འཕགས་པ་དཀན་མཆག་ཏ་ལ་ལའ་གཟངས་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 1.7

1.7

Mañjuśrī said, “O son of the victors, what does one designate through designation?”

The bodhisattva Samanta­bhadra said, “Mañjuśrī, through designation one designates neither entities nor the absence of entities.”

Mañjuśrī said, “O son of the victors, if one does not designate entities through designation and does not designate the absence of entities either, then how could the Three Vehicles ever be taught?”

The bodhisattva Samanta­bhadra said, “Mañjuśrī, do not be attached to the dharmadhātu, which is free of attachment! Why not? Mañjuśrī, it is because the Tathāgata taught that all phenomena are the absence of entities. Why are they the absence of entities? It is because the five aggregates are not apprehended.”²⁸

Mañjuśrī asked, “Is awakening something with conceptual elaborations? Or is it something that is without conceptual elaborations?”

The bodhisattva Samanta­bhadra replied, “Son of a good family, awakening is neither something with conceptual elaborations, nor is it something that is without conceptual elaborations. Thus, awakening exists neither in terms of having elaborations nor as being devoid of elaborations; it is indivisible into two.”

Then the Blessed One said²⁹ to the bodhisattva great being Samanta­bhadra, “Son of a good family, this inconceivable teaching is excellent, excellent! Yet, through the teaching of this discourse, the world with its gods will become confused.”

Mañjuśrī said, “Blessed One, to teach the Dharma in this way is not best suited to its being understood.”

The Blessed One replied, “Son of a good family, just as you say, it is not.”

Then Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta asked the Blessed One, “Blessed One, are all phenomena designated by this type of designation?”

The Blessed One said, “Son of a good family, just as you say, they are.”