Sixty aspects of the melodious speech of a buddha

The meaning of manifesting as the sounds of the dharma endowed with the sixty aspects of melodious speech (Tib. གསུང་དབྱངས་ཡན་ལག་དྲུག་ཅུ་ ) is described in both Sutra and Tantra.

First, according to the ‘Sutra on the Inconceivable Secret’:

Gentle, soft, appealing, and attractive,

Pure, flawless, distinct, and captivating,

Worthy, indomitable, pleasant, melodious, and clear,

Not rough, not coarse, and extremely pleasing to hear,

Satisfying for body, for mind, and delightful,

Creating happiness, without sorrow, and instigating insight,

Comprehensible, elucidating, and generating joy,

Utterly enjoyable, bringing comprehension and full understanding,

Reasonable, relevant, free from the fault of repetition,

Melodious like the sound of the lion, the elephant, and the dragon,

Like the naga king, the gandharvas, and the kalapinga bird,

Like the melodious voice of Brahma and the shangshang bird,

Majestic like the voice and the drum of Indra,

Not boastful and pervading all sounds without utterance,

Without corruption of words, without incompleteness,

Not feeble, not weak, extremely magnificent,

Pervasive, free from rigidity,

Connecting interruption and perfecting all sounds,

Satisfying the senses, not inferior, and unchanging,

Not blurting and fully resounding to the assembly,

Endowed with the supreme of all aspects,

He teaches in the manner of the profound and vast teachings.

Second, according to Tantra, there are six categories: like the voice of Brahma, cymbals, singing, the kalapinga bird, thunder, and the sitar. There are sixty aspects when each of them is multiplied by these ten: generating understanding, comprehensible, respectable, without discord, extremely profound, acceptable, indomitable, pleasing to hear, unconfused, and extremely distinct.

Moreover, there are sixty aspects when these ten natures each have six occasions: being most resonant, all-pervading, immediately comprehensible, clearing doubts, commanding presence, showing immediacy, completely engaging, interesting, distinctive, and taming everyone.

Internal Links

• Thirty-two major marks of a buddha
• Eighty minor marks of a buddha
• Enlightened qualities
• Thirty-nine qualities exclusive to a buddha
• Eighteen unshared qualities of a buddha
• Four perfect knowledges
• Four fearlessnesses
• Ten powers
• Khenjuk