Guhyagarbha Tantra (with Commentary)
by Gyurme Dorje | 1987 | 304,894 words
The English translation of the Guhyagarbha Tantra, including Longchenpa's commentary from the 14th century. The whole work is presented as a critical investigation into the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism, of which the Guhyagarbhatantra is it's principle text. It contains twenty-two chapters teaching the essence and practice of Mahayoga, which s...
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Text 17.3 (Commentary)
[Guhyagarbha-Tantra, Text section 17.3]
Resplendent with skulls, snakes,
Diverse things, and sunlight,
And shimmering with many flaming bursts. [3][Tibetan]
thod-sbrul sna-tshogs nyi-mas brjid /
'bar-ba'i 'phro-ba mang-po 'khrug / [3]
Commentary:
[ii. As for the ornaments with which it is adorned (commenting on Ch. 17.3):]
For the most part this description resembles that of the afore-mentioned (palace of the peaceful deities).[1] in particular however, it has walls of dry and moist skulls (thod), girded by wreaths of black snakes (sbrul); it is adorned with diverse things (sna-tshogs) including tassles of skulls and snakes, window appertures of sun and moon, beams of µþ°ù²¹³ó³¾Äå gods, pillars of supreme human corpses (mchog-chen), pillar-bases of tortoise, laths of human corpses, planks of supreme animal corpses (mchog-phran), roof slates of human skins, necklaces of intestine, halfnecklaces of hearts, and the four gates have thresholds of tortoise, lintels of crocodile, steps (skyes-bu) of black snakes, and door-panels of charnel ground cadavers. It is resplendent with (brjid) roof-parapets and ornaments of sunlight (nyi-mas), moonlight, and planets and stars, and it is beautified by shimmering ('khrug) light-rays and with many (mang-po) rings of fiery sparks which burst ('phro-ba) forth into the ten directions from the tips of their flaming ('bar-ba'i) blaze.
[The third concerns the distinctive features of their seats (It comments on Ch. 17.4):]
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Footnotes and references:
[1]:
See above. Ch. 6, sections 2-5.