Chapter 11 · The Six Perfections with Prajñā as Their Guide

Part Three · The Path

What do the ordinary practices of giving, ethical discipline, and patience have to do with prajñā? What happens when prajñā is missing?

The mind has been aroused (nine), and contemplation established (ten); now the path enters daily life. The daily practice of the bodhisattva path is the six perfections: giving, ethical discipline, patience, diligent effort, meditation, and prajñā. But the six are not six parallel activities. Sūtra and treatise speak with one voice: the first five must have prajñā as their guide. This chapter asks how that 「guiding」 is established and how it is enacted within the first perfection, giving.

1 · The Blind and Their Guide — Prajñā as the Eyes of the Five Perfections

In the Smaller Prajñāpāramitā, Śakra asks Śāriputra why he has questioned the Buddha about prajñā alone. Śāriputra's answer gives the simile that sets the tone for the whole chapter:

「Kauśika! Suppose hundreds of thousands of millions of blind people gathered together. Without a guide, they could not proceed to a city or village. Kauśika! The five pāramitās apart from prajñā-pāramitā are likewise blind people without a guide: they cannot cultivate the path and reach all-knowledge. When the five pāramitās are protected by prajñā-pāramitā, they are as though endowed with eyes. Through the power of prajñā-pāramitā, the five pāramitās receive the name prajñā-pāramitā.」 〔《小品般若》泥犁品·T08n0227 0550a18（段起 0550a13）〕

Hundreds of thousands of millions of blind people without a single guide cannot take even one step toward the city. The five perfections apart from prajñā are the same. Giving remains giving and ethical discipline remains ethical discipline, but they 「cannot cultivate the path and reach all-knowledge」—their direction has been lost. The final sentence is especially weighty: 「the five pāramitās receive the name prajñā-pāramitā」. The first five practices receive the name 「perfection」—pāramitā, crossing to the other shore—from prajñā. Without prajñā, wholesome action remains wholesome action, but it cannot carry one to the other shore. The Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra extends the simile: 「The five pāramitās are like the blind, and prajñā-pāramitā is like their eyes; the five pāramitās are like an unbaked jar filled with water, and prajñā-pāramitā like a fired jar; the five pāramitās are like a bird without two wings, and prajñā-pāramitā like a bird with wings.」〔T25n1509 0314b 段·待譯〕 Blind and eyes, unfired and fired jar, wingless and winged bird: with three similes in succession, the treatise master fixes the meaning of 「guide」.

2 · Giving without Abiding — the Sūtra's Direct Proposition

With prajñā as its guide, what does the first perfection look like? The Diamond Sūtra gives the direct proposition:

「Furthermore, Subhūti! With respect to dharmas, a bodhisattva should give without abiding anywhere. That is, one gives without abiding in form and gives without abiding in sound, scent, taste, touch, or dharmas. Subhūti! A bodhisattva should give in this way, without abiding in any mark.」 〔羅什譯《金剛般若波羅蜜經》妙行無住分·T08 0749a12 段〕

「A bodhisattva should give without abiding anywhere」—the giving is fully performed, but without abiding: not abiding in form, sound, scent, taste, touch, or dharmas, and not abiding in marks. The sūtra immediately calculates the result: 「Why? If a bodhisattva gives without abiding in marks, that merit cannot be measured.」 It then takes the empty space of the ten directions as its simile. The merit of giving without abiding in marks is as immeasurable as empty space. Non-abiding does not diminish giving; it makes giving measureless.

3 · The Three Wheels Are Empty in Substance — the Treatise's Practical Explanation

What does 「non-abiding」 mean in practice? Explaining the perfection of giving, the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra first cites the Larger Prajñāpāramitā:

「The Buddha told Śāriputra: 「A bodhisattva-mahāsattva abides in prajñā-pāramitā through a dharma of non-abiding and fulfills the perfection of giving through a dharma in which nothing is relinquished, because the giver, the recipient, and the gift cannot be attained.」」 〔《大智度論》卷十一·T25n1509 0139a24（品題 0139a22）·待譯〕

The giver, the recipient, and the gift—later called the 「three wheels」—cannot be attained. This is what it means to 「fulfill giving through a dharma in which nothing is relinquished」. The treatise master asks: giving means relinquishing wealth, so why speak of 「fulfilling a dharma in which nothing is relinquished」? His answer is clean:

「Here the supramundane perfection of giving is taught as signless. Because it is signless, there is nothing relinquished; therefore it is said: 「fulfilling a dharma in which nothing is relinquished.」」 〔同卷·待譯〕

It further says: 「A supramundane person can relinquish wealth and can relinquish giving itself. Why? Because both material things and the mind of giving cannot be attained.」〔同卷·待譯〕 A worldly person can relinquish wealth but cannot relinquish the thought 『I am giving』. Supramundane giving relinquishes even the mind of giving. The sūtra says 「non-abiding」; the treatise says 『the three wheels cannot be attained』. They are inner and outer faces of the same matter.

4 · Dedication — the Final Criterion of Practice

After all this practice, where is the merit placed? Prajñā answers with the same measure. The dedication chapter of the Smaller Prajñāpāramitā says:

「A bodhisattva should dedicate the merit gained by rejoicing toward all-knowledge in this way. The mind used for dedication is exhausted and ceases in that very moment. What mind is it that dedicates toward unsurpassed perfect awakening? If one mind is used to dedicate another, the two minds do not coexist; moreover, the nature of mind cannot be attained for dedication.」 〔《小品般若》迴向品·T08n0227 0548a11（品起 0547c12）〕

The thought of dedication is exhausted and ceases in the very moment it arises; the nature of mind cannot be attained. How, then, is dedication possible? The sūtra answers: 「Furthermore, when a bodhisattva knows in this way that no dharma can dedicate another dharma, this is called correct dedication toward unsurpassed perfect awakening.」〔同品〕 To know that no dharma can dedicate another dharma is correct dedication. The Buddha's assessment of such dedication gathers up the whole chapter:

「The Buddha praised Subhūti: 「Excellent, excellent! Subhūti! Because a bodhisattva is protected by prajñā-pāramitā, that bodhisattva can dedicate this merit. The merit from the previous giving done with a mind that apprehends attainment does not equal one hundredth part of it, nor one among thousands of myriads of millions, nor any fraction reached by calculation or simile.」」 〔同品〕

Dedication through non-attainment, 「protected by prajñā-pāramitā」, surpasses giving done with a mind of attainment by hundreds of thousands of millions of times. Prajñā guides all the way to the destination of merit. As for the other four perfections—ethical discipline, patience, diligent effort, and meditation—the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra explains each separately〔尸羅卷十三·羼提卷十四·毘梨耶卷十五·禪卷十七·待譯〕. The way prajñā guides them is the same, and need not be unfolded one by one here.

At this point the mind has been aroused, contemplation established, and practice completed. What lies at the end? In the final chapter, we follow a seeker who forgets his own body for the Dharma and walk the whole road to its end.

Author · Shi Huijing CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · 二〇二六 · 夏