Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
The Nirvikalpa-prakaraṇa (The Treatise on Non-conceptuality) argues for the illusory nature of perceived reality by examining the mechanism of conceptual imputation. The text asserts that any entity grasped through conceptualization is a product of that very process, rendering it impossible to know such entities through an independent or external means. By employing the analogy of the son of a barren woman, the author posits that the world is fundamentally unborn and devoid of a causal emanator. The work commits the reader to a view of the world as a meaningless delusion, comparable to a gandharva city, suggesting that the appearance of the world is a direct consequence of conceptualization rather than an objective existence. The argument moves from the epistemological impossibility of knowing imputed entities to an ontological claim regarding the non-existence of the world as a substantial entity.
Provenance
About this text
A treatise on non-conceptuality, the Nirvikalpaprakaraṇa belongs to the tradition of the General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works. It is attributed to the Indian author Āryadeva. The work passed into the Tibetan language through the efforts of the translators Mahākaruṇa and bod kyi lo tsa ba rma ban chos ’bar, and it is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཞི, where it extends over three pages. In its opening, the work argues for the illusory nature of perceived reality by examining the mechanism of conceptual imputation. It asserts that any entity grasped through conceptualization is a product of that process, rendering it impossible to know such entities through independent means. By employing the analogy of the son of a barren woman, the author posits that the world is fundamentally unborn and devoid of a causal emanator, describing the world as a meaningless delusion comparable to a gandharva city. The argument suggests that the appearance of the world is a direct consequence of conceptualization rather than an objective existence. A scholar or serious reader consults this classical Tibetan text today to examine the epistemological impossibility of knowing imputed entities and the resulting ontological claim regarding the non-existence of the world as a substantial entity.
This work is significant for its application of the non-conceptual (nirvikalpa) framework to dismantle the validity of ordinary perception. It reflects a tradition of emptiness and illusionism common in Indo-Tibetan philosophy, providing a logical basis for the claim that conceptualization creates the appearance of a world that does not exist independently.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1-2
Introduction and Ontological Argument
The text introduces the subject of non-conceptuality and argues that the world is an unborn delusion arising from conceptual imputation.
Themes
Conceptual Imputation (1-2)
Illusionism and the Gandharva City (2)
Non-existence of the World (2)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Nirvikalpa-prakaraṇa. In the language of Tibet: Rnam par mi rtog pa'i rab tu byed pa (The Treatise on Non-conceptuality). Homage to the Guru and the Buddha.
Whatever entity is conceptualized by whatever conceptualization, that very thing which is thus thoroughly imputed has no inherent nature whatsoever. Having strayed from the path of the venerable master Nāgārjuna, and lacking the skillful means of clear realization, those who have fallen away from the two truths—the conventional and the ultimate—possess no siddhi of liberation; they have only declined.
Whatever conceptualizations arise from karma, the nature of nirvāṇa is the abandonment of all such things. Nirvāṇa does not exist elsewhere than in that nature; it is the state of non-conceptualization in any object whatsoever. Furthermore, that bliss which arises in the mind through the nature of joy and reaches the stage of experience is also merely a conceptual construction. That which is the essence of freedom from passion and those [conceptual states]—both of these are the supreme cause of cyclic existence.
An entity does not arise from an entity, nor does an entity arise from a non-entity. The arising of an entity is forever abandoned; the delusion of an entity is like a flower in the sky. All phenomena are equal to space; their arising is equal to space itself. All conditions are certain to be equal to space. That which has become cyclic existence is not true. There is no cause and no effect; the nature of karma does not exist. There is no world and no worldly person. All these phenomena are unstable. Since they are unarisen, what entity is there?
How could it be known from another? Just as the son of a barren woman, it cannot be known in that way. The world has been unborn from the very beginning; it has not been emanated by anyone. This world, a meaningless delusion, is just like a city of gandharvas. From conceptualization the world arises; conceptualization arises from the mind. Since the mind arises from the body, therefore, the body is thoroughly analyzed. Form is empty; feeling lacks intrinsic nature. Perception is absent, and through formations, there is no existing entity; it is the nature of self-knowing clarity. In that, there is neither knower nor known; there is neither mind nor mental factors. Since there is no arising, for that reason, it is non-conceptual by nature. That is neither mind nor body; it is not the elements nor the phenomena. This supreme path of non-duality was taught by those who know reality. All these phenomena, being without an object of observation, are completely liberated from observation. If one abides in the state of a non-objectifying intellect, one becomes without an object of observation. The Treatise on Non-conceptuality composed by the great master Āryadeva is complete. Translated by the great paṇḍita Mahākāruṇa and the Tibetan translator Ma-ban Chos-’bar.
Translation status: Not among 84000's published translations, and not in progress there. Translations published elsewhere have not been searched for, so one may exist. (source: 84000 catalogue + registry; checked 2026-11-10).
Set in Newsreader and EB Garamond; Tibetan in Noto Serif Tibetan; Chinese in Noto Serif SC.