Attainment · Tathāgata’s MasteryPart 4Paper 5 of 10

The Ten Powers and the Four Fearlessnesses

TATHAGATA-P05 · v1.0 · 2026-06

Why a Buddha's Ten Powers and Four Fearlessnesses Are the "Function" of Mastery, Not Superpowers Acquired Beyond the Severing of Defilements and the Turning into Wisdom

中文主題：如來十力與四無所畏——佛之十力四無畏何以是自在之「用」，而非斷惑成智之外別得之超能力

I. The Question

The prior paper set down the Tathāgata's mastery's cognitive structure — the four wisdoms (turning consciousness into wisdom) — and, at its close, handed to this paper and those following the "function of the four wisdoms": the great-mirror wisdom's clear reflecting, the equality wisdom's great loving-kindness and compassion, the observation wisdom's teaching and resolving of doubts, the accomplishing wisdom's transformative function, and the fruition-virtues unfolded from them — the ten powers, four fearlessnesses, eighteen distinctive dharmas, and the rest. This paper takes up the baton and the first of these — the Tathāgata's ten powers and four fearlessnesses — and asks a direct question: a Buddha's ten powers and four fearlessnesses — what are they?

The question presses because of an imagination this series has broken four times over, yet which recurs at each new topic. The prior four papers have repeatedly broken the picture that "the buddha-fruit's virtues are something acquired beyond the severing of defilements": the exhaustion of taints is mastery, the mastery not an acquired supernormal power (the frame of this series' Arhat division); the ten epithets are the signature of the ultimate mastery, not ten acquired virtues (P01); the fruit-level is not the causal-level brightened (P02); the three bodies are one mastery's manifestation, not three separately established Buddhas (P03); the four wisdoms are turned from the eight consciousnesses, not spiritual cognitions acquired beyond severing (P04). Arrived at "power" and "fearlessness," the same temptation recurs in its strongest guise: to suppose that a Buddha's "ten powers" are ten superpowers a Buddha trains up beyond severing the defilements and turning into wisdom, and the "four fearlessnesses" a kind of nerve separately forged — as if, after name, body, and wisdom, a Buddha went elsewhere to fetch a "fifth batch of treasures": ten magical forces plus four kinds of dauntlessness.

This paper holds the picture still misplaced. The Tathāgata's ten powers are "knowledge-powers" — ten powers of "knowing-as-it-is"; the four fearlessnesses are the fearlessness disclosed by the completeness of wisdom-and-severance. Neither is a superpower acquired beyond severing the defilements and turning into wisdom, but the "function" of the already-established mastery (the four wisdoms) turned toward beings. The proof has three faces of direct textual basis. First, each of the ten powers the treatise closes with "…knowing as it is, the Nth power" — a power is a power of knowing-as-it-is (a knowledge-power), not a magical force; the ten powers are the all-kinds wisdom's knowing-as-it-is across ten domains, not ten capacities acquired apart from wisdom. Second, each of the four fearlessnesses the treatise binds to "seeing not the slightest mark of fear" and "roaring the lion's roar, able to turn the brahma-wheel" — fearlessness is not a separately cultivated courage, but the necessary aspect of one who, wisdom complete (all-right-knowing) and severance exhausted (all taints exhausted), cannot be truly challenged by anyone. Third, the Avataṃsaka's verse lists the ten powers, four fearlessnesses, and eighteen distinctive dharmas together and names them outright "the Tathāgata's masterful function," marking their import as "all manifested to deliver beings" — power and fearlessness are mastery's functional aspect "for the sake of beings."

This carries forward the Attainment axis's one constant frame, and adds to it one heading. This series has held the buddha-fruit's virtues all to be aspects of "turning / severing / manifesting," not things "acquired from outside": name (the ten epithets), body (the three bodies), and wisdom (the four wisdoms) all so. This paper carries the same frame through to the buddha-fruit's "function": the ten powers and four fearlessnesses are the already-established mastery turned toward beings, likewise not acquired. So the keynote's aspects pass from three to four — name (the readable aspect), body (the visible aspect), wisdom (the cognitive aspect), function (the world-facing aspect): a Buddha does not, after severing the defilements and turning into wisdom, go elsewhere to "acquire" a batch of powers and fearlessnesses, but the one and same mastery's wisdom, inwardly cognition (the four wisdoms), opens outward as the ten powers' knowing-as-it-is, is disclosed as the four fearlessnesses' lion's roar, and turns toward beings to become the function of their deliverance.

This paper rests on the establishment of the ten powers and four fearlessnesses in the prajñā / treatise corpus (the Dazhidu lun the treatise pivot) and the eighty-fascicle Avataṃsaka (the scriptural witness), and records as well the line of the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra that explains the buddha-nature by the ten powers and four fearlessnesses (its doctrinal adjudication reserved to the author, see §V). The argument runs in three moves (§III): the ten powers are "knowledge-powers," not "magical forces" (3.1); the four fearlessnesses are the fearlessness disclosed by the completeness of wisdom-and-severance, i.e. "unobstructedness" turned toward beings (3.2); the ten powers and four fearlessnesses are "the function of mastery," not "acquired powers," their import being to deliver beings (3.3). Section IV cuts the interdisciplinary convergence (rationale in §VI). Section V offers middle-way corrections. Section VI concludes and hands the eighteen distinctive dharmas and four analytical knowledges to P06, the marks and signs to P07, the great compassion and all-kinds wisdom to P08, the Tathāgata's ten masteries and the four virtues of nirvāṇa to P09, and the ultimate non-abiding nirvāṇa to P10.

II. The Canonical Basis

2.1 The ten powers in full: each power is a "knowing"

The treatise pivot for the ten powers is in the Dazhidu lun, fascicle 24, the "Exposition of the Ten Powers." Nāgārjuna lists the Buddha's ten powers one by one, and closes each power with "knowing as it is, the Nth power":

佛有十力者。是處不是處如實知，一力也。知眾生過去、未來、現在諸業、諸受，知造業處，知因緣，知報，二力也。知諸禪、解脫、三昧、定，垢、淨分別相如實知，三力也。知他眾生諸根上下相如實知，四力也。知他眾生種種欲，五力也。知世間種種無數性，六力也。知一切道至處相，七力也……¹

"The Buddha has ten powers. Knowing as it is what is and is not the case — the first power. Knowing beings' past, future, and present karmas and feelings, knowing where karma is made, knowing the causes and conditions, knowing the fruits — the second power. Knowing as it is the meditations, liberations, samādhis, and concentrations, and the marks distinguishing defiled and pure — the third power. Knowing as it is the marks of other beings' faculties, high and low — the fourth power. Knowing other beings' various inclinations — the fifth power. Knowing the world's various innumerable dispositions — the sixth power. Knowing the marks of where all paths lead — the seventh power…"

The treatise lists the ten powers thus: (1) the power of knowing what is and is not the case (knowing the possible and impossible in principle and fact); (2) the power of knowing karma-and-fruit (knowing the karmas of the three times and their fruits); (3) the power of knowing the meditations, liberations, and samādhis; (4) the power of knowing the faculties high and low (knowing beings' faculties keen and dull); (5) the power of knowing the various inclinations (knowing beings' various desires and leanings); (6) the power of knowing the various dispositions (knowing the world's various realm-natures); (7) the power of knowing where all paths lead; (8) the power of knowing past lives; (9) the power of the divine eye (death-and-birth); (10) the power of knowing the exhaustion of taints (the Buddha's taints exhausted, the self-certifying knowing-as-it-is "my births are exhausted"). Of the ten powers, each power is closed with "knowing as it is," and so they are named "knowledge-powers" (the "power" of daśabala being the power of ten kinds of knowing): they are the Buddha's knowing-as-it-is across ten classes of domain, unbreakable and unbendable, and hence called "power" — a power being the unbreakability of knowing, not some separate magical force.

The eighty-fascicle Avataṃsaka, fascicle 17, the "Pure Conduct" chapter, lists the same set of ten knowings as "the Tathāgata's ten powers," the names confirming the treatise's, only the last rendered "the knowing that forever severs the habit-energies":

復應修習十種法。何者為十？所謂：處非處智、過現未來業報智、諸禪解脫三昧智、諸根勝劣智、種種解智、種種界智、一切至處道智、天眼無礙智、宿命無礙智、永斷習氣智。於如來十力，一一觀察；一一力中，有無量義，悉應諮問。²

"Further one should cultivate ten dharmas. What are the ten? Namely: the knowing of what is and is not the case, the knowing of the karma-and-fruit of past, present, and future, the knowing of the meditations, liberations, and samādhis, the knowing of the faculties superior and inferior, the knowing of the various understandings, the knowing of the various realms, the knowing of where all paths lead, the unobstructed knowing of the divine eye, the unobstructed knowing of past lives, the knowing that forever severs the habit-energies. Concerning the Tathāgata's ten powers, contemplate each one; within each power there are measureless meanings, and of all one should inquire."

Scripture and treatise list the ten powers in the same order, with small differences in name (the treatise's "various inclinations," "various dispositions," "faculties high and low" appearing in the scripture as "various understandings," "various realms," "faculties superior and inferior"), the referents one. Especially to be marked: the Avataṃsaka renders the eighth and ninth powers outright as "the unobstructed knowing of the divine eye" and "the unobstructed knowing of past lives" — the word "unobstructed" (apratihata) entering the very names of the powers: the ten powers are knowledge-powers precisely in that their knowing is "unobstructed" (unhindered); and this "unobstructed" is the keynote this division has set down (the Tathāgata's apratihata, the unobstructed mastery), already self-disclosed in the names of the powers. Further, the scripture gives the last power as "the knowing that forever severs the habit-energies" — the thoroughness of the exhaustion-of-taints power: a Buddha not only exhausts the taints but forever severs the habit-energies (the two-vehicle adept exhausts the taints, yet the habit-energies are not severed), and this "forever severing the habit-energies" is precisely where the Buddha's exhaustion-of-taints power differs from the two-vehicle exhaustion (the precise discrimination from the two vehicles reserved to the author, see §V).

2.2 The four fearlessnesses in full: seeing not the slightest mark of fear, hence the lion's roar

The treatise establishment of the four fearlessnesses is in the Dazhidu lun, fascicle 25, the "Meaning of the Four Fearlessnesses." The treatise sets up each of the four in the form "the Buddha makes a true declaration / sees not the slightest mark of fear / roars the lion's roar, able to turn the brahma-wheel." Here is the first (the fearlessness of all-right-knowing) as the pattern:

四無所畏者。佛作誠言：「我是一切正智人。若有沙門、婆羅門，若天、若魔、若梵、若復餘眾，如實言：『是法不知。』乃至不見是微畏相。以是故，我得安隱，得無所畏，安住聖主處，如牛王，在大眾中師子吼，能轉梵輪；諸沙門、婆羅門，若天、若魔、若梵、若復餘眾，實不能轉。一無畏也。」³

"The four fearlessnesses. The Buddha makes a true declaration: 'I am one of all-right-knowing. Should there be any renunciant or brahman, any deva, Māra, Brahmā, or other being who declares as it is, "This dharma you do not know" — down to the slightest mark of fear I see not. Therefore I attain security, attain fearlessness, abide in the place of the holy sovereign, like a bull-king, in the great assembly roar the lion's roar and turn the brahma-wheel; and no renunciant, brahman, deva, Māra, Brahmā, or other being can truly turn it.' This is the first fearlessness."

The substance of the four fearlessnesses the treatise's closing "brief statement" gives most plainly:

略說是四無所畏體：一者、正知一切法，二者、盡一切漏及習，三者、說一切障道法，四者、說盡苦道。⁴

"Stated in brief, the substance of the four fearlessnesses: first, rightly knowing all dharmas; second, having exhausted all taints and habit-energies; third, declaring all dharmas that obstruct the path; fourth, declaring the path to the end of suffering."

The four fearlessnesses are well ordered, divided into two self-benefiting and two other-benefiting: (1) the fearlessness of all-right-knowing (rightly knowing all dharmas) and (2) the fearlessness of all-taints-exhausted (having exhausted all taints and habit-energies) — these two, the Buddha's self-certified completeness (wisdom complete, severance exhausted), belong to self-benefit; (3) the fearlessness of declaring what obstructs the path (declaring the dharmas that obstruct, that "to undergo these obstructing dharmas obstructs the path," the Buddha declaring without fear) and (4) the fearlessness of declaring the path to the end of suffering (declaring that this noble path can transcend the world and exhaust all suffering) — these two, the Buddha's decisive proclamation for the sake of beings, belong to other-benefit. The ground of the fearlessness lies precisely in the first two of self-benefit: the Buddha's wisdom being complete (all-right-knowing) and severance exhausted (all taints and habit-energies), there is no renunciant, brahman, deva, Māra, or Brahmā who can truly challenge him — one who could declare as it is "this dharma you do not know," "this taint you have not exhausted," is nowhere to be found, and so the Buddha "down to the slightest mark of fear sees not." No mark of anything to be feared being visible, he then "abides in the place of the holy sovereign, like a bull-king, in the great assembly roars the lion's roar, able to turn the brahma-wheel." Fearlessness is not a separately cultivated courage, but the necessary aspect of one whose wisdom-and-severance is complete — that he "cannot be challenged."

2.3 The import of their joint listing: the ten powers and four fearlessnesses are "the Tathāgata's masterful function"

When the ten powers, four fearlessnesses (and eighteen distinctive dharmas) are listed together, the eighty-fascicle Avataṃsaka, in a verse of fascicle 14, comprises them outright as "the Tathāgata's masterful function," and marks their import:

如來十力無所畏，及以十八不共法，所有無量諸功德，悉以示現度眾生。記心教誡及神足，悉是如來自在用，彼諸大士皆示現，能使眾生盡調伏。⁵

"The Tathāgata's ten powers and fearlessnesses, together with the eighteen distinctive dharmas, and all the measureless virtues — all are manifested to deliver beings. Knowing-minds, instructing, and the supernormal feet — all are the Tathāgata's masterful function; those great beings all manifest them, able to bring beings wholly to be tamed."

The verse lists "the ten powers · fearlessnesses · eighteen distinctive dharmas · measureless virtues" together, and their function is "all manifested to deliver beings"; it further marks "knowing-minds, instructing, the supernormal feet… all the Tathāgata's masterful function" — the four characters "the Tathāgata's mastery" (如來自在) present themselves on the face of the scripture: the ten powers and four fearlessnesses are not an isolated inventory of capacities, but the "function" of "the Tathāgata's mastery," the import of whose operation is "to deliver beings," "to bring beings wholly to be tamed." This is precisely this paper's frame: power and fearlessness are the functional aspect of the already-established mastery (name · body · wisdom) turned toward beings.

There is, besides, a line of scripture that explains the "buddha-nature" by the ten powers and four fearlessnesses, binding it to the nirvāṇic context of permanence-bliss-self-purity. The Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra, fascicle 27, says:

善男子！佛性者，所謂十力、四無所畏、大悲、三念處。一切眾生悉有三種破煩惱故，然後得見一闡提等，破一闡提，然後能得十力、四無所畏、大悲、三念處。以是義故，我常宣說一切眾生悉有佛性。⁶

"Good son! The buddha-nature is what is called the ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, the great compassion, and the three foundations of mindfulness. Because all beings have the three [means of] breaking the afflictions, they thereafter come to see the [matter of the] icchantika and the rest; breaking the icchantika [condition], they thereafter can attain the ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, the great compassion, and the three foundations of mindfulness. For this reason I constantly declare that all beings have the buddha-nature."

The Nirvāṇa-sūtra takes "the ten powers, the four fearlessnesses" (with the great compassion and three foundations of mindfulness) as the content of "buddha-nature," and binds it to the teaching that "all beings have the buddha-nature." Recording the scripture's plain sense here serves to show one meaning: the ten powers and four fearlessnesses are not capacities added to a Buddha from outside, but content comprised within "buddha-nature" — which accords with this paper's frame that "power and fearlessness are the function of mastery, not things acquired." Yet it must be marked with all seriousness: whether the buddha-nature is of definitive or provisional meaning, the establishment of the four nirvāṇic virtues of permanence-bliss-self-purity, the dispute over whether the icchantika has the nature, and the relation of this "all beings have the buddha-nature" to the two vehicles' ultimacy — these are all major doctrinal adjudications of the tathāgatagarbha line; this paper records the scripture without adjudicating in the author's stead, leaving all of it to the author and to cross-axis convergence (see §V, Correction 2). This paper takes from it only the one sense: the ten powers and four fearlessnesses are content comprised within buddha-nature (showing that they are not capacities added from outside).

III. The Core Argument

Section II has set out three things: the ten powers in full, each power a "knowing" (2.1); the four fearlessnesses in full, seeing not the slightest mark of fear and so roaring the lion's roar (2.2); the import of their joint listing as "the Tathāgata's masterful function," to deliver beings (2.3). This section establishes the thesis: the ten powers and four fearlessnesses are not superpowers acquired beyond severing the defilements and turning into wisdom, but the already-established mastery turned toward beings as function. In three layers — the ten powers are "knowledge-powers," not "magical forces"; the four fearlessnesses are the fearlessness disclosed by completeness; the ten powers and four fearlessnesses are "the function of mastery," not "acquired powers."

3.1 The ten powers are "knowledge-powers," not "magical forces" acquired beyond severing the defilements and turning into wisdom

Break first the "acquired superpower" reading. This reading pictures "becoming a Buddha and attaining the ten powers" thus: after severing the defilements and turning into wisdom, a Buddha goes on to train up ten lofty magical forces — as if the four wisdoms were the inner realization and the ten powers ten outward instruments moved in from elsewhere. But the treatise does not say so. Each of the ten powers the treatise closes with "knowing as it is, the Nth power" (2.1): knowing-as-it-is what is and is not the case, knowing-as-it-is karma-and-fruit, knowing-as-it-is the faculties high and low… down to knowing-as-it-is the exhaustion of taints. Where the "power" lies is precisely where the "knowing-as-it-is" lies — a power is the power of knowing, not a magical force existing apart from knowing. The "power" (bala) of daśabala has the sense of "unbreakable, unbendable": the Buddha's knowing-as-it-is across these ten classes of domain, which none can challenge, no matter confuse, no object screen — this "unbreakability of knowing" is what is named "power." So the ten powers are not ten feats of magic but the all-kinds wisdom's knowing-as-it-is, as it is, across ten classes of domain (principle-and-fact · karma-and-fruit · meditation · faculties · inclinations · dispositions · paths · past lives · death-and-birth · exhaustion of taints) — ten stations of one knowing.

This carries forward from the prior paper. P04 set the four wisdoms as the Tathāgata's cognitive structure, especially the observation wisdom "well observing the particular and common marks of dharmas, turning unobstructed" and the accomplishing wisdom's transformative function throughout the ten directions. The ten powers are this all-kinds wisdom (accomplished by the four wisdoms), its knowing-as-it-is laid out across ten domains so that its aspect of "unbreakability" appears — and so the Avataṃsaka marks within the ten powers, outright, "the unobstructed knowing of the divine eye, the unobstructed knowing of past lives," "unobstructed" being the unhinderedness of knowing. The ten powers are not acquired apart from the four wisdoms, but the all-kinds wisdom's (the four wisdoms') power-function of knowing-as-it-is, disclosed across ten domains. As with the simile of polishing a mirror (P04): the mirror's dust exhausted, its bright reflecting reaches everywhere; the ten powers are this bright reflecting's "shining on the ten domains and unable to be screened," not ten lamps set up apart from the mirror.

This carries forward the Attainment axis's constant frame. The freedom of exhaustion is the aspect of exhaustion (not an acquired supernormal power); the ten epithets are a signature (not acquired virtues); the three bodies are a manifestation (not three Buddhas); the four wisdoms are turned (not acquired spiritual cognitions); the ten powers are wisdom's knowing-as-it-is (not acquired magical forces) — one and the same frame.

3.2 The four fearlessnesses are the fearlessness disclosed by the completeness of wisdom-and-severance: "unobstructedness" turned toward beings

The second layer establishes the provenance of the four fearlessnesses. The four fearlessnesses, too, are not a kind of courage a Buddha forges separately beyond wisdom-and-severance, but the necessary aspect of one whose wisdom-and-severance is complete — that he "cannot be truly challenged." The proof is in the structure of the four (2.2): the two self-benefiting fearlessnesses — all-right-knowing (rightly knowing all dharmas), all-taints-exhausted (having exhausted all taints and habit-energies) — are precisely the Buddha's wisdom-complete and severance-exhausted; the two other-benefiting — declaring what obstructs the path, declaring the path to the end of suffering — are this complete one's decisive proclamation to beings. The ground of the fearlessness lies wholly in the former two: only because his wisdom is complete (all-right-knowing) and severance exhausted (all taints and habit-energies) is there, among devas, Māras, Brahmās, renunciants, and brahmans, none who can declare as it is "this dharma you truly do not know," "this taint you truly have not exhausted"; a mark that could be challenged being nowhere to be found, he "sees not the slightest mark of fear." The phrase "sees not the slightest mark of fear" is the most crucial: fearlessness is not the courage of "having fear and forcibly enduring it," but the necessity of "seeking a mark to be feared and finding none" — wisdom-and-severance being complete, there is fundamentally nothing to fear, and so there is no fear.

This "fearlessness" is this division's keynote, "unobstructed mastery" (apratihata), turned toward beings. Section 3.1 has shown the ten powers' "unobstructedness" (the divine eye unobstructed · past lives unobstructed · turning unobstructed) to be the unhinderedness of knowing; now the four fearlessnesses are the aspect of this "knowing-unobstructed" one, standing in the great assembly, facing every possible challenge, "unhindered and unafraid." Unobstructed in knowing within, so fearless without; the ten powers are the unobstructed knowing, the four fearlessnesses are that unobstructed knowing's dauntlessness before the assembly. And so the lion's roar is not a roar of intimidation but the roar of "there is none who can challenge" — "abiding in the place of the holy sovereign, like a bull-king, in the great assembly roaring the lion's roar, able to turn the brahma-wheel," which the assembly "truly cannot turn." Fearlessness is the aspect that the completeness of wisdom-and-severance necessarily discloses outwardly, not a nerve forged apart from wisdom-and-severance.

3.3 The ten powers and four fearlessnesses are "the function of mastery," not "acquired powers": the import is to deliver beings

The third layer gathers up in import. The ten powers and four fearlessnesses, taken together, are the already-established mastery (name · body · wisdom) turned toward beings as "function." The Avataṃsaka's verse names them outright "the Tathāgata's masterful function" (2.3), and marks their import: "all manifested to deliver beings," "able to bring beings wholly to be tamed." This one face-of-the-scripture witness supplies the Attainment axis's frame with one heading, "function": the buddha-fruit's mastery, inwardly cognition (the four wisdoms), opens its knowing-as-it-is out as the ten powers and discloses its completeness of severance as the four fearlessnesses, and the operation of the ten powers and four fearlessnesses all turns toward beings — declaring what obstructs the path, declaring the path to the end of suffering (the two other-benefiting fearlessnesses), knowing-minds, instructing, the supernormal feet (the masterful functions the Avataṃsaka lists), all with "delivering beings" as their import. So the ten powers and four fearlessnesses are not a Buddha's private self-benefiting capacities (like ten instruments and four kinds of nerve privately hoarded), but mastery's functional aspect "for the sake of beings."

So the keynote's aspects pass from three to four: name (the readable aspect, P01), body (the visible aspect, P03), wisdom (the cognitive aspect, P04), function (the world-facing, being-delivering aspect, this paper). All four are disclosures of one buddha-fruit mastery, not four batches of things acquired apart from the mastery. A Buddha does not, after severing the defilements and turning into wisdom, go elsewhere to "acquire" the name, acquire the body, acquire the wisdom, acquire the powers and fearlessnesses; a Buddha, in the very moment of exhausting-and-turning-pure, of mastery perfectly accomplished, has its name (readable) · body (visible) · wisdom (cognition) · function (delivering beings) disclosed all at once, manifest as one body. The ten powers and four fearlessnesses being "function" shows precisely that mastery is not the perfection of a dead-still self-keeping, but the perfection that necessarily turns toward beings, taking the deliverance of beings as its function — the ultimate of which sense (the non-abiding nirvāṇa's "not abiding in nirvāṇa" while ever raising the function of benefiting others) is gathered up by this division's closing paper, P10.

✅ Doctrinally sound: taken together, the three layers support "the ten powers and four fearlessnesses are not superpowers acquired beyond severing the defilements and turning into wisdom, but the already-established mastery turned toward beings as function" — the ten powers are "knowledge-powers" (each power closed with "knowing as it is" · power being the unbreakability of knowing · the four wisdoms' all-kinds wisdom knowing-as-it-is across ten domains, not acquired magical forces); the four fearlessnesses are the fearlessness disclosed by the completeness of wisdom-and-severance (the two self-benefiting [right-knowing · taints-exhausted] the ground · seeing not the slightest mark of fear, hence the lion's roar · "unobstructedness" before the assembly); the ten powers and four fearlessnesses are "the function of mastery" (the Avataṃsaka names them outright "the Tathāgata's masterful function" · the import is to deliver beings · supplying the keynote's "function" heading). The Nirvāṇa-sūtra's explaining the buddha-nature by the ten powers and four fearlessnesses is recorded without adjudicating in the author's stead; the universality of buddha-nature · permanence-bliss-self-purity · the icchantika · the relation to the two vehicles are reserved to the author (§V); the eighteen distinctive dharmas and four analytical knowledges are handed to P06.

IV. Interdisciplinary Convergence

(This paper deliberately omits the interdisciplinary-convergence section; the rationale is given in §VI. The aspect of the "four fearlessnesses" might seem comparable to psychology's "expert confidence" or the thesis of "competence as assurance" — an expert, in the field of their mastery, states before an audience without timidity. Yet that is dominated by "the self-assurance of a domain-bounded competence," only superficially like this paper's sense that "fearlessness is grounded in the completeness of all-right-knowing and all-taints-exhausted [not domain-bounded, but there being no dharma not known, no taint not exhausted], and so cannot be truly challenged." Expert confidence can still be overturned outside its domain or by someone more skilled; a Buddha's fearlessness, by the completeness of "all," is the impossibility of "finding a single mark that could be challenged." The one is a relative self-assurance, the other the necessity of "seeing not the slightest mark of fear"; to force the convergence would falsely cast "the completeness of all-knowing-and-severance" as "domain mastery," and so it is better left out.)

V. Middle-Way Corrections

This section clears away one common misreading bearing on the thesis, and plainly marks two adjudications reserved to the author.

❌ Misreading 1: "The ten powers and four fearlessnesses = ten magical forces plus a kind of nerve a Buddha separately trains up beyond severing the defilements and turning into wisdom (a fifth batch of treasures after name, body, and wisdom)." This the paper breaks in full. Each of the ten powers is closed with "knowing as it is, the Nth power" (2.1) — a power is the power of knowing-as-it-is (a knowledge-power), the all-kinds wisdom's knowing-as-it-is across ten domains, not a magical force acquired apart from wisdom; and the Avataṃsaka marks "unobstructed knowing" within the ten powers, the unobstructedness of knowing being the power (3.1). The ground of the four fearlessnesses is in the two self-benefiting, "all-right-knowing · all-taints-exhausted"; fearlessness is the necessity of one whose wisdom-and-severance is complete "seeing not the slightest mark of fear," not a separately cultivated courage (3.2). To picture becoming a Buddha and attaining the ten powers and four fearlessnesses as "moving in ten instruments and four kinds of nerve after the severing of defilements" is to fall into just this error.

⚠️ Correction 2 (reserved to the author): The Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra's line explaining the buddha-nature by the ten powers and four fearlessnesses, binding it to "all beings have the buddha-nature" (the icchantika included), is a major doctrine of the tathāgatagarbha line; this paper records the scripture, leaving all its adjudication to the author and to cross-axis convergence, not adjudicating in the author's stead. The scripture says "the buddha-nature is what is called the ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, the great compassion, and the three foundations of mindfulness… I constantly declare that all beings have the buddha-nature" (2.3). The adjudications this line involves — whether the buddha-nature is of definitive or provisional meaning, the establishment of the four nirvāṇic virtues of permanence-bliss-self-purity, the dispute over whether the icchantika has or lacks the nature, and the relation of "all beings have the buddha-nature" to the two vehicles' ultimacy (whether the two vehicles partly attain, or turn from the lesser to the great and thereafter attain a Buddha's ten powers and four fearlessnesses) — are all core questions of the tathāgatagarbha / nirvāṇa line, and are matters this series has expressly reserved to the author and to cross-axis convergence. This paper takes from the scripture only the one sense: the ten powers and four fearlessnesses are content comprised within buddha-nature (showing that they are not capacities added to a Buddha from outside, which accords with this paper's "function" frame); it puts not a word to the universality, the definitiveness, or the two-vehicle discrimination of the buddha-nature.

⚠️ Correction 3 (the buddha-ground's distinctive virtues · not a cross-axis ranking; fine items marked, not unfolded): First, the ten powers and four fearlessnesses are the buddha-ground's distinctive fruition-virtues — this being the sense this division has set down, that "the fruit-level differs from the causal-level" (the categorical step at the stage of marvelous awakening, the fruition-virtues completely possessed), i.e. the sense that "only the buddha-fruit completely possesses these ten powers and four fearlessnesses [and forever severs the habit-energies]"; this is a statement of the buddha-fruit's completeness, not a cross-axis verdict of high and low. The difference between the two vehicles' exhaustion of taints and a Buddha's exhaustion-of-taints power ("forever severing the habit-energies" against the two vehicles' habit-energies unsevered), the difference between the bodhisattva's causal-level ten powers and the buddha-fruit's ten powers, whether the two vehicles partly attain or turn-and-attain — all such cross-axis comparisons are reserved to the author; this paper puts no verdict on "which is higher, which lower," but states only the buddha-fruit's aspect of completeness here. Second, the variant translations of the ten powers' names (the treatise's "various inclinations / various dispositions / faculties high and low" against the scripture's "various understandings / various realms / faculties superior and inferior"), the splitting and joining of the what-is-and-is-not power and the karma-and-fruit power, the mutual splitting-and-comprising of the four fearlessnesses and the ten powers, and the fine disputes over the mental associates comprised by each power and each fearlessness — none of these is this paper's task; marked, not unfolded.

VI. Conclusion

Essential restatement. The Tathāgata's ten powers and four fearlessnesses are not superpowers a Buddha acquires beyond severing the defilements and turning into wisdom, but the already-established mastery (the four wisdoms) turned toward beings as "function." Three layers support this: the ten powers are "knowledge-powers," not "magical forces" — each power closed with "knowing as it is," a power being the unbreakability of knowing, the all-kinds wisdom's knowing-as-it-is across ten domains (the Avataṃsaka even marks "unobstructed knowing"), not ten capacities acquired apart from wisdom (3.1); the four fearlessnesses are the fearlessness disclosed by the completeness of wisdom-and-severance — the two self-benefiting (all-right-knowing · all-taints-exhausted) the ground, and so "seeing not the slightest mark of fear" and roaring the lion's roar, the aspect of "unobstructedness" before the assembly, not a separately cultivated courage (3.2); the ten powers and four fearlessnesses are "the function of mastery," not "acquired powers" — the Avataṃsaka names them outright "the Tathāgata's masterful function," their import "to deliver beings," supplying the keynote's "function" heading: name · body · wisdom · function are all one mastery's "turning / severing / manifesting / functioning," not acquired from outside (3.3).

Guidance for practice. This paper corrects, for the practitioner, the thought of "seeking, beyond severing the defilements and turning into wisdom, the magical forces and nerve of the ten powers and four fearlessnesses." One bound for the buddha-fruit easily pictures "becoming a Buddha" as "first severing the defilements, then turning into wisdom, then going on to train up ten magical forces and a dauntlessness before the assembly," and so seeks, beyond the transformation of the basis, a separate work of "attaining powers and fearlessness." This paper is the remedy: the ten powers are not ten instruments moved in from elsewhere, but the unbreakability of knowing-as-it-is across ten domains; the four fearlessnesses still less an outwardly forgeable nerve, but the necessary aspect of one whose knowing-as-it-is and exhaustion of taints are complete, "seeking a mark to be feared and finding none." What the practitioner is to do, then, is not "to train up powers and fearlessness apart from the transformation of the basis," but still "to turn the defiled into the pure" (carrying on from P04: severing the two hindrances, turning the eight consciousnesses) — wisdom-and-severance once full, the powers are of themselves the aspect of its knowing-as-it-is, the fearlessness of itself the aspect of its being unchallengeable before the assembly, as a mirror once bright shines of itself throughout the ten directions, no shining sought apart from the mirror. Especially to be kept in mind: to chase after an "attainable magical force" or a "forgeable fearlessness" is to seek with the mind of "acquiring," and turns into a new bond; only complete the work of turning the defiled into the pure, and the powers and fearlessness are of themselves its function.

Open questions. First, this paper cuts the Section IV interdisciplinary convergence (the four fearlessnesses and "expert confidence" are only superficially alike). Second, the Nirvāṇa-sūtra's line explaining the buddha-nature by the ten powers and four fearlessnesses, binding it to "all beings have the buddha-nature" (the icchantika included) — the adjudication of the buddha-nature's definitiveness · permanence-bliss-self-purity · the icchantika · the relation to the two vehicles' ultimacy — is a matter reserved to the author and to cross-axis convergence; this paper records it without adjudicating in the author's stead. Third, this paper establishes the ten powers and four fearlessnesses as the first of mastery's "function"; the rest are handed on in order: the eighteen distinctive dharmas and four analytical knowledges to TATHAGATA-P06; the thirty-two marks and eighty signs (the form-body's mastery-signature) to P07; the great loving-kindness and compassion and the all-kinds wisdom (function in its full breadth toward beings) to P08; the Tathāgata's ten masteries and permanence-bliss-self-purity (the fruit-level's ten masteries · the four nirvāṇic virtues) to P09; and the ultimate sense that "mastery's function necessarily turns toward beings, not abiding in nirvāṇa while ever raising the benefiting of others" (the non-abiding nirvāṇa) is gathered up by this division's closing paper, P10. Further, the "for the sake of beings" function jointly pointed to by the prior paper's equality-wisdom "establishing the buddha-ground's non-abiding nirvāṇa" and this paper's two other-benefiting fearlessnesses (declaring the path to the end of suffering) is also concluded at P08 and P10.

Notes

References

Primary Buddhist Sources

Dazhidu lun (Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra, 大智度論). Attributed to Nāgārjuna, trans. Kumārajīva. T25, no. 1509. Fascicle 24, "Exposition of the Ten Powers" (the Buddha's ten powers in full · each power closed with "knowing as it is"); fascicle 25, "The Meaning of the Four Fearlessnesses" (the four fearlessnesses in long form and the brief statement of their substance · the lion's roar · seeing not the slightest mark of fear).
Mahāvaipulya-buddhāvataṃsaka-sūtra (eighty-fascicle Avataṃsaka, 大方廣佛華嚴經). Trans. Śikṣānanda. T10, no. 0279. Fascicle 17, "Pure Conduct" chapter (the ten knowings of the Tathāgata's ten powers · the last as forever severing the habit-energies · the divine eye and past lives "unobstructed"); fascicle 14, verse (the ten powers · fearlessnesses · eighteen distinctive dharmas = the Tathāgata's masterful function · all manifested to deliver beings).
Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra (northern recension, forty fascicles, 大般涅槃經). Trans. Dharmakṣema. T12, no. 0374. Fascicle 27 (the buddha-nature is what is called the ten powers · four fearlessnesses · great compassion · three foundations of mindfulness · all beings have the buddha-nature — recorded · doctrinal adjudication reserved to the author).

Modern Scholarship

(This paper cites no modern scholarship; the argument rests entirely on Buddhist primary sources, following the open-source spirit of "return to the source." The interdisciplinary-convergence section having been cut, no corresponding modern literature appears.)

Sūtra & Śāstra Index

Point	Source	CBETA id
The Buddha's ten powers in full · each power closed with "knowing as it is, the Nth power" (the treatise pivot)	Dazhidu lun fasc. 24	T25n1509_p0235c22
The ten knowings of the Tathāgata's ten powers in full · the last as forever severing the habit-energies · the divine eye and past lives "unobstructed" (scriptural corroboration)	Avataṃsaka (80) fasc. 17	T10n0279_p0088c21
The four fearlessnesses in long form · the Buddha's true declaration · seeing not the slightest mark of fear · the lion's roar turning the brahma-wheel	Dazhidu lun fasc. 25	T25n1509_p0241b24
The substance of the four fearlessnesses in brief · two self-benefiting (right-knowing · taints-exhausted) two other-benefiting (obstructing the path · the path to the end of suffering)	Dazhidu lun fasc. 25	T25n1509_p0242a22
The ten powers · fearlessnesses · eighteen distinctive dharmas listed together = the Tathāgata's masterful function · all manifested to deliver beings	Avataṃsaka (80) fasc. 14	T10n0279_p0075a06
The buddha-nature is what is called the ten powers, four fearlessnesses, great compassion, three foundations of mindfulness · all beings have the buddha-nature (recorded · adjudication reserved to the author)	Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra fasc. 27	T12n0374_p0525c03

Series Cross-Reference Index

★ TATHAGATA-P04, "Turning Consciousness into Wisdom" (the baton passed): P04 set the four wisdoms as the Tathāgata's cognitive structure and handed the four wisdoms' function (the fruition-virtues of the ten powers, four fearlessnesses, eighteen distinctive dharmas) to this paper onward. This paper sets the ten powers as the all-kinds wisdom's (accomplished by the four wisdoms) knowing-as-it-is across ten domains, and the four fearlessnesses as the fearlessness disclosed by the completeness of wisdom-and-severance — power and fearlessness are the four wisdoms' function, not acquired apart from the four wisdoms.
★ TATHAGATA-P01, "The Ground Where Naming Is Full" · P02, "Two Sets of Ten Masteries" · P03, "Mastery Appearing as Three Bodies" (the frame · supplying the "function" heading): this paper's "the ten powers and four fearlessnesses are the function of mastery, not acquired powers" carries forward the Attainment axis's constant keynote — name (the ten epithets, P01) · body (the three bodies, P03) · wisdom (the four wisdoms, P04) · function (the ten powers and four fearlessnesses, this paper) are all one buddha-fruit mastery's "turning / severing / manifesting / functioning," not acquired; P02's judgment that the fruit-level is not the causal-level brightened is confirmed too in "the ten powers and four fearlessnesses as the buddha-ground's distinctive fruition-virtues" (only the fruit-level completely possesses them, and forever severs the habit-energies).
TATHAGATA-P06, "The Eighteen Distinctive Dharmas · The Four Analytical Knowledges" (forthcoming · same Part): this paper takes the "ten powers and four fearlessnesses" face; the eighteen distinctive dharmas (aṣṭādaśa-āveṇika) and four analytical knowledges (catur-pratisaṃvid) face is handed to P06 — likewise the buddha-ground's distinctive fruition-virtues, the function of mastery.
TATHAGATA-P08, "Great Loving-Kindness and Compassion, and the All-Kinds Wisdom" (forthcoming · function in full breadth): the "for the sake of beings" function pointed to by this paper's two other-benefiting fearlessnesses (declaring what obstructs the path · declaring the path to the end of suffering) and the Avataṃsaka's "all manifested to deliver beings" is gathered up in its full breadth at P08, in the great compassion and all-kinds wisdom; the prior paper's equality-wisdom "great loving-kindness and compassion" is bound here too.
TATHAGATA-P10, "The Ultimate Non-Abiding Nirvāṇa: The Terminus of Both Axes" (closing the division): this paper's ultimate sense — that "mastery's function necessarily turns toward beings, not abiding in nirvāṇa while ever raising the benefiting of others" — is gathered up at P10; the non-abiding nirvāṇa's "not abiding in nirvāṇa" is precisely the ground on which the function of the ten powers and four fearlessnesses is ever raised, concluded there.

Paper: TATHAGATA-P05 · 如來十力與四無所畏 · The Mastery of the Tathāgata · Part 4 · The Ten Powers, Four Fearlessnesses, and Eighteen Distinctive Dharmas Author: 釋慧鏡 (Shi Huijing) · Project: 指月 / Pointing-at-the-Moon · Series: The Attainment Signatures（證自在簽名） License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 CBETA collation: 全文引用均依 CBETA 電子佛典核校（《大智度論》T1509、《大方廣佛華嚴經》T0279、《大般涅槃經》T0374）。Pāli 引文採 PTS reference 雙軌標示（本分區為大乘，無 Pāli 雙軌義務）。 Repository: https://github.com/pointing-at-the-moon/attainment-signatures

Footnotes

Dazhidu lun (Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra), fascicle 24 ("Exposition of the Ten Powers," in the chapter on the first matters), T25n1509_p0235c22. Attributed to Nāgārjuna, trans. Kumārajīva. Listing the Buddha's ten powers one by one (what is and is not the case · karma-and-fruit · meditations, liberations, samādhis · faculties high and low · various inclinations · various dispositions · where all paths lead · past lives · the divine eye [death-and-birth] · exhaustion of taints), each power closed with "knowing as it is, the Nth power." CBETA-collated. ↩
Mahāvaipulya-buddhāvataṃsaka-sūtra (eighty-fascicle Avataṃsaka), fascicle 17, "Pure Conduct" chapter (16th), T10n0279_p0088c21. Trans. Śikṣānanda. Listing the ten knowings of "the Tathāgata's ten powers" (what is and is not the case · karma-and-fruit · meditations, liberations, samādhis · faculties superior and inferior · various understandings · various realms · where all paths lead · the unobstructed divine eye · the unobstructed knowing of past lives · forever severing the habit-energies), the names confirming the Dazhidu lun's, the last rendered "the knowing that forever severs the habit-energies" (i.e. the exhaustion-of-taints power). ↩
Dazhidu lun, fascicle 25 ("The Meaning of the Four Fearlessnesses," in the chapter on the first matters), T25n1509_p0241b24. Establishing the four fearlessnesses in the form "the Buddha makes a true declaration / down to the slightest mark of fear sees not / abides in the place of the holy sovereign, like a bull-king, in the great assembly roars the lion's roar, able to turn the brahma-wheel"; here the first (the fearlessness of all-right-knowing) is cited as the pattern. ↩
Dazhidu lun, fascicle 25 ("The Meaning of the Four Fearlessnesses"), T25n1509_p0242a22. The brief statement of the substance of the four fearlessnesses: first, rightly knowing all dharmas; second, having exhausted all taints and habit-energies; third, declaring all dharmas that obstruct the path; fourth, declaring the path to the end of suffering (two self-benefiting + two other-benefiting). ↩
Mahāvaipulya-buddhāvataṃsaka-sūtra (eighty-fascicle Avataṃsaka), fascicle 14 (verse), T10n0279_p0075a06. The verse lists "the Tathāgata's ten powers · fearlessnesses · eighteen distinctive dharmas · measureless virtues" together, "all manifested to deliver beings," and marks "knowing-minds, instructing, the supernormal feet… all the Tathāgata's masterful function" — the words "the Tathāgata's mastery" (如來自在) present on the face of the scripture. ↩
Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra (northern recension, forty fascicles), fascicle 27, T12n0374_p0525c03. Trans. Dharmakṣema. Explaining the content of "buddha-nature" by "the ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, the great compassion, the three foundations of mindfulness," binding it to the teaching that "all beings have the buddha-nature" (with the icchantika context). This paper records the scripture's plain sense; the adjudication of the buddha-nature's definitiveness · permanence-bliss-self-purity · the icchantika · the relation to the two vehicles is reserved entirely to the author and to cross-axis convergence (see §V, Correction 2). ↩