金剛般若經疏論纂要
Chinese title:金剛般若經疏論纂要
Preface
The mirror of the mind is originally pure, and forms are originally empty. Dreamlike consciousness has no beginning, yet it perpetually gives rise to perceived objects; consequently, karmic afflictions, defilements, and retributions revolve without cease. Throughout countless kalpas, billowing waves have surged.
Therefore, the Awakened One manifested in the human realm and first taught the causes of arising and cessation, enabling beings to awaken to the Dharma of suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path. Although attachment to self was eliminated, the emptiness of dharmas had not yet been realized. To eradicate the very root of the illness, the prajnaparamita had to be expounded.
When both mind and objects are utterly extinguished, the true mind is revealed. When both defilement and purity are forgotten, all becomes pure. The three thousand precious verses delivered in sixteen assemblies are represented in the text transmitted today by the ninth assembly.
The sentences of the sutra and the words of its verses are concise, yet their purport is profound. Wisdom penetrates the three kinds of emptiness, while dana encompasses the myriad practices. Within the eighteen abodes, the successive distinctions are secretly disclosed; by resolving twenty-seven doubts, the vital thread is implicitly made clear.
If previous causes did not direct and govern them, how could they accord with suchness? Thus, although the exhortations to cultivate from beginning to end are signless, because the doctrine is concealed and subtle, its practices and fruits are all abstruse. Consequently, those who recite it with their mouths are as numerous as the hairs of an ox, while those whose minds penetrate it are as rare as a unicorn's horn.
Some remain confined to names and characteristics, clinging to phenomena in opposition to the essential teaching. Others maintain that there is only the single truth, tracing the stream back toward its source, and therefore consider memory alone insufficient for discussion. Even if countless treasures were offered throughout the three periods, or even one's body and life were given, their significance could not be exhausted—would this not be labor in vain?
Moreover, the Venerable Vasubandhu and Asanga were revered bodhisattvas dwelling in the stage of succession to Buddhahood. How could later students presume to add to or subtract from their teaching? Therefore, I now merely set forth their meaning and dare not indulge in arbitrary speculation.
“Commentary” means discussing the text and its meaning, correcting neither its words nor its content; “compendium of essentials” means extracting its purport in accordance with the sutra's topics. The explanation that follows is not as simple as these words.
I reverently bow to the Greatly Awakened Blessed One,
Who opened the Dharma gate of prajnaparamita and emptiness;
And to the noble ones who initiated and propagated it.
Relying upon their expositions, may I benefit the multitude of the ignorant.
Before explaining this sutra and entering directly into the text, we shall first explain the preface. Briefly, there are four points:
1) Discussing the causes and conditions for its arising
2) Clarifying the essential teaching and substance of the sutra
3) Distinguishing the places and assemblies
4) Explaining its general meaning.
A. The causes and conditions for its arising are further divided into two:
a) A general discussion of the teaching, meaning the explanation of its cause and the clarification of those to be liberated. According to the Buddha's original intention, it was solely because of one great matter of causes and conditions that he appeared in the world: the Buddha wished to cause sentient beings to open up to the Buddha's knowledge and vision.
b) The particular reasons for this sutra are subsequently presented in three parts:
1. To counteract the two attachments to self and dharmas. Because of these two attachments, the two obstructions arise: the obstruction of afflictions and the obstruction to knowledge.
Because the obstruction of afflictions covers the mind, the mind is not liberated; beings create karma, undergo retribution, and revolve through the five destinies. Because the obstruction to knowledge obscures wisdom, wisdom is not liberated; beings do not understand their own minds or penetrate the nature and characteristics of all dharmas throughout the three realms. It also obstructs those of the Two Vehicles, preventing them from attaining Buddhahood, and is therefore called an obstruction.
If these two attachments are eliminated, the two obstructions will also be severed. This sutra was taught in order to eliminate the two attachments.
2. To stop and eliminate the seeds that give rise to two kinds of doubt: preventing obstructions that have not yet arisen, which concerns doubt in the form of seeds; and severing those presently arisen, which concerns doubt in active manifestation. Thus, the sutra answers these two kinds of doubt, proceeding through each detail concerning the elimination of doubt until, by the end of the sutra, there are twenty-seven sections.
3. To eliminate the two kinds of karma, heavy and light: transforming heavy karma so that it is undergone lightly, and transforming light karma so that it is extinguished. This elucidates the two causes of merit and wisdom.
Before the Buddha taught prajnaparamita, sentient beings lacked wondrous wisdom. In practicing generosity and the other perfections, they clung to characteristics, so that these practices all became afflictions and could obstruct the Two Vehicles. Therefore, the Buddha taught prajnaparamita to reveal wondrous wisdom as the cause of the Dharma-body, while the other five perfections are the causes of the transformation body (response body).
Without wisdom, generosity, observance of precepts, and the other five perfections are not paramitas, for they are not ultimately complete. Before hearing the prajnaparamita, people regarded the Buddha as merely a physical form. How could they know that the response and transformation bodies are only reflections of the true body, when they did not clearly perceive either the true body or the response body?
Therefore, the two fruits are clarified here so that it may be understood that they are realized through the two preceding causes.
B. Clarifying the essential teaching and substance of the sutra has two parts:
1. Essential teaching: In a general discussion, the essential principle of all the elements taught by the Buddha is called the essential teaching. Specifically, in this sutra, the prajnaparamita of true characteristics and the contemplative prajnaparamita are neither one nor two, and these constitute its essential teaching. This means using wisdom grounded in principle to contemplate all characteristics. Like a vajra, it can cut through everything; this is the wisdom-principle of true characteristics. Like a vajra, it is solid and difficult to break; none among the myriad practices can obscure it. Therefore, these together constitute the essential teaching of the sutra.
2. Substance: The prajnaparamita of written words is the substance of the sutra. Written words comprise terms, sentences, and the continuity of the text. The nature of written words is originally empty; this itself is prajnaparamita, and there is no separate substance belonging to written words. All completely encompass the principle of emptiness and are collectively the substance of the teaching.
C. Distinguishing the places and assemblies involves two points. First, in general, the Buddha taught the Great Prajnaparamita collection in 600 fascicles at four places, divided into sixteen assemblies as follows:
1. Seven assemblies were held at Vulture Peak in the city of Rajagriha: four assemblies inside the stone cave and three on the mountain summit.
一. Seven assemblies were held in the garden of the elder Anathapindika.
一. One assembly was held in the Mani Jeweled Hall in the palace of the Paranirmita-vashavartin Heaven.
一. 4. One assembly was held at the Bamboo Grove Monastery by White Heron Lake in the city of Rajagriha. This sutra was taught by the Buddha at the second location, during the ninth assembly.
It appears from fascicle 577 onward and was later translated and circulated separately. Because this is an essential sutra, it was translated successively by six translators:
1) Kumarajiva during the Later Qin dynasty
2) Bodhiruci during the Later Wei dynasty
3) Paramartha during the Chen dynasty
4) Jnanagupta during the Sui dynasty
5) Xuanzang during the Tang dynasty
6) Yijing during the Zhou dynasty.
All six were Tripitaka masters (1), erudite in the Sutras, Vinaya, and Treatises. The version of the sutra now in circulation was translated by Kumarajiva in the fourth year of the Hongshi era at Caotang Monastery in Chang'an. Tradition holds that the Indian Bodhisattva Asanga entered the Sunlight Samadhi, ascended to the Tushita Heaven, met Buddha Maitreya, and learned by heart eighty lines of verse.
He then transmitted these verses to Vasubandhu. Vasubandhu (2) composed the prose text and (3) an explanation comprising a three-fascicle treatise, interpreting the sutra according to the elimination of doubts. Asanga also composed another two-fascicle treatise, interpreting it according to its chapters.
The divisions of the present sutra are explained primarily according to Vasubandhu, while also incorporating Asanga's version and drawing upon other treatises. Because it gathers together many commentaries, it is called a Compendium of Essentials; all these materials are contained within this work.
D. Explanation of the general meaning: First, the title is explained: The Vajra Prajnaparamita Sutra. “Sutra” is the Sanskrit word Sutra, translated as “Discourse in Accord with the Truth.” “Accord” means that it fully expresses the principles and conforms to the minds of beings; thus, it accords with both principle and capacity (4). According to a citation in the Buddhahumi, that which can string together and encompass is called a sutra. It strings together the meanings taught in the Buddha's sacred teachings and preserves them in order to teach and transform sentient beings.
Thereafter, explanations of the sutra text generally follow three divisions: the introductory section, the main section, and the transmission section.
Vajra: In Sanskrit, it is called vajra, the precious weapon held in the hand of a mighty warrior. Among metals it is the hardest and most solid substance, and is therefore called diamond. Because it is possessed by Lord Shakra, those of meager merit can scarcely behold it.
Its extreme hardness and sharpness are metaphors for prajna: nothing can destroy it, yet it can destroy everything. The Nirvana Sutra states that, just as a vajra cannot be destroyed but can shatter all things, Master Asanga said, “The vajra is difficult to destroy,” and also said, “The vajra is capable of severing”; it is also said, “The vajra is firm and subtle.” Subtlety is the cause of wisdom, while firmness is indestructible.
Thus firmness is used as a metaphor for the essence of prajna, and sharpness as a metaphor for the function of prajna. Furthermore, Master Paramartha identified six colors of vajra:
1. The blue vajra can end calamities, symbolizing how prajna can eliminate karmic obstructions.
2. The yellow vajra serves whatever use people require, symbolizing undefiled merit.
(5)
1. The red vajra emits fire when facing the sunlight; wisdom, when facing original awakening, gives rise to the wisdom of non-arising.
2. The white vajra can clarify turbid water; prajna can clear away doubts.
3. The space-colored vajra enables people to walk and stand in empty space; wisdom breaks attachment to dharmas, as though standing in midair.
4. The azure color of jade can remove various poisons; wisdom removes the three poisons (6), which lie close beside one another; this is not a metaphor for the nature of a venomous snake.
Prajna is properly translated as wisdom: it illuminates the emptiness of the five skandhas and corresponds to the wisdom of original awakening. If discussed in terms of knowledge progressing from shallow to profound, it encompasses the three kinds of wisdom—hearing, reflection, and cultivation—all of which are generally called prajna.
Master Asanga said, “capable of severing,” meaning that within the prajnaparamita of hearing, reflection, and cultivation, that which is to be severed is cut through, just as a vajra severs whatever can be severed. It is also said that subtlety is the cause of wisdom, and the cause of wisdom is itself wisdom. According to the Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom, the cause is called prajna and the fruit is called wisdom; thus hearing, reflection, and cultivation are all called subtle.
Subtle and wondrous wisdom is the cause of the Buddha’s wisdom. Because prajna is capable of severing, it pertains to the causal stage; at the fruit of Buddhahood there is nothing to sever, and it is transformed into wisdom. According to the Larger Prajnaparamita Sutra, the two terms “knowledge” and “wisdom” have two meanings.
Thus knowledge and wisdom differ slightly, but their essential nature is not different.
Paramita: In Chinese it is rendered “arrival at the other shore,” though it should properly be called “reaching the other shore.” This means leaving this shore of birth and death, crossing the current of afflictions, and reaching the other shore of nirvana. Nirvana is rendered in Chinese as “perfect quiescence” and is also called “extinction and deliverance” (7). The characteristics of all sentient beings are quiescent, yet they are not annihilated. It is only because of delusion, inversion, and false perception of birth and death that this is called being on this shore. If one awakens to the emptiness of birth and death, one’s nature is perfect and luminous, and this is reaching the other shore. It should therefore be called “the wisdom that reaches the other shore.”
I. First: The Introductory Section
The introductory section of the sutra is divided into two parts: the introduction establishing trust and the initiating introduction.
This passage concerns the introduction establishing trust:
“Thus have I heard. At one time, the Buddha was in the kingdom of Shravasti, in Anathapindika’s Garden in Prince Jeta’s Grove, together with a great assembly of 1,250 bhikshus (8).”
This passage has three meanings:
1) First, it clarifies the reason for its establishment. When the Buddha was about to enter nirvana, Ananda asked him about four matters. The Buddha answered each matter in turn: After the Buddha’s extinction, upon what Dharma should they rely, and whom should they take as teacher?
-Abide in reliance upon the Dharma of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (9).
-Take the precepts and discipline as teacher. And what should be done with bhikshus who violate the precepts? What should be placed at the beginning of the sutras?
-Wicked bhikshus should be expelled.
-At the beginning of every sutra should be placed the words, “Thus have I heard. At one time, the Buddha was at such-and-such a place, together with such-and-such a number in the assembly,” and so forth.
2) It clarifies the establishment of this formula. This has three meanings:
a) To eliminate doubts. When the scriptures were compiled, Ananda ascended the Dharma seat and prepared to proclaim the Buddha-Dharma. He manifested the excellent physical marks of the Buddha, causing the assembly to harbor three doubts:
-They wondered whether the Buddha had returned to life to teach the Dharma.
-They wondered whether a Buddha from another realm had arrived.
-They wondered whether Ananda had attained Buddhahood.
Therefore, these words had to be spoken to end these three doubts.
b) To end disputes: If it had not been heard from the Buddha but were said to have been composed by oneself, disputes would arise.
c) To distinguish it from heterodox teachings: It is unlike the scriptures of non-Buddhist traditions, which place syllables such as A and U at the beginning of their texts.
3) Explanation of the scriptural passage. There are six accomplishments: the accomplishment of faith, the accomplishment of time, the accomplishment of place, the accomplishment of hearing the Dharma, the accomplishment of the assembly, and the accomplishment of the teacher. Without all six factors establishing trust, the teaching cannot be established; all six must necessarily be complete for it to be accomplished.
1. The accomplishment of faith: If “I heard” is included in a combined explanation, “thus” is a term indicating the Dharma: “I heard such a Dharma from the Buddha.” Explained separately, “thus,” as stated in the Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom, constitutes the accomplishment of faith. The Buddha-Dharma is vast like the great ocean: only through faith can one enter it, and only through understanding can one cross it. Those who believe say, “It is thus”; those who do not believe say, “It is not thus.” Furthermore, when sages teach the Dharma, they reveal only SUCHNESS. Because only SUCHNESS is so, it is called “THUS.” Moreover, the non-duality of existence and nonexistence is SUCHNESS, while being neither existence nor nonexistence is THUS.
1. The accomplishment of time: Because the qualifications of the teacher and the teaching were appropriate, and the hearing was brought to completion, it is said, “at one time.” Time differs from place to place, so the text merely says, “at one time.” Furthermore, when the Dharma was taught and received, mind and its objects accorded with principle, wisdom merged in harmony, ordinary beings and sages were united, and both met at one time.
2. The accomplishment of place: Shravasti is rendered in Chinese as “Renowned Things,” meaning that it possessed abundant treasures and talented people, and even distant countries heard of its fame. Master Yijing translated it as “Great City.” Jeta’s Grove was the garden donated by Prince Jeta; the elder Anathapindika purchased the garden from the prince.
Jeta is rendered in Chinese as “Victorious in Battle.” He was the crown prince and son of King Prasenajit. When the prince was born, the king had defeated invading enemies, and therefore gave his son this name. In Sanskrit, Sudatta is called “Good Giver” in Chinese; Anathapindika is indeed Sudatta.
Moreover, because he constantly practiced generosity, he was so called. In India, a monastery is called a sangharama, rendered in Chinese as “garden of the assembly,” a place where the Sangha dwells, practices, and studies.
3. The accomplishment of hearing: “I” refers to Ananda, provisionally designated in dependence upon the five skandhas. “Heard” means that cognition arose through the faculty of hearing. Setting aside the particular in favor of the general, he therefore said, “I heard.” Ananda did not hear the sutras taught by the Buddha during the preceding twenty years, so he requested the Buddha to repeat them. Upon hearing them, he immediately entered deeply into samadhi and retained them all. Tracing the matter to its source, Ananda was a provisional manifestation of a great bodhisattva; what Dharma could he possibly have failed to comprehend?
4. The accomplishment of the assembly: The assembly hearing the Dharma included many persons of lofty virtue and was therefore called “great.” Bhikshu is a Sanskrit word with three meanings in Chinese and is therefore retained without translation: a) one who frightens Mara, b) a mendicant, and c) one pure in precepts. The assembly was united both in principle and in conduct.
Among the 1,250 persons, when the Buddha first attained enlightenment, he liberated the five brothers headed by Kaundinya. Next, the Buddha liberated the three Kashyapa brothers, whose teachers and disciples together numbered 1,000. Later, the Buddha liberated Shariputra and Maudgalyayana, each of whom had 100 disciples.
He then liberated the elder Yasha, his father, and their companions, numbering fifty persons. Because the sutra gives a rounded large number, five persons are omitted. This is the customary round number of those who constantly followed the Buddha; it does not mean that no others were present.
6. The accomplishment of the teacher: The complete term is Buddha, rendered in Chinese as “the Awakened One.” The Treatise on the Awakening of Faith states that awakening means the mind’s freedom from thoughts. The characteristic of freedom from thoughts is equal to empty space; it is precisely the equal Dharma-body of the Tathagata. Thus freedom from thoughts is called Buddha. Awakening, however, has three meanings:
a) Self-awakening: knowing that the mind is originally free from arising and differentiation
b) Enlightening others: knowing that all dharmas, without exception, are suchness.
c) Perfection of enlightened practice: because the principles of the two preceding aspects are perfectly interfused, it is called perfection.
Therefore, one who still has thoughts cannot be called enlightened. The Treatise on the Awakening of Faith states that all sentient beings are not called enlightened because, from beginningless time onward, their thoughts have continued from moment to moment and they have never been free from thought. It also says that if any sentient being is able to contemplate non-thought, that being is directed toward the Buddha’s wisdom.
—The introductory occasion: the deportment observed while seeking alms is entirely free from wrong livelihood (10); this is the observance of precepts. Precepts give rise to samadhi, and samadhi gives rise to wisdom. Therefore, taking precepts and samadhi as the means of generating wisdom constitutes the principal section. Within it are two parts: precepts and samadhi. First, regarding precepts: “At that time, when it was time for the meal, the Blessed One put on his robe, took up his alms bowl, and entered the great city of Shravasti to seek alms. Within the city, the Buddha went from house to house in proper order seeking alms (11),
and, after completing his alms round, returned to his original dwelling.” This passage is divided into seven sections and explained as follows:
1) The lord of the teaching—this refers to the Buddha: The Satyasiddhi Shastra states that, being endowed with the nine titles above and revered by humans and other beings, he is called the Blessed One; that is, the Buddha is honored and revered by both devas and humans.
2) The time of the teaching—the time of his journey to teach: Morning is the most convenient time to seek alms, for it is easier to do so at the beginning of the day and causes no inconvenience to oneself or others. After completing the alms round and returning to the monastery, it is precisely noon, in accordance with the daily rule for receiving the meal.
3) The deportment of the teaching: The Buddha put on the sanghati robe (12) and carried the alms bowl offered to him by the Four Heavenly Kings (the prescribed deportment or dignified bearing).
4) The place of the teaching: Anathapindika’s Garden was southeast of the city of Shravasti, so he entered the city, which was fifty-six li from the monastery. To go from outside to inside is to “enter”; a place that is extensive and populous is called “great.”
5) The activity of the teaching: The Buddha wished to demonstrate the merit of the dhutanga practices
(13), causing those who lived heedlessly to feel ashamed. In order to gather and teach beings through shared activity, the Buddha personally went to seek alms.
The Sutra of the Jeweled-Garland Maiden states: the transformation Buddha’s body is entirely like vajra, and the two treasuries of non-arising are fully matured; the Buddha now manifests the act of seeking alms because he wishes to benefit sentient beings. The Vimalakirti Sutra states: because he does not eat, he must receive food.
6) The equality of the teaching:
i) Because he inwardly realizes the equality of principle, outwardly he does not perceive distinctions between poverty and wealth.
ii) His mind is free from greed and pride; because of loving-kindness, he seeks no personal benefit.
iii) He displays awe-inspiring virtue: he does not fear wild elephants, taverns, brothels, and so forth.
iv) He wishes to eliminate the jealous minds of ordinary beings.
v) He breaks the discriminatory attachments of practitioners of the two vehicles.
7) The completion of the teaching: The two characters meaning “oneself” belong syntactically to the sentence below but are related in meaning to the preceding sentence. The words “eat the meal” belong syntactically to the preceding sentence, while the flow of the passage connects them with the sentence below. If expanded to make the meaning of the sentence complete, the passage should read: after seeking alms in proper order, he returned to his original dwelling and ate the meal. After eating, he put away his robe and bowl. If the Buddha did not eat, the merit of others would not be fulfilled. The Jeweled Cloud Sutra states that whatever was received on the alms round was divided into four portions:
i) one portion was shared with fellow practitioners;
ii) one portion was given to the poor and the sick;
iii) one portion was given to birds and fish;
iv) one portion was consumed by oneself.
The Sutra of the Twelve Dhutanga Practices mentions only three portions, omitting the portion for fellow practitioners. Meditation: “After receiving the meal, he put away his robe and bowl, washed his feet, spread out his sitting mat, and sat in meditation.” This passage is divided into three parts:
1) The conditions giving rise to meditation: When preparing to enter samadhi, one must sever all external involvements. One must put away one’s robe and bowl so that the mind is not burdened by concerns. Thus, the Buddha manifested this as a rule to be followed after eating or receiving the meal: he put away the sanghati, the great robe, and donned his ordinary robe, the seven-strip robe.
2) Purification of the body: The Agama Sutras state that the Buddha walked four finger-widths above the ground, his feet treading upon lotus blossoms. Here he manifested the washing of his feet, conforming to ordinary custom as a model for others.
3) Entering meditation: He spread out his sitting mat and sat in meditation; because his body was upright, his mind remained unmoving.
The Wei-dynasty translation states: “As was his custom, he spread out his sitting mat, sat in the full lotus posture, held himself upright, and abided in right mindfulness without moving.”
The Tang-dynasty version states: “With body upright and aspiration correct, he abided facing mindfulness.” Master Asanga said: this reveals that he was established solely in tranquility, wherein he could awaken and teach. Yet whenever the Greatly Enlightened One leaves traces of his activity, there must be something thereby disclosed. This demonstrates that the Buddha’s intrinsic enlightenment is present within the body of the five skandhas.
Knowing that the armies of Mara are originally nonexistent is victory; illuminating the mind and knowing that it is fully endowed with virtues is providing for the helpless; seeking the Dharma to nourish the spirit is seeking alms for sentient beings. Knowing that the mind has already arisen, one would rather relinquish sensory objects; when preparing to engage in contemplative visualization, one enters the storehouse consciousness of the mind.
The mind takes dharmas as its objects and counts the breaths; by contemplating them successively, one ends delusion and retains the true, thereby attaining the bliss of Dharma. The blissful Dharma, devoid of the mark of emptiness, merges with the nature of enlightenment. When one reflects that provisional conditions must be forgotten, one forgets conditions and accords with the true nature.
Contemplative illumination makes evident the sweeping away of all traces and the return to the origin.
Returning to the origin is the Dharma of emptiness wherein the mind is tranquil; when the mind is tranquil, prajna shines brilliantly. Since prajna is about to be discussed, the mind is thus rectified to reveal the introductory occasion.
The Record of Tư Thánh states that the body has two aspects: a) provisional and b) true.
a) The five skandhas (14) constitute an unreal, provisional body, sustained by clothing, food, and drink. The formless Dharma-body is illuminated by wisdom. Sentient beings cling to the unreal and regard it as true; the Buddhas nurture the true and discard the false.
b) Because sentient beings are deluded about the true, they cling to the provisional. The Tathagata therefore makes use of the provisional to lead them to the true; thus, he uses the occasion of seeking alms to reveal the gift of Dharma and teach beings.
The Nirvana Sutra states: “Bhikshus, although you go seeking alms, you have never before sought the Dharma-food of the Mahayana.”
II. The principal section
This section is divided into two parts:
a) Following Master Asanga, seven types of sentence-meanings are presented for analysis; and
b) Following Master Vasubandhu, doubts are resolved through questions and answers, and headings are selected and explained.
A. The seven types of sentence-meanings are: 1) The spiritual lineage is not lost, as in his protective mindfulness and entrustment. 2) The characteristics that initiate practice: through the request, one receives his approval and praise. 3) The abiding places for cultivation: eighteen abiding places. From the Buddha’s teaching onward, directly to the end of the sutra, these constitute abiding places of signlessness for cultivation. 4) Counteraction: at each place, both wrong practice and right practice are fully present as the two kinds that must be addressed.
5) Non-loss: through counteraction, one avoids the two extremes of increase and decrease and therefore does not lose the Middle Way.
6) Stages: by not losing the Middle Way, one attains the stages of saints and sages, such as the Ground of Practice through Faith, the Ground of the Pure Mind, and the Ground of the Tathagata.
7) Establishment of the title: because the six preceding kinds of wisdom are keen, while their grounds of merit differ in breadth and narrowness, it is called Vajra.
The following four statements are based solely upon the third statement concerning the eighteen abiding places and do not have separate corresponding passages in the sutra. Those eighteen abiding places are:
1. The abiding place of generating the mind. The cited sutra passage is: “The mind should be subdued in this way: all those who are…”
2. The abiding place of practice corresponding with the paramitas: “One should give without abiding in forms or sounds.”
一 The abiding place of aspiring to attain the form-body.
一 The abiding place of aspiring to attain the Dharma-body: the Dharma-body has two aspects: a) the Dharma-body expressed through words: “Moreover, there are sentient
beings…”—through words, the principle is clarified; b) the realized Dharma-body, which is further divided into two:
—the aspect of wisdom: the Buddha’s attainment of unsurpassed bodhi; and
—the aspect of merit: if someone were to fill the three-thousandfold world-system with the seven treasures, and so forth.
5. The abiding place of cultivating and attaining the supreme path without pride: the fruit of stream-entry, and so forth. From here through the sixteenth abiding place, twelve kinds of hindrances are counteracted in sequence. The intention is to clarify that those who seek the form-body and the Dharma-body must abandon these hindrances. Only after the hindrances have been completely eliminated does one enter the seventeenth ground: the abiding place of realizing the path. Here, the first hindrance, the hindrance of pride, is being counteracted.
1. Not being separated from the period when a Buddha abides in the world: “Formerly, in the presence of Dipankara Buddha.” This abandons the second hindrance: hearing little. By not being far removed from the time when a Buddha is in the world, one is able to hear much.
2. Abiding in the aspiration to purify the Buddha-land: Do bodhisattvas adorn Buddha-lands? By completely abandoning conditioned attachments, one lessens the obstacles to cultivation that arise from conceptual thought. Conditions possessing form are small; the unconditioned is vast and accords with the Dharma realm.
8) Abiding in bringing sentient beings to maturity: a human body as immense as Mount Sumeru… This abandons the obstacle of forsaking sentient beings. If one perceives distinctions of great and small, one cannot deliver all beings.
9) Abiding in complete freedom from distracted adherence to non-Buddhist doctrines: as there are many grains of sand in the Ganges River. Completely abandoning delight in following non-Buddhist doctrines prevents the obstacle of distraction. Even giving precious treasures equal in number to the sands of the Ganges does not equal receiving and upholding the Sutra. How could followers of non-Buddhist paths cultivate the true Dharma?
1. Abiding in the practice corresponding to Madhyamaka, which breaks attachment to the forms and bodies of sentient beings that can be apprehended: the three-thousandfold world contains motes of dust, and so forth… Abandoning the unskillful destruction of the appearances and characteristics of reflected images thereby prevents obstacles; one has already abandoned distraction and attained the corresponding samadhi. Because subtlety does not involve the two kinds of expedient means, one breaks through from the coarse to the subtle and leads from the subtle to nonexistence, thereby completely eliminating conceptual images of reflected appearances.
2. Abiding in making offerings to and attending upon the Tathagata: Can the Tathagata be seen by means of the thirty-two marks? This is complete freedom from the obstacle of insufficient provisions of merit. One cannot see him by grasping at marks; constantly seeing the Dharma-body itself constitutes attendance upon him and brings boundless merit.
3. Abiding in complete freedom from offerings and gain, from weariness and indolence caused by suffering, and therefore from failing to arouse diligence and from falling back: giving away bodies and lives as numerous as the sands of the Ganges; completely abandoning attachment to flavors and the obstacle of offerings and gain (15). Even giving away bodies and lives as numerous as the sands of the Ganges remains inferior to receiving and upholding the Sutra. How could one, for the sake of this single body, cling to offerings and gain, or become indolent because the body is obstructed by the mind?
1. Abiding in patient endurance of suffering: the paramita of patience; having one’s body cut apart; abandoning the obstacle of being unable to endure suffering. Through the mark of non-self, and so forth, one can endure even suffering heaped upon suffering.
2. Abiding in complete freedom from savoring quiescence: if, in a future age, a person receives, upholds, reads, and recites this Sutra, and so forth… This is freedom from the obstacle of insufficient provisions of wisdom. Relinquishing one’s body three times each day throughout innumerable kalpas does not equal faith in the Sutra. How, then, could one concentrate solely on meditation, cling to the savor of quiescence, lack wisdom, and fail to receive, uphold, and expound the Sutra?
3. Abiding in complete freedom from excited joy at the time of realizing the path: How should one abide and subdue the mind? This is complete freedom from the eleventh obstacle, the inability to restrain oneself. Thinking, “I can make the mind abide; I can subdue the mind,” one consequently gives rise to excited delight; when excited, one cannot restrain oneself.
4. Abiding in seeking and receiving the Buddha’s teaching: At the place of Dipankara Buddha, was there any Dharma by which Bodhi was attained? This is complete freedom from the twelfth obstacle, having no teacher to instruct one. To enter the first bhumi, one needs the Buddha’s instruction; by relying upon it, one encounters the Buddha, realizes non-attainment, and thereby realizes the path.
5. Abiding in realization of the path: the immense human body encompasses the lineage and the wisdom realizing suchness, which pervades all practices and attains the two bodies—the Dharma-body and the Reward-body—and is therefore immense.
6. Abiding in seeking the Buddha-stage above: within this there are again six kinds of completeness, as follows:
1. Completeness of a pure land: “I shall adorn the Buddha-land.” This teaches the great bodhisattvas of the second bhumi and above.
1. Completeness of unsurpassed purity of knowledge and vision: Does the Tathagata possess the physical eye? The following section concerns only the fruit of Buddhahood and is therefore called unsurpassed. The term “unsurpassed” extends throughout the four sections below.
2. Completeness of merit and mastery: as when someone gives the seven treasures sufficient to fill the three-thousandfold world.
3. Completeness of body: Can the Buddha be seen by means of the complete form-body?
4. Completeness of speech: You should not maintain that the Tathagata teaches the Dharma.
6) Completeness of mind: Is the Buddha’s attainment of unsurpassed Bodhi non-attainment?… up to: one should contemplate in this manner. Apart from these, the eighteen abidings, when summarized, also comprise the following eight types:
a) The locus of abiding in gathering in.
b) The locus of abiding in the samadhi of the paramitas, comprising 1 and 2.
c) The locus of abiding in aspiration, encompassing 3 and 4.
d) The locus of abiding in freedom from obstacles, namely the twelve obstacles discussed above, from 5 through 16.
e) The locus of abiding in purity of mind.
f) The locus of ultimate abiding. Numbers 5 and 6 above correspond respectively to 17 and 18.
g) The vast locus of abiding.
h) The extremely profound locus of abiding. Numbers 7 and 8 encompass the eighteenth locus of abiding. Every locus of abiding is both profound and vast. The eighteen loci of abiding are correlated with the stages as follows: the first abiding, the tenth abiding, and the twentieth practice belong to the six stages before the bhumis; the seventh practice belongs to the fourth bhumi, after the first three practices. Practices 5 through 14 correspond in sequence to the ten dedications of merit; 15 corresponds to the stages of warmth and summit; 16 corresponds to patience and the highest mundane state; 17 corresponds to the first bhumi; and 18 extends from the second bhumi to the Buddha-stage.
B. Based on Vasubandhu’s questions and answers that resolve doubts, the headings are selected and explained: Broadly divided into four sections:
1) Subhuti presents his request.
2) He respectfully praises the Buddha’s virtues.
“At that time, the Elder Subhuti, who was in the midst of the assembly, immediately rose from his seat, uncovered his right shoulder, knelt with his right knee upon the ground, respectfully joined his palms, and addressed the Buddha, saying, ‘Rare indeed, O World-Honored One! The Tathagata skillfully protects and keeps the bodhisattvas in mind and skillfully entrusts and exhorts the bodhisattvas.’”
An elder is one honored for his virtue and advanced in years. The Tang translation calls him “one endowed with longevity”; longevity means life, a long lifespan.
The Wei translation renders it “wisdom-life,” taking wisdom as one’s life. “Subhuti” has three meanings: Good Fortune, Good Manifestation, and Born of Emptiness. When he was born, the house became empty, manifesting the auspicious sign of understanding emptiness. A physiognomist predicted that he would be wholly virtuous and wholly good, and therefore he was given this name.
“Rose from his seat”… His dignified deportment was orderly, manifesting the sign of reverence.
“Rare” means seldom found in the world.
“Tathagata” means “one who comes from suchness.” That Tathagata comes from nowhere and likewise goes nowhere; therefore, he is called the Tathagata.
The Treatise states: “Skillfully protects and keeps in mind” is spoken with reference to bodhisattvas whose faculties have matured, as when the power of wisdom is bestowed upon them so that they may accomplish the Buddha-Dharma, and the power of teaching and transformation is bestowed upon them so that they may gather in sentient beings. “Skillfully entrusts and exhorts” is spoken with reference to bodhisattvas whose faculties have not yet matured: fearing that they may retreat in resolve, they are entrusted to the wise. “Entrust” means handing the lesser over to the greater; “exhort” means instructing the greater to transform the lesser. Bodhisattva, rendered in Chinese as “awakening sentient being,” has three meanings:
1) With reference to the objects one seeks and wishes to liberate.
2) With reference to the mind: possessing the wisdom of awakening and knowing how to contemplate the dispositions of sentient beings.
3) With reference to subject and object: the seeker, the sought, and all three are SUCHNESS; awakening combined with sentient being is therefore “bodhisattva.”
He raises the question: How should the mind abide?
“World-Honored One, when good men and faithful women arouse the mind of unsurpassed Bodhi, how should their minds abide?” And how should they subdue their minds?
The matter has two aspects:
a) An explanation suited to those present. The Avatamsaka Sutra states that if one loses the mind of Bodhi while cultivating wholesome karma, one will be seized by Mara. Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi is rendered in Chinese as “unsurpassed, right, universal knowledge and awakening,” meaning right wisdom that universally knows and completely understands; regarding both the ultimate and the conventional, it is neither biased nor erroneous.
b) The question itself. The Wei translation reads, “How should the mind abide? How should the mind be subdued?” The meaning is: In what sphere should one who has already aroused the mind of Bodhi abide?
What practices and deeds should one cultivate? If the deluded mind arises, how should it be subdued? The Buddha teaches that one should abide in the four minds, cultivate the practice of the six paramitas, and within these subdue the mind without attachment to marks.
The Qin translation gives an abbreviated expression of the meaning of cultivation: to abide in and cultivate the path is itself to subdue the mind. The four minds and the six paramitas are all termed abiding, cultivation, and subduing. Asanga states that “abiding” means aspiration and seeking; “cultivation” corresponds to receiving and maintaining in meditative concentration; and “subduing” means that, if the mind becomes distracted, one restrains it and brings it to rest.
Moreover, within the eighteen loci of abiding, each locus is explained in terms of abiding, cultivation, and subduing. Thus, although the meanings are threefold, the practice is 102; therefore, the Buddha praises it.
“The Buddha said: Excellent! Excellent! Subhuti, just as you have said, the Tathagata skillfully watches over and keeps in mind all bodhisattvas, and skillfully entrusts and instructs all bodhisattvas. Now you should listen attentively, and the Tathagata will teach you. Good men and faithful women who give rise to the mind of unsurpassed bodhi should abide their minds in this manner and should subdue their minds in this manner.”
This passage is divided into three parts:
1) The Buddha praises what deserves praise. The repetition, “Excellent! Excellent!” is a most beautiful commendation. By skillfully watching over, keeping in mind, entrusting, and instructing them, he ensures that the seed of Buddhahood is not lost. Since this is certainly so, he praises him, saying, “Just as you have said.”
2) He tells him to listen to the teaching: one must not listen to the Dharma of true reality with a mind engaged in arising and cessation. The Treatise on the Perfection of Wisdom contains this verse:
Listen to the Dharma attentively, seated like one who thirsts;
With one-pointed mind, penetrate the meaning of the words.
Listen eagerly, your heart joyful and delighted;
To such a person, the Dharma is taught at the proper time.
These three exhortations are presented representatively: the Tathagata is now teaching you gently in this manner, in this manner.
3) Venerable Subhuti stands listening.
“Yes, World-Honored One, I wish to hear.”
“Yes” is an expression of assent. In ceremonial usage it is called thus; in the wilderness, an open place is called a mound or heap. The Ten Stages Sutra states: it is like a thirsty person thinking of water to drink, a hungry person thinking of delicious food, or a sick person thinking of good medicine; it is also like bees refining honey. We too are thus, longing to hear the ambrosial Dharma.
4) The Tathagata’s teaching has two parts:
a) directly answering the question;
b) presenting the general point, indicating the particular, and repeating the question.
“The Buddha said: Subhuti, how should the great bodhisattvas subdue their minds?” Here, “subduing” expresses the general point, while abiding and cultivating practice are spoken of specifically; for when one abides and cultivates practice, subduing is already present. Because this is the purport of the sutra, only the category of subduing is mentioned. This demonstrates that mentioning what comes later already includes what came before, rendering the sutra’s wording deeply concealed.
Its principle has perplexed people since ancient times: teachings that take the former to include the latter have been heard, but never one that takes the latter to encompass the former. Moreover, the sutra clearly gives no separate answer concerning subduing. One should therefore know that subduing is present within abiding and cultivating practice, all of which cause one to leave characteristics behind.
The question concerning subduing is answered, but not separately. The essential purport of this sutra is freedom from characteristics, and freedom from characteristics is precisely the subduing of the mind. Since its principal intent is to elucidate the subduing of the mind, this must be revealed through abiding and cultivating practice.
Abiding, cultivating practice, and subduing the mind are fundamentally inseparable. Thus Asanga held that all eighteen abodes contain abiding, cultivation, and the subduing of the mind. Relying on the particular to indicate the general, the question is answered in two respects: how the mind should abide and how it should be subdued.
—The vast mind.
“Whatever kinds of sentient beings there may be—whether born from eggs, born from wombs, born from moisture, or born by transformation; whether possessing form or formless; whether possessing perception, without perception, or neither possessing perception nor lacking perception.” The preceding passage is divided into two:
a) The opening sentence representatively encompasses beings throughout the three realms, while the passage beginning with those born from eggs presents three distinctions:
1) Differences in modes of birth: beings born among the devas and in the hells are transformation-born; hungry ghosts include both womb-born and transformation-born; and animals have all four modes of birth. Yet other creatures are far too subtle and numerous—those in water, on dry ground, on land, and in the air—to enumerate individually. Egg-born beings, being inferior, are mentioned first for two reasons:
a) According to objective conditions, that which requires the greatest number of contributing conditions is placed first;
b) According to the mind, the order proceeds from the root to the branches.
2) Differences according to their basis: the realm of form has the four dhyanas, while the formless realm has the four formless attainments.
3) Differences in their realms: the Sutra on the Merit of Giving states that “possessing perception” refers to neither of the two stations of consciousness; “without perception” refers to the Station of Nothingness. “Neither perception” includes the summit, patience, and the foremost mind. The foremost mind:
“I shall cause them all to enter nirvana without remainder and thus bring them to cessation; that is, the nirvana of no fixed abode.”
Because this is not shared with the two vehicles, it is called foremost. Asanga said that egg-born beings, moisture-born beings, those without perception, and those at the summit cannot attain it. Why, then, are they included? There are three causes and conditions:
1. Those born in difficult circumstances await the proper time.
2. Those not born in difficult circumstances but not yet mature are caused to mature.
3. Those already mature are caused to attain liberation.
—The constant mind:
“In this manner, immeasurable, innumerable, and boundless sentient beings are brought to cessation, yet in truth no sentient being is brought to cessation.”
“Bringing to cessation” has five meanings: 1) the emptiness of intrinsic nature;
2) identity of substance: the treatise states that the cessation of oneself is no different from that of sentient beings;
3) primordial quiescence;
4) freedom from thought;
5) identity with the Dharma realm.
—The undeluded mind:
“Why is this? Subhuti, if a bodhisattva has the characteristic of a self, the characteristic of a person, the characteristic of a sentient being, or the characteristic of a lifespan, then he is not a bodhisattva.”
The treatise states that one departs from the basis upon which the body is viewed, and from the characteristics of sentient beings and so forth.
Asanga said: once the view of self has been severed, the characteristics of one’s own conduct become equal, and one faithfully understands that self and others are equal. This reveals that, in a mind already subdued, the distracted conception of sentient beings has been gathered in and no longer operates, just as heat rises from a flame.
In answering the question of subduing the mind, the general principle is stated first:
“Furthermore, Subhuti, with regard to dharmas, a bodhisattva should practice giving without abiding anywhere—that is, without attachment.”
“With regard to dharmas” refers generally to all dharmas; one should practice without distinctions of high and low. It may be asked: when a bodhisattva practices giving, he abides in seeking the Buddha’s characteristics. How, then, can he be without abiding? Moreover, if the cause is non-abiding in characteristics, how can it produce the characteristics of form as its fruit?
Since cause and effect are not of the same kind, this passage is divided into four parts:
1) First, the question concerning the cause is raised:
“Subhuti, what do you think? Can the Tathagata be seen by means of bodily characteristics?”
This doubt arises because characteristics are taken to be the Buddha, whereas the preceding passage taught non-abiding in characteristics. The Buddha raises the cause of doubt through question and answer in order to eliminate the doubt.
2) The reply guards against regarding characteristics as attainable:
“No, World-Honored One. The Tathagata cannot be seen by means of bodily characteristics.” This prevents those who harbor doubts from seeking to see the Buddha through characteristics; hence the reply states that the Tathagata cannot be seen through characteristics.
The treatise states that this guards against taking attainable characteristics to constitute the body of the Tathagata.
3) His substance differs from the conditioned:
“Why? Because the bodily characteristics spoken of by the Tathagata are not bodily characteristics.”
Characteristics are conditioned dharmas subject to arising, abiding, change, and cessation. The Buddha’s bodily characteristics differ from the conditioned and therefore are not bodily characteristics. A verse states: “Because the three characteristics differ in substance, the Buddha’s body differs from the three characteristics of the conditioned.”
The two characteristics of abiding and change both occur in the present and are therefore combined as one. If analyzed in detail, however, there are four, as the Treatise on Consciousness-Only states: “At the time of arising, it reveals that this dharma did not previously exist; at the time of cessation, it demonstrates that afterward this dharma is NONEXISTENT.”
“Change” demonstrates that this dharma does not remain fixed or accumulated, while abiding reveals that the dharma temporarily possesses function.
4) The seal of the Buddha’s body being without characteristics:
“The Buddha said: Subhuti, all characteristics whatsoever are false and illusory. If one sees that all characteristics are not characteristics, one thereby sees the Tathagata.”
It is not that only the Buddha’s body is without characteristics, for all ordinary beings and sages alike depend upon this. Conditioned characteristics are entirely false and illusory, since they manifest through deluded thoughts. Yet deluded thoughts are fundamentally nonexistent, so how could those characteristics be real?
The Treatise on the Awakening of Faith states that all realms of experience differ only because they depend upon deluded thoughts. If deluded thoughts are absent, then the characteristics of all realms of experience do not exist. “If one sees all characteristics...” exhorts one to leave form behind and contemplate EMPTINESS, lest, upon hearing that all characteristics are false and illusory, one instead seeks separately for a Buddha without characteristics. Therefore, to see that characteristics are precisely non-characteristics is to see the Tathagata; it is not only the Buddha’s transformation body that is called the Tathagata. To see that every characteristic among all characteristics is without characteristics is itself to see the Tathagata.
The Treatise on the Awakening of Faith states that the meaning of enlightenment is that the mind is free from thoughts and from conceptual characteristics, and so forth; like empty space, it is precisely the equal Dharma-body of the Tathagata.
Master Sengzhao said: when practice accords with perfect penetration and clarity, that is seeing the Buddha. A verse says: “Apart from those is the Tathagata”; that is, apart from the three characteristics is the Dharma-body of the Tathagata. Not grasping the physical body means merely abandoning imagined attachment; only by not grasping the characteristics of form is there the true physical body. That treatise also states that this reveals the Tathagata’s physical body. Moreover, this is precisely the physical body to be realized at the third abiding place.
Because cause and effect are exceedingly profound and difficult to believe, doubt arises. The Treatise says: practicing giving without abiding is a profound cause; seeing the Buddha without characteristics is a profound result. In the evil age to come, people will surely not give rise to a thought of faith; if it is not taught, how can they benefit? The following passage has four parts. First, disbelief is taken as the basis for raising the doubt.
“Subhuti addressed the Buddha, saying: ‘World-Honored One, will there be any beings who, upon hearing words and passages of scripture such as these, will give rise to true faith?’” The Wei-dynasty translation reads: “Will there be beings in a future age, and so forth?” That version abbreviates this sentence, which refers to the period five hundred years in the future. “Words and passages” distinguishes the chapters of the sutra, while those who understand its sentences possess true faith. The Large Prajnaparamita Sutra records that to believe in the emptiness of all dharmas is to believe in prajnaparamita. These two expressions of doubt and challenge serve to reveal the thought of faith.
“The Buddha said: ‘Subhuti, do not speak thus. Five hundred years after the Tathagata’s parinirvana, there will be people who observe the precepts and cultivate merit. Upon encountering these passages of scripture, they will give rise to faith and regard them as true.’” According to the Mahasamnipata Sutra, the first five-hundred-year period is the age in which liberation is firmly established; the second is the age in which meditative concentration is firmly established; the third is the age in which extensive learning is firmly established; the fourth is the age in which stupas and monasteries are firmly established; and the fifth is the age in which contention is firmly established.
As the first two sentences raised the fundamental doubt that people of that age would not believe, it is called an evil age in order to resolve this doubt. “Observing the precepts and cultivating merit” means observing the precepts and cultivating concentration. “Regarding them as true” means understanding them correctly and without error.
Asanga said that the higher discipline of the three trainings manifests the practice of few desires and the possession of merit. Observance of the precepts frees one from the sufferings of the three evil paths; cultivation of concentration frees one from being driven by the six kinds of desire; and the application of wisdom frees one from the three realms. The third clarification, which gives rise to faith, has two meanings:
a) Drawing near to virtuous friends and accumulating the causes of faith
“One should know that such persons have planted roots of goodness not merely in the presence of one Buddha, two Buddhas, three Buddhas, four Buddhas, or five Buddhas, but in the presence of immeasurable thousands and myriads of Buddhas. Having planted roots of goodness, upon hearing this sutra they will give rise to even a single thought of pure faith.”
Asanga said that this reveals that they planted causes in the presence of many Buddhas over a long period. Drawing near to virtuous friends is the superior condition. Planting roots of goodness—that is, having subdued the three poisons—is the superior cause.
b) Virtuous friends, together with the complete possession of faith and the merit that manifests blessings
“Subhuti, the Tathagata assuredly knows and assuredly sees that these beings will obtain immeasurable merit.”
Asanga said: in all activities—walking, standing, and whatever one does—one clearly knows one’s own mind. Because the four skandhas that are seen all depend upon the physical body, this passage reveals that virtuous friends are also included.
The Treatise states: if it did not say “sees,” one might say that the Tathagata knows this by inferential wisdom. If it did not say “knows,” one might suppose that the Tathagata sees it with the physical eye. Therefore both expressions concerning merit are necessary.
The Wei-dynasty translation reads: “They produce merit such as this and acquire merit such as this.”
The Treatise states: “produce” means being able to produce the cause; “acquire” refers to the fruit of repeated cultivation.
Asanga said: “production” is the arising of merit while one is presently alive; “acquisition” means that when practitioners die, they carry the seeds with them, though here it is called “obtaining.” The two meanings of production and acquisition are inseparable from obtaining; the single word “obtain” includes both production and acquisition. One should understand that acceptance is revealed through wisdom. Because the two attachments are absent, one is accepted. The following passage has two meanings:
First, it explains that coarse attachments have been severed:
“Why is this? It is because these beings have no characteristic of a self, no characteristic of a person, no characteristic of a being, and no characteristic of a lifespan. They have no characteristic of dharmas, nor any characteristic of non-dharmas.” First, faith is cited in order to ask: for what reason does the Tathagata assuredly know and assuredly see them?
The subsequent explanation has two meanings:
a) Not grasping a self means not grasping an intrinsic entity as a self. Regarding that SELF, as it successively takes birth in other realms, it may become a human being. The self’s prosperity and decline, pleasure and suffering, through many forms of continuous change, are called a “being.” The belief that the self is a single retributive body whose faculties are not lost but continue to exist is the characteristic of a “lifespan.”
b) Not grasping dharmas. The Treatise states: “No characteristic of dharmas” means that all dharmas—the grasper and the grasped—are empty; “nor any characteristic of non-dharmas” means that selflessness is true emptiness, not real existence. Yet by abandoning both attachments, one attains the Buddha’s knowledge and vision, perfects merit and the roots of goodness belonging to pure faith, and relinquishes even characteristics themselves. The Treatise asks: if one possesses wisdom, is that not already sufficient? Why is the merit of observing the precepts still mentioned? Because true reality can arise through a respectful mind of faith, the text does not speak only of the two causes of prajnaparamita; it also reveals that subtle attachment has not yet been completely eliminated.
“Why is this? If the minds of these beings grasp characteristics, they are attached to a self, a person, a being, and a lifespan. If they grasp the characteristics of dharmas, they are attached to a self, a person, a being, and a lifespan. Why? If they grasp the characteristics of non-dharmas, they are attached to a self, a person, a being, and a lifespan. From ‘if their minds grasp’ onward…”
The two characteristics are stated together. One should understand that attachment to dharmas and attachment to non-dharmas are both called “characteristics.” Just as, when attachment to characteristics is established, the characteristics of self and so forth become the central thesis. From “if they grasp dharmas” onward, the two characteristics are stated separately.
The Treatise states that only ignorance continues to drive them; coarse manifest afflictions do not arise, demonstrating the absence of the view of self.
Asanga said that there remains only attachment to dharmas and to the changing characteristics of non-dharmas, rather than notions of self and so forth; hence they rely upon that which is unchanging. Here a question is raised: attachment to dharmas is merely attachment to the characteristics of dharmas; why is it also called attachment to a self and so forth?
The answer is: attachment to the absence of dharmas is also attachment to a self and so forth; how much more so is attachment to dharmas? The later passage is thus used to explain the earlier one.
4) Clarifying the profound meaning of the Middle Way:
“Therefore, one should not grasp dharmas, nor should one grasp non-dharmas. For this reason, the Tathagata has often said: ‘Bhiksus, you should know that the Dharma I teach is like a raft. Even the Dharma must be relinquished; how much more so non-dharmas.’”
First comes the conclusion, followed by the analogy. The analogy of the raft is used as proof; words are borrowed to reveal the meaning, and one should not cling to the words and grasp at the meaning. Not grasping means not appropriating; it does not mean completely discarding everything. A verse says: “Not abiding in that, one accords with the Dharma through the wisdom of realization.”
The Treatise explains that “not abiding” means attaining wisdom and relinquishing the Dharma, just as one does upon reaching the other shore; “according with the Dharma through the wisdom of realization” is like one who has not yet reached the other shore.
Asanga said: “Even the Dharma must be relinquished” refers to true reality; “how much more so non-dharmas” refers appropriately to emptiness. Since the three preceding passages eliminate characteristics, why is another doubt raised? The Treatise states: since the Buddha cannot be seen through characteristics, because the Buddha is not a conditioned characteristic, how did Buddha Sakyamuni attain unsurpassed bodhi? And how could he teach the Dharma?
The following passage has two meanings: a question and answer, and the elimination of doubt. The cause is raised in order to pose the question:
“Subhuti, what do you think? Has the Tathagata attained unsurpassed, complete and perfect enlightenment? Does the Tathagata teach any Dharma?”
The Buddha asks whether there is attainment in order to make clear that nothing is attained. Asanga said that this reveals a reversal concerning attachment to perfect enlightenment; therefore there are two principles according to which the answer is given.
“Subhuti replied: ‘According to my understanding of the meaning of what the Buddha has taught, there is no fixed dharma called unsurpassed, complete and perfect enlightenment. Nor is there any fixed Dharma taught by the Tathagata.’”
There is a verse which says, “The response body and transformation body are not the true Buddha, nor is there any teaching of the Dharma,” explaining the statement that the Dharma is indeterminate.
“Why is this? Because the Dharma taught by the Tathagata can neither be grasped nor spoken; it is neither Dharma nor non-Dharma.”
Venerable Asanga said that it cannot be grasped just as it is heard; it is not Dharma because it is of a discriminated nature, yet it is not non-Dharma. The Dharma is in accordance with the principle of non-self; therefore, the Treatise says that this Dharma is neither Dharma nor non-Dharma. Speaking in terms of Suchness, it is not Dharma, because all dharmas have no apprehensible characteristics; hence it is not non-Dharma. Suchness is without self, yet the true characteristic exists. Why is only teaching mentioned and not realization? Some say that teaching itself establishes the meaning of realization. Without realization, one could not teach.
Explanation of the reason why the teaching is not to be grasped:
“Why is this? Because all sages and saints are distinguished by the unconditioned Dharma.”
The Wei-dynasty translation says that all saints receive their designation by virtue of the unconditioned Dharma. The Treatise means that saints are named solely in reliance upon pure Suchness; they attain no separate Dharma. Thus, although distinctions are spoken of, they do not grasp the teaching. As the Treatise says, Suchness is wholly pure, truly pure.
Venerable Asanga held that “unconditioned” means non-discrimination; therefore, bodhisattvas who are still in training receive this designation. First, the elimination of distraction reveals the unconditioned; afterward, the unconditioned refers solely to the ultimate truth,
(16) which is unsurpassed enlightenment. The sages and saints of the Three Vehicles all cultivate and realize the unconditioned Dharma; therefore, it is said generally that there are distinctions.
The comparison revealing its superiority has four points: 1) First, a lesser merit is presented in the form of a question.
“Subhuti, what do you think? If a person were to give in charity the seven treasures filling a three-thousand-great-thousand world, would that person gain much merit?”
The Abhidharmakosa Treatise contains a verse:
The sun, the moon, and the four great continents in the world,
The six desire heavens and the Brahma World—one thousand of each—
Constitute one small-thousand world-system;
Taking one thousand such small-thousand world-systems
And multiplying them forms one medium-thousand world-system.
Taking one thousand medium-thousand world-systems
And multiplying them forms one great-thousand
World-system, all of which undergo destruction in a single kalpa.
The seven treasures are gold, silver, lapis lazuli, coral, agate, red pearls, and crystal.
2) The abundant merit is stated in reply:
“Subhuti replied, ‘Very much, O Blessed One. Why? Because merit is not the intrinsic nature of merit; therefore, the Tathagata says that the merit is great.’”
Venerable Asanga said that “merit” is repeated; it is not, from the standpoint of ultimate truth, because it is empty. Therefore, from the standpoint of conventional truth, it exists.
3) The Sutra confirms the far-surpassing merit: “If, moreover, a person receives and upholds this Sutra, even as little as a four-line verse, and expounds it to others, that person’s merit surpasses that of the former person who practiced giving.”
There is a verse:
Receiving, upholding, and expounding the Dharma
Are not devoid of merit;
Merit alone does not reach bodhi,
Yet both are directed toward enlightenment.
A verse consists of four lines whose meaning is precise and complete. “Whatever has characteristics is all false and illusory; if one sees that all characteristics are non-characteristics, one thereby sees the Tathagata.” This meaning is truly exceedingly profound. Yet merely understanding the meaning of the four-line verse, and then receiving, upholding, and expounding it, leads to bodhi. A verse does not necessarily have four lines; its wording may be longer or shorter, but if its meaning is complete, it is still called a verse.
4) Explanation of the reason for its superiority:
“Why? Subhuti, all Buddhas and the Dharma by which all Buddhas attain unsurpassed complete and perfect enlightenment arise from this Sutra.”
Regarding the Buddhas and their teachings, the Treatise says that they are called the Dharma body. With respect to that Dharma body, these are divided into two revealing causes. “All Buddhas” refers to the Buddhas’ reward bodies; the Treatise says that this is the generative cause.
“Subhuti, what is called the Buddha-Dharma is not Buddha-Dharma. In the ultimate truth, there is no Buddha-Dharma arising from the Sutra.”
This passage eliminates the attachment to the attainment of the four fruits of the sravakas, which gives rise to this doubt. The Treatise says: Since saints and the unconditioned Dharma cannot be grasped
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or spoken, why do sravakas grasp the various fruits? Because they realize Suchness, it is taught. This passage has four points. First, it presents:
1) The fruit of stream-entry
“Subhuti, what do you think? Does a Srotapanna entertain the thought, ‘I have attained the fruit of Srotapanna’? Subhuti replied, ‘No, O Blessed One. Why? A Srotapanna is called one who has entered the stream, yet there is nowhere that he enters. He does not enter forms, sounds, odors, tastes, tangible objects, or dharmas; therefore, he is called a Srotapanna.’”
Srotapanna is translated into Chinese as “stream-enterer,” meaning one who has entered the stream of the saints. It is also called “one who has joined the stream,” meaning one who has joined the stream of the saints. Yet because he does not enter the six sense objects, he is said to enter the stream while entering nowhere else.
The Treatise says that saints who attain the fruit of emptiness do not grasp any dharma. Not grasping the objects of the six sense fields is called going against the stream. Even an arhat does not grasp any dharma. For this reason, he is called an arhat; yet this does not mean that he does not realize the fruit of the unconditioned. At the time of realization, he is free from attachment to self and other afflictions; therefore, he does not entertain the thought, ‘I am able to attain the fruit.’ If he were to give rise to the thought that he could attain the fruit, that would be attachment to self and so forth. One should therefore understand that the fruit means non-attachment; why, then, suspect that there is attachment?
2) The fruit of once-returning
“Subhuti, what do you think? Does a Sakrdagamin think, ‘I have attained the fruit of Sakrdagamin’? Subhuti replied, ‘No, O Blessed One. Why? A Sakrdagamin returns once more to the human realm, yet in truth there is no going or coming; therefore, he is called a Sakrdagamin.’”
Sakrdagamin is translated as “once-returner.” Having eliminated six grades of afflictions in the desire realm, upon dying here he is born once in heaven and returns once to the human realm, whereupon he realizes arhatship. Therefore, he is called a once-returner. Yet in truth there is no returning: having awakened to non-self, who is there to return?
3) The fruit of non-returning
“Subhuti, what do you think? Does an Anagamin entertain the thought, ‘I have attained the fruit of Anagamin’? Subhuti replied, ‘No, O Blessed One. Why? An Anagamin is called one who does not return, yet in truth there is no non-returning; therefore, he is called an Anagamin.’” Anagamin is translated as “non-returner”—one who returns no more. It is also called “one who does not come back.” Having completely eliminated the nine grades of afflictions in the desire realm, at death he is born once in heaven and does not return to the lower realm; therefore, he is called a non-returner. Yet in truth there is no non-returning, as explained in the preceding three cases.
4) The fruit of non-birth (the unborn)
Arhat is explained as having three meanings:
a) Slayer of thieves: one who has completely extinguished the afflictions of the three realms—the desire, form, and formless realms.
b) Unborn (non-birth): one who will receive no further body.
c) Worthy of offerings: one worthy to receive the offerings of humans and devas.
The following passage is divided into three parts:
1. Presenting the question concerning what is attained:
“Subhuti, what do you think? Does an arhat entertain the thought, ‘I have attained the fruit of arhatship’?”
2. Replying in terms of non-attachment:
“Subhuti said to the Buddha, ‘No, O Blessed One. Why? In truth, there is no dharma called an arhat. O Blessed One, if an arhat were to think, “I have attained the fruit of arhatship,” he would thereby be attached to a self, a person, a sentient being, and a life span.’”
3. Citing evidence to inspire faith:
“O Blessed One, the Buddha has said that I have attained the samadhi of non-contention, that I am foremost among all people, and that I am the foremost arhat free from desire.” Non-contention means neither troubling nor afflicting sentient beings and being able to keep sentient beings from giving rise to afflictions; therefore, the Buddha praised him. Among the ten great disciples, Venerable Subhuti was the foremost arhat free from desire. The afflictions throughout the three realms are all called “desire” because the mind of craving pervades them; it does not refer only to the two kinds of desire-realm obstacles. This is non-attachment.
“I do not think, ‘I am an arhat free from desire.’”
4) Explaining that he does not accept the Buddha’s intent:
“Blessed One, if I were to think, ‘I have attained the path of an arhat,’ then the Blessed One would not say that Subhuti delights in the practice of tranquility. Because Subhuti truly has nowhere that he practices, Subhuti is therefore said to delight in the practice of seclusion—the aranya practice.”
The Treatise states that the practice of tranquility is free from two kinds of obstructions:
1. The obstruction of afflictions, overcome by attaining the path of an arhat
2. The obstruction of samadhi, overcome by attaining freedom from contention and therefore having nowhere that one practices.
Aranya is translated into Chinese as “tranquility.”
5) Resolving the doubt that Shakyamuni Buddha received a teaching from Dipankara Buddha:
The Treatise states: In the past, Shakyamuni Buddha received the Dharma in the presence of Dipankara Buddha. Dipankara Buddha taught the Dharma to Shakyamuni Buddha; why, then, is it said that nothing can be grasped and nothing is taught?
The Buddha said, “Subhuti, what do you think? In the past, when the Tathagata was in the presence of Dipankara Buddha, did he attain anything with regard to the Dharma?”
“No, Blessed One. In the presence of Dipankara Buddha, the Tathagata truly attained nothing with regard to the Dharma.”
That true nonattainment with regard to the Dharma was taught by Dipankara Buddha, and teaching consists of spoken words. What Shakyamuni Buddha heard was likewise only spoken words. Spoken words are not the reality of the Dharma realized through wisdom. The Treatise therefore states that the words spoken in the presence of Dipankara Buddha cannot be regarded as Shakyamuni Buddha’s realization of the Dharma. For this reason, it is made clear that Shakyamuni Buddha’s realization cannot be expressed or grasped.
6) Resolving the mistaken attachment to the adornment of a land
The Treatise states: If the Dharma cannot be grasped, why do bodhisattvas grasp at adorning a Pure Land? Why do they assume the body of a Dharma king? This passage has three points:
1. Raising the question of attachment to the characteristics of adornment
“Subhuti, what do you think? Does a bodhisattva adorn a Buddha-land?”
Because the Buddha wished to clarify the true land of Dharma-nature, he asked whether one grasps at the characteristics of an adorned land.
2. Being free from the characteristics of adornment
“No, Blessed One. Why? The adornment of a Buddha-land is not adornment; therefore it is called adornment.”
A verse states:
Wisdom comprehends and penetrates consciousness-only;
The Pure Land is perfectly interfused.
It is not the ultimate truth;
The meaning of non-adornment is the same.
The Treatise explains that the Buddhas do not perform any act of adorning lands; rather, through true wisdom they clearly understand and penetrate them. Nonattachment to the adornment of lands has two aspects:
1. Outward characteristics
2. The characteristic of ultimate truth
Non-adornment means the absence of outward characteristics, while the meaning of adornment is the ultimate truth. All merits are brought to fulfillment as adornment.
3. Adorning on the basis of a pure mind
“Therefore, Subhuti, great bodhisattvas should give rise to a pure mind in this way. They should not give rise to a mind abiding in form; they should not give rise to a mind abiding in sound, scent, taste, touch, or dharmas. They should give rise to a mind that abides nowhere.”
The Treatise states: If someone discriminates the Buddha-land as a conditioned characteristic and thinks, “I have accomplished it,” that person abides in form and other objects and is thereby obstructed. Therefore, it is said that one should give rise to a pure mind in this way and should not give rise to a mind abiding in form and so forth. The mind that arises in this way is right wisdom and the true mind. If one were utterly without any mind, one would fall into the view of emptiness.
7) Resolving the doubt concerning attachment to the existence of a reward body
The purport of this doubt is as stated above. This passage has two parts:
1. Answering in order to eliminate the doubt
“Subhuti, suppose a person had a body as immense as Mount Sumeru. What do you think? Would such a body be immense?” Subhuti replied, “It would be truly immense, Blessed One. Why? The Buddha teaches that it is not a body; therefore it is called an immense body.”
The Treatise states: Mount Sumeru, king of mountains, is lofty and imposing and is therefore called immense, yet it does not regard itself as the king of mountains. Because it makes no discrimination, the Buddha’s reward body is likewise so. Because he has attained the unsurpassed body of a Dharma king, it is called immense; yet he does not grasp at the notion, “I am the Dharma king,” because there is no discrimination. As a verse states:
Only the unconditioned and uncontaminated body is the true body. Therefore, the verse continues:
(17)
Far removed from all contaminations
And from every conditioned dharma.
2. The Treatise states: Thus, there is no entity; if one grasps in this way, one takes it to be an entity. Only the pure body is far removed from conditioned dharmas.”
For this reason, there truly is an essential self, because it does not depend upon or abide in other conditions. The comparative demonstration of superiority has two points: comparison based on external wealth to show the superiority of upholding the Sutra. The comparison of superiority and inferiority has three points:
1. Using the sands of many rivers to discuss a vast number
“Subhuti, suppose there were as many Ganges Rivers as there are grains of sand in the Ganges. What do you think? Would the sands of all those Ganges Rivers truly be numerous?”
Subhuti replied, “They would be truly numerous, Blessed One. Even the Ganges Rivers themselves would be innumerable, how much more so their grains of sand!” Flowing eastward from Lake Anavatapta, the river is forty miles in circumference; its sand is as fine as rice flour and gleams with a golden hue—the sands of the Ganges. Because the Buddha often taught the Dharma near the Ganges, he used it as an analogy.
2. Referring to the numerous grains of sand to set the merit in relief
“Subhuti, the Tathagata now speaks truthfully to you. If a good man or good woman were to fill as many great trichiliocosms as there are grains of sand in all those Ganges Rivers with the seven treasures and give them in charity, would the merit gained be great?” Subhuti replied, “It would be truly great, Blessed One.”
The Treatise states: Since an analogy was already given above, why is another now presented? A verse states:
Why was this analogy not given earlier? Because sentient beings are taught gradually, enabling them to believe in the subtle meaning of the teaching. Moreover, it had not previously been made clear what merit enables one to attain bodhi.
3. Relying on abundant merit to reveal what is superior
The Buddha said to Subhuti, “If a good man or good woman receives and upholds even a four-line verse and so forth from this Sutra and explains it to others, this merit surpasses the former merit.”
The Sutra’s principal meaning concerning how generosity brings a corresponding result, frees one from birth and death, and leads to the realization of bodhi is the same as explained above. The explanation of superiority has five points: 1) Emphasizing the superior place and praising the superior person, first clarifying the place worthy of reverence:
“Furthermore, Subhuti, wherever this Sutra, even so little as a four-line verse and so forth, is expounded, you should know that all beings in the world—devas, humans, and asuras—should make offerings there as though it were a Buddha’s shrine or stupa.”
The Great Prajnaparamita Sutra records that when Shakra, lord of the devas, is not present there, if the devas arrive and see only his empty seat, they all bow, make offerings, and then depart. “Stupa” is translated into Chinese as “lofty and manifest” (stupa); the abbreviated term “ta” (18) is an incomplete rendering. A shrine is a sacred structure, a place of worship. An image of the Buddha is installed within the stupa for everyone to behold and venerate.
2) The person who gains the benefit:
“How much more so if someone wholeheartedly receives, upholds, reads, and recites it! Subhuti, you should know that this person accomplishes the foremost, supreme, and exceedingly rare Dharma.”
Even the preceding four-line verse is superior; how much more so is wholehearted receiving and upholding here. It is therefore foremost and supreme.
3) Indicating the place where the Buddha is present:
“Wherever this Sutra is present, the Buddha is present there, together with his venerable disciples.”
The Sutra reveals the Buddha’s Dharma body; where there is reliance upon the Dharma, there are the reward body and transformation bodies. Furthermore, all sages and noble ones take the unconditioned Dharma as their designation. The Sutra makes clear that wherever the unconditioned is present, sages, noble ones, and venerable disciples are certainly present. In the following passage, the Treatise identifies two superior points.
“At that time, Venerable Subhuti addressed the Buddha, saying, ‘Blessed One, by what name should this Sutra be known? How should we receive and uphold it?’ The Buddha said to Subhuti, ‘This Sutra is called the Vajra Prajnaparamita. By this name you should receive and uphold it. Why is this? Subhuti, the Tathagata teaches that prajnaparamita is not prajnaparamita.’”
The Buddha established the title of the Sutra on the basis of its capacity to cut through delusion (afflictions). Since it cuts through delusion, wherein would it not surpass prajna?
Venerable Asanga said that, in order to counteract attachment to words, the Buddhas of the three times spoke of this supreme teaching without difference.
“Subhuti, what do you think? Has the Tathagata taught any Dharma?”
Subhuti replied, “World-Honored One, the Tathagata has not taught any Dharma.”
Not teaching any Dharma means that he does not separately teach anything different by way of increase or decrease, but speaks only in accordance with his realization of SUCHNESS. Since he speaks of SUCHNESS, there is nothing that is taught. The Buddhas of the three times all speak in this way and do not speak differently.
The Treatise says that there is no single Dharma taught solely by the Tathagata and not taught by the other Buddhas.
Venerable Asanga said that the ultimate truth cannot be expressed.
4) The merit of giving is inferior, while the number of dust particles is greater:
“Subhuti, what do you think? Are all the minute dust particles contained in the three-thousand-great-thousand world-system many?”
Subhuti replied, “They are exceedingly many, World-Honored One.”
“Subhuti, the minute dust particles spoken of by the Tathagata are not minute dust particles; therefore, they are called minute dust particles. The world-system spoken of by the Tathagata is not a world-system; therefore, it is called a world-system.”
The Treatise says that the merit of giving is a cause of afflictions and can therefore bring about matters of affliction. Particles of earth are karmically indeterminate and are not causes of affliction; thus, dust particles are superior and giving is inferior. Venerable Dayun said that particles of earth possess no greed, afflictions, and so forth, and are therefore called karmically indeterminate. The Buddha said that the dust particles throughout the three thousand realms are not causes of defilement and affliction. A realm consists of dust particles; since the realm is karmically indeterminate, the realm is dust particles. Dust as a cause does not give rise to afflictions; giving is a cause of merit, and merit gives rise to afflictions.
5) The superiority of experiencing the fruit while being free from characteristics: “Subhuti, what do you think? Can the Tathagata be seen by means of the thirty-two characteristics?”
“No, World-Honored One. The Tathagata cannot be seen by means of the thirty-two characteristics. Why? The Tathagata has said that the thirty-two characteristics are not characteristics; therefore, they are called the thirty-two characteristics.”
Lest those who give precious possessions think, “I practice giving in order to seek Buddhahood; who says this is an affliction?” the Sutra therefore asks whether what is seen through characteristics can be regarded as the Buddha.
The Treatise says that receiving, retaining, explaining, and teaching this Sutra can bring about the attainment of bodhi and is superior to that person’s giving.
Why? Because those characteristics resulting from giving are not the Dharma-body of the Buddha’s bodhi. Therefore, the merit of receiving and retaining the Sutra can surpass the merit of giving that results in the thirty-two characteristics. The meaning here is clear: the merit of retaining the Sutra surpasses that of giving, which merely results in a Buddha-body possessing physical characteristics. If only precious objects are used in giving, this is a cause of affliction. The comparison is multiplied by referring to the giving of one’s own body and life, in order to demonstrate the superiority of the Sutra. The superiority and inferiority of the two parts are compared.
“Subhuti, if a good man or good woman were to give away as many bodies and lives as there are grains of sand in the Ganges, and if another person were, from this Sutra, to receive and retain even as little as a four-line verse and explain it to others, the merit gained by this person would be exceedingly great.” Relinquishing one’s body surpasses the giving of precious possessions; retaining, reciting, explaining, and teaching the Sutra surpasses even relinquishing one’s body.
The explanation of this superiority has five points:
1. Weeping because he had never before heard such a profound and wondrous Dharma.
“At that time, after Venerable Subhuti had heard and understood the profound meaning of the Sutra taught by the Buddha, he wept sorrowfully and said to the Buddha, ‘How rare, World-Honored One! The Buddha has taught such an exceedingly profound scripture. From long ago until now, even though I have attained the wisdom-eye, I have never heard such a Sutra.’”
The grievous difficulty of relinquishing one’s body had already deeply moved people’s hearts; how much more so when they heard that it could not equal receiving, retaining, explaining, and teaching the Sutra. Therefore, Subhuti wept sorrowfully.
The Treatise says that, thinking of the suffering of the body, he then honored the Dharma and therefore wept sorrowfully. The wisdom-eye is the cause of EMPTINESS, yet he had not heard the Dharma of EMPTINESS.
2. The pure mind accords with virtue:
“World-Honored One, this true characteristic is in fact no characteristic; therefore, the Tathagata calls it the true characteristic.”
Venerable Asanga said that this is because discriminative conception is separate from the true characteristic.
3. Faith in and understanding of the three kinds of EMPTINESS resembles the Buddha and is supreme
“World-Honored One, now that I have heard such a scripture, believing, understanding, receiving, and retaining it is not sufficiently difficult to be considered remarkable. But if, in the future, five hundred years hence, there are beings who hear this Sutra and believe, understand, receive, and retain it, such persons will truly be foremost and exceedingly rare.”
Venerable Asanga said that, in the future age when the Dharma is coming to an end, there will still be bodhisattvas who receive and retain the Sutra; one should therefore know that such persons do not cling to a self, a person, and so forth. Why, then, should those living during the period of the True Dharma neglect cultivation and fail to feel ashamed? The following reveals the three kinds of EMPTINESS:
“Why? These persons have no characteristic of a self, a person, a sentient being, or a life span. Why is this so? The characteristic of a self is itself no characteristic; the characteristic of a person, the characteristic of a sentient being, and the characteristic of a life span are themselves no characteristics. Why? Those who are free from all characteristics are called Buddhas.”
Venerable Asanga said that no-self and so forth mean that there is no person who clings to a self; “themselves no characteristics” means that there is no attachment to dharmas; and being free from all of them reveals that bodhisattvas still follow and study characteristics, whereas the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, are free from every characteristic. Therefore, we should study in this way.
“The Buddha said to Venerable Subhuti, ‘So it is, so it is.’”
4. Remaining unmoved upon hearing it is rare:
“If there is also a person who hears this Sutra and is neither alarmed, terrified, nor afraid, you should know that such a person is truly rare.”
The Treatise says that “alarmed” means becoming frightened by what is not worthy of fear; “terrified” means being unable to resolve doubts in one’s mind; and “afraid” means being utterly terrified. Such a person’s mind has completely fallen into panic and dread.
5. The cause of purity is foremost and supreme:
“Why? Subhuti, the foremost paramita spoken of by the Tathagata is not the foremost paramita; therefore, it is called the foremost paramita.”
Why is this so? This passage has two meanings:
a) Following on from the teaching concerning not being afraid, and so forth.
b) Raising the question of what is superior in the preceding teaching.
The Treatise says that this Sutra is called the great cause and surpasses other sutras; hence, it is said to be pure. Because immeasurable Buddhas all teach it alike, the Sutra is precious like sandalwood. By comparison, no other sutra can surpass such merit. Therefore, among all kinds of merit, the merit of retaining this Sutra is supreme.
End of the Upper Fascicle
Notes:
1. Tripitaka Dharma Master: A teacher thoroughly versed in the three collections of sutras, vinaya, and treatises, who propagates them extensively and, in particular, possesses the ability to translate foreign languages, thereby leaving benefits for later generations. Examples include the present-day Tripitaka Dharma Masters Tri Tinh and Minh Chau, or Venerables Thien Sieu and Duc Nhuan, who have passed into nirvana. Those possessing many abilities in lecturing, writing prose, composing poetry, translating, teaching, and directing important Buddhist affairs for the propagation of the Buddhadharma are all honored as masters thoroughly versed in the Tripitaka teachings.
2. Vasubandhu: Also called Thien Than. He was a great Indian treatise master who lived in the fourth or fifth century, in the city of Purusapura in Gandhara, northern India. He was the second son of the Brahmin royal preceptor Kausika. At first, he and his elder brother Asanga entered monastic life in accordance with the Sarvastivada school. Later, Asanga turned toward the Mahayana. Vasubandhu did not initially agree, but after being instructed by Asanga, he awakened to the principles of the Mahayana and embraced it. He then strove to propagate the Mahayana teachings and laid the foundation for the Yogacara school (according to the Fo Guang Buddhist Dictionary,
translated by Most Venerable Quang Do, volume 5, page 5664, published by Linh Son, Taiwan, in 2000).
1. Prose is the literary form commonly used by the Buddha to teach sutras adapted to the capacities of beings, as distinct from the metrical form of verses. This is one of the twelve divisions of the authentic Mahayana scriptures within the system of the Buddha’s Tripitaka teachings that continue to circulate today.
2. Accordance with principle and accordance with capacity: The Buddha’s teaching accords with truth and is also suited to the level or spiritual capacity of the listeners. This means that people of every background can hear and comprehend the Dharma taught by the Buddha and apply it to their lives effectively and with practical benefit.
1. Uncontaminated: Not permeated, leaking, or falling away. It means that afflictions no longer remain. It is the opposite of contaminated, in which afflictions and cyclic birth and death still remain. Uncontaminated means that afflictions have been completely eradicated and no longer control or lead one into delusion.
2. Three poisons: the three (3) poisons created by the mind, namely greed, anger, and delusion. They are called poisons because their capacity to cause harm is immeasurably great, dragging sentient beings into downfall and delusion with no prospect of escape. We already know how each of these poisons manifests.
3. Cessation, entering cessation, or quiescent cessation: passing into quiescence indicates the Buddha’s serene and liberated state when relinquishing the retributive body. When sages, patriarchs, eminent monks, and virtuous masters pass away, it is respectfully said that they have entered perfect quiescence or entered nirvana. This is because they seem to know beforehand and prepare everything in readiness for a peaceful and untroubled departure.
4. Assembly of great bhikkhus: The assembly of great bhikkhus comprised practitioners of many attainments, from stream-enterers to arhats, bodhisattvas, and so forth. Although they shared the single bhikkhu preceptual status of 250 precepts, their practices and deeds in liberating sentient beings were not the same, even though they lived and practiced together in the same monastery during the Buddha’s lifetime.
5. Four foundations of mindfulness: four contemplative practices through which practitioners attain truth. They are:
a. Contemplation of the body as impure: examining the body from head to foot and seeing that it consists entirely of impure, foul-smelling, and filthy things. In particular, the three karmas of body, speech, and mind cause untold suffering, resentment, pain, and sorrow for us in the present and the future.
b. Contemplation of feeling as suffering: contemplating wealth, sensual beauty, fame, food, and sleep—the five desires—and contemplating how contact between the six sense faculties and the six sense objects gives rise to so much suffering. One also contemplates painful, pleasant, and neutral feelings as suffering; even joy, anger, sorrow, happiness, love, hatred, desire, and so forth all contain the seeds of suffering.
c. Contemplation of the mind as impermanent: the mind changes ceaselessly, like a wild horse that is difficult to restrain in one place.
d. Contemplation of phenomena as non-self: examining all phenomena and seeing that they possess neither a real self nor anything belonging to a self. In other words, there is no self in persons and no self in phenomena.
(10) Wrong livelihood: making a living through improper occupations such as physiognomy, divination, preparing talismans and spells, reading the stars, geomancy, feng shui, compounding miraculous elixirs, summoning winds and calling down rain, and so forth. The Buddha taught that genuine Buddhists and monastics must not live by wrong livelihood. The sixth factor of the Noble Eightfold Path is right livelihood: earning a living through an honest occupation, including refraining from killing living beings and from engaging in occupations prohibited by the state, and so forth.
(11) Sequential almsround: going for alms in order from one house to the next, without choosing rich households and bypassing poor ones, or vice versa. If monastics on almsround selected particular donors, they would surely be unable to avoid public criticism and reproach. Shakyamuni Buddha demonstrated this exemplary conduct for his ordained disciples to follow.
(12) Sanghati: the robes of the bhikkhu Sangha—the Buddha’s ordained disciples—are of three grades:
1. Lower grade: the antaravasa, the five-panel robe, also called the working robe, which is worn for daily work at the monastery.
2. Uttarasanga—the middle-grade robe, the seven-panel robe worn when lecturing, teaching the Dharma, or traveling.
3. Sanghati—the upper-grade robe—also called the great robe, the nine-panel robe worn during ceremonies or on other important occasions.
When classified by grade, they are further divided as follows:
The Buddha ordinarily wore the sanghati whenever he went for alms, thereby demonstrating the importance of this practice.
(13) Dhutanga practice: an ascetic practice involving mortification and hardship amid deprived and difficult living conditions, such as eating one meal a day, walking barefoot, wearing robes of subdued color, and so forth. In ancient times, Shakyamuni Buddha also practiced this path for a period. The Buddha’s faithful disciple who practiced dhutanga was Mahakashyapa, one of the Ten Great Disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha.
(14) Five aggregates, or five skandhas: the five factors constituting the consciousness and physical body of a human being: form (the body), feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness (the mind). All are deceptive constructs formed through the combination of many conditions. We should neither mistake them for reality nor cling to them, lest we be deceived and suffer.
(15) Material gain and support: material benefits used to sustain the physical body. Driven by greed, people sometimes commit many sinful and evil deeds for the sake of the body, obstructing and interrupting their progress in cultivation. For example, they may claim to possess this or that status, to have cultivated and attained this or that level, to have seen the Buddha radiating light while meditating, or to have received a prediction from a bodhisattva, and so forth, with the aim of inducing others to believe them so that they may exploit them. Such is the conduct of a small number of the Buddha’s disciples who fail to cultivate the true Dharma.
(16) Ultimate meaning: the foremost and most profound principle, beyond which nothing is higher or deeper; the primary principle of both phenomena and truth is called the ultimate meaning. The first fascicle of the Shengman Bao Ku states: “When a principle reaches the absolute summit, beyond which nothing can be higher, it is called ‘ultimate’; when it is profound, grounded in its source, and clearly discerned, it is called ‘meaning.’”
(17) The contaminants: the afflictions that govern the human mind. Contaminant means to leak, seep through, fall away little by little, ooze, or spread. Because afflictions gradually permeate the mind, little by little, until they produce their effects, they are called contaminants.
(18) Stupa: a place in which the ashes of the Buddha or his eminent disciples are enshrined. After the Buddha’s body was cremated, its remaining pure essence—the relics—was enshrined in stupas. Stupas have many different forms, such as the inverted-bowl-shaped stupa at Sanchi; the inverted-bell-shaped stupa in India, surmounted by seven circular tiers; the round Swayambhunath Stupa in Kathmandu, Nepal, topped by a fifteen-tiered wheel and crowned with a canopy; the nine-story hexagonal stupa at Guoqing Monastery on Mount Tiantai, approximately 74 meters high; and the five-story wooden pagoda at Horyuji Monastery in Japan, commissioned by Prince Shotoku in 606 and still standing today.
Other forms include the five-element stupa, angular stupas, pavilion-style stupas such as the pagoda at Xa Loi Pagoda in Saigon, Vietnam, and dense-eaved stupas such as the seven-story quadrangular Giant Wild Goose Pagoda at Ci’en Monastery in Xi’an, China.
The Sutra of Parables lists the following ten karmic rewards of building a stupa:
1. One will not be born in a border region
1. One will not suffer poverty or hardship
2. One will not receive a body afflicted by ignorance and wrong views
3. One may become the ruler of great nations
4. One will enjoy a long lifespan
5. One will gain strength like Vajra Narayana
6. One will gain vast merit and virtue unequaled by anyone
7. One will receive the compassionate care of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas
9. One will fully attain the three (3) knowledges, six (6) supernormal powers, and eight (8) liberations
10. One will be reborn in the pure lands of the ten directions.
The lowest stupas have three or five stories; those of average height have seven or nine stories; and the tallest have twelve or fifteen stories, with some spires rising to more than 300 meters. Therefore, whenever one sees a stupa or shrine, one should bow in reverence just as one would at a monastery where the Buddha is enshrined.
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