The Royal Tantra on the Brilliant Diffusion of Majestic Space

Of the 33 (of Wilkinson's 37 published translations), this is one of the better ones, though there were several I thought better--thus, the less than 5 star rating. This book covers a lot of ground on Ati Yoga and I added a great number of quotations to my collection from this book. This is Not a basic text. It is a more or less literal translation of a medieval text without comment and the endnotes are almost entirely in Tibetan--not helpful to an English speaking reader--nor are the Tibetan texts appended to the vast majority of Wilkinson's translations. Still, he's done a great service to English speakers interested in Tantras and, for whatever it's worth, preserving the original Tibetan. I presume he envisions later scholars utilizing the Tibetan parts. I can live with subsidizing his ulterior motive.Here are a ton of valuable (IMHO) quotations. I hope you find them helpful. Some are for later use in Buddhist discussions, some are for reminders to myself, some are for further study.p. 25: All things abide where there is no abiding. All things also depend on something that is not dependable. No matter where we go, traveling the highlands and surrounding them with arrows, We do not move away from the space of our own minds.p. 28: What will we find by searching on any path? To have no conventionalities in Buddhahood. There is nothing to search for except Buddhahood. Buddhahood is called: 'Buddhahood.' It is nowhere other than the Bodhicitta. The Bodhicitta is Buddhahood. Buddhahood is also Bodhicitta. The mind and Buddhahood are indistinguishable.p. 30: When we know one thing, we also know them all. When we are aware of one thing, we are also aware of them all.p. 82: To have a dualistic vision is a deluded mentality…We are liberated from the extreme of equality and inequality. It is through the taking in and holding on of our delusional non-awareness that we practice the extreme of clinging to positions.p. 101: Samsara and nirvana, causes and results, are ourselves.p. 102: When we desire, the thing we desire is a limitation. [profound]p. 118: Pacify your own spirit.p. 119: Totality is an unborn dominion.p. 131: People who are fortunate…do not visualize an object or an abode for their compassion. [intransitive vs. transitive]p. 161: The Buddha is called 'Buddha.' This is merely the adventitious attribution of a name.p. 161: In the reality where there are no causes and conditions, [Ein Sof] our true self is called 'the Bodhicitta…Everything is gathered into the self, so our true self is called 'the Bodhicitta.'p. 193: Even though inequalities may appear, there is a dominion of equality. It manifests as our absence of both equality and inequality… We are liberated in the absence of both equality and inequality.p. 194: Because there is no break in the continuum, there is no cause and result. Because there is no cause and result, there are no obstacles.p. 196: It is when our own body is clear as being a god that we inherently do not abide in any grasping at a self.p. 198: Everything, without exception, is the Bodhicitta.p. 198: 'The samaya of absence.' When an object and one who keeps an object are both absent, thee is nothing to protect and no borders of protection.p. 203: No matter what I say, I am saying it to myself…I talk and speak to myself by myself.p. 213: That which is called the 'rite of a retreat' is the Bodhicitta of the Atiyoga.p. 214: The Ati is a self-originating retreat. This is called a 'close retreat.'p. 215: The Ati is a self-originating close retreat.p. 215: In the mandala of self-originating wisdom we set up gods who are our own self-evident playfulness.

If you are looking for a commentary explaining the Buddha’s teachings this isn’t your book. Looking for an experience, read on. By page twenty two I wondered what more could be said. As it turns out, a lot. Almost every single page contains something of the profound. Somewhere I recently read that sometimes it takes hearing the truth of reality a thousand times. It wasn’t a bad thing since the teachings must be assimilated. Here page after page you read the brilliant, the poetic. You think it cannot continue so intensely, but it does right through to the end.At times this has a strange ethereal effect, more like experiencing the book then reading it, much like lucid dreaming. Sometimes a single page seems to tell it all. Sometimes even a single paragraph like this on page 22:In this abode of thusnessThere is no distraction or non-distraction.There is no motion or non-motion.For this reason,There is no other inspiration of the Victorious OneThen this.Christopher Wilkinson has previously translated eight books in the Great Perfection Series and seven in the Sakya Kongma Series. I don’t know if he has developed a following, but there should be one. His translations are poetic and feel experiential. There is a sense that the intuitive is at work. You will be left with anticipation for his next book.

Christopher has provided a most wonderful translation of this text that is both clear and insightful. For those who are engaged or are at least interested in Dzogchen (The Great Perfection) and its elucidation of what is sometimes called the uncontrived state of self-awareness, this is a delightful read that flows through and illuminates own's consciousness. It is a beautiful array of pointing-out verses that allow the pure presence of spontaneity to emerge effortlessly within and AS the deep, vast spaciousness of the unborn, clear light nature of Awareness.The main metaphor for this space of Awareness is the Majestic sky where all appears and diffuses like clouds and rainbows. Another nice analogy is the sun and its rays which represents the display and play of primordial awareness and its apparent manifestations. However these are only words pointing to that experience which is ultimately non-conceptual and beyond all thought. It is the pure space of BEing that is boundless and free of any trace of a dualistic sense of a separate perceiving-subject and apparent external objects.I highly recommend this gem of a book in addition to his other translations.

Though this entire text is difficult to understand, and while a certain amount of intellectual comprehension is needed, and probably there are codes imbedded I'm unfamiliar with, I feel the text's primary benefit lies in its transmission potential. Read with emotional intensity, aloud (in my case in the company of a like-minded friend), at the same time from a disposition of openness and of letting go, as the text says diffusion, it has been this reader's experience that its transmission power is more than just a potential.Kudos to the translator for providing us with such a raw translation. . . it's life still intact. And praise to the lineages of masters and innumerable beings that made this all possible. We are fortunate to be here at this time when so many such texts are being made available.

I will hold this close to my heart for the rest of this life. Like the writings of Longchenpa, it takes you there. Thanks again CW :)

Absolutely magnificent translation of an absolutely magnificent source text.

Insightfulness

Great book and great translator.