Mahaparinirvana quotes

This [i.e. such ignorance of the true nature of the Buddha] is
'suffering'. Why so? Due to ignorance. A person views Dharma as non-Dharma, and non-Dharma
as Dharma. Know that this person will fall into the unfortunate realms and repeat birth and death.
This will increase the bonds of illusion and worry will grow. If he comes to know that the
Tathagata is Eternal, one with whom there comes about no change, or if he hears the word
"eternal", he will obtain birth in heaven. And on gaining emancipation, he will actually see that
the Tathagata is Eternal and Unchanging. When this is well seen, he will say: "I heard about this
in the past. Now that I am emancipated, I know this. As I was ignorant regarding the Ultimate, I
have been repeating birth and death to no end. Today, I am enlightened as regards true
knowledge." If knowledge reaches this stage, this is truly practising suffering. There is much to
profit from. One may well practise this, but if one does not know things to be thus, no profit will
result. This is what is called knowing suffering. This is the noble truth of suffering. If one does
not practise thus, this is suffering and not the noble truth of suffering.

*

A person says: "There is
the Tathagatagarbha [Buddha-Womb - the pristine mind under cover of illusion]. One cannot see
this. But if one does away with all illusions, one may indeed enter." It is thus. By the raising of
such a mind [i.e. by cultivating such an attitude of mind], one gains freedom in all things. If a
person practises the Way of the hidden storehouse, selflessness, and emptiness, such a person
repeats birth and death for innumerable ages to come and suffers from sorrow. A person who
does not do such practices may certainly, even though he might have illusion, soon do away with
it. Why so? Because he well knows the undisclosed [secret, hidden] storehouse of the Tathagata.
This is the noble truth of the extinction of suffering. Any person who practises extinction in such
a way is my disciple. A person not practising the Way thus is one who practises emptiness. This
is not the noble truth of extinction.

*

This is said because the thought
of suffering arises in [what truly is] Bliss. Bliss is the Tathagata. Suffering is the non-Eternal of
the Tathagata. If a person says that the Tathagata is non-Eternal, this is a thought of suffering in
Bliss. The Tathagata's being Eternal is Bliss.


***

Jesus said to them, "If you fast, you will give rise to sin for yourselves; and if you pray, you will be condemned; and if you give alms, you will do harm to your spirits. When you go into any land and walk about in the districts, if they receive you, eat what they will set before you, and heal the sick among them. For what goes into your mouth will not defile you, but that which issues from your mouth - it is that which will defile you."

Gospel of Thomas 14

****


"The ignorant cannot know what the Buddha says.
By ignorance, the wheel of birth and death turns."

*

"If a person is able truly to discern
That his/ her intrinsic being possesses the Buddha-dhatu [Buddha-Nature],
Then you should know that such a person
Will enter into the Secret Matrix [ = the Tathagatagarbha].
That person who knows the Self [atman] and what belongs to the Self [atmiya]
Has already transcended the mundane world."