འཕགས་པ་དགངས་པ་ངས་པར་འགྲལ་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 45

45

On account of this, this essencelessness or selflessness of phenomena, true reality, the referential object conducive to purification, is the actual defining characteristic. For this reason, Blessed One, you referred to the essencelessness of phenomena with regard to the ultimate in its other aspect.

“As with the noble truth of suffering, one should proceed in exactly the same way with the other truths. As with the truths, so one should proceed in exactly the same way with each of the applications of mindfulness, the self-restraints, the bases of supernatural powers, the faculties, the forces, the branches of awakening, and the branches of the path.

“This is how I understand the meaning of the words spoken by the Blessed One: The phenomenal appearance of conditioned phenomena, namely, the basis of the imaginary defining characteristic, the object of conceptualization, is nominally and conventionally posited as an essential characteristic or a distinctive characteristic, for example as correct concentration,¹⁶⁶ its adverse factors and antidotes, its practice, its arising from being non-arisen, its remaining after it arose, and its maintaining, resuming, increasing, or expanding. For this reason, Blessed One, you referred to essencelessness with regard to the defining characteristics of phenomena. The phenomenal appearance of conditioned phenomena, namely, the basis of the imaginary defining characteristic, the object of conceptualization, is the other-dependent defining characteristic. For this reason, Blessed One, you referred to essencelessness with regard to both the arising of phenomena and the ultimate in one of its aspects.

“This is how I