འཕགས་པ་ཁྱའ་སྣང་བ་བསམ་གྱས་མ་ཁྱབ་པས་བསྟན་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བའ་ཆས་ཀྱ་རྣམ་གྲངས 7

7

Who falsely conceive such things to be,
And tathāgatas who appear in order
To bring their minds to realization.”

The child asked:

“Considering they are not born,
Which perfect buddhas could appear?
The appearance of a buddha makes no sense
Where phenomena themselves have no birth.”

The Bhagavān answered:

“The appearance of a buddha
Is explained as birthless birth,
A conventional designation
That ultimately does not exist.”

The child said:

“You still have two perceptions,
One conventional and one ultimate,
Which contradicts the path of one vehicle
That you profess, Gautama.”

The Bhagavān answered:

“I do not transgress the path;
I remain without contradiction and, moreover,
Bring discordant beings into harmony.
That is how you should understand it, child.”

The child asked:

“If those beings are not perceived,
Then to whom, Gautama, are you bringing harmony?
When you look at the past of phenomena—
To whom has affliction arisen?”

The Bhagavān answered:

“Having comprehended the past, the future,
And likewise what transpires right now,
Having realized sacred awakening,
I teach the Dharma to living creatures.”

The child said:

“You proclaim yourself the perfect Buddha,
And proclaim your own understanding;
Promoting yourself in this manner,
Your pride must be truly exceptional!”

The Bhagavān answered:

“I do not laud myself,
Nor do I belittle others.
I clearly reveal how things truly are,
And so am called the Tathāgata.”

The child said:

“If how things truly are is inexpressible
And without a true nature,
Then don’t speak contrary to your own understanding,
Using terminology for what has no words, no language.”

The Bhagavān answered:

“Although all those phenomena are contrary,
They still arise from the natural state of things.
Because I have realized how things truly are,
I possess neither faults nor qualities.”¹⁸

The child said: