華嚴經 品三十九 入法界品 · 德生童子·有德童女（會緣入實相·別九）Avataṃsaka Sūtra · Entering the Dharma Realm · The Boy Virtue-Born and the Maiden Endowed with Virtue (The Conditions Gathered and Entering the Real: The Ninth of the Particulars)

Sudhana’s Question Here Asks the Same Thing as the Forty-Nine Times Before

This section opens with Sudhana journeying gradually southward to the city Gate of Wondrous Intent Blossoms, where he sees the boy Virtue-Born and the maiden Endowed with Virtue, bows to their feet, circles them to the right, and then asks: “Holy ones! I have already brought forth the mind of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi, and yet I do not know how a bodhisattva is to study the bodhisattva practice, nor how a bodhisattva is to cultivate the bodhisattva path.”

Why, having asked fifty times, is it still this one question? A misreading must first be set aside: that the repetition of the question shows Sudhana has made no progress. The order of the scripture text is exactly the reverse — every time, he says first “I have already brought forth,” and then says “and yet I do not know.” A mind already brought forth need not be brought forth again, while the practice not yet known differs at every stop. The same intent of asking (the wording of the question differing from friend to friend as the scripture has it), falling upon a different person, receives fifty different answers.

Brought down to the ground: a question that can still be asked at the fiftieth asking is asked by someone who is clear in his own mind that what he wants is not a new question but a new answer.

Why This Section Has Two Persons Speaking Together

This edition counts forward from the monk Cloud of Virtue as the first friend, with Lady Māyā as the forty-first friend, and beneath her the several friends listed separately; the boy Virtue-Born and the maiden Endowed with Virtue, two persons in one gathering, are the fiftieth friend. Throughout the whole unit the scripture text has, place after place, “the boy and the maiden said to Sudhana” and “at that time, when the boy and the maiden had finished setting forth their own liberation,” while the form of address is “son of good family” — two bodies speaking as one, and not a single clause is seen to be assigned to either one of them alone.

A misreading must be set aside: that certain clauses may be assigned to the boy and certain others to the maiden. The base text has no such division, and Chengguan’s outline likewise takes up “the boy and the maiden” together in one outline and glosses them so, setting up no separate outline-name to distinguish the two bodies. To force a division where there is no source for dividing is to fabricate.

Li Tongxuan turns a phrase here, saying that this “makes clear that the two practices, knowledge and compassion, are level and equal, since neither comes before or falls behind,” and further that “as for the boy and the maiden, this makes clear that knowledge and compassion are equally full; though they dwell in the world they have no mark of the five desires, since they dwell in the abiding in illusion” — this is Li Tongxuan’s symbolizing of the Dharma, recorded with his name fastened to it. Brought down to the ground: in reading this section, the two are to be read as one good friend.

The Abiding in Illusion: The Dharma Known Is an Illusion, and the Knowledge That Knows Is Also Within the Illusion

The two of them open their mouths and at once give the name: “The bodhisattva liberation that we have realized is named: the abiding in illusion.”

What is the abiding in illusion? Chengguan glosses this, saying that it means “the dharmas of the knower and the known, the objective realm and knowledge, the defiled and the pure, all arise from conditions and have no fixed nature, and so they abide as an illusion abides.” Six graphs in this clause are the weightiest — “the knower and the known, the objective realm and knowledge, the defiled and the pure.” Not only is the objective realm contemplated an illusion; the knowledge that contemplates is an illusion as well. Not only is the defiled portion an illusion; the pure portion is an illusion as well. Fazang sets up two meanings upon this, saying that “first, it makes clear that the dharmas known are set up emptily in dependence upon conditions, and this is named the abiding in illusion; second, the knowledge that knows abides within the realm of illusion, and this then is abiding in illusion, and so it says the abiding in illusion” — the former meaning states the “illusion,” the latter the “abiding.”

A misreading is to be set aside: that “illusion” says everything is false and none of it need be taken seriously. If that were so, this liberation would be no more than a kind of discouragement. What the scripture text says is the abiding in illusion, not ‘illusion vanished’ — to abide is to be still within it, doing what is to be done. Brought down to the ground: to know that it is an illusion and still to go on doing it just the same — this is the name of this gate of liberation.

The Ten Kinds of Abiding in Illusion: Every Clause Sets Forth the Illusion Above and States the Condition Below

Next come ten clauses. Chengguan judges their form most plainly, saying there are “ten kinds of illusion, and in every one the clause above sets forth the illusion and the clause below establishes the gloss by conditioned arising.” The base text has, graph for graph, ten places that read “are all the abiding in illusion”: worlds · sentient beings · worldly realms · dharmas · the three times · sentient beings’ birth, aging, sickness, death, grief, sorrow, suffering, and distress · lands · śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas · bodhisattvas · the assemblies of bodhisattvas and everything they set in motion.

As for the opening and folding of the ten clauses, Chengguan says, “of the ten, the first one is the general … the remaining nine are the particulars. The first five are taken as the dependent-upon-other in its defiled portion … the last three are taken only as the dependent-upon-other in its pure portion.” What is to be noticed is those last three clauses — that śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas are an illusion, that bodhisattvas are an illusion, and that the assemblies, transformations, taming, and every arrangement of bodhisattvas are an illusion as well.

Since the ten clauses have a general and its particulars, each is to be looked at for the condition it names. The first, all worlds are the abiding in illusion, since they arise from causes and conditions, is the general one, and Chengguan says, “of the ten, the first one is the general; conditioned arising of worlds runs through both the defiled and the pure, since the ocean of lands is also named world” — a defiled land and a pure land are alike named world, and so this clause, at its first opening, takes in both sides. The second, all sentient beings are the abiding in illusion, since they are set up by deeds and afflictions, Chengguan assigns thus: “the first is taken as the suffering fruit of the sentient, arisen from the gathering of deeds and delusions” — sentient beings are not a lump standing on nothing but a fruit gathered up out of deeds and delusions. Upon the third, all worldly realms are the abiding in illusion, since ignorance, craving for existence, and the rest arise in turn from conditions, Chengguan says, “the second is taken as the twelve links of conditioned arising viewed in their forward order, which is the worldly realm, and since they depend upon one another in sequence it says in turn” — the words “in turn” are not a flourish; they are that mutual dependence in the forward viewing of the twelve links. Upon the fourth, all dharmas are the abiding in illusion, since they arise from the manifold illusory conditions of the view of self and the rest, Chengguan sifts most finely of all, saying, “the third takes, among the five classes of dharmas, all but the unconditioned, and so it says all; for the unconditioned has no arising and does not arise from illusory conditions,” and further, “the ripening consciousness and the rest, out of beginningless evil habit, inwardly grasp a self, and since they are conjoined with the four delusions it says the view of self and the rest; and they grasp deluded objects without, which it calls the manifold illusory conditions.” So the word “all” in that clause has already sifted something out: the unconditioned is not among them, because the unconditioned has no arising and does not come from illusory conditions.

The last three clauses are the most perilous stretch of this gate: all śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas are the abiding in illusion, since they are made by the discrimination of knowledge and cutting off; all bodhisattvas are the abiding in illusion, since they are made by the dharmas of practice and vow that tame the self and teach and convert sentient beings; all assemblies, transformations, tamings, and every arrangement of bodhisattvas are the abiding in illusion, since they are made by the illusion of vow and knowledge. Upon these three Chengguan says only one thing generally — “the last three are taken only as the dependent-upon-other in its pure portion, arisen from conditions and like an illusion, which can be got by the sense” — and gives no clause-by-clause gloss. These three are therefore to be read by the word “since” that the scripture text itself fastens to each. Why are the two vehicles an illusion? The scripture text says they are made by the discrimination of knowledge and cutting off — their fruit is not something that exists without a cause, but something built up by that one pair of discriminations, knowledge and cutting off. Why are bodhisattvas an illusion? The scripture text says they are made by the dharmas of practice and vow that tame the self and teach and convert sentient beings — taming, teaching, the practices, the vow-dharmas: four things, and all four are conditions. And why are the assemblies, transformations, tamings, and every arrangement of bodhisattvas an illusion? The scripture text says they are made by the illusion of vow and knowledge — even vow and knowledge themselves stand inside the illusion. Clause by clause it climbs, and what is made illusion is at each step more nearly the thing the practitioner holds in his own hand.

A misreading is to be set aside: that “illusion” is said in order to reproach the world. What the last three clauses of the scripture text make into illusion is precisely the side that practice has gained. Brought down to the ground: only one who can see even what he has cultivated out of himself as an illusion will not take it away and trade it for a new self.

The ancient worthies do not read the opening and folding of these ten clauses alike: Chengguan makes the first one the general and the remaining nine the particulars; Fazang, upon the sixty-fascicle witness, has “the first six know the abiding in illusion of the dharmas of the world — one knowing generally, the next two knowing the illusion of person and dharma, the next two knowing the illusion of the arising and ceasing of the three realms, the next one knowing the illusion of lands; the last three know the illusion of the three vehicles.” The two accounts stand together, each with its own bone.

The Three Times Are Also an Illusion: Time Has No Substance of Its Own

The fifth of the ten illusions is “all three times are the abiding in illusion, since they are born of the inverted knowledge that takes the view of a self and the rest.” Why are the three times an illusion?

Chengguan answers, saying “the fourth is time: that is, upon the unbroken continuance of the aspects of formations a division is set up and called time; but the formations depended upon are empty, so where is time set up? To reckon falsely that it has a substance is inverted knowledge.” Time is not a thing; it is a division set up upon the unbroken continuance of “formations”; and if the formations depended upon are themselves empty, where is that division still set up? The Yanyi chao says this layer once more, saying “formations are the five aggregates, arising and ceasing instant by instant, continuing one after another; what has already passed away is the past, what has not yet risen is the future, what has arisen and not yet passed away is named the present; apart from the formations, what division is there that there should be three times?”

A misreading is to be set aside: that this says ‘time does not exist, and so there is no need to make arrangements.’ What the scripture text says is that the three times have no substance of their own, not that the three times have no working. Brought down to the ground: there is no need to fear being too late — being too late is to have taken time for a thing that can be walked to its end.

Birth, Aging, Sickness, and Death Are an Illusion: Impermanence Too Is Set Up

The sixth clause is “the arising and ceasing of all sentient beings, their birth, aging, sickness, and death, their grief, sorrow, suffering, and distress, are the abiding in illusion, since they are born of false discrimination.”

Chengguan glosses this, saying “the fifth is impermanence, birth, aging, and the rest: that is, upon the division of having arisen and then decaying, impermanence and the rest are set up, and all of them are had by false discrimination.” Impermanence is not another thing pressing down upon life; it is a name set up upon just this matter of “having arisen and then decaying.” The Yanyi chao, to establish this meaning, cites the Cheng weishi lun — “not being before and being now, in the position of being it is named arising; the position of being resting for a while is spoken of as abiding” and the rest — as its note.

A misreading is to be set aside: that to say impermanence is an illusion amounts to saying suffering is false and need not be attended to. What this clause of the scripture text lists is grief, sorrow, suffering, and distress — suffering is still undergone; only it has no substance of its own that cannot be turned. Brought down to the ground: to see suffering as an illusion is not to feel no pain, but not to take the pain as forever.

Lands Too Are an Illusion: What the Three Inversions Manifest, and Yet the Pure Lands Are Included

The seventh clause is “all lands are the abiding in illusion, since they appear through the inversion of perception, the inversion of mind, the inversion of view, and ignorance.”

Chengguan makes a very fine distinction upon this clause, saying “next, all lands: the meaning runs through the defiled and the pure among sentient beings. Defiled lands mostly arise from the three inversions, since one does not penetrate that they are mind-only and falsely grasps at objective realms”; and “as for saying that they appear through ignorance, this runs through the pure lands as well: that is, from the first ground upward ignorance is not yet exhausted, and the lands seen are of every sort of difference. But since it says ignorance, it has already sifted out and excluded the buddha-lands.” That is to say: what the three inversions manifest are the defiled lands, while the four graphs “appear through ignorance” take in even the pure lands — yet since ignorance is said, the buddha-lands have already been distinguished as not among them.

A misreading is to be set aside: that to say lands are an illusion amounts to saying the pure land is a supposition. It is precisely here that Chengguan sifts the buddha-lands out. Brought down to the ground: the reason the lands each person sees are not the same is that the place where each person’s ignorance is not yet exhausted is not the same.

The Own-Nature of the Realm of Illusion Is Beyond Conceiving: Having Left the Two Extremes, One Does Not Abide Even in the Middle Way

The ten illusions having been set forth, one clause concludes in praise: “Son of good family! The own-nature of the realm of illusion is beyond conceiving.”

Wherein does it lie beyond conceiving? Chengguan glosses this, saying “an illusory dharma is not existent, since its substance is not real; it is not non-existent, since its mark is not nothing. It is not one, since nature and mark differ; it is not different, since there are not two substances. Emptiness and existence are mutually identical, and one and different are both lost. Since it has left the two extremes it also forgets the middle way, and by this mutual pervading it is able to manifest the many within the one and to have the many all be the one, unobstructed layer upon layer, and this is being beyond conceiving.” After the four clauses have been laid out, there is one step more — even the “middle way” is not abided in. Precisely because the middle is not abided in, the many are manifested within the one and the many are all the one. Fazang, upon the sixty-fascicle witness, likewise makes it twofold, saying “it is then existent and then empty, not two, and so it is beyond conceiving. Further, by its own-nature it loses the two extremes and does not abide in the middle either, and so it says beyond conceiving.”

The Yanyi chao sets a further tier above Chengguan’s four clauses, saying “here, taking for the moment existent and non-existent, one and different, together with the middle way below, they make three contemplations. There should also be a leaving of the four alternatives.” Not existent and not non-existent is one contemplation; not one and not different is one contemplation; leaving the two extremes and losing the middle way is another — hence three contemplations; and each contemplation in turn should have its four alternatives left behind, so that one leaving does not finish the matter. The chao then divides the reach of the Commentary’s own text, saying “having left the two extremes it is already the middle way, and it loses the middle way too, the absolute middle beyond opposition. The above is the non-obstruction of phenomenon and principle,” while of what follows from “by this mutual pervading” onward it says “this is the non-obstruction of phenomenon and phenomenon.” By the chao: what is accomplished by leaving the two extremes and forgetting the middle way is the non-obstruction of phenomenon and principle, and what is accomplished by that layered mutual pervading in which the many are manifested within the one and the many are all the one is the non-obstruction of phenomenon and phenomenon — beneath the four graphs “beyond conceiving” there are in fact two tiers, not one. Brought down to the ground: what makes the beyond-conceiving beyond conceiving is not that it cannot be said, but that after it has been said one layer more must still be left behind.

A misreading is to be set aside: that ‘not falling into the two extremes’ is already the summit. Both houses say that to halt in the middle is also a kind of abiding. Brought down to the ground: whatever position can be held on to is still not the beyond-conceiving this clause speaks of.

Humbling Themselves and Pointing to the Superior: They Point Only to Their Own Not Knowing, Not to Any Higher and Lower Among Dharma Gates

“We two persons are able to know only this one liberation of the abiding in illusion. But as for the bodhisattvas, the mahāsattvas, who enter well into the boundless net of illusion of all affairs — their practice of merit and virtue, how could we know it, and how could we expound it?”

This is a passage that most good friends of this assembly have — humbling oneself and pointing to the superior (the gathering of Universal Friend has none). What is to be seen clearly is the direction in which they point: they do not say ‘my Dharma gate is shallow and another’s is deep’; what they say is that the practice of merit and virtue on the side of “entering well into the boundless net of illusion of all affairs” is what they cannot know and cannot expound. What is pointed to is still the affair of the net of illusion; only it is boundless.

A misreading is to be set aside: that humbling oneself and pointing to the superior is a courtesy. The scripture text immediately afterward uses some nine parts in ten of its length to speak of the next one — humbling oneself is for the sake of pointing outward, not for the sake of drawing back. Brought down to the ground: only one who knows which thing it is that he knows can say who is to be sought next.

They Do Not Speak First, but First Make His Body Supple

Before pointing out the friend who comes next, the scripture text inserts one clause of narration: “At that time, when the boy and the maiden had finished setting forth their own liberation, they used the power of the many roots of good that are beyond conceiving to make Sudhana’s body supple and lustrous, and then said to him.”

Chengguan outlines this passage as the two passages beneath “pointing out the next friend,” saying “first, adding their power in the unseen; after, from ‘and then said’ onward, displaying it by words.” That is to say: the pointing out of the way falls into two lengths — first the roots of good add their power in the unseen, and only then is the mouth opened.

A misreading is to be set aside: that introducing a teacher is merely giving an address. Here the scripture text writes first the suppleness and lustre of the body, and only then the words. Brought down to the ground: to be able to take in a single clause of direction often requires first a preparation that cannot be spoken.

Sea Shore · Great Adornment · Vairocana Adornment Treasury: All Three Names Have Their Point

The passage pointing out the place lists three names: the land named Sea Shore, the park named Great Adornment, the storeyed pavilion named Vairocana Adornment Treasury; and it says that this pavilion is “born of the fruit and recompense of the bodhisattva’s roots of good” and three more clauses of being born from.

Upon the three names, Chengguan brings out the sense of each one by one: “As for the land being named Sea Shore, it is the northern shore of the southern sea, since a bodhisattva of one more birth draws near to the sea of knowledge. The park is named Great Adornment because the cause is round in the myriad practices and thereby adorns the fruit. Further, the park and garden of birth and death are adorned to one’s own fruit by the grove of trees that is the myriad practices.” As for the storeyed pavilion, Chengguan glosses it in two ways, taken as matter and taken as dharma; taken as dharma he says “the two kinds of knowledge depend upon each other, and arising conditions are mutually dependent, and so it says storeyed pavilion. Knowledge is just the Dharma realm, and this is being vast.” The four clauses of what it is born from Chengguan judges thus: “the fruit and recompense of the roots of good is taken as its former cause, since it is the fruit and recompense of those roots of good; the power of mindfulness, the power of vow, and the rest are taken as its present conditions.”

A misreading is to be set aside: that these clauses are landscape writing. Every name here is saying what sort of person the next good friend is. Brought down to the ground: if a storeyed pavilion is said to be made by the mutual dependence of two kinds of knowledge, then what one is to bring in walking into it is not one’s eyes.

Maitreya Is There, and It Is for Six Displayings

The passage pointing out the person first sets forth Maitreya’s name directly, and afterward, from “in order to” onward, displays the reasons for his abiding there: taking in the parents, kinsfolk, and people of the place where he was originally born · making the sentient beings who took birth and cultivate together with him firm within the Great Vehicle · making all sentient beings accomplish everything according to the ground they abide in and their roots of good; and the six clauses beneath these all read “to display how the bodhisattva … .”

The six clauses of “to display” are the last of the reasons for Maitreya’s dwelling in that pavilion, and they are also the reason Sudhana is to go. The first, to display the bodhisattva’s gate of liberation, sets forth only the name of a gate of liberation and does not say which gate; the five beneath it each point to a matter. To display how the bodhisattva takes birth with mastery in every place speaks of birth — not birth dragged along by deeds, but birth everywhere and at ease. To display how the bodhisattva, with bodies of every kind, appears constantly before all sentient beings and teaches them speaks of the body — one body will not answer to all sentient beings, and so bodies of every kind are shown, and the scripture text writes “constantly,” not now and then. To display how the bodhisattva, by the power of great compassion, universally gathers all the goods and wealth of the world without wearying of it speaks of wealth — the goods of the world are not a thing to be dodged, but a thing to be gathered universally by the power of great compassion, and without distaste. To display how the bodhisattva cultivates the practices in full and knows that all practices are apart from marks speaks of practice — he cultivates and knows it to be apart from marks, which is not the same as not cultivating. And the last, to display how the bodhisattva takes birth place after place and understands that all birth is without marks, returns to birth, and what is understood is that all birth is without marks. Chengguan gives no clause-by-clause gloss upon these six; upon the two graphs “in order to” alone he points out, “compassion and knowledge range together, and both are for the benefit of beings, and so it says in order to, and the rest” — and what the six display is precisely six faces of that ranging together.

A misreading is to be set aside: that these six clauses praise Maitreya alone. The subject of all six, graph for graph, is “the bodhisattva,” not one particular person. Brought down to the ground: what his dwelling there displays is exactly the several things you are going to go and do.

Upon Maitreya’s name, Chengguan glosses it, saying “Maitreya, in the Sanskrit sound, in full is Midili; in this tongue it is Kind, and it is his clan-name,” and lists three conditions for it: first, that by his original vow he met a Tathāgata of great kindness and set up a vow; second, that he gained the samādhi of the mind of kindness; third, that while he was in the womb his mother had a mind of kindness; and further, “he is named Ayiduo, which in this tongue is Unsurpassed.” Chengguan then points out one weighty phrase: “Kindness abides depending on knowledge, and so it says settled within. Compassion and knowledge range together, and both are for the benefit of beings, and so it says in order to, and the rest.”

Are the three conditions three matters set side by side? The Yanyi chao lays one remark upon this: “these three arise one from another in turn. That is to say, because he met the Tathāgata of Kindness he gained the samādhi of the mind of kindness; and because he gained that samādhi his mother too was kind.” By the chao, the three conditions are one chain of mutual arising — meeting a Tathāgata of great kindness and setting up a vow is the first; by that vow gaining the samādhi of the mind of kindness is the second; because that samādhi was gained, his mother too having a mind of kindness while he was in the womb is the third. The direction of the arising is to be noted: it is not that the mother’s kindness came first and the son’s after, but that the son had already gained the samādhi and the mother’s kindness followed upon it. Brought down to the ground: a name stands up because a chain of mutually arising matters stands behind it, not because three fine reasons stand side by side.

A misreading is to be set aside: that “settled within it” merely says that he lives there. Chengguan reads the two graphs “settled within” as kindness abiding depending on knowledge. Brought down to the ground: a bodhisattva whose clan-name is Kindness dwells within a storeyed pavilion whose substance is knowledge — this fact is itself the title of the next section.

Eleven Clauses of Asking: The Commentary Says Ten Questions, the Scripture Text Has Eleven

From “go to him and ask” onward, the scripture text has, graph for graph, eleven clauses of “how”: carrying out the bodhisattva practice · cultivating the bodhisattva path · studying the bodhisattva precepts · purifying the bodhisattva mind · bringing forth the bodhisattva vow · gathering the bodhisattva’s equipment for aiding the path · entering the ground in which bodhisattvas abide · fulfilling the bodhisattva perfections · obtaining the bodhisattva forbearance of birthlessness · being complete in the bodhisattva dharmas of merit and virtue · serving the bodhisattva’s good friends.

Chengguan judges upon this, saying “first, the teaching proper raises ten questions, to set forth that they are inexhaustible” — the commentary makes them ten, the base text graph for graph eleven. The two counts differ and are recorded without adjudication; and the reason Chengguan says ten is that he takes the sense of “setting forth that they are inexhaustible,” not that he is counting them off.

A misreading is to be set aside: that the many questions are because Sudhana is greedy for much. Here it is the good friend who has drawn up the list of questions for him; he did not add them himself. Brought down to the ground: a good list of questions is one that another person opens for you — he knows what you should ask when you get there.

Why the Asking Must Be This Broad: Two Reasons

After the eleven questions, the scripture text raises its own query and gives its own gloss: “Why is it so?”

Chengguan sets out this one query and one gloss very clearly, saying “the sense of the query is: why must the asking be broad? The gloss has two intents: first, the virtue sought is broad, and he is able to expound it in full. After, from ‘son of good family, you should not’ onward, it is that the dharma of the great mind that seeks ought to be so.” The first intent lies on the other side — Maitreya’s virtue is round and his station full, and however broadly one asks, he can answer; the second intent lies in oneself — the mind that is able to seek ought from the beginning to be this large.

The virtue of Maitreya brought out in this passage is, in the scripture text, eight clauses of the graph “already”: he has already fulfilled all the perfections · already abided in all the bodhisattva grounds · already realized all the bodhisattva forbearances · already entered all the bodhisattva stations · already received the conferring of the full prediction · already ranged through all the bodhisattva realms · already gained the spiritual power of all buddhas · already received from all Tathāgatas the anointing of his crown with the ambrosial dharma-water of all-knowledge.

A misreading is to be set aside: that to ask little is modesty. Brought down to the ground: the size of a question measures the other person by half and oneself by the other half.

The True Good Friend: Ten Things He Can Do Upon You

Before the second intent, the scripture text first sets forth one passage separately: “that good friend is able to moisten your many roots of good” and ten clauses following, every clause reading “able to … your … .”

Chengguan outlines this as “setting forth separately that he is a true good friend,” and adds one weighty phrase: “Even were his virtue full, if he had no affinity with oneself he would still be hard to seek out.” However round his virtue, if he has no affinity with you, you cannot seek him out. And so after saying ‘how high he is,’ one must still say ‘what he can do upon you.’

A misreading is to be set aside: that seeking a good friend means seeking the highest one. In this passage of the scripture text the subject falls throughout upon “you” — moistening your roots of good, increasing your mind of awakening, making firm your resolve, adding to your good. Brought down to the ground: the one who can take effect upon you is the one who counts as your good friend.

Do Not Cultivate One Thing and Suppose You Have Reached the Summit

The passage warning him away from the inferior: “you should not cultivate one good, illumine one dharma, carry out one practice, bring forth one vow, gain one prediction, or abide in one forbearance, and then give rise to the thought that this is the ultimate; you should not, with a mind that has a limit and a measure, carry out the six perfections, abide in the ten grounds, purify the buddha-lands, or serve good friends.”

Chengguan outlines this as “first, setting forth what he should not do, warning him away from the inferior; after, from ‘why’ onward, glossing what he should do, making him cultivate broadly.” The first half is a stopping, the second half a doing.

A misreading is to be set aside: that this is a reproach of one who has gained little. The six things the scripture text lists — one good · one dharma · one practice · one vow · one prediction · one forbearance — not one of them is a bad thing, and to gain one prediction or abide in one forbearance is already no easy matter. What is warned against is not those six, but the four graphs that follow, “give rise to the thought that this is the ultimate.” Brought down to the ground: what goes wrong is never the thing you gained, but the judgment you passed upon it.

The Long Passage of What One Should Cultivate: Ninety-Five Clauses of ‘Should,’ Outlined by the Ancient Worthies into Ten Passages

Next comes the longest passage of the whole unit, every clause beginning with the graph “should.” Counted graph by graph, the base text has ninety-five clauses (the last clause, beneath “should, together with all bodhisattvas,” contains four matters: abiding · making offerings · adorning and purifying · bringing forth).

Chengguan judges upon this that “within the first there are ninety-eight gates, divided into ten passages,” and sets forth the name of each passage in turn: first, the practice of seeking awakening above · second, the practice of rescuing sentient beings below · third, the practice of cutting off one’s own hindrance of delusion · fourth, the practice of urging beings toward deliverance · fifth, the practice of purifying one’s own roots and desires · sixth, the practice of mastery in the working of power · seventh, the practice of gathering the Dharma and curing delusion · eighth, the practice of making offerings to buddhas and gathering beings · ninth, the practice of compassion and vow deep and broad · tenth, the practice of realization and entry round and full. The number of gates the commentary counts and the number of clauses that begin graph for graph in the base text are not the same; the two counts are recorded together without adjudication. And the bone of the ten passages — from seeking above to rescuing below, then to cutting off delusion, then to deliverance, then to purifying the roots, then to the working of power, then to curing delusion, then to making offerings to buddhas, then to compassion and vow, then to realization and entry — is one of the handles for reading this long passage.

Once the outline of ten passages stands, each passage is to be looked at for what it teaches. The first, the practice of seeking awakening above, runs from you should plant measureless roots of good to you should study measureless skilful dedications, and what it lists is planting roots of good, gathering the equipment of awakening, cultivating the causes of awakening, studying skilful dedication — the first three heap upward, and the last gives away: heaping without keeping. The second, the practice of rescuing sentient beings below, begins at you should convert measureless realms of sentient beings: first their realms are converted, then their minds are known, their faculties known, their understandings discerned, their conduct observed, and only at the end is taming spoken of — the scripture text sets knowing before taming, and four acts of knowing, knowing, discerning, and observing are set out before a hand is laid on. The third, the practice of cutting off one’s own hindrance of delusion, begins at you should cut off measureless afflictions, and what is cut off is first listed plainly — afflictions, habits of deed, wrong views, defiled minds — and then turns to figures: drawing out the poisoned arrow of suffering, drying up the sea of craving, breaking the darkness of ignorance, you should shatter measureless mountains of self-conceit, cutting the bonds of birth and death, crossing the floods of existence, draining the sea of taking birth — arrow, sea, darkness, mountain, bond, flood, each saying by its own shape what shape the thing to be cut off has. The fourth, the practice of urging beings toward deliverance, is only three clauses: you should make measureless sentient beings come out of the mire of the five desires, you should cause measureless sentient beings to leave the prison of the three realms, you should set measureless sentient beings within the holy path — the first two are a coming out, the last a setting down: what has come out must have somewhere to be put. The fifth, the practice of purifying one’s own roots and desires, opens with three clauses — you should extinguish measureless conduct of greed, you should cleanse measureless conduct of anger, you should shatter measureless conduct of delusion — and Chengguan lays one remark upon this passage: “removing the three unwholesome roots, one accomplishes the three wholesome roots and the rest.” The three clauses answer exactly to the three unwholesome roots, and their removal is the accomplishing of the three wholesome ones.

Within the third passage, the practice of cutting off one’s own hindrance of delusion, there is one clause that is not a cutting off: you should bring forth measureless pure minds. It is wedged after you should remove measureless defiled minds and before you should draw out measureless poisoned arrows of suffering — the four clauses before it cut off afflictions, habits of deed, wrong views, and defiled minds, every clause a taking away; and this one clause suddenly reads “bring forth,” and what is brought forth is a pure mind. The scripture’s own order is where it teaches: the defiled mind is removed and then the pure mind is brought forth, a removing and a bringing forth standing next to each other and not standing in for each other; and only below it does the passage turn to the seven figurative clauses of drawing out the arrow, drying up the sea, breaking the darkness, and shattering the mountain. Chengguan sets forth for this passage only the name “the practice of cutting off one’s own hindrance of delusion,” without glossing clause by clause, and so the sense of this clause is read from the scripture’s own verb alone. Brought down to the ground: that one graph “bring forth” is left standing inside a passage about cutting off delusion says that the removal of defilement does not of itself amount to having purity — purity has to be brought forth a second time.

Of the thirteen clauses of the fifth passage, the first three answer to the three unwholesome roots, as said above; the ten below them deepen tier by tier, and are to be read from the verbs the scripture itself attaches. You should go beyond measureless nets of the māras and you should leave measureless deeds of the māras first set forth the outward difficulty answered to — a net is what covers over, a deed is what is done, and so one is a going beyond and one a leaving, the verbs not interchangeable. In the eight clauses below, the subject bears the two graphs “the bodhisattva,” unlike those before: you should cleanse the bodhisattva’s measureless delights cleanses what he is fond of; you should increase the bodhisattva’s measureless skilful means increases what he uses; you should bring forth the bodhisattva’s measureless superior faculties brings forth his faculties; you should make bright and clean the bodhisattva’s measureless settled understanding cleans his understanding; you should enter the bodhisattva’s measureless equality enters his equality; you should purify the bodhisattva’s measureless merit purifies his merit; you should order the bodhisattva’s measureless practices orders his practice; and the last clause, you should display the bodhisattva’s measureless practice of according with the world, turns from cleansing and ordering oneself outward, and what is displayed is a practice that accords with the world. Cleansing, increasing, bringing forth, making bright, entering, purifying, ordering, displaying — eight verbs running from inward to outward, and only at the last clause does it come out into the world. Chengguan lays upon this passage only the one remark “removing the three unwholesome roots, one accomplishes the three wholesome roots and the rest,” which matches the first three clauses alone; the ten below have no clause-by-clause gloss. Brought down to the ground: when the verb changes within a passage, the thing being dealt with has changed a tier; to read a long passage, watch the verbs.

The sixth, the practice of mastery in the working of power, runs from you should bring forth measureless power of pure faith to you should fulfil measureless powers of a Tathāgata, and within it ten powers arise one from another in order: pure faith, vigor, right mindfulness, samādhi, pure wisdom, resolute understanding, merit, knowledge, bodhisattva-power, Tathāgata-power — beginning at faith and halting at the powers of a Tathāgata. The seventh, the practice of gathering the Dharma and curing delusion, begins at you should distinguish measureless Dharma gates: its first half speaks of distinguishing, understanding, and purifying the Dharma gates, and of bringing forth the light of Dharma and making the Dharma shine; its latter half turns to the physician’s work — you should know measureless sicknesses of affliction, you should gather measureless medicines of wondrous Dharma, you should heal measureless illnesses of sentient beings. A Dharma gate, by this point, is not knowledge but medicine. The eighth, the practice of making offerings to buddhas and gathering beings, begins at you should furnish measureless ambrosial offerings, then going to buddha-lands, you should make offerings to measureless Tathāgatas, entering the assemblies of bodhisattvas, receiving the teachings of the buddhas; and then it turns toward sentient beings: you should bear with measureless offenses of sentient beings, extinguishing the calamities of the evil destinies, causing beings to be born in good destinies, you should gather measureless sentient beings by the four means of gathering — offerings to buddhas in the first half, the gathering of beings in the latter, which is why Chengguan labels it with those four graphs. The ninth, the practice of compassion and vow deep and broad, begins at you should cultivate measureless gates of dhāraṇī: gates of great vow, the power of great kindness and great vow, you should seek the Dharma diligently and measurelessly without ever resting, powers of contemplation, deeds of spiritual penetration, light of knowledge; and then it comes to taking birth — going to the destinies of sentient beings, receiving measureless births in existence, you should manifest measureless differentiated bodies, knowing measureless dharmas of speech. The tenth, the practice of realization and entry round and full, begins at you should enter measureless differentiated minds, and what is entered deepens step by step — the bodhisattva’s great objects, great palace, profound and wondrous Dharma, hard-to-know objects, you should carry out the bodhisattva’s hard-to-carry-out practices, the hard-to-enter right station — and it closes with four matters: you should, together with all bodhisattvas, abide through boundless kalpas, make offerings to measureless buddhas, adorn and purify buddha-lands beyond speaking, and bring forth bodhisattva vows beyond speaking.

Within the seventh passage there is one clause to be taken up on its own: you should illumine measureless kinds and classes of faculty. It stands after you should make measureless Dharma shine and before you should know measureless sicknesses of affliction, right at the turning point where the side of the Dharma gates turns toward the side of the physician’s work. The five clauses before it speak of distinguishing, understanding, and purifying the Dharma gates, and of bringing forth the light of Dharma and making the Dharma shine — all of them the Dharma that illumines; what this one clause illumines is not Dharma but faculty, and the two graphs “kinds and classes” say that the faculties of sentient beings have their kinds and their classes and are not of one flavor. The faculties are illumined and then the sickness is known; the sickness is known and then the medicine is gathered; the medicine is gathered and then the illness is healed. The scripture sets the illumining of faculties before the knowing of sickness, and that order is itself the reason: unless it is first made clear which class of faculty this person has, the medicine gathered answers to nothing. Chengguan sets forth for this passage only the name “the practice of gathering the Dharma and curing delusion,” with no separate gloss on this clause. Brought down to the ground: one and the same Dharma gate is a different medicine for a different faculty — illumine first, then give, and the order cannot be reversed.

Of the eighteen clauses of the tenth passage, ten were not reached above. You should be furnished with the bodhisattva’s weighty majesty stands after you should carry out the bodhisattva’s hard-to-carry-out practices and before you should tread the bodhisattva’s hard-to-enter right station — the hard practice having been carried out, there is then a weighty majesty to be furnished with, and only after that is the hard-to-enter right station trodden; majesty is not a qualification held beforehand but something practised into being. The nine clauses from you should know the bodhisattva’s various practices onward then follow one upon another in order: his various practices are known, and then you should manifest the bodhisattva’s all-pervading spiritual power manifests his power, you should receive the bodhisattva’s cloud of Dharma of equality receives his Dharma, you should broaden the bodhisattva’s boundless net of practice broadens his practice, you should fulfil the bodhisattva’s boundless perfections fulfils his perfections, you should receive the bodhisattva’s measureless prophecies receives his prophecy, you should enter the bodhisattva’s measureless gates of forbearance enters his forbearance, you should order the bodhisattva’s measureless grounds orders his grounds, and last you should purify the bodhisattva’s measureless Dharma gates purifies his Dharma gates. Knowing, manifesting, receiving, broadening, fulfilling, receiving, entering, ordering, purifying — and among the nine verbs the two instances of “receive” receive different things: one receives a cloud of Dharma of equality, one receives measureless prophecies; the cloud of Dharma is what one is covered by, the prophecy is what one is given. Chengguan sets forth for this passage only the name “the practice of realization and entry round and full,” without glossing clause by clause. Brought down to the ground: what these ten clauses lay out is not a list of merits but a ladder of stations — practice, majesty, right station, power, Dharma, prophecy, forbearance, ground, one after another upward.

A misreading is to be set aside: that this is a heaped-up string of parallel clauses of which one need only read the gist. With the outline of ten passages in hand, these ninety-odd clauses are no longer a heap but a road. Brought down to the ground: the way to read a long passage is not to read it fast, but first to find its divisions.

To Take Up the Essential Point: Eleven Instances of “Universally”

After the long passage, the scripture text concludes itself: “Son of good family! To take up the essential point and speak of it: you should universally cultivate all bodhisattva practices … you should universally serve all good friends.” The base text has, graph for graph, eleven clauses of “should universally.”

Chengguan outlines this as “concluding briefly and displaying broadly,” and glosses its intent, saying “that is, to set them out separately would be hard to make complete” — one by one they cannot be finished, and so they are gathered into eleven clauses of “universally.”

The eleven clauses of “universally” are not one clause said eleven times; what is made universal differs in each. You should universally cultivate all bodhisattva practices makes practice universal; you should universally convert all realms of sentient beings, sentient beings; you should universally enter all kalpas, time; you should universally be born in all places, place; you should universally know all worlds, the world; you should universally carry out all dharmas, the Dharma; you should universally purify all lands, the land; you should universally fulfil all vows, vows; you should universally make offerings to all buddhas, the buddhas; you should universally share the vows of all bodhisattvas, the vows of fellow travelers; and the last, you should universally serve all good friends, good friends. Practice, sentient beings, time, place, world, Dharma, land, vow, buddhas, shared vow, good friend — set out in a row, these eleven touch everything a bodhisattva will meet: what he does, whom he delivers, the time and the ground he stands on, what he knows, what he cultivates, what he adorns, what he brings forth, what he offers to, whom he shares with, whom he serves. Chengguan gives no clause-by-clause gloss upon the eleven; he outlines them only as “concluding briefly and displaying broadly” and glosses the intent as “that is, to set them out separately would be hard to make complete.”

A misreading is to be set aside: that the last clause, you should universally serve all good friends, is mentioned in passing. Of the eleven, the first ten say what you are to do yourself, and the last says who teaches you to do it — and the whole long passage that follows is about that one clause.

A misreading is to be set aside: that “to take up the essential point and speak of it” shortens what came before. The former passage says “measureless,” this passage says “all”; the former lists by items, this one speaks by the universal. What is shortened is the wording, not the amount. Brought down to the ground: if a person can add one graph, “universally,” to every single thing he cultivates, then the ninety-odd clauses before are all contained within.

The Ten Things One Should Not Do in Seeking Good Friends

From here the text turns to “warning and exhorting him in serving friends.” First are ten clauses warning him away from fault: in seeking do not weary · in seeing do not give rise to a sense of having had enough · in inquiring do not shrink from toil and hardship · in drawing near do not harbor a mind that turns back · in making offerings do not rest · in receiving the teaching do not turn it upside down or throw it into disorder · in studying the practice do not doubt · in hearing the gate of deliverance expounded do not waver · in seeing them act in accord with the afflictions do not give rise to a mind of dislike and blame · the mind of deep faith and reverence brought forth toward them do not alter.

Among these the ninth clause is the hardest. Chengguan writes a passage here in particular, saying “as for seeing them act in accord with the afflictions and not giving rise to dislike and blame: good friends are of two kinds, first the real and second the provisional. The provisional are able to walk upon what is not the path, and whether inside and outside they are ripe or unripe is hard to know by skill, and so one should not dislike them. Among the real there are again two, first the practice and second the understanding. Now one seeks only the understanding and should not contemplate the practice”; and he cites a treatise as his witness, saying “as the Zhi lun, fascicle fifty, says, it is likewise as a lame man with eyes is still able to point out the road.”

A misreading is to be set aside: that “should not contemplate the practice” means one may pay no heed to the teacher’s conduct. What Chengguan says is that what is sought is the understanding — the lame man points out the road, and the road is still that road. Brought down to the ground: this is the clause among the ten most easily taken away for an excuse, and so it must be read together with the four graphs “now one seeks only the understanding.”

Thirty-Five Clauses: The Things There Are Only Because of Good Friends

After the warning comes the gloss. The scripture text raises its own query: “Why is it so?” — and answers with thirty-five clauses, thirty-three of them fastened to “all bodhisattvas” (the two clauses on going toward the awakening-fruit of all tathāgatas and on going to every quarter to hear the wondrous Dharma are not): hearing the many practices · accomplishing the merit and virtue · bringing forth the great vows · drawing out the roots of good … down to doing the deeds of benefit of all bodhisattvas.

Chengguan first brings out the sense of the query, saying “if only one raises a broad mind it is enough to accomplish the great path — why must one be made to serve friends and be warned away from faults?”; then he brings out the sense of the gloss, saying “the Dharma is spread by persons; if not through good friends, how could one hear the many wondrous practices?”; and he points out that “within it there are thirty-five clauses, each clause one line” — a count of clauses that agrees with the count graph by graph in the base text.

The thirty-five clauses are not thirty-five benefits heaped together; there is an order within them. The first four are matters of entering the door — hearing the many practices, accomplishing the merit and virtue, bringing forth the great vows, drawing out the roots of good. Then come provisions and opening out — gathering all that aids the bodhisattva path, opening out the light of Dharma of all bodhisattvas, displaying the gate of deliverance, studying the pure precepts of all bodhisattvas, taking a stand in the dharmas of merit. Then mind and eloquence — purifying the vast resolve, increasing the firm mind, being furnished with all the bodhisattvas’ gates of dhāraṇī and eloquence, gaining the pure treasury, bringing forth the light of concentration. Then vows — gaining the surpassing vow, and sharing one vow with all bodhisattvas, where those words weigh most: not each bringing forth his own, but one and the same vow with all bodhisattvas. Then places arrived at — hearing the surpassing Dharma, gaining the secret place of all bodhisattvas, reaching the jeweled isle of the Dharma of all bodhisattvas: the secret place and the jeweled isle are both said in terms of arriving.

Next it turns to nurture and guarding: increasing the sprout of the roots of good of all bodhisattvas, lengthening the body of knowledge, guarding the deep secret treasury, upholding the mass of merit, purifying the path of taking birth of all bodhisattvas, receiving the cloud of right Dharma, entering the road of the great vows of all bodhisattvas. And then comes the clause that travels furthest of the thirty-five: proceeding to the fruit of awakening of all Tathāgatas — before this clause, every clause is fastened to “all bodhisattvas,” and at this one what is proceeded to is the fruit of a Tathāgata. Beneath it: taking up the wondrous practices of all bodhisattvas, revealing the merit, going in all directions to hear and receive the wondrous Dharma — and what is gone to is all directions, not one place and one teacher. Of the thirty-five, these two alone are not fastened to “all bodhisattvas.” Then praising the vast majesty, bringing forth the power of great kindness and compassion of all bodhisattvas, gathering the surpassing power of mastery, bringing forth the limbs of awakening, and the last clause, doing the deeds of benefit of all bodhisattvas. The whole passage begins at hearing and ends at doing deeds of benefit: in through the ear, out through the hand. Chengguan counts the clauses here but gives no clause-by-clause gloss; he sums the intent in one sentence — “the Dharma is spread by persons; if not through good friends, how could one hear the many wondrous practices?” Every one of these thirty-five has that one premise: because of a good friend.

A misreading is to be set aside: that since one is to bring forth a vast mind, one’s own effort will do. Chengguan’s question here asks precisely this. Brought down to the ground: the Dharma must be transmitted by persons, and this fact does not change because your resolve is large.

Fourteen Clauses of Guarding from Without and Forty-One Clauses of Taking Up the Causes

The next passage turns to another angle: the former passage says good friends “give birth,” this passage says good friends “rear.” The scripture text has, graph for graph, fourteen clauses, every clause beginning with the graph “because”: because they uphold, he does not fall into the evil destinies · because they take him in, he does not turn back from the Great Vehicle · because they bear him in mind, he does not break the bodhisattva precepts … because he takes his stand upon them, he increases all the dharmas that are limbs of awakening.

Again a query, again a gloss: from “why is it so? Son of good family! As for good friends: they are able to purify the many hindrances” onward, the base text has, graph for graph, forty-one clauses of “able to.” Chengguan speaks very finely of how these two passages match, saying “these forty clauses gloss the fifteen clauses of the direct setting forth above; there is the running-through and there is the separate. Running through, the several causes of evil afterward correspond generally to the fruits before; separately, each is matched and assigned. As by removing the many difficulties, one does not turn back from the Great Vehicle; by stopping the many evils, one does not break the pure precepts; by breaking ignorance, one does not follow bad friends”; and he says of himself, “the clauses below may have two or three matching one clause above, which can be got by the sense; fearing prolixity I do not match them.” The commentary’s fifteen clauses and forty clauses differ from the base text’s fourteen clauses and forty-one clauses graph for graph; the two counts are recorded together without adjudication.

Of the fourteen clauses of “because,” the first nine and the last five differ in what they take as the cause. The first nine say “because a good friend” does thus — upholds, takes in, bears in mind, guards, rears, gathers, instructs, points the way, nourishes — and the subject stands on the good friend’s side. The last five say because one serves, because one makes offerings, because one draws near, because one relies upon, because one takes one’s stand upon a good friend, and the subject shifts to oneself. That shift is the bone of the passage: the former says what he has done, the latter what you have done toward him. The benefits, too, differ clause by clause. Because a good friend gathers him in, he goes beyond the ground of the ordinary person and because a good friend instructs him, he goes beyond the ground of the two vehicles stand next to each other — one going beyond the ordinary, one beyond the two vehicles: two removes, not one. Because a good friend points the way, he gains deliverance from the world and because a good friend nourishes him, he is able not to be stained by worldly dharmas are again a pair — one a coming out, the other a staying in the world unstained; coming out and being unstained are not one and the same thing. In the last five the benefit turns to cultivation and to power: he who serves cultivates all bodhisattva practices, he who makes offerings is furnished with all dharmas that aid the path, because he draws near to good friends, he is not crushed down by deeds and delusions, because he relies upon good friends, his strength is firm and he does not fear the māras, and the last, because he takes his stand upon good friends, he increases all the dharmas that are limbs of awakening. The clause of reliance answers to the māras, the clause of taking a stand answers to the limbs of awakening — one a warding off, one a growing — and there the passage closes.

Two of the fourteen clauses have fruits that must be read together with their clause. Because a good friend guards him, he does not follow after bad friends — what is guarded is nothing else than the not going after bad friends; and of the three examples Chengguan matches in the passage of causes, the last reads “by breaking ignorance, one does not follow bad friends,” setting the cause-clause able to break the long night’s darkness of ignorance against the fruit of this clause. On that match, what the guarding of a good friend guards is the eye — failing to recognize a bad friend is a matter of ignorance. Because a good friend rears him, he does not fall short in the bodhisattva Dharma — the fruit accomplished by rearing is that the bodhisattva Dharma is not fallen short in, and not some other merit. The former clause is a not-adding of what should not be added, the latter a not-diminishing of what should be there: one wards off an entry from outside, one wards off a loss from within, and so the two clauses stand next to each other without repeating. For the clause of rearing Chengguan sets forth no matching cause, saying of himself, “fearing prolixity I do not match them.” Brought down to the ground: what a good friend does for a person is, on one side, to keep away those he ought not follow, and on the other, to keep watch over the Dharma he ought not lack.

Of the forty-one clauses of “able to,” the first fourteen all say a clearing away, a breaking, a coming out, a leaving: able to purify the hindrances, to extinguish the offenses, to remove the difficulties, to stop the evils, able to break the long night’s darkness of ignorance, able to destroy the firm prison of views, to come out of the city of birth and death, able to renounce the worldly household, to cut the nets of the māras, to draw out the arrows of suffering, to leave the perilous place of unknowing, able to come out of the great wasteland of wrong views, to cross the floods of existence, to leave the wrong paths. Three of those fourteen name a place — a prison, a city, a wasteland: views are the prison, birth and death the city, wrong views the wasteland, and each says by its own shape why that place is hard to get out of. From able to show the road of awakening onward, the remaining twenty-seven turn direction, from taking away to giving: showing the road, teaching the Dharma, causing one to take a stand in the bodhisattva practice, causing one to turn toward omniscience, purifying the eye of knowledge, lengthening the mind of awakening, bringing forth great compassion, setting forth wondrous practice, expounding the perfections. Then station and practice — causing one to abide in the grounds, to gain the forbearances, to cultivate all roots of good, able to cause one to complete all the equipment of the path, bestowing great merit, causing one to reach the station of omniscience. Then feeling and approach — able to cause one to gather merit with joy, to cultivate the practices with eagerness, able to cause one to enter the profound meaning, to have the gate of deliverance revealed, to cut off the evil destinies. And last, shining, moistening, extinguishing, letting go, increasing, abiding — causing one to be lit by the light of Dharma, able to cause one to be moistened by the rain of Dharma, to extinguish every delusion, to let go of every view, to increase all the knowledge of the buddhas, able to cause one to abide in all the Dharma gates of the buddhas.

Wedged among those twenty-seven is one clause, able to expel bad friends, still in the tone of taking away — among the things a good friend gives is the driving off of those one ought not draw near. As for matching them one by one to the passage above, Chengguan says of himself, “the clauses below may have two or three matching one clause above, which can be got by the sense; fearing prolixity I do not match them,” and so the clause-by-clause assignment is not set out in the Commentary. Yet the three he has already matched — removing the difficulties against not turning back from the Great Vehicle, stopping the evils against not breaking the pure precepts, breaking ignorance against not following bad friends — are enough to show the method: every clause of “able to” takes away one cause of evil, and every “not” in the fourteen clauses above is a fruit that perishes because its cause is gone.

A misreading is to be set aside: that the two passages, before and after, say one and the same thing twice. Chengguan says it plainly: the former is the fruit, the latter the cause; the former says one does not fall, the latter says by what one does not fall. Brought down to the ground: to know that one ‘has not fallen down’ is one thing, and to know ‘what it was that removed that cause’ is another.

Ten Similes: Kind Mother · Kind Father · Wet-Nurse · Teacher …

From here Chengguan outlines the text as “teaching and exhorting,” saying “the text has four passages, all displayed by simile.” The first passage is just the ten similes: like a kind mother · like a kind father · like a wet-nurse · like a teacher · like one who guides well · like a good physician · like the Snow Mountains · like a brave general · like one who ferries travelers across · like a boatman, each concluding with the graph “since” the sense it takes.

The order of the ten similes has its own sequence: the first three are persons within the household (giving birth · rearing · guarding), the middle three are persons upon the road (teaching · guiding · healing), and the last four are helps in perilous places (the Snow Mountains bringing forth medicine · the brave general removing fear · the one who ferries travelers bringing one out of the flood · the boatman bringing one to the isle). The closing clause, “son of good family! You should constantly ponder the good friends with right mindfulness in this way,” Chengguan outlines as “the concluding exhortation.”

A misreading is to be set aside: that similes are for the sake of speaking prettily. The reason this passage needs ten is that what a good friend works upon a person is not of one kind only — the one who gives birth to you, rears you, guards you, teaches you, saves you, each is a separate matter. Brought down to the ground: if a good friend can bear even one of these similes, that is already a good friend.

Twenty-One Minds: From the Great Earth to a Prince

The second passage is twenty-one clauses of ‘one should bring forth a mind like such and such’: the great earth · a diamond · the Iron-Ring Mountains · an attendant · a disciple · a servant boy · a nursing mother · a hired laborer · a remover of dung · a ripened ear of grain · a fine horse · a great cart · a tamed and obedient elephant · Mount Sumeru · a good dog · a Zhantuluo · a gelded ox · a boat · a bridge · a filial son · a prince. Chengguan says here only that “there are twenty-one clauses; the text is plain” — the text is clear of itself and needs no further gloss.

The images these twenty-one clauses take are of three sorts: first, taking the virtue of a thing (the great earth bearing up · the diamond unbreakable · the Iron-Ring unmoving · Sumeru not tilting); second, taking the station of a person (attendant · disciple · servant boy · nursing mother · hired laborer · remover of dung · filial son · prince); third, taking beasts and implements (fine horse · great cart · tamed and obedient elephant · good dog · gelded ox · boat · bridge); while the one clause “a ripened ear of grain” takes the image of the ripened ear bending low, to liken being able to bend low.

Each of the twenty-one clauses has a “since” fastened to it, and what each takes is not the same, so each must be looked at. Four take the virtue of a thing: the great earth takes bearing heavy burdens without wearying; the diamond takes a resolve firm and unbreakable; one should bring forth a mind like the Iron-Ring Mountains, since no suffering whatever can move them takes suffering coming and nothing moving; Sumeru takes not tilting — the Iron-Ring answers to suffering, Sumeru to tilting, and the two mountains are not the same. Five take the station of a person in service, and what all five take is non-contravening: one should bring forth a mind like an attendant’s, since he accords with every command laid on him; the disciple takes having no contravening of any instruction; one should bring forth a mind like a hired laborer’s, since he does not contravene whatever teaching he receives; one should bring forth a mind like a filial son’s, since he goes along with the look on the face; one should bring forth a mind like a prince’s, since he carries out the commands he is taught. From according with commands to going along with the look on a face, they grow finer as they go, and the last returns to commands carried out.

Three speak of not wearying: the great earth, not wearying; the boat, going and coming untiring; one should bring forth a mind like a bridge’s, since it ferries across and forgets fatigue — and the great earth clause takes both bearing up and not wearying. One should bring forth a mind like a nursing mother’s, since she takes on every hardship and does not report her toil is a further remove: she takes the hardship and does not say so. The rest each take one sense and cannot stand in for one another: one should bring forth a mind like a servant boy’s, since he does not weary of any of the tasks takes not wearying of tasks; one should bring forth a mind like a ripened ear of grain’s, since it is able to bend low takes the ripe ear bending; one should bring forth a mind like a fine horse’s, since it is apart from bad temper takes being apart from bad temper; one should bring forth a mind like a great cart’s, since it is able to carry the heavy takes carrying weight; one should bring forth a mind like a tamed and obedient elephant’s, since it is constantly submissive takes constant submission; one should bring forth a mind like a good dog’s, since it does not harm its master takes not harming the master; one should bring forth a mind like a gelded ox’s, since it has no fierce anger takes having no fierce anger. Chengguan says here only that “there are twenty-one clauses; the text is plain,” and gives no clause-by-clause gloss, so the sense of each is to be had from the “since” the scripture text fastens to it — which is exactly why the next paragraph must read the servant boy apart from the remover of dung.

A misreading is to be set aside: that among them the clauses of the remover of dung · the servant boy · the Zhantuluo teach a person to belittle himself. The sense fastened to the clauses of the remover of dung and the Zhantuluo is written graph for graph as “since it leaves arrogance behind,” and that of the servant boy as “since it does not weary of any task whatever” — what is put away is conceit and weariness, not self-respect. Brought down to the ground: the difference between bending low and belittling oneself is that the one sets the self down and the other sees the self as small.

Ten Pairs and Four Matters: Oneself · The Good Friend · The Dharma Spoken · The Practice Cultivated

The third passage is the setting of self and friend face to face. Chengguan says, “the text has ten clauses, each clause with four matters; it can be understood.” The ten pairs are: sick and suffering · king of physicians · fine medicine · removing illness; going far · guide · right road · arriving far away; seeking to be ferried across · boatman · boat and oars · reaching the shore; sprouting grain · dragon king · timely rain · ripening; poor · King Vaiśravaṇa · goods and jewels · wealth and abundance; apprentice · fine craftsman · the craft · knowing it thoroughly; afraid · one brave and strong · weapons · breaking the foe; merchant · caravan leader · precious jewels · gathering them up; son · father and mother · the family estate · carrying on the succession; prince · great minister · the royal decree · wearing the royal crown and the rest.

The manner of this passage differs from the two before: the two before speak only of the good friend, while here within one clause four matters are placed at once — what I am, what he is, what the Dharma is, what the practice is. The fourth matter of the last pair is, graph for graph, four items (wearing the royal crown · wearing the royal robes · fastening on the royal sash · sitting in the royal hall), while each of the other nine pairs has one item.

The two graphs “can be got” in Chengguan’s remark “there are ten clauses, each clause with four matters, which can be got” point at something. The Yanyi chao sets forth what it is that can be got, saying “these four are just the four proximate causes and conditions of the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, glossed repeatedly before, and so it says can be got. The first two clauses are drawing near to good friends; the third clause is hearing the right Dharma; the fourth clause is cultivating as taught; and since right mindfulness and contemplation run through all four clauses, every clause makes one give rise to such a thought.” By the chao, the four matters within one pair answer exactly to the four proximate causes: oneself and the good friend, the two of them, are drawing near to good friends; the Dharma spoken is hearing the right Dharma; the practice cultivated is cultivating as taught; while right mindfulness and contemplation take no separate place of their own but run through all four. These ten pairs are therefore not ten figures set side by side, but the four proximate causes played through once over in each of ten stations. Brought down to the ground: let one of the four matters be missing, and that proximate cause is broken right there.

A misreading is to be set aside: that these are ten similes each standing on its own. The matching of the four matters is the very substance of this passage — mistake what you yourself are, and the other three will all go wrong along with it. Brought down to the ground: first ask yourself whether you are now a sick person, a person going far, or a prince; the answer decides how you will hear that clause.

The Concluding Exhortation: Draw Near with a Mind Such as This

The fourth passage is the concluding exhortation and the benefit it establishes: “You should bring forth a mind such as this and form an intention such as this in drawing near to good friends. Why is it so? Drawing near to good friends with a mind such as this is able to make his aspiration attain purity forever.”

Chengguan outlines this as “first the exhortation proper; after, from ‘why’ onward, taking up the benefit to establish the explanation.” The benefit taken up is one clause only — making his aspiration attain purity forever.

A misreading is to be set aside: that the benefit of drawing near to good friends ought to be gaining the Dharma, gaining concentration, gaining spiritual powers. Here only purity of aspiration is spoken of. Brought down to the ground: if a person’s aspiration is still mixed with something else, then however much he gains, it is that aspiration that is doing the gaining.

Praising the Ten Similes Again: Snow Mountains · Great Sea · Fierce Fire · Lotus Blossom

After the taking up of the benefit, the scripture text has another passage of “again,” of which nine clauses among the ten read ‘good friends are such and such, as it were such and such’: nourishing the many roots of good as the Snow Mountains nourish the medicinal herbs · being a vessel of the Buddha-Dharma as the great sea swallows in the many streams · being a place of merit and virtue as the great sea brings forth the many jewels · purifying the mind of awakening as a fierce fire refines true gold · passing beyond the dharmas of the world as Sumeru rises out of the sea · not being stained by the dharmas of the world as the lotus blossom does not cling to the water · not receiving the many evils as the great sea does not lodge a corpse overnight · increasing the white dharmas as the white moon is round and full · illumining the Dharma realm as the blazing sun shines upon the four continents · nourishing the bodhisattva body as father and mother rear a son. Among the ten similes “as it were” occurs nine times, while the fifth simile reads “as Mount Sumeru rises out above the great sea” and not “as it were” — the differing form follows the base text.

Chengguan outlines this as “praising the friend again as being able to benefit, and therefore fit to be served.” The former ten similes say what a good friend is like; these ten similes say what a good friend does.

A misreading is to be set aside: that it repeats the ten similes before. The former ten take human relations and the road traveled, these ten take mountains, seas, sun, and moon — what is praised is not the same. Brought down to the ground: as for this matter of good friends, it is not exhausted even at the twentieth simile.

Lodging the Numbers to Conclude Their Multitude, and Gathering All Together to Conclude Their Multitude

The last two passages are both a gathering up. First is the lodging of numbers: ten clauses of “ten beyond-speaking hundreds of thousands of koṭis,” the first four clauses using nayutas and the last six using asaṃkhyeyas. Chengguan judges here, saying “since it runs through everything, why only hundreds of thousands? It is clear that saying ‘ten beyond-speaking’ above is meant to display that they are inexhaustible” — these numbers are not there for one to count, but for one to know that they cannot be counted.

Afterward is the gathering all together: all bodhisattva practices · perfections · grounds · forbearances · gates of dhāraṇī · gates of samādhi · knowledge of spiritual power · dedications · vows, and then it concludes, saying “all the accomplishing of the Buddha-Dharma by bodhisattvas is by the power of good friends, takes good friends as its root, is born depending on good friends, comes forth depending on good friends, grows depending on good friends, abides depending on good friends; good friends are its cause and condition, and good friends are what set it in motion.”

A misreading is to be set aside: that “by the power of good friends” hands the credit over to someone else. What the scripture text says is “takes as its root,” “are its cause and condition,” “are what set it in motion” — it speaks of where the thing starts, not of anyone standing in for you. Brought down to the ground: the road must be walked by oneself, but the first lifting of the foot was given by another.

Cherishing Their Virtue and Taking Leave: What He Carries Away Are the Words “Merit and Virtue”

The last passage is Sudhana’s taking leave: “At that time Sudhana the youth, having heard of merit and virtue such as this belonging to good friends — able to reveal measureless wondrous practices of bodhisattvas, able to accomplish measureless vast Buddha-Dharma — leapt up in gladness, bowed to the feet of Virtue-Born and Endowed with Virtue, circled them measureless times, gazed up at them with earnest devotion, and only then took his leave and departed.”

What is to be noticed is what the scripture text records Sudhana as having heard — not the liberation of the abiding in illusion, but “merit and virtue such as this belonging to good friends.” The first half of this section speaks of the abiding in illusion, the second half of good friends; and what the last passage concludes upon is the second half.

A misreading is to be set aside: that cherishing their virtue and taking leave is a set formula. Here the eight graphs “having heard of merit and virtue such as this belonging to good friends” set the weight of the whole unit upon the second half. Brought down to the ground: what he carries away from this good friend is the knowing of why the next one is worth going to.

The Assigning of Stations and the Five Marks: Whose Judgment Is This

In Chengguan’s outline this section belongs to the second of the five marks of the last assembly, the mark of the conditions gathered and entering the real, and the name of this section is “the good friend of the gate of the illusory knowledge that returns to illusion.” This layer requires that it be made clear who is doing the judging.

The assigning of stations and the matching of the five marks come from Chengguan following the ancient worthies, and before matching them Chengguan sets up a passage of even-handed words: “Both have their reason. That is, since each single station is complete in many Dharma gates, how should an ordinary mind be barred from practicing and seeking the dharma of good friends? — and so not matching them has its reason. Yet within the absence of graded stations the graded stations are not obstructed, and displaying the stations is the constant rule, so that matching them likewise is no error.” Only afterward does he say “the horizontal and the vertical are unobstructed, and for now I follow the ancient worthies in matching them as five marks.” That is to say: to match and not to match both have their reason; what Chengguan takes is “for now I follow.”

A misreading is to be set aside: that the matching of the fifty-three good friends to fifty-three stations is arranged by the scripture text itself. From beginning to end the scripture text never says that a given friend is a given station. Brought down to the ground: in reading the judgment that assigns stations, one must read it together with Chengguan’s clause “both have their reason” — that is the measure with which he laid this judgment down.

Lineage

The text of this section opens three lines of flow onward.

The first is the line of glossing the name. Fazang, upon the nearness of the Sanskrit sounds, distinguishes the rendered names, saying “the old witness names him Wondrous Virtue, which here is Virtue-Born. Wondrous Virtue Grace, which here is Endowed with Virtue. Since in the original tongue the name is Shilimo, which in this tongue is Endowed with Virtue; Shilimodi, which in this tongue is Virtue Grace. Because the sounds and graphs are near to one another, the two renderings differ.” Li Tongxuan goes not by the rendered names but by the symbolizing of the Dharma, making it “the two practices, knowledge and compassion, are level and equal” and “knowledge and compassion are equally full.” What the two houses set up lies, for the one, in the sound, and for the other, in the sense.

The second is the line of the abiding in illusion. Chengguan sets up its substance by “the dharmas of the knower and the known, the objective realm and knowledge, the defiled and the pure, all arise from conditions,” and sets up its being beyond conceiving by the four clauses of not existent, not non-existent, not one, not different, returning to “unobstructed layer upon layer”; Fazang sets up the abiding in illusion by the two meanings of the known and the knower, and sets up its being beyond conceiving by “losing the two extremes and not abiding in the middle either”; Li Tongxuan, upon this gate, draws Indra’s net as its likeness, saying “illusion gives birth to light and shadow, bodies and lands layer upon layer, as in Indra’s net bodies and objects are layer upon layer, and in the ten directions bodies, lands, objects, and marks enter one another unobstructed, unobstructed.” All three houses carry the abiding in illusion through to unobstructedness layer upon layer, while the road each takes is a separate one.

The third is the line of dividing the outline, each with its own track, recorded without adjudication. The outline of this section Chengguan makes sixfold (seeking in accord with the teaching · seeing, paying respect, and inquiring · displaying their own Dharma gate · humbling themselves and pointing to the superior · pointing out the next friend · cherishing their virtue and taking leave), and beneath pointing out the next friend he opens out the ten passages of the gates one should cultivate and the four passages of teaching and exhorting; Fazang, upon the sixty-fascicle witness, makes three divisions beneath displaying their own Dharma realm (setting forth the name · the working · concluding and pointing on), and at the end of the passage concludes generally, “the foregoing ten persons together make clear the friends of the second great division, the conditions gathered and entering the real”; Li Tongxuan does not divide the outline friend by friend, but takes “the gate of the buddha-fruit gained by Maitreya in one more birth” as a long outline of ten passages and makes this section the first of them; Zhiyan places this passage under the third, the mark of gathering virtue and accomplishing the cause, and glosses the two youths separately as showing the working of transformation and lodging blessings and wisdom, while also preserving a doubt that the order here is lost, which he says he has not settled. The bones of the four houses all differ. In the counting of gates and clauses there are differing forms as well: Chengguan makes them ten questions · ninety-eight gates · fifteen clauses · forty clauses, while the base text counted graph by graph gives eleven questions · ninety-five opening clauses · fourteen clauses · forty-one clauses; as for the thirty-five clauses of taking up the benefit, the commentary and the base text agree. These divergent interpretations and divergent counts are alike the settled accounts of the ancient worthies and the base text graph for graph.

In the text of one section, about one part in ten speaks of themselves and about nine parts of another. The one part that speaks of themselves is named the abiding in illusion; the nine parts that speak of another are, clause by clause, speaking of good friends. The two matters are at root one matter — only one who knows that everything is an illusion can say the five graphs “born depending on good friends” without falling into a single dependency.