The Sumtak

In general, letters consist of āli, i.e. the vowel letters, the string of a and so on; and  kāli, i.e. the consonant letters, the string of ka and so on. Tibetan letters in particular consist of four letters – ཨི་ཨུ་ཨེ་ཨོ་ – which clearly exemplify the function of the āli of Sanskrit, and precisely thirty – ཀ་ཁ་ག་ང་། ཅ་ཆ་ཇ་ཉ། ཏ་ཐ་ད་ན། པ་ཕ་བ་མ། ཙ་ཚ་ཛ་ཝ། ཞ་ཟ་འ་ཡ། ར་ལ་ཤ་ས། ཧ་ཡ། – which exemplify the kāli.

The second, the description of the analysis of their distinctions, has two parts: the brief description and the extensive explanation. As for the first:

If we analyze those kāli letters that were just explained, they are analyzed into three categories: the ten suffix letters, the five prefix letters (since five of those suffix letters are also prefixed), and the twenty letters which are not affixed either before or after.

The second, the extensive explanation, has two parts: the description of how they are analyzed in general, and their particular individual explanation. As for the first:

Those thirty kāli are divided into seven and a half rows, consisting of seven full rows (the ཀ་ row, ཅ་ row, ཏ་ row, པ་ row, ཙ་ row, ཞ་ row, and ར་ row) and the half row of ཧ་. Each row is divided into four letters each. ལས། is an originative sound.

Second, their particular individual explanation, has three parts: the explanation of the suffix letters, the explanation of the prefix letters, and the explanation of the non-affixed letters. As for the first:

What is the explanation of the “ten suffix letters” mentioned above? They consist of the last two letters of the first, third, and fourth rows each, i.e. ག་ང་། ད་ན། བ་མ།, as well as the third of the sixth row, i.e. འ་, and all of the seventh except for ཤ་, i.e. ར་ལ་ས་.

Also, because these are affixed after all letters, they are called “suffix letters”, and they are defined as this count of ten letters.

As for the second, the explanation of the prefix letters:

What is the explanation of the “five prefix letters” mentioned above? They are the first, i.e. ག་, the third, i.e. ད་, the fifth, i.e. བ་,  the sixth, i.e. མ་, and the seventh, i.e. འ་, of those very same ten suffix letters.

Since they are not only affixed after, but are also affixed before, they are also called “prefix letters”, and they are defined as this count of five letters.

As for the third, the explanation of the non-affixed letters:

The rest, which are neither prefix nor suffix letters, are the exclusive main letters which are precisely twenty in number: ཀ་ཁ། ཅ་ཆ་ཇ་ཉ། ཏ་ཐ། པ་ཕ། ཙ་ཚ་ཛ་ཝ། ཞ་ཟ་ཡ། ཤ། ཧ་ཨ་. Whether two or three are connected within a single tsheg-interval, or are joined with any one of the four vowels, i and so on, e.g. ཙཀ། ཚཕཁ། ཝཟིཡ།, they are not applied to any term known in the Snowy Land (gangs ljongs), and so it is not even admissible to have joined them in this way.

Also, regarding the main letters in this context, a main letter is a consonant letter which is the target of application of both prefix and suffix letters, and thus the five prefix letters can be either prefix, suffix, or main letters; the other five suffix letters can be either suffix or main letters; and the twenty non-affixed letters can only be main letters; of this threefold analysis, here we are commenting on the last one.

The second, the explanation of the application of phrase-links (tshig phrad), which is the way of joining, has two parts: the explanation of the links that depend on the suffix letter, together with the declensions; and the explanation of the independent links that do not depend on the suffix letter.

The first has eight parts: the explanation of the conclusive, the explanation of the la-equivalent, the explanation of the i-bearing, the explanation of the ornamental-synthetic, the explanation of the continuative, the explanation of the analytic-synthetic, the explanation of the originative, and the explanation of the vocative.

As for the first:

When those same ten suffix letters that were previously explained are joined to the end of some word, and you join to them the fourth āli (i.e. the letter ཨོ་, the naru), that concludes the content of the present topic, and so it is called the conclusive sound or the completion phrase.

Furthermore, there are eleven in total: ten which are explicitly described in the text, as in རྟག་གོ བཟང་ངོ་། ཡོད་དོ། ཡིན་ནོ། སྒྲུབ་བོ། བསམ་མོ། བྱའོ། འགྱུར་རོ། སེལ་ལོ། བྱས་སོ།, and one that is implicitly described: ཏོ་, which agrees with the strong ད་, as in གྱུརད་ཏོ།.

As for the second, the explanation of the la-equivalents:

In order to join the la-equivalent declensions to the end of some word, if you place the tenth of those same suffix letters, the letter ས་, and join to that the second āli, the letter ཨུ་, you get སུ་. Likewise, you place the eighth, the letter ར་, by joining it to the end of a word within a single tsheg-interval, e.g. ལྷག་པར་. Also there is རུ་, which you get by joining that same letter ར་ and the letter ཨུ་ onto a split tsheg-interval. If you place the third suffix letter, ད་, and join to that the letter ཨུ་, you get དུ་. The fourth and ninth suffix letters, ན་ and ལ་, are placed bare, unadorned by vowels. These six are explicitly described, and together with the implicitly described ཏུ་, which is the letter ཏ་ ending in ཨུ་, there are seven in total.

These should be known as:

• the accusative sound (las su bya ba’i sgra), the second declension, when joined to have the meaning of the patient (bya ba) on which the agent (byed pa po) acts (byed), as in ཤར་ཕྱོགས་སུ་འགྲོ་ (“Go to the east”);
• the purposive sound (dgos byed kyi sgra), the fourth declension, when joined to have the meaning of an verb (bya ba) which benefits the target of the verb (bya ba’i yul), or [benefits] the act (las) associated with that [target] , as in རྟར་ཙྭ་བྱིན་ (“Grass was given to the horse”);
• the locative sound (rten gnas kyi sgra), the seventh declension, when joined to have the meaning of that on which [something] is supported, e.g. དཔྲལ་པ་རུ་སྨེ་བ་ཡོད་ (“There’s a mole on their forehead”);
• the equative sound (de nyid kyi sgra), a category of the second declension, when joined to have the meaning of an act (las) and a patient (bya ba) being of the same essence, when such a verb (bya ba) is being done to such a target (yul), e.g. འོད་དུ་འཚེར་ (“Glistening in the form of light”);
• the temporal sound (tshe skabs kyi sgra), a category of the seventh declension, when joined to have the meaning of expressing time, e.g. ཉི་མ་ཤར་བ་ན་ཆོས་སྟོན་ (“When the sun rose, they taught the dharma.”).

When all of those are joined as a declension, they are called la-sounds because they mostly agree with the applications of the sound ལ་, and because it is the final consonant. However, ན་ and ལ་ cannot be used to have the meaning of the equative; as in The Door of Speech, when explaining the fourteen or so applications of ན་, its application to the equative is not mentioned: “དུ་ and so on agree with ལ་; the equatives are the rest.”

The third, the explanation of the i-bearing declensions, has two parts: the brief description, and the extensive explanation.

As for the first:

The way in which the declension links joined with the letter i are joined in agreement to words that end in one of the ten suffix letters is this and this.

The second, the extensive explanation, has two parts: the explanation of the connective sound, and the explanation of the agentive sound.

As for the first:

The first suffix letter (ག་) agrees with words ending in either of the first two of the ten suffix letters (ག་ and ང་). Likewise, ཀྱ་ is harmonically joined to those ending in the third suffix letter (ད་), and the fifth (བ་), and the tenth (ས་). The seventh (the letter འ་) is harmonically joined to those ending in the same seventh (འ་), whether or not there is an explicit འ་; and the implicitly described ཡ་ is harmonically joined to those ending in འ་ when filling a foot [of verse]. Lastly, གྱ་ itself is harmonically joined to those ending in the remaining four (ན་མ་ར་ལ་).

By joining the letter i, the gi gu, to all of those, you respectively get གྱི། ཀྱི། འི། ཡི། གྱི་; by joining one of those with an individual word whose sound corresponds with it, you get བདག་གི། གང་གི། ཁྱོད་ཀྱི། རྒྱབ་ཀྱི། གཡས་ཀྱི། དེའི། དེ་ཡི། ་མདུན་གྱི། ལམ་གྱི། གསེར་གྱི། དངུལ་གྱི་ and so on.

Because those are sounds that have the meaning of expressing the mutual connection of word and meaning, such as support and supported, or branch and branch-haver, and so on, they are called the ground of connection, the sixth declension.

Although there may seem to be many former and latter applications to other meanings which are not explicitly described in this text, such as the application of གི་ and so on to a discordant phrasal ornament, since they are not commented on in the explicit descriptions of this text, they can be understood in other texts such as The Door of Speech.

As for the second, the explanation of the agentive sound:

By joining the tenth suffix letter, ས་, to those same five sounds of the sixth declension explained above, གི་ ཀྱི་ འི་ ཡི་ གྱི་, you get གིས་ ཀྱིས་ འིས་ ཡིས་ གྱིས་. They indicate that something joins to the verb (bya ba), and so they are known as the ground of the agent, the third declension. For example, བདག་གིས་བསྟན། (“I taught”), ཁོད་ཀྱིས་ཉན། (“You listen”), དེའིས་བྱིན། (“That person gave”), འདི་ཡིས་བླངས། (“This person took”), གསེར་གྱིས་ཉོས། (“bought with gold”).

As for the fourth, the explanation of the ornament-inclusion:

If you erase the āli of three of those connective sounds explained above, ཀྱི་ འི་ ཡི་, and join to each one the second suffix letter, ང་, you get ཀྱང་ འང་ ཡང་. These are sounds of two phrasal ornaments – the ornament that indicates that the former and latter phrases agree, as in གསལ་ཡང་གསལ། མཛེས་ཀྱང་མཛེས།, and the ornament that indicates that the former and latter phrases do not agree, as in བཏུད་ཀྱང་ཁྲོ། (“although they bowed, they were angry”), མཛའང་སླུ། (“they were friendly, but deceiving”) – and of including and joining the basis or meaning to something else, as in མིར་མ་ཟད་ལྷས་ཀྱང་བཏུད་དོ། (“Not only the humans, but even [or also] the gods bowed down.”).

As for the fifth, the explanation of the continuative:

If you erase the letter ཨུ་, the zhabs kyu, from one of the la-equivalents, སུ་, and join to that standalone ས་ the first of the third row of kāli, the letter ཏ་, and join to that in turn the third āli, the ‘greng bu, you get སྟེ་. Together with the དེ་ found below, and the implicitly described standalone ཏེ་, there are three. When joined to the end of any word-phrase, they elicit the remainder of the description, and so they are called the together-with-remainder sound.

Furthermore, they are coarsely analyzed into three:

• conjunction (mtshams sbyor), which agrees with the application of the ནས་ and the ཅིང་སོགས་ links, e.g. མདའ་འཕངས་ཏེ་ཕོག ཕྱག་འཚལ་ཏེ་བཤད། འཕར་ཏེ་འགྲོ།;
• thesis (dam bca’), which elicits the latter [phrase] for the clarification of the former phrase, e.g. དངོས་པོ་ནི་གསུམ་སྟེ། བེམ་པོ་དང་། ཤེས་པ་དང་། ལྡན་མིན་འདུ་བྱེད་དོ།;
• eliciting something else (gzhan ‘dren), which agrees with the application of ལ་ and indicates the mere existence of a remainder, e.g. ཁྱོད་ནི་དཔལ་ཏེ་ཁྱོད་ནི་མགོན།.

As for the sixth, the explanation of analysis-synthesis:

If, to the ten suffix letters, you join the sixth of them, the letter མ་, you get གམ། ངམ། དམ། ནམ། བམ། མམ། འམ། རམ། ལམ། སམ།, and with the implicitly described ཏམ།, there are eleven. They are applied as sounds which individually analyze the particulars from a single basis of analysis, as in ཕུང་པོ་ནི་ལྔ་སྟེ། གཟུགས་སམ། ཚོར་བའམ། འདུ་ཤེས་སམ། འདུ་བྱེད་དམ། རྣམ་པར་ཤེས་པའོ། (“There are five aggregates: form and feeling and perception and compounders and cognition.”); and which synthesize many different phrases and meanings into one place, as in གཟུགས་སམ། ཚོར་བའམ། འདུ་ཤེས་སམ། འདུ་བྱེད་དམ། རྣམ་པར་ཤེས་པ་ནི་ཕུང་པོའོ། (“Form and feeling and perception and compounders and cognition are the aggregates.”).

Furthermore, because interrogative phrases such as ཡོད་དམ་མེད། also are phrases which analyze the distinctions of existence and nonexistence, they are defined as the same sound of analysis.

The seventh, the origin, has two parts: the explanation of the actual origin, and the way that it’s applied to isolation and inclusion.

As for the first:

If you join the tenth suffix letter ས་ individually to both the fourth of those ten suffix letters, ན་, and the ninth, ལ་, you get ནས། and ལས།. Because those are applied similarly to the meaning of indicating that something is separate from or arises from some dharma, as in ས་ནས་རྩྭ་སྐྱེས། (“grass grew from the earth”), བ་ལས་འོ་མ་འཇོ། (“milking milk from the cow”), they are the ground of the origin, the fifth declension. ཏེ་ is a continuative.

In addition, the application of only the ལས་ sound to a reason, as in དུ་བ་ལས་མེར་ཤེས། (“to know of fire due to smoke”), does not go beyond the fifth declension, because the reason for knowing of fire occurs from seeing smoke. 

Second, the way that it’s applied to isolation and inclusion:

The ནས་ and ལས་ sounds explained above do not only apply to an origin, but also apply to the meaning of isolating something away from a basis of isolation, and likewise the ནས་ sound alone also applies to the meaning of delineating and including a set.

ནས་ is applied to a basis of isolation and a dharma of isolation which have the same class, e.g. ལྷ་རྣམས་ཀྱི་ནང་ནས་བརྒྱ་བྱིན་མཛེས། (“Śakra is the most beautiful of the gods”); whereas ལས་ is applied to a basis of isolation and a dharma of isolation which have different classes, e.g. ལྷ་ལས་མི་དམན། (“humans are inferior to gods”), and ནས་ is applied to inclusion, as in གཟུགས་ནས་རྣམ་མཁྱེན་གྱི་བར། (“from form up to the knowledge of aspects”).

Both isolation and inclusion are included within the fifth declension, because in the case of isolation, a dharma of isolation seems to be differentiated from a basis of isolation, and in the case of inclusion, the object of inclusion seems to occur from the start of some beginning.

As for the eighth, the explanation of the vocative sound:

If ཀྱེ་ is joined to the beginning of expressing some word, like ཀྱེ་རྒྱལ་པོ་ཆེན་པོ་ (“Hail, great king!”), it is a sound that clarifies a call to a special target. The implicitly taught ཀྭ་ཡེ་, ཀྭ་, and ཝ་ཡེ་ are sounds that clarify a call to an inferior target.

The second, the explanation of the independent links that do not depend on the suffix letter, has six parts: the explanation of the ནི་ sound, the explanation of the དང་ sound, the explanation of the དེ་ sound, the explanation of the གང་ sound, the explanation of the owner sound, and the explanation of the negation sound.

As for the first:

By joining the vowel ཨི་ to the fourth suffix letter, ན་, which is a link that can be joined in agreement with the end of any word-phrase, you get ནི་. That is a phrase that applies to the meaning of specifying something as separate from a basis of isolation, and then isolating it, as in སྦྱོར་དངོས་འཇུག་གསུམ་གྱི་དང་པོ་ནི།. It also applies to the meaning of focusing on or earnestly emphasizing some meaning, as in དལ་བའི་རྟེན་བཟང་པོ་ནི་ཐོབ། དགེ་བའི་བཤེས་གཉེན་དང་ནི་མཇལ། བློ་གྲོས་ཀྱི་མིག་དང་ནི་སྡན།. Its applications to filling a phrase, as in སྡོམ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་སྡན་པར་ནི།, are also the same emphasis sound.

As for the second, the explanation of the དང་ sound:

If you join the second suffix letter, ང་, to the third suffix letter, ད་, in between some word-phrases, you get དང་. This is applied to five meanings:

• synthesizing former and latter phrases all together (phyogs gcig tu), as in མིག་དང་། རྣ་བ་དང་། སྣ་དང་། ལྕེ་དང་། ལུས་རྣམས་ནི་དབང་པོའོ།;
• individually analyzing, as in དབང་པོ་རྣམས་ནི། མིག་དང་། རྣ་བ་དང་། སྣ་དང་། ལྕེ་དང་། ལུས་སོ།’
• the rational meaning, as in དུ་བ་མཐོང་བ་དང་མེར་ཤེས་སོ།;⁵⁴
• the temporal meaning that expresses a time, as in ཉི་མ་ཕྱེད་པ་དང་ཆོས་སྟོན་དྲངས།;
• the meaning of expressing an instruction to someone else, as in ཡིད་ལ་གཟུངས་དང་།.

As for the third, the explanation of the དེ་ sound:

If the vowel ཨེ་, the ‘greng bu, is joined to the third suffix letter, ད་, at the beginning, i.e. the start, of some word, you get དེ་.

When analyzed just in terms of the designations which, not existing before, have been newly assigned (btags pa), it is applied to three:

• the past time, in which the way of expressing an object of expression without examining its general meaning is directly assigned to the very same thing, as in དབྱེ་གཞི་ཀ་བ་རིང་པོའོ། དེ་ཕྲའོ། །དེ་ལ་ཟུར་ཡོད་དོ། །;⁵⁵
• having the meaning of indicating that, although the basis of inquiry is not explicitly clear, there is some other enumeration of meaning (such as paper, here) which is to be applied in place of (shul du) the དེ་ sound, as in དེ་ལས་དབྱེ་བའི་ཡ་གྱལ། དེ་ལ་ཡི་གེ་བྲིས་ཤིག;
• eliciting the remainder of the object of expression, even though another meaning is not illustrated in place of itself, as in ཤིང་བཅད་དེ་མེ་ལ་འབུད།.

That way of analysis pervades all applications of the དེ་ sound.

Next, when analyzed in terms of the principal meaning of the things of general phenomena, it is applied in all three times to four:

• a true thing, as in དེ་རང་ཡིན་ནོ། །;
• a secret thing, as in དེ་མ་སྟོན་ཅིག;
• an owned thing, as in ཁོ་བོའི་གླེགས་བམ་དེ་ཀློགས་ཤིག;
• an external thing other than that which is owned, as in རྡོ་བ་དེ་འདེགས་ནུས་སམ།.

That way of analysis pervades all applications of the དེ་ sound other than the continuative.

Next, when analyzed in terms of time, it is applied to two:

• the past, as in ན་ནིང་གི་ལོ་དེ་ལ།;
• the future, as in སང་ཉི་མ་ཤར་བའི་དུས་དེར་འགྲོའོ། །.

That way of analysis pervades all applications of the དེ་ sound connected with expressing exclusivity.

As for the fourth, the explanation of the གང་ sound:

If you join the second suffix letter, ང་, to the first suffix letter, ག་, at the beginning of expressing some word, you get གང་. This is a sound that mainly has the meaning of general pervasion,⁵⁶ without holding any of the meaning’s particulars as a focus, as in གང་ཞིག གང་དག གང་བྱེད།. It also mostly agrees with the application of the sounds ཅི་ ཇི་ སུ་.⁵⁷

As for the fifth, the explanation of the owner sound:

At the ends of words, if you newly join any of the three puliṅga⁵⁸ sounds to that which previously did not have them, that should be known as the ground that clarifies the meaning of an owner. As is said in the Candrapa, “…together with the row of ut”, pu is the པ་ row and liṅga is the sign, and so the three sounds are the male sign པ་, the female sign མ་ and the neuter sign བ་, which come from the པ་ row. For example, ཇ་པ། ཆང་མ། ཁ་ལོ་བ། and གྱོས་པོ། སྒྱུག་མོ། ཟླ་བོ། are owner sounds that exhibit the three signs.

Examples such as བློ་ཅན་ and ཤེས་སྡན་ may seem to be similar to owner sounds in that they indicate that someone has something, but those two sounds are also applied to inert matter, and so they are not actual owner sounds.

However, while the two, པ་ and མ་, are established as the male and female signs, how is it proven that the letter བ་ is the neuter sign? Because, as said in The Door of Speech, “བ་ is posited as general, without place and time taken as definite. As with ཟ་བ་ བཟའ་ ཟ་པོ་, it is posited as neuter.”

As for the sixth, the explanation of the negation sound:

At the beginning, i.e. the start, of expressing some word, if you join the strīliṅga⁵⁹ to that which did not previously have the strīliṅga (i.e. female sign) sound (which was explained above; both the letter མ་ and the ancillary letter མི་), that should be known as the location of negation, because it indicates that the meaning of the target of joining is not that, or does not have that. For example, མ་མཐོང་། (“unseen”), མི་རིགས། (“inadmissible”). 

The second, the conclusion which gives instructions, has four parts: the instruction on how verses are released, the instruction related to pleasing listeners, the instruction on the stages of how to train, and the instruction on the necessity of giving instructions to a suitable recipient.

As for the first:

When verses are properly joined to the Conqueror’s words and treatises⁶⁰ along with their branches, there are many compounds,⁶¹ so what need to speak of the greatly abbreviated conjunctions⁶² of declensions, phrase-links, and so on? If there are any that are even slightly abbreviated, they should be added and joined according to the explanations of the conclusive and so on that were described here above, so that you can penetrate into the meaning being explained. For example, it’s like how with ཟག་བཅས་ཟག་པ་མེད་ཆོས་རྣམས།, after adding the synthesis sounds, connective sounds, and so on, thus getting ཟག་པ་དང་བཅས་པའི་ཆོས་རྣམས་དང་། ཟག་པ་མེད་པའི་ཆོས་རྣམས།, one should then contemplate the meaning oneself, and explain it to others.

The second, the instruction related to pleasing listeners, has three parts: the teaching that the absence of suffix letters is inadmissible, the teaching on the purpose of knowing the suffix letters, and the teaching of how that settles on the meaning.

As for the first:

In the joinings of word-phrases,⁶³ (note: ) whether or the prefix letters mentioned above are present or absent at the beginning (e.g. བཀའ་ and ཀ་), and whether any of the main letters, which are the target of application of ‘phul rten,⁶⁴ have a double connection (e.g. སྐ་) or a triple connection (e.g. སྐྱ་), and whether those bear any of the four vowels (e.g. བཀི། ཀུ། སྐེ། སྐྱོ།), if they do not also end in one of the ten suffix letters, then their application and joining to a word-meaning other than that very same letter-form is never possible in this system.

For example, although nowadays སྐྱོ་ may seem to apply to a meaning, the final འ་ of སྐྱོའ་ was erased for the purpose of parsimonious letters at the time of the language reform, but is not without function (thob thang)⁶⁵ for the meaning.

As for the second, the teaching on the purpose of knowing the suffix letters:

If, in that way, you know well the ways of application of sound and meaning of the links, declensions, and so on, which are mainly connected with the function of the ten suffix letters, then when writing the sutras, tantras, and treatises in letters, correctly reading their written expressions, releasing and explaining the extensive phrase-meanings, composing treatises and so on, and engaging in debate in order to demolish others’ objections, you will have no impediment in applying the light of your intellect to the sound and meaning of the conjunctions of former and latter phrase-meanings. You will also be the best at proclaiming only those former and latter phrase-meanings that have a rationale (‘thad pa dang ldan) and are interconnected (‘brel ba chags pa), without the flaws of inversion (go log pa), non-connection (mi ‘brel ba), contradiction (’gal ba), and so on.

Furthermore, by proper knowledge of the meaning of the suffix letters, you will know the joining that differentiates the meaning of the treatises etc., even if you have not previously seen their commentarial explanations (‘grel bshad) etc., by inferring the joining of the phrases (tshig gi sbyor ba)⁶⁷ that agrees with the meaning of the commentarial explanations etc.

As for the third, the teaching of how that settles on the meaning:

One who has become educated in the joinings of the suffixes and wishes to train in the common and uncommon fields of knowledge should, at that time, properly join in one place three things:

• the meaning of the extracts (lung gi don) of the common fields of knowledge (i.e. the treatises of sound, logic, art, medicine, astronomy, poetry, synonymy, metrics, drama, and dance), which were written by the ṛṣis and paṇḍitas; and of the uncommon Good Word of the Bhagavat, along with its commentaries of intent;
• the knowledge of scholars in the joining of the suffix letters;
• the well-heard intimate instructions of a guru who is educated in the meaning of the object of study.

Thereby having settled on whatever textual meaning (gzhung don) one wants to know, one will easily understand it.

Also, it is the meaning of the purpose of joining the textual meanings (gzhung don) which are difficult to understand and have a basis for confusion with the meaning of the extracts, and the purpose of releasing the profound and vast meaning of the extracts by means of the intimate instructions; it is not the purpose of collecting all three in each subtle tshig-sbyor.

As for the third, the instruction on the stages of how to train:

Among people who effortfully engage in training in any field of knowledge, a beginner should first learn the pronunciation of the svaras, i.e. the standalone letters, as described in the Varṇasūtra, in accordance with each one’s place of articulation, manner, and outer and inner exertion; as well as the pronunciation of the individual reading of the vowel-bearers, associated with the way that each one’s svara is produced.

Then, they should also train in how to join the five prefix letters, the thirty main letters which are the target of application of the ‘phul rten, and the ten suffix letters, within a single tsheg-interval, as described in The Children’s Easy Entrance (byis pa bde ‘jug) in order to properly know how to read them.

After learning reading, then by combining the suffix letters and also the prefix letters, one should listen from a guru to the good explanations of the four kinds of joinings, as described in The Application of Signs – applied to what sound and meaning, applied by what letter, applied in what way, and applied for what purpose.⁶⁸

Once one has properly contemplated and penetrated their meaning, one joins them for the purpose of teaching others, and thus trains as a scholar.

By the power of those two branches of reading and brda dag, then having settled on the meaning in order to obtain the fruit of knowing one’s object of study, one should practice it experientially (nyams su star).

Thus, by this order of training, even someone who makes little effort will quickly release wisdom which is without confusion as to phrases and meanings; what need to speak of an individual who has great diligence in hearing and contemplating?

For that reason, those who want to be educated should first train in this text, The Thirty, and once they know this they should listen to and penetrate the later sections⁶⁹ such as The Application of Signs, and also the various other extensive texts of grammar, and then they should listen from gurus to the textual tradition of whatever foundational training of the three vehicles they have faith in and wish to train in, along with its branches.

As for the fourth, the instruction on the necessity of giving instructions to a suitable recipient:

A recipient who is fit to be taught (bstan du rung ba) the instructions of this very treatise apprehends the teacher who gives instructions as a teacher, and respectfully acknowledges their kindness; has given up the contradictory conditions of laziness (i.e. weak enjoyment in the area to be trained in) and distraction (i.e. engagement in some other task); has persistent⁷⁰ diligence (which is not harmed even by those flaws); and has the concordant conditions of being good-tempered (i.e. good-natured) and having devoted⁷¹ diligence (which has complete faith in the area of training).

An individual who has the three characteristics⁷²  will quickly understand anything they train in, and so, knowing the time, they should be extensively instructed.

The converse of the receptive one explained above – who does not have devotion for the teacher, has laziness and distraction, and is bad-natured and lacking in faith – is not receptive, and so they should be instructed briefly (this has the opposite meaning from “extensively instructed”).