The Realm of Dharmas, a Treasury of Jewels, Chapter 8: The Nonduality in Bodhicitta

  

The Realm of Dharmas,

a Treasury of Jewels

by Longchen Rabjampa

 CHAPTER EIGHT

THE NONDUALITY IN BODHICITTA

[To show such a pure nature naturally-arrived-at to be of a nondual character, an illustration of how it has dawned from a single Realm, has dawned on its own and so is, in its appropriate substance, nondual.]

Everything is, in the single Realm  (the self-engendered Full Knowledge),

nondual in a substantial way.

Dualistic appearances, unimpeded, have dawned as play from its

special powers.

No duality of so-called ‘appearance’ is what we call Bodhicitta.

[Just as no matter what reflections appear on the surface of a single mirror, they are nondual with respect to the mirror, even so, since all dharmas have dawned in the Awareness continuity, they are nondual with respect to Awareness.  Just as the several dreams which HAVE dawned during a single period of sleep do not exist apart from the period of sleep, even so, sangsara/nirvana does not exist apart from the role-playing of Awareness.  Just as all the waves, big or small, do not exist apart from the water since they have emerged from [and plunge back into] the continuity of a single river, just so all dharmas appear to emerge from the continuity of the not-at-all-existing even while it is clear it doesn’t exist.  Aside from the mere appearance, there is no duality between Awareness (which is the void nature Dharma Proper) and the voidness of dharmas.]

˚

[All the dharmas which have dawned from the self-engendered Full Knowledge are situated in the unpreferential Great Levelness.  But to the yoga practitioner, they do not exist.  They are seen as void forms which appear clearly.  This is a song of praise to Realized ones when (void forms) have dawned as appearance:]

 

discarding/

Appearance/becoming and sangsara/nirvana have dawned without obtaining

on clearly comprehended Awareness beyond     transforming/transporting.

The face of the yoga practitioner beyond     subject/object dichotomies

breaks out in startled laughter   at

these appearances in the nonexistent.

[Those who are conversant with the magic business understand magic to be appearances in the nonexistent. To those with thoughts wanting to believe, the magic appears in the void-like. At those thoughts [the magicians] look on in laughter. In the unarrived-atness of accepting-rejecting good/bad, appearances have dawned unimpededly. Just so, all dharmas of sangsara/nirvana are known as the play of appearances in the nonexistent.]

˚

[There is no Dharmabody from the exact time of the appearances and, when nonexistence has dawned, the appearance of nonexistence is shown to be a mere reflected image of the Void.]

In the nothing-to-appear, the various things

dawn as appearances.

In the nothing-to-be-void, the centre/circumference

spreads out pervasively.

In the subject/object-less, ‘I’ and ‘self’

strive for distinction.

In the rootless & foundationless, rebirths appear

in chains (like mountains).

In the unpreventable & unstrivable, comfortable/uncomfortable

& accepting/rejecting deeds get acted out.

[When you reflect on the meaning of ‘Dharma Proper’, the dharma-having appearances are just a miraculous dawning.]

˚

[Now, what is not produced from inner or external dharmas is sky-like pure.  Of the two distinct manners of understanding, the first:  The appearances in the external objective realm are established as void forms, foundationless illusions.]

When you look outward, you are amazed at appearances of production & animation.

You wanted the untrue to be true, so it seems to be really true.

You wanted the unerred to be error, so it seems to be truly in error.

You took uncertainty for certainty, so it seems to be actually certain.

You took is/isn’t to be, so it seems to really be.

You took the disagreeable for agreeable, so it seems to be truly agreeable.

[In this way, the unsophisticated who are not familiar with Suchness attach their meanings to “appropriate names” in the nature of external appearances which are, substantially, merely illusory appropriate Void forms.]

˚

[So they grasp to external and internal dharmas like this: They grasp the untrue as true, the unerred as error, the uncertain as certain, that which is beyond is/isn’t as being. Because they grasp the disagreeable as agreeable…]

When various trivial objects entice your attention

you join meaningless momentary awarenesses in a chain

and thus days, months, years and lifetimes pass by.

Because the nondual is nondual, animate beings have been tricked.

[Time passes because when momentary knowledges have not recognized their appropriate substance, they form a flow of erroneous graspings.  Error enters in shortly after several momentary (knowledges) and moments into days, days into months, months into years they have error.]

[Habituated to externals, the error of beings is like this: The foundationless Awareness is situated in the sky-like pure Dharmabody.  There are merely temporary accidents so long as this is not recognized.  

The Pearl Strand says,

The sky-like Dharmabody

the temporary clouds of distraction obscure.

Even the errorless Dharma Proper

appears to thoughts as if in error,

Whatever has cause and conditioning is momentary.]

˚

[When there is sky-like Dharma Proper with no graspable objects because the external sphere is understood to be lacking, the internal grasping subject is established to be foundationless and unsupported.]

When you look back in on the pure joined-to-the-real mind,

Awareness foundationless and unsupported

(wordless, yet talked about;

unseen, yet meditated on and philosophized about),

and thoughts break out in an unbroken queue,

you have not experienced the vast spread-out-to-the-limit buoy floating freely.

It needs no retreat place.

It is utterly free-ranging,

utterly u-n-c-o-n-t-a-i-n-a-b-l-e.

[When you look at the mind, its substance is beyond recognition.  Awakening into the foundationless sky nature is the Dharma Proper of self-pure mindfulness, the Dharmabody beyond existence/nonexistence.]

˚

[Awareness where subjective and objective have been realized to be nondual is nonpreferential Great Naturally-arrived-at.  It is like this:]

When the vast sky receptive centre is levelly spread-out-to-the-limit

without being handed over to the physical body or objects or appearances,

the so-called “internal dharmas” are not held to constitute a “self”.

[Even though we have this technical term “Self-engendered Full Knowledge” for the substantiality of this Awareness where the absolute absence of subjective and objective has been realized, we are not asserting, like the Mind Only School, that “Self-awareness is self-illumined.”  There is no external/internal, so it is not arrived-at in the internal mind.  There is no self/other, so it is not arrived-at in self-awareness only.  The existence of subjective/objective is not experienced, so it is not arrived-at in their absence.  Feeling does not exist as an objective sphere of Awareness, so it is not arrived-at even in a nondual “experience”.  There is neither mind nor mental product, so it is not arrived-at “In your own mind”.  It is not illumined or unillumined, so it is not arrived-at in “self-illumination”…]

˚

[Now, so long as the nonexperience of the existence of both subjective and objective is realized, all dharmas, being unstable, dawn as a Great Total Disentanglement to the yoga practitioners.  Therefore, as a sign that the internal grasping subject has been cleared up, the external graspable objects are disentangled into spread-out space.]

When looking off toward the sphere of external appearances,

everything is flawed, irregular, unpenetrable, faulty and falling apart,

without qualities of give and take.

Appearances, sounds, memories, awareness, experiences, feelings…

are not as they were before.

“What is this?

Lunatic hallucinations?

Or am I inside a dream?”

laugh those yogis to themselves.

[When the yoga practitioners understand themselves, they are ready to understand the appearance of anything, just as a slight-of-hand expert knows his own magic shows to be untrue and, so, is in a position to understand the magical illusions of other sleight-of-hand experts as well.]

˚

[The appearances which dawn from within realization are further shown to be unreliable.]

Of friend/enemy, like/dislike, close/distant

there is no conception.

Making no difference between day and night,

a single beam,

they have wakened from the vicious circle

where mental objects are taken as definitive.

They don’t worry themselves over a

“self-engendered Full Knowledge continuity,”

being as they are beyond the encagements of accepting, rejecting,

renouncing things or using them as ethical antidotes.

When such is realized, it is nondual Full Knowledge

and they have come to the underlying meaning of self-engendered Total Good.

There is no place to turn back.                 They have come to the final ground.

[Note:  “Day” = Friends.  Like. Close.

            “Night” = Enemies.  Dislike.  Distant.]

˚

[Getting rid of the four similacra  that seem to be sheer hype.]

While not realizing levelness through the self-engendered continuity,

they are attached to the word “nonduality”.

So they are confident in their intellectual probings

of what is not at all a mental object.

This is the very embodiment of backwards thinking,

receptive centre of unaware darkness.

˚

[Precepts so that the lucky ones will realize their implicit substantiality as a spacious foundation receptive centre, level and complete.]

Therefore, the Thought Completion King learns the nondual

in the untransformed and untransported self-engendered.

The meaning of the nonduality of sangsara/nirvana,

the three realms totally released,

is the CITADEL of Dharmabody self-dawned from

the insides of its nature.

It appears sky-like pure beyond compare.

˚

[Now realizations of the ungrasping and unattached are subsumed in a single essential meaning as the spacious sky receptive centre.]

So long as one is attached to distinctions, “this and that,”

one remains in duality, the encagement of error in oneself and others.

As soon as there is no preferences for the separateness that “this” implies,

as soon as everything is a level beam with no mental objectives,

the Vajra Being pronounces,

“Nonduality is realized.” 

§   §   §

Transport back to the beginning

Initiation Cards with a Lineage

“Slob-dpon ’Bu-ta Kug-ta”

I’ll admit the drawings may not be the finest of fine art. Still, undeniably pleasing overall. Face it, the coloration, plain clumsy, may have been added by a later owner. The black ink drawings themselves display an early style, one without a doubt inspired by a strong Pāla Era aesthetic. The more obviously odd aspects are the royal folds that rise up like stubby wings behind their shoulders, and the Indian pandita hats that look more like military helmets. The catalog, likely judging from the stylistic evidence, places their making in the 13th or 14th centuries. I would be inclined to move that back a century or more, seeing how the writing on the back of each card suggests it.*

(*This evidence includes the post-vowel use of 'a, in cases regarded as unnecessary by later scribes, the position of the "i" vowel above its root letter, and the relatively archaic ways of writing Indic names in Tibetan. On this last matter, more below.)

Since the writing is in cursive letters of the kind we don’t expect every Tibetanist to read with ease, I’ve transcribed the card backs in their entirety in an appendix at the end of this blog. This will also make the names available to internet searches in the future. I have added a series of alternative lineage lists, which ought to provide material for hours of entertainment if you should feel inclined.

These cards, called tsakali,* were created to serve in ritual contexts. Usually the words on the back are the ritual repetitions pronounced while the cards are held up and displayed to the people attending. These particular cards were meant to bring down the blessings of the transmission lineage during an empowerment. Even more than that, the past masters are requested to grant the empowerment that they themselves received at one time. Which empowerment? you might ask. 

(*The word tsa-ka-li is there to be found in a couple of Kanjur and Tanjur texts, and it must be a transcription of some Indic term that would look like *cakali or the like, yet the Indic term hiding behind those Tibetan letters has never been identified as far as I can know at this minute.)

They belonged to some ritual cycle of the Nyingma school, and clearly the one named Nubchen (Card 11) had much to do with it. Some push his birth back into the 8th century, but his period of activity seems to fall between 850 and 950 CE more or less. His work Lamp for Contemplation’s Eye has particularly prominence as a work that likely does date back to the post-dynastic era, or the Period of Fragmented Dominion. It has been much studied by Buddhologists but only recently translated in full by Dylan Esler.

I suppose the original 26 cards are kept in Munich, in the State and City Library there. What is more sure is that their digital scans are up on that library’s website. I recommend having a look at the entire set there, because here in this noncommercial educational blog you will only see the one I’ve chosen as our frontispiece. Go to, or just click on, this stable, permalinked URL:

• https://mdz-nbn-resolving.de/details:bsb00151695

Then use your German, even if it is small, to work your way to the PDF download of the entire set (hint: tick the box next to “Ja” the first chance you get), or if your German just isn’t up to the task, ask any German-speaking child for hilfe.

You will notice as soon as we leave the Indian (+Card 7, the one Newar) part of the lineage, the hats change from pundit hats to flat-brimmed ones (only two such hats, the rest go bareheaded). Many of the Tibetans are styled as Lha-rje, physician, and most of them belong to the So family, an important family transmission for various teachings of the Nyingma, numbered among the six most important lineage families before the time of Longchenpa.*

(But the So family lineage of the Nyingma is to be disambiguated from the So family lineage of the Middle Transmission of Zhijé, another matter altogether. Both can be called "So Tradition," or So lugs.)

Not incidentally, I believe that not even one of the figures is depicted in monastic attire. For most part they are white-robed practitioners, renunciates that may also keep some kind of family life.

As the So lineage of Mahāyoga and Dzogchen teachings was such an important one for several centuries following the 10th century, we shouldn’t complain that most of the later names in our tsakalis are obscure, unknown and undatable. To the contrary, we should be happy that the artworks are adding to our store of information. 

Seeing that there are thirteen members in the succession following the late 10th-century activities we might very roughly calculate the date when the set must have been drawn. If one generation lasts 30 years, it would come out to around 1365 CE, but if only 20 years it would be 1235. So I suppose the dates supplied in the catalog are more likely to be correct than my own guestimation. This is a question worth returning to later.

Still, I’d like to push back at this by pointing out the rather archaic ways of spelling some of the Indic names, in particular the subject of our frontispiece, Buddhagupta (Card 6). His name is given on the verso of his portrait as “Slob-dpon ’Bu-ta Kug-ta.” To put the matter briefly (see Schaik for more), one of the exceedingly precious Dunhuang Dzogchen texts, the Sbas-pa’i Rgum-chung, is a work by Buddhaguhya that plays upon both the k[h]ug-[r]ta* part of his name meaning the cātaka, a bird well known in Sanskrit poetry. It has no other food than the raindrops it catches in its beak as it flies through the sky. The ‘small craw’ (rgum chung) is the same sky-harvested birdfood ready to be transmitted to the chicks in their nest. I think that made sense. Did it?  ’Bu-ta is a form of the word ‘Buddha’ much in use in the Matho fragments and found as well in the Zhijé Collection (ergo pre-Mongol Era). 

(*Spelled khug-sta in a couple of Dunhuang texts [OTDO].) 

Other early Tibetan transcription conventions are betrayed in Card 10, with Gnya'-na in place of the later Dznyā-na; in Card 9, Bhi-ma-la-mu-tra, more often in early times spelled Bye-ma-la-mu-tra (yes, for all appearance it does indeed mean piss in the sand... The mu-tra is Sanskrit mūtra) for the later Bi-ma-la-mi-tra or Vimalamitra (‘Impeccable Friend’); and even the name for Garab Dorjé, often regarded as the human revealer of Dzogchen, appears with the odd-looking spelling Rga-rab-rdo-rje, a spelling nevertheless thoroughly vindicated in the pre-1200 CE Matho fragments (nos. v185 and v433 birchbark fol. 105). Lo and behold, here below you can see his name written on birchbark. Have a long, hard look at the first line, and notice the name of Grags-ldan-ma on the 2nd:

Note “Slob-dpon Rga-rab-rdo-rje” on line 1,
Matho v433, scan no. 105

As you may know, Dga’-rab-rdo-rje has sometimes been with little security and much hope re-Sanskritized as Prahasavajra, Prahevajra or the like, based on the assumption the Tibetan name means Supremely Happy Vajra. Now it looks like it really means Supremely Aged Vajra (*Jarottamavajra?). The two seem like opposite ends of a spectrum, don’t they? One could be a comedian, but the other is more like some wizened one, aged beyond all reckoning. It’s interesting that the tsakali depicts him in a typical Buddha form although we all know the story how he was born of a virgin mother. I’ve even seen him depicted as some manner of royalty, with a royal turban.

In Matho v185 we find not only that same demonstrably old spelling Rga-rab-rdo-rje, a little later on we find a precious mention of So Ye-shes-dbang-phyug (Card 12) in the context of a prayer, where his name is spelled oddly even if its oddness is of little consequence. The passage from the prayer reads, “to the sacred body So Ye-se-dbang-phyug who taught the [Dzogchen] view all wound up in a ball.”

lta ba sgang dril ston mdzad pa / so ye se dbang phyug gi sku la /

Is it too much to hope that some old students of Dzogchen have found out something new today? New, okay, but was it useful? That’s another matter entirely. That depends on who you are and what questions you are ready to ask. For myself, all questions are worth asking.

§   §   §

 

Works to work with (a narrowly selective list)

• For a remarkably comparable set of Nyingma lineage tsakalis for use in empowerments, go to Himalayan Art Resources website, and see nos. HAR 744 through 755. Go here, and when you are finished reading click on “Next item” until you have seen them all. This set of 22 (?11?) cards was painted on paper that has been carbon dated to between 1174 and 1293 CE. The description of these cards was done by Amy Heller. This demonstrates that the set in Munich is not unique. There are others.

Buddhagupta (Sangs-rgyas-sbas-pa), Sbas-pa'i Rgum-chung.  See Namkhai Norbu, Sbas pa'i rgum chung: The Small Collection of Hidden Precepts, A Study of an Ancient Manuscript on Dzogchen fron Tun huang, Shang Shung Edizioni (Arcidosso 1984). For the English see E. dell'Angelo, tr., The Little Hidden Harvest, Shang Shung Edizioni (Arcidosso 1996), or the translation by Karen Liljenberg, a PDF for free download at http://www.zangthal.co.uk, with the title “Small Hidden Grain.”

Jacob P. Dalton, “Lost and Found: A Fourteenth-Century Discussion of Then-Available Sources on gNubs chen Sangs rgyas ye shes,” Bulletin of Tibetology, vol. 49, no. 1 (2013), pp. 39-53. At pp. 43 and 48 you may find the accounts of the spirit youths who granted him special powers. It shouldn’t be dismissed, as it may indeed be the original core of what is and was known about his career.

——, “Preliminary Remarks on a Newly Discovered Biography of Nupchen Sangyé Yeshé,” contained in: Benjamin E. Bogin & Andrew Quintman, eds., Himalayan Passages, Wisdom (Somerville 2014), pp. 145-161.

Dylan Esler, “On the Life of gNubs-chen Sangs-rgyas ye-shes,” Revue d'Etudes Tibétaines, vol. 29 (April 2014), pp. 5-27. 

——, The Lamp for the Eye of Contemplation: The Samten Migdron by Nubchen Sangye Yeshe, a 10th-Century Tibetan Buddhist Text on Meditation, Oxford University Press (Oxford 2022). 

Gnubs-chen Sangs-rgyas-ye-shes, Sgom-gyi Gnad Gsal-bar Phye-ba Bsam-gtan Mig Sgron (also called Rnal-'byor Mig-gi Bsam-gtan), S.W. Tashigangpa (Leh 1974).  For the English, move your eyes up a little.

Herbert V. Guenther, tr., “The Natural Freedom of Mind, Long-chen-pa,” Crystal Mirror, vol. 4 (1975), pp. 112-146. Look here. In his brief introduction, Tarthang Tulku names the six Kama transmission lineages that were in place when Longchenpa synthesized them as So, Zur, Nub, Nyag, Ma and Rong.

Matthew Kapstein, “The Sun of the Heart and the Bai-ro-rgyud-’bum,” contained in: Françoise Pommaret and Jean-Luc Achard, eds., Tibetan Studies in Honor of Samten Karmay, Amnye Machen Institute (Dharamshala 2009), pp. 275-288. It is of particular interest here that the Indic and earliest Tibetan figures in the lineage largely correspond, although this represents a Zur transmission, and the text may date to the mid-12th century (see pp. 279-281, noting the spellings Bud-dha-kug-ta for Buddhagupta, Bye-ma-la-mu-tra for Vimalamitra and Bsnyags Gnya’ for Gnyags Dznyā-na-ku-mā-ra).

Dan Martin, A History of Buddhism in India and Tibet: An Expanded Version of the Dharma’s Origins Made by the Learned Scholar Deyu, The Library of Tibetan Classics series no. 32, Wisdom Publications (Somerville 2022). At pp. 630-631 is the brief story of how So Ye-shes-dbang-phyug encountered Nubchen in the company of Ya-zin Bon-ston [~Ya-zi Bon-ston]. So’s and Ya-zi’s main activities appear to be located in the mid- or late-10th century (and as pointed out before, in a recent blog, Ya-zi was likely taken from Turkish, meaning ‘scribe’). Each of the four chief disciples of Nubchen had his own particularly approach that was distinguished by a particular metaphor. So’s specialty was teaching the Dzogchen views all wound up together in a ball (lta-ba sgang-dril). 

John Myrdhin Reynolds, “The Life of Garab Dorje,” contained in Idem., The Golden Letters, Snow Lion (Ithaca 1996), pp. 179-189. Translated from a history that ought to date to the mid-12th century, if it is truly by Zhang-ston Bkra-shis-rdo-rje, and if his dates are indeed 1097-1167 CE. On p. 183, “Zombie Bliss” (see Card 5) is given as one of Garab Dorjé’s four given names, which gives us some reason for pause.

Sam van Schaik, “Early Dzogchen I: The Cuckoo and the Hidden Grain,” posted at the Early Tibet blogsite on January 8, 2008. I particularly want to point out the discussion about early spellings in Tibetan of the name of Buddhagupta and the meanings of khug-ta and rgum chung.

Francis V. Tiso, Rainbow Body and Resurrection, North Atlantic Books (Berkeley 2016).  This book, enlightening and thought-provoking for myriad reasons, has a lengthy discussion of Garab Dorjé’s life (“The Life of Garab Dorje: A Commentary,” pp. 252-273).

= ± = ± = ± = ± = ± =

APPENDICES

Initiation Cards (inscriptions on versos)

Note: I have given each card an Arabic number for easy reference, although they are numbered by the use of keyletters following Tibetan alphabetic order.

Card 1

{KA} ±// dpal kun tu bzang po ni / bzhugs ni mi mngon dbyings na bzhugs / bdag gi grogs mdzod / gnas 'dir bdag gi 'gon [~mgon] du gshegs / skal ldan rnal 'byor 'di la dbang mchog skur du gsol / yon bdag rnams la byin kyis rlab tu gsol lo /

Card 2

{KHA} ±// dpal rdo rje sems dpa' ni / bzhugs ni 'og min chos kyi dbyings na bzhugs / bdag gi grogs mdzod / gnas 'dir bdag gi 'gon du gshegs / skal ldan rnal 'byor 'di la dbang mchog bskur du gsol // sems dpa' rtsal la byin kyis rlobs

Card 3

{GA} ±// slob dpon rga rab rdo rje [~dga' rab rdo rje'] ni / gsang mtshan rdo rje bde' byed rtsal [~rdo rje bde byed rtsal] / bzhugs ni 'og min gnas na bhugs / bdag gi drogs [~grogs] mdzod / gnas 'dir 'gon du gshegs / skal ldan rnal 'byor 'di la dbang mchog skur du gsol / rdo rje mos pa rtsal la dbang skur tu gsol 

Card 4

{NGA} ±// slob dpon 'jam dpal bshes gnyen ni / gsang mtshan rdo rje gzhon nu rtsal / bzhugs ni 'og min gnas na bzhugs / bdag gi drogs gnas 'dir 'gon du 'dre / skal ldan rnal 'byor 'di la dbang mchog bskur du gsol / rdo rje drag po rtsal kyi dgongs pa gong nas gong du yar du gsol /

Card 5

{CA} ±// slob dpon ro langs bde ba ni / bzhugs ni 'og min gnas na bzhugs / bdag gi 'dre // gnas 'dir bdag gi 'gon du gshegs / skal ldan rnal 'byor 'di la dbang mchog skur du gsol / yon bdag rnams la 'byor pa rgyas par mdzad du gsol 

Card 6

{CHA} ±// slob dpon 'bu ta kug ta ni gsang mtshan rdo rje gsang rdzogs rtsal / bzhugs ni 'og min bdag gi gyi grogs mdzod / gnas 'dir dag gyi 'gon du gshegs / skal ldan rnal 'byor 'di la dbang mchog skur du gsol // rdo rje mos pa rtsal kyi dgongs pa gong nas gong du yar du gsol lo 

Card 7

{JA} ±// slob dpon bal po hum ka ra ni / bzhugs ni 'og min gnas na bzhugs / bdag gi grogs mdzod / gnas 'dir bdag gi 'gon du gshegs / skal ldan rnal 'byor 'di la dbang mchog skur du gsol / yon bdag tshe dang longs spyod rgyas par mdzad du gsol

Card 8

{NYA} ±// slob dpon pad ma 'byung gnas ni / gsang mtshan rdo rje thod 'phreng rtsal / bzhugs ni 'og min gnas na bzhugs / bdag gyi 'grogs mdzod / gnas 'dir bdag gyi 'gon du gshegs / skal ldan rnal 'byor 'di la dbang mchog skur du gsol // dgongs pa spel du gsol 

Card 9

{TA} ±// slob dpon bhi ma la mu tra ni / gsang mtshan rdo rje gro 'o lod / bzhugs ni 'og min gnas na bdag gi grogs mdzod / gnas 'dir bdag gyi 'gon du gshegs / skal ldan rnal 'byor 'di la dbang mchog skur du gsol //

Card 10

{THA} ±// slob dpon gnya' na ku ma ra gsang mtshan (g.yu sgras tagso /) rdo rje grub pa'i rter [~gter] / gsang mtshan (bhi ma las tags so) dri med zla shar rtsal / gsang mtshan (mkhar chen dpal gyi dbang phyug gis tagso) thig le rtsal rgod rtsal / gsang mtshan (rgyal mchog g.yangs [~rgyal ba mchog dbyangs]) rdo rje grub pa rtsal / bla med dgongs pas rigs 'dzin gnas na bzhugs / bdag gi 'dre gnas 'dir bdag gyi 'gon du / skal ldan rnal 'byor 'di la / dbang 

Card 11

{DA} ±// snubs sangs rgyas ye shes rin po ches / g.yung rung rin chen rter gnas su / yid dam gsal bar sgoms pa'i tshe stobs chen rdo rje rdzas mchog 'di / nam mkha'i mthongs nas yas mar babs / bdag gi lag pa g.yas pas zin / ye shes rdo rje'i dbang mchog thob / 'ol mo tshal du sgoms pa'i tshe / mngon sum dri za phru gu byung / sangs rgyas khyod yin mtshan btags ste / dam pa'i don la dam tshig bsres / rdo rje ming gi dbang yang thob / gang bzangs gnas su sgoms pa'i tshe / gnod bzhin phrug gu gngon [~mngon] byung nas / 'dod yon lnga'i mchod yon stabs / yun [~spun?] gyi 'khor du rtan dam bcas / che ba'i yon tan dbang yang thob / kling rgu mtsho' 'dram [~gling dgu mtsho 'gram] sgoms pa'i tshe / klu phrug mngon du byung pa'i tshe / ro brgya ldan pa'i mchod pa drangs / yang dag slob mar dam tshig nos / sdug pa sel ba'i dbang yang thob / dur khrod lhas su sgomgs pa'i tshe / yid dags phrug gu mngon du byung / zhabs la drags te mchi' ma byung / ci sgo nyan par g.yar dam bcas / mthu rtsal mnyems pa'i dbang yang thob / phyi rabs slob ma gang yin rnams / 'dren pa'i las can chen po 'dis / phan pa'i lha'i dbang nos la / bskur thabs dbang skur rgyal po bzhin / dbang bskur 'di rnams thob par shog //

Card 12

{NA} ±// lha rje ye shes dbang phyug kyang gsang mtshan byang chub bde' chen rter [~byang chub bde chen gter] / bla med rgongs pas rigs 'dzin gnas na bzhugs / bdagi grogs mdzod / gnas 'dir bdag gyi 'gon du gshegs // skal ldan rnal 'byor 'di la dbang mchog skur du gsol //

So Yeshé Wangchuk depicted in 1973 ed.
of Nyingma Tantras, vol. 19

Card 13

{PA} ±// lha rje so skal po yang / gsang mtshan rdo rje bzhad pa rter / bla med dgongs pas rigs 'dzin gnas na 'dre / bdag gi grogs mdzod gnas 'dir bdag gyi 'gon du gshegs / skal ldan rnal 'byor 'di la dbang mchog skur du gsol //

Card 14

{PHA} ±// lha rje dbang gi rtsug tor yang / bla med dgongs pas rigs 'dzin 'dre gnas na bzhugs // bdag gi grogs mdzod / gnas 'dir bdag gyi 'gon du gshegs / skal ldan rnal 'byor 'di la dbang mchog skur du gsol //

This figure is surely identifiable with the Dbang-gi-gtsug-tor listed by BDRC as P8LS15578, for even though there is no other information supplied, he *is* associated with the So family transmission of Rta-mgrin.

Card 15

{BA} ±// lha rje so rgyal po yang / bla med dgongs pas rigs 'dzin gnas na bzhugs / bdag gyi 'grogs mdzod / gnas 'dir bdag gyi 'gon du gshegs / skal ldan rnal 'byor 'di la dbang mchog skur du gsol / 

Card 16

{MA} ±// lha rje so chung chos se [~chos kyi seng ge? ~chos yes?] yang / gsang mtshan rdo rje bde' grub rtsal / bla med dgongs pas / bdag gi skal ldan /

[Here the concluding lines begin to be shortened, their endings left off.]

Card 17

{TSA} ±// lha rje so ra tsa 'bar [~rgyal po 'bar?] yang gsang mtshan rdo rje gzi ldan rtsal / bla med dgongs pas / bdag gi skal ldan //

*See BDRC Person ID P8LS15579, but there is no particular information supplied.

Card 18

{TSHA} ±// slob dpon lha rje chos ye shes [~chos kyi ye shes] ni / gsang mtshan rdo rje mos pa rtsal / bla med dgongs pas / bdag gi / skal ldan /

Card 19

{DZA} slob dpon lha rje brtan pa yang / gsang mtshan rdo rje drag po rtsal / bla med dgongs pas / bdag gi / skal ldan //

Card 20

{WA} ±// slob dpon lha rje rgyal tsha 'gon po yang / gsang mtshan rdo rje drag po rtsal / bla med dgongs pas / bdag gi / skal ldan /

Card 21

{ZHA} ±// slob dpon lha rje rgyal tshab ni / gsang mtshan rdo rje drag po rtsal / bla med dgongs pas / bdag gi / skal ldan / 

[This seems to largely repeat the previous one.]

Card 22

{ZA} ±// slob dpon rdo rje seng ge ni / gsang mtshan rdo rje drag po rtsal / bla med dgongs pas / bdag gi / skal ldan /

Card 23

{'A} ±// slob dpon bder gshegs rin chen ni / gsang mtshan rdo rje grub pa rtsal / bla med dgongs pas / bdag gi / skal ldan /

Card 24

{YA} ±// slob dpon sku phangs don grub ni / gsang mtshan rdo rje myu gu rtsal / bla med dgongs pas / bdag gi / skal ldan /

Card 25

{RA} ±// slob dpon drin can rdo rje 'gon [~rdo rje mgon] ni / gsang mtshan rdo rje bdud 'du rtsal [~rdo rje bdud 'dul rtsal] / bzhugs ni 'og min gnas na bzhugs / bdag gi drogs mdzod / gnas 'dir 'gon du gshegs / skal ldan rnal 'byor 'di la dbang mchog skur du gsol /

Card 26

• Note: This final folio, inscribed on both sides (the only folio with no miniature drawing), actually belongs to section {DA}, above.  There obviously wasn't room for all the information on the back of that card.

±// snubs sangs rgyas ye shes rin po che ni / g.yung drung rin chen gter gnas su / yi dam gsal bar sgoms pa'i tshe / stobs chen rdo rje rdzas mchog 'di / nam mkha'i mthongs nas yas mar babs / bdag gi lag pa g.yas pas zin / ye shes rdo rje'i dbang mchog gsol [?] / 'ol mo tshal du sgoms pa'i tshe / mngon sum dri za phru gu byung / sangs rgyas khyod kyi dbang yang thob / gangs bzangs gnas su sgoms pa'i tshe / gnod bzhin [~gnod sbyin] phru gu mngon byung nas / 'dod [verso] lnga'i mchod yon bstabs / yun gyi 'khor du rten dam bcas / che ba'i yon tan dbang yang thob / gling rgu mtsho' 'dram sgoms ba'i tshe / klu phrug mngon du byung pa'i tshe / ro brgya' ldan pa'i mchod pa phul / yang dag slob mar dam tshig nos / sdug pa sel ba'i dbang yang nos / dur khrod lhas su sgoms pa'i tshe / yi dags phrug gu mngon du byung / zhabs la tags te mtshe' [?] ma byung / ci sgo nyan par g.yar dam bcas / mthu rtsal mnyams pa'i dbang yang thob / phyi rabs slob ma gang yin pa / dbang skur rgyal po thob par shog*

(*Notice the inverted brief 3- or 4-letter inscription at the top of the page floating there alone. A large blotch of ink obscures most of it, so much I haven't been able to transcribe it.)

———

Lineage lists for comparison  

1. So family lineage

Source:  Record of Teachings Received by the Fifth Dalai Lama, vol. 4, fol. 276:

so lugs kyi brgyud pa ni  /   hûm kâ ra nas  /  rdo rje bzhad pa  /   padma sam bha wa  /  nam mkha'i snying po  /   bee ro tsa na  /  g.yu sgra snying po  /   gnyags dznyâ na ku mâ ra  /   sog po dpal gyi ye shes  /   gnubs sangs rgyas ye shes  /   so ye shes dbang phyug  /   sras kal po  /   sras dbang gi gtsug tor  /   sras rgyal po  /  chos kyi seng ge  /   ye shes rdo rje  /   râ dza 'bar  /   dar ma brtson 'grus  /   dar sri  /   'tsho rdo rje 'od  /   dar ma kun dga'  /   dar ma snying po  /   zhang byang chub sems dpa'  /   'gos dngos grub rgyal mtshan man gong ltar ro  /   /

•

2. A Phurpa transmission lineage of the So family

Source:  Record of Teachings Received by the Fifth Dalai Lama, vol. 4, fol. 290:

phur pa lcags lugs sam so lugs kyi brgyud pa ni  /   slob dpon chen po nas  /   lcam dpal gyi mchod gnas  /   so ye shes dbang phyug  /  sras kalpo  /   dbang phyug gtsug tor  /   so rgyal po  /   so râ dza 'bar  /   so chos seng  /  so dar ma snying po  /   so dar ma seng ge  /  slob dpon â seng  /   darma brtson 'grus  /  sras gzi brjir  /  'gos dngos grub rgyal mtshan  /   sras gcung po  /   'gos dngos grub mgon man 'dra  /   

•

3. A So family Mahāyoga lineage

Source:  Brag-dkar Chos-kyi-dbang-phyug, Zab-rgyas Chos-tshul Rgya-mtsho-las Rang-skal-du Ji-ltar Thob-pa'i Yi-ge Rnam-grol Bdud-rtsi'i Bum-bzang Kha-skong dang bcas-pa, contained in: Gsung-'bum, Khenpo Shedup Tenzin (Kathmandu 2011), vol. 2, at p. 91. BDRC Work ID no. W1KG14557. The context appears to be a general transmission of Mahāyoga, or the Sgyu-'phrul Zhi-khro.

གཉིས་པ་གནས་ལུང་སོགས་མན་ངག་གི་བརྒྱུད་པ་ནི། ཆོས་སྐུ་ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོ། ལོངས་སྐུ་རྒྱལ་བ་རིགས་ལྔ། སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་གསང་བདག་ཕྱག་རྡོར།ཡང་སྤྲུལ་དགའ་རབ་རྡོ་རྗེ། སློབ་དཔོན་འཇམ་དཔལ་བཤེས་གཉེན་ལ། རོ་ལངས་བདེ་བའི་དངོས་གྲུབ། སློབ་དཔོན་སངས་རྒྱས་གསང་བ། རྒྱ་གར་ཧཱུཾ་ཆེན་ཀ་ར། ཨོ་རྒྱན་པདྨ་འབྱུང་གནས། པཎ་ཆེན་བི་མ་མི་ཏྲ། ལོ་ཙཱ་རྨ་གཉགས་རྣམ་གཉིས། གནུབས་ཆེན་སངས་རྒྱས་ཡེ་ཤེས། སོ་ཡེ་ཤེས་དབང་ཕྱུག །སོ་ལྷ་རྗེ་ཀལྤོ། སོ་དབང་གི་གཙུག་ཏོར། སོ་ལྷ་རྗེ་རྒྱལ་པོ། སོ་ལྷ་རྗེ་ཆོས་སེང་། སོ་ར་ཙ་འབར་བ། སོ་དྷརྨ་སྙིང་པོ། བླ་མ་གྲུབ་ཐོབ་ཁ་མེ། བླ་མ་འབྲོམ་སྟོན་རྡོ་རྗེ། གར་སྟོན་རྟོགས་ལྡན་ཆེན་པོ། རྒྱལ་བ་མ་བདུན་རས་ཆེན་མན་གོང་ལྟར་རོ། །

•

4. Description of a thangka painting of the So family lineage

Ibid., vol. 7, pp. 297-302:

Note: I’ve corrected the error-filled OCR by consulting with the text behind it. I’ve tried to make all the personal names blue, drawing attention to them for ease of comparison. It is also interesting to read the iconographical instructions, and compare these to what we actually observe in the tsakali. There isn’t a whole lot of overlap.

sgyu 'phrul zhi khro bla ma brgyud pa khro thung gi brgyud rim ltar thang sku bzhengs na bri yig lam tsam brjed thor bkod pa yod/

sgyu 'phrul zhi khro'i bla ma brgyud pa'i bri yig ni / dbus su kun bzang longs sku yum med pa / de'i spyi bor rigs bdag kun bzang yab rkyang / de'i g.yas su rdor sems spyir btang gtso rkyang / g.yon du dga' rab rdo rje rdo rje dril bu thugs kar bsnol thabs su 'dzin pa / dbu la gtsug tor yod pa zhabs rdor skyil sprul sku rab byung chas / yang rdor sems kyi g.yas su 'jam dpal bshes gnyen paN chen gyi cha lugs / phyag g.yas thugs shar chos 'chad / g.yon pus mo'i steng du glegs bam 'dzin pa / dga' rab rdo rje'i g.yon du ro langs de wa grub thob kyi chas can g.yas sdigs mdzub / g.yon kA pa la bdud rtsis gang ba 'dzin pa / de bzhin g.yas g.yon go rim bzhin sangs rgyas gsang ba paN chen gyi chas can phyag g.yas thugs kar chos 'chad / g.yon mnyam bzhag gi glegs bam /  [p. 298] g.yon du hUM ka ra paN chen chas g.yas pus mor sdigs mdzub / g.yon mnyam bzhag pusti/ g.yas su pad+ma 'byung gnas paN chen gyi cha lugs g.yas rdo rje 'dzin cing / g.yon mnyam bzhag gi steng ka pA la bdud rtsis bkang ba / gru mor kha TAM ka / g.yon du bi ma la mi tra g.yas thugs kar chos 'chad / g.yon pus steng glegs bam 'dzin pa paN chen gyi chas ldan / g.yas su lo tsA ba rma rin chen mchog bod btsun stod rjen stod g.yogs sngon po phyed pa zur zhal phyag gnyis mnyam bzhag glegs bam paN zhwa sna ring leb zhwa / g.yon du lo tsA ba gnyags dznyA na ku ma ra zur zhal gong 'dra glegs bam dbu zhwa gong mtshungs / g.yas su gnubs chen sangs rgyas ye shes khro tshul sma ra ag tshom phod ka thun ru / dbu skra li rog / phyag gnyis g.yas phur pa gdengs pa / g.yon bhandha thugs kar 'dzin pa / zhabs rol stabs / g.yon du so ye shes dbang phyug ral pa rgyab snyil thun ru / mdung dmar te phyu pa dkar po'i phyi nang [p. 299] gzan dkar gsol ba / phyag g.yas rdo rje thugs kar / g.yon pus steng glegs bam / g.yas su lha rje gal po gsang gos sngon po/ rngul gzan dmar po / ral thod / g.yas sdigs mdzub / g.yon thugs kar rak+sha'i phreng ba / 'di gnyis zur zhal / g.yas su so dbang gi gtsug tor phod ka / rol stabs ral pa can / g.yas nam mkhar sdigs mdzub / g.yon ka pA la zur zhal / g.yas su lha rje rgyal po lcang lo / phyu pa dkar po / gzan dkar gyi smad dkris / g.yas phreng ba / g.yon pus steng phur pa / g.yon du lha rje chos rje stod sham sku stod na bza' gzan bcas dkar chas ral pa can phyag gnyis pus steng bdud 'dul gyi phyag rgyas phreng ba 'dren pa / g.yas su so ra dza 'bar ba dkar chas sku stod gos yod pa lcang lo / g.yas rdo rje pus steng / g.yon mnyam bzhag ka pA la / g.yon du so dharma snying po phyu pa dkar po / gzan dmar / ral pa can g.yas g.yon phyag gnyis [p. 299] thugs kar rdor dril bsnol thabs su 'dzin pa / yang g.yas su grub thob kha me ral thod sgom thag grub thob chas ras gzan / g.yas ka pA la / g.yon sa non / phyal chen po / g.yon du 'brom ston rdo rje dkar chas phyu pa gzan dmar / ka pA la thugs kar sman mchod sbreng tshul zhal sprod / g.yas su gar ston rtogs ldan ral thod ras pa'i chas sgom thag stod rjen mnyam bzhag ka pA la / g.yas su ma bdun ras chen sgom sham dwags zhwa / glegs bam / chos 'chad / g.yas su gdan sa rin chen rab byung sgom zhwa 'di gnyis zhal sprod / sa non mnyam bzhag glegs bam sems skyil / g.yon du chos rje ston pa paN zhwa sne thung dmar zing / g.yas su sangs rgyas dbon chen rab byung paN zhwa gong 'dra zhal sprod phreng ba sa non gnyis ka 'dra / chos rje dbang phyug mtshan can dang / bsod nams snying po gnyis dbu zlum dge slong chas / chos 'chad glegs bam zur zhal / lhun grub bkra shis dang / mgon po'i mtshan can gnyis [p. 301] rab byung chas / paN zhwa leb zhwa zhal sprod / glegs bam phreng ba / kun dga' gzi brjid paN zhwa sne thung rab byung chas / glegs bam chos 'chad / che mchog rdo rje ral can rgyab snyil sngags chas / stod gos g.yas phur pa gdengs thabs / g.yon thugs kar rdo rje / khro 'dzum can 'di gnyis zhal sprod / dkon mchog rdo rje / nam lhun gnyis ral pa rgyab snyil / dkar chas rdo rje thod pa / nam seng nor bu bde chen gnyis sngags 'chang dkar chas / ral thod can bgres nyams rol stabs zhal sprod / glegs bam chos 'chad / bstan nor rgyal sras seng+ge gnyis dkar chas / lcang lo zhal sprod / 'gyur med rnam rgyal dang / rtsa ba'i bla ma gnyis sngags chas sam yang na me kha li dmar po / lcang lo / dbu zhwa pad+ma kha 'bus / glegs bam / shel rdo / chos 'chad / gong gsal rnams phal cher dkar chas / sngags chas / rab byung spel ma zur zhal / phyag mtshan phyag stabs 'dra gang chags [p. 302] rig pas dpyad la bri / 

'di 'dra zhig a byung ma byung gzigs mdzod / rnam thar gyi bab byas na 'di 'dra zhig ka yin nam bsam 'ol tshod tshod kyis lam tsam bris/ [smaller font size:] zhes pa 'di'ang lan rde dpal lding nas mdo chen pa bag dro'i mtshan can gyi gsung gis bskul ba'i g.yar khral du brag dkar ba dharma shwa ras so // dge'o // //

±  ±  ±

Postscript

I’m still trying to work out the implications, but the name Rdo-rje-mos-pa-rtsal is twice given as the name of the person who is undergoing empowerment (see Cards 3 and 6). The identical name is later given as the secret initiatory name of Physician Chos-ye-shes (Card 18). This suggests that there once existed an earlier version of the set of cards that ended with Card 18 (that set of 18 would have been made specifically for use at Chos-ye-shes’ initiation). If the maker of the full set of cards that we have today copied exactly the writings on the backs of the earlier cards, including their spellings, then we could securely date those early spellings of names like 'Bu-ta-kug-ta and Rga-rab-rdo-rje within the pre-Mongol era, which would suit me just fine, but as I said, I’m still thinking. I do believe that the set as we have it was done by a single artist and a single scribe. Do you see evidence to the contrary?

Postscript (September 19, 2024)

https://sudharmablog.wordpress.com/2024/08/14/dga-rab-rdo-rjes-name-in-sanskrit/

Click on that linked URL for some philological discussions of manuscript evidence for the pre-Mongol-era spelling of Rga-rab-rdo-rje’s name.

Turtle in a Bronze Basin Revisited, by Jean-Luc Achard

Today’s blog is a guest blog by Jean-Luc Achard. It was written in response to the immediately preceding blog, “Turtle in a Bronze Basin.”

The image of the turtle in a bronze basin is quite frequent in Dzogchen texts. For instance, it appears twice in the Zhangzhung Oral Transmission, although illustrating different issues or stages occurring during practice. First, in the mNyam bzhag sgom pa’i lag len, it says:

/rnam rtog ’phro rgod mang pa la/ /rus sbal mkhar gzhong bzhag ltar bcos/ 

“When you have too many scattered and agitated thoughts,

Correct that like placing a turtle in a bronze basin.”

 

The oral explanation given by Yongdzin Rinpoche on that part states that this means to control the body and the breath. By keeping the body straight, the channels are straight, and the winds circulating within them are not blocked anymore. Thus the mind remains fresh and naturally devoid of agitation, becoming scattered, and so forth.*

(*This is from the “main” practice work of the 1st section of the Zhang zhung snyan rgyud concerning “general sections on the View” [lta ba spyi  gcod]. I used the Triten Norbutse edition published ca. 2000 or 2002, at p. 344).  

The second occurrence is in the Commentary on the Twenty-One Seals  of the Zhangzhung Oral Transmission which reads: 

bzhi pa rus sbal mkhar gzhong tshud pa ’dra zhes pas/ snang ba rdzogs (756) pa’i dus su/ thugs rje’i nyag thag de g.yo ’gul med par gnas pa’o/ 

“It is said: ‘Fourthly, they* are similar to a tortoise placed in a bronze basin.’ This means that at the time of the perfection of the visions** the chains of Compassion remain without moving and quivering.”***

(*The third verse shows that this refers to the chains of Compassion (thugs rje nyag thag). **This is the fourth vision of Thögel in the scheme of five visions [snang ba lnga] according to the Zhangzhung Oral Transmission. ***gZer bu’i nyer gcig gi ’grel pa, p. 755.)

 

The image is the same as the previous one but the context is totally different. Here it refers to the fourth of the five visions of Thögel during which the “chains of Compassion” reach a stage of total stabilization. In actual practice, there are in fact more than “chains”, there are Thiglés, archetypal forms, all of them slowly evolving into mandalas, with half-bodies (phyed sku) and then full Buddhas appearing in Thiglés, etc. But here the idea is that when placing a turtle in a basin which is very small (preventing the animal from moving), the tortoise automatically retracts its legs and head and does not move (like the chains of Compassion which do not move anymore at that stage; it is only when they are immobile that mandalas and Bodies start to appear within the Thiglés making up these chains). What is interesting is that this very same image is also used by Shardza Rinpoche in his Treasury of Space and Awareness (dByings rig mdzod, II, p. 301) in which he describes what corresponds to the first vision of the Thögel (this time according to the “standard” scheme in four visions, not five). There he says:

dang po bon nyid mngon sum gyi dus na/ lus rus sbal mkhar gzhong du bcug pa ltar song ba ni rtsa dal bar gnas pa las 'byung ste/ rdzogs pa chen po byed pa dang bral ba'i gzer lus kyi yan lag thebs pa'i byed pa rang sar dag nas byed pa med pa'i ye shes rang byung du shar ba'o/   

“First, at the time of the Vision of Manifest Reality, the fact that the body becomes like (that of) a turtle placed in a bronze basin (implying its immobility) results from leaving the channels at ease: the seal of non-action characterizing Dzogchen is applied on the limbs of the body (so that with the latter) being naturally purified, the Wisdom of non-action arises in a self-occurring manner.”

 

In the Gab pa which as you know is quite older, the image of the turtle is used in a scheme associating View, Meditation, etc., with animals in the following manner: 

—     View (lta ba) is associated with the Garuda (khyung)

—     Conduct (spyod pa) is associated with the lion (seng ge)

—     Samaya (dam tshig) is associated with the swan (ngang mo)

—     Activities (phrin las) are associated with the cuckoo (khu byug), and

—     Meditation (sgom pa) is associated with the turtle (rus sbal).

 

All this actually refers to methods of explanation (bshad thabs) to which “examples” (dpe) are applied (sbyar ba). Shardza (dByings rig mdzod, vol. I, p. 116) states:

sgom pa ni rus sbal rgya mtshor bskums pa ltar bshad de/ rnam rtog gis g.yo ba med par rang gsal du gnas par bstan pa'o

“Meditation is explained to be like a turtle contracting (its limbs) in the ocean, illustrating the fact that one should remain (absorbed) within one’s natural Clarity, without being moved/affected by discursive thoughts.”

 

Later (vol. II, p. 18), he explains that these methods associated with animals make up the “five contemplations” (dgongs pa lnga, another case where one sees dgongs pa cannot be translated as “intention” as it so often is). Regarding the turtle, he says: 

rus sbal bskum thabs kyi dgongs pa zhes bya ba/ sems nyid ye nas g.yo ba med cing ma bcos pa gnas pas/ reg pa dang rkyen gyi tshor ba las 'byung ba'i mtshan ma thams cad 'jom pa'o/

“The so-called ‘Contemplation on the turtle’s manner of contracting (its limbs)’ means that since Mind itself primordially abides without movement and without contrivance, all characteristics arising from contacts and conditioned sensations are subdued.”

 

This means that once this stage of stable contemplation is achieved, one remains naturally in the immutable and non-artificial nature of one’s Mind, just like a turtle naturally retracts its limbs and remains immobile when placed inside a small basin. At that stage, one subjugates any kind of characteristics associated with sensations, contacts, etc., because nothing can actually distract us anymore from one’s contemplative experience.

The tortoise in a small basin and the tortoise retracting its limb are images that one also finds in Nyingma works on Dzogchen (more the first than the second by the way), such as the sGra thal ’gyur commentary (associating the immobility of the turtle to that of the body), the mKha’ ’gro yang tig, etc., down to 20^th century works (for instance, in at least one of Dudjom Rinpoche’s works, one of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche’s composition, etc.). Further examples could be given.

Response to Jean-Luc (May 28, 2024)

Dan:   Many thanks for sharing so much knowledge, much of it entirely new to me. I am particularly intrigued by the presence of the metaphorical turtle in the Gab-pa, and feel inclined to look into it more before long. 

With all these additional Bon examples, it seems all the more clear that already in the 11th and 12th centuries, three discrete Tibetan traditions — the Bon, Nyingma and Zhijé — were sharing the same four-syllable expression that means ‘turtle in a bronze basin.’ At the same time, it isn’t at all obvious that they mean exactly the same thing by it. The differences may in part be contextual, they may be employing it in different teaching situations. They do share one broadly similar idea, that something or another is, despite itself, getting locked into place and immobilized. The Bon Dzogchen examples are surely looking quite different from the Zhijé in their way of explaining it.

As I personally tend to understand it, the turtle, with its unusual ability to pull its legs as well as its head into its shell, is a natural symbol for the withdrawal of the five senses in meditation, the attention fully internalized. I know of no clear or direct Buddhist or Tibetan justification for this idea in my head. The best I can come up with is a verse from the Bhagavad Gita (ch. 2, v. 58): 

“When like the tortoise which withdraws on all sides its limbs, a man of perfection withdraws his senses at will from sense objects, then his wisdom becomes steady.” 

However, in my Zhijé examples the situation is different, the turtle in the bronze basin does have its head and limbs out (in my understanding, its senses are "out there," aware of external phenomenon) even while its body as a whole is immobilized. It is calm but alert, enjoying the light of the sun, basking in it.

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Jean-Luc’s response (May 28, 2024)

In the Dzogchen sources that I have access to, the turtle in the basin is a metaphor for the immobility of the body but also, as shown above, a very rare reference to the stability of the visions arising during Thögel practice. But, certainly, it seems clear that in other contexts, such as in the Zhijé teachings, it definitely seems to refer to the senses. Your quote from the Gita is in this respect very interesting in this regard. That’s a fascinating find!

As the image was explained by Yongdzin Rinpoche, in the Bön sources that he used and where the expression occurs, it strictly points to the fact that when placed in a small basin a turtle contracts its limbs and head quasi-automatically because it cannot move due the size of the basin itself. In fact, the image is used to illustrate a sign (rtags). Thus, in chapter 16 of Ratna Lingpa’s Tantra of the Abyssal Clarity (Klong gsal gyi rgyud) for instance, it is explained that this image with the turtle is actually a sign that appears during the first vision of Thögel, the Vision of Manifest Reality (chos nyid mngon gsum gyi snang ba). Each of the four visions of Thögel has three signs (one for each of the three doors). Thus, during the Vision of Manifest Reality :

“ — As for the body, it remains without activities,

Like a turtle placed in a bronze basin.”

(lus ni bya byed me pa ru/ ru sbal mkhar gzhong bcug pa ‘dra/).

This is actually the result of the temporary dissolution of the wind of the earth element in the body. At that time, one feels like an immobile statue and prefers not to move at all. Of course, this is especially true during formal sessions. However, even during post-obtainment (rjes thob), the wind of the earth element can temporarily resorb itself,  particularly when one just rests, sitting while doing nothing in particular. This means that its dynamism (rtsal) has entered a year-long process of gradually reaching its exhaustion (like the other elemental winds).

Furthermore, at the beginning of the Gab pa, you’ll find the following reference to the turtle:

|ston pa thugs rje che mnga' ba| |thams cad mkhyen pas de bzhin gsungs| |de las rig pa thabs kyis brgyud| |skal ldan snod bzang 'ga' tsam la| |sems kyi dkyil du phog par bya| |rus sbal rgya mtshor bskums pa bzhin| |phal gyis mthong bar mi 'gyur te| |'di ni gsang ba'i gsang ba'o|

Here it is not associated with the immobility of the body or the senses but rather with the idea of a turtle contracting its limbs in the depths of the ocean and therefore being invisible to ordinary people. It thus illustrates the “secret of the secret”, i.e., the natural state that abides within all beings without the latter being conscious of it.

In the Gab pa rgya cher bshad pa, the line rus sbal rgya mtshor bskum pa bzhin is glossed as follows :

| rus sbal rgya mtsho= zhes pas| dper na rus sbal zhes bya ba'i sems can cig rgya mtsho'i gting na bskums nas 'dug pa de| sus kyang mi mthong ba dang 'dra ste| man ngag 'di yang kun gzhi ma g.yos pa'i klong rgya mtsho dang 'dra ba'i dbyings su| rig pa'i ye shes rus sbal bskum pa bzhin zhog cing...

So it points to an animal lying in the depths of the ocean, with its limbs contracted (bskums) so that it cannot be seen by anybody. The precept (man ngag) that uses this illustration actually means that within the immutable expanse of the Universal Base, the Wisdom of Awareness remains hidden like a turtle in the depths of the ocean... (until it is caused to arise by applying special key points). So this is still another usage of the turtle image.