Overall Teaching

The True Dharma is maintained not through conceptual formulations or worldly agreement, but through non-attachment to all dharmas and freedom from conceptualisation. Vajrapāṇi and Bhadrarāja illustrate that real protection and eloquence of the Dharma arise from purity of mind, detachment from self and phenomena, and the insight that all dharmas are unarisen and unobstructed. In this way, the Dharma abides regardless of whether a Buddha appears in the world, sustained by non-conceptual wisdom and unobstructed expression.

Summary

1. The Maintenance of the Dharma through Non-Conceptualisation

   • Śāntamati Bodhisattva questions Vajrapāṇi Bodhisattva on his ability to create manifestations; Vajrapāṇi confirms his abilities are due to his past life purity. Śāntamati requests Vajrapāṇi to sustain the True Dharma with his powers for its wider proclamation. Vajrapāṇi emphasises that the True Dharma is composed of unarisen words, and its profound nature cannot be hidden. Thus, whether a Buddha arises in the world or doesn't, the Dharma still abides.

   • If Dharmas do not contract, then the Dharma is protected. However, being in tune with the True Dharma might mean being at odds with worldly views. On how to maintain the True Dharma, Vajrapāṇi suggests a state of non-attachment to all dharmas and concepts. This is done through non-attachment to self, beings, or dharmas—this means being separate from all dharmas while not being separate from them. The Bhagavān commends Vajrapāṇi for his understanding and adds that non-attachment to conceptualisations ensures the maintenance of the True Dharma.

2. The Eloquence of Non-Eloquence

   • Bhadrarāja, a devaputra, praised the Buddha's tranquil words and spoke on the pacified nature of perception. Upon hearing Bhadrarāja's teachings, a thousand bhikṣus attained mental liberation, and a thousand devaputras attained the pure Dharma-eye. Śāntamati Bodhisattva inquired about Bhadrarāja's source of eloquence. Bhadrarāja explained that his eloquence arose from being free from habitual tendencies, language's path, and having nothing to explain.

   • True eloquence is expressed when one knows all perceptions are free from obscurations and that all dharmas neither arise nor cease. The Buddha revealed that Bhadrarāja came from Akṣobhya Buddha’s land, Abhiratī, to hear Vajrapāṇi Bodhisattva's teachings. Bhadrarāja has mastered the characteristics of all dharmas for a hundred kalpas through the power of a dhāraṇī and teaches with unobstructed eloquence.