འཕགས་པ་གང་གའ་མཆག་གས་ཞས་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད notes.25

notes.25

25. Degé: gang gA’i mchog de bzhin gshegs pas ni chos nyid ces bya ba yang mngon par rdzogs par sangs ma rgyas na gang (Degé, Stok, etc.; yang Phugdrag) de las byung ba’i chos yongs su mya ngan las ’das pa la gnas pa lta ga la yod. The translation above assumes de las byung ba’i chos and yongs su mya ngan las ’das pa are not in apposition. However, it is also possible to interpret them as being in apposition, with gang thereby modifying the latter, in which case the translation could run as follows: “If the Tathāgata had not completely awakened even to what is called the true nature of things, Gaṅgottarā, how could he remain in the parinirvāṇa that is the thing (dharma) that arises from it?” Skilling 2021, pp. 348–49, translates this sentence somewhat differently: “If the Tathāgata had not fully awakened to the true nature, Gaṅgottarā, then in his final nirvāṇa there would be a remainder of the dharmas arising from it.” The passage could perhaps be rendered in other ways, too. The Dunhuang manuscript also reads quite differently here, even while some of the component terms and phrases seem to be present, such as lta yod par ga la ’gyur: “For the Tathāgata even the names of such things do not have an objective basis, much less the existence of the things and of those who are inclined toward nirvāṇa” (de bzhin gshegs pa ni chos de dag gi mying yang dmyigs par myi ’gyur na | chos rnams dang | mya ngan las ’da’s pa la gzhol ba de dag lta yod par ga la ’gyur). Chang 1991 translates the Chinese here as follows: “Because the Tathāgata knows that even the names of things are inapprehensible, let alone the things themselves or those who seek nirvāṇa” (38).