Dārikapa&rsquo;s<em> Short Instruction on Reality &ndash; the Great Secret of Secrets from Uḍḍiyāna</em>

Abstract

This short paper aims in presenting a modern but close reading of Dārikapāda’s Short Instruction on Reality – the Great Secret of Secrets from the exalted Oḍḍiyāna. This first translation of this short and inspirational Buddhist tantric song-poem into English is accompanied by an introduction in which the work is briefly contextualised, followed by two summarising sections about the author, text and its contents. The Short Instruction on Reality has not received any noteworthy scholarly attention from within or outside of Buddhist or scholarly traditions. Yet, as being part of the so-called ‘Seven Siddhi Texts’ (Grub pa sde bdun), it has gained its place within the Indo-Tibetan Mahāmudrā traditions that developed on the Tibetan plateau from 10th and 11th centuries onward, and is thus one among the many relevant sources, although a minor one, to be studied and investigated to shed light on its development and formation.