The Ultimate Non-Abiding Nirvāṇa—The Terminus of Both Axes

Why the Terminus of the Buddha-Fruit's Mastery Is "Mastery as Non-Abiding" (Not the Cessation of Ash-Body and Extinguished-Wisdom), and Why the Sublime-Awakening Seam Is Where the Two Axes of Realization and Attainment End

中文主題：究竟無住處涅槃·兩軸之終——佛果自在之終何以是「以不住為自在」（非灰身滅智之止息），妙覺接縫何以是行證兩軸之所終

I. The Question

This paper is the closing paper of the Mastery of the Tathāgata division, and the close of the seam. Nine papers along, the aspects of the buddha-fruit's mastery have been set down in sequence: name (the ten epithets, P01–02) · body (the three bodies, the marks, P03 · P07) · wisdom (the four wisdoms, P04) · function (the ten powers · four fearlessnesses · eighteen distinctive dharmas · four analytical knowledges · great compassion · all-kinds wisdom, P05–08) · perfection (the Tathāgata's ten masteries · the great nirvāṇa's four virtues, P09). Now, in closing, one root question: where is the terminus of this buddha-fruit's mastery?

The question is not idle. The mastery being already perfected (P09 having set its capacity and virtue both fruit-level perfected), what then is the mastery's ultimate return? By the teaching of the two vehicles, the adept's ultimate is the without-remainder nirvāṇa — the cessation of ash-body and extinguished-wisdom, no further becoming, the bourne of suffering exhausted. Were a Buddha measured by this, the terminus of the buddha-fruit's mastery too would be a cessation: deliverance done, one enters the without-remainder, forever extinguished and never again arising. Yet this contradicts the aspect of the buddha-fruit's mastery this division has set — the three bodies' permanent abiding (P03) · the great compassion as root (P08, without great compassion no Buddha, if a Buddha must enter nirvāṇa one is not called permanent) · the four virtues' permanence and bliss (P09, permanence the Tathāgata's dharma-body, bliss is nirvāṇa) — all making plain that the buddha-fruit takes up no cessation of ash-and-extinction. So this paper's question is, in truth: the terminus of the buddha-fruit's mastery, being not a two-vehicle-style cessation, what manner of "terminus" is it?

This paper holds: the terminus of the buddha-fruit's mastery is the ultimate non-abiding nirvāṇa, and this terminus is no cessation, but "mastery as non-abiding." The proof is the Cheng weishi lun's four nirvāṇas. The treatise sets nirvāṇa, distinguished by sense, as four: the nirvāṇa of intrinsic purity from the very beginning · with remaining basis · without remaining basis · the non-abiding nirvāṇa. Its fourth, the "non-abiding nirvāṇa," is suchness emerged from the cognitive hindrance, ever supported by great compassion and prajñā, and through this not abiding in birth-and-death-or-nirvāṇa, benefiting beings to the end of the future, functioning yet ever-quiescent. This nirvāṇa's aspect is precisely "mastery as non-abiding": not abiding in birth-and-death (by great compassion not falling into birth-and-death's suffering) nor abiding in nirvāṇa (by prajñā not taking up the quiescence of ash-and-extinction), but benefiting beings to the end of the future, functioning yet ever-quiescent. The treatise further judges plainly: all beings have the first (intrinsic purity); the two vehicles' adepts may have the prior three; only our World-Honored One may be said to possess all four — the non-abiding nirvāṇa belonging to the buddha-ground's ultimate alone. So the terminus of the buddha-fruit's mastery is no two-vehicle-style cessation (the without-remainder nirvāṇa), but the non-abiding nirvāṇa only a Buddha possesses: the mastery's terminus lies not in "ceasing," but in "not abiding" — mastery as non-abiding, ever raising the benefit of others while its substance is ever-quiescent. This gathers up P08's two threads — great compassion (the motive force of not abiding in nirvāṇa) and the all-kinds wisdom (the wisdom-ground of not abiding in birth-and-death) — into one nirvāṇa.

This paper holds two further things, both fastened to this terminus. First, this division's keynote of "unobstructedness" (apratihata) here reaches its name: a Buddha's ultimate liberation is the "unobstructed liberation" (apratihata-vimokṣa). From P01's setting that a Buddha's names are legible (name unobstructed) · P03's three bodies' mastery · P04–06's threefold-time wisdom unobstructed and four analytical knowledges · P08's great compassion resting on the light of unobstructed wisdom, the one keynote of "unobstructedness" runs through the whole division; here, the Dazhidu lun makes plain that a Buddha pulls out the afflictions and their traces at the root, is unobstructed in wisdom over all dharmas, and so it is named the "unobstructed liberation." Unobstructedness is from here no longer only the aspect of wisdom or of function, but the name of liberation — a Buddha's mastery takes "unobstructedness" as its aspect from beginning to end, its terminus the unobstructed liberation. Second, this terminus is the sublime-awakening seam: the two axes of realization and attainment meet here. At the passage from the awakening-equal-to-a-buddha into the sublime awakening (becoming a Buddha), in a single thought-moment of the vajra-like samādhi the two hindrances are cut at once, one enters the tathāgata-ground, the four wisdoms are perfected and bright. This single thought-moment this series reads on both axes: the realization axis (SAMBODHI-P03, the sublime awakening / buddha-fruit, speaking of "arriving") reads it as the path's last step ("the aspect of ignorance's ending is the vajra" — cutting the last ignorance is the vajra); the attainment axis (this paper, the Tathāgata's mastery, speaking of "the mastery after arrival") reads it as the freedom that has no step further ("the aspect of ending being without aspect is the sarvajña" — even this ending-aspect being without aspect is the all-wisdom). The two faces of one and the same turning, two readings. Realization (arrival, the sublime awakening) and attainment (the mastery after arrival, the Tathāgata's mastery) meet at this seam — the terminus of both axes.

This gathers the whole division and both axes, and keeps strictly to what is reserved to the author. This series sets the buddha-fruit's mastery all as aspects of "turning · severing · manifesting," the fruit-level distinct from the causal (P02); this paper gathers its terminus into the ultimate non-abiding nirvāṇa (mastery as non-abiding · only the Buddha possessing all four), its name into the unobstructed liberation, its seam into the sublime awakening. Yet the deepest convergences this terminus involves — the convergence of the Tathāgata's ultimate non-abiding nirvāṇa (complete · only the Buddha possessing all four) with the bodhisattva's non-abiding nirvāṇa (forming · the causal-level process of compassion and wisdom jointly cutting the cognitive hindrance, set in the bodhisattva division), the cross-axis convergence with the bodhisattva division's "heteromorphic, not hierarchically superior" frame, the turning-from-the-small-to-the-great, the two vehicles' without-remainder ("no different from a Buddha's, but without the awakening's work of benefiting others"), the two vehicles' ultimacy, the adjudication of the two readings of the seam, and terms such as "primal-grade ignorance" — are all reserved to the author and to cross-axis convergence. This paper records the texts' own words (the Cheng weishi lun's "only our World-Honored One may be said to possess all four"; the two axes' two readings), points to the bodhisattva division's non-abiding-nirvāṇa source-collation to mark the complete-versus-forming contrast, and adjudicates none of the convergences.

This paper rests on the Cheng weishi lun (the four nirvāṇas · the non-abiding · the two hindrances forever ended · the four wisdoms · the vajra-like samādhi), the Dazhidu lun (the unobstructed liberation · the vajra samādhi · gathering the buddha-virtues), and the Renwang Prajñā sūtra (the vajra → the sarvajña → the sublime awakening, one turning). The argument runs in three moves (§III): the ultimate non-abiding nirvāṇa is the terminus of "mastery as non-abiding," only the Buddha possessing all four (3.1); the terminus of unobstructedness — the keynote reaching the unobstructed liberation (3.2); the sublime-awakening seam, the terminus of both axes — the two readings of the vajra-like samādhi's single thought-moment, the contrast of complete and forming (3.3). Section IV cuts the interdisciplinary convergence (rationale in §VI). Section V offers middle-way corrections and marks the complete-versus-forming convergence, the cross-axis "heteromorphic, not hierarchically superior," the two vehicles' without-remainder and ultimacy, the seam's doctrine, and "primal-grade ignorance" as reserved to the author. Section VI concludes, gathering the whole division (name, body, wisdom, function, perfection all one unobstructed mastery, its terminus the ultimate non-abiding nirvāṇa) and both axes (realization's sublime awakening · attainment's Tathāgata-mastery meeting at the seam); the Mastery of the Tathāgata division is herewith complete.

II. The Canonical Basis

2.1 The ultimate non-abiding nirvāṇa: only the Buddha possessing all four

The Cheng weishi lun, at the "ultimate stage," sets nirvāṇa, distinguished by sense, as four kinds, its fourth — the "non-abiding nirvāṇa" — belonging to the buddha-ground's ultimate alone:

涅槃義別，略有四種：一、本來自性清淨涅槃……二、有餘依涅槃……三、無餘依涅槃……四、無住處涅槃，謂即真如出所知障，大悲般若常所輔翼。由斯不住生死涅槃，利樂有情，窮未來際，用而常寂，故名涅槃。……一切有情，皆有初一，二乘無學，容有前三，唯我世尊可言具四。¹

"Nirvāṇa, distinguished by sense, is briefly of four kinds: first, the nirvāṇa of intrinsic purity from the very beginning … second, the nirvāṇa with remaining basis … third, the nirvāṇa without remaining basis … fourth, the non-abiding nirvāṇa, namely suchness emerged from the cognitive hindrance, ever supported by great compassion and prajñā. Through this it does not abide in birth-and-death or in nirvāṇa, benefiting beings to the end of the future, functioning yet ever-quiescent — and so it is called nirvāṇa. … All beings have the first; the two vehicles' adepts may have the prior three; only our World-Honored One may be said to possess all four."

The treatise sets four nirvāṇas: the nirvāṇa of intrinsic purity (which all beings have, the suchness beings inherently possess) · with remaining basis (the afflictive hindrance ended while the supporting body remains) · without remaining basis (the supporting body too extinguished, all suffering forever quiescent) · the non-abiding nirvāṇa. Its fourth the treatise glosses most fully: "suchness emerged from the cognitive hindrance" — the non-abiding nirvāṇa takes "suchness emerged from the cognitive hindrance" as its substance (not merely the afflictive hindrance cut, but further the cognitive hindrance cut and suchness disclosed); "ever supported by great compassion and prajñā" — supported ever by great compassion and prajñā; "through this it does not abide in birth-and-death or in nirvāṇa" — by that compassion-and-wisdom support, not abiding in birth-and-death (since prajñā illumines, unbound by birth-and-death) nor abiding in nirvāṇa (since great compassion, not taking up the quiescence of ash-and-extinction); "benefiting beings to the end of the future" — ever raising the benefit of others, to the end of the future without cease; "functioning yet ever-quiescent" — though ever raising great function, its substance ever-quiescent. The treatise then judges plainly the stations: all beings have the first (intrinsic purity, inherently possessed); the two vehicles' adepts may have the prior three (intrinsic purity · with remaining basis · without remaining basis); "only our World-Honored One may be said to possess all four" — only the Buddha, the World-Honored One, possesses all four nirvāṇas, the non-abiding nirvāṇa belonging to the buddha-ground's ultimate alone.

This is precisely the terminus of the buddha-fruit's mastery this paper sets: the buddha-fruit's mastery's ultimate return is no two-vehicle-style without-remainder cessation, but this non-abiding nirvāṇa — "mastery as non-abiding." The three phrases "not abiding in birth-and-death-or-nirvāṇa," "benefiting beings to the end of the future," and "functioning yet ever-quiescent" are precisely the warrant for "the mastery's terminus being not a cessation but a not-abiding": the mastery's terminus lies not in entering one quiescence, but in "not abiding" (not abiding in birth-and-death, not abiding in nirvāṇa); its aspect is not extinction but "functioning yet ever-quiescent" (ever raising great function while its substance is ever-quiescent, ever-quiescent yet ever raising great function). And the phrase "only our World-Honored One may be said to possess all four" is the mark of the fruit-level ultimate — this non-abiding nirvāṇa belonging to a Buddha alone (the two vehicles' adepts may have the prior three but not the fourth). 〔It must be marked: this station of "the two vehicles' adepts may have the prior three · only the Buddha possessing all four" is the treatise's own text, recorded by this paper; the convergence of the two vehicles' without-remainder with a Buddha's non-abiding, and of the bodhisattva-level non-abiding nirvāṇa (forming) with a Buddha's ultimate (complete), are reserved to the author, see §V, Correction 2.〕

2.2 The unobstructed liberation: apratihata-vimokṣa — the keynote reaching its name

This division's keynote of "unobstructedness" (apratihata) reaches its name in a Buddha's ultimate liberation. The Dazhidu lun, in the "Recollection of the Buddha" chapter, makes plain a Buddha's "unobstructed liberation":

諸佛得無礙解脫故，於一切法中智慧無礙。……佛解脫諸煩惱及習，根本拔故，解脫真不可壞，一切智慧成就故，名為無礙解脫。²

"Because the buddhas attain the unobstructed liberation, their wisdom is unobstructed amid all dharmas. … A Buddha is liberated from the afflictions and their traces, pulled out at the root, the liberation truly indestructible, all wisdom accomplished — and so it is named the unobstructed liberation."

The treatise makes plain a Buddha's unobstructed liberation: because the buddhas attain the unobstructed liberation, their wisdom is unobstructed amid all dharmas (liberation and wisdom mutually entailed · unimpeded amid all dharmas); a Buddha is liberated from the afflictions and their traces, "pulled out at the root" (not only the active afflictions cut, but the very root of the afflictions' traces pulled out — this differing from the two vehicles, who cut the afflictive hindrance but leave the traces unexhausted); "the liberation truly indestructible" (ultimately firm · no more regressing); "all wisdom accomplished — and so it is named the unobstructed liberation." This "unobstructed liberation" (whose traditional Sanskrit restitution is apratihata-vimokṣa) is where this division's keynote of "unobstructedness" (apratihata) reaches its name: from P01's name unobstructed (a buddha's names legible without impediment) · P04–06's threefold-time wisdom unobstructed and four analytical knowledges · P08's great compassion resting on the light of unobstructed wisdom, the one keynote of "unobstructedness" runs through name · body · wisdom · function; here, at the "unobstructed liberation," unobstructedness is no longer only the aspect of wisdom or function, but the name of a Buddha's ultimate liberation. A Buddha's mastery takes "unobstructedness" as its aspect from beginning to end, its terminus the "unobstructed liberation" — the afflictions and traces pulled out at the root, wisdom unobstructed amid all dharmas, the liberation truly indestructible. 〔It must be marked: apratihata-vimokṣa is the traditional Sanskrit restitution of "the unobstructed liberation"; the Dazhidu lun's Chinese text gives no Sanskrit, the Sanskrit being a parenthetical note, not the text's own words, see §V, Correction 3. And the treatise marks a Buddha's unobstructed liberation, by "pulled out at the root (afflictions and traces)," as differing from the two vehicles' liberation; this cause / fruit · two-vehicle / Buddha difference is the treatise's own text, recorded without adjudicating.〕

This unobstructed liberation and the non-abiding nirvāṇa are mutually entailed. The non-abiding nirvāṇa takes "suchness emerged from the cognitive hindrance · supported by compassion and wisdom · not abiding in birth-and-death-or-nirvāṇa" as its aspect (2.1); the unobstructed liberation takes "the afflictions and traces pulled out at the root · wisdom unobstructed amid all dharmas" as its aspect (2.2) — both making plain that a Buddha's ultimate lies in "nothing impeding": unimpeded by birth-and-death (prajñā · wisdom unobstructed), unimpeded by nirvāṇa (great compassion · not taking up ash-and-extinction), unimpeded by the afflictions' traces (pulled out at the root). So "non-abiding" is the nirvāṇa-face of "unobstructedness," and "unobstructedness" the liberation-name of "non-abiding": the terminus of the buddha-fruit's mastery, said in a word, is unobstructed-and-non-abiding, non-abiding-and-unobstructed.

2.3 The sublime-awakening seam: the vajra-like samādhi, the two hindrances forever ended, the four wisdoms perfected (shared seam, two readings)

The anchors of this section are the seam passage — shared with the realization axis's SAMBODHI-P03 (the sublime awakening / buddha-fruit), two readings. First the "two hindrances forever ended · the four wisdoms perfected" (the buddha-fruit's aspect), then the "vajra-like samādhi · one turning, the sublime awakening" (the critical thought-moment of becoming a Buddha).

First, the two hindrances forever ended, the four wisdoms perfected (the ultimate stage's buddha-fruit aspect). The Cheng weishi lun, at the "ultimate stage," makes plain "emerged from the hindrances and round-bright":

至究竟位，出障圓明，能盡未來化有情類。³

"At the ultimate stage, emerged from the hindrances and round-bright, one can to the end of the future transform the classes of beings."

The treatise makes plain that at the ultimate stage (the buddha-stage) the two hindrances (afflictive · cognitive) are forever ended, "emerged from the hindrances and round-bright," able to the end of the future to transform and deliver beings — the aspect of the two hindrances forever ended, the buddha-fruit perfected, the phrase "to the end of the future transform the classes of beings" answering precisely to the non-abiding nirvāṇa's "benefiting beings to the end of the future" (2.1). The treatise further makes plain the four wisdoms perfected:

云何四智相應心品？一、大圓鏡智相應心品……如大圓鏡，現眾色像。……故此四品，總攝佛地一切有為功德皆盡。⁴

"What are the four-wisdom mind-groups? First, the great-perfect-mirror-wisdom mind-group … like a great perfect mirror, manifesting the images of all forms. … Thus these four groups wholly subsume all the conditioned virtues of the buddha-ground."

The treatise takes the four-wisdom mind-groups — the great-perfect-mirror wisdom · the equality wisdom · the wondrous-observing wisdom · the accomplishing wisdom — to "wholly subsume all the conditioned virtues of the buddha-ground": the aspect of the four wisdoms perfected, of consciousness turned into wisdom (P04), the buddha-ground's every conditioned virtue gathered into the four wisdoms. The treatise's "ultimate stage" concluding verse further marks the permanence of the four-wisdom mind-groups:

此即無漏界，不思議善常……四智心品，妙用無方……四智心品所依常故，無斷盡故，亦說為常。⁵

"This is the uncontaminated realm, inconceivable, good, permanent … the four-wisdom mind-groups, of boundless sublime function … because the basis of the four-wisdom mind-groups is permanent, and without cease or end, it too is said to be permanent."

The concluding verse takes "the uncontaminated realm · the four-wisdom mind-groups" as the substance of the buddha-fruit's inconceivable, good permanence, making plain that the four-wisdom mind-groups are of boundless sublime function, and because their basis is permanent, without cease or end, they too are said to be permanent — the four wisdoms perfected as the ultimate stage's fruit-virtue, its "permanence" (also said to be permanent) answering precisely to P09's four virtues' "permanence is the Tathāgata's dharma-body."

Second, the vajra-like samādhi, one turning the sublime awakening (the critical thought-moment of becoming a Buddha). The Cheng weishi lun makes plain that a bodhisattva raises the vajra-like samādhi and in a single thought-moment cuts through the cognitive hindrance:

菩薩要起金剛喻定，一剎那中，三界頓斷。所知障種……乃至正起金剛喻定，一剎那中方皆斷盡。⁶

"A bodhisattva must raise the vajra-like samādhi, and in a single thought-moment the three realms are cut at once. The cognitive-hindrance seeds … and so on, until, just as the vajra-like samādhi is raised, in a single thought-moment they are all cut through."

The treatise makes plain that a bodhisattva raises the vajra-like samādhi and in a single thought-moment cuts at once the three realms' afflictions, the cognitive-hindrance seeds in a single thought-moment all cut through — this single thought-moment being the very last cutting. The treatise further makes plain that the vajra-like samādhi present is "entering the tathāgata-ground":

煩惱障種，金剛喻定現在前時，彼皆頓斷，入如來地。⁷

"The affliction-hindrance seeds, when the vajra-like samādhi is present, are all cut at once, and one enters the tathāgata-ground."

The treatise takes the vajra-like samādhi's presence as the critical thought-moment of "entering the tathāgata-ground" — when the vajra-like samādhi is present, the two-hindrance seeds cut at once, one enters the tathāgata-ground (becomes a Buddha). The Renwang Prajñā sūtra, in the "Upholding" chapter's quiescent-forbearance verse, makes plain by "one turning, the sublime awakening" the two faces of this critical point:

始入金剛一切了，二十九生永已度。寂滅忍中下忍觀，一轉妙覺常湛然……三十生盡等大覺。⁸

"First entering the vajra, all is comprehended; the twenty-nine births forever crossed. In the quiescent forbearance, the lower-forbearance contemplation; in one turning the sublime awakening, ever-clear … the three-ten births ended, equal to the great awakening."

The Renwang makes plain by "first entering the vajra, all is comprehended … in one turning the sublime awakening, ever-clear" that the vajra (cutting the last ignorance) and the sublime awakening (the ultimate awakening) are the two faces of "one turning." Its adjacent verse especially marks the two readings of this one turning: "the aspect of ignorance's ending is the vajra; the aspect of ending being without aspect is the sarvajña" — "the aspect of ignorance's ending" (the aspect of ignorance being wholly cut) is the vajra (the path's last step · the last cutting at the awakening-equal-to-a-buddha), "the aspect of ending being without aspect" (even this ending-aspect being without aspect) is the sarvajña (the all-wisdom · the freedom that has no step further · the ultimate with no further hindrance to cut, no further step to advance). The two faces of one turning: the vajra, the path's last step; the sarvajña, the freedom's ultimate. The Dazhidu lun further makes plain this continuity by the turning of "the faculty of knowing → the faculty of having known":

乃至滿十地，坐道場得金剛三昧，於其中間，名為「知根」。斷一切煩惱習，得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，一切可知法智慧遍滿故，名為「知已根」。⁹

"Up to the fulfillment of the ten grounds, seated at the place of the path one attains the vajra samādhi — in the interval, this is named the 'faculty of knowing.' Cutting off all afflictions and traces, attaining supreme perfect awakening, the wisdom of all that can be known pervading everywhere — this is named the 'faculty of having known.'"

The treatise takes "seated at the place of the path, attaining the vajra samādhi" as the causal level's end (the faculty of knowing), and "cutting all afflictions and traces, attaining supreme awakening" as the fruit level's beginning (the faculty of having known), the two continuous at one and the same critical point — the path's last step (the vajra samādhi) being the beginning of liberation's perfection (supreme awakening). The treatise again makes plain that, this vajra samādhi once passed, the buddha-virtues are perfected, gathering this division's virtues in one place:

有菩薩摩訶薩求佛道心，次第入如金剛三昧，得一切種智。爾時，成就十力、四無所畏、四無礙智、十八不共法、大慈大悲。……是為菩薩摩訶薩得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提時佛眼淨。¹⁰

"A bodhisattva-mahāsattva, with a mind seeking the buddha-path, enters in sequence the vajra-like samādhi and attains the all-kinds wisdom. At that time he accomplishes the ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, the four analytical knowledges, the eighteen distinctive dharmas, the great compassion. … This is the purity of the buddha-eye when the bodhisattva-mahāsattva attains supreme perfect awakening."

The treatise makes plain that a bodhisattva, entering in sequence the vajra samādhi, attains the all-kinds wisdom, and "at that time accomplishes the ten powers · four fearlessnesses · four analytical knowledges · eighteen distinctive dharmas · great compassion" — the vajra samādhi being the bodhisattva-path's last samādhi, past which the all-kinds wisdom (P08) · ten powers · four fearlessnesses (P05) · four analytical knowledges (P06) · eighteen distinctive dharmas (P06) · great compassion (P08) and the rest of the buddha-ground's virtues are perfected. This one anchor gathers this division's function-virtues (P05–08) into the single thought-moment of becoming a Buddha, marking the continuity of the path's last step with freedom's perfection: the path's last samādhi just passed, the buddha-fruit's virtues (the function this division has set) are at this very point perfected.

III. The Core Argument

Section II has set out: the ultimate non-abiding nirvāṇa takes "suchness emerged from the cognitive hindrance · supported by compassion and wisdom · not abiding in birth-and-death-or-nirvāṇa · benefiting beings to the end of the future · functioning yet ever-quiescent" as its aspect, only the Buddha possessing all four (C1 · 2.1); the unobstructed liberation takes "the afflictions and traces pulled out at the root · wisdom unobstructed amid all dharmas" as its aspect (C2 · 2.2); the sublime-awakening seam takes "the two hindrances forever ended · the four wisdoms perfected" (the buddha-fruit aspect) and "the vajra-like samādhi's single thought-moment · one turning, the sublime awakening" (the critical point of becoming a Buddha) as its aspect, read on both axes (2.3). This section establishes the thesis: the terminus of the buddha-fruit's mastery is the ultimate non-abiding nirvāṇa (mastery as non-abiding), its name reaching the unobstructed liberation, its seam the sublime awakening, where the two axes of realization and attainment end. In three layers.

3.1 The ultimate non-abiding nirvāṇa is the terminus of "mastery as non-abiding," only the Buddha possessing all four

Establish first "the mastery's terminus being no cessation, but mastery as non-abiding." The question arose from "whether the terminus of the buddha-fruit's mastery is a cessation" — were a Buddha measured by the two vehicles' without-remainder nirvāṇa, the mastery's terminus would be the cessation of ash-body and extinguished-wisdom. Yet the Cheng weishi lun's fourth of the four nirvāṇas judges plainly that it is not so: the non-abiding nirvāṇa "does not abide in birth-and-death-or-nirvāṇa · benefits beings to the end of the future · functioning yet ever-quiescent" (2.1). Parse the three phrases: first, "not abiding in birth-and-death-or-nirvāṇa" — not abiding in birth-and-death (since prajñā illumines, unbound by birth-and-death's suffering, not falling into the round) nor abiding in nirvāṇa (since great compassion, not taking up the quiescence of ash-and-extinction, not abandoning beings); the mastery's terminus lies not in "abiding" at one pole (birth-and-death or nirvāṇa), but in "not abiding" at both. Second, "benefiting beings to the end of the future" — its terminus no extinction but the ever-raising of the benefit of others, to the end of the future without cease. Third, "functioning yet ever-quiescent" — though ever raising great function, its substance ever-quiescent (ever-quiescent yet ever-functioning, functioning yet ever-quiescent). So the terminus of the buddha-fruit's mastery is no cessation, but "mastery as non-abiding": taking not-abiding-in-birth-and-death-or-nirvāṇa as the mastery's aspect, benefiting-beings-to-the-end-of-the-future as the mastery's function, functioning-yet-ever-quiescent as the mastery's substance.

This gathers P08's two threads — great compassion and the all-kinds wisdom — into one nirvāṇa. P08 set great compassion as the root motive force of "function necessarily turning toward beings," and the all-kinds wisdom as the full cognition of "making that turning all-pervading and effective." Now the non-abiding nirvāṇa's "not abiding in nirvāṇa" (not taking up ash-and-extinction · ever delivering beings) is precisely great compassion's ultimate return — great compassion ever delivering is the not-abiding in nirvāṇa; its "not abiding in birth-and-death" (since prajñā illumines, unbound by birth-and-death) is precisely the all-kinds wisdom's ultimate return — the all-kinds wisdom's pervading knowledge is the wisdom-ground of not abiding in birth-and-death. The treatise says outright that the non-abiding nirvāṇa is "ever supported by great compassion and prajñā" — that is, these two threads (great compassion · prajñā / the all-kinds wisdom) ever supporting each other to form the non-abiding mastery. So P08's great compassion and all-kinds wisdom find at this non-abiding nirvāṇa their ultimate: great compassion and the all-kinds wisdom rest no longer only at "function's substance and guide," but at the buddha-fruit's terminus become the joint operation of compassion and wisdom that is "not abiding in birth-and-death-or-nirvāṇa."

And "only our World-Honored One may be said to possess all four" marks the fruit-level ultimate. The treatise makes plain the two vehicles' adepts may have the prior three nirvāṇas (intrinsic purity · with remaining basis · without remaining basis), only the Buddha the fourth, the non-abiding (2.1). This is the warrant for the terminus of the buddha-fruit's mastery differing from the two vehicles' terminus: the two vehicles' terminus lies in the without-remainder (the supporting body extinguished · all suffering quiescent · cessation), a Buddha's in the non-abiding (not abiding in birth-and-death-or-nirvāṇa · benefiting beings to the end of the future · functioning yet ever-quiescent · no cessation). So the terminus of the buddha-fruit's mastery is a Buddha's alone, not shared with the two vehicles. 〔This station of "only the Buddha possessing all four" is the treatise's own text, recorded by this paper; the convergence of the two vehicles' without-remainder with a Buddha's non-abiding, and of the bodhisattva-level non-abiding nirvāṇa (forming) with a Buddha's ultimate (complete), are reserved to the author, see §V, Correction 2.〕

3.2 The terminus of unobstructedness: the keynote reaching the unobstructed liberation

Establish next that this division's keynote of "unobstructedness" reaches its name here. The Dazhidu lun makes plain a Buddha's "unobstructed liberation" (apratihata-vimokṣa): the afflictions and traces pulled out at the root · wisdom unobstructed amid all dharmas · the liberation truly indestructible (2.2). This one keynote of "unobstructedness" runs in truth through the whole division from beginning to end: P01 sets a buddha's names legible (the ten epithets each expressing a buddha-virtue · name without impediment); P03 the three bodies' mastery (the dharma-, enjoyment-, and transformation-bodies manifesting as conditions allow · body without impediment); P04 the four wisdoms · P05 the threefold-time wisdom unobstructed (wisdom unimpeded across the three times); P06 the four analytical knowledges (the four unobstructednesses of meaning, dharma, language, eloquence); P08 great compassion resting on the light of unobstructed wisdom (great compassion ultimately resting on unobstructed wisdom). Name · body · wisdom · function, each taking "unobstructedness" as its aspect. At this paper, "unobstructedness" reaches its name — the unobstructed liberation: a Buddha's ultimate liberation is the liberation of "nothing impeding," the afflictions and traces pulled out at the root (unimpeded by the afflictions' traces), wisdom unobstructed amid all dharmas (unimpeded by the knowable), the liberation truly indestructible (unimpeded by regression).

The unobstructed liberation and the non-abiding nirvāṇa are mutually entailed (marked at 2.2): non-abiding is the nirvāṇa-face of unobstructedness, unobstructedness the liberation-name of non-abiding. A Buddha's mastery, said in a word: unobstructed-and-non-abiding, non-abiding-and-unobstructed — unimpeded by birth-and-death and so not abiding in birth-and-death (prajñā · wisdom unobstructed), unimpeded by nirvāṇa and so not abiding in nirvāṇa (great compassion · not taking up ash-and-extinction), unimpeded by the afflictions' traces and so pulled out at the root (the unobstructed liberation). So this division's keynote of "unobstructed mastery" (apratihata) reaches at this closing paper its perfection: the buddha-fruit's mastery takes unobstructedness as its aspect from beginning to end, its terminus the unobstructed liberation · the non-abiding nirvāṇa. 〔apratihata-vimokṣa is the traditional Sanskrit restitution of "the unobstructed liberation"; the Dazhidu lun's Chinese text gives no Sanskrit (as in this series' prior instances, apratihata serving as a parenthetical Sanskrit note usable at the level of doctrine in Chinese); the Sanskrit restitution is a parenthetical note, not the text's own words, see §V, Correction 3.〕

3.3 The sublime-awakening seam, the terminus of both axes: the two readings of the vajra-like samādhi's single thought-moment, the contrast of complete and forming

The third layer gathers up at the seam. The critical point where the terminus of the buddha-fruit's mastery (the ultimate non-abiding nirvāṇa · the unobstructed liberation) lies is the sublime-awakening seam — the single thought-moment of the vajra-like samādhi at the passage from the awakening-equal-to-a-buddha into the sublime awakening (becoming a Buddha). In this single thought-moment, the two hindrances are forever ended · the four wisdoms perfected · one enters the tathāgata-ground · the buddha-virtues perfected (gathering the ten powers, four fearlessnesses, four analytical knowledges, eighteen distinctive dharmas, great compassion, all-kinds wisdom). And the doctrine of this single thought-moment this series reads on both axes, two readings.

The two readings. Of one and the same vajra-like samādhi's thought-moment, the realization axis and the attainment axis each take one face. The realization axis (realization-paths · SAMBODHI-P03, the sublime awakening / buddha-fruit, speaking of "arriving") reads it as the path's last step: "the aspect of ignorance's ending is the vajra" (the adjacent verse) — the wholesale cutting of the last ignorance being the vajra (the path's last step, the last cutting at the awakening-equal-to-a-buddha); "seated at the place of the path, attaining the vajra samādhi" being the causal level's end (the faculty of knowing). The attainment axis (attainment-signatures · this paper, the Tathāgata's mastery, speaking of "the mastery after arrival") reads it as the freedom that has no step further: "the aspect of ending being without aspect is the sarvajña" (the adjacent verse) — even this "ending-aspect" being without aspect, being the sarvajña (the all-wisdom, freedom's no-step-further, the ultimate with no further hindrance to cut, no further step to advance); "cutting all afflictions and traces, attaining supreme awakening" being the fruit level's beginning (the faculty of having known). The Renwang's "in one turning the sublime awakening, ever-clear" makes plain the two faces of this one turning: the vajra (the realization axis · the path's last step) and the sublime awakening · the sarvajña (the attainment axis · freedom's ultimate) are the two faces of "one turning," not two affairs, not two times — one and the same thought-moment, one and the same turning, read by realization as arrival (the path done), by attainment as the mastery after arrival (the fruit accomplished).

The terminus of both axes. The realization axis speaks of "arriving" (the course of the stations · at the sublime awakening the path is done); the attainment axis speaks of "the mastery after arrival" (the mastery after arrival · the Tathāgata's mastery). The two axes meet at this sublime-awakening seam: the realization axis's sublime awakening (the path's last step · becoming a Buddha) is the beginning of the attainment axis's Tathāgata-mastery (the mastery after arrival · the ultimate non-abiding nirvāṇa). The vajra-like samādhi's single thought-moment is the realization axis's terminus (arriving at the buddha-ground) and the basis of the attainment axis's beginning (the buddha-ground's ultimate aspect of mastery being the non-abiding nirvāṇa). So this single thought-moment is "the terminus of both axes" — the realization axis here ends its path (no further station to advance to), the attainment axis here perfects its mastery (no further mastery to add); the two axes ending together at the sublime awakening, disclosed together at the buddha-fruit. This paper's gathering anchor especially proves this continuity: a bodhisattva entering in sequence the vajra samādhi (the path's end) attains the all-kinds wisdom and accomplishes the ten powers, four fearlessnesses, four analytical knowledges, eighteen distinctive dharmas, great compassion (the fruit accomplished) — this division's function-virtues (P05–08) all perfected at this single thought-moment past the vajra samādhi. So this paper's close gathers not only this division (name, body, wisdom, function perfected), but both axes (realization's sublime awakening · attainment's Tathāgata-mastery) at one seam.

The contrast of complete and forming. This ultimate non-abiding nirvāṇa (the Tathāgata · fruit-level) and the bodhisattva's non-abiding nirvāṇa call for one contrast. The bodhisattva division has set the bodhisattva's non-abiding nirvāṇa — the causal-level process of compassion and wisdom jointly operating, gradually cutting the cognitive hindrance (being formed · forming); this paper's Tathāgata's ultimate non-abiding nirvāṇa is the fruit-level perfected, only the Buddha possessing all four (complete). The two share the name "non-abiding nirvāṇa," yet one is "in the forming" (the bodhisattva · the causal level's process), the other "already perfected" (the Tathāgata · the fruit level's ultimate). This paper marks only this complete-versus-forming contrast, records the Cheng weishi lun's "only our World-Honored One may be said to possess all four" (the mark of the fruit-level ultimate), and points to the bodhisattva division's non-abiding-nirvāṇa scripture (the bodhisattva division, BODHI-P09) for cross-reference; the convergence of the two (how exactly complete and forming converge), the cross-axis convergence with the bodhisattva division's "heteromorphic, not hierarchically superior" frame, the adjudication of the two vehicles' without-remainder ("no different from a Buddha's, but without the awakening's work of benefiting others"), the turning-from-the-small-to-the-great, and the two vehicles' ultimacy — are all reserved to the author and to cross-axis convergence; this paper adjudicates none of them (see §V, Correction 2). This paper here sets only the one sense: a Buddha's ultimate non-abiding nirvāṇa is complete (only the Buddha possessing all four), the bodhisattva's non-abiding nirvāṇa is forming (the causal level's process), their convergence reserved to the author.

✅ Doctrinally sound: taken together, the three layers support "the terminus of the buddha-fruit's mastery is the ultimate non-abiding nirvāṇa · its name reaching the unobstructed liberation · its seam the sublime awakening, where the two axes of realization and attainment end" — the ultimate non-abiding nirvāṇa is the terminus of "mastery as non-abiding" (the Cheng weishi lun's fourth of the four nirvāṇas · suchness emerged from the cognitive hindrance · supported by compassion and wisdom · not abiding in birth-and-death-or-nirvāṇa · benefiting beings to the end of the future · functioning yet ever-quiescent · only the Buddha possessing all four; gathering P08's great compassion and all-kinds wisdom into the two faces of not-abiding-in-nirvāṇa / not-abiding-in-birth-and-death); the terminus of unobstructedness (the keynote apratihata reaching "the unobstructed liberation" · the afflictions and traces pulled out at the root · wisdom unobstructed amid all dharmas · mutually entailed with the non-abiding nirvāṇa); the sublime-awakening seam, the terminus of both axes (the two readings of the vajra-like samādhi's single thought-moment: the realization axis reads the path's last step "the aspect of ignorance's ending is the vajra" · the attainment axis reads freedom's ultimate "the aspect of ending being without aspect is the sarvajña" · the two faces of one turning; the gathering anchor drawing this division's function-virtues into the single thought-moment of becoming a Buddha; realization's sublime awakening · attainment's Tathāgata-mastery ending at the seam). The convergence of complete (the Tathāgata · only the Buddha possessing all four) and forming (the bodhisattva's non-abiding nirvāṇa · the causal level's process), the cross-axis "heteromorphic, not hierarchically superior," the two vehicles' without-remainder ("no different from a Buddha's, but without the awakening's work of benefiting others") and ultimacy, the turning-from-the-small-to-the-great, the adjudication of the seam's two readings, and "primal-grade ignorance" are all reserved to the author and to cross-axis convergence, recorded without adjudicating (§V, Corrections 2 · 3); apratihata-vimokṣa is a Sanskrit restitution (a parenthetical note, not the text's own words; §V, Correction 3).

IV. Interdisciplinary Convergence

(This paper deliberately omits the interdisciplinary-convergence section; the rationale is given in §VI. The non-abiding nirvāṇa's "not abiding in birth-and-death nor in nirvāṇa · ever raising the benefit of others" might seem comparable to ethics' "selfless altruism" or existential philosophy's "being-toward-death"; the sublime-awakening seam's "the path's end is the fruit's beginning" might seem comparable to mathematics' limit or to the model of a critical phase transition. Yet those are dominated by "a finite subject's moral motive," "a projection toward finitude," and "the critical point of a quantitative change," only superficially like this paper's sense of "suchness emerged from the cognitive hindrance · supported by compassion and wisdom · to the end of the future · functioning yet ever-quiescent" and "the vajra-like samādhi's single thought-moment cutting the two hindrances at once · one turning, the sublime awakening." The non-abiding nirvāṇa is not a finite subject's altruistic choice, but the fruit-level substance-aspect of suchness emerged from the hindrances, supported by compassion and wisdom; the sublime-awakening seam is not the critical point of a quantitative change, but the ultimate single turning of the two hindrances forever ended, nothing further to cut. To force the convergence would falsely cast "the non-abiding nirvāṇa" as "an altruistic ethic" and "the sublime-awakening turning" as "a phase-transition model"; and the seam's two-axis reading is, still more, beyond what a worldly single-axis process-model can comprehend — so it is better left out, folded into §V as recorded without adjudicating.)

V. Middle-Way Corrections

This section clears away one misreading and plainly marks two reservations. This paper being the division's closing paper and the close of the seam, the matters reserved to the author are especially many and weighty; they are kept to strictly.

❌ Misreading 1: "The terminus of the buddha-fruit's mastery = the cessation of ash-body and extinguished-wisdom (like the two vehicles' without-remainder nirvāṇa)." This the paper breaks. Were a Buddha measured by the two vehicles' without-remainder nirvāṇa, the buddha-fruit's terminus would be the cessation of the supporting body extinguished, all suffering quiescent, forever extinguished and never again arising. Yet the Cheng weishi lun's fourth of the four nirvāṇas judges plainly a Buddha's ultimate to be the non-abiding nirvāṇa — "not abiding in birth-and-death-or-nirvāṇa · benefiting beings to the end of the future · functioning yet ever-quiescent" (3.1): a Buddha's terminus is no cessation (entering no quiescence of ash-and-extinction), but "mastery as non-abiding" (not abiding in birth-and-death-or-nirvāṇa · ever raising the benefit of others · functioning yet ever-quiescent). And the treatise makes plain "the two vehicles' adepts may have the prior three, only our World-Honored One may be said to possess all four" — the two vehicles' without-remainder (one of the prior three) is not a Buddha's ultimate, a Buddha's ultimate being the fourth, the non-abiding. To picture the terminus of the buddha-fruit's mastery as the cessation of ash-body and extinguished-wisdom is to fall into "measuring a Buddha by the two vehicles' without-remainder" (this series' arhat division having returned the two vehicles' without-remainder to its own place, a Buddha's non-abiding nirvāṇa being a separate sense).

⚠️ Correction 2 (the complete-versus-forming convergence · the cross-axis "heteromorphic, not hierarchically superior" · the two vehicles' without-remainder and ultimacy · the turning-from-the-small-to-the-great, reserved to the author): this paper records the Cheng weishi lun's "only our World-Honored One may be said to possess all four" to establish "the Tathāgata's ultimate non-abiding nirvāṇa is complete (only the Buddha possessing all four)," and points to the bodhisattva division's non-abiding-nirvāṇa source-collation to mark the complete-versus-forming contrast, putting no verdict on their cross-axis convergence. The deepest convergences this terminus involves — first, how exactly the Tathāgata's ultimate non-abiding nirvāṇa (complete · fruit-level perfected · only the Buddha possessing all four) and the bodhisattva's non-abiding nirvāṇa (forming · the causal-level process of compassion and wisdom gradually cutting the cognitive hindrance, set in the bodhisattva division) converge; second, its cross-axis convergence with the bodhisattva division's "heteromorphic, not hierarchically superior" (異質而非高下) frame (how the Buddha's ultimate, the bodhisattva's practice, and the arhat's fruit — the three masteries — position one another); third, the sameness-and-difference of the two vehicles' without-remainder nirvāṇa and a Buddha's non-abiding nirvāṇa (the bodhisattva division having marked the difference-point as "alike suchness's signless quiescence · differing in the presence or absence of the awakening's work of benefiting others," that is, the adjudication "no different from a Buddha's, but without the awakening's work of benefiting others"), and its definitive sense; fourth, the adjudication of the turning-from-the-small-to-the-great and the two vehicles' ultimacy. These four are all matters this series expressly reserves to the author and to cross-axis convergence (the cross-axis convergence being expressly reserved to the author and to a cross-axis / tathāgatagarbha monograph). This paper records the texts' own words ("only our World-Honored One may be said to possess all four"), marks the complete-versus-forming contrast, points to the bodhisattva division (BODHI-P09) for cross-reference, and adjudicates none of the convergences. This paper here sets only the one sense: a Buddha's ultimate non-abiding nirvāṇa is complete (only the Buddha possessing all four · fruit-level perfected).

⚠️ Correction 3 (the seam's two-axis reading · the term "primal-grade ignorance" · the Sanskrit apratihata-vimokṣa, recorded without adjudicating): First, the sublime-awakening seam passage (§2.3 · the eight anchors) is shared with the realization axis's SAMBODHI-P03 (the sublime awakening / buddha-fruit), and this paper marks its two readings (the realization axis reading the path's last step · the attainment axis reading freedom's ultimate); yet the adjudication of this "two readings" — the precise discrimination of the two axes at one and the same vajra-like-samādhi thought-moment, the final adjudication of the seam's doctrine — is the seam's doctrine, expressly reserved to the author; this paper marks only the aspect of the two readings, asserting nothing in the author's stead. Second, the term definitively naming "primal-grade ignorance / last-grade ignorance" belongs to the Tiantai · Distinct-teaching system (not a term of this paper's five sources); this paper uses the Cheng weishi lun's "the last · the cognitive-hindrance seeds cut through in a single thought-moment" and the Renwang's "the aspect of ignorance's ending is the vajra" (the adjacent verse) as functionally equivalent witnesses, marking "the last hindrance cut at the moment of becoming a Buddha," and does not adjudicate in the author's stead that this is what Tiantai calls "primal-grade ignorance." Third, apratihata-vimokṣa is the traditional Sanskrit restitution of "the unobstructed liberation"; the Dazhidu lun's Chinese text gives no Sanskrit (as in this series' prior instances, apratihata as a parenthetical Sanskrit note being usable at the level of doctrine in Chinese); the Sanskrit restitution is a parenthetical note, not the text's own words. Fourth, the Cheng weishi lun's fourth nirvāṇa this paper renders by the Chinese "non-abiding nirvāṇa"; the sameness-or-difference of its Sanskrit apratiṣṭhita-nirvāṇa and this division's keynote apratihata (unobstructed) — the two Sanskrit forms a-pratiṣṭhita (non-abiding) and a-pratihata (unobstructed) — and their doctrinal connection, this paper marks only at the Chinese level ("non-abiding is the nirvāṇa-face of unobstructedness"), leaving the precise analysis at the Sanskrit level to the author.

VI. Conclusion

Essential restatement. The terminus of the buddha-fruit's mastery is the ultimate non-abiding nirvāṇa — and this terminus is no cessation, but "mastery as non-abiding": suchness emerged from the cognitive hindrance, ever supported by great compassion and prajñā, not abiding in birth-and-death-or-nirvāṇa, benefiting beings to the end of the future, functioning yet ever-quiescent, only the Buddha, the World-Honored One, possessing all four (the Cheng weishi lun's fourth of the four nirvāṇas, 3.1). Its name reaches the unobstructed liberation (apratihata-vimokṣa) — the afflictions and traces pulled out at the root, wisdom unobstructed amid all dharmas, the liberation truly indestructible; this division's keynote of "unobstructedness" running through name, body, wisdom, and function from beginning to end, here reaching its name, non-abiding the nirvāṇa-face of unobstructedness, unobstructedness the liberation-name of non-abiding (3.2). Its seam is the sublime awakening — in the vajra-like samādhi's single thought-moment the two hindrances forever ended, the four wisdoms perfected, one enters the tathāgata-ground, the buddha-virtues perfected; this single thought-moment the realization axis reads as the path's last step (the aspect of ignorance's ending is the vajra), the attainment axis as the freedom that has no step further (the aspect of ending being without aspect is the sarvajña), the two faces of one and the same turning, two readings; realization (arrival, the sublime awakening) and attainment (the mastery after arrival, the Tathāgata's mastery) ending at this seam, the terminus of both axes (3.3).

Gathering the whole division. The nine papers of the Mastery of the Tathāgata division here gather into one sense. Name (the ten epithets, P01–02) · body (the three bodies' permanent abiding, the marks, P03 · P07) · wisdom (consciousness turned into the four wisdoms, P04) · function (the ten powers · four fearlessnesses · eighteen distinctive dharmas · four analytical knowledges · great compassion · all-kinds wisdom, P05–08) · perfection (the Tathāgata's ten masteries · the great nirvāṇa's four virtues, P09) are all the disclosure of one "mastery," all fruit-level aspects and not the causal-level brightened (the P02 frame). This one mastery, running through all as one, is "unobstructedness" (apratihata): name unobstructed · body unobstructed · wisdom unobstructed · function unobstructed — at this paper, reaching "the unobstructed liberation." And the terminus of this one mastery is the ultimate non-abiding nirvāṇa: not abiding in birth-and-death-or-nirvāṇa, benefiting beings to the end of the future, functioning yet ever-quiescent. So the buddha-fruit's mastery is the mastery of unobstructedness; its terminus is the nirvāṇa of non-abiding — name, body, wisdom, function, and perfection all one unobstructed mastery, its terminus the ultimate non-abiding nirvāṇa.

Gathering both axes. This paper is also the close of the seam. Among the four axes of view-practice-realization-attainment, "realization" (realization-paths · the course of the stations) speaks of "arriving," and "attainment" (attainment-signatures · this axis) of "the mastery after arrival." The two axes meet at the sublime-awakening seam: the realization axis at the fourth fruit of recluseship's arhat-fruit joins the attainment axis's arhat-mastery (each axis's first division), and at the awakening-equal-and-sublime's sublime awakening joins the attainment axis's Tathāgata-mastery (each axis's last division). This paper, P10, is the close of the last seam — the vajra-like samādhi's single thought-moment, the realization axis reading the sublime awakening (the path done · arriving at the buddha-ground), the attainment axis reading the Tathāgata-mastery's ultimate (the fruit accomplished · the mastery after arrival); one and the same thought-moment, one and the same turning, two axes' two readings, ending together at the buddha-fruit. The realization axis speaks of "arriving," and here arrives; the attainment axis speaks of "the mastery after arrival," and here the mastery is perfected. The two axes end at this seam.

Guidance for practice. This paper sets, for the practitioner, one root right view: the buddha-fruit's terminus is no cessation, but mastery as non-abiding. First, it corrects "taking cessation as the ultimate" — let none suppose that the ultimate of practice is to enter one quiescence (like the cessation of ash-body and extinguished-wisdom); one should know a Buddha's ultimate lies in "not abiding" (not abiding in birth-and-death nor in nirvāṇa), in "ever raising the benefit of others while its substance is ever-quiescent." So let the practitioner set their aspiration on "not abiding in nirvāṇa while ever delivering beings," not taking self-realization's quiescence as enough (this too answering P08's great compassion as root · without great compassion no Buddha). Second, it sets "unobstructedness" as the practice's aim — a Buddha's mastery takes unobstructedness as its aspect (name, body, wisdom, function, liberation all unobstructed), so let the practitioner take "nothing impeding amid all dharmas" as their aim, breaking grasping and breaking impediment (unimpeded by birth-and-death · unimpeded by nirvāṇa · unimpeded by the afflictions' traces). Third, it makes plain "the fruit perfected through the cause" — the perfection in the vajra-like samādhi's single thought-moment (the two hindrances forever ended · the four wisdoms perfected · the buddha-virtues complete) is the fruit of the ten grounds' myriad practices heaped to the utmost ("the ten grounds fulfilled · seated at the place of the path attaining the vajra samādhi" · "entering in sequence the vajra samādhi"); so let the practitioner only complete the causal-ground's practice (the transformation of the basis · the cutting of the hindrances · the joint operation of compassion and wisdom), and the fruit-level's mastery is of itself perfected in the sublime awakening's single thought, not separately sought outside practice. In sum: mastery as non-abiding, unobstructedness as the aim, the fruit perfected through the cause — this is this division's whole guidance to the practitioner.

Open questions (the division's close · the axis's handing-on). First, this paper cuts the Section IV interdisciplinary convergence (the non-abiding nirvāṇa and altruistic ethics, the sublime-awakening seam and a phase-transition model are only superficially alike). Second, the contrast this paper marks of complete (the Tathāgata's ultimate non-abiding nirvāṇa · only the Buddha possessing all four) and forming (the bodhisattva's non-abiding nirvāṇa · the causal level's process) — its convergence, its cross-axis convergence with the bodhisattva division's "heteromorphic, not hierarchically superior" frame, the adjudication of the two vehicles' without-remainder ("no different from a Buddha's, but without the awakening's work of benefiting others"), the turning-from-the-small-to-the-great, and the two vehicles' ultimacy — are all reserved to the author and to cross-axis convergence; this paper records without adjudicating. Third, the final adjudication of the seam's two readings (the seam's doctrine), the term "primal-grade ignorance," and the discrimination of the Sanskrit apratiṣṭhita (non-abiding) from apratihata (unobstructed), are reserved to the author. Fourth, the Mastery of the Tathāgata division (P01–P10) is herewith complete — name · body · wisdom · function · perfection · the terminus of non-abiding, the six Parts and ten papers complete. Of the three masteries, the arhat's mastery (the mastery of going beyond the world) · the bodhisattva's mastery (the mastery of the two immeasurable provisions) · the Tathāgata's mastery (the ten masteries · this division) have each formed their axis; the positioning-doctrine of the three masteries against one another (how the going-beyond-the-world, the two provisions, and the ten masteries position one another) and their full convergence with the three axes of view-practice-realization are a cross-axis convergence reserved to the author, awaiting a later monograph. This paper only fulfills its part: it gathers the Mastery of the Tathāgata into the ultimate non-abiding nirvāṇa, and gathers the two axes of realization and attainment at the sublime-awakening seam. The finger pointing at the moon here completes one full turning — and the moon it points at lies in the buddha-fruit's unobstructed mastery of not abiding in birth-and-death-or-nirvāṇa, benefiting beings to the end of the future, functioning yet ever-quiescent.

Notes

References

Primary Buddhist Sources

• Cheng weishi lun (Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi, 成唯識論). Composed by Dharmapāla et al., trans. Xuanzang. T31, no. 1585《成唯識論》Vijñaptimātratā-siddhi-śāstraT31, No. 1585View on CBETA online reader ↗. Fascicle 9, "Ultimate Stage" (emerged from the hindrances and round-bright · the vajra-like samādhi present, entering the tathāgata-ground); fascicle 10 (the four nirvāṇas · the non-abiding nirvāṇa · only the Buddha possessing all four; the gradual and sudden cutting of the two hindrances · the vajra-like samādhi cutting the cognitive hindrance in one thought-moment; the four-wisdom mind-groups · subsuming all the buddha-ground's conditioned virtues; the ultimate-stage concluding verse · the four-wisdom mind-groups' basis permanent).
• Dazhidu lun (Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra, 大智度論). Composed by Nāgārjuna, trans. Kumārajīva. T25, no. 1509《大智度論》Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa-śāstraT25, No. 1509View on CBETA online reader ↗. Fascicle 21, "Recollection of the Buddha" (the buddhas' unobstructed liberation · wisdom unobstructed amid all dharmas · afflictions and traces pulled out at the root · named the unobstructed liberation); fascicle 23 (seated at the place of the path attaining the vajra samādhi · the faculty of knowing → the faculty of having known); fascicle 40, "the five eyes" (entering in sequence the vajra samādhi · attaining the all-kinds wisdom · accomplishing the ten powers, four fearlessnesses, four analytical knowledges, eighteen distinctive dharmas, great compassion).
• Renwang Prajñāpāramitā-sūtra (仁王般若波羅蜜經). Trans. Kumārajīva. T08, no. 0245T8n0245T8, No. 245View on CBETA online reader ↗. Fascicle one, "Upholding" chapter (the five forbearances · the quiescent-forbearance verse: first entering the vajra all is comprehended · one turning the sublime awakening ever-clear · the aspect of ignorance's ending is the vajra, the aspect of ending being without aspect is the sarvajña).

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 four nirvāṇas · the non-abiding nirvāṇa · suchness emerged from the cognitive hindrance, supported by compassion and wisdom, not abiding in birth-and-death-or-nirvāṇa, benefiting beings to the end of the future · only the Buddha possessing all four	Cheng weishi lun fasc. 10	T31n1585《成唯識論》Vijñaptimātratā-siddhi-śāstraT31, No. 1585View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0055b07
The buddhas' unobstructed liberation · wisdom unobstructed amid all dharmas · afflictions and traces pulled out at the root · named the unobstructed liberation (apratihata-vimokṣa)	Dazhidu lun fasc. 21	T25n1509《大智度論》Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa-śāstraT25, No. 1509View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0220c20
At the ultimate stage emerged from the hindrances and round-bright · transforming beings to the end of the future (two hindrances ended · seam-shared)	Cheng weishi lun fasc. 9	T31n1585《成唯識論》Vijñaptimātratā-siddhi-śāstraT31, No. 1585View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0048b19
The four-wisdom mind-groups subsume all the buddha-ground's conditioned virtues (four wisdoms perfected · seam-shared)	Cheng weishi lun fasc. 10	T31n1585《成唯識論》Vijñaptimātratā-siddhi-śāstraT31, No. 1585View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0056a12
This is the uncontaminated realm · the four-wisdom mind-groups' basis permanent, without cease or end, also said to be permanent (concluding verse · seam-shared)	Cheng weishi lun fasc. 10	T31n1585《成唯識論》Vijñaptimātratā-siddhi-śāstraT31, No. 1585View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0057a11
The vajra-like samādhi in one thought-moment cuts the three realms · the cognitive-hindrance seeds cut through in one thought-moment (seam-shared)	Cheng weishi lun fasc. 10	T31n1585《成唯識論》Vijñaptimātratā-siddhi-śāstraT31, No. 1585View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0054a29
The affliction-hindrance seeds, the vajra-like samādhi present, all cut at once · entering the tathāgata-ground (seam-shared)	Cheng weishi lun fasc. 9	T31n1585《成唯識論》Vijñaptimātratā-siddhi-śāstraT31, No. 1585View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0053c20
First entering the vajra all comprehended · one turning the sublime awakening · the aspect of ignorance's ending is the vajra, the aspect of ending being without aspect is the sarvajña (seam-shared · two readings)	Renwang sūtra fasc. one	T08n0245T8n0245T8, No. 245View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0827c23
Seated at the place of the path attaining the vajra samādhi · the faculty of knowing → the faculty of having known (the path's end is the fruit's beginning · seam-shared)	Dazhidu lun fasc. 23	T25n1509《大智度論》Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa-śāstraT25, No. 1509View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0235a16
Entering in sequence the vajra samādhi · attaining the all-kinds wisdom · accomplishing the ten powers, four fearlessnesses, four analytical knowledges, eighteen distinctive dharmas, great compassion (gathering the virtues · seam-shared)	Dazhidu lun fasc. 40	T25n1509《大智度論》Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa-śāstraT25, No. 1509View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0350b08

Series Cross-Reference Index

• ★ The division's close · TATHAGATA-P01–P09: this paper gathers the Mastery of the Tathāgata division's nine papers into one sense. Name (the ten epithets, P01–02) · body (the three bodies' permanent abiding, the marks, P03 · P07) · wisdom (consciousness turned into the four wisdoms, P04) · function (the ten powers · four fearlessnesses · eighteen distinctive dharmas · four analytical knowledges · great compassion · all-kinds wisdom, P05–08) · perfection (the Tathāgata's ten masteries · the great nirvāṇa's four virtues, P09) are all the disclosure of one "unobstructed mastery" (apratihata running through the whole division), its terminus this paper's ultimate non-abiding nirvāṇa. The gathering anchor (Dazhidu lun, fasc. 40) especially gathers P05–08's function-virtues (ten powers · four fearlessnesses · four analytical knowledges · eighteen distinctive dharmas · great compassion · all-kinds wisdom) into the single thought-moment of becoming a Buddha.
• ★ TATHAGATA-P08, "Great Compassion and the All-Kinds Wisdom" (great compassion and the all-kinds wisdom at the non-abiding nirvāṇa's ultimate): P08 set great compassion as the motive force of "function necessarily turning toward beings" and the all-kinds wisdom as the cognition of "making that turning all-pervading and effective." This paper's non-abiding nirvāṇa's "not abiding in nirvāṇa" (not taking up ash-and-extinction · ever delivering) is great compassion's ultimate, its "not abiding in birth-and-death" (since prajñā illumines) the all-kinds wisdom's ultimate; the Cheng weishi lun's "ever supported by great compassion and prajñā" is these two threads ever supporting each other to form the non-abiding mastery.
• ★ TATHAGATA-P09, "The Ten Masteries and Permanence-Bliss-Self-Purity" (same Part · the permanence and bliss virtues): P09's four virtues' "permanence is the Tathāgata's dharma-body" and "bliss is nirvāṇa" open this paper — the buddha-fruit's permanence and bliss are not the quiescence of an ash-and-extinction nirvāṇa taken up, but the ever-quiescence of "not abiding in nirvāṇa while benefiting beings to the end of the future." This paper's "the four-wisdom mind-groups' basis permanent" also answers P09's "permanence" virtue.
• ★ TATHAGATA-P02, "Two Sets of Ten Masteries" · P05/P06 (threefold-time wisdom unobstructed · the four analytical knowledges) (the keynote running through): this division's keynote of "unobstructedness" (apratihata) — from P01's name unobstructed, P04–06's threefold-time wisdom unobstructed and four analytical knowledges, P08's great compassion resting on the light of unobstructed wisdom — reaches at this paper "the unobstructed liberation" (apratihata-vimokṣa). The "fruit-level is not the causal-level brightened" frame (P02) reappears in this paper's complete-versus-forming contrast.
• ★【Cross-axis · seam】realization SAMBODHI-P03, "The Sublime Awakening / Buddha-Fruit" (seam-shared · two readings): this paper's §2.3 sublime-awakening seam passage (eight anchors) is shared with the realization axis's SAMBODHI-P03. The realization axis reads the path's last step (arrival · the sublime awakening), the attainment axis the freedom that has no step further (the mastery after arrival · the Tathāgata's mastery). One and the same vajra-like-samādhi thought-moment, the two faces of one turning. The two axes of realization and attainment end at this seam — the final adjudication of the seam's doctrine reserved to the author.
• 【Cross-axis · contrast】the bodhisattva division, "Non-Abiding Nirvāṇa" (complete-versus-forming): this paper's Tathāgata's ultimate non-abiding nirvāṇa (complete · only the Buddha possessing all four) contrasts with the bodhisattva's non-abiding nirvāṇa set in the bodhisattva division (forming · the causal-level process of compassion and wisdom gradually cutting the cognitive hindrance). For cross-reference of the scriptural witness, see the bodhisattva division (BODHI-P09) (the four-nirvāṇa judgment · the two vehicles' without-remainder "no different from a Buddha's, but without the awakening's work of benefiting others" · the bodhisattva's vast transformation versus the lesser transformation · the bodhisattva's not taking up nirvāṇa). The convergence of the two and the cross-axis "heteromorphic, not hierarchically superior" positioning are reserved to the author.

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Paper: TATHAGATA-P10 · 究竟無住處涅槃·兩軸之終 · The Mastery of the Tathāgata · Part 6 · The Ten Masteries, the Great Nirvāṇa, and the Perfection of Non-Abiding（the division's close） 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（《成唯識論》T1585、《大智度論》T1509、《仁王般若波羅蜜經》T0245）。Loci corrected against the XML: ³ to p0048b19, ⁸ adjacent verse to p0826c24, and ⁵ recorded as the text's "亦說為常." The sublime-awakening seam passage (§2.3) is shared with the realization axis's SAMBODHI-P03, two readings, the seam's doctrine reserved to the author. The complete-versus-forming convergence, the cross-axis "heteromorphic, not hierarchically superior," the two vehicles' without-remainder ("no different from a Buddha's, but without the awakening's work of benefiting others") and ultimacy, the turning-from-the-small-to-the-great, the term "primal-grade ignorance," and the discrimination of apratiṣṭhita / apratihata are all reserved to the author and to cross-axis convergence. apratihata-vimokṣa is a Sanskrit restitution (a parenthetical note, not the text's own words). 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

1. Cheng weishi lun (Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi), fascicle 10, "Ultimate Stage," T31n1585《成唯識論》Vijñaptimātratā-siddhi-śāstraT31, No. 1585View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0055b07. Composed by Dharmapāla et al., trans. Xuanzang. Setting nirvāṇa, by sense, as four: intrinsic purity · with remaining basis · without remaining basis · the non-abiding nirvāṇa. The non-abiding nirvāṇa is suchness emerged from the cognitive hindrance, ever supported by great compassion and prajñā, not abiding in birth-and-death-or-nirvāṇa, benefiting beings to the end of the future, functioning yet ever-quiescent. Judging plainly "all beings have the first; the two vehicles' adepts may have the prior three; only our World-Honored One may be said to possess all four" — the non-abiding nirvāṇa belonging to the buddha-ground's ultimate alone. The convergence of the two vehicles' without-remainder with a Buddha's non-abiding, and of the bodhisattva-level non-abiding nirvāṇa (forming) with a Buddha's ultimate (complete), recorded without adjudicating, reserved to the author (§V, Correction 2). CBETA-collated. ↩

2. Dazhidu lun (Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra), fascicle 21, "Recollection of the Buddha" (chapter on the first matters), T25n1509《大智度論》Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa-śāstraT25, No. 1509View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0220c20. Composed by Nāgārjuna, trans. Kumārajīva. Making plain a Buddha's "unobstructed liberation": because the buddhas attain the unobstructed liberation, their wisdom is unobstructed amid all dharmas; a Buddha is liberated from the afflictions and traces, pulled out at the root, the liberation truly indestructible, all wisdom accomplished — named the unobstructed liberation. The treatise marks a Buddha's unobstructed liberation, by "pulled out at the root (afflictions and traces)," as differing from the two vehicles' liberation; this cause/fruit · two-vehicle/Buddha difference is the treatise's own text, recorded without adjudicating. apratihata-vimokṣa is the traditional Sanskrit restitution; the Chinese gives no Sanskrit, the Sanskrit being a parenthetical note (§V, Correction 3). ↩

3. Cheng weishi lun, fascicle 9, "Ultimate Stage," T31n1585《成唯識論》Vijñaptimātratā-siddhi-śāstraT31, No. 1585View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0048b19. "At the ultimate stage, emerged from the hindrances and round-bright, one can to the end of the future transform the classes of beings." (Cf. p0045a13 "the afflictive and cognitive two hindrances assist the inducing of birth-and-death"; p0050a07 "truly cutting the two hindrances' discriminated latencies.") The aspect of the two hindrances forever ended, the buddha-fruit perfected, at the ultimate stage; "to the end of the future transform the classes of beings" answers to the non-abiding nirvāṇa's "benefiting beings to the end of the future." 〔Locus corrected against CBETA XML: the search-stage had p0048b14; the phrase "至究竟位出障圓明能盡未來化有情類" in fact begins at p0048b19, same fascicle 9.〕★ Seam-shared: realization SAMBODHI-P03 ∥ attainment TATHAGATA-P10. ↩ ↩²

4. Cheng weishi lun, fascicle 10, "Four-Wisdom Mind-Groups," T31n1585《成唯識論》Vijñaptimātratā-siddhi-śāstraT31, No. 1585View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0056a12. "What are the four-wisdom mind-groups? First, the great-perfect-mirror wisdom … like a great perfect mirror, manifesting the images of all forms. … Thus these four groups wholly subsume all the conditioned virtues of the buddha-ground." The aspect of the four wisdoms perfected, of consciousness turned into wisdom, the buddha-ground's every conditioned virtue gathered into the great-perfect-mirror · equality · wondrous-observing · accomplishing wisdoms. ★ Seam-shared: realization SAMBODHI-P03 ∥ attainment TATHAGATA-P10. ↩

5. Cheng weishi lun, fascicle 10, "Ultimate Stage concluding verse," T31n1585《成唯識論》Vijñaptimātratā-siddhi-śāstraT31, No. 1585View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0057a11. The concluding verse "This is the uncontaminated realm, inconceivable, good, permanent …," the prose gloss "the four-wisdom mind-groups, of boundless sublime function" (p0057b27), "because the basis of the four-wisdom mind-groups is permanent, and without cease or end, it too is said to be permanent" (p0057c06). The four-wisdom mind-groups as the substance of the buddha-fruit's inconceivable, good permanence, its permanence answering to P09's four virtues' "permanence is the Tathāgata's dharma-body." 〔The text reads "亦說為常" (with 亦), recorded against the CBETA XML.〕★ Seam-shared: realization SAMBODHI-P03 ∥ attainment TATHAGATA-P10. ↩ ↩²

6. Cheng weishi lun, fascicle 10, "Gradual and Sudden Cutting of the Two Hindrances," T31n1585《成唯識論》Vijñaptimātratā-siddhi-śāstraT31, No. 1585View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0054a29. "A bodhisattva must raise the vajra-like samādhi, and in a single thought-moment the three realms are cut at once. The cognitive-hindrance seeds … until, just as the vajra-like samādhi is raised, in a single thought-moment they are all cut through." (Cf. p0054a23 "the cognitive-hindrance seeds, when about to become a Buddha, in a single thought-moment all cut at once.") The vajra-like samādhi cutting the cognitive hindrance in a single thought-moment — the very last cutting of becoming a Buddha. ★ Seam-shared: realization SAMBODHI-P03 ∥ attainment TATHAGATA-P10. ↩

7. Cheng weishi lun, fascicle 9, "Vajra-Like Samādhi," T31n1585《成唯識論》Vijñaptimātratā-siddhi-śāstraT31, No. 1585View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0053c20. "The affliction-hindrance seeds, when the vajra-like samādhi is present, are all cut at once, and one enters the tathāgata-ground." (Cf. p0054c14 "when the vajra-like samādhi is present, forever cutting all the original coarse-heaviness … suddenly realizing supreme awakening and nirvāṇa.") The vajra-like samādhi's presence as the critical thought-moment of "entering the tathāgata-ground." ★ Seam-shared: realization SAMBODHI-P03 ∥ attainment TATHAGATA-P10. ↩

8. Renwang Prajñāpāramitā-sūtra, fascicle one, "Upholding" chapter (the bodhisattvas' original karma · the five forbearances · the quiescent-forbearance verse), T08n0245T8n0245T8, No. 245View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0827c23. Trans. Kumārajīva. "First entering the vajra, all is comprehended … in one turning the sublime awakening, ever-clear … the three-ten births ended, equal to the great awakening." Cf. p0826c24 "the aspect of ignorance's ending is the vajra; the aspect of ending being without aspect is the sarvajña" — "the aspect of ignorance's ending" being the vajra (the path's last step), "the aspect of ending being without aspect" the sarvajña (freedom's ultimate · no step further). The vajra and the sublime awakening · sarvajña being the two faces of "one turning," two readings. 〔Adjacent-verse locus corrected against CBETA XML: the search-stage had p0826c23; the phrase "無明盡相為金剛盡相無相為薩婆若" in fact begins at p0826c24, same fascicle one. Amoghavajra's translation T0246 is another version, not used here.〕★ Seam-shared: realization SAMBODHI-P03 ∥ attainment TATHAGATA-P10. ↩ ↩²

9. Dazhidu lun, fascicle 23, "The Three Samādhis and Three Faculties" (chapter on the first matters), T25n1509《大智度論》Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa-śāstraT25, No. 1509View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0235a16. "Up to the fulfillment of the ten grounds, seated at the place of the path one attains the vajra samādhi — in the interval, this is named the 'faculty of knowing.' Cutting off all afflictions and traces, attaining supreme perfect awakening … this is named the 'faculty of having known.'" "Seated at the place of the path, attaining the vajra samādhi" as the causal level's end (the faculty of knowing), "cutting all afflictions and traces, attaining supreme awakening" as the fruit level's beginning (the faculty of having known), continuous at one critical point — the path's last step being the beginning of liberation's perfection. ★ Seam-shared: realization SAMBODHI-P03 ∥ attainment TATHAGATA-P10. ↩

10. Dazhidu lun, fascicle 40, "Rebirth" chapter (the five eyes · the purity of the buddha-eye), T25n1509《大智度論》Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa-śāstraT25, No. 1509View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0350b08. "A bodhisattva-mahāsattva, with a mind seeking the buddha-path, enters in sequence the vajra-like samādhi and attains the all-kinds wisdom. At that time he accomplishes the ten powers, four fearlessnesses, four analytical knowledges, eighteen distinctive dharmas, great compassion. … This is the purity of the buddha-eye when the bodhisattva-mahāsattva attains supreme perfect awakening." The vajra samādhi past, the all-kinds wisdom (P08) · ten powers · four fearlessnesses (P05) · four analytical knowledges (P06) · eighteen distinctive dharmas (P06) · great compassion (P08) perfected — gathering this division's function-virtues into the single thought-moment of becoming a Buddha. ★ Seam-shared: realization SAMBODHI-P03 ∥ attainment TATHAGATA-P10. ↩