Pañcakrama

Pañcakrama (T. rim pa lnga pa རིམ་པ་ལྔ་པ་). A tantric text attributed to a tantric practitioner named Nagarjuna. "With some rare exceptions, modern scholars generally deny the identity of the author of the Pañcakrama with that of the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, etc. (i.e. Nāgārjuna 1 ...) and ascribe it to a second, tantric Nāgārjuna ( Nāgarjuna 2 ...)."

The Indo-Tibetan Lexical Resource states:

A niṣpannakrama treatise of the Guhyasamāja Ārya School. As the title indicates, the system of Tantric meditation expounded in this text consists of five krama-s or “steps.”

The five “steps” of the Pañcakrama are:

• 1. Vajrajāpakrama,
• 2. Sarvaśuddhiviśuddhikrama (alias Anuttarasandhi),
• 3. Svādhiṣṭhānakrama,
• 4. Paramarahasyasukhābhisambodhikrama, and
• 5. Yuganaddhakrama.

However, some commentators of the Pañcakrama exclude the Sarvaśuddhiviśuddhikrama from the five and count the Piṇḍīkrama as the first step. A detailed discussion of the textual composition of the Pañcakrama is found in Tomabechi 2006.

There is another well-known Tantric treatise called the Pañcakrama ascribed to Ghaṇṭāpāda. This latter text, the “Ghaṇṭāpādīya-Pañcakrama” or “Pañcakramopadeśa,” belongs to the Cakrasaṃvara cycle and consists of five chapters, i.e., 1. Adhiṣṭhānakrama, 2. Nānāprakāraviśvavajrakrama, 3. Maṇipūrakrama, 4. Jālandharakrama, and 5. Acintyopamoḍiyānakrama.

Translations into Modern Languages

Translation include the following:

English translations

Partial translation

• Snellgrove 1987: pp. 300–303
• See: David Snellgrove, Indo-Tibetan Buddhism: Indian Buddhists and Their Tibetan Successors. 1987. Reprint: Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2002.
• Remarks: English translation of chapter 2, vv. 1–62 (1–68 according to Snellgrove's numbering).

Partial translation

• Thurman 1997: pp. 250–260.
• See: Robert Thurman, Essential Tibetan Buddhism, Edison, NJ : Castle Books, 1997.
• Remarks: English translation of chapter 1, kk. 2–9, 66, 67; chapter 2, kk. 1, 2, 50–62, 64–69; chapter 3, kk. 1–2, 7–25, 27d–28, 41, 44, 45, 48–50; chapter 4, kk. 1–3, 7, 8, 12, 13, 16–18, 22–24, 38; chapter 5, kk. 1–11, 13–18, 20, 25, 27, 28, 36.

French translation

Full translation:

• Tomabechi 2006: pp. 103–181
• Remarks: Translation into French.

Japanese translation

Full translation:

• Sakai 1956: pp. 178–232
• Remarks: Translation into Japanese (along with the Piṇḍīkrama)

Commentaries

Indian commentaries

There are multiple Indian commentaries on this text. For details, see:

• Pañcakrama, Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia

Tibetan commentaries

Tibetan commentaries include:

• Tsongkhapa, Lamp to Illuminate the Five Stages