འཕགས་པ་དགངས་པ་ངས་པར་འགྲལ་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 37

37

They will be completely liberated from all the afflictions of defilements, karma, and birth.

“Moreover, Para­mārtha­samud­gata, even those belonging to the lineage of the hearers’ vehicle attain nirvāṇa, the unsurpassable happiness, through this very path and journey,¹⁵³ as do those belonging to the lineage of the solitary realizers’ vehicle and the lineage of the tathāgatas. This is why it is the single path of purification for hearers, solitary realizers, and bodhisattvas. Since there is only a single purification, there is no other. Therefore, with this in mind, I taught the Single Vehicle. Yet, it is not the case that those in the world of beings are not of various types corresponding to their capacities, be they weak, average, or sharp in accordance with their nature.

“Para­mārtha­samud­gata, even if they were to exert themselves as all buddhas did,¹⁵⁴ individuals belonging to the hearers’ lineage with the state of peace as their sole journey could not reach the heart of awakening and attain the unsurpassable, complete and perfect awakening. Why? Because, having limited compassion and a great fear of suffering, they belong to a lineage that is by nature inferior. Thus, having limited compassion, they avoid striving for beings’ welfare. Being afraid of suffering, they stay clear from the conditioning process of the mental factors.¹⁵⁵ However, I did not teach that avoiding striving for beings’ welfare and staying clear from the conditioning process of the mental factors was the unsurpassable, complete and perfect awakening. Therefore, these individuals are called those who have the state of peace as their sole journey.

“I taught that hearers who evolve toward awakening belong to the