དན་རྣམ་པར་ངས་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བའ་ཆས་ཀྱ་རྣམ་གྲངས notes.17
Distinctly Ascertaining the Meanings notes.17
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- English
notes.17
17. The Nibandhana explains that this sentence is meant to ensure that the listeners avoid three defects: not listening, listening but understanding the meaning of what was heard in a distorted manner, and not being able to retain even what has been heard and understood correctly, since it was not listened to with the necessary reverence. These three defects are exemplified by a vase upside down, a dirty vase, and vase with holes: such a vase will not be able to profit from the rain of Dharma (Samtani 1971, p. 83). This example is also found in Vasubandhu’s Vyākhyāyukti, in the Pratītyasamutpādādivibhaṅganirdeśa, in the Gāthārthasaṁgrahaśāstra, and in Haribhadra’s Abhisamayālaṁkārālokā, where he attributes it to Vasubandhu (see Skilling 2000, p. 301).