Chapter Sixteen: Analysis of Bondage and Liberation

 
 
 
If it is claimed that formations cycle,
They cannot do so if permanent,
Nor can they if impermanent.
In the case of sentient beings, the steps are the same. [16.1]
 
It might be said that the person cycles,
But when we search the aggregates, elements, and sense sources,
Using the five steps and there is nothing,
What is it, then, that cycles? [16.2]
 
If there is cycling from appropriation to appropriation,
Then there cannot be any becoming.
Without becoming there can be no appropriation,
So what kind of cycling is this?  [16.3]
 
Formations that transcend suffering
Do not make sense in any way.
Sentient beings that transcend suffering
Do not make sense in any way either. [16.4]
 
Formations that are subject to arising and ceasing
Are not bound and will not be freed.
As before, sentient beings as well 
Are not bound and will not be freed. [16.5]
 
If bondage is due to apropriation,
Since nothing is bound in the presence of appropriation,
And there is no bondage in the absence of appropriation,
When, then, is it that bondage occurs?  [16.6]
 
If the bond existed prior to the bound,
There could be bondage, yet it does not.
The rest has already been explained
By what was, will be, and is being traversed. [16.7]
 
That which is bound is not freed,
Yet the unbound is not freed either.
If the bound were being liberated,
Bondage and liberation would be simultaneous.  [16.8]
 
"Without appropriation, I shall transcend suffering;
The transcendence of suffering, that shall be mine!"
Those who grasp in this way
Are engaged in severe appropraition . [16.9]
 
Where the transcendence of suffering is not produced
And cyclic existence is not dispelled,
How to conceive of cyclic existence,
And how of the transcendence of suffering? [16.10]       <- Prev   Next -> 
 
 
                                                 
 
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