‘Since this is the way it is clearly presented in the scriptures:
And this dependent nature is the source
From whence ideas of real things then appear –
Appears without external things, exists,
In nature free from all abstracting thought. (6.47)
‘The dependent nature must unquestionably be accepted, since it is held to be the basis for the entire interlacing matrix of thought. One cannot mistake a rope for a snake without the rope as a contingent cause, and one cannot mistake earth and so forth for a vase without the contingent causes of earth and so forth; the latter would not happen in relation to the element of space. Likewise, in the absence of external objects, what would be the rationale for such thoughts as blue and so forth to occur? Hence, one must inevitably accept that the dependent nature is the cause of thoughts; it is the cause for the conditions of thorough affliction and complete purification. In this way, emptiness may be properly understood through statements such as:
“What lacks a certain thing is found to be empty of that, while that which remains is what actually exists.” This is the authentic and precise understanding granting unmistaken access to emptiness.1
‘It is by nature beyond the scope of all elaboration, and since verbal expression relies on designations there is no way to communicate it through the medium of words. Thus, to summarise, the dependent nature is here presented as threefold: (1) it arises solely from its own imprints without knowable objects; (2) it has existence; and (3) it is not within the scope of any mental elaboration. That it is the cause for things having imputed existence is established by the fact of its existence, and this is therefore not a point apart from the aforementioned three.’
Title
Chapter 1: Pramuditā
