Existence-nonexistence by Shantideva.

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muni
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Joined: Fri Apr 17, 2009 6:59 am

Existence-nonexistence by Shantideva.

Post by muni »

If coarseness is abandoned, subtlety assumed,
subtlety and grossness both lack permanence.
So why not grant that, in this way,
all things possess the character of transcience?

If the coarser aspect is none other than the pleasure,
It's clear that pleasure is itself impermanent
If you claim that what does not exist in ant sense
(Because it has no being) cannot manifest,

Although you have denied the birth of things
That did not previously exist, it's this that you're now saying.
But if results exist within their cause,
Those who eat their food consume their excrement.

And likewise with the money they would spend on clothing
Let them rather buy cotton grains to wear!
"But", you say,"the world is ignorant and blind.
For this is taught by 'those who know the truth."

This knowledge must be present in the worldly too! (!)
And if they have it, why do they not see?
If now you say that what the worldly see has no validity,
This means that what they clearly see is false.

"If", you ask,"there's no validity in valid knowledge,
It is not all that it assesses false?
And therefore it becomes untenable
To meditate on voidness, ultimate reality."

If there is no analysis,
There can be no grasping of nonexistence.
And so deceptive objects of whatever kind
Will also have a nonexistence equally deceptive.

When therefore in one's dream a child has died,
The state of mind that thinks it is no more
Supplants the thought that it is living still.
And yet both thoughts are equally deceptive.

Therefore as we see through such investigation,
Nothing is that does not have a cause;
And nothing is existent in its causes
Taken one by one or in aggregate,

:buddha1:
Last edited by muni on Tue Dec 22, 2009 10:18 am, edited 2 times in total.
muni
Posts: 5559
Joined: Fri Apr 17, 2009 6:59 am

Re: Existence-nonexistence by shantideva.

Post by muni »

It does not come from somewhere else,
Neither does it stay nor yet depart.
How will what confusion takes for truth
In any sense be different from a mirage.

Things, then bodied forth by magic spells,
And that which is diplayed by dint of causes-
Whence have these arisen? we should ask;
And where they go to, that we should examine!

What is seen when circumstances meet
And is not seen in absence of the same
Is not real; it is like an image in a mirror.
How can true existence be ascribed to it?

What need is there for cause
In something that's already real?
But then what need is there for cause
In something that does not exist?

Even though a hundred million causes,
No change takes place in nonexistent things,
For in that state of "non-thing" how "could" things occur?
And into what could nonexistent things transform?
muni
Posts: 5559
Joined: Fri Apr 17, 2009 6:59 am

Re: Existence-nonexistence by shantideva.

Post by muni »

Since things cannot become when they are nonexistent,
When could such existent things occur?
For insofar as entity to manifest,
Nonentities themselves will not depart.

And if nonentity is not dispersed,
No chance is there for entity to manifest. (!)
And entity cannot be changed into nonentity,
For otherwise it has a double nature,

Thus there are no entities
And likewise there's no ceasing of the same.
And therefore beings, each and everyone,
Are without origin and never cease.

Wandering beings, resemble dreams,
And also the banana tree, if you examine well.
In ultimate reality there's no distinguishing
Between the states of sorrow and beyond sorrow.

With things that in this way are empty
What is there to gain and what to lose?
Who is there to pay me court and honors,
And who is there to scorn and to revile me?
muni
Posts: 5559
Joined: Fri Apr 17, 2009 6:59 am

Re: Existence-nonexistence by shantideva.

Post by muni »

Pleasure, sorrow-whence do these arise?
What is there to give me joy and pain?
And if I search their very suchness,
Who is craving? What is craved?

Examine now this world of living beings;
Who is there therein to pass away?
What is there to come, and what has been?
And who indeed, are relatives and friends?

May all beings like myself discern and grasp
That all things have the character of space!
But those who seek their happiness and ease,
Through disputed or enjoyements,

All are deeply troubled, or else thrilled with joy.
They suffer, strive, contend among themselves.
Slashing, stabbing, injuring each other;
They live their lives engulfed in evil and travail.

From time to time they surface in the states of bliss,
Abandoning themselves to many pleasure
But dying, down they fall to suffer torment,
Long, unbearable, in realms of sorrow.

Many are the chasms and abysses of existence,
Where the truth of suchness is not found.
All is contradiction, all denial;
Suchness in this world is not like this. Shantideva, The Way Of The Bodhisattva. :buddha1:
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