At the end of the preceding volume (bam po), when Mañjuśrī and Samatāvihārin argue over two things, viz. exposition of teachings (dhārmī kathā ) and holy silence (ārya-tūṣṇībhāva), the Buddha reveals that an incredibly long time ago the Tathāgata Samantaprabha gave a sermon on these two things to two bodhisattvas. At the beginning of this fifth volume the Buddha declares that the two bodhisattvas Akṣayamati and Viśeṣamati who then listened to the sermon are now Mañjuśrī and Samatāvihārin respectively. As in the previous volumes, the dialogues that follow clarify various terms and doctrines of Mahayāna Buddhism. Especially noteworthy among these is “concentration (samādhi) on the perfectly pure splendor (pariśuddha-ābhāsa).” According to the theory of this concentration, all things in the world are perfectly pure in their original nature (prakrtipariśuddha) throughout the three periods of past, present, and future, and they are transparently luminous in their nature (prakrtiprabhāsvara). Since all things are perfectly pure in their nature, the mind is also perfectly pure. Therefore the mind of common people is liberated in the sense of “liberated in their original nature.” Here we see three elements. The first is a thought already seen in the canonical text (Āgama) that the mind is originally pure in its nature and is contaminated by adventitious afflictions. The second is a thought found in the Mahayāna texts (especially Prajñāpāramitāsūtras), based on the theory of emptiness, that all things are perfectly pure. And the third may be seen as an element connected to the theory of the tathāgatagarbha (embryo of a Buddha) that would develop later. That this teaching of the original purity of the mind is taught in the Sutra only in the present volume has great significance for the intellectual historical background of the Sutra. The Sutra declares that all things, whether mundane or supra-mundane, being in the relationship of non-duality (advaya), are pure in their original nature. It not only reveals this truth, but also examines the relation between the truth and words that are supposed to convey that truth. For example, the Sutra defines adhivacana (which simply means “a word”), understood in the mundane sense, as a means of presenting (sam āropa) as existent what does not really exist by setting a certain subject as a target (adhikāra). In the case of a Buddha, as he preaches without any presentation or setting a target, his words are called superior words (adhika-vacana). The great interest shown in the preceding volume of the Sutra in these two things (exposition of teachings and holy silence) may be thought of as stemming from the same critical consciousness. Two thirds of the way through this volume Mañjuśrī and Samatāvihārin disappear, and the final portion takes either of two forms, that of a dialogue among Brahma Viśeṣacintin, Devaputra Avaivartika (who newly appears in this volume) and Śakra, or that of questions they ask of the Buddha. Avaivartika will be predicted by the Buddha to attain Buddhahood at the beginning of the next volume.
