འཕགས་པ་ཏང་ང་འཛན་གྱ་འཁར་ལ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད intro.6

intro.6

Moreover, both The Wheel of Meditative Concentration and Infinite Jewels (Ratnakoṭi, Toh 118) have a thematically close relationship with yet a third text, The Teaching on the Indivisible Nature of the Realm of Phenomena (Dharmadhātu­prakṛtyasambheda­nirdeśa, Toh 52). That longer and more detailed work opens with a teaching on the realm of phenomena given by Mañjuśrī at the Buddha’s request. The short passage recounting that teaching⁸ bears a striking resemblance to the teaching on the limit of reality and the realm of phenomena in these two texts, and in that longer text too the Buddha warns that “if those who are possessed of excessive pride hear that teaching, it will frighten them.” Mañjuśrī responds to this warning in essentially the same way as in the present text, though perhaps less cryptically: “Those who become afraid … are themselves of the nature of the realm of phenomena, and the nature of the realm of phenomena does not become frightened.” Unlike the other two shorter texts, however, The Teaching on the Indivisible Nature of the Realm of Phenomena then goes on to elaborate in some detail on the theme of pride in this context. First, some “proud monks” are immediately liberated by hearing the teaching.⁹ Then, another group of proud monks leaves the scene, confused and disconcerted, and Mañjuśrī has to use his powers and bring them back by means of a further teaching.¹⁰ Further on still in the narrative, Mañjuśrī explains in detail what is meant by unfounded or excessive pride on many levels, culminating in its sense of dualistic, conceptual conceits that prevent one from engaging fully with the emptiness and sameness of all phenomena.¹¹ Although the historical relationship of these texts remains to be determined,¹² The Teaching on the Indivisible Nature of the Realm of Phenomena does help to throw light on the two shorter texts in which Mañjuśrī’s statements are left unexplained.