གླང་པའ་རྩལ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 20

20

Perceiving all teachers as undifferentiated, we are renunciants following renunciants without conceptualizing.”

Śāriputra then asked, “What was your intention when you said, ‘From this day forth, our teacher is no longer the Buddha’?”

“From this day forth,” they answered, “we will rely on ourselves, but not on others. We will take refuge in ourselves, but not in others. We are our own teachers and no one else is. Therefore, from this day forth, our teacher is no longer the Buddha. Why? Aside from oneself, there is no buddha. Aside from a buddha, there is no self.”

Śāriputra then asked, “What was your intention when you said, ‘From this day forth, we shall rely neither on the Dharma nor on the Saṅgha’?”

“From this day forth,” they answered, “we do not perceive any phenomenon whatsoever that anyone should rely upon or conform to. Therefore, from this day forth, we shall rely neither on the Dharma nor on the Saṅgha.”

Śāriputra then asked, “What was your intention when you said, ‘From this day forth, we shall be proponents of the nonexistence of action’?”

“From this day forth,” they answered, “we know that all phenomena are unproduced. We have realized that phenomena undergo no production or change anywhere. Therefore, from this day forth, we are proponents of the nonexistence of action.”

Śāriputra then asked, “What was your intention when you said, ‘From this day forth, we shall be proponents of the nonexistence of causation’?”

“For us,” they answered, “the cause of birth in all destinies of cyclic existence has ended today. We have realized that phenomena are without any causes and conditions anywhere. Therefore, from this day forth, we are proponents of the nonexistence of causation.”

Śāriputra then asked, “What was your intention when you said, ‘From this day forth, we are proponents of the nonexistence of karmic ripening’?”

“From this day forth,” they answered, “we perfectly understand that all phenomena are without any karma nor karmic ripening anywhere and completely beyond suffering. Therefore, from this day forth, we are proponents of the nonexistence of karmic ripening.”

Śāriputra then asked, “Venerable ones, what was your intention when you said, ‘From this day forth, we are proponents of the nonexistence of moral discipline’?”