འཕགས་པ་འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱ་རྩ་བའ་རྒྱད 367

367

“The trident is a three-pointed lance.
For Skanda, one should draw a [one-pointed] lance;
For Viṣṇu, a discus;
And for the dānavas, a mace.

“The deities have various weapons
And assume different bodily positions.
They also have different vehicles,
Which should always be drawn in the center.²⁴⁵¹

“Conveying their form by means of an image,
One should draw, in every maṇḍala,
One of these [deities],
Whichever one is appropriate.

“The maṇḍalas taught by the supreme victors
May have one, two, three,
Or an infinite number [of deities],
Arranged to resemble the rows of an altar.²⁴⁵²

“[The deity] indicated for a given maṇḍala
Should be placed in the center;
If [the maṇḍala] is the ‘womb’ of the victors’ family,
One should paint, in the very center, the Buddha.

“One should thus draw the image
Of the Teacher right in the center.
Second, one should draw [the deity] of the Lotus family,
And third, [the deity of] the Vajra family.

“Having drawn all of this, one should add,
Following the right order, the gods and the asuras,
And then, filling the entire area,
The yakṣas, rākṣasas, and humans.

“Next, one should draw,
In the right order, the tīrthikas,
And also the guardians of the quarters,
All of them in their respective places.²⁴⁵³

“In short, one may draw a maṇḍala
Starting from a single dot²⁴⁵⁴ or two,
Up to infinity, until the quarters are filled
Up to their farthest limits.

“The earth is said to be infinite,
And so can be the surface of the maṇḍala,
Starting from a single dot or two,
And extending over the entire earth.²⁴⁵⁵

“Based on the instructions,
The maṇḍala procedure is said to be
Of three kinds, known as
The highest, the medium, and the lowest.

“The highest procedure results in the highest accomplishment.
If the procedure is medium, the accomplishment is said to be middling.
The lowest procedure results in an inferior accomplishment,
As was formerly taught by the supreme victors.

“The supreme victors also explained
The threefold accomplishment based on mental capacity:
Great beings attain great accomplishment,
And the mediocre, the middling.
The third accomplishment, that of minor beings,
Is taught for the minor activities.