華嚴經 品三十九 入法界品 · 天主光至最寂靜（會緣入實相·別一至別八）Avataṃsaka Sūtra · Entering the Dharma Realm · From Light of the Lord of Gods to Most Tranquil (The Conditions Gathered and Entering the Real: The First to the Eighth of the Particulars)

Every Teacher on This Stretch of the Road Is an Ordinary Person

From the goddess Light of the Lord of Gods to the brahmin Most Tranquil, when the eight good friends are read straight through in one breath, the first feeling is ‘this is too short.’ The goddess at least tells of ten kalpas of making offerings to buddhas, and Well Knowing the Many Arts at least sets out forty-two graphs; the other six together take up about four parts in ten of the whole unit — and Wondrous Moon has only one sentence: “Son of good family! I have gained one bodhisattva liberation, named: pure knowledge, light.” Having said it he humbles himself, points out the road, and sees his visitor off.

This is not an omission in the scripture text. Chengguan makes the pattern plain at the very head of this assembly, saying of the friends of this stretch, “now, their station and virtue being already at the utmost, they entrust their traces to the common stream; out of deep compassion in taking up beings they set forth no divine marvels, but benefit people by the Dharma alone.” Station and virtue have already reached the top, and yet the persons in which they are lodged are ordinary — a goddess, a teacher of small boys, a child, a laywoman, three elders, one brahmin, and not one of them displays a spiritual power, sends forth light, or shakes the earth. The kind of scene we had earlier, where multitudes came forth from fourteen places of the monk Ocean Banner’s body while he sat in samādhi, does not occur here even once.

There is a second reason as well, and it lies not with the teacher but with the student. Chengguan says, “further, it displays that the seeker’s way is deep, so that they may set forth only the name of the Dharma gate, and he grasps its purport from afar” — Sudhana having come this far, the friends need only speak the name of the Dharma gate, and he can take in its purport from a distance, with no need for a broader telling.

A misreading must be set aside: to think that little is said because the Dharma is small. If that were so, then Universal Friend, who does not even say the name of a Dharma gate, would have the smallest of all — and the ordering of the scripture text says exactly the opposite. To bring it to the ground: in reading these eight gatherings, ‘how little is said’ must itself be read as part of what is said.

The Eight Friends Taken as One Section: What Chengguan Calls ‘the Conditions Gathered and Entering the Real’

Why are these eight read together? Because in Chengguan’s outline they belong to one and the same mark. Chengguan outlines this as “second, from ‘then he went on to the palace of the gods’ onward, ten friends, making clear separately the gathering of conditions” — the ten good friends after Lady Māyā are one section. And the name and the sense of this mark Chengguan states very plainly: “second, from Māyā onward, nine gatherings and eleven persons, making clear the conditions gathered and entering the real — that is, gathering the abodes and the rest that came before, and accomplishing the two practices, the universal and the particular, so as to tally with and realize the Dharma realm; for the first gains the knowledge of illusion and the last gains the abiding in illusion, taking in between them the conditions that are as an illusion, and entering the one real.”

‘The first gains the knowledge of illusion’ points to what Māyā gained, and ‘the last gains the abiding in illusion’ points to what the boy Virtue-Born and the maiden Endowed with Virtue further on gain; the eight of this assembly stand precisely in between. And so the outline-names Chengguan gives these eight all bear the two graphs ‘knowledge of illusion’ upon them: the knowledge of illusion as the power of mindfulness, as the model of a teacher, as the graph-mothers, as having nothing to depend upon, as clinging to nothing, as the light of knowledge, as the mark of inexhaustibility, as the speech of true vow. These eight names are Chengguan’s own setting up; the scripture text does not mark them of itself.

A misreading must be set aside: to think that ‘illusion’ says these Dharma gates are not real. What Chengguan says — “taking in between them the conditions that are as an illusion, and entering the one real” — is that the conditions in between, which are as an illusion, are gathered up and one enters into the real; the illusory is what is gathered, and the real is what is entered. To bring it to the ground: what is to be read in this mark is not ‘it is all false,’ but ‘even the false can be a gate.’

As for Assigning the Stations, the Ancient Worthies Already Had Two Views

In reading this stretch one often meets the saying that ‘such a friend is assigned to such a station.’ This comes from the commentators carrying on the outlines of the ancient worthies; the scripture text does not mark it of itself, and moreover the ancient worthies from the first held two positions upon whether stations ought to be assigned at all. Chengguan records both: “as for the Dharma master Yi and the Taishan treatise, they gloss the text as it comes and assign nothing further; masters such as Guangtong all assign the stations of the grounds.” One school glosses as the text runs and assigns no order of stations; the other matches station to station.

What Chengguan lays down upon this is not a choice between them but an evenhanded word: “both have their reason. That is, since each single station is complete in many Dharma gates, how should the mind of an ordinary person be barred from studying and seeking the dharma of the good friends? — and so not assigning has its reason. Yet within the absence of an order of stations the order of stations is not obstructed, and to display the stations is the common rule, so that assigning too is without fault.” Not assigning has its own reason — each station is of itself complete in many Dharma gates, and even the mind of an ordinary person is not barred from cultivating the dharma of seeking friends; assigning too is without fault — within the absence of an order of stations an order of stations is not obstructed, and stations are the common rule. Both views stand, and both go through.

To bring it to the ground: when you come upon the talk of assigned stations, remember that it is a measuring rod, not a wall.

One Question Unchanged, Eight Answers All Different

The shape of this assembly can be seen at a glance: Sudhana comes before each one of them, and the words he asks are almost unchanged, graph for graph — “Holy one! I have already brought forth beforehand the mind of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi, but I still do not know how a bodhisattva is to study the practice of a bodhisattva, how a bodhisattva is to cultivate the path of a bodhisattva. I have heard that the holy one is well able to draw others on and to instruct them; I pray that you will expound it for me!” In the eight gatherings, “I pray that you will expound it for me” appears eight times. One and the same question, and eight different answers.

For this recurring set Chengguan sets up the names of six divisions: seeking in accord with the teaching, seeing and paying respect and inquiring, displaying his own Dharma gate, humbling himself and pointing to the superior, pointing out the next friend, cherishing his virtue and taking leave. At the first friend, Light of the Lord of Gods, he marks each division out in turn — “the first clause is precisely seeking in accord with the teaching. The second, from ‘he saw her’ onward, is seeing, paying respect, and inquiring. The third, from ‘the goddess answered’ onward, is displaying her own Dharma gate.” — and then says outright that below this he will abbreviate: “in the text of the six divisions for the good friends below, there is much that is not complete, and it may all be worked out by inference.”

This one clause, ‘there is much that is not complete,’ is the key to reading this assembly. Of the eight gatherings, the six scriptural events can for the most part be matched out in all but Universal Friend’s: the gathering of Universal Friend has only the question and the answer, and the answer itself is the pointing of the road; in the gathering of Wondrous Moon all six events — going, paying respect and inquiring, conferring the Dharma, humbling and pointing to the superior, pointing out the next, and taking leave — are present, only the displaying of the Dharma is one sentence. Chengguan’s ‘much is not complete’ speaks of the outline headings and of fullness and brevity, not of missing events — and this difference in fullness and brevity is precisely the greatest difference between this assembly and the friends who came before.

A misreading must be set aside: to think the six divisions are a form the scripture text marks for itself. They are Chengguan’s outline; the scripture text has no such names. To bring it to the ground: take the six divisions as a rod and measure the eight gatherings with it, and the differences it measures out are the content of this assembly.

Light of the Lord of Gods: The Pure Adornment of Unobstructed Mindfulness — a Name with Three Layers

The first is a goddess, and the scripture text says, “then he went on to the palace of the gods, saw that goddess, bowed to her feet and circled her, joined his palms and stood before her.” Her name Chengguan glosses as “that the good friend is called Light of the Lord of Gods means the surpassing function of compassion and knowledge, luminous, pure, and at ease, taking the sense of breaking through darkness” — the surpassing working of compassion and of knowledge, luminous and pure and at ease, taking the sense of breaking the dark. Her father’s name enters the gloss too: “that her father is named Right Mindfulness is because this mindfulness issues from concentration, and so the Dharma gate is named unobstructed pure mindfulness.” The father’s name being Right Mindfulness says that this mindfulness issues from concentration; and so the Dharma gate the daughter gains is named unobstructed pure mindfulness.

The name of the Dharma gate has three parts, and Chengguan glosses each in turn. The first part, ‘unobstructed mindfulness’ — “that is, with a single thought of unobstructed knowledge to observe universally the three times, so that there is nothing not brightly present, and yet there is no going, coming, or now: this is unobstructed mindfulness”: with the unobstructed knowledge of a single thought to observe the three times universally, so that not one thing is not brightly present, while within it there is no division into gone, coming, and now. The second part, ‘pure’ — “not mixed with other thoughts: this is pure mindfulness”: no other thought is mingled in. The third part, ‘adornment’ — “calling to mind the merit and virtue of the buddhas benefits compassion and knowledge, and so it is called adornment”: what is called to mind is the merit and virtue of buddhas, which benefits both compassion and knowledge, and so it is called adornment.

A misreading must be set aside: to think that ‘unobstructed mindfulness’ means a good memory. If it were only a good memory, why say ‘no going, coming, or now’? For the three times to be brightly present at once, with no before and after, is no longer memory; it is seeing. To bring it to the ground: to test your own mindfulness, do not look at how much you remember, but at whether, in the remembering, the mind has divided itself into past, present, and future.

The First Kalpa, Blue Lotus Blossom: From the Leaving of Home to the Exhaustion of the Dharma, Not One Thing Left Out

The goddess says that by the power of this liberation she calls the past to mind, and the first she raises is that “there was a most excellent kalpa named: Blue Lotus Blossom,” in which she made offerings to buddhas, tathāgatas as many as the sands of the Gaṅgā. And as for what making offerings means, the scripture text sets it out item by item — from the time those tathāgatas first left home, she looked up to them and served them, guarded and made offerings to them, built saṃghārāmas, and provided implements and goods.

Then comes a finer layer: at the time when those buddhas were still bodhisattvas — dwelling in the mother’s womb, being born, walking seven steps, making the great lion’s roar, dwelling in the station of a boy within the palace, going toward the tree of awakening and achieving right awakening, turning the wheel of the right Dharma, displaying the divine transformations of a buddha, teaching and taming beings — “all such things as these that they did, from the first bringing forth of the mind all the way to the exhaustion of the Dharma, I hold clearly in mind, with nothing whatever left out.” These eight junctures are the programme of a single buddha’s life; and what she holds is not one buddha, but every juncture of every one of the buddhas of that kalpa, as many as the sands of the Gaṅgā.

A misreading must be set aside: to think that this is boasting of the sheer quantity of memory. Upon the general sense of this passage Chengguan has another word: “not only calling them to mind, but also hearing and holding this gate at those many kalpas and many buddhas.” Not only calling to mind, but also hearing and holding this Dharma gate at those kalpas and those buddhas — the calling to mind is the fruit, and the hearing and holding is the cause. To bring it to the ground: an experience that is only remembered is only a bygone thing; remembered, and with what was then received carried on in practice ever since, it becomes the power of a liberation.

The Nine Kalpas in the Middle: Why Do the Numbers of Buddhas Offered To Rise and Fall?

After the first kalpa, the scripture text runs nine kalpas together with the pattern “and again there was a kalpa named” (which the source has seven times by actual count; the other two places read “and again, calling to mind a kalpa of the past” and “and again a past kalpa named”), which together with the first kalpa make ten. The names and the numbers, one by one, are: the kalpa Good Ground, buddhas as many as ten Gaṅgā’s sands; the kalpa Wondrous Virtue, buddhas as many as the dust-motes of one buddha-world; the kalpa Nothing Gained, eighty-four koṭis of hundreds of thousands of nayutas of buddhas; the kalpa Good Light, buddhas as many as the dust-motes of Jambudvīpa; the kalpa Measureless Light, buddhas as many as twenty Gaṅgā’s sands; the kalpa Most Excellent Virtue, buddhas as many as one Gaṅgā’s sands; the kalpa Good Compassion, buddhas as many as eighty Gaṅgā’s sands; the kalpa Excellent Roaming, buddhas as many as sixty Gaṅgā’s sands; the kalpa Wondrous Moon, buddhas as many as seventy Gaṅgā’s sands.

Reading down this string, one notices something odd: the numbers do not increase, and they do not decrease. After twenty Gaṅgā’s sands comes one Gaṅgā’s sands; after one Gaṅgā’s sands comes, all at once, eighty; then sixty; then seventy. If this passage meant to display that the longer the practice the more buddhas are offered to, the numbers ought to have risen all the way. They do not. The names of the kalpas do not fall under one head either — some take a blossom (Blue Lotus Blossom), some a ground (Good Ground), some a virtue (Wondrous Virtue, Most Excellent Virtue), some a meaning (Nothing Gained), some a light (Good Light, Measureless Light), some compassion (Good Compassion), some a practice (Excellent Roaming), some an image (Wondrous Moon).

Upon this passage Chengguan divides only three parts — the first kalpa, the kalpas in between, the general conclusion upon the many kalpas — and does not gloss the meaning kalpa by kalpa. A misreading must be set aside: to think that the greatness or smallness of the numbers is a ranking. Were it a ranking, the scripture text would have put the numbers in order. To bring it to the ground: since what is called to mind is ‘without going, coming, or now,’ then which kalpa had more and which had fewer does not from the first make a series.

The General Conclusion upon the Many Kalpas: After the Calling to Mind There Is Still the Receiving and Holding

The ten kalpas listed, the scripture text has a passage of general gathering: “Son of good family! Calling to mind in this way kalpas as many as the sands of the Gaṅgā, I have never once forsaken the buddhas, the tathāgatas, the worthy of offerings, the perfectly awakened; and from the presence of every one of those tathāgatas I heard this bodhisattva liberation of the pure adornment of unobstructed mindfulness, received it and held it, cultivated it and practiced it, and never forgot or lost it.” Then a further clause takes back into itself all that was listed before: of all the tathāgatas of the former kalpas, from their first being bodhisattvas to the exhaustion of the Dharma, everything they did is “called to mind accordingly, clear and distinct before me, held and practiced in accord, without ever having been idle or letting it lapse.”

The four graphs ‘held and practiced in accord’ deserve notice. Everything before this spoke of ‘remembering’; only here does it speak of ‘practising.’ Chengguan’s words, “also hearing and holding this gate at those many kalpas and many buddhas,” fall exactly upon this clause.

A misreading must be set aside: to think that this passage repeats the one before. The one before spoke of the things called to mind; this one speaks of the dharma received — the one an objective realm, the other a gate. To bring it to the ground: to turn a stretch of memory into a Dharma gate, what lies in between is ‘held and practiced in accord.’

‘I Know Only This’: The Clause That Appears Seven Times in Eight Gatherings

Having finished the working of her Dharma gate, the goddess goes on: “Son of good family! I know only this one liberation of pure unobstructed mindfulness.” She then raises the realm of the bodhisattva mahāsattvas — coming out of the long night of birth and death into brightness and clarity, forever free of the darkness of delusion and never drowsy or lost in sleep, minds without the various coverings and bodily conduct light and at ease, awakening purely to the nature of all dharmas, accomplishing the ten powers and opening the awakening of beings — and closes with “how could I know, or be able to tell of, their merit and their practice?”

This is a passage every good friend in this assembly has, and the two graphs ‘I only’ occur seven times in the whole unit (by actual count in the source). Eight gatherings and seven occurrences: the one that is missing is Universal Friend — he has no Dharma gate of his own, and so has nothing to be humble about. This one lack is not a dropped passage; it is structure.

At the gathering of Well Knowing the Many Arts, Chengguan has another important word upon this manner of humbling and pointing: “the pointing to the superior is to point to the superior by lodging it in the very many arts that he knows, for not forsaking the worldly is in nothing at variance with the real mark, and gathers into the gate of wisdom.” The superior he points to is pointed to by lodging it upon that one gate he himself knows; he does not change the subject in order to point.

A misreading must be set aside: to think that this is mere courtesy. If it were courtesy, the clauses of humbling in the eight gatherings would be one and the same set of words; in fact the ‘merit and practice’ each one raises is different — Light of the Lord of Gods raises coming out of the long night of birth and death and accomplishing the ten powers; Firm Liberation raises the great lion’s roar that has nothing to fear and the vast heap of merit and knowledge; Unconquerable Army raises knowledge without limit and eloquence without obstruction. Each clause points at a definite inability. To bring it to the ground: to know which one gate it is that you know is harder than knowing many things.

Pointing Out the Next Friend: Why a Good Friend Always Points to the One Who Comes Next

The clause of humbling finished, the goddess at once points out the road: “Son of good family! In the city Kapila there is a teacher of young boys, named: Universal Friend. Go to him and ask: how is a bodhisattva to study the practice of a bodhisattva, and to cultivate the path of a bodhisattva?” The clauses of pointing in the eight gatherings are almost of one form — “go to him and ask” occurs six times in the whole unit (by actual count in the source; the other two places read “you may ask him” and “you may go and ask him”).

The clause of pointing usually carries three things: a place-name, a person’s name, and a station in life. The teacher of small boys Universal Friend in the city Kapila; the laywoman Worthy and Excellent in the city Podana; the elder Firm Liberation in the city Fertile Fields; the elder Wondrous Moon in this same city; the elder Unconquerable Army in the city Birth-Giving; the brahmin Most Tranquil in the settlement named Dharma; the boy Virtue-Born and the maiden Endowed with Virtue in the city Gate of the Wondrous-Intent Blossom. For the most part the place-names carry a meaning of their own — Chengguan says of Universal Friend that “he dwells in the yellow-coloured city Kapila because the middle way is the rule for things”; of the city of Worthy and Excellent that “Podana means, in this tongue, increase, since the samādhi of inexhaustibility is able to bring forth”; of the city of Firm Liberation that “as for Fertile Fields in the pointing that follows, it is in southern India, near water and richly moist, displaying that the water of the concentration of no-thought is able to nourish and grow”; of the city of Unconquerable Army that “all come forth from the essence, and so the city is named Birth-Giving”; and of the settlement of Most Tranquil that “if one is able to be truthful, then this may be taken as a rule, and so the city is named Dharma.”

A misreading must be set aside: to think that the pointing of the road is only a note upon the itinerary. If it were only an itinerary, there would be no need for even the city names to carry a meaning. To bring it to the ground: that a teacher is willing to send you on to the next one is itself a part of the Dharma he confers.

Cherishing His Virtue and Taking Leave: Every Parting Reads Differently

In the eight gatherings the clauses of parting each differ a little on the face of them. The gathering of Light of the Lord of Gods has “at that time the youth Sudhana, because he had heard the Dharma, was glad and leapt for joy, and inconceivable roots of good of themselves grew and spread wide in him; he bowed his head to her feet, circled her numberless times, took his leave, and departed” — the longest parting in the whole unit, and one that states what was gained at the parting (roots of good growing of themselves). The gathering of Well Knowing the Many Arts has “he bowed his head and face in reverence to the feet of this knower of the arts … and departed gazing back upon him with longing”; the gathering of Worthy and Excellent has “gazing up with longing, he took his leave and went south”; the gathering of Firm Liberation has only “circled him numberless times, took his leave, and went on,” with no word of longing; and the gathering of Most Tranquil has “out of reverence for the Dharma, he made obeisance to the feet of the brahmin” — putting what is revered as the ‘Dharma,’ not the person.

‘Circled him numberless times’ occurs seven times in the whole unit (by actual count in the source), eight gatherings and seven occurrences — the gathering of Universal Friend likewise has no clause of parting, the scripture text turning straight from Universal Friend’s answer into “at that time Sudhana went on to his place.”

A misreading must be set aside: to think these are set phrases that may all be read past alike. If they were set phrases, there would be no variant such as ‘out of reverence for the Dharma.’ To bring it to the ground: what one carries away on leaving a good friend, the scripture text has in fact written down every single time.

Universal Friend: The Only Teacher Who Gives No Dharma Gate

The second gathering is the shortest, and also the strangest. Sudhana pays his respects and inquires, with not a word cut short, and Universal Friend’s answer is: “Son of good family! Here there is a boy named: Well Knowing the Many Arts, who studies the bodhisattva’s knowledge of graphs (the knowledge that enters the Dharma by way of letters). You may ask him, and he will expound it for you.” And with that it is over. No name of a Dharma gate, no working, no clause of humbling, no clause of parting.

Chengguan does not take this for a lack; on the contrary he sets up four meanings for it: “that he gains no dharma has, in brief, four meanings: first, because it is the same as the Dharma gate of Many Arts; second, because the Dharma has one to whom it is entrusted, displaying its being handed on; third, because it displays that the essence of all Dharma gates is not two; fourth, because it displays that it is having nothing gained that is the way to gain.” The first meaning is upon the affair — his Dharma gate and that of Well Knowing the Many Arts are one and the same, and there is no need to say it twice. The second is upon the affair as well — the Dharma has one who receives it, which precisely displays that its handing on is unbroken. The third enters the principle — it displays that the essence of all Dharma gates is from the first not two. The fourth is the deepest — it displays that having nothing gained is what gaining is.

Fazang here has a turning word of his own, saying “this boy then is the Dharma gate, since the name is not two and person and dharma are unobstructed” — that boy himself is Universal Friend’s Dharma gate; between person and dharma there is no partition. Li Tongxuan, in his general listing of ten gates, covers it with a single clause: “third, the teacher of boys, making clear the gate of being the model of a teacher for worldly dharmas, filling the ten directions.” The three houses gloss the reason differently, while the fact they point to is one: Universal Friend sets up no Dharma gate of his own. These divergent interpretations are all settled sayings of the ancient worthies, and are recorded as such.

A misreading must be set aside: to think that Universal Friend is a passing figure. Were he a passing figure, the commentators would not have set up four meanings for him. To bring it to the ground: the most important thing a teacher says is sometimes ‘this is the one you should go and ask about that.’

Well Knowing the Many Arts: Worldly Arts Too Can Be a Gate of Wisdom

The good friend of the third gathering is a boy, and his name is his Dharma gate’s name — “I have gained one bodhisattva liberation, named: well knowing the many arts.” Chengguan glosses this name, saying “that is, because with unobstructed knowledge he exhausts the arts and crafts of the world” — with unobstructed knowledge he exhausts the arts of the world.

Why he singles out the graph-mothers and not some other art, Chengguan also gives the reason for: “the graph-mothers are the superior among the many arts and the root of writing and speaking, and so they are singled out and made clear, having a marking, a listing, and a conclusion.” The graph-mothers are the most superior of the many arts and the root of all writing and speech, and so this one item alone is raised; and the structure of this passage is the three parts of marking the name, listing the gates, and concluding.

The clause of humbling in this gathering is the longest spread in the whole unit. The worldly arts of the bodhisattvas, the mahāsattvas, to whom he points as superior are letters, numbering, medicine, and spells; the sicknesses they can heal are being held fast by ghosts and goblins, being cursed by those who hate one, the strange calamities of an evil star, being chased by a corpse, epilepsy, and wasting thinness; the treasures they can tell apart are gold and jade, pearl and shell, coral, beryl, maṇi, tridacna, and jisaluo; the human dwellings they can take in are hamlets and villages and towns, cities great and small, palaces and gardens, cliffs and springs and marshes and fens; and what they can observe is the patterns of the heavens and the earth, the signs of good and ill fortune in a person’s features, the sounds of birds and beasts, the airs of cloud and haze, the fatness or leanness of the year’s harvest, and the safety or peril of a land. The scripture text says of all these that “there is not one they are not practiced in, for they have exhausted their very root and source,” and only then turns to the dharmas that go beyond the world.

A misreading must be set aside: to think that this long passage is boasting of many abilities. The scripture text finishes the worldly arts and the dharmas beyond the world within one and the same clause, and closes at the last with seven ‘nots’ — no doubt, no obstruction, no darkness of delusion, no dullness, no anxiety, no sinking down, and nothing not directly realized. To bring it to the ground: the breadth of the worldly dharmas and the purity of the dharmas beyond the world are not, in this one friend, two separate affairs.

Why the Graph-Mothers Are Gates of Wisdom

Forty-two graphs — why is every one of them called a ‘gate of prajñā-pāramitā’? This is the most important question of this assembly. Chengguan’s answer is one clause only: “that the forty-two gates listed are all called gates of prajñā-pāramitā is because one enters from the graph into the knowledge of no-mark, so that the sense of the graph is the gate.” One enters from the graph into the knowledge of no-mark, and so the sense of the graph is the gate.

The direction of this clause deserves notice. It is not that wisdom is inside the graph, but that from the graph one enters no-mark — the graph is the entrance, and what is entered is the knowledge of no-mark. Chengguan further cites the Wenshu wuzi jing in witness: “receiving and holding this dhāraṇī, one enters the evenness of all dharmas and swiftly accomplishes the great wisdom.”

And what the number forty-two sets forth is the stations. At the end of this passage Chengguan says: “that it concludes with forty-two gates is because they set forth the forty-two stations.” The forty-two stations, that is, the ten abodes, the ten practices, the ten dedications, and the ten grounds, with equal awakening and wondrous awakening added.

A misreading must be set aside: to think that chanting the graphs is a kind of spellcraft, and that chanting works of itself. If it were spellcraft, there would be no need to say ‘one enters from the graph into the knowledge of no-mark.’ To bring it to the ground: the pivot of this gate is the word ‘enter’ — the chanting is what enters, the gate is what is entered, and the step in between is the letting go of taking the graph for something real.

The First Five Graphs: a · duo · bo · zhe · na

The first gate is “when I chant the graph a, I enter one gate of prajñā-pāramitā, named: entering the realm of no differences by the bodhisattva’s awesome power.” Chengguan glosses the graph a: “first, a: this is the sense of no arising, since the principle of no arising takes in and covers the myriad dharmas.” The principle of no arising takes in the myriad dharmas, and so it is the realm of no differences. And why it is called ‘awesome power’ he also says: “and the bodhisattva, gaining this no arising, is then able to reach the emptiness of all dharmas and to cut off all hindrances, and so it says awesome power.”

The second gate is the graph duo, the gate named ‘the gate of boundless differences.’ This one graph is the most conspicuous place where the two witnesses diverge — the sixty-fascicle witness has here the graph luo, and the gate-name differs as well. Chengguan records the reason, saying “the two graphs luo and duo are close in form and their sounds are easily confused,” and lets another reading stand as well: “if one glosses in accord with ‘without dust and stain,’ then it is the boundless gate that first cleanses dust and stain.” He also records the Piluzhena jing’s gloss of the graph duo, which is four graphs only: “suchness, liberation.”

The third gate is the graph bo, the gate named ‘universally illumining the Dharma realm.’ Chengguan glosses: “that is, the true and the conventional both vanishing is the true Dharma realm, and all dharmas being equal is precisely the universal illumining.” When neither the true nor the conventional is set up, that is the true Dharma realm; that all dharmas are equal is the universal illumining.

The fourth gate is the graph zhe, the gate named ‘the universal wheel that cuts off differences.’ Chengguan glosses: “fourth, zhe: dharmas have no formations — that is, the formations being empty, differences are therefore crushed universally.” The formations being empty, differences are universally crushed.

The fifth gate is the graph na, the gate named ‘gaining the unsupported and the unsurpassed.’ Chengguan glosses: “fifth, na: dharmas have no nature or mark, and speech and letters are all unobtainable.” And a layer further: “that is, nature and mark both vanishing, therefore there is nothing to depend on. What expresses and what is expressed both vanishing, this is called unsurpassed.” Neither nature nor mark is set up, and so there is nothing depended on; neither what expresses nor what is expressed remains, and so it is unsurpassed.

A misreading must be set aside: to think these five graph-meanings are five separate items each standing alone. The text Chengguan cites strings them precisely into one ring — because na is without nature and mark, zhe is without formations; because zhe is without formations, bo is without a first meaning; and so backwards to the original non-arising of a. To bring it to the ground: these five gates are to be read in one breath, read as a circle running from the existent to the empty and from the empty back to original non-arising.

From the Graph luo to the Graph sha: From Leaving the World to Holding Images as the Ocean Does

The sixth gate is the graph luo, the gate named ‘leaving what is depended upon, without stain.’ Chengguan glosses: “sixth, the graph luo: awakening that all dharmas leave the world, since the causes and conditions of the branch of craving never appear again.” Leaving the world, and so nothing is depended on; the conditions of craving not appearing, and so no stain.

The seventh gate is the graph tuo, the gate named ‘the skillful means of non-retrogression.’ Chengguan glosses: “seventh, the graph tuo: awakening that all dharmas are tamed and still, and because suchness is even and without discrimination, this is then the skillful means of non-retrogression.” (The commentary writes the graph one way and the scripture text another.)

The eighth gate is the graph po, the gate named ‘the diamond ground.’ Chengguan glosses: “eighth, the graph po: awakening that all dharmas leave bondage and release, and only then does one enter the diamond ground.” Only when even the pair ‘bondage’ and ‘release’ has been left does one enter the diamond ground.

The ninth gate is the graph tu, the gate named ‘the universal wheel.’ Chengguan glosses: “ninth, the graph tu: awakening that all dharmas leave heat and falseness and filth and gain coolness, which is the sense of universal crushing.”

The tenth gate is the graph sha, the gate named ‘the treasury of the ocean.’ Chengguan glosses: “tenth, the graph sha: awakening that all dharmas are without hindrance, as the ocean holds images.” The ocean can hold every image without obstruction, and so it is called a treasury.

A misreading must be set aside: to think that gate-name and graph-meaning are matched at random. Looking down these five gates one by one, the graph-meaning is the cause and the gate-name the effect — because it leaves the world it is without stain; because it leaves bondage and release it enters the diamond ground; because it is without hindrance it holds images as the ocean does. To bring it to the ground: the way to read the forty-two gates is to ask of each one, ‘how does this graph-meaning give birth to this gate-name?’

From the Graph fu to the Graph suo: Unmoving, As It Really Is, Subduing, Even

The eleventh gate is the graph fu, the gate named ‘universally bringing forth and abiding at peace.’ Chengguan glosses: “the graph fu: awakening that in all dharmas the road of speech is cut off, and so it is able to abide everywhere.” The road of speech being cut off, only then can one abide universally.

The twelfth gate is the graph duo, the gate named ‘the light of fullness.’ Chengguan glosses: “the graph duo: awakening that all dharmas are truly unmoving, and being unmoving they are full and send forth light.”

The thirteenth gate is the graph ye, the gate named ‘the heaping up of differences.’ Chengguan glosses: “the graph ye: awakening that as it really is there is no arising, and then the heaping up of the differences of the vehicles is all unobtainable.” Though the gate-name says ‘heaping up of differences,’ what is awakened to is that the heaping up of differences is unobtainable.

The fourteenth gate is the graph sezha, the gate named ‘the universal light that stills the afflictions.’ Chengguan glosses: “the graph sezha: awakening that all dharmas are subdued, since the mark of holding is unobtainable.” And he takes the gate-name apart and matches it: “the universal light is what subdues, the holding of the afflictions is what is subdued, and stilling is the sense of subduing.”

The fifteenth gate is the graph jia, the gate named ‘the cloud without differences.’ Chengguan glosses: “the graph jia: awakening that the doer is unobtainable, and then the deeds done are like clouds, all without difference.”

The sixteenth gate is the graph suo, the gate named ‘sending down the great rain.’ Chengguan’s gloss is four graphs only: “the graph suo in the rising tone: this is the nature of the evenness of time.”

The seventeenth gate is the graph mo, the gate named ‘the great flood surging and the many peaks standing ranged together.’ Chengguan glosses: “the graph mo: this is the nature of grasping at what is mine, conceit lifting itself high like many peaks ranged together.” Conceit lifting itself high like peaks standing side by side, and the long flood of birth and death like a surging torrent — the two scenes of the gate-name are the one conceit and the other transmigration.

The eighteenth gate is the graph qie, the gate named ‘universally setting up.’ Chengguan glosses: “the graph qie: this is the nature of grasping at practice in all dharmas.”

The nineteenth gate is the graph ta, the gate named ‘the treasury of the evenness of suchness.’ Chengguan glosses: “the graph ta: this is the nature of place.”

The twentieth gate is the graph she, the gate named ‘entering the ocean of the world and being pure.’ Chengguan glosses: “the graph she: this is what gives rise and what is given rise to.”

The twenty-first gate is the graph suo, the gate named ‘calling to mind the adornment of all buddhas.’ Chengguan glosses: “the graph suo: this is the nature of security.”

A misreading must be set aside: to think that where Chengguan’s gloss is short the matter is unimportant. At the end of this passage he states his own procedure, saying that the graphs before all had the head and tail of ‘awakening that all dharmas’ and ‘unobtainable,’ which he now abbreviates throughout; and that if one wants them in full, they are all to be read as the graph sezha was. To bring it to the ground: when you come upon a four- or five-graph gloss of the form ‘such a graph is such a nature,’ put the head and tail back yourself — awakening that all dharmas are of such a nature, unobtainable.

From the Graph tuo to the Graph heluoduo: Holding, Stillness, Like Space, the Nature of Exhaustion

The twenty-second gate is the graph tuo appearing a second time, the gate named ‘observing and sifting out all the gatherings of dharmas.’ Chengguan glosses: “the graph tuo: this is the nature of being able to hold the realms.” One and the same graph appearing twice with different gate-names shows precisely that the gate is not determined by the graph.

The twenty-third gate is the graph she, the gate named ‘the light of the wheel of the teaching of all buddhas, followed in accord.’ Chengguan glosses: “the graph she: this is the nature of stillness.”

The twenty-fourth gate is the graph qu, the gate named ‘the treasury of wisdom cultivated upon the ground of the cause.’ Chengguan glosses: “the graph qu: this is the nature of being like space.”

The twenty-fifth gate is the graph cha, the gate named ‘the treasury that stills the ocean of all deeds.’ Chengguan glosses: “the graph cha: this is the nature of exhaustion.” Chengguan says of himself that from the graph suo onward every gloss has ‘awakening to all dharmas’ above and ‘cannot be obtained’ below, and that here he abbreviates them all — the full sentence for the graph cha is to be read: awakening to the nature of exhaustion of all dharmas as unobtainable. The stilling of the ocean of deeds lies precisely in that unobtainability of the nature of exhaustion, not in a forward inference from exhaustion to stilling.

The twenty-sixth gate is the graph suoduo, the gate named ‘sweeping away the hindrances of delusion and opening the pure light.’ Chengguan glosses: “the graph suoduo: this is the nature of holding what is the place and what is not the place so that they do not move, the hindrances of delusion being what is not the place, and the opening of the pure light being what is the place.” The two halves of the gate-name answer exactly to the place and the not-place.

The twenty-seventh gate is the graph rang, the gate named ‘the gate of the wisdom that makes the world.’ Chengguan glosses: “the graph rang: this is the nature of what knows and what is known.” (The commentary writes the graph one way and the scripture text another.)

The twenty-eighth gate is the graph heluoduo, the gate named ‘the wheel of wisdom within the realm of birth and death.’ Chengguan glosses: “the graph heluoduo: this is the nature of the sense of clinging, the clinging being the realm of birth and death and the sense being the wheel of knowledge.” The two halves of the gate-name are likewise taken apart and matched — the clinging is the realm of birth and death, the sense is the wheel of knowledge.

A misreading must be set aside: to think that these gate-names are a heap of fine words piled together. Wherever a gate-name is in two halves, Chengguan for the most part takes it apart and matches it in two. To bring it to the ground: when you meet a long gate-name, first see whether it can be split into two halves.

From the Graph po to the Graph zha: Breakable, Desire, Summoning, Valiant

The twenty-ninth gate is the graph po appearing a second time, the gate named ‘the full adornment of the palace of omniscience.’ Chengguan glosses: “the graph po: this is the nature of being breakable.” And he records a divergence of rendering: “the word ‘full,’ Bukong renders as ‘the place of the Way.’”

The thirtieth gate is the graph che, the gate named ‘the treasury of the skillful means of practice, each one of them full.’ Chengguan glosses: “the graph che: this is the nature of being covered by desire and pleasure.”

The thirty-first gate is the graph suomo, the gate named ‘seeing the buddhas appear in accord with the ten directions.’ Chengguan glosses: “the graph suomo: this is the nature of being able to be called to mind.” The full sentence for the graph suomo likewise reads: awakening to the nature of all dharmas as able to be called to mind, as unobtainable. The seeing of the buddhas appearing is fastened to that unobtainability of the nature of being called to mind, not to a forward inference that because they can be called to mind they can be seen.

The thirty-second gate is the graph hepo, the gate named ‘observing all beings who have no bond of affinity, taking them in by skillful means, and causing the power of unobstructedness to arise’ — the longest name among the forty-two gates. Chengguan glosses: “the graph hepo: this is the nature of being able to be summoned, since those without a bond are summoned and made to have a bond.” Having from the first no bond of affinity, they are summoned and thereby made to have one.

The thirty-third gate is the graph cuo, the gate named ‘cultivating and going on to enter the ocean of all merit and virtue.’ Chengguan glosses: “the graph cuo: this is the nature of valiance.”

The thirty-fourth gate is the graph qie appearing a second time, the gate named ‘the firm treasury of the ocean that holds the cloud of all dharmas.’ Chengguan glosses: “the graph qie: this is the nature of thick evenness.” The same graph as the eighteenth gate, glossed differently — the one as the nature of grasping at practice, the other as the nature of thick evenness.

The thirty-fifth gate is the graph zha, the gate named ‘universally seeing the buddhas of the ten directions in accord with one’s vow.’ Chengguan glosses: “the graph zha: this is the nature of accumulation.”

A misreading must be set aside: to think that the reappearing of one and the same graph among the forty-two gates is an oversight of the translator. In the forty-two gates of the scripture text, the graphs tuo, po, and qie each appear twice, and the gate-names and Chengguan’s glosses are in each case different. To bring it to the ground: the graph is what enters and the gate is what is entered; one and the same enterer can open out different things entered.

From the Graph na to the Graph tuo: The Last Seven Gates

The thirty-sixth gate is the graph na, the gate named ‘observing that the wheel of graphs has inexhaustible koṭis of graphs.’ Chengguan glosses: “the graph na: this is leaving the various clamours and disputes, without going and without coming, walking, standing, sitting, and lying down — that is, by constantly observing the wheel of graphs.” Constantly observing the wheel of graphs, and so amid walking, standing, sitting, and lying down there is neither going nor coming.

The thirty-seventh gate is the graph suopo, the gate named ‘the place where the teaching of beings comes to its end.’ Chengguan glosses: “the graph suopo: this is the ripened recompense that fills everywhere.”

The thirty-eighth gate is the graph suojia, the gate named ‘the vast treasury, the wheel of the light of unobstructed eloquence, illumining everywhere.’ Chengguan glosses: “the graph suojia: this is the nature of the aggregates as accumulation.”

The thirty-ninth gate is the graph yesuo, the gate named ‘proclaiming the realm of all buddha-dharmas.’ Chengguan glosses: “the graph yesuo: this is the nature and mark of decay and age.”

The fortieth gate is the graph shizhe, the gate named ‘the Dharma-thunder roaring everywhere throughout the realm of all beings.’ Chengguan glosses: “the graph shizhe: this is the gathering together of footprints — that is, the gathering together is all beings, and the Dharma-thunder is precisely the footprints.”

The forty-first gate is the graph cha, the gate named ‘awakening beings by the dharma of no-self.’ Chengguan glosses: “the graph cha: this is the nature of mutual driving on — that is, no-self awakening them is precisely the driving on.”

The forty-second gate is the graph tuo, the gate named ‘the treasury of the differences of the wheels of all dharmas.’ Chengguan glosses: “the graph tuo: this is the final place; that is to say, this final place holds within it all the wheels of dharma.” And he records a divergence between the renderings: “yet the new rendering has the graph tu, drawn out in the departing tone.”

A misreading must be set aside: to think that the last gate is a closing courtesy. The forty-two gates end at ‘the final place,’ and this final place is one that ‘holds within it all the wheels of dharma’ — it ends upon a word of holding, not upon a word of exhausting. To bring it to the ground: for a road to be walked to its end is not to throw away what has been walked before, but to hold it all within.

The Forty-Two Gates as the Foremost: The Gates Are Not Only Forty-Two

The graph-mothers listed, the scripture text lays down a conclusion of its own: “Son of good family! When I chant these graph-mothers, I take these forty-two gates of prajñā-pāramitā as the foremost, and enter measureless, numberless gates of prajñā-pāramitā.”

The two graphs ‘the foremost’ deserve notice. Forty-two is not the whole; it is the head. The forty-two gates are the foremost of what enters, and what is entered is measureless and numberless. At the end of this passage Chengguan likewise states that his own gloss has raised only the difficult ones: “those among them that are difficult have been glossed; for the rest, set the scripture text and the commentary side by side and the text may all be understood.” And he says there is a separate chapter that treats it in detail: “there is further the matching and the merit gained by the rite of cultivating contemplation, which are set out in full in a separate chapter.”

A misreading must be set aside: to think that forty-two is a closed list, and that having it by heart is the end of the matter. The scripture text says it very plainly — forty-two is only the head. To bring it to the ground: a numbered list of dharmas read as an upper limit has been read backwards; it is a roster of entrances, not the sum of the contents.

The Pointing to the Superior of Many Arts: Not Forsaking the Worldly, and Yet Not at Variance with the Real Mark

After the clause of humbling of Well Knowing the Many Arts comes the most important clause of commentary in the whole unit. Chengguan says: “the pointing to the superior is to point to the superior by lodging it in the very many arts that he knows, for not forsaking the worldly is in nothing at variance with the real mark, and gathers into the gate of wisdom.”

This one clause resolves three things. First, the superior he points to is pointed to upwards from the very many arts he himself knows, not by changing the subject. Second, the worldly is not forsaken — the arts, medicine, numbering, astronomy, none of them need be thrown away. Third, these worldly matters are not at variance with the real mark, and can all be gathered into the gate of wisdom.

A misreading must be set aside: to think that when practice reaches a certain point the worldly arts ought to be laid down. The whole passage of this gathering is precisely the counter-instance — the name of his liberation is ‘well knowing the many arts.’ To bring it to the ground: the question was never whether you can do these things, but whether, in doing them, you come to a stop upon the things.

Worthy and Excellent: To Have Nothing to Depend On Is Itself the Place of the Way

The good friend of the fourth gathering is the laywoman Worthy and Excellent. Her name Chengguan glosses as “that the friend is named Worthy and Excellent: worthy is as much as to say straight and good; and the place of the Way that has nothing to depend upon is the utmost of the straight and good” — worthy means straight and good, and the place of the Way that has nothing to depend upon is the highest among the straight and good. Of the city she dwells in Chengguan glosses, “Podana means, in this tongue, increase, since the samādhi of inexhaustibility is able to bring forth.”

Her first Dharma gate is ‘the place of the Way that has nothing to depend upon.’ Upon this name Chengguan first gives the plainest reading: “taking the scripture text just as it stands, that inner and outer have nothing to depend upon is precisely the place of the Way.” When neither inner nor outer is depended upon, that place of no dependence is the place of the Way. He then cites the gloss upon the Sanskrit name transmitted by Xianshou, saying that the sense of that name is “that is, without the dependent place of the defiled part of the ālaya, and yet having the full ground of the pure part, bringing forth surpassing virtues that cannot be exhausted — that is, the turning about of the basis brought to its end, displaying that the virtues are inexhaustible” — no dependent place for the defiled part, and yet a full ground of the pure part.

A misreading must be set aside: to think that ‘nothing to depend upon’ means relying on nothing and doing nothing. The scripture text goes straight on to say, “having myself come to understand it, I also expound it for others” — the one who depends on nothing has not come to a stop. To bring it to the ground: to depend on nothing is not to be unmoving, but to move without leaning.

The Samādhi of Inexhaustibility: It Is Not That the Dharma Itself Has Exhaustion or Inexhaustibility

The second dharma Worthy and Excellent gains is the samādhi of inexhaustibility, and the first thing the scripture text says of it is a negation: “and I have gained a samādhi of inexhaustibility — not that the dharma of that samādhi itself has exhaustion or inexhaustibility.” It is not that the dharma of that samādhi itself has exhaustion, nor that it itself is inexhaustible.

Then in what respect is it ‘inexhaustible’? In respect of what it brings forth. The scripture text goes on to set out the reason in full with nine clauses of “and again is able to bring forth … inexhaustibly.” Upon the relation of this pair of Dharma gates Chengguan lays down a judgment: “this being so, the two gates complete one another: the place of the Way that has nothing to depend upon is the empty Tathāgata-womb, and the samādhi of inexhaustibility is precisely the not-empty.” The place of the Way that depends on nothing is the side of emptiness, the samādhi of inexhaustibility is the side of non-emptiness, and the two gates complete one another. He further makes plain their order: “it is required that the mind depend on nothing and tally with the original emptiness, and only then does one see that the not-empty is complete in the virtues of its nature, and so it says ‘brings forth.’” First to depend on nothing and tally with the original emptiness, and only then is it seen that within the not-empty the virtues of the nature are from the first complete.

There is a further guard against misreading that Chengguan makes a point of: “the eye and the rest of the nature of omniscience are displayed forth by the stilling of the false, and so it says ‘brings forth.’ The coming forth is not from an original non-being; it is still called the nature of omniscience.” What is called bringing forth is a displaying forth by the stilling of the false, not a making anew of what was not there before — and precisely because it is not made anew, it is still called ‘the nature of omniscience.’

A misreading must be set aside: to think that ‘bringing forth’ is cultivating into being something that was not there. To bring it to the ground: what practice increases is the display, not the being.

The Nine Clauses of Inexhaustibility: Beyond the Six Faculties, There Are Three More

The order of the nine clauses is eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind, billows of merit and virtue, light of wisdom, swift spiritual powers (‘inexhaustibly’ occurs nine times by actual count in the source). The first six are the six faculties, and the last three fall outside the faculties.

One thing must be seen clearly in the first six clauses: what is brought forth is not ‘the eye’ but ‘the eye of the nature of omniscience.’ That is to say, what is spoken of here is not the fleshly eye and ear and nose, but the eye and ear and nose upon the nature of omniscience — the six faculties here are already the six faculties of the nature of knowledge. The last three clauses change category: the billows of merit and virtue speak of measure, the light of wisdom speaks of illumining, the swift spiritual powers speak of function.

A misreading must be set aside: to think the nine clauses say one and the same thing nine times over. If they were one and the same thing, there would have been no need to add three clauses after the six faculties; and those three are precisely what makes plain that ‘inexhaustible’ does not stop at the gates of the faculties. To bring it to the ground: the way to read a passage of parallel clauses is first to find the clause at which it changes category.

The Humbling and the Pointing of Worthy and Excellent

The clause of humbling of Worthy and Excellent differs a little from those of the other gatherings: “Son of good family! I know only this one liberation of the place of the Way that has nothing to depend upon. But as for the merit and the practice of those bodhisattvas, the mahāsattvas, who cling to nothing at all — how could I fully know it, or tell of it?” The other gatherings mostly have ‘how could I know, or be able to tell of, their merit and their practice,’ while here it is ‘how could I fully know it, or tell of it,’ with the one added graph ‘fully.’ What she points to as superior is one clause only — ‘the merit and the practice of those who cling to nothing at all’ — the briefest passage among the clauses of humbling of the eight gatherings.

The next one she points out is the elder Firm Liberation of the city Fertile Fields. Chengguan here glosses the city name, saying “as for Fertile Fields in the pointing that follows, it is in southern India, near water and richly moist, displaying that the water of the concentration of no-thought is able to nourish and grow” — a land moistened by water, setting forth that the water of the concentration of no-thought is able to nourish and grow. And he glosses in passing the name of the next friend: “that the elder is named Firm Liberation is because, unclinging and pure, delusions cannot destroy him, which is precisely liberation.” Sudhana bows to her feet and circles her, and “gazing up with longing, took his leave and went south.”

A misreading must be set aside: to think the length or brevity of the clauses of humbling is a matter of chance. Among the eight gatherings, the two who say most of their Dharma gate (Light of the Lord of Gods and Well Knowing the Many Arts) have the longest clauses of humbling; Wondrous Moon, whose conferring answer is the shortest, has a clause of humbling among the shortest as well (by actual count, Worthy and Excellent thirty-six graphs, Wondrous Moon thirty-eight). To bring it to the ground: in this assembly, the superior pointed to and the dharma displayed answer to one another on the whole.

Firm Liberation: Unclinging Is Upon the Object, No-Thought Is Upon the Mind

The elder of the fifth gathering is named Firm Liberation, and his Dharma gate is named ‘the pure adornment of mindfulness that clings to nothing.’ Chengguan takes this name apart into four parts and glosses it: “unclinging is upon the object, since it leaves what is known. No-thought is upon the mind, since the essence of mind leaves thought and is therefore without afflictions.” Unclinging is said with respect to the object, and what is left is the hindrance of the knowable; no-thought is said with respect to the mind, and because the essence of mind leaves thought there are no afflictions. And two parts more: “the two hindrances being forever exhausted is called pure, and being pure it is able to adorn the Dharma body.” The two hindrances both exhausted is called pure, and being pure it can adorn the Dharma body.

Fazang, upon the sixty-fascicle witness, has a gloss to the same effect: “right mindfulness being present before him, he leaves the hindrance of the knowable, and so it says unclinging; he leaves the hindrance of the afflictions, and so it says pure.” The two houses match the same names of the hindrances, differing only slightly in the graphs to which they fasten them. These divergent interpretations are all settled sayings of the ancient worthies, and are recorded as such.

A misreading must be set aside: to think that unclinging and no-thought are two ways of saying one thing. Chengguan divides them very clearly — the one is toward the object, the other toward the mind. To bring it to the ground: not sticking to objects is one thing, and not giving rise to thoughts within is another; both are to be done.

Having Gained the Dharma, Why Does He Seek the Dharma All the More Without Rest?

The working of Firm Liberation is one clause only: “Ever since I gained this liberation, I have sought the Dharma diligently in the presence of the buddhas of the ten directions, and have never rested.” Having gained liberation, and still seeking the right Dharma diligently without rest — this is a place worth stopping at.

Chengguan’s explanation falls upon the hindrances: “the two hindrances not arising, there is then no craving and no view, and so the seeking that is no seeking seeks the Dharma without weariness and without rest.” The two hindrances not arising, there is neither craving nor view; and only when the seeking has no craving and no view in it is there that seeking which seeks nothing — seeking the Dharma without weariness and without rest. The pivot is in the four graphs ‘the seeking that is no seeking’: it is not seeking in order to get something.

This clause in the sixty-fascicle witness reads “his vow for the Dharma being filled full, he has nothing further to hope for in the presence of the buddhas of the ten directions,” which makes with the eighty-fascicle exactly two opposite faces — the one saying that his seeking never rests, the other that he has nothing further to seek. Fazang, upon the sixty-fascicle witness, sets a question himself and answers it himself: “supposing there were something further understood, it would not differ from this; only cultivation is required, and so there is nothing further to seek.” Whatever further understanding there might be would not go beyond this, and what remains is only to cultivate, and so he seeks no more. The texts of the two witnesses being different, the glosses of the two houses each follow their own witness, and both are recorded without adjudication.

The next one Firm Liberation points out is the elder Wondrous Moon of the same city, and he makes a point of saying that “the dwelling of that elder always has light in it.” Sudhana bows to his feet and circles him, and the clause of parting in this gathering is the plainest, reading only “circled him numberless times, took his leave, and went on,” with no word of longing.

A misreading must be set aside: to think that ‘seeking the Dharma without rest’ means he has not yet arrived. If he had not arrived, why should he be named Firm Liberation? To bring it to the ground: seeking without rest and hoping for nothing are not, here, two stages, but two faces of one and the same thing.

Wondrous Moon: A Dharma Gate Told in a Single Sentence

The sixth gathering, Wondrous Moon, has the shortest answer conferring the Dharma in the whole unit (the shortest gathering overall is Universal Friend’s). The Dharma gate is one sentence only: “Son of good family! I have gained one bodhisattva liberation, named: pure knowledge, light.” There is no working, and no unfolding.

The two halves of the name Chengguan glosses separately: “true knowledge sweeps away the false, and is named pure knowledge. Subsequent knowledge illumines dharmas, and is named the light of knowledge.” Root knowledge sweeps clear the false, and is called pure knowledge; subsequently attained knowledge illumines dharmas, and is called the light of knowledge. Then he glosses the person’s name by putting them together: “being able to be pure and able to be luminous, like the full moon in the autumn sky, he is named Wondrous Moon.” Able to be pure and also to be luminous, like the full moon in an autumn sky, and so named Wondrous Moon. Fazang too has a gloss: “Wondrous Moon: the virtue of compassion is cool, and so it is taken as his name.” And he cites a verse from elsewhere in this very scripture in witness: “the bodhisattva is a cool moon, roaming in ultimate emptiness.” His gloss upon the name of the Dharma gate reads: “inner realization free of hindrance is pure knowledge, and since subsequent knowledge takes in things it is called light.” Both houses gloss by dividing root and subsequent knowledge, differing only in the image taken — the one from luminous purity, the other from coolness. These divergent interpretations are all settled sayings of the ancient worthies, and are recorded as such.

A misreading must be set aside: to think that the gathering of Wondrous Moon is short because the Dharma is shallow. At the head of this assembly Chengguan has already said it — “they may set forth only the name of the Dharma gate, and he grasps its purport from afar.” To bring it to the ground: that a name said once is enough is an assessment of the hearer, not an assessment of the Dharma.

The Humbling and the Pointing of Wondrous Moon

Wondrous Moon’s clause of humbling is also very short: “Son of good family! I know only this one liberation of the light of knowledge. But as for those bodhisattvas, the mahāsattvas, who realize measureless gates of liberation — how could I know, or be able to tell of, their merit and their practice?” What he points to as superior is ‘measureless gates of liberation’ — he himself has gained one gate, and what he points to is measureless gates.

The next one he points out is in the city Birth-Giving, the elder Unconquerable Army. Sudhana “made obeisance to the feet of Wondrous Moon, circled him numberless times, and departed gazing back upon him with longing.”

A misreading must be set aside: to think that ‘one gate’ and ‘measureless gates’ differ in quantity. This gathering gives the answer itself — what he gained is named pure knowledge, light, and light was never a matter of one place. To bring it to the ground: if the difference between one and measureless is only a difference of number, then the two graphs ‘light’ have not yet been read.

Unconquerable Army: The Mark of Inexhaustibility and the Inexhaustible Treasury

The elder of the seventh gathering is named Unconquerable Army, and his Dharma gate is named the mark of inexhaustibility. Chengguan glosses the Dharma gate’s name: “the name of the Dharma gate is precisely the mark of virtue accomplished, since it is without end.” The name of the Dharma gate is the mark of the virtue accomplished, and because it has no end it is called the mark of inexhaustibility.

The clause of working is “Because I have realized this bodhisattva liberation, I see measureless buddhas and gain an inexhaustible treasury.” Chengguan glosses the name by the working, saying “gaining an inexhaustible treasury means hearing the many wondrous dharmas” — what is called the inexhaustible treasury is the hearing of many wondrous dharmas. Then he presses on to the person’s name: “since his seeing of buddhas and gaining of the Dharma are alike inexhaustible, therefore none can conquer him. The many virtues being gathered in one place, it is likened to an army; and he is also able to conquer universally the armies of the Māras.” Since both his seeing of buddhas and his gaining of the Dharma are inexhaustible, there is none who can overcome him; the many virtues gathered in one place are figured as an army, and he can also conquer universally the armies of the Māras. Fazang too has a gloss upon the person’s name: “that the elder is named Unconquerable Army: his practice and virtue surpass others, and he is named Unconquerable; the very essence is complete in virtue, and from the figure it is as an army.” Both houses alike take ‘army’ as the figure for the gathering of the many virtues. These divergent interpretations are all settled sayings of the ancient worthies, and are recorded as such.

A misreading must be set aside: to think that ‘Unconquerable Army’ means he wins every battle. Both houses’ glosses fall first upon ‘the many virtues gathered,’ and only then come to conquering. To bring it to the ground: what is called unconquerable is so because there is too much within, not because the fighting outside is too fierce.

The City Named Birth-Giving, the Settlement Named Dharma

The city where Unconquerable Army dwells is named ‘Birth-Giving,’ and Chengguan fastens it to the Dharma gate: “all come forth from the essence, and so the city is named Birth-Giving.” All come forth from the essence, and so the city is named Birth-Giving. Fazang glosses it upon the affair: “that the city is named Birth-Giving is because within the city people and things are brought to birth.” The one from the setting forth of the Dharma, the other from the fact, and both are recorded without adjudication.

Of the dwelling place of the next one he points out, the scripture text says “there is a settlement, and its name is simply: Dharma.” Chengguan glosses this name by first stating the virtue of Most Tranquil and then fastening it to the place-name: “word and deed are the pivot of the noble man; if one is able to be truthful, then this may be taken as a rule, and so the city is named Dharma.” Word and deed are the pivot of the noble man; being able to be truthful, one may be taken as a rule, and so the place is named Dharma. Fazang too has a gloss: “that the settlement is named Dharma is because the Dharma is spread abroad here, and because it displays that this is itself the Dharma.” The one names it from the spreading of the Dharma, the other displays that it is itself the Dharma. Li Tongxuan says, “where a multitude of people dwells is called a settlement, and by its being without an essential nature it is named Dharma.” The three houses are recorded without adjudication.

A misreading must be set aside: to think that a place-name is only a place-name. Of the eight place-names of this assembly, the commentators take a meaning for every one. To bring it to the ground: where a person lives is, in this chapter, a part of the dharma he has gained.

Most Tranquil: The Two Meanings of the Speech of True Vow

The good friend of the eighth gathering is the brahmin Most Tranquil, and his Dharma gate is named the speech of true vow. Chengguan says this name has two meanings, and raises an instance for each. The first meaning: “first, because from beginning to end it is without falsity. As when from the first bringing forth of the mind one sets up the words of a great vow, and must act as one has spoken, not going against one’s earlier word.” From the first bringing forth of the mind one sets up the words of a great vow, and thereafter one certainly acts according to what was said, not going against what was spoken before. The second meaning: “second, because in accord with practice it is not empty, as when the ṛṣi of patience said ‘I bear no anger,’ and his body was made whole again.” In accord with what is practised the word does not fall empty — as when the ṛṣi of patience, being cut apart, said “I bear no anger,” and his body was restored as before.

The two passages of the scripture text gloss one meaning each exactly. “the bodhisattvas of the past, the present, and the future, because they have such speech, up to anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi, have never fallen back — none has fallen back already, none falls back now, and none will fall back hereafter” — this is the first meaning, without falsity from beginning to end. “Because I abide in the speech of true vow, whatever I set my mind to do is fulfilled and accomplished, every one” — this is the second meaning, not empty in accord with practice. Chengguan says outright that this is “glossing the name by the working, glossing the former two meanings in their order.”

As for the person’s name, Chengguan glosses it from speech: “false and deceiving speech being stilled, it says tranquil. And tranquillity is precisely pure conduct.” False speech being stilled, therefore he is called tranquil; and tranquillity is pure conduct — this friend being a brahmin, and a brahmin taking pure conduct for his very meaning. Li Tongxuan says, “the place and the name are both alike tranquil,” and matches it to a perfection as well: “it sets forth that the perfection of power, according with the worldly and yet not worldly, unclamorous amid the assembly, is named being at ease in the use of power.” His gloss upon the Dharma gate’s name reads: “‘true’ is the real; it makes clear that what is vowed, resting upon the word, is truthful and has no false speech.” These divergent interpretations are all settled sayings of the ancient worthies, and are recorded as such.

A misreading must be set aside: to think that the speech of true vow simply means not lying. Not lying is only half of the first meaning. The second meaning says that the word goes forth and the matter answers to it — and that is no longer morality; it is power. To bring it to the ground: to test your own words, look first at whether they agree with the vow you first brought forth, and then at whether, once spoken, they fell empty.

Three Graphs of ‘Falling Back’: A Denial Reaching the Three Times One by One

Within Most Tranquil’s answer there is a tightly packed set of words: “up to anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi, have never fallen back — none has fallen back already, none falls back now, and none will fall back hereafter.” First a general clause, ‘have never fallen back,’ and then a denial reaching past, present, and future one by one.

Why written this way? Because this clause carries on from the clause before — “the bodhisattvas of the past, the present, and the future, because they have such speech.” The bodhisattvas of the three times, because they have such speech, therefore do not fall back in any of the three times. The speaker and what is spoken are aligned in time: persons of the three times, non-retrogression of the three times.

A misreading must be set aside: to think that ‘none has fallen back already, none falls back now, none will fall back hereafter’ is a rhetorical spread. It answers one for one to the bodhisattvas of the three times in the clause above; it is not saying more than is needed. To bring it to the ground: whether a saying can count as the speech of true vow depends on whether it is the same saying in the past, in the present, and in what is to come.

Whatever He Sets His Mind to Do Is Fulfilled and Accomplished

“Because I abide in the speech of true vow, whatever I set my mind to do is fulfilled and accomplished, every one” — this is the only one of the eight Dharma gates of this assembly that states outright that it ‘works.’ The other gatherings speak of what is illumined, what is seen, what is called to mind, what is brought forth; this one speaks of what is done being certainly accomplished.

The three graphs ‘abide in’ must be seen clearly. It is not that saying the speech of true vow makes it work; it is abiding in the speech of true vow — and abiding is to rest without moving. And the reason it can be fulfilled has already been given above: without falsity from beginning to end, and not empty in accord with practice. Since word and deed have never once been apart from the very moment of bringing forth the mind, whatever he sets his mind to do naturally does not fall empty.

His clause of humbling follows upon this one: “Son of good family! I know only this one liberation of true speech. But as for those bodhisattvas, the mahāsattvas, who accord with the speech of true vow, whose going and staying never go against it, whose words are always made with truth and have never been false, and out of whom measureless merit and virtue is brought forth thereby — how could I know it, or be able to tell of it?” What he points to as superior is still pointed to upon the one gate of the speech of true vow — the same mechanism as in the gathering of Well Knowing the Many Arts.

A misreading must be set aside: to think that this is a technique for getting what one prays for. The cause the scripture text states is ‘abiding in,’ not ‘chanting.’ To bring it to the ground: what gives a saying its power is that the person behind it has never once said the opposite.

Pointing Out Virtue-Born and Endowed with Virtue: The End of the Gathering of Conditions

At the last, Most Tranquil points Sudhana south to the city Gate of the Wondrous-Intent Blossom, to see the boy Virtue-Born and the maiden Endowed with Virtue. Of the sense of the city’s name Chengguan says, “the wondrous-intent blossom is precisely the sumanna blossom, since there are such beside the gates of that city” — such blossoms grow beside the city gates, and so the name is taken for the city.

And why the next gathering should have two persons, a boy and a maiden, in one gathering, Chengguan gives the reason for: “the boy sets forth pure knowledge, and from knowledge the myriad virtues are born. The maiden sets forth pure compassion, and compassion is the root of the many virtues.” And he gathers it in one clause: “because compassion and knowledge lead one another on, the two persons are in one gathering. It is the end of the gathering of conditions, since these two are here made full.” Compassion and knowledge lead one another on, and so the two are in one gathering; and this mark, the conditions gathered and entering the real, comes here to its end, because compassion and knowledge are here brought to fullness.

Sudhana’s clause of parting this time differs from all those before: “at that time the youth Sudhana, out of reverence for the Dharma, made obeisance to the feet of the brahmin, circled him numberless times, and went away gazing back upon him with longing.” Elsewhere what is written is longing for the person; here what is written first is ‘out of reverence for the Dharma.’

A misreading must be set aside: to think this is only a change of wording. That the eighth gathering should close with ‘out of reverence for the Dharma’ answers exactly to the name of this mark — what is gathered is the conditions, and what is entered is the real. To bring it to the ground: when the whole road of consulting has been walked, what remains at the last is not any one teacher, but the Dharma itself.

Lineage

Of the text of this section, three lines flow onward.

The first is the line of the nine friends in one thread. Chengguan’s Yanyi chao strings the nine gatherings from Māyā onward into a single thread with nine short clauses — first, Light of the Lord of Gods: for now, right mindfulness must be without loss; he may be the world’s teacher; reaching everywhere to the utmost; without dependence and inexhaustible; unclinging and pure; pure, that is, pure knowledge sending forth light; light sent forth, then the mark of knowledge is inexhaustible; inexhaustible, then the true vow is not gone against; and only then can one return to the abiding in illusion. These nine clauses read together are the briefest statement of where the eight friends of this assembly stand within the whole section; whoever reads this section should read them alongside the eight outlines of the Shu.

The second is the line of the graph-mothers. Chengguan, in glossing the forty-two graphs, follows for the most part the Piluzhena jing and the witness rendered by Bukong, and cites the Wenshu wuzi jing in witness; he records of himself that he has glossed the difficult ones and abbreviated the rest, and says that there is besides a separate chapter treating in detail the matching and the rite of cultivating contemplation. What this line opens out below is very wide, while what is preserved in this section is only the names of these forty-two gates and Chengguan’s brief glosses graph by graph.

The third is the line of the divergent interpretations of the houses, each with its own track, recorded without adjudication. As for the outline-names of the eight friends, Chengguan sets up a name for each friend, all bearing ‘knowledge of illusion’; Fazang’s Tanxuan ji likewise sets up a name for each friend, but its numbering carries on from Māyā; Li Tongxuan first lists the ten friends from Māyā to Virtue-Born under ten gates, and then explains them friend by friend; and Zhiyan’s Souxuan ji has no gloss following the text friend by friend for the eight friends of this assembly. Upon Universal Friend’s not gaining a dharma, Chengguan sets up four meanings; Fazang has two explanations — because it is the same as the boy’s Dharma gate he shows the boy and sends him to ask, and again, the boy is himself the Dharma gate; Li Tongxuan covers it within his ten gates with a single clause, but in his gloss following the text brings out separately the sense of the teacher as model (the true master does not teach and hand over in person, and what the assistant teacher cannot settle is asked of the true master), and separately glosses the graphs a and duo before abbreviating the rest. Upon the divergence of the second of the graphs, Chengguan records that the forms are close and the sounds easily confused, and lets another reading stand. Upon the working of Firm Liberation, the eighty-fascicle witness has seeking diligently without rest and the sixty-fascicle has nothing further to hope for, and the glosses of the two houses each follow their own witness. Upon the name of the eighth friend, the eighty-fascicle has Most Tranquil and the sixty-fascicle has Shibi Most Excellent; Fazang transmits its Sanskrit name and glosses it as the highest Dharma’s empty camp, while Chengguan, upon the name in the eighty, glosses it as false and deceiving speech being stilled and therefore called tranquil. Upon the assigning of the marks to the stations, Chengguan records plainly the two views of old and says both have their reason, and only then follows the ancient worthies in assigning the five marks. These divergent interpretations are all settled sayings of the ancient worthies.

Eight teachers, eight Dharma gates, and one of them without so much as the name of a Dharma gate. From the calling to mind of ten kalpas to one sentence of pure knowledge, light; from forty-two graphs to “whatever I set my mind to do is fulfilled and accomplished” — this stretch of road walked through, what Sudhana has more of in his hands is not eight things. It is seven sayings of “I know only this.”