This text, widely acclaimed as "The Great Public Explication" (Tsogs bshad chen mo), represents perhaps the most extensive early commentarial work of the mind training genre. Soon after its composition, the work appears to have assumed the status of a classic in this genre. Könchok Gyaltsen, one of the compilers of [Blo sbyong brgya rtsa, Mind Training: The Great Collection], felt the need to compose what is effectively a companion to this classic, which he entitled Supplement to the "Oral Tradition" . . . Shönu Gyalchok, on the other hand, recognized Sangyé Gompa's text as a somewhat alternative reading to Chekawa's mainstream approach to Seven-Point Mind Training expounded in Sé Chilbu's commentary. In Compendium of Well-Uttered Insights (pp. 193-211), Shönu Gyalchok provides a detailed outline of Public Explication's presentation of the mind training instructions. In terms of literary style, although it frequently says "thus taught the master" (zhes gsung ngo), the work does not appear to be based on notes taken at an oral teaching. Rather, it seems to have been composed as an independent piece, and this is explicitly confirmed by the author's dedication, where he writes:
- Ratnaguru relied on his teacher's words;
I, too, have applied the meaning a little in my mind;
So through [showing the] interrelations, sequence, and essential instructions,
I here present this [instruction on] training the mind.
On the basis of this stanza, it is evident that the author's frequent statement "Thus taught the master" refers to his teacher Ratnaguru (mid twelfth-early thirteenth century), whose full name is Shangtön Chökyi Lama. Popularly known as Shang Ratnaguru, he held the abbotship of Narthang Monastery for ten years. According to Sönam Lhai Wangpo, History of the Precious Kadam Tradition (pp. 251b-255a), the author of our text, Sangyé Gompa, succeeded his teacher, Ratnaguru, to the abbotship of Narthang and, like his predecessor, held the seat for ten years. In addition to this influential work on mind training, he is also known to have composed a commentary on Atiśa's Bodhipathapradipa. (Thupten Jinpa, Mind Training: The Great Collection, 620n500)
| Citation | blo sbyong tshogs bshad ma [བློ་སྦྱོང་ཚོགས་བཤད་མ།]. [Public Explication of Mind Training]. |
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| Author | Sangye Gompa Senge |
