Abhisamayalankara - Title of The Work

Title of The Work

The text's full title is:

  • Sanskrit: Abhisamayālaṅkāranāmaprajñāpāramitopadeśaśāstra
  • Tibetan: Shes rap kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i man ngag gi bstan bcos mngon par rtogs pa'i rgyan ces bya ba

Which means:

  • abhisamaya (mngon par rtogs pa) - "Realization(s)"
  • alaṅkāra (rgyan) -- "Ornament" (Berzin prefers "Filigree")
  • nāma (zhes bya ba) -- "called"
  • prajñāpāramitā (shes rap kyi pha rol tu phyin ba) - "Perfection of Wisdom"
  • upadeśa (man ngag) -- "Instructions" (literally, "an up-close look")
  • śāstra (bstan bcos)-- "Treatise"

Thus, a "Treatise Instructions Perfection of Wisdom, called Ornament Realization."

Sparham explains:

"The word abhisamaya is made up of the prefix abhi ("toward, over"), the prefix sam ("together with"), and the root i, a verb of motion with the secondary meaning "to understand." Generally speaking, abhisamaya means a coming together, a "re-union," particularly of a knower with something to be known, hence a "clear realization." In a title abhisamaya may just mean "chapter," hence the title Abhisamayālaṅkāra means Ornament for the Clear Realizations or Ornament for the Chapters.

Conze adds some details about the term's origins:

In the Pali scriptures the term is used to designate the stage when we comprehend the four holy truths. In the Abhidharmakośa (VI 122) it is interpreted as the correct (sam = samyak) knowledge (aya) which is turned toward (abhi) Nirvāṅa. In the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra itself it is invariably coupled with prāpti, "attainment," and in one place...it is a synonymn for sāksātkriya (realization).

As to whether we are speaking of one realization, or of eight, Sparham offers the following explanation by rGyal tshab rJe, a 14th-15th century Tibetan commentator:

An admirer views a naturally beautiful woman adorned with golden ornaments reflected in a mirror. The Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras are the naturally beautiful woman. The systematization of the contents of the Sūtras into eight subjects and seventy topics are the golden ornaments, and the Ornament the mirror through which they view her.

Elaborating on the metaphor, Geshe Jampa Gyatso distinguishes between a "natural ornament" (the beautiful woman, the Perfection of Wisdom), "beautifying ornament" (her jewelry, the eight categories and seventy topics), "clarifying ornament" (the mirror, the AA), and "joyful ornament" (the joy of the beholder or AA devotee).

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