Verse 3432-3433

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

उष्णतां नीयमानस्य क्षयो भवति चाम्भसः ।
अस्थैर्यादाश्रयस्यातः कस्य कस्मिन्प्रकृष्टता ॥ ३४३२ ॥
मानसानां गुणानां तु चित्तसन्ततिराश्रयः ।
साऽधारयोगतो वृत्तान्न कथंचिन्निवर्त्तते ॥ ३४३३ ॥

uṣṇatāṃ nīyamānasya kṣayo bhavati cāmbhasaḥ |
asthairyādāśrayasyātaḥ kasya kasminprakṛṣṭatā || 3432 ||
mānasānāṃ guṇānāṃ tu cittasantatirāśrayaḥ |
sā'dhārayogato vṛttānna kathaṃcinnivarttate || 3433 ||

While the water is being heated, it is gradually undergoing destruction (evaporation); thus the substratum being not ‘lasting’, what and where would the ‘perfection’ lie?—(3432)

Of mental qualities, the substratum consists in the ‘chain of consciousness’; and this never ceases to function through its connection with its receptacle.—(3433)

 

Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):

[verse 3432]:

The following Text proceeds to show that the Author’s Reason is not falsified by the case of the ‘Heating of Water’; because of the qualifying phrase ‘having a lasting substratum’ (in Text 3421):—[see verse 3432 above]

Question:—“How is it known that Wisdom and other qualities have a lasting substratum?”

Answer:—[see verse 3433 above]

[verse 3433]:

‘This’—i.e. The Chain of Consciousness.

‘Function through, etc. etc.’—i.e. from functioning through its connection with its receptacle, in the shape of the Bodhisattva; because what is meant is a particular ‘Receptacle’.

What is meant is as follows:—It has been proved that there is another ‘Region’ (Plane);—the Bodhisattvas are persons thoroughly imbued with great Mercy, and they live for the sole purpose of saving all beings from the meshes of Birth and Rebirth; the ‘Chain of Consciousness’, therefore, that subsists in them is all the more ‘lasting’. That ‘Chain of Consciousness’, on the other hand, which subsists in the Disciples is not so ‘lasting’; because these latter enter into Nirvāṇa sooner, and hence their Mercy is not so intense; which fact leads them to make no effort to continue to live on (for the benefit of living Beings).—(3433)