大智度論 照明品第四十Dazhidulun — Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa · Illumination (Chapter 40)

Illumination: Why Prajñā Can Illuminate All Dharmas and Receives the Praise of Sixteen Phrases on Its Virtues; Why Making Offerings to Prajñā Should Be as Making Offerings to the World-Honored One; Why the Five Perfections Apart from Prajñā Are Like the Blind without a Guide; How Prajñā Arises Because Form and the Rest Do Not Arise, and How It Joins yet Joins with Nothing; Why the Thought of Joining or Not Joining and the Thought That Grasps the Mark of Emptiness Both Lose Prajñā; and Why Prajñā Is Called Mahāpāramitā yet Does Not Make Dharmas Great or Small, Possessed of Power or without Power

What Is Being Asked

This chapter’s name is 「照明品」 tr. "the chapter Illumination," taken precisely from the first phrase of Śāriputra’s praise of prajñā at the head of the chapter—prajñāpāramitā 「能照一切法」 tr. "can illuminate all dharmas," because it is 「畢竟淨」 tr. "ultimately pure." At the end of the previous chapter the Buddha, Maitreya, Subhūti, and Śakra together spoke of the meaning of rejoicing and dedication; as this chapter opens, Śāriputra, long silent, rises from his seat and seeks the Buddha’s confirmation, ‘this is prajñāpāramitā,’ and at once brings out, one after another, sixteen phrases praising its virtues—it can illuminate all dharmas, it is to be worshipped, it is not attached to the three realms, it removes all darkness, and so on up to it can turn the wheel of the Dharma, it can show the nature of all dharmas—and asks: toward such a prajñā, how should one make offerings? The Buddha’s reply sets the height of the whole chapter at a stroke: 「當如供養世尊」 tr. "as one makes offerings to the World-Honored One," because 「世尊即是般若波羅蜜，般若波羅蜜即是世尊」 tr. "the World-Honored One is prajñāpāramitā, and prajñāpāramitā is the World-Honored One." (The chapter has other names in the various transmitted texts; that is a matter for the Apparatus, and is examined in detail there.)

From this one question and answer the whole chapter spreads out into three layers of question. The first layer: Śakra asks why Śāriputra asks this, and why he praises prajñā alone—which draws out the simile of the men blind from birth and the similes of the mineral powder and of the general: the five perfections apart from prajñā are like a hundred thousand blind men without a guide, unable to set out on the road and enter the city; the six matters come together, yet the power of prajñā is great, and so the five dharmas obtain through it the name pāramitā. The second layer: Śāriputra asks how prajñā is to arise, and with what dharma the prajñā that has arisen joins—the Buddha answers that prajñā arises because form and all the other dharmas do not arise, that prajñā joins with nothing, and so on up to not joining even with sarvajñā; not grasping, not receiving, not abiding, not attached, not cutting off—joining thus, it joins with nothing; and further it is examined and settled: to form the thought of joining or not joining loses prajñā, and the thought that grasps the mark of emptiness also loses prajñā; having faith in prajñā, one does not have faith in form or in any dharma, because they are unfindable. The third layer: Subhūti praises prajñā as called mahāpāramitā—prajñā, toward form and so on up to the buddhas, does not make great or small, joined or dispersed, measureless or not measureless, broad or narrow, possessed of power or without power; for one with the mark of something to be attained there is no anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi. The treatise-author explains these three layers one by one, and at the end gathers the gate of practice together with ‘practising joined with the five perfections, or practising alone apart from them—each has its fault.’ These three layers are exactly what the sūtra and treatise of this chapter must account for passage by passage.

Passage by Passage

1. The Buddha with his own mouth confirms the name of prajñā. At the head of the chapter Śāriputra says to the Buddha: ‘World-Honored One! This is prajñāpāramitā?’ The Buddha answers: ‘This is prajñāpāramitā.’ The question and answer are a single sentence each, yet they are the threshold of the whole chapter—Śāriputra, having heard out in silence the meaning of rejoicing in the previous chapter, first asks the Buddha to confirm with his own mouth that the dharma he is about to praise is prajñā, and only then dares to pour out the sixteen phrases praising its virtues. The Buddha approves his words and says 「是」 tr. "This is," and so all the praise, questioning, and examination below have a basis confirmed by the Buddha. This confirmation also foreshadows where the whole chapter is heading: the prajñā that is praised is not some other thing, but precisely that very illumination of wisdom by which rejoicing and dedication can leave the real mark undestroyed.

2. The head of the sixteen phrases of praise—it can illuminate and is ultimately pure, it is to be worshipped, it is not attached to the three realms, it removes all darkness. Śāriputra first praises prajñā as 「能照一切法」 tr. "can illuminate all dharmas," because it is 「畢竟淨」 tr. "ultimately pure"—this phrase is the source of the chapter name 「照明」 tr. "Illumination": the reason its illumination reaches everywhere is exactly that in its substance it is ultimately pure, grasping at nothing, as a mirror, being clean, has nothing it does not show. Next he praises it as to be worshipped—such a dharma should of itself receive the reverence of all; next, as not stained by attachment to the three realms—it illuminates and yet does not fall into what it illuminates; next, as removing all darkness, and the sūtra itself notes the reason: because all afflictions and all views are removed and destroyed. Read together, the four phrases first set up the purity of the substance of illumination, and then set up the honour, the separateness, and the breaking power of its function; they are the general outline of the sixteen phrases of praise.

3. Supreme among the dharmas that aid the path, peace and security, able to give light. The next three virtues turn to the limbs of the path: prajñā is 「一切助道法中最上」 tr. "supreme among all the dharmas that aid the path"—all the dharmas that aid the path, such as the thirty-seven limbs of the path, take wisdom as their guide, and so prajñā stands supreme; 「安隱」 tr. "peace and security"—because it can cut off all fear, suffering, and vexation; the root of fear lies in inversion, and the illumination of wisdom breaks inversion, and so there is peace; 「能與光明」 tr. "able to give light"—because it is adorned with the five eyes; from the fleshly eye up to the Buddha eye, all obtain their clarity and function through prajñā. The three phrases pass from the limbs of the path to the ground of the mind to the eyes, praising prajñā as the one who gives strength to every function of the one who cultivates the path.

4. Able to show and guide away from the two extremes; it is omniscience of all kinds. Next he praises prajñā as 「能示導墮邪道眾生」 tr. "able to show and guide beings who have fallen onto wrong paths," because it is apart from the two extremes—those who have fallen onto wrong paths have lost the right road, and prajñā does not fall into the two extremes of existence and non-existence, and so it can point them back to the middle way; he further praises prajñā as 「一切種智」 tr. "omniscience of all kinds," because all afflictions and their habit-energies are cut off together. The former phrase is gathering in others; the latter is the utmost of the fruit: where prajñā guides people is exactly toward the ground of omniscience of all kinds, where afflictions and residual habits are cut off without remainder; the one who can guide and the place arrived at here join into a single virtue.

5. The mother of the bodhisattvas, neither arising nor ceasing, far from birth and death. Next he praises prajñā as 「諸菩薩摩訶薩母」 tr. "the mother of the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas," because it can give birth to the dharmas of the buddhas—what makes a bodhisattva a bodhisattva is that giving birth to the Buddha’s dharmas is his lifeline, and so prajñā is called mother; 「不生不滅」 tr. "neither arising nor ceasing," because of the emptiness of specific marks—in its substance its specific marks is originally empty, and so there is no arising or ceasing to be found; 「遠離生死」 tr. "far from birth and death," because it is neither permanent nor annihilated—it falls neither into the extreme of permanence nor into the extreme of annihilation, and so stands clear of the stream of birth and death. The three phrases pass from being able to give birth, to the emptiness of the substance, to leaving the round of transmigration; the meaning of mother and the meaning of emptiness are raised together and do not hinder each other: precisely because it neither arises nor ceases, it can give birth to all the dharmas of the buddhas.

6. Acting as protector for those without refuge, complete in power, able to turn the wheel of the Dharma, able to show the nature of all dharmas. The last four virtues: prajñā 「無救者作護」 tr. "acts as protector for those without refuge," because it gives all precious jewels—for those without support, the jewel of the Dharma is the ultimate support; 「具足力」 tr. "complete in power," because nothing can break or destroy it; 「能轉三轉十二行法輪」 tr. "able to turn the wheel of the Dharma of three turnings and twelve aspects," because all dharmas neither turn nor return—the turning of the wheel of the Dharma is established precisely on the real mark of dharmas, which neither turn nor return; 「能示諸法性」 tr. "able to show the nature of all dharmas," because of the emptiness of non-existent and existent dharmas. Here the sixteen phrases of praise come to a close: from the function of protecting beings and the power that cannot be destroyed, they return to turning the wheel of the Dharma and showing the nature of dharmas, the family work of the Buddha—to praise prajñā is to praise the whole of what the Buddha practises.

7. Making offerings to prajñā should be as making offerings to the World-Honored One—the World-Honored One is prajñā. Śāriputra asks: toward such a prajñā, how should one make offerings? The Buddha answers: 「當如供養世尊。禮般若波羅蜜，當如禮世尊」 tr. "As one makes offerings to the World-Honored One. One should worship prajñāpāramitā as one worships the World-Honored One"—and the reason is this: the World-Honored One is not different from prajñā, and prajñā is not different from the World-Honored One; 「世尊即是般若波羅蜜，般若波羅蜜即是世尊」 tr. "the World-Honored One is prajñāpāramitā, and prajñāpāramitā is the World-Honored One." This is the weightiest sentence of the whole chapter: the utmost of offering lies not in ritual objects but in recognising that the Dharma and the Buddha are not two; to revere prajñā to its utmost is to revere that by which the Buddha is the Buddha.

8. Within prajñā are born the worthy and noble of the three vehicles and all the dharmas of the buddhas. The Buddha goes on to state the reason himself: within this prajñā are born the buddhas, bodhisattvas, pratyekabuddhas, arhats, anāgāmins, sakṛdāgāmins, and srota-āpannas; there are born the ten wholesome paths, the four dhyānas, the four immeasurable minds, the four formless absorptions, and the five supernormal powers, 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 eight limbs of the noble path; there are born the Buddha’s ten powers, the eighteen unshared dharmas, great kindness and great compassion, and omniscience of all kinds. Of all the positions of the ordinary, the worthy, and the noble, and of all the wholesome things of the world and beyond the world, there is not one that does not come forth from within prajñā—this is why ‘making offerings to prajñā is as making offerings to the World-Honored One’: prajñā is the place from which all the worthy and noble and all the dharmas of the buddhas are born.

9. Śakra asks the cause and condition—Śāriputra himself sets out the meaning of rejoicing and dedication. Śakra thinks to himself: why does Śāriputra ask this? Śāriputra answers: the bodhisattva is guarded by prajñā, and by the power of 「漚和拘舍羅」 tr. "upāya-kauśalya" (skilful means), he joins together all the roots of goodness made by the buddhas of the three times, from the first arousing of the mind up to the abiding of their Dharma, and rejoices in them all, dedicating them to anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi—it is for this cause and condition that he asks. This answer sews this chapter to the previous one: that rejoicing and dedication can gather the good of the three times without destroying the real mark depends entirely on the power of prajñā’s skilful means, and so the question about making offerings to prajñā comes precisely in continuation of the meaning of the previous chapter.

10. The simile of the men blind from birth—with prajñā as guide, the five perfections obtain the name pāramitā. Śāriputra continues: prajñā surpasses dāna, śīla, kṣānti, vīrya, and dhyāna pāramitā. It is like men blind from birth, whether a hundred, a thousand, or a hundred thousand: with no one to guide them in front, they cannot set out on the road and cannot enter the city; the five perfections apart from prajñā are like the blind without a guide, unable to set out on the path and unable to attain omniscience of all kinds. If they obtain prajñā as their guide, 「五波羅蜜名為有眼」 tr. "the five perfections are called possessed of eyes," and through being guided they obtain the name 「波羅蜜」 tr. "pāramitā." The point of the simile is most apt: each of the five perfections has its own capacity for its work, as the blind man has his own hands and feet; what is lacking is only the eye that sees the road—what settles the direction and distinguishes the wrong from the right is prajñā alone.

11. Śakra’s challenge and the answer—abiding in prajñā, one can fully accomplish the five perfections. Śakra asks in return: if any one perfection such as giving is missing, the other five do not obtain the name pāramitā; evidently the six perfections accomplish one another—why praise prajñā alone? Śāriputra first approves his words—it is indeed so—and then answers his real point: it is only when the bodhisattva abides within prajñāpāramitā that he can fully accomplish the five perfections of dāna, śīla, kṣānti, vīrya, and dhyāna; for this reason prajñā among the five perfections is 「最上、第一、最妙、無上、無與等」 tr. "supreme, foremost, most wondrous, unsurpassed, and without equal." That they support one another is a fact, and that there is higher and lower is also a fact: what makes the perfections become perfections is prajñā.

12. How should prajñā arise—because form and all the other dharmas do not arise, prajñā arises. Śāriputra turns to ask: how should prajñā be given rise to? The Buddha answers: 「色不生故，般若波羅蜜生」 tr. "Because form does not arise, prajñāpāramitā arises"; because feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness, giving and so on up to meditation, 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 eight limbs of the noble path, and the Buddha’s ten powers and so on up to omniscience and omniscience of all kinds do not arise, prajñā arises—because all these dharmas do not arise, prajñā should arise. This is the pivotal sentence of the meaning of this chapter: the arising of prajñā is not an arising on some dharma that exists by dependent origination; it arises exactly where one illuminates and sees that dharmas do not arise; non-arising is what is illuminated, and the illumination of wisdom, taking this as its object, is set up and named arising.

13. Does not originate, does not arise, is not found, is not lost. Śāriputra presses further: what is it that because form does not arise prajñā arises? The Buddha answers: because form does not originate, does not arise, is not found, and is not lost, and so on up to because all dharmas do not originate, do not arise, are not found, and are not lost, prajñā arises. The four phrases in a linked ring take 「不生」 tr. "non-arising" apart to show it: not originating is not seeing it appear from conditions; not arising is not seeing it come to birth as a real substance; not found is that when its fixed mark is sought it is utterly unfindable; not lost is that, since nothing is found, nothing is lost either. Prajñā is set up exactly in the place of these four ‘nots,’ and so the arising of prajñā is in truth the illumination of non-arising becoming present.

14. With what dharma does the arisen prajñā join—it joins with nothing. Śāriputra asks: with what dharma does the prajñā that has arisen in this way join? The Buddha answers: 「無所合，以是故得名般若波羅蜜」 tr. "It joins with nothing, and for this reason it obtains the name prajñāpāramitā"—it does not join with unwholesome or wholesome dharmas, does not join with worldly or world-transcending dharmas, does not join with those with outflows or without outflows, does not join with those with offence or without offence, does not join with the conditioned or the unconditioned. The sūtra itself makes the reason clear: prajñā does not arise in order to obtain dharmas, and so it joins with nothing among dharmas. All five pairs are dispelled together, showing that prajñā belongs to no single class of dharmas; precisely because it belongs to nothing, it becomes the wisdom that reaches the other shore.

15. Nor does it join with sarvajñā, nor is it found. Śakra asks further: does prajñā not join even with sarvajñā (omniscience)? The Buddha answers: it neither joins nor is found—「般若波羅蜜不如名字、不如相、不如起作法合」 tr. "prajñāpāramitā does not join according to names, according to marks, according to dharmas that originate and act." Not joining with and not finding even sarvajñā, this fruit of omniscience, dispels the last and most excellent realm that could be held on to: prajñā does not join as names do, by designation; does not join as marks do, by grasping; does not join as dharmas that originate and act do, by fabrication. At this Śakra exclaims 「未曾有也」 tr. "It has never been before!"—prajñā arises precisely because all dharmas do not originate, do not arise, are not found, and are not lost.

16. Not grasping, not receiving, not abiding, not attached, not cutting off—joining thus, it joins with nothing. Śakra asks: then how does it join now? The Buddha answers: 「若菩薩摩訶薩如不取、不受、不住、不著、不斷，如是合，亦無所合」 tr. "If the bodhisattva-mahāsattva, as not grasping, not receiving, not abiding, not attached, and not cutting off, joins thus, then he also joins with nothing"—prajñā joins with all dharmas and also joins with nothing. This is the proper answer to the meaning of 「合」 tr. "joining" in the whole chapter: it is not being sealed off and untouched, but meeting all dharmas with a mind of these five ‘nots’; meeting them and not grasping, and so it is called joining and yet joining with nothing. Joining and joining with nothing are here not two separate pieces; they are exactly the two faces of one mind.

17. The thought of joining or not joining and the thought of empty, hollow, and not firm both abandon prajñā. Subhūti goes on to examine and settle two faults: if a bodhisattva practising prajñā forms the thought ‘prajñā either joins with all dharmas or does not join,’ he abandons prajñā and is far from prajñā; the Buddha then speaks one more layer—if one forms the thought ‘prajñā is without anything existent, empty and hollow, not firm,’ this too is abandoning prajñā and being far from prajñā. The former fails by discriminating the marks of joining and not joining; the latter fails by grasping 「空」 tr. "emptiness" again as a mark. The two faults raised together are the finest barrier in this chapter: having said ‘joins with nothing,’ one must not take ‘joins with nothing’ as a view; having said emptiness, one must not take emptiness as something attained.

18. Having faith in prajñā, one does not have faith in form and so on up to omniscience of all kinds—because they are unfindable. Subhūti asks: to have faith in prajñā is to have faith in what dharma? The Buddha answers: 「信般若波羅蜜，則不信色」 tr. "Having faith in prajñāpāramitā, one does not have faith in form," does not have faith in feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness, and so on up to not having faith in omniscience of all kinds. This saying is startling, and so the Buddha himself explains the reason: 「色不可得故，信般若波羅蜜，不信色」 tr. "Because form is unfindable, having faith in prajñāpāramitā, one does not have faith in form," and so on up to: because omniscience of all kinds is unfindable, one does not have faith in omniscience of all kinds. Not having faith is not wiping out the matter; it is not holding them as dharmas with a fixed nature that can be found; to have faith in prajñā is to have faith in the real mark of the unfindability of dharmas, and so on each and every dharma one does not set up a grasping of faith.

19. The treatise explains the head of the chapter—Śāriputra, taking up the meaning of rejoicing, gives rise to joy and praise. The treatise-author first sets out how the scene came about: in the previous chapter the Buddha, Maitreya, Subhūti, and Śakra together spoke of the meaning of rejoicing, and Śāriputra listened in silence; hearing that the meaning of rejoicing in prajñā is very deep, immeasurable and boundless, and of great benefit to beings, though he himself had exhausted his outflows and was at rest in quiescent extinction, he still gave rise to a joyful mind, rose from his seat, joined his palms, and said to the Buddha—what can make rejoicing, cut off all idle discourse, and benefit immeasurable beings, leading them into the Buddha path, is prajñā. The Buddha approved his words, and so said 「是」 tr. "This is." One whose outflows are exhausted is originally without gladness or sorrow, yet still rises and praises for the sake of this dharma—which shows exactly how deep what he praises is.

20. Explaining ultimate purity—illuminating all five kinds of Dharma treasury. The treatise explains the first virtue: within prajñā the real mark of all dharmas is spoken; within the real mark there is no stain or turbidity of idle discourse, and so it is called 「畢竟清淨」 tr. "ultimately pure"; because it is ultimately pure, it can illuminate all the five kinds of Dharma treasury—the past, the future, the present, the unconditioned, and the inexpressible. The pervasiveness of its illumination comes not from the strength of a light, but from the stainlessness of its substance: when stains are exhausted nothing stands in between, and so the Dharma treasuries of the three times, of the unconditioned, and even of the inexpressible are all within its illumination. This is the most apt gloss on 「能照一切法，畢竟淨故」 tr. "can illuminate all dharmas, because it is ultimately pure."

21. Explaining the two meanings of omniscience of all kinds. The treatise explains 「一切種智」 tr. "omniscience of all kinds" in two ways: first, the bodhisattva abides in the vajra samādhi, cuts off the subtle residual habits of all afflictions so that none remain, and attains unobstructed liberation, and so it is called omniscience of all kinds—the name is set up from the virtue of cutting off; second, knowing the general and particular marks of all dharmas is the cause and condition of omniscience of all kinds, and so it is called omniscience of all kinds—the name is set up from the virtue of knowledge. The cutting off of habit-energies without remainder is its purity; knowing both the general and the particular is its clarity; under one name the two virtues of cutting off and of knowledge complete each other, answering exactly to the sūtra’s praise above, ‘because all afflictions and their habit-energies are cut off.’

22. Explaining turning the wheel of the Dharma and showing the nature of dharmas—neither turning nor returning, apart from existence and apart from non-existence. The treatise explains 「能轉三轉十二行法輪」 tr. "able to turn the wheel of the Dharma of three turnings and twelve aspects": because within prajñā there is no self-nature, it teaches that dharmas do not turn within birth and death and do not return into nirvāṇa—because they do not arise they do not turn, and because they do not cease they do not return; the turning of the wheel of the Dharma is established precisely on this not turning and not returning. It further explains 「能示諸法性」 tr. "able to show the nature of all dharmas": all dharmas fall into two portions, existent or non-existent; within prajñā existence should not be grasped and non-existence should not be grasped either; to be apart from this existence and non-existence is the nature of dharmas. Turning without turning, showing while being apart from the extremes—the two virtues come forth from one source.

23. The signless dharma and the proud mind—why Śāriputra asks about offering. The treatise-author points out the deep intent of the question about offering: prajñā 「是無相相」 tr. "is the mark of the signless"—it takes being without mark as its mark; some people, whose minds are not yet ripened, seek a fixed mark in prajñā and cannot find one, and so give rise to a proud mind that slights it. Śāriputra asks precisely for such people: how should one make offerings? The signless dharma is the one most easily slighted by shallow minds—it cannot be seen, cannot be touched, has no mark to grasp, and so they suspect it is not worth honouring. This question is asked on behalf of all whose minds are not yet ripened.

24. As making offerings to the Buddha—attached to the mark of beings, thin in feeling toward the precious Dharma; the Buddha and prajñā are equal and without difference. The treatise explains the Buddha’s answer: the Buddha teaches that one should make offerings as to the Buddha, because people from long ago have been deeply attached to the mark of beings and are thin in feeling toward the precious Dharma—revering a person is easy, revering the Dharma is hard, and so he uses the rite of making offerings to the Buddha to teach them to revere the Dharma. When the wise contemplate it, the Buddha and prajñā are equal and without difference; the reason is: prajñā, cultivated and gathered, turns into omniscience. Here the Buddha himself states the cause and condition: from within prajñā are born the worthy and noble, the ten wholesome paths, and the other dharmas of the world and beyond the world, and so on up to omniscience of all kinds. When the Dharma is accomplished, that is the Buddha; and so to revere the Dharma is to revere the Buddha.

25. Explaining Śakra’s thought and Śāriputra’s own statement of the cause. The treatise explains why Śakra formed his thought: Śāriputra is one whose outflows are exhausted and who is free of desire, yet he praises prajñā as fervently as someone attached to the Dharma; Śakra doubts it and asks him. Śāriputra himself states the cause: because the bodhisattva is guarded by prajñā, by the power of skilful means he can dedicate the merit of rejoicing without breaking the mark of prajñāpāramitā—this matter is very rare, and so he honours prajñā and asks the Buddha how to make offerings. Rejoicing is gathering merit; prajñā is illuminating emptiness; to gather merit and not destroy the mark of emptiness is exactly what is rare, and exactly what is worthy of reverence.

26. Question and answer one—why speak of a hundred thousand blind men. The treatise sets up a question: the five perfections ought to be likened to five blind men, so why does it go so far as to say 「百千」 tr. "a hundred thousand"? The answer has three meanings: first, what is spoken of here is their force, not how many or few the people are; second, if it were said that only five persons are guided, that would not be worth valuing, and so it says a hundred thousand; third, the perfections are in themselves many, as the Samādhi of the Auspicious Kalpa says there are eighty-four thousand kinds of pāramitā, and spoken of broadly they are immeasurable. The simile takes the force and not the number—blind men without a guide, a hundred thousand alike, are stuck; a crowd that has a guide, a hundred thousand alike, go forward: this shows exactly that the power of prajñā’s single guiding reaches all the practices.

27. Question and answer two—giving also has eyes, so why liken it to having none. It asks again: dānapāramitā also has eyes—it has faith that there are offence and merit, and breaks ignorance such as wrong views, and so is able to give—why still liken it to having no eyes? The answer: 「布施中，智慧是客來，非正體」 tr. "within giving, wisdom is a guest that has come, not the proper substance"; just as the four great elements are always joined together and cannot be separated, the perfections joining together are also like this. Within giving there is indeed a share of wisdom, but it is a guest that accompanies it, not the proper substance of giving; with respect to its proper substance, giving itself does not possess the eye that discerns the real mark. That they join and cannot be separated is a fact; that the positions of guest and host cannot be confused is also a fact.

28. Two explanations of the road and the city. The treatise explains the words in the simile 「不能趣道、入城」 tr. "cannot set out on the road or enter the city": the road is the path of the bodhisattva’s ten grounds; the city is omniscience of all kinds and the other dharmas of the buddhas. Again, the road is the eight limbs of the noble path; the city is nirvāṇa. One simile with two explanations reaches both the great and the small ways: in terms of the bodhisattva path, what one sets out toward is the ten grounds and what one enters is the city of the Buddha’s dharmas; in terms of the common way, what one sets out on is the eightfold right path and what one enters is the city of nirvāṇa. Whichever explanation is taken, one needs someone with eyes to guide; what the simile points to is throughout the guiding work of prajñā.

29. The proper extension of the simile of the blind men obtaining a guide—they cannot even attain the two vehicles, let alone the unsurpassed path. The treatise extends the meaning of the simile: although the blind man has the strength of hands and feet, he cannot reach anywhere at will; when he obtains someone with eyes to show and guide him, then wherever he wishes to go he can accomplish it. Although the five perfections each have a capacity for their work, without obtaining prajñā to show and guide them, they cannot even attain the two vehicles, let alone the unsurpassed path! Because they obtain prajñā as guide, they obtain the name pāramitā, all the way to accomplishing the Buddha path. The strength of hands and feet is likened to the functions the five perfections themselves possess; the guidance of the eyes is likened to the discerning illumination of prajñā; it is not that strength is lacking, but without eyes strength does not become a journey—this simile says all there is to say about the one word 「將導」 tr. "guide."

30. The simile of the mineral powder and the simile of the general—because the power of prajñā is great, the five dharmas obtain their name. Śakra challenges again: you yourself say that the perfections join together and assist one another, as the four great elements are not separated, so prajñā too depends on the five dharmas—why say only that it is because of prajñā that the five dharmas obtain the name pāramitā? The answer: although the six matters join together and assist one another, 「但般若波羅蜜力大故，五法因得波羅蜜名字」 tr. "it is only because the power of prajñāpāramitā is great that the five dharmas obtain through it the name pāramitā." It is like blending a medicinal powder: each of the many medicines has its power, yet the mineral medicine has the greatest force, and so it is called a mineral powder; again, it is like a great army crushing the enemy: every man has his strength, yet the general’s strength is great, and the name of the victory goes to the general. Within joining together there are of course greater and lesser powers, and the name is set up according to the one of great power—the joining together is not set aside, and yet the sole honour is established.

31. Contemplating the mark of non-arising is giving rise to prajñā; knowing the false, one does not let it originate. The treatise, following the sūtra, explains 「云何生般若」 tr. "how does prajñā arise": the practitioner contemplates the mark of non-arising of form and all the other dharmas, and this is giving rise to prajñā. It further explains ‘how one contemplates non-arising’: form and the rest originate from the coming together of causes and conditions; the practitioner knows that form is false and does not let it originate; 「不起故不生，不生故不得，不得故不失」 tr. "because it does not originate it does not arise; because it does not arise it is not found; because it is not found it is not lost." Giving rise to prajñā is not cultivating some separate dharma, but seeing through the falseness of dharmas at the very place where they appear, and not originating along with them; the linked ring of the four ‘nots’ is set up from here—this brings the sūtra’s meaning of non-arising down to the point where contemplation and practice take hold.

32. Because it has the mark of non-arising, it joins with nothing—it enters the count of prajñāpāramitā. The treatise explains 「無所合」 tr. "joins with nothing": the intent of Śāriputra’s question is—since prajñā has no place of arising from conditions, with what dharma does it join? Where does it finally abide? What result does it obtain? The answer: because prajñā has the mark of non-arising, it joins with nothing. If prajñā had a dharma it could join with, whether wholesome or unwholesome and so on, it would not be called prajñā; 「今無所合，故入般若波羅蜜數中」 tr. "now, because it joins with nothing, it enters the count of prajñāpāramitā." These words set up a criterion: joining with nothing is not a lack in prajñā, but precisely its qualification for entering the count of prajñā; once it joins with something, it falls into some one class of dharmas, and is no longer the wisdom that illuminates all dharmas.

33. Why Śakra asks only about sarvajñā—his craving is not yet cut off. The treatise sets up a question: Śakra already knows that all dharmas do not join, so why does he ask only about not joining with sarvajñā? The answer: Śakra values and is deeply attached to this prajñā, and 「於薩婆若愛未斷」 tr. "his craving for sarvajñā is not yet cut off," and so he says, ‘does it not join even with sarvajñā?’ The Buddha answers: prajñā and sarvajñā also do not join, because all dharmas are ultimately non-arising. This question and answer lights up a common sickness of learners: coarse realms are easy to relinquish, excellent realms are hard to relinquish; one can empty all dharmas, yet gives rise to craving for omniscience. The treatise-author points straight at the root of his craving, and the Buddha, with the single phrase ‘ultimately non-arising,’ dispels even this last realm of craving.

34. Joining is spoken of to refute annihilation—joining as the Buddha’s mind joins. The treatise explains why the sūtra again speaks of 「合」 tr. "joining": the Buddha speaks of joining in order to refute the wrong view of annihilation; prajñā does not join as ordinary people do, grasping marks, attached to names, joining by conditioned dharmas that originate and act, but 「如佛心合」 tr. "joins as the Buddha’s mind joins." If, hearing ‘joins with nothing,’ one takes prajñā to be cut off from and annihilated with respect to all dharmas, one falls again into an extreme; so the Buddha keeps the one word 「合」 tr. "joining" to guard against the view of annihilation, and at once distinguishes that this joining is not the joining of ordinary people. The one word ‘joining’ blocks annihilation; the words ‘as the Buddha’s mind’ block grasping and attachment—within one sentence both extremes are guarded against.

35. Five meanings explaining joining as the Buddha’s mind joins. The treatise asks: what is joining as the Buddha’s mind joins? It answers with five meanings: because all marks are deceptive, 「不取相」 tr. "it does not grasp at marks"; because in all dharmas there are faults such as impermanence, 「不受」 tr. "it does not receive"; because the mind of self and mine binds and attaches to the world, and the world is all a moving mark, 「不住」 tr. "it does not abide"; because they can give birth to all kinds of suffering and vexation and must afterwards change, 「不著」 tr. "it is not attached"; because all the inverted results of the world are unreal, like an illusion, like a dream, and in reality nothing is extinguished, 「不斷」 tr. "it does not cut off." Therefore the Buddha is not attached to dharmas and does not give rise to a haughty mind; he enters the wholesome mark of ultimate emptiness and enters deeply into great compassion in order to save beings—the bodhisattva should join as the Buddha’s mind joins. Each of the five ‘nots’ answers to one sickness: grasping marks, receiving, abiding and attaching, craving and defilement, annihilation; all five sicknesses are left behind together, and yet great compassion is not set aside—this is exactly the manner in which the Buddha’s mind meets all dharmas.

36. Discriminating with something to be attained loses prajñā; grasping the mark of emptiness also loses it. The treatise, following the sūtra, extends the two faults: Subhūti says that a bodhisattva who, with a mind of something to be attained, discriminates whether omniscience and the rest, and all dharmas, join or do not join, loses prajñā; the Buddha approves his words and speaks one more layer—if one grasps the mark of emptiness ‘all dharmas neither join nor do not join,’ and says that prajñā is empty, without anything existent, not firm, one also loses prajñā. Meanwhile Śakra rejoices and praises it, saying: rare! prajñā does not break or destroy dharmas, because it does not arise, is not found, and is not lost, and yet it can accomplish the bodhisattva and bring him to the Buddha ground. Two faults and one praise stand side by side: discriminating is a fault, and being attached to emptiness is also a fault; not destroying dharmas and yet accomplishing the practitioner—that is the true colour of prajñā.

37. Because the self-nature of form and all the rest is unfindable, they cannot be held in faith. The treatise explains the final question: Subhūti knows that prajñā has the mark of unfindability, and so asks—having faith in prajñā, in what dharma does one have faith? Even the emptiness of prajñā is unfindable; where then does the decided mind place its faith? The Buddha answers: 「色等一切法不可信。何以故？色等一切法自性不可得故不可信。」 tr. "Form and all other dharmas cannot be held in faith. Why? Because the self-nature of form and all other dharmas is unfindable, they cannot be held in faith." The words ‘cannot be held in faith’ must be well understood: they do not mean that dharmas are false and not worth discussing; they mean that when the self-nature of each and every dharma is sought it is unfindable, and so there is not one dharma that can serve as the support of a grasping of faith; one who has faith in prajñā has faith precisely in this unfindability, and so sets up no faith in form or anything up to omniscience of all kinds.

38. Prajñā is called mahāpāramitā—the dispelling of five pairs. The second sūtra passage turns to Subhūti’s praise: prajñā is called mahāpāramitā, the great perfection. The Buddha asks him the reason in return, and Subhūti answers with the dispelling of five pairs: prajñā, toward form, feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness, the twelve sense-fields and the eighteen elements, the six perfections, 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 anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, the dharmas of the buddhas and so on up to the buddhas, 「不作大、不作小」 tr. "does not make great, does not make small"; does not make joined, does not make dispersed; does not make measureless, does not make not measureless; does not make broad, does not make narrow; does not make possessed of power, does not make without power—for these causes and conditions it is called mahāpāramitā. The greatness of the great lies not in being able to make dharmas great, but precisely in making none of the marks of great and small and the rest upon any dharma; because it makes nothing, its measure cannot be limited, and this is mahā.

39. A bodhisattva who has newly aroused the mind forming this thought—this is not practising prajñā. Subhūti continues: if a bodhisattva who has newly aroused the mind does not keep apart from the six perfections, yet gives rise to such a thought—prajñā does not make form great and does not make form small, and so on up to does not make the buddhas possessed of power or without power—if he knows it in this way, 「是為不行般若波羅蜜」 tr. "this is not practising prajñāpāramitā"; because this is not the mark of prajñā: namely, making form great or small, and so on up to the buddhas great or small, possessed of power or without power. The passage just before has said that not making great or small is the meaning of mahā; here it is at once examined: to take 「不作大小」 tr. "not making great or small" again as a thought to hold, the thought itself is already making—to form an understanding where there is no making is to fall right into what was being dispelled.

40. Because of something to be attained there is a great fault—for one with the mark of something to be attained there is no awakening. Subhūti extends the reason: because this bodhisattva uses a mind of something to be attained, 「有大過失」 tr. "there is a great fault"—in practising prajñā he makes form great or small, and so on up to making the buddhas possessed of power or without power. Why is it a great fault? 「有所得相者，無阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」 tr. "For one with the mark of something to be attained, there is no anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi." This sentence is the nail-cutting word of the whole chapter: unsurpassed awakening and the mark of something to be attained cannot coexist; it is not that attaining it is hard, but that the mind of something to be attained is itself contrary to awakening. The fault is called great exactly because what it destroys is not one practice or one good deed, but the very substance of awakening.

41. Ten layers of non-arising—because beings do not arise, prajñā does not arise, and so on up to power not accomplished. Subhūti broadly extends the principle: because beings do not arise, prajñā too should not arise; because form does not arise, prajñā does not arise; and so on up to because the Buddha does not arise, prajñā does not arise; likewise, because the nature of beings, of form, and so on up to of the Buddha is without nature, the nature of prajñā is without nature; because they are not a dharma, it is not a dharma; because empty, empty; because apart, apart; because non-existent, non-existent; because inconceivable, inconceivable; because non-ceasing, non-ceasing; because unknowable, unknowable; because power is not accomplished, power is not accomplished—for these causes and conditions prajñā is called mahāpāramitā. The ten layers share one form: prajñā does not set up a separate nature outside what it illuminates; as the dharmas illuminated are, so is the wisdom that illuminates; the illuminator and the illuminated are dispelled together, and the meaning of greatness is accomplished of itself.

42. The treatise explains—Subhūti’s doubting mind opens and is resolved. The treatise-author sets out how the second sūtra passage came about: Subhūti, hearing what the Buddha said, 「疑心開解」 tr. "his doubting mind opened and was resolved," and praised prajñā, saying: this prajñā is called mahāpāramitā. The Buddha asked him in return: what do you think—why is it called the great pāramitā? Subhūti answered: because it does not make form and the other dharmas great or small. The sūtra passage before had examined its way to ‘having faith in prajñā, one does not have faith in any dharma,’ and the momentum of the words had reached its limit; here Subhūti not only does not doubt, but on the contrary opens out and resolves it into the one praise 「摩訶」 tr. "mahā," which shows that where dispelling reaches its utmost is exactly where the great meaning shines forth—with the words ‘his doubting mind opened and was resolved,’ the treatise-author points out that the praise is the speech of understanding and awakening, not words used to pose a question.

43. The ordinary mind makes great and small at will—contracted in danger, broad in ease; in the eight liberations it follows the mind. The treatise first sets up the opposite side: the mind of ordinary people makes things great and makes things small among dharmas at will. When a person is in danger and pressed, his mind shrinks small; when at peace, secure, rich, and happy, his mind is broad; again, in the eight liberations, because it follows the mind, the outer form contemplated is now large and now small. Of these two examples, one is taken from worldly feeling and one from meditative contemplation, showing exactly that 「大小」 tr. "great and small" lie not in dharmas but in the mind: in the same situation, when the mind is pressed it is small, when the mind is at ease it is great; the same form-dharma, following imagination in contemplation, is now large and now small. Since great and small turn with the mind, one knows they are not the real nature of dharmas.

44. How form is made great and how form is made small. The treatise next brings up the marks of the ordinary person’s grasping of form: within form seen by the eye, even matters that are not form are called form—as when dharmas pointing to action, pointing to measure, pointing to number, pointing to identity and difference, and the like are joined together and taken as form; this is called making form great. Some people call what can be seen form and do not call what cannot be seen form; and again some people say that coarse form is deceptive and not true form, that only the fine particle, being permanent, is true form, and that when fine particles come together they are provisionally named form; this is called making form small. Those who make it great wrongly take in what is not form to widen its domain; those who make it small cut away the provisional name to seek its reality: one expands, one contracts, both alike set up by recollection and imagining, and neither is form’s own proper portion.

45. Following recollection, imagining, and discrimination breaks the nature of dharmas—prajñā contemplates as it really is. The treatise concludes the two passages above: for such causes and conditions, ordinary people make form great or make it small, 「隨憶想分別故，破諸法性」 tr. "following recollection, imagining, and discrimination, they break the nature of dharmas"; prajñāpāramitā contemplates in accord with the nature of form as it really is, and does not make it great or small. The phrase ‘breaks the nature of dharmas’ is very weighty: it is not that the nature of dharmas can be broken, but that recollection, imagining, and discrimination forcibly impose great and small upon dharmas and cover over what dharmas are of themselves, and this is called breaking. The contemplation of prajñā is exactly the opposite—following the original nature of form and contemplating it as it really is, adding not one mark and removing not one mark; the words 「不作」 tr. "does not make" are exactly the meaning of ‘as it really is.’

46. Neither joined nor dispersed—having only a provisional name, without a fixed mark. The treatise explains 「不合不散」 tr. "neither joined nor dispersed": prajñā does not teach that when subtle forms come together some further form arises; 「但有假名，無有定相色」 tr. "there is only a provisional name; there is no form of fixed mark," and therefore there is no joining and no dispersing. It further extends this: form is a made dharma; within prajñā, it is not that coarse form exists because fine particles join, nor that fine particles return because coarse form disperses; dharmas that originate and act have discrimination and reckoning of more and less, and cannot be said to be neither joined nor dispersed. Joining and dispersing are matters of real substances—what has a fixed substance can be gathered and can be dispersed; since form is only a provisional name without a fixed mark, then from the beginning there is nothing that can be joined and nothing that can be dispersed; it is not that it was first joined and is afterwards made not to join.

47. Neither measure nor measureless, neither broad nor narrow, not saying possessed of power or without power. The treatise goes on to explain the remaining pairs: form is boundless and so measureless; because there is no place and no time without form, it has no measure; ordinary people say measureless because of emptiness and say it has measure because of reality, but prajñā is far apart from the two extremes of emptiness and reality, and so says 「非量非無量」 tr. "neither measure nor measureless." Ordinary people obtain their understanding by following the recollections of the mind, and so make form broad or make it narrow; prajñā contemplates the mark of the real dharma and does not follow the mind, and so it is neither broad nor narrow. Ordinary people do not know that dharmas are born from the coming together of causes and conditions, and so say 「色有力」 tr. "form has power"—as when many strands are joined into a rope and they say the rope has power, or a wall collapses and kills a person and they say the wall has power, whereas each, dispersed, has no power; prajñā knows the mark of coming together, and does not say that any one dharma has power, nor does it say it is without power. Therefore it is called 「摩訶般若波羅蜜」 tr. "mahāprajñāpāramitā." The three pairs share one way of judging: ordinary feeling, chasing marks, sets up measure, sets up broad and narrow, sets up power and function; prajñā illuminates that they are provisionally set up by coming together, and makes none of them.

48. There is a further great cause and condition—practising joined together, one is pliant and accomplishes; practising prajñā alone, one is scattered. The treatise turns out the meaning of the gate of practice: if a bodhisattva does not keep apart from the six perfections, he does not make form and the other dharmas great or small; if he practises prajñā alone, 「則心散亂、不調順」 tr. "then his mind is scattered and not tamed and compliant," and many doubts, regrets, and wrong views arise, and he loses the mark of prajñā; if he practises it joined with the five perfections, then he is 「調柔不錯」 tr. "pliant and without error," and can accomplish the many tasks. It is like the eight limbs of the noble path: right view is the path, yet without the seven other limbs to assist it, it cannot accomplish the task, and is not even called right view. Therefore the Buddha says that all wholesome dharmas are born together from the coming together of causes and conditions, and there is not one dharma that arises by itself alone; when they come together each has its power, but the powers are greater and lesser—this is called practising prajñāpāramitā. Wisdom must be upheld by the many practices, just as right view must be assisted by the seven limbs; wisdom alone without practice not only accomplishes nothing, but loses even the substance of wisdom.

49. Falling into the extreme of existence and being attached to the mark of emptiness—both are faults. The treatise extends the faults of practising alone, which are two: if one practises prajñā apart from the five perfections and discriminates form and the other dharmas as great or small, this person falls into using something to be attained and falls within the extreme of existence; if one does not discriminate among dharmas, yet apart from the five perfections is attached to this mark of emptiness, ‘not great, not small,’ and the like—first to discriminate dharmas as great or small, with something to be attained, is a fault; now to be attached to the mark of emptiness, ‘not great, not small,’ and the like, is also a fault. The fault of the extreme of existence is easy to see; the fault of the mark of emptiness is hard to guard against: having relinquished discrimination, one then embraces the mark of non-discrimination—barring the thief at the front gate and welcoming him at the back—and so the treatise-author examines both faults together and does not allow one to stop at either extreme.

50. For one with the mark of something to be attained there is no awakening—the mark of quiescent extinction, the mark of nothing to be attained, the mark of ultimate purity. The treatise explains why both are faults: here Subhūti states the cause and condition—「有所得相者，乃至無阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」 tr. "For one with the mark of something to be attained, and so on up to: there is no anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi." Why? Anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi is 「寂滅相、無所得相、畢竟清淨相」 tr. "the mark of quiescent extinction, the mark of nothing to be attained, the mark of ultimate purity"; one with the mark of something to be attained gives rise to all idle discourse and contention; all dharmas neither arise nor cease, and this is the mark of nothing to be attained. The three marks of awakening are a positive definition: because it is quiescent extinction, there is no mark to be grasped; because there is nothing to be attained, there is no mind to hold on; because it is ultimately pure, there is no stain to be mixed in; wherever there is something to be attained, idle discourse and contention will surely arise, running counter to these three marks, and so there is certainly no awakening to be accomplished.

51. Beings do not arise—breaking the inversion of self and mine. The treatise explains the first of the ten layers of non-arising: as with the self and beings, sought throughout the ten directions they are utterly unfindable—「但有假名，實不生」 tr. "there is only a provisional name; in reality they do not arise"; because beings do not arise, prajñā too is like the mark of beings—because it breaks the inversion of self and mine, it neither arises nor ceases; as with form and the other dharmas, because the mark of arising is unfindable, they do not arise. The layer of beings stands first exactly because self and mine are the root of inversion: to cling to a self and to a person on beings who are only provisional names and originally do not arise is the beginning of all idle discourse; prajñā’s being the same as the non-arising of the mark of beings is exactly breaking this inversion at the root.

52. Two dharmas gather in all dharmas—a provisional name without fixed nature is non-arising. The treatise sets up the general gathering: two dharmas gather in all dharmas—beings and dharmas. These two dharmas are born from the coming together of causes and conditions, 「但有假名，無有定性」 tr. "having only a provisional name, without any fixed nature"; if a dharma is without fixed nature, this dharma is non-arising; because these two dharmas are non-arising, one should know that form and all the other dharmas are also non-arising. Beings and dharmas take in the entire domain of the two graspings, of person and of dharma; both are provisional names upon the coming together of causes and conditions, both are without fixed nature, and so both return to non-arising. It further concludes: beings’ and dharmas’ being without nature, without anything existent, empty, apart, inconceivable, non-ceasing, and unknowable are all so by the same standard—the one 「無定性」 tr. "without fixed nature" runs through all ten layers.

53. Power not accomplished—because prajñā is born from dharmas, it too is ultimately empty. The treatise explains the last layer, 「力不成就」 tr. "power not accomplished": first it says that all dharmas are born from the coming together of causes and conditions and each has no power of its own; prajñā knows that dharmas each have no power of their own and so have no self-nature, and having no self-nature they are empty. Going one layer further: 「般若波羅蜜從諸法生故無自力」 tr. "prajñāpāramitā is born from dharmas and so has no power of its own"; having no power of its own, it too is ultimately empty like all dharmas. These words go to the very bottom: not only are the dharmas contemplated without power and without nature, but the prajñā that contemplates is also set up from the causes and conditions of dharmas, equally without power of its own, equally ultimately empty—only when the wisdom that illuminates does not place itself outside the emptiness it illuminates is illumination at its utmost.

54. Question and answer five—lest one say prajñā has great power, it blocks again. The treatise sets up the last question: it has already been said that form and the other dharmas are not made possessed of power and not made without power; why now say further that because the power of beings, form, and the rest is not accomplished, the power of prajñā too is not accomplished? The answer: above it was said that prajñā contemplates dharmas without making them possessed of power or without power, and the hearer will say, ‘prajñā can make this contemplation, and so it has great power’; therefore here it says that because the power of beings, form, and the rest is not accomplished, the power of prajñā too is not accomplished. The former sentence blocks the power of what is contemplated; the hearer turns instead to honour the power of what contemplates, and so it must be blocked again: even the prajñā that ‘can make this contemplation’ has no power of its own to rely on. Only when the blocking reaches the one who contemplates is the blocking complete.

55. Returning to the conclusion—for such various causes and conditions it is called mahāpāramitā. The treatise gathers up the whole chapter: for such various causes and conditions it is called 「摩訶波羅蜜」 tr. "mahāpāramitā." Here the meaning of mahā is complete: to make none of great and small, joined and dispersed, measure, breadth, and power upon dharmas is the greatness that blocks feeling; the ten layers of non-arising, the illuminator and the illuminated equally empty, is the greatness of substance; practising joined with the five perfections, pliant and accomplishing, is the greatness of practice; for one with the mark of something to be attained there is no awakening—this is the judgement on the fruit. Under one name the three layers of question of the whole chapter are all gathered in—the illumination of ‘Illumination’ is this great wisdom that makes nothing, attains nothing, and yet has nothing it does not accomplish.

Do Not Misread

Do not read the illumination in 「能照一切法」 tr. "can illuminate all dharmas" as there being a body of light that can illuminate, shining on the ten thousand things. The sūtra itself notes it clearly—it can illuminate 「畢竟淨故」 tr. "because it is ultimately pure": the pervasiveness of its illumination comes from the purity of its substance, as a mirror without stain has nothing it does not show; it is not that prajñā separately possesses a power of illumination that it bestows on dharmas. The treatise’s explanation is the same: within the real mark there is no stain or turbidity of idle discourse, and so it is called ultimately pure, and so it can illuminate all five kinds of Dharma treasury. If one sets up a substance that can illuminate, that is seeking a fixed mark in the signless dharma—exactly a replay of the road the treatise rebukes, 「心未淳熟、求其定相不能得，便生慢心」 tr. "the mind not yet ripened, seeking its fixed mark and unable to find it, one then gives rise to a proud mind"; illumination is the function of purity, not a capacity outside the substance.

Do not read 「世尊即是般若波羅蜜」 tr. "the World-Honored One is prajñāpāramitā" as the Buddha being equated with a scroll of the sūtra, and do not on that account mistake offering to be a matter only of attending to ritual objects. The sūtra’s meaning is: prajñā, cultivated and gathered, turns into omniscience; the Buddha is accomplished by prajñā, and when the Dharma is accomplished that is the Buddha, and so revering prajñā should be as revering the Buddha; the treatise-author further points out that this answer is a remedy for the worldly feeling that is 「深著眾生相、於貴法情薄」 tr. "deeply attached to the mark of beings, and thin in feeling toward the precious Dharma." If one reads it as the scroll of the sūtra being the Buddha’s body and stops at offering ritual objects, one gets the matter and loses its meaning; if one reads it as needing no reverence, one loses the matter as well—know that the word ‘is’ teaches one precisely, within the rite of reverence, to recognise that by which the Buddha is the Buddha.

Do not read ‘having faith in prajñā, one does not have faith in form and so on up to omniscience of all kinds’ as wiping out dharmas and throwing away the noble fruits. The reason for not having faith the sūtra states most clearly—「不可得故」 tr. "because they are unfindable": the self-nature of each and every dharma, when sought, is unfindable, and so one does not set up a grasping of faith upon it; it does not mean that form and the rest are utterly non-existent or that the noble fruits are set up in vain. In the same way, 「無所合」 tr. "joins with nothing" is not being cut off, and so the Buddha at once guards against the view of annihilation with 「如佛心合」 tr. "joins as the Buddha’s mind joins"; and both the thought of joining or not joining and the thought 「空虛不堅固」 tr. "empty and hollow, not firm" are seen through. What this whole series of blockings and dispellings blocks is the mind that grasps marks, not the dharmas that are blocked; if one reads the words of blocking as annihilation, one falls right into the wrong view of annihilation that the Buddha refutes in the treatise.

Do not read ‘prajñā alone is honoured’ and 「和合行」 tr. "practising joined together" as contradicting each other, nor read practising prajñā alone as the purer the higher. In this chapter the two sides stand together: on one side, the simile of the men blind from birth and the similes of the mineral powder and the general establish prajñā’s sole honour—the five perfections apart from prajñā are like the blind without a guide, and because prajñā’s power is great the five dharmas obtain their name; on the other side, the end of the treatise states plainly that practising prajñā alone, apart from the five perfections, leaves the mind scattered, with many doubts, regrets, and wrong views, losing the mark of prajñā, and that only by practising it joined with the five perfections is one pliant and able to accomplish. Sole honour is spoken with respect to the work of guiding and the force of power; joining together is spoken with respect to accomplishment; just as the general’s power is great and the victory goes to him, which does not mean the general can fight alone without an army. To read either side one-sidedly is to lose the wholeness of this chapter’s gate of practice.

Bearing on Practice

The first benefit this chapter gives to one who applies himself is to set ‘reverence for the Dharma’ at its utmost. Prajñā is signless, and is most easily slighted by a mind that seeks marks—seeing no auspicious responses and touching no special states, one suspects it is not worth valuing; with the sixteen phrases praising its virtues and the answer 「當如供養世尊」 tr. "as one makes offerings to the World-Honored One," this chapter teaches one to give rise, toward the signless dharma, to a reverence as though before the Buddha. In daily life, when reading, reciting, and reflecting on prajñā, first gather up the slighting and scattered mind and hold the thought of making offerings to the World-Honored One; this is not merely adding ritual observances, but using a reverent mind to remedy the pride that seeks marks—only when reverence goes deep does one have faith that the Dharma and the Buddha are not two.

The second benefit lies in where to take hold of the one question 「云何生般若」 tr. "how does prajñā arise." The sūtra answers: because form and the rest do not arise, prajñā arises; the treatise brings it down to contemplation and practice—form and the rest originate from the coming together of causes and conditions; the practitioner knows them to be false and does not let them originate; not originating, they do not arise; not arising, they are not found; not found, they are not lost. One who applies himself need not look for prajñā in some remote and far-off place: right where the objects of daily life appear, see through their coming together from causes and conditions, utterly without fixed reality, and do not originate along with them in aversion, love, grasping, and attachment—the place where this one thought does not originate along with them is the place where prajñā arises. One should also keep in mind the judgement of 「無所合」 tr. "joins with nothing": the illumination of wisdom is not tied to any one side, good or evil, with outflows or without outflows; to be tied to one side is not prajñā.

The third benefit is guarding against two subtle faults. To form the thought of ‘joining or not joining’ is a fault; to form the thought ‘prajñā is empty and without anything existent’ is also a fault; to discriminate dharmas as great or small is to fall into the extreme of existence, and to be attached to the mark of emptiness ‘not great, not small’ is also a fault. One who applies himself, at the point where the contemplation of emptiness begins to gain strength, most easily grasps emptiness again as something attained—this chapter sees through this barrier again and again, and the one sentence 「有所得相者，無阿耨多羅三藐三菩提」 tr. "for one with the mark of something to be attained, there is no anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi" should be taken as a motto kept at one’s side: examine one’s own mind, and wherever there is a single mark to lean on or a single attainment to rely on, know that one has already left prajñā, and put it down at once.

The fourth benefit is the balance of the gate of practice. The end of the treatise gives a clear instruction: practising prajñā alone, the mind is scattered and many doubts, regrets, and wrong views arise; practising it joined with the five perfections, one is pliant and without error and can accomplish the many tasks, as right view must be assisted by the seven limbs. One who applies himself must not rely on understanding and wisdom and set aside the practices of giving, keeping the precepts, patience, vigour, and meditation—the practices are like hands and feet, wisdom is like the eyes, and with eyes but no feet one cannot reach the city; all wholesome dharmas are born together from the coming together of causes and conditions, and there is not one dharma that arises by itself alone. To guide practice with wisdom and to nourish wisdom with practice—this is the practising of prajñāpāramitā that this chapter confirms.

Further Resonances

The backbone of this chapter is a threefold meaning strung together by the one name 「照明」 tr. "Illumination": first comes the praise of virtues—Śāriputra praises prajñā with sixteen phrases on its virtues, that it can illuminate all dharmas and is ultimately pure, gathered into the answer on offering, 「世尊即是般若波羅蜜」 tr. "the World-Honored One is prajñāpāramitā," and with the simile of the men blind from birth and the similes of the mineral powder and the general establishes prajñā’s position as guide and sole honoured one among the five perfections; next comes examination and discernment—how prajñā arises (it arises because form and the rest do not arise; not originating, not arising, not found, not lost), how it joins (it joins with nothing, does not join even with sarvajñā, and joining as not grasping, not receiving, not abiding, not attached, not cutting off, it also joins with nothing), and the seeing through of the two faults, the thought of joining or not joining and the thought that grasps the mark of emptiness, returning to ‘having faith in prajñā, one does not have faith in form and the rest, because they are unfindable’; last comes the setting up of the name—prajñā makes none of great and small, joined and dispersed, measure, breadth, and power upon dharmas, with ten layers of non-arising and the illuminator and the illuminated equally empty, and so it is called mahāpāramitā; and with 「有所得相者無阿耨多羅三藐三菩提」 tr. "for one with the mark of something to be attained there is no anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi" its boundary is settled, and with practising joined with the five perfections its practice is gathered in. The treatise’s explanation, in its passages on ultimate purity illuminating all five treasuries, the vajra samādhi and the knowledge of general and particular marks, the five meanings of joining as the Buddha’s mind joins, ordinary people making great and small by recollection and imagining, two dharmas gathering in all dharmas, and prajñā’s being ultimately empty too because it is born from dharmas, lays the foundation for the sūtra’s meaning one piece at a time.

The two meanings ‘prajñā guides the five perfections so that they obtain the name pāramitā’ and 「摩訶波羅蜜」 tr. "mahāpāramitā" especially let one see how the vein of meaning carries on through the preceding and following chapters. The previous chapter, on rejoicing and dedication, gathered the roots of goodness of the three times by the power of skilful means without destroying the real mark; this chapter at its opening has Śāriputra make clear that this matter depends entirely on the guarding of prajñā—a drawing in of the meaning of rejoicing toward the meaning of prajñā; and the meaning that the five perfections obtain their name through prajñā carries on in a single line from the meaning of prajñā as honoured guide spoken of repeatedly in the preceding chapters, and in this chapter, with the three similes of the blind men, the mineral powder, and the general, it is spoken of most aptly. Once the meaning of mahā is established, the 「大」 tr. "greatness" of prajñā has been fully spoken from the side of dispelling; the chapters that follow further unfold and bring it to light through the gates of faith and disparagement and of praising purity; the reader may view the preceding and following chapters together, to see the single continuous vein of prajñā passing from the praise of its virtues, through examination and discernment, to the setting up of its name (the carrying-on of the chapters and the examination of their variant names are detailed in the Apparatus).