“Since this body comes from causes and conditions, it has no intrinsic nature.
It is unborn, unceasing, not going, and unmoving.
Under analysis, the three worlds appear like an illusion.
The body of the victorious ones must be seen nonconceptually like this.”
(1.38)
“Blessed One, since there are no phenomena to be grasped, I am happy to maintain and protect this unsurpassed and perfect awakening. Blessed One, as for awakening, it is nothing at all. It comes from nowhere. It is found nowhere. It does not come about through anything. It is nothing whatsoever. It does not appear. It is ungraspable, unattainable, and inexhaustible.”
(1.68)
“Maitreya, there are five qualities that bodhisattvas must have for their progress to become irreversible. What are the five? They have the same attitude toward all sentient beings. They do not envy the success and prestige of others. Even if their lives are threatened, they will speak nothing but praise of monks who uphold the sacred Dharma. They are not attached to worldly success sought through knowledge of the Dharma, nor to acquisitions, prestige, or compliments. They are devoted to the profound Dharma, and without interest in any kind of mundane activity keep the profound Dharma with them in all situations. Maitreya, if bodhisattvas possess these five qualities, know that their progress will be irreversible.
Maitreya, if bodhisattvas possess five other qualities, know them to be incorrigible. What are the five? They have little charisma and do not follow any advice. They are interested in base things and give degraded teachings to others. They are attached to worldly success sought through knowledge of the Dharma, acquistions, and prestige, and behave enviously in the patron’s household. They are fraudulent and deceitful. Their verbal professions do not lead toward emptiness. Maitreya, if bodhisattvas possess these five qualities, know them to be incorrigible.
Maitreya, if bodhisattvas possess the following five qualities, know them to be irreversible in their progress. What are they? They do not perceive a self, and they do not extol a self. They do not perceive any sentient beings. They do not use concepts to teach about the realm of reality. They do not perceive awakening. They do not regard the Thus-Gone One’s body as having the characteristics of form. Maitreya, if bodhisattvas possess these five qualities, know that they will not regress from unsurpassed and perfect awakening.”
(1.76-78)
“Noble sons, what childish ordinary beings perceive to be the Dharma and understand to be the Dharma are conceptual elaborations of the Dharma. Because they conceptually impute and elaborate on the Dharma, they teach it dualistically. Those who teach it dualistically are in conflict with the Dharma. However, noble sons, ultimately we find nothing at all—no Dharma and no conflict with the Dharma.”
When the Blessed One had explained the meaning to them, he spoke these verses:
“Some say that what is created is compounded,
While others say that it is uncompounded.
However, as both apprehend phenomena, both are concepts.
Such conceptual elaborations are called impure.
Phenomena are not created by anyone, nor does anything destroy them.
No one sees them, knows them, or is close to them.
Such untenable domains of imputed thought—
All are designated empty.
The thought that something is empty is untenable,
Because the unarisen is imputed through such concepts.
All concepts are demonic nooses,
And immutability is called the seal of Dharma.
When they imagine nonexistent things,
The childish are bound by those movements of thought.
All concepts are like echoes,
Yet the childish conceptualize about them dualistically.
The wise never discover knowledge,
And from the wise no knowledge arises.
It is taught in dependence on the relative;
Yet here, no knowledge or knower is observed.
If phenomena had essences,
Then, because they perish, their cessation would be nirvāṇa.
If phenomena did abide,
Then nirvāṇa would be completely permanent.
Childish beings engage in abandonment and attainment.
Childish beings create nirvāṇa, though it has no characteristics.
Those who perceive a self attain the compounded,
While the wise are free from notions of existence and absence.
Knowing and not knowing are not different.
They are mere conventions and have no core.
Those who engage with constructs and marks
Declare nirvāṇa to be a destruction of entities.
The mind does not know the essence of mind.
Neither does the essence know the mind.
All phenomena are essentially dreams.
This is what some call the two truths.
Birth is not real,
Nor does cessation have any reality.
None of the buddhas are subject to birth.
They become real through skillful means.
The buddhas have not attained any wisdom,
And the Dharma that has been taught—they did not teach at all.
Nobody liberates any beings whatsoever.
In this way the buddhas are unborn buddhas.
If they had an essence that passed beyond suffering,
The victorious ones would go there together with the hearers.
But solid phenomena do not pass beyond suffering,
And the nonconceptual will never be known.
Those who do not see beings for what they actually are
Teach beings according to the relative world;
But those who see beings as they actually are
Rest in groundless nirvāṇa.
Some say that the aggregates are true.
Some say that existence, cessation, and the path are true.
Although the unborn is a single truth,
Some speak of four truths.
At the seat of awakening I did not accomplish or see25
Even a single truth, so how could there be four?
Thus, many of low intelligence go forth
And destroy my teaching.
Spiritual practitioners who want to pursue positive qualities
In order to practice this absorption
Should not associate with such wild beings;
Instead, like the rhinoceros, they should stay in solitude.
This was intended to be practiced
By eight hundred million excellent humans.
The many gods who behold this truth
Guard it day and night.
Whoever meditates on this absorption, so hard to see,
In that person’s dream the Buddha will appear—
Clear, limitless, and inexhaustible—
And grant them entrance into the gateway of attainment.”
(1.192-210)
