Two-fold knowledge

Two-fold knowledge (T. མཁྱེན་པ་གཉིས་ / མཁྱེན་གཉིས་). In the Abhisamayālaṃkāra and related texts, the "knowledge of all aspects" (sarvākārajñatā) is divided into the following two aspects:

• knowledge that knows the nature of all phenomena (ji lta ba mkhyen pa)
• knowledge that knows the multiplicity of phenomena (ji snyed pa mkhyen pa)

Tubten Tsondru Puntsok states:

Knowledge of all aspects is defined as knowing directly and in a single instant all aspects, without exception, of things in their real nature and in all their multiplicity. It can be subdivided into the omniscience which knows the nature of things and the omniscience which knows all things in their multiplicity. An illustration of the former is the true cessation present in the continuum of the noble Buddha. The latter includes both the omniscience which knows the features of all knowable phenomena with out exception, and the omniscience which knows the seventy points, the chief amongst all causes and effects. It is only present in the continuum of a noble Buddha.

Sources

• Brunnhölzl, Karl (2011), Gone Beyond: The Prajnaparamita Sutras, The Ornament of Clear Realization, and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Kagyu Tradition, Volume One, Snow Lion 
• Jigme Lingpa; Kangyur Rinpoche (2010), Treasury of Precious Qualities, Book One, translated by Padmakara Translation Group, Boston: Shambhala Publications 
• Tubten Tsondru Puntsok (2022), Seventy Points of Abhisamayālaṃkāra, translated by Adam Pearcy, Lotsawa House 

Further reading

• Mipham Rinpoche (2002), Gateway to Knowledge, vol. III, translated by Kunsang, Erik Pema, Rangjung Yeshe Publications