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SESSION 3 - Duality and Nonduality (Verses 10 - 17)

PART ONE: Review of Verses 1 - 9

V1. Wisdom is knowing the Three Natures:

1. The imagined (parikalpita) 2. The other-dependent (paratantra) 3. The ‘totally perfect’ (pariniṣpanna)

V2. Whatever appears is other-dependent (#2). The way it appears is imagination only (#1).

V3. The eternal nonexistence of what appears in the way it appears is [the] totally perfect (#3).

V4. Whatever appears is ’unreal imagination’ in the form of duality (dvaya). The non-existence of whatever appears is advaya-dharmatā (’dharmic principle of non-duality’)

V5. ‘Unreal imagination’ is mind (citta).

V6. Mind is both cause (ālayā-vijñāna) and effect (’the seven active consciousnesses’)

V7. The ālayā collects (cita) the seeds (bīja) of defilements (kleśa) and habits (vāsanā); The active consciousnesses act in diverse (citra) ways.

V8. Together they are unreal false imagination that: ripen, are characterized, and are conventional.

V9. The ālayā ripens, while the seven active consciousnessess cognate perceiver and perceived via

PART TWO: Characteristics of the Three Natures

V10

sadasattvād dvayaikatvāt saṃkleśavyavadānayoḥ / lakṣaṇābhedataś ceṣṭā svabhāvānāṃ gaṃbhīratā //

Existent as well as non-existent, dual as well as unitary; defilement (saṃkleśa) and purity (vyavadāna),

Since they are not mutually different in characteristic (lakṣaṇa), the profundity (gaṃbhīra) of the three natures is indeed recognized.

PART THREE: Existence and Non-Existence of the Three Natures

V11

sattvena gṛhyate yasmād atyantābhāva eva ca / svabhāvaḥ kalpitas tena sadasallakṣaṇo mataḥ //

Being grasped as existent, while being totally non-existent (atyantābhāva), The imagined nature (kalpita-svabhāva) is said to be characterized as existent and as nonexistent.

V12

vidyate bhrāntibhāvena yathākhyānaṃ na vidyate / paratantro yatas tena sadasallakṣaṇo mataḥ //

Existing as an illusion, while not existing in the form it which it appears, The other-dependent (paratantra) is said to be characterized as existent and as nonexistent.

V13

advayatvena yac cāsti dvayasyābhāva eva ca / svabhāvas tena niṣpannaḥ sadasallakṣaṇo mataḥ //

Existing in a state of non-duality and also the non-existence of duality, The absolutely accomplished nature (niṣpanna-svabhāva) is said to be characterized as existent and as nonexistent.

PART FOUR: The Duality and Unity of the Three Natures

V14

dvaividhyāt kalpitārthasya tadasattvaikabhāvataḥ / svabhāvaḥ kalpito bālair dvayaikatvāmako mataḥ //

Being imagined in a dualistic form, yet unitary for being non-existent, The nature that is imagined by the ignorant is said to be both dual as well as unitary.

V15

prakhyānād dvayabhāvena bhrāntimātraikabhāvataḥ / svabhāvaḥ paratantrakhyo dvayaikatvātmako mataḥ //

Appearing with a dualistic nature, while its existence as a mere appearance (bhrānti-matra) is singular, The other-dependent nature is said to be dual as well as unitary,

V16

dvayābhāvasvabhāvatvād advayaikasvabhāvataḥ / svabhāvaḥ pariniṣpanno dvayaikatvātmako mataḥ //

Being the essential nature of dual nature, while of a singular non-dual nature, The absolutely accomplished nature is said to be dual as well as unitary

PART FIVE: Defilement and Purity of the Three Natures

V17

kalpitaḥ paratantraśca jñeyaṃ saṃkleśalakṣaṇam / pariniṣpanna iṣṭas tu vyavadanasya lakṣaṇam //

That which is characterized as defilement (saṃkleśalakṣaṇa), it should be known, are the imagined and the other-dependent natures, While the absolutely accomplished nature is recognized as the characteristic of purity.