The Tibetan Book of the Dead — ed. W. Y. Evans-Wentz

Thus all kinds of wild thoughts arisc from ignorance and have first and last infinite differences which Ju Lai [i.e. the Tathagata] alone knows.’ ?

‘As from the True Reality man knows that there is no objective world, then the various means of following and obeying this True Reality arise spontaneously [i.e. without thought and without action], and, when influenced by this power for a long time, ignorance disappears. As ignorance disappears, then false ideas cease to arise. As these false ideas do not arise, the former objective world also ends. As the forces cease to exist, then the false powers of the finite mind cease to exist, and this is called Mirvaua, when the natural forces of the True Reality alone work.’ ®

1 There are two English translations of The Awakening of Iaith, from the Chinese, one by a Christian missionary to China, the late Rev. Timothy Richard, made in 1894 and published, in Shanghai, in 1907, the other by the learned Japanese Buddhist Mr. Teitaro Suzuki, published in rgoo, in Chicago. We give herein, in parallel, extracts from both. There are, likewise, two Chinese versions, each based upon the original Sanskrit version, which is now lost: one made in a,D. 554, by Paramartha (otherwise called Kulanatha), an Indian Buddhist missionary, who reached China in a. p. 546 and died in a. p. 569, at the age of 71 years; the other was begun in a. D. 7oo by Cikshananda, also an

Indian Buddhist missionary, who died in China, in a.p. 710, at the age of 59. Richard’s translation is from Paramartha’s version, and Suzuki’s from Cikshananda’s.

* Richard’s trans. (p. 18), Cf. Suzuki’s trans, (p. 89): ‘Though all beings are uniformly in possession of suchness, the intensity [of the influence] of ignorance, the principle of individuation, that works from all eternity, varies in such manifold grades as to outnumber the sands of the Ganges. And it is even so with such entangling prejudices (Aleca or a¢rava) as the ego-conception, intellectual and affectional prejudices, &c. [whose perfuming efficiency varics according to the karma previously accumulated by each individual],—all these things being comprehended only by the Tathagata. Hence such immeasurable degrees of difference as regards belief, &c.’

8 Richard’s trans. (p. 17). Cf. Suzuki’s trans. (pp. 86-7): ‘On account of this perfuming influence [i.e, through suchness perfuming ignorance] we are

p. 207

Of Phenomena: ‘ All phenomena are originally in the mind and have really no outward form; therefore, as there is no form, it is an error to think that anything is there. All phenomena merely arise from false notions in the mind. If the mind is independent of these false ideas, then all phenomena disappear... .’}

All phenomena merely arise from false notions in the mind. If the mind is independent of these false ideas, then all phenomena disappear... .’}

‘Therefore the phenomena of the three worlds [of desire, of form, and of non-form] are mind-made. Without mind, then, there is practically no objective existence. Thus all existence arises from imperfect notions in our mind. All differences are differences of the mind. But the mind cannot see itself, for it has no form. We should know that all phenomena are created by the imperfect notions in the finite mind; therefore all existence is like a reflection in a mirror, without substance, only a phantom of the mind. When the finite mind acts, then all kinds of things arise; when the finite mind ceases to act, then all kinds of things cease.’ ?

enabled to believe that we are in possession within ourselves of suchness whose essential nature is pure and immaculate; and we also recognize that all phenomena in the world are nothing but the illusory manifestation of the mind (alayavuyzidna) and have no reality of their own. Since we thus rightly understand the truth, we can practise the means of liberation, can perform those actions which are in accordance (with the Dharma]. Neither do we particularize, nor cling to. By virtue of this discipline and habituation during the lapse of innumerable asamkhyeyakalpas (lit. countless ages], we have ignorance annihilated. As ignorance is thus annihilated, the mind [i.e. dlaya-vytdana] is no more disturbed so as to be subject to individuation. As the mind is no more disturbed, the particularization of the surrounding world is annihilated. When in this wise the principle and the condition of defilement, their products, and the mental disturbances are all annihilated, it is said that we attain to Nirva@na and that various spontaneous displays of activity are accomplished.’

1 Richard’s trans. (p. 26), Cf. Suzuki’s trans. (p. 107): ‘In a word, all modes of relative existence, our phenomenal world as a whole, are created simply by the particularization of the confused mind. If we become dissociated from the latteé, then all modes of relative existence vanish away by themselves.’

2 Richard’s trans. (p. 12). Cf. Suzuki's trans. (pp. 77-8): ‘Therefore the, three domains {or viloka, i.e. domain of feeling (Aamaloka), domain of bodily existence (rapaloka), domain of incorporeality (avinpaloka)] are nothing but the self-manifestation of the mind [i. e. dlaya-vijnana, which is practically identical with suchness, bhitatathata@|. Separated from the mind, there would be no such things as the six objects of sense. Why? Since all things, owing the principle of their existence to the mind (dlaya-vijiidna), are produced by subjectivity (siti), all the modes of particularization are the self-particularization of the mind, The mind in itself being, however, free from all attributes, is

p. 228

Of Space: ‘Men are to understand that space is nothing. It has no existence and is not a reality. It is a term in opposition to reality. We only say this or that is visible in order that we might distinguish between things.’ ?

Of Mind and Matter: ‘Mind and matter are eternally the same. As the essence of matter is wisdom, the essence of matter is without form and is called the embodiment of wisdom. As the manifested essence of wisdom is matter, it is called the all-pervading embodiment of wisdom. The unmanifested matter is without magnitude; according to the will it can show itself throughout all the universe as the immeasurable Pusas [i.e. intelligent devout men, or Bodhisattvas], immeasurable inspired spirits, immeasurable glories, all different without magnitude and without interference with one another. This is what ordinary senses cannot comprehend, as it is the work of Absolute Reality... .’?

‘According to the Absolute Reality there is no distinction between mind and matter; it is on account of the defilement not differentiated. Therefore, we come to the conclusion that all things and conditions in the phenomenal world, hypostatized and established only through ignorance (avidya) and subjectivity (swrt/) on the part of all beings, have no more reality than the images in a mirror. They evolve simply from the ideality of a particularizing mind. When the mind is disturbed, the multiplicity of things is produced; but when the mind is quieted, the multiplicity of things disappcars.’

1 Richard’s trans. (pp. 25-6). Cf. Suzuki’s trans. (p. 107) : ‘ Beit clearly understood that space is nothing but a mode of particularization and that it has no real existence of its own. Where there is a perception of space, there is side by side a perception of a variety of things, in contradistinction to which space is spoken of as if existing independently. Space therefore exists only in relation to our particularizing consciousness.’