Notes

n.1Lamotte 2001, pp. 1541–2.

n.2Denkarma, 295.b.4. See also Herrmann-Pfandt 2008, 18, no. 26.

n.3C, H, K, Y, L, N, and S read gzugs mnyam pa ma yin pa (“of unequal form”).

n.4The Degé version of the text contains an error here and should read ther zug instead of ther thug.

n.5The Degé version appears to be in error, reading snyoms pa med where all other versions read snyems pa med, which has been translated here.

n.6The four mental aggregates of sensation, perception, formation, and consciousness form a category that excludes the single material aggregate of form.

n.7In both occurrences in this line, Y, N, and S read “secret mantra” (gsang sngags) where the Degé version reads “praise” (bsngags).

n.8This line has been translated as it appears in the Tibetan, but the translators would like to propose an emended reading based on the likely Sanskrit text behind it. The content of the passage suggests emending the Tibetan reading of kha to kṣa, and the reading of yang to yaṃ. The combination of the Sanskrit syllables kṣa and yaṃ yields the Sanskrit word kṣayam, “exhaustion” (Tib. zad pa), which is the key term in the explanation that follows.

n.9The precise referent of the “two types of grasping” is unclear in this text.

n.10The dhāraṇī that follows here, and all other dhāraṇīs in this translation, have been transliterated as they appear in the Degé version of the text. There is often wide variation in the Tibetan transcription of dhāraṇīs across recensions of the Kangyur, but no attempt has been made here to reconcile them or to emend the dhāraṇī based on Sanskrit conventions.

n.11The translation follows H, N, and S in reading “content” (chog shes) instead of the Degé reading of “understanding the Dharma” (chos shes).

n.12Reading lta ba gzhan gyi spyod yul ba following C, H, J, K, Y, N, and S. The Degé version reads lta bas gzhan gyi spyod yul ba.

n.13K and N include an additional line here: “devoid of activity” (las med pa).

n.14Tib. chos rnams; Skt. dharmāḥ. Because of the polyvalence of the word dharma, this could just as plausibly read “encompasses all phenomena,” both in terms of meaning and the context.

n.15Here the same word that has just been translated as “element” (Tib. khams; Skt. dhātu) is used in the context of describing the “realms” of beings.

n.16Here we read phyin ci ma log pa according to H, K, N, and S.

n.17There are, in fact, nineteen qualities in this list. In other canonical lists, the quality of “liberated wisdom vision that never wanes” is omitted.

n.18This translation follows C, H, J, K, N, and S in reading shes rab dbye ba mkhas pa. Degé reads ye shes rab dbye mkhas pa.