འཕགས་པ་ཆས་ཡང་དག་པར་སྡད་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 7.6

7.6

Blessed One, this is a discourse on the Dharma.”

Youthful Mañjuśrī next addressed the Blessed One: “If a bodhisattva were to define the perfections, Blessed One, mistaken worldly people would say, ‘A bodhisattva is defined by the perfections.’ If, Blessed One, a bodhisattva were defined by the perfections, all beings would also be bodhisattvas. Blessed One, bodhisattvas cultivate and understand the perfections. Once they have been cultivated, they then explain them to others. For that reason, Blessed One, bodhisattvas are said to cultivate an unborn path, present an unarisen path, and express the inexpressible. Blessed One, bodhisattvas are not protected by the perfections; rather, they protect the perfections. For that reason bodhisattvas are said to uphold the sublime Dharma. Blessed One, bodhisattvas are not held by the perfections; rather, bodhisattvas uphold the perfections. For this reason they are said to be Dharma holders.

“Blessed One, because all phenomena are essentially stainless, they are without fault. Blessed One, because all phenomena are devoid of beings and the self, they have no basis. Blessed One, because no phenomena are involved in accepting and rejecting, they have no mind. Blessed One, because no phenomena are undertaken, they have no thought process. Blessed One, because no phenomena begin, they do not age. Blessed One, because all phenomena neither move nor do not move, they are free of going.