The Role of the Bodhicittavivaraṇa in the Mahāmudrā Tradition of ...

The Role of the Bodhicittavivaraṇa in the 

- 

Mahāmudrā Tradition of the Dwags po bka’ brgyud 

Klaus-Dieter Mathes 

University of Vienna 

Abstract: The Commentary on Enlightened Attitude (Bodhicittavivaraṇa), which 

is attributed to the tantric Nāgārjuna, takes the ultimate enlightened attitude 

(bodhicitta) as a direct realization of emptiness, and follows a positive approach 

to the ultimate, like the sūtras of and commentaries on the Third Wheel of the 

Doctrine (Dharmacakra). Taking this as Nāgārjuna’s final position, the 

Commentary on Enlightened Attitude gains an important status for those who see 

in the Third Wheel of the Doctrine teachings of definitive meaning. The present 

paper shows that ’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal (1392-1481) and his disciple the 

Fourth Zhwa dmar pa chos grags ye shes (1453-1524) follow this approach, but 

take positive descriptions of the ultimate in the Third Wheel of the Doctrine as the 

result of a direct experience of emptiness beyond the duality of perceiving subject 

and perceived object. Standing in the Great Seal (Mahāmudrā) tradition of the 

Dwags po bka’ brgyud, an ultimate existence of mind, such that self-awareness or 

the perfect nature exists as an entity, is not accepted by them. 

General Remarks 

Tradition has it that Nāgārjuna (fl. 200 CE) 1 composed a very interesting 

commentary on bodhicitta 2 titled the Commentary on Enlightened Attitude 

(Bodhicittavivaraṇa). The original Sanskrit text has not come down to us, but since 

stanza 57 of the Commentary on Enlightened Attitude is also found in Maitrīpa’s 

(1007-85?) The Five Aspects (Pañcākāra; see below) there are some grounds to 

assume its existence in India at least from the eleventh century onwards. 3 Given 

1 

Erich Frauwallner, Die Philosophie des Buddhismus, 3rd ed. (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1969), 

170. 

2 

Normally translated as “mind [that is committed] to enlightenment” or “enlightened attitude.” 

3 The Five Aspects is written in prose but it contains a few stanzas, some of which are also found 

elsewhere (stanza 2 of The Five Aspects is stanza 19 of Maitrīpa’s Mahāyānaviṃśikā; stanza 3 of The 

Five Aspects is stanza 21 of Maitrīpa’s Pañcatathāgatamudrāvivaraṇa; stanza 4 of The Five Aspects 

Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, no. 5 (December 2009): 1-31. 

http://www.thlib.org?tid=T5695. 

1550-6363/2009/5/T5695. 

© 2009 by Klaus-Dieter Mathes, Tibetan and Himalayan Library, and International Association of Tibetan Studies. 

Distributed under the THL Digital Text License.

Mathes: The Role of the Bodhicittavivaraṇa 

that the Commentary on Enlightened Attitude is introduced by a quotation from 

the Tantra of the Secret Assembly (Guhyasamājatantra), its author is probably the 

tantric Nāgārjuna of the Ārya school. In any case, it can be excluded with certainty 

that the Commentary on Enlightened Attitude was composed by the author of the 

Fundamental Stanzas of the Centrist [School] (Mūlamadhyamakakārikā). 4 

It goes without saying that none of the Tibetan traditions would ever accept 

such a distinction; nobody in Tibet doubted that the author of the Fundamental 

Stanzas of the Centrist [School] also composed the Commentary on Enlightened 

Attitude. This is surprising since the Commentary on Enlightened Attitude differs 

considerably from the Fundamental Stanzas and the other analytical works of 

Nāgārjuna, which are thought to comment on the teachings of the Second Wheel 

of the Doctrine (Dharmacakra). In equating emptiness with suchness and supreme 

enlightened attitude (bodhicitta; see below), the Commentary on Enlightened 

Attitude follows a positive approach to the ultimate, like the sūtras of and 

commentaries on the Third Wheel of the Doctrine. Why Nāgārjuna would have 

propagated different approaches to emptiness was explained in various ways. 

Mainstream Tibetan Buddhism followed Candrakīrti’s (seventh century) lead in 

taking the teaching in the Second Wheel of the Doctrine of the lack of an 

independent nature or own-being as the underlying intention of any positive 

statement about the ultimate. Some, however, took the Third Wheel of the Doctrine 

as a teaching of definitive meaning and defined Nāgārjuna’s position on the basis 

of the Commentary on Enlightened Attitude. This strategy was followed not only 

by the Jo nang pas, who saw in the Commentary on Enlightened Attitude an 

important support for their disputed “Empty of Other” (Gzhan stong) tradition, but 

also by ’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal (1392-1481), who found in the texts of the 

Third Wheel of the Doctrine support for his direct Great Seal (Mahāmudrā) 

approach to emptiness. 5 For both the followers of the Empty of Other tradition and 

the Great Seal, 6 it was important to show that their respective traditions were in 

line with Nāgārjuna’s ultimate understanding of emptiness, and this is how the 

Commentary on Enlightened Attitude gained its important status. 

The division of the Buddhist doctrine into three sets or “wheels” (cakra) of 

teachings was provided its chief doctrinal support in The Sūtra on Revealing the 

Intention (Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra), and became necessary in order to accommodate 

the philosophical tenets of the Great Vehicle (Mahāyāna) schools within mainstream 

Buddhism. The Followers of Yoga Conduct (Yogācāra) in particular felt compelled 

to resolve the tensions they observed between the Metaphysical (Abhidharma) 

is stanza 57 of the Commentary on Enlightened Attitude). Maitrīpa does not mark any of them as 

quotations, however. Thus it cannot be ruled out with certainty that the author of the Commentary on 

Enlightened Attitude copied stanza 4 of The Five Aspects. 

4 Unless, of course, one accepts that Nāgārjuna lived for six-hundred years. 

5 Klaus-Dieter Mathes, A Direct Path to the Buddha Within: Gö LotsAwa’s [’Gos lo tsā ba] 

Mahāmudrā Interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhāga (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2008), 368 ff. 

6 For the difference between the Empty of Other tradition and ’Gos lo tsā ba’s Great Seal, see Mathes, 

Direct Path, 45-48. 

2

Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, no. 5 (December 2009) 

ontology of momentary “factors of existence” (dharma) and the Prajñāpāramitā’s 

emptiness of all dharmas (these two forming the first two wheels of the doctrine) 

by restricting emptiness to what has been wrongly projected onto the factors of 

existence. A similar approach can be found among the proponents of a 

Buddha-nature (Tathāgatagarbha) in all sentient beings. All sūtras which support 

such interpretations of emptiness constitute the Third Wheel of the Doctrine. 7 The 

reaction to such strategies of interpretation was mainly twofold. While some 

Centrists (Mādhyamika), such as Candrakīrti, refuted the Yoga Conduct and 

Buddha-nature doctrines and dismissed their hermeneutics (which concluded that 

the Third Wheel of the Doctrine has definitive meaning), Kamalaśīla (700-50?) 8 

tried to show that the last two wheels of the doctrine do not contradict each other 

and claims in his Madhyamakāloka that “it is not the case that Centrists do not 

accept the [Yoga Conduct] presentation of the three natures.” 9 

In other words, the Yoga Conduct emptiness of the dependent nature with respect 

to the imagined nature (usually taken as the mind being empty of the duality of a 

perceived and perceiver) does not entail the ultimate existence of “mind only” 

(cittamātra). In fact, this concept of the emptiness of duality originally comes from 

the Perfection of Insight (Prajñāpāramitā) literature and does not necessarily 

contradict the Madhyamaka emptiness of an own-being. In his commentary on the 

true nature of phenomena (dharmatā) chapter of the Distinction of Phenomena 

from their True Nature (Dharmadharmatāvibhāga), ’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal, 

for example, reads the four Mahāmudrā yogas into the four traditional “meditation 

practices” (prayoga) of the Great Vehicle. For him, the apprehension of Mind 

Only, or Perception Only (Vijñaptimātra; the first practice), means that external 

objects are not perceived as having an own-being. 10 Moreover, followers of the 

7 

For a detailed explanation of the Third Wheel of the Doctrine, see Klaus-Dieter Mathes, 

Unterscheidung der Gegebenheiten von ihrem wahren Wesen (Swisttal-Odendorf: Indica et Tibetica, 

1996), 155-63. 

8 

Hajime Nakamura, Indian Buddhism: A Survey with Bibliographical Notes (Delhi: Buddhist 

Tradition Series, 1987), 281. 

9 

See Klaus-Dieter Mathes, “The Ontological Status of the Dependent (paratantra) in the 

Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the Vyākhyāyukti,” in Indica et Tibetica: Festschrift für Michael Hahn 

zum 65. Geburtstag von Freunden und Schülern überreicht, ed. Konrad Klaus and Jens-Uwe Hartmann 

(Vienna: Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde, 2007), 323-27. 

10 

Klaus-Dieter Mathes, ed., ’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal gyis mdzad pa’i theg pa chen po rgyud 

bla ma’i bstan bcos kyi ’grel bshad de kho na nyid rab tu gsal ba’i me long (Stuttgart: Nepal Research 

Centre Publications, 2003), 468, lines 18-21: “Second, as to such an apprehension, one apprehends 

that false imagining lacks an own-being, even though it appears. Thus it is called the apprehension that 

[everything] is only an image (vijñapti). And from the latter results a consciousness which does not 

apprehend outer objects, [that is, which apprends them] as lacking an own-being. From such a 

consciousness results the knowledge that even the perceiving subject called ‘only images’ lacks an 

own-being” (gnyis pa ni de ltar dmigs pa ni yang dag pa’i kun tu rtog pa snang du zin kyang ngo bo 

med par dmigs pa yin la/ de lta bu de ni rnam par rig par pa tsam du dmigs pa zhes bya’o/ rnam par 

rig pa tsam du dmigs pa de las ni phyi rol gyi don rnams ngo bo nyid med pas mi dmigs par shes pa 

skye’o/ don rnams mi dmigs par shes pa las rnam par rig pa tsam zhes bya ba’i ’dzin pa yang ngo bo 

nyid med par shes pa skye la/). See also Klaus-Dieter Mathes, “’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal’s 

Commentary on the dharmatā Chapter of the Dharmadharmatāvibhāgakārikās,” in Studies in Indian 

Philosophy and Buddhism, vol. 12 (Tokyo: University of Tokyo, 2005), 19. 

3


Sūtra on Revealing the Intention usually point out that with this fourfold meditation 

practice the notion of Mind Only is only the first step, which is left behind in the 

ascent to the remaining levels. Understood in this way, Mind Only and the 

three-nature theory do not pose any obstacle to a Centrist’s using the hermeneutics 

of The Sūtra on Revealing the Intention. 11 

Whether one takes the Second and Third Wheels of the Doctrine to be on an 

equal footing or follows The Sūtra on Revealing the Intention more strictly in 

claiming that only the Third Wheel of the Doctrine has definitive meaning, it is of 

utmost importance for such hermeneutic approaches to adduce the Nāgārjuna works 

which equate emptiness with the ultimate sphere of reality (dharmadhātu) or 

supreme enlightened attitude, because this implies that Nāgārjuna himself first 

established emptiness with the help of his analytical works (which are considered 

to be commentaries of the Second Wheel of the Doctrine), only to adopt a more 

positive approach in his works on the Third Wheel of the Doctrine. In this respect, 

it is of interest that the Compendium of Sūtras (Sūtrasamuccaya; said to be by 

Nāgārjuna) quotes and discusses certain Great Vehicle sūtras (such as The Sūtra 

of the Noble Queen Mālā [Śrīmālādevīsūtra]) which restrict the dictum that all 

phenomena lack an own-being (that is, their emptiness) to the level of the 

phenomenal world. In order to show that there is ultimately only one single vehicle 

(yāna), the compilers of the Compendium of Sūtras even quote from the Sūtra of 

the King Dhāraṇīśvara (Dhāraṇīśvararājasūtra) the example of the threefold 

purification of a vaiḍūrya stone, which illustrates the successive teachings of the 

three wheels of the doctrine. 12 This implies that the Second Wheel of the Doctrine, 

which teaches the emptiness of the Perfection of Insight Sūtras, is outshone by a 

final wheel of the doctrine that describes the ultimate in positive terms (that is, as 

a Buddha-nature according to the Commentary on the Analysis of the Jewel Family 

[Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā]). 

Even for those Centrists who were more critical of The Sūtra on Revealing the 

Intention and the Sūtra of the King Dhāraṇīśvara, the Commentary on Enlightened 

Attitude still had an important role to play, because when presenting Madhyamaka 

as an independent Great Vehicle school in all its aspects, they faced the problem 

that the analytical works of Nāgārjuna lack a detailed presentation of common 

Great Vehicle elements such as the path, compassion, and enlightened attitude. It 

was probably also for this reason that the attribution of the Commentary on 

Enlightened Attitude to Nāgārjuna has never been questioned by any Centrist in 

Tibet. 

The Commentary on Enlightened Attitude also played an important role in 

providing doctrinal support to the Great Seal tradition of the Dwags po bka’ brgyud. 

The Seventh Karma pa chos grags rgya mtsho (1454-1506) thus included it in his 

11 See Mathes, Unterscheidung, 161-62. 

12 Bhikkhu Pāsādika, ed., Sūtrasamuccaya, Tibetan translation (Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag i 

Kommission, 1989), 129-30. 

4


collection of “Indian Mahāmudrā Works” (Phyag rgya chen po rgya gzhung). 13 

Recently two interesting works have turned up which enable us now to determine 

how precisely the Commentary on Enlightened Attitude supports the Bka’ brgyud 

Great Seal. The first is an extensive Analysis of the Jewel Family 

(Ratnagotravibhāga) commentary by ’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal which I have 

edited on the basis of an old dbu med manuscript and a block-print. 14 ’Gos lo tsā 

ba gzhon nu dpal’s work is far more than a simple commentary; it not only quotes 

and discusses nearly all Great Vehicle treatises and a number of sūtras, but also 

explains a few passages of An Analysis of the Jewel Family in the light of the Great 

Seal tradition of Sgam po pa (1079-1153). In the eyes of ’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu 

dpal, the Commentary on Enlightened Attitude supports a direct Great Seal approach 

to one’s Buddha-nature which involves nothing less than the generation of ultimate 

enlightened attitude. 15 

The second work is a commentary on the Commentary on Enlightened Attitude 

composed by the Fourth Zhwa dmar pa chos grags ye shes (1453-1524) on the 

basis of teachings received from the latter’s teacher ’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal. 

It was edited and published by the Seventeenth Karma pa o rgyan phrin las rdo rje 

(1985- ; currently living in Dharamsala) in the first volume of his series, the 

Wish-fulfilling Basket (Yid bzhin gyi za ma tog). The colophon of Zhwa dmar pa 

chos grags ye shes’s commentary provides the following information: 

As to the commentary on the Commentary on Enlightened Attitude [called] “An 

Elucidation of the Meaning of Words”… upon the repeated request of Shā kya 

rgyal mtshan (fifteenth/sixteenth century), [I,] the Buddhist monk Zhwa dmar pa 

chos grags ye shes, 16 composed [this commentary] at the glorious monastery Bde 

chen yangs pa can on the third day of the first part of the sixth month of the female 

wood-pig year (1515 CE). In doing so, I followed the lead of the Subcommentary 

on the Commentary on Enlightened Attitude ([bodhicittavivaraṇa]ṭīkā) of the 

realized master Smṛti[Jñānakīrti] (eleventh/twelfth century?). When it was unclear, 

I relied on the lucid expositions of the omniscient great scholar ’Gos lo tsā ba 

[gzhon nu dpal] and others, and the power of my own investigation. 17 

13 Phun tshogs rgyal mtshan, ed., Phyag rgya chen po’i rgya gzhung glegs bam gsum pa, in Don 

phyag chen mdzod rgya gzhung, vol. hūṃ [3] (Delhi: Rnam par rgyal ba dpal zhwa dmar pa’i chos sde, 

1997), 498-511. 

14 See Mathes, ed., ’Gos lo tsā ba. 

15 

See Mathes, Direct Path, 245-46 and 368. 

16 

Literally, Chos kyi grags pa. 

17 

Zhwa dmar pa chos grags ye shes, Byang chub sems ’grel gyi rnam par bshad pa tshig don gsal 

ba zhes bya ba bzhugs so [A Commentary on the Bodhicittavivaraṇa: An Elucidation of the Meaning 

of Words], in Yid bzhin gyi za ma tog [Wish-fulfilling Basket], vol. 1 (Dharamsala: ’Gro mgon gtsug 

lag dpe skrun khang, 2001), 123, lines 15-20: byang chub sems ’grel gyi rnam par bshad pa tshig don 

gsal ba ’di ni/ …shā kya rgyal mtshan gyis/ yang yang bskul ba’i ngor/ mkhas grub smṛti’i ’grel pa 

gtso bor bzung zhing / der mi gsal ba mkhan chen thams cad mkhyen pa ’gos lo tsā ba la sogs pa’i legs 

bshad dang / rang gi rnam spyod kyi mthu la brten nas/ shā kya dge slong chos kyi grags pas/ shing 

mo phag gi lo chu stod kyi zla ba’i yar tshes gsum la/ dpal bde chen yangs pa can gyi dgon par sbyar…. 

5


As far as I can see, Zhwa dmar pa chos grags ye shes’s commentary on the 

Commentary on Enlightened Attitude is in line with the position of his teacher 

’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal. This is particularly clear in Zhwa dmar pa chos grags 

ye shes’s explanation of the Commentary on Enlightened Attitude 54. The root 

text and the corresponding commentary by Zhwa dmar pa chos grags ye shes are 

as follows: 

When the Buddhas take the mind to be impermanent, why should they 

not take the mind to be empty? (Commentary on Enlightened Attitude 

54). 

Once mind is established as being impermanent, and given that impermanence 

and emptiness have the same meaning, how could it be inconsistent to call all 

phenomena, which are only [one’s] mind, emptiness? [This is also] because [Mind 

Only and emptiness] are the same in terms of not apprehending anything as having 

an own-being. The illustrious perfect Buddhas have taken mind, the intellect, and 

consciousness to be impermanent in the sense of consisting of moments, and since 

this is a tenet shared by all of us, they (that is, the mind and so forth) [can] be 

taken to be impermanent. This being the case, why should the mind then not be 

taken to be emptiness? Even “Perception Only” is taught to be empty only. 18 

Zhwa dmar pa chos grags ye shes does not say anything about the status of the 

Third Wheel of the Doctrine, but it is clear that by taking Mind Only as implying 

emptiness and the non-apprehension of the own-being of external objects (in the 

same way as ’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal explains Perception Only in the first 

meditation practice of the Distinction of Phenomena from their True Nature), he 

would not have had any problem accepting The Sūtra on Revealing the Intention 

as a Centrist. It should be noted that Zhwa dmar pa chos grags ye shes also inherited 

from his teacher the favored use of the notion of momentariness, a predicate which 

’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal even assigns to Buddha-nature and space. 19 In his 

commentary on the Commentary on Enlightened Attitude 55, Zhwa dmar pa chos 

grags ye shes thus claims: 

The proponents of none of the four tenets differ insofar as they take mind to be 

momentary. Therefore, it is established on the basis of reasoning and scripture 

that throughout beginningless time mind has never had an own-being. 20 

18 Zhwa dmar pa chos grags ye shes, Byang chub sems ’grel gyi rnam par bshad pa, 97.10-98.3: 

mdor na sangs rgyas rnams kyis ni/ sems ni mi rtag nyid bzhed na/ /de dag sems ni stong nyid du/ ci 

yi phyir na bzhed mi ’gyur/ …sems ni mi rtag pa nyid yin par grub na/ mi rtag pa dang stong pa nyid 

don gcig pas/ /sems tsam gyi chos thams cad stong pa nyid du brjod pa ji ltar ’gal te/ thams cad kyang 

rang bzhin mi dmigs par mtshungs pas so/ don mdor bsdu na/ yang dag par rdzogs pa’i sangs rgyas 

bcom ldan ’das rnams kyis ni/ sems yid rnam shes rnams ni skad cig ma’i mi rtag pa nyid du bzhed 

par/ bdag cag thmas cad kyis ’dod pa ’thun na de dag mi rtag par bzhed pas sems ni stong pa nyid du 

rgyu ci’i phyir na bzhed par mi ’gyur te/ rnam rig tsam de yang stong pa kho nar ston par ’gyur ro/. 

19 See Mathes, Direct Path, 339 and 349. 

20 Zhwa dmar pa chos grags ye shes, Byang chub sems ’grel gyi rnam par bshad pa, 98, lines 13-15: 

grub mtha’ smra ba bzhi gas sems skad cig mar ’dod pa la mi ’thun pa med pas/ dus thog ma med pa’i 

tshe nyid nas sems kyi ni/ rang bzhin dus rtag tu med par ’gyur ba rigs dang lung gi grub kyi… 

6


The Tantra of the Secret Assembly (Guhyasamājatantra) and the 

Initial Formula for Generating the Enlightened Attitude 

The 112 stanzas of the Commentary on Enlightened Attitude are introduced by a 

quotation from the second chapter of the Tantra of the Secret Assembly (on 

enlightened attitude): 

[One’s own mind] is free from all entities. 

It is exempt from the skandhas, dhātus, and āyatanas, 

The perceived object and the perceiving subject. 

Being equanimous, [in keeping with] the selflessness of phenomena, 

One’s own mind has never arisen since the beginning 

And has emptiness as its nature. 21 

This lays out Nāgārjuna’s enterprise of presenting ultimate or supreme 

enlightened attitude as the emptiness of mind, after first refuting the lower tenets, 

non-Buddhist and Buddhist alike, as can be seen from Zhwa dmar pa chos grags 

ye shes’s commentary: 

The first of [these] six lines disproves the bad views put forth by heretics; the 

second and third lines refute the views of the Followers of the [Mahā]vibhāṣā 

(Vaibhāṣika) and the Followers of the Sūtra Sections (Sautrāntika) [from among] 

our own Buddhist tradition; and the fourth line makes one abandon the Mind Only 

view. The fifth and sixth lines present and establish the Madhyamaka view. 22 

The quotation from the Tantra of the Secret Assembly chapter on enlightened 

attitude is followed by the standard formula for generating enlightened attitude, 

namely the one on the level of apparent truth, and the generation of ultimate 

enlightened attitude. It constitutes the second part of the introduction to the 

Commentary on Enlightened Attitude: 

In the same way as the illustrious Buddhas and the great bodhisattvas generated 

a mind [committed] to great enlightenment (that is, enlightened attitude), I too 

shall generate such a mind from now on until I am in the heart of enlightenment, 

21 See the Tibetan edition of the Bodhicittavivaraṇa by Christian Lindtner in his Nagarjuniana: 

Studies in the Writings and Philosophy of Nāgārjuna (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1987), 184, lines 

3-5: dngos po thams cad dang bral ba/ /phung po khams dang skye mched dang / /gzung dang ’dzin 

pa rnams spangs pa/ /chos bdag med pas mnyam nyid pas/ /rang sems gdod nas ma skyes pa/ /stong 

pa nyid kyi rang bzhin no//. 

- 

Lindtner has phung po khams dang skye mched kyi; see Zhwa dmar pa chos grags ye shes, Byang chub 

sems ’grel gyi rnam par bshad pa, 64, line 3; and Mathes, ed., ’Gos lo tsā ba, 46, line 6. 

- 

These lines correspond to a non-metrical passage in the second chapter of the Tantra of the Secret 

Assembly (see the edition of Benoytosh Bhattacharya, 12, lines 3-5): sarvabhāvavigataṃ 

skandhadhātvāyatanagrāhyagrāhakavarjitaṃ dharmanairātmyasamatayā svacittam ādyanutpannaṃ 

śūnyatā[sva]bhāvam /. 


tshigs su bcad pa rkang pa drug gi rkang pa dang pos mu stegs byed kyi lta ba ngan pa sun ’byin la/ 

rkang pa gnyis pa dang gsum pas nang sde bye brag tu smra ba dang mdo sde pa’i lta ba ’gog cing / 

rkang pa bzhi pas sems tsam gyi lta ba spong bar mdzad nas/ rkang pa lnga pa dang drug pas dbu 

ma’i lta ba bsgrub cing rnam par ’jog go/. 

7


so that sentient beings who are unsaved may be saved, that those who are not 

liberated may be liberated, those who are not consoled may be consoled, and those 

who have not completely passed into nirvāṇa will completely pass into nirvāṇa. 

Bodhisattvas whose conduct is the way of secret mantras [first] generate the 

enlightened attitude which in terms of apparent [truth] has the nature of aspiration, 

and must then generate ultimate enlightened attitude by the power of meditation. 

Therefore I will explain its nature. 23 

Based on the already mentioned equation of supreme enlightened attitude with 

emptiness, the generation of ultimate enlightened attitude is in fact nothing else 

than realizing emptiness in meditative equipoise. This becomes clear from the way 

Zhwa dmar pa chos grags ye shes explains this passage: 

Ultimate supramundane enlightened attitude, which is the object of the wisdom 

of the noble ones, must be generated in [one’s own mind]-stream the same way 

[one generates] realization through the accumulation of wisdom, [that is, by] the 

power of meditation in which one familiarizes oneself with a mind in equipoise 

[resting] in true nature of phenomena. 24 

In ordinary Great Vehicle (also referred to as the Way of Perfections 

[Pāramitāyāna]) such an ultimate enlightened attitude can be only cultivated from 

the first bodhisattva-level onwards, because a direct realization of emptiness usually 

starts from the path of seeing. This means for ordinary practitioners that they must 

first approach emptiness with the help of reasoning found in the analytical 

Madhyamaka works, and since it is difficult to integrate an analytical understanding 

of emptiness into one’s meditation practice, the accumulation of merit and wisdom 

takes a long time. In the Way of Mantras (Mantrayāna), however, emptiness can 

be directly experienced with the help of skillful means, such as using blissful states 

of mind in order to interrupt the process of false imagining. In his commentary on 

Maitrīpa’s Ten Stanzas on True Reality (Tattvadaśaka), Sahajavajra (eleventh 

century) distinguishes a third way of realizing emptiness, namely the wisdom of 

reality or the Great Seal, from the Way of Mantras and the Way of Perfections. 

The Ten Stanzas on True Reality propagates a direct approach to reality which is 

in accordance with Madhyamaka, but mainly relying on pith-instructions. In other 

words, reality is not only understood to be neither existent nor non-existent, but 

23 Lindtner, ed., Bodhicittavivaraṇa, 184, lines 7-18: sangs rgyas bcom ldan ’das rnams dang / byang 

chub sems dpa’ chen po de rnams kyis ji ltar byang chub chen por thugs bskyed pa de bzhin du/ bdag 

gis kyang sems can ma bsgral ba rnams bsgral ba dang / ma grol ba rnams grol ba dang / dbugs ma 

phyung ba rnams dbugs dbyung ba dang / yongs su mya ngan las ma ’das pa rnams yongs su mya ngan 

las bzla ba’i phyir dus ’di nas bzung nas byang chub snying po la mchis kyi bar du byang chub chen 

por sems bskyed par bgyi’o/ /byang chub sems dpa’ gsang sngags kyi sgor spyad pa spyod pa rnams 

kyis de ltar kun rdzob kyi rnam pas byang chub kyi sems smon pa’i rang bzhin can bskyed nas/ don 

dam pa’i byang chub kyi sems bsgom pa’i stobs kyis bskyed par bya ba yin pas de’i phyir de’i rang 

bzhin bshad par bya’o//. 


’phags pa’i ye shes kyi yul du ’gyur ba’i don dam pa’i byang chub kyi sems ’jig rten las ’das pa de ni/ 

chos nyid la mnyam par bzhag pa la sems goms par byed pa’i bsgom pa’i stobs ye shes kyi tshogs kyis 

rtogs pa ji lta bzhin rgyud la bskyed par bya ba yin te/. 

8


also directly realized as luminosity. The latter is brought about by engaged 

enlightened attitude, and Sahajavajra confirms in his commentary that the required 

practice is a Great Vehicle sequence of “calm abiding” (śamatha) and a particular 

form of “deep insight” (vipaśyanā), which is performed with direct perceptions 

right from the beginning. 25 In view of this, ’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal summarizes 

Sahajavajra’s Commentary on the Ten Stanzas on True Reality (Tattvadaśakaṭīkā) 

in the following way: 

In essence it is the [Way of] Perfections (Pāramitā[yāna]), it is in accordance with 

the [Way of] Mantras (Mantra[yāna]), and its name is the Great Seal. 26 

Sgam po pa distinguishes in a similar way a third path of direct perceptions set 

apart from a general Great Vehicle path of inferences and a Vajrayāna path of 

blessing. 27 ’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal reports in his Blue Annals that Sgam po 

pa was able to produce a realization of the Great Seal even in beginners who had 

not obtained tantric empowerment. 28 This raises the question whether or not the 

generation of ultimate enlightened attitude requires tantric empowerment and 

practice. One should think that the passage “bodhisattvas whose conduct is the 

way of secret mantras” in the initial formula of the Commentary on Enlightened 

Attitude gives a clear answer: the generation of ultimate enlightened attitude is or 

can be only performed by practitioners of the Way of Mantras (Mantrayāna). That 

this passage did not fit into picture of those who propagated a Great Seal path of 

direct perceptions (apart from the Way of Perfections and the Way of Mantras) 

can be seen from the fact that ’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal quotes the initial formula 

in two parts, thus omitting the qualified subject “bodhisattvas whose conduct is 

the way of secret mantras.” 29 This creates the impression that ultimate enlightened 

attitude is also generated by Great Vehicle practitioners in general and not only 

by followers of the Way of Mantras. 

In his commentary, however, Zhwa dmar pa chos grags ye shes is forced to 

comment the qualified subject “bodhisattvas whose conduct is the way of secret 

mantras”: 

Heroes (sems dpa’) who have promised [to strive] for supreme enlightenment 

(byang chub; that is, bodhisattvas) – [thus] giving the cause the name of the fruit 

– protect [their] mind by [their own] nature of non-conceptual wisdom and 

25 See Klaus-Dieter Mathes, “Blending the sūtras with the tantras: The Influence of Maitrīpa and 

his Circle on the Formation of sūtra Mahāmudrā in the Bka’ brgyud Schools,” in Tibetan Buddhist 

Literature and Praxis: Studies in Its Formative Period 900-1400, ed. Ronald M. Davidson and Christian 

K. Wedemeyer, PIATS 2003: Proceedings of the Tenth Seminar of the International Association for 

Tibetan Studies, Oxford 2003, vol. 10/4 (Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2006), 217-18. 

26 ’Gos lo tsA ba gzhon nu dpal, Deb ther sngon po [Blue Annals], smad cha [2] (Si khron mi rigs 

dpe skrun khang, 1984), 847, lines 18-19: ngo bo pha rol tu phyin pa/ sngags dang rjes su mthun pa 

ming phyag rgya chen po/. 

27 Mathes, Direct Path, 40-41. 

28 ’Gos lo tsA ba gzhon nu dpal, Deb ther sngon po [Blue Annals], smad cha [2], 847, lines 2-4. 

29 Mathes, Direct Path, 245. 

9


compassion. In doing so, they obtain a ripening empowerment, the door leading 

to the way of secret mantras. [Such bodhisattvas, whose] conduct is that of the 

liberating path, [characterized by] the unification of the generation and completion 

[stages]… 30 

Reading this passage carefully, one can discern a Great Seal path of direct 

perceptions which only equals, or accords with the Way of Mantras. Bodhisattvas 

empower themselves here by protecting their mind by means of non-conceptual 

wisdom and compassion. This is very similar to the above-mentioned practice of 

engaged enlightened attitude based on a form of deep insight (vipaśyanā) which 

starts with direct perceptions. In stanza 9 of the Ten Stanzas on True Reality 

(Tattvadaśaka), a yogin with such a direct access to his true nature is said to be 

adorned with “self-empowerment” (svādhiṣṭhāna). 31 In other words, ultimate 

enlightened attitude is generated here by realizing the primordial qualities of one’s 

own true nature of mind. It is precisely this direct realization of wisdom and 

compassion which leads to a so-called ripening empowerment, which is the door 

to the Way of Mantras. 

It should be noted that Zhwa dmar pa chos grags ye shes does not describe the 

related conduct by the technical term “path of means” (thabs lam), but “liberating 

path,” an allusion to the Great Seal path of liberation (grol lam). In the Bka’ brgyud 

traditions, the Great Seal teachings are called the “path of liberation,” and formal 

tantric practice (such as the six yogas of Naropa [na ro chos drug]) the “path of 

means.” While the six yogas must be combined with the path of liberation, the 

latter is considered as being self-sufficient, in that not specifically tantric Great 

Seal practice can lead to the goal in a similarly efficient way. This is exactly what 

is intended by Zhwa dmar pa chos grags ye shes: In the same way as the realization 

of one’s true nature of mind equals tantric empowerment, the Great Seal path of 

liberation equals the “unification of the generation and completion [stages].” The 

only thing “tantric” is thus the ability to generate ultimate enlightened attitude 

through the power of meditation, that is, to realize emptiness directly. The latter 

is as efficient as tantra and thus in accordance with it, as ’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu 

dpal puts it, but does not require formal tantric practice. In the Commentary on 

Enlightened Attitude it is simply the non-conceptual meditation on emptiness, 

compared to meditation on space, 32 or Sahajavajra’s (eleventh century) particular 

form of deep insight, which is performed with direct perceptions from the beginning. 

Padma dkar po (1527-92) claims, however, that such a deep insight practice must 

30 

Zhwa dmar pa chos grags ye shes, Byang chub sems ’grel gyi rnam par bshad pa, 68, lines 6-9: 

byang chub mchog la yi dam bsten pa’i sems dpa’ rgyu la ’bras bur btags pa/ rnam par mi rtog pa’i 

ye shes dang snying rje’i bdag nyid kyis yid skyob par byed pas gsang sngags kyi theg par ’jug pa’i 

sgor ’jug pa smin byed dbang thob nas/ grol byed lam bskyed rdzogs gnyis zung du ’brel pa’i spyad 

pa spyod pa rnams kyis…. 

- 

The wrong readings yi dam bstan and rnam par mi rtogs pa’i ye shes have been corrected. 

31 

See Mathes, “Blending the sūtras,” 211. 

32 See the explanation on stanza 51 of the Commentary on Enlightened Attitude, below. 

10


be preceded by tantric empowerment, even though it does not belong to the path 

of means (that is, formal tantric practice). 33 

Related to this discussion is the old Tibetan controversy whether ultimate 

enlightened attitude can be generated ritually. 34 Gser mdog paṇ chen shā kya mchog 

ldan (1428-1507) thinks that this is possible and sees precisely in our initial formula 

of the Commentary on Enlightened Attitude a ritual for generating ultimate 

enlightened attitude. 35 Kong sprul blo gros mtha' yas (1813-99) reports in his 

Treasury of Knowledge (Shes bya kun khyab mdzod) that while such a ritual was 

ruled out by Sa skya paṇḍita (1182-1251), it was discerned by ’Bri gung 'jig rten 

gsum mgon (1143-1217) in both tantras and sūtras. 36 The intention behind 

identifying a ritual for generating ultimate enlightened attitude in the sūtras is 

obvious: it supports Pāramitāyāna-mahāmudrā, in that a direct realization of 

emptiness (ultimate enlightened attitude) is considered possible well below the 

first bodhisattva-level, even without formal tantric practice. 

Two Types of Emptiness 

Whether tantric, or only in accordance with the tantras, the way emptiness is 

presented in the Commentary on Enlightened Attitude differs considerably from 

the analytical works of Nāgārjuna. The latter are usually considered to be 

commentaries on the Second Wheel of the Doctrine, and so support an analytic 

approach to emptiness. But in the Praise of Dharmadhātu (Dharmadhātustava; 

which belongs, like the Commentary on Enlightened Attitude, to the Third Wheel 

of the Doctrine) Nāgārjuna restricts the validity of the analytic approach to the 

adventitious stains. This can be best seen from a famous passage in the Praise of 

Dharmadhātu (stanzas 21-22) in which the fire of wisdom is said to burn the 

adventitious stains of ordinary mind but not mind’s luminous nature. Nor is the 

latter diminished by those sūtras which were taught in order to reveal emptiness. 37 

33 See Michael Broido, “Sa-skya Paṇḍita, the White Panacea and the Hva-shang Doctrine,” Journal 

of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 10, no. 2 (1987): 35. 

34 Dorji Wangchuk, The Resolve to Become a Buddha: A Study of the Bodhicitta Concept in 

Indo-Tibetan Buddhism (Tokyo: Studia Philologica Buddhica, 2007), 258-61. 

35 See Go ram pa bsod nams seng ge, Sdom pa gsum gyi bstan bcos la dris shing rtsod pa'i lan sdom 

gsum 'khrul spong zhes bya ba mkhas pa'i dbang po bsod nams seng ges mdzad pa [Answers to Questions 

and Objections related to the Treatise on the Three Codes. Clearing Away Confusion about the Three 

Codes. Composed by the King of the Learned Ones bsod nams seng ge], in The Collected Works of 

Kun-mkhyen go-ram-pa bsod-nams-seng-ge, vol. ta [9] (Bir, Kangra: Dzongsar Institute, 1995), 32b.5-6. 

36 Kong sprul blo gros mtha' yas, Shes bya kun khyab [mdzod] [Treasury of Knowledge], bar cha 

[2] (Beijing: Mi rigs dpe skrun khang: 1982), 129, lines 8-9 and 21-22. 

37 The Sanskrit original of stanzas 21 and 22 are quoted in David Seyfort Ruegg, “Le dharmadhātustava 

de nāgārjuna,” in Études Tibetaines: Dediées à la Mémoire de Marcelle Lalou (1890-1967) (Paris: 

Librairie d’Amérique et d’Orient, 1971), 466: evaṃ prabhāsvaraṃ cittaṃ malinaṃ rāgajair malaiḥ / 

jñānāgninā malaṃ dagdhaṃ na dagdhaṃ tat prabhāsvaraṃ // śūnyatāhārakāḥ sūtrā ye kecid bhāṣitā 

jinaiḥ / sarvais taiḥ kleśavyāvṛttir naiva dhātuvināśanam // (“In the same way is the luminous mind 

sullied with stains arisen from desire; and it is the stains which are burnt by the wisdom, not the luminous 

[mind]. Those sūtras taught by the victorious ones in order to reveal emptiness – all eliminate defilements 

but do not diminish the [dharma]dhātu”). Stanza 23 in the Praise of Dharmadhātu makes it clear that 

11


In his commentary on An Analysis of the Jewel Family, 38 ’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon 

nu dpal introduces two different types of emptiness on the basis of Sgam po pa’s 

distinction between a path of inferences and one of direct perceptions. The 

emptiness of ordinary Madhyamaka is approached by the method of non-affirming 

negation and assigned to the Second Wheel of the Doctrine. In the Third Wheel 

of the Doctrine, the emptiness of an own-being (that is, the emptiness of the Second 

Wheel of the Doctrine) is first established in an outer husk, namely the adventitious 

stains. Then the emptiness which is also the Buddha-nature (corresponding to the 

sphere of reality in the Praise of Dharmadhātu or ultimate enlightened attitude in 

the Commentary on Enlightened Attitude) is ascertained in a direct valid cognition, 

not, that is, as a non-affirming negation of an own-being. In ’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon 

nu dpal’s opinion, this second type of emptiness (which is also the Buddha-nature) 

does not depend on other phenomena in its natural flow, and in this it is like the 

element of space evolving within its own sphere. In other words, Candrakīrti’s 

emptiness of an own-being does not apply to it, “because it does not arise from 

contact with other things” – the criterion for an own-being in Candrakīrti’s Clear 

Words (Prasannapadā) on the Fundamental Stanzas of the Centrist [School] 

XV.2ab: 

That which is not created is an own-being – for example, the hotness of fire or 

the own-being of such things as the “rubiness” of genuine rubies and so on. This 

is called their own-being because it has not arisen from contact with other things. 39 

In fact, Candrakīrti does not accept the “hotness of fire” as an own-being either, 

but this is not the point here. In the Third Wheel of the Doctrine “the hotness of 

fire” belongs to the category of adventitious stains and is thus a legitimate object 

of the Madhyamaka reasoning of the Second Wheel of the Doctrine, but it serves 

as an example of what is truly uncreated, an emptiness whose direct experience 

enables the positive description of it as ultimate enlightened attitude in the 

Commentary on Enlightened Attitude or Buddha-nature in An Analysis of the Jewel 

Family – all this well beyond the Madhyamaka critique of the Second Wheel of 

the Doctrine. In support of this, ’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal quotes the Commentary 

on Enlightened Attitude 57: 

I claim that the nature (prakṛti) 40 of all phenomena is emptiness, in the same way 

as sweetness is the nature of sugar and hotness that of fire. 41 

this dhātu or sphere of reality is also wisdom; in other words, stanzas 21 and 22 also apply to the 

ultimate enlightened attitude in the Commentary on Enlightened Attitude. 


39 Louis de La Vallée Poussin, ed., Prasannapadā (1903-1913; repr., Delhi: Bibliotheca Buddhica, 

1992), 260, lines 6-8: yas tv akṛtakaḥ sa svabhāvas tad yathā agner auṣṇyaṃ jātānāṃ padmarāgādīnāṃ 

padmarāgādisvabhāvaś ca / sa hi teṣāṃ padārthāntarasaṃparkājanitatvāt svabhāva ity ucyate //. 

40 The fact that nature is used instead of own-being is of no moment, since Candrakīrti equates both 

terms in his Prasannapadā, 264, lines 11ff. 

41 See Lindtner, Nagarjuniana, 202-3, who identified the Sanskrit of this stanza in Maitrīpa’s The 

Five Aspects: guḍe madhuratā cāgner uṣṇatvaṃ prakṛtir yathā / śūnyatā sarvadharmāṇāṃ tathā prakṛtir 

iṣyate //. 

12


Based on this, ’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal defines the emptiness which is the 

nature of all phenomena, namely the emptiness of the Third Wheel of the Doctrine, 

in the following way: 

The negandum, too, that of which something is empty, is [here] a little different 

from [how it is defined in] the middle (that is, second) wheel [of the doctrine] 

([dharma]cakra). From sentient beings up to the Buddha [something] exists [that 

is] established as the nature of mind because of being neither impaired by, nor 

fabricated under, other conditions. It is called “empty of fabricated adventitious 

phenomena.” The adventitious, again…is, depending on the circumstances, 

fabricated from [cognitive] objects, [mental] imprints or impaired sense faculties, 

and thus not what the original mind is like. Therefore the latter is said to be empty 

of them. On the other hand, they do not arise as something entirely different from 

the nature of mind. It is like space, for example: even though it does not turn into 

phenomena like clouds and mountains, and is thus termed empty, it would not be 

appropriate to say that these clouds and so forth abide somewhere else than in 

space. 42 

’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal usually refers to this nature of mind as the “element 

of awareness” (rig pa'i khams), which, we are warned, does not have any mental 

forms as characteristic signs. 43 In other words, it is not the case that such awareness 

entails “seeing” an ultimate reality in a way similar to the ordinary cognitive process 

involving a perceiving subject and a perceived object. In support of this ’Gos lo 

tsā ba gzhon nu dpal quotes stanzas 43-46 from the Commentary on Enlightened 

Attitude. Stanzas 43-45 conclude the refutation of the Mind Only view, and stanza 

46 introduces a presentation of “Nāgārjuna’s” own Madhyamaka tenet. 

The four stanzas and the respective passages in Zhwa dmar pa chos grags ye 

shes’s commentary are as follows: 

In short, Buddhas did not see[, do not see,] and will not see. How could 

they see what has the own-being of being without an own-being? 44 

(Commentary on Enlightened Attitude 43). 

In short, in terms of perception (vijñapti), Buddhas have seen neither past nor 

present, and in the future they will not see either. If one wonders, “How is it that 

the omniscient one does not see?” [the answer is as follows:] Since ultimately 

[reality] has the own-being of being without an own-being, there is no object to 

be seen; how [can such an object then] be seen [by the Buddhas]? This is the way 

the teacher himself spoke of “not seeing.” 45 

42 

Mathes, Direct Path, 185-86. 

43 

Mathes, Direct Path, 186. 

44 

Lindtner, ed., Bodhicittavivaraṇa, 198, lines 3-5: mdor na sangs rgyas rnams kyis ni/ /gzigs par 

ma gyur gzigs mi ’gyur/ /rang bzhin med pa’i rang bzhin can/ /ji lta bur na gzigs par ’gyur/. 

45 

Zhwa dmar pa chos grags ye shes, Byang chub sems ’grel gyi rnam par bshad pa, 92, lines 15-19: 

mdor na/ sangs rgyas rnams kyis ni rnam rig gi ngo bor ’das pa dang da lta ba [na?] gzigs par ma 

gyur la/ ma ’ongs pa na gzigs par mi ’gyur ba nyid do/ thams cad mkhyen pas ci ste ma gzigs snyam 

na/ don dam par rang bzhin med pa’i ngo bo’i rang bzhin can yin pas/ gzigs pa’i yul med pa de ji lta 

bur na gzigs par ’gyur zhes ston pa nyid kyis ma gzigs par bka’ stsal to/. 

13


What is called an entity is a concept; [whereas] the non-conceptual is 

empti[ness]. Where concepts have appeared, how can there be 

emptiness? 46 (Commentary on Enlightened Attitude 44). 

If somebody says: “As for not contradicting such canonical scriptures [on not 

seeing], we explain that [when the Buddha taught this he] was thinking of the 

perfect [nature], the ultimate absence of an own-being 

(paramārthaniḥsvabhāvatā)”; 47 [we reply]: You followers of Mind Only [take 

as] an entity what is called “perfect [nature]” [or] “self-awareness,” because you 

claim [this entity] to be, in view of its existence, the defining characteristic of the 

ultimate. This is to cling to the extreme of [taking] the non-conceptual [state] to 

be something possessing mental fabrications. Where a fabricated concept has 

appeared, how can there be a realization of the ultimate[, that is,] non-conceptual 

emptiness, when such a non-conceptual [state] is the freedom from mental 

fabrication[, that is,] emptiness. 48 

A mind that has the aspects of a cognitive object and subject is not seen 

by the Thus Gone (Tathāgata). Wherever there is a cognitive object 

and subject, there is no enlightenment 49 (Commentary on Enlightened 

Attitude 45). 

If this is the case, does the fruit of enlightenment itself not exist then? A mind 

that has aspects of clinging to the [characteristic] signs of an enlightenment which 

is to be realized, and [to the characteristic signs] of a [subject] seeking to realize 

[it], is not seen by the Thus Gone and the great “heroes of the enlightenment 

mind” as they are called on the basis of this term. 50 Thus they find an 

enlightenment which has the defining characteristics of space; otherwise – 

wherever there is an obstinate clinging to [characteristic] signs on the part of a 

bodhisattva [trying to] realize what is to be realized – there is no attainment of 

enlightenment, inasmuch as non-conceptual wisdom [and] equanimity are not 

realized. 51 

46 Lindtner, ed., Bodhicittavivaraṇa, 198, lines 6-7: dngos po zhes bya rnam rtog yin/ /rnam rtog 

med pa stong pa yin/ /gang du rnam rtog snang gyur pa/ /der ni stong nyid ga la yod/. 

47 In The Sūtra on Revealing the Intention the ultimate absence of an own-being is taken to derive 

from the fact that everything lacks a true self, which is considered to be an all-pervasive positive quality. 

A similar notion is associated with the natural emptiness (prakṛtiśūnyatā) propounded by the Followers 

of Yoga Conduct (see Klaus-Dieter Mathes, “Tāranātha’s Presentation of Trisvabhāva in the gŹan stoṅ 

sñiṅ po [Gzhan stong snying po],” in Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 23, 

no. 2 [2000]: 215-17). 

48 Zhwa dmar pa chos grags ye shes, Byang chub sems ’grel gyi rnam par bshad pa, 92, line 19-93, 

line 5: de ’dra ba’i lung dang mi ’gal ba ni nged cag yongs su grub pa don dam ngo bo nyid med pa 

la dgongs par ’chad do/ zhe na/ sems tsam pa khyed kyis yongs grub dang so so rang gi rig pa zhes 

brjod pa de nyid dngos po zhes bya ste/ yod pas don dam pa’i mtshan nyid du ’dod pas so/ /de ni rnam 

par mi rtog pa spros pa dang bcas pa’i mthar ’dzin pa yin la/ de ’dra’i rnam rtog med pa spros bral 

stong pa nyid yin pa’i tshe/ gang du spros pa’i rnam rtog snang bar gyur pa der ni don dam pa rnam 

par mi rtog pa’i stong nyid rtogs pa ga la yod/. 

49 Lindtner, Nagarjuniana, 198, provides the Sanskrit of stanza 45: na bodhyabodhakākāraṃ cittaṃ 

dṛṣṭaṃ tathāgataiḥ / yatra boddhā ca bodhyaṃ ca tatra bodhir na vidyate //. 

50 That is, enlightenment. 


de lta na byang chub kyi ’bras bu yang med dam zhe na/ rtogs bya byang chub dang / rtogs byed de 

14


That which is without defining characteristics and origination, without 

abiding and beyond words – space, enlightened attitude, and 

enlightenment – [all share] the defining characteristics of non-duality 52 

(Commentary on Enlightened Attitude 46). 

[In the Tantra of the Secret Assembly it has been said:] “One’s own mind has 

never arisen since the beginning, [and] it has the nature/own-being of emptiness.” 

Even though the meaning of our own Madhyamaka tradition, which teaches this, 

has been taught in detail[, it is repeated here]: There are no defining characteristics 

which define reality. Since [the latter] neither exists nor does not exist, it does 

not arise. It does not [arise], for if it existed it would have arisen already; and 

[something] non-existent could not in a proper sense arise. Even though it is 

expressed in words on the pathway of speech, it is free from [any] defining traits. 

Suitable examples are space, the enlightened attitude of non-conceptual wisdom, 

and enlightenment by which all phenomena are perfectly realized in a non-mistaken 

way. [These three] possess the defining characteristic of non-duality. This means: 

Even though space exists conventionally, it is not apprehended ultimately. 

Likewise, enlightenment exists on the level of apparent [truth], but it does not do 

so on the ultimate [level]. Non-conceptual enlightened attitude, too, is talked 

about on a conventional [level of truth], but if analyzed, [it is found to be] without 

an own-being. Therefore, their defining characteristics are not different. 53 

Both the four stanzas and the corresponding commentary are straightforward. 

Even though one conventionally speaks of ultimate enlightened attitude, or a 

wisdom which realizes emptiness, it is not the case that anything is actually seen 

or realized in terms of perceived object and perceiving subject. Similarly, one may 

conventionally speak of seeing space, but in reality one does not see it, for in empty 

space there is simply nothing to be seen. It should be noted that the possible Yoga 

Conduct interpretation of “not seeing,” namely as referring to the perfect nature, 

self-awareness, and the like, is excluded here. Self-awareness and so forth are 

taken to be entities by the Followers of Yoga Conduct, and can thus not be what 

is really non-conceptual. Emptiness and the realization of it lack defining 

don du gnyer ba’i mtshan ’dzin gyi rnam pa’i sems/ de bzhin gzhegs pa dang de’i sgras brjod pa’i 

byang chub sems dpa’ chen po rnams kyis ma gzigs pas/ nam mkha’i mtshan nyid can gyi byang chub 

brnyes kyi/ gang na byang chub sems dpa’ rtogs bya rtogs byed la mtshan ’dzin mngon zhen du byed 

pa yod pa der ni/ byang chub ’thob pa yod pa ma yin te/ rnam par mi rtog pa’i ye shes mnyam pa nyid 

ma rtogs pa’i phyir ro//. 

52 Lindtner, Nagarjuniana, 198, provides the Sanskrit of stanza 46: alakṣaṇam anutpādam asaṃsthitam 

avāṅmayam / ākāśaṃ bodhicittaṃ ca bodhir advayalakṣaṇā //. 


rang sems gdod nas ma skyes pa/ stong pa nyid kyi rang bzhin no/ /zhes gsungs pa’i rang lugs kyi dbu 

ma’i don rgya cher bstan pa yang / de kho na nyid mtshon par byed pa’i mtshan nyid med cing / yod 

pa dang med pa ma yin pa’i phyir skye ba med de/ yod gyur skyes zin pa dang / med pa skyer mi rung 

bas ma yin la ngag gi lam nas tshig brjod kyang mtshon pa dang bral ba de ni/ dper ’os pa nam mkha’ 

dang / rnam mi rtog pa’i ye shes byang chub kyi sems dang ni/ chos thams cad phyin ci ma log par 

mngon par rtogs pa’i byang chub rnams gnyis su med pa’i mtshan nyid can te/ de’i don ni/ nam mkha’ 

ni tha snyad du yod kyang / don du mi dmigs pa ltar/ byang chub kyang kun rdzob tu yod kyi don dam 

par med la/ rnam par mi rtog pa’i byang chub kyi sems kyang tha snyad du brjod kyi dpyad na rang 

bzhin med pas/ de’i phyir de dag gi mtshan nyid tha dad pa ma yin no//. 

15


characteristics, and it is only on the level of conventional truth that they are called 

these things. 

It should be noted, that ’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal’s “element of awareness” 

(rig pa’i khams), which does not have any mental forms as characteristic signs, 

differs from this Yoga Conduct self-awareness. 54 In ’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal’s 

eyes, the element of awareness is but a synonym of the ultimate, which is not the 

object of reasoning or inferential knowledge; it is rather the experiential object of 

the wisdom of the noble ones (that is, an experience beyond duality). 55 To be sure, 

positive descriptions of the ultimate in the Third Wheel of the Doctrine do not 

refer to something which is in reality, or ontologically, different from what is 

implied by the emptiness of the Second Wheel of the Doctrine in ’Gos lo tsā ba 

gzhon nu dpal’s eyes. This is most clear in the following passage from ’Gos lo tsā 

ba gzhon nu dpal’s Commentary on the Analysis of the Jewel Family: 

Even though the emptiness of non-affirming negation taught in the middle wheel 

of the doctrine and the truth of the [Buddha]-nature taught in the last [wheel of 

the doctrine] are very different with regard to the object of understanding, I do 

not assert that the following difference: Whereas [the reality ascertained through] 

non-affirming negation is directly realized, the [Buddha]-nature is not directly 

realized. Even though there is a difference with regard to the referents of these 

words, there is no difference when the happiness of direct [cognition] is realized. 

This follows from a number of supreme pith-instructions, and [in these] I put 

faith. 56 

To sum up, in reality there is only one emptiness for ’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu 

dpal, but when it is approached directly, it is described in a different way. That 

Zhwa dmar pa chos grags ye shes does not mention an “element of awareness” in 

his commentary on the Commentary on Enlightened Attitude can be easily explained 

by the fact that Buddha-nature is not the topic of the Commentary on Enlightened 

Attitude. 

Meditation on Ultimate Enlightened Attitude 

Of particular interest is also the following stanza, which defines correct meditation 

on ultimate enlightened attitude in the eyes of Zhwa dmar pa chos grags ye shes: 

[Meditative] stabilization without apprehending [what is conceptually created] 

in the mind has the defining characteristic of space. These [yogins] maintain that 

54 According to Thrangu Rinpoche one has to distinguish two types of “self-awareness.” One is the 

epistemological self-awareness of the Yoga Conducts, and the other one the realization of one’s own 

true nature of the mind, or soteriological “self-awareness,” or rather “self-realization” (for a recent 

discussion of a similar distinction see also Zhihua Yao, The Buddhist Theory of Self-Cognition [London 

and New York: Routledge, 2005], 126-27). 



16


meditation on emptiness is meditation on space 57 (Commentary on Enlightened 

Attitude 51). 

The commentary by Zhwa dmar pa chos grags ye shes is as follows: 

Therefore non-conceptual wisdom is ultimate enlightened attitude. [Meditative] 

stabilization within a sphere in which the characteristic signs [caused by] thoughts 

are not apprehended, has the previously explained defining characteristic of space. 

Hence yogins correctly meditate on emptiness. It is taken to be the meditation of 

not conceptualizing just as in the case of [meditation on] space. This must be 

internalized. Such a meditation, which was praised by the noble Nāgārjuna, was 

proclaimed by some [masters] during the earlier and later [diffusion of the Dharma] 

in Tibet as being the meditation of the Chinese monk. In this treatise, however, 

it is taken as the tradition of great bodhisattvas. 58 

This points to another old Tibetan controversy: Sa skya paṇḍita’s (1182-1251) 

criticism that Sgam po pa’s non-tantric Great Seal teachings show signs of 

Sino-Tibetan influence, and that during the time of Mar pa (1012-97) and Mi la 

ras pa (1040-1123) the Great Seal could only be realized through the yoga practice 

of inner heat. 59 ’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal defends Sgam po pa’s Great Seal by 

pointing out that it had Indian origins, namely in the persons of Jñānakīrti and 

Maitrīpa (together with the latter’s disciple Sahajavajra). 60 In his Analysis of the 

Jewel Family commentary, ’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal does not seek an open 

controversy over his Great Seal interpretation of the Buddha-nature and avoids the 

loaded Great Seal term “white panacea” (dkar po chig thub), which stands for the 

self-sufficient means of directly realizing one’s natural mind. 61 He is also not much 

concerned either with directly justifying his Great Seal explanations, the mere 

possibility of interpreting An Analysis of the Jewel Family in line with the Great 

Seal being justification enough for him. Only once does he indirectly address the 

criticism that his Great Seal is “Chinese Buddhism” in his commentary on An 

Analysis of the Jewel Family, stanza I.15, in which the realization of natural 

57 

Lindtner, ed., Bodhicittavivaraṇa, 200, lines 5-6: sems la dmigs pa med pa yi/ /gnas pa nam mkha’ 

mtshan nyid yin/ /de dag stong nyid sgom pa ni/ /nam mkha’ sgom par bzhed pa yin/. 

- 

Lindtner reads sems la dmigs pa med pa ni; see Zhwa dmar pa chos grags ye shes, Byang chub sems 

’grel gyi rnam par bshad pa, 95, line 10. 

58 

Zhwa dmar pa chos grags ye shes, Byang chub sems ’grel gyi rnam par bshad pa, 96, line 15-97, 

line 1: des na rnam par mi rtog pa’i ye shes don dam pa’i byang chub kyi sems la/ rnam par rtog pa’i 

mtshan ma ma dmigs pa’i ngang du gnas pa nam mkha’i mtshan nyid gong du bshad pa de yin pas/ 

rnal ’byor pa de dag stong nyid tshul bzhin bsgom pa ni/ nam mkha’ dang mtshungs par mi rtog pa 

bsgom par bzhed pa yin no/ zhes khong du chud par bya’o/ /de ltar ’phags pa klu grub kyis bsngags 

pa’i bsgom ’di/ bod snga phyi kha cig rgya nag hwa shang gi sgom yin par sgrog kyang / bstan bcos 

’dir byang chub sems chen po rnams kyi lugs su mdzad do/. 

59 

See also David Jackson, Enlightenment by a Single Means (Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen 

Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1994), 17-19. 

60 

See Mathes, “Blending the sūtras,” 206. 

61 Sa skya paṇḍita criticized such an approach in his Sdom gsum rab dbye. See Jared Rhoton, A Clear 

Differentiation of the Three Codes: Essential Distinctions among the Individual Liberation, Great 

Vehicle, and Tantric Systems (Albany, N.Y: SUNY Series in Buddhist Studies, 2002), 141-42. 

17


luminosity and the two types of selflessness are understood in terms of the first 

two Mahāmudrā yogas. 62 ’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal leads into the topic 

“selflessness of phenomena” with a quote from Śāntideva’s (700? CE) Entering 

the Conduct of a Bodhisattva (Bodhicaryāvatāra), stanza IX.55, which encourages 

meditation on emptiness as a remedy for overcoming hindrances, just as in his 

Great Seal tradition: 

The remedy for the darkness of the hindrances of defilements and the knowable 

is emptiness. Why does not [the yogin] who wishes [to obtain] omniscience quickly 

meditate on it? 63 

In the eyes of ’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal this stanza, too, could be disqualified 

as smacking of “Chinese Buddhism,” wherefore he explains that meditation on 

emptiness gives rise to compassion, quoting the Commentary on Enlightened 

Attitude 73: 

When yogins have thus meditated on emptiness, [their] mind will, beyond all 

doubt, rejoice in benefiting others. 64 

In other words, there is nothing wrong with the strong emphasis of “gazing at 

one’s own nature” in Great Seal practice, since it is nothing else than the direct 

perception of emptiness in mainstream Madhyamaka. And according to the Entering 

the Conduct of a Bodhisattva itself, the need for the first five perfections is in no 

way questioned by seeing in meditation on emptiness the remedy which removes 

all defilements. 

The Superiority of the Third Wheel of the Doctrine in Terms of 

Generating the Enlightened Attitude 

’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal embeds most of his Great Seal explanations in his 

commentary on the Commentary on the Analysis of the Jewel Family passage in 

which spiritual development is compared to three successive ever finer processes 

of purifying a vaiḍūrya stone in the Sūtra of the King Dhāraṇīśvara. Taking his 

lead from this example, and also The Sūtra on Revealing the Intention, he puts the 

Third Wheel of the Doctrine at the top of his hermeneutics. 65 According to The 

Sūtra on Revealing the Intention VII.30 the Buddha taught both the second and 

62 

That is, the yogas of one-pointedness and freedom from mental fabrication (see Mathes, “dharmatā 

Chapter,” 17-19). 

63 

Vidhushekhara Bhattacharya, ed., Bodhicaryāvatāra (Kalkota: Asiatic Society Calcutta, 1960), 

199, lines 9-10: kleśajñeyāvṛtitamaḥpratipakṣo hi śūnyatā / śīghraṃ sarvajñatākāmo na bhāvayati tāṃ 

katham //. 

64 

Lindtner, ed., Bodhicittavivaraṇa, 206, lines 7-8: de ltar stong pa nyid ’di ni/ /rnal ’byor pa yis 

bsgom byas na/ /gzhan gyi don la chags pa’i blo/ /’byung bar ’gyur ba the tshom med/. 

65 

See Klaus-Dieter Mathes, “’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal’s Extensive Commentary on and Study 

of the Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā,” in Religion and Secular Culture in Tibet, ed. Henk Blezer, PIATS 

2000: Proceedings of the Ninth Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Leiden 

2000, vol. 2/2 (Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2002), 90. 

18


the third Wheel of the Doctrine by first teaching the lack of an own-being of 

phenomena – the fact that they neither arise nor pass out of existence, that they 

are quiescence from the beginning, and that they are naturally in a state of nirvāṇa 

– in other words, emptiness as taught in the Perfection of Insight Sūtras and the 

analytical Madhyamaka works of Nāgārjuna. Thus the last two wheels of the 

doctrine are not different in terms of ontology. Still, the Third Wheel of the Doctrine 

differs in that it offers fine distinctions, and for this reason alone it has – contrary 

to the first two – definitive meaning (nītārtha), and so outshines the Second Wheel 

of the Doctrine by an uncountable factor. 66 

Given that all sentient beings possess the Buddha-nature, there is ultimately 

only one vehicle for all sentient beings in the eyes of ’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal. 

This becomes clear in the explanation following the third quotation from the Sūtra 

of the King Dhāraṇīśvara, in which it is said that one enters the sphere of the Thus 

Gone with the help of the irreversible (that is, third) wheel of the doctrine, or the 

teaching of threefold purity. Based on The Sūtra on the Ten Levels 

(Daśabhūmikasūtra), ’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal comments that the seventh level 

is still defiled in a sense, because one still longs for the wisdom of the Thus Gone 

at this stage. 67 It is, of course, An Analysis of the Jewel Family with its teaching of 

a Buddha-nature empty of adventitious stains that is the main commentary on the 

Third Wheel of the Doctrine. ’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal does not make the 

slightest attempt to elevate the Second Wheel of the Doctrine to the same level as 

the third; he goes so far as to quote in full The Sūtra on Revealing the Intention’s 

description of how the Third Wheel of the Doctrine is superior, and concludes that, 

the benefit derived from merely hearing its definitive meaning being so great, the 

profound and vast meaning of the last wheel of the doctrine stands out. 68 

Based on the initial formula in the Commentary on Enlightened Attitude, ’Gos 

lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal then explains that the Third Wheel of the Doctrine is also 

superior with regard to enlightened attitude: 

[This is] the supreme generation of enlightened attitude, since it arises through 

the power of seeing the similarity between the enlightenment to be attained and 

the [cognitive] object[, namely] sentient beings’ luminosity of mind. 69 

Based on the Commentary on Enlightened Attitude 71, ’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu 

dpal stresses at this point the fact that ultimate enlightened attitude is also referred 

to as emptiness: 

66 See John Powers, trans., Wisdom of the Buddha: The Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra (Berkeley: Tibetan 

Translation Series, 1994), 103-37. 




19


It 70 has been also explained as suchness, the limit of reality, signlessness and the 

ultimate, the very supreme enlightened attitude and emptiness (Commentary on 

Enlightened Attitude 71). 

Zhwa dmar pa chos grags ye shes comments on this stanza in the following 

way: 

[Ultimate enlightened attitude] is suchness, which is nothing else than the true 

nature of all phenomena. In view of its unmistaken meaning, it is [also] the limit 

of reality. In view of being free from all characteristic signs of apprehension, it 

is signlessness. In view of its being the object of the wisdom [of the] noble ones, 

it is the ultimate. Since enlightened attitude, which has the previously mentioned 

defining characteristics, is the nature of excellent wisdom, it is supreme. [Ultimate 

enlightened attitude] is reality, the true nature of phenomena of all phenomena, 

and [finally] it is emptiness, the pacification of all mental fabrication. In many 

sūtras and tantras, too, it has been explained as having these defining 

characteristics. 71 

It goes without saying that these synonyms correspond to ’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon 

nu dpal’s second type of emptiness, namely the one which is also the element of 

awareness or the Buddha-nature. In other words, one’s direct realization of 

emptiness (ultimate enlightened attitude) is nothing else than realizing the luminous 

nature of one’s own and everybody else’s mind. Moreover, seeing that all sentient 

beings share a nature that is similar to enlightenment, one immediately develops 

supreme love and compassion, thinking that everybody could have a similar 

experience if he or she was not hindered by adventitious stains. 72 

Conclusion 

It could be shown that in the Great Seal tradition of the Dwags po bka’ brgyud the 

positive descriptions of the ultimate in the Third Wheel of the Doctrine are taken 

as the result of a direct experience of emptiness beyond the duality of perceiving 

subject and perceived object. An ultimate existence of mind, such that 

self-awareness or the perfect nature exists as an entity, is refuted by ’Gos lo tsā ba 

gzhon nu dpal as well as his disciple Zhwa dmar pa chos grags ye shes. If Mind 

Only is taken as the non-apprehension of the own-being of external objects, and 

the momentariness of mind as the emptiness of mind, the hermeneutics of The 

Sūtra on Revealing the Intention can be followed without the usual unwanted 

70 The preceding stanza 70 ends in the following way (Lindtner, ed., Bodhicittavivaraṇa, 206, line 

2): “…by realizing reality, one attains liberation” (…de nyid rtogs pas grol thob ’gyur). 


chos thams cad kyi gnas lugs las gzhan du ma yin pa’i de bzhin nyid dang / phyin ci ma log pa’i don 

dang ldan pas yang dag pa’i mtha’ dang / dmigs pa’i mtshan ma kun dang bral bas mtshan ma med 

pa dang / ’phags pa ye shes kyi yul du gyur pas don dam pa nyid dang / sngar smos pa’i mtshan nyid 

dang ldan pa’i byang chub kyi sems ye shes phul du byung ba’i ngo bo yin pas mchog dang / chos 

thams cad kyi chos nyid de kho na nyid dang / spros pa thams cad zhi ba stong pa nyid ces bya ba’i 

mtshan nyid du’ang mdo rgyud mang po las bshad pa yin no//. 

72 See Mathes, Direct Path, 244-45. 

20


consequences of Mind Only or the three-nature theory. In other words, the Third 

Wheel of the Doctrine is only superior because it provides direct access to 

emptiness. The Commentary on Enlightened Attitude wholly supports these 

hermeneutics, given that the tantric Nāgārjuna propagates the generation of ultimate 

enlightened attitude (which amounts to a direct realization of one’s true nature of 

mind or emptiness) for bodhisattvas who follow the Way of Mantras. Apart from 

this direct access to emptiness in the form of a non-conceptual meditation on 

emptiness, however, nothing specifically tantric is found in the Commentary on 

Enlightened Attitude, and thus the Commentary on Enlightened Attitude conceivably 

offers doctrinal support for Sūtra- or Pāramitāyāna-mahāmudrā, which accords 

with the Way of Mantras. 

21


Glossary 

Note: these glossary entries are organized in Tibetan alphabetical order. All entries 

list the following information in this order: THL Extended Wylie transliteration 

of the term, THL Phonetic rendering of the term, the English translation, the 

Sanskrit equivalent, the Chinese equivalent, other equivalents such as Mongolian 

or Latin, associated dates, and the type of term. 

Ka 

Wylie 

karma pa chos grags 

rgya mtsho 

karma pa o rgyan 

phrin las rdo 

rje 

kong sprul blo gros 

mtha’ yas 

kong sprul blo gros 

mtha’ yas, shes bya 

kun khyab (mdzod) 

dkar po chig thub 

Kha 

Wylie 

khams gsum chos kyi 

rgyal po dpal mnyam 

med sgam po pa ’gro 

mgon bsod nams rin 

chen mchog gi gsung 

’bum yid bzhin nor bu 

Ga 

Wylie 

go ram pa bsod nams 

seng ge 

grol byed lam 

grol lam 

’gos lo tsā ba [gzhon 

nu dpal] 

’gos lo tsā ba gzhon 

nu dpal 

’gos lo tsā ba gzhon 

nu dpal gyis mdzad 

pa’i theg pa chen po 

rgyud bla ma’i 

bstan bcos kyi ’grel 

bshad de kho na nyid 

rab tu gsal ba’i me 

long 

’gro mgon gtsug lag 

dpe skrun 

khang 

sgam po pa 

Phonetics 

Karmapa Chödrak 

Gyamtso 

Karmapa Orgyen 

Trinlé Dorjé 

Kongtrül Lodrö Tayé 

Kongtrül Lodrö Tayé 

Sheja Künkhyap Dzö 

karpo chiktup 

Phonetics 

Kham Sum Chökyi 

Gyelpo Pel Nyammé 

Gampopa Drogön 

Sönam Rinchen 

Chokgi Sungbum 

Yizhin Norbu 

Phonetics 

Gorampa Sönam 

Senggé 

dröljé lam 

dröllam 

Gö Lotsawa [Zhönnu 

Pel] 

Gö Lotsawa Zhönnu 

Pel 

Gö Lotsawa Zhönnu 

Pelgyis Dzepé Tekpa 

Chenpo Gyü Lamé 

Tenchökyi Drelshé 

Dekho Nanyi Raptu 

Selwé Melong 

Drogön Tsuklak 

Petrünkhang 

Gampopa 

English 

The Treasury of 

Knowledge 

white panacea 

English 

English 

liberating path 

path of liberation 

Other 



Dates 

Type 

1454-1506 Person 

1985 

1813-99 

Dates 

Dates 

Person 

Person 

Text 

Term 

Type 

Text 

Type 

Author 

Term 

Term 

1392-1481 Person 

1392-1481 Person 

Text 

Publisher 

1079-1153 Person 

22


sgam po pa bsod 

nams rin chen 

Nga 

Wylie 

nges don phyag chen 

mdzod rgya 

gzhung 

Ja 

Wylie 

jo nang pa 

Tha 

Wylie 

thabs lam 

theg pa chen po rgyud 

bla ma’i bstan bcos 

kyi ’grel bshad de kho 

na nyid rab tu 

gsal ba’i me long 

Da 

Wylie 

deb ther sngon po 

Gampopa Sönam 

Rinchen 

Phonetics 

Ngedön Chakchen 

Dzö Gyazhung 

Phonetics 

Jonangpa 

Phonetics 

taplam 

Tekpa Chenpo Gyü 

Lamé Tenchökyi 

Drelshé Dekho Nanyi 

Raptu Selwé Melong 

Phonetics 

Depter Ngönpo 

dwags po bka’ brgyud Dakpo Kagyü 

bde chen yangs pa 

can 

sdom pa gsum gyi 

bstan bcos la dris 

shing rtsod pa’i lan 

sdom gsum ’khrul 

spong 

zhes bya ba mkhas 

pa’i dbang po bsod 

nams seng ges mdzad 

pa 

sdom gsum rab dbye 

Na 

Wylie 

na ro chos drug 

rnam par rgyal ba 

dpal zhwa 

dmar pa’i chos sde 

Pa 

Wylie 

padma dkar po 

dpal spungs 

Dechen Yangpachen 

Dompa Sumgyi 

Tenchöla Drishing 

Töpé Lendom Sum 

Trülpong Zhejawa 

Khepé Wangpo 

Sönam Senggé Dzepa 

Domsum Rapyé 

Phonetics 

Naro chö druk 

Nampar Gyelwa Pel 

Zhamarpé Chödé 

Phonetics 

Pema Karpo 

Pelpung 

English 

English 

English 

path of means 

A Commentary on 

the Treatise 

mahāyāna-uttara-tantra: 

The Mirror 

Showing 

Reality Very 

Clearly 

English 

Blue Annals 

Answers to 

Questions and 

Objections related 

to the Treatise on 

the Three 

Codes. Clearing 

Away Confusion 

about the Three 

Codes. Composed 

by the King of the 

Learned 

Ones bsod nams 

seng ge 

English 

six yogas of Naropa 

English 







Dates 

Dates 

Dates 

Dates 

Dates 

Dates 

1527-92 

Author 

Type 

Text 

Type 

Organization 

Type 

Term 

Text 

Type 

Text 

Organization 

Monastery 

Text 

Text 

Type 

Term 

Publisher 

Type 

Person 

Monastery 

23


Pha 

Wylie 

phun tshogs rgyal 

mtshan 

phyag rgya chen po 

rgya gzhung 

phyag rgya chen po’i 

rgya gzhung 

Ba 

Wylie 

bar cha 

dbu med 

byang chub 

Phonetics 

Püntsok Gyentsen 

Chakgya Chenpo 

Gyazhung 

Chakgya Chenpö 

Gyazhung 

Phonetics 

barcha 

umé 

jangchup 

byang chub sems ’grel Jangchup Semdrelgyi 

gyi 

rnam par bshad pa 

Nampar Shepa 

byang chub sems ’grel 

gyi rnam par bshad 

pa tshig don gsal ba 

zhes bya ba bzhugs so 

’bri gung ’jig rten 

gsum mgon 

Ma 

Wylie 

mar pa 

mi rigs dpe skrun 

khang 

mi la ras pa 

smad cha 

Tsha 

Wylie 

tshogs chos yon tan 

phun tshogs 

Zha 

Wylie 

zhwa dmar pa chos 

grags ye shes 

zhwa dmar pa chos 

grags ye shes (the 

Fourth zhwa dmar pa) 

gzhan stong 

Jangchup Semdrelgyi 

Nampar Shepa 

Tsikdön Selwa 

Zhejawa Zhukso 

Drigung Jikten 

Sumgön 

Phonetics 

Marpa 

Mirik Petrünkhang 

Milarepa 

mecha 

Phonetics 

Tsokchö Yönten 

Püntsok 

Phonetics 

Zhamarpa Chödrak 

Yeshé 

Zhamarpa Chödrak 

Yeshé (the Fourth 

Zhamarpa) 

zhentong 

gzhan stong snying po Zhentong Nyingpo 

English 

Indian Mahāmudrā 

Works 

The Indian 

Mahāmudrā Works 

English 

enlightenment 

A Commentary on 

the 

Bodhicittavivaraṇa: 

An Elucidation of 

the Meaning of 

Words 

English 

English 

Teaching for the 

Public: An 

Abundance of 

Qualities 

English 

Empty of Other 

Essence of the 

Emptiness of Other 






Dates 

Dates 

Type 

Editor 

Textual Group 

Text 

Type 

Term 

Term 

Term 

Text 

Text 

1143-1217 Person 

Dates 

1012-97 

Type 

Person 

Publisher 

1040-1123 Person 

Dates 

Dates 

Term 

Type 

Text 

Type 

1453-1524 Person 

Author 

Doxographical 

Category 

Text 

24


Ya 

Wylie 

yid bzhin gyi za ma 

tog 

Ra 

Wylie 

rig pa’i khams 

Sha 

Wylie 

shā kya rgyal mtshan 

shā kya mchog ldan 

shes bya kun khyab 

mdzod 

Sa 

Wylie 

sa skya paṇḍita 

si khron mi rigs dpe 

skrun 

khang 

sems dpa’ 

Ha 

Wylie 

hwa shang 

Sanskrit 

Wylie 

chos mngon pa 

gnyis med rdo rje’i 

kun sdud 

’phags pa 

skye mched 

byang chub sems 

dpa’i spyod pa la 

’jug pa 

byang chub sems 

byang chub sems kyi 

’grel pa 

byang chub sems kyi 

’grel 

pa’i rnam par bshad 

pa 

Phonetics 

Yizhingyi Zamatok 

Phonetics 

rikpé kham 

Phonetics 

Shakya Gyentsen 

Shakya Chokden 

Sheja Künkhyap Dzö 

Phonetics 

Sakya Pendita 

Sitrön Mirik 

Petrünkhang 

sempa 

Phonetics 

hashang 

Phonetics 

Chö Ngönpa 

Nyimé Dorjé Kündü 

Pakpa 

kyeché 

Jangchup Sempé 

Chöpala Jukpa 

jangchup sem 

Jangchup Semkyi 

Drelpa 

Jangchup Semkyi 

Drelpé Nampar Shepa 

byang chub sems dpa’ jangchup sempa 

’khor lo 

zla ba grags pa 

khorlo 

Dawa Drakpa 

English 

Wish-fulfilling 

Basket 

English 

element of 

awareness 

English 

Treasury of 

Knowledge 

English 

hero 

English 

Chinese monk 

English 

Metaphysics 






Sanskrit 

Abhidharma 

Advayavajrasaṃgraha 

Ārya 

source of cognition āyatana 

Entering the 

Conduct of a 

Bodhisattva 

Bodhicaryāvatāra 

enlightened attitude bodhicitta 

Commentary on 

Enlightened 

Attitude 

Bodhicittavivaraṇa 

Subcommentary on [Bodhicitta- 

the Commentary on vivaraṇa]ṭīkā 

Enlightened 

Attitude 

wheel 

bodhisattva 

cakra 

Candrakīrti 

Dates 

Dates 

Dates 

fifteenth/ 

sixteenth 

century 

Type 

Text 

Type 

Term 

Type 

Person 

1428-1507 Person 

Dates 

Text 

Type 

1182-1251 Person 

Dates 

Dates 

seventh 

century 

Publisher 

Term 

Type 

Term 

Type 

Doxographical 

Category 

Text 

Lineage 

Term 

Text 

Term 

Text 

Text 

Term 

Term 

Person 

25


sems tsam 

sa bcu pa’i mdo 

gzungs kyi dbang 

phyug rgyal po’i 

mdo 

chos 

chos kyi ’khor lo 

’khor lo 

chos dang chos nyid 

rnam par ’byed 

pa 

chos dang chos nyid 

rnam par ’byed pa’i 

tshig le’ur byas pa 

chos kyi dbyings 

chos kyi dbyings la 

bstod pa 

chos nyid 

dbyings 

gsang ’dus kyi rgyud 

ye shes grags pa 

tshig le’ur byas pa 

dbu ma 

dbu ma pa 

phyag rgya chen po 

phyag rgya chen po’i 

rnal ’byor 

theg pa chen po 

theg chen nyi shu pa 

byams pa 

sngags 

sngags kyi theg pa 

Sem Tsam 

Sachupé Do 

Zungkyi Wangchuk 

Gyelpö Do 

chö 

chökyi khorlo 

khorlo 

Chö dang Chönyi 

Nampar Jepa 

Chö dang Chönyi 

Nampar Jepé Tsikleur 

Jepa 

chökyi ying 

Chökyi Yingla Töpa 

chönyi 

ying 

Sangdükyi Gyü 

Yeshé Drakpa 

tsikleur jepa 

Uma 

Umapa 

Chakgya Chenpo 

Chakgya Chenpö 

Neljor 

Tekpa Chenpo 

Tekchen Nyishupa 

Jampa 

ngak 

Ngakkyi Tekpa 

Mind Only 

The Sūtra on the 

Ten Levels 

Sūtra of the King 

Dhāraṇīśvara 

factor of existence 

wheel of the 

doctrine 

wheel of the 

doctrine 

Distinction of 

Phenomena from 

their True Nature 

The Stanzas of the 

Distinction of 

Phenomena from 

their True Nature 

sphere of reality 

In Praise of 

Dharmadhātu 

true nature of 

phenomena 

element 

Tantra of the Secret 

Assembly 

stanza 

Center 

Centrist 

Great Seal 

Great Vehicle 

Twenty [Stanzas] 

on the Great 

Vehicle 

Way of Mantras 

Cittamātra 

Daśabhūmikasūtra 

Dhāraṇīśvararājasūtra 

dharma 

dharmacakra 

[dharma]cakra 

Dharmadharmatāvibhāga 

Ger. 

Unterscheidung der 

Gegebenheiten von 

ihrem wahren 

Wesen 

Dharmadharmatāvibhāgakārikā 

dharmadhātu 

Dharmadhātustava 

dharmatā 

dhātu 

Guhyasamājatantra 

Jñānakīrti 

Kamalaśīla 

kārikā 

Madhyamaka 

Mādhyamika 

Mahāmudrā 

mahāmudrā yoga 

Mahāyāna 

Mahāyānaviṃśikā 

Maitrīpa 

mantra 

Mantrayāna 

eleventh 

century 

700-50? 

1007-85? 

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Text 

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Term 

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26 

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sngags 

dbu ma rtsa ba’i shes 

rab 

klu sgrub 

mya ngan las ’das pa 

nges don 

rnam pa lnga pa 

de bzhin gshegs pa’i 

phyag 

rgya lnga’i ’grel pa 

don dam gyi ngo bo 

nyid med pa 

pha rol tu phyin pa’i 

theg pa 

pha rol tu phyin pa 

pha rol tu phyin pa’i 

theg 

pa phyag rgya chen 

po 

gzhan dbang 

tshig gsal 

Ngak 

Uma Tsawé Sherap 

Ludrup 

nyangenlé depa 

ngedön 

Nampa Ngapa 

Dezhin Shekpé 

Chakgya Ngé Drelpa 

[Way of] Mantras 

Root Verses on the 

Middle Way 

definitive meaning 

The Five Aspects 

Explaining the 

Seals of the Five 

Tathāgatas 

döndamgyi ngowonyi the ultimate 

mepa 

absence of an 

own-being 

Paröltu Chinpé Tekpa Way of Perfections 

Paröltu Chinpa 

[Way of] 

Perfections 

Paröltu Chinpé Tekpa The Great Seal on 

Chakgya Chenpo the Way of 

Perfections 

zhenwang 

Tsiksel 

shes rab kyi pha rol tu Sherapkyi Paröltu 

phyin 

pa 

Chinpa 

rang bzhin 

rang bzhin gyi stong 

pa nyid 

sbyor ba 

rangzhin 

dependent 

Clear Words 

Perfection of 

Insight 

nature 

rangzhingyi tongpanyi natural emptiness 

jorwa 

rin chen rigs kyi rnam Rinchen Rikkyi 

par ’byed 

pa 

Nampar Jepa 

rin chen rigs kyi rnam Rinchen Rikkyi 

par 

’byed pa’i ’grel pa 

Nampar Jepé Drelpa 

lhan cig skyes pa’i 

rdo rje 

zhi gnas 

dgongs pa nges par 

’grel pa’i 

mdo 

zhi ba’i lha 

mdo sde pa 

phung po 

dran pa 

Lhenchik Kyepé 

Dorjé 

zhiné 

Gongpa Ngepar 

Drelpé Do 

Zhiwé Lha 

Dodepa 

pungpo 

Drenpa 

meditation practice 

An Analysis of the 

Jewel Family 

Mantra[yāna] 

Mūlamadhyamakakārikā 

Nāgārjuna 

nirvāṇa 

nītārtha 

Pañcākāra 

Pañcatathāgatamudrā-vivaraṇa 

paramārthaniḥsvabhāvatā 

Pāramitāyāna 

Pāramitā[yāna] 

Pāramitāyānamahāmudrā 

paratantra 

Pasannapadā 

Prajñāpāramitā 

prakṛti 

prakṛtiśūnyatā 

prayoga 

Ratnagotravibhāga 

Commentary on the Ratnagotravibhāga- 

Analysis of the 

Jewel Family 

vyākhyā 

calm abiding 

The Sūtra on 

Revealing the 

Intention 

Follower of the 

Sūtra Sections 

psychophysical 

aggregates 

Sahajavajra 

śamatha 

Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra 

Śāntideva 

Sautrāntika 

skandha 

Smṛti[jñānakīrti] 

fl. 200 CE 

eleventh 

century 

700? CE 

eleventh/ 

twelfth 

century? 

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Term 

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Term 

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lha mo dpal phreng gi Lhamo Pel Trenggi 

mdo 

Do 

mdo 

mdo kun las btus pa 

rang gi ngo bo 

bdag la byin gyi rlabs 

pa 

de bzhin gshegs pa 

de bzhin gshegs pa’i 

snying po 

do 

Do Künlé Tüpa 

ranggi ngowo 

dakla jingyi lappa 

dezhin shekpa 

dezhin shekpé 

nyingpo 

de kho na nyid bcu pa Dekhonanyi Chupa 

de kho na nyid bcu 

pa’i ’grel 

pa 

ngo bo nyid gsum 

bye brag tu smra ba 

rnam par rig pa 

rnam par rig pa tsam 

lhag mthong 

rnam par bshad pa’i 

rigs 

theg pa 

rnal ’byor spyod pa 

Dekhonanyi Chupé 

Drelpa 

ngowonyi sum 

Jedraktu Mawa 

nampar rikpa 

Nampar Rikpa Tsam 

lhaktong 

Nampar Shepé Rik 

tekpa 

Neljor Chöpa 

The Sūtra of the 

Noble Queen Mālā 

teaching of the 

Buddha 

Compendium of 

Sūtras 

own-being 

self-empowerment 

the Thus Gone 

Buddha-nature 

Ten Stanzas on 

True Reality 

Commentary on the 

Ten Stanzas on 

True Reality 

three-nature 

[theory] 

Follower of the 

[Mahā]vibhāṣā 

a semi-precious 

gem 

image, perception 

Perception Only 

deep insight 

The Art of 

Interpretation 

vehicle 

Yoga Conduct 

Śrīmālādevīsūtra 

sūtra 

Sūtrasamuccaya 

svabhāva 

svādhiṣṭhāna 

tathāgata 

tathāgatagarbha 

Tattvadaśaka 

Tattvadaśakaṭīkā 

trisvabhāva 

Vaibhāṣika 

vaiḍūrya 

vijñapti 

Vijñaptimātra 

vipaśyanā 

Vyākhyāyukti 

yāna 

Yogācāra 

Text 

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31

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