འཕགས་པ་རྡ་རྗའ་སྙང་པའ་གཟངས་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 17

17

Through entering it, their eloquence becomes swifter, sharper, more profound, unbroken, and unlimited.

“Mañjuśrī, mental formations are awakening. This is a dhāraṇī gate.”

“Blessed One, how are mental formations awakening?” asked Mañjuśrī.

“Mañjuśrī,” said the Blessed One, “mental formations are innumerable—they cannot be counted. That is why one cannot perceive their full measure. Even though it is said that possessing nonvirtue leads to rebirth in the hell realms, one does not leave this place, and there is also no transference to that place after death. Mañjuśrī, the lack of transference is awakening. There is no coming and no going. Mañjuśrī, that is the dhāraṇī gate that one enters through the likes of mental formations.

“Mañjuśrī, consciousness is awakening.”

“Blessed One, how is consciousness awakening?” asked Mañjuśrī.

“Mañjuśrī,” said the Blessed One, “consciousness is like an illusion. The thus-gone ones proclaim that it has arisen from what is unreal. Mañjuśrī, just as immature ordinary people who are entrenched in what is unreal collectively imagine and construct an illusion-like consciousness, so too, Mañjuśrī, these immature ordinary people collectively imagine and construct an illusion-like awakening of a buddha. They see the qualities of a buddha as something special, thinking, ‘May we be buddhas! May we liberate sentient beings! May we be the best in the world!’ And they go about imagining the awakening of a buddha is like the sky. Mañjuśrī, I sat at the seat of awakening, and I did not perceive any qualities belonging to buddhas, or hearers, or solitary buddhas, or ordinary people. Mañjuśrī, that is the dhāraṇī gate that one enters through the likes of consciousness.