Padmakara Translation Group

Chapter 22 - An Examination of the Tathagata

.

1. He is not the aggregates; nor other than the aggregates;

No aggregates are there in him, and in the aggregates he is not found.

The Tathagata is not the owner of the aggregates.

What then is the Tathagata?

.

2. If the Buddha is dependent on the aggregates,

He does not exist by virtue of his own intrinsic being.

How can what does not exist through its intrinsic being

Exist by virtue of another thing?

.

3. Whatever is dependent upon something else

Cannot be said to have existence in itself.

And how can what has no existence in itself

Become the Tathagata?

.

4. If there's no intrinsic being [of the Tathagata],

How can there be otherness [of the aggregates]?

And aside from an intrinsic being and otherness,

What Tathagata will there be?

.

5. Even if the Tathagata

Existed independent of the aggregates,

He would become dependent afterward

And thus he would exist dependently.

.

6. Without depending on the aggregates,

No Tathagata can exist in any sense.

And if without depending on them, he does not exist,

How can he then appropriate the same?

.

7. Why does he not appropriate

What is not appropriated?

The Tathagata who does not appropriate

Does not exist at all.

.

8. If looked for in the fivefold way,

The Tathagata is not one with,

Nor is other than [the aggregates].

How can he be described as their "appropriator"?

.

9. Whatever is appropriated

Lacks intrinsic being.

That which does not have intrinsic being

By no means can exist by virtue of another thing.

.

10. Appropriated therefore and appropriator

Are in all their aspects empty.

This being so, the Tathagata too is empty;

Therefore how shall we affirm him?

.

11. Do not say that he is empty.

Do not say that he is not empty.

Don't say both and don't say neither—

Use such terms for the sake of indication.

.

12. Permanence, impermanence-all the four alternatives:

Where are they in the Peaceful One?

Finite, infinite all the four alternatives:

Where are they in the Peaceful One?

.

13. Those who crudely think:

"The Tathagata does exist,"

Will think, regarding his nirvana,

"He does not exist."

.

14. Regarding Buddha, who is empty of intrinsic being,

It's untenable to think

That, having gained nirvana,

He exists or else does not exist.

.

15. Those who have conceptions of the Buddha,

Who, beyond conception, is unbounded,

Are blinded by those very concepts;

They do not behold the Tathagata.

.

16. The nature of the Tathagata

Is the nature of this world of beings.

The Tathagata is without intrinsic being;

This world of beings is without intrinsic being.

Garfield

Chapter 22 - Examination of the Tathāgata

.

1. Neither the aggregates, nor different from the aggregates,

The aggregates are not in him, nor is he in the aggregates.

The Tathägata does not possess the aggregates.

What is the Tathägata?

.

2. If the Buddha depended on the aggregates,

He would not exist through an essence.

Not existing through an essence,

How could he exist through otherness-essence?

.

3. Whatever is dependent on another entity,

Its selfhood is not appropriate.

It is not tenable that what lacks a self

Could be a Tathāgata.

.

4. If there is no essence,

How could there be otherness-essencе?

Without possessing essence or otherness-essence,

What is the Tathägata?

.

5. If without depending on the aggregates

There were a Tathägata,

Then now he would be depending on them.

Therefore he would exist through dependence.

.

6. Inasmuch as there is no Tathāgata

Dependent upon the aggregates,

How could something that is not dependent

Come to be so?

.

7. There is no appropriation.

There is no appropriator.

Without appropriation

How can there be a Tathāgata?

.

6. Having been sought in the fivefold way,

What, being neither identical nor different,

Can be thought to be the Tathägata

Through grasping?

.

9. Whatever grasping there is

Does not exist through essence.

And when something does not exist through itself,

It can never exist through otherness-essence.

.

10. Thus grasping and grasper

Together are empty in every respect.

How can an empty Tathāgata

Be known through the empty?

.

11. "Empty" should not be asserted.

"Nonempty" should not be asserted.

Neither both nor neither should be asserted.

They are only used nominally.

.

12. How can the tetralemma of permanent and impermanent, etc.,

Be true of the peaceful?

How can the tetralemma of finite, infinite, etc.,

Be true of the peaceful?

.

13. One who grasps the view that the Tathägata exists,

Having seized the Buddha,

Constructs conceptual fabrications

About one who has achieved nirvāņa.

.

14. Since he is by nature empty,

The thought that the Buddha

Exists or does not exist

After nirvăņa is not appropriate.

.

15. Those who develop mental fabrications with regard to the Buddha,

Who has gone beyond all fabrications,

As a consequence of those cognitive fabrications,

Fail to see the Tathägata.

.

16. Whatever is the essence of the Tathāgata,

That is the essence of the world.

The Tathägata has no essence.

The world is without essence.

Batchelor

Chapter 22 - Investigation of Tathagata

.

1. Not the aggregates, not other than the aggregates; the aggregates are not in him; he is not in them: the Tathagata does not possess the aggregates. What is the Tathagata?

.

2. If the buddha depends on the aggregates, he does not exist from an own-nature. How can that which does not exist from an own-nature exist from an other-nature?

.

3. It is not tenable for something dependent on other-nature to be self-existent. How can that which has no self-existence be tathagata?

.

4. If self-nature does not exist, how can there be the existence of other-nature? What is a Tathagata apart from own-nature and other-nature?

.

5. If there exists a tathagata [who is] not depending on the aggregates, he exists in depending [on them] now and will henceforth depend.

.

6. If there does not exist a tathagata [who is] not depending on the aggregates, how does he grasp [depend on? them]?

.

7. [Since] there is nothing to be grasped / dependent on, there can be no grasping / depending. There is no tathagata at all who is without grasping / depending.

.

8. If having examined in five ways, how can that tathagata who does not exist as that one or the other be [conventionally] understood by grasping / depending?

.

9. That which is grasped / depended on does not exist from its own nature. It is impossible for that which does not exist from its own nature to exist from another nature.

.

10. In that way, what is grasped / depended on and what grasps / depends are empty in every aspect. How can an empty tathagata be [conventionally] understood by what is empty?

.

11. Do not say "empty," or "not empty," or "both," or "neither:" these are mentioned for the sake of [conventional] understanding.

.

12. Where can the four such as permanence and impermanence exist in this peaceful one? Where can the four such as end and no-end [of the world] exist in this peaceful one?

.

13. Those who hold the dense apprehension, "the tathagata exists" conceive the thought, "he does not exist in nirvana."

.

14. For that one empty of own-nature, it is entirely inappropriate to think that once the buddha has nirvana-ed he either "exists" or "does not exist."

.

15. Those who make fixations about Buddha who is beyond fixations and without deterioration -- all those who are damaged by fixations do not see the tathagata.

.

16. Whatever is the own-nature of the tathagata, that is the own-nature of this world. The tathagata has no own-nature. This world has no own-nature.

Streng

Chapter 22 - An Analysis of the "Fully Completed" (Tathagata) (the Buddha) - 16 verses

.

1. That one [who is "fully-completed"] is not the "groups of universal elements" (skandha),

nor something other than the "groups";

the "groups" are not in him, nor is he in them;

The "fully completed" does not possess the "groups."

What, then, is the "fully completed"?

.

2. If the Buddha exists dependent on the "groups," then he is not "that which exists by itself" (svabbava)

And how can he exist as something else (parabhava) ("other-existence") if he is not "that which exists by itself" (svabbava)?

.

3. That which exists presupposing another existent thing is properly called a "non-individual self" (anatma).

How will that which is a non-individual self become the "fully completed"?

.

4. And if there is no self-existence (svabhava), how would it have an "other-existence" (parabhava)?

What would that "fully completed" [reality] be without either a self-existence or other-existence?

.

5. If some kind of "fully completed" [thing] would exist without dependence on the "groups,"

It is dependent now; therefore it exists dependent [on something].

.

6. There is no kind of "fully completed" [being] which is not dependent on the "groups."

And whatever is not non-dependent—, how will it become dependent?

.

7. There is nothing whatever that is dependent on [the "groups"] and there is no thing whatever on which something does not depend.

There would not exist in any way a "fully completed" [being] without being dependent on [the "groups"].

.

8. That [fully completed being] which does not exist by its actual reality (tattva) or by some other reality (anyatva) according to the five-fold examination—

How is the "fully completed" [being] perceived by being dependent?

.

9. So when there is dependence, self-existence does not exist;

And if there is no self-existence whatever, how is an other-existence possible?

.

10. Thus "dependence" and "that which is dependent" are completely empty (sunya).

How is that empty "fully completed one" known through that which is empty?

.

11. One may not say that there is "emptiness" (sunya) (1)

nor that there is non-emptiness. (2)"

Nor that both [exist simultaneously] (3),

nor that neither exists (4);

the purpose for saying ["emptiness"] is for the purpose of conveying knowledge.

.

12. How, then, will "eternity," "non-eternity," and [the rest of] the Tetralemma apply to bliss (santa)?

How, then, will "the end," "without end," and [the rest of] the Tetralemma apply to bliss?

.

13. That image of nirvana [in which] the Buddha (Tathagata) either "is" or "is not"—

By him who [so imagines nirvana] the notion is crudely grasped.

.

14. Concerning that which is empty by its own nature (svabhava), the thoughts do not arise that:

The Buddha "exists" or "does not exist" after death.

.

15. Those who describe in detail the Buddha, who is unchanging and beyond all detailed description—

Those, completely defeated by description, do not perceive the "fully completed" [being].

.

16. The self-existence of the "fully completed" [being] is the self-existence of the world.

The "fully completed" [being] is without self-existence [and] the world is without self-existence.