འཕགས་པ་གསར་འད་དམ་པ་མཆག་ཏ་རྣམ་པར་རྒྱལ་བའ་མད་སྡའ་རྒྱལ་པ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 5.14

5.14

An unproduced phenomenon has no existence and therefore⁷²⁵ has no name, has no features, does not cease,⁷²⁶ and can have no analogy, because it has not been produced by causes and conditions.

“Noble goddess, it is like this: As an example, a drumbeat is dependent on wood. It is dependent on a skin, a stick, a hand, and so on. Therefore, although a drumbeat originates, the past of that which is a drumbeat is empty, its future is empty, and its present origination is empty.⁷²⁷ The drumbeat does not originate from the wood, it does not originate from the skin, and it does not originate from the stick or the hand. It does not originate from the three times. Therefore, it is not produced. That which is not produced does not cease. That which does not cease does not come from anywhere. That which does not come from anywhere does not go anywhere. That which does not go anywhere is not eternal. It is not nothingness. That which is neither eternal nor nothingness is not one and it is not separate.

“Why is that? If the five skandhas were one, they would not be different from the Dharma realm. If it were like that, then it would be logical that even ordinary beings would see the genuine truth and attain the nirvāṇa that has the highest genuine⁷²⁸ truth.⁷²⁹ But this is not so, and therefore it should be known that they are not one.

“If they were separate, then all the composite characteristics⁷³⁰ of the buddhas and bodhisattvas would include attachment so that they would not become liberated from the bondage of the kleśas and would not attain the highest, most complete enlightenment of buddhahood.

“Why is that? It is because all ārya individuals have realized the essential sameness of the composite and noncomposite,⁷³¹ and therefore they are not separate from each other.