Ten topics of tantra

Ten topics of tantra (Tib. རྒྱུད་ཀྱི་དངོས་པོ་བཅུ་, Wyl. rgyud kyi dngos po bcu)

Longchen Rabjam structured the path of Mantrayana in his commentary of the Guhyagarbha tantra, Dispelling Darkness in the Ten Directions according to the ten topics of tantra:

1. view (Skt. dṛṣṭi; Tib. ལྟ་བ་, tawa)
2. samadhi (Skt. samādhi; Tib ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་, ting ngé dzin)
3. action or conduct (Skt. charyā; Tib སྤྱོད་པ་, chöpa)
4. mandala (Skt. maṇḍala; Tib དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་, kyilkhor)
5. empowerment (Skt abhiṣiñca; Tib དབང་, wang)
6. samaya (Skt.; Tib དམ་ཚིག་, damtsik)
7. sadhana (Skt. sādhana; Tib སྒྲུབ་པ་, drubpa)
8. offerings (Skt. pūjā; Tib མཆོད་པ་, chöpa)
9. enlightened activity (Skt. karma; Tib ཕྲིན་ལས་, trinlé)
10. mudra (Skt. mudrā; Tib ཕྱག་རྒྱ་, chakgya)

In Mipham Rinpoche's exposition, Essence of Clear Light, the tenth topic is divided into two, resulting in eleven topics.

How the Ten Topics Relate to the Ten Paramitas

Each topic can be related to one of the ten paramitas of the Mahayana path:

1. view is related to the paramita of wisdom (Skt. prajñāpāramitā)
2. samadhi is related to the paramita of meditative concentration (Skt. dhyānapāramitā)
3. action is related to the paramita of patience (Skt. kṣāntipāramitā)
4. mandala is related to the paramita of primordial wisdom (Skt. jñānapāramitā)
5. empowerment is related to the paramita of strength (Skt. balapāramitā)
6. samaya is related to the paramita of discipline (Skt. śīlapāramitā)
7. sadhana is related to the paramita of diligence (Skt. vīryapāramitā)
8. offerings are related to the paramita of generosity (Skt. dānapāramitā)
9. enlightened activity is related to the paramita of aspiration prayers (Skt. praṇidhānapāramitā)
10. mudra & mantra are related to the paramita of skilful means (Skt. upāyakauśalapāramitā)

Internal Link

• Eleven topics of tantra