confrontation on Pacem

Reading different translations of the Buddhist Prayer of Kuntuzangpo and rereading sections of Simmons' book, The Rise of Endymion, led me through the conceptualising of this mix.

Excerpted from the Prayer of Kuntuzangpo as it appears in The Rise of Endymion, p495 (Bantam Spectra, 1997):

"Ho! The phenomenal world and all existence, samsara, and nirvana,
All has one foundation, but there are two paths and two results--
Displays of both ignorance and Knowledge.
Through Kuntu Sangpo's aspiration,
In the Palace of the Primal Space of Emptiness
Let all beings attain perfect consummation and Buddhahood.

"The universal foundation is unconditioned,
Spontaneously arising, a vast immanent expanse, beyond expression,
Where neither samsara nor nirvana exist.
Knowledge of this reality is Buddhahood,
While ignorant beings wander in samsara.
Let all sentient beings of these realms
Attain Knowledge of the nature of the ineffable foundation."

Image: Catacombs under Rome