[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Buddhist Sanskrit literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit) › [Mahāyāna sūtras](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra) › [Doctrinal sūtras](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.dharma) › [Dharmasaṅgīti](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.dharma.dharmasangiti) › [འཕགས་པ་ཆོས་ཡང་དག་པར་སྡུད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.dharma.dharmasangiti*bo) › [The Dharma Council](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.dharma.dharmasangiti*bo~en-84000) › 3.16 # འཕགས་པ་ཆས་ཡང་དག་པར་སྡད་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 3.16 The Dharma Council 3.16 - **Language:** English ### [3.16](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.dharma.dharmasangiti*bo~en-84000.3.16) It is that mode of conduct in which they themselves continually protect themselves while not conceptually fixating on a self. It is their continuous efforts to ripen beings while not conceptually fixating on beings. It is their continual guarding of the senses while not conceptually fixating on the afflictive emotions. Though forms that are not even slightly different than a buddha’s form do not appear to them, they continually wish to see a buddha. Though sounds that are not sounds of the Dharma do not ring out to them, they are continually unsatiated by the Dharma they hear. They do not conceptually fixate on saṃsāra, but continually fear saṃsāra. They do not conceptually fixate on nirvāṇa, but they give away all their wealth in order to realize nirvāṇa. They do not conceptually fixate on the Buddha or awakening, but they strive to make hundreds of thousands of aspirations to realize the awakening of buddhahood. This is known as a bodhisattva’s practice of skillful means. “What is a bodhisattva’s practice of aspiration? Bodhisattvas do not observe any phenomena that decrease or increase, and yet they rejoice in the roots of virtue of all beings and dedicate them to unsurpassable, completely perfect awakening. They first share their own roots of virtue with all beings, and then dedicate them to unsurpassable, completely perfect awakening by saying, ‘May I perfectly and completely awaken to unsurpassable, completely perfect awakening. May my buddhafield be like this. May my perfect assembly be like that.’ These aspirations of theirs will be perfectly fulfilled; they will not go unfulfilled. Their discipline will not be broken, weaken, break down, or be contaminated. It will be praised and protected by the wise. - [Previous: 3.15](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.dharma.dharmasangiti*bo~en-84000.3.15) - [Next: 3.17](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.dharma.dharmasangiti*bo~en-84000.3.17) - [Up: 3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.dharma.dharmasangiti*bo~en-84000.3) ## Linked texts (1) - [འཕགས་པ་ཆོས་ཡང་དག་པར་སྡུད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.dharma.dharmasangiti*bo.3.16) — Classical Tibetan --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.dharma.dharmasangiti*bo~en-84000.3.16](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.dharma.dharmasangiti*bo~en-84000.3.16) · Pramāṇa