At that point, the bodhisattva Śāntamati said this to Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas: “The Realized One has made a prediction for you, Lord of the Guhyakas.”

Vajrapāṇi responded, “The prediction made for me, noble son, is one that has the nature of a dream.”

“What have you been predicted to obtain?”

“The prediction I have obtained, noble son, is for what does not obtain.”

“What does not obtain?

“A being, a life force, a person, an individual entity, and a human being—these do not obtain. The aggregates, elements, and sense spheres do not obtain. It is the same with virtue, vice, purity, impurity, the defiled, the undefiled, the mundane, the transcendent, the conditioned, the unconditioned, the afflicted, the cleansed, saṃsāra, and nirvāṇa—these do not obtain.”

“If they do not obtain, then what was predicted here?”

“What was predicted is the knowledge that comes from the understanding of what cannot be grasped by the mind.”

“And is this knowledge produced by duality?”

“If it were produced by duality,” Vajrapāṇi responded, “then one could not obtain a prediction. Since knowledge is not produced by duality, the predictions bodhisattvas obtain are only nondual predictions.”

Śāntamati then asked, “If knowledge is produced by nonduality, then who gives the prediction and who receives the prediction?”

“The one who gives the prediction and the one who receives the prediction are obtained by understanding that they are same. They are conceived from the position of nonduality.”

“For one who has the position of nonduality, Lord of the Guhyakas, what prediction can there be?”

“For whichever position one has, that position being the position of nonduality, there is a prediction precisely for the one who has that position.”

“For which position is there a prediction for the one who stands thereon?”

“For one who stands on the position that there is a self, there is a prediction. For one who stands on the position that there is a being, there is a prediction, as well as for one who stands on the position that there is a life force or a person.”

“On what is one standing when one is standing on the position that there is a self?”

“When one is standing on the position that there is a self, one is standing on the position of being liberated by the realized ones.”

“What is standing on the position of being liberated by the realized ones?”

“It is standing on the position of craving, becoming, and ignorance.”

Śāntamati asked, “On what is one standing when one is standing on the position of craving, becoming, and ignorance?”

“One is standing on the position of what is perpetually not born and not produced,” said Vajrapāṇi.

“Standing on what is not born is what kind of stance?”

“It is a stance that makes something known.”

“What is made known by making something known?

“If one is making something known, it would not be something unknown.”

“What is not made known?”

“All that is made known does not make it known.”

“If it is not made known, then how does one give an instruction?”

“If one were to give an instruction, one would not make something known. Since one does not make something known, therefore one gives an instruction.”

“How is one instructed?”

“When one does not receive information.”

“How does one not receive information?”

“When one does not chase after words.”

“How does one not chase after words?”

“When one relies on the meaning.”

“How does one rely on the meaning?”

“When one does not see the meaning.”

“How does one not see the meaning?”

“When one is not intent on meaning or lack of meaning.”

“When one is not intent on meaning or lack of meaning, then does one lack intent?”

“When one is not intent on meaning or lack of meaning, then one is intent on the Dharma.”

“If one is intent on the Dharma, is that not simply being intent on something?”

“One who is intent on the Dharma, noble son, is not intent on anything at all, because the thing on which such a being is intent is not a thing, nor is the one who is intent upon it a thing, either.”

“What, again, is not a thing?”

“Where not even the word thing obtains.”

“Where not even the word thing obtains, what sort of Dharma can there be?”

“It is precisely the Dharma, noble son, to which words do not speak, because, as it is said, all things are inexpressible; they cannot be given voice, they cannot be put into words. Noble son, when one speaks the words ‘I speak,’ one misspeaks, and one who misspeaks possesses neither the Dharma nor the Discipline.”

“You really should not say, Lord of the Guhyakas, that the Realized One misspeaks when he speaks the Dharma!”

“Have I not previously explained, Śāntamati, that the Realized One has not articulated or pronounced even a single syllable? What beings perceive as the Realized One speaking occurs through the force of their own vows and in accordance with their own motivations.”

“What is the fault of one who speaks?”

“One who speaks commits a fault of verbal action.”

“What is the fault of one who makes a verbal action?”

“The fault of uttering words by thinking of syllables.”

“What, then, is faultless?”

“What is not spoken, what is not pronounced, is not made known at all, and what is not made known is faultless. What is not made known as self or other, that is faultless.”

“What is the root of fault?”

“The root of fault is grasping.”

“What is the root of grasping?”

“Its root is fixation.”

“What is the root of fixation?”

“Its root is false supposition.”

“What is the root of false supposition?”

“Its root is a view that takes something as a basis of cognition.”

“What is taken as a basis for cognition?”

“Forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, and mental objects are taken as the bases for cognition.”

“What is not taken as the basis for cognition?”

“The propensity for craving is not taken as a basis for cognition, Śāntamati, because the Dharma that is taught by the Realized One has as its aim the abandonment of craving as a basis for cognition.”

While Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, was giving this teaching, the minds of five hundred monks became liberated and two hundred bodhisattvas acquired an acceptance of the fact that things do not arise.