Adventitious stains - आगन्तुक मल - āgantuka mala - āgantuka mala - གློ་བུར་གྱི་དྲི་མ - glo bur gyi dri ma - lo bur gyi dri ma - 客塵 客尘 - kèchén - 객진 - gaekjin - 客塵 - kyakujin
This query has entries in the MITRA Lexicon: English (4) (https://dictionary.dharmamitra.org/?q=%C4%81gantuka+mala&par=en&ui=en), Tibetan (4) (https://dictionary.dharmamitra.org/?q=%C4%81gantuka+mala&par=bo&ui=en) Translation Adventitious defilement (incidental impurities / accidental obscurations)
Analysis and Introduction The Sanskrit compound āgantukamala (Pali: āgantuka-mala; Tibetan: གློ་བུར་གྱི་དྲི་མ་, glo bur gyi dri ma; Chinese: 客塵, kèchén, or 客塵煩惱, kèchén fánnǎo) designates defilements or stains that are adventitious, extraneous, and temporary rather than inherent to the fundamental nature of the mind (citta) or the realm of phenomena (dharmadhātu). The term joins āgantuka (arriving as a guest, incidental, extrinsic) and mala (stain, impurity, defilement). Across Buddhist soteriological and philosophical systems—most prominently in Yogācāra, Tathāgatagarbha, and Tantric exegesis—this concept resolves the central tension between the innate purity of luminous mind (prakṛtiprabhasvara-citta) and the empirical reality of bondage and delusion. Because obscurations are incidental rather than constitutional (as famously illustrated by gold encrusted with rust, water obscured by silt, or the sky overcast by clouds), they can be systematically eradicated through discernment and spiritual practice without altering or destroying the intrinsic purity of the mind itself.
References from the Dharmamitra Database Sanskrit See more Sanskrit results (https://dharmamitra.org/explore?search_input=%C4%81gantuka%20mala&filter_source_language=sa&search_target_lang=english) Śāntarakṣita: Tattvasaṃgraha
Original: (ca*)(yat, n. 1st s.)(vijñānam, n. 1st s.)(ātmani, m. 7th s.)(pravarttitam, n. 1st s.)(abhyāsa-)(dhyāna-)(tasya, n. 6th s.)(api*)(pūrvam*, n. 2nd s. [adv.])(prasādhitam, n. 1st s.)(apratighātitvam, n. 1st s.)(teṣām, m. 6th pl.) (hi*)(etat, n. 1st s.)(eva*)(jñānam, n. 1st s.)(tat-)(yat, n. 1st s.)(darśanam, n. 1st s.)(viśuddha-)(ātman-)(vedanāt, n. 5th s.)(mātratva-)(citta-)(apeta-)(āgantuka-)(mala-)
Translation: And whatever consciousness is directed toward the self through cultivation and meditative absorption, its unhindered nature has also been established previously. For that very awareness is precisely the cognition that arises from the perception of the purified nature, resting in the mere awareness of mind devoid of adventitious defilements. Śāntarakṣita: Tattvasaṃgraha (word-by-word grammatical analysis) · SA_T11_ilx_gr_zAntarakSita_tattvasaMgraha:3576 View segment Parallel — Tattvasaṃgrahakārikā (Tibetan):
Original: བདག་ཁོ་ན་ཡི་རྣམ་ཤེས་ནི། ། བསམ་གཏན་གོམས་པས་འཇུག་པ་གང་། ། དེ་ལ་ཡང་ནི་ཐོགས་མེད་ཉིད། ། དེ་དག་ལ་སྔར་བསྒྲུབས་ཟིན་ཏོ། །
Translation: Whatever consciousness of the self alone engages through the cultivation of meditative absorption, its unobstructed state has already been established beforehand. དེ་ཁོ་ན་ཉིད་བསྡུས་པའི་ཚིག་ལེའུར་བྱས་པ། (tattvasaṃgrahakārikā) · BO_T11_D4266:129a-2 View segment Parallel — Tattvasaṃgrahakārikā (Tibetan):
Original: གློ་བུར་དྲི་མ་སྤངས་པ་ཅན། ། སེམས་ཙམ་རང་རིག་པའི་ངོ་བོ། ། རྣམ་པར་དག་པའི་བདག་མཐོང་གང་། ། དེ་ཉིད་ཁོ་ན་དེ་ཤེས་ཡིན། །
Translation: Having abandoned adventitious stains, whatever vision sees the purified nature as the essence of self-awareness in mind-only, that alone is that genuine cognition. དེ་ཁོ་ན་ཉིད་བསྡུས་པའི་ཚིག་ལེའུར་བྱས་པ། (tattvasaṃgrahakārikā) · BO_T11_D4266:129a-6 View segment
Vajrayāna darśana mīmāṁsā
Original: hetu-(āśraya) tantram tantre'smin abhidheyadṛṣṭyā'smākaṁ cittasvabhādikaṁ buddhasvarūpaṁ sadapi kṛtrima-(āgantuka) malairāvṛtamasti | bījasadṛśamidaṁ, yacca pratyayasaṁsargatāmavāpya phalavāptisāmarthyamadhatte | kṛtrima-(āgantuka) malasya nāśe sati satvacittaṁ nirmalaṁ jāyate tacca buddhaḥ ucyate |
Translation: In this causal or foundational tantra, from the perspective of the view to be expressed, although our innate mental nature and so forth is of the very nature of the Buddha, it remains obscured by artificial and adventitious defilements. This is akin to a seed which, upon meeting the union of conditions, possesses the capacity to realize the fruition. When these artificial and adventitious stains are destroyed, the mind of the sentient being becomes stainless, and that is called 'Buddha'. Vajrayāna darśana mīmāṁsā · SA_T16_n2959u:125 View segment
Tibetan See more Tibetan results (https://dharmamitra.org/explore?search_input=%C4%81gantuka%20mala&filter_source_language=bo&search_target_lang=english) sdom pa gsum gyi rab tu dbye ba'i bstan bcos chen pos snga 'gyur phyogs la rtsod pa spong ba 'dus ma byas kyi gnad mdzod/
Original: དེ་ལྟར་ན་རང་བཞིན་གྱིས་དག་པ་ལ་གློ་བུར་དུ་དྲི་མས་གོས་ན་འབད་པ་དགོས་པ་མེད་པར་འགྱུར་རོ་ཞེ་ན་མ་ཡིན་ཏེ་། གློ་བུར་གྱི་སྒྲས་ནི་སྦྱང་དུ་རུང་བ་ལ་བྱ་ཡི་། སྔར་མེད་པ་ལས་ཕྱིས་དྲི་མ་འབྱུང་བ་ལྟ་བུ་མ་ཡིན་ཏེ་། བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་ཀྱིས་མདོ་ལས་ཀྱང་། གང་དག་སྦྱང་དུ་རུང་བའི་ཆོས་དེ་ནི་གློ་བུར་པའོ་༎
Translation: If one objects: 'In that case, if that which is naturally pure becomes tainted by adventitious defilement, spiritual effort would become futile,' it is not so. The designation 'adventitious' applies to that which is capable of being purified; it does not mean that stains arise newly where there were none previously. As the Bhagavan stated in the sūtras: 'Whatever phenomena are capable of being cleansed are adventitious.' sdom pa gsum gyi rab tu dbye ba'i bstan bcos chen pos snga 'gyur phyogs la rtsod pa spong ba 'dus ma byas kyi gnad mdzod/ · BO_NK131_(do)005:605 View segment
Prajñāpāramitopadeśa
Original: དེ་རྣམས་སྤངས་པས་རྣམ་པར་དག་པར་འགྱུར་ཞིང་དྲི་མ་མེད་པ་ཡིན་ཏེ། དཔེར་ན་ཆུའི་ཁམས་དང་གསེར་དང་ནམ་མཁའ་རྣམས་རང་བཞིན་དག་པ་ལ་གློ་བུར་གྱི་རྙོག་པ་ཟངས་དང་ཁུག་རྣ་ལ་སོགས་པས་དྲི་མ་ཅན་དུ་གྱུར་པ་དེ་རྣམས་དང་བྲལ་བ་བཞིན་ནོ། དེ་བས་ན་དེ་ནི་ཀུན་ནས་ཉོན་མོངས་པ་ཡང་མ་ཡིན་ལ།
Translation: Through abandoning these [defilements] by means of the path, it becomes purified and immaculate. For instance, just as the element of water, gold, and space are intrinsically pure, but become stained by adventitious mud, verdigris, and mist, and are subsequently freed from them; likewise, this [mind] is never intrinsically defiled. ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པའི་མན་ངག་ (prajñāpāramitopadeśa) · BO_T06_D4079:140a-40 View segment
Sekoddeśaṭīkā
Original: གློ་བུར་དྲི་མས་གཡོགས་པ་ཡི། ། སེམས་ལ་ཀུན་ཏུ་འབིགས་པ་ཡིན། ། སེམས་ལ་ཀུན་དུ་ཞེས་པ་ནི་སེམས་ཀྱི་དྲི་མ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཡོད་པ་མ་ཡིན་པ་རང་གིས་ཡོངས་སུ་བརྟགས་པ་དེ་ལ་འབིགས་ཞེས་པའི་དོན་ཏོ། ། སེམས་ལ་གློ་བུར་དྲི་མ་མེད། ། སེམས་ལ་ཡུན་དུས་ནའང་མིན། །
Translation: 'It penetrates all into the mind that is covered by adventitious defilement.' The phrase 'all into the mind' means that it pierces through the imputations conceived by oneself, since there is no such entity as defilement of the mind. 'There is no adventitious defilement in the mind, nor has it dwelt in the mind over prolonged time.' དབང་མདོར་བསྟན་པའི་རྒྱ་ཆེར་འགྲེལ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ། (sekoddeśaṭīkā-nāma) · BO_T02_D1353:22b-25 View segment Parallel — Sekoddeśa (Sanskrit):
Original: malāgantukaliptasya cittasyāvedhanaṃ prati // Sekoddeśa_128 //
Translation: Regarding the penetration into the mind smeared with adventitious defilements. Sekoddeśa · SA_T02_narsekou:260 View segment Parallel — Sekoddeśa (Sanskrit):
Original: nāgantuko malaścitte na cittāccirakālikaḥ /
Translation: Defilement in the mind is neither adventitious nor has it existed in the mind from long ago. Sekoddeśa · SA_T02_narsekou:261 View segment
Pali See more Pali results (https://dharmamitra.org/explore?search_input=%C4%81gantuka%20mala&filter_source_language=pa&search_target_lang=english) Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā
Original: Paduṭṭhenāti āgantukehi abhijjhādīhi dosehi paduṭṭhena. Pakatimano hi bhavaṅgacittaṃ, taṃ apaduṭṭhaṃ. Yathā hi pasannaṃ udakaṃ āgantukehi nīlādīhi upakkiliṭṭhaṃ nīlodakādibhedaṃ
Translation: 'Corrupted' means corrupted by adventitious faults such as covetousness. For the original natural mind is the bhavaṅga consciousness, which is uncorrupted. Just as pure, clear water, when tainted by extrinsic agents like blue dye, takes on variations such as blue water, so it is with the mind. Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā · PA_atk-s05_02a:104_7 View segment
Majjhimanikāye Mūlapaṇṇāsa-aṭṭhakathā
Original: Yathā hi āgantukehi malehi saṃkiliṭṭhaṃ vatthaṃ pakatiyā paṇḍarattā puna dhovīyamānaṃ paṇḍaraṃ hoti, na tattha jātikāḷake viya eḷakalome vāyāmo nipphalo hoti, evaṃ cittampi
Translation: For just as a cloth soiled by adventitious stains becomes bright white again when washed, due to its natural whiteness—and effort there is not fruitless, unlike washing naturally black fleece—in the very same way, it is with the mind. Majjhimanikāye Mūlapaṇṇāsa-aṭṭhakathā · PA_atk-s02_01a:840_0 View segment
Chinese See more Chinese results (https://dharmamitra.org/explore?search_input=%C4%81gantuka%20mala&filter_source_language=zh&search_target_lang=english) 辯中邊論 (Madhyāntavibhāga)
Original: 於染淨無倒者，頌曰：知顛倒作意， 未滅及已滅，於法界雜染， 清淨無顛倒。論曰：若未斷滅顛倒作意，爾時法界說為雜染，已斷滅時說為清淨。如實知見此染淨者，如次是於染淨無倒。於客無倒，其相云何？
Translation: Regarding non-erroneous cognition concerning defilement and purification, the verse states: 'By knowing whether inverted mental engagement is unextinguished or extinguished, one is free from error regarding the defilement and purity of the realm of phenomena (dharmadhātu).' The commentary explains: 'When inverted mental engagement is not yet eliminated, the dharmadhātu is said to be defiled; when it has been eliminated, it is said to be pure. Seeing and knowing this defilement and purification as it truly is constitutes non-erroneous cognition regarding defilement and purification.' What, then, is the characteristic of non-erroneous cognition regarding the adventitious (āgantuka)? 辯中邊論 · ZH_T31_1600_003:0475b16_2 View segment Parallel — Madhyāntavibhāgaṭīkā (Tibetan):
Original: ཕྱིན་ཅི་ལོག་གི་ཡིད་ལ་བྱེད། ། མ་སྤངས་པ་དང་སྤངས་པ་ལས། ། དེ་ནི་མ་དག་རྣམ་དག་སྟེ། ། དེ་ཡང་དེ་ལ་མ་ལོག་པའོ། །
Translation: From the non-abandonment and abandonment of erroneous mental engagement, that is impure and fully pure; this too is non-erroneous with respect to that. དབུས་དང་མཐའ་རྣམ་པར་འབྱེད་པའི་འགྲེལ་པ། (madhyāntavibhāgaṭīkā) · BO_T06_D4027:22b-26 View segment 国訳一切経:
染淨に於ける無倒とは、頌に曰はく、顚倒の作意の未だ滅せざると及び已に滅せるとを知らば、法界の雜染と清淨とに於て無顚倒なり。論に曰はく、若し未だ顚倒の作意を斷滅せずんば、爾時には法界を説いて雜染と爲し、已に斷滅せる時には説いて清淨と爲す。如實に此染淨を知見せば、次の如く、是れ染淨に於ける無倒なり。客に於ける無倒とは其の相は云何。
Non-erroneous cognition regarding defilement and purity is expressed in the verse: Knowing whether inverted attention is unextinguished or extinguished, one is free from delusion regarding defilement and purity in the realm of phenomena. The treatise states: If one has not yet severed inverted attention, at that time the realm of phenomena is spoken of as defiled; when it is severed, it is spoken of as purified. Knowing this defilement and purity as it truly is constitutes non-erroneous cognition. What is the characteristic of non-erroneous cognition regarding the adventitious? 国訳一切経 — vol. 148, p. 四五 (https://archive.org/details/kokuyakuissaiky1488800uoft/page/n299/mode/1up) 「顚倒の邪思惟の未滅と及び已滅とは此の不淨と及び淨となり。是れ彼の不顚倒なり。」「法界の性は淨なるが故に、之を譬ふれば虚空の如し。此の二種は是れ客なり。是れ彼の不顚倒なり。」
大乘莊嚴經論 (Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra)
Original: 此中復有似水譬喻，能遮後二怖畏。偈曰：譬如清水濁， 穢除還本清，自心淨亦爾， 唯離客塵故。釋曰：譬如清水，垢來則濁；後時若清，唯除垢耳。清非外來，本性清故。心方便淨亦復如是，心性本淨客塵故染，後時清淨除客塵耳，淨非外來本性淨故。
Translation: Here there is again a simile resembling water that can dispel the latter two fears. The verse says: 'Just as clear water becomes turbid, and once filth is removed returns to its original clarity, the purity of one's own mind is likewise: it is merely due to leaving adventitious dust behind.' The commentary explains: 'Just as with pure water, when impurities arrive it becomes turbid; when it becomes clear later, it is merely that impurities have been removed. Clarity does not come from outside, because its intrinsic nature is clear. The mind's purificatory expedient is likewise: the nature of mind is fundamentally pure, yet stained due to adventitious dust. Subsequent purification is merely the elimination of adventitious dust; purity does not come from the outside, because its intrinsic nature is pure.' 大乘莊嚴經論 · ZH_T31_1604_006:0622c25_1 View segment Parallel — Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra (Sanskrit):
Original: yathaiva toye luti[ṭi]te prasādite na jāyate sā punaracchatānyataḥ / malāpakarṣastu sa tatra kevalaḥ svacittaśuddhau vidhireṣa eva hi // Msa_13.18 //
Translation: Just as when turbid water is clarified, that clarity does not arise anew from elsewhere, but is merely the removal of impurity therein; precisely this is the principle regarding the purification of one's own mind. Maitreya, Vasubandhu: Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkārakārikā with Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkārabhāṣya · SA_T06_asmahsuu:2685 View segment 国訳一切経:
此の中復た水に似たる譬喩あり。能く後の二怖畏を遮す。偈に曰く、譬へば清水の濁れるが如く、 穢を除けば本の清に還る、自心の浄も亦た爾り。 唯だ客塵を離るゝが故なり。 （一八）釋して曰く、譬へば清水の垢來れば則ち濁り、後時に若し清なるは唯だ垢を除けるのみ。清は外より來るに非ず、本性清なるが故なり。心方便の浄も亦た復た是の如し。心性は本浄にして客塵の故に染まり、後時に清浄なるは客塵を除けるのみ。浄は外より來るに非ず、本性浄なるが故なり。
In this context, there is further a simile of water capable of dispelling the latter two fears. The verse states: Just as clear water becomes turbid and returns to its original clarity when impurities are removed, the purity of one's own mind is likewise: it is solely because adventitious defilements are abandoned. (18) The commentary states: For instance, when defilements enter clear water, it grows turbid; when it is cleared later on, it is merely that impurities have been taken away. Clarity does not come from outside, for its intrinsic nature is clear. The purificatory expedient of the mind is also like this: the nature of mind is fundamentally pure and merely stained by adventitious dust; subsequent purification is simply the removal of adventitious dust. Purity does not come from the outside, because its intrinsic nature is pure. 国訳一切経 — vol. 148, p. 310 (https://archive.org/details/kokuyakuissaiky1488800uoft/page/n158/mode/1up) 以下三偈は菩薩は怖畏を遮することを説示す。