An Overview of the

Five Texts of Maitreya

The Sun Rays that Open the Lotus of the Mahāyāna

by Karl Brunnhölzl

[Link]
 CONTENTS

Maitreya and Asaṅga

The Scriptural Sources

The Five Texts of Maitreya
Indian Commentaries
Main Kagyü and Nyingma Commentaries

The Transmission of the Maitreya Texts

in India and Tibet

The Main Elements of the Yogācāra Teachings

The World is Merely Mind’s Own Play
Mind’s Play has Many Faces
Mind Operates on Three Levels
The Five Dharmas
Mind’s Fundamentally Different Outlook on Itself
Mind’s Three Enlightened Bodies and Four Wisdom Eyes
The Heart of a Buddha

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 Contents

The Contents of the Five Maitreya Texts

1. Abhisamayālaṃkāra
2. Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra
3. Madhyāntavibhāga
4. Dharmadharmatāvibhāga
5. Ratnagotravibhāga (Mahāyānottaratantra)
In sum

Chart: The Fundamental Change of the Eight

Consciousnesses into the Four Wisdoms and the
Three (Four) Kāyas

Select Bibliography
Abhisamayālaṃkāra
Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra
Madhyāntavibhāga
Dharmadharmatāvibhāga
Ratnagotravibhāga (Mahāyānottaratantra)

Copyrights

iv
 MAITREYA AND ASAṄGA

A s a bodhisattva on the tenth bhūmi, Maitreya was one of

the eight major bodhisattvas at the time of Buddha Śākaya-
muni and appears in many sūtras as one of the interlocutors of
the Buddha. His name “The Loving One” indicates his unique
power of love and compassion. It is said that, as soon as he ar-
rived at the entrance to a village or town, through the influ-
ence of his powerful mind full of love, all its inhabitants would
immediately be free of any mental afflictions. Maitreya is said
to reside at present as the regent of Buddha Śākyamuni in the
heavenly realm Tuṣita, from where he will eventually descend to
manifest as the next Buddha on earth.

Tradition has it that Asaṅga (4th century) withdrew from his

monastery into solitary retreat to meditate on universal com-
passion and supplicate Maitreya, mainly out of dissatisfaction
with the state of mahāyāna Buddhism and the two prevailing
interpretations of the dharma in his day. Asaṅga considered the

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 Maitreya and Asaṅga

abhidharma treatises of Nikāya Buddhism as overly realist and

dualistic and the Madhyamaka texts by Nāgārjuna and Āryade-
va as too nihilistic and frightening for many people. He wished
for a true middle way between these extremes through a new
and complete synthetic approach.

After Asaṅga had supplicated and meditated on Maitreya for

twelve years, seeing no result, he gave up and left his cave. On
the way, he saw an old dog infested with maggots, which trig-
gered an overwhelming sense of love and compassion in him
for that animal. He thought the only way to remove the maggots
from the dog’s body without killing them was to lick them up
with his tongue and transfer them onto a piece of his own flesh.
Thus, he cut a piece of flesh from his own thigh and put it on
the ground. When he closed his eyes and bent down to lick up
the maggots, he found his tongue touching the ground instead.
He opened his eyes, and there stood Maitreya in all his splendor
right in front of him. Asaṅga said, “I supplicated and meditated
on you for twelve years, but you never showed up!” Maitreya an-
swered, “I was there the whole time, you were just not ready to
see me because you were too self-absorbed and lacking in com-
passion. If you don’t believe me, put me on your shoulders and
go to the next village.” When Asaṅga arrived there, most people

2
 Maitreya and Asaṅga

did not see anything on his shoulders, a few saw a dog, and one
old woman saw only Maitreya’s feet.

Asaṅga then supplicated Maitreya to teach him, so Maitreya

took him to Tuṣita to impart to him what are now called “the five
texts of Maitreya.” Upon his return to earth, Asaṅga wrote these
teachings down and spread them far and wide in India. Based on
these five texts, he also composed a number of his own works,
which traditionally include the Mahāyānasaṃgraha (Compendi-
um of the Mahāyāna), the Abhidharmasamuccaya (Compendium
of Abhidharma), the vast Yogācārabhūmi (Stages of the Practice of
Yoga), and the fourth Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā (Explication of
the Analysis of the Jewel Disposition).

Asaṅga also converted his younger half-brother Vasubandhu to

the mahāyāna and together they are considered as the found-
ers of the Yogācāra tradition. Vasubandhu commented on three
of the five Maitreya works (see The Scriptural Sources below)
and Asaṅga’s Mahāyānasaṃgraha. He also wrote a number of
independent Yogācāra works (Viṃśatikākārikā, Triṃśikākārikā,
Trisvabhāvanirdeśa, Karmasiddhiprakaraṇa, Pañcaskandhapra-
karaṇa, and Vyākhyāyukti).

3
 THE SCRIPTURAL SOURCES

The Five Texts of Maitreya

According to the Tibetan tradition, the five texts composed by

Maitreya and transmitted by Asaṅga are:

1. ABHISAMAYĀLAṂKĀRA
The Ornament of Clear Realization
2. MAHĀYĀNASŪTRĀLAṂKĀRA
The Ornament of the Mahāyāna Sūtras
3. MADHYĀNTAVIBHĀGA
The Distinction Between the Middle and Extremes
4. DHARMADHARMATĀVIBHĀGA
The Distinction Between Phenomena and the Nature
of Phenomena
5. RATNAGOTRAVIBHĀGA (MAHĀYĀNOTTARATANTRA)
An Analysis of the Jewel Disposition (The Ultimate
Continuum of the Mahāyāna)

4
 The Scriptural Sources

The designation “the five dharmas of Maitreya” is not of Indian

origin, but by the eleventh century at least some Indian texts
considered all five works to be authored by Maitreya. Except
for the Dharmadharmatāvibhāga (of which there is only a frag-
ment), the other four texts are preserved in Sanskrit in their
entirety. During the early translation period in Tibet, only
two among them were translated: the Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra
by Gawa Baldse (Tib. Ka ba dpal brtsegs) and the Madhyānta-
vibhāga by Yeshé Dé (Tib. Ye shes sde; both 8th century). The
remaining three were translated during the 11th century— the
Abhisamayālaṃkāra by Ngog Lotsāwa (Tib. Rngog lo tsā ba), the
Dharmadharmatāvibhāga by Shama Sengé Gyaltsen (Tib. Zha
ma seng ge rgyal mtshan) and Nagtso Lotsāwa (Tib. Nag tsho lo
tsā ba; revised by Su Gawé Dorje (Tib. Gzu dga’ ba’i rdo rje), and
the Uttaratantra by Ngog Lotsāwa and others.

At present, all five texts have been translated into English, to-
gether with a number of Indian and Tibetan commentaries (see
Bibliography).

5
 The Scriptural Sources

Indian Commentaries

Abhisamayālaṃkāra:

• Haribhadra
ABHISAMAYĀLAṂKĀRĀLOKĀ
Illumination of The Orament of Clear Realization
• Haribhadra
ABHISAMAYĀLAṂKĀRANĀMAPRAJÑĀPĀRAMITO-
PADEŚAŚĀSTRAVIVṚTI
Commentary on The Orament of Clear Realization

Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra:

• Vasubandhu
MAHĀYĀNASŪTRĀLAṂKĀRABHĀṢYA
Explication of The Ornament of the Mahāyāna Sūtras
• Sthiramati
SŪTRĀLAṂKĀRAVṚTTIBHĀṢYA
Extensive Commentary on The Ornament of the
Mahāyāna Sūtras
• Asvabhāva
MAHĀYĀNASŪTRĀLAṂKĀRAṬĪKĀ
Subcommentary on The Ornament of the Mahāyāna Sūtras

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 The Scriptural Sources

Madhyāntavibhāga:

• Vasubandhu
MADHYĀNTAVIBHĀGABHĀṢYA
Explication of The Distinction Between the Middle
and Extremes
• Sthiramati
MADHYĀNTAVIBHĀGAṬĪKĀ
Subcommentary on The Distinction Between the Middle
and Extremes

Dharmadharmatāvibhāga:

• Vasubandhu
DHARMADHARMATĀVIBHĀGAVṚTTI
Commentary on The Distinction Between Phenomena and
the Nature of Phenomena

Ratnagotravibhāga (Mahāyānottaratantra):

• Ratnavajra
UTTARATANTRAVṚTTI
Commentary on The Ultimate Continuum

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 The Scriptural Sources

• Sajjana
MAHĀYĀNOTTARATANTRAŚĀSTROPADEŚA
Pith Instruction on the Ultimate Continuum of
the Mahāyāna
• Vairocanarakṣita
MAHĀYĀNOTTARATANTRAṬIPPAṆĪ
Glosses on the Ultimate Continuum of the Mahāyāna

Main Kagyü and Nyingma Commentaries

Abhisamayālaṃkāra:

• The Eighth Karmapa Mikyö Dorje

The Noble One's Resting at Ease
• The Fifth Shamarpa Göncho Yenla
Concise Elucidation of the Ornament of Clear Realization
• Patrul Orgyen Jigme Chökyi Wangpo
General Topics of The Ornament of Clear Realization
• Patrul Orgyen Jigme Chökyi Wangpo
Word Commentary on The Ornament of Clear Realization

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 The Scriptural Sources

Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra:

• Mipham Rinpoche
Explanation of the Intended Meaning of The Ornament of the
Mahāyāna Sūtras: A Feast of the Nectar of the Mahāyāna

Madhyāntavibhāga:

• Mipham Rinpoche
Commentary on The Distinction Between the Middle and
Extremes: Garland of Light

Dharmadharmatāvibhāga:

• The Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje

Ornament that Explains the Distinction Between Phenomena
and the Nature of Phenomena
• Mipham Rinpoche
Commentary on The Distinction Between Phenomena and the
Nature of Phenomena Extremes: Light of Wisdom

Ratnagotravibhāga (Mahāyānottaratantra):

• Gö Lotsāwa
Commentarial Explanation of The Ultimate Continuum of the
Mahāyāna: The Mirror that Clarifies True Reality

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 The Scriptural Sources

• Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye

Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum of the Mahāyāna:
The Lion’s Roar of Irreversibility
• Mipham Rinpoche
Annotational Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum:
The Words from the Mouth of Ajita

10
 THE TRANSMISSION OF THE
MAITREYA TEXTS IN INDIA AND TIBET

A ccording to Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé, the intention of

the sūtras of the third dharmacakra was elucidated by the
four works of Maitreya except the Abhisamayālaṃkāra and also
by Nāgārjuna’s collection of praises. In India, these texts were ex-
plained and spread widely by Asaṅga, Vasubandhu, Candragomī
(6th/7th century), their followers, Ratnākaraśānti, and others.
However, while the general philosophical system of Maitreya’s
texts — the contents of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra, Mahāyānasū-
tralaṃkāra, and Madhyāntavibhāga — was explained in detail
through many excellent teaching traditions (such as those of
Dignāga and Sthiramati), the uncommon philosophical system
of these texts was sustained in such a way that only the supreme
disciples transmitted it orally, with the Dharmadharmatāvibhāga
and Uttaratantra being hidden away as treasure texts.

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 The Transmission of the Maitreya Texts in India and Tibet

These two texts were not known in India until the eleventh cen-
tury, when Maitrīpa is said to have rediscovered them inside an
old stūpa and received instructions on them from Maitreya in
a vision. Maitrīpa saw that the intention of the Uttaratantra
in particular conformed to the Mahāmudrā teachings from his
guru Śavaripa. From Maitrīpa, the Maitreya texts went to paṇḍi-
ta Ānandakīrti, the Kashmiri paṇḍita Sajjana (11th century), and
paṇḍita Jñānaśrī and others.

Sajjana was the elder son of paṇḍita Mahājana and the grandson
of the siddha and paṇḍita Ratnavajra, the central one among
the six gatekeepers of Vikramaśīla, where he mainly taught the
five texts of Maitreya, the works on pramāṇa, and the Buddhist
tantras for many years. He also wrote a still extant commentary
on the Uttaratantra. Sajjana's Mahāyānottaratantraśāstropadeśa
is a versified summary and commentary on the Uttaratantra.
The esteem in which he held the Uttaratantra is illustrated by
his handing Ngog Lotsāwa the folios of the text one by one and
saying that if even a single page of this manuscript were lost, it
would be equal to the passing away of Maitreya.

The five Maitreya works were transmitted from India to Ti-

bet through at least four known lineages — one through Ngog
Lotsāwa, two through Dsen Kawoché (Tib. Btsan kha bo che),

12
 The Transmission of the Maitreya Texts in India and Tibet

and one through Marpa Dopa Chökyi Wangchug (Tib. Mar pa

do pa chos kyi dbang phyug). Both Ngog and Dsen traveled to
Kashmir and studied the Maitreya works with Sajjana at the
same time. Due to its purely scholarly approach, Ngog’s lineage
is often called “the explanatory tradition of the dharma works
of Maitreya” (Tib. byams chos bshad lugs), while Dsen's more ex-
periential approach represents “the meditative tradition of the
dharma works of Maitreya” (Tib. byams chos sgom lugs). The tra-
dition of Marpa Dopa and Parahitabhadra incorporates both
these approaches.

Dsen Kawoché traveled to Kashmir at age fifty-five (1076). When

he met Sajjana, he said, “Since I am old now, I won’t study many
teachings. However, I wish to make the dharmas of Maitreya my
'death dharma.' Therefore, please instruct me properly in them.”
Sajjana taught him the Maitreya works by relying on the trans-
lator Su Gawé Dorje, who is said to have written a (now lost)
commentary on the Uttaratantra based on his notes of Sajjana's
teachings. Su Gawé Dorje also revised an earlier translation of
the Dharmadharmatāvibhāga. Another translator, called Padma
Sengé, also received explanations from Sajjana similar to those
given to Dsen and composed an (equally lost) extensive com-
mentary on the Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra that contained his notes
of Sajjana’s explanations.

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 The Transmission of the Maitreya Texts in India and Tibet

Dsen Kawoché and Su Gawé Dorje taught the Maitreya works to

many masters in central Tibet. In particular, Dsen transmitted
them to a certain Jangrawa (Tib. Lcang ra ba), who taught them
to Tarma Dsöndrü (Tib. Dar ma btson ’grus; 1117–1192), a lineage
holder of The Pacification of Suffering who composed a com-
mentary on the Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra in several volumes (now
lost). This lineage continued through a number of Kadampa and
Jonang masters. According to Jamgön Kongtrul, it reached the
Nyingma and Kagyü schools, when it was transmitted to Gaḥto
Tsewang Norbu (Tib. Kaḥ tog tshe dbang nor bu; 1698–1755) and
the Eighth Situpa, Chökyi Jungné (Tib. Chos kyi ’byung gnas;
1699/1700–1774). Jamgön Kongtrul also received Jonang instruc-
tions directly from Ngawang Chöpel Gyatso (Tib. Ngag bdang
chos ’phel rgya mtsho; c. 1788–1865). From Jamgön Kongtrul,
all these teachings went to his many students in the Nyingma,
Kagyü, and Sakya schools. Among these three schools, the Shen-
tong instructions in this particular lineage are primarily upheld
in the Karma Kagyu tradition.

Gö Lotsāwa (Tib. ’Gos lo tsā ba) also mentions an anonymous Ti-

betan commentary on the Uttaratantra in Dsen’s tradition that
supplemented its explanations of the text with pith instructions
on meditation. There are also several short (still existing) texts
in the Kadampa School that contain pith instructions of the

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 The Transmission of the Maitreya Texts in India and Tibet

Dsen tradition. Also, the great Kashmiri paṇḍita Śākyaśrībhadra

(1140s–1225) gave pith instructions on the five Maitreya works in
Tibet, but they were lost.

The third transmission lineage of the Maitreya texts went from

Dsen Kawoché to someone from southern Ladö (Tib. La stod),
Dopa Nyen (Tib. Do pa snyan), the Kadampa master Mönlam
Tsültrim (Tib. Smon lam tshul khrims), Séu Chökyi Gyaltsen
(Tib. Se’u chos kyi rgyal mtshan), and then continued in the
Kadampa lineage.

The fourth transmission reached Tibet via Parahitabhadra and

Marpa Dopa Chökyi Wangchug. Parahitabhadra, a student of
the Kashmirian Mahāpaṇḍita Somaśrī, also studied Madhyama-
ka with Ratnavajra and was part of the eleventh-century Kash-
mirian paṇḍita scene that was involved with the Maitreya texts
and transmitted them to Tibet. His main Indian student was
Mahāsumati, and he also taught Ngog Lotsāwa, Su Gawé Dor-
je, Marpa Dopa, and many others. Together with them, Parahi-
tabhadra translated or revised many sūtras, tantras, and trea-
tises (more than twenty works in the Tengyur, among them the
Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra and the Dharmadharmatāvibhāga). He
also collaborated with Sajjana, shown by their common revision
of the Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra.

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 The Transmission of the Maitreya Texts in India and Tibet

When Marpa Dopa Chökyi Wangchug traveled to Nepal, he met

Marpa Lotsāwa Chökyi Lodrö (Tib. Mar pa lo tsā ba chos kyi
blo gros), who had just returned from his last journey to India.
Upon requesting teachings from Marpa Lotsāwa, Marpa Dopa
was advised to receive instructions from the other main disci-
ples of Nāropa since Nāropa himself was no longer available.
Later, when he came across a large crowd at Tirhut, he heard
that Nāropa had arrived and offered some gold to him, but
Nāropa just threw it to the ground, silently gazed at him with
wide-open eyes, and thus blessed him. After arriving in Maga-
dha, Marpa Dopa received the empowerment and instructions
of the Cakrasaṃvaratantra from Nāropa’s students Manakaśrī,
Prajñārakṣita, Bodhibhadra, and Pramudavajra. Having heard
numerous teachings from other paṇḍitas, he returned to Ne-
pal and received further instructions on Nāropa’s system from
Pamtingpa Abhayakīrti, his younger brother Vāgīśvara, and
Kanakaśrī, as well as many teachings from Vajrapāṇi (born 1017),
one of Maitrīpa’s four main disciples. Primarily with the help of
paṇḍita Sumatikīrti, Marpa translated numerous texts related
to the Cakrasaṃvara and Vajrayoginī tantras and spread them in
Tibet to many students. He also composed detailed commenta-
ries and summaries of both the basic Cakrasaṃvāratantra and
the Yoginīsañcārya, thus becoming famous for his contributions

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 The Transmission of the Maitreya Texts in India and Tibet

to transmitting the teachings on Cakrasaṃvara. This lineage

eventually reached Butön. Also, one of Gampopa’s main disci-
ples obtained Marpa Dopa’s system of Cakrasaṃvara and com-
posed an extensive commentary based on Gampopa’s instruc-
tions, the basic tantra, and the Yoginīsañcārya.

Marpa Dopa also collaborated with Sajjana’s son Mahājana in

translating some texts by Ratnavajra and Sajjana, as well as with
Ngog Lotsāwa. Thus, Marpa Dopa was familiar with Sajjana's
and Ngog’s tradition, and his contact with Vajrapāṇi marks a
connection between the lineages of Mahāmudrā and the Mai-
treya texts. In this regard, Marpa Dopa’s closeness to other stu-
dents of the teachers of Marpa Lotsāwa is significant too. Mar-
pa Dopa translated all five Maitreya texts and later transmitted
them to the siddha Nyingpugpa Chökyi Tragpa (Tib. Nying phug
pa chos kyi grags pa; 1094–1186), who also received these texts in
the tradition of Dsen Kawoché from Jangrawa.1

 1 For more details on the transmission of the Maitreya texts, see When
the Clouds Part. The Uttaratantra and Its Meditative Tradition as a Bridge between
Sūtra and Tantra, (Boston and London: Snow Lion, 2014, 81–91).

17
 THE MAIN ELEMENTS OF THE
YOGĀCĀRA TEACHINGS

The World is Merely Mind’s Own Play

That the mind is continually involved in the essentially deluded,

dualistic, and illusory activity of projecting or constructing its
own world is highlighted by the Yogācāra terms parikalpa (“con-
ception” or “imagination”) and abhūtaparikalpa (“false imagina-
tion”). Both terms include all eight consciousnesses with their
mental factors and functions, as well as their objects. In essence,
they indicate mind’s own confused play that constantly creates
all kinds of appearances of subject and object.

That everything is mind’s imagination or creation leads to the

most wellknown but also most misunderstood notion of the Yo-
gācāra School ― cittamātra (or vijñaptimātra). It is often taught
that this term means that outer objects do not exist and every-
thing is “mind only” with “mind” being the only thing that re-

18
 The Main Elements of the Yogācāra Teachings

ally or ultimately exists. However, this is not really what the

Yogācāra School itself says (which is not identical with what Ti-
betans usually call the “Mind-Only School”).

Though cittamātra (“mere mind”) or vijñaptimātra (“mere cog-

nizance”) means indeed that the existence of material outer ob-
jects is denied, the full scope and purpose of teaching cittamātra
is much vaster — the realization of personal and phenomenal
identitylessness. In this process, mere mind itself is no exception
to being identityless and is thus ultimately as unreal as anything
else. Cittamātra is not a metaphysical assertion of a transcen-
dental reality consisting of “mind-only” but a description of our
delusion — the dreams of this sleep from which the Buddha has
awakened. If the dream-world saṃsāra is “merely mind,” freedom
and the Buddhist path are possible because we can change our
minds through creating a counter-dream within the dream of
our delusion. Most important, we can wake up from this dream.

That cittamātra is constantly referred to in Yogācāra texts as the

delusional perception of what does not exist (these texts more-
over abound with dreams, illusions, and so on as examples for
it) hardly suggests that it exists in a real or ultimate way. Thus,
the notion of “mere mind” refers only to the mistaken minds
and mental factors of saṃsāra (the realities of suffering and its

19
 The Main Elements of the Yogācāra Teachings

origin) but not to the realities of the path or cessation. Many

Yogācāra works make it clear explicitly and repeatedly that not
only external objects but also “mere mind” does not exist and is
to be relinquished in order to attain the realization of the path
of seeing and eventually buddhahood.

In this context, the four “yogic practices” (Skt. prayoga) in Yo-

gācāra works are the following four steps of realization:

1. Outer objects are observed to be nothing but mind

2. Thus, outer objects are not observed as such
3. With outer objects being unobservable, a mind cognizing
them is not observed either
4. Not observing both, nonduality is observed

This means that stages (1)–(3) — and thus the notion of cit-
tamātra — are progressively dealt with only up through the end
of the path of preparation. Stage (4) marks the path of seeing
(the first bhūmi), on which bodhisattvas have to let go of the
notion of cittamātra as well. In other words, like so many oth-
er Buddhist notions, cittamātra is no exception to simply be-
ing an expedient pedagogic tool to realize a certain level on the
path. However, it is neither the final realization, nor to be rei-
fied in any way (thus becoming an obstacle to this very realiza-

20
 The Main Elements of the Yogācāra Teachings

tion), but to be discarded once its intended function has been

accomplished.

Mind’s Play has Many Faces

False imagination as the most general term for mind’s deluded

mode of operation is further divided in several ways in terms of
its various specific functions. What is described here are dyna-
mic processes and not any kinds of static entities or states. Thus,
when Yogācāras speak about eight consciousnesses (or three na-
tures, five wisdoms, and three kāyas), they in no way mean three,
five, or eight distinct “minds” or even just static properties of a
single mind. Rather, different numbers of consciousness stand
for different functions of the mind, all of which operate as mo-
mentarily impermanent and changing processes, none of which
is truly existent.

The ālaya-consciousness is the most basic ground of saṃsāric

mind, while the other seven consciousnesses (the afflicted mind,
the mental consciousness, and the five sense consciousness-
es) operate out of this ground and engage their respective ob-
jects (which are also nothing but different aspects of this basic
ground). The ālaya-consciousness is nothing but the sum total
of the virtuous, nonvirtuous, and neutral tendencies that make

21
 The Main Elements of the Yogācāra Teachings

up the mind stream of a sentient being. Thus, it is not like a

container separate from its contents, but resembles the con-
stant flow of all the water drops that are labeled “a river.” When
there are dualistic interactions of subjects and objects through
the other seven consciousnesses, the imprints created by them
merge back into and are “stored” in the ālaya, just as waves on
the surface of a river emerge from and remerge into it. This does
not mean that the ālaya actively creates anything, it is just the
dynamic network of various causes and conditions interacting,
otherwise known as dependent origination. In this way, it is said
to be equivalent to fundamental ignorance and the karma accu-
mulated by it, thus serving as the basis for all saṃsāric appear-
ances and experiences, which at the same time represents the
sum of all factors to be relinquished in order to attain nirvāṇa.

The afflicted mind is simply another expression for mind not

recognizing its own nature. Technically speaking, it is the con-
sciousness that solely focuses inward and thus mistakes the emp-
ty aspect of the ālaya-consciousness as being a self and its lucid
aspect as what is “other.” Usually, we think that not seeing or
recognizing something is due to being too far away from it, but
the afflicted mind is the most fundamental case of not recogniz-
ing something due to being too close to it. This is the starting
point of fundamental subject-object duality, which then rami-

22
 The Main Elements of the Yogācāra Teachings

fies into the appearances of the remaining six consciousnesses

and their objects, all of them being constantly filtered and af-
flicted through this basic self-concern. Thus, the afflicted mind
is constantly associated with four afflictions — ignorance, the
views about a real personality, self-conceit, and attachment to a
self. Since the afflicted mind — the grasping at “me” and “mine”
— is the root of all other afflictions, it must be relinquished in
order to attain liberation from saṃsāra.

Though the term “mentation” is primarily used for the afflict-

ed mind in Yogācāra texts, it is also generally used for the men-
tal sense faculty (equivalent to the immediate condition) in the
sense of any of the first six consciousnesses having just ceased. In
brief, “mentation” can either designate the mental sense faculty,
the afflicted mind, or the seventh consciousness as consisting
of both the afflicted mind and the immediate condition of the
mental consciousness. Thus, it is said that one aspect of menta-
tion — the afflicted mind — is the support for consciousness be-
ing afflicted, while the other aspect of mentation (its being the
mental sense faculty) is what triggers all kinds of consciousness.

23
 The Main Elements of the Yogācāra Teachings

Mind Operates on Three Levels

The three natures or characteristics are the main Yogācāra tem-

plate to explain mind’s operational modes when deluded and un-
deluded. They are the imaginary nature, the dependent nature,
and the perfect nature. Yogācāra texts present us with a great
number of sometimes very different presentations of what these
three natures are and how they are interrelated. However, if we
keep in mind that all of these models describe processes rath-
er than three clearly separate and fixed things or realities, their
descriptions are not contradictory but just emphasize different
aspects of the same dynamics (similar to describing the features
of the ever-changing and interacting movements of waves on the
ocean versus the static features of a book).

The dependent nature is the process or experiential structure in

which the world presents itself as a seeming (delusive) reality for
beings whose minds have a dualistic perceptual structure (which
is the imaginary nature). The perfect nature is the underlying
fundamental process or structure of mind’s true nature and its
own expressions as they are unwarped by said dualistic percep-
tual structure. In other words, the dependent nature is the basic
“stuff” or stratum all our saṃsāric experiences and appearances
are made of. It is the mistaken imagination that appears as the

24
 The Main Elements of the Yogācāra Teachings

unreal entities of subject and object because these are appear-

ances in dependence on the latent tendencies of ignorance. The
dependent nature appears as the outer world with its various
beings and objects, our body, the sense consciousnesses that per-
ceive these objects and the conceptual consciousness that thinks
about them, the clinging to a personal self and real phenomena,
and the mental events (such as feelings) that accompany all these
consciousnesses (the ālaya-consciousness is sometimes said to be
an equivalent of the dependent nature). Thus, false imagination
is what creates the basic split of bare experience into seemingly
real perceivers that apprehend seemingly real objects. This duali-
ty of subject and object — the imaginary nature — does not even
exist on the level of seeming reality, but the mind that creates
this split does exist and function on this level. However, the de-
pendent nature in no way exists ultimately since it is repeatedly
described as illusionlike and so on. It is said to be what is to be
relinquished, while the perfect nature is what is to be revealed.

The imaginary nature covers the entire range of what is superim-

posed (consciously or unconsciously) by false imagination onto
the various appearances of the dependent nature. This starts
from the most basic gut-level sense of subject-object duality —
the very fact that, for example, sense objects naturally seem to
appear to be “out there” and the perceiver is “here,” people natu-

25
 The Main Elements of the Yogācāra Teachings

rally thinking and instinctively acting in terms of “me” and “oth-

ers,” and standard notions such as “my body” or “my mind.” Pro-
gressively coarser levels of mistaken overlays include more rei-
fied conscious notions of a self and really existent phenomena
up through the most rigid belief systems about what we and the
world are. Thus, what appear as our own body and mind form
the bases for imputing a personal self. What appear as other be-
ings, outer objects, and the consciousnesses that relate to them
provide the bases for imputing really existent phenomena. All
of these exist only conventionally, as nominal objects for the du-
alistic consciousnesses of ordinary sentient beings, but are not
established as really existent.

The perfect nature is emptiness in the sense that what appears

as dependent false imagination is primordially never established
as the imaginary nature. As the ultimate object and the true na-
ture of the dependent nature, this emptiness is the sphere of
nonconceptual wisdom, which is nothing other than phenome-
nal identitylessness. It is called “perfect” because it never chang-
es into something else, is the supreme among all dharmas, and
is the focal object of prajñā during the process of purifying the
mind from adventitious stains. Just as space, it is without any
distinctions, but conventionally it may be presented as twofold
— the unchanging perfect nature (suchness) and the unmistaken

26
 The Main Elements of the Yogācāra Teachings

perfect nature (the nondual nonconceptual wisdom that realizes

this suchness). At times, the perfect nature is also equated with
the luminous nature of mind free from adventitious stains or
buddha nature.

It is important to understand that the template of the three na-

tures is not so much an ontological model but primarily a soter-
iological one. This becomes even clearer when the three natures
are also referred to as “lack of nature” and “emptiness.” That is,
the imaginary, dependent, and perfect natures, represent the
lack of nature in terms of characteristics, the lack of nature in
terms of arising, and the ultimate lack of nature, respectively.
Thus, according to Yogācāra, the prajñāpāramitā sūtras' key no-
tion “lack of nature” is not to be understood literally in the sense
of nothing existing at all. Rather, it needs to be interpreted cor-
rectly through understanding this threefold lack of nature in or-
der to relinquish the extremes of superimposition and denial,
that is, to prevent clinging to (1) the existence of the imaginary
nature and (2) the nonexistence of those phenomena whose na-
ture it is to be inexpressible.

This points to two of the main misconceptions that explain why

the Yogācāras saw a need to interpret the message of the pra-
jñāpāramitā sūtras in terms of the three natures. Since these

27
 The Main Elements of the Yogācāra Teachings

sūtras themselves teach one to reject what is afflicted and prac-

tice or adopt what is pure, in terms of the path it makes no
sense to simply take emptiness to mean that nothing whatsoev-
er exists on any level of reality because then there is nothing to
adopt or to reject. Thus, given the emptiness of all phenomena
on the ultimate level, the existence of skandhas, karmic actions,
a person, adopting, rejecting, and so on can only be, and must
be, accepted on the level of seeming reality. However, within
that level, one needs to further distinguish clearly between mere
imaginary labels (such as the person) and the functional phe-
nomena (such as skandhas and actions) that are taken as the
bases for such labeling and perform the functions to be worked
with on the path, even though both do not exist ultimately (nei-
ther does the path, which nevertheless leads to the realization of
the ultimate).

In brief, just as when mistaking the moving colors and shapes in

a movie for a story line with actual persons and all their emo-
tions and so on, the imaginary nature stands for the illusory dis-
play of dualistic appearances that do not really exist in the first
place, let alone having any characteristics of their own. There-
fore, it is called “the lack of nature in terms of characteristics.”
Just as the mere movement of those shapes and colors on the
screen, the dependent nature consists of dependently originat-

28
 The Main Elements of the Yogācāra Teachings

ing appearances which means that they appear in an illusion-

like manner but are without any nature of their own and do not
“really” arise. Thus, the dependent nature is called “the lack of
nature in terms of arising.” The perfect nature is “the ultimate
lack of nature,” which has two aspects. First, although there is
no personal identity, the perfect nature is what functions as the
path that remedies the notion of a personal identity. Just as an
illusory ship can be used to cross an illusory ocean, it serves as
the means to cross the ocean of saṃsāra to the other shore of nir-
vāṇa. In terms of dependent origination, this remedial or path
aspect is actually contained within the dependent nature, but
since it is the cause for realizing the ultimate, it is included here
in the category of “the ultimate lack of nature.” The second as-
pect of the perfect nature is the one by virtue of which enlight-
enment is attained through actively engaging in it and is undif-
ferentiable from phenomenal identitylessness. Like space, it is
omnipresent and not established as anything whatsoever (just
as the colors and shapes in a movie are nothing but the display
of photons, which are ultimately unfindable). This aspect is “the
ultimate lack of nature” per se.

However, while the Madhyamaka system greatly tends to speak

only about the objective side of this “ultimate lack of nature,”
the Yogācāra tradition also emphasizes its subjective side. In

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 The Main Elements of the Yogācāra Teachings

other words, the lack of nature or emptiness is not just limited

to being something like the bare fact of photons being unfind-
able, but there is an awareness or experience of this very fact.
Needless to say, for Yogācāras too, the true realization of the ul-
timate lack of nature also entails the emptiness or unfindability
of that very experience, but any realization of this has to happen
in the mind — it is not just an abstract fact like a mathemati-
cal equation at which no one looks. Fundamentally, all pheno-
mena, including one’s mind, have always been, are, and will be
empty, but this fact alone makes nobody a buddha, unless it is
made into an incontrovertible, allpervasive, and personal expe-
rience of boundless freedom and compassion that is as natural
an outlook informing all one’s actions as it is for ordinary be-
ings to experience themselves and the world as real, dualistic,
and suffering.

On the level of seeming reality, the imaginary nature is just

nominally existent, while the dependent nature is substantially
existent in the sense of what conventionally performs functions.
The perfect nature does not exist in any of these two ways but
is the ultimate incontrovertible state of mind experiencing its
own true nature. By definition, this personally experienced wis-
dom is in itself completely without any reference points, such
as its existing or not existing. For these reasons, the imaginary

30
 The Main Elements of the Yogācāra Teachings

nature is also called “the emptiness of the nonexistent,” the de-

pendent nature “the emptiness of the existent,” and the perfect
nature “the ultimate or natural emptiness.”

Thus, just as in the case of the notion of cittamātra, the three

natures are to be progressively engaged as the bodhisattva path,
with each one to be transcended by the following one. Hence,
one of the main reasons for speaking about the three natures
and the dependent nature in particular is to account for the pro-
cess of mind progressing from its mistaken state to unmistaken
freedom, which takes place within the dependently originating
structure of the dependent nature through realizing the nonex-
istence of the imaginary nature and revealing or becoming im-
mersed in the perfect nature instead. From the perspective of
the path, the imaginary nature is to be known for what it is —
utterly nonexistent, the dependent nature is to be relinquished
in the sense of mind ceasing to create dualistic appearances, and
the perfect nature is that which is to be manifested or realized,
which is simply the true nature of the first two natures, once the
dependent nature ceases to project the imaginary nature. This is
what is called “the fundamental change” (see below).

In brief, all the different models of the three natures can be sum-
marized into two, (1) the pivotal model and (2) the progressive

31
 The Main Elements of the Yogācāra Teachings

model. The “pivot” in (1) is the dependent nature, with the imagi-
nary and perfect natures just being its two “extreme” poles of how
it mistakenly appears and actually is. Model (2) refers to the three
natures as three levels of reality, progressing from dualistic delu-
sion to nondual freedom from delusion, as well as the realizations
of these levels as outlined in the four yogic practices above.

The Five Dharmas

Another typical Yogācāra way to classify all phenomena is found

in “the five dharmas.” Among these:
1. “Names” are mere designations, such as “book.”
2. “Causal features” (Skt. nimitta can mean both “cause” and
“characteristic” and is to be understood in this double
sense here) refer to the bases for such designations, that
is, dualistically appearing entities that, on the level of
seeming reality, perform functions and have certain
characteristics (such as an actual book that we can read).
3. “Conception” in this context is a collective term for the
eight kinds of consciousness including their mental factors.
4. “Perfect wisdom” bears this name because it is the
nonconceptual wisdom that is the perceiving subject
of suchness.

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 The Main Elements of the Yogācāra Teachings

5. “Suchness” — the dharmadhātu or identitylessness — is

the ultimate object to be focused on through the path or
nonconceptual wisdom.

Among these: (1) corresponds to the imaginary nature, (2)–(3)

make up the other-dependent nature, and (4)–(5) represent the
perfect nature. That is, perfect wisdom (“the unmistaken perfect
nature”) and suchness (“the unchanging perfect nature”) consti-
tute the ultimate subject and object, respectively. Needless to
say, this explanation of the perfect nature as two is a pedagogical
device to describe what is ultimately realized and what realizes
it from the dualistic perspective of ordinary beings, but in no
way implies any notion of a separate subject and object at the
level of a buddha’s mind realizing, or rather constituting, ulti-
mate reality.

Mind’s Fundamentally Different Outlook on Itself

The term “fundamental change” (Skt. āśrayaparivṛtti) is often

rendered as “transformation,” but as far as the dharmadhātu, na-
tural purity, buddha nature, or the luminous nature of the mind
are concerned, the whole point of this notion of “fundamental
change” is that there is absolutely no transformation of anything
into anything else. Rather, the revelation of mind’s primordially

33
 The Main Elements of the Yogācāra Teachings

pure nature only manifests as a change from the perspective of

the deluded mind — mind seeming to be obscured before and
then unobscured later. But this does not refer to any change in
nature, just as the sun first being covered by clouds and then be-
ing free from clouds is not called a transformation of the clouds
into the sun, or even any transformation of the sun itself. It is
solely from the perspective of those who watch the sun that its
state seems to have changed (being with and without clouds, re-
spectively). Thus, there is no change in nature or substance but
only a revelation of the way things actually have always been,
once the delusion of what is projected onto this is seen through.
As far as the notion of “fundamental change” refers to this pro-
cess of uncovering mind’s fundamental nature, even when it is
sometimes described as if there were a transformation of some-
thing impure (such as the skandhas or the afflictions) into some-
thing pure (such as the pure skandhas or wisdoms), this is just a
conventional or expedient way of teaching.

The fundamental change always entails both a negative (relin-

quishment) and a positive aspect (attainment, purity), usually
designating both a process and its result (cause and effect). By
keeping in mind that the term “fundamental change” in Yogācāra
texts sometimes refers to the first and sometimes to the second
aspect, seeming contradictions in different ways of describing

34
 The Main Elements of the Yogācāra Teachings

or applying this term are resolved. In other words, “fundament”

or “foundation” may either refer to the ālaya-consciousness (or
all eight consciousnesses, or adventitious stains) as that which
changes from the perspective of the path. Or, it may be under-
stood as nonconceptual wisdom, buddha nature, or the dhar-
madhātu as the very state within which any “change” takes place
but which itself remains changeless. Still, in terms of the eight
consciousnesses or adventitious stains, there is no real change
since all of them are delusive and illusionlike and thus actually
nonexistent in the first place — the only “change” is the reali-
zation of exactly this fact. Thus, at any given time on the path,
there is never any change in substance or nature (both on the
sides of what is to be relinquished and what is to be attained).
All that happens is a cognitive change or a change in one’s out-
look toward oneself and the world.

These two aspects also represent the two reasons why, from the
perspective of the path, any change is possible at all. First, what
seems to “change” (the adventitious stains) can appear to change
precisely because it is merely an unreal and deceiving mental
construct in the first place. Secondly, these fictitious mental
projections are only superimposed onto, and occur nowhere else
than within, the undeceiving ground of true reality, which is
their actual nature, just to be revealed. This natural state is noth-

35
 The Main Elements of the Yogācāra Teachings

ing other than buddhahood or the dharmakāya, which is not just

some indifferent state of lacking some things and seeing others
but the most fundamental freedom and insight that can possibly
be experienced, which is naturally immensely joyful.

Mind’s Three Enlightened Bodies and

Four Wisdom Eyes

The nature and the functions of buddhahood as the realization

of ultimate reality are described as the four wisdoms, which
represent the cognitive processes within the all-encompassing
dharmadhātu that result in the two rūpakāyas performing en-
lightened activity within the dharmakāya. This description once
again highlights that buddhahood is not an inactive or inert
state. All of this is presented in the Yogācāra format of the fun-
damental change in terms of the eight consciousnesses on the
one side and the four wisdoms or the three kāyas on the other.
As explained before, this does not mean any miraculous transfor-
mation of something really bad into something excellent. Still,
conventionally speaking, it is taught that upon being purified
(or realized to be adventitious), the ālaya-consciousness mani-
fests as mirrorlike wisdom, the afflicted mind as the wisdom
of equality, the mental consciousness as discriminating wisdom,
and the five sense consciousnesses as allaccomplishing wisdom.

36
 The Main Elements of the Yogācāra Teachings

Most fundamentally, once the emptiness in these consciousness-

es has become pure, the dharmadhātu is completely pure. In oth-
er words, the fundamental change of the eight consciousnesses
takes place within the basic space of the dharmadhātu while al-
ways being inseparable from it.

The set of the four wisdoms plus the pure dharmadhātu and the
set of the three kāyas are absolutely equivalent ― both describe
complete buddhahood with all its qualities. Thus, the pure dhar-
madhātu as the very nature of buddhahood is equivalent to the
svābhāvikakāya. When the stains of apprehender and appre-
hended in the ālaya-consciousness have been relinquished and
thus the dharmadhātu has become mirrorlike wisdom, this is
called “dharmakāya.” The sambhogakāya refers to the afflicted
mind having fundamentally changed and thus having become
the wisdom of equality, as well as the mental consciousness hav-
ing changed and thus having become discriminating wisdom.
This is called “enjoyment body” because it provides the great en-
joyment of the dharma for bodhisattvas who have entered the
bhūmis. The nirmāṇakāya represents the fundamental change
of the five sense consciousnesses and all-accomplishing wisdom,
demonstrating the twelve deeds of a buddha and bringing sen-
tient beings to spiritual maturity.

37
 The Main Elements of the Yogācāra Teachings

In this way, the four wisdoms and the three kāyas are nothing
but divisions in terms of the functional aspects of buddhahood,
which in itself is the single indivisible purity of the dharmadhātu.
Thus, the four wisdoms are the processes that represent the main
functional activities of the single nonconceptual wisdom of a
buddha, cooperating with and supplementing each other.

• MIRRORLIKE WISDOM is like an all-encompassing TV

screen that simply reflects what is there, thus providing the
“raw data” to be processed and used.
• DISCRIMINATING WISDOM means to intently look
at this screen and clearly see all its distinct data without
getting confused or mixing them up.
• THE WISDOM OF EQUALITY refers to being empathic but
lacking any kind of judgment about the data seen on the
screen, as well as making no difference between seer and seen.
• ALL-ACCOMPLISHING WISDOM represents the resultant
impulse to altruistically act upon what is seen.

In other words, nonconceptual buddha wisdom reflects all sen-

tient beings and phenomena within a buddha’s field of activity
without any bias and personal concern (mirrorlike wisdom). At
the same time, this nonconceptual wisdom perceives and clearly

38
 The Main Elements of the Yogācāra Teachings

discerns all these beings and phenomena in every minute detail,

just as they are, without any personal projections or superim-
positions (discriminating wisdom). Nonconceptual wisdom is
also completely nondual, which not only refers to its perceptual
structure (no subject-object duality), but also to its “affective”
structure. It neither takes saṃsāra as something bad to be avoid-
ed, nor nirvāṇa as something good to dwell in. It lacks any at-
tachment and aversion to anybody or anything, and instead sees
the buddha nature of all beings, which is not different in essence
from a buddha’s very own state, thus being naturally loving and
compassionate toward all those who do not see this (the wisdom
of equality). By virtue of all these features, nonconceptual wis-
dom is the most efficient mental mode of operation possible,
which underlies everything that, from the perspective of those
to be benefited, appears as a buddha’s helpful activity in an ef-
fortless, unpremeditated, and uninterrupted way (all-accom-
plishing wisdom).

The Heart of a Buddha

In the term tathāgatagarbha (loosely meaning “buddha nature”),

tathāgata can be read as “a thus-gone/thus-come one” or “one
gone/come to thusness,” with the former emphasizing the as-
pect of the path and the latter the result. Garbha literally means

39
 The Main Elements of the Yogācāra Teachings

“embryo,” “germ,” “womb,” “the interior or middle of anything,”

“having in the interior,” “containing,” or “being filled with.” It
can also mean “core,” “heart,” “pith,” and “essence.” Thus, tathāga-
tagarbha can be understood as either “containing a tathāgata (as
one’s core, essence, or heart)” or “the core, essence, or heart of a
tathāgata.” Tathāgatagarbha is often equated with suchness, the
dharmadhātu, the disposition (gotra), mind’s natural luminosi-
ty, as well as emptiness. It is described as the completely non-
substantial yet naturally luminous nature of the mind that is
only adventitiously obscured by illusory stains but completely
changeless in its own nature and endowed with all the immea-
surable qualities of a buddha, such as limitless wisdom, com-
passion, and altruistic power. This buddha nature exists in all
sentient beings equally but is not recognized by them. There-
fore, they experience wandering through the different realms of
saṃsāra. Once it has become freed from its adventitious obscu-
rations, it is nothing other than buddhahood.2

 2 For more details on all these topics, see Luminous Heart (Snow Lion
Publications 2009, 12–78), In Praise of Dharmadhātu (Snow Lion Publications
2007, 57–109), Gone Beyond. Vol. 1. (Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications,
2010, 428–88), Mining for Wisdom within Delusion (Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion
Publications 2012, 52–157) and When the Clouds Part. The Uttaratantra and Its
Meditative Tradition as a Bridge between Sūtra and Tantra, (Boston and London:
Snow Lion, 2014, 53–79).

40
 THE CONTENTS OF
THE FIVE MAITREYA TEXTS

M aitreya’s works are crucial and celebrated because they

provide a comprehensive overview of all the essential ele-
ments of mahāyāna motivation, view, meditation, conduct, and
fruition in a very concise form. Thus, they resemble zip-files that
contain all the profound and vast topics of the entire mahāyāna.
Being classical Indian works, they are not exactly “light bedtime
reading,” but together with their commentaries (the extractors
of the zip-files) they paint a complete and detailed picture of
mahāyāna Buddhism.

1. Abhisamayālaṃkāra

The first of these five texts in their traditional order, The Orna-
ment of Clear Realization, is a digest of the Prajñāpāramitāsūtra
in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines, blending the message of the pra-
jñāpāramitā sūtras with Yogācāra templates of different levels of

41
 The Contents of the Five Maitreya Texts

afflictive and cognitive obscurations, various paths as their reme-

dies, and the qualities of buddhahood as their fruition. Thus,
the text comments on both emptiness (the object or the explic-
it meaning) as taught in the prajñāpāramitā sūtras and what
happens in the minds of bodhisattvas who familiarize with this
emptiness on the paths and bhūmis (the subject or the hidden
meaning). Being the most complex text among the five, it com-
bines the profundity of emptiness with the vastness of all paths
of śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas.

Essentially, the Abhisamayālaṃkāra is a giant table of contents

for the Prajñāpāramitāsūtra in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines,
while fitting each of its sections into its proper place within the
progressive stages of the path to buddhahood. This is reflected in
the structure of the text, which consists of eight chapters or top-
ics — “the eight clear realizations” — branching out into seven-
ty points, which are further divided into about 1,200 subpoints.
The eight topics are:
1. The knowledge of all aspects (sarvākārajñatā)
2. The knowledge of the path (mārgajñatā)
3. The all-knowledge (sarvajñatā)
4. The full realization of all aspects (sarvākārābhisaṃbhoda)

42
 The Contents of the Five Maitreya Texts

5. The culminating clear realization (mūrdhābhisamaya)

6. The serial clear realization (ānupūrvikābhisamaya)
7. The clear realization in a single instant
(ekakṣaṇābhisamaya)
8. The dharmakāya

Among these eight topics, (1)–(3) represent what is to be known

and realized on the path to buddhahood; (4)–(7) are the four
kinds of trainings or yogic practices as the means to realize (1)–
(3); and (8) discusses the fruition of these trainings.

1. The knowledge of all aspects

The knowledge of all aspects refers to a buddha’s realization of

all aspects, signs, and characteristics of all phenomena being un-
born. This means being omniscient about all aspects of the true
nature of phenomena and the entire variety of seeming appear-
ances. In itself, the knowledge of all aspects encompasses all the
remaining seven topics of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra. However,
though the knowledge of all aspects is in essence nothing but
the fruition of the bodhisattva path, the text presents it in ret-
rospect, that is, through the ten sets of causes on the bodhisattva
path that, when practically engaged in, eventually lead to the at-

43
 The Contents of the Five Maitreya Texts

tainment of this knowledge and then also make up its intrinsic

constituents. The ten points of the knowledge of all aspects are:

1. Generating bodhicitta
2. The tenfold instructions on how to practically apply
bodhicitta
3. The path of preparation (“the branches conducive
to penetration”)
4. The foundation of practice (the “disposition”
for buddhahood)
5. Tthe focal object or vast scope of mahāyāna practice
6. The aim of this practice
7. Armorlike practice
8. The ninefold practice of engagement
9. The practice of the seventeen equipments
10. The eightfold practice of final deliverance

2. The knowledge of the path

The knowledge of the path means that, while bodhisattvas

travel through the five paths of the mahāyāna and in particu-

44
 The Contents of the Five Maitreya Texts

lar through the ten bhūmis, they realize that all three types of
paths — those of śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas
— are primordially unborn and without any nature of their own.
This knowledge also refers to all the activities performed on the
bodhisattva path and primarily serves as the remedy for the cog-
nitive obscurations, eventually resulting in the knowledge of all
aspects. The eleven points of the knowledge of the path are:

1. The five causes for the knowledge of the path

2. The paths of śrāvakas
3. The path of pratyekabuddhas
4. The mahāyāna path of seeing
5. The function of the mahāyāna path of familiarization
6. The path of familiarization as aspiration
7. The path of familiarization as praise, eulogy, and laudation
8. The path of familiarization as dedication
9. The path of familiarization as rejoicing
10. The path of familiarization in terms of accomplishment
11. The pure path of familiarization

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3. The knowledge of entities

Simply put, the knowledge of all entities refers to the full reali-
zations of śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha arhats that serve as the
remedy for the afflictive obscurations, being the knowledge that
all entities — skandhas, dhātus, and āyatanas — are empty of a
personal self. In the Abhisamayālaṃkāra, however, the full scope
of the knowledge of entities refers to the perspective of bodhi-
sattvas (and buddhas), which includes their being fully aware of
both the antagonistic factors and the remedies in the context of
the knowledge of the path. This means that, from the perspective
of the bodhisattva path, the above realizations of śrāvakas and
pratyekabuddhas (their knowledge of the path) make up the an-
tagonistic factors discussed here because these realizations still
entail apprehending characteristics, while their remedies (the
knowledge of the path of bodhisattvas) essentially consist of be-
ing free from apprehending any characteristics. Though the ways
in which śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas gain their realizations
are not to be cultivated by bodhisattvas and buddhas as some-
thing that leads to their own specific realizations on the path of
the mahāyāna (and in fact are to be relinquished by them), they
nevertheless need to know these ways in order to help and teach
those on the paths of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas. The nine
points of the knowledge of entities are:

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1. and 2. Dwelling in neither saṃsāra nor nirvāṇa

3. The knowledge of entities of śrāvakas and
pratyekabuddhas being far from prajñāpāramitā
4. The knowledge of entities of bodhisattvas being close to
prajñāpāramitā
5. The antagonistic factors (the knowledge of entities of
śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas)
6. The remedy (the knowledge of entities of bodhisattvas)
7. The trainings in nonreferential meditative equipoise
8. The training in equality
9. The path of seeing of bodhisattvas

4. The complete training in all aspects

The complete training in, or full realization of, all aspects re-
fers to actually engaging in the practice of all the points of the
three knowledges (1)–(3). It is the combined familiarization with
all entities, all paths, and all aspects, including their respective
knowledges, as being without nature in order to realize the three
knowledges. The Abhisamayālaṃkāra discusses the one hundred
and seventy-three aspects of all three knowledges in terms of

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practicing, realizing, and mastering them in their entirety. The

eleven points of the complete training in all aspects are:
1. The aspects of the training
2. The nature of the training
3. Fourteen distinct qualities
4. Forty-six flaws
5. The defining characteristics of the training
6. The mahāyāna path of accumulation (“the factors
conduciveto liberation”)
7. The path of preparation (“the factors conducive
to penetration”)
8. The persons who cultivate the training
9. The training in realizing saṃsāra and nirvāṇa as equality
10. The training in pure realms
11. The training in skill in means

5) The culminating training

The culminating training, or culminating clear realization, rep-

resents the highest forms of familiarization with all entities, all

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paths, and all aspects as being without nature, which take place
on the paths of preparation, seeing, and familiarization, respec-
tively. In other words, it consists of the various levels of “break-
through experiences” and their signs that manifest on the pro-
gressive paths of bodhisattvas as the results of their cultivating
the complete training in all aspects. The eight points of the cul-
minating training are:

1. The culminating training of the level of heat of the path

of preparation
2. The culminating training of the level of peak
3. The culminating training of poised readiness
4. The culminating training of the supreme dharma
5. The culminating training of the path of seeing
6. The culminating training of the path of familiarization
7. The culminating training of the final uninterrupted path
of the path of familiarization
8. Sixteen mistaken notions in terms of the two realities
seeming to be contradictory

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6) The serial training

As for the serial training in a general sense, it is a brief overview

of the sequential nature of the entire path, emphasizing the pro-
gressive stabilization of momentary and culminating insights in
terms of all the different aspects of the three knowledges. More
specifically, it refers to being able to train in all these aspects to-
gether in a very swift sequential manner due to one’s great famil-
iarity with them. The thirteen points of the serial training are:

1. to 6. Practicing the six pāramitās

7. Recollecting the Buddha
8. Recollecting virtuous, nonvirtuous, and neutral dharmas
9. Recollecting the saṃgha of irreversible bodhisattvas
10. Recollecting ethics
11. Recollecting giving
12. Recollecting the noble ones who appear as deities
13. The training in realizing the nature of the lack of entity

7. The instantaneous training

The instantaneous training, or the clear realization in a single

instant, refers to a bodhisattva’s simultaneous realization of all

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aspects of the three knowledges in the vajralike samādhi during

the last moment of the tenth bhūmi, which is immediately fol-
lowed by the attainment of buddhahood. This training is the
natural culminating outflow of training (6), in particular due
to having cultivated all the pāramitās in a sequential manner. In
terms of its nature, the instantaneous training cannot be divid-
ed, but by way of its general characteristics, isolates, or distinct
capacities, it is fourfold:

1. The instantaneous training in terms of nonmaturation

2. The instantaneous training in terms of maturation
3. The instantaneous training in terms of the lack
of characteristics
4. The instantaneous training in terms of nonduality

8. The dharmakāya

The last topic discusses the final fruition of the four trainings —
buddhahood — as the three (or four) kāyas and their enlightened
activity. The primary buddhakāya is the dharmakāya. In terms
of its nature and purity, it is referred to as the svābhāvikakāya;
in terms of its enjoyment of the dharma of the mahāyāna, as the
sāmbhogikakāya; and in terms of its manifesting in all kinds of

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pure and impure forms in various realms, as the nairmāṇika-

kāya. The four points of this chapter are:

1. The svābhāvikakāya
2. The sāmbhogikakāya
3. The nairmāṇikakāya
4. Enlightened activity

In sum, the teachings on the three knowledges serve to cut

through doubts about what is to be known and practiced, with
the respectively higher ones among the three knowledges in-
cluding the lower. They are taught in order to know what is to be
made a living experience — that all entities (skandhas, dhātus,
and āyanatas), paths, and aspects are unborn. The four trainings
are the means to make the three knowledges a living experience,
and the dharmakāya is taught as the outcome of these trainings.

2. Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra

Roughly speaking, The Ornament of Mahāyāna Sūtras as the by

far longest one of the Maitreya works (864 verses) is a synopsis
of all the topics of those mahāyāna sūtras that are not covered
by The Ornament of Clear Realization and the Ultimate Contin-

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uum of the Mahāyāna. In brief, the text presents the vast and
profound details of bodhisattva motivation, view, meditation,
conduct, and fruition.

Twenty-one chapters of the Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra:

CHAPTER 1 establishes the authenticity of the mahāyāna as be-

ing a genuine teaching of the Buddha.

CHAPTER 2 discusses taking refuge in the Buddha, the dharma,

and the sangha.

CHAPTER 3 explains the nature and the divisions of the dispo-

sition (gotra) from a Yogācāra point of view (disposition mean-
ing “roots of virtue”).

CHAPTER 4 treats the characteristics, types, and greatness of

generating bodhicitta.

CHAPTER 5 discusses the characteristics of the practice of

bodhisattvas in a general way.

CHAPTER 6 sixth explains the characteristics of true reality, its

nature of identitylessness, and how bodhisattvas enter the direct
realization of true reality.

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CHAPTER 7 speaks about the various powers of bodhisattvas.

CHAPTER 8 presents the signs of the maturity of bodhisattvas.

CHAPTER 9 discusses buddha awakening or omniscience in de-

tail through its characteristics, the notion of fundamental change,
its activity, the profundity and perfection of the uncontaminated
dharmadhātu, its many forms of mastery through the fundamen-
tal change of the eight consciousnesses, the three buddhakāyas,
the four buddha wisdoms and their causes, the manner of attain-
ing buddhahood, and the unity of the enlightened activity of all
buddhas.

CHAPTER 10 explains the different types of confidence (or

faith), its obscurations, its benefits, and its fruitions.

CHAPTER 11 is about investigating the dharma (sūtra, vinaya,

and abhidharma) in various ways through investigating the focal
object (the dharma itself), the mental engagement, true reality,
the illusionlike nature of phenomena, knowable objects, afflict-
ed and purified phenomena, mere cognizance, characteristics,
liberation, the lack of nature, the single yāna, and nourishing the
dharmadhātu. This chapter also discusses the three natures and
the results of the fundamental change of the ālaya-consciousness
and the afflicted mind.

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CHAPTER 12 deals with teaching the dharma in terms of mo-

tivation, usefulness and uselessness, perfection of teaching, dif-
ferentiation of various intentions and flexible intentions of the
teachings, and the benefits.

CHAPTER 13 explains the practice of bodhisattvas in terms of

its distinctions, its types, its scope of awareness, liberation from
the afflictions through the afflictions themselves, relinquishing
the mindsets of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, overcoming fear
of phenomena’s lack of nature and natural purity, overcoming
the concern that bodhisattvas commit wrongdoings driven by
desire, and the purification of the three spheres (agent, object,
and action).

CHAPTER 14 on instructions and directions refers to the cul-

mination of the training of bodhisattvas, that is, seeking for in-
structions and directions, as well as sharing them with others,
in order to bring the paths of seeing and familiarization to their
culmination and purify them.

CHAPTER 15 briefly discusses bodhisattva activity in its being

associated with skillful means.

CHAPTER 16 presents the six pāramitās in terms of their num-

ber, characteristics, order, hermeneutical etymologies, quali-

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ties of their repeated practice, analysis, antagonistic factors,

qualities, mutual determination, and the four means to attract
disciples.

CHAPTER 17 on worship, service, and the immeasurables ex-

plains the worship of the Buddha, the services to one’s spiritual
friend, and the four immeasurables (love, compassion, joy, and
equanimity) in terms of their objects, divisions, fruitions, and
benefits.

CHAPTER 18 gives a detailed presentation of the thirty-seven

factors concordant with awakening in seven sets: (1) the four
foundations of mindfulness, (2) the four correct efforts, (3) the
four limbs of miraculous powers, (4) the five faculties, (5) the
five powers, (6) the seven branches of awakening, and (7) the
eightfold path of the noble ones.

CHAPTER 19 discusses the many wondrous qualities of bodhi-

sattvas that they use in an impartial manner in order to bene-
fit and guide sentient beings through the six pāramitās and so
on. It also distinguishes between fake and genuine bodhisattva
qualities and explains how bodhisattvas investigate phenomena,
fully comprehend true reality, practice the four immeasurables,
and receive the prophecy of buddhahood. Furthermore, it speaks

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about the fruition of the teachings, the greatness of the mahāyā-

na, and what characterizes a true bodhisattva.

CHAPTERS 20–21 on being established in conduct present the

signs of being a bodhisattva, the roles of householder and men-
dicant, the superior intention of bodhisattvas, how they take
care of sentient beings, and how they are reborn. These chapters
also discuss the eleven bhūmis, what bodhisattvas train in on
them, what they achieve on them, the signs on them, their ben-
efit, and their hermeneutical etymologies. Chapter 21 consists of
verses of praise for the many qualities of a buddha, such as om-
niscient wisdom, compassion, supernatural knowledges, the ma-
jor and minor marks, the ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, the
eighteen unique qualities, and the perfection of the pāramitās.

3. Madhyāntavibhāga

The Distinction Between the Middle and Extremes (109 verses plus
3 additional ones from Vasubandhu’s commentary) explains the
basic principles as well as the vast paths of all three yānas, em-
phasizing the Yogācāra view and the distinctive features of the
mahāyāna. In particular, in the first and fifth chapters, the text
presents the profound Yogācāra Middle Way through clearly and
finely differentiating what does not exist ultimately and what

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does exist on the levels of relative and ultimate reality, as well as

through eliminating all kinds of dualistic extremes.

Five chapters of the Madhyāntavibhāga:

CHAPTER 1 on the characteristics discusses the character-

istics of afflicted phenomena (consisting throughout of false
imagination or mental projections) in terms of the three na-
tures and how these afflicted phenomena arise. What is puri-
fied (emptiness) is taught through its characteristics (the lack
of duality, the very nature of the lack of duality, being nei-
ther existent nor nonexistent, and being neither one nor dif-
ferent), its synonyms (such as suchness and dharmadhātu),
its divisions (being stained and stainless or consisting of the
sixteen emptinesses), and the rationale for its being afflicted
and purified.

CHAPTER 2 on the obscurations teaches all afflictive and cogni-

tive obscurations, which consist of (1) the nine obscurations that
prevent liberation (the afflictive obscurations), (2) the thirty ob-
scurations that inhibit the ten qualities, and (3) the obscurations
that inhibit the three remedies. The latter obscurations consist
of (a) the obscurations of the thirty-seven factors concordant
with awakening, (b) the obscurations of the ten pāramitās, and
(c) the obscurations of the ten bhūmis.

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CHAPTER 3 on true reality is a detailed presentation of the three

natures in terms of their characteristics and their relationship
with the four realities of the noble ones (suffering, its origin, ces-
sation, and the path), coarse seeming reality, subtle ultimate real-
ity, common consensus, purity, the five dharmas as a summary of
the three natures, the seven types of suchness as their further divi-
sion, and the ten topics of expertise. The ten topics of expertise are
(1) the skandhas, (2) the dhātus, (3) the āyatanas, (4) dependent
origination, (5) what is and what is not the case, (6) the facul-
ties, (7) time, (8) the realities, (9) the yānas, and (10) conditioned
and unconditioned phenomena. These ten serve as the respective
antidotes for ten kinds of views about a self: believing that the
self is (1) singular, (2) a cause, (3) the experiencer, (4) a creator or
agent, (5) in control, (6) a sovereign, (7) permanent, (8) the basis
of afflicted and purified phenomena, (9) the one who engages in
yoga (meditation for liberation), and (10) that which is bound
and liberated.

CHAPTER 4 discusses the path as the remedy for the obscu-

rations in Chapter Two in terms of its (1) features, (2) phases,
and (3) fruitions. (1) The features of the path consist of the thir-
ty-seven factors concordant with awakening: the four founda-
tions of mindfulness, the four correct efforts, and the four limbs
of miraculous powers on the path of accumulation, the five

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faculties and the five powers on the path of preparation, the sev-
en branches of awakening on the path of seeing, and the eight-
fold path of the noble ones on the path of familiarization. The
text also explains how these factors, which are common to all
three yānas, are superior in bodhisattvas in terms of their focus,
mental engagement, and attainment. (2) The phases of the path
from a beginner up through the tenth bhūmi are described as
nine and as three (impure, both impure and pure, and complete-
ly pure). (3) The fruitions of the path are explained in a gener-
al way through the classical five results of the abhidharma and,
more specifically from the perspective of the path, as ten resul-
tant stages.

CHAPTER 5 on the unsurpassable yāna (the mahāyāna) explains

its unsurpassable character through its (1) practice, (2) focus, and
(3) true accomplishment.

UNSURPASSABLE PRACTICE is discussed as (a) the nature

and functions of the ten pāramitās in terms of their being
genuine in twelve ways. (b) Through the mental engagement
that consists of the three prajñās arising from studying, re-
flecting, and meditating, bodhisattvas train in the ten dhar-
ma activities of writing, venerating, giving, listening, reading,
memorizing, explaining, reciting, reflecting, and meditating.

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(c) The practice of the factors that concord with true reality
consists of undistracted calm abiding and unmistaken superi-
or insight. Superior insight investigates syllables, how mean-
ings derive from them, how conceptual mental engagement
originates, how not to stray into either existence or nonex-
istence, specific characteristics and general characteristics,
impurity and purity, their adventitiousness with regard to
the naturally pure dharmadhātu, as well as fearlessness and
lack of arrogance with regard to ultimately nonexistent phe-
nomena. This is followed by an alternative presentation of
superior insight through the ten vajra words taken from Va-
subandhu’s commentary. (d) The middle way free from all du-
alistic extremes is explained by way of eliminating two sets
of seven pairs of mistaken dualistic views or thoughts (be-
ing one or different, existent or nonexistent, and so on).
(e)–(f) The points of difference and nondifference refer to spe-
cific pāramitās being predominantly practiced on each one of
the ten bhūmis (such as generosity on the first bhūmi) and the
general practice of all pāramitās on all bhūmis equally.

THE TWELVEFOLD UNSURPASSABLE FOCUS consists

of a fourfold focus in terms of its nature and an eightfold
focus in terms of the stages of the path. In terms of its na-
ture, bodhisattvas focus on (a) the entire vast diversity of the

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teachings of the buddha as well as on (b) their profound ul-

timate nature (suchness). (c) Their object of focus consists
of the ten pāramitās and (d) the way in which they focus
on them is to make them truly transcendent through realiz-
ing the lack of the three spheres (agent, object, and action).
In terms of the path, they focus on (e)–(g) study, reflection,
meditation on the paths of accumulation and preparation,
(h) the supreme realization that is the direct perception of
the dharmadhātu on the path of seeing, (i) the full unfold-
ing of that realization on the second to the seventh bhūmis,
(j) the lack of characteristics on the seventh bhūmi,
(k) natural resting on the eighth bhūmi, and (l) threefold emi-
nence — perfect wisdom, activity, and purity — on the ninth,
tenth, and eleventh bhūmis, respectively.

THE TENFOLD UNSURPASSABLE TRUE ACCOMPLISH-

MENT consists of (a) the complete presence of the conditions
for the awakening of the mahāyāna disposition, (b) not aban-
doning the mahāyāna under any cirumstances, (c) not being
distracted by the mindsets of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas,
(d) the perfection of the ten pāramitās, (e) the arising of truly
transcendent qualities on the first bhūmi, (f) the maturation of
sentient beings on the second through seventh bhūmis, (g) the
cultivation of buddha realms on the eighth bhūmi, (h) receiving

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the prophecy about one’s future attainment of buddhahood,

(i) the complete relinquishment of both afflictive and cogni-
tive obscurations, and (j) the uninterrupted manifestation of
the three kāyas.

4. Dharmadharmatāvibhāga

The Distinction Between Phenomena and Their Nature is a short

text (300 lines) that discusses the difference between saṃsāric
confusion and the liberating power of nonconceptual wisdom
― the heart essence of all profound sūtras. It thus enables us to
discriminate ignorance and its manifestations from wisdom as
the motor of the path to liberation.

The introductory section of the text (lines 1–35 in the versified

version) first provides the distinction and the defining charac-
teristics of phenomena and the nature of phenomena. Second
(lines 24–31), “the rationale” for both the ultimate nonexistence
of phenomena and their seeming appearance is that both these
elements are necessary in order to account for mistakenness
and unmistakenness as well as affliction and purification. Third
(lines 32–35), when investigated, phenomena and their nature
are neither the same nor different.

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The detailed explanation of phenomena (lines 36–87) contains six

points, with points (1)–(3) (lines 36–45) repeating the three points
of the introduction. Points (4) and (5) (lines 46–79) consist of the
twofold “matrix of phenomena” or the twofold manner in which
phenomena manifest — the world as the environment and the
sentient beings that live in it. The world as the surroundings of
sentient beings is experienced as something in common among
them. As for sentient beings, certain elements (such as behaviors,
qualities, and faults) are also experienced in common, while oth-
ers (such as happiness, suffering, karma, bondage, and liberation)
are strictly individual “private” experiences. In general, however,
both the world and the beings in it consist of nothing but a mul-
titude of individual mind streams. That certain groups of beings
(such as humans) experience a seemingly common external world
is only due to the fact of the mind streams of these beings con-
taining similar imprints that appear to each one of them individ-
ually as their own projections of a world, but are mistaken by all
of them for constituting an actual shared environment outside of
their individual mind streams. The text also makes it clear that
the minds of others can never be a direct object of another mind
(only a reflection in that other mind), be it in ordinary states of
mind or in meditation. Thus, the text (and the Yogācāra system
in general) maintains that whatever is perceived is nothing but
appearances in individual mind streams, without thereby falling

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into the extreme of solipsism. Point (6) (lines 80–87) discusses

“the nonexistence of the appearance of apprehender and appre-
hended.” What appear as objects do not exist externally apart
from mind as the perceiver, in which they appear. Consequently,
what appear as the apprehenders of such objects do not exist ei-
ther. Nevertheless, it is by virtue of beginningless latent tenden-
cies that the seeming duality of apprehender and apprehended
keeps appearing to ordinary beings.

The detailed explanation of the nature of phenomena (88–300)

makes up the bulk of the text (70%) and has six points.

1. Point (lines 88–94) — the defining characteristic — was al-

ready covered in the introduction above.

2. “The matrix of the nature of phenomena” (lines 95–96), or

where the nature of phenomena is found, consists of all phenom-
ena as well as the Buddha’s teachings that explain this nature.

3. “Penetration” (lines 97–100) refers to the path of preparation

of properly engaging in the mahāyāna scriptures through con-
ceptual study, reflection, and meditation.

4. “Contact” (lines 101–4) represents the path of seeing, on

which the nature of phenomena is realized directly in a non-
conceptual manner for the first time.
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5. “Recollection” (lines 105–8) is the path of familiarizing with

what was seen on the path of seeing, thus gradually eliminat-
ing all afflictive and cognitive obscurations.

6. “The arrival at the true nature of the nature of phenome-

na” (lines 109– 300) is the main subject of the entire text. It
is explained as “the fundamental change” in ten points, which
represents the most detailed discussion of this topic in Bud-
dhist literature.

(a) “The nature” of the fundamental change (lines 121–25) re-

fers to the direct appearance of suchness without any adventi-
tious stains whatsoever.

(b) The threefold “substance” or “entity” of the fundamental

change (lines 126–33), that is, what changes into suchness, con-
sists of mind appearing as the outer world, mind appearing as
sentient beings, and the dharmadhātu as found in the sūtras
all having changed into suchness, which respectively result in
the manifestation of pure buddha realms and the realization
of qualities, the ability to teach the profound and vast dharma,
and the direct perception of everything that is to be known.

(c) “The persons” who undergo this fundamental change

(lines 134–39) are twofold — the foundation that is the such-

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ness of the mind streams of buddhas and bodhisattvas chang-

es completely so that it is free from all obscurations, while
the fundamental changes of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas
are only partial.

(d) “The distinctive features” of the fundamental change (lines

140–46) are the attainment of the dharmakāya, sambhogakāya,
and nirmāṇakāya with their respective qualities and activities.

(e) “The prerequisites” for the fundamental change (lines 147–

51) consist of previous aspiration prayers, the mahāyāna teach-
ings as the focal object, and the training on the ten bhūmis.

(f) The sixth point — nonconceptual wisdom as “the foun-

dation” of the fundamental change (lines 152–239) — is the
main topic in the discussion of the fundamental change and
may be considered the heart of the Dharmadharmatāvibhāga.
This nonconceptual wisdom is explained in six points, start-
ing with (1) its “focal objects” (lines 159–64) — the mahāyā-
na teachings, aspiring for them, gaining certainty about them,
and completing the accumulations of merit and wisdom.
(2) “The relinquishment of characteristics” (lines 165–72)
consists of abandoning the four progressively more sub-
tle conceptions about antagonistic factors, their remedies,
suchness, and realization (as explained in detail in the Avi-

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kalpapraveśadhāraṇī). (3) The fourfold “correct yogic practice”

to approach nonconceptual wisdom (lines 173– 78) consists of
the four well-known mahāyāna prayogas of observing all phe-
nomena as being nothing other than mind, not observing them
as external objects, not observing the observer or apprehender
of such objects either, and observing that the duality of ap-
prehender and apprehended is actually unobservable. (4) “The
defining characteristics” of nonconceptual wisdom (lines 179–
97) are threefold. The first characteristic (abiding) means that
nonconceptual wisdom rests in the nondual and inexpressible
nature of phenomena. The second characteristic (nonappear-
ance) means that duality, designations, sense faculties, objects,
cognizance, and the outer world do not appear for noncon-
ceptual wisdom. The third characteristic (appearance) means
that all phenomena appear equal to space during meditative
equipoise and appear like illusions during subsequent attain-
ment. (5) “The benefit of nonconceptual wisdom” (lines 198–
202) is the attainment of the dharmakāya, supreme bliss, mas-
tery over seeing the suchness and the variety of all knowable
objects, and mastery over the manifold ways of teaching as is
appropriate fordifferent beings. (6) “The thorough knowledge
of nonconceptual wisdom” (lines 203–39) is fourfold. (a) “The
knowledge about its being a remedy” (lines 209–15) means that
nonconceptual wisdom remedies the fivefold clinging to what

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is nonexistent — clinging to phenomena, persons, change (the

arising and ceasing of phenomena), any difference between
phenomena and the nature of phenomena, and denying even
the imputed existence of phenomena and persons. (b) “The
thorough knowledge of the defining characteristic” (lines 216–
20) of nonconceptual wisdom refers to the exclusion of five
misconceptions about what nonconceptual wisdom is—the
total absence of any mental engagement, mundane meditative
states, a complete lack of conceptions (such as when sleeping
or fainting), matter, or just thinking of nonconceptuality. (c)
“The knowledge of its distinctive features” (lines 221–26) refers
to its five features of being nonconceptual, not being limited
in its scope of realizing all specific and general characteris-
tics of all knowable objects, not abiding in saṃsāra or nirvāṇa,
remaining even in the nirvāṇa without any remainder of the
skandhas, and being unsurpassable. (d) “The knowledge of its
functions” (lines 227–39) refers to its five functions of distanc-
ing itself from conceptions, granting unsurpassable bliss, free-
ing from the afflictive and cognitive obscurations, engaging in
all aspects of knowable objects, and, finally, purifying buddha
realms, maturing sentient beings, and granting omniscience.

(g) The seventh among the ten points of the fundamental

change — “the mental engagement” (lines 240–68) — means

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 The Contents of the Five Maitreya Texts

to realize that, by virtue of being ignorant about suchness, the

delusive appearance of actually nonexistent false imagination
and duality out of the ālaya-consciousness prevents the ap-
pearance of the nature of phenomena, and that the nature of
phenomena appears once false imagination and duality cease
to appear. The manner of approaching such realization con-
sists of the fourfold yogic practice as explained above.

(h) “The trainings” to accomplish the fundamental change

(lines 269–85) consist of the level of engagement through as-
piration (the path of preparation), the direct realization on
the first bhūmi (the path of seeing), the remaining six impure
and three pure bhūmis (the path of familiarization), and the
effortless and uninterrupted enlightened activity of a buddha
(the path of nonlearning).

(i)–(j) The last two points of the fundamental change — “the

shortcomings of there being no fundamental change” and “the
benefits of there being this fundamental change” (lines 286–
96) — are fourfold each, with the benefits being the reverse of
the shortcomings. As for the shortcomings, if there were no
fundamental change, there would be no support for the afflic-
tions not operating, no support for engaging in the path, no
basis for designating those persons who have passed into nir-

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 The Contents of the Five Maitreya Texts

vāṇa, and no basis for designating the differences between the

realizations of śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and buddhas.

The Dharmadharmatāvibhāga concludes by providing examples

(lines 297–300) for both the fleeting nature of the adventitious
stains (like illusions, dreams, and so on) and the immutability
of the nature of phenomena — suchness or mind’s natural lumi-
nosity — as the ever-unchanging foundation of the fundamental
change that is only revealed once the stains have been eliminat-
ed (like space, gold, and water).

5. Ratnagotravibhāga (Mahāyānottaratantra)

The Ultimate Continuum of the Mahāyāna (405 verses) rep-

resents a general commentary on all buddha-nature sūtras and
represents a bridge between sūtra and tantra. It discusses the
true nature of our mind as the very basis of everything on the
Buddhist path.

THE UTTARATANTRA’S FIRST CHAPTER begins with a

brief introduction of its seven main topics, called “vajra points”
(I.1–3). This is followed by descriptions of the first three of these
points — the jewels of the Buddha, the dharma, and the saṃgha
(I.4–22) — and an overview of the inconceivability of the last
four vajra points (I.23–26).

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 The Contents of the Five Maitreya Texts

Buddha nature or the tathāgatagarbha (vajra point 4) — the cen-

tral subject of the text — is primarily discussed by way of three
topics: (a) three reasons for all beings possessing buddha nature
(I.27–28), (b) a presentation in ten points (tathāgatagarbha’s
nature, cause, fruition, function, endowment, manifestation,
phases, all-pervasiveness, changelessness, and inseparability of
qualities; I.29–95ab), and (c) nine examples for buddha nature
being covered but unaltered by adventitious stains (I.95cd–152).
The conclusion of this section on buddha nature is its being re-
alized through faith or confidence (I.153), its being empty of
adventitious stains but not empty of its inseparable qualities
(I.154–55), and the purpose of its being taught, which also re-
moves qualms about other sūtras teaching that all phenomena
are emptiness (I.156–67).

CHAPTER 2 on buddha awakening (vajra point 5) starts by list-

ing the eight points through which this topic is discussed (II.1–
2), followed by their detailed explanation: awakening’s nature
and cause (II.3–7), fruition (II.8–17), function (II.18–28), endow-
ment (II.29–37), manifestation (II.38–61), permanence (II.62–
68), and inconceivability (II.69–73).

CHAPTER 3 on the qualities of awakening (vajra point 6) brief-

ly introduces the thirty-two qualities of freedom belonging to
the dharmakāya and the thirty-two qualities of maturation be-
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 The Contents of the Five Maitreya Texts

longing to the rūpakāyas (III.1–3). This is followed by a verse

with an example for each one of the three sets of the qualities of
freedom: the ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, and the eigh-
teen unique buddha qualities (III.4), which are then explained in
detail (III.5–7, 8–10, and 11–16, respectively). Next, there is a list
of the thirty-two qualities of maturation (III.17–26), which con-
sist of the major marks of a buddha. The chapter concludes with
a summary of all sixty-four qualities (III.27–39).

CHAPTER 4 on enlightened activity (vajra point 7) opens with

two verses about this activity’s main features of being effort-
less and uninterrupted (IV.1–2). Buddha activity is explained in
more detail through six points: deliverance (the ten bhūmis),
their cause (the two accumulations), the result of that (awaken-
ing), those who take hold of it (bodhisattvas), its obscurations
(afflictions and their latent tendencies), and the condition for
overcoming them (a buddha’s compassion) (IV.3-12). Then, the
features of enlightened activity are illustrated through nine ex-
amples and their summary (IV.13–88). Finally, it is explained
how enlightened activity is partially similar and yet superior to
each one of these examples (IV.89–98).

CHAPTER 5 on the benefit of the teaching on the tathāgata

heart first demonstrates how the merit of even just hearing about

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 The Contents of the Five Maitreya Texts

it, let alone studying and practicing it, is superior to generosity,

discipline, and dhyāna (V.1–15). This is followed by four vers-
es that describe on which basis the Uttaratantra was explained,
what caused its composition, how it was explained, and what
its characteristics are (V.16–19). Then, there are several verses on
the means of protecting oneself from becoming deprived of the
dharma, as well as on the causes and results of deviating from
the dharma (V.20–24). The next verse is the dedication of the
merit attained by the author through this teaching (V.25). The
last three stanzas are a summary of the meaning of the previous
ten verses (V.26–28).

In sum

The five Maitreya texts are mainly based on prajñāpāramitā

(Madhyamaka), the classical teachings of Yogācāra, and the
teachings on buddha nature. In that way, they cover the three
main streams of Indian mahāyāna Buddhism. Different Tibet-
an masters have voiced all kinds of opinions about the Maitreya
texts representing the views of certain Buddhist schools, such
as Mind-Only, Yogācāra, Madhyamaka, or Shentong.3 However,
as far as one’s practice goes, Thrangu Rinpoche says, it is neces-
 3 For an overview of Tibetan views on the nature and scope of these texts,
see Mining for Wisdom within Delusion (Snow Lion Publications 2012, 21–46)

74
 The Contents of the Five Maitreya Texts

sary to determine — even in the Madhyamaka view — that ap-

pearances are nothing but mind, to resolve that mind is empty,
and to realize mind’s emptiness in meditation. According to the
so-called “Mind-Only School,” that mind is ultimately existent,
but nothing like that is said anywhere in the Maitreya texts. So
from that point of view, it can be said that all five texts belong to
Madhyamaka in general. In particular, The Distinction Between
Phenomena and Their Nature and The Ultimate Continuum pres-
ent the view of the Shentong Madhyamaka School and are also
considered as foundations for Mahāmudrā.

75
 CHART:
THE FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE OF THE EIGHT
CONSCIOUSNESSES INTO THE FOUR WISDOMS AND
THE THREE (FOUR) KĀYAS

Bhūmi
Consciousness Wisdom Kāya of
change

1 eye All-accomplishing Nirmāṇakāya 1

consciousness wisdom
2 ear
consciousness
3 nose
consciousness
4 tongue
consciousness
5 body
consciousness

6 mental Discriminating Samboghakāya 8

consciousness wisdom

7 afflicted mind Wisdom of 8

equality

8 ālaya- Mirrorlike wisdom Dharmakāya 10

consciousness

DHARMADHĀTU (svābhāvikakāya)

76
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