大智度論 天主品之下Dazhidulun — Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa · The Lord of the Gods, Part 2 of 2

The previous chapter spoke of the acceptance of non-arising; in this chapter the scene suddenly opens wide: the heavens of the Four Heavenly Kings, the Trāyastriṃśa, the Yāma, the Tuṣita, and on to the Brahmā heavens and the Pure Abodes of the three-thousand great-thousand world, each with countless hundreds of thousands of koṭi of gods, come together to the assembly at one time. Yet the bodily light of all these gods, the karmic light won by giving, morality, and meditation, when set beside the Buddha's constant light, ‘does not reach it by a hundredth, a thousandth, a ten-thousand-koṭith part’, like a burnt-out lamp wick set beside jambūnada gold, shining yet not showing. If even the light of the gods is like this, how much more the light of wisdom? Śakra sees this light and thinks: the Buddha's light can eclipse the light of the gods, so the Buddha's light of wisdom must surely be able to break our folly and darkness. And so he asks Subhūti the one most pressing thing: how should a bodhisattva-mahāsattva abide in prajñāpāramitā? what is prajñā? how should it be practised? Subhūti says: I now speak in accord with the Buddha's intent and by the Buddha's spiritual power. He first urges the gods who have not yet aroused the mind to arouse the unsurpassed mind; those who have entered the fixed position of the śrāvaka are not fit for it, but if they are willing to arouse the mind he rejoices with them too, for a superior person should only seek a superior dharma. Then he takes this ‘prajñā’ apart layer by layer: contemplating the five aggregates as impermanent, painful, empty, and not self, as a sickness, as an abscess, as an arrow lodged in the body, as pain, vexation, decay, ruin, sorrow, fear, and unease, fifteen faults in a row; one of sharp faculties enters the truth of suffering when four are spoken, one of dull faculties must pass through eight, and then the remaining seven, before disgust arises; then contemplating the five aggregates as still and extinguished, separate, non-arising and non-ceasing, undefiled and unpurified, all because there is nothing to be attained. Here stands the most crucial sentence of all: the mark of prajñā is that there is no nirvāṇa apart from the five aggregates and no five aggregates apart from nirvāṇa; the real mark of the five aggregates is itself nirvāṇa. Śakra asks further: the mind of dedication and the mind of awakening are not in each other and cannot be found in each other, so how can one still dedicate? Subhūti does not answer from the worldly truth of illusion and dream but only from the truth of the highest meaning: these two minds are both empty, they are the mark of what is not mind; in ultimate emptiness there is neither this mind nor not-mind; only if there really were two dharmas could there be dedication, as a cart travelling west turns toward a lodging to the south, and where there is no difference there is nothing to turn toward. The mark of mind is as if constantly abiding, non-arising and non-ceasing, and so it is called inconceivable, and this inconceivability is constantly inconceivable, not to be grasped, not to be measured. The Buddha, seated there all along, now speaks, and praises with one sentence only: excellent! excellent! Subhūti, you teach prajñā for the bodhisattvas and comfort their minds; you are a person of the Small Vehicle, yet you can teach so deep a prajñā so well. Subhūti answers with gratitude: by practising the real mark of all dharmas I have been freed from old age, sickness, and death; how could I not remember the great kindness of this dharma? And so for the bodhisattvas he teaches the six perfections by showing, teaching, benefiting, and gladdening, expounding the dharma adorned with these four. In the latter half of the chapter Subhūti properly expounds the meaning of ‘abiding’: form, and the emptiness of form; the bodhisattva, and the emptiness of the bodhisattva; and this emptiness of form and emptiness of the bodhisattva are not two and not different. From the five aggregates, the six inner and outer sense-fields, the twelve links of causes and conditions, the six perfections, the eighteen emptinesses, the four foundations of mindfulness up to the eighteen unshared dharmas, the three vehicles and omniscience of all kinds, every single dharma is this one sentence. The treatise-author lays it bare in a word: this is contemplation by the eighteen emptinesses; the emptiness of beings removes beings and there is no mark of the bodhisattva, the emptiness of dharmas removes the five aggregates and there is no mark of the five aggregates, and the two emptinesses are no different, as when a sandalwood fire goes out and a fire of dung and straw goes out, in the going-out there are from the start no two kinds. Having said ‘one should abide thus’, the text then says throughout ‘one should not abide’: one should not abide in the five aggregates; not in permanent or impermanent, painful or pleasant, pure or impure, self or not self, empty or not empty, still or not still, separate or not separate; not in the unconditioned mark of the four fruits nor in the field of merit; not in the first ground up to the tenth ground; not in the many great vows of the first arousing of the mind, the five eyes, the samādhi gates, the dhāraṇī gates, the ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, great kindness and great compassion, the thirty-two marks and eighty minor marks, none of these; and on to the person of the eight, the srota-āpanna of at most seven births, the one who goes from family to family, the one who enters nirvāṇa in the interval, the sakṛdāgāmin, the eight kinds of anāgāmin, the nine kinds of arhat, every stage of fruit one by one, one should not abide, each tied to the one phrase ‘because there would be something attained’. Why? If the mind can be separate and unabiding within the five aggregates, that is true abiding; not abiding is not a sweeping denial, it is cutting off love of dharma and separating from the grasping of marks. Śāriputra thinks: if there is nothing anywhere to abide in, where after all does one abide to accomplish the Buddha path? Subhūti asks him back: where do the buddhas abide? The mind of the buddhas abides nowhere among all dharmas, does not abide in the mind that abides nowhere, does not abide in the mind that is not non-abiding, ultimately pure; the bodhisattva trains after the Buddha just so: I shall abide in the dharma of non-abiding. At the last the gods in the assembly raise a doubt: the words and phrases of the yakṣas can still be understood, but the prajñā Subhūti teaches cannot be known at all. Subhūti says: you were never meant to ‘know’ it; I expound nothing, I do not speak so much as a single letter, and there is no hearer either. He uses four similes in a row: the Buddha conjures a conjured person, and the conjured person conjures a fourfold assembly and teaches them the dharma; one sees the Buddha teaching the dharma in a dream; two people on either side of a deep ravine each praise the Buddha's dharma and the two echoes answer one another; a skilled conjurer at a crossroads conjures a Buddha and a fourfold assembly teaching the dharma. Of each he asks: is there here a speaker, a hearer, a knower? The gods all answer: there is not. Names are empty from the start, false and deceptive and without reality; where there is a name there is speech, where there is no name there is no speech. Prajñā is not different from the five aggregates; the real mark of the five aggregates is prajñā; these five aggregates are neither deep nor subtle, and omniscience of all kinds is neither deep nor subtle. When the Buddha attained awakening there was likewise no speaking; in the mark of stillness and extinction there is truly no speaker and no hearer. So those who wish to abide in the fruit of srota-āpanna and on to the Buddha path can none of them do without this acceptance; the bodhisattva, from the first arousing of the mind, should abide in prajñā just so, because there is no speaking and no hearing. All contemplations cease and speech is cut off, and so it cannot be spoken, cannot be heard, cannot be known; receiving nothing and clinging to nothing among all dharmas, one enters nirvāṇa. A grand assembly of gods gathered like clouds and the Buddha's light shining alone, when all is said, only asks one to set down this single word ‘abide’: abiding without abiding anywhere, speaking without speaking anything, returning to receiving nothing and clinging to nothing.

The Emptiness of the Five Aggregates and the Emptiness of the Bodhisattva Are Not Two and Not Different: Within Prajñā One Should Abide Thus

At that time Subhūti said to Śakra Devānām Indra: ‘Kauśika! You should now listen to how, within prajñāpāramitā, the bodhisattva-mahāsattva has what he should abide in and what he should not abide in. Kauśika! Form—form is empty; feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness—consciousness is empty; the bodhisattva—the bodhisattva too is empty. This emptiness of form and the emptiness of the bodhisattva are not two and not different; the emptiness of feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness and the emptiness of the bodhisattva are likewise not two and not different. Kauśika! Within prajñāpāramitā the bodhisattva-mahāsattva should abide in just this way.

‘Furthermore, the eye—the eye is empty; and so on up to the mind—the mind is empty; the bodhisattva—the bodhisattva too is empty. The emptiness of the eye, and so on up to the emptiness of the bodhisattva, are not two and not different. The six sense-objects (form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas) are likewise. The earth element—the earth element is empty; and so on up to the consciousness element—the consciousness element is empty; the bodhisattva—the bodhisattva too is empty. Kauśika! The emptiness of the earth element, and so on up to the emptiness of the consciousness element, and the emptiness of the bodhisattva are not two and not different. Kauśika! Within prajñāpāramitā the bodhisattva-mahāsattva should abide in just this way. Ignorance—ignorance is empty; and so on up to old age and death—old age and death are empty; the cessation of ignorance—the cessation of ignorance too is empty; and so on up to the cessation of old age and death—the cessation of old age and death too is empty; the bodhisattva—the bodhisattva too is empty. Kauśika! The emptiness of ignorance up to the emptiness of old age and death, the emptiness of the cessation of ignorance up to the emptiness of the cessation of old age and death, and the emptiness of the bodhisattva are not two and not different. Kauśika! Within prajñāpāramitā the bodhisattva-mahāsattva should abide in just this way. Dānapāramitā up to prajñāpāramitā (the six perfections), inner emptiness up to the emptiness of non-existent and existent dharmas (the eighteen emptinesses), the four foundations of mindfulness up to the eighteen unshared dharmas, all the samādhi gates, all the dhāraṇī gates, the śrāvaka vehicle, the pratyekabuddha vehicle, the Buddha vehicle, the śrāvaka, the pratyekabuddha, the bodhisattva, the Buddha—all of these are likewise. Omniscience of all kinds—omniscience of all kinds is empty; the bodhisattva—the bodhisattva too is empty; the emptiness of omniscience of all kinds and the emptiness of the bodhisattva are not two and not different. Kauśika! Within prajñāpāramitā the bodhisattva-mahāsattva should abide in just this way.’

What Is It That One Should Not Abide In: One Should Not Abide, Because in All Dharmas There Is Something to Be Attained

At that time Śakra Devānām Indra asked Subhūti: ‘Within prajñāpāramitā, what is it that the bodhisattva should not abide in?’

Subhūti said: ‘Kauśika! The bodhisattva-mahāsattva should not abide in form, because there is something to be attained; he should not abide in feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness, because there is something to be attained. He should not abide in the eye, and so on up to: he should not abide in the mind; he should not abide in forms, and so on up to: he should not abide in dharmas; in eye-consciousness up to mind-consciousness, in eye-contact up to mind-contact, in the feeling born from the condition of eye-contact up to the feeling born from the condition of mind-contact—in none of these should he abide, because there is something to be attained. In the earth element up to the consciousness element he should not abide, because there is something to be attained. In dānapāramitā up to prajñāpāramitā, in the four foundations of mindfulness up to the eighteen unshared dharmas he should not abide, because there is something to be attained. In the fruit of srota-āpanna he should not abide, because there is something to be attained; and so on up to: in the fruit of arhat, in the pratyekabuddha path, in the bodhisattva path, in the Buddha path, in omniscience of all kinds—in none of these should he abide, because there is something to be attained.

‘Furthermore, Kauśika! The bodhisattva-mahāsattva should not abide in 「色是常」 tr. "form is permanent", and should not abide in 「色是無常」 tr. "form is impermanent" either; feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness are likewise. Whether form is pleasant or is suffering, pure or impure, self or non-self, empty or not empty, calmly extinguished or not calmly extinguished, apart or not apart—in none of these should he abide, because there is something to be attained; feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness are likewise.

‘Furthermore, Kauśika! The bodhisattva-mahāsattva should not abide in the unconditioned mark of the fruit of srota-āpanna, the unconditioned mark of the fruit of sakṛdāgāmin, the unconditioned mark of the fruit of anāgāmin, the unconditioned mark of the fruit of arhat; in the unconditioned mark of the pratyekabuddha path and the unconditioned mark of the Buddha path he likewise should not abide. In the field of merit of the srota-āpanna he should not abide; in the field of merit of the sakṛdāgāmin, the anāgāmin, the arhat, the pratyekabuddha, and the Buddha he likewise should not abide.

‘Furthermore, Kauśika! The bodhisattva-mahāsattva should not abide in the first ground, because there is something to be attained; and so on up to: he should not abide in the tenth ground, because there is something to be attained.

From the First Arousing of the Mind to Becoming a Buddha and Saving Beings: In Each and Every Vow One Should Not Abide

‘Furthermore, the bodhisattva-mahāsattva, abiding in the very first arousing of the mind, should not abide in 「我當圓滿檀波羅蜜」 tr. "I shall fulfil dānapāramitā", and so on up to: he should not abide in 「我當圓滿般若波羅蜜」 tr. "I shall fulfil prajñāpāramitā"; 「圓滿六波羅蜜便當入菩薩位」 tr. "having fulfilled the six perfections, I shall then enter the bodhisattva position"—he should not abide in this; 「入菩薩位之後，當住阿鞞跋致（不退轉）地」 tr. "after entering the bodhisattva position, I shall abide in the ground of avaivartika (non-retrogressing)"—he should not abide in this; 「菩薩當圓滿五神通」 tr. "the bodhisattva shall fulfil the five supernormal powers"—he should not abide in this, because there is something to be attained. 「菩薩安住五神通之後，我當遊歷無量阿僧祇佛界，禮敬、供養諸佛，聽聞正法；聽法之後，為他人宣說」 tr. "after the bodhisattva abides in the five supernormal powers, I shall travel through immeasurable asaṃkhyeya Buddha-realms, pay homage to and make offerings to the Buddhas, and hear the true Dharma; having heard the Dharma, I shall proclaim it for others"—in this way the bodhisattva-mahāsattva should not abide, because there is something to be attained. 「如同諸佛世界的莊嚴清淨，我也當莊嚴世界」 tr. "just as the worlds of the Buddhas are adorned and pure, I too shall adorn a world"—he should not abide in this, because there is something to be attained. 「成就眾生，令他們進入佛道」 tr. "to bring beings to maturity and cause them to enter the Buddha path"—he should not abide in this; 「前往無量阿僧祇世界諸佛的處所，尊重、愛敬、供養，用香華、瓔珞、澤香、搗香、幢幡、華蓋、百千億種寶衣供養諸佛」 tr. "to go to the places of the Buddhas of immeasurable asaṃkhyeya worlds, to honour, love, revere, and make offerings to them, making offerings to the Buddhas with incense and flowers, necklaces, ointment incense, powdered incense, banners and pennants, flower canopies, and a hundred thousand koṭi kinds of jewelled robes"—he should not abide in this, because there is something to be attained. 「我當令無量阿僧祇眾生發起阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心」 tr. "I shall cause immeasurable asaṃkhyeya beings to arouse the mind of anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi"—in this way the bodhisattva should not abide; 「我當生起五眼——肉眼、天眼、慧眼、法眼、佛眼」 tr. "I shall give rise to the five eyes—the fleshly eye, the divine eye, the wisdom eye, the Dharma eye, and the Buddha eye"—he should not abide in this; 「我當生起一切三昧門」 tr. "I shall give rise to all the samādhi gates"—he should not abide in this; 「隨心所欲遊戲於諸三昧」 tr. "to sport in the samādhis just as the mind wishes"—he should not abide in this; 「我當生起一切陀羅尼門」 tr. "I shall give rise to all the dhāraṇī gates"—he should not abide in this; 「我當得佛的十力」 tr. "I shall attain the ten powers of a Buddha"—he should not abide in this; 「我當得四無所畏、四無礙智、十八不共法」 tr. "I shall attain the four fearlessnesses, the four unobstructed knowledges, and the eighteen unshared dharmas"—he should not abide in this; 「我當圓滿大慈大悲」 tr. "I shall fulfil great kindness and great compassion"—he should not abide in this; 「我當圓滿三十二相」 tr. "I shall fulfil the thirty-two marks"—he should not abide in this; 「我當圓滿八十隨形好」 tr. "I shall fulfil the eighty minor marks"—he should not abide in this, because there is something to be attained.

The Persons of the Eight and the Sequence of the Four Fruits: From the Faith-Follower and the Dharma-Follower up to Entering Nirvāṇa Without Remainder, One Should Not Abide in Any

‘These persons of the eight—this is a faith-follower, this is a dharma-follower—in this way he should not abide; 「須陀洹極多七世受生」 tr. "the srota-āpanna receives birth seven times at the most"—he should not abide in this; 「家家（須陀洹之一類）」 tr. "the one who goes from family to family (a kind of srota-āpanna)"—he should not abide in this; 「須陀洹此生命終、垢染盡除」 tr. "the srota-āpanna who, when this life ends, has his defilements entirely removed"—he should not abide in this; 「須陀洹於中間入涅槃」 tr. "the srota-āpanna who enters nirvāṇa in between"—he should not abide in this; 「這人趣向斯陀含、取證果位」 tr. "this person is heading for sakṛdāgāmin and for the realisation of its fruit"—he should not abide in this; 「這人是斯陀含，一往一來便入涅槃」 tr. "this person is a sakṛdāgāmin: going once and coming once, he then enters nirvāṇa"—he should not abide in this; 「這人趣向阿那含、取證果位」 tr. "this person is heading for anāgāmin and for the realisation of its fruit"—he should not abide in this; 「斯陀含之一種子」 tr. "the single-seed sakṛdāgāmin"—he should not abide in this; 「這人是阿那含，於彼處入涅槃」 tr. "this person is an anāgāmin, who enters nirvāṇa in that other place"—he should not abide in this; 「這人趣向阿羅漢、取證果位」 tr. "this person is heading for arhatship and for the realisation of its fruit"—he should not abide in this; 「這人是阿羅漢，此生入無餘涅槃」 tr. "this person is an arhat, who in this life enters nirvāṇa without remainder"—he should not abide in this; 「這是辟支佛」 tr. "this is a pratyekabuddha"—he should not abide in this; 「越過聲聞、辟支佛地，我當安住菩薩地」 tr. "passing beyond the grounds of the śrāvaka and the pratyekabuddha, I shall abide in the bodhisattva ground"—he should not abide in this; in the knowledge of the kinds of paths he should not abide, because there is something to be attained. 「一切種、一切法都了知之後，斷盡諸煩惱以及習氣」 tr. "having fully known all kinds and all dharmas, to cut off completely the afflictions together with their residual habits"—he should not abide in this; 「佛得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，當轉法輪」 tr. "the Buddha, having attained anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, shall turn the wheel of the Dharma"—he should not abide in this; 「作佛所作之事，度無量阿僧祇眾生令入涅槃」 tr. "to do the work that a Buddha does, saving immeasurable asaṃkhyeya beings and causing them to enter nirvāṇa"—he should not abide in this.

‘In the four bases of supernormal power he should not abide; 「入這三昧，住世如恒河沙等劫那樣長的壽命」 tr. "entering this samādhi, to remain in the world with a lifespan as long as kalpas equal to the sands of the Ganges"—he should not abide in this; 「我當得無有殃咎、無可計數之劫的壽命」 tr. "I shall attain a lifespan without calamity, of kalpas beyond counting"—he should not abide in this; 「三十二相，一一相都以百福莊嚴」 tr. "the thirty-two marks, each and every mark adorned with a hundred merits"—he should not abide in this; 「我的一個世界，如十方恒河沙等世界那麼廣」 tr. "a single world of mine as vast as worlds equal to the sands of the Ganges in the ten directions"—he should not abide in this; 「我的三千大千世界純是金剛」 tr. "my three-thousand great-thousand world made purely of vajra"—he should not abide in this; 「使我的菩提樹當出如此妙香，眾生聞到的，都沒有婬欲、瞋恚、愚癡，也沒有聲聞、辟支佛之心，這一切人必當得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提；若眾生聞到這香的，身病、意病都全部除盡」 tr. "may my bodhi tree give forth such a wondrous fragrance that the beings who smell it are all without lust, hatred, and delusion, and without the mind of the śrāvaka or the pratyekabuddha, and all these people shall surely attain anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi; and if beings smell this fragrance, their illnesses of body and illnesses of mind are all entirely removed"—he should not abide in this.

‘「當使我的世界之中沒有色、受、想、行、識的名字」 tr. "I shall cause there to be, within my world, no names of form, feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness"—he should not abide in this; 「當使我的世界之中沒有檀波羅蜜的名字，乃至沒有般若波羅蜜的名字，當使我的世界之中沒有四念處的名字乃至沒有十八不共法的名字，也沒有須陀洹的名字乃至沒有佛的名字」 tr. "I shall cause there to be, within my world, no name of dānapāramitā, and so on up to no name of prajñāpāramitā; I shall cause there to be, within my world, no name of the four foundations of mindfulness, and so on up to no name of the eighteen unshared dharmas, and also no name of srota-āpanna, and so on up to no name of Buddha"—he should not abide in this, because there is something to be attained. Why is that? Because when the Buddhas attain anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, all dharmas are nothing to be attained. Just so, Kauśika! Within prajñāpāramitā the bodhisattva should not abide, because there is nothing to be attained.’

Where Do the Buddhas Abide: As the Buddhas Abide in Dharmas, Neither Abiding Nor Not Abiding

At that time Śāriputra thought in his mind: ‘How, now, in the end, does the bodhisattva abide within prajñāpāramitā?’

Subhūti, knowing what Śāriputra was thinking in his mind, then said to Śāriputra: ‘What do you think? Where do the Buddhas abide?’

Śāriputra said to Subhūti: ‘The Buddhas have no place of abiding. The Buddhas do not abide in form, do not abide in feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness; they do not abide in the conditioned nature, do not abide in the unconditioned nature; they do not abide in the four foundations of mindfulness, and so on up to: they do not abide in the eighteen unshared dharmas, do not abide in omniscience of all kinds.’

Subhūti said: ‘Śāriputra! Within prajñāpāramitā the bodhisattva-mahāsattva should abide in just this way: as the Buddhas abide within dharmas, neither abiding nor not abiding. Śāriputra! Within prajñāpāramitā the bodhisattva-mahāsattva should train in just this way: I shall abide by way of 「住於不住之法」 tr. "abiding in the dharma of non-abiding".’

The Treatise Explains Abiding and Not Abiding: The Five Aggregates Are Empty of Mark, as the Going-Out of a Sandalwood Fire Is No Different from the Going-Out of a Fire of Dung, Grass, and Wood

What follows is the treatise-author's explanation.

The treatise-author says: What is called abiding within prajñāpāramitā is this: the five aggregates (form, feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness) and the mark of the five aggregates are all empty.

The five aggregates are empty of mark because they are contemplated by means of the eighteen emptinesses.

Furthermore, the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra speaks the meaning of emptiness: the mark of the five aggregates is empty; it is only because ordinary people are inverted that they cling to the mark of the five aggregates, and, within the coming together of the five aggregates, further cling to the mark of a bodhisattva. Within prajñāpāramitā, beings are removed by the emptiness of beings, and so there is no mark of a bodhisattva; the five aggregates are removed by the emptiness of dharmas, and so there is no mark of the five aggregates. These two kinds of emptiness are without distinction, and therefore it is said: ‘The emptiness of the five aggregates and the emptiness of the bodhisattva are without duality and without difference.’ It is like a fire of sandalwood going out and a fire of dung, grass, and wood going out: the matter of going out is in itself no different. It is by taking the mark from the time before the going-out and speaking of it at the time after the going-out that there comes to be a difference; within the going-out there is no difference.

And so on up to omniscience of all kinds: it is likewise.

The Treatise Explains Why Not Abiding Is Spoken Of: When the Mind Is Apart from the Five Aggregates and Does Not Abide, That Is the Meaning of Abiding

‘Should not abide’ means that one should not abide within the five aggregates.

Someone asks: One ought to speak of what the meaning of abiding is; why then is ‘not abiding’ spoken of?

The answer: If, within the five aggregates, the mind can be apart from them and not abide, this is the meaning of abiding. Therefore it is said: ‘One should not abide, because there is something to be attained.’

And so on up to omniscience of all kinds: it is likewise.

Earlier it was said, ‘within the five aggregates one should not abide’, and it was not yet known by which gate one should not abide; now it says, ‘within the gates of permanence, impermanence, and so on, one should not abide, and so on up to: within being apart, too, one should not abide’.

The Treatise Explains Why One Should Not Abide in the Unconditioned Mark of the Four Fruits: Nirvāṇa Is Precisely the Unconditioned Mark, and to Grasp It Is to Fall Back

Someone asks: The unconditioned mark of the fruit of srota-āpanna and the rest should not be abided in—what sequence is there here?

The answer: The bodhisattva first contemplates all dharmas as empty and without anything existent, and his mind then shrinks back and sinks, wishing to grasp nirvāṇa; nirvāṇa is precisely the unconditioned mark, and therefore it now says, ‘the unconditioned mark of the fruit of srota-āpanna and the rest should not be abided in’.

Supposing it is the unconditioned mark of the fruit of srota-āpanna, then there is no dharma that can be clung to—what is there to love? What is there to grasp? Supposing it is a conditioned mark, a conditioned mark is deceptive and unreal, and likewise should not be abided in. Therefore it is said, ‘the unconditioned mark of the fruit of srota-āpanna should not be abided in, and so on up to: the unconditioned mark of the Buddha should not be abided in—it is likewise’.

The Treatise Explains Why One Should Not Abide in the Field of Merit: The Karmic Result of a Good Field Is Immeasurable, Yet to Discriminate Fields of Merit Destroys Great Compassion

It is as when the bodhisattva, wishing to practise the Buddha path, first practises dānapāramitā and ought to seek a field of merit. Why is that? Because of the merit arising from the causes and conditions of the field of merit, the vows he has made can be fulfilled. It is like sowing in a good field: the profit of the harvest is great; as the Buddha said, the result of other fields has a limit, but the field of the worthy and noble is immeasurable, and its result too is immeasurable. The bodhisattva, hearing that the result of these fields of merit—the srota-āpanna and the rest—is immeasurable, then wishes to become a srota-āpanna; therefore it is said: ‘The field of merit of the srota-āpanna should not be abided in, and so on up to the pratyekabuddha: it is likewise.’

Someone asks: Because the two vehicles are small, one ought to pass beyond them and not abide in them; but why is the field of merit of the Buddha also not to be abided in?

The answer: In the Dharma of the bodhisattva, one ought to be even toward all dharmas; if one takes the Buddha as great and beings as small, one destroys the even mark of dharmas.

Furthermore, because of emptiness, in no place at all should one abide.

Furthermore, the bodhisattva ought to give with an even mind; if he discriminates fields of merit, he destroys great compassion, and also destroys the giving that is pure in three parts.

The Treatise Explains Not Abiding in Ground after Ground: Without Letting Go of the First Ground One Does Not Attain the Second; Let Go of the Small Gain to Seek the Great Benefit

‘Should not abide in the first ground’: if one does not let go of the first ground, one cannot attain the second ground; for the sake of seeking a great benefit, one ought to let go of a small gain. Furthermore, because one takes marks with a clinging mind, one should not abide. And so on up to the tenth ground: it is likewise.

Someone asks: If the Dharma of the bodhisattva-mahāsattva is that from the first arousing of the mind one should practise the six perfections, that by practising the six perfections one enters the position of dharma, that by entering the position of dharma one should abide in the ground of avaivartika, and that after abiding in the ground of avaivartika one should give rise to the five supernormal powers and make offerings to the Buddhas of the ten directions—as is spoken of at length in the text below—why now is it all said, ‘one should not abide’?

The answer: This does not destroy pure abiding; it only destroys the abiding of the wrong view that reckons on and clings to 「我」 tr. "a self" and of the mind that takes marks—as, for example, in tending a field one removes the weeds from it.

Furthermore, it is for the sake of cutting off love of dharma that one should not abide; it is so as not to go against the wisdom of ultimate emptiness spoken by the Buddhas that one should not abide. If, with skilful means and a mind that does not cling, one does so out of pity for beings, then even though one abides there is no fault.

And so on up to the eighty minor marks: it is likewise.

The Treatise Explains the Persons of the Eight and the Realisation of the Fruits: From the Faith-Follower and the Dharma-Follower up to the Nine Kinds of Arhat

‘The persons of the eight’ are the faith-follower and the dharma-follower within the path of seeing the truths.

The srota-āpanna receives birth seven times at the very longest; some srota-āpannas have their afflictions entirely removed in this life and attain arhatship.

There is the srota-āpanna who goes from family to family, receiving birth three times; after receiving birth three times, he enters nirvāṇa. There is the srota-āpanna who enters in between: leaving aside the third, the rest enter nirvāṇa in between. Those who abide within the six non-obstructions and the five liberations are all srota-āpannas heading for sakṛdāgāmin.

One who cuts off six kinds of fetters of the desire realm, is born in the heavens, and from the heavens comes again to the human world and enters nirvāṇa, is called a sakṛdāgāmin.

Cutting off the seventh portion of the fetters of the desire realm is called heading for anāgāmin. Cutting off the eighth portion of the fetters is also called heading for anāgāmin, and is also called the single-seed sakṛdāgāmin: dying in this place and being born in that place, he enters nirvāṇa.

One who is able to cut off all the fetters of the desire realm is called an anāgāmin: dying in this place, he is born in the form realm or the formless realm and enters nirvāṇa, and does not come back to receive birth again.

There is the anāgāmin who passes into extinction in this very life; there is the anāgāmin who passes into extinction in the intermediate existence; there is the anāgāmin who enters nirvāṇa at the moment of receiving birth; there is the anāgāmin who, after receiving birth, cultivates and arouses the practices and enters nirvāṇa; there is the anāgāmin who enters nirvāṇa without diligently seeking the practices; there is the anāgāmin who goes upward, as far as the Akaniṣṭha heaven; there is the anāgāmin who is born in the formless realm and enters nirvāṇa; there is the anāgāmin who attains the bodily witness and enters nirvāṇa. These are called anāgāmins, and are also called those heading for arhatship.

There are nine kinds of arhat; at the time when, the outflows exhausted, they give up the body, it is called entering nirvāṇa without remainder.

Passing beyond the grounds of the śrāvaka and the pratyekabuddha, abiding in the bodhisattva ground; accomplishing the knowledge of the kinds of paths and omniscience of all kinds, and knowing all dharmas; cutting off all afflictions together with their residual habits; becoming a Buddha and turning the wheel of the Dharma; being endowed with the thirty-two marks; adorning a world and saving immeasurable beings; an immeasurable lifespan—all of these are as was said in the earlier discussions.

The Treatise Explains Supernormal Powers, Lifespan, and the Vajra World: The Bodhisattva Thinking to Himself Gives Rise to a Lofty Mind, and Here One Should Not Abide

The śrāvaka, having cultivated the four bases of supernormal power well, gains the power of this samādhi and can remain alive for a kalpa or for somewhat less than a kalpa. The bodhisattva, having cultivated the samādhi of the four bases of supernormal power well, if he wishes for a lifespan of kalpas like the sands of the Ganges, can also accomplish it as he wishes.

‘The three-thousand great-thousand world made purely of vajra’: in other worlds, although there is vajra at the bottom, and there is vajra where the Buddha walks and where he sits, the other places have none; this is a vow the bodhisattva makes: that the world be entirely vajra.

‘The fragrance of the bodhi tree converting beings’: it is as was said in the earlier discussion of meaning.

Someone asks: Although the matters here are rare, they are all still believable; but to say 「沒有色、受、想、行、識的名字，沒有檀波羅蜜的名字乃至佛的名字」 tr. "there are no names of form, feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness, no name of dānapāramitā, and so on up to the name of Buddha"—this is truly hard to believe!

The answer: There is a kind of world that is the place where people of great merit and wisdom are born; there the trees, the sky, the earth, the mountains and waters, and so on, constantly give forth the sound of the real mark of all dharmas—that all dharmas are neither arising nor ceasing, neither pure nor stained, empty, signless, without action, and so on; beings, as soon as they are born, hear this sound and naturally attain the acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas. Within a world such as this, there is no need to explain the names of dharmas one by one—that is, the so-called five aggregates, twelve sense-fields, and so on, dānapāramitā up to the eighteen unshared dharmas, the srota-āpanna up to the Buddhas. The beings within this world all have their bodies adorned with the thirty-two marks and the eighty minor marks, immeasurable light, one kind of path, and one kind of fruit.

‘Here one should not abide’: the bodhisattva thinks to himself: ‘I am able to give rise to such a world’—and then a mind of lofty pride would arise; therefore he should not take marks and abide.

Here Subhūti himself explains the causes and conditions of not abiding: ‘When the Buddhas attain the Buddha path, within all dharmas they do not find any fixed, real mark—where then would they still abide!’

Now Śāriputra thinks thus: ‘If there is nowhere at all to abide, where must one abide in order to accomplish the Buddha path?’

Subhūti, knowing what Śāriputra was thinking in his mind, then said to Śāriputra: ‘The bodhisattvas are all children of the Buddha; by the dharma of being a son or a daughter, one ought to do as the father does.’

The mind of the Buddhas abides nowhere within all dharmas—that is, form up to omniscience of all kinds; the bodhisattva too ought to train in this way, practising prajñāpāramitā with a mind that abides nowhere. Just as the Buddhas do not abide even in the mind that abides nowhere, and do not abide in the mind that is not non-abiding either, because of ultimate purity, so the bodhisattvas too ought to abide following the Buddha; because of ultimate purity, the bodhisattvas too ought to train following the Buddha.

The Speech of Yakṣas Can Still Be Understood: What Subhūti Says Cannot Be Understood at All

What follows is the sūtra text.

At that time, among the assembly, there were gods who thought thus: ‘What the words and phrases of the yakṣas' speech say can still be understood; but the words and the discussion of meaning that Subhūti speaks in explaining prajñāpāramitā cannot be understood at all!’

Subhūti, knowing what the gods were thinking in their minds, then said to the gods: ‘Do you not understand, do you not know?’

The gods said: ‘Venerable One! We do not understand, we do not know.’

Subhūti said to the gods: ‘By the Dharma you ought, from the very first, not to know! I have nothing I discourse on; I do not speak even a single word, and there is no listener either. Why is that? Words are not prajñāpāramitā; within prajñāpāramitā there is no listener; the anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi of the Buddhas is without words and without speaking.

Four Similes Showing That There Is No Speaking and No Hearing: The Conjured Person, the Dream, the Two Echoes in the Deep Ravine, and the Skilled Conjurer

‘Gods! Suppose the Buddha conjures up a conjured person, and this conjured person in turn conjures up the fourfold assembly—bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas, and upāsikās—and the conjured person expounds the Dharma within the fourfold assembly. What do you think? Within this, is there one who speaks, one who hears, one who knows?’

The gods said: ‘There is not, Venerable One!’

Subhūti said: ‘All dharmas are like a conjured transformation; within this there is no one who speaks, no one who hears, no one who knows. Gods! It is as when a person in a dream sees the Buddha expounding the Dharma. What do you think? Within this, is there one who speaks, one who hears, one who knows?’

The gods said: ‘There is not, Venerable One!’

Subhūti said to the gods: ‘All dharmas are like a dream: there is no one who speaks, no one who hears, no one who knows. Gods! It is as when two people are in a great deep ravine, each standing on one side, praising the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha, and two kinds of echo come forth. What do the gods think? Can the echoes of these two people understand each other in turn?’

The gods said: ‘They cannot, Venerable One!’

Subhūti said to the gods: ‘All dharmas are likewise: there is no one who speaks, no one who hears, no one who knows. Gods! It is as when a skilled conjurer, at a crossroads open in all four directions, conjures up a Buddha and the fourfold assembly and expounds the Dharma among them. What do the gods think? Within this, is there one who speaks, one who hears, one who knows?’

The gods said: ‘There is not, Venerable One!’

Subhūti said to the gods: ‘All dharmas are like an illusion: there is no one who speaks, no one who hears, no one who knows.’

Deeper and Ever More Subtle: Form Is Neither Deep Nor Subtle; Within This Dharma Names and Speech Are Not Spoken

At that time the gods thought in their minds: ‘What Subhūti says was meant to make it easy for people to understand, but instead it becomes deeper and more subtle!’

Subhūti, knowing what the gods were thinking in their minds, then said to the gods: ‘Form is neither deep nor subtle; feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness are neither deep nor subtle; the nature of form is neither deep nor subtle; the nature of feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness is neither deep nor subtle. The nature of the eye up to the nature of the mind, the nature of forms up to the nature of dharmas, the nature of the eye element up to the nature of the mind element, eye-consciousness up to mind-consciousness, eye-contact up to mind-contact, the feeling born from the condition of eye-contact up to the feeling born from the condition of mind-contact, dānapāramitā up to prajñāpāramitā, inner emptiness up to the emptiness of non-existent and existent dharmas, the four foundations of mindfulness up to the eighteen unshared dharmas, all the samādhi gates, all the dhāraṇī gates, and so on up to omniscience of all kinds and the nature of omniscience of all kinds—all are neither deep nor subtle.’

The gods again thought thus: ‘Within this dharma that is spoken, form is not spoken of; feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness are not spoken of; the eye up to the feeling born from the condition of mind-contact is not spoken of; dānapāramitā up to prajñāpāramitā is not spoken of; inner emptiness up to the emptiness of non-existent and existent dharmas is not spoken of; the four foundations of mindfulness up to the eighteen unshared dharmas are not spoken of; the dhāraṇī gates, the samādhi gates, up to omniscience of all kinds are not spoken of; the fruit of srota-āpanna up to the fruit of arhat is not spoken of, the pratyekabuddha path is not spoken of, the path of anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi is not spoken of—within this dharma, names and speech are not spoken.’

Subhūti, knowing what the gods were thinking in their minds, then said to the gods: ‘Just so! Just so! Gods! Within this dharma, the anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi attained by the Buddhas is of an unspeakable mark, and within it too there is no one who speaks, no one who hears, no one who knows. Therefore, gods, when good men and good women wish to abide in the fruit of srota-āpanna and wish to realise the fruit of srota-āpanna, these people are not apart from this 「忍」 tr. "acceptance"; those who wish to abide in and wish to realise sakṛdāgāmin, anāgāmin, the fruit of arhat, the pratyekabuddha path, and the Buddha path are likewise not apart from this 「忍」 tr. "acceptance". Just so, gods! From the first arousing of the mind, the bodhisattva-mahāsattva should abide within prajñāpāramitā in just this way, because there is no speaking and no hearing.’

The Treatise Explains the Yakṣa Simile: It Simply Takes What People Do Not Understand to Compare with What the Gods Have Not Yet Awakened To

What follows is the treatise-author's explanation.

Someone asks: Although the speech of the yakṣas is obscure and not correct, what it refers to is vulgar and shallow; the explanation of deep prajñāpāramitā, though it uses ordinary words, has a hidden and far-reaching purport—the matters differ and the purports run contrary; why are they brought together in comparison?

The answer: The gods simply take what people cannot understand to compare with what they themselves have not yet awakened to; it is not necessary for the matters referred to and the purports to be the same before a simile can be made.

Some say: The lord of the gods has nine hundred and ninety-nine gates, and each gate is guarded by sixteen blue-robed yakṣas. The speech of these yakṣas is loose and false, and their manner is bewitching and fawning; the gods hold them in contempt and pay them no mind, and so do not understand their speech; yet the drift of their speech can be recognised without argument in words, and so it is said ‘can still be understood’. Now, hearing the deep prajñā, the words seem within reach, but the hidden, profound purport is deep; though one searches it deeply, one loses it the farther; and so the speech of the yakṣas is used as a comparison for how hard prajñā is to understand.

Again, because although the speech of the yakṣas is hard to understand, when the eyes see their appearance, and one conveys their speech and gauges their intent, it can all be known; it is like the swift current of a deep abyss: once one has a boat, one can cross it.

The Treatise Explains That Names Are All Empty: Ultimate Emptiness Has No Fixed Mark, and One Cannot Be Brought to Awakening by Its Being Relayed and Translated

The prajñāpāramitā that Subhūti speaks—the meaning of ultimate emptiness—has no fixed mark and cannot be clung to; one cannot be brought to awakening by its being relayed and translated; one may not say 「有」 tr. "existent", may not say 「無」 tr. "non-existent", may not say 「有無」 tr. "both existent and non-existent", may not say 「非有非無」 tr. "neither existent nor non-existent", and even 「非非有非非無」 tr. "neither not-existent nor not-non-existent" is not there, because the place of all the mind's activity is extinguished and the way of words is cut off. Therefore the gods were startled, doubtful, bewildered, and oppressed.

Subhūti answered the gods: ‘What you do not understand—you ought, from the very first, to be just so! This Dharma has nothing that can be said, down to there not being even a single word that can be clung to or grasped; without words and without speech—this indeed is the path of the Buddhas.’ Why is that? These names are all empty, deceptive and unreal, as was said within names at the time when form was refuted. By using names there is speech; if there are no names, there is no speech.

The gods thought thus: ‘If there is no speaking and no hearing, then this coming together in assembly today—what is it for?’

Subhūti, wishing to explain this meaning, then used similes to make it clear.

The gods again thought thus: ‘Subhūti wishes to use similes to make us awaken, but these similes have become deeper and more subtle still!’

A simile is fundamentally the use of the coarse to illustrate the fine, and of a fixed matter to make clear an unfixed principle; but now these similes too are subtle and without a fixed mark.

The Treatise Explains That Prajñā Is Not Different from the Five Aggregates: It Is Not I Alone Who Am So; When the Buddha Attained Awakening There Was Likewise No Speaking

Subhūti, knowing that the minds of the gods were lost and sunk within deep prajñā and could not get themselves out, therefore said: ‘Prajñāpāramitā is not different from the five aggregates; the real mark of the five aggregates is precisely prajñāpāramitā. Now these five aggregates are neither deep nor subtle, and so on up to omniscience of all kinds: neither deep nor subtle.’

The gods at this time knew deeply that although Subhūti spoke of form with his mouth, in his mind there was in truth nothing spoken, and so on up to anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi: it was likewise.

Subhūti, knowing the minds of the gods, answered: ‘Just so! Just so! It is not I alone who am so! When the Buddha attained awakening there was likewise no speaking; in the mark of calm extinction there is in truth no one who speaks and no one who hears. Therefore the fruit of srota-āpanna up to the Buddha path all exist by virtue of the unconditioned dharma; apart from this dharma, apart from this 「忍」 tr. "acceptance", there is no srota-āpanna, and so on up to the Buddha path: it is likewise. From the bodhisattva's first arousing of the mind up to his becoming a Buddha, in all that time, all dharmas are without speaking and without hearing.’

Because all contemplations have come to rest, and because speech is cut off, it cannot be spoken; because it cannot be spoken, it cannot be heard; because it cannot be heard, it cannot be known; because it cannot be known, toward all dharmas there is no receiving and no clinging—and this is entering nirvāṇa.

Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Fascicle Fifty-Four.