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Lesson 2 - The Characteristic of the Truth of the Ultimate Meaning

Part One: Bodhisattvas discuss nonduality

  • What are ‘all dharmas’ (sarva-dharma), and what is called nondual (advaya)?
  • In general, all dharmas’ are of two kinds: 1, conditioned (saṃskṛta) and 2, unconditioned (asaṃskṛta) - yet both are neither.
  • It’s like the illusory things [goings ons 事業] of a skilled magician
  • Ignorant people steadfastly cling to what they see and what they hear
  • The wise think, ‘they are differentiations arising from conditioned characteristics, just like the illusory effects [goings ons 事] from imagination are confused understandings in which one gives rise to ideas about the conditioned and the unconditioned, and ideas about whether they exist or not.’

Part Two: Born of the Dharma

  • The characteristic of the ultimate meaning of all things sarva-dharma-paramārtha-satya-lakṣana 諸法勝義諦相 See Vajra Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, Ch 14
  • They confronted one another and argued fiercely…
  • “The ultimate meaning is something all sages internally ‘self-realize’, while reasoning is something ‘realized’ by the give and take of common people.”
  • Correct enlightenment goes beyond all reasoning (vitarka) about the characteristic of the truth of ultimate meaning.

Part Three: Characteristic of Truth v. Characteristics of Conditioning

  • Are the characteristic of the truth of ultimate meaning (Paramārtha-satya-lakṣana) and all the characteristics of conditional thought formations (saṃskāra-lakṣaṇa) alike or dissimilar?
  • Like the white color of a conch shell, it is not easily defined as being the same in characteristic or different in characteristic from the conch shell.
  • The characteristics of the realm of saṃskāra and that of ultimate truth go beyond the characteristics of having the nature of similitude or difference.

Part Four: The Single Flavor 一味相

  • “Subhūti! How many people do you know in the world that express their understanding (or liberation) with pride (or conceit) and how many people do you know in the world that express their understanding without pride?”
  • All the venerables express their understanding with pride, and because they have pride they are unable to comprehend the characteristic of the truth of ultimate meaning that pervades everything as a single flavor (eka-rasatā).
  • Solely by going along with the nondual wisdom of true suchness as a foundation does one come to awareness and realization of the all-pervading ‘single flavor’ characteristic of the truth of ultimate meaning.
  • Subhūti! Since the ultimate meaning of the true suchness of the selfless nature of all dharmas is not said to be caused, does not arise from causes and is not conditioned, it is the truth of ultimate meaning.
  • Just as space is characteristicless among all forms, without differentiation and without change, an all-pervading characteristic of a single flavor. Like this, among the different natures and different characteristics of all dharmas, the truth of ultimate meaning pervades everything as a characteristic of a ‘single flavor’.