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The Practice of Mahayana
Chapter Two of the Treatise on the Summary of the Great Vehicle is named The Characteristics of the Object of Knowledge, following Chapter One on The Basis of the Object of Knowledge (Jñeyāśraya) – the foundation of the object of cognition. The Characteristics of the Object of Knowledge refers to the features and appearances of the object of cognition when it manifests as rivers, mountains, trees, and grasses… and is divided into three main characteristics:
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The Characteristic of Arising by Dependence
arises from seeds in the store consciousness (ālaya-vijñāna), becoming the object of illusory discrimination; this includes the illusory body, illusory feelings, the one who receives, the one who gives, time, number, space, speech, the discrimination between self and others, and the cycle of birth and death in the realms of wholesome and unwholesome destinies. -
The Characteristic of Imputed Construction
is mistaken imagination, mental construction, caused by the proliferation of imputation, which leads us to cling to illusions, giving rise to craving, aversion, and ignorance, losing our freedom and clarity. -
The Characteristic of Perfect Reality (Parinishpana Lakṣaṇa)
is the true ontological ground, where there is no longer any discrimination between self and others, absolute fulfillment when imputed construction has completely disappeared.
Understanding these three characteristics – from the dependent arising manifestation of arising by dependence, to the withdrawal of imputed construction, and the revelation of perfect reality – helps us let go of attachment, live in mindfulness, peace, and see clearly the non-self nature of all phenomena.