Mahāyoga sadhana

Additional pages from this booklet can be found at324. The first page of324is the original cover covered in cloth, followed by the second page that is blank on both sides.3243rthus represents the first page of the present item, followed by3243v-4r(read across the two pages). This should be followed by the two facing pages,3244vand10rof the present manuscript. The item then continues as follows, still reading across the two open pages:10v-11r-11v-12r-12v-13r-13v-14r-14v-1r, where it ends. The order of the last two pages means that page15of the present manuscript has been inserted into the wrong location. Rather, it should be inserted between pages2vand3r, and it is therefore part of item 2.

This first item is aMahāyoga sādhana, mostly concerned with the perfection stage (Skt.saṃpannakrama; Tib.rdzogs rim) and written in abbreviated Tibetan. The text begins with a section on establishing the ritual boundaries and pitching the vajra tent (3243r.1-10v.5), what seems to be a short rite of sexual union (11r.5-12r.5), the bestowal of the drop of sexual fluids (11v.6-14r.2), and a rite for the mixing and ingestion of the five impure substances (13v.3-1r.9). Note the use of the termrdzogs chenin describing the drop of sexual fluids (13v.1). The rites described seem to be drawn from a variety ofMahāyogaritual traditions. The section on the five impure substances may be compared with chapter seventeen of theGuhyasamāja-tantra, but near the end of the present item, a popular quotation appears thatgnubs chen sangs rgyas ye shes(52.1-2) attributes to thebdud rtsi'i rgyud:

" 14v.6-1r.6rtogs pa'i 'khungs su sdul dris pa'/ myI zhes bya ba sangs rgyas yin/ " "Whoever is acquainted with the river of realization,/ though called a man, he is a buddha."

References

Mahāyoga sadhana

This pages of item should be read in the following order:1v-2r-2v-15r-15v-3r-3v-, after which it can be read straight through to7r. Two blanks pages (7v-8r) follow, apparently an error made by the original bookmaker, and then the text picks up again the end on8vto finish on9r. The blank page9vwould have originally faced the also blank3245r, after which3246ris the inside of the book's back cover, covered in cloth like the front.

A detailed discussion of the threesamādhis (ting nge 'dzin gsum), the principal way to approach the development stage (Skt.utpannakrama; Tib.bskyed rim) ofMahāyogaritual practice. The position of this item after the perfection stage described in item 1 reverses the usual order of these two stages. The discussion of the first, thusnesssamādhiincludes two quotations. The first (15v.2-3r.8) is an extensive one drawn from chapter two of theGuhyagarbha-tantra(compare157.6-158.6), while the second (3v.3-3v.4) is the famous verse from chapter two of theGuhyasamāja-tantra(767.1-2). Both quotations are given without references. However the second does specifiy that it is "from the tantra itself" ( 4r.2rgyud nyid las ). This might strengthen the link between the present manuscript and theGuhyasamāja-tantra. However, a third quotation that is also attributed to "the tantra itself" has yet to be located in theGuhyasamāja:

" 5r.8-9thams chad nam ki kha'i mtshan nyid bste /
nam ka la yang mtshan nyid myed /_nam ka 'dra bu rnal bsbyor pas //_/ton kun mnyam pa nyid du gsal / " "Everything has the characteristics of the sky, and the sky has no characteristics. Through the yoga which is like the sky, all objects are clarified as equality."

These four lines, with slight variations, were clearly popular in early tantric circles, as they made their way into a number of canonical tantras. The same lines appear in a version of the Dunhuang Prajñāpāramitānayaśatapañcāśatikā (see entry toIOL Tib J 97). The lines are also attributed (inIOL Tib J 508, R1.51) to theDpal mchog dang po(Śrī-paramādya;119and120).