འཕགས་པ་དགངས་པ་ངས་པར་འགྲལ་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 71

71

subject to change; the nimitta of the distinct lakṣaṇa of the conditioned; the nimitta of its own lakṣaṇa; the nimitta of all upon knowing 'everything is everything'; the nimitta of selflessness of persons; and whatever nimittas of the selflessness of dharmas there are—they maintain the mind in supreme equanimity toward the arising of these. For one who enters upon this and frequently abides in it, purifying the mind from time to time from hindrances, obscurations, and distractions, there arise inwardly seven kinds of knowledge that individually discern the seven modes of tathatā by self-awareness of one's individual identity; this is their path of seeing. By attaining this, the bodhisattva has entered upon the faultless reality, is born into the lineage of the Tathāgata, has attained the first stage, and also experiences the benefits of that stage. Since previously they had attained śamatha and vipaśyanā, they had obtained the two kinds of ālambana: the image accompanied by vikalpa and the non-conceptual image. In that way, by attaining the path of seeing, they attain the ālambana of the limits of existence; and as they enter upon the path of meditation on the higher and higher stages and bring to mind precisely those three kinds of ālambana—just as, for example, someone extracts a very thick peg by means of an extremely fine peg—in the manner of extracting a peg with a peg, by removing internal nimittas, they remove all nimittas concordant with the part of afflictive emotion; and as they remove nimittas, they also remove dauṣṭhulyas. Through thoroughly overcoming all nimittas and dauṣṭhulyas, the mind is gradually purified like gold on the higher and higher stages, and until unexcelled, perfect bodhi, they fully awaken and also obtain the ālambana of fulfilled purpose. Maitreya, when a bodhisattva