Introduction

Translator’s Introduction

This second part of Sakya: The Path with Its Result principally concerns the remaining eight path cycles from among the nine path cycles (lam skor dgu) of the Sakya school, of which the Path with Its Result teaching is the first, presented in volume 5 of The Treasury of Precious Instructions. These remaining path cycles are termed “the eight ancillary path cycles” (lam skor phyi ma brgyad), which are oral instructions transmitted to Drokmi Lotsāwa by the early eleventh-century Indian masters— Ācārya Vīravajra, Mahāsiddha Amoghavajra, Paṇḍita Prajñāgupta of Oḍḍiyāna, and Paṇḍita Gayadhara. In Tibet, Drokmi imparted these to Setön Kunrik (1029–1116), who transmitted them to Zhangtön Chöbar (1053–1135), who in turn transmitted them to Sachen Kunga Nyingpo (1098–1158). Sachen then gave these teachings to two of his sons, Sönam Tsemo (1142–1182) and Drakpa Gyaltsen (1147–1216). Two of these transmissions include translations of Indian texts: Padmavajra’s Instruction Resembling the Tip of a Lamp Flame (in chapter 3) and Koṭalipa’s Stages of the Inconceivable (in chapter 8). The remaining six consist of oral instructions committed to writing by Drakpa Gyaltsen.

While the eight ancillary path cycles were regularly taught in Sakya monasteries, we have only one example of a comprehensive Sakya commentary on the eight ancillary path cycles, Effortless Accomplishment of the Two Benefits, composed in the seventeenth century by the twenty-seventh Sakya throne holder, Amezhap Ngawang Kunga Sönam. This text also serves as a teaching manual for the eight ancillary path cycles. The only other source for the eight ancillary path cycles is the One Hundred and Eight Manuals of Jonang, compiled by the Sakya master Kunga Drölchok, the twenty-fourth abbot of Jonang.

After Drakpa Gyaltsen, the first person to write comprehensive, independent commentaries on each cycle was Jamgön Kongtrul under the guidance of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo. Many of Kongtrul’s commentaries reorganize the original material written by Drakpa Gyaltsen to make the subject matter easier to comprehend. When considering Kongtrul’s commentaries on the eight ancillary path cycles, it is important for the reader to note that the order of both the original texts and Kongtrul’s commentaries presented in this volume is neither the traditional order nor the order in which his commentaries were composed. The traditional order may be found in the lineage prayer in chapter 1. I suggest that the reader follow the order given there.

The scheme for the order of the eight ancillary path cycles and Kongtrul’s commentaries presented in this volume is found in Kongtrul’s introduction to the cycle found in chapter 15, Fortunate Pure Crystal Mirror:

Now, when these renowned eight ancillary path cycles are precisely divided, six are for the completion stages of Cakrasaṃvara, Hevajra, and Guhyasamāja, and two are connected with the general divisions of tantra. Ḍombi Heruka’s Accomplishing the Connate and Saroruha’s Nine Profound Methods are systems commenting on Hevajra. The latter is the actual completion stage of the Saroruha system. Completing the Whole Path with Caṇḍālī and Straightening the Crooked are related to Cakrasaṃvara. Obtained in Front of a Stupa is related to Akṣobhya Guhyasamāja, and Mahāmudrā without Syllables is related to the Buddhajñānapāda system [of Guhyasamāja]. Inconceivable and Indrabhūti’s path cycles are for the completion stage of unsurpassed tantras in general.

This reflects the order in which Kunga Drölchok presents his summaries in the One Hundred and Eight Teaching Manuals. The introduction for all eight of Kongtrul’s commentaries is found in chapter 15, Fortunate Pure Crystal Mirror, while the colophon to these commentaries is found in chapter 16, Fortunate Right-Turning White Conch. Also, chapter 17, Fortunate Vermilion Ornament, is presented last, not in the order supplied by Kongtrul in his introduction to the cycle. In addition, while each text is titled individually, Kongtrul himself refers to them as sections (le tshan), indicating that he conceived of these eight commentaries as sections of one integral work. Here they are presented as independent chapters, following the table of contents in the Treasury of Precious Instructions block print.

With respect to the relationship between the main Path with Its Result cycle and these eight ancillary path cycles, Amezhap remarks that a student who has received the entire Path with Its Result teaching is authorized to receive the transmissions of the eight ancillary path cycles. This is also the case for anyone who has received one of the following four major empowerments: the Hevajra Empowerment of the Intimate Instruction tradition (the Path with Its Result); the Nairātmyā Empowerment; the Hevajra Empowerment of the Commentarial tradition (also known as the Ḍombi Heruka tradition); and the Hevajra Empowerment of the Saroruhavajra tradition. Amezhap makes the point that the student must obtain an empowerment that is from the transmission lineage of Drokmi Lotsāwa. He also makes the point that these teachings must be received from a guru who has obtained the empowerments for the meditation of guru yoga, the creation stage, and the completion stage, in accordance with Sakya Paṇḍita’s numerous arguments and in accordance with the traditional approach of the Sakya school. Most of the teachings to be found in the eight ancillary path cycles focus on completion stage teachings, and all have the realization of mahāmudrā as their goal. With this in mind, the interested reader is reminded that they should make an effort to receive the proper transmissions related to these texts from a lineage holder who is able to bestow the correct empowerments from the lineage of Drokmi Lotsāwa. Kongtrul also remarks on the import of receiving the special transmission from Drokmi’s lineage:

It appears that the tantras [mentioned above] are connected through their general ripening transmissions to each text; however, because of the power of the transmission of the special lineage, the empowerment of the Intimate Instruction system of Hevajra is sufficient to ripen [a student] for all. Also, the eight path cycles are defined as dependent upon the Precious Oral Intimate Instructions.

The introduction to each chapter of the eight ancillary path cycles contains specific remarks about each text or texts in the eight ancillary path cycles and their commentaries. The introduction to Kongtrul’s eight commentaries is an overview of the eight cycles, underscoring his unique contributions.

There are two texts that exercise the most influence in the three tantras literature: Obtained in Front of a Stupa in chapter 6 and Accomplishment of the Connate in chapter 2. In the concise explanation of the inseparability of samsara and nirvana in the general outline of the three tantras literature, the treatment of the meditation of the inseparability of clarity and emptiness is drawn directly from Obtained in Front of a Stupa, while the treatment of the connate dharmas is drawn directly from Accomplishment of the Connate. In addition, the approach to meditating on the creation stage is derived from Padmavajra’s Creation Stage Adorned with the Nine Profound Methods.

Another important doctrinal feature found in the eight ancillary path cycles and in Kongtrul’s commentaries, treated a total of sixteen times, is the presentation of the three kāyas called “the seven limbs of the three kāyas” (sku gsum yan lag bdun pa) or “the seven limbs of union” (kha sbyor yan lag bdun pa). This unique Vajrayāna treatment of the three kāyas is connected to the realization of mahāmudrā. The limbs attributed to the dharmakāya and nirmāṇakāya are not completely consistent in the eight ancillary path cycles. While it is maintained that the three kāyas are inseparable, in some places the dharmakāya is presented as having three limbs, and in other places the nirmāṇakāya is presented as having three limbs. There is very little extended discussion of the seven limbs of the three kāyas in Indian treatises other than Vāgīśvarakīrti’s Seven Limbs. The significance of this author and his text for the early Tibetan reception of Indian traditions of mahāmudrā is discussed briefly in the introduction to chapter 7.

These sixteen texts broaden our understanding of how mahāmudrā itself is understood and practiced in the Sakya school. The Sakya reception of Indian mahāmudrā traditions has not been comprehensively explored beyond a narrow focus upon the various polemical exchanges of scholars in the Sakya and Kagyu schools between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries.

The next major section of this volume is chapter 18, the Dharma Connection with the Six Gatekeepers. This is a cycle of six brief instructions requested of six paṇḍitas residing at Vikramaśīla at the time of Drokmi’s departure to Tibet. These six instructions are also summarized by Kunga Drölchok in volume 18 of this series, Jonang: The One Hundred and Eight Teaching Manuals.

Chapter 20 contains the cycle on Parting from the Four Attachments. These seminal Sakyapa mind training texts have been translated numerous times by others, most recently by Thubten Jinpa in Mind Training: The Great Collection. There is only one text included in this cycle that has not been translated elsewhere, the Necklace of Ketaka Gems, which presents an explanatory method that ties together the preceding texts in the collection for the purpose of presenting them to an assembly.

Chapter 21 is a guru offering rite. Chapter 22 details the method of preparing ritual alcohol based on the Saṃvarodaya Tantra. Chapter 23 is a permission ritual for the main protectors of the Sakya tradition, the Eight-Deity Mahākāla sādhana.

Acknowledgments

First, I would like to acknowledge my root guru, His Holiness Sakya Trichen Rinpoche, the forty-first Sakya throne holder, from whom I had the good fortune of receiving the teachings and transmissions of the Path with Its Result, as well as many other cycles of Sakya teachings. I would also like to recall the memory of the late His Holiness Dagchen Rinpoche, from whom I received the same. I owe a debt of gratitude to Khenpo Migmar Tseten, who guided me through my three-year retreat on the Path with Its Result cycle, who has continually tutored me in Tibetan since 1990, from whom I received the ācārya title in 2004 as a result of my studies at Sakya Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and who patiently answered my questions concerning the obscure terms in the colloquial language of his native Tsang province that occasionally make an appearance in these manuals. I would like to express my appreciation to all the translators of Sakya works who have tread before me in this area of study. My work here has been made easier because of their trailblazing efforts. I would like to thank Osa Karen Manell, who worked with me through all phases of this project and whose exacting attention to detail improved the manuscript inestimably. I would also like to thank Anna Wolcott Johnson, our editor at Shambhala, whose advice was invaluable in polishing and preparing the manuscript for print. Finally, I would like to thank Eric Colombel and the staff of Tsadra Foundation for the opportunity to work on these texts that are essential to the Sakya tradition.