Translated from the Tibetan by Jay L. Garfield, Doris Silbert Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Philosophy, Smith College.
1
The imagined, the other-dependent and
The consummate.
These are the Three Natures
Which should be deeply understood.
2
Arising through dependence on conditions and
Existing through being imagined,
It is therefore called other-dependent
And is said to be merely imaginary.
3
The eternal nonexistence
Of what appears in the way it appears,
Since it is never otherwise,
Is known as the nature of the consummate.
4
If anything appears, it is imagined.
The way it appears is as duality.
What is the consequence of its nonexistence?
The fact of nonduality!
5
What is the imagination of the nonexistent?
Since what is imagined absolutely never
Exists in the way it is imagined,
It is mind that constructs that illusion.
6
Because it is a cause and an effect,
The mind has two aspects.
As the foundation consciousness it creates thought;
Known as the emerged consciousness it has seven aspects.
7
The first, because it collects the seeds
Of suffering is called “mind.”
The second, because of the constant emergence
Of the various aspects of things is so called.
8
One should think of the illusory nonexistent
As threefold:
Completely ripened, grasped as other,
And as appearance.
9
The first, because it itself ripens,
Is the root consciousness.
The others are emergent consciousness,
Having emerged from the conceptualization of seer and seen.
10
Existence and nonexistence, duality and unity;
Freedom from affliction and afflicted;
Through characteristics, and through distinctions,
These natures are known to be profound.
11
Since it appears as existent
Though it is nonexistent,
The imagined nature
Is said to have the characteristics of existence and nonexistence.
12
Since it exists as an illusory entity
And is nonexistent in the way it appears
The other-dependent nature
Is said to have the characteristics of existence and nonexistence.
13
Since it is the nonexistence of duality
And exists as nonduality
The consummate nature
Is said to have the characteristics of existence and nonexistence.
14
Moreover, since as imagined there are two aspects,
But existence and nonexistence are unitary,
The nature imagined by the ignorant
Is said to be both dual and unitary.
15
Since as an object of thought it is dual,
But as a mere appearance it is unitary,
The other-dependent nature
Is said to be both dual and unitary.
16
Since it is the essence of dual entities
And is a unitary nonduality,
The consummate nature
Is said to be both dual and unitary.
17
The imagined and the other-dependent
Are said to be characterized by misery (due to ignorant craving).
The consummate is free of
The characteristic of desire.
18
Since the former has the nature of a false duality
And the latter is the nonexistence of that nature,
The imagined and the consummate
Are said not to be different in characteristic.
19
Since the former has the nature of nonduality,
And the latter has the nature of nonexistent duality,
The consummate and the imagined
Are said not to be different in characteristic.
20
Since the former is deceptive in the way it appears,
And the latter has the nature of its not being that way,
The other-dependent and the consummate
Are said not to be different in characteristic.
21
Since the former has the nature of a nonexistent duality,
And the latter is its nonexistence in the way it appears,
The other-dependent and the consummate
Are said not to be different in characteristic.
22
But conventionally,
The natures are explained in order and
Based on that one enters them
In a particular order, it is said.
23
The imagined is entirely conventional.
The other-dependent is attached to convention.
The consummate, cutting convention,
Is said to be of a different nature.
24
Having first entered into the nonexistence of duality
Which is the dependent, one understands
The nonexistent duality
Which is the imagined.
25
Then one enters the consummate.
Its nature is the nonexistence of duality.
Therefore it is explained
To be both existent and nonexistent.
26
These Three Natures
Have the characteristics of being noncognizable and nondual.
One is completely nonexistent; the second is therefore nonexistent.
The third has the nature of that nonexistence.
27
Like an elephant that appears
Through the power of a magician’s mantra—
Only the percept appears,
The elephant is completely nonexistent.
28
The imagined nature is the elephant;
The other-dependent nature is the visual percept;
The nonexistence of the elephant therein
Is explained to be the consummate.
29
Through the root consciousness
The nonexistent duality appears.
But since the duality is completely nonexistent,
There is only a percept.
30
The root consciousness is like the mantra.
Reality can be compared to the wood.
Imagination is like the perception of the elephant.
Duality can be seen as the elephant.
31
When one understands how things are,
Perfect knowledge, abandonment,
And accomplishment—
These three characteristics are simultaneously achieved.
32
Knowledge is nonperception;
Abandonment is nonappearance;
Attainment is accomplished through nondual perception.
That is direct manifestation.
33
Through the nonperception of the elephant,
The vanishing of its percept occurs;
And so does the perception of the piece of wood.
This is how it is in the magic show.
34
In the same way through the nonperception of duality
There is the vanishing of duality.
When it vanishes completely,
Nondual awareness arises.
35
Through perceiving correctly,
Through seeing the nonreferentiality of mental states,
Through following the Three Wisdoms,
One will effortlessly attain liberation.
36
Through the perception of mind-only
One achieves the nonperception of objects;
Through the nonperception of objects
There is also the nonperception of mind.
37
Through the nonduality of perception,
Arises the perception of the fundamental nature of reality.
Through the perception of the fundamental nature of reality
Arises the perception of the radiant.
38
Through the perception of the radiant,
And through achieving the three supreme Buddha-bodies,
And through possessing Bodhi:
Having achieved this, the sage will benefit him or herself and others.