འཕགས་པ་ཆས་ཡང་དག་པར་སྡད་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 5.3

5.3

“Honorable Śāradvatīputra, a bodhisattva’s activities of body, speech, and mind are pure. They are not attached to any action, and they do not seek anything. They do not wish to abandon the slightest thing, nor do they wish to attain. They regard that which arises in the past, future, and present to be equal in terms of their suchness, and they do not in any way observe phenomena as being inferior, average, or superior. That is what is meant by ‘disengaged.’

“Honorable Śāradvatīputra, because¹⁴² phenomena are nonexistent from the beginning, they are disengaged. Honorable Śāradvatīputra, if a phenomenon were to exist from the beginning it could be engaged. But there is no phenomenon that exists from the beginning, and because phenomena do not exist from the beginning, there is nothing that is engaged.”

“If that is the case, how did you discourse on the Dharma?” asked the venerable Śāradvatīputra.

“Honorable Śāradvatīputra,” replied the bodhisattva Nirārambha, “I gave a discourse on the Dharma as one who is himself disengaged. Honorable Śāradvatīputra, what do you think? Were you engaged or disengaged when asking your question? If you were already engaged when you asked, what is the basis of your engagement? The question itself does not include engagement, and it would be illogical to claim that engagement is one thing and the question another. If you asked without engagement, then you are participating in this discussion.”

“Child of good family, how should I look at this conversation we are having?” asked the venerable Śāradvatīputra.

“Honorable Śāradvatīputra,” replied the bodhisattva Nirārambha, “it is like this: Consider the statements made by a bodhisattva who remains in suchness, in the expanse of phenomena, to be analogous to the statements made by a magical illusion. Honorable Śāradvatīputra, there is no mind and no mental phenomena in a magical illusion.