Difference between revisions of "Seventeen tantras"
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: "The seventeen {{Wiki|interrelated}} [[Dzokchen]] [[Nyingthik]] [[scriptures]] are accepted by [[tradition]] as [[divine]] [[revelation]] received by the ... [[mystic]] [[Garap Dorje]]. The [[Seventeen Tantras]] nevertheless betrays [[signs]] of being compiled over a long period of [[time]] by multiple hands. The precise [[Wikipedia:Identity (social science)|identity]] of these unknown redactors is a riddle that I {{Wiki|hope}} may soon be solved. Whatever the case, we must accept that the collection in the [[form]] it is known to us today consists of several layers of history {{Wiki|reflecting}} diverse [[influences]]." | : "The seventeen {{Wiki|interrelated}} [[Dzokchen]] [[Nyingthik]] [[scriptures]] are accepted by [[tradition]] as [[divine]] [[revelation]] received by the ... [[mystic]] [[Garap Dorje]]. The [[Seventeen Tantras]] nevertheless betrays [[signs]] of being compiled over a long period of [[time]] by multiple hands. The precise [[Wikipedia:Identity (social science)|identity]] of these unknown redactors is a riddle that I {{Wiki|hope}} may soon be solved. Whatever the case, we must accept that the collection in the [[form]] it is known to us today consists of several layers of history {{Wiki|reflecting}} diverse [[influences]]." | ||
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[[Category:Buddhism]] | [[Category:Buddhism]] | ||
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[[Category:Seventeen tantras]] | [[Category:Seventeen tantras]] | ||
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Latest revision as of 22:44, 30 June 2021
(1998: pp. 153–154) relates thus:
- "By the eleventh century, both Bonpos and Buddhists were presenting texts they claimed to have unearthed from the place where those texts had been hidden in the past.
Among the earliest Buddhist materials so characterized were the esoteric Nyingtig, or "Heart Sphere", teachings, including the seventeen Atiyoga tantras, which were associated with Vimalamitra, an Indian Great Perfection master invited to Tibet, according to some accounts, by Trisong Detsen in the eighth century. Vimalamitra's Tibetan student, Nyangban Tingzin Zangpo, was said to have concealed these teachings after the master went to China.
The discoverer was Neten Dangma Lhungyal (eleventh century), who proceeded to transmit these teachings to Chetsun Senge Wangchuk, one of the first accomplished Tibetan Buddhist yogins, and to others. The Nyingtig materials were at the heart of the Great Perfection Buddhism and had considerable influence upon Jigme Lingpa, who labelled his own Treasure with the same term."
The Vima Nyingtik itself consists of 'tantras' (rgyud), 'agamas' (lung), and 'upadeshas' (man ngag), and the tantras in this context are the Seventeen Tantras
Enumeration of the Seventeen Tantras
Though they are most often referred to as the Seventeen Tantras, other designations are as Eighteen Tantras when the 'Ngagsung Tromay Tantra' (Wylie: sngags srung khro ma’i rgyud) (otherwise known as the 'Ekajaṭĭ Khros Ma'i rGyud' and to do with the protective rites of Ekajati) is appended to the seventeen by Shri Singha;
and Nineteen Tantras with Padmakara's annexure of the 'Longsel Barwey Tantra' (Wylie: klong gsal bar ba'i rgyud) (Tantra of the Blazing Space of Luminosity).
Samantabhadri is associated with the Longsel Barwey and its full name is 'Samantabhadri's Tantra of the Sun of the Brilliant Expanse]]' (Wylie: kun tu bzang mo klong gsal 'bar ma nyi ma'i rgyud).
According to the seventeen-fold classification, in no particular order, they are as follows:
- 'Self-existing Perfection' (Tibetan: རྫོགས་པ་རང་བྱུང, Wylie: rdzogs pa rang byung)
- 'Without Letters' (Tibetan: ཡི་གེ་མེད་པ, Wylie: yi ge med pa)
- 'Self-liberated Primordial Awareness' (Tibetan: རིག་པ་རང་གྲོལ, Wylie: rig pa rang grol)
- 'Piled Gems' (Tibetan: རིན་པོ་ཆེ་སྤུང་བ, Wylie: rin po che spung ba)
- 'Shining Relics of Enlightened Body' (Tibetan: སྐུ་གདུང་འབར་བ, Wylie: sku gdung 'bar ba)
- 'Reverberation of Sound' (Tibetan: སྒྲ་ཐལ་འགྱུར, Wylie: sgra thal 'gyur)
- 'The Mirror of the Heart of Vajrasattva' (Tibetan: རྡོ་རྗེ་སེམས་དཔའ་སྙིང་གི་མེ་ལོང, Wylie: rdo rje sems dpa' snying gi me long)
- 'The Mirror of the Mind of Samantabhadra' (Tibetan: ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོ་ཐུགས་ཀྱི་མེ་ལོང, Wylie: kun tu bzang po thugs kyi me long)
- 'Necklace of Precious Pearls' (Tibetan: མུ་ཏིག་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་ཕྲེང་བ, Wylie: mu tig rin po che'i phreng ba)
- 'Sixfold Expanse of Samantabhadra' (Tibetan: ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོ་ཀློང་དྲུག, Wylie: kun tu bzang po klong drug)
- 'Union of the Sun and Moon' (Tibetan: ཉི་ཟླ་ཁ་སྦྱོར, Wylie: nyi zla kha sbyor)
- 'Lion's Perfect Expressive Power' (Tibetan: སེང་གེ་རྩལ་རྫོགས, Wylie: seng ge rtsal rdzogs)
Text sources, versions and variations
These Seventeen Tantras are to be found in the Canon of the Ancient School, the 'Nyingma Gyubum' (Tibetan: རྙིང་མ་རྒྱུད་འབུམ, Wylie: rnying ma rgyud 'bum), volumes 9 and 10, folio numbers 143-159 of the edition edited by '
Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche' commonly known as Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (Thimpu, Bhutan, 1973), reproduced from the manuscript preserved at 'Tingkye Gonpa Jang' (Tibetan: གཏིང་སྐྱེས་དགོན་པ་བྱང, Wylie: gting skyes dgon pa byang) Monastery in Tibet.
Adzom Chögar redaction
This 'Adzom Chögar redaction' of the versions of the Seventeen Tantras were secured from Jim Valby who transcribed these texts into Wylie transliteration and these selfsame texts have been uploaded onto Wikisource.
English translations
None of these works as yet has been completely translated into English and made generally available.
The Seventeen Tantras are quoted extensively throughout Longchenpa's (1308 - 1364?) 'The Precious Treasury of the Way of Abiding' (Tibetan: གནས་ལུགས་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་མཛོད, Wylie: gnas lugs rin po che'i mdzod) rendered in English by Richard Barron and Padma Translation Committee (1998).
This work is one of Longchenpa's Seven Treasuries and the Tibetan text in poor reproduction of the pecha has been graciously made available online by Dowman and E. Gene Smith.
Traditionial and external scholarship
'Tegchö Dzö' (Wylie: theg mchog mdzod) "Treasury of the Sublime Vehicle'" is one of the Seven Treasuries, a collection of seven works, some with auto-commentaries, by the Tibetan Buddhist philosopher and exegete Longchenpa.
The Tegchö Dzö is a commentary on the Seventeen Tantras.
Cuevas (2003: p. 62) comments on the traditional perspective of the Nyingma tradition in the attribution of the Seventeen Tantras to the revelation of Garap Dorje and says:
- "The seventeen interrelated Dzokchen Nyingthik scriptures are accepted by tradition as divine revelation received by the ... mystic Garap Dorje. The Seventeen Tantras nevertheless betrays signs of being compiled over a long period of time by multiple hands. The precise identity of these unknown redactors is a riddle that I hope may soon be solved. Whatever the case, we must accept that the collection in the form it is known to us today consists of several layers of history reflecting diverse influences."