Land of Enlightened Wisdom

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Analysis of Views

Past existence and nonexistence,
A permanent world, and so forth ---
These views depend
On the extreme of the past. [27.1]

The views of existence and nonexistence
At a different time in the future,
Of the end of the world, and so forth
Depend on the extreme of the future. [27.2]

Saying “It existed in the past”
Indeed, does not make sense.
Whatever occurred in past lives
Is not the same as this. [27.3]

If you think, “That itself is the self,”
The appropriated would be different.
Apart from appropriated,
What is this self of yours? [27.4]

When it is held that there is no self
Apart from the appropriated,
If the appropriated is itself the self,
Your self does not exist. [27.5]

The appropriated is not the self,
For it arises and disintegrates.
How could the appropriated
Ever be the appropriator? [27.6]

It does not make sense for there to be
A self that is different from the appropriated.
If different, it could reasonably be perceived
In the absence of appropriation, yet it cannot. [27.7]

Thus, it is not other than appropriation,
Nor are these two the same.
The self does not exist without appropriation,
Yet neither can it be ascertained as nonexistent. [27.8]

Saying “It did not exist in the past,”
Does not make sense either.
Whatever was there in past lives
Is not different from this. [27.9]

If it were something other,
It could arise even in its absence.
Likewise, that would remain
And there could be birth without death there. [27.10]

There would be annihilation, action would be wasted,
The action done by one
Would be experienced by another --
These and other flaws would ensue. [27.11]

Something previously nonexistent does not arise
Because flaws would follow:
The self would be a product
And its arising would lack a cause. [27.12]

Thus, that the self existed, did not exist,
That it both existed and did not,
Or neither existed nor did not exist--
These views on the past are untenable. [27.13]

The views that “it will exist
At a different time in the future,”
Or that, “it will not exist in the future,”
Are equal to those about the past. [27.14]

If the god were the human,
It would be permanent.
The god would be unborn,
For the permanent has no birth. [27.15]

If the god were different from the human,
It would be impermanent.
If the god and human were different,
There could not reasonably be one stream of being. [27.16]

If one part were divine
And another part human,
It would be permanent and impermanent.
That is not reasonable either. [27.17]

If permanent and impermanent
Were both established,
It would be possible to establish
The neither permanent nor impermanent. [27.18]

If something came somewhere from somewhere
And then would go somewhere else,
Then cyclic existence would have no beginning,
Yet that is not the case. [27.19]

When nothing is permanent,
What could be impermanent?
Permanence, impermanence,
And both have been dismissed. [27.20]

If the world had an end,
How could there be another world?
If the world had no end,
How could there be another world? [27.21]

This continuity of the aggregates
Is just like an oil lamp’s light.
Hence, neither finitude
Nor infinitude makes sense. [27.22]

If the previous were to cease,
And if, based on these aggregates,
Those aggregates would not arise,
The world would have an end. [27.23]

If the previous were not to cease,
And if, based on these aggregates,
Those aggregates would not arise,
The world would be endless. [27.24]

If one part were finite
And another part infinite,
The world would and would not have an end.
This does not make sense either. [27.25]

How could one part
Of the appropriator be destroyed
And another part not be destroyed?
This does not make sense. [27.26]

How could one part
Of the appropriated be destroyed
And another part not be destroyed?
That does not make sense either. [27.27]

If the finite and infinite
Were both established,
It would be possible to establish
The neither finite nor infinite. [27.28]

Alternately, because all things are empty,
How could views of permanence and so on,
Occur in any form, anywhere,
And to anyone at all? [27.29]

By the love of his heart, he accepts us
And, so that all views may be relinquished,
Reveals the sacred Dharma.
To the teacher, Gautama, I prostrate. [27.30] <- Prev Dedication ->

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