大智度論 校量舍利品之上Dazhidulun — Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa · Weighing the Relics, Part 1 of 2

In this chapter the Buddha sets a hard problem on the scales. He asks Śakra: put the Buddha's relics filling Jambudvīpa on one side, and one written scroll of prajñāpāramitā on the other; of these two portions, which do you take? Śakra answers without the least hesitation: I would rather take the scroll of prajñā. It is not that he does not revere the relics; he says plainly that making offerings even to a relic the size of a mustard seed brings merit immeasurable and boundless. It is only that he sees one layer deeper: the relics are honoured because they ‘are born from prajñāpāramitā and are perfumed and cultivated by prajñāpāramitā’, and only therefore receive people's offerings. The relics are the fruit; prajñā is the root that perfumes them and brings them to be. To take prajñā is to take that from which the relics are born. This one weighing, one question, and one choice are the backbone of the whole chapter: the four Chinese characters rendered here as ‘weighing the relics’ weigh precisely which of relics and prajñā is root and which is branch.

Yet Śāriputra puts in a pointed challenge from the side: prajñā cannot be taken—it is without form, without shape, without resistance, only one mark, namely the signless; how can you ‘take’ it? Śakra's answer is fine: it is precisely because ‘prajñāpāramitā does not practise dual dharmas; the mark of non-dual dharmas is prajñāpāramitā’. What he takes is not some thing possessed of marks; what he takes is that prajñā which falls on neither side, without duality and without discrimination; it is for the benefit of those who have newly aroused the mind that he speaks, following worldly truth, of a ‘taking’. The Buddha hears this and praises him again and again, and pushes it one step deeper for him: the nature of dharmas and prajñā are without duality and without difference; the limit of reality and the nature of the inconceivable are likewise without duality and without difference from prajñā. Since prajñā is without mark and without appearance, without speech and without utterance, when the mind of one who receives and upholds it enters deeply, he ‘does not see any mark to be feared’—there is no mark there that could be feared. Śakra also offers an intimate comparison: he customarily sits in the Hall of Good Dharma, and even when he is not in his seat the gods pay homage to his empty seat and depart; in the same way, wherever a scroll of prajñā is, the gods, nāgas, and yakṣas of the ten directions come to pay homage and make offerings—because to see prajñā is no different from seeing the Buddha, since ‘prajñāpāramitā and the Buddha are without duality and without difference’. So the Buddha loads the scales heavier and heavier: from filling Jambudvīpa, to the three-thousand great-thousand world, and then to relics filling worlds as many as the sands of the Ganges; through three rounds of weighing Śakra takes prajñā alone, in a single taste.

Why are the relics honoured only in dependence on prajñā? The treatise-author explains it through the most down-to-earth comparison: it is like a debtor who draws near to the king and serves at the king's side, so that his creditors, reversing themselves, pay him reverence and make him offerings—the king is a simile for prajñā, the debtor for the relics. The relics were originally formed by the karmic causes of past lives, and the debts that must be repaid cannot be escaped; it is precisely because prajñā has perfumed and cultivated them that those retributions of past lives, hunger and thirst, cold and heat, cannot come near them, and instead they receive the offerings of gods and humans. Then the treatise-author spreads out the merits of prajñā in the most splendid passage of the whole chapter: the simile of the wish-fulfilling jewel. That priceless maṇi jewel of the world, having neither mind nor consciousness, can yet remove the four hundred and four sicknesses, break the darkness, remove heat and remove cold, dissolve snake-poison, and make muddy water clear; prajñā is likewise: it can remove the eighty-four thousand sicknesses, whose roots are the four sicknesses of greed, hatred, delusion, and their equal mixture, curing them one by one with the contemplation of impurity, the mind of kindness and compassion, and the contemplation of causes and conditions. The treatise-author goes on to distinguish it layer by layer: the jewel can heal only the fleshly eye, while prajñā can heal the wisdom-eye; when the jewel has healed the fleshly eye the sickness will later recur, but when prajñā heals the wisdom-eye it is ultimately pure—the merit of the jewel stops at one corner, while the merit of prajñā reaches through to the ultimate. If a jewel that is an indeterminate form-dharma is already like this, how much more prajñā, which is the unsurpassed wisdom, the mother of the buddhas, the first jewel among all the jewels of the Dharma.

In the lower half of the chapter Śakra changes his manner of asking: what is the mark of conditioned dharmas, and what the mark of unconditioned dharmas? The Buddha answers: the wisdom within inner emptiness and so on up to the eighteen unshared dharmas is the mark of conditioned dharmas; the ‘self-nature of dharmas’, which is without arising and without ceasing, without stain and without purity, without increase and without decrease, is the mark of unconditioned dharmas—and both of these marks of dharmas are wholly gathered within prajñāpāramitā: the conditioned is the place where practice moves, the unconditioned the place on which it relies. Following this ‘gathering of all dharmas’, the Buddha sets out the essential meaning of prajñā governing the six perfections: when a bodhisattva practises giving, upholds morality, and so on up to contemplating all dharmas, it is by having ‘prajñāpāramitā act as the bright guide’ that each can be fully accomplished as a perfection. It is like the trees of Jambudvīpa: their leaves, flowers, fruits, and colours each differ, yet their shade is without difference; when the perfections enter prajñā and reach sarvajñā, they too are of one taste, without difference. The treatise-author adds two cautionary similes: salt is the master of all flavours, yet a fool who hears this and eats salt alone loses the flavour and brings on sickness instead—to practise prajñā alone without joining it with the other five perfections is likewise to fall into wrong view and be unable to advance in wholesome dharmas; although it is said that all practices join together with prajñā as their master, it must not be practised alone. Again, it is like the four great rivers of Lake Anavatapta: once they enter the great sea they lose their own names and merge into one taste; giving and the rest, apart from prajñā, are variously different, but once they enter prajñā they are of one mark without difference.

The whole chapter closes on a choice that looks like an offence yet is the deepest of all. Śakra asks: to write out and make offerings to a scroll of prajñā oneself, or to give the scroll to another so that he may practise and learn—which merit is greater? The Buddha does not answer directly, but sets a question in turn using the relics: to make offerings to the relics oneself, or to divide off a relic the size of a mustard seed and give it to someone so that he may make offerings—which merit is greater? Śakra answers: the merit of dividing it and giving it to another to make offerings is greater—and the treatise-author lays bare the reason: because ‘it is given without any self and with a mind of kindness and compassion’. Reading and reciting alone may still carry the mind of self, and the merit is then small; to give the scroll to others and explain its meaning to them at length is to become for them the cause and condition of becoming a buddha; being without self, the merit is great. Someone presses one question further: since merit lies in the mind, why did the Buddha break his body into pieces the size of mustard seeds for people to make offerings to? The answer is entirely steady: a mind of pure faith is born from two causes and conditions—inwardly there is right recollection, outwardly there is a good field of merit; even good grain must fall into a good field before the harvest is great; though the mind be good, it must still rely on the relics before it brings forth the great result. Finally the Buddha himself bears witness that prajñā is supreme: the sages of the three times all learned the holy path from this, and he himself, having attained by this Dharma the unsurpassed holy state, now still turns back to honour this Dharma as his teacher. A weighing of relics against prajñā, weighed to the very end, weighs out a single sentence—‘prajñā is the root cause and condition of the bodhisattvas; the bodhisattvas are the root cause and condition of the buddhas; the buddhas are the cause and condition of great benefit and ease for all the world’. The relics are venerable because they are what prajñā has perfumed; the Buddha is venerable because he is what prajñā has given birth to. To take prajñā and make offerings to prajñā has never been a failure to revere the Buddha—to revere the source that gives birth to the Buddha and teaches the Buddha is precisely the deepest reverence for the Buddha. This is the heart of the chapter on weighing the relics.

The Relics and the Scroll of Prajñā as Two Portions, and Śakra Takes Prajñā: The Relics Are Born from Prajñā

The Buddha told Śakra Devānām Indra (Śakra), saying: ‘Kauśika (another name for Śakra)! If the Buddha's relics filling Jambudvīpa (the great continent on which we live) were made one portion, and a scroll of the prajñāpāramitā sūtra written out by someone were made another portion, which of these two portions would you take?’

Śakra Devānām Indra addressed the Buddha: ‘World-Honored One! If the Buddha's relics filling Jambudvīpa were made one portion, and the scroll of the prajñāpāramitā sūtra were made another portion, of these two portions I would rather take the scroll of the prajñāpāramitā sūtra. Why? World-Honored One! It is not that I am without reverence for the Buddha's relics, nor that I am without esteem for them; it is only because the relics are born from prajñāpāramitā and are perfumed and cultivated by prajñāpāramitā that these relics receive offerings, reverence, esteem, and praise.’

At that time Śāriputra asked Śakra Devānām Indra: ‘Kauśika! This prajñāpāramitā cannot be taken; it is without form, without shape, without resistance (having no object standing over against it), and has only one mark, namely the signless. Why then would you take it? Why do I say this? Because this prajñāpāramitā does not appear for the sake of taking, does not appear for the sake of relinquishing, and does not appear for the sake of increase, decrease, gathering, dispersal, loss, gain, defilement, or purity. This prajñāpāramitā does not give the dharmas of the buddhas, nor does it abandon the dharmas of ordinary people; it does not give the dharmas of the pratyekabuddha, the dharmas of the arhat, or the dharmas of those in training, nor does it abandon the dharmas of ordinary people; it does not give the nature of the unconditioned, nor does it abandon the nature of the conditioned; it does not give inner emptiness and so on up to the emptiness of non-existent and existent dharmas, it does not give the four foundations of mindfulness and so on up to the omniscience of all kinds, nor does it abandon the dharmas of ordinary people.’

Śakra Devānām Indra answered Śāriputra: ‘Just so! Just so! Śāriputra! If someone knows that this prajñāpāramitā does not give the dharmas of the buddhas and does not abandon the dharmas of ordinary people, and so on up to: does not give the omniscience of all kinds and does not abandon the dharmas of ordinary people—such a bodhisattva-mahāsattva can practise prajñāpāramitā and can cultivate prajñāpāramitā. Why? Because prajñāpāramitā does not settle upon 「二法」 tr. "dual dharmas"; the mark of non-dual dharmas is prajñāpāramitā, and the mark of non-dual dharmas is dhyānapāramitā and so on up to dānapāramitā (the perfection of giving).’

At that time the Buddha praised Śakra Devānām Indra, saying: ‘Excellent! Excellent! Kauśika! It is just as you say: prajñāpāramitā does not settle upon dual dharmas, and therefore the mark of non-dual dharmas is prajñāpāramitā, and the mark of non-dual dharmas is dhyānapāramitā and so on up to dānapāramitā. Kauśika! If someone wishes to attain “two marks of the nature of dharmas”, this person wishes to attain two marks of prajñāpāramitā. Why? Kauśika! The nature of dharmas and prajñāpāramitā are without duality and without difference; and so on up to dānapāramitā, which is likewise. If someone wishes to attain “two marks of the limit of reality and of the nature of the inconceivable”, this person wishes to attain two marks of prajñāpāramitā. Why? Because prajñāpāramitā and the nature of the inconceivable are without duality and without difference.’

Śakra Devānām Indra addressed the Buddha: ‘World-Honored One! All the people of the world, together with the gods and the asuras, ought to worship and make offerings to prajñāpāramitā! Why? Because the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas train within prajñāpāramitā and only thereby attain anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi (unsurpassed, right, and complete awakening). World-Honored One! I often sit at ease in the Hall of Good Dharma; when I am not on my seat, the gods, for the sake of making offerings to me, pay homage to my seat, and only when they have finished circling it do they depart. The gods give rise to this thought: “Śakra Devānām Indra sits on this very seat and expounds the Dharma for the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-three.” Just so, World-Honored One! Wherever this scroll of the prajñāpāramitā sūtra is written out, received and upheld, read, recited, and expounded for others, to that place the gods, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, and mahoragas of the worlds of the ten directions all come to worship prajñāpāramitā, and only when they have finished making offerings do they depart. Why? Because from within this prajñāpāramitā are born the buddhas and the requisites of peace and happiness of all beings, and the relics of the buddhas too are the cause and condition of the place where the omniscience of all kinds dwells. For this reason, World-Honored One, of these two portions I take prajñāpāramitā.

‘Furthermore, World-Honored One! If I receive and uphold, read, and recite prajñāpāramitā, and my mind enters deeply into the Dharma, at that time I do not see any mark to be feared. Why? World-Honored One! This prajñāpāramitā is without mark and without appearance, without words and without speech. World-Honored One! To be without mark and without appearance, without words and without speech—this is prajñāpāramitā, and so on up to: this is the omniscience of all kinds. World-Honored One! If prajñāpāramitā truly had marks and were not signless, then the buddhas ought not to have known 「一切法無相無貌、無言無說」 tr. "all dharmas are without mark and without appearance, without words and without speech" and so attained anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, nor ought they to have proclaimed to their disciples 「諸法無相無貌、無言無說」 tr. "dharmas are without mark and without appearance, without words and without speech". World-Honored One! It is precisely because prajñāpāramitā is truly without mark and without appearance, without words and without speech, that the buddhas know that all dharmas are without mark and without appearance, without words and without speech, and attain anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi; and only thereby do they proclaim to their disciples that dharmas are likewise without mark and without appearance, without words and without speech. For this reason, World-Honored One, this prajñāpāramitā ought to receive the offerings, reverence, esteem, and praise of all the gods, humans, and asuras of the world, with flowers and incense, necklaces, and so on up to banners and canopies.

‘Furthermore, World-Honored One! If someone receives and upholds prajñāpāramitā, draws near to it, reads it, recites it, expounds it, rightly recollects it, and also writes it out and makes offerings to it with flowers and incense and so on up to banners and canopies, this person does not fall into the destinies of hell, animals, or hungry ghosts, and does not fall into the ground of the śrāvaka or the pratyekabuddha; and so on up to: he attains anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi and constantly sees the buddhas; going from one buddha-land to another buddha-land, he makes offerings to the buddhas, with reverence, esteem, and praise, with flowers and incense and so on up to banners and canopies.

‘Furthermore, World-Honored One! If the Buddha's relics filling the three-thousand great-thousand world were made one portion, and a written scroll of the prajñāpāramitā sūtra were made another portion, of these two portions I would still take prajñāpāramitā. Why? World-Honored One! Because from within this prajñāpāramitā the relics of the buddhas are born; for this reason the relics receive offerings, reverence, esteem, and praise. These good men and good women, because they make offerings to and revere the relics, receive the blessings and happiness of the heavens and of the human world, and never fall into the three evil destinies; according to what they wish, they gradually enter nirvāṇa by the dharma of the three vehicles. Therefore, World-Honored One, if someone sees the present Buddha, or sees the scroll of the prajñāpāramitā sūtra, the two are equal and without difference. Why? World-Honored One! Because this prajñāpāramitā and the Buddha are without duality and without difference.’

What follows is the treatise's explanation.

Treatise ①: The Relics Weighed against the Scroll, and Śakra as the Most Honoured among Householders; the Meaning of the Mark of Non-dual Dharmas

Someone asks: Above, offerings to prajñāpāramitā have already been weighed by means of raising stūpas of the seven jewels, and the meaning is already complete; why does the Buddha now again set the relics and the scroll against each other?

The answer: Earlier it was pointed out that the stūpa of the seven jewels is the dwelling place of the relics; now the relics alone are set against the scroll. Although the relics do not equal prajñā, they can fill Jambudvīpa; since prajñā is surpassing and wondrous, only the scroll is pointed to (the few surpassing the many).

Furthermore, those who have left the household mostly crave wisdom, because wisdom is the cause and condition of liberation; householders mostly crave merit, because merit is the cause and condition of happiness. Those who have left the household mostly crave the things known by mind-consciousness; householders mostly crave the things known by the five consciousnesses. Śakra Devānām Indra has already realised the greatest result of blessings and happiness, and among householders he is the most honoured and supreme; for this reason the Buddha asks Śakra Devānām Indra.

Śakra Devānām Indra says: ‘Of these two portions I take the scroll of the prajñāpāramitā sūtra.’

Here Śakra himself states the reason: ‘World-Honored One! I do not dare to slight the relics or to be without reverence for them; I know that making offerings to relics the size of a mustard seed brings merit that is immeasurable and boundless, and so on up to: even the merit of attaining buddhahood is not exhausted—how much more relics filling Jambudvīpa! World-Honored One! The body the bodhisattva receives at birth has relics too, yet people do not esteem them; only when he becomes a Buddha are the relics, because they have been perfumed and cultivated by prajñā, revered, esteemed, and given offerings by people. Therefore of these two portions I take the surpassing portion.’

Someone asks: Śāriputra knew perfectly well that Śakra Devānām Indra spoke of 「取般若波羅蜜」 tr. "taking prajñāpāramitā" in terms of worldly truth (the principle commonly accepted in the world); why did he still raise a challenge?

The answer: Śakra Devānām Indra lives in the household, bound by the afflictions and covered by the five desires, and yet he is able to proclaim prajñāpāramitā—this is a rare thing! For this reason Śāriputra questioned him, wishing to make Śakra Devānām Indra go further and ask the Buddha about deeper meaning; therefore he raised the challenge.

Śakra Devānām Indra, following Śāriputra's intention, answers, saying: ‘Just so!’

Śakra Devānām Indra's intention is this: within all dharmas there are no two marks; he does not regard the relics as small, and does not regard prajñāpāramitā as great. Prajñāpāramitā has the mark of non-duality and non-discrimination; it is only in order to benefit bodhisattvas who have newly aroused the mind that he speaks thus in terms of worldly truth: ‘Prajñāpāramitā can make the minds of beings free of duality and free of discrimination; because of this benefit, I take prajñā.’

At this the Buddha praises Śakra Devānām Indra: ‘Excellent! Excellent!’ Because Śakra is able both to discriminate dharmas and to proclaim skilfully the mark of prajñā, which is precisely 「無二相」 tr. "the mark of non-duality", the Buddha therefore praises him.

Here the Buddha himself gives a simile: ‘If someone wishes to divide the nature of dharmas, the limit of reality, and so on into two portions, this person wishes to divide prajñāpāramitā into two portions.’

Śakra had himself proclaimed prajñā, and further heard the Buddha make it clear again; his mind was pure, and with deep faith and joy he said: all the world ought to worship prajñā.

Here Śakra himself states the reason: ‘All bodhisattvas train in this prajñā and only thereby attain anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi.’

Again, here he takes his own person as a simile: his own person is a simile for the Buddha, and the scroll of the prajñā sūtra is a simile for the seat.

There are also those who say: his own person is a simile for prajñā, and the seat is a simile for the relics.

‘Therefore of these two portions I take prajñā.’

‘Furthermore, World-Honored One! If I receive and uphold prajñā, read and recite it, at that time I do not see even a mark to be feared—how much more a fear that is real! Why? Because all dharmas are signless, without words and without speech. Prajñāpāramitā can make a person attain this signless dharma, and therefore there is nothing to be feared.’

The person who receives, upholds, and makes offerings to prajñā does not fall into the three evil destinies or into the paths of the two vehicles; life after life he is not parted from the buddhas, and he constantly makes offerings to the buddhas of the ten directions. Therefore prajñāpāramitā is what all the world ought to make offerings to.

Furthermore, the Buddha first made a beginning, taking the relics filling Jambudvīpa as the example. Śakra, having understood which of these two things surpasses the other, for the sake of all beings widens the scope to the three-thousand great-thousand world; here Śakra himself states the reason: ‘To see prajñāpāramitā is no different from seeing the Buddha.’

Sūtra ②: The Three Kinds of Manifestation and the Twelve Divisions of the Scriptures Are All Born from Prajñā; the Simile of the Debtor Who Relies on the King; the Simile of the Maṇi Jewel

‘Furthermore, World-Honored One! Just as the Buddha, by the three kinds of manifestation (the three kinds of guidance: supernormal power, reading minds, and instruction), proclaims the twelve divisions of the scriptures—sūtra, geya, and so on up to upadeśa—so too there are good men and good women who receive and uphold, recite, and expound this prajñāpāramitā; the two are equal and without difference. Why? World-Honored One! Because from within this prajñāpāramitā are born the three kinds of manifestation and the twelve divisions of the scriptures: sūtra and so on up to upadeśa.

‘Furthermore, World-Honored One! The buddhas of the ten directions, by the three kinds of manifestation, proclaim the twelve divisions of the scriptures: sūtra and so on up to upadeśa; so too there are those who receive prajñāpāramitā and proclaim it for others; the two are equal and without difference. Why? Because from within prajñāpāramitā the buddhas are born, and the twelve divisions of the scriptures too are born: sūtra and so on up to upadeśa.

‘Furthermore, World-Honored One! If someone makes offerings to the buddhas in worlds of the ten directions as many as the sands of the Ganges, with reverence, esteem, and praise, with flowers and incense and so on up to banners and canopies; and again someone writes out the scroll of the prajñāpāramitā sūtra, with reverence, esteem, and praise, with flowers and incense and so on up to banners and canopies, the blessings of these two are exactly equal. Why? Because the buddhas of the ten directions are all born from prajñāpāramitā.

‘Furthermore, World-Honored One! Good men and good women who hear this prajñāpāramitā, receive and uphold it, read it, recite it, rightly recollect it, and also proclaim it for others—these people do not fall into the destiny of hell, of animals, or of hungry ghosts, nor do they fall into the ground of the śrāvaka or the pratyekabuddha. Why? It should be known that it is because these good men and good women are abiding rightly in the ground of avaivartika (non-retrogressing). This prajñāpāramitā keeps far away from all suffering and vexation, decline and sickness.

‘Furthermore, World-Honored One! If good men and good women write out this scroll of the prajñāpāramitā sūtra, receive and uphold it, draw near to it, make offerings to it, revere it, esteem it, and praise it, these people then keep far away from all fear. World-Honored One! It is like a debtor who draws near to the king, supplying him and attending him at his left and right: the creditors, on the contrary, make still more offerings to this person and revere him, and this person no longer fears. Why? World-Honored One! Because this person relies on and is close to the king, and depends on the king's having power. Just so, World-Honored One! The relics of the buddhas receive offerings and reverence only because they have been perfumed and cultivated by prajñāpāramitā. World-Honored One! It should be known that prajñāpāramitā is like the king, and the relics are like the debtor; as the debtor, relying on the king, receives offerings, so the relics too, relying on prajñāpāramitā, are cultivated and perfumed and only thereby receive offerings. World-Honored One! It should be known that the omniscience of all kinds of the buddhas too is accomplished only through being cultivated and perfumed by prajñāpāramitā. For this reason, World-Honored One, of these two portions I take prajñāpāramitā. Why? World-Honored One! Because from within prajñāpāramitā are born the relics of the buddhas and the thirty-two marks; from within prajñāpāramitā are also born the Buddha's ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, the four unobstructed knowledges, the eighteen unshared dharmas, and great loving-kindness and great compassion. World-Honored One! From within prajñāpāramitā are born the five perfections, and it makes them receive the name 「波羅蜜」 tr. "pāramitā"; from within prajñāpāramitā is born the omniscience of all kinds of the buddhas.

‘Furthermore, World-Honored One! Wherever within the three-thousand great-thousand world someone receives and upholds, makes offerings to, reveres, esteems, and praises prajñāpāramitā, in that place neither humans nor non-humans can find an opening against him (there is no gap for them to exploit), and this person then gradually enters nirvāṇa. World-Honored One! Prajñāpāramitā has such great benefit that it can do the work of a Buddha within the three-thousand great-thousand world! World-Honored One! Wherever prajñāpāramitā is, it is the same as the Buddha being there. World-Honored One! It is like the priceless maṇi jewel: in the place where it dwells, non-humans cannot find an opening. If a man or a woman has a fever and this jewel is placed on the body, the fever is healed at once; if there is wind sickness, if there is cold sickness, if there is sickness of mixed heat, wind, and cold, and the jewel is placed on the body, all are healed. If it is dark, this jewel can make it bright. When it is hot it can make it cool, and when it is cold it can make it warm; in the place where the jewel dwells, that place is neither cold nor hot, and the seasons are harmonious and fitting. In that place, too, there are none of the various other poisons and stings; if a man or a woman is bitten by a poisonous snake and the jewel is shown to him, the poison is removed at once.

‘Furthermore, World-Honored One! If a man or a woman has pain in the eyes, a film grown over the eyes, or blindness, and the jewel is shown to him, he is healed at once. If there are leprous sores or malignant swellings, and the jewel is placed on his body, the sickness is healed at once.

‘Furthermore, World-Honored One! When this maṇi jewel is placed in water, the water accordingly shows one colour: if it is wrapped in something blue and placed in the water, the water becomes blue; if it is wrapped in something yellow, red, white, crimson, or pale blue (a light bluish colour) and placed in the water, the water accordingly shows yellow, red, white, crimson, or pale blue. Thus, wrapped in things of various colours and put into the water, the water accordingly shows the various colours. World-Honored One! If the water is turbid and the jewel is put into it, the water at once becomes clear—such are the merits of this jewel!’

At that time Ānanda asked Śakra Devānām Indra: ‘Kauśika! Is this maṇi jewel a jewel of the heavens? Or a jewel of Jambudvīpa?’

Śakra Devānām Indra answered Ānanda: ‘It is a jewel of the heavens. The people of Jambudvīpa also have this kind of jewel, but its marks of merit are few and not complete; the jewel of the heavens is pure, light, and subtle, and cannot be compared by any simile.

‘Furthermore, World-Honored One! If this maṇi jewel is placed in a casket (a small box), then after the jewel is taken out, because its merit has perfumed the casket, people all love and revere that casket. Just so, World-Honored One! Wherever a written scroll of the prajñāpāramitā sūtra dwells, that place is without the troubles of many vexations, just as the place where the maṇi jewel is placed is without many calamities. World-Honored One! After the Buddha's parinirvāṇa (nirvāṇa), that the relics receive offerings is entirely the power of prajñāpāramitā; dhyānapāramitā and so on up to dānapāramitā, inner emptiness and so on up to the emptiness of non-existent and existent dharmas, the four foundations of mindfulness and so on up to the eighteen unshared dharmas, omniscience, the mark of dharmas, the abiding of dharmas, the position of dharmas, the nature of dharmas, the limit of reality, the nature of the inconceivable, and the omniscience of all kinds—all these are the power of these merits. Good men and good women give rise to this thought: “These relics of the Buddha are the dwelling place of the merits of the buddhas: omniscience, the omniscience of all kinds, great loving-kindness and great compassion, the cutting off of all fetters together with their residual habits, the practice of constant equanimity, the dharma of never erring, and the like.” For this reason the relics receive offerings. World-Honored One! The relics are the dwelling place of the pāramitā of the jewels of all merits, the dwelling place of the pāramitā that is neither stained nor pure; they are the dwelling place of the pāramitā that neither arises nor ceases, the pāramitā that neither enters nor exits, the pāramitā that neither increases nor diminishes, and the pāramitā that neither comes nor goes nor abides; these relics of the Buddha are the dwelling place of the pāramitā of the marks of all dharmas; it is because they have been perfumed and cultivated by this pāramitā of the marks of all dharmas that the relics receive offerings.

‘Furthermore, World-Honored One! Set aside the relics filling the three-thousand great-thousand world. If the relics filling worlds as many as the sands of the Ganges were made one portion, and a scroll of the prajñāpāramitā sūtra written out by someone were made another portion, of these two portions I take prajñāpāramitā. Why? Because from within this prajñāpāramitā the relics of the buddhas are born; because of being cultivated and perfumed by this prajñāpāramitā, the relics receive offerings. World-Honored One! If good men and good women make offerings to the relics, with reverence, esteem, and praise, the result of their merit cannot be exhausted to its limit; they receive the blessings and happiness of the human world and of the heavens, that is, they receive blessings and happiness among the great kṣatriya clans, the great brahmin clans, and the great householder families, and in the heaven of the Four Heavenly Kings and so on up to the gods Sovereign over Others' Transformations; and through the causes and conditions of this merit they will in the end be able to put an end to all suffering. If one receives this prajñāpāramitā, reads it, recites it, expounds it, and rightly recollects it, this person can then fulfil dhyānapāramitā and so on up to fulfilling dānapāramitā, can fulfil the four foundations of mindfulness and so on up to fulfilling the eighteen unshared dharmas; he passes beyond the grounds of the śrāvaka and the pratyekabuddha and abides in the bodhisattva position; having abided in the bodhisattva position, he attains the bodhisattva's supernormal powers and goes from one buddha-land to another buddha-land; this bodhisattva, for the sake of beings, takes on a body, and according to what beings require he brings beings to accomplishment: now as a wheel-turning sage king, now in a great kṣatriya clan, now in a great brahmin clan, he brings beings to accomplishment. For this reason, World-Honored One, it is not out of slighting or irreverence that I do not take the relics; it is because good men and good women who make offerings to prajñāpāramitā are thereby making offerings to the relics.

‘Furthermore, World-Honored One! If someone wishes to see the Dharma body and the form body of the buddhas now present in the immeasurable asaṃkhyeya (countless) worlds of the ten directions, this person ought to hear and receive and uphold prajñāpāramitā, read it, recite it, rightly recollect it, and expound it widely for others. Such good men and good women will see the Dharma body and the form body of the buddhas in the immeasurable asaṃkhyeya worlds of the ten directions. These good men and good women who practise prajñāpāramitā ought also to cultivate the samādhi of recollecting the Buddha by way of the mark of dharmas. Furthermore, if good men and good women wish to see the buddhas now present, they ought to receive this prajñāpāramitā, and so on up to: rightly recollect it.’

What follows is the treatise's explanation.

Treatise ②: Among the Twelve Divisions of the Scriptures Prajñā Is Most Surpassing; the Nineteenfold Matching of the Simile of the Wish-fulfilling Jewel; Prajñā as the Head and the Bright Guide

Furthermore, concerning the phrase ‘the Buddha, by the three kinds of manifestation, proclaims the twelve divisions of the scriptures’.

Someone asks: Among all who expound the Dharma, there is none who can equal the Buddha; the twelve divisions of the scriptures spoken by the Buddha lack nothing; why is it that a good man who merely receives and upholds, reads, and recites prajñā is equal to the Buddha and without difference?

The answer: Here it is because the Buddha wishes to praise prajñā as great. Among the twelve divisions of the scriptures, prajñā is the most surpassing. Why? Because proclaiming this prajñāpāramitā mostly makes people arouse the bodhisattva mind, whereas proclaiming the twelve divisions of the scriptures arouses the intentions of the three vehicles all mixed together. Here it is not the bodhisattva's merit being compared with the Buddha's immeasurable body; it is spoken with regard to the Dharma body. The bodhisattva proclaims only prajñā and exhorts to the Great Vehicle; the Buddha proclaims in a mixed way and exhorts to the three vehicles; therefore it is said that the two are equal and without difference.

Furthermore, the root of the three kinds of manifestation and of the twelve divisions of the scriptures is precisely what is called 「般若波羅蜜」 tr. "prajñāpāramitā".

Making offerings to buddhas as many as the sands of the Ganges in the ten directions, and again someone making offerings to the scroll of the prajñā sūtra—the two are also equal and without difference.

Here the Buddha states the reason why the merit of prajñā is surpassing, namely that prajñā can break all suffering and vexation, decline and sickness, fear, and the like. It is like a debtor who relies on the king: the king is a simile for prajñā, and the debtor is a simile for the relics. The relics are formed by the causes and conditions of karma in former lives, and within those causes and conditions they ought to repay all kinds of requital; but because they have been perfumed and cultivated by prajñāpāramitā, the various requitals of the causes and conditions of past lives, as well as hunger and thirst, cold and heat, cannot come near them, and on the contrary they receive the offerings seen by the gods and the people of the world. It is like a debtor who relies on the king and is on the contrary revered by his creditors.

What was said earlier, ‘there are none of the various declines and sicknesses, nor fear’, is said with regard to the inner; what is now said of the maṇi jewel, that neither humans nor non-humans can find an opening, is said with regard to the outer. Because this person makes offerings to prajñāpāramitā, whether in this life or in later lives, if the body has decline or the mind has sickness, all can be removed; all kinds of matters of wholesome wishes can be obtained as one wishes.

Having obtained this great jewel of prajñāpāramitā, one is therefore without the various fears and without any lack; it is like the priceless jewel, by which every wish can be fulfilled.

Someone asks: The maṇi jewel—among sphaṭika (crystal), gold, silver, giant clam shell, agate, beryl, coral, amber, vajra, and the like, which kind of jewel is it?

The answer: Someone says: this jewel comes forth from the brain of a nāga king; when a person obtains this jewel, poison cannot harm it and fire cannot burn it; it has such various merits.

Someone says: this is the vajra held by Śakra, which, when he fought with the asuras, broke and fell into Jambudvīpa.

Someone says: these are the relics of the buddhas of the distant past; when the Buddha-Dharma had already perished, the relics turned into this jewel, to benefit beings.

Someone says: because of the causes and conditions of beings' merit, this jewel exists spontaneously. It is like how, because of the causes and conditions of sin, the instruments for punishing sin exist spontaneously in the hells.

This jewel is named 「如意」 tr. "as one wishes"; it has no fixed colour, is clear, light, and subtle, and the myriad things of the four continents are all reflected upon it. The meaning of the wish-fulfilling jewel is as was said before. This jewel can constantly produce all precious things; clothing and food, whatever one wishes, it can give; it can also remove the various declines, vexations, sicknesses, sufferings, and the like.

This jewel is of two kinds: there is the wish-fulfilling jewel of the heavens, and there is the wish-fulfilling jewel of the human world. Because the merit of the gods is deep and thick, the merits of their jewel are complete; because the merit of humans is shallow and thin, the merits of their jewel are not complete.

In the rooms and caskets where this jewel is placed, that place too has majestic virtue.

As is said: ‘Prajñāpāramitā too is like this.’

Just as the wish-fulfilling jewel can give householders wealth and happiness in this life, according to whatever their minds wish, so prajñāpāramitā can give those who have left the household to seek the path the happiness of liberation of the three vehicles, according to whatever their minds aspire to.

Wherever the wish-fulfilling jewel is placed, non-humans cannot find an opening; prajñāpāramitā is also like this: if the practitioner's mind is in accord with it, evil and wrong rākṣasas cannot enter his mind to destroy his intent for the path and rob him of his wisdom-life. Furthermore, wherever prajñāpāramitā is, Māra, or Māra's people, earth spirits, yakṣas, the evil ghosts, and the like all cannot find an opening.

Just as the jewel can remove the four hundred and four sicknesses, whose root is four sicknesses—wind, heat, cold, and the mixed—so prajñāpāramitā can also remove the eighty-four thousand sicknesses, whose root is four sicknesses: greed, hatred, delusion, and their equal mixture (the three poisons arising together in equal measure). The sickness of lust divides into twenty-one thousand, the sickness of anger and hatred divides into twenty-one thousand, the sickness of delusion divides into twenty-one thousand, and the sickness of the equal mixture divides into twenty-one thousand. By the contemplation of impurity one removes greed and desire; by the mind of kindness and compassion one removes anger and hatred; by the contemplation of causes and conditions one removes delusion; and by combining the three medicines above—whether impurity, or kindness and compassion, or the contemplation of causes and conditions—one removes the sickness of the equal mixture.

Just as the jewel can remove darkness, prajñā too is like this: it can remove the darkness of the three realms.

Just as the jewel can remove heat, prajñā too is like this: it can remove the heat of lust and of anger and hatred.

Just as the jewel can remove cold, prajñā too is like this: it can remove the cold minds of ignorance, lack of faith, lack of reverence, laziness, and the like.

The sun and the moon are both made of jewels; the sun can give forth heat and the moon can give forth cold, and although both benefit beings, because they cannot combine both (the use of cold and the use of heat), they are not called ‘as one wishes’.

Wherever the jewel is, poisonous snakes and all the evil vermin cannot harm; prajñā too is like this: the poisons of greed and desire and the like cannot make one sick.

If someone is bitten by a poisonous snake and the jewel is shown to him, he is healed at once; if someone is bitten by the poisonous snakes of greed and desire and the like and obtains prajñāpāramitā, the poison of greed and hatred is removed at once, as with Nanda, Aṅgulimāla (the same name in another transliteration), and others.

If someone has pain in the eyes or is blind and the jewel is shown to him, he is healed at once; prajñāpāramitā too is like this: if someone's wisdom-eye has been destroyed by ignorance, doubt and regret, inverted wrong views, and the like, on obtaining prajñā it at once becomes clear.

Just as when a person has leprous sores or ulcerous swellings and the jewel is shown to him he is healed at once, prajñā too is like this: the five heinous sins, the leprosy of sin, and the like are extinguished at once on obtaining prajñā.

Just as, when the jewel is wrapped in various colours and placed in water, the water accordingly shows one colour, prajñā too is like this: because the practitioner has obtained the power of prajñā, his mind becomes soft and pliant and clings to nothing; he goes along with the hand of faith (the hand of faith among the five faculties beginning with faith), the five faculties, and so on, and also goes along with the four dhyānas, the four immeasurable minds, the liberations, the spheres of mastery, and the all-encompassing spheres. Furthermore, in the grounds of the srota-āpanna, the sakṛdāgāmin, the anāgāmin, the arhat, and the pratyekabuddha, he goes along with them and trains in them all, without any opposition. The sixth, the pale-blue colour, is the colour of space. The practitioner, having obtained prajñā, contemplates dharmas as empty, and his mind too goes along with this and does not cling. All such things as these say: entering into all dharmas, one goes along with them all without obstruction.

Just as when water is turbid, mixed in colour and impure, and the jewel is put into it, it all becomes pure and of one colour, prajñā too is like this: when a person has various afflictions, wrong views, and idle discourse that disturb his mind and make it turbid, on obtaining prajñā it becomes pure and of one colour.

Just as the wish-fulfilling jewel has immeasurable merits, the merits of prajñā too are like this.

Now, in terms of their particular marks, the merits of prajñā are spoken of: this wish-fulfilling jewel can only remove evil ghosts, and cannot destroy the Māra-gods; prajñā can remove both of these. The jewel can cure sicknesses of the body; prajñā can cure sicknesses of the body and sicknesses of the mind. The jewel can cure sicknesses that humans and spirits are able to cure; prajñā can cure sicknesses that no gods, nāgas, ghosts, or spirits are able to cure. The jewel can cure sicknesses that have been cured before in life after life; prajñā can cure sicknesses that have never been cured since the beginningless world. There are such various differences as these.

The jewel can illuminate the darkness of night in the place where it dwells; prajñā can illuminate the black darkness of ignorance associated with all the afflictions, as well as the black darkness of delusion, the unshared ignorance that does not penetrate all dharmas.

The jewel can only break the heat in the place where it dwells, and cannot break heat elsewhere; the power of prajñā can, with a single breath, extinguish even the great fire at the end of the kalpa in immeasurable worlds—how much more the heat of a single place!

The jewel can only remove the heat of fire and sun that have physical substance; prajñā can remove the heat of mind of the three poisons.

The jewel can remove wind and rain, cold and snow; prajñā can remove the cold of the minds of lack of faith, lack of reverence, laziness, and the like, of beings in the immeasurable worlds of the ten directions.

The jewel can drive off poisons and stings coming from outside, but cannot remove the poisonous snake of the four great elements (a simile for the afflictions of the four great elements within the body); prajñā can ultimately remove both of these poisons.

The jewel cannot cure the poison of wrong views; prajñā can remove it.

The jewel can cure the fleshly eye; prajñā can cure the wisdom-eye.

The jewel can cure the eye that sees what is near; prajñā can cure the eye that sees what is far.

The jewel can cure the fleshly eye, but the fleshly eye does not turn into the jewel; prajñā can cure the wisdom-eye, and the wisdom-eye at once becomes prajñā.

The jewel can cure the fleshly eye, and later the sickness returns; prajñā cures the wisdom-eye, and it is ultimately pure.

The jewel can cure leprous sores and malignant swellings; prajñā can cure the leprosy of the body and the leprosy of the mind.

Someone asks: Among the four kinds of sickness, all sicknesses are already included; why further speak separately of 「眼痛」 tr. "pain in the eyes", 「癩病」 tr. "leprosy", and so on?

The answer: The eye is foremost in the body and the most precious in use, so it is spoken of separately. Among all sicknesses leprosy is the heaviest; because of the causes and conditions of sin in past lives it is hard to cure, so it is spoken of again separately.

The jewel can make water follow the colour in which it is wrapped; prajñā can go along with wholesome mental-factor dharmas (the mental concomitants).

The jewel cannot turn people's minds; prajñā can turn what the mind-nature of all beings delights in and desires.

The jewel can make the turbid water in the place where it is placed become clear, but not all water; the power of prajñā can make the mind disturbed and made turbid by the six thoughts (six kinds of discursive thinking) pure at once; and it can further make pure the turbid minds of greed and hatred of the nāga kings, the kings of ghosts and spirits, the kings of humans, and the like.

The jewel can give majestic virtue to the caskets and rooms where it is placed; the power of prajñā can deliver asaṃkhyeya beings in the immeasurable worlds of the ten directions and give them majestic virtue.

The power of the jewel's merit enters the casket, but the casket cannot give people merit according to their wishes; because the relics have obtained the perfuming and cultivation of prajñā, if someone makes offerings to them, he will surely in turn obtain prajñā and become a Buddha.

This casket is esteemed by ordinary people; the relics are esteemed by ordinary people and noble ones alike.

The casket is esteemed by worldly people who enjoy pleasure; the relics are esteemed both by those who transcend the world and by worldly people who enjoy pleasure.

Prajñā is that wish-fulfilling jewel, and the casket is the relics; although there is no prajñā within the relics, because they have been perfumed by prajñā they receive offerings.

Furthermore, among all the noble dharmas, prajñā is foremost and beyond any simile; it is only because the people of the world esteem this jewel that the jewel is taken as a simile.

When a person sees the wish-fulfilling jewel, every wish can be fulfilled; if he sees the place where the jewel dwells, he can also obtain a small share of his wishes. The practitioner too is like this: having obtained the meaning of this prajñāpāramitā, he at once enters the Buddha path; if he sees the relics where prajñā dwells and makes offerings to them, he then obtains immeasurable blessings and happiness in this life and in later lives, and in time will surely attain the path.

Such general marks and particular marks as these should be understood.

Someone asks: If prajñā has such merits, why is it further said, ‘the relics are the dwelling place of the five perfections and so on up to the omniscience of all kinds, and therefore receive offerings’?

The answer: It has already been said earlier: of all dharmas, prajñāpāramitā is the head and acts as the bright guide; it is like a king who comes, always with a retinue following him: one needs only to name the lord, and all the rest are already included.

The principle of praising prajñāpāramitā has already been spoken of earlier.