Clarifying the Sage's Intent

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Sakya Pandita.

Clarifying the Sage's Intent (T. thub pa'i dgongs pa rab tu gsal ba ཐུབ་པའི་དགོངས་པ་རབ་ཏུ་གསལ་བ་) is Sakya Pandita's famous overview of the Mahayana path structured around two key verses from Maitreya's Ornament of Mahayana Sutras (Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra). Within the Sakya tradition this text functions as a basic introduction to Mahayana.

The editors of Wisdom Publications state:

A work crucial for understanding the development of Buddhist thought, its perennial importance within the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism is underlined by the fact that it is the required text for the first teaching of each new Sakya throneholder after his enthronement. Sakya Pandita (or Sapan for short) used his Clarifying the Sage's Intent, as its title indicates, to elucidate key points the Great Sage--that is, the Buddha--had in mind when teaching his Dharma. In particular, Sapan recounts the transmissions of the greatest masters of both the Madhyamaka and the Yogacara strands of the Indian Mahayana. On some points, he addresses what he took to be misinterpretations prevalent in Tibet, and his critical remarks were responded to in the works of later generations of masters in other schools.

Framing his exposition around two key verses from Maitreya's Ornament of Mahayana Sutras, Sapan divides his work up into seven parts, beginning with the spiritual potential that each being possesses and culminating in the development of complete enlightenment. The lion's share of the book is devoted to explaining the practice of a bodhisattva's six perfections.

A commentary was written by Lowo Khenchen (1456-1532).

Translations

• Geshe Wangyal and Brian Cutillo (trans.) Illuminations: A Guide to Essential Buddhist Practices, Novato: Lotsawa, 1988 (abridged). Archive version.
• Clarifying the Sage’s Intent, translated by David P. Jackson, Wisdom Publications, 2022

Further reading

Print pubs:

• Khenchen Appey Rinpoche, Teachings on Sakya Pandita's Clarifying the Sage's Intent, Kathmandu: Vajra Publications, 2008
• Jackson, David. 'A Recent Translation of Sa-skya Pandita's Thub pa'i dgongs gsal.' Studien zur Indologie und Iranistik 16/17 (1992) pp. 93-100
• Jackson, David. 'Commentaries on the Writings of Sa-skya Pandita', The Tibet Journal, vol. 8, no. 3 (autumn 1983), pp. 3-23.
• Jackson, David. 'The bsTan rim ("Stages of the Doctrine") and Similar Graded Expositions of the Bodhisattva's Path' in Cabezón and Jackson, ed., Tibetan Literature: Studies in Genre, Snow Lion, 1996

Web pubs:

• Elucidating the Sage's Intent, Rigpa Shedra Wiki
• Tibetan Text at GyalongSachen.com