Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Julia Stenzel
This article was originally published in the Indian International
Journal of Buddhist Studies Volume 15 (2014). I wish to thank
Roger Jackson for patiently reviewing this article as well as my
translation.
Sakya Paita Kunga Gyaltsen (Sa skya paita kun dga
rgyal mtshan, 11821251) of the Sakya school of Tibetan
Buddhism viewed Mahmudr practice as being solely a part of the
Tantric practice patha path to which disciples may be introduced
only after having passed through the initiations and required stages
of the Niruttarayogatantra. He criticised the non-Tantric
Mahmudr approaches of Kagy (Bka brgyud) masters such as
Gampopa (Sgam po pa, 1079-1153) and Lama Zhang Tsalpa (Bla ma
Zhang tshal pa, 1123-93). The controversy between representatives
of the two schools has been discussed by Roger Jackson (1982),
David Jackson (1990, 1994), and others. Western scholarship has
been less concerned, however, with the positive statements of
Sakya Paita on Mahmudr, i.e. with the question of what a
correct understanding of Mahmudr would be in his eyes. This
fact is partly due to the secrecy with which the Sakya School
handles Tantric texts. However, in a dialogue (dris lan) text in the
collected works of the Sakya masters (Sa skya bkabum), Sakya
Paita gives a short account of the topic in response to questions
posed by Tokden Gyan (Rtogs ldan rgyan). 1 This text, available
from the Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center and as yet
untranslated, 2 will serve as the basis for an analysis of Sakya
200
Background
Buddhist ideas spread to Tibet in two major waves. The
first, a top-down movement controlled by kings between the
seventh and ninth centuries,4 was followed by political collapse and
religious crisis. The second, new translation period,5 between the
tenth and fourteenth centuries, was a fragmented movement that
sprang from the grassroots, fueled by teachers and adepts from
both India and Tibet. It prompted controversies and power
struggles among translators, lineages, clans, and schools. Sakya
Paita Kunga Gyaltsen of the prominent Khn (Khon) clan in
paper I produced my own translation, in consultation with Acarya Jampa
Tenzin.
3
201
south central Tibet, one of the five founding patriarchs of the Sakya
School (rje btsun gong ma lnga), stands out among the figures of
this later period for his vast erudition in not only Tibetan
epistemology and logic but also Indian Sanskrit scriptures and
language, which he acquired during a decade of study under the
tutelage of the Kashmiri abbot kyarbhadra (1140-1225) and
lesser paitas (pa chung) in the latters entourage. Based on his
knowledge of the Indian roots of Buddhist thought, Sakya Paita,
or Sapan, as he is often called, became concerned with what he
deemed inauthentic, false, or distorted Buddhist ideas and practices
in Tibet. One of his criticisms is directed against the Great Seal, or
Mahmudr, teachings of Gampopa, Lama Zhang Tsalpa, and their
followers. Gampopa started the monastic Dagpo Kagy School
(Dwags po bka brgyud) with the foundation of the monastery of
Dagla Gampo (Dwags lha sgam po) in 1121, about half a century
before Sapans birth. Gampopas followers further contributed to
establishing the Kagy as a prominent school in Tibet.6 Gampopa
developed an innovative style of teaching Mahmudr, combining
elements of the Perfection Vehicle and of the Tantras. These new
approaches to meditation by Gampopa and his followers were
criticized by Sapan for their supposed lack of Indian antecedents
and their proximity to the meditation system of the Chinese master
Hwashang Mahyana (Hwa shang ma h ya na) that had been
banned from Tibet in the eighth century. In approximately 1232,
Sapan wrote A Clear Differentiation of the Three Codes (Sdom
gsum rab dbye), in which he discusses a great number of theories
and practices he deems erroneous among the practitioners of his
time. His critique ofthe Kagy Mahmudr is embedded in the
chapter Vows of the Vajra Vehicle. Whereas in this text, his
statements on Mahmudr are dispersed throughout the chapter, the
short Answers to the Question of Togden Gyan (Rtogs ldan rgyan
poi dris lan) focuses on the topic of Mahmudr alone and
The controversy between Sapan and certain Kagypa masters may well have
political motives, besides purely philosophical ones, as Ulrich Kragh points
out in his thesis, Culture and Subculture: A Study of the Mahamudra of
sGam po pa (1998). The Khn clan and Kagy communities were in
competition for support from the Mongols, the ruling dynasty in China.
Whether Sapan harboured an ambition to discredit other Buddhist schools to
enhance his own political position is a speculation in which I do not wish to
engage in this paper.
202
The website of the present Sakya Trizin mentions a physician Biji who was
present at Sakya Pa itas passing:
http://www.hhthesakyatrizin.org/tradition_founder4.html, accessed Dec 4,
2013. David Jackson mentions a student Biji Rinchen Drak in his article
Sakya Pandita's Letter to the Tibetans: A Late and Dubious Addition to His
Collected Works (2013: 243).
Karl Debreczeny (2011: n. 40) expresses doubt that Sapan resided at Wutai
Shan.
203
10
11
12
13
med
pai
rgyud,
Skt.
204
15
Skt. caturabhieka, Tib: dbang bskur bzhi (bum dbang, gsang dbang, shes
rab ye shes kyi dbang, tshig dbang). Also see Sakya Pandita, Three Codes,
1834.
rim gnyis, Skt. dvikrama, consists of the creation stage (skyes rim, Skt.
utpattikrama)and the completion stage (rdzogs rim, Skt. sapannakrama).
16
tshogs gnyis: bsod nams kyi tshogs, Skt. pyasambhra, and ye shes kyi
tshogs, Skt. jnasambhra.
17
18
19
20
205
22
and
Dbu ma la jug pa'i rnam bshad dpal ldan dus gsum mkhyen pai zhal lung
dwags brgyud grub pai shing rta by the eighth Karmapa Miky Dorje (mi
bskyod rdo rje, 15071554). See Trungram 2004: 165 n388.
This quote can be found in the Vimalaprabh commentary on Klacakra The
Ornament of Stainless Light, Bsdus pai rgyud kyi rgyal po dus khor
loigrel bshad rtsa bai rgyud kyi rjes sujug pa stong phrag bcu gnyis pa
dri ma med pai od/, folio 108a, accessed Dec 6, 2013.
http://www.asianclassics.org/reader.php?collection=tengyur&index=1347.0
1#108A. Possibly it is also found in the Hevajra Tantra, since Hevajra is the
main deity associated with the Sakya School. However, I could not locate it
in the Concealed Essence of the HevajraTantra (Tantra with commentary
Yogaratnaml by Kha), nor the Kyei rdo rje bsdus pai don gyi rgya
chergrel pa.
206
24
25
26
phyag rgya chen po mi gyur bde// gzung dang dzin pa dbyibs dag dang//
rtog dang brjod pa rnam par spang// dri zai grong khyer lta bu dang// pra
phab pa yi rang bzhin can// rnalbyor thabs dang shes rab bdag// e wam yi
ge de la dud// phra rab rdul gyi chos nyiddas// pra phab pa yi rnam pa
can// rnam pa kun gyi mchog ldan pa// phyag rgya chenpo de la dud//.
Folio numbers of this and all following quotes of Answers to the Questions
of Togden Gyan refer to the Rtogs ldan rgyan poi dris lan in the Sa skya
bkabum, in a reprint of the Derge Parkhang Chenmo prints (sde dge par
khang chos mdzod chen mo). See Bibliography.
Third initiation: knowledge-wisdom initiation (shes rab ye shes dbang, Skt
prajjnbhieka); fourth initiation (bzhi pai dbang, Skt
caturthbhieka), or precious word initiation (tshig dbang rin po che, Skt
abdbhieka).
Sakya Pandita, Three Codes, 117 (verse 164). Rhoton translates phyag rgya
chen po sometimes as Great Seal, sometimes as mahmudr.
207
28
Sachen 2006:28. See also the annotations by Sachens son Jetsn Drakpa
Gyaltsen (Rje btsun Grags pa rgyal mtshan, 11471216), 633n21.
29
30
208
209
33
phra rab rdul gyi chos nyid das// pra phab pa yi rnam pa can// rnam pa
kun gyi mchog ldan pa// phyag rgya chen po de la dud// In Rtogs ldan,
154.56.
This phrasein Sanskrit presumably sarvkropetaalso is a crucial term
in Rangtong-Shentong debates about the nature of nyat.
34
35
Alexander Berzin gives the Sanskrit pratimrti for pa phrab pa and explains
it as an analogy for "devoid-form," a subcategory of bimba (image). It refers
to figures that appear on their own, such as images that appear in divination
mirrors used in Indian and Tibetan cultures for prognostication. Alexander
Berzin, Explanation of the Main Points of The Kalachakra Presentation of
210
37
38
211
40
gsar rnying
41
212
This is part of the answer to the second question, which I included here, so
as to present the progression as a whole.
43
213
The nd is the last point in the process of dissolution and refers to the line
rising from the nasal sign on top of the seed syllable h visualized in the
heart center.
45
46
47
48
Ibid.
214
215
216
sku bzhi: the four bodies of a Buddha: 1) the body of reality, chos sku, Skt.
dharmakya. 2) the complete enjoyment body, longs spyod rdzogs pai sku,
Skt. sambhogakya; 3) the emanation body, sprul sku, Skt. nirmakya, 4)
the body of their essentiality, ngo bo nyid kyi sku, Skt. svabhvikakya.
51
ye shes lnga: the five wisdoms: 1)me long ltabu, mirror [-like] wisdom, 2)
mnyam nyid, equality wisdom, 3) so sor rtog pa, discriminating wisdom, 4)
bya grub, accomplishing wisdom, 5) chos dbyings, expanse of reality
wisdom.
52
rdo rje chang, Skt.vajradhara, the primordial buddhahood. See Rtogs ldan,
157, 5.
53
54
55
A.
56
217
Conclusion
In sum, Sapan presents Mahmudr as the resultant gnosis
of the creation and completion stages, which a disciple can only
practice after having received the four initiations of the Niruttara
Tantra class from a qualified guru. The third initiation, which is
conferred by means of a consort, enables a disciple to experience
the union of bliss and emptiness to a lesser extent; the fourth
initiation enables a more profound understanding of that union.
Except for a few rare exceptions, a disciple will not be able to
attain and sustain such a realization during the initiation. Instead,
through diligent training in the creation and completion stages, he
or she develops a partial understanding of the union of bliss and
emptiness, which is called mimetic gnosis, or the likeness of
57
Alternative translation: This is the crucial point that everything that appears
in sasra and nirva is of one taste in the mind.
218
58
Gampopa, Rje phag mo gru pai zhus lan, Gsung bum sgam po pa, Vol 2:
339, 24.
59
Ibid.
219
60
kun dga snying po, "rtogs ldan rgyan po'i dris lan/." In Sa skya bka bum.
TBRC W22271. 12: 167 173. Dehradun: Sakya Center, 19921993.
http://tbrc.org/link?RID=O01CT0026|O01CT002600KG04220$W22271.
(dpe cha pages 153159).
61
62
63
220
221
65
66
67
222
This refers to the word bcom ldan das, i.e. the Tibetan translation of the
Sanskrit bhagavant, which consists of bhaga (fortune) and vant
(possessing).
223
Skt: Nmasagti
224
71
225
72
73
74
Phags pa da ka ye shes shes bya ba theg pa chen poi mdo, Skt. rya
tajnanmamahynastra.
Alternative translation: This is the crucial point that everything that appears
in sasra and nirva is of one taste in the mind.
Phyag rgya chen poi mig thur. It seems that after answering Togdens five
questions, Sakya Pandita continued with the oral instructions that Togden
Gyan had requested, which are written in a separate text called The
Mahmudr Eyedropper. I could not locate this text.
226
Bibliography
Tibetan Texts
Kun dga' rgyal mtshan. Rtogs ldan rgyan poi dris lan. In Sa skya
bka bum. TBRC W22271. 12: 167173. Dehradun: Sakya
Center, 1992-1993. Accessed November 1, 2013.
http://tbrc.org/link?RID=O01CT0026|O01CT002600KG04
220$W22271.
Bsodnams rin chen. Rje phag mo gru pai zhu lan. In Gsung
bum/_Sgam po pa. 2: 299354. TBRC W23439. 2: .
Kathmandu: Khenpo S. Tenzin &Lama T. Namgyal, 2000.
http://tbrc.org/link?RID=O1GC289|O1GC2891GC291$W2
3439.
Secondary Literature
Braitstein, Lara, 2004. Sarahas Adamantine Songs: Texts,
Contexts, Translations and Traditions of the Great Seal.
Ph.D. Dissertation, McGill University.
Bernert, Christian, 2009. Rong-ston on Buddha-Nature: A
Commentary on the Fourth Chapter of the
Ratnagotravibhga (vv.1.2795[a]). Magister Arbeit,
Universitt Wien.
Berzin, Alexander. Explanation of the Main Points of The
Kalachakra Presentation of the Four Creative-Energy Drops
and the Winds of Karma. Berzin Archives. Accessed
December 4, 2013. http://www.berzinarchives.com/web/en/
archives/advanced/kalachakra/theory_of_kalachakra_
practice/kalachakra_presentation_4_creative-energy_drops/
part_2.html.
Brunnhlzl, Karl, 2007. On Maitripa and His Cycle of Twenty
Five Works on Mental Non-engagement. In Straight From
the Heart, 134136. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion.
Davidson, Ronald M., and Charles D. Orzech. Tantra. In
Encyclopedia of Buddhism. Ed. Robert E. Buswell, Jr. Vol.
2. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2003. 820
826. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.
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