འཕགས་པ་ཀླའ་རྒྱལ་པ་མ་དྲས་པས་ཞས་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 24

24

they cannot be outshone by the peaceful brahmās of the form realm. Rather, it is the bodhisattvas who outshine the gods. Likewise, even when those with pure minds are born into the form realm and coexist with beings of the desire realm, they do not become disheartened. Nor do they despise those beings who assert a self. In the same way, if those with a pure mind rest evenly in all the absorptions and attainments, they will not be reborn through the power of those concentrations and absorptions.

“Why? Because, lord of nāgas, bodhisattvas reach accomplishment through their skillful expertise in ascertaining the mind. Likewise, lord of nāgas, bodhisattvas who cultivate this path of purity are expert in pure conduct. Lord of nāgas, the path is not cultivated by meditating on entities, nor by destroying them. The path is not cultivated by asserting entities, nor by denying them. The path is not cultivated through the existence of entities, nor through the nonexistence of entities. The path is not cultivated by the arising of entities, nor by the cessation of entities. The path is not cultivated by grasping entities, nor by rejecting entities. The path is not cultivated by meditating on a self, the lack of a self, a being, a life force, a soul, a person, an individual, humanity, or a human being. The path is not cultivated by meditating on the aggregates as impermanence, by meditating on the aggregates as suffering, by meditating on the aggregates as being without self, by meditating on the aggregates as peace, or by meditating on the aggregates as free from desire. Nor is the path cultivated by meditating on the aggregates as being like illusions,