菩提資糧論

There is yet another Master's view:

The provisions for Bodhi—

Truth, Relinquishment, Tranquility, and Wisdom—

Are gathered into four places.

Again, there was a certain Treatise Master who thought thus: All the provisions for Bodhi are gathered into the place of Truth, the place of Relinquishment, the place of Tranquility, and the place of Wisdom.

Truth is the mark of being without falsity—truth is precisely Morality. Therefore Truth is the Śīla-pāramitā.

Relinquishment is precisely giving, so relinquishment is the Dāna-pāramitā.

Tranquility is precisely the mind that is unsullied. If the mind is unsullied, then whether one receives a thing or not, the mind cannot be moved. Therefore the place of Tranquility is the Kṣānti-pāramitā and the Dhyāna-pāramitā.

The place of Wisdom is the Prajñā-pāramitā.

The Vīrya-pāramitā enters into all places, for if there were no diligence, then nothing whatsoever would be accomplished. Therefore the Vīrya-pāramitā accomplishes all things.

Therefore all the provisions enter into the four places.

Question: As the Sūtra says, by means of the provision of Loving-kindness one will attain a mind that is unobstructed, and by means of the provision of Relinquishment one severs love and hatred. Herein, what difference is there between Loving-kindness and Compassion?

Answer:

Great Compassion pierces to the bone and marrow,

Being that on which sentient beings rely,

Like a father toward his only child;

Loving-kindness then pervades them all.

If anyone enters the perilous road of birth and death, falling into the realms of the hells, hungry ghosts, and animals, caught in the net of wrong views, covered over by the dense thicket of delusion, treading the wrong road of false paths as though dumb and deaf;

seeing as escape that which is no escape, seized by the robbers of birth, old age, sickness, death, grief, and lamentation, entering the dense thicket of Māra's intent, far abandoning the intent of the Buddha—then the Bodhisattva's great compassion penetrates his own body: skin, flesh, blood, and sinews, reaching to the bone and marrow, and for the sake of these sentient beings he becomes that on which they rely, causing these sentient beings to pass beyond the evil road of perilous wilderness and placing them in the palace-city of Omniscience, free of fear.

It is like an elder who has only a single child of merit and virtue, but the child is afflicted with the suffering of illness, and his love penetrates through skin and flesh into the bone and marrow, thinking only of when the child will be cured of his illness. Compassion too is thus: it arises only toward the suffering of sentient beings.

Loving-kindness arises toward all sentient beings without distinction. Furthermore, because of Loving-kindness one attains an unobstructed mind toward sentient beings; because of Compassion one is without weariness within birth and death.

Again, Loving-kindness arises within the virtuous; Compassion arises within the non-virtuous.

Again, when the Bodhisattva, through the increase of Loving-kindness, is without attachment to his own pleasure, then Great Loving-kindness arises; when, through the increase of Compassion, he relinquishes the parts of his body and his life, then Great Compassion arises.

If one is mindful of the Buddha's merits,

Hearing of the Buddha's spiritual transformations,

With delight, receiving them in purity—

This is called great joy.

"If one is mindful of the Buddha's merits"—then what is it to be mindful of the merits of the Buddha? It means this: The Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, throughout immeasurable hundreds of thousands of kalpas, have accumulated roots of goodness; have been unsparing of the karma of body, speech, and mind; have severed doubt within the five kinds of things to be known; are without fault within the four kinds of responses to difficult questions; have transmitted and taught the thirty-seven factors aiding Bodhi; have awakened to the causes and conditions within the twelve members of dependent origination; have taught the nine kinds of doctrine; have fully possessed the four kinds of upholding; have attained the four immeasurables; have fully possessed the six pāramitās;

have spoken of the ten grounds of Bodhi; have brought to completion the five aggregates that transcend the world; have fully possessed the four fearlessnesses, the ten powers, and the eighteen exclusive dharmas; have a realm without bound; turn their own mind with sovereign mastery; have a Dharma without satiety; have attained the vajra samādhi; speak the Dharma that is without falsity; have the Dharma that cannot be destroyed; are the Honored Teachers of the world; have a crown that cannot be seen; have nothing equal to them; have none who surpass them; have a Dharma that is inconceivable; have attained great loving-kindness, great compassion, great joy, and great equanimity; have the marks of a hundred merits; have immeasurable roots of goodness; have boundless merit;

have immeasurable merit; have innumerable merit; have merit that cannot be discriminated; have rare merit; have exclusive merit.

Such things as these are called being mindful of the merits of the Buddha.

For the sake of transforming and delivering sentient beings, the Buddhas give rise to spiritual penetrations and transformative manifestations, according with the sentient beings who are fit to be transformed and delivered, according with the bodies of sentient beings, according with their measure of form—long or short, broad or narrow—according with the various differing marks of form, distinguishing each according with sound and purity; the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, with all kinds of rare spiritual penetrations, in accordance with what these beings do, in accordance with their faith and their longing, by means of all kinds of differing skillful and transformative spiritual displays, teach and transform them.

Having heard of this, one delights and receives it in purity—this is called great joy. Herein, that which is intense is called affection; the mind of affection pervading the whole body is called joy; the mind of joy, awakening and knowing bliss, is called feeling; when, feeling bliss, one is mindful of the merit of the great spiritual penetrations of the Perfectly Enlightened One, the mind is unsullied—this is called purity.

When the mind is pure and the intent of joy is full and abundant, it is called great joy. Those who have ascended that lesser portion of the vehicles, though it is also called joy, because this joy is exclusive it is called great joy.

Question: Should the Bodhisattva relinquish sentient beings or not relinquish them?

Answer:

The Bodhisattva, toward sentient beings,

Ought not to relinquish them,

But, according to the strength he can bear,

Should embrace and receive them at all times.

The Bodhisattva-mahāsattva ever thinks of the benefit and joy of sentient beings. If they are tormented by greed, hatred, and delusion, treading the path of stinginess and envy, breaking the precepts, harboring anger, slothful, of disordered mind, of evil wisdom, entering deviant roads—toward these sentient beings he ought not to relinquish them; at all times, speaking of giving, of morality, of cultivation, according to the strength he can muster, he should embrace and receive them, and ought not to cast them away.

The Bodhisattva, from the very first,

According to the strength he can bear,

With skillful means should teach sentient beings,

Causing them to enter into the Great Vehicle.

The Bodhisattva who has ascended to this Great Vehicle, among sentient beings, from the very first, should act according to his strength; as with the skillful means spoken of before in the Upāya-pāramitā, he should diligently use various skillful means to teach and transform sentient beings, placing them within this Great Vehicle.

Question: For what reason does the Bodhisattva teach and transform sentient beings only by means of the Great Vehicle, and not by means of the Śrāvaka Vehicle or the Pratyekabuddha Vehicle?

Answer:

To deliver sentient beings as many as the Ganges' sands,

Causing them to attain the fruit of Arhatship,

Is surpassed by delivering one into the Great Vehicle—

This merit is higher.

If one teaches and transforms sentient beings as numerous as the sands of the Ganges River, causing them to attain the fruit of Arhatship, the merit of the Great Vehicle surpasses the merit of teaching and transforming by the Śrāvaka Vehicle, because the seed is inexhaustible; possessing this seed, one is then able to make for other sentient beings the skillful means of the mind of Bodhi. Because it also gives rise to Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas, this merit is higher.

This merit is higher because the Great Vehicle is higher than the Śrāvaka and Pratyekabuddha vehicles. Again, this mind of Bodhi possesses immeasurable, boundless merit. Again, it is by means of the Great Vehicle that the lineage of the Three Jewels is not cut off.

Therefore, one who wishes to seek great merit must teach and transform sentient beings by means of the Great Vehicle, and not by means of another vehicle.

Question: Do the mahāsattvas indeed teach and transform sentient beings only by means of the Great Vehicle, and not by means of the Śrāvaka Vehicle or the Pratyekabuddha Vehicle?

Answer:

Teaching and transforming by means of the Śrāvaka

And likewise the Pratyekabuddha Vehicle—

Because those beings are of little strength

And cannot bear transformation by the Great Vehicle.

If sentient beings are of the middling and lower mind, abandoning the benefit of others, lacking great compassion, and cannot be taught and transformed by the Great Vehicle, then one teaches and transforms them by means of the Śrāvaka Vehicle and the Pratyekabuddha Vehicle.

Question: If there are sentient beings who cannot be taught and transformed by the three vehicles, then toward them should one relinquish or not relinquish?

Answer:

The Śrāvaka and Pratyekabuddha vehicles,

And likewise within the Great Vehicle—

Those who cannot receive transformation

Should be placed in the place of merit.

If there are sentient beings who delight in birth and death and loathe liberation, and cannot be taught and transformed by the Śrāvaka Vehicle, the Pratyekabuddha Vehicle, or the Great Vehicle, one should teach and transform them, placing them within the four Brahma practices of the Brahma Vehicle. If, again, they cannot bear the transformation of the Brahma Vehicle, one should teach and transform them, placing them in the ten good paths of action of the Deva Vehicle and in such meritorious good deeds as giving and the like, and ought not to relinquish them.

Question: If there are sentient beings who delight in the pleasures of the world and have no strength to practice with regard to these three kinds of merit, what should be done with such people?

Answer:

If a person cannot receive

Teaching toward liberation or the heavens,

Then by means of present-world benefit,

According to one's strength, one should embrace them.

If there are sentient beings who single-mindedly seek the pleasures of desire, not contemplating other lives, hastening toward the hells, hungry ghosts, and animals, who cannot be taught and transformed so as to be born in the heavens or attain liberation, one should still have compassion on them and regard them as little children, and according to what is fitting embrace them in this present life. According to one's own strength one should use giving and the like to embrace them, having compassion and not relinquishing them.

Question: If the Bodhisattva, with regard to these sentient beings who are like little children, has no skillful means by which he can embrace and transform them, what should he do with such a person?

Answer:

The Bodhisattva, toward sentient beings

For whom there is no condition for transformation,

Should give rise to great loving-kindness and compassion,

And ought not straightway to cast them away.

If the Bodhisattva, toward pitiable sentient beings who delight in evil and wrongdoing, has no skillful means he can employ to embrace and transform them, the Bodhisattva should give rise toward them to the perception of them as his children, raising up the mind of great compassion, and there is no principle by which they may be cast away.

Question: It has been said that toward sentient beings one should embrace and receive them; it is not yet known what the skillful means are.

Answer:

Embracing by giving and by expounding the Dharma,

And again by listening to the expounding of the Dharma,

And also by performing deeds that benefit them—

These are the skillful means of embracing.

The Bodhisattvas, in order to embrace and receive sentient beings, either use giving as the skillful means of embracing, or receive the giving of those beings, or expound the Dharma for them, or listen to their expounding of the Dharma, or perform what benefits them, or use loving speech, or use shared endeavor, or speak of the various sciences, or manifestly perform a vocation, or cause the sick to be cured, or rescue them from perils and calamities—such things as these are called the skillful means of embracing and transforming sentient beings. One should use these skillful means to embrace and receive sentient beings, and ought not to cast them away.

Question: By using such skillful means of embracing and receiving to embrace sentient beings, what benefit will then be accomplished?

Answer:

In benefiting sentient beings,

Without weariness, without heedlessness,

Giving rise to the vow to attain Bodhi—

Benefiting the world is precisely benefiting oneself.

Herein, the Bodhisattva makes the vow to benefit the world, giving rise to a mind such as this: Whatever is of benefit to the world, I should do it all. Having made such an oath, in his deeds toward sentient beings he is without weariness and ought not to be heedless. Again, he should think thus: If one benefits the world, this is precisely to benefit oneself. Therefore the Bodhisattva, with regard to the causes and conditions of benefiting sentient beings, ought not to cast them away.

Question: It has been said that the Bodhisattva should ever benefit sentient beings and ought not to relinquish them. With regard to the dharmas, should one relinquish or not relinquish?

Answer:

Entering the profound Dharma-realm,

Extinguishing and departing from all discriminations,

Utterly without any function,

Everywhere one is naturally relinquished.

The Dharma-realm is precisely dependent origination; therefore it was said before: Whether the Tathāgata appears or does not appear, the Dharma-nature of this Dharma-realm abides constantly. That which is called dependent origination, again, as was said before: Ānanda! Dependent origination is profound, and the realization of it is also profound; therefore the Bodhisattva enters this profound Dharma-realm and extinguishes all the two extremes, such as being and non-being.

Having embraced and received the wisdom of skillful means, he then extinguishes all the moving thoughts of discrimination and conceptual proliferation, departs from the mark of grasping, and all the activities carried on by mind, intellect, and consciousness no longer operate; even the practice of the Buddha, the practice of Bodhi, the practice of the Bodhisattva, and the practice of Nirvāṇa likewise do not operate; then the dharmas are again without function, and within the dharmas one attains quiescence. Again, the mind being quiescent, the mind being without discrimination—this is called the relinquishment of the supreme meaning. This indeed is the non-discriminating mind of the Bodhisattva.

Having spoken of supramundane relinquishment, now I shall speak of mundane relinquishment:

Gain, fame, praise, and pleasure—

To these four one is not attached;

Their opposites, too, are no hindrance—

This is what is called relinquishment.

Toward gain and support, fame and renown, praise, and ease and joy, one is not attached and bound; conversely, lack of gain, lack of fame, vilification and disgrace, and suffering also create no hindrance that would cause one to retreat. One relinquishes and departs from love and hatred and abides, and moreover does not discriminate. This is called the explanation of the second, mundane relinquishment.

Question: If the Bodhisattva, with regard to the dharmas, practices relinquishment in the supreme meaning, then since for the sake of Bodhi he is like one whose garment or head is ablaze, how is he able to engage in such striving practice?

Answer:

The Bodhisattva, for the sake of Bodhi,

Until he has reached non-retrogression,

Like one whose garment or head is ablaze,

Must engage in this striving practice.

Though with regard to the dharmas he must relinquish in this way, yet the Bodhisattva, resolutely cultivating practice like one whose garment or head is ablaze—until the Bodhisattva has attained the non-retrogression of Bodhi—should engage in striving practice. Herein the Bodhisattva has five causes and conditions of non-retrogression; this should be known.

What are the five? In sūtras such as the Flower-Heap it is said: If, on account of hearing in full the great vows of the Bodhisattva and the names of the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, or on account of vowing to be born in the land of those Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones—these are two kinds of causes and conditions. On account of upholding and expounding profound sūtras, such as the Prajñā-pāramitā, this is the third cause and condition. On account of cultivating the various samādhis directly present and rejoicing in those who attain them—this is the fourth cause and condition. These four causes and conditions are called the Bodhisattva who is non-retrogressing but has not yet attained the forbearance.

If the Bodhisattva abides in the Bodhisattva's immovable ground and has attained the forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas—this is called the ultimate, decisive non-retrogression.

Question: If, among the four kinds of causes and conditions, by any one cause and condition of non-retrogression the Bodhisattva attains non-retrogression, then the earlier statement that "like one whose garment or head is ablaze, one should engage in striving practice"—how is that established?

Answer:

Yet those Bodhisattvas,

While they are seeking Bodhi,

Ought not to cease their diligence,

Because they bear a heavy burden.

Though, among the four causes and conditions, by any one kind the Bodhisattva attains non-retrogression, yet his diligence ought not to cease and rest. Because he has spoken these words before: "I shall cause all sentient beings to attain Nirvāṇa," because he bears so great a heavy burden as this, therefore in the interval he must be diligent without ceasing.

Question: For what reason must one in the interval be diligent without being allowed to cease and rest?

Answer:

Not yet having given rise to great compassion and forbearance,

Though one has attained non-retrogression,

The Bodhisattva still has death,

Because of giving rise to heedlessness.

Among the four causes and conditions, by whichever cause and condition non-retrogression is attained, that Bodhisattva, not yet having given rise to great compassion, and until he has attained the forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas, in the interval undergoes birth and death because of heedlessness. For this reason the Bodhisattva must engage in striving practice like one whose head is ablaze. In order to attain the forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas, in the interval he is diligent without rest.

Question: Does the Bodhisattva yet have any kind of death?

Answer:

The grounds of the Śrāvaka and Pratyekabuddha—

If he enters them, that is death,

Because it severs in the Bodhisattva

The faculties of understanding and knowing.

As was said before, among the four kinds of causes and conditions, by whichever cause and condition non-retrogression is attained, this Bodhisattva, not yet having great compassion, not yet having attained the forbearance, not yet having surpassed the stations of the Śrāvaka and Pratyekabuddha, may—on account of the power of evil companions—fear the suffering of birth and death; because of undergoing birth in an intermediate interval; because during the time of the kalpa's destruction (sentient beings?) harbor anger and dislike toward the Bodhisattva and slander the true Dharma—he may lose the mind of Bodhi.

Having given rise to the mind of the Śrāvaka and Pratyekabuddha, he may then realize the liberation of the Śrāvaka and Pratyekabuddha. They sever and lose the faculty of the Bodhisattva—that is to say, great compassion. For this reason, the Bodhisattvas and the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, call this the death of "speaking and understanding."

Question: This should be considered: does the Bodhisattva fear dwelling in the hells, or fear falling into the stations of the Śrāvaka and Pratyekabuddha?

Answer:

Even should he fall into the hells,

The Bodhisattva gives rise to no fear;

The grounds of the Śrāvaka and Pratyekabuddha—

These are the great terror.

Even should the Bodhisattva be in the hells together with innumerable hundreds of thousands of sufferings, this is still not equal to the fear of falling into the stations of the Śrāvaka and Pratyekabuddha.

Question: Why is it so?

Answer:

It is not that falling into the hells

Ultimately obstructs Bodhi;

The grounds of the Śrāvaka and Pratyekabuddha

Are an ultimate obstruction.

Even should one enter the hells, with regard to the path of perfect enlightenment it cannot make an ultimate obstruction. While one is in the hells, until the evil karma is exhausted it temporarily obstructs Bodhi. But if the Bodhisattva falls into the stations of the Śrāvaka and Pratyekabuddha, then ultimately it does not arise, and so the stations of the Śrāvaka and Pratyekabuddha are an obstruction to the path of perfect enlightenment. By this principle, therefore, the Bodhisattva's entering the hells is still not as fearful as falling into the stations of the Śrāvaka and Pratyekabuddha.

Question: Fearful in what way?

Answer:

As it is said: One who delights in long life

Is terrified of being beheaded;

The grounds of the Śrāvaka and Pratyekabuddha

Are to be feared in just this way.

In the sūtra the Buddha, the World-Honored One, speaks thus. As one who delights in long life fears being beheaded, the Bodhisattva who wishes to seek Unsurpassed Bodhi fears the stations of the Śrāvaka and Pratyekabuddha in just this same way. Therefore, though the Bodhisattva enters the hells, this is still not as fearful as falling into the stations of the Śrāvaka and Pratyekabuddha.

Question: It has been said that, not yet having attained the forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas, the Bodhisattva is obstructed in the Dharma. How does this Bodhisattva attain the forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas?

Answer:

Neither arising nor ceasing,

Nor non-arising and non-ceasing;

Neither exhausted nor non-exhausted,

Neither empty nor non-empty—likewise.

Herein the Bodhisattva, when he contemplates dependent origination, thinks thus: The dharmas of dependent origination are merely designations; as within non-arising there is arising, the self-essence of arising is not established. Because the self-essence is not established, arising therefore does not exist. If the self-essence of arising does not exist, its ceasing—the two of them—both alike are without essential nature.

As with arising and ceasing, so too with non-arising and non-ceasing—the two of them—both alike are without essential nature. Among the two kinds, arising and ceasing, arising does not arise and ceasing too does not cease; nor are they opposed to one another, and so it is also not so. As Being is without self-essence, so likewise the non-empty and the non-non-empty are also thus.

Question: If one thinks thus: Because of dependent origination the dharmas are without self-essence—then for what reason does one think thus: There is also no dharma of dependent origination?

Answer:

With regard to whatever dharma there is,

Therein one contemplates without being moved—

This is the forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas,

Because it severs all discriminations.

Thus the Bodhisattva contemplates dependent origination as it truly is and departs from the view that dharmas have self-essence. Because he departs from the view that dharmas have self-essence, he then severs the grasping of the self-essence of dharmas. When he has severed the self-essence of dharmas, he thinks thus: It is not that there are no inner and outer dharmas, but that the dharmas are without self-essence.

Though there are dharmas of dependent origination, they are only like a bundle of reeds, like an illusion or a dream. If a dharma arises from conditions, its self-essence does not arise. Having contemplated thus, no śramaṇas or brāhmaṇas can move him.

Yet he does not grasp at realization. Because he delights in contemplating the non-arising of dharmas, because he severs all discriminations, it is called the forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas. This Bodhisattva then gives rise to the Bodhisattva's immovable ground.

A verse says:

Having attained this forbearance,

Right then he receives the prediction:

You shall surely become a Buddha.

Then he attains non-retrogression.

Having attained this forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas, then at the very moment of attaining—not before, not after—the Buddhas, directly present, give the prediction that he will become a Buddha: You, in the future, in such a kalpa, in such a world, shall become such a Tathāgata, Worthy of Offerings, Perfectly and Universally Enlightened. This is called the non-retrogressing Bodhisattva.

Question: The Bodhisattvas who abide from the First Ground through the Seventh Ground are all decisively bound for Saṃbodhi; for what reason are they not said to be non-retrogressing, and only the Bodhisattva of the immovable ground is said to be non-retrogressing?

Answer:

The Bodhisattvas who have abided in the immovable

Attain the Dharma of suchness, the non-retrogressing wisdom;

This wisdom the Two Vehicles cannot turn back,

And so they alone obtain the name "non-retrogressing."

This means that there are supramundane roots of goodness such as Faith and the like; the Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas, and even Bodhisattvas of the seventh ground, cannot obstruct them so as to cause them to retrogress, and so they are called non-retrogressing—it is not that the other ten kinds of Bodhisattvas are non-retrogressing with regard to Saṃbodhi within the dharmas.

Having spoken of the causes and conditions of non-retrogression, herein one also attains a superior prediction. In the Great Vehicle four kinds of prediction are spoken of: the prediction when one has not yet given rise to the mind of Bodhi, the prediction at the same moment as giving rise to the mind of Bodhi, the hidden prediction, and the directly present prediction—these are the four kinds of prediction.

Herein, the prediction when one has not yet given rise to the mind of Bodhi is: This person's faculties are sharp and keen, and he is fully endowed with superior faith; the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, with the unobstructed eye of a Buddha, observe him and then bestow the prediction.

The prediction at the same moment as giving rise to the mind of Bodhi is: He has accomplished roots of goodness, has previously cultivated and planted the seed of Bodhi, and those roots of goodness are intense and sharp; he has attained superior cultivation and practice, wishing only to liberate sentient beings, and so at the very moment of giving rise to the mind he enters non-retrogression, does not fall away from the Dharma, and departs from the eight unleisurely conditions (the Eight Difficulties, that is).

This person may himself hear the prediction and then, with regard to the Six Perfections, not give rise to diligence; whereas if he did not hear it he would give rise to further diligence; therefore, in order that he not hear it—wishing instead to cause others to hear that prediction, and in order to sever the mind of doubt—the Buddha uses his majestic spiritual power to conceal the prediction.

If a Bodhisattva matures the five supramundane faculties, attains the forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas, and abides in the Bodhisattva's immovable ground, he then attains the directly present prediction.

These are the four kinds of prediction. Because those Bodhisattvas attain the forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas and are thus decisively settled, the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, bestow the directly present prediction.

Again, there is separately a prediction of hidden intent—this is the fifth kind of prediction. As the Lotus Sūtra says:

We all rejoice together

In the Great Sage's words of hidden intent,

As at the prediction of the holy one,

The Fearless Śāriputra.

We too shall attain

the supreme state of Buddhahood,

And again with words of hidden intent

He speaks of unsurpassed perfect enlightenment.

For what meaning are these separate words of prediction spoken? A certain Treatise Master says: In order to cause those who have not yet been decisively settled in the Śrāvaka Vehicle to give rise to the mind of Bodhi.

Again, those who have given rise to the mind of Bodhi—Bodhisattvas beginning their endeavor—fearing the suffering of cyclic existence, may wish, in the Nirvāṇa of the Śrāvaka, to grasp at extinction and crossing-over; in order to cause their mind of Bodhi to become firm.

Again, there are Bodhisattvas from other Buddha-lands gathered here; at the time of the prediction, on account of a similar name, the prediction is bestowed for their sake.

The Masters discriminate the special words of prediction in such ways; yet the true meaning therein only the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, are able to know.

The Bodhisattva, until he attains

The Buddhas appearing before him,

The firm samādhi—

Ought not to give rise to heedlessness.

Having attained the samādhi in which the Buddhas are directly present, he abides; that is to say, the present Buddhas appear before the one who abides in samādhi.

Samādhi is abiding in equipoise. Until the Bodhisattva has attained this samādhi, in that interval he may not be heedless. For a Bodhisattva who has not yet attained samādhi may fall into the evil realms, because he has not yet departed from the "unleisurely." Therefore, until he has attained this samādhi, he may not be heedless. If he attains the samādhi, then he is liberated from all fears.

This samādhi is of three kinds: that which has form as its object, that which has dharmas as its object, and that which is without object.

Herein, if one takes as object the bodily form and the well-adorned marks of the Tathāgata and is mindful of the Buddha—this is the samādhi having form as its object.

If, again, one takes as object the ten names, the body's ten powers, the fearlessnesses, the exclusive Buddha-dharmas, and the immeasurable merits of the Buddha, and is mindful of the Buddha—this is called the samādhi having dharmas as its object.

If, again, one does not take form as object, does not take dharmas as object, and likewise does not direct the attention to be mindful of the Buddha, and there is also nothing attained—the samādhi of Emptiness, departed far from all marks—this is called the samādhi without object.

Herein, the Bodhisattva who first gives rise to the mind, having attained the samādhi having form as its object, proceeds to enter the practice of taking dharmas as object, and attains the forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas—this is being without object. These are called decisive, because of sovereign mastery.

The Buddhas appearing before him,

The firm samādhi—

This is the Father of the Bodhisattva;

Great compassion and forbearance are the Mother.

The samādhi spoken of there is: In samādhi, the Buddha is directly present; because it embraces the merit of the Bodhisattvas and the merit of the Buddhas—therefore it is called the Father of the Bodhisattva.

Great compassion is: Within the flowing of birth and death, because one gives rise to no weariness, and again, at the perilous abyss of the grounds of the Śrāvaka and Pratyekabuddha, it protects and guards so that one does not follow them—therefore it is called the Mother.

Forbearance is: The Bodhisattva who has attained forbearance, within the suffering of the flowing of birth and death and amid evil sentient beings, does not loathe the flowing, does not relinquish sentient beings and Bodhi, because he gives rise to no loathing. Therefore this forbearance is the Mother of the Bodhisattvas.

There is also another verse:

The Perfection of Wisdom is the Mother,

Skillful means is the Father;

Having given birth and having upheld,

They are called the Father and Mother of the Bodhisattva.

Because the Prajñā-pāramitā gives birth to the dharmas of the Bodhisattva, the Buddha says the Prajñā-pāramitā is the Mother of the Bodhisattva. The dharmas of the Bodhisattva, having been born from the Prajñā-pāramitā, are upheld and maintained by skillful means, so that they do not tend toward the perilous abyss of the grounds of the Śrāvaka and Pratyekabuddha. Because of this upholding of Bodhi, skillful means is the Father of the Bodhisattva.

Question: With how much merit does the Bodhisattva accept that he is able to attain Bodhi?

Answer:

Accumulating but a little merit,

One cannot attain Bodhi;

A measure of merit greater than

A hundred Sumerus—only thus is it attained.

Bodhi is the knowledge of Omniscience. That knowledge, being one with Emptiness, should be known as equal; it should be known as equal to empty space, and because empty space is boundless, it should therefore be known to be boundless as well. With limited merit one cannot attain limitless knowledge. Therefore, accumulating but a little merit, one cannot attain Bodhi. How is it attained? Only when a measure of merit amounting to the gathering of a hundred Mount Sumerus is attained can one then attain Bodhi.