Mahāratnakūṭa Sutra, Vol. 57
"The stream of my transmigration ceases, the pure practice has been accomplished, what must be done has been done, and there will be no more future existence."
《大寶積經》卷57：
「我生已盡、梵行已立、所作已辦、不受後有。」
Remarks:
The statement “Nirvana is inconceivable” is uttered by an unenlightened person who cannot figure out what nirvana is. To such a person, the notion of nirvana is unimaginable. If nirvana cannot be known, why do arhats attain self-awareness, how could they self-testify, and how could they announce their attainment of nirvana in front of the Buddha?
The announcement “The stream of my transmigration ceases, the pure practice has been accomplished, what must be done has been done, there will be no more future existence, and I now know that suchness denotes the truth” proves that before arhats attain their arhathood, they already clearly know that they can enter remainderless nirvana. Apparently, they also know that their “self” has to be totally extinguished forever before they can enter remainderless nirvana. This means that before arhats’ attainment of arhathood, they know about nirvana but have yet to grasp its fundamental reality.
However, people who do not know about nirvana and who have not been enlightened cannot come to know and realize the tathagatagarbha. Nevertheless, we cannot say that no human being can come to know or realize the tathagatagarbha. The tathagatagarbha can definitely be known and realized; otherwise, the World-Honored One would not have been born in the human world to teach and guide us. If the tathagatagarbha cannot be known or realized, why should the World-Honored One come to teach us?
Therefore, only those who have attained awakening to the True Mind can conceive of and realize the tathagatagarbha. Ordinary mortals, non-Buddhists, and those who have yet to be enlightened cannot conceive of it. This matter can be confirmed.
#Buddha #Buddhism #nirvana #transmigration #trueself #enlightenment #truemind #tathagatagarbha
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