大智度論 恒伽提婆品Dazhidulun — Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa · Gaṅgadevī
恒伽提婆品：女人恒伽提婆於眾中起座，發願行六波羅蜜取淨佛世界，以金銀華、水陸生華、金縷織成疊供佛，空中化成四柱寶臺，持是功德迴向阿耨多羅三藐三菩提；佛知深心因緣而微笑放光，阿難問笑因緣，佛為授記——劫名星宿、佛號金花、畢女身受男子形、生阿閦佛阿毘羅提國土、從一佛國至一佛國不離諸佛如轉輪聖王從一觀至一觀、其會如佛會、比丘僧無量無邊；阿難問德本所從，佛答從然燈佛所種善根初發心、聞我受記而發願，阿難白佛言是女久習行而佛印可；論主三番問答——釋何以但一女人取淨國土願（性輕躁好勝、有人言得道不擇貴賤如良藥療病、若默然授記則人生疑）、釋「恒伽提婆」名義（名但為識何足求義、有人言父母供養恒伽神而得此女、恒伽是河名提婆名天）、釋何以方於阿閦佛國乃轉女身（五欲難斷著欲情多、今得受記煩惱折薄、有人言宿世自願女身受記、經說女人五礙不說不得受記），末釋阿難歎未曾有與佛答定光佛授記之本源（經＋論）
一場說淨佛國土的法會裡，坐著許多人。眾人都聽見了那一段行願，卻只有一個人從座位上起身：「爾時，有一女人，字恒伽提婆，在眾中坐。」她偏袒右肩，右膝著地，合掌說出自己的願：「世尊！我當行六波羅蜜，取淨佛世界，如般若波羅蜜中所說，我盡當行。」說完便散華供佛，金銀華、水陸生華、金縷織成的兩張細疊，「以散佛上；散已，於佛頂上虛空中化成四柱寶臺，端正嚴好。」然後她把這功德交出去：「是女人持是功德，與一切眾生共之，迴向阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」——發願、供養、迴向，三步做完，全品的事就只有這麼多。接著是佛的微笑：「爾時，世尊知是女人深心因緣，即時微笑。」阿難問得謹慎：「佛何因緣微笑？諸佛法不以無因緣而笑。」佛於是授記：「是恒伽提婆姊未來世中當作佛，劫名星宿，佛號金花。」
論主接手，第一問就問到了所有人心裡的那句話：「如是大眾聞說淨國土行，何以但一女人取淨國土願？」為什麼偏偏是她？答得出人意表地不客氣：「多有發淨國土願者，但不發言；女人性輕躁好勝，世世習氣故發言。」發願的本來很多，只是沒有出聲；她出聲，論主逕自歸因於習氣，一句好話也不多說。可是正是這句不留情面的話，把兩件事拆開了——出聲是習氣，得記卻是實機。底下一轉，義理才全出來：有人主張「大人有得道分，餘人無分」，論主答：「佛法不然，隨眾生業因緣。」並出一個極平常的比方：「譬如良藥療治諸病，不擇貴賤。」藥治病，不問服藥的人貴賤；法得道，不問行道的人大小。於是那句最要緊的話得以成立：「雖復女人淺智，而先世業因緣，應得受記……」——「淺智」與「應得受記」同放在一句裡而互不妨礙。授記所照見的，從來不是當下的聰明，是宿世的因緣。
那麼佛為什麼要等她開口？論主再轉：「復次，若佛默然與受記者，人則生疑……」——若佛一言不發就給了記，旁人測不出所以然，疑心立刻起來；「是故佛因其自說故而與受記。」授記需要一個公開的機緣，不是為了酬謝那一句話，是為了讓在場的人看見它的來由。這與經文是一體兩面：佛所知的是「深心因緣」，眾人所見的是散華與發言。論主釋那一笑也是同一個意思：「佛報以受記，觀是女人宿世所行，便微笑。」「此中小因緣而起大事，故佛微笑。」——小因緣是大家看得見的，大事是佛看得見的。
第二問最短，遮得也最徹底。有人要問這名字的意思，論主先不答意思，先問這問題該不該問：「一切皆有名字，為識故，何足求義？」名字的用處在能辨認，何必硬去求它的義。遮過之後，才把舊說放出來：「有人言：是女父母供養恒伽神，得此女故，言恒伽提婆。恒伽是河名，提婆名天。」——先遮後存，次第不可顛倒。若先講訓詁再來遮，訓詁就成了主；如今先遮再講，訓詁便只是一個可有可無的說法。這也正是為什麼後世諸本在「恒伽提婆」與「河天」兩個名字之間各取其一，而此品不因此成為問題：名既然只為辨認，兩名原無高下。
第三問是全品最重的一問：「是女福德應久轉女人，何以方於阿閦佛國乃轉女身？」既然福德早就夠了，為何要拖到那麼遠？論主的答案不在福德的多少，在障礙繫在哪裡：「世間五欲難斷，女人著欲情多故，雖世世行諸福德，不能得男子身……」——福德不能直接換一個身，能換身的是欲情之薄；而欲情之薄又以得記為緣：「今得受記，諸煩惱折薄，是故於阿閦佛國方得男子身。」轉身在得記之後，不在得記之前。接著論主存一個相反的說法：「有人言：此女宿世以人多輕女人故，願女身受記。」若是如此，女身就不是障礙而是願力，「如是等因緣，不轉女身而得受記。」兩說擺在一起，卻同歸一個結論：得記不以轉身為條件。最後論主以經量把這場難問結掉：「復次，經說女人五礙，不說不得受記，是故不應生難。」——經裡有「五礙」的文，沒有「女人不得受記」的文；拿有的去難沒有的，這個難本來就不成立。經所遮的，只止於它所遮的那些，不可以往外推。
全品收在一個極遠的回望上。阿難仍覺得希有：這樣一個人，聽得不多而果報如此之大，她的德本究竟從哪裡來？佛的答案回到自己受記的那一天：「定光佛授我記時，是女人持金華散佛，彼作是願：『此人後成佛時，亦當受與我記。』從彼種善根，今得果報。」那時她所做的，也不過是散一把金華，發一個願——願眼前這位將要成佛的人，來日也回頭給自己一個記。今日殿上的一散華、一發言，與那一天的一散華、一發願，隔著無量劫而是同一件事。授記從來不是酬功之賞，是機熟之印；而機之熟與不熟，不在身相，在那一念願心有沒有真的落下去。
In an assembly where the purifying of buddha-lands is being taught, many people are seated. Everyone has heard that passage on practice and vow, yet only one person rises from her seat: ‘At that time there was a woman named Gaṅgadevī, seated in the assembly.’ She bares her right shoulder, sets her right knee on the ground, joins her palms, and speaks her own vow: ‘World-Honored One! I shall practise the six perfections and take up a pure buddha-world; as it is taught in prajñāpāramitā, I shall practise it all.’ Having spoken, she scatters flowers as an offering to the Buddha—flowers of gold and silver, flowers born of water and land, and two fine cloths woven of gold thread—‘and scattered them over the Buddha; when she had scattered them, in the space above the Buddha's head they turned into a jewelled terrace with four pillars, upright and finely adorned.’ Then she hands this merit over: ‘This woman, holding this merit, shares it with all beings and dedicates it to anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi.’—Making the vow, making the offering, dedicating: three steps done, and that is all the event of the whole chapter. Then comes the Buddha's smile: ‘At that time the World-Honored One, knowing the causes and conditions of this woman's deep mind, at once smiled.’ Ānanda asks with care: ‘For what cause and condition does the Buddha smile? The buddhas' way is not to smile without cause and condition.’ The Buddha thereupon gives the prediction: ‘This sister Gaṅgadevī will in a future age become a Buddha; the kalpa will be named Constellation, and the Buddha will be called Golden Flower.’
The treatise-author takes over, and his first question asks the very thing in everyone's mind: ‘When so great an assembly heard the practice of purifying the land taught, why did only one woman take up the vow of a pure land?’ Why her, of all people? The answer is unexpectedly blunt: ‘Many made the vow of a pure land, but did not speak it aloud; a woman's nature is light and impulsive and fond of winning, and because of the habitual residues of life after life she spoke aloud.’ Those who made the vow were many to begin with; they merely did not speak; she spoke, and the treatise-author attributes it straight to habitual residue, without adding a single kind word. Yet it is precisely this unsparing sentence that takes two things apart—speaking aloud is habit; obtaining the prediction is real ripeness. Only with the turn that follows does the teaching come fully out: some hold that ‘great persons have a share in attaining the path, and the rest have none’, and the treatise-author answers: ‘The Buddha's Dharma is not so; it follows the beings' causes and conditions of deeds.’ And he gives a most ordinary comparison: ‘As good medicine cures the various illnesses without choosing between the noble and the base.’ Medicine cures illness without asking whether the one who takes it is noble or base; the Dharma brings attainment of the path without asking whether the one who practises it is great or small. Thus that most essential sentence can stand: ‘Though this woman is of shallow wisdom, yet by the causes and conditions of deeds in former lives she should receive the prediction …’—‘shallow wisdom’ and ‘should receive the prediction’ set in one sentence and not hindering each other. What the prediction sees into has never been present cleverness; it is the causes and conditions of former lives.
Then why did the Buddha wait for her to open her mouth? The treatise-author turns again: ‘Furthermore, if the Buddha were to give the prediction in silence, people would give rise to doubt …’—if the Buddha handed over the prediction without a word, the bystanders could not fathom the reason, and doubt would arise at once; ‘therefore the Buddha gave her the prediction because she herself had spoken.’ The prediction needs a public occasion, not to reward that one sentence, but so that those present may see where it comes from. This is one thing with two faces in the sūtra: what the Buddha knows is ‘the causes and conditions of her deep mind’; what the assembly sees is the scattering of flowers and the speaking aloud. The treatise-author's gloss on that smile is the same meaning: ‘The Buddha, repaying her with the prediction, contemplated this woman's conduct in former lives, and so smiled.’ ‘Here a small cause and condition gives rise to a great matter; therefore the Buddha smiled.’—The small cause and condition is what everyone can see; the great matter is what the Buddha sees.
The second question is the shortest, and its negation the most thorough. Someone wants to ask the meaning of this name, and the treatise-author does not first answer the meaning; he first asks whether the question should be asked at all: ‘Everything has a name, for the sake of recognition; why go looking for a meaning?’ The use of a name lies in its enabling recognition; why insist on seeking its meaning. Only after negating this does he let the old account out: ‘Someone says: this woman's father and mother made offerings to the spirit of the Gaṅgā, and obtained this daughter, and so she is called Gaṅgadevī. Gaṅgā is the name of a river; devī means a deity.’—First negate, then preserve; the order may not be reversed. If the etymology were explained first and the negation came after, the etymology would become the master; now that the negation comes first and the explanation after, the etymology is merely one account that may or may not be kept. This is also precisely why the later editions each take one or the other of the two names, ‘Gaṅgadevī’ and ‘River Goddess’, without this chapter becoming a problem on that account: since a name is only for recognition, the two names were never higher or lower.
The third question is the weightiest in the whole chapter: ‘By her merit this woman should long ago have turned from being a woman; why does she turn her woman's body only in the land of Akṣobhya Buddha?’ Since her merit was long since sufficient, why drag it out so far? The treatise-author's answer lies not in the amount of merit but in where the obstruction is tied: ‘The five desires of the world are hard to sever; because a woman's clinging to desire and passion is much, though life after life she practises the various merits, she cannot obtain a man's body …’—merit cannot directly be exchanged for a body; what can change the body is the thinning of desire and passion; and the thinning of desire and passion takes the receiving of the prediction as its condition: ‘Now, having received the prediction, her afflictions are broken and thinned; therefore in the land of Akṣobhya Buddha she at last obtains a man's body.’ The turning of the body comes after the receiving of the prediction, not before it. Next the treatise-author preserves an opposite account: ‘Someone says: this woman in a former life, because people mostly despise women, vowed to receive the prediction in a woman's body.’ If so, the woman's body is not an obstruction but the power of a vow, ‘and by such causes and conditions she receives the prediction without turning her woman's body.’ The two accounts are set side by side, yet both return to a single conclusion: receiving the prediction does not take the turning of the body as its condition. Last, the treatise-author closes this whole difficulty with the measure of the sūtra: ‘Furthermore, the sūtra speaks of the five obstacles of women; it does not say that they cannot receive the prediction; therefore one should not raise the difficulty.’—The sūtra has the text on the ‘five obstacles’; it has no text saying ‘women cannot receive the prediction’; to use what is there to object with what is not there—that difficulty never stood to begin with. What the sūtra negates stops at what it negates; it may not be pushed outward.
The whole chapter closes on a look back to a very great distance. Ānanda still finds it rare: such a person, who has heard so little and whose fruit is so great—where in the end do her roots of virtue come from? The Buddha's answer returns to the day of his own prediction: ‘When Dīpaṃkara Buddha gave me the prediction, this woman, holding golden flowers, scattered them over the Buddha, and made this vow: “When this person later becomes a Buddha, may he also give the prediction to me.” From that she planted roots of goodness, and now obtains the fruit.’ What she did at that time was likewise no more than to scatter a handful of golden flowers and make a vow—the vow that the one before her, who was about to become a Buddha, would one day turn and give her a prediction in return. Today's scattering of flowers and speaking aloud in the hall, and that day's scattering of flowers and making of a vow, are one and the same event across immeasurable kalpas. The prediction has never been a reward for services rendered; it is the seal of ripened occasion; and whether the occasion is ripe or not lies not in the marks of the body, but in whether that one thought of vow has truly taken root.
卷75 〔T25 0591a20〕
大智度論釋恒伽提婆品第五十九 【經】 爾時，有一女人，字恒伽提婆，在眾中坐。是女人從坐起，偏袒右肩，右膝著地，合掌白佛言：「世尊！我當行六波羅蜜，取淨佛世界，如般若波羅蜜中所說，我盡當行。」是時，女人以金銀華及水陸生華、種種莊嚴供養之具、金縷織成疊兩張，以散佛上；散已，於佛頂上虛空中化成四柱寶臺，端正嚴好。是女人持是功德，與一切眾生共之，迴向阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。 爾時，世尊知是女人深心〔T25 0591b〕因緣，即時微笑。如諸佛法種種色光從口中出，青、黃、赤、白、紅、縹，遍照十方無量無邊佛國，還遶佛三匝，從頂上入。 爾時，阿難從座起，右膝著地，合掌白佛：「佛何因緣微笑？諸佛法不以無因緣而笑。」 佛告阿難：「是恒伽提婆姊未來世中當作佛，劫名星宿，佛號金花。阿難！是女人畢女身，受男子形，當生阿閦佛阿毘羅提國土，於彼淨修梵行。阿難！是菩薩在彼國土，亦號金花。是金華菩薩於彼壽終，復至他方佛國；從一佛國至一佛國，不離諸佛。譬如轉輪聖王，從一觀至一觀，從生至終，足不蹈地。阿難！是金花菩薩摩訶薩亦如是，從一佛國至一佛國，乃至阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，未甞不見佛。」 時，阿難作是念言：「是金華菩薩摩訶薩後作佛時，諸菩薩摩訶薩會，當知為如佛會。」 佛知阿難意所念，告阿難言：「如是！如是！是金花佛時菩薩摩訶薩會，當知為如佛會。阿難！是金花佛比丘僧無量無邊、不可數不可數，若干百千萬億那由他。阿難！是金花菩薩作佛時，其國土無有是諸眾惡，如上所說。」 阿難白佛言：「世尊！是女人從何處殖德本、種善根？」 佛告阿難：「是女人從然燈佛所種善根，初發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，以是功德，迴向阿耨多羅三藐三菩提；亦以金華散然燈佛上，求阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。阿難！如我爾時以五華散然燈佛上，求阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。然燈佛知我善根成就，與我受阿耨多羅三藐三菩提記。是女人聞我受記，發心言：『我當來世亦如是菩薩，得受〔T25 0591c〕阿耨多羅三藐三菩提記。』阿難！當知是女人於然燈佛所初發心。」 阿難白佛言：「世尊！是女人久習行阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」 佛言：「如是！如是！是女人久習行阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」 【論】 問曰： 如是大眾聞說淨國土行，何以但一女人取淨國土願？ 答曰： 多有發淨國土願者，但不發言；女人性輕躁好勝，世世習氣故發言。 復次，有人言：大人有得道分，餘人無分；佛法不然，隨眾生業因緣。譬如良藥療治諸病，不擇貴賤。雖復女人淺智，而先世業因緣，應得受記；心生欲說，故佛聽自說。 復次，若佛默然與受記者，人則生疑：「有何因緣故，獨與此女受記？」是故佛因其自說故而與受記。 問曰： 何以名為「恒伽提婆」？ 答曰： 一切皆有名字，為識故，何足求義？ 有人言：是女父母供養恒伽神，得此女故，言恒伽提婆。恒伽是河名，提婆名天。 是女人福德因緣，生於富家，聞佛法信樂故，能以金銀寶華、金縷織成上下衣，并莊嚴自身瓔珞具，用供養上佛。 佛報以受記，觀是女人宿世所行，便微笑。微笑義如先說。此中小因緣而起大事，故佛微笑。 問曰： 是女福德應久轉女人，何以方於阿閦佛國乃轉女身？ 答曰： 世間五欲難斷，女人著欲情多故，雖世世行諸福德，不能得男子身；今得受記，諸煩惱折薄，是故於阿閦佛國方得男子身。 有人言：此女宿世以人多輕女人故，願女身受記。 如是等因緣，不轉女身而得受記。 復次，經說女人五礙，不說〔T25 0592a〕不得受記，是故不應生難。 阿難聞是女人無量劫中從一佛國至一佛國廣集功德，當來得淨佛世界，其中菩薩皆有三十二相、八十種隨形好、無量光明，是故阿難歎未曾有：「能如是淨佛國土，便為如佛會。」 佛可其言已，阿難等疑此女人希有，聞少法而得大果報，是故難問：「是女人從何處殖諸德本？」 佛答：「定光佛授我記時，是女人持金華散佛，彼作是願：『此人後成佛時，亦當受與我記。』從彼種善根，今得果報。」 大智度論卷第七十五
《大智度論》卷75 · T25n1509 0591a20–0592a15
The canonical text stands in Chinese only. This edition renders the essence, the plain reading, the exposition and the apparatus into English — never the sūtra itself. Switch to 漢讀本 or 並行雙語 above to read it.
本品題為《大智度論》釋〈恒伽提婆品〉第五十九，聖者龍樹所造，後秦龜茲國三藏鳩摩羅什所譯，在卷七十五。
經①：恒伽提婆女發願供養、佛微笑授記——劫名星宿佛號金花、畢女身受男子形生阿閦佛國、從一佛國至一佛國不離諸佛、其會如佛會、然燈佛所初發心
那時，有一位女人，名字叫恒伽提婆，正在大眾之中坐著。這女人從座位上起身，偏袒右肩，右膝著地，合掌向佛稟白：『世尊！我當修行六波羅蜜，攝取清淨的佛世界，就像般若波羅蜜之中所說的那樣，我全都當修行。』這時，女人拿金銀所成的華以及水中所生、陸上所生的華、種種莊嚴的供養之具、金縷織成的疊兩張，散在佛的身上；散完之後，在佛頂上的虛空之中化成了四柱寶臺，端正而嚴好。這女人持著這樣的功德，與一切眾生共有它，迴向阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。
那時，世尊知道這女人深心的因緣，當即微笑。如同諸佛的常法，種種顏色的光明從口中發出——青、黃、赤、白、紅、縹，遍照十方無量無邊的佛國，又還繞佛三匝，從佛的頂上入。
那時，阿難從座位起身，右膝著地，合掌向佛稟白：『佛是什麼因緣而微笑？諸佛的常法，不會沒有因緣就笑。』
佛告訴阿難：『這位恒伽提婆姊，未來世中當作佛，劫名叫星宿，佛號叫金花。阿難！這女人窮盡了女身，受男子之形，當生到阿閦佛的阿毘羅提國土，在那裡清淨修習梵行。阿難！這位菩薩在那個國土，也號為金花。這位金華菩薩在那裡壽終之後，又到他方的佛國；從一個佛國到一個佛國，不離開諸佛。譬如轉輪聖王，從一座觀到一座觀，從出生到命終，腳不踏地。阿難！這位金花菩薩摩訶薩也是這樣，從一個佛國到一個佛國，一直到阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，不曾不見佛。』
那時，阿難心中作這樣的念頭：『這位金華菩薩摩訶薩後來作佛的時候，諸菩薩摩訶薩的法會，應當知道就如同佛的法會。』
佛知道阿難心意所念，告訴阿難說：『是這樣！是這樣！這位金花佛時的菩薩摩訶薩法會，應當知道就如同佛的法會。阿難！這位金花佛的比丘僧無量無邊、不可數不可數，有若干百千萬億那由他。阿難！這位金花菩薩作佛的時候，他的國土沒有這些種種惡事，如同上面所說的那樣。』
阿難向佛稟白：『世尊！這女人是從何處栽植德本、種下善根的？』
佛告訴阿難：『這女人是從然燈佛那裡種下善根，最初發起阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，以這樣的功德，迴向阿耨多羅三藐三菩提；也以金華散在然燈佛身上，求阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。阿難！就像我當時以五華散在然燈佛身上，求阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。然燈佛知道我的善根已經成就，就給我授阿耨多羅三藐三菩提記。這女人聽見我受記，發心說：『我在當來之世也像這樣的菩薩，得受阿耨多羅三藐三菩提記。』阿難！應當知道這女人是在然燈佛那裡最初發心的。』
阿難向佛稟白：『世尊！這女人已經久久習行阿耨多羅三藐三菩提了。』
佛說：『是這樣！是這樣！這女人已經久久習行阿耨多羅三藐三菩提了。』
論①：三番問答——釋何以但一女人取淨國土願、釋「恒伽提婆」名義、釋何以方於阿閦佛國乃轉女身，末釋阿難歎未曾有與定光佛授記之本源
論主問道：
像這樣的大眾都聽說了清淨國土之行，為什麼只有一位女人發取清淨國土之願？
論主答道：
發清淨國土之願的本來很多，只是不說出口；女人的性情輕躁好勝，是世世的習氣的緣故，所以說出口來。
再者，有人說：大人物才有得道之分，其餘的人沒有分；佛法卻不是這樣，是隨著眾生的業因緣。譬如良藥療治諸病，不揀擇貴賤。雖然女人的智慧淺，但是先世的業因緣，應當得受記；她心中生起想說的念頭，所以佛聽許她自己說出來。
再者，若是佛默然給她授記，人們就會生疑：『有什麼因緣的緣故，唯獨給這女人授記？』所以佛順著她自己說出來的緣故而給她授記。
論主問道：
為什麼名叫「恒伽提婆」？
論主答道：
一切都有名字，是為了辨識的緣故，何必求它的意義？
有人說：這女人的父母供養恒伽神，因而得了這個女兒的緣故，所以叫作恒伽提婆。恒伽是河的名字，提婆的意思是天。
這女人由於福德因緣，生在富有的人家，聽聞佛法而信樂的緣故，能夠拿金銀的寶華、金縷織成的上下之衣，並同莊嚴自身的瓔珞之具，用來供養上佛。
佛以授記來回報，觀察這女人宿世所行，便微笑。微笑的意義如同先前所說。這當中是小的因緣而生起大事，所以佛微笑。
論主問道：
這女人的福德應當早就轉了女人之身，為什麼要到阿閦佛國才轉女身？
論主答道：
世間的五欲難斷，女人耽著於欲的情多的緣故，雖然世世修行諸福德，不能得男子之身；如今得了受記，諸煩惱折損稀薄，所以在阿閦佛國才得男子之身。
有人說：這女人宿世因為人多輕視女人的緣故，發願以女身受記。
像這樣種種的因緣，不轉女身而得受記。
再者，經中說女人有五礙，並沒有說不得受記，所以不應當生起責難。
阿難聽見這女人在無量劫之中從一個佛國到一個佛國廣集功德，當來得清淨的佛世界，其中的菩薩都有三十二相、八十種隨形好、無量光明，所以阿難讚歎未曾有：『能夠這樣清淨佛國土，便成為如同佛的法會。』
佛許可了他的話之後，阿難等人疑惑這女人希有，聽聞很少的法而得大的果報，所以發難請問：『這女人是從何處栽植諸德本的？』
佛回答：『定光佛給我授記的時候，這女人持金華散在佛上，她作這樣的願：『這人後來成佛的時候，也當給與我授記。』從那時種下善根，如今得了果報。』
This chapter is titled the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa's commentary on the fifty-ninth chapter, "Gaṅgadevī", composed by the noble Nāgārjuna and translated by the Tripiṭaka master Kumārajīva of the land of Kucha under the Later Qin; it is in the seventy-fifth fascicle.
Sūtra ①: The Woman Gaṅgadevī Makes Her Vow and Her Offering, and the Buddha Smiles and Gives the Prediction—the Kalpa Named Constellation and the Buddha Called Golden Flower, Ending Her Woman's Body and Receiving the Form of a Man and Being Born in the Land of Akṣobhya Buddha, from One Buddha-Land to Another without Leaving the Buddhas, the Assembly like the Buddha's Assembly, and the First Arousing of the Mind in the Presence of Dīpaṃkara Buddha
At that time there was a woman named Gaṅgadevī, seated in the assembly. This woman rose from her seat, bared her right shoulder, set her right knee on the ground, joined her palms, and said to the Buddha: ‘World-Honored One! I shall practise the six perfections and take up a pure buddha-world; just as it is taught within prajñāpāramitā, I shall practise it all.’ Then the woman took flowers made of gold and silver, together with flowers born in water and flowers born on land, all kinds of adorned articles of offering, and two fine cloths woven of gold thread, and scattered them over the Buddha's body; when she had scattered them, in the space above the Buddha's head they turned into a jewelled terrace with four pillars, upright and finely adorned. This woman, holding this merit, shared it with all beings and dedicated it to anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi.
At that time the World-Honored One, knowing the causes and conditions of this woman's deep mind, at once smiled. As is the constant way of the buddhas, light of various colours issued from his mouth—blue, yellow, red, white, crimson, and pale blue—illuminating everywhere the immeasurable and boundless buddha-lands of the ten directions, and then came back, circled the Buddha three times, and entered at the crown of the Buddha's head.
At that time Ānanda rose from his seat, set his right knee on the ground, joined his palms, and said to the Buddha: ‘For what cause and condition does the Buddha smile? It is the constant way of the buddhas not to smile without cause and condition.’
The Buddha told Ānanda: ‘This sister Gaṅgadevī will in a future age become a Buddha; the kalpa will be named Constellation, and the Buddha will be called Golden Flower. Ānanda! This woman will end her woman's body and receive the form of a man, and will be born in Abhirati, the land of Akṣobhya Buddha, and there purely cultivate pure conduct. Ānanda! This bodhisattva, in that land, will also be called Golden Flower. When this bodhisattva Golden Flower's life ends there, he will go on again to the buddha-lands of other directions; from one buddha-land to another buddha-land, he will not be apart from the buddhas. It is like a wheel-turning sage king, who goes from one tower to another tower, and from birth to the end of his life his feet do not tread the ground. Ānanda! This bodhisattva-mahāsattva Golden Flower is also like this: from one buddha-land to another buddha-land, all the way to anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, there is never a time when he does not see a Buddha.’
At that time Ānanda had this thought in his mind: ‘When this bodhisattva-mahāsattva Golden Flower later becomes a Buddha, the assembly of the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should be known to be just like the Buddha's assembly.’
The Buddha, knowing what Ānanda was thinking in his mind, told Ānanda: ‘Just so! Just so! The assembly of the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas at the time of this Buddha Golden Flower should be known to be just like the Buddha's assembly. Ānanda! The bhikṣu Saṅgha of this Buddha Golden Flower will be immeasurable and boundless, uncountable, uncountable—so many hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭi of nayutas. Ānanda! When this bodhisattva Golden Flower becomes a Buddha, his land will be without these various evil things, as was said above.’
Ānanda said to the Buddha: ‘World-Honored One! Where did this woman plant roots of virtue and sow roots of goodness?’
The Buddha told Ānanda: ‘This woman sowed roots of goodness in the presence of Dīpaṃkara Buddha, first aroused the mind of anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, and with this merit dedicated it to anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi; she also scattered golden flowers over Dīpaṃkara Buddha's body, seeking anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi. Ānanda! It was just as I at that time scattered five flowers over Dīpaṃkara Buddha's body, seeking anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi. Dīpaṃkara Buddha, knowing that my roots of goodness were already accomplished, then gave me the prediction of anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi. This woman, hearing me receive the prediction, aroused her mind and said: “In an age to come I too, like this bodhisattva, shall receive the prediction of anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi.” Ānanda! Know that this woman first aroused her mind in the presence of Dīpaṃkara Buddha.’
Ānanda said to the Buddha: ‘World-Honored One! This woman has long trained in and practised anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi.’
The Buddha said: ‘Just so! Just so! This woman has long trained in and practised anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi.’
Treatise ①: Three Rounds of Question and Answer—Why Only One Woman Took Up the Vow of a Pure Land, the Meaning of the Name 「恒伽提婆」 tr. "Gaṅgadevī", and Why She Turns Her Woman's Body Only in the Land of Akṣobhya Buddha; and Finally Ānanda's Exclamation That Such a Thing Had Never Been, and the Origin in Dīpaṃkara Buddha's Prediction
The treatise-author asks:
When so great an assembly all heard the practice of the pure land taught, why did only one woman make the vow to take up a pure land?
The treatise-author answers:
Those who made the vow of a pure land were in fact many; they simply did not speak it aloud. A woman's nature is light and impulsive and fond of winning; because of the habitual residues of life after life, she spoke it aloud.
Furthermore, someone says: great persons have a share in attaining the path, and the rest have none; the Buddha's Dharma, however, is not so—it follows the beings' causes and conditions of deeds. It is like good medicine curing the various illnesses without choosing between the noble and the base. Though a woman's wisdom is shallow, yet by the causes and conditions of deeds in former lives she should receive the prediction; a thought of wishing to speak arose in her mind, and so the Buddha allowed her to speak it herself.
Furthermore, if the Buddha were to give her the prediction in silence, people would give rise to doubt: ‘For what cause and condition does he give the prediction to this woman alone?’ Therefore the Buddha gave her the prediction because she herself had spoken.
The treatise-author asks:
Why is she called 「恒伽提婆」 tr. "Gaṅgadevī"?
The treatise-author answers:
Everything has a name, for the sake of recognition; why go looking for its meaning?
Someone says: this woman's father and mother made offerings to the spirit of the Gaṅgā and obtained this daughter; therefore she is called Gaṅgadevī. Gaṅgā is the name of a river; devī means a deity.
This woman, by the causes and conditions of her merit, was born into a wealthy family, and because she heard the Buddha-Dharma and believed and delighted in it, she was able to take jewelled flowers of gold and silver, upper and lower garments woven of gold thread, together with the necklaces that adorned her own body, and use them as an offering to the Buddha.
The Buddha repaid her with the prediction; contemplating this woman's conduct in former lives, he smiled. The meaning of the smile is as explained before. Here a small cause and condition gives rise to a great matter; therefore the Buddha smiled.
The treatise-author asks:
By her merit this woman should long ago have turned from her woman's body; why does she turn her woman's body only in the land of Akṣobhya Buddha?
The treatise-author answers:
The five desires of the world are hard to sever; because a woman's clinging to desire and passion is much, though life after life she practises the various merits, she cannot obtain a man's body. Now, having received the prediction, her afflictions are broken and thinned; therefore in the land of Akṣobhya Buddha she at last obtains a man's body.
Someone says: this woman in a former life, because people mostly despise women, vowed to receive the prediction in a woman's body.
By various causes and conditions such as these, she receives the prediction without turning her woman's body.
Furthermore, the sūtra says that women have five obstacles; it does not say that they cannot receive the prediction; therefore one should not raise the difficulty.
Ānanda heard that this woman, through immeasurable kalpas, goes from one buddha-land to another buddha-land widely gathering merit, and in the future will obtain a pure buddha-world, in which the bodhisattvas all have the thirty-two marks, the eighty kinds of minor marks, and immeasurable light; therefore Ānanda exclaimed that such a thing had never been: ‘To be able thus to purify a buddha-land is to become like the Buddha's assembly.’
After the Buddha had approved his words, Ānanda and the others doubted, finding this woman rare—that hearing very little of the Dharma she should obtain a great fruit—and so they raised the difficulty and asked: ‘Where did this woman plant the roots of virtue?’
The Buddha answered: ‘When Dīpaṃkara Buddha gave me the prediction, this woman, holding golden flowers, scattered them over the Buddha, and made this vow: “When this person later becomes a Buddha, may he also give the prediction to me.” From that she planted roots of goodness, and now obtains the fruit.’
恒伽提婆品：大眾同聞淨土之行何以獨一女人發言取願，論主說「女人性輕躁好勝」是不是貶抑，有人言『得道不擇貴賤』何以緊接其後，佛何以不默然授記而要待她自說，「恒伽提婆」之名何以先答「何足求義」再出父母供恒伽神之說，名義既不足求何以又細訓河與天，小因緣何以起大事而佛微笑，福德既久何以方於阿閦佛國乃轉女身，「經說女人五礙」何以不成不得受記之難，不轉女身而得受記與畢女身受男子形何以並存不相違，阿難歎未曾有歎的是什麼，佛末答定光佛授記本源何以是全品之結
在問什麼
這一品短，事也單純：一個女人在會中站起來，發願行六波羅蜜、取淨佛世界，拿華與金縷織成的疊供佛，空中化成寶臺；佛微笑放光，阿難問笑的因緣，佛便為她授記——當來作佛，劫名星宿，佛號金花。全品的經文，說到底只有這麼一件事。
難處不在事，在事背後的一串疑。前面諸品廣說淨佛世界之行，聽的人不止一個，何以偏偏只有這一位女人站起來把願說出口？佛既已知她的深心，何不逕自授記，何必等她自說？她的名字叫恒伽提婆，這名字有沒有義？若有，何以論主第一句答的是「一切皆有名字，為識故，何足求義」；若無，何以隨後又有人細訓「恒伽是河名，提婆名天」？再者，這女人的福德既然從然燈佛所一路積來，中間無量劫供養不絕，何以要等到生於阿閦佛國才轉女身？而「經說女人五礙」一語橫在那裡，豈不正好成為『女人不得受記』的現成把柄？
論主三番問答，問的就是這幾樁。第一番問「何以但一女人取淨國土願」，第二番問「何以名為『恒伽提婆』」，第三番問「是女福德應久轉女人，何以方於阿閦佛國乃轉女身」。三問之後，論主不再設難，改以隨文之釋收束全品：釋阿難何以歎未曾有，釋阿難等何以更問德本所從，釋佛末後所答的那一段本源——定光佛授記之時，此女持金華散佛而發願，從彼種善根，今得果報。
三番問答之中，最要看的是論主答語的排法。他從不用一個答把事說盡：第一番先出一個近乎世情的答語，隨即以「有人言」翻出「佛法不然，隨眾生業因緣」；第二番先答「何足求義」，再以「有人言」補出名之所從來；第三番先答「著欲情多」，再以「有人言」翻出「願女身受記」，末又以「復次」引經文封住最後一個難。一品之中三度如此，讀者若只取每番的第一答，便會把本論讀成與其宗旨相反的樣子。這一點，是本品讀法的關鍵。
逐段解明
一、女人於眾中起座自陳願行。 經文起首極細地描出她的身儀：「在眾中坐」「從坐起」「偏袒右肩，右膝著地，合掌白佛言」。所發之願也說得明白——「我當行六波羅蜜，取淨佛世界，如般若波羅蜜中所說，我盡當行。」隨後是供養：金銀之華、水陸生華、種種莊嚴供養之具、金縷織成疊兩張，散在佛上，於佛頂虛空中化成四柱寶臺。末一句最要緊——「是女人持是功德，與一切眾生共之，迴向阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」讀此段先立定一事：她所行的次第是願、供、迴向三節俱全，不是單獨一個供養的動作。「六波羅蜜」之目，本論此品未逐一列出，她自陳的是「如般若波羅蜜中所說」——即前諸品所已說者，此處不另立名數。
二、佛知深心因緣而微笑放光。 佛不立即答話，先微笑。「爾時，世尊知是女人深心因緣，即時微笑」——微笑的所因，經文自己點出是「深心因緣」，不是那一臺寶臺。隨後是放光之相：「如諸佛法種種色光從口中出，青、黃、赤、白、紅、縹，遍照十方無量無邊佛國，還遶佛三匝，從頂上入。」此段之所以不可略，是因為它把「微笑」定為諸佛之常法而非一時之情態——經文明說「如諸佛法」。讀者於此段只須認得一事：笑是有法度的，所以下一段阿難纔問得出口。
三、阿難問笑之因緣。 阿難「從座起，右膝著地，合掌白佛」，所問是：「佛何因緣微笑？諸佛法不以無因緣而笑。」此問的力量全在後半句——他不是好奇，是依據一條他已知的法度來請問。凡讀經見佛現異相而弟子發問，可學阿難此式：先確認這相有法度，再問這一次的法度落在何處。
四、佛授記——劫名星宿、佛號金花、生阿閦佛國、輪王從一觀至一觀。 佛所答的記，內含數節。其一、記其果位：「是恒伽提婆姊未來世中當作佛，劫名星宿，佛號金花。」其二、記其轉身與生處：「是女人畢女身，受男子形，當生阿閦佛阿毘羅提國土，於彼淨修梵行。」其三、記其中間之行：在彼國亦號金花，於彼壽終復至他方佛國，「從一佛國至一佛國，不離諸佛」。其四、出喻：「譬如轉輪聖王，從一觀至一觀，從生至終，足不蹈地。」此喻是經文自出，喻的著眼不在尊貴，在「足不蹈地」四字——中間沒有一段落在無佛之處。末結：「乃至阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，未甞不見佛。」讀此段要記住「畢女身，受男子形」一句，後文論主第三番問答正是為它而設。
五、阿難心念其會如佛會。 阿難此處不是出聲請問，經文明說「作是念言」：「是金華菩薩摩訶薩後作佛時，諸菩薩摩訶薩會，當知為如佛會。」他心中所度量的，是這位未來佛的菩薩眾會之盛。此段之所以要分出來讀，是因為它是心念不是言語——下一段佛之所答，正由「知阿難意所念」而起。
六、佛知其念而印可——比丘僧無量、國土無諸眾惡。 「佛知阿難意所念，告阿難言」——佛先以「如是！如是！」逐字印可阿難所念，再添二節：其一、「是金花佛比丘僧無量無邊、不可數不可數，若干百千萬億那由他」；其二、「是金花菩薩作佛時，其國土無有是諸眾惡，如上所說」。「如上所說」一語表明所謂諸眾惡之目在前文已具，此品不重列。讀者於此可見一種答法：佛答心念之問，不多不少，只把所念者證實並補其未盡。
七、阿難問德本所從。 阿難再出聲請問：「世尊！是女人從何處殖德本、種善根？」問的方向從果轉到因——前面所問是笑的因緣，此處所問是這一記的宿因。此問看似順口，實是全品後半的樞紐：沒有這一問，便沒有然燈佛一段，也沒有論主末後那一段的釋。
八、佛答然燈佛所初發心——以己之受記為對照。 佛之答分三節。其一、出其種善根之處：「是女人從然燈佛所種善根，初發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，以是功德，迴向阿耨多羅三藐三菩提；亦以金華散然燈佛上……」其二、以自身為對照：「如我爾時以五華散然燈佛上，求阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。然燈佛知我善根成就，與我受阿耨多羅三藐三菩提記。」其三、出她發心之實際：「是女人聞我受記，發心言：『我當來世亦如是菩薩，得受阿耨多羅三藐三菩提記。』」三節合看，她的初發心不是憑空而起，是見人受記而起——所見者即是今日為她授記的這位佛。此一結構要記牢，因為論①末段佛再答一次時，正是把這三節壓成一句話。
九、阿難言此女久習行。 阿難聞答而下一斷語：「世尊！是女人久習行阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」此語不是再問，是承佛所說而作的領解——既從然燈佛所發心，中間經無量劫，自是久習。
十、佛印可久習行。 佛不添一字，只重牒：「如是！如是！是女人久習行阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」經文至此而止。全段經文之收束方式值得一記：以佛印可弟子之領解作結，不另立新義；下文一切分疏，讓與論主。
十一、論主第一番設問——大眾同聞，何以但一女人取願。 論主開卷即設難：「如是大眾聞說淨國土行，何以但一女人取淨國土願？」此問問得極準——它抓的不是這女人做了什麼，是『何以只有她』。前諸品廣說淨佛世界之行，會中聽者無量，若淨土之行人人可行，發願者不應只一人；若不是人人可行，那前品之說又對誰說？論主把讀者心裡未必說得出口的不安，先替他說成一個正式的難。
十二、答語之標。 論主以答曰起下文。本論之體，難與釋各自成段，讀者循標即知以下是釋不是難；本品三番問答，三標三答，格式一貫，不可把設難之辭誤作正義。
十三、第一答——多有發願者但不發言、女人性輕躁好勝世世習氣。 論主的第一答分兩節。其一、先破問語的暗設：「多有發淨國土願者，但不發言」——會中發願的並非只有她一人，只是別人不出聲。這一節極要緊，它把難處從『只有她發願』改成『只有她發言』，問題的體量立刻縮小。其二、纔說何以獨她發言：「女人性輕躁好勝，世世習氣故發言。」讀此第二節，須把第一節按住一起讀：論主所解釋的是「發言」這一行為之所從來，不是『得記』之所以然；得記之所以然，論主留到下一段纔說。此一答語若被抽出單讀，便成一句評斷人的話；擺回它在段中的位置，它只是一個關於習氣的說明。
十四、有人言——得道不擇貴賤、良藥療病喻、心生欲說故佛聽自說。 論主隨即以「復次，有人言」翻出另一路，且這一路正面立義。先出所破：「大人有得道分，餘人無分」——這是世間現成的成見。次出正義：「佛法不然，隨眾生業因緣。」再出喻：「譬如良藥療治諸病，不擇貴賤。」喻得極平實：藥只認病，不認人的身分。末落到這女人身上：「雖復女人淺智，而先世業因緣，應得受記；心生欲說，故佛聽自說。」此段是全品第一個轉折點，也是讀上一段的解藥——上段說的是她何以「發言」，此段說的是她何以「應得受記」，而所依者是業因緣，不是人的類別。兩段合起來纔是論主的完整答案。
十五、復次——若默然授記則人生疑，故因其自說而與受記。 論主再添一層，回答一個尚未有人問出來的問題：佛既知其深心，何不默然授記？「若佛默然與受記者，人則生疑」，所疑之語是「有何因緣故，獨與此女受記？」，故論主結云：「是故佛因其自說故而與受記。」這一層把『她自說』從一個性情上的偶然，提為一個教化上的必要——她說出口，旁人纔看見所依之因，記便不成一件無端之事。讀者由此可回頭看第十三段：所謂「世世習氣故發言」，在此處成了佛所順用之緣，不是一個要被責備的短處。
十六、論主第二番設問——何以名為「恒伽提婆」。 論主轉問名義：「何以名為『恒伽提婆』？」此問在本論中屬常見之型——凡經中出一人名、一法名，論主往往一問其所以。設此問的用意，不在滿足好奇，在替讀者先把名與義的關係擺正。
十七、答語之標。 論主以答曰起下文，格式同第十二段。
十八、第一答——一切皆有名字為識故，何足求義。 論主的第一答極峻：「一切皆有名字，為識故，何足求義？」名字的職能是辨識，不是承載意義；既為辨識而立，便不必逐名追其義。這一答的分量，遠過於本品一人之名——它是讀一切名相的通則。讀者最易在此處讀偏：以為論主在說名字全無來歷。下一段即見不然。
十九、有人言——父母供養恒伽神而得此女、恒伽是河名提婆名天。 「有人言：是女父母供養恒伽神，得此女故，言恒伽提婆。恒伽是河名，提婆名天。」此節補出名之所從來，並把二字分訓——恒伽是河之名，提婆之義為天。與上段合看，兩節並不相違：上段說的是『不必以名求義』，此段說的是『此名實有其緣起』。分際在於，名之緣起是一樁可考的事，名之義卻不是法的義。論主把二者一併錄出而不判孰是，讀者亦當兩存之。
二十、福德因緣生富家、以寶華金縷衣瓔珞供養。 論主回到經文的供養一節加以釋：「是女人福德因緣，生於富家，聞佛法信樂故，能以金銀寶華、金縷織成上下衣，并莊嚴自身瓔珞具，用供養上佛。」此釋補出兩件經文未明言者：其一、她何以拿得出這樣的供具——福德因緣生於富家；其二、她何以肯拿出來——聞佛法信樂。兩件缺一不可：有物而無信，不供；有信而無物，供不出這樣的物。論主並點出所供之中含「莊嚴自身瓔珞具」，即身上所佩者亦解下而供。
廿一、佛報以受記、觀宿世所行而微笑、小因緣起大事。 論主釋佛之微笑：「佛報以受記，觀是女人宿世所行，便微笑。微笑義如先說。此中小因緣而起大事，故佛微笑。」三節。其一、佛之所報者是受記——供與記相酬。其二、笑之所觀是「宿世所行」，不是眼前之供，這與經文所說「知是女人深心因緣」正相應。其三、笑之義：「小因緣而起大事」。「微笑義如先說」一句表明微笑之通義本論前文已具，此處只補本品之別義。這一句別義是本段的眼——所謂小因緣，指的是散華發願這樣一件在旁人看來極小的事；所謂大事，指的是由此而來的一佛之記。
廿二、論主第三番設問——福德既久，何以方於阿閦佛國乃轉女身。 論主設全品最尖的一問：「是女福德應久轉女人，何以方於阿閦佛國乃轉女身？」此難有力處在於它承前段而來——既說她福德因緣深厚、宿世所行可觀，且從然燈佛所發心已歷無量劫，那麼女身早該轉了，何必等到生阿閦佛國。設此問等於替讀者問：福德與轉身之間，究竟是什麼關係？
廿三、答語之標。 論主以答曰起下文，格式同第十二、十七段。
廿四、第一答——五欲難斷著欲情多故不得男子身、今得受記煩惱折薄。 論主答：「世間五欲難斷，女人著欲情多故，雖世世行諸福德，不能得男子身；今得受記，諸煩惱折薄，是故於阿閦佛國方得男子身。」此答的關節在『雖……不能……』三字之間所立的分判：福德與煩惱是兩事，福德可以世世累積而煩惱未必隨之而薄；轉身所待者是煩惱折薄，不是福德滿足。所以問中「福德應久轉女人」的推論本身有一處未立——它把福德當成轉身的直接因。「五欲」之目，本論此段未列，只以「難斷」二字總說，讀者不必於此處求其名數。
廿五、有人言——宿世以人多輕女人故願女身受記。 論主再以「有人言」翻出全然不同的一路：「此女宿世以人多輕女人故，願女身受記。」照這一路說，她之未轉身根本不是不能，是自願——正因世人多輕女人，她纔發願以女身受記。此一節與上一節方向相反：上節說的是障，此節說的是願。論主並列而不判，讀者兩存之，不可取一廢一。
廿六、結——如是等因緣，不轉女身而得受記。 論主以一句收前二節：「如是等因緣，不轉女身而得受記。」「如是等」三字指的正是上面兩路因緣。此句所立之義極清楚：受記與轉身是兩件事，受記不以轉身為前提。讀者於此須把它與經文第四段「畢女身，受男子形」合看——經說的是她此後的去向，論說的是她受記之時的身，二說各有所指，並不相違。
廿七、復次——經說女人五礙，不說不得受記。 論主末添一節封住最後一個難：「復次，經說女人五礙，不說不得受記，是故不應生難。」此節的作法值得學：他不去駁「女人五礙」之說，而是指出這一說的範圍——經所說者是五礙，經沒有說不得受記；把經未說者當成經已說者，那個難本身就不成立。「五礙」之目，本論此處僅舉其名而未列其事，故此處亦不代為開列；本段所用者只是它的範圍，不是它的內容。讀者於此可得一條通用的排難法：先問這句經到底說了什麼、沒說什麼，再問難處是不是從沒說的地方生出來的。
廿八、論主釋阿難歎未曾有。 三番問答畢，論主改以隨文之釋收束全品。先釋阿難之歎：「阿難聞是女人無量劫中從一佛國至一佛國廣集功德，當來得淨佛世界，其中菩薩皆有三十二相、八十種隨形好、無量光明，是故阿難歎未曾有」，所歎之語是「能如是淨佛國土，便為如佛會。」此釋補出阿難所歎之所由——不是歎她一人得記，是歎那個由無量劫廣集功德而來的國土之相。所舉「三十二相」「八十種隨形好」之目，本論此處僅舉其總名，不列其細目。讀者由此可知第五段那一句心念的分量：阿難所度量的不是一場法會的人數，是一國菩薩皆如佛相的景象。
廿九、佛可其言、阿難等疑希有而難問。 論主釋下一轉：「佛可其言已，阿難等疑此女人希有，聞少法而得大果報，是故難問」，所問之語是「是女人從何處殖諸德本？」此釋點出第七段那一問的內在動機——不是單純求知，是「疑」：所聞之法如此之少，所得之報如此之大，二者不相稱。論主用「難問」二字，明白把它定為一個帶著疑的問，而不是隨口一問。讀者於此可見本論釋經的一種細處：同一句經文，論主往往先為它安上問者的心態，讀者纔知這一問的重量。
三十、佛答定光佛授記本源——彼女作願、從彼種善根今得果報。 全品收於論主所引之佛答，其語曰：「定光佛授我記時，是女人持金華散佛，彼作是願：『此人後成佛時，亦當受與我記。』從彼種善根，今得果報。」此段把經①第八段的三節壓成一句，而所加者在「彼作是願」之內容——她當時所願，是要在此人成佛之時得他授記。於是全品成環：所願者，正是今日所得者；而所求之人，正是今日為她授記的這位佛。「聞少法而得大果報」之疑，至此得解——所聞雖少，所願甚專，而其願所繫者非他，即是眼前之佛。此處另有一事誌而不判：經文一段稱「然燈佛」，論主此處稱「定光佛」，所指者同是為佛授記之時的那一佛、同是此女散華發願之事，本論兩名並用，讀者知其所指為一事即可。
不要讀錯
不要把「女人性輕躁好勝，世世習氣故發言」讀成本論對女人的判語。這一句在段中的位置十分確定：它前面有一句「多有發淨國土願者，但不發言」，所解釋的對象已被限定為「發言」而非『發願』，更不是『得記』。而緊接其後，論主便以「有人言」立起「大人有得道分，餘人無分；佛法不然，隨眾生業因緣」，並出良藥不擇貴賤之喻，正面說明得記所依者是業因緣。再往下，「心生欲說，故佛聽自說」與「若佛默然與受記者，人則生疑」兩節，更把這一「發言」轉為佛所順用之教化緣。若只取第一答而棄其後三節，所得的便與本論自己的結論相反。
不要把「一切皆有名字，為識故，何足求義」讀成名字全無來歷。緊接的下一節即是「有人言：是女父母供養恒伽神，得此女故，言恒伽提婆。恒伽是河名，提婆名天」——論主自己把名的緣起與二字之訓一併錄出。兩節所說者不同層：前者說的是不必以名相求法義，後者說的是此名有其世間的來歷。把前者讀成『不許考名』，則後者無處安放；把後者讀成『名中有法義』，則前者成了空話。兩存之，纔是本論之意。
不要把「是故於阿閦佛國方得男子身」讀成受記須待轉身。論主在同一番問答之內即自出反面：「有人言：此女宿世以人多輕女人故，願女身受記」，並以「如是等因緣，不轉女身而得受記」作結。可見受記與轉身在本論中是兩事——經文所記「畢女身，受男子形」說的是她受記之後的去向，論文所立「不轉女身而得受記」說的是受記當時。若讀成必先轉身纔堪受記，則本論此段之結語便無著落，經中佛當場為她授記一事亦無從安立。
不要把「經說女人五礙」讀成本論在此申說五礙之義。論主引此一句只用其範圍，不用其內容——他的話是「不說不得受記」，所作的是指出經未說之事不可被當作經已說之事。本論此處既未開列五礙之目，讀者亦不應於此段自行補足；本段之用，全在排難之法，不在五礙之相。
不要把「小因緣而起大事」讀成因小果大可以不修。論主此語所釋者是佛何以微笑，且他同時說明佛所觀者是「是女人宿世所行」，經文亦明說佛所知者是「深心因緣」。再看末段之答：此女從定光佛授記之時即已散華發願，中間「無量劫中從一佛國至一佛國廣集功德」。可見所謂小，指的是當下這一供養之事相小；所謂大，指的是果報大；中間那一段無量劫的廣集功德，經論皆未省去。若讀成一供即足，正好把本論自己說的那一段長行抹掉。
修行作用
第一件受用，是把『發願』與「發言」分開來看。本論第一答先立的是「多有發淨國土願者，但不發言」——發願的人本多，出聲的人少。用功人於此可自省兩面：其一、不必因他人不言而以為無人同行；其二、亦不必以自己出聲與否判優劣。而下文更給出一個出聲的正當理由——「心生欲說，故佛聽自說」，以及若默然則「人則生疑」。可知在有須令人見因之處，說出來是有其用的；在無此須要之處，不說亦無過。
第二件受用，是良藥不擇貴賤之喻可作日用之勘。「大人有得道分，餘人無分」這一成見，換成今日的說法，便是以身分、資歷、根器的高下預判自己或他人能不能行。論主的答只有一句：「佛法不然，隨眾生業因緣。」喻曰良藥療治諸病不擇貴賤——藥認的是病。行門上的用法是：起修之時不先秤自己配不配，只問所行是否對治現前之病。
第三件受用，是「何足求義」可治名相之執。日用中讀經、讀論，遇一名相便要追問它的深義，往往追到最後所得的只是另一串名。論主此語給的是一個止處：名為識故而立，識得所指即可。但要與下一節合用——名的來歷該考則考，只是不要把來歷當成法義。二者分清，讀書便省去大半虛耗。
第四件受用，是「福德」與「煩惱折薄」之分判可作進度的自檢。人於行道久了，常以所積之福德自估進境，以為福厚則障自除。論主明說：「雖世世行諸福德，不能得男子身」，轉身所待者是「諸煩惱折薄」。移到自己身上便是：所作之善事多寡，不能替代煩惱是否真的變薄這一項自檢。兩項要分開來看，纔不致以其一掩其二。
第五件受用，是末段之願可作發願的樣式。此女當時所發者不是一個泛泛的善願，是「此人後成佛時，亦當受與我記」——所願之事明確，所繫之人明確。論主以「從彼種善根，今得果報」作結，把果報直接繫在那一願上。於日用中發願，可學這個樣式：願要說得出所願何事、所向何處，纔是可以種下去的善根；泛願雖好，難以成種。而此女之例同時提醒——願下之後，中間仍是「無量劫中從一佛國至一佛國廣集功德」，願是種，不是收成。
承衍
本品的骨幹，是一段經文與一段論釋。經文自「爾時，有一女人，字恒伽提婆」起，敘其起座自陳願行、散華供佛而化成四柱寶臺、持功德迴向；次敘佛知深心因緣而微笑放光，阿難問笑之因緣，佛為授記——劫名星宿、佛號金花、畢女身受男子形、生阿閦佛阿毘羅提國土、從一佛國至一佛國不離諸佛，並出轉輪聖王從一觀至一觀足不蹈地之喻；次敘阿難心念其會如佛會，佛知其念而印可並補比丘僧無量、國土無諸眾惡；末敘阿難問德本所從，佛答從然燈佛所種善根初發心、以己五華散佛受記為對照、此女聞記而發心，阿難言久習行，佛印可作結。論釋以三番問答為主：一問何以但一女人取淨國土願，答以多有發願者但不發言、女人性輕躁好勝世世習氣，次以有人言立得道不擇貴賤並出良藥之喻，末以若默然授記則人生疑故因其自說而與受記；二問何以名為恒伽提婆，答以一切皆有名字為識故何足求義，次以有人言出父母供恒伽神之緣起並訓河與天，隨釋其福德生富家、聞法信樂而能以寶華金縷衣瓔珞供養，並釋佛報以受記、觀宿世所行而微笑、小因緣起大事；三問福德既久何以方於阿閦佛國乃轉女身，答以五欲難斷著欲情多故不得男子身、今得受記煩惱折薄，次以有人言出願女身受記之說，結以不轉女身而得受記，末以復次引經說女人五礙不說不得受記封難。三番畢，改以隨文之釋收束：釋阿難歎未曾有之所由、釋阿難等疑希有而難問、末引佛答定光佛授記之本源作結，接卷七十五之卷尾。
本品與前後諸品的義脈，可見者有二線。其一、承前：前諸品廣說淨佛世界之行，本品之經文即以一人之發願承之——論主開卷第一問「如是大眾聞說淨國土行，何以但一女人取淨國土願」，明白把本品繫在前品的淨土之說上；讀本品而不知前品說過什麼，這一問便無由成立。其二、垂後：經文既記此女當生阿閦佛國、當來作佛號金花，其人其行皆待後文更說；本品所立『受記不待轉身』一義，亦是後文論不退轉諸義的前置。讀者可合前後諸品觀之。
古德之釋，本品可誌者二家。其一、吉藏。其科判本品為三分，云：「品三：初、明願行成二；二、得受記；三、出因釋得記所由也。初三：一、餘悟；二、供養；三、迴向。」——以願行成、得受記、出因釋得記所由三分本品，而以餘悟、供養、迴向三分其初，與本論經文之次第相應。其釋品名，另出兩解，云：「一解云：此女父母就何天神求此女？故神若名為河天也。二云：令名為定也。」——前解與本論「有人言」所出之緣起相近，後解則是吉藏自家之訓，並錄不判。吉藏又以己語約述本論第一番問答，云：「多有發淨土願去不發言，女人性輕疎好勝世世習氣，故獨發言。亦解云：諸外道云大人有得道分，餘人無分，佛法不爾，不簡大小同悟，便為受記也。」——此是吉藏約引，非本論原文，其中「諸外道云」與「不簡大小同悟」諸語為吉藏所加，讀者當與本論正文分開看。其二、慧影。其釋本品起句云：「此品以人為名，名為恒伽提婆品。」並科判為四分，云：「就此品中大有四分：第一、明恒伽女人白佛興淨土行願；第二、明供養於佛；第三、明佛授其記；第四、明其發心行行。」——以興願、供養、授記、發心行行四分本品，與吉藏之三分角度不同，並錄不判，讀者兩存之。慧影又於次品之首回顧本品，云：「何故次河天品後明於此品？明金華是不退菩薩」——以本品所記之金華為不退菩薩，而繫其義於次品。至於均正之疏與天台二家之釋，於本品皆查無片語，如實誌闕。其品目異稱、諸本編次與校勘之考，詳考據層。
Gaṅgadevī: Why, When the Great Assembly Heard Together the Practice of the Pure Land, Only One Woman Spoke Out and Took Up the Vow; Whether the Treatise-Author's Saying 「女人性輕躁好勝」 tr. "a woman's nature is light and impulsive and fond of winning" Is Disparagement; Why Someone's Saying ‘Attaining the Path Does Not Choose between the Noble and the Base’ Follows Immediately After; Why the Buddha Does Not Give the Prediction in Silence but Waits for Her to Speak for Herself; Why, for the Name 「恒伽提婆」 tr. "Gaṅgadevī", the Answer Is First 「何足求義」 tr. "why go looking for a meaning" and Only Then the Account of Her Parents' Offerings to the Spirit of the Gaṅgā; Why, If the Meaning of the Name Is Not Worth Seeking, River and Goddess Are Nevertheless Glossed in Detail; Why a Small Cause and Condition Gives Rise to a Great Matter and the Buddha Smiles; Why, Her Merit Being Long-standing, She Turns Her Woman's Body Only in the Land of Akṣobhya Buddha; Why 「經說女人五礙」 tr. "the sūtra speaks of the five obstacles of women" Does Not Make the Difficulty That She Cannot Receive the Prediction; Why Receiving the Prediction without Turning Her Woman's Body and Ending Her Woman's Body to Receive the Form of a Man Stand Together without Contradiction; What It Is That Ānanda Exclaims Had Never Been; and Why the Buddha's Final Answer on the Origin in Dīpaṃkara Buddha's Prediction Is the Knot That Closes the Whole Chapter
What Is Being Asked
This chapter is short, and its matter is simple: a woman in the assembly stands up, vows to practise the six perfections and take up a pure buddha-world, and offers the Buddha flowers and cloths woven of gold thread, which in the air turn into a jewelled terrace; the Buddha smiles and emits light, Ānanda asks the cause and condition of the smile, and the Buddha then gives her the prediction—that in the future she will become a Buddha, the kalpa named Constellation, the Buddha called Golden Flower. The sūtra text of the whole chapter, when all is said, has only this one event.
The difficulty lies not in the event but in a string of doubts behind it. The preceding chapters broadly taught the practice of purifying buddha-worlds, and those listening were not just one; why was it only this one woman who stood up and spoke the vow aloud? Since the Buddha already knew her deep mind, why not give the prediction directly—why wait for her to speak for herself? Her name is Gaṅgadevī; does this name have a meaning? If it does, why is the treatise-author's first answer 「一切皆有名字，為識故，何足求義」 tr. "everything has a name, for the sake of recognition; why go looking for a meaning"? If it does not, why does someone afterwards gloss it in detail, 「恒伽是河名，提婆名天」 tr. "Gaṅgā is the name of a river; devī means a deity"? Further, since this woman's merit has been accumulating all the way from the place of Dīpaṃkara Buddha, with offerings unbroken through immeasurable kalpas in between, why must she wait until she is born in the land of Akṣobhya Buddha to turn her woman's body? And the phrase 「經說女人五礙」 tr. "the sūtra speaks of the five obstacles of women" lies right across the way—does it not become precisely a ready-made handle for ‘women cannot receive the prediction’?
The treatise-author's three rounds of question and answer ask exactly these few matters. The first round asks 「何以但一女人取淨國土願」 tr. "why did only one woman take up the vow of a pure land", the second asks 「何以名為『恒伽提婆』」 tr. "why is she named ‘Gaṅgadevī’", the third asks 「是女福德應久轉女人，何以方於阿閦佛國乃轉女身」 tr. "by her merit this woman should long ago have turned from being a woman; why does she turn her woman's body only in the land of Akṣobhya Buddha". After the three questions the treatise-author sets no further difficulty, and instead closes the whole chapter with explanations that follow the text: explaining why Ānanda exclaimed at what had never been, explaining why Ānanda and the others went on to ask where her roots of virtue came from, and explaining that account of the origin which the Buddha gave in answer at the last—at the time Dīpaṃkara Buddha gave the prediction, this woman, holding golden flowers, scattered them over the Buddha and made a vow; from that she planted roots of goodness, and now obtains the fruit.
Among the three rounds of question and answer, what most needs to be looked at is how the treatise-author arranges his answers. He never uses a single answer to say the matter out entirely: in the first round he first gives an answer close to worldly sentiment, and then at once, with 「有人言」 tr. "someone says", turns out 「佛法不然，隨眾生業因緣」 tr. "the Buddha's Dharma is not so; it follows the beings' causes and conditions of deeds"; in the second round he first answers 「何足求義」 tr. "why go looking for a meaning", then with 「有人言」 tr. "someone says" supplies where the name came from; in the third round he first answers 「著欲情多」 tr. "clinging to desire and passion is much", then with 「有人言」 tr. "someone says" turns out 「願女身受記」 tr. "vowed to receive the prediction in a woman's body", and at the end, with 「復次」 tr. "furthermore", cites the sūtra text to seal off the last difficulty. Three times in one chapter it is so; if the reader takes only the first answer of each round, he will read this treatise into the opposite of its own purport. This point is the key to how this chapter is to be read.
Passage by Passage
1. The woman rises from her seat in the assembly and states her own vow and practice. The opening of the sūtra text depicts her bodily deportment in fine detail: 「在眾中坐」 tr. "seated in the assembly", 「從坐起」 tr. "rose from her seat", 「偏袒右肩，右膝著地，合掌白佛言」 tr. "bared her right shoulder, set her right knee on the ground, joined her palms, and said to the Buddha". The vow she makes is also stated clearly—「我當行六波羅蜜，取淨佛世界，如般若波羅蜜中所說，我盡當行。」 tr. "I shall practise the six perfections and take up a pure buddha-world; as it is taught in prajñāpāramitā, I shall practise it all." Then comes the offering: flowers of gold and silver, flowers born of water and land, all kinds of adorned implements of offering, and two cloths woven of gold thread, scattered over the Buddha, which in the space above the Buddha's head turned into a jewelled terrace with four pillars. The last sentence matters most—「是女人持是功德，與一切眾生共之，迴向阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」 tr. "This woman, holding this merit, shares it with all beings and dedicates it to anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi." In reading this passage, first settle one thing: the sequence she carries out has all three steps complete—vow, offering, and dedication—and is not a single act of offering alone. The items of the 「六波羅蜜」 tr. "six perfections" this chapter of the treatise does not list one by one; what she herself states is 「如般若波羅蜜中所說」 tr. "as it is taught in prajñāpāramitā"—that is, what the preceding chapters have already taught; here no separate names and numbers are set up.
2. The Buddha, knowing the causes and conditions of her deep mind, smiles and emits light. The Buddha does not answer at once; first he smiles. 「爾時，世尊知是女人深心因緣，即時微笑」 tr. "At that time the World-Honored One, knowing the causes and conditions of this woman's deep mind, at once smiled"—the cause of the smile the sūtra text itself points out as 「深心因緣」 tr. "the causes and conditions of her deep mind", not that jewelled terrace. Then comes the appearance of the emitted light: 「如諸佛法種種色光從口中出，青、黃、赤、白、紅、縹，遍照十方無量無邊佛國，還遶佛三匝，從頂上入。」 tr. "As is the way of the buddhas, light of various colours issued from his mouth—blue, yellow, red, white, crimson, and pale blue—illuminating everywhere the immeasurable and boundless buddha-lands of the ten directions, came back, circled the Buddha three times, and entered at the crown of his head." The reason this passage cannot be skipped is that it fixes the 「微笑」 tr. "smile" as a constant way of the buddhas and not a passing mood—the sūtra text says plainly 「如諸佛法」 tr. "as is the way of the buddhas". In this passage the reader need only recognise one thing: the smile has its rule, and that is why, in the next passage, Ānanda is able to ask.
3. Ānanda asks the cause and condition of the smile. Ānanda 「從座起，右膝著地，合掌白佛」 tr. "rose from his seat, set his right knee on the ground, joined his palms, and said to the Buddha", and what he asks is: 「佛何因緣微笑？諸佛法不以無因緣而笑。」 tr. "For what cause and condition does the Buddha smile? The buddhas' way is not to smile without cause and condition." The force of this question lies wholly in its second half—he is not being curious; he is asking on the basis of a rule he already knows. Whenever, in reading a sūtra, one sees the Buddha manifest an unusual mark and a disciple ask about it, one can learn Ānanda's form here: first confirm that this mark has its rule, then ask where the rule falls this time.
4. The Buddha gives the prediction—the kalpa named Constellation, the Buddha called Golden Flower, birth in the land of Akṣobhya Buddha, the wheel-turning king going from one tower to another. The prediction the Buddha gives in answer contains several sections. First, it predicts her fruit and station: 「是恒伽提婆姊未來世中當作佛，劫名星宿，佛號金花。」 tr. "This sister Gaṅgadevī will in a future age become a Buddha; the kalpa will be named Constellation, and the Buddha will be called Golden Flower." Second, it predicts her turning of body and her place of birth: 「是女人畢女身，受男子形，當生阿閦佛阿毘羅提國土，於彼淨修梵行。」 tr. "This woman will end her woman's body and receive the form of a man, and will be born in Abhirati, the land of Akṣobhya Buddha, and there purely cultivate pure conduct." Third, it predicts her practice in between: in that land she is also called Golden Flower; when her life there ends she goes on again to the buddha-lands of other directions, 「從一佛國至一佛國，不離諸佛」 tr. "from one buddha-land to another buddha-land, not apart from the buddhas". Fourth, it gives a simile: 「譬如轉輪聖王，從一觀至一觀，從生至終，足不蹈地。」 tr. "It is like a wheel-turning sage king, who goes from one tower to another tower, and from birth to the end his feet do not tread the ground." This simile the sūtra text gives of itself; its point is not nobility but the four Chinese characters rendered here as 「足不蹈地」 tr. "his feet do not tread the ground"—there is no stretch in between that lands in a place without a Buddha. The close: 「乃至阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，未甞不見佛。」 tr. "all the way to anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, there is never a time when he does not see a Buddha." In reading this passage, remember the sentence 「畢女身，受男子形」 tr. "will end her woman's body and receive the form of a man"; the treatise-author's third round of question and answer later on is set up precisely for it.
5. Ānanda thinks in his mind that her assembly will be like the Buddha's assembly. Here Ānanda does not ask aloud; the sūtra text says plainly 「作是念言」 tr. "had this thought": 「是金華菩薩摩訶薩後作佛時，諸菩薩摩訶薩會，當知為如佛會。」 tr. "When this bodhisattva-mahāsattva Golden Flower later becomes a Buddha, the assembly of the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should be known to be like the Buddha's assembly." What he measures in his mind is the fullness of this future Buddha's assembly of bodhisattvas. The reason this passage must be read on its own is that it is a thought and not speech—the Buddha's answer in the next passage arises precisely from 「知阿難意所念」 tr. "knowing what Ānanda was thinking in his mind".
6. The Buddha, knowing his thought, confirms it—a bhikṣu Saṅgha without measure, a land without all these evils. 「佛知阿難意所念，告阿難言」 tr. "The Buddha, knowing what Ānanda was thinking in his mind, told Ānanda"—the Buddha first confirms what Ānanda thought, word for word, with 「如是！如是！」 tr. "Just so! Just so!", and then adds two sections: first, 「是金花佛比丘僧無量無邊、不可數不可數，若干百千萬億那由他」 tr. "the bhikṣu Saṅgha of this Buddha Golden Flower will be immeasurable and boundless, uncountable, uncountable—so many hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭi of nayutas"; second, 「是金花菩薩作佛時，其國土無有是諸眾惡，如上所說」 tr. "when this bodhisattva Golden Flower becomes a Buddha, his land will be without these various evil things, as was said above". The phrase 「如上所說」 tr. "as was said above" shows that the items of these so-called evil things are already complete in the earlier text; this chapter does not list them again. Here the reader can see one way of answering: when the Buddha answers a question that was only thought, he gives neither more nor less; he only confirms what was thought and fills in what it had not reached.
7. Ānanda asks where her roots of virtue come from. Ānanda asks aloud once more: 「世尊！是女人從何處殖德本、種善根？」 tr. "World-Honored One! Where did this woman plant roots of virtue and sow roots of goodness?" The direction of the question turns from fruit to cause—what was asked before was the cause and condition of the smile; what is asked here is the past cause of this prediction. The question seems to come out casually, but it is in fact the pivot of the whole latter half of the chapter: without this question there would be no passage on Dīpaṃkara Buddha, nor the treatise-author's explanation of that passage at the very end.
8. The Buddha answers with the first arousing of the mind at the place of Dīpaṃkara Buddha—taking his own receiving of the prediction as the counterpart. The Buddha's answer is in three sections. First, it brings out where she planted roots of goodness: 「是女人從然燈佛所種善根，初發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，以是功德，迴向阿耨多羅三藐三菩提；亦以金華散然燈佛上……」 tr. "This woman planted roots of goodness at the place of Dīpaṃkara Buddha and first aroused the mind of anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi; with this merit she dedicated it to anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi; she also scattered golden flowers over Dīpaṃkara Buddha …" Second, it takes himself as the counterpart: 「如我爾時以五華散然燈佛上，求阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。然燈佛知我善根成就，與我受阿耨多羅三藐三菩提記。」 tr. "Just as I at that time scattered five flowers over Dīpaṃkara Buddha, seeking anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi. Dīpaṃkara Buddha, knowing that my roots of goodness were accomplished, gave me the prediction of anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi." Third, it brings out the actual occasion of her arousing the mind: 「是女人聞我受記，發心言：『我當來世亦如是菩薩，得受阿耨多羅三藐三菩提記。』」 tr. "This woman, hearing that I received the prediction, aroused the mind and said: ‘In an age to come I too, like this bodhisattva, shall receive the prediction of anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi.’" Taking the three sections together: her first arousing of the mind did not arise out of nowhere; it arose from seeing another receive the prediction—and the one she saw is none other than the Buddha who today gives her the prediction. This structure must be kept firmly in mind, because when the Buddha answers once more in the last passage of Treatise ①, it is exactly these three sections pressed into one sentence.
9. Ānanda says that this woman has long trained. Hearing the answer, Ānanda gives a verdict: 「世尊！是女人久習行阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」 tr. "World-Honored One! This woman has long trained in and practised anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi." These words are not a further question; they are an understanding reached by following what the Buddha said—since she aroused the mind at the place of Dīpaṃkara Buddha and passed through immeasurable kalpas in between, she has naturally long trained.
10. The Buddha confirms the long training. The Buddha adds not a word, and only repeats: 「如是！如是！是女人久習行阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」 tr. "Just so! Just so! This woman has long trained in and practised anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi." Here the sūtra text stops. The way the whole sūtra passage closes is worth noting: it concludes with the Buddha confirming a disciple's understanding and sets up no new meaning; all the analysis that follows is left to the treatise-author.
11. The treatise-author's first question—the great assembly heard it together; why did only one woman take up the vow. At the opening the treatise-author sets up a difficulty: 「如是大眾聞說淨國土行，何以但一女人取淨國土願？」 tr. "When so great an assembly heard the practice of purifying the land taught, why did only one woman take up the vow of a pure land?" This question is asked with great precision—what it seizes on is not what this woman did, but ‘why only she’. The preceding chapters broadly taught the practice of purifying buddha-worlds, and the listeners in the assembly were without measure; if the practice of the pure land is one that everyone can practise, those making the vow should not be only one; if it is not one that everyone can practise, then to whom was the teaching of the preceding chapters addressed? The unease that the reader may not be able to put into words, the treatise-author first voices for him as a formal difficulty.
12. The marker of the answer. The treatise-author opens what follows with the marker of the answer. In the form of this treatise, difficulty and explanation each make their own paragraph; following the marker, the reader knows that what follows is explanation and not difficulty. The three rounds of question and answer in this chapter—three markers, three answers—are consistent in form, and the words of a difficulty that has been set up must not be mistaken for the proper meaning.
13. The first answer—many made the vow but did not speak aloud; a woman's nature is light and impulsive and fond of winning, the habitual residue of life after life. The treatise-author's first answer has two sections. First, it breaks the hidden assumption of the question: 「多有發淨國土願者，但不發言」 tr. "many made the vow of a pure land, but did not speak it aloud"—those in the assembly who made the vow were not she alone; the others simply did not speak. This section is of the utmost importance: it changes the difficulty from ‘only she made the vow’ to ‘only she spoke aloud’, and the size of the problem at once shrinks. Second, only then does it say why she alone spoke: 「女人性輕躁好勝，世世習氣故發言。」 tr. "A woman's nature is light and impulsive and fond of winning; because of the habitual residues of life after life she spoke aloud." In reading this second section one must hold the first section down and read the two together: what the treatise-author explains is where the act of 「發言」 tr. "speaking aloud" comes from, not the reason for ‘obtaining the prediction’; the reason for obtaining the prediction the treatise-author leaves until the next passage. If this answer is pulled out and read alone, it becomes a sentence passing judgement on people; put back in its place in the passage, it is only an explanation about habitual residue.
14. Someone says—attaining the path does not choose between the noble and the base; the simile of good medicine curing illness; her mind gave rise to the wish to speak, so the Buddha let her speak for herself. The treatise-author at once, with 「復次，有人言」 tr. "furthermore, someone says", turns out another road, and this road establishes the meaning positively. First it brings out what is refuted: 「大人有得道分，餘人無分」 tr. "great persons have a share in attaining the path, and the rest have none"—this is a ready-made prejudice of the world. Next it brings out the proper meaning: 「佛法不然，隨眾生業因緣。」 tr. "The Buddha's Dharma is not so; it follows the beings' causes and conditions of deeds." Then it gives a simile: 「譬如良藥療治諸病，不擇貴賤。」 tr. "As good medicine cures the various illnesses without choosing between the noble and the base." The simile is perfectly plain: medicine recognises only the illness, not the person's standing. Finally it lands on this woman: 「雖復女人淺智，而先世業因緣，應得受記；心生欲說，故佛聽自說。」 tr. "Though this woman is of shallow wisdom, yet by the causes and conditions of deeds in former lives she should receive the prediction; her mind gave rise to the wish to speak, and so the Buddha let her speak for herself." This passage is the first turning point of the whole chapter, and also the antidote for how the previous passage is read—the previous passage said why she 「發言」 tr. "spoke aloud"; this passage says why she 「應得受記」 tr. "should receive the prediction", and what it relies on is the causes and conditions of deeds, not the category of the person. Only the two passages together make up the treatise-author's complete answer.
15. Furthermore—if the prediction were given in silence people would give rise to doubt; therefore he gave her the prediction because she herself had spoken. The treatise-author adds one more layer, answering a question that no one has yet asked aloud: since the Buddha knew her deep mind, why not give the prediction in silence? 「若佛默然與受記者，人則生疑」 tr. "If the Buddha were to give the prediction in silence, people would give rise to doubt"; the words of the doubt are 「有何因緣故，獨與此女受記？」 tr. "For what cause and condition does he give the prediction to this woman alone?"; and so the treatise-author concludes: 「是故佛因其自說故而與受記。」 tr. "Therefore the Buddha gave her the prediction because she herself had spoken." This layer lifts ‘her speaking for herself’ from an accident of temperament into a necessity of teaching—once she has spoken aloud, the bystanders see the cause relied upon, and the prediction does not become a matter without grounds. From here the reader can look back at passage 13: the so-called 「世世習氣故發言」 tr. "because of the habitual residues of life after life she spoke aloud" becomes, in this place, a condition the Buddha makes use of, not a shortcoming to be blamed.
16. The treatise-author's second question—why is she named 「恒伽提婆」 tr. "Gaṅgadevī". The treatise-author turns to ask about the meaning of the name: 「何以名為『恒伽提婆』？」 tr. "Why is she named ‘Gaṅgadevī’?" In this treatise this question is of a common type—whenever a person's name or the name of a dharma appears in the sūtra, the treatise-author often asks the reason for it. The intent of setting this question is not to satisfy curiosity, but to set the relation between name and meaning right for the reader in advance.
17. The marker of the answer. The treatise-author opens what follows with the marker of the answer, in the same form as passage 12.
18. The first answer—everything has a name, for the sake of recognition; why go looking for a meaning. The treatise-author's first answer is most severe: 「一切皆有名字，為識故，何足求義？」 tr. "Everything has a name, for the sake of recognition; why go looking for a meaning?" The function of a name is to distinguish, not to carry meaning; since it is set up for distinguishing, there is no need to chase after the meaning of each name. The weight of this answer goes far beyond the one person's name in this chapter—it is a general rule for reading all names and marks. It is here that readers most easily read askew, thinking the treatise-author is saying that names have no origin at all. The next passage shows that it is not so.
19. Someone says—her parents made offerings to the spirit of the Gaṅgā and obtained this daughter; Gaṅgā is the name of a river, devī means a deity. 「有人言：是女父母供養恒伽神，得此女故，言恒伽提婆。恒伽是河名，提婆名天。」 tr. "Someone says: this woman's father and mother made offerings to the spirit of the Gaṅgā and obtained this daughter; therefore she is called Gaṅgadevī. Gaṅgā is the name of a river; devī means a deity." This section supplies where the name comes from and glosses its two elements separately—Gaṅgā is the name of a river; the meaning of devī is goddess. Taken together with the previous passage, the two sections do not conflict: the previous passage says ‘one need not seek meaning through the name’; this passage says ‘this name really has its origin’. The dividing line is that the origin of the name is a matter that can be investigated, whereas the meaning of the name is not the meaning of the Dharma. The treatise-author records the two together and does not judge which is right, and the reader too should keep both.
20. By the causes and conditions of merit she was born into a wealthy family; she makes offerings of jewelled flowers, garments of gold thread, and necklaces. The treatise-author returns to the offering in the sūtra text and explains it: 「是女人福德因緣，生於富家，聞佛法信樂故，能以金銀寶華、金縷織成上下衣，并莊嚴自身瓔珞具，用供養上佛。」 tr. "This woman, by the causes and conditions of her merit, was born into a wealthy family, and because she heard the Buddha-Dharma and believed and delighted in it, she was able to take jewelled flowers of gold and silver, upper and lower garments woven of gold thread, together with the necklaces that adorned her own body, and use them as an offering to the Buddha." This explanation supplies two things the sūtra text did not state plainly: first, how she could produce such implements of offering—by the causes and conditions of merit she was born into a wealthy family; second, why she was willing to produce them—she heard the Buddha-Dharma and believed and delighted in it. Neither can be lacking: having the things without faith, one does not offer; having faith without the things, one cannot offer such things. The treatise-author also points out that what she offered included 「莊嚴自身瓔珞具」 tr. "the necklaces that adorned her own body"—even what she wore on her body she took off and offered.
21. The Buddha repays her with the prediction; contemplating her conduct in former lives, he smiles; a small cause and condition gives rise to a great matter. The treatise-author explains the Buddha's smile: 「佛報以受記，觀是女人宿世所行，便微笑。微笑義如先說。此中小因緣而起大事，故佛微笑。」 tr. "The Buddha repaid her with the prediction; contemplating this woman's conduct in former lives, he smiled. The meaning of the smile is as explained before. Here a small cause and condition gives rise to a great matter; therefore the Buddha smiled." Three sections. First, what the Buddha repays her with is the prediction—offering and prediction answer each other. Second, what the smile contemplates is 「宿世所行」 tr. "conduct in former lives", not the offering before his eyes; this corresponds exactly to what the sūtra text says, 「知是女人深心因緣」 tr. "knowing the causes and conditions of this woman's deep mind". Third, the meaning of the smile: 「小因緣而起大事」 tr. "a small cause and condition gives rise to a great matter". The sentence 「微笑義如先說」 tr. "the meaning of the smile is as explained before" shows that the general meaning of the smile is already complete in the earlier text of this treatise; here only this chapter's particular meaning is added. This particular meaning is the eye of the passage—the so-called small cause and condition refers to a matter that to bystanders seems very small, such as scattering flowers and making a vow; the so-called great matter refers to the prediction of Buddhahood that comes from it.
22. The treatise-author's third question—since her merit is long-standing, why does she turn her woman's body only in the land of Akṣobhya Buddha. The treatise-author sets the sharpest question of the whole chapter: 「是女福德應久轉女人，何以方於阿閦佛國乃轉女身？」 tr. "By her merit this woman should long ago have turned from being a woman; why does she turn her woman's body only in the land of Akṣobhya Buddha?" The force of this difficulty lies in its following on from the previous passage—since it has been said that her causes and conditions of merit are deep and her conduct in former lives worth contemplating, and that immeasurable kalpas have passed since she aroused the mind at the place of Dīpaṃkara Buddha, then her woman's body should have been turned long ago; why wait until she is born in the land of Akṣobhya Buddha? Setting this question is asking on the reader's behalf: between merit and the turning of the body, what in the end is the relation?
23. The marker of the answer. The treatise-author opens what follows with the marker of the answer, in the same form as passages 12 and 17.
24. The first answer—because the five desires are hard to sever and clinging to desire and passion is much, she does not obtain a man's body; now, having received the prediction, her afflictions are broken and thinned. The treatise-author answers: 「世間五欲難斷，女人著欲情多故，雖世世行諸福德，不能得男子身；今得受記，諸煩惱折薄，是故於阿閦佛國方得男子身。」 tr. "The five desires of the world are hard to sever; because a woman's clinging to desire and passion is much, though life after life she practises the various merits, she cannot obtain a man's body; now, having received the prediction, her afflictions are broken and thinned; therefore in the land of Akṣobhya Buddha she at last obtains a man's body." The joint of this answer lies in the distinction set up across the three Chinese characters rendered here as ‘though … cannot …’: merit and affliction are two matters; merit can accumulate life after life while affliction does not necessarily grow thin along with it; what the turning of the body waits for is the breaking and thinning of the afflictions, not the fullness of merit. So the inference in the question, 「福德應久轉女人」 tr. "by her merit she should long ago have turned from being a woman", has in itself a step that does not stand—it takes merit as the direct cause of the turning of the body. The items of the 「五欲」 tr. "five desires" this passage of the treatise does not list; it only speaks of them in sum with the two Chinese characters rendered here as 「難斷」 tr. "hard to sever", and the reader need not seek their names and numbers here.
25. Someone says—in a former life, because people mostly despise women, she vowed to receive the prediction in a woman's body. With 「有人言」 tr. "someone says" the treatise-author again turns out an entirely different road: 「此女宿世以人多輕女人故，願女身受記。」 tr. "This woman in a former life, because people mostly despise women, vowed to receive the prediction in a woman's body." By this road, her not having turned her body was not at all an inability but her own wish—precisely because the world mostly despises women, she vowed to receive the prediction in a woman's body. This section runs in the opposite direction to the previous one: the previous section spoke of obstruction; this section speaks of vow. The treatise-author sets them side by side without judging, and the reader keeps both; one may not take the one and discard the other.
26. Conclusion—by such causes and conditions, she receives the prediction without turning her woman's body. The treatise-author gathers up the two preceding sections with one sentence: 「如是等因緣，不轉女身而得受記。」 tr. "By such causes and conditions she receives the prediction without turning her woman's body." The three Chinese characters rendered here as 「如是等」 tr. "such" point precisely to the two roads of causes and conditions above. The meaning this sentence establishes is very clear: receiving the prediction and turning the body are two matters; receiving the prediction does not take turning the body as its precondition. Here the reader must view it together with the sentence of the fourth sūtra passage, 「畢女身，受男子形」 tr. "will end her woman's body and receive the form of a man"—the sūtra speaks of where she goes afterwards; the treatise speaks of her body at the time she receives the prediction; each account has its own reference, and they do not conflict.
27. Furthermore—the sūtra speaks of the five obstacles of women; it does not say that they cannot receive the prediction. The treatise-author adds a final section to seal off the last difficulty: 「復次，經說女人五礙，不說不得受記，是故不應生難。」 tr. "Furthermore, the sūtra speaks of the five obstacles of women; it does not say that they cannot receive the prediction; therefore one should not raise the difficulty." The method of this section is worth learning: he does not refute the teaching of the 「女人五礙」 tr. "five obstacles of women"; he points out the scope of that teaching—what the sūtra speaks of is five obstacles; the sūtra has not said that they cannot receive the prediction; to take what the sūtra has not said as what the sūtra has said—that difficulty itself does not stand. The items of the 「五礙」 tr. "five obstacles" the treatise here only names without listing their matters, and so here too they are not listed on its behalf; what this passage uses is only their scope, not their content. Here the reader can gain a general method for removing difficulties: first ask what exactly this sentence of the sūtra says and does not say, and then ask whether the difficulty arises from what it did not say.
28. The treatise-author explains Ānanda's exclaiming at what had never been. The three rounds of question and answer finished, the treatise-author instead closes the whole chapter with explanations that follow the text. First he explains Ānanda's exclamation: 「阿難聞是女人無量劫中從一佛國至一佛國廣集功德，當來得淨佛世界，其中菩薩皆有三十二相、八十種隨形好、無量光明，是故阿難歎未曾有」 tr. "Ānanda heard that this woman, through immeasurable kalpas, goes from one buddha-land to another buddha-land broadly gathering merit, and in the future will obtain a pure buddha-world in which the bodhisattvas all have the thirty-two marks, the eighty kinds of minor marks, and immeasurable light; therefore Ānanda exclaimed at what had never been", and the words of the exclamation are 「能如是淨佛國土，便為如佛會。」 tr. "To be able thus to purify a buddha-land is to make it like the Buddha's assembly." This explanation supplies where Ānanda's exclamation comes from—he is not exclaiming that she alone obtains a prediction, but at the appearance of that land which comes from broadly gathering merit through immeasurable kalpas. The items named, 「三十二相」 tr. "the thirty-two marks" and 「八十種隨形好」 tr. "the eighty kinds of minor marks", the treatise here names only by their general names and does not list their details. From this the reader can know the weight of that one thought in passage 5: what Ānanda measured was not the number of people at one Dharma assembly, but the sight of a whole land of bodhisattvas all with the marks of a Buddha.
29. The Buddha approves his words; Ānanda and the others, doubting that it is rare, raise the difficulty and ask. The treatise-author explains the next turn: 「佛可其言已，阿難等疑此女人希有，聞少法而得大果報，是故難問」 tr. "After the Buddha had approved his words, Ānanda and the others doubted, finding this woman rare—that hearing little of the Dharma she should obtain a great fruit—and so they raised the difficulty and asked", and the words of the question are 「是女人從何處殖諸德本？」 tr. "Where did this woman plant the roots of virtue?" This explanation points out the inner motive of that question in passage 7—it is not simply seeking to know; it is 「疑」 tr. "doubt": the Dharma heard is so little and the fruit obtained so great that the two do not match. The treatise-author uses the two Chinese characters rendered here as 「難問」 tr. "raised the difficulty and asked", plainly fixing it as a question carrying doubt and not a casual question. Here the reader can see one of the fine points of how this treatise explains the sūtra: for one and the same sentence of the sūtra text, the treatise-author often first supplies the state of mind of the one who asks, and only then does the reader know the weight of the question.
30. The Buddha answers with the origin in Dīpaṃkara Buddha's prediction—she made a vow then; from that she planted roots of goodness and now obtains the fruit. The whole chapter closes on the Buddha's answer as the treatise-author cites it; its words are: 「定光佛授我記時，是女人持金華散佛，彼作是願：『此人後成佛時，亦當受與我記。』從彼種善根，今得果報。」 tr. "When Dīpaṃkara Buddha gave me the prediction, this woman, holding golden flowers, scattered them over the Buddha, and she made this vow: ‘When this person later becomes a Buddha, may he also give the prediction to me.’ From that she planted roots of goodness, and now obtains the fruit." This passage presses the three sections of passage 8 of Sūtra ① into one sentence, and what it adds lies in the content of 「彼作是願」 tr. "she made this vow"—what she vowed then was to receive this person's prediction at the time he became a Buddha. So the whole chapter forms a ring: what was vowed is exactly what is obtained today; and the one she sought is exactly the Buddha who today gives her the prediction. The doubt of 「聞少法而得大果報」 tr. "hearing little of the Dharma she should obtain a great fruit" is resolved here—though what she heard was little, what she vowed was wholly single-minded, and what her vow was bound to was no other than the Buddha before her eyes. Here there is also one matter recorded without judgement: one passage of the sūtra text calls him 「然燈佛」 tr. "Dīpaṃkara Buddha", while the treatise-author here calls him 「定光佛」 tr. "Dīpaṃkara Buddha"; what is referred to is the same Buddha, the one who gave the Buddha the prediction, and the same event of this woman scattering flowers and making a vow; this treatise uses the two names side by side, and it is enough for the reader to know that they refer to one event.
Do Not Misread
Do not read 「女人性輕躁好勝，世世習氣故發言」 tr. "a woman's nature is light and impulsive and fond of winning; because of the habitual residues of life after life she spoke aloud" as this treatise's verdict on women. The position of this sentence in its passage is quite fixed: before it stands the sentence 「多有發淨國土願者，但不發言」 tr. "many made the vow of a pure land, but did not speak it aloud", and the object being explained has already been limited to 「發言」 tr. "speaking aloud", not ‘making the vow’, still less ‘obtaining the prediction’. And immediately after it the treatise-author, with 「有人言」 tr. "someone says", sets up 「大人有得道分，餘人無分；佛法不然，隨眾生業因緣」 tr. "great persons have a share in attaining the path, and the rest have none; the Buddha's Dharma is not so; it follows the beings' causes and conditions of deeds", and gives the simile of good medicine not choosing between the noble and the base, stating positively that what obtaining the prediction relies on is the causes and conditions of deeds. Further on, the two sections 「心生欲說，故佛聽自說」 tr. "her mind gave rise to the wish to speak, and so the Buddha let her speak for herself" and 「若佛默然與受記者，人則生疑」 tr. "if the Buddha were to give the prediction in silence, people would give rise to doubt" turn this 「發言」 tr. "speaking aloud" further into a condition of teaching that the Buddha makes use of. If one takes only the first answer and discards the three sections after it, what one obtains is the opposite of this treatise's own conclusion.
Do not read 「一切皆有名字，為識故，何足求義」 tr. "everything has a name, for the sake of recognition; why go looking for a meaning" as saying that names have no origin at all. The very next section is 「有人言：是女父母供養恒伽神，得此女故，言恒伽提婆。恒伽是河名，提婆名天」 tr. "someone says: this woman's father and mother made offerings to the spirit of the Gaṅgā and obtained this daughter; therefore she is called Gaṅgadevī. Gaṅgā is the name of a river; devī means a deity"—the treatise-author himself records the origin of the name and the gloss of its two elements together. What the two sections say lies on different levels: the former says that one need not seek the meaning of the Dharma through names and marks; the latter says that this name has its worldly origin. Read the former as ‘investigating names is not allowed’, and the latter has nowhere to be placed; read the latter as ‘there is Dharma-meaning in the name’, and the former becomes empty words. Only keeping both is the intent of this treatise.
Do not read 「是故於阿閦佛國方得男子身」 tr. "therefore in the land of Akṣobhya Buddha she at last obtains a man's body" as meaning that receiving the prediction must wait for the turning of the body. Within the same round of question and answer the treatise-author himself brings out the opposite side: 「有人言：此女宿世以人多輕女人故，願女身受記」 tr. "someone says: this woman in a former life, because people mostly despise women, vowed to receive the prediction in a woman's body", and concludes with 「如是等因緣，不轉女身而得受記」 tr. "by such causes and conditions she receives the prediction without turning her woman's body". So in this treatise receiving the prediction and turning the body are two matters—what the sūtra text records, 「畢女身，受男子形」 tr. "will end her woman's body and receive the form of a man", speaks of where she goes after receiving the prediction; what the treatise text establishes, 「不轉女身而得受記」 tr. "receives the prediction without turning her woman's body", speaks of the time of receiving the prediction. If it is read as meaning that one must first turn the body before being fit to receive the prediction, then the concluding words of this passage of the treatise have nothing to rest on, and the event in the sūtra of the Buddha giving her the prediction on the spot has no ground to stand on either.
Do not read 「經說女人五礙」 tr. "the sūtra speaks of the five obstacles of women" as this treatise here expounding the meaning of the five obstacles. The treatise-author cites this sentence using only its scope, not its content—his words are 「不說不得受記」 tr. "it does not say that they cannot receive the prediction", and what he does is point out that what the sūtra has not said may not be taken as what the sūtra has said. Since this treatise does not list the items of the five obstacles here, the reader too should not supply them himself in this passage; the whole use of this passage lies in the method of removing a difficulty, not in the marks of the five obstacles.
Do not read 「小因緣而起大事」 tr. "a small cause and condition gives rise to a great matter" as meaning that, the cause being small and the fruit great, one need not cultivate. What this phrase of the treatise-author explains is why the Buddha smiled, and he states at the same time that what the Buddha contemplated is 「是女人宿世所行」 tr. "this woman's conduct in former lives"; the sūtra text too says plainly that what the Buddha knew is 「深心因緣」 tr. "the causes and conditions of her deep mind". Look again at the answer of the last passage: this woman had already scattered flowers and made a vow from the time of Dīpaṃkara Buddha's prediction, and in between, 「無量劫中從一佛國至一佛國廣集功德」 tr. "through immeasurable kalpas, going from one buddha-land to another buddha-land, she broadly gathers merit". So what is called small refers to the smallness of the outward form of this present act of offering; what is called great refers to the greatness of the fruit; that stretch in between, of broadly gathering merit through immeasurable kalpas, neither the sūtra nor the treatise leaves out. If it is read as one offering being enough, it wipes out precisely that long course which the treatise itself speaks of.
Bearing on Practice
The first use is to look at ‘making the vow’ and 「發言」 tr. "speaking aloud" separately. What this treatise's first answer first establishes is 「多有發淨國土願者，但不發言」 tr. "many made the vow of a pure land, but did not speak it aloud"—those who make the vow are many to begin with; those who speak aloud are few. Here the practitioner can examine himself on two sides: first, one need not think that no one walks alongside because others do not speak; second, one also need not judge superior and inferior by whether or not one speaks aloud oneself. And the text below further gives a proper reason for speaking aloud—「心生欲說，故佛聽自說」 tr. "her mind gave rise to the wish to speak, and so the Buddha let her speak for herself", as well as that, if he were silent, 「人則生疑」 tr. "people would give rise to doubt". From this one can know that where it is necessary to let people see the cause, speaking out has its use; where there is no such necessity, not speaking is no fault either.
The second use is that the simile of good medicine not choosing between the noble and the base can serve as an everyday check. The prejudice 「大人有得道分，餘人無分」 tr. "great persons have a share in attaining the path, and the rest have none", put in today's terms, is to prejudge whether oneself or others can practise by the height or lowness of standing, seniority, and faculties. The treatise-author's answer is only one sentence: 「佛法不然，隨眾生業因緣。」 tr. "The Buddha's Dharma is not so; it follows the beings' causes and conditions of deeds." The simile says that good medicine cures the various illnesses without choosing between the noble and the base—what the medicine recognises is the illness. Its use on the path of practice is this: when beginning cultivation, do not first weigh whether one is worthy; only ask whether what one practises treats the illness now present.
The third use is that 「何足求義」 tr. "why go looking for a meaning" can cure clinging to names and marks. In daily reading of sūtras and treatises, whenever one meets a name or mark one wants to pursue its deep meaning, and often what one gets at the end of the pursuit is only another string of names. This phrase of the treatise-author gives a stopping-place: a name is set up for the sake of recognition; recognising what it points to is enough. But it must be used together with the next section—the origin of a name should be investigated where it should be, only one must not take the origin for the meaning of the Dharma. Once the two are kept distinct, reading is spared more than half its wasted effort.
The fourth use is that the distinction between 「福德」 tr. "merit" and 「煩惱折薄」 tr. "the breaking and thinning of the afflictions" can serve as a self-check on progress. When one has practised the path for a long time, one often estimates one's progress by the merit accumulated, thinking that when merit is thick the obstructions will remove themselves. The treatise-author says plainly: 「雖世世行諸福德，不能得男子身」 tr. "though life after life she practises the various merits, she cannot obtain a man's body"; what the turning of the body waits for is 「諸煩惱折薄」 tr. "her afflictions are broken and thinned". Carried over to oneself, this means: how many good deeds one has done cannot take the place of the self-check of whether one's afflictions have really grown thin. The two items must be looked at separately; only then does one not let the one cover the other.
The fifth use is that the vow of the last passage can serve as a model for making vows. What this woman made at that time was not a vague good vow but 「此人後成佛時，亦當受與我記」 tr. "when this person later becomes a Buddha, may he also give the prediction to me"—the matter vowed is definite, and the person it is bound to is definite. The treatise-author concludes with 「從彼種善根，今得果報」 tr. "from that she planted roots of goodness, and now obtains the fruit", binding the fruit directly to that one vow. In making vows in daily use one can learn from this model: a vow must be able to say what is vowed and where it is directed; only then is it a root of goodness that can be planted; a vague vow, though good, hardly becomes a seed. And this woman's example is at the same time a reminder—after the vow has been made, there is still, in between, 「無量劫中從一佛國至一佛國廣集功德」 tr. "through immeasurable kalpas, going from one buddha-land to another buddha-land, she broadly gathers merit"; the vow is the seed, not the harvest.
Further Resonances
The backbone of this chapter is one sūtra section and one treatise section. The sūtra text begins from 「爾時，有一女人，字恒伽提婆」 tr. "At that time there was a woman named Gaṅgadevī" and recounts her rising from her seat and stating her own vow and practice, her scattering flowers as an offering to the Buddha which turned into a jewelled terrace with four pillars, and her dedicating the merit she held; next it recounts the Buddha, knowing the causes and conditions of her deep mind, smiling and emitting light, Ānanda asking the cause and condition of the smile, and the Buddha giving her the prediction—the kalpa named Constellation, the Buddha called Golden Flower, ending her woman's body and receiving the form of a man, being born in Abhirati, the land of Akṣobhya Buddha, going from one buddha-land to another buddha-land without being apart from the buddhas—and gives the simile of the wheel-turning sage king going from one tower to another tower with his feet never treading the ground; next it recounts Ānanda thinking in his mind that her assembly will be like the Buddha's assembly, and the Buddha, knowing his thought, confirming it and adding that the bhikṣu Saṅgha will be without measure and the land without all these evils; last it recounts Ānanda asking where her roots of virtue came from, the Buddha answering that she planted roots of goodness and first aroused the mind at the place of Dīpaṃkara Buddha, taking as the counterpart his own scattering of five flowers over that Buddha and receiving the prediction, and saying that this woman, hearing of that prediction, aroused the mind; Ānanda says she has long trained, and the Buddha confirms it and concludes. The treatise's explanation is mainly three rounds of question and answer. The first asks why only one woman took up the vow of a pure land; it answers that many made the vow but did not speak aloud and that a woman's nature is light and impulsive and fond of winning, the habitual residue of life after life; next, with someone says, it establishes that attaining the path does not choose between the noble and the base and gives the simile of good medicine; finally it says that if the prediction were given in silence people would give rise to doubt, and so he gave her the prediction because she herself had spoken. The second asks why she is named Gaṅgadevī; it answers that everything has a name for the sake of recognition, so why go looking for a meaning; next, with someone says, it brings out the origin in her parents' offerings to the spirit of the Gaṅgā and glosses river and goddess; following on, it explains that by her merit she was born into a wealthy family and, hearing the Dharma, believed and delighted in it, and so could make offerings of jewelled flowers, garments of gold thread, and necklaces; and it explains that the Buddha repaid her with the prediction, contemplated her conduct in former lives and smiled, a small cause and condition giving rise to a great matter. The third asks why, since her merit is long-standing, she turns her woman's body only in the land of Akṣobhya Buddha; it answers that because the five desires are hard to sever and her clinging to desire and passion is much she does not obtain a man's body, and that now, having received the prediction, her afflictions are broken and thinned; next, with someone says, it brings out the account that she vowed to receive the prediction in a woman's body; it concludes that she receives the prediction without turning her woman's body; and at the end, with furthermore, it cites the sūtra's speaking of the five obstacles of women without saying they cannot receive the prediction, to seal off the difficulty. The three rounds finished, it closes instead with explanations following the text: explaining where Ānanda's exclamation at what had never been comes from, explaining that Ānanda and the others doubted it was rare and raised the difficulty and asked, and at the last citing the Buddha's answer on the origin in Dīpaṃkara Buddha's prediction as the conclusion, meeting the end of the seventy-fifth fascicle.
The doctrinal veins between this chapter and the chapters before and after can be seen along two lines. First, continuing what came before: the preceding chapters broadly taught the practice of purifying buddha-worlds, and the sūtra text of this chapter takes it up with one person's vow—the treatise-author's very first question, 「如是大眾聞說淨國土行，何以但一女人取淨國土願」 tr. "when so great an assembly heard the practice of purifying the land taught, why did only one woman take up the vow of a pure land", plainly ties this chapter to the teaching on the pure land in the preceding chapters; if one reads this chapter without knowing what the preceding chapters said, this question has no way to stand. Second, reaching toward what comes after: since the sūtra text records that this woman will be born in the land of Akṣobhya Buddha and in the future become a Buddha called Golden Flower, her person and her practice both await further telling in the text that follows; and the meaning this chapter establishes, ‘receiving the prediction does not wait on turning the body’, is likewise a preliminary to the later text's discussion of the meanings of non-retrogression. The reader may view it together with the chapters before and after.
Of the ancient masters' explanations, two can be recorded for this chapter. The first is Jizang. He divides this chapter into three parts, saying: 「品三：初、明願行成二；二、得受記；三、出因釋得記所由也。初三：一、餘悟；二、供養；三、迴向。」 tr. "The chapter is in three: first, making clear the accomplishment of vow and practice—two; second, obtaining the prediction; third, bringing out the cause, explaining the reason the prediction was obtained. The first is in three: one, the awakening of the others; two, the offering; three, the dedication."—dividing this chapter into three parts, the accomplishment of vow and practice, obtaining the prediction, and bringing out the cause to explain the reason the prediction was obtained, and dividing its first part into three, the awakening of the others, the offering, and the dedication, which corresponds to the order of the sūtra text in this treatise. In explaining the chapter's name he gives two further explanations, saying: 「一解云：此女父母就何天神求此女？故神若名為河天也。二云：令名為定也。」 tr. "One explanation says: to which heavenly spirit did this woman's parents go to seek this daughter? Hence the spirit was named, as it were, River Goddess. The second says: the name was made to be fixed."—the former explanation is close to the origin that this treatise brings out with 「有人言」 tr. "someone says"; the latter is Jizang's own gloss; both are recorded without judgement. Jizang also summarises in his own words this treatise's first round of question and answer, saying: 「多有發淨土願去不發言，女人性輕疎好勝世世習氣，故獨發言。亦解云：諸外道云大人有得道分，餘人無分，佛法不爾，不簡大小同悟，便為受記也。」 tr. "Many made the vow of a pure land but did not speak aloud; a woman's nature is light and careless and fond of winning, the habitual residue of life after life, and so she alone spoke aloud. Another explanation says: those of the outside paths say that great persons have a share in attaining the path and the rest have none; the Buddha's Dharma is not so—not choosing between great and small, all alike awaken, and so she was given the prediction."—this is Jizang's summarising citation, not the original text of this treatise; the words 「諸外道云」 tr. "those of the outside paths say" and 「不簡大小同悟」 tr. "not choosing between great and small, all alike awaken" among them were added by Jizang, and the reader should keep them apart from the text proper of this treatise. The second is Huiying. He explains the opening of this chapter, saying: 「此品以人為名，名為恒伽提婆品。」 tr. "This chapter takes a person as its name: it is called the Gaṅgadevī chapter." And he divides it into four parts, saying: 「就此品中大有四分：第一、明恒伽女人白佛興淨土行願；第二、明供養於佛；第三、明佛授其記；第四、明其發心行行。」 tr. "Within this chapter there are broadly four parts: first, making clear that the woman Gaṅgā addresses the Buddha and raises the practice and vow of a pure land; second, making clear the offering to the Buddha; third, making clear the Buddha's giving her the prediction; fourth, making clear her arousing of the mind and her practising of the practices."—dividing this chapter into four parts, raising the vow, the offering, giving the prediction, and arousing the mind and practising the practices, which takes a different angle from Jizang's three parts; both are recorded without judgement, and the reader keeps both. At the head of the next chapter Huiying also looks back on this chapter, saying: 「何故次河天品後明於此品？明金華是不退菩薩」 tr. "Why is this chapter made clear next, after the River Goddess chapter? To make clear that Golden Flower is a non-retrogressing bodhisattva"—taking the Golden Flower predicted in this chapter as a non-retrogressing bodhisattva, and tying its meaning to the next chapter. As for Junzheng's commentary and the explanations of the two Tiantai masters, not a word on this chapter is found in any of them, and the gap is recorded as it is. The variant names of the chapter title, the ordering in the various editions, and the study of collation are detailed in the Apparatus.
考據Apparatus
一、科判
本品在《大智度論》釋《大品般若》之次第中屬〈釋餘品〉一段，全在卷七十五，單一單元。品題「大智度論釋恒伽提婆品第五十九」〔T25 0591a20〕逕接前品〈夢中入三昧品第五十八〉之末句「是故菩薩不應生疲厭心。」〔T25 0591a18〕而起，品首無卷題、無造署譯署。品身訖於「從彼種善根，今得果報。」〔T25 0592a10〕；卷末題「大智度論卷第七十五」〔T25 0592a12〕在本品範圍之內——本品恰收於卷七十五之末，品尾繫卷尾。次卷卷首題即次品品題「大智度論釋學空不證品第六十」〔T25 0592a15〕（其下帶夾註「卷七十六」），並於其後重出造署「聖者龍樹造」〔T25 0592a18〕、譯署「後秦龜茲國三藏鳩摩羅什譯」〔T25 0592a19〕——三者皆在本單元範圍之外。此型與品五十三〈趣一切智品〉之『居卷末·品尾繫卷尾』同型，與品四十八〈佛母品〉之跨卷型異、與品四十六〈魔事品〉之『卷首起題·卷內未竟即續次品』異。
全品純漢字一千二百八十一（機械重計值·與底稿所載相合），為〈釋餘品〉近數十品中篇幅最輕之一品。品內結構一【經】一【論】、單一單元：【經】〔T25 0591a21〕、【論】〔T25 0591c05〕，二枚結構標記各有校記，宋、宮二本無此二枚標記（全帳見第八目）；二標記之注皆非本品原生，而以 star 共用前二品之注（詳下第八目 star 專列）。標記存否屬底本傳承層，結構計數仍依底本標籤為準。
問答之數與說者結構：經①〔T25 0591a21–0591c04〕以恒伽提婆女「合掌白佛言」〔T25 0591a22〕發願發端——此為女人全品唯一一次出聲，其下即轉為佛與阿難之問答敘事，換說標記處處有明文：〔T25 0591b03〕阿難「合掌白佛」、〔T25 0591b05〕「佛告阿難」、〔T25 0591b14〕阿難「作是念言」、〔T25 0591b16〕「佛知阿難意所念，告阿難言」、〔T25 0591b21〕阿難「白佛言」、〔T25 0591b22〕「佛告阿難」、〔T25 0591c02〕阿難「白佛言」、〔T25 0591c03〕「佛言」。其中〔T25 0591b14〕一處為阿難心念而非出聲（「時，阿難作是念言」），佛之應答亦明標「佛知阿難意所念」〔T25 0591b16〕，依底本明文逕判，非不確定項。論①〔T25 0591c05–0592a10〕無「釋曰」起論標記，開篇逕入「問曰：」——此與品五十三論②以「釋曰」起論者不同型，屬本品體例，如實誌錄。正式問答三對（本帳於漢字流逐字獨立重算，問曰、答曰皆得三，相合）：一釋何以獨一女人取淨國土願〔T25 0591c05／0591c06〕、二釋「恒伽提婆」名義〔T25 0591c14／0591c15〕、三釋何以方於阿閦佛國乃轉女身〔T25 0591c23／0591c24〕。「有人言」三見（獨立重算得三）：〔T25 0591c08〕「復次，有人言」、〔T25 0591c16〕、〔T25 0591c27〕——與品五十二、品五十三之全品零見成對比，本品論釋於三組問答皆各引異說並陳。「復次」亦三見〔T25 0591c08〕〔T25 0591c12〕〔T25 0591c29〕。末段〔T25 0592a01–0592a10〕非問答，為論主以第三人稱敘述體重述經文之問答（「是故阿難歎未曾有」「是故難問」「佛答」），不計入問答對數。
義理一軸貫穿經論：女人發願·佛授記·轉女身。經①敘散華發願、佛微笑放光、授記金花佛、追溯然燈佛所初發心；論①逐項釋其所以然——何以獨此女發言、何以名恒伽提婆、何以久積福德而方轉女身，末以定光佛授記之本源收束。
二、術語考
恒伽提婆·河天（本品之總名）。 品名兩造，一為梵音之音寫，一為其義譯。論主自出其訓：「有人言：是女父母供養恒伽神，得此女故，言恒伽提婆。恒伽是河名，提婆名天。」〔T25 0591c16〕——「恒伽」訓河、「提婆」訓天，故「河天」即「恒伽提婆」之義譯，兩名一實。惟論主於出此訓之前，先立一更根本之判：「一切皆有名字，為識故，何足求義？」〔T25 0591c15〕——名字之用在識別，不必強索其義；「有人言」一段乃存異說而非定訓，論主已先自遮其必要性。兩名於諸本、諸疏之分佈（底本、所釋經、吉藏、慧影各取其一）見第四目、第六目。
金花·金華（一品之內兩形並用）。 佛所授之佛號，底本於本品範圍內「金花」六見〔T25 0591b06〕〔T25 0591b09〕〔T25 0591b12〕〔T25 0591b17〕〔T25 0591b18〕〔T25 0591b20〕、「金華」四見〔T25 0591b09〕〔T25 0591b14〕〔T25 0591b25〕〔T25 0592a09〕（本帳 於底本逐字重掃所得），且兩形貼鄰互出——「是菩薩在彼國土，亦號金花。是金華菩薩於彼壽終」〔T25 0591b08〕一句之內即兩形連見。所釋經 T223 側本品範圍內則全作「金華」九見、「金花」零見（同法重掃）。此屬底本用字層之不齊，非義理歧異，兩形皆無校記可依，如實誌錄不作統一。
受記·授記。 本品範圍內底本「受記」十見、「授記」零見（重掃所得），佛之與記、女之得記皆用「受」字；惟末段一處作「定光佛授我記時」〔T25 0592a08〕——「授我記」三字分書，非「授記」一詞。校記則於三處誌「受／授」之兩讀：〔T25 0591b28〕元明作「授」、〔T25 0592a10〕宋元明宮聖作「授」（見第八目）；所釋經側同一機括亦見〔T08 0349c27〕注作「受【大】＊，授【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】＊」，兩造互印（見第四目）。
姊。 佛稱此女曰「是恒伽提婆姊」〔T25 0591b05〕，所釋經同〔T08 0349c04〕。論主於此無釋；慧影疏出一解，見第六目。
畢女身·轉女身。 經文作「是女人畢女身，受男子形，當生阿閦佛阿毘羅提國土，於彼淨修梵行。」〔T25 0591b07〕——「畢」者盡也，謂女身於此而盡。論主以「轉女身」立其問答之目：「是女福德應久轉女人，何以方於阿閦佛國乃轉女身？」〔T25 0591c23〕，答以「世間五欲難斷，女人著欲情多故，雖世世行諸福德，不能得男子身」〔T25 0591c24〕，「今得受記，諸煩惱折薄，是故於阿閦佛國方得男子身。」〔T25 0591c26〕——轉身之所待在煩惱折薄，不在福德多少。
女人五礙。 論主末以此遮伏疑：「復次，經說女人五礙，不說不得受記，是故不應生難。」〔T25 0591c29〕——五礙之說與得記之事非一事，經有五礙之文而無「女人不得受記」之文，故不成難。論主於此不列五礙之目；其目見慧影疏（第六目）。
微笑。 經①「爾時，世尊知是女人深心因緣，即時微笑。」〔T25 0591a29〕，論釋其故：「佛報以受記，觀是女人宿世所行，便微笑。微笑義如先說。此中小因緣而起大事，故佛微笑。」〔T25 0591c20〕——「微笑義如先說」為論主自指前文之語，本帳於第七目誌其前指查核之實況。
星宿劫·阿閦佛阿毘羅提國土。 授記之時處二目。劫名「劫名星宿，佛號金花」〔T25 0591b06〕；國名「當生阿閦佛阿毘羅提國土」〔T25 0591b07〕。論主於二名無釋；慧影疏各出一解（第六目）。
三、譬喻與故事
本品篇幅輕，經中設喻一、論中設喻一，另有一段佛之自述本生。
轉輪聖王從觀至觀喻（承「不離諸佛」義）。 經①釋金花菩薩生生值佛之相，出一喻：「譬如轉輪聖王，從一觀至一觀，從生至終，足不蹈地。」〔T25 0591b11〕——輪王行處，自一觀至一觀皆有承載，足不曾踏地；菩薩自一佛國至一佛國，亦未曾離佛。喻之眼在「足不蹈地」四字：不是走得快，是根本不落在無佛之地。所釋經同文，唯標點小異〔T08 0349c09〕。
良藥不擇貴賤喻（承「佛法不然」義）。 論①破「大人有得道分，餘人無分」之說，出一極平之喻：「譬如良藥療治諸病，不擇貴賤。」〔T25 0591c09〕——藥之愈病，不問服者之貴賤；法之得道，不問行者之大小。其所破之見與所立之義皆在此一喻中。吉藏疏於同處以「諸外道云」繫此說，與論主之「有人言」繫屬不同，見第六目。
然燈佛所五華之本生（佛自述·非設喻）。 經①追溯此女發心之始，佛並自述己身之因：「如我爾時以五華散然燈佛上，求阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」〔T25 0591b26〕，「然燈佛知我善根成就，與我受阿耨多羅三藐三菩提記。」〔T25 0591b27〕；此女即因聞佛受記而發願：「是女人聞我受記，發心言：『我當來世亦如是菩薩，得受阿耨多羅三藐三菩提記。』」〔T25 0591b28〕。論末重述其事，並改稱然燈佛為「定光佛」：「定光佛授我記時，是女人持金華散佛，彼作是願：『此人後成佛時，亦當受與我記。』從彼種善根，今得果報。」〔T25 0592a08〕——經作「然燈」、論末作「定光」，同一佛之兩譯名於一品之內並用，校記於「定」字下誌宋元明宮聖石六本皆作「錠」（第八目），如實誌錄不作統一。此段非譬喻，為佛之自述本生與此女願之所繫，本品授記一事之根柢即在此。
四、所釋經文
品名兩造網：恒伽提婆／河天（並錄不判）。 本品品名兩造，逐一據底本誌之。
其一，恒伽提婆——本論底本品題〔T25 0591a20〕「大智度論釋恒伽提婆品第五十九」；聖本、石本作「摩訶般若波羅蜜恒伽提婆品第五十八」（經題式·-1 階·用名同底本）。
其二，河天——本論宋本作「大智論釋河天品第五十九」、元本作「大智度論釋河天品第五十九」、宮本作「大智論釋河天品第五十九品」、明本作「釋河天品第五十九經作恒伽提婆品」（此十五字為明本品題之全文，末七字即明本自標之所釋經題，底本之 rdg 內無括號，本帳原樣錄，見第八目）。所釋經 T223 側品題〔T08 0349b18〕底本作「河天」品第五十九，其 cb:mulu 亦作「59 河天品」。吉藏疏目次「河天品第五十九」〔X24n0451 0195c02〕與正文科判同用此名。
明本夾註「經作恒伽提婆品」之所指（兩側對勘·兩造互印）。 明本於品題內夾註所釋經題作「恒伽提婆品」——本帳 逐字回核所釋經側：T223 品題〔T08 0349b18〕之注作「河天【大】，恒伽提婆【宋】【元】【明】【宮】，摩訶般若波羅蜜經恒伽提婆【聖】」，即 T223 自身之宋元明宮聖五本品題皆作「恒伽提婆」；且 T223 底本正文之內兩處逕稱女名作「恒伽提婆」——「爾時有女人字恒伽提婆，在眾中坐。」〔T08 0349b19〕、「是恒伽提婆姊，未來世中當作佛，劫名星宿，佛號金華。」〔T08 0349c04〕（本帳 於 T08 底本逐字重掃：本品範圍內「恒伽提婆」二見、「河天」二見，二見皆在品題與 mulu，正文零見）。故明本夾註所稱有據：所釋經之品題於多數異本作「恒伽提婆品」，其正文亦逕用此名；「河天」惟見於 T223 底本之品題一層。此即「一經之內品題與正文兩名並用」之實況，如實誌錄，不判孰為 T223 之定讀。
品次 -1 階（聖石·首中尾三端）。 本論聖本、石本品題作「第五十八」，較底本品序「第五十九」少一，與品四十四以下逐品順推、同向同幅——-1 階鏈於本品續存無斷。本品範圍內 -1 階另見兩端：其一，品末「報」字注，聖石二本作「報釋第五十八品竟【聖】【石】」〔T25 0592a10〕（第八目下帳第三十四條），即品末收束記亦標「五十八」；其二，卷末題注，聖本作「大智度經論卷第七十五釋第五十六品下訖第五十八品【聖】」〔T25 0592a12〕（下帳第三十五條），其所標之品範圍（五十六下至五十八）較實際（五十七至五十九）同幅少一。品題、品末、卷末題三端同幅，較品五十三之兩端印證更完整，非孤證。
T223 mulu n 屬性 +1 偏移（續存）。 所釋經 T223 側本品之 cb:mulu 標 n="60" 而顯文標「59 河天品」〔T08 0349b18〕——n 屬性 +1 偏移自品四十一以來屢見，本品續存（承品四十八既誌之常設體例，不重判）。本論側 cb:mulu 則標 n="59"、顯文「59 恒伽提婆品」，無偏移。
T223 側品界不繫卷界。 所釋經本品起〔T08 0349b18〕、訖〔T08 0350a04〕，次品〈不證品第六十〉〔T08 0350a05〕逕接而起，其品題帶夾註「丹學空不證品」；本品全在所釋經卷中，不涉卷界。本論側則本品恰收卷末（第一目）——兩傳承於此品之卷界不合，與品五十三之罕見合一相反，如實誌錄；兩側卷數本非同一分卷體系，不引為一事。
全量牒經對讀（兩側對勘·兩造校記互印）。 本論經①與所釋經〈河天品〉逐字幾近同文，其異皆小，且四處之異兩造校記皆互印：
① 掌／手——本論作「合掌白佛言」〔T25 0591a22〕、「合掌白佛」〔T25 0591b04〕，其注皆作「掌【大】＊，手【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】【石】＊」（下帳第四、第十一條）；T223 側同位則底本逕作「手」〔T08 0349b20〕〔T08 0349c02〕，其注反作「手【大】，掌【聖】」〔T08 0349b20〕、「手【大】，掌【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】」〔T08 0349c02〕。兩造校記恰成鏡像：本論之底本讀法（掌）正是 T223 諸異本之讀法，T223 之底本讀法（手）正是本論諸異本之讀法。
② 世界／國土——本論作「取淨佛世界」〔T25 0591a23〕、「當來得淨佛世界」〔T25 0592a03〕，其注皆作「世界【大】＊，國土【聖】【石】＊」（下帳第五、第二十七條·同一 star witness 組）；T223 側同位逕作「取淨佛國土。」〔T08 0349b21〕，即 T223 底本之讀法正是本論聖石二本之讀法。
③ 受／授——本論〔T25 0591b28〕注作「受【大】＊，授【元】【明】＊」、〔T25 0592a10〕注作「受【大】，授【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】」（下帳第十九、第三十三條）；T223 側同位〔T08 0349c27〕注作「受【大】＊，授【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】＊」——同一異讀組於兩藏各自校記所並載。
④ 殖／植——本論〔T25 0591b22〕注作「殖【大】，植【宋】【元】【明】【宮】」（下帳第十六條）；T223 側同位〔T08 0349c21〕注作「殖【大】，植【明】」——兩造皆誌此異，惟所繫之本多寡不同。
四處皆兩藏各自校記所並載，非以甲本之詞搜乙本之弱判。
兩造正文之異（非校記層）。 另有三處為兩本正文自身之異，校記不涉：本論「如般若波羅蜜中所說」〔T25 0591a24〕，T223 作「如佛般若波羅蜜中所說」（多一「佛」字）〔T08 0349b22〕——惟本論此處之注作「如【大】，如佛【宮】【聖】」（下帳第六條），宮聖二本即與 T223 底本合，故此異亦有校記可繫；本論「不可數不可數」〔T25 0591b18〕，T223 作「不可稱不可數」〔T08 0349c18〕，T223 側另有「稱【大】，數【宋】【元】【明】【宮】」「數【大】，稱【宋】【元】【明】【宮】」二注互換〔T08 0349c18〕，本論側無注；本論「其國土無有是諸眾惡」〔T25 0591b20〕，T223 底本作「其國土無有眾惡」而注誌「有【大】，有是諸【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】」〔T08 0349c20〕——T223 諸異本之增文正即本論底本之文，合之乃全，如實誌錄。
對照組（七串·兩藏各唯一見·對位唯一）。 「女人，字恒伽提婆，在眾中坐。」〔T25 0591a21〕／T223 作「爾時有女人字恒伽提婆，在眾中坐。」〔T08 0349b19〕；「世尊！我當行六波羅蜜，取淨佛世界」〔T25 0591a23〕／T223 作「世尊！我當行六波羅蜜，取淨佛國土。」〔T08 0349b21〕；「以散佛上；散已，於佛頂上虛空中化成四柱寶臺，端正嚴好。」〔T25 0591a26〕／T223 作「以散佛上。散已，於佛頂上虛空中化成四柱寶臺，端正嚴好。」〔T08 0349b24〕；「是恒伽提婆姊未來世中當作佛，劫名星宿」〔T25 0591b05〕／T223 作「是恒伽提婆姊，未來世中當作佛，劫名星宿」〔T08 0349c04〕；「譬如轉輪聖王，從一觀至一觀，從生至終」〔T25 0591b11〕／T223 作「譬如轉輪聖王，從一觀至一觀，從生至終足不蹈地。」〔T08 0349c09〕；「是女人從何處殖德本、種善根？」〔T25 0591b21〕／〔T08 0349c21〕；「如我爾時以五華散然燈佛上，求阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」〔T25 0591b26〕／〔T08 0349c25〕。以上七串之漢字流，於 T25n1509 全論與 T08n0223 全經各唯一見（本帳 逐串於兩藏底本以 markup 容錯法獨立重掃，非轉抄），對位唯一、無他品可淆。另誌一組非唯一者以自證其法：「是女人久習行阿耨多羅三藐三菩提」之漢字流於本論全書二見〔T25 0591c02〕〔T25 0591c03〕、於所釋經全經亦二見〔T08 0350a02〕〔T08 0350a03〕——兩藏見數相等、皆在本品之內（經文一問一答重出同句所致），據實誌其非唯一，不充作對照組。判為「同品異名」（品身逐字幾近同文，品名兩造之異見上）。本論一【論】層為論體之結構性擴增，所釋經無此層，非異文。所釋經 T223 側本品對讀範圍〔T08 0349b18–0350a04〕內之校勘 witness，本帳 已逐條掃得二十一條編號注、六枚 star 重引，其與本論互印之四處與三組互文已如上誌錄，餘條未逐條展開，據實誌其未展開，不以估值充數。
所釋經側之梵名注（誌其存在·不引為依據）。 T223〔T08 0349b19〕「恒伽提婆」四字下另繫一 type="foreign" 之注，其文為 IAST 之「Gaṅgādevā.」——此屬大正編者所加之現代注音層，非古德所傳之梵源，本帳誌其存在而不引為梵源依據；本品梵名之訓唯依論主自出之「恒伽是河名，提婆名天。」〔T25 0591c17〕（第二目）。
五、般若義眼
本品之眼，在一「記」字——授記非酬功之賞，是機熟之印；而機之熟不熟，不在身相之男女，在著不著。其義可約為四重。
其一，發言非小事，是機熟之相。大眾同聞淨國土行，何以獨此一女取願？論主之答不作褒貶，只出兩層事實：「多有發淨國土願者，但不發言；女人性輕躁好勝，世世習氣故發言。」〔T25 0591c06〕——發願者眾，發言者一；發言之所由，論主逕歸於習氣，不加美飾。而正是這一句不加美飾之語，把「得記」與「德高」拆開了：發言是習氣，得記卻是實機。其下復次一轉，義乃全出：「大人有得道分，餘人無分；佛法不然，隨眾生業因緣。」〔T25 0591c08〕——外計以身分判道分，佛法以業因緣判；「譬如良藥療治諸病，不擇貴賤。」〔T25 0591c09〕。故「雖復女人淺智，而先世業因緣，應得受記」〔T25 0591c10〕——「淺智」與「應得受記」同句並立而不相礙，這是本品最不肯含糊的一句。
其二，佛因其自說而與記，是為斷疑而非為酬言。論主第三轉出一極實際之理由：「復次，若佛默然與受記者，人則生疑」〔T25 0591c12〕——默然而記，則人不測所由，疑心即起；「是故佛因其自說故而與受記。」〔T25 0591c13〕。授記之所以要一個公開的機緣，不是為酬那一句話，是為讓一切見者看見其所由。此與經文「世尊知是女人深心因緣，即時微笑。」〔T25 0591a29〕相表裡：佛所知者是深心因緣，眾所見者是散華發言——記之公開，正為使所見與所知相接。論主釋笑亦同此意：「此中小因緣而起大事，故佛微笑。」〔T25 0591c22〕——小因緣是眾所見，大事是佛所知。
其三，名字為識，不必求義。第二組問答最短，而遮得最徹：「一切皆有名字，為識故，何足求義？」〔T25 0591c15〕——名之為名，在能識別而已；問「何以名為『恒伽提婆』」之問，於般若中本非必答之問。答既已立，論主方出異說：「有人言：是女父母供養恒伽神，得此女故，言恒伽提婆。恒伽是河名，提婆名天。」〔T25 0591c16〕——先遮而後存，次第不可倒：若先出訓詁而後遮之，則訓詁成主；今先遮而後出，則訓詁只是可有可無之一說。品名兩造之並存（第四目），於此義下亦不成問題——名既為識，河天與恒伽提婆自無高下。
其四，轉身待煩惱折薄，得記不待轉身。第三組問答是本品義理之最重處。難者以福德計時節：「是女福德應久轉女人，何以方於阿閦佛國乃轉女身？」〔T25 0591c23〕；論主之答不在福德之量，在障之所繫：「世間五欲難斷，女人著欲情多故，雖世世行諸福德，不能得男子身」〔T25 0591c24〕——福德不能直接易身，能易身者是欲情之薄；而欲情之薄又以得記為緣：「今得受記，諸煩惱折薄，是故於阿閦佛國方得男子身。」〔T25 0591c26〕。次復存一異說：「有人言：此女宿世以人多輕女人故，願女身受記。」〔T25 0591c27〕——若如是，則女身非障而是願，「如是等因緣，不轉女身而得受記。」〔T25 0591c28〕。兩說並立而同歸一結：得記不以轉身為條件。末乃以經量斷之：「復次，經說女人五礙，不說不得受記，是故不應生難。」〔T25 0591c29〕——五礙之文有，「不得受記」之文無；以有者難無者，難自不成。全品之機括即在此一句：經之所遮，止於其所遮；不可推。
六、諸家異釋
《大智度論》本無逐文全疏之傳統，古德引釋率屬據實偏倚。本品古德覆讀兩家：釋所釋經之吉藏疏存專章，釋本論之慧影疏亦存專章——兩家俱全於一品，在〈釋餘品〉諸品中不多見（品五十三僅吉藏一家、慧影零覆蓋）；均正書、天台系諸書於本品零命中。此目誌錄其所疏所引與本品之對應，不判各家詮釋高下。
吉藏《大品經義疏》（X24n0451）。 於所釋經〈河天品〉之逐文疏，起「河天品第五十九」〔X24n0451 0311b14〕（緊接前品〈夢行品第五十八〉疏訖處），迄〔X24n0451 0311c13〕，次品「不證品第六十」〔X24n0451 0311c14〕起前，覆本品經全篇。其可誌者五。
其一，品位與大科——「此第三、明願行無成便得受記。」〔X24n0451 0311b15〕，「品三：初、明願行成二；二、得受記；三、出因釋得記所由也。初三：一、餘悟；二、供養；三、迴向。」〔X24n0451 0311b23〕：吉藏以「願行成·得受記·出因釋記所由」三分全品，初分復開「餘悟·供養·迴向」三意，與經①之發願、供養散華、迴向三段次第相值。
其二，「河天」命名兩解——「一解云：此女父母就何天神求此女？故神若名為河天也。二云：令名為定也。」〔X24n0451 0311b21〕：吉藏出二解，其一謂女之父母就天神求得此女，故以神名名之；其二訓其名為「定」。此與本論之訓同源而不同詞：本論作「是女父母供養恒伽神，得此女故」〔T25 0591c16〕，吉藏作「就何天神求此女」——「供養／就…求」、「恒伽神／何天神」皆異，二家立說之所本當同，其詞則各異，如實分記，不判孰先。吉藏第二解「令名為定」於本論無對應之文，據實誌其為吉藏獨出。
其三，獨發言之由與外道之繫屬——「多有發淨土願去不發言，女人性輕疎好勝世世習氣，故獨發言。」〔X24n0451 0311c01〕：此句與本論「多有發淨國土願者，但不發言；女人性輕躁好勝，世世習氣故發言。」〔T25 0591c06〕幾近逐字同文（「淨土／淨國土」「去／者但」「輕疎／輕躁」之異），二家於此顯有同源之訓。其下一句則見繫屬之異：吉藏作「亦解云：諸外道云大人有得道分，餘人無分，佛法不爾，不簡大小同悟，便為受記也。」〔X24n0451 0311c03〕——吉藏逕以「諸外道」繫「大人有得道分」之說，本論則繫以「有人言」〔T25 0591c08〕；「有人言」為論主存異說之常式，未標其為外道。兩造繫屬不同，並錄不判。又「又若此女不從眾起便與記者，人則不測所由，故因其發言故與記也。」〔X24n0451 0311c04〕與本論「若佛默然與受記者，人則生疑」〔T25 0591c12〕同指一義。
其四，授記段之科——「佛微笑下，第二、正授記，亦三：初、現瑞；二、問瑞所由；三、正授記。」〔X24n0451 0311c06〕：以現瑞、問瑞、正記三節科經①之中段，與經文微笑放光〔T25 0591a29〕、阿難請問〔T25 0591b03〕、佛為授記〔T25 0591b05〕三段逐節相值。
其五，轉女身一段之三解——「此女人劫積功德，何故行無生忍後方轉女身？」〔X24n0451 0311c08〕，「五欲難斷，女人著欲性情多，雖世世積德猶不能轉，故曰記後行轉也。」〔X24n0451 0311c08〕；「二解云：此女宿世以多種女人身子受記，為引接人也。」〔X24n0451 0311c10〕；「三解云：經說女人有五礙，不說不得受記，何須問耶？」〔X24n0451 0311c11〕——三解與本論之三層（五欲難斷／宿願女身受記／五礙之說不及受記）逐條相值，惟問端有異：吉藏問作「何故行無生忍後方轉女身」，本論問作「何以方於阿閦佛國乃轉女身」〔T25 0591c23〕——一以行位（無生忍）為節，一以國土（阿閦佛國）為節，二家所立之節不同，並錄不判。末以「阿難問是女何處殖德下，第三、出往因釋得記之由也。」〔X24n0451 0311c12〕收其第三分。
慧影《大智度論疏》（X46n0791）。 為釋本論之唯一古疏，本品有專章：目次作「釋恒伽提婆品第五十九」〔X46n0791 0794b17〕（列於「釋夢中入三昧品第五十八」與「釋學空不證品第六十」之間），正文起〔X46n0791 0900a16〕、迄〔X46n0791 0900c21〕，次品「釋學空不證品第六十」〔X46n0791 0900c22〕起前。其可誌者六。
其一，品名與自身編號之 -1——「第五十八品者，此品以人為名，名為恒伽提婆品。」〔X46n0791 0900a16〕：慧影以「以人為名」釋此品之立目，其用名同本論底本；惟其起句自稱「第五十八品」，與其自身目次之「第五十九」少一。其致此之由，疏文自道：「論將欲釋，故舉之云第五十八品釋論也。」〔X46n0791 0900a19〕——慧影謂所據之論本自標作「第五十八品」，故其行文從之。此與品題校記之「聖石 -1」（第四目）方向同幅而系統各別：彼為大正校記所出之異本品序，此為慧影所據論本之品序，二者不可混為一事，如實分記不強解。又慧影於次品段回稱本品曰「第五十九品者，名為學空不證品。何故次河天品後明於此品？」〔X46n0791 0900c23〕——同一-1 慣性延續，且此處改用「河天」之名；其行文另一處復作「正欲解釋何天女人所以對佛興淨土行願之由」〔X46n0791 0900c07〕，用「何天」——恒伽提婆·河天·何天三名於慧影一疏之內並用，如實誌錄不作統一。
其二，四分科判——「就此品中大有四分：第一、明恒伽女人白佛興淨土行願；第二、明供養於佛；第三、明佛授其記；第四、明其發心行行。」〔X46n0791 0900a20〕：與吉藏之三分（願行成·得受記·出因釋記所由）角度不同——慧影以經文事次四分（興願·供養·授記·發心久近），吉藏以科義三分。二家並列，不判優劣。
其三，論文之所本——「論自釋言：爾時有無量諸人生念興淨土願，但此女發言，故以標首也。」〔X46n0791 0900a22〕：慧影以此繫本論「多有發淨國土願者，但不發言」〔T25 0591c06〕一段，「無量諸人生念」與「多有發…但不發言」義相值而詞不同，繫屬明白（慧影自標「論自釋言」），如實誌錄。
其四，「姊」之釋——「此同西國俗法，故皆喚女人為姉，表無耶心之義也。」〔X46n0791 0900b15〕：慧影以西國俗法釋佛稱「是恒伽提婆姊」〔T25 0591b05〕之「姊」字，並謂其表無邪心之義。本論於此無釋，此為慧影獨出之訓，據實誌其為疏家補義。
其五，劫名·國名·五礙之目——釋「劫名星宿」引《大雲經》：「大雲經言：從此賢劫後有六萬八千劫中空無有佛，過六萬八千劫後始有星宿劫中有五百佛出。」〔X46n0791 0900b16〕；釋「阿閦」：「當生阿閦者，此名為不動，佛國名妙樂，亦名妙善也。」〔X46n0791 0900b21〕；列五礙之目：「五礙者，謂不得作輪王、釋王、摩王、梵王、佛也。」〔X46n0791 0900c17〕——本論言「經說女人五礙」而不列其目〔T25 0591c29〕，慧影於此補列五目，據實誌其出於疏而不出於論。
其六，折薄之訓與供養之物——「爾時此女既得現前授記，五住都盡，而言諸煩惱折薄者，折薄義通，今據餘習為薄也。」〔X46n0791 0900c18〕：慧影以「餘習」定本論「諸煩惱折薄」〔T25 0591c26〕之「薄」字所指，此為疏家於論文之定訓，本論未自定，如實誌其為慧影所立。又釋供養之物：「上經中但言以水陸生華及雨張牒，今此乃云上下衣及身瓔珞，上下衣即是僧伽梨安陀會也。」〔X46n0791 0900c12〕——慧影注意到經文〔T25 0591a24〕與論文〔T25 0591c19〕所列供物不同，並以僧伽梨、安陀會定「上下衣」之所指；論文之異經文，論主自身未作說明，慧影補之，據實誌錄。另引一事以類本品之發言得記：「如勝鬘女人從如來乞記，佛乃授之。此女亦爾，要因發言也」〔X46n0791 0900c09〕。
均正《大乘四論玄義》（X46n0784）·零命中（如實誌）。 本帳 於 X46n0784 全檔獨立回搜「恒伽提婆」「恒伽」「河天」「何天」「金花」「金華」「星宿劫」「阿毘羅提」八串，皆零命中，均正於本品無具名引，如實誌錄負結果。
天台系（T46n1911《摩訶止觀》·T46n1912《止觀輔行傳弘決》·T33n1716《妙法蓮華經玄義》·T33n1717《法華玄義釋籤》）·零命中（如實誌·偽陽性六見已排除）。 本帳 於四檔全檔獨立回搜上列八串，本品品題與人名皆零命中。其間檢出字面命中六處，逐一核實皆屬他事，據實誌其排除：T46n1912「恒伽」三見〔T46 0190a09〕〔T46 0191a06〕〔T46 0191a16〕皆為「比丘名曰恒伽」一段之另一人物；T46n1912「何天」一見〔T46 0247a20〕為「遊何天下」之疑問句；T46n1912「金華」一見〔T46 0408c18〕為「雨真金華瓔珞華」之供物；T33n1717「何天」一見〔T33 0879c06〕為「云何天慧之人」之疑問句。四者與本品之恒伽提婆女及品名皆無涉，不列 witness。
七、互讀與承衍
本品之義脈，前後相承者有四，皆此目所誌，不代定讀。
其一，『微笑義如先說』之前指（逐字查無·如實誌）。 論①釋佛微笑，逕以一語指前文：「微笑義如先說。」〔T25 0591c21〕——所指既標「先說」，當在本論本品以前。本帳 以「微笑義如先說」六字漢字流於 T25n1509 全論獨立重掃，全書一見，即本句自身〔T25 0591c21〕；於 T08n0223 全經亦零命中。本論前文論微笑之處非一，慧影疏於同處指其所在曰「如先說已下七種咲義，如初品中說也」〔X46n0791 0900c16〕——誌其為慧影之指認，不代本論定其所指；逐字之前指據實標闕，不以義近之文充之。
其二，『淨國土行—取淨國土願』之品次承衍（論主自證·硬鏈本論自身）。 論①開卷即自述其承：「如是大眾聞說淨國土行，何以但一女人取淨國土願？」〔T25 0591c05〕——「聞說淨國土行」一語繫前文之淨土一段，本品之發願即承彼而起。慧影疏於此承之所在另有指認：「所以次淨土品後明此品者，上如來既對於海會明淨土行願，今此女人即對於佛興淨土行願，是故經家以為品目。」〔X46n0791 0900a16〕——以「海會之對／一女之對」定兩品之別，誌其為慧影之判，不代前品定讀。本帳 未於本品範圍內逐字掃前品全文，前品之對應段落待彼品考據自誌，據實誌其未展開。
其三，『然燈佛—定光佛』之一佛兩名（本品自身之互讀）。 經①作「然燈佛」五見〔T25 0591b22〕〔T25 0591b25〕〔T25 0591b26〕〔T25 0591b27〕〔T25 0591c02〕，論末作「定光佛」一見〔T25 0592a08〕；校記於「定」字下誌宋元明宮聖石六本皆作「錠」（第八目下帳第三十一條）——即異本作「錠光佛」。經論之內一佛三形（然燈·定光·錠光），前二見於底本正文、後一見於校記，如實誌錄不作統一，亦不判其為同一梵名之異譯抑或傳寫之變——本論未自言其同異，古德二疏於此亦無釋（本帳 於吉藏、慧影本品段逐字回搜「定光」「錠光」皆零命中；慧影於別段言「猶如摩納施定光佛」〔X46n0791 0900b04〕，用「定光」而未論其與「然燈」之關係），據實標闕。
其四，寶庫掛鏈（穩定徵引·軟引）。 本品「名字為識，何足求義」之遮、「隨眾生業因緣」與良藥不擇貴賤之喻、「經說女人五礙，不說不得受記」之斷，與「今得受記，諸煩惱折薄」之轉身次第，為後世論授記與女身之所本，落穩定徵引〔T25n1509 恒伽提婆品·卷七十五〕；諸帙引本論處尚未定稿，故軟引，俟其逐字核存。此屬般若義下貫諸經之承衍，誌錄不判。
八、校本與版本說明
本品底本為《大智度論》卷七十五〔T25 0591a20–0592a15〕（品身正文自品題〔T25 0591a20〕起，終於「今得果報。」句迄〔T25 0592a10〕；卷末題「大智度論卷第七十五」〔T25 0592a12〕在本品範圍之內，次卷卷首題兼次品品題〔T25 0592a15〕前）；所釋經校本為《摩訶般若波羅蜜經》〈河天品〉〔T08 0349b18–0350a04〕；古德疏校本為吉藏《大品經義疏》（X24n0451，覆本品〔X24n0451 0311b14–0311c13〕）與慧影《大智度論疏》（X46n0791，覆本品〔X46n0791 0900a16–0900c21〕）；均正《大乘四論玄義》（X46n0784）本品零命中、天台系四書零命中（見第六目）。書號與書名依底本之 <title>：T25n1509《大智度論》、T08n0223《摩訶般若波羅蜜經》、X24n0451《大品經義疏》、X46n0791《大智度論疏》、X46n0784《大乘四論玄義》、T46n1911《摩訶止觀》、T46n1912《止觀輔行傳弘決》、T33n1716《妙法蓮華經玄義》、T33n1717《法華玄義釋籤》。異讀校記依大正校勘，涉大正底本與宋、元、明、宮、聖、石（石山寺本）諸本之異——本品未見聖乙本、亦未見 CBETA 校訂型（type="add"）條入帳。
品題校記（品名兩造與 -1 階之底據·專列）。 品題〔T25 0591a20〕一注六造——「大智度論釋恒伽提婆品第五十九【大】｜大智論釋河天品第五十九【宋】｜大智度論釋河天品第五十九【元】｜大智論釋河天品第五十九品【宮】｜釋河天品第五十九經作恒伽提婆品【明】｜摩訶般若波羅蜜恒伽提婆品第五十八【聖】【石】」——此即品名兩造與品次 -1 階之底據，如實並錄，不強加調解（析論見第四目）。明本 rdg 末七字「經作恒伽提婆品」於底本之 rdg 內為無括號之連續正文（大正 orig 層計其全題為十五字），本帳原樣錄不加括號，與品五十三明本夾註之帶括號型（「三（經作趣一切智品）【明】」）異，如實分記。底本之 orig 層另帶一句「但論上元本有度字，九字下宮本有品字」，為大正編者就宋元宮三本用字所出之附語，其所指即上列宋元宮三造之異，本帳誌其存在，不另立條。
CBETA 略記體例二條·本帳錄其所指全文（專列）。 其一，品題〔T25 0591a20〕之注，其本讀作「（大智…九）十四字【大】」之略記（指「大智度論釋恒伽提婆品第五十九」十四字，校勘條之字數欄同載十四）；其二，卷末題〔T25 0592a12〕之注，其本讀作「（大智…五）九字【大】」之略記（指「大智度論卷第七十五」九字，字數欄同載九）。二者本帳皆依既有體例（承品四十八卷七十續題、品五十三卷七十一卷末題之處理）逕錄其所指之全文，並於此標明其略記形，俾兩層可互溯。
校記附註（傍註）一條·原樣保留（專列）。 〔T25 0591c08〕「大【大】｜女【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】【石】，但聖本有大或本三字傍註」（下帳第二十三條）——末句非版本讀法，為大正編者誌聖本此處之傍註實況：聖本正文作「女」而其欄外另有「大或本」三字之傍註，即聖本自身亦誌其所據他本作「大」。此為 witness 之內再誌 witness 之例，底本於本條之外另立一枚 type="rest" 之注（其文即「但聖本有大或本三字傍註」，繫 nkr_note_rest_0591023 錨，置於 lemma 之後），本帳依底本原樣保留於同條之內不刪，並於此標明其底本之獨立注身。此條所繫之句即論主「大人有得道分」〔T25 0591c08〕——異本作「女人有得道分」，義遂全變（一為以身分判道分之計，一為以女身判道分之計），而吉藏疏於同處作「諸外道云大人有得道分」〔X24n0451 0311c03〕，用「大」與底本合（見第六目）。三造並錄，不判孰正。
star 六枚·品內二枚·跨品四枚（專列）。 本品範圍內 star anchor 六枚（beg_83c–beg_841），本帳 逐枚解其 corresp 目標並定位所屬品，得品內二枚、跨品四枚——目標分佈：本品〈恒伽提婆品〉二見（note(0591008)〔T25 0591a22〕「掌」一見·note(0591020)〔T25 0591b23〕「所」一見）、品五十七〈燈炷品〉二見（note(0584017)〔T25 0584c13〕一見·note(0585010)〔T25 0585b25〕一見，二者即【經】【論】二枚結構標記之共用注）、品五十八〈夢中入三昧品〉二見（note(0589007)〔T25 0589b10〕「世界」二見共用同一注）。此為既有 witness 組（同一異讀組於文中多處同形字重出共用一注）之連結標記，非本品獨有之義理歧異。又本品範圍內另有四枚編號注自身帶「＊」記而其重引錨不在本品範圍內：〔T25 0591a22〕「掌」、〔T25 0591b22〕「人」、〔T25 0591b23〕「所」、〔T25 0591b28〕「受」——本帳依底本原樣保留其「＊」。star 目標之注文於底本亦帶「＊」記，同依原樣。
校勘總帳（三十五條全量對帳·底本原樣）。 下依底本出現序全量列之，內含 star 六條，隨條標明其 corresp 目標與所屬品。異本讀法並列保存，正文仍從現行底本讀法：
app 條（三十五·底本出現序·star-corresp 隨條標明）
- 〔T25 0591a20〕大智度論釋恒伽提婆品第五十九【大】｜大智論釋河天品第五十九【宋】｜大智度論釋河天品第五十九【元】｜大智論釋河天品第五十九品【宮】｜釋河天品第五十九經作恒伽提婆品【明】｜摩訶般若波羅蜜恒伽提婆品第五十八【聖】【石】（品題一注六造·恒伽提婆／河天兩名系＋明本自標經題＋聖石-1階·底本 lem 為「（大智…九）十四字」之略記·見第四目、上專列）
- 〔T25 0591a21〕【經】【大】＊｜〔－〕【宋】【宮】＊（結構標記存否注·star·corresp→note(0584017)＝品五十七〈燈炷品〉〔T25 0584c13〕注·跨品共用·該注另帶「不分卷【石】」一語·見第一目）
- 〔T25 0591a21〕一【大】｜〔－〕【聖】【石】
- 〔T25 0591a22〕掌【大】＊｜手【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】【石】＊（所釋經側同位底本逕作「手」·其注反作「手【大】，掌【聖】」·兩造互為底本與異讀·見第四目）
- 〔T25 0591a23〕世界【大】＊｜國土【聖】【石】＊（star·corresp→note(0589007)＝品五十八〈夢中入三昧品〉〔T25 0589b10〕注·跨品共用·所釋經側同位底本逕作「國土」·見第四目）
- 〔T25 0591a24〕如【大】｜如佛【宮】【聖】（宮聖二本之讀法即所釋經底本之文·見第四目）
- 〔T25 0591a26〕縷【大】｜鏤【聖】【石】
- 〔T25 0591a26〕疊【大】｜㲲【元】【明】（底本之 rdg 作
<g ref="#CB00626">造字·本帳錄其 CBETA 正字形） - 〔T25 0591a27〕正【大】｜政【聖】｜攻【石】
- 〔T25 0591a28〕功德與【大】｜功功德【元】（底本 note lemma 無標點·工作底本清單與底本 app lem 作「功德，與」）
- 〔T25 0591b04〕掌【大】＊｜手【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】【石】＊（star·corresp→note(0591008)＝本品〔T25 0591a22〕注·品內共用）
- 〔T25 0591b06〕作佛【大】｜佛作【聖】【石】
- 〔T25 0591b10〕國【大】｜國土【聖】【石】
- 〔T25 0591b17〕是【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
- 〔T25 0591b21〕上【大】｜向【聖】【石】
- 〔T25 0591b22〕殖【大】｜植【宋】【元】【明】【宮】（所釋經側同位注作「殖【大】，植【明】」·兩造互印·見第四目）
- 〔T25 0591b22〕人【大】＊｜〔－〕【宋】【元】【明】【宮】＊
- 〔T25 0591b23〕所【大】＊｜〔－〕【宋】【元】【明】【宮】＊
- 〔T25 0591b28〕受【大】＊｜授【元】【明】＊（所釋經側同位注作「受【大】＊，授【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】＊」·兩造互印·見第四目）
- 〔T25 0591c02〕所【大】＊｜〔－〕【宋】【元】【明】【宮】＊（star·corresp→note(0591020)＝本品〔T25 0591b23〕注·品內共用）
- 〔T25 0591c05〕【論】【大】＊｜〔－〕【宋】【宮】＊（結構標記存否注·star·corresp→note(0585010)＝品五十七〈燈炷品〉〔T25 0585b25〕注·跨品共用·見第一目）
- 〔T25 0591c07〕世【大】｜〔－〕【聖】【石】
- 〔T25 0591c08〕大【大】｜女【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】【石】，但聖本有大或本三字傍註（校記附註〔傍註〕原樣保留·底本另立
type="rest"注身·異本作「女人有得道分」義遂全變·吉藏用「大」·見上專列、第六目） - 〔T25 0591c16〕求【大】｜救【宋】【宮】
- 〔T25 0591c16〕女【大】｜女人【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
- 〔T25 0591c23〕人【大】｜人身【聖】【石】
- 〔T25 0592a03〕世界【大】＊｜國土【聖】【石】＊（star·corresp→note(0589007)＝品五十八〔T25 0589b10〕注·跨品共用·與上第五條重出同一 witness 組）
- 〔T25 0592a05〕佛【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
- 〔T25 0592a05〕如【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【宮】
- 〔T25 0592a07〕難【大】｜阿難【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】【石】
- 〔T25 0592a08〕定【大】｜錠【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】【石】（一佛兩名之第三形「錠光」·見第七目）
- 〔T25 0592a09〕彼【大】｜〔－〕【聖】【石】
- 〔T25 0592a10〕受【大】｜授【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】
- 〔T25 0592a10〕報【大】｜報釋第五十八品竟【聖】【石】（聖石品末收束記·-1階第二端證·見第四目）
- 〔T25 0592a12〕大智度論卷第七十五【大】｜大智度經論卷第七十五釋第五十六品下訖第五十八品【聖】（卷末題注·底本 lem 作「（大智…五）九字」之略記·本帳錄其所指九字全文·聖本所標品範圍亦 -1·-1階第三端證·見第四目、上專列）
以上三十五條與工作底本錨點校記之數機械相合（其中編號注二十九條、star 六條），另補 point-anchor 型一條〔T25 0592a11〕「不分卷【石】」合三十六條，star 之目標已隨條標明。品題一注六造、CBETA 略記二條、校記附註一條已於上文專列；本品範圍內之點錨注一條不入此三十五條之帳，已於上文顯式標出。
所釋經 witness 對讀（已展開四處三組·餘未展開·誌闕待補）。 所釋經 T223 側本品對讀範圍〔T08 0349b18–0350a04〕內，本帳 逐條掃得編號注二十一條、star 重引六枚；其與本論校記互印之四處（掌／手·世界／國土·受／授·殖／植）與三組正文互異（如佛之有無·不可稱／不可數·眾惡之有是諸），已逐條誌於第四目。餘條之逐條並錄未展開，據實誌其未展開，待後續補查，不以估值充數。
I. Structural Placement
Within the sequence in which the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa comments on the Larger Sūtra, this chapter belongs to the section of the Commentary on the Remaining Chapters; it lies wholly within Fascicle 75 and is a single unit. The chapter title 「大智度論釋恒伽提婆品第五十九」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Commentary on the Chapter on Gaṅgadevī, the Fifty-ninth"〔T25 0591a20〕 rises directly after the last sentence of the preceding chapter, "Entering Samādhi in a Dream", Chapter 58, 「是故菩薩不應生疲厭心。」 tr. "Therefore the bodhisattva should not give rise to a mind of exhaustion and weariness."〔T25 0591a18〕; at the head of the chapter there is no fascicle title and no signature of author or translator. The chapter body ends at 「從彼種善根，今得果報。」 tr. "From that she planted roots of goodness, and now obtains the fruit."〔T25 0592a10〕; the fascicle-end title 「大智度論卷第七十五」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Fascicle Seventy-five"〔T25 0592a12〕 lies within the range of this chapter—this chapter closes exactly at the end of Fascicle 75, the end of the chapter tied to the end of the fascicle. The fascicle-head title of the next fascicle is the chapter title of the next chapter, 「大智度論釋學空不證品第六十」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Commentary on the Chapter on Training in Emptiness without Realising It, the Sixtieth"〔T25 0592a15〕 (carrying beneath it the interlinear note 「卷七十六」 tr. "Fascicle Seventy-six"), and after it the author's signature 「聖者龍樹造」 tr. "Composed by the noble Nāgārjuna"〔T25 0592a18〕 and the translator's signature 「後秦龜茲國三藏鳩摩羅什譯」 tr. "Translated by Kumārajīva, Tripiṭaka master of Kucha, in the Later Qin"〔T25 0592a19〕 appear again—all three lie outside the range of this unit. This type is the same as that of Chapter 53, "Tending toward Omniscience", ‘lying at the end of a fascicle · the end of the chapter tied to the end of the fascicle’; it differs from the fascicle-crossing type of Chapter 48, "The Mother of the Buddhas", and from that of Chapter 46, "The Deeds of Māra", ‘the title rising at the head of a fascicle · not finished within the fascicle, continuing straight into the next chapter’.
The whole chapter has one thousand two hundred and eighty-one pure Chinese characters (the mechanically recounted value, agreeing with the value recorded in the working text), one of the lightest in length among the several tens of chapters of the Commentary on the Remaining Chapters around it. The structure within the chapter is one 【經】 and one 【論】, a single unit: 【經】〔T25 0591a21〕 and 【論】〔T25 0591c05〕; each of the two structural markers has a collation note, and the Song and Palace editions lack these two markers (full ledger in Section VIII); the notes on the two markers are neither of them native to this chapter, but share, by star, the notes of the two preceding chapters (see the separate listing of stars in Section VIII below). Whether the markers are present belongs to the layer of the base text's transmission; the structural count still follows the labels of the base text.
The number of questions and answers and the structure of speakers: Sūtra ①〔T25 0591a21–0591c04〕 opens with the woman Gaṅgadevī making her vow, 「合掌白佛言」 tr. "joined her palms and said to the Buddha"〔T25 0591a22〕—this is the only time in the whole chapter that the woman speaks aloud; below it the text turns at once to a narrative of questions and answers between the Buddha and Ānanda, and at every change of speaker there is an explicit marker:〔T25 0591b03〕 Ānanda 「合掌白佛」 tr. "joined his palms and said to the Buddha",〔T25 0591b05〕 「佛告阿難」 tr. "the Buddha told Ānanda",〔T25 0591b14〕 Ānanda 「作是念言」 tr. "had this thought",〔T25 0591b16〕 「佛知阿難意所念，告阿難言」 tr. "the Buddha, knowing what Ānanda was thinking in his mind, told Ānanda",〔T25 0591b21〕 Ānanda 「白佛言」 tr. "said to the Buddha",〔T25 0591b22〕 「佛告阿難」 tr. "the Buddha told Ānanda",〔T25 0591c02〕 Ānanda 「白佛言」 tr. "said to the Buddha",〔T25 0591c03〕 「佛言」 tr. "the Buddha said". Among these, the one place〔T25 0591b14〕 is Ānanda's thought in his mind, not spoken aloud (「時，阿難作是念言」 tr. "At that time Ānanda had this thought"), and the Buddha's response is also explicitly marked 「佛知阿難意所念」 tr. "the Buddha, knowing what Ānanda was thinking in his mind"〔T25 0591b16〕; it is judged directly by the explicit text of the base text and is not an uncertain item. Treatise ①〔T25 0591c05–0592a10〕 has no marker 「釋曰」 tr. "Explanation" opening the treatise, and enters directly with 「問曰：」 tr. "Question:"—a different type from Treatise ② of Chapter 53, which opens the treatise with 「釋曰」 tr. "Explanation"; this belongs to the style of this chapter and is recorded as it is. The formal questions and answers are three pairs (this apparatus recounted them independently, word by word, in the stream of Chinese characters; the questions and the answers both give three, in agreement): first, explaining why one woman alone took up the vow of a pure land〔T25 0591c05／0591c06〕; second, explaining the meaning of the name 「恒伽提婆」 tr. "Gaṅgadevī"〔T25 0591c14／0591c15〕; third, explaining why she turns her woman's body only in the land of Akṣobhya Buddha〔T25 0591c23／0591c24〕. 「有人言」 tr. "Someone says" has three appearances (recounted independently, giving three):〔T25 0591c08〕 「復次，有人言」 tr. "Furthermore, someone says",〔T25 0591c16〕, and〔T25 0591c27〕—in contrast with the zero appearances in the whole of Chapters 52 and 53; in this chapter's treatise, all three groups of questions and answers each cite a divergent view side by side. 「復次」 tr. "Furthermore" also appears three times〔T25 0591c08〕〔T25 0591c12〕〔T25 0591c29〕. The last passage〔T25 0592a01–0592a10〕 is not question and answer: it is the treatise-author's restatement, in third-person narrative, of the questions and answers of the sūtra (「是故阿難歎未曾有」 tr. "therefore Ānanda exclaimed at what had never been before", 「是故難問」 tr. "therefore he raised the question", 「佛答」 tr. "the Buddha answered"), and is not counted in the number of question-and-answer pairs.
One doctrinal axis runs through the sūtra and the treatise: the woman makes her vow · the Buddha gives the prediction · turning the woman's body. Sūtra ① narrates the scattering of flowers and the making of the vow, the Buddha smiling and emitting light, the prediction of the Buddha Golden Flower, and traces back to the first arousing of the mind at the place of Dīpaṃkara Buddha; Treatise ① explains item by item why it is so—why this woman alone spoke aloud, why she is called Gaṅgadevī, why, having long accumulated merit, she turns her woman's body only then—and gathers it up at the end with the origin in the prediction of Dīpaṃkara Buddha.
II. Terms Examined
Gaṅgadevī · River Goddess (the general name of this chapter). The chapter name has two forms: one is a transliteration of the Sanskrit sound, the other its translation by meaning. The treatise-author himself gives its gloss: 「有人言：是女父母供養恒伽神，得此女故，言恒伽提婆。恒伽是河名，提婆名天。」 tr. "Someone says: this woman's father and mother made offerings to the spirit of the Gaṅgā, and obtained this daughter, and so she is called Gaṅgadevī. Gaṅgā is the name of a river; devī means a deity."〔T25 0591c16〕—「恒伽」 tr. "Gaṅgā" is glossed as river and 「提婆」 tr. "devī" as goddess, so 「河天」 tr. "River Goddess" is the translation by meaning of 「恒伽提婆」 tr. "Gaṅgadevī": two names, one reality. But before giving this gloss the treatise-author first sets up a more fundamental judgement: 「一切皆有名字，為識故，何足求義？」 tr. "Everything has a name, for the sake of recognition; why go looking for a meaning?"〔T25 0591c15〕—the use of a name lies in recognition, and there is no need to force out its meaning; the passage 「有人言」 tr. "someone says" preserves a divergent view and is not a settled gloss; the treatise-author has already himself negated its necessity beforehand. For the distribution of the two names among the editions and commentaries (the base text, the sūtra explained, Jizang, and Huiying each take one), see Sections IV and VI.
The two written forms of the name Golden Flower (both forms used side by side within one chapter). For the Buddha-name given in the prediction, within the range of this chapter the base text has 「金花」 tr. "Golden Flower" six times〔T25 0591b06〕〔T25 0591b09〕〔T25 0591b12〕〔T25 0591b17〕〔T25 0591b18〕〔T25 0591b20〕 and 「金華」 tr. "Golden Flower (variant written form)" four times〔T25 0591b09〕〔T25 0591b14〕〔T25 0591b25〕〔T25 0592a09〕 (obtained by this apparatus in a word-by-word rescan of the base text), and the two forms appear side by side, next to each other—within the one sentence 「是菩薩在彼國土，亦號金花。是金華菩薩於彼壽終」 tr. "This bodhisattva in that land is also called Golden Flower. This bodhisattva Golden Flower (variant written form) ends his life there"〔T25 0591b08〕 the two forms appear one after the other. On the side of the sūtra explained, T223, within the range of this chapter it is entirely 「金華」 tr. "Golden Flower (variant written form)", nine times, and 「金花」 tr. "Golden Flower", zero times (rescanned by the same method). This belongs to an unevenness in the use of characters at the layer of the base text, not a doctrinal divergence; neither form has a collation note to rely on; recorded as it is, without unifying.
Receiving the prediction · giving the prediction. Within the range of this chapter the base text has 「受記」 tr. "receive the prediction" ten times and 「授記」 tr. "give the prediction" zero times (obtained by rescanning); the Buddha's granting of the prediction and the woman's obtaining of it both use the character 「受」 tr. "receive"; only at one place in the last passage is it written 「定光佛授我記時」 tr. "when Dīpaṃkara Buddha gave me the prediction"〔T25 0592a08〕—the three characters 「授我記」 tr. "gave me the prediction" are written apart, not the single word 「授記」 tr. "give the prediction". The collation notes, for their part, record the two readings 「受／授」 tr. "receive / give" at three places:〔T25 0591b28〕 the Yuan and Ming read 「授」 tr. "give", and〔T25 0592a10〕 the Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace, and Shōgozō read 「授」 tr. "give" (see Section VIII); on the side of the sūtra explained the same mechanism is also seen at〔T08 0349c27〕, the note reading 「受【大】＊，授【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】＊」 tr. "receive in the Taishō *; give in the Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace, and Shōgozō *", the two formations attesting each other (see Section IV).
Sister. The Buddha calls this woman 「是恒伽提婆姊」 tr. "this sister Gaṅgadevī"〔T25 0591b05〕, and the sūtra explained is the same〔T08 0349c04〕. The treatise-author gives no explanation here; Huiying's commentary gives one interpretation, see Section VI.
Ending the woman's body · turning the woman's body. The sūtra text reads 「是女人畢女身，受男子形，當生阿閦佛阿毘羅提國土，於彼淨修梵行。」 tr. "This woman ends her woman's body and receives the form of a man, and will be born in Abhirati, the land of Akṣobhya Buddha, and there purely cultivate the pure conduct."〔T25 0591b07〕—「畢」 tr. "ends" means to exhaust: that is, the woman's body comes to its end here. The treatise-author sets up the heading of his question and answer with 「轉女身」 tr. "turning the woman's body": 「是女福德應久轉女人，何以方於阿閦佛國乃轉女身？」 tr. "By her merit this woman should long ago have turned from being a woman; why does she turn her woman's body only in the land of Akṣobhya Buddha?"〔T25 0591c23〕, and answers with 「世間五欲難斷，女人著欲情多故，雖世世行諸福德，不能得男子身」 tr. "The five desires of the world are hard to sever; because a woman's clinging to desire and passion is much, though life after life she practises the various merits, she cannot obtain a man's body"〔T25 0591c24〕 and 「今得受記，諸煩惱折薄，是故於阿閦佛國方得男子身。」 tr. "Now, having received the prediction, her afflictions are broken and thinned; therefore in the land of Akṣobhya Buddha she at last obtains a man's body."〔T25 0591c26〕—what the turning of the body waits on is the breaking and thinning of the afflictions, not the amount of merit.
The five obstacles of women. The treatise-author at the end uses this to subdue doubt: 「復次，經說女人五礙，不說不得受記，是故不應生難。」 tr. "Furthermore, the sūtra speaks of the five obstacles of women; it does not say that they cannot receive the prediction; therefore one should not raise the difficulty."〔T25 0591c29〕—the teaching of the five obstacles and the matter of obtaining the prediction are not one matter; the sūtra has the text on the five obstacles but no text saying 「女人不得受記」 tr. "women cannot receive the prediction", so the difficulty does not stand. The treatise-author does not list the items of the five obstacles here; their items are found in Huiying's commentary (Section VI).
The smile. Sūtra ①: 「爾時，世尊知是女人深心因緣，即時微笑。」 tr. "At that time the World-Honored One, knowing the causes and conditions of this woman's deep mind, at once smiled."〔T25 0591a29〕; the treatise explains its reason: 「佛報以受記，觀是女人宿世所行，便微笑。微笑義如先說。此中小因緣而起大事，故佛微笑。」 tr. "The Buddha, repaying her with the prediction, contemplated this woman's conduct in former lives, and so smiled. The meaning of the smile is as explained before. Here a small cause and condition gives rise to a great matter; therefore the Buddha smiled."〔T25 0591c20〕—「微笑義如先說」 tr. "The meaning of the smile is as explained before" is the treatise-author's own phrase pointing to the preceding text; this apparatus records in Section VII the actual state of the check of this back-reference.
The kalpa Constellation · the land Abhirati of Akṣobhya Buddha. The two items of the time and the place of the prediction. The kalpa name: 「劫名星宿，佛號金花」 tr. "the kalpa will be named Constellation, and the Buddha will be called Golden Flower"〔T25 0591b06〕; the land name: 「當生阿閦佛阿毘羅提國土」 tr. "will be born in Abhirati, the land of Akṣobhya Buddha"〔T25 0591b07〕. The treatise-author gives no explanation of the two names; Huiying's commentary gives an explanation of each (Section VI).
III. Similes and Stories
This chapter is light in length: one simile is set up in the sūtra and one in the treatise, and in addition there is one passage of the Buddha's own account of a former life.
The simile of the wheel-turning sage king going from pavilion to pavilion (carrying on the meaning of 「不離諸佛」 tr. "not apart from the buddhas"). Sūtra ①, explaining the mark of the bodhisattva Golden Flower meeting buddhas life after life, gives a simile: 「譬如轉輪聖王，從一觀至一觀，從生至終，足不蹈地。」 tr. "It is like a wheel-turning sage king who goes from one pavilion to another pavilion, and from birth to the end his feet do not tread the ground."〔T25 0591b11〕—wherever the wheel-king goes, from one pavilion to another there is always something bearing him up, and his feet never tread the ground; the bodhisattva, from one buddha-land to another buddha-land, is likewise never apart from the buddhas. The eye of the simile lies in the four Chinese characters 「足不蹈地」 tr. "his feet do not tread the ground": it is not that he goes quickly; it is that he never lands at all on ground where there is no buddha. The sūtra explained has the same text, only the punctuation differs slightly〔T08 0349c09〕.
The simile of good medicine that does not choose between the noble and the base (carrying on the meaning of 「佛法不然」 tr. "the Buddha's Dharma is not so"). Treatise ①, refuting the view 「大人有得道分，餘人無分」 tr. "great persons have a share in attaining the path, and the rest have none", gives a very plain simile: 「譬如良藥療治諸病，不擇貴賤。」 tr. "As good medicine cures the various illnesses without choosing between the noble and the base."〔T25 0591c09〕—medicine's curing of illness does not ask whether the one who takes it is noble or base; the Dharma's bringing about the attainment of the path does not ask whether the one who practises it is great or small. The view refuted and the meaning established both lie within this one simile. Jizang's commentary at the same place ties this view to 「諸外道云」 tr. "the outside paths say", which differs in attribution from the treatise-author's 「有人言」 tr. "someone says"; see Section VI.
The past-life story of the five flowers at the place of Dīpaṃkara Buddha (the Buddha's own account · not a simile). Sūtra ① traces back the beginning of this woman's arousing of the mind, and the Buddha also gives his own account of his own cause: 「如我爾時以五華散然燈佛上，求阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」 tr. "As I at that time scattered five flowers over Dīpaṃkara Buddha, seeking anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi."〔T25 0591b26〕, 「然燈佛知我善根成就，與我受阿耨多羅三藐三菩提記。」 tr. "Dīpaṃkara Buddha, knowing that my roots of goodness were accomplished, gave me the prediction of anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi."〔T25 0591b27〕; and this woman made her vow precisely because she heard of the Buddha's receiving the prediction: 「是女人聞我受記，發心言：『我當來世亦如是菩薩，得受阿耨多羅三藐三菩提記。』」 tr. "This woman, hearing that I received the prediction, aroused the mind, saying: ‘In the age to come I too, like this bodhisattva, shall receive the prediction of anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi.’"〔T25 0591b28〕. At the end of the treatise the matter is restated, and Dīpaṃkara Buddha is instead called 「定光佛」 tr. "Dīpaṃkara Buddha (rendered ‘Fixed Light’)": 「定光佛授我記時，是女人持金華散佛，彼作是願：『此人後成佛時，亦當受與我記。』從彼種善根，今得果報。」 tr. "When Dīpaṃkara Buddha gave me the prediction, this woman, holding golden flowers, scattered them over the Buddha, and she made this vow: ‘When this person later becomes a Buddha, may he also give the prediction to me.’ From that she planted roots of goodness, and now obtains the fruit."〔T25 0592a08〕—the sūtra has 「然燈」 tr. "Dīpaṃkara (rendered ‘Lamp-lighting’)" and the end of the treatise has 「定光」 tr. "Dīpaṃkara (rendered ‘Fixed Light’)": two translated names of the same Buddha used together within one chapter; the collation note under the character 「定」 tr. "fixed" records that the six texts of the Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace, Shōgozō, and Ishiyama all read 「錠」 tr. "lamp" (Section VIII); recorded as it is, without unifying. This passage is not a simile; it is the Buddha's own account of a former life and what this woman's vow is tied to; the root of the one matter of the prediction in this chapter lies here.
IV. The Sūtra Passage Explained
The network of the two forms of the chapter name: Gaṅgadevī / River Goddess (recorded side by side without judgement). The two forms of this chapter's name are recorded one by one according to the base text.
The first, Gaṅgadevī—the chapter title of the base text of this treatise〔T25 0591a20〕, 「大智度論釋恒伽提婆品第五十九」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Commentary on the Chapter on Gaṅgadevī, the Fifty-ninth"; the Shōgozō and Ishiyama texts read 「摩訶般若波羅蜜恒伽提婆品第五十八」 tr. "Chapter on Mahāprajñāpāramitā, Gaṅgadevī, the Fifty-eighth" (the sūtra-title style · the -1 step · the name used being the same as the base text).
The second, River Goddess—the Song edition of this treatise reads 「大智論釋河天品第五十九」 tr. "Great Treatise, Commentary on the Chapter on the River Goddess, the Fifty-ninth", the Yuan edition reads 「大智度論釋河天品第五十九」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Commentary on the Chapter on the River Goddess, the Fifty-ninth", the Palace edition reads 「大智論釋河天品第五十九品」 tr. "Great Treatise, Commentary on the Chapter on the River Goddess, the Fifty-ninth chapter", and the Ming edition reads 「釋河天品第五十九經作恒伽提婆品」 tr. "Commentary on the Chapter on the River Goddess, the Fifty-ninth; the sūtra has Chapter on Gaṅgadevī" (these fifteen characters are the full text of the Ming edition's chapter title, and the last seven characters are the title of the sūtra explained as marked by the Ming edition itself; within the rdg of the base text there are no brackets; this apparatus records it as it stands; see Section VIII). The chapter title on the side of the sūtra explained, T223,〔T08 0349b18〕 reads in the base text 「河天」 tr. "River Goddess" chapter, the Fifty-ninth, and its cb:mulu likewise reads 「59 河天品」 tr. "59 Chapter on the River Goddess". Jizang's commentary uses this same name both in its table of contents, 「河天品第五十九」 tr. "Chapter on the River Goddess, the Fifty-ninth"〔X24n0451 0195c02〕, and in the structural divisions of its main text.
What the Ming edition's interlinear note 「經作恒伽提婆品」 tr. "the sūtra has Chapter on Gaṅgadevī" points to (collation of the two sides · the two formations attesting each other). The Ming edition, within its chapter title, gives as an interlinear note the title of the sūtra explained as 「恒伽提婆品」 tr. "Chapter on Gaṅgadevī"—this apparatus checked back word by word on the side of the sūtra explained: the note on the T223 chapter title〔T08 0349b18〕 reads 「河天【大】，恒伽提婆【宋】【元】【明】【宮】，摩訶般若波羅蜜經恒伽提婆【聖】」 tr. "River Goddess in the Taishō; Gaṅgadevī in the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Palace; Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra, Gaṅgadevī, in the Shōgozō", that is, the chapter titles of the five texts of T223 itself, the Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace, and Shōgozō, all read 「恒伽提婆」 tr. "Gaṅgadevī"; moreover, within the main text of T223's base text the woman is twice called directly by the name 「恒伽提婆」 tr. "Gaṅgadevī"—「爾時有女人字恒伽提婆，在眾中坐。」 tr. "At that time there was a woman named Gaṅgadevī, seated in the assembly."〔T08 0349b19〕 and 「是恒伽提婆姊，未來世中當作佛，劫名星宿，佛號金華。」 tr. "This sister Gaṅgadevī will in a future age become a Buddha; the kalpa will be named Constellation, and the Buddha will be called Golden Flower (variant written form)."〔T08 0349c04〕 (this apparatus rescanned the T08 base text word by word: within the range of this chapter 「恒伽提婆」 tr. "Gaṅgadevī" appears twice and 「河天」 tr. "River Goddess" twice, these two both lying in the chapter title and the mulu, with zero in the main text). So the Ming edition's interlinear note has grounds: the chapter title of the sūtra explained reads 「恒伽提婆品」 tr. "Chapter on Gaṅgadevī" in most of the variant texts, and its main text also uses this name directly; 「河天」 tr. "River Goddess" is seen only in the one layer of the chapter title of T223's base text. This is the actual state of 「一經之內品題與正文兩名並用」 tr. "within one sūtra, the chapter title and the main text use two names together"; recorded as it is, without judging which is the settled reading of T223.
The -1 step of the chapter number (Shōgozō and Ishiyama · at three ends: head, middle, and end). The chapter titles of the Shōgozō and Ishiyama texts of this treatise read 「第五十八」 tr. "the Fifty-eighth", one less than the base text's chapter order 「第五十九」 tr. "the Fifty-ninth", continuing chapter by chapter from Chapter 44 onward, in the same direction and by the same amount—the chain of the -1 step continues in this chapter without a break. Within the range of this chapter the -1 step is seen at two further ends: first, the note on the character 「報」 tr. "fruit" at the end of the chapter, where the Shōgozō and Ishiyama texts read 「報釋第五十八品竟【聖】【石】」 tr. "fruit; end of the commentary on the fifty-eighth chapter, in the Shōgozō and Ishiyama"〔T25 0592a10〕 (entry thirty-four of the ledger in Section VIII below), that is, the closing record at the end of the chapter is also marked 「五十八」 tr. "fifty-eight"; second, the note on the fascicle-end title, where the Shōgozō reads 「大智度經論卷第七十五釋第五十六品下訖第五十八品【聖】」 tr. "Great Wisdom-Crossing Sūtra-Treatise, Fascicle Seventy-five, commentary from the last part of the fifty-sixth chapter to the fifty-eighth chapter, in the Shōgozō"〔T25 0592a12〕 (entry thirty-five of the ledger below); the range of chapters it marks (the last part of fifty-six to fifty-eight) is, by the same amount, one less than the actual range (fifty-seven to fifty-nine). The chapter title, the end of the chapter, and the fascicle-end title—three ends, by the same amount—a more complete attestation than the two ends of Chapter 53; not a solitary proof.
The +1 offset of the n attribute of the T223 mulu (continuing). On the side of the sūtra explained, T223, the cb:mulu of this chapter is marked n="60" while the displayed text is marked 「59 河天品」 tr. "59 Chapter on the River Goddess"〔T08 0349b18〕—the +1 offset of the n attribute has been seen repeatedly since Chapter 41 and continues in this chapter (following the standing style already recorded at Chapter 48; not judged again). On the side of this treatise the cb:mulu is marked n="59" and the displayed text 「59 恒伽提婆品」 tr. "59 Chapter on Gaṅgadevī", with no offset.
On the T223 side the chapter boundary is not tied to a fascicle boundary. This chapter of the sūtra explained begins〔T08 0349b18〕 and ends〔T08 0350a04〕, and the next chapter, "Not Realising", Chapter 60,〔T08 0350a05〕 rises directly after it, its chapter title carrying the interlinear note 「丹學空不證品」 tr. "the Khitan edition has Chapter on Training in Emptiness without Realising It"; this chapter lies wholly within a fascicle of the sūtra explained and does not touch a fascicle boundary. On the side of this treatise, by contrast, this chapter closes exactly at the end of a fascicle (Section I)—the two transmissions do not agree on the fascicle boundary at this chapter, the opposite of the rare coincidence at Chapter 53; recorded as it is; the fascicle numbers of the two sides do not belong to one system of fascicle division in the first place, and they are not taken as one matter.
Full comparative reading of the cited sūtra (collation of the two sides · the collation notes of the two formations attesting each other). Sūtra ① of this treatise and the "River Goddess" chapter of the sūtra explained are nearly identical word for word; their differences are all small, and at four places the collation notes of the two formations attest each other:
① palm / hand—this treatise reads 「合掌白佛言」 tr. "joined her palms and said to the Buddha"〔T25 0591a22〕 and 「合掌白佛」 tr. "joined his palms and said to the Buddha"〔T25 0591b04〕, and the notes on both read 「掌【大】＊，手【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】【石】＊」 tr. "palm in the Taishō *; hand in the Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace, Shōgozō, and Ishiyama *" (entries four and eleven of the ledger below); at the same place on the T223 side the base text reads 「手」 tr. "hand" directly〔T08 0349b20〕〔T08 0349c02〕, and its notes read, conversely, 「手【大】，掌【聖】」 tr. "hand in the Taishō; palm in the Shōgozō"〔T08 0349b20〕 and 「手【大】，掌【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】」 tr. "hand in the Taishō; palm in the Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace, and Shōgozō"〔T08 0349c02〕. The collation notes of the two formations form exactly a mirror image: the reading of this treatise's base text (palm) is precisely the reading of T223's variant texts, and the reading of T223's base text (hand) is precisely the reading of this treatise's variant texts.
② world / land—this treatise reads 「取淨佛世界」 tr. "take up a pure buddha-world"〔T25 0591a23〕 and 「當來得淨佛世界」 tr. "in the time to come obtain a pure buddha-world"〔T25 0592a03〕, and the notes on both read 「世界【大】＊，國土【聖】【石】＊」 tr. "world in the Taishō *; land in the Shōgozō and Ishiyama *" (entries five and twenty-seven of the ledger below · the same star witness group); at the same place the T223 side reads directly 「取淨佛國土。」 tr. "take up a pure buddha-land."〔T08 0349b21〕, that is, the reading of T223's base text is precisely the reading of the two texts of the Shōgozō and Ishiyama of this treatise.
③ receive / give—this treatise's note at〔T25 0591b28〕 reads 「受【大】＊，授【元】【明】＊」 tr. "receive in the Taishō *; give in the Yuan and Ming *", and at〔T25 0592a10〕 reads 「受【大】，授【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】」 tr. "receive in the Taishō; give in the Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace, and Shōgozō" (entries nineteen and thirty-three of the ledger below); at the same place on the T223 side〔T08 0349c27〕 the note reads 「受【大】＊，授【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】＊」 tr. "receive in the Taishō *; give in the Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace, and Shōgozō *"—the same group of variant readings recorded together in the collation notes of each of the two canons.
④ plant / plant (two written forms)—this treatise's note at〔T25 0591b22〕 reads 「殖【大】，植【宋】【元】【明】【宮】」 tr. "plant in the Taishō; plant (the other written form) in the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Palace" (entry sixteen of the ledger below); at the same place on the T223 side〔T08 0349c21〕 the note reads 「殖【大】，植【明】」 tr. "plant in the Taishō; plant (the other written form) in the Ming"—both formations record this difference; only the number of texts they tie it to differs.
All four places are recorded together in the collation notes of each of the two canons; this is not the weak judgement of searching one text with the words of another.
Differences in the main text of the two formations (not at the layer of the collation notes). There are another three places that are differences in the main text of the two texts themselves, which the collation notes do not touch: where this treatise reads 「如般若波羅蜜中所說」 tr. "as is said in prajñāpāramitā"〔T25 0591a24〕, T223 reads 「如佛般若波羅蜜中所說」 tr. "as is said in the Buddha's prajñāpāramitā" (with one more character, 「佛」 tr. "Buddha")〔T08 0349b22〕—but this treatise's note at this place reads 「如【大】，如佛【宮】【聖】」 tr. "as in the Taishō; as … the Buddha's in the Palace and Shōgozō" (entry six of the ledger below), the two texts of the Palace and Shōgozō thus agreeing with T223's base text, so this difference too has a collation note to tie it to; where this treatise reads 「不可數不可數」 tr. "cannot be counted, cannot be counted"〔T25 0591b18〕, T223 reads 「不可稱不可數」 tr. "cannot be weighed, cannot be counted"〔T08 0349c18〕, and on the T223 side there are besides the two notes 「稱【大】，數【宋】【元】【明】【宮】」 tr. "weighed in the Taishō; counted in the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Palace" and 「數【大】，稱【宋】【元】【明】【宮】」 tr. "counted in the Taishō; weighed in the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Palace", exchanged with each other〔T08 0349c18〕, while on this treatise's side there is no note; where this treatise reads 「其國土無有是諸眾惡」 tr. "in that land there are none of these various evils"〔T25 0591b20〕, T223's base text reads 「其國土無有眾惡」 tr. "in that land there are no evils", and its note records 「有【大】，有是諸【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】」 tr. "there are in the Taishō; there are … these various in the Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace, and Shōgozō"〔T08 0349c20〕—the added words of T223's variant texts are precisely the text of this treatise's base text, and put together they make it whole; recorded as it is.
Control group (seven strings · each unique in each of the two canons · unique in correspondence). 「女人，字恒伽提婆，在眾中坐。」 tr. "a woman named Gaṅgadevī, seated in the assembly."〔T25 0591a21〕 / T223 reads 「爾時有女人字恒伽提婆，在眾中坐。」 tr. "At that time there was a woman named Gaṅgadevī, seated in the assembly."〔T08 0349b19〕; 「世尊！我當行六波羅蜜，取淨佛世界」 tr. "World-Honored One! I shall practise the six perfections and take up a pure buddha-world"〔T25 0591a23〕 / T223 reads 「世尊！我當行六波羅蜜，取淨佛國土。」 tr. "World-Honored One! I shall practise the six perfections and take up a pure buddha-land."〔T08 0349b21〕; 「以散佛上；散已，於佛頂上虛空中化成四柱寶臺，端正嚴好。」 tr. "and scattered them over the Buddha; when she had scattered them, in the space above the Buddha's head they turned into a jewelled terrace with four pillars, upright and finely adorned."〔T25 0591a26〕 / T223 reads 「以散佛上。散已，於佛頂上虛空中化成四柱寶臺，端正嚴好。」 tr. "and scattered them over the Buddha. When she had scattered them, in the space above the Buddha's head they turned into a jewelled terrace with four pillars, upright and finely adorned."〔T08 0349b24〕; 「是恒伽提婆姊未來世中當作佛，劫名星宿」 tr. "this sister Gaṅgadevī will in a future age become a Buddha; the kalpa will be named Constellation"〔T25 0591b05〕 / T223 reads 「是恒伽提婆姊，未來世中當作佛，劫名星宿」 tr. "this sister Gaṅgadevī will in a future age become a Buddha; the kalpa will be named Constellation"〔T08 0349c04〕; 「譬如轉輪聖王，從一觀至一觀，從生至終」 tr. "It is like a wheel-turning sage king who goes from one pavilion to another pavilion, from birth to the end"〔T25 0591b11〕 / T223 reads 「譬如轉輪聖王，從一觀至一觀，從生至終足不蹈地。」 tr. "It is like a wheel-turning sage king who goes from one pavilion to another pavilion, and from birth to the end his feet do not tread the ground."〔T08 0349c09〕; 「是女人從何處殖德本、種善根？」 tr. "Where did this woman plant roots of virtue and sow roots of goodness?"〔T25 0591b21〕 /〔T08 0349c21〕; 「如我爾時以五華散然燈佛上，求阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」 tr. "As I at that time scattered five flowers over Dīpaṃkara Buddha, seeking anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi."〔T25 0591b26〕 /〔T08 0349c25〕. The streams of Chinese characters of these seven strings are each unique in the whole treatise T25n1509 and in the whole sūtra T08n0223 (this apparatus rescanned each string independently in the base texts of the two canons by the full-text method, not transcribed from elsewhere), unique in correspondence, with no other chapter to confuse them with. Recorded besides is one group that is not unique, to attest the method itself: the stream of Chinese characters 「是女人久習行阿耨多羅三藐三菩提」 tr. "this woman has long trained in anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi" appears twice in the whole of this treatise〔T25 0591c02〕〔T25 0591c03〕 and also twice in the whole of the sūtra explained〔T08 0350a02〕〔T08 0350a03〕—the counts in the two canons are equal, and all lie within this chapter (caused by the same sentence recurring in a question and an answer of the sūtra text); it is recorded as it is that it is not unique, and it is not used as a control group. Judged 「同品異名」 tr. "same chapter, different name" (the chapter body nearly identical word for word; the difference of the two forms of the chapter name as above). The one 【論】 layer of this treatise is a structural expansion of the treatise form; the sūtra explained has no such layer; it is not a variant text. Within the scope of the comparative reading on the T223 side for this chapter〔T08 0349b18–0350a04〕, this apparatus has scanned entry by entry twenty-one numbered notes and six star repeated citations; the four places and the three groups of mutual text among them that attest this treatise have been recorded as above; the remaining entries were not unfolded entry by entry; the fact that they were not unfolded is recorded as it is, and no estimate is used to fill the number.
The Sanskrit-name note on the side of the sūtra explained (its existence recorded · not taken as grounds). Under the four characters 「恒伽提婆」 tr. "Gaṅgadevī" at T223〔T08 0349b19〕 there is tied a further note of type="foreign", whose text is the IAST 「Gaṅgādevā.」 tr. "Gaṅgādevā."—this belongs to the modern phonetic layer added by the Taishō editors, not to a Sanskrit source transmitted by the ancient masters; this apparatus records its existence and does not take it as grounds for the Sanskrit source; the gloss of the Sanskrit name in this chapter relies only on the treatise-author's own 「恒伽是河名，提婆名天。」 tr. "Gaṅgā is the name of a river; devī means a deity."〔T25 0591c17〕 (Section II).
V. The Prajñā Eye
The eye of this chapter lies in the one character 「記」 tr. "prediction"—the prediction is not a reward for services rendered; it is the seal of ripened occasion; and whether the occasion is ripe or not lies not in the marks of the body, male or female, but in clinging or not clinging. Its meaning can be summed up in four layers.
First, speaking aloud is no small matter; it is the mark of ripened occasion. The great assembly alike heard the practice of purifying the land taught; why did this one woman alone take up the vow? The treatise-author's answer makes no praise or blame, and gives only two layers of fact: 「多有發淨國土願者，但不發言；女人性輕躁好勝，世世習氣故發言。」 tr. "Many made the vow of a pure land, but did not speak it aloud; a woman's nature is light and impulsive and fond of winning, and because of the habitual residues of life after life she spoke aloud."〔T25 0591c06〕—those who made the vow were many, the one who spoke aloud was one; the cause of her speaking aloud the treatise-author attributes directly to habitual residue, without embellishment. And it is precisely this unembellished sentence that takes 「得記」 tr. "obtaining the prediction" and 「德高」 tr. "high virtue" apart: speaking aloud is habitual residue, while obtaining the prediction is real ripeness of occasion. With the turn of the ‘furthermore’ below it, the meaning comes fully out: 「大人有得道分，餘人無分；佛法不然，隨眾生業因緣。」 tr. "Great persons have a share in attaining the path, and the rest have none. The Buddha's Dharma is not so; it follows the beings' causes and conditions of deeds."〔T25 0591c08〕—the outside view judges a share in the path by status; the Buddha's Dharma judges by the causes and conditions of deeds; 「譬如良藥療治諸病，不擇貴賤。」 tr. "As good medicine cures the various illnesses without choosing between the noble and the base."〔T25 0591c09〕. Therefore 「雖復女人淺智，而先世業因緣，應得受記」 tr. "Though this woman is of shallow wisdom, yet by the causes and conditions of deeds in former lives she should receive the prediction"〔T25 0591c10〕—「淺智」 tr. "shallow wisdom" and 「應得受記」 tr. "should receive the prediction" stand side by side in one sentence and do not hinder each other: this is the sentence in this chapter that least allows vagueness.
Second, the Buddha gives the prediction because she herself spoke, to cut off doubt and not to repay her words. The treatise-author's third turn brings out a very practical reason: 「復次，若佛默然與受記者，人則生疑」 tr. "Furthermore, if the Buddha were to give the prediction in silence, people would give rise to doubt"〔T25 0591c12〕—were the prediction given in silence, people could not fathom its cause, and the mind of doubt would at once arise; 「是故佛因其自說故而與受記。」 tr. "therefore the Buddha gave her the prediction because she herself had spoken."〔T25 0591c13〕. That the prediction needs a public occasion is not to repay that one sentence; it is to let all who see it see where it comes from. This stands as outside and inside with the sūtra text 「世尊知是女人深心因緣，即時微笑。」 tr. "The World-Honored One, knowing the causes and conditions of this woman's deep mind, at once smiled."〔T25 0591a29〕: what the Buddha knows is the causes and conditions of her deep mind; what the assembly sees is the scattering of flowers and the speaking aloud—the publicness of the prediction serves precisely to join what is seen with what is known. The treatise-author's explanation of the smile is of the same intent: 「此中小因緣而起大事，故佛微笑。」 tr. "Here a small cause and condition gives rise to a great matter; therefore the Buddha smiled."〔T25 0591c22〕—the small cause and condition is what the assembly sees; the great matter is what the Buddha knows.
Third, a name is for recognition; there is no need to seek its meaning. The second group of question and answer is the shortest, and negates most thoroughly: 「一切皆有名字，為識故，何足求義？」 tr. "Everything has a name, for the sake of recognition; why go looking for a meaning?"〔T25 0591c15〕—a name, as a name, lies only in enabling recognition; the question 「何以名為『恒伽提婆』」 tr. "Why is she called ‘Gaṅgadevī’?" is, within prajñā, not in itself a question that must be answered. Only once the answer has been set up does the treatise-author bring out the divergent view: 「有人言：是女父母供養恒伽神，得此女故，言恒伽提婆。恒伽是河名，提婆名天。」 tr. "Someone says: this woman's father and mother made offerings to the spirit of the Gaṅgā, and obtained this daughter, and so she is called Gaṅgadevī. Gaṅgā is the name of a river; devī means a deity."〔T25 0591c16〕—first negate, then preserve; the order may not be reversed: if the etymological gloss were given first and negated afterwards, the gloss would become the master; now that it is negated first and given afterwards, the gloss is merely one account that may or may not be kept. The coexistence of the two forms of the chapter name (Section IV) is, under this meaning, no problem either—since a name is for recognition, River Goddess and Gaṅgadevī are of themselves neither higher nor lower.
Fourth, turning the body waits on the breaking and thinning of the afflictions; obtaining the prediction does not wait on turning the body. The third group of question and answer is the place of greatest doctrinal weight in this chapter. The questioner reckons the time by merit: 「是女福德應久轉女人，何以方於阿閦佛國乃轉女身？」 tr. "By her merit this woman should long ago have turned from being a woman; why does she turn her woman's body only in the land of Akṣobhya Buddha?"〔T25 0591c23〕; the treatise-author's answer lies not in the amount of merit but in what the obstruction is tied to: 「世間五欲難斷，女人著欲情多故，雖世世行諸福德，不能得男子身」 tr. "The five desires of the world are hard to sever; because a woman's clinging to desire and passion is much, though life after life she practises the various merits, she cannot obtain a man's body"〔T25 0591c24〕—merit cannot directly exchange the body; what can exchange the body is the thinning of desire and passion; and the thinning of desire and passion in turn takes obtaining the prediction as its condition: 「今得受記，諸煩惱折薄，是故於阿閦佛國方得男子身。」 tr. "Now, having received the prediction, her afflictions are broken and thinned; therefore in the land of Akṣobhya Buddha she at last obtains a man's body."〔T25 0591c26〕. Next a divergent view is preserved: 「有人言：此女宿世以人多輕女人故，願女身受記。」 tr. "Someone says: this woman in a former life, because people mostly despise women, vowed to receive the prediction in a woman's body."〔T25 0591c27〕—if so, the woman's body is not an obstruction but a vow: 「如是等因緣，不轉女身而得受記。」 tr. "by such causes and conditions she receives the prediction without turning her woman's body."〔T25 0591c28〕. The two views stand side by side and return to one conclusion: obtaining the prediction does not take turning the body as its condition. Last, the matter is decided by the measure of the sūtra: 「復次，經說女人五礙，不說不得受記，是故不應生難。」 tr. "Furthermore, the sūtra speaks of the five obstacles of women; it does not say that they cannot receive the prediction; therefore one should not raise the difficulty."〔T25 0591c29〕—the text on the five obstacles exists; a text of 「不得受記」 tr. "cannot receive the prediction" does not; to object against what is not there with what is there, the difficulty of itself does not stand. The pivot of the whole chapter lies in this one sentence: what the sūtra negates stops at what it negates; it may not be pushed further.
VI. Divergent Readings of the Masters
The Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa has no tradition of a full commentary following the text throughout; the ancient masters' citations and explanations are, as a rule, partial, as the facts stand. For this chapter the ancient masters' coverage comes from two houses: Jizang's commentary, explaining the sūtra explained, keeps a dedicated chapter, and Huiying's commentary, explaining this treatise, also keeps a dedicated chapter—both houses complete for one chapter, which is not often seen among the chapters of the Commentary on the Remaining Chapters (Chapter 53 has only the one house of Jizang, with zero coverage by Huiying); Junzheng's book and the Tiantai books have zero hits for this chapter. This section records the correspondence between what they comment on and cite and this chapter, and does not judge the merits of the masters' interpretations.
Jizang's Commentary on the Larger Sūtra (X24n0451). His commentary following the text of the "River Goddess" chapter of the sūtra explained begins at 「河天品第五十九」 tr. "Chapter on the River Goddess, the Fifty-ninth"〔X24n0451 0311b14〕 (immediately after the place where the commentary on the preceding chapter, "Dream Conduct", Chapter 58, ends), ends at〔X24n0451 0311c13〕, and, before the next chapter 「不證品第六十」 tr. "Chapter on Not Realising, the Sixtieth"〔X24n0451 0311c14〕 begins, covers the whole sūtra of this chapter. Five things are to be recorded.
First, the position of the chapter and its major divisions—「此第三、明願行無成便得受記。」 tr. "This is the third: it makes clear that vow and practice, with nothing accomplished, at once obtain the prediction."〔X24n0451 0311b15〕, 「品三：初、明願行成二；二、得受記；三、出因釋得記所由也。初三：一、餘悟；二、供養；三、迴向。」 tr. "The chapter has three parts: first, making clear the accomplishment of vow and practice, in two; second, obtaining the prediction; third, bringing out the cause to explain the reason for obtaining the prediction. The first has three: one, the others' awakening; two, the offering; three, the dedication."〔X24n0451 0311b23〕: Jizang divides the whole chapter into three parts, 「願行成·得受記·出因釋記所由」 tr. "the accomplishment of vow and practice · obtaining the prediction · bringing out the cause to explain the reason for the prediction", and within the first part opens three ideas, 「餘悟·供養·迴向」 tr. "the others' awakening · the offering · the dedication", which match in sequence the three passages of Sūtra ①: the making of the vow, the offering of scattered flowers, and the dedication.
Second, the two explanations of the naming 「河天」 tr. "River Goddess"—「一解云：此女父母就何天神求此女？故神若名為河天也。二云：令名為定也。」 tr. "One explanation says: from what god-spirit did this woman's father and mother seek this daughter? Because the spirit is, as it were, named River Goddess. The second says: the name is made to be ‘fixed’."〔X24n0451 0311b21〕: Jizang gives two explanations; the first says that the woman's father and mother sought and obtained this daughter from a god-spirit, and so she is named by the spirit's name; the second glosses her name as 「定」 tr. "fixed". This is of the same source as this treatise's gloss but not in the same words: this treatise reads 「是女父母供養恒伽神，得此女故」 tr. "this woman's father and mother made offerings to the spirit of the Gaṅgā, and obtained this daughter"〔T25 0591c16〕, while Jizang reads 「就何天神求此女」 tr. "sought this daughter from what god-spirit"—「供養／就…求」 tr. "made offerings to / sought … from" and 「恒伽神／何天神」 tr. "the spirit of the Gaṅgā / what god-spirit" both differ; what the two houses base their account on should be the same, but their words each differ; recorded separately as it is, without judging which is earlier. Jizang's second explanation, 「令名為定」 tr. "the name is made to be ‘fixed’", has no corresponding text in this treatise; recorded as it is that it is Jizang's alone.
Third, the reason for her alone speaking aloud, and the attribution to the outside paths—「多有發淨土願去不發言，女人性輕疎好勝世世習氣，故獨發言。」 tr. "Many made the vow of the pure land and did not speak it aloud; a woman's nature is light and careless and fond of winning, by the habitual residues of life after life; therefore she alone spoke aloud."〔X24n0451 0311c01〕: this sentence and this treatise's 「多有發淨國土願者，但不發言；女人性輕躁好勝，世世習氣故發言。」 tr. "Many made the vow of a pure land, but did not speak it aloud; a woman's nature is light and impulsive and fond of winning, and because of the habitual residues of life after life she spoke aloud."〔T25 0591c06〕 are nearly identical word for word (the differences 「淨土／淨國土」 tr. "pure land / pure land (the longer form)", 「去／者但」 tr. "and / those who … but", and 「輕疎／輕躁」 tr. "light and careless / light and impulsive"); the two houses evidently share a gloss of the same source here. The sentence below it shows a difference of attribution: Jizang reads 「亦解云：諸外道云大人有得道分，餘人無分，佛法不爾，不簡大小同悟，便為受記也。」 tr. "It is also explained: the outside paths say that great persons have a share in attaining the path and the rest have none; the Buddha's Dharma is not so: without selecting between great and small, all alike awaken, and so he gives the prediction."〔X24n0451 0311c03〕—Jizang ties directly to 「諸外道」 tr. "the outside paths" the view 「大人有得道分」 tr. "great persons have a share in attaining the path", while this treatise ties it to 「有人言」 tr. "someone says"〔T25 0591c08〕; 「有人言」 tr. "someone says" is the treatise-author's regular form for preserving a divergent view, and does not mark it as belonging to the outside paths. The two formations differ in attribution; recorded side by side without judgement. Further, 「又若此女不從眾起便與記者，人則不測所由，故因其發言故與記也。」 tr. "Further, if he had given the prediction without this woman rising from the assembly, people would not fathom its cause; therefore he gave the prediction because she spoke aloud."〔X24n0451 0311c04〕 points to the same meaning as this treatise's 「若佛默然與受記者，人則生疑」 tr. "if the Buddha were to give the prediction in silence, people would give rise to doubt"〔T25 0591c12〕.
Fourth, the divisions of the prediction passage—「佛微笑下，第二、正授記，亦三：初、現瑞；二、問瑞所由；三、正授記。」 tr. "From ‘the Buddha smiled’ onward is the second, the prediction proper, also in three: first, the manifesting of the auspicious sign; second, asking the reason for the sign; third, the prediction proper."〔X24n0451 0311c06〕: he divides the middle part of Sūtra ① into three sections—manifesting the sign, asking about the sign, and the prediction proper—which match section by section the three passages of the sūtra text: the smile and the emission of light〔T25 0591a29〕, Ānanda's request〔T25 0591b03〕, and the Buddha's giving of the prediction〔T25 0591b05〕.
Fifth, the three explanations of the passage on turning the woman's body—「此女人劫積功德，何故行無生忍後方轉女身？」 tr. "This woman has accumulated merit for kalpas; why does she turn her woman's body only after practising the acceptance of non-arising?"〔X24n0451 0311c08〕, 「五欲難斷，女人著欲性情多，雖世世積德猶不能轉，故曰記後行轉也。」 tr. "The five desires are hard to sever; in a woman, clinging to desire in nature and passion is much; though life after life she accumulates virtue she still cannot turn; therefore it is said that after the prediction she practises and turns."〔X24n0451 0311c08〕; 「二解云：此女宿世以多種女人身子受記，為引接人也。」 tr. "The second explanation says: this woman in former lives received the prediction in many kinds of women's bodies, in order to draw people in and receive them."〔X24n0451 0311c10〕; 「三解云：經說女人有五礙，不說不得受記，何須問耶？」 tr. "The third explanation says: the sūtra speaks of women's having five obstacles; it does not say that they cannot receive the prediction; why need one ask?"〔X24n0451 0311c11〕—the three explanations and this treatise's three layers (the five desires hard to sever / the former vow to receive the prediction in a woman's body / the teaching of the five obstacles not reaching to the receiving of the prediction) match item by item; only the opening of the question differs: Jizang's question reads 「何故行無生忍後方轉女身」 tr. "why does she turn her woman's body only after practising the acceptance of non-arising", this treatise's question reads 「何以方於阿閦佛國乃轉女身」 tr. "why does she turn her woman's body only in the land of Akṣobhya Buddha"〔T25 0591c23〕—one takes a stage of practice (the acceptance of non-arising) as the juncture, the other a land (the land of Akṣobhya Buddha); the two houses set different junctures; recorded side by side without judgement. At the end, 「阿難問是女何處殖德下，第三、出往因釋得記之由也。」 tr. "From ‘Ānanda asks where this woman planted virtue’ onward is the third, bringing out the past cause to explain the reason for obtaining the prediction."〔X24n0451 0311c12〕 closes his third part.
Huiying's Commentary (X46n0791). The only ancient commentary explaining this treatise; for this chapter it has a dedicated chapter: the table of contents reads 「釋恒伽提婆品第五十九」 tr. "Commentary on the Chapter on Gaṅgadevī, the Fifty-ninth"〔X46n0791 0794b17〕 (placed between 「釋夢中入三昧品第五十八」 tr. "Commentary on the Chapter on Entering Samādhi in a Dream, the Fifty-eighth" and 「釋學空不證品第六十」 tr. "Commentary on the Chapter on Training in Emptiness without Realising It, the Sixtieth"); the main text begins〔X46n0791 0900a16〕 and ends〔X46n0791 0900c21〕, before the next chapter 「釋學空不證品第六十」 tr. "Commentary on the Chapter on Training in Emptiness without Realising It, the Sixtieth"〔X46n0791 0900c22〕 begins. Six things are to be recorded.
First, the chapter name, and the -1 of his own numbering—「第五十八品者，此品以人為名，名為恒伽提婆品。」 tr. "As for the fifty-eighth chapter: this chapter takes a person as its name, and is named the Chapter on Gaṅgadevī."〔X46n0791 0900a16〕: Huiying explains the setting up of this chapter's heading by 「以人為名」 tr. "taking a person as its name", the name used being the same as this treatise's base text; but his opening sentence calls it 「第五十八品」 tr. "the fifty-eighth chapter", one less than the 「第五十九」 tr. "the Fifty-ninth" of his own table of contents. Of how this comes about, the commentary itself says: 「論將欲釋，故舉之云第五十八品釋論也。」 tr. "The treatise being about to explain it, it is therefore cited as ‘the fifty-eighth chapter of the Expository Treatise’."〔X46n0791 0900a19〕—Huiying says that the treatise text he relied on itself marked it as 「第五十八品」 tr. "the fifty-eighth chapter", and so his text follows it. This and the 「聖石 -1」 tr. "the Shōgozō and Ishiyama -1" of the collation note on the chapter title (Section IV) run in the same direction and by the same amount, but belong to separate systems: that one is the variant chapter order of the variant texts given by the Taishō collation notes, this one is the chapter order of the treatise text Huiying relied on; the two may not be confused as one matter; recorded separately as it is, without forcing an explanation. Further, Huiying, in the passage on the next chapter, refers back to this chapter: 「第五十九品者，名為學空不證品。何故次河天品後明於此品？」 tr. "As for the fifty-ninth chapter, it is named the Chapter on Training in Emptiness without Realising It. Why is this chapter made clear after the Chapter on the River Goddess?"〔X46n0791 0900c23〕—the same -1 habit continues, and here he switches to the name 「河天」 tr. "River Goddess"; at another place in his text he writes again 「正欲解釋何天女人所以對佛興淨土行願之由」 tr. "precisely wishing to explain the reason why the woman Hetian made, before the Buddha, the vow and practice of the pure land"〔X46n0791 0900c07〕, using 「何天」 tr. "Hetian"—the three names Gaṅgadevī · River Goddess · Hetian are used together within the one commentary of Huiying; recorded as it is, without unifying.
Second, the four-part divisions—「就此品中大有四分：第一、明恒伽女人白佛興淨土行願；第二、明供養於佛；第三、明佛授其記；第四、明其發心行行。」 tr. "Within this chapter there are broadly four parts: first, making clear that the woman Gaṅgā speaks to the Buddha and makes the vow and practice of the pure land; second, making clear the offering to the Buddha; third, making clear that the Buddha gives her the prediction; fourth, making clear her arousing of the mind and her practising of practices."〔X46n0791 0900a20〕: compared with Jizang's three parts (the accomplishment of vow and practice · obtaining the prediction · bringing out the cause to explain the reason for the prediction), the angle differs—Huiying divides into four by the sequence of events in the sūtra text (making the vow · the offering · the prediction · how long ago the mind was aroused), Jizang into three by the divisions of meaning. The two houses are set side by side, without judging which is better.
Third, the basis in the treatise text—「論自釋言：爾時有無量諸人生念興淨土願，但此女發言，故以標首也。」 tr. "The treatise itself explains, saying: at that time there were immeasurable people who gave rise to the thought and made the vow of the pure land, but this woman spoke aloud, and so she is set at the head."〔X46n0791 0900a22〕: Huiying ties this to this treatise's passage 「多有發淨國土願者，但不發言」 tr. "Many made the vow of a pure land, but did not speak it aloud"〔T25 0591c06〕; 「無量諸人生念」 tr. "immeasurable people gave rise to the thought" and 「多有發…但不發言」 tr. "many made … but did not speak it aloud" match in meaning but differ in words, and the attribution is clear (Huiying himself marks it 「論自釋言」 tr. "the treatise itself explains, saying"); recorded as it is.
Fourth, the explanation of 「姊」 tr. "sister"—「此同西國俗法，故皆喚女人為姉，表無耶心之義也。」 tr. "This is the same as the common custom of the Western countries, and so all call a woman ‘sister’, expressing the meaning of having no crooked mind."〔X46n0791 0900b15〕: Huiying explains, by the common custom of the Western countries, the Buddha's calling her 「是恒伽提婆姊」 tr. "this sister Gaṅgadevī"〔T25 0591b05〕—the character 「姊」 tr. "sister" in it—and says that it expresses the meaning of having no wrong mind. This treatise has no explanation here; this is a gloss of Huiying's alone, recorded as it is as the commentator's supplement.
Fifth, the kalpa name · the land name · the items of the five obstacles—explaining 「劫名星宿」 tr. "the kalpa will be named Constellation", he cites the Great Cloud Sūtra: 「大雲經言：從此賢劫後有六萬八千劫中空無有佛，過六萬八千劫後始有星宿劫中有五百佛出。」 tr. "The Great Cloud Sūtra says: after this Auspicious Kalpa there are sixty-eight thousand kalpas empty, without a Buddha; after the sixty-eight thousand kalpas have passed, there is at last the Constellation Kalpa, in which five hundred buddhas appear."〔X46n0791 0900b16〕; explaining 「阿閦」 tr. "Akṣobhya": 「當生阿閦者，此名為不動，佛國名妙樂，亦名妙善也。」 tr. "As for ‘will be born in Akṣobhya’: this is named the Unmoving; the buddha-land is named Wondrous Joy, and also named Wondrous Goodness."〔X46n0791 0900b21〕; listing the items of the five obstacles: 「五礙者，謂不得作輪王、釋王、摩王、梵王、佛也。」 tr. "The five obstacles are: not being able to become a wheel-king, the king Śakra, the king Māra, the king Brahmā, or a Buddha."〔X46n0791 0900c17〕—this treatise says 「經說女人五礙」 tr. "the sūtra speaks of the five obstacles of women" but does not list their items〔T25 0591c29〕; Huiying here supplements the list with the five items; recorded as it is that they come from the commentary and not from the treatise.
Sixth, the gloss on breaking and thinning, and the objects offered—「爾時此女既得現前授記，五住都盡，而言諸煩惱折薄者，折薄義通，今據餘習為薄也。」 tr. "At that time this woman, having obtained the prediction given in her presence, the five abodes all exhausted—as for its saying that her afflictions are broken and thinned: the meaning of breaking and thinning is general; here ‘thinned’ is said with reference to the remaining habitual residues."〔X46n0791 0900c18〕: Huiying uses 「餘習」 tr. "the remaining habitual residues" to fix what, in this treatise's 「諸煩惱折薄」 tr. "her afflictions are broken and thinned"〔T25 0591c26〕, the character 「薄」 tr. "thinned" refers to; this is the commentator's settled gloss on the treatise text, which this treatise did not itself settle; recorded as it is as set up by Huiying. He also explains the objects offered: 「上經中但言以水陸生華及雨張牒，今此乃云上下衣及身瓔珞，上下衣即是僧伽梨安陀會也。」 tr. "Above, in the sūtra, it only speaks of flowers born of water and land and of two cloths (so written); here it speaks of upper and lower robes and the necklaces on her body; the upper and lower robes are the saṃghāṭī and the antarvāsa."〔X46n0791 0900c12〕—Huiying noticed that the objects offered listed in the sūtra text〔T25 0591a24〕 and in the treatise text〔T25 0591c19〕 differ, and fixed by the saṃghāṭī and the antarvāsa what 「上下衣」 tr. "upper and lower robes" refers to; the treatise-author himself gives no account of the treatise text's differing from the sūtra text; Huiying supplies it; recorded as it is. He also cites one matter to compare with the speaking aloud and obtaining of the prediction in this chapter: 「如勝鬘女人從如來乞記，佛乃授之。此女亦爾，要因發言也」 tr. "As the woman Śrīmālā begged the Tathāgata for a prediction, and the Buddha then gave it to her—this woman is likewise: it must come about through her speaking aloud"〔X46n0791 0900c09〕.
Junzheng's Profound Meaning of the Four Mahāyāna Treatises (X46n0784) · zero hits (recorded as it is). This apparatus searched back independently through the whole file of X46n0784 for eight strings, 「恒伽提婆」 tr. "Gaṅgadevī", 「恒伽」 tr. "Gaṅgā", 「河天」 tr. "River Goddess", 「何天」 tr. "Hetian", 「金花」 tr. "Golden Flower", 「金華」 tr. "Golden Flower (variant written form)", 「星宿劫」 tr. "the Constellation Kalpa", and 「阿毘羅提」 tr. "Abhirati"; all have zero hits; Junzheng has no named citation of this chapter; the negative result is recorded as it is.
The Tiantai line (T46n1911 Great Calming and Contemplation · T46n1912 Supporting Practice and Broad Resolution of Calming and Contemplation · T33n1716 Profound Meaning of the Lotus · T33n1717 Annotations on the Profound Meaning of the Lotus) · zero hits (recorded as it is · six false positives excluded). This apparatus searched back independently through the whole of the four files for the eight strings listed above; the chapter title and the personal name of this chapter all have zero hits. Among them six literal hits were detected, each of which on checking belongs to another matter; their exclusion is recorded as it is: T46n1912 「恒伽」 tr. "Gaṅgā", three appearances〔T46 0190a09〕〔T46 0191a06〕〔T46 0191a16〕, all belong to another figure, in a passage 「比丘名曰恒伽」 tr. "a bhikṣu named Gaṅgā"; T46n1912 「何天」 tr. "what heaven", one appearance〔T46 0247a20〕, is the interrogative sentence 「遊何天下」 tr. "roams beneath what heaven"; T46n1912 「金華」 tr. "golden flowers", one appearance〔T46 0408c18〕, is the offering 「雨真金華瓔珞華」 tr. "rained true golden flowers and necklace-flowers"; T33n1717 「何天」 tr. "what heaven", one appearance〔T33 0879c06〕, is the interrogative sentence 「云何天慧之人」 tr. "what is a person of heavenly wisdom". The four have nothing to do with the woman Gaṅgadevī of this chapter or with the chapter name, and are not listed as witnesses.
VII. Cross-reading and Further Resonances
The lines of meaning of this chapter carried on before and after are four; all are recorded in this section, without settling the reading on anyone's behalf.
First, the back-reference of ‘The meaning of the smile is as explained before’ (not found word for word · recorded as it is). Treatise ①, explaining the Buddha's smile, points directly to the preceding text with one phrase: 「微笑義如先說。」 tr. "The meaning of the smile is as explained before."〔T25 0591c21〕—since what it points to is marked 「先說」 tr. "explained before", it should lie before this chapter in this treatise. This apparatus rescanned independently, in the whole treatise T25n1509, the stream of the six Chinese characters 「微笑義如先說」 tr. "The meaning of the smile is as explained before": one appearance in the whole book, that is, this sentence itself〔T25 0591c21〕; in the whole sūtra T08n0223 there are likewise zero hits. The places in the earlier text of this treatise that discuss the smile are more than one; Huiying's commentary at the same place indicates where it lies: 「如先說已下七種咲義，如初品中說也」 tr. "From ‘as explained before’ onward: the meaning of the seven kinds of smile is as explained in the First Chapter"〔X46n0791 0900c16〕—recorded as Huiying's identification, not settling on this treatise's behalf what it points to; the word-for-word back-reference is marked as a gap as it is, and no text close in meaning is used to fill it.
Second, the chapter-order continuation of ‘the practice of purifying the land — taking up the vow of a pure land’ (attested by the treatise-author himself · a hard link to this treatise itself). Treatise ①, at its opening, states its own continuation: 「如是大眾聞說淨國土行，何以但一女人取淨國土願？」 tr. "When so great an assembly heard the practice of purifying the land taught, why did only one woman take up the vow of a pure land?"〔T25 0591c05〕—the phrase 「聞說淨國土行」 tr. "heard the practice of purifying the land taught" is tied to the passage on the pure land in the preceding text, and the vow in this chapter rises by carrying that on. Huiying's commentary has another identification of where this continuation lies: 「所以次淨土品後明此品者，上如來既對於海會明淨土行願，今此女人即對於佛興淨土行願，是故經家以為品目。」 tr. "The reason this chapter is made clear after the Pure Land chapter: above, the Tathāgata made clear the vow and practice of the pure land before the ocean-like assembly; now this woman makes the vow and practice of the pure land before the Buddha; therefore the compilers of the sūtra took it as a chapter heading."〔X46n0791 0900a16〕—fixing the distinction of the two chapters by 「海會之對／一女之對」 tr. "facing the ocean-like assembly / facing one woman"; recorded as Huiying's judgement, not settling the reading of the preceding chapter on its behalf. This apparatus did not scan the whole text of the preceding chapter word by word within the range of this chapter; the corresponding passage of the preceding chapter awaits that chapter's apparatus to record it itself; the fact that it was not unfolded is recorded as it is.
Third, one Buddha with two names, ‘Dīpaṃkara Buddha (Lamp-lighting) — Dīpaṃkara Buddha (Fixed Light)’ (a cross-reading within this chapter itself). Sūtra ① has 「然燈佛」 tr. "Dīpaṃkara Buddha (rendered ‘Lamp-lighting’)" five times〔T25 0591b22〕〔T25 0591b25〕〔T25 0591b26〕〔T25 0591b27〕〔T25 0591c02〕, and the end of the treatise has 「定光佛」 tr. "Dīpaṃkara Buddha (rendered ‘Fixed Light’)" once〔T25 0592a08〕; the collation note under the character 「定」 tr. "fixed" records that the six texts of the Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace, Shōgozō, and Ishiyama all read 「錠」 tr. "lamp" (entry thirty-one of the ledger in Section VIII below)—that is, the variant texts read 「錠光佛」 tr. "Dīpaṃkara Buddha (rendered ‘Lamp Light’)". Within the sūtra and the treatise one Buddha has three forms (Lamp-lighting · Fixed Light · Lamp Light), the first two seen in the main text of the base text and the last in the collation note; recorded as it is, without unifying, and without judging whether they are different translations of the same Sanskrit name or changes in copying—this treatise does not itself say whether they are the same or different, and the two ancient commentaries have no explanation of it either (this apparatus searched back word by word in the passages of Jizang and Huiying on this chapter for 「定光」 tr. "Fixed Light" and 「錠光」 tr. "Lamp Light", both with zero hits; Huiying in another passage says 「猶如摩納施定光佛」 tr. "just as the young brahmin gave to Dīpaṃkara Buddha (Fixed Light)"〔X46n0791 0900b04〕, using 「定光」 tr. "Fixed Light" without discussing its relation to 「然燈」 tr. "Lamp-lighting"); the gap is marked as it is.
Fourth, the link to the treasury (stable citation · soft citation). This chapter's negation 「名字為識，何足求義」 tr. "a name is for recognition; why go looking for a meaning", 「隨眾生業因緣」 tr. "it follows the beings' causes and conditions of deeds" together with the simile of good medicine that does not choose between the noble and the base, the decision 「經說女人五礙，不說不得受記」 tr. "the sūtra speaks of the five obstacles of women; it does not say that they cannot receive the prediction", and the sequence of turning the body in 「今得受記，諸煩惱折薄」 tr. "now, having received the prediction, her afflictions are broken and thinned", are the basis for later generations' discussion of the prediction and the woman's body; a stable citation is set down〔T25n1509 恒伽提婆品·卷七十五〕; the places in the various collections that cite this treatise are not yet settled, so the citation is soft, awaiting word-for-word checking and preservation. This belongs to the further resonance of the meaning of prajñā running down into the various sūtras; recorded without judgement.
VIII. Witnesses and Editions
The base text of this chapter is Fascicle 75 of the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa〔T25 0591a20–0592a15〕 (the main text of the chapter body begins from the chapter title〔T25 0591a20〕 and ends with the sentence 「今得果報。」 tr. "and now obtains the fruit."〔T25 0592a10〕; the fascicle-end title 「大智度論卷第七十五」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Fascicle Seventy-five"〔T25 0592a12〕 lies within the range of this chapter, before the fascicle-head title of the next fascicle, which is also the chapter title of the next chapter〔T25 0592a15〕); the collation text for the sūtra explained is "River Goddess" in the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra〔T08 0349b18–0350a04〕; the ancient-master commentary texts for collation are Jizang's Commentary on the Larger Sūtra (X24n0451, covering this chapter at〔X24n0451 0311b14–0311c13〕) and Huiying's Commentary (X46n0791, covering this chapter at〔X46n0791 0900a16–0900c21〕); Junzheng's Profound Meaning of the Four Mahāyāna Treatises (X46n0784) has zero hits for this chapter, and the four Tiantai books zero hits (see Section VI). The book numbers and titles follow the <title> of the base texts: T25n1509 Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, T08n0223 Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra, X24n0451 Commentary on the Larger Sūtra, X46n0791 Huiying's Commentary, X46n0784 Profound Meaning of the Four Mahāyāna Treatises, T46n1911 Great Calming and Contemplation, T46n1912 Supporting Practice and Broad Resolution of Calming and Contemplation, T33n1716 Profound Meaning of the Lotus, T33n1717 Annotations on the Profound Meaning of the Lotus. The variant collation notes follow the Taishō collation, covering differences between the Taishō base text and the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Palace editions, the Shōgozō manuscript, and the Ishiyama text (the Ishiyama-dera manuscript)—in this chapter no entry of the Shōgozō B text is seen, nor any entry of the CBETA emendation type (type="add").
The collation note on the chapter title (the grounds of the two forms of the chapter name and of the -1 step · listed separately). The chapter title〔T25 0591a20〕 has one note made in six forms—「大智度論釋恒伽提婆品第五十九【大】｜大智論釋河天品第五十九【宋】｜大智度論釋河天品第五十九【元】｜大智論釋河天品第五十九品【宮】｜釋河天品第五十九經作恒伽提婆品【明】｜摩訶般若波羅蜜恒伽提婆品第五十八【聖】【石】」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Commentary on the Chapter on Gaṅgadevī, the Fifty-ninth, in the Taishō | Great Treatise, Commentary on the Chapter on the River Goddess, the Fifty-ninth, in the Song | Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Commentary on the Chapter on the River Goddess, the Fifty-ninth, in the Yuan | Great Treatise, Commentary on the Chapter on the River Goddess, the Fifty-ninth chapter, in the Palace | Commentary on the Chapter on the River Goddess, the Fifty-ninth; the sūtra has Chapter on Gaṅgadevī, in the Ming | Chapter on Mahāprajñāpāramitā, Gaṅgadevī, the Fifty-eighth, in the Shōgozō and Ishiyama"—this is the ground of the two forms of the chapter name and of the -1 step of the chapter order; recorded side by side as it is, without forcing a reconciliation (analysis in Section IV). The last seven characters of the Ming edition's rdg, 「經作恒伽提婆品」 tr. "the sūtra has Chapter on Gaṅgadevī", are, within the rdg of the base text, continuous main text without brackets (the Taishō orig layer counts its full title as fifteen characters); this apparatus records it as it stands without adding brackets, which differs from the bracketed type of the Ming interlinear note of Chapter 53 (「三（經作趣一切智品）【明】」 tr. "three (the sūtra has Chapter on Tending toward Omniscience) in the Ming"); recorded separately as it is. The orig layer of the base text carries besides the sentence 「但論上元本有度字，九字下宮本有品字」 tr. "but above the character for ‘treatise’ the Yuan edition has the character for ‘crossing’, and below the character for ‘nine’ the Palace edition has the character for ‘chapter’", an appended remark made by the Taishō editors on the characters used by the three texts of the Song, Yuan, and Palace; what it refers to is precisely the differences of the three forms of the Song, Yuan, and Palace listed above; this apparatus records its existence and does not set up a separate entry.
Two cases of the CBETA abbreviated notation · this apparatus records the full text they refer to (listed separately). First, the note on the chapter title〔T25 0591a20〕, whose own reading is the abbreviated notation 「（大智…九）十四字【大】」 tr. "(Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa … ninth) fourteen characters in the Taishō" (referring to the fourteen characters 「大智度論釋恒伽提婆品第五十九」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Commentary on the Chapter on Gaṅgadevī, the Fifty-ninth", the character-count column of the collation entry likewise recording fourteen); second, the note on the fascicle-end title〔T25 0592a12〕, whose own reading is the abbreviated notation 「（大智…五）九字【大】」 tr. "(Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa … five) nine characters in the Taishō" (referring to the nine characters 「大智度論卷第七十五」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Fascicle Seventy-five", the character-count column likewise recording nine). For both, this apparatus, following the style already established (after the treatment of the continuation title of Fascicle 70 in Chapter 48 and of the fascicle-end title of Fascicle 71 in Chapter 53), records directly the full text they refer to, and marks here their abbreviated form, so that the two layers can be traced to each other.
One appended note to a collation entry (a side-note) · kept as it stands (listed separately).〔T25 0591c08〕 「大【大】｜女【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】【石】，但聖本有大或本三字傍註」 tr. "great in the Taishō | woman in the Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace, Shōgozō, and Ishiyama; but the Shōgozō has a side-note of three characters, ‘great, some text’" (entry twenty-three of the ledger below)—the last clause is not the reading of an edition; it is the Taishō editors' record of the actual state of the side-note at this place in the Shōgozō: the main text of the Shōgozō reads 「女」 tr. "woman", while in its margin there is a side-note of the three characters 「大或本」 tr. "great, some text", that is, the Shōgozō itself records that another text it relied on reads 「大」 tr. "great". This is a case of a witness recording a further witness within itself; the base text, besides this entry, sets up a separate note of type="rest" (its text being 「但聖本有大或本三字傍註」 tr. "but the Shōgozō has a side-note of three characters, ‘great, some text’", tied to the nkr_note_rest_0591023 anchor and placed after the lemma); this apparatus, following the base text, keeps it as it stands within the same entry without deleting it, and marks here its independent note-body in the base text. The sentence this entry is tied to is the treatise-author's 「大人有得道分」 tr. "great persons have a share in attaining the path"〔T25 0591c08〕—the variant texts read 「女人有得道分」 tr. "women have a share in attaining the path", and the meaning changes entirely (the one is the reckoning that judges a share in the path by status, the other the reckoning that judges a share in the path by the woman's body), while Jizang's commentary at the same place reads 「諸外道云大人有得道分」 tr. "the outside paths say that great persons have a share in attaining the path"〔X24n0451 0311c03〕, using 「大」 tr. "great", in agreement with the base text (see Section VI). The three forms are recorded side by side, without judging which is correct.
Six stars · two within the chapter · four across chapters (listed separately). Within the range of this chapter the star anchors are six (beg_83c–beg_841); this apparatus resolved the corresp target of each one by one and located the chapter to which each belongs, obtaining two within the chapter and four across chapters—the distribution of targets: this chapter, "Gaṅgadevī", two (note(0591008)〔T25 0591a22〕 「掌」 tr. "palm", one · note(0591020)〔T25 0591b23〕 「所」 tr. "place", one); Chapter 57, "The Lamp-wick", two (note(0584017)〔T25 0584c13〕 one · note(0585010)〔T25 0585b25〕 one, which are precisely the shared notes of the two structural markers 【經】【論】); Chapter 58, "Entering Samādhi in a Dream", two (note(0589007)〔T25 0589b10〕 「世界」 tr. "world", the two sharing one note). This is the linking mark of existing witness groups (the same group of variant readings, recurring at several places in the text with the same characters, sharing one note), not a doctrinal divergence peculiar to this chapter. Further, within the range of this chapter there are four other numbered notes which themselves carry the mark 「＊」 tr. "asterisk" while their repeated-citation anchors do not lie within the range of this chapter:〔T25 0591a22〕 「掌」 tr. "palm",〔T25 0591b22〕 「人」 tr. "person",〔T25 0591b23〕 「所」 tr. "place", and〔T25 0591b28〕 「受」 tr. "receive"—this apparatus keeps their 「＊」 tr. "asterisk" as it stands in the base text. The note texts of the star targets also carry the mark 「＊」 tr. "asterisk" in the base text, and are likewise kept as they stand.
Complete ledger of collation notes (all thirty-five entries reconciled · base text as it stands). Below, they are listed in full in the order of their appearance in the base text, including six star entries, the corresp target and the chapter it belongs to being marked with each entry. The readings of the variant texts are preserved side by side, while the main text still follows the reading of the current base text:
App entries (thirty-five · in order of appearance in the base text · star-corresp marked with each entry)
- 〔T25 0591a20〕大智度論釋恒伽提婆品第五十九【大】｜大智論釋河天品第五十九【宋】｜大智度論釋河天品第五十九【元】｜大智論釋河天品第五十九品【宮】｜釋河天品第五十九經作恒伽提婆品【明】｜摩訶般若波羅蜜恒伽提婆品第五十八【聖】【石】(one note in six forms on the chapter title · the two name-systems Gaṅgadevī / River Goddess + the Ming edition's own marking of the sūtra title + the -1 step of the Shōgozō and Ishiyama · the base text's lem is the abbreviated notation 「（大智…九）十四字」 tr. "(Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa … ninth) fourteen characters" · see Section IV and the separate listing above)
- 〔T25 0591a21〕【經】【大】＊｜〔－〕【宋】【宮】＊(note on the presence of a structural marker · star · corresp → note(0584017) = the note of Chapter 57, "The Lamp-wick",〔T25 0584c13〕 · shared across chapters · that note also carries the phrase 「不分卷【石】」 tr. "not divided into fascicles, in the Ishiyama" · see Section I)
- 〔T25 0591a21〕一【大】｜〔－〕【聖】【石】
- 〔T25 0591a22〕掌【大】＊｜手【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】【石】＊(at the same place on the side of the sūtra explained the base text reads 「手」 tr. "hand" directly · its note conversely reads 「手【大】，掌【聖】」 tr. "hand in the Taishō; palm in the Shōgozō" · the two formations are base text and variant reading to each other · see Section IV)
- 〔T25 0591a23〕世界【大】＊｜國土【聖】【石】＊(star · corresp → note(0589007) = the note of Chapter 58, "Entering Samādhi in a Dream",〔T25 0589b10〕 · shared across chapters · at the same place on the side of the sūtra explained the base text reads 「國土」 tr. "land" directly · see Section IV)
- 〔T25 0591a24〕如【大】｜如佛【宮】【聖】(the reading of the two texts of the Palace and Shōgozō is the text of the base text of the sūtra explained · see Section IV)
- 〔T25 0591a26〕縷【大】｜鏤【聖】【石】
- 〔T25 0591a26〕疊【大】｜㲲【元】【明】(the base text's rdg is the composed character
<g ref="#CB00626">· this apparatus records its CBETA standard form) - 〔T25 0591a27〕正【大】｜政【聖】｜攻【石】
- 〔T25 0591a28〕功德與【大】｜功功德【元】(the base text's note lemma has no punctuation · the working base-text list and the base text's app lem read 「功德，與」 tr. "merit, with")
- 〔T25 0591b04〕掌【大】＊｜手【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】【石】＊(star · corresp → note(0591008) = this chapter's note at〔T25 0591a22〕 · shared within the chapter)
- 〔T25 0591b06〕作佛【大】｜佛作【聖】【石】
- 〔T25 0591b10〕國【大】｜國土【聖】【石】
- 〔T25 0591b17〕是【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
- 〔T25 0591b21〕上【大】｜向【聖】【石】
- 〔T25 0591b22〕殖【大】｜植【宋】【元】【明】【宮】(the note at the same place on the side of the sūtra explained reads 「殖【大】，植【明】」 tr. "plant in the Taishō; plant (the other written form) in the Ming" · the two formations attest each other · see Section IV)
- 〔T25 0591b22〕人【大】＊｜〔－〕【宋】【元】【明】【宮】＊
- 〔T25 0591b23〕所【大】＊｜〔－〕【宋】【元】【明】【宮】＊
- 〔T25 0591b28〕受【大】＊｜授【元】【明】＊(the note at the same place on the side of the sūtra explained reads 「受【大】＊，授【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】＊」 tr. "receive in the Taishō *; give in the Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace, and Shōgozō *" · the two formations attest each other · see Section IV)
- 〔T25 0591c02〕所【大】＊｜〔－〕【宋】【元】【明】【宮】＊(star · corresp → note(0591020) = this chapter's note at〔T25 0591b23〕 · shared within the chapter)
- 〔T25 0591c05〕【論】【大】＊｜〔－〕【宋】【宮】＊(note on the presence of a structural marker · star · corresp → note(0585010) = the note of Chapter 57, "The Lamp-wick",〔T25 0585b25〕 · shared across chapters · see Section I)
- 〔T25 0591c07〕世【大】｜〔－〕【聖】【石】
- 〔T25 0591c08〕大【大】｜女【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】【石】，但聖本有大或本三字傍註(appended note to a collation entry [side-note] kept as it stands · the base text sets up a separate note-body of
type="rest"· with the variant texts reading 「女人有得道分」 tr. "women have a share in attaining the path", the meaning changes entirely · Jizang uses 「大」 tr. "great" · see the separate listing above and Section VI) - 〔T25 0591c16〕求【大】｜救【宋】【宮】
- 〔T25 0591c16〕女【大】｜女人【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
- 〔T25 0591c23〕人【大】｜人身【聖】【石】
- 〔T25 0592a03〕世界【大】＊｜國土【聖】【石】＊(star · corresp → note(0589007) = the note of Chapter 58 at〔T25 0589b10〕 · shared across chapters · the same witness group recurring with entry five above)
- 〔T25 0592a05〕佛【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
- 〔T25 0592a05〕如【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【宮】
- 〔T25 0592a07〕難【大】｜阿難【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】【石】
- 〔T25 0592a08〕定【大】｜錠【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】【石】(the third form, 「錠光」 tr. "Lamp Light", of one Buddha with two names · see Section VII)
- 〔T25 0592a09〕彼【大】｜〔－〕【聖】【石】
- 〔T25 0592a10〕受【大】｜授【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】
- 〔T25 0592a10〕報【大】｜報釋第五十八品竟【聖】【石】(the Shōgozō and Ishiyama closing record at the end of the chapter · proof of the second end of the -1 step · see Section IV)
- 〔T25 0592a12〕大智度論卷第七十五【大】｜大智度經論卷第七十五釋第五十六品下訖第五十八品【聖】(note on the fascicle-end title · the base text's lem is the abbreviated notation 「（大智…五）九字」 tr. "(Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa … five) nine characters" · this apparatus records the full text of the nine characters it refers to · the range of chapters marked by the Shōgozō is also -1 · proof of the third end of the -1 step · see Section IV and the separate listing above)
The above thirty-five entries agree mechanically with the number of anchored collation notes in the working base text (of which twenty-nine are numbered notes and six are stars); in addition, one note of the point-anchor type,〔T25 0592a11〕 「不分卷【石】」 tr. "not divided into fascicles, in the Ishiyama", is supplied, making thirty-six; the targets of the stars have been marked with each entry. The one note in six forms on the chapter title, the two cases of CBETA abbreviated notation, and the one appended note to a collation entry have been listed separately in the text above; the one point-anchor note within the range of this chapter does not enter this ledger of thirty-five entries, and has been explicitly marked in the text above.
Witness comparative reading of the sūtra explained (four places and three groups unfolded · the rest not unfolded · the gap recorded for later supplementing). Within the scope of the comparative reading on the T223 side for this chapter〔T08 0349b18–0350a04〕, this apparatus has scanned entry by entry twenty-one numbered notes and six star repeated citations; the four places whose collation notes attest this treatise (palm / hand · world / land · receive / give · plant / plant (two written forms)) and the three groups of differences in the main text (the presence or absence of ‘Buddha’ · cannot be weighed / cannot be counted · the presence of ‘these various’ before ‘evils’) have been recorded entry by entry in Section IV. The entry-by-entry listing of the remaining entries was not unfolded; the fact that it was not unfolded is recorded as it is, awaiting later supplementing, and no estimate is used to fill the number.