Innate Purity of Phenomena

[Simple_Jack]

The Perfection of Wisdom: In Eight Thousand Lines & Its Verse Summary trans. by Edward Conze:

http://huntingtonarchive.osu.edu/resources/downloads/sutras/02Prajnaparamita/Astasahasrika.pdf

Thereupon the Lord, in order to gladden the four assemblies, and to further

lighten up this perfection of wisdom, preached at that time the following verses:

The Basic Teachings [5-18]

5. No wisdom can we get hold of, no highest perfection,

No Bodhisattva, no thought of enlightenment [bodhicitta] either.

When told of this, if not bewildered and in no way anxious,

A Bodhisattva courses in the Well-Gone’s wisdom.

6. In form, in feeling, will, perception and awareness [consciousnesses]

Nowhere in them they find a place to rest on.

Without a home they wander, dharmas never hold them,

Nor do they grasp at them-the Jina’s Bodhi they are bound to gain.

The wanderer Srenika in his gnosis of truth

Could find no basis, though the skandhas had not been undone.

Just so the Bodhisattva, when he comprehends the dharmas as he should

Does not retire into Blessed Rest.6 In wisdom then he dwells.

What is this wisdom, whose and whence, he queries,

And then he finds that all these dharmas are entirely empty.

Uncowed and fearless in the face of that discovery

Not far from Bodhi is that Bodhi-being then

To course in the skandhas, in form, in feeling, in perception,

Will and so on, and fail to consider them wisely;

Or to imagine these skandhas as being empty;

Means to course in the sign, the track of non-production ignored.

But when he does not course in form, in feeling, or perception,

In will or consciousness, but wanders without home,

Remaining unaware of coursing firm in wisdom,

His thoughts of non-production - then the best of all the calming trances

cleaves to him.

Through that the Bodhisattva now dwells tranquil in himself,

His future Buddhahood assured by antecedent Buddhas.

Whether absorbed in trance, or whether outside it, he minds not.

For of things as they are he knows the essential original nature.

Coursing thus he courses in the wisdom of the Sugatas,

And yet he does not apprehend the dharmas in which he courses.

This coursing he wisely knows as a no-coursing,

That is his practice of wisdom, the highest perfection.

What exists not, that non-existent the foolish imagine;

Non-existence as well as existence they fashion

As dharmic facts existence and non-existence are both not real.

A Bodhisattva goes forth when wisely he knows this.

If he knows the five skandhas as like an illusion,

But makes not illusion one thing, and the skandhas another;

If, freed from the notion of multiple things, he courses in peace –

Then that is his practice of wisdom, the highest perfection.

Those with good teachers as well as deep insight,

Cannot be frightened on hearing the Mother’s deep tenets.

But those with bad teachers, who can be misled by others,

Are ruined thereby, as an unbaked pot when in contact with moisture.

Three Key Terms Defined [18-24]

What is the reason why we speak of ‘Bodhisattvas’?

Desirous to extinguish all attachment, and to cut it off,

True non-attachment, or the Bodhi of the Jinas is their future lot.

‘Beings who strive for Bodhi’ are they therefore called.

This gnosis shows him all beings as like an illusion,

Resembling a great crowd of people, conjured up at the crossroads,

By a magician, who then cuts off many thousands of heads;

He knows this whole living world as a mock show, and yet remains without

fear.

Form, perception, feeling, will [volition] and awareness [consciousnesses]

Are ununited, never bound, cannot be freed.

Uncowed in his thought he marches on to his Bodhi,

That for the highest of men is the best of all armours.

The Transcendental Nature of Bodhisattvas [24-31]

Thus transcending the world, he eludes our apprehensions.

‘He goes to Nirvana,’ but no one can say where he went to.

A fire’s extinguished, but where, do we ask, has it gone to?

Likewise, how can we find him who has found the Rest of the Blessed?

The Bodhisattva’s past, his future and his present must elude us,

Time’s three dimensions nowhere touch him.

Quite pure he is, free from conditions, unimpeded.

That is his practice of wisdom, the highest perfection.

Wise Bodhisattvas, coursing thus, reflect on non-production,

And yet,while doing so,engender in themselves the great compassion,

Which is, however, free from any notion of a being.

Thereby they practise wisdom, the highest perfection.

But when the notion of suffering and beings leads him to think:

‘Suffering I shall remove, the weal of the world I shall work!’

Beings are then imagined, a self is imagined, -

The practice of wisdom, the highest perfection, is lacking.

He wisely knows that all that lives is unproduced as he himself is;

He knows that all that is no more exists than he or any beings.

The unproduced and the produced are not distinguished,

That is the practice of wisdom, the highest perfection.

Chapter II

Where Bodhisattvas Stand

He does not stand in form, perception or in feeling,

In will [volition] or consciousness, in any skandhas whatsoever.

In Dharma’s true nature alone he is standing.

Then that is his practice of wisdom, the highest perfection.

Change and no change, suffering and ease, the self and not-self,

The lovely and repulsive 14 – just one Suchness in this Emptiness they are.

And so he takes not his stand on the fruit which he won, which is threefold—

That of an Arhat, a Single Buddha, a Buddha fully enlightened.

The Leader himself was not stationed in the realm which is free from

conditions,

Nor in the things which are under conditions, but freely he wandered without

a home:

Just so, without a support or basis a Bodhisattva is standing.

A position devoid of a basis has that position been called by the Jina.

Wherein Bodhisattvas Train [38-43]

Coursing thus, the wise and learned Bodhisattva,

Trains not for Arhatship, nor on the level of Pratyekabuddhas.

In the Buddha-dharma alone he trains for the sake of all-knowledge.

No training is his training, and no one is trained in this training.

The Facts of Existence [44-47]

Forms are not wisdom, nor is wisdom found in form,

In consciousness, perceptions, feeling, or in will [volition].

They are not wisdom, and no wisdom is in them.

Like space it is, without a break or crack.

Of all objective supports the essential original nature is boundless;

Of beings likewise the essential original nature is boundless.

As the essential original nature of space has no limits,

Just so the wisdom of the World-knowers is boundless.

‘Perceptions’ – mere words, so the Leaders have told us;

Perceptions forsaken and gone, and the door is open to the Beyond.

Those who succeed in ridding themselves of perceptions,

They, having reached the Beyond, fulfill the Teacher’s commandments.

If for aeons countless as the sands of the Ganges,

The Leader would himself continue to pronounce the word ‘being’:

Still, pure from the very start, no being could ever result from his speaking.

That is the practice of wisdom, the highest perfection.”

Chapter V

The Counterfeit and the True Perfection of Wisdom [112-13]

When a Bodhisattva [falsely] reveals form, perception, feeling, will,

Or thought as impermanent [claiming that they are destroyed], -

In the counterfeit [perfection of wisdom] he courses, considering not wisely;

Because the learned never effect the destruction of a dharma.

Wherein of form, of feeling, or perception,

Or consciousness, or will there is no apprehension:

By the method of emptiness and non-production [he] cognizes all dharmas.

This is the practice of wisdom, the foremost perfection.

The Attitude to Dharmas and to the Self [172-75]

When one who develops wisdom to the end does not seize on the least dharma,

Conditioned or unconditioned, dark or bright;

Then one comes to speak in the world of the perfection of wisdom,

[Which is like] space, wherein nothing real whatsoever is established.

Chapter VIII

The Meaning of Purity [186-95]

The purity of form should be known from the purity of fruit.

From the purity of form and fruit is the purity of all-knowledge.

The purity of all-knowledge and of the fruit,and the purity of form:

As with the sameness of the space-element, they are not broken nor cut apart.

This world is attached to the mud of name-and-form.

The wheel of birth-and-death revolves, similar to a wind-wheel.

Having cognized the revolving world as like a snare for wild beasts

The wise roam about similar to the birds in space.

He who, coursing in perfectly pure, does not course in form,

Nor in consciousness, perception, feeling or will [volition];

Thus coursing he shuns all attachments.

Freed from attachments he courses in the wisdom of the Sugatas.

Chapter IX

All-round Purity [200-201]

Thus coursing, the wise and learned Bodhisattva,

Having cut off his attachments, marches on unattached to the world.

As the sun, released from the planet Rahu, blazes forth,

Or, as fire, let loose, burns up grass, log and forest.

The Bodhisattva sees that all dharma and the Perfection of Wisdom

Are pure, perfectly pure, in their essential original nature.

But he does not seize on one who sees, nor on all dharmas.

This is the practice of wisdom, the foremost perfection.”

Chapter X

Qualifications for Perfect Wisdom [211-13]

Sakra, King of Gods, asks the Jina:

“Coursing in wisdom, how is the Bodhisattva ‘engaged in’ it?”

“Who is ‘joined’ to not the least thing whatsoever, be it skandhas, or element,

He who is ‘engaged’ thus, the Bodhisattva is ‘joined’ [to wisdom]

How to Dwell in Perfect Wisdom [219-20]

“When the Yogin is coursing in wisdom, the supreme perfection,

He does not see the growth of form, nor its diminution.

If someone does not see dharma, nor no-dharma, nor the Dharma-element

And if he does not experience the Blessed Rest, then he dwells in wisdom.

When he courses therein, he does not imagine the Buddhadharmas,

Nor the powers, nor the roads to psychic power, nor does he imagine the

peaceful calm of enlightenment.

Not discriminating, free from construction, coursing on resolutely,

This is the practice of wisdom, the foremost perfection.”

How the Tathagata Knows the World [270-74]

The Suchness of the world, the Suchness of the Arhats,

The Suchness of Pratyekabuddhas, and the Suchness of the Jinas,-

As just one single Suchness free from existence, unaltering.

Has the perfection of wisdom been understood by the Tathagata.

The Tathagata’s Vision of Dharma

Wherein there is no vision of form, no vision of feelings,

No vision of perception, no vision of will,

No vision of consciousness, thought or mind,

This has been expounded as the vision of Dharma by the Tathagata.

A vision in space is a being, so they declare.

A vision like that of space, so should you consider that object!

Thus has the vision of Dharma been expounded by the Tathagata.

But it is not possible to report on that vision by definite

statements [that differ from it].

Perfect Wisdom and Its Conflict with the World [304-5]

Deep is this dharma of the Leaders, hard to see,

Nor is it obtained by anyone, nor do they reach it.

For that reason, when he has obtained enlightenment, the Benevolent and

Compassionate

Becomes unconcerned, - ‘what body of beings will cognize this?’

For beings delight in a place to settle in, they are eager for sense-objects,

Bent on grasping, unintelligent, and quite blinded.

The Dharma should be attained as nothing to settle in and as nothing to grasp.

Its conflict with the world is manifest.

Chapter XVI

On Suchness [306-8]

The space-element in the eastern direction, and in the southern,

And so in the western and northern directions is boundless;

Above and below, in the ten directions, as far as it goes

There is no multiplicity, and no difference is attained.

Past Suchness, future Suchness,

Present Suchness, the Suchness of the Arhats,

The Suchness of all dharmas, the Suchness of the Jinas, -

All that is the Dharma-Suchness, and no difference is attained.

Chapter XVIII

Deep Stations [342-43]

Deep are form, feeling and will [volition],

Consciousness and perception; signless in their essential original nature,

and calm.

Like one who tries to reach the bottom of the ocean with a stalk,

So, when the skandhas have been considered with wisdom, one does not get to

the bottom of them.

When a Bodhisattva thus understands that these dharmas

In the deep vehicle are in the ultimate sense stainless;

Wherein there is neither skandha, nor sense-field, nor element,

How can there be to him the attainment of his own merit anywhere?

Chapter XIX

The Simile of the Seed and the Fruit

From a seed trees, fruits, and flowers come forth;

When it is obstructed, or absent, then there is no tree from it.

Just so the first thought is, of course, the foundation of enlightenment;

But when it is obstructed or absent, there is no enlightenment from it.

Conditioned by seeds grow barley, rice and so on;

Their fruits are in these [seeds], and yet they are not in them.

When this enlightenment of the Jinas arises,

What takes place is an illusion, which in its own-being is without existence.

The Meaning of Emptiness [356-61]

He courses in dharmas as empty, signless and wishless;

But he does not experience the Blessed Rest, nor does he course in a sign:

As a skilful ferryman goes from his [shore] to the other shore,

But does not stand at either end, nor does he stand in the great flood.

Thus coursing, the Bodhisattva also does not think:

‘Predestined by those who have the ten powers, may I experience

enlightenment!’

Nor is he trembling [because he sees that] enlightenment is here not anything.

Thus coursing he becomes one who courses in the wisdom of the Sugatas.

Chapter XX

The Three Doors to Deliverance, and the Buddha-dharmas [370-71]

Furthermore, the Bodhisattva who courses in the wisdom of the Jinas

Cognizes these skandhas as unproduced, as empty from the beginning.

Even during the time that unconcentrated he views in compassion the world of

beings,

He does not become destitute of the Buddha-dharmas.

The Simile of the Cosmos

Supported by space is air, and [by that] the mass of water;

By that again is supported this great earth and the [living] world.

If the foundations of the enjoyment of the deeds of beings

Is thus established in space, how can one think of that object?26

Just so the Bodhisattva, who is established in emptiness

Manifests manifold and various works to beings in the world,

And his vows and cognitions are a force which sustains beings.

But he does not experience the Blessed Rest; for emptiness is not a place to

stand on.

At the time when the wise and learned Bodhisattva

Courses in this most excellent quietude of the concentration on emptiness, During that time no sign should be exalted,

Nor should he stand in the signless; for he is one who courses calm and quiet.

The Simile of the Flying Bird [374]

A flying bird has no footing in the intermediate space.

It does not stand on it, nor does it fall to the ground.

So the Bodhisattva who courses in the doors to freedom

Neither experiences the Blessed Res [Nirvana]t, nor does he course in the sign.

The Simile of the Parachutes

It is as with some men who have stood on a high cliff;

If they held a parachute in each hand and would jump off into space,

Their bodies, once they had left the high cliffs,

Would go on falling until they had reached the ground.

Just so the wise Bodhisattva, having stood in compassion,

Having taken hold of the two parachutes of skill in means and of wisdom,

Considers dharmas as empty, signless and wishless;

Though he does not experience the Blessed Rest [Nirvana], he nevertheless sees the

dharmas

The Bodhisattva Undefinable

At the time when he has communed with the world in friendliness,

And courses in the concentration on emptiness, the signless and the wishless:

It is impossible that he either would [have an inclination to] reach the

Blessed Rest,

Or that he could be defined by the conditioned.

As a magically created man, or one who has made his body invisible,

Cannot be defined by words:

Just so the Bodhisattva who courses in the doors to freedom Can also not be defined by words.

Chapter XXIII

The Superior Position of Bodhisattvas [413]

When the sun rises, free from clouds and one blaze of rays,

Having dispelled the entire blinding and confusing darkness,

It outshines all animals such as glowworms,

And also all the hosts of stars, and the luster of the moon.

Just so the wise Bodhisattva, who courses in wisdom, the foremost

perfection:

Having destroyed the jungle of views,

The Bodhisattva who courses in emptiness and the signless

Very much surpasses the whole world, as well as the Arhats and

Pratyekabuddhas.

Chapter XXVII

The True Attitude to Suchness [452-54]

The Bodhisattva who resolutely believes when this perfection of wisdom,

The mother of the Tathagatas, is being taught,

And who practices the progressive path with resolution,

He should be known as having well set out towards all-knowledge.

But he does not come to a standing place in the Suchness of the Dharma-

element.

He becomes as one who, like a cloud, stands in the sky without anywhere to

stand on,

As a sorcerer who, like a bird, rides on the wind which offers him no

support,

Or as one who, by the force of his spells, miraculously produces on a tree

full-blown flowers out of season.

CHAPTER 1 THE PRACTICE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF ALL MODES

2. The Extinction of Self

Sariputra: How then must a Bodhisattva course if he is to course in perfect

wisdom?

Subhuti: He should not course in the skandhas, nor in their sign, nor in

the idea that ‘the skandhas are signs,’ nor in the production of the skandhas, in

their stopping or destruction, nor in the idea that ‘the skandhas are empty,’ or ‘I

course,’ or ‘I am a Bodhisattva.’ And [13] it should not occur to him, ‘he who

courses thus, courses in perfect wisdom and develops it.’ He courses but he does

not entertain such ideas as ‘I course,’ ‘I do not course,’ ‘I course and I do not

course,’ ‘I neither course nor do I not course,’ and the same [four] with ‘I will

course.’ He does not go near any dharma at all, because all dharma are

unapproachable and unappropriable. The Bodhisattva then has the concentrated

insight ‘Not grasping at any dharma’ by name, vast, noble, unlimited and steady,

not shared by any of the Disciples or Pratyekabuddhas. When he dwells in this

concentrated insight, a Bodhisattva will quickly win the full enlightenment which

the Tathagatas of the past have predicted for him. But when he dwells in that

concentration, he does not review it, nor think ‘I am collected,’ ‘I will enter into

concentration,’ ‘I am entering into concentration,’ ‘I have entered into

concentration.’ All that in each and every way does not exist for him. [14]

Sariputra: Can one show forth that concentration?

Subhuti: No, Sariputra. Because that son of good family neither knows or

perceives it.

Sariputra: You say that he neither knows nor perceives it?

Subhuti: I do, for that concentration does not exist.

The Lord: Well said, Subhuti. And thus should a Bodhisattva train

therein, because then he trains

in perfect wisdom.

Sariputra: When he thus train, he trains in perfect wisdom?

The Lord: When he thus trains, he trains in perfect wisdom.

Sariputra: When he thus trains, which dharmas does he train in?

The Lord: He does not train in any dharma at all. [15] Because the

dharmas do not exist in such a way as foolish untaught, common people are

accustomed to suppose.

Sariputra: How then do they exist?

The Lord: As they do not exist, so they exist. And so, since they do not

exist [avidyamana], they are called [the result of] ignorance [avidya]. Foolish,

untaught, common people have settled down in them. Although they do not exist,

they have constructed all the dharmas. Having constructed them, attached to the

two extremes, they do not know or see those dharmas [in their true reality]. So

they construct all dharmas which yet do not exist. Having constructed them, they

settle down in the two extremes....

The Lord: What do you think, Subhuti, is form, etc., [sensation, perception, volition, consciousnesses,] one thing, and illusion another?

Subhuti: No Lord. Because it is not so that illusion is one thing, and form,

etc., another; the very form is illusion, the very illusion is form.

The Lord: What do you think, Subhuti, is that notion ‘Bodhisattva,’ that

denomination, that concept, that conventional expression, - in the five grasping

skandhas?

Subhuti: Yes, it is. Because a Bodhisattva who trains himself in perfect

wisdom should train himself like an illusory man for full enlightenment. For

one should bear in mind that the five grasping aggregates are like an illusory man.

Because the Lord has said that form is like an illusion. And that is true of form,

is true also of the six sense organs, and of the five [grasping] aggregates.

CHAPTER 2 SAKRA

2. HOW TO STAND IN EMPTINESS, OR THE PERFECTION OF

WISDOM

Subhuti then said to Sakra: Now, Kausika, listen and attend well. I will

teach you know a Bodhisattva should stand in perfect wisdom. Through standing

in emptiness, should he stand in perfect wisdom. [35] Armed with the great

armour, the Bodhisattva should so develop that he does not take his stand on any of these: not on form, feeling, perception, impulses, consciousness; not on eye,

ear, nose, tongue, body, mind; not on forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touchables, mind-objects; not on eye-consciousness, etc., until we come to; not on mind-consciousness, until we come to: not on the elements, i.e., earth, water, fire, wind, ether, consciousness: not on the pillars of mindfulness, right efforts, roads

to psychic power, faculties, powers, limbs of enlightenment, limbs of the Path; not on the fruits of Streamwinner, Once-Returner, Never-Returner, or Arhatship;

not on Pratyekabuddhahood, nor on Buddhahood. He should not take his stand

on the idea that ‘this is form,’ ‘this is feeling,’ etc., to: ‘this is Buddhahood.’ He

should not take his stand on the ideas that ‘form, etc., is permanent, [or]

impermanent’; [36] that ‘form is ease or ill’; that ‘form is the self, or not the self,’

that ‘form is lovely or repulsive,’ that ‘form is empty, or apprehended as

something.’ He should not take his stand on the notion that the fruits of the holy

life drive their dignity from the Unconditioned.

Thereupon the Venerable Sariputra thought to himself: If even there on

one should not take one’s stand, how then should one stand, and train oneself?

The Venerable Subhuti, through the Buddha’s might, read his thoughts and said:

What do you think, Sariputra, where did the Tathagata stand?

Sariputra: Nowhere did the Tathagata stand, because his mind sought no

support. He stood neither in what is conditioned, nor in what is unconditioned,

nor did he emerge from them....

6. THE INFINITUDE OF PERFECT WISDOM

Subhuti: So it is. And why? Perfect wisdom is great, unlimited,

measureless and infinite because form, feelings, etc., are so. Hence one does not

settle down in the conviction that this is a ‘great perfection,’ and ‘unlimited

perfection,’ a ‘measureless perfection,’ and ‘infinite perfection.’ That is why

perfect wisdom is a great perfection, unlimited, measureless and infinite. [46]

Perfect wisdom is an infinite perfection because objects as well as [individual]

beings are infinite. Perfect wisdom is an infinite perfection because one cannot

get at the beginning, middle, or end of any objective fact [since as a dharma it has

no own-being]. Moreover, perfect wisdom is an infinite perfection because all

objective facts are endless and boundless, and their beginning, middle, or end are

not apprehended. For one cannot apprehend the beginning, middle and end of

form, etc. In that way perfect wisdom is an infinite perfection by reason of the

infinitude of objects. And further again, a being is endless and boundless because

one cannot get at its beginning, middle or end. Therefore perfect wisdom is an

infinite perfection by reason of the infinitude of beings...

Sakra: How then, Holy Subhuti, is perfect wisdom an infinite perfection

by reason of the infinitude of beings?

Subhuti: What factual entity does the word ‘being’ denote?

Sakra: The word ‘being’ denotes no dharma or non-dharma. It is a term

that has been added on [to what is really there] as something adventitious,

groundless, as nothing in itself, unfounded in objective fact.

Subhuti: Has thereby [i.e., by uttering the word ‘being’] any being been

shown up [as an ultimate fact]?

Sakra: No indeed, Holy Subhuti!

Subhuti: When no being at all has been shown up, how can there be an

infinitude of them? If a Tathagata, with his voice of infinite range, with the deep

thunder of his voice, should pronounce, for aeons countless as the sands of the

Ganges, the word ‘being,’ ‘being,’ – would he thereby produce, or stop, any being

whatsoever, either in the past, future or present?

Sakra: No indeed, Holy Subhuti! Because a being is pure from the very

beginning, perfectly pure.

1. WORLDLY ADVANTAGES OF PERFECT WISDOM

Just so will the quarrels, contentions and contradictions to which

the follower of perfect wisdom is exposed, be stilled, be appeased, through

the piercing flame of perfect wisdom, through its power, its strength, through

impregnation with its power. They will vanish, and not grow, nor abide. And

why? Because it is perfect wisdom which appeases all evil, - from [ordinary] greed

to seizing on Nirvana – and does not increase it.

[Simple_Jack]

Further, in the Ārya-ghanavyūha sūtra:

• Just the fire which is the burning agent does not exist
  since the burnt object does not exist,
  likewise if one burns the view to be incinerated,
  also the fire of emptiness will cease.
  At the time of the cessation of views,
  the fire of wisdom will not be produced,
  all afflictions having been incinerated.
  If the afflictions are incinerated, the aspect is beautiful.

Mahāsukha (aka Padmavajra) says:

• Having burned the bundle of firewood of views
  with the fire of emptiness,
  this is abiding in peace,
  in which the fire of suchness has also ceased.

[Simple_Jack]

The Śatasāhasrika-prajñāpāramitā states:

• Further, because the dharmadhātu does not exist, it is not perceived by the bodhisattvas in the extreme of the past; because the dharmadhātu is emptiness, it is not perceived by the bodhisattvas in the extreme of the past; because the dharmadhātu is isolated it is not perceived by the bodhisattvas in the extreme of the past; because the dharmadhātu lacks an intrinsic nature, it is not perceived by the bodhisattvas in the extreme of the past. Further, because the dharmadhātu does not exist, it is not perceived by the bodhisattvas in the extreme of the future; because the dharmadhātu is emptiness, it is not perceived by the bodhisattvas in the extreme of the future; because the dharmadhātu is isolated it is not perceived by the bodhisattvas in the extreme of the future; because the dharmadhātu lacks an intrinsic nature, it is not perceived by the bodhisattvas in the extreme of the future. Further, because the dharmadhātu does not exist, it is not perceived by the bodhisattvas in the middle; because the dharmadhātu is emptiness, it is not perceived by the bodhisattvas in the middle; because the dharmadhātu is isolated it is not perceived by the bodhisattvas in the middle; because the dharmadhātu lacks an intrinsic nature, it is not perceived by the bodhisattvas in the middle.

[Simple_Jack]

In Praise of Dharmadhatu by Nagarjuna, trans. by Karl Brunnholzl

pg.44-48

[Nagarjuna's] Lokatitastava says:

An entity does not arise as being existent [already],

Nor as being nonexistent, nor as being both existent and nonexistent,

Neither from itself, nor from something other,

Nor from both -- so how is it born?

...

It is not tenable for a result

To arise from a perished cause,

Nor from a nonperished one --

You consider arising as being like a dream,

...

Dialecticians hold that suffering

Is created by itself, created by something other,

Created by both, or without a cause,

But you say that it arises in dependence.

What dependent origination is

Is exactly what you consider to be emptiness.

Your incomparable lion's roar is

That there is no independent entity.

In order to relinquish all imagination,

You taught the nectar of emptiness.

However, those who cling to it

Are also blamed by you.

Being motionless, contingent, empty,

Illusionlike, and arisen from conditions,

All phenomena are elucidated by you,

O protector, as lacking a nature of their own.

The Niraupamyastava declares:

O blameless one, you have realized

That the world of beings, just like an echo,

Is free from unity and multiplicity

And lacks transmigration and destruction.

Lord, you have realized that samsara

Is free from permanence and extinction

And lacks characteristics and what is to be characterized,

Just like a dream or an illusion.

The Acintyastava states:

What has arisen from conditions

Is said by you to be unarisen.

What is not born by a nature of its own

You elucidate to be empty.

If there is existence, there is nonexistence,

Just as there is short when there is long.

If there is nonexistence, there is existence.

Therefore, both do not exist.

"Existence" is the view of permanence.

"Nonexistence" is the view of extinction.

Therefore, you have taught this dharma

Free from the two extremes.

Hence you have said that all phenomena

Are free from the four possible extremes,

Unknowable for consciousness,

let alone being within the sphere of words.

What is beyond both being and nonbeing.

But has not gone anywhere at all,

What is neither knowledge nor knowable,

Neither existent nor nonexistent,

Neither one nor many,

Neither both nor neither,

Without base, unmanifest,

Inconceivable, indemonstrable,

Neither arsing nor ceasing

Neither extinct nor permanent --

That is similar to space,

Not within the sphere of words or wisdom.

What is dependent origination

Is exactly what you consider to be emptiness.

Of the same kind is the genuine dharma,

And also the Tathagata is like that.

Emptiness is not different from entities,

And there is no entity without it,

Therefore, you have declared as empty

Phenomena that originate dependently.

The Paramarthastava says:

Due to the nature of nonarising,

There is no arising for you,

Neither going nor coming, O protector,

I pay homage to you devoid of any nature.

The Niruttarastava states:

In you, there is neither knowing nor nonknowing,

Neither a yogin nor an ordinary person,

Neither meditation nor nonmeditation --

I pay homage to the unsurpassable.

Stutyatitastava (In Praise of The One Beyond Praise):

The skandhas, dhatus, and ayatanas

You have indeed proclaimed,

But any clinging to them too

You countered later on.

...

In order to relinquish all views,

O protector, you declared [entities] to be empty.

But that too is an imputation,

O protector -- you do not hold that this is really so.

You assert neither empty nor nonempty,

Nor are you pleased with both.

There is no dispute about this --

It is the approach of your great speech.

pg.117-129

Dharmadhatustava:

While it's blended with the milk,

Butter's essence appears not.

Likewise, in the afflictions' mix,

Dharmadhatu is not seen.

Once you've cleansed it from the milk,

Butter's essence is without stain.

Just so, with the afflictions purified,

The dharmadhatu lacks all stain.

...

Similarly, mind so luminous

Is obscured by fivefold stains.

They're desire, malice, laziness,

Agitation, and doubt too.

A garment that was purged by fire

May be soiled by various stains.

When it's put into a blaze again,

The stains are burned, the garment not.

Likewise, mind that is so luminous

Is soiled by stains of craving and so forth.

The afflictions burn in wisdom's fire,

But its luminosity does not.

The sutras that teach emptiness,

However many spoken by the victors,

They all remove afflictions,

But never ruin this dhatu.

...

Since dharmadhatu's not a self,

Neither woman nor a man,

Free from all that could be grasped,

How could it be labeled "self"?

...

"Impermanence," "suffering," and "empty,"

These three, they purify the mind.

The dharma purifying mind the best

Is the lack of any nature.

...

Any horns there on a rabbit's head

Are just imagined and do no exist.

Just so, all phenomena as well

Are just imagined and do not exist.

...

Through conceptions of a self and mine,

Discriminations of names, and reasons,

The four conceptions will arise,

Based on the elements and their outcome.

...

Since [things] dependently originate

And in dependence too will cease,

If not even one [of them] exists,

How can fools imagine them?

...

How the dharmas of the Sugata

Are established as the very middle

Is through the ox- and rabbit-horn examples.

...

Virtuous throughout beginning, middle, end,

Undeceiving and so steady,

What's like that is just the lack of self --

So how can you conceive it as a self and mine?

...

Covered by the web of afflictions,

It is called a "sentient being."

Once it's free from the afflictions,

It should be be expressed as "Buddha."

In dependence upon eye and form,

Appearances without a stain occur.

From being unborn and unceasing,

The dharmadhatu will be known.

In dependence upon sound and ear,

Pure consciousness [comes forth],

All three dharmadhatu without signs.

Linked with thought, this will be hearing.

Smelling in dependence upon nose and smell

Is an example for the lack of form.

Likewise, it's the nose's consciousness

That conceptualizes dharmadhatu.

The nature of the tongue is emptiness,

And the dhatu of the taste is viod --

Being of the dharmadhatu's nature,

Consciousness is nonabiding.

From the nature of a body pure

And the characteristics of the tangible conditions,

What is free from such conditions

Is to be expressed as "dharmadhatu."

Once conception and its concepts are relinquished

With regard to phenomena whose principal is mind,

It's the very lack of nature of phenomena

That you should cultivate as dharmadhatu.

What you see and hear and smell,

What you taste and touch, phenomena as well --

Once yogins realize them in this way,

The characteristics are complete.

Eyes and ears and also nose,

Tongue and body and the mind as well --

The six ayatanas fully pure.

This is true reality's own mark.

Mind as such is seen as two:

Worldly and beyond the world.

Clinging [to it] as a self, it is samsara --

In your very own awareness, true reality.

Since desire is extinguished, it is nirvana.

Hatred and ignorance are extinguished [too].

Since these have ceased, it's buddhahood itself,

The very refuge for all beings.

Due to realization and its lack,

All in this very body.

Through our own conceptions, we are bound,

But when knowing our nature, we are free.

Enlightenment is neither far nor near,

And neither does it come nor go.

It's whether it is seen or not

Right in the midst of our afflictions

...

Just as from a mix of milk and water

That is present in a vessel,

Geese just sip the milk but not the water,

Which remains just as it is.

Just so, being covered by afflictions,

Wisdom dwells within this body, one [with them].

But yogins just extract the wisdom

And leave the ignorance behind.

As long as we still cling to "self" and "mine,"

We will conceive of outer [things] through this.

But once we see the double lack of self [emptiness of persons & phenomena],

The seeds of our existence find their end.

Since it is the ground for buddhahood, nirvana,

Purity, permanence, and virtue too,

And because the childish think of two,

In the yoga of their nonduality, please rest,

...

The abode of buddhadharmas

Fully bears the fruit of practice.

This fundamental change of state

Is called the "dharmakaya."

Free from latent tendencies, you're inconceivable.

Samsara's latent tendencies, they can be conceived.

You're completely inconceivable --

Through what could you be realized?

...

The nonbeing of all beings --

This nature is its sphere.

The mighty bodhicitta seeing it

Is fully stainless dharmakaya.

In the stainless dharmakaya,

The sea of wisdom finds its place.

Like with variegated jewels,

Beings' welfare is fulfilled from it.

[Simple_Jack]

Reality of Prajnaparamita Sutra:

All things are empty because they are without their own intrinsic nature. All things are without marks because they transcend all marks. All things are free of desire because they escape all desire. All things are intrinsically pure because the prajna-paramita is pure.

 

 

The Shurangama Sutra trans. by Buddhist Text Translation Society, pg.89:

 

 

The Five Aggregates Are the Matrix of the Thus-Come One

"Ananda, you have not yet understood that the objects we perceive are unreal and illusory. They are subject to change, appearing here and there and disappearing here and there. Yet these illusions, each with its conventional designation, are in fact within the essential, wondrous enlightenment. The same is true of the five aggregates, the six faculties, the twelve sites, and the eighteen constituent elements. It is an illusion that they come into being when both their causes and their conditions are present, and it is an illusion that they cease to be when either their causes or their conditions are absent. You simply have not yet understood that, fundamentally, everything that comes and goes, that comes into being and ceases to be, is within the true nature of the Matrix of the Thus-Come One [Tathagatagarbha], which is the wondrous, everlasting understanding -- the unmoving, all-pervading, wondrous suchness of reality. But, though you may seek within the everlasting reality of the Matrix of the Thus-Come One for what comes and goes, for confusion and awakening, and for coming into being and ceasing to be, you will not find them there."

[Simple_Jack]

In Praise of Dharmadhatu by Nagarjuna tran. by Karl Brunnholzl pg, pgs. 68-82

 

Anguttara Nikaya:

O monks, the mind is luminosity, and yet it is defiled by adventitious defilements. An ordinary being who has not heard about this does not realize it as it really is. Therefore, I say that an ordinary being who has not heard about this does not possess the cultivation of mind. O monks, the mind is luminosity, and yet it is freed from adventitious defilements. The noble shravaka who has heard about this realizes it just as it really is. Therefore, I say that the noble shravaka who has heard about this possesses the cultivation of mnd.

What is taught to be always like the sky, nonconceptual, luminous, and free from middle and extremes is said to be this wheel of dharma.

Astasahasrikaprajnaparamitasutra says:

The mind is no-mind. The nature of the mind is luminosity.

and:

Subhuti, these minds are natural luminosity. It is thus that the Tathagata, based on this prajnaparamita, fully knows reality just as it is -- that the undefiled minds of these sentient beings immeasurable [in number] are in fact undefiled.

Pancavimshatisahasrikasutra:

"...Thus, the mind is no-mind. The nature of the mind is luminosity." Shariputra asked, "What is mind's luminosity?" Subhuti said, "Venerable Shariputra, it is the mind neither being associated with nor dissociated from desire, neither being associated with nor dissociated from hatred, ignorance, upsurges, obscurations, contaminations, entanglements, or wrong views. This, Shariputra, is mind's luminosity.

And about the all-pervasiveness of this luminosity:

Since form is natural luminosity, it is completely pure and undefiled. Since feelings, discriminations, formations, and consciousness are natural luminosity, they are completely pure and undefiled. Since [everything] up through omniscience is natural luminosity, it is completely pure and undefiled.

The Samadhirajasutra says:

In whose name and form subtle discrimination operates,

In that name and form, the mind will be without craving

and luminous.

The Saddharmapundarikasutra says:

The genuine ones among the bipeds, the Buddhas,

Know the nature of phenomena to be always luminous.

Thus, I teach a single yana.

And about the Buddha's wisdom:

The power of my wisdom is like that --

It is very luminous and without all extremes.

The sutra's final part praises its qualities in terms of the pure bodies and mental faculties of bodhisattvas (such as being able to instruct others by knowing all teachings, the minds of beings, and so on). The concluding verse states:

Their mental faculties will be completely pure,

Lucid, luminous, unsullied,

Fully knowing dharmas of many kinds,

Be they bad, virtuous, or in between.

Sagaramatipariprcchasutra:

Likewise, Sagaramati, bodhisattvas know the natural luminosity of the mind of sentient beings, but also see that it is defiled by adventitious defilements. The bodhisattvas think: "These defilements have not entered the natural luminosity of the mind of sentient beings. May I be able to teach the dharma in order to remove these adventitious defilements of sentient beings!"

The Uttaratantra says:

The luminous nature of the mind

Is changeless, just like space,

It is not defiled by adventitious stains,

Such as desire, born from false imagination.

The Madhyantavibhanga declares:

What is afflicted and what is purified

Refer to being with stains and without stains.

Purity is asserted to be like the purity

Of the element of water, gold, and space.

...

It is neither defiled nor undefiled

Neither pure nor impure,

Because of mind's luminosity

And the adventitousness of defilements.

The Mahayanasutralamkara states:

Mind is held to be always luminous by nature,

Contaminated [only] by adventitious flaws.

The Dharmadharmatavibhaga says:

To penetrate the nature

[Of the fundamental change of state]:

It is suchness without stains,

So that adventitious stains do not appear,

While suchness does appear.

...

Examples for the fundamental change of state

Are space, gold, and water.

Furthermore, Asanga's Yogacarabhumi states:

In brief, the Bhagavat taught that a sentient being is a [mind] that has defilements from a long time in the past, yet is without a creator. At present, it is momentary and naturally luminous. He taught that, in the future, it will be [further] defiled through heedlessness or purified by heedfulness.

Kambala's Navashloki:

You may think, "This naturally luminous mind, which is free from apprehender and apprehended and is completely pure, since the stains of ignorance (such as desire) are relinquished, actually exists." In order to eliminate such clinging to the existence of this mind, it is taught to be like the reflection of the moon in water...

"Clear" means being free from the turbidities of latent tendencies....

Since perfect wisdom dispels the darkness of ignorance, pacifies the burning heat of the afflictions, and is not tainted by the stains of latent tendencies, it resembles the moon. Although this [moon of wisdom] appears in that way, it is not found as something that is directly perceptible, because what dawns in such a pure mind stream is not apprehendable as a real entity. The reason for this is that, from empty phenomena, nothing but empty phenomena come forth. Since that wisdom is unarisen from the very beginning, it is like the reflection of the moon in water. Thus, since it has the nature of the dharmadhatu, any clinging to entities or nonentities does not exist. Hence, it is not found as something that is directly perceptible.

His Alokamala proclaims:

The victors who have relinquished the obscurations

Have declared, in brief, that samsara

Is the mind with stains, such as desire,

And liberation consists of being devoid of these.

...

When their insight into themselves

Is obscured by stains born from being covered,

Just as crystals, minds appear

As having another nature.

...

Saying, "in the end, everything vanishes"

Is a rhetorical device for childish beings --

Something else shines forth

That cannot be expressed or analyzed.

There, dwelling in a place with nothing [to hold on to],

That brightly shining space

Illuminates the emptiness

Of itself and of emptiness

Dignaga's Prajnaparamitapindarthasamgraha states:

The consciousness of ordinary beings

Is pure by nature

And expressed by the term "Buddha"

just as a bodhisattva is [called] a victor.

Its own nature is enshrouded --

Being under the sway of ignorance,

It appears otherwise, just like an illusion,

While the fruition is like quitting a dream.

Dharmakirti's Pramanavartikka says:

Mind is naturally luminous,

The stains are adventitious.

Bhavaviveka's Madhyamakahrdaya says:

Unborn, without aspect,

Changeless, luminous,

Unequalled, infinite,

Nonconceptual, without characteristics,

Just like space, without anything to look at,

It is seen by great beings.

The text also presents a number of similar quotes:

It is primordially natural luminosity, unborn as any nature whatsoever, not established as subject and object, or knowing and what is known, nothing whatsoever, not dwelling in any extremes, not within the range of any expressions or reference points, inconceivable, unthinkable, and beyond thought. Therefore, do not mentally engage, but meditate by abandoning mindfulness and mental engagement.

It even quotes Nagarjuna twice as saying:

Everything internal and external is mind as such,

Being just like an illusion.

This mind is explained as luminosity,

Nirvana, all-empty,

And dharmakaya.

Avalokitavrata's Prajnapradipatika says:

The essence of mind is natural luminosity. To put an end to this [mind being ensnared by itself] means the freedom from adventitious stains and the fundamental change of state.

and:

Since mind is naturally luminous, it is undefiled and pure. Since the defilements are adventitious, it is not undefiled and not pure.

[Atisha's] Ratnakarandodghatanamamadhyamakopadesa says:

As for the mind, it has no color, and no shape. It is natural luminosity that is primordially unborn. The very knowledge that discriminates this is also luminosity. In this interval, consciousness is nothing whatsoever, does not abide as anything, is not established as anything, and has not arisen as any aspect, and all discursiveness without exception is completely at peace. This meditative concentration of space-vajra that is without appearance and in which all the dust of characteristics has vanished is like the very center of the sky that is lit up by the autumn sun.

His Madhyamakopadesa says:

What is without form is the mind. As for that [mind], the past mind has [already] ceased and perished. The future mind has not [yet] arisen or originated. As for the present mind, it is very difficult to examine. It has no color and is without any shape. Since it is just like space, it is not established. In other words, it is free from unity and multiplicity, or it is unarisen, or it is natural luminosity...Once all specific characteristics and general characteristics are established as nonexistent [through discriminating prajna], this prajna itself is without appearance and is luminous, not being established as any nature whatsoever. Thus, all flaws, such as dullness and agitation, are eliminated. In this interval [of meditative concentration], conciousness is without any thought, does not apprehend anything, and has left behind all mindfulness and mental engagement. For as long as the enemies or robbers of characteristics and thoughts do not arise, consciousness should rest in such a [state].

The last stanza of Maitripa's Madhyamakasatka says:

Luminosity free from the four extremes

Which has the character of the deity,

Is of the nature of nondual bliss,

Sheer dependent origination.

Milarepa's song on distinguishing the expedient from the definitive in the context of Mahamudra says:

Through realizing that delusion has no ground,

The water-moon of awareness is immaculate and clear.

The cloudless sun of luminosity

Lights up the darkness of ignorance to its very brink.

Gampopa instructs:

Connate mind is the actual dharmakaya.

Connate appearances are the light of the dharmakaya.

Connate thoughts are the waves of the dharmakaya.

Connate inseparability is what the dharmakaya is all about.

Edited January 25, 2014 by Simple_Jack

[9th]

 

 

[Simple_Jack]

 

 

 

 

We both should consume the 5 types of amrita in a skull cup i.e. feces, menstrual blood, semen, urine, and marrow, mmmmmm.

Edited January 25, 2014 by Simple_Jack

[Simple_Jack]

Āryāṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitāpañjikāsārottamā:

• All phenomena do not arise,
  that is the non-existence of the inherent existence of all phenomena,
  therefore, that absence of arising is like the horns of a rabbit.

 

The String of Pearls Tantra:

• Sentient beings are not bound by anything.
  If one recognizes that true existence is inherently nonexistent,
  taints are purified intrinsically,
  like muddy water self-purifying.
  All phenomena are the same in lacking inherent existence.

The Self-Risen Vidyā Tantra:

• Perfect dharmatā is nonarising,
  alternately, self-liberated without grasping.
  Why? The cause of self-liberation
  is unceasing nonattachment.
  It is free from a mind of grasping attachment.
  Recognize this again and again.
  If one familiarizes oneself repeatedly,
  one is a person who has seen the truth.

[Jeff]

The String of Pearls Tantra:

 

Sentient beings are not bound by anything.

If one recognizes that true existence is inherently nonexistent,

taints are purified intrinsically,

like muddy water self-purifying.

All phenomena are the same in lacking inherent existence.

 

 

This one is to me is the "clearest" of the three. Thanks SJ for posting.

 

(Edit - iPad format issue)

Edited January 26, 2014 by Jeff

[Yascra]

I'm really not aiming to be rude, but might you sum up the essence of what you're trying to say in your own words?

If they are not your thoughts and words, how do you want to discuss things anyway?

[C T]

sometimes words are so limited.

 

Such points are for penetrating one's own realization, to make it even clearer. Discussions can sometimes resemble the stirring of sediments which have already settled to the bottom of the lake.

[Yascra]

sometimes words are so limited.

 

Such points are for penetrating one's own realization, to make it even clearer. Discussions can sometimes resemble the stirring of sediments which have already settled to the bottom of the lake.

 

Hm, maybe.

 

The problem is that another state of not being able to "see" or recognize sediments tends to be a state of complete stirring, in which you have one more or less homogenous suspension in which you don't even notice the sand in the water.

 

Every good teacher I met till now, concerning different fields, confirmend to me that the trial to explain things to others is the opportunity to deepen one's own understanding .. and to find out what in reality you haven't completely understood yet. So why not use this way to train oneself here? Of course just if people want to.

We should help each other with such things. It's not a contest in the end, or, at least, shouldn't be ;-)

Edited January 26, 2014 by Yascra

[Jeff]

Hm, maybe.

 

The problem is that another state of not being able to "see" or recognize sediments tends to be a state of complete stirring, in which you have one more or less homogenous suspension in which you don't even notice the sand in the water.

 

Every good teacher I met till now, concerning different fields, confirmend to me that the trial to explain things to others is the opportunity to deepen one's own understanding .. and to find out what in reality you haven't completely understood yet. So why not use this way to train oneself here? Of course just if people want to.

We should help each other with such things. It's not a contest in the end, or, at least, shouldn't be ;-)

 

I would agree. Too often people perceive it as a competition or "secret" knowledge. Some how we are all chicks that must break free from eggs. To me, we are all more like flowers in the field, we all need the sun, rain and soil to grow. Also, it is important to realize that there are growing seasons and quiet (winter) seasons.

[C T]

[Jeff]

 

I take it you did not find my analogy (words) useful.

 

[C T]

I take it you did not find my analogy (words) useful.

on the contrary, friend... its very useful...

 

big small eyes to the other post... haha

[Simple_Jack]

 

Āryāṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitāpañjikāsārottamā:

 

• All phenomena do not arise,

  that is the non-existence of the inherent existence of all phenomena,

  therefore, that absence of arising is like the horns of a rabbit.

 

The String of Pearls Tantra:

• Sentient beings are not bound by anything.

  If one recognizes that true existence is inherently nonexistent,

  taints are purified intrinsically,

  like muddy water self-purifying.

  All phenomena are the same in lacking inherent existence.

The Self-Risen Vidyā Tantra:

• Perfect dharmatā is nonarising,

  alternately, self-liberated without grasping.

  Why? The cause of self-liberation

  is unceasing nonattachment.

  It is free from a mind of grasping attachment.

  Recognize this again and again.

  If one familiarizes oneself repeatedly,

  one is a person who has seen the truth.

This one is to me is the "clearest" of the three. Thanks SJ for posting.

 

The other two quotes become clearer when understood in this way:

 

http://thetaobums.com/topic/33394-meditation-on-the-nature-of-thoughtsappearances/?p=515844

 

As the glorious Chandrakirti wrote,

 

Things do not arise causelessly, nor from Ishvara,

Nor from self, nor other, nor both;

Therefore, it is clear that things arise

Perfectly in dependence upon their causes and conditions.

 

Things do not arise from any of the four possible extremes: from self, other, both or without cause, and there's no fifth possibility. Therefore, things do not truly arise—they do not come into existence; they do not actually happen. Then what is the appearance of them happening? It is just like the appearance of things happening in a dream; like the appearance of a moon shining on a pool of water; and like the appearance of an illusion. It is dependently arisen mere appearance. In this way, since sounds do not exist in genuine reality, and since in relative reality they are just dependently arisen mere appearances, all sounds are simply sound-emptiness.

 

http://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?f=77&p=212052&sid=02d01499d9cae1bb091cce1e4eaec52a#p212052

 

Loppon Malcolm: "Indeed, from the perspective of Madhyamaka a thing and its nature are identical. This is not so for those in lower schools.

 

To elaborate, conditions are merely an appearance. The notion of conditioned and unconditioned arises out of the substantialist roots of the substantialist tenet systems. By showing that the essence of phenomena is unconditioned, you are essentially showing that phenomena are in truth unconditioned. This is why the Prajñāpāramita makes statements like:

 

Any teaching by the Bhagavan that matter lacks inherent existence, does not arise, does not cease, is peace from the beginning and is parinirvana by nature, all such teachings are not the indirect meaning, nor the intentional meaning, but must be understood literally. (Ārya-pañcaśatikā-prajñāpāramitā)"

 

What this basically means is that the nature of the conditioned (samsara) is itself unconditioned (nirvana); this should be understood in terms of the 5 skandhas, 18 dhatus, 12 ayatanas. On the relative level, appearances co-dependently arise, endure, and cease, but this is equivalent to an illusion; on the ultimate level, these appearances are free from arising, enduring, and ceasing, therefore all appearances are nonarising i.e. empty. The dichotomy of a conventional and ultimate levels of truth is false, because they are a teaching meant for deluded sentient beings. Appearances are unestablished by nature, since they are only established conventionally as mere imputations, these imputations do not exist in actuality, because appearances are free from the extremes of "is" or "is not" i.e. existence, nonexistence, both, neither.

Edited January 27, 2014 by Simple_Jack

[Simple_Jack]

"Nirvāṇa is an illusion. Even if there is anything greater than Nirvāṇa, that too will be only an illusion." ~ Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñapāramitā Sutra

[Simple_Jack]

Tai Situ Tenpai Nyinje, Oral Transmission of the Supreme Siddhas:

• In general, when there is direct realization and not just a general conception of the equal taste of the experiences of bliss, clarity, and nonthought, this is categorized as realization and not experience. This is the appearance of the meaning of the basis as a result of the obscurations weakening. The bliss referred to here is the supremely unchanging bliss, for you have eliminated the changeable bliss of the body and mind, and this bliss doesn't have a nature of being either happiness or suffering. This is what the Hevajra Tantra is referring to in the following passage:
  
  In it there is no center and no edge.
  There is no samsara and no nirvana.
  It is the supreme great bliss.
  There is no over there and no over here.
  
  It is incorrect to distinguish clarity and emptiness as phenomena that are separate from this great bliss. Great bliss is the natural mind, which is the union of clarity and emptiness. From Ācārya Āryadeva's treatise entitled the Hundred Verses on the Essence of Understanding:
  
  Through eliminating conceptualization,
  there will be no intense aspiration.
  This clear appearance
  is self-knowing and great bliss.

[Simple_Jack]

The other two quotes become clearer when understood in this way:

 

http://thetaobums.com/topic/33394-meditation-on-the-nature-of-thoughtsappearances/?p=515844

 

As the glorious Chandrakirti wrote,

 

Things do not arise causelessly, nor from Ishvara,

Nor from self, nor other, nor both;

Therefore, it is clear that things arise

Perfectly in dependence upon their causes and conditions.

 

Things do not arise from any of the four possible extremes: from self, other, both or without cause, and there's no fifth possibility. Therefore, things do not truly arise—they do not come into existence; they do not actually happen. Then what is the appearance of them happening? It is just like the appearance of things happening in a dream; like the appearance of a moon shining on a pool of water; and like the appearance of an illusion. It is dependently arisen mere appearance. In this way, since sounds do not exist in genuine reality, and since in relative reality they are just dependently arisen mere appearances, all sounds are simply sound-emptiness.

 

http://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?f=77&p=212052&sid=02d01499d9cae1bb091cce1e4eaec52a#p212052

 

Loppon Malcolm: "Indeed, from the perspective of Madhyamaka a thing and its nature are identical. This is not so for those in lower schools.

 

To elaborate, conditions are merely an appearance. The notion of conditioned and unconditioned arises out of the substantialist roots of the substantialist tenet systems. By showing that the essence of phenomena is unconditioned, you are essentially showing that phenomena are in truth unconditioned. This is why the Prajñāpāramita makes statements like:

 

Any teaching by the Bhagavan that matter lacks inherent existence, does not arise, does not cease, is peace from the beginning and is parinirvana by nature, all such teachings are not the indirect meaning, nor the intentional meaning, but must be understood literally. (Ārya-pañcaśatikā-prajñāpāramitā)"

 

What this basically means is that the nature of the conditioned (samsara) is itself unconditioned (nirvana); this should be understood in terms of the 5 skandhas, 18 dhatus, 12 ayatanas. On the relative level, appearances co-dependently arise, endure, and cease, but this is equivalent to an illusion; on the ultimate level, these appearances are free from arising, enduring, and ceasing, therefore all appearances are nonarising i.e. empty. The dichotomy of a conventional and ultimate levels of truth is false, because they are a teaching meant for deluded sentient beings. Appearances are unestablished by nature, since they are only established conventionally as mere imputations, these imputations do not exist in actuality, because appearances are free from the extremes of "is" or "is not" i.e. existence, nonexistence, both, neither.

 

This is how to strictly understand this from a Dzogchen perspective:

 

http://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=14929&p=206339&hilit=samv%E1%B9%9Bitti#p206339

 

...Dzogchen rejects the two truths, because relative "truth" is not true, being a deluded cognition. But Dzogchen does not reject appearances which appear to ignorance (ma rig pa).

 

Dzogchen substitutes vidyā and āvidyā (rig pa and ma rig pa) for the term "pāramārtha satya" and "samvṛitti satya".

 

Also one will discover that Dzogchen, in rejecting the two truths, also rejects ultimate truth, as it states in The Mind Mirror of Samantabhadra:

 

• Since there is no ultimate, also the name “relative” does not exist.

 

And as it says in Soaring Great Garuda:

 

• Since phenomena and nonphenomena have always been merged and are inseparable,

  there is no further need to explain an “ultimate phenomenon”.

 

So not only is the relative negated in Dzogchen, so is any concept of ultimate. ~ Loppon Malcolm

[Anderson]

what is the translation of this title Āryāṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitāpañjikāsārottamā ?

[Simple_Jack]

what is the translation of this title Āryāṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitāpañjikāsārottamā ?

 

You're asking the wrong person. Ask this on the DW forums.

[Simple_Jack]

"In the country of Benares at Rsipatana in the Deer Park, the World-honored One first turned the wheel of doctrine, [teaching] the four holy truths for those setting out in the word-hearers' vehicle. This turning of the wheel was marvelous and wonderful, such as nobody, whether gods or men, had been able to turn in the world before. Nevertheless there were superior teachings, for [this first turning] had to be interpreted and occasioned controversy. Then the World-honored One with an underlying intent turned the wheel for the second time for the sake of those setting out in the great vehicle, [teaching] that all things have no-essence, no arising, and no passing away, are originally quiescent, and are essentially in cessation. This turning of the wheel was marvelous and wonderful indeed. Nevertheless there were teachings superior to this, for it also had to be interpreted and occasioned controversy. The World-honored One then with an explicit meaning for the third time turned the wheel of doctrine for those setting out in all the vehicles, [teaching] that all things have no-essence, no arising, and no passing away, are originally quiescent, and are essentially in cessation. This turning was the most marvelous and wonderful that had ever occurred in the world. It had no superior nor did it contain any implicit meaning nor occasion any controversy."

 

(Samdhinirmocana Sutra, ch 5, p 49; tr. Keenan, BDK edition)

 

"Good son, the term 'unconditioned' is also a word provisionally invented by the First Teacher. Now, if the First Teacher provisionally invented this word, then it is a verbal expression apprehended by imagination. And, if it is a verbal expression apprehended by imagination, then, in the final analysis, such an imagined description does not validate a real thing. Therefore, the unconditioned does not exist."

 

(Samdhinirmocana Sutra, ch 2, p 12)

[Simple_Jack]

"Whatever is the suchness of samsara, that is nirvana." ~ Deshin Shekpa, 5th Karmapa