འཕགས་པ་ཆས་ཐམས་ཅད་འབྱང་བ་མད་པར་བསྟན་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 4

4

Phenomena are free of both name and being unnamed,
So how is sound made audible, like an echo?

“Where there is no arising or nonarising,
And no faultless nirvāṇa,
There is also no saṃsāra.
How do all phenomena come down to a single principle?

“In that, there are no gods or nāgas,
No yakṣas, kinnaras, or spirits,
And no hell beings either,
So how could there be any states of being?

“How is it that the Protector’s way of explaining phenomena,
And what is said by evil-minded tīrthikas,
Are not two different things?
How is it that all words are the same?”

The Blessed One expressed his approval to the bodhisattva great being Siṃha­vikrānta­gāmin, saying, “Noble son, excellent, excellent! It is astonishing that you ask such questions that all worldly beings find difficult to grasp. Noble son, this is certainly acceptable, but why do you ask? This is not a subject fit for beginning bodhisattvas who possess the views of emptiness, signlessness, wishlessness, nonarising, the intangible, no attributes, buddhas, and awakening. Noble son, do not speak of this Dharma teaching in front of beginning bodhisattvas.

“Why? Because this teaching will entirely interrupt their roots of virtue. It might cause them to regress from the awakening of the buddhas and fall into eternalism or nihilism. It is possible they will not understand what realization the thus-gone ones base their teachings on.”

The bodhisattva great being Siṃha­vikrānta­gāmin replied, “Blessed One, please explain this. In the future there will be bodhisattvas who have the views of emptiness, signlessness, wishlessness,