Two Sets of Ten Masteries

Why the Tathāgata's Mastery and the Bodhisattva's Are a Qualitative Break of Fruit and Cause, Not the Dim and Bright of One Mastery

中文主題：兩種十自在——如來自在與菩薩自在何以是果位與因位之質的斷裂，而非同一自在之明暗

I. The Question

The opening paper set a frame: the Tathāgata's ten epithets are the signature of perfected mastery, naming-full is being-full. Folded into it was a distinction left to be unfolded — the Tathāgata's mastery and the bodhisattva's are categorically different, a qualitative break of fruit and cause, not the dim and bright of one mastery. This paper unfolds that distinction.

Why must it be unfolded? Because a most natural confusion lies in wait. At the eighth immovable ground, the bodhisattva is said by scripture to "attain ten masteries" — mastery over life, mind, wealth, karma, birth, vow, resolve, will, knowledge, dharma. Ten, exactly ten, and each called "mastery." The Tathāgata's fruit too is spoken of as having "ten masteries." Same number, same word — so the most natural picture is: the Tathāgata's ten masteries are just the bodhisattva's "turned up a notch, magnified one round" — one set of masteries, dimmer at the bodhisattva level, brighter at the Buddha's, pushed up one brightening spectrum to its limit, and that is buddhahood.

This paper holds the picture misplaces their relation. The Tathāgata's mastery and the bodhisattva's are not the dim and bright of one mastery, but two distinct sets — a qualitative break of fruit and cause. The evidence lies not in speculation but in the texts themselves: first, the eighty-fascicle Avataṃsaka keeps two distinct lists — the eighth-ground bodhisattva's ten masteries in the "Ten Grounds" chapter, the Buddhas' ten masteries separately in the "Inconceivable Dharmas of the Buddhas" chapter, separately enumerated, two lists; second, the eighth-ground ten masteries are bound to "the bodhisattva level" ("this bodhisattva attains this bodhisattva's ten masteries"), and item by item are largely functions of "manifesting" the Buddha's virtues (able to manifest, not yet to possess); third, most directly — the Buddhas, before the eighth-ground bodhisattva, say with their own mouths, "the ten powers, the fearlessnesses, the eighteen distinctive dharmas of the Buddhas — you have not yet attained." At the eighth ground, the very height of bodhisattva-mastery, the Buddha's fruition-virtues are "not yet attained."

This distinction matters because it is the ground of the opening paper's signature-frame. P01 said "only a Buddha should receive the buddha-names · the ten epithets are the ultimate signature"; but if the Tathāgata's mastery were merely the bodhisattva's turned up, then a bodhisattva too could partly receive the buddha-names, and the ten epithets would not be a "ultimate," "Buddha-exclusive" signature — a high bodhisattva should partly merit the name. Only by granting a qualitative break between cause and fruit — the bodhisattva's mastery, pushed to the eighth ground, even to the height of equal-awakening, still causal (in transit, capable of advance, unfilled); the Tathāgata's, fruit-level (walking exhausted, complete, incapable of advance) — are the ten epithets the ultimate signature exclusive to a Buddha. So this paper's distinction is not a side-treatise to P01 but the bedrock on which P01 stands.

This paper rests on the Avataṃsaka and the Daśabhūmika-vyākhyāna on three points: the bodhisattva's ten masteries bound to the causal level, the Buddhas' separate ten masteries, the eighth ground's "you have not yet attained the ten powers." The argument runs in three moves (§III): two lists, not the dim and bright of one (the texts keep two chapters' two lists); the qualitative break of path-bound cause and perfected fruit (separated by the one step of "walking exhausted"); and this distinction as the ground of the signature-frame (only the fruit-level fully bears the ten epithets). Section IV cuts the interdisciplinary convergence (reason in §VI). Section V offers middle-way corrections. Section VI concludes.

II. The Canonical Basis

2.1 The bodhisattva's eighth-ground ten masteries: a causal-level mastery bound to "the bodhisattva level"

The witness for the bodhisattva's ten masteries is the eighth immovable ground in the Avataṃsaka's "Ten Grounds" chapter. Having perfected the "body of knowledge," the bodhisattva attains ten masteries:

佛子！菩薩成就如是身智已，得命自在、心自在、財自在、業自在、生自在、願自在、解自在、如意自在、智自在、法自在。得此十自在故，則為不思議智者、無量智者、廣大智者、無能壞智者。¹

"Sons of the Buddha, having thus perfected the body of knowledge, the bodhisattva attains mastery over life, mind, wealth, karma, birth, vow, resolve, will, knowledge, and dharma. By attaining these ten masteries, he becomes one of inconceivable knowledge, of measureless knowledge, of vast knowledge, of indestructible knowledge."

Ten masteries, plainly, the number ten. The Daśabhūmika-vyākhyāna (Vasubandhu), glossing this, marks them as attained by "the bodhisattva":

是菩薩得是菩薩十自在已，即時名為不可思議智者、無量智者、廣智者、不可壞智者。²

"This bodhisattva, having attained this bodhisattva's ten masteries, is then named one of inconceivable knowledge, of measureless knowledge, of vast knowledge, of indestructible knowledge."

"This bodhisattva attains this bodhisattva's ten masteries" — "bodhisattva" thrice over. The subject of these ten masteries is a bodhisattva, their station the immovable (eighth) ground, their attainment "after perfecting the body of knowledge." See that this is a causal-level mastery: above the eighth ground there remain the ninth and tenth grounds, equal- and sublime-awakening; the bodhisattva's ten masteries here are attained "in transit," not "at walking's end." (The three translations differ in wording and order of the ten masteries — the Avataṃsaka life·mind·wealth·karma·birth·vow·resolve·will·knowledge·dharma; Xuanzang's Daśabhūmika lifespan·mind·livelihood·karma·birth·conviction·vow·spiritual-power·dharma·knowledge; Vasubandhu's cited text life·mind·goods·karma·birth·vow·resolve·will·dharma·knowledge — a matter of translation, recorded side by side without selecting a rendering.³)

2.2 The Buddhas have their own ten masteries: a separate, fruit-level list

The key point: the Avataṃsaka does not treat "the Buddha's mastery" and "the eighth-ground bodhisattva's ten masteries" as one list. In another chapter — "Inconceivable Dharmas of the Buddhas" — it separately sets up "the ten masteries of the Buddhas, the World-Honored":

佛子！諸佛世尊有十種自在法……而未曾用少方便力，是為諸佛第十自在法。⁴

"Sons of the Buddha, the Buddhas, the World-Honored, have ten masteries… yet they have never used even a little expedient power — this is the Buddhas' tenth mastery."

This passage lists the ten masteries of "the Buddhas, the World-Honored," in a different chapter from the "Ten Grounds" chapter's "eighth-ground bodhisattva ten masteries," separately enumerated, by distinct items and order. One and the same Avataṃsaka speaks of one set of ten masteries at the bodhisattva level and another set of ten masteries at the Buddha level — the text itself distinguishes the two by two lists, not by the brightness of one. This is the most direct textual ground for "two sets of ten masteries."

2.3 The causal level unfilled: the Buddhas exhort the eighth-ground bodhisattva, "you have not yet attained the ten powers"

That the two are cause and fruit is stated outright in one passage. The Avataṃsaka's "Ten Grounds" chapter records that when the bodhisattva attains the forbearance of quiescence at the eighth ground, the Buddhas appear and personally exhort him:

然善男子！我等所有十力、無畏、十八不共諸佛之法，汝今未得，汝應為欲成就此法勤加精進，勿復放捨於此忍門。⁵

"Yet, good man, our ten powers, fearlessnesses, and eighteen distinctive dharmas of the Buddhas, you have not yet attained; you should, in order to accomplish these dharmas, exert vigorous effort, and not let go of this gate of forbearance."

"You have not yet attained" — four cutting words. The eighth ground — the very height of bodhisattva-mastery, already with the ten masteries, already abiding in effortless spontaneity — is told by the Buddhas plainly that the Buddha's ten powers, four fearlessnesses, eighteen distinctive dharmas are "not yet attained," and is exhorted to "exert vigorous effort" to accomplish them. So the eighth-ground ten masteries, however high, are a path-bound, causal-level mastery: above them remain "not yet attained" Buddha-virtues to be accomplished. The "knowledge-mastery" the bodhisattva attains at this ground, as the treatises gloss its function, is largely to "manifest" the Tathāgata's powers, fearlessnesses, distinctive dharmas (to manifest the Buddha's virtues by spiritual power), not to possess the Buddha's virtues in oneself — able to manifest is precisely not yet to possess.

And the opening paper already established: only a Buddha, "the two things fulfilled," merits the buddha-names ("only a Buddha should receive the buddha-names"⁶). The bodhisattva, though attaining the ten masteries, "has not yet attained" the Buddha's virtues, and so does not receive the name "Buddha." That the ten epithets are the ultimate signature exclusive to a Buddha rests just here, on this distinction of cause and fruit.

III. The Core Argument

Section II has set out three things: the bodhisattva's ten masteries bound to the causal level (2.1), the Buddhas' separate ten masteries (2.2), the eighth ground's "not yet attained" the Buddha's virtues (2.3). This section establishes the thesis: the Tathāgata's mastery and the bodhisattva's are two lists, a qualitative break of fruit and cause. In three layers — two lists not the brightness of one; the qualitative break of path-bound cause and perfected fruit; this distinction as the ground of the signature-frame.

3.1 Two lists, not the dim and bright of one

Break first the "brightness of one mastery" reading. It assumes a single set of ten masteries, dim at the bodhisattva level, bright at the Buddha's, incrementing along a spectrum to its limit, which is buddhahood. But the texts are not so arranged: the Avataṃsaka speaks of the eighth-ground bodhisattva's ten masteries in the "Ten Grounds" chapter and the Buddhas' ten masteries in the "Inconceivable Dharmas of the Buddhas" chapter (2.1, 2.2) — two separate chapters, two lists. Though the number is the same, ten, the content and level are distinct; the text does not treat them as "one set, turned up," but as "two sets, distinct."

A deeper proof lies in the content of the eighth-ground masteries item by item. The Daśabhūmika-vyākhyāna, glossing the eighth ground's "knowledge-mastery," gives its function as to "manifest the Tathāgata's powers, fearlessnesses, distinctive dharmas, marks, and awakening" — that is, the bodhisattva, by his mastery, can "manifest" the Buddha's fruition-virtues such as the ten powers. Note the word "manifest": one who can manifest is precisely one who does not yet possess. The eighth-ground bodhisattva's knowledge-mastery is the mastery of "being able to display the appearance of the Buddha's virtues," not the mastery of "being oneself the Buddha's virtues." This squares exactly with 2.3's "you have not yet attained the ten powers": the bodhisattva can manifest the appearance of the ten powers, while the ten powers themselves are "not yet attained." So the eighth-ground ten masteries, though they include a "knowledge-mastery," are still a causal-level power of manifestation, not the fruit-level self-possession — not a "dimmed" version of the Tathāgata's ten masteries, but another set at another level (the causal).

3.2 The qualitative break of path-bound cause and perfected fruit: separated by the one step of "walking exhausted"

The second layer establishes their qualitative break. The eighth-ground ten masteries, however high, are still path-bound: the Buddhas personally exhort, "you have not yet attained the ten powers… exert vigorous effort" (2.3), declaring plainly that above the eighth ground remain "not yet attained" fruition-virtues to accomplish, a path still to walk. Above the eighth ground remain the ninth and tenth grounds, equal- and sublime-awakening — the bodhisattva's mastery, pushed to the eighth ground or even the height of equal-awakening, is still on this "not yet exhausted" path, an "in-transit mastery" (capable of advance, unfilled).

The Tathāgata's mastery is perfected: it is the mastery disclosed at "the ground where walking ends" (the sublime-awakening of SAMBODHI-P03, "The Ground Where Walking Ends" — the causal level exhausted, the two hindrances forever ended, obscuration cleared and clarity full), the fruit-level, incapable of advance. So the difference of bodhisattva- and Tathāgata-mastery is not the difference of "a low and a high place on one road," but of "on the road (even at its highest) " and "the road already walked out" — separated by the one step of "walking exhausted" (sublime-awakening). This step is a qualitative break, not a quantitative increment: not the bodhisattva's mastery brightened one more notch into the Buddha's, but a causal-level mastery and a fruit-level mastery lying on two sides of the path. In the opening paper's words: naming-full is being-full — only the being of "walking exhausted" (the causal exhausted) fully bears the name and mastery of "Buddha"; one who has not walked it out, though possessed of the ten masteries, is still of the name and mastery of a bodhisattva.

3.3 This distinction as the ground of the signature-frame

The third layer returns to the opening paper. Why does this distinction matter? Because P01's "only a Buddha should receive the buddha-names · the ten epithets are the ultimate signature" rests entirely on it.

Suppose the Tathāgata's mastery were merely the bodhisattva's brightened (broken in 3.1): then the "Buddha's" mastery and the bodhisattva's would differ only in degree, not in kind, and what the ten epithets sign could be partly shared — a high bodhisattva should partly merit the buddha-name. Only because there is a qualitative break between cause and fruit (3.2) is the name "Buddha" exclusive to the fruit-level: the bodhisattva, though bearing the name of ten masteries, "has not yet attained" the Buddha's virtues, and so does not receive the buddha-name; only the Tathāgata of walking-exhausted (the causal exhausted), the two things fulfilled, nothing left provisional, fully receives the ten epithets. So this paper's distinction is the bedrock on which P01's signature-frame stands: the ten epithets are the ultimate signature precisely because the mastery they sign is the fruit-level perfected mastery, separated by a qualitative break from every causal-level (even eighth-ground, even equal-awakening) mastery.

This also breaks a common error (see §V): do not take the eighth ground's "effortless spontaneity" of mastery for the Buddha's mastery already. At the eighth ground, abiding in the immovable, one casts off all effortful activity, attains the effortless dharma, moves spontaneously — its appearance is indeed near "unobstructed mastery"; yet this spontaneity is a causal-level spontaneity (path-bound), and the Buddhas still exhort, "you have not yet attained the ten powers, exert vigorous effort." Spontaneity and non-regression are no guarantee of fruit-level completeness — the causal level too has its spontaneity. To read the eighth ground's spontaneity as the Buddha's mastery is just to mistake "the mastery at the road's highest place" for "the mastery of the road walked out," the brightness-reading broken in 3.1.

✅ Doctrinally sound: taken together, the three layers support "the Tathāgata's mastery and the bodhisattva's are two lists, a qualitative break of fruit and cause" — two lists not the brightness of one (the Avataṃsaka keeps two chapters' lists; the eighth-ground knowledge-mastery only manifests the Buddha's virtues), the qualitative break (the eighth ground "has not yet attained" and is separated by the one step of walking-exhausted), the distinction as the ground of the signature-frame (only the fruit-level perfected mastery fully bears the ten epithets). The cause/fruit distinction follows a principle ratified upstream (bodhisattva-mastery path-bound ∥ Tathāgata-mastery perfected); this paper marks it by explicit scriptural witness, and where the texts are silent (e.g. a one-to-one mapping of the ten items) does not adjudicate (see §V).

IV. Interdisciplinary Convergence

(This paper deliberately omits the interdisciplinary-convergence section; the rationale is given in §VI. "The qualitative break of cause and fruit" does resemble developmental psychology's "scaffolded competence vs autonomous mastery" or a formal system's "asymptotic approach vs reaching the limit," yet the former is dominated by "a process of learning" and the latter by "approaching without ever arriving," both only superficially like this paper's sense of "the eighth ground → sublime-awakening as a finite path whose fruit is actually reached, not asymptotically unreached." To force the convergence would falsify; better to leave it out.)

V. Middle-Way Corrections

This section clears away three common misreadings bearing on the thesis.

❌ Misreading 1: "The Tathāgata's mastery = the bodhisattva's magnified / brightened (the dim and bright of one set of masteries)." This the paper breaks in full. The texts keep two lists (the eighth-ground bodhisattva's ten masteries in the "Ten Grounds" chapter, the Buddhas' ten masteries in the "Inconceivable Dharmas of the Buddhas" chapter), two sets, not the brightness of one (3.1); the eighth ground's "knowledge-mastery" functions only to "manifest" the Buddha's virtues (able to manifest, not yet to possess), not a dimmed version of the Tathāgata's ten masteries (3.1); the two are separated by the one step of "walking exhausted" (sublime-awakening), a qualitative break, not a quantitative increment (3.2). To picture the bodhisattva grades up to the Buddha along a spectrum is to fall into this error.

⚠️ Correction 2: Do not take the eighth ground's "effortless spontaneity" of mastery for the Buddha's mastery already. At the eighth immovable ground, casting off all effortful activity, attaining the effortless dharma, abiding spontaneously, the appearance is near "unobstructed mastery"; yet this spontaneity is a causal-level spontaneity (path-bound). Scripture witnesses it: the Buddhas still exhort, "you have not yet attained the ten powers… exert vigorous effort" (2.3). Spontaneity and non-regression are no guarantee of fruit-level completeness — the causal level too has its spontaneity and non-regression. To read the eighth ground's spontaneity as the Buddha's mastery mistakes "the mastery at the road's highest place" for "the mastery of the road walked out." The detail of the eighth ground's spontaneity belongs to the Attainment-axis bodhisattva division's BODHI-P08, "The Immovable Ground"; this paper only marks it as causal-level, to distinguish it from the fruit-level.

⚠️ Correction 3: The one-to-one mapping of the two sets of ten masteries, what folds into what, is a matter of doctrinal classification, which this paper does not adjudicate. The eighth-ground ten masteries (life·mind·wealth·karma·birth·vow·resolve·will·knowledge·dharma) and the Buddhas' ten masteries ("Inconceivable Dharmas of the Buddhas," distinct items) share the number ten, yet the texts give them distinct items, distinct order, distinct chapters; which corresponds to which, and whether the ten items can be matched one to one, is a matter of later doctrinal classification. This paper marks only what the texts state plainly — "two coexisting lists" and "the eighth ground has not yet attained the Buddha's virtues" — to establish the qualitative break of cause and fruit; as for a one-to-one mapping of the ten items, the texts are silent, and this paper does not force a reconciliation or adjudicate, but holds it in suspense. Also, the eighth-ground ten masteries differ in wording and order across three translations (the Avataṃsaka, Xuanzang's Daśabhūmika, Vasubandhu's Vyākhyāna); this paper records them side by side without selecting a rendering (see ³).

VI. Conclusion

Essential restatement. The Tathāgata's mastery and the bodhisattva's are two distinct sets, a qualitative break of fruit and cause, not the dim and bright of one mastery. Three layers support this: two lists, not the brightness of one — the Avataṃsaka keeps two chapters' lists, and the eighth ground's "knowledge-mastery" only manifests the Buddha's virtues without possessing them (3.1); the qualitative break of path-bound cause and perfected fruit — the eighth ground "has not yet attained the ten powers," separated by the one step of "walking exhausted" (sublime-awakening), a qualitative break, not a quantitative increment (3.2); the distinction as the ground of the signature-frame — only the fruit-level perfected mastery fully bears the ten epithets; the bodhisattva, though bearing the name of ten masteries, does not receive the name "Buddha" (the causal level unfilled), so the ten epithets are the ultimate signature exclusive to a Buddha (3.3).

Guidance for practice. This paper corrects, for the practitioner, a comparing imagination of "grading up a spectrum to its limit is buddhahood." One approaching the buddha-fruit easily takes the masteries of the bodhisattva grounds as one spectrum "ever brighter, brightest is the Buddha," and so expects of himself "one more brightening notch." "Two sets of ten masteries" is the remedy: the bodhisattva's mastery, pushed to the eighth ground, even to the height of equal-awakening, is still a causal-level mastery (in transit, capable of advance, able to manifest but not yet to possess); the Buddha's mastery is the fruit-level mastery of walking-exhausted, separated from the causal by a qualitative break. What the practitioner is to do at the bodhisattva level is not "to brighten the bodhisattva's mastery enough to pass for the Buddha's," but to recognize honestly that he is still at the causal level (the honesty of "you have not yet attained") and to keep walking the unexhausted path to its end — walking exhausted, the fruit-level mastery discloses of itself, not formed by the causal mastery's gradual brightening. Especially worth keeping: the eighth ground's admonition — though one attains effortless spontaneity and the ten masteries complete, the Buddhas still say "you have not yet attained." This honesty of "not yet attained" is precisely the mark of the causal level.

Open questions. First, this paper cuts the Section IV interdisciplinary convergence (the cause/fruit break is only superficially like "scaffolded competence / asymptotic limit"). Second, the one-to-one mapping of the two sets of ten masteries, what folds into what, is unstated by the texts; this paper holds it in suspense, to be revisited when the perfected-vaśitā paper (TATHAGATA-P09) lists the "Buddhas' ten masteries" (T10n0279《大方廣佛華嚴經》(八十華嚴)Avataṃsaka-sūtra (80-fascicle)T10, No. 279View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0245a06) in full. Third, this paper sets the qualitative break of cause and fruit as the ground of the signature-frame, and that break-point is sublime-awakening (the ground where walking ends); how the masteries on the two sides of the break-point convert in one and the same candidate-bodhisattva (how equal-awakening's bodhisattva-mastery turns, in one thought of sublime-awakening, into Tathāgata-mastery) involves the temporality of the adamantine concentration's turning-into-fruit in one thought, belonging to the Realization axis's SAMBODHI-P02 / P03; this paper only points to it as the break-point, without unfolding the temporality of the turn.

Notes

References

Primary Buddhist Sources

• Avataṃsaka-sūtra (eighty-fascicle, 大方廣佛華嚴經). Trans. Śikṣānanda. T10, no. 0279《大方廣佛華嚴經》(八十華嚴)Avataṃsaka-sūtra (80-fascicle)T10, No. 279View on CBETA online reader ↗. "Ten Grounds · the eighth immovable ground" (the bodhisattva's ten masteries · "you have not yet attained the ten powers"); "Inconceivable Dharmas of the Buddhas" (the Buddhas' ten masteries).
• Daśabhūmika-sūtra (十地經). Trans. Xuanzang. T10, no. 0287《佛說十地經》T10, No. 287View on CBETA online reader ↗. Fascicle 7, "The Eighth Immovable Ground" (the ten masteries, Xuanzang's wording).
• Daśabhūmika-vyākhyāna (十地經論). By Vasubandhu, trans. Bodhiruci et al. T26, no. 1522《十地經論》Daśabhūmika-sūtra-śāstraT26, No. 1522View on CBETA online reader ↗. Fascicle 10, "The Eighth Immovable Ground" ("this bodhisattva attains this bodhisattva's ten masteries" · bound to the causal level).
• Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra (大智度論). By Nāgārjuna, trans. Kumārajīva. T25, no. 1509《大智度論》Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa-śāstraT25, No. 1509View on CBETA online reader ↗. Fascicle 2, "Explaining Bhagavān" (only a Buddha should receive the buddha-names · the signature-frame).

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 eighth-ground bodhisattva's ten masteries (life·mind·wealth·karma·birth·vow·resolve·will·knowledge·dharma)	Avataṃsaka (80) fasc. 38, Ten Grounds	T10n0279《大方廣佛華嚴經》(八十華嚴)Avataṃsaka-sūtra (80-fascicle)T10, No. 279View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0200b14
"This bodhisattva attains this bodhisattva's ten masteries" (bound to the causal level)	Daśabhūmika-vyākhyāna fasc. 10	T26n1522《十地經論》Daśabhūmika-sūtra-śāstraT26, No. 1522View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0183c21
The Buddhas, the World-Honored, have ten masteries (a separate list at the Buddha level)	Avataṃsaka (80) fasc. 46, Inconceivable Dharmas	T10n0279《大方廣佛華嚴經》(八十華嚴)Avataṃsaka-sūtra (80-fascicle)T10, No. 279View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0245a06
The Buddhas exhort the eighth-ground bodhisattva, "the ten powers, fearlessnesses, eighteen distinctive dharmas — you have not yet attained"	Avataṃsaka (80) fasc. 38, Ten Grounds	T10n0279《大方廣佛華嚴經》(八十華嚴)Avataṃsaka-sūtra (80-fascicle)T10, No. 279View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0199b01
Only a Buddha should receive the buddha-names (the signature-frame · P01)	Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra fasc. 2	T25n1509《大智度論》Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa-śāstraT25, No. 1509View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0073a23

Series Cross-Reference Index

• ★ TATHAGATA-P01, "The Ground Where Naming Is Full" (foundation): this paper makes good on P01's flagged distinction, "the Tathāgata's mastery and the bodhisattva's are categorically different." P01 set "only a Buddha should receive the buddha-names · the ten epithets are the ultimate signature"; this paper establishes the ground of that signature-frame — only the fruit-level perfected mastery fully bears the ten epithets, while the bodhisattva's (causal-level) mastery does not receive the buddha-name.
• TATHAGATA-P09, "The Tathāgata's Ten Masteries and Permanence-Bliss-Self-Purity" (forthcoming · closing the division): the "one-to-one mapping of the two sets of ten masteries" this paper holds in suspense is to be revisited when P09 lists the "Buddhas' ten masteries" (T10n0279《大方廣佛華嚴經》(八十華嚴)Avataṃsaka-sūtra (80-fascicle)T10, No. 279View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0245a06) in full; P09 unfolds the perfected ten masteries (fruit-level).
• Attainment-axis BODHI-P08, "The Immovable Ground" (bodhisattva division): the "bodhisattva's eighth-ground ten masteries · path-bound causal level" this paper contrasts is treated in full by BODHI-P08; this paper marks it only as causal-level, to establish the distinction.
• Realization-axis SAMBODHI-P03, "The Ground Where Walking Ends" (seam): this paper's "break-point" is sublime-awakening (the ground where walking ends) — the qualitative break of cause and fruit breaks at the one step of "walking exhausted." SAMBODHI-P03 establishes sublime-awakening as the ground where the causal is exhausted, on which this paper rests as the break-point.

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Paper: TATHAGATA-P02 · 兩種十自在 · The Mastery of the Tathāgata · Part 1 · The Names 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（《大方廣佛華嚴經》T0279、《十地經》T0287、《十地經論》T1522、《大智度論》T1509）。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. Avataṃsaka-sūtra (eighty-fascicle), fascicle 38, "Ten Grounds, part 5 · the eighth immovable ground," T10n0279《大方廣佛華嚴經》(八十華嚴)Avataṃsaka-sūtra (80-fascicle)T10, No. 279View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0200b14. Trans. Śikṣānanda. The eighth-ground bodhisattva, having perfected the body of knowledge, attains the ten masteries over life·mind·wealth·karma·birth·vow·resolve·will·knowledge·dharma. CBETA-collated. ↩

2. Daśabhūmika-vyākhyāna, fascicle 10, "The Eighth Immovable Ground," T26n1522《十地經論》Daśabhūmika-sūtra-śāstraT26, No. 1522View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0183c21. By Vasubandhu, trans. Bodhiruci et al. "This bodhisattva, having attained this bodhisattva's ten masteries" — marking the ten masteries as attained by the eighth-ground bodhisattva (causal level). ↩

3. The eighth-ground ten masteries differ in wording and order across three translations, recorded here side by side without selecting a rendering: the Avataṃsaka (T10n0279《大方廣佛華嚴經》(八十華嚴)Avataṃsaka-sūtra (80-fascicle)T10, No. 279View on CBETA online reader ↗) life·mind·wealth·karma·birth·vow·resolve·will·knowledge·dharma; the Daśabhūmika trans. Xuanzang (T10n0287《佛說十地經》T10, No. 287View on CBETA online reader ↗, fasc. 7, p0561a18) lifespan·mind·livelihood·karma·birth·conviction·vow·spiritual-power·dharma·knowledge; Vasubandhu's cited text (T26n1522《十地經論》Daśabhūmika-sūtra-śāstraT26, No. 1522View on CBETA online reader ↗, fasc. 10, p0183b29) life·mind·goods·karma·birth·vow·resolve·will·dharma·knowledge. The difference is one of translation; the doctrine does not turn on the variant. ↩ ↩²

4. Avataṃsaka-sūtra (eighty-fascicle), fascicle 46, "Inconceivable Dharmas of the Buddhas, part 1," T10n0279《大方廣佛華嚴經》(八十華嚴)Avataṃsaka-sūtra (80-fascicle)T10, No. 279View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0245a06. "The Buddhas, the World-Honored, have ten masteries." The Avataṃsaka sets up "the Buddhas' ten masteries" separately at the Buddha level, in a chapter distinct from the "Ten Grounds" chapter's eighth-ground bodhisattva ten masteries, separately enumerated. ↩

5. Avataṃsaka-sūtra (eighty-fascicle), fascicle 38, "Ten Grounds · the eighth immovable ground," T10n0279《大方廣佛華嚴經》(八十華嚴)Avataṃsaka-sūtra (80-fascicle)T10, No. 279View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0199b01. The Buddhas, when the eighth-ground bodhisattva attains the forbearance of quiescence, personally exhort: "our ten powers, fearlessnesses, and eighteen distinctive dharmas of the Buddhas, you have not yet attained; you should exert vigorous effort to accomplish these dharmas." Declaring the eighth ground (causal level) to have not yet attained the Buddha's fruition-virtues. ↩

6. Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra, fascicle 2, "Explaining Bhagavān in the Opening Chapter," T25n1509《大智度論》Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa-śāstraT25, No. 1509View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0073a23: "only a Buddha should receive the buddha-names." The pivot of the opening paper (TATHAGATA-P01): only a Buddha, the two things fulfilled, merits the buddha-names. This paper rests its distinction on the signature-frame. By Nāgārjuna, trans. Kumārajīva. ↩