Gone Beyond: The Prajnaparamita Sutras, The Ornament of Clear Realization and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Kagyu Tradition

944 Pages·2011·25.425 MB·English

by  Karl Brunnholzl

T S A D R A
G B
o n e e y o n d
V O
o l u m e n e
T he Prajnaparam ita S u tras, The Ornament of
Clear Realization, and Its C om m entaries in th e
T ibetan K agyü T ra d itio n
KARL BRUNNHÖLZL

Gone Beyond
The Tsadra Foundation Series
published by Snow Lion Publications
Tsadra Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that was founded in
2000 in order to support the activities of advanced Western students of Tibetan
Buddhism, specifically those with significant contemplative experience. Taking its
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tive practice, and the recognition of their mutual complementarity.
This publication is part of Tsadra Foundation's Translation Program, which
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GONE BEYOND
Prajnäpäramitä Sütras,
The Ornament of Clear Realization,
and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Kagyü Tradition
VOLUME ONE
Translated and introduced by
Karl Brunnhölzl
Snow Lion Publications
ITHACA, NEW YORK
Snow Lion Publications
P.O. Box 6483
Ithaca, NY 14851 USA
[phone]
www.snowlionpub.com
Copyright © 2010 Tsadra Foundation
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced
without prior written permission from the publisher.
Printed in USA on acid-free recycled paper.
Typeset by Stephanie Johnston based on a design by Gopa 8c Ted2, Inc.
ISBN-10: 1-55939-356-4
ISBN-13: 978-1-55939-356-0
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dkon-mchog-yan-lag, 2wa-dmar V, 1525-1583.
[Mnon par rtogs pa’i rgyan gyi grel pa. English]
Gone beyond : the Prajnaparamita sutras, the Ornament of clear realization,
and its commentaries in the Tibetan Kagyii tradition / translated and introduced
by Karl Brunnholzl.
p. cm. — (The Tsadra foundation series)
Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-55939-356-0 (v. 1 : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 1-55939-356-4 (v. 1 : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-1-55939-357-7 (v. 2 : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 1-55939-357-2 (v. 2 : alk. paper)
1. Abhisamayalankara—Commentaries—Early works to 1800. 2. Tripitaka.
Sutrapitaka. Prajnaparamita. Pancavimsatisahasrika—Commentaries-Early works
to 1800. 3. Bka’-rgyud-pa (Sect)-Doctrines--Early works to 1800.1. Brunnholzl,
Karl. II. Title.
BQ1955.D5613 2010
294.3’85—dc22
2010029531
Contents
An Aspiration by H.H. the Seventeenth Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje 13
Foreword by H.H. the Seventeenth Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje 15
Foreword by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche 17
Acknowledgments 19
INTRODUCTION 21
The prajňápáramitá sútras 23
The Abhisamayálamkára and its commentaries 47
What is the view of the Abhisamayálamkára? 81
The Abhisamayálamkára in its traditional setting 93
The place of the prajňápáramitá sútras and the Abhisamayálamkára
in modern scholarship 107
Is there any practical relevance to the Abhisamayálamkára? Ill
The Abhisamayálamkára as a contemplative manual 119
Some remarks on the distinct exegetical approaches of the commentaries
by the Eighth Karmapa and the Fifth Shamarpa 129
Overview of the present three-volume study of commentaries on the AA 201
TRANSLATION:
A CONCISE ELUCIDATION OF THE ABHISAMAYÁLAMKÁRA
(TOPICS ONE TO THREE)1 205
Paying homage, which is the cause for other persons giving rise to
openness for the fruitional mother 207
The purpose and the connection, which are the causes for others giving
rise to openness for this treatise 222
The eight topics as what is to be explained 225
6 Gone Beyond
The knowledge of all aspects (what is to be attained) 235
The generation of bodhicitta (the motivation) 235
The instructions that teach the means of practice 241
The explanation of the branches of penetration (the result of practicing
the instructions) 264
The disposition as the foundation for the arising of practice 283
The focal object of practice 292
The aim of practice 296
The armorlike practice in six sets of six 298
The practice of ninefold engagement 301
The practice of the seventeen equipments 309
The practice of final deliverance 328
The knowledge of the path (the means to attain the knowledge of all
aspects) 331
The causes of the knowledge of the path 331
The manner of the knowledge of the path of ¿ravakas 333
The manner of the knowledge of the path of pratyekabuddhas 336
The manner of the knowledge of the path of bodhisattvas 341
The path of seeing 341
The path of familiarization 345
The function of the path of familiarization 345
The path of familiarization as aspiration, which accumulates virtue 347
Its benefit 348
The path of familiarization as dedication, which makes virtue not going
to waste 349
The path of familiarization as rejoicing, which makes virtue increase 351
The nature of the uninterrupted path—the path of familiarization as
accomplishment 351
The nature of the path of liberation—the pure path of familiarization 352
The knowledge of entities (the root of the knowledge of all aspects,
which includes the points to go astray) 357
The nature of the knowledge of entities 362
The reason for being close or distant 362
The divisions of antagonistic factors and remedies 363
The training (the engagement) 366
The path of seeing (the fruition of engagement) 368
Contents 7
APPENDIX I:
SELECTED GENERAL TOPICS FROM JG AND JNS 371
1) The knowledge of all aspects 371
A) Bodhicitta 371
JGs presentation 371
JNSs presentation 395
B) The instructions 397
JGs presentation 397
JNSs presentation 403
C) The two realities 406
1) General presentation 406
2) The way in which the two realities become the objects of the wrong
ideas of apprehending them as mutually exclusive 409
3) The way in which the two realities are not mutually exclusive 415
4) The qualms that are to be eliminated 415
5) The reasoning that is the means for eliminating these qualms 416
6) The manner of eliminating said qualms 416
D) The path of preparation 417
1) The four stages of the path of preparation 417
2) The focal objects and aspects of the path of preparation 420
3) The four conceptions in the context of the path of preparation 423
E) The disposition 428
1) General explanation 428
2) The disposition is not a nonimplicative negation 446
3) The single yàna and buddha nature in all beings 447
4) Other commentaries on the disposition 454
F) The focal object of practice 488
G) The equipment of wisdom 492
1) The nature of phenomena and wisdom in relation to being
self-empty versus other-empty 492
2) The explanation of emptiness (the object) and the way in which it
is observed by wisdom (its subject) 495
3) Various ways of asserting the definite number of emptinesses
(including the wisdoms that correspond to the twenty emptinesses) 501
4) The basis of emptiness 505
5) The manner of being empty 506
6) Nondual wisdom 508
H) The equipment of the ten bhümis 514
1) The nature of the bhümis, which are the remedies 514
2) The nature of the object of meditative equipoise 525
3) The nature of the obstacles to be relinquished 534
2) The knowledge of the path 548
A) The five causes of the knowledge of the path 548
8 Gone Beyond
B) The knowledge of the path of sravakas 559
1) What is to be known—the nature of the path of the ¿ravakas 559
2) The phase of the path of the mahayana during which this
knowledge is generated 563
3) The question of whether the path or the knowledge of the path
is taught here 564
C) The knowledge of the path of pratyekabuddhas 566
D) The knowledge of the path of bodhisattvas 570
1) The supports in which it arises 570
2) What is to be generated—the path of seeing 572
E) The path of familiarization 591
1) The path of familiarization and its function in general 591
2) The path of familiarization as aspiration 598
3) The path of familiarization as dedication 601
4) The uncontaminated path of familiarization 609
5) The utterly pure path of familiarization 610
6) Removing qualms about the manner in which the stains are
relinquished 613
3) The all-knowledge 615
A) The presentation of the objects of knowledge (skandhas, dhatus, and
ayatanas) 615
1) The explanation of the five skandhas 615
2) The way in which they correspond to the dhatus and the ayatanas 622
3) The way in which they correspond to the four realities, the five
bases, and so on 624
B) Sravakas and pratyekabuddhas do not realize phenomenal
identitylessness 625
C) The three natures 628
1) How they are taught in the sutras 628
2) Explanation according to the scriptural system of Yogacara 629
APPENDIX II: CHARTS 633
Chart 1: The three realms of samsara and their subdivisions 634
Chart 2: The 108 repetitive phrases of the prajnaparamita sutras 635
Chart 3: The five paths 636
Chart 4: The sixteen aspects of the four realities of noble ones
according to the Abhidharmakosabhasya, TOK, and the
Abhidharmasamuccaya 639
Chart 5: The aspects of the four realities of the noble ones in the
abhidharma and the prajnaparamita sutras 643
Chart 6: The kinds of samgha according to the Abhidharmakosa 647