At that time, Mind King Bodhisattva heard the Budha's explanation of the dharma, which transcended the three realms of existence and was inconceivable. Arising from his seat he joined his palms together in supplication and asked in gathas:

The meaning of what the Tathagata has said,
Transcends the world and is free from characteristics,
It enables all sentient beings,
To complete the annihilation of the outflows.
Eradicating the bonds and emptying both mind and self,
This then will be [the state of] nonproduction.
But how will one gain the acceptance of the nonproduction [of dharmas],
If there is nothing that is produced?

At that time, the Budha proclaimed to Mind King Bodhisattva, "Oh son of good family! The acceptance of the nonproduction of dharmas [means to realize that] dharmas are originally unproduced and that all practices produce nothing. As there is no way to practice this nonproduction, achieving the acceptance of nonproduction is in fact a deception."

Mind King Bodhisattva asked, "Lord! You say that 'achieving the acceptance of nonproduction is in fact a deception.' [But is the converse then true: that] nonachievement and nonacceptance perforce are not deceptions?'

The Budha replied, "Not so. Why is this? If nonachievement and non-acceptance exist, then so would achievement. If achievement and acceptance exist, then so would production. If achievement is produced, there then would exist dharmas that are the objects of that achievement. So both [achievement and acceptance] are deceptions."

Mind King Bodhisattva asked, "The mind that is free from both acceptance and production – that mind has neither form nor shape. It is like hear [lit. the nature of fire], which, though latent in wood, cannot be found there. This is because the nature [of the mind] is fixed. [Mind] is nothing more than a name and a word; its nature is unascertainable. Wishing to allude to this principle, [the Budhas] have provisionally named it [mind], but this name is unascertainable. This is also the case for the characteristics of the mind: their location cannot be found. If one knows that the mind is like this, the mind will then not produce anything.

"Oh son of good family! The nature and characteristics of the mind are like the amalaka fruit: they are not self-generated; they are not generated by some external agent; they are not produced in conjunction with something else; they are not produced in the absence of a cause for that production. Why is this? Because these conditions [of production and extinction] alternate successively. These conditions are generated, but there is no production; these conditions decay, but there is no extinction. Whether hidden or made manifest, [nature and characteristics] are signless. Their fundamental principle is calm and extinct. There is no place where they abide, nor is there seen anything that abides, because their natures are fixed.

"This fixed nature is neither unitary nor different; neither evanescent nor permanent; it has neither access nor egress and is neither produced nor extinguished. It abandons all four of these alternatives, for the path-ways of words and speech are eradicated. This is the case as well for the unproduced nature of the mind: how can it be said that it is either produced or unproduced, either accepted or unaccepted?

"If a person claims that the mind may either achieve [something] or abide [somewhere] and takes this as his [wrong] view, then he will not attain anuttarasamyaksambodhi [complete, perfect enlightenment] and prajna.. This is the 'long night' [of samsara]. One who has comprehended the mind-nature knows that the mind-nature is thus and that the nature is also thus. This is the practice of nonproduction."

Mind King Bodhisattva commented, "Lord! As the mind is originally thus, it will not produce such practice. As all practices are unproduced, there will be no practice that produces anything and this nonproduction will then not need to be practiced. This in fact is the practice of nonproduction."

The Budha asked, "Oh son of good family! Can you realized the practice of nonproduction by not producing anything?"

Mind King Bodhisattva replied, "No. And why is this? In the actual practice of nonproduction, both nature and characteristics are void and calm. There is neither vision nor hearing; neither gain nor loss; neither words nor speech; neither cognition nor characteristics; neither clinging nor rejection. So how could one cling to this realization? If one clings to this realization, this would in fact serve [as the cause of] disputation and contention. Only when there is neither disputation nor contention is it the practice of non-production."

The Budha said, "Have you attained anuttarasamyaksambodhi?"

Mind King Bodhisattva responded, "Lord! I am free from any attainments of anuttarasamyaksambodhi. And why is this? The bodhi-nature has neither gain nor loss, neither attention nor cognition, for it is free from all differentiated characteristics. The pure nature actually exists in such nondiscrimination. This nature is free from any extraneous admixture [such as the dichotomies of production and extinction or subject and object]: it is free from words and speech; it neither exists nor does not exist; it is neither aware nor nescient.

"So too is this case for all the dharmas [training methods] that can be cultivated. Why is this? All dharmas and practices have no loci that can be found, because their natures are fixed. Originally, they are free from any semblance of attainment or nonattainment. So how can one attain anuttarasamyaksambodhi?"

The Budha replied, "So it is, so it is. As you have said, all of the activities of mind are nothing but signlessness; their essences are calm and unproduced. It is the same as well with each and every consciousness. Why is this? The eye and visual contact are both void and calm. [Visual] consciousness is also void and calm: it is free from any characteristic of agitation or motionlessness. Since it is free internally of the three feelings [pain, pleasure and neutral feeling], the three feelings are calm and extinct. So too is this the case for auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile and mental [consciousness], as well as mind-consciousness, mano and alaya consciousness: as all of them are also unproduced, they are the mind that is calm and extinct and the mind that produces nothing. But if one gives rise tot the mind that is calm and extinct and the mind that produces nothing, this then would be practice that produces something, not the practice of nonproduction.

"Bodhisattva! Thus internally are generated three feelings, three karmic actions, and three moral restraints [of physical, verbal, and mental actions]. If these are already calm and extinct, the producing mind will not be produced and the mind will be constantly calm and extinct, without efficacy or function. He does not evince any characteristic of calm extinction; but he also does not insist on not corroborating [such a characteristic]. What is worth lingering in is the state of nonabiding, wherein is encoded signlessness. Then, there will be none of these three, such as the three feelings, and so forth, for all will be calm and extinct, pure and nonabiding. He need not access samadhi; he need not persist in sitting in dhyana. This is nonproduction and freedom from practice."

Mind King Bodhisattva asked, "Dhyana can suppress all agitation and allay all illusory distractions. Why this negation of dhyana?"

The Budha replied, "Bodhisattva! Dhyana is in fact agitation. Being neither agitated nor concentrated is the dhyana that produces nothing. The nature of dhyana is to produce nothing; it has no characteristics of the dhyana that does produce something. The nature of dhyana is to linger nowhere; it leaves far behind the agitation caused by trying to linger in dhyana. Know that the nature of dhyana is free from both agitation and calmness and you will immediately attain the [acceptance of the]nonproduction [of dharmas] and the prajna that produces nothing. But also do not rely on, or linger over these. Because of this knowledge, the mind also will not be agitated. For this reason, you will attain the prajnaparamita that produces nothing."

Mind King Bodhisattva said, "Lord! The prajna that produces nothing does not abide anywhere, and yet there is no place where it is not. The mind has no abiding place and there is no place where the mind can abide. When there is no abiding and no mind, the mind will then abide in non-production. The mind that so abides is in fact abiding in nonproduction.

"Lord! The mind's practice of nonproduction is inconceivable. As it is inconceivable, it is both effable and ineffable."

The Budha replied, "So it is, so it is."

Mind King Bodhisattva heard these words and, praising its miraculousness, recited these gathas:

That Lord who is replete in great knowledge,
Has explained extensively the dharma of nonproduction.
I have heard what has never been heard before,
Now has been explained what had yet to be explained.
Like the pure sweet dew,
That appears but once in a long while,
[So to is this dharma] difficult to encounter and difficult to imagine.
Difficult too is it to hear it,
It is the unsurpassed, excellent field of merit,
The supremely efficious, sublime medicine.
It is in order to ferry across sentient beings,
That it has now been proclaimed.

At that time, all those in the congregation heard these words and attained the [acceptance of] the nonproduction [of dharmas] as well as the prajna that produces nothing.

Subir