Then the Bhagavat, having taught that dhāraṇī, in order to benefit and bring happiness to that gathered assembly of bodhisattva mahāsattvas, devas, humans, and so on, and in order to teach the characteristics of the ultimate truth, emptiness, recited these verses:

“I have taught the Dharmas of emptiness Very extensively in countless other sūtras. Therefore, in this supreme sūtra, I will teach the Dharmas of emptiness briefly.

“Unknowing beings with little intelligence Are not able to know all the Dharmas. Therefore, in this supreme sūtra I will teach the Dharmas of emptiness briefly.

“I teach this lord of supreme sūtras Through other methods, ways, and causes, And through compassion, so that all beings will understand And so that it will arise in beings.

“This body is like an empty village. The senses are like six village thieves, Who, although they are in the same village, Are not aware of one another.

“The sense of sight runs toward forms; The sense of hearing moves after sounds; The sense of smell steals various aromas; The sense of taste runs after flavors;

“The sense of touch pursues tactility; The mental sense investigates phenomena. These six senses in relation to one another Are each engaging with their own objects of perception.

“The mind is unstable, like an illusion. The six senses experience their fields of perception, The six village thieves present there Are like a man running around in an empty village.

“Just as the mind and the six present senses Know the range of sensory perception— Forms, sounds, and likewise smells, Flavors, tactility, and the range of mental phenomena—

“The mind enters the senses, moving like a bird Throughout all six of them. In whatever sense it is present, It has the nature of that sense’s perception.

“The body is unmoving and has no activity. It has no essence and arises from conditions. It has no real existence but arises from concepts. It is an empty village; it is like a working machine.

“Earth, fire, water, and air Dwell here and there outside the village. They are like poisonous snakes in one location That are always in conflict with one another.

“Of those four snakes of the elements, Two move upward and two go downward; They go in twos to the main and intermediate directions, And all those element snakes are destroyed.

“The earth snake and the water snake— These two come to an end below. The fire snake and the air snake— They go upward into the sky.

“The mind and the consciousnesses remain, And they go according to previous karma. According to the karma created in the past, they are reborn Into an existence among devas, humans, or the three lower realms.

“When the phlegm, air, and bile come to an end, The body becomes covered with urine and vomit. It becomes a disgusting mass of worms And is cast into the charnel ground as if it were wood.

“Goddess, look at these phenomena, At whatever being or individual is here; All of these phenomena are empty, But they occur through the factor of ignorance.

“All these great elements are not ‘great occurrences.’ They occur through nonoccurrence and so do not occur. Because the occurring elements are nonoccurring, For that reason I call them ‘great elements.’

“They are not existent and never were existent. They come to be because of ignorance. This ignorance, too, is not existent. Therefore, I teach that this is ignorance.

“Formations, consciousness, and name and form; The six āyatanas, contact, and sensation; Craving, grasping and likewise becoming; And the misfortunes of birth, aging, death, and misery—

“Those inconceivable sufferings in saṃsāra That are present in the wheel of saṃsāra Have happened without happening and have no origination. The distinctions made by an erroneous mind,

“And the view that there is a self, should be cut through. Cut through the net of the kleśas with the sword of wisdom. See that the basis of the skandhas is empty. Reach the vast qualities of the buddhas.

“I have opened the gate of the city of amṛta. I have shown everyone the vessel of amṛta liquid. I have entered the place that is the city of amṛta, And I have been satiated by the amṛta liquid.

“I have beaten the sublime great drum of the Dharma I have blown the sublime conch of the Dharma. I have lit the sublime lamp of the Dharma, And I have sent down a sublime rain of Dharma.

“I have defeated the supreme enemy, the kleśas. I have raised the sublime banner of the Dharma. I have brought beings across the ocean of existence. I have blocked the road to the three lower existences.

“There are beings who are tormented by the fire of the kleśas, Who have no support or protector. I have extinguished the fire of the kleśas in those beings And brought them relief with the cooling liquid of amṛta.

“For that reason, through many past eons I made offerings to innumerable guides, And in seeking for the Dharma body I practiced resolute discipline for the sake of enlightenment.

“I gave away my arms, eyes, and legs, My head, beloved sons and daughters, Wealth, treasures, ornamentations of jewels and pearls, Gold, beryl, and various kinds of jewels.

“If all the trees in the trichiliocosm, And all the grasses, the plants, And the forests—everything that Grows from the ground—were to be cut down,

“And they were all ground down And made into the smallest atoms And were formed into a heap of powder That reached the domain of the sky,

“It would not be possible to divide that into portions. There are the particles that exist in the earth— The countless elemental particles In all the trichiliocosm worlds—

And if the knowledge of all beings Could become that of a single being, Such that with that knowledge All those particles could be counted,

“Then the humans with that perfect wisdom, Who would be superior to all other beings, Could possibly count all those particles, But they would not be able to calculate a jina’s wisdom.

“If they were to engage with a single instant Of the wisdom of the great Muni For many millions of eons, They would still be unable to calculate it.”