Chapter 5. Investigation of the Elements
No space at all exists before the mark of space; and if it did exist before the mark, it would follow that there is something devoid of a mark.
No existent without a mark is ever found anywhere; and if there is no existent without a mark, then to what could a mark be applied?
A mark is not applied to what is without a mark, nor to what already has a mark; and apart from what has a mark and what is without a mark, it is not applied anywhere either.
And when a mark is not applied, what was to be marked is impossible as well; and when the marked is impossible, the mark itself is impossible too.
Therefore neither the marked exists nor the mark itself; and apart from the marked and the mark, no existent exists either.
And if there is no existent, whose non-existent could it then be? And who, being different in nature both from the existent and from the non-existent, discerns the existent and the non-existent?
Therefore there is no existent, no non-existent, nothing marked and no mark; space — and equal to space are the remaining five elements.
But those of little understanding who see the being and the non-being of existents do not see the blessed stilling of everything that can be seen.
Every verse here is genuine and stands in its own order — the forum is only a way of breaking the chapter up. Not a single line in these posts was added.
Where a second voice appears, it is the pūrvapakṣa: the opponent’s position, stated by Nāgārjuna in his own words so that he can take it apart.