Tag Archives: five-dharmas

138. The constructing of appearances (nimitta) created by delusion is the characteristic mark of Paratantra (dependence) knowledge; the giving of names to those appearances [regarding them as real individual existences] is characteristic of the imagination.
139. When the constructing of appearances and names, which come from the union of conditions and realities, no more takes place, we have the characteristic mark of perfected knowledge (parinishpanna).

This is in reference to the five-dharmas: name, appearance, discrimination, right knowledge, and suchness. False-imagination gives rise to discrimination, declaring such ideations as child, soap, etcetera, thus given a name-appellation. What follows is an appearance that is declared after the naming. In short it’s all an exercise in control—once something is named, one has the power over it. Much like during exorcisms when the priest-exorcist demands the demon give its name, after which it can be dispelled. Ultimately, though, the Lanka teaches that by “Right-Knowledge”, “when names and appearances are seen as unobtainable owing to their mutual conditioning, there is no more rising of the Vijnanas, for nothing comes to annihilation, nothing abides everlastingly.” Afterwards, what remains is quiescent-suchness. The Lanka encapsulates all this as such: read more