Attainment · BookBodhisattva’s MasteryAppendix A

Appendix A · Index of Scholarly Notes

To keep the main text clean, all canonical numbering and source details were left out of it. This appendix restores them—a chapter-by-chapter list of sources for the reader willing to check further and go deeper.

The index follows the order of the book's chapters; each chapter lists the sūtras and treatises it rests on, with a "Variances" note marking scope (which are the canon's verbatim words, which the classifiers' terms, which the book's own reading). Numbering conventions: T designates the Taishō Tripiṭaka; page-column-line anchors (e.g. T10n0279_p0084a26) follow the CBETA electronic canon, for verbatim verification. Sūtras relied on: the Avataṃsaka-sūtra in eighty fascicles (tr. Śikṣānanda, Tang; T0279); the Daśabhūmika-sūtra (tr. Xuanzang, Tang; T0287). Treatises: the Yogācārabhūmi (taught by Maitreya, tr. Xuanzang; T1579); the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra (Nāgārjuna, tr. Kumārajīva; T1509); the Mahāyāna-saṃgraha (Asaṅga, tr. Paramārtha; T1593); the Daśabhūmika-vyākhyāna (Vasubandhu, tr. Bodhiruci et al.; T1522); the Cheng weishi lun (Dharmapāla et al., tr. Xuanzang; T1585). As a Mahāyāna volume, this book carries no Pāli double-track obligation.

Part One · Mastery Begins in the Vow

1.1 Not Coming Ashore (after BODHI-P01)

  • Sūtras: Avataṃsaka, fasc. 16, Ten Abodes chapter—the Abode of Arousing the Mind: seeing the Buddha, hearing the Dharma, seeing beings' suffering, and arousing bodhicitta, seeking all-knowledge (T10n0279_p0084a26); fasc. 37, Ten Grounds chapter, seventh ground—coursing in the limit of reality without taking its realization (T10n0279_p0197b11); fasc. 17, Merit of the First Arising chapter—the first arising's merit surpassing (not one part in a hundred, T10n0279_p0089a15); so that the Tathāgata-lineage not be cut off (T10n0279_p0089b01).
  • Treatises: Yogācārabhūmi, fasc. 35, Arising of the Mind chapter—once aroused, entering unsurpassed awakening, counted among the bodhisattvas (T30n1579_p0480c14); the arising able to be the root of bodhi (T30n1579_p0480c18); Lineage chapter—the two lineages (T30n1579_p0478c12), the bodhisattva lineage realizing the purity of the cognitive obstruction too (T30n1579_p0478c24). Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra, fasc. 26—compassion the root of the Buddha-way; long due for nirvāṇa, not taking its realization (T25n1509_p0256c19); fasc. 23—fully contemplating without taking realization (T25n1509_p0235b22), not falling to the śrāvaka ground (T25n1509_p0235c02); fasc. 18—passing beyond the two vehicles' grounds into the bodhisattva position (T25n1509_p0195c05); the difference at the first arising (T25n1509_p0195c27).
  • Variances: "the bodhisattva's mastery does not succeed the arhat-fruit" is no verbatim text of any source; it is a synthesis of the family of equivalent sentences ("passing beyond the two vehicles' grounds into the bodhisattva position," "not falling to the śrāvaka ground," "not taking realization," "surpassing the two vehicles from the first arising"), as the text states.

1.2 No Ceiling (after BODHI-P02)

  • Treatises: Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra, fasc. 45—long abiding in birth-and-death, gathering merit and wisdom as provisions, arousing the mind to practise the six perfections (T25n1509_p0387a29); Pūrṇa's answer to Śāriputra—the two vehicles with measure and limit, the bodhisattva setting no fixed limit (T25n1509_p0387b05); fasc. 4—the number of one asaṃkhyeya, beyond the reckoning of any reckoner (T25n1509_p0086c19); the depth of the three incalculable eons, the prophecy under Dīpaṃkara (T25n1509_p0087a07). Mahāyāna-saṃgraha, Chapter on Entering Cause-and-Effect—the two provisions of merit and wisdom (T31n1593_p0122c03); the verse "the two provisions, to a boundless limit" (T31n1593_p0124a15); five kinds of person completing in three incalculable eons (T31n1593_p0126c02).
  • Variances: first, the Saṃgraha reads "the two provisions of merit and wisdom" (compounded), the Śāstra "merit, wisdom" (separately listed); both are set side by side. Second, the sources here read "three incalculable eons," with no verbatim "three great incalculable eons"; where the book uses the common phrase "three great incalculable eons," it adds nothing to the sense.

Part Two · The Six and Ten Perfections

2.1 Hands and Eyes (after BODHI-P03)

  • Treatises: Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra, fasc. 4—the six perfections in order: giving, morality, patience, vigour, meditation, wisdom (T25n1509_p0087c25); fasc. 62—prajñā as guide: the five apart from prajñā like the blind, with the guide they "have eyes," and gain the name pāramitā (T25n1509_p0496c04). Yogācārabhūmi, fasc. 36—the six in the portions of merit and wisdom (T30n1579_p0485b18); the gate of self-benefit and other-benefit (T30n1579_p0482c15). Mahāyāna-saṃgraha, fasc. 2—each of the six benefiting beings (T31n1593_p0124c01).
  • Variances: prajñā holds one office in two roles among the six—ranged as the sixth perfection, and the eyes guiding the first five; no contradiction, as the text makes plain.

2.2 After the Learning Is Done (after BODHI-P04)

  • Sūtras: Avataṃsaka, fasc. 34, Ten Grounds chapter—the ten grounds named in full: Joy, Stainless, Radiant, Blazing, Hard-to-Conquer, Presence, Far-Reaching, Immovable, Good-Insight, Dharma-Cloud (T10n0279_p0179b22); the first ground, giving foremost, the rest according to power and portion (T10n0279_p0183a20). Daśabhūmika-vyākhyāna, fasc. 9—"this bodhisattva attains the bodhisattva's ten masteries" (eighth ground, causal stage; T26n1522_p0183c21).
  • Treatises: Mahāyāna-saṃgraha, fasc. 3—the four added perfections defined (skillful means, vow, power, knowledge); the latter four as post-realization non-discriminating wisdom (T31n1593_p0126b19); the ten perfections matched to the ten grounds (T31n1593_p0126b18). Yogācārabhūmi, fasc. 78—the four added perfections as auxiliaries to the first six (T30n1579_p0731a10).
  • Variances: of which perfection is "foremost" at each ground, the sūtra expressly marks the "foremost" formula for giving (1st), patience (3rd), meditation (5th), prajñā (6th), skillful means (7th), vow (8th), power (9th), knowledge (10th); the pairing of morality (2nd) and vigour (4th) follows the standard sequential reading, the sūtra not using the "foremost" formula for them—the book notes this plainly and does not supply for the sūtra.

Part Three · The Embrace

3.1 Into the Water (after BODHI-P05)

  • Sūtras: Avataṃsaka, fasc. 35, Ten Grounds, third ground—beneficial conduct predominant among the four embraces (T10n0279_p0188c21); fasc. 36, fourth ground—shared work predominant (T10n0279_p0190b28); fasc. 60, Entry into the Dharma-Realm—the pure-wisdom eye able to embrace beings by the four; the great śrāvakas cannot see (T10n0279_p0323c16).
  • Treatises: Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra, fasc. 88—the four embraces in full: giving, kind speech, beneficial conduct, shared work (T25n1509_p0679b18); fasc. 66—by the four embraces settling beings in the ten courses of good (T25n1509_p0527a12). Yogācārabhūmi, fasc. 43—shared work's nature (taking up oneself, equally or more, what one exhorts) and its effect (firm, without regress; the unrebukeable; T30n1579_p0532a11); fasc. 38—the four embraces as the means of gathering: drawing-in, embracing, leading-in, accompanying (T30n1579_p0504c20).
  • Variances: "altruism is mastery" is no verbatim canonical text; it is the book's reading, synthesized from the express passages ("the four embraces predominate ground by ground," "shared work's mastery is legible within the relationship," "this realm only the pure-wisdom eye sees, and the śrāvaka cannot"); the text marks it as the book's own angle.

Part Four · The Forbearance of Non-Arising

4.1 Trusting It Through (after BODHI-P06)

  • Sūtras: Avataṃsaka, fasc. 38, Ten Grounds, eighth Immovable ground—apart from all discriminating thought of mind, will, and consciousness, grasping nothing like empty space, entering all dharmas as having the nature of empty space, this called gaining the forbearance of non-arising, at once entering the eighth ground (T10n0279_p0199a09).
  • Treatises: Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra, fasc. 6—the forbearance of non-arising defined: the mind penetrating without obstruction, immovable and irreversible, the first gate aiding the buddha-path (T25n1509_p0097c03); fasc. 27—contemplating all dharmas neither arising nor ceasing, neither not-arising nor not-ceasing; the wisdom of the real, which nothing can break or move (T25n1509_p0263c02).
  • Variances: first, exactly which ground the forbearance of non-arising hangs on (seventh, eighth, or partly realized at the path of seeing) the masters judge differently; the book takes no side, holding to the "turn" itself. Second, this "forbearance" (kṣānti) and the "patience" among the six perfections share one Sanskrit root but differ in sense—one a cognitive trusting-rest, one a bearing of adversity; the text discriminates them.

4.2 It Goes by Itself (after BODHI-P07)

  • Sūtras: Avataṃsaka, fasc. 38, eighth Immovable ground—letting go of all effortful conduct, gaining the effort-free dharma, abiding in the conduct of recompense (T10n0279_p0199a17); the buddhas urging—the ten powers, fearlessnesses, eighteen distinctive qualities, "you have not yet attained" (T10n0279_p0199b01).
  • Treatises: Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra, fasc. 27—the forbearance of non-arising just is the irreversible (avaivartika) stage (T25n1509_p0263c06); abiding there, life after life the spiritual powers of recompense neither lost nor regressing (T25n1509_p0263c08). Daśabhūmika-sūtra, fasc. 7—apart from effort, spontaneously reaching the effort-free nature, abiding in recompense (T10n0287_p0559b19); the activity of mind, will, and consciousness no longer arising, the desire-realm afflictions never manifesting (the Brahmā-world simile); the buddhas' rousing (you have not yet attained; rouse vigour; recall your original vows) (T10n0287_p0559b27). Daśabhūmika-vyākhyāna, fasc. 9—the effort-free spontaneity as the eighth ground's foremost excellence over the lower grounds (T26n1522_p0179c06).
  • Variances: first, the eighth ground's "mind-will-consciousness no longer active" reads, in Xuanzang's Daśabhūmika-sūtra, "the activity of mind, will, and consciousness no longer arises" (the book follows this), differing in wording from the synthesized phrase "all activity of mind-will-consciousness wholly unmanifest." Second, the proper names "position-, practice-, mindfulness-non-regress" are the later (Tiantai/Yogācāra) classifiers'; the sources here read "irreversible (avaivartika)" and "neither lost nor regressing"; mindfulness-non-regress is hung at the seventh ground by some and the eighth by others—the book follows the Avataṃsaka tradition at the eighth.

Part Five · The Ten Masteries

5.1 The Ten Doors (after BODHI-P08)

  • Sūtras: Avataṃsaka, fasc. 39, Ten Grounds—the eighth ground's ten masteries in full: over life, mind, wealth, karma, birth, vow, resolve, psychic power, knowledge, Dharma; gaining these, "one of knowing nothing can break" (T10n0279_p0200b14); the buddhas urging, "you have not yet attained" (T10n0279_p0199b01); fasc. 46, Inconceivable Dharmas of the Buddhas—"the buddhas, the world-honored ones, have ten kinds of mastery" (a separate list; T10n0279_p0245a06).
  • Treatises: Daśabhūmika-vyākhyāna, fasc. 9—each of the ten masteries' function ("displaying" toward beings; T26n1522_p0183b29); the ten masteries countering ten fears (T26n1522_p0183c11); fasc. 10, the Immovable ground's name—"cannot be broken," "the effort-free ground" (T26n1522_p0184b22); "this bodhisattva attains the bodhisattva's ten masteries" (doubled, causal stage; T26n1522_p0183c21).
  • Variances: first, the ten masteries' names stand in three translations (life/lifespan, wealth/things/livelihood, resolve/conviction, psychic-power/spiritual-power, and a slight order-difference of knowledge and Dharma); the book follows the Avataṃsaka's naming. Second, the eighth ground's ten masteries are the bodhisattva's ten masteries (the treatise doubling "this bodhisattva attains the bodhisattva's ten masteries"), a different list from "the buddhas' ten kinds of mastery"; their causal-versus-fruit height and reconciliation belong to the tathāgata division and the author—the book only marks them as standing side by side, marks the path-position difference, and judges neither height nor reconciliation.

Part Six · The Refused Rest

6.1 Mooring at Neither Bank (after BODHI-P09)

  • Treatises: Cheng weishi lun, fasc. 10—the four nirvāṇas: intrinsically pure by nature, with-remainder, without-remainder, no-abode; the fourth "freed of the cognitive obstruction, ever assisted by great compassion and wisdom, abiding neither in birth-and-death nor nirvāṇa, benefiting beings to the end of future time, functioning yet ever quiescent" (T31n1585_p0055b07); their distribution—all beings have the first, the two-vehicle adepts may have the first three, only the World-Honored One all four (T31n1585_p0055b19); cutting the cognitive obstruction discloses the principle of dharma-emptiness, which is the no-abode nirvāṇa, causing non-abiding in both extremes (T31n1585_p0055c13). Mahāyāna-saṃgraha, fasc. 3—the bodhisattvas' extinction of defilement just is the no-abode nirvāṇa; forsaking defilement and not-forsaking birth-and-death; the turning of the basis its mark (T31n1593_p0129a27); the vast turning, "for forsaking-and-not-forsaking" (T31n1593_p0129b11). Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra, fasc. 48—the seventh abode, the buddhas of the ten directions stroking the head; the four reasons for not taking nirvāṇa (firm vow, deep compassion, clear knowing of the real, the buddhas' protection); "do not regret, recall your original vow" (T25n1509_p0405c24).
  • Variances: first, "the nirvāṇa of no fixed abode" is a technical term established by the Yogācāra/Saṃgraha treatises; the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra supplies its doctrinal substance (the bodhisattva able to take, and not taking, nirvāṇa; the original vow, great compassion, knowing the real) but does not contain this term anywhere in the whole treatise (physically verified: its occurrences of "no abode" all mean "no fixed place / ultimate emptiness / the no-abode samādhi," none a name for nirvāṇa); the book takes the Śāstra as the Prajñā-stream scriptural witness to the substance, not as the term's source. Second, "only the buddha has four" marks that the perfected, fruit-stage no-abode nirvāṇa belongs only to the buddha; the book takes it for the bodhisattva's causal-stage orientation / turning-of-the-basis (the Saṃgraha's "the bodhisattvas' extinction of defilement just is the no-abode nirvāṇa"; the six perfections as its provisions), and judges neither causal-versus-fruit height nor reconciliation with the tathāgata division. Third, this Śāstra passage is in the Chapter on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (chapter 19); its fascicle is in fact 48 ("19" is the chapter number, not the fascicle). Fourth, the Sanskrit correspondences apratiṣṭhita-nirvāṇa (no-abode nirvāṇa) / āśrayaparāvṛtti (turning of the basis) are not directly verified in the Chinese-translation XML; they follow the standard correspondence.

6.2 Two Kinds of True (after BODHI-P10)

  • Treatises: Cheng weishi lun, fasc. 10—the two nirvāṇas: without-remainder (freed of the afflictive obstruction, all suffering forever quieted, no-more-becoming) and no-abode (freed of the cognitive obstruction, benefiting beings to the end of future time) (T31n1585_p0055b07); the two-vehicle's without-remainder station and the buddha—no different from the buddha, but lacking the awakening and the work of benefiting others (T31n1585_p0055c11); fasc. 9, each obstruction obstructing one fruit—the afflictive obstructs nirvāṇa, the cognitive obstructs awakening (T31n1585_p0048c06); the two vehicles cut only the afflictive, the bodhisattva cuts both (T31n1585_p0048c28). Mahāyāna-saṃgraha, fasc. 3—the inferior turning (the śrāvaka one-pointedly turning the back on birth-and-death) and the vast turning (the bodhisattva for forsaking-and-not-forsaking) (T31n1593_p0129b11).
  • Variances: first, this chapter's "discrimination" judges the two masteries' difference in kind, not in height; the terms used (freed of the cognitive/afflictive obstruction, cutting both/only one, the vast/inferior turning) come from the Mahāyāna Yogācāra/Saṃgraha system of classification, not the arhat's own tradition's (the Āgama's, the Kośa's) self-understanding. The Āgama/Kośa hold the no-comment teaching on the substance of the nirvāṇa-realm; the book respects this, not forcing the Yogācāra terms to rank the arhat's own tradition (the arhat's "exhaustion of the taints" is, in his own tradition, ultimate liberation—real and not inferior); the arhat-side scriptural witnesses (without-remainder nirvāṇa, no-more-becoming, the no-comment teaching) stand in this series' The Arhat's Mastery volume, here only cross-referenced, their loci not reproduced. Second, whether the two-vehicle's without-remainder nirvāṇa is ultimate, and the śrāvaka's turning from the lesser toward the great (the "five distinct lineages" versus "one ultimate vehicle" dispute)—this "vertical" adjudication belongs to the author's tenet-choice; the book does only the "horizontal" discrimination in kind, and does not adjudicate. Third, the no-abode nirvāṇa's fruit-stage fullness ("only the buddha has four") belongs to the tathāgata division and the author.

The Five Transitions

The five transitions (from vow and provision to the six perfections; from the six to the four embraces; from the four embraces to the forbearance of non-arising; from the forbearance to the ten masteries; from the ten masteries to the nirvāṇa of no fixed abode) are bridges between parts—gathering the way behind, posing the next question, introducing no new canon; their referenced sources are all already listed under the adjacent chapters.

All citations in this book are checked against the CBETA electronic canon. Where a name is the classifiers' or the book's own synthesis rather than the canon's verbatim text (the proper names of the three non-regresses, exactly which ground the forbearance of non-arising hangs on, the pairing of the four added perfections with the four later grounds, the reading "altruism is mastery," Part Six's Mahāyāna-Yogācāra classificatory terms), the text marks its scope where used, and each chapter's "Variances" records the detail. "The nirvāṇa of no fixed abode" is a Yogācāra/Saṃgraha term; the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra supplies the substance but does not contain the term. Whether the śrāvaka turns from the lesser toward the great, whether the two-vehicle is ultimate, and the no-abode nirvāṇa's fruit-stage fullness ("only the buddha has four"), belong to the author's tenet-adjudication and the tathāgata division, and the book does not adjudicate them. Sanskrit correspondences not directly verified in the Chinese-translation XML follow the standard correspondence. As a Mahāyāna volume, this book carries no Pāli double-track obligation.