The Setting

[F.1.b] [B1]

1.1Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas.

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was residing in the Deer Park of Ṛṣipatana at Vārāṇasī, together with a great saṅgha of five hundred monks who had exhausted their defilements, completed their tasks, done their duties, laid down their burdens, accomplished their goals, and eliminated the bonds binding them to existence. Their minds were fully liberated by perfect understanding, their insight was fully liberated, and they had attained mastery. They were all worthy ones, except for one person‍—Venerable Ānanda.

1.2At that time, Venerable Śāradvatīputra, Venerable Maudgalyāyana, [F.2.a] Venerable Mahākāśyapa, Venerable Subhūti, Venerable Bakkula, Venerable Pūrṇa Maitrāyaṇīputra, and Venerable Ānanda rose from their afternoon meditative seclusion and went to the place where the Blessed One was staying. They bowed down at his feet and took seats to one side.

1.3Śāriputra said to the Blessed One, “The thus-gone, worthy, perfect, blessed Buddha has perfectly explained how all conditioned things are without production, without coming about, without distinguishing marks, without characteristics, without conditioning, and cannot be pointed out. Blessed One, this is astonishing! Well-Gone One, it is astonishing!”

1.4The Blessed One replied, “Śāriputra, what prompted you to say, ‘The thus-gone, worthy, perfect, blessed Buddha has perfectly explained how all conditioned things are without production, without coming about, without distinguishing marks, without characteristics, without conditioning, and cannot be pointed out. Blessed One, this is astonishing! Well-Gone One, it is astonishing!’?”

1.5“Blessed One, when I was alone in the forest in meditative seclusion, [F.2.b] the thought came up in my mind, ‘How is it that the Blessed One uses names and distinguishing marks to explain things that have no names and distinguishing marks, and describes things that are utterly indescribable?’ Blessed One, when I thought about what this really meant, I was astonished. Blessed One, it was when I had seen what this really meant that I said, ‘The thus-gone, worthy, perfect, blessed Buddha has perfectly explained how all conditioned things are without production, without coming about, without distinguishing marks, without characteristics, without conditioning, and cannot be pointed out. Blessed One, this is astonishing! Well-Gone One, it is astonishing!’ ”

1.6“It is indeed, Śāriputra,” replied the Blessed One. “Śāriputra, this point is indeed astonishing. This point is most astonishing! For such is the unsurpassed and perfect awakening of the thus-gone, worthy, perfect buddhas.

1.7“Śāriputra, imagine that in the open sky, where nothing stays and nothing can be apprehended, a painter or a painter’s skilled apprentice were to draw a multitude of forms in various colors and shapes. Would that person’s actions be astonishing?”

“Blessed One, they would be astonishing!” replied Śāriputra. “Well-Gone One, they would be most astonishing!”

1.8“Śāriputra,” continued the Blessed One, “much more astonishing are the things that the Thus-Gone One has explained after fully awakening to unsurpassed and perfect buddhahood. Why is that? Because, Śāriputra, such matters as an absence of characteristics, an absence of mental engagement, an absence of effort, [F.3.a] an absence of movement, an absence of attainment, an absence of activity; a giving up of attainment, a nonattainment of attainment, an interruption of nonattainment, an attainment that is not subsequently attained, a relinquishment of attainment, a true nonattainment of attainment; an absence of purification, an absence of anything to be purified, a not being subject to purification; a not thought of, a not to be thought of, a not thought of as wholesome; a not elaborated, a not to be elaborated, a not elaborated as wholesome; a not imputed, a not to be imputed, a not imputed as wholesome; and a not confused, a not to be subsumed, a not subsumed, an absence of foundation, an absence of apprehending, a not departing, an absence of anything to depart, a not departing into the wholesome, an intrinsic emptiness, an intrinsic lack of essential nature, an intrinsically not pointed out, an intrinsically not to be pointed out, an intrinsically not to be pointed out as wholesome, a difficult to believe for the whole world, and an absence of names or distinguishing marks identified nonetheless just as they are in terms of names and distinguishing marks‍—all these matters that are indescribable he has described in words. How all conditioned things are without production, without coming about, without distinguishing marks, without characteristics, without conditioning, and cannot be pointed out are the very things that the Thus-Gone One has pointed out‍—that, Śāriputra, is the most astonishing!

1.9“Śāriputra, imagine that someone placed Mount Sumeru, the king of mountains, in his mouth, chewed it three times, swallowed it as if it were food without feeling the slightest discomfort, and then walked off in midair. What do you think, Śāriputra, would that man’s actions be astonishing?” [F.3.b]

“Blessed One, they would be astonishing! Well-Gone One, they would be most astonishing!”

1.10“Śāriputra, how all conditioned things are without production, without coming about, without distinguishing marks, without characteristics, without conditioning, and cannot be pointed out are the very things that the Thus-Gone One has pointed out‍—that is more astonishing still.

1.11“Śāriputra, imagine that a great fire of dung about one league high and one league wide burned, blazed, and flared up in a great firestorm. Imagine that the crackling sound of that fire filled the four directions, and its flames, roaring in the four directions, rose up about four leagues high into the air. Imagine then that a person carrying a big bundle of grass were to enter that fire. As he enters it, great gusts of wind begin to blow from the four directions; yet, when the flames hit him, neither his body nor the grass is consumed by the fire, so that when he emerges from the fire, not even a single blade of grass is scorched. What do you think, Śāriputra, would that man’s actions be astonishing?”

“Blessed One, they would be astonishing. Well-Gone One, they would be most astonishing!”

1.12“Śāriputra, how all conditioned things are without production, without coming about, without distinguishing marks, without characteristics, without conditioning, and cannot be pointed out are the very things that the Thus-Gone One has pointed out‍—that is more astonishing still.

1.13“Śāriputra, imagine that a person wanted to cross a great ocean, and he traveled from one shore to the other on a large raft made of stones. What do you think, Śāriputra, would that person’s actions be astonishing?”

“Blessed One, they would be astonishing. Well-Gone One, they would be most astonishing!” [F.4.a]

1.14“Śāriputra, how all conditioned things are without production, without coming about, without distinguishing marks, without characteristics, without conditioning, and cannot be pointed out are the very things that the Thus-Gone One has pointed out‍—that is more astonishing still.

1.15“Śāriputra, imagine that a person were to lift this world with its four continents and its oceans, mountains, vegetation, and water, and then climb up to the Brahmā abodes using a ladder made of the legs of bees. What do you think, Śāriputra, would that person’s actions be astonishing?”

“Blessed One, they would be astonishing! Well-Gone One, they would be most astonishing!”

1.16“Śāriputra, how all conditioned things are without production, without coming about, without distinguishing marks, without characteristics, without conditioning, and cannot be pointed out are the very things that the Thus-Gone One has pointed out‍—that is more astonishing still.

1.17“Śāriputra, imagine that a person were to hoist Mount Sumeru, the king of mountains, with a thread that dangles in the wind and hold it up in the sky. What do you think, Śāriputra, would that person’s actions be astonishing?”

“Blessed One, they would be astonishing! Well-Gone One, they would be most astonishing!”

1.18“Śāriputra, how all conditioned things are without production, without coming about, without distinguishing marks, without characteristics, without conditioning, and cannot be pointed out are the very things that the Thus-Gone One has pointed out‍—that is more astonishing still.

1.19“Śāriputra, what do you think: is the great Ganges River huge, wide, deep, and boundless?”

“Yes, Blessed One, it is.” [F.4.b]

1.20“Śāriputra, imagine that a deluge as large as the great Ganges River were falling on this trichiliocosm and that, while it was falling from the sky, someone were to catch this great downpour in one hand, without letting a single drop of water fall to the ground. Śāriputra, what do you think: would that person’s actions be astonishing?”

“Blessed One, they would be astonishing! Well-Gone One, they would be most astonishing!”

1.21“Śāriputra, how all conditioned things are without production, without coming about, without distinguishing marks, without characteristics, without conditioning, and cannot be pointed out are the very things that the Thus-Gone One has pointed out‍—that is more astonishing still.

1.22“Śāriputra, what do you think: is Mount Sumeru, the king of mountains, huge and immense?”

“Blessed One, yes, it is huge. Well-Gone One, it is immense!”

1.23“Śāriputra, imagine that a great rain of boulders as large as Mount Sumeru, the king of mountains, were to fall on this trichiliocosm, and that while it was falling from the sky, someone were to catch this great rain of boulders in one hand, without letting even the smallest pebble the size of a mustard seed slip from their hand and fall to the ground. Śāriputra, what do you think: would that person’s actions be astonishing?”

“Blessed One, they would be astonishing! Well-Gone One, they would be most astonishing!”

1.24“Śāriputra, how all conditioned things are without production, without coming about, without distinguishing marks, without characteristics, without conditioning, and cannot be pointed out are the very things that the Thus-Gone One has pointed out‍—that is more astonishing still.

1.25“Śāriputra, imagine that when the great eon of incineration comes about, a person were to extinguish that great, blazing mass of fire by spitting on it, [F.5.a] and then restore the entire universe, including the celestial mansions, with a single breath. Śāriputra, what do you think: would that person’s actions be astonishing?”

“Blessed One, they would be astonishing! Well-Gone One, they would be most astonishing!”

1.26“Śāriputra, how all conditioned things are without production, without coming about, without distinguishing marks, without characteristics, without conditioning, and cannot be pointed out are the very things that the Thus-Gone One has pointed out‍—that is more astonishing still.

1.27“Śāriputra, imagine that a person were to place all sentient beings in the palm of one hand, and with the other lift up this trichiliocosm with its oceans, mountains, continents, forests, landscapes, vegetation, and water, hold them in midair, and cause all those sentient beings to have a single thought and a single mind. Śāriputra, what do you think: would that person’s actions be astonishing?”

“Blessed One, they would be astonishing! Well-Gone One, they would be most astonishing!”

1.28“Śāriputra, the things that the Thus-Gone One has pointed out after fully awakening to unsurpassed and perfect buddhahood‍—how all conditioned things are without production, without coming about, without cessation in three ways, without ownership in eight ways, without intrinsic nature in six ways, without intrinsic existence in seven ways, intrinsically empty in eight ways, and yet believed in by the entire world in nine ways‍—are much more astonishing still.

1.29“Why is that? Because, Śāriputra, these teachings are without characteristics and have relinquished characteristics; they are without mental engagement and do not possess mental engagement; they are without effort, without coming, without going, and without arrangement; they are without elaboration and are free of elaboration; [F.5.b] they are without torment and are free of torment; they have no far side, no near side, no shore, and no absence of a shore; they are without valleys, without plains, without rivers, and without an absence of rivers; they are without freedom, without liberation, without confusion, without the absence of delusion, without delusion, and without the net of delusion; they are without being just as they are, without a validly perceived object, without an object of analysis, and have no conceptual domain; they are without movement and without wandering; they are without nonsound and without harsh words; they are without recollection and they put an end to recollection; they are without intention and put an end to intention; they are without mental faculty and put an end to mental faculty; they are without liberation and without utter liberation; they are without falsehood and without the quality of falsehood; they are without deception, without the quality of deception, and without the net of deception; they are without names, without distinguishing marks, without conventions, and without the absence of conventions; they are without designations and without not being designations; they are without a full extent and without not being a full extent; they are without guidance, without a path, and without freedom from the fruition of a path; they are free of confusion, and have relinquished conceptual thought, the absence of thought, the thorough absence of thought, the utter absence of thought, and discursive thought; they are without adulteration, without grasping, without thorough grasping, without holding, and without anything to be thoroughly held; they are without attainment and without something to be attained; they eliminate truth, eliminate desire, eliminate anger, and eliminate delusion; they are without truth and without falsity; [F.6.a] they are without permanence, without impermanence, without clarity, without the absence of clarity, without light, and without darkness; they are without possessiveness, without their own essence, without an object of their own essence, and empty of their own essence; and they are without liberation, without mental engagement, and without death. Being ultimate reality, they overcome Māra’s army, overcome the afflictions, overcome the aggregates, overcome the elements, overcome the sense fields, overcome notions in terms of aggregates, overcome notions in terms of elements, overcome notions in terms of sense fields, overcome notions in terms of a self, overcome notions in terms of a being, overcome notions in terms of a life force, overcome notions in terms of persons, overcome notions in terms of existence, overcome notions in terms of real entities, and overcome wrong views and mistaken comprehensions.

1.30“Śāriputra, they overcome and destroy all forms of clinging, among which, Śāriputra, they overcome and destroy those notions regarding phenomena that are held by beings who are not sublime. Śāriputra, they also overcome and destroy the doctrines of those who find inspiration in suchness or in the one and only suchness, but who are not sublime and take hold of the Thus-Gone One’s words in the wrong way. Why is that? Because, Śāriputra, whoever is a proponent of a self, a being, a life force, a person, eternity, nothingness, existence, nonexistence, names, distinguishing marks, or imputations, and anyone who apprehends entities, Śāriputra, holds beliefs not in agreement with the Thus-Gone One. [F.6.b] Śāriputra, those who hold beliefs not in agreement with the Thus-Gone One are mistaken. Those who are mistaken are not my disciples, and those who are not my disciples hold beliefs not in agreement with nirvāṇa; they hold beliefs not in agreement with the Buddha, hold beliefs not in agreement with the Dharma, and hold beliefs not in agreement with the Saṅgha. Śāriputra, I do not allow those who hold such views to go forth or take full ordination. Śāriputra, I do not allow even small cups of water to be donated as gifts out of faith to those who hold such views. Why is that? Because, Śāriputra, all such people hold to belief in an unwholesome intrinsic nature of that sort.

1.31“Śāriputra, those who have let go of belief in such an unwholesome intrinsic nature go forth in the teachings as follows: they do not think about entering nirvāṇa, they do not think about nirvāṇa, and they do not cling to nirvāṇa. They are not afraid, scared, or terrified of emptiness. Since they strive to let go of all phenomena, it goes without saying that they do not hold to a belief in such an unwholesome intrinsic nature. Since their attention is not turned to any of those kinds of belief, such as belief in a self, belief in a being, belief in a life force, or belief in a person, they are steeped in the absorption free of distinguishing marks. Without holding on to distinguishing marks, they understand that all distinguishing marks have a single characteristic‍—the absence of characteristics‍—and that, Śāriputra, is the acceptance of what concords with the truth. Śāriputra, because the monks who possess such an acceptance are my disciples, they should receive and make use of gifts that are given out of faith.

1.32“Those people have attained freedom from delusion. Why is that? Śāriputra, it is because this Dharma is without going and coming, [F.7.a] without something to be apprehended, and without something to be thoroughly apprehended; without something to cling to and without something external; without conventional terms and without designations; it is without joy, without something to be enjoyed, and has overcome joy; it is without gathering together and free of gathering together; it is without going, without coming and going, and puts an end to all movement; it ends all conventions; it is without seeing, without observation, without apprehending, without adulteration, without convention, without truth, without falsity, without permanence, without impermanence, without the sky, without light, and without atmosphere; it is without inclusion, without exclusion, and without belief; it is without something to be taught and without something to be definitively taught; it is without multiplicity and without the lack of multiplicity; it is without movement, without conceits, without designation, without investigation, without composure, without afflictions, and not subject to purification; it is without names, without distinguishing marks, without actions related to distinguishing marks, and without an object of thought; it is without the female gender and without the male gender; it is without gods, without nāgas, without yakṣas, without gandharvas, and without kumbhāṇḍas; it is without nothingness, without eternality, without being, without a life force, without a soul, and without a person; it is without a descendant of Manu and without a child of Manu; it is without permanence, without transmigration, and without the lack of transmigration; it is not harmful; it is without discipline and without contravened discipline; it is without affliction, without purification, without absorption, [F.7.b] without attainment, without the faculty of absorption, without concentration, and without the result of concentration; it is without knowing, without seeing, without apprehended object, and without the lack of apprehended object; it is without a path and without the fruition of a path; it is without insight and without the faculty of insight; it is without knowledge and without ignorance; it is without liberation, without the lack of liberation, and without complete liberation; it is without fruition and without the attainment of fruition; it is without power, without weakness, without anxiety, and without fearlessness; it is without recollection and without the faculty of recollection; it is without abiding and without dwelling; it is without envy, without the path of envy, without conceptualization, without nonconceptualization, and without discursiveness; it is without awakening and without the factors of awakening; it is without understanding and without not understanding; it is without earth, without water, without fire, without wind, and without space; it is without wholesome actions and without unwholesome actions; it is without phenomena and without the absence of phenomena; it is without happiness and without suffering; it destroys all elaborations and is free of destroying all elaborations; and it is cooling, without humility, and without composure. It destroys all wrong views, desires, bonds, pride, names and distinguishing marks, and conceits. It ends all conventions, and it is without conceptual imputations and without distinguishing marks.

1.33“Śāriputra, in the Dharma to which the Thus-Gone One has perfectly and completely awakened there is no permanence, no impermanence, no happiness, no suffering, no affliction, no purification, no nihilism, no eternalism, [F.8.a] no being, no life force, no soul, no primordial man, no person, no descendant of Manu, no child of Manu, no celestial fixed pole, and no gandharva; no entity, no absence of entity, no cessation, no noncessation, no attainment, and no nonattainment; no transmigration, no oppression, no birth, and no arising; no past, no future, no present, no birth, no old age, no sickness, no death, no sorrow, no wailing, no pain, no unhappiness, and no disturbance; no perfect awakening and no absence of perfect awakening; no past, no future, no center; no being at peace, no being tamed, no decrease, no increase, no engagement, no imputation, no nonimputation, and no imputation and nonimputation combined; and no space, no opportunity, no distress, no freedom from desire, no cessation, and no nirvāṇa.

1.34“Why is that? Śāriputra, that the Thus-Gone One does not apprehend any phenomenon whatsoever is itself what nirvāṇa is. That the Thus-Gone One does not apprehend any convention whatsoever is itself what nirvāṇa is. That the Thus-Gone One does not apprehend any entity whatsoever is itself what nirvāṇa is. Śāriputra, the Thus-Gone One has no conceits about nirvāṇa. Because he has passed into nirvāṇa he has no conceits. Of those who have passed into nirvāṇa, none have conceits. They do not adhere to nirvāṇa. They do not delight in nirvāṇa. That is why, Śāriputra, the fact that the Thus-Gone One, after fully awakening to unsurpassed perfect buddhahood, taught a Dharma about all conditioned phenomena being uncompounded, unarisen, devoid of distinguishing marks, [F.8.b] devoid of characteristics, unconditioned, and impossible to teach is truly astonishing!”

1.35This was chapter 1, “The Setting.”