大乘起信論

The counteraction of erroneous attachments means that there is no erroneous attachment whatsoever that does not arise from the view of self. If the view of self is abandoned, there are no erroneous attachments.

The view of self is of two kinds:

1. The view of a personal self.

2. The view of a self in dharmas.

Among ordinary beings, the view of a personal self is of five kinds:

1. As a sutra says: The Dharma-body of the Tathagata is ultimately quiescent, like empty space. When ordinary beings hear this but do not understand its meaning, they immediately cling to the notion that the nature of the Tathagata is like empty space—eternal and all-pervasive.

To eliminate this attachment, one must clearly understand that the characteristic of empty space is merely a discrimination and has no real existence. Because it is conceived through the presence of visibility and resistance, in contrast with form, the discriminating mind calls it empty space. Since form itself is only a discrimination of the deluded mind, one should know that empty space likewise has no intrinsic essence.

All characteristics of objective realms are merely discriminations of the deluded mind. If the deluded mind is abandoned, the characteristics of objective realms cease. Only the mind of true suchness pervades everywhere without exception.

This is the meaning of saying that the nature of the Tathagata is like empty space; it does not mean that vacuity is eternal or truly existent.

2. As a sutra says: All worldly dharmas are ultimately empty; even the dharmas of true suchness and

nirvana are ultimately empty. Their original nature is such and is free from all characteristics. When foolish ordinary beings hear this but do not understand its meaning, they immediately cling to the notion that the dharmas of true suchness and nirvana are merely vacant and contain nothing whatsoever.

To eliminate this attachment, one must clearly understand that the intrinsic essence of the Dharma-body of true suchness is not empty but is endowed with immeasurable qualities of merit.

3. As a sutra says: The tathagatagarbha neither increases nor decreases, and its intrinsic essence is endowed with all qualities of merit.

When foolish ordinary beings hear this but do not understand its meaning, they immediately suppose that the tathagatagarbha contains material dharmas and mental dharmas, each possessing distinct intrinsic characteristics. To eliminate this attachment, one must clearly understand that true suchness originally contains no differentiated defiled dharmas, but possesses boundless characteristics of merit, which are not defiled characteristics.

4. As a sutra says: All defiled worldly dharmas arise from the tathagatagarbha, and all dharmas are not different from true suchness. When foolish ordinary beings hear this but do not understand its meaning, they suppose that the intrinsic essence of the

tathagatagarbha is endowed with all the defiled dharmas of the world. To eliminate this attachment, one must clearly understand that the tathagatagarbha has originally been endowed with pure qualities exceeding the sands of the Ganges, qualities that are not different from true suchness. The defiled dharmas of affliction, which also exceed the sands of the Ganges, exist only provisionally; they have no intrinsic nature and have never originally been in correspondence with the tathagatagarbha.

If the tathagatagarbha were in correspondence with defiled dharmas and yet, upon awakening, one could eliminate delusive defilement, that would be impossible.

5. As a sutra says: Because of the tathagatagarbha, there is samsara and there is the attainment of nirvana. When foolish ordinary beings hear this but do not understand its meaning, they further suppose that, because of the tathagatagarbha, samsara has a beginning. Clinging to the existence of a beginning, they further suppose that nirvana must ultimately come to an end. To eliminate this attachment, one must clearly understand that the tathagatagarbha has no beginning in time upon which ignorance could depend so that samsara might begin. If one says that beyond the three realms there are sentient beings who begin to arise, this is a doctrine of non-Buddhist paths, not Buddhism.

Since the tathagatagarbha also has no end in time, the four kinds of views concerning a personal self arise in dependence upon it. Therefore, these four kinds are established here.

The view of a self in dharmas arises among those of the Two Vehicles who have dull faculties. The Blessed One taught them only the selflessness of persons. They then cling completely to the arising and ceasing of the five skandhas, fear samsara, and mistakenly grasp nirvana. To eliminate this attachment, one must clearly understand that the original nature of the dharmas of the five skandhas does not arise. Because it does not arise, neither does it cease; because it does not cease, it has originally been nirvana.

If one entirely abandons discriminating attachment, one then knows that all defiled and pure dharmas are established in mutual dependence. Therefore, one should know that all dharmas have always been neither form nor mind, neither wisdom nor consciousness, neither existent nor nonexistent. Ultimately, the characteristics of dharmas cannot be expressed. Nevertheless, when words are used to reveal and instruct, one should know that these are the Tathagata’s skillful means: he employs words to guide sentient beings so that they may abandon language and written symbols and awaken to reality. If one clings to meanings according to words, one merely increases deluded conceptual discrimination, does not give rise to true wisdom, and does not attain nirvana.

The analysis of the characteristics of cultivating the right path means bringing into present realization the true cause through which all Tathagatas attain the path and through which all

bodhisattvas arouse the aspiration and cultivate practice.

In brief, the arousing of the aspiration has three aspects:

1. Arousing the aspiration through the perfection of faith.

2. Arousing the aspiration through understanding and practice.

3. Arousing the aspiration through realization.

Arousing the aspiration through the perfection of faith concerns the stage at which, and the practices through which, right faith is perfected and the aspiration can be aroused. One should know that such persons belong to the group not yet determined. Relying upon the perfuming power of the Dharma and their roots of goodness, they believe in karma and its results, practice the path of the ten wholesome deeds, become disenchanted with the suffering of samsara, and seek unsurpassed awakening.

They encounter Buddhas and bodhisattvas, personally attend and make offerings to them, and cultivate various practices. After ten thousand kalpas, their mind of faith is perfected. Thereafter, they may arouse the aspiration through the teaching power of Buddhas and bodhisattvas, who instruct them to do so; they may arouse it themselves through great compassion; or, when the true Dharma is about to disappear, they may arouse it themselves in order to protect the Dharma.

Those who have aroused the aspiration in this way enter the group of right determination, never regress, abide in the Buddha lineage, and correspond to the supreme cause.

There may also be sentient beings whose roots of goodness have long been meager and whose minds and natures are obscured by deep and heavy afflictions. Although they encounter Buddhas and bodhisattvas and attend and make offerings to them, they plant only the seeds of human or heavenly rebirth, or the seeds of the Two Vehicles. Even if they seek the path of great bodhi, their faculties remain undetermined, and they sometimes advance and sometimes regress.

There may also be persons who encounter Buddhas and bodhisattvas, make offerings, attend them, and cultivate various practices, but who have not yet completed ten thousand kalpas. During that period, they encounter conditions through which they arouse the aspiration.

What conditions do they encounter?

They may arouse the aspiration upon seeing the physical form of a Buddha; they may arouse it by making offerings to the Sangha; they may arouse it through the instruction of a person of the Two Vehicles; or they may arouse it upon seeing someone else do so.

Those who arouse the aspiration in this manner are all undetermined. If they encounter adverse conditions, they may regress and fall to the stage of the Two Vehicles.

Furthermore, in brief, arousing the aspiration through the perfection of faith is of three kinds:

1. The straightforward aspiration, which is right mindfulness of the Dharma of true suchness in accordance with principle.

2. The profound aspiration, which delights in accumulating all wholesome practices.

3. The aspiration of great compassion, which vows to rescue all sentient beings from suffering.

Question: All sentient beings and all dharmas are one and the same dharmadhatu, without dual characteristics. According to this principle, it should be sufficient merely to maintain right mindfulness of true suchness. Why is it necessary to cultivate all wholesome practices and rescue all sentient beings?

Answer: It is not so. A precious mani jewel is by nature bright and pure, yet it lies within impure ore. If someone merely contemplates its precious nature but employs no skillful means and expends no effort in working upon it, it is impossible to obtain a transparent jewel.

The Dharma of true suchness is likewise so. Although its essence is bright and pure and endowed with merit, it is defiled by boundless adventitious impurities. If someone merely contemplates it but does not employ many skillful means to cultivate various practices, it is impossible to attain purity.

Therefore, one must gather all wholesome practices, rescue all sentient beings, and free oneself from those adventitious defilements so that the Dharma of true suchness may be revealed.

In brief, there are four kinds of skillful means of practice:

1. The fundamental skillful means of practice. This means contemplating that all dharmas are originally unborn, thereby abandoning deluded views and not abiding in samsara. Furthermore, one contemplates that all dharmas arise through the conjunction of causes and conditions and that karmic results are never lost; one gives rise to great compassion and cultivates active practices to gather in and transform sentient beings, without abiding in nirvana. This is because true suchness is free from the characteristics of samsara and nirvana. Since this practice takes accordance with true suchness as its basis, it is called the fundamental skillful means of practice.

2. The skillful means capable of restraint. This means that a sense of shame and remorse can restrain all evil dharmas and prevent them from increasing. This is because true suchness is free from all characteristics of fault. Restraining evils in accordance with true suchness is called the skillful means capable of restraint.

3. The skillful means that causes roots of goodness to grow.

This means giving rise to a mind of reverence and love toward the Three Jewels, honoring them, making offerings, bowing, praising, rejoicing, and exhorting and requesting; thereby right faith increases until one earnestly seeks unsurpassed bodhi. Through the protective power of the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, karmic hindrances are purified, and roots of goodness do not regress. This is because true suchness is free from all hindrances and endowed with all merits. Cultivating wholesome karma in accordance with true suchness is called the skillful means that causes roots of goodness to grow.

4. The skillful means of the great vow of equality.

This means making a vow to liberate all sentient beings until the end of future time, leaving none behind, and ultimately causing them to abide in nirvana without remainder. This is because one knows that all dharmas are originally nondual, that self and other are equal, and that they are ultimately quiescent. Arousing these three great vows in accordance with true suchness is called the skillful means of the great vow of equality.

When bodhisattvas arouse the aspiration in this way, they see a small portion of the Dharma-body and, in accordance with the power of their vows, can manifest the eight characteristics: descending from Tusita Heaven, entering the womb, dwelling in the womb, emerging from the womb, leaving the household life, attaining Buddhahood, turning the Dharma wheel, and entering nirvana.

Yet they are not called Dharma-body bodhisattvas, because the contaminated karma accumulated throughout immeasurable past lives has not been completely eliminated. They may undergo a small amount of suffering because of evil karma, or they may do so because of their vows, but they are not bound for long.

When a sutra says that bodhisattvas who have aroused the aspiration through the perfection of faith may regress and fall into evil destinies, this is said only to encourage vigorous advancement among beginners whose minds are often indolent and who have not entered the group of right determination; it is not a statement of what actually occurs.

Moreover, once these bodhisattvas have aroused the aspiration, they cultivate difficult practices for their own and others’ benefit without timidity. They do not even fear falling into the Two Vehicles, much less into evil destinies. Even upon hearing that they must cultivate arduous, difficult practices for immeasurable and boundless asamkhyeya kalpas before attaining Buddhahood, they are not afraid. How much less could they give rise to the mind of the Two Vehicles or fall into evil destinies? This is because they have decisively believed that all dharmas are originally, in their intrinsic nature, nirvana.

Arousing the aspiration through understanding and practice should be understood as increasingly excellent. From the time these bodhisattvas first attain right faith until the first asamkhyeya kalpa is nearly complete, they gain profound understanding of the Dharma of true suchness and cultivate all practices without attachment.

These bodhisattvas know that the nature of dharmas has the characteristic of being free from stinginess, which is the purity of the perfection of giving; therefore, in accordance with it, they cultivate dana-paramita. They know that the nature of dharmas has the characteristic of being free from the objects of the five desires and of not violating the precepts, which is the purity of the perfection of morality; therefore, in accordance with it, they cultivate sila-paramita.

They know that the nature of dharmas has the characteristic of being free from affliction and anger, which is the purity of the perfection of patience; therefore, in accordance with it, they cultivate ksanti-paramita. They know that the nature of dharmas is free from the characteristics of body and mind and is without indolence, which is the purity of the perfection of vigor; therefore, in accordance with it, they cultivate virya-paramita.

They know that the nature of dharmas is unmoving and undisturbed, which is the purity of the perfection of meditation; therefore, in accordance with it, they cultivate dhyana-paramita. They know that the nature of dharmas is free from all delusion and darkness, which is the purity of the perfection of wisdom; therefore, in accordance with it, they cultivate prajnaparamita.

Arousing the aspiration through realization concerns the bodhisattvas from the Stage of the Pure Mind to the Ultimate Stage. What realm do they realize?

It is true suchness. It is called an objective realm only in dependence upon the evolving consciousness; in actual realization, there is no characteristic of an objective realm. Through non-discriminating wisdom, these bodhisattvas realize the Dharma-body of true suchness, which is free from verbal expression.

Thus, in the space of a single thought, they can go throughout immeasurable worlds in the ten directions, make offerings to the Buddhas, and request them to turn the Dharma wheel, solely to benefit sentient beings and without seeking acclaim or praise. For timid sentient beings, they may manifest great vigor, transcending immeasurable kalpas and swiftly attaining perfect awakening. For indolent and negligent sentient beings, they may say, “Only after cultivating arduous practices for immeasurable asamkhyeya kalpas did I attain Buddhahood.”

They manifest innumerable skillful means such as these entirely for the benefit of all sentient beings. Yet in truth, the

bodhisattvas’ lineage and faculties are equal, their arousing of the aspiration is equal, and their realization is equal; there is no surpassing dharma. This is because all bodhisattvas must pass through three asamkhyeya kalpas before attaining perfect awakening. It is only because sentient beings in different worlds are not alike, and because what they see and hear and their faculties, inclinations, and desires differ, that bodhisattvas manifest different forms of practice.

Within these bodhisattvas’ arousing of the aspiration through realization, there are three kinds of mind:

1. The true mind, because it is free from discrimination.

2. The mind of skillful means, because it naturally performs deeds that benefit others.

3. The mind of karmic consciousness, because it subtly arises and ceases.

Furthermore, these bodhisattvas perfect the adornments of both merit and wisdom. In Akanistha Heaven, the highest heaven of the form realm, they obtain the most exalted body in all worlds. Through a single thought corresponding with wisdom, the root of ignorance is immediately exhausted. Endowed with omniscient wisdom, they naturally perform inconceivable deeds, universally transforming sentient beings throughout immeasurable worlds in the ten directions.

Question: Since empty space is boundless, worlds are boundless. Since worlds are boundless, sentient beings are boundless.

Since sentient beings are boundless, the differences in their mental activities are also boundless. Such objective realms truly have no limit and are difficult to know and understand. If ignorance is eliminated and conceptual thought no longer exists, how can all things be clearly known so that omniscient wisdom is attained?

Answer: The nature of all deluded objective realms has originally been the principle of one mind alone. All sentient beings cling to deluded objective realms and therefore cannot know the ultimate nature of all dharmas.

Because the Buddhas, the Tathagatas, are free from attachment, they can directly perceive the real nature of dharmas. Possessing great wisdom that illuminates all distinctions between defilement and purity, they employ immeasurable and boundless skillful means accordingly to benefit sentient beings. Therefore, when all varieties of deluded thought cease, omniscient wisdom is attained.

Question: If the Buddhas possess boundless skillful means and can naturally manifest throughout the ten directions to benefit sentient beings, why do sentient beings not always see the Buddhas, witness their spiritual powers and transformations, or hear them teach the Dharma?

Answer: The Tathagata truly possesses such skillful means, but his body appears only when the minds of sentient beings are pure. It is like a mirror: if it is soiled, forms do not appear in it; when the dirt is removed, they appear. The minds of sentient beings are likewise so. While they have not abandoned defilement, the Dharma-body does not appear; when they abandon defilement, it appears.

How is the section on cultivating faith to be practiced?

This is taught for sentient beings who have not yet entered the group of right determination.

What are the objects of faith, and how are they cultivated?

There are four kinds of faith:

1. Faith in the fundamental, meaning delight in contemplating and recollecting the Dharma of true suchness.

2. Faith that the Buddha is endowed with boundless merits, so that one constantly delights in bowing, showing reverence, and making offerings to him, in order to hear the true Dharma, practice in accordance with the Dharma, and dedicate the merit toward omniscience.

3. Faith that the Dharma brings great benefit, so that one constantly delights in cultivating the paramitas.

4. Faith that the Sangha practices rightly, so that one constantly makes offerings to the assembly of bodhisattvas who rightly cultivate practices for their own and others’ benefit.

There are five gates of practice through which this faith can be perfected: the gate of giving, the gate of morality, the gate of patience, the gate of vigor, and the gate of calm abiding and insight.

How is the gate of giving cultivated?

If one sees sentient beings come seeking aid, one gives them material possessions according to one’s ability, thereby abandoning one’s own stinginess and bringing joy to others.

If one sees sentient beings oppressed by calamities and difficulties, one employs skillful means to rescue them and free them from fear. If sentient beings come seeking the Dharma, one teaches them appropriately, according to one’s ability and understanding.

When cultivating these three kinds of giving, one should not seek fame or profit, nor should one be attached to worldly rewards. One should think only of bringing benefit and peace to oneself and others and dedicate the merit toward anuttara-samyak-sambodhi.

How is the gate of morality cultivated?

Lay bodhisattvas must abstain from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, divisive speech, harsh speech, false speech, and frivolous speech, and must keep far from greed, jealousy, deception, flattery, anger, and wrong views.

Those who have gone forth must, in order to overcome the afflictions, also stay far from noisy places, constantly dwell in solitude, cultivate the dhutanga practices, and have few desires and contentment. Even if they commit a minor offense, they should give rise to apprehension, shame, and remorse. They should uphold the precepts established by the Tathagata, give no cause for observers to become suspicious or contemptuous, and cause sentient beings to abandon evil and cultivate goodness.

How is the gate of patience cultivated?

One does not hate those who treat one badly, remains unmoved when encountering suffering, and constantly delights in contemplating the most profound meaning of the teachings.

How is the gate of vigor cultivated?

In cultivating wholesome deeds, one’s mind should neither be indolent nor regress. One should reflect that throughout innumerable past kalpas, in seeking worldly objects of desire, one has vainly undergone every kind of great physical and mental suffering, ultimately gaining nothing at all. Therefore, to escape this suffering in the future, one must be vigorous, not give rise to indolence, and benefit all sentient beings with great compassion.

Although beginner bodhisattvas cultivate practice with faith, because of karmic hindrances from former lives and grave evil offenses, they may be disturbed by evil maras, entangled in worldly affairs, or oppressed by illness.

Such adversities are not of only one kind, and they cause practitioners to abandon the cultivation of goodness.

Therefore, they must be courageous and vigorous. During the six periods of day and night, they should bow to the Buddhas, praise them, make offerings, sincerely repent, exhort and request, rejoice, dedicate the merit toward unsurpassed bodhi, and continually make great vows without rest, thereby causing evil hindrances to disappear and roots of goodness to increase.

How is the gate of calm abiding and insight cultivated?

Calm abiding means bringing all objective realms of conceptual proliferation to an end. Clearly seeing the characteristics of arising and ceasing in causes and results is the meaning of insight.

At first, they are cultivated separately and gradually developed. Once perfected, they naturally function together.

When cultivating calm abiding, one should dwell in a quiet place, sit upright, and maintain right attention. One should not rely upon the breath, forms, empty space, earth, water, fire, or wind, nor even upon seeing, hearing, sensing, or knowing. One should eliminate all discriminating thoughts and also discard the thought of eliminating them. This is because all dharmas have originally been without characteristics, neither arising nor ceasing. First, the mind relies upon an object and then abandons the object; afterward, a thought relies upon the mind and then abandons the mind. Draw the mind that pursues external objects back and keep it within. Then give rise to a mind that does not grasp the characteristic of mind, because apart from true suchness nothing can be apprehended.

While walking, standing, lying down, or sitting, at all times one should cultivate continuously in this manner. Gradually, one enters the samadhi of true suchness, finally subdues all afflictions, increases one’s faith, and swiftly attains non-retrogression.

Those who harbor doubt, disparage and disbelieve, are bound by karmic hindrances, or possess self-conceit and indolence cannot enter the samadhi of true suchness.

Furthermore, through this samadhi one realizes the characteristic of the dharmadhatu and knows that the Dharma-bodies of all Tathagatas and the bodies of all sentient beings share one equal and nondual characteristic. Therefore, it is called the Samadhi of One Characteristic.

Cultivating this samadhi can give rise to immeasurable samadhis, because true suchness is the foundation of all samadhis.

Some sentient beings have few roots of goodness and are deluded and disturbed by evil maras, non-Buddhist practitioners, demons, and spirits.

They may manifest fierce and evil forms to terrify a person’s mind, or beautiful forms to beguile the mind. They may manifest the forms of devas, bodhisattvas, or even a Buddha adorned with excellent marks. They may teach dharanis or the paramitas.

They may expound gates of liberation, saying there is neither hatred nor affection, neither cause nor result, and that all dharmas are ultimately empty and quiescent, their original nature being nirvana. They may enable people to know events of the past and future, attain knowledge of others’ minds, and gain eloquence and fluent exposition, causing attachment to fame and material gain. They may make people at times angry and at times joyful, excessively sorrowful or affectionate, excessively sleepy, ill, or lacking in diligence.

They may cause them suddenly to become vigorous and later abandon their practice, or to develop many doubts and refuse to believe and accept. They may cause them to abandon the Dharma of excellent practices and cultivate miscellaneous activities, delighting in worldly affairs and becoming immersed in mundane attachments.

They may cause them to attain the meditative concentrations of non-Buddhist paths and remain in concentration for one day, two days, or as many as seven days, receiving fine food and drink, feeling physical and mental pleasure, and knowing neither hunger nor thirst. They may urge them to accept women, cause them to eat and drink sometimes little and sometimes much, or make their appearance sometimes attractive and sometimes ugly.

If disturbed by these afflictions, they will lose and regress from their former roots of goodness. Therefore, they must examine matters carefully. They should think: “All these things occur because my roots of goodness are weak and my karmic hindrances are deep and heavy, so demons and spirits delude me.” Having understood this, they should reflect that all those things are mind-only. Through such contemplation, they immediately disappear in a single instant; one becomes free from all characteristics and enters true samadhi.

Once the characteristics of mind have been abandoned, the characteristic of true reality also disappears. Upon emerging from concentration, views and afflictions no longer operate because they have been destroyed by the power of samadhi. Excellent wholesome qualities continue in accordance with it, all hindrances and difficulties are left far behind, and great vigor arises without interruption.

If one does not cultivate this Dharma of samadhi, one cannot enter the lineage of the Tathagata, because other samadhis possess characteristics shared with non-Buddhist paths and do not lead to encountering Buddhas and bodhisattvas.

Therefore, bodhisattvas must diligently cultivate this samadhi until it is ultimately perfected.

By cultivating this samadhi, one will obtain ten benefits in this present body:

1. One is constantly protected and kept in mind by the Buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions.

2. One is not disturbed by evil maras or malicious demons.

3. One is not deluded by any false path.

4. The heavy karmic hindrances and offenses caused by disparaging the true Dharma gradually diminish.

5. All doubts and evil discursive thoughts are eliminated.

6. Faith in the realm of the Tathagata increases.

7. One remains far from all sorrow, grief, and affliction and, while in samsara, is courageous and fearless.

8. One abandons pride; one’s mind becomes gentle and patient, and one is constantly respected by all the world.

9. Even when not in concentration, at all times and amid all objective conditions, one’s afflictions are diminished and do not arise.

10. When one is in concentration, one is not disturbed by any external sound.

Furthermore, if one cultivates only calm abiding, the mind may sink into dullness, indolence may arise, one may take no delight in wholesome deeds, and one may become distant from great compassion. Therefore, insight must also be cultivated.

How is it cultivated?

One should contemplate that all worldly dharmas arise and cease without interruption. Because they are impermanent, they are suffering; because they are suffering, they are without self. One should contemplate past dharmas as dreams, present dharmas as flashes of lightning, and future dharmas as clouds that suddenly arise. One should contemplate that the body is entirely impure, filled with many kinds of filthy creatures and afflictions.

One should contemplate how foolish ordinary beings perceive dharmas and falsely cling to existence where nothing exists. One should contemplate that all dharmas arising from conditions are like illusions and ultimately unreal. One should contemplate that the ultimate truth is beyond the activity of mind and cannot be expressed or illustrated by analogy.

One should contemplate that, since beginningless time, all sentient beings have been perfumed by the power of ignorance, causing their bodies and minds to undergo immeasurable great suffering. Their present and future suffering likewise has no discernible end. Sentient beings dwell within it without awareness—how greatly they are to be pitied!

Having contemplated in this way, one gives rise to decisive wisdom and vast great compassion and courageously establishes a great vow: “May my mind, by abandoning all inversions and cutting off all discriminations, draw near to the Buddhas and bodhisattvas, bow to them, make offerings, honor and praise them, hear the Dharma, and cultivate practice without rest until the end of future time. With immeasurable skillful means, may I rescue all sentient beings from the ocean of suffering and cause them to abide in the bliss of nirvana’s ultimate meaning.”

Having made this vow, at all times one cultivates practices for one’s own and others’ benefit according to one’s ability. While walking, standing, lying down, and sitting, one constantly observes what should and should not be done. This is called the cultivation of insight.

Furthermore, if one cultivates only insight, the mind does not become settled, many doubts arise, one does not accord with

the ultimate truth, and non-discriminating wisdom does not arise. Therefore, calm abiding and insight must be cultivated together. This means that although one recollects that all dharmas are without intrinsic nature, neither arising nor ceasing, originally quiescent, and in their intrinsic nature nirvana, one must also see that causes and conditions come together and that the karmic results of good and evil are neither lost nor destroyed. Although one recollects causes, conditions, and the karmic results of good and evil, one must also see that all dharmas are unborn and without intrinsic nature, up to and including nirvana.

The cultivation of calm abiding counteracts ordinary beings’ attachment to samsara and also counteracts the Two Vehicles’ fearful attachment to samsara.

The cultivation of insight counteracts ordinary beings’ failure to cultivate roots of goodness and also counteracts the fault of the Two Vehicles’ narrow minds, which do not give rise to great compassion.

Therefore, the two dharmas of calm abiding and insight mutually assist and perfect one another and are never separated. Without both calm abiding and insight, unsurpassed bodhi cannot be attained.

Furthermore, beginner bodhisattvas in this Saha world may encounter suffering from heat, cold, wind, and rain, or sudden famine; or they may encounter frightening, unwholesome sentient beings who are bound by the three poisons and inverted wrong views and who abandon the wholesome path to follow evil dharmas. Amid these conditions, bodhisattvas may become timid, fearing that they will not encounter Buddhas and bodhisattvas or be able to perfect pure faith; they may develop doubts and wish to regress.

They should then think: “The Buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions have all attained great, unobstructed spiritual powers and can employ all kinds of skillful means to rescue every sentient being from danger and adversity.” Having reflected in this way, they should make a great vow and single-mindedly recollect the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. Because they give rise to this resolute mind, at death they will certainly be reborn in Buddha lands, encounter Buddhas and bodhisattvas, perfect their faith, and remain forever free from evil destinies.

As a sutra says: If good men or good women single-mindedly recollect Amitabha Buddha of the Land of Ultimate Bliss in the West, dedicate these roots of goodness, and vow to be born there, they will certainly attain rebirth there. Because they constantly see the Buddha, their faith will increase, and they will never regress. There they will hear the Dharma, contemplate the Buddha’s Dharma-body, and, through successive cultivation, enter the stage of right awakening.

What is the section on benefits?

Thus, I have now briefly explained the profound and hidden treasury of the Buddhas—the Dharma of the Mahayana. If sentient beings wish to give rise to right faith, remain unobstructed with respect to the Tathagata’s most profound realm, and enter the Mahayana path, they should accept this Treatise, contemplate it, and cultivate accordingly. One should know that such persons will certainly and swiftly attain omniscient wisdom.

If anyone hears this Dharma without becoming frightened, one should know that such a person will certainly continue the lineage of the Buddhas and swiftly receive a prediction of awakening.

Suppose someone were to teach sentient beings filling the entire trichiliocosm and cause them to practice the

ten wholesome deeds. That person could not compare with someone who rightly contemplates this Dharma for even an instant, for the latter’s merit surpasses the former’s immeasurably and boundlessly.

If one practices in exact accordance with it for a single day and night, one’s merit will likewise be immeasurable, boundless, and inexpressible. Even if all the Buddhas of the ten directions were each to praise that merit for immeasurable and boundless asamkhyeya kalpas, they could not exhaust it. Because the merit of true suchness is limitless, the merit of cultivating it is likewise limitless.

If anyone disparages this Dharma, that person will incur immeasurable retributive offenses and undergo great suffering for an asamkhyeya kalpa.

Therefore, one must have decisive faith in this Dharma and must not disparage it. To do so harms oneself as well as others and cuts off the lineage of the Three Jewels. All Buddhas have cultivated this Dharma and thereby attained unsurpassed wisdom. All bodhisattvas have cultivated this Dharma and thereby realized the Tathagata’s Dharma-body.

Bodhisattvas of the past perfected pure faith in the Mahayana through this Dharma. Bodhisattvas of the present perfect it now, and bodhisattvas of the future will perfect it. Therefore, those who wish to perfect the excellent practice of benefiting themselves and others must diligently study and cultivate this Treatise.

I have now explained

The profound and vast meaning of the Mahayana;

I dedicate this merit to all beings,

That they may behold the Dharma of true suchness./.

The Treatise on the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana

(End of the Second Fascicle)