Investigation of Self and Things

Return to main page "Mulamadhyamakakarika: Verses from the Centre" for information and links.

(return to list of Contents & Translation of "Mulamadhyamakakarika: Verses from the Centre")

18. Investigation of Self and Things

(Self)

1. gal te phung po bdag yin na/
skye dang 'jig pa can du 'gyur/
gal te phung po rnams las gzhan/
phung po'i mtshan nyid med par 'gyur/

1. If the aggregates were self, it would be possessed of arising and decaying. If it were other than the aggregates, it would not have the characteristics of the aggregates.

2. bdag nyid yod pa ma yin na/
bdag gi yod pa ga la 'gyur/
bdag dang bdag gi zhi ba'i phyir/
ngar 'dzin nga yir 'dzin med 'gyur/

2. If the self did not exist, where could what is mine exist? In order to pacify self and what is mine, grasping I and grasping mine can exist no more.

3. ngar 'dzin nga yir 'dzin med gang/
de yang yod pa ma yin te/
ngar 'dzin nga yir 'dzin med par/
gang gis mthong bas mi mthong ngo/

3. The one who does not grasp at me and mine likewise does not exist. Whoever sees the one who does not grasp at me and mine does not see.

[lines c-d are omitted from the translated verse on the grounds of their being a reiteration of a-b].

4. nang dang phyi rol nyid dag la/
bdag dang bdag gi snyam zad na/
nye bar len pa 'gag 'gyur zhing/
de zad pas na skye ba zad/

4. When one ceases thinking of inner and outer things as self and mine, clinging will come to a stop. Through that ceasing, birth will cease.

5. las dang nyon mongs zad pas thar/
las dang nyon mongs rnam rtog las/
de dag spros las spros pa ni/
stong pa nyid kyis 'gag par 'gyur/

5. Through the ceasing of action and affliction, there is freedom. Action and affliction [come] from thoughts and they from fixations. Fixations are stopped by emptiness.

6. bdag go zhes kyang btags gyur cing/
bdag med ces kyang bstan par 'gyur/
sangs rgyas rnams kyis bdag dang ni/
bdag med 'ga' med ces kyang bstan/

6. It is said that "there is a self," but "non-self" too is taught. The buddhas also teach there is nothing which is "neither self nor non-self."

(Tsongkhapa (325) cites the Kasyapa-parvrtti as a source here).

7. brjod par bya ba ldog pa ste/
sems kyi spyod yul ldog pas so/
ma skyes pa dang ma 'gags pa/
chos nyid mya ngan 'das dang mtshungs/

7. That to which language refers is denied, because an object experienced by the mind is denied. The unborn and unceasing nature of reality is comparable to nirvana.

(Tsongkhapa (326) explains that lines c-d are an answer to the question implied in 5. c-d, i.e. "how does emptiness stop fixations?")

8. thams cad yang dag yang dag min/
yang dag yang dag ma yin nyid/
yang dag min min yang dag min/
de ni sangs rgyas rjes bstan pao/

8. Everything is real, not real; both real and not real; neither not real nor real: this is the teaching of the Buddha.

9. gzhan las shes min zhi ba dang/
spros pa rnams kyis ma spros pa/
rnam rtog med don tha dad min/
de ni de nyid mtshan nyid do/

9. Not known through others, peaceful, not fixed by fixations, without conceptual thought, without differentiation: these are the characteristics of suchness.

10. gang la brtan te gang 'byung ba/
de ni re zhig de nyid min/
de las gzhan pa'ang ma yin phyir/
de phyir chad min rtag ma yin/

10. Whatever arises dependent on something else is at that time neither that very thing nor other than it. Hence it is neither severed nor permanent.

11. sangs rgyas 'jig rten mgon rnams kyi/
bstan pa bdud rtsir gyur pa de/
don gcig ma yin tha dad min/
chad pa ma yin rtag ma yin/

[Buddhapalita commentary gives:

don gcig min don tha dad min/

chad pa ma yin rtag min pa/

de ni sangs rgyas 'jig rten gyi/

mgon po'i bstan pa bdud rtsi yin/]

11. That ambrosial teaching of the buddhas, those guardians of the world, is neither the same nor different, neither severed nor permanent.

[Buddhapalita commentary: Not the same, not different, not severed, not permanent - that is the ambrosial teaching of the buddha, the guardian of the world.]

12. rdzogs sangs rgyas rnams ma byung zhing/
nyan thos rnams kyang zad pa na/
rang sangs rgyas kyi ye shes ni/
sten* pa med las rab tu skye/

[Lha.: *rten. Buddhapalita: brten pa med. Ts. sten. Skt: asamsargat.]

12. When perfect buddhas do not appear, and when their disciples have died out, the wisdom of the self-awakened ones will vividly arise without reliance.

bdag dang chos brtag pa zhes bya ba ste rab tu byed pa bco brgyad pa'o //