Emptiness is [full of] form[s].
Forms are [full of] emptiness.– Stonepeace | Books
The god [Lord of Peace and Calm] said, “Mañjuśrī [Kumārabhuta Bodhisattva], how are disturbing emotions tamed? Are they something? Or nothing?”
Mañjuśrī said, “… [T]his is how it is. Imagine a man who has a nightmare in which he is bitten by a venomous viper. Although he is suffering, he is treated with an antidote and recovers. As the poison is neutralized, his pain disappears… [W]hat do you think? Was this man actually bitten or not?”
The god said, “Mañjuśrī, ultimately it did not truly happen.”
Mañjuśrī said, “… [H]ow was the poison neutralized?”
The god said, “Mañjuśrī, just as the bite was not truly real, the neutralization of the poison was also not truly real.”
Mañjuśrī said, “… [I]n the same way the noble ones view, without viewing, all disturbing emotions on the ultimate level… [Y]ou ask how disturbing emotions are tamed. Well… just as the ego ultimately is egoless, so… disturbing emotions are not ultimately disturbing emotions… [U]ltimately this self is suchness. Therefore… disturbing emotions also ultimately become suchness… [I]n this way, the self is not ultimately the self. Therefore… disturbing emotions are also not ultimately disturbing emotions.
… [W]hoever focuses on taming disturbing emotions on the ultimate level is not ultimately focusing on anything. Why? … [B]ecause on the ultimate level nothing manifests, and therefore all phenomena are pacified… [O]n the ultimate level, there is no grasping, and therefore all phenomena are fully pacified… [O]n the ultimate level, all phenomena are free from superimposition, and therefore all phenomena are completely pacified… [O]n the ultimate level, all phenomena are utterly unborn, and therefore they are also beyond ceasing… [T]he ultimate level is utterly unreal and therefore all phenomena are utterly unborn.”
– The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Teaching the Relative and Ultimate Truths”
(Āryasaṃvṛtiparamārthasatyanirdeśanāmamahāyānasūtra)
By Dharmachakra Translation Group
