along with the Buddha of the Devas, named the One of Supreme Power,[1] the Buddha of the Asuras, named [He of] Strong Texture,[2] the Buddha of Mankind, named the Lion of the Shākyas, the Buddha of the brute kingdom, named the Unshakable Lion, the Buddha of the Pretas, named the One of Flaming Mouth, and the Buddha of the Lower World, named the King of Truth:[3]—[these], the Eight Father-Mother Door-keepers and the Six Teachers, the Victorious Ones—will come to shine, too.
The All-Good Father, and the All-Good Mother,[4] the Great Ancestors of all the Buddhas: Samanta-Bhadra [and Samanta-Bhadrā], the Divine Father and the Divine Mother—these two, also will come to shine.
These forty-two perfectly endowed deities, issuing from within thy heart, being the product of thine own pure love, will come to shine. Know them.
O nobly-born, these realms are not come from somewhere outside [thyself]. They come from within the four divisions of thy heart, which, including its centre, make the five directions. They issue from within there, and shine upon thee. The
- ↑ Text: Dvang-po-rgya-byin (pron. Wang-po-gya-jin): 'Powerful One of a Hundred Sacrifices': Skt. Shata-Kratu, a name of Indra ('[One of] Supreme Power').
- ↑ Text: Thag-bzang-ris (pron. Thag-zang-ree): '[He of] Strong Texture' (Skt. Vīrāchāra): a name referring either to the bodily strength of, or else to the coat of mail worn by, this Lord of the Asura-loka, the world wherein warfare is the predominant passion of existence.
- ↑ Text: Chös-kyi-rgyal-po (pron. Chö-kyi-gyal-po): Skt. Dharma-Rāja.
- ↑ Text: Küntu-bzang-mo (pron. Küntu-bzang-mo): 'All-Good Mother'; Skt. Samanta-Bhadrā. The Tantric School holds that every deity, even the Supreme, has its shakti. A few deities are, however, commonly depicted shakti-less—for example, Mañjushrī, or Mañjughosha (see p. 1134); though there may be, as in the instance of the Prajñā-Pāramitā (often called the Mother) which this deity holds, some symbolic representation of a shakti, This is, apparently, a doctrine of universal dualism. In the final analysis, however, all pairs of opposites being viewed as having a Single Source—in the Voidness of the Dharma-Kāya—the apparent dualism becomes monism.
to the four directions and to the maṇḍala (or conclave of deities) to which they belong. As Tantric faith-guarding deities (Tib. Ch’os-skyon: Skt. Dharmapāla) they rank with Bodhisattvas. They symbolize, too, the four tranquil or peaceful methods employed by Divine Beings for the salvation of sentient creatures (of whom mankind are the highest), which are: Compassion, Fondness, Love, and Stern Justice.
