Part 6: The Ultimate View and Fruition
Things Merely Words, Great Bliss, and the Colophon
མིང་ཙམ་དང་བདེ་བ་ཆེན་པོ།
ming tsam dang bde ba chen po
Chapter Summary
The two final categories bring the Precious Garland to its ultimate conclusion: ten declarations that the foundational concepts of the path are 'merely words' — pointers beyond themselves toward what cannot be spoken — and ten qualities of spontaneously present great bliss that describe the fruition of the entire path. The text concludes with Gampopa's colophon, identifying the lineage sources and his own extraordinary promise.
The Ten Things That Are Merely Words
Having guided us through twenty-six categories of practical instruction — what to adopt, what to abandon, what to understand, how to train, how to avoid error — now dissolves the entire framework he has built. Everything he has taught, every concept he has named, is "merely a word."
1. Since the basic state of the ground cannot be demonstrated, "ground" is merely a word.
2. Since the path is beyond journey and traveler, "path" is merely a word.
3. Since the basic state is beyond viewer and something viewed, "realization" is merely a word.
4. Since the innate is beyond meditator and something meditated, "experience" is merely a word.
5. Since the intrinsic nature is beyond doer and deed, "conduct" is merely a word.
6. Since in actuality there is no observer nor anything observed, "" is merely a word.
7. Since in actuality there is no gathering nor anyone to gather, the "twofold accumulation" is merely a word.
8. Since in actuality there is no purifier or object purified, the "twofold obscuration" is merely a word.
9. Since in actuality there is no thing to be abandoned nor anyone to abandon it, "samsara" is merely a word.
10. Since in actuality there is no attainer nor attainment, "fruition" is merely a word.
The Deconstruction of the Path
This is the view at its most uncompromising. takes every key concept of Buddhist teaching — ground, path, realization, experience, conduct, , accumulation, obscuration, samsara, and fruition — and shows that each one is a conventional designation, a finger pointing at the moon rather than the moon itself.
This is not nihilism. is not saying these concepts are useless or false. He is saying they are words — provisional tools that serve their purpose on the journey but dissolve upon arrival. The ground cannot be demonstrated because it is not an object. The path has no journey because there is nowhere to go and no one to travel. Realization has no viewer because the seer and the seen are indivisible. Experience has no meditator because the distinction between the one who meditates and what is meditated upon collapses in the innate state.
The ninth point — samsara is merely a word because there is nothing to abandon and no one to abandon it — is the ultimate expression of the non-dual view. If samsara has no inherent existence, then liberation from samsara also has no inherent existence. The entire drama of bondage and freedom, which motivates the practitioner through all the preceding categories, is recognized as a play of the mind that was never ultimately real.
But this recognition does not cancel out the preceding twenty-six categories. It fulfills them. Without the journey, the arrival would have no meaning. Without the words, the silence beyond words would have no resonance. places this category near the end because only a practitioner who has genuinely traversed the path can safely encounter this teaching without falling into nihilistic indifference.
The Ten Qualities of Being Spontaneously Present as Great Bliss
The final category of the Precious Garland is a celebration. Having dissolved all concepts in the previous list, now points to what remains — not as absence, but the positive reality of spontaneously present .
1. Since the of all beings is , it is spontaneously present as .
2. Since the basic space of dharmata is free from the constructs of conceptual attributes, it is spontaneously present as .
3. Since the realization of unconfined transcendence of conceptual mind is free from biased thought constructs, it is spontaneously present as .
4. Since the experience of cognitive nondoing is free from the constructs of reference point, it is spontaneously present as .
5. Since the conduct of effortless nonaction is free from the constructs of accepting and rejecting, it is spontaneously present as .
6. Since the of indivisible space and wakefulness is free from the constructs of perceiver and perceived, it is spontaneously present as .
7. Since the of self-existing compassion is free from the constructs of birth and death, change and transmigration, it is spontaneously present as .
8. Since the of self-manifesting compassion is free from the constructs that form dualistic experience, it is spontaneously present as .
9. Since the Dharma Wheel of the teachings is free from the constructs of conceptual belief in a self, it is spontaneously present as .
10. Since the boundless compassionate activity is free from time-bound limitations and interruptions, it is spontaneously present as .
The Fruition Beyond Attainment
This final list describes the state of buddhahood — not as something achieved through effort, but as the natural condition of reality when all obscurations have been cleared away. Each point names an aspect of awakened being and declares it "spontaneously present as ."
The first point contains the entire teaching: the of all beings is . Not will become . Not can become with enough practice. Is , right now, as the nature of the mind of every being without exception. This is the ground that pointed to in the very first category when he said the mind's unconstructed nature is and it is wasted by samsaric delusion. Now, at the end of the text, that same recognition returns — not as something to strive for, but as something to rest in.
Points six through eight map the — the three dimensions of awakened being. is the indivisible space and wakefulness, free from perceiver and perceived. is self-existing compassion, free from birth and death. is self-manifesting compassion, free from dualistic constructs. These are not separate things but three aspects of one reality, and each is spontaneously present as .
The tenth and final point is the capstone of the entire Precious Garland: boundless compassionate activity, free from time-bound limitations and interruptions, is spontaneously present as . The awakened activity of the buddhas does not stop. It does not wait. It does not depend on conditions. It is always happening, everywhere, for the benefit of all beings, and it is an expression of .
This is the vision that animates every instruction has given throughout the text: from the first warning about wasting the precious human birth to the final declaration of spontaneously present , the Precious Garland traces a single arc — from the recognition that something precious is at stake to the realization that what is at stake has never been lost.
The Colophon
The text concludes with 's own words identifying the sources of these instructions:
This completes the Precious Garland of the Sublime Path, a compilation of the flawless oral teachings of Glorious and his heart disciples which he received from his kind masters. was empowered to illuminate the Buddhadharma in the northern Land of Snows by his guru endowed with unconditioned wisdom, by Jetsun Tara and other sublime deities.
This also includes a compilation of the flawless teachings with which he was accepted by , the lord of yogis. upheld the heart essence of learned and accomplished masters, of both sublime beings, and Maitripa, renowned like the sun and the moon in the noble land of India, and of of Lhodrak.
It was written down by Sonam Rinchen, the meditator of the Nyi clan from southern Dakpo, who holds the treasury of the oral instructions of both Kadam and .
The Union of Two Streams
In this colophon, identifies himself as the vessel where two great rivers converge. From the side: , Dromtonpa, and their heart disciples, carrying the graduated path of sutra Buddhism from India to Tibet. From the side: , , Maitripa, , and , carrying the direct realization of from the Indian Mahasiddhas.
is "the meditator of the Nyi clan from southern Dakpo" — a physician-turned-monk who holds both transmissions. The Precious Garland is the fruit of that union: systematic in its structure (the inheritance), pointing directly to the (the inheritance).
Gampopa's Promise
The text records one final extraordinary statement:
Lord once said: "People in the future who trust in me and who feel sad they didn't meet me, please read The Precious Garland of the Sublime Path, The Jewel Ornament of Liberation, and my other writings. Then it will be just like meeting me in person."
This is not a figure of speech. In the tradition, a master's written instructions carry the blessing of the master. To read them with trust and devotion is to enter into living relationship with the teacher, regardless of the centuries that separate you. is saying that these words are his representative — that through them, the transmission continues.
Therefore, as the colophon concludes: everyone who trusts in Lord should exert themselves in propagating these teachings.
Study Questions
Gampopa says "ground" is merely a word, "path" is merely a word, "samsara" is merely a word. If all these concepts are merely words, what remains?
How do you hold the tension between the twenty-six categories of practical instruction and the twenty-seventh category that dissolves them all?
The nature of mind of all beings is dharmakaya, spontaneously present as great bliss. If this is already the case, what role does practice play?
Gampopa says that reading this text with trust is "just like meeting me in person." What does this mean to you? How does reading a text transmit something beyond its conceptual content?