Cittaviśuddhiprakaraṇa

Cvp 1

[restored] [Having paid homage to that which is] without beginning or end, at peace, free of both being and non-being, free of conceptual construction (nirvikalpa (free of conceptual construction; the liberated state)), without support, unfixed, and non-dual —

Cvp 2

— beyond all analogy, beyond all naming, unthinkable, indemonstrable, without basis and without standing-ground, changeless and unconditioned;

Cvp 3

— [having paid homage] to the Buddha, the refuge of all, whose very body is made of compassion, who reveals manifold skillful means (upāya (skillful means by which binding acts become liberating)) to beings of manifold dispositions;

Cvp 4

— having paid homage to the Great Passion (kāma / viṣaya (desire / sense-objects, enjoyed as antidote by the yogin), Mahārāga), the Lord Padmanarteśvara (tantric form of Avalokiteśvara, the dedicatee deity), I shall here say a little, drawn from the examination of my own mind (svacittapratyavekṣaṇā).

Cvp 5

[restored] By the method of the Yogācāra all is thoroughly ascertained; all that is to be told here, and accordingly one should act in just this way.

Cvp 6

By whatever cruel deed beings are bound, by that very deed, when joined to skillful means ({{term:upāya}}), they are freed from the bondage of existence.

Cvp 7

[restored] From the purity of a being a pure fruit is born; this has been declared most clearly and at length in the Mahāyāna.

Cvp 8

The Sage proclaimed the selflessness (nairātmya (selflessness of persons and dharmas)) of both dharmas and persons, and mind-only (cittamātra); and from that, too, everything arises in full accord with scripture.

Cvp 9

Spurred on by those gripped by the seizure of clinging to entities, the One whose nature is compassion set forth a clear and full account even in scripture.

Cvp 10

All states are preceded by mind, have mind as foremost, are made of mind; for with a serene mind one speaks or acts [and good follows].

Cvp 11

A monk urged on his own aged father with "Go quickly!"; when the old man fell and died from it, the monk was not charged with an act of immediate retribution (ānantarya).

Cvp 12

An attendant monk, [thinking it auspicious,] pressed his lips upon an Arhat (and the like) who was utterly faint; when the man died of it, the monk bore no fault.

Cvp 13

One who, taking [a man] for blind, kills the [merely] blind incurs no fault in the unheard case — so it is plainly stated in the Vinaya: there is no fault for those whose mind is unmalicious.

Cvp 14

There is no fault even in breaking open a stūpa, since it is done with the intention of restoring it; rather there is only a heap of merit, for the cause is not one of immediate retribution.

Cvp 15

Having out of a pure intention placed a pair of sandals on the head of a sage — and again, having removed them — a blind man thereby obtained a kingdom as his reward.

Cvp 16

Therefore the fixing of sin and merit is rooted in intention (āśaya); since it is so declared in scripture, there is no transgression for those of pure mind.

Cvp 17

The yogin whose self is the yoga of his own tutelary deity (svādhidaivata-yoga (yoga of one's own tutelary deity / self-as-deity)), exerting himself for the welfare of the world, though he enjoys sense-objects ({{term:kāma / viṣaya}}), is freed and is not defiled.

Cvp 18

Just as one who knows the true nature of poison, examining the poison and then eating it, is not at all deluded by it but rather becomes cured of disease —

Cvp 19

Seeing that the whole world resembles an illusion, a mirage, a city of gandharvas, a dream — what, then, is enjoyed, and how, and by whom?

Cvp 20

Fools become enamored of forms; the middling turn away in dispassion; but those of highest understanding, knowing the [true] nature of form, are liberated.

Cvp 21

Having reflected on the whole pledge/sacrament (samaya (tantric pledge/commitment; also "agreed convention")), the rite of worshipping the deity, and seeing it as pure, one should without scruple enjoy what is enjoined by the mantra.

Cvp 22

What is to be purified, awakened, and made to blaze [is accomplished] through the yoga of the three syllables; and with the tips of thumb and ring-finger one should gratify the Tathāgatas.

Cvp 23

What is "real" for fools is indeed false for yogins; reaching the end by this very [insight], one is neither bound nor freed.

Cvp 24

Those who do not see reality posit both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa; those who see reality posit neither saṃsāra nor nirvāṇa.

Cvp 25

Conceptual construction (vikalpa (conceptual construction; the "great grasper" binding to saṃsāra)) is the great seizing-monster (grāha) that casts one down into the ocean of saṃsāra; the great-souled who are free of construction are freed from the bondage of existence.

Cvp 26

Ordinary people are afflicted by the poison of scruple as if by [literal] poison; having uprooted that very [scruple] entirely, one whose nature is compassion should range [freely].

Cvp 27

Just as a clear crystal is tinted by the color of an adjacent thing, so too the mind-jewel (cittaratna (the mind-jewel: mind intrinsically pure (prakṛtinirmala))) is colored by the dye of conceptual imagining.

Cvp 28

By nature the mind-jewel ({{term:cittaratna}}) is free of the dyes of imagining — primordially pure (ādiśuddha (primordially pure (epithet of mind/cittaratna))), unarisen, without intrinsic nature, and unsullied.

Cvp 29

Whatever is condemned by fools, that very thing should be done with effort, by means of the yoga of one's own tutelary deity ({{term:svādhidaivata-yoga}}), for the sake of the purification of mind.

Cvp 30

Desirable women, [though] bewildered by the poison and fire of passion, when desired by yogins with a pure mind, indeed yield the fruit of both desire and liberation.

Cvp 31

Just as one who, having meditated on his own Garuḍa-[form], draws out the poison and drinks it down, renders his patient poison-free and is not himself overcome by the poison —

Cvp 32

A wheel twelve yojanas wide was whirling over [a sufferer's] head; by generating the awakening-mind (bodhicitta (awakening-mind to be generated for the rescue of beings)) it was removed — so runs the tradition.

Cvp 33

For one who has generated the awakening-mind ({{term:bodhicitta}}) and set his heart on full awakening, with the intention of rescuing the world, there is nothing there that may not be done.

Cvp 34

Seeing the world as primordially pure ({{term:ādiśuddha}}), unarisen, without intrinsic nature, and unsullied, one is neither bound nor freed.

Cvp 35

The yogin, having duly meditated on the full array of the deity's qualities, takes delight with a passionate mind, and through the very enjoyment of passion is freed.

Cvp 36

What can we do? Where are the wondrous powers of things to be had? — [yet] just as someone overcome by poison is made poison-free by that very poison,

Cvp 37

— just as water [is drawn] from the ear by water alone, and a thorn by a thorn alone, so the wise draw out passion by passion itself.

Cvp 38

Just as a washerman makes a garment clean by means of a [cleansing] dirt itself, so the wise one should make himself spotless by means of [this same] "defilement" itself.

Cvp 39

Just as a mirror, when its dust is rubbed away, becomes perfectly clear, so a fault, when employed [skillfully] by the wise, becomes the destroyer of fault.

Cvp 40

A lump of iron cast into water merely sinks; but that same [iron], made into a vessel, ferries even a blind man across and crosses over itself.

Cvp 41

Likewise the mind made into a [seaworthy] vessel by the practice of wisdom-and-means (prajñopāya (wisdom-and-means; their union (samāyoga) generates gnosis)): though it enjoys, desire ({{term:kāma / viṣaya}}) is freed and frees others as well.

Cvp 42

Desire pursued by the badly-knowing becomes bondage; that very desire, pursued by the wise, becomes the accomplisher of liberation.

Cvp 43

It is well known throughout the world that milk destroys poison; yet that very milk, drunk by serpents, all the more increases their venom.

Cvp 44

Just as a wise swan drinks the milk poured into water [leaving the water behind], so the wise one, having enjoyed sense-objects ({{term:kāma / viṣaya}}) though they be poisonous, is freed.

Cvp 45

Just as even poison, consumed in the proper manner, turns to nectar, so well-prepared food such as ghee-cakes, badly consumed, turns to poison for fools.

Cvp 46

This very mind, when purified by wholesome causes, shines free of conceptual construction ({{term:nirvikalpa}}), without support, and naturally spotless (prakṛtinirmala).

Cvp 47

Just as a flame, though small, when furnished with oil, wick, and the rest [becomes] a lamp — spotless, unflickering, steady, dispeller of darkness —

Cvp 48

— just as the tiny banyan seed, joined with the cooperating conditions, becomes the maker of a great tree complete with branches, roots, and fruit —

Cvp 49

— just as from the combining of turmeric powder [with lime] a [wholly] different color is known to arise, so from the union of wisdom and means ({{term:prajñopāya}}) they know the realm of dharmas (dharmadhātu) [to arise].

Cvp 50

Ghee combined with honey in equal parts turns to poison; yet that same [mixture], consumed in the proper manner, is a most excellent elixir (rasāyana).

Cvp 51

Just as copper rubbed with mercury becomes flawless gold, so through the purification of gnosis the defilements (kleśa) rightly become makers of welfare.

Cvp 52

For those mounted upon the Hīnayāna there is fear of death at every step, and a mind set on victory in battle stands very far off.

Cvp 53

But one mounted upon the Mahāyāna is armored in the dharma of compassion, his bow-and-arrow strung with the thread of wisdom, intent on rescuing the world.

Cvp 54

The great being (mahāsattva), of great means, of steadfast intellect (sthirabuddhi) and untiring, having won the hard-to-cross battle, should ferry others across as well.

Cvp 55

Even beasts toil, bent solely on their own ends; but those rare people who work for the welfare of the world — they are the blessed ones.

Cvp 56

If the greedily self-interested endure the pains of cold, wind, and the rest, how then would those engaged in the world's welfare not endure them?

Cvp 57

The compassionate must endure even the torments of the hells; who, then, would even reckon such pains as cold, wind, and the like?

Cvp 58

One should not engage in painful austerities, nor in rites of fasting; nor bathing, nor [ritual] purification here — nor should one shun the worldly way (grāmadharma).

Cvp 59

Nails, teeth, bones, and marrow arise from the transformation of the father's semen; flesh, blood, hair, and the rest spring from the mother's blood.

Cvp 60

This lump [of a body], thus born of impurity and filled with impurity — how could such a body be purified by bathing in the Gaṅgā?

Cvp 61

An unclean pot is not made clean by being washed with water again and again; likewise this lump [of a body], filled with filth, is not purified.

Cvp 62

Even though it swims in the Gaṅgā, a dog does not deserve to become pure; likewise, for dull-minded men, bathing at sacred fords is fruitless.

Cvp 63

If merit came from bathing, fishermen would have attained their goal; and what then to say of fish and the like, who dwell in the water night and day?

Cvp 64

It is certain that the wearing-away of sin does not come about by bathing either, since an increase of passion and the rest is seen in those who frequent the sacred fords.

Cvp 65

Passion, hatred, delusion, envy, and craving are ever declared the root of sins; and there is no cleansing of these by bathing.

Cvp 66

These [sins] arise in beings here from grasping at "I" and "mine"; and that [grasping] is caused by ignorance, which ignorance is held to be [mere] error.

Cvp 67

Just as the notion "silver" in a piece of shell ceases when the shell is [truly] seen, so that [grasping] too utterly collapses, uprooted, by the vision of selflessness ({{term:nairātmya}}).

Cvp 68

Just as the notion "snake" in a rope ceases when the rope is [truly] seen, the notion "snake" can never arise there again in this life.

Cvp 69

So too here the notion of a [substantial] being ceases through adamantine gnosis (vajrajñāna); no [such] entity can arise there, like a sprout from a burnt seed.

Cvp 70

Through contact with the purity of selflessness ({{term:nairātmya}}) this lump [of a body] is naturally spotless (prakṛtinirmala); the notion that there is merit in tormenting it is a painful fancy imagined by fools.

Cvp 71

In dependence upon the rising and setting of the moon there is the construct of lunar days; and in dependence upon the rising and setting of the sun, the determination of day and night.

Cvp 72

The convention of "east" and so forth, too, is made by reference to conceptual imputation (kalpanā); planets, constellations, zodiacal signs, and the rest are all imagined by people.

Cvp 73

Likewise the construct of "seasons" depends on cold, heat, and rain; this enjoyment of the fruit of one's own deeds is [merely] said to be ordained by auspicious and inauspicious planets.

Cvp 74

When a wise man has set himself to cleanse the wish-fulfilling jewel of the mind, smeared with the mud of ignorance, who would then go on nourishing ignorance [by such astrological scruple]?

Cvp 75

There should be no regard for planet, lunar day, constellation, place, time, and the like; one should dwell free of conceptual construction ({{term:nirvikalpa}}), heedless of omens and without scruple.

Cvp 76

Whatever comes within the path of a sense-faculty, that very thing, by its own nature, through well-collected yoga, one should declare to be wholly made of Buddha.

Cvp 77

The eye is the Buddha Vajrasattva / Śrīheruka / Vairocana (Buddha-deities mapped onto the body and senses) (Vairocana); the ear is Vajrasūrya; the nose is Paramāśva; the mouth is {{term:Padmanarteśvara}}.

Cvp 78

The body is King Śrīheruka, and the mind is Vajrasattva; thus rightly should the yogin, whose nature is compassion, always move.

Cvp 79

That accomplished adept (siddhāntin), free of conceptual construction ({{term:nirvikalpa}}) yet of firm resolve, rich in wisdom, acting at his own will, is an eater of all and a doer of all.

Cvp 80

Performing every act of desire, behaving just as he pleases — whether standing or seated, walking about or sleeping —

Cvp 81

— whether or not he has entered a maṇḍala, even though beset with every obscuration, even of slight merit — he whose self is the yoga of his own tutelary deity ({{term:svādhidaivata-yoga}}) attains accomplishment.

Cvp 82

By this, the knower of reality attains all-heroism, indeed all-buddhahood, in this very life (janmani iha eva) — there is no doubt.

Cvp 83

Just as the world of yogins is not bound by the ordinary world, [so] yogins too are surpassed, by ever-higher [yogins], through superiority of wisdom.

Cvp 84

Through the resolute conviction of great wisdom, great means, and great compassion, [this is] the domain of the great being (mahāsattva), proclaimed in the Mahāyāna.

Cvp 85

That buddhahood which, it is held, has not been attained even in many countless aeons, is attained in this very life — herein there is no doubt.

Cvp 86

Such is the greatness of the Mahāyāna, furnished with merit and gnosis: the delightful state of omniscience is obtained at once, in this [very] life.

Cvp 87

In the Mahāyāna, reflection on scriptural learning [as the decisive criterion] is not adopted; the non-difference of the vehicles is shown through the non-difference of intention and latent disposition.

Cvp 88

Resolute conviction (adhimokṣa) is one thing, the practice of awakening (bodhicāryā) is another, and the purification of mind (cittaviśuddhi (purification of mind; the text's titular thesis and goal)) is yet another; and the fruit is here declared [to follow].

Cvp 89

Just as, near a spotless mirror, the form [seen] by a clear eye shines forth most distinctly, clear and naturally spotless (prakṛtinirmala),

Cvp 90

— so too the gnosis of yogins whose purified minds have shaken off and dispersed the net of conceptual construction [shines forth] in the spotless mirrors of wisdom.

Cvp 91

Just as in a sun-crystal (sūryakānta), embraced by the sun's radiance, fire suddenly blazes up, capable of accomplishing its end —

Cvp 92

— so the mind of yogins, having cast off the net of conceptual construction, resembling a sun-crystal, when embraced by the rays of the sun of wisdom, blazes up likewise.

Cvp 93

Just as fire blazes up by the friction of two firesticks — pure at beginning, middle, and end, the revealer of all things — so, they know, does the gnosis of yogins [arise] from the union of wisdom and means ({{term:prajñopāya}}).

Cvp 94

Just as a single lamp, when set upon other wicks, produces abundant light, each [flame] according to its own purpose and its own place,

Cvp 95

— so [the yogin], of infinite radiant forms, through the contemplations of wisdom and means ({{term:prajñopāya}}), should accomplish whatever is to be done for beings of manifold dispositions.

Cvp 96

Just as someone skilled in the method might extract from milk a nectar — flawless, cool, delightful, the destroyer of all disease —

Cvp 97

— so, churned forth in due manner from the milk of wisdom by [the churning-rod of] great means, that purified realm of dharmas (dharmadhātu) arises, the destroyer of [conditioned] pleasure and pain.

Cvp 98

Just as a creeper springs up complete with fruit and flower, so awakening in a single instant (ekakṣaṇasambodhi) [arises] furnished with the two accumulations [of merit and gnosis].

Cvp 99

[restored] [Performing] subjugation, the warding-off of hatred, paralyzing, causing rain, attraction, and the like, the yogin devoted to wine and meat (madya-māṃsa) is not defiled even while doing [these things].

Cvp 100

[restored] Why look in a mirror to see the reflection of the bracelet on one's [own] hand? — for in the Mahāyāna even now the power of mantra is directly seen.

Cvp 101

[restored] The relation of mother or daughter is not, in reality, to be constructed here; the Tathāgata declared the world to be like [a reflection in] broken iron, or a stick of incense-smoke.

Cvp 102

Semen consists of the five elements, and blood likewise; this lump [of a body] is indeed made of that — so who is a brahmin and who an outcaste?

Cvp 103

[restored] Every body, O monks, consists of the five aggregates; it is impermanent, suffering, and empty — there is no [fixed] caste, nor anyone possessing caste.

Cvp 104

[restored] One born from a fisherwoman's womb, [though] of the caste of an outcaste, has by ascetic practice become a brahmin; therefore caste is no [real] cause.

Cvp 105

[restored] A sister, mother, mother-in-law, one's own daughter, a niece; a brahmin, kṣatriya, vaiśya, [or] — with knowledge of the rite — a śūdra woman: [these the yogin worships, as the next verse continues]. (Antinomian transgressive list; tantric symbolic practice — not literal injunction.)

Cvp 106

A woman maimed in a limb, lowly, despised, even an outcaste — such a woman one should ever worship, through the cultivations of the adamantine gnosis (jñānavajra).

Cvp 107

[restored] Ever with a smiling face and eyes widened by mantra, having generated the mind toward awakening ({{term:bodhicitta}}), through the state of [identity with] one's own tutelary deity ({{term:svādhidaivata-yoga}}),

Cvp 108

[restored] — one may look for a moment at what is to be seen, and likewise hear what is to be heard, and untiringly speak speech free of [the duality of] true and false.

Cvp 109

In the course of bathing, anointing, dressing, eating, drinking, and the like, through the yoga of one's own tutelary deity ({{term:svādhidaivata-yoga}}) one should conceive [the whole as] a rite of worship.

Cvp 110

[restored] The observant practitioner should engage in song, instrumental music, and dance by means of skillful means ({{term:upāya}}), making here no clinging-attachment to any of the existents.

Cvp 111

[restored] One should not torment oneself by penance through the destruction of one's own being; rather, [proceeding] from ease, one should meditate at ease — [thinking,] "this [self] is a Perfect Buddha, [though one] not-yet-come."

Cvp 112

Let one take delight in the enjoyment of all desires, fearlessly, [secure] in liberation: "Do not be afraid! There is no sin upon you — [only] the pledge (samaya (tantric pledge/commitment)) is hard to transgress."

Cvp 113

Even a piece of wood and the like, consecrated by mantra, attains divinity; how much more, then, a body endowed with gnosis! Alas, [self-mortification] is the floundering of delusion.

Cvp 114

Having wholly abandoned ordinariness and egoism, collected [in concentration], one should perform this practice by way of wisdom and means ({{term:prajñopāya}}).

Cvp 115

Just as a lotus, though born of mud, is not stained by the faults of the mud, so the yogin is not stained by the faults of the latent traces (vāsanā (latent karmic/cognitive traces)) of conceptual construction.

Cvp 116

[restored] Conceptual construction ({{term:vikalpa}}) is like a reflected image; it is not stained by the faults of [false] views, just as the moon [reflected] in water is not wetted by the water.

Cvp 117

[restored] The mind-jewel ({{term:cittaratna}}), smeared with the mud of beginningless latent traces ({{term:vāsanā}}), washed clean by the very water of wisdom and means ({{term:prajñopāya}}), shines forth fully.

Cvp 118

For the wise one of steadfast mind [established] in the yoga of his own tutelary deity ({{term:svādhidaivata-yoga}}), freed from the clouds of false views, the sun of the mind (cittabhāskara) shines forth.

Cvp 119

[restored] In the discerning that has wisdom as its mark, through ascertainment of the real meaning, the realm of dharmas (dharmadhātu) is to be taken up, by the abandoning of the inversion that is ignorance.

Cvp 120

[restored] When the pot of conceptual construction is suddenly shattered by the hammer of wisdom, the lamp of gnosis (jñānadīpa) — by nature spotless and clear — shines forth.

Cvp 121

The well-known elements — earth, fire, water, and air — are made otherwise by the wise through the power of mantra.

Cvp 122

Abandoning every [other] doctrine, one should practice the mantra-doctrine, by the power of which mantra even the state of [supreme] bliss is accomplished.

Cvp 123

The Three Jewels must never be forsaken, nor the awakening-mind ({{term:bodhicitta}}), nor the guru; no living beings whatever are to be killed; and one should uphold the [other] pledges (samaya (tantric pledge/commitment)) as well.

Cvp 124

Honey, the red [substance], [musk] with camphor, [that] joined with red sandalwood, and the "sage's adamantine water" — these five, too, one should consecrate.

Cvp 125

And by other divine pledges (samaya (tantric pledge/commitment)) that elevate the mind, for the sake of quelling the agitation of the [inner] winds, one should gratify the adamantine mind (cittavajra).

Cvp 126

[restored] No state of impurity is to be feared; [all] is free of conceptual construction by the play of yoga; with a fully integrated mind, the mantra-practitioner should perform everything.

Cvp 127

By poison even of the measure of a fly's foot one is overcome; [so] the slightest squeamishness or scruple is bound up with the agony of death.

Cvp 128

The wise one should either fight well or else flee well; but a state of being caught in-between is futile and leads to ruin.

Cvp 129

One should not transgress the guru's command, nor his seal (mudrā), nor even his shadow; only his virtues are to be taken up, never his faults.

Cvp 130

The teacher (ācārya) is the supreme deity, to be worshipped with diligence — King Vajradhara himself, present in visible form.

Cvp 131

Just as the pure water-jewel (udakamaṇi) is a purifier of turbid water, so the jewel of faith (śraddhā) is declared the purifier of the mind-jewel ({{term:cittaratna}}).

Cvp 132

Someone possessed of faith yet bereft of the eye of wisdom may still go astray; therefore one should generate wisdom (prajñā) consisting of [both] scriptural learning and [direct] realization.

Cvp 133

One who is faithful, deeply learned, wise, and by nature compassionate finds the means to happiness for the destruction of the world's suffering.

Cvp 134

By establishing the purification of mind ({{term:cittaviśuddhi}}), whatever happiness I have gained — by [that, and by] establishing the purification of mind, may people be made happy.

colophon

This is the work of the venerable Āryadeva (Āryadevapāda).