Twelve Kinds of False Thought
The Buddha names twelve distinct ways false thought operates — attachment to beautiful speech, to the matter spoken of, to the fixed properties things seem to have, to wealth, to a fixed identity, to a cause, to a view, to a settled conclusion, to arising, to non-arising, to continuity, and to bondage and release — closing with the illusionist's own conjured figure as the master image for all twelve: neither identical to the manifold appearances it produces nor entirely separate from them. A long verse then restates the entire teaching, showing that dependent origination and the false thought that misreads it are two names for a single process, never fully the same and never truly two.
Twelve Kinds of False Thought
「復次，大慧！今當說妄想自性分別通相。若妄想自性分別通相善分別，汝及餘菩薩摩訶薩，離妄想，到自覺聖，外道通趣善見，覺攝所攝妄想斷。緣起種種相，妄想自性行，不復妄想。大慧！云何妄想自性分別通相？謂：言說妄想、所說事妄想、相妄想、利妄想、自性妄想、因妄想、見妄想、成妄想、生妄想、不生妄想、相續妄想、縛不縛妄想。是名妄想自性分別通相。大慧！云何言說妄想？謂：種種妙音歌詠之聲，美樂計著，是名言說妄想。大慧！云何所說事妄想？謂：有所說事自性，聖智所知。依彼而生言說妄想。是名所說事妄想。大慧！云何相妄想？謂：即彼所說事，如鹿渴想，種種計著而計著。謂：堅、濕、煖、動相，一切性妄想。是名相妄想。大慧！云何利妄想？謂：樂種種金銀珍寶。是名利妄想。大慧！云何自性妄想？謂：自性持此如是。不異惡見妄想。是名自性妄想。大慧！云何因妄想？謂：若因若緣，有無分別，因相生。是名因妄想。大慧！云何見妄想？謂：有無一異俱不俱惡見，外道妄想計著妄想。是名見妄想。大慧！云何成妄想？謂：我我所想，成決定論。是名成妄想。
「大慧！云何生妄想？謂：緣有無性生計著。是名生妄想。大慧！云何不生妄想？謂：一切性本無生。無種因緣，生無因身。是名不生妄想。大慧！云何相續妄想？謂：彼俱相續，如金縷。是名相續妄想。大慧！云何縛不縛妄想？謂：縛因緣計著。如士夫方便，若縛若解。是名縛不縛妄想。於此妄想自性分別通相，一切愚夫計著有無。大慧！計著緣起而計著者，種種妄想計著自性。如幻示現種種之身，凡夫妄想，見種種異幻。大慧！幻與種種非異非不異。若異者，幻非種種因；若不異者，幻與種種無差別，而見差別。是故非異非不異。是故，大慧！汝及餘菩薩摩訶薩，如幻緣起妄想自性，異不異有無莫計著。」
"Furthermore, Mahāmati, I shall now speak of the general marks distinguishing the own-nature of false thought. If you rightly discriminate these general marks distinguishing the own-nature of false thought, you and the other bodhisattva-mahāsattvas will leave false thought behind, reach self-realized wisdom, and rightly perceive every path the outsiders take, becoming aware of, and cutting off, the false thought bound up with the grasped and the grasper. Then, with respect to the manifold marks of dependent origination and the operation of the own-nature of false thought, no further false thought will arise. Mahāmati, what are the general marks distinguishing the own-nature of false thought? False thought bound up with speech; with the matter spoken of; with a [fixed] mark; with material gain; with own-nature; with a cause; with a view; with a settled conclusion; with arising; with non-arising; with continuity; and with bondage and release. These are called the general marks distinguishing the own-nature of false thought. Mahāmati, what is false thought bound up with speech? It is attachment to every kind of exquisite, melodious, song-like sound, delighting in its beauty — this is called false thought bound up with speech. Mahāmati, what is false thought bound up with the matter spoken of? It is that there is some matter spoken of whose own-nature is known only by noble wisdom, [and yet, not having that wisdom,] one gives rise to false thought bound up with speech in dependence on it regardless — this is called false thought bound up with the matter spoken of. Mahāmati, what is false thought bound up with a fixed mark? It is that, with respect to that very matter spoken of, one becomes attached to it again and again, the way a thirsty deer mistakes a mirage for water — namely, attachment to the marks of solidity, moisture, warmth, and motion as though every [fixed] nature truly possessed them — this is called false thought bound up with a fixed mark. Mahāmati, what is false thought bound up with material gain? It is delight in every kind of gold, silver, and precious jewel — this is called false thought bound up with material gain. Mahāmati, what is false thought bound up with own-nature? It is holding that a thing's own-nature is fixed, precisely thus and not otherwise — no different from the false thought of an evil view — this is called false thought bound up with own-nature. Mahāmati, what is false thought bound up with a cause? It is that, whether by way of a cause or a condition, discriminating existence and non-existence, the mark of a cause is thereby produced — this is called false thought bound up with a cause. Mahāmati, what is false thought bound up with a view? It is the evil view of existence and non-existence, of identity and difference, both together and neither — the very false thought and attachment the outsiders hold — this is called false thought bound up with a view. Mahāmati, what is false thought bound up with a settled conclusion? It is the notion of an 'I' and of 'mine' hardened into a fixed, settled doctrine — this is called false thought bound up with a settled conclusion.
"Mahāmati, what is false thought bound up with arising? It is attachment to the arising of something in dependence on either existence or non-existence — this is called false thought bound up with arising. Mahāmati, what is false thought bound up with non-arising? It is [the view] that every [fixed] nature is, from the outset, entirely without arising — without any seed, cause, or condition, [and yet somehow] a body arises without a cause at all — this is called false thought bound up with non-arising. Mahāmati, what is false thought bound up with continuity? It is that these [other false thoughts] all continue on together, bound to one another the way gold thread is woven through cloth — this is called false thought bound up with continuity. Mahāmati, what is false thought bound up with bondage and release? It is attachment to the causes and conditions of bondage, the way a person, through some skillful device, is first bound and then set free — this is called false thought bound up with bondage and release. With respect to these general marks distinguishing the own-nature of false thought, every ignorant person becomes attached to existence and non-existence. Mahāmati, one who is attached through grasping at dependent origination becomes attached, through every kind of false thought, to own-nature — just as an illusion manifests every kind of body, and ordinary people, through false thought, see every kind of distinct, illusory form within it. Mahāmati, illusion and its manifold forms are neither identical nor not identical. If they were identical, illusion could not be the cause of its manifold forms; if they were not identical, illusion and its manifold forms would show no difference at all — and yet a difference plainly is seen. It is for this reason that they are neither identical nor not identical. It is for this same reason, Mahāmati, that you and the other bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should not become attached, with respect to the own-nature of false thought bound up with dependent origination, to its being either identical or different, either existent or non-existent."
The commentators note that this twelvefold list, unlike some of the sūtra's earlier enumerations, is not organized as pairs of opposites but as a single, continuous progression: "妄想是一，隨境有異，此中先總次別" — "false thought is a single thing; it merely takes on different appearances depending on its object. Here the passage first names the general category, then distinguishes the specific instances." The twelve move, roughly, from the outer to the inner: from delight in mere sound, through attachment to a spoken-of matter and its supposedly fixed properties, through material greed and metaphysical fixation on own-nature, through the specific mechanics of causal and evaluative reasoning gone wrong, and finally to the most abstract pair of all — arising and non-arising themselves becoming objects of attachment — before closing with continuity and bondage-and-release, the two that describe how all the others persist and entangle a being over time.
On the illusionist's conjured figure that closes the section, the commentators draw out precisely why neither "identical" nor "different" can describe the relationship between illusion and what it manifests: "若異者，幻非種種因" — "were they different, illusion could not be the cause of the manifold forms it produces" — since a cause and its effect cannot be utterly unrelated to each other, and yet — "若不異者，幻與種種無差別而見差別" — "were they not different, illusion and its manifold forms would show no distinction at all, and yet a distinction is plainly seen." False thought and dependent origination stand in exactly this same relationship, which is why the passage's closing instruction is not to resolve the tension one way or the other but to refuse the entire framework of identity/difference and existence/non-existence being applied to the pairing at all.
The Long Verse Restating Twelve Kinds of False Thought
爾時，世尊欲重宣此義而說偈言：
「心縛於境界， 覺想智隨轉，
無所有及勝， 平等智慧生。
妄想自性有， 於緣起則無，
妄想或攝受， 緣起非妄想。
種種支分生， 如幻則不成，
彼相有種種， 妄想則不成。
彼相則是過， 皆從心縛生，
妄想無所知， 於緣起妄想。
此諸妄想性， 即是彼緣起，
妄想有種種， 於緣起妄想。
世諦第一義， 第三無因生，
妄想說世諦， 斷則聖境界。
譬如修行事， 於一種種現，
於彼無種種， 妄想相如是。
譬如種種翳， 妄想眾色現，
翳無色非色， 緣起不覺然。
譬如鍊真金， 遠離諸垢穢，
虛空無雲翳， 妄想淨亦然。
無有妄想性， 及有彼緣起，
建立及誹謗， 悉由妄想壞。
妄想若無性， 而有緣起性，
無性而有性， 有性無性生。
依因於妄想， 而得彼緣起，
相名常相隨， 而生諸妄想。
究竟不成就， 則度諸妄想，
然後知清淨， 是名第一義。
妄想有十二， 緣起有六種，
自覺知爾炎， 彼無有差別。
五法為真實， 自性有三種，
修行分別此， 不越於如如。
眾相及緣起， 彼名起妄想，
彼諸妄想相， 從彼緣起生。
覺慧善觀察， 無緣無妄想，
成已無有性， 云何妄想覺？
彼妄想自性， 建立二自性，
妄想種種現， 清淨聖境界。
妄想如畫色， 緣起計妄想，
若異妄想者， 即依外道論。
妄想說所想， 因見和合生，
離二妄想者， 如是則為成。」
Then the World-Honored One, wishing to restate this meaning, spoke in verse:
"Mind is bound to its object-realm, and awareness, thought, and cognition turn along with it;
[freed of this,] having nothing at all and yet supreme, the wisdom of equality is born.
False thought's own-nature exists; within dependent origination it does not;
false thought may grasp at something, but dependent origination itself is not false thought.
Manifold parts arising, like an illusion, never truly come to be;
that mark, though it appears in manifold ways, false thought itself does not truly come to be either.
That mark is itself a fault, arising entirely from mind's own bondage;
false thought has nothing it truly knows, with respect to dependent origination it is [still only] false thought.
This very nature of false thought is itself that same dependent origination;
false thought appears in manifold ways, and with respect to dependent origination it remains false thought.
Conventional truth, ultimate truth — a supposed third, arising without any cause at all;
false thought is what speaks of conventional truth; cut it off, and the noble domain remains.
It is like a meditator's own practice: upon a single object, manifold things appear;
within that object there is, in truth, nothing manifold at all — the mark of false thought is just the same.
It is like every kind of eye-disease: false thought makes every color appear;
the disease itself has no color, is not [truly] color at all — dependent origination, unperceived correctly, is just the same.
It is like refining true gold, leaving every impurity far behind;
like empty space free of clouds and haze — false thought's own purification is just the same.
[To say] false thought has no [fixed] nature at all, and yet dependent origination has one —
this is [merely] false assertion and slanderous denial; both alike are undone by false thought itself.
If false thought has no [fixed] nature, and yet dependent origination has one,
then something with a nature arises from what has none — existence itself arising from non-existence.
It is in dependence on false thought that dependent origination itself is grasped;
mark and name forever follow one another, and it is from this that every false thought is born.
When, in the end, nothing at all is accomplished, one thereby passes beyond every false thought;
only then does one know true purity — this alone is called ultimate meaning.
False thought is twelvefold; dependent origination is sixfold;
self-realization, and knowledge of the knowable — between these two there is, in truth, no difference at all.
The five dharmas are what is genuinely real; own-nature is threefold;
the practitioner who discriminates these does not, in doing so, ever step outside of suchness itself.
Every mark, and dependent origination too, are what give the very name 'false thought' its rise;
and every mark of that same false thought arises, in turn, from that very dependent origination.
Wise awareness observes rightly: no [fixed] condition, and no false thought either;
once accomplished, it has no [fixed] nature left at all — how, then, could false thought still awaken anything?
That very own-nature of false thought is what establishes the two [other] own-natures;
false thought appears in every manifold way, and yet the domain of the noble ones remains utterly pure.
False thought is like a painted color: dependent origination is what false thought is reckoned upon;
were false thought something different from this, it would fall into the outsiders' own theorizing.
False thought speaking of what it thinks arises from a view coming together [with its object];
leave both of these forms of false thought behind, and it is only then that [true understanding] is accomplished."
The commentators identify this verse's central move as resolving an apparent contradiction in how the sūtra has just described the relationship between false thought and dependent origination — sometimes suggesting false thought arises from dependent origination, elsewhere suggesting the reverse: "而又言妄想從緣起而生者，蓋指現前所起妄念從根塵和合而生。上言緣起從妄想生者，蓋指迷真從妄而有因緣生法" — "when it is said that false thought arises from dependent origination, this refers to how a present moment of false thought arises from the coming together of sense-faculty and sense-object; when it is said, elsewhere, that dependent origination arises from false thought, this refers to how, once true reality is lost to delusion, conditioned dharmas come to be produced through false thought in the first place." Both directions are true, describing two different points in the same cycle — false thought produces the very conditioned appearances it then mistakes for independently real things, which in turn condition further false thought — which is exactly why the sūtra refuses to say the two are simply identical or simply different.
On the verse's repeated warning against declaring false thought and dependent origination to definitely have, or definitely lack, their own fixed nature, the commentators trace the logical trap precisely: "若無妄想性而有緣起性者，則有從無生，成無因之過" — "were one to say false thought has no fixed nature at all while dependent origination does have one, this would mean something with a nature arises from what has none whatsoever — falling into the very fault of things arising without a cause." Declaring one side empty and the other side real breaks the symmetry the entire teaching depends on; the verse's own conclusion — that in the end "nothing at all is accomplished" on either side — is what finally closes off every version of this trap, rather than settling the dispute in favor of one term over the other.
Part 21 Complete
This closes Part 21: twelve named kinds of false thought, from delight in beautiful speech to attachment to bondage and release, closed by the illusionist's conjured figure as the master image for how false thought relates to what it distorts — never simply the same, never simply different — and a long verse working through every possible way of declaring false thought and dependent origination to be real or unreal, showing each one to collapse into the same fault. Part 22 turns to Mahāmati's request for the teaching on self-realized noble wisdom and the one vehicle, closing this fascicle with the Buddha's account of why he teaches three vehicles to most beings while reserving the single vehicle's own name for what only a buddha ever fully reaches.
Continue to Part 22 — Self-Realized Wisdom, and the One Vehicle →