發菩提心經論

Chapter 7: Virya Paramita

How do bodhisattvas cultivate diligence? Bodhisattvas cultivate diligence for their own benefit, for the benefit of others, and for the benefit of both. Such diligence can adorn the path to bodhi.

Bodhisattvas cultivate diligence because they wish to tame sentient beings and cause them to leave suffering and affliction far behind. Those who cultivate diligence constantly and assiduously practice the 1pure brahma-conduct at all times, abandon the indolent mind, guard the mind against heedlessness, and remain ever diligent and energetic, never retreating in the face of difficult tasks or matters that bring no benefit to themselves or others. This is called the cultivation of diligence by a bodhisattva who has first aroused the aspiration.

Through cultivating diligence, one accomplishes wholesome worldly dharmas and the supremely wondrous supramundane fruit; this is called benefiting oneself. Teaching sentient beings and causing them diligently to cultivate goodness is called benefiting others. Using one’s own cultivation of the true cause of bodhi to teach sentient beings, causing them to gain the same benefit as oneself, is called benefiting both.

Through the true cause of cultivating diligence, one accomplishes the 2ever more excellent, pure, and wondrous fruit, transcends the various 3stages, and swiftly attains perfect enlightenment; this is called adorning the path to bodhi.

Diligence is aroused for two reasons:

To seek the unsurpassed path.

To aspire broadly to rescue sentient beings from their sufferings and afflictions.

A bodhisattva must perfect ten recollections before being able to arouse the resolve to practice diligence earnestly. What are these ten recollections?

Recollection of the Buddha, because the Buddha possesses immeasurable 4merits.

Recollection of the Dharma, because the Dharma has the power of inconceivable 5liberation.

Recollection of the Sangha, because the Sangha signifies purity and freedom from 6defilement.

Recollection of practicing great loving-kindness, in order to establish sentient beings securely.

Recollection of practicing great compassion, in order to rescue them from all sufferings.

Recollection of the 7group fixed in rightness, in order to encourage them joyfully to cultivate goodness.

Recollection of the 8group fixed in wrongness, in order to rescue sentient beings and cause them to return to their original nature.

Recollection of the hungry ghosts, afflicted by hunger, thirst, and burning torment.

Recollection of animals, which continually undergo all manner of suffering.

Recollection of the realm of hell, where beings undergo every kind of burning torment.

A bodhisattva should contemplate these ten recollections: I should cultivate the merits of the Three Jewels; I should encourage loving-kindness, compassion, and the group fixed in rightness; I should rescue beings fixed in wrongness and those suffering in the three evil destinies. Contemplating in this way, one remains single-minded and undistracted, diligently practicing day and night without ever stopping or abandoning the practice. This is called the ability to arouse right mindfulness and diligence.

A bodhisattva’s diligence also comprises four matters, namely, the cultivation of the four right efforts:

Preventing unwholesome dharmas not yet arisen from arising.

Promptly eliminating unwholesome dharmas that have already arisen.

Employing every skillful means to cause wholesome dharmas not yet arisen to arise.

Cultivating and further increasing wholesome dharmas that have already arisen until they become full and extensive.

When a bodhisattva cultivates these four right efforts without pause or rest, this is called diligence. By earnestly cultivating diligence, one can destroy the entire realm of afflictions and increase the true cause of unsurpassed bodhi.

If a bodhisattva can endure every great suffering of body and mind and, wishing to establish sentient beings securely, practices without weariness, this is called diligence. A bodhisattva leaves far behind 9evil times, sycophantic and devious conduct, and wrong diligence in order to cultivate right diligence—that is, cultivating right faith, generosity, moral discipline, patience, meditative concentration, 10wisdom, loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity.

Whatever one wishes to do, has done, or is doing, one must do wholeheartedly, diligently carrying it out without regret. With regard to wholesome dharmas and the work of rescuing sentient beings from suffering, one acts as though extinguishing a fire blazing upon one’s head, never allowing the mind to retreat. This is called diligence.

Although a bodhisattva does not cherish body or life, when seeking to relieve suffering and protect the true Dharma, one must value them, never abandon dignified conduct, and constantly cultivate wholesome dharmas. While cultivating wholesome dharmas, the mind is never indolent; when losing one’s life, one does not abandon the true Dharma. This is called the bodhisattva’s cultivation of the path to bodhi and earnest practice of diligence.

An indolent person can never practice generosity, observe moral discipline, patiently endure suffering, earnestly practice diligence, collect the mind in mindful concentration, or distinguish good from evil. Therefore, it is said that the six paramitas are increased through diligence. If bodhisattva-mahasattvas cultivate diligence as a dominant supporting condition, they can swiftly attain unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment.

A bodhisattva who undertakes the great adornment of bodhi arouses diligence for four reasons:

Undertaking the great adornment.

Gathering mighty strength.

Cultivating roots of goodness.

Teaching and transforming sentient beings.

How does a bodhisattva undertake the great adornment? Throughout the destinies of birth and death, the mind always remains capable of patient endurance, without reckoning the number of kalpas. Even if one must pass through immeasurable and boundless hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of nayutas of Ganges-sands of asamkhyeya kalpas before attaining Buddhahood, the mind does not become weary. This is called the practice free from indolence for the sake of adorning bodhi.

A bodhisattva who wishes to gather mighty strength arouses diligence. Even if raging fire filled the trichiliocosm, one would still have to pass through that raging fire in order to see the Buddha, hear the Dharma, and establish sentient beings securely in wholesome dharmas. Wishing to tame sentient beings, one skillfully abides in great compassion. This is called mighty diligence.

A bodhisattva who wishes to cultivate roots of goodness arouses diligence. Every root of goodness that is brought forth is dedicated to unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment, for the sake of accomplishing 11all-knowing wisdom. This is called diligence in cultivating roots of goodness.

A bodhisattva who wishes to teach and transform sentient beings arouses diligence. The dispositions of sentient beings are incalculable, immeasurable, and boundless, equal in extent to the realm of space. The bodhisattva makes this vow: “I shall liberate them without leaving any out.” Wishing to transform and liberate sentient beings, the bodhisattva earnestly practices diligence. This is called diligence in teaching and transforming sentient beings.

In summary, bodhisattvas arouse diligence in cultivating the merits that support the path, support unsurpassed wisdom, and cultivate the Buddha-Dharma. The merits of the Buddha are immeasurable and boundless; likewise, the great adornment undertaken and the diligence cultivated by bodhisattva-mahasattvas are immeasurable and boundless. In cultivating diligence, bodhisattva-mahasattvas do not relinquish the 12mind of aspiration, because they seek to rescue beings from every suffering. This is called the perfection of Virya Paramita.

Chapter 8: Dhyana Paramita

How do bodhisattvas cultivate meditative concentration? Bodhisattvas cultivate meditative concentration for their own benefit, for the benefit of others, and for the benefit of both. Cultivating meditative concentration in this way can adorn the path to bodhi.

Bodhisattvas cultivate meditative concentration because they wish to tame sentient beings and cause them to leave suffering and affliction far behind. Those who cultivate meditative concentration must skillfully collect their own minds and prevent all distracted thoughts from arising delusively. Whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, they must bind their mindfulness to the 13present object. They contemplate forward and backward, from the skull, neck, spine, arms, elbows, chest, ribs, pelvis, thighbones, and lower legs down to the ankles, and cultivate anapanasmriti, mindfulness by counting the breaths. This is called the bodhisattva’s initial cultivation of the concentrated mind.

Through cultivating meditative concentration, one does not admit any evil and the mind remains constantly peaceful and joyful; this is called benefiting oneself. Teaching sentient beings and causing them to cultivate right mindfulness is called benefiting others. Through one’s own cultivation of pure samadhi, one becomes free from evil 14initial and sustained thoughts, and teaches sentient beings so that they may gain the same benefit as oneself; this is called benefiting both.

Through the true cause of cultivating meditative concentration, one attains the 15eight liberations and eventually realizes the 16Shurangama Samadhi and the 17Vajra Samadhi; this is called adorning the path to bodhi.

Meditative concentration arises from three dharmas. What are these three?

Wisdom born of hearing.

Wisdom born of reflection.

Wisdom born of cultivation.

From these three dharmas, all samadhis gradually arise.

What is wisdom derived from hearing? Regarding the teachings one has heard, the mind always delights in receiving them. One further reflects: “The Buddha’s qualities, such as unobstructed liberation, are all accomplished through extensive learning.” Having given rise to this reflection, one becomes ever more diligent in seeking the Dharma at all times, constantly delighting day and night in hearing the Dharma without ever being satisfied. This is called wisdom derived from hearing.

What is wisdom derived from reflection? It is to reflect upon and contemplate conditioned dharmas in accordance with their true characteristics: all dharmas are impermanent, suffering, empty, without self, and impure; they arise and cease from moment to moment and before long will decay. Sentient beings are bound by sorrow, distress, suffering, affliction, love, and hatred solely because they are scorched by the fires of greed, anger, and delusion, thereby accumulating still more suffering and affliction for future lives.

None of these possesses any true nature; they are like illusions and transformations. Having seen this, one immediately gives rise to disenchantment with all conditioned dharmas and wishes to escape from them; therefore, one becomes even more diligent in seeking the Buddha’s wisdom. One further reflects: “The Tathagata’s wisdom is inconceivable and immeasurable.

It possesses great power, unsurpassed by anyone, like the power to conjure a great city that brings fearlessness, security, and non-retrogression18, and like the power to rescue sentient beings from immeasurable suffering and affliction.” Knowing this, one sees that the Buddha possesses immeasurable wisdom and that conditioned dharmas entail immeasurable suffering and affliction; one therefore gives rise to the resolute aspiration to seek directly the unsurpassed Great Vehicle.

This is called wisdom derived from reflection.

What is wisdom derived from cultivation? From the initial cultivation of the contemplation of the white bones19 until the attainment of unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment, all is called wisdom derived from cultivation. Secluded from sensual desires and unwholesome dharmas20, with applied thought and sustained examination21, and with joy and bliss born of seclusion22, one enters the first dhyana.

With the cessation of the applied thought and sustained examination of the first dhyana, inward serenity, and unification of the mind, without applied thought or sustained examination23, and with joy and bliss born of concentration24, one enters the second dhyana. Through becoming detached from the joy of the second dhyana, one abides in equanimity25, establishes mindfulness in wisdom26, and experiences bliss with the body—a state of which the noble ones declare, “That person abides in equanimity, ever mindful, dwelling in bliss”27—and enters the third dhyana.

With the relinquishment of pain and pleasure28, and with the prior disappearance of sorrow and joy29, one abides in neither pain nor pleasure30, with purity of mindfulness due to equanimity31, and enters the fourth dhyana. Transcending all perceptions of form, bringing all perceptions of resistance32 to an end, and giving no attention to any perceptions of diversity, one knows body and objects as boundless space and immediately enters the formless sphere of infinite space33.

Transcending all perceptions of space and knowing consciousness to be without boundaries, one immediately enters the formless sphere of infinite consciousness34. Transcending all perceptions of consciousness and knowing that there is nothing whatsoever35, one immediately enters the formless sphere of nothingness36. Transcending the entire sphere of nothingness and knowing a peaceful state that is neither perception nor non-perception, one immediately enters the formless sphere of neither perception nor non-perception37.

One practices in accordance with the teachings38 without delighting in or becoming attached to them39, seeks the unsurpassed vehicle, and attains perfect enlightenment. This is called wisdom derived from cultivation.

When a bodhisattva diligently gathers the mind through this wisdom derived from hearing, reflection, and cultivation, the bodhisattva can accomplish the Illumination Dhyana40, the samadhis, and the dhyana paramita.

Furthermore, when a bodhisattva cultivates concentration, there are ten modes of practice that differ from those of shravakas and pratyekabuddhas. What are the ten?

To cultivate concentration is to be without the notion, “Here am I,” because one fulfills all the Tathagata’s dharmas of meditative concentration.

To cultivate concentration is to remain unattached, because one relinquishes the defiled mind and does not seek one’s own peace and happiness.

To cultivate concentration is to possess all supernormal activities41, because one knows the mental activities42 of sentient beings.

To cultivate concentration is to know the various dispositions of mind, because one liberates all sentient beings.

To cultivate concentration is to practice great compassion, because one eliminates the bonds of affliction.

To cultivate concentration is to cultivate the dhyanas and samadhis, because one must skillfully know how to enter, emerge from, and transcend the three realms.

To cultivate concentration is always to attain mastery, because one fulfills all wholesome dharmas.

To cultivate concentration is for one’s own mind to be quiescent, because it surpasses the dhyanas and samadhis of the Two Vehicles.

To cultivate concentration is constantly to enter wisdom through awakening, because one transcends worldly dharmas and reaches the other shore of enlightenment.

To cultivate concentration is to be able to cause the true Dharma to flourish, because one perpetuates the radiance of the Three Jewels and prevents their lineage from being severed.

Such modes of cultivating concentration differ from the modes of cultivating concentration practiced by shravakas and pratyekabuddhas.

Furthermore, because the bodhisattva wishes to know all the afflictions and mental perceptions of sentient beings, the bodhisattva cultivates the meditative practices that support and establish the mind, so that this meditative concentration abides in impartiality of mind; this is called concentration. Such impartial concentration is precisely impartiality with regard to emptiness, signlessness, wishlessness, and non-action. When emptiness, signlessness, wishlessness, and non-action are regarded impartially, sentient beings are regarded impartially. When sentient beings are regarded impartially, all dharmas are regarded impartially. To enter all dharmas in such impartiality is called concentration.

Furthermore, when a bodhisattva enters the world and practices, the bodhisattva is not defiled by the world. When the bodhisattva relinquishes worldly affairs and enters the Dharma, all fetters and latent afflictions are extinguished. The bodhisattva stays far from noisy places and delights in solitude. When a bodhisattva cultivates meditative concentration in this way, the mind becomes peaceful, comes to rest, abides firmly, and remains far removed from worldly affairs.

Furthermore, through cultivating concentration, a bodhisattva fully attains supernormal powers, knowledge, skillful means, and wisdom. What are supernormal powers? What is knowledge?

Seeing forms, hearing sounds, knowing the minds of others, recollecting the past, and being able to travel throughout all Buddha-worlds—these are called supernormal powers. Knowing that form is precisely the Dharma-nature43; fully comprehending sounds and mental activities; knowing the quiescence of nature and characteristics; knowing the equality of the three times; knowing that the Buddha-worlds are identical to the characteristic of empty space; and knowing that there is no fruit of attainment in final cessation—this is called knowledge.

What are skillful means? What is wisdom? When entering meditative concentration, one gives rise to great loving-kindness and compassion, never abandons one’s vows, makes the mind like vajra, and contemplates the worlds of the Buddhas in order to adorn the bodhimanda.

These are called skillful means. The mind remains constantly still and silent; one sees neither a self nor sentient beings; one contemplates that the essential nature of all dharmas is originally undisturbed; one sees the Buddha-worlds as identical to empty space; and one contemplates their adornments as identical to quiescent cessation. This is called wisdom.

This is called a bodhisattva’s cultivation of meditative concentration. Supernormal powers, knowledge, skillful means, and wisdom are four distinct dharmas; yet if all four are practiced together, one draws near to the fruit of unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment. When bodhisattva mahasattvas cultivate meditative concentration, no residual unwholesome thought44 remains, because they know that all dharmas are originally unmoving. This is called the fulfillment of the dhyana paramita.

Chapter 9: Prajnaparamita

How do bodhisattvas cultivate wisdom? Bodhisattvas cultivate wisdom for their own benefit, for the benefit of others, and for the benefit of both. Cultivating wisdom in this way enables them to adorn the path to bodhi.

Bodhisattvas cultivate wisdom because they wish to discipline sentient beings and lead them away from suffering and affliction. Those who cultivate wisdom must necessarily study all worldly matters, relinquish greed, anger, and delusion, establish a mind of loving-kindness, compassionately benefit all sentient beings, constantly think of rescuing sentient beings and serving as their guides, and be able to distinguish and clearly explain the true path and false paths, as well as wholesome and unwholesome karmic retributions. This is called a bodhisattva’s initial cultivation of wisdom.

Through cultivating wisdom, one leaves ignorance far behind and eliminates the obstacle of afflictions and the obstacle to wisdom45; this is called benefiting oneself. Using wisdom to teach and transform sentient beings so that they discipline their own minds is called benefiting others. Dedicating one’s cultivation of wisdom to one’s own unsurpassed bodhi, while teaching and transforming sentient beings so that they may obtain the same benefit as oneself, is called benefiting both.

Through the proper cause of cultivating wisdom, one realizes the first bhumi and progresses all the way to sarvajna-wisdom46; this is called adorning the path to bodhi.

In cultivating wisdom, a bodhisattva has twenty states of mind by which one may gradually establish oneself. What are these twenty states of mind?

The mind that gives rise to wholesome aspiration47 and draws near to good spiritual friends.

The mind that relinquishes pride and does not permit heedlessness.

The mind that follows instruction and guidance and delights in hearing the Dharma.

The mind that never wearies of hearing the Dharma and skillfully reflects upon it.

The mind that practices the four Brahma-abodes48 and cultivates right wisdom49.

The mind that contemplates impurity50 and forms the resolve to become disenchanted and detached.

The mind that contemplates the Four Noble Truths and gives rise to the sixteen noble states of mind51.

The mind that contemplates the twelve links of dependent origination and cultivates illuminating wisdom52.

The mind that, upon hearing of the paramitas, remembers them and aspires to cultivate them.

The mind that contemplates impermanence, suffering, emptiness, non-self, and quiescence.

The mind that contemplates emptiness, signlessness, wishlessness, and non-activity.

The mind that contemplates the skandhas, dhatus, and ayatanas as fraught with many faults.

The mind that subdues the afflictions, regarding them as no companions on the path.

The mind that preserves wholesome dharmas, regarding them as companions on the path.

The mind that restrains unwholesome dharmas and aspires to eradicate them completely.

The mind that cultivates the true Dharma and aspires for it to grow ever more extensive.

The mind that, although practicing the teachings of the Two Vehicles, always delights in relinquishing them.

The mind that, upon hearing the Bodhisattva Treasury, joyfully upholds and practices it.

The mind that benefits oneself and others and continually advances wholesome karma in accord with the path.

The mind that embraces the practice of truth and seeks all Buddha-Dharmas.

Furthermore, in cultivating wisdom, a bodhisattva has ten dharmas upon which to reflect skillfully, which are not shared with the practices of shravakas or pratyekabuddhas. What are these ten dharmas?

Reflecting on the foundations of concentration and the foundations of wisdom53.

Reflecting without falling into the two extremes of annihilationism and eternalism54.

Reflecting on the arising of all dharmas through causes and conditions.

Reflecting on the absence of self, person, sentient being, and life-span55.

Reflecting that all dharmas do not possess the three times: past, future, and present.

Reflecting that nothing whatsoever is produced and nothing whatsoever is practiced, yet cause and effect are not severed.

Reflecting that all dharmas are originally empty, yet roots of virtue must be planted without indolence.

Reflecting on signlessness, yet still liberating sentient beings without omitting any.

Reflecting on wishlessness, yet still seeking bodhi without ever departing from it.

Reflecting on non-activity, yet not rejecting the body presently received.

Furthermore, a bodhisattva has twelve Dharma-gates into which one skillfully enters. What are these twelve?

Skillfully entering the samadhis of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness56 without appropriating their realization.

Skillfully entering the various dhyanas and samadhis without being reborn in accordance with those dhyanas57.

Skillfully entering the various superknowledges without realizing the undefiled dharmas.

Skillfully entering the Dharma of inner contemplation without attaining the certainty of realization58.

Skillfully entering the contemplation that all sentient beings are empty and quiescent, yet without relinquishing great loving-kindness.

Skillfully entering the contemplation that all sentient beings are without self, yet without relinquishing great compassion.

Skillfully entering birth in the lower realms, yet not being born there through the power of karma.

Skillfully entering freedom from desire, yet without realizing the dharma of freedom from desire.

Skillfully entering the relinquishment of sensual pleasure, yet without relinquishing the bliss of Dharma.

Skillfully entering the relinquishment of all conceptual proliferation59 and discriminative knowledge, yet without relinquishing skillful means and the various contemplations.

Skillfully entering reflection upon the many faults and sufferings of conditioned dharmas, yet without relinquishing the conditioned.

Skillfully entering the purity, detachment, and transcendence of the unconditioned, yet without abiding in the unconditioned.

A bodhisattva who can cultivate all these “Dharma-gates of skillful entry” can skillfully awaken to and understand the emptiness and nonexistence of the three times. To contemplate in this way is called contemplating the emptiness of the three times and constitutes the power of wisdom. The bodhisattva plants immeasurable merit in the presence of the Buddhas of the three times and dedicates it all to unsurpassed bodhi. This is called the bodhisattva's skillful means of properly contemplating the three times.

Furthermore, the bodhisattva contemplates that past dharmas have already passed and cannot proceed into the future, yet constantly cultivates roots of virtue, diligently and without indolence. The bodhisattva contemplates that future dharmas have not yet arisen, yet does not abandon diligence and resolves to proceed toward bodhi. The bodhisattva contemplates that present dharmas arise and cease from thought-moment to thought-moment, yet does not forget the mind's resolve and makes a vow directed toward bodhi.

This is called the bodhisattva's cultivation of the skillful contemplation of the three times: the past has ceased, the future has not arrived, and the present does not abide. Contemplation in this manner also means observing how the mind and its mental factors continually arise, cease, disintegrate, and perish, while never abandoning the accumulation of roots of virtue and the dharmas conducive to bodhi. This is called the bodhisattva's cultivation of the skillful contemplation of the three times.

Furthermore, the bodhisattva contemplates all that is wholesome and unwholesome, self and non-self, real and unreal, empty and nonempty, conventional truth and ultimate truth, right concentration and wrong concentration, conditioned and unconditioned, defiled and undefiled, dark dharmas and pure dharmas, samsara and nirvana, as entirely possessing the suchness of the Dharmadhatu: the single mark, which is no-mark. Within it, there is no nonexistent dharma that can be called no-mark, nor is there any existent dharma that can be made into no-mark60.

Here, the seal of all dharmas is called the indestructible seal. Within this Dharma-seal there is also no characteristic of a seal. This is called true wisdom, skillful means, and prajnaparamita.

A bodhisattva-mahasattva who has aroused the mind of bodhi should learn in this way and practice in this way. By practicing in this way, one immediately draws near to the fruit of unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment. When a bodhisattva-mahasattva cultivates wisdom, the mind has nothing upon which it acts61, because the Dharma-nature is originally pure.

This is called the perfection of prajnaparamita.

Chapter 10: The Dharma-Gate of Suchness

If good men and good women cultivate the six paramitas in quest of unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment, they must distance themselves from seven dharmas. What are these seven?

Distance oneself from unwholesome spiritual friends. An unwholesome spiritual friend is one who teaches us to abandon supreme faith, supreme aspiration, and supreme diligence, and merely habituates us to miscellaneous practices.

Distance oneself from the attractions of women, attachment, craving, and worldly habits, while still cooperating with them in necessary matters.

Distance oneself from unwholesome thoughts. One should not gaze admiringly upon one's own appearance and thereby give rise to a mind of attachment, cherishing, infatuation, and determined preservation, believing that it can be preserved for a long time.

Distance oneself from anger, impetuousness, and jealousy, which give rise to disputes and harm and disturb the wholesome minds of others.

Distance oneself from heedlessness, pride, and indolence, and from despising others because one relies upon the little good one possesses.

Distance oneself from the treatises of non-Buddhist paths, secular literature, and ornate rhetoric. One should not praise anything that is not the Buddha's teaching.

One should not draw near to wrong views or pernicious views.

These seven dharmas must be kept at a distance. The Buddha taught that no other dharmas can be found that so gravely obstruct the Buddha-path as these seven. Therefore, bodhisattvas must distance themselves from them.

Those who wish swiftly to realize unsurpassed bodhi must cultivate seven dharmas. What are these seven?

A bodhisattva should draw near to good spiritual friends. Good spiritual friends are the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. If a shravaka or any other person can teach one who is practicing the bodhisattva path to abide deeply in the Dharma Treasury of the bodhisattvas and in the paramitas, that person is also called a bodhisattva's good spiritual friend.

A bodhisattva should draw near to monastics and should also frequent aranya retreats, remaining apart from the attractions of women and all desires. Although not tainted by worldly habits, the bodhisattva should still cooperate with others as circumstances require.

A bodhisattva should contemplate the body as a clod of earth, defiled in every way, a conjunction of cold wind and warm blood62, unworthy of attachment. As each day passes toward death, the bodhisattva should conceive disenchantment and detachment and diligently cultivate the path.

A bodhisattva should constantly practice harmony and patient acceptance, being respectful, gentle, and compliant, and should also encourage and guide everyone to abide in the Dharma of patience.

A bodhisattva should cultivate diligence, constantly give rise to shame and moral dread, revere and serve teachers and elders, have compassion for the poor and lowly, and, upon seeing people in peril and hardship, offer to bear their suffering in their stead.

A bodhisattva should cultivate the Vaipulya teachings of the Mahayana and the Bodhisattva Treasury, and should receive, retain, read, and recite those teachings praised by the Buddha.

A bodhisattva must draw near to and cultivate the truth of the ultimate meaning, namely, that the true character of all dharmas is the single characteristic63, the absence of characteristics64.

If bodhisattvas wish swiftly to realize unsurpassed bodhi, they must draw near to these seven dharmas.

Furthermore, if those who have generated the mind of bodhi, throughout immeasurable asamkhyeya kalpas, cultivate such dharmas as loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, equanimity, generosity, moral discipline, patience, diligence, meditative concentration, and wisdom with a sense of something attained, one should know that they have not yet departed from samsara and are not proceeding toward bodhi. Why is this? Because their minds still perceive an attainment and retain the view of grasping and acquiring: they perceive the skandhas, dhatus, and ayatanas; they perceive a self, a person, a sentient being, and a life span; they perceive loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity;

they perceive generosity, moral discipline, patience, diligence, meditative concentration, wisdom, and other views and attachments.

To state it briefly, they still perceive the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, and perceive nirvana. Such a view of grasping and attaining is an attached mind. Attachment is also called a wrong view.

Why is this said? Those holding wrong views revolve within the three realms and never escape them. Those who are attached are likewise: they never escape attachment to differentiated characteristics and cannot attain unsurpassed bodhi.

Those who generate the mind of bodhi must contemplate the mind as being without characteristics. What is the mind? What is meant by being without characteristics?

Mind is mental consciousness—that is, the consciousness skandha, the mind ayatana, and the mind dhatu65. The mind’s being without characteristics means that the mind has no characteristic of mind, nor does it have an agent66. Why is this?

The characteristic of mind is empty; there is no agent, nor does it cause anyone to be an agent. If there is no agent, there is no characteristic of anything being done. If bodhisattvas clearly understand the Dharma in this way, they have no attachment to any dharma.

Because they have no attachment, they clearly understand that wholesome and unwholesome dharmas have no corresponding fruits of retribution. When cultivating loving-kindness, they understand that there is no self. When cultivating compassion, they understand that there is no sentient being.

When cultivating sympathetic joy, they understand that there is no living being67. When cultivating equanimity, they understand that there is no person. Although they practice generosity, they do not perceive any object given.

Although they observe moral discipline, they do not perceive their own minds as purified. Although they practice patience, they do not perceive any sentient being toward whom patience is exercised. Although they practice diligence, they have no mind of abandoning desire.

Although they practice meditative concentration, they have no mind of eliminating evil. Although they practice wisdom, their minds have nothing upon which they act. In relation to all conditions of cultivation, they possess wisdom, yet they do not become attached to wisdom, do not grasp or acquire wisdom, and do not perceive themselves as possessing wisdom.

Practitioners who cultivate wisdom in this way do not perceive any cultivation, yet there is nothing they do not cultivate. For the sake of teaching and transforming sentient beings, they manifest the practice of the six paramitas while remaining inwardly pure.

Practitioners who skillfully cultivate their minds in this way plant roots of virtue within the span of a single thought. The resulting merit and blessings are immeasurable and boundless, and could not be exhausted throughout hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of asamkhyeya kalpas. They naturally draw near to the fruition of unsurpassed, complete, and perfect enlightenment.

Chapter 11: Emptiness and the Absence of Characteristics

At one time in the past, the Buddha was dwelling in the Karanda Bamboo Grove together with an immeasurable multitude assembled there. At that time, the Blessed One proclaimed the true Dharma and told the assembly: “The Tathagata has taught that all dharmas are characterized by the absence of inherent nature68, emptiness69, and nonexistence70. It is extremely difficult for all beings in the world to believe and understand these characteristics of dharmas. Why is this?

“Form is bound to nothing and therefore is not released. Feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness are likewise neither bound nor released. Form is without characteristics71 and apart from all characteristics72. Feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness are without characteristics and apart from all characteristics. Form is without thought73 and apart from all thoughts74. Feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness are without thought and apart from all thoughts. The eye and forms, the ear and sounds, the nose and odors, the tongue and flavors, the body and tangible objects, and the mind and dharmas are likewise so.

“Neither grasping nor relinquishing, neither defiled nor pure, neither coming nor going, neither before nor after, neither dark nor bright, neither delusion nor wisdom, having neither this shore nor the farther shore, nor even a current of water between the two shores—this is precisely called being unbound. Because it is unbound, it is called empty. This emptiness is called the absence of characteristics. The absence of characteristics is also empty and is therefore called empty. This emptiness is without thought. Being without thought is also empty and is therefore called empty. The thought of emptiness is itself also empty and is therefore called empty75. Within emptiness, there is neither good nor evil; even the characteristic of emptiness does not exist. Therefore, it is called empty.

“If bodhisattvas know in this way, they know the nature of the skandhas, dhatus, and ayatanas. They grasp nothing; this is precisely called patience with regard to dharmas. Through this patience with regard to dharmas, bodhisattvas attain the patience that receives a prediction of buddhahood.

“Children of the Buddha, suppose someone looked upward toward the sky and wrote throughout empty space, inscribing all twelve divisions of the Tathagata’s scriptures76 over the course of immeasurable kalpas. After the Buddha-Dharma had disappeared, seekers of the Dharma would neither see nor hear the true Dharma, but would see and hear only confused sentient beings committing endless offenses. Then a person of pure wisdom, coming from afar and moved by compassion for sentient beings, would wish to seek the Buddha-Dharma extensively and therefore come to this place.

Seeing the written words clearly inscribed in empty space, that person would immediately understand them, recite them, and uphold them. Practicing in accordance with the words inscribed in the scriptures, that person would expound and analyze them extensively for the benefit of sentient beings. The person who wrote the words in empty space and the person who saw and understood that words existed in empty space would alone be able secretly to know and communicate with each other.

They would then cultivate and uphold the teachings, guiding sentient beings and enabling them to depart from their bonds.

“Children of the Buddha, the Buddha taught that in a past life, while still seeking the path of bodhi, he encountered three billion, three hundred and ninety-nine million, and eighty thousand Buddhas. At that time, he was a wheel-turning sage king and offered every kind of musical instrument to those Buddhas and their assemblies of disciples. Because he still perceived something to be attained, none of those Buddhas bestowed a prediction upon him.

Afterward, he encountered eight trillion, four hundred billion, and ninety thousand pratyekabuddhas and made offerings of the four requisites77 to them throughout their lives. Thereafter, he encountered 6,201,261 Buddhas. On each occasion, he was a wheel-turning sage king and offered every kind of musical instrument to them throughout their lives.

After those Buddhas entered nirvana, he also built stupas of the seven precious substances as offerings to their relics. Whenever subsequent Buddhas appeared in the world, he reverently attended them, entreated them to turn the Dharma wheel, and made offerings to them. Thus, hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of Buddhas appeared in the world.

All these Tathagatas abided in the Dharma of emptiness while teaching the characteristics of all dharmas. Because he still perceived something to be attained, he did not receive a prediction from them. This continued successively until Dipankara Buddha appeared in the world.

Upon seeing that Buddha and hearing the Dharma, he immediately realized complete patience regarding the non-arising of all dharmas. Only after attaining this patience with regard to dharmas did he receive a prediction from Dipankara Buddha. The Tathagata Dipankara abided in the Dharma of emptiness while expounding the characteristics of all dharmas and liberated immeasurable hundreds of thousands of sentient beings, yet he perceived neither an object of exposition nor anyone who was liberated.”

The World-Honored One, Shakyamuni Buddha, appeared in the world, abided in the emptiness of dharmas, and expounded teachings through written words in order to reveal, instruct, teach, and bring joyful benefit to sentient beings, all of whom received and practiced them. Yet he did not perceive that there was any revealing or instructing, nor did he perceive any sentient beings who received the teachings. One should know that the Dharma-nature and the characteristics of dharmas are ultimately empty.

The person who writes words in empty space is also empty, and the person who knows that there are words in empty space is also empty. The one who teaches the Dharma is also empty, and the one who understands the Dharma is also empty. The past has always been empty, the future is also empty, and the present is also empty.

Nevertheless, through accumulating myriad virtues, the power of skillful means, and diligent effort without indolence, bodhisattvas perfect their merit and attain unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment. This emptiness of dharmas is truly extremely difficult to penetrate and is inconceivable. While abiding in the absence of dharmas, they speak of the characteristics of dharmas; within non-attainment78, they speak of attained dharmas.

All these matters are the domain of the Buddhas and can be understood, even in small part, only through immeasurable wisdom; they cannot be fully known through conceptual deliberation.

Bodhisattvas who have newly formed the aspiration wholeheartedly revere and delight in bodhi. Through faith in the Buddha’s words, they gradually become capable of entering the domain of the Buddhas. What is called faith? Through faithful contemplation of the Four Noble Truths, they eliminate the bonds of afflictions, delusions, and erroneous views and attain arhatship. Through faithful contemplation of the twelve links of dependent origination, they extinguish ignorance, which gives rise to formations, and attain the state of a pratyekabuddha. Through faithfully cultivating the four immeasurable minds and the six paramitas, they attain unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment. This is called the Patience of Faith.

Since beginningless time, sentient beings have sunk and wandered through birth and death because of deluded thinking and attachment, without perceiving the Dharma-nature. They must first contemplate that their own bodies arise from the conjunction of the five skandhas and that “sentient being” is merely a provisional designation. Because the self is nonexistent, there is likewise no sentient being.

Why is this so? If a self truly existed, that self would necessarily be sovereign and independent. Yet sentient beings are constantly assailed by birth, aging, illness, and death and have no sovereignty or independence.

One therefore knows that there is no self. No self means that there is no agent. If there is no agent, there is likewise no recipient of experience.

The Dharma-nature is pure, abides eternally, and is just as it truly is. When this contemplation has not yet reached its consummation, it is called Conforming Patience. After bodhisattvas cultivate the Patience of Faith and Conforming Patience, they will before long accomplish the Supreme Patience with Regard to Dharmas79.

Chapter 12: Upholding Merit

Bodhisattvas who practice fully possess the mind free of characteristics, yet their minds never abide in karmic activity. This means that, regarding the characteristics of karma, bodhisattvas knowingly and deliberately engage in action. Because bodhisattvas cultivate roots of virtue and seek bodhi, they do not abandon the conditioned; because they cultivate great compassion for sentient beings, they do not abide in the unconditioned; because they seek the Buddha’s true and wondrous wisdom that knows all things, they do not abandon birth and death; and because they seek to liberate boundlessly many sentient beings without remainder, they do not abide in nirvana. These indeed are bodhisattva-mahasattvas who, with profound resolve, seek unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment.

Children of the Buddha, if bodhisattvas accomplish the following ten dharmas, they will never regress from the path of unsurpassed bodhi. What are the ten?

Bodhisattvas, with profound faith, arouse the aspiration to seek unsurpassed bodhi and teach sentient beings to arouse the same aspiration.

They always delight in seeing Buddhas and offer their precious possessions to the Buddhas in order to plant roots of virtue deeply.

Because they seek the Dharma, they respectfully make offerings to Dharma masters and never weary of hearing the Dharma.

If they see bhikshus who create a schism in the Sangha80, stirring up trouble within the two assemblies81, disputing with one another, and imputing offenses to one another, they must diligently seek every skillful means to reconcile the two sides.

If they see a land in which perversity and evil increasingly flourish and the Buddha-Dharma is on the verge of decline, they must constantly read, recite, explain, and teach the true Dharma, even if only a single verse, so that the true Dharma will not be cut off. They must single-mindedly protect the Dharma without begrudging their bodies or lives.

When they see sentient beings undergoing all manner of fear, suffering, and distress, they rescue and protect them and grant them fearlessness.

They arouse diligent effort in cultivation to seek the exceedingly profound scriptures belonging to the Vaipulya Mahayana and the Bodhisattva Treasury.

Having obtained these teachings, they must receive and uphold them, read and recite them, practice in accordance with the Dharma, and abide in accordance with the Dharma.

Having established themselves in the Dharma of the Vaipulya Mahayana and the Bodhisattva Treasury, they can encourage and guide many sentient beings, enabling them to enter this Dharma.

After sentient beings have entered this Dharma, they can explain and teach it to them, reveal and instruct them, teach and transform them, encourage them, and praise them, so that they may penetrate it.

After bodhisattvas have accomplished these ten dharmas, they will never regress from the path of unsurpassed bodhi. Bodhisattvas must practice according to the teachings and principles of this scripture. The teachings and principles of the scriptures of the Vaipulya Mahayana and the Bodhisattva Treasury are inconceivable in this way: they can give rise to all the seeds of great loving-kindness and compassion. This scripture can awaken and guide sentient beings bound by all manner of fetters, causing them to arouse the bodhi-mind. This scripture is the true cause of practice for those who aspire to bodhi. This scripture can bring all the unwavering practices of bodhisattvas to fulfillment. This scripture is kept in mind and protected by the Buddhas of the past, future, and present.

If good men or good women wish diligently to cultivate unsurpassed bodhi, they must extensively expound and propagate scriptures such as this throughout Jambudvipa, never allowing them to be cut off, so that immeasurable and boundlessly many sentient beings may hear this scripture. If good men or good women hear this scripture, they will all immediately obtain benefit, gain an inconceivable accumulation of great wisdom, and receive immeasurable karmic rewards of merit.

Why is this so? Because this scripture can open and awaken immeasurably many pure wisdom-eyes; it can cause the lineage of the Buddhas to continue without interruption; it can relieve the immeasurable suffering and distress of sentient beings; it can illuminate and destroy all ignorance, delusion, and darkness; it can vanquish the four maras82 and all demonic deeds83; it can destroy all wrong views of non-Buddhist paths; it can extinguish the great fire of afflictions; it can eliminate the causes and conditions that give rise to formations; it can eradicate the six extremely grave illnesses of sentient beings—miserliness and greed, violation of the precepts, anger, indolence, mental distraction, and delusion;

and it can eliminate karmic obstructions, retributive obstructions, obstructions to the Dharma, obstructions of afflictions, obstructions of views, obstructions of ignorance, obstructions to wisdom, and obstructions of habitual tendencies.

In brief, this scripture can utterly eliminate all unwholesome dharmas without remainder and can cause all wholesome dharmas to increase swiftly.

If good men or good women, after hearing this scripture, rejoice and delight in it and give rise to a sense of its rarity, one should know that they have previously made offerings to immeasurably many Buddhas and deeply planted roots of virtue. Why is this said? Because this scripture is precisely what the Buddhas of the three times put into practice. Therefore, practitioners who hear this scripture should rejoice within themselves, saying that they have fortunately gained a great and excellent benefit.

If anyone copies, reads, or recites this scripture, one should know that this person will receive immeasurable and boundless meritorious rewards. Why is this so? Because this scripture is the source from which boundlessly many causes and conditions arise and the place where immeasurably many great vows are brought forth, in order to embrace all sentient beings and adorn unsurpassed great bodhi. Therefore, the merit obtained is likewise immeasurable and without limit.

If anyone is able to elucidate the meaning and purport of this sutra and practice in accordance with the Dharma, then even if all Buddhas throughout asamkhya kalpas were to employ their inexhaustible wisdom to describe that person's blessed reward, they could not exhaust it. Wherever a Dharma master expounds this sutra, one should know that a stupa ought to be erected at that very place. Why is this?

Because the true Right Dharma arises from there. In whatever land, city, town, village, monastery, temple, or vihara this sutra may be found, one should know that the Dharma-body is truly present there. If anyone makes offerings of flowers, incense, music, hanging silks, banners, pennants, jeweled canopies, chants, and praises to this sutra, joining their palms and paying reverence, one should know that this person has perpetuated the lineage of the Buddha—how much more so one who fully receives and upholds this sutra.

Such people perfect the merit, wisdom, and adornments of the Dharma-body. In a future life, they will receive a prediction of Buddhahood and will assuredly attain unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment.

COMMENTARY

1. Brahma conduct: This is the conduct of the Brahma gods and has two extended meanings: conduct that severs sexual desire is called Brahma conduct, and conduct that attains nirvana is called Brahma conduct. The doctrinal enumeration associated with Brahma conduct in the first sense comprises loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity.

2. Transforming and attaining the supreme, pure, wondrous fruition: This means transforming and relinquishing the afflictive hindrances and cognitive hindrances, thereby attaining great bodhi and great nirvana. According to the Consciousness-Only school, this is the attainment of the fruition of the transformation of the basis. Once the transformation of the basis has been attained, the objective support is no longer inverted; this objective support is precisely the eighth consciousness made undefiled, called suchness freed from entanglement.

3. The grounds = the ten grounds: the Ground of Great Joy, the Ground of Freedom from Defilement, the Ground of Radiance, the Ground of Blazing Wisdom, the Ground Difficult to Conquer, the Ground of Manifest Presence, the Far-Going Ground, the Immovable Ground, the Ground of Excellent Wisdom, and the Ground of the Dharma Cloud.

4. The supramundane treasure of the Buddha: This refers to Buddha Shakyamuni, Amitabha Buddha, and all Buddhas throughout the ten directions and the three times.

5. The supramundane treasure of the Dharma: This refers to the Buddha's Right Dharma, which has the power to liberate sentient beings from the bonds of the world, such as the teachings of the Four Noble Truths, the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination, the Six Perfections, and so forth.

6. The supramundane treasure of the Sangha: This refers to the noble members of the Sangha who have escaped the bonds of the world, such as Venerable Kashyapa, Ananda, and others. Ordinary members of the Sangha remain free from defilement, meaning that whatever circumstances they live in, they are not tainted by those circumstances; they “remain pure and uphold the Way, their Brahma conduct lofty and far-reaching, extending compassion universally to all.”

7. Group established in right concentration: Noble ones from the stage of the path of seeing onward have eliminated the delusions of views and will assuredly enter cessation through discernment (nirvana); they are therefore called those of the right nature, or the group established in the right nature. Simply stated, the group established in right concentration consists of those advancing toward the state of a noble one, in contrast with the group established in wrong concentration, which consists of ordinary beings. Recollection of the group established in right concentration means aspiring to rise from the state of an ordinary being to that of a noble one and seeking to become firmly established in the resolve for enlightenment.

8. Group established in wrong concentration: If the group following the Right Dharma is called the group established in right concentration, then the group following false doctrines is called the group established in wrong concentration, while the group that has not followed either side is called the group not yet determined. Recollection of the group established in wrong concentration means keeping in mind those who have not yet aroused the resolve, have not yet entered the lineage of the Buddha, and have not yet perfumed their consciousness with suchness, with the wish to help them return to the fundamental essence of suchness.

9. Evil times: Conditions and opportunities that readily give rise to evil, and conditions and opportunities that obstruct the arising of good.

10. Giving, observance of precepts, and patience belong to the higher training in morality; meditative concentration belongs to the higher training of mind; wisdom belongs to the higher training in wisdom. Diligence encompasses the trainings in morality, mind, and wisdom.

11. Knowledge of all things: Insight that knows the totality and knows fundamental reality. The insight of shravakas is in some respects similar to this insight.

12. Mind of aspiration = bodhicitta: The mental factor of aspiration here is wholesome in nature. It is the delight in and aspiration for bodhi, serving as the motivating force for the arising of every wholesome quality. This may be described as the work of arousing the great mind and establishing great vows within the generation of bodhicitta.

13. Bind one's mindfulness to the presently appearing object: The original phrase is “maintaining mindfulness before one.” Binding mindfulness counteracts both the mind that engages objects of the past, present, and future, and the mind that engages only the presently appearing object. “At the presently appearing object” refers to the present moment, here and now—the mind being wherever the body is.

14. Evil discursive thought: Evil thoughts and views, such as sensual desire, anger, harmfulness, and so forth, which obstruct the cultivation of meditative concentration.

15. Eight liberations: The eight liberations comprise: 1. the liberation in which one possessing perceptions of internal form contemplates external forms; 2. the liberation in which one possessing no perceptions of internal form contemplates external forms; 3. the pure liberation, personally realized and fully dwelt in; 4. the liberation of the sphere of infinite space; 5. the liberation of the sphere of infinite consciousness; 6. the liberation of the sphere of nothingness; 7. the liberation of the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception; 8. the concentration of the cessation of perception and feeling, personally realized and fully dwelt in.

16. Shurangama samadhi: The ultimate and steadfast method of meditative concentration and contemplation is called Shurangama. This method is based on the Shurangama Sutra, according to which one realizes that all dharmas arise from the true essence—the mind of the tathagatagarbha—and manifest according to conditions, like illusions and magical transformations. Through the power of the Shurangama samadhi, bodhisattvas attain the four virtues of the Buddhas: permanence, bliss, self, and purity.

17. Vajra samadhi: Just as there is nothing that a vajra cannot shatter, so too there is no dharma that this samadhi cannot penetrate and comprehend. The Vajra samadhi possesses exceedingly great powers, such as: demolishing all dharmas through seeing that dharmas are impermanent, dependently arisen, and without attributes; extinguishing all afflictions and enmity and bringing all dharmas under mastery; manifesting immeasurable bodily forms throughout the lands of the ten directions; and expounding the Dharma immeasurably and without obstruction.

18. The Lotus Sutra, Chapter Seven, “The Parable of the Conjured City.”

19. Contemplation of the white bones: A contemplative practice within the contemplation of impurity, comprising nine contemplations and therefore also called the contemplation of the nine perceptions. These are: 1. a swollen corpse; 2. a decomposing corpse; 3. a corpse oozing blood and pus; 4. a putrefying corpse; 5. a corpse turned blue-black; 6. a corpse gnawed by maggots; 7. a dismembered corpse; 8. a corpse reduced to a pile of bones; 9. a corpse consumed by fire. This contemplative practice helps practitioners cease deludedly regarding the objects of the five sensual desires as beautiful and good, and enables them to awaken to and clearly understand that the human body is impure, thereby eliminating habitual tendencies of sensual craving.

20. Seclusion from sensual desire means relinquishing the cause of craving; seclusion from unwholesome dharmas means relinquishing the cause of delusion. Seclusion from sensual desire purifies bodily karma; seclusion from unwholesome dharmas purifies mental karma.

21. With initial and sustained application = with applied thought and sustained thought. Applied thought (vitkka) means striking forcefully and has the characteristic of directing the mind and placing it upon an object. Sustained thought (vicàra) is thought brought to an intensified degree and has the characteristic of continuously pressing upon and adhering closely to the object. Because the first dhyana occurs together with applied and sustained thought, it is called “with initial and sustained application,” just as one speaks of a tree possessing flowers and fruit.

22. Joy and bliss born of seclusion: Through the mental attitude of disenchantment with the impurities of the Desire Realm and the aspiration for escape (seclusion), and then through meditative concentration becoming separated from the impurities of the Desire Realm, a joyful mind arises (joy and bliss are born). “Completely secluded from sensual desire and secluded from unwholesome dharmas, one enters and abides in the first dhyana, with applied and sustained thought, and with joy and bliss born of seclusion.”

23. Without initial or sustained application = without applied thought or sustained thought: Upon emerging from the first dhyana, applied and sustained thought then appear coarse to the practitioner, while joy, bliss, and one-pointedness of mind appear tranquil. “By bringing applied and sustained thought to rest, the practitioner enters and abides in the second dhyana, with inward tranquility and one-pointedness of mind, without applied or sustained thought, and with joy and bliss born of concentration.”

24. Concentration-born rapture and bliss: The rapture of the first dhyana causes the mind to waver and must be eliminated. Although the first dhyana also possesses associated concentration, only the second dhyana truly deserves to be called concentration because it is entirely free from the agitation of initial and sustained thought.

Therefore, the second dhyana is said to be “born of concentration.” The second dhyana abandons the two factors of initial thought and sustained thought and acquires the three factors of rapture, bliss, and one-pointedness of mind. “With initial and sustained thought stilled, the practitioner enters and abides in the second dhyana, with inner serenity and one-pointedness of mind, without initial thought and without sustained thought, possessing the rapture and bliss born of concentration.”

25. Equanimous observation = abiding in equanimity (upekkha): This means observing phenomena as they occur; however phenomena occur, one sees them precisely as they are—that is, one observes impartially, without adding or subtracting anything through prejudice.

26. Mindfulness established in wisdom = mindfulness and clear comprehension. Mindfulness belongs to concentration, while clear comprehension belongs to wisdom. Mindfulness means recollecting, not forgetting, and retaining. Clear comprehension means being undisturbed, examining, and investigating. Although mindfulness and clear comprehension are also present in the first two dhyanas, they are still relatively coarse, so the mind can easily wander. Mindfulness and clear comprehension are mentioned in connection with the third dhyana because the coarse factors have been abandoned, and the subtle nature of the third dhyana requires the mind always to maintain mindfulness and clear comprehension, like a person walking upon the edge of a razor.

27. In the third dhyana of sublime bliss apart from rapture, initial and sustained thought must be stilled. Once initial and sustained thought have been abandoned, the mental rapture of the second dhyana also falls away. Apart from rapture, one abides in equanimity and obtains supreme, sublime bliss. “Apart from rapture, abiding in equanimity, mindful and clearly comprehending, experiencing bliss with the body, the practitioner enters and abides in the third dhyana, a state concerning which the noble ones have declared: one who possesses equanimity and mindfulness abides in bliss.”

28. Abandoning pain and abandoning pleasure: This is the abandonment of bodily pleasure and pain.

29. The prior disappearance of sorrow and joy: This is the abandonment of mental joy and sorrow. “Prior” means that it does not occur only at the stage of the fourth dhyana.

30. Neither painful nor pleasant: It is not painful because bodily pain is absent, and not pleasant because bodily pleasure is absent. This means that there is a third kind of feeling, distinct from pain and pleasure, which is also called equanimity. The nature of equanimity is neutral, extremely subtle, and difficult to apprehend. Equanimity is a condition leading to liberation of mind.

31. Purification of mindfulness through equanimity: The canonical wording is “equanimity and purity of mindfulness,” meaning that mindfulness in this dhyana is completely pure and that its purity is attained through equanimity. The fourth dhyana of purity of mindfulness through equanimity is described thus: “With the abandonment of pleasure and pain, and with the prior disappearance of joy and sorrow, one enters and abides in the fourth dhyana, which is neither painful nor pleasant and possesses purity of mindfulness through equanimity.”

32. The characteristic of resistance: “Resistance” means obstruction. That which is obstructed is called resistant. The obstructive characteristics here are: 1. The sphere of resistance: the six faculties, the six consciousnesses, and their associated mental factors are constrained by the five sense objects and a portion of the objects of mind; because they grasp objects, they are not free. 2. The object of resistance: it is constrained by the six consciousnesses and a portion of the objects of mind; because of the operation of taking objects as conditions for cognition, it is not free.

33. The concentration sphere of immaterial space = the concentration of the sphere of infinite space.

34. The concentration sphere of immaterial consciousness = the concentration of the sphere of infinite consciousness.

35. Nothing whatsoever: One no longer perceives consciousness, subject and object, or self and personhood, but perception still remains. As long as perception remains, delusive movement remains.

36. The concentration sphere of immaterial nothingness = the concentration of the sphere of nothingness.

37. The immaterial state of neither perception nor non-perception = the concentration of the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception.

38. The practice that accords with the Dharma = one who follows the Dharma in practice: Cultivating in reliance upon the Dharma teachings. This refers to noble practitioners of the Shravaka Vehicle on the path of seeing who possess sharp faculties, as distinguished from those of dull faculties who follow faith in practice, cultivating through faith in the instructions of others. One who follows the Dharma in practice is a person who skillfully investigates and reflects upon the teachings independently and cultivates in accordance with principle.

39. Attachment means believing only in concepts produced by erroneous cognition. “The teaching is like a raft, intended for crossing the river, not for grasping and holding onto.” (Middle Length Discourses). Here, the Dharma teachings refer to lofty spiritual attainments and pure ideas and views. Attachment even to these noble things must be relinquished, how much more so that which is contrary to the Dharma.

40. Insightful meditation: When noble arhats cultivate concentration sequentially through the four dhyana concentrations, the four immaterial concentrations, and the concentration of cessation, they must contemplate three objects of meditation: the breath, material phenomena, and mental phenomena. Thereafter, they must cultivate insightful contemplation in meditation, meaning that while cultivating this meditative concentration, they naturally penetrate and contemplate the breath, material phenomena, and mental phenomena, thereby attaining unobstructed, penetrating vision.

Cultivating this concentration enables one to realize the three knowledges and the six supernormal powers; therefore, it is called insightful. It may be rendered as: accomplishment of the three knowledges, the six supernormal powers, the samadhis, and the perfection of dhyana.

41. Karmic supernormal power: The supernormal power arising from karmic retribution, also called resultant supernormal power. Karmic supernormal power is obtained through wholesome merit and the virtues of cultivation accumulated over many previous lives. Karmic supernormal powers refer to the five supernormal powers.

42. Mental activity: Mind is mental consciousness, which changes from moment to moment and thought to thought. As the agent that produces good and evil, it is called mental activity.

43. Dharma-nature = emptiness.

44. Evil mind = deluded mind. Meditative concentration is the means of transforming delusion and returning to truth.

45. The afflictive obstruction and the cognitive obstruction: The afflictive obstruction consists of unwholesome mental states that obstruct liberation and nirvana. The cognitive obstruction is also called the obstruction of knowledge or the obstruction of what is known. What is known means all dharmas. Failure to know these dharmas, or knowing them incorrectly, is due to ignorance; therefore, ignorance is called the obstruction of what is known. Moreover, when one’s knowledge is incomplete but one complacently considers it sufficient, that very complacency obstructs complete enlightenment and is therefore also called the cognitive obstruction. Here, “knowledge” means knowledge that is not yet complete. The cognitive obstruction thus obstructs the wisdom of bodhi.

46. Sarvajnana wisdom = omniscient wisdom: the wisdom that knows the entirety and knows the fundamental essence.

47. Wholesome aspiration: The mental factor of aspiration possesses all three qualities: wholesome, unwholesome, and indeterminate. The desire that craves and seeks the five sensual pleasures is unwholesome. The aspiration that longs for and seeks bodhi and serves as the motivation for every wholesome deed is wholesome.

48. The four brahma practices = the four immeasurable minds: loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. These four states of mind are karmic practices leading to rebirth in the Brahma realm.

49. Right wisdom: 1. Fundamental wisdom, which penetrates suchness; 2. Subsequently attained wisdom, which discerns all differentiated characteristics.

50. Contemplation of impurity: This is the meticulous and exhaustive contemplation of the human body in order to perceive clearly that it is impure. There are five kinds of impurity: impurity of seed, dwelling place, intrinsic characteristics, intrinsic substance, and ultimate end.

51. The sixteen noble states of mind: These are the sixteen modes of contemplating the Four Noble Truths through which one enters the stage of the path of seeing after eliminating the delusions of views. They consist of the combination of eight uncontaminated forms of patience and eight uncontaminated forms of knowledge: 1.

Patience regarding the Dharma of suffering; 2. Knowledge of the Dharma of suffering; 3. Subsequent patience regarding suffering; 4.

Subsequent knowledge regarding suffering; 5. Patience regarding the Dharma of the origin of suffering; 6. Knowledge of the Dharma of the origin of suffering; 7.

Subsequent patience regarding the origin of suffering; 8. Subsequent knowledge regarding the origin of suffering; 9. Patience regarding the Dharma of cessation; 10.

Knowledge of the Dharma of cessation; 11. Subsequent patience regarding cessation; 12. Subsequent knowledge regarding cessation; 13.

Patience regarding the Dharma of the path; 14. Knowledge of the Dharma of the path; 15. Subsequent patience regarding the path; 16.

Subsequent knowledge regarding the path.

52. Illuminating wisdom: The three knowledges—knowledge of the divine eye, knowledge of the divine ear, and knowledge of the exhaustion of the outflows—and the three kinds of wisdom: wisdom derived from hearing, wisdom derived from reflection, and wisdom derived from cultivation.

53. Fundamental concentration and wisdom: Fundamental concentration refers to the eight fundamental concentrations, from the first dhyana through the concentration of the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception. Fundamental wisdom is original awakening, the wisdom of awakening that is inherently present; it is the essence of mind free from discrimination. It is precisely the identical Dharma-nature, equal to space and universally pervasive throughout the whole; it is the equal Dharma-body realized by all Tathagatas.

54. Because one is free from the two extremes, there is neither grasping nor relinquishing. The two extremes are seeing the internal, seeing the external, and seeing two sides.

55. According to Vasubandhu, self is the concept of an ego; sentient being is the concept of a living entity (or the concept of continuity); one who lives (lifespan) is the concept of life (or the concept of existence); and person is the concept of rebirth.

56. The principal text reads “samadhis such as emptiness,” referring to the category of the samadhis of emptiness: the samadhi of emptiness, the samadhi of signlessness, and the samadhi of wishlessness.

57. Not being reborn according to dhyana: This means being skilled in entering and emerging from concentration without attachment to the joy and bliss of meditative concentration.

58. Certainty: This means being firmly established and unchanging, one’s mind unmoved and never regressing. Through cultivating wisdom, one attains effortless certainty.

59. Conceptual proliferation: Literally, this means engaging playfully in disputes that lead to fruitless discussion. Here it refers to whatever lies within the domain of thought and description; in other words, whatever belongs to the sphere of mental activity and the course of language is conceptual proliferation. Thus, freedom from conceptual proliferation is inconceivability: the course of language is cut off and the sphere of mental activity ceases. The Sutra of the Bequeathed Teaching teaches: “Immediately abandon the conceptual proliferation that disorders the mind. If you wish to realize the joy of quiescent cessation, you must swiftly eliminate the affliction of conceptual proliferation.”

60. Freedom from all characteristics such as existence and nonexistence is called the true characteristic, because all characteristics—existence, nonexistence, and so forth—are false and deceptive.

61. Nothing practiced: Cultivation proceeds spontaneously, without deliberate intention or exertion, because Dharma-nature cannot be apprehended.

62. Wind, cold, heat, and blood: The composite of the four great elements—earth, water, fire, and wind.

63. One characteristic: This refers to true suchness, equal and without differentiation; that is, transcending discrimination and the objects of discrimination. The Tiantai school explains it as “the One Vehicle without a second, the same single liberation.” The Medicinal Herbs Parable chapter of the Lotus Sutra states: “The Tathagata teaches the Dharma of one characteristic and one flavor, namely: the characteristic of liberation, the characteristic of freedom, and the characteristic of cessation, ultimately reaching wisdom of all modes” (The Tathagata teaches the Dharma, one characteristic and one flavor, namely the characteristic of liberation, the characteristic of freedom, the characteristic of cessation, ultimately reaching wisdom of all modes).

64. Signlessness: The Maharatnakuta Sutra states: “The original nature of all dharmas is fundamentally empty. The intrinsic nature of all dharmas is the absence of intrinsic nature. If they are empty and without intrinsic nature, then all dharmas have one characteristic, which also means signlessness. Because they are signless, all dharmas are originally pure. If they are empty and without intrinsic nature, then dharmas cannot be indicated by characteristics.” This means that all dharmas lack intrinsic nature, their original nature is empty, and no form or characteristic can be apprehended; hence it is called signlessness.

65. This refers to the eighth, seventh, and sixth consciousnesses.

66. Agent: the subject that performs an action.

67. Living entity = one who lives: the subject that makes use of things.

68. Absence of nature = absence of intrinsic nature: This refers to the three absences of nature: the absence of the nature of characteristics, the absence of the nature of arising, and the absence of nature in the ultimate sense. The absence of the nature of characteristics pertains to the imagined nature of dharmas, which is established through provisional designation.

The absence of the nature of arising pertains to the other-dependent nature of dharmas, because they arise with other things as conditions and do not exist naturally on their own. The absence of nature in the ultimate sense pertains to the perfectly accomplished nature; because dharmas arise through conditions and are without self, they are said to lack intrinsic nature. Based upon these three absences of nature, the Buddha taught with implicit intent that all dharmas are entirely empty.

69. Emptiness: It is neither dual characteristics nor annihilation. Such emptiness rejects absolute nothingness, an emptiness isolated from existence, and an emptiness resulting from the annihilation of what exists. In the ordinary sense, emptiness is understood as the emptiness of self and the emptiness of dharmas, meaning that both the self and the universe are empty.

70. Non-possession = non-attainment: Wherever there are dual characteristics, there is something to be attained; where there are no dual characteristics, there is non-attainment. Non-attainment, or non-apprehensibility, is a term expressing a comprehensive reality that utterly transcends all dual characteristics, including both affirmative and negative concepts, because reality is inherently such.

71. Signlessness: Within Dharma-nature, one contemplates that dharmas cannot be apprehended.

72. Freedom from characteristics: This means being far removed from characteristics, which are the characteristics of conceptual proliferation and concepts of the two extremes.

73. Non-thought = true suchness: It transcends concepts and discrimination; the course of language is cut off and the sphere of mental activity ceases.

74. Freedom from thought: This means being free from ideas and concepts of a self, a person, a sentient being, and one who lives.

75. First, one applies one level of emptiness, emptying characteristics; hence it is called signlessness. Next, one applies two levels of emptiness, emptying signlessness; hence it is called non-thought. Finally, one applies three levels of emptiness, emptying non-thought; hence it is called transcendent emptiness or absolute emptiness, ultimate emptiness.

76. The twelve divisions of scripture: The literary forms, events, and principles in all sutras are divided into twelve categories (a division means a part, or a limb means a component). Some scriptures or volumes contain all twelve categories, while others contain only one, or anywhere up to eleven.

They are: 1. Sutra (discourse, because it accords with both truth and the dispositions of beings) is the prose form in the sutras that directly expounds the meaning of the Dharma; 2. Geya (corresponding verses or repeated verses) is a metrical form corresponding to prose passages and reiterating the Dharma previously stated; 3.

Gatha (independent verses) is a metrical form that does not follow a prose passage but independently expounds the meaning of the Dharma; 4. Nidana (causes and conditions) recounts the reasons for seeing the Buddha and hearing the Dharma, as well as the causes and conditions and locations in which the Buddha taught the Dharma and guided beings; 5. Itivuttaka (accounts of past events) consists of the Buddha recounting the past causes and conditions of his disciples; 6.

Jataka (accounts of former births) consists of the Buddha speaking about his own past causes and conditions; 7. Adbhutadharma (marvelous events) records inconceivable deeds manifested through the Buddha’s spiritual powers; 8. Avadana (illustrations) presents illustrative examples; 9.

Upadesa (doctrinal expositions) consists of questions, answers, and discussions concerning the meaning of the Dharma; 10. Udana (spontaneous utterances) consists of teachings spoken by the Buddha of his own accord, without anyone being able to ask him; 11. Vaipulya (extensive teachings) expounds precise and vast truth; 12.

Vyakarana (predictions) consists of predictions of Buddhahood bestowed upon bodhisattvas. In summary, the first three categories are classified according to literary form, while the latter nine are classified according to the events and principles expressed through those literary forms.

77. The four kinds of offerings: food, clothing, bedding, and medicine.

78. Non-attainment: having nothing to attain; it means that no real existence can be found.

79. Supreme Dharma-patience = supreme wisdom of awakening: The realization of the supreme Dharma. Patience means to endure, accept, and realize. Patience is the cause of wisdom; where patience is established, there is wisdom. The supreme Dharma is the true characteristic (= the fundamental essence of dharmas), or “the pure Dharma-nature, abiding eternally in accordance with reality.” Realizing that supreme Dharma is called supreme wisdom of awakening. To attain this wisdom is to reach the state of unsurpassed complete and perfect awakening.

80. Schism in the Sangha: This means disrupting the Sangha’s formal acts and disrupting the Sangha’s Dharma wheel. Disrupting the Sangha’s formal acts means that even when there are only four bhikshus, if one person does not join the assembly in harmony or does not gather with it, the Sangha’s formal act cannot be validly performed, and no Sangha affairs, including the recitation of the precepts, can be conducted.

Disrupting the Sangha’s Dharma wheel means that even when there are only nine bhikshus, one bhikshu comes forward to create a schism, drawing four bhikshus to his side (so as to have the requisite number of bhikshus to perform a formal act), and then independently proclaims a doctrine and establishes a separate religious community, as in the schism caused by Devadatta during the Buddha’s time. Such a schism in the Sangha destroys the Dharma.

According to Venerable Vasubandhu, the gravest class of offenses is the five offenses of immediate retribution; among them, causing a schism in the Sangha, especially disrupting the Sangha’s Dharma wheel, is the most serious, because it “injures the Buddha’s Dharma-body.” The essential nature of such schism is false speech. One who causes a schism in the Sangha must be a bhikshu; neither a layperson nor a bhikshuni can do so.

He must be one of pure conduct, not one who has violated the precepts, for the words of a precept-breaker carry no credibility. (Abhidharmakosha Treatise)

81. The two schools: These are the Sthavira school and the Mahasanghika school. More than one hundred years after the Blessed One entered nirvana, the great Buddhist Sangha began to divide into two schools: the Mahasanghika and the Sthavira.

The circumstances underlying the division into these two schools fundamentally originated with Venerable Mahakasyapa, but what provoked doctrinal controversy and division was Mahadeva’s Five Theses, which diminished the status of arhatship. These are five limitations of an arhat: 1. An arhat may still emit semen, though without any lustful thought; 2.

An arhat may still possess harmless ignorance; 3. An arhat may still harbor harmless doubt; 4. Some arhats know that they have entered the path through the assistance of others; 5.

Some attain awakening through hearing the sound of the Dharma being taught. This shows that an arhat has not yet attained Buddhahood; only Buddhahood is perfect. The Mahasanghika school subsequently divided into seven other schools, while the Sthavira school divided into eleven more, making twenty schools in all.

“The eighteen branch schools, together with the two root schools, all issued from the Mahayana; none is right, and none is wrong.” (Sutra of Manjushri’s Questions)

82. The four maras: 1. The mara of afflictions: greed, anger, delusion, and so forth, which torment body and mind; 2. The mara of the five skandhas: form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness, which torment body and mind; 3. The mara of death: the demon of death that seizes life; 4. The heavenly mara: the mara dwelling in the Heaven of Freely Enjoying Manifestations by Others, who destroys wholesome Dharma and torments those who cultivate goodness.

83. Avatamsaka Sutra: To forget the bodhicitta while cultivating wholesome dharmas is called acting under the influence of Mara.