Ten topics of tantra
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Ten topics of tantra (Tib. རྒྱུད་ཀྱི་དངོས་པོ་བཅུ་, Wyl. rgyud kyi dngos po bcu) Longchen Rabjam structured the path of Mantrayana in his commentary of the Guhyagarbha tantra, Dispelling Darkness in the Ten Directions according to the ten topics of tantra:
- view (Skt. dṛṣṭi; Tib. ལྟ་བ་, tawa)
- samadhi (Skt. samādhi; Tib. ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་, ting ngé dzin)
- action or conduct (Skt. charyā; Tib. སྤྱོད་པ་, chöpa)
- mandala (Skt. maṇḍala; Tib. དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་, kyilkhor)
- empowerment (Skt. abhiṣiñca; Tib. དབང་, wang)
- samaya (Skt.; Tib. དམ་ཚིག་, damtsik)
- accomplishment (Tib. སྒྲུབ་པ་, drubpa) which in this context refers to both Sanskrit terms sadhana and siddhi
- offerings (Skt. pūjā; Tib. མཆོད་པ་, chöpa)
- enlightened activity (Skt. karma; Tib. ཕྲིན་ལས་, trinlé)
- mudra (Skt. mudrā; Tib. ཕྱག་རྒྱ་, chakgya)
In Mipham Rinpoche's exposition, Essence of Clear Light, the tenth topic is divided into two (mantra and mudra), resulting in eleven topics.
How the Ten Topics Relate to the Ten Paramitas
Each topic can be related to one of the ten paramitas of the Mahayana path:
- view is related to the paramita of wisdom (Skt. prajñāpāramitā)
- samadhi is related to the paramita of meditative concentration (Skt. dhyānapāramitā)
- action is related to the paramita of patience (Skt. kṣāntipāramitā)
- mandala is related to the paramita of primordial wisdom (Skt. jñānapāramitā)
- empowerment is related to the paramita of strength (Skt. balapāramitā)
- samaya is related to the paramita of discipline (Skt. śīlapāramitā)
- accomplishment is related to the paramita of diligence (Skt. vīryapāramitā)
- offerings are related to the paramita of generosity (Skt. dānapāramitā)
- enlightened activity is related to the paramita of aspiration prayers (Skt. praṇidhānapāramitā)
- mudra & mantra are related to the paramita of skilful means (Skt. upāyakauśalapāramitā[1]
Footnotes
- ↑ Source: Mipham Rinpoche, Essence of Clear Light.