འཕགས་པ་དགངས་པ་ངས་པར་འགྲལ་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 52

52

"Maitreya, it is not vipaśyanā; it should be said to be accompanied by an inclination that conforms to vipaśyanā."

"Bhagavān, should the path of śamatha and the path of vipaśyanā be called different, or should they be called not different?"

He replied: "Maitreya, it should be said that they are neither different nor not different.
Why are they not different? Because [śamatha] has as its ālambana the mind that is the ālambana of vipaśyanā. Why are they not [non-]different? Because [vipaśyanā] has as its ālambana the conceptual image."

"Bhagavān, that image which is the domain of samādhi that one contemplates—what is it? Should it be said to be different from that mind, or should it be said to be not different?"

"Maitreya, it should be said to be not different.
Why is it not different? Because that image is merely vijñapti. Maitreya, I have explained that consciousness is distinguished merely by the vijñapti of the ālambana."

"Bhagavān, if that image which is the domain of samādhi is not different from that mind, how does that very mind examine that very mind?"

He replied: "Maitreya, therein no dharma whatsoever examines any dharma; nonetheless, the mind arisen in that way appears in that way. Maitreya, it is just like this: for example, based on a form, even though one sees form itself in a completely pure mirror surface, one thinks, 'I see an image,' and therein that form and the appearance of the image appear as different objects. Just so, that mind arisen in that way and that which is called the image that is the domain of samādhi also appear as if they were other objects than it.

"Bhagavān, that which abides as the nature of an image of mind appearing as form and so forth to sentient beings—should that also be said to be not different from that mind?"