ད་བཞན་གཤགས་པ་བགྲ་བ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད intro.2

intro.2

Discussions of Thus-Gone Ones takes place in the Jeta’s Grove at the end of the monsoon. It begins with the Buddha Śākyamuni emerging from a meditative absorption in which he has rested for the entire three-month rainy season retreat. A variety of beings arrive to pay homage and ask the Buddha what he has been occupied with in this meditative state. In response, the Buddha reveals that he has been engaged in conversation with other buddhas across a number of worlds. The text then consists primarily of the Buddha relaying those conversations to various interlocutors, beginning with Mañjuśrī, and replying to their questions about the meaning of these discussions. From their conversations, we learn that the buddhas take turns asking each other about the fundamental nature and basis of their awakening. Rather than offering direct answers to these questions, the buddhas make use of a series of equivalencies to indirectly point out the nonconceptual basis on which their awakening is founded. In order to make the point that this nonconceptual basis is in fact shared by all phenomena, they equate their awakening to a wide range of worldly phenomena, including even the ignorance of beings and various negative deeds. Thus, it appears that the central teaching of this discourse is the revelation that all phenomena, including buddhas themselves, share one fundamental basis.