ཚ་འཕ་བ་ཇ་ལྟར་འགྱར་བ་ཞས་པའ་མད intro.14

intro.14

Indeed, it may well be, as Skilling opines, that Nāgārjuna’s own verse was based on this sūtra: the eight analogies in the Pratītya­samutpāda­hṛdaya­kārikā are the same (and practically in the same order) as those in the sūtra.⁹ Skilling’s historical point would be important, because it would tell against interpreting Nāgārjuna’s own term asaṃkrama as somehow indicating an unqualified rejection of transmigration. The sūtra, in its extensive explanations of the eight analogies (–), makes it clear that “no transmigration” does not mean that there is no transmigration or rebirth, but rather that nothing actually transmigrates; there is no transmigration from one life to another of any entity whatsoever, be it permanent or extinguished.