華嚴經 義疏通講 · 冊24Avataṃsaka Sūtra · Exposition Throughout · Vol. 24

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.”

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.

From Beginning to End of This Section, Maitreya Does Not Appear

Sudhana calls upon Maitreya the bodhisattva, the fifty-first good friend. And yet in these three thousand seven hundred and ninety-one graphs Maitreya speaks not a word and does not once show his face — he will not “come from another place” until the section that follows. What, then, does this section write of? It writes of the road Sudhana walked to get there, and of what he did standing outside the door of the storeyed pavilion.

A misreading must be set aside: this is not an interlude before ‘the real matter begins.’ When Chengguan outlines this great passage, he sets up Maitreya alone as the third of the five aspects of the last assembly, calling it the mark of gathering virtue and accomplishing the cause, and says of the text of this one mark, “the text is of five passages only, since the station of a final-birth bodhisattva is displayed to the utmost and the humbling and pointing to the superior is therefore lacking.” Of the other friends Chengguan says only this much: “of the passages of the good friends below, six in kind, many are not complete”; and Zhiyan, upon the sixty-fascicle witness, says “the first forty-one all have a conclusion and a pointing on; Maitreya and those after him have neither conclusion nor pointing on.” The lacking of the humbling and the pointing on is thus a judgment upon Maitreya, this one person, and not a saying that every other friend has it and he alone does not. This section belongs only to his first passage and to the former half of the second.

Brought down to the ground: what this section tells a person is that what happens before one meets a good friend is itself a part of the meeting.

Calling the Teaching of the Friend Before to Mind: What Was Turning in His Heart Along the Road

The scripture text opens not with walking but with calling to mind: “At that time Sudhana the youth, having heard the teaching of his good friends, and it having moistened his mind, was rightly calling to mind and pondering the practices practiced by bodhisattvas, and he went on toward the land Sea Shore.” Chengguan outlines this one clause as ‘the setting forth of calling to mind what is before and going on toward what is after’ — setting forth that he calls to mind the teaching he has received before and goes on toward the person he is to reach after.

Why is this written first? Because what the boy Virtue-Born and the maiden Endowed with Virtue displayed at the last stop, if Sudhana does not carry it the whole way, will mean that arriving at the land Sea Shore is only arriving at a place. The four graphs “it moistened his mind” are the eye here: a teaching is not knowledge to be remembered, it is water that soaks into the ground of the mind.

A misreading to be set aside: supposing that the weight of calling upon friends falls on the next stop. The order of the scripture text is exactly the reverse — what was gained at the last stop ferments along the road, and that is what settles what can be seen at the next. Brought down to the ground: what a person turns over in mind on the road after leaving one teacher matters more than the arriving.

The Nine Clauses of Calling His Own Former Lives to Mind: One Fault of Long Ago, Matched with One Bringing Forth of Intent on the Spot

Next comes the most evenly ordered passage of this section. From “he called to mind that in a former life he had not cultivated the paying of respect, and on the spot he brought forth the intent to work at it with diligent strength” onward, the opening clause reads “he called to mind that in a former life,” which occurs once, and below it “and he called to mind that in a former life” occurs eight times, and “on the spot he brought forth the intent” occurs nine times — nine pairs, one to one. The nine things called to mind are: not cultivating the paying of respect; body and mind not pure; doing evil deeds of every kind; giving rise to false imaginings of every kind; the practices cultivated being only for his own body; chasing after and seeking the realms of desire; giving rise to crooked thoughts; toiling by day and by night and doing evil deeds of every kind; and taking birth among the five destinies with no benefit at all.

Chengguan judges this passage as ‘contemplating the faults of long ago and setting up practices as their antidote.’ Those seven graphs settle how it is to be read: this is not a loose repenting, but that with each old fault recalled an antidoting practice is set up on the spot. Recalling “not cultivating the paying of respect,” he “works at it with diligent strength”; recalling “body and mind not pure,” he “sets himself in order and makes himself clean, single-mindedly”; recalling “doing evil deeds,” he “guards himself and cuts them off, single-mindedly.”

A misreading to be set aside: supposing that repentance is a feeling. Among the nine clauses there is not one word of remorse; every clause is “on the spot he brought forth the intent” — four graphs, all of them about an act. Brought down to the ground: to recall an old fault and not set up an antidote to it on the spot is to have recalled it for nothing.

Contemplating the Present Suffering: This Body Is the House Where Suffering Dwells, and So It Is Exactly the Thing to Use

After the nine clauses the scripture text takes a turn: “Having pondered in this way, he gave rise to great joy. And he contemplated this body again, that it is the house of the many sufferings of birth, aging, sickness, and death.” Chengguan outlines this as ‘contemplating his present suffering and urging himself on to the good that is to come’ — seeing the suffering at hand and using it to urge on the good to come.

The order is worth noticing: first “he gave rise to great joy,” and after that ‘he contemplated this body as a house of suffering.’ The joy is not because the suffering has grown less; it is because the antidotes have been set up. And after contemplating the body as a house of suffering, what the scripture text goes on to is not weariness but eleven things he vows to do — cultivate the bodhisattva path, teach and transform sentient beings, see the Tathāgatas, accomplish the Buddha-Dharma, journey through the buddha-lands, serve the masters of the Dharma, uphold the Buddha’s teaching, seek out companions in the Dharma, see good friends, gather the dharmas of the buddhas, and make a cause and a condition with the vow-and-knowledge body of bodhisattvas.

Within the text of his outline Chengguan adds to this passage one particular word of exhortation: “all you who cultivate the practice, may you consider this carefully and take it as your model.” That sentence is not the name of an outline entry; it is what he says to his reader on reading this far.

A misreading to be set aside: supposing that to contemplate the body as suffering is to be done with the body. Here it is the other way round — precisely because it is a house of suffering, it is to be used up before it falls apart. Brought down to the ground: if the impermanence of the body buys nothing but weariness, that contemplation is only half made.

What Grew Out of a Single Thought

From “at the time he made a thought such as this, he grew roots of good measureless and beyond conceiving” onward, Chengguan outlines it as ‘making clear the benefit of that contemplating and calling to mind’ — the fruit this one thought bears at once. The scripture text lists three layers: first, the turning of the mind (deep faith and reverence toward all bodhisattvas, the thought that they are rare, the thought of them as great masters); next, the turning of the marks (the faculties purified and the dharmas of good increased; reverent offerings, the bending of the body and the joining of the palms; the eye that sees the worldly realm everywhere, the thought that calls sentient beings to mind everywhere; the manifesting of the bodies of transformation of measureless vows, the sending forth of the thought of the sound of pure praising); last, the turning of what is seen (he sees all the buddhas of past and present, together with the bodhisattvas, in every place displaying the accomplishing of the path, so that there is not so much as a place the size of a hair-tip that they do not pervade; and he gains the eye of the light of pure knowledge and sees the realms in which all bodhisattvas practice; his mind enters everywhere the net of lands in the ten directions, and his vow reaches everywhere throughout space and the Dharma realm).

A misreading to be set aside: supposing these to be Sudhana’s spiritual powers. The scripture text says plainly that they grew “at the time he made this thought” — and that one thought did not come out of nowhere: the nine clauses before have already set up, one by one, working at it with diligent strength, setting himself in order and making himself clean, guarding himself and cutting off evil, rightly calling to mind and contemplating, constantly and rightly pondering, and raising great vigor. These are cultivated in accord with the teaching of good friends; the cultivating comes first, then this thought, then this benefit. Chengguan, glossing the concentration that follows, says likewise that “faith and vow are the cause of the concentration,” and takes the manifesting of his body everywhere as the use of that concentration, which is “the twofold running of concentration and wisdom” — faith and vow, cultivation, and concentration-and-wisdom complete one another; they do not shut one another out. Brought down to the ground: change the mind and the world seen changes with it; this is not a figure of speech, it is the order of the scripture text.

Concluding to Whom the Benefit Belongs: Who Gave All This

The passage before closed at “equal in the three times, with no time of rest,” at the full height of its momentum. And what the scripture text sets next to it is this one clause: “All of this was brought about only by his having believed and accepted the teaching of good friends.” Chengguan outlines it as ‘concluding to whom the benefit belongs’ — assigning every benefit back to its owner.

The graph “only” is to be looked at. It gathers the whole long string before it into one plain sentence: all of this is nothing but the fruit of having believed and accepted the teaching of good friends.

A misreading to be set aside: supposing that all of this was the work of Sudhana alone. The scripture text assigns the benefit back to the teaching of good friends — not saying that he did not cultivate, but that what made him willing to cultivate, and able to cultivate to the end, was rooted in his having believed and accepted that teaching. Brought down to the ground: what is truly to be remembered on the road of practice is not how far one has walked but who pointed out the road — and this one clause is why Sudhana could call upon more than fifty friends without growing pleased with himself.

Casting the Five Parts of the Body to the Ground: Why Seven Clauses of “Such as This” Come First

“Sudhana the youth, with reverence such as this, offerings such as this, praise such as this, contemplation such as this, power of vow such as this, calling to mind such as this, and measureless realms of wisdom such as this” — seven clauses of “such as this,” and only then “before the great storeyed pavilion Vairocana Adornment Treasury he cast the five parts of his body to the ground.”

The seven clauses of “such as this” all point back to what grew in the passage before. Which is to say: this one bow is not an act standing by itself, it is the coming to ground of that whole stretch of the mind. The scripture text does not write ‘Sudhana paid respect’; it writes ‘with these he paid respect.’

A misreading to be set aside: supposing that paying respect is an act of the body and the mind’s work is the mind’s work. The scripture text joins the two into one sentence. Brought down to the ground: with the same casting of the five parts of the body to the ground, how much a person takes down with him is a difference that can be told.

Manifesting His Body Everywhere: In One Bow He Bows Before Eleven Kinds

After the bow, what the scripture text writes is not that he lay upon the ground, but that he “entered the gate of the sameness of the wisdom-body that pervades every place, and manifested his own body everywhere” — his body appearing before all Tathāgatas, before all bodhisattvas, before all good friends, before all stūpas and shrines of the Tathāgatas, before all images of the Tathāgatas, before all dwelling places of buddhas and bodhisattvas, before all the jewels of the Dharma, before all śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas and their stūpas and shrines, before all the fields of merit that are the holy assemblies, before all his parents and elders, and before all sentient beings in the ten directions: eleven kinds.

Notice the last three: the fields of merit that are the holy assemblies, his parents and elders, and sentient beings in the ten directions. The first eight are the realms of the three jewels, the last three the realm of the world — this bow does not leave the world outside. Fazang, reading this passage upon the sixty-fascicle witness, says that this is “giving rise, at the tower of the Dharma realm, to the thought of the three jewels and the field of merit.”

A misreading to be set aside: supposing that manifesting his body everywhere is a dividing of the body. The cause the scripture text brings up is “because of his deep faith and understanding and the power of his great vow” — what it brings up is faith, understanding, and the power of vow, and Chengguan too glosses the concentration of this passage by “faith and vow are the cause of the concentration.” The scripture text brings up no other cause here, and neither does it thereby shut other causes out. Brought down to the ground: wherever faith, understanding, and the power of vow reach, there the person already is.

The Ten Contemplations of What It Is Equal To: How Great This One Bow Is

Ten clauses follow that write the measure of this paying of respect and praise: equal to space (since it is without bound or measure), equal to the Dharma realm (since it is without obstruction), equal to the real limit (since it pervades everything), equal to the Tathāgatas (since it is without discrimination); like a shadow (since it appears in accord with knowledge), like a dream (since it arises out of thought), like an image in a mirror (since it displays everything), like an echo (since it is sent forth by conditions); it has no arising (since one thing rises and another passes away in turn), it has no own-nature (since it turns in accord with conditions). The first four clauses say how great it is, the middle four how empty it is, the last two that it has no substance of its own at all.

Greatness and emptiness are not two matters here. Precisely because it “has no own-nature, since it turns in accord with conditions,” it can be “equal to space, since it is without bound or measure” — what has a substance of its own has, on the contrary, a bound. Fazang, upon the sixty-fascicle witness, matches the three natures to this passage, saying that it “makes clear that in contemplating the tower equally he illumines the Dharma realm of the three non-natures; the first contemplates the perfectly accomplished nature,” and below that, equal to the Tathāgatas is the imagined and equal to a shadow and the rest is the other-dependent.

A misreading to be set aside: supposing that to call a thing dreamlike and shadowlike is to belittle it. Here it is the reverse: precisely because it is like a shadow, it pervades everything. Brought down to the ground: the weight of a matter is not measured by how solid it is.

The Eleven Clauses of ‘Arising From …’: Pushing the Fruit All the Way Back to the Cause

From “and he knew with certainty” onward there are eleven clauses, every one of them joining a fruit to a cause: recompense arises from deeds, fruits arise from causes, deeds arise from habit, the arising of buddhas arises from faith, the matters of offering manifested by transformation arise from settled understanding, buddhas of transformation arise from a mind of reverence, the dharmas of the buddhas arise from roots of good, bodies of transformation arise from skillful means, the works of a buddha arise from great vows, the practices cultivated by bodhisattvas arise from dedicating and directing, and the vast adornment of the Dharma realm arises from the realm of all-knowledge.

The way the eleven are laid out is worth looking at: from the coarsest, “recompense from deeds,” it is pushed all the way to the finest, ‘the vast adornment of the whole Dharma realm arising from the realm of all-knowledge.’ And in the middle is set one clause: “the arising of all buddhas arises from faith” — for so great a matter as a buddha’s coming into the world, the scripture text gives faith as the cause.

A misreading to be set aside: supposing that a scripture that speaks of emptiness does not speak of cause and fruit. This passage comes directly after the ten contemplations of what it is equal to, and says exactly this: the same person who calls it dreamlike and shadowlike knows at the same time, with certainty, that every fruit has its own cause. Brought down to the ground: emptiness and cause-and-fruit are not two sets of books, they are the two faces of one account.

Leaving the Ten Views: Each View Left Behind by Knowing; the Last Sets Up Three Knowings

The eleven clauses of setting up are followed by ten clauses of dismissing: leaving the view of annihilation (since he knows that there is dedicating and directing), leaving the view of permanence (since he knows that there is no arising), leaving the view that there is no cause (since he knows that there is a right cause), leaving the view of inversion (since he knows the principle as it really is), leaving the view of the god of mastery (since he knows that they are not born from another), leaving the view of birth from self and from another (since he knows that they arise from conditions), leaving the view that grasps at a limit (since he knows that the Dharma realm has no limit), leaving the view that there is coming and going (since he knows that they are like a shadow-image), leaving the view of existence and non-existence (since he knows that there is neither arising nor ceasing), leaving the view that grasps at all dharmas (since he knows that they are empty and without arising, since he knows that they are not their own masters, since he knows that they are born of the power of vows) — and after them one clause more, “he left behind all marks, since he saw the entering of the limit of no-mark.”

Every clause is built as ‘leaving a certain view, because he knows a certain thing’ — the view is not held down, it simply does not stand once the thing is known. The last clause is the exception: beneath the leaving of the view that grasps at all dharmas three “knowings” are set up in a row. Chengguan’s Chao divides them into three kinds of dismissal: “the first, dismissing as to principle: within the emptiness of the Dharma-nature, a dharma is precisely not a dharma” — dismissed as to principle, the Dharma-nature being empty, a dharma precisely not a dharma; “second, when conditions gather it cannot but arise, and when conditions depart it cannot but cease, and so no dharma is its own master” — dismissed as to conditions, gathering and departing alike by conditions, so that no dharma is its own master; “third, taking vows as the cause, dharmas are brought forth; the cause being accomplished, it has no own-nature, and pure dharmas too are absent” — dismissed as to cause, for the dharmas born of the power of vows have a cause without own-nature, so that not even pure dharmas can be grasped. Principle, conditions, and cause each dismiss one layer, and only all three together are the leaving of the view that grasps at all dharmas; it is not a matter of knowing one thing and being done. Fazang, upon the sixty-fascicle witness, glosses the “view of the god of mastery” among them as “the outsiders’ grasping that Brahmā, the god of mastery, and the rest give birth to dharmas”; and in glossing “having a real nature originally and being born in order” he transmits two sayings, the first that within the outsiders’ dark principle the nature is there originally, the second that in the lesser vehicle’s school of all-exists the substance-nature is there beforehand in the store of the future.

A misreading to be set aside: supposing that a view is broken by denial. Not one of these ten clauses is a clause of denial; every one is a clause of “knowing.” Brought down to the ground: a view is left behind by seeing something else, not by quarreling with it.

A Seed Giving Birth to a Sprout, a Seal Giving Birth to a Graph: Two Similes for Cause and Fruit Being Neither One nor Different

After the dismissing of the views, the scripture text closes up cause and fruit with two similes: “he knew that all dharmas are as a seed gives birth to a sprout, and as a seal gives birth to a graph.” Seed and sprout are not one thing (the sprout is not the seed), and not two things either (apart from the seed there is no sprout); and so likewise with seal and graph. These two similes answer exactly the doubt the passage before might raise: if annihilation and permanence are both left behind, then what after all is the relation of cause and fruit? Chengguan judges this as “gathering and returning to the middle way,” and divides the two similes into a crosswise and a lengthwise road: “seed and sprout is the crosswise simile for the ten thousand dharmas” — seed giving birth to sprout is said crosswise, of all dharmas whatever, each born of its own seed through borrowed conditions; “as a seal gives birth to a graph is the lengthwise simile for dharmas” — seal giving birth to graph is said lengthwise, of the succession of the former aggregate and the latter. Beneath the lengthwise simile Chengguan brings up the Nirvāṇa Sūtra: “this aggregate too ceases, and that aggregate is born in succession — as a wax seal is pressed into clay, the seal is destroyed and the graph is formed.” The seal does not reach the clay, and yet the graph stands upon the clay; the former aggregate does not reach the latter, and yet the latter is there because of the former — in the four graphs “the seal is destroyed and the graph is formed,” neither permanence nor annihilation is said at one stroke. As for leaving the view of going and coming, the Yanyi chao brings up the Madhyamaka-śāstra as witness: if formations were permanent they could not go or come, and if impermanent they could not go or come either — and so with beings; hence the image follows the body in going and coming without being real, and follows deeds through the six destinies without any real going or coming. And Chengguan gathers the three passages — the understanding that dharmas arise from conditions (from ‘again he knew decisively’ onward), the leaving of the views, and the seed and sprout — into one: “these three are unobstructed, which is the one mind of three contemplations” — the first is the provisional, the next the empty, the last the middle; they are spoken one before another, but Sudhana’s contemplating mind holds all three complete in a single thought.

Then follow the four clauses “he knew that substance is like an image in a mirror, that sound is like an echo, that objective realms are like a dream, that deeds are like an illusion,” together with the four clauses “he penetrated that the worldly realm is what the mind manifests, that fruits arise from causes, that recompense is gathered by deeds,” and the last clause, “and that all the dharmas of merit and virtue of every kind flow forth from the skillful means of bodhisattvas.”

A misreading to be set aside: supposing that “like an illusion” says that deeds do not count. Within one and the same passage the scripture text says both “he knew that deeds are like an illusion” and “he penetrated that recompense is gathered by deeds.” Brought down to the ground: illusion is not nothing; illusion is ‘there, and without a substance of its own.’

A Clean Thought and a Bow of the Head: Contemplation Within the Bow, the Benefit Gathered, and Then Rising from the Ground

After the ten contemplations of dependent origination the scripture text writes: “Sudhana the youth entered a knowledge such as this, set his mind straight and made his thought clean; and before the tower he threw his whole body upon the ground and paid respect with his head, earnestly.” After the casting of the five parts of his body to the ground, the whole stretch of contemplation — the ten contemplations of what it is equal to, the eleven clauses of dependent arising, the leaving of the views, the seed and the seal — all lies within that one bow. Chengguan outlines what follows as “gathering in general the benefit accomplished,” and only after that comes “he rose from the ground,” which is “coming forth from concentration and praising with reverence.” The sixty witness writes it more plainly at the same place: “at that time, before Sudhana had risen from his bow, he knew the Dharma to be thus, and gained roots of good beyond conceiving” — before he had risen from the bow, the Dharma was already known to be thus. The eighty likewise writes of his rising only at “he rose from the ground.”

After the bow, “roots of good beyond conceiving flowed into his body and mind, and made him cool and glad”; and having risen, “he gazed up single-mindedly, not taking his eyes away for a moment; and he joined his palms and circled about, passing measureless rounds.” Fazang, upon the sixty-fascicle witness, judges what follows as the three deeds of body, mind, and speech, saying “first the deed of body, the circling about; second the deed of mind, the calling to mind and contemplating; third the deed of speech, the praise in verse” — the circling is the body, the long prose praise below is the mind, and the fifty-five verses below that are the speech.

A misreading to be set aside: supposing that the scripture text is writing a bow over again. What it writes is not a second bow but the order within one and the same bow — the contemplation turning deeper, the benefit gained, and then the rising. Brought down to the ground: when an act is carried out and the mind walks a whole stretch of road inside it, the act is no longer merely an act.

The Long Prose Praise of the Storeyed Pavilion: What Is Praised Is Not the Pavilion

From “this great storeyed pavilion is the dwelling place of one who understands emptiness, no-mark, and no-wish” down to “is the dwelling place of one who abides in all such merit and virtue as this,” the four graphs “is the dwelling place of” occur fifty-four times, graph for graph, of which the last is the concluding clause, leaving fifty-three separate clauses.

The style of these fifty-three clauses is unusual: not one of them writes of the storeyed pavilion itself — not how high it is, how jewelled, how full of light — every clause writes of what kind of person dwells within. Fazang, upon the sixty-fascicle witness, judges this as the calling to mind that is the deed of mind, saying “as to the second, the calling to mind, there are eighty clauses, and every one of them takes up the virtue of the one able to dwell there and thereby sighs in praise of the tower where he dwells,” and further “the first two clauses set out the form in full, and the rest are all abbreviated” — the first two clauses list the whole form and those below abbreviate the wording.

A misreading to be set aside: supposing this to be lavish praise. It is in fact a portrait: before Sudhana has seen Maitreya, he says what sort of person Maitreya is, clause after clause, fifty-three times over. Brought down to the ground: to know what a place is, look at who lives there.

The first group, twenty-one clauses, runs down from “understanding.” Three clauses first for what is understood: understanding emptiness, no-mark, and no-wish (the three gates of liberation), making no discrimination among all dharmas, penetrating that the Dharma realm has no difference — empty, undiscriminated, undifferentiated, each tighter than the last. Two clauses next for what is known: knowing that no sentient being can be got at, knowing that no dharma arises. Five clauses next for what is not clung to: not clinging to any worldly realm, not clinging to any cave or dwelling, taking no delight in any village, not depending upon any objective realm, leaving every notion behind — from the outermost world drawn in to the innermost notion. Three clauses next for what is cut off: knowing that no dharma has an own-nature, cutting off every deed of discrimination, leaving behind every notion and mind and thought and consciousness. Then one clause gathering entering and coming forth together: neither entering nor coming forth from any path. Five clauses at the end turn to use: entering all the deep perfections of wisdom, being able by skillful means to dwell in the universal-gate Dharma realm, quenching every fire of affliction, cutting off with surpassing wisdom every view and craving and conceit, bringing forth and playing freely in all the meditations, liberations, samādhis, and clear penetrations; and two clauses more for what is contemplated and where he abides: contemplating the samādhi realms of all bodhisattvas, abiding where all the Tathāgatas are. From understanding to knowing, to not clinging, to cutting off, to entering, to playing freely — the order is exact: the doors by which a thing can be grasped are shut one after another, and only then can that “playing freely” stand.

The One and the All Enter Each Other Without Destroying Their Marks

The second group of the long prose praise is five clauses of mutual entering: one kalpa entering all kalpas, one land entering all lands, one dharma entering all dharmas, one sentient being entering all sentient beings, one buddha entering all buddhas — and the reverse likewise — with every clause closed by “without destroying their marks.”

Those four graphs, “without destroying their marks,” are the key. Mutual entering is not the stirring of two things into one — the one kalpa that has entered all kalpas is still that one kalpa. If the marks were destroyed it would be a merging, and no mutual entering at all. Then two clauses follow, “within a single thought he knows all of the three times” and “within a single thought he goes on to all lands,” carrying the mutual entering over from kalpas and lands into the thought.

A misreading to be set aside: supposing that “one is all” says that differences are false. The scripture text itself adds “without destroying their marks.” Brought down to the ground: to be able to hold another is not to lose oneself; a holding that loses itself is merely a vanishing.

Coming Forth Without Departing, Drawing Near Without Clinging

What the third group writes is a kind of two-way motion: “though he has already come forth from every worldly realm, yet for the sake of teaching and transforming sentient beings he constantly manifests his body within it”; “he does not cling to any land, and yet for the sake of making offerings to the buddhas he journeys through all lands”; “he does not move from his original place, and yet is able to go everywhere to all buddha-lands and adorn them”; “he draws near to all buddhas and yet does not give rise to the notion of a buddha”; “he depends upon all good friends and yet does not give rise to the notion of a good friend”; “he dwells in all the palaces of Māra and yet is not attached to the realms of desire.”

Notice the two clauses “he draws near to all buddhas and yet does not give rise to the notion of a buddha” and “he depends upon all good friends and yet does not give rise to the notion of a good friend”: Sudhana is precisely a man who depends upon good friends, and what he praises at this moment is a man who depends and yet gives rise to no notion. Set in Sudhana’s mouth, these two clauses carry no light weight.

Five clauses more follow in this group, pushing the not-giving-rise-to-notions all the way down: “he has left behind every thought of the mind forever” — even the thought of the mind itself is left; “though he manifests his body among all sentient beings, yet he gives rise to no two notions of self and other” — manifesting his body among beings and yet not dividing self from other; “he is able to enter everywhere into all worlds, and yet has no notion of difference in the Dharma realm” — entering all worlds everywhere and yet making no notion of difference; “he vows to dwell through all kalpas to come, and yet has no notion of long or short among the kalpas” — vowing to dwell through all future kalpas and yet making no notion of long or short; “he does not leave a place the size of a hair-tip, and yet manifests his body everywhere throughout all worlds” — not leaving the space of a hair-tip and yet appearing throughout every world. The first two clauses leave the notions that stand upon “self” (self and other), the middle two leave the notions that stand upon “dharmas” (worlds, kalpas), and the last is the use that follows the leaving of notions: the place does not shift, and the body is everywhere.

A misreading to be set aside: supposing that giving rise to no notion of a good friend is a want of reverence. Earlier in this section the scripture text has said “all of this was brought about only by his having believed and accepted the teaching of good friends” — and that is the compiler’s narration of what Sudhana had gained, not words Sudhana himself speaks (the ‘he made a thought such as this’ that follows is praise within the mind; speech aloud begins only with the verses). Brought down to the ground: real dependence has no need to enshrine the other in the mind as a “notion” — once the notion arises, a layer stands between.

Abiding in the Dharma Hard to Know, Abiding in Great Kindness and Great Compassion

The fourth group lists the dharmas he abides in: the Dharma hard to meet with, the Dharma hard to know, the deep Dharma, the Dharma without two, the Dharma without mark, the Dharma without antidote, the Dharma without anything got at, the Dharma without idle talk; then “one who abides in great kindness and great compassion”; then five clauses of “already” — already crossed beyond all knowledge of the two vehicles, already gone beyond every realm of Māra, already unstained by the dharmas of the world, already arrived at the shore to which bodhisattvas are to arrive, already dwelling where the Tathāgatas dwell.

The clause “the Dharma without antidote” is worth pausing upon. The nine clauses at the head of this section are precisely a matching of one antidoting practice to each fault of long ago. By the time we reach here, the one praised already abides in the Dharma that is without antidote. From having antidotes to being without them is the line this section walks from beginning to end.

A misreading to be set aside: supposing that being without antidote means that antidotes are not needed. Were it so, the scripture text would not have written the nine clauses of antidote first. Brought down to the ground: the antidote is the road and being without antidote is the arriving; to say the road is unnecessary without having walked it is another matter altogether.

‘Though … Yet …’: Cultivating Without Realizing Is the Bone of This Passage

In the latter part of the long prose praise the sentence-form turns all at once into a double hinge: though he has left behind every mark he does not enter the right position of the śrāvakas; though he penetrates that no dharma arises he does not abide in the nature of the dharma of no-arising; though he contemplates the impure he does not realize the dharma of leaving greed behind; though he cultivates kindness he does not realize the dharma of leaving anger behind; though he contemplates dependent origination he does not realize the dharma of leaving delusion behind; though he abides in the four meditations he does not take birth in accord with those meditations; though he cultivates the four formless concentrations he does not abide in the formless realm; though he diligently cultivates calming and contemplation he does not realize clarity and release; though he contemplates emptiness he does not give rise to a view of emptiness; though he practices no-mark he constantly teaches and transforms sentient beings who cling to marks; though he practices no-wish he does not cast aside the practices and vows of awakening.

Two things in this group are easily read past. First, beneath “though he contemplates the impure he does not realize the dharma of leaving greed behind” there stands one clause more, “neither is he together with greed and desire”; beneath “though he cultivates kindness he does not realize the dharma of leaving anger behind” there stands “neither is he together with the stain of anger”; beneath “though he contemplates dependent origination he does not realize the dharma of leaving delusion behind” there stands “neither is he together with the delusion of confusion.” The upper half says he does not take the fruit of leaving greed, anger, and delusion behind; the lower half adds at once that neither does he keep company with greed, anger, and delusion. Not taking the fruit is not the same as harboring the afflictions — the scripture text settles this in its own words. Second, the passage of the four meditations and the four measureless minds carries its own limits: “though he abides in the four meditations he does not take birth in accord with those meditations,” that is, he does not take birth in the meditation heavens by the force of meditation; “though he practices the four measureless minds, for the sake of transforming sentient beings he does not take birth in the realm of form,” his practicing them being for the transforming of beings; “though he cultivates the four formless concentrations, out of great compassion he does not abide in the formless realm,” his not abiding there resting upon great compassion. And below: “though he diligently cultivates calming and contemplation, for the sake of transforming sentient beings he does not realize clarity and release”; “though he practices equanimity he does not cast aside the work of transforming sentient beings” — practicing equanimity and yet not casting aside the work, for what is let go is the grasping in the mind, not the task in the hands.

A further group of seven clauses writes the running together of ‘already left behind, and yet displayed’ with the four measureless minds: “though he has gained mastery within all deeds and afflictions, for the sake of transforming sentient beings he displays an accord with deeds and afflictions” — mastery already gained over deeds and afflictions, and yet the appearance of according with them displayed; “though he is without birth and death, for the sake of transforming sentient beings he displays the undergoing of birth and death” — birth and death already gone, and yet their undergoing displayed; “though he has already left every destiny, for the sake of transforming sentient beings he displays the entering of the destinies” — the destinies already left, and yet the entering of them displayed. The three are of one pattern: already left behind, and displayed for the sake of transforming beings. The four clauses below them answer to the four measureless minds: “though he practices kindness he has no fondness or attachment toward sentient beings” (kindness that does not stick), “though he practices compassion he takes up nothing and clings to nothing among sentient beings” (compassion that does not grasp), “though he practices joy he contemplates suffering beings with a mind constantly pitying” (joy that does not forget the suffering), “though he practices equanimity he does not abandon the work of benefiting others” (equanimity that does not drop the task). Each of the four measureless minds has a pit easy to slide into: kindness slides into fondness, compassion into grasping, joy into forgetting the suffering, equanimity into abandoning the work — and the scripture text points out each pit, clause by clause.

The last great group is denser still: though he practices the nine successive concentrations he is not weary of taking birth in the realm of desire; though he knows that no dharma arises or ceases he does not make his realization in the real limit; though he enters the three gates of liberation he does not take up the liberation of the śrāvakas; though he contemplates the four noble truths he does not abide in the holy fruit of the lesser vehicle; though he contemplates the deep dependent origination he does not abide in ultimate quiescence; though he cultivates the eightfold holy path he does not seek to come forth from the world forever; though he goes beyond the ground of the ordinary man he does not fall into the ground of the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas; though he contemplates the five aggregates of grasping he does not extinguish the aggregates forever; though he goes beyond the four Māras he does not discriminate the Māras; though he does not cling to the six sense-fields he does not extinguish them forever; though he abides in suchness he does not fall into the real limit; though he expounds all vehicles he does not cast aside the Great Vehicle.

A misreading to be set aside: supposing that “does not realize” means the work is not yet ripe, or that every lower half is a refusal to take the fruit. Every upper half is the deepest contemplation and practice; but what the lower halves block off is not of one kind. Some refuse to rest in quiescence (not entering the right position of the śrāvakas, not abiding in the nature of the dharma of no-arising, not abiding in ultimate quiescence); some refuse to grasp (not giving rise to a view of emptiness, not discriminating the Māras, not making realization in the real limit); some accord with the transforming of beings (constantly teaching beings who cling to marks, displaying the undergoing of birth and death, displaying the entering of the destinies); some refuse to cast aside vow and practice (not casting aside the practices and vows of awakening, not abandoning the work of benefiting others, not casting aside the Great Vehicle). Chengguan, judging this long passage, says “of the nine before, apart from the first two and the fifth, all the rest are as to the twofold running of the provisional and the real, of phenomena and of principle” — provisional and real, phenomena and principle running twofold at every turn, not one single refusal of the fruit. Brought down to the ground: being able to realize and not realizing is only one of the roads; what runs through the whole passage is the refusal to fall to either side.

The Body of the Fifty-Five Verses: Two Stretches of Speech, Two Ways of Speaking

After the long prose, “at that time Sudhana the youth spoke verses.” What follows is one hundred and ten verse lines, in fact fifty-five verses. Fazang reckons this number plainly upon the sixty-fascicle witness, saying “third, within the praise in verse that is the deed of speech there are fifty-five verses,” which agrees with the base text. Looking back at the long prose praise, Chengguan divides it into ten outlines, each displaying one surpassing quality: the first displays its surpassing quality as to the realm dwelt in; the second, from ‘it is the entering of all that is most deep’ onward, displays its wonder as to virtue; the third, from ‘it is the taking of one kalpa’ onward, its mastery as to function; the fourth, from ‘it is being before all beings’ onward, its surpassing quality as to practice; the fifth, from ‘it is being able to abide in dharmas hard to know’ onward, its depth as to contemplation; the sixth, from ‘it is abiding in great kindness and compassion’ onward, its surpassing quality as to the counteragent; the seventh, from ‘it is though abiding in the four dhyānas’ onward, its mastery as to calming and insight; the eighth, from ‘it is though amid all deeds and afflictions’ onward, its surpassing quality as to the practice that benefits others; the ninth, from ‘it is though practicing the nine successive concentrations’ onward, its mastery as to the practice that guards the lesser vehicle; the tenth, from ‘this great storeyed pavilion’ onward, concludes what dwells there. The first nine are virtues, the last is the conclusion; and among the first nine, apart from the first two and the fifth, all the rest are the twofold running of the provisional and the real, of phenomena and principle — which is exactly why the ‘though … yet …’ sentences above run double at every layer.

The fifty-five verses fall into two parts. The former thirty-four are of seven graphs to the line, and the lines close with “… is the dwelling place,” the same style as the long prose; the latter twenty-one turn to five graphs, and of these sixteen open with “a son of the buddhas dwells here,” the remaining five opening otherwise. The former part is ‘the dwelling place of one who is such and such,’ the latter ‘a son of the buddhas dwells here, and does such and such’ — the former marks the person, the latter marks the matter. Chengguan divides further: of the thirty-four seven-graph verses, the first two praise in general (one as to the station of practice, one as to name and virtue), and the remaining thirty-two fall into four — seven verses praising the surpassing practice that benefits oneself, ten praising the surpassing practice that benefits others, eight praising the surpassing merit and virtue, seven praising the surpassing skillful means; the twenty-one five-graph verses fall into six — the first two on transforming those below, the next two on contemplating what is above, five making clear mastery in samādhi, seven making clear that his knowledge is vast and deep, one displaying its sameness, and the last four concluding the virtues, setting forth reverence, seeking his pity and requesting his empowerment.

A misreading to be set aside: supposing that the verses repeat the long prose. The style is the same, but the direction has turned: the long prose answers ‘whose dwelling place is this?’ and the five-graph part answers ‘what does the one who dwells here do?’ Brought down to the ground: the same matter asked in another way is a new passage.

The First Five of the Seven-Graph Verses: From the Name of the Kind One to a Bird Flying in the Air

The first verse names him: “This is the honored Kind One, of great compassion and pure knowledge, who benefits the worldly realm, the eldest son of the buddhas within the ground of consecration — this is the dwelling place of one who has entered the realm of the Tathāgatas.” This is one of the two places in this section where Maitreya is called by name outright — the Kind One. Fazang transmits three conditions for the setting up of Maitreya’s name: first by his original vow (in the past he met a buddha of great kindness and brought forth the vow), second by the name of a samādhi (he first gained the samādhi of the mind of kindness), third the setting up of the name as to the mark (while he was in the womb his mother had a mind of kindness).

The second verse praises one who has entered the gate of liberation of the Great Vehicle and “journeys through the Dharma realm with a mind that clings to nothing”; the third lists the ten perfections (giving, discipline, patience, vigor, meditation, wisdom, skillful means, vows, powers, spiritual power) and says “one who is complete in them all”; the fourth says that his wisdom is vast as space and “unobstructed, without support, grasping at nothing”; the fifth takes a bird as its simile — “as a bird flies in the air and gains mastery” — the bird having nothing in the air to lean upon and yet gaining mastery, answering exactly the “without support” of the verse before.

A misreading to be set aside: supposing that the ten perfections are ten things to be finished off. The third verse lists them all in one breath, and the weight falls upon “the dwelling place of one who is complete in them all” — it is the look of a person, not a checklist. Brought down to the ground: when reading the ten perfections, to look at the person is more use than to count the ten items.

The Sixth Through the Ninth of the Seven-Graph Verses: Penetrating the Three Poisons and Yet Not Seeking to Come Forth

The sixth verse is the least like common talk: “He penetrates the true nature of the three poisons, and discriminates that they arise falsely out of causes and conditions, and yet he is not weary of them and does not seek to come forth from them — this is the dwelling place of one who is at peace.” He penetrates the true nature of the three poisons, and knows besides that they arise falsely out of causes and conditions, and then — he is not weary of them and does not seek a way out from them.

The seventh runs the same road: “The three gates of liberation and the eightfold holy path, the aggregates, the sense-fields, the elements, and dependent origination — he is able to contemplate them all and yet does not go toward quiescence.” The whole set of contemplations is there; he simply does not go toward quiescence. The eighth says “he penetrates that their nature is all empty and makes no discrimination,” and calls him one who is quiescent; the ninth takes the wind as its simile — “as the wind moves through the air with no place moved through” — practicing everywhere throughout the Dharma realm while the nature of that practicing cannot be got at.

A misreading to be set aside: supposing that “not weary of them and not seeking to come forth” is indulgence of the afflictions. The upper half has already said “he penetrates the true nature of the three poisons” — it is a not-being-weary after penetrating, not a not-being-weary in ignorance. Brought down to the ground: first see it clearly, then decide to stay; that is what staying means. To stay without having seen clearly is to be stuck.

The Tenth Through the Sixteenth of the Seven-Graph Verses: Seven Similes of Rescuing People

These seven verses are the most closely gathered group of similes in the whole part; the first six open with ‘seeing sentient beings in a certain suffering’ and the last with ‘constantly with the eye of great vow and of kindness and compassion,’ and each closes with the master of its simile. The tenth sees the flocks within the evil destinies undergoing bitter torments with nowhere to turn, and sends forth the light of great kindness and wipes it away (one who pities them); the eleventh, “as one blind from birth treading upon a fearful path,” leads them and makes them enter the city of liberation (the great guide); the twelfth sees them entered into the net of Māra and pressed upon by birth, aging, sickness, and death, and gives them comfort (one brave and strong); the thirteenth sees them stricken with the sickness of delusion and “with the medicine of wisdom wipes it all away” (the great king of physicians); the fourteenth sees them sunk in the sea of existence and “rescues them all with the ship of the Dharma” (one who ferries them well); the fifteenth sees them within the sea of delusion and that they are able to “bring forth the wondrous jewel that is the mind of awakening,” and enters into it and draws them out (one who fishes well); the sixteenth, “constantly with the eye of great vow and of kindness and compassion,” draws them up out of the sea of existence (the king of golden-winged birds).

The masters of the similes rise as they go: the guide, the king of physicians, the boatman, the fisherman, the king of golden-winged birds. The simile of the fisherman in the fifteenth is the most singular of all — other men enter the sea to haul something up, while here one enters the sea of delusion in order to take out the wondrous jewel of awakening from within the minds of sentient beings.

A misreading to be set aside: supposing that the seven similes say one thing seven times. The suffering seen differs in each (the evil destinies, the road lost, the net of Māra, the sickness of delusion, sinking in the sea, being within the sea of delusion, being in the sea of existence), and so does the means used (the light of kindness, guiding, comfort, the medicine of knowledge, the ship of the Dharma, drawing out and saving, drawing up). Brought down to the ground: to rescue a person one must first see which kind of trap it is; use the wrong means and one is only a bystander.

The Seventeenth Through the Twenty-Fourth of the Seven-Graph Verses: The One and the All, the Thought and the Kalpa

The seventeenth takes the sun and moon as its simile, the light of wisdom leaving “no worldly realm unlit” (one who lights up the world); the eighteenth says that “a bodhisattva, for the sake of teaching and transforming one sentient being, exhausts everywhere the measureless kalpas to come,” and that “as he does for one person, so he does for all” (one who rescues the world); the nineteenth says that in one land he teaches and transforms sentient beings to the end of the kalpas to come, and that “within every single land it is so” (one whose intent is firm); the twentieth says that the Dharma expounded by the buddhas of the ten directions he “receives everywhere within a single sitting and exhausts it all” (one who is a sea of knowledge).

The twenty-first and twenty-second use the graph for “sea” six times over — the sea of worlds, the sea of places of the Way, the sea of Tathāgatas, the sea of wondrous practices, the sea of great vows, the sea of kalpas (one who practices, one who has merit and virtue). The twenty-third says that “within a place the size of a hair-tip are measureless lands,” and that he sees them clearly and pervades them all (the unobstructed eye); the twenty-fourth says that “within a single thought he gathers in the boundless kalpas,” his wisdom unobstructed and knowing them all rightly (one who is complete in merit and virtue).

A misreading to be set aside: supposing the eighteenth verse’s ‘exhausting the kalpas to come for the sake of one sentient being’ to be an exaggeration. Directly beneath it stands “as he does for one person, so he does for all” — one willing to spend the kalpas to come upon one person spends them upon all in the very same way. Brought down to the ground: only one who is willing to see a single person through has any such thing as seeing all beings through.

The Twenty-Fifth Through the Thirty-Fourth of the Seven-Graph Verses: From the Number of the Vows to the Leaving of Stain

The twenty-fifth likens the number of a bodhisattva’s vows to grinding lands into dust and drawing the seas out drop by drop; the twenty-sixth says that dhāraṇī, samādhi, great vows, the meditations, and the liberations “in every one of them abide for boundless kalpas” (a true son of the buddhas); the twenty-seventh says “and also expound the many arts and crafts of the world” — besides expounding the Dharma and delivering beings, even the crafts of the world are expounded (one who practices); the twenty-eighth says he “practices the wondrous Dharma gate that is like an illusion” and displays the taking of birth in the five destinies of the ten directions (one unobstructed).

The twenty-ninth says “a bodhisattva, from the first arousing of the mind onward, cultivates every practice in full” (one who has spiritual strength); the thirtieth says “within a single thought he accomplishes the path of awakening,” while “the feeling and pondering of the world go mad at it” — the reckoning of the world is of no use here (one who is hard to measure); the thirty-first says that he journeys through the Dharma realm and pervades it all, while “his mind has never had anything got at” (one whose wisdom is pure); the thirty-second says “with the knowledge that is without two he shines upon them everywhere” (one who is without a self); the thirty-third says “he penetrates that dharmas have no support, and that their original nature is quiescent, the same as space” (one who has left stain behind); the thirty-fourth says “he brings forth a mind of great benevolence, kindness, and wisdom, and vows constantly to benefit the several worldly realms” (one who pities them).

A misreading to be set aside: supposing the “arts and crafts of the world” of the twenty-seventh verse to be an idle stroke. It is set after the expounding of the Dharma and the delivering of beings, and says just this: delivering beings must be able to use the things of the human world. Brought down to the ground: to be willing to learn the crafts of the world is itself a part of delivering beings.

The Thirty-Fifth Through the Forty-Second of the Five-Graph Verses: What the One Who Dwells Here Does

Turning to five graphs, the form becomes “a son of the buddhas dwells here” with three lines of what he does. The thirty-fifth: “as the orb of the sun and the orb of the moon, wiping away everywhere the darkness of birth-and-death”; the thirty-sixth: “transforming and manifesting measureless bodies that fill the lands of the ten directions”; the thirty-seventh: journeying everywhere through the worlds to the place of every Tathāgata; the thirty-eighth: “he ponders the dharmas of the buddhas” and “his mind is never wearied”; the thirty-ninth: “thought after thought he enters samādhi,” and every single gate of samādhi “makes clear the realms of the buddhas”; the fortieth: he knows all lands entirely, and “the names of sentient beings and of buddhas”; the forty-first: “within a single thought he gathers in the kalpas,” yet “only going along with the minds of sentient beings, and with no notion of discrimination”; the forty-second: he cultivates the several samādhis, and “within every single thought of the mind penetrates the dharmas of the three times.”

The lower half of the forty-first is to be noticed: so great a working as gathering the kalpas into a single thought, and the scripture text says of it “only going along with the minds of sentient beings” — it is not that he means to display it, but that it appears in accord with the minds of beings.

A misreading to be set aside: supposing these to be a static display of merit. The verb of every verse is going on now — dwelling, manifesting, journeying, pondering, entering, knowing, gathering, cultivating. Brought down to the ground: to dwell in a realm is to be doing something all along, not to be sitting in it all along.

The Forty-Third Through the Fiftieth of the Five-Graph Verses: The Body Unmoving and Yet Everywhere

The forty-third: “he sits with legs crossed, his body unmoving,” and yet “manifests himself everywhere in all lands and within all the destinies” — the not moving and the appearing everywhere at once. The forty-fourth uses the graph for “sea” three times (the sea of the Dharma, the sea of wisdom, the sea of merit and virtue). The forty-fifth: he knows entirely the number of the lands, of the worlds, of sentient beings, and of the names of the buddhas. The forty-sixth: within a single thought he penetrates the forming and the falling apart of the lands of the three times. The forty-seventh: he knows everywhere the practices and vows of the buddhas, the practices cultivated by bodhisattvas, and the faculties and desires of sentient beings — the three set side by side, buddhas and bodhisattvas and sentient beings all within one thought.

The forty-eighth: “he sees within a single dust-mote measureless lands and places of the Way, sentient beings and the several kalpas”; the forty-ninth carries it further: “as it is within a single dust-mote, so it is within every dust-mote: every sort of thing is complete there, and everywhere there is no obstruction” — this verse does not open with “a son of the buddhas dwells here,” but speaks on from the sense of the verse before. The fiftieth: “he contemplates everywhere all dharmas” — “sentient beings, lands, and worlds, without arising and without anything there.”

A misreading to be set aside: supposing the forty-eighth and forty-ninth to say that lands are really packed inside a dust-mote. Directly after them the fiftieth says “without arising and without anything there.” Brought down to the ground: the unobstructedness of one and many, and the being of nothing there, are here said together, and only half of it cannot be taken.

The Fifty-First Through the Fifty-Fifth of the Five-Graph Verses: From Sameness to a Single Bow

The fifty-first gathers up the whole part: “He contemplates that sentient beings are equal, that dharmas are equal and Tathāgatas are equal, that lands are equal and vows are equal, and that the three times are all equal.” Six times “equal”: sentient beings and dharmas and Tathāgatas, lands and vows, the three times, one and all of them equal. The fifty-second returns to the matters at hand — teaching and transforming the flocks of beings, making offerings to the Tathāgatas, pondering the nature of dharmas.

The fifty-third says “the practices of vow and knowledge cultivated through measureless thousands and myriads of kalpas are vast beyond measuring, and no praising of them can exhaust them,” which is to grant of himself that he cannot finish the praise; the fifty-fourth, “those greatly courageous ones, whose practice is without obstruction, dwell within this place — and I join my palms and pay respect,” is where “I” appears for the first time; the fifty-fifth, “eldest son of the buddhas, honored Kind One of holy virtue! I now reverently pay respect: may you look upon me and call me to mind!” — at the end of fifty-five verses it comes to rest upon a request.

A misreading to be set aside: supposing the “may you look upon me and call me to mind” of the last verse to be a courtesy. The fifty-three verses before it are wholly about what sort of person the other is; only in the fifty-fourth does “I” appear and join its palms; only in the last does he say what he himself wants. With such an order, that sentence is no courtesy. Brought down to the ground: when praise has been carried to the point where it cannot be finished, the only thing left to do is to ask to be seen.

The Mark of Gathering Virtue and Accomplishing the Cause: Why This One Person Does Not Humble Himself and Point to the Superior

One layer of the outline remains to be filled in. Chengguan sets up Maitreya alone as the third of the five aspects of the last assembly, naming it the mark of gathering virtue and accomplishing the cause, and says “since the conditions have already been gathered and the real entered, and he is settled and fit to become a buddha, what is here brought about is the meaning of the cause accomplished by one who is a final-birth bodhisattva” — the gathering of the conditions and the entering of the real before have already settled his fitness to become a buddha, and what this mark brings about is the cause of buddhahood.

For that reason too the text of this person differs from the rest. Chengguan says “the text is of five passages only, since the station of a final-birth bodhisattva is displayed to the utmost and the humbling and pointing to the superior is therefore lacking”: the first forty-one friends, having set forth their own Dharma gate, each close by humbling themselves and pointing to the superior, saying that they know this one thing only (what Zhiyan calls ‘the first forty-one all have a conclusion and a pointing on’); when the station of a final-birth bodhisattva is already displayed, there is no need to point on.

Chengguan’s Explicit Judgment

As for where the matching of the five aspects comes from, Chengguan says it very plainly: it is carried on from the ancient worthies. He first records the saying that does not match them to the stations, and then hands down his explicit judgment: “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.” Both sayings have their reason, and neither the matching nor the not matching is an error. What he takes for himself is “the horizontal and the vertical are unobstructed, and for now I follow the ancient worthies in matching them as five aspects.”

A misreading to be set aside: supposing that the five aspects are names the scripture text sets up for itself. The scripture text has none of these names. Brought down to the ground: in reading the names of an outline one must remember that they are divisions later men have made for the scripture — useful, but not words the scripture says of itself.

Lineage

For the text of this section, what opens out from it runs in three lines.

The first is the line of the name of the mark. The name of the mark of gathering virtue and accomplishing the cause Chengguan has already set up among the ten gates of the last assembly, saying that the third, the Kind One, one person, is named the mark of gathering virtue and accomplishing the cause, since the virtues of the two gates before are gathered and made together the cause of realizing and entering, and so the Dharma gate is named the never-forgetting mindfulness of the three times, and thereby it gathers the dharmas with nothing left out; Zhiyan’s Souxuan ji likewise gives this name, saying “making clear the third, the mark of gathering virtue and accomplishing the cause, since Maitreya is the cause”; and below it he opens the one outline of proceeding to enter in accord with the teaching into eight divisions. The two houses have the same name, and the fineness of their outlining differs.

The second is the line of the dividing of the outline. Chengguan, upon the eighty-fascicle witness, outlines the text of this person in five passages, of which this section belongs to the first, seeking in accord with the teaching, and within that passage he opens again the two layers of the setting forth and the separate giving birth, and beneath the separate giving birth four items (contemplating the faults of long ago, contemplating the present suffering, the benefit of contemplating and calling to mind, concluding to whom the benefit belongs); Fazang, upon the sixty-fascicle witness, likewise makes a long outline of five aspects, saying “outlining this text at length, in all as five aspects,” of which the third is “third, Maitreya, one person, making clear the mark of gathering virtue and accomplishing the cause,” the same name as Chengguan’s, and at the head of the Maitreya passage he sets it up again as “the third great division: the station of Maitreya is the good friend of the mark of gathering virtue and accomplishing the cause”; only in outlining the text clause by clause does he not use the items of the five aspects, dividing instead by the two outlines of proceeding to enter in accord with the teaching and of seeing, paying respect, and requesting, and beneath seeing, paying respect, and requesting takes first the seeing of the dependent recompense and after the seeing of the direct recompense, the seeing of the dependent recompense opening again into the three of raising surpassing thoughts, paying respect and contemplating, and circling, calling to mind, and praising, while the circling, calling to mind, and praising divides again into the three deeds of body, mind, and speech, and the eighty clauses of the calling to mind that is the deed of mind are divided into ten gates besides; Zhiyan makes three divisions (the teaching that exhorts him onward to what surpasses, proceeding to enter in accord with the teaching, making clear the realizing of the Dharma realm), and this section belongs to his second, beneath which he opens eight divisions again (first, hearing the praise of the good friend and giving rise to faith; second, calling to mind the Dharma gate before; third, going on step by step; fourth, raising great skillful means; fifth, gaining the eye of great wisdom; sixth, seeing the mark of the dependent recompense; seventh, seeing the mark of the direct recompense; eighth, paying respect and requesting), of which this section touches the first six; the sixth opens five more, and within them the seeing of the mark of the land divides again into the three layers of seeing the mark of the land, effacing the marks and entering the real, and the real accomplishing the marks — these three layers lie within the contemplation before he has risen from paying respect (the sixty’s three cues ‘he made a thought such as this,’ ‘and again,’ ‘with deep faith and understanding’), while the long prose praise of the pavilion belongs to the fourth of the sixth division, ‘praising at large the dependent and direct recompense.’ Li Tongxuan does not divide the outline item by item, but sets up the second, third, and fourth passages by the number of the scripture’s lines (the fourth giving no number of lines), and as for the passage of calling his own former lives to mind he gathers it into the one clause of calling to mind of himself the faults and evils of his causes in the past and being ashamed of himself and repenting. The boundaries the four houses cut do not fall even. The words taken up to open their outlines differ as well: Chengguan takes up “he called to mind,” Zhiyan takes up “at that time Sudhana, having heard praise such as this,” and Li Tongxuan takes up “at that time Sudhana, having received the teaching of good friends, his mind being moistened by it, was rightly calling to mind and pondering,” and the graphs are not the same one with another.

The third is the line of the parallel renderings. The sixty witness has at this passage no sentence-form answering to the nine clauses of calling his own former lives to mind; yet its answering text does not begin at the paying of respect. It begins at the hearing of the teaching, “at that time Sudhana, having heard praise such as this of the practices of the bodhisattvas who are good friends,” and passes through the rightly calling to mind and the going step by step toward the land Sea Ravine, the clauses of practice from “by the limit of the past, the power of the deeds of body he had cultivated, and a mind made pure” onward, and the benefit gained upon making the thought, from “having made this thought, with a pure mind he believed in and revered all bodhisattvas, with the thought of them as World-Honored Ones” onward, before it comes at last to the reverence and offerings and the paying of respect with the five parts of the body; its tower is named Adorned and Pure Treasury, its praising lines read “abides in this Dharma hall” and “a son of the buddhas dwells in this hall,” and the whole part is in five graphs. The forty witness and the eighty are of nearly the same structure; its nine clauses of calling to mind likewise have “he called to mind that in a former life” once and “and he called to mind that in a former life” eight times. Its contemplations of what it is equal to are eleven clauses (beyond the eighty’s ten it has “it has nothing answering to it, since the mind shifts and moves”), and its leaving of the views has one clause more, “leaving every crooked view, since he knows the power of cause and fruit”; in the ten contemplations of dependent origination it repeats the four graphs “with deep faith and understanding” beneath every clause; in the long prose praise “this great storeyed pavilion” heads forty-five clauses (the other forty-five omitting it) and “is the dwelling place of” reaches ninety occurrences (a single clause of the eighty being often split into several); it has the king of wondrous wings for the king of golden-winged birds, and the atom for the dust-mote. These divergent interpretations and divergent readings are alike the settled accounts of the ancient worthies and the settled wordings of the old renderings, and are recorded without adjudication.

In the text of one section, the former half is a walking of the road and the latter half a standing outside the door. The door is not yet open and the man is not yet seen, and four thousand graphs have already finished saying who that man is — the order of this section rests wholly upon that one word, ‘before.’

Sudhana Has Made Fifty Journeys, and Meets the First Person Who Does Not Question Him First

From the monk Cloud of Virtue onward Sudhana journeyed southward the whole way, and Maitreya is the fifty-first. With the fifty before him the pattern was much the same: Sudhana arrives, pays respect, states his case, asks his question, and the good friend answers with Dharma. With Maitreya the pattern changes — Sudhana “wished with a single mind to see the bodhisattva Maitreya, to draw near to him and to make offerings to him,” and Maitreya is not waiting for him inside the pavilion but comes “from somewhere else,” bringing with him the devas, dragons, and the rest of the eight kinds of beings, Śakra and Brahmā and the guardians of the world, the retinue of the place where he had taken birth and the host of brahmins, encircling him before and behind. As soon as Sudhana saw him, he “was glad and exultant, and cast his five limbs to the ground.” And then Maitreya opened his mouth — but not to Sudhana.

A misreading must be set aside: this is not Maitreya standing on his dignity and ignoring the boy. Chengguan sets up three meanings upon the one clause “from somewhere else,” saying that “as for coming from somewhere else, it is because he transforms beings by going to meet what suits them, and because he returns to his own root,” and then adds one further clause: “and it also shows that Maitreya arrives with the thought that calls him, having no place he clings to.” He does not wait for people in one place because he does not dwell in any place; and he comes because someone has called him to mind.

Brought down to the ground: from beginning to end of this section Sudhana asks not one question, and only at the very last does he answer with two verses; all he does is cast himself to the ground and weep. What is to be learned does not necessarily come by way of question and answer.

Why It Is “Pointing Him Out to the Assembly” and Not Speaking to Sudhana

The scripture text says it plainly: Maitreya “looked upon Sudhana, pointed him out for the great assembly to see, and praised his merit and virtue.” To praise one person to the face of a large crowd is, in the world, a very awkward thing. Here Chengguan sets down one sentence that settles the intent of the whole long poem — glossing the two graphs “pointing out,” he says: “as for pointing him out, it is so that the assembly may see him together and, imitating him, may practice.”

That is to say: this long poem opens by addressing the assembly, and the praise both invites the assembly to see Sudhana and follow his example, and addresses him directly to encourage and gladden him — Chengguan judges the middle verses to open with “the first twenty-two verses, praise addressed directly to Sudhana,” and the close to be “summing up his many virtues and concluding the praise so as to gladden him.” And so the opening clause is “All of you, look upon this Sudhana,” and at the twenty-fourth verse it comes round again with “All of you, look upon this person” — Chengguan judges the former to be “the first verse, the general praise that points him out to the assembly,” and the latter to be the opening of the passage of praise that exhorts the assembly.

A misreading to be set aside: taking this to be Maitreya handing Sudhana a certificate of merit. If it were a certificate, why do it before everyone, and why go on for more than a hundred verses? Brought down to the ground: when a practitioner is spoken well of before others, if he hears it as a certificate this passage has been read for nothing; if he hears it as ‘so this is how the road is walked,’ then he stands on the side of the assembly — and the assembly is exactly whom Maitreya is speaking to.

The Nine ‘Welcomes’: What Is It That Is Being Welcomed

From the second verse, nine verses in a row open with “welcome,” and Chengguan judges them to be “the first nine, praising his virtue with ‘welcome.’” “Welcome” is a word for greeting a guest, and yet not one of the things Maitreya greets is a person’s standing. What he greets is: perfect and complete kindness, pure compassion, the eye of quiescence; pure intent, a vast mind, faculties that do not turn back; practice that is unshaken; walking the wondrous path, abiding in merit and virtue, going toward the fruit of buddhahood; taking virtue as one’s body, being nourished by the Dharma, practice without bound; leaving delusion behind; giving peace and joy; a true son of the Buddha; the knowledge that penetrates the three times.

There is an order here. The first three verses greet the ground of the mind — the eye of kindness and compassion, the intent and the mind and the faculties, all of them inward; from the fourth verse it turns to practice — unshaken practice, the constant seeking of good friends; the fifth and sixth speak of what practice moves toward and what it rests upon — going toward the fruit of buddhahood, taking virtue as one’s body, being nourished by the Dharma; the seventh speaks of practice unstained — “the dharmas of the world cannot stain you; gain, loss, blame, and praise — you make no distinction among them at all”; the eighth speaks of what practice counters — flattery, deceit, anger, and arrogance, all extinguished; and the last two speak of practice as everywhere and as long-enduring — going everywhere throughout the ten directions, knowing all dharmas everywhere, and “cultivating without weariness or aversion.”

A misreading to be set aside: taking “welcome” for a courtesy. Within the nine verses three forms of one thing recur — “cultivating without slackness or weariness,” “never having known weariness,” “without weariness or aversion” — and it is exactly this untiring quality that is being welcomed. Brought down to the ground: people constantly ask themselves whether they are cultivating rightly; these nine verses hand them another measure — ask yourself whether you have grown tired.

You Were Able to Come Because Outwardly There Were Good Friends and Inwardly There Was Virtue

The eleventh and twelfth verses Chengguan judges to be “next, two verses setting forth the causes and conditions of his coming,” glossing the reason for it as “because outwardly it is by good friends, and inwardly he is endowed with virtue and practice.” The two verses of the scripture text are divided exactly so: the former speaks of the outward condition — “Mañjuśrī, Cloud of Virtue, and the rest, all these sons of the Buddha, have made you come here to me, pointing you toward that place where there is no obstruction”; the latter speaks of the inward cause — “you have fully cultivated the bodhisattva practice, and have everywhere gathered in the many kinds of beings,” and therefore “a person as vast as this comes today here to me.”

There is one thing of importance in the placing of these two verses here: they assign half of Sudhana’s ability to be standing where he stands to other people. Mañjuśrī is the friend who set him out, Cloud of Virtue is the first, and of the forty-nine in between not one was met in vain — Maitreya gathers them all up in the single graph “and the rest.”

A misreading to be set aside: supposing that far along in cultivation one has no more use for people. At the fifty-first friend, near the very end, what Maitreya still says is “have made you come here to me,” and the subject of that sentence is those people. Brought down to the ground: one who has walked far can look back and name the names; a distance with no names to it has most likely gone astray.

What You Came For: Eleven Verses on “What He Has Come For,” with the Nine Similes and Three Offices of a Good Friend

The thirteenth through twenty-third verses Chengguan judges to be “the last eleven verses, setting forth what he has come for.” Within these eleven, the clause “and so you have come here to me” occurs six times. The first four come one upon another: to seek the pure realm of the tathāgatas and their vast vows; to cultivate the practices and works accomplished by the buddhas of the three times; to seek the wondrous Dharma and to receive the bodhisattva practice; to call good friends to mind. Then it occurs once at the close of the nine similes in the nineteenth verse, and once again at the close of the twenty-third.

And the longest single breath among them is the nine similes of the seventeenth through nineteenth verses. Maitreya speaks in Sudhana’s stead what a good friend is in his heart: “they bear me as father and mother do, they rear me as a wet-nurse does” — this is bearing and rearing; “as a physician heals many diseases, as the sky sprinkles down sweet dew” — this is healing and moistening; “as the sun points out the right road, as the moon turns forth a pure wheel” — this is illuminating and turning; “as a high mountain does not shake, as the great sea neither increases nor decreases” — this is not moving and not changing; “as a ferryman carries people across” — this is sending one over. The nine similes run from bearing and rearing all the way to liberation, driving the whole way through to the far shore.

The twentieth through twenty-second verses change to another set: “as upon a great and valiant general, and as upon a great caravan leader, and again as upon a great guide” — a valiant general can break the enemy, a caravan leader can procure the treasure, a guide can lead the road; and there follow seven clauses in parallel, each opening with “can”: raise up the banner of the right Dharma, display the merit and virtue of the buddhas, extinguish the many evil destinies, open the gate of the good destinies, make manifest the bodies of the buddhas, guard the treasuries of the buddhas, uphold the dharmas of the buddhas — the last clause gathering it in with “and therefore you vow to look up to them and serve them.” The twenty-third verse then speaks of the recompense sought: pure knowledge, an upright body, a noble house.

A misreading to be set aside: taking “wishing to be born into a noble house” for the seeking of the merit-reward of devas and humans. It stands in the same verse as “wishing to make full and complete a pure knowledge,” and it is the body one must depend upon in order to be a vessel for the Dharma — not a fruit that is being sought for itself. Brought down to the ground: these eleven verses are a list to put to oneself — what have you gone to a good friend for?

The Praise That Exhorts the Assembly, One: What He Has Cast Away, and You Are to Do Likewise

From the twenty-fourth verse the address turns back to the assembly again — “All of you, look upon this person: he draws near to good friends; all that he studies and cultivates, you should all follow and put into practice.” Chengguan judges the twenty-six verses from here on to be the praise that exhorts the assembly, and within the passage the first four are a general praise.

These four verses say three things. First, what it came from: “because of the causes and conditions of merit in former times, Mañjuśrī caused him to bring forth the mind” — merit laid down in the past, together with the one person who met him at the right moment. Second, what he does: “he follows along and does not go against them” — the first virtue Maitreya singles out in Sudhana is that he does not go against them. Third, what he casts away: “father and mother and kinsfolk, palace halls and property — all these he has left behind, humbling himself to seek good friends”; and what is gained after the casting away is “purifying his own intent in this way, he leaves the body of the world behind forever, and is to be born in a buddha-land.”

A misreading to be set aside: taking these four verses to be urging people to leave home and abandon their property. The order of the scripture text is “purifying his own intent in this way” first and “he leaves the body of the world behind forever” after — what is cast away is the clinging within the intent, and the outward casting away is its result, not its substitute. Brought down to the ground: this passage is addressed to the onlookers, and its words are the plainest of all — what you are looking at is not how well he asks about the Dharma, but that he can let go and does not go against them.

The Compassion That Is Knowledge Itself: Three Verses of “Sudhana Sees Sentient Beings” and One of “Sentient Beings Dwell in Darkness”

The twenty-eighth through thirty-first verses Chengguan judges to be “next, four verses praising the compassion that is knowledge itself.” The first three are identical in construction, each opening with “Sudhana sees that sentient beings”: he sees that sentient beings have the suffering of birth, old age, sickness, and death, and therefore brings forth the intent of great compassion; he sees that sentient beings constantly turn about within the five destinies, and therefore seeks the adamantine knowledge; he sees that the field of the minds of sentient beings is exceedingly rank and overgrown, and therefore seeks the sharp plough of knowledge. The fourth does not begin from Sudhana’s seeing but first writes the condition sentient beings are in — “sentient beings dwell in the darkness of delusion, their eyes blind and their minds obscured, and they have lost the right road” — and then says, “Sudhana acts as their guide, pointing them toward the place of peace and safety.”

What matters is the direction of cause and effect in these four verses: it is not that compassion is there first and then one goes to look, but that one has seen and then compassion arises. And what arises is not mere pity either — what the second verse seeks is the adamantine knowledge, and what the third seeks is the sharp plough of knowledge, and both are knowledge. Chengguan labels these four verses the compassion that is knowledge itself, and this is exactly the point: such compassion has knowledge packed inside it, and so it does not come to rest in lamenting; it goes and gets tools.

A misreading to be set aside: taking compassion for a kind of emotion. If it were emotion, seeing suffering would only make one sorry; but in the four verses of the scripture text three see suffering and the fourth states outright the darkness of sentient beings, and what all four run on to is a verb — brings forth, seeks, seeks, acts as. Brought down to the ground: test your own compassion by whether it has turned into some definite thing you must go and learn.

The Knowledge That Is Compassion Itself: From the Armor of Patience to the Lamp of the Dharma, Seven Verses of Tools

The thirty-second through thirty-eighth verses are “next, seven verses praising the knowledge that is compassion itself.” Six of the seven take Sudhana himself as the thing likened: patience under insult for armor, liberation for a vehicle, wisdom for a sword, breaking within the three kinds of existence the bandits that are the afflictions; he acts as a ferryman of the Dharma, making sentient beings “cross the great sea of the knowable and swiftly reach the pure isle of jewels”; he acts as the sun of right awakening, taking the light of knowledge as the wheel of his great vow to shine everywhere upon the deluded multitude; he acts as the moon of right awakening, illuminating equally the minds of sentient beings with the cool light of the concentration that is kindness; he acts as a sea of surpassing knowledge, abiding in reliance upon a straight and upright mind; he acts as a dragon of great mind, rising into the empty space of the Dharma realm to raise clouds and send down moisture; he acts as the lamp of the Dharma — “faith is the wick, kindness and compassion are the oil, right mindfulness is the vessel, merit and virtue are the light” — extinguishing the darkness of the three poisons.

One term here must be glossed first. Chengguan glosses it thus: “as for eryan, it means here the knowable,” and cites a treatise saying that the ground of eryan is the tenth ground, spoken of with reference to the exhausting and cutting off of the ten kinds of obstruction to the knowable. So “crossing the sea of the knowable” is not crossing over knowledge; it is crossing over the obstruction that is the knowable.

A misreading to be set aside: taking these seven verses for a display of literary ornament. Look at that lamp — faith is the wick, kindness and compassion the oil, mindfulness the vessel, merit and virtue the light; let one of the four be missing and the lamp does not burn. This is taking a single matter apart into what can be inspected. Brought down to the ground: every one of these seven verses can serve as a self-examination — the first sets side by side the armor of patience, the vehicle of liberation, and the sword of wisdom, and after it come in order the boat, the sun, the moon, the sea, the dragon, and the lamp; which of them do you have about you now?

The General Praise of His Many Virtues: How a Mind Grows Up

The thirty-ninth through forty-fourth verses are “next, six verses in general praise of his many virtues.” The first two are the strangest set of similes in the whole poem. The first likens the mind of awakening to entering the womb: “the mind of awakening is the jialuoluo within the womb, compassion is the caul and kindness the flesh, the limbs of awakening are the limbs and joints” — the jialuoluo is the stage of the beginning of conception, compassion is the caul that wraps it, kindness is the flesh that grows upon it, the limbs of awakening are the limbs and the joints, and what grows there is “the treasury of the tathāgatas.” The second goes on to what is possessed once it has grown: the treasury of merit, the treasury of wisdom, the treasury of skillful means, the treasury of great vows — four treasuries, each with its own verb: increases, purifies, opens and displays, brings forth.

The last four turn to what is outwardly manifest: an adornment as great as this can rescue and protect the many kinds of beings, and is hard to hear of and hard to see among devas and humans; a tree of wisdom such as this has roots so deep it cannot be shaken and gives shade everywhere to the many kinds of beings; and the last two gather back to the cause — wishing to bring forth every virtue, to ask about every dharma, to cut off every doubt; wishing to break the demons of delusion, to remove the defilements of views, to loose the bonds of sentient beings — and the closing clause of both verses is the very same clause, “seek out good friends with a single mind.”

A misreading to be set aside: taking the simile of the womb for mere rhetoric. It answers a question very hard to answer — where is the mind of awakening once it has been brought forth? The answer is: it is growing, and it grows in the same manner as a child in the womb, first the stage, then the form, then the limbs and joints. Brought down to the ground: it is an ordinary thing to see no progress after bringing forth the mind; what is in the womb was never visible to begin with.

The Wondrous Fruit That Is to Be Accomplished: The Tone Turns upon the Graph “Is To”

The forty-fifth through forty-ninth verses Chengguan judges to be “the last five verses, praising the wondrous fruit that is to be accomplished.” The graph “is to” does not first appear here — the twenty-seventh verse already has the clause “is to be born in a buddha-land”; but from these five verses onward “is to” becomes the bone of the whole poem, coming twelve times over within the five. Is to extinguish the many evil destinies, is to point out the road of devas and humans; is to cross over the difficulties of views, is to cut through the nets of views, is to dry up the waters of craving and desire, is to point out the road of the three kinds of existence; is to become the refuge of the world, is to become the light of the world, is to become the teacher of the three realms; is to make the world everywhere leave the grasping at perception, everywhere awaken those asleep in the afflictions, everywhere come out of the mire of craving and desire; is to penetrate the many kinds of dharmas, is to purify the many kinds of lands.

“Is to” is the future, and a settled future at that — not ‘it may perhaps be’ but ‘it shall be.’ What Maitreya does here the ancient worthies call the declaring of a destiny: not the foretelling of good or ill fortune, but the stating, from the causes a person has before him now, of the fruit he must necessarily arrive at. The forty-four verses before spoke of what Sudhana already has; from these five onward they speak of what Sudhana is to accomplish.

A misreading to be set aside: taking the conferring of a prediction for special treatment given to a special person. The hearers of this passage are the assembly, and Maitreya immediately goes on to say, “if there be one whose mind reveres and admires this, he too should study in this way.” Brought down to the ground: the reason one dares to say “is to” is that all those “already”s before it are true.

Praise Addressed Again to Sudhana, One: Twenty-Six Verses of “Is To,” Laying the Fruit to Come Out as a Map

From the fiftieth verse the address turns a third time — back to Sudhana himself. Chengguan judges the sixty-three verses from here on to be the praise addressed again to Sudhana, of which “the first twenty-six verses praise the virtue of his fruit to come,” and he says that “the first two are general and the rest are all particular.” The two general ones are “your conduct is exceedingly pliant, your mind is very pure” and “before long you will see the buddhas, penetrate all dharmas”; and the twenty-four beneath them are all particular.

These twenty-four make much use of parallel clauses: in some, within a single verse, one and the same graph comes four times running; in others it comes three times. The sea of practice, the sea of dharmas, the sea of sentient beings; the far shore of merit and virtue, the many good qualities, the equal of the sons of the Buddha; every delusion, every deed, every demon; the path of wondrous knowledge, the path of the right Dharma, the path of the many sufferings; and then the wheel — “the wheel that is all sentient beings sinks lost within the wheel of the many kinds of existence; you are to turn the wheel of the Dharma, and make them cut off the wheel of suffering.” The fifteen verses that follow take one graph each, and each has its own reference:

Lineage — “you are to uphold the lineage of the Buddha”: the lineage of the Buddha is what is upheld, the lineage of the Dharma is what is purified, the lineage of the Saṃgha is what is gathered up; the Three Jewels here become three things to be done.

Net — “you are to cut off the many nets of craving”: the net of craving, the net of views, and the net of suffering are the three that are broken, while the closing clause, “you are to accomplish this net of vows,” turns the net over into a thing to be accomplished.

Realm — “you are to liberate the realm of sentient beings”: the realm of sentient beings is what is liberated, the realm of lands is what is purified, the realm of wisdom is what is gathered up, and the closing clause gathers it in with “you are to accomplish this realm of the mind.”

Rejoicing — “you are to make sentient beings rejoice”: those made to rejoice are threefold, sentient beings, bodhisattvas, and the buddhas, and then “you are to accomplish rejoicing such as this.”

Seeing — “you are to see every destiny”: destinies, lands, and dharmas, all three are what is seen, and what is accomplished is “a buddha’s seeing such as this.”

Light — “you are to send forth the light that breaks the darkness”: the light that breaks darkness, the light that stills heat, and the light that extinguishes evil each answer to one sickness, and what is washed away is “the suffering of the three kinds of existence.”

Gate — “you are to open the gate of birth among the devas”: the gate of birth among the devas, the gate of the buddha-path, and the gate of liberation are opened one after another, and the closing clause, “making sentient beings enter it everywhere,” brings out that the opening of a gate is done for others.

Road — “you are to point out the right road”: one pointing out and one cutting off — pointing out the right road, cutting off the wrong roads — and then “you accomplish the road of awakening.”

Sea, the first — “you are to cultivate the sea of merit and virtue”: the sea of merit and virtue is what is cultivated, the sea of the three kinds of existence is what is crossed, and what is carried across is “everywhere making the sea of the many kinds of beings come forth from the sea of the many sufferings.”

Sea, the second — “to dry up the sea of the afflictions”: within the sea of sentient beings their sea of afflictions is dried up, “to make them cultivate the sea of the many practices” and “swiftly enter the sea of great knowledge.”

Sea, the third — “you are to increase the sea of knowledge”: the sea of knowledge and the sea of practice increase together, and what is fulfilled is “the sea of the great vows of the buddhas.”

Sea, the fourth — “you are to enter the sea of lands”: after entering the sea of lands and contemplating the sea of the assemblies comes “to drink up everywhere the sea of the many dharmas.”

Cloud — “you are to go and behold the clouds that are the buddhas”: beholding the buddhas, raising up offerings, and listening to the Dharma, three matters, all of them returning to “you are to raise up clouds of vows such as these.”

Chamber — “to roam everywhere the chamber of the three kinds of existence”: the chamber of the three kinds of existence is what is roamed, the chamber of the many delusions is what is destroyed, the chamber of the tathāgatas is what is entered.

Gate, appearing a second time — “to enter everywhere the gate of samādhi”: the gates of samādhi, of liberation, and of spiritual power are entered together, and what is reached is “moving throughout the Dharma realm.”

Of the last four verses, three take similes to close: the light of the sun and the moon, a bird moving through empty space, the net of Indra; and the fourth takes no simile but says outright, “you are to enter the Dharma realm, going everywhere to the many worlds, seeing everywhere the buddhas of the three times, and in your mind great joy will arise.”

A misreading to be set aside: taking this for saying the same thing over again. Look closely at that graph “wheel,” which occurs four times with a different sense each time — sentient beings themselves are a wheel, the many kinds of existence are a wheel, the Dharma is a wheel, suffering is a wheel; one and the same graph is set in four positions precisely to show that these four are at root the turning of one thing. Brought down to the ground: the repeating construction of this sūtra is not extravagance of style; it means to make a person stay a little longer upon one graph.

The Twofold Praise of Virtue Present and to Come: What Is Already Gained and What Is to Be Gained, Counted Together

The seventy-sixth through eighty-second verses Chengguan judges to be “second, the seven verses beneath ‘as for the many Dharma gateways,’ which twofoldly praise virtue present and to come” — twofold meaning that the present and the coming are spoken of together. The first verse puts both ends into a single clause: “as for the many Dharma gateways — those you have already gained and those you are yet to gain,” and what should be brought forth is great joy and exultation, and that “with neither craving nor weariness.” The six that follow: you are a vessel of merit and virtue, able to follow the teaching of the buddhas, able to cultivate the bodhisattva practice, and so you have seen a thing so rare; sons of the Buddha such as these are hard to meet with in a hundred million kalpas, how much more so to see their merit and virtue and the wondrous paths they cultivate; born among humankind, you have gained great benefit and have seen Mañjuśrī and the rest and measureless merit and virtue; you have already left the evil destinies, already come out of the difficult places, already gone beyond the sufferings and troubles; you have already left the ground of ordinary beings and already come to abide upon the ground of bodhisattvas, and are to make full the ground of wisdom and swiftly to enter the ground of the tathāgatas; the bodhisattva practice is like the sea and the Buddha’s knowledge is the same as empty space, and your vow is just so.

The eighty-first is the one most worth pausing over: its first two clauses speak of what is already done and its last two of what is to come — already left the ground of ordinary beings and already come to abide upon the ground of bodhisattvas is the present; is to make full the ground of wisdom and swiftly to enter the ground of the tathāgatas is the coming. One verse and it is a complete map.

A misreading to be set aside: taking “with neither craving nor weariness” for an exhortation to be indifferent. It follows upon “you should bring forth great joy and exultation” — the joy is to be had; only, within the joy, one adds no craving to it and does not let it turn to weariness. Brought down to the ground: if the gladness one has in the Dharma carries with it a wish to have a little more, that gladness has begun to spoil.

Praise of the Virtue of Meeting with Friends: Where the Difference Lies Between a Vessel for the Dharma and One Who Is Not

The eighty-third through ninetieth verses are “third, the eight verses beneath ‘your faculties,’ praising the virtue of his meeting with friends.” The eight speak of the two sides of one and the same matter. On the near side: his faculties are without slackness or weariness and his aspiration is constant and settled, and so he draws near to good friends and “before long all of this will be brought to fullness”; he is endowed with merit beyond conceiving and with true faith, and so today he has been able to see the sons of the Buddha; within the three kinds of existence he is able to cultivate the bodhisattva practice, and so the sons of the Buddha are willing to point out to him the gate of liberation; the buddhas guard him in mind and the bodhisattvas gather him in.

On the far side there is only one verse, and it is the coldest clause in the whole poem: “one who is not a vessel for the Dharma, though he dwell together with a son of the Buddha, though measureless kalpas pass, will not come to know that realm.” Dwelling together and yet not knowing — this clause separates ‘meeting’ and ‘getting’ once and for all. And Maitreya adds a further clause: “the many kinds of bodhisattva conduct are all for the taming of sentient beings; you cultivate the many Dharma gateways everywhere — by no means give rise to doubt.” Not doubting is the most important boundary between being a vessel and not being one.

A misreading to be set aside: taking whether one meets a teacher for a matter of luck. The scripture text says it plainly: one who is not a vessel knows nothing even dwelling together for measureless kalpas; so the question is not whether one meets, but whether one is a vessel. Brought down to the ground: whether you can learn anything from a person mostly does not depend upon that person.

Praise of the Swift Accomplishment of the Virtue of Station and Practice: The Station of Consecration, and That One Seed

The ninety-first through ninety-fifth verses are “fourth, the five verses praising the swift accomplishment of the virtue of station and practice.” The first carries the station to its very summit: “you have already been born into the family of the bodhisattvas, you are already fully endowed with the virtue of the bodhisattvas, you have already grown up the lineage of the tathāgatas, and you are to ascend to the station of consecration” — consecration is the rite by which a prince succeeds to the throne, and used here it says the utmost of the bodhisattva stations. The second speaks of its function: to be the equal of the sons of the Buddha, and, seeing sentient beings in suffering and distress, to set them all in a place of peace and safety.

The third is the plainest statement of principle in the whole poem: “one who has sown such a seed as this will surely obtain such a fruit as this,” and therefore “I today congratulate and console you.” The fourth sets him against others: measureless bodhisattvas cultivating the work of the path for measureless kalpas are still not able to accomplish this practice, and today he has gained the whole of it. The fifth explains why this is so — “by the power of faith and delight and of firm and vigorous effort, Sudhana has accomplished a practice such as this” — and at once hands the words over to the hearers: “if there be one whose mind reveres and admires this, he too should study in this way.”

A misreading to be set aside: taking the fourth verse to be saying that Sudhana has surpassed those bodhisattvas. The fifth verse, coming straight after, gives the reason — faith and delight and firm effort are both of them things that can be studied, and this is why Maitreya dares to say “he too should study in this way.” Brought down to the ground: this passage falls from the highest station, consecration, back to the lowest cause, faith and effort, and between them lies nothing but a single seed.

Setting Forth His Many Virtues Together and Concluding in Praise So That Gladness May Arise: All That Is Born from Vow and Aspiration

The ninety-sixth through hundred and twelfth verses are “fifth, the seventeen verses setting forth his many virtues together and concluding in praise so that gladness may arise,” the longest passage in the whole poem. It opens by setting up the theme: “every practice of merit and virtue is born from vow and aspiration,” and then takes as its simile a dragon spreading thick clouds from which a great rain must surely fall — where the clouds rise the rain is settled, and where the knowledge of vow rises the practice is settled.

From there it turns into a very weighty set of contrasts. Through measureless kalpas you cast away the body in vain for the sake of desire, and only today, casting it away for awakening, is the casting called good; through measureless kalpas you received in full the suffering of birth and death, and yet never served the buddhas nor heard of this practice; and today you have gained a human body and met with buddhas and with good friends — “how could you not rejoice!” Three verses further on lay down sieve after sieve: even meeting a buddha arisen in the world and meeting good friends too, if the mind be not pure one still does not hear this Dharma; only with faith and delight and reverence toward good friends, leaving doubt behind and never wearying, does one get to hear it; and if one hears and raises up a mind of vowing, one has already gained vast benefit.

The last several verses speak of fruit and practice advancing together: with a pure mind one constantly draws near to buddhas and bodhisattvas and assuredly accomplishes awakening; entering this Dharma gateway one is endowed with the many merits and virtues and leaves the evil destinies forever; before long one casts away the body and is born into a buddha-land, constantly seeing the buddhas of the ten directions. And what makes this possible is three things put together — “causes laid down in former times, together with a pure understanding today, and together with the power of serving good friends” — whose increase is “just as a lotus flower is born within water.” At the last it comes back to the four things to be done now: delight in serving good friends, make offerings diligently to all buddhas, listen to the Dharma with a concentrated mind, and constantly practice thus without slackness.

A misreading to be set aside: taking “how could you not rejoice!” for a rhetorical question. The two verses before it set out the wasted labor of measureless kalpas, and this question is forced out by that contrast. Brought down to the ground: these seventeen verses write the rarity of a single lifetime out as one sieve after another — meeting a buddha, meeting a friend, purity of mind, leaving doubt, raising a vow — and if one sieve is missing one does not reach the next.

The Last Verse: He Sends the Man Back to Mañjuśrī

In the last of the hundred and thirteen verses Maitreya does not keep Sudhana with him: “you should go to the place of Mañjuśrī, the one of great knowledge; he will make you gain the deep and wondrous practice of Samantabhadra.” Chengguan judges this to be “the last one verse, briefly pointing out the next friend.”

The placing of this verse weighs much. Maitreya is the person to whom the mark of gathering virtue and accomplishing the cause is assigned, and Chengguan sets up his name as “setting forth the mark of gathering virtue and accomplishing the cause” — gathering the virtue of all the stations before in order to accomplish the cause of the fruit to come. And the one who gathers virtue does not keep the student: he sends him back to the friend who set him out, and from Mañjuśrī he is to enter the practice of Samantabhadra. Sudhana’s answering verses afterward also call one person only to mind: “it is because of Mañjuśrī that I have seen those who are hard to see.”

A misreading to be set aside: taking this for a courteous deferral. The friend who set him out and the friend at the end are the same person, and this is a circle in the very structure of this assembly — setting out from Mañjuśrī, seeing more than fifty friends everywhere, coming back to Mañjuśrī, and then entering Samantabhadra. Brought down to the ground: a road that has truly been walked through comes back to where it began; one that cannot come back is most likely still halfway.

Sudhana Wept, and the Flowers Filled His Hands of Themselves

After the long poem the scripture text writes Sudhana’s response: “he was glad and exultant, the hairs of his body all stood on end, and he wept with grief and choked upon his sobs.” Gladness and weeping happen at the same moment. This section writes Sudhana’s inward state in two places: on first seeing Maitreya it was “glad and exultant, and cast his five limbs to the ground,” and after hearing the praise it is “glad and exultant, the hairs of his body all stood on end, and he wept with grief and choked upon his sobs” — the same gladness and exultation, only that this time the hairs standing on end and the weeping are added. Chengguan outlines this as the setting out of the form of reverence again, in three parts: first, distinguishing the cause of the reverence, which is the hearing of the praise of his virtue; next, the grieving reverence of body and mind; last, the offering of flowers that displays his sincerity.

The passage of the offering is stranger still: Sudhana carried no offerings upon him, and yet “because of the power of Mañjuśrī’s mindful intent, many kinds of flowers, strings of jewels, and many kinds of subtle and wondrous treasures, without his being aware of it, all at once filled his hands of themselves.” Chengguan brings out what each thing stands for, saying that Mañjuśrī’s power of mindful intent “shows that it is by faith and knowledge,” and further that “the flowers are established by virtue, and the strings of jewels are accomplished by practice,” and that “as for saying they filled his hands, it is because faith and knowledge are full,” and last that “as for scattering them over Maitreya, it is because the cause is gathered and accomplished, and because the fruit to come is brought about.”

A misreading to be set aside: taking “without his being aware of it, they all at once filled his hands of themselves” for a display of spiritual power. Chengguan’s reading runs exactly the other way — the offerings are there of themselves because faith and knowledge are already full; the flowers are virtue and the strings of jewels are practice, and they were from the first the very things he had cultivated into being himself. Brought down to the ground: at a certain point offering needs no separate preparation, because what is in one’s hands is just what one has made of these years.

The Stroking of the Crown and the Answering Verses: In Two Verses He Calls Only One Person to Mind

Maitreya strokes the crown of Sudhana’s head and speaks one verse: “it is good indeed, it is good indeed, true son of the Buddha! You urge on all your faculties everywhere without slackness or weariness; before long you will be fully endowed with the many kinds of merit and virtue, just as Mañjuśrī is, and as I am.” After a hundred and thirteen verses have been spoken, the one spoken with his own mouth to him has only four clauses, and the last clause sets Sudhana in the same row as Mañjuśrī and himself.

Sudhana answers with two. The first speaks of the meeting: good friends are hard to meet with in a hundred million kalpas, and today he has been able to draw near to them one by one and so has come to the place of the venerable one. The second speaks of calling to mind: “it is because of Mañjuśrī that I have seen those who are hard to see; that venerable one of great merit and virtue — may he return soon, that I may look up to him and behold him” — he stands before the fifty-first good friend, and yet the vow he brings forth is the wish to see Mañjuśrī again soon. Chengguan outlines this as rejoicing at the meeting and calling to mind his kindness.

A misreading to be set aside: supposing that Sudhana is distracted here. The intent of the scripture text is precisely the calling to mind of kindness — and this is why Chengguan’s outline uses those two graphs, calling to mind kindness. Brought down to the ground: to remember, having walked to the farthest place, who it was that started you out is what is called calling to mind kindness; and this section sets it in the very last clause, as the conclusion of the whole road.

Lineage

In the text of this section there are three lines of what it receives from before and what it opens out afterward.

The first is the line of the assigning of stations. Maitreya is assigned the mark of gathering virtue and accomplishing the cause; the name is not one the scripture text sets up for itself but an outline of the ancient worthies. The Huayan jing kongmu zhang sets up “the friend of the mark of gathering virtue and accomplishing the cause,” and Chengguan receives it and sets it up as the third of the five marks of the last assembly, while the Tanxuan ji and the Souxuan ji each bring out their own wording — four houses with differing names all pointing at one and the same matter. And as for the assigning of stations, Chengguan has even-handed words of his own, saying: “both have their reason. Since each single station is endowed with many Dharma gateways, how could an ordinary mind be barred from studying and seeking the dharma of good friends? — and so not to match them has its reason. Yet within the absence of sequence of stations the sequence of stations is not obstructed, and to display the stations is the ordinary rule, so that to match them is also without fault. The crosswise and the lengthwise being unobstructed, for now I follow the ancient worthies in matching them as five marks.” He takes the matching of the ancient worthies and yet does not take the matching as fixed; the two intents stand together.

The second is the line of the outlines. As for the outlining of this section, Chengguan follows the eighty-fascicle text clause by clause and sets up the one outline of seeing, paying respect, and inquiring, opening beneath the seeing of the direct recompense the five matters of setting out the form of reverence, and further judging the long poem to “have a hundred and thirteen verses” and dividing it into three, “the first one verse, the general praise that points him out to the assembly,” “the last one verse, briefly pointing out the next friend,” and “the verses in between, praising his surpassing virtue in particular” — the middle being further analyzed into three passages and five passages, and their numbers agreeing throughout with a verse-by-verse counting of the base text. Fazang and Zhiyan outlined the sixty-fascicle text, and so their citation-clauses mostly have nothing to answer to in the eighty: Fazang divides the seeing of the direct recompense into three, wishing to see, seeing at a distance, and praising his virtue, and gathers everything from the speaking of the verses onward under conferring his own Dharma realm; Zhiyan divides the mark of seeing the direct recompense into five, and separately opens the distinguishing of the entering of the Dharma realm into four. Li Tongxuan takes the opening clause of this section as the heading of the fifth passage of his outline in ten passages, and beneath that passage he unfolds no clause-by-clause gloss. The four houses differ in their numbers and in the bone they rely upon. Recorded without adjudication.

The third is the line of the parallel translations. This poem of praise has a hundred and thirteen verses in the eighty, sixty-eight verses in the sixty, and the forty is nearly identical to the eighty graph for graph, with two verses seen in the extract collated that the eighty does not have; the middle portion has not been counted graph by graph, and so the account cannot be made exhaustive. The first verse of the sixty is not a clause of calling out to the assembly but names him directly, and so Chengguan’s outline of “the first one verse, the general praise that points him out to the assembly” has nothing to fasten to in the sixty; and the short passage of Maitreya’s stroking of the crown and Sudhana’s answering verses, which the eighty has, is likewise not seen in the sixty as a graph-for-graph correspondence. The three witnesses stand together, and are recorded as they are.

A teacher saw his student, praised him first in a hundred and thirteen verses, and then sent him back to where he began — and the whole order of this section lies in that one graph, ‘sending.’

Sudhana Has Already Brought Forth the Mind — So Why Does He Ask Again?

Sudhana comes to Maitreya, and the first thing out of his mouth is a statement about himself: “Great sage! I have already before this brought forth the mind of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi, and yet I do not know how a bodhisattva is to study the practice of a bodhisattva, or how he is to cultivate the path of a bodhisattva.” The bringing forth of the mind comes first, the not-knowing comes after — and that is the shape of every question in this section. Chengguan outlines this passage, saying that in the inquiring “there are two: first the stating of his own bringing forth of the mind; afterward, beneath ‘and yet I do not know,’ the direct question upon the essentials of Dharma,” cutting “already brought forth” and “do not yet know” into two halves precisely so that a reader may see that the two halves are not in contradiction.

A misreading must be set aside: that to bring forth the mind of awakening is the same as knowing how to cultivate, so that anyone still asking ‘what do I do’ shows that he never really brought forth the mind at all. Sudhana set out from the City of Blessings, journeyed southward the whole way, passed through a hundred and ten good friends, and here he is still asking “how am I to study.” The bringing forth of the mind is a door, not a road; once through the door, the road still has to be asked for, step by step.

Brought down to the ground: to test whether you have brought forth the mind, do not look at whether you are still asking; look at whether you walk after you have asked. Sudhana’s question is a question that has been walked.

Fifty Clauses of Praise: What One Who Is to Attain in One Lifetime Already Is

Before asking for the Dharma, Sudhana first praises Maitreya in a long string of clauses — because all the Tathāgatas have conferred a prediction upon Maitreya that in one lifetime he is to attain unsurpassed awakening. From “then you have already passed beyond every place where bodhisattvas dwell” onward, forty-five clauses begin with “you have already,” running straight down in a single breath, and the last five turn to the simple “already,” closing with “you are already able swiftly to tread the station of all-knowledge.” Chengguan judges this passage, saying “there are fifty clauses in particular, all of them the virtue of the fullness of the cause and the completeness of the fruit,” and points out that this praising of virtue is itself the opening of the question: “and by this virtue it also serves as the head of the question.”

Why can the praising of a person serve as a question? Because what is praised is exactly what is sought. Sudhana is not paying a compliment; he is setting out the ‘fruit’ and then asking how the ‘cause’ is walked. Among the fifty clauses there are the passing beyond the places of dwelling, the going out past the station of leaving birth, the perfecting of the pāramitās, the deep entering into the gates of acceptance, the being endowed with the grounds, the sporting in the gates of liberation; and there are also the great valiant general who breaks the demon armies of affliction, the great guide who comes out of the wilderness of birth and death, the great king of physicians who heals the grave sickness of every delusion, the ferryman upon the sea of birth and death — the first half is his own realization, the latter half is his transforming of others.

A misreading must be set aside: that this is ornamental writing spread thin. It is an inventory. Sudhana points out item by item everything that is upon Maitreya, and by doing so he is saying, ‘all of this I want; please tell me the road.’ Brought down to the ground: before you put a question to someone, be clear about what it is you want; the quality of the question is settled at that step.

What He Asks Is ‘How Am I to Study,’ Not ‘What Is That’

In the closing of the question Sudhana states the question over again: “how is a bodhisattva to study the practice of a bodhisattva? How is he to cultivate the path of a bodhisattva?” And then he lists what he wants this road to accomplish — that following upon what he cultivates and studies he may swiftly become endowed with every buddha-dharma, may be able to deliver all the sentient beings he calls to mind, may universally fulfill the great vows he has made, may universally bring to their end the practices he has undertaken, may universally comfort all devas and humans — and the last four clauses weigh most of all: “that he may not fail his own body, may not cut off the Three Jewels, may not let the seed of any buddha or bodhisattva pass away in vain, and may be able to hold fast the Dharma eye of every buddha.” Chengguan outlines this as “the closing of the question and the asking that it be spoken, which also displays the intent of the question” — those last words are the key: besides the question itself there is the reason for asking it.

A misreading must be set aside: that to seek the Dharma is to seek knowledge. Of the five or six items Sudhana lists, not one of them is a ‘knowing’; every one is a ‘being able.’ What he wants is something that can be walked out.

Brought down to the ground: before you go to someone for instruction, say clearly ‘what I want it to accomplish’; say that clearly, and the one answering knows what he has to give. What Maitreya gives next is not a table of stages, precisely because what Sudhana asks for is not a table of stages.

Why Does Maitreya Speak First to the Assembly and Not First to Sudhana?

Sudhana finishes asking, and Maitreya does not answer at once but “contemplated the whole assembly of the place of the Way and, pointing to Sudhana, spoke thus: ‘Good sirs! Do you see this son of the elder, who now, here with me, asks after the many merits and virtues of the practice of a bodhisattva?’” — he speaks first to the assembly, and what he speaks about is Sudhana. Chengguan outlines this whole passage, saying “first, for the great assembly, praising Sudhana, which is the praising of a person; afterward, for Sudhana, praising the mind of awakening, which is the praising of the Dharma” — one praises a person, one praises the Dharma, and these are two halves. Fazang, outlining the same passage, likewise places it foremost, saying that it is “for his own retinue, praising the virtue of Sudhana, that people may imitate and practice it.”

A misreading must be set aside: that this is a courteous preamble. It has a definite work to do — when this passage of Maitreya’s praise of Sudhana comes to an end, the scripture itself records the result: “having caused measureless hundreds of thousands of sentient beings to bring forth the mind of awakening.” That is to say, this speech delivered people on the spot.

Brought down to the ground: when a good friend answers one person’s question, he is very often teaching a whole class at the same time. Maitreya’s first act is to turn one man’s question into a roomful of people’s lesson.

A Hundred and Ten Good Friends: What Is Praised Is Practice, Not Understanding

Maitreya praises Sudhana by first speaking of him in general — he is “valiant and vigorous, his aspiration unmixed, his profound mind firm, and constantly without retrogression” — and then points out the fact: “long ago at the City of Blessings he received the teaching of Mañjuśrī, and journeying onward southward step by step he sought good friends, and only after passing through a hundred and ten good friends did he come here to me, and had never for a moment given rise to a single thought of weariness or slackness.” Chengguan puts down a judgment upon this one clause, saying that diligence at a single time is not yet to be praised, but “because from beginning to end there was not one thought of slackness, therefore it is worth praising.”

Take note: not one clause of what is praised here is ‘how much he understands.’ It is all how far he walked, how many people he served, and whether he slackened. Maitreya goes on to say of him that he “sees good friends with no satiety in his feeling, serves good friends without his body growing weary, and hearing all the teachings of good friends constantly delights to follow them in practice and has never gone against them” — seeing, serving, hearing: three matters, one clause each.

Brought down to the ground: to judge whether you are making progress upon the road, there is no need to measure how deep your understanding goes. Measure three things and it is enough: when you meet a good friend, do you want to meet him again; when you serve him, does your body grow tired; when you hear his teaching, do you follow it in practice.

The Mark of Rescuing and Guarding: Twenty-three Clauses and Twenty-one Clauses

The second layer of Maitreya’s praise of Sudhana speaks of what he does after he has “brought forth the mind to rescue and guard all sentient beings.” The scripture says it in two sets of parallel clauses. The first set begins at “to make them free of every suffering, to go out beyond the evil destinies,” and runs on through “to cut the yoke-strap of craving, to loosen the bond of the views, to wreck the house of false thought, to sever the road of delusion, to overthrow the banner of conceit, to pull out the arrow of confusion, to strip away the covering of sleep, to tear the net of desire and craving,” closing with “to come out of birth and death” — every clause takes some particular fetter and handles it as a solid object to be taken apart. The second set changes the pattern: first it says what kind of person, then it says what Dharma is given him — “for those swept along by the four floods, he builds the great ship of Dharma; for those sunk in the mire of views, he sets up the great bridge of Dharma; for those bewildered by the darkness of folly, he lights the lamp of great knowledge,” right down to “those attached to birth and death, he causes to go toward the city of all-knowledge.”

A misreading must be set aside: that the rescuing and guarding of sentient beings is one undifferentiated goodwill. These two sets of parallel clauses show that it is particular: to the one swept along, a ship; to the one sunk, a bridge; to the bewildered, a lamp; to the sick, medicine; to the sorrowing, comfort; to the one caught in the net, the sword of knowledge. What medicine for what sickness — there is no one remedy that serves all.

Brought down to the ground: having made the vow to benefit people, the next thing is to learn to distinguish which sort of difficulty the person before you is in. This passage is Maitreya’s annotation upon Sudhana’s practice, and it is also a measuring rod set up for whoever reads.

Twice Again as Hard to Come By: The Hard Part Comes After the Bringing Forth of the Mind

In the third layer of the praise Maitreya uses a set of clauses that raise the stakes layer upon layer: “if there be sentient beings able to bring forth the mind of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi, this is rare; and having brought forth the mind, to be able further, in such a way as this, to gather the dharmas of the buddhas with vigor and with means, that is twice as rare” — and after that come more than ten repetitions of “to be able further, in such a way”: to seek the path of the bodhisattva, to purify the practice of a bodhisattva, to serve good friends, to be as one saving his head from fire, to follow the teaching of good friends, to cultivate firmly, to gather the factors of awakening, not to seek fame or gain, not to relinquish the bodhisattva’s single and unmixed mind, not to delight in the household and not to cling to the joys of desire and not to be fond of parents and kin and acquaintances, and to have no regard for body or life but to vow only to cultivate diligently the path of all-knowledge — closing with one clause: “one should know that this is, step upon step, twice again as hard to come by.”

A misreading must be set aside: that the bringing forth of the mind is the hardest gate, and once it is passed all is well. The force of the scripture’s language runs the other way — the bringing forth of the mind is only the first layer of rarity, and every layer after it doubles. The two clauses “not to relinquish the bodhisattva’s single and unmixed mind” and “to have no regard for body or life” are placed at the end, and they are the two hardest layers.

Brought down to the ground: do not treat the bringing forth of the mind as something finished and worth commemorating. It is where the counting starts, not where it ends.

One Lifetime and Many Kalpas: Why the Time Should Differ

In the last layer of the praise Maitreya sets two kinds of time side by side: “the other bodhisattvas must pass through measureless hundreds of thousands of myriads of millions of nayutas of kalpas before they can fulfill the vows and practice of a bodhisattva,” whereas Sudhana “within one lifetime” is able to purify buddha-lands, to teach and transform sentient beings, to enter deeply into the Dharma realm with wisdom, to accomplish the pāramitās, to broaden every practice, to fulfill every great vow, to go out beyond every deed of Māra, to serve every good companion, to purify the paths of the bodhisattvas, and to be endowed with all the practices of Samantabhadra — ten clauses in a single breath.

This pairing does not come out of nowhere. What Sudhana praised at the head of his question was that Maitreya is one who is “in one lifetime to attain anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi”; and now Maitreya turns it back and says that Sudhana “within one lifetime” can do ten things. The one who asks and the one who is asked have met upon this matter of ‘one lifetime.’

A misreading must be set aside: that this says some people are simply born fast. The reason the scripture gives lies in the passages before — a hundred and ten good friends, and not one thought of slackness. Fast is not the road shortened; it is that there was no stopping along the way. Brought down to the ground: what is called sudden is seen within not stopping, not within skipping over.

Well Done, Well Done, You Have Gained a Good Benefit: One ‘And Why Is This’ Turns the Subject

Only when Maitreya has finished praising him before the assembly does he speak to Sudhana: “Well done, well done! Good man! For the sake of benefiting all the world, for the sake of rescuing and guarding all sentient beings, and for the sake of seeking diligently every buddha-dharma, you have brought forth the mind of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi.” Then follow ten clauses of “you have gained a good benefit” — gaining a human body, dwelling within a lifespan, meeting the appearing of a Tathāgata, seeing Mañjuśrī the great good friend, having a body that is a good vessel, being moistened by roots of goodness, being sustained by the white and pure dharmas, having resolve and wish made pure, being held in the protective mindfulness of the buddhas, being taken in by good friends. Chengguan judges these two halves as “first, the setting up of the praise of the bringing forth of the mind,” and “second, beneath ‘you have gained a good benefit,’ the praising of the vessel of his bringing forth of the mind and the benefit it accomplishes.”

Then the scripture asks a single question, “and why is this?” — and this one question is the pivot of the whole section. Chengguan makes its sense plain, saying that the intent of the asking is “why is it that he is praised with ‘well done’ and with ‘gained a good benefit’?” and that the intent of the answer is “because the mind of awakening is endowed with virtue.” Which is to say: the two hundred and more clauses of simile that follow are all of them the answer to this one “and why is this.”

Brought down to the ground: if the long string of similes below begins to feel like too much, hold on to this one question — Maitreya is not praising a mind, he is answering ‘on what grounds is this man counted as having gained a great benefit.’

The Former Set, a Hundred and Eighteen Clauses: One Pattern, a Hundred and Eighteen Times

From “the mind of awakening is like a seed, for it is able to give birth to all the dharmas of the buddhas” onward, the scripture uses one and the same pattern a hundred and eighteen times over: first it sets up “the mind of awakening,” in the middle it places a simile, and at the end it states with “for” the sense in which the simile is taken. Three forms alternate — “is like,” “like,” and “is” — while the pattern of the clause does not change. Chengguan marks the numbers here, saying that the former set is “the first hundred and eighteen clauses, setting forth that the mind of awakening runs through all the grounds,” and that the latter set is “a hundred and three clauses,” the two together making the total he sets down.

Chengguan reads these hundred and eighteen clauses with two measuring rods, and says so himself quite plainly: “crosswise, then, each single bringing forth of the mind is endowed with the virtue of all the clauses; lengthwise, then, they are matched severally to the bringing forth of the mind at the several stations.” Crosswise means that whatever virtue any one clause praises is wholly present at the very moment of the bringing forth of the mind; lengthwise means that the order of this string of clauses can be matched to the stations from the lineage up to the ultimate. He then follows the account of the teacher Guangtong, and divides the hundred and eighteen clauses into twelve passages matched to the twelve abodes.

A misreading must be set aside: that to have matched the stations is to say that one who has newly brought forth the mind has only the virtue of the first passage. Chengguan himself seals off this reading as soon as he has finished the matching, saying “the sense of the text in each case corresponds to that station, but for fear of prolixity they are not assigned,” and saying further “beginning with the seed and ending with the habit-energies of delusion, the lengthwise sense is made manifest; yet as for the cutting off of the habit-energies and the rest, when the work is traced back to its root it is by the first bringing forth of the mind, and so it is plain in principle that crosswise it is endowed with all the virtues” — those merits at the end that cut off the habit-energies of delusion, traced back to their source, are still the first bringing forth of the mind.

Brought down to the ground: in reading the twelve passages below, both measuring rods must be held at once. Looking at the order is for seeing how long this road is; looking at the crosswise endowment is for knowing that one is upon the road already.

Three Clauses of the Abode of the Lineage: Seed · Good Field · Great Earth

The first passage has only three clauses: the seed is able to give birth to all the dharmas of the buddhas, the good field is able to nourish the white and pure dharmas of sentient beings, and the great earth is able to hold up all the worlds. Chengguan fastens these three clauses to the abode of the lineage, and explains why it should be these three: “therefore it says, like a seed, like a field and the earth, all of them the sense of the seed and its growing.” The three similes take three faces of a single matter — the seed is what gives birth, the field is where the birth takes place, the earth is what bears everything up.

Why begin with a seed? Because the mark of a seed is that ‘it cannot yet be seen.’ Within a seed there is not one leaf to point at, and yet without it there is no tree. So it is with the mind of awakening at the moment it is first brought forth: no mark can be pointed at, and yet every buddha-dharma comes forth from here.

A misreading must be set aside: that since the seed is still small, one may wait for it to grow before speaking of it. The two clauses of the good field and the great earth are said in answer to just this point — a good field is not called a good field only after the shoots are up, and the great earth is not called the great earth only after it has borne something. Their virtue lies in the capacity to bear, not in how much has already been borne.

Brought down to the ground: the commonest fault at the outset of the bringing forth of the mind is to make light of this one thought of one’s own. The scripture puts it first among a hundred and eighteen clauses, and by doing so says: this one thought is not a preparation, it is the capital.

Six Clauses of the Abode of the Practice of Resolute Conviction: Pure Water · Great Wind · Blazing Fire · Pure Sun · Full Moon · Bright Lamp

The second passage has six clauses, which Chengguan fastens to the abode of the practice of resolute conviction, saying that it “sets forth the benefit within the abode of the practice of resolute conviction.” The six similes each take up one function: pure water is able to wash away the stains of affliction, the great wind goes everywhere in the world without obstruction, the blazing fire is able to burn up the firewood of the views, the pure sun illumines all the worlds everywhere, the full moon makes the white and pure dharmas complete, the bright lamp is able to send out the light of the many kinds of Dharma.

There is an order to be seen in the six standing together: first the washing (removing stains), then the passing through (unobstructed), then the burning (cutting off views), and only then the three lights of illumining, completing, and brightening. The first three take something away, the last three bring something out. The clause “for it is able to burn up the firewood of every view” deserves particular attention — what is burned is views, not objects. Firewood is for burning, not for carting off.

A misreading must be set aside: that resolute conviction means understanding a great deal. Not one of these six clauses says “knowing”; they are all water, wind, fire, sun, moon, and lamp — things that work. What makes understanding a benefit is that it moves.

Brought down to the ground: if your understanding feels to you to be without force, hold it against these six clauses and ask one question — has it washed anything away, passed through anything, burned anything up? If none of the three, then it is still only something remembered.

Sixteen Clauses of the Higher Abode of Supreme Joy: From the Pure Eye to the Emperor

The third passage, of sixteen clauses, is the longest; Chengguan fastens it to the higher abode of supreme joy, saying that they are “all of them the sense within the first ground.” Three small groups can be made out among the sixteen. The first group is the equipment of seeing and of going: the pure eye sees everywhere the places of safety and of peril, the great road causes one to enter the city of great knowledge, the right ford causes one to leave the wrong dharmas, the great carriage carries the bodhisattvas, the gateway opens up and shows the practice of the bodhisattvas. The second group is places to dwell in: the palace abides in and cultivates samādhi, the garden is where one sports and receives the joy of the Dharma, the dwelling house makes sentient beings secure; and then two clauses turn to “is” — is the place of refuge, benefiting the worlds; is that which is relied upon, being the place upon which the practices of the bodhisattvas rely. The third group is people: the kind father instructs and guides, the kind mother gives birth and rears, the nurse nourishes and raises, the good companion accomplishes and benefits; and the last two clauses are the sovereign surpassing the two vehicles and the emperor gaining mastery within every vow.

Why should the first ground need so many similes of persons? Because the first ground is named Joyful, and joy arises because there is now something to lean upon. The four clauses of father, mother, nurse, and good companion come one after another, and they speak of four workings of one and the same mind upon a practitioner: teaching, giving birth, rearing, and completing.

A misreading must be set aside: that the mind of awakening is a thought of one’s own, so how could it be like father and mother. The sense of the scripture lies exactly here — it is not a notion of yours, it is the thing that gives birth to and rears this life of yours. Brought down to the ground: in those days after the first bringing forth of the mind when one wavers most easily, what carries one is not will but the rearing that these four clauses speak of.

Seven Clauses of the Higher Abode of Morality: Great Sea · Mount Sumeru · Cakravāḍa Mountains · Snow Mountains · Fragrant Mountain · Empty Space · Lotus Flower

The fourth passage, of seven clauses, Chengguan fastens to the higher abode of morality. Among the seven similes there is one sea, four mountains, one space, and one flower: the great sea is that every merit and virtue enters into it, Mount Sumeru is that its mind toward sentient beings is even, the Cakravāḍa mountains are that they take and hold all the worlds, the Snow Mountains are that they nourish the medicine of every wisdom, the Fragrant Mountain is that it brings forth the fragrance of every merit and virtue, empty space is that its wondrous merits and virtues are vast and without bound, and the lotus flower is that it is unstained by any dharma of the world.

Why should morality take these? The virtue of a mountain is in not moving and in being able to hold; the virtue of sea and space is in being able to contain; the virtue of the lotus is in dwelling amid stain unstained. The working of morality is exactly these three: not moving, containing, unstained. The clause “for its mind toward sentient beings is even” matched to Mount Sumeru is particular — what makes a mountain a mountain is not its height but that it is equally high toward all four quarters.

A misreading must be set aside: that to keep the precepts is to draw oneself in narrow. These seven clauses grow wider one after another: sea, Sumeru, Cakravāḍa, Snow Mountains, Fragrant Mountain, empty space. If keeping the precepts has come out narrow, something has gone wrong in the keeping.

Brought down to the ground: to test your own morality, see whether it has made your mind more even toward people and more able to contain circumstances. If the longer you keep it the more fault-finding you become, then it is time to look back at these seven clauses.

Ten Clauses of the Higher Abode of Mind: From the Tamed and Wise Elephant to Black Aloeswood

The fifth passage, of ten clauses, Chengguan fastens to the higher abode of mind. The first three clauses all speak of taming: the tamed and wise elephant is that “its mind is well compliant and not unruly,” the fine horse is that it “is far removed from every evil nature,” the tamer and trainer is that he “guards the whole Dharma of the Great Vehicle.” The latter seven turn to healing and to storing: the good medicine heals the sickness of affliction, the snare-pit sinks and buries the evil dharmas, the vajra pierces through every dharma, the scent-casket stores the fragrance of every merit and virtue, the wondrous flower is what the world delights to see, white candana takes away the fever of desire and makes cool, black aloeswood perfumes the Dharma realm and reaches everywhere.

The two clauses of the elephant and the horse are worth noting. What the scripture says is not that the elephant and horse are held down, but that the animal “is well compliant” and “is far removed from an evil nature” — the result of taming is that the animal is no longer that way of itself, not that it is tied up and unable to be that way. The height of the higher abode of mind lies just here.

A misreading must be set aside: that to cultivate the mind is to hold thoughts down. The clause of the snare-pit does look like holding down, but the two clauses of the elephant and the horse beside it have already made the matter plain: true taming is a change of disposition. Brought down to the ground: to judge your own power of concentration, do not look at how long you can endure; look at how much of the time there is nothing to endure.

Ten Clauses of the Higher Abode of Wisdom Corresponding to the Factors of Awakening: From the King of Medicines Well Seen to the Water-Clearing Pearl

The sixth passage, of ten clauses, Chengguan fastens to the higher abode of wisdom corresponding to the factors of awakening. Among the ten clauses there are three medicines, three deva-spirits, one ornament, one fire, and two pearls: the king of medicines Well Seen breaks the sickness of affliction; the pijimo medicine draws out the arrows of delusion — and here Chengguan glosses the Sanskrit word in passing, saying “as for what is called pijimo, this means universally removing”; Śakra is most honored among all lords, Vaiśravaṇa is able to cut off the suffering of poverty, the goddess of merit and virtue is adorned by every merit and virtue, the ornament adorns the bodhisattvas, the fire at the end of a kalpa burns up every conditioned thing, the medicine Birthless Root nourishes the dharmas of the buddhas, the dragon-pearl dissolves the poison of affliction, the water-clearing pearl clears the turbidity of affliction.

“Factors of awakening” is the general name of the thirty-seven factors of the path; this passage is chiefly of medicines, taking them for their power to counter. The clause “for it is able to draw out the arrows of every delusion” of the pijimo medicine especially wants looking at: an arrow is shot in from outside, it is not something one had to begin with; and drawing out an arrow presupposes admitting that it came from outside.

A misreading must be set aside: that wisdom is the power to analyze. Not one clause in this passage speaks of analyzing; all of them speak of healing. What makes wisdom wisdom is whether it can get the arrow out.

Brought down to the ground: if one has studied a great deal of Dharma and the afflictions go on as before, this passage may be held up against it — has the medicine been taken, has the arrow been drawn.

Ten Clauses of the Higher Abode Corresponding to the Truths: From the Wish-Fulfilling Pearl to the Firm Armor

The seventh passage, of ten clauses, Chengguan fastens to the higher abode corresponding to the truths. The first five clauses all speak of ‘giving’ and of ‘purity’: the wish-fulfilling pearl supplies the poor and needy, the vase of merit and virtue satisfies the minds of sentient beings, the wish-fulfilling tree rains down every ornament, the goose-down robe does not receive the stains of birth and death, and the thread of white cotton is “for from the very beginning its nature has been pure.” The latter five turn to ploughing and to war: the sharp and swift plough tills the field of sentient beings, Nārāyaṇa overthrows the enemy of the view of self, the swift arrow breaks the target of suffering, the sharp lance pierces the armor of affliction, the firm armor guards every mind that accords with principle.

The clause of the thread of white cotton is the eye of this passage. The clauses before it speak of what it can give to people; this one turns suddenly back to itself — it was pure to begin with, it was not made pure by washing. What the abode corresponding to the truths corresponds to is exactly this ‘to begin with.’

A misreading must be set aside: that the mind becomes pure only by being cultivated. The scripture uses the words “from the very beginning.” What cultivation removes is stain; it does not add a purity. Brought down to the ground: if in your practice you constantly feel that you are too dirty ever to be washed clean, think of this clause — what is washed is the stain; the ground beneath was never got by washing.

Ten Clauses of the Higher Abode Corresponding to the Stilling of the Turning of Dependent Origination: From the Sharp Knife to the Pincers

The eighth passage, of ten clauses, Chengguan fastens to the higher abode corresponding to the stilling of the turning of dependent origination; the name of the passage is long, but the sense of it is ‘to cut through the line along which birth and death turn.’ The ten similes are almost all bladed weapons and tools: the sharp knife cuts off the head of affliction, the sharp sword cuts the armor of conceit, the banner of the valiant general subdues the armies of Māra, the sharp saw saws through the tree of ignorance, the sharp axe fells the tree of suffering, the weapons of war ward off suffering and difficulty, the skillful hand guards the body of the perfections, the good foot establishes every merit and virtue, the eye-salve wipes out the film of ignorance, the pincers pull out the thorn of the view of the body.

What wants looking at is the order of the things cut off: the head of affliction, the armor of conceit, the armies of Māra, the tree of ignorance, the tree of suffering. Ignorance stands in the middle and suffering comes after it — this is the very order of the turning, and the place where the cutting is done is there too. The last four clauses turn suddenly gentle: hand, foot, eye-salve, and pincers are none of them for hacking; they are for guarding and for fine work.

A misreading must be set aside: that the cutting off of delusion is all a matter of force. Of the ten clauses the first six are fierce and the last four are fine; the thorn of the view of the body must be got out with pincers, and an axe will not do it. Brought down to the ground: coarse and heavy afflictions are to be cut off quickly, and the fine grasping at self is to be pulled out accurately; the two call for different kinds of strength.

Ten Clauses of the Markless Abode with Effort: From Bedding to the Great Dragon King

The ninth passage, of ten clauses, Chengguan fastens to the markless abode with effort. Bedding puts to rest the toils of birth and death, the good friend loosens the bonds of birth and death, fine treasure takes away the matter of poverty, the great guide well knows the essential road of going forth, the hidden hoard brings forth the wealth of merit and virtue without lacking, the gushing spring produces the water of wisdom without exhaustion, the bright mirror manifests everywhere the images of every gateway of Dharma, the lotus flower is unstained by the defilement of offense, the great river carries along the dharmas of the perfections and the means of gathering, the great dragon king rains down the rain of every wondrous Dharma.

“With effort” says that force is still to be used; “markless” says that force is used without clinging to marks. These ten clauses stand just between the two: on the one side are the marks of rest and abundance — bedding, treasure, the hidden hoard; on the other are the marks of unceasing outflow — the gushing spring, the great river, the rain of Dharma. Rest and outflow are not at odds — the spring is inexhaustible precisely because it need not labor.

A misreading must be set aside: that once one has reached the markless there is nothing left to do. The name of this abode says “with effort” itself. Brought down to the ground: at a certain stage of practice one feels pulled both ways, told to let go and to press on at once. The answer of this passage is: what is let go is the marks; what is pressed on is the flowing.

Ten Clauses of the Markless Abode without Effort: From the Life-Faculty to the Great Isle of Jewels

The tenth passage, of ten clauses, Chengguan fastens to the markless abode without effort. The life-faculty upholds the body of great compassion of the bodhisattva, sweet dew makes one abide in the realm of deathlessness, the great net universally gathers sentient beings, the snare takes in those to be taught and transformed, the hook and bait draw out those dwelling in the deep pool of the states of existence, the agada medicine makes one free of sickness and forever secure, the poison-dispelling medicine quenches the poison of craving, one skilled in holding spells takes away the poison of inversion, the swift wind sweeps away the mist of the obstructions, the great isle of jewels brings forth the jewel of every factor of awakening.

That the clause of the life-faculty stands at the head of the passage is worth attention. The life-faculty is not something we use; it holds this life of itself. At the station of no effort, the working of the mind of awakening upon the bodhisattva is as the life-faculty is upon the body — no thought needs to be raised, and it is there the whole time. The three clauses of net, snare, and hook and bait come one after another and speak of gathering sentient beings; and the manner of the gathering costs nothing either — the net is spread and it gathers, the bait is set and out they come.

A misreading must be set aside: that no effort means doing nothing. Within these ten clauses the means of delivering beings grow more particular one after another. Brought down to the ground: what is called costing nothing is being so practiced that one need not think about it; it is not not doing.

Ten Clauses of the Abode of Unobstructed Discernment: From the Good Lineage to the Life-Formation

The eleventh passage, of ten clauses, Chengguan fastens to the abode of unobstructed discernment. The good lineage brings forth the white and pure dharmas, the dwelling house is the place upon which the dharmas of merit and virtue rely, the market is where the bodhisattva-merchants trade, the medicine that refines gold heals the stain of affliction, fine honey fulfills the flavor of merit and virtue, the right road causes entry into the city of knowledge, the good vessel holds every white and pure dharma, timely rain lays the dust of every affliction; and the last two clauses turn to “is” — is the dwelling place, being where all bodhisattvas dwell; and is the life-formation, “for it does not take up the fruit of the liberation of the śrāvakas.”

The clause of the market is the most singular. A market is a place of exchange, with people coming and going, with what goes out and what comes in; to use it as a simile for the mind of awakening is to speak of the openness upon every side of unobstructed discernment. Under the last clause, “the life-formation,” Chengguan sets down a note upon a differing word of the Sanskrit witness, saying “as for what is called the life-formation, the Sanskrit witness has, ‘is the lodestone, for it does not draw in the fruit of the liberation of the śrāvakas’” — the simile of the lodestone takes the sense of drawing in and not drawing in, which is not the sense in which “the life-formation” is taken, and this note stands here beside the other, without being forced into one.

A misreading must be set aside: that to be unobstructed is to have everything open. The last clause says a “not” on purpose — it does not take up the fruit of the liberation of the śrāvakas. Within the unobstructed there is one thing not taken up, and this is not an obstruction; it is a direction.

Brought down to the ground: it is when every door upon the road can be entered that one has the more need to know which one door is not to be entered.

Sixteen Clauses of the Highest Bodhisattva Abode: From Pure Beryl to the Shrine of a Buddha

The twelfth passage, of sixteen clauses, is the last of the former set, and Chengguan fastens it to the highest bodhisattva abode. Pure beryl is bright and clean in its own nature, the sapphire jewel goes out beyond the knowledge of the two vehicles, the drum of the water-clock rouses sentient beings from the sleep of affliction, pure water is clear in nature from the first, Jambū gold outshines every conditioned good, the king of great mountains goes out beyond all the worlds; then four clauses of “is” — is the place of refuge, turning away none who come; is benefit itself, taking away every matter of decline and distress; is the wondrous jewel, making every mind rejoice; is what is honored and surpassing, having nothing among the minds of sentient beings that can equal it; then the great assembly of giving fills the minds of sentient beings, and the hidden hoard takes in the dharmas of every buddha; and the last four clauses are the net of Indra subduing the asura that is affliction, the wind of Poluona stirring all who are to be taught and transformed, the fire of Indra burning up the habit-energies of delusion, and the shrine of a buddha to which all the world should make offerings.

Among the last four clauses Chengguan glosses the sense taken by the Sanskrit witness for the first two, saying “the Sanskrit witness has the net of Indra, because the net takes in the asuras that are the afflictions. The wind of Poluona, this means the swift and fierce wind.” And the very last clause of the whole set uses the shrine of a buddha — a stūpa-shrine, the place that receives the offerings of people. From the seed at the beginning to the shrine at the end: what stands at the head cannot yet be seen, and what stands at the close is what everyone comes to bow to.

A misreading must be set aside: that upon reaching the highest station one is dealing with something other than the first bringing forth of the mind. Chengguan draws it together here, saying that “beginning with the seed and ending with the habit-energies of delusion” is the lengthwise, while “when the work is traced back to its root it is by the first bringing forth of the mind” is the crosswise. Brought down to the ground: having read these hundred and eighteen clauses, look back at the seed of the first clause — every virtue in between is that seed.

The Gathering Up of the Former Set: The Tathāgatas of the Three Times Are Born from the Mind of Awakening

The hundred and eighteen clauses done, the scripture draws them together itself: “Good man! The mind of awakening accomplishes measureless merits and virtues such as these; to say it in brief, one should know that it is wholly equal to all the merits and virtues of every buddha-dharma. And why? Because the mind of awakening gives birth to every practice of the bodhisattvas, and because the Tathāgatas of the three times are born from the mind of awakening.”

This passage gives two judgments. The first is “wholly equal to all the merits and virtues of every buddha-dharma” — not nearly, but equal. The second is the reason: every practice of the bodhisattvas is born from it, and the Tathāgatas of the three times are born from it. Chengguan puts down a word upon this, saying “second, beneath ‘good man,’ the general conclusion, that is, the completion of the work lies in the first basketful. The first mind is endowed with all the virtues, and how much more when first and last are perfectly fused.” The first basketful is the first basket of earth in the piling up of a mountain; that a mountain stands is the work of that one basket.

A misreading must be set aside: that ‘equal to all the merits and virtues of the buddha-dharma’ is an extravagance of speech. The scripture at once gives an inference that can be tested: “if there be one who brings forth the mind of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi, then he has already brought forth measureless merit and virtue, and is universally able to take in the path of all-knowledge.” Having brought it forth, one has already brought them forth — not that one will have them later.

Brought down to the ground: this is the one sentence of the whole section most to be remembered. If it is not believed, the hundred and three similes below are read to no purpose; if it is believed, those hundred and three similes only say the same one thing more plainly.

The Latter Set, a Hundred and Three Similes: The Pattern Has Changed, and So Has the Tone

From “Good man! Suppose a man obtains the medicine of fearlessness and leaves behind five terrors” onward, the scripture changes its pattern: first it brings out some worldly matter as the simile, and then with “so it is also with the bodhisattva-mahāsattva” it turns to what the simile is matched with. Chengguan says of this manner that “within the text each has its simile and its matching, and because those who speak and those who hear see far and deep, the similes drawn upon are for the most part not of the realm of ordinary beings. It also shows that the mind of awakening is not shared in common” — simile and matching in two parts, and the similes drawn upon mostly not of common sight.

Chengguan also points out the difference of tone between the two sets: “the former mostly sets forth the bringing forth of the mind of the accomplishment of faith and of understanding and practice; the latter passage mostly sets forth the bringing forth of the mind at the station of realization, and therefore the text often says ‘obtains.’” This sentence can be held against the scripture — the matching clauses of the latter set again and again run “obtaining the medicine of the knowledge of liberation that is the mind of awakening,” “obtaining the great dragon-jewel pearl that is the mind of awakening,” “obtaining the wish-fulfilling jewel-pearl that is the mind of awakening,” “obtaining the method of well taming dragons that is the mind of awakening,” “obtaining the anshanna medicine that is the mind of awakening,” with the one word “obtaining” coming back over and over, while the clauses of the former set say only “the mind of awakening is.”

A misreading must be set aside: that the two sets are only the same thing said twice. The former set says what this mind is; the latter says what becomes of the one who has obtained this mind. One speaks of substance, the other of function. Brought down to the ground: in reading the latter set, at every simile one may put a question to oneself — this “obtaining,” have I obtained it or not.

Seven Similes Gathering the Virtue of the Ten Abodes: The First Group of Medicines

The first passage of the latter set, of seven similes, Chengguan fastens as “gathering the virtue of the ten abodes, because the nature of the awakened mind is apart from evil thought and the rest.” All seven similes are medicines: the medicine of fearlessness leaves behind the five terrors of fire, poison, blade, water, and smoke; the medicine of liberation has no untimely calamity in the end; the moheyingqie medicine makes the poisonous snakes go far off when they smell its scent; the medicine of invincibility leaves no enemy able to overcome; the pijimo medicine makes poisoned arrows fall away of themselves; the medicine Well Seen takes away every sickness; and the last simile is the medicine tree Shantuona — “if someone takes its bark and smears it upon a sore, the sore is healed; and that bark, as fast as it is taken, grows again, and in the end cannot be used up.”

The matching clause of the first simile is the easiest to remember: having obtained the medicine that is the mind of awakening, “the fire of greed does not burn him, the poison of hatred does not strike him, the blade of delusion does not wound him, the flood of existence does not sweep him away, and the smoke of the many kinds of thought and examination cannot choke and harm him” — five terrors matched one by one to five afflictions. And the Shantuona of the last simile speaks of giving out without lessening: the bark grows again as fast as it is taken, and the tree of all-knowledge “is not harmed in the least.”

A misreading must be set aside: that benefiting others will use one up. The simile of Shantuona is set there for just this. Brought down to the ground: what makes the station of the first abode able to abide is not thrift, but that there is no using it up.

Ten Similes Gathering the Virtue of the Ten Practices: From the Birthless Root to the Dragon-Jewel Pearl

The second passage, of ten similes, Chengguan fastens as “gathering the virtue of the ten practices.” The first five are still medicines: the medicine Birthless Root makes the trees of Jambudvīpa grow, the alanpo medicine makes body and mind capable, the medicine of the power of mindfulness makes what is heard not forgotten, the medicine of the great lotus makes one live out a kalpa, the medicine that veils the form makes one unseen by humans and nonhumans. The latter five turn to pearls and jewels: the pearl Gathering Together All Jewels keeps the fire at the end of the kalpa from diminishing the sea by a drop, the maṇi of Great Light outshines every jeweled ornament, the water-clearing pearl clears turbid water, the water-dwelling jewel lets one enter the great sea unharmed by water, the dragon-jewel pearl lets one enter the dragon palace unharmed by dragons and snakes.

The ten practices are a gateway of practice, and so the sense taken in this passage is mostly ‘being able to do.’ The medicine Birthless Root “makes all the good dharmas of those in training and beyond training and of all the bodhisattvas grow” — that is growing; the medicine of the power of mindfulness is hearing and holding without forgetting; the medicine that veils the form is entering without being seen. The simile of the pearl Gathering Together All Jewels carries a further warning — the scripture says that if one can hold it in mind and not lose it, then to destroy one root of goodness of the bodhisattva “in the end there is no such thing,” but then it adds one clause: “but if he loses that mind of his, then all good dharmas are scattered and destroyed.”

A misreading must be set aside: that once obtained it is secure. This clause is one of the few statements in the whole set made from the negative side. Brought down to the ground: the difficulty of the gateway of practice is not in being unable to do it, but in everything scattering once it is put down. To hold in mind and not lose — that is the real door of this passage.

Nine Similes Gathering the Virtue of the Ten Dedications: From Śakra’s Maṇi Crown to the Beryl Jewel

The third passage, of nine similes, Chengguan fastens as “gathering the virtue of the ten dedications.” Śakra wearing the maṇi crown outshines the hosts of devas, the wish-fulfilling pearl wipes out the suffering of poverty, the sun-essence pearl held toward the light of the sun gives birth to fire, the moon-essence pearl held toward the light of the moon gives birth to water, the dragon king wearing the wish-fulfilling maṇi jewel-crown is far from the dread of enemies, the jewel-pearl Treasury of Every Adornment of the World fulfills what is desired while the pearl is not diminished, the wheel-turning king’s maṇi jewel sends out a great light and breaks every darkness, the great sapphire maṇi jewel makes whatever its light touches of one color with it, and the beryl jewel dwells a hundred thousand years amid what is impure without receiving stain.

Why should this passage be fastened to dedication? Look at the matching clauses of the two similes of sun-essence and moon-essence and it is plain: the sun-essence pearl is “held up toward the light of knowledge, and the fire of knowledge is born from it,” the moon-essence pearl is “holding this pearl of the mind so that it mirrors the light of dedication, the water of the vows of every root of goodness is born from it” — both are a matter of turning one thing toward another place so that something new is born, and that is precisely the act of dedication. The simile of the sapphire jewel says the fruit of dedication more directly still: “contemplating the dharmas and dedicating his roots of goodness, there is nothing that does not become of one color with the mind of awakening.”

A misreading must be set aside: that to dedicate is to send merit away and have none left. The simile of the jewel-pearl Treasury of Every Adornment speaks to just this matter — it makes what a man vows be satisfied, “and yet the mind of awakening is not diminished.”

Brought down to the ground: dedication is not distribution, it is turning toward. What is born after the turning is more than there was before.

Four Similes Gathering the Virtue of the First Ground: Pure Light · Flame · Priceless Jewel · King of Mastery

From “suppose there is a jewel named Pure Light” onward, Chengguan judges the sixty similes that follow as gathering the virtue of the ten grounds, and divides them into ten small passages. The first small passage of four similes gathers the first ground: the jewel Pure Light outshines the color of every jewel, the jewel Flame wipes out every darkness, the priceless jewel of the sea is gathered by merchants and carried by ship into the city, and the jewel-pearl King of Mastery, forty thousand yojanas from the orbs of the sun and moon, shows within its reflection every adornment of the palaces of the sun and the moon.

The first ground is named Joyful, and its virtue is in ‘seeing’ — having seen the knowledge of the Buddha, one knows that one is not of the two vehicles. Three of the four similes speak of outshining and of beholding. The simile of the priceless jewel brings out one further sense: the bodhisattva “rides the ship of great vows, and with a profound mind unbroken” carries it into the city of liberation. Those words “with a profound mind unbroken” are to be remembered; the jewel does not arrive by being picked up, there is a voyage in between.

A misreading must be set aside: that the first ground, being the starting place, is simple. The simile of the King of Mastery speaks of a reflection complete at a distance of forty thousand yojanas — what the first ground beholds is the whole ground of the fruit. Brought down to the ground: what one sees upon first seeing the path is far more than one can then do, and this is not fantasy; it is the mark of the first ground.

Three Similes Gathering the Virtue of the Second Ground: King of Mastery · Sea Treasury · Jāmbūnada Gold

The second small passage of three similes gathers the second ground, and Chengguan fastens its sense as “because of the pure merits and virtues of keeping the precepts and of the austere practices and the rest.” The jewel-pearl King of Mastery is that wherever the light of the sun and moon reaches, no wealth or jewels or clothing has a worth that comes up to it; the jewel Sea Treasury manifests everywhere the many adornments within the sea; the jāmbūnada gold of the heavens is such that apart from the great maṇi jewel that is the king of the mind, none of the rest comes up to it.

Of the three similes, the King of Mastery and the jāmbūnada gold share one structure: some thing that within its own kind has nothing to compare with it; the Sea Treasury speaks instead of manifesting every adornment. The second ground is named Stainless, and the virtue of being stainless is exactly this — nothing has been added, something has been made unmixed. Unmixed to a certain degree, and everything of its own kind falls short.

A misreading must be set aside: that the worth of keeping the precepts lies in how many articles have been held. The first and the last similes speak of ‘worth,’ and worth comes of purity; the Sea Treasury speaks of what shows forth of itself once there is purity. Brought down to the ground: the height of conduct in the precepts is not in the number of items but in whether there is anything mixed in.

Four Similes Gathering the Virtue of the Third Ground: The Method of Taming Dragons · The Warrior’s Armor and Weapons · Black Sandalwood · White Sandalwood

The third small passage of four similes gathers the third ground, and Chengguan fastens its sense as “because of entering the concentrations and being apart from the fever of delusion and the rest.” One skilled in the method of taming dragons gains mastery among the dragons; the brave warrior wearing and bearing armor and weapons has no enemy able to subdue him; the black sandalwood incense of the heavens, a single zhu of it burned, perfumes a small-thousand world-system everywhere; white sandalwood smeared upon the body wipes out every burning distress and makes body and mind cool.

The third ground is named Luminous, and its practice is in concentration and in acceptance. The four similes fall into two pairs: the first pair is subduing (the dragons and the enemy), the latter pair is fragrance (the perfuming and the coolness). The matching clause of the white sandalwood puts its finger very finely upon “burning distress”: “it is able to take away the burning distress of every delusion — the false, the discriminating, greed, hatred, folly, and the rest — and makes him complete in the coolness of wisdom.” At the head of the burning distresses stands false discrimination, not greed and hatred.

A misreading must be set aside: that concentration is stillness. The simile of the black sandalwood speaks of a single zhu burned perfuming a small-thousand world-system everywhere — the working of concentration is outward. Brought down to the ground: whether one has sat well is seen after one rises from the seat, in whether the people nearby are cooler for it.

Four Similes Gathering the Virtue of the Fourth Ground: Mount Sumeru and Three Similes of the Pārijāta

The fourth small passage of four similes gathers the fourth ground, and Chengguan fastens its sense as “because of being of one flame with all-knowledge and gaining what is without outflows.” Mount Sumeru is that “whatever draws near to it becomes of one color with it”; and then three similes of the pārijāta tree come one after another — the fragrance of its bark surpasses the flowers of Jambudvīpa, its flowers not yet opened and it is already the place from which measureless flowers are born, its flower perfuming a garment for one day surpassing a thousand years of perfuming by other flowers.

The matching clause of the simile of Mount Sumeru is that “whatever draws near to it wholly attains to being of one color with it, the color of all-knowledge.” The fourth ground is named Flaming Wisdom, and the virtue of flame is in making of one kind — what comes near the fire takes on the color of fire. And among the three similes of the pārijāta, the middle one matters most: “though it has not yet opened its flowers, one should know that it is the very place from which measureless flowers are born.” It has not opened, and it is already the place of birth.

A misreading must be set aside: that where no merit has appeared there is none. This simile is the remedy for exactly that sickness. Brought down to the ground: at a certain stage of practice one feels that nothing at all has been gained, and it is then that one must remember that the tree not yet in flower is already where the flowers are born.

Four Similes Gathering the Virtue of the Fifth Ground: Coconut Tree · Hezhaijia · The Small Fire · The Single Lamp

The fifth small passage of four similes gathers the fifth ground, and Chengguan fastens its sense as “because of benefiting people without being stained by the common world.” The coconut tree of the sea island has root, stem, branches, leaves, flowers, and fruit that all sentient beings constantly take and use without a moment’s ceasing; the medicinal liquid Hezhaijia with one ounce transforms a thousand ounces of copper wholly into true gold; the small fire, as it burns what it burns, has its flame turn the more fierce; the single lamp lights a hundred thousand lamps and the original lamp is neither lessened nor exhausted.

The fifth ground is named Hard to Conquer, and its difficulty is in entering the world without flowing along with it. The matching clause of the coconut tree draws the time out to its full length: “from the arousing of the mind of compassion and vows onward, until the attainment of buddhahood and the abiding of the right Dharma in the world, at all times it benefits all the world without any break.” The simile of Hezhaijia sets out the mechanism of ‘not being stained’ — “it is not that a thousand ounces of copper are able to transform this medicine”; the medicine transforms the copper, the copper does not transform the medicine.

A misreading must be set aside: that long in the world one cannot help being stained. The two similes of Hezhaijia and of the small fire say the opposite: the small fire, as it burns, has its flame the fiercer, and the very objects it meets become its growth. Brought down to the ground: to tell whether you are being turned by circumstances or turning them, look at one thing — after the matter is over, is the mind weaker or stronger.

Six Similes Gathering the Virtue of the Sixth Ground: The Single Lamp Entering the Dark Room · The Lamp-Wick · The Deva Crown of Mastery over Others · Three Similes of the Lion

The sixth small passage of six similes gathers the sixth ground, and Chengguan fastens its sense as “because wisdom is manifest before one and breaks the darkness all at once.” The single lamp entering the dark room breaks the darkness of a hundred thousand years; the lamp-wick, with oil added, has its brightness never cut off; the king of the devas of mastery over others’ creations wearing a crown of jāmbūnada true gold is such that the ornaments of the deva sons of the realm of desire cannot come up to it; the lion king roaring makes the lion cubs grow in bravery while the other beasts run and hide; the lion’s sinews made into music strings snap all the other strings; one drop of lion’s milk cast into a sea of milk makes it all curdle and passes straight through without obstruction.

The single lamp entering the dark room is the proper simile of the sixth ground, and the most famous simile of the whole set — “the darkness of a hundred thousand years it is wholly able to break away”; the length of the darkness adds nothing to the difficulty of breaking it. The simile of the lamp-wick supplies the other end: for the light not to be cut off, one must have “the great vows for its wick … adding the oil of great compassion.” And the three similes of the lion speak of what wisdom does not share in common: those who hear it either grow in bravery or run and hide, and the point is in “those who have something to gain, hearing it, all fall back and scatter.”

A misreading must be set aside: that where habits are deep and heavy they are hard to break. Darkness however long is only darkness; once the lamp comes in it is gone. Brought down to the ground: there is no need to settle accounts with the past before beginning; first light the lamp.

Five Similes Gathering the Virtue of the Seventh Ground: Kalaviṅka · The Son of the King of Golden-Winged Birds · The Strong Man’s Sharp Lance · Mahānāga · The Archery Master’s Disciple

The seventh small passage of five similes gathers the seventh ground, and Chengguan fastens its sense as “because of entering well into means and gaining mastery.” The kalaviṅka bird within the eggshell already has great strength; the son of the king of golden-winged birds, newly born, has eyes bright and keen and flight strong and swift; the strong man holding a sharp lance stabs firm and close armor and passes straight through; Mahānāga, the strong and valiant man, rouses himself in wrath and a blister arises upon his forehead, and while the blister has not closed none can subdue him; the archery master’s disciples, though not yet trained in their master’s art, have wisdom, means, and skillfulness that others cannot come up to.

Three of the five similes speak of ‘already surpassing before being ripe’: the bird within the egg, the newborn prince, the untrained disciple. The seventh ground is named Far-Reaching, and the virtue of far-reaching is in means; and the mark of means is exactly this being able before being ripe. The matching clause of the simile of Mahānāga especially wants looking at: “if he gives rise to great compassion, he will surely bring forth the mind of awakening; and from then until this mind is relinquished, the Māras and the folk of Māra of all the world are not able to harm him.” While the blister has not closed none can subdue him — while great compassion does not rest, Māra cannot harm.

A misreading must be set aside: that one must be accomplished before one has strength. The five similes say with one voice that it is not so. Brought down to the ground: do not wait until you are qualified before doing what is to be done.

Fourteen Similes Gathering the Virtue of the Eighth Ground: From a Man Learning Archery to the King of the Devas Śakra Holding the Vajra Cudgel

The eighth small passage of fourteen similes gathers the eighth ground, and is the longest passage among the ten grounds; Chengguan fastens its sense as “because the bringing forth of the mind is without effort and is able to extinguish the delusions of marks and the rest.” Of the first five similes, the first two speak of ‘first,’ and the other three of the hidden and the manifest and of outshining: learning archery, one first settles the feet; the conjuror first sets his intent and holds in mind the conjuror’s method; the conjuror’s art, without color, manifests color; the cat has only to see the mouse and the mouse dares not come out; wearing the ornaments of Jambū gold, one outshines everything so that it looks like a heap of ink. The middle four similes speak of the lodestone and of entering the sea: the good lodestone with the strength of one portion draws and breaks the hooks and locks of iron; the iron, once it sees the lodestone, all scatters away; one skilled in entering the great sea is unharmed by the creatures of the water and not swallowed in the mouth of the makara fish; one who drinks the draught of sweet dew cannot be harmed by anything. The last five similes speak of leaning upon: the anshanna medicine smeared upon the eyes leaves one unseen; attaching oneself to a king, one does not fear other people; dwelling within water, one does not fear fire; leaning upon a fierce general, one has no dread of enemies; the king of the devas Śakra holding the vajra cudgel crushes and subdues the hosts of the asuras.

The eighth ground is named Immovable, and its virtue is in the absence of effort. The simile of “as when a man learns archery, first he settles his feet, afterward he practices the method” is the plainest of the whole set, and its matching clause is as plain: “wishing to study the path of all-knowledge of the Tathāgata, he should first abide in the mind of awakening, and afterward cultivate every buddha-dharma.” And the two similes of the lodestone speak of just this absence of effort — the lodestone does not move, and the iron breaks and scatters of itself.

A misreading must be set aside: that to be immovable is to be indifferent. The matching clause of the simile of the draught of sweet dew fills this out: “he does not fall into the ground of the śrāvakas or of the pratyekabuddhas, because he has the power of vast compassion and vows.” What keeps the immovable from falling into the two vehicles is that compassion and vows hold it up from beneath.

Brought down to the ground: to settle the mind before setting to work — this one sentence can be used the same day.

Ten Similes Gathering the Virtue of the Ninth Ground: From Taking the Medicine of Prolonged Years to the Wondrous Maṇi Jewel

The ninth small passage of ten similes gathers the ninth ground, and Chengguan fastens its sense as “because of prolonging life and benefiting beings and the rest.” Taking the medicine of prolonged years one is long full and strong and neither ages nor grows thin; compounding a medicinal liquid one must first take good and pure water; guarding the body, one first guards the life-faculty; the life-faculty cut off, one cannot benefit father, mother, or clansmen; the great sea has nothing able to destroy it; the light of the sun cannot be outshone by the stars; a prince newly born is at once honored by the great ministers; a prince young in years is bowed to by all the great ministers; a prince not yet in mastery already has the marks of a king; the pure and wondrous maṇi jewel is seen as impure because of the film upon the eye.

Among the ten similes, the two of the life-faculty and the three of the prince are two groups. The two of the life-faculty speak of ‘before and after’: in holding and guarding the buddha-dharma one first guards the mind of awakening, and relinquishing it one cannot benefit sentient beings. The three of the prince speak of ‘lineage’: honored as soon as born, reverenced though young, already bearing the marks of a king before mastery — and the matching clauses grow plainer one after another, the last of them running “though among all the deeds and afflictions he has not yet gained mastery, yet he is already complete in the marks of awakening and is not on a level with any of the two vehicles, because his lineage is first.”

A misreading must be set aside: that while afflictions remain nothing counts. These three similes are set there for just this. And the last simile turns it over the other way: the wondrous maṇi jewel is pure of itself, and it is the one with a film upon his eye who calls it impure; that the mind of awakening is thought little of is because “those without knowledge and without faith say that it is impure.”

Brought down to the ground: do not use the afflictions you still have to deny the mind you have already brought forth. The two matters do not lie upon the same layer.

Six Similes Gathering the Virtue of the Tenth Ground: From the Medicine Held by a Spell to the Rootless Tree

The tenth small passage of six similes gathers the tenth ground, and Chengguan fastens its sense as “because of removing deeply the habit-energies of delusion and accomplishing every buddha-dharma.” The medicine held by a spell makes every sickness of those who see it, hear of it, or dwell with it be extinguished; one who constantly holds sweet dew has a body that in the end does not alter or decay; the wooden figure worked by mechanism, without its pegs, falls apart; the wheel-turning king’s aloeswood jewel named Elephant Treasury, when burned, sends the four kinds of army up into space; the vajra is born only from the place of vajra and the place of gold; the rootless tree, not born from a root, has branches, leaves, flowers, and fruit luxuriant.

The matching clause of the simile of the spell-held medicine sets four matters side by side — seeing, hearing, dwelling together, and calling to mind — with no need to cultivate: to see it, hear of it, dwell with it, or call it to mind is enough. The simile of the Elephant Treasury incense says the going out of the three realms: “if this intent is aroused, it makes every root of goodness of the bodhisattva come out of the three realms forever.” And the last two similes are a pair: the vajra has that from which it is born (the place of great compassion rescuing and guarding sentient beings, the place of the surpassing realm of the knowledge of all-knowledge), while the rootless tree “has no root that can be found” and yet its branches, leaves, flowers, and fruit spread and shade. To have that from which one is born and to have no root that can be found, raised together, is precisely the mark of the tenth ground drawing to its full.

A misreading must be set aside: that these two similes are at odds with each other. The first says that it is not born from any mixed place; the second says that it has no root that can be pointed at. Not born from a mixed place is a sorting out; no root to be found is a sending away. Brought down to the ground: one must know both where this mind comes from and that it has no coming-from that can be grasped.

Seventeen Similes Gathering the Merit and Virtue of the Station of Equal Awakening: The Seventeen Faces of the Vajra

The last passage of seventeen similes uses the vajra throughout, and Chengguan fastens its sense as “gathering the merit and virtue of the station of equal awakening, because by vajra knowledge one accomplishes awakening at the last.” The seventeen similes may be divided into four layers. The first layer speaks of the vessel: the vajra is not to be held by a poor vessel or a broken vessel, but only by a wholly complete and wondrous vessel — and the matching clause sets out two kinds of unfit vessel, the stingy, the envious, those who break the precepts, the slack, the falsely mindful, and those without knowledge; and those who have lost their surpassing aspiration, the scattered, and those of evil thought — none but the profound-minded jeweled vessel of the bodhisattva. The second layer speaks of its power to break: it pierces the many jewels, destroys the many mountains, and though broken and not whole the many jewels still fall short of it, and though it have a loss or a gap it can still wipe out poverty, and a small piece of vajra can break and destroy every thing. The third layer speaks of its being hard to obtain and hard to hold: not to be obtained by an ordinary person, its power unknown to one who does not know jewels, nothing able to melt it away, the vajra cudgel to be held only by one with the strength of the great Nārāyaṇa, nothing able to destroy it while it destroys everything and its own substance and nature are not diminished, and only the ground of vajra able to hold it. The fourth layer speaks of its power to hold: the vajra vessel holds water and never leaks, the vajra limit holds the great earth and does not let it fall, long in water it neither rots nor is soaked, no fire can burn it, and the vajra seat holds the buddhas as they sit at the place of the Way and accomplish right and perfect awakening.

The two similes “though broken and not whole, all the many jewels still cannot come up to it” and “though it have a loss or a gap, it is still able to wipe out every poverty” are to be read together. The matching clauses say “though the aspiration be low and there be some slight loss, it still surpasses the merits and virtues of all the two vehicles” and “though it have a loss or a gap and cannot press forward in the practices, it is still able to relinquish all birth and death” — these are the two strongest sentences the whole set has for one who has fallen back.

A misreading must be set aside: that once there is any loss in one’s practice, all the earlier work is thrown away. A vajra broken is still vajra. Brought down to the ground: what matters most after a fall is not remorse, but remembering what this piece in your hand is.

The Gathering Up of the Latter Set and the Return to the Question: From Merit and Virtue Back to That One Question

The hundred and three similes done, the scripture draws them together once more: “Good man! The mind of awakening accomplishes surpassing merits and virtues such as these, measureless and boundless and even beyond telling, beyond telling.” Set against the “measureless merits and virtues” of the former set, this time it is raised to “beyond telling, beyond telling.” Then it brings the words back down upon Sudhana himself: “Therefore, good man, you have gained a good benefit! Because you have brought forth the mind of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi and sought the practice of a bodhisattva, you have already obtained great merit and virtue such as this.” Chengguan outlines this as “the concluding gloss upon what belongs to it,” and explains its work as being “that the many virtues above gloss the words ‘gained a good benefit’” — the two hundred and more clauses are there in order to gloss that one earlier sentence, “you have gained a good benefit.”

Only then does Maitreya return to the original question: “Good man! As for what you asked — how is a bodhisattva to study the practice of a bodhisattva and to cultivate the path of a bodhisattva? Good man, you may enter this great storeyed pavilion Vairocana Adornment Treasury and contemplate it everywhere, and then you will be able to understand how to study the practice of a bodhisattva.” Chengguan outlines this as the beginning of the direct bestowal of the Dharma realm, saying “within it there are four: first, bestowing the substance of the Dharma; second, displaying the name of the Dharma; third, exhausting the very source of the cause of the adorning; fourth, examining the nature and marks of the direct recompense.”

A misreading must be set aside: that the two hundred and more clauses before have strayed from the point. Maitreya’s way of answering is to say out to the end ‘on what strength you are able to study,’ and then to say ‘go in and look.’ The practice that is to be studied does not lie in words; but the mind that is able to study must first be spoken plainly.

Brought down to the ground: Sudhana asked for a method, and what he was first given was a mirror — a sight of what he already has. Once that is seen clearly, the door opens.

Lineage

The number of the clauses of the former set and the number of the similes of the latter set are not reckoned alike by the ancient worthies. Chengguan sets down the total as two hundred and twenty-one clauses, while dividing it himself into a first hundred and eighteen clauses and a latter hundred and three; Fazang sets down the total as two hundred and eighteen clauses, while dividing it himself into a first hundred and fifteen clauses and a latter hundred and three. The two agree in the number of the latter set, and differ in the number of the former set and in the total. In the base text, the clauses of the former set beginning with “the mind of awakening is” come to a hundred and eighteen upon a counting graph by graph, and the similes of the latter set come to a hundred and three upon a counting graph by graph. Both are recorded, without adjudication.

The matching of the former set passage by passage comes from the twelve abodes of the teacher Guangtong. Chengguan follows it and sets down the name of the abode for each passage, and when the matching is done says himself that for fear of prolixity they are not assigned; Fazang cites the same teacher’s account and says that each single thing here displays one surpassing virtue within the mind of awakening, and that all of them run through beginning and end. The two houses cite one and the same teacher’s account and take it up differently; this is recorded, without adjudication.

The matching of the latter set Chengguan divides into five passages, and within the one passage of the ten grounds opens it further into ten, fastening to each passage in turn the names of the first ground up to the tenth and of equal awakening; Fazang sets up no separate matching for this passage. Li Tongxuan and Zhiyan put forth no clause-by-clause gloss upon either of these two sets. This is recorded, without adjudication.

The difference of the parallel translations is at its greatest in this section. In this place the sixty likewise has both sets of similes, the former set in the clause form “is then,” the same structure as the base text; the ten places of birth of a bodhisattva and the similes of the kinsfolk — wisdom as mother, great means as father, and the rest — belong to a later passage of the sixty, and do not stand in the place of these. The forty is nearly identical to the base text graph for graph, and yet there are not a few small differences of wording: where the base text has “like pure water, for it is able to wash away the stains of affliction,” the forty has “like great water, for it is able to cleanse away the stains of affliction”; where the base text has “like a blazing fire,” the forty has “like a great fire”; where the base text has “like a kind father, instructing and guiding,” the forty has “like a stern father, instructing and guiding”; where the base text has “sees everywhere the places of safety and of peril,” the forty has “sees everywhere the places level and steep.” The forty has moreover, at the close of the latter set, seven similes that the base text does not have — the wheel-jewel going before, the bow and arrow that is most excellent, the utpala flower, the ship, the rain-water, the saindhava salt, and cow’s milk. Both are recorded, without adjudication.

The differing words of the Sanskrit witness in three places all come from Chengguan’s notes: he glosses pijimo as meaning universally removing; beneath the clause of the life-formation he notes that the Sanskrit witness has, is the lodestone, for it does not draw in the fruit of the liberation of the śrāvakas; and beneath the clause of the net of Indra he notes that the Sanskrit witness has the net of Indra, because the net takes in the asuras that are the afflictions, and further glosses the wind of Poluona as meaning the swift and fierce wind. As for the remainder of the Sanskrit words of this passage, Chengguan commits them all to the book of sounds and meanings. This is recorded, without adjudication.