འཕགས་པ་ཀླའ་རྒྱལ་པ་མ་དྲས་པས་ཞས་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 87

87

and will approach the flawlessness of bodhisattvas.”

Then the nāga prince Vikurvāṇa said to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, with a disinterested mind, I will develop the mind of awakening, to ensure that this Dharma teaching remains for a long time, and to maintain the sacred Dharma. I go for refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha. Due to the wisdom of the Buddha, I have now properly understood the nature of awakening through the nature of the mind, and the nature of all phenomena through the nature of awakening. I will now explain this. Blessed One, those who do not listen to this teaching on the Dharma gateway of the pure path have fallen under the sway of Māra. Why? Because, Blessed One, bodhisattvas who are skilled in this Dharma teaching are skilled in all paths that lead to emancipation.”

Then Venerable Subhūti asked the nāga prince Vikurvāṇa, “Noble son, when you spoke of awakening to perfect buddhahood by realizing the nature of the mind, what did you mean by the nature of the mind?”

“The nature of the mind is the nature of Revered Subhūti.”

“What is the nature of Subhūti?”

“It is the nature of desire, aversion, and delusion.”

“What is the nature of desire, aversion, and delusion?”

“It is the nature of concepts and thoughts. Why? What do you think, Subhūti? Without thoughts, would desire, aversion, and delusion arise?”

“No.”

“That which is beyond concepts and thoughts does not arise, and that which does not arise is of that nature.