Six Dialectics on Awareness

All the khenpos topped with red and yellow hats, those who consider themselves sages, scholars, and those meticulous precept-abiding experts of vinaya, please prick up your ears and hear me as I deliver an exposition like a singing nightingale in a mellifluous voice.

1.
The function of consciousness is to cognize.
Is Awareness also cognitive?
If Awareness is also cognitive,
How do the two differ?
If consciousness and Awareness do not differ,
How come consciousness is imputed, while Awareness is pure?

2.
All beings possess tathāgatagarbha.
Is this garbha in the body or in the mind?
If tathāgatagarbha lies in the body,
Is it form?
If tathāgatagarbha lies in the mind,
Is it a sentient being?

3.
Is the true nature present in rocks?
If it is, then, when will the rocks be awakened?
If not, then, are the rocks truly existent?

4.
The great master Mipham thus spoke,
That all beings are newly arisen.
If so, how can one propound the notion of the beginningless?

5.
If there is ignorance since beginningless time,
Then how does a sudden thought of ignorance emerge from tathāgatagarbha?

6.
If the nature of all phenomena is emptiness,
Does emptiness eat, drink, shit and piss?

In appearance neither sagely nor worldly,
In the mind within shines the great sun of wisdom,
Indistinguishable from the Lord, Dharmakīrti,
Here with great wisdom, I bring you to question!

If all of your clever tongues are still intact, I urge you to quickly answer my questions with your wisdoms and views. There is no need to cite the sūtras and śāstras or the oral instructions of certain lineage masters, nor is there a need to reply with a long-winded thesis. Just make it succinct and compelling. Thank you. ?

Palyul Choktrul
2020/11/21

Tibeten version གནས་དོན་དྲི་བ་ཐོག་འབེབས་མ་བཞུགས་སོ།།
Chinese version 覺性六問難
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