How to Speak of the Buddha’s Inexpressible Mind: Examples from the Late Indian Commentators on the Mañjuśrīnāmasaṃgīti

This presentation explores the ways in which the two, late Indian commentators on the Mañjuśrīnāmasaṃgīti, Raviśrījñāna (the 12th -13th centuries) and Vibhūticandra (the 13th century) sought to explicate the ultimate nature of the Vajrasattva’s mind by exhibiting the multiple interpretative approaches to a comprehensive understanding of the meaning of 812 names and attributes of Mañjuśrī lauded in the Mañjuśrīnāmasaṃgīti. Being the masters of the Kālacakra tantric tradition in India, which sees the ultimate nature of the Buddha’s mind as the cause, path, and result, those two interpreters structured their explanations and exegesis of the Vajrasattva’s mind in terms of the three, aforementioned ways in which it expresses itself as well as in accordance with their own understanding of the purpose and function of both, the nature of the Vajrasattva’s mind and the essence of the Mañjuśrīnāmasaṃgīti.