འཕགས་པ་གང་པས་ཞས་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 1.14

1.14

Rather than saying, ‘This is not the Dharma.’

“When they hear about empty phenomena,
They always pursue what that means,
And their insight thereby increases;
It is from there that the path to awakening arises.

“When they hear a previously unheard Dharma teaching,
They pursue what it means.
Their progress to awakening will therefore not be reversed,
And their insight will increase.

“When they hear a Dharma teaching they have not heard before,
They do not succumb to the negative attitude of pride,
Nor do they give rise to deceit and guile.
Giving rise to deceit is not the way to pursue awakening.

“When they hear a Dharma teaching they have not heard before,
They pursue what it means.
Even if they have never previously heard it,
They reflect on it one-pointedly.

“When those persons hear the Dharma,
They hear the authentic Dharma.
They will always encounter many buddhas,
And never regress from awakening.

“Upon meeting those many buddhas,
They will ask them proper questions,
And all those who hear such questions, even the hearers,
Will become utterly pleased.

“Since this is amazing and marvelous,
One should ask such questions!
Unless the thought to ask occurs,
How will we ever hear about these matters?

“Since the hearers express their amazement,
All the gods and nāgas will be pleased,
And the buddhas will proclaim their praises.
These are the results of erudition.

“The buddhas will answer
All the questions presented to them,
And this will bring immense benefits
To all the countless assemblies.

“Upon hearing the erudite answers
Given to the bodhisattvas,
All the countless assemblies will attain
The unsurpassed Dharma eye.

“Pūrṇa,” continued the Blessed One, “for those reasons, when bodhisattvas hear a Dharma teaching they have not heard before, they eagerly accept it out of sincere trust, and contemplate it genuinely without contradicting it. They never say, ‘This is not the Dharma.’ You should know that this attitude will benefit countless sentient beings.

“Pūrṇa, in the past, countless eons ago—so long ago that the length of time cannot be measured, fathomed, or conceived—a thus-gone one, a worthy one, a perfect buddha