Trisvabhāva-nirdeśa (Wood 2009 trans.)

Translated from the Sanskrit by Thomas E. Wood in ‘Mind Only: A Philosophical and Doctrinal Analysis of Vijnavada’

1. The imagined (kalpita), the other dependent (paratantra) and the perfected (pariniṣpanna): these are the three natures which are to be thoroughly understood by the wise.
2. The dependent nature (paratantra) is that which appears; That which is imagined (kalpita) is the manner in which the dependent nature appears. The dependent nature is so-called because its modifications arise on the basis of causes and conditions; the imagined nature is so-called because it is only imagination (kalpanāmātra).
3. The eternal non-existence of that appearance in the manner in which it appears (yathakhyānam) is known as the self nature of the perfected nature (pariniṣpanna-svabhāva), because it is unchanging (advaya-dharmatā).
4. What then appears? A false idea (asatkalpa). How does it appear? As a duality. What is the non-existence (nāstitā) of this duality? It is that in virtue of which there is the nature of being devoid of duality (advaya-dharmatā).
5. What is the imagination of the non-existent (asatkalpa)? It is the mind (citta), because whatever is imagined as an object and whatever causes such imagination is entirely false.
6. The mind (citta) is two-fold, as cause (hetu) and effect (phala). As cause it is called the store consciousness (ālaya-vijñāna), and as effect it is called the evolved consciousness (pravṛtti-vijñāna). The latter is seven-fold.
7. The ālaya-vijñāna is called "citta" because it collects the seeds (bījas) of the impurities and impulses (vāsanās). The second (i.e. the pravṛtti-vijñāna) is called "mind" (citta) because it evolves as the diverse appearances of things.
8. Collectively all eight consciousnessness are called the false imagination (abhūta-kalpa), and it is said to be three-fold: the fruition (vaipākika), the causal (naimittika) and the mere appearance (prātibhāsika).
9. The ālaya-vijñāna is called the root consciousness (mūla-vijñāna) because it is the fruit. The other two (i.e. the causal and the mere appearance) are called the evolved consciousnesses because they are modifications that depend on the distinction of the seer, the seen and knowledge.
10. The profundity of the three natures consists in being and non-being, duality and nonduality, impurity and purity, and non-difference of the characteristics (lakṣaṇā).
11. The imagined nature (kalpita-svabhāva) is said have the characteristic of existence (sat) and non-existence (asat), because it is thought to exist, but is totally non-existent (atyantābhāva).
12. The other dependent nature (paratantra-svabhāva) is said to have the characteristic of existence and non-existence because it exists as an illusion (bhrānti) but does not exist in the manner in which it appears.
13. The perfected nature (niṣpanna-svabhāva) is said to have the characteristic of existence and non-existence because it is the nature of nonduality and is the non-existence of duality.
14. The nature which is imagined (kalpita-svabhāva) by the ignorant is said to be both dual and unitary, because the object that is imagined has a two-fold nature and because the existence of that non-existence (tad-asattvaika-bhāva) is unitary.
15. The other dependent nature (paratantra-svabhāva) is both dual and unitary because its appearance as a duality exists, and because its existence as a mere appearance (bhrānti-matra) is singular.
16. The perfected nature is said to be both dual and unitary because it is essentially the existence of duality and also because it is essentially a single nonduality.
17. The imagined nature and the other dependent nature are characterized by impurity; but the perfected nature is characterized by purity.
18. The perfected nature is to be understood as non-different from the imagined nature, for the imagined nature is essentially the unreal duality, and the perfected nature is essentially the non-existence of that duality.
19. The imagined nature is to be understood as non-different from the perfected nature, for the perfected nature is essentially nondual, and the imagined nature is essentially the non-existence of that duality.
20. The perfected nature is non different from the other dependent nature, because the other dependent nature exists differently from the way in which it appears, and because the perfected nature is essentially the non-existence of that appearance.
21. The other dependent nature is to be understood as non-different from the perfected nature, because the perfected nature is essentially the unreality of duality, and because the other dependent nature lacks the nature of existing as it appears.
22. A particular order of the natures is set out according to the conventions about them and according to the order in which they are entered. They are as follows.
23. The imagined nature is that which exists only conventionally (vyavahāra); the dependent nature is the cause (vyavahartrātmaka) of that which exists only conventionally; the perfected nature is that which destroys that which exists only conventionally.
24. One enters first into the other dependent nature which is the non-existence of duality; then one enters into the imagined nature, the unreal duality which exists in it.
25. Then one enters the perfected nature which is in (atra) the dependent nature. The perfected nature is the existence of the non-existence of duality (dvayābhāva bhāva); consequently it, too, is said to exist and to not exist.
26. These three self natures have the characteristic of being nondual and ungraspable, because the imagined nature does not exist, the other dependent nature does not exist as such (i.e. in the way that it appears), and the perfected nature is essentially the non-existence of this manner of appearance.
27. It is like a magically produced elephant which appears through the power of a mantra. The elephant is a mere appearance (ākāra-mātra). It does not exist at all.
28. The imagined nature is the elephant; the other dependent nature is the apparitional form of the elephant; the perfected nature is the non-existence of the elephant in the other dependent nature (tatra).
29. Due to the root consciousness (mūla-citta), the false imagination (asatkalpa) appears as a duality. That duality is entirely unreal. All that exists there is a mere apparitional form (ākṛtimātra).
30. The root consciousness (mūla-vijñāna) can be compared to the mantra; suchness (tathatā) to the piece of wood; imagination (vikalpa) to an appearance of the elephant; and duality to the elephant.
31. As soon as one understands the three characteristics and the true nature of things (artha-tattva), there occurs - simultaneously - knowledge, abandonment and attainment.
32. There, knowledge is non-perception, abandonment is non-appearance, attainment is perception without any object as cause. The last is direct realization.
33. Duality disappears through the non-perception of duality; through the disappearance of duality, the perfected nature, which is the non-existence of duality, is understood.
34. Similarly, in the case of magic, the non-perception of the elephant, the disappearance of its form, and the perception of the piece of wood, take place simultaneously.
35. Through the restraint of thought, through the perception that discriminative intelligence (buddhi) is useless, through the adherence to the three-fold knowledge, through the effortless attainment of liberation (mokṣa):
36. By means of the perception of "mind only" (citta-mātra), there is the non-perception of the external object which is known; through the non-perception of the external object, there is the non-perception of mind (citta).
37. From this two-fold non-perception, there is the perception of the fundamental nature of things (dharma-dhātū); through the perception of the fundamental nature of things there is the perception of that which is all-pervading (vibhutva).
38. Having perceived the all-pervading and having attained the good of oneself and others, the sage attains the supreme enlightenment (anuttarā-bodhi) which consists of the three bodies of the Buddha.