dben pa
- dben pa
-
Also translated here as "void."
Also translated here as "voidness."
Equivalent to {med pa} (non-existent) or {stong pa} (empty), with a sense of 'being devoid of.'
This term usually has to do with a subjective state of 'isolation,' 'separation,' or 'withdrawal,' rather than a metaphysical idea. The Akṣayamatinirdeśa-sūtra contains a more or less parallel discussion of {dben pa nyid} in connection with diligence: "{de la 'jug pa gang zhe na gang dge ba'i rtsa ba thams cad rtsom pa'o/ gnas pa gang zhe na. gangs sems dben pa'o}." Jens Braarvig translates this passage: "What then is activity? Undertaking all roots of good. What then is stillness? Aloofness of thought." (Braarvig, vol. 1, pp. 175-76; vol. 2, p. 50.) Here {sems dben pa} is glossed in the Akṣayamatinirdeśaṭīkā (of Vasubandhu or perhaps Sthiramati) as: {sems dben pa ni mi dge ba spangs pa dang dge ba rtsom pa gang la yang mi rtog pa'o}. This can be translated as, "Disengagement of one's thought is not thinking at all about giving up the non-virtuous and undertaking the virtuous." In any case, the term viviktatā in this context and in the Akṣayamatinirdeśa does not seem to be about emptiness, but more about a type of aloof or disengaged diligence that does not conceptualize the virtues and non-virtues of the actions undertaken.
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