The thing that we think of as equanimity
Is an obstruction to both problems and virtues.
To desire to be attached to happiness
And to reject sorrow
Is like a person who was born blind
Tying a knot in the sky.
If you do not clearly understand the real meaning,
The meaning of uncontrived equanimity,
Then even though the bodies of the Victorious Ones
Might fill the three thousand worlds,
They would be of no use.
If they did not fill them
It would do no harm.
Enlightenment and emotional problems are not a duality.
In the vastness of the basis of all things,
They are one.
For this reason,
There is nothing to take up or to reject.
This is, itself, not something that is made,
For it is self-evident.
Depression and wildness,
Hopes and worries,
Clarity and lack of clarity,
The spaces of origins and applications,
Experience, thought, and contrived cessations,
The evidence of defining attributes,
And the abundance of feelings:
From the primordial,
All of these things
Are perfected in their own lack of clarity.
Without making attributions,
This is the primordial embodiment of the Dharma.
Our true self is ornamented
With playfulness that does not abandon anything.
Those who do not perceive their true selves
Are the ones who were born blind.
The meaning that they will not find
Is that there is nothing to be taken up or cast off.
When you understand that problems, in themselves,
Are oriented toward equanimity,
That is what is called: “The All Good.”
In the same way that clouds, tornadoes, rainbows, and lightening
Are evident in the emptiness of the luminescent sky
Without being mixed up with the stars,
Or the sun and the moon,
In the essence of the luminescent sky,
They are, from the beginning,
One.
Faults and virtues will appear
In the sky-space of a yogin’s mind,
But there is nothing to be taken up,
Or to be cast off.
All of the details on the vehicles,
None excepted,
Are fully perfected without confusion
In this freedom from rejecting things,
And taking things on.
The essence of omniscience,
An inconceivable absence of clarity,
Is not to be visualized.
In the Eighth Century of our era, the Tibetan translator Vairochana went to India and returned to Tibet with the Tantras of the Great Perfection. All are in agreement that the Five Early Translations and Thirteen Later Translations are among the earliest scriptures to be translated into Tibetan, but there is some lack of agreement about the titles and contents of these collections. In the centuries following these translations the dynasty that ruled Tibet crumbled, and after a long period of darkness the love of learning was rekindled by newly arriving teachings from India. By the Twelfth Century, more than three hundred years after the life of Vairochana, those who held to the teachings from his time became called the Ancient Ones or Nyingma, while those who held to the new teachings from India were called Modern Ones or Sarma. Many writings had survived the centuries of upheaval in the possession of private persons, being copied and passed on as appropriate, but many titles had come to have multiple versions, both brief and extensive, and many differing lists of titles for the Eighteen Tantras exist. It was in this environment that Nyima Dorje, a minor cleric from gNyi-ba, did the work of putting together an edition of the Tantras of the five early and thirteen later translations that includes two full sets of eighteen Tantras. The first is a collection of extensive versions of each title. This is then supplemented with the quartet of the Cutting through Samsara at the Root cycle, which contains within it summary versions of the eighteen Tantras. The Tantras of the Five Early Translations are in The Filthless Tantra that is Equal to the Sun and Moon. The Tantras of the Thirteen Later Translations are in The Unborn Tantra that is Equal to a Precious Jewel. Nyima Dorje’s edition of the Five Early and Thirteen later Translations was canonized into the Hundred Thousand Tantras of the Ancient Ones (Nyingma Gyubum), which is where these Tantras are found today.In the classification system that divides the Great Perfection literature into three sections: The mind section, the space section, and the upadeśa instruction section, the Eighteen Tantras belong in the mind section, and are considered to be core reading in this area.
Atiyoga: The Eighteen Tantras
Vertaald door Christopher Wilkinson. Omslag Tsering Kelsang.
Lama Christopher Wilkinson begon zijn loopbaan in de Dharma op 15-jarige leeftijd met het afleggen van de toevluchtsgeloften van zijn stamleraar Dezhung Rinpoche. In de jaren die volgden introduceerde Dezhung Rinpoche hem bij Geshe Ngawang Nornang, Lama Kalu Rinpoche, Dilgo Kyentse Rinpoche, Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche, en vele anderen. Christopher identificeerde zich vanaf het begin met de Rime Non-Sectarische beweging.
Na een formele opleiding in Tibetaanse en Sanskriet talen, studeerde hij in 1980 af met een BA in Aziatische Talen en Literatuur en een BA in Vergelijkende Religie aan de Universiteit van Washington. Na twee jaar rondreizen langs de heilige plaatsen van Azië, onder meer in India en Nepal, werkte hij vijf jaar in de vluchtelingenopvang in Seattle, Washington. Omdat hij zich weer wilde verdiepen in boeddhistische studies, ging hij naar de Universiteit van Calgary, waar hij in 1988 zijn MA behaalde.
In 1990 ging Chris naar Sulawesi in Indonesië, waar hij drie jaar lang docent Engels was en onderzoek deed naar het oude Sri Vijaya-rijk. Terug in Amerika werkte hij als Research Associate voor de Shelly and Donald Rubin Foundation, waar hij een kleine rol speelde bij de vroege ontwikkeling van het Rubin Museum. Daarna doceerde hij vijf jaar lang als adjunct-professor aan de Universiteit van Calgary. Hij werd ook gedurende twaalf jaar Research Fellow aan het Centre de Recherches sur les Civilisations de l’Asie Orientale, Collège de France.
Vanaf 2012 begon hij vertalingen van Tibetaanse literatuur uit te brengen, te beginnen met de zeven delen van de Sakya Kongma Serie en momenteel met inbegrip van 30 delen van Grote Perfectie Tantras, en hij gaat nog steeds door met deze inspanning.
