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Characteristics of Ultimate Truth
The great enlightening being Dharmodgata said to the Buddha, "In a certain land I once saw a place where there were seventy-seven thousand philosophers and their teachers gathered together in one assembly to consider the characteristics of ultimate meaning of things. As they thought and assessed and contemplated and searched all over together, they were after all unable to get to the ultimate meaning of all things, just a medley of different interpretations, conflicting interpretations, varying interpretations. They contradicted and argued with one another, then they got out weapons and attacked and wounded each other, finally breaking up and going their seperate ways. At the time I thought to myself, 'The appearance of a Buddha in the world is most wonderful; because of the Buddha's appearance in the world it is possible to understand and realize ultimate truth that is beyond the scope of all thought and deliberation.' "
The Buddha said, "It is so. It is as you say. I have awakened to the ultimate truth which is beyond all thought and reflection; and I explain it to others, revealing and analzing it, defining and elucidating it. Why?
"The ultimate truth of which I speak is that which is inwardly realized by sages, while the scope of thought and deliberation is that to which unenlightened peope testify among themselves. Therefore you should know that ultimate truth transcends all objects of thought and deliberation.
"The ultimate truth of which I speak has no form to which to relate, whereas thought and deliberation operate only in the sphere of forms. Based on this principle you should know that ultimate truth transcends all objects of thought and deliberation.
"The ultimate truth of which I speak cannot be expressed in words, whereas thought and deliberation only operate in the realm of verbalization. Based on this principle you should know that ultimate truth transcends all objects of thought and deliberation.
"The ultimate truth of which I speak has no representation, whereas thought and deliberation only operate in the realm of representation. For this reason you should know that ultimate truth transcends all objects of thought and deliberation.
"The ultimate truth of which I speak puts an end to all controversy, whereas thought and deliberation only operate in the realm of controversy. For this reason you should know that ultimate truth transcends all objects of thought and deliberation.
"Someone who has become accustomed to pungent and bitter flavors as a lifelong habit cannot think of, or assess, or believe in the sweet taste of honey and sugar.
"Someone who in ignorance has an overwhelming interest in desires because of passionate craving, and is therefore inflamed with excitement cannot, as a result, think of, or assess, or believe in the marvelous bliss of detachment and inward effacement of all sense data.
"Someone in ignorance who, because of overwhelming interest in words, clings to rhetoric, therefore cannot think of, or assess, or believe in the pleasure of holy silence with inner tranquillity.
"Someone in ignorance who, because of overwhelming interest to perceptual and cognitive signs, clings to the signs of the world, therefore cannot think of, or assess, or believe in ultimate nirvana that obliterates all signs so that reification ends.
"You should know that just as people in ignorance, because they have various controversies and beliefs involving attachments to self and possessions, cling to mundane contentions and therefore cannot think of, assess or believe in a utopia where there is no egoism, no possessiveness, no attachment, and no contention, in the same way those who pursue thoughts cannot think of or assess or believe in the character of the ultimate truth that is beyond the sphere of all thought and deliberation."
{ Unlocking the Mysteries}
Characteristics of Phenomena
The Buddha said, "Phenomena have three general natures: first is that to which mere conceptualization adheres; second is dependent origination; third is perfect reality.
"The merely conceptualized nature of phenomena refers to the differences in the intrinsic natures of all things as artificially defined by names to make it possible to talk about them.
"The dependently originated nature of phenomena refers to the fact that the intrinsic nature of all phenomena is conditional production. So when something exists, something else exists; when something is produced; something else is produced. For example, ignorance conditions activities, and so forth, ultimately bringing together a mass of suffering.
"The perfect nature of phenomena is the true suchness that is equal in all things.
"Enlightening beings can realize this true suchness by diligent effort, right attention, and unperverted thought. Realizing this, gradually cultivating this realization, they will ultimately reach true enlightenment and then witness it fully.
"Furthermore, the conceptualized nature can be known through association of names and characteristics, the dependent nature can be known through the conceptual clinging superimposed on the dependent nature, and the real nature can be known by not clinging to conceptions superimposed on the dependent nature."
Essencelessness
The Buddha said, "Listen closely and I will explain for you the inner intent of the saying that all things have no essence, have no origin or extinction, are fundamentally quiescent and inherently nirvanic.
"You should know that when I say all things have no essence, I am alluding to their kinds of essencelessness: essencelessness of characteristics, essencelessness of birth, and ultimate essencelessness.
"What is essencelessness of characteristics of all things? It is their conceptualized nature. Why? Because the characteristics are defined by artificial names, not by inherent definition. Therefore this is called essencelessness of characteristics.
"What is essencelessness of birth of things? It is the dependent nature of things? It is the dependent nature of things. Why? Because they exist dependent on the power of other conditions and do not exist of themselves. therefore it is called the essencelessness of birth.
"What is the ultimate essencelessness of things? It means that things are said to be essenceless because of the essencelessness of birth. That is, the fact of conditional production is also called ultimate essencelessness. Why? The pure object of attention in things I reveal as ultimate essencelessness. Dependency is not a pure object of attention, so I also call it ultimately essenceless.
"There is also the real nature of things that is called ultimate essencelessness. Why? Because the selflessness of all things is called the ultimate truth and can also be called essencelessness. This is the ultimate truth of all things, and is revealed by essencelessness, so for these reasons it is called ultimate essencelessness.
"You should know that essencelessness of characteristics is like flowers in the sky. Essencelessness of birth is like illusory images, and so is ultimate essencelessness in part. Just as space is revealed only by absence of forms and yet is ever-present, so also is one part of ultimate essencelessness: it is revealed by the selflessness of things, and it is omnipresent.
"It is reference to these three kinds of essencelessness that I can say all things are essenceless.
"Know that it is in allusion to the essencelessness of characteristics that I say all things have no origin or extinction, are fundamentally quiescent and inherently nrvanic.
"Why? If inherent characteristics of things have no existence, they have no origination. If they have no orignation, they have no extinction. If they have no origination and no extinction, they are fundamnetally quiescent. If they are fundamentally quiescent, they are inherently nirvanic, and there is nothing at all in them that can further cause their ultimate nirvana.
"Therefore I say that all things have no origination or extinction, are fundamnetally quiescent and inherently nirvanic, in terms of the essencelessness of characteristics.
"I also allude to ultimate essencelessness revealed by the selflessness of things when I say all things have no origination or extinction, are fundamentally quiescent and inherently nirvanic, in terms of the essencelessness of characteristics.
"Why? Because the ultimate essencelessness revealed by the selflessness of things is the eternal and constant real nature of all things, permanent and uncreated, having no relation to any defilements. Because the eternal and constant nature of things is permanent, it is uncreated; because it is uncreated, it has no origination or extinction. Because it is unconnected to any defilements, it is fundamentally quiescent and inherently nirvanic.
"Therefore I say that all things have no origination or extinction, are fundamentally quiescent and inherently nirvanic, in terms of ultimate essencelessness revealed by the selflessness of things.
"Furthermore, I do not define the three kinds of essencelessness because of taking various types of people's particular views of conceptualized nature as essence, or because of taking particular views of dependent or real natures as essence. I define the three kinds of essencelessness because people add a conceptualized nature on top of the dependent nature and the real nature.
"Based on the characteristics of conceptualized nature, people produce explanantions of the dependent and real nature, saying they are such and such, in accord with how people conceptualize them.
"Because the explanations condition their minds, because their awareness conforms to the explanations, because they are lulled by the explanantions, they cling to thier conceptualizations of the dependent nature and real nature as thus and so.
"Because they cling to their conceptualizations of the dependent and real natures, this condition produces the nature of the dependent state of the future, and due to this condition they may be defiled by afflictions, going through all kinds of psychological states."
