Guhyagarbha tantra

The Guhyagarbha Tantra (The Tantra of the Secret Quintessence) is the main tantra of the Mahayoga class and the primary Tantric text studied in the Nyingma tradition as a key to understanding empowerment, samaya, mantras, mandalas and other Vajrayana topics.

Guhyagarbha Tantra
Tibetan name
Tibetan རྒྱུད་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ་དཔལ་སྒྱུ་འཕྲུལ་རྩ་བའི་རྒྱུད་གསང་བ་སྙིང་པོ།
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Vajrayana Buddhism

Its full title is the Glorious Web of Magical Illusion, The Secret Essence Definitive Nature Just As It Is.

Traditionally higher tantras require an empowerment and transmission from a qualified guru or lama before they can be studied and practiced, and were therefore not usually discussed publicly.

Prahevajra (Garab Dorje) received the empowerment and transmission of the Mahayoga teachings of the Secret Matrix Tradition (Guhyagarbha tantra) from Mahasiddha Kukuraja.[1]

Commentaries on the Guhyagarbha Tantra
The Wrathful Deities of the Guhyagarbha Tantra. Tibetan thangka from 18th century. Middle figure is Mahottara Heruka, upper left figure is Ratna Heruka, upper right is Padma Heruka, lower center is Buddha Heruka, lower right is Karma Heruka, and lower left is Vajra Heruka. All of them have a consort. Surrounding these figures are the 58 wrathful deities.
  • Vilāsavajra dpal gsang ba snying po’i ’grel pa rin po che’i spar khab slob dpon sgeg pa'i rdo rjes mdzad pa - "Blazing Palace".
  • Vimalamitra (8th century)
    • rdo rje sems dpa’i sgyu ’phrul dra ba’i rgyud dpal gsang ba’i snying po shes bya ba’i spyan ’grel pa "Eye Opening" Commentary on the Secret Essence P4756
    • dpal gsang ba snying po’i don bsdus ’grel piṇḍārtha ("Ball of Meaning").
  • Rongzom Pandita, Chökyi Zangpo (1012–1088) (Tibetan: རྒྱུད་རྒྱལ་གསང་བ་སྙིང་པོ་དཀོན་ཅོག་འགྲེལ, Wylie: rgyud rgyal gsang ba snying po dkon cog 'brel )
  • Longchenpa (1308–1363) mun sel skor gsum - "Trilogy of Dispelling Darkness" - Three commentaries on the Guhyagarbha Tantra:
    • dpal gsang ba snying po de kho na nyid nges pa'i rgyud kyi grel ba phyogs bcu'i mun sel/ -"Dispelling Darkness in the Ten Directions" - Detailed commentary on the Guhyagarbha Tantra
    • dpal gsang ba snying po'i spyi don legs par bshad pa'i snang bas yid kyi mun pa thams cad sel ba/ - "Dispelling the Darkness of the Mind" General meaning of the Guhyagarbha Tantra
    • dpal gsang ba snying po'i rgyud kyi bsdus pa'i don ma rig mun pa thams cad sel ba/ - "Dispelling Darkness of Ignorance" - Condensed meaning of the Guhyagarbha Tantra
  • Minling Lochen Dharma Shri (1654–1718) -
    • dpal gsang ba snying po de kho na nyid nges pa'i rgyud kyi 'grel ba gsang bdag dgongs rgyan/ - Textual exegesis of the Guhyagarbha Tantra
    • dpal gsang ba snying po de kho na nyid nges pa'i rgyud kyi rgyal po sgyu 'phrul drwa ba spyi don gyi sgo nas gtan la 'bebs par byed pa'i legs bshad sang bdag shal lung/ - General commentary on the Guhyagarbha tantra.
  • Mipham (1846–1912) gsang 'grel phyogs bcu'i mun sel gyi spyi don 'od gsal snying po/ - An exegesis of Longchenpa's commentary on the Guhyagarbha Tantra
  • Dodrup Chen III, Jigme Tenpai Nyima (1865–1926) - dpal gsang ba’i snying po’i rgyud kyi spyi don nyung ngu’i ngag gis rnam par ’byed pa rin chen mdzod kyi lde mig "Key to the Precious Treasury" - A General Commentary on the Guhyagarbha Tantra.
  • Khenpo Shenga (1871–1927) - Annotated Commentary on the Guhyagarbha Tantra

See also
  • Eighteen great tantras

Notes
  1. Dharma Fellowship (2005). Biographies: Pramodavajra, Regent of the Divine. Source: (accessed: November 15, 2007)

References
  • Dharma Fellowship (2005). Biographies: Pramodavajra, Regent of the Divine. Source: (accessed: November 15, 2007)

Further reading
  • Guhyagarbha Tantra: Tibetan Text - at THDL
  • Dudjom, Jikdrel Yeshe Dorje; Dorje, Gyurme (2005). The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism, Its Fundamentals and History (2 ed.). Boston: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-199-8.
  • Garson, Nathaniel DeWitt (2004). "Penetrating the Secret Essence Tantra: Context and Philosophy in the Mahāyoga System of rNying-ma Tantra". PhD Thesis. Department of Religious Studies, University of Virginia. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  • Guenther, Herbert V. (2001). Matrix of Mystery: Scientific and Humanistic Aspects of rDzogs-chen Thought. Boston: Shambhala Publications.
  • Dorji, Wangchuk (2002). "An Eleventh-Century Defence of the Authenticity of the Guhyagarbha Tantra". In Eimer; Germano, David (eds.). The Many Canons of Tibetan Buddhism. Leiden: Brill.
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