Abhisamayalankara
Abhisamayalankara (Skt. Abhisamayālaṃkāra; Tib. Ngöntok Gyen; Wyl. mngon rtogs rgyan), The Ornament of Clear Realization — one of the five treatises that were directly revealed to Asanga by the future Buddha Maitreya, it is a commentary on the hidden meaning of the Prajñaparamita Sutras, describing the entire journey of the bodhisattva, from the generation of bodhichitta to the attainment of full omniscience.
Outline
![](/images/b/ba/Prajnaparamita.jpg)
The text is divided into eight topics:
- knowledge of all aspects, omniscience
- path-knowledge
- base-knowledge, knowledge of the bases, knowledge of the foundation
- complete application of all aspects, application of the realization of all aspects
- culminating application, application when reaching the peak
- progressive application; gradual training; gradual application of the bodhisattva path
- instantaneous application; momentary training
- dharmakaya
These eight topics are further divided into seventy points.
Commentaries
Indian
- Arya Vimuktisena, Commentary on the Abhisamayalankara (Skt. abhisamayālaṅkārakārikāvārttika)
- Haribhadra, Sphutartha (Skt. Sphuṭārthā; Wyl. 'grel pa don gsal)
Tibetan
- Tsongkhapa, Golden Garland of Eloquence (legs bshad gser phreng) (translated by Gareth Sparham, Jain Publishing, 2008)
- Patrul Rinpoche, Overview
- Pöpa Tulku, The Oral Transmission of the Invincible Maitreya and An Adornment to the Vision of the Invincible Maitreya
- Amdo Geshe Jampal Rolwé Lodrö, The Essence of an Ocean of Fine Explanation
Translations
- Abhisamayalankara, Edward Conze (Rome: Is.M.E.O., 1954).
- Gone Beyond: The Prajnaparamita Sutras, The Ornament of Clear Realization, and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Kagyu Tradition, Volume One, translated and introduced by Karl Brunnhölzl, Snow Lion, forthcoming 2011
- Ornament of Clear Realization: A Commentary on the Prajnaparamita of Maitreya, Thrangu Rinpoche, Zhyisil Chokyi Ghatsal, 2004.
- Abhisamayalankara (mngon rtogs rgyan), Maitreya – Asanga with commentary by Jamgön Mipham, Padmakara translation group, forthcoming
Further Reading
- John Makransky, Buddhahood embodied: sources of controversy in India and Tibet, New York: SUNY, 1997