An Introduction to Tantric Buddhism c7.22

c7.22

The Jñāna-siddhi³ also asserts that the ultimate thuth is neither positive nor negative; for, in the positive there is possibility of all the defects (*sarva-doṣa-prasaṅga*) and in the negative there is no way left for the relief of all sorrow.⁴ Pure knowledge is neither with any form (*sākāra*) nor is it formless (*nirākāra*). Had knowledge any form, it would have been *saṃskṛta* (conditional and defiled) as all existence is.¹ Had knowledge, on the other hand, been absolutely formless, there would have remained no possibility for becoming omniscient,—and without omniscience there would be no possibility of universal compassion.² A distinction is drawn here between ordinary knowledge (jñāna) and the knowledge of the highest truth (tattva-jñāna).³ The distinction is ultimately the same as that between Prajñā (the knowledge of the vacuity) and Bodhicitta (the combination of both Prajñā and Karuṇā). The former (i.e., jñāna, prajñā) however is nirvikalpa, i.e., free from all the false constructions; but the latter tattva-jñāna should never be taken as the complete cessation of consciousness (niścittatā); for in the tattva-jñāna there is the existence of universal compassion (karuṇā-bhāva).