PART ONE: Review of verses 1 - 49
Verses 1 - 7 = Arising, abiding, and ceasing, etc, are merely conventional terms.
Verse 8 - 14 = All phenomenon which arises in dependence on another dependent phenomenon should be known not to exist in the manner of their appearance.
Verse 15 - 26 = Existence and non-existence are dependently originated and therefore ‘do not arise’.
Verse 27 = Characteristics are on account of the characterized (thing), and characterized (things) are on account of their characteristics, and therefore both do no exist in and of themselves.
Verse 28 - 32 = The conditioned and the unconditioned also lack inherent existence.
Verse 33 - 38 = “Conception of self is generated through focusing on the person who is merely imputed upon the 12 dependent limbs, arising from the preconception which takes improper objects and overestimates them.” Afflictions (Kleśas), actions (Karma), and conditioning (saṃskāra) lack inherent existence, therefore all phenomena are devoid of inherent existence.
Verse 39 = “If one understands how actions are devoid of inherent existence, then they see the suchness of action.” When they have seen suchness they will have eliminated ignorance and when there is no ignorance then actions/saṃskāra all the way up to old age and death, which are caused by ignorance, cannot occur.
Verse 40 - 43 = Actions (which one performs), are similar to the apparent creation (apparently created) by an apparent creation, and are devoid of own being, they exist as something which is only an idea. Whatever is said by the Buddha has the two truths as its chief underlying thought.
Verse 44 = “It is not easy to understand what has been intentionally said by the Buddhas: ‘The existent’ exists, ‘the non-existent’ exists, ‘the existent and non-existent’ also exists.”
Verse 45 - 49 = Form (rūpa) does not exist inherently, nor arise from elements, which also lack inherent nature. Consciousness too lacks inherent nature, from being dependently arisen based upon the dependently arisen.
PART TWO: Sense Consciousness
Verse 50 = There is no form without color, and no color without form
“Since color and form are never separated, (it is) not (possible to say that), being separated, they are perceived together, since it is considered that both are the visible (thing).” - Tola y Dragonetti
“Color and shape do not exist as two different things. If they were to exist as two different things then a mind could apprehend shape without considering color or color without considering shape. … In the world, a form in known to be singular; if its shape and color were to exist as two different things then the form would appear to the world as two instead of one.” - Komito
Verse 51 = Eye consciousness is formless
“The consciousness of the eye does not exist in the eye, does not exist in ‘the visible’ (thing) nor in the middle (of both); it (as really arising), depending on the eye and on the visible (thing), is an error.” - Tola y Dragonetti
“Because eye consciousness is generated in dependence on eye and form, if it is apprehended as having inherent existence, that is a mistaken conception.” - Komito
Verse 52 = The Six Senses and Six Sense Objects lack inherent existence
If the eye does not see itself, how could it see the visible (thing)? Therefore the eye and the visible do not exist in se et per se. The remaining (five) āyatanas are similar to these.” - Tola y Dragonetti
Verse 53 = The Six Senses and Six Sense Objects are empty
“The eye is void of an own essence; it is void of the essence of another; the visible (thing) is equally void, and equally void are the remaining āyatanas.” - Tola y Dragonetti Verse 54 = Contact is Empty
“If one exists together with the contact, the other ones are void. What is void does not lean upon what is not void, nor does what is not void lean upon what is void.” - Tola y Dragonetti Verse 55 = Sensation is Empty
“The eye, eye consciousness and its object arise and immediately disintegrate, so they cannot exist as abiding in a their nature and so those three cannot assemble. When these three cannot assemble, contact cannot exist and if contact cannot exist, so there cannot be feeling.” - Komito
“The three (sense organ, object, and consciousness) do not exist; since there is not conjunction of natures that do not endure, there is not a real contact among them, therefore perception does not exist.” - Tola y Dragonetti Verse 56 = Consciousness is like a Magic Show
“Consciousness arises in dependence on internal and external entrances (āyatana). Because consciousness arises in dependence on the entrances, so it is like a mirage and an illusion which are devoid of inherent existence.” - Komito
Verse 57 = The Interdependence of Consciousness, Thoughts and Self
“Consciousness cannot arise without taking an object, so it depends on that object of knowledge. [However] that object of knowledge cannot arise without depending on a consciousness to apprehend it, and therefore because they exist in a mutually dependent way, both of them lack inherent existence. The object of knowledge and the apprehension of the object do not exist inherently, therefore the ‘person who knows the object’ does not exist inherently.” - Komito
“Consciousness does not exist, since it arises depending on the knowable (thing); as consciousness does not exist nor the knowable (thing), therefore ‘the knower’ does not really exist.” - - Tola y Dragonetti
Verse 58 = This is what the Buddha was talking about
“All is impermanent – impermanent or permanent, nothing exists. If things existed, they would be permanent or impermanent; then can they (really) exist?” - Tola y Dragonetti
“Buddha has seen no essence in composite phenomena with inherent existence so he said that all composite phenomena are impermanent, so therefore they are devoid of inherent existence. How could they exist inherently in the nature of permanent phenomena?” - Komito