Indrabhūti's 'Confession of Errors in the Fundamental Teachings of the Vajrayāna

7/28/2019 Indrabhti's 'Confession of Errors in the Fundamental Teachings of the Vajrayna

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THE JOURNAL

OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OFBUDDHIST STUDIES

E D I T O R - I N - C H I E F

A . K. NarainUniversity of Wiscon sin, Mad ison, USA

E D I T O R SHeinz Bechert Leon Hurvitz

Universitat Gottingen, FRG UBC, Vancouver, CanadaLewis Lancaster A lexander W. MacDonald

University of California, Berkeley, USA Universite de Paris X, Nanterre, FranceB.J. Stavisky A lex Wayman

WNU R, Moscow, USSR Columbia University, New York, USA

A S S O C I A T E E D I T O RStephen Beyer

University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA

Volume 2 1979 Number 2


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C O N T E N T S

I. ARTICLESDharmasri on the Sixteen Degrees of Comprehension

by Leon Hurvitz 7Indrabhuti's 'Confession of Errors in the FundamentalTe ach ing s of the Vajrayana', A Critical Edition, EnglishTranslation and Discussion, by Nathan Katz 31Non-duality of the Tw o Tru th s in Sinitic Madhyamika: Originof the 'Third Truth' , by Whalen Lai 45Transpersonal Psychological Observations on TheravadaBuddhist Meditative Practices, by James Santucci 66Bodhicaryavatara 9:2 as a Focus for Tibetan Interpretationsof the Two Truths in the Prasangika Madhyamikaby Michael Sweet 79

II . SHORT PAPER1. Some B uddh ist Poems in Tamil, by G. Vijayavenugopal 93

I I I . BOOK REVIEWS AND NOTICESReviews:1. The Prajnaparamita Literature, by Edward Conze 992. Two Ways to Perfection: Buddhist and Christian

by Shanta Ratnayaka 1033. An Introduction to the Buddhist Tantric Systemsby F. D. Lessing and A . Wayman 1044. Religion and the Legitimation of Power in South Asia;

Religion and Legitimation of Power in Sri Lanka;Religion and Legitimation of Power in Thailand, Laosand Burma, by Bardwell Smith 1075. Studies in Pali and Buddhism, Edited by A . K. Narain 109


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Notices:1. B uddh i s t Wisdom . The m ys te ry o f the self, by George Grimm 1112 . B uddhi sm . A se l ec t b iography , by Satyaprakasli 1123 . Liv ing B uddh i s t Mas te r s , by Jack KornjieUl 1124 . Mysticism and Philosophical Analysis , by Steven T. Katz 112

I V . N O T E S A N D N E W S1. O n B uddh i s t R esea rch In fo rm at ion (B . R . I . )

of the Ins t i tu te for Advanced Studiesof W orld Rel ig ions ( IASW R), New York 113O B I T U A R Y H 6

L I S T O F I A B S M E M B E R S 117

The Edi tor - in-Chief wishes to express thanks to Roger Jacksonand Rena Crispin for their assis tance in the production of this issue.


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Indrabhuti 's "Confession of Errors in theRoots and Branches of the Vajrayana":A Critical Edition, English Translationand Discussion*

by Nathan Katz

Introduction

I . The TextT h e Vajrayana muldngapatti desana (Tibetan: rDo rje thegpa'i rtsa ba

dangyan laggi Itung ba'i bshagspa), or Confession ofErrors in the Roots andBranches of the Bajrayana, by the tantric master Indrabhuti (alsoknown as Indrabodhi), is found in two editions of the bsTan 'gyur,namely the sNar thang and Peking editions. To the best of ourinformation,1 it is absent in the Co ne an d sDe rge editions. We havefoun d ne ithe r com mentary nor specific reference to it in othe r tantricwritings, although the issues involved in tantric confessions have beendiscussed by such authors as Kong sprul,2 the Sa skya Pandita,3 theSeventh Dalai Lam a4 and T song kha pa,5 and we shall employ some oftheir observations in our discussion of themes in the present text.

O ur text is qu ite sho rt. In the sN ar th ang ed ition it covers fascicles114b-115b of volum e Pu, and in the Peking edition it is found fromfascicle 116b to 118a of volume Pu. Th e Otani catalogue nu m bers it4626, and it is not found in the Tohuku catalogue.O u r critical edition is m ade from a comparison of the Peking andsNar thang texts. Almost all divergences seem to involve errors intrans criptio n alone , althoug h ther e seems to be one significant difference 6 where the Peking edition makes reference to the dkyil 'khor{mandala) an d the sNar th an g edition is of amb iguous reference.

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II. The Author of the TextThe present text was written by one Indrabhuti or Indrabodhi,

an eigh th-cen tury tantric autho r from Urgyen (currently Swat state ofPakistan). According to his hagiog raphy,7 he was king of his region andan extremely accomplished tantric master. At some point during hisreign, Indrabhuti became inspired by the commitment to Buddhistpractice by his sister, Lakshminkara, another in the traditional listingof the eighty-four grub chen (mahasiddhas). Feeling a life dedicatedmerely to one's own self-aggrandizement not to be worthwhile, Ind rabhuti handed the government over to his son and began practicingBuddhism seriously but secretively. Having attained phyags chen(mahamudra) after twelve years' ard uo us practice, Ind rabh uti appe aredin the sky to his subjects, who attained the first bhumi on seeing thismiracle. Remaining in the sky for seven days, he preached about theinaccessibility of Dh arm a to m un da ne thou ght. His hagiography (rnamthar) concludes w ith th e attain m ent of religious ecstacy by his aud ience ,expressed thro ug h the m etaph or of sky-walking (mkha spyod).

In the Tibetan tradition, especially the rNying ma and bKa'brg yu d lineages, Ind rab hu ti's im portance exceeds that of many of theother of the eighty-four grub chen. He is paid great homage by thetradit ion , which ascribes to him the role of teacher of Nagarjuna (kLusgrub), and that of foster-parent of Padmasambhava.8 Probably forthese reaso ns, B. Bhattacharyya 9 claims he was the very foun de r of theVajrayana itself, a claim we find exaggerated although not totallywithout support .

Several of Ind rab hu ti's works have been included in bsTan 'gyur,including some sadhana and commentorial writings.

II I. Analysis of the Tex tAs the title indicates, our text is concerned with a confession

(desana; bshagspa) of erro rs (apatti; Itungba) in tantric Bud dhist practice.This is significant for any understanding of Vajrayana Buddhism,since a clear notion of what is taken to be an error in practice wouldsuggest a great deal about the tantric Weltanschauung in general. Inor d er to get a clear picture of the tantric usages of "erro r" and "vow"(sdompa), we propo se to com pare them with similar structures found inthe Theravada and Mahayana Buddhist traditions, in particular the32


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Theravada Patmokkha (or savakayana-pratimoksa,as it would be knownin M aha yan a tex t s ) an d the Bodhisattva Pratimoksa Sutra. By so do ing , wesh ou ld be able to get som e not ion as to the cont inui t ies an d diverg ence sa mong t he se t h r e e s t y l e s (yana; thegpa) o f B u d d h i s m .

A t rad i t iona l Va j rayana he rm eneu t ica l device has been to speaka bou t t he se t h r e e yanas in term s of bod y, speec h an d m ind , an d we wishto em pl oy this ind ig en ou s tool to assist in clarifying th e issues involvedin thes e th re e types of vows a topic abo ut which we f ind a good deal ofsecondary l i t e ra ture f rom the T ibe tan Buddhis t t rad i t ion . We of fe rthat the savakayana pratimoksa, as found in the Pali Patimokkha texts,con ta ins vows rega rd ing the body , e special ly when 'body ' (kdya; sku) istak en in the sense of intent ional i ty or em bo dim en t of vol i tions; tha t thebodh i sa t t va pratimoksa deals essential ly with vows about speech, when' s p e e c h ' (vaca; ngag) is tak en in the sense of o u r com m un icative abili tiesin t e r m s of t each ing o the rs , the major concern of the bodhisattvayana inge ne ra l ; an d th a t t an t r i c vows, the type found in ou r prese n t t ex t, dea lw i t h t he mi nd (citta; sems), especial ly that mind which indulges inc onc e p t ua l i z a t i ons (vikalpa; rtogs pa) as a style of avoiding what isactually given in a si tuat ion (dngos po).

The Tibe tan commentor ia l t rad i t ion genera l ly sees res t ra in tf rom m isdee ds as the d i s tingui sh ing fea ture (mtshan gzhi) of thesravakayana pratimoksa, and in reading through the Bhikkhupdtimokkhawone sees that al l of the apatti or errors involve cer ta in behaviors unders tood as misdeeds , and tha t the vows under taken by a bhikkhu a reessent ia l ly re st ra ints against these misde eds. Ci t ing the Abhidharmakosa-fika, K on g sp ru l ' ' g ives th is e tymology for sravakayana pratimoksa: "A s itres t ra ins b ody an d s peech ( f rom m isdeeds) , thus it is ca lled pratimoksavows or re s t ra in t s . "

Al though the Sa skya Pandi ta , in his sDom gsum,12 tells us that allth re e types of vows a re ha rm on ized in the tan t r i c pa th , and tha t theseth re e vows a re l ikened to the th re e j ewels , never the less the res t ra in ingc ha ra c t e r o f t he sravakayana pratimoksa is un de rsto od as being a t a lowerlevel than the bodhisa t tva or tant r ic (vidyadhara) vows, and it ispotent ia l ly subjec t to abrogat ion by these vows understood as higher .

S imi la r ly , Kon g spru l 1 3 says tha t the dis t ingu ishing fe a ture of thesravakayana pratimoksa is: ". . . moral i ty which is no t m erely as pirin g forthe refuge of protec t ion f rom fear and the wish for something good,but the thought o f ga in ing peace for onese l f (rang nyid ski ba) a n dde ve lop ing a s t ro ng fee l ing of d i sgus t {ngespar 'byungpa) for the wholecycle ofsamsara." O f cou rse , in Tib etan M ahayan a l i te ra tu re the idea of3 3


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rangshi or 'self-pacification' is though t to be of a much lower orde r thanthe no ble aspiration (pranidhdna) of the bodhisattva to save all sentientbeings, so the nature of the sravakayana pratimoksa is understood aslower than that of the bodhisattva.The vows undertaken by the bodhisattva chiefly deal with thecultivation an d m aintainence of bodhicitta, which is thou ght of attainingcomplete enlightenment for the welfare of all sentient beings. TheBodhisattva Pratimoksa Sutra1* rather self-consciously distinguishes itselffrom the sravakayana pratimoksa. It says that th e distinguishing featureof the bodh isattva pratimoksa is that th e bodh isattva w orks for the good{artha; don) of all sen tient beings, while the savaka, who need not do so,is basically conce rned with his own goal.Kong spru l ' s tells us tha t the bodhisattva vows involve four aspec ts:"(1) a special objective, namely being motivated by the attitude ofacquiring samyaksambodhi (rdzogs pa'i byang chub) for the benefit ofothers; (2) trying to practice the factors conducive to samyaksambodhi(mthun phyogs)\ (3) abandoning all vulgar behaviors (nyes spyod) whichare adverse to samyaksambodhi; and (4) morality of renunciation (nges'byung), together with a mind in accord with all of the above/' Thus,acco rding to both Kong sprul and the Bodhisattva Pratimoksa Sutra, whatis essentially different about the bodhisattva vows is a concern forothers, and it is in this sense that we maintain the relevance of thespeech-communicativeness metaphor for the bodhisattva vows. Thatthis conce rn is high er than the concerns of the sravaka is indicated bythe Sa skya Pandita's maintaining 16 that the sravaka vows are b indingonly for a single lifetime, while the bodhisattva vows carry from birth tobirth.The tantric or vidyadhara vows deal with obscurations of mind(Jneydvarana; shes sgrib). Kong sprul17 tells us that the na tur e (ngo bo) oftantric vows is: ". . . to be restra ined (sdom) from the preconceptions ofsubject/object with its instincts (pho ba'i bagchags), and to resolve to holdthe wisdom (ye shes; jnana) of great bliss (mahasukha; bde chen) whichrestrains, and the mind which trains itself by this method." He alsogives this etymology for "vidyadhara vows' (rig 'dzinsdom): iS Vidya means"the excellent wisdom of the non-duality of subject/object, called 'thewisdom of the great bliss'"; dhara means "though this vidya is unb orn,we re-call it" (star gsal gtap pa); and vow means "the m ethod of re-callingit through the aspect of the deity (lha'i rnam par), or by being blessed(adhisthdna; byin rlabs)."

O ur text begins with a dedication to the vajracarya, the tantric guru ,34


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to the vira and vira, em bodim ents of th e heroic deed s of one striving forenl igh ten m en t, a nd to the lord of the practice of yoga. T he re are the nfourteen specific confessions, followed by three verses of entreatywhich serve both to sum marize the fourteen specific confessions and topray for the accomplishment of siddhi. It is to the fourteen specificconfessions tha t we wish to call atten tion.Of these fourteen errors , eleven are clearly problems of conceptualization. Of the remaining three, two deal with vows of secrecyinvolved in tantric training, and one deals generally with the breakingof vows. To summarize, the eleven errors of conceptualization are:(1) undervaluing the guru; (2) disregarding Buddhist doctrines; (3)not adequately respecting the intimacy of the 'tantric family' orteaching situation; (4) not generating sufficient loving thought {'byamssems) for all beings who are potential Buddhas; (5) losing bodhicitta byindulging in such conceptions as 'relative' and 'absolute'; (6)insufficiently reg ardin g the integrity of all philosophic systems(siddhanta; grub mtha'), w hether Bud dhist or not; (7) regard ing th e fiveskandhas as problematic, whereas in reality they are the five wisdoms;(8) the prejud ice of imposing affirmation or negation and moral jud ge ments onto one's experience; (9) infatuation with those who areopposed to the Vajrayana; (10) imposing one's own personal affirmation or negation onto the wisdom of siinyata; and (11) because of theklesa, not sufficiently regarding one's own insight into the Buddhistpath .

Clearly, then , the predo m inant notion of an 'error' in Indrabhu ti'stexts involves the conceptualizing mind, and perhaps the harmony ofthese three vows which the Sa skya Pandita maintains is that of theha rm on y of body, speech an d m ind, a harmony which is the goal of allBuddhist practice.

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English Translation

Hum Vajracarya, the one who is peerlessin the fundamentals of the mandalato the vira and the vIra,'the Yogesvara2 and so forth,I beg you to think of me compassionately.I beg forgiveness from the trikaya of the gurus 3because, being intoxicated by the great disease of arrogance,I have, by my recklessness, held the Vajracarya,who is the root of all siddhi, in contempt.I sincerely declare and confesshaving transgressed and disregarded,by underestimating its worth,the speeches from the holy mouthsof the indescribable Dharmakaya, the Sambhogakaya andNirmanakaya, which exist for the benefit of others.I sincerely declare and confessbeing anrgy with and rebuking the tantric family,4which by one vow5 is conjoinedof one guru, one wisdom consort6 and one mandala,especially in other times.I sincerely declare and confess,because I have been unskillful and totally influenced by hatred,the giving up of all beneficial and loving thought7for all sentient beings, who are endowed with Buddhagarbha*th e ability to beco m e the holy, exalted offsprings of the JIna. 9I sincerely declare and confess,by having sucumbed to the influence of mundane preconceptions,10the abandonment of the blissful bodhicitta,which is the nature of all phenomena,beyond the ideas of relative and ultimate.' 'I sincerely declare and confessabusin g the philosophic systems12of outsiders , '3 sravakas,** pratyekabuddhas,'5 mahayanists16an d peerless secret mantrayanists,those either seeking or having already entered the path. 17I sincerely declare and confessthe promulgation of secret mantras, miidras, signs, mantra,profound secrets and so forth, to improper containers,those degenerated from the rituals, immature andnot suitable receptacles for the profound man trayana.36


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I sincerely declare and confesskilling, hin de ring , bashing, mortifying, abusing andregarding as inferior,thefiveskandhas,1*which are in reality the five Buddha-familieswhich are of the nature of the five wisdoms. 19I sincerely declare and confessto the stainless Dharmadhatu 20my prejudices which prevented me from realizingthat, although all phenomena are by nature pure,they ar e labelled into two as 'yes/no' and 'good/evil'.I sincerely declare and confess to the guru,the triratna,21 my failure to convert,in fact, my infatuation with, the people who abuse,cast aspersions upon and disregardthe secret mantra and Vajrayana.I sincerely declare and confessthe labelling as 'yes' and 'no'the grea t wisdom of the vacuity of constructed thoug ht,22in which there is not the least predicamentas all names are merely projections.23I sincerely declare and confessto those who are the devoted onesand who follow the transmissionmy being responsible for the loss of faithof those who possess the initial disposition,who are childlike,by disclosing the profound words and tantric practices.1 sincerely declare and confesswith a mind filled with extreme regret,my not keeping by belittlingall branches of the vowswhich should be known, safeguarded, engaged in and kept,despite my knowing better.I sincerely declare and confessto the common and special peerless wisdom consortabusing and seeing the shortcomings and faultsof the holy insight25 into the external, internal andsecret (levels),2"having been motivated by the defilements.27Though confession and what is to be confessedare non-objectifiable,in ord er to eliminate the instinctive though t-constructs,37


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as I sincerely confess to the exalted object of the holy vows,so may I have happiness.Please gra nt forgiveness, O compassionate protector!(I have) cultivated the wisdom-consort which has no vow,argued in the offering-circle28 and so forth,taken the elixir29 and the inferior wisdom-consort,no t pre ach ed to the right containers who aspire to the secret D harma,and misled the faithful ones with non-Dharmic talks,passed m ore tha n seven days am ong the sravakas,*0claimed to be a tantrika only in name,and wrongly disclosed mantra to improper containers,contradicted and made mistakes in meditation and recitationand committed errors of impure views and practice.Please grant the siddhi of Brahma31 quickly.I dec lare a nd confess the deg ene ration of the vows of body.I decla re a nd confess the de gen eration of the vows of speech.I declare an d confess the deg ene ration of the vows of m ind.I declare and confess the degeneration of the root vows.I declare and confess the degeneration of the branch vows.I de clare , declare, declare to the wisdom deity.32I confess, confess, confess to the assembly of the dakinis3i of the vows.By offering this declaration and confession,please grant me the siddhi of Brahma.

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Critical EditionrD o rje the g pa'i rtsa ba da ng yan iag gi ltung ba'i bshags paby Indrabhuti (Indrabodhi)

sN ar th an g edition: sNgags, vol. Pu, fascs. 11 4b -11 5b .Pek ing edition: rGyud 'grel, vol. Pu, fascs. 11 6b -11 8a .Otani number: 4626.

hung rdo rje slob dpon rig mar mtshungs' pa dangrtsa ba dkyil 'kho r2 la bla na m ed 3 pa dangdpa' bo dpa' mo rnal 'byor dbang phyug sogsm kh a' 'gro'i tshogs ma m s brtse bas dgongs su gsoldn go s sg rub rtsa ba rdo rje slob dp on langa rgyal mtbon po'i nad kyis bdag gzer tebag med tshul gyis brnyas pa gang bgyis pabla ma mam gsum sku la bzod par gsolchos sku4 spros dang bral bde nyid lalongs spyod rdzogs dang sprul skus gzhan don mdzadde yis zhal nas gsungs pa'i bka' rnams las'das shing kh yad du bsad pa 'thol lo bshagsbla m a gcig da ng rig ma gcig hyid da ngdkyil 'kh or gcig dang bye brag dus gzhan dudam tshig gcig gis bsdus pa'i spun rnams lakhros shing nyis par brjod par 6 'thol lo bshagssems can thams sangs rgyas snying po canrgyal ba'i sras mchog dam par gyur pa labda g ni mi mkhas zhe sdad dbang d u 7 gyur tebyams sems p ha n bde spangs pa mthol lo bshagschos rn am s thams cad byang chub sems yin* tekun rdzob do n dam cha lam rten cingjig rten rnam rtog dbang du gyur pa yisbde chen byang sems spangs pa 'thol lo bshagsphyi rol pa dang nyan thos rang rgyal dangtheg pa che dang gsang sngags bla na medlam tshol9 ba dan g de bzhin lam chen zhugsgrub pa'i mtha' rnams smad pa 'thol lo bshagssmod min chog nyams dang ma smin dangzab mo gsang ba'i smod du mi run g 1 0 lagsan g sngags ph yag rgya brd a d ang sngags la sogszab mo gsang ba bsgrags pa 'thol lo bshags39


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p h u n g po lnga ni rgyal ba rigs lnga'i dngosye shes lnga yi rang bzhin yin pa lagsad bead bng eg dan g dkar thub bsnyung ba sogssmad cing dam na par brtags pa mthol lo bshagschos mams kun gyi rang bzhin dag pa layin dang min dang bzad 1 ' gnyis su Stagsrang bzhin dag pa' i '2 chos kyi dbyings nyid lathe tshom som nyi zos pa 'thol lo bshagsbla ma dang ni dkon mchog gsum mams danggsang sngags rdo rje theg la mi mos zhingsmod cing bkur pa 'debs pa'i mi mams latshar13 ma bead cing byams bgyis 'thol lo bshagsming rnams thams cad ma m par r tog 14 pa ste15rtog pas stong pa'i ye shes chen po nyid'de le zug rdu rdul tsam med pa layin dang min 16 du btags pa 'thol lo bshagsdang po'i las can gyis pa'i dang tshul candang ldan lung gi rjes su 'brang rnams lazab mo'i tshig brjod brtul zhugs spyod bstan pasph a rol sems sun ph yu ng ba 'thol lo bshagsmi spings spyad cing bsrung bar bya ba dangshes pa r bya ba'i dam tshig yan lag bcasshes bzhin khyad de gsang nas mi rten p arab tu 'gyod pa'i sems kyis 'thol lo bshagsphyin ngag sang ba'i shes rab dam pa dangthun mongs gyad par rig ma bla med laskyon d an g nyes pa'i sgo nas smad gy ur panyon mongs kun nas blad ba 'thol lo bshagsbshags d an g bshags pa r bya ba migs kyangmam par rtog pa'i bag chags sbyan dya'i phyirrje btsun dam pa yul gyi chog rnams larab tu bshags pas bde ba thob gyur cigdam tshig mi ldan rig ma brten pa da ngtshogs 'khor la sogs nad du brcod pa dangrig ma dman la 'dud rtsi blangs pa danggsan g chos 'dod pa'i smod la ma bshagsdang ldan chos min gtam la sbyar ba dangnyan thos nad du zhag bdun 'das pa dangming tsam la rten sngags pa yin smra dangsmod min pa la sngags bshad nyes pa dangsgom bzlas la sogs 'gal 'khrul gyur pa danglta sbyod la sogs ma dag nyes pa rnamsmgon po thugs rje 17 can la bzod par gsol

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tshang s pa'i dngo s gru b m yur du stsal du gsolsku'i dam tshig nyams pa 'thol lo bshagsgsu ng gi dam tshig nyams pa'thol lo bshagsthug s kyi da m tshig nyams pa 'thol18 lo bshagsrtsa ba'i dam tshig nyams pa 'thol lo bshagsyan lag dam tshig nyams pa 'thol lo bshags19'tho l lo 'thol lo ye shes lha la 'thol b shags so bshags so20 dam can mkha*'gro tshigs'thol bshags phul nas tshangs pa'i dngos grub stsolzhes bshags sordo rje theg pa'i rtsa ba yan lag gi21 Itung ba'i bshags paslob dp o n in dra b o dhis md zang pa rdzogs so

NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTIONWilliams College, W illiamstown, Massachusetts* A pap er presen ted to International Seminar on Tibetan Studies, St. Jo hn 's

College, Oxford University, July 1-7, 1979.1. Personal communication from Professor Lewis Lancaster, University of

California at Berkeley, dated October 26, 1978.2. Kongsprul, Theg pa'i sgokun las btus pa gsung rabrinpoche'imdzo dbslab pa gsum

legs par ston pa i bstan bcos shes bya kun khyab (Shes bya kun hhyab), ed . Lokesh Chandra, intro.E. Gene Smith, Kongtrul's Encyclopaedia oj Indo-Tibetan Culture, Parts I-III, New Delhi:Inte rna tion al Academy of Indian Cu lture, Sata-Pitaka Series, Vol. 80, 1970.

3. Sa skya Pandita, Rang bzhin rdzogs pa chen po V lam gyi cha lag sdom pa gsum rnampa r nges pa zhes bya ba'i bstan bcos bzhugs so , n.p.: The Press of the Indestructable SacredWord, n.d.

4. dG e slong bLo bzang bskal bzang rgya mtsho (the Seventh Dalai Lama),gSangchen rdo rje theg pa'i smin byed kyi dbang rjes gnang sogs kyi sngon 'gro'i ches kyi gtam dobyabagzhan phan ra ster bzhugs, Tibetan wood-block text, Library of Tibetan Works andArchives accession no. 1081.

5. Tsong Kha pa, sMgags rim chen mu, in The Collected Works of Tsongkhapa, Pekinged., Otani no. 6210. Partially translated by Jeffrey Hopkins, et. al., Tantra in Tibet: TheGreat Exposition on the Secret Mantra, London: George Allen 8c Unwin, 1977.

6. See note 2 to the critical edition.7. bLa ma chen po Mi 'jigs pa sbyin pa dpal, 'Phagsyulgrub chen brgyad cu rtsa bzhi'i

byin rlabs skor lusl lo rgyus rnam par thar pa mams bzhugs so , Varanasi: E. Kalsang, 1972,translated by Nathan Katz, "A Translation of the Biography of the MahasiddhaIndrabhuti with Notes," Gangtok: Bulletin ofTibetology, XII, 1, 1975.

8. W.Y. Evans-Wentz (ed.), The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation, London andNew York: Oxford University Press, 1959.41


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9 . B . Bha t tacha ryya , The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Calcutta: Firma K.L.M uk ho pa d hyay, 3rd edi t ion, 1968, p . 57f.

10. Nan amo l i The ra , ed . & t r . . The Patimokkha: The Rule for Buddhist Monks,Bangkok: King Maha Makuta ' s Academy, 1969 .

11. K o n g s p ru l , op . cit., 'grel, II : 38. lus ng ag sdo m pa' i phyir so so tha r pa ' i sdo mpa shes bya 'o .

12. Sa skya Pandi ta , op. cit., fasc. 55a.13 . Kong spru l , op. cit., 'grel, I I : 37 .14. Nalina ksha Du tt , ed . & t r . , "Bodhisa t tva Pra t imoksa Su tra ," Indian H istorical

Quarterly, VI I , 1931 , pp . 259-286 , p . 278 .15. K o n g s p ru l , op. cit., 'grel, II : 101.16. Sa skya Pandi ta , op. cit., fasc. 2b.17. K o n g s p ru l , op. cit., 'grel, II : 136-137.18. ibid., 'grel, II: 137.

N O T E S T O T H E T R A N S L A T I O N1. Vira a n d vlra ~ dpa' bo dpa' mo, l i te ra l ly "hero" and "heroine ," or the heroic

qual i ty of s t r iv ing tor enl ightenment , as indica ted by the Tibetan t rans la t ion of'bodhisa t tva ' by byang chub sems dpa'.

2 . The ' lord of yoga ' = yogesvara = rnal 'byor dbang phyug.3. T h e 'trikaya of the gurus ' = bla ma rnam gsum sku.4 . ' Tan t r i c fami ly ' means vajrabandhu, or tha t which is joi ne d in the Vajrayan a.In this case, the vajrabandhu is com pose d of one gur u, one wisdom-consort (rig ma) a n d

o n e maridala, br ou gh t tog eth er by the very na tur e of the vows, which are always describedas mutual ly binding between the guru and disc iple .

5. 'Vow' in this instance is our translation of dam tshig o r samaya.6 . The 'wisdom-consor t ' o r rig ma (prajna) i s the embodiment of the wisdom

principle in a feminine form. Of course , th is symbol is found repeatedly in tantr icl i te ra ture and iconography, and some dimens ions of i t s usage are explored in my essay,"An ima and m Kh a ' ' g ro ma : A Cr i ti cal , Com para t ive S tudy o f Ju ng an d T ibe tanB u d d h i s m , " D h a r a m s a la : The Tibet Journal, II , 3 , 1977, pp. 13-43.7. ' L o v in g t h o u g h t ' i s 'byams sems o r maitri, which Kong sprul ('grel, II : 101) says is" the root of a l l v i r tue" .

8 .Buddhagarbha o r sangs rgyas snying po is the potentiali ty for awakening in alls en t ien t be ings .

9 . fina o r rGyal ba means ' the conqueror ' , an ep i the t o f the Buddha and o f thehig hes t T ibe tan lama s , such as the Dalai Lama and the leaders of the other th ree l ineages .

10 . ' M u n d a n e p r e c o n c e p t i o n s ' , 'jig rten mam rtog o r vikalpa, are conceptualdevices emp loy ed by ego to avoid confro nt ing i ts own insubs tant ia li ty .

11. Bodhicitta, accord ing to bodhisattvayana texts, is said to be either relative orul t imate . Aryadeva, in his bZhi rgya pa , ch ap te r five, tells us tha t this distin ction is base d onwhe the r o r no te the ind iv idua l ' s bodhicitta is suffused by the pu re pe rce ptio n ol sunyatii(ngon sum du mi byed pa).

12. T h e ph i losoph ic sys tems (siddhdnta; grub mtha) a re summ ar ized in Herb e r t V .G u e n t h e r , t r . a n d a n n . , Buddhist Philosophy in Theory and Practice, Bal t imore : PenguinBooks , 1972 .42


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13. 'Outsiders' = phyi rolpa, or non-Buddhists .14 . T h e 'sravakas, or nyan thos, arc literally the 'hearers' of the Budd ha's teachings.

I he term sravakayana (theg pax nyan thos) is generally an equivalent to the derisivehmayana. On the use of this term in Maayana literature, see my doctoral dissertation,"The Concept of the Arahant in the Sutta Pitaka, with Referen ce to the Bodhisattva andthe Mahasiddha," Temple University, 1978, esp. pp. 448-479.

15 . T h e pratyekabuddha, rang rgyal or rang sangs rgyas, originally was one who,accor ding to the Bud dh a, was able to resolve the multi-lemma of samsara outside of theBuddist system. Gradually this term came to be used rather vaguely to discuss a type ofBuddhist practicioner. A fine discussion of its original use in the Pali texts is M.A.G.T.Kloppenborg , The Paccekabuddha, Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1974.

16 . Mahayanists (theg pa chen po) are followers of the bodhisattva method.17. "T hose eith er seeking or having already entered the path" indicates the traditional notion that each stage of spiritual growth has both a generative and resultantaspect. T h e earliest use of this type of idea is foun d in the Pali Bud dhist notion of the fourpaths and the four fruitions (magga and phaldni); in the bodhisattvayana it gets expre ssedthrough the ideas of wishing and engaging types ofbodhicitta vows (smon pasems bskyed kyisdom pa and jug pa sems bskyed kyi sdom pa); and in the Vajrayana it is expressed as thegeneral classification of tantras into causal and resultant, and which has been discussedby Tsong kha pa in his sNgags rim chen mo.

18. The f ive skandhas or phung po are the aggregates of form, sensation, recognition, volition and consciousness which make up what we call the 'individual'. These areoften exp ressed as the 'five aggregates of clinging' (upandanakkhanda) and are see n in PaliBuddhism as essentially problematic. Tantric Buddhism tends toward an intrinsic valuation of the p erson , and thus the five skandhas are here said to be of the nature o f the fivewisdoms.

19. See n ote 18. Accord ing to tantric Bud dhism , the five wisdoms are none oth erthan the five skandhas transmuted.

2 0 . T h e Dharmadhatu (chos kyi dbyings nyid) or 'realm o f Dharm a' is no ne oth er th anone's ordinary experiencing without conceptualizations.

2 1 . T h e triratna or dkon tnchoggsum means the Buddh a, Dharma and Sahgha, andis identical with the triple refuge of Buddhism.2 2 . 'Constructed thought' (rtogpa; vikalpa) has been discussed in note 10 above.23 . See n ote 10 above; 'projections' is an alternate translation of the same term .24 . 'Practices' is our translation of the difficult term, spyod or carya, which could

alternatively be rendered as 'behavior', 'carrying-out', 'coursing', etc.2 5 . 'Insight' = shes rab or prajna.26 . T h e 'extern al, internal and secret (levels)' is on e way of talking about the three

yanas.27. The 'defilements' (klesa, sgrib) are ignorance, aversion and attraction;essentially, that which keeps one from enlightenment.28 . 'Offering-circle' = ganacakra = tshogs 'khor.2 9 . 'Elixir' = bdud rtsi = amrta.3 0 . Passing seven days amon g the sravakas is understoo d in the bodhitattvayana as

on e of th e potential causes for losing bodhicitta. According to sGam p o pa {Jewel Ornamentoj Liberation, tr . H .V. Gu enther, Berkeley: Shambhala, 1971, p. 4) , the sravaka mentality ischaracterized by: (1) fear of samsara; (2) desire for nirvana; and (3) interest in one's43


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welfare alon e. Insofar as Bu dd hism is no t merely a device for avoid ing u npleas antnes s ,such an a t t i tud e would be equal ly deleter iou s to on e pract ic ing the The rav ad a as for onee n g a g i n g i n t h e budhisattixiyana o r tantrayana.

3 1. Th e 'suidiu or Brahma ' i s ts/uings pa'i tlngns pvb, a way of saying ' the highestsiddlu, I am grateful to Professor David L. Snellgrove, Universi ty of London, forclar i fy ing th is reference.

32. T h e 'wisdom dei ty ' (yr shes Ifui) is, accord ing to Tso ng kha pa, the dist inguishingchara cter is t ic of the tan t r ic path . In h is si\'gags nm chen mo {op. cit., p. 142) he says tha t thepractices of visualization associated with this deity are the most direct method for thea t t a inmen t o f a Buddha-body o r Buddha- in t en t iona l i ty . The Seven th Dala i Lama {op.at., fast:. 8b) cha rac teriz es the Va jtayana simply as a sho rt way' (WVM'' lain) for actualizingthe pr incip les of the bodhisattvayanu.

3 3 . See note 6 .

N O T E S T O T H E E D I T I O N1 . sNar thang : mchungs2. sNar thang: 'de in p lace of dkyi l ' khor3. Pek ing : mad4. sNar thang : sku ' i5. sNar thang : l i6 . Peking : pa7 . sNar thang: "du" i s absent8. Bo th texts ar c un cle ar; "yin" is a conjec ture.9 . sNar thang : cho l

10 . Both texts are nearly i l legible; "r un g" is a con jecture .11. Both tex ts are unclear , bu t "bzad" seems appropr iate .12. Peking: p i '13. s N a r t h a n g : c h a r14 . sNar thang : r t ag15. sNar thang : s t alb . s N a r t h a n g : m e n17. Both texts read rj i , but i je is preferrable.18 . sNar thang : t ho l19. s N a r t h a n g : g s h a n g s20. sNar thang : b shagso2 1 . sNar thang: lag i

A U T H O R ' S N O T EMy app recia t ions to : Mr. Lozang Gyal tshan of the Library of Tibetan W orks and

Archives , Dharamsala , for previewing th is tex t wi th me; Mr. Sherab Ebin , Lecturer inSanskr i t a t Na rop a Inst i tu te , foi c heck ing over my cr it ical ed i t ion ; and D r . Mark J . T atz ,Un ivers i ty of Brit ish Co lum bia, for m ak ing available to me a copy of the Sa skya Pand ita 'stex t .44

Indrabhūti's 'Confession of Errors in the Fundamental Teachings of the Vajrayāna

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Transcript of Indrabhūti's 'Confession of Errors in the Fundamental Teachings of the Vajrayāna