入大乘論

Chapter One: Treatise on Entering the Mahayana

Now, wishing to enter deeply into the meaning of the Mahayana,

It is asked:

– Why is it called the meaning of entering the Mahayana?

It is answered:

– For the sake of sentient beings, I wish to clarify the causes and conditions of suffering. Therefore, you should know this: “If a person associates with evil spiritual friends; mistakenly conceives and clings to extremes regarding the Dharma because of evil deeds; becomes attached to wrong views; thinks in an inverted manner; fails to understand the true meaning; does not accord with the wisdom of the Buddha; and slanders the words of the noble ones, then one who slanders the words of the noble ones thereby destroys the True Dharma. One who causes the True Dharma to be destroyed will incur a great retributive offense, as the Blessed One often taught: ‘The offense of slander is exceedingly grave, like the five heinous offenses. One falls into the dark evil destinies and continually undergoes painful retribution,’ as stated in the following verses:

Whoever slanders the Mahayana Dharma

Will certainly fall into an evil realm.

That person receives karmic retribution;

Thus have the wise declared.

Fallen into the hells,

Fierce flames consume that person’s body.

The burning brings excruciating pain,

Arising from karmic retribution.

Scorched by fire, a great iron plow

Is drawn a full five hundred times,

Plowing across that person’s tongue;

The body suffers immeasurable pain.

Even upon emerging from hell,

That person receives other evil retributions.

The faculties are always coarse and defective,

And one cannot hear the sound of the Dharma.

If such a person should hear it,

Slander arises.

Because of the causes and conditions of slander,

One must fall into hell.

When sentient beings hear the Dharma yet slander it and speak in this manner, they immediately give rise to doubt concerning the Mahayana. As the Venerable Deva said in verse:

That person’s merit is meager

If doubt does not arise.

One who is able to give rise to doubt

Will surely demolish all falsehoods.

If a person has doubts, that person should listen to the Dharma. Having heard it and received an explanation, that person will immediately awaken. Having awakened, that person will give rise to faith.

Having given rise to faith, that person will give rise to joyful delight. Having given rise to joyful delight, one proceeds successively in this manner, listening and reflecting until the wisdom of all modes is fully attained. Because of slandering the Mahayana, one falls into the evil destinies.

Yet it is also from the Mahayana that all wholesome karma arises. It is like a person returning to the earth and, relying upon the earth, rising again. Furthermore, through wisdom, a person then reaches bodhi.

If sentient beings can all attain it in this way, then apart from sentient beings, the path to bodhi cannot be reached. From the world of sentient beings arise all Buddhas and awakening, as the Venerable Nagarjuna said in verse:

It does not come from empty space,

Nor does it arise from the earth.

While always abiding amid the afflictions,

Bodhi is realized and attained.

It is asked:

– You say that you wish to enter the Mahayana Dharma. What qualities must it possess to be called the Mahayana?

It is answered:

– The Bodhisattva Pitaka is called the Mahayana.

It is asked:

– But did the Buddha not teach the Three Vehicles, without teaching the Mahayana?

It is answered:

– It is so. Within the Mahayana, the Three Vehicles are also taught; hence it is called the Tripitaka. As stated in the Bodhisattva Sutra Pitaka, the Buddha told King Ajatashatru:

– There are three kinds of children within the lineage. What are the three? They are:

? The Shravaka Pitaka,

? The Pratyekabuddha Pitaka, and

? The Bodhisattva Pitaka.

Kulaputra—good man—there is no separate Shravaka Vehicle, yet it is called one of the three pitakas. Nor is there a separate Pratyekabuddha Vehicle, yet it is called one of the three pitakas. Only bodhisattvas study the Mahayana method, which is called the Tripitaka. Why is this?

– Whoever expounds the Dharma must fully encompass the Three Vehicles; therefore it is called the Tripitaka. When bodhisattvas expound the Dharma, they are able to encompass all Three Vehicles. Therefore, I call it the Tripitaka.

– Good man, there are three kinds of trainees:

Those who train in the Shravaka path, those who train in the Pratyekabuddha path, and those who train in the bodhisattva path.

Those who train in the Shravaka Vehicle do not train in the Pratyekabuddha Vehicle. Why is this?

– Because they cannot understand it.

Those who train in the Pratyekabuddha Vehicle do not train in the Bodhisattva Vehicle. Why is this?

– Because they cannot understand it.

Good man, only bodhisattvas, though they study the Shravaka and Pratyekabuddha Vehicles, do not realize or enter the paths of the shravakas and pratyekabuddhas. They study the Bodhisattva Vehicle, enter deeply into the wisdom of bodhisattvas, practice that Dharma, and always joyfully accord with it. Therefore, this is its meaning: the Bodhisattva Vehicle is called the Tripitaka.

This designation does not apply to the Shravaka and Pratyekabuddha Vehicles. This is clearly distinguished throughout the scriptures. Therefore, I now speak of it briefly so that you may understand the meaning of the Tripitaka.

You should now know: the Ekottara Agama, Madhyama Agama, Dirgha Agama, and Samyukta Agama, comprising as many as hundreds of thousands of verses, are called one pitaka. The Vinaya and Abhidharma, comprising two hundred thousand verses, are called the second pitaka. The study and cultivation of all teachings are called the third pitaka.

If explained in this way, however, it should not be called the Tripitaka. Why is this? Because it would imply that the other sutras were not spoken by the Buddha.

Beyond those works, the Agamas, Vinaya, Abhidharma, and so forth also constitute the Tripitaka. There are also the Miscellaneous Pitaka, the Shatoula Sutra, the Embryo Sutra, the Birth Story of King Chen, and the causes and conditions of pratyekabuddhas. In this way, there are eighty-four thousand Dharma pitakas.

The Venerable Ananda received them from the Buddha. All of these, without exception, fall within the Buddha’s teachings.

Even those outside the categories mentioned above should all be understood as having been spoken by the Buddha. Therefore, it is said that all are pitakas. This would mean that there are hundreds of thousands of pitakas. Yet I tell you that there are Three Pitakas. Thus, this expression defeats itself. Moreover, not all of them were received and preserved by the Venerable Ananda.

Twenty years after the Buddha attained the Way, he himself said within the Sangha:

– I am now advanced in years and should have someone to assist me. If there is someone who would serve as my attendant—

After he had spoken these words, the assembly reached an accord and appointed Venerable Ananda as the Buddha’s attendant. Ananda then said to his fellow practitioners of the holy life:

– The Tathagata has eighty-four thousand Dharma gates, and I am now able to receive and retain them. Yet during the preceding twenty years, there were two bhikshus who were able to receive and retain the teachings but could not completely understand their meaning. Therefore, although Ananda later received and retained them, he could not be called foremost in learning concerning that earlier period, for when the Buddha spoke, Ananda truly could not receive those teachings. As stated in the Madhyama Agama, in the words of Shakra, Lord of the Devas, and of the Venerable Uttara:

Through my knowledge of others’ minds, I examined all sentient beings in Jambudvipa, and none could receive and retain the Buddha’s Dharma except the Venerable Ananda. No one else was capable of doing so. From these causes and conditions, it should be understood that even Ananda could not receive and retain the entirety of the Buddha’s Dharma.

The shravaka disciples, including Ananda, were not Dharma vessels capable of receiving the Mahayana sutras when these were extensively proclaimed. For example, when the Buddha expounded the Shurangama Sutra for the deva prince Pure Moon Treasury, although Ananda retained it, he did not fully understand its words. And there were very many teachings he could not receive and retain.

I now know that, of the Dharma in hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of parts, not even one part has been spoken. Ananda, of my Dharma in hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of parts, has not retained even one part.”

Good man! Within the span of a single day and night, Brahmas, Shakras, the Four Heavenly Kings, devas, nagas, yakshas, gandharvas, and bodhisattvas from worlds throughout the ten directions all assemble before me. For their sake, I expound the wisdom contained in the sutras, verses, chapters, and passages; the practices by which sentient beings cultivate the paramitas; and even the vehicles of the shravakas and pratyekabuddhas, the abandonment of samsara, the praise of nirvana, and the perfection of all the paramitas.

Thus, for the sake of the sons of the devas, I extensively expound the various Dharmas within a single day and night. Suppose that as many persons as there are motes of dust in Jambudvipa were all as learned and wise as Ananda: even if they spent a whole day and night, they could not retain even one part in a hundred thousand kotis of what was taught. Moreover, suppose that as many persons as there are motes of dust in worlds throughout the ten directions were all like Ananda: even they could not receive and retain all such teachings.

It is stated throughout all the scriptures:

Ananda is not a vessel of Dharma capable of receiving everything. From this meaning, it should be understood that Ananda could not receive and retain all the Buddha’s Dharmas.

It is asked:

– Did not the Tathagata, the Blessed One, declare Ananda foremost in learning?

It is answered:

– Among the assembly of shravakas, the Buddha provisionally declared Ananda to be foremost; he was not foremost among bodhisattvas. Furthermore, you also know that Ananda did not hear and retain everything, much less the complete and profound meaning of the Mahayana. To infer from this that the Shravaka Vehicle is identical in meaning to the Mahayana is incorrect. Why is this so? Because their causes and fruits differ. If the cause of the Shravaka Vehicle did not differ from the cause of the Mahayana, their fruits would likewise not differ. Since their present fruits differ, it should be understood that their causes also differ. Why? Those training in the Shravaka Vehicle sever the obstructions of the fetters, constantly contemplate impermanence, and hear the Dharma from others. Bodhisattvas, however, sever subtle ignorance and all habitual defilements; by means of emptiness, they contemplate all dharmas and, without obtaining their knowledge by hearing it from others, attain spontaneous wisdom and wisdom without a teacher. Therefore, this is the meaning. It should be understood that it is not the case that the Shravaka Vehicle is identical in meaning to the Mahayana.

It is asked:

– Did the Buddha not say that there is no difference in liberation?

It is answered:

– When a shravaka attains liberation, can Mount Sumeru and everything else turn toward the place of enlightenment and bow down? Can light shine throughout worlds in the ten directions for eighty yojanas? Must all the hosts of Mara come there? When a bodhisattva attains liberation, however, it is as described above. Thus, although the Buddhist scriptures say that the characteristic of liberation does not differ, in truth the great and the small each possess their own distinctive qualities. It is like the emptiness within the tooth of an insect and the emptiness within a mustard seed: neither contains anything. Although both are called empty, their emptiness is not equal to the emptiness throughout worlds in the ten directions. Emptiness itself does not differ, yet there are differences of magnitude. Although great and small differ in this way, it is also like comparing the glow of a flame with the radiance of the sun and moon; like comparing a mosquito with the garuda; and like the case of the bhikshu Baluozhi. The Buddha spoke this verse in the Jataka:

Of all forms of radiance,

Some resemble flashes of lightning;

The stars and moon shine differently,

But sunlight is foremost.

Among creatures that fly and run

Are mosquitoes, ants, and bees;

How could their flight be compared?

They are nothing like the garuda.

Therefore, although their characteristics may bear some resemblance, whether lesser or greater, each possesses distinctive qualities. It should be understood that, because their causes and conditions differ, how could their fruits be the same? You say that liberation is without distinction, but examine the reality: their liberations are not the same.

The liberation of a shravaka means liberation through the complete exhaustion of craving; it is not liberation from everything. It is provisionally distinguished and taught only for dull-witted sentient beings of little wisdom. Mahayana liberation, however, requires the abandonment of all afflictions and habitual defilements.

All such things must be utterly extinguished. It is extensively distinguished and taught for sharp-facultied bodhisattvas, just as I am now explaining it to you. If the liberation of the shravaka were itself the liberation of the Mahayana, it would follow that the Tathagata does not possess wisdom of all modes and could be surpassed.

Once, when the Tathagata was slightly ill, he instructed the Venerable Maudgalyayana to go to Jivaka’s house to obtain medicine. Yet Jivaka had died seven days earlier and had been reborn in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. Maudgalyayana therefore went to that heaven.

At that time, Jivaka invited him into the rear garden and asked:

– What medicine should be used for the Tathagata’s illness?

He answered:

– Clarified butter should be used.

The Tathagata’s body is like vajra, and all evils have been utterly extinguished. How could he be ill and need to ask Jivaka?

The bhikshu Bakkula, ninety kalpas ago, gave a single medicinal fruit to a practitioner of pure conduct. Throughout the intervening ninety kalpas, his body was never afflicted by illness; even when, in his final body, he reached the age of eighty, he had never suffered even a minor illness. Merely because he had given a single small mango, that cause and condition enabled him always to remain free from illness. How much more so the Tathagata, who throughout countless hundreds of thousands of myriads of asamkhyeya kalpas perfected generosity and lacked none of its merits, even giving his limbs, head, brain, blood, and flesh to the sick! With such causes and conditions, how could he become ill?

As is often stated in the sutras, the Tathagata appears as though he were not omniscient. The Tathagata also entered a city to seek alms and returned with an empty bowl in order to bring Devadatta into the monastic life. As stated in the Sutra of the Withered Tree, a great mass of fire had gathered.

At that time, some among the bhikshus became discouraged, for he wished to liberate Ashvajit and Punarvasu. Many people reviled him, including the brahmin Duolai Shezuojia and the Nirgrantha Sundari; and for ninety days he had to eat horse fodder. Maudgalyayana and Shariputra went elsewhere.

All such events were said to have occurred because of residual karmic power. Yet this is not actually so. Why?

The Tathagata had utterly extinguished all evil deeds and perfected all immeasurable merits. If any evil karma remained, he would have had to overcome it all. Have you not heard it said in the sutras:

– Has not the Tathagata forever eradicated all afflictions, fetters, and habitual tendencies? Matanga had abandoned them all and spoke this verse of praise:

All fetters and habits are exhausted;

He acts solely to save the world.

He possesses every kind of wisdom;

His merits are entirely perfected.

There are three kinds of habitual tendencies: karmic habits, habits of affliction, and habits of deportment. The Tathagata has forever abandoned all three kinds. For this reason, if residual karma remained, he would have had to overcome it.

You should now understand that these manifestations were skillful means. Nor were they without a cause. Why is this so?

As I previously explained to you, the Buddha’s body truly exists; therefore, it cannot simply be called a skillful means, nor is it merely a manifested transformation body. In which sutra have you heard skillful means or responsive transformations explained in this way? You have also heard that, although the sutras do not speak of the final body or distinguish the Dharma body from the responsive transformation body of skillful means, I taught in the Sutra of the Ten Stages that the Dharma body is distinguished from and is not the same as the responsive transformation body of skillful means.

Therefore, the Mahayana sutras state:

– The Buddha possesses Omniscient Wisdom, beyond which there is nothing further. Now, if within the Lesser Vehicle you speak of Omniscient Wisdom, the meaning of the Great Vehicle is thereby lost. This would mean that the Shravaka Vehicle is itself the Great Vehicle, but this cannot be so. There is a very great distinction between the Great Vehicle and the Shravaka Vehicle. You should know that the Great Vehicle is revealed within the Shravaka Vehicle. Nor is this without reason. Why is this? Because their principles and characteristics differ. The Shravaka Vehicle is the vehicle of those who hear that Dharma; it is the vehicle of the great sages, through whom the lineage of the Three Jewels has not yet been entirely extinguished. It is like a vaidurya jewel: even when damaged, it does not cease to differ in substance from crystal. Therefore, you should know that the Great Vehicle is exceedingly profound and wondrous. Its aspiration is vast, and bodhisattva-mahasattvas cultivate and study it progressively, beginning with the first bhumi and thereafter proceeding to the tenth bhumi, perfecting all meritorious qualities, wisdom, and deeds. Therefore, the Buddha called it the Great Vehicle.

If one proceeds from the Shravaka Vehicle to the Great Vehicle, there is the principle whereby bodhisattvas cultivate and study the Ten Bhumis and perfect all the paramitas. Thus, it can give rise to the wholesome dharmas of the Three Vehicles. As stated in the Sutra of the Ten Bhumis, Bodhisattva Vajragarbha said to Bodhisattva Vimukticandra:

– O Son of the Buddha! It is like clauses and written characters, which begin with the basic letters. All written characters arise from those fundamental letters. So too, O Son of the Buddha, all Buddha-Dharmas are likewise. They begin from this bhumi, and from this very bhumi one ultimately attains Natural Wisdom. Therefore, the Great Vehicle is called exceedingly profound. It transcends all the meritorious qualities of the shravakas. The Lesser Vehicle cannot transcend the Great Vehicle.

The Buddha said: The Ten Bhumis are like gold and silver, complete and without loss. Why, then, is this not accepted?

– Through the power of loving-kindness and compassion, the Tathagata uproots ignorance entirely. When the Shravaka Vehicle was taught, you believed and accepted it, then clung to your own one-sided view and followed the doctrines of the Lesser Vehicle, refusing to believe that the Great Vehicle is an impartial and authentic teaching. For this reason, you should know that the Buddha taught the Great Vehicle as supreme and wondrous.

It is asked:

– The World-Honored One formerly said: “After my nirvana, in future ages, many beings will raise disputes, saying, ‘The Buddha did not teach this.’” Therefore, the Tathagata authenticated the teachings with the Dharma Seal. If a meaning accords with the sutras, conforms to the Vinaya, and does not contradict the characteristics of the Dharma, is it then the Buddha’s teaching?

The answer is:

– The Buddha did not say that the Shravaka Vehicle was not taught by me; the same is also true of the Bodhisattva Vehicle. The Buddha’s teachings are not different. All are one, authenticated by the Dharma. Now you say that the meaning of the sutras is found in their written words. Yet if it were present in the written words, in truth it would have no fixed place. Why is this? In the twelve divisions of the canon, all the written verses, passages, and clauses differ. Therefore, you should know that no fixed wording is present therein. If the meaning were contained therein, their principles would not correspond. If a meaning accords in practice with the meaning of the sutras and corresponds with the characteristics of the Dharma, that meaning will become manifest. Therefore, it is said to accord with the sutras. If the Dharma of the shravakas is revealed, it is called the Shravaka Vehicle, in accordance with the meaning of the sutras. If the Dharma of the pratyekabuddhas is revealed, it is called the Pratyekabuddha Vehicle, in accordance with the sutras. If the Dharma of the bodhisattvas is revealed, it is called the Bodhisattva Vehicle, in accordance with the sutras. If I reveal the meritorious qualities of the Ten Bhumis and make clear the practices of bodhisattvas, it is called true teaching, in accordance with the Great Vehicle.

If your mind fully enters either the Tripitaka of the Lesser Vehicle or the Tripitaka of the Great Vehicle, I call this entrance. Therefore, that Tripitaka is itself the Great Vehicle. Why is this?

Within the twelve divisions of the canon, the Buddha gave an abbreviated teaching of the Vinaya; therefore, it is called the Great Vehicle, as stated in the Agamas. Who is a bhikshu? One who knows the Dharma and can understand the twelve divisions of the canon, from Sutra through Upadesha. The Buddha’s abbreviated teaching of the Vinaya is the Great Vehicle. Why is this?

The Buddha taught the Sutras and Vinaya in summary, expounding practices for beings to counteract the various dharmas; therefore, this is called Vaipulya, the Extensive Sutras. It is also called the Manifold Vehicle, another name for Vaipulya, the Extensive Sutras. It is also called Fully Endowed with Manifold Adornments, another name for Vaipulya, the Extensive Sutras.

Moreover, because it can produce immeasurably great fruits and recompenses, it is called Vaipulya, the Extensive Sutras, whose extent cannot be known through enumeration. Because it eliminates all wrong views, it is called Vaipulya, the Extensive Sutras. If, according to your understanding of my Shravaka Dharma, an extensive exposition of the verses, passages, and clauses of the sutras is also called Vaipulya, the Extensive Sutras, this claim has no basis whatsoever.

Why is this? Because you rely upon the teachings of the Agamas to define Vaipulya, the Extensive Sutras. That is merely a verbal assertion, and such words are difficult to believe.

If this meaning is necessarily contained in the Agama sutras, then in which passage or clause was it taught for the shravakas and called Vaipulya, the Extensive Sutras? If there is no definitive text, you should know that Vaipulya, the Extensive Sutras, reveals the Dharma of the Great Vehicle and cannot be identified with the Lesser Shravaka Vehicle.

You may hear a single Shravaka sutra containing fewer than a hundred thousand verses and passages of praise, much less hundreds of millions in extensive exposition. The Tathagata, the World-Honored One, instructed the shravakas by revealing impermanence, enabling them to escape birth and death. They were to understand that this is the root of suffering and to seek nirvana apart from it; such was the teaching from the beginning.

Even where they upheld and practiced passages of profound meaning, their meaning was not profound and vast. The Great Vehicle sutras teach that bodhisattvas undertake these profound and vast practices, as in the Sutra of Parables, the Sutra of the Samadhi of the Auspicious Kalpa, the Sutra of Liberation, the Sutra of the Flower Hand, and others. All are Great Vehicle scriptures, and all are called Vaipulya, the Extensive Sutras.

As stated in the Sutra of the Assemblage of Liberation, when the Youth Sudhana visited the good spiritual friends, he came to Bhikshu Sagaradhvaja. For twelve years, Sagaradhvaja remained absorbed in the Ocean Samadhi. Sudhana addressed him, saying:

– Within this vast and boundless samadhi, does this great Dharma gateway contain samadhi?

After these words were spoken, from within the Ocean Samadhi a great lotus appeared, and a Buddha manifested from it. The Buddha then extended his right hand and stroked Sagaradhvaja’s head. Sagaradhvaja praised Sudhana, saying:

– Excellent, excellent, good man! Here is the Dharma Gateway of the Universal Eye. You should receive and uphold it.

Sagaradhvaja then received the passages of the Dharma Gateway of the Universal Eye and expounded them extensively. He said to the Youth Sudhana:

– Good Man! In but a single kshana, I am able to receive and uphold the Dharma-Gate of the Universal Eye. Even if all the water in the great ocean were used to grind ink, if writing paper were piled as high as Mount Sumeru, if all the plants and trees beneath heaven were made into brushes, and if all beings on land and in water throughout the three-thousandfold world-system were scribes, they could record in the space of a kshana only what is contained within this Dharma-Gate. Of its hundreds of thousands of parts, they could not fully know even one part, much less, in one day and one night or even in twelve years, receive and uphold its profound, immeasurable, boundless sections of essential and great meaning. After Sudhana the Youth had once heard this Dharma-Gate from a single good spiritual friend, he was able to pass through immeasurable and boundless hundreds of millions of celestial realms. How much more so when he inquired into the teachings upheld by the Buddhas and good spiritual friends in worlds as numerous as motes of dust! For this reason, the complete Mahayana is called Vaipulya, the Extensive Scriptures. It is immeasurable and boundless and does not belong to the sravakas. Because its meaning is exceedingly profound, all sravakas who cultivate its Dharma practices will enter the path of the Mahayana, the supreme path. This is called accord with the meaning of the Sutras.

I shall now speak of accord with the Vinaya. The holy paths of the Three Vehicles are alike in eliminating greed, hatred, and delusion. This is called Vinaya. Sutra means the discernment of cause and effect. Abhidharma discerns the characteristics of dharmas. It also carries the meaning of eliminating afflictions. The Mahayana likewise teaches the elimination of greed, hatred, delusion, afflictions, and all evil dharmas.

The Buddha taught that when sravakas purify the three kinds of karma, this is called Vinaya. For bodhisattvas, he taught the purification of the three kinds of karma until they attain Buddhahood and, together with sentient beings, perfect all the sila-paramita, the perfection of morality. Bodhisattvas are able to uphold the precepts of intrinsic nature, give rise to the mind of bodhi, and realize the true fruit. Therefore, one should know that this is the Mahayana, which accords with the Vinaya and does not depart from the characteristics of dharmas.

The scriptures of the Three Vehicles do not differ regarding the twelve links of dependent origination. The Mahayana likewise does not differ regarding the twelve links of dependent origination, but teaches one who is able to contemplate them. Therefore, one should know that the Mahayana bears the seal of the Three Vehicles.

If one is unable to contemplate them, it is not the Mahayana, nor does one fully possess the Three Vehicles. Whoever slanders the Mahayana incurs exceedingly grave wrongdoing. I now tell you that the claim that it is the speech of Mara and not the teaching of the Buddha is not actually found in any of the scriptures.

If anyone declares with his mouth that the Mahayana is the speech of Mara, ultimately this cannot be believed. If, in your view, this were spoken by the Buddha, it would be like worms born within a lion’s body that then devour the lion’s flesh. The Three Vehicles are likewise such that they do not violate the Mahayana.

Therefore, one should know that this is the Mahayana. It is not the teaching of Mara; it is what the Buddha taught.

It was asked:

– What is not spoken by Mara? Am I Mara?

It was answered:

– Neither I nor any of you are Mara.

It was asked:

– If neither I nor any of you are Mara, who is the one who speaks Mara’s words? This matter is obscured.

It was answered:

– My Mahayana Dharma accords with sentient beings, and amid the characteristics of dharmas there are many activities of Mara. Therefore, in the Mahayana the Tathagata spoke words that subdue Mara. Yet although the Dharma of the Lesser Vehicle enables one to deliver oneself and Mara does not cause disruption or harm, how should it be cultivated?

As the Tathagata formerly taught in the Lotus Sutra and the Prajnaparamita Sutras, in a future age many sentient beings will give rise to jealousy, commit slander, and fall into evil realms. To which collection of scriptures do the texts you recite belong, that they say the Mahayana was spoken by Mara? To disbelieve the Mahayana in that collection of scriptures and call it Mara’s teaching is itself speech arising from Mara.

This cannot be believed. If you think that such passages also exist within the Dharma of the sravakas, that matter would long ago have been entirely eradicated. It would be difficult to produce evidence.

Yet this is likewise not so. Why? Because no such passage exists.

Even supposing that, through the Buddha’s spiritual power, this Dharma could be preserved and remain unscattered throughout many kalpas, one should therefore know that your assertion has persisted for a long time. Moreover, even if words provisionally called the speech of Mara can remove all defiling obstructions and do not contradict the true Dharma, then although they are called Mara’s speech, they are the true Dharma and do not differ from the Buddha’s words.

Why is this? The Buddha said that one should rely on the Dharma and not on the person. Therefore, what I now say proceeds from right reasoning and does not cling to names and words.

What we seek can extinguish the obstructions of knowledge and the obstructions of afflictions. That is to say, even if the World-Honored One were truly Mara, he ultimately could not teach the Dharma to bodhisattvas. Why is this?

Mara cannot know how bodhisattvas proceed from meditative concentration to the cultivation of contemplation, then cultivate wisdom, and thereafter abandon evil deeds and unwholesome dharmas. Therefore, this is called the Mahayana.

The Buddha, however, can teach the successive progression from the first bhumi to the tenth bhumi: the four dhyanas, the four immeasurable minds, the four formless concentrations, the concentration of cessation of perception and feeling, the mind of bodhi, the paramitas, and so forth; the skillful means that, according to what is appropriate, mature, embrace, and transform sentient beings; the ten wholesome precepts; wisdom arising from hearing and understanding; heedfulness; freedom from the eight worldly dharmas; the Noble Eightfold Path; turning the Dharma wheel; steadfast observance of the dhutanga practices; complete merit; suffering, emptiness, impermanence, non-self, and quiescent cessation; the twelve links of dependent origination;

entering and emerging from the meditative concentrations; the three gates of liberation; the dharanis; the thirty-seven factors conducive to awakening; the gates of spiritual powers; true reality; the four unobstructed eloquences; and the two wheels of meditation and wisdom.

Adorned with all these and necessarily harmonizing them, bodhisattvas roam freely among all dharmas. With regard to samsara and nirvana, they neither turn their backs upon samsara nor advance toward nirvana—neither rejecting samsara nor seeking nirvana. Their minds always remain far removed from evil.

They rightly contemplate the bhumis and then transcend the bhumis, without falling into the stages of the sravakas or pratyekabuddhas, and without departing from the lands of the Buddhas. In accord with patient acceptance of dharmas, they realize the patient acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas. On the stage of non-retrogression, they receive the stage of right and assured attainment.

They possess the powers, fearlessnesses, distinctive qualities, and auspicious marks of the Dharma-body. For the sake of sentient beings, they dwell within samsara, proceeding in accord with what has been definitively transformed—whether in accord with non-transformation, definitive non-transformation, or transformation. Mara cannot teach such successive dharmas of cause and effect, distinctive qualities, and qualities beyond ordinary cognition; nor do they belong to Mara’s domain.

Mara is of four kinds:

– The Mara of the skandhas: I have never said that the Buddha does not possess a body of the five skandhas. If anyone says this, it is truly the speech of Mara. Bodhisattva Maitreya also once refuted such a claim. Furthermore, Venerable Pindola, Venerable Rahula, and all sixteen great sravakas dispersed and journeyed throughout the various regions. The scriptures also state that nine billion nine hundred million great arhats all stood before the Buddha to receive the charge of protecting the Dharma and to dwell in those worlds. In the east are the continents of Purvavideha, Barley, Floating, Lion, Jambudvipa, and Great Jambudvipa. At Vataligama, Kashmir, and as far as the great Lake Anavatapta, all the sages and holy ones dwell there to safeguard the Buddhadharma. If it were said that the Mahayana is the teaching of Mara, this would constitute a great calamity for the Buddhadharma, and all sages and holy ones should abandon it. Therefore, one should know that such a claim is the speech of Mara. It is entirely false speech, speaking of what does not exist. Great bodhisattvas and all sages and holy ones, however, continually protect and uphold the Mahayana. This is the seed of the Mahayana Three Jewels, which they do not allow to perish.

It was asked:

– As you have said, if the Mahayana is the seed of the Three Jewels, then naturally one should support bodhisattvas and shravakas; but why, then, do you now slander the Mahayana without ceasing? This is to prevent people from falling into hell, entering evil destinies, or destroying the Buddhadharma.

Answer:

– The retribution of karma is fixed and cannot be eliminated. Karma, moreover, is of two kinds. The first is definitively increasing karma; the second is karma whose retribution is certain to be experienced. Neither bodhisattvas, shravakas, nor noble sages can extinguish these. Once evil karma has been committed, its retribution must inevitably be experienced, and no rescue is possible. For example, the bhikshu Kokālika, a disciple of Devadatta, slandered the Mahayana scriptures by saying that they were spoken by Māra. One should know that this person would certainly fall into hell and could not be saved.

Question:

– You say that slandering the Mahayana may cause one to enter an evil destiny. Yet I still cannot believe the statement concerning the deer.

Answer:

– When you say that the Mahayana spoken by the Buddha is the speech of Māra, you thereby slander all Buddhas of the three times and cause all sentient beings to become angry. Such words are truly perverse; through abusive speech one undergoes unwholesome karmic retribution. As the Buddha said in verse:

A person born into this world

Has an axe within his mouth;

With it he injures his own body—

All of this arises from evil karma.

Your statement slandering the Mahayana concerning the deer was not spoken by me. I now wish to prevent you from giving rise to slander, for the sake of benefiting you. Therefore it is said: It is like a sick person who is unable to eat anything.

A skilled physician examines the illness and prohibits what must not be taken. Out of concern for you, I say that it is false speech to call it the Mahayana while claiming that it was actually spoken by Māra. The Buddhas of the past taught the Mahayana Dharma.

The Buddhas of the future will teach the Mahayana Dharma. The Buddhas of the present are teaching the Mahayana Dharma. Therefore, this is called eliminating slander of the Mahayana.

In order to eliminate slander of the Mahayana, the bodhisattva expounds the chapter entitled “Treatise on the Initial Entrance into the Mahayana.”

Question:

– You say that one should prevent others from slandering the Mahayana. How, then, does one now enter the Mahayana?

Answer:

– At the outset, a bodhisattva should be fully endowed with the various spiritual dispositions, follow wholesome conduct, expound the teachings extensively, possess a vast mind, vast scope, and a vast spiritual disposition, and thus be complete in nature. Such a person’s mind is gentle and harmonious, gradually grows distant from the afflictions, has little greed, anger, and delusion, delights in cultivating wholesome deeds, and diligently recites and studies. Sentient beings such as these, whose six faculties are complete, are able to make the great vow and seek the path to Buddhahood. The characteristics of their spiritual disposition are as the Buddha has taught. Those of inferior faculties and an inferior disposition give rise to an inferior aspiration, and their vows are not lofty. Those of middling faculties and a middling disposition generate a middling resolve, and their vows are also middling. Those of superior faculties and a superior disposition generate a lofty resolve and make lofty vows. Therefore, the Buddhas discern these faculties and dispositions and teach them with loving-kindness.

Question:

– Since the profound and wondrous treasury of the bodhisattva teachings is taught for sentient beings of superior faculties, one should understand their faculties and disposition, deeply practice the bodhisattva conduct, and expound the bodhisattva treasury. Where should those who practice the bodhisattva treasury abide?

Answer:

– There are ten such means of reaching the ground of liberation. One who is able to hear the Bodhisattva Treasury, realize ten kinds of Dharma practice, and depart from ten matters of liberation can then enter the bodhisattva conduct. What are the ten?

– First, one must cultivate the bodhisattva practice of liberation, whether to a small or great extent.

– Second, one must write down all the teachings possessed by bodhisattvas, whether few or many.

– Third, one must make offerings to the Dharma of the Bodhisattva Treasury, whether little or much.

– Fourth, one must proclaim and read the bodhisattva Dharma, whether little or much.

– Fifth, one must listen to and receive the bodhisattva Dharma, whether little or much.

– Sixth, one must accept and retain the bodhisattva Dharma, whether little or much.

– Seventh, one must recite and read the bodhisattva Dharma, whether little or much, gradually comprehending it thoroughly.

– Eighth, one must discern and expound the bodhisattva Dharma for others, whether little or much.

– Ninth, one must contemplate the bodhisattva Dharma, whether little or much, and clearly understand its meaning and principles.

– Tenth, one must practice contemplation of the bodhisattva Dharma in solitude, whether little or much, cultivating it until it becomes increasingly luminous. This is called the bodhisattva’s true practice.

The eighth part is the bodhisattva’s wisdom born of hearing. The ninth part is the bodhisattva’s wisdom born of cultivation. The tenth part is the bodhisattva’s wisdom born of cultivation.

Question:

– Once a bodhisattva has attained hearing, reflection, and cultivation, what practice does the bodhisattva enter?

Answer:

– Having entered the various grounds, one enters the gateways of liberation. In this way, hearing, reflection, and cultivation arise successively. One beholds the dharmadhatu, realizes the various grounds, and cultivates the three gateways of liberation.

Question:

– What are called the three gateways of liberation?

Answer:

– The practices of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness.

Question:

– What is emptiness?

Answer:

– One contemplates that self, person, and sentient being have no intrinsic being. Their nature and characteristics are perpetually quiescent.

Question:

– How is this fully understood?

Answer:

– One must enter into the twelve links of dependent origination.

Question:

– Is the liberation of emptiness different from the Dharma of the twelve links of dependent origination?

Answer:

– Emptiness and the twelve links of dependent origination have no distinct characteristics.

Emptiness is precisely the twelve links of dependent origination, and the twelve links of dependent origination are precisely emptiness. Why is this? Because dependent origination arises through provisional combination and not from any intrinsic being of its own. As the Venerable Nāgārjuna said in verse:

The twelve links of dependent origination are empty;

I now wish to attain liberation.

Provisionally named the Dharma of dependent origination,

This itself is the Middle Way.

All dharmas are empty and quiescent. Why is this? Because everything belongs to dependent origination and has no intrinsic nature.

Question:

– If all dharmas arise through causes and conditions, why is it said that they have no intrinsic being?

Answer:

– Causes and conditions are spoken of in accordance with conventional truth. In ultimate truth, there is no intrinsic being and there is also no arising—that is, there is no birth. Nor is there cessation. Non-arising and non-ceasing are the quiescence of suchness. The quiescence of suchness means that all dharmas are quiescent. Therefore, I say that all dharmas have no intrinsic being. As the Blessed One said in the Scripture of the Elderly Woman:

It is like a person and a drumstick. Through the conjunction of conditions, we hear a sound. This sound does not abide in any of the three times, nor is it inside, outside, or in between.

Its nature is empty and quiescent, neither arising nor ceasing. In the same way, we now know that the intrinsic nature of all dharmas is likewise. Therefore, in the Scripture of the Elderly Woman, the Buddha himself declared them to be empty.

This means that a bodhisattva who has cultivated merit, meditative concentration, and wisdom for immeasurable kalpas will enter the Dharma gateways of the three liberations and can contemplate that arising and ceasing are all empty and quiescent. They are like an illusory flame and a city of the Gandharvas; all are formed like a dream and an illusion, as the Buddha taught:

When one understands the twelve links,

All sentient beings are empty;

Within the span of a single instant,

They are an illusory flame, a Gandharva city.

Proceeding successively in this way, one enters the gateway of liberation through emptiness. This mind is then certainly peaceful and joyful, and one obtains benefit and meaning.

Question:

– How can the non-Buddhist attachment to the view of self be severed?

Answer:

– If followers of non-Buddhist paths become defiled and attached with regard to all internal and external forms, clinging to self and what belongs to self, they follow the current of birth and death and continue to revolve within it. Those who cling to a self maintain that this self can give food, drink, wealth, and possessions in charity. In this way, many different doctrines rely upon views of self and views of sentient beings. As for being bound by self and what belongs to self, they hold that whatever is created by the self is a material possession of that self, and thus they continue to rely upon what belongs to self. It then takes form through activity. It may be one, different, both different and one, or neither one nor different. Because they grasp at and cling to extreme views, they become angry at words or entertain perceptions within the world; even this body is included within such doctrines. They continue revolving through birth and death, failing to understand that all dharmas arisen through causes and conditions are empty in nature.

Question:

– If followers of non-Buddhist paths do not understand causes and conditions and consequently give rise to these four kinds of attachment, how can they be overcome?

Answer:

– The teacher Samkhya says: when things are reckoned as one, the action and the agent are one; what is done together and those who do it together are one; division and that which is divided are also one. Thus, everything is said to be one. However, the teacher Uluka reckons them as different. The Nirgrantha reckons them as both different and one. The disciples reckon them as neither one nor different.

All followers of non-Buddhist paths, including Mathara, reckon them as different. None of them departs from these four kinds of reckoning.

Question:

– The Samkhya school says that the action and the agent are one. How can this position be overcome?

Answer:

– The expressions are two and therefore cannot be called one. The action is the cause, while the agent is the result. These are not the same. Why, then, are they said to be one? If things that are actually different are called one, this is truly inverted. Why? Because the agent is said to be the action, and the action is said to be the agent. Since earlier and later are different, how can they be one?

Question:

– Earlier and later may be one, as when teeth grow: although there is an earlier and a later stage, they remain continuously connected and are therefore called one.

Answer:

– This too can be refuted. If the action exists earlier and the agent exists later, then what arises later is different. Why should they be called one? Consider the analogy of a cake: one cake cannot be divided into equal, identical parts. Just as an ox's horn cannot be identical with the cause from which it arose, so too are the action and the agent. Furthermore, the action and the agent cannot be one. Their terms and meanings differ; their causes, conditions, and times differ; and their expressions and essential natures differ. Understood in this way, the position can be overcome. If they were one, there would not be two names, yet their sounds, meanings, essential characteristics, and earlier and later phases all differ. Therefore, they cannot be one. If the action and agent were one, it would be like identifying a lump of clay with the potter. Although such things as hempen thread, milk, and ghee may be obtained, this identity still cannot be established. Here it should be understood that they are not one, just as the mind and the self cannot be one. If they were one, then because the mind is impermanent, the self would also be impermanent. Thus, the action and agent are two things of the same kind. Likewise, the act of reckoning and the one who reckons, and division and the one who divides, are refuted together. The doctrine of a single cake is also refuted. The same applies to form and a cake, even to white cloth, green leaves, and things that are long, short, round, or complete. In this way, the claims concerning all fabricated things can be overcome.

Question:

– The Vaiseshika school reckons them as different. How can this position be overcome?

Answer:

– If the action and the agent are different, that position can also be overcome.

Question:

– How can it be overcome? Please explain clearly.

Answer:

– If a cake and dough were different, then hempen fibers could be used when making a cake. Yet hempen fibers cannot be used to make a cake; therefore, one knows that they are not different. Moreover, one knows that a lump of clay is formed from minute particles, while a pot is formed from the lump of clay. If the pot were different from the lump of clay, the pot could not retain the lump of clay from which the pot is formed. They cannot be entirely distinct. The lump of clay consists of the minute particles serving as the agent, while the pot is the thing made. If the action and the agent were different, then the clay, the minute particles, and the pot would all have different names, yet they would not thereby be two separate things. Therefore, the action and the agent are also not different. The cause is coarse thread, and the finished product is cloth. The cause is wood, and the finished product is a seat. The same applies to all such things. Furthermore, if one cake were different, all cakes would be destroyed. Why? If there were a unity that was not the cake, then apart from that unity there would be a cake. If there were a unity that was the cake, then there would be many cakes, while the unity itself would not exist. If what exists is again nonexistent, then, according to this principle, there would be no cake. By reckoning things as different, you destroy all dharmas.

Question:

– If speaking in this way does not destroy all dharmas, why is unity established in dependence upon the cake? In this way, is not one cake produced?

Answer:

– If unity and the cake were combined, that unity would be the cake. If the cake were combined with unity, that cake would also be called one. This would be due to their combination as one, not because they were different. Furthermore, one might say that unity is different, as in the case of white thread, but this position can also be overcome. Why? Because whiteness is not the thread, nor is the thread whiteness. Whiteness and the thread are different. The same applies to other objects. When the thread is burned, if the whiteness is not burned, they are different; but if the thread is burned and the whiteness is also burned, they are not different. You should understand that the object is one thing and its characteristic another. This is not naturally so in the manner you previously asserted; the claim that all six things are different should therefore be overcome.

Question:

– The Nirgrantha previously said that unity is also difference. How can this position be overcome?

Answer:

– Relying on the claim that unity is also difference, you may say either that the action is the agent or that the action is different from the agent. This position can likewise be overcome.

Question:

– How can it be overcome?

Answer:

– If the action is the agent, the matter cannot be established. If the action and the agent are different, it likewise cannot be established. Why? Because cause and result are distinct. How, then, could they be one? Yet because the result is produced through causes and conditions, they cannot be different. The characteristic of acting and that which possesses the characteristic of acting are likewise so.

Question:

– When a cake's characteristics are destroyed, its substance is not destroyed. Therefore, its substance is indestructible and is also different. Its substance is perceived as presently existing while its characteristics are destroyed. When the cake is broken apart, its fundamental basis becomes nonexistent. There is nothing else.

Answer:

– If they are one, this is refuted in the same way as the Samkhya position. If they are said to be different, this is refuted in the same way as the Vaiseshika position. The examples of green leaves and white thread are likewise refuted.

Question:

– If the disciples reckon them as neither one nor different, how can this position be overcome?

Answer:

– Each of the three preceding teachers maintained a particular attachment. When you say “not one,” it means different; when you say “not different,” it means one. What, then, is the object of your attachment when you say “neither one nor different”? If there is no object of attachment, you are speaking falsely and thereby destroying the characteristics of dharmas.

Question:

– You teach the Mahayana, in which there is no attachment, yet do you not also destroy all the characteristics of dharmas?

Answer:

– What I maintain is what is directly perceived in the world: these are dharmas arisen through causes and conditions. What you teach, however, is inverted and does not accord with the characteristics of dharmas.

It is asked:

– What is meant by the characteristic of dharmas when it is said that the self destroys the characteristic of dharmas?

It is answered:

– The absence of an intrinsic characteristic is itself the intrinsic characteristic.

It is asked:

– What are the absence of an intrinsic characteristic and the intrinsic characteristic?

It is answered:

– That which has no designation is called the absence of an intrinsic characteristic.

It is asked:

– What is meant by having no designation? Is there an existent emptiness, or is it the emptiness of the unconditioned?

It is answered:

– The self does not possess the meaning of emptiness, nor does it lack the meaning of emptiness. Only by transcending both existence and nonexistence is it called emptiness.

As the Venerable Nagarjuna said in verse:

To grasp at existence is called eternalism;

To grasp at nonexistence is called annihilationism.

If one completely transcends existence and nonexistence,

That alone is true emptiness.

Furthermore, in the Madhyamaka Treatise, Nagarjuna said in verse:

To grasp existence is to cling to intrinsic characteristics;

To grasp nonexistence is to become attached to an empty essence.

Not grasping either existence or nonexistence—

That is true contemplation.

Therefore, transcending existence and nonexistence is called emptiness; it means transcending annihilationism and eternalism. This is called the Middle Way. One who can awaken to the characteristics of dharmas in this manner is called a Buddha. Therefore, the twelve links of dependent origination are emptiness.

It is asked:

– How should the twelve links of dependent origination be realized in order to know that they are empty?

It is answered:

– It is like a jar: a lump of clay, a cord, a potter, and the other causes and conditions come together, after which the jar is formed. Without the lump of clay, there would be no jar. Yet the jar does not exist apart from the clay. Thus, “jar” is merely a provisional designation. It belongs to causes and conditions and has no intrinsic characteristic. Because it has no intrinsic characteristic, it has no arising. Because it has no arising, its intrinsic characteristic is quiescent cessation, though it is brought about through causes and conditions. Therefore, it is called devoid of intrinsic nature. If dharmas were predetermined as possessing intrinsic being, they would not arise through causes and conditions; hence they would have no basis and no intrinsic characteristic. This means that there is no jar. If the jar does not exist, all dharmas likewise do not exist. As the Venerable Aryadeva said in verse:

If one dharma possessed intrinsic being,

All dharmas would likewise possess it.

All dharmas are entirely empty;

All causes and conditions are empty.

Truly contemplate a single dharma:

All dharmas have no dual characteristic.

Having understood this true emptiness,

One thereby sees that all is empty.

It is asked:

– Are dharmas born through causes and conditions themselves the intrinsic characteristic?

It is answered:

– This is not so. Why? Whether there is an intrinsic characteristic or no intrinsic characteristic, if you are not present there, then who is speaking? Causes and conditions are taken as the intrinsic characteristic, and from causes and conditions things arise. What intrinsic being could there be that is called an intrinsic characteristic? Whatever arises from its own nature does not depend upon causes and conditions. If it depends upon causes and conditions, it has no intrinsic nature. It is like provisionally borrowing nonexistence and treating it as existence. Therefore, causes and conditions are formed through provisional conjunction and possess no intrinsic being. As the Venerable Nagarjuna said in verse:

Dharmas arise through conditions;

Thus, they have no intrinsic nature.

If they have no intrinsic nature,

How could they possess intrinsic characteristics?

It is asked:

– The intrinsic characteristics of dharmas are presently seen and known by the world. How can they be called empty?

It is answered:

– This is not so. Such things are seen through the deluded perceptions of ignorance and are unworthy of trust. All dharmas arise and cease; all are empty. Arising and cessation flow onward, never pausing but continuing without interruption, while deluded perception regards them as real. This is like a firebrand whose flames arise and cease from moment to moment, yet foolish ordinary beings imagine that a single flame is moving with great speed. Its appearance is illusory. As the Buddha taught, an illusion is illusory and entirely nonexistent. Yet those who see wrongly regard it as real. Such supposedly real perception is like that of hungry ghosts, who do not see water as water but see fire, sand, stones, and blood. Sentient beings perceive things according to their wholesome and unwholesome karma. If their minds are pure, sentient beings of keen faculties immediately see that these things are empty. Yakshas and hungry ghosts, seeing water near or far, imagine it to be fire and consequently give rise to doubt and confusion. If an object truly existed, there could not be two different perceptions of it. From the existence of these two perceptions, one knows that it is not real but is a deluded perception. Therefore, one knows that all dharmas are without intrinsic characteristics. Because they are without intrinsic characteristics, all are without arising and cessation.

It is asked:

– If all dharmas neither arise nor cease, how can there be coming and going, annihilation and permanence?

It is answered:

– By observing a seed, one understands coming and going and also realizes the emptiness of dharmas, thereby transcending eternalism and annihilationism. For example, when the cause is a seed, the kernel, branches, leaves, flowers, and fruit follow in succession. When one sees the kernel arise, the seed has ceased; therefore, there is no annihilation. When the fruit arises, the flower ceases. Thus, impermanence proceeds onward. As the Venerable Aryadeva said in verse:

All dharmas continue in succession;

Thus, they are not annihilated.

When the cause ceases, the result arises;

Therefore, this is not called permanence.

Thus, seeing the emptiness of causes and conditions is to transcend eternalism and annihilationism.

It is asked:

– If one does not understand the activity of causes and conditions, how can one transcend eternalism and annihilationism?

It is answered:

– With ignorance as cause, wholesome and unwholesome formations arise, continuing until birth gives rise to aging and death. Ordinary beings do not understand the continuity of causes and conditions and mistakenly regard it as real. Yet the essence of ignorance itself is empty; formations and the essence of formations are also empty; and so on through birth, the essence of birth is also empty, while aging and death and the essence of aging and death are likewise empty. In the world, all are merely provisional designations. Because there is continuity, there is no annihilation. Because they do not remain from moment to moment, there is no permanence. Yet ordinary sentient beings die here and are born elsewhere, continuously proceeding in this manner. As the Buddha taught, in the ultimate truth there is no sentient being who dies here and is born elsewhere. In conventional truth, there are only provisional designations: consciousness is the seed; karmic formations are the soil that nourishes self-conceit; ignorance is the dust; and the water of craving permeates them. Then the father’s semen, the mother’s blood, and the other conditions come together to produce a bodily form. Thus, form exists but has no intrinsic being. It is like the leg of a bed, which is also merely a provisional appearance when put to use. The first stage is called kalala. The second is called arbuda. The third is called the lump of flesh. The fourth is called the solid mass. The fifth is called the opening of the limbs. The sixth is called contact. In this way, dharmas arise successively. Their provisional characteristics exist, so this is not called annihilation. A bodhisattva who understands that dharmas arise through causes and conditions thereby knows them to be empty. Because causes and conditions are empty, all dharmas are empty. Understanding that all dharmas are empty, one holds neither annihilation nor permanence. As the Buddha said in verse in the Sutra on Emergence from the Womb:

Through the provisional establishment of names,

The various dharmas are apprehended.

Those names are not the dharmas themselves;

This is the truth.

Therefore, one should not assert through words that dharmas exist, nor that dharmas exist according to their names. Dharmas would then possess many essences. For example, where there are no dharmas, there is neither one nor many.

It is asked:

– If all dharmas are without intrinsic being, do your words transcend present existence and perception?

It is answered:

– If dharmas truly existed, words could not transcend them. Therefore, what is called a dharma is in fact nonexistent. Why, then, use words to transcend it? Thus, all dharmas are alike from the beginning to the end. If dharmas definitely possessed intrinsic characteristics, then after nirvana they would necessarily be annihilated. Yet before that, emptiness is also emptiness. To say afterward that they are empty would be a wrong view that destroys the true Dharma and does not lead to liberation. As the Venerable Aryadeva said in verse:

Seeing as empty what is not empty,

One claims, “I have realized nirvana.”

Wrong views are not nirvana;

Thus has the Tathagata declared.

All dharmas are originally empty; to see them rightly is to see emptiness, just as the Buddhas of the past saw that characteristic of emptiness. It is likewise so now. Therefore, I say that dharmas arising through causes and conditions are empty and cannot be otherwise. On this basis, the meaning of the ultimate truth is established; thereafter, the conventional truth is distinguished. The self and sentient beings are like an action and its agent; whether they are different or one, this principle cannot be discarded. As Venerable Nagarjuna said in verse:

Without expounding the conventional truth,

The ultimate truth cannot be attained.

If the ultimate truth is not attained,

Then nirvana cannot be realized.

Again, there is a verse:

The Buddhas teach all dharmas,

Always relying upon two truths:

The conventional truth as distinguished,

And the truth of ultimate meaning.

Those who cannot distinguish

The two noble truths, ultimate and conventional,

Thus do not understand

The profound meaning of the Buddha-Dharma.

Therefore, dharmas arising through causes and conditions are empty. This is called Suchness, the true Dharma-nature. With this understanding in mind, one cultivates the ultimate meaning of meditative concentration and sees that causes and conditions are all empty.

This is the meaning of the liberation gate of emptiness. If one sees emptiness, one does not perceive the characteristics of dharmas; therefore, it is called the signless liberation gate, because no characteristics are perceived. Since there is nothing to seek or aspire to, it is called the wishless liberation gate.

Abiding in this manner within the liberation gates, the seeds of consciousness within the three realms can no longer become the sprouts that produce name-and-form. When consciousness is free from attachment, the suffering of the three courses is extinguished. Once those three courses have been extinguished, one immediately realizes the quiescence of nirvana.

As Venerable Deva said in verse:

Consciousness has the meaning of a seed,

Wandering throughout the six spheres.

If one sees that all sense-objects are empty,

Its sprouts are thereby cut off and extinguished.

Question: Because bodhisattvas understand emptiness, they transcend birth and death. Are they therefore superior to the sravakas?

Answer: Bodhisattvas benefit beings both in the world and beyond the world. To deliver others from the fiery ground, only one who has transcended the world can remain in the world to teach and transform sentient beings. Sravakas are not like this.

Fearing birth and death, they seek quickly to attain cessation and liberation. They leave the path of the world and behold the world. Having seen the dharma-dhatu, they immediately reach the boundary of nirvana.

Bodhisattvas are not like this. Why? Because, seeing the suffering of sentient beings, bodhisattvas arouse great compassion.

Wishing to deliver them and establish them securely in an adorned realm, they cultivate world-transcending practices for asamkhyeya kalpas within a single thought. They contemplate the entire dharma-dhatu. Having contemplated the dharma-dhatu, they take sentient beings as their objects of concern and do not retain the fruit of realization for themselves, but immediately enable all beings to attain liberation, as the Buddha taught in the A Nhục Đại Trì Sutra.

It is like two people wishing to ascend a mountain peak. One possesses strength and is fully endowed with skillful means. By employing those means, he immediately reaches the summit.

The other has little strength and lacks skillful means; he therefore retreats and cannot ascend the mountain. Bodhisattvas do not realize the fruit of the unconditioned Dharma or become attached to it. They are like the skillful person who reaches the mountain summit and realizes the unconditioned.

One who possesses only scant skillful means cannot even begin. It is also like an elder whose only son suffered hunger and thirst in that country for more than ten years. Later, the elder dwelt in a great city; his household was extremely wealthy and stored many precious possessions.

The son gradually came there and had to labor as a hired worker, and then returned again to his former country.

Bodhisattvas possess immeasurable and boundless merits accumulated through asamkhyeya kalpas. They reach that fiery ground and proceed toward nirvana, yet out of compassion for sentient beings they reenter birth and death for asamkhyeya kalpas and endure suffering for a long time. Bodhisattva-mahasattvas transcend that great suffering to seek the supreme, inconceivable fruit.

They surpass all sravakas and pratyekabuddhas and are fully endowed with every merit and wisdom. Therefore, they pass beyond the mass of fire upon that ground. How do bodhisattvas transcend that great suffering?

It is like a person who boards a ship and enters the great ocean. There he encounters violent winds and waves like mountains, as well as many difficult obstacles and calamities. His heart becomes distressed and tormented, and fear arises within him.

At that time, the ship’s captain brings forth a sail capable of helping that person of scant merit pass beyond the perilous dangers and obtain precious treasures. Bodhisattva-mahasattvas upon the ocean of birth and death are likewise. Because of unwholesome spiritual friends, beings do not believe in the difficulties and proceed only toward evil paths.

During the first asamkhyeya kalpa, bodhisattvas cultivate and maintain wholesome practices—the practices of purifying the grounds—and seek pure liberation. During the second asamkhyeya kalpa, they cultivate the practice of pure meditative concentration. During the third asamkhyeya kalpa, they cultivate the practice of pure wisdom and remove the obstruction of the fiery ground.

Therefore, bodhisattvas are said to have passed beyond suffering. They perfect the ten grounds and realize unobstructed freedom without hindrance. Having perfected all practices, they realize anuttara-samyak-sambodhi.

Thus, within that fire of wisdom, they realize the fruit of Buddhahood.

Treatise on Entering the Mahayana

(End of the first fascicle)