A Series of Articles on The Five Maitreya Texts
Essential Texts in of the Mahayana in the Tibetan Tradition

Gone Beyond Volumes 1 & 2: The Prajnaparamita Sutras, The Ornament of Clear Realization, and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Kagyu Tradition

The Abhisamayalamkara summarizes all the topics in the vast Prajnaparamita Sutras. Resembling a zip-file, it comes to life only through its Indian and Tibetan commentaries. Together, these texts not only discuss the "hidden meaning" of the Prajnaparamita Sutras—the paths and bhumis of sravakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas—but also serve as contemplative manuals for the explicit topic of these sutras—emptiness—and how it is to be understood on the progressive levels of realization of bodhisattvas. Thus, these texts describe what happens in the mind of a bodhisattva who meditates on emptiness, making it a living experience from the beginner's stage up through buddhahood.

Gone Beyond contains the first in-depth study of the Abhisamayalamkara (the text studied most extensively in higher Tibetan Buddhist education) and its commentaries in the Kagyu School. This study (in two volumes) includes translations of Maitreya's famous text and its commentary by the Fifth Shamarpa Goncho Yenla (the first translation ever of a complete commentary on the Abhisamayalamkara into English), which are supplemented by extensive excerpts from the commentaries by the Third, Seventh, and Eighth Karmapas and others. Thus, it closes a long-standing gap in the modern scholarship on the Prajnaparamita Sutras and the literature on paths and bhumis in mahayana Buddhism.

The first volume presents an English translation of the first three chapters of the Abhisamayalamkara and its commentary by the Fifth Shamarpa.

The second volume presents an English translation of the final five chapters and its commentary by the Fifth Shamarpa.

There is a comprehensive review of these two volumes on H-Net Buddhism, one of the main academic forums for Buddhist Studies.  The author gives a great summary of the nearly 200-page introduction, which alone is well worth the price of admission:

The introduction to the translation includes the following topics: a summary of the meaning of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras themselves, their contents, and their transmission to Tibet; the special interpretive schema of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra together with a brief survey of the work's major Indian and Tibetan commentaries; the "view" of the text in terms of well-known traditional Tibetan doxographical categories; the reasons why it occupies such an important place in the traditional Tibetan monastic curriculum; a review of the rather limited attention it has so far received by Western scholarship; the practical relevance of the text; the Abhisamayālaṃkāra as a contemplative manual; the meaning of "other-emptiness" (Tib. gzhan stong) in the Eighth Karmapa's and Fifth Shamarpa's commentaries; and an overview of the entire three-volume study. Brunnhölzl's introduction is at its most engaging when addressing the basic question of why we should be bothered wrestling with such a dry and technical text. Although the Abhisamayālaṃkāra declares in its opening verses that its basic purpose is to generate faith and inspire people to undertake the various practices of the bodhisattva path, Brunnhölzl observes that it tends to produce the opposite effect. He finds it very hard to believe that "the endless lists, subdivision, and technical details of things to be accomplished and to be relinquished ... could serve as 'faith boosters' to anyone.... On the contrary, almost everyone has had a hard time stifling the exact opposite feeling of tremendous resistance to all these lists and subdivisions and urge to run out of the class" (p. 103). To overcome this natural reaction to the Abhisamayālaṃkāra, Brunnhölzl devotes considerable space to arguing the case for why readers should persevere with such a difficult work.

Groundless Paths: The Prajnaparamita Sutras, The Ornament of Clear Realization, and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Nyingma Tradition

Groundless Paths contains the first in-depth study of the Abhisamayalamkara and its commentaries from the perspective of the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism. This study consists mainly of translations of Maitreya's famous text and two commentaries on it by Patrul Rinpoche. These are supplemented by three short texts on the paths and bhumis by the same author, as well as extensive excerpts from commentaries by six other Nyingma masters, including Mipham Rinpoche. Thus, this book helps close a long-standing gap in the modern scholarship on the prajñaparamita sutras and the literature on paths and bhumis in mahayana Buddhism.

An interesting fact is that much of Patrul Rinpoche's main commentary, which is included here, is made up almost entirely of literal or abridged passages from what is generally agreed upon is Tsongkhapa’s (1357–1419) commentary on the Abhisamayalamkara , called Golden Garland of Excellent Explanations.  In it, Tsongkhapa explains that his commentary is based on Āryavimuktisena and Haribhadra from the Indian commentarial tradition, and from the Tibetan tradition, he points to Buton and several others, and says he received them from two Sakya masters, Rendawa and Töndrub Rinchen.  

There is a lot more to this, as in certain quarters there are those who believe the text attributed to Tsongkhapa is actually by Longchenpa.  Full details are presented in the book.  

Additional Resources

See also the Tsadra Foundation's page on the Ornament of Clear Realization.

See the Rigpa Wiki page on the Ornament of Clear Realization.

Next, we look at the Ornament of the Mahayana Sutras, the Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra.