The Ten Faiths The Ten Abodes The Ten Practices The Ten Dedications The Ten Grounds

Part 3 · The Ten Practices

The Bodhi Path · 1 papers

The house is established; the office received. The second stretch of the three worthy ranks—the Ten Practices—is the stretch of going out.[ from the book's part intro ]

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05The Practice-PositionThe preceding paper, BODHI-P04, carried the bodhisattva to the Abode of Consecration — matured within the Buddha-family, invested and "fit to do the Dharma-King's work," the door now opening outward. The abode-position was "maturing within the house" (the completion of self-benefit); what, then, does "going out to benefit others" concretely look like? This paper argues: the Ten Practices (the middle of the three worthy ranks) are precisely this position of "going out to benefit others," their substance being the concrete enactment of the six perfections, their direction expressly the benefiting of all beings. In the Avataṃsaka's Chapter on the Ten Practices, the ten run in order — Joy, Benefiting, Non-Opposition, Indomitability, Freedom-from-Confusion, Excellent Manifestation, Non-Attachment, Hard-to-Attain, Excellent Dharma, Truth — taught by the buddhas of the three times; and the first six practices each have one perfection for their substance: the Practice of Joy is giving (a great donor, without regret or grudging, not hoping for fruit, "only to benefit all beings"), the Practice of Benefiting is discipline, the Practice of Non-Opposition is patience, the Practice of Indomitability is vigour, the Practice of Freedom-from-Confusion is meditation (right mindfulness), the Practice of Excellent Manifestation is assigned to wisdom (abiding in non-attainment — an exegetical assignment). The treatises set the backbone: the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra lists the six perfections (dāna · śīla · kṣānti · vīrya · dhyāna · prajñā) and, by the figure of the blind and the guide, has the five without prajñā like the blind, and only with prajñā as guide "having eyes," becoming "perfections (gone to the far shore)"; the Yogācārabhūmi sorts the six into merit-portion and wisdom-portion; the Mahāyāna-saṃgraha assigns the six one by one to benefiting beings (giving benefits, discipline does not harm, patience bears insult, vigour grows good and destroys evil) so that beings are tamed. From this the paper argues three things: the difference between abode and practice (the completion of self-benefit turning into the conduct of benefiting others); the "enactment" of the six perfections (from abstract virtue-list to recognizable concrete conduct); and that the six are not a flat list but have prajñā as guide. An honest mark: the assignment of the Practice of Excellent Manifestation to wisdom is an exegetical reading, and the assignment of the latter four practices (Non-Attachment, Hard-to-Attain, Excellent Dharma, Truth) to the latter four perfections (means, vow, power, knowledge) is the classification of Chengguan's commentary, not a per-practice assignment in the sutra itself; this paper does not force the latter (see Section V). The conclusion: benefiting others is not deferred until self-cultivation is complete; the work of the practice-position is precisely to "enact the six perfections within the conduct of benefiting others," with the prajñā of non-attainment for its eye.

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The Six Perfections, ServedPart 3 · Ch. 1

Same part, two ways in — papers keep the scholarly apparatus; the book is continuous prose for reading. Same source.