ལས་བརྒྱ་ཐམ་པ་པ 33.18

33.18

“Lord, so it is. It is just as you say,” Śakra, King of the Gods, agreed. “There are six causal attributes of the prātimokṣa vow taken by the ordained who have entered the path that stops discursive elaboration. They are (1) the forms perceived by the eyes, (2) the sounds perceived by the ears, (3) the smells perceived by the nose, (4) the tastes perceived by the tongue, (5) the tangible objects perceived by the body, and (6) the phenomena perceived by the mind.

“Regarding those, Lord, you have said, ‘There are two types of forms that are perceived by the eyes—those that are trustworthy and those that are not trustworthy.’ You have said, ‘The forms perceived by the eyes that are recognized as unsuitable to adopt and adhere to are absolutely and surely to be abandoned.’ You have also said, ‘Given that the Tathāgata knows the right time to teach what should be adopted at any occasion, phenomena known by the mind that are suitable to adopt and adhere to should be adopted by the mindful and vigilantly introspective.’ The same applies to the others, up to the mental phenomena perceived by the mind.

“This is the meaning of the Tathāgata’s response, as I understand it. You have said, ‘If one trusts some form perceived by the eyes and nonvirtues multiply and virtues diminish, one should no longer trust such forms perceived by the eyes.’ You have also said, ‘If one trusts some form perceived by the eyes and nonvirtues diminish and virtues multiply, one should then trust such forms perceived by the eyes.’ Likewise you said, ‘If one trusts a certain sound perceived by the ears, a smell perceived by the nose,