Notes

n.1It is not clear from the text if the term “Blessed One” (bhagavtat; bcom ldan ’das) refers to the Buddha Śākyamuni or another figure. The tantra begins with an homage to Heruka, but such opening homages are often added by the Tibetan translators and were not part of the original text.

n.2The structure of this tantra is similar to that of Toh 384, see Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans. The Tantra That Resolves All Secrets, Toh 384, i.­11.

n.3For a general explanation of the terms and the structure and contents of this section of the Kangyur, see here.

n.4Tōhoku nos. 383–414.

n.5See also Dharmachakra Translation Committee 2012, i.­10.

n.6Tōhoku nos. 467–473. See also Siklós 1990, p. 96, note 3.

n.7Cf. Dharmachakra Translation Committee 2012, n.­1, and n.­15.

n.8Unfortunately, we neither possess many biographical details nor exact dates for these two important figures. Drokmi’s dates are tentatively given as 992/93–1043 or 1072. On Drokmi Lotsāwa, see The Treasury of Lives, and Dharmachakra Translation Committee 2012, i.­8. See also Davidson 2005, pp. 161–209.

n.9This is perhaps a reference to the “four māras,” the devaputramāra (lha’i bu’i bdud), the divine māra, which is the distraction of pleasures; mṛtyumāra (’chi bdag gi bdud), the māra of death; skandhamāra (phung po’i bdud), the māra of the aggregates, which is the body; and kleśamāra (nyon mongs pa’i bdud), the māra of the afflictive emotions.

n.10This translation follows C, J, K, and Y, in reading don gyi rdo rje. D and S read rdzas kyi rdo rje, “material vajra.”