The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra

At that time Mahāmati the Bodhisattva-Mahāsattva said this to the Blessed One:²

1. (Chapter II, verse 1.)

2. (Chapter II, verse 3.)

3. (Chapter II, verse 2.)

4, 5. (Chapter II, verses 6, 7.)

(265) 6. (Chapter II, verse 8.)³

7, 8. (Chapter II, verses 151, 152.)

9. (Chapter II, verse 178.)

10. These individual objects are not solid [realities]; they rise because of imagination; as the imagination itself is empty, what is imagined is empty.

11. (Chapter II, verse 149.)

12. (Chapter II, verse 154.)

13. By wrong discrimination the Vijñāna[-system] rises; severally as eightfold, as ninefold,¹ like waves on the great ocean.

14. The root is constantly nourished by habit-energy, firmly attached to the seat; (266) the mind moves along with an objective world as iron is drawn by the loadstone.

15. The original source on which all sentient beings are dependent is beyond theorisation; all doings cease and emancipation obtains, knowing and known are transcended.

16. In the Samādhi known as Māyā-like, one goes beyond the ten stages of Bodhisattvaship; one who is removed from thought and knowledge perceives the Mind-king.

17. When a "turning-back" takes place in the mind, one abides permanently in the palace of lotus-form, which is born of the realm of Māyā.

18. Abiding in it one attains a life of imagelessness, and, like a many-coloured jewel, performs religious deeds for all beings.

19. Except for discrimination, there is neither Saṁskṛita (or things made) nor Asaṁskṛita (or things not made); the ignorant hold on to them as a barren woman does to the child of her dream; what fools they are!

20. Let it be known that without self-nature, unborn, and empty are a personal soul, the Skandha-continuity, causation, the Dhātus, and [the notion of] existence and non-existence.

21. To me teaching is an expedient, but I do not teach external signs; the ignorant because of their attachment to existence seize on signified and signifying.

22. A knower of all things is not an all-knower, and all is not within all; the ignorant discriminate and [think] "I am the enlightened one in the world"; but I am not enlightened nor do I enlighten others.

(267) 23. (Chapter II, verse 156.)

24. (Chapter II, verse 143 and the first half of 144.)

25. (Chapter II, verse 179.)¹

26. (Chapter II, verse 181.)

27. These things are empty, without self-nature, and unborn, like Māyā, like a dream, and their being and non-being is unobtainable.

28. One self-nature (svabhāva) I teach, which is removed from speculation and thought-construction, which belongs to the exquisite [spiritual] realm of the wise, removed from the two Svabhāvas [i. e., the Parikalpita and the Paratantra].

(268) 29. Though multitudinousness of things has no [real] existence as such, they appear to the intoxicated as like fire-flies because of their constitutional disturbance; likewise is the world essentially [appearance].

30. As Māyā is manifested depending on grass, wood, and brick, though Māyā itself is non-existent, so are all things essentially [mere appearances].

31. There is neither seizing nor seized, neither bound nor binding; all is like Māyā, like a mirage, like a dream, like an affected eye.

32. When the truth-seeker sees [the truth] devoid of discrimination and free from impurities, then he is accomplished in his contemplation; he sees me, there is no doubt.

33. In this there is nothing of thought construction; it is like a mirage in the air; those who thus see all things, see nothing whatever.²

34. In causation which governs being and non-being things do not originate; in the triple world the mind is perturbed, therefore multiplicities appear.

35. The world is the same as a dream, and so are the multiplicities of things in it; [the wise] see property, touch, death, a world-teacher, and work as of the same nature.¹

36. This mind is the source of the triple world; when the mind goes astray there appears this world and that; (269) recognising the world as such, as it is non-existent, [a wise man] does not discriminate a world.

37. The ignorant because of their stupidity see [an objective world] as taking its rise and disappearing, but he who has transcendental knowledge sees it neither rising nor disappearing.

38. Those who are always above discrimination, in conformity with truth, and removed from mind and its belongings, are in the celestial palace of Akanishtha where all evils are discarded.

39. Such attain the powers, psychic faculties, and self-control, are thoroughly adept in the Samādhis, and are there [in the heaven] awakened to enlightenment; but the transformed ones are awakened here [on earth].

40. The Buddhas appear on earth in their innumerable transformation-bodies beyond calculation, and everywhere the ignorant following them listen to the Dharma.

41. [There is one thing which is] released from [such conditions of existence as] beginning, middle, and ending, removed from existence and non-existence, all-pervading, immovable, pure, and above multiplicity, and [yet] producing multiplicity.

42. There is an essence² entirely covered by thought-constructions and hidden inside all that has body; because of perversion there is Māyā; Māyā, [however], is not the cause of perversion.

43. Even because of the mind being deluded, there is a somewhat [perceived as real]; being bound up with the two Svabhāvas there is the transformation of the Ālayavijñāna.

(270) 44. The world is no more than thought-construction, and there rages an ocean of views as regards ego and things (dharma); when the world is clearly perceived as such and there takes place a revulsion¹ [in the mind], this [one] is my child who is devoted to the truth of perfect knowledge.

45. Things are discriminated by the ignorant as heat, fluidity, motility, and solidity; they are, however, unrealities asserted; there is neither signified nor signifying.

46. But this body, form (saṁsthāna) and senses are made of the eight substances; deluded in the cage of transmigration, the ignorant thus discriminate this phenomenal world (rūpa).

47. In the intermingling of causes and conditions, the ignorant imagine the birth [of all things]; but as they do not understand the truth, they go astray in this abode of the triple world.

48. (Chapter II, verse 146.)

(271) 49. What is known as multiplicity-seeds multiply in the mind (citta); in what is revealed, the ignorant imagine birth and are delighted with dualism.

50. Ignorance, desire, and karma—they are the causes of mind and its belongings;² as they evolve thus [relatively], they are [recognised] by me to be Paratantric.

51. When the field of mentation gets confused, they imagine that there is something [real] to take hold of; in this imagination there is no perfect knowledge, it is false imagination rising from delusion.

52. When bound in conditions there evolves a mind in all beings; when released from conditions, I say, I see no [mind rising].

53. When the mind, released from conditions and unsupported by thought of self, abides no longer in the body, to me there is no objective world.

54 and 55. (Chapter II, verses 147 and 148.)

56. (Chapter II, verse 99.)

(272) 57. So the flood of the Ālayavijñāna is always stirred by the winds of objectivity (vishaya), and goes on dancing with the various Vijñāna-waves.

58. Because there is that which is seized and that which seizes, mind rises in all beings; there are no such signs visible [in the world] as are imagined by the ignorant.

59. There is the highest Ālayavijñāna, and again there is the Ālaya as thought-construction (vijñāpti); I teach suchness (tathatā) that is above seized and seizing.

60. Neither an ego, nor a being, nor a person exists in the Skandhas; [there is birth when] the Vijñāna is born, and [cessation when] the Vijñāna ceases.

61. As a picture shows highness and lowness while [in reality] there is nothing of the sort in it; so in things existent there is thingness seen [as real] while there is nothing of the sort in them.

62. The visible world (dṛiśyam) has always the appearance of the city of the Gandharvas and that of fata morgana; it is to be regarded as such, but it does not thus exist to the transcendental wisdom [of the wise].

63 and 64. (Chapter III, verses 79 and 80.)

65. A proposition [is established] by means of conditions, reasons, and examples, (273) such as a dream, the Gandharva's [castle, fire-]wheel, mirage, the moon, the sun.

66. By such examples as flame, hair, etc., I teach that birth is something not to be recognised really as such;¹ the world is something imagined, empty like a dream, or Māyā, which is error.

67. The triple world has nowhere to place itself, either within nor without, it is thus [homeless]; seeing that all beings are unborn, there grows a full acceptance of the truth that nothing is ever born (kshānti-anutpatti).

68. He will then attain the Samādhi called Māyā-like, the will-body, the psychic faculties, the self-mastery, the various powers belonging to the Mind.

69. All things existent are unborn, empty, and without self-substance; and the delusion about them rises and ceases in accordance with conditions.

70. Depending upon the Mind, there appears [within] a mind and, without a world of individual objects (rūpiṇa); this and no other is an external world which is imagined by the ignorant.

71. This heap of bones, the Buddha-image, the analysis of the elements—[these are subjects of meditation]; by means of mental images (prajñapti) good students handle the various aspects of the world.

72. Body, abode, and property are three representations (vijñapti) seized upon [as objects]; the will, [the desire] to hold, the discrimination of these representations are the seizing agents.

(274) 73. As long as those philosophers who get confused in their reasonings and who are unable to go beyond the realm of words, distinguish the discriminating from the discriminated—so long they do not see [the truth] of suchness.

74. When the Yogin by means of his transcendental wisdom understands that all things existent have no self-substance, he thus attains calmness and establishes himself in the state of no-form (animitta).

75. As an object painted black is taken by the unwise to be a cock, so by the ignorant who do not know, the triple vehicle is understood in like manner.

76. There are no Śrāvakas, no Pratyekabuddhas here; if, however, one recognises the form of a Buddha, of a Śrāvaka, this is a transformed manifestation of the Bodhisattva whose nature is compassion itself.

77. The triple world of existence is no more than thought-construction, which is discriminated by the twofold Svabhāva [of imagination and relative knowledge]; but when [within the mind] a turning-away from the course of sense-objects (dharma) and the ego-soul (pudgala) takes place, then we have [the truth of] suchness (tathatā).

78. The sun, the moon, the lamp-light, the elements, and the gems, —each functions in its own way without discrimination; and so does the Buddha's nature work on its own accord.

79. (Chapter II, verse 51.)

80. Things known as defiled or as pure are like hairnets [that is, wrongly perceived by the dim-eyed]; (275) they [really] have nothing to do with such notions as birth, abiding, and disappearance, or as eternity and non-eternity.

81. It is like a drugged man whoever he is, who sees the world in golden colours; though there is no gold, for him the earth has changed into gold.

82. The ignorant, thus defiled since beginningless time with the mind and what belongs to it, apprehend existing things to be really such as they appear to be; though in fact they owe their origin to Māyā or a mirage.

83. One seed and no-seed are of the same stamp, and one seed and all seed also; and in one mind you see multiplicity.

84. When one seed is made pure, there is a turning into a state of no-seed; the sameness comes from non-discrimination; from superabundance there is birth and general confusion from which there grows a multitude of seeds, hence the designation all-seed.¹

85. (Chapter II, verse 140.)

86. (Chapter III, verse 52.)

87. When the self-nature of existence is understood there is no need of keeping off the delusion; no-birth is the self-nature of existence, seeing thus one is released.

(276) 88. (Chapter II, verse 170.)

89. (Chapter II, verse 144.)

90. (Chapter II, verse 141.)

91. (Chapter III, verse 48.)

92. (Chapter II, verse 136.)

93. When the mind is evolved, forms begin to manifest themselves; really [if] no minds, no forms; the mind is due to [the accumulation of] delusions since beginningless past; then the Yogin by his transcendental wisdom sees the world shorn of its appearances (abhāsa).²

94. (Chapter III, verse 53.)

(277) 95. The Gandharva's air-castle, Māyā, a hair-circle, and a fata morgana, —they are non-entities yet they appear as if they were entities; the nature of an objective existence is thus to be regarded.

96. Nothing has ever been brought into existence, all that is seen before us is delusion; it is due to delusion that things are imagined to have come into existence, the ignorant are delighted with the dualism of discrimination.

97. As memory [or habit-energy, vāsanā] grows in various forms the Mind is evolved like the waves; when memory is cut off, there is no evolving of Mind.

98. The Mind is evolved dependent upon a variety of conditions, just as a painting depends upon the wall [on which it is painted]; if otherwise why is not the painting produced in the air?¹

99. If Mind evolves at all depending on individual forms as conditions, then Mind is condition-born, and the doctrine of Mind-only will not be held true.

100. Mind is grasped by mind, it is not a something produced by a cause; Mind is by nature pure, memory (habit-energy) has no existence in [mind which is like] the sky.

101. An individual mind is evolved by clinging to Mind in itself; there is no visible world outside [Mind itself]; therefore, [it is declared that] Mind-only exists.

(278) 102. Mind (citta²) is the Ālayavijñāna, Manas is that which has reflection as its characteristic nature, it apprehends the various sense-fields, for which reason it is called a Vijñāna.

103. Citta is always neutral; Manas functions in two ways; the functioning Vijñāna is either good or bad.

104. (Chapter II, verse 132.)

105-109. (Chapter IV, verses 1-5.)

(279) 110. In self-realisation itself there are no time[-limits]; it goes beyond all the realms belonging to the various stages; transcending the measure of thought, it establishes itself as the result [of discipline in the realm] of no-appearance.

111. That non-existence and existence is recognised, and multiplicity too, is due to erroneous attachment of the ignorant; the error [is to see] multiplicity.

112. If there is non-discriminative knowledge, it is not in accord with reason to say that [individual] realities (vastu) exist; because of Mind, there are no individual forms (rūpāṇi), and, therefore, we speak of non-discriminative [knowledge].

113. The sense-organs are to be known as Māyā, the sense-fields resemble a dream; actor, act, and acting—they do not at all [in reality] exist.¹

114. (Chapter II, v. 133, v. 176.)

115. (Chapter II, v. 130, v. 177.)

116(280)-117. (Chapter II, vv. 9 and 10.)

118. (Chapter II, v. 174.)

119. (Chapter II, v. 173.)

120. According to worldly knowledge (saṁvṛiti) everything exists, but in ultimate truth (paramārtha) none exists; in ultimate truth, indeed, one sees that all things are devoid of self-substance. Although there is no self-substance, there rises something which one perceives [as objective reality] — this is called worldly knowledge.

121. If things are regarded as existing by themselves, they exist because of their being so designated in words; if there were no words to designate their existence, they are not.

122. That which exists only as word and not as reality —such is not to be found even in worldly knowledge; this comes from the nature of reality being erroneously understood, for no such perception is possible.

123. If such errors were granted, it would not be possible to talk about the non-existence of self-substance; (281) as the nature of reality is erroneously understood, there is something perceived where there is really no self-substance; all is indeed non-existent.

124. What is seen as multiplicity is the mind saturated with the forms of evil habits; because of mental delusions one clings to forms and appearances regarding them as objective [realities].

125. Discrimination is cut asunder by non-discriminating discrimination; the truth of emptiness is seen into by non-discriminating discrimination.

126. Like an elephant magically created, like golden leaves in a painting, the visible world is to the people whose minds are saturated with the forms of ignorance.

127-128. (Chapter II, vv. 168 and 169.)

129. As a man whose eye is affected with a cataract perceives a hair-circle because of his delusion, so the ignorant perceive an objective world rising with its various aspects.

130. (Chapter II, v. 150.)

(282) 131. Discrimination, that which is discriminated, and the setting up of discrimination; binding, that which is bound, and its cause: these six are conditions of liberation.

132. There are no stages [of Bodhisattvaship], no truths, no [Buddha-]lands, no bodies of transformation; Buddhas. Pratyekabuddhas, Śrāvakas are [products of] imagination.

133. (Chapter II, v. 139.)

134. Mind is all, it is found everywhere and in every body; it is by the evil-minded that multiplicity is recognised, there are no [recognisable] marks where Mind-only is.

135-137. (Chapter III, vv. 35, 36, 37.)

138. The constructing of appearances (nimitta) created by delusion is the characteristic mark of Paratantra (dependence) knowledge; (283) the giving of names to these appearances [regarding them as real individual existences] is characteristic of the imagination.¹

139. When the constructing of appearances and names, which come from the union of conditions and realities, no more takes place, we have the characteristic mark of perfected knowledge (parinishpanna).²

140. The world is everywhere filled with Buddhas of Maturity,³ Buddhas of Transformation,⁴ beings, Bodhisattvas, and [Buddha-]lands.

141. The Issuing⁵[-Buddhas], Dharma[-Buddhas], Transformation[-Buddhas] and those that appear transformed—they all come forth from Amitābha's Land of Bliss.

142. What is uttered by Buddhas of Transformation and what is uttered by Buddhas of Maturity constitute the doctrine fully developed in the sutras, whose secret meaning you should know.

143. What is uttered by the Bodhisattvas and what is uttered by the teachers—they are both what is uttered by the Buddhas of Transformation and not by the Buddhas of Maturity.

144. All these individual objects (dharmas) have never been born, but they are not exactly non-existent either; they resemble the Gandharva's castle, a dream, and magical creations.

145. Mind is set in motion in various ways, and mind is liberated; mind rises in no other way, and mind thus ceases.

146. The mind of all beings is that which perceives something like objective reality, and this mind is the product of imagination; (284) in Mind-only there is no objective world; when one is released from discrimination there is liberation.

147. Brought together by the evil habit of erroneous reasoning, discrimination asserts itself; hence the evolution of this fallacious world.

148. [Relative] knowledge (vijñāna) takes place where there is something resembling an external world; [transcendental] knowledge (jñāna)¹ belongs to the realm of Suchness. When a turning-back (parāvṛitta) takes place, there is a state of imagelessness, which is the realm of the wise.

149. (Chapter II, v. 161.)

150. By reason of false imagination (parikalpita) all things existent are declared unborn; as people take refuge in relative knowledge (paratantra), they get confused in their discriminations.

151. When relative knowledge is purified by keeping itself aloof from discrimination, and detached from imagination, there is a turning-back to the abode of suchness.

152. Do not discriminate discrimination, there is no truth in discrimination; [this world of] delusion is discriminated as to that which is perceived and that which perceives, but in reality there is no such dualism in it; it is an error to recognise an external world, [the conception of] self-substance is due to imagination.

(285) 153. Imagining by this imagination, self-substance is conceived to rise by the conditions of origination (pratyayodbhava); an external world is recognised in distortion, there is [in fact] no such external world, but just the Mind.

154. To those who see [the world] clearly and properly, the separation between that which perceives and that which is perceived ceases; there is no such external world as is discriminated by the ignorant.

155. When the Mind is agitated by habit-energy (or memory) there rises what appears to be an external world; when the dualistic imagination ceases there grows [transcendental] knowledge (jñāna), the realm of suchness, the realm of the wise, which is free from appearances and beyond thought.¹

156. (Chap. II, v. 134; Chap. VI, v. 3.)

157. From the union of mother and father, the Ālaya gets connected with Manas; like a rat in a pot of ghee, the red together with the white grows up.

158. Through the stages of Peśī, Ghana, and Arbuda, the boil grows—an unclean mass bearing a variety of karma; nourished by the wind of karma and the four elements, it comes to maturity like a fruit.

159. The five, the five, and the five; and the sores are nine; (286) nails, teeth, and hair are supplied; when ready to spring forth it is born.

160. When [the baby] is just born, it is like a worm growing in the dung; like a man waking from sleep, the eye begins to distinguish forms, and discrimination goes on increasing.

161. With knowledge gained by discrimination, human speech is produced from the combination of the palate, lips, and cavity; and discrimination goes on like a parrot.

162. Philosophical doctrines are definite, but the Mahāyāna [or Great Vehicle] is not definite, it is set in motion by the thoughts of beings; it is not an abode for those who see wrongly. The vehicle realised within my own inner self is not the realm that can be reached by dialecticians.²

163-164. After the passing of the Teacher, pray tell me who will be the bearer [of the Mahāyāna]? O Mahāmati, thou shouldst know that there will be one who bears the Dharma, when sometime is past after the Sugata's entrance into Nirvana.

165. In Vedalī, in the southern part, a Bhikshu most illustrious and distinguished [will be born]; his name is Nāgāhvaya, he is the destroyer of the one-sided views based on being and non-being.

166. He will declare my Vehicle, the unsurpassed Mahāyāna, to the world; attaining the stage of Joy he will go to the Land of Bliss.

(287) 167. (Chapter II, v. 175.)

168. In the realm of conditional origination, "there is" and "there is not" do not take place; those who imagine something real in the midst of conditional origination say, "there is" and "there is not," but these philosophical views are far away from my teaching.

169. The giving names to all things existent has always been going on for hundreds of generations past; this has been repeated, is being repeated constantly; an endless mutual discrimination is thus taking place.

170. If this designating does not take place, the whole world falls into confusion; thus names are established in order to get rid of confusion.

171. Things existent are discriminated by the ignorant in the threefold form of discrimination; there is delusion from discriminating names, from conditional origination, and from the [the notion of] being born.

172. [The philosophers argue that] the primary elements are unborn and like the sky are imperishable; but [in reality] there are no individual self-substances and the notion [itself] belongs to discrimination.

173. [Individual existences are] appearances, images, like Māyā, like a mirage, a dream, a wheel made by a revolving fire-brand, the Gandharva's [castle], an echo—they are all born in the same manner.

(288) 174. Non-duality, suchness, emptiness, ultimate limit, essence (dharmatā), non-discrimination, —all these I teach as belonging to the aspect of perfected knowledge (parinishpanna).

175. Language belongs to the realm of thought, the truth becomes [thus] wrongly [represented]; transcendental knowledge (prajñā) being discriminated by thought falls into a duality; therefore, transcendental knowledge is something not imagined.

176-177. (Chap. III, vv. 9 and 10.)

178. The whole existence is not perceived by the ignorant as it is perceived by the wise; the whole existence as it is perceived by the wise, has no marks [of individuation].

179. As a spurious necklace, not of gold though looking like it, is imagined by the ignorant to be of [genuine] gold, so all things are imagined by those who reason wrongly.

180. (Chapter III, v. 11.)

181. Things have no beginning, no end; they are abiding in the aspect of reality; (289) there is no creator, nothing doing in the world, but the logicians do not understand.

182. Whatever things that are thought to have been in existence in the past, to come into existence in the future, or to be in existence at present, —all such are unborn.

183-184. (Chap. III, vv. 44 and 45.)

185. This [world] is just a sign¹ indicative of reality (dharmatā); apart from the sign, nothing is produced, nothing is destroyed.

186-187. (Chap. II, vv. 159 and 160.)

188-189. (Chap. III, vv. 1 and 2.)

(290) 190. Existence in its conditional relations cannot be [described] as unity or diversity; it is just in a general way of speaking that there is birth, cessation, and destruction.

191. Emptiness unborn is one thing, emptiness born is another; emptiness unborn is the better, [because] emptiness born leads to destruction.

192. Suchness, emptiness, the limit, Nirvana, and the Dharmadhātu, the various will-made bodies, —these I point out as synonymous.

193. Those who discriminate purity according to the Sutras, Vinayas, and Abhidharmas, follow books and not the inner meaning; they are not established in egolessness.

194-196. (Chap. III, vv. 12-14.)

(291) 197. The visible world is likened to the hare's horns as long as all beings go on discriminating; those who discriminate are deluded just like a deer running after a mirage.

198. By clinging to discrimination, [more] discrimination goes on; when the cause of discrimination is put away, one is disengaged therefrom.

199-200. (Chap. III, vv. 54 and 55.)

201. Transcendental knowledge is deep, exalted, far-reaching, and perceives all the Buddha-countries; this I teach for the sons of the Victorious One; for the Śrāvakas I teach transitoriness.

202. The triple existence is transitory, empty, devoid of the ego and what belongs to it; thus I teach the doctrine of generality to the Śrāvakas.

203. Not to be attached to anything existent, truly knowing what the truth of solitude is, is to walk all alone; the fruit of Pratyekabuddhahood which is above speculation is what I teach.

204. External objects are imagined, those endowed with corporeality are dependent on relative knowledge; being deluded they see not themselves, therefore a mind is evolved.

205(292)-206. (Chap. IV, vv. 6 and 7.)

207 and 208. (Chapter III, verses 56 and 57.)

209. (Chapter II, verse 153.)

210. (Chapter II, verse 150.)

211. There are four psychic powers: that which comes from the maturing [of the disciplinary exercises], that which comes from the sustaining power of the Buddhas, that which rises from entering into the various paths of living beings, and that which is obtained in a dream.

212. The psychic power which is obtained in a dream, that which comes from the power of the Buddhas, and that which has its birth by entering the various paths of beings —these powers are not¹ born of the maturing [of the disciplinary exercises].

(293) 213. The mind being influenced by habit-energy, there rises a something resembling real existence (bhāvābhāsa); as the ignorant do not understand, it is said that there is the birth [of realities].

214. As long as external objects (bāhyam)¹ are discriminated as possessing individual marks, the mind is confused (vimuhyate)² being unable to see its own delusion.

215. Why is birth spoken of? Why is not the perceived world spoken of? When the perceived world, which has no existence, is yet perceived as existing, what is that which is spoken of? To whom is it? and why?

216. The Citta in its essence is thoroughly pure, the Manas is defiled, and the Manas is with the Vijñānas, habit-energy is always casting out [its seeds].

217. The Ālaya is released from the body, the Manas solicits the [various] paths of existence; the Vijñāna is deluded with something resembling an objective world, and perceiving it is befooled.³

218. What is seen is one's own mind, an objective world exists not; when one thus perceives [that existence is] an error,⁴ one even gets into suchness.

219. The [spiritual] realm attained by Dhyāna-devotees, karma, and the exalted state of the Buddhas—these three are beyond thought, they belong to the Vijñāna-⁵ realm that surpasses thought.

(294) 220. The past and the future, Nirvana, a personal ego, [space⁶], words, —of these I talk because of worldly convention, but ultimate reality is beyond the letter.

221. The two vehicles⁷ and the philosophers are one in their dependence on [wrong] views; they are confused in regard to Mind-only, and imagine an external existence.

222. The enlightenment attained by the Pratyekabuddhas, Buddhahood, Arhatship, and the seeing of the Buddhas—these are the secret seeds that grow in enlightenment; but it is accomplished in a dream.⁸

223. Māyā, Citta (mind), intelligence,¹ tranquillity, the dualism of being and non-being—where are these teachings? for whom? whence? wherefore? and of what signification? Pray tell me.

224. I teach such things as Māyā, being and non-being, etc., to those who are confused in the teaching of Mind-only; when birth and death are linked together [as one], qualified and qualifying are removed.

225. Another name for Manas is discrimination (vikalpa), and it goes along with the five Vijñānas; mind seeds (cittabīja) take their rise in the way images [appear in a mirror] or [waves roll on] the ocean-waters.

226. When the Citta, Manas, Vijñāna cease to rise, (295) then there is the attainment of the will-body and of the Buddha-stage.

227. Causation, the Dhātus, Skandhas, and the self-nature of all things, thought-construction, a personal soul, and mind—they are all like a dream, like a hair-net.

228. Seeing the world as like Māyā and a dream, one abides with the truth; the truth, indeed, is free from individual marks, removed from speculative reasoning.

229. The inner realisation attained by the wise always abides in a state of no-memory²; it leads the world to the truth as it is not confused with speculative reasoning.

230. When all false speculation subsides, error no more rises; as long as there is discriminative knowledge,³ error keeps on rising.

231. The world is empty and has no self-nature; to talk of permanency and impermanency is the view maintained by followers of birth and not by those of no-birth.

232. [The philosophers] imagine the world to be of oneness and otherness, of bothness [and not-bothness], and [to have risen] from Iśvara, or spontaneously, or from time, or from a supreme spirit, or other causal agency.

233. The Vijñāna which is the seed of transmigration is not evolved when this visible world is [truly] recognised; like a picture on a wall, it disappears when [its nature] is recognised.

(296) 234. Like figures in Māyā, people are born and die; in the same way the ignorant because of their stupidity [imagine] there really is bondage and release.

235. The duality of the world, inner and outer, and things subject to causation—by distinctly understanding what they are, one is established in imagelessness.

236. The mind (citta) is not separate from habit-energy, nor is it together with it; though enveloped with habit-energy the mind itself remains undifferentiated.

237. Habit-energy born of the Manovijñāna is like dirt wherewith the Citta, which is a perfectly white garment, is enveloped and fails to display itself.

238. As space is neither existent nor non-existent, so is the Ālaya in the body, I say; it is devoid of existence as well as of non-existence.

239. When the Manovijñāna is "turned over" (vyārṛitta), the Citta frees itself from turbidity; by understanding [the nature of] all things, the mind (citta) becomes Buddha, I say.

240. Removed from the triple continuity, devoid of being and non-being, released from the four propositions, all things (bhava) are always like Māyā.

241. The [first] seven stages are mind-born and belong to the two Svabhāvas; the remaining [two] stages and the Buddha-stage are the Nishpanna ("perfected knowledge").

(297) 242. The world of form, of no-form, and the world of desire, and Nirvana are in this body; all is told to belong to the realm of Mind.

243. As long as there is something attained, there is so much error rising; when the Mind itself is thoroughly understood, error neither rises nor ceases.

244. (Chapter II, verse 171.)

245. (Chapter II, verse 131.)

246. Two things are established by me; individual objects and realisation; there are four principles which constitute the dogmas of logic.

247. The error [or the world] is discriminated when it is seen as characterised with varieties of forms and figures; when names and forms are removed self-nature becomes pure which is the realm of the wise.

248. As long as discrimination is carried on, the Parikalpita (false imagination) continues to take place; but as what is imagined by discrimination has no reality, self-nature is [truly understood in] the realm of the wise.

249. The mind emancipated is truth constant and everlasting; the essence making up the self-nature of things (298) and suchness is devoid of discrimination.

250. There is reality (vastu); it is not to be qualified as pure, nor is it to be said defiled; since a mind purified leaves traces of defilement, but reality is the truth that is [absolutely] pure, belonging to the realm of the wise.

251. The world is born of causation; when it is regarded as removed from discrimination and as resembling Māyā, a dream, etc., one is emancipated.

252. Varieties of habit-energy growing out of error are united with the mind; they are perceived by the ignorant as objects externally existing; and the essence of mind (cittasya dharmatā) is not perceived.

253. The essence of mind is pure but not the mind that is born of error; error rises from error, therefore Mind is not perceived.

254. Delusion itself is no more than truth, truth is neither in Saṁskāra nor anywhere else, but it is where Saṁskāra is observed [in its proper bearings].

255. When the Samskrita is seen as devoid of qualified and qualifying, all predicates are discarded and thus the world is seen as of Mind itself.

256. When the [Yogin] enters upon Mind-only⁷, he will cease discriminating an external world; establishing himself where suchness has its asylum he will pass on to Mind-only.¹

257. By passing on to Mind-only, he passes on to the state of imagelessness; (299) when he establishes himself in the state of imagelessness, he sees not [even] the Mahāyāna.¹

258. The state of non-striving (anābhoga) is quiescent and thoroughly purified with the [original] vows; the most excellent knowledge of egolessness sees no [duality in the world] because of imagelessness.

259. Let him review the realm of mind, let him review the realm of knowledge, let him review the realm, with transcendental knowledge (prajñā), and he will not be confounded with individual signs.

260. Pain belongs to mind, accumulation is the realm of knowledge (jñāna); the [remaining] two truths² and the Buddha-stage are where transcendental knowledge functions.

261. The attainment of the fruits, Nirvana, and the eightfold path—when all these truths are thus understood, there is Buddha-knowledge thoroughly purified.

262. The eye, form, light, space, and attention (manas) —out of this [combination] there is the birth of consciousness (vijñāna) in people; consciousness is indeed born of the Ālaya.

263. There is nothing grasped, nor grasping, nor one who grasps; there are no names, no objects; those who carry on their groundless discriminative way of thinking lack intelligence.

264. Name is not born of meaning, nor is meaning born of name; (300) whether things are born of cause or of no-cause, such is discrimination; have no discrimination!

265. (Chapter II, verse 145.)

266. Imagining himself to be standing on a truth, he discourses on thought-construction; oneness is not attained in five ways, and thus the truth is abandoned.¹

267. Delusion (prapañca) is the evil one who is to be broken down; being and non-being is to be transcended; as one sees into [the truth of] egolessness, he has no longing for, no evil thought of, the world.

268. [The philosophers imagine] a permanently existing creator engaged in mere verbalism; highest truth is beyond words, the Dharma is seen when cessation takes place.

269. Leaning on the Ālaya for support the Manas is evolved; depending on the Citta and Manas the Vijñāna-system is evolved.

270. What is established by a proposition (samāropa) is a proposition; suchness is the essence of mind; when this is clearly perceived, the Yogin attains the knowledge of Mind-only.

271. Let one not think of the Manas, individual signs, and reality from the point of view of permanency and impermanency; nor let him think in his meditation of birth and no-birth.

272. They do not discriminate duality; the Vijñāna rises from Ālaya; (301) the oneness of meaning thus taking place is not to be known by a dually operating mind.

273. There is neither a speaker nor speaking nor emptiness, since the Mind is seen; but when the Mind is not seen there rises a net of philosophical doctrines.

274. There is no rising of the causation[-chain], nor are there any sense-organs; no Dhātus, no Skandhas, no greed, no Saṁskṛita.

275. There is no primarily working fire;² no working done, no effects produced, no final limit, no power, no deliverance, no bondage.

276. There is no state of being to be called neutral [or inexplicable] (avyākṛita); there is no duality of dharma and adharma; there is no time, no Nirvana, no dharma-essence.

277. And there are no Buddhas, no truths, no fruition, no causal agents, no perversion, no Nirvana, no passing away, no birth.

278. And then there are no twelve elements (aṅga), and no duality either, of limit and no-limit; because of the cessation of all the notions [that are cherished by the philosophers] I declare [there is] Mind-only.

279. The passions, path of karma, the body, creators, fruitions—they are like a fata morgana and a dream; they are like a city of the Gandharvas.

280. By maintaining the Mind-only, the idea of reality is removed; by establishing the Mind-only permanency and annihilation are seen [in their proper relationship].

281. There are no Skandhas in Nirvana, nor is there an ego-soul, nor any individual signs; (302) by entering into the Mind-only, one escapes from becoming attached to emancipation.

282. It is error (dosha) that causes the world to be externally perceived as it is manifested to people; Mind is not born of the visible world; therefore, Mind is not visible.

283. It is the habit-energy of people that brings out into view something resembling body, property, and abode; Mind is neither a being nor a non-being, it does not reveal itself because of habit-energy.

284. Dirt is revealed within purity but purity itself is not soiled; as when the sky is veiled with clouds, Mind is invisible [when defiled with error].

(303) 290. Mind is not born of the elements (bhūta), Mind is nowhere to be seen; it is the habit-energy of people that brings out into view body, property, and abode.¹

291. All that is element-made is not form and form is not element-made; the city of the Gandharvas, a dream, Māyā, an image, —these are not element-made.

292.¹

293.²

294. (Chapter III, verse 43.)

295. As reality and non-reality can be predicated of existence that originates from causation, the view of oneness and otherness definitely belongs to them.

296-302. (Chapter II, verses 184-190.)

(304) 303. There are three kinds of my Śrāvakas: the transformed, the born of the vows, and the Śrāvakas disengaged from greed and anger, and born of the Dharma.

304. There are three kinds, also, of the Bodhisattvas: those who have not yet reached Buddhahood, those who manifest themselves according to the thoughts of sentient beings, and those who are seen in the likeness of the Buddha.³

305-310. (Chapter II, verses 191-196.)

(305) 311. It is a man's mind that is perceived as something resembling (saṁnibham) the form of a star, a cloud, a moon, a sun; and what is thus perceived by them is born of habit-energy.

312. The elements are devoid of selfhood, there is neither qualified nor qualifying in them; if all element-made objects were the elements, form (rūpa) would be element-made.

313. The elements are uniform, there are no element-made objects in the elements; the elements are the cause; the earth, water, etc. are the result.

314. Substances and forms of thought-construction are like things born of Māyā; (306) they appear like a dream and a city of the Gandharvas, they are a mirage and a fifth.¹

315. There are five kinds of the Icchantika, so with the families which are five; there are five vehicles and no-vehicle, and six kinds of Nirvana.

316. The Skandhas are divided into twenty-five, and there are eight kinds of form, twenty-four Buddhas, and there are two kinds of Buddha-sons.

317. There are one hundred and eight doctrines, and three kinds of Śrāvakas; there is one land of the Buddhas, and so with the Buddha, there is one.

318. Likewise with emancipation; there are three forms, four kinds of mind-streams, six kinds of my egolessness, and also four kinds of knowledge.

319. Disjoined from causal agencies, removed from faulty theories, is the knowledge of self-realisation, which is the Mahāyāna, immovable and highest.

320. Of birth and no-birth there are eight and nine kinds; whether the attainment is instantaneous or successive, it is one realisation.

321. There are eight worlds of formlessness; Dhyāna is divided into six; and with the Pratyekabuddhas and Buddha-sons, there are seven forms of emancipation.

322. There are no such things as the past, present, and future; there is neither permanency nor impermanency; doing, work, and fruition—all is no more than a dream-event.

323. From beginning to end the Buddhas, Śrāvakas, and Buddha-sons have never been born; (307) the mind is removed from what is visible, being always a Māyā-like existence.

324. Thus the abode in the Tushita heaven, the conception, the birth, the leaving, the worldly life, the revolving of the wheel, the wandering about in all the countries. [A Buddha] is seen [doing all these things], but he is not one born of the womb.

325. Thus, for the sake of sentient beings who are wandering and moving about from one place to another, emancipation is taught, the truth, the knowledge of the [Buddha-]land, and the rising of things by causation.

326. Worlds, forests, islands, egolessness, philosophers, wanderings, Dhyānas, the vehicles, the Ālaya, the attainments, the inconceivable realm of fruition,

327. Families of the moon and stars, families of kings, abodes of the gods, families of the Yakshas and Gandharvas, —they are all born of karma and are born of desire.

328. Inconceivable transformation-death is [still] in union with habit-energy; when interrupted, death is put a stop to, the net of passions is destroyed.

329. [The Bodhisattva] is not to keep¹ money, grain, gold, land, goods, kine and sheep, slaves, nor horses, elephants, etc.

330. He is not to sleep on a perforated couch, nor is he to smear the ground with mud;² he is not to have a bowl made of gold, silver, brass, or copper.

331. Let the Yogin have white cloth dyed in dark blue or brownish-red with cow-dung, or mud, or fruits, or leaves.

(308) 332. The Yogin is permitted to carry a bowl of full Magadha measure made of either stone, or clay, or iron, or shell, or quartz.

333. The Yogin whose final aim is to discipline himself may carry a curved knife four fingers long for cutting cloth; he who is intent on disciplining himself may not learn the science of mechanics.

334. The Yogin who disciplines himself in the exercises is not to be engaged in buying and selling: [if necessary] let the attendant see to it—these are the regulations I teach.

335. Thus, guarding his senses, let him have an exact understanding in the meaning of the Sutras and the Vināya, and let him not associate with men of the world, such I call the Yogin.

336. Let the Yogin prepare his abode in an empty house, or a cemetery, or under a tree, or in a cavern, or among the straw, or in an open place.

337. Let [the Yogin] dress himself in three garments, whether in the cemetery or any other place; if anyone should voluntarily give him a garment—let him accept it.

338. When he goes about begging food, let him look ahead not more than the length of a yoke; let him conduct himself in the way bees treat flowers.

339. When the Yogin finds himself in a large company, in the confusion of a company, or with Bhikshunīs [women-mendicants], this is not a desirable relationship for Yogins; for it means to share a livelihood with them.

340. The Yogin, whose aim is to discipline himself in the exercise, (309) is not to approach for his food kings, princes, ministers of state, or persons of rank.

341. In houses where a death or a birth has taken place, or in the houses of friends and relatives, or where Bhikshus and Bhikshunīs are mixed together, it is not proper for the Yogins to take their food.

342. In the monasteries food is always regularly cooked, and when it is purposely prepared [somewhere else], it is not proper for the Yogins to take their food.

343. The Yogin should regard the world as removed from birth and death, as exempt from the alternation of being and non-being, though it is seen in the aspect of qualified and qualifying.

344. When birth [and death] is not discriminated, the Yogin before long will attain the Samādhi, the powers, the psychic faculties, and the self-mastery.

345. The Yogin should not cherish the thought that the world exists from such causal agents as atoms, time, or supreme soul; nor that it is born of causes and conditions.

346. From self-discrimination the world is imagined, which is born of varieties of habit-energy; let the Yogin perceive existence as always like unto Māyā and a dream.

347. The [true] insight is always removed from assertions as well as from negations; let not [the Yogin] discriminate the triple world which appears as body, property, and abode.

348. Not thinking how to obtain food and drink, but holding his body upright, let him pay homage over and over again to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

349. Gathering truth from the Vināya, from the teachings in the Sutras, let the Yogin have a clear insight into the five Dharmas, Mind itself, and egolessness.

(310) 350. The Yogin should have a distinct understanding of the undefiled truth of self-realisation and as to what the stages [of Bodhisattvahood] and the Buddha-stage are and be anointed on the great lotus [seat].

351. Wandering through all the paths, he becomes averse to existence, and directing his steps toward some quiet cemetery he will begin various practices.

352-354. (Chapter II, verses 162-164.)

355. [According to the philosophers] there is a reality born of no-cause, neither permanent nor subject to annihilation, and removed from the alternatives of being and non-being, and this is imagined by them to be the Middle Path.

356. They imagine the theory of no-cause but their no-cause is nihilistic; as they fail to understand [the real nature of] external objects they destroy the Middle Path.

357. The attachment to existence is not abandoned for the fear of being nihilistic, and they try to teach the Middle Path by means of assertion and negation.

(311) 358. When Mind-only is understood, external objects are abandoned and discrimination no more takes place; here the Middle Path is reached.

359. There is Mind-only, there is no visible world; as there is no visible world, [Mind] is not risen;¹ this is taught by myself and other [Tathagatas] to be the Middle Path.

360. Birth and no-birth, being and non-being, —these are all empty; there is no self-nature in all things; the duality is not to be cherished.

361. Where there is no possibility of discrimination taking its rise, the ignorant imagine there is emancipation; but as there is no understanding [in them] as to the rise of a mind, how can they destroy their attachment to duality!¹

362. As it is understood that there is nothing but what is seen of the Mind, the attachment to duality is destroyed; knowledge, indeed, is the abandonment, not the destruction of the discriminated.

363. As it becomes thoroughly known that there is nothing but what is seen of the Mind, discrimination ceases; as discrimination ceases, suchness is removed from intellection (citta).²

364. If a man, seeing the rise [of all things], yet perceives that Nirvana is devoid of the faults of the philosophers, this is the Nirvana as held by the wise, because of its not being annihilation.

365. To realise this is said by myself and [other] Buddhas to be [the attainment of] Buddhahood; if there is any other discrimination one is committed to the philosophers' views.

366. Nothing is born, and yet things are being born; nothing dies and yet things are passing away; (312) all over millions of worlds what is seen simultaneously is like a lunar reflection in water.

367. Unity being transformed into plurality, rain falls and fire burns; as a mind is changed into [many] thoughts, they declare that there is Mind-only.

368. Mind is of Mind-only, no-mind is also born of Mind; when understood varieties of forms and appearances are of Mind-only.

369. By assuming Buddha[-forms], Śrāvaka-forms, Pratyekabuddha-appearances, and varieties of other forms, they declare Mind-only.

370. For the sake of beings [the Buddhas] show forms by means of no-form, from the world of no-form and of form down to the hells where hell-dwellers are; and all this originates from Mind-only.

371. When a [spiritual] revulsion [takes place in them], they will attain the Samādhi called Māyā-like, the will-body, the ten stages, the self-mastery.

372. On account of self-discrimination which causes errors and sets false reasonings in motion, the ignorant are bound up with ideas in what they see, hear, think, or understand.

373. (Chapter II, verse 197.)

374. (Chapter II, verse 198.)

(313) 375-378. (Chapter II, verses 199-202.)

379. The Buddhas in [every] land are those of transformation, where [the doctrine of] the one vehicle and the triple vehicle is taught; I never enter into Nirvana, for all things are empty being devoid of birth [and death].

380. There are thirty-six different Buddhas, and in each ten different ones; in accordance with the thought of all beings they share their lands.

381. When existence is discriminated there are varieties of appearances; in like manner the Dharma-Buddha's world may appear in its multiplicity, which in reality exists not.

382. The Dharma-Buddha is the true Buddha and the rest are his transformations; according to a continuous flow of their own seeds, sentient beings see their Buddha-forms.¹

383. When [the mind is] bound up with error and appearance, discrimination is set in motion; (314) suchness is no other than discrimination and discrimination is no other than appearance.

384. The Self-nature Buddha, the Enjoyment Buddha, the Transformation Buddha, the five Transformation Buddhas, and a group of thirty-six Buddhas—they are all of the Self-nature Buddha.²

385-(315-316)-406. (Chapter II, verses 101-123, with verse-divisions occasionally varying.)

407. Owing to seeds of habit-energy [that grow from the recognition] of an outer world, discrimination takes place; and thereby the relativity aspect¹ is grasped, and that which is grasped is variously imagined.²

(317) 408. When one depending upon the mind recognises an external world, error is produced; error takes place from these two [causes], and there is no third cause.

409. Depending on that and from that cause error is produced; the six (indryas), the twelve (āyatanas), the eighteen (dhātus), are thus said by me to be of the Mind.

410. [When it is understood that things are because of] the combination of self-seeds and an external world (grāhya), the ego-attachment is abandoned.

411. Because of the Ālayavijñāna the Vijñāna[-system] is evolved; because of inner support there is something externally appearing.

412. The unintelligent imagine the Saṁskṛita and Asaṁskṛita to be permanent, while they are not, as they are like the stars, a hair-net, an echo, or things seen in a dream.

413. [As they are] like the city of the Gandharvas, a mirage, or Māyā; they are not, yet they are perceived [as if they were real]; so is the relativity aspect of existence (paratantra).

414. By means of a triple mentality I teach the self, senses, and their behaviour; but the Citta, Manas, and Vijñāna are devoid of self-nature.

415. The Citta, Manas, and Vijñāna, the twofold egolessness, the five Dharmas, the [three] Svabhāvas, — these belong to the realm of the Buddhas.

416. Habit-energy as cause is one, but as far as form (lakshaṇa) goes it is triple; (318) this is the way in which a picture of one colour appears variously on the wall.

417. The twofold egolessness, the Citta, Manas, and Vijñāna, the five Dharmas, the [three] Svabhāvas—they do not belong to my essence.¹

418. When the Citta-form is put aside, the Manas and Vijñāna removed, and the [five] Dharmas, and the [three] Svabhāvas abandoned, then one attains the essence of Tathagatahood.

419. The pure [essence of Tathagatahood] is not obtained by body, speech, and thought; the essence of Tathagatahood (gotraṁ tāthāgatam) being pure is devoid of doings.

420. To be pure by means of the psychic faculties, and the self-mastery, to be embellished with the Samādhis and the powers, to be provided with varieties of the will-body—these belong to the pure essence of Tathagatahood.

421. To be undefiled in inner realisation, to be released from cause and form (hetulakshaṇa), to attain the eighth stage and the Buddha-stage—this is the essence of Tathagatahood.

422. The Far-Going, the Good-Wisdom, the Law-Cloud, and the Tathagata-stage—they belong to the essence of Buddhahood, while the rest are taken up by the two vehicles.

423. Since sentient beings are differentiated as to their mentality and individuality, the Buddhas who have achieved self-mastery over their minds teach the ignorant the seven stages.

424. At the seventh stage no faults arise as to body, speech, and thought; at the eighth, the final abode [of consciousness], it seems to him like having crossed a great river in a dream.

(319) 425. At the fifth and the eighth stage the Bodhisattvas acquire proficiency in mechanical arts and philosophy and attain kingship in the triple world.

426. Birth and no-birth, emptiness and no-emptiness, self-nature and no-self-nature, —these are not discriminated [by the knowing one]; in Mind-only [no such things] obtain.

427. To discriminate, saying "This is true, this is true, this is false," is teaching meant for the Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas, and not for the sons of the Buddha.

428. There is neither being-and-non-being, nor the aspect of momentariness, there are neither thought-constructions (prajñapti) nor substances (dravya); nothing obtains in Mind-only.

429. According to conventional truth (saṁvṛiti), things are, but not in the highest truth; to be confused in things not having self-nature—this belongs to conventional truth.

430. I establish thought-constructions where all things are non-existent; whatever expressions and experiences that belong to the ignorant are not of the truth as it is (tattva).

431. Things born of words seem to belong to an objective realm; but when it is perceived that they are born of words, they become non-existent.

432. As no pictures are separable from the wall, no shadow from the post, so are no [Vijñāna-]waves stirred when the Ālaya[-ocean] is pure [and quiet].

433. (Chapter VI, verse 4.)

(320) 434. It is taught that from the Dharma[-Buddha] comes the Nishyanda, and from the Nishyanda the Nirmita;¹ these are the original Buddhas, the rest are transformed bodies.

435-436. (Chapter II, verses 125-126.)

437. (Chapter II, verses 123 and 129.)

438-439. (Chapter II, verses 127-128.)

440. Do not discriminate, saying "Here is emptiness," or saying again, "Here is no emptiness"; both being and non-being are merely imagined, for there is no reality corresponding to the imagined.

441. The ignorant imagine that things originate from the accumulation of qualities, or atoms, or substances; but there is not a single atom in existence, and, therefore, there is no external world.

442. Forms seen as external are due to the imagination of people, they are nothing but the Mind itself; (321) there is nothing to be seen externally, and, therefore, there is no external world.

443-444. (Chapter III, verses 157-158.)

445-447. (Chapter II, verses 205-207.)

448. (Chapter II, verse 209.)

449. (Chapter II, verse 208.)

450. (Chapter II, verse 210.)

(322) 451. As the elephant who is immersed in deep mud is unable to move about, so the Śrāvakas, who are deeply intoxicated with the liquor of Samādhi, stand still.

452. (Chapter II, verse 135.)

453. Space, the hare's horns, and a barren woman's child are unrealities, and yet they are spoken of [as if real]; so are all things imagined.

454. The world originates from habit-energy, there is nothing whatever to be designated as being and non-being, nor is there its negation; those who see into this are emancipated, as they understand the egolessness of things.

455. [Of the three Svabhāvas] one is Parikalpita, mutuality is Paritantra, and suchness is Parinishpanna; this is always taught by me in the sutra.

456. (Chapter II, verse 172.) 457-458. (Chapter II, verses 203-204.)

459. The Citta, discrimination, thought-construction, Manas, Vijñāna, (323) the Ālaya, all that which sets the triple world in motion, are synonyms of Mind.

460. Life, warmth, the Vijñāna, the Ālaya, the vital principle, Manas, Manovijñāna, —these are the names for discrimination.

461. The body is maintained by the Citta, the Manas always cognitates, the [Mano-]vijñāna together with the Vijñānas cuts the world in pieces as objects of Citta.

462-464. (Chapter II, verses 3-5.)

465-469 (324). (Chapter II, verses 15-19.)

470-471. (Chapter III, verses 7-8.)

472. [Some say that] an ego-soul really is, which is separate from the Skandha-appearance, or that the Skandhas really exist; [but] there is after all no ego-soul in them.

473. When one's doings, together with the passions primary and secondary, are brought to light, one perceives the world to be the Mind itself and is released from all sufferings.

474-487 (325-326). (Chapter II, verses 20-33.)

488. The extinction-knowledge attained by the Śrāvakas, the birth of the Buddhas, and [that] of the Pratyekabuddhas and Bodhisattvas—all takes place by getting rid of the passions.

489. No external forms are in existence, what is external is what is seen of the Mind itself; as the ignorant fail to understand as regards the Mind itself, they imagine the Saṁskṛita [as real].

490. The insight that pluralities are of the Mind itself is withheld from the bewildered who, not knowing what the nature of the external world is, are under bondage to [the idea] of causation, and the fourfold proposition.

491. There are no reasons, no statements, no illustrations, no syllogistic members to the intelligent who know that the external world is the reflection of their own Mind.

492. Do not discriminate by discrimination, to discriminate is characteristic of the Parikalpita (imagination); depending on the imagination, discrimination is evolved.

493. One's habit-energy is the origin [of all things] which are mutually and uninterruptedly knitted together; (327) as dualism is [primarily] external to people's minds, there is no rising of it.

494. Because of mind and what belongs to it, there is discrimination, [the ignorant] are comfortably established in the triple world; that an external world of appearances is evolved is due to the discrimination of self-nature.

495. Because of the combination of appearances and seeds there are the twelve Āyatanas; because of the combination of subject and object,¹ I talk of doings.

496. Like images in a mirror, like a hair-net, to the dim-eyed, the mind to the ignorant is seen enveloped in habit-energy.

497. Discrimination goes on in the world imagined by self-discrimination; but there is no external world as it is discriminated by the philosophers.

498. Like the ignorant who not recognising the rope take it for a snake, people imagine an external world, not knowing that it is of Mind itself.

499. Thus the rope in its own nature is neither the one nor the other; but owing to the fault of not recognising Mind itself, people go on with their discrimination over the rope.

500-501. (Chapter III, verses 82-83.)

(328) 502. While the imagined is being imagined, the imagination itself has no reality; seeing that discrimination has no reality, how does it [really] take place?

503. Form (rūpam, or matter) has no reality of its own, as is the case with a jar, a garment, etc.; in the world, however, which has no real existence, discrimination is carried on.

504. If people discriminate erroneously regarding the Saṁskṛita since the beginningless past, how is the self-nature of beings an error? Pray tell me, O Muni.

505. The nature of all beings is non-existent, and what is seen [as external] is nothing but the Mind; when the Mind itself is not perceived discrimination is evolved.

506. When it is said that there are no such things imagined as the ignorant imagine, it means that there is something which is not recognised by the intellect.

507. If it is said that something exists with the wise, this is not what is discriminated by the ignorant; if the wise and the ignorant walk the same way, that which [is real] with the wise must be a falsehood.

508. To the wise there is nothing erroneous, therefore their mind is undefiled; the ignorant whose mind is uninterruptedly defiled goes on imagining the imagined.

509. It is like the mother who fetches for her child a fruit from the air, saying, "O son, don't cry, pick the fruit, there are so many of them."

510. In like manner I make all beings covet varieties of imagined fruit (329) whereby I [lead them to] the truth that goes beyond the antithesis of being and non-being.

511. The being [which is realised by the wise] having never been in existence is not united with causation; it is primarily unborn and yet born, while its essence is not obtainable.¹

512. The unobtainable essence (alabdhātmaka) is indeed unborn, and yet it is nowhere separated from causation; nor are things as they are for this moment anywhere separated from causation.

513. When the visible world is thus approached, it is anywhere neither existent nor non-existent, nor is it not-existent-and-non-existent; putting itself under causation, reality is not the subject of discrimination to the wise.

514. The philosophers cherishing wrong ideas and the ignorant have theories of oneness and otherness; they understand not that the world, subject to causation, is like Māyā and a dream.

515. The supreme Mahāyāna is beyond the realm of words, its meaning is well elucidated by me, but the ignorant do not comprehend.

516. [The doctrines] thus advanced by the Śrāvakas and philosophers are tainted with jealousy; they go astray from reality, because their doctrines are false theorisings.

517. Appearance, self-nature, form (saṁsthānam), and name, —depending on these four conditions all kinds of imagination are carried on.

518. Those who believe in the oneness or the manyness [of cause], those who imagine Brahma god or the authority of Iśvara, (330) those who take the sun and the moon for an element—they are not my sons.¹

519. Those who are equipped with a noble insight and are thoroughly conversant with the suchness of reality, know well how to turn over ideas and reach the other shore of the Vijñāna.

520. This is the seal of emancipation belonging to those sons who [have embraced] my teaching; it is released from existence and non-existence, removed from coming and going.

521. If karma disappears by causing a transformation in the world of matter (rūpa) and the Vijñānas, permanence and impermanence no more obtain, and transmigration ceases.

522. When this transformation takes place, the idea of matter is shaken off, space-relations are banished, but karma released from the fault of being and non-being abides with the Ālaya.

523. While matter and Vijñānas pass into annihilation, karma abides with the being of the Ālaya which is not destroyed, whereby there is the union of matter and Vijñānas.

524. If people's karma which is in combination with them is destroyed, karma-succession being thus destroyed, there will be no transmigration, no attainment of Nirvana.

525. If karma is destroyed together with matter and Vijñānas, and yet is subject to transmigration, matter will then subsist as it differs in no way from karma.

526. Mind (citta) and matter are neither different nor not-different from discrimination; there is no distinction of all things as they are removed from being and non-being.

(331) 527. The Parikalpita and the Paratantra are mutually dependent and are not to be differentiated; thus with matter and impermanency, they are mutually conditioning.

528. Apart from oneness and otherness the [Pari-]kalpita is not knowable; so with, matter and impermanency; how can one speak of their being and non-being?

529. When the Parikalpita is thoroughly understood [as to its nature], the Paratantra is not born; when the Paratantra is understood, the Parikalpita becomes suchness.

530. When the Parikalpita is destroyed my Dharma-eye (netrī)¹ is destroyed; and there takes place within my teaching [the controversy of] assertion and negation.

531. In this way, then, and at that time, there will rise disparagers of the Dharma, none of whom are worth talking with as they are destroyers of my Dharma-eye.

532. As they are not taken into the company of the intelligent, they abandon the life of the Bhikshu; and as they destroy the Parikalpita, they are engaged in controversies asserting and negating.

533. As their insight is bound up with being and non-being, what appears to their imagination resembles a hairnet, Māyā, a dream, the Gandharva's city, a mirage, etc.

534. He who studies under the Buddhas may not live together with those who cherish dualism and are destroyers of others.

535. But if there are Yogins who see a being separated from the imagination (332) and released from existence and non-existence, he [i. e. a Buddhist] may associate with them [i. e. such Yogins].

536. It is like a mine in the earth producing gold and precious stones; it harbours no cause of strife in it, and yet it furnishes people with various means of subsistence.

537. Likewise, though the essence (gotra)² of all beings appears various, it has nothing to do with karma; as the visible world is non-existent, there is no karma, nor is the path born of karma.

538. As is understood by the wise, all things have no self-being, but according to the discriminations of the ignorant things appear to exist.

539. If things are not existent as discriminated by the ignorant, all things being non-existent, there are no defilements for any one.

540. Because of varieties of defilement cherished by beings there is transmigration, and the sense-organs are completed; being bound up by ignorance and desire there is the evolution of beings possessed of a body.

541. If beings are not existent as discriminated by the ignorant, there will be no evolving of the sense-organs in these beings, which is not the Yogin's [view].

542. If beings themselves are not and yet they become the cause of transmigration, then there will be an emancipation which is independent of people's strivings.

543. If beings are non-existent to you, how can there be any distinction between the wise and the ignorant? Nor will there be anything characterising the wise who are disciplining themselves for the triple emancipation.

(333) 544. The Skandhas, personal soul, doctrines, individuality and generality, no-signs, causation, and senses —of these I talk for the sake of the Śrāvakas.

545. No-cause, Mind-only, the powers (vibhūti), the stages [of Bodhisattvahood], the inner realisation, pure suchness—of these I talk for the sake of the Bodhisattvas.

546. In the time to come there will be disparagers of my teaching who, putting on the Kāshāya robe, will talk about being-and-non-being and its works.

547. Things born of causation are non-existent—this is the realm of the wise; a thing imagined has no reality, yet things are imagined by the theorisers.

548. In the time to come there will be [a class of ignorant people headed by] Kaṇabhuj; they will talk about the non-existence of work, and will ruin the people with their evil theories.

549. The world is originated from atoms, atoms are causeless, and there are nine permanent substances—such evil theories they teach.

550. [They say that] substances are produced by substances, and so qualities by qualities; and they destroy the self-being of all things [saying that] it is another being.

551. If it is said that originally the world was not and then evolved, it must have had a beginning; but my statement is that there is no primary limit to transmigration.

(334) 552. If all the innumerable things in the triple world were not and then evolved, nobody would doubt if horns grow on a bitch, or a she-camel, or a donkey.

553. If the eye, form (rupa), and Vijñāna were not and now they are, straw-mats, crowns, cloth, etc. would be produced from lumps of clay.

554. A straw-mat is not found in cloth, nor cloth in a straw matting; why is it that by some combination anything is not produced from any other thing?

555. That life and the body so called were not and then evolved; all such controversies as this have been declared by me [as untrue].

556. The statement has been made first [against the philosophers] and their views are warded off; their views being warded off, I will make my own statement.

557. While I [first] make a statement in behalf of the philosophical systems, let not my disciples be disturbed by [my] drawing on the dualism of being and non-being.

558. That the world is born of a supreme soul and that changes are due to the qualities, —this is what the school of Kapita teaches its disciples; but it is not the right way of thinking.

559. There is no reality, no non-reality, nor is there any [world of] causation conditioned by causation; as there is nothing to be characterised as causation, non-reality never has its rise.

560. My statement is free from the alternatives of being and non-being, is removed from cause and condition, has nothing to do with birth and destruction, and is removed from qualified [and qualifying].

561. When the world is regarded as like Māyā and a dream, exempt from cause and condition, (335) and eternally causeless, there is no rising of imagination.

562. When existence is always regarded as resembling the Gandharva's [city], a mirage, a hair-net, and as free from the alternatives of being and non-being, removed from cause and condition, and causeless, then the mind flows clear of defilements.

563. [The philosophers may say that] if there is no external reality, Mind-only too will be non-existent; how can Mind exist without objective reality? The [doctrine of] Mind-only¹ [therefore] is untenable.

564. [Further they may say that] on account of an objective world of realities, people's minds are aroused; how can there be a mind without a cause? [The doctrine of] Mind-only¹ is [therefore] untenable.

565. But suchness and Mind-only¹ are realities belonging to the teaching of the wise; neither those who deny nor those who affirm comprehend my teachings.

566. If a mind is said to evolve on account of perceived and perceiving, this is the mind that is of the world; then the Mind-only obtains not.

567. When it is said that there is something resembling body, property, and abode produced in a dream-like manner, a mind, indeed, is seen under the aspect of duality; but Mind itself is not dualistic.

568. As a sword cannot cut itself, or as a finger cannot touch its own tip, Mind cannot see itself.

569. In the state of imagelessness there is no reality, no Parikalpita, no Paratantra, no five Dharmas, no twofold mind.²

(336) 570. The dualism of giving-birth and being-born belongs to the nature of things; when I speak of the giving-birth of things that have no self-nature, it is on account of a hidden meaning.

571. If multiplicities of forms are born of imagination, there will be something of objectivity in [the notion of] space, in [that of] a hare's horns.

572. When an objective reality is of mind, this reality does not belong to imagination; but reality born of imagination is something other than mind and is unobtainable.

573. In a transmigration that has no beginning, an objective world nowhere obtains; when there is no nourishing mind, where can an objective semblance take its rise?

574. If there is any growth from nothingness, horns will grow on a hare; let no discrimination take place, thinking that something grows out of nothing.

575. As there is nothing existing now, so there was nothing existing previously; where there is no objective world, how can a mind which is bound up with an objective world take its rise?

576. Suchness, emptiness, [reality-]limit, Nirvana, the Dharmadhātu, no-birth of all things, self-being—these characterise the highest truth.

577. The ignorant, who cherish [the notion of] being and non-being, by imagining causes and conditions, are unable to understand that all things are causeless and unborn.

578. The Mind is manifested; there is no objective world of pluralities whose cause is in the beginningless past; (337) if there is no objective world since the beginningless past, how does individualisation¹ ever come to exist?

579. If anything grows from nothingness, the poor will become rich; when there is no objective world, how can a mind be born? Pray tell me, O Muni.

580. As all this is causeless, there is neither mind nor objective world; as the mind is not born, the triple world is devoid of doings.

581-613 (338-341). (Chapter III, verses 86-117.)

614. The statement that a hare has no horns is made out of the reasonings concerning a jar, a garment, a crown, and a horn; where there is no complete cause, there is no [real] existence; thus you should know.

615. There is non-existence when proof of existence [is produced]; non-existence does not prove non-existence; existence, indeed, looks for non-existence, they look for each other and are mutually conditioned.

616. If it is thought, again, that something appears depending on something else, the something thus depended upon must be causeless, but there is nothing that is causeless.

617. If [it is said that] there is another reality which is depended on, then this must have still another [reality to depend on]; this is committing the fault of non-finality; may it not end in reaching nowhere?

618. Depending on leaves, pieces of wood, etc., the magical charm is effected; in like manner, pluralities of objects depending on some [other] objects are manifested to the people.

619. The magical net is neither the leaves nor the pieces of wood, nor the pebbles; (342) it is owing to the magician that the magic scene is perceived by the people.

620. Thus when something [of magic] depending on some objects is destroyed, dualism ceases at the moment of seeing; how will there be anything of discrimination?

621. The discriminated by discrimination exist not, and discrimination itself does not obtain; discrimination being thus unobtainable, there is neither transmigration nor Nirvana.

622. Discrimination now being unobtainable, it is not aroused; discrimination not being aroused, how can a mind rise? Mind-only then is not tenable.

623. When thought is divided into many, the teaching lacks in validity; and owing to the absence of validity, there is no emancipation, nor is there multitudinousness of objects.

624. There is no such objective world as is discriminated by the ignorant; when the Mind goes astray on account of habit-energy, it manifests itself like images.

625. All things are unborn and have nothing to do with being and non-being: all is nothing but Mind and is delivered from discrimination.

626. For the ignorant things are said to be causal, but not for the wise; when the self-nature of Mind is liberated, it becomes pure where the wise have their abode.

627. Thus, the Samkhya, the Vaiśeshika, the naked philosophers, the Brahmin theologians, followers of Śiva, (343) cherishing views based on being and non-being, are destitute of the truth of solitude.

628. Having no self-nature, being unborn, being empty, being like Māyā, being free from defilements—to whom is this taught by the Buddhas as well as by yourself?

629. For the sake of the Yogins who are pure in mind, spiritual discipline (yoga) is taught by the Buddhas who are free from theories and speculations, and such is also proclaimed by me.

630. If all this is the Mind, where does the world stand? Why are men seen coming and going on earth?

631. As a bird moves in the air according to its fancy without abiding anywhere, without depending on anything, as if moving on earth;

632. So people with all their discrimination move along, walk about in the Mind itself like a bird moving in the air.¹

633. Tell me how something looking like body, property, and abode rises from the Mind. How does appearance take its rise? Why is Mind-only? Pray tell me.

634. Body, property, and abode are appearances and their rise is due to habit-energy; appearances are born of irrationality (ayukta), their rise is due to discrimination.

635. Objectivity discriminated makes the world, a mind takes its rise from [recognising] objectivity; when it is clearly perceived that what is seen is the Mind itself, discrimination ceases.

(344) 636. When discrimination is seen [as to its true nature, it is noticed that] name and sense are to be disjoined (visaṁyukta),² then both knowledge and knower will be discarded, and one is released of the Saṁskṛita.

637. To abandon both name and sense, this is the way of all the Buddhas;¹ those who wish to get enlightened in any other way will not attain enlightenment for themselves, nor for others.

638. (Chapter VI, verse 5.)

639. When the world is seen detached from knowledge and knowability, there is no meaning to it, and discrimination ceases to go forth.

640. By seeing into [the nature of] Mind there is the cessation of discrimination as regards works and words; by not seeing into [the true nature of] Self-mind, discrimination evolves.

641. Four of the Skandhas are formless (arūpiṇa), they cannot be numbered; the elements differ from one another, how can they produce such pluralities of forms (rūpa)?

642. When [the notion of] individuality is abandoned, we have no elements, primary and secondary; if [we say that] form is produced by other qualities, why not by the Skandhas?²

643. When one is emancipated from the Āyatanas and Skandhas, seeing them as free of individual signs, then the mind is liberated because of seeing the egolessness of things.

(345) 644. From the differentiation of an objective world and the senses, the Vijñāna is set in motion in eight ways; thus the aspects [of self-nature]³ are three, but when imagelessness obtains they all cease.

645. When dualism is cherished, the Ālaya sets up in the Manas the consciousness of an ego and its belongings, and the Vijñānas; when this is penetratingly perceived, they all subside.

646. When the immovable is seen, oneness and otherness being discarded, then there will be no more discriminating of the two, ego and its belongings.

647. Nothing evolving, there is no growth, nor is there any cause to set the Vijñānas in action; work and cause being removed, there is cessation and nothing is aroused.

648. Pray tell me the why of discrimination, of Mind-only, and of the world. Why is the world said to be disjoined from causes, discarding qualified and qualifying?

649. The Mind is seen as manifold when visible forms are discriminated; as it is not clearly perceived that what is seen is of the Mind, there is something other than the Mind, because [the dualism of] a mind and an external world is clung to.

650. When [the world] is not understood with intelligence there is nihilism; [but] the Mind being asserted, how is it that this does not give rise to realism (astitva-dṛishṭi)?

651. Discrimination is neither existent nor nonexistent, therefore, realism does not arise; as it is clearly understood that what is seen is of Mind-only, no discrimination is set to work.

652. Discrimination not rising, there is a turning-back (parāvṛitti), and there is no dependence on anything; (346) when things are regarded as subject to causation, the fourfold proposition obstructs [the way of truth].

653. Different expressions are distinguished but none is verifiable; in all these there is a necessary implication which rises from the notion of a primary causal agency.¹

654. By maintaining the combination of causes and conditions, a primary causal agency is warded off; when a chain of causes is held to be impermanent, the fault of permanency is avoided.

655. There is neither birth nor destruction where the ignorant see impermanency; nothing is ever destroyed, what is seen [as real] is due to [the idea of] a causal agency. ² How is the unseen [born]? By what does the impermanent world come into existence?

656. (Second line only, Chapter III, verse 62.)

657-662 (347). (Chapter III, verses 62-68.)

663. The gods, the Asuras, mankind, the animals, hungry ghosts, and Yama's abode—these six paths of existence are enumerated, where sentient beings are born.

664. According to one's karma, be it superior, inferior, or middling, one is born in these [six] paths; guarding all that is good, [one will attain] an excellent emancipation.

665. The company of the Bhikshus is taught by you that there is birth and death at every moment; pray tell me its meaning.

666. As one form changes into another, so is the mind born and broken up; thence I tell my disciples how uninterruptedly and momentarily birth- [and-death] takes place.

667. In like manner discrimination also rises and disappears with every single form; where there is discrimination, there are living beings; outside of it there are no living beings.

668. At every moment there is a disjunction, this is called causation; (348) when one is liberated from the notion of form (rūpa), there is neither birth nor death.

669. When dualism is upheld, there rise causation-born and no-causation-born, ignorance and suchness, etc.; not to be dualistic is suchness.

670. When causation[-born] and no-causation-born [are distinguished], things are differentiated, there are permanency, etc., there are effect, cause, and causation.

671. As long as the notion of cause and effect is upheld, there is no difference between the philosophers; this is your teaching as well as that of [other] Buddhas; O Mahāmuni, such are not the wise ones.

672. Within the body, measuring one vyāna,¹ there is a world; the cause of its rising, the attaining of cessation, and the path (pratipad)—this I teach to sons of the Victor.

673. By clinging to the three Svabhāvas, perceived [or grasped] and perceiving [or grasping] are manifested; the simple-minded discriminate objects as belonging to the world and to the super-world.

674. From the viewpoint of relativity the notion of Svabhāva has been upheld, but in order to ward off one-sided views the Svabhāva is not to be discriminated.

675. As faults and defects are sought, the principle is not established, nor is the mind [properly] set to work; this is due to the rising of dualistic notions; non-duality is suchness.

(349) 676. [If one should think that] the Vijñāna, etc. are originated by ignorance, desire, and karma, this is wrong, for the fault of non-finality is committed; this being committed, the rise of the world becomes impossible.

677. The fourfold destruction of things is told by the unenlightened; discrimination is said to rise in two ways; [in fact,] there is no existence, no non-existence. When one is released from the fourfold proposition, one abandons dualism.

678. Discrimination may rise in two ways, but when it is seen [in its true nature], it will never rise [again]; for in all things not being born there is the awakening of intelligence; but¹ where there is the birth of things, this is owing to discrimination; let one not discriminate.

679.² Pray tell me, O Lord, about the truth in order to check dualistic views, [so that] I and others may not cherish the [dualism of] being and non-being.

680. And [thus] we may keep ourselves away from the philosophers' teachings and also from the Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas; for it behoves the Bodhisattvas not to lose the life of enlightenment as realised by the Buddhas.

681. To be delivered from [the notion of] cause and no-cause, not to be born, and being one—these are synonyms; [the ignorant] are bewildered by them, but the wise always rise above them.

682. All things appear like a cloud, a multitude of clouds, a rainbow; they are like a vision, a hair-net, Māyā, etc., they are born of self-discrimination; and yet the philosophers discriminate the world as born of a self-creating agency.

683. Not being born, suchness, reality, limit, and emptiness, —these are other names for form (rūpa); one should not imagine it to mean a nothing.

(350) 684. In the world [another name of] hasta (hand) is kara; Indra [is also called] Śakra and Purandara; in the same way [there are many synonyms] for this existence; and one should not imagine it to mean a nothing.

685. Emptiness is no other than form, so is no-birth; one should not imagine anything different from this; if one does, faulty views will follow.

686. Because of objective appearances being asserted, there is general discrimination (saṁkalpa) and particular discrimination (vikalpa); because of imagination (parikalpa) there are long and short, square and round, etc.

687. General discrimination belongs to the Citta, imagination to the Manas, and particular discrimination to the Manovijñāna; [but reality] is neither the qualified nor the qualifying.

688. What is regarded by the philosophers as unborn is my own teaching wrongly viewed, and [the latter is] imagined to be indistinguishable [from theirs], but this is submitting a faulty argument.

689. Those who have acquired the knowledge of proper reasoning by making use of [the idea of] no-birth and its meaning, are said to have an understanding of my doctrine.

690. In order to crush the philosophical views, not being born is said to mean not having any abode; knowing what dualism means, I teach the doctrine of no-birth.

691. Are all things to be regarded as unborn, or not? Pray tell, O Mahāmuni. The doctrine of causelessness, no-birth, the rising of existence, —all these are held by the philosophers.

(351) 692.¹ I teach Mind-only which is removed from [the dualism of] being and non-being. One should discard [the view of] birth and no-birth which causes various philosophical theories.

693. In the doctrine of causelessness, of no-birth, of birth, the notion of a causal agency [is involved] on which they depend. Effortless deeds come from nothingness, and deeds [as ordinarily performed] are mixed with motives.

694. Tell me the [right] view that goes with skilful means, original vows, etc.; how does the society [of the holy ones] come into existence when all things are not?

695. By separating oneself from [the dualism of] perceived and perceiving, there is neither evolution nor cessation; the mind is born as views are cherished as regards one existence or another.

696. Things are said to be unborn, how is this? Pray tell me. Sentient beings do not understand it, so it ought to be explained.

697. Pray explain to me, O Mahāmuni, all the contradictions [involved in the statements made] before and after, to escape the errors of the philosophers and to be released from the perverted theory of causation.

698. Pray tell me, O Most Excellent of Teachers, regarding cessation and coming back into existence, in order to be released from being and non-being, and yet not to destroy cause and effect.

699. Pray tell me as to the graded succession of the stages, O Lotus-eyed One;¹ for the world cherishes dualism and is bewildered with wrong views.

(352) 700. For on account of [the wrong views concerning] birth, no-birth, etc., the cause of serenity is not recognised, there is no society [of the holy ones] for me, and I have no chance to discourse on the nature of being.

701. There is error where dualism is maintained, but the Buddhas are thoroughly free from dualism; all things are empty, momentary, have no self-nature, and have never been born.

702. Discriminations are carried on by those who are enveloped by evil theories and doctrines, but not by the Tathagatas; pray tell me about the rise and cessation of discrimination.

703. Accumulated by false reasonings, there is a combination of varieties of appearances [and Vijñānas], whereby [each Vijñāna] takes in an objective field according to its class.

704. Recognising external forms, discrimination is set in motion; as this is understood and the meaning of reality is seen as it is, the mind conforms itself to the nature of the wise and is no more set in motion.

705. The elements being rejected, there is no birth of things, but as the elements as appearances are always the Mind, one understands what is meant by no-birth.

706. Do not discriminate discrimination, the wise are those who are free from discrimination; when discrimination is carried on, there is dualism which does not lead to Nirvana.

707. By the statement of no-birth, Māyā is seen and destroyed; when Māyā is made to be born of no-causation, this injures the truth of the statement.

(353) 708. The mind is to be regarded as a reflected image originating in the beginningless past; it is something of reality but not reality itself; one should realise it truly as it is in itself.

709. The nature of birth [or existence] is like an image appearing in a mirror, which, while it is devoid of oneness and otherness, is not altogether non-existent.

710. Like the Gandharvas' city, Māyā, etc., which appear depending upon causes and conditions, the birth of all things is not no-birth [in a relative sense].

711. It is on account of general usage that a dualistic discrimination is set up as regards persons and things; but this is not clearly understood by the ignorant so that [the thought of] an ego-soul and individual objects is cherished.

712. There are five [classes of] Śrāvakas, the Śrāvakas [that is, hearers] generally, those who are attached to the doctrine of causation, those who are Arhats, those who are dependent upon their own power, and those who are dependent upon [the power of] the Buddha.

713. Time-interruption, destruction, the highest reality, and mutuality—these four are imagined as involved in the idea of impermanency by the ignorant who are not endowed with intelligence.

714. The ignorant addicted to dualism cherish [such thoughts as] dualities, atoms, original matter, and primary cause, and fail to understand the means of emancipation, because they adhere to the alternatives of being and non-being.

715. (Chapter VI, verse 3.)

(354) 716. The primary elements are of different qualities, and how can they produce¹ this world of matter (rūpa)? [Each of] the elements has its own seat; what are [regarded as] secondary elements are not made by them.

717. Fire burns matter (rūpa), the nature of water is to wet, the wind scatters matter; how can matter be produced by the elements [when they are of such contradicting natures]?

718. The Rūpa-skandha (matter) and the Vijñāna (-Skandha)—there are these two Skandhas and not five; they are different names for the Skandhas; of this I have talked in a hundred ways.

719. By the separation of mind from what belongs to it, the present world evolves; [various] forms [of matter] are inseparably conjoined with one another; matter is mind[-made], and is not element-made.

720. Blue, etc., are to be referred to white, and white to blue; cause and effect being produced [in the same mutual way], both being and non-being are emptiness.

721. Effect and effecting and effected, cold and heat, qualified and qualifying, —such-like and all [other things] are not to be explained away by theories.

722. The Citta, Manas and the six Vijñānas are by nature united and removed from oneness and otherness; they are evolved from the Ālaya.

723. The Saṁkhya and the Vaiśeshika followers, the naked philosophers, and the advocates of Iśvara the creator, are addicted to the dualism of being and non-being, and do not know what solitary reality is.¹

(355) 724. Varieties of forms (sansthāna) and figures (ākṛiti) are not produced by the primary elements; but the philosophers declare them to originate from the elements primary and secondary.

725. As the philosophers imagine causes other than the unborn, they do not understand, and because of stupidity they uphold the dualism of being and non-being.

726. There is a truth (tattva) characterised by purity; it is united with the Citta but disunited with the Manas, etc.; it abides with knowledge.

727. If karma is form (rūpa), it will be the cause of the Skandhas and the objective world; beings without attachment will not be abiding [even] in the world of formlessness.

728. That egolessness is the true doctrine follows from the non-existence of beings; the advocate of non-ego is a destroyer,² causing even the cessation of the Vijñāna.

729. There are four abodes of it, how does it arise from the non-existence of form? As there is nothing existent innerly or outwardly, no Vijñānas arise.

730. The theorisers wish to see the Skandhas in the middle existence; likewise, [they wish,] a being born in the world of formlessness is of no-form; what else is there?

731. [If one says that] emancipation is attained without exerting oneself, as there are no beings, no Vijñānas, this is no doubt a philosopher's theory; the theorisers do not understand.

732. If form is to be found in the world of formlessness, it is not visible; (356) its non-existence contradicts the truth, there is neither a vehicle nor a driver.³

733. The Vijñāna, born of habit-energy, is united with the senses; there are eight kinds of it, they do not grasp one field all at once.¹

734. When form is not evolved, the senses are not the senses; therefore, the Blessed One declares that the senses, etc. are characterised with momentariness.

735. How without determining form (rūpa) can the Vijñāna take its rise? How without the rising of knowledge can transmigration take place?

736. To pass away instantly after birth, —this is not the teaching of the Buddhas; nor is there the uninterrupted-ness of all things; as discrimination moves about, one is born in the various paths.

737. The senses and their objective worlds are meant for the stupid but not for the wise; the ignorant grasp after names, the wise comprehend the meaning.

738. The sixth [Vijñāna] is not to be understood as non-attachment, or as attachment; the wise who are devoid of the fault of being are not committed to a definite theory.

739. Those theorisers who are without knowledge are frightened at eternalism and nihilism; (357) the ignorant are unable to distinguish between the Saṁskṛita, the Asaṁskṛita, and the ego-soul.

740. [Some imagine the ego-soul] to be one with the Citta, [others] to be different from the Manas, etc., attachment² exists in oneness as well as in otherness.³

741. If attachment is determined and mind and what belongs to it are designated, how is it that on account of the attachment there is the determination by oneness?⁴

742. By reason of attachment, attainment, karma, birth, effect, etc., they are brought to the goal like fire; there is resemblance and non-resemblance in the principle.¹

743. As when fire burns, the burned and the burning are simultaneously there, so is attachment to an ego-soul; what is it that is not seized by the theorisers?

744. Whether there is birth or no-birth, the mind shines forth all the time; what illustrations will the theorisers produce to prove their notion of an ego-soul?

745. Those theorisers who are destitute of the principle are lost in the forest of Vijñānas; seeking to establish the theory of an ego-soul, they wander about here and there.

746. The ego (ātma) characterised with purity is the state of self-realisation; this is the Tathagata's womb (garbha) which does not belong to the realm of the theorisers.

747. When one thus knows what are the characteristics of attached and attaching by the analysis of the Skandhas, there rises the knowledge of the principle.

(358) 748. The Ālaya where the Garbha (womb) is stationed is declared by the philosophers to be [the seat of] thought in union with the ego; but this is not the doctrine approved [by the Buddhas].

749. By distinctly understanding it [i. e. the doctrine] there is emancipation and insight into the truth, and purification from the passions which are abandoned by means of contemplation and insight.

750. The Mind primarily pure is the Tathagata's Garbha which is good but is attached to [as an ego-soul] by sentient beings; it is free from limitation and non-limitation.

751. As the beautiful colour of gold and gold among pebbles become visible by purification, so is the Ālaya among the Skandhas of a being.

752. The Buddha is neither a soul nor the Skandhas, he is knowledge free from evil outflows; clearly perceiving him to be eternally serene, I take my refuge in him.

753. The Mind, primarily pure, is with the secondary passions, with the Manas, etc., and in union with the ego-soul—this is what is taught by the best of speakers.

754. The Mind is primarily pure, but the Manas, etc., are other than that; varieties of karma are accumulated by them, and thus there are defilements giving rise to dualism.

755. The ego [primarily] pure has been defiled on account of the external passions since the beginningless past, (359) and what has been added from outside is like a [soiled] garment to be washed off.

756. As when a garment is cleansed of its dirt, or when gold is removed from its impurities, they are not destroyed but remain as they are; so is the ego freed from its defilements.

757. Imagining that a melodious sound obtains in a lute, a conch-shell, or in a kettle-drum, the unintelligent thus seek something of an ego-soul within the Skandhas.

758. As one tries to find precious stones in the treasure-house, or in water, or underneath the ground, where they are invisible, so do [they seek] a soul in the Skandhas.

759. As the unintelligent cannot take hold of a mind and what belongs to it as a group, and their functions which are connected with the Skandhas, so [they cannot find] an ego-soul in the Skandhas.

760. As the womb is not visible to the woman herself who has it, so the ego-soul is not visible within the Skandhas to those who have no wisdom.

761. Like the essence of the medicinal herb, or like fire in the kindling, those who have no wisdom do not see the ego-soul within the Skandhas.

762. Trying to find permanency and emptiness in all things, the unenlightened cannot see them; so with the ego-soul within the Skandhas.

763. When there is no true ego-soul, there are no stages, no self-mastery, no psychic faculties, no highest anointing, no excellent Samādhis.

(360) 764. If a destroyer should come around and say, "If there is an ego, show it to me;" a sage would declare, "Show me your own discrimination."¹

765. Those who hold the theory of non-ego are injurers of the Buddhist doctrines, they are given up to the dualistic views of being and non-being; they are to be ejected by the convocation of the Bhikshus and are never to be spoken to.¹

766. The doctrine of an ego-soul shines brilliantly like the rising of the world-end fire, wiping away the faults of the philosophers, burning up the forest of egolessness.

767. Molasses, sugar-cane, sugar, and honey; sour milk, sesame oil, and ghee—each has its own taste; but one who has not tasted it will not know what it is.

768. Trying to seek in five ways for an ego-soul in the accumulation of the Skandhas, the unintelligent fail to see it, but the wise seeing it are liberated.

769. By means of illustrations furnished by the sciences, etc., the mind is not accurately determined; as to the meaning contained in it, how can one accurately determine it?

770. Things are differentiated but the Mind is one— this is not perceived; the theorisers [imagine it] to be causeless and not-functioning, which is a mistake.

771. When the Yogin reflects upon the mind, he does not see the Mind in the mind; an insight comes forth from the perceived [i. e. the world]; whence is the rising of this perceived [world]?

(361) 772. I belong to the Katyāyana family, descending from the Śuddhāvāsa; I teach the Dharma in order to lead sentient beings to the city of Nirvana.

773. This is the course of the past; I and those Tathagatas have generally disclosed the meaning of Nirvana in three thousands of the sutras.

774. Not in the world of desire nor in [the world of] no-form is Buddhahood attained; but at the Akanishtha in the world of form one is awakened to Buddhahood by getting rid of greed.

775. The objective world is not the cause of bondage; the cause is bound up in the objective world; the passions are destroyed by knowledge, which is a sharp sword gained by discipline.

776. How is non-ego possible? How are things like Māyā, etc.? How about being and non-being? If suchness reveals itself to the ignorant, how is non-ego non-existent?¹

777. Because of things done and of things not done, the cause is not the producer; all is unborn, and this is not clearly recognised by the ignorant.

778. The creating agencies are unborn; both the created and the conditions of causality are unborn; why is imagination carried on as regards creating agencies?

779. The theorisers explain a cause to consist in the simultaneity of antecedent and consequent; the birth of all things is told by means of a light, a jar, a disciple, etc.

780. The Buddhas are not Saṁskṛita-made, but are endowed with the marks [of excellence]; (362) they belong to the nature of a Cakravartin; the Buddhas are not so named because of these [marks].

781. What characterises the Buddhas is knowledge (jñāna); it is devoid of the defects of intellection (dṛishti-dosha); it is an insight attained by self-realisation, it is removed from all defects.

782. The religious life (brahmacarya) is not found in those especially, who are deaf, blind, one-eyed, dumb, aged, young, nor in those who are given up to the feeling of enmity.

783. The world-ruler is endowed with the celestial marks and the secondary characteristics though not manifested. They become, however, manifested in some of the homeless monks and not in anybody else—so it is declared.

784. After the passing of the Leader of the Śākyas, these will follow me: Vyāsa, Kaṇāda, Rishabha, Kapila, and others.

785. Then one hundred years after my passing, Vyāsa's Bhārata will appear, the Pāṇḍavas, the Kauravas, Rāma, and then the Maurya.

786. The Maurya, the Nanda, the Gupta, and then the Mleccha who are bad kings; after the Mleccha will rage a warfare, and then the age of vice; (363) and after this age of vice, the good Dharma will no more prevail in the world.

787. After passing through these ages the world will be thrown into confusion like a wheel; fire and the sun being united, the world of desire will be consumed.

788. The heavens will again be restituted and therein the world will take its rise, together with its four castes, kings, Rishis, and the Dharma.

789. The Vedas, worship, and charity will again prevail with the revival of the Dharma; by narratives,¹ histories, prose-compositions, commentaries, annotations, thus-I-have-heard's, etc., the world will [again] fall into confusion.

790. Preparing properly-coloured cloth, have it further cleaned, have the cloth dyed with bluish mud and cow-dung making it nondescript in colour, so that the body may be covered with robes in every way different from the appearance of the philosophers.

791. Let the Yogin preach the doctrine, which is the badge of the Buddhas; let him drink water filtered through a cloth and carry the hip-string; in due time let him go about begging and keep away from things vile.

(364) 792. He will be born in a heaven filled with light, and the other two will appear among mankind; decorated with precious stones he will be born as a god and a world-lord.

793. In the abode of light he enjoys the four worlds by means of the teaching based on the Dharma; but after a long reign over the worlds he will retrograde on account of desire.

794. Thus there are the golden age, the age of triads, the age of two, and the age of vice; the Lion of the Śākyas will appear in the age of vice, I and others in the golden age.

795. Siddhartha of the Śākya family, Vishṇu, Vyāsa, Maheśvara—such other philosophers will appear after my passing.

796. There will be the teaching of the Lion of the Śākyas told in the thus-I-have-heard's, and that of Vyāsa in the narratives (so-indeed-it-was), and the past events.

797. Vishṇu and Maheśvara will teach about the creation of the world; things like this will take place after my passing.

798. My mother is Vasumati, my father is the wise Prajāpati; I belong to the Kātyāyana family, and my name is Viraja the Victor.

799. I was born in Campā, and as my father and grandfather, being descendants of the lunar race (somavaṁśa), [my family name] is "The Moon-Protected" (somagupta).

(365) 800. Making vows, I shall become a homeless mendicant and teach the doctrine in a thousand ways; Mahāmati being given assurance and anointed, I shall enter into Nirvana.

801. Mati will hand [the doctrine] over to Dharma and Dharma to Mekhala; but Mekhala and his disciple being too weak [the doctrine] will disappear at the end of the Kalpa.

802. Kāśyapa, Krakucchanda, and Kanaka, who are the removers, and I, Viraja, and others—these Buddhas all belong to the golden age.

803. After the golden age there will appear a leader by the name of Mati, who is a great hero (mahāvīra) well acquainted with the five forms of knowledge.

804. Not in the age of two, not in the age of triads, not in the age of vice, which will come after, but in the golden age world-teachers will appear, and attain Buddhahood.

805. Without removing the marks, without cutting it into tens,¹ have the upper garment patched with spots like the eyes in the tail of a peacock.

806. Let the space between the eyes be two or three fingers apart; if the patches are otherwise distributed it will excite in the ignorant a desire to possess.

807. Let the Yogin always keep the fire of greed under control, be bathed in the water of knowledge, and practise the triple refuge, and exert himself diligently throughout the three periods.

(366) 808. When an arrow, or a stone, or a piece of wood, is sent forth by means of a bow or sling, one hits and another falls; so it is with good and bad.

809. The one cannot be the many, for then nowhere would diversities be seen. Let all receivers be like the wind, and donors be like the land.

810. If the one were the many, all would be without a causal agency; this is the destruction of a causal agency, which is the teaching of the theorisers.

811. [Their teaching] will be like a lamp, like a seed, because of similitude; but where are the many? If the one becomes the many, this is the teaching of the theorisers.

812. From sesame no beans grow, rice is not the cause of barley, wheat does not produce corn; how can the one be the many?

813. There will be Pāṇini, author of the Śabdanetṛi, Akshapāda, Vṛihaspati; Praṇetṛi the Lokāyata will be found in Brahma-garbha.

814. Kātyāyana will be the author of a sutra, and Yajñavalka will be like him; Bhuḍhuka will write astronomical works; they will appear in the age of vice.

(367) 815. Balin will appear to promote the welfare of the world, the happiness of mankind, he will be the protector of all that is good; Balin the king will be a great ruler.

816. Vālmīka, Masurāksha, Kauṭilya, and Āśvalāyana, who are highly virtuous Rishis, will appear in the future.

817. Siddhartha of the Śākya family, Bhūtānta, Pañcacūḍaka, Vāgbaliratha, Medhāvin will appear in the times that follow.

818. When I take my abode in the forest-ground, Brahma, chief of the gods, will give me the hairy skin of a deer, a staff made of wood, a girdle, and a discus.

819. The great Yogin will be called Viraja the Muni, the teacher and pointer of emancipation; he is the badge of all the Munis.

820. Brahma with his retinues and many gods will give me an antelope's skin from the sky, and then the ruler will vanish.

821. When I am in the forest-ground, Indra and Virūḍhaka and others, accompanied by the celestial beings, will give me most exquisite garments and a begging bowl.

(368) 822. Seeking for a cause in the doctrine of no-birth, [one may say that] that which is unborn is born, too, [and imagine that] the no-birth [theory] is [thereby] established; but this is done in words only.

823-828. (Chapter VI, verses 12-17.)¹

829. That the mind is set in motion by ignorance which has been accumulated by thought since beginningless past, that it is bound to birth and destruction—this is the imagination of the theorisers.

830. The Sāṁkhya philosophy is twofold. There is transformation owing to primary matter; (369) in primary matter there is action, and action is self-originating.

831. Primary matter is with all existing beings, and qualities are regarded as differentiated, various are effects and causes, no transformation takes place.

832. As quicksilver is pure and not soiled by dirt, so is the Ālaya pure, being the seat of all sentient beings.

833. The onion-odour of onion, the womb of a pregnant woman, the saltiness of salt, etc. —does not [each] evolve like the seed?

834. Otherness is not otherness, so is bothness not bothness; to be is not to be attached to, there is neither non-being nor the Saṁskṛita.

835. [To say that] an ego is found in the Skandhas is like saying that the horse-nature is in the cow-nature, which has nothing to do with it; we may speak of the Saṁskṛita and the Asaṁskṛita, but there is no self-nature.

836. Defiled by logic, by the traditional teachings (āgama),¹ by wrong views, by speculation, they are not able to ascertain definitely about the ego, which they say is; but it does not exist in any way other than clinging.

837. It is certainly their mistake to think that the ego is perceivable along with the Skandhas by reason of oneness and otherness; the theorisers are not enlightened.

838. As an image is seen in a mirror, in water, or in an eye, (370) so is the soul in the Skandhas devoid of oneness and otherness.

839. Let it be known that those who reflect and practise meditation can be released from the evil theories by training themselves in the three things: the path (mārga), the truth (satya), and the insight (darśana).

840. As a flash of lightning is seen and unseen as the sun passes through a slit of a door, so is the transformation of all things; it is not as it is imagined by the ignorant.

841. Being confused in mind the ignorant view Nirvana as the disappearance of the existent; but since the wise see into reality (sadbhava) as it abides in itself, they have a truer insight.

842. Transformation [which is the actual state of existence] is to be ascertained as removed from birth and destruction, devoid of existence and non-existence, released from qualified and qualifying.

843. Transformation is to be ascertained as having nothing to do with the philosophical doctrines, with names and forms, and giving an abode² to views of an inner ego.

844. With the [pleasant] touches of the gods and the harassings of the hells, if it were not for the middle existence, no Vijñānas would ever evolve.³

845. It should be known that the womb-born, the egg-born, the moisture-born, and other various bodies of sentient beings are born of the middle existence and descend into the [six] paths of existence.

846. To say that the passions are quieted and destroyed apart from right reasoning and scriptural teaching, (371) is the view and discourse of the philosophers, which is not to be practised by the intelligent.

847. One should first examine into the nature of an ego-soul and keep oneself away from attachment; to try to go beyond without an examination is of no more worth than a barren-woman's child.

848. I observe with a divine eye which is of transcendental wisdom and is removed from the flesh, [with this I observe] sentient beings, the physical bodies of all living creatures as devoid of the Saṁskāra and Skandhas.¹

849. It is seen that [beings] are distinguished as ugly-coloured and beautifully-coloured, as emancipated and un-emancipated, as heavenly and free from the Saṁskāra, and as abiding with the Saṁskāra.

850. I have the body that goes about in the [six] paths of existence; this does not belong to the realm of the theorisers; it goes beyond the human world and is not the possession of the theorisers.

851. The ego-soul is not, and the mind is born; how does this evolving come about? Is it not said that its appearing is like a river, a lamp, and a seed?

852. The Vijñāna not being born there is no ignorance; ignorance being absent, there is no Vijñāna, and how can succession take place?

853. The three divisions of time and no-time, and the fifth is beyond description; this is what is known to the Buddhas [only, though] mentioned by the theorisers.

(372) 854. Knowledge that is the cause of the Saṁskāra is not to be described by the Saṁskāra; knowledge that is known as the Saṁskāra seizes the Saṁskāra-path.²

855. That being so, this is; causal conditions [everywhere] but no causes; because of this absence there are no causal agencies; they are [only] symbolically pointed out.

856. The wind, indeed, makes fire burn, but it only incites and does not produce; further, incited by it the fire goes out; how can [the ego of] a sentient being be established?

857. The Saṁskṛita and the Asaṁskṛita are spoken of as devoid of attachment; how is fire imagined by the ignorant for the establishment [of their ego]?

858. Fire comes to exist in this world supported by the strength of mutuality; if it is imagined to be like fire, whence is the rising of a sentient being [i. e. an ego-soul]?

859. By reason of the Manas, etc., there is the accumulation of the Skandhas and Āyatanas; non-ego like a wealthy merchant moves on with mentation (citta).

860. These two like the sun are always removed from effect and cause; fire does not establish them, and the theorisers fail to understand.

861. The mind, sentient beings, and Nirvana—these are primarily pure, but defiled by faults of the beginningless past; they are not differentiated, they are like space.

(373) 862. Defiled by the bad theories of the philosophers, Hastiśayya, etc., are wrapped end enveloped with [the false discriminations of] the Manovijñāna, they imagine fire, etc., are purifying.

863 Those who see [reality] as it is in itself will see their passions burst asunder; leaving the forest of bad analogies behind, they reach the realm of the wise.

864. Thus [reality] is imagined to be something other than itself by the differentiation of knower and known; the dull-witted do not understand it, and what is beyond description is talked about.

865. As the ignorant make a sandal-wood drum by taking something else which appears like sandal-wood and aloe wood, so is [true] knowledge [to be distinguished] from that of the theorisers.

866. Having eaten he will rise holding the bowl empty; he will have his mouth well cleansed of offensive and injurious matter; he is to conduct himself thus towards food.

867. He who reflects rationally on this truth will attain serenity of mind, accomplish the most excellent discipline, and be above imagination; he will be released from attachment and realise the highest meaning; and thus he will light up the golden path of the Dharma.

868. When he who is possessed of stupidity and imagination rising from his views of being and non-being is freed from the net of bad theories tainted thereby, and from greed, vice, and anger, he is washed of the pigment and besprinkled by the Buddhas [with their own] hands.

869. Some philosophers are confused about the direction [of truth] because of their theory of causation; others are perturbed over conditions of causality; (374) others who are not wise abide in nihilism because of their negation of causation and reality.

870. There are transformations maturing from [the activities of] the Manas and the Vijñānas; the Manas is born of the Ālaya, and the Vijñāna comes from the Manas.

871. From the Ālaya all mental activities take their rise like the waves; with habit-energy as cause all things are born in accordance with conditions of causation.

872. [All things] momentarily divided but bound up in a continuous chain, are taken hold of as real while they are of Mind itself; they appear in varieties of forms and characters, but are the product of Manas and the eye-Vijñāna, etc.

873. Bound up by the faults [of speculation] since beginningless past, there is the growth of habit-energy which gives rise to something like an external world; it is Mind which is seen as manifoldness when it is hindered by wrong philosophical theories.

874. With that as cause and with that other as condition, [the Vijñāna system] is evolved; when these philosophical views are born, transformations take place.

875. All things are like Māyā and a dream and the Gandharvas' city; they appear as a mirage, as a lunar reflection in water; be it known that it is all due to self-discrimination.

876. From the splitting-up of moral conduct, there is suchness and the right knowledge dependent on it; such Samādhis of superior grade as the Māyā-like, the Śūraṅgama, etc. [are attained].

877. By entering into the [various] stages, the psychic powers, and the self-masteries, the knowledge of the Māyā-likeness of existence and the [will-]body [are obtained], and there is anointment by the Buddhas.

(375) 878. When the world is seen as quiescent, the mind ceases and the [first] stage of Joy is attained, and [finally] they will reach Buddhahood.

879. A revulsion taking place at the seat [of consciousness, a man becomes] like a multicoloured gem; he performs deeds [of beneficence] for sentient beings in the same way as the moon reflects itself in water.

880. When the dualism of being and non-being is abandoned, there is neither bothness nor not-bothness; and going beyond Śrāvakahood and Pratyekabuddhahood, one will even pass over the seventh stage.

881. [As he goes up through the stages] his insight into the truth of self-realisation will be purified at every stage, and releasing himself from externality as well as from the philosophers, he will discourse on the Mahāyāna.

882. When there is a revulsion (parāvṛitti) from discrimination, one is removed from death and destruction; let him discourse on the truth of the emancipated ones, which is like a hare's horns,¹ and a [multicoloured] gem.

883. As the text [is completed] by reason, so is reason [revealed] by the text; therefore, let there be reason [and the text]; let there be no other discrimination than reason.²

884. Such are the eye, karma, desire, ignorance, and the Yogins; such is the Manas in relation to the eye[-consciousness] and form, such is the Manas in relation to the defiled.¹

Here Ends "The Mahāyāna Sūtra Called the Ārya-Saddharma-Laṅkāvatāra, Together with the Verses."