Translators’ Introduction Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé and The Infinite Ocean of Knowledge The Elements of Tantric Practice is the translation of a small part of the great treatise entitled The Infinite Ocean of Knowledge (Shes bya mtha’ yas pa’i rgya mtsho) together with its root verses, The Encompassment of All Knowledge (Shes bya kun khyab) The author of this work, Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé (Kong sprul blo gros mtha’ yas), also known as Kongtrul Ngawang Yönten Gyatso, was one of the extraordinary nineteenth-century figures in Tibet—extraordinary in learning, realization, and influence A master of numerous fields of classical knowledge with a special aptitude for compilation and writing, he played a vital role in the revitalization and preservation of the Buddhist teachings in eastern Tibet.1 In his day, many of the traditions of instructions for spiritual development had become scattered throughout the Tibetan region and were close to extinction Having received innumerable teachings and esoteric instructions and being endowed with exceptional intelligence, Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé was able to gather these rare and fragile transmissions into what are now called The Five Great Treasuries (mDzod chen lnga) These five contain massive collections of the practices, principles, and initiations of the different Tibetan traditions as well as Kongtrul’s original writings The first Treasury to be produced was The Treasury of Knowledge, the name given to the verses of The Encompassment of All Knowledge and the autocommentary The Infinite Ocean of Knowledge The Treasury of Knowledge was followed by The Tantric Treasury of the Kagyu Tradition, The Treasury of Key Instructions, The Treasury of Precious Hidden Teachings, and The Treasury of Vast Teachings.2 The scholarship shown in this literary accomplishment of more than ninety volumes led to Kongtrul being C t he t reasury of knowled ge called Jamgön (’Jam mgon), Gentle Protector, an epithet of Manjushri, the bodhisattva who embodies higher wisdom Kongtrul wrote the verses of The Encompassment of All Knowledge in 1863 while he was living at his simple hermitage, Kunzang Dechen Ösal Ling, in eastern Tibet He pursued the work during the short breaks between periods of meditation He had taken on the project in response to repeated requests by the scholar Ngedön Tenpa Rabgyé (1808-1864), the first Dazang incarnation Rabgyé urged Kongtrul to produce a treatise on the three systems of Buddhist ethics: the vows of personal liberation in the hinayana, the commitments of the bodhisattva in the mahayana, and the pledges (samaya) of the tantric practitioner in the vajrayana Because there already existed several Tibetan works solely concerned with ethics (such as the famous Detailed Exposition of the Three Vows by Sakya Pandita), Kongtrul decided to create a book that not only set out the three systems of ethics but also contained a full presentation of all aspects of the Buddhist path from the perspectives of these three systems Indeed, The Encompassment of All Knowledge, the full title of which means “a treasury of precious teachings compiled from all the systems for spiritual development: a treatise that effectively transmits the three kinds of training in higher ethics, meditation, and wisdom,” touches on all fields of spiritual knowledge as well as the related secular sciences of its day Kongtrul presented his manuscript of The Encompassment to Jamyang Kyentsé Wangpo (1820-1892), another pivotal figure in the Buddhist revival in eastern Tibet and a master from whom Kongtrul received many teachings and initiations of all the Tibetan traditions Kyentsé declared the work to be “a treasury of knowledge… the first of your five treasuries” and asked him to write a commentary on it In the following year, Kongtrul composed his extensive commentary, The Infinite Ocean of Knowledge, revising it a year later with the help of Tashi Özer (1836-1910), the abbot of Palpung Monastery The Infinite Ocean of Knowledge is an achievement of enormous significance, revealing an author of unusually broad intellect and profound experiential understanding Modeled on the great Indian treatises, it encompasses the entirety of Buddhist theory and practice as it was preserved in Tibet Its form is that of a “word commentary” in that it cites and expands upon the words of the root verses Because the author was dealing with such a wide range of subjects, and expounding many of them from the perspectives of a number of different systems, his presentation had to tr anslator s’ introduction c be extremely concise in order that the work be of moderate size The treatise contains ten books of four parts each In the majority of the books, the subject is discussed first in the contexts of the hinayana, mahayana, and vajrayana systems, and then in terms of the ancient translation tradition in general or the great perfection (dzogchen) system in particular In moving from one system to the next, Kongtrul demonstrates his exhaustive knowledge of the original sources by drawing from the discourses (sutras) of the Buddha, the tantras, and the treatises of Indian sages He relies as well on a multitude of Tibetan sources When presenting dzogchen teachings, for example, Kongtrul uses the works of Longchenpa; when he discusses the history of Buddhism, he draws on the works of Butön, Taranatha, and others Book One of The Infinite Ocean deals with the Buddha’s sphere of activity, the animate and inanimate universe The first of the four parts presents the cosmology of the mahayana system; the second, our universe from the perspectives of the hinayana and mahayana; the third, cosmology according to the Kalachakra tantra; and the fourth, the causes of cyclic life, ending with the dzogchen view of the primordial purity of the universe.3 Book Two relates the advent of Buddha, the Teacher in our world His path to awakening is explained in part one; the different perspectives on the nature of his enlightenment in part two; the twelve deeds of the Buddha in part three; and the dimensions and realms of awakening in part four.4 Book Three is concerned with the nature of the Buddha’s teachings The four parts describe the characteristics of the teachings, their cycles of scriptural transmission, the compilations of the Buddha’s word, and the origins of the ancient translation tradition Book Four gives an account of the spread of Buddhism in the world The first part relates Buddhism’s spread in India; and the second, how Buddhist monastic discipline and philosophy came to Tibet The third discusses the origins of Tibet’s eight traditions of tantric practice; and the fourth, the origins of Buddhist culture and secular sciences Book Five, the training in Buddhist ethics, begins with a description of an authentic teacher-student relationship as the support for one’s ethical training The second, third, and fourth parts present the vows of personal liberation, the vows of a bodhisattva, and the exceptional pledges for practitioners on the tantric path.5 Book Six presents the topics for study Part one deals with the secular C t he t reasury of knowled ge sciences and worldly paths; part two, general topics of knowledge in hinayana and mahayana; part three, frameworks of Buddhist philosophy; and part four, systems of Buddhist tantra.6 Book Seven, the training in wisdom, begins with a discussion of the keys to understanding The second part describes the three cycles of teaching, the two truths, and dependent origination; the third discusses the Buddhist view; and the fourth, the four reflections by which one is convinced to follow the Buddhist path Book Eight, the training in meditation, begins with the meditations of calm abiding and profound insight, followed by those of the cause-based dialectical approaches, and finally in the third and fourth parts, the processes of vajrayana meditation according to the tantras and the traditions of esoteric instructions.7 Book Nine deals with the paths and stages of spiritual development The first part presents the paths and stages in the cause-based dialectical approaches, and the second part, those of the vajrayana The third part describes the process of enhancement, and the fourth, the paths and stages in mahayaga, anuyoga, and atiyoga.8 Book Ten is an analysis of the consummate fruition state Part one explains the fruition in the dialectical approaches; part two, the more common attainments in the vajrayana; part three, the fruition in the vajrayana; and part four, the fruition state according to the Nyingma school Clearly, the Treasury of Knowledge is “a treatise that effectively transmits the three kinds of training in higher ethics, meditation, and wisdom.” As Kongtrul points out in his introduction to the Treasury, training in ethics is set forth in the fifth book; training in wisdom, in the sixth and seventh books; and training in meditation, principally in the eighth book Books one through four should be regarded as branches of the training in wisdom Books nine and ten are related to the eighth book because spiritual development and fruition derive from the perfection of meditation.9 Book Eight, Part Three, The Elements of Tantric Practice In Book Eight of The Treasury of Knowledge, the section on meditative training, Kongtrul treats the subject by presenting both the sutra approach and the secret-mantra approach The way of secret mantra is divided into the outer systems (action tantra, conduct tantra, and yoga tantra) and ... produced was The Treasury of Knowledge, the name given to the verses of The Encompassment of All Knowledge and the autocommentary The Infinite Ocean of Knowledge The Treasury of Knowledge was followed... and The Infinite Ocean of Knowledge The Elements of Tantric Practice is the translation of a small part of the great treatise entitled The Infinite Ocean of Knowledge (Shes bya mtha’ yas pa’i... Knowledge was followed by The Tantric Treasury of the Kagyu Tradition, The Treasury of Key Instructions, The Treasury of Precious Hidden Teachings, and The Treasury of Vast Teachings.2 The scholarship