The Emptiness Endowed with All Supreme Aspects

Brunnhölzl, Karl. "Appendix 4: The Emptiness Endowed with All Supreme Aspects." In When the Clouds Part: The Uttaratantra and Its Meditative Tradition as a Bridge between Sūtra and Tantra, 953–61. Boston: Snow Lion Publications, 2014.

In the sūtra system, the meaning of the term "the emptiness endowed with all supreme aspects"^[1] is that genuine emptiness is not just some blank state of nothingness, but entails many supreme qualities. "All aspects" is usually explained as the six pāramitās and further pure qualities that represent the means on the path and reach their "supreme" culmination on the level of buddhahood. As the Ratnacūḍaparipṛcchāsūtra describes this emptiness in detail:

These [bodhisattvas] don the armor of great love and dwell in the blessing of great compassion, thus turning them into the samādhi of accomplishing them in the form of the emptiness that is endowed with all supreme aspects. You may wonder, "What is the emptiness endowed with all supreme aspects?" It lacks incompleteness of generosity, lacks incompleteness of discipline, lacks incompleteness of patience, lacks incompleteness of vigor, lacks incompleteness of dhyāna, and lacks incompleteness of means. It lacks incompleteness of great love and lacks incompleteness of compassion, joy, and equanimity. It lacks incompleteness of the engagement in understanding reality, lacks incompleteness of bodhicitta’s considering sentient beings, and lacks incompleteness of the application of intention and superior intention. It lacks incompleteness of generosity, pleasant words, promoting the welfare [of others], and consistency in words and deeds. It lacks incompleteness of mindfulness and alertness. It lacks incompleteness of the foundations of mindfulness, the correct efforts, the limbs of miraculous powers, the faculties, the powers, the branches of awakening, and the eightfold path of the noble ones. It lacks incompleteness of calm abiding and superior insight. It lacks incompleteness of generosity, discipline, self-control, and being pleasing. It lacks incompleteness of embarrassment and shame. It is not endowed with any nonvirtuous phenomena and is endowed with all virtuous phenomena. It is blessed by the uninterrupted mode of being of the Buddha, is engulfed in the blaze of the mode of being of the dharma, and is surrounded by the mode of being of the saṃgha. It is blessed by looking upon all sentient beings. It is exquisitely embellished by the full accomplishment of the buddhakāya, has the fully evolved buddha voice, and is endowed with the equality of buddha samādhi. It is endowed with the miraculous powers and the discriminating awarenesses of a buddha, is perfectly seized by the force of the ten powers, dwells in the four fearlessnesses, and accords with the eighteen unique buddha attributes. It is not mixed with the yānas of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, has eliminated [all] afflictions connected with latent tendencies, is not separated from the wisdom of the supernatural knowledges, is the teacher of all sentient beings, has attained the four reliances, and has attained the equality of mundane and supramundane phenomena. It is without blame by virtue of maturing all sentient beings, guides them, is skilled, and eliminates the suffering of all sentient beings. It is [the state in which] all afflictions have been purified, has crossed the stream [of saṃsāra], has severed all clinging, is utter natural peace, is the peace of all karma and afflictions, is equanimity by virtue of the nature of phenomena, and beholds all buddha attributes. It is inanimate through its own characteristics, is not released in order to grant blessings, is neutral on its own accord, always makes efforts in buddha activity, is composed by virtue of being utterly peaceful, and always blazes in order to mature sentient beings. This is called "the emptiness endowed with all supreme aspects." . . . [Here follows the example of the painters] If it does not exhibit one single aspect among these aspects that perfectly accomplish the buddha attributes . . . it is not the emptiness endowed with all supreme aspects. When the aspects of all buddha attributes have been brought together and when it does not coexist with any discursiveness in terms of any stirring of views and afflictions and any focusing on characteristics, this is the emptiness endowed with all supreme aspects of bodhisattvas.^[2]

As for mahāyāna treatises, interestingly, the term does not appear in any Indian Yogācāra texts. In agreement with the Ratnacūḍaparipṛcchāsūtra, Kamalaśīla’s second Bhavanākrama emphasizes the need for cultivating this emptiness in meditation, since—unlike a bare emptiness without compassion (the aspect of skill in means)—this is the only path that leads to buddhahood.^[3] He says that one should make efforts in meditatively accomplishing the emptiness that has a heart of great compassion, that is, all the accumulations of merit (such as generosity) and wisdom. If that happens, such a samādhi accomplishes the emptiness that is endowed with all supreme aspects (this is followed by the above quote from the Ratnacūḍaparipṛcchāsūtra). Therefore, bodhisattvas must rely on generosity and so on as the means to accomplish all excellent buddha qualities. Otherwise, of what would these qualities be the results? Hence, the omniscient wisdom that is endowed with all supreme aspects is perfected through the means such as generosity. In his third Bhavanākrama, Kamalaśīla again refers to the Ratnacūḍaparipṛcchāsūtra, saying that one should familiarize with the emptiness endowed with all supreme aspects through being endowed with all virtues such as generosity, which thus does not refer to nothing but sheer emptiness.^[4] He provides another quote from the Ratnakūṭa, stating that, just as a king who is supported by his ministers performs everything that is necessary, the prajñā of bodhisattvas that is embraced or supported by skill in means performs all buddha activities. Therefore, the Buddha said that bodhisattvas will enter into the nirvāṇa of arhats if they rely on nothing but emptiness.

Sahajavajra’s commentary on Maitrīpa’s Tattvadaśaka 6 uses the term "the emptiness endowed with all supreme aspects" in its explanation of the union of calm abiding and superior insight in Maitrīpa’s pāramitā-based Mahāmudrā approach:

That [engaging bodhicitta] of the [pāramitā system alone], due to [its approach of] analysis [described above], is not completely pure. But here, [the engaging mind of bodhicitta] is to be cultivated through a nonanalytical mind right from the start. When the center of union is realized through the pith instructions of pāramitā that are adorned with the words of the guru, just this spontaneously and continuously engaging prajñā of the ultimate—the emptiness that is endowed with all supreme aspects—is calm abiding and nothing else. . . . Therefore, this kind of union of calm abiding and superior insight is the path. What is not intended here is an engaging mind [of bodhicitta] that aspires for a fruition different [from that union]. As it is said:

What is called "the realization of emptiness"
In the thousands of collections of the dharma,
This realization is due to analysis.
The [realization] of the guru lacks analysis.

In order to clarify these [quotes], [Maitrīpa] instructs, "Since true reality dawns ceaselessly for those who are aware of its ground." The ground of this engaging mind [of bodhicitta] is what has the nature of the suchness of the union [of appearance and emptiness, or the two realities, or of calm abiding and superior insight]. For those who are aware of [this] through the pith instructions of the genuine guru, true reality—the inseparability of emptiness and compassion, which is the defining characteristic of the ultimate bodhicitta—dawns ceaselessly in each and every moment.^[5]

In that vein, lines VI.24–27 of the Third Karmapa’s Profound Inner Reality say:

To do that, familiarize with dayand nighttime luminosity,
Which is lucid yet nonconceptual.
Enjoy mahāmudrā—
The emptiness endowed with all supreme aspects.

Karma Trinlépa’s commentary on this explains:

Here, my guru, the mighty victor [the Seventh Karmapa] holds the following. Since the emptiness endowed with all supreme aspects and the sugata heart are equivalent, "being endowed with all supreme aspects" refers to the sugata heart’s being actually endowed with the sixty-four qualities of freedom and maturation, and the meaning of "emptiness" is that this is not established as anything identifiable or as any characteristics. Therefore, he asserts that making it a living experience—cultivating this lucid yet nonconceptual [state]—is Mahāmudrā meditation.^[6]

The Third Karmapa’s commentary on verse 101 of Nāgārjuna’s Dharmadhātustava explains "the emptiness endowed with all supreme aspects" as follows:

The fundamental change in dependence on the stainless dharmakāya does not refer to having become nothing whatsoever. Rather, the oceans of the hordes of thoughts have come to rest in the sea of wisdom, which is the final consummation of the emptiness that is endowed with all supreme aspects. As for "all aspects" in this [expression], they are all the above-mentioned dharmas, such as generosity, that make the basic element unfold. Through "the supreme" of these [aspects, their] unsurpassable consummation [is expressed]. [These aspects are] "emptiness," since they, in terms of their own essence, are nothing but purity itself and thus inseparable [from emptiness]. This is described in detail in the Uttaratantra through the example of the portrait [of a king].^[7]

The same author’s commentary on the Dharmadharmatāvibhāga says that Uttaratantra I.154–55 "teaches the defining characteristics of the emptiness endowed with all supreme aspects, free from the extremes of superimposition and denial."^[8]

The Eighth Karmapa’s commentary on the Abhisamayālaṃkāra quotes a verse that he attributes to Mañjuśrī^[9] and explains it as follows:

The emptiness of analyzing all aspects
Is without a core, just like a banana tree.
The emptiness endowed with all supreme aspects
Will never be like that.

When the nature of all imaginary and dependent phenomena (such as the skandhas) is analyzed, their own nature is emptiness, just as in the example of a banana tree without pith. As for the perfect nature (the emptiness endowed with all supreme aspects), in general, it cannot be analyzed and no matter how it may be analyzed, it does not become like that—empty of a nature of its own. For it never changes into anything else than this supreme kind of wisdom [of the perfect nature].

Pawo Rinpoche’s commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra also quotes this verse, saying that it comes from the tantras.^[10] The emptiness endowed with all supreme aspects is the emptiness that is endowed with all the supreme aspects that are remedies (such as generosity). Thus, it is both emptiness and what makes one attain unsurpassable awakening. This emptiness endowed with all supreme aspects is nothing but the emptiness that is taught in the prajñāpāramitā sūtras and commented on by Nāgārjuna. The reason is that this emptiness puts an end to all reference points and thus joins one with all the qualities of the paths, the bhūmis, and the final fruition. Therefore, to deprecate the Madhyamaka view through clinging to subtle "empty forms" and so on as being this emptiness endowed with all supreme aspects is not good.

In his introduction to the Seventh Karmapa’s commentary on the Pramāṇavārttika and other texts on valid cognition, the contemporary Karma Kagyü master Thrangu Rinpoche extensively quotes the Seventh Karmapa’s student Karma Trinlépa as confirming the Karmapa’s position that Dignāga and Dharmakīrti are Yogācāra-Mādhyamikas or "Great Mādhyamikas" (which are equivalent for the Karmapa). Thrangu Rinpoche adds that "this kind of middle path also accords with the texts of Nāgārjuna and his successors, and it is clear that it is not different from the intended meaning of the Madhyamaka that was transmitted from venerable Maitreya via Asaṅga and his brother." He concludes:

As for the meaning taught here, Madhyamaka is not the self-emptiness whose nature is a nonimplicative negation (an emptiness in the sense of extinction), but the ultimate reality that is the other-emptiness that is endowed with all supreme aspects. This is not [just] labeling the view of Mere Mentalism with the name Shentong. It is clearly nothing but what the sūtra collections of definitive meaning teach, what the great chariots comment on, and what the yogins who found siddhis familiarize with—the heart of the teachings, the path of the great Madhyamaka free from extremes.^[11]

In the vajrayāna teachings and in accordance with the four empowerments, the term "the emptiness endowed with all supreme aspects" is explained as indicating the inseparability of appearance and emptiness, luminosity and emptiness, bliss and emptiness, and awareness and emptiness. In particular, the union of the emptiness endowed with all supreme aspects and great bliss is explained as representing the secret caṇḍālī and the meaning of EVAṂ. With regard to the Kālacakratantra, the term Śrīkālacakra is explained as follows: kāla (time) refers to changeless great bliss; cakra (wheel), to the emptiness endowed with all supreme aspects; and śrī (glorious), to this bliss and emptiness being nondual. This "wheel of time" appears as "the outer" (worldly realms), "the inner" (the vajra body), and "the other" (the phenomena of the maṇḍala circle). A song on view, meditation, conduct, and fruition by the Thirteenth Karmapa says:

In the system of Kālacakra, it is said that the emptiness
Endowed with all supreme aspects is superior to [the one in] the sūtras.
This is asserted to be the same essential point as the [above], the unity of the two realities.
By using the example of mirror divination for what appears
Due to the difference in the profound essential point of means,
It also speaks of "the seeming that has the form of emptiness"
Or "emptiness that has the form of the seeming."^[12]

This means that when practicing the first branch called "withdrawal"^[13] of the six-branch yoga^[14] of the Kālacakratantra, there appear ten signs of accomplishment. These are called "empty forms"^[15] and are regarded as actual manifestations of mind’s true nature—naturally luminous and changeless wisdom. The essence of this wisdom is the emptiness endowed with all supreme aspects, and its nature is changeless great bliss. This wisdom appears as those ten signs through special methods that are embraced by nonconceptual samādhi. Here, "all aspects" refers to these illusionlike "empty forms," which are inseparable from emptiness. "Supreme" means that this emptiness does not merely consist of the negation of the real existence of physical matter. These "empty forms" are also often compared to images that appear in mirror divinations. On this, YDC (320 and 273) quotes two passages from the Vimalaprabhā commentary on the Kālacakratantra:

This is the phase of being perfected as inner awareness, prajñāpāramitā, natural luminosity, Mahāmudrā, and the natural outflow of the dharmadhātu’s having the form of innate joy. Vajrasattva and the mother of the buddhas are not the sphere of dependently arisen faculties but the sphere of the supreme faculty. They have the nature of utterly changeless bliss, are beyond phenomena [made] of subtle particles, and resemble [images in] mirror divinations and dreams. These are said to be the innate kāya (sahajakāya) of the victors because their nature is utterly changeless.^[16]

And:

Mahāmudrā is the one characterized by all dharmas that lack a nature of their own, is the one endowed with all supreme aspects, is prajñāpāramitā, and the one that gives rise to [all] buddhas. It is also expressed by the term "dharma source" (dharmodaya)—it is the dharma source from which all dharmas that lack a nature of their own will arise. The dharmas that lack a nature of their own are the eighty-four thousand collections of dharmas such as the ten powers and the four fearlessnesses.^[17]

In the introduction to his commentary on the Madhyamakāvatāra, the Eighth Karmapa says that in the vajrayāna, the wisdom without any dualistic appearances of the latent tendencies of mistakenness entails many aspects (such as joy, "great attachment," and the prajñā that realizes emptiness and compassion) and thus cannot be said to be without any aspects.^[18] Also, in the vajrayāna, a wisdom without aspects is not reasonable as the definitive meaning because the wisdom that is endowed with all supreme aspects is presented as the definitive meaning through greatly praising it. The phrase "being endowed with all aspects" in Mañjuśrīnāmasaṃgīti X.3a means that this wisdom has the function of seeing through unmistaken and nonconceptual direct (yogic) perception. The phrase "being without aspects" in the same line of text refers to this wisdom’s being beyond minute particles and being free from any conceptions. Thus, "being endowed with all aspects and being without aspects" refers to great prajñāpāramitā— the emptiness that is endowed with all supreme aspects. Also, it is refuted in the vajrayāna that wisdom’s own unique object is without aspect, while it is taught that the fruition of omniscience is attained by virtue of familiarizing with the wisdom of realizing the emptiness that is endowed with all aspects. If no aspects appeared for nondual wisdom, the explanations of it as being omniscience or "all-knowing" would not be feasible because it is not suitable to apply a plural if wisdom is presented as having nothing but itself as its object. Thus, it is through the power of the cognitive obscurations of nondual wisdom having been relinquished that it is the knowledge of all the aspects that can be known. In its knowing all aspects of all phenomena, unmistaken nondual wisdom (as well as its samādhis) is established as self-awareness and not some blank inanimate emptiness or a state without any mental activity at all.

In the Mahāmudrā tradition, we find a similar use of the term. For example, a short Mahāmudrā text by Mipham Rinpoche on stillness, movement, and awareness says:

Through directly looking at the nature of that mind that is still or moves, you will realize that it is empty in that any possible essence of whatever appears in whatever ways is not established. You will further realize that this "being empty" is not being empty in the sense of extinction, as in [empty] space, but that it is the emptiness endowed with all supreme aspects: while its aspect of luminosity that knows everything and is aware of everything is unimpeded, it is not established as any nature whatsoever. When you realize this secret pith of the mind, despite there being no looker that is different from something to be looked at, the fundamental state of naturally luminous mind as such is experienced. This is called "recognizing awareness."^[19]

TOK says that in the context of tantra Mahāmudrā, mudrā ("seal") refers to the notion of "union."2912 Since the nature of this union pervades all phenomena, it is "great" (mahā), that is, there are no phenomena that go beyond it. Such union is threefold. All outer appearances are the union of appearance and emptiness, while all forms of inner awareness that perceive these appearances are the union of awareness and emptiness. These two kinds of union are called "the emptiness endowed with all supreme aspects." All feelings of those appearances and awareness meeting are the union of bliss and emptiness, which is called "utterly changeless great bliss." Through taking the emptiness endowed with all supreme aspects as the object that is to be perceived and through taking the realization of the entirety of this emptiness as being changeless great bliss as the perceiving subject, subject and object fuse into one. The empty forms that appear while practicing in that way are merely signs on the path of means, whereas the actual ultimate object to be realized is that just these ordinary present appearances are empty forms in every respect.