大智度論 乘乘品Dazhidulun — Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa · Riding the Vehicle

I. Structural Placement

Within the sequence in which the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa comments on the Larger Sūtra, this chapter belongs to the section of the Commentary on the Remaining Chapters and stands at the head of Fascicle 46. The treatise gives its own title as 「大智度論釋乘乘品第十六」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Commentary on the Chapter on Riding the Vehicle, the Sixteenth"〔T25 0389b02〕, and what it comments on is the corresponding chapter of the Larger Sūtra.

This chapter is the opening chapter of Fascicle 46. It follows directly on Chapter 15, "The Great Adornment", at the end of Fascicle 45, and begins a new fascicle; therefore after the chapter title it carries the colophon of authorship and translation, reading 「龍樹菩薩造」 tr. "composed by the Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna"〔T25 0389b04〕, and below that 「後秦龜茲國三藏鳩摩羅什譯」 tr. "translated by Kumārajīva, Tripiṭaka master of the Kingdom of Kucha, Later Qin"〔T25 0389b05〕 (this stands in contrast to the preceding "Cutting Off Views" and "The Great Adornment", which are continuing chapters in the middle of a fascicle and carry no colophon, and is of the same type as the earlier "Mahāsattva", which opens a fascicle and carries a colophon). The dynasty and title in the translator's colophon have variant readings among the editions (Later Qin / Yao Qin; Tripiṭaka master of the Kingdom of Kucha / Tripiṭaka Dharma master); see Section VIII.

The chapter's name has one layer of variant naming that must first be sorted out. Judging by the surface chapter titles of the printed Taishō edition, this treatise titles it 「乘乘品」 tr. "Chapter on Riding the Vehicle", and the sūtra it explains, the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra translated by Kumārajīva of the Later Qin, titles the same position 「乘乘品第十六」 tr. "Chapter on Riding the Vehicle, the Sixteenth"〔T08 0247a19〕: on the surface the two texts bear the same name. Yet when the complete collation clusters of each side are checked one by one (see Sections IV and VIII), the pattern is in fact that the transmitted editions of neither side lean all one way, and the two interweave. Among the six editions of this treatise's line, the Taishō, Song, and Yuan read the core 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle" (differing only in word order and in whether the numeral 「第十六」 tr. "the Sixteenth" is present); the Ming edition's title likewise reads 「乘乘品第十六」 tr. "Chapter on Riding the Vehicle, the Sixteenth", but carries its own editorial note, 「經作乘大乘品」 tr. "the sūtra has ‘Chapter on Riding the Great Vehicle’" (that is, the Ming editor states that the sūtra he read against it has 「乘大乘」 tr. "riding the Great Vehicle"); the Shōgozō at this point makes no comparison of chapter names but instead describes the range covered by the fascicle (explaining from Chapter 15 through the first part of Chapter 17); the Ishiyama text reads 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle" but records the chapter number as 「十五」 tr. "fifteen" and the fascicle number as 「四十八」 tr. "forty-eight" (a double displacement; see Section VIII and the end of this section); and the Palace edition lacks this fascicle entirely. Among the six editions of the line of the sūtra explained, T223, the Taishō and Shōgozō read 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle", while the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Palace read 「乘大乘」 tr. "riding the Great Vehicle." Thus the base-text layers of each side (this treatise's Taishō, Song, Yuan, and Ishiyama; the sūtra's Taishō and Shōgozō) all lean to 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle", while the majority layer of the sūtra explained (the four editions Song, Yuan, Ming, and Palace) and the editorial note of this treatise's Ming edition together point to 「乘大乘」 tr. "riding the Great Vehicle"; in addition, Dharmarakṣa's ancient translation, the Praise of Light Prajñāpāramitā, directly titles it 「乘大乘品第十四」 tr. "Chapter on Riding the Great Vehicle, the Fourteenth"〔T08 0184c26〕, as third-party corroboration. This pattern cannot be summed up by the surface dichotomy 「經乘大乘對論乘乘」 tr. "the sūtra's ‘riding the Great Vehicle’ against the treatise's ‘riding the vehicle’"; this section, and Sections IV and VIII, all set out in full the transmitted readings of both sides, without favouring the side that supports any single conclusion, and record them without judgement. In this section and in the reader-facing text below, the chapter continues to be called "Riding the Vehicle", following this treatise's title.

The Sūtra and Treatise of this chapter make a small chapter within a single fascicle, and its framework is a single alternation of one Sūtra section and one Treatise section (like the earlier "Mahāsattva", it is 「一經一論」 tr. "one sūtra section, one treatise section", unlike the 「二經二論」 tr. "two sūtra sections, two treatise sections" of "Cutting Off Views" and "The Great Adornment"); it is the structurally simplest type among the chapters of this treatise's Commentary on the Remaining Chapters. In the Sūtra (beginning at〔T25 0389b06〕), the venerable Śāriputra asks Pūrṇa 「云何名菩薩摩訶薩乘於大乘」 tr. "what is called a bodhisattva-mahāsattva's riding the Great Vehicle?"〔T25 0389b06〕, and Pūrṇa answers. First he gathers the six perfections, from giving and morality up to prajñā, under 「是為菩薩摩訶薩乘於大乘」 tr. "this is a bodhisattva-mahāsattva's riding the Great Vehicle"〔T25 0389b15〕; then in five 「復次」 tr. "furthermore" sections he unfolds it layer upon layer (with one mind in accord with sarvajñā (omniscience), cultivating the four foundations of mindfulness up to the eighteen unshared dharmas, while the dharmas are destroyed and cannot be found〔T25 0389b16〕; the bodhisattva has only a name, and beings cannot be found〔T25 0389b20〕; the contemplation of ultimate emptiness in which form has only a name, and so on up to anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi and the Buddha having only names and not being findable〔T25 0389b22〕; from the first arousing of intent, being complete in the supernormal powers, bringing beings to maturity and purifying the buddha-world, up to attaining the omniscience of all kinds and turning the Dharma wheel〔T25 0389c05〕; and the Buddhas of the ten directions rejoicing, calling his name, and praising him〔T25 0389c14〕), and he closes with the summarising sentence at the end of the Sūtra section〔T25 0389c17〕. In the Treatise (beginning at〔T25 0389c18〕), it first makes clear the sequence of Pūrṇa's three matters (the great adornment, setting out, and riding the Great Vehicle; the first two were explained in the preceding chapter, and now the third is explained); next, with 「有人言」 tr. "some say", it sets up three stages of naming—the great adornment, arousing the great adornment, and riding the Great Vehicle〔T25 0389c20〕; then the unmixed mind, free of the afflictions and of the intentions of the two vehicles, for the sake of sarvajñā〔T25 0389c25〕; all dharmas as provisional names〔T25 0390a03〕; arousing the great adornment, being complete in the supernormal powers, transforming the body, making offerings to the Buddhas, and liberating beings〔T25 0390a06〕; and finally, with a summarising 「復次」 tr. "furthermore" that belongs to the treatise-author alone, it makes clear that the Great Vehicle is the ultimately pure six perfections, and that one constantly rides this Great Vehicle up to attaining the Buddha path〔T25 0390a19〕, closing the whole chapter. This Treatise section is wholly an insertion unique to this treatise; the sūtra explained, T223, passes at the end of this chapter directly into the next chapter and has no correspondence at all to the Treatise section (see Section IV). Because this chapter has only one alternation, its type of insertion is the simplest: the one insertion falls at the end of the whole chapter (of the same type as the earlier "Mahāsattva").

This whole chapter falls at the head of Fascicle 46, beginning with the chapter title〔T25 0389b02〕. Fascicle 46 does not close at the end of this chapter but continues into Chapter 17, "Neither Bound nor Freed", so this chapter has no fascicle-end title, and the end point of its range is taken at the opening title of the next chapter, Chapter 17, "Neither Bound nor Freed"〔T25 0390a24〕, exclusive. Further, the collation of this fascicle (Fascicle 46) has two special features that must first be noted. First, the Palace edition is absent for the whole fascicle: not a single note in the entire collation of this chapter lists the Palace edition as a witness, which agrees word for word with the note attached to the chapter title, 「此卷宮本缺」 tr. "this fascicle is missing in the Palace edition." Second, the Ishiyama text has a double displacement, chapter number minus one and fascicle number plus two: the Ishiyama text titles itself 「乘乘品十五卷四十八」 tr. "Chapter on Riding the Vehicle, fifteen; fascicle forty-eight", and at the end of the chapter closes on its own with 「釋十五品竟」 tr. "end of the explanation of the fifteenth chapter"; the two pieces of evidence confirm each other that the Ishiyama numbering system is systematically displaced relative to the Taishō. Both matters are detailed in Section VIII; this section first marks that they exist.

II. Terms Examined

Riding the vehicle (riding the Great Vehicle: the name of the chapter's lifeline). This is what the chapter's name hangs on. In the compound 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle", the first 「乘」 tr. "ride" is a verb (to drive, to ride), and the second 「乘」 tr. "vehicle" is a noun (the vehicle of the Great Vehicle, the dharma that is ridden); together they mean 「乘御大乘」 tr. "driving the Great Vehicle." The sūtra opens with Śāriputra's question, 「云何名菩薩摩訶薩乘於大乘」 tr. "what is called a bodhisattva-mahāsattva's riding the Great Vehicle?"〔T25 0389b06〕, and throughout Pūrṇa's answer 「是名／是為菩薩摩訶薩乘於大乘」 tr. "this is called / this is a bodhisattva-mahāsattva's riding the Great Vehicle" recurs again and again as the closing sentence of each section (the section on the six perfections〔T25 0389b15〕, the section on the bodhisattva having only a name〔T25 0389b20〕, the section on form having only a name〔T25 0389c03〕, and so on). Among the ancient masters, Jizang explains the literal sense of this compound most closely, saying 「今明乘乘則是具於人法，乘法乘故名乘乘也」 tr. "now it makes clear that ‘riding the vehicle’ is complete in both person and dharma: because one rides the dharma-vehicle it is called ‘riding the vehicle’"〔X24 0244b10〕—that is, 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle" carries the two senses of 「人」 tr. "person" (the subject who rides) and 「法」 tr. "dharma" (the great dharma that is ridden), and because one drives the great dharma it is called 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle" (see Section VI). For the cross-edition variant of this name, 「乘乘／乘大乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle / riding the Great Vehicle", see Sections I, IV, and VIII.

Only names; ultimately not to be found (the core term of the contemplation of emptiness). This is the doctrinally deepest layer of terminology in the chapter, namely the sentence pattern 「但有名字，……不可得故」 tr. "there are only names ... because it cannot be found" in the sūtra's "furthermore" sections. The sūtra says 「若菩薩摩訶薩作是念：『色但有名字，色不可得故……』」 tr. "if a bodhisattva-mahāsattva thinks thus: ‘form has only a name, because form cannot be found ...’"〔T25 0389b22〕 (in the base text, the thought marked off here by the inner quotation marks in fact runs on through the eleven layers of dharma-categories below without closing at once, and closes at 0389c04 with 「佛不可得故。』」 tr. "because the Buddha cannot be found.’"; here it is quoted in abridgement). Immediately after, with the same sentence pattern, it enumerates eleven layers of dharma-categories—feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness; the eye up to the mind; the four foundations of mindfulness up to the limbs of the eightfold noble path; inner emptiness up to the emptiness of non-existent and existent dharmas; the eighteen unshared dharmas; and suchness, the mark of dharmas, the nature of dharmas, the abiding of dharmas, and the limit of reality in 「諸法如但有名字，如不可得故」 tr. "the suchness of dharmas has only a name, because suchness cannot be found"〔T25 0389c01〕—and ends at 「阿耨多羅三藐三菩提及佛但有名字，佛不可得故」 tr. "anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi and the Buddha have only names, because the Buddha cannot be found"〔T25 0389c02〕. 「但有名字」 tr. "Only names" means that dharmas have only the designation of names, while their own substance ultimately cannot be found. This contemplation not only extends over the aggregates, sense-fields, and elements, the limbs of the path, emptiness, the unshared dharmas, and the different names of the real mark of all dharmas; even 「阿耨多羅三藐三菩提」 tr. "anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi" (unsurpassed, right, and complete awakening, the ultimate fruit of practice) and the 「佛」 tr. "Buddha" himself alike return to 「但有名字、不可得」 tr. "only names, not to be found." Only when the fruit of awakening and the Buddha's body are both gathered into the contemplation of ultimate emptiness is it called 「乘於大乘」 tr. "riding the Great Vehicle"; this is the most thoroughgoing layer of the meaning of 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle" in this chapter. The treatise takes up this meaning and extends it with 「知一切法假名字，於名字和合中復有名字」 tr. "knowing that all dharmas are provisional names, and that within the coming together of names there are further names"〔T25 0390a03〕.

Sarvajñā; the unmixed mind (the crux of practice and realisation in the treatise). In explaining why the bodhisattva rides the Great Vehicle, the treatise comes down to its being for the sake of sarvajñā (omniscience) and practised with the unmixed mind. The treatise says 「是菩薩以不雜心，離諸煩惱及二乘意，為薩婆若故」 tr. "this bodhisattva, with the unmixed mind, free of all afflictions and of the intentions of the two vehicles, for the sake of sarvajñā"〔T25 0389c25〕. 「不雜心」 tr. "The unmixed mind" is a mind not mixed with two things: first, it is free of all afflictions (the obstruction of afflictions); second, it is free of the intentions of the two vehicles (it does not fall into the aims of the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas). 「為薩婆若故」 tr. "For the sake of sarvajñā" means that all practice is undertaken to accomplish omniscience, not for some other fruit. This bodhisattva, with this unmixed mind, cultivates the four foundations of mindfulness up to the eighteen unshared dharmas, and yet 「修相亦不可得，畢竟清淨故」 tr. "the mark of cultivating too cannot be found, because of ultimate purity"〔T25 0390a01〕; only then is it called riding the Great Vehicle. This 「不雜心」 tr. "unmixed mind" continues the sūtra's "furthermore" ①, 「一心應薩婆若」 tr. "with one mind in accord with sarvajñā"〔T25 0389b16〕, and is the backbone of practice and realisation in the treatise's explanation of riding the vehicle.

The great adornment; arousing the great adornment; riding the Great Vehicle (three stages of naming: the doctrinal backbone of the chapter name). The three stages set up in the 「有人言」 tr. "some say" passage of Treatise ① are the doctrinal backbone by which this chapter gets the name 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle." The treatise says 「有人言：菩薩直布施內外物，不能破吾我相，是名『大莊嚴』；若能破吾我相，入眾生空，未入法空，是名『發大莊嚴』。因眾生空入法空中，行檀波羅蜜，不見三事：施者、受者、財物，能如是者，是名『乘於大乘』」 tr. "Some say: when a bodhisattva simply gives inner and outer things but cannot break the mark of I and self, this is called ‘the great adornment’; if he can break the mark of I and self and enters the emptiness of beings but has not yet entered the emptiness of dharmas, this is called ‘arousing the great adornment.’ When, by way of the emptiness of beings, he enters into the emptiness of dharmas and practises the perfection of giving without seeing the three things—giver, receiver, and goods—one who can be thus is called ‘riding the Great Vehicle’"〔T25 0389c20〕. The three stages are divided according to whether the emptiness of beings (the emptiness of sentient beings, the selflessness of persons) and the emptiness of dharmas (the selflessness of dharmas) have or have not been attained. Giving without having broken the mark of I and self (not having attained the two emptinesses) is called only 「大莊嚴」 tr. "the great adornment"; breaking the mark of I and self and entering the emptiness of beings but not yet the emptiness of dharmas is called 「發大莊嚴」 tr. "arousing the great adornment"; only entering fully both emptinesses, of beings and of dharmas, and giving with the threefold sphere empty in substance (not seeing the three things—giver, receiver, and goods) is called 「乘於大乘」 tr. "riding the Great Vehicle." These three stages continue in one line the three phrases with which Pūrṇa set up the thesis in the preceding "The Great Adornment" (the great adornment, setting out toward the Great Vehicle, riding the Great Vehicle), and among the ancient masters both Jizang and Junzheng judge them as three stages of the two emptinesses of beings and of dharmas (see Sections VI and VII).

III. Similes and Stories

The Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa is renowned for its similes and stories, but the treatise's explanation in this chapter is mainly direct statement of doctrine, and among all the chapters it is the sparsest in similes: there is nothing like the separate similes and stories of the earlier chapters—the vajra simile running as an axis through "Mahāsattva", the story of Maudgalyāyana and the simile of clouds veiling the sun and moon in "Cutting Off Views", or the double simile of provisions for a long journey and weapons for defeating bandits in "The Great Adornment". The lifeline of this chapter's teaching lies, first, in the core image of 「乘」 tr. "vehicle" (driving, riding) that runs through the chapter name and through Sūtra and Treatise, and second, in the scene near the end of the Treatise of supernormal powers, transformed bodies, offerings to the Buddhas, and the liberation of beings. They are recorded below according to the facts, without forcing onto this chapter similes it does not have.

First, the image of 「乘」 tr. "vehicle" (the simile-axis of the chapter name and of the whole chapter). What the chapter name 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle" and the closing sentence of Sūtra and Treatise, 「乘於大乘」 tr. "riding the Great Vehicle", rely on is the image of 「乘」 tr. "vehicle" (a carriage; driving)—the Great Vehicle taken as the carriage that is ridden, which the bodhisattva drives to carry beings toward the Buddha path. Yet the Sūtra and Treatise of this chapter both state 「乘於大乘」 tr. "riding the Great Vehicle" directly as a doctrinal proposition, and do not, as the vajra chapter does with 「金剛」 tr. "vajra", open the simile layer by layer; so in the main text of this chapter 「乘」 tr. "vehicle" is only a propositional image and not an unfolded simile. The classical opening of the 「乘」 tr. "vehicle" image into a simile in fact comes from the hands of the ancient masters: Jizang, with 「如人乘馬、乘舩」 tr. "as a person rides a horse or rides a boat"〔X24 0243b22〕, makes clear that 「能乘之人」 tr. "the person who rides" and 「所乘之法」 tr. "the dharma that is ridden" stand over against each other, and so there is 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle" (see Section VI); Junzheng, with 「乘是運出義」 tr. "vehicle means conveying out"〔X46 0642b07〕, explains that the vehicle can carry beings out to liberation (see Section VI). In a different translation, Xuanzang, for the same passage of the Sanskrit text, changes the image of 「乘」 tr. "vehicle" to the image of putting on armour, 「擐大功德鎧」 tr. "donning the great armour of merit"〔T05 0267c15〕 (see Section IV). So the bone of this chapter's simile lies in the single name 「乘」 tr. "vehicle", and its opening into a simile is scattered among the ancient masters and the different translation; this section notes this to show how things actually stand.

Second, the scene of supernormal powers, transformed bodies, offerings to the Buddhas, and the liberation of beings (Treatise: making clear the mark of riding the Great Vehicle). The passage near the end of the Treatise, 「菩薩發大莊嚴，具足菩薩神通」 tr. "the bodhisattva arouses the great adornment and is complete in the bodhisattva's supernormal powers"〔T25 0390a06〕, makes clear the mark of the bodhisattva's riding the Great Vehicle with a sequence of scenes—「所經諸國，雨七寶蓮華，供養諸佛，拔三惡道眾生。變身無數，各各至諸佛前，聽受大乘法化」 tr. "in the lands he passes through he rains down lotus flowers of the seven jewels, makes offerings to the Buddhas, and draws out the beings of the three evil paths. He transforms his body without number, and each goes before the Buddhas to hear and receive the teaching of the Great Vehicle Dharma"〔T25 0390a07〕—and then 「乘此大乘，從一佛國至一佛國，成就眾生，淨佛世界」 tr. "riding this Great Vehicle, from one buddha-land to another buddha-land, he brings beings to maturity and purifies the buddha-world"〔T25 0390a10〕, constantly riding the Great Vehicle without rest, up to attaining buddhahood and turning the Dharma wheel. Although this passage is not a simile in the sentence pattern 「如……」 tr. "like ...", through its scenes of raining jewelled lotus flowers, transforming the body without number, and riding the Great Vehicle through buddha-land after buddha-land, it unfolds vividly the mark of the bodhisattva's driving the Great Vehicle. It is the passage in this chapter's Treatise that comes closest to a laying-out of imagery, and it answers, before and after, to the Sūtra's section on the merits of supernormal power, 「是菩薩乘此大乘，從一佛國至一佛國，淨佛世界」 tr. "this bodhisattva, riding this Great Vehicle, from one buddha-land to another buddha-land, purifies the buddha-world"〔T25 0389c08〕.

IV. The Sūtra Passage Explained

The Sūtra section cited by this treatise follows item by item Chapter 16, "Riding the Vehicle"〔T08 0247a19–0247c05〕, of the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra translated by Kumārajīva of the Later Qin. Below, the two are aligned word by word to prove that what the treatise explains is indeed this sūtra text; the place where the one Treatise section is inserted shows especially that the bone of this chapter's doctrine lies in the treatise and not in the sūtra.

First group: variant chapter names (the complete collation clusters of both sides' editions set side by side). This treatise's〔T25 0389b02〕 「大智度論釋乘乘品第十六」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Commentary on the Chapter on Riding the Vehicle, the Sixteenth" and T223's〔T08 0247a19〕 「乘乘品第十六」 tr. "Chapter on Riding the Vehicle, the Sixteenth" use the same characters for the chapter name on the surface. Yet when the complete collations of both sides are checked (see Section VIII): among the six editions of this treatise's line, the Taishō, Song, and Yuan read the core 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle"; the Ming titles it 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle" but adds the note 「經作乘大乘品」 tr. "the sūtra has ‘Chapter on Riding the Great Vehicle’"; the Shōgozō instead describes the range of the fascicle; the Ishiyama text reads 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle" but its numbering is doubly displaced; and the Palace edition lacks this fascicle entirely. Among the six editions of the line of the sūtra explained, the Taishō and Shōgozō read 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle", and the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Palace read 「乘大乘」 tr. "riding the Great Vehicle." Thus the 「經作乘大乘品」 tr. "the sūtra has ‘Chapter on Riding the Great Vehicle’" attached to this treatise's Ming edition matches exactly the 「乘大乘」 tr. "riding the Great Vehicle" of T223's Song, Yuan, Ming, and Palace editions; the two sides independently confirm each other that 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle" is the reading of the base-text layers of both sides, and 「乘大乘」 tr. "riding the Great Vehicle" the reading of the majority layer of the sūtra explained. The full pattern of this variant name is set out side by side in Section VIII and recorded without judgement.

Second group: the opening question agrees almost entirely word for word. This treatise's〔T25 0389b06〕 「爾時，慧命舍利弗問富樓那：『云何名菩薩摩訶薩乘於大乘？』」 tr. "At that time the venerable Śāriputra asked Pūrṇa: ‘What is called a bodhisattva-mahāsattva's riding the Great Vehicle?’" and T223's〔T08 0247a20〕 「爾時慧命舍利弗問富樓那：『云何名菩薩摩』」 tr. "At that time the venerable Śāriputra asked Pūrṇa: ‘What is called a bodhisattva-mahā-’" (continuing below with 「訶薩乘於大乘」 tr. "-sattva's riding the Great Vehicle") follow each other word for word (differing only, at the editorial level, in the presence or absence of a comma); this is the whole-sentence anchor for the boundary between Sūtra and Treatise in this chapter.

Third group: variants in the fullness of the transcriptions dāna / dān and dhyāna / dhyān. Throughout, this treatise writes 「檀波羅蜜」 tr. "the perfection of giving (dān)" and 「禪波羅蜜」 tr. "the perfection of meditation (dhyān)", while T223 throughout writes 「檀那波羅蜜」 tr. "the perfection of giving (dāna)" and 「禪那波羅蜜」 tr. "the perfection of meditation (dhyāna)". This is a difference in the fullness of transcription between Kumārajīva's two translations (dāna = dāna, a full transcription; dān = an abbreviated transcription, which this treatise customarily uses; dhyāna = dhyāna, a full transcription). It runs through the whole text and is not listed place by place.

Fourth group: the abiding of dharmas / the position of dharmas (a doctrinally weighted variant, cross-confirmed across the whole T223 line). This treatise's〔T25 0389c01〕 「法相、法性、法住、實際但有名字」 tr. "the mark of dharmas, the nature of dharmas, the abiding of dharmas, and the limit of reality have only names" and T223's〔T08 0247b17〕 「法相、法性、法位、實際但有」 tr. "the mark of dharmas, the nature of dharmas, the position of dharmas, and the limit of reality have only"—this treatise reads 「法住」 tr. "the abiding of dharmas", T223 reads 「法位」 tr. "the position of dharmas." Checking the collations of both sides: T223 itself here reads 「法位」 tr. "the position of dharmas" consistently in all six editions (no collation note); this treatise's collation note here〔T25 0389c02〕 shows that its Shōgozō and Ishiyama texts read 「法位」 tr. "the position of dharmas", agreeing with the whole T223 line, while only its Taishō and Song read 「法住」 tr. "the abiding of dharmas", and its Yuan and Ming keep both readings side by side (see Section VIII). 「法位」 tr. "The position of dharmas" (dharma-niyāmatā, the determinacy of dharmas) and 「法住」 tr. "the abiding of dharmas" (dharma-sthititā, the abiding character of dharmas) are both members of the prajñā-lineage series of different names for the real mark of all dharmas, 「諸法如／法相／法性／法住〔法位〕／實際」 tr. "the suchness of dharmas / the mark of dharmas / the nature of dharmas / the abiding of dharmas 〔the position of dharmas〕 / the limit of reality"; they differ in meaning and are not simply a scribal error. The cross-textual cross-confirmation of this group is stronger than that of the mere variant chapter name; it is disclosed in full in Section VIII and recorded without judgement.

Fifth group: the wording variant world / land. This treatise's〔T25 0389c09〕 「淨佛世界，成就眾生」 tr. "purifying the buddha-world, bringing beings to maturity" and T223's〔T08 0247b25〕 「淨佛國土、成就眾生」 tr. "purifying the buddha-land, bringing beings to maturity"—this treatise reads 「世界」 tr. "world", T223 reads 「國土」 tr. "land." For this word〔T25 0389c09〕 the Ishiyama variant of this treatise also reads 「國土」 tr. "land" (see Section VIII), converging with T223's mainstream reading. World and land are synonymous (both render terms of the lokadhātu / kṣetra family). This is offered for the translator's reference and recorded without judgement.

Sixth group: the Treatise section is wholly an insertion unique to this treatise (an insertion at the end; zero correspondence in T223). After the closing sentence at the end of the Sūtra section〔T25 0389c17〕, this treatise inserts a whole Treatise section〔T25 0389c18–0390a23〕 (the sequence of the three matters, the three stages of "some say", the unmixed mind, provisional names, the supernormal powers with transformed bodies and offerings to the Buddhas, and the treatise-author's concluding passage—that is, the explanations of Sections II and V), whereas T223, after the same closing sentence〔T08 0247c05〕, goes straight to the end of its fascicle and turns at once to the next chapter, "Adornment", Chapter 17, with not a single word corresponding to the Treatise section. Thus the whole of T223's "Riding the Vehicle"〔T08 0247a19–0247c05〕 coincides exactly in its boundaries with this treatise's one Sūtra section〔T25 0389b06–0389c17〕, while this treatise's one Treatise section falls wholly outside T223's chapter boundaries, the point of insertion falling at the end of the whole chapter (of the same type as the earlier "Mahāsattva", whose Treatise is inserted at the end of the chapter). Further, T223's next chapter title, 「莊嚴品第十七」 tr. "Chapter on Adornment, the Seventeenth", is entirely different from this treatise's next chapter title, 「無縛無脫品第十七」 tr. "Chapter on Neither Bound nor Freed, the Seventeenth"—the chapter names of the two Chinese translations diverge from Chapter 17 on (this is outside the range of this chapter, and is recorded for reference in future study of Chapter 17).

Seventh group: divergence in the core image among the collateral translations (vehicle / donning armour: a question of method). Besides T223, read against this chapter word by word, three collateral translations were further checked. First, Dharmarakṣa's ancient translation, the Praise of Light Prajñāpāramitā, "Chapter on Riding the Great Vehicle, the Fourteenth"〔T08 0184c26〕: its opening, 「賢者舍利弗問分耨文陀尼弗：『云何菩薩摩訶薩乘于摩訶衍？』」 tr. "The worthy Śāriputra asked Fennou Wentuonifu: ‘How does a bodhisattva-mahāsattva ride the Mahāyāna?’"〔T08 0184c27〕 (Fennou Wentuonifu is the old transcription of Pūrṇa Maitrāyaṇīputra), corresponds in sense to the opening of this chapter's sūtra, and its chapter title reads directly 「乘大乘」 tr. "riding the Great Vehicle", making it a third-party, independent source for the reading 「乘大乘」 tr. "riding the Great Vehicle" (see Sections I and VIII). Second, Wuluocha's translation, the Emission of Light Prajñāpāramitā: this section searched it throughout with the four terms 「乘乘品」 tr. "Chapter on Riding the Vehicle", 「乘大乘品」 tr. "Chapter on Riding the Great Vehicle", 「云何名菩薩摩訶薩乘於大乘」 tr. "what is called a bodhisattva-mahāsattva's riding the Great Vehicle?", and 「色但有名字」 tr. "form has only a name", with zero hits in every case; the Emission of Light has no identifiable passage corresponding to this chapter's content. This is recorded honestly, and no textual study is forced. Third, the first part of Xuanzang's translation, the Great Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra: its corresponding passage renders Pūrṇa as 「滿慈子」 tr. "Son of Full Kindness", and its core image is 「擐大功德鎧」 tr. "donning the great armour of merit"—「由諸菩薩為欲利樂一切有情，擐大功德鎧故，發趣大乘、乘大乘故，復名摩訶薩」 tr. "because the bodhisattvas, wishing to benefit and gladden all sentient beings, don the great armour of merit, and because they set out toward the Great Vehicle and ride the Great Vehicle, they are further called mahāsattva"〔T05 0267c14〕. Thus Xuanzang, for the same passage of the Sanskrit text, chose 「擐甲」 tr. "donning armour" (saṃnāha, the image of putting on armour, of armoured vigour) as the leading metaphor, while the Kumārajīva line (T223 / T1509) takes 「乘」 tr. "vehicle" (driving, riding) as the leading metaphor; yet Xuanzang's sentence still keeps the phrase 「發趣大乘、乘大乘」 tr. "set out toward the Great Vehicle and ride the Great Vehicle", which shows that the original sense of the base text included the sense of 「乘」 tr. "riding." This is a clear example of the same passage of the Sanskrit text being given different core image-words by different translators; it is offered for the translator's reference and recorded without judgement, and no forced judgement is made as to which is closer to the original sense of the Sanskrit.

V. The Prajñā Eye

The eye of this chapter lies in 「乘於大乘」 tr. "riding the Great Vehicle": the bodhisattva contemplates that all dharmas are only names and ultimately cannot be found, and with the unmixed mind (free of the afflictions and of the intentions of the two vehicles), for the sake of sarvajñā, drives the Great Vehicle; his riding is a riding in which neither what is ridden nor the one who rides is attained. The whole chapter is a single alternation (one question from Śāriputra, one answer from Pūrṇa, one explanation by the treatise-author), and all of it is tied to prajñā's nothing to be attained and not being findable.

First, the riding in riding the vehicle lies in riding the six perfections while the three things are all unfindable. In the sūtra, Pūrṇa answers by first setting up the riding of the six perfections, saying that when the bodhisattva practises the perfection of prajñā he 「乘檀波羅蜜，亦不得檀波羅蜜，亦不得菩薩，亦不得受者，用無所得故」 tr. "rides the perfection of giving, yet does not attain the perfection of giving, does not attain the bodhisattva, does not attain the receiver, because he uses nothing to be attained"〔T25 0389b08〕; the five perfections from morality up to prajñā are likewise, and it closes with 「是為菩薩摩訶薩乘於大乘」 tr. "this is a bodhisattva-mahāsattva's riding the Great Vehicle"〔T25 0389b15〕. So what is called 「乘」 tr. "riding" the six perfections is riding without attaining the perfection that is ridden, without attaining the bodhisattva who rides, without attaining the receiver of the giving, all threaded together by 「用無所得故」 tr. "because he uses nothing to be attained." Riding without clinging—only this is called riding the Great Vehicle.

Second, only names, ultimately not to be found—even the Buddha cannot be found. In its "furthermore" sections the sūtra uses the sentence pattern 「但有名字，……不可得故」 tr. "there are only names ... because it cannot be found", going from form, feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness, the eye up to the mind, the four foundations of mindfulness up to the limbs of the eightfold noble path, inner emptiness up to the emptiness of non-existent and existent dharmas, and the eighteen unshared dharmas, extending over the series of different names of the real mark of all dharmas in 「諸法如但有名字，如不可得故」 tr. "the suchness of dharmas has only a name, because suchness cannot be found"〔T25 0389c01〕, and ending at 「阿耨多羅三藐三菩提及佛但有名字，佛不可得故」 tr. "anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi and the Buddha have only names, because the Buddha cannot be found"〔T25 0389c02〕. Thus not only do the aggregates, sense-fields, and elements, the limbs of the path, the nature of emptiness, the unshared dharmas, and the real mark of all dharmas all have only names and are ultimately empty; even the fruit of unsurpassed awakening and the Buddha's body itself alike return to being unfindable—this is the utmost reach of this chapter's contemplation of ultimate emptiness. The treatise takes up this meaning, saying 「知一切法假名字，於名字和合中復有名字；一切世間、若出世間，皆是假名」 tr. "knowing that all dharmas are provisional names, and that within the coming together of names there are further names; all that is worldly, and all that is beyond the world, are provisional names"〔T25 0390a03〕, and makes clear that all dharmas, worldly and world-transcending, are nothing but designations by provisional names.

Third, the unmixed mind, for the sake of sarvajñā, riding with the threefold sphere empty in substance. Riding the Great Vehicle is not merely contemplating emptiness; the mind has somewhere it returns to and something it leaves. The treatise makes this clear with the three stages: only with both emptinesses, of beings and of dharmas, and with the threefold sphere empty in substance (not seeing the three things—giver, receiver, and goods) is it called 「乘於大乘」 tr. "riding the Great Vehicle"〔T25 0389c24〕; it further makes this clear with the unmixed mind, saying that the bodhisattva, 「以不雜心，離諸煩惱及二乘意，為薩婆若故」 tr. "with the unmixed mind, free of all afflictions and of the intentions of the two vehicles, for the sake of sarvajñā"〔T25 0389c25〕, cultivates the four foundations of mindfulness up to the eighteen unshared dharmas while the mark of cultivating cannot be found and is ultimately pure. So the mind that rides the Great Vehicle leaves the obstruction of afflictions and leaves the aims of the two vehicles, and all its practice is undertaken for sarvajñā (omniscience). Thus from the nothing-to-be-attained of the six perfections and the only-names of all dharmas, on to the unmixed mind, being for sarvajñā, and the threefold sphere empty in substance, a single line runs straight through, and where it all comes to rest is the prajñā eye of driving the Great Vehicle without clinging to the one who rides or to what is ridden, contemplating all dharmas as ultimately unfindable while the mind is set on omniscience. At the end, the treatise-author's concluding sentence gathers it all up: 「大乘名畢竟清淨六波羅蜜」 tr. "the Great Vehicle is called the ultimately pure six perfections"〔T25 0390a19〕; the bodhisattva rides this ultimately pure Great Vehicle, never parted from the Buddhas, up to attaining the Buddha path.

VI. Divergent Readings of the Masters

As for the ancient masters who cite and explain this chapter, this section records the correspondence between what they comment on or cite and this chapter, and does not judge the interpretations of the various masters. The network of ancient masters for this chapter is as follows. Jizang's Commentary on the Larger Sūtra comments directly, line by line, and gives the richest support (including the listing in its table of contents, the naming simile 「乘馬乘舩」 tr. "riding a horse, riding a boat", the three-stage judgement introduced by 「如論云」 tr. "as the treatise says", the line-by-line commentary's 「乘法乘故名乘乘」 tr. "because one rides the dharma-vehicle it is called riding the vehicle" and 「舉法釋人」 tr. "raising the dharma to explain the person", an outline corresponding item by item to the structure of this chapter's sūtra text, and the retrospective framework of 「六問／乘乘人」 tr. "the six questions / the person who rides the vehicle" in later chapters). The surviving fragmentary fascicles of Huiying's Commentary lack a line-by-line commentary on this chapter (a large section from Chapter 13 on is missing), and this is recorded as absent. Junzheng's Profound Meaning of the Four Mahāyāna Treatises has one doctrinal digest in which the chapter name is genuinely cited but the quoted text is not word for word from this chapter (a third type, distinct both from the same-name trap and from verbatim commentary). No citation is found in Zhiyi's works.

Jizang's Commentary on the Larger Sūtra (X24n0451) gives the richest support among the ancient masters for this chapter, in three layers. First, the table of contents at the head of the work and the chapter title in the line-by-line commentary. The table of contents lists directly 「乘乘品第十六」 tr. "Chapter on Riding the Vehicle, the Sixteenth"〔X24 0195a20〕, with no additional variant name (unlike the table-of-contents entry for the earlier "Delight in Speaking" chapter, which sets out three variant names side by side; here the entry has only a single chapter name, and this asymmetry is recorded as it is); the chapter-title line of the line-by-line commentary renders the same chapter title twice, as 「乘乘品第十六乘乘品第十六」 tr. "Chapter on Riding the Vehicle, the Sixteenth; Chapter on Riding the Vehicle, the Sixteenth"〔X24 0244b08〕.

Second, the forward-looking citation within the range of the earlier "Eloquence" chapter (the ancient master's interpretation of how 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle" gets its name). In his outline-style general remarks on the preceding chapter, Jizang first discusses how, after 「發趣」 tr. "setting out", the two ends of rider and ridden necessarily arise over against each other, saying 「次從一切名為發趣，有發趣故必有能乘之人、所乘之法，如人乘馬、乘舩，故有乘乘品同」 tr. "next, from ‘all’ onward it is called setting out; because there is setting out, there must be the person who rides and the dharma that is ridden, as a person rides a horse or rides a boat; hence there is likewise the chapter on riding the vehicle"〔X24 0243b21〕—that is, after 「發趣」 tr. "setting out" there must be the two ends, 「能乘之人」 tr. "the person who rides" and 「所乘之法」 tr. "the dharma that is ridden", standing over against each other, just as in the relation of rider and ridden when a person rides a horse or a boat; therefore after 「發趣」 tr. "setting out" a separate 「乘乘品」 tr. "Chapter on Riding the Vehicle" is set up to display this meaning. He further explicitly cites 「如論云」 tr. "as the treatise says" and judges three stages by the two emptinesses of beings and of dharmas, saying 「如論云：未得生、法二空行施為大莊嚴，得眾生空、未得法空為發趣，具得生、法二空而行施為乘乘也。常有三解，如別疏」 tr. "As the treatise says: giving without yet having attained the two emptinesses, of beings and of dharmas, is the great adornment; having attained the emptiness of beings but not yet the emptiness of dharmas is setting out; giving having fully attained the two emptinesses, of beings and of dharmas, is riding the vehicle. There are always three explanations, as in a separate commentary"〔X24 0243c04〕—judging the naming of the three chapters 「大莊嚴／發趣／乘乘」 tr. "the great adornment / setting out / riding the vehicle" as three stages according to the degree to which the emptiness of beings and the emptiness of dharmas have been realised: giving without having attained the two emptinesses of beings and dharmas = the great adornment; having attained the emptiness of beings but not the emptiness of dharmas = setting out; giving having fully attained the two emptinesses of beings and dharmas = riding the vehicle. These three stages agree in meaning, point for point, with the three stages of 「有人言」 tr. "some say" in this chapter's Treatise ① (Sections II and V), and the wording is very close (Jizang's 「未得生法二空」 tr. "not yet having attained the two emptinesses of beings and dharmas" ≈ the treatise's 「不能破吾我相」 tr. "cannot break the mark of I and self"; 「得眾生空未得法空」 tr. "having attained the emptiness of beings but not yet the emptiness of dharmas" ≈ the treatise's 「入眾生空，未入法空」 tr. "enters the emptiness of beings but has not yet entered the emptiness of dharmas"; 「具得生法二空」 tr. "fully attaining the two emptinesses of beings and dharmas" ≈ the treatise's 「因眾生空入法空中」 tr. "by way of the emptiness of beings, enters into the emptiness of dharmas"). What Jizang's 「如論云」 tr. "as the treatise says" refers to may be the 「有人言」 tr. "some say" passage of this chapter's Treatise ①, or may be a general statement of this meaning by the treatise-author; both are highly relevant to this chapter's content. The fact of their doctrinal agreement is recorded, and no forced judgement is made on the literal precision of the source of his citation.

Third, the explanation of the name and the outline in the line-by-line commentary on this chapter. Jizang explains the literal sense of the compound 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle", saying 「莊嚴宜論萬行莊嚴，法身菩薩正觀具萬行故為莊嚴。發趣是始終處所，今明乘乘則是具於人法，乘法乘故名乘乘也」 tr. "Adornment ought to be discussed as the adornment of the myriad practices: because the right contemplation of the dharma-body bodhisattva is complete with the myriad practices, it is adornment. Setting out is the place of beginning and end. Now it makes clear that ‘riding the vehicle’ is complete in both person and dharma: because one rides the dharma-vehicle it is called ‘riding the vehicle’"〔X24 0244b09〕—that is, 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle" carries the two senses of 「人」 tr. "person" (the subject who rides) and 「法」 tr. "dharma" (the great dharma that is ridden), and because one drives the great dharma it is called 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle." He also distinguishes why this chapter is set up on its own, saying 「今明是舉法釋人，大人以乘大法故名大人也，故出一品」 tr. "Now it makes clear that this raises the dharma to explain the person: the great person is called a great person because he rides the great dharma; hence a chapter is set out"〔X24 0244b12〕—the earlier chapters all 「舉人釋大」 tr. "raise the person to explain ‘great’" (it is called great because it is what the great person rides), while this chapter 「舉法釋人」 tr. "raises the dharma to explain the person" (he is called a great person because he rides the great dharma): the perspective turns from the person to the dharma. Further, by question and answer he distinguishes this chapter from the preceding "The Great Adornment", saying 「問：人乘於乘運萬行，與萬行莊嚴何異？答：前取萬行莊嚴於人，今明取人秉御萬行；前以法成人，此取人御法也」 tr. "Question: a person riding the vehicle carries the myriad practices—how does this differ from the adornment of the myriad practices? Answer: before, the adornment of the myriad practices was taken with respect to the person; now it makes clear that the person is taken as wielding and driving the myriad practices. Before, the dharma completed the person; this takes the person as driving the dharma"〔X24 0244b13〕—the preceding chapter is 「法成人」 tr. "the dharma completes the person" (the myriad practices mould and accomplish this person), and this chapter is 「人御法」 tr. "the person drives the dharma" (this person holds and drives the myriad practices). He outlines this chapter's sūtra text, saying 「若階級釋則如論也。品前問，次答。答三：初明乘乘；次明為十方歎；三、總結。初中二：第一、明乘乘因；二、明乘乘得果」 tr. "If it is explained by stages, then it is as in the treatise. The chapter first asks, and next answers. The answer has three parts: first, it makes clear riding the vehicle; next, it makes clear the being praised by the ten directions; third, the conclusion. The first has two: first, it makes clear the cause of riding the vehicle; second, it makes clear the fruit attained by riding the vehicle"〔X24 0244b15〕. He outlines this chapter by 「品前問、答三（初明乘乘、次為十方歎、三總結）」 tr. "the chapter first asks; the answer has three parts (first making clear riding the vehicle, next being praised by the ten directions, third the conclusion)", and his 「答三」 tr. "the answer has three parts" corresponds item by item to the structure of this chapter's sūtra text (the chapter's first question corresponds to Śāriputra's question〔T25 0389b06〕; making clear riding the vehicle corresponds to the sections from the six perfections up to form having only a name; being praised by the ten directions corresponds to the Sūtra's 「十方如恒河沙等諸佛皆歡喜稱名讚歎」 tr. "the Buddhas of the ten directions, as many as the sands of the Ganges, all rejoice, call his name, and praise him"〔T25 0389c14〕; the conclusion corresponds to the closing sentence at the end of the Sūtra section〔T25 0389c17〕). There is no conflict in the correspondence, and it is independent, complete, and verifiable ancient-master outline material for this chapter.

In later chapters Jizang further marks, retrospectively, this chapter's place in his framework of questions and answers on the Great Vehicle with 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle" and 「乘乘人」 tr. "the person who rides the vehicle" (recorded as entries only; all lie outside the range of this chapter). He gathers the chapters together as 「大乘六問」 tr. "the six questions on the Great Vehicle", saying 「依通云為六問：一、問乘體；二、問乘用；三、」 tr. "According to the general account there are six questions: first, asking about the substance of the vehicle; second, asking about the function of the vehicle; third, ..."〔X24 0246b02〕 (listing below asking about the beginning, asking about the end, asking about abiding in between, and asking about the person who rides the vehicle), and takes this chapter as the question on 「乘乘人」 tr. "the person who rides the vehicle"; in a later chapter he confirms this, saying 「次答第五問乘乘人。此中既標問，故乘品初有此問」 tr. "Next it answers the fifth question, on the person who rides the vehicle. Since the question is marked here, this question stands at the beginning of the vehicle chapter"〔X24 0251c04〕; and finally, with 「句義至乘乘，明菩薩摩訶薩義」 tr. "from ‘The Meaning of the Phrase’ to ‘Riding the Vehicle’, the meaning of bodhisattva-mahāsattva is made clear"〔X24 0257b11〕, he sums up that the chapters from "The Meaning of the Phrase" (Chapter 12) to "Riding the Vehicle" (this chapter) all make clear 「菩薩摩訶薩義」 tr. "the meaning of bodhisattva-mahāsattva." Although these three places are not within the main text of this chapter, they refer to this chapter directly as 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle" and 「乘乘人」 tr. "the person who rides the vehicle", and form Jizang's independent confirmation of this chapter's position within the structure of his whole book; they are recorded as entries, and are not used as word-for-word citation material for the main text of this chapter.

The surviving fragmentary fascicles of Huiying's Commentary (X46n0791) lack a line-by-line commentary on this chapter. In the original fragmentary fascicles of Huiying's commentary, the line-by-line commentary jumps over a large section from Chapter 13 to Chapter 36 (including this chapter, "Riding the Vehicle"), so this chapter's line-by-line commentary falls within that large gap and does not exist in these fragments. This section searched Huiying's commentary throughout for 「乘乘品」 tr. "Chapter on Riding the Vehicle" and 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle", with zero hits in each case (in addition, one hit was found for 「摩訶薩品」 tr. "Chapter on Mahāsattva"〔X46 0872c07〕, which on checking is a forward-looking mention in an earlier chapter pointing to Chapter 13, and has nothing to do with this chapter). Recorded honestly: this chapter has no line-by-line commentary in Huiying's surviving fragments; this is recorded as absent, and no claim is made that there is one.

Junzheng's Profound Meaning of the Four Mahāyāna Treatises (X46n0784) has one genuine citation of the chapter name, but its quoted text is not word for word from this chapter. Junzheng explicitly marks 「大品經〔缺一字〕乘乘品云」 tr. "the Larger Sūtra 〔one character missing〕 Chapter on Riding the Vehicle says" (between the two words 「經」 tr. "sūtra" and 「乘乘品」 tr. "Chapter on Riding the Vehicle", one character of the original manuscript in the CBETA base text is blurred and illegible) and brings out a passage of explanation, saying 「乘乘品云：乘相，大乘也。乘是何義？乘是運出」 tr. "The Chapter on Riding the Vehicle says: the mark of the vehicle is the Great Vehicle. What does vehicle mean? Vehicle means conveying out"〔X46 0642b07〕 (continuing below with 「義，如般若能生一切得」 tr. "... -ing: just as prajñā can produce all attainment"), explaining with 「乘是運出義」 tr. "vehicle means conveying out" that the vehicle can carry beings out to liberation; further, later in the text he says 「乘乘則通因果也。故大品經云自從三界出至薩」 tr. "Riding the vehicle, then, spans both cause and fruit. Therefore the Larger Sūtra says: from going out of the three realms up to sa-"〔X46 0643b16〕, continuing the doctrinal development of the concept 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle." However, this section checked word for word the entire text of T223's "Riding the Vehicle"〔T08 0247a19–0247c05〕 and the entire text of this chapter of this treatise〔T25 0389b02–0390a24〕, and in neither is there any word-for-word correspondence for the two terms 「乘相」 tr. "the mark of the vehicle" and 「運出」 tr. "conveying out": Junzheng's quoted passage is his own doctrinal digest and interpretive paraphrase, not a word-for-word citation of this chapter. This differs in nature from Junzheng's 「同名陷阱」 tr. "same-name trap" distinguished in the preceding chapter (a chance coincidence of wording in an entirely unrelated context): here Junzheng explicitly marks the chapter name 「乘乘品」 tr. "Chapter on Riding the Vehicle" and attaches his explanation to this chapter, which is a genuine reference by chapter name; yet it also differs from Jizang's word-for-word commentary, and should not be put on a par with word-for-word citation. This section honestly records this intermediate type in layers—the citation of the chapter name is genuine, while the content of the quotation is Junzheng's doctrinal digest; this is offered for the translator's reference, and no forced judgement is made on the edition Junzheng relied on or on the precision of his paraphrase.

For Zhiyi's works, this section, following the checking method already established in the preceding chapter, searched throughout for 「乘乘品」 tr. "Chapter on Riding the Vehicle" and 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle", with zero hits in each case. Recorded as it is: no citation of this chapter in any form by Zhiyi is found; nothing is forcibly adopted and nothing is fabricated.

VII. Cross-reading and Further Resonances

The bones of this chapter are three, and all of them are taken up by the prajñā lineage and by the later commentaries.

First, the continuity of Pūrṇa's three phrases, three chapters as one thread. This chapter, "Riding the Vehicle", is the third of the three phrases with which Pūrṇa set up his thesis (the great adornment, setting out toward the Great Vehicle, riding the Great Vehicle), namely 「乘於大乘」 tr. "riding the Great Vehicle", and follows on from the first two phrases (the great adornment, setting out) of the preceding "The Great Adornment"; Treatise ①, at its opening, marks this itself: 「富樓那以三事明摩訶薩，上已說二事，今問第三事『乘於大乘』」 tr. "Pūrṇa makes clear the mahāsattva by three matters; two matters have already been explained above, and now the third matter, ‘riding the Great Vehicle’, is asked about"〔T25 0389c18〕. Among the ancient masters, Jizang and Junzheng each judge these three phrases as three stages by whether the emptiness of beings and the emptiness of dharmas have been attained: Jizang says 「如論云：未得生、法二空行施為大莊嚴，得眾生空、未得法空為發趣，具得生、法二空而行施為乘乘也」 tr. "As the treatise says: giving without yet having attained the two emptinesses, of beings and of dharmas, is the great adornment; having attained the emptiness of beings but not yet the emptiness of dharmas is setting out; giving having fully attained the two emptinesses, of beings and of dharmas, is riding the vehicle"〔X24 0243c04〕, and Junzheng too, with 「乘乘則通因果也」 tr. "riding the vehicle, then, spans both cause and fruit"〔X46 0643b16〕, takes up these three concepts and develops them. Thus the doctrinal framework of this chapter's three-phrase thesis is taken up and judged by the ancient masters within an independent (or common-source) three-stage framework. This section records the continuity and does not fix a reading on anyone's behalf; the sources involved are all given word for word in Sections IV and VI.

Second, the continuity of the compound 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle" (person and dharma; rider and ridden). The treatise-author of this chapter makes clear 「乘於大乘」 tr. "riding the Great Vehicle" by three matters and three stages, and the ancient master Jizang takes this up to explain the literal sense of the compound 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle." With 「今明乘乘則是具於人法，乘法乘故名乘乘也」 tr. "now it makes clear that ‘riding the vehicle’ is complete in both person and dharma: because one rides the dharma-vehicle it is called ‘riding the vehicle’"〔X24 0244b10〕 Jizang explains that it carries the two senses of 「人」 tr. "person" (the rider) and 「法」 tr. "dharma" (the ridden); with 「如人乘馬、乘舩」 tr. "as a person rides a horse or rides a boat"〔X24 0243b22〕 he opens the simile of 「能乘之人、所乘之法」 tr. "the person who rides, the dharma that is ridden"; and with 「此取人御法也」 tr. "this takes the person as driving the dharma"〔X24 0244b15〕 he distinguishes this chapter's 「人御法」 tr. "the person drives the dharma" from the preceding chapter's 「法成人」 tr. "the dharma completes the person." In a different translation, Xuanzang, for the same passage of the Sanskrit text, changes the image of 「乘」 tr. "riding" (driving) to the image of putting on armour, 「擐大功德鎧」 tr. "donning the great armour of merit"〔T05 0267c15〕; so the same passage of the Sanskrit text was given a different core image by a different translator. This section records the continuity and does not fix a reading on anyone's behalf; the sources involved are all given word for word in Sections IV and VI.

Third, the continuity of the contemplation of ultimate emptiness, 「但有名字、畢竟不可得」 tr. "only names, ultimately not to be found." In its "furthermore" sections this chapter's sūtra enumerates eleven layers of dharma-categories with the sentence pattern 「但有名字，……不可得故」 tr. "there are only names ... because it cannot be found", extending over the different names of the real mark of all dharmas and ending at 「阿耨多羅三藐三菩提及佛但有名字，佛不可得故」 tr. "anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi and the Buddha have only names, because the Buddha cannot be found"〔T25 0389c02〕, and the treatise takes it up, saying 「知一切法假名字，於名字和合中復有名字；一切世間、若出世間，皆是假名」 tr. "knowing that all dharmas are provisional names, and that within the coming together of names there are further names; all that is worldly, and all that is beyond the world, are provisional names"〔T25 0390a03〕. This contemplation of ultimate emptiness, 「一切法但有名字、畢竟不可得」 tr. "all dharmas have only names and ultimately cannot be found", is a meaning that runs through the whole prajñā lineage, and this chapter takes 「連菩提果與佛身亦不可得」 tr. "even the fruit of awakening and the Buddha's body cannot be found" as its utmost reach. This section records the continuity and does not fix a reading on anyone's behalf; the sources involved are all given word for word in Sections II, IV, and V.

As for the order of this treatise, this chapter has an explicit internal cross-reference, attached by the treatise-author himself. Treatise ①, at its opening, attaches itself to the two matters of the preceding chapter as what it continues, saying 「富樓那以三事明摩訶薩，上已說二事，今問第三事『乘於大乘』」 tr. "Pūrṇa makes clear the mahāsattva by three matters; two matters have already been explained above, and now the third matter, ‘riding the Great Vehicle’, is asked about"〔T25 0389c18〕—the treatise-author himself marks the 「乘於大乘」 tr. "riding the Great Vehicle" that this chapter explains as the third of Pūrṇa's three matters, following on from the two matters already explained in the preceding chapter, the great adornment and setting out. This self-attachment of the line of meaning is recorded here as continuity, without fixing a reading on anyone's behalf.

VIII. Witnesses and Editions

Of this chapter's collation, the items that may bear on the meaning of the sūtra are selected below; the readings of the different editions are preserved side by side, and the main text continues to follow the reading of the current base text. This fascicle (Fascicle 46) has two special features that must first be noted—the Palace edition is absent for the whole fascicle, and the Ishiyama text's chapter and fascicle numbers are doubly displaced; both are detailed in the paragraph near the end of this section.

0389b02 (chapter title; the complete collation clusters of both sides' editions set side by side): （大智度論釋乘乘品第十六〔卷第四十六〕）十六字【大】｜大智度論卷第四十六第十六品釋乘乘品【宋】【元】｜大智度論卷第四十六釋乘乘品第十六經作乘大乘品【明】｜大智度經論卷第四十六釋第十五品訖第十七品上【聖】｜摩訶般若波羅蜜品第十五乘乘品十五卷四十八【石】｜此卷宮本缺—among the six editions of this treatise's line, the Taishō, Song, and Yuan read the core 「乘乘品」 tr. "Chapter on Riding the Vehicle" (differing only in word order and in whether the numeral 「第十六」 tr. "the Sixteenth" is present); the Ming edition's title likewise reads 「乘乘品第十六」 tr. "Chapter on Riding the Vehicle, the Sixteenth", but carries its own editorial note 「經作乘大乘品」 tr. "the sūtra has ‘Chapter on Riding the Great Vehicle’" (that is, the Ming editor states that the sūtra he read against it has 「乘大乘」 tr. "riding the Great Vehicle"); the Shōgozō at this point makes no comparison of chapter names but instead describes the range covered by the fascicle (explaining from Chapter 15 through the first part of Chapter 17); the Ishiyama text reads 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle" but records the chapter number as 「十五」 tr. "fifteen" and the fascicle number as 「四十八」 tr. "forty-eight" (a double displacement; see the end of this section); and the Palace edition lacks this fascicle entirely. This stands in contrast to the chapter title of the sūtra explained, T223: T223's Taishō base text reads 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle", and its collation note reads 乘乘【大】｜乘大乘【宋】【元】【明】【宮】 (there is also T223's original collation footnote, 「乘乘＝乘大乘〔三〕〔宮〕」 tr. "riding the vehicle = riding the Great Vehicle 〔three〕〔Palace〕", where the bracketed ‘three’ is the collective name for the Song, Yuan, and Ming); that is, of T223's six editions only the Taishō and Shōgozō read 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle", while the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Palace read 「乘大乘」 tr. "riding the Great Vehicle." Thus the base-text layers of both sides (this treatise's Taishō, Song, Yuan, and Ishiyama; the sūtra's Taishō and Shōgozō) all lean to 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle", while the majority layer of the sūtra explained (the four editions Song, Yuan, Ming, and Palace) and the editorial note of this treatise's Ming edition together point to 「乘大乘」 tr. "riding the Great Vehicle"; in addition, Dharmarakṣa's ancient translation, the Praise of Light Prajñāpāramitā, directly titles it 「乘大乘品第十四」 tr. "Chapter on Riding the Great Vehicle, the Fourteenth"〔T08 0184c26〕, as third-party corroboration (see Sections I and IV). The main text follows the base text's 「乘乘品」 tr. "Chapter on Riding the Vehicle."

0389b05 (the translator's title): 後秦龜茲國三藏【大】｜姚秦三藏法師【宋】【元】【明】—「後秦」 tr. "Later Qin" and 「姚秦」 tr. "Yao Qin" are different names for the same regime, and 「龜茲國三藏」 tr. "Tripiṭaka master of the Kingdom of Kucha" and 「三藏法師」 tr. "Tripiṭaka Dharma master" are different expressions of the title; this is no substantive divergence of content but purely a difference of conventional wording at the editorial level, recorded without judgement. The main text follows the base text's 「後秦龜茲國三藏」 tr. "Tripiṭaka master of the Kingdom of Kucha, Later Qin."

0389b06 (the label at the start of the Sūtra section): 【經】【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【聖】—the Song edition and the Shōgozō do not explicitly mark the word 「【經】」 tr. "Sūtra" at the start of the Sūtra section (or simply divide sections by the sense), which does not affect the content; this is offered for the translator's reference. It echoes, in the same pattern, the label at the start of the Treatise section, 0389c18 【論】【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【聖】 (the Song edition and the Shōgozō also do not explicitly mark 「【論】」 tr. "Treatise" at the start of the Treatise section); the two editions may have some other convention of section division; recorded without judgement.

0389b18 (omission of a word): 法【大】｜〔－〕【石】—in the sentence 「修十八不共法，法壞故」 tr. "cultivating the eighteen unshared dharmas, because the dharmas are destroyed", the Ishiyama text lacks one 「法」 tr. "dharma", in keeping with the Ishiyama text's consistent pattern of abridgement (see the item on the Ishiyama displacement at the end of this section); purely a technical omission, recorded without judgement. The main text follows the base text's 「法」 tr. "dharma."

0389c02 (the abiding of dharmas / the position of dharmas; doctrinally weighted; confirmed across the whole T223 line): 法住【大】｜法位【聖】【石】｜法住法位【元】【明】 (the Song edition gives no separate variant here and follows the base text's reading 「法住」 tr. "the abiding of dharmas"; that is, 「法住」 tr. "the abiding of dharmas" is the reading of the Taishō and Song)—in the sentence 「法相、法性、法住、實際但有名字」 tr. "the mark of dharmas, the nature of dharmas, the abiding of dharmas, and the limit of reality have only names", its 「法住」 tr. "abiding of dharmas" (Section IV, fourth group). Among this treatise's six editions, the Taishō and Song read 「法住」 tr. "the abiding of dharmas", the Shōgozō and Ishiyama read 「法位」 tr. "the position of dharmas", and the Yuan and Ming keep both readings together (the abiding of dharmas, the position of dharmas); the 「法位」 tr. "position of dharmas" of the Shōgozō and Ishiyama agrees word for word with the 「法位」 tr. "position of dharmas"〔T08 0247b17〕 of the whole line of the sūtra explained, T223 (all six editions consistent). 「法位」 tr. "The position of dharmas" (dharma-niyāmatā, the determinacy of dharmas) and 「法住」 tr. "the abiding of dharmas" (dharma-sthititā, the abiding character of dharmas) are both members of the prajñā-lineage series of different names for the real mark of all dharmas (the suchness of dharmas / the mark of dharmas / the nature of dharmas / the abiding of dharmas 〔the position of dharmas〕 / the limit of reality); they differ in meaning and are not simply a scribal error. This is the only doctrinally weighted variant in this chapter that has the double evidence of 「跨 T223 全系印證」 tr. "confirmation across the whole T223 line" and 「本論系內分歧」 tr. "divergence within this treatise's own line"; it is offered for the translator's reference and recorded without judgement. The main text follows the base text's 「法住」 tr. "the abiding of dharmas."

0389c09 (world / land): 世界【大】＊｜國土【石】＊ (「＊」 tr. "the asterisk" is a CBETA mark indicating the correspondence of variants of this type)—the sentence 「淨佛世界，成就眾生」 tr. "purifying the buddha-world, bringing beings to maturity" (Section IV, fifth group). The base text reads 「世界」 tr. "world", and the Ishiyama text reads 「國土」 tr. "land", agreeing with the mainstream reading 「國土」 tr. "land"〔T08 0247b25〕 of the sūtra explained, T223; world and land are synonymous (both render terms of the lokadhātu / kṣetra family) and stand side by side, recorded without judgement. The main text follows the base text's 「世界」 tr. "world."

0390a20 (technical variant): 大乘【大】｜於大乘【石】｜乘【聖】—in the sentence 「菩薩摩訶薩乘大乘時」 tr. "when the bodhisattva-mahāsattva rides the Great Vehicle", for 「大乘」 tr. "Great Vehicle" the Ishiyama text reads 「於大乘」 tr. "on the Great Vehicle" and the Shōgozō reads 「乘」 tr. "vehicle"; this is a technical variant at the level of adding or dropping particles, with no bearing on doctrine, recorded without judgement. The main text follows the base text's 「大乘」 tr. "Great Vehicle."

The two special features of this fascicle are noted together as follows. First, the Palace edition is absent for the whole fascicle: not a single note in the entire collation of this chapter (the items from the chapter title 0389b02 to the chapter end 0390a23) lists the Palace edition as a witness, which agrees word for word with the note attached to the chapter title, 「此卷宮本缺」 tr. "this fascicle is missing in the Palace edition"〔0389b02〕. That is, the transmitted Palace manuscript of the whole of Fascicle 46 (including the entire text of this chapter and the first part of Chapter 17) is lacking; this is not an individual variant but the loss of a whole fascicle (it is of a different type from the preceding "The Great Adornment", where the Palace edition reads 「辯才品」 tr. "Chapter on Eloquence"—there, in Fascicle 45, the Palace edition still survives and reads a variant name, while here the Palace edition is wholly missing; the two are not to be confused). Second, the Ishiyama text's double displacement, chapter number minus one and fascicle number plus two: in this chapter's title the Ishiyama text reports itself as 「乘乘品十五卷四十八」 tr. "Chapter on Riding the Vehicle, fifteen; fascicle forty-eight"〔0389b02〕, that is, it records the chapter number as 「十五」 tr. "fifteen" (one less than the Taishō's 「第十六」 tr. "the Sixteenth") and the fascicle number as 「四十八」 tr. "forty-eight" (two more than the Taishō's 「卷四十六」 tr. "Fascicle forty-six"). Further, it closes on its own at the end of the chapter, with the collation note 大乘【大】｜大乘釋十五品竟【石】〔0390a23〕; that is, at the end of the sentence 「常乘此大乘」 tr. "constantly rides this Great Vehicle" the Ishiyama text appends 「釋十五品竟」 tr. "end of the explanation of the fifteenth chapter", which, together with its title's self-report 「乘乘品十五」 tr. "Chapter on Riding the Vehicle, fifteen", confirms that the Ishiyama text numbers it 「品十五」 tr. "chapter fifteen." Further, the closing note 「釋第某品竟」 tr. "end of the explanation of chapter such-and-such" that this treatise customarily appends at the end of a chapter is absent in the Taishō within the range of this chapter (the Taishō defers this closing record, marking it within the range of Chapter 17〔0393a29〕 as 「解釋第十六品竟」 tr. "end of the explanation of the sixteenth chapter", while the Ishiyama text closes there on its own with 「品十六」 tr. "chapter sixteen", corresponding to the Taishō's Chapter 17); that is, the Ishiyama numbering system is systematically displaced by minus one relative to the Taishō (the Ishiyama chapter number is always one less than the Taishō's). This double displacement of the Ishiyama text shares its origin with the Ishiyama numbering displacement in the preceding "The Great Adornment" (titled there 「大誓莊嚴品十四」 tr. "Chapter on the Great Adornment of Vows, fourteen", displaced by minus one); this fascicle has the further feature of a fascicle number plus two. Its cause is not forcibly investigated, and it is recorded without judgement.

0389c25 (core term; repetition of an adjacent character): 雜【大】｜離【宋】—in the sentence 「是菩薩以不〔雜〕心，離諸煩惱及二乘意」 tr. "this bodhisattva, with the un〔mixed〕 mind, free of all afflictions and of the intentions of the two vehicles", the character 「雜」 tr. "mixed" is what the term 「不雜心」 tr. "the unmixed mind" of Section II hangs on. The base text reads 「不雜心」 tr. "the unmixed mind", and the Song edition reads 「不離心」 tr. "the mind not free"—the 「離」 tr. "free" is probably repeated under the influence of the phrase below, 「離諸煩惱」 tr. "free of all afflictions", with its 「離」 tr. "free" (repetition of an adjacent character), and is not a separate reading; the doctrinal judgement on 「不雜心」 tr. "the unmixed mind" (the mind not mixed with afflictions and with the intentions of the two vehicles, Section II) is not changed by it; recorded without judgement. The main text follows the base text's 「雜」 tr. "mixed."

Every note in this chapter's collation was checked item by item. Apart from the chapter-title notes and the doctrinally weighted and label items listed above, all the remaining items are technical variants: additions or omissions of particles (such as 0389b09 得, 0389b15 是／是名, 0389b22 若, 0389c04 如是, 0389c18 已, 0390a01 故, 0390a01 相), homophonous loan characters (such as 0390a08 經／逕), or repetition of adjacent characters (such as 0389c25 離／故離). Checked item by item, none shows a change at the doctrinal level, so they are not set out item by item but only passed over statistically.

The base text of this chapter is Fascicle 46 of the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa〔T25 0389b02–0390a24〕. This chapter is the opening chapter of Fascicle 46, so after the chapter title it carries the colophon of authorship and translation; Fascicle 46 does not close at the end of this chapter (it continues into Chapter 17, "Neither Bound nor Freed"), so this chapter has no fascicle-end title, and the end point of its range is taken at the opening title of the next chapter, Chapter 17, "Neither Bound nor Freed"〔T25 0390a24〕, exclusive. The collation text for the sūtra explained is Chapter 16, "Riding the Vehicle", of the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra〔T08 0247a19–0247c05〕 (its chapter title reads 「乘乘」 tr. "riding the vehicle" in the Taishō and Shōgozō and 「乘大乘」 tr. "riding the Great Vehicle" in the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Palace editions; see Section I). The collateral translations are Dharmarakṣa's Praise of Light Prajñāpāramitā (T08n0222; 「乘大乘品第十四」 tr. "Chapter on Riding the Great Vehicle, the Fourteenth"), Wuluocha's Emission of Light Prajñāpāramitā (T08n0221; zero hits for this chapter's content), and the first part of Xuanzang's Great Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra (T05n0220a; the core image is 「擐大功德鎧」 tr. "donning the great armour of merit", Section IV, seventh group). The collation text for ancient-master commentary is Jizang's Commentary on the Larger Sūtra (X24n0451; the richest support for this chapter); there are also Huiying's Commentary (X46n0791; the line-by-line commentary on this chapter is missing) and Junzheng's Profound Meaning of the Four Mahāyāna Treatises (X46n0784; one genuine citation of the chapter name, whose quotation is a doctrinal digest and not word for word). Variant notes follow the Taishō collation, covering differences between the Taishō base text and the Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace, Shōgozō, and Ishiyama editions (in this fascicle the Palace edition is wholly missing). The full collation notes of this chapter are preserved at the end of the working base-text file; this list transmits only the main items bearing on the wording of this chapter's core doctrine, and does not extend to judging the relative merit of the editions.