華嚴經 品二十二 十無盡藏品Avataṃsaka Sūtra · The Ten Inexhaustible Treasuries

Where This Chapter Joins On, and Why It Does Not Open the Scene Afresh

The preceding chapter, The Ten Practices, had a very large scene: the bodhisattva Merit Grove entered concentration, the buddhas of the ten directions appeared before him and stroked his crown, and only after he emerged from concentration did he open his mouth and speak the ten practices; and when he had finished there were more than two hundred lines of repeated verse, closing at the end with “though measureless and boundless buddhas should speak for measureless kalpas, they could not exhaust it.” The reader has only just come out of a setting like that, and the first sentence of this chapter is of the utmost brevity: “At that time the bodhisattva Merit Grove spoke again to the bodhisattvas.” A single word, ‘again’, and the concentration, the sustaining power, the assembly, and the thread of speech of the preceding chapter are all carried over, without one sentence being restated.

This has to be seen clearly at the outset, because it settles how the chapter is to be read. That the text does not open the scene afresh shows that this chapter is not raising another topic; it goes on speaking from where the preceding chapter left off. Chengguan, determining the reason this chapter comes, opens five senses, and the second of them is exactly this — “second, earlier what was set forth was the correct station, and now practice is raised in dependence on the station.” The preceding chapter set forth the station of the ten practices; this chapter sets forth the practice raised in dependence on that station. The treasury is not some other thing standing outside the station; it grows out from within it.

The first sense draws the line longer still: “first, in order to answer the question about the ten treasuries at the beginning of the earlier second assembly.” At the very opening of the second assembly, the question the bodhisattvas set out already listed “the ten abodes, the ten practices, the ten dedications, the ten treasuries, the ten grounds, the ten vows, the ten concentrations, the ten penetrations, the ten summits” — the name of the ten treasuries had appeared there, and had never been answered. The question stands at the opening of the second assembly, the answer at the close of the fourth, with two assemblies in between. This is a way of proceeding common in this scripture: the question is set down and left, and is answered only when the sequence of stations has arrived.

There is one further matter of form worth remembering: this chapter is prose from beginning to end, without a single verse. Of the four chapters of the fourth assembly, the first three all have verses — Ascent to the Palace of the Yāma Heaven has ten verses, the chapter of Verses of Praise has two hundred and four lines, The Ten Practices has two hundred and two lines — and this chapter alone has none. This is not an omission. Where there are verses, it is generally because something is to be praised, or restated, or spoken in another voice; this chapter is ten openings upon a single matter from beginning to end, and when the speaking is done it closes, leaving no room for praise and no layer needing restatement.

What ‘Treasury’ Means, and Which Word ‘Inexhaustible’ Falls Upon

First a question: why is it called a ‘treasury’?

What an ordinary person thinks of on hearing ‘treasury’ is a storehouse — a place for putting things, and the more it holds the better. Read that way, the ten treasuries become ten storehouses of merit, and reading the chapter is like taking inventory of the family property. That reading must be cleared away first. The scripture itself gives the clue: the chapter title reads ‘the ten inexhaustible treasuries’, and yet not one of the ten names of the treasuries in the text carries the word ‘inexhaustible’ — the treasury of faith, the treasury of the precepts, the treasury of shame, the treasury of abashment, the treasury of learning, the treasury of giving, the treasury of wisdom, the treasury of mindfulness, the treasury of retention, the treasury of eloquence, all simple names. The two words ‘inexhaustible’ are not on the names; they are on the ten inexhaustible dharmas of the closing passage.

Fazang, in explaining this chapter's title, distinguished one point in particular. He says: “As for the explanation of the name, the person is indicated and the dharma is distinguished, and so it says ‘the ten treasuries of the bodhisattva’; it is not a title in which person and dharma are joined — that is to say, these ten kinds are the dharmas practiced by the bodhisattvas.” ‘The bodhisattva's ten treasuries’ is not ‘bodhisattva’ plus ‘ten treasuries’ set side by side; it is ‘the ten treasuries of the bodhisattva’, and the treasuries are the dharmas practiced by the bodhisattva. The distinction looks fine-drawn, and its effect is large: the treasury is not property that the bodhisattva owns, it is what the bodhisattva is doing. The storehouse reading is cut off from this point on.

Li Tongxuan, for his part, is brief in the extreme, saying only: “First, as for explaining the title of the chapter: because these ten kinds of treasury are named in accordance with the dharma, it can be known.” The names of the ten treasuries are each set up according to the dharma upon which each depends — the treasury of faith is set up upon faith, the treasury of the precepts upon the precepts — there is no hidden mechanism, and one knows it by looking at the name. The elaborate way and the brief way: the ancient masters each state what they depend upon, and both stand.

Brought down to oneself: read ‘treasury’ as ‘what one is in the middle of doing’ and not as ‘what has already been stored up’, and only then does this chapter move. A storehouse fills up; the thing one is in the middle of doing does not.

The Sequence of the Ten Treasuries: From Faith at the Start to Being Able to Speak at the End

The ordering of the ten treasuries is not arbitrary. The treasury of faith stands first — without faith the other nine have no footing. Next come the precepts, shame, and abashment, and these three are all on ‘one's own side’: the precepts govern not doing hereafter, shame and abashment govern looking back at what has been done. Then come learning, giving, and wisdom, and these three open outward: learning is receiving, giving is handing over, wisdom is discriminating. Then mindfulness and retention, and these two hold fast: mindfulness is not forgetting what has been passed through, retention is not losing what has been received. Last comes eloquence — being able to speak it to others.

From faith to eloquence one line is clear: first able to believe, then able to guard, to be abashed, to learn, to relinquish, to judge, to remember, to retain, and at last to speak. The scripture itself, at the close of the first treasury, has already pointed out the end of this line in advance — “a bodhisattva who dwells in this treasury of faith is then able to hear and to retain all the Buddha's dharmas and to expound them for beings, causing them all to be awakened”: once the treasury of faith is firmly dwelt in, it already points toward ‘hearing and retaining’ and ‘expounding for beings’, which is to say the later treasuries of learning, of retention, and of eloquence. The ten treasuries are not ten items set side by side; they are ten stages of a single matter.

Clear away one misreading: do not suppose that those placed later are of a higher grade. The scripture's closing formulas for the ten treasuries are near to one another — ‘this is called / this is the such-and-such treasury of a bodhisattva-mahāsattva’ (“this is called” occurs seven times, “this is” three times; the treasury of faith alone has no ordinal, reading “this is called: the treasury of faith of a bodhisattva-mahāsattva”) — and there is not one sentence saying that one treasury surpasses another. The sequence speaks of before and after, not of high and low.

Zhiyan, in the Kongmu zhang, sets up a separate chapter in which he takes these ten treasuries and sets them against the three treasuries of the lesser vehicle and the five kinds of treasury of the three vehicles, judging them to be the treasury of the teaching of the One Vehicle; and there the eighth in his list reads “the treasury of right mindfulness,” differing by one graph from this scripture's “treasury of mindfulness.” This is a use belonging to the judging of the modes of the teaching, on a different track from the masters who gloss the treasuries one by one following the text; it is recorded.

The First, the Treasury of Faith: What Is Believed Is Not How Great the Buddha Is, but That Dharmas Are of Themselves So

The treasury of faith is unexpected from its first words. Ordinarily one would suppose that ‘faith’ should mean faith in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha, or faith in cause and effect. The scripture does not say so. The ten clauses it lists are: “he believes that all dharmas are empty, believes that all dharmas are without marks, believes that all dharmas have nothing to be wished for, believes that all dharmas are without making, believes that all dharmas have nothing that can be discriminated, believes that all dharmas have no place to lean upon, believes that all dharmas cannot be measured, believes that all dharmas have nothing above them, believes that all dharmas are hard to surpass, believes that all dharmas are from the first unborn.”

All ten clauses are stated by negation — empty, without marks, without anything wished for, without making, without discrimination, without anything to lean on, immeasurable, with nothing above, hard to surpass, unborn: not one of them says ‘there is such-and-such’, all of them say ‘it is not such-and-such’. First a question: how is a thing like this to be believed? Faith ordinarily needs an object, and here even the object has been taken apart.

The answer is in the next passage. The scripture goes on to say that once one has thus accorded with all dharmas and given rise to pure faith, a certain phenomenon appears: hearing that the dharma of the buddhas is inconceivable, the mind does not shrink; hearing that all buddhas, the realm of beings, the Dharma realm, the realm of space, the realm of nirvāṇa, the age past, the age to come, the present age, and entering into all kalpas are inconceivable, the mind in every case does not shrink. Ten occurrences of ‘does not shrink’ stand over against the earlier ten of ‘believes that all dharmas’. So the verifying mark of faith is not ‘I feel sure of myself’; it is ‘hearing something that exceeds the range of my understanding, my mind does not contract’.

Why does it not contract? The scripture sets its own question and answers it: “Why is this? Because this bodhisattva, toward the buddhas, believes firmly and without wavering, and knows that the wisdom of a buddha is boundless and inexhaustible.” — because he knows that the wisdom of a buddha is boundless and inexhaustible, it is only to be expected that he himself cannot understand this matter. There follows at once that most weighty passage of ten negations: in the measureless worlds of the ten directions there are measureless buddhas in each, who have attained, are attaining, and will attain awakening, who have come forth, are coming forth, and will come forth into the world, who have entered, are entering, and will enter nirvāṇa, and yet “the wisdom of those buddhas neither increases nor decreases, neither arises nor ceases, neither advances nor retreats, is neither near nor far; there is in it no knowing that discriminates, nor is there any forsaking.” The buddhas are measureless and the times are three, and yet the wisdom of a buddha does not move. What is believed does not move, and only then can the mind that believes be unmoved.

Clear away one misreading: these ten clauses of negation are not asking anyone to believe in nothing at all; they are asking that faith be turned from ‘believing in a thing’ into ‘believing that matters are of themselves so’. Believe in a thing, and that thing may change, may be lost, may be overturned by someone; believe that dharmas are of themselves so, and there is nowhere for an overturning to take hold.

The eleven marks that follow upon gaining this faith the scripture lists very concretely: “his mind does not turn back, his mind is not confused, it cannot be broken, it is defiled by nothing, it always has a root, it accords with the noble ones, it dwells in the house of the Tathāgata, it guards and upholds the seed-nature of all the buddhas, it increases the faith and understanding of all bodhisattvas, it accords with the roots of goodness of all the tathāgatas, and it gives birth to the skillful means of all the buddhas.” — from the state of the mind (not turning back, not confused, not broken, undefiled), to the belonging of one's standing (having a root, according with the noble ones, dwelling in the house of the Tathāgata), to the unfolding of function (guarding the seed-nature, increasing faith and understanding, according with roots of goodness, giving birth to skillful means). Three layers pushed out in one run.

The closing sentence matters most: “a bodhisattva who dwells in this treasury of faith is then able to hear and to retain all the Buddha's dharmas and to expound them for beings, causing them all to be awakened.” The fruit of the treasury of faith is not that one is at ease oneself; it is that one can speak it to others. Brought down to oneself: if a person says that he believes, and yet panics the moment he is questioned and evades wherever the reasoning will not go through, then most likely he has not yet reached the ‘treasury of faith’; one who has reached it can go on speaking even where the reasoning will not go through, because what he believes is not that his own reasoning goes through.

The Second, the Treasury of the Precepts: Ten Names Given First, Then Asked Back One by One

The treasury of the precepts is of a different form from the treasury of faith. It first lists the ten names all at once — “the precept of universal benefit, the precept of not receiving, the precept of not dwelling, the precept of no regret, the precept of no contention, the precept of not injuring or troubling, the precept of no defiled admixture, the precept of no greedy seeking, the precept of no fault, the precept of no transgression” — and then asks back one by one with ten occurrences of ‘what is such-and-such a precept’, a question and an answer each time. In the whole chapter ‘what is’ occurs twenty times, ten of them in the treasury of the precepts and ten in the treasury of giving, and nowhere else. These are the only two places in the chapter where the fine items are opened out.

There is one matter here that must be recorded as it stands: in two places the name in the list and the name in the question-and-gloss are written with different graphs. The list reads “the precept of not injuring or troubling,” the question reads “what is the precept of not troubling or harming”; the list reads “the precept of no defiled admixture,” the question reads “what is the precept of no admixture.” In the same passage of the same scripture, two forms one after the other. So the base text stands; both are recorded verbatim, neither altered nor evened out. A reader who meets such a place need not be alarmed, and need not pick one of them as the ‘correct’ one — this is how the transmitted texts have come down from of old.

Look first at the form as a whole, then at each item. The glosses of the ten items have one syntax in common: nearly every one closes with ‘he only ... and so upholds the precepts’ or ‘it is fundamentally for the sake of ...’ — the precept of universal benefit, “fundamentally for the sake of benefiting all beings”; the precept of no contention, “he only wishes that all beings may be constantly joyful in mind, and so upholds the precepts”; the precept of not troubling or harming, “he upholds the precepts only in order to rescue and protect all beings”; the precept of no admixture, “he only contemplates dependent origination and upholds the precepts of emergence”; the precept of no greedy seeking, “he upholds the precepts only for the sake of fulfilling the dharma of emergence”; the precept of no fault, “he upholds the precepts only by making his mind one.” What these ten items distinguish is not precept-rules but the sake for which the precepts are upheld. With one and the same precept, why it is upheld decides which kind of precept it is. This is the eye of the whole treasury of the precepts.

The Second, the Treasury of the Precepts, One to Five: Benefit · Not Receiving · Not Dwelling · No Regret · No Contention

One, the precept of universal benefit — “This bodhisattva receives and upholds pure precepts, and this is fundamentally for the sake of benefiting all beings.” First a question: are the precepts not upheld in order to make oneself pure? The scripture sets the very first item upon the benefit of others. The misreading to be cleared away is this: supposing that the precepts are a wall guarding oneself from trouble. If a precept is only a wall, then however strictly it is kept it is no more than self-protection. The three words ‘universal benefit’ turn the direction the other way round — the receiving and upholding of pure precepts is itself something done for all beings. Brought down to oneself: when a person keeps his word and does not speak falsely, the first to be benefited is every person around him who trusts him. The first meaning of the precepts is to give others a place where they may be at ease.

Two, the precept of not receiving — “This bodhisattva does not receive and practice any of the precepts that the outer paths possess; he is simply of his own nature diligent, and he practices and upholds the equal pure precepts of the tathāgatas, the buddhas of the three times.” The name is easily misread: ‘the precept of not receiving’ does not mean not receiving the precepts. What it does not receive is specified: “any of the precepts that the outer paths possess”; what it does receive and uphold is “the equal pure precepts of the tathāgatas, the buddhas of the three times.” And there is an important clause in between: “he is simply of his own nature diligent” — it is not that some outside force keeps him from receiving them, but that his very nature is of itself diligent upon the right road. Clear away one misreading: this item is not belittling the strictness with which others keep their precepts; it is saying that what the precepts depend upon must not be mistaken; if what they depend upon is mistaken, the stricter they are the further they go.

Three, the precept of not dwelling — “When this bodhisattva receives and upholds the precepts, his mind does not dwell in the desire realm, does not dwell in the form realm, does not dwell in the formless realm.” First a question: when one upholds the precepts, where does the mind dwell? The scripture answers: ordinarily, when a person upholds the precepts his mind dwells upon the fruit of retribution — having upheld the precepts, where will he be born hereafter? Once the three realms are listed, every destination of retribution is enclosed. The scripture asks and answers the reason itself: “Why is this? Because it is not in order to seek birth in those places that he upholds the precepts.” Not upholding the precepts in order to seek birth there, the mind of itself does not dwell there. Brought down to oneself: if in doing a right thing one is all the while calculating what it will fetch in return, that thing is bounded by the calculation.

Four, the precept of no regret — “This bodhisattva constantly gains a dwelling in a mind that has no regret.” This item speaks of the state of mind in upholding the precepts. The scripture glosses the reason itself: “Why is this? Because he does not commit grave offenses, does not practice flattery and deceit, and does not break the pure precepts.” Three things — not committing grave offenses, not practicing flattery and deceit, not breaking the pure precepts — and once they are done, regret has no material. Clear away one misreading: absence of regret is not gained by consoling oneself; it is gained by there being nothing to regret. Brought down to oneself: sleeping soundly is something cultivated, not something one is talked into.

Five, the precept of no contention — this is the longest item and the most easily read past. “This bodhisattva does not disparage what was laid down before, nor does he set up new precepts besides” — he does not disparage the precepts laid down earlier, nor does he set up new rules of his own. First a question: why should setting up new precepts count as ‘contention’? Because the precepts are by nature a dharma held in common; when one person sets up a set of his own, those who live together then have two standards, and contention begins there. Then comes the positive side: “his mind constantly accords, and heads toward the precepts that go to nirvāṇa, which he receives and upholds in full without transgressing them”; and the last sentence weighs most: “he does not, because he himself upholds the precepts, trouble and disturb others so as to make them give rise to suffering; he only wishes that all beings may be constantly joyful in mind, and so upholds the precepts.” — he does not take his own keeping of the precepts and use it to trouble others. Brought down to oneself: this is what one who keeps precepts offends in most often — keeping them well himself, he begins to find others disagreeable to look at, and the precept becomes a knife. The scripture says plainly that the precepts are to make people joyful in mind.

The Second, the Treasury of the Precepts, Six to Ten: Not Troubling or Harming · No Admixture · No Greedy Seeking · No Fault · No Transgression

Six, the precept of not troubling or harming — “This bodhisattva does not, on account of the precepts, go and study spells and techniques of every kind, or compound medicines, so as to trouble and harm beings; he upholds the precepts only in order to rescue and protect all beings.” First a question: what have the precepts to do with studying spells and compounding drugs? The connection is in the three words “on account of the precepts” — because upholding the precepts has brought him repute and a following, he borrows that position to study spells and compound medicines, and turns them round to trouble and harm people. What this item guards against is the power that the precepts bring. Clear away one misreading: the scripture is not forbidding medicine or the bright spells in themselves; what it forbids is taking them and “troubling and harming beings.” The sentence that follows at once gives the positive side: “he upholds the precepts only in order to rescue and protect all beings.”

Seven, the precept of no admixture — “This bodhisattva does not cling to extreme views, does not uphold precepts that are of mixed admixture; he only contemplates dependent origination and upholds the precepts of emergence.” The source of the ‘admixture’ is “extreme views” — views that hold to one side. If precepts are upheld in dependence on a partial view, the precept is dyed and mixed by that view. The right understanding that the scripture gives is “he only contemplates dependent origination and upholds the precepts of emergence”: see dependent origination clearly, and the precept is a precept of emergence, not an exchange of one bondage for another. Brought down to oneself: two people may equally refrain from eating a certain thing, the one because he contemplates dependent origination and cannot bear its suffering, the other because he is convinced that eating it will bring him bad luck — the outward act is the same, but the one is a precept of emergence and the other a precept of admixture.

Eight, the precept of no greedy seeking — “This bodhisattva does not display an appearance different from others so as to make manifest that he himself has virtue; he upholds the precepts only for the sake of fulfilling the dharma of emergence.” To ‘display an appearance different from others’ is deliberately to make oneself look unlike everyone else. First a question: why should deliberately appearing to have virtue count as ‘greedy seeking’? Because that different appearance is there to be exchanged for something — respect, offerings, standing. The upholding of precepts has not itself changed; but once the mind of trade arises, the precept has become capital. Brought down to oneself: letting people know what one keeps, and deliberately letting people see that one keeps it, differ by no more than a single thought, and yet the difference lies in the very nature of the precept.

Nine, the precept of no fault — “This bodhisattva does not exalt himself, saying that he upholds the precepts; and seeing those who break the precepts, he does not despise or disparage them so as to make them ashamed and mortified; he upholds the precepts only by making his mind one.” Two things: toward oneself, no exalting; toward others, no despising. First a question: when one sees a person breaking the precepts, is not saying a word or two to him for his own good? The scripture adds a qualification — “so as to make them ashamed and mortified.” If the aim is to put the other to shame, then it is not for his good. So the right understanding is “only by making his mind one”: gathering the mind back to oneself. Brought down to oneself: the most hidden fault in keeping precepts is not in what one has broken, but in taking what one has not broken and measuring others by it.

Ten, the precept of no transgression — this item returns to concrete matters and lists the ten courses of good action one by one: “he forever cuts off killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, false speech, divisive speech, and harsh speech, together with meaningless speech, greed, anger, and wrong views, and receives and upholds in full the ten kinds of good action.” The first nine items all distinguish the mind in upholding precepts; the tenth comes back down to the actual boundaries of body, speech, and mind — however finely one distinguishes, it must in the end be proved upon these ten things.

Most important is the thought attached after this item. When the bodhisattva upholds this precept of no transgression he thinks: “All beings who transgress the pure precepts do so through inversion; only the Buddha, the World-Honored One, is able to know by what causes and conditions beings give rise to inversion and transgress the pure precepts. I ought to accomplish unsurpassed awakening and to expound the true Dharma widely for beings, causing them to leave inversion far behind.” — he does not think ‘I have kept the precepts and they have not’; he thinks ‘why is it that they are like this’, and then assigns the answer to the wisdom of a buddha and takes the responsibility onto his own becoming a buddha. This is precisely why the precepts are a treasury: the precepts do not stop upon oneself, they push out a vow to go and deliver others. The closing sentence: “This is called: the second treasury of a bodhisattva-mahāsattva, the treasury of the precepts.”

The Third, the Treasury of Shame: Founding Shame upon ‘We Have Been One Another's Parents’

The treasury of shame is extremely short, and yet it is one of the weightiest passages in the chapter. The scripture says: “This bodhisattva recalls the evil deeds of every kind that he did in the past and gives rise to shame.” Shame is produced by recollection, not produced by being reproached.

What, then, is recollected? The bodhisattva's own words: “From beginningless ages, life after life, I and all beings have all in turn been one another's father and mother, elder and younger brother, elder and younger sister, man and woman.” First a question: why is this sentence placed at the very front of shame? Because it takes apart the boundary between ‘I’ and ‘beings’. If beings have nothing to do with me, then what I have done to them is merely something past; if they and I have been one another's parents and children, then those things become things done to my own closest kin. The weight of shame comes from here.

Then come the evils done: “because we possessed greed, anger, delusion, arrogance, flattery and deceit, and all the remaining afflictions, we troubled and harmed one another, we bullied and plundered one another in turn, we committed adultery, injury, and slaughter, and there was no evil we did not do,” and then six clauses of ‘did not ... one another’ — “we did not respect one another, did not honor one another, did not serve and comply with one another, did not humble ourselves to one another, did not rouse and guide one another, did not cherish and protect one another.” These six clauses are the center of the treasury of shame. What they list is not crimes but the rupture of relation: no respect, no honor, no compliance, no humility, no guidance, no cherishing. What is truly to be ashamed of is not that something bad was done, but that of the six ways of treating one another that ought to have been there, not one was.

Next comes the mechanism of shame: “I consider for myself this body of mine and all beings: past, future, and present, what we practice is the dharma of no shame, and there is no buddha of the three times who does not know it and see it. If I do not now cut off this conduct that has no shame, the buddhas of the three times will likewise see me. How then shall I go on practicing thus and not stop? This is by no means to be allowed.” — the buddhas of the three times all see it. Clear away one misreading: this is not a threat; the scripture does not say what the buddhas will do. What it says is only the fact of ‘being seen’. A person is unrestrained where no one is present because he supposes no one sees; once he knows that he is seen at all times, the conduct stops of itself. So the definition of shame is very clear here: shame is the self-restraint that arises within ‘being known and seen’.

The vow with which it concludes is exactly the same as that of the treasury of abashment: “I ought with a concentrated mind to cut it off, to attain unsurpassed perfect awakening, and to expound the true Dharma widely for beings.” Shame does not stop at self-reproach; it pushes out the vow to teach the Dharma and deliver beings. The closing sentence: “This is called: the third treasury of a bodhisattva-mahāsattva, the treasury of shame.”

Brought down to oneself: true shame does not need anyone standing by to point it out. It grows from the concrete recollection of ‘what I once did to whom’, and not from an abstract estimate of oneself.

The Fourth, the Treasury of Abashment: What He Is Abashed at Is the Insatiability of the Five Desires, and the Buddhas of the Three Times Who Are Deceived

Shame and abashment are commonly used as one word, and this chapter divides them into two treasuries, each with its own object, and this is the key to reading the passage. What shame is set against is “the evil deeds of every kind that he did in the past”; what abashment is set against is being “abashed at himself, that from of old, amid the five desires, he sought greedily in every way and never had a time of satiety.” Shame is set against evils already done, abashment against the insatiability of greedy seeking; the one is set against deeds, the other against desire.

First a question: why is it a matter for abashment that greedy seeking is never satisfied? The scripture answers directly: “and thereby increased greed, hatred, delusion, and all the afflictions.” Greedy seeking is not merely one occurrence; it is the mechanism by which the afflictions increase — the more one seeks the more there is, and the more there is the more one seeks. The bodhisattva's first decision is extremely simple: “I now ought not to practice these things again.”

Then comes the second thought, which is the body of this passage. It looks first at beings: “Beings are without wisdom; they give rise to afflictions of every kind, they practice evil dharmas of every kind in full, they do not respect one another, they do not honor one another, and so on until they become in turn one another's enemies and foes.” — note that the words ‘one another’ appear here again, answering to the treasury of shame. Then it adds a layer that the treasury of shame did not have: “Of evils such as these there is none they do not do in full; and having done them they rejoice, they pursue and praise them, they are blind and without the eye of wisdom, and there is nothing they truly know and see.” Having done evil they rejoice in it, and go on to pursue it and to praise it — this is a layer deeper than the doing of evil itself. It is precisely this layer that abashment is set against.

Further on, the scripture turns to the body: “Within a mother's womb they enter the womb and receive birth, and accomplish this defiled and impure body, which must come in the end to white hair and a wrinkled face. One who has wisdom contemplates that this body is but an impure dharma born of sexual desire.” Entering the womb, defilement, white hair and wrinkled face — the two ends of a lifetime set side by side to be looked at. Clear away one misreading: this is not world-weariness, nor is it saying that the body is shameful; the scripture's landing place is in the next sentence — “and the buddhas of the three times all know it and see it. If to this day I still practice these things, then I am deceiving the buddhas of the three times.”

The words “deceiving the buddhas of the three times” are the core of abashment. The mechanism of shame is ‘being seen’; the mechanism of abashment is ‘knowing that one is seen and yet still pretending otherwise’ — and that becomes deception. So the distinction between shame and abashment is clear in this chapter: shame is knowing that one is seen and stopping oneself; abashment is knowing that if one does not stop, it amounts to deceiving.

The concluding vow is the same as that of the treasury of shame: “I ought to cultivate abashment, swiftly to accomplish unsurpassed perfect awakening, and to expound the true Dharma widely for beings.” The closing sentence: “This is called: the fourth treasury of a bodhisattva-mahāsattva, the treasury of abashment.”

The Fifth, the Treasury of Learning: Much Learning Is Not Hearing Much, It Is Knowing What May Be Declared and What May Not

The treasury of learning is the passage of the most distinctive form in the whole chapter. It does not list ‘how many scriptures have been heard’, but sets out ten classes of the dharmas that are known, each first indicated and then questioned — ‘what is such-and-such’ — ten questions and ten answers.

Look first at the four clauses of dependent origination. The scripture indicates them: “This bodhisattva knows: because this thing exists, therefore that thing exists; because this thing does not exist, therefore that thing does not exist; because this thing arises, therefore that thing arises; because this thing ceases, therefore that thing ceases,” and then questions and glosses them one by one: “What is ‘because this thing exists, that thing exists’? It is: because ignorance exists, formations exist.” “What is ‘because this thing does not exist, that thing does not exist’? It is: because consciousness does not exist, name-and-form does not exist.” “What is ‘because this thing arises, that thing arises’? It is: because craving arises, suffering arises.” “What is ‘because this thing ceases, that thing ceases’? It is: because becoming ceases, birth ceases.” — the four clauses each raise one pair from among the twelve links of existence: ignorance and formations, consciousness and name-and-form, craving and suffering, becoming and birth. Existence, non-existence, arising, cessation: on these four sides, both the forward and the reverse statement of dependent origination are covered in full. First a question: why is the first item of much learning dependent origination? Because however much one hears, if one does not know that things depend upon one another, what has been heard is only a heap of accounts unrelated to one another.

Next come three pairs of dharmas: “What are the dharmas of the world? They are: form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness. What are the dharmas beyond the world? They are: the precepts, concentration, wisdom, liberation, and the knowledge and vision of liberation.” The five aggregates set against the five parts of the dharma-body; the worldly and the world-transcending each indicated by five dharmas. “What are the conditioned dharmas? They are: the desire realm, the form realm, the formless realm, and the realm of beings. What are the unconditioned dharmas? They are: space, nirvāṇa, cessation through reckoning conditions, cessation not through reckoning conditions, and the abiding of the dharma-nature of dependent origination.” The conditioned is indicated by four realms, the unconditioned by five dharmas — among which “cessation through reckoning conditions” is the cessation gained by the power of discriminating investigation and “cessation not through reckoning conditions” is the cessation gained without discriminating investigation, while the fifth, “the abiding of the dharma-nature of dependent origination,” places the dharma-nature of dependent origination too among the unconditioned, and is what is distinctive in this chapter's listing of the unconditioned.

The item of the dharmas that can be determinately declared lists the regular curriculum of cultivating the path: “the four noble truths, the four fruits of the ascetic, the four eloquences, the four fearlessnesses, the four stations of mindfulness, the four right exertions, the four bases of supernormal power, the five faculties, the five powers, the seven factors of awakening, and the eight branches of the noble path.” — apart from the four truths and the four fruits, all of them are the fine items of the thirty-seven factors of the path. ‘Determinately declarable’ means that they can be answered with a determination.

Last come the dharmas that are indeterminate, and this is the longest in extent. Four gates of four clauses each: the four clauses of the world's having or not having an end, the four clauses of the world's being or not being eternal, the four clauses of the Tathāgata's existing or not existing after his cessation, the four clauses of the existing or not existing of I and beings; and then a long string of “In the past, how many tathāgatas have entered parinirvāṇa,” “In the future, how many tathāgatas will there be? How many śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas?”, “What sort of tathāgata came forth first,” “From what place does the world come, and to what place does it go,” “What is the first limit of birth-and-death,” and so on. The scripture answers not one of them; it merely sets them out and then says “these are called the dharmas that are indeterminate.”

First a question: what kind of much learning is it to set out the questions one does not answer? The answer lies exactly here. The accomplishment of much learning is not only knowing the answers; it includes knowing which questions cannot in their very nature be answered by way of determination. Clear away one misreading: ‘indeterminate’ does not mean ‘the Buddha does not know’, nor does it mean ‘these questions do not matter’; it says that these ways of asking are themselves diseased, and that to answer them as they are put only deepens the disease. Brought down to oneself: when a person's learning has reached a certain point, the most useful single skill he has is being able to tell which questions are to be pursued and which are to be left alone.

The concluding thought of the treasury of learning is one of the pivots of the chapter: “All beings, within birth-and-death, have no much learning and are unable to understand clearly all these dharmas. I ought to rouse the intention, to hold the treasury of much learning, to attain unsurpassed perfect awakening, and to expound the true Dharma for all beings.” — much learning is not laying in stock for oneself; it is because beings have no much learning that the intention to hold it is roused. The closing sentence reads “this is called: the fifth treasury of a bodhisattva-mahāsattva, the treasury of much learning,” differing by two graphs from the “treasury of learning” indicated in the question earlier; so the base text stands, and both are recorded without alteration.

The Sixth, the Treasury of Giving: Ten Kinds of Giving, the Names Given First, Then Asked Back One by One

The treasury of giving is the passage of greatest extent in the chapter, and its form is the same as that of the treasury of the precepts — first the ten names are listed, then they are asked back one by one with ten occurrences of ‘what is the bodhisattva's such-and-such giving’: “the giving that divides and reduces, the giving that exhausts all, inward giving, outward giving, inward and outward giving, the giving of everything, the giving of the past, the giving of the future, the giving of the present, and ultimate giving.”

Look first at the ordering of these ten names. The first six run from little to entire in what is relinquished: dividing and reducing (parting with a portion), exhausting all (relinquishing to the last), inward (relinquishing the parts of the body), outward (relinquishing the royal throne), inward and outward (body and throne relinquished together), everything (measureless people each seeking what they wish, and all of it given). The last four change axis: past, future, present, ultimate — no longer saying what is relinquished to whom, but speaking of relinquishment toward the dharmas of the three times. With one and the same word ‘giving’, the first six are the giving of goods and of the body, and the last four are relinquishment upon the plane of dharmas. This turn is the place in the treasury of giving most easily read past; a reader who comes to the seventh, ‘the giving of the past’, and still reads in the manner of the first six will feel it has suddenly wandered off the subject. It has not wandered off; it has pushed ‘giving’ through to the bottom.

The Sixth, the Treasury of Giving, One to Three: Dividing and Reducing · Exhausting All · Inward Giving

One, the giving that divides and reduces — “This bodhisattva is by nature kind and loves to practice giving. If he obtains a fine flavor, he does not take it for his own use alone; he must first give it to beings and only then eat.” First a question: why is the first step of giving set upon ‘eating a meal’? Because that is what happens every single day, and is the hardest of all to yield. The scripture then gives an extremely fine observation: “Within my body there are eighty thousand families of worms that dwell in dependence on me; when my body is full and at ease, they too are full and at ease; when my body is hungry and in distress, they too are hungry and in distress.” — even the beings within one's own body are counted in, so that this one mouthful of food is already itself an act of giving. The second thought goes a layer further: “Through the long night of birth-and-death I have loved and clung to this body, and it is in order to make it full that I have received food and drink. Now with this food I give bounty to beings, and I vow that toward this body I may forever cut off craving and clinging.” The same action, with the sake for which it is done changed, turns from nourishing the body into cutting off craving. Brought down to oneself: giving need not wait until one has a surplus; the sense of the giving that divides and reduces is precisely this — to divide something out when there is not enough.

Two, the giving that exhausts all — the condition is far more severe than that of dividing and reducing: “if he uses them himself he will be at ease and his years prolonged, and if he spares his own portion and gives it to another he will be destitute and die young.” This is not dividing out of surplus; it is that giving means he cannot go on living. Someone comes and says: “All that you now have you ought to give to me.” The bodhisattva's reflection is: “From beginningless ages, for hunger's sake, I have lost body and life countless times, and I have never gained so much as a hair's tip of the good profit that comes of benefiting beings.” — first a question: how does he persuade himself? Not by heroic feeling, but by a reckoning: in the past he has already died of hunger countless times, and not one of those deaths benefited anyone, whereas this one at least does. Clear away one misreading: this passage is not urging people to relinquish their lives; it is distinguishing the measure proper to giving — the giving that divides and reduces is the constant rule, and the giving that exhausts all is what is done when that situation has actually arrived.

Three, inward giving — the scene changes: this bodhisattva is “in the very prime of youth, upright and fair,” has just received the anointing of the crown and ascended the throne of a wheel-turning king, is furnished with the seven treasures, and rules as king over the four continents. Someone comes to beg his “hands and feet, blood and flesh, head and eyes, bones and marrow.” His reflection is a single sentence: “This body of mine will certainly die hereafter, and there is not the least benefit in it; I ought in good time to relinquish it quickly, and with it to relieve beings.” — first a question: why must a king at the very height of his fortune be set up first? Because the premise of being able to relinquish is having in the first place. For one who has nothing at all to say that he will relinquish his body is empty talk. The scripture heaps what is to be relinquished to the highest, and only then says “having thought thus, he gives it to him, and in his mind there is no regret afterward”; only so does the weight of the relinquishing hold.

The Sixth, the Treasury of Giving, Four to Six: Outward Giving · Inward and Outward Giving · The Giving of Everything

Four, outward giving — again a wheel-turning king in the prime of life; this time the one who comes does not want the body but the throne: “relinquishing this royal throne to relieve me; let me govern, and enjoy the blessings and happiness of a king.” The bodhisattva's reflection: “All that flourishes must certainly decay, and when it decays one can no longer benefit beings. I now ought to accord with what he seeks and to fill his heart's desire.” — first a question: is relinquishing a throne easier or harder than relinquishing the body? The scripture does not compare; the reason it gives is time: flourishing must in the end decay, and once it has decayed this throne can no longer benefit anyone. Therefore it is yielded while it is still of use. Brought down to oneself: position, resources, and influence all have a term, and what this passage speaks of is spending them while they are still in force.

Five, inward and outward giving — the one who comes wants both: “I only pray that the great king will relinquish it to me, and, together with the great king's own body, that he will serve as my subject and servant.” The bodhisattva's reflection is the famous sentence of this passage: “My body, my wealth and treasure, and my royal throne are all impermanent dharmas that will come to ruin. I am now in the fullness of vigor and possess the riches of the world; one who begs stands before me, and I ought to use what is not firm to seek the firm Dharma.” — to use what is not firm to seek the firm Dharma. Body and throne are not firm, and to exchange what is not firm for a Dharma that is firm is a reckoning that pays. The scripture adds a most weighty clause: “even with his own body he respectfully and diligently performs labor for him, and in his mind there is no regret afterward” — not only is the throne yielded, but he actually goes and performs the labor of a servant. Clear away one misreading: this is not self-abasement; it is that both ‘king’ and ‘servant’ are seen as things not firm, and so neither side binds him.

Six, the giving of everything — the scene is the largest: measureless poor and destitute people come all together, “some beg his land, some beg his wife and children, some beg his hands and feet, blood and flesh, heart and lungs, head and eyes, marrow and brain.” The bodhisattva's reflection turns to love and affection: “All love and affection must come in the end to parting, and there is no benefit in it for beings. I now, wishing forever to relinquish craving and love, take all these things that must certainly be scattered and use them to fulfill the wishes of beings.” — first a question: the first five givings spoke of goods; why does this one speak of love and affection? Because ‘wife and children’ have been listed in. Once there are persons among what is relinquished, the reckoning can no longer be made of goods alone. The scripture's reasoning is: love and affection must in the end come to parting, and at the parting there is no benefit in it for beings either; better to use it now to fulfill the wishes of beings. At the end it adds one more clause: “in his mind there is no regret, nor does he give rise to a mind that loathes and despises beings” — having given, he not only does not regret it, he also does not think the less of those who came to beg. This clause is the finest requirement laid upon the giver's mind among the ten kinds of giving.

The Sixth, the Treasury of Giving, Seven to Nine: The Giving of the Past · The Giving of the Future · The Giving of the Present

From here on, what is given is no longer goods and body, but the not-grasping of the dharmas of the three times.

Seven, the giving of the past — “This bodhisattva hears of all the merits that the buddhas and bodhisattvas of the past possess, and having heard of them he does not cling to them; he understands clearly that they are not truly existent, he gives rise to no discrimination, he neither craves them nor savors them, nor does he seek to take them, and he has nothing to lean upon; he sees all dharmas as a dream, in which there is nothing firm; toward roots of goodness of every kind he gives rise to no notion that they truly exist, and has nothing to lean upon.” First a question: hearing of the merits of the buddhas and bodhisattvas of the past and not clinging to them — to whom is this given? The answer is in the next clause: “it is only in order to teach and transform those beings who grasp and cling, and to bring the Buddha's dharma to maturity, that he expounds it for them” — it is not that he does not speak of those merits; he expounds them for beings just as before, only he does not himself come to rest there. What is relinquished is the yearning admiration that says ‘I too must be like that’. At the end it is pushed to the bottom: “The dharmas of every kind that are past, though sought throughout the ten directions, are altogether unobtainable.” “Having thought thus, toward the dharmas of the past he relinquishes them all in the end.” Brought down to oneself: to admire the ancients is a good thing; to turn admiration into self-hypnosis is not.

Eight, the giving of the future — what it is set against is the practice of the buddhas of the future. The scripture's analysis here is finer than in the giving of the past, because the future most easily breeds two diseases: longing, and weariness. So it blocks both sides — “he does not take particular delight in being born in the lands of those buddhas, he neither savors nor clings, and neither does he give rise to weariness; he does not dedicate and direct his roots of goodness to that place, nor does he thereby lose his roots of goodness there.” He does not particularly want to go there, nor is he weary of it; he does not dedicate and direct his roots of goodness there, nor does he on that account lose them. What then? “He constantly and diligently cultivates, and has never abandoned or forsaken it; he only wishes, by means of that realm, to gather in beings.” He cultivates as before, only not for the sake of that future. The last sentence is the most thorough of all: “If a dharma is not truly existent, then there is nothing that cannot be relinquished.” — since dharmas are not truly existent, there is nothing that cannot be let go.

Nine, the giving of the present — what it is set against is the merits of the gods of the present and of the two vehicles. The scripture lists in one breath twenty-eight names of heavens, from the gods of the retinue of the four heavenly kings, the gods of the Thirty-Three, the Yāma gods, and the Tuṣita gods all the way to the gods of the highest form, “and on to hearing of the merits with which śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas are furnished.” First a question: why list so long a string? Because the temptation of the present is concrete, is graded, and lets one see the rung above — the more minutely it is listed, the more the pull of that ladder shows. The four negations of the bodhisattva who has heard them: “his mind is not confused, does not sink, does not gather, and is not scattered” — not confused (not drawn in), not sinking (not falling into it), not gathering (not hoarding), not scattered (nor thrown into disorder by it). The clause he depends upon is “he only contemplates that the formations are like a dream and are not real, and has no craving or clinging.” The landing place is still the benefit of others: “in order to cause beings to relinquish the evil destinies, his mind gives rise to no discrimination, and he cultivates the bodhisattva path.”

The Sixth, the Treasury of Giving, Ten: Ultimate Giving

Ten, ultimate giving — it returns to the body, but is more thorough than inward giving. Those who come to beg are “measureless beings — some without eyes, some without ears, or without nose and tongue and hands and feet,” and they say: “This body of mine is of thin blessing, and my faculties are maimed and lacking. I only pray that you will be kind, and by skillful means relinquish what you yourself have, so as to make me complete.” The bodhisattva, “hearing this, gives to him at once.”

Where is the ‘ultimate’? In the next sentence: “even if because of this, for asaṃkhyeya kalpas, his own faculties are not complete, he does not give rise to a single thought of regret or of begrudging.” — it is not that he does not regret it in the moment of relinquishing; it is that for measureless long kalpas thereafter, with his body maimed, there is still not one thought of regret. ‘Ultimate’ is not fastened to how much is relinquished, but to how long the relinquishing lasts afterward. First a question: how can a person hold out under so long a consequence? What the scripture gives is not willpower but contemplation: from the impure and minute form at the first entering of the womb, the segments of the womb and the faculties, and birth, old age, sickness, and death, on to “this body has nothing real about it, has nothing of shame or abashment, is not a thing of the worthy and the noble, is foul and unclean, held together by the joints of its bones, smeared over with blood and flesh, its nine apertures constantly flowing with impurity, loathed and despised by others.” Eight clauses stated straight out, with no simile set up. Only when one has seen clearly what this body is does one “not give rise to a single thought of love and clinging” — no regret is not something endured, it is something seen.

The last thought gathers up the whole treasury of giving: “This body is perilous and brittle and has nothing firm about it. Why then should I now give rise to fondness and clinging? I ought to give it to another and fill his wish. Just as I do this, so with this shall I guide and open the way for all beings, causing them to give rise to no craving and love toward body and mind, and all to accomplish the pure body of wisdom.” — what is relinquished is an impure body, and what is accomplished is “the pure body of wisdom.” Moreover he does not merely relinquish it himself; he means also “with this to guide and open the way for all beings”: this one act of giving is at the same time a demonstration. The closing sentence: “This is the sixth treasury of a bodhisattva-mahāsattva, the treasury of giving.”

The Seventh, the Treasury of Wisdom (1): Twenty-Eight Occurrences of ‘Knows as It Really Is’ and Six of ‘Cannot Be Destroyed’

The form of the treasury of wisdom changes again. It lists no names, but spreads out a table directly: seven gates, each gate with four branches.

The four gates of form, of feeling-perception-formations-consciousness, of ignorance, and of craving are each set forth with the four branches of suffering, arising, cessation, and path — “he knows form as it really is, knows the arising of form as it really is, knows the cessation of form as it really is, knows the path to the cessation of form as it really is,” and feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness, ignorance, and craving follow the same pattern. In the three gates of the śrāvaka, the pratyekabuddha, and the bodhisattva the four branches are changed to ‘knows such-and-such as it really is, knows the dharma of such-and-such as it really is, knows the arising of such-and-such as it really is, knows the nirvāṇa of such-and-such as it really is’. Seven gates of four branches: ‘knows as it really is’ occurs twenty-eight times in the whole passage.

First a question: why should the treasury of wisdom use the form of the four truths to look at ignorance, at craving, and even at the śrāvaka and the bodhisattva? Because the form of the four truths asks four things — what it is, where it comes from, whether it can be ended, and how it is ended. Fit these four questions upon anything at all, and that thing is seen through. Wisdom is not knowing a great many things; it is having a complete way of putting questions to things.

Then the scripture sets its own question: “How does he know this?” The answer: “He knows that all of it is produced from the causes and conditions of the formations of karmic retribution, that all is false and empty and without reality, is not self and is not firm, and that there is not the least dharma that can be obtained as established.” — the conclusion of what is known is “there is not the least dharma that can be obtained as established.” And then: “Wishing to cause beings to know its true nature, he expounds it widely for them.”

Here there is a pass. The scripture asks itself “What is it that he expounds?” and answers itself “He expounds that the dharmas cannot be destroyed”; then asks again, “What dharmas cannot be destroyed?” and answers again: “Form cannot be destroyed; feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness cannot be destroyed; ignorance cannot be destroyed; the dharma of the śrāvaka, the dharma of the pratyekabuddha, and the dharma of the bodhisattva cannot be destroyed.” — having just said “empty and without reality,” it says at once “cannot be destroyed,” and here the reader is most easily brought up short.

To clear away this misreading, look at the next sentence: “Why is this? Because all dharmas are without making, without a maker, without speech, without a place, unarisen, unoriginated, not given, not taken, without movement, and without function.” The reason they cannot be destroyed is precisely that they have from the first no substance that could be destroyed. If there were a real thing, then it would be liable to be destroyed; since there is no making and no maker, no arising and no origination, there is nothing that could destroy them. So “empty and without reality” and “cannot be destroyed” are not two statements; they are two sides of one statement. The highest point of the treasury of wisdom lies in just this turn.

The mark of wisdom accomplished: “The bodhisattva accomplishes measureless treasuries of wisdom such as these, and with but little skillful means he understands all dharmas, is of himself clear and penetrating, and does not need another to awaken him.” — the verifying mark is “does not need another to awaken him.” Brought down to oneself: when one's study has reached a certain point, one need no longer go and ask someone when a new question comes, because that way of seeing turns of itself. This is what wisdom accomplished looks like; it does not look like having memorized the answers.

The Seventh, the Treasury of Wisdom (2): The Ten Kinds of What Cannot Be Exhausted — the One Place in the Chapter Where ‘Inexhaustible’ Is Glossed by the Scripture Itself

The passage that follows is the most crucial matter of form in the whole chapter. The scripture says: “This inexhaustible treasury of wisdom is said to be inexhaustible because of ten kinds of what cannot be exhausted.” — of the ten treasuries, only the treasury of wisdom explains in the scripture itself why it is called ‘inexhaustible’. The other nine treasuries have no such gloss of their own. So if one would ask ‘what does inexhaustible mean’, it is here alone that one may look.

The ten kinds of what cannot be exhausted, one by one: one, skill in much learning cannot be exhausted — since what is heard is inexhaustible, the skillful use of it is inexhaustible too. Two, drawing near to good friends cannot be exhausted — a good friend is not one person, but those one goes on meeting all along the road. Three, being well able to discriminate the phrases and their meaning cannot be exhausted — one and the same sentence has different meanings in different places; can the discriminating be finished? It cannot. Four, entering deeply into the Dharma realm cannot be exhausted — the Dharma realm is boundless, and there is no time when entering it is exhausted. Five, adorning with the wisdom of one flavor cannot be exhausted — with the wisdom of one flavor one adorns all things, and what is adorned is inexhaustible. Six, accumulating all merit with a mind that does not tire cannot be exhausted — merit can be finished accumulating; a mind that does not tire cannot. Seven, entering all the gates of dhāraṇī cannot be exhausted — the gates of total retention enter one into another, gate upon gate. Eight, being able to discriminate the speech and the sounds of all beings cannot be exhausted — the speech of beings is measureless, and the discriminating is measureless too. Nine, being able to cut off the doubts of all beings cannot be exhausted — doubts are cut off and arise again, and the cutting off is likewise inexhaustible. Ten, manifesting for all beings the spiritual power of all buddhas, teaching and taming them, and causing them to cultivate without ceasing cannot be exhausted — the longest of the items, and the one that gathers up: manifesting, teaching, taming, and causing cultivation not to cease, four matters in succession.

First a question: what have these ten in common? What every one of them is set against is measureless — what is heard is measureless, good friends are measureless, the meaning of the phrases is measureless, the Dharma realm is boundless, merit is measureless, the dhāraṇīs are measureless, the speech of beings is measureless, doubts are measureless, beings are measureless. So ‘inexhaustible’ does not say that a great deal has been packed into this treasury; it says that what it is set against has no edge, and that therefore this work can never be finished. Clear away one misreading: that it cannot be finished is not bad news. A storehouse can be finished, and once finished there is nothing left to do; a treasury cannot be finished, and therefore it stays alive.

The closing sentence: “This is the seventh treasury of a bodhisattva-mahāsattva, the treasury of wisdom. One who dwells in this treasury attains inexhaustible wisdom and is universally able to awaken all beings.”

The Eighth, the Treasury of Mindfulness (1): What Is Recalled Is Ten Layers, Each Finer Than the Last

The treasury of mindfulness states its premise in its opening words: “This bodhisattva relinquishes folly and confusion and attains mindfulness complete in full” — the premise of mindfulness is the relinquishing of folly. While folly is there, what is remembered is all mistaken.

What is recalled the scripture spreads out in layers. The first layer is lives: one life, two lives, ten lives, a hundred lives, a thousand lives, a hundred thousand lives, measureless hundreds of thousands of lives. The second layer is kalpas: the kalpa of formation, the kalpa of decay, the kalpa of formation-and-decay, and more than one of each of these, then a hundred kalpas, a thousand kalpas, a hundred thousand koṭis of nayutas of kalpas, pushed all the way to “kalpas beyond number, measureless, boundless, without equal, uncountable, unweighable, unthinkable, immeasurable, unspeakable, and unspeakably unspeakable” — ten extreme names of number set side by side.

From here on the syntax changes, all of it ‘he recalls one ... and on to unspeakably unspeakable ...’: the names of buddhas, buddhas coming forth into the world and declaring predictions, buddhas coming forth into the world and declaring sūtras — and when it comes to the sūtras, the scripture lists in passing the whole of the twelve divisions of the teaching: “and as with the sūtras, so also with the geya, the predictions, the gāthā, the nidāna, the udāna, the accounts of former things, the accounts of former births, the extensive teachings, the unprecedented, the parables, and the discussions,” meaning that each of these twelve classes is handled on the same pattern. Then come the assemblies, the expounding of one kind of dharma, the various natures of one faculty, the measureless various natures of one faculty, the various natures of one affliction, and the various natures of one samādhi.

First a question: why is ‘faculty’ spoken of twice — first “various natures” and then “measureless various natures”? This is a fine point of the passage. The various natures of a faculty means that the capacities of beings fall into various classes; the measureless various natures of a faculty means that within each class there are again measureless differences. The treasury of mindfulness recalls both layers. Brought down to oneself: truly to remember a person is not merely to remember which class he belongs to, but to remember where he is unlike others of that class.

Clear away one misreading: this passage is not boasting of powers of memory. Of the ten layers recalled — lives, kalpas, buddha-names, predictions, the teachings, assemblies, the dharmas expounded, the faculties of beings, the delusions of beings, and the concentrations entered — not one is for himself; all are so that when he teaches the Dharma he may know who his hearers are, what they have heard before, and where they are stuck.

The Eighth, the Treasury of Mindfulness (2): The Names of the Ten Kinds of Mindfulness, and the Eight Marks After Dwelling in Mindfulness

The names of the ten kinds of mindfulness: “mindfulness that is still, mindfulness that is pure, mindfulness that is unmuddied, mindfulness that is clear through, mindfulness apart from dust, mindfulness apart from dusts of every kind, mindfulness apart from defilement, mindfulness that shines, mindfulness that may be loved and delighted in, and mindfulness that is unobstructed.”

Look at the division of labor among them one by one. Mindfulness that is still — mindfulness is quiet, not agitated. Mindfulness that is pure — mindfulness is itself undefiled. Mindfulness that is unmuddied — unmixed; one thought is one thought. Mindfulness that is clear through — it illumines through, and is not a blurred impression. Mindfulness apart from dust — apart from the dust that is its object. Mindfulness apart from dusts of every kind — not apart from one kind of dust only, but from every kind; the difference between this item and the one before it is just like the difference between the “various natures” and the “measureless various natures” of a faculty. Mindfulness apart from defilement — apart from the defilement that dyes. Mindfulness that shines — mindfulness has an illumining function of its own. Mindfulness that may be loved and delighted in — mindfulness is a joy, not a grim endurance. Mindfulness that is unobstructed — mindfulness carried to unobstructedness.

First a question: what is recalled has already been stated; why then state the ten aspects of mindfulness as well? Because what is recalled and the mind that recalls are two different things. However much is recalled, if the mind that recalls is muddied, agitated, or grimly enduring, that mindfulness does not amount to a treasury. All ten of these items speak of the quality of the mind that recalls.

The marks after dwelling in this mindfulness the scripture lists in eight clauses: “none in all the world is able to disturb him, none of the differing doctrines is able to move him, the roots of goodness of former ages are all made pure, he is undefiled toward the dharmas of the world of every kind, the hosts of Māra and the followers of other paths cannot destroy him, and when he changes his body and receives birth he loses nothing; past, present, and future, he teaches the Dharma without end; within all the worlds he dwells together with beings and has never had a fault; he enters the assemblies and the sites of awakening of all the buddhas without obstruction, and gains a drawing near to the places of all the buddhas.” — among these the clause “when he changes his body and receives birth he loses nothing” matters most: he is born into another body, and what he remembers is not lost. It is here that the treasury of mindfulness is a treasury; ordinary memory cannot cross birth-and-death, and this mindfulness can. The closing sentence: “This is called: the eighth treasury of a bodhisattva-mahāsattva, the treasury of mindfulness.”

The Ninth, the Treasury of Retention: A Passage Extremely Like the Treasury of Mindfulness — Where Does the Difference Lie

The syntax of the treasury of retention is almost the same as that of the treasury of mindfulness, both of them the layered pushing of ‘one ... and on to unspeakably unspeakable’. That being so, ask first: what is the difference between mindfulness and retention?

Look at the scripture's own choice of words. The treasury of mindfulness opens: “he relinquishes folly and confusion and attains mindfulness complete in full; he recalls one life past and two lives” — the direction of mindfulness is toward the past, and what is recalled is what has been passed through. The treasury of retention opens: “This bodhisattva retains the sūtras spoken by all the buddhas, and of the phrases therein and their meaning he loses nothing” — what retention is set upon is the dharma received, the stress falling on “of the phrases therein and their meaning he loses nothing.” Mindfulness is remembering what was undergone; retention is holding fast the dharma received so that it does not go awry.

Look next at the difference between the two lists, and it becomes clearer still. The treasury of mindfulness has “recalls one buddha coming forth into the world and declaring predictions” and “recalls one buddha coming forth into the world and declaring sūtras,” stressing the occurrence of that teaching; the treasury of retention reads “retains the prediction of one buddha” and “retains one sūtra,” dropping the words “coming forth into the world and declaring,” so that what is held is directly the dharma itself. The treasury of mindfulness has the two items “the various natures of one faculty” and “the measureless various natures of one faculty,” while the treasury of retention has only “retains the measureless various natures of one faculty,” but has in addition an item the treasury of mindfulness does not have, “retains one number of kalpas.” The two tables are not a repetition; each has its own charge.

The concluding words of the treasury of retention differ from those of all the other treasuries, and are the weightiest passage of praise in the chapter: “This treasury of retention is boundless and hard to fill, hard to reach the bottom of, hard to draw near to; none is able to subdue it; it is measureless and inexhaustible, possessed of great majestic power; it is the realm of a buddha, and only a buddha is able to know it fully.” — after seven clauses of ‘hard’ and ‘none / without’, it comes to rest on “it is the realm of a buddha, and only a buddha is able to know it fully.” First a question: is this not raising the treasury of retention too high? Clear away one misreading: the scripture says “only a buddha is able to know it fully,” and what is fully known is the extent of this treasury, not that a bodhisattva cannot retain it. The bodhisattva retains as before; it is only how far his retaining goes and how much remains unretained that a buddha alone knows. Brought down to oneself: this sentence is a measure given to one who holds the Dharma — what you hold is always less than you suppose. The closing sentence: “This is called: the ninth treasury of a bodhisattva-mahāsattva, the treasury of retention.”

The Tenth, the Treasury of Eloquence (1): The Number of the Kalpas May Be Exhausted, the Meaning Is Hard to Exhaust

The treasury of eloquence is the last of the ten treasuries, and also the one that gathers up the other nine.

Its opening words first set up what it depends upon: “This bodhisattva has deep wisdom and understands the character of reality; he expounds the dharmas widely for beings and does not go against the scriptures of any of the buddhas.” Four things: having deep wisdom (the capacity), understanding the character of reality (what it depends on), expounding widely for beings (the sake for which), not going against the scriptures of the buddhas (what it keeps to). First a question: what is the first condition of eloquence? Not fluency of speech, but “understanding the character of reality” and ‘not going against the scriptures’. These two clauses, one before and one after, hold eloquence between them — realization within, accord with the teaching of the scriptures without; only the ability to speak that stands between the two is called eloquence.

Then comes the layered pushing again: he expounds one chapter of dharma and on to unspeakably unspeakable chapters of dharma; he expounds the names of buddhas, worlds, predictions, sūtras, assemblies, the setting forth of one dharma, the measureless various natures of a faculty, the measureless various natures of an affliction, the measureless various natures of a samādhi. And then time too is pushed open: “Or he expounds for one day, or expounds for half a month or for a month, or expounds for a hundred years, a thousand years, a hundred thousand years, or expounds for one kalpa, a hundred kalpas, a thousand kalpas, a hundred thousand kalpas, or expounds for a hundred thousand koṭis of nayutas of kalpas, or expounds for kalpas beyond number and measureless and on to unspeakably unspeakable kalpas.”

Pushed this far, the scripture turns all at once, and this is the finest sentence in the chapter: “The number of the kalpas may be exhausted, but the meaning of one letter and one phrase is hard to exhaust.”

First a question: after taking such pains to push time out to unspeakably unspeakable kalpas, why overturn it in a single sentence? Because this contrast is exactly what is to be established — however long the time of speaking is pushed, it is still a ‘number’, and a number has an end; whereas the meaning within one letter and one phrase is not a number, and so has no end. The most direct evidence in the chapter for the two words ‘inexhaustible’ is in this one sentence. Clear away one misreading: this is not saying that the meaning of the Dharma is too much to be finished in the telling; it is saying that meaning does not lie on the scale of ‘how much’ at all, and therefore cannot be measured by time.

The scripture asks the reason itself: “Why is this? Because this bodhisattva has accomplished the ten kinds of inexhaustible treasury.” — eloquence is inexhaustible because the nine treasuries before it, together with itself, have all been accomplished. The treasury of eloquence is the fruit of the ten treasuries, not a tenth item set alongside the others.

The Tenth, the Treasury of Eloquence (2): Dhāraṇī, the Broad and Long Tongue, and the Boundless Body

After this treasury is accomplished: “he attains the gate of dhāraṇī that gathers in all dharmas present before him, with a million asaṃkhyeyas of dhāraṇīs as its retinue” — first he gains a gate of total retention, and this gate brings with it a million asaṃkhyeyas of dhāraṇīs as its retinue. And having gained it, what does he do? “With the light of the Dharma he expounds the Dharma widely for beings.”

The marks of his teaching the Dharma: “With a broad and long tongue he sends forth a subtle and wondrous sound that fills all the worlds of the ten directions; according to the faculties of beings he causes them all to be satisfied, their minds to gain joy, and all the bonds and stains of the afflictions to be extinguished.” — note the sequence here: filling the ten directions is extent, according with their faculties is fitness to the hearer, and causing satisfaction, joy, and the extinguishing of afflictions is benefit. Pervasion and responsiveness run together: however widely one speaks, if it does not accord with their faculties it does not amount to benefit.

Then: “He is well able to enter deeply into all sounds, speech, letters, and eloquence, causing the buddha-seed of all beings not to be cut off and their pure minds to continue unbroken; and with the light of the Dharma too he expounds the Dharma without end, and does not give rise to weariness.” — the fruit of eloquence is not the praise of the audience; it is “causing the buddha-seed of all beings not to be cut off and their pure minds to continue unbroken.”

The second “why is this” is the floor of this passage: “Because this bodhisattva has accomplished the boundless body that exhausts space and pervades the Dharma realm.” First a question: for teaching the Dharma without end, why is the reason “the boundless body”? Because teaching requires that the one who speaks be present; if the body has bounds, then there are places the teaching does not reach. The body pervades the Dharma realm, and only then does the teaching pervade the Dharma realm. Brought down to oneself: what this sentence recalls to us is that where one who expounds the Dharma reaches in his speaking is in fact how far he himself has been able to go.

The seven clauses of concluding praise: “This treasury is without end, without segment, without interval, without break, without alteration, without partition and obstruction, and without turning back; it is profound and without bottom, hard to enter into, and universally enters the gate of all the Buddha's dharmas.” — the last clause is the general gate of the ten treasuries: the treasury of eloquence “universally enters the gate of all the Buddha's dharmas.” From the first treasury's “believes that all dharmas are empty” to this “universally enters the gate of all the Buddha's dharmas,” an opening and a closing. The closing sentence: “This is the tenth treasury of a bodhisattva-mahāsattva, the treasury of eloquence.”

The Concluding Praise: The Ten Inexhaustible Dharmas Are the Ten Reasons Why the Ten Treasuries Are Inexhaustible

The ten treasuries having been spoken, the scripture does not stop there but sets up another passage: “Son of the Buddha! These ten kinds of inexhaustible treasury have ten kinds of inexhaustible dharma, which are able to cause the bodhisattvas ultimately to accomplish unsurpassed awakening.”

First a question: are these ten inexhaustible dharmas an eleventh treasury? They are not. One knows it by the syntax — all ten clauses end with ‘because’. ‘Because’ states a reason, not an item. These ten clauses are the ten reasons why the ten treasuries can be inexhaustible, not another ten things to be cultivated.

One by one: one, because they benefit all beings — what they are set against is all beings, and since beings are inexhaustible the treasuries are inexhaustible. Its being placed first shows that the first root of inexhaustibility is the scope of benefiting others. Two, because they dedicate and direct well by the original vow — the time when the original vow was made was already without limit, and when it is well dedicated and directed, what is done does not fall back upon oneself. Three, because in all kalpas they are not cut off — no interruption in time. Four, because to the exhausting of the realm of space they awaken beings and their minds have no limit — in space to the exhausting of the realm of space, and the mind able to awaken them without limit. These with the three before them make four sides all boundless: persons, vow, time, and space. Five, because they dedicate and direct toward the conditioned and yet do not cling — this is the most important: dedication must fall upon conditioned dharmas (upon concrete matters and concrete people), and yet without clinging to that conditioned thing. Not dedicated toward the conditioned, merit has nowhere to land; clinging to the conditioned, merit has an end. Six, because within the realm of a single thought all dharmas are inexhaustible — the realm within a single thought already contains all dharmas, so one need not wait for measureless thoughts to become inexhaustible; this present thought is already inexhaustible. Seven, because the mind of the great vow does not alter — the vow does not change, and so is not interrupted. Eight, because they are well able to gather in the dhāraṇīs — what is received and held is gathered in by total retention, and so is not let slip. Nine, because they are borne in mind and protected by all the buddhas — one is not holding out alone. Ten, because they understand clearly that all dharmas are like an illusion — if dharmas were truly existent, using a portion would leave that much less; it is precisely because they are like an illusion that the use of them is not used up.

The first clause and the tenth are to be looked at together: it begins at “they benefit all beings” and ends at “they understand clearly that all dharmas are like an illusion.” The one end is the most concrete matter — going and benefiting concrete beings; the other end is the emptiest of views — that all is like an illusion. Take away the former, and being like an illusion becomes an excuse for doing nothing; take away the latter, and the benefiting of beings will be carried on until it runs dry. That the ten inexhaustible dharmas can stand at all lies in these two ends, the one concrete and the one empty.

The closing sentence: “These are the ten kinds of inexhaustible dharma, which are able to cause all that is done in all the world to attain the ultimate great inexhaustible treasury.” — note the words “all that is done in all the world.” What is accomplished is not some other great treasury outside the world; it is that all that is done in the world is turned into an inexhaustible great treasury. Only here does the “inexhaustible treasury” of the chapter title truly come down to the ground.

Lineage

Of the meaning of this chapter, what the ancient masters have carried on runs in four tracks, all recorded without adjudication.

The line of Chengguan: he establishes the place of this chapter by the five senses of the reason for its coming, of which the first two, verbatim, may be adduced — “first, in order to answer the question about the ten treasuries at the beginning of the earlier second assembly; second, earlier what was set forth was the correct station, and now practice is raised in dependence on the station.” The former sense attaches this chapter to the question about the ten treasuries at the opening of the second assembly, an attachment of question and answer across assemblies; the latter attaches this chapter to the station of the preceding chapter, The Ten Practices, an attachment of raising practice in dependence on the station. His proper explanation of the text then follows the scripture's own three parts of the general indication, the several glosses of the ten treasuries, and the concluding praise; and within the several glosses each treasury is again divided into the four branches of indication, question, gloss, and conclusion — and these four branches accord entirely with the form of the ten treasuries in the scripture: each treasury is indicated by “Son of the Buddha,” questioned by ‘what is the such-and-such treasury of a bodhisattva-mahāsattva’, glossed by the text of that treasury, and concluded by ‘this is called / this is the such-and-such treasury of a bodhisattva-mahāsattva’ (the treasury of faith alone has no ordinal in its concluding clause, reading “this is called: the treasury of faith of a bodhisattva-mahāsattva”). The commentary sets up no outline differing from the scripture's own, and this is what marks Chengguan's gloss upon this chapter. Of the remaining three senses and of the explanation of the name and of the tenet and aim, what is recorded verbatim in the apparatus is an excerpt only; they are not recorded.

The line of Fazang: what he glosses is the sixty-fascicle text's “The Bodhisattva's Ten Inexhaustible Treasuries, Chapter Eighteen.” His weightiest determination upon this chapter lies in the structure of the chapter's name — “the person is indicated and the dharma is distinguished, and so it says ‘the ten treasuries of the bodhisattva’; it is not a title in which person and dharma are joined — that is to say, these ten kinds are the dharmas practiced by the bodhisattvas.” What he thereby sets aside is the reading that takes ‘the bodhisattva's ten treasuries’ as ‘bodhisattva’ and ‘ten treasuries’ named side by side as two things; Fazang judges it a title taken from its lord, the ten treasuries being what the bodhisattva practices, not another dharma standing alongside the bodhisattva.

The line of Zhiyan: in the Kongmu zhang he sets up a chapter on establishing the treasuries of the teaching of the One Vehicle, the three vehicles, and the lesser vehicle within the chapter of the Ten Treasuries, listing first the three treasuries and the two treasuries of the lesser vehicle and the five kinds of treasury of the three vehicles, and bringing out last the ten treasuries of this chapter, which he judges to be the treasury of the doctrine of the One Vehicle; and he sets up his own question and answer to distinguish why the ten treasuries and the three treasuries may be set against each other — his answer being that the three vehicles and the lesser vehicle speak according to the modes of concrete matters, and that there the teaching is not the meaning, whereas the One Vehicle takes the teaching as teaching and takes the meaning also as teaching. This chapter of his does not lemmatize the scripture clause by clause; it takes the names of the ten treasuries in order to establish the modes of the teaching, and its use is different from that of the commentators who gloss the meaning following the text. That the eighth in the list of that chapter reads “the treasury of right mindfulness,” differing by one graph from the base text's “treasury of mindfulness,” is recorded without adjudication.

The line of Li Tongxuan: he makes no distinction as to the structure of the name, nor does he open several senses, but says only “because these ten kinds of treasury are named in accordance with the dharma, it can be known” — the names of the ten treasuries are each set up according to the dharma upon which each depends, and one knows them by the name. The determination he leaves upon this chapter lies not upon the chapter but upon the assembly: “The part of the preface. The two chapters below are the part of the proper exposition. Within the two chapters, down to the shaking of the earth and the raising of offerings, is the part of the circulation. The Dharma-gate of the ten dedications spoken in the palace of the Tuṣita heaven — within this station there are three chapters of scripture, which together complete this station.” This determination is attached to the three parts of the fourth assembly, and it also reaches to the three chapters of the one assembly in the palace of the Tuṣita heaven completing a single station. To read this chapter by the structure of the assembly is a different track from glossing the meaning chapter by chapter following the text; the ancients had this account, and it is recorded.

The differences among the three masters gather at two places: the explanation of the name — Fazang distinguishes the structure and judges it a title taken from its lord, Li Tongxuan makes no distinction of structure but says “it can be known,” and what may be adduced of Chengguan is the five senses of the reason for its coming and not an explanation of the name; and the object of what is judged — Chengguan attaches this chapter to the question of the earlier assembly and to the station of the preceding chapter, Fazang attaches it to the doctrinal structure of the chapter's name, and Li Tongxuan passes over this chapter and judges the three parts of preface, proper exposition, and circulation of a whole assembly. The three masters run side by side; all are settled accounts of the ancient masters, and they are recorded without adjudicating which is higher.

Besides this there are two matters to be recorded together. First, the ten inexhaustible treasuries of this chapter and the ten inexhaustible treasuries of the chapter Clarifying the Dharma share a name but differ in their items: the tenth of the sets of ten dharmas in the chapter Clarifying the Dharma is likewise called “the ten inexhaustible treasuries,” and its ten items are universally seeing the buddhas, total retention without forgetting, resolving all dharmas, the great compassion that rescues and protects, samādhis of every kind, the vast merit that fulfills the minds of beings, the profound wisdom that sets forth all dharmas, the supernormal powers gained as retribution, dwelling for measureless kalpas, and entering boundless worlds — wholly different, item by item, from this chapter's ten of faith, precepts, shame, abashment, learning, giving, wisdom, mindfulness, retention, and eloquence, only the three graphs meaning ‘inexhaustible treasury’ being the same. The two chapters share a name and differ in their items; this is recorded as the facts stand, without adjudicating which of them is the proper one. Second, this chapter has no separately circulating treatise that lemmatizes and glosses it clause by clause: in the Huayan yisheng jiaoyi fenqi zhang, the Shixuan men, and the Huayan jing zhigui, these three books, the two terms meaning ‘the ten treasuries’ and ‘inexhaustible treasury’ yield zero hits, and the absence is recorded as the facts stand; the Pusa yingluo benye jing in one place names side by side “the ten grounds and the ten knowledges, the ten practices and the ten castings, the ten treasuries and the ten vows, the ten illuminations and the ten concentrations, the ten manifestations and the ten seals,” which is a sentence of general praise naming ten categories side by side and not a gloss of the meaning, and it is recorded.