འཕགས་པ་ཀླའ་རྒྱལ་པ་མ་དྲས་པས་ཞས་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 75

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and there would be no liberating wisdom vision.”

“If Revered Mahākāśyapa’s mind is not bound, what is its liberation?”

“Understanding the absence of bondage is liberation.”

“What is that mind through which Revered Mahākāśyapa understands? What is that mind that is understood? Is it a past mind? A future mind? A present mind? The past is gone, the future is yet to come, and the present does not abide anywhere, so what is that mind that understands? What is that which is understood?”

“Mañjuśrī, it is cessation; it is devoid of anything that can be regarded as a mind.”

“Revered Kāśyapa, can mental cessation be understood?”

“No, mental cessation cannot be understood.”

Mañjuśrī replied, “The mind in which all has ceased is a downfall, because in it nothing is understood.”

“Mañjuśrī, please speak on this. I am unable to reply to you.”

“What do you think, Revered Mahākāśyapa,” asked Mañjuśrī, “does an echo have eloquence?”

“No. And why is that? Because an echo is dependently arisen.”

“Revered Mahākāśyapa, are all phenomena not like echoes?”

“Yes, Mañjuśrī, they are.”

“What do you think, Revered Mahākāśyapa, can an echo’s eloquence be interrupted?”

“It is interrupted when no words are uttered.”

“That is right, Revered Mahākāśyapa. A bodhisattva’s eloquence is interrupted when no questions are asked. Revered Mahākāśyapa, if I were questioned for an eon, my eloquence would continue for that whole eon.”