地藏菩薩本願經 校量布施功德緣品

Placement of the passage as a whole. This passage runs from the chapter title 「校量布施功德緣品第十」—“Weighing the Merit and Conditions of Giving, Chapter Ten” 〔T13n0412 0786b11〕 down to 「是故，地藏！布施因緣，其事如是」—“Therefore, Kṣitigarbha! The causes and conditions of giving — the matter is just so.” 〔T13n0412 0787a14〕, and belongs to Fascicle Two of the base text. It contains Kṣitigarbha’s doubt and request, the Tathāgata’s enjoining him to listen and consenting to speak, the four weighings of the blessings of giving by kings and ministers (giving to the lowest and poorest and to those whose bodily faculties are not whole · giving to stūpas, monasteries, and holy images · giving to repair ruined stūpas, shrines, scriptures, and images · giving to the aged, the sick, and women in childbirth), the conclusion dedicated toward becoming a buddha, the three weighings of the blessings of giving by good men and women (giving and making offerings to four kinds of image · giving and making offerings to the scriptures of the Great Vehicle · giving to what is new and repairing what is old), the conclusion dedicated to the dharma-realm, and the closing statement. This sūtra exists in a single translation; there is no alternate recension of the same original against which to collate. Sūtras of the same honored one but of different text are the Daśacakra-kṣitigarbha Sūtra and the Sūtra of Divining the Requital of Good and Evil Karma; these belong to parallel reading set side by side, and are not collated as alternate translations. The fascicle-division of the word-by-word mirror differs from that of the base text: this chapter is the first chapter of the mirror’s own “lower fascicle”; and where the base text writes 校 in the chapter title the mirror writes 較, while the mirror’s two quotations of the sūtra within the chapter go one with the base text and one against it (both under topic nine).

I. Doctrinal-Outline Placement

The word-by-word mirror takes this chapter and the one before it as a pair: the former chapter, on reciting the names of the buddhas, is “displaying the direct practice of becoming a buddha,” and this chapter is “displaying the aid to the way of becoming a buddha.” At the head of the fascicle he poses his own question and answer: 「二、顯成佛助道者，既稱佛名，正行已成，何須復明布施為助道耶」—“Second, displaying the aid to the way of becoming a buddha: since the names of the buddhas have been recited and the direct practice is already accomplished, what need is there to set out giving again as an aid to the way?” 〔X21n0384 0740a06〕; and the answer is fastened to the Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom — 「準大論，以生死輪轉，利益之業無過布施」—“Following the Great Treatise: in the turning of birth-and-death there is no deed of benefit that surpasses giving.” 〔X21n0384 0740a07〕: one who gives gladly has his good name spread abroad, stands among the multitude with nothing to fear and nothing hard to face, and has no regret at death, and 「非但開三樂而已，乃能開無量佛道之處」—“it does not merely open the three joys; it can open the place of the measureless way of a buddha.” 〔X21n0384 0740a10〕; the principle of it lies in the order of the six perfections: 「以六波羅蜜是佛道，檀為初門，餘行皆悉隨從」—“because the six pāramitās are the way of a buddha, and dāna is the first gate, all the other practices follow after it.” 〔X21n0384 0740a11〕, and therefore the Buddha says that giving is the 「初助道因緣」—“first of the causes and conditions that aid the way.” 〔X21n0384 0740a13〕, closing with 「故須較量布施之緣，助開佛道也」—“Hence the conditions of giving must be weighed comparatively, to help open the way of a buddha.” 〔X21n0384 0740a15〕

The outline within the chapter:

This chapter is the last chapter of the section of main exposition: at the head of his work the word-by-word mirror divides the whole sūtra into three, and states the bound of the main exposition for himself as 「會訖較量布施九品，正說分」—“from the assembly down through the comparative weighing of giving, nine chapters: the section of main exposition.” 〔X21n0384 0653b03〕 — that is, from the chapter on the assembly of the divided bodies to this chapter, nine chapters in all. Hence when this chapter has been glossed he at once sets down 「正說竟」—“the main exposition is finished” 〔X21n0384 0748a15〕, and the next line enters the section of transmission, whose name he glosses thus: 「流名下注，通名不壅」—“Liu names a flowing downward; tong names an unobstructedness.” 〔X21n0384 0748a18〕

The table of contents in the separate fascicle of outline headings: X21n0382, the Outline of the Kṣitigarbha Sūtra (by the same author; it lists outline headings only, and marks the sūtra text by its first characters), gives this chapter as 「較量布施品第十」—“Chapter Ten, on the Comparative Weighing of Giving” 〔X21n0382 0621c19〕, placed under “fascicle five” — the chapter name omits the two characters for merit. Recorded without adjudication. Its line of headings descends from “second, the aid to the way of becoming a buddha,” and agrees with the outline of the Outline and Commentary.

II. Cross-Recension Collation (none for this passage)

There is no alternate recension against which this passage can be collated. The Sūtra of the Original Vows of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva exists in a single translation, and the canon holds no alternate translation of the same original. The search has been made: by two forms of title containing 「地藏」 and 「本願經」, and by four forms of citation of sentences peculiar to this passage (「校量布施」, 「較量布施」, 「捨一得萬」, 「癃殘瘖瘂」), the T, X, B, GA, J, Y, and ZW divisions were searched throughout, and apart from this sūtra and its commentaries, liturgies, and catalogue entries there is no second translation; every hit obtained is a catalogue notice, a ritual invitation, or a synopsis (see topic eight), not a separate translation.

Two sūtras of the same honored one but of different text, set side by side without adjudication (they are not alternate translations, and no collation of wording is made):

III. Scriptural and Treatise Basis (the “eye”)

Scriptural witness

• The armored wheel of the ten gifts of goods (a sūtra of the same honored one) — the Daśacakra-kṣitigarbha Sūtra, in its seventh chapter on the marks of the field of blessing, sets out that a bodhisattva-mahāsattva 「有十財施大甲冑輪」—“has the great armored wheel of the ten gifts of goods” 〔T13n0411 0768c25〕; what is given runs from food and drink, clothing, jeweled ornaments, elephants and horses, and carriages, on to his own body, hands, feet, ears, nose, head, eyes, marrow, brain, skin, bone, blood, and flesh, and to states and cities, wife and children, servants, fields and dwellings; and the judgment of his mind lies in 「但為希求一切種智，發心布施」—“giving with an aroused mind solely out of the wish for the wisdom of all modes.” 〔T13n0411 0769a13〕 This shares its frame with the kings and ministers of the first weighing in this passage, whose blessing equals giving to a hundred Ganges’ sands of buddhas because they arouse the mind of great kindness — what is weighed in both is the mind, not the thing. Set side by side in parallel reading; no judgment of better or worse is made.
• The giving of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas is without great kindness and compassion (a sūtra of the same honored one) — 「聲聞、獨覺、發心布施無大慈悲」—“Śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas arouse the mind and give without great kindness and compassion.” 〔T13n0411 0769a18〕, giving only that they themselves may be rid of poverty, escape their sufferings, and gain ease. Why the kings and ministers of this passage have so great a blessing the sūtra fastens for itself to 「具大慈悲」—“complete in great kindness and compassion” as a single phrase 〔T13n0412 0786b23〕; both sūtras alike make the presence or absence of kindness and compassion the watershed of giving.
• An honest report of nothing found — dedication is a layer peculiar to this passage: the two written forms 「迴向」 and 「回向」 are both found nowhere at all in the whole of the Daśacakra-kṣitigarbha Sūtra, T13n0411 (calibration set: 「布施」 occurs forty times in that same volume, proving that the search method does not return a false zero). And this passage makes dedication the balance: 「迴向法界」—“dedicating to the dharma-realm” occurs four times 〔T13n0412 0786c03〕〔T13n0412 0786c27〕〔T13n0412 0787a01〕〔T13n0412 0787a11〕, and besides these there are 「發迴向心」—“arousing the mind of dedication” 〔T13n0412 0786c10〕, 「更能迴向」—“further able to dedicate” 〔T13n0412 0786c19〕, and 「如但迴向自家眷屬」—“if dedicated only to one’s own household and kin” 〔T13n0412 0787a12〕. The gate of giving in the two sūtras of the same honored one parts ways here: the one sets out the ten wheels and the mind of the giver in detail, the other makes dedication the balance. Recorded honestly; no judgment of better or worse is made.

Treatise accounts (all as cited by the word-by-word mirror within this passage)

• Giving as the first of the aids to the way — he cites the Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom to make plain that in the turning of birth-and-death no deed of benefit surpasses giving, and that among the six perfections 「檀為初門」—“dāna is the first gate” 〔X21n0384 0740a12〕 (see topic one).
• Giving and keeping precepts brings birth in a kṣatriya house — 「大論三十二云：若有人布施及持戒故，生剎利家」—“The Great Treatise, fascicle thirty-two, says: if a person gives and keeps the precepts, he is born into a kṣatriya house.” 〔X21n0384 0740c14〕; and if one is attached to wisdom and books yet does not vex beings, then by giving and keeping precepts one is born into a brahmin house.
• Pure giving and impure giving — glossing the title of this chapter, the Guiding Thread cites the treatise: 「布施有二種：一者淨，二者不淨」—“Giving is of two kinds: the first pure, the second impure.” 〔X21n0383 0650c08〕; the impure is 「直施而已」—“a mere giving and nothing more.” 〔X21n0383 0650c09〕, whether given from fear of losing the goods, or given for love of kin, or given without single-mindedness and without reverence, slighting the one who receives; the pure is 「治心故施，莊嚴意故施，為得第一利故施」—“giving so as to govern the mind, giving so as to adorn the intent, giving so as to gain the foremost benefit.” 〔X21n0383 0650c10〕, and 「譬如新華未萎，色好且香，淨心布施，亦復如是」—“It is as a fresh flower not yet withered, fair in color and fragrant besides: giving with a pure mind is just so.” 〔X21n0383 0650c12〕 Its source lies in the Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom: 「此布施有二種：一者、淨，二者、不淨」—“This giving is of two kinds: the first pure, the second impure.” 〔T25n1509 0304b26〕; 「淨施者，如經中說：治心故施，莊嚴意故施，為得第一利故施」—“As for pure giving, it is as the sūtra says: giving so as to govern the mind, giving so as to adorn the intent, giving so as to gain the foremost benefit.” 〔T25n1509 0304c07〕; 「譬如新花未萎，色好且香；淨心布施，亦復如是」—“It is as a fresh flower not yet withered, fair in color and fragrant besides; giving with a pure mind is just so.” 〔T25n1509 0304c09〕 The mirror’s citation differs slightly from the treatise itself (華 against 花 · the mirror omits the four characters for “as the sūtra says” · the punctuation follows each witness); each is recorded after its own witness, and neither is restored to the other.
• The lifespan of the Brahmā heavens and the size of a kalpa — he cites an Abhidharma treatise to show that the first Brahmā’s lifespan is half a kalpa, that of the Brahmā-merit-tower heaven one kalpa, and 「大梵劫半」—“Great Brahmā, a kalpa and a half.” 〔X21n0384 0742b03〕; he cites the Dharma Garden for the three grades — 「欲界中壽一劫是小劫，初禪三天壽劫是中劫，二禪已去壽劫是大劫」—“In the realm of desire a lifespan of one kalpa is a small kalpa; the lifespan-kalpa of the three heavens of the first dhyāna is a middling kalpa; the lifespan-kalpa from the second dhyāna upward is a great kalpa.” 〔X21n0384 0742b04〕; and judges 「準此，今之十劫，乃是中劫」—“Following this, the ten kalpas here are middling kalpas.” 〔X21n0384 0742b05〕 By the same method he judges the hundred and the two hundred kalpas of this passage: 「此中百劫，據大劫說」—“The hundred kalpas here are spoken of in terms of great kalpas.” 〔X21n0384 0744a11〕, 「言二百劫，據小劫也」—“The two hundred kalpas spoken of are in terms of small kalpas.” 〔X21n0384 0744a13〕 For why the one goes by the great and the other by the small, the mirror fastens each to its own reason: a hundred kalpas as lord of the Pure Abodes heavens, 「以慈心，是清淨心施故」—“because the mind of kindness is a giving from a pure mind.” 〔X21n0384 0744a11〕; two hundred kalpas as lord of the six heavens of desire, 「準大論說：眾生緣慈，是有漏，但緣欲界。故報生六欲天中」—“Following the Great Treatise: the kindness that takes beings for its object is with outflows and takes only the realm of desire for its object; hence the recompense is birth among the six heavens of desire.” 〔X21n0384 0744a12〕 Thus the size of a kalpa is not fixed by the station of the heaven; it hangs upon whether the kindness at the time of giving is pure or impure, with outflows or without.
• A kṣaṇa is one thought — 「準毗曇論，明時節，合有十二重：第一名剎那，翻為一念」—“Following the Abhidharma treatise, in setting out the periods of time there are in all twelve tiers: the first is called kṣaṇa, rendered as one thought.” 〔X21n0384 0743c07〕, and it may be called the least of times.
• Kindness holds compassion complete — he cites the Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom: 「若說慈，則已說悲、喜、捨」—“If kindness is spoken of, then compassion, joy, and equanimity have already been spoken of.” 〔X21n0384 0743c10〕; and again 「慈是真無量，慈為如王，餘如人民」—“Kindness is the true immeasurable; kindness is as the king, and the rest are as the people.” 〔X21n0384 0743c11〕; and so he judges 「以慈能具悲，故言大。既言一念，即同體慈也」—“Because kindness can hold compassion complete, it is called great. And since a single thought is spoken of, this is the kindness of one substance.” 〔X21n0384 0743c13〕
• The difficulty that bedding and medicine are worldly things — he cites the Sarvāstivāda Treatise: 「房舍、臥具、飲食、湯藥是世間法，非是離世難得之法」—“Lodging, bedding, food and drink, and medicine are worldly things; they are not things hard to obtain that go beyond the world.” 〔X21n0384 0744a04〕; and the answer falls upon the single thought of kindness — 「此由正行施時，一念具大慈心，便是成佛根本」—“This is because at the very moment of giving, a single thought complete in the mind of great kindness is itself the root of becoming a buddha.” 〔X21n0384 0744a05〕
• The mind that gives, excelling or not, and the recompense it draws (the seven stages set out one by one) — he cites the Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom, fascicle thirty-three, whose stages run from the realm of desire up to the way of a buddha: 「未離欲布施。生人中富貴，及六欲天中；若離欲心布施，生梵世天」—“Giving without having left desire: birth among the wealthy and noble of humankind, and in the six heavens of desire; if one gives with a mind that has left desire, birth in the Brahmā heavens.” 〔X21n0384 0744a19〕; 「上乃至廣果；若離色心布施，生無色天中」—“and on up to the Heaven of Vast Fruit; if one gives with a mind that has left form, birth among the formless heavens.” 〔X21n0384 0744a20〕; 「離三界布施，為涅槃故，得聲聞道」—“Giving apart from the three realms, for the sake of nirvāṇa, gains the way of the śrāvaka.” 〔X21n0384 0744a21〕; 「布施時厭惡憒閙、好樂閑靜，得辟支佛」—“Giving while wearying of clamor and delighting in quiet and stillness gains the pratyekabuddha.” 〔X21n0384 0744a22〕; 「布施時，起大悲心，欲度一切，第一甚深畢竟清淨智慧，得成佛道」—“Giving while arousing the mind of great compassion, wishing to deliver all, with the foremost, most profound, and finally pure wisdom: this gains the accomplishing of the way of a buddha.” 〔X21n0384 0744a23〕 What is given does not change, and yet the recompense drawn differs across seven stages; the one variable is the mind that gives — the mirror sets up this question before citing the treatise: 「行施之時，慈有勝不勝，心有淨不淨」—“At the time of giving, kindness may excel or not excel, and the mind may be pure or not pure.” 〔X21n0384 0744a17〕
• The giving of goods and the giving of Dharma — he cites the Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom: 「佛說二種施中，法施為第一。以財施果報有量，法施果報無量」—“Of the two kinds of giving the Buddha spoke of, the giving of Dharma is first; for the fruit of giving goods has measure, and the fruit of giving Dharma is measureless.” 〔X21n0384 0745b05〕; and he judges the mark of the pure giving of Dharma: 「若不求名聞財利力勢，但為學佛道弘大慈悲心，度眾生老病死苦，是名清淨法施」—“If one does not seek fame, gain, or power, but only to learn the way of a buddha and to enlarge the mind of great kindness and compassion, and to deliver beings from the suffering of age, sickness, and death, this is called the pure giving of Dharma.” 〔X21n0384 0745b07〕
• The three greatnesses of the Great Vehicle — he cites the Awakening of Faith, glossing the sense of the Great Vehicle as greatness of substance, greatness of mark, and greatness of function, 「一切諸佛，本所乘故」—“because it is what all the buddhas originally rode.” 〔X21n0384 0745b20〕
• The three roots of goodness — he cites the Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom: 「無貪、無瞋、無癡」—“non-greed, non-anger, non-delusion.” 〔X21n0384 0746c22〕, from which three roots of goodness all wholesome dharmas are born and grow.
• Giving considered as blessing — 「布施非即是福，但能破慳貪，開善法門。善根名為福」—“Giving is not itself the blessing; it is only what can break stinginess and greed and open the gate of wholesome dharmas. It is the root of goodness that is named blessing.” 〔X21n0384 0747a01〕

The judgment of theme and aim (from the Guiding Thread, whose gloss on the title of this chapter forms a separate passage): glossing the six characters of the title, 「較者，不等也；量者，寬虗容物也」—“Jiao is what is not equal; liang is what is broad and empty and holds things.” 〔X21n0383 0650a21〕, 「布，散也」—“bu is to scatter abroad.” 〔X21n0383 0650b08〕, 「施，惠也、與也」—“shi is to bestow, to give.” 〔X21n0383 0650b09〕, 「緣即因緣，生起助成之意」—“yuan is cause and condition, in the sense of arising and helping to accomplish.” 〔X21n0383 0650b20〕. He first raises a difficulty against the very setting up of comparative weighing: glossing liang he passes to the five measures of the standard code, down to the fineness of 「量多少者，不失圭撮」—“in measuring much or little one does not lose so much as a gui or a cuo.” 〔X21n0383 0650b02〕, and then turns about: 「然布施乃出世之福，福德即非福德，是名福德，奚事錙銖較量為」—“Yet giving is a blessing that goes beyond the world, and merit is not merit, and is so named merit: what business has one weighing it by ounce and grain?” 〔X21n0383 0650b03〕; the answer lies in the difference between the one who weighs and the thing weighed — 「菩薩行般若波羅蜜，智慧明利，能分別施福」—“A bodhisattva practicing the prajñā-pāramitā, his wisdom bright and keen, is able to discriminate the blessings of giving.” 〔X21n0383 0650b06〕, and therefore 「施福雖同，福德多少，隨心優劣，故須較量也」—“though the blessing of giving be the same, the amount of merit follows upon whether the mind excels or not; and therefore it must be weighed comparatively.” 〔X21n0383 0650b07〕 Thus the setting up of comparative weighing is meant to display whether the mind excels, not to reckon the ounce and grain of the thing; this line shares its bone with his later judgment that great blessing comes from the mind and does not lie in the field. His method of comparative weighing is twofold: 「一約福田較量，二約施心較量」—“first, weighing in terms of the field of blessing; second, weighing in terms of the mind that gives.” 〔X21n0383 0650c01〕; in terms of the field, 「當知大福從良田生」—“Know that great blessing is born of a good field.” 〔X21n0383 0650c07〕; in terms of the mind, 「以是故，知大福從心，不在田也」—“For this reason, know that great blessing comes from the mind and does not lie in the field.” 〔X21n0383 0650c15〕, with the added line 「良田雖得福多，而不如心」—“A good field gains much blessing, and yet it does not equal the mind.” 〔X21n0383 0650c16〕 The eye he fixes for the whole chapter runs: 「大要了四相之原空，達三輪之本寂，體財即法，無住生心，是布施第一義門」—“The chief point is to understand that the four marks are empty at their source, to reach the original stillness of the three wheels, to see that goods in their substance are Dharma, and to give rise to the mind without abiding: this is the gate of the first meaning of giving.” 〔X21n0383 0650c17〕 The two weighings, by field and by mind, stand together and he takes the latter for himself; the sūtra text of this passage speaks only of being complete in the seven jewels, the body of Śakra, the Great Brahmā Heavenly King, and the body of a wheel-turning king, and does not reach the emptiness of the three wheels. Both are recorded; neither is forced into agreement.

IV. Exegesis of the Passage (the word-by-word mirror, phrase by phrase)

The paths of karma — 「業道者，殺害等罪行，名黑黑業，及不善業；布施等福行，名白白業，及以善業」—“As for the paths of karma: guilty deeds such as killing are named black-black karma and unwholesome karma; deeds of blessing such as giving are named white-white karma and wholesome karma.” 〔X21n0384 0740b02〕; here, within wholesome karma, the single matter of the blessings of giving is made plain.

The many kinds of giving — 「布施多種，財施、法施、俗施、道施，輕重較量，如綸貫」—“Giving is of many kinds: the giving of goods, the giving of Dharma, worldly giving, giving on the way; for the comparative weighing of the heavier and the lighter, see the Guiding Thread.” 〔X21n0384 0740b04〕 — here the mirror points directly to the Guiding Thread at the head of his own work, and so the gloss on the title in this passage must be read across the two fascicles (see topics three and five). He says besides 「受福二字，世、出世間最要事，皆由布施而得」—“The two characters for receiving blessing are the most needful matter both within the world and beyond it, and are all obtained through giving.” 〔X21n0384 0740b05〕, and 「大士此問，實為出苦良方，成佛法根也」—“This question of the great being is truly a good prescription for coming out of suffering, and the root of the dharma of becoming a buddha.” 〔X21n0384 0740b06〕

Whether Kṣitigarbha truly does not know — he poses his own question and answer: 「為地藏真不知耶？為眾生疑耶」—“Is it that Kṣitigarbha truly does not know? Or is it that beings are in doubt?” 〔X21n0384 0740b07〕; and answers 「實知、不實知，非凡情所測」—“Whether he truly knows or truly does not know is not to be measured by ordinary feeling.” 〔X21n0384 0740b08〕 Beneath this he cites an affair from the Miscellaneous Piṭaka Sūtra as witness: someone offered an āmra blossom at a buddha’s stūpa and asked how much blessing the scattering of one blossom before the Buddha gained; a man of the Way could not know it, one who recited the scriptures could not know it, and an arhat of the six penetrations entered contemplation and saw him receiving blessing 「乃至八萬大劫，福猶不盡」—“even to eighty thousand great kalpas, the blessing still not exhausted.” 〔X21n0384 0740b15〕, beyond which he could know no further; a conjured man was sent to ask Maitreya, and Maitreya said 「不能知，正使恒河沙等一生補處菩薩，尚不能知」—“I cannot know it; even bodhisattvas bound by one more birth, as many as the sands of the Ganges, still could not know it.” 〔X21n0384 0740b17〕, 「待我將來成佛，乃能知之」—“Wait until I have become a buddha in a time to come; then it can be known.” 〔X21n0384 0740b19〕 And so he judges: 「據此，即不實知，誰曰不然」—“On this ground, that he truly does not know — who shall say it is not so?” 〔X21n0384 0740b20〕

Why it is spoken of in the heavenly palace — 「以閻浮提人能行布施者，必報生天上。故於天宮眾前，說布施功德輕重」—“Because the people of Jambudvīpa who are able to practice giving are certainly recompensed with birth in the heavens; and therefore before the multitude in the heavenly palace he speaks of the heavier and lighter merit of giving.” 〔X21n0384 0740c01〕 The reason for enjoining them to listen is fastened to stinginess and greed: 「夫布施之業，乃眾行之源，且財物無常，五家爭奪」—“The deed of giving is the source of all practices; and goods and wealth are impermanent, contended for and seized by the five houses.” 〔X21n0384 0740c03〕

First weighing · the lord who is able to give — 「等者，等居士也」—“‘and the like’ means and the householders.” 〔X21n0384 0740c14〕; 「居士者，小人而巨富，此由前施福，今感富貴報也」—“A householder is a commoner yet hugely rich; this comes of the blessing of former giving, drawing down now the recompense of wealth and rank.” 〔X21n0384 0740c16〕

First weighing · the field given to — 「此即悲田，尤宜種福」—“This is the field of compassion; here above all one should plant blessings.” 〔X21n0384 0740c20〕; 「最下貧窮，舉人中最卑劣者，此即作惡不施之後身」—“The lowest and poorest: this raises up the humblest and meanest among men, the later body of one who did evil and did not give.” 〔X21n0384 0740c20〕, with the Sūtra of Mahāprajāpatī cited: 「有財不施，世世受貧」—“Having wealth and not giving, one receives poverty life after life.” 〔X21n0384 0740c21〕 He glosses the marks of lacking faculties word by word: 「癃，罷病」—“long: a wasting sickness.” 〔X21n0384 0740c23〕, and a humped back is also called long, and a bladder that will not pass is also called long; 「殘，則肢體不全。瘖瘂，則口不能言。聾，則不聞。癡，則不別。無目，則不覩物」—“Maimed: the limbs are not whole. Mute: the mouth cannot speak. Deaf: it does not hear. Witless: it does not discriminate. Eyeless: it does not see things.” 〔X21n0384 0741a01〕, 「乃人中最可憐者」—“these are the most pitiable among men.” 〔X21n0384 0741a02〕 His closing words cite a sūtra: 「要觀前世因，今生受者是；要知後世因，今生作者是」—“Would you look upon the cause of a former life? What is received in this life is it. Would you know the cause of a later life? What is done in this life is it.” 〔X21n0384 0741a07〕

First weighing · the kindness and compassion of the giver — 「具大慈悲，標施本也」—“Complete in great kindness and compassion: this marks out the root of giving.” 〔X21n0384 0741a13〕; 「本有與拔名具，向行善施名能，不揀高下名大」—“That the giving and the drawing out are there from the first is what ‘complete’ names; that the practice turns toward wholesome giving is what ‘able’ names; that it does not pick between high and low is what ‘great’ names.” 〔X21n0384 0741a13〕 He glosses the marks of the giving word by word: 「下心，則降尊貴而就卑劣；含笑，則示喜捨而無悋情」—“To lower the mind is to bring down what is honored and noble and go to what is humble and mean; to keep a smile is to show a glad relinquishing with no grudging feeling.” 〔X21n0384 0741a17〕; he cites the Sūtra of the Bodhisattva Stages, 「若施下流，不起輕想」—“If one gives to those of low estate, one does not raise a slighting thought.” 〔X21n0384 0741a18〕; 「親手等，忘己富貴，愍人貧賤，而等施之」—“‘With his own hands’ and the rest: forgetting his own wealth and rank, pitying the poverty and lowness of others, and giving to them equally.” 〔X21n0384 0741a19〕; and he cites the five kinds of giving the Buddha declared to Sudatta — 「應至心施、信心施、隨時施、自手施、如法施」—“One should give with utmost mind, give with a mind of faith, give in season, give with one’s own hand, give in accordance with the Dharma.” 〔X21n0384 0741a20〕 Comforting and instructing with gentle words holds two senses 〔X21n0384 0741a21〕: first, when another is sent to give in one’s stead, that person is to be comforted and charged with gentle words to give well on one’s behalf and not to be contemptuous; second, whether one gives oneself or another gives, gentle words are used to comfort the person before one. That the benefit obtained is as of giving to a hundred Ganges’ sands of buddhas is 「以心平等，無分別故」—“because the mind is even, and makes no distinction.” 〔X21n0384 0741b02〕, and he cites the Vimalakīrti — the mirror’s words of citation run 「如維摩居士語善德長者云」—“as the layman Vimalakīrti said to the elder Excellent Virtue” 〔X21n0384 0741b02〕, Vimalakīrti being the speaker and the elder Excellent Virtue the one spoken to, not the name of a chapter — and the words cited are 「若施主等心施一最下乞人，猶如如來福田之相，無所分別，等於大悲，不求果報，是則名曰具足法施」—“If a giver with an even mind gives to a single lowest beggar, as though to the mark of a tathāgata’s field of blessing, making no distinction, equal in great compassion, and seeking no fruit of recompense, this is called the complete giving of Dharma.” 〔X21n0384 0741b03〕, to which is attached 「正合今文」—“exactly matching the present text.” 〔X21n0384 0741b05〕

The weighing of the two fields, compassion and reverence (the pivot of the doctrine in this passage) — 「悲是貧華，敬是三寶。悲是田劣而心勝，敬是田勝而心劣。若取心勝，施佛不如施貧」—“Compassion is the poor and needy; reverence is the Three Jewels. In compassion the field is poor but the mind excels; in reverence the field excels but the mind is poor. If one takes the excelling of the mind, then giving to a buddha does not equal giving to the poor.” 〔X21n0384 0741b18〕 For the reverse he cites the Sūtra Resolving Doubts in the Semblance Dharma: one who sees others gathering to make blessings and, seeking only a name, empties his house of goods to give them away, and yet, meeting the poor and suffering, the orphaned and destitute, 「呵罵駈出，不濟一毫」—“berates them and drives them out, and does not relieve them by a hair.” 〔X21n0384 0741b22〕, is named 「顛倒作善」—“doing good upside down” 〔X21n0384 0741b22〕, and 「用財甚多，獲福甚少」—“The wealth spent is very much; the blessing gained is very little.” 〔X21n0384 0741b23〕 Such is the judgment of the ancient worthy, recorded and transmitted without mediation on our part; while the cause the sūtra fastens to for itself lies solely in 「發大慈心」—“arousing the mind of great kindness” 〔T13n0412 0786b27〕.

Second weighing · stūpas, monasteries, and holy images — 「塔瘞舍利，寺供聖像」—“A stūpa entombs relics; a monastery makes offerings to holy images.” 〔X21n0384 0741c05〕 He cites from the Great Treatise the former cause of Sundarananda — who in a pratyekabuddha’s stūpa-shrine daubed the wall with indigo and painted an image of a pratyekabuddha and made a vow, and from then for ninety-one kalpas did not fall into the evil destinies; and he presses the point: 「如是供施辟支佛功德。尚爾，況菩薩像乎！況如來像乎」—“Such is the merit of making offerings and giving to a pratyekabuddha. If it is so even here, how much more an image of a bodhisattva! How much more an image of a tathāgata!” 〔X21n0384 0741c18〕, attaching two old lines: 「犀因翫月紋生角，象被雷驚華入牙。感應之道，物理如然」—“The rhinoceros, from gazing at the moon, grows a pattern in its horn; the elephant, startled by thunder, takes a flower into its tusk. Such is the way of stirring and response; the principle of things is just so.” 〔X21n0384 0741c19〕 Glossing three kalpas in the body of Śakra, he cites the Madhyama Āgama on the origin of the name Śakra Devānām Indra — 「本為人時，沙門婆羅門貧窮困苦，施以飲食錢財燈明等，以堪能故，名釋提桓因」—“When he was formerly a man, to śramaṇas and brahmins in poverty and hardship he gave food and drink, money and goods, lamps and lights, and because he was capable of it he was named Śakra Devānām Indra.” 〔X21n0384 0742a02〕; and he fixes the measure: 「三劫，三小劫也」—“three kalpas: three small kalpas.” 〔X21n0384 0742a04〕

The three senses of dedication (the other pivot of this passage) — 「凡修行必迴向者，如迴聲入角，音則大；杯水投海，則不涸；少物上王，得報多」—“That every practice must be dedicated is like turning a sound into a horn, and the note grows great; a cup of water thrown into the sea, and it does not dry up; a small thing presented to a king, and the return is much.” 〔X21n0384 0742a10〕; and its heads are three: 「一、迴事向理」—“first, turning the phenomenal toward the principle” 〔X21n0384 0742a11〕 — only because principle holds it complete is there phenomenal function, and now this mind is turned toward the real; 「二、迴自向他」—“second, turning from oneself toward others” 〔X21n0384 0742a13〕 — formerly, deluded as to the pervasion of principle, one adorned one’s own person with goodness; now, following one’s original nature, one dedicates it toward beings; 「三、迴因向果」—“third, turning cause toward fruit” 〔X21n0384 0742a14〕 — a hair’s breadth of good among the three kinds of deed all becomes the conditioning and revealing causes, and cause must display fruit, all returning alike to the final three virtues. Glossing the dharma-realm he gives its Sanskrit form: 「梵名達磨䭾都，此云法界」—“In Sanskrit dharmadhātu; here it means the dharma-realm.” 〔X21n0384 0742a15〕; and he matches the three senses to the three truths of Tiantai — 「迴事向理，即真諦空界」—“turning the phenomenal toward the principle is the truth of the real, the realm of emptiness.” 〔X21n0384 0742a19〕, 「迴自向他，即俗諦假界」—“turning from oneself toward others is the truth of the conventional, the realm of the provisional.” 〔X21n0384 0742a20〕, 「迴因向果，即中諦中界」—“turning cause toward fruit is the truth of the middle, the realm of the middle.” 〔X21n0384 0742a21〕; and he cites besides the words of Qingliang: 「法界者，一切眾生，身心之本體」—“The dharma-realm is the original substance of the body and mind of every sentient being.” 〔X21n0384 0742a22〕 His judgment of why the recompenses of giving differ rests on one thing alone: 「由迴向與不迴向也」—“It is by dedicating and not dedicating.” 〔X21n0384 0742b02〕, 「故知布施迴向，與前逈別矣」—“Know therefore that giving with dedication is utterly different from what went before.” 〔X21n0384 0742b13〕, closing with two lines: 「無不從此法界流，無不還歸此法界」—“There is nothing that does not flow out of this dharma-realm; there is nothing that does not return to this dharma-realm.” 〔X21n0384 0742b15〕

Third weighing · repairing stūpas, shrines, scriptures, and images — glossing “shrine” he says 「梵名窣堵波，此云廟。廟者，貌也」—“In Sanskrit stūpa; here it means shrine. A shrine is a likeness.” 〔X21n0384 0742b21〕, and the three senses of setting up stūpas and shrines are 「一表人勝，二令他信，三為報恩」—“first, to display the excellence of the person; second, to bring others to faith; third, to requite kindness.” 〔X21n0384 0742b22〕 The judgment on mending what is old cites the Sūtra Resolving Doubts in the Semblance Dharma: 「造新不如修故，作福不如避禍」—“Making new does not equal mending old; making blessings does not equal avoiding calamity.” 〔X21n0384 0742c03〕 He cites the Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya on the Buddha’s manifesting the stūpa of the Buddha Kāśyapa, with two verses: 「真金百千擔，持用行布施，不如一團泥，敬心治佛塔」—“A hundred thousand loads of true gold, taken up and used to practice giving, do not equal one lump of clay used with a reverent mind to mend a buddha’s stūpa.” 〔X21n0384 0742c17〕; 「人等百千金，持用行布施，不如一善心，恭敬禮佛塔」—“Were men to take a hundred thousand in gold and use it to practice giving, it would not equal one wholesome thought that reverently bows to a buddha’s stūpa.” 〔X21n0384 0742c19〕 He cites the Sūtra of the Flower Hand besides: 「若見塔廟毀壞，當加修治。若泥若塊，乃至一磚，終不退轉無上菩提」—“If one sees a stūpa or shrine ruined, one should set about mending it. Whether with mud or with a clod, down to a single brick, one will never fall back from unsurpassed awakening.” 〔X21n0384 0742c20〕, concluding 「故知修補佛塔經像，功德不可思議也」—“Know therefore that the merit of repairing a buddha’s stūpa, scriptures, and images is inconceivable.” 〔X21n0384 0742c21〕 The section on exhorting others cites the Sūtra of Guilt and Blessing in the Five Destinies: 「人而豪貴，國王長者，從禮事三寶中來；為人大富，財物無限，從布施中來」—“That a man is powerful and noble, a king of a state or an elder, comes from revering and serving the Three Jewels; that a man is greatly rich, with goods without limit, comes from giving.” 〔X21n0384 0743a16〕; and the division between the one who exhorts and the one exhorted runs 「故能勸者為大王，所勸者為小王」—“Hence the one who can exhort becomes a great king, and the one exhorted a lesser king.” 〔X21n0384 0743b02〕 The section on dedication first raises the difficulty: 「須知上所行者，皆是事施」—“It should be known that all performed above is giving on the side of phenomena.” 〔X21n0384 0743b07〕, 「報感人天，非涅槃因」—“its recompense draws down humans and gods; it is not the cause of nirvāṇa.” 〔X21n0384 0743b08〕; for this he raises the exchange between Bodhidharma and Emperor Wu of Liang — 「實無功德。此是人天小果，有漏之因」—“Truly no merit. This is the small fruit of humans and gods, a cause with outflows.” 〔X21n0384 0743b10〕, 「淨智妙圓，體自空寂，如是功德，不於世求」—“Pure wisdom, wondrous and complete, its substance of itself empty and still: merit such as this is not sought in the world.” 〔X21n0384 0743b11〕; and judges 「必須迴事向理，方與般若實智相應」—“One must turn the phenomenal toward the principle; only then does it answer to the real wisdom of prajñā.” 〔X21n0384 0743b12〕, 「迴向為大利，葢謂此也」—“That dedication is the great benefit is what is meant by this.” 〔X21n0384 0743b14〕

Fourth weighing · the aged, the sick, and women in childbirth — he cites the Sūtra of Impermanence to make plain that the three things, age, sickness, and death, are in the world unlovable, without luster, not to be wished for, and not to one’s liking, and so says 「故老病產婦，最是悲田植福處」—“Hence the aged, the sick, and women in childbirth are of all the field of compassion the best place to plant blessings.” 〔X21n0384 0743b21〕 He glosses each kind: 「老則根熟氣喘，飲食須人」—“The aged have faculties ripened and breath short, and need another for food and drink.” 〔X21n0384 0743b22〕; of the sick, 「百骸酸痛，一命絲懸，若無奉事，待斃奚辭」—“the hundred bones ache, the one life hangs by a thread; with none to wait upon them, what is left but to await death?” 〔X21n0384 0743b24〕, and so the Buddha instructed and charged that 「看病為第一福田」—“the tending of the sick is the first field of blessing.” 〔X21n0384 0743c01〕, and while in the world went the rounds of the monks’ quarters himself to look after the sick; 「產婦初行分娩，惡露盈身」—“A woman newly delivered has the lochia full upon her body.” 〔X21n0384 0743c02〕, and if food and drink are not given in season, mother and child are both lost. Glossing the four things given, he says 「醫藥等，民生四事，日用急需」—“Medicine and the rest are the four matters of a people’s livelihood, urgently needed for daily use.” 〔X21n0384 0743c13〕, 「臥具衾襆綩綖之類，尤是老病產婦之要物」—“Bedding, quilts, wrappings, and cushions are above all the needful things of the aged, the sick, and women in childbirth.” 〔X21n0384 0743c15〕, and he cites the Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom to make plain that the karma of the marks is gained by giving, concluding 「故知如來相業，咸從施得也」—“Know therefore that the karma of a tathāgata’s marks is all gained through giving.” 〔X21n0384 0743c21〕

The gloss on “most inconceivable” — 「布施名福，必得三利，故言福利」—“Giving is named blessing, and must gain three benefits, and so it is called blessing and benefit.” 〔X21n0384 0744a02〕; 「最不思議者，軍前曰最，乃前軍第一人」—“As for the most inconceivable: at the head of an army it is called zui, the foremost man of the front ranks.” 〔X21n0384 0744a02〕, that is, the first inconceivable among the inconceivable. What it points to he fastens plainly to one line: 「故知最不思議，正應畢竟成佛句」—“Know therefore that being most inconceivable answers exactly to the line about becoming a buddha in the end.” 〔X21n0384 0744a07〕 That one and the same mind of kindness should draw such different recompense is because 「行施之時，慈有勝不勝，心有淨不淨」—“at the time of giving, kindness may excel or not excel, and the mind may be pure or not pure.” 〔X21n0384 0744a17〕 He gathers it at last in a simile: 「然千山勢止嶽邊，萬派聲消海上，正意在畢竟成佛耳」—“Yet the sweep of a thousand mountains halts at the flank of the great peak, and the sound of ten thousand streams dies away upon the sea: the true intent lies in becoming a buddha in the end.” 〔X21n0384 0744b01〕

Concluding with dedication toward becoming a buddha — he cites from the Sūtra of the Wise and the Foolish the affair of Sudatta and Śāriputra seeing the ants, to make plain that the blessing of humans and gods is still within birth-and-death — 「此唯人天之福，猶在生死之裏」—“This is only the blessing of humans and gods, still within birth-and-death.” 〔X21n0384 0744b19〕; 「若不為自求人天福報，盡迴向法界眾生，則不問施之多少，畢竟成佛矣」—“If one does not seek for oneself the blessed recompense of humans and gods but dedicates the whole to the beings of the dharma-realm, then no question is asked how much or how little is given: in the end one becomes a buddha.” 〔X21n0384 0744b20〕 The clause beginning “how much more” he judges to be a display by way of the reverse, and cites the Profound Meaning: 「輪王是人主位，釋梵是天主位」—“A wheel-turning king is the station of a lord among men; Śakra and Brahmā are the station of lords among gods.” 〔X21n0384 0744b23〕; and cites again a verse of the Sūtra of Guilt and Blessing in the Five Destinies: 「賢者好布施，天神自扶將。施一得萬倍，安樂壽命長」—“The worthy delights in giving, and the gods of themselves uphold him. Giving one, he gains ten thousandfold; at ease and joyful, his lifespan long.” 〔X21n0384 0744c01〕 Of the charge to learn he says 「當如是者，誡勉勸進之意」—“‘Should learn in just this way’ carries the sense of admonishing, urging, exhorting, and advancing.” 〔X21n0384 0744c06〕

The blessings of giving by good men and women · planting a small root of goodness within the Buddha-dharma — asking why planting little within the Buddha-dharma gains much blessing, he cites the Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom: 「雖有種種福田，佛為第一福田」—“Though there are fields of blessing of every kind, a buddha is the first field of blessing.” 〔X21n0384 0744c14〕, 「佛田能獲無量果報」—“the field that is a buddha can obtain measureless fruit of recompense.” 〔X21n0384 0744c16〕; he cites the Dīrgha Āgama: 「天及世間人，唯佛為最上」—“Among gods and among the people of the world, the Buddha alone is highest.” 〔X21n0384 0744c17〕; he cites the Miaole: 「人天之善，竝可開為緣因」—“The good of humans and gods may all be opened out as the conditioning cause.” 〔X21n0384 0744c22〕; and fastens it to the eye of this sūtra’s title — 「今地藏本願，正開未來毫善得福也」—“Now the original vows of Kṣitigarbha open precisely this: that in ages to come a hair’s breadth of good gains blessing.” 〔X21n0384 0744c24〕

The four kinds of image — a buddha, a bodhisattva, and the rest teach people to come out of suffering, and are the field of reverence for beings; the wheel-turning king is set apart as a class of his own: 「輪王雖生死未出，其以十善化世，兼有水土，乃黎氓恩田」—“Though a wheel-turning king has not yet come out of birth-and-death, he transforms the world with the ten wholesome deeds and holds the waters and lands besides, and so is the field of kindness for the common folk.” 〔X21n0384 0745a14〕 The field of reverence and the field of kindness are raised together without ranking one above the other — 「故有布施供養，均得無量之福」—“Hence in giving and making offerings alike one obtains measureless blessing.” 〔X21n0384 0745a15〕; the exhortation to relinquish goods cites the treatise: 「大論云：財為惡心因緣，常應自捨；何況施得大福，而不布施」—“The Great Treatise says: goods are the cause and condition of an evil mind and should always be relinquished; how much more when giving gains great blessing — and yet one does not give.” 〔X21n0384 0745a16〕 Why the sūtra text must speak throughout of humans and gods receiving bliss he answers by citing the Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom: 「以人中結使薄，厭心易生；天中智慧利」—“Among humans the fetters are thin and a mind of weariness easily arises; among gods the wisdom is keen.” 〔X21n0384 0745a19〕, and so the way is easily gained in those two places; and he cites the Commentary on the Golden Light for taking humans and gods as marking stations — 「以人表三十賢位，天表十地聖位」—“Humans stand for the thirty worthy stations; gods stand for the holy stations of the ten grounds.” 〔X21n0384 0745a24〕 Of the mark of stinginess he says 「慳為凶衰相，為之生憂畏，洗之以施水，則為生福利」—“Stinginess is a mark of ill fortune and decline, and breeds anxiety and dread; wash it with the water of giving, and it breeds blessing and benefit.” 〔X21n0384 0745a17〕

Meeting with the scriptures of the Great Vehicle — glossing the character for meeting: 「遇者，遘也，慶幸之語」—“To meet is to encounter; it is a word of good fortune.” 〔X21n0384 0745b15〕, and he pictures it with two similes: 「如饑者之遇王饍，鼓腹而歌；旱苗之遇甘雨，勃然而興」—“like a starving man meeting with a king’s banquet, who drums his belly and sings; like parched seedlings meeting with sweet rain, which spring up all at once.” 〔X21n0384 0745b16〕 He cites the simile of three persons in the Nirvāṇa Sūtra to make plain the hearing of Dharma: 「一、無目，譬凡夫人，常不聞法。二、一目，譬聲聞，雖暫聽法，其心不住。三、二目，譬菩薩，專心聽法，如聞而行」—“First, the eyeless, likened to ordinary people, who constantly do not hear the Dharma. Second, the one-eyed, likened to śrāvakas, who hear the Dharma for a moment but whose minds do not abide in it. Third, the two-eyed, likened to bodhisattvas, who hear the Dharma with concentrated mind and practice as they have heard.” 〔X21n0384 0745b23〕

The handling of the new and the old — 「大乘經典，即黃卷赤軸寶篋琅函」—“The scriptures of the Great Vehicle are the yellow scrolls and red rollers, the jeweled cases and fine caskets.” 〔X21n0384 0746a15〕; what is newly mounted should be given to others and made offerings to, that they may gaze and bow and praise and join their palms in reverence, and 「即名法施也」—“this is what is called the giving of Dharma.” 〔X21n0384 0746a16〕; 「若遇毀損破壞者，即當修治補完，經營料理」—“If one meets with what is damaged and broken, one should at once mend it and make it whole, and set it in order.” 〔X21n0384 0746a17〕 His admonition runs: if one cannot mend them, they may not be burned; and he cites the Muktaka: 「諸餘葉紙，佛經磨滅，應拭故者，更可書新」—“As for the remaining leaves and papers, where a buddha’s scripture has been worn away, one should wipe the old and write it anew.” 〔X21n0384 0746a23〕, attaching 「明文昭晰，勿蹈重愆」—“The plain text is clear as day; do not tread into a heavy offense.” 〔X21n0384 0746a24〕 Of the recompense for oneself and for others he says 「受勸者，為小王以附化；能勸者，作輪王而統御」—“The one exhorted becomes a lesser king and follows the transforming; the one who can exhort becomes a wheel-turning king and governs.” 〔X21n0384 0746b04〕 Glossing the name for a donor: 「梵云陀那鉢底，譯為施主。陀那是施，鉢底是主」—“In Sanskrit dānapati, translated as lord of the gift. Dāna is giving, pati is lord.” 〔X21n0384 0746b08〕; while 「而云檀越者，本非正譯」—“to say tanyue is in origin not the correct translation.” 〔X21n0384 0746b09〕 — the syllable na being dropped and the upper sound tuo taken and turned into tan, with yue added besides, the sense being that by practicing dāna and relinquishing one may cross beyond poverty; and he fastens his own judgment: 「妙釋雖然，終乖正本」—“Ingenious as the gloss is, it departs in the end from the correct original.” 〔X21n0384 0746b11〕

A single hair, a single mote; a single grain of sand, a single drop (the gathering of the whole chapter) — 「故不間毛塵沙渧，竝取乎心。心大則大，心小則小。若心冥法界，即福等虗空」—“Hence no distinction is made among hair, mote, grain, and drop; all is taken from the mind. If the mind is great it is great; if the mind is small it is small. If the mind merges with the dharma-realm, the blessing is equal to empty space.” 〔X21n0384 0747a02〕 He cites from the Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom the affair of the old serving-woman who with a broken earthen vessel of foul rice-washing water gave to the Buddha with a pure mind, whose recompense was fifteen kalpas of blessing received among gods and among humans, closing with the line 「因少報多」—“the cause little and the recompense much.” 〔X21n0384 0747a17〕, and 「可以為施，不限多少」—“One may give; there is no limit of much or little.” 〔X21n0384 0747a21〕

The two dedications raised side by side — of the section on dedicating to the dharma-realm he says that the wholesome deeds cultivated 「雖有上中下別，既迴向法界，亦何間於大小」—“though they differ as high, middling, and low, once dedicated to the dharma-realm, what distinction is there of great and small?” 〔X21n0384 0747b01〕 Of the section on dedicating to oneself he says 「初二句，翻其不能迴向之心，使福果局限有盡」—“The first two lines turn over the mind that cannot dedicate, so that the fruit of blessing is bounded and has an end.” 〔X21n0384 0747b15〕; 「纔言自家，便不能念及它人」—“No sooner does one say one’s own household than one cannot keep others in mind.” 〔X21n0384 0747b16〕 He cites the Sūtra of the Sections on the Five Kinds of Suffering listing the five causes and conditions of kin — an enemy, a creditor, one repaying a debt, an original vow, a true friend; and writes of a man of the world lying sick and pinned to his bed who tells his kin to take a share of his pain, and 「皆言不能」—“they all say they cannot.” 〔X21n0384 0747b22〕, 「老病死來，善惡苦樂，獨自當之，無有代者」—“When age, sickness, and death come, good and evil, suffering and joy are borne alone, and there is none to take one’s place.” 〔X21n0384 0747c01〕 He cites a verse of Yongjia: 「住相布施生天福，猶如仰箭射虗空，勢力若盡還墮地，招得來生不如意」—“Giving that abides in marks brings the blessing of birth in heaven, like an arrow shot up into empty space: when its force is spent it falls back to the ground, and draws down a next life that does not go as one would wish.” 〔X21n0384 0747c06〕, and attaches the saying 「住相布施，名第三生怨」—“Giving that abides in marks is called the enmity of the third life.” 〔X21n0384 0747c07〕 For the line about giving one and gaining ten thousand he cites from the Old Miscellaneous Sūtra of Parables the affair of the woman who put rice into the Buddha’s bowl — 「種一生十，種十生百，種百生千，種千生萬，種萬生億，得見諦道」—“Plant one and ten are born; plant ten and a hundred are born; plant a hundred and a thousand are born; plant a thousand and ten thousand are born; plant ten thousand and a hundred million are born, and the way of seeing the truth is gained.” 〔X21n0384 0747c10〕, and judges at the last 「然以未迴法界得果，秪三生與萬報耳」—“Yet because the fruit was gained without dedication to the dharma-realm, it is only three lives and a ten-thousandfold recompense.” 〔X21n0384 0747c19〕

The closing statement — 「此結示因果，總歎不盡」—“This closing statement of cause and effect praises them altogether without exhausting them.” 〔X21n0384 0747c22〕, and so completes Kṣitigarbha’s question on the weighing of the blessings of giving within the paths of karma. At the last he cites from the Sūtra of Parables two bhikṣus who alike gained the fruit of the stream-enterer, one making blessings and the other not, so that in the life to come the one became an elder’s son and the other a bondmaid, and judges: 「行道之人，不但持戒禪誦，亦當布施作福」—“One who walks the way should not only keep the precepts and sit and recite; he should also give and make blessings.” 〔X21n0384 0748a11〕; he cites the Sūtra of Mahāprajāpatī: 「今世滅罪，後世得申。有財不施，世世受貧」—“In this life guilt is extinguished, in the next life one is set free. Having wealth and not giving, one receives poverty life after life.” 〔X21n0384 0748a12〕; and closes the whole chapter with two similes: 「故入道必以智慧為本，智慧必以福德為基」—“Hence entering the way must take wisdom as its root, and wisdom must take merit as its foundation.” 〔X21n0384 0748a13〕, 「譬之鳥備二翼，儵舉萬尋；車足兩輪，一馳千里」—“It is as a bird complete in two wings, which rises ten thousand fathoms in an instant; or a cart furnished with two wheels, which runs a thousand leagues at one going.” 〔X21n0384 0748a13〕, 「緣了之資成正因，事度之助開佛性，不可不信也」—“The provisions of the conditioning and revealing causes accomplish the direct cause; the aid of the perfections practiced in the phenomenal opens buddha-nature. This may not be disbelieved.” 〔X21n0384 0748a14〕

V. Divergent Readings of the Commentators (recorded side by side, without adjudication)

Of commentary on this sūtra there is but one author (the evidence has been given at the head of the work and in the first unit). The columns for this passage are as follows:

Nothing found for divergent readings in this passage: apart from the word-by-word mirror, there is no second commentator’s gloss on this passage to set beside it in a column. This is recorded honestly.

The Guiding Thread has a separate passage glossing the title of this chapter: its text runs from 「稱佛名號，固為成佛根本，若無福助，則根不深，本不大」—“Reciting the names of the buddhas is indeed the root of becoming a buddha; but with no blessing to aid it, the root is not deep and the trunk not great.” 〔X21n0383 0650a19〕 down to 「故明較量布施功德緣品第十」—“and so it is called Chapter Ten, on the Causes of Merit in the Comparative Weighing of Giving.” 〔X21n0383 0650c18〕, glossing the title word by word, listing the two kinds and the three kinds of giving, dividing comparative weighing in two, and citing the treatise on pure and impure giving — one passage in all. It stops at the gloss on the title and does not gloss the text of the chapter phrase by phrase; and the Outline and Commentary, when glossing this chapter, points directly to that work — 「輕重較量，如綸貫」—“for the comparative weighing of the heavier and the lighter, see the Guiding Thread.” 〔X21n0384 0740b04〕 ⇒ The two fascicles must be read together; they are not two hands.

Two matters the mirror himself lets stand together (he does not mediate between them, and this passage follows him in that): ① whether the field excels or the mind excels — the Guiding Thread holds both 「當知大福從良田生」—“Know that great blessing is born of a good field.” 〔X21n0383 0650c07〕 and 「以是故，知大福從心，不在田也」—“For this reason, know that great blessing comes from the mind and does not lie in the field.” 〔X21n0383 0650c15〕, and takes the latter for himself; while the Outline and Commentary, at the first weighing, writes outright 「若取心勝，施佛不如施貧」—“If one takes the excelling of the mind, then giving to a buddha does not equal giving to the poor.” 〔X21n0384 0741b19〕 ② the name for a donor — he gives the correct translation, 「梵云陀那鉢底，譯為施主」—“In Sanskrit dānapati, translated as lord of the gift.” 〔X21n0384 0746b08〕, and also records the popular gloss that by practicing dāna and relinquishing one may cross beyond poverty, while fastening his own judgment, 「妙釋雖然，終乖正本」—“Ingenious as the gloss is, it departs in the end from the correct original.” 〔X21n0384 0746b11〕 Both are recorded, and neither is concealed.

VI. Terms (first occurrences in this passage)

Counts within this passage (names and numbers listed one beside another verbatim; not merged, not abridged, not covered over with “and the like”):

• Five classes of giver (first weighing): kings of states · chief ministers of the court · great elders · great kṣatriyas · great brahmins 〔T13n0412 0786b20〕; from the second weighing onward the text runs “there are kings of states, and so on down to brahmins,” and in the second half the persons change to “a good man, a good woman.”
• The field given to in the first weighing has six marks: the lowest and poorest · the infirm · the maimed · the mute · the deaf and witless · the eyeless 〔T13n0412 0786b21〕.
• Four classes of image: an image of the Buddha · an image of a bodhisattva · an image of a pratyekabuddha · an image of a wheel-turning king 〔T13n0412 0786c24〕; the images of the second weighing run: a stūpa or monastery of the Buddha · an image of the Buddha · an image of a bodhisattva · an image of a śrāvaka · an image of a pratyekabuddha 〔T13n0412 0786c01〕.
• The things given: the fourth weighing gives medicine · food and drink · bedding 〔T13n0412 0786c14〕.
• Four smallest quantities of a wholesome deed: a single hair · a single mote · a single grain of sand · a single drop 〔T13n0412 0787a10〕; the quantity of the root of goodness planted is given as 「毛髮沙塵等許」—“so much as a hair or a mote of sand” 〔T13n0412 0786c23〕.
• Fourteen items of kalpas and lives listed one by one (set out one at a time, not merged): blessings for one life · blessings for ten lives · great blessing and benefit for a hundred lives and a thousand lives · constantly complete in the seven jewels through a hundred thousand lives · three kalpas in the body of Śakra · through ten kalpas constantly the Great Brahmā Heavenly King · through a hundred thousand lives constantly in the body of a wheel-turning king · through a hundred thousand lives constantly in the body of a lesser king of a state · through a hundred kalpas constantly lord of the Pure Abodes heavens · through two hundred kalpas constantly lord of the six heavens of desire · through a hundred thousand lives the ears not hearing the sound of suffering · through thirty lives constantly lesser kings of states · through a hundred thousand lives receiving the highest and most wondrous bliss · bliss received for three lives.
• Seven weighings in all: four for kings and ministers, three for good men and women (see the outline under topic one).

VII. Simile and Rhetoric

• Nothing found of similes the sūtra sets up for itself — in the text of this passage the forms 「譬」, 「猶如」, and 「猶若」 do not occur once; the character 「喻」 occurs four times, and in none of them is a simile set up: the 喻 of 「軟言慰喻」—“comforting and instructing with gentle words” 〔T13n0412 0786b24〕 means to instruct, and 「不可為喻」—“cannot be told by any simile” occurs three times 〔T13n0412 0786c23〕〔T13n0412 0786c27〕〔T13n0412 0787a02〕 as a negation of likening (saying that it cannot be likened). Recorded honestly.
• The similes the mirror cites number eleven, all of them from the sūtras and treatises he cites or from his own words, none carried by the sūtra text itself:
  • Turning a sound into a horn · a cup of water thrown into the sea · a small thing presented to a king — glossing why dedication works: 「如迴聲入角，音則大；杯水投海，則不涸；少物上王，得報多」—“Like turning a sound into a horn, and the note grows great; a cup of water thrown into the sea, and it does not dry up; a small thing presented to a king, and the return is much.” 〔X21n0384 0742a10〕
  • One lump of clay · one wholesome thought — 「不如一團泥，敬心治佛塔」—“do not equal one lump of clay used with a reverent mind to mend a buddha’s stūpa.” 〔X21n0384 0742c17〕; 「不如一善心，恭敬禮佛塔」—“does not equal one wholesome thought that reverently bows to a buddha’s stūpa.” 〔X21n0384 0742c19〕
  • The rhinoceros gazing at the moon · the elephant startled by thunder — 「犀因翫月紋生角，象被雷驚華入牙。感應之道，物理如然」—“The rhinoceros, from gazing at the moon, grows a pattern in its horn; the elephant, startled by thunder, takes a flower into its tusk. Such is the way of stirring and response; the principle of things is just so.” 〔X21n0384 0741c19〕
  • Shadow and echo · taking goods on a tally — 「福報如影響，不可不知也」—“The recompense of blessing is like shadow and echo; it may not go unknown.” 〔X21n0384 0741a08〕; 「故知布施之報，如執券取物，不爽毫𩬊者也」—“Know therefore that the recompense of giving is like taking goods on a held tally, not off by so much as a hair.” 〔X21n0384 0743a10〕
  • The starving man meeting a king’s banquet · parched seedlings meeting sweet rain — glossing the character for meeting: 「如饑者之遇王饍，鼓腹而歌；旱苗之遇甘雨，勃然而興」—“like a starving man meeting with a king’s banquet, who drums his belly and sings; like parched seedlings meeting with sweet rain, which spring up all at once.” 〔X21n0384 0745b16〕
  • The eyeless · the one-eyed · the two-eyed — cited from the Nirvāṇa Sūtra as similes for the hearing of Dharma by ordinary people, śrāvakas, and bodhisattvas 〔X21n0384 0745b23〕.
  • A thousand mountains and ten thousand streams returning to peak and sea — 「然千山勢止嶽邊，萬派聲消海上」—“Yet the sweep of a thousand mountains halts at the flank of the great peak, and the sound of ten thousand streams dies away upon the sea.” 〔X21n0384 0744b01〕
  • The nyagrodha tree and the mustard seed — cited from the Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom: the tree’s shade covers five hundred carts while its kernel is 「大如芥子三分之一」—“as large as a third part of a mustard seed.” 〔X21n0384 0747a15〕, by way of a cause little and a recompense much; the same simile comes again once from the Old Miscellaneous Sūtra of Parables 〔X21n0384 0747c13〕.
  • An arrow shot up into empty space — cited from Yongjia: 「住相布施生天福，猶如仰箭射虗空」—“Giving that abides in marks brings the blessing of birth in heaven, like an arrow shot up into empty space.” 〔X21n0384 0747c06〕
  • A fresh flower not yet withered — the Guiding Thread cites the treatise picturing giving with a pure mind: 「譬如新華未萎，色好且香」—“It is as a fresh flower not yet withered, fair in color and fragrant besides.” 〔X21n0383 0650c12〕
  • The two wings of a bird · the two wheels of a cart — closing the whole chapter: 「譬之鳥備二翼，儵舉萬尋；車足兩輪，一馳千里」—“It is as a bird complete in two wings, which rises ten thousand fathoms in an instant; or a cart furnished with two wheels, which runs a thousand leagues at one going.” 〔X21n0384 0748a13〕
• The bone of the rhetoric is one pattern seven times over with three variables — every weighing runs (the giver) + (the field met with) + (the act of giving) + (the fruit obtained), the same pattern repeated with the three terms differing each time; dedication adds a further tier to each: in the second weighing, adding dedication to the dharma-realm turns Śakra into Great Brahmā; in the third, adding the arousing of the mind of dedication turns the station of a king into the way of a buddha; and each of the three weighings for good men and women closes with “if able to dedicate it to the dharma-realm.” From full to spare: the four weighings for kings and ministers give all four terms in every sentence, while the three for good men and women omit the kalpa-figures and give only the fruit.
• The pairing at the close — the last passage closes by setting two fruits side by side: those who “can dedicate it to the dharma-realm” receive the highest and most wondrous bliss through a hundred thousand lives, while those who “dedicate it only to their own household and kin, or to the benefit of their own person” receive bliss for three lives and 「捨一得萬報」—“one part given away, ten thousand parts of recompense obtained.” 〔T13n0412 0787a13〕 The sūtra passes no judgment of better or worse; it only sets the two figures side by side.
• Internal echo within this sūtra — the measure-words 「一沙一渧」—“a single grain of sand, a single drop” occur in this passage 〔T13n0412 0787a10〕 and in the chapter on the entrustment to humans and gods 〔T13n0412 0789b12〕, and in the whole volume only at these two places.

VIII. Citation and Carrying Forward

• The Knowing the Fords of the Canon, J31nB271 (Ming · compiled and arranged by Zhixu · Jiaxing canon) — its catalogue entry for this sūtra reads 「地藏菩薩本願經〔二卷流通本作三卷〕」—“The Sūtra of the Original Vows of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva 〔two fascicles; the circulating edition makes it three〕” 〔J31nB271 0821a07〕, followed by 「唐于闐國沙門實叉難陀譯」—“translated by the śramaṇa Śikṣānanda of the country of Khotan under the Tang.” 〔J31nB271 0821a08〕, with a one-line synopsis for each chapter; for this chapter it gives 「校量布施功德緣品第十，地藏請問，佛分別答」—“Chapter Ten, on the Causes of Merit in the Weighing of Giving: Kṣitigarbha asks, and the Buddha answers point by point.” 〔J31nB271 0821a27〕 Its chapter title follows the base text with 校. Its words about the circulating edition making three fascicles are precisely the corroboration for the two systems of fascicle-division standing side by side in this volume (see topic nine).
• The Jeweled Repentance of the Dharma-Wheel for the Great Feast of Water and Land of the Holy and the Ordinary of the Dharma-Realm, X74n1499 (Qing) — its account of the occasion states the authority it follows: 「目錄之學，在釋藏者，以知津為近」—“In the study of catalogues, for the Buddhist canon the Knowing the Fords is the nearest at hand.” 〔X74n1499 0867a15〕, and 「今依其前次，融其殿軍，以作水陸道場」—“Now, following its earlier order and blending its rearguard, the water-and-land ritual site is made.” 〔X74n1499 0867a18〕 In the passage inviting this sūtra it attaches a short comment to each chapter, and for this chapter gives 「較量布施功德緣品，地藏舍罪而論福，佛詳述以鼓舞凡心」—“Chapter on the Causes of Merit in the Comparative Weighing of Giving: Kṣitigarbha sets guilt aside and speaks of blessing, and the Buddha sets it out in full to rouse the minds of ordinary people.” 〔X74n1499 0890b05〕 Its chapter title writes 較, differing from the Knowing the Fords it follows.
• The Ritual for the Bodhimaṇḍa of Kṣitigarbha’s Compassion, Rescuing Suffering, Commending Blessings, and Benefiting the Living, ZW06n0052 — in its list of the thirteen chapters of this sūtra it gives this chapter as 「較量佈施功德緣品」—“Chapter on the Causes of Merit in the Comparative Weighing of Giving” 〔ZW06n0052 0229a18〕, and the same form appears twice again 〔ZW06n0052 0255a11〕〔ZW06n0052 0286a06〕. Both 較 and 佈 differ from the base text; a liturgical list of names does not agree with the sūtra text. Recorded without adjudication.
• The Rite of Repentance and Vows in Praise and Veneration of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva, X74n1486 (composed by Zhixu · Ming) — nothing found in this passage. Its calling of names takes the names of buddhas and of Kṣitigarbha, and does not reach the weighing of giving in this chapter; its one instance of 較量 stands in the afterword and concerns the Daśacakra’s praise of Kṣitigarbha’s surpassing virtue, weighing a hundred kalpas of taking refuge in the other great bodhisattvas against a single mealtime of taking refuge in Kṣitigarbha 〔X74n1486 0586c14〕, and is not the weighing of giving of this chapter. Recorded honestly; it may not be forced into agreement.
• The Daśacakra-kṣitigarbha Sūtra, T13n0411 — not a carrying-forward but a sūtra for parallel reading (see topic three). The gate of giving in the two sūtras is detailed in the one by the ten wheels and in the other by dedication; set side by side without adjudication.
• Of citation of this passage by the remaining volumes of this axis, nothing is found (searched throughout the mirror sources so far extracted for this volume by six forms: 「校量布施」, 「較量布施」, 「較量佈施」, 「捨一得萬」, 「癃殘瘖瘂」, 「一沙一渧」).

IX. Text-critical Placement

The chapter title and the sūtra text — the base text writes 校 and the mirror writes 較, while the mirror’s two quotations of the sūtra go one with the base text and one against it:

Character counts measured: in the whole of the base text 「校量」 occurs three times 〔T13n0412 0786b11〕〔T13n0412 0786b14〕〔T13n0412 0786b18〕 and 「較量」 not at all; in the whole of the Outline and Commentary 「較量」 occurs ten times and 「校量」 only once, namely the second row of the table above 〔X21n0384 0740a23〕; in the Guiding Thread 「較量布施」 occurs three times 〔X21n0383 0650a20〕〔X21n0383 0650b24〕〔X21n0383 0650c18〕, and the table of contents of the Outline likewise gives 「較量布施品第十」 〔X21n0382 0621c19〕. ⇒ All three fascicles of the mirror take 較量 as their norm, and its one instance of 校量 is on the contrary a quotation following the form of the base text; while at the Buddha’s sentence of consent the mirror quotes with 較, so that within one and the same chapter the mirror follows the base text at one place and alters it at another. Both forms are recorded; the reader-facing layers follow the base text throughout with 校量, and the divergent form is recorded without adjudication, standing among the matters left for the translator to settle.

The mirror’s fascicle-division differs from the base text’s — the base text has two fascicles (Fascicle One runs to the chapter on the Tathāgata’s praise 〔T13n0412 0783c21〕, and Fascicle Two begins with the chapter on benefiting the living and the dead); the recension the word-by-word mirror follows has three fascicles, and this chapter is the first chapter of the mirror’s “lower fascicle”: its head is titled 「地藏菩薩本願經卷下科注卷之五」—“The Sūtra of the Original Vows of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva, Lower Fascicle; Outline and Commentary, Fascicle Five” 〔X21n0384 0740a04〕, the next line giving the compiler’s name, 「古鹽匡菴青蓮苾蒭靈椉父輯」—“compiled by Lingcheng, bhikṣu of Qinglian, of Kuang’an in Guyan” 〔X21n0384 0740a05〕, and below that the title of this chapter. Hence the correspondence between the mirror and the base text goes by chapter, not by fascicle; recorded without adjudication, and not one character of the base text is altered on that account. There is further corroboration within the canon: the Knowing the Fords of the Canon enters this sūtra as 「地藏菩薩本願經〔二卷流通本作三卷〕」—“The Sūtra of the Original Vows of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva 〔two fascicles; the circulating edition makes it three〕” 〔J31nB271 0821a07〕 — the two-fascicle and three-fascicle systems are stated in the canon itself to run side by side, and are not peculiar to the mirror.

Collation notes: nothing found within this passage. The fifteen 〔app〕 collation notes of the whole volume (all of them corrections of characters in the Taishō’s own printing, not variant readings among witnesses) are anchored at 0778a29 · 0778b01 · 0778b03 · 0778b04 · 0780c06 · 0782a13 · 0782b03 · 0782b17 · 0782c17 · 0784b12 · 0785a20 · 0785b16 · 0787b11 · 0787b26 · 0787b27, and not one of them falls within this passage (0786b11–0787a14); the nearest are 0785b16 before it and 0787b11 after it. Recorded honestly.

Gaiji: none in this unit (there is one in the whole volume, in the chapter on the names of the hells: 「或有地獄，純飛𨪏鏫」—“there are hells where nothing flies but blades and lances” 〔T13n0412 0782b11〕). Inline gloss: none in the base text (the whole volume has zero instances of place="inline"). The mirror, however, has twenty-six inline glosses within this passage, of which the verifiable ones include his gloss on 「能起偷婆」—“able to raise a stūpa” 〔X21n0384 0742b07〕 with the attached 〔塔也〕—“that is, a stūpa” 〔X21n0384 0742b08〕; six glosses in a row distinguishing worldly dāna, supramundane dāna, and the dāna praised by the sages when he glosses the many names of dāna in the Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom 〔X21n0384 0746b12〕; and the Sanskrit name of the ant given within a gloss 〔X21n0384 0744b15〕. When his text is quoted, his own form 〔…〕 is followed and not merged into the main text.

Four divergences of character between the mirror and the base text (when the mirror’s wording is quoted, its own characters are followed and not restored to the base text’s forms):

The fourth is worth noting: the mirror quotes the sūtra as 「輭言慰喻」 〔X21n0384 0741a11〕, while within ten lines his own gloss writes 慰諭 three times, first at 「輭言慰諭含二意」—“comforting and instructing with gentle words holds two senses” 〔X21n0384 0741a21〕 — the mirror uses both forms himself, the quotation of the sūtra differing from his own gloss. All four are recorded without adjudication, and the reader-facing layers follow the base text throughout.