Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way (XII) — by Nagarjuna

XII.1. Some say:
Sorrow (dukkha) is produced by oneself,
or by another,
or by both itself and another,
or from no cause at all;
But to consider that sorrow (dukkha) as what is produced is not possible.

XII.2. If it were produced by itself, it would not exist dependent on something else.
Certainly those “groups of universal elements” (skandhas) exist presupposing these “groups.”

XII.3. If these were different from those, or if those were different from these,
Sorrow (dukkha) would be produced by something other than itself, because those would be made by these others.

XII.4. If sorrow (dukkha) is made through one’s own personality (svapudgala), then one’s own personality would be without sorrow (dukkha);
Who is that “own personality” by which sorrow (dukkha) is self-produced (i)?

XII.5. If sorrow (dukkha) were produced by a different personality (parapudgala),
How would he, to whom is given that sorrow (dukkha) by another after he had produced it, be without sorrow (dukkha)?

XII.6. If sorrow (dukkha) is produced by a different personality, who is that different personality
Who, while being without sorrow (dukkha), yet makes and transmits that sorrow (dukkha) to the other?

XII.7. It is not established that sorrow (dukkha) is self-produced, but how is sorrow (dukkha) produced by another?
Certainly the sorrow (dukkha), which would be produced by another, in his case would be self-produced.

XII.8. Sorrow (dukkha) is not self-produced, for that which is produced is certainly not produced by that personality.
If the “other” (para) is not produced by the individual self (atma), how would sorrow (dukkha) be that produced by another?

XII.9. Sorrow (dukkha) could be made by both self and the “other” if it could be produced by either one.
But not produced by another, and not self-produced —how can sorrow (dukkha) exist without a caused.

XII.10. Not only are the four causal interpretations not possible in respect to sorrow (dukkha),
but also none of the four causal interpretations is possible even in respect to external things (bhava).

Source: Orientalia