大智度論 燈炷品之上Dazhidulun — Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa · The Lamp-wick, Part 1 of 2

The Lamp-wick, First Part: The Twelve Names of the Profound Place; The Suchness of Form Is Profound, and the Simile of the Clay Pot; The Simile of the Man of Much Lust Thinking of the Woman; The Sevenfold Weighing of What Is Far Removed from Prajñā; The Simile of the Vajra Shattering the Mountain; The Three Meanings of Countless, Immeasurable, and Boundless; The Meaning That Cannot Be Spoken Neither Increases nor Decreases

What Is Being Asked

The two chapters before this one have fully set out the complete marks of the avaivartika; having heard them, the first response that arises in Subhūti's mind is praise: such a bodhisattva accomplishes 「大功德」 tr. "great merit", 「無量功德」 tr. "immeasurable merit", 「無邊功德」 tr. "boundless merit". The Buddha affirms this praise and at once points out its causes and conditions for him—merit is immeasurable because wisdom is immeasurable; because wisdom is immeasurable, the four unobstructed knowledges are born from it, and neither the gods above nor humans below can stump him with questions. As soon as the praise lands, the question follows: since the avaivartika practises the six perfections abiding in a certain place, and only so fulfils the four foundations of mindfulness and so on up to the omniscience of all kinds, where is that place? Subhūti therefore asks 「何等是深奧處」 tr. "what is the profound place"—the First Part of this chapter unfolds around this one question.

The Buddha's answer has two layers. The first layer gives names: the profound place is that 「空是其義」 tr. "emptiness is its meaning", and below it the signless, non-action, non-origination, non-arising, non-staining, separation, quiescence, suchness, the nature of dharmas, the limit of reality, nirvāṇa—together with emptiness, twelve names in all. The second layer at once stretches these names open: it is not only these twelve names that are profound; form, feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness, the twelve sense-fields, the eighteen elements, the six perfections, and so on up to anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi—「一切法亦是深奧義」 tr. "all dharmas too have the profound meaning"; and the reason all dharmas are profound lies nowhere else but in their 「如」 tr. "suchness"—「是色如，非是色、非離色」 tr. "this suchness of form is not form and is not apart from form". What is called deep, it turns out, is not the depth of being hard to understand, but the depth of the original mark of dharmas themselves.

Next the sūtra text turns in another direction: since it is profound, how is one to draw near it? The answer is vigour and continuity—when a single thought arises in accord with prajñā, one 「超越無量劫」 tr. "passes beyond immeasurable kalpas"; and it takes as a simile a man of much lust thinking of a woman: within one day and one night his thoughts are countless beyond reckoning, and the bodhisattva's thinking of prajñā is likewise unbroken, thought after thought. Sūtra ② then sets this 「一日」 tr. "one day" upon the scales and weighs it back and forth, step by step, through seven rounds: giving to the Three Jewels for kalpas like the sands of the Ganges, making offerings to the four fruits, the pratyekabuddhas, and the buddhas, practising the six perfections, practising the gift of Dharma, cultivating the four foundations of mindfulness and so on up to the omniscience of all kinds, dedicating the merit of wealth, of Dharma, and of meditative concentration, dedicating with rejoicing—on all seven rounds hang the seven Chinese characters 「遠離般若波羅蜜」 tr. "far removed from prajñāpāramitā", and so all seven rounds lose to one day of practising as taught. After the weighing, Subhūti raises the sharpest difficulty of the whole chapter: since dharmas arising from causes and conditions are 「從妄想生，非實」 tr. "born from false thinking and not real", by what can a false and deceptive dharma give birth to great merit? The Buddha does not deny the falseness; on the contrary, he admits it to the end, and then answers from the place of 「善學內空乃至善學無法有法空」 tr. "having trained well in inner emptiness, and so on up to having trained well in the emptiness of non-existent and existent dharmas". From this is drawn out the distinction of the three meanings countless, immeasurable, and boundless; from this is drawn out 「一切法不可說」 tr. "all dharmas cannot be spoken"; and from this is further drawn out 「不可說義無增無減」 tr. "the meaning that cannot be spoken neither increases nor decreases"—and neither increase nor decrease at once forces out another difficulty: since wholesome dharmas do not increase, from where is awakening obtained? Sūtra ② explains awakening by 「一切法如相是名阿耨多羅三藐三菩提」 tr. "the mark of suchness of all dharmas is called anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi", and at the end returns to 「菩薩摩訶薩以是不增不減法故，應般若波羅蜜行」 tr. "because of this dharma of neither increase nor decrease, the bodhisattva-mahāsattva should practise prajñāpāramitā".

Treatise ① and Treatise ② supply the reasons for these two passages of sūtra text. What Treatise ① must answer is: since emptiness is without anything existent, on what ground is it called deep? Which kind of emptiness is it that is deep? The dharmas without outflows of the two vehicles have not even the merit of retribution; how is it that the bodhisattva's contemplation of ultimate emptiness, on the contrary, obtains immeasurable merit? What Treatise ② must answer is: where does the superior cause and condition of each of the seven rounds of weighing lie? How can a false and deceptive dharma accomplish pure merit? How does each name of the three meanings settle in its own place? The long string of names of the real mark of all dharmas—how was each one attached? How is it that neither increase nor decrease and the obtainability of awakening do not obstruct each other? The First Part, a single unit—two passages of sūtra text and two passages of treatise explanation—stops at the sentence at the end of fascicle seventy-four, 「菩薩如是疾得無上道，以不增不減、不可得故」 tr. "the bodhisattva thus swiftly obtains the unsurpassed path, because it neither increases nor decreases and is unfindable"; the Last Part of this chapter begins from the continued title of the next fascicle and opens Sūtra ③ and Treatise ③ separately.

Passage by Passage

1. Subhūti praises three kinds of merit of the avaivartika; the Buddha affirms it and brings out its causes and conditions—because wisdom is immeasurable, merit is immeasurable. At the opening of the sūtra text, Subhūti praises in three sentences in a row: the avaivartika bodhisattva-mahāsattva 「大功德成就」 tr. "is accomplished in great merit", 「無量功德成就」 tr. "is accomplished in immeasurable merit", 「無邊功德成就」 tr. "is accomplished in boundless merit". The Buddha does not merely give his seal; after saying the three sentences over again, he pursues their reason: 「是菩薩摩訶薩得無量無邊智慧，不與一切聲聞、辟支佛共故」 tr. "because this bodhisattva-mahāsattva obtains immeasurable and boundless wisdom, not shared with any śrāvaka or pratyekabuddha"; abiding in this wisdom, he gives rise to the four unobstructed knowledges, and having obtained the unobstructed knowledges, 「一切世間天及人無能窮盡」 tr. "none among the gods and humans of all the world can exhaust him". The order here must be seen clearly—merit is not heaped up out of nothing; it is the shadow of wisdom; only because wisdom is immeasurable is merit immeasurable. And the distinguishing feature of this wisdom is that it is 「不共」 tr. "unshared": the two vehicles too have wisdom, but not this kind. Setting the criterion upon wisdom at the very opening is what gives all the later weighing its ground.

2. For kalpas like the sands of the Ganges the Buddha could praise and speak of it without exhausting it. Subhūti goes on to say: 「佛能以如恒河沙等劫歎說阿鞞跋致菩薩摩訶薩行、類、相貌。」 tr. "The Buddha could, for kalpas equal to the sands of the Ganges, praise and speak of the conduct, kind, and appearance of the avaivartika bodhisattva-mahāsattva." Conduct, kind, and appearance, the three matters set side by side—conduct is what is done, kind is what one belongs to, appearance is the sign displayed outwardly. Even speaking for kalpas like the sands of the Ganges one could not finish; this sentence is both praise and a push of the topic toward the next question: since the merit cannot be spoken to the end, there is no need to lay it out any further outward; one should ask inward.

3. The question 「何等是深奧處」 tr. "what is the profound place" —the Buddha praises it and brings out the twelve names. Subhūti therefore turns to ask: 「何等是深奧處，阿鞞跋致菩薩摩訶薩住是中行六波羅蜜時，具足四念處，乃至具足一切種智？」 tr. "What is the profound place, in which the avaivartika bodhisattva-mahāsattva, abiding and practising the six perfections, fulfils the four foundations of mindfulness, and so on up to fulfilling the omniscience of all kinds?" The question is asked with great precision—it does not ask how much merit there is; it asks the place where the merit abides. The Buddha first praises him, 「善哉！善哉」 tr. "Excellent! Excellent", affirming that this question is asked on behalf of the avaivartika, and then gives the names: 「深奧處者，空是其義，無相、無作、無起、無生、無染、離、寂滅、如、法性、實際、涅槃。」 tr. "The profound place: emptiness is its meaning—the signless, non-action, non-origination, non-arising, non-staining, separation, quiescence, suchness, the nature of dharmas, the limit of reality, nirvāṇa." Emptiness leads, with eleven names below it, twelve in all. These twelve names are not twelve things; they are twelve entrances to one and the same thing: spoken of from the negation of marks, it is the signless and non-action; from not originating and not arising, it is non-origination and non-arising; from not being stained and not being bound, it is non-staining and separation; from stilling, it is quiescence; from being as it really is, it is suchness, the nature of dharmas, and the limit of reality; from the ultimate, it is nirvāṇa. Though the names are many, what they point to is one place.

4. Not only the twelve names are profound; all dharmas are profound. Subhūti at once presses: 「但空乃至涅槃是深奧，非一切法深奧耶？」 tr. "Is it only emptiness and so on up to nirvāṇa that is profound, and not all dharmas that are profound?" This question needed to be asked—once the twelve names come out, people will naturally fence off the profound as a special zone and leave form, feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness outside it. The Buddha's answer tears down the wall: 「一切法亦是深奧義」 tr. "all dharmas too have the profound meaning"; form too is profound, feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness too are profound; the eye and so on up to the mind, forms and so on up to dharmas, the eye element and so on up to the mind-consciousness element, dānapāramitā and so on up to prajñāpāramitā, the four foundations of mindfulness and so on up to anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi—all are profound. From the five aggregates to the twelve sense-fields and the eighteen elements, from the six perfections to awakening, the sūtra text counts all the way through the ordinary and the noble, the stained and the pure—there is not one dharma outside the profound.

5. Form is profound because the suchness of form is profound. Subhūti asks again: 「云何色深奧乃至阿耨多羅三藐三菩提亦深奧？」 tr. "How is form profound, and so on up to anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi also being profound?" The Buddha answers: 「色如深奧故，色深奧」 tr. "because the suchness of form is profound, form is profound", and so on up to: because the suchness of awakening is profound, awakening is profound. This sentence is the pivot of this chapter. Form in itself is a dharma that can be seen and can be destroyed; nothing deep can be seen in it; what is deep is the 「如」 tr. "suchness" of form. So to say that all dharmas are profound is not to say that all dharmas are hard to understand; it is to say that each dharma has an original mark that cannot be destroyed and cannot be discriminated, and that original mark is the depth. The depth is not outside the dharma, nor inside the dharma; it is in the dharma's 「如」 tr. "suchness".

6. The suchness of form is not form and is not apart from form. Thereupon Subhūti presses a third time: 「云何色如深奧乃至阿耨多羅三藐三菩提如深奧？」 tr. "How is the suchness of form profound, and so on up to the suchness of anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi being profound?" The Buddha answers: 「是色如，非是色、非離色」 tr. "this suchness of form is not form and is not apart from form", and likewise the suchness of consciousness, and so on up to the suchness of awakening. This is a double-negation sentence: say ‘suchness is just form’, and suchness arises and ceases along with form and is destroyed; say ‘suchness exists separately, apart from form’, and suchness becomes another real dharma, still fallen into existence. Both sides are negated, and this is exactly why the deep is deep—whatever can be pinned down on one side is still not deep enough. The layer-upon-layer deepening of three questions and three answers is completed here: from name to dharma, from dharma to suchness, from suchness to the double negation.

7. Subhūti praises the subtle skilful means—leaving form to dwell in nirvāṇa. Hearing this, Subhūti praises: 「希有！世尊微妙方便力故，令阿鞞跋致菩薩離色處涅槃」 tr. "Rare! Because of the World-Honored One's power of subtle skilful means, he causes the avaivartika bodhisattva to leave form and dwell in nirvāṇa", and so on up to leaving feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness, leaving all dharmas—worldly and world-transcending, with contention and without contention, with outflows and without outflows—and dwelling in nirvāṇa. Note that this 「離」 tr. "leaving" is not throwing aside and ignoring, but not grasping at marks and settling within them; worldly dharmas must of course be left, and world-transcending dharmas and dharmas without outflows must equally be left. The reason the skilful means is subtle lies exactly in its enabling a person to rise up even from the place most like nirvāṇa.

8. The Buddha affirms his praise and shows that when a single thought arises, immeasurable merit is obtained and immeasurable kalpas are passed beyond; the question set up about the man of much lust making an appointment. After affirming it, the Buddha turns to the gate of practice: the bodhisattva, 「如是甚深法與般若波羅蜜相應，觀察、籌量、思惟」 tr. "with such very deep dharmas in accord with prajñāpāramitā, contemplates, reckons, and considers", and makes the thought—I should practise thus, as taught in prajñā; I should train thus, as spoken in prajñā. If he can practise as spoken, train as spoken, and contemplate as in prajñā, then 「具足勤精進，一念生時，當得無量無邊阿僧祇福德」 tr. "fully endowed with diligent vigour, when a single thought arises, he will obtain immeasurable, boundless asaṃkhyeya merit", and this bodhisattva 「超越無量劫，近阿耨多羅三藐三菩提」 tr. "passes beyond immeasurable kalpas and draws near to anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi"; how much more one who constantly practises prajñā. The reason the magnitude here is so startling is that the object is the deepest dharma, not that the time of effort is long. Then the Buddha sets up a simile: 「譬如多婬欲人與端正淨潔女人共期」 tr. "As when a man of much lust makes an appointment with a beautiful, clean, and comely woman"; the woman is hindered and cannot keep the appointment—where does that man's thought fall? The simile does not praise lust; it takes the clinging and the density of his thought as a measuring rule.

9. Thought after thought always with her; in one day and one night his thoughts are very many. Subhūti answers truly: 「是人念念常在彼女人所，恒作是念，憶想當來與共坐臥歡樂。」 tr. "Thought after thought, this man is always where that woman is, constantly thinking this thought, recollecting and imagining how she will come and they will sit and lie together in pleasure." The Buddha asks again: 「是人一日一夜為有幾念生？」 tr. "In one day and one night, how many thoughts arise in this man?" Subhūti answers: 「是人一日一夜其念甚多！」 tr. "In one day and one night this man's thoughts are very many!" One question and one answer push the simile to the vital point: an unfulfilled desire most of all keeps the thoughts from breaking off, and thoughts that do not break off are exactly the one point being borrowed here.

10. The bodhisattva thinking of prajñā passes beyond a number of kalpas in the space of a single thought; the roots of goodness of one day surpass the other merits of worlds like the sands of the Ganges. The Buddha gathers it together with this: the bodhisattva who thinks of prajñāpāramitā and practises this path as spoken in prajñā, 「一念頃超越劫數，亦如彼人一日一夜心念之數」 tr. "in the space of a single thought passes beyond a number of kalpas, like the number of that man's thoughts in one day and one night"; because he practises prajñā he is far removed from all offences, namely 「離阿耨多羅三藐三菩提罪」 tr. "free of the offences against anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi"; the merit of the roots of goodness obtained in one day, even if set against the other merits filling three-thousand great-thousand worlds as many as the sands of the Ganges, 「猶亦不減」 tr. "is still not less", and the other merits 「百分不及一分」 tr. "do not reach one part in a hundred", and so on up to being beyond the reach of calculation and simile. The use of the simile is now clear: it takes the density, takes the unbrokenness, and discards the object clung to. The thoughts of the man of much lust stick to a woman who is hindered and does not come; the bodhisattva's thoughts stick to the deepest dharma—once the object is changed, the same continuity becomes the provision for passing beyond kalpas.

11. The treatise-author begins his explanation—Subhūti, hearing the marks, rejoices and praises. The treatise-author explains, first reconstructing the state of mind in which Subhūti spoke: he 「聞阿鞞跋致相時，具聞阿鞞跋致功德，心大歡喜」 tr. "when he heard the marks of the avaivartika, heard in full the merits of the avaivartika, and his mind greatly rejoiced"; because he wished to praise these merits, he said to the Buddha that the avaivartika is accomplished in great merit, in immeasurable and boundless merit. The treatise-author's habit in explaining the sūtra can be glimpsed here—he first asks who said this sentence and in what state of mind, and then asks what it said.

12. The Buddha affirms his praise and speaks its causes and conditions; four explanations of the four unobstructed knowledges; like the water of the great sea, which cannot be poured out and exhausted. The treatise-author next explains the Buddha's affirmation: the Buddha 「更自說大功德等因緣」 tr. "further himself spoke of the causes and conditions of the great merit and the rest", namely that the avaivartika obtains immeasurable, boundless wisdom and does not practise in common with the two vehicles—here the treatise-author supplies an order: 「要先知而後行，行已，受其功德」 tr. "one must first know and then practise; having practised, one receives its merit", and so the causes and conditions of merit return to wisdom, and wisdom is prajñāpāramitā. Abiding in prajñā, one gives rise to the four unobstructed knowledges, and the treatise-author gives a definition of each: wisdom unobstructed and unhindered within the real meaning of all dharmas is unobstructed knowledge of meaning; having known meaning without obstruction, discriminating the various names of dharmas so as to speak their meaning is unobstructed knowledge of dharmas; names must come forth by way of language, and this is unobstructed knowledge of expression; because one has obtained unobstructed knowledge of dharmas and of expression, one delights in speaking the real meaning of dharmas, and this is unobstructed knowledge of delight in speaking. The four are not four abilities set side by side; they are one line—first penetrating the meaning, then being able to set names to it, then being able to put it into speech, and finally being able to speak without end. Abiding securely in them, 「一切眾生問難，無能窮盡；如大海水，不可傾竭」 tr. "all beings who question and challenge cannot exhaust him; like the water of the great sea, it cannot be poured out and exhausted". What the sea simile takes is not greatness, but that it cannot be ladled dry.

13. The two preceding chapters spoke of the complete marks; only in this chapter is the gate of the four unobstructed knowledges opened. The treatise-author adds a further structural remark: Subhūti had heard the complete marks of the avaivartika spoken in the two chapters above; 「入此品，佛方開四無礙門，更欲說阿鞞跋致相」 tr. "entering this chapter, the Buddha only now opens the gate of the four unobstructed knowledges, wishing to speak further of the marks of the avaivartika", and that is why there are words praising the Buddha—the Buddha's wisdom is immeasurable and boundless, the merit of the avaivartika is also immeasurable and boundless, and even if one delighted in speaking of it for kalpas like the sands of the Ganges, one could not finish. This passage connects for the reader the thread between chapter and chapter: this chapter does not start afresh; it carries on from the marks of the avaivartika and goes one layer deeper.

14. The treatise-author restates the question of the profound place, and the Buddha's praise, approval, and setting-up of names. Following the sūtra, the treatise-author restates three matters: Subhūti asks 「何等是阿鞞跋致深奧處」 tr. "what is the profound place of the avaivartika", abiding in which profound place one can fulfil the six perfections, the four foundations of mindfulness, and so on up to the omniscience of all kinds; the Buddha praises him, 「善哉！汝能為阿鞞跋致菩薩問深奧義」 tr. "Excellent! You are able to ask about the profound meaning on behalf of the avaivartika bodhisattvas"; the Buddha tells Subhūti 「空等乃至涅槃是名深奧」 tr. "emptiness and the rest, and so on up to nirvāṇa, are called profound". Restating is not repeating; it first fixes the topic to be debated below—since the topic is ‘why emptiness is deep’, the question and answer that follow have somewhere to land.

15. Question—emptiness is without anything existent; by what is it deep? Question: 「諸有法種種細分別，人不解故有深；空無所有，以何為深？」 tr. "Existent dharmas have all kinds of fine discriminations; because people do not understand them, there is depth. Emptiness is without anything existent; by what is it deep?" This question has great force. What the world calls deep is mostly the depth of the intricate and hard to understand: the finer the marks of dharmas are divided, the less people understand, and so they call it deep. Since emptiness has nothing at all, nothing to discriminate and nothing to delve into, where does depth come from? The questioner speaks out the plainest doubt on the reader's behalf—might 「深」 tr. "deep" be nothing but an empty word of praise?

16. Answer—this emptiness is the emptiness of attaining the path, not merely what the mouth says; therefore it is called deep. Answer: 「非直口說名字故空」 tr. "it is not empty merely because the mouth says the name"—it is not that saying the word ‘empty’ with the mouth counts as emptiness. Rather, 「分別解諸有相，內不見有我，外不見定實法」 tr. "one discriminates and understands the marks of existents; within, one sees no self; without, one sees no fixed, real dharma"; having obtained this emptiness, 「觀一切法相皆是虛誑，有諸過罪」 tr. "one contemplates the marks of all dharmas as all false and deceptive, having all kinds of faults and offences"; having seen their faults, 「若滅諸相，更不作願生三界」 tr. "if one extinguishes the marks, one no longer makes a vow to be born in the three realms". Therefore 「此空是得道空，非但口說，是故言深」 tr. "this emptiness is the emptiness of attaining the path, not merely what the mouth says; therefore it is called deep". The gist of the answer is: the depth of emptiness lies not in the complexity of the concept, but in whether it can truly sever the vow and truly leave the three realms. The emptiness of names and marks anyone can speak of; the emptiness of attaining the path must be tested against birth and death—the measure of deep and shallow lies here, not in the density of names and marks.

17. Furthermore—emptiness too is empty; it is deep because it does not cling to emptiness. The treatise-author advances another layer: 「復次，空亦復空；若著是空，則有過失，是不名深。」 tr. "Furthermore, emptiness too is empty; if one clings to this emptiness, there is a fault, and it is not called deep." If emptiness comes forth from refuting the existence held by wrong views, that is deep; 「若於空中，亦不著空故亦深」 tr. "if within emptiness one also does not cling to emptiness, it is also deep". This layer turns the previous one over again: if the emptiness of attaining the path is grasped as something attained, it at once degenerates into another existence, and the depth is lost too. So depth has two thresholds—first one must truly be able to refute existence, and then one must not keep in one's hand even the tool that refuted existence.

18. Furthermore—contemplating arising and ceasing refutes permanence; contemplating ultimate emptiness refutes arising and ceasing; the two kinds of non-arising-and-non-ceasing; each name obtains its depth. The treatise-author's third layer is spoken most finely: 「觀五眾生滅，破常顛倒；觀畢竟空，破生滅」 tr. "contemplating the arising and ceasing of the five aggregates refutes the inversion of permanence; contemplating ultimate emptiness refutes arising and ceasing", because 「空中無無常、無生滅故」 tr. "within emptiness there is no impermanence and no arising and ceasing". And 「無生滅有二種」 tr. "non-arising-and-non-ceasing is of two kinds": first, people of wrong view speak of no arising and ceasing because they say the world is permanently existent; second, because arising and ceasing are refuted, one speaks of no arising and ceasing. The same phrase, 「無生滅」 tr. "no arising and ceasing"—one is an inversion, one is the path; the watershed lies in whether it comes from refuting or from grasping. Here one refutes arising and ceasing and 「亦不著是不生不滅，故名為深」 tr. "also does not cling to this non-arising and non-ceasing; therefore it is called deep". Next the treatise-author matches the twelve names class by class with the reason they are deep: afflictions are hard to remove, so it says 「離欲、寂滅故深」 tr. "deep because of freedom from desire and quiescence"; error is easy and the real is hard, so suchness, the nature of dharmas, and the limit of reality are deep; nirvāṇa is 「諸梵天等九十六種道所不能及」 tr. "what the ninety-six kinds of paths, of the Brahmā gods and the rest, cannot reach", so it is deep; again, within nirvāṇa all who have attained the path 「入者永不復出」 tr. "having entered, never come out again", so it is deep. One can see that 「深」 tr. "deep" in the treatise-author's hands is always a judgement with a reason, not an adjective of praise—deep because hard to remove, deep because hard to obtain, deep because unreachable, deep because one never comes out again.

19. Question—what kind of emptiness is the deep spoken of here? Question: 「此中說空等法深，是何等空？」 tr. "Here it is said that emptiness and the other dharmas are deep; what kind of emptiness is this?" Earlier it was already made clear why emptiness is deep; here the question changes to which emptiness it is. This question is necessary, because 「空」 tr. "emptiness" at that time already had ready-made explanations in circulation, and if it is not named, it will be taken over by the ready-made explanations.

20. Answer—two views set side by side: because of the concentration of the three samādhi one contemplates emptiness; because the outer form taken as object is empty, it is called the emptiness samādhi. The treatise-author gives his Answer: first setting two views side by side. The first view: 「有人言：三三昧——空、無相、無作；心數法名為定，定故能觀諸法空。」 tr. "Someone says: the three samādhi—emptiness, the signless, non-action; a mental-factor dharma is called concentration, and because of concentration one can contemplate the emptiness of dharmas." This view assigns emptiness to the contemplating mind of concentration—emptiness is what the power of concentration lights up. The names of the three samādhi are given here in passing: emptiness, the signless, non-action. The second view: 「有人言：外所緣色等諸法皆空，緣外空故名為空三昧。」 tr. "Someone says: the outer dharmas taken as object, form and the rest, are all empty; because one takes outer emptiness as object, it is called the emptiness samādhi." This view assigns emptiness to the outer realm taken as object—the outer realm is originally empty, and taking it as object is what is called the emptiness samādhi. One view stresses the subject, one stresses the object; the two views are set side by side, and the treatise-author does not judge first here.

21. Here the Buddha speaks the middle way, apart from the two extremes—because what comes together from causes and conditions has no self-nature, it is ultimate emptiness. The treatise-author cites the Buddha's words to refute both extremes: 「不以空三昧故空，亦不以所緣外色等諸法故空。」 tr. "It is not empty because of the emptiness samādhi, nor is it empty because of the outer dharmas taken as object, form and the rest." Refuting the first view: if outer dharmas are not really empty and are made empty only by the power of samādhi, 「是虛妄不實」 tr. "this is false and unreal"—such an emptiness is made by the mind, not what dharmas originally are. Refuting the second view: if samādhi arises by taking outer emptiness as object, that does not hold either, because 「若色等法實是空相，則不能生空三昧；若生空三昧，則非是空」 tr. "if form and the other dharmas are really of the mark of emptiness, then they cannot give rise to the emptiness samādhi; if they give rise to the emptiness samādhi, then they are not empty"—if the object is already empty, there is no mark that can be taken as object to give rise to concentration; if there is a mark that can be taken as object, it is not empty. Both extremes refuted, the treatise-author brings out the middle way: 「離是二邊說中道，所謂諸法因緣和合生，是和合法無有一定法故空」 tr. "apart from these two extremes the middle way is spoken, namely that dharmas arise from the coming together of causes and conditions; these dharmas that come together have not a single fixed dharma, and therefore they are empty"; dharmas born of causes and conditions have no self-nature, and 「無自性故即是畢竟空」 tr. "because they have no self-nature, they are ultimate emptiness". And he adds three important sentences: this ultimate emptiness 「從本以來空」 tr. "has been empty from the very beginning"; it 「非佛所作，亦非餘人所作」 tr. "is not made by the Buddha, nor made by anyone else", and the buddhas only speak it for the beings who can be delivered; 「是空相是一切諸法實體，不因內外有」 tr. "this mark of emptiness is the real substance of all dharmas, and does not exist because of inner or outer". Emptiness belongs neither to the subject, nor to the object, nor to a maker—this is the true body of the 「深」 tr. "deep" spoken of earlier.

22. This emptiness has all kinds of names. The treatise-author closes it in one sentence: 「是空有種種名字，所謂無相、無作、寂滅、離、涅槃等。」 tr. "This emptiness has all kinds of names, namely the signless, non-action, quiescence, separation, nirvāṇa, and the rest." The string of names at the opening of the sūtra text here finds its settling place—they are not twelve profound dharmas, but the various designations of one and the same ultimate emptiness. The names are many and the substance is one; this is the first thing most to be grasped when reading the names and marks of this chapter.

23. Subhūti asks on behalf of those of keen faculties who deeply cling to nirvāṇa; the Buddha answers that form and the rest are very deep because of suchness, and suchness is right contemplation. The treatise-author supplies the motive of Subhūti's second question: 「須菩提知諸菩薩利根，深著涅槃」 tr. "Subhūti knew that the bodhisattvas were of keen faculties and deeply clung to nirvāṇa", and for the sake of these bodhisattvas asked 「但涅槃甚深，諸法不甚深耶」 tr. "is only nirvāṇa very deep, and are dharmas not very deep?" He does not ask because he himself does not understand; he asks on behalf of a sickness—those of keen faculties most easily enshrine nirvāṇa and throw form away. The Buddha answers: 「正觀色等一切法得涅槃，色等諸法因涅槃故甚深」 tr. "by rightly contemplating form and all other dharmas one obtains nirvāṇa; form and the other dharmas are very deep because of nirvāṇa", and so the sūtra says 「色等如故甚深」 tr. "form and the rest are very deep because of suchness"; and the treatise-author adds a key equation: 「色等如即是正觀。」 tr. "The suchness of form and the rest is right contemplation." Nirvāṇa is not set up as another realm outside form; rightly contemplating form and the rest is obtaining nirvāṇa; suchness is precisely what right contemplation sees. The sickness of clinging to nirvāṇa and discarding dharmas is here pulled out by the root.

24. Subhūti asks how; the Buddha himself speaks the causes and conditions of the deep, taking the clay pot as simile. Subhūti asks again, 「云何色等如故色等法甚深」 tr. "how are form and the other dharmas very deep because of the suchness of form and the rest", and the treatise-author says 「此中佛自說深因緣」 tr. "here the Buddha himself speaks the causes and conditions of the deep", namely that sentence of the sūtra text, 「如，非是色、非離色」 tr. "suchness is not form and is not apart from form". Then he gives the first simile of this unit: 「譬如以泥為瓶，泥非即是瓶、不離泥有瓶，亦不得言無瓶。」 tr. "As when clay is made into a pot: the clay is not the pot, yet there is no pot apart from the clay, nor can one say there is no pot." The relation of clay and pot falls exactly so that beyond the double negation there is still something that cannot be denied—one cannot say the clay is the pot, one cannot say there is a pot apart from the clay, nor can one on that account say there is no pot at all. So too with suchness in relation to form: it cannot be equated, cannot be separated, cannot be dismissed as nothing. All three sentences must be present; lacking the third, one slides into annihilation.

25. Subhūti praises the rare; the Buddha affirms it and praises the merit of a single thought. The treatise-author continues: 「須菩提知是因緣法甚深，如大海無有底故」 tr. "Subhūti knew that this dharma of causes and conditions is very deep, like the great sea that has no bottom", and so praised it as rare—that the Buddha by the power of subtle skilful means causes the bodhisattva to leave form and the other dharmas and dwell in nirvāṇa, 「亦不著涅槃，亦不住世間」 tr. "yet also not clinging to nirvāṇa, nor abiding in the world". This sentence of the treatise-author's is supplied at a crucial point: leaving the world yet not abiding in nirvāṇa, leaving nirvāṇa yet not falling into the world—abiding in neither is what is called subtle skilful means. The Buddha affirms his praise, and praises the merit of retribution of the bodhisattva who practises the real mark of all dharmas—「如是甚深法與般若相應，觀察、籌量等一念生時，得無量無邊阿僧祇福德」 tr. "with such very deep dharmas in accord with prajñā, when a single thought of contemplating, reckoning, and the rest arises, he obtains immeasurable, boundless asaṃkhyeya merit".

26. Question—the dharmas without outflows of the two vehicles have not even the merit of retribution; how much less the contemplation of ultimate emptiness. Question: 「二乘無漏法尚無果報福德，何況大乘畢竟空觀法得無量福德！」 tr. "The dharmas without outflows of the two vehicles have not even the merit of retribution; how much less can the Great Vehicle's dharma of contemplating ultimate emptiness obtain immeasurable merit!" The questioner adds a reason: 「福德從大慈悲愍眾生故生，如罪亦由惱害眾生故得。」 tr. "Merit arises from great kindness and compassion pitying beings, just as offence too is incurred by vexing and harming beings." The skeleton of this question is: merit has an object and a counterpart—kindness and compassion take beings as object and give rise to merit; vexing and harming take beings as object and incur offence; contemplating ultimate emptiness is precisely sweeping the object away into emptiness; once it is swept away, how does it still give rise to merit? Moreover, even in the mind without outflows of the two vehicles there is no response of retribution, how much less in the contemplation of ultimate emptiness, emptier than the two vehicles. The question is hard, because it seizes on the surface contradiction between emptiness and merit.

27. Answer—because afflictions are exhausted there is no retribution; because the limit of reality is realised, all merits are burned up. Answer: the treatise-author gives two layers in a row. The first layer speaks from the afflictions: 「二乘無漏心中煩惱盡故，無果報福德；菩薩煩惱未盡故，應有福德果報。」 tr. "Because in the mind without outflows of the two vehicles the afflictions are exhausted, there is no merit of retribution; because the bodhisattva's afflictions are not yet exhausted, there should be the retribution of merit." Retribution exists because there is still someone to receive retribution; the afflictions of the two vehicles are already exhausted, there is no one to receive the fruit, and so there is no merit of retribution—this is not that the two vehicles' merit is thin; it is that there is nowhere for it to land. The second layer speaks from realising and not realising: 「二乘於實際證故，燒盡諸功德；菩薩不證，更有生故，便有福德。」 tr. "Because the two vehicles realise the limit of reality, all merits are burned up; the bodhisattva does not realise it and has further births, so there is merit." Realising and entering the limit of reality is like entering fire, in which all merits are burned up; the bodhisattva does not take realisation, keeps the afflictions to moisten birth, and only so does merit have ground on which to continue. Taking the two layers together, the contradiction of the previous question is in fact a misplacement—emptiness does not cancel merit; taking realisation cancels merit.

28. Furthermore—the depth and shallowness of fields of merit; the step-by-step increase from giving to animals up to the noble ones; the contrast of the ordinary person and the srota-āpanna; continuity thought after thought and the simile of the man of much lust; the simile of the mild medicine and the medicine of great strength. The treatise-author's third layer starts from ‘merit comes from the reality one faces’: 「人於實事錯謬故福德少，正行實事故得福多。」 tr. "Because people err about real matters, their merit is small; because they rightly practise real matters, the merit obtained is great." He at once gives the order of the increasing merit of giving—giving to animals obtains a hundredfold, giving to evil people obtains a thousandfold, giving to good people obtains a hundred-thousandfold, giving to people free of desire obtains a hundred-thousand-koṭi-fold, giving to the srota-āpanna and the other noble ones obtains immeasurable merit. The criterion of this series lies not in the fine standing of the recipient, but in how much the recipient has attained of the real mark of all dharmas; the evidence is the contrast the treatise-author gives right after: 「凡夫人雖離欲行慈悲心，不得實法相故，不得作無量福田；須陀洹雖未離欲，分別諸法實相故，福田無量。」 tr. "Though an ordinary person is free of desire and practises the mind of kindness and compassion, because he has not obtained the mark of the real dharma, he cannot be an immeasurable field of merit; though the srota-āpanna is not yet free of desire, because he discerns the real mark of all dharmas, he is an immeasurable field of merit." The ordinary person free of desire loses to the first fruit not yet free of desire—one can see that the power of concentration is not the measure of a field of merit; seeing the real mark is. From this it follows: 「諸法實相，得有深淺；是故菩薩深入實相故，一念中福德無量無邊。」 tr. "The real mark of all dharmas may be attained deeply or shallowly; therefore, because the bodhisattva enters deeply into the real mark, in a single thought his merit is immeasurable and boundless." The earlier question is thus fully answered: the contemplation of ultimate emptiness does not sweep away the object; it sees the real mark most deeply, and therefore its merit is on the contrary the greatest. Next the treatise-author explains the sūtra's simile of the man of much lust: the minds of beings, 「雖念念生滅，但相續生故，不覺隨滅」 tr. "though they arise and cease thought after thought, yet because they arise in continuity, one does not notice them ceasing one after another"; the mind of the man of much lust clings deeply to what he desires and is not satisfied, and so 「心生憶念、取相」 tr. "the mind gives rise to recollection and grasps at marks", discriminating in all sorts of ways why she has not come—has she regretted it herself and not come? Has someone blocked her and kept her from coming?—「如是等多生覺觀心」 tr. "in such ways many minds of initial and sustained thought arise". The treatise-author also explains the reason for taking this simile: 「是心易覺知故，以為譬喻」 tr. "because this mind is easy to be aware of, it is taken as a simile"—not because it is noble, but because it is obvious, and anyone can verify in himself how densely thoughts follow in continuity. 「如是一念因緣事超一劫。」 tr. "In this way, the matter of the causes and conditions of a single thought passes beyond a kalpa." At the end another simile is added to conclude: 「如人服軟藥，一歲乃差病；服大力藥，一日能差。」 tr. "As when a person takes a mild medicine and is cured of the illness only after a year, but takes a medicine of great strength and can be cured in a single day." The bodhisattva is also like this—those who practise the five perfections become buddhas only after a long, long time; those who practise prajñāpāramitā swiftly become buddhas. The medicine simile makes plain prajñā's place among the six perfections: it is not one more ingredient of the medicine, but the one ingredient that makes the illness heal quickly.

29. Furthermore—the substance of the merit of one day's practice of prajñā is not diminished. At the end the treatise-author restates the sūtra's words of magnitude: the merit of practising prajñāpāramitā for one day, 「假令有形」 tr. "supposing it had form", if compared with the merits filling three-thousand great-thousand worlds as many as the sands of the Ganges, 「於一日中正功德體，猶故不減」 tr. "the true substance of the merit within the one day would still not be diminished", and all the other merits 「百分不及一，乃至算數譬喻所不能及」 tr. "do not reach one in a hundred, and so on up to being beyond the reach of calculation and simile". The four Chinese characters 「假令有形」 tr. "supposing it had form" are a hypothetical—merit is originally formless; one provisionally supposes it has form in order to compare, and the result of the comparison is still that it is not diminished. Treatise ① ends here, and this sentence is also the fuse of the sevenfold weighing of Sūtra ②.

30. The first and second rounds of Sūtra ②—giving to the Three Jewels; making offerings to the four fruits, the pratyekabuddhas, and the buddhas. Sūtra ② continues from the teaching of the preceding passage with 「復次，須菩提」 tr. "Furthermore, Subhūti". The first round: if the bodhisattva, 「遠離般若波羅蜜」 tr. "far removed from prajñāpāramitā", gives to the Buddha Jewel, the Dharma Jewel, and the Jewel of the Bhikṣu Saṅgha for kalpas equal to the sands of the Ganges, is the merit obtained great? Subhūti answers, 「甚多！無量無邊阿僧祇」 tr. "Very great! Immeasurable, boundless, asaṃkhyeya." The Buddha judges: 「不如菩薩摩訶薩深般若波羅蜜中一日如說修行得福多」 tr. "It does not equal the bodhisattva-mahāsattva who for a single day practises as taught within the deep prajñāpāramitā; his merit is greater", and brings out the superior cause and condition—prajñā is the path of the bodhisattvas; 「乘是道，疾得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提」 tr. "riding this path, they swiftly obtain anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi". The second round is set up at once: making offerings for kalpas like the sands of the Ganges to the srota-āpanna, the sakṛdāgāmin, the anāgāmin, the arhat, the pratyekabuddha, and the buddhas—is the merit obtained great? The common sentence pattern of the seven rounds must be seen clearly: the field of giving becomes more excellent round by round, the time is uniformly kalpas like the sands of the Ganges, and every round carries the seven Chinese characters 「遠離般若波羅蜜」 tr. "far removed from prajñāpāramitā"—what is weighed is never giving and offering themselves, but giving and offering apart from prajñā.

31. The judgement of the second round and the third round—passing beyond the two grounds and entering the bodhisattva's position; practising the six perfections. The Buddha judges the second round: it does not equal practising as taught for a single day, whose merit is greater, because 「菩薩摩訶薩行是般若波羅蜜，過一切聲聞、辟支佛地，入菩薩位，漸漸得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提」 tr. "the bodhisattva-mahāsattva who practises this prajñāpāramitā passes beyond all the śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha grounds, enters the bodhisattva's position, and gradually obtains anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi". However great the merit of making offerings to the noble ones of the two vehicles, it is still within the realm of the two vehicles; prajñā is the step that passes beyond the grounds of the two vehicles and enters the bodhisattva's position. The third round is set up: practising giving, morality, patience, vigour, meditation, and wisdom for kalpas like the sands of the Ganges—is the merit obtained great?—note that this round is no longer giving to others but practising the six perfections oneself; the blade of the weighing begins to turn toward practice itself.

32. The judgement of the third round and the fourth round—prajñā is the mother of the bodhisattvas; practising the gift of Dharma. The Buddha judges: it does not equal practising giving and so on up to wisdom as taught for a single day, whose merit is greater; the superior cause and condition is 「般若波羅蜜是菩薩摩訶薩母故，是般若波羅蜜能生諸菩薩摩訶薩」 tr. "because prajñāpāramitā is the mother of the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas; this prajñāpāramitā can give birth to the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas"; abiding in prajñā, 「能具足一切佛法」 tr. "one can fulfil all the dharmas of the Buddha". As a simile, mother is taken for her ability to give birth: the five perfections are the children given birth to, prajñā the mother who gives birth; to have children apart from the mother—this is why the third round loses. The fourth round is set up: practising the gift of Dharma for a lifespan of kalpas like the sands of the Ganges—is the merit obtained great? Among the gifts of the world the gift of Dharma is already supreme—even it must carry 「遠離般若」 tr. "far removed from prajñā" to be compared.

33. The judgement of the fourth round and the fifth round—not apart from prajñā, one is not apart from the omniscience of all kinds; cultivating the four foundations of mindfulness and so on up to the omniscience of all kinds. The Buddha judges the fourth round: it does not equal the gift of Dharma of a single day, whose merit is greater, because 「是菩薩摩訶薩不遠離般若波羅蜜，則不遠離一切種智；不遠離一切種智，則不遠離般若波羅蜜」 tr. "this bodhisattva-mahāsattva, not far removed from prajñāpāramitā, is then not far removed from the omniscience of all kinds; not far removed from the omniscience of all kinds, he is then not far removed from prajñāpāramitā"—the two sentences speak each other, showing that prajñā and the omniscience of all kinds are the two ends, cause and fruit, of one and the same thing; apart from this, one is apart from both. Hence the concluding exhortation: 「欲得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，不當遠離般若波羅蜜。」 tr. "One who wishes to obtain anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi should not be far removed from prajñāpāramitā." The fifth round is set up: far removed from prajñā, cultivating for kalpas like the sands of the Ganges the four foundations of mindfulness and so on up to the eightfold noble path, inner emptiness and so on up to the omniscience of all kinds—is the merit obtained great? The weighing has by now been pushed to the limbs of the path and the emptinesses—even the practices most like prajñā, apart from prajñā, are still on the side being weighed.

34. The judgement of the fifth round and the sixth round—that one should turn back from sarvajñā is impossible; dedicating the merit of the gift of wealth, the gift of Dharma, and meditative concentration. The Buddha judges: it does not equal cultivating the four foundations of mindfulness and so on up to the omniscience of all kinds as taught for a single day, whose merit is greater, because 「若菩薩摩訶薩不遠離般若波羅蜜，於薩婆若轉者，無有是處」 tr. "if the bodhisattva-mahāsattva is not far removed from prajñāpāramitā, that he should turn back from sarvajñā is impossible"; conversely, if, far removed from prajñā, he retrogresses from sarvajñā, 「則有是處」 tr. "then this is possible". This is a judgement set in positive and negative opposition: not apart from prajñā, one certainly does not retrogress; apart from prajñā, retrogression becomes possible—and so it says 「常不應遠離般若波羅蜜行」 tr. "one should never practise far removed from prajñāpāramitā". The sixth round is set up: dedicating to anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, for a lifespan of kalpas like the sands of the Ganges, the merit of the gift of wealth, the gift of Dharma, and meditative concentration—is the merit obtained great? Once dedication enters the scene, the weighing is pushed from practice to where practice goes.

35. The judgement of the sixth round and the seventh round—the foremost dedication; dedication with rejoicing. The Buddha judges: it does not equal practising as taught for a single day and dedicating the merit of the gift of wealth, the gift of Dharma, and meditative concentration, whose merit is greater, because 「是第一迴向，所謂般若波羅蜜迴向。若遠離般若波羅蜜迴向，是不名迴向」 tr. "this is the foremost dedication, namely the dedication of prajñāpāramitā. A dedication far removed from prajñāpāramitā is not called dedication". The judgement is very heavy—dedication apart from prajñā is not merely one grade lower; even the name of dedication does not hold for it. Hence the exhortation 「應方便學般若波羅蜜迴向」 tr. "one should by skilful means train in the dedication of prajñāpāramitā". The seventh round is set up: for a lifespan of kalpas like the sands of the Ganges, gathering together the roots of goodness of the buddhas of the past, future, and present and of their disciples, rejoicing and dedicating them to anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi—is the merit obtained great? Dedication with rejoicing is the broadest of all dedications—the roots of goodness of the buddhas of the three times and of their disciples are entirely gathered into it—and yet it is still the side being weighed.

36. The judgement of the seventh round—one should train in the dedication by skilful means within prajñā. The Buddha judges: it does not equal dedicating the roots of goodness of rejoicing for a single day, whose merit is greater, and gathers up all seven rounds in one sentence: 「菩薩摩訶薩欲得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，應學般若波羅蜜中方便迴向阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」 tr. "The bodhisattva-mahāsattva who wishes to obtain anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi should train in dedicating to anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi by the skilful means within prajñāpāramitā." The seven rounds advance layer by layer—from giving to the Three Jewels to making offerings to the noble assembly, from the six perfections to the gift of Dharma, from the limbs of the path and the emptinesses to dedication and rejoicing—what is weighed looks more and more like the Buddha path, and the conclusion is always the same one: it lies not in the matter practised, but in whether, when practising, one is apart from prajñā or not.

37. Subhūti raises the difficulty that dharmas arising from causes and conditions are false and deceptive; the Buddha admits their falseness and returns to having trained well in the eighteen emptinesses. The weighing done, Subhūti raises the heaviest question of the whole passage: 「如佛所說，因緣起法從妄想生，非實。云何善男子、善女人得大福德？」 tr. "As the Buddha has said, dharmas arising from causes and conditions are born from false thinking and are not real. How do good men and good women obtain great merit?" And he pushes it to the end—by using these dharmas arising from causes and conditions, one should not obtain right view or enter the position of the Dharma, should not obtain the fruit of the srota-āpanna and so on up to the fruit of awakening. The Buddha's answer first admits it wholly: 「如是！如是！」 tr. "Just so! Just so!" By using dharmas arising from causes and conditions one indeed should not obtain right view, enter the position of the Dharma, and so on up to awakening. Only after admitting it does he turn it over: the bodhisattva who practises prajñā 「知因緣起法亦空、無堅固、虛誑不實」 tr. "knows that dharmas arising from causes and conditions are also empty, without firmness, false and deceptive and unreal", because he 「善學內空乃至善學無法有法空故」 tr. "has trained well in inner emptiness, and so on up to having trained well in the emptiness of non-existent and existent dharmas"; abiding in these eighteen emptinesses, 「種種觀作法空，即不遠離般若波羅蜜」 tr. "contemplating in all sorts of ways that made dharmas are empty, he is then not far removed from prajñāpāramitā", and thus, gradually not apart from prajñā, he 「漸漸得無數、無量、無邊福德」 tr. "gradually obtains countless, immeasurable, boundless merit". The key lies in a single Chinese character, 「知」 tr. "know": the same false and deceptive dharmas arising from causes and conditions—one who does not know is deceived by them, one who knows is not deceived by them—merit is not born from false and deceptive dharmas; it is born from the mind that is not deceived by what is false and deceptive. As for the eighteen emptinesses, the sūtra text here cites only the first and the last—beginning from inner emptiness and ending at the emptiness of non-existent and existent dharmas—as the collective name of a whole set of ways of contemplating emptiness.

38. The difference among the three meanings countless, immeasurable, and boundless. Subhūti asks: 「無數、無量、無邊，有何等異？」 tr. "Countless, immeasurable, boundless—what difference is there among them?" The Buddha distinguishes them one by one: 「無數者，名不墮數中——若有為性中、若無為性中」 tr. "Countless means not falling within number—whether within the conditioned nature or within the unconditioned nature"; 「無量者，量不可得，若過去、若未來、若現在」 tr. "immeasurable means that measure is unfindable, whether past, future, or present"; 「無邊者，諸法邊不可得」 tr. "boundless means that the bounds of dharmas are unfindable". The three names each take one angle—countless speaks of nature and class, not falling into the division of conditioned and unconditioned; immeasurable speaks of time: in all three times it cannot be weighed and measured; boundless speaks of limits: the boundaries of dharmas are unfindable. The three names do not describe its greatness; they say that it simply does not enter the ranks of the measurable.

39. Form and the rest also have the three meanings, because of emptiness. Subhūti asks further: 「頗有色亦無數、無量、無邊？」 tr. "Is there any way in which form too is countless, immeasurable, boundless?"—and likewise for feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness. The Buddha answers 「有因緣」 tr. "there are causes and conditions". Subhūti asks again what causes and conditions, and the Buddha answers: 「色空故，無數、無量、無邊；受、想、行、識空故，無數、無量、無邊。」 tr. "Because form is empty, it is countless, immeasurable, boundless; because feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness are empty, they are countless, immeasurable, boundless." The three meanings were originally words praising merit; here they are set upon the five aggregates—and the reason is only one word: emptiness. One can see that the three meanings are not terms of magnitude belonging to merit alone, but marks possessed by everything that is empty; the very reason merit is countless, immeasurable, and boundless is that it is set upon emptiness.

40. All dharmas are empty; the meaning of the four matters has no difference. Subhūti presses once more: 「但色空、受想行識空，非一切法空耶？」 tr. "Is it only form that is empty, and feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness that are empty, and not all dharmas that are empty?" The Buddha asks back: 「我不說一切法空耶？」 tr. "Have I not said that all dharmas are empty?" Subhūti thereupon speaks the conclusion himself: the World-Honored One says all dharmas are empty, and the emptiness of dharmas 「即是不可盡、無有數、無量、無邊」 tr. "is inexhaustible, without number, immeasurable, boundless", because 「空中數不可得、量不可得、邊不可得」 tr. "within emptiness number is unfindable, measure is unfindable, bounds are unfindable", and so 「是不可盡、無數、無量、無邊義，無有異」 tr. "these meanings—inexhaustible, countless, immeasurable, boundless—have no difference". This passage is a typical case of a disciple completing the Buddha's words for him—after asking three times, the answer is spoken by the questioner himself, the four names returning to one meaning.

41. This dharma cannot be spoken; the Buddha by the power of skilful means distinguishes and speaks thirteen names. The Buddha affirms: 「是法義無別異。」 tr. "The meanings of this dharma have no difference." He then points out one layer deeper: 「是法不可說，佛以方便力故分別說」 tr. "this dharma cannot be spoken; the Buddha, by the power of skilful means, distinguishes and speaks it"—what are called inexhaustible, countless, immeasurable, boundless, non-clinging, emptiness, without perception, non-action, non-origination, non-arising, non-ceasing, non-staining, nirvāṇa, thirteen names in all, are all ways of speaking distinguished by the power of skilful means. This sentence gathers up the whole of the preceding analysis of names: the reason the sameness and difference between names can be analysed is that they are all originally skilful means; and the dharma they point to cannot originally be spoken.

42. Subhūti exclaims at the rare; all dharmas too cannot be spoken, and the mark that cannot be spoken is emptiness. Subhūti exclaims: 「諸法實相不可說，而佛以方便力說」 tr. "the real mark of all dharmas cannot be spoken, and yet the Buddha speaks it by the power of skilful means", and extends it one step—「如我解佛所說義，一切法亦不可說」 tr. "as I understand the meaning of what the Buddha says, all dharmas too cannot be spoken". The Buddha affirms it and goes one layer further: 「一切法不可說。一切法不可說相即是空，是空不可說。」 tr. "All dharmas cannot be spoken. The mark that all dharmas cannot be spoken is emptiness, and this emptiness cannot be spoken." The layers must be seen clearly: first it says that dharma cannot be spoken, then it says that the mark that cannot be spoken is emptiness, then it says that this emptiness itself too cannot be spoken. Unspeakability does not stop at silence; it does not set up as a dharma even the place to which 「不可說」 tr. "cannot be spoken" points.

43. The meaning that cannot be spoken neither increases nor decreases; from this is forced out the difficulty ‘if wholesome dharmas do not increase, how is awakening obtained’. Subhūti asks: 「不可說義有增有減不？」 tr. "Does the meaning that cannot be spoken increase or decrease, or not?" The Buddha answers: 「不也！須菩提！不可說義無增無減。」 tr. "No, Subhūti! The meaning that cannot be spoken neither increases nor decreases." Subhūti at once sees the consequence of this sentence and pushes it through item by item: if the meaning that cannot be spoken neither increases nor decreases, dānapāramitā and so on up to prajñāpāramitā should neither increase nor decrease; the four foundations of mindfulness and so on up to the eightfold noble path should neither increase nor decrease; the four dhyānas, the four immeasurable minds, the four formless absorptions, the five supernormal powers, the eight liberations, the eight spheres of mastery, the nine successive absorptions, the ten powers of the Buddha, the four fearlessnesses, the four unobstructed knowledges, and the eighteen unshared dharmas should also neither increase nor decrease. Thus the difficulty is formed: 「若菩薩摩訶薩六波羅蜜不增乃至十八不共法不增者，云何菩薩摩訶薩得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提？」 tr. "If the bodhisattva-mahāsattva's six perfections do not increase, and so on up to the eighteen unshared dharmas not increasing, how does the bodhisattva-mahāsattva obtain anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi?" This difficulty is the most real concern of practitioners—if merit does not grow, what meaning is there in making effort?

44. The Buddha answers—because of the power of skilful means he does not make the thought of increase; it is called dānapāramitā only by name; dedicating according to the mark of awakening. The Buddha first does not loosen his words: 「不可說義無增無減」 tr. "the meaning that cannot be spoken neither increases nor decreases" still holds. The turning point is in the power of skilful means: the bodhisattva who trains in and practises prajñā, 「有方便力故，不作是念：『我增般若波羅蜜，乃至增檀波羅蜜。』」 tr. "because he has the power of skilful means, does not make this thought: ‘I increase prajñāpāramitā, and so on up to increasing dānapāramitā.’"; 「當作是念：『但名字故，名檀波羅蜜。』」 tr. "he should make this thought: ‘It is called dānapāramitā only by name.’". When he practises dānapāramitā, 「是心及善根，如阿耨多羅三藐三菩提相迴向」 tr. "this mind and its roots of goodness are dedicated according to the mark of anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi", and so on up to when he practises prajñā, likewise. The crux of the answer is moving 「增」 tr. "increase" away from the dharmas practised: dharmas originally have no increase, only names; and the mind and roots of goodness with which one practises do not stop at oneself but are dedicated entirely according to the mark of awakening. Not making the thought of increase is precisely the way wholesome dharmas are accomplished, not a reason for wholesome dharmas to be made void.

45. What anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi is—the mark of suchness of all dharmas. Subhūti asks: 「何等是阿耨多羅三藐三菩提？」 tr. "What is anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi?" The Buddha answers: 「一切法如相是名阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」 tr. "The mark of suchness of all dharmas is called anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi." This answer interlocks head and tail with Sūtra ①'s 「色如深奧故，色深奧」 tr. "because the suchness of form is profound, form is profound"—the profound place is suchness, and the awakening sought is also suchness. Seeking awakening is not seeking something attained outside dharmas; it is seeking the original mark of suchness of dharmas.

46. The mark of suchness of form and so on up to the mark of suchness of nirvāṇa; the mark of suchness neither increases nor decreases, and therefore one should practise prajñā. Subhūti asks again what the mark of suchness of all dharmas is, and the Buddha answers: 「色如相，受、想、行、識如相，乃至涅槃如相，是阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」 tr. "The mark of suchness of form, the mark of suchness of feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness, and so on up to the mark of suchness of nirvāṇa—this is anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi." And he adds: 「是如相亦不增不減。」 tr. "This mark of suchness too neither increases nor decreases." The bodhisattva, not apart from prajñā, 「常觀是如法，不見有增有減」 tr. "constantly contemplates this dharma of suchness and does not see any increase or decrease"; for these causes and conditions, the meaning that cannot be spoken neither increases nor decreases, and dānapāramitā and so on up to the eighteen unshared dharmas also neither increase nor decrease. The last sentence is where Sūtra ② comes to rest: 「菩薩摩訶薩以是不增不減法故，應般若波羅蜜行。」 tr. "Because of this dharma of neither increase nor decrease, the bodhisattva-mahāsattva should practise prajñāpāramitā." The earlier difficulty is here wholly dissolved—it is not that there must first be increase for there to be attainment; it is by practising with the dharma of neither increase nor decrease that one accords with awakening.

47. The treatise-author begins to explain in Treatise ②—the first two rounds of the sevenfold weighing; passing beyond the two grounds, entering the bodhisattva's position, accomplishing the unsurpassed path. In Treatise ② the treatise-author explains, gathering the seven rounds of Sūtra ② into a few sentences. First the two rounds are spoken of together: making offerings to the Three Jewels for kalpas like the sands of the Ganges, apart from prajñā, does not equal practising prajñā for one day; again, one who, abiding in life for kalpas like the sands of the Ganges, makes offerings to the srota-āpanna and the others also does not equal practising prajñā for one day. The superior cause and condition is what the sūtra text brings out: 「菩薩行般若，過二地，入菩薩位，成無上道。」 tr. "The bodhisattva who practises prajñā passes beyond the two grounds, enters the bodhisattva's position, and accomplishes the unsurpassed path." The treatise-author uses the three Chinese characters 「過二地」 tr. "passes beyond the two grounds" to sum up the sūtra text's 「過一切聲聞、辟支佛地」 tr. "passes beyond all the śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha grounds"—the śrāvaka ground and the pratyekabuddha ground are the two grounds passed beyond.

48. The third, fourth, and fifth rounds—prajñā is the mother of the buddhas; that one should turn back from sarvajñā is impossible. The treatise-author continues: practising the six dharmas of giving and the rest for kalpas like the sands of the Ganges, far removed from prajñā, does not equal practising the six dharmas for one day abiding in prajñā as it is taught; the superior cause and condition is 「般若是諸佛母，住是般若中，能具足諸佛法」 tr. "prajñā is the mother of the buddhas; abiding in this prajñā, one can fulfil the dharmas of the buddhas". Again, practising the gift of Dharma for kalpas like the sands of the Ganges, far removed from prajñā, does not equal practising the gift of Dharma for one day abiding in prajñā; furthermore, cultivating the four foundations of mindfulness by the dharmas of the śrāvaka and the pratyekabuddha for kalpas like the sands of the Ganges does not equal cultivating the four foundations of mindfulness for one day abiding in prajñā as it is taught, and so on up to the omniscience of all kinds. Here the superior cause and condition is 「不離般若，於薩婆若轉者，無有是處」 tr. "not apart from prajñā, that one should turn back from sarvajñā is impossible". Note that on the fifth round the treatise-author adds a qualification the sūtra text does not state explicitly—one who cultivates the limbs of the path far removed from prajñā uses 「聲聞、辟支佛法」 tr. "the dharmas of the śrāvaka and the pratyekabuddha"; this sentence points out more clearly the two parties of the weighing: cultivating the same four foundations of mindfulness, cultivating by the dharmas of the two vehicles and cultivating by prajñā are separated in the magnitude of their retribution as kalpas like the sands of the Ganges are from one day.

49. The sixth and seventh rounds—right dedication unmixed with poison; dedication with rejoicing. The treatise-author explains the sixth round: dedicating to the unsurpassed path, apart from prajñā, for kalpas like the sands of the Ganges, the merit born of the gift of wealth, the gift of Dharma, and meditative concentration does not equal dedicating for one day in accord with prajñā: 「何以故？般若波羅蜜無雜毒、正迴向故」 tr. "Why? Because prajñāpāramitā is a right dedication, unmixed with poison." The three Chinese characters 「無雜毒」 tr. "unmixed with poison" most deserve savouring—dedication apart from prajñā is not without goodness; rather, the poison of grasping at marks is mixed into the goodness; the poison lies not in more or less, but in whether it is present or not. The seventh round: apart from prajñā, rejoicing and dedicating the merits of the buddhas of the ten directions and the three times for a lifespan of kalpas like the sands of the Ganges does not equal the rejoicing and dedicating of one day in accord with prajñā. With this the explanation of the seven rounds is complete.

50. Subhūti objects that false and deceptive dharmas cannot make merit superior; the Buddha affirms his words and judges it superior because the merit is pure; the simile of the vajra shattering the mountain. The treatise-author then explains that difficulty of Sūtra ②: 「爾時，須菩提難佛：『如佛說一切有為法，虛誑不實、如幻，不能生正見、入正位，云何菩薩一日福德勝？』」 tr. "At that time Subhūti objected to the Buddha: ‘As the Buddha says, all conditioned dharmas are false and deceptive, unreal, like an illusion, and cannot give rise to right view or to entry into the right position; how is the bodhisattva's merit of one day superior?’" The Buddha affirms his words—conditioned dharmas are all false and deceptive, and 「不得以虛誑法入正位、得聖道」 tr. "one cannot enter the right position or obtain the noble path by false and deceptive dharmas"; the turning point is this: the merit made by the bodhisattva when practising prajñā, 「知皆虛誑、空、無堅固，心不著是福德。是福德清淨故，勝餘福德」 tr. "he knows to be all false and deceptive, empty, without firmness, and his mind does not cling to this merit. Because this merit is pure, it surpasses other merit". The treatise-author then gives a simile: 「如金剛雖小，能摧破大山。」 tr. "As with the vajra: though small, it can shatter a great mountain." The point where the simile lands is that the power of purity does not depend on quantity—the merit of kalpas like the sands of the Ganges is the great mountain, the non-clinging merit of one day is the vajra; victory and defeat are compared not by bulk but by hardness and sharpness. This simile is woven on the same loom as the earlier simile of the mild medicine and the medicine of great strength: what is contended over is quality, not quantity.

51. The four rounds of ‘although… yet…’ of having trained well in the eighteen emptinesses; not clinging and yet able to give rise to merit—this is called practising not apart from prajñā. The treatise-author explains the Buddha's saying 「菩薩善學十八空」 tr. "the bodhisattva has trained well in the eighteen emptinesses", and unfolds four rounds in which the two do not obstruct each other: although he contemplates emptiness, 「而能行諸功德」 tr. "yet he can practise all merits"; although he knows nirvāṇa and the unsurpassed path, 「而憐愍眾生故修集福德」 tr. "yet out of pity for beings he cultivates and gathers merit"; although he knows that the marks of all dharmas cannot be spoken, 「而為眾生種種方便說法」 tr. "yet for beings he teaches the Dharma by all kinds of skilful means"; although he knows that within the nature of dharmas there is no discrimination, one mark that is no mark, 「而為眾生分別是善是不善、是可行是不可行、是取是捨、是利是失等」 tr. "yet for beings he discriminates this as wholesome and this as unwholesome, this as to be practised and this as not to be practised, this as to be taken and this as to be relinquished, this as gain and this as loss, and so on". The four sentences are all one sentence pattern: the first half is knowledge of the real mark, the second half is practice of the gate of transformation—knowing and practising not only do not conflict; the more thoroughly one knows, the more unobstructedly one practises. Thus the treatise-author concludes: 「若菩薩雖觀畢竟空，而能起諸福德，是名『不離般若波羅蜜行』。」 tr. "If the bodhisattva, though contemplating ultimate emptiness, can yet give rise to merits, this is called ‘practising not apart from prajñāpāramitā’." The earlier doubt, ‘how can emptiness give rise to merit’, here receives its most direct answer: it is not that emptiness gives rise to merit; it is that because of non-clinging the merit is pure, and because the merit is pure it is superior.

52. The causes and conditions of gradually obtaining the three meanings—in first training the afflictions are strong and prajñā weak; the three meanings explained name by name. The treatise-author continues: 「若菩薩常不離般若波羅蜜，漸得無數、無量、無邊功德。」 tr. "If the bodhisattva is never apart from prajñāpāramitā, he gradually obtains countless, immeasurable, boundless merit." Why 「漸」 tr. "gradually"? Because 「菩薩初學般若時，煩惱力強，般若力弱；漸漸得般若力，斷諸煩惱、滅諸戲論」 tr. "when the bodhisattva first trains in prajñā, the power of the afflictions is strong and the power of prajñā is weak; gradually he obtains the power of prajñā, severs the afflictions, and extinguishes idle discourse", and so his merit is countless, immeasurable, boundless. This is the sentence of the whole unit that comes closest to beginners—not being apart from prajñā does not mean having strength from the start; the waxing and waning of strength has its own order, and the exchange of strong and weak takes time. Then the treatise-author explains the three meanings, slightly differently from the sūtra text and more crisply: 「無數者，不墮若有為性中、若無為性中」 tr. "countless means not falling within either the conditioned nature or the unconditioned nature"; 「三世量不可得，故名無量」 tr. "the measure of the three times is unfindable, so it is called immeasurable"; 「十方邊不可得，故名無邊」 tr. "the bounds of the ten directions are unfindable, so it is called boundless". Immeasurable is tied to time, boundless to direction—the treatise-author lands the sūtra text's 「諸法邊不可得」 tr. "the bounds of dharmas are unfindable" concretely upon the ten directions.

53. The five aggregates have the three meanings because of emptiness; all dharmas are empty. The treatise-author restates four exchanges of question and answer from the sūtra text: Subhūti asks the Buddha 「五眾頗有因緣亦無數、無量、無邊耶」 tr. "are there any causes and conditions by which the five aggregates too are countless, immeasurable, boundless?", and the Buddha answers 「有！以五眾空故，亦無數、無量、無邊」 tr. "There are! Because the five aggregates are empty, they too are countless, immeasurable, boundless"; Subhūti asks 「但五眾空，非一切法空耶」 tr. "are only the five aggregates empty, and not all dharmas empty?", and the Buddha answers 「一切法空」 tr. "all dharmas are empty". The question and answer here are the treatise-author's retelling of the question and answer of the sūtra text, not a separately set-up host and guest—this passage is entirely in the narrative form ‘Subhūti asks / the Buddha answers’, and the treatise-author himself does not set up a further layer of debate with ‘Question’ and ‘Answer’.

54. The four matters differ in name but are one in meaning; the Buddha affirms his words and speaks the causes and conditions of forcibly making names. The treatise-author continues with Subhūti's words: 「是空法即不可盡，不可盡故即是無數，無數即是無量，無量即是無邊」 tr. "this dharma of emptiness is inexhaustible; because it is inexhaustible it is countless; countless is immeasurable; immeasurable is boundless"; within emptiness, exhaustion, number, measure, and bounds are all four unfindable, and so they are called inexhaustible, countless, immeasurable, and boundless. The treatise-author himself gives the verdict: 「四事名雖異，義是一，所謂畢竟空。」 tr. "Though the names of the four matters differ, the meaning is one, namely ultimate emptiness." The Buddha affirms his words, 「如是」 tr. "just so", and further himself speaks the causes and conditions: 「是空法相不可說；若不可說，不名為空」 tr. "the mark of this dharma of emptiness cannot be spoken; if it cannot be spoken, it is not called empty"—even the name 「空」 tr. "empty" is not its own name. The Buddha, 「以大慈悲心憐愍眾生故方便為說，強作名字語言，令眾生得解」 tr. "out of the mind of great kindness and compassion, pitying beings, speaks it for them by skilful means, forcibly making names and words so that beings may understand". The two Chinese characters 「強作」 tr. "forcibly making" should be remembered: all names and words here are marked as provisional devices, including the most central one.

55. The names of the real mark of all dharmas glossed one by one. The treatise-author then explains a string of names one by one as to where each comes from; this is the passage of the unit that most shows his skill. The real mark, 「不生、不作故說『不盡』」 tr. "because it does not arise and is not made, is said to be ‘inexhaustible’". When the noble ones obtain the real mark of all dharmas and enter nirvāṇa without remainder, they 「不墮六道數」 tr. "do not fall into the count of the six destinies"; the dharma of the real mark too 「不墮有為、無為等諸法數中」 tr. "does not fall within the count of dharmas such as the conditioned and the unconditioned", and so it is said to be 「無數」 tr. "countless". 「量」 tr. "Measure" is 「以智慧稱量好醜、多少、大小、是非等」 tr. "weighing and measuring with wisdom the fair and the ugly, the many and the few, the great and the small, the right and the wrong, and so on"; because within the real mark of all dharmas all marks are extinguished, it is said to be 「無量」 tr. "immeasurable". Because the real mark cannot be measured, it is said to be 「無邊」 tr. "boundless". Because the real mark is quiescent, it is said to be 「無著」 tr. "non-clinging". Because in the real mark 「我我所定相不可得故」 tr. "the fixed marks of I and mine are unfindable", it is said to be 「空」 tr. "empty". 「空故無相，無相故則『無作』、『無起』。」 tr. "Because it is empty, it is signless; because it is signless, it is ‘non-action’ and ‘non-origination’." 「是法常住不壞故『無生』、『無滅』。」 tr. "Because this dharma abides always and is not destroyed, it is ‘non-arising’ and ‘non-ceasing’." 「是法能斷三界染故名『無染』。」 tr. "Because this dharma can sever the staining of the three realms, it is called ‘non-staining’." 「更不織煩惱業故名『涅槃』。」 tr. "Because it no longer weaves the deeds of affliction, it is called ‘nirvāṇa’." The string of names is here no longer a pile of synonyms; each name has its own reason: countless is tied to not entering the classes of number, immeasurable to being apart from weighing and measuring, boundless to having no limits, non-clinging to quiescence, empty to I and mine being unfindable; the signless, non-action, and non-origination are drawn out in order from emptiness; non-arising and non-ceasing are tied to abiding always and not being destroyed; non-staining to being able to sever the staining of the three realms; nirvāṇa to no longer weaving the deeds of affliction. The treatise-author's last sentence gathers it all: 「如是等有無量名字，種種因緣說是諸法實相。」 tr. "In this way there are immeasurable names; by all kinds of causes and conditions the real mark of all dharmas is spoken." One more matter is noted here: in Sūtra ②'s list the name is written 「無想」 tr. "without perception", while the treatise-author here explains it as 「無相」 tr. "signless"; the two places differ in the characters used, and they are recorded side by side as they stand, without forced explanation.

56. Subhūti again exclaims at the rare; all dharmas in the end return to emptiness and so cannot be spoken, and the meaning that cannot be spoken is neither increase nor decrease. The treatise-author continues: at that time Subhūti said to the Buddha, exclaiming at the rare, that though the real mark of all dharmas cannot be spoken, the Buddha speaks it by the power of skilful means; 「如我解佛義，非但實相不可說，一切諸法亦不可說」 tr. "as I understand the Buddha's meaning, not only can the real mark not be spoken, all dharmas too cannot be spoken". The Buddha affirms his words and speaks the causes and conditions: 「一切法終歸於空，歸於空故不可說，不可說義即是無增無減。」 tr. "All dharmas in the end return to emptiness; because they return to emptiness they cannot be spoken; the meaning that cannot be spoken is neither increase nor decrease." Here the treatise-author strings three matters into one line: because in the end they return to emptiness, they cannot be spoken; since they cannot be spoken, there is no place for increase or decrease. Increase and decrease are spoken with regard to what can be spoken and measured; since what is pointed to cannot be spoken, increase and decrease naturally have no ground on which to be set up.

57. The difficulty of how the path is obtained if wholesome dharmas do not increase; because of the power of skilful means, I and mine and arrogance are severed; not grasping at marks, one dedicates according to the mark of the unsurpassed path. Subhūti's difficulty appears again: 「若一切法無增無減，六波羅蜜等諸善法亦無增無減；若六波羅蜜善法不增者，云何得無上道？」 tr. "If all dharmas neither increase nor decrease, the six perfections and the other wholesome dharmas also neither increase nor decrease; if the wholesome dharmas of the six perfections do not increase, how is the unsurpassed path obtained?" The Buddha affirms his words and further speaks the causes and conditions for him: 「法雖無增減，而可得無上道。」 tr. "Though dharmas have no increase or decrease, yet the unsurpassed path can be obtained." That is, the bodhisattva who trains in and practises prajñā, by the power of skilful means, though he practises dānapāramitā and the other dharmas that aid the path, 「我我所、憍慢斷故，不作是念：『我增長是六波羅蜜等法。』」 tr. "because I and mine and arrogance are severed, does not make this thought: ‘I increase these dharmas, the six perfections and the rest.’"; 「不取內外諸法相行，是謂善法，如無上道相迴向」 tr. "practising without grasping at the marks of inner and outer dharmas—this is called wholesome dharma, dedicated according to the mark of the unsurpassed path". Here the treatise-author returns the sūtra text's ‘not making the thought of increase’ to a deeper root—not making the thought of increase is not deliberately refraining from thinking of it; it is that I and mine and arrogance are already severed, and there is originally no 「我」 tr. "I" increasing anything. The sickness of the thought of increase has its root in the view of self and in pride, not in counting.

58. What the unsurpassed path is and what all dharmas are—the suchness of dharmas is the mark of quiescence. The treatise-author continues with four exchanges of question and answer: Subhūti asks 「何等是無上道」 tr. "what is the unsurpassed path", and the Buddha answers 「諸法如即是無上道」 tr. "the suchness of dharmas is the unsurpassed path"; Subhūti asks 「何等是一切法」 tr. "what are all dharmas", and the Buddha answers 「色等法乃至涅槃。是諸法如即是寂滅相，是無上道相」 tr. "form and the other dharmas, and so on up to nirvāṇa. The suchness of these dharmas is the mark of quiescence, is the mark of the unsurpassed path". Though the questions and answers are short, what they gather in is very great—Sūtra ② says 「一切法如相是名阿耨多羅三藐三菩提」 tr. "the mark of suchness of all dharmas is called anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi", and Treatise ② adds one more turn: the suchness of dharmas is the mark of quiescence, and the mark of quiescence is the mark of the unsurpassed path. Suchness, quiescence, the unsurpassed path—three names, one matter.

59. The mark of quiescence; causing giving and the rest to be like the mark of quiescence; because one constantly thinks of the mark of quiescence one swiftly obtains the unsurpassed path. The treatise-author explains quiescence: 「寂滅者，不增不減、不高不下，滅諸煩惱、戲論，不動不壞、無所障礙。」 tr. "Quiescence is neither increasing nor decreasing, neither high nor low, extinguishing the afflictions and idle discourse, unmoving and indestructible, without any hindrance." Four meanings are set side by side—neither increasing nor decreasing counters measuring, neither high nor low counters comparing, unmoving and indestructible counters change, without any hindrance counters stagnation and obstruction; the 「滅諸煩惱、戲論」 tr. "extinguishing the afflictions and idle discourse" in the middle is where these four meanings come from: only once the afflictions and idle discourse are extinguished can there be talk of neither increase nor decrease and so on up to being without any hindrance. And the bodhisattva, 「以般若波羅蜜方便力故，亦能令布施等如寂滅相」 tr. "by the power of skilful means of prajñāpāramitā, can also cause giving and the rest to be like the mark of quiescence": quiescence is not set only upon the real mark of all dharmas; even a matter as full of marks as giving can be tuned by the power of skilful means into the mark of quiescence. The last sentence is where this unit comes to rest: 「若菩薩常念無上道寂滅相，令一切法皆同寂滅相，亦觀不可說義，所謂不增不減相；菩薩如是疾得無上道，以不增不減、不可得故。」 tr. "If the bodhisattva constantly thinks of the mark of quiescence of the unsurpassed path, causes all dharmas to be the same as the mark of quiescence, and also contemplates the meaning that cannot be spoken, namely the mark of neither increase nor decrease, the bodhisattva thus swiftly obtains the unsurpassed path, because it neither increases nor decreases and is unfindable." The whole unit, which began by asking 「何等是深奧處」 tr. "what is the profound place", here answers it in a complete circle—the profound place is suchness; suchness is the mark of quiescence; constantly thinking of the mark of quiescence and causing all dharmas to be the same as it is the path of swiftly obtaining the unsurpassed path. Treatise ② ends here, and fascicle seventy-four also closes here; the Last Part of this chapter begins from the continued title of the next fascicle and opens Sūtra ③ and Treatise ③ separately.

Do Not Misread

Do not read 「深奧」 tr. "profound" as hard to understand. The treatise-author blocks this road already in answering the first question: what the world calls deep is 「諸有法種種細分別，人不解故有深」 tr. "existent dharmas have all kinds of fine discriminations; because people do not understand them, there is depth"; while the depth of this chapter is 「此空是得道空，非但口說」 tr. "this emptiness is the emptiness of attaining the path, not merely what the mouth says". The criterion lies not in the intricacy of concepts, but in whether one can 「更不作願生三界」 tr. "no longer make a vow to be born in the three realms". If one reads the profound as lofty and hard to understand, this chapter becomes a contest of names and marks, whereas it is precisely saying: however fine the names and marks, that does not count as deep; only being able to sever the vow of the three realms counts as deep.

Do not read 「一切法亦是深奧義」 tr. "all dharmas too have the profound meaning" as saying that all dharmas are something remarkable. The sūtra text says very clearly that form is profound because 「色如深奧故」 tr. "the suchness of form is profound"—what is deep is suchness, not form itself. And suchness is further delimited by the double-negation sentence: 「是色如，非是色、非離色」 tr. "this suchness of form is not form and is not apart from form". If one takes the profound as some excellent attribute of the dharma of form itself, one falls exactly on the first extreme the sūtra text negates; if one imagines suchness as a real entity existing apart from form, one falls on the second extreme. The simile of the clay pot has all three sentences—not identical, not apart, and one cannot say there is none—and not one of them may be lacking.

Do not read the simile of the man of much lust thinking of the woman as praising the stained mind. The treatise-author himself states the reason for taking the simile: 「是心易覺知故，以為譬喻。」 tr. "Because this mind is easy to be aware of, it is taken as a simile." What is taken is the density and continuity of thought, a point that in the stained mind is most easily noticed by the person himself, and so it is borrowed as a measuring rule. The man in the simile thinks of a woman who is hindered and does not come; the bodhisattva thinks of the deepest dharma—once the object is changed, the nature of the continuity is entirely different. To read it as taking desire as the path is to mistake the vehicle of the simile for its tenor.

Do not read the sevenfold weighing as belittling giving, offering, the six perfections, the limbs of the path, and dedication. The wording of every round carries the same qualifier—「遠離般若波羅蜜」 tr. "far removed from prajñāpāramitā". What is judged not to equal is never giving itself, but giving apart from prajñā; not dedication itself, but dedication apart from prajñā—of such a dedication the sūtra text even says 「是不名迴向」 tr. "it is not called dedication". If one reads it as meaning that all practices outside prajñā may be abandoned, one goes exactly against those four sentences of Treatise ②, 「雖觀空，而能行諸功德」 tr. "although he contemplates emptiness, yet he can practise all merits"—the function of prajñā is to make all practices pure, not to make them void.

Do not read ‘dharmas arising from causes and conditions are false and deceptive and unreal’ as meaning that merit is fake. The Buddha admits the falseness to the end; the turning point lies only in a single Chinese character, 「知」 tr. "know": the bodhisattva 「知因緣起法亦空、無堅固、虛誑不實」 tr. "knows that dharmas arising from causes and conditions are also empty, without firmness, false and deceptive and unreal", so 「心不著是福德」 tr. "his mind does not cling to this merit", and 「是福德清淨故，勝餘福德」 tr. "because this merit is pure, it surpasses other merit". The simile of the vajra that, though small, can shatter a great mountain compares quality, not quantity. If one reads it as ‘since it is false and deceptive, there is no need to cultivate merit’, one has entirely missed the treatise-author's 「知」 tr. "know"—the person who does not cultivate merit has not thereby obtained that purity.

Do not read 「不可說義無增無減」 tr. "the meaning that cannot be spoken neither increases nor decreases" as meaning that effort has no point. Subhūti asks this worry most fully on the reader's behalf, and the Buddha's answer is not to withdraw neither increase nor decrease, but to move 「增」 tr. "increase" off the dharmas: dharmas have only names—「但名字故，名檀波羅蜜」 tr. "it is called dānapāramitā only by name"; while the mind and roots of goodness with which one practises are 「如阿耨多羅三藐三菩提相迴向」 tr. "dedicated according to the mark of anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi". Treatise ② further returns not making the thought of increase to 「我我所、憍慢斷故」 tr. "because I and mine and arrogance are severed"—it is not suppressing thoughts of progress; it is that there is fundamentally no I calculating progress. Wholesome dharmas are to be practised as before; only one does not keep accounts on oneself.

Do not take the two views of the three samādhi and of outer emptiness as the treatise-author's settled conclusion. Those two sentences of 「有人言」 tr. "someone says" are divergent views set side by side, and the treatise-author immediately refutes both with the Buddha's words: 「不以空三昧故空，亦不以所緣外色等諸法故空。」 tr. "It is not empty because of the emptiness samādhi, nor is it empty because of the outer dharmas taken as object, form and the rest." Emptiness belongs neither to the contemplating concentration nor to the realm taken as object; rather it is 「因緣和合生，是和合法無有一定法故空」 tr. "arising from the coming together of causes and conditions; these dharmas that come together have not a single fixed dharma, and therefore they are empty". On reaching the three Chinese characters 「有人言」 tr. "someone says", pause first—that this treatise cites a divergent view without at once endorsing it is a common pattern.

Bearing on Practice

Carry the seven Chinese characters of the weighing with you. The key to every round of the sevenfold weighing lies not in the matter practised, but in the seven Chinese characters 「遠離般若波羅蜜」 tr. "far removed from prajñāpāramitā". Whenever one does any good deed in daily life—making offerings, giving, reciting and upholding, lecturing, dedicating—one can ask oneself with these seven characters: at this moment am I apart from prajñā or not? If in the present moment one does not grasp at marks, does not count merit, knows it to be false and deceptive and is still willing to do it, then this deed is within prajñā; if in one's heart one is tallying the weight of the merit, then though the deed is the same, one has already left it.

Turn the simile of the man of much lust back upon one's own continuity. The treatise-author says this simile is taken because 「是心易覺知」 tr. "this mind is easy to be aware of"—an unfulfilled desire most easily lets a person see how many thoughts he has in one day and one night. Since it can be seen, it can be used as a reference: I can keep what I desire in mind thought after thought without forgetting it—can I do so with the Dharma? The work lies not in fierceness at one moment, but in whether thoughts can return by themselves like that. The object has changed; the density need not change.

Wash one's good deeds with the sentence 「知皆虛誑、空、無堅固，心不著是福德」 tr. "he knows them to be all false and deceptive, empty, without firmness, and his mind does not cling to this merit". Having done a good deed, something usually remains in the heart—that something is the mixed poison. The treatise-author says the dedication of prajñā is superior in being 「無雜毒、正迴向」 tr. "a right dedication, unmixed with poison"; the poison lies not in more or less, but in presence or absence. Let go as soon as the deed is done and keep no aftertaste: the vajra, though small, can shatter a mountain precisely in this not keeping.

Fix the proportion of emptiness and practice by the four sentences of ‘although… yet…’. Although contemplating emptiness, yet able to practise all merits; although knowing nirvāṇa, yet out of pity for beings cultivating and gathering merit; although knowing it cannot be spoken, yet teaching the Dharma by skilful means; although knowing there is no discrimination, yet for beings discriminating good and evil, taking and relinquishing. The sickness most prone to arise in one who studies emptiness is abandoning practice for emptiness; the treatise-author's four sentences all put the weight on the second half. Whenever one feels ‘anyway everything is empty’ and grows lazy about one's tasks, set these four sentences against it, and one will know that the emptiness one has obtained is not yet the emptiness the treatise-author speaks of.

Remember this sentence: 「初學般若時，煩惱力強，般若力弱」 tr. "when first training in prajñā, the power of the afflictions is strong and the power of prajñā is weak". It relieves everyone still on the road: not being apart from prajñā does not mean having strength at once; the exchange of strong and weak is by nature a matter of 「漸漸」 tr. "gradually". When effort shows no result, there is no need to doubt one's direction; only ask whether one has left it; as long as one has not left it, the waxing and waning of strength is a matter of sooner or later.

Close a day with 「常念無上道寂滅相，令一切法皆同寂滅相」 tr. "constantly thinks of the mark of quiescence of the unsurpassed path, causes all dharmas to be the same as the mark of quiescence". The treatise-author speaks of the mark of quiescence very concretely—neither increasing nor decreasing, neither high nor low, extinguishing the afflictions and idle discourse, unmoving and indestructible, without any hindrance. Before sleep, take the things met with in the day, the good done, the vexations suffered, and look at them one by one through these few meanings: which one am I still adding to or subtracting from? Which one am I still comparing as higher or lower? Which one is still shaking me? Which one is still entangling me, still drawing me into idle discourse? If one can see it, one is already causing all dharmas to be the same as the mark of quiescence.

Further Resonances

The First Part, a single unit of two sūtra passages and two treatise passages, establishes this chapter's opening question and its measure. Sūtra ①, from praising the merit of the avaivartika, turns out the question 「何等是深奧處」 tr. "what is the profound place"; the Buddha answers with twelve names led by emptiness, then pulls down the wall of names and marks and says that all dharmas are profound, the reason for their depth being tied to 「如」 tr. "suchness", and suchness being located by the double-negation sentence; at the end, by the simile of the man of much lust thinking of the woman, it shows the power of continuity thought after thought, and returns to one day of practising prajñā surpassing the other merits of worlds like the sands of the Ganges. Treatise ① supplies four layers of reasons for this passage: the depth of emptiness lies not in names and marks but in attaining the path; emptiness too is empty and is not clung to; neither arising-and-ceasing nor non-arising-and-non-ceasing is clung to; each of the twelve names has its own depth; the true body of emptiness belongs neither to the contemplating concentration nor to the realm taken as object, but is the ultimate emptiness of what comes together from causes and conditions and has no self-nature; the simile of the clay pot fixes that suchness and dharma are neither identical nor apart; the depth or shallowness of a field of merit is tied to the depth or shallowness of seeing the real mark, so the two vehicles have no retribution while the bodhisattva's merit is immeasurable, and the simile of the mild medicine and the medicine of great strength makes plain prajñā's place among the six perfections. Sūtra ②, with the sevenfold weighing, sets 「一日如說修行」 tr. "practising as taught for a single day" opposite the practices of kalpas like the sands of the Ganges, each round carrying 「遠離般若」 tr. "far removed from prajñā"; then from the difficulty that dharmas arising from causes and conditions are false and deceptive it draws out the eighteen emptinesses, the distinction of the three meanings, that all dharmas cannot be spoken, and that the meaning that cannot be spoken neither increases nor decreases, and closes on 「一切法如相是名阿耨多羅三藐三菩提」 tr. "the mark of suchness of all dharmas is called anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi". Treatise ② explains the superior cause and condition of each round, fixes by the simile of the vajra shattering the mountain that purity surpasses breadth and number, fixes by the four sentences of ‘although… yet…’ that emptiness and practice do not obstruct each other, settles each of the long string of names of the real mark of all dharmas in its own place by glossing them name by name, and concludes with this: the suchness of dharmas is the mark of quiescence, and constantly thinking of the mark of quiescence one swiftly obtains the unsurpassed path.

On the chapter title the masters are not uniform. The base text titles it "The Lamp-wick", while the table of contents of Jizang's Commentary on the Larger Sūtra titles this chapter 「深奧品第五十七」 tr. "Chapter Fifty-seven, The Profound", and in its explanatory text it again refers to this chapter's simile with 「若依燈炷喻者」 tr. "if one goes by the simile of the lamp-wick"; the section title of Huiying's Commentary reads 「釋灯喻品第五十七之餘」 tr. "Explaining Chapter Fifty-seven, The Lamp Simile, continued", while at the head of his commentary he says 「第五十七品釋論者，名為淨土品。何故次燈炷明淨土品論」 tr. "The treatise explaining the fifty-seventh chapter is named the Pure Land chapter. Why does the treatise making clear the Pure Land chapter follow the Lamp-wick?"; Junzheng's Profound Meaning of the Four Mahāyāna Treatises further lists three names side by side: 「此或題灯炷啄品，或歸功德品，或云住菩提品」 tr. "this is sometimes titled the Lamp-wick Pecking chapter, or the Returning Merit chapter, or is called the Abiding in Awakening chapter". One chapter has the names Lamp-wick, Profound, Pure Land, Returning Merit, and Abiding in Awakening: those who take the simile rely on the comparison of the first flame and the last flame; those who take the meaning rely either on the depth of what is expressed, or on where merit returns, or on the awakening in which one abides; each master has his basis, and here they are recorded side by side without judgement. The First Part, a single unit, happens to have no lamp-wick simile, and first opens the question 「何等是深奧處」 tr. "what is the profound place"; if the reader here asks ‘why is it called the Lamp-wick?’, it is precisely in this string of variant names that one can see where each master's eye fell in judging this chapter.

The two sūtra passages and two treatise passages are here all complete, and fascicle seventy-four also closes on the sentence 「菩薩如是疾得無上道，以不增不減、不可得故」 tr. "the bodhisattva thus swiftly obtains the unsurpassed path, because it neither increases nor decreases and is unfindable"; the Last Part of this chapter begins from the continued title of the next fascicle and opens Sūtra ③ and Treatise ③ separately. As for the lamp-wick simile for which this chapter is most renowned—whether it is the first flame or the last flame that burns the wick, and that the bodhisattva obtains the unsurpassed path neither by the first mind nor apart from the first mind, neither by the last mind nor apart from the last mind—and the meanings opened from it: the order of the ten grounds, the back-and-forth difficulties about the mark of the arising and ceasing of the mind and about abiding as suchness abides, practising within the highest meaning and the emptiness of specific marks, the three samādhi bringing beings to accomplishment, and the rest—all unfold in the Last Part; they are not anticipated here.