འཕགས་པ་ཀན་རྫབ་དང་དན་དམ་པའ་བདན་པ་བསྟན་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 1.21

1.21

will neutralize his disturbing emotions in a manner that is beyond reference points.”

The god said, “Mañjuśrī, what are the types of disturbing emotions?”

Mañjuśrī said, “Divine son, ultimately all phenomena are utterly unborn, utterly unarisen, and utterly unreal. Any conceptualization of that state is a form of disturbing emotion. Ultimately, there are no conceptualizations, so therefore there are also no disturbing emotions whatsoever. Divine son, because there are no disturbing emotions, there is no all-ground.⁴ Because there is no all-ground, there is ultimately no abiding. Because there is no abiding, there is ultimately no scorching. Because there is ultimately no scorching, there is said to be peace. On the ultimate level, things are not as they are expressed in words. Still, divine son, relatively this is how disturbing emotions are tamed.”

The god said, “Mañjuśrī, how are disturbing emotions tamed? Are they something? Or nothing?”

Mañjuśrī said, “Divine son, this is how it is. Imagine a man who has a nightmare in which he is bitten by a venomous viper. Although he is suffering, he is treated with an antidote and recovers. As the poison is neutralized, his pain disappears. Divine son, what do you think? Was this man actually bitten or not?”

The god said, “Mañjuśrī, ultimately it did not truly happen.”

Mañjuśrī said, “Divine son, how was the poison neutralized?”

The god said, “Mañjuśrī, just as the bite was not truly real, the neutralization of the poison was also not truly real.”

Mañjuśrī said, “Divine son, in the same way the noble ones view, without viewing, all disturbing emotions on the ultimate level. Divine son, you ask how disturbing emotions are tamed. Well, divine son, just as the ego ultimately is egoless, so, divine son, disturbing emotions are not ultimately disturbing emotions. Divine son, ultimately this self is suchness. Therefore, divine son, disturbing emotions also ultimately become suchness. Divine son, in this way, the self is not ultimately the self.