Metre, Mantra and Madhyamaka: Aspects of the Buddhist In-
tellectual Culture of Vikramaśīla
Harunaga Isaacson
October 8, 2019
Three Masters of Mantra and Metre in Vikramaśīla
◦ ‘The Teacher’: Ratnākaraśānti. Nirākāra Yogācāra. Students are many; but most
do not follow his positions closely. Composes a small but clear and to some
extent original treatise on metrics, the Chandoratnākara. Newly ‘discovered’,
not yet published, works include Prajñāpāramitopadeśa (edition by Luo Hong
forthcomning) and Śuddhimatī .
◦ ‘The Genius’: Jñānaśrīmitra. Sākāra Yogācāra. Refutes Ratnākaraśānti. Students
are few (Ratnakīrti, Yamāri), but apparently extremely devoted. Composes a
virtuousic hymn to Mañjuśrī which at the same time functions as a handback of
metre, the Vṛttamālāstuti.
◦ ‘The Encyclopedist’: Abhayākaragupta. Madhyamaka. Refutes Jñānaśrīmitra.
Becomes the model for Tibetan encyclopedist/systematist writers, and already
in his lifetime attracts many Tibetan students. Newly discovered in Sanskrit
are his major works Munimatālaṃkāra (edition underway, several parts pub-
lished already by Kazuo Kano and Li Xuezhu), Āmnāyamañjarī (edition by Tōru
Tomabechi and others underway) and Madhyamakamañjarī (edition by Luo Hong
underway).
Pearl Necklace Structure
The opening verse of A String of Pearls, Ratnākaraśānti’s commentary on the Heva-
jratantra:
pādanyāsaiḥ pṛthivyā vihitavighaṭanaṃ bhūbhṛtām aṭṭahāsair
dṛktejaḥketughaṇṭādhvanibhir api nayan nāśasṛṣṭīr jaganti |
bibhrāṇasyāvaliptapraśamanavidhaye bhīṣaṇān abhyupāyān
pāyād vo jainaguhyatrayahṛdayahṛdas tāṇḍavaṃ herukasya k 1
Metre as Homage? As Challenge?
Madhyamakamañjarī of Abhayākaragupta, first concluding verse:1 1
From Luo Hong: ‘The opening and
concluding verses of Abhayākaragupta’s
itaḥ svakṛtasambhṛter jagati janmināṃ bhūtayo Madhyamakamañjarī ’, in: China Tibetology
September 2018, pp. 15–23.
bhavantu nikhilāvanīvidhṛtadhīguṇaśreṇayaḥ |
sphurantu bhuvanatrayīpracitacārucitrākṛti-
svarūpavirahasthitivyatikaraikarūpās tu naḥ k 2
metre, mantra and madhyamaka 2
This is translated by Luo Hong thus:2 2
Luo 2018, 20. I have made one silent
correction of what is an obvious typo,
By virtue of this accumulation [of wisdom and merits] gathered by [my]self the omission of an end-of-line hyphen.
I omit Luo Hong’s notes (there are
[through composing the Madhyamakamañjarī ] (svakṛtasambhṛteḥ), may there be eight on his translation of this verse,
prosperity (bhūtayaḥ) for beings in the world (jagati janminām), [a prosperity most of which concern the analysis of
compounds).
which is] wisdom, the flow of virtue, [a flow] which is well supported by the
whole earth (nikhilāvanīvidhṛtadhīguṇaśreṇayaḥ); for me, however, [by virtue
of this accumulation of wisdom and merits gathered by myself through com-
posing the Madhyamakamañjarī ,] may there appear (sphurantu) [prosperity
(bhūtayaḥ)] which consists of the single form of the combination of nonex-
istence and existence of the intrinsic nature of the various pleasant forms
assembled in the three worlds(bhuvanatrayīpracitacārucitrākṛtisvarūpavirahasthi-
tivyatikaraikarūpāḥ)!
The verse contains some probable echoes of Jñānaśrīmitra. See most notably per-
haps the first verse of the following group, which is part of a larger section, both
metrically and philosophically virtuosic, near the end of the second chapter of
Jñānaśrīmitra’s Sākārasiddhi:
yathā sakaladehinām anubhavasya citrā sthitiḥ
samantasamayatraye tadanukārisarvākṛteḥ |
dhiyaḥ praṇidhipākataḥ samudaye svarūpaśriyā
sahaiva vividhākṛtivyatikaraikarūpo vibhuḥ k [Pṛthvī]
sūkṣmatarābhrapatrapihito ’yam arūpadṛśaḥ
sarvam idaṃ svarūpam adhiyanti daśāvanayaḥ |
tatra ca niścalāpratimabhāgam uśanti vapuḥ
gocarabhāga eṣa iti śeṣam aśeṣam api k [Pattrabhaṅgaracanā]3 3
This metre is called apūrva by Śāk-
yarakṣita in his Vṛttamālāstutivivṛti; it is
citram anekam ekam iti kiṃkṛta eṣa vidhiḥ identical in terms of syllable quantities
pārthiva eka eṣa iti kiṃkṛta eṣa vidhiḥ k to a rather rare metre called by others
saṃvṛtisatyametya yadi sā sthitir evam iyaṃ Bhāminī or Śailaśikhā, but that metre is
jñānaśubhorubhārajanitas tu mahātiśayaḥ k [Pattrabhaṅgaracanā] taught as having two internal caesura,
after the fifth and eleventh syllables.
‘Other People’s Philology’
The opening verse of Abhayākaragupta’s Āmnāyamañjarī . See the following page
from Matthew T. Kapstein: ‘Other People’s Philology: Uses of Sanskrit in Tibet and
China, 14th–19th Centuries,’ in: Silvia D’Intino & Sheldon Pollock (eds.): L’espace
du sens. Approches de la philologie indienne / The Space of Meaning. Approaches to Indian
Philology, Paris: Collège de France, 2018. Publications de l’Institut de civilisation
indienne, Fasc. 84. p. 465-494.
476 other people’s philology
nyin-byed (1700-1774). 38 The opening vandana may serve as an example,
my emendations to the Sanskrit text as we find it in the manuscript being
given in square brackets. 39
mūrttir vajravilāsinīvahulitānandādvayī janminām
antardyutir[= m] udañcayanty api tama[s]stomāstakṛnnirmitaiḥ
yasyārjan nijaniṣprapañcaparamaprajñākṛpāsaṃpuṭaḥ[= ṃ]
kuryād [v]aḥ kuliśeśvara[s] sa vilasal lakṣmīmahimnā bhuvaṃ
rdo rje sgeg mo’i dga’ ba shin du (sic!) mang dang 2 su med pa’i sku yis
’gro rnams kyi
mun pa’i tshogs rnams nub par mdzad pa’i sprul pa rnams kyis nang gi
’od zer ’char mdzad kyang
gang gi stobs ni gnyug ma’i spros med shes rab mchog dang thugs rje yang
dag sbyor yin pa
rdo rje’i dbang phyug de yis khyed la chen po’i sa yi phun tshogs rol pa
mdzad gyur cig
[He] whose body is inseparable from bliss augmented by Vajra
Playgirl,
Making manifest creatures’ inner light by emanations that put an
end to [their] gross darkness,
And whose attainment is the natural, unelaborate union of ultimate
wisdom and kindness,
May that Lord of the Vajra make for you a world delighting with
abundance and magnificence!
The verse may serve as an example of the virtuosity of the 12th -century
translator, Tsa-mi Sangs-rgyas-grags, whose rendition of Abhayākara-
gupta’s long and difficult text — over 200 tightly scribed palm-leaves in
the surviving exemplar in the Potala collection — is counted among the
great masterworks of Buddhist tantric commentary in Tibet. 40 The tran-
scription we find in the bilingual manuscript that concerns us here, which
was produced over half a millennium after the translation was executed,
preserves the Sanskrit with a notably high degree of fidelity. Although
the text does demand some emendation, it seems in this regard not to
fall much below the standard we find in relatively well-prepared Sanskrit
manuscripts from India and so well demonstrates the care that Tibetan
38. On Si-tu’s contributions to Sanskrit grammatical studies, see Verhagen (2001: 161-
180 and passim).
39. I am grateful to Professors Whitney Cox and John Nemec for having taken the time
to discuss this verse with me, leading to improvements in my treatment thereof.
40. Refer to n. 36 above, p. 475.
