Text 7.23 (Commentary)

[Guhyagarbha-Tantra, Text section 7.23]

Those that are clarified are themselves
The supreme indestructible buddha-speech.
The real nature is such that the meanings of buddha-speech
For the sake of living beings
Do not stray from the disposition of the real.
Just as, for example, the sound of an echo. [23] ...

[Tibetan]

gsal-nyid gsung-gi rdo-rje'i mchog /
de-bzhin gsung-gi 'gro-don-rnams /
de-bzhin ngang-las ma-gYos-kyang /
dper-na brag-ca'i sgra-bzhin-no / [23]

Commentary:

[The third part exemplifies (the buddha-speech) which appears to be spoken although it is not spoken. (It comments on Ch. 7.23):]

Those words and meanings of the doctrine which appear in that manner through the spirituality of the buddhas and the volition of sentient beings, and that are clarified (gsal) in the ears of those to be trained are themselves (nyid) the genuine supreme indestructible buddha-speech (gsung-gi rdo-rie mchog), uncreated from the beginning. The real nature (de-bzhin) of the doctrine which is inexpressible but appears to trainees is such that the meanings (don-rnams) of buddha-speech (gsung-gi) which emerge for the sake of living beings ('gro) are manifest in and of themselves, and indeed do not waver from the disposition of (ngang-las ma-gYos kyang) the expanse or the real (de-bzhin). Just as (bzhin-no), for example (dper-na) the sound of an echo (brag-ca'i sgra) does not exist at all—either in the person, the rock or in the space between them, but emerges through conditions in an appropriate form of verbal expression, so it is through the condition of the pure deeds of trainees and the cause of the Buddhas’ spirituality that (buddha-speech) appears in the form of the doctrine.

It is also said in the Supreme Continuum of the Greater Vehicle (T. 4024):

Just as the sound of an echo
Emerges through the perception of others.
The buddha-speech of the Tathāgatas
Does not abide either externally or internally.

[The conclusion (comments on Ch. 7.24:]

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