A study of the origination, formation, and transformation of what came to be known as the sGrub-pa-bka’-brgyad cycle of the Mahāyoga strand of Vajrayāna tradition of the rNying-ma school of Tibetan Buddhism is a desideratum. Although the tradition classifies the bKa’-brgyad cycle into bKa’-ma and gTer-ma traditions, the textual evidences for the former seem not to be forthcoming. Even the term sgrub pa bka’ brgyad or bka’ brgyad seems hardly attested in the pre-twelfth-century textual sources. Of the eight cycles, the first five are said to pertain to supramundane and soteriological concerns and the last three are mundane and do not directly concern soteriology. Also there seems to be a tacit assumption that the first five are Indic in their origination and the last three are rather Tibetic adaptation. Unfortunately, I do not have the time to try and prove this. As already pointed out by Mengyan Li (Li 2018: 24, n. 1), the term sgrub pa sde lnga can be traced in the the lDe’u chos ’byung and the like. The sgrub pa sde lnga are: bDud-rtsi, Phur-pa, Padma-dbang-chen, Yang-dag and gShin-rje. These are said to have been transmitted into Tibet by Vimalamitra. We, however, notice that what we have here bDud-rtsi in place of Che-mchog in the more popular and later bKa’-brgyad scheme. There is much to explore in this regard. My interest lies in trying to shed light on the history of bKa’-brgyad in the pre-twelfth-century sources. As far as I can see, Rong-zom-pa, for example, does not seem to employ expressions such as sgrub pa sde lnga, sgrub pa sde brgyad, sgrub pa bka’ brgyad, and the like. We cannot draw any sure conclusion from the argumentum ex silentio, but we should nonetheless bear this in mind. What seems reasonable to do is to find out if individual components, let us say, building blocks of the sGrub-pa-sde-lnga, sGrub-pa-sde-brgyad, or, sGrub-pa-bka’-brgyad, can be traced in the pre-twelfth-century sources. In this regard, it also seems worth keeping in mind that sGrub-pa-bka’-brgyad cycle is seen as the sādhana-section (sgrub sde), as opposed/juxtaposed to the tantra-section of the Mahāyoga, and hence the origin of the sādhana-section is to be sought not outside but rather in the tantra-section. This can be one of the reasons why the history of the sGrub-pa-bka’-brgyad cycle cannot be explained or fully explained without first explaining the history of the the tantra-section comprising of the eighteen Mahāyoga Tantric cycles. Based on Orna Almogi’s study, the terminus ante quem of the great part of the eighteen Mahāyoga Tantric cycles can be set to the tenth or eleventh century. While the writings of Rong-zom-pa do not allude to the schemes of sgrub pa sde lnga and sgrub pa bka’ brgyad, Rong-zom-pa seems to have known the individual components of at least the sgrub pa sde lnga.
Rong-zom-pa in his Theg pa’i bye brag briefly refers to a certain bDud brtsi’i lung (D, p. 35.19–21): thabs mi mkhas pa’i byang chub sems dpa’ bkag ste | bdud rtsi’i lung las | mdo sde’i byang chub sems dpa’ ming yang mi grags pa’i nang du zhes gsungs so ||. This text is being studied by Ms. Jing Yi for her MA thesis. The difficulty has been the terseness of the title and of the idea referred to there. It is as if Rong-zom-pa had been deliberately leaving behind only small traces of the existence of a certain text and of a certain idea to challenge future detectives. Ms. Jing Yi informs me that she has been, with the help of our BuddhaNexus database, able to trace a similar verse in the Thams cad bdud rtsi lnga’i rang bzhin dngos grub chen po nye ba’i snying po mchog bam po chen po brgyad pa. The pertinent verses that Ms. Jing Yi is referring to seems to be the following:
Thams cad bdud rtsi lnga’i rang bzhin dngos grub chen po nye ba’i mchog bam po chen po brgyad pa (B, vol. 103, p. 560.7–14): bcom ldan gsang ba mchog gi dkyil ’khor na || shin tu rnal ’byor dbang phyug tshogs || rgyal ba rgya mtsho ’khor dang bcas || skal ldan rnams dang thabs cig bzhugs || gnas mchog yum gyi dkil ’khor na || gnyis med lhun gyis gnas pa’i tshe || de tshe nyan thos dge ’dun dang || rang rgyal theg chen mdo sde dang || nyan thos dge ’dun chen po dang || dgra bcom ming yang med nang du || kun bzang thugs kyi dkyil ’khor nas dgongs te ’di skad bstan pa’i lung ||.
I am too lazy to provide here the corresponding references to the other bKa’ ’gyur editions.
The idea that the exclusive Tantric doctrine has been taught to a milieu where even the designation non-Mantric bodhisattva is not known can be found in some Tantric scriptures from the rNying ma rgyud ’bum clearly from the cycle associated with the bDud-rtsi. The following results have been extracted from the BuddhaNexus. Here, too, the exact references to the rNying ma rgyud ’bum editions have not been provided by me.
Thams cad bdud rtsi lnga’i rang bzhin (NG0647): ’di skad bdag gis thos pa’i dus gcig na | bcom ldan ’das gsang ba mchog gi dkyil ’khor na | shin tu rnal ’byor gyi dbang phyug chen po dang thabs cig tu bzhugs te | nyan thos dang rang sangs rgyas dang | theg pa chen po’i mdo sde’i rgyal po byang chub sems dpa’ dang | dgra bcom pa’i nyan thos kyi dge ’dun chen po dag ming yang mi grag pa’i nang du | gsang sngags kyi snying po bdud rtsi’i mchog tu bya ba’i blta ba dang | spyod pa dang bsgrub pa ’di gsungs so ||.
Thams cad bdud rtsi lnga’i rang bzhin dngos grub chen po nye ba’i snying po mchog (NG0276): ’di skad bdag gis thos pa’i dus gcig na | bcom ldan ’das dpal kun tu bzang po | kun rig chos kyi rje dpal chen po shri he ru ka sthi ra ma ti de gsang ba mchog gi dkyil ’khor na | rigs lnga’i ’khor tshogs rgya mtsho dang bcas pa dang | lha dang klu dang mi’i rig ’dzin rnams dang thabs cig tu bzhugs te | nyan thos dang | byang chub sems dpa’i dge ’dun ni ming yang mi grag pa’i nang du | gsang sngags kyi snying po || bdud rtsi’i mchog bcud du bya ba’i lta ba dang | man ngag bsgom pa dang | bsgrub pa dam tshig rnams bsdus te gsungs so ||.
Thams cad bud rtsi lnga’i rang bzhin (NG0269): ’di skad bdag gis thos pa’i dus gcig na | bcom ldan ’das gsang ba mchog gi dkyil ’khor na | shin tu rnal ’byor gyi dbang phyug chen po dang thabs cig tu bzhugs te | nyan thos dang rang sangs rgyas dang | theg pa chen po’i mdo sde’i rgyal po byang chub sems dpa’ dang | dgra bcom pa’i nyan thos kyi dge ’dun chen po dag ming yang mi grag pa’i nang du | gsang sngags kyi snying po bdud rtsi’i mchog tu bya ba’i blta ba dang | spyod pa dang bsgrub pa ’di gsungs so ||.
The title of the Tantric scripture, bDud rtsi chen po mchog gi lung, found in the Thams cad bdud rtsi lnga’i rang bzhin dngos grub chen po nye ba’i mchog bam po chen po brgyad pa (B, vol. 103, p. 562.20–21) is the closest to the bDud rtsi’i lung, mentioned once by Rong-zom-pa. Rong-zom-pa’s allusion to the bDud rtsi’i lung can be considered a valuable testimony to the existence of the bDud-rtsi cycle of the sGrub-bka’-brgyad and its scriptures in the eleventh century.
Pratisaṃvid 