Longchenpa

Person

Longchenpa 隆钦巴 (Klong chen rab ’byams pa, also called Drimé Özer, Dri med ’od zer, “Stainless Light”, c. 1308—1363 / 1364; the great systematizer of the Great Perfection in the Tibetan Nyingma school)

Tradition

Tibetan Buddhism / Nyingma school · Great Perfection (rDzogs pa chen po)

Main texts

Root verses of the Treasury of the Dharmadhātu (Chos dbyings rin po che’i mdzod); the Treasury of Words and Meanings (Tshig don rin po che’i mdzod); root verses of Resting in the Nature of Mind (Sems nyid ngal gso). Biography: Biography of the Omniscient Drimé Özer, Meaningful to Behold (written by a disciple).

Core-text marks

谁也未曾经历解脱｜于无证与未证而解脱者，欲证而后解脱是退失之敌｜唯认出本住自面，名为佛｜本来成佛中再成佛

The class is not changed because one side has more passages, nor is precedence set by the order of chapters; in particular, “designating a name” does not necessarily make the function of recognition disappear, nor can ② be fixed automatically on the strength of “by realization” alone.

【Important limitation】All the Tibetan in this draft has been checked against a single digital transcription, and the Chinese renderings are research trial translations; that the original text can be verified at A does not mean that the Chinese interpretation of key terms is automatically A. For the glossing of “rtogs / ma rtogs”, “btags par zad” and “yang sangs rgyas”, the literal translation and the disputes at the pragmatic level must be retained.

One-sentence placement: With “spontaneously present from the beginning” and “empty in essence yet unceasing in nature”, Longchenpa explains that all of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa appear from one and the same ground without leaving it (E-05); he places body, speech and mind, and even “mindfulness, awareness, movement and scattering”, as ornaments of the dharmadhātu (E-06, E-07); further, he says “no one has ever experienced liberation; bondage has never existed from the beginning” (E-09), “for that which is liberated in no-realization and non-realization, wishing to be liberated after realizing is the enemy of decline” (E-18), and “the view of realization — realizing is fine, not realizing is fine;

the abiding fruit — accomplished is fine, not accomplished is fine” (E-20) — this is the most concentrated and most forceful group of sentences in the ① direction seen in this archive so far. But the same Treasury of the Dharmadhātu also says “only recognizing the abiding face itself is the name ‘buddha’ designated” (E-21), and “by realization one suddenly becomes a buddha again; by non-realization the mass of ignorance and delusion appears” (E-23); the title of the book’s last chapter is precisely “originally a buddha … and becoming a buddha again” (E-27), and it closes the fruition stage with “by recognizing one’s own face one is liberated in the realm of Samantabhadra” (E-26); the Treasury of Words and Meanings goes further and describes Samantabhadra’s liberation as the “recognition” and “the ground ripening into the fruit” in two instants, “in essence originally a buddha; by realization called becoming a buddha again” (E-30). The overall classification is ② “Direct Seeing of the Ground” (C, provisional): the ground is established without awaiting recognition, and cognition and speech are also positively placed in the ground; but the two layers “originally a buddha” and “becoming a buddha again” are consistently distinguished in Longchenpa’s works, and the latter is explicitly tied to recognition; the systematic positive evidence for the ① direction is retained as C.

Most distinctive: within the same root verses Longchenpa writes down the strongest sentences of both the ① direction and the ② direction, and deliberately lets them stand side by side. Chapter 9 says “in the one great expanse, realization and non-realization, liberation and non-liberation, are non-dual, great equality”, and immediately after says “the fortunate yogin who realizes as it is … cuts through the abyss of saṃsāra” (E-17); chapter 1 says “no one has ever experienced liberation” (E-09), and chapter 13 says “through familiarization one becomes a buddha again within the original buddha” (E-24). He separates the two layers with two terms: “originally a buddha” (ye sangs rgyas) and “becoming a buddha again” (yang sangs rgyas) (E-27, E-30). This is structurally parallel to Zhiyi’s “identity in principle / ultimate identity” and Asaṅga’s “gold is originally in the earth / it appears when burned by the fire of wisdom”, but Longchenpa’s formulation of the “originally a buddha” side is far more radical than either. (A: stated explicitly in the text; overall structure B)

Final load-bearing point: seen in three layers. (1) The ground layer: the ground is empty yet unceasing, saṃsāra and nirvāṇa appear of themselves without leaving it (E-05); the three realms of existence are primordially pure, no one has ever been deluded (E-08); bondage has never existed from the beginning (E-09). This layer does not await recognition, and the deletion test passes.

(2) The dismantling layer: all effortful practice and the stages of the nine vehicles are placed as expedients “for the face of delusion” (E-11, E-12); the reading that takes moving thoughts as bodhicitta is rejected (E-14); inference that clings only to the word “non-dual” is rejected (E-16); taking the mind’s non-conceptual state as wisdom is rejected (E-32). (3) The completion layer: “only recognizing one’s own face is called buddha” (E-21); “by realization one becomes a buddha again” (E-23, E-30); “through familiarization one becomes a buddha again” (E-24); “by recognizing one’s own face one is liberated in the realm of Samantabhadra” (E-26); the appearance of the ground becomes a condition of liberation or of delusion according to whether it is recognized (E-29, E-31); in the treatment of the path, one is liberated with the wisdom of awareness as the antidote (E-35), and the fruition stage is divided into two layers, “the aspect of primordial purity” and “the culmination of the qualities of abandonment and realization” (E-36). The original draft’s B inference for ② depends on the third layer, and the third layer is explicit in both Longchenpa’s own root verses and his treatises.

Most delicate point: chapter 9’s “for that which is liberated in no-realization and non-realization, wishing to be liberated after realizing is the enemy of decline” (E-18) and chapter 10’s “only recognizing the abiding face itself is called buddha” (E-21) are only one chapter apart.

① can say: the “buddha” of the latter is only a nominal designation established on recognition (btags par zad), and the ultimate meaning is chapter 9’s “no-realization and non-realization”. This archive’s judgment is: Longchenpa does not let either side cancel the other, but keeps both at once through the two layers “originally a buddha / becoming a buddha again”, and the whole book closes with “becoming a buddha again” (E-27). “Originally a buddha” shows that completion does not await recognition (① direction); “becoming a buddha again” shows that there is a further layer of completion conditioned by recognition (② direction). Under v1.3, since the two statements coexist in the mature works of the same author and the latter is not explicitly withdrawn, the judgment is ②; the full competing interpretation in the ① direction is retained as C. A separate question is that Longchenpa calls the highest “self-arisen wisdom” and “awareness” (E-04, E-19, E-34); whether this constitutes an exclusion condition in v1.3 must be judged by where it is finally placed (Part 9).

Note on the texts: all three treatises used in this archive are titled as composed by Longchenpa, and the list of works in the biography written by his disciple explicitly includes the Treasury of the Dharmadhātu, the Treasury of Words and Meanings and others (E-03).

there is not yet sufficient ground for whether its tone is pejorative; even if the name is a nominal designation, the “recognition” on which the name rests may still have an actual liberating function. The causal / instrumental case of rtogs pas in E-23 and shes pas in E-26 cannot automatically be taken as a “generating cause”. The auto-commentary on the Treasury of the Dharmadhātu, the Treasury of Scripture, has not been checked; any final ordering of levels between chapter 9 and chapter 13 is a C hypothesis.

Collation note｜That the auto-commentary on the Treasury of the Dharmadhātu, the Treasury of Scripture, has not been checked is the missing evidence most relevant to the priority between “chapter 9, ultimate equality / chapter 13, becoming a buddha again”, and it should not be listed merely as general further reading. The detailed treatment in the Treasury of Words and Meanings of recognizing and not recognizing the appearance of the ground can help interpretation, but cannot, without a same-source check, automatically override the explicit anti-completion sentences of the root verses of the Treasury of the Dharmadhātu themselves.

Textual levels in this archive:

• T1 = root verses of the Treasury of the Dharmadhātu (E-04—E-28); the Treasury of Words and Meanings (E-29—E-34); root verses of Resting in the Nature of Mind (E-35, E-36).

• T2 = none. This archive cites no works of disputed attribution.
• T3 = none. The auto-commentary on the Treasury of the Dharmadhātu, the Treasury of Scripture, and the commentaries of later Nyingma scholars (such as Jigme Lingpa and Mipham) are not used in this archive.
• T4 = Biography of the Omniscient Drimé Özer, Meaningful to Behold (E-01—E-03), used only for the life and the attribution of works.

Editions and transcriptions: the Tsadra digital text on which the Treasury of the Dharmadhātu is based is a typeset transcription without the original woodblock page numbers; this archive locates passages by “chapter” and “line” (counting verse lines bounded by a single shad; chapter 1 includes the verse of homage). The Treasury of Words and Meanings is based on the proofread transcription of the Larung edition; where the transcription breaks syllables across lines, this archive has merged the spaces in quotation without altering the text, and locates passages by BDRC image page number. The ACIP transcription is in Wylie; this archive has mechanically converted it into Tibetan script and lists it together with the original transliteration. This archive has not carried out a multi-edition collation of any of the treatises; this is its main textual limitation.

Method: under v1.3, three questions are kept apart: (a) whether the ground is established without awaiting recognition — empty yet unceasing, spontaneously present from the beginning, the three realms of existence primordially pure: yes; (b) whether cognition and the thought itself can be positively placed in the ground — “mindfulness, awareness, movement and scattering” as the wheel of mind, the seeing of dharmatā as an ornament of the dharmadhātu, the speech of this book as the mind of the dharmakāya appearing as speech: yes; (c) once (a) and (b) hold, if the function of “recognizing one’s own face” is deleted, does Longchenpa’s account of “buddha”, “becoming a buddha again” and “liberated in the realm of Samantabhadra” remain complete? The deletion test removes only the function in (c), and keeps effortful practice as a control (Longchenpa himself has already placed effortful practice as an expedient, E-12). The deletion test does not require the removed function to be an independent entity outside the ground: even if recognition is the ground’s dynamic energy, and it is “one’s own face” that is recognized, as long as Longchenpa designates the name “buddha” on recognition, and uses recognition to distinguish “originally a buddha” from “becoming a buddha again”, this function cannot be deleted. Specific propositions can be judged A in the original text;

2. Appearance and self-inclusion: the three wheels of body, speech and mind, mindfulness and awareness, and the seeing of dharmatā are all ornaments of the dharmadhātu (E-06, E-07); realization and non-realization both appear from the dynamic energy (E-10).
3. Primordial purity: no one has ever been deluded, no one has ever been liberated, bondage has never existed from the beginning (E-08, E-09); originally liberated, without realization or non-realization (E-19).
4. Dismantling effort and mistaken cognition: view, meditation, conduct and fruit, the grounds and paths, generation and completion, empowerment and vows — none is to be cultivated (E-11); effortful practice is an expedient for the face of delusion (E-12); moving thoughts are not bodhicitta (E-14); clinging to the word “non-dual” is perverted (E-16); the mind’s non-conceptuality is not wisdom (E-32).
5. Equalization of completion: realization and non-realization, liberation and non-liberation, are non-dual and equal (E-17); wishing to be liberated after realizing is the enemy of decline (E-18); realizing is fine, not realizing is fine; the fruit accomplished is fine, not accomplished is fine (E-20).
6. Recognition and becoming a buddha again: only recognizing one’s own face is called buddha (E-21);

The text has three groups of direct formulations:

• The layer of ground and appearance: “the ground from which everything arises in the spontaneous expanse, empty in essence yet unceasing in nature, not established as anything, appearing as anything; although saṃsāra and nirvāṇa appear naturally from the expanse of the three kāyas, they have not wavered from the dharmadhātu” (E-05); “the treasury from which appearance and existence, the vessel and its contents, saṃsāra and nirvāṇa arise” (E-04).
• The layer of primordial purity: “no one, anywhere, was deluded before, is deluded now, or will be deluded later” (E-08); “no one has ever experienced liberation; it will not turn into liberation; bondage has never existed from the beginning” (E-09); “originally liberated, without realization or non-realization” (E-19).
• The layer of all-embracing inclusion: the three wheels of body, speech and mind, mindfulness and awareness, and the seeing of dharmatā are all ornaments of the dharmadhātu (E-06, E-07); realization and non-realization, buddhas and beings, all appear from the dynamic energy without wavering from the dharmadhātu (E-10, E-23).

yet the “by realization one becomes a buddha again / without realization, delusion” of E-23, the “recognition acts as the condition of liberation / non-recognition as the condition of delusion” of E-29, and the two-instant realization — ripening of the ground into the fruit of E-30 still show a break at the level of events. ① can in turn use E-18 / E-20 to deny “liberation only after realization”, so the whole is only C; one cannot use the word “nominal designation” to declare that the second round has already passed.

Collation note｜The first round removes a cognitive entity added outside the ground: it need not be kept, because recognition is not two with the dynamic energy of the dharmadhātu. The second round removes the actual function of “recognizing one’s own face”, while keeping original buddhahood, the equality of realization and non-realization, and speech as ornament. E-09 / E-18 / E-20 can be kept; the “only recognizing … is called buddha” of E-21, the “by realization … becoming a buddha again” of E-23, the “by recognition … liberated” of E-26 and the fork of delusion / awakening in E-29—E-30 are hard to keep as they stand. The opposing side can restrict the latter items to “a becoming-a-buddha-again nominally designated for the face of the deluded”, and argue on the basis of E-21 btags par zad that this is not the final structure. Both paths come from T1, hence C.

【Guarding against substitution】One should distinguish whether “original liberation” and “the later becoming a buddha again” are levels coexisting, a pragmatic expedient, or two negative namings of one and the same event. One may not presuppose that original presence can never cancel the condition of completion, nor presuppose that “becoming a buddha again” in a title overrides the verses that directly reject later realization.

Deletion test: from the complete structure delete only the function of “recognizing one’s own face” (recognizing the appearance of the ground as self-appearance, realizing equality, resting within recognition, familiarization), while keeping the original purity and spontaneous presence of the ground, saṃsāra and nirvāṇa appearing of themselves without leaving it, body, speech and mind and mindfulness and awareness all being ornaments of the dharmadhātu, and original buddhahood, and keeping effortful practice as a control. Check separately which layer breaks: the specification of the ground, delusion and awakening, the name “buddha”, becoming a buddha again, being liberated in the realm of Samantabhadra.

One may not declare that the function of recognition has been cancelled because of phrases such as “no one has ever been liberated”, “no-realization and non-realization” or “realizing is fine, not realizing is fine”, nor ignore Longchenpa’s positive specification of original buddhahood because of “becoming a buddha again”. The deletion test also does not require the removed function to be an independent entity outside the ground (see Part 3).

(1) The ground is established: the ground is empty yet unceasing (E-05); the three realms of existence are primordially pure, no one has ever been deluded (E-08); bondage has never existed from the beginning (E-09); all dharmas are originally buddha in bodhicitta (E-27, E-33). Delete recognition, and not a word of these specifications changes. The first layer of deletion passes; these are substantive positive evidence for the ① direction, and may not be said to exist only after awakening. (A: stated explicitly in the text)

(2) Dismantling and the learner: effortful practice is placed as an expedient for the face of delusion (E-11, E-12); the reading that takes thoughts as bodhicitta is dismantled (E-14); inference that clings only to the word “non-dual” is dismantled (E-16); taking the mind’s non-conceptuality as wisdom is dismantled (E-32). What can be deleted is effort, stages and mistaken recognition; Longchenpa himself has already deleted them.

But he does not delete “recognition” itself; rather, while dismantling mistaken recognition, he establishes correct recognition as that on which the name “buddha” is designated.

(3) Ultimate completion: in several places in his root verses and treatises Longchenpa gives the same structure: Treasury of the Dharmadhātu — “only recognizing the abiding face itself is the name ‘buddha’ designated” (E-21); “by realization one suddenly becomes a buddha again; by non-realization the mass of ignorance and delusion appears” (E-23); “if one familiarizes with the key point of effortlessness, then within the original buddhahood there occurs becoming a buddha again” (E-24); “by recognizing one’s own face, one is liberated in the realm of Samantabhadra” (E-26); the title of the last chapter, “showing that all dharmas are originally buddha in bodhicitta, and become buddha again without effort and without practice” (E-27). Treasury of Words and Meanings — the appearance of the ground, through recognition, is the condition of liberation, and through non-recognition the condition of delusion (E-29, E-31); Samantabhadra, “in essence originally a buddha, by realization called becoming a buddha again” (E-30).

Resting in the Nature of Mind — the fruition stage is divided into “the aspect of natural primordial purity” (the unchanging vajra body) and “the culmination of the qualities of abandonment and realization” (the manifest bodhi-body) (E-36).

Judgment and breaking point: remove recognition and keep the ground, and the first layer is still intact: original buddhahood is unaffected. But the name “buddha” loses the place where it is designated (E-21); “becoming a buddha again” loses its condition (E-23, E-24, E-30); “liberated in the realm of Samantabhadra” loses its manner (E-26); the appearance of the ground no longer has a “condition of liberation”, and only the side “not recognizing, one is deluded” remains (E-29, E-31). Of the two layers “originally a buddha / becoming a buddha again” that Longchenpa keeps at the close of the book, only the former remains once recognition is deleted. The “necessity” here is not a necessity for the ground to be established, but a necessity for “becoming a buddha again” to be established. The B break lies at “becoming a buddha again”, not at “originally a buddha”.

Longchenpa’s own answer to the deletion test — in both directions: chapter 9’s “for that which is liberated in no-realization and non-realization, wishing to be liberated after realizing is the enemy of decline” (E-18) and “the view of realization — realizing is fine, not realizing is fine;

the abiding fruit — accomplished is fine, not accomplished is fine” (E-20) are Longchenpa’s own answer in the ① direction to “if recognition is deleted, does completion still hold”: it holds. Chapters 10 to 13 and the Treasury of Words and Meanings give the answer in the ② direction: becoming a buddha again is conditioned by recognition. By rule 1 of v1.3, both statements are in Longchenpa’s mature works, and nowhere is either explicitly withdrawn, rewritten or re-placed by the other; by the supplementary rule for “judging B”, the text on one side states explicitly that completion is originally so and cognition only makes it appear (E-09, E-18, the sun-and-clouds simile of E-25), and on the other directly defines the completion “buddha” as recognition (E-21); the two statements coexist, and by the rule for ① / ② ambiguity the judgment is ②.

Independence of evidence and limitations: E-04—E-28 all come from the root verses of the Treasury of the Dharmadhātu, E-29—E-34 from the Treasury of Words and Meanings, and E-35, E-36 from Resting in the Nature of Mind — three works of different genres by the same author (root verses, a Great Perfection treatise, a graduated treatise on the path). Material for the ② direction is found in all three (E-21, E-30, E-36);

material for the ① direction is mainly concentrated in chapters 1 and 9 of the Treasury of the Dharmadhātu and in the breakthrough part of the Treasury of Words and Meanings (E-08, E-09, E-18—E-20, E-33). All three works rest on a single transcription each, without edition collation. B rests not on the quantity of evidence, but on the structure “originally a buddha / becoming a buddha again” appearing consistently in all three works and at the close of the whole book.

Systematic positive evidence for the ① direction and the deletion test: E-08, E-09 and E-17—E-20 constitute a complete chain of evidence for the ① direction in Longchenpa’s works, with an explicit rationale (“realization and non-realization are both appearances of the dynamic energy”, E-10). The strongest version of ① is not “the ground is originally pure, so recognition is unnecessary”, but “recognition itself is the dynamic energy of the ground; ‘becoming a buddha again’ is only a nominal designation established from the face of delusion; in the ultimate sense, realization and non-realization are not two, and wishing to be liberated after realizing is the enemy of decline”. This archive accepts the first half: recognition is indeed placed as an appearance of the dynamic energy (E-10, E-22).

But “recognition is the dynamic energy of the ground” and “recognition can be deleted from the account of becoming a buddha again” are two questions: Longchenpa does not say, because recognition is dynamic energy, that those who have not recognized have also become buddhas again; what he says is “by non-realization the mass of ignorance and delusion appears” (E-23).

What has been withdrawn or de-reified: effortful practice and cause and effect (E-11, E-12); taking thoughts as bodhicitta (E-14); clinging to the word “non-dual” (E-16); taking the mind’s non-conceptuality as wisdom (E-32); the reality of delusion and bondage (E-08, E-09); liberation as an attained result (E-09, E-18).

Final load-bearing point: the ground being empty yet unceasing, the three realms of existence being primordially pure, and no one ever having been liberated are Longchenpa’s strongest specifications of the ground; but in chapters 10 to 13 of the Treasury of the Dharmadhātu, in the Treasury of Words and Meanings and in Resting in the Nature of Mind, Longchenpa consistently uses “recognizing one’s own face” to specify the name “buddha”, “becoming a buddha again” and “being liberated in the realm of Samantabhadra”, and closes the whole book with the two layers “originally a buddha / becoming a buddha again” — this layer of completion conditioned by recognition is the final load-bearing point.

hence “not being further placed in a deeper ground” is not an automatic exclusion of ① under v1.3. At the same time, E-34 is a death-time instruction in the context of the bardo; calling it “the place of liberation” does not amount to directly completing the recognition of every learner. Self-inclusion and completion are kept apart.

Collation note｜“The highest is called self-arisen wisdom / awareness” cannot on the strength of the name alone decide that ①’s third item fails; one needs to confirm whether that awareness is further placed in a deeper ground, and whether it is still an undeletable function of present realization. There is tension in the original draft between “not further placed” and “mindfulness and awareness already taken into the dharmadhātu”; it should be adjusted to C, not used as a single-vote veto.

Self-reflexivity: holds. (1) Toward doctrine: the word “non-dual” is dismantled, and inference that clings to this word is called perverted realization (E-16). (2) Toward practice: the ten dharmas of the nine vehicles are all expedients for the face of delusion (E-12). (3) Toward “realization” itself: “the view of realization — realizing is fine, not realizing is fine” (E-20); wishing to be liberated after realizing is the enemy of decline (E-18). These are all subtractions applied to the thought’s own tools.

Positive evidence of self-inclusion: holds, and is one of the most direct seen in this archive so far. Longchenpa does not merely dismantle cognition; he positively states where cognition itself takes place: among the three wheels of body, speech and mind, “mindfulness and awareness, movement and scattering, the non-conceptual and the inconceivable, are also the ornament of the dharmadhātu, appearing as the wheel of mind” (E-06); “seeing dharmatā from within the dharmadhātu is also unobstructed knowing, appearing as the ornament of the dharmadhātu” (E-07); “realization and non-realization both appear from the dynamic energy … none has wavered from the dharmadhātu” (E-10); the antidote and the path of liberation “are themselves also illusions appearing from the dynamic energy” (E-22). Of this book’s own speech, the dedication verse says: “the intent of the inexpressible meaning — the mind of the dharmakāya — appearing as the display of speech, the sound that is heard” (E-28). This is precisely what v1.3 requires: “the speech of cognition and of the thought itself is positively placed within a more fundamental structure”. (A: stated explicitly in the text)

Exclusion condition: whether the highest structure is defined by awareness. Longchenpa names the highest “self-arisen wisdom, luminous bodhicitta” (E-04), “originally spontaneous, self-arisen great awareness” (E-09), “the awareness that is originally buddha” (E-19), “present naked awareness is the place of liberation of primordial purity” (E-34). By rule 6, no conclusion can be drawn merely from the appearance of the words “wisdom” and “awareness”; one must see where it is finally placed. This archive’s judgment has two layers: (1) the “awareness” (rig, E-06) in the wheel of mind and the “knowing” (mkhyen pa, E-07) that sees dharmatā are explicitly placed as ornaments of the dharmadhātu, and belong to what is placed; (2) the “self-arisen wisdom” and “awareness” (rang byung ye shes, rig pa) that are names of the ground are not further placed, in Longchenpa’s works, within a more fundamental structure — it is the ground itself, “the place of liberation” (E-34). Therefore the highest structure is indeed specified as “awareness”, not as an occurring that awaits no awareness at all. This in itself does not amount to ② (it concerns the name of the ground, not the condition of completion), but it prevents ①’s third condition from being established. (B;

The question: Longchenpa says no one has ever been deluded, no one has ever been liberated, bondage has never existed from the beginning (E-08, E-09); realization and non-realization, liberation and non-liberation, are non-dual and equal (E-17); for that which is liberated in no-realization and non-realization, wishing to be liberated after realizing is the enemy of decline (E-18); the view of realization — realizing is fine, not realizing is fine; the abiding fruit — accomplished is fine, not accomplished is fine (E-20). If these are Longchenpa’s ultimate meaning, are “only recognizing one’s own face is called buddha” (E-21) and “becoming a buddha again” (E-24, E-27) merely expedients established for the face of delusion?

Why it looks like ①:

(1) The ground layer: the ground is empty yet unceasing, saṃsāra and nirvāṇa appear of themselves without leaving it (E-05); the three realms of existence are primordially pure (E-08).

(2) Direct negation at the completion layer: no one has ever experienced liberation, bondage has never existed from the beginning (E-09); originally liberated, without realization or non-realization (E-19).

(3) Explicit rejection of “liberation after realization”: wishing to be liberated after realizing is the enemy of decline (E-18); realizing is fine, not realizing is fine;

the fruit accomplished is fine, not accomplished is fine (E-20).

(4) Positive self-inclusion of cognition and speech: mindfulness and awareness are the wheel of mind (E-06); the seeing of dharmatā is an ornament of the dharmadhātu (E-07); realization and non-realization are both dynamic energy (E-10); the speech of this book is the mind of the dharmakāya appearing as speech (E-28).

(5) The placement of practice: effortful practice is an expedient for the face of delusion (E-12).

Taken together, these five layers form the most complete candidate for the ① direction seen in this archive so far: the ground layer, completion layer and self-inclusion layer all have positive sentences from Longchenpa himself, and they are not isolated sentences. This must be taken seriously.

Why it is still ②:

(1) The definition of “buddha”: “only recognizing the abiding face itself is the name ‘buddha’ designated” (E-21). Under v1.3, if completion is directly defined as cognition itself, that cognition belongs to the “ending”. Even if “nothing more” is read as “merely a nominal designation”, the place where the nominal designation is established is still recognition.

(2) The consistent distinction between two layers of buddhahood: “originally a buddha” and “becoming a buddha again” appear consistently in the title of chapter 13 of the Treasury of the Dharmadhātu (E-27), in chapter 12 (E-23), in the first verse of chapter 13 (E-24), in Samantabhadra’s liberation in the Treasury of Words and Meanings (E-30), and in the fruition chapter of Resting in the Nature of Mind (E-36). Becoming a buddha again is tied to “realization”, “familiarization” and “recognition”.

(3) The position of the close: the whole Treasury of the Dharmadhātu closes with the chapter “originally a buddha … and becoming a buddha again”; the strongest sentences for the ① direction are in chapters 1 and 9, the sentences for the ② direction in chapters 10 to 13. Rule 1 says “the final mature position prevails” — here it is not two works, earlier and later, but the order within one and the same work; this archive does not decide by order which side is “final”, but only records that the whole book closes with the two layers side by side, not with “no-realization and non-realization”.

(4) The context of “liberated in no-realization and non-realization”: this group of sentences in chapter 9 is all framed by “what Ati teaches is not reasonable for the lower vehicles, but here it is reasonable” (E-18), speaking of the “intent” (dgongs pa) of the Great Perfection; the same chapter immediately says “the fortunate yogin who realizes as it is … cuts through the abyss of saṃsāra” (E-17).

The “no-realization and non-realization” of the level of intent does not cancel the “realizing as it is” of the level of practice.

(5) The deletion test: what is deleted is not the name “becoming a buddha again” while original buddhahood is kept; rather, recognition is deleted while the ground is kept. Then the name “buddha” loses the place where it is designated, becoming a buddha again loses its condition, and Longchenpa’s explicit “by non-realization the mass of ignorance and delusion appears” (E-23) becomes the only conclusion. The strongest version of ① can say that recognition itself is the dynamic energy of the ground; this archive accepts that (E-10, E-22), but not external does not mean deletable.

(6) The exclusion condition: the highest is specified as “self-arisen wisdom” and “awareness” (E-04, E-34), and is not further placed within a more fundamental structure (Part 9). Even if the ① direction at the B layer is accepted, ①’s third condition cannot be established. (B; competing reading C)

Source level and terminological limits: this archive’s materials for both the ① direction and the ② direction come from T1, and neither side depends on texts of disputed attribution. “Becoming a buddha again” (yang sangs rgyas) is Longchenpa’s term, not this archive’s summary; the “pas” of “rtogs pas” (by realization) can be read as instrumental or causal, and this archive does not decide on the case alone;

“btags par zad” (merely designated as a name) can be read as the neutral “designating a name” or the pejorative “merely a nominal designation”, and this archive sets both readings side by side (E-21).

Grades: A grade is that the text directly says the sentences “no one has ever experienced liberation”, “for that which is liberated in no-realization and non-realization, wishing to be liberated after realizing is the enemy of decline”, “only recognizing the abiding face itself is the name ‘buddha’ designated”, “by realization one suddenly becomes a buddha again; by non-realization the mass of ignorance and delusion appears” and “within the original buddhahood there occurs becoming a buddha again”; B grade is the view, running through the three works, that “becoming a buddha again” conditioned by recognition cannot be deleted. The competing reading — “becoming a buddha again” is merely an expedient, and Longchenpa’s ultimate meaning is chapter 9 — is C, not D: it has explicit textual support from Longchenpa himself.

Collation note｜① can build a mature interpretation from E-18 and E-20 together with the self-inclusion of speech in E-28; ② can likewise establish a positive completion chain from the recognition and conditions of liberation of E-23, E-26 and E-29—E-30. “① slightly ahead”, without a verifiable ordering of the ultimate level, can only be written as a strong competing assessment, and cannot be upgraded to a conclusion on the main class. The significance of provisionally keeping ② (C) is convenience of indexing, not that ② has already prevailed over ①.

Collation note｜② (C) is a temporary working position; the ① / ② boundary is substantively open, and it is **not** the case that ② has already prevailed over ① in the final structure. If the auto-commentary explicitly sets the liberation without realization of E-18 as the deepest meaning and arranges recognition as an expedient for the deluded, it leans to ①; if the auto-commentary explicitly distinguishes original presence from Samantabhadra’s liberation that must occur, it leans to ②. The present single-edition evidence cannot raise it to B.

Placement: ② “Direct Seeing of the Ground” (C; systematic positive evidence for the ① direction, with C as the key competing interpretation)

Why ②: on the one hand Longchenpa specifies that the ground is originally pure, that no one has ever been deluded or liberated, and uses “realization and non-realization, liberation and non-liberation, are non-dual” and “wishing to be liberated after realizing is the enemy of decline” to show that completion does not await recognition; on the other hand, in the same root verses and in two other treatises, he consistently uses “only recognizing one’s own face is called buddha”, “by realization one becomes a buddha again” and “by recognizing one’s own face one is liberated in the realm of Samantabhadra” to specify a layer of completion conditioned by recognition, and closes the whole book with the two layers “originally a buddha / becoming a buddha again”. The two statements coexist in Longchenpa’s mature works, and nowhere is either explicitly withdrawn by the other; by the rule for ① / ② ambiguity the judgment is ②. The primary load-bearing items are E-21, E-23, E-24 and E-27 of the Treasury of the Dharmadhātu; next come E-29 and E-30 of the Treasury of Words and Meanings and E-36 of Resting in the Nature of Mind.

Why it cannot yet be placed at ①: ① must satisfy all at once: A and B both hold; cognition and speech are self-included; the highest structure is not defined by an undeletable awareness. Longchenpa satisfies A of the first item and the second item, and provides strong ①-direction sentences for B;

but in his works B has two coexisting accounts (E-18 against E-21), and the third item cannot be established — the highest is specified as “self-arisen wisdom” and “awareness” and is not further placed (Part 9). The burden of proof for ① is higher than for ②; this archive judges that Longchenpa’s evidence for the ① direction suffices to make the competing interpretation a C, but does not reach the evidential requirement for ①.

Why not ③: Longchenpa is not asking whether the ground exists or how it is possible; he directly specifies the structure of ground, appearance and liberation, and gives the place of completion.

Why not ④: Longchenpa’s account of the appearance of the ground, the arising of delusion and the stages of the nine vehicles is extremely systematic, but all of it is gathered back as “the appearance of the dynamic energy”, and is not the final position.

Relation to traditional classification: in the Nyingma tradition Longchenpa is revered as “omniscient” (kun mkhyen); his “Seven Treasuries” and “Trilogy of Rest” are the great synthesis of the Great Perfection teachings, and profoundly influenced Jigme Lingpa’s Longchen Nyingtik lineage and the later Rimé movement.

• No.09 Asaṅga (② 〔B〕): Asaṅga’s simile of gold in the earth (the gold is really there, and appears when burned by the fire of wisdom) is isomorphic with Longchenpa’s simile of sun and clouds (the sun is originally luminous, the clouds of non-realization cover it so that it does not appear, E-25). The difference is that Asaṅga explicitly says non-discriminating wisdom is the condition for attaining buddhahood; Longchenpa says the clouds “disperse naturally”, and in chapter 9 explicitly rejects “liberation after realization”.
• No.08 Huangbo Xiyun (② 〔C〕): Huangbo’s “this mind is buddha” and “no-mind” are close in direction to Longchenpa’s “bodhicitta” and “effortlessness”; both dismantle accomplishment through cultivation. Longchenpa differs in explicitly distinguishing “mind” from “wisdom” and “essence” from “dynamic energy”, and in keeping a layer of completion with “becoming a buddha again”.
• No.03 Huineng (②): Huineng’s “the self-nature is originally pure of itself” and “seeing the nature, one becomes a buddha” run in the same direction as Longchenpa’s “originally a buddha” and “only recognizing one’s own face is called buddha”;

this archive does not itself decide that it carries a pejorative sense, nor does it raise the nominal designation of a name to the non-existence of the state of affairs. E-23 rtogs pas, E-29 btags and rkyen, and E-30 yang sangs rgyas all await Tibetological review and the account of the relation between chapter 9 and chapters 12 and 13 in the Treasury of Scripture; this archive has not examined the original woodblock prints.

Collation note｜First collate the corresponding passages for chapters 9, 10 and 13 in the auto-commentary on the Treasury of the Dharmadhātu, the Treasury of Scripture; then check the Tibetan usage and other editions for E-21 btags par zad, E-23 rtogs pas, E-29 btags and E-30 yang sangs rgyas; finally compare the original woodblock prints with the digital transcriptions. At present no claim is made that the Tibetan tone has been endorsed by specialists.

Collation note｜First: the auto-commentary on the Treasury of the Dharmadhātu, the Treasury of Scripture, for chapters 9, 10 and 13; second: E-18 / E-20 / E-21 / E-23 in verifiable woodblock images and another transmitted text; third: review by Tibetological scholars of the trial translations of E-21 btags par zad, E-23 rtogs pas and the “recognition / condition of liberation” of E-29—E-30; fourth: re-checking of the ACIP transliteration and the mechanical conversion into Tibetan script. All missing evidence is retained, and all of it serves as reopening conditions.

• Treasury of the Dharmadhātu (Chos dbyings rin po che’i mdzod): composed by Longchenpa, root verses in thirteen chapters. This archive follows the digital transcription of the typeset edition published by the Tsadra Foundation (OpenPecha P000150, original number TSD-002), without woodblock page numbers; it locates passages by chapter and verse line (chapter 1 counting the opening verse of homage). This archive has not collated it with the Derge, Adzom or Larung editions. Its auto-commentary, the Treasury of Scripture (Lung gi gter mdzod), has not been checked by this archive (missing evidence).
• Treasury of Words and Meanings (Tshig don rin po che’i mdzod): composed by Longchenpa. This archive follows the Norbu Ketaka proofread transcription (OpenPecha ID0164221) of the Serta Larung Five Sciences Buddhist Academy edition (BDRC W3CN4957, image group I3CN4959), located by BDRC image page number; where the transcription breaks syllables across lines, this archive has merged the spaces in quotation.
• Root verses of Resting in the Nature of Mind in the Great Perfection (rDzogs pa chen po sems nyid ngal gso): composed by Longchenpa, in thirteen chapters. This archive follows the ACIP Wylie transcription (BuddhaNexus segmented-tibetan, NK105(be)001), located by segment number;