ་ི འ ནི ་ལས་ ན་མི་ཆད་པར་འདོད་དོ། །དེ་ལ་ ་ཞིག་ཡོད་
ཅེ་ན། ལམ་གྱི་ ེན་ལ་འགོད་པ་གཅིག་ནི། དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་
པས་ངན་སོང་ག མ་དང་ ་དང་མིའི་འགྲོ་བ་ མས་ཀྱི་ ག་
བ ལ་ཞི་བ་ བ་པའི་འ ིན་ལས་མཛད་པ་དང༌། ཚགས་ལམ་ལ་
འགོད་པ་ ་ནི། ིན་པ་ ན་ ་དོན་ ོད་དོན་མ ན་ཏེ་བ ་བ་
མ་པ་བཞི་ལ་འགོད་པ་དང༌། ཀུན་ནས་ཉོན་མོངས་པ་དང་ མ་
པར་ ང་བའི་ ང་དོར་ གོ ས་པ་ལ་འགོད་པ་དང༌། སེམས་ཅན་
མས་ཀྱི་དོན་ཚད་མེད་པའི་རང་བཞིན་ ་ི ་བ་བཞིན་ ་ བ་
པ་ལ་འགོད་པ་དང༌། རང་གི་དོན་ཕ་རོལ་ ་ ནི ་པ་ ག་ བ་པ་
ལ་འགོད་པ་དང༌། རང་གཞན་གཉིས་ཀའི་དོན་སངས་ ས་ཀྱི་
ལམ་དགེ་བའི་ལས་ལམ་བ ་ལ་འགོད་པ་ ེ་ ་དང༌། རོ ་ལམ་
ལ་འགོད་པ་གཅིག་ནི། ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་དོན་དམ་པར་རང་
བཞིན་གྱིས་ ངོ ་པ་ཉིད་ ་ ོགས་པའི་འ གི ་ ནེ ་པའི་ མོ ་ ང་
814 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

ལ་འགོད་པ་དང༌། མཐོང་ལམ་ལ་འགོད་པ་གཅིག་ནི། གཉིས་

ང་གི་ སོ ་པ་ཟད་པའི་ས་དང་པོའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ལ་འགོད་པ་དང༌།
VIII.36c-37c:
9) Terminological, 10) unobservable,
11) Thorough ripening of embodied beings,
{VIII.37}
12) The paths of Bodhisattvas,
13) Reversing manifest conception,
14) Attaining enlightenment,
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 96b.4ff., fleshes these lines
out as:
one that sets [beings] in the second through fifth grounds
9. setting them in the pristine wisdoms of the second through
fifth grounds realizing all phenomena as only terminological
(brda), or conventional (tha snyad)
one that sets [beings] in the sixth ground
10. setting them in the pristine wisdom of the sixth ground real-
izing all phenomena as ultimately unobservable
one that sets [beings] in the seventh ground
11. setting them in the pristine wisdom of the seventh ground en-
acting the thorough ripening of embodied beings through
the power of having surpassingly attained the perfection of
method
two that set [beings] in the eighth ground
12. setting them on the Bodhisattva paths included within the
pristine wisdom of the eighth ground
13. setting them in the pristine wisdom of the eighth ground re-
versing manifest conception of true existence
one that sets [beings] in the ninth ground
14. setting them in the pristine wisdom of the ninth ground able
to perform the deeds of an emanation body partially akin to
having attained enlightenment
Maitreya’s Ornament:
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 815

བ ་དང་དམིགས་པ་མེད་པ་དང་། ། ས་ཅན་ མས་ནི་ཡོངས་ ིན་དང་། །

{VIII.37}
ང་ བ་སེམས་དཔའི་ལམ་དང་ནི། །མངོན་པར་ཞེན་པ་ ོག་པ་དང་། །
ང་ བ་ཐོབ་དང་
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ས་གཉིས་པ་ནས་ ་པའི་བར་ལ་འགོད་པ་གཅིག་ནི། ཆོས་ཐམས་
ཅད་བ འམ་ཐ་ ད་ཙམ་ ་ གོ ས་པའི་ས་གཉིས་ནས་ ་པའི་
བར་གྱི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ལ་འགོད་པ་དང༌། ས་ ག་པ་ལ་འགོད་པ་གཅིག་
ནི། ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་དོན་དམ་པར་དམིགས་པ་མེད་པར་ གོ ས་
པའི་ས་ ག་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ལ་འགོད་པ་དང༌། ས་བ ན་པ་ལ་
འགོད་པ་གཅིག་ནི། ཐབས་ཀྱི་ཕར་ ིན་ ག་པར་ཐོབ་ ོབས་
ཀྱིས་ ས་ཅན་ མས་ཡོངས་ ་ ནི ་པར་མཛད་པའི་ས་བ ན་
པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ལ་འགོད་པ་དང༌། ས་བ ད་པ་ལ་འགོད་པ་གཉིས་
ནི། ས་བ ད་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཀྱིས་བ ས་པའི་ ང་ བ་སེམས་
དཔའི་ལམ་ལ་འགོད་པ་དང༌། བདེན་པར་མངོན་པར་ཞེན་པ་
བ གོ ་པའི་ས་བ ད་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ལ་འགོད་པ་ ེ་གཉིས་དང༌། ས་
དགུ་པ་ལ་འགོད་པ་གཅིག་ནི། ང་ བ་ཐོབ་པ་དང་ཆ་འ ་
བའི་ ལ་ འི་མཛད་པ་ ས་པའི་ས་དགུ་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ལ་འགོད་
པ་དང༌།
VIII.37c-40:
15) the pure land
Of buddhafication, 16) definite,
{VIII.38}
17) Immeasurable benefits for sentient beings,
18) The qualities of relying on Buddhas and so forth
19) The branches of enlightenment,
816 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

20) Nonwasted, 21) seeing the truths,

{VIII.39}
22) Abandonment of the errors,
23) The mode of baselessness of those,
25) Purification, the causal collections,
26) Thoroughly not knowing the compounded
{VIII.40}
And uncompounded as different,
And 27) setting them in the nonabiding nirvāṇa
Are asserted as the twenty-seven aspects
Of the activities of the body of attributes.
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words, 97a.1ff., fleshes these lines
out as:
twelve that set [beings] in the tenth ground
15. setting them in the pure land of the environment and the in-
habitants of one’s own buddhafication that the tenth
grounder is about to attain
16. setting those definite to be buddhafied in the next birth in be-
ing separated from [buddhafication] by one birth
17. setting those separated from [buddhafication] by one birth in
achieving immeasurable benefits for sentient beings
18. setting those separated from [buddhafication] by one birth in
going everywhere to worldly realms and in the qualities of
relying on Buddhas and listening to doctrine and so forth
19. setting those in their last existence in completing the
branches of unsurpassed enlightenment definite to become
buddhafied in that very birth
20. setting them in the pristine wisdom of the final existence re-
alizing that the relationship of actions and effects is not
wasted and is nondelusive
21. setting them in the pristine wisdom of the final existence di-
rectly realizing all the actualities of the four truths correctly
just as they are
22. setting those in their last existence in abandonment of the
four errors (phyin ci log bzhi)
23. [commentary missing on “the mode of baselessness of
those”]
 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament 817

24. [commentary missing on “purification”]

25. setting those in their last existence in fulfillment of the causal
collections of buddhafication
26. setting them in the pristine wisdom of the final existence di-
rectly realizing that compounded cyclic existence and un-
compounded nirvāṇa are not ultimately different
27. setting them in the fruit of the path, the nonabiding nir-
vāṇa:
these are asserted in sūtra as the twenty-seven aspects of the
activities of the pristine wisdom body of attributes.
Maitreya’s Ornament:
སངས་ ས་ཞིང་། ། མ་པར་དག་དང་ངེས་པ་དང་། །
{VIII.38}
སེམས་ཅན་དོན་ནི་ཚད་མེད་དང་། །སངས་ ས་ ེན་སོགས་ཡོན་ཏན་དང་། །
ང་ བ་ཡན་ལག་ལས་ མས་ནི། ། ད་མི་ཟ་དང་བདེན་མཐོང་དང་། །
{VIII.39}
ིན་ཅི་ལོག་ནི་ ངས་པ་དང་། །དེ་གཞི་མེད་པའི་ ལ་དང་ནི། །
མ་པར་ ང་དང་ཚགས་དང་ནི། །འ ས་ ས་འ ས་མ་ ས་པ་ལ། །
{VIII.40}
ཐ་དད་ཡོངས་ ་མི་ཤེས་དང་། ། ་ངན་འདས་ལ་འགོད་པ་ ེ། །
ཆོས་ཀྱི་ ་ཡི་ ིན་ལས་ནི། ། མ་པ་ཉི་ ་བ ན་ ་བཞེད། །
Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s Meaning of the Words:
ས་བ ་པ་ལ་འགོད་པ་བ ་གཉིས་ནི། རང་ཉིད་སངས་ ས་པའི་
ོད་བ ད་ཀྱི་ཞིང་ མ་པར་དག་པ་ས་བ ་པ་ཐོབ་མ་ཐག་པ་ལ་
འགོད་པ་དང༌། ེ་བ་ ི་མར་སངས་ ས་པར་ངེས་པ་ ེ་བ་
གཅིག་གིས་ཐོགས་པ་ལ་འགོད་པ་དང༌། ེ་བ་གཅིག་གིས་ཐོགས་
པ་སེམས་ཅན་གྱི་དོན་ཚད་མེད་པ་ བ་པ་ལ་འགོད་པ་དང༌། ེ་
བ་གཅིག་གིས་ཐོགས་པ་འ ིག་ ནེ ་གྱི་ཁམས་ཀུན་ ་ཉེ་བར་
འགྲོ་ཞིང་སངས་ ས་བ ནེ ་པ་དང་ཆོས་ཉན་པ་སོགས་ཀྱི་ཡོན་
818 Backnotes: Commentary on Maitreya’s Ornament

ཏན་ལ་འགོད་པ་དང༌། ིད་པ་ཐ་མ་པ་ ེ་བ་དེ་ཉིད་ལ་སངས་

ས་པར་ངེས་པའི་ ་མེད་ ང་ བ་ཀྱི་ཡན་ལག་ གོ ས་པ་ལ་
འགོད་པ་དང༌། ལས་དང་འ ས་ ར་འ ེལ་བ་ ད་མི་ཟ་ཞིང་མི་
བ ་བར་ གོ ས་པའི་ དི ་པ་ཐ་མའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ལ་འགོད་པ་དང༌།
བདེན་པ་བཞིའི་དངོས་པོ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཡང་དག་པ་ ི་ ་བ་
བཞིན་ ་མངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་པའི་ ིད་པ་ཐ་མའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ལ་
འགོད་པ་དང༌། ིད་པ་ཐ་མ་བ་ ནི ་ཅི་ལོག་བཞི་ ངས་པ་ལ་
འགོད་པ་དང༌། [commentary on activities 23 and 24 missing]
ིད་པ་ཐ་མ་པ་སངས་ ས་པའི་ འི་ཚགས་པ་ཚང་བ་ལ་འགོད་
པ་དང༌། འ ས་ ས་འཁོར་བ་དང་འ ས་མ་ ས་ ང་འདས་
དོན་དམ་པར་ཐ་དད་མེད་པར་མངོན་ མ་ ་ ོགས་པའི་ ིད་
མཐའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ལ་འགོད་པ་ ེ་བ ་གཉིས་དང༌། ལམ་གྱི་འ ས་
་མི་གནས་པའི་ ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པ་ལ་འགོད་པ་ །ེ ཡེ་ཤེས་
ཆོས་ འི་འ ནི ་ལས་ མ་པ་ཉི་ ་ ་བ ན་ ་མདོ་ལས་བཞེད་
པ་ཡིན་ནོ། །
See also Sparham, Abhisamayālaṃkāra with [Āryavimuktisena’s] Vṛtti
and [Haribhadra’s] Ālokā, vol. 4, 97ff.
Jeffrey Hopkins is Professor Emeritus of Tibetan Buddhist Studies at the
University of Virginia where he taught Tibetan Buddhist Studies and Ti-
betan language for thirty-two years from 1973. He received a B.A. magna
cum laude from Harvard University in 1963, trained for five years at the
Lamaist Buddhist Monastery of America in Freewood Acres, New Jersey,
USA (now the Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center in Washington, New Jer-
sey), and received a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from the University of Wis-
consin in 1973. He served as His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s chief inter-
preter into English on lecture tours for ten years, 1979-1989. At the Uni-
versity of Virginia he founded programs in Buddhist Studies and Tibetan
Studies and served as Director of the Center for South Asian Studies for
twelve years. He has published forty-two books, some of which have been
translated into a total of twenty-two languages. He published the first
translation of the foundational text of the Jo-nang school of Tibetan Bud-
dhism in Mountain Doctrine: Tibet’s Fundamental Treatise on Other-
Emptiness and the Buddha-Matrix. He has translated and edited fifteen
books by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the last three being How to See
Yourself as You Really Are, Becoming Enlightened, and How to Be Com-
passionate. He is the Founder and President of the UMA Institute for Ti-
betan Studies.

Jongbok Yi is Assistant Professor of Asian Philosophy at the Richard

Stockton College of New Jersey. He received a B.A. from Sunkyunkwan
University in 1997 and received an M.A. from Seoul National University
in 2000 in Seoul, South Korea. He studied Indian and Tibetan Buddhism
with Professor Jeffrey Hopkins and Professor David Germano from 2002
at the University of Virginia where he received an M.A. in 2005 and a
Ph.D. in 2013. The title of his dissertation is “Monastic Pedagogy on Emp-
tiness in the Geluk Sect of Tibetan Buddhism: Intellectual History and
Analysis of Topics Concerning Ignorance According to Svātantrika-
Mādhyamika in Monastic Textbooks by Jam-yang-shay-pa.” He has trans-
lated a few books including Stages of Meditation and Mind of Clear Light:
Advice on Living Well and Dying Consciously by His Holiness the 14th
Dalai Lama, etc., into Korean. With Jeffrey Hopkins he published Ngag-
wang-pal-dan’s Explanation of the Treatise “Ornament for the Clear Re-
alizations” From the Approach of the Meaning of the Words: The Sacred
Word of Maitreyanātha (Dyke, Va.: uma-tibet.org, 2014). He has been
teaching at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey since 2013 and is
also a translator of the UMA Institute for Tibetan Studies.
The Hidden Teaching of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras
This book provides a map detailing the progression to enlighten-
ment. First it presents the omniscience, knowledge of the paths, and
knowledge of the foundation that are to be developed through prac-
tice; then it describes the four trainings that are the means of devel-
oping those extraordinary wisdoms; and finally it details the attrib-
utes of Buddhahood that are the fruit of training.
Drawn from the syllabus of the renowned Tibetan Go-mang Col-
lege, the book features:
• the first translation of Jam-yang-shay-pa’s Eloquent Presentation
of the Eight Categories and Seventy Topics: Sacred Word of Guru
Ajita, with Tibetan text interspersed
• the first translation of the Mongolian Ngag-wang-pal-dan’s com-
mentary on the 203 stanzas that Jam-yang-shay-pa cites from the
274 stanzas of Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations,
from his Meaning of the Words: The Sacred Word of Maitreyanā-
tha, with Tibetan text interspersed
• oral commentary from Dan-ma-lo-chö: Ge-she of Lo-sel-ling Col-
lege, Abbot Emeritus of Nam-gyal College, and Great Assembly
Hall Tulku
• annotations by seven Tibetan and Mon-
golian authors from several Ge-lug-pa
monasteries and colleges
• the first translation of Kön-chog-jig-
may-wang-po’s treatment of the thirty-
first of the Seventy Topics, the 173 as-
pects of the complete training in all as-
pects, from his Thorough Expression of
the Natures of the One Hundred Seventy-
Three Aspects of the Three Exalted
Knowers: White Lotus Vine of Eloquence
• annotations comparing two basic editions of Jam-yang-shay-pa’s
text as well as six secondary editions.

uma-tibet.org