Summary

16.  There are two characteristic differences of the śrāvaka path:

a. Attainment of personal realization of Buddha knowledge.

i.       While śrāvakas attain knowledge of the four noble truths and the bliss of meditation and cessation, they are not yet free of habit-energy or imperceptible transformation deaths.[1]

ii.     Bodhisattvas avoid the bliss of meditation and cessation which the avoid due to compassion and their vows: they should avoid these.

b. Attachment to the existence of an imagined reality.

i.       Believing that distinctions arise without a creator, but that they have a selfexistence (svabhāva) that arises from their projection.[2]

ii.     Bodhisattvas avoid views of a self both of persons and of dharmas.

17.  Mahāmati asks if the eternal and inconceivable which other schools consider ultimate truth or awakened knowledge is a cause/creator. The Buddha answers:

a.     Other schools’ cause/creator cannot be eternal and inconceivable because the eternal and inconceivable cannot be caused; if it were caused by itself it would be the product of a creator, and thus would not be the eternal and inconceivable.

b.    The eternal and inconceivable of Buddha Knowledge/personal realisation is produced by that which transcends existence and nonexistence: thus, it is the noncreated and eternal, like space, nirvāṇa, or cessation. 

• Without this element, other schools’ eternal and inconceivable needs a cause, but it cannot be its own cause and all which is caused is impermanent. With no cause, it is like a rabbit’s horns & not worth talking about.

18.  Śrāvakas seek nirvāṇa out of fear of saṃsāra, unaware that both are non-existent projections. They see nirvāṇa as cessation of all sensory realms and not transformation of the ālayavijñāna through Buddha Knowledge. The ignorant see the three vehicles and are attached to perceptions of a realm outside the mind, perpetuating saṃsāra.

19.  Nothing arises: existence and non-existence are projections of mind. Existence characterizing body, possessions, and world is the interplay of the grasping and grasped of ālayavijñāna: free from dualistic views of arising, abiding, & ceasing, the wise don’t project.

20.  There are five lineages of realization:

a. Śrāvaka Lineage: taught expedient teachings by a nirmāṇa buddha.

i.        Up to the Fifth and Sixth Stages.

ii.      Escape karmic deaths, but not imperceptible transformation deaths.

iii.     Those with views of a surviving self or creator are not liberated.[3]

b.    Pratyekabuddha Lineage: dependent origination by a niṣpanna-nirmitta buddha.

c.     Tathāgata Lineage: taught detachment by a dharmatā buddha. There are four lineages therein, and a fifth aspect that they must hear about (they are not alarmed when they hear about these):

i.     Concerned with reality of dharmas (imagined, dependent, and perfected reality).

ii.   Concerned with non-reality of dharmas (form, life, and reality). iii. Concerned with attainment of personal realization of Buddha Knowledge.

iv. Concerned with the splendours of external buddha-lands.

• (The inconceivable realm—the [transformed] ālayavijñāna)

d. Indeterminate Lineage: taught all three, and both believing and doubting at once:

• These enter according to one teaching and succeed according to another. E.g. if one enters the śrāvaka lineage and enjoys the bliss of samādhi but has personal realization of the ālayavijñāna, then they will attain Buddhahood.

e. Distance Lineage: not believing any of these (see section 22).

21.  The four śrāvaka paths are confusions of mind: the various vehicles are taught for fools, so beyond projections, there’s no need for three vehicles. Where there’s mind-only there aren’t even the formless dhyānas.[4]

22.  There are two kinds of icchantikas:[5]

a. Those who forsake good roots by slandering the Dharma and so aren’t liberated.

i. While they forsook their good roots, at some point, their good roots reappear because the tathāgatas don’t forsake any being.[6]

b. Bodhisattvas who vow not to enter nirvāṇa because they realise that everything is already in nirvāṇa.

23.  Bodhisattvas should be well acquainted with the three modes of reality (three own-beings):

a.     Imagined: objects and forms appear from dependent reality and attachment to appearances (external and internal entities) and name (characteristics of those appearances) arise.

b.    Dependent: as the ground (8th consciousness) and objective support (1st-7th consciousness) for appearances. 

c.     Perfected: free from name, appearance, and projection where personal realisation of Buddha Knowledge occurs. The heart of the tathāgatagarbha.

• These are one with the five dharmas: imagined = name and appearance dharmas; dependent = projection dharma; perfected = true knowledge & suchness dharma. (See sections 83-84)

24.  Bodhisattvas should be adapted at examining the two kinds of no-self:

a.     No-self of beings: skandhas, dhātus, āyatanas arise from ignorance, karma, and desire and through attachment to appearances the mind projects beings. As figures conjured by a trick they pass from life to life—but know they have no self.

b.    No-self of dharmas: the skandhas, dhātus, and āyatanas themselves have no self. The wise see all dharmas like this have no self and are imaginary.

• Through seeing the two no-selves, one attains the 8th stage, and advancing to the 9th stage they abide on lotuses surrounded by bodhisattvas and being anointed by buddhas, which is another illusory realm. Proceeding past this, they attain the dharmakāya. This is the meaning of no-self in dharmas. 25. Mahāmati asked the Buddha to teach them about assertion and denial to avoid these views:

a. The Buddha explains that there are no assertions or denials in mind-only: body, world, and possessions are mind—only fools assert or deny.

i. Assertions of non-existence include assertions of:

1. Non-existent characteristic

• Becoming attached to a non-existent individual or characteristics shared among skandhas, dhātus, or āyatanas as being one way and not another.

2. Non-existent view

• Asserting a self, person, being, life, or individuality among the skandhas, dhātus, or āyatanas.

3. Non-existent cause

• Asserting an original consciousness that doesn’t arise from causes that would render it unreal or illusory, or arise from itself, and only arises after sensory input or memory arise, and which ceases after it exists. (An assertion that all arises from the ālayavijñāna)

4. Non-existent existence

• Asserting that the uncreated exist, such as space, cessation, or nirvāṇa. This is like perception of a rabbits horns: they neither exist nor do not exist.

ii. Denial is denying the asserted due to non-graspability and non-observability.

26.  Bodhisattvas who grasped these teachings appear in accordance with the needs of beings. They enter buddha-lands to hear these teachings and praise the triple gem.

27.  Mahāmati asks the Buddha to explain emptiness so that beings may be free from duality:

a.     The Buddha explains: emptiness is taught for those attached to imagined reality:

i.    Emptiness of characteristics

•       Emptiness of the shared or individual characteristics of all dharmas.

ii.   Emptiness of self-existence

•       Non-arising of something’s own-existence (svabhāva).

iii. Emptiness of phenomena

•       Lack of a self in conditioned things.

iv. Emptiness of non-phenomena

•       Lack of a self in dependent reality as conditioned things have no self.

v.   Emptiness of ineffability

•       Imagined reality is devoid of words.

vi. Emptiness of the ultimate truth of Buddha Knowledge

•       Emptiness of habit energy of erroneous views upon attaining Buddha Knowledge.

vii.                  Emptiness of mutual exclusion

•       Emptiness of this not implying emptiness of that. E.g. The monastery is empty of horses and elephants doesn’t imply it is empty of monks.

b.    Non-arising means things do not arise by themselves, but they still arise (except in samādhi): they have no self-existence and so are constantly in flux.

c.     Non-dual means mutually exclusive erroneous projections are not ultimately separate: long or short, bright or dark, saṃsāra or nirvāṇa.

d.    Every sūtra teaches emptiness, non-arising, non-duality, and no-self, but they are adjusted to the longings of beings: therefore, rely on the meaning and not the words.

28.  Mahāmati points out that others believe in an immortal creator, a self, who has the characteristics of tathāgatagarbha: no-attributes, omnipresent, indestructible, unstained, intrinsically pure: how is it that tathāgatagarbha is not a self like this?

• The Buddha explains that tathāgatagarbha is not the ultimate self of other paths. It is sometimes given names such as emptiness, nirvāṇa, dharmakāya, etc. But this is just to put end to the fear foolish beings have about no-self and attract those followers of other paths (presumably because some beings can view these as a higher self). Bodhisattvas should not become attached to any view of a self but should rely only on the selfless tathāgatagarbha.

29.  Self is conceived of as a person in the skandhas, something that arises on conditions, something created by something outside: these are all mind-only.

30.  Mahāmati asked the Buddha to tell them the practices of realisation whereby bodhisattvas become great practitioners:

a.     There are four such practices:

i.    Distinguishing the perceptions of one’s own mind

§ Seeing the three realms and their various forms and phenomena as mind-only and without self or distinctions.

ii.   Perceiving the non-existence of external existence

§ Regarding everything that exists as the result of habit energy.

iii. Avoiding views of arising, during, cessation

§ Seeing all as only projections of the mind, they see that phenomena don’t arise, perdure, or cease.

iv. Delighting in the personal realisation of Buddha Knowledge

§ Having attained the 8th level, they transcend characteristics of the consciousnesses, dharmas, modes of reality, no-selves, and acquire a projection body.

• This travels quickly like thought. Thoughts travel unobstructed and arise without interrupting the function of the mind or body. With higher person and masteries, the projection bodies appear simultaneously in whatever realms they recall having vowed to bring beings to perfection.

31.  Mahāmati asked the Buddha to explain causes and conditions so we won’t have wrong views about effects existing in causes (simultaneous) or separate (sequential) from them.

a.     The Buddha explains that there are two kinds of conditions:

i.    External: application of external objects producing results in something with before and after effects, e.g. a mat made from grass. ii. Internal: ignorance, desire, and karma resulting in skandhas, dhātus, and āyatanas: they are not separate but are imagined so by the foolish.

b.    There are six kinds of cause:

i.    Immanent: produces internal and external effects as soon as it is a cause. 

ii. Connecting: produces internal and external effects when it has a connection. 

iii. Characterising: produces the characteristic of an uninterrupted continuity. 

iv. Instrumental: exerts supremacy like a cakravartin.

v.      Manifesting: manifests causes and effects whenever projections occur.

vi.     Inactive: absence of projections that occurs with interrupting continuity.

c.     These causes and conditions don’t occur either sequentially or simultaneously. If simultaneous there would be no difference between cause and effect. If sequential there would be no perception of an individual entity: the sequential is not continuous, but a projection based on the cause of perception of mental projections.

d.    Nothing arises or ceases except the conception of causes and conditions and these are nothing but words.

32.  Mahāmati asks the Buddha about word projection. He explains:

a.     There are four kinds of word projection:

i.    Object words

•       Arise from attachment to the projection of forms and characteristics.

ii.   Dream words

•       Arise from recollecting previously experienced dreams. iii. Words for attachment to mistaken projections

•       Arise from recollecting previous acts of hostility.

iv. Words for projections without beginning

•       Arise from the habit-energy of seeds of past attachments. 33. Mahāmati asks the Buddha to explain where, why, and how word projections arise:

a.     Sounds are produced by the head, chest, throat, nose, lips, tongue, and teeth together. Words and projections are not separate, as one causes the other, but they are also separate since words express their meaning.

b.    Since words arise, cease, and shift based upon changing causes and conditions words are not ultimate truth but can lead to ultimate truth.

34.  That which exists, including words, has no self-existence. Fools don’t know emptiness of emptiness. Those who realise Buddha Knowledge are taught ultimate reality.

35.  Mahāmati asks how we can transcend the standpoints of other paths based on a sense of reality that posit this, that, both this or that, and neither this nor that (be it existence, nonexistence, permanence, etc.), for awakening. The Buddha explains:

a. For those who cling to existence or non-existence etc., ignorant that it’s mind-only:

i.     Like a thirsty deer rushing to a mirage thinking it’s water (desire realm).

ii.   Like seeing a Gandharva’s cloud city (form realm). iii. Like people not letting go of a memory of a dream (6th: mind consciousness).

iv.        Like seeing height and depth in a landscape painting (7th: manas consciousness), representing śrāvakas who have assertions or denials.

v.         Like seeing a strand of hair in the eye thinking others might see it, representing fantasies by which others might slander the Dharma.

vi.        Like seeing a wheel of fire that is not a wheel, representing saṃsāra.

vii.       Like seeing raindrops and mistaking them for jewels and grasping them, like grasping at nirvāṇa. Considering the tathāgata stage as something separate from imagined and dependent reality: perfected reality is neither existent nor non-existent. Any teaching involving existence is that of an apparition Buddha.

viii.     Like a tree (Buddha) reflected in water (the mind), it’s neither a reflection nor non-reflection, neither resembling nor non-resembling a tree.

ix.        Like a clear mirror (Buddha’s mind) showing shapes and images without discriminating between them: whether images are seen therein depends on beings’ minds.

x.         Like the sound of water and wind together. (Buddha’s oral teachings)

xi.        Like heat waves in deserts that are perceived depending upon thirst.

(Appearance of teachings) xii. Like using incantations to make the non-living alive or a demon making a dead body move. (Five skandhas and conceptions of self-existence)

b. Thus, all views and projections regarding existence etc. should be abandoned.

36.  The teaching of the tathāgatas is only the truths of the scriptures, dependent origination, the path, cessation, and liberation, not assertions or denials of existences or non-existences, creations, or temporal periods: which they, in fact, seek to eliminate.

37.  There are four kinds of meditation:

i.            Beginner meditation: done by śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and those of other paths on no-self, impermanence, suffering, and impurity.

ii.           Meditation on meaning: meditating on the absence of self in dharmas and the characteristics of the stages of the path.

iii.          Meditation on suchness: [meditation on the] projection of the projection of the twokinds of no-self and the non-arising of suchness.

iv.          Tathāgata meditation: enjoying the bliss of samādhi, awakening, and nirvāṇa upon attainment of buddhahood.

38.  Mahāmati asks the Buddha to explain what’s meant by nirvāṇa. The Buddha explains:

a.     Nirvāṇa is the transformation of the habit energy of self-existence of the ālayavijñāna, manas consciousness, and mind consciousness.

b.    Nirvāṇa is the realm empty of self-existence (svabhāva).

c.     Nirvāṇa is the realm of personal realisation of Buddha Knowledge free from characteristics, existence, non-existence, permanence or impermanence, which are projections; it is attained by buddhas in the three times.

d.    Nirvāṇa is not annihilation (as that would be created) or death (as there’s no rebirth).

e.     Nirvāṇa is not lost, found, impermanent, permanent, with or without meaning.

f.      Nirvāṇa of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas is awareness of certain characteristics, avoiding contact, ending delusions, and avoiding projections.

39.  There are two kinds of self-existence (svabhāva):

i.           Attachment to the self-existence of words: from attachment to habit-energy of word projections.

ii.         Attachment to the self-existence of objects: from not realising that distinctions that arise are perceptions of one’s own mind.

40.  Tathāgatas employ two kinds of powers for bodhisattvas for instruction:

i.           Power to appear in bodily form and speak in samādhi.

ii.         Power to anoint their foreheads.

• Bodhisattvas on the first level enter the Light of the Mahāyāna Samādhi and Buddhas appear before them in bodily form.

i.        Their power is the result of good roots from past aeons.

ii.      On the ninth level they appear on lotuses, surrounded by bodhisattvas, and are anointed by buddhas (as in the Daśabhūmika).

iii.     All special abilities of bodhisattvas for samādhi and teaching depend on these two buddha powers, relying on which, bodhisattvas meet the buddhas. 

iv.     When buddhas enter a city music plays spontaneously and the deaf, blind, and mute are cured.

v.       Tathāgatas use these supporting powers so that bodhisattvas don’t fall into the śrāvaka level and attain personal realisation of the Buddha Stage and to protect bodhisattvas on the 8th to 10th stage.

[1] Subtle births & deaths.

[2] Sarvāstivāda view.

[3] Sarvāstivādan & Vaiśeṣika (a Brahmin school of thought)

[4] I.e., if even the most subtle things don’t exist, what more to say of the material?

[5] People who can’t enter nirvāṇa. Typically taken to mean “desirous ones,” people who place their own desires above spiritual pursuits.

[6] In the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, the Buddha declares to King Ajātaśatru, who had killed his father and inspired Devadatta to kill the Buddha, “For the sake of Ajātaśatru, I will not enter nirvāṇa for countless millions of kalpas [i.e. never].” Later he explains that there are two kinds of Bodhisattva: true and provisional. The provisional, when they hear that the Buddha will enter nirvāṇa are sad. The Buddha explains that they don’t grasp his true intent in claiming to enter nirvāṇa, which is as a skillful means for śrāvakas to realise that they are able to defeat Māra. True bodhisattvas, however, know that the Buddha never enters nirvāṇa. Nonetheless, it is not for these, but out of compassion for the provisional bodhisattvas, that the Buddha declares that “The Tathāgata after all will ultimately never enter nirvāṇa.” The Buddha is an eternally abiding being, because his nature is one of compassion for the sufferings of deluded beings.